////
Treachery
////
“Are you sure you want to see this?”
“It’s the end of an era, Dax,” Alex mumbled from his hidden location, just a short distance away from where Rainbow Dash was mingling with a few of the guys from town, as she liberally drank what he assumed was hard cider, “Maybe this’ll be the closure I need.”
“That’s not closure, Alex. That’s torture.”
“Maybe.” He sighed, falling silent as he continued watching his girlfriend.
She had moved from place to place during the party, talking to various people, and Alex held his breath every time she was approached, ready to meet the face of the man who ruined his life.
”Do not kill him!”
Alex narrowed his eyes, both he and Dax knew that killing this guy wasn’t an option, and wouldn’t be attempted under any circumstance.
“Why does she keep scratching her leg?”
“Are you still on about that?” Alex groaned, rolling his eyes at the trivial complaints of his alter ego, “I may have dropped her in the library rubble a little too hard or something. Gave her a splinter.”
“Because she is really going at it”
“Just leave it,” Alex shook his head, as he moved a little closer to the tree line, “Is that the guy?”
“That guy’s orange, Dash said he looked a lot like you.”
“Yeah… And I guess she would know, wouldn’t she?” Alex sighed, sitting down and looking at the ground.
“Look, I say we should just go home. We know what happens, and we know there’s no fixing it
“Don’t tell me what to do.” Alex sighed, “You’re just as curious as me. Literally.”
”Yeah, but I’m sick of suffering. The sooner we go home, the sooner we move on with our lives.”
“You talk about us like we’re two separate people.” Alex said, “I will move on with my life.”
”Whatever you say, champ.”
Alex looked from his place of wallowing, and felt his heart race as he lost contact with Dash. She had gone off someplace else… and it was right in line with her first time with this guy.
Should he leave it? Go home now and finally, for the first time in weeks, give up?
“I’m going to follow her,” Alex said, standing up and casting a spell that would make him a little less noticeable to the ponies he would pass.
“What are you hoping to find, huh? Do you think you’re going to see her in that bedroom, telling him that she’s taken, and that she’s not interested? That’s not how it goes! You’re going to follow her, you’re going to see Speed and her get it on, and worst of all! You’re dragging me along, so I have to have my heart break over it too! Just. Go. Home.”
“How did you end up in my head anyway?” Alex asked, as he walked toward the street he had just seen her standing by, “I thought the two of us merged at Haven Station.”
Dax didn’t answer him.
“What? You’re shy all of the sudden?” Alex scoffed, running as quickly as he could, cross-checking the streets for any sign of her as he ran, “I never did piece together just how you weaseled your way back in to my mind a few weeks ago.”
“We both know the answer to that question, Alex.”
“Do we?” Alex asked, continuing his pursuit, “I don’t think we do!”
”Don’t make me answer it for you! You’re already losing your mind over Dash.”
“Out with it!”
”No!”
“Yes!”
”NO!”
“Just friggin’ do it!”
”Jesus, I never came back, okay?”
“What are you—“
“You made me up, Alex! I only came back, because you wanted somepony to talk to!”
“What? No!” Alex said, stopping in the street, determined to have this conversation first, “When I was a human, you sobered me up so I didn’t bang that chick! And you used the spells that brought me back in time!”
“Quit playing stupid! You were scared, and alone, so you decided to have company from the one person who knew you best. Dax. You cast all of those spells yourself, you chose not to fuck that chick. But guess what! This voice that you’re hearing right now, is just you, Alex. You’re talking to yourself.
“That’s not…” Alex began, before stopping dead, “Tell me that’s not true.”
“You needed somepony to tell you what you were doing wrong, and what the right choices were.”
“But… I ignored you all the time.” Alex mumbled, “Why would I make all this up?”
“You needed a friend, Alex. But now it’s time for both of us to move on with our lives.”
“Don’t say that,” Alex shook his head, “I can’t give up on her like this. Not yet.”
There was no response for him.
“Dax? …Dax!” Alex shouted, as he was once again, left without a reply, “Fuck!”
