Across the years of being Twilight's friend, Rainbow Dash had seen many weird things.
This was by far the weirdest.
"Marco!" she called out. Splashes of pink appeared in her vision, tinting the world.
Distantly, through the dizzying maze of distorted colors, she heard—saw pink? She wasn't quite sure--"Polo!"
Rainbow Dash sighed. "How did you even do this, anyway?" she asked, watching the light turn slightly...darker? Purpler.
Pink appeared off in the distance, past the shifting, eternal corridors of mirrors and glass. "Um...I don't know? I'd blame Discord, if he'd been remotely nearby."
Rainbow looked down, seeing drops of red forming at her feet. "Orange you glad for that," she muttered. With nothing better to do, she trotted after the distant colors that she thought represented Twilight.
A splash of light red distantly appeared, but it was still predominantly pink. "Not funny," she said. "I'm trying to figure out how to get out of here, just so you know."
More red drops appeared at Rainbow's feet. "I don't think we should be here in the first place," she muttered.
A yellow light appeared. "Are you mad at me?" Twilight asked.
Rainbow flinched. "Of course not!" she lied, staring at the few yellow spots in front of her. What was up with the colors here? "Just a little frazzled. We're cool."
The light in the distance turned light blue, with some pink. "Okay. Don't worry, I'm figuring this out."
Rainbow kicked herself. It wasn't Twilight's fault. She shouldn't really be mad at her. Neither of them knew what that weird prism-thingie was. And...now they were inside it.
Because Twilight decided to magic it.
Rainbow Dash lifted up her hoof, watching little red spots drip off of it. The air around her still had some yellow, yet the yellow color did not mix with the red if when the two touched.
"Hey, are you moving towards me?" Twilight asked form the distant purple spot.
"Not quickly," Rainbow shouted back.
"I can see that you're moving...if that is you," Twilight said. A brief pulse of red light rippled through the pink spot. "Everything else is white, so I'm assuming that splotch of colors is you."
"I'm assuming that the pink spot is you?" Rainbow called out, watching a brief blue spot appear near her.
"Are you shouting?"
"Whaddya think?" Rainbow belted out. More red spots dripped off her hoof. It kind of looked like the red used in rainbows.
"I don't think you need to. I heard you just fine when you were muttering! And my own voice isn't raised at all, I’m talking quietly."
"One blessing anyway," Rainbow muttered.
"...I can still hear you."
Rainbow winced. "Sorry," she said, watching another pulse of yellow in the air. "Hey, do you think time is passing outside?"
"No way of knowing," Twilight answered, yellow and purple shimmering around her. "If Celestia or Luna find this, they could probably get us out."
The wall nearest Rainbow Dash flared with a bright red light. "That's cool," she said. She was going to miss the performance, absolutely. Of the Wonderbolts, she'd been picked for this showing, and now, she was going to miss it--
"Hey, I think you're getting closer!" Twilight cried ecstatically, flashing green. "That red is getting brighter."
Rainbow hesitated, staring at it, watching a few yellow-orange spots drip off of it. "Eeeyup," she said. "It's beginning to kill whatever's left of my vibe, because it keeps growing."
"Hmm..." The pink brightened, with blue highlights running through it. A psychedelic nightmare, which should have been hurting Rainbow's eyes by now.
She supposed it was a bright side, but not nearly enough to upset the fact that she should be helping Spitfire with the show prep! At this point, they'd have at least figured out that Rainbow was gonna miss the show, so they'd be getting another pony in to replace her.
Rainbow gritted her teeth, forcing herself to move forward.
"I can't use my magic, so that's not getting us out," Twilight said, still radiating pinks and blues. "Can you fly? Is that an option?"
Rainbow bit back a retort. It wasn't Twilight's fault...it really wasn't... "I haven't tried yet. I'm trying to be cautious about that."
"Since when are you the cautious one?" Twilight chuckled, green mixing with the blues and pinks again.
"I dunno, since when you are the one who decides to go around activating random magical artifacts that we don't know anything about?" Rainbow snapped. Red flared up again, and at this point it really was hurting her eyes. She shielded her face, gritting her teeth.
