Rainbow Dash woke up confused — the blaring noise that woke her was an alarm, but not her alarm clock. While she was puzzling over this, she noticed an odd burning smell. Coupled with the recognition of her fire alarm, this got her out of bed quickly.
Hurrying downstairs in her pajamas and dressing gown, she found Aria standing on a chair in her living room, already full dressed and glaring angrily at the smoke detector, jabbing the only button repeatedly.
“What?” called Rainbow Dash over the noise.
Aria turned to her. “Dash!” she yelled, “tell your stupid box to shut up!”
The kitchen door was open, and the burning smell had subtle undertones of cooking. Given the lack of visible flames, Rainbow Dash opted to work on the premise that her house wasn't on fire, at least for now.
“Open the windows and shut the door,” she groaned. “It'll stop on its own.”
Working together to ventilate the living room, the two girls shut themselves in the kitchen together, where Rainbow Dash cast her gaze over the evidence of a very messy cooking attempt.
“I made pancakes,” Aria alleged. A plate on the table did indeed hold a tower of pancake-shaped objects.
“Sweet,” responded Rainbow Dash, grabbing a plate of her own and moving to the table.
Aria lunged forward, menacingly close to Rainbow Dash with a cold expression. “I made myself pancakes,” she said pointedly, snatching up a spatula and thrusting it into the stack a little over halfway up with a single swift motion. Before Rainbow Dash could react, Aria had flipped most of the top half onto Rainbow's plate. “…but fine. I'll let you have those ones, but don't go trying to nab any more off my plate — if you want more you can make them yourself.”
“Uh… cool…” answered Rainbow, “I mean… you don't have to share, if you don't want to.” She chose to overlook that the pancakes had been made with her ingredients and utensils, which Aria had helped herself to. Right now, Rainbow didn't feel like picking a fight.
Aria seemed thrown off balance by this. “Oh… right. Well, I made too many anyway, you may as well have those.” She took a seat, and hunched forward over her plate, elbows planted firmly either side.
Rainbow Dash joined her, though in a more relaxed pose. She lifted the first pancake-shaped object to her mouth, and only hesitated slightly before taking a bite. It wasn't actually that bad — a little crunchier than she'd expected, but not nearly as burnt-tasting.
Aria was watching her intently, while munching away on her own helping. After the first mouthful, Rainbow felt compelled to try and make conversation.
“So, uh, how's your eye this morning?”
Aria tilted her head and squinted at Rainbow suspiciously. “What's it to you?” she shot back.
“Oh, uh, I was just trying to be nice.”
“Well you don't have to be.”
“I wasn't doing it because I have to.”
“So… what, you enjoy sticking your nose in other people's business.”
“You know what? Never mind. I hope your eye's feeling better. Thank you for the pancakes. We can stop talking now.”
Rainbow Dash was confused. Aria hadn't been nearly this angry or aggressive last night — maybe she just wasn't a morning person? Either way, the two continued to eat in silence, Aria shifting uncomfortably and relaxing back to a more natural sitting position over time.
…
They finished the pancakes.
…
Rainbow Dash was once again the first to break the silence.
“Okay, but do you know where you're gonna sleep tonight?”
Aria shrugged. “Meh, not yet, I figure I'll go out this afternoon and find myself a job and somewhere to stay.”
“This afternoon.”
“Yeah, any pointers?”
“Have you… ever looked for a job before?”
“No, but how hard can it be?”
“Uh… it normally takes more than a few hours.”
“Uh-huh. So, how long?”
“A few weeks… maybe months?”
Aria processed this. “Dammit, really? That sucks. Where am I supposed to sleep until then?”
“Not here,” said Rainbow. “I mean, I totally would let you,” she lied, “but my landlord's super uptight about that stuff.”
“How about your friends?”
“…I'll ask them, but we might still need to find you a hostel, or something — do you have any money?”
“Yeah, but it's not gonna last long if I keep spending it. You talk to your friends, and I'll talk to your landlord.”
“You'll what now?”
“Well if he agrees to let me stay here, there's no problem, right?”
Rainbow Dash weighed up her options. She really didn't want Aria staying with her indefinitely, and Aria's rudeness probably wouldn't help her get a job anytime soon… but telling Aria she wasn't welcome might push her into becoming homeless and friendless, and Rainbow Dash knew she'd end up feeling guilty and regretful if that happened. Almost certainly, her landlord would refuse. Rainbow Dash was, like, ninety-nine percent certain of that.
“Sure. No problem. If he agrees to it, you can stay here as long as you need to, until we find you a job and a place of your own. Just don't get your hopes up, okay? Like I said, he's super uptight.”
By lunchtime, Rainbow Dash had two more guests over, and two questions plaguing her thoughts.
The guests were Applejack and Sunset Shimmer. Applejack had offered to let Aria stay at her place for a while, and Sunset had offered to help with the job-hunting. On the way over, Sunset had seemed really excited, describing what a great opportunity she thought this was to introduce Aria what might be her first real friendships. Applejack had been less keen on the idea.
The first question Rainbow Dash had, was whether she could have handled this situation better. Perhaps if she'd been more forthright from the start, things would have turned out differently. Perhaps it wasn't too late to speak up.
As for the second question…
“Do I even want to know?”
“What now?”
“My landlord. You… ‘persuaded’ him. Do I even want to know how?”
“How should I know what you want?”
Rainbow Dash stared at Aria. Aria Blaze stared her right back down. Rainbow folded first. She cupped her face in her hands, and took a steadying breath. Applejack didn't really want Aria around either. None of the other girls could take her in, unless Aria “persuaded” their parents or landlords — which Rainbow Dash really didn't want to think about.
And besides… it's not as if she disliked Aria Blaze, as such. The former Dazzling actually seemed… pretty cool, when you got down to it. Not to mention…
Rainbow shook her head. The girl was obnoxious — self-centered and possibly still evil.
“Well I guess that's settled then,” said Aria. “No point moving my stuff when I can just crash here. I guess you both turned up for nothing.”
“Well, I can still help you find a job,” grinned Sunset.
“Yeah, but I just spent all morning sorting out this landlord thing, I need a break. Lemme just chill out for a bit then grab some lunch, we can sort out that seevee thing after.”
Sunset frowned uncertainly, and turned to Rainbow Dash.
I'm doomed, thought Rainbow.
“Hey Dash, c'mon. I said I'd teach you a few moves, didn't I?”
Despite herself, Rainbow perked up. It could be worse.