All Good Things
Twilight stood, awe struck in front of the Canterlot arena. It was a huge marble building, pillars in much the same style as the one in Cloudsdale lined the outside. The only thing that wasn’t white marble was the obsidian floor along with the golden chandelier hanging over the entrance. Having been raised in Canterlot she had both seen and been in it before, but it still managed to dazzle the lavender unicorn. The only thing she didn’t like about it was the massive multicoloured group of ponies that formed something resembling a line. She sighed as she stood on the tips of her hooves, looking over the ponies in front of her.
“Great. At this rate I’ll never get in.” She slouched back down onto her hooves as she stuck her lower lip out into a pout.
“Excuse me, but are you Twilight Sparkle?” A pony asked from behind her. She turned around to reveal a tan pegasus floating behind her wearing a red tie and a semi-formal white shirt.
“I am. Who are you?” She gazed questioningly at the pegasus behind her. She noticed he wore a pin on his shirt in the shape of the Wonderbolts logo.
“That doesn’t matter. Come with me.” Without another word or a missed beat he landed beside Twilight and started pushing through the crowd with relative ease. Twilight’s mouth was hung open as she tried to ask more questions, but before she could start he had already disappeared into the crowd. She had no choice but to follow him through the all-consuming horde of ponies.
Within a few minutes they had pushed through the majority of the crowd. Looking up, Twilight realized she was almost directly in front of the arena, though instead of continuing forward through the gates, they turned around and went to the side of the building. At first Twilight didn’t see anything, but upon closer inspection she saw a small door, guarded by a buff looking earth pony in a black shirt.
“Uh, what’s going on?” Twilight placed a hoof on her escort’s shoulder, drawing an annoyed grunt.
“You’ve been given VIP access by one of the Wonderbolts.” He replied, obviously annoyed as he shrugged her hoof of and approached the guard. He nodded at him, and in return he nodded back before stepping aside. The pegasus walked over and opened the door, motioning Twilight inside.
Once she was inside she heard the pegasus say “Top floor, straight through the door.” Before the door was slammed shut. Looking ahead she was met by a dimly lit staircase leading up. The usually deafening noise of the crowd outside was nothing but a low murmur from within the back stairwell.
Without another second’s hesitation she began the climb up the stairwell. The stairs were like the rest of the arena floor; made of a smooth obsidian tile surrounded by marble walls. The imperfections in the marble gave the stairs a level of depth, the black cracks of rock running in seemingly random patterns over the walls. Each one connected to another.
In a few minutes she reached the very top of the stairs. In front of her stood a very elegant marble door, detailed in gold and obsidian. She pushed the door open as the light of day flooded the stairwell and momentarily blinded her. She raised a hoof to shield her eyes, squinting as she tried to see where she ended up. After a moment her eyes adjusted enough to see the arena stretch out around in a circle in front of a balcony. But the thing her eyes were drawn to was not the pre-show stunt team flying in the arena. Nor was it the multi coloured stands filled with cheering ponies or the spectacular view. Instead her eyes were draw to the centre of the balcony. There sat a pegasus in a Wonderbolt uniform, her chromatic mane blowing lightly in the wind, her cyan wings a perfect match for the feather Twilight had tucked safely behind her ear. Around her neck hung a silver chain, at the lowest point, just above her chest, was a rainbow coloured lightning bolt on the background of a purple, six-pointed star.
“Rainbow?” Twilight burst into a smile as the pegasus turned to face her, revealing bright pink eyes below the goggles resting on her forehead. Without warning she ran up and drew Twilight into a brief but passionate kiss.
“Hey, glad you could make it!” She smiled, releasing Twilight from her embrace and standing a step back.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world!” The unicorn replied happily, smiling brightly, matching Rainbow’s smile to a T. Rainbow just blushed and scratched the back of her neck sheepishly.
“Oh hey, check it out, I told you I wouldn’t lose it!” She grinned triumphantly as she motioned to the pendant around her neck. “They even said I could wear it during our shows.”
“That’s great, Rainbow, but shouldn’t you be getting ready?” Twilight motioned to the team doing some more basic tricks in the arena.
“Nah, we have a good half hour before we start, and we have this routine down pat. I figured we could spend some time together before the show.”
“I’d love that.”
