The next few days were a blur to Twilight. She studied, slept, and went to school. But she wasn’t, by any means, living.

Everything felt dreamlike, or rather, nightmare-like, as she waited for the dreaded meeting with Cadence, where she’d have to deliver the painful news that Plan A didn’t work out and she had literally nothing to put on that stupid application. Literally nothing.

She was literally nothing.

She couldn’t even manage getting a simple, stupid, hobby.

Everything was blurry, until the day of the detention. Twilight almost went right home after school ended, so used to her routine.

Well, it wouldn’t be the first thing she messed up that week.

The second Cheerilee left the room the room started to focus again.

Empty desks, ticking clock, chalkboard with stark white words screaming DETENTION END: 5PM.

Twilight was no stranger to empty desks or the school after everyone else was gone, but this time, it felt like a kaleidoscope that contained rubble instead of shiny beads. She wasn’t here because she chose to study extra. She was here because she was mandated to.

Mandated as a criminal.

The only other person in the room was Rainbow Dash, conveniently, the main focus of Twilight’s most recent nightmares.

That scene- that painful scene, played behind Twilight’s closed eyelids whenever she blinked or tried to get in a cycle of polyphasic sleep.

Checkmate.

Slowly, Twilight moved her head to look at her, really look at her, for the first time since that day.

She was reclined in her chair, hood draped over her eyes with her feet kicked up the second Cheerilee vacated the space. She clearly wasn’t a stranger to this routine, seemingly already snoring.

She wouldn’t get much of a nap today, however, as a pair of hands jolted her awake by slamming against her desk. Dash flinched, lifting her hood only to be met with the brutal gaze of one frazzled Twilight ‘Egghead’ Sparkle.

“How did you- what was that?”

Rainbow Dash lazily tilted her head back, groaning.

“Detentions are supposed to be silent, you know. I’m trying to think about what I’ve done.”

“Since when are you a- a-” Twilight spluttered. “Frickin- chess prodigy?”

At this, Dash smirked. “What, don’t tell me your scrunchie’s in a bunch because you got crushed in six moves?”

“I didn’t get- I-”

“You very much did. With a Fegatello Attack, too. I wouldn’t even have to be a chess prodigy- you blundered so hard that my newborn cousin could sweep you!”

Twilight let out a shriek that could only be described as utterly anguished. She grabbed Dash by her shirt and shook her with the fury that only a scrawny nerd sucking at something could manage.

“You cheated! How the heck do you even- do you even know how to spell Fegatello?”

Dash blanched.

Twilight actually felt pretty strong- probably the adrenaline or something. Clearly, losing affected twiggy dweebs like babies trapped under cars affected mothers.

Dash shook her attacker off and rolled her eyes, fixing the now-crumpled collar of her t-shirt with a huff.

“Or maybe you just suck?”

“You’re a total dumbass! How could you beat me at chess no less?”

“Because you totally suck at it, asshole. You played like you’d never even seen a board in your life!”

“In- in every subject…”

Twilight took a deep breath that sounded way too hollow to be healthy, starting to pace back and forth in front of Dash’s desk.

“In every subject! I’ve seen your grades! You’re a straight D minus! I don’t even know how you’re allowed to stay on any of your sports teams! I can’t even figure out how you’re in any of my classes! And you-”

She suddenly whirled around and pointed an accusatory finger at what she clearly deemed to be the current bane of her existence.

“And you beat me!”

“You missed the simplest fork that literally even kids get taught in their first chess class, if I hadn’t beaten you, the elementary schoolers in the next hall would have. Maybe they would be more your level, Twibaby.

“I literally cannot exaggerate how famously stupid and avoidable that blunder was.”

“How did you do it? I just don’t- how can-”

Twilight balled her hands up in her hair, then fell back into her chair, the accompanying desk clattering from the impact.

If it wasn’t for her hyperventilating, the room would almost be quiet enough for Rainbow to take her planned nap.