Levitating a massive piece of rubble from the street, Alex was about to throw it against a light post, when he caught a glimpse of a rainbow tail, entering a house at the end of the road, about a minute away from him.
“Sorry, Dax.” Alex said, breathing deeply, “I know you wanted to go home… but that’s not why I came here.”
Alex walked slowly down the road, as he headed for the temporary barracks that had been laid down for Dash to work from.
Glancing at clock that still hung from above a shop door, Alex nodded to himself. This was it. He would be receiving intel at any moment from his changeling scouts that Dash was doing this. And, he’d do nothing about it.
Alex opened the door.
////
Two years later
////
“Jesus Christ!” Alex shouted, jolting up from his place on the floor, his eyes running with tears as looked around the change room, “I-is anypony still here?”
“Alex!” Pinkie shouted, jumping up from her place on one of the many benches, “You’re awake!”
“W-what happened? Where is everypony?” Alex asked blinking rapidly, “I-I need… I have to…”
Before he could get out another word, Alex ran to a nearby toilet stall and proceeded to throw up the contents of his stomach.
“Are you okay?!” Pinkie asked, rushing to his side, as she carefully brushed his mane away from the toilet bowl, “Do I need to take you to the hospital?!”
“I… ugh… I need to find Dash.” Alex said slowly, shaking his head, “I need to reverse a spell I cast on her.”
“When did you cast a spell on her?” Pinkie asked, tilting her head, “Is it bad?”
“It was about two years ago,” Alex explained, “I just erased a memory… And I’d like to try and put it back before she becomes a Wonderbolt.”
“Well, the ceremony’s been going on for a little while now..,” Pinkie said, looking over her shoulder and listening to the loud cheers coming from down the hall of them, “It might be too late.”
“What?!” Alex said quickly, stumbling to his feet and shaking his head, “I need to talk to her! Before everything is finished!”
“You’re in no state to get yourself there!” Pinkie said worriedly, as she braced herself against him, to keep him from falling over.
“Man… this time stuff is the worst,” Alex groaned, squinting one eye as he summoned enough concentration to pass a spell through his body, and calm his stomach, “Let’s go. I need to talk to her…”
“Um… okay?” She said, recoiling back at his breath, “You might wanna eat a mint though.”
Raising a hoof to his mouth, he exhaled and instantly inhaled.
“Oh, gross,” He winced, levitating some conveniently placed mouth wash over and poured it in his mouth, whished it around, and spat it out in a sink, “That should be better.”
“And now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for! I’d like you to all join me in welcoming our newest Wonderbolt-to-be, Rainbow Dash!”
“Shit—“ Alex said, casting yet another spell, “I’ll just port myself out there. Can you make it to the stands yourself?”
“Sure can!” She beamed, as his spell surrounded his body, “Don’t cry in front of everypony though!
“God, I hope I don’t.” Alex said, just before he vanished from the room.
////
Rainbow Dash glanced over her shoulder as she approached the podium, where she would finally fulfill her childhood dream of becoming a Wonderbolt for the second time, hoping to see Alex come running out the door to stop her. But, he did not.
It was strange, the number of ponies that would show up just to see a small event like this. The stands were full, and they were all cheering louder than they had the last time she was in this position.
“Rainbow Dash,” Spitfire said, joining her on the field as they walked toward the podium, “I’m happy to see that you finally came around.”
“Well… I wouldn’t exactly say that I came around,” Dash sighed, not having the same level of enthusiasm that Spitfire had, “But I’m sure this will be a new chapter in my life…”
“Are you okay?” Spitfire asked, as this was the first time she had seen her since the last time they stood in this stadium together, “You look like you’re going to be sick.”
“I’m fine,” She said simply.
Shrugging, Spitfire headed ahead, and stood on the podium.
Reaching the small stairway up to the stage, Dash stopped, and looked up to the ponies in front of her.
At the microphone, stood her old enemy Comet, who Dash had long since forgiven. Behind her, was Ramsley, their old friend. And around him, were various Wonderbolt’s, all of which were standing ready to welcome her in to their ranks.
