36 - Technicalities

Technicalities
Description: Twilight drops the ball. You panic.

"Stupid thing. Come on, why now?!" My locker refused to open. I tugged on it a few times as hard as I could but no dice.
Things like this always happen when you need to be somewhere.

“Howdy there,” Applejack said as she patted my shoulder. "Gotta issue with you rlocket Greenhorn?

“Oh, hi AJ.” I pulled my locker harder, growing more frustrated. " This stupid thing isn't-"

BANG. AJ hit the locker with the bottom of her fist and it popped open. My backpack fell out into my arms.

"...I loosened it for you."

"Ah course you did." AJ snickered. "Wanna go bug Fluttershy? She's been all excited 'bout Angel lately and…frankly, we need to get that gal outta her room. Too much time with the animals ain't good for ya."

"I'd come, but I can’t. I have to go study with Rainbow Dash again. She making some progress now."

"Huh?" Applejack looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Our study sessions. You know, for her math grade. You know about those."

"Yeah, I knows you have them. I just figured that you weren't doin' it today is all."

"Why wouldn't I do it?"

"You didn't hear?!" Applejack sounded surprised, almost offended. "Rainbow Dash played hooky yesterday."

My heart stopped beating. "....What?"

"Celestia done near blew a gasket when she found out."

"What?!" Then it started beating again. Really, really fast.

"Yes sir-e. She gots in a lot of trouble. Real ‘last warning’ kinda stuff. You could hear Celestia yelling from down the hall."

I started panicking. Every worst case scenario ran through my head. Expulsion, transferring to a terrible school, explaining to my parents what had happened, never getting into college.

"That girl is a heap of trouble sometimes." Applejack shook her head. "You'd think she'd learn. At least you did. I'm glad you didn't get mixed up with her this time."

"....What?" My brain chugged for a second as I processed AJ's last phrase.

"You're askin' 'what' a lot, ya know."

"I know, sorry but…what did you just say?"

"Ah mean, how when Dashie did…you know, that thing a while back with my truck? You tagged along and helped her then. But you were smart enough to stay out of it this time."

“I-" I literally bit my tongue.

“Dash got in all of the trouble on her own for once. I hope this finally teachers her a few lessons.” Applejack sighed. She didn't know I was with Rainbow Dash! I wasn't called into Celestia's office so that meant the school didn't know either. I was in the clear!

...And Rainbow Dash wasn’t.

“What happened to her?” I asked and tried to keep my cool.

“I heard she got put on probation and has to clean the old part of the school up fur about three weeks. And she’s off the track team for a while. That’s a lot better than would could have happened.”

I started putting the pieces together in my head. How did Celestia find out?! Dash had planned things out relatively. The only one who saw us leave was...

"Twilight." I growled.

"What about Twilight?" Applejack asked.

"Give me a rain check on hanging with you and Fluttershy, okay?" I threw my backpack over my shoulder. "I have to go do something. Thanks for the invitation."

"Sure thang. Next-" I walked right past her. "-time."

Of course she was hidden behind a book. I marched up to her and pulled the novel away from her.

"Hey!" She tried to pull the book back to her face.

"What happened?!" I demanded.

"Wha-what's wrong?" She looked scared. My face was red with anger and I could feel it. The old librarian stared at us, ready to bark out a word of concern.

"Come outside. I want to talk to you."

Twilight gulped, put a bookmark in her book and followed me into the hallway.

Twilight coyly held both of her hands together and waited for me to say something..

"I thought you said you were going to cover for me yesterday!" I barked.

"I did! I swear, I didn't tell anyone! I promise!" She begged me to believe her.

"Then why did Rainbow Dash get caught?!"

"…you didn't tell me to cover for her too!"

"Are you serious?!"

"You didn't tell me to! Please don't be mad at me! I didn't tell on her, I just didn’t make up an excuse for her when you both left. I mean...she shouldn't have skipped school anyway. You either. If she didn't do it, she wouldn't have gotten caught."

"That's not the point!" Yes it was. I knew it was. Rainbow Dash got caught for doing the wrong thing.

But why did it feel like Rainbow was the victim here?

Twilight looked like she was about to cry. But I was so angry that all I could think about was how Rainbow Dash got caught and I didn’t.

“Forget it.” I turned and started walking away. “Never mind, this was a bad idea."

"Please! Don't hate me!" Twilight pleaded again as I left. I pretended not to hear her. Even if I had hurt her feelings…and I knew I had…I was way too angry. I was doing her a favor by walking away before things got worse.

This was favoritism, on everyone's part. Twilight protected me because she liked me more, and I stood up for Rainbow Dash because I liked her more. I got angrier, this time at myself for think such a cruel thought.