//------------------------------//
// Of Plushies and Video Games 
// Story: Leap of Faith 
// by J3sterking 
//------------------------------//

Rainbow Dash stepped into the house, right behind Sunset. She heard a light humming coming from what she assumed was the kitchen. Luna waved them in, adding, "I'll let Tia know that we have a guest for dinner. Make yourself at home, Miss Dash."  

"Thanks," Rainbow said awkwardly. "You know, I felt it was a little weird, she's never asked if I wanted a ride home before..."

"Please," Sunset said quietly. "You wanna play video games? Let's go play some goddamn video games." She stopped, took a deep breath, then said, "Sorry."

"No worries, I'd be embarrassed, too," Rainbow said. "And you're much newer to 'friendship' than I am, so I don't blame ya."

Sunset stared at her. "Are we friends?" she asked suddenly.

Rainbow shrugged. "Close enough, am I right?"

Sunset chuckled. "Alright, my room's up here." She walked past a door, saying, "That's the bathroom—one of 'em, anyway. If you need anything, just ask one of us."

Rainbow paused, looking at a massive, pink teddy bear in an army helmet standing besides the staircase.

"That is Sargent Home Guard, and we do not make fun of him in this household," Sunset said in a warning tone.

"...Right," Rainbow said. She herself had her fuzzy tortoise slippers, and did understood the keeping of a few things that were less cool than her other things.

Sunset pushed open the door to her room, blatantly ignoring the stop sign mounted to the front of the door. "Okay, uh, here we are."

Her room was actually cleaned up nicely. A few miscellaneous portraits hung up on the walls, the bedsheets were made, and not a single random undergarment was strewn across the floor. No, all her dirty laundry was stuffed neatly into a hamper at the side of the room.  

Otherwise, a small desk was set up with a laptop and a camera, as well as another stuffed animal—a massive dragon plushie, head hanging off the top bunk, and long, pink tongue stretching to the ground.  

With a nonchalant gesture, Sunset slung her jacket onto the bed. "Um," she said, "I don't know what I'm doing. I've never done much multiplayer, 'cept in Aunt Luna's room."

"Do you two play together often?" Rainbow asked.

"Not...anymore." Sunset paused, standing over the computer. "She stopped inviting me over once I enrolled at CHS."

"Aw, sounds rough," Rainbow said.

"It was her way of telling me she thought I wasn't making the best choices," Sunset said, clicking a few buttons on her computer. "She knew I'd dodge the accusations if she went and talked to me, so...it was the only option she really had."

"Well, I think her goal was to make you get your act together," Rainbow said.

"I got that," Sunset snapped. "A lot of people told me I was a horrible person, Dash. I...just ignored them." Sunset closed the computer, then stepped over and sat on her bed. She hugged her knees to her chest, staring at the wall.

Rainbow sat on the bed next to her. "Well," she said, "are you listening to them now?"

Sunset hesitated. "I think?"

"Then better late than never," Rainbow pronounced. "Come on. You even gave Fluttershy her lunch money back. In front of Luna, no less. You're making huge progress already. So quit worrying and beating yourself up about it! Last thing I want to do is go and fetch you from the roof again."

Sunset chuckled. "Don't worry, that's not happening any time soon. Not on purpose, anyway."

"Well, that's good to hear," Rainbow said, picking up a controller from where it sat. "So, whaddya wanna play?"

Sunset reopened the computer, allowing Rainbow Dash a brief glimpse of a program called, "VRoid Studio" before she opened up a folder with all her games. "I've played most of these at least once each," Sunset said. "I have some co-op on here, if that's your preference."

"If I play with Fluttershy, it's normally co-op," Rainbow admitted. "Let's see...Them's Fighting Herds was kinda neat. Sombra's Door? Hmm...oh! Daring Quest! That one's great!"

"Really? I always thought it kind of relied on you having too much knowledge of the books," Sunset said, opening the game up.

"Well, I mean, it is a game about Daring Do," Rainbow scoffed. "It's not like you're here for any reason but Daring Do."

"I was here for a ruins-diving, puzzle-based platformer," Sunset said casually. "I got a little ways in, but it just wasn't that fun."

"Wait...do...did you read any of the Daring Do books?"

"Not a one." Sunset raised an eyebrow at her. "Did you?"

"All of 'em! Several times!" Rainbow burst out. She paused. "What, are you surprised that I like them?"

"I'm surprised you know how to read," Sunset replied as the game booted up.  "You can be Daring Do, if you want."

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash burst out, clicking the buttons on her controller.

"What? Are you gonna argue?"

