Like Sisters, Probably

“You told her to what?!”

“I told her to try it again,” I repeated. Sweetie Belle was freaking out for some reason.

“Scootaloo! She was having a sort of breakdown and was scared to try that stunt—and scared for good reason! From what you said, she could’ve died! That’s not cowardice: that’s called sanity!—and on top of that, she clearly wasn’t flying her best, and you told her to try it again?!”

She was getting hung up on all the wrong parts, like usual. We were in Sweetie’s room, and it had been the first chance I’d gotten to tell her about what happened with Dash a few days before that. She was just supposed to be excited with me about the fact I’d patched things up with Dash.

“It’s not like she hurt herself or anything!” I said. “Plus, as I was about to say, it was exactly what she needed to hear! She’s been out practicing every day since then, and I popped out to watch her during my break today, and I’ve never seen her in such good form. I was all set to geek out about how I finally helped Dash when she needed it and how everything’s back to being cool between us, but you’re totally wrecking it.”

“You were just saying how watching her wipe out like that almost killed you! ‘Popped out to watch her during your break’? You’ve hardly been watching her practice since then, have you?”

“Well, no, but—”

“I’ve never heard of you purposefully missing Rainbow Dash practice. Ever! You’re probably, like, traumatized from it, or something like that!”

“What? That’s ridiculous!” The night after that day I’d had nightmares about Dash crashing. Sweetie didn’t need to know about that. But it didn’t mean she knew what she was talking about, either. I tried to get her talking about something else, but she kept coming back to it.

“Sweetie Belle, seriously, drop it,” I finally said, after I’d had as much as I could take. “I really don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

She frowned at me for a few moments, then came over and hugged me.

“You’re so stupid sometimes that I can’t even handle it!” That was totally uncalled for, but she was hugging me, so I didn’t really get it. I felt my face heat up as I pushed her away.

“Alright, alright, sorry or whatever. I don’t even know what you’re freaking out about.”

“Obviously,” she said, but she dropped it, finally.

Dash really had been looking her best when I’d dropped by that day, and I knew that it was thanks to me—at least a little bit. No matter how Sweetie tried to ruin it, I still let myself feel pretty good about that.

Sweetie went back over to keep working on her mane. I was at Carousel Boutique to pick her up to go to Dash’s “Good Luck at Your Wonderbolts Thing” Pinkie party, because Dash was going to be leaving for Cloudsdale tomorrow to properly finish practicing for the trial that was in a few days. Sweetie had been nowhere near ready when I showed up, so I was sitting on her bed waiting for her to be done. She took after Rarity in only the most annoying ways, it seemed. Like the part where she was sculpting her mane to an unreasonable level of perfection just for a Pinkie party. Of course she would deny it outright and probably be offended, too, if I called her on it. She had this mental image where she was Rarity’s exact opposite in every way, but I could tell that this singing career of hers would make her into a little diva yet. And it would be as hilarious as it was annoying, I had no doubt.

“Come on, let’s go already!”

“Wait! I’m not quite done. How’s my mane look?”

“Fabulous, darling,” I said. She scowled at me. “Let’s go!” Finally, I just had to drag her out of the room. Rarity was still far from ready, and told us just to go on ahead. Sweets had a ways to go before she reached that level of diva.

The party was already in full swing when we showed up. It was kind of nice, hanging out with the old older-sisters-and-friends crowd. It was cool to see Twilight Sparkle and Spike again. They had made a special trip from Canterlot to be there—probably painstakingly rescheduling and otherwise juggling around a bunch of Royal Things to pull it off, but Twilight was like that. She still maintained that she was the Ponyville librarian before all other titles, and made sure her friends always came first. And Spike was with Twilight wherever she went, of course. I think they gave him some kind of royal title above “personal assistant,” but I could never really keep track of things like that. None of the ponies I knew ever seemed any different than they alway were, no matter how many titles they managed to pick up.

