//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Crushed // Story: Truth or Dare: The Most Anxious Slumber Party Ever // by TheStallionofDarkCavalry //------------------------------// As the hours pass, you and everyone else go through so many games. There were so many of them and you got through them pretty quickly that it was rather difficult to recall all of them. Regardless of how short they were, they were still very fun. The most entertaining games were the ones you remembered best. Pin the Tail on Mr. Cranky Doodle gave you the excuse to make the girls laugh with your impression of Mr. Cranky Doodle that you showed Sunset earlier. That multiplayer game The Applewood Derby was apparently a demolition derby game, which you thought was just going to be a typical soapbox derby game. And you and your friends had a food eating contest to see which one of you could eat foods of your choice the fastest. Unsurprisingly, Rainbow Dash won them all with Applejack and Sunset respectively behind her. As you all finished that food eating game, you and the girls were lying on the floor with very full stomachs. "Ugh..." Sunset groaned while holding her stomach in pain. "...Too much sushi and pizza." "Too many cheeseburgers and fried chicken wings." Rainbow Dash said as she was too having stomach pain. "Too many quesadillas and vanilla ice cream." Twilight said while trying to keep the food in her stomach. As you all lay on the floor in pain, you hear munching coming from the table with all of the desserts. You set up off the floor to see who it was, and it was unsurprisingly Pinkie Pie still at it at the desserts. As unsurprising as it was, you were in serious full stomach pain that you all couldn't help but wonder how Pinkie could still be able to eat. "HOW ARE YOU STILL EATING?!" You question Pinkie in exclamation. "That's just Pinkie being Pinkie." All the girls on the floor respond at the same time. As you all stand up, Pinkie looks at all of you still as excited as she was hours ago. Nothing slows that girl down when it comes to having fun. "Okay, everyone." Pinkie announces to all of you. "We all have one final game to play. The most exciting game which I saved the best for last so we could all spend the most time playing since it's the most popular game at our sleepovers: Truth or Dare!" There it was. The point at which there was no going back now. The one game you and everyone had to play. "And of course as a part of the game's tradition, we play the game up in my room." Pinkie said as she finished explaining about the game. "All right! Rainbow Dash said with excitement. "My favorite game of the sleepover!" "Same here." Applejack replied to Rainbow Dash with a smirk. "Out of all the games we play at these sleepovers, that one there's my favorite way to trounce your behind, Rainbow Dash." Rainbow Dash smirked back at Applejack in response. "Heh. Big talk coming from someone whose behind is always trounced at that game by yours truly." Rainbow Dash snapped back at Applejack. "Not this time, Rainbow Dash." Applejack replied. "Ah was close to beatin' you at all those games we played earlier, some of them I would have won if you hadn't cheated. And Ah still have yet to get back at you for what you made me reveal at our last sleepover when we played that game." "Give me your best shot, Apples." Rainbow Dash snapped back at Applejack again. "I'm not even that interested in targeting you this time." Rainbow Dash then looked at you with an even wider smirk, which caused you to sweat. Applejack caught her eye, and her smirk turned into a worried expression as she noticed Rainbow Dash was referring to you and noticed your nervous reaction. "Now, hold up there, Rainbow Dash." Applejack said to Rainbow Dash. "Anon is new to this game, and he's had a not so good history before he met all of us. Can't you go easy on him?" "Sorry, Applejack." Rainbow Dash responded with her arms crossed. "It wouldn't be fair for everyone else if I only went easy on him, especially when you're playing the game too. Which is why I'm afraid Anon has to be treated like an equal in the game just like the rest of you." "Fair?" You said quietly. "That's rich coming from a cheater." Rainbow Dash turned her face back at you. "What was that?" Rainbow Dash asked suspiciously. "Nothing." You replied with a straight face. "It's alright, Applejack. I don't mind Rainbow Dash throwing no punches on me during this game." "You sure?" Applejack said in a concerned tone. Sunset and Twilight both wink at you, singling that you have nothing to worry about. "I'm positive." You said with a smile. "Okay! If we're all ready for the most exciting game of the sleepover, then everyone had up to my room with all of your things that you brought!" Pinkie instructed excitedly. You picked up your stuff as everyone else did as you all are about to head up to Pinkie's room. Everyone already heads up there except for you, Rainbow Dash, Sunset, and Twilight. Just as Rainbow Dash was about to head up the stairs, and with Sunset and Twilight heading back into the kitchen when no one was looking, you decided to quickly tell Rainbow Dash something. "Hey, Rainbow Dash." You said to Rainbow Dash. "Yeah?