-_-_-_-
Twilight sat happily as she watched the stunts being preformed in front of her. She had one of the best seats in the stadium, second only to the Princess’s seat when they attended. She watched a pegasus with a rainbow trail pull up, away from the rest of the group. She sped up, flying straight up towards the sky, a slight glint caught Twilight’s eye around her neck. Twilight’s smile widened as the mare stopped mid ascent and started her return, a white cone forming around her seconds before a brilliant rainbow ring filled the sky. Following closely after was a loud explosion, the rainbow trail leading away much thicker then normal, and heading straight for her balcony.
As it grew closer Twilight could make out the grin on her face, there eyes locked for a split second before she pulled up, inches from the balcony. She curved up and over the stadium, making a sparkling rainbow over the stadium and causing the crowd to erupt in applause and cheers. Suddenly, the loud speakers crackled to life, the voice of the announcer echoed through the arena.
“Fillies and gentelcolts, let’s hear it for the newest member of the Wonderbolts, Rainbow Dash!” If it was possible the crowd got even louder, even Twilight let out a few loud whistles and cheers as the Rainbow trail slowed down to a halt in the middle of the arena, flying alongside the rest of the group.
“And that marks the end of today’s performance. We thank you for coming out today to watch this spectacular show, and we hope to see you all again!” With that the movement in the crowd increased as ponies began standing and shuffling out of their seats towards the doors. Twilight was about to do the same when Rainbow shot off from the rest of the team, flying up to her balcony with the biggest smile Twilight had ever seen on her face.
“Well, how was that?” She asked, puffing her chest out slightly, “Pretty awesome, if you ask me.”
“Yes Rainbow, you were amazing.” Twilight giggled at the cocky grin Rainbow gave her.
“Hey! Rainbow Dash! Get down here; we gotta get started on planning for our next show!” A voice called from somewhere below them. Both Rainbow’s and Twilight’s face fell; they both knew what that meant.
“That’s Spitfire, I’ll see ya my next break, k Twi?” She waved sadly as she started her decent, giving Twilight one final hug and kiss before she flew below the balcony to the makeshift command centre to begin the planning for the next show.
“Twilight sighed as she reached up and touched the feather in her ear, hanging her head as she turned back to the door.
-_-_-_-
Twilight rolled over in her bed, her blanket cocooned around her body as she glanced at the calendar on the wall opposite her bed. Her eyes fell first on the red x, marking the current day, and then finding her cyan circle that she was waiting for. Still two weeks away. She sighed as she rolled beck over, covering her head from the afternoon sun with a spare pillow. Her eyes closed, her mind filling with images of a cyan pegasus.
“I miss you.” Twilight sighed, drifting off to yet another dreamless sleep. She had done this for the past 3 days, ever since she got back from the show. She barely ate, only eating when Spike came in with a plate of food and practically forced it down her throat. And even then she didn’t get out of bed. Her logical mind was screaming at her to do something, but her heart weighed too heavily in her chest to even get up. She didn’t have the energy to do anything anymore. To make things worse each and every one of her friends had tried to cheer her up. They were just trying to be helpful, but all they did was remind her that they were missing somepony. They were missing Rainbow Dash.
Twilight snorted, Element of Loyalty, chooses fame over her friends. Meanwhile she stayed behind, trying her best to keep the group together without her. It was hard, but for the first month she had managed. But now? She could barely get out of bed most days. And on those rare days she had enough energy to leave her room all she did was sit in the library and look at pictures. Pictures of her and Dash during the short two weeks they had been together, or from before they were together. Any picture containing the cyan pegasus.
-_-_-_-
“Hey Twi, I’m back!” Rainbow called happily, stepping into the library. Though this time, instead of being draw in, or kissed passionately, or even so much as a ‘hello’, there was silence. She made her way fully inside the library, swivelling her ears around to try and locate her missing marefriend. Eventually she picked up on a sound, emanating from the second floor. Curiosity forcing her to investigate, she climbed the stairs.
The top of the stairs revealed a dark hallway, the sound coming from the door on her right; Twilight’s room. She pushed the door open gently with her hoof. In the darkness she could see nothing but the rough shapes of a desk and a bed. Though as her eyes adjusted, she began to see more details, there were papers and books spread everywhere across the floor. Some of them stacked in the middle of the floor, some looking as if they had been thrown at the wall, and some just lying on the floor like a bookshelf had fallen over. She turned her head to the side where she noticed a calendar, a date circled in a cyan circle and red X’s through half the dates. The X’s stopped at the 20th, today was the 31st: The same date that was circled.
