The previous night Rainbow Dash actually did something she hadn’t done in forever: she set her alarm. The cyan mare awoke to the sound she hated more than anything else in life—well, other than Twilight’s nagging that is—her alarm clock going off.

Rainbow groaned and forced her eyes open. She both knew and detested that sound. She hated that sound because it meant that today was important. It had to be important; otherwise, there was no way in Tartarus she would have set that infernal thing.

So, with no options left other than to get up and shut the bucking thing off, she forced her protesting body to move, to try and get up. Rainbow Dash fell out of bed, crawled over, and pulled the blasted thing off the dresser. She was about to toss the thing out of her cloud house, and out of her life, forever—the fate of her past three alarm clocks—when she saw a sticky note attached to it. Something that reminded her the reason why she had hurt herself like this and made herself get up at ten a.m. when there wasn’t a real reason to.

“The bet with Twilight!” Rainbow shouted to herself.

Quickly stretching her wings and glancing out the nearest window, she grinned before jumping out of it and taking off towards the crystal castle of the Princess of Friendship.

Skidding to a halt in front of the crystal steps, Rainbow walked up to the door.

“Prepare to lose, Twilight Sparkle.” She pushed her way through the door without knocking and made her way down the hall.

Rainbow grinned as she heard a noise coming from the kitchen. She had been expecting Twilight to be awake; because, well, that’s what Twilight does. She wakes up early and takes care of things even though there’s no reason to. Had Twilight been asleep, Rainbow would have known she was in trouble.

Dash grinned as she made for the kitchen. She was still grinning as she quickly jumped around the corner and yelled out, “Gotcha!”

Twilight looked up from her disgusting breakfast of quesadillas to Rainbow. “Hey, Rainbow Dash. Come to check up on me already?”

“Uh… what?” Rainbow looked from her friend’s unamused face to the meal that sat in front of her. But Twilight hates quesadillas. This is a joke, right? Oh... she’s doing this for the bet.

“Yep, I’m serious about this! I slept in a whole hour past my normal wake up time. Didn’t check my checklist once. Completely skipped brushing my teeth this morning, and now I’m having… quesadillas,” Twilight said with a grimace, “for breakfast.”

“An hour‽ Twilight do you even know how early I got up today? Never mind that, why are you eating those?” Rainbow gestured a hoof at the plate. “You hate quesadillas.”

“Umm… it’s the bet, you said I have to do things I wouldn’t normally do. These are all things I wouldn’t normally do.”

“Really, Twilight?” Rainbow facehoofed. “Doing a couple of things you hate doesn’t mean you’re different! It just means you’re doing lame stuff that makes you feel bad. And they aren’t even the cool bad things!”

Twilight looked up from her—rather cheesy—meal to the cyan pegasus. “Umm… I don’t understand.”

“Just forget it,” Rainbow said. “I’m going back to bed.”

“What‽ No! We had a bet,” Twilight said as she teleported right in front of Rainbow, blocking her path.

Rainbow waved it off with a roll of her eyes. “And? You’re not even taking it seriously! Eh… good try on your part though. ‘A’ for effort and all that.”

“I’m serious! I’m very serious about winning this!” Twilight prodded Rainbow with a hoof.

“Maybe that’s why it’s not working”—Rainbow shoved her friend’s hoof aside—“just ease up a bit. Don’t think, just do, Twi.”

“I-I… um, I don’t…” Twi stammered, rubbing her hoof against the side of her other leg. “I don’t know how. I couldn’t find any books about it last night.”

“Sheesh, Twilight, not everything’s in a book! It’s easy; just don’t be, uh, well… you,” Rainbow said with a chuckle. “How about this? I’ll tell you what you need to do all day and you just do that.”

Twilight looked up into her friend’s magenta eyes. “So you’ll just tell me what to do all day?”

“Exactly like what I’ll do if you win.”

Twilight’s resolve faltered for only a moment before she shook her head and glared right at her friend. “You know what? Deal.”

Rainbow raised a brow while smirking at the princess. “What? No list of pros and cons? You’re not gonna think this through before you agree?”

“Nope, I told you yesterday, I’m going to win this, whatever it takes. So let’s do it. We’ll spend the day together and you can tell me what to do, and when this is over, you’ll finally have to straighten up.”