Looking over her shoulder one final time, she sighed, and reached her first leg up to step on the stage.
“Oh shit!” A voice said from above her, as Alex appeared a few feet above her, and dropped right on to her body, sending the two rolling a few feet in opposite directions on the field.
Alex and Dash both groaned as they each got situated, and stood up from their place on the ground.
“Again, Alex?” She asked, grunting as she stretched out her back, “What is with you, and falling on me in this place?”
“Sorry…” Alex answered, rubbing the back of his head, “But I did it for a good reason.”
“Is this a joke…?” Comet asked, as Ramsley held back his laughter, “Did you come to steal her from me again?”
Alex ignored Comet, as he walked toward Dash.
“I owe you something, Rainbow Dash.” Alex said, walking toward her, and silently looking over her body, appreciating just how good she looked, considering the horrible circumstances, “Something I took away from you a couple of years ago.”
Once again, his horn began to emit a blue light, as she felt a pit grow in her stomach. A part of her could remember that spell… and it scared her. As if the last time she had seen it, she was terrified.
The blue energy started to expand from his horn toward Dash, where it did nothing more than surround her head, and then dissipate, its job complete.
“What did you do?” Dash asked, not feeling any kind of change within herself.
“Two years ago, you were digging in that destroyed library, looking for a spell to free me from stone,” Alex explained, as realization dawned on her face, “I came to see you.”
Dash felt her air catch in her throat, the entire day came back to her.
“After I passed out in the change room, I used a pretty powerful spell to send myself back in time,” Alex explained softly, as everypony in the stadium watched on in confusion, “I spent a final night with you, before… before all of this happened.”
Dash’s eyes filled with tears as the massively memorable moment came back to her. Seeing him for the first time, the wild sex, the reminiscence of their past, and finally, the realization of why he had been there in the first place… She even remembered the promise she made him, to never betray him...
But something was wrong.
“After I spent that afternoon with you, I followed you to the barracks, and saw you with Speed.” Alex coughed, trying to hold his composure, “After that… I came back.”
“Alex… W-wait. You need to stop talking for a second! Something isn’t right!” Dash said instantly, “Something’s wrong with… with my head! I can remember something—something else! And my leg is so itchy!”
Alex gave her a weird look as she shook her head rapidly.
“Dash, what’s wrong with you?” Alex asked, approaching her carefully, until she suddenly collapsed on the ground, convulsing, “C-Colors!”
Laying on the ground, she wore an expression of pure agony, as her mid-section seized off the ground, and hung in that position for what seemed like a painfully long time.
“Dash?!” Alex said again, as he was quickly surrounded by Spitfire, Comet, and Ramsley, “Dash! Answer me!”
”You son of a bitch!”
Suddenly, everypony was thrown backward by an explosion of dark energy centering in Dash’s body, as her chest dropped back to the ground, after another moment, and she started to get herself back up off the ground.
Alex was up in an instant, as he watched Dash stand herself back up, while this dark energy rippled off of her body.
“Dash?” Alex asked carefully, as he stepped toward her.
Opening her eyes, she revealed her glowing red eyes to Alex, and the audience behind her.
“You ruined everything!” She shouted, flaring her glowing wings and beating them powerfully a few times, creating impossibly large gusts of winds that blew toward him, “She was almost broken!”
Alex stood his ground against the mass of wind, as he recognized her symptoms instantly.
“You’re her dark side…” Alex growled, furious that she would be intervening at a time like this, “Don’t do this right now! I’m just trying to say goodbye to you, Dash!”
“My name isn’t Rainbow Dash.” She spat, “You should call me… Treachery.”
“Look— we don’t need to do this right now!” Alex repeated, his heart racing, “I know you’re supposed to come out so she can face you, but—“
“Shut up!” She shouted, watching as ponies all around, including their friends, raced to Alex and Treachery, “We’re going to have a moment alone, Spot.”
Her wings began to glow, as chaotic magic exploded from the tips of her feathers, surrounding them in a black bubble that locked them both inside, and kept the outside out.