Almost…

She sighed, then stood, waltzing over to Twilight’s desk and scooping up her backpack.

“Hey, that’s my-”

“Shut up, shitnerd,” Rainbow snapped, rifling through Twilight’s bag for only a moment before her hand closed around the book she’d been looking for. She smacked it down on the desk in front of her.

It was the book Twilight had been reading during the chemistry lesson that had landed her in the detention room they currently occupied.

“Classic Games and What We Can Learn From Them? I don’t…”

Dash rolled her eyes again, then pointed at the name of the author.

Bow Hothoof, Grandmaster.

“My dad, dweebus. I’ve been competing in tournaments since before I could friggin’ read the guides he writes.”

Twilight stared in disbelief at the cover of the book as Dash returned to her seat, kicking her feet up on the desk. She crossed her arms and closed her eyes as Twilight stewed in the revelation.

“You’re a…you-”

“What? Shocked that a dumbass like me could be smarter than you at something? Prissy precious genius Twilight Sparkle?”

“I didn’t think that…”

Dash’s eyes snapped open and she sat up. She rounded on Twilight.

“What? You think that just ‘cos you do well in exams, that makes you better than me? You think you’re better than any other asshole in this stupid school?

“You carry yourself around like you’re hot shit, like everyone else is beneath you, like the reason that no one likes you or wants to hang out with you is because you’re too good for them.

“Well, newsflash, Einstein, you just suck. I might get garbage grades because I don’t try, but I’m still goddamn awesome, and, in case it still hasn’t sunk in, I pulverized you in a series of moves that would have made a chess engine cry in shame.

“So get over yourself, because everyone else sure has!”

With that, she grabbed her backpack, and strode indignantly to the door.

“Wait! But the detention-”

“Miss Cheerilee can find me outside. I’m out of here.”

When the door slammed behind her, Twilight felt it like the thud was aimed straight at her forehead.

She momentarily stared down at her desk, before jumping to her feet and chasing after Dash.

What am I doing? Miss Cheerilee could be back at any moment and if she finds me gone, I’ll be in even deeper trouble for skipping detention-

“Wait! Rainbow Dash!”

Twilight’s lungs heaved as she sprinted, wondering how exactly Dash had managed to get so far out of the room in such a short period of time. Or maybe Twilight was just extremely unathletic.

Twilight ran until she reached the front entrance to the school, only noticing Dash by the lockers from her peripheral. She’d overinvested in her momentum, however, and instead of coming to the intended stop, she skidded and tripped over her own feet, landing in a pile by the door.

Unimpressed, Dash strode closer, staring down at her with a clear expression of disgust.

“What do you want?”

Twilight faltered, breathing heavily. “Just… just give me… a second…”

“Jeez, are you alright?” Dash raised an eyebrow, lip curling. “You look like one of those sickly little chihuahuas that look like they’re about to croak at any moment. How out of shape are you?”

Twilight heaved. “Very.”

Dash gave her a moment to catch her breath.

“I know that… I think- you’re right. I haven’t… I haven’t been fair to you.”

“No shit.”

Twilight looked up, finding Dash’s eyes relentlessly cold, lowered into slits with more simmering rage than a volcano about to blow.

There was something scary in that look, not because Dash posed any real danger of pummeling Twilight like she probably wanted to, but rather because of the lack of action in it.

Dash wasn’t jumping into an outburst of troglodyte rage; she may have snapped at Twilight but ultimately she decided to leave. She could just walk away from her, and she did. She didn’t deem Twilight worthy of sticking around to humor, regardless of how mammoth her feelings seemed to her.

Twilight’s failure wasn’t important to her, not any more than a one-liner joke would have been. She got crushed, and that was funny because of who Twilight portrayed herself as, and that was that.

Twilight was suddenly faced with a crushing notion of sonder that grew far beyond the mundane meaning of the word.

It wasn’t even that nobody else cared about the things she did. She was aware of that already.