Rainbow spat on her hoof and stuck it out to Twilight, a smirk staying prominent on her face. Twilight hesitated for a few seconds—something that caused Rainbow’s grin to increase—before she did likewise. The alicorn spat on her own hoof and pressed it against Rainbow’s, watching with trepidation as the pegasus grinned; a grin that seemed to get even larger at Twilight’s momentary doubt.

“Oh, and before we start, Twi.”

“Yes?”

Rainbow winked at her friend. “Don’t say ‘spend the day together’ like it’s a date or something.”

Twilight glared at her as Rainbow started to make her way haphazardly out of the castle. The alicorn shook her head clear of that disturbing thought. “So, um, what are the ground rules?” she asked.

“Rules? Really, Twilight?”

“What?”

Rainbow laughed again and ran her hoof over Twilight’s head. “Ugh, whatever. Hmm… easy, you just have to not be Twilight Sparkle.”

“Yeah, how exactly do I not be me? I mean even if I act different, I’m still me.”

“Geez, you’re a very literal pony aren’t you? Just try to pretend, yeah, let’s start there! Pretend you’re a really awesome pony!”

“What, like you?” Twilight asked with a roll of her eyes.

“Yeah! Just like me! I mean, I guess I am the most awesome pony you get the honor of knowing.” Rainbow’s smile was bright as the sun and her voice held no note of sarcasm.

“Oh, so just act like I’m the Queen of the World then, gotcha.” Twilight’s reply was dripping with sarcasm.

“Uh… you alright there, Twi?”

“You accused me of not taking this seriously, when all you’ve said is just to be like you!”

“Fine, you want this to be serious? Let’s do this seriously then. Here’s the ground rules,” Rainbow spoke as they left the castle together. “You don’t give two bucks about anypony or anything. No pony you meet today matters.”

“What?” Twilight asked. “I-I… what?”

“You heard me, act with… uhh… you know, when you couldn’t care less about something?”

“Indifference?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah that! That should be pretty easy for you, right?”

“I’ve never treated ponies with indifference!” Twilight protested.

“Yeah you did. Before you met us you treated everypony with indifference. But I don’t just want you to repeat that; no, I want you to take it up to eleven. You’re not just going to go out of your way to ignore other ponies, you’re going to look at them like they’re dirt. Like they should feel lucky just to be in your presence.”

“That’s horrible!”

“That’s the bet, anytime you want out, just say so. Nopony is forcing you to do it.”

“I-I… um…” Twilight paused. No, I’m serious about this; it’s just for one day. I’m going to win this. It may be the only chance we have of really teaching Rainbow responsibility. “Fine.”

“Fine you say? Let’s put it into practice then,” Rainbow stated with an evil grin as she saw Bon Bon and Roseluck walking nearby. “Test it out on them.”

Twilight’s eyes looked at the two mares. This was it; this was the moment when this would move from being ‘just talk’ to something more; something that could cause everypony in town, everypony in Equestria to see her differently. No, she told herself. I’m serious about this, more so than I’ve been about anything for a long time. I can do this. I can win!

“Well, you gonna go? Or can we call it a day?”

“I’m going now,” Twilight replied as she started to walk up to the two mares with her head held up in the same fashion as the Canterlot elite.

“Good luck,” Rainbow snickered out. This should be fun to watch. Time to crash and burn, Sparkle.

Princess Twilight walked right up to the two mares and sat down directly in front of their path.

Roseluck and Bon Bon came to a stop. “Hello princess, nice day today, isn’t it?” Roseluck asked.

“It’s a day, whether it’s nice or not is purely subjective and cannot be quantified.”

Did she… did she just try to diss them with science? Rainbow facehoofed, she then did a quick double check to make sure nopony saw her hanging out with someone so uncool.

“Umm… okay?” Bon Bon said with a strange smile on her face as she tried to comprehend the princess’s words. “That was a great party for Princess Celestia yesterday, I’m happy everything turned out so perfectly.”

“You’re definition of perfect is severely lacking, Bon Bon. I’d highly recommend visiting the library at your earliest convenience and looking it up in a dictionary.”

Rainbow groaned and quickly took flight. She flew at top speed and grabbed Twilight, shoving her aside, then glared at her before turning to look at the mares. “How about you two scram?”