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Sorry that I told Pinkie about what you did in front of Zephyr Breeze." You said apologetically. "It's okay, Anon." Rainbow Dash responded with a deep sigh. "They would have probably found out about it even if you didn't say anything about it." "I guess." You said back to her. "And I have to say, that was pretty gutsy about how you revealed to everyone you had a crush on Sunset." She said to with an amused face. "Why did you do that, anyway?" "So you wouldn't come up with even worse ideas for me in the Truth or Dare game." You replied while looking down at the ground. Rainbow Dash chuckled in response and ruffled your hair a bit. "I wouldn't have done anything different to you even if I was angry at you." Rainbow Dash said with a smile. "Still, I thought it was cool how you would risk yourself of embarrassment for me. I mean, I wouldn't say it was a smart thing to do, but it was pretty considerate." "If I had done that during the Truth or Dare game instead, would it have been different?" You asked. "A little bit." Rainbow Dash responded. "It would be more of in the spirit of the game to me." "Really?" You replied with a smirk. "Then I guess you won't mind me going even further with that." Rainbow Dash smirked as it seemed like to her you were offering her a challenge. "Be careful, Anon." Rainbow Dash said in a cocky tone. "Remember which awesome girl at Canterlot High that you're offering a challenge to." "Oh, I do." You responded in the same cocky tone as her." And you're not gonna look so awesome after I'm through with you. Your comment made her smirk even wider. "Is that a challenge?" She asked. "You bet." You replied. "Challenge accepted." She said back as she started climbing the stairs. "I'll see you upstairs, Anon. You're gonna regret ever challenging me to anything." "And you're gonna regret whatever it is you have planned for me." You said back to her as she continued climbing the stairs until she got to the floor above you. You then headed into the kitchen to finally see what Sunset and Twilight's plan is. As you once again entered the kitchen you were greeted with welcoming smiles from both of them. "Hey, you two. So can you finally tell me what your plan is?" "Yes, we can." Twilight responded as she walked up to you while pulling up some sort of skeleton looking app on her phone. She then held the phone over the arrow spinner that she and Sunset were using earlier, and through the phone you could see the insides of the spinner. "This app I'm using to see through this arrow spinner is an X-Ray app that I designed myself, which has the function to see through any object that my phone is in front of." As you observed the inside of the spinner, Sunset spoke up with a question about the app. "Uh, Twilight?" Sunset asked with her hand up. "That app doesn't allow you to see through people's clothes, does it?" "Why, of course it does, Sunse..." Twilight replies but then stutters as she almost finished her sentence, as she was now blushing with a wide-eyed expression. Sunset then smiles amusingly from Twilight's reaction and starts to giggle. "Looks like you've found a way to make your dates with Timber Spruce more entertaining." Sunset giggled while winking her eyebrows up and down at her. "Uh... Anyway! Can we please get back to the topic at hand?!" Twilight embarrassingly exclaims in a defensive manner. "What were you girls talking about?" You asked as you weren't paying attention to what Sunset asked Twilight. "Nothing, Anon!" Twilight replied as Sunset was giggling at her which made Twilight lightly slug her in the arm. "Anyway, you see that thing in the middle of the inside of this spinner?" She points to the part in the middle that makes the arrow spin. This arrow spinner was definitely unlike most arrow spinners you've seen in games. It was pretty huge, and that thing Twilight was pointing was something that wouldn't usually fit in a smaller arrow spinner. Your guess was that this was an arrow spinner that Sunset and Twilight made themselves while you and everyone else were in the living room. "That little metal rod is inside this spinner where nobody can see it. And by using my telekinetic powers, I can stop the spinner from landing on you and Sunset when it's Rainbow Dash's turn without anyone noticing as long as the aura from my powers is projecting from inside the spinner." As you've finally found out about the plan, you couldn't help but be impressed by it. It was a pretty good plan. You then looked at Sunset, who smiled back at you with thumbs up. "Thanks to our plan, there's no way you'll..." Twilight was then interrupted by a notification sound on her phone. "Ooh! Timber Spruce texted me!" As she immediately became distracted, Sunset whispered something in your ear. "She gets very easily distracted when Timber Spruce texts her." Sunset whispers to you. "So much so that she totally forgets about what she was in the middle of