There was notably less Apple Bloom than we were used to having at these kinds of things, though—but a different Apple was there in place of ours. Well, not really, but kind of. Since Mac and Fluttershy had gotten married, he always came to these things now. They were great together, but I think right up until the wedding we had still been holding out for Big McIntosh to end up with Cheerilee. Of course, we all had a good laugh about that later when we realized Cheerilee is definitely a fillyfooler.

And actually—speaking of Cheerilee and fillyfooling—next to Dash, she had been the pony to help me out the most, dealing with my sexuality. Not that I was ever embarrassed or confused about liking mares or anything, but I had a lot of questions that Dash just couldn’t answer because, well, she wasn’t all that experienced at the time. I still get embarrassed thinking about some of the things Cheerilee and I talked about back then, but they were things I needed to know, and she had been so great about answering every one of my questions. I really owe her a lot. More than a few times I thought what it’d be like if she wasn’t so much older than me—she’s such a wonderful mare.

I’m pretty sure she did the same for Applejack, too, when she came out. From what Apple Bloom had said, it sounded like AJ’d had a pretty rough time of it, but I never noticed. I don’t think I could even imagine Applejack being anything other than totally level-headed and in control, no matter what the issue. If she really had gone through a bit of a rough patch, though, it’s good to know that Cheerilee and Dash were both there for her. Between the four of us, we basically made Ponyville’s own queer collective, or something. Not that I ever really talk about stuff like that with AJ and Dash—I hardly ever hung out with Dash and AJ together at all, actually.

Once, shortly after I turned twenty-one, Dash brought me out to the bar for a drink with her and AJ, like the two of them do all the time. I don’t know. It was alright, but didn’t really feel like I properly fit with them. Like she and Applejack had all this history of being best friends, and I was just sitting in on that. AJ was the only non-Wonderbolt I could think of that came even close to being as awesome as Dash was, and that kind of put them on the same level, and they really acted like they were on the same level as each other. It really made me sharply aware of how much of just Dash’s fan I was a lot of the time. But the three of us never really talked about romance, or anything like that.

Everything I’d known about AJ in that regard came from what Apple Bloom had told me—against my will, in most cases. There’d been a few mares that had come and gone, apparently. I think I do remember seeing this one mare around sometimes, but I kind of forget. I don’t think I was really paying that close of attention. That’d been a while ago, though, and it didn’t seem like AJ had been dating anyone since then.

I knew Dash’d had a few more mares than that—I think being a Wonderbolt helped, but also that the fact she liked mares had gone very public. There was this absolutely ridiculous article about Dust and Rainbow in this seedy but very popular tabloid way back when the two had just started dating. One of those big celebrity exposé things. Like, where the only part they got right was the fact that they were dating. Anyway, Dash thought it was the best thing she’d ever seen and got it framed. She’d had it hanging on the wall the whole time they were going out. She might still have it up, actually. Lightning Dust was the only really serious relationship Dash’d had, though. I knew this because she’d told me about each one of the flings she’d had before and after Dust, all in quite thorough and intimate detail. Which I had mixed feelings about.

Dash still hadn’t told me what exactly it was that Lightning Dust had said to her that set her off, and I wondered about that a bit. At the party, she did seem way better than she’d been a few days ago. I only got a few chances to talk to her when we got there, but from what I could tell, it wasn’t anything beyond what was to be expected. It was the second most important flying test of her career happening in a few days. I asked how she was feeling about it, without mentioning anything about Dust or anything, and she said she felt awesome, of course. She said she was feeling awesome enough about the tricks to go practice them for real back at the Wonderbolts training grounds, and the reason she had come for such a long trip to Ponyville just before the trial clicked into place.

I couldn’t shake off being a little bit mad that she hadn’t just said right from the start that she wasn’t confident enough to practice the tricks in front of the Wonderbolts. Or practice them in front of Lightning Dust, was probably what it was. It bugged me that Dash worried about saying stuff like that around me. It kind of made the fact I’d finally helped her out seem like nothing all that special.

