Twilight learns that, in the grand scheme of things, not sharing can actually lead to *good* things

Cover art by the amazing Twidasher!

It was the happiest I had been my entire life.
I was able to forget and move on. For the rest of my adolescent years I lived out my life in a satisfied stupor; careless to the rest of the world and only focusing on my friends and my job—most of the time. For three years I lived content and lazy in the beautiful town of Ponyville. I didn't expect that my life would be so full of adventure and fame. I only expected to escape my old life, but instead found something even more grand and beautiful than a mere vacation from my suffering.
I wanted more than anything to keep it from all falling apart.

The thing about loyalty... the thing about loyalty is that sometimes you don't know where your loyalties lie.
Have I always been loyal to my friends? No. There are things that they didn't know about me. Lots of secrets from the past that I've kept from everypony. I had a past full of disgrace, shame, and loneliness. Things that I wish had never happened. Only a few ponies know the truth. But I could only keep my past away for so long...

To most of Ponyville, Rainbow Dash is a single child.

To Rainbow Dash, she's the youngest of a set of fraternal twins. Her twin is one she'd rather forget, but when she shows up in Ponyville, it could get messy. How will Rainbow react to seeing a relative she'd sooner deny all existence for than claim to be related?

Cover Image done by the awesome CaineScroll on DeviantArt. He's awesome.

This story is a sequel to To Linger In A Place Where You Don't Belong (fade)

“You are at the Gates,” I repeated. “Or, you would be. Your body is elsewhere, but you are here. And here is nowhere. Here is where you remembered yourself last being. It’s a test you cannot fail, but one you will never pass.”

Blue wings justled at her side. My clouds mimicked her. “Am I dead?”

“Do you remember dying?”

Started as a Quills and Sofas Speedwriting Panic entry, expanded to this!

_{Cover: made by an ai}
Thank you to the ever amazing Sunlight Rays for prereading!

Content warning for: derealization, implied suicide, death, blood, mild body horror

Rainbow Dash lives through a repetitive nightmare. She just wants it all to stop.

Written for a Quills and Sofas Speedwriting panic where we were given a list of randomly generated drawing prompts to pick from and write with. I won’t list the ones I used because I ended up using multiple. Very few minor changes were made to this story.

CW for: blood, derealization, implied death, implied suicide

Rainbow Dash kills herself.

Again.

And it's up to Twilight and the girls to bring her back.

Again.

*****

Originally written for the Through Fire writeoff event; thank you to all the reviewers there for helping me polish this story up.

Cover art by perfect-for-any-occasion mimbl.exe.

Now available in Spanish, courtesy of SPANIARD KIWI.

Rainbow wakes up from a nightmare and she feels like she's back in Cloudsdale, far from safety. Fluttershy comforts her and reminds her that she's safe now. Hurt/comfort.

CW: past child abuse, PTSD flashback, self harm but not on purpose

I wish I could say I was a brave pony.

_{vent from last april. strangely relevant again}

Trauma touches everyone differently. For some the scars run deeper than skin, and Rainbow Dash hasn't eaten in days.

Originally written for the Iron Author competition at Everfree Northwest 2023. Polished and expanded for FimFiction.