a second ago." "I see." You whispered back to her. As Twilight finished texting to Timber Spruce, she then gets back to finishing her statement. "Now where was I?" Twilight asked herself aloud. "Oh, yeah. So you don't have to worry about those truths and dares Rainbow Dash may put you and Sunset through." "I was actually going to say something regarding Rainbow Dash making Sunset do any of those embarrassing dares involving me." You responded to Twilight. "I'm glad you thought ahead, Twilight." Twilight nodded with a smile. You then suddenly realized something else that immediately crossed your mind. "Hold on, Twilight." You said. "What about you? Can't you also stop yourself from being picked by Rainbow Dash?" "I'm afraid I can't, Anon." Twilight sighed as you asked her this. "With me stopping Rainbow Dash from landing on you and Sunset, and considering how long we play that game, we can't let anyone get suspicious about why Rainbow Dash isn't able to randomly select anyone of the three of us and allow them to put two and two together that I'm using my powers since using powers is forbidden when we play games." "Okay." You responded as you once again experienced an anxious feeling. "I'm not worried about anyone else putting me through anything that would affect my friendship with Sunset, but I still have this unexplainable anxious feeling." You then felt a hand placed on your shoulder, which was Sunset's hand as she looks at you with a friendly smile. "Don't worry, Anon." She said to you. "Nothing about our friendship will change because of this game. We'll always be friends and nothing more." "I still hope you're right. Because I..." You replied as what Sunset said seemed to have caught your attention, but not in a good way. "What do you mean that we'll always be friends and nothing more?" "What I mean is that I think of you as a friend, and that's it." Sunset responded honestly. "You're one of the best friends I've ever had and that's all that I think of you. I don't have any romantic feelings for you or anything. And nothing about this game will ever affect the friendship that me and you have right now, nor anything else." As Sunset said this, you suddenly felt a sharp pain in your chest that caused you to experience some sadness inside you. "I-it won't?" You asked as your voice cracked from the sadness you were experiencing. "Nope." Sunset replied as she shook her head. "To be honest, Anon. In terms of relationships, you always seemed more like the friend type to me than the boyfriend type. O-of course, I'm not saying no other girl will think of you as a boyfriend type. I'm saying that I personally don't and only see you as a friend. You feel the same way about me, don't you?" "Y-yes I do." You said as your eyes dotted to the side as you weren't doing the best job to hide the fact that Sunset had unintentionally hurt your feelings, though it doesn't seem like Sunset caught on about how you were feeling. So you felt like it would be best to keep a straight face and not let Sunset know you do have different feelings about her. "Ever since you and I have been friends, I've never had any other different thoughts about you." "Good. I'm glad that you feel the same way, Anon. And I can't wait till this night is over so that we can get to Tirek's Revenge tomorrow." Sunset said happily as she picked up the arrow spinner while also grabbing her stuff. "I'm gonna go set things up in Pinkie's room. I'll see you two upstairs." "See you upstairs." Twilight said back to Sunset as Sunset headed upstairs for Pinkie's room. Ten seconds after Sunset left the kitchen, Twilight picked up her stuff as it was just about that time for everyone to be in Pinkie's room for the game. As she was about to head out of the kitchen, she noticed you were still sitting down at the table. "Hey, Anon? Are you coming?" Twilight asked. "Y-yeah, I'm coming." You responded while trying your best to keep Twilight from reading your sadness. "I just need five more minutes down here to prepare myself for this." "Okay." Twilight responded as she then looked at you with a concerned look on her face. "By the way, did Sunset say something that bothered you?" "No, why?" You said. "Well, when Sunset said she only thought of you as a great friend and nothing more, you reacted rather sadly." Twilight explained to you. "I was just a little surprised, that's all." You responded as you could feel even more sadness build up inside of you. "I don't think of Sunset as more than a best friend either. "Okay. I really hope you're telling the truth and not bottling anything up." Twilight said while still looking concerned but also suspicious at the same time. "I'm gonna head upstairs. You come when you're ready." "Okay." You replied while still having that fake smile as Twilight exited the kitchen and headed upstairs. As soon as she left, you got up off the chair to get yourself a drink of water. As you drink your water, you once again thought back to the sunset. Only this time, your thoughts about it were not pleasant. It's as if all those positive thoughts and feelings