//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Returning the Favor // Story: Truth or Dare: The Most Anxious Slumber Party Ever // by TheStallionofDarkCavalry //------------------------------// After Rainbow Dash revealed to you the dare that she made Sunset do back at the school, you were now not looking forward to going to that party. The things that go on in that game that the girls play make you wonder who was the idiot who came up with that game, you were terrified of what humiliating secrets you would have to say and embarrassing dares you would be forced to do. So much so that it was enough to give you an anxiety attack. Just when you thought those constant panicking days were over after weeks of your friends helping you recover, one of them managed to bring them back. It's like it was all for nothing. As you finally make it to your house, you ran inside and sat on your living room couch to manage your anxiety attack. Your parents were doing business travel for the weekend and will be back home at night on Sunday. So you have the entire house to yourself, which was another reason you were looking forward to your original plans for the weekend. But of course, since you told Sunset you were going to improve upon your recovery, that plan was scrapped. As you spend the next five minutes trying to calm yourself down from the overwhelming fear and rapid breathing problems you were having, you suddenly get a text on your phone from one of your friends. It was Rainbow Dash. As you looked at her profile picture that has her face on your phone, you look at her with an anger and rage-induced face. You then read the text she sent you. Hey, Anon? Why did you run off? Especially when I was in the middle of telling you the best dare I've done in Truth or Dare? LOL Typical Rainbow Dash. Always treating everything like it's a joke to her. After looking at that text, you wanted to tell that jerk off over how insensitive can be at times especially when it comes to competitions, and you were just about to do that through a text. But then you thought about it for a second, and you decided not to. If your friends managed to help you move on from these anxiety problems, then they can do it again. And maybe if you tell Rainbow Dash how you feel about playing this game instead of lashing out at her, she'll consider taking it easy on you tonight. You then texted back to her. I ran off because I was getting a little too worried for the party because of that dare you told me that I ran home in a panic. And I have to be honest with you, that dare was a little too much. Since this is my first sleepover with you girls, could you please go easy on me with the truths and dares? She then texted back at you as you hope she decides to be less while playing the game. But sadly, even for something as simple as that request, you got your hopes up. Oh, okay. Well hurry up and get over to Pinkie's house or you'll miss out on the awesome party. And about the Truth or Dare request, sorry but I can't. I don't go easy on my competition. See ya at the party, Anon. This was the last thing, even from someone who's your friend, you wanted to be told. Not just that she said no about going easy on you, but that she doesn't go easy on her competition. Based on those truths and dares she told you about along with this text she sent you, Rainbow Dash never goes easy on her opponents one bit. Suddenly, your anxiety attack started to seriously overpower you to the point where you started to seriously sweat and tremble as your fear about the game expanded more from the thoughts that were rushing through your head about what Rainbow Dash would make you say or do in that game. "WHAT IF SHE MAKES ME REVEAL AN EMBARRASSING SECRET?!" You thought to yourself as your fearful thoughts clouded your mind. "WHAT IF SHE TELLS ME TO SHAVE MY HEAD?! WHAT IF SHE TELLS ME TO SAY SOMETHING INAPPROPRIATE ABOUT MYSELF OR TO ANY OF THE GIRLS?! OR WHAT IF... WHAT IF SHE MAKES ME KISS ONE OF THEM?!" Your intense worrisome thoughts didn't stop there. There was one person who came to mind that you especially did not want to get caught up in when it came to those truths and dares. As that person came to your mind, you panicked even more. "OH NO! SUNSET IS GOING TO BE THERE TO WITNESS WHATEVER HUMILIATING THING RAINBOW DASH WILL PUT ME THROUGH WITH OR WITHOUT HER! JUST LIKE THAT HUMILIATING DARE SHE PUT SUNSET THROUGH WITH TWILIGHT!" After this realization hit your mind, tears started forming in your eyes and then you quickly broke down and started crying. "I CAN'T TAKE IT! I DON'T WANT TO GO TO THAT PARTY!" You said aloud while sobbing. "I CAN'T DO THIS! I'M NOT GONNA LET RAINBOW DASH HUMILIATE ME IN FRONT OF THE GREATEST FRIEND I'VE EVER HAD!!!" You then picked up your phone and texted Sunset that you changed your mind about going to the party. Sunset? Are you still home? A couple of seconds later, she texted back. Yeah. What's up? You texted back to her with a guilty look on your face. You told her that you would come to the party to continue to improve your mental health for yourself and your friends, and telling her you changed your mind about that felt like breaking an important promise to her. I changed my mind. I'm not going to the slumber party. About fifteen seconds after that, she replied with the text you were expecting from a concerning