“Do you have any idea how much damage you’ve done?!” She shouted, not giving him time to adjust to their situation, “I almost broke her! She almost accepted me!”
Trying his best to catch up with the situation, Alex gave her a puzzled look, “How on earth could she not accept you? She cheated on me eleven god-damn times! I saw it happen the first time! You should be plenty accepted right now!”
“How dunce are you?” She growled, pacing in a small circle, “Do you still not understand?”
“I’ve got no friggin’ clue!” Alex shouted at her.
Treachery didn’t answer him, she just stood in place, furiously itching one of her legs, with the other one.
“Okay okay, what the hell does her leg have to do with anything?” Alex asked, just shrugging and giving her a look of disbelief, “Because everypony keeps talking about it, and it seems pretty important!”
“That day that you came back… two years ago!” She began, turning around, “She got the better of you.”
“What…?” Alex asked, lost as to how that could be possible, “How could she have possibly ‘gotten the better of me?’”
“When she- well, I realized that you were going to erase my memory… So, I jumped off the bed, right? To get away from your spell, right?” She asked, approaching him slowly, “Did you see what else I did?”
Alex had no answer for her, as he gave her nothing more than a worried look.
“I managed to grab a container of itching powder from my days of pranking that was in a small box, just under the bed.” She explained, as a bottle appeared in front of her with the word ‘itch’ drawn across the front, “And while you were getting yourself out of bed, I dug a terrible scratch in my leg with my hoof.”
Alex winced, what had she done?
“Then, I poured it all over the cut, thinking of nothing but cheating on you,” She continued, a dirty smirk on her face, “Celestia, did it burn… and it didn’t stop itching for weeks. It was pure genius.”
“What?” Alex asked, having no clue where she was going, “How is that…? What?”
“It all happened so fast. The idea, the execution… I have to say, she shocked me when she pulled it off. I mean, creating a mental association between cheating on you, and an itch on her leg. And not only did it burn the link in to her mind, it also wasn’t the kind of thing that’d be erased when you wiped her mind. Heh, I got a lot smarter when I started commanding a unit, Alex.”
“She did all of that?” Alex asked in disbelief, his mouth hanging open, “That’s… that’s impossible! How could she ever—“
“Well, I got the idea from a Daring Do story,” Treachery explained, “She had a chunk of memory erased by an evil spirit in the center of a temple, but thanks to several injuries she had sustained on her way in, they sparked the memories she needed when she came across the traps that had hurt her once before, on her way out! She taught me that there's more than one way to remember something.”
“That’s insane,” Alex said, shaking his head, “She’s just a fictional character!”
“Nonfiction, actually,” She chuckled, before moving back to the topic at hoof, “Anyway, I took a chance on it, and apparently, it worked like a charm! Because every time I even think about hurting you, my leg gets so fucking itchy, that I almost rip the skin off!”
“So, she had an itchy leg while she was banging Speed?” Alex asked, as rage continued to flow through him toward her dark side, “What the hell does that have to do with anything?”
Treachery rolled her eyes. This was taking too long. She needed to wrap things up for him.
“I’ll start from the beginning.” She exhaled. Rolling her head around her neck, and cracking it several times.
“I manifested two years and nine months ago. You had been sealed in stone for just under three months, and Rainbow Dash was a very sad pony.” Treachery said, walking next to Alex, and brushing his cheek with her forehead, “So, enter me. I appear one night, while Dash is at home feeling sad for herself. And, being the reasonable pony I am, I lightly explained what I was, and what she needed to do. But, she apparently didn’t want to be told that she wasn’t loyal!”
“Knowing her, she wouldn’t take it well.” Alex nodded, unsure if he should pull away from her affection.
“So, she fought me, told me she’d never betray her friends, even if her life depended on it,” Treachery scoffed, stepping away from Alex, “So, I had no choice, but to take control of the little thing, and make her forget that I ever appeared.”
“And lead her to have sex with Speed?” Alex asked, unsure if he’d be able to blame her anymore for what she had done to him, “I thought our chaotic sides were still essentially us! Dash would never do this herself! So how could you?”
