The Rainbow Dash native to the human world walked back towards her music room, trying to shake off the adrenaline and wiping the... 'sweat' off of her face.
Okay. Okay, focus, Dash! The other Dash has kicked a dragon in the face! Or at least, so Twilight told me. And I've slammed a giant monstrous plant mouth thing into the ground! She believes I can handle this! I can handle this!
Dash paused, leaning against a wall and trying to let the anxiety bleed off.
How am I going to handle this?
Dash facepalmed. It seemed so simple; just clear the air with Sunset, right? No problems here! Simple! Easy peasy! Terrifying!
How do I even approach something like this? I can't just go up to her and be like 'hey, I know we put this bad thing behind us, but let's talk about it again, because I feel like I've been a bad friend', can I? Wait, if I feel like I've been a bad friend, what does that say about the others? Am I saying that they were bad friends, too?
Dash paused, rubbing her face. She couldn't find a way to rationalize around that issue; the others had been right alongside her, so what set them apart? The pony Dash had to have thought so, too, so why did she come for just her?
She thinks I can handle... what do I even do? Yell at all of them? And myself? She thinks I can handle all of this?
Dash groaned in frustration, flailing her arms a bit as she paced back and forth, anxiety turning to frustration. She nearly jumped out of her skin when the bell rang, signalling the end of the period, and the start of the lunch period. Dash realized she had been standing outside of the music room door for a few minutes, as her friends filed out towards the cafeteria with passing greetings.
"Sunset, wait up. Can we talk for a minute?"
Sunset Shimmer turned around, her congenial smile offset by a bit of visible anxiety.
I must look pretty spooked. Why did I even stop her?! This is a stupid time to do this!
"Sure, Rainbow. What's up?"
Why did that other-me do this to me?!
Dash fidgeted a bit, and then froze as she realized something.
If I found out that some other me had screwed up like this, I'd be all over them. It doesn't matter what the other girls do – that's their business.
Dash gestured towards the hallway away from their other friends with her thumb, and they began walking.
I need to deal with my own mistakes first.
"Sunset, it's about the Anon-a-Miss thing. And... a lot of other stuff, I guess. I wanted to tell you that I'm really... y'know, I'm sorry about that."
Sunset frowned, glancing away for a second, before looking back.
"Rainbow, it's okay. You don't need to apologize, you had good reason to think I would do something like that. I mean, we both know that I would have—"
"Stop that! That's not cool!"
Dash had literally grabbed Sunset's shoulders and stopped her. Sunset, for her part, looked surprised and anxious, but paused to listen.
I get why the other 'me' came over, now.
"Look, no friend of any Rainbow Dash should doubt that someone has their back! Ever!"
That's why she came over here. That's why I'd go over there!
"What? Dash, I don't doubt that!"
If I screw up and hurt my friends, I'd want to get a good kick in the stomach! Which I did! It still hurts and everything!
"You should, though! When you needed someone to stand by you, I didn't! I wanted to, but I didn't!"
In her haste, Rainbow hadn't realized the full effect her words were having on Sunset, who was now starting to hyperventilate and mist at the eyes. Sunset clasped Rainbow's elbows, punctuating the weight of her words.
"Rainbow, that was my fault! I forfeited that trust, so I have to earn it back! You shouldn't feel bad about that!"
Sunset was now crying openly, though she was keeping her voice mostly under control.
I'd want a kick to the stomach, because it hurts a lot less than seeing that does.
"I feel bad about saying you were my friend, Sunset!"
Hey! That other Rainbow Dash told me just what to say! Awesome!
Sunset looked horrified. Rainbow suddenly realized what she had actually just said.
"Wait! Not like that! I mean I feel bad about saying you were my friend, and not living up to it! I'm not saying I regret being friends! No, the... opposite of that thing!"
"What... what are you talking about?"
"Sunset, I didn't say I was friends with a demon who tried to mind-control the school. I said I was friends with you; I would never be friends with a monster, so what does that make you?"
Sunset shifted uncomfortably, glancing around.
"N... not a monster?"
