//------------------------------// // The Return // Story: Twilight's Rainbow // by Kodeake //------------------------------// The Return Rainbow arrived in Ponyville after sunset; the moon had long since begun its journey towards the centre of the sky. The town was dark save for a few lights streaming through the windows of the odd pony that was up this late. As her luck would have it, however, Twilight was one of those ponies. She crouched behind a bush, the same bush she had hidden behind 4 days ago when she made the clone take over for her. Even now she was repulsed by the idea that she had done that. Looking back was like looking at another pony’s life. What she did was not something the Rainbow Dash everypony knew would do. And yet she had, and that made it sting even more. She peered out over the bush at the tree, light still streaming brightly through the windows and spilling onto the street. She was about to crouch back down when she felt a hoof on her back. “Well howdy, RD, what are ya doin’ out here?” Applejack asked as happily as ever. Twilight must have told her friends that she came back. “Oh, nothing, what are you doing here?” She asked as casually as she could, hoping to get Applejack away from her as fast as possible. She glanced quickly toward the library, the lights remained on. “Comin’ to see you an’ Twi, she’s the one that asked us all to gather here tonight. Didn’t you know? She said it was about ya, after all.” Applejack reached a hoof to adjust her hat a little further onto her head. Something seemed off about Rainbow. Rainbow’s heart stopped at that. ‘About me? What did my clone do? What happened while I was away… this isn’t good.’ her eyes grew wide. Applejack took notice of this. “Y’all mean she didn’t tell ya?” “Uh…” Was all Rainbow could manage to say. Had Twilight discovered that it was a clone? Had the clone done something really stupid like propose? Rainbow had to find out. “Well let’s go see what she wants then!” With Rainbow unable to form a coherent excuse to not go in Applejack wrapped a hoof around her neck and dragged her across the street. Rainbow barely noticed as she knocked on the door. “No, I can’t… this is gonna be bad… no, no, no… bye!” “What is your problem, did y’all have a fight or something? Sugar cube?” Applejack turned to look at Rainbow, only to see an empty space and her hoof wrapped around nothing. Applejack stared bewildered for a second before Twilight opened the door. Her eyes were bloodshot and her mane was frizzier then Pinkies. The mare had seen better days. “Hey, Twi, ah just saw- sweet Celestia, what happened ta y’all?” Applejack’s jaw dropped when she saw Twilight. She hadn’t looked like this since Rainbow had left the first time. “I’ll explain when the rest are here. What were you saying?” Twilight brushed off the comment. She knew she looked terrible, but spending all day crying in a dim library bedroom does that. The only thing keeping her from breaking down on the doorstep was the left over anger she held. It dried her tears and forced her to tell the others. It made her want Rainbow to suffer if she ever came back. The more logical part of her mind had been silenced by sorrow; though enough of it managed to get through to tell her Rainbow was never coming back. “Ah just saw Rainbow Dash, and she looked… off, scared, almost. Y’all didn’t have a fight, did ya?” Applejack’s voice was concerned, and that concern only grew when she saw the look on Twilight’s face. It went from neutral, to shocked, to grief, and now it rested on anger. “She did, did she? And she’s here?” Twilight motioned outside with a hoof, her words low and measured. “Uh… ya, ah just saw her…” Applejack trailed off as Twilight stepped outside past her, into the middle of the street. She stood for a second, breathing deeply. “THEN MAYBE SHE SHOULD STOP BEING A COWARD AND SHOW HER BUCKING FACE! OR AT LEAST HAVE THE DECINCY TO TELL THE TRUTH!” Twilight screamed into the night: Waking anypony within a three block area, and scaring one Rainbow Dash, currently hiding in the thick leaves of the tree. She was at war with herself. Twilight either knew it was a clone, or the clone had gotten into a fight with her. She felt her heart beating in her throat. Never before had Twilight been this mad at her, clone or not. It truly scared her. “Ah take it y’all had a fight?” Applejack asked hesitantly, careful to not direct Twilight’s wrath onto herself. Twilight just ignored her. “I KNOW WHAT YOU DID, RAINBOW. WHY ARE YOU HERE?” Twilight did know, and she was not happy about it. Rainbow was about to take off. She didn’t know where she would go, but she couldn’t stay here, not with Twilight like this. But at the same time she couldn’t leave Twilight like this. This is exactly what she had come back to prevent; only to find out she was too late. Twilight hated