It was the fact that no matter how much she achieved, or how many eyes stared up at her panoply of accolades, how many objective measures proved she was far beyond average - none of that mattered.

She was crushed by the futility of wanting to be something.

And maybe it was just the pressure of exams getting to her, the pressure of having to write dozens of drafts and rewrites of personal statements, of needing every waking moment to be productive, or maybe even the simplest fact that she hadn’t gotten more than four hours of sleep in… long enough that she couldn’t remember.

Maybe it was all of that and the fact that all of her suffering really meant very little at all that made Twilight start to cry.

Not even just cry. It may have started that way, but eventually the little sniffles devolved into body-shaking sobs, complete with ugly snorts and hair sticking to her face and everything.

“Oh- okay, we’re crying now- god-”

“I’m- I’m sorry-”

Twilight wiped furiously at her eyes with her sleeves, her glasses fogging up as she lifted them over her face.

“No, hey, maybe let’s- uh- maybe let’s stop crying-”

Twilight only wailed harder, feeling increasingly more pathetic because she was making even stupid Rainbow Dash uncomfortable with her implosive level of self-loathing.

“Jesus…”

Then, unexpectedly, she felt an awkward tug at one of the arms covering her face.

“Come on, get up.”

The tug came again, much harder this time when Twilight didn’t obey at first. She stumbled to her feet, still covering her face, and let herself be dragged down one of the hallways.

Maybe Dash was going to take her out back and shoot her. Put her out of her misery.

There was no such luck as Twilight recognised the entrance to the girl’s bathroom.

Once over the sink, her hopes were once again raised that Rainbow Dash would perhaps try to drown her.

Then, she caught sight of her tear-stained face in the reflection, made only grimmer by the general sheen of grime that all highschool bathrooms seemed to possess, and started to cry again, her breathing much faster than before.

She was even making Dash pity her.

She wasn’t better than anyone.

She wasn’t even better than this.

Dash tugged a wad of tissue paper from one of the dispensers by the sinks, soaking it with cold water before pressing it into Twilight’s hand.

“Put that to your face.”

“Wh- why?”

“Because- man, I don’t know. Just do it!”

Twilight frowned, but relented, lifting up her streaky glasses to dab at her eyes. Icy water dripped down her sleeves, pooling under her elbows, and she cringed, but, after a few minutes, she felt the rapid rate of her heart slow down, and the world seemed a little bit more substantial again.

Without her crying and snotty sniffling, the bathroom was dead quiet.

Twilight glanced at Dash in the reflection, who was standing some distance away, very pointedly not looking back at her.

After a few moments, Dash spoke.

“One of my friends- Fluttershy- she said something about how cold water on your face is meant to, like, instantly shut down anxiety or a panic attack. I don’t know if that’s what you were doing or anything but…I think she said it was called a dive reflex, or something.

“Something about ancient mammals diving into water to escape predators and the virgin nerve or whatever it’s called.”

Twilight looked back down at the sink.

“Vagus nerve.”

“Huh?”

“It’s called the vagus nerve, not the virgin nerve.”

“More like the nerve of this virgin to correct me.”

Twilight tried to glare at her, as she usually would for this clear attempt at getting a rise of her, but she found very little power behind the action. Instead, she sighed.

“Why are you… being nice to me?”

“What was I supposed to do when you started sobbing in a heap at my feet? Kick you?”

“Well, yeah. We’re not exactly friends or anything. I just got done insulting you. You hate me.”

“I don’t hate you, I just think you’re annoying as shit.”

Twilight blistered. “I guess I kind of am, huh.”

“The first step is admitting you have a problem.”

“Well! You can be an ass too!”

“Only because you’re an ass first!”

Twilight turned around, looking at Dash head-on instead of through a mirror. She started to prepare the second scathing line to her accusation, but as she opened her mouth, it died at her lips.

Who…who was the ass first? Twilight couldn’t remember when she decided the majority of the student body was against her.

