Rainbow Dash frowned unhappily as her eyes followed Sunset Shimmer's finger as she trailed the equation on the sheet before her while explaining her how to solve it. It was a very pretty forefinger, she decided, but it didn't make maths any more enjoyable.
It made it easier to understand though, especially with that beautiful voice of hers describing how to use the tools provided to her without a hint of condescension, annoyance or disappointment, unlike every maths teacher she ever had to deal with.
And that wasn't a small feat, since every lesson on the subject had gone in one ear and out of the other in the past. It had been so frustrating too; she understood maths in primary school, but as soon as she went to high school any hope of comprehension slipped between her fingers, and that was true for anything using advanced mathematic tools, such as chemistry and physics. She understood biology just fine and her basic skills in maths allowed her to get relatively good grades, but everything else?
Ugh.
She started when she felt a soft hand cup her cheek and turn her head to the right, slightly upwards to stare into Sunset Shimmer's worried eyes.
"Rainbow?"
"Yeah?" she replied weakly as she thought back on how Sunset Shimmer helping her had started.
It was really weird. She had initially gone to see Sunset Shimmer in her boarding room at CHS after the sirens' takeover to apologize for treating her so badly at Applejack and Rarity's annoyingly ceaseless insistence, asking her how she could redeem herself... and it was she who ended up being helped as Sunset Shimmer helped her with her studies.
She guessed Sunset Shimmer just wanted to hang out with her. It made sense, since she was the most awesome girl in the entire high school, but it was still weird.
"You zoned out." Her thumb gently stroked Rainbow Dash's cheek. "Are you alright? Is it too hard?"
She gave a little nod. "I'm fine."
Sunset Shimmer's eyes drooped further as she kept stroking her cheek. "You looked sad."
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to reply, but no word came out.
"Do you want to stop for now?"
Rainbow Dash looked back at her homework, her eyes lingering on the fourth equation. She had solved the three previous ones thanks to Sunset Shimmer. She looked again in her sad eyes, and an overwhelming sense of gratitude washed over her heart.
She pulled Sunset Shimmer into a tight hug, nodding in the crook of her neck. "Thank you."
Sunset Shimmer gave a musical chuckle and returned the hug. "It's alright Rainbow. I know you have trouble concentrating on what doesn't interest you."
She didn't say 'on what you don't understand' like her teachers usually said when they scolded her out of her resigned daydreaming, and Rainbow Dash hugged her more tightly.
"Rainbow?"
She finally pulled away, the thankfulness in her heart winning out over her melancholy and turning her lips into a sincere smile.
"Yeah. Just bad memories." She cupped the hand Sunset Shimmer used to stroke her cheek with her own hands. "But you make them go away."
Sunset Shimmer's face lit up. "Glad to be of service." She pulled Rainbow Dash away from her desk. "What do you want to do until we go back?"
Rainbow Dash scratched her jaw with a pensive hum. "I'm a little thirsty... We can talk around a bottle if you want. I like talking to you."
Her smile broadening, Sunset Shimmer replied "the pleasure is mutual," before walking to her small fridge. "I've got water and apricot juice if I remember right," she continued as she opened the door. "Some sodas too, but I know you don't drink artificial stuff." She leaned an arm over the door and smirked at her. "Gotta keep these babies healthy, right?"
Rainbow Dash chuckled heartily and flexed both of her arms in mock showing off. Sunset Shimmer joined her laughter as she pretended to be impressed before fishing both bottles out of her fridge. She closed the door with a bump of her hip before leading her to the small table near her window.
Slumping into her chair with a smile, Rainbow Dash pointed at the orange bottle. "I'm surprised you don't have any apple juice from Applejack."
Sunset Shimmer sat down with more elegance and pushed one of the clean glasses already on the table towards Rainbow Dash after she set down the bottles. "I did, but I drank it all myself," she replied with a wink.
Rainbow Dash laughed. "So very generous."
She joined her laughter once again before opening the apricot juice bottle and filling both their glasses. "No but seriously, Applejack's stuff is good but I get a little tired of apples all the time, you know?"
Rainbow Dash reclined in her chair, nodding knowingly. "I know."
Then Sunset Shimmer faked a terrified face but her tone and grin easily gave the pretense away. "Don't tell her I said that!" she whispered loudly.
Taking her glass with a giggle, Rainbow Dash replied "my lips are sealed," before bringing the glass to her mouth and giving a sniff. "Except for this delicious apricot juice, of course," she added before drinking a gulp.
Giggling back, Sunset Shimmer started drinking her own glass.
Rainbow Dash nearly slapped her glass on the table when she was done as she heaved a contented sigh. "Anything new?"
Sunset Shimmer paused her drinking to tap a finger thoughtfully along her jaw. "Hm... Twilight was all sad because one of her favorite video games stopped working. Scratched CD, I believe she said."
Rainbow Dash's heart began beating faster at the mention of this world's Twilight but she didn't show it and instead leaned in. "Twilight plays video games? I thought there was only studying for that girl."
