Jock. Thrill-seeker. Anti-nerd. Music guitarist. Sports-girl.
People always give me those kinds of looks wherever I go. Be it the Community Sports Centre, the shopping mall, or the more quiet sections around school where all the eggheads hang out, they take a look at me and start forming those same preconceptions about me. I guess it’s just the way I act that radiates off of me, like it’s ever done since I was a child.
“Okay, one last rehearsal routine before we call it a day, girls. Get ready!”
They think that I’m just some irresponsible teenager having the time of her life in High School. They look at me as if I’m just an air-headed girl who doesn’t think about the deeper aspects of life at all.
“Alright, girls, ready to take it from the top?” Pinkie exclaimed. “I hope everybody remembered their lines and cues!”
It’s almost as if you have to be a brooding, serious emo egghead who’s always surrounded by dull books to be considered wise by the standards of the community.
“We’re ready, girls,” Sunset replied. “Prep your instruments!”
With a heave, I brought up my electric guitar and ran a pick along the strings, letting the sensation wash over my hand and wrist.
It’s almost as if deep thinking is supposed to turn you into a antifun downer from the way people refer to it.
“One, two, three, go!”
But it doesn’t. And I would know.
“Let’s rock!” My team and I cried out. My pick swept across the strings of my guitar, and the fun starts now.
Most of the time, now that my friends and I have gotten back together with the addition of Sunset Shimmer, we concentrated on catching up with each other and talking about how our Summer holidays went. When an evil bitch splits the five of you up for reasons unknown to anyone but herself near the end of the school year, that’s lot of time without talking to anyone from your old group of friends.
In retrospect, I should have talked to them about verifying the rumours, but hell. What’s past is past.
Speaking of what’s past is past-
“Hey, Sunset,” I called out to her. “Wanna join Applejack and I for a quick game of tossing horseshoes later?”
Sunset turned her head towards me, a sheepish grin on her face. “Um, not really, no thanks. I have to revise for an upcoming quiz this Thursday. Mr.
“Er, hey, girls?”
I spun my head around to take a look at the newcomer.
“Oh, hello, Flash.” Rarity greeted him. “
“Um, I was wondering if I could talk to Rainbow Dash for a while.”
“Sure,” I gave a nod. “Let’s go talk about this outside.”
Flash and I stepped out of the music practice room, slowly closing the door behind us.
“Okay, we’re alone now.” I began as I folded my arms. “What did you want to talk about?”
I watched him as he nervously fidgeted about in his position, his fingers pressing together. Little beads of sweat
“Well, the thing is,” Flash Sentry stammered as he went over his words. “It’s just...just horrible. I’ve only seen her for a few days, and now I can’t get her off of my mind!”
Look out, we got an ass-hunter over here.
“Who?” I raised an eyebrow. “Twilight Sparkle?”
“Yeah.” Flash gave a nod of his head. “
Crud. I tugged at the collar of my shirt. Mushy stuff like romance isn’t my area of expertise. What do I do?
“Is there a particular reason you talked to me about this instead of the other girls or your bandmates?” I raised an eyebrow. “What about Rarity? She always loves reading about those mushy romance thrash. Or Applejack? She can be straight-up honest with you.”
“
“I honestly don’t know if she feels the same way as you do,” I answered. “When she was here, we mostly asked her about the world she came from, told her details about ours or made plans on…”
I bit my lip as the tightening sensations of furrowing eyebrows coursed through my face.
“...helping her get the crown back. We didn’t ask her much outside of that. The short time-limit of the portal’s connection didn’t leave us a lot of time for any other stuff. Plus, we didn’t need her establishing any kind of deep, emotional connection to this world if she couldn’t come back for another two-and-a-half years. And not once did she mention-”
Without any warning, Flash Sentry leapt forward at me, suddenly grabbing at my arms and wrapping his long, bony fingers around my elbows.
“Hey, what in Tartarus, Flash!”
“What?” He gasped. “What was that last part?”
“Hey, ease up and stop touching me!” I snapped as I shrugged him off of me. “Jeez, touchy-feely much, Bread?”