“Because she forced my hoof!” Treachery shouted, “This world is going to end if you’re short an unlocked Element of Harmony! I can’t take that chance!”
Alex wanted to argue, but her priorities were in the right places…
“So, when I started to influence her in the first few months, I tried to get her to just bang one guy. Get drunk, do her thing, and she’d accept me.” She continued, giving Alex a semi-upset look, “But guess how that ended!”
“She wouldn’t do a thing.” Alex said, with a measure of pride.
“She loved you so god damn much, that I couldn’t get her to look at anypony else, let alone have sex with them!” She continued, having paced around in the same small circle about a million times at this point, “So, when that Speed kid started hitting on her so much, I decided to put everything I had in it! Everything lined up for me. Her heat cycle, all the alcohol… but before the night could come for him to take us to bed, you showed up.”
“I did.” Alex said softly, completely bewildered.
“And when you did, whether you meant to or not, you reinforced her feelings for you so so so much, that when the time came, she told Speed to go home, and never touched him! Not once!”
“But I saw the two of them!” Alex argued, mystified that she was trying to convince him otherwise, “They were in bed, together!”
“You only saw what I wanted you to see. Chaotic magic is powerful! And I made sure that anypony who ever tried to look to the past for answers, would see her and Speed in bed.” She spat, walking up to him, “When she blew off the best chance I had at conquering her, I rewrote her memories, so she would be convinced that she cheated on you. Not once, but eleven times! But you know what really amazed me? Really, truly, amazed me?”
“What?” Alex bit.
“In her heart… Deep down, as far as you can dig, she never considered herself to be treacherous. Not. Even. Once. She is truly the embodiment of both loyalty, and stubbornness.” Treachery growled, “But nothing matters now anyway! Because she remembers everything that really happened with Speed!”
“And what does she remember, Treachery?” Alex asked, hoping to Celestia that she was going to say what he thought, “What was she going to tell me?”
“That she never cheated on you! It was all one huge lie that I orchestrated to save the world!” She shrieked, black magic flowing from her eyes and wings, “There! Are you happy?!”
“You have no idea,” Alex laughed, as a massive smile grew on his face, “You have no. Fucking. Idea.”
Her expression was a hard one to read. But looking at her so much, Alex found one last question floating in his head.
“How does she remember kicking Speed out? How did she overcome you wiping that memory from her head?” Alex asked, before realizing that he had just cast a spell that would remove any kind of tampering to her brain, “Oh.”
“Yes.” She growled. “Oh.”
“Well, I’m going to be one hundred percent honest,” Alex laughed uncontrollably, “I’m not sorry I did it.”
“I’m going to have to find another way to do this then, Alex.” She said, stepping back from him.
“What did you have in mind, sweet heart?” Alex asked, unable to stop himself from smiling, despite the anger she was showing.
“Well, why don’t we take a look at what we have?” Treachery asked, “We have a mare that needs to betray somepony… And I think breaking you in half would fill her right up with guilt for betraying you!”
Dark tendrils shot from her wings and grabbed him by each leg, and his neck.
“Any last words, Alex?” She asked, walking toward him, as the dark lines of energy shook him slightly.
Alex didn’t answer. He just couldn’t himself unable to stop smiling.
“What’s your problem?!” She demanded, as Alex tilted his head as much as the tendril would allow, “W-why are you so happy?”
“You know why.” Alex said simply, drilling in to her with his insanely happy expression.
The spell weakened for a moment, before the mare regained her composure, and tightened it once again.
“You aren’t going to hurt me,” Alex said, never feeling the magic tighten to a deadly point, “Although I love the tentacles. We could do some freaky stuff with these.”
“Just- just shut up!” She said, unable to let herself hurt him, but also unable to let him go, “I have to save the world! I... I have to...”
“You need me in that mix, babe.” Alex said arrogantly, “Can’t save the world if you kill an element.”
“B-but! I have to do something, here!” She shouted, “I’m not going to let you go until I figure out how to do it!”