I went to go over to where Sweetie was, but she was talking with Applejack. They were discussing country music, and knocking around the idea of performing together one of these days. That wasn’t something I could fake even a passing interest in, so I went to go get more punch. Pinkie intercepted me, though.

“Why aren’cha over talking with Dashie? She’s got the biggest flying thing ever right away, you know!” she demanded in her hyper-cheery way, her face an inch from mine.

“Oh, yeah, I just was. I was just going to get more punch.” Apparently that wasn’t good enough.

“Well you should go talk with her more!” she said as she moved to keep in front of me when I tried to sidestep her. “She makes less of a worry-face when she’s talking with you.”

I stopped and blinked. “Hang on—what? Dash isn’t worried! She doesn’t make a worry-face!”

“Oh yes she does! We all noticed. We’ve been trying to cheer her up since she got back to Ponyville, but it wasn’t working—but then suddenly she was way better after hanging out with you!”

“Really?”

“Definitely really! She’s still a bit shifty-shifty, though,” Pinkie said, conspiratorially.

“Well... okay. I’m actually going to go get more punch first, though.”

“Okie-dokie!” she said, and bounded off, but I got the feeling she was keeping an eye or two on me to make sure I stuck to my word.

I couldn’t keep a grin off my face as I went to the punch table. If Pinkie, the undisputed professional on things like that, had said I had cheered up Dash, then I really must have. I did go and talk with Dash again before the end of the party, and made sure she knew that I had no doubt she could nail the tricks and that I thought she was totally awesome. I didn’t really know if I was supposed to say anything else or not, but I couldn’t really think of anything. She hadn’t said it outright, but I got the feeling I wasn’t supposed to bring up the Dust thing in front of everyone.

The next few days, I could barely focus on work. Once I even forgot what tasks I had been assigned, and ended up doing someone else’s job as well as the one I was supposed to. I never do that. Sweetie Belle had a few gigs in the evenings, but they were all at private functions and I couldn’t even go to them, so I had to just sit at home and worry about how Dash was going to do. I thought of calling up one of my college buddies like Rumble or someone, but I wasn’t in the mood. Rumble had gotten a job on the weather team, but in a different section than me, so I actually hardly saw him anymore. What I wanted was just to hang out with Sweets and talk about nothing. I wasn’t looking to play catch-up and hear about different ponies’ lives these days and all that or anything.

I realized that I was probably stressing about the trial more than Dash was, but it didn’t stop me. Those few days were kind of a blur, to be honest. And I kept mixing up in head my anxiousness of whether or not Dash’d make it with what Pinkie had said about how I’d helped out Dash, and then back to how Dash hadn’t ever actually told me that she had been freaking out and how I’d had to put that together for myself. It wasn’t like I’d think she was any less awesome even if she didn’t make it in the Alpha Squadron or anything. I was worried she’d shut me out completely if that happened, though.

We were supposed to be like sisters—though I didn’t really know if that meant either of us should be doing anything differently than we were. One thing I was pretty sure of was the fact that sisters couldn’t stop being sisters. I figured that should’ve had something to do with not worrying you’d be shut out or pushed away for something you said or did, or for something totally out of your control. Maybe we weren’t really very good sisters.

The day before the Alpha Squadron trial, Sweetie came over after I was done work. It was great that she was there to distract me, but I was still freaking out a bit. We’d just had supper and were sitting around when there was a knock at the door. It really threw me for a loop because the only visitors I ever really got were either already in the room or in Canterlot. My parents usually gave me fair warning before dropping in, so I had no idea. Sweets looked at me and shrugged, and I went to get it.

“Hey, kid,” I heard as I opened the door.

“Dash! What are you doing here?!” I was shocked, and my heart leaped up in my throat as the source of my freaking-out appeared in front of me.

“Thought we could hang out or something,” she said, tilting her head to the side like this was something that happened every day.