friend. What? Why not? Is everything alright? You then replied back, as you were about to do the biggest vent you've ever made to someone. No, nothing is alright! I don't want to go to the party because I'm scared! Rainbow Dash told me about a game you girls always play at the parties called Truth or Dare! And she told me about all the embarrassing things she made you and the rest of the girls say and do! I don't want her to do the same to me! I'm sorry, but I can't do it! I don't want you to witness me be put through anything humiliating, and I don't want you to be dragged into doing anything humiliating with me! I don't think I would ever have the will to speak to you again if that happened! Please forgive me for going against my word! You're one of the best people in my life and I don't want to lose you as a friend! As you sent the text and set your phone down on one of the couch cushions while crying into a pillow, you hope that Sunset will understand and let you go back to your original weekend plans without getting mad at you for going back on your word. About five minutes later after sending the text, you heard your phone make a notification sound and it was another text from Sunset. Although for some odd reason, all she texted back to you was one word: Anon You were confused by this text so you attempted to reply to it to know what it meant, but then Sunset sent another text before you could start typing. I'm coming. She didn't send anything a few minutes after that. This must mean that based on the text you sent her, she knows you're having an anxiety attack and she's on her way to your house to help calm you down. After ten minutes since you got that text, you hear a knock on your front door. You got off of the couch to open it. And sure enough, as you opened the door to see who it was, you were correct about your assumption, it was Sunset. As you look at her in the eyes trying to come up with something to say to her, she looks at you with a worried face and she has a small trail of tears running down her eyes. She also seems to be breathing heavily like you just were. Looks like your text made her so worried that she was scared that you were on the verge of going off the deep end, causing her to have an anxiety attack. You feel as if she needs help from you just as much as you need help from her. "Anon..." She spoke as if she were about to cry. "Are you okay?" "Sunset. Come in." You said as you stepped aside to let her in. You headed over to the couch to sit down, and you patted the cushion to you to tell Sunset to sit next to you. She walks to the couch and sits down next to you. As she was about to speak up, you immediately pulled her into a hug. "Anon? What are you..." She asked while still having tears running down her eyes. "Sunset. You've helped me feel better a lot of times ever since I moved to this town. Now it's my turn to return the favor." You said as you prepare to instruct her with the same treatment for anxiety she's taught you. "Okay, Anon. But let me help do the same for you." She said as she tightens her embrace around you. "Okay." You say to her as you tighten your embrace around her. "Then let's do this, Sunset." "Yeah. Let's fight this pain inside of us together." She replied in a confident tone. You both spend the next five minutes taking long deep breaths from in the nose and out the mouth while keeping your tight embrace intact and reassuring each other that you're going to be okay. And then after that, you both then separate from the hug and then lay your backs against the couch. "How are you feeling, Sunset?" You ask. "A little better." She replied. "When I saw your text, I was really worried about you. I knew from your choice of words that you were having an anxiety attack, so I rushed over as quickly as I could. And I guess I was so worried that I too ended up getting an anxiety attack." "That's the first time I've ever seen you have one." You said with a sad expression. "You said you've had them before, but I've never seen any of them." "Yeah." She said while looking down at her lap with her hands on her lap. "And that was probably one of the worst anxiety attacks I've ever had." Upon hearing this, you feel as though you have hurt Sunset due to your breakdown over that game you're scared to play at the party. "I'm sorry for making you worry." You say in a guilty tone. "If I hadn't sent you that text and went straight to the party instead of acting like a baby about it, this wouldn't have happened." "It's okay, Anon." She replied while looking at you. "And you weren't acting like a baby. Your situation is completely relatable. I can understand not wanting to be put through embarrassment like that. But let me assure you that the truths and dares that happen in that game don't go too far, even when it's Rainbow Dash's turn. The dares especially don't go over the line. Sure, some of the dares can be pretty embarrassing, but we don't do things like break the law, eat or drink something disgusting, or strip naked. That's all off the table thanks to our sensitivity for each other." "Yeah. Rainbow Dash did say that there were dares you guys wouldn't do thanks to being heroes and having a moral code." You replied to her. "If that's what she wants to call it, she can go ahead." Sunset giggles. "But even if with those kinds of dares, the game itself is still very