Her eyes were drawn from the calendar back to the bed, where she could now make out a lump under the covers, shaking lightly as the sound from earlier continued, the sound of somepony sobbing.
“Twi?” She ventured cautiously closer to the bed. If the unicorn heard her she made no mention of it, as she kept sobbing on the bed, under the covers.
“Twilight?” Dash called a little louder, this time Twilight stopped crying, but still did nothing. Deciding she had had enough, Rainbow walked the rest of the distance over to the bed, ripping the covers of in one quick motion, revealing a lavender unicorn. Her coat had dulled, no longer the vibrant lavender it used to be. Her mane and tail hollow memories of what they used to be. Her eyes were dull and lifeless, missing the brightness that usually filled them. She stared back at Rainbow Dash, no emotion showing in her features. She didn’t look sad, yet somehow this was worse. She just looked lifeless, like she was nothing but a walking corpse, though she didn’t feel much different.
“T-Twilight?” Rainbow gasped, not expecting the appearance of what used to be the mare she loved. Instead it was just a hollow, empty vessel. A distant memory of the mare she had seen just three weeks ago.
“Rainbow Dash.” Twilight greeted stoically, the only evidence that she had been crying were the tears on her cheeks. Other then that she showed no emotion. Rainbow could see nothing other then dull acceptance in her eyes.
“Twilight? What’s wrong? What happened to you?” Rainbow stared, dumfounded at the clearly un-well mare in front of her.
“Nothing, I’ve just been thinking, and I’ve decided, finally.” Twilight answered calmly, her lifeless eyes staring back at Rainbow’s bright pink ones.
“Decided what?” Dash asked cautiously, tilting her head slightly.
“That it’s time for you to choose: Me or the Wonderbolts.” Twilight’s voice was flat. There were no emotions or feelings in those words. She meant what she said and nothing more.
“W-what are you talking about?” Rainbow’s jaw hung slack at the decision presented to her.
“You need to choose, me or the Wonderbolts. I can’t keep this up, Rainbow. If you choose me, you quit the Wonderbolts, if you choose the Wonderbolts, we break up, then we can both move on. I won’t hold your choice against you.” Twilight said, her voice was still empty and serious.
“I… Twi, where did this come from?” Rainbow was still in a state of shock. This was not the Twilight she knew. This was not the mare she loved.
“I can’t focus anymore. I’m too busy thinking about you; too busy worrying if you’ve found another mare, or if you’re coming home. I can’t focus while we’re still together while you’re in the Wonderbolts. I can't think about anything but you. So make your choice. You have until the end of your break to come to me with an answer. Until then, you can leave.” With that Twilight sank back below her covers, forcefully shutting down any protest from the rainbow maned mare.
For a while Rainbow stood there, staring at the breathing mass below the covers. Finally, with a shake of her head, she took off out the window, tears already falling from her eyes. She had to choose between love and dreams. How was she supposed to do that? She flew aimlessly for a while, mostly just flying in circles above the library. She didn’t understand what was going on or why, but Twilight had sounded serious, and when Twilight was serious, she was not going to back down. But did she really expect her to choose between the Wonderbolts, her life long dream, or Twilight, the mare she loved?
Flying helped her think, but today it did nothing but remind her that she had to choose between flying and love. She landed on the first cloud she spotted, immediately collapsing and crying. She couldn’t choose the Wonderbolts over Twilight, never. But could she give them up for Twilight? She looked down to her neck, the necklace Twilight had given her still hung around her, shining slightly in the afternoon sun. She looked out to the Everfree Forest. It was then that a thought came to her mind. An old story Pinkie had told her. It had gotten out of hoof once, but maybe, just maybe, it would work. She hated seeing Twilight like that, it just wasn’t her. And she knew it would only get worse if she chose the Wonderbolts, no matter what Twilight said. But at the same time she couldn’t bring herself to give up her life long dream. A compromise had to be made, and she had the perfect solution.
She jumped of the cloud, and with one powerful flap of her wings she was on her way to the Everfree Forest.