Alex sighed, she was serious. And he knew that he couldn’t break out of pure chaotic magic like this. That wasn’t his department anymore… If only—
”Okay! Fine! I’ll come back out! I know this magic like the back of my hoof!”
Alex felt a presence he hadn’t felt in years. One that he hadn’t even felt while he was talking to himself over the past few days.
”I’ll take things from here, ya' pussy.”
Alex closed his eyes, and was surrounded by the same dark energy as Treachery.
“No!” She shouted, watching as Alex once again took the form of his own dark side.
Opening his eyes once again, they glowed a bright green, truly telling her that she was no longer dealing with Alex.
“Dax…” Treachery said, taking a step back, but taking care to not break her spell on him, “I-I thought you and Alex were the same pony now! You can’t just be popping up again!”
“Well, he’s been so messed up in the head over the past few weeks, I’ve kinda been separated a little bit... If you ask me, I think he's a little insane!" He laughed, rolling his neck, cracking it several audible times, before he gave her a confident smirk.
"But don’t you worry baby, I’ll be here as long as you need me.” Dax said, ripping the tendrils holding his arms and legs in place with no effort, and dropping to the ground, “I liked the choking, by the way. We should be writing all of this fetish stuff down.”
Not answering, she threw several spells toward him, each one bouncing off his body, with no effect. Something she knew would happen, but it certainly didn’t stop her from trying.
“You can’t beat paper with paper, sweetheart,” Dax said, backing Treachery to the edge of her barrier spell, “So stop trying.”
“I need her to accept me!” Treachery shouted, “If she doesn’t now, she never will! Please don’t stop me!”
“It’s cute that even after all the amazing stunts you’ve pulled off, with the itchy leg, and truly remembering not to cheat on me… That you’re still so naïve.” He laughed, as she gave him a truly horrific expression.
“Excuse me?” She demanded, no longer backing up, as she approached him with fire in her eyes, “What did you call me?!”
“The dark, almighty version of Rainbow Dash herself… You know, it almost makes sense to me,” He laughed, “Did you ever consider trying to go back and talk to her yourself? Or did you just keep trying, and trying to break her, but never, ever succeeding?”
She opened her mouth, but didn’t answer.
Closing the gap between them, Dax ran a hoof across her cheek, causing her to inhale slightly, just as she would have in any normal circumstance.
“You’re still Rainbow Dash,” Dax whispered in her ear, as he suddenly, but lightly, bit the base of her right ear, causing her to almost lose her balance, “So go and talk to yourself. Because if she can hear me right now, then she knows it’s time… And if there are still any problems, I’ll make sure to do a little more than nibble.”
Taking a step back, Dax gave her a serious look.
“Do this for me,” He said, as his eyes started to flicker, and mix with the color blue, “Do this for us, Rainbow Dash.”
Treachery gave them a bewildered expression, as she felt a pressure in her heart relieve. All that fighting Rainbow Dash had been doing on the inside, even when her mind was erased, and she had no idea Treachery existed… she still fought her with everything she had. But, that had suddenly changed.
“Thank you.” She said, before pushing herself in to Dax, and sharing a kiss with the other chaotic entity. It was… exactly the same as it would have been if it were just Alex and Dash.
Treachery fell silent for a second, as her eyes closed and her magic vanished from around her.
“Take your time,” Alex said softly, sitting down in the grass, as Dash stood frozen.
////
“I’m sorry,” Treachery said, feeling immeasurably guilty for having done this to herself, “I- I went about this the wrong way… I almost ruined everything we had with Alex.”
“I know why you did it,” Dash returned softly, comforting herself with her soft tone, “I drove you to it. If I had just accepted you, none of this would have happened.”
Treachery didn’t answer, as Dash approached her, and smiled reassuringly.
“I betrayed him the moment I let my pride stand in front of you,” Dash continued, feeling truly stupid for being such a difficult case, “And because of that, well, I get it now.”
“You finally accept me?” Treachery asked hopefully, feeling the depths of Dash’s heart open up.
“Yes.”