her, and she deserved it. She deserved whatever the unicorn could throw at her. She didn’t deserve to run away without harm. Slowly, she dropped from the tree, barely flapping her wings as she made her way to the ground, landing silently with her head hung. “I’m here.” She said quietly, getting the attention of both mares. “R-Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked quietly, disbelieving her own two eyes. “Now hold on a second. What the hay is goin’ on?” Applejack stomped her hoof, drawing the attention back to herself. “Go ahead, Twilight, tell her.” She couldn’t deny it any longer. They would all find out now, it’s the reason they were all called to the library in the first place; may as well get it over with now. Twilight had no problems with that. “She’s been with the Wonderbolts the entire time. The Rainbow Dash that was with us was… she was a clone… I sent her back to the Mirror Pool this morning. It’s why I gathered all of you here.” Twilight was calm, almost disturbingly so. Not a shred of emotion showed in her features as she threw Rainbow’s mistakes back at her. Rainbow winced with every word, each syllable true, each like a blade cutting deep into her flesh. Having everything she had done thrown into her face, it hurt. “Rainbow? Is this true?” Applejack turned a disbelieving eye to Rainbow, who refused to meet it. She couldn’t force herself to respond; instead she pawed nervously at the ground. She managed to gather enough courage to nod. “Ah don’t believe this!” Applejack stomped her hoof, her anger finding any way possible to vent itself. “Y’all lied ta us, all of us! How could ya do that?” “I… I-I thought…” Rainbow trailed off to silence under the stern glare of Applejack. “Thought what?” There was the calm yet again. The calm that should be impossible with the situation. Even Twilight was surprised at how calm her voice was. “I thought you would be happier this way. I thought I would be happier this way. I was wrong.” Rainbow spoke through tears streaming down her cheeks. All she wanted was for everypony to be happy. “Ah have half-“ “Applejack, stay here and wait for the others. When they get here tell them what happened, but do not tell them Rainbow came back. It’s not lying if you don’t mention it at all. Rainbow and I need to talk; I’ll explain the rest to them later.” Twilight cut through Applejack’s speech breezily and teleported herself and Rainbow without a second thought. Another pop later and they found themselves seated in the library. “T-Twilight, please listen to me! I’m-” “Sorry? Rainbow, look around you. Do you recognize anything?” Twilight gestured to the room around her, encouraging the pegasus to actually look. “No?” Rainbow was unsure of her answer. It was a library, it looked the same, she recognized all of it, and yet nothing stood out as to what Twilight meant. “That bookshelf, you paid for it then carried it here. This bookshelf,” She poked it with a hoof for emphasis, “is how it all started. I sat where you’re sitting now, crying my eyes out, with your wing wrapped around my shoulders, and I told you about my feelings. Do you know what you did after that?” “Yeah, I said I returned them, then you fainted, and I carried you back to your room.” Rainbow raised a brow, unsure of where this was going. Her misery blocked by confusion for the time being. “Exactly; you said you loved me.” Twilight looked over at the bookshelf, the unmistakable gleam of a tear in the corner of her eye. “You said you loved me.” She repeated sadly, closing her eyes and looking down. A sad smile spread itself over her face. “When I woke up, I didn’t know what had happened, but you were there. I panicked, and you calmed me down. You held me, promised it would be alright. I believed you, too. Then, after dinner, when you said you should go, I asked you to stay. Do you remember why?” “Because you were afraid of being abandoned…” Rainbow answered quietly. She looked to her own two hooves. She was a monster and she knew it. The one thing Twilight was truly afraid of had been done by her own marefriend. “Do you know what you did less then a month later?” Twilight looked up from the floor and opened her eyes, her sad smile still worn proudly upon her lips. “I abandoned you.” Rainbow responded quietly. “No, you didn’t.” Twilight said forcefully, “You made your dreams come true. You joined the Wonderbolts. I was proud of you; so few ponies achieve their dreams, but you did.” “But I abandoned you, I chose the Wonderbolts over you.” “No, I made you choose. Something I shouldn’t have done. But I did anyway, I wanted one thing from you; honesty. I didn’t care if you chose the Wonderbolts, and I didn’t care if you chose me. All I wanted was some closure so I could move on.” She walked over to Rainbow, stepping up directly in her face, before taking a deep breath. “It