you got from that sunset had vanished, and all you were experiencing were negative thoughts and feelings. Instead of thinking about Sunset being bashful, you thought about her saying that she only thinks of you as a friend, and your feelings felt like emptiness and sadness. As if you weren't sad enough, that positive sunset gazing added on top of you're already sad state, making you even more sad. You then began to have tears forming in your eyes with them rolling down off of your face, which pretty much indicates you are heartbroken. At that point, you just couldn't hold it in anymore and started to cry. You tried your best to cry quietly so no one upstairs would hear you. As you continued to cry that exact same sentence from Sunset continued to cross your mind. "Nothing about our friendship will change because of this game. We'll always be friends and nothing more." Sunset said in your head as you thought back to it. As that thought crossed your mind while your crying wasn't over yet, you also began to think about everything else that was going on that you were either worried about or was making you upset. All of which makes you say one thing in your head. "I wish I had never came to this sleepover." You said in your head while crying over being rejected by Sunset. "I wish I had just stayed home and stuck with my original plan. And I wish I hadn't complimented Sunset's looks and looked at the sunset in the sky." As you sit alone in the kitchen, you waited until you were done crying before you head up to Pinkie's room so nobody will see you like this. After five minutes of quiet crying to yourself, you decided it was time to head to Pinkie's room to start the game. Before you head upstairs, you tried to reassure yourself once again. "It's okay. I can handle Sunset not loving me back." You said in your head as you slowly climbed the stairs. "I just need to keep my feelings for her to myself, and then after tonight I'll just wait for awhile until my feelings for her eventually fade away and I'll go back to only thinking of her as a friend." You then made it upstairs and you approached the entrance to Pinkie's room. Before you opened the door, you gave yourself one last reassurance. "First things first, I just need to get through this game. After that, everything will be fine." You then turned the doorknob to open the door and enter Pinkie's room. As you entered Pinkie's room, all of the girls were talking to each other as it seemed like they were discussing about the game, particularly Rainbow Dash and Applejack as they were once again escalating their rivalry when it comes to games. The only two who weren't part of the discussion was Sunset and Twilight, as it looked like they were having their own discussion. Twilight sees you walk in, and Sunset turns around to see you as she had her back turned while conversing with Twilight. Sunset then stands up and walks to you with her usual bright smile. "Hey, Anon." She greets you. "Pinkie said just put your stuff anywhere you like." "Okay." You responded as you set your backpack down near a wall and you rolled out your sleeping bag which was a large black double sleeping bag. Sunset's eyes widened from looking at it. "Wow." Sunset said with surprise. "That's a huge sleeping bag. More than one person could sleep in that." "I have a very large bed at home." You responded. "I like having the extra space since it gives me more room for my limbs to spread out so they don't go numb in my sleep. Which is why my parents bought me this for whenever I sleep outside or at someone else's house." "Those are some pretty nice parents you have." Sunset said with a smile. "Yeah. They're really nice people." You said while looking down with a depressed look. "But too bad they're either working or on business trips that I don't get to spend much time with them." As you said this, Sunset's smile changed into a sad look as she places her hand on your shoulder while looking at you. "But it doesn't matter." You said while looking back up at her with a reassured smile "I've got you all as friends and I've never felt as lonely as I did then. I don't need my parents to keep me company when I have you guys around." You then kneeled down and patted down on your sleeping bag. "Go on. Feel the fabric." Sunset kneeled down to feel the fabric with her hand. As she moved her hand up and down the covers of the sleeping bag, her eyes began to feel heavy with her smile becoming even wider. She then laid herself down on the sleeping bag as it looked like she was about to hit the hay. "Wow." Sunset cooed with a peaceful look on her face. "I feel like I'm in heaven. I could actually go to sleep right now." "Well, too bad you can't enjoy heaven right now since we've got to deal with the opposite from that game we have to play." You replied with an amused smile as you shook Sunset out of her relaxation. "You'll enjoy the game. Trust me." Sunset said as she set up while you and her sat on your sleeping bag. "By the way, Anon. There's something I wanted to ask you." "What is it?" You asked. "A few minutes ago