“What—Rainbow Dash?” Sweetie had come over to see who it was.

“Oh, hi, Sweetie Belle,” said Dash, blinking.

The three of us just kind of looked at each other for a second.

“Well... I’ll leave the two of you to talk, or something,” said Sweetie. “See you later.”

“Alright, see you tomorrow,” I said. We hadn’t exactly been planning on hanging the next day, but it was kind of a given that we would be after that. Sweetie moved past Dash to get outside, and shot me a quick glance with a hint of a raised eyebrow. I gave a slight tilt of my head to let her know I had about as much of a clue as she did, and that I’d tell her about it the next day.

Once Sweetie was gone, I turned back to Dash.

“Is it cool if I come in for a bit?” she asked.

“Yeah, totally. Sure.”

She went to sit on the couch and I went over to the kitchen. I had a few bottles of hard cider around, so I opened two and brought them over.

“Hey, sorry about kicking Sweetie out like that,” Dash said. “She over here a lot?”

“You have no idea.” I sat down on the couch beside her. “I should just about charge her rent.”

We each had our ciders and were drinking from them. “So you guys a thing now?” Dash asked.

“What? No!” I said quickly, almost choking on my cider. “Nothing like that!”

Dash laughed. “Naw, it’s cool, I get it! Like how me and AJ are, or something.”

It somehow seemed like Dash thought Sweets was queer, too, which I wasn’t sure was totally accurate. I mean, I know that seems like something I should’ve known, with Sweetie being my best friend and everything, but—long story short—I didn’t. That wasn’t something to bother with at that moment, though. I took a drink of cider.

“Dash,” I said, cutting right to it, “what are you doing here?”

“I was feeling jittery. Had to fly. Ended up here.”

I looked at her carefully. She seemed pretty relaxed, but I thought I might have seen something else there. I had no idea—I was still totally shocked she was even there.

“Okay, but why did you come, like, here here?” I didn’t want to let myself think it meant anything that Dash had come to see me, specifically, without being completely sure. “Why not Fluttershy or Applejack or someone?”

She shifted in her seat. I was feeling a bit anxious about what this was all about, and I felt my pulse quicken from the anticipation.

“Going to one of my friends—they would, well—this is just easier,” she said, as if that explained everything. I kept my eyes glued to her.

She glanced at me and let out a tense huff. “You already know I’m freaking out about this whole thing, and that it’s because of LD, and all that,” she said quickly, frowning like it was annoying to talk about. “I’d have to start from the beginning with them, and they’d just think that—well, but yeah. This is just easier, or whatever.”

My heart thudded in my ears. She had come to see me because she felt more comfortable around me, about this, than she did around her friends. Or something like that, at least. Then I remembered I was still a bit mad at her.

“Dash, you never actually told me that any of that was bugging you, or about the tricks, or anything.”

She took a drink of her cider. “Yeah, I know.”

“It would’ve been way easier if you just said something from the start. Actually, it kind of pissed me off that you didn’t, you know?”

She frowned and looked away, sifting in her seat.

“But it’s not really about that,” I added quickly. She’d probably come to see me and not one of her other friends so she could avoid talking about stuff like that. I would lose her if I kept going.

“It’s—” I began, but I stopped myself and let out a breath. I slammed my drink down and spun on the couch to face her. “Okay, you know what? I’m sick of this!" I couldn't go through all that again. "It doesn’t matter if you screw up tricks or that you’re scared you’re not going to make the cut, or even that you let Dust get to you and whatever. Stuff like that’s not going to make me think you’re any less awesome!” I ran my hoof through my mane. Why the buck had I been sidestepping around Dash, being all careful what I said so I didn’t—what?—hurt her feelings? She was getting shifty and started to get up.

“Stop bucking trying to take off on me!” I think I might’ve been yelling a bit. She jerked her head around to look at me. “I don’t care if whatever it is makes you sound stupid or it’s embarrassing for you or whatever! Suck it up and tell me anyway! Just act however you want to around me and stop worrying about all that!”

