Crossing Lines

by TheTalentlessPony


Sheer Panic

"So you've eaten at this place before?" Rainbow Dash asked as she sat down at a booth with Soarin.

He nodded firmly. "I know I said we usually just had to stay at the hotel overnight, but we always got breakfast here before we left."

Rainbow Dash looked around at the decor, noting that it wasn't fancy, but wasn't messy either, much like her first impression of the hotel's sign. "Is the food that good?"

"Don't remember. It's been a while, and I never had dinner here. Plus, I, uh..." He rubbed the back of his head. "I don't have a lot of friends, so I never got to come back with anyone."

She grew silent at that, but the waitress had come by before she could think up a response. It was clear that she recognized the two, but Rainbow Dash, for once, didn't want anypony making a fuss over her, so she played it cool and ordered her food without acknowledging the waitress' other comments. Soarin seemed to catch on, doing the same. He understood her reasoning; he didn't know much about her friends, but he knew that Twilight was a princess. If any word got out, they'd be here in an instant.

After he was sure the waitress couldn't hear them, he gave Rainbow Dash his focus as his ear flopped. "So... what about you?"

"Huh?" she asked.

"Friends. I mean, I know you've got some, because of the whole Harmony Element deal, but anyone else?"

She raised a brow, unsure of why he was asking, but took the bait. "I've got Tank; he's kind of like a friend. Then there's Spike, Discord, and Starlight too, I guess. Besides that, there's Gilda, my griffon bud all the way over in Griffonstone. After that..."

Her voice trailed off, her mind drawing a blank. Was... was that it?

She squinted, one hoof tapping against the other as she counted in her head. Five? That was all? Even then, Tank hardly counted, and she didn't spend near enough time with Discord and Starlight to say she was great friends with them. She had other vague memories of brief friendships, like with Little Strongheart, but they were so faded. Rainbow Dash only wanted to count the friends she was closest too, but she had so few.

Soarin frowned, noticing a bit of stress on her face. "Dash?"

She looked up at him, frowning back. "Uh, there's you too, I guess. For sure, actually."

He managed a smile. He liked to think of himself as a great friend of Rainbow Dash's, but actually hearing it made him feel unusually happy.

He noticed her looking off into the distance, then turned to see that their food had arrived. The two were practically drooling as it was set out in front of them. Honestly, it wasn't anything fancy, and obviously more fast food-esque considering the time it took, but neither ate out much, so just about any place's food was practically fine dining considering they both lacked cooking skills.

Rainbow Dash took a bite of hers, a bit too sloppily for the average mare, but Soarin didn't care; she was like one of the guys.

Except she was a mare; an awesome mare with flying talent to boot.

He averted his gaze from her to eat some of his own food. The thought that he, a stallion, and her, a mare, were eating out together in what briefly seemed like a date did cross his mind, but more because he knew that there'd be ponies around who knew them. Pictures weren't allowed there at least, so no fear of them really being published in some newspaper, though part of him was fairly sure that at least somepony would ignore that rule.

It didn't help that he was seventy-five percent sure that the waitress shipped them.

"Dash?" he called, trying to distract himself.

She let out a sound that only slightly resembled a reply, her mouth full.

He snorted, but tried to maintain his straight face. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. You know that, right?"

She gave him a look that he couldn't quite place. She swallowed her food, then waved a hoof dismissively. "Yeah, I know, but..." She looked away. "I know it hasn't been obvious, but it's been on my mind the whole time."

If Soarin was honest, it'd been very obvious, but he didn't let her know that. "You sure, though? We can even wait until we get back to our room if you want."

Rainbow Dash pouted. "What do you mean?"

"...Never mind. I was just thinking," he lied.

It was clear to him that Rainbow Dash was more torn up that she let on; more than she let herself believe. He'd seen that dead stare when she was at his doorstep, and the lack of clarity in her gaze when he brought it up. Yet, he didn't want to fight with her about it. The place was relatively empty, or at least empty enough where they were out of many ponies' earshot. If she wanted to talk here, then that was fine with him, as long as she talked about it.

"Okay, so..." Rainbow Dash glanced up off into the distance, trying to recall the exact events. "It was a prank."

"A prank," Soarin repeated back to her, attempting to figure out where such a thing could go wrong.

"Yeah. I mean, it all started out with a prank. A few pranks." Her face fell noticeably. "A bunch of pranks. I'm pretty sure I pranked just about everyone in Ponyville."

"That's a lot of pranking." He hadn't realize how dumb that sounded until it actually came out of his mouth.

"Yeah, and the others—" She sipped some of the soda she'd ordered. "—didn't really take it that well."

"Your friends? The Elements?" he asked to confirm. That was already weird; from stories she told in the past, her friends liked a good prank.

Rainbow Dash nodded. "And they basically tried to get me to stop pranking." A pause. "I think."

Now Soarin was confused, hoof on his cheek. "You... think?"