"It...it's sounding like you're mad at me," Twilight said, the green and blue fading away. What was left was deep purple, not like it was before.
"Oh, it's nothing, just that I'm supposed to be at today's Wonderbolts show, but instead, I get stuck inside a gosh-darn magic-artifact...bah! I hate this, Twilight! I've never missed a show before, you know that?"
A pulse of yellow rippled through the violet. "I-I'm trying as best as I can!" Twilight answered hurriedly.
"Oh, sure. If you'd done that in the first place, maybe you would've been more careful before screwing around with this thing!" Rainbow Dash angrily bucked a wall, sending a cascade of red rippling throughout the mirror maze. "Or maybe you wouldn't have tried stealing the stupid pearl from the hippogriffs, nearly making us all drown! Thrown us from a pirate ship, leaving our new friends to die to Tempest! Heck, let's go a step back—maybe you wouldn't have switched our Cutie Marks and nearly ruin ALL of our lives because you were messing around with some random spell of unknown purpose!" Rainbow shouted out. She stomped hard, sending red cascading away from her. She panted, nostrils flaring.
There was a moment's silence. Then...another. And another. Rainbow frowned, watching the colors shift to a yellow, then darker, and darker...quickly, all that was left around Twilight was a deep black.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
Rainbow paused, anger subsiding, watching the darkness slowly spread out, as she listened to Twilight sob.
The red faded, almost immediately, replaced by a pale yellow limited only to Rainbow's immediate vicinity. Rainbow burst out her wings, flying forward at max speed.
It seemed in less time than it should have taken, she collided face-first with Twilight, sending them both sprawling.
"No, no, no!" she quickly said, standing over the Princess. "I'm sorry...I'm—that wasn't fair of me! I shouldn't have said that! I don't blame you for all that, Twilight! I'm sorry I lost my temper, okay? Please...please don't cry."
Twilight stared up at her, tears causing her coat to fall down flat. "I'm-I'm so sorry," she said. "I never thought.."
"I never think at all!" Rainbow shouted. "Please...please don't cry because of what I said...I didn't mean, it...I'm sorry..."
Twilight hugged her, hooves wrapped around Rainbow's shoulders, wings stretching around her. Rainbow hugged her back. "You're awesome," Rainbow said. "Sure, I get mad...sometimes...but...I'm sorry. You'll forever by my friend, Twilight."
Twilight hugged her tighter. "I'm sorry...I'll get us out of this mess as soon as I can." Blue and green spread around them, cutting through the inky black.
"Of course. You always do." Rainbow gave her a grin.
The blue and green were joined by red, orange, yellow, and purple...in a circle around them. The black and the white retreated, as the rainbow spread outwards, making a familiar sound.
The next thing Rainbow Dash knew, she was sprawled on the floor of Twilight's castle, with shards of broken glass sitting in front of her. Rainbow blinked, standing up and stretching her wings.
The pedestal the stupid prism had been on was knocked over, and the prism itself shattered into a million pieces. Rainbow looked across from it, meeting Twilight's gaze.
"Or...magic of friendship-ex-machina," Rainbow chuckled. "That also gets us out of a few scrapes, eh?"
Twilight tackled her in a hug. "I'm so sorry," she said.
"Hey, it's one show," Rainbow said. "My friendship with you is more important than my entire career with the Wonderbolts...and I'm sorry I even remotely implied otherwise..."
The door burst open, Starlight Glimmer stepping into the room. "What the hay happened here?" she asked, staring at the broken glass.
"Uh—mistakes were made," Twilight admitted. "How long ago did we bring the prism in? I need to know how much time we were trapped in there."
"That—that was around an hour ago," Starlight said slowly.
Rainbow failed to keep her face from wincing.
"I'm sorry...next time, I promise to be more cautious, okay, Rainbow?" Twilight said, looking at Rainbow.
Rainbow chuckled. "Like I get to complain about you diving into something too fast," she said, reaching out a hoof. "Friends?"
Twilight smiled back, then bumped the hoof. "Friends."