Bon Bon and Roseluck looked at each other with confused expressions on their muzzles. “That was… strange,” Roseluck said as they turned and walked away.

“Very,” Bon Bon replied. They both silently agreed to forget that it ever happened.

Turning back to Twilight, Rainbow rolled her eyes before pointing a hoof up to a cloud. “Can I talk to you for a second? Up. There.” Before the princess could respond, Rainbow took off into the air.

Twilight was confused. But she unfolded her wings all the same and followed Rainbow. “Rainbow, I don’t understand, I did all—”

“Seriously? What the buck was that? You freaking scienced them, Twi! Do you even know how uncool that is? And I was right there! Do you know how many ponies could’ve seen me with you?”

“You said to treat them with indifference. That was me doing it.”

“I told you to treat them like they were dirt! Not tutor them!”

“So, I—”

“Stop. Whatever you’re going to say, it’s wrong. Let’s run through what you should have done. When Roseluck asked you if it was a nice day, you should have asked what business it was of hers. When Bon Bon told you that she thought the party was perfect, you should have said she needed her eyes checked.”

“That’s just downright rude, and it doesn’t even validate my argument!”

Rainbow shook her head. “You don’t need to validate anything! You were supposed to diss them and then move on! Not... whatever that was.”

Twilight opened her muzzle, but then shut it again. She looked confused, but thoughtful.

“Alright, well it was good for a test run. Now that you know what not to do, do you think you’re ready for another go?” Rainbow asked as her eyes spotted somepony very familiar in the distance bounding over to the princess’s castle.

Twilight nodded.

“This is the real deal, your test starts now. Are you sure you’re ready?” Rainbow asked, knowing this would come to an end very soon.

“I’m ready!” Twilight replied.

“Okay, teleport back to the ground and the next pony should be coming up very soon. But Twilight, no backing out, if you do—”

“Never, I’m going to win this. Just treat them like dirt and not give two bucks, right?”

“Right. Go get em!” Rainbow raised a hoof in the air. There’s no way she’ll actually do it. But at least this will make for some good entertainment.

Twilight grinned and teleported down, her jaw dropped as she saw the next pony come bounding up the trail. It was a mare she fully recognized—one with a fully pink coat and mane—one with three party balloons as her cutie mark, her friend, Pinkie Pie.

Damn you, Rainbow Dash.

“Hey Twilight! I was just on my way to see you and look! Poof, here you are! You’re amazing, it’s like you knew I was coming, like you had your own version of the pinkie sense, or I guess it’d be called the Twilight sen—”

“Pinkie, shut up.”

“W-w-what?”

“Celestia, you’re annoying. Always jabbering on about this and that, fully unaware that we stopped listening the moment you opened your muzzle.”

Whoa, what did she just say? Rainbow popped back up into a sitting position, as soon as Twilight had left she had laid back to try to catch a small nap while her friend ‘tried’ to be indifferent to the over exuberant pink pony.

Pinkie fell back onto her haunches, her mane and tail deflated, straightening out. She was completely taken aback by her friend’s words. “T-they do?”

Twilight started to walk around her. “What? Didn’t your ‘pinkie sense’ ever tell you the truth? No, I guess not, huh? Too bad, so sad. So why don’t you do us all a favor, go home, and eat those sugary death treats you love so much until your completely unrealistic metabolism finally gives out and you balloon so much that you can never leave your house again. That way we’ll at least know how to avoid you.”

Rainbow’s ear twitched at those words. Eh… still sciency, but I’m impressed. Way to knock it out of the park this time, Egghead. Although Damn! That was way meaner than I thought she’d be.

Pinkie slowly got to her hooves, backing away from the alicorn with tears forming in her eyes. “Wh-why Twilight?” Before the alicorn could respond, the pink mare spun and took off in the direction she came from. Rainbow Dash waited until Pinkie was far enough away so that she wouldn’t see her before landing by Twilight's side.

“That was the most horrible thing I’ve done in my life,” Twilight said, her voice pained.

“Even compared to that time you cast a spell on your doll to make everyone want it?” Rainbow asked, hoping to soften the blow at least a little.

She failed.

Twilight looked up at Rainbow, tears falling from her eyes. “Y-yes.”