Dash turned away from me so I couldn’t really see her face. At least she wasn’t trying to leave anymore.

“Seriously,” I said, flailing my hoof in the air, “I don’t think there’s anything you could say or do to make me not think you’re awesome!”

Dash kind of sat back down, but still without really looking at me. It was a while before she spoke. “Is that a challenge?” she asked.

“What? Is it—?” I was really pissed. “You know what? Yeah. Yes. It’s a bucking challenge. Convince me you’re not awesome. Do your worst.”

She was quiet for another second or two.

“I’ve been a Wonderbolt for over seven years, but I’m losing my mind over one bucking flying test.”

“Knew that one already.”

“I was too scared to screw up my tricks in front of the Wonderbolts, so I flew all the way to Ponyville to practice them, but was freaking out too much to even do them here.” Her voice was wavering slightly. If anything, it sounded like she was pissed at herself. I didn’t care—she would get over it.

“Yeah, knew that, too—had to work it out for myself, though, didn’t I? And I still think you’re awesome.” I was so mad. “What about that stuff with Lightning Dust? Tell me how lame it is that you still have feelings for her and let her get to you and everything!”

“What? It’s not bucking like that,” she said, finally looking over at me only to scowl. “She was... worried about me.” Dash lost a bit of her momentum. “She stopped me and took me aside all seriously—like, serious in a way I’ve only seen her a couple times, ever—and told me she didn’t want to see me hurt myself over this, and that she’d be willing to, like, purposely botch her trial if I took the loops out of my routine.” Her scowl was gone, replaced by an expression I’d never seen Dash make. She looked kind of haunted, or shocked, or just totally crushed or something. “That’s not how things are between us! We push each other to get better, no matter what!” She slumped in her seat. “What the buck? Why would she say that? She wasn’t supposed to say that. This was going to be the big contest between us—she was as stoked for it as I was; I know she was! Now she wrecked it. No matter what happens now, she totally wrecked it.”

“Come on, Dash! She’s manipulating you! She just said that to mess you up!” I was so worked up about everything, it just burst out. I regretted it instantly.

The expression Dash made then was one I’d definitely seen before—but being on its receiving end was a first for me. I almost flinched. “What the hay?! Are you that bucking jealous of LD?” she spat. “This is why I don’t say that kind of stuff to you—as soon as I even mention her, you turn into this useless little obsessed pegasus that bugs the shit out of me!” I definitely flinched after that.

A few moments passed in silence. “It was that useless little pegasus that got you running your tricks again,” I said.

Dash’s glare turned down a few notches, and she let out a breath. “Yeah. It was.”

I realized I’d kind of had that coming—probably for quite a while. I really did go off about Lightning Dust way too often around Dash. I couldn’t even deny the part about why I was always like that. It still stung, though.

“That was a pretty good try,” I said, “but I still think you’re awesome.”

Dash snorted and looked away, but I saw obvious relief in her eyes. It was clear she was worried she’d gone a bit too far, and that made me feel better. “Then you’re an idiot or you really are obsessed.”

I tilted my head. “Probably a bit of both.” A moment or two passed. “I’m sorry about the whole Dust thing,” I said. I shuffled over to her and hesitantly reached out my wing, wrapping it around her like she used to do for me back when I was a filly. I felt completely ridiculous doing it, and could feel my face flushing like mad. Dash only gave a single chuckle, though, and actually leaned in against me.

“Can I try again?” she asked.

“What?”

“To convince you I’m not awesome, or whatever.”

“Go for it.”

“I... want you to hug me and tell me I’m totally awesome and that things will be fine with the trial and with LD, and that you’re not pissed at me for the crap I pulled over the last couple weeks.”

My heart skipped a beat, then pounded extra hard in my chest to make up for it. My gaze snapped over to her. She avoided my eye. I was wondering if I’d even heard that right.

