//------------------------------//
// Future Twilight and Future Rainbow (It's About Time) by Subsolar Drift 
// Story: The TwiDash Project 
// by bats 
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It was around eleven when the train finally arrived at the Ponyville station. Yawning, Twilight got off the train with Spike fast asleep on her back. Pinkie, somehow still wide awake, bounced off behind them. 

"Thanks, Twilight," she said with a grin. "That was a lot of fun!"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "No problem, Pinkie," she sighed. "I'm going to take Spike home now. I'll see you later."

"Alrighty! Enjoy your sleep!" Still grinning Pinkie hopped away. 

Twilight yawned as she set off at an easy walk. she blinked slowly, trying to keep her eyes open as she made her way through the still waking town. Her mind drifted to her cozy bed and she moved a little faster. Dazed, she briefly acknowledged the greetings of the ponies who passed her. 

A smile warmed her face when at last she returned to her home. With a sigh of relief she pulled open the door and stepped inside, ready to catch up on a week's worth of sleep.

Twilight stopped as she stepped into a disaster zone. Papers, books, telescopes, charts, and graphs were strewn all over the floor and on every visible surface. Not an inch of the floor was visible under the sea of paper. Mugs of half finished coffee were littered about, often next to the remains of a daisy sandwich. 

With a groan, Twilight cleared a small path to the stairs. She trudged her way to her room, hooves dragging as she reached her bed. Ignoring the papers and general mess around her, she lifted Spike off her back and tucked him into his basket, only then allowing herself to collapse into bed. She was out in under a minute, not even bothering to shut the curtains. 





A noise from downstairs woke Twilight from her slumber. She sat up with a groan and rubbed her eyes. Disoriented, she looked around. The room wasn't how she left it. The curtains were shut, the floor was absent of papers and various scientific tools that had been left there, and a blanket had been placed over her. 

Still half asleep, Twilight shrugged the blanket off and pulled herself out of bed. She shuffled to the bathroom and got herself a glass of water. Thirst quenched, she turned to go back to bed but stopped when her reflection caught her eye. 

With a snort she pulled off the bandage and eyepatch that were still dangling from her hair. She picked up her hairbrush and pulled it through her mane, until it was in it's proper style. Twilight pulled out a small band-aid from her medicine cabinet and placed it over the paper cut on her cheek. She stripped the stealth suit off and tossed it in the trash can. 

Yawning, Twilight left the bathroom and headed back to her room. A small thud followed by whispered grumbles came from downstairs. Twilight paused. There were more sounds of movement from below. Twilight gave a longing glance towards her room then headed downstairs to see Spike. If she was going to sleep more she should at least let him know.

Twilight came to a halt halfway down. Before her was Rainbow Dash in a significantly cleaner living room. She was picking up a stack of books that had fallen off a shelf.

"Rainbow?" Twilight managed, startling the pegasus and causing her to drop the books.

"Gah!" Dash cried, turning to see who had said her name. "Oh, it's just you, Twi," she sighed. With a smile she flew over and gave Twilight a kiss on the cheek. "It's good to see you up an at it after all that disaster stuff." Dash landed and wrapped a wing around her. "Pinkie told me about what happened at the archives so I thought I'd swing by and make sure you're feeling better."

"Oh, thanks," Twilight started, "that's really kind of you, but why were you cleaning up this mess? I should be doing that."

Dash shrugged. "You're my marefriend so I thought I might as well do something while you were asleep." She frowned before continuing, "It's the least I can do after the way I treated you this last week."

"What?" Twilight asked, befuddled. 

"You were freaking out and worrying and I didn't talk to you about it. I wasn't there for you. Not to mention that I laughed at you and was screwing with you when you obviously weren't feeling well." Dash landed and wrapped Twilight in a hug. "I'm sorry."

"No, no, no!" Twilight protested. "I'm the one who should be sorry! I sent you off on an Equestria wide wild goose chase, ignored you for a whole week, and have been acting like a madpony."

"Well then, we both screwed up," Dash replied. 

Twilight opened her mouth to fight the issue further, but thought better of it. "I guess we did." She grinned and continued,  "then we'll have to clean the library together as punishment."

"It's not punishment if I get to do it with you," Dash chuckled. 

"Good," Twilight yawned. "Then let's take a nap together because I'm tired and don't really want to do this right now."

"Sounds like a plan to me!"