“You want out? Say you want out and we’re done. We can both go and apologize to Pinkie together. I’m sure if we explained everything she’d forgive you. But if we keep going, it’ll only get worse from here.” There was a note of desperation in Rainbow’s voice as she found herself really, really hoping that Twilight would drop it here and now. Pranks weren’t all that much fun when somepony got hurt.

Twilight thought about it. She saw the look of concern in Rainbow’s eyes. She closed her eyes and concentrated, hard. Can I do this? Can I do things like that to all my friends? I-I… she looked up at Rainbow, her anger returning at the mare’s behavior from yesterday. This… this is a one-time thing, yes it hurt, it hurt Pinkie, and it hurt me to do it, but Rainbow’s right. Once I explain everything Pinkie will forgive me, as will everypony else that I might… be mean to.

This was a real chance to help Rainbow; a real chance to wake her up, to have her take responsibility seriously. She wasn’t about to throw it away. “No, we keep going. I’m serious about this, Rainbow. I will win.”

Rainbow cringed a little on the inside, but refused to let Twilight see it. She strengthened her resolve. Yes, that had been rough, a little bit more so than even she was comfortable with, but Rainbow wasn’t about to simply roll over and let Twilight win either. She’d never purposely lose a bet.

“Alright, Egghead, but if you’re going to act tough today, you’ve gotta look the part too.” At that, she led the princess through town to the local barbershop. They avoided running into any ponies along the way, something Rainbow Dash took them out of their way to do. However, that couldn’t be helped when they walked into the shop.

“Your only response to any question is ‘whatever’, understood?” Rainbow whispered to her.

“Whatever,” Twilight replied.

“Good,” Rainbow said as she walked into the shop. It was mostly empty, save for one mare sitting in the chair with a newspaper in hoof. Rainbow half expected it to say, ‘Princess Twilight, total “bitch” to her friends’, but knew that’d be impossible; even the Foal Free Press didn’t update that quickly.

“Oh hey, Rainbow Dash, and Princess Twilight. What can I do for you?”

“The princess here wanted a new manestyle,” Rainbow said as she picked up a magazine with all sorts of different manecuts in them. After a few moments she said, “Why don’t you give her ehh... that one.” There was a wide smirk set on her lips as she held the magazine up for only the barber to see.

The barber looked up from the magazine to the princess. Twilight didn’t even bother to try and look at it. “Umm… princess, are you sure you want that?”

“Whatever,” Twilight replied, barely even looking at her.

“Are you sure? I mean you didn’t even look at it.”

“What-ever.” Twilight said again, rolling her eyes.

“You heard the princess,” Rainbow said with a smile.

The barber gulped and gestured for the princess to get into the chair. Twilight haphazardly did so, almost like she was doing the barber a favor by complying.

“And Twi, while you’re getting your hair cut, I’ll get you a little gift for being such a good sport.” Rainbow said with a smile.

“Whatever,” Twilight said again as the barber went to work.

Rainbow returned twenty minutes later with a bag held in her muzzle. As she approached the barbershop, Twilight sauntered out to greet her. The mare’s long mane had been cut short, front and back. Her bangs still hung above her eyes, and the now shortened mane framed her face in a rounded shape. It really gave her an edgy look compared to her normal clean cut.

“That looks good on you, Twi,” Rainbow said with a smirk, barely keeping herself from laughing.

“Whatever,” Twilight replied

“And now for your gift.” At that, Rainbow pulled out a black dog collar with spikes on either side. It was crafted from fine leather with silver spikes. However those were not its most defining feature. Its most defining feature were the words, written in clear white print for all to see: bite me.

She showed it to Twilight, who, almost, cracked a smile at the sight of it, an expression that was hidden from the world as soon as she felt it. The princess moved her head down, allowing the pegasus easier access to attach the collar around her neck.

She couldn’t explain why but when Rainbow tightened it and caused her a small amount of difficulty in breathing, it felt… liberating, in a way.

Rainbow passed Twilight a pack of gum as she asked, “Ready for what comes next, Twi?”

Twilight took the offered candy, dropped the wrapper onto the floor, and started to chew. After a minute she blew a bubble and said, with a deadpan glare at Rainbow, “Whatever.”

I don’t care what it is, Rainbow. I’m going to win this.