“That’s really lame, right?” she said, shuffling her wings. “Like, what kind of pony even says stuff like that? It’s—” I pulled Dash closer with my wing and wrapped my forelegs around her, cutting her off. She tensed for a moment, then rested her head against me.

“...Still awesome,” I said. “I think you’re awesome, you’re going to be awesome tomorrow, and everything’s going to be perfect because you’re so awesome.”

We sat like that for a few moments, and I could hardly even understand what was happening. Everything felt electric and smelled of Dash, and when I turned my face a little to the side, her mane tickled my nose.

“Why are you obsessed with me?” Dash asked, and I could feel her breath brushing against my shoulder.

“I’m... I just am. Like any other of your fans,” I said. I felt like just one of her ridiculous fans. I really did. I felt so ridiculous, and the words coming out of my mouth didn’t even sound like anything. I had no idea what I was doing anymore, as if I ever did—which I was beginning to seriously doubt. “I’m just like... one of your fans. A crazy fan.”

“Scoot, that’s bullshit and you know it,” she said. It wasn’t harsh, but it was still pretty firm. “You’re not like one of my fans. You, like, actually know me—and still think I’m awesome anyway.” She turned to face away from me, resting her cheek on my shoulder. My face was suddenly filled with rainbow-coloured hair. “I keep thinking you’re just fooling yourself and holding up this image of me where I’m perfect, but—you actually know I’m a jerk and an idiot and are still totally obsessed with me.”

“...Yeah,” I said quietly into her mane.

“So, why?”

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t just say it—I felt way too ridiculous. I think the fact that I didn’t say anything was kind of an answer. My heart was pounding like mad in my chest. I was pretty sure Dash could tell, pressed up against me like she was. I nestled my face into her hair, trying to hide my blush behind her mane even though she couldn't see my face anyway.

“Do you think about me a lot when I’m not around?” Dash asked after a while.

“Yeah,” I said.

“In a sexy way?”

My breath caught in my throat, and I almost coughed. “D-Dash!” I spluttered.

She laughed, pulling away from me slightly as she turned to look at me. There was an angle to her grin I hadn’t seen before, and the rose eyes looking at me were even more piercing than normal. It took me a moment to figure it out—she was messing with me. Like, in a flirty way. My ears were suddenly burning, and I was having a hard time keeping my breathing steady.

“It’s fine,” she said. “I knew you did.” That didn’t make me less embarrassed. Quite the opposite, actually.

“And... I kind of like it,” she said. I froze. I think I even held my breath.

She looked away, flicking her ear. “That’s really weird, right? But knowing that you think of me like that is just—nice. Like, after the stuff with LD. I mean, back when we broke up. That was such a mess, it took forever before things were any kind of normal between us—and I’m not even sure about that, right now. So it’s nice that—I don’t know—you’re obsessed with me. Like however much things get screwed up, I know that Scoot is still going to be totally obsessed with me, and it’s just... nice.”

I stared right at her. “That... is the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard,” I said with complete seriousness.

Her eyes flicked up to look at me, a frown on her face. “But—it’s creepy and weird that I think like that, and stuff! I’ve known you since you were a filly and I’m supposed to be like your big sister!”

“Dash, I uh... I don’t know what being like sisters is supposed to mean. I don’t actually have a sister. Neither do you.”

“Yeah,” she admitted after a moment, “I guess we’ve both been kind of fooling ourselves, hey? And, uh, maybe not even that well.” I could tell she was trying to make light of it, but she actually looked really down all of a sudden.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t think there’s something awesome between us!” I said quickly. “Just that... maybe ‘sisters’ isn’t exactly the best fit?”

We sat for a few moments in silence.

“Can you hold me again?” Dash asked quietly. She looked much less guarded, and I was surprised at how stressed-out she looked. I felt really bad about what I’d said about Lightning Dust. That was really something that was bothering Dash. I put my forelegs around her, and she leaned in, resting her head just below my chin.