Dash raised an eyebrow, and Twilight pursed her lips.

“I apologize.”

“You… what?”

“I’m… sorry?”

“No, I mean, I got that much, but, like, why?”

“I guess I just realized that I’ve been… I know I can be a bit… aggressive. I don’t really find it easy to… interact with others, so to speak. On any level. Especially when I’m really…really stressed…which is…”

“Often?”

Twilight smiled slightly. “I think so.”

Dash rolled her eyes. “Typical nerd.”

Neither of them said anything for a moment, before Dash awkwardly stuck a hand out.

“Truce?”

Twilight stared at it for a moment, before robotically sliding her own palm against Dash’s. “Truce.”

The girls let their hands fall back to their sides, and Twilight suddenly came back to reality.

“Oh my gosh, we need to get back to detention!”

“I don’t know, I kind of have PTSD there now,” Dash said as she started to head towards the bathroom exit.

Twilight absently trailed after her, already thinking about the consequences her actions may now have. She had never had to consider something like a detention before, let alone what would happen for leaving one early.

“PTSD? Why?”

“It’s where I got assaulted by a rattled nerd.”

“I did not assault you-”

Dash shot Twilight a teasing look, before pretending to look down the collar of her shirt. “I probably have bruises from where you throttled me.”

“I…gently shook you.”

“I may have shaken baby syndrome.”

“You’re not a baby!”

“Lucky for you! You know what they do to baby-rattlers in prison?”

Surprising herself, Twilight felt a laugh bubble up. “I have to go back there anyway. I left all my stuff.”

“That was pretty dumb of you, wasn’t it, Miss Genius?”

“I wasn’t really… thinking when I followed you out here,” Twilight said, sheepishly.

They walked in tandem until they reached the classroom door, peering inside to see Cheerilee still wasn’t back. Thankfully.

“Are we chill enough with each other that I can make fun of you for that blunder again?”

“Absolutely not-”

“Because that was-” Dash snorted. “That was abysmal.”

This time, Twilight had no problem glaring at her while they returned to their respective desks. She briefly stopped to wonder why Rainbow Dash bothered to return with her, considering she was already committed to dealing with the punishment.

“I honestly have no idea how someone with your brain can screw up like that. Especially when you clearly studied up before the games.”

Twilight slumped in her chair. “Playing a game is different to reading theory. And now I… Now I didn’t make the team.”

Dash raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t hear?”

“Hear what?”

“They’re redoing the tournament. Something about some of the players rigging up StockFish under the table. The whole ranking’s cooked.”

“Wait- what?”

“I mean, I guess you have another shot if you really wanted to-”

Then, Twilight sat up abruptly in her chair and turned towards Dash.

“Teach me.”

“What?”

“Teach me. How to play. I mean, clearly you’re good at the game and know a lot about it.”

Dash grimaced. “Yeah. No.”

“Please.”

“No offense, but that sounds like a horrible idea. I think I would genuinely rather pick my eyes out with a toothpick, cell by cell.”

“What do I need to do to convince you? I’ll even pay you!”

At this, Rainbow Dash perked up. “How much?”

“How much do you want?”

“Name a number.”

“Uhm, a hundred dollars an hour.”

Dash spluttered. “A hundred—”

“What, too much? Too little?”

“Where are you getting this kind of money?”

“It’s the standard amount my parents paid my tutors in middle school,” Twilight said sheepishly, fiddling with the hem of her cardigan. “Before I mastered independent study.”

Dash seemed to consider this for a moment, before sticking out her hand again. “Okay, deal.”

Twilight beamed, ecstatically shaking Dash’s hand. “Deal!”

Dash couldn’t help but feel like she’d just sold her soul.

Author's Note

Twilight Sparkle - repressed nerd.

I don't know, I just thought being so tightly-wound would result in an eventual breakdown, don't you think? I feel like when I'm particularly stressed, I'm just about ready to start sobbing in front of anyone who pushes me too hard.