funny. The stuff we reveal and do to each other is very funny that it's a very popular game for us at the sleepovers. All you have to do is just look past the more embarrassing parts of the game that would make someone resist to play it." "Yeah. Like that dare Rainbow Dash mentioned where she made you kiss Twilight." You said to her recklessly. Sunset's eyes widened and a blush appeared over her face as you asked her this. "She... she told you about that?!" She shouted in embarrassment. You nodded while regretting asking her that. "She said that she would never tell anyone about that!" Sunset shouted while having her face buried in her hands. "Those are the kinds of dares I'm worried about, Sunset. The ones where you have to do something to the other player that steps out of the friendship zone." You tell her as she continues to have her face buried in her hands. "I want to believe you about that game being no big deal, but I don't trust Rainbow Dash as far as she can run in under a second when it comes to playing a game with her. She takes games way too seriously and pulls no punches on her opponents." "Yeah, she's certainly not the most compassionate sport when it comes to competition." She replies while looking down at the floor still thinking back to that dare Rainbow Dash made her do. "Why do you girls always play that game at every sleepover, by the way?" You asked. "Doesn't that game ever get old after a while, especially after all those embarrassing dares Rainbow Dash comes up with? "Yeah, it does get a little old. But the reason we always play it every sleepover is because we always ended up playing that game that Pinkie decided as a party tradition that for our sleepovers they will always involve that game being played, and Rainbow Dash convinced her to add in the rule that every person at the sleepover must participate in the game." Sunset explained as she finally stopped looking at the ground and looked at you. "Let me guess: She suggested that rule to Pinkie because Fluttershy never joined in and Rainbow Dash wanted to make her experience those truths or dares?" You asked. "Right on the nose." She replied while tapping her nose. "Yikes." You say while feeling a shiver run down your spine. "It's a bad enough thought about you guys being put through all of that. But Fluttershy? Now that's a scary thought." "Tell me about it." Sunset replies as she too feels a shiver going down her spine. She then asks you about the party again. "Hey. Do you still want to go to the party?" "I don't know." You reply while feeling conflicted. "I feel much better thanks to you for coming to check up on me, but I still have qualms about going to that party if it meant playing that game with Rainbow Dash included as a player. I would be able to have no problem about going if Rainbow Dash wouldn't be playing that game with us." "Yeah. I too don't want to see Rainbow Dash doing those kinds of embarrassing truths and dares to you." Sunset says while placing her hand on your shoulder. "Especially when just thinking about them alone was enough to cause you that anxiety attack." "Yeah." You replied while looking back on that painful experience that happened to you about twenty minutes ago. "If I'm lucky enough, Rainbow Dash might not pick me for any of her truths and dares. Or if you guys use something to randomly pick players like a spinner or something, hopefully, it won't land on me." Suddenly, Sunset's face lights up with a smile as it appears she just may have an idea to help you. "Anon! I've got an idea!" She tells you. "I know how we can keep Rainbow Dash from putting you through those truths and dares." "How?" You ask. "You'll see." She says while giving you that adorkable grin you always love to see her wear. "Okay. If you have a plan to get me out of this, then I'll be happy to go to the party." You say to her with a trusting smile. "I just hope it works." "Don't worry. It will." She says while wrapping her arm around you. "And I know just who to help us with that. In the meantime, you should get your stuff and head over to Pinkie's. The party starts in forty-eight minutes." "Okay. Thanks again, Sunset." You said with a more hopeful smile knowing that someone has your back. "You're welcome, Anon." She replies with her arm still wrapped around you. "I'd do anything for one of the greatest friends I've ever had." "Right back at ya, my favorite pretty sunshine." You said without thinking before you said what you just said. You then just instantly realized what you had just said and your eyes widened and a blush appeared on your face. Sunset gives you a similar shocked expression with the same wide-eyed look as yours with a similar blush on her face. You started to sweat with you still making that shocked face. You then look at your shoulder from your right, and you see that Sunset still has her arm around you. Sunset then gives you a bashful smile as the blush on her face got even brighter as she sort of had trouble looking you in the eye. "Anon? What did you just say?" She asked as she started twirling her hair with her index finger while still smiling at you. Just watching her twirl her hair with that bashful look was just absolutely adorable. But this was not the best time to admire Sunset's attractiveness since you just opened up a can of worms. "I... I..." You stuttered trying to give Sunset an