Sunset Shimmer smiled and finished her glass. "Well, there's friendship now, don't forget." She set down the glass back on the table. "And I was surprised too. But that would explain why she wears glasses and my world's Twilight doesn't." She pointed both her forefingers at her eyes. "Computer screens."
Nodding, Rainbow Dash turned her face toward the window with her hand on her cheek to hide an incoming blush as she thought about those same glasses, those that made Twilight infinitely more adorable and beautiful than the pony Twilight in her eyes. "Yeah, makes sense."
She then blinked and, once she was sure her flushing had passed, faced Sunset Shimmer again. "Wait, you don't have video games? How did you even fill time?"
Sunset Shimmer shrugged. "Well, I guess there's practicing magic to play around and flying for pegasi... I don't really know." She filled their glasses again. "I spent most of my time studying myself, like Twilight."
Nodding again, Rainbow Dash leaned back into her chair. "Did she say what game it was?" Her heart fluttered at the idea of being able to help Twilight with something close to her own heart.
"Something about... hm..." Sunset Shimmer tapped her lips with her index and middle fingers as her brows furrowed in thought. "I was trying to pay attention, but I just don't get video games, you know?" She stared at the ceiling as if the answer would magically appear on it.
Rainbow Dash cursed both the suspense and her deep blushing as she imagined Twilight's soft, grateful smile, though she did take time to thank the fact Sunset Shimmer wasn't looking at her face. She started breathing in and out slowly as her friend hummed in contemplation and started when she snapped her fingers with a "aha!"
"The Incredible Machine!" she almost shouted. "That's it, the Incredible Machine."
A memory clawed at the edge of Rainbow Dash's mind and she focused on it until she remembered that his parents had bought her, claiming it would help her fulfill her "intellectual potential..." In the end, she remembered more her parents arguing to decide who out of them would play the game than herself playing the thing.
Sadly, she distinctly remembered using the CD as a frisbee when she was five and it digging one inch into a tree, so she couldn't offer Twilight her own...
She blinked as something dawned on her. "Woah... That's an old game."
Sunset Shimmer titled her head. "It is? I don't know much about video games."
"Yeah. You know, this CD? CDs were the things before DVDs." She let out a soft whistle. "She must have been playing it for years."
Sunset Shimmer nodded. "Yeah, it sounded very important to her."
Another memory trickled to her. "Did she mention which one it was? I think there were like... four games in the series or something."
Sunset Shimmer shook her head.
Well, hopefully there was an edition consisting of the entire series. Rainbow Dash's lips twisted into a grin as she thought about making Twilight happy and was about to jump out of her seat to run to the closest video game store when her eyes stopped on her homework lying innocently on Sunset Shimmer's desk.
Rainbow Dash's shoulders slumped. Helping her crush would have to wait.
Rainbow Dash held her hand in front of Twilight's bedroom door, working up the courage to knock.
She had scoured more than two thirds of the city's video games stores before finding what she was looking for; and happily enough, it had indeed been a compilation of the entire The Incredible Machine series. She was pretty sure her scream of victory upon finding it in the old game bargain bin had scared the entire city block... which would explain why the employee gave her dirty look when she came to the counter to pay.
She had then taken the closest bus to Twilight's house, all giddy and sunshine at the thought of making her smile. Twilight's mother had answered the door when she rang and as soon as she learned Rainbow Dash had a gift for her daughter, she had ushered her in and pointed her to Twilight's bedroom.
Seeing the woman leave her to her own devices while muttering excitingly to herself about grandchildren had chilled her to the bone, and she decided to never mention to anyone, and especially not to Twilight herself, that she had been more frightened there than when she dealt with any of the three magical emergencies that hit CHS.
Rainbow Dash shook her head to clear her mind from her crush's grandchildren happy mother and thought instead about that same crush. Why was it so hard to knock on her door? She was Rainbow Dash! Captain of every sport team in CHS! Girls swooned at the very thought of catching her eye! There was no doubt Twilight would throw herself at her as soon as she presented her gift!
Ice settled in Rainbow Dash's gut and her lips tugged down into a frown. This line of thought made Twilight sound like... a trophy. A conquest. She deserved better. So much better.
Ugh. That feelings stuff was too hard.
She finally rapped her fingers against the door and waited, hiding her gift behind her back with her free hand.
Her heart fluttered when Twilight opened. "Hi," she said lamely.
Twilight blinked those gorgeous eyes of hers. "Rainbow Dash? What are you doing here?"
Rainbow Dash swallowed the lump in her throat. "Well, I learned you lost your favorite game, so..." Hoping she wasn't blushing, she presented the game. "Gift for you."
Twilight blinked again, then once more, and finally her entire face lit up. Eyes shining with joy, she wrapped her arms around Rainbow Dash's neck and crashed her lips on hers.
Rainbow Dash's heart skipped several beats before working back into a frenzied, thunderous rhythm. Her eyes widened and her mouth hung open even as Twilight pressed her lips against her own. Twilight then pushed her slightly as she pulled away, and the motion was enough to make Rainbow Dash crash backwards on the floor, her lips now twisted into a big, dumb grin.
Twilight never noticed it, busy that she was twirling the video game case in the air as she danced happily before opening it and sliding the DVD into her computer.
