Marehouse Field HQ
It had been a couple of weeks since Spike’s death. Fresh back from Cloudsdale, Rainbow Dash crept silently through an open door, gasping sharply as a blast of cold wind hit her. Twilight must have left the windows open again. The pegasus closed the door silently, hoping to cause as little disturbance as possible.
And there the purple unicorn was: at her desk, back facing the pegasus, slumped over a piece of blank parchment.
Rainbow Dash first paused to check if Twilight was asleep. She wasn't: the unicorn’s eyes were open, fixated on Celestia's Sun sinking slowly beyond the rolling hills. For a moment, Rainbow Dash wondered if Twilight even knew of the pegasus' presence.
Probably angry, Rainbow Dash thought. With all the stuff that’s going on, who can blame her-
“She hasn’t replied.” Twilight said casually, still staring out of the window.
Caught off guard, the pegasus could only manage a confused “What?”
“She hasn’t replied. Princess Celestia,” the unicorn answered matter-of-factly.
“Um. Oh.”
“She’s never done that before.”
“Right.”
“Oh, who am I kidding? She won’t respond. Not after what he did… ” the purple unicorn sighed dejectedly, hanging her head in shame.
Gingerly, Rainbow Dash tried to put a foreleg around her friend. “Well, I’m sure the Princess is just busy. What your brother did really hasn't got anything to do with you -”
“Please,” Twilight pushed Rainbow Dash’s foreleg away. “Shining Armor’s not my brother. Especially not after- you know... ” she slumped further onto the desk. “Oh, I’ve failed the Princess again: first Spike, now Shining Armor! How could I have ever let this happen?”
“It was legal,” The prismatic mare tried to be as neutral as possible.
“But we’re supposed to be in this together!” Twilight suddenly slammed her hoof on the table. “All ponies! Together!” Books and stationery cascaded onto the floor. “And here comes Cadence and Shining Armor, saying they want to leave? That they won’t help? This - this is treason. This is betrayal!” The lavender mare buried her face in her forelegs. “How could they do this? How could they do this to me?”
“Um… well… ” the pegasus thought back to that emergency session in the Cloudsdale Parliament. She had to admit, there were some really convincing arguments for wanting out of this struggle… she could almost find herself agreeing-
“'Well' what?”
Rainbow Dash snapped back to reality. Twilight was glaring at her. “Uh… nothing really, I guess,” the pegasus stammered.
Twilight’s eyes narrowed.
The prismatic mare averted her gaze. “It’s nothing. Really.”
Twilight was unconvinced. She turned her gaze back towards the window. “Oh. Of course. I should have guessed. You just came back from Cloudsdale. They voted to leave too, I suppose.”
“Um… er… ” Rainbow Dash’s indecision betrayed the truth.
Twilight couldn't - wouldn't? - summon up any further emotions. “Well. What do you want me to say? It’s been nice knowing you. Have a great flight home.”
Rainbow tried to approach her friend again. “Twilight… ”
“No. I totally understand,” Twilight continued disinterestedly. “You’re a Cloudsdale pegasus. Cloudsdale pegasi obey Parliament. I get it. I won’t keep you here. Bye.”
The pegasus began to feel slightly insulted. “Twilight, are you just going to act like this forever?”
“Why do you care?” Twilight’s voice revealed an increasing irritation. “Just go home, alright? Leave me alone.”
“I’m not going back home.” Rainbow Dash said.
Twilight paused, as if she wasn't expecting this. “So you’re not leaving.”
“You heard that right. Handed in my papers as soon as I saw the result. Come on, you wouldn't expect me, the Element of Loyalty, to abandon my friends, huh?”
Twilight turned back and, for the first time in seemingly forever, let out a miniscule smile. “That’s one piece of good news, I guess.”
I was expecting something more dramatic, Rainbow Dash thought. But whatever. She gave a reassuring pat to the magical mare. “Twilight, just remember that we are all behind you. Always.”
“Thanks. I know.”
“So why don’t we all go out and, you know, just do things? Just like the old times,” the pegasus suggested. “Forget all about the stuff that’s happening. Just for one day.”
“I’d like to, but… I think you should tell Fluttershy about Cloudsdale’s decision.”
Rainbow Dash almost choked on her own spit. “Fluttershy? You mean the pegasus that hasn't lived in Cloudsdale since, like, forever? The one who hates flying? You seriously think she’s going to listen to whatever those old farts have to say?”
“You never know,” Twilight sighed. "This is war. If my own family can betray me... then anypony... "
The implication was evident.
Now it was Rainbow Dash’s turn to narrow her eyes. “Well, alright. I’ll ask Fluttershy. But I trust that she will make the right decision. And so should you.” The prismatic mare turned and began to walk away, leaving the unicorn to her own devices.
“Wait,” Twilight said just as Rainbow Dash was about to open the door.
The pegasus turned. “Yes?”
“What did you say to your family?”
Rainbow Dash let out a bitter smile. Cloudsdale society never forgave “traitors” who disobeyed orders from on high. Every pegasus knew that refusal meant an irrevocable break with friends and family.
“You are my family,” the pegasus replied. And this she meant.
“You are my family… ” Twilight repeated those very words, as if in a trance. Suddenly an idea hit her. “Oh, oh! Thanks, Rainbow Dash, I’ll see you later, I have a letter to write!” The unicorn pushed the confused pegasus out of the door and galloped back to her desk, pen and parchment dancing around her in a moment of inspired frenzy.
Her writer’s block melting away along with her melancholy, Twilight took a deep breath, smoothed out the parchment and began to write.
Dear Princess Celestia,
After days of agonizing thought, I have realized that, ultimately, my real family resides not in the luxurious comfort of the Crystal Palace, nor in the secluded towers of Canterlot academia. No, my real family is with me: here, at this very moment, fighting and bleeding for a magnificent and noble cause - to keep the lands of Equestria free. Fluttershy. Applejack. Rarity. Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash. All of us have created a bond that exceeds friendship. All of us have sacrificed much for each other. In a sense, we have forged, through struggle, the strongest of blood ties.
It is with this realization, my Princess, that I formally renounce any ties to my former kin - Shining Armor, Cadence, my mother and father, and all others who have rejected your cause for safety and surrender. I realize now that those who are unwilling to bleed for us, those who are unable to share our dreams, and those who offer only criticism but no help - these ponies, even if linked to me through blood, I cannot in conscience call ‘family’. And with this declaration, may our futures be irrevocably severed from each other, and may the threads of fate never draw us together again.
I remain forever your most loyal and humble subject and student,
Twilight Sparkle