answer. "Yes?" Sunset asks as she flutters her eyelids at you. As you had tried your best to answer Sunset's question, but you were sort of in a trance by her beauty. You never knew how much of a pretty girl Sunset is. You always did find her cute and pretty, but you had no idea she was this cute and pretty. "I said... My favorite pretty sunshine." You confess while making a huge gulp. The blush on Sunset's face got even brighter as her eyes looked away from you in embarrassment. She doesn't seem embarrassed in a bad way like she felt uncomfortable, she seemed embarrassed in a good way like she was flattered for being called pretty. She then looked back at you for a second and she noticed she still had her arm around you. She then pulled her arm away from you and then finally spoke up. "Um... I'm very flattered that you think I'm pretty, Anon." She says while smiling and trying her best to look you in the eye in a very socially awkward manner. "Of course, I think you're pretty, Sunset." You said while trying not to stutter. "You're one of the prettiest girls I've ever met." Sunset then quickly looks away from you again unable to look you in the eye and then you hear her giggling a bit. She then snaps out of her embarrassment and then remembers about the party and the fact she hasn't gotten her stuff yet. "Uh... Okay, Anon. I... I think it's about time we got our sleeping gear together." She says while trying to regain her composure while still clearly flattered by you complimenting her looks. "Remember? There's a party we need to be going to." "Oh, yeah!" You exclaimed after Sunset snapped you out of your trance. "We still need to get our stuff." "Yeah. So I'll see you at the party, Anon." She says as she gets off the couch to head out. As she leaves through your front door to go get her stuff she turns around to say one last thing: "Oh, and one more thing. In case if something goes wrong, I promise I won't look at what Rainbow Dash puts you through in the game and I won't listen to what truths she makes you reveal about yourself. And anything she makes you and me do together, it won't affect our friendship." Suddenly, your relief of being free from Rainbow Dash's plans for you in this game clasped. The possibility of this plan going wrong is the last thing you need on your conscience. But you managed to hang onto a little bit of relief with Sunset promising you that she won't witness anything embarrassing being done to you and anything Rainbow Dash makes you do with Sunset won't affect anything between you two. "Okay, thanks." You say with a smile as you waved her goodbye as she shut the door behind her on the way out. You then rushed to your room to grab your sleeping bag and your backpack. As you pack your things, you start to think about what Sunset's going to do to keep you from being selected by Rainbow Dash for the Truth or Dare game, and that person Sunset mentioned who was going to help you two. "Who was Sunset talking about?" You thought to yourself. "Eh, I'll just wait to find out instead of standing here guessing." You also couldn't help but think of Sunset's embarrassing reactions to you calling her pretty. They made your heart melt. But then you slapped yourself out of it to focus on getting to the party without being late. You then finished packing your stuff then you grabbed your backpack and sleeping bag, and then you departed from your house to head straight for the party. As you walked down the sidewalk to Pinkie's house, you began to have further thoughts about what awaited you at the party. You hope that the scroll that Pinkie showed you definitely lived up to what she was building your hopes up for in terms of the food and games. Even if one of those games was definitely something you wanted to stay away from, Sunset did say she had a plan to get you out of it, and she's a pretty smart girl who comes up with great plans that often work. It still makes you worried about everyone else witnessing what's going to happen, but Sunset is the one person you absolutely do not want to embarrass yourself in front of. So thank goodness for that. After ten minutes of walking and still a couple of minutes away from Pinkie's house, your mind begins to become free of any worry. But then something else popped into your head that you forgot about that made you worried again: Rainbow Dash made Sunset kiss Twilight. Sunset's planning to keep you from being put into Rainbow Dash's grasp, but what about herself. She's still going to be a victim. "What if Rainbow Dash makes Sunset do something to me?!" You thought to yourself while panicking. But you then had an idea that you should talk about with Sunset at the party in private. "If Sunset can stop Rainbow Dash from targeting me with truths and dares, then maybe she can do the same to herself! That way the both of us are completely safe!" With that major worry out of the way, you had one last thing to worry about, and it's the possibility of this plan of Sunset's not working. Regardless of how much you trust Sunset, things can still go wrong no matter how careful you are. As you finally make it to Pinkie's street and with only a few minutes away from her house, you pray with all your heart that nothing will go wrong and you'll still be able to show your face around Sunset with no humiliating situation to keep you from talking to her again.