“Anyway, I was gonna say that she didn’t talk about-”
“No, before that!” Flash shook his head. “How long will it take before she can come back?”
“Oh, that,” I snorted. “It’s going to be a long time. Two-and-a-half years.”
“W-what?” Flash exclaimed. “That long? How?”
I took a step back away from him, slowly drawing in a deep breath.
“Well, according to Twilight,” I began. “The portals between her world and ours establishes a temporary connection every thirty full-moons, which last for a few days at the very most. The catch is that must be a full moon on both sides. Sucks if you ask me.”
“Assuming that a month is twenty eight days long, thirty moons translate into thirty months, which makes…”
I drifted off, taking in the expression on his eyes and face.
“Yeah, I think you get the idea.”
Flash Sentry slunk away from me, downcast shadows obscuring his eyes.
“Well, that’s it, huh?” Flash flashed an wistful smile. “Trust me to be an idiot and a fool, falling for somebody out of my league.”
I waited for him to continue.
“I just want to lead a normal life, with some excitement here and there. Start a band, make some music, graduate from High School, get a job I like and find somebody I could love. It’s not like I’m asking for a million dollars or anything.”
Oh, Stars’ End, I know how this is going to go.
“And then Twilight showed up. She was just this cute nerd that I met in the hallway, no big deal.”
“Hey, chin up, buddy.” I reached out to him and laid a few fingers in his chin. “There’s plenty of fish in the sea. Girls or guys, if you’re into that. There’s a shitload of people here in this state too.; one of them might be just right for you. Who knows, there might even be another version of Twilight over here in this world.”
“Another version of Twilight Sparkle?” Flash repeated. “Oh man, this means I might actually have a chance!”
I stared at him, my mind slowly clicking into place. “Uh…”
“What should I do? Do you think she’ll have the same interests as the Twilight that I met?”
“Well…”
“
“Well, that was a lot longer than I thought it would be.” Applejack remarked.
“That’s what she said, Applejack,” I replied. “Ha!”
Her response was a frowny face that stretched to the corners of her chin.
“...Really, Rainbow?” She lamented. “
“We thought you weren't...Er…” Rarity paused with a little gasp of air. “...Interested in boys.”
…What?
“I…I don’t even...what?” I blurted out. “Since when did I say I wasn’t into guys?”
“It was something the whole school believed, Rainbow. We didn’t want to ask because we didn’t want to be seen as rude.”
I stared open-mouthed at them.
Why would they think that? It’s not like I have some huge, obvious sign that says I don’t like guys that way-
And then it sank in. Like, “Sinking of the Titanic” sank in levels of sinking.
Everyone in the room held their breath as they stared at me and I stared at me. Not a footstep, not a sound made by an object, nothing. Not even a bird chirp or a animal squeak pierced the thick atmosphere of awkwardness that surrounded and immersed us.
“Ugh,” I groaned once.
The gang stared back at me.
“Uuuuu Gggg Hhhhhh!” I made effort to groan longer and harder this time. “I can’t believe you girls!”
They traded looks with each other, each bearing an expression of embarrassment at my apparent indignation.
“It’s the hair, isn’t it?” I frowned as I ran a hand down my colourful glory. “Ugh, just when I thought people would stop jumping to conclusions about me.”
“Fine. I roll down whatever side of the mountain I want to, okay? Guy, girl, it doesn't matter.”
“Well, don’t get me wrong, she seems like a great gal.” I waved a hand. “But she’s on the other side of the mirror right now.”
“Besides, I’m not going to just spread my legs apart for the first person that comes along and ask for it; I have standards. When I’m looking for a special somebody, I’m looking for some very special and rare qualities not everyone has. Speed, agility, guts, style, coolness, awesomeness, and radicalness.”
“Aren't those all the same thing?” Applejack interrupted.
“You would think that, Applejack. And that's why you would never qualify to be my pet.”
Wisdom doesn’t have to be so dull and dreary all the time. It can even be a little uplifting and emotionally