"A...a little," Rainbow Dash countered. "Well, I'm surprised you know how to be nice, so there!"

There was a moment's awkward silence.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Sunset said, smiling.

"Oh, ha ha," Rainbow muttered. "Let's shut up and play, alright?"

There was a moment's pause.

"Rainbow, the multiplayer option doesn't come in until you reach the town," Sunset reminded her. "So...like...get a move on?"

"Riiiight," Rainbow Dash said. "I never played this one in multiplayer."

"Me, neither," Sunset admitted. "It was after I stopped playing with Aunt Luna."

"Why do you have so many games, anyway?"

"Um...well..." Sunset squirmed uncomfortably. "I..."

Rainbow Dash paused to give her a raised eyebrow, before jumping over an over-dramatic pit trap with flaming spikes at the bottom.

"I stream them," Sunset admitted slowly.  

"Really?" Rainbow Dash said, chuckling. "That's cool, actually. You stream under your real name? Maybe I'll stick around to watch one sometime."

"I...was gonna actually skip this Saturday," Sunset admitted. "I do it every once in a while, no one will think twice about it. And..." 

"You wanna break?"

"You saw me earlier today, Dash," Sunset said with a sour chuckle. "Whaddya think?"

"Everyone needs breaks, every once in a while," Rainbow replied. "Even me! I actually just came back from a vacation in viva Las Pegasus with some buddies on mine. Here we are, you're up!"

"Yeah, nice to get away from the royal bitch queen of CHS, eh?" Sunset began testing the buttons on her controller, making sure they were all in working order.

"I never said that!"

Sunset raised an eyebrow, her little character doing a jump.  

"Okay, so I might have done so once or twice," Rainbow admitted. "How'd you know?"

"It was more popular amongst the fouler-language crowd at CHS than 'Biggest Meanie'," Sunset said. "It says something that I can look at you, and by your dress sense alone, tell that you say 'fuck' at least once a week."

Rainbow scoffed. "Yeah, only once a--" The Daring Do sprite leapt into the air, clutching the foot that had landed directly on top of the spikes. "Fuck."

Sunset grinned, making the same jump without hitting the spikes. Her grin faltered. "Hey, is there no crouch button?"

"Nope."

"Damn." Sunset looked over to stare at her for a second, then added, "Do you...want to try hanging out again sometime?"

"If you're up for it," Rainbow replied. "Maybe Fluttershy will come over next time, too."

"Do you think she would? I mean..."

"Sunset, please. I get that you are a bitch. Please, understand that I can also be a bitch sometimes. Everyone is a bitch sometimes. The fact that you keep saying it every five seconds does not make you more of a bitch, it just means you're depressed." Rainbow set down the controller, reaching over and hugging Sunset. "And that's what friends are for, right?"

"You have them. You tell me," Sunset chuckled.

"You have some, too, now."

A knock came at the door, causing them both to jump. "Dinner's ready," Luna's voice chimed in.

"Be right there," Sunset said. "Please tell me my face isn't streaked with tears," she said.  

"Uh...a few." Sunset hurriedly wiped them off her face. "Ugh, last thing I want to do is cry in front of those two right now."

Rainbow laughed. "Yeah, crying in front of parents never ends well," she admitted. "But it does feel nice to have people you can talk to about it."

"I suppose," Sunset admitted.  

Rainbow Dash stood up. "Now, I'm hungry, so let's go eat."

Sunset nodded. "Hope you like vegetarian. Mom doesn't eat meat at all, I don't eat pork or beef, and it's Mom's turn to cook anyway."

"Fluttershy only eats the vege, too," Rainbow said. "It's not my favorite, but I can pack it down just as well as meat."

"Please don't 'pack anything down'. You are a person, not a barbarian."

"Um—wouldn't barbarians be people, too?" Rainbow asked hesitantly.  

Sunset shrugged. "Depends on your definition, I suppose." She marched for the door, seemingly intent on leaving her jacket on the bed like it belonged there.  

Ignoring her previous statement, Rainbow Dash knocked on the dragon plushie's head. "Does this one have a name, too?"

Sunset turned, looking at it. "It's kinda funny, but I never asked. It was there when they gave me the room, and I didn't think twice about it." Without further ado, and like she hadn't just dropped a miniature bombshell on Rainbow Dash, she strode from the room.  

Of course, she didn't exactly look like Celestia or Luna, so hearing her mention—or, almost mention, anyway—that she was an orphan wasn't the biggest surprise.

Or shouldn't have been, anyway.

With one last look at the dragon plush, Rainbow left the room.