//------------------------------// // Of Secrets, Answers, Lies and Worse // Story: Last Request // by Cynical //------------------------------// Sometimes, an object can leave an imprint on a pony’s memories. It can be a picture that was on the wall at a certain time, a necklace worn by those around or even a diary of which holds their darkest secrets. ~ Excerpt from the guide to Memory Wishers, by Twilight Sparkle The white-space seemed to crackle around them as they were brought out of the memory. “Because that’s not worrying at all…” Regret muttered to himself as he felt his fur stand on end. “Remind me why I even took this job?” he asked Honoured. “I think you mentioned something about a brilliant retirement package,” she replied, lifting her hoof from the book and standing up straight. “Never took you for an actor, by the way, congrats on that performance back there.” He shook his head slightly; “Wasn’t a performance,” he admitted, his hoof still resting on the book absent-mindedly. “My mother and Rarity were good friends; she brought me sweets as gifts whenever she came to visit.” He could almost see his own whimsical smile before he shook his head, moving his hoof off the book. “Then, while I was in university, I got told she’d passed away; never even made it back for the funeral…” “Don’t you get around…” Honoured muttered, “Doesn’t matter, we’ve got the link and you’ve managed to make yourself feel better, win-win situation in my opinion.” “And don’t you sound thrilled,” Regret bit back. She glanced back at him before shrugging, “Whatever… we’re nearly done here so just keep it together for that long, m’kay?” Regret stayed silent, tracing his hoof over the book again and closing his eyes. Honoured watched him curiously as she felt the power building. “Regret…” she warned, feeling her mane float listlessly in a breeze which shouldn’t have existed in the first place. He sucked in a breath before pausing. A moment later, he breathed out and Honoured watched in amazement as colour and shapes spread beneath him and the book, filling the white-space within a matter of moments. They were on a hill, somewhere remote by the lay of the land. A lone tree stood guard on the top of the hill and Honoured could just make out the shape of a pony beneath it. The book disintegrated into the memory with a hiss and Regret stood up silently. “Regret…” “Oh what,” he snapped, “We’re nearly done here so what does it matter.” He started walking up the hill, “Come on,” he called back briskly, “The sooner we’re done here, the sooner I can give you a real punch in the face.” Honoured winced and opened her mouth to apologise before sighing. It was like he said; the sooner they were done here, the sooner they could get to work fixing their friendship. She followed after him, glancing around at their surroundings as she did so. There was a town behind them; it’s odd tranquillity at odds with the party they were at moments ago. She bit her lip before speaking, “So… where are we now?” “Just outside Ponyville,” he replied shortly from some paces ahead of her. “Come again?” He sighed and Honoured could almost see his patience – tense as it was – withering a bit more. “It’s a town a few miles out of Canterlot. The bearers of harmony lived here for most of their life and it’s due to host the Summer Sun celebration in three years’ time. Happy?” Honoured remained nonplussed, “Can’t say I’ve heard of it… how do you know about it?” “Never been here, if that’s what you were wondering,” he answered. “Just heard storied about it; from Rarity I mean.” Silence followed the words as Honoured squirmed. Regret was one of the many ponies she didn’t have a complete handle on yet; she didn’t know the limit. Or she hadn’t in any case. She paused and glanced back at the town curiously. “Regret?” she called after a moment. “Yes…” “Can you see… banners down there?” she asked incredulously, pointing at the oddly colourful town far below them. “Does it matter?” “Perhaps… just come and see.” She was aware of him coming back alongside her and looking over the hillside at the town, almost certain of his black thoughts. “Now that you mention it…” he started slowly, his voice masked, “I do… What’s written on them?” Honoured kept quiet for a moment, focussing on her magic as she let it see all that she needed to. “Happy…” she said, reading the words as they were echoed back to her, “twenty-fifth, Twilight Sparkle.” A bitter laugh from beside her broke her concentration. “Well