"I think," she confirmed. "Pinkie was having a good laugh with me, and Applejack and Rarity were telling me to put more work into my pranks."

Another pause as she squinted, seeming a bit frustrated. "I think."

Soarin leaned on the table slightly, getting a good look at Rainbow Dash's shifts and movements. Were her memories foggy, or was she just unsure? How much information was she lacking on?

He didn't immediately assume that she was the problem either. He'd made that mistake a long time ago himself.

Then, a miscommunication between friends, maybe?

Rainbow Dash continued, "They didn't seem too happy about it, so I figured I'd up my game again."

She gestured outwards with a hoof. "A prank on all of Ponyville!"

Soarin nodded silently as Rainbow Dash took another giant sip of her soda, the darn thing practically empty by now. She probably needed the energy, he figured.

"So, what did you do?" he inquired.

"I messed with these Filly Guide cookies; rigged them up so that they'd turn ponies' mouths rainbow when they ate 'em."

Soarin snorted slightly at the mental image.

"I tried to get Pinkie to help me and fed her one too, but she wasn't... Pinkie. She was trying to get me to stop—"

"Let me guess," he interrupted with a concerned frown. "You think?"

"Yeah! She was all excited about it at first, then she just," she began, biting her bottom lip as she tried to summon the right words, "shifted. I ended up having to do the whole thing on my own, and when I went to go talk to her about it..."

Soarin saw a noticeable change in Rainbow Dash's body language. It was only for a moment, but she'd twitched, her eyes leaving Soarin's to stare at the table.

"Dash?"

"She was acting all sick, and weird. I've never seen her lie in one place for that long! Then, she mentioned the cookies and got this—" She looked over at Soarin for a second, as if seeing something in his eyes. "—stare."

The puzzle pieces were falling into place in Soarin's head, but he had a strong feeling that he didn't need to hear any more.

She kept talking before he could stop her.

"I may've been a little freaked out, so I rushed over to watch the cookies sell. I waited a while, but nothing seemed to be happening, so I—"

"Dash," Soarin called, a bit louder than before. "It's cool. You don't have to—"

"I went searching for them, and it was all weirdly quiet at first."

Whatever was left of her soda was gone now, but Rainbow Dash was now in a state that Soarin didn't like. He didn't see the usual Rainbow Dash any more. He saw a Rainbow Dash who'd fallen into a trash can and was being laughed at.

"Dash, slow down—"

She wasn't listening.

"But then I found them, and they were like zombies, Soarin! Zombies!"

Her pupils had shrunk noticeably, a strong uncomfortable heat at her shoulders. "They were walking towards me, demanding the cookies that I gave them! That I poisoned!"

She gagged on nothingness, nausea settling in.

"You should've seen them! Their eyes were dead, their mouths were all rainbow, and their hair was just..."

Soarin stiffened as she reached out to him, tracing her hoof near his hair.

A vivid pain shone in Rainbow Dash's eyes. "I-I just wanted to..."

Her hooves came back to her chest. "But I couldn't! I thought they were all dead! I thought I killed them!"

"Rainbow," he said softly, trying to reach her. He'd figured out more than enough. "But you didn't kill anyone. They were just pulling a prank on you."

"S-so many... there were so many of them! Everyone was turning into one!"

Rainbow Dash glanced at Soarin, her blurring vision and state making him look like...

She gasped sharply, feeling dizzy as her tail unconsciously wrapped itself around her.

"Dash. Dash!" Soarin waved his hooves in front of her face, starting to panic.

His eyes then fell upon the soda.

The caffeine...

He cursed under his breath, moving over to Rainbow Dash's side of the table. He got up on the booth with her, taking her face in his hooves.

"Dash, it's okay! Remember? Nothing bad really happened!"

He knew his words were useless. He could see the entire scenario at this point. Rainbow Dash might've learned that it was a prank later, but that experience was so very real to her. It broke his heart to see her like that, wings rattling as she shook uncontrollably.

He kept trying to call her, but it was like she couldn't hear him. Her breaths were heavy, the tears in her eyes strong as she relived her nightmare. He couldn't just sit there. He had to do something; something to shock her out of this.

Then, hardly even thinking about it, he did do something. He pulled her to himself and kissed her, right on the lips. He could feel Rainbow Dash stiffen, her eyes wide with surprise as she stared into him.

Yet, she didn't pull away. Her shaking eased and her breathing relaxed, but she didn't pull away. Soarin didn't question it, pulling away on his own once he was certain that she was calmed enough.

That didn't stop him from checking anyway. "You okay?"

Rainbow Dash stared at him, closing her eyes for a few seconds to take a breath.

"...Y-yeah. I'm cool."

He reached out, hoping that she wouldn't recoil as he stroked her shoulder. She didn't.

"You wanna go back to our room?"

Her wings relaxed noticeably as she nodded.