“This is really lame,” Dash said, her words buzzing against my chest. “Like, really. I can’t even... what am I even doing?”

I lifted up my hoof, let it hang in the air for a moment, then brought it down to stroke through Dash’s mane. She flinched slightly, but didn’t react beyond that, so I kept brushing my hoof through her hair. I looked down at the colours as they melded together under my hoof, then sprung back apart once I’d passed over them. I could hear my pulse pounding in my ears. I really wanted to kiss Dash, but I didn’t know if that’d be okay. I had no idea if that was where it was heading, or if it was, like, a totally platonic sister moment that I’d be wrecking. I had no idea how a pony is supposed to tell the difference.

I put my hooves on Dash’s shoulders, and eased her back from me. She looked up into my eyes, and her rose eyes struck me. I got lost for a few seconds, almost freezing right up. The corner of her mouth turned up a bit. I was pretty sure she could tell what was going through my head. I think she was even laughing at me a bit, on the inside. Like, just waiting to see if I’d go for it.

I darted forwards and briefly touched my lips to hers. It only lasted a half-a-second, but I could still feel the slight wetness of her lips on mine after we parted. My face felt like it was radiating. I wanted to look away, but her eyes held mine there.

Dash raised her eyebrow a hint and gave me a soft, appraising look. Then she gave me an angled smile and lowered her eyelids. I’d never seen Dash make any of those expressions before. It was like I was looking at an entirely different pegasus. Or at least like I was seeing a side of her that I didn’t know anything about. And I suddenly wanted to know a lot more about it.

I leaned in towards her, and Dash put her forelegs around my neck and met me part way. I melted into her, putting my arms around her waist and letting her wrap me in her wings. I almost couldn’t tell what I was feeling, it being just about too much to take in. Her feathers brushed against my back, her hooves ran through my mane, and her lips pressed against mine. I’d kissed fillies before, but I must’ve been doing it wrong up until that moment, because it’d never felt like that before. She lay back on the couch, and I slowly fell down with her, our bodies pressing together all over.

We broke apart for a moment. Dash was breathing heavily. She could race around Ponyville or fly to Cloudsdale and back without her breath quickening even a bit, but she was panting after a kiss from me. I leaned back in, but she put her hoof on my chest to stop me before I could kiss her again. “Last try.” Dash said.

“Huh?”

“Convincing you I’m not awesome.”

“Alright.”

“What if I said I wanted to sleep with you?” There was still a light edginess to her voice, but her eyes held none of the usual glint. There was a softness to them I hadn’t seen before. She looked almost vulnerable or something. It didn’t make her eyes any less striking, though. She started running her hoof down my chest, then changed directions and came to rest on my side. “Like, there’d be sex,” she said. “And after the sex I’d want to fall asleep in your arms, and for you to stay with me for the morning until I left for the trial. What if I said I wanted that?”

“...Awesome,” I said. I leaned down to kiss her, but I stopped just before I did. There was something I had to know.

“Did you come here with... this in mind?” I asked.

She held my gaze firmly, unflinching. After a few moments, her expression softened again. “Are you kidding?” she said. “I can hardly even believe what’s happening now. I have no idea what I’m even saying.”

I believed her. Dash was feeling everything as honestly as I was. I ran my hoof along the base of her wing and she sucked in a quick breath at my touch.

Sometimes I wonder what I would’ve done if she’d said she had come just for that. There must be a right way to respond in a situation like that—but I can honestly say I have no idea what I would’ve done.

At the time, I didn’t mind if she was using me a bit, anyway, though. Maybe I was even taking advantage of her in her moment of weakness, or something, even though she’d been the one that had started it. Or maybe I’d started it—I couldn’t exactly remember. Dash gripped me around the waist, and lifted her head up to meet my lips with hers. She shot her tongue through my mouth and brushed her wings against mine, and there was no way I could string together any kind of thought after that. I sank down against her and let myself go.