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Zapple Pie sat on her bed, eyes wide and a frown forming. “I’m sorry, what?”
“I-I might have been the cause of Downburst’s crash last week.” Solar Flare grimaced at her own words as if they had left a foul taste in her mouth. Her ears flattened against her head and she could barely meet Zapple’s gaze, especially as they sat in silence.
It took Zap a moment to figure out what to say, and when she did speak, it seemed as if she was considering her words, and reaction, very carefully. After all, Downburst had been a friend since the two of them were young, but she didn’t want to make Solar Flare like she couldn’t be heard. “Okay… I don’t really understand. Why do you think you made Downy crash?”
Solar Flare’s front hooves started to fidget, and she looked as if she might be sick. “When w-we were in the fog… during the race… I might have… kind of… run into her. O-On purpose.”
Zapple Pie looked mortified. When she had heard the news from Autumn Storm, she had assumed that it was just all a big accident. But to learn that Sol had intentionally thrown her off course left her stomach in knots. “…Why would you do that?”
“I-It’s not like I knew she would hit the ground!” The pegasus started to panic, quick to defend herself even though she knew there was no winning. “She was just supposed to lose some speed or fall behind! I c-couldn’t tell how close she was in the fog, she wasn’t supposed to fall that fast–!”
Her friend stopped her, raising a hoof to silence Sol’s frantic rambling. Emotions ran through her like wildfire and she had no idea whether to be furious or heartbroken or try to see the best in everything like she always did. Zapple Pie took a deep breath in, let it out, and spoke slowly, trying to keep her voice from shaking.
“Did you tell anyone what you did? Try to explain what happened?”
Solar Flare shook her head. “When I saw what happened, I ran. I didn’t even finish the race. She wasn’t supposed to fall like that…”
“Sol, do you… regret it? Would you take it back, if you could?” Zap asked softly, still trying to figure out if she wanted to punch the pegasus or hug her and assure her that she would help her through it.
At this question, Solar Flare finally looked up and met her friend’s gaze. Tears flooded the corners of her eyes and a choked sob made its way out of her throat. Ashamed of bursting into tears, the mare lowered her head to try and quiet herself, but it didn’t make a difference.
“She…she hit the ground so hard, Zap…” She cried, voice trembling so hard she could barely speak. “…I just wanted to make s-sure that I come out on top. I never should have hit her. I should have proved I was the best by beating her fair, but she was always the favorite, always the one p-put on a pedestal… I just wanted that to be me…”
“Sol…” Zap tried to speak, seeing her tough-as-nails friend crumble before her eyes, but the mare wasn’t done. Words rolled out of her mouth as quickly as tears ran down her cheeks.
“I’d take it back. I’d take i-it back so quickly if I could. Now I’m not a cadet and I’ll never be a Wonderbolt. I-I’m nothing and I’ve dragged down Downburst with me. I tried going to the hospital to tell her what I did. B-But I saw Autumn there and I ran. I’ve never wanted to take something back more in my whole life… and I-I can’t…”
This was enough to cause Zapple Pie to climb down off her bed and give Sol a big hug, letting the mare’s head rest on her shoulder, a few tears of her own sliding down her cheeks. “You know what you did was wrong, and I know you’ll regret it forever. I think that’s a good start. But you’ll need to do more, okay?”
Solar Flare sniffed softly, her tear-soaked cheek resting on Zap’s feathers. “W-What do you mean?”
“Well, you’ll have to apologize. You have to tell them what happened. You can’t just pretend it never happened and try to move on, Sol. You’re going to have to face it head-on and do your best to make yourself better from it. I can’t say you have to make it better, because I don’t know if that’s realistic. There is no making this situation better.” Zapple gave her friend a small squeeze of encouragement, knowing it would take a lot of work to achieve everything she just spoke of.
Sol nodded her head slowly, listening closely to the mare, before giving a small gulp. “W-Would you mind coming with me to the hospital? To say sorry to Downburst? I don’t know if I could do it on my own, not yet.”
Giving a small smile, Zap snuggled into Solar Flare’s neck. “Of course, I’ll come with you. I’ll help you with whatever you need.” The small hippogriff hesitated and took a breath before continuing. “But I want to set up one rule for all of this. There…There can’t be an ‘us’ until you work on ‘you’ first, okay?”
Freezing for a moment, Sol felt another tear roll down her face at Zapple’s condition. But she nodded in agreement, wrapping a front leg around her to return the hug.
“Okay.”
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