was then that you lied to me. It was then that you. Abandoned. Me!” Twilight began her speech in her usual serene tone, only for it to grow, her anger, her hurt, her sorrow, it all came out in the one scream. That one, emotion filled rant that she had been holding in the entire time. Her bottled up emotions came spilling forth like a river, so much so that she could no longer hold it all. “YOU LIED TO ME, YOU TOLD ME YOU WOULD ALWAYS BE WITH ME, BUT YOU WEREN’T. WHEN I NEEDED TRUTH ABOVE ALL ELSE YOU LIED TO ME, WHEN I NEEDED YOU, YOU GAVE ME A CHEAP IMITATION.” She took a deep breath, pulling her thoughts together. “When I needed loyalty, I was abandoned. Like so many times before, I was left alone.” She finished quietly, turning her head to hide her tears from Rainbow. Rainbow sat in silence. Staring back at the pony she had longed to see, only for her to yell at her. And maybe that’s what she deserved. Maybe she should never have come back, Twilight would have been happier to forget about her. “I even told you what I was scared of about this relationship, and still, it happened. You betrayed us, Rainbow. Not just me, but all our friends.” Twilight continued when Rainbow didn’t answer. She took a step back, returning to Rainbow her much desired personal space. “Twi-” Rainbow tried once more, only for the words to die in her throat. The look on Twilight’s face ended any coherent speech she had left. The anger was gone, having been vented in her rant. All that was left was sadness and that feeling you get when somepony betrayed you. Rainbow realized she had caused it, and that only caused the knife to cut deeper. Twilight faired no better, her once enraged yelling reduced to half voiced cries of sorrow. “I loved you, Rainbow.” Rainbow’s heart stopped. She was pretty sure it didn’t restart, either. ‘Loved’ the word echoed around her skull as she struggled to comprehend its meaning. ‘Loved’, past tense, meaning it was something that was no longer present. Twilight no longer loved her. The knife she had felt cutting through her heart the entire time felt worse, as if it had been heated up, then somepony started twisting it. Slicing up her gut like a hot knife through butter. Her stomach knotted, her mouth dried, and her breathing stopped. “I… Twilight… please…” Her throat suddenly closed on her, cutting off anything further. “What?” Twilight snapped her head back up to look her in the eye, a brief flash of anger surged through her. “I’m sorry.” Rainbow barely managed to choke the words out. Every syllable grinding against her dried throat and protesting with everything it could. For a second there was a flash of something other then anger on Twilight’s face. It looked almost like hope, but it was replaced by anger just as fast as it had appeared. “Great, you’re sorry. Sorry is just a word, Rainbow. Actions speak louder then words, no matter how many words you have. You did what you did without a single word. Words cannot fix it any more.” Twilight was beginning to struggle with her voice, no longer was her composure held by anger. The only thing she had to fall back on was her own will, a will that had been weakened the second she noticed Rainbow was crying. Her tears grew in number and strength as she watched the cyan mare mull over her words. “You’re right. Words will never fix this… nothing can…” Rainbow sounded dejected, almost defeated. She had one last chance to make things right, she just didn’t know how. “Would be better for both of us if I never came back, wouldn’t it? It would have been easier if I had never met you. It would have been better if I was never here at all.” With one last tear filled look, Rainbow spread her wings and took off, flying out the window. “Rainbow! Wait!” Twilight's calls fell on ears that were no longer there. The only proof they had even been there at all was a faint rainbow trail leading into the sky. Through the now open window she could hear her friends talking, they sounded worried; most of them didn’t know why they couldn’t go into the library. “She was a clone?” Fluttershy; not angry, but confused, even a little sad. “Rainbow did what!?” Rarity; as proper as ever, she was angry, though not for the right reasons. “How could she!” Pinkie Pie; even she was angry at one of her best friends. “Twilight will explain more when she’s done.” Applejack; trying to hold them off without lying. All her friends, her true friends, were there. Casting on last glance out the window, she took a deep breath to steady herself, then walked to the front door, dissipating both the locking spell from the door and the sound proofing she had managed to cast before she teleported with Rainbow. She had a feeling if they heard her yelling they would not hesitate to break down the door. Maybe Rainbow was right, maybe it would have been easier if she never came back.