"Not a monster! And I don't know what was going on with you before, but if I say you're my friend, then you should be able to trust me to... uh... trust you. Wait, isn't that, like... the whole idea of friendship?"
"I... I guess so? I mean, Twilight would probably have more to say about it than that..."
"Wait, it doesn't even matter. No matter what the word normally means, here's what it means to me; if you were to try to hurt everyone tomorrow, I'd be betrayed, Sunset. That means I can't go around acting like I figured it would turn out that way, like I expected it; I don't. No more from you than from anyone!"
"But I already did try to hurt everyone, once! How can you really not be suspicious of me, going forward?"
"I... I don't know! I'm just not! I can't be. I have to not be."
Sunset sniffled, looking downwards.
"Because Twilight asked you to look after me, right?"
"No! Heck no! She's got nothing to do with this! I couldn't be your friend for someone else – I want to be your friend, that's my choice!"
Rainbow found herself facepalming, trying to figure out how she had managed, while walking in a straight line, to step on every trap in this conversational minefield – a metaphor she was subconsciously very proud of. She almost fell over when Sunset suddenly hugged her around the midriff. Rainbow tensed up instinctively, but slowly let a hand rest on Sunset's back. They stood in silence for a few seconds before Rainbow spoke.
"Sunset, I don't know why you did the things you did... but I think I'd like to. Maybe I trust you now because you weren't as bad as you thought you were to begin with."
Sunset broke free, backing up a step. Her expression was a mixture of shock and sadness.
"But you saw what I did! I was a monster!"
"That's funny, I seem to recall you specifically saying you weren't a monster, remember? To Twilight. Right before you let her dog go."
Sunset paused, but Rainbow pressed on.
"That wasn't the only thing, either; I was thinking about, like... every time you flipped out. I noticed you got angry when you saw us being, like, friends, especially with Twilight."
"That doesn't excuse what I did!"
"I guess not. It just changes what it says about you."
Sunset just stared at Rainbow for a few seconds, and then smiled.
"I guess you're right. When did you become all... Princess of Friendship-y, Dash?"
"Oh, y'know. It's just a trait of being so awesome; I put, like, 210% effort into things."
Sunset snickered.
"Right... well, we should probably head to the cafeteria before the period's out."
"Oh, right! Yeah. Let's do that."
"And Dash... thank you."
~
Meanwhile, around the corner of the hallway, two Equestrian natives were straining their ears to listen.
"And Dash... thank you."
Twilight and Dash heard footsteps retreating down the hallway. Both breathed a sigh of relief, and then Twilight spoke up, rubbing her forehead.
"I can't believe she just... ran into that situation like that! I mean, I can believe it, because that's what you did, but... Dash, how did you know this would work out so well?!"
Rainbow Dash shrugged, and put on her biggest, goofiest grin.
"Well, my friends are awesome, so I figured her friends were awesome, and when everybody's awesome, how could it fail?"
"... So what you're saying is... you trusted your – I mean, her – friends to just work it all out? Because you trust... your..."
Twilight made a few somewhat awkward flowchart motions with her hands, trailing off.
"Yep! I mean, it's what I'd want her to do in my shoes. Or... wait... what I'd want to do if I were – you get what I mean! Being able to move past stuff is like, all kinds of what friendship is all about, right?"
Twilight smirked, and then smiled genuinely. She adopted that same imperious voice from before.
"This point goes to Rainbow Dash; truly, I am upstaged."
"YES!"
Rainbow Dash did a small victory dance as the two made their way back to the portal.
"I guess you were right about us not needing to come back after all, Dash."
Dash frowned, rubbing the back of her head.
"Yeah... I guess. I was honestly planning to do it anyway, though. I felt bad putting all of that on me—on her, I mean."
The two paused in front of the statue.
"Oh-ho, Rainbow Dash has a soft side after all!"
"Well yeah. Not all of us can be soft on the inside like you, Twilight."
"Huh?"
"Not all of us can be so... egg-like."
Dash dove into the portal laughing before Twilight could respond. Twilight, for her part, just facepalmed, and laughed.
-FIN