////
“How are we going to get them out?” Rarity asked, trying her best spell on the wall in an attempt to smash it open, “My new magic won’t even dent it!”
“It looks like things might be getting better in there?” Twilight said, her eyes pressed against the barrier, trying to make out what the vague sillouettes were doing through the rather opaque surface, “What happened to her anyway?”
“She just exploded in to a big ball of black!” Pinkie alliterated, jumping as high as she could to emphasize her statement, “Then she surrounded it all!”
“Do you think it could be N-Nightmare M-M-Moon again?” Fluttershy stammered, praying that it wasn’t the case.
“Dear, how many times must I explain this?” Rarity rolled her eyes, “That poor soul is gone from this world. She’s inside of me now.
Fluttershy only let out a tiny, ‘eep.’
“Ah’reckon this wall could be kicked in if Big Mac were here!” Applejack sighed, still nursing her sore leg from a failed barrier bucking, “Tuh’day’s it’s lucky day is all!”
“Wait!” Twilight said, “Look! There’s a light inside!”
All of the friends instantly were pressing their faces to the spell, each one wanting to see what was happening, as soon as it happened.
“What’s going on?” Fluttershy asked, hoping that there wouldn’t be something terrible coming out of the bubble.
“I don’t know…” Twilight murmured, as the light began to expand from the center, and start to head outward, “But maybe we should back up a bit.”
Fluttershy and Rarity took no time following suit, but Pinkie and Applejack were a little too engrossed in the activity to let go.
“Uh, girls?” Twilight spoke up.
“Shh, Twilight! The light is almost here!” Pinkie said excitedly, as Applejack only responded by waving her hoof.
And, after a few more seconds, the two got their wish, as the light reached the wall, and promptly melted it, sending the two nosy parkers face first in to the ground.
“You two,” Twilight shook her head, as she looked up from the ground, to see Alex and Dash in the middle of the circle, engaged in the very same kiss they had once shared on this field, almost four years ago.
“Wait, what’s happinin’ now?” Applejack said, looking at them from the ground.
“I do believe we’ve missed something…” Rarity said slowly.
Pinkie, surprisingly, had nothing to say. She simply looked… hopeful.
////
When the two separated from their embrace, Alex and Dash were one again face to face, both Treachery and Dax gone from sight.
“I told you I wouldn’t do it, Alex.” Dash said, tears flowing freely down her cheeks, “I told you that we’d be back together when you got home.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t trust you Dash…” Alex said, unsure if the wetness on his cheeks was from his own tears, or hers, “How could I ever believe that you’d do that to me? You must be so—“
“Shh.” She said, placing a hoof on his lips, “It doesn’t matter at all. All of this is behind us now.”
Alex just nodded, as she removed her arm from his cheek. But, looking past her midsection, Alex got an idea…
“So… You’ll never, ever cheat on me?” He asked.
Dash instinctively twitched her leg.
“Oh, god that’s is adorable.” Alex said, smiling uncontrollably, “How did I never notice you do that before?”
“It got to a point that it didn’t stop itching…” She said sadly, before she began beaming once again, “I just got used to it.”
“Well, if there’s one thing, out of all of this that I need to say to you…” Alex sighed happily, lightly touching his snout to hers, “Thank you for being so much stronger than me… even after I gave up on you, you kept fighting for me.”
“You’d do the exact same,” Dash exhaled, nuzzling in to his neck for a moment, “And… It’s half my fault it happened in the first place.”
“Shh.” Alex said simply, resting his chin on the top of her head, as she almost desperately cuddled his neck, “Let’s just worry about right here, right now.”
For the first time since he had come back from his capture at the hooves of the Changelings, she had no weight on her chest. Speed was a distant, and happily forgotten moment in her life at this point.
She was truly free to be with Alex once again, and wasn’t ever going to let something come between them.
“I love you.” She whispered, “Even after I ran away, and you went back home… I never stopped. Not for a second.”
“I’m glad.” Alex sighed happily, reluctantly pulling away from their embrace, “Because I have a very important question to ask you.”
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