back when you and me and Twilight were downstairs, did anything happen after me or Twilight left the kitchen?" Sunset asked while looking you with concern. You didn't have the guts to tell Sunset how you really feel about her since you were too shy, and you also felt like it wouldn't make a difference if you told her how you felt other than another rejection from her. So you had to stick with your plan with hiding your feelings from Sunset until you would be able to get over her and forget that you had feelings for her. "Oh, nothing happened." You said with a straight face. "I just needed a bit more time to mentally prepare for the game." Sunset raised a curious eyebrow while crossing her arms like she wasn't buying your fib. "You sure?" Sunset asked suspiciously. "Because while you were still downstairs, Twilight told me that you looked sad after I said something to you." You looked over at Twilight who was looking at you and Sunset conversing. Like Sunset, she was looking at you with a concerned look. She then looks away from you and then goes back to looking at something she was reading on her phone, which was probably a text from Timber Spruce. You then looked back at Sunset. "Is she right?" Sunset continued to ask. "Did I say something to make you feel sad?" This was starting to get difficult. You've lied to people before, and it was usually pretty easy. But with Sunset, that's a different story considering how observant she can be, especially when it comes to knowing how you feel about things. She was definitely quite gifted when it comes to empathy, which at this moment was bad news for you. And regardless of how much you think you can't fool Sunset, you still continued to forward your lie to her the best that you could in hoping she would believe you. Though with your attempts to hide your feelings from Sunset making you feel more desperate, you were starting to lose your straight attitude. "Sunset, I wasn't sad about anything. And you did nothing wrong." You said as you started to lose your straight tone and attitude. "Twilight just wanted to make sure that I was okay before she left me alone, and that's it. Whatever she told you, it's not a big deal in the slightest. End of story. Now will you please drop it?" As you finished your sentence, Sunset's suspicious face turned into a scowl. She definitely knows now you're not telling her the truth. "Anon?" She asks in a serious tone. "What aren't you telling me?" You started to feel guilty about lying to Sunset. You didn't like doing it, but you had to. As you tried to come up with ideas to keep yourself from spilling the beans, you came up with one that will hopefully divert attention from you long enough until it's time to play Truth or Dare. But to do so, you have to be only partially honest about what happened back in the kitchen. "Okay, Sunset." You said to her while dropping your act. "I was sad about something in the kitchen and I'll confess about it. But first, let me ask you something. Other than because you care about me, why do you want to know so much?" "M-me?" She stuttered while looking a bit off guard. She then started to blush as she looked back at Twilight, and Twilight gave a determined look at Sunset while tilting her head at you like she was nonverbally telling her to do something. You didn't know what it was, so you just waited for Sunset to continue. She then looked back at you to answer your question. Though the blush on her face seemed to have gotten brighter and she was having trouble looking at you in the eye just like the way she looked bashful back at your house. "Well... Y-you see, Anon. I have something to confess, too." "You do?" You questioned her with a raised eyebrow. "Yes." She responded while still looking at you with her bashful face that was then starting to form sweat on her forehead while still being unable to look at you in the eyes. "I wasn't exactly being honest with you about something either. And the other reason why I wanted to know what I said that made you feel sad was because I wanted to know if you had any feel..." "OKAY, EVERYONE!" Pinkie announced at the top of her lungs. "LET'S GET THIS SUPER DUPER EXCITING GAME STARTED!!!" Everyone in the room including Twilight gathered around the arrow spinner that was in the middle of the room. Pinkie's loud announcement interrupted what Sunset was trying to confess to you. "Well, looks the game is finally ready." You said to Sunset. "Don't worry. After the game, you can tell me what you wanted to confess. Come on. Let's join them." "Oh, okay." Sunset said while looking down at the floor with a sad expression as you both sat down in the circle everyone formed. She sat down in the circle between Rarity and Applejack while still looking down at the floor with sadness. As you sat down in the circle between Applejack and Pinkie Pie, you noticed you were sitting across from Rainbow Dash, and she was smirking at you. You smirked back at her knowing that you'll be safe from her thanks to Sunset and Twilight. "Let the games begin." You confidently said to yourself in your head.