In the Days That Followed

by shallow15

Noon

Sunset skipped lunch that day. Despite the cathartic conversation with Applejack the day before, she had awoken feeling as low as she had before. When lunch came around, she found her appetite was gone. Plus, Twilight hadn't given her an answer on where their friendship stood, and Sunset didn't want to deal with the awkwardness of seeing her in the cafeteria.

She pushed through one of the side doors of the school, emerging onto the football field. She walked out to the far end zone. As she got closer, she swallowed at the sight of the large trench gouged in the grass. The goalpost was bent at an odd angle, casting a crooked shadow over her.

She came to the stop at the large circle of burned, dead grass near the end zone. She looked down at it, swallowing again as the memory of the previous Saturday night came to her.

“Help me! It hurts!” Her voice was high and piercing. Sunset reached out her own hand and thrust it into the column. She flew back almost immediately as the magic zapped her hard enough to knock her off her feet.

She got back up and stepped forward again, but found herself being held back, as Twilight and Rainbow grabbed her arms and began dragging her away. Sunset struggled against her friend.

“Let go! We have to save her!”

“We can't!” Twilight cried. “Look at it! It's all gone crazy!”

“She's toast, Sunset!” Rainbow said. Sunset looked at her and to her surprise, she saw regret in Rainbow's eyes. Rainbow sniffed and shook her head.

“It sucks, but she's too far gone. Come on!”

Sunset looked back at their enemy, who was still screaming in agony. The magic column had become a cyclone of pure white light. Her form was a shadow inside of it. Sunset felt her throat clench and she closed her eyes and nodded.

“I'm sorry,” she whispered.

“I'm so sorry,” she whispered again. “I wish we could have saved you.”

“So do I,” came another voice. Sunset looked up to see Rainbow Dash standing next to her. The athlete was more subdued than Sunset could remember ever seeing her. Rainbow looked up from the charred circle to Sunset. “I really do.”

“What are you doing out here?” Sunset asked. “You're missing lunch.”

Rainbow shrugged. “I missed you more. And I was wondering when you'd come back out here.”

“Why?”

“Because you're a guilt junkie,” Rainbow smirked. “You just can't move on when you think you've screwed up.”

Sunset frowned. “I am not a guilt junkie.”

Rainbow shrugged. “Call it what you want. I know it when I see it.”

Sunset folded her arms and let out an exasperated sigh. “And since when has Rainbow Dash known anything about guilt?”

Rainbow didn't answer. Sunset blinked and looked over at her. Rainbow had folded her own arms and was looking down at the charred circle. Her expression was mournful. Sunset put a hand on her shoulder.

“Rainbow? Are you all right?”

“Did any of the girls tell you what happened to Pepperdance?” Rainbow's voice was quiet and serious.

“Only that she attacked her and put her into the hospital,” Sunset answered.

“Pinkie and I were there. Pepps was meeting her. She had realized who she was, even with the changes the magic had made. I tried to save her, but... I failed.”

Rainbow leaned down and ran her fingers through the charred grass. “Pepps was bleeding and I felt so damn terrible that I couldn't stop it from happening. I didn't go to school the next day. I felt so damn helpless.”

Rainbow straightened up and looked at Sunset. She gave a small smile. “But, Rarity pulled me out of it. She told me I didn't have to keep acting like I was awesome incarnate around all of you. That it was okay to feel that way.”

Rainbow put a hand on Sunset's shoulder. “I didn't have to do it alone... and neither do you. We're safe around each other. We can feel whatever we need to feel.”

Sunset came forward and embraced Rainbow. She felt the athlete's strong arms tighten around her. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“Hey, you would have done the same for any of us.” Rainbow pulled back. “You okay?”

Sunset was quiet for a moment. “Not yet. I'm not sure when, but I do think I'll get there. I think I really just need to hear from Twilight.”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah. We kinda asked her to talk to you after she...”

“I know. And I don't blame her,” Sunset replied. “Have you heard from her in the last day or so?”

“Saw her around earlier. I think she's still deciding. She was pretty quiet in English, and that almost never happens.”

Sunset sighed. “Well, at least she hasn't made up her mind yet. That's progress, I guess.”

“She'll make the right decision. You're too cool to not hang out with.” Rainbow grinned and punched Sunset gently in the shoulder. “Not as cool as me, naturally, but you know, for second best, you're not bad.

Sunset smirked. “I bow to your superior logic, as always.”

“Damn right.”

The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Rainbow dusted off her hands.

“Well, time for math.” She made a gagging sound. “Where are you going next?”

“Art,” Sunset answered. “I think it might help. I need to do something with all of this crap in my head right now.”

The two began walking back toward the school building. Rainbow slapped Sunset on the back.

“Well, listen, if you're up to it, let's head to the arcade at the mall after school. I hear they got an actual Uberguard prototype cabinet in.”

“That's just a rumor. I seriously doubt they'd bother making an offline arcade version of their best online shooter. Where's the market?”

“Who cares?” Rainbow replied. “They can do whatever they want with it. It's that awesome.”

“You just like it because Paradox is the cover girl,” Sunset smirked.

“Paradox is awesome. Not my fault you can't handle her.”

“Oh, please. Give me Webspinner any day.”

“Snipers are for people who can't handle getting close to the action.”

“Okay, that's it. You and me, the arcade, and if they don't have that machine, we're settling this online tonight.”

“Oh, you are on.” Rainbow grinned.

Comments

[NebulaNyx]

The ending to this chapter is just perfect.

[RoboRed]

lolveiledOverwatchknockoff

[Csquared08]

This is the kind of character interaction that gets me all sorts of excited. This has been amazing. Mmmmm.