that’s one question answered,” Regret said, smirking humourlessly. “We’re in the year a thousand and seven. Let’s go and see what’s responsible shall we?” he mocked, stepping back and lending a hoof towards the top of the hill. “Alright…” Honoured said, annoyed, “I admit that I was inconsiderate of your feelings earlier, but there is absolutely no reason for you to be this way to me. You’re in the same boat as me and you know what? Once we’re done here, I’ll match your real punch by simply leaving you to walk back to the company. Happy?” Regret snorted and made a show of bowing low, his hoof still pointing towards the top of the hill. Honoured growled and stormed off up the hill, her tolerance for his mockery at an all-time low. “The sooner we’re done here… the better,” she grumbled to herself, setting a furious pace as they approached the tree and the figure still beneath it. As it turned out, the figure beneath the tree was Twilight Sparkle; a much younger Twilight Sparkle. “Why am I not surprised?” Honoured muttered to herself darkly, looking around the hilltop. Aside from the view, there wasn’t much of note there. She inspected the younger pony in front of her. She was younger; that much was immediately obvious. There was something that was lacking in her; perhaps it was the experience her older self had carried, or the lack of the weight of the world on her shoulders that made the difference. She was writing in a book in the shade of the tree; a very familiar book. Regret was nodding even as Honoured nudged him in the side. It was fairly obvious that they’d found where the last link had originated from. “I thought it was from that pegasus though; what’s her name… Rainbow Dash?” Honoured whispered to him as Twilight kept scribbling furiously in the book. Regret shrugged. “You know that something wasn’t exactly right with that Rainbow Dash, maybe it wasn’t actually Rainbow Dash… just something that looked like her and was carrying the book.” “Opening the book would have made this a lot easier.” Regret shook his head again, “Not a good idea… and I guess we’re going to find out why at some point or another… it can’t be long until the thing happens.” As it turned out, it was another five minutes of the two of them sending silent glares towards one another before something happened. There was a thump as something fell out the tree, startling all present. Regret and Honoured both turned inwards as Twilight let out a startled yelp, closely followed by the cries of the thing that had fallen on her. “Hey! Hey! Stop hitting me!” the thing shouted as Twilight continued to whack it with the book in her hooves before she paused. “Rainbow?” she asked, confused and holding the book limply in her hooves. Sure enough, once she’d stopped hitting the thing, it groaned and rolled off Twilight, the Rainbow mane and sky-blue fur making it instantly recognisable to the other two. She grumbled as she got to her hooves, various bruises coming to the surface as she did so. “Jeez, Twilight… no need,” she said quietly, swaying slightly, “No. Need.” Putting the book to the side, Twilight stood too and looked at Rainbow, aghast. “Oh, Celestia, I’m sorry, Rainbow. Are you okay?” “Fine…” she answered, waving Twilight off. “I’m fine; it’ll all heal. It was probably my fault for startling you anyway.” Twilight winced again before lying down again, not quite meeting Rainbow’s eyes. Rainbow poked herself in the head, wincing slightly as she found a sore spot. “What’re ya doing all the way up here anyway?” she asked, sitting down next to Twilight, “Isn’t Pinkie’s party still in full swing?” “Yeah,” Twilight agreed, “It is. I just needed a bit of peace and quiet. Anyway,” she said, looking over at Rainbow, “I could ask the same of you, I haven’t really seen you since the start of the party.” Rainbow smiled slightly, “Yeah… sorry about that. I needed to go and pick up a present I’d forgotten. I got a bit side-tracked though…” she finished sheepishly. “You were napping?” Twilight asked incredulously, “While there was a party in town?” “Sorta…” she replied quickly, “I wasn’t napping, I just didn’t notice when you came by – when was that by the way?” “Just a couple of minutes ago, I didn’t exactly notice you were here either if that helps,” Twilight answered with a smile. “Anyway, you mentioned something about another present?” “I- uh, yeah, I guess I did,” Rainbow said, biting her lip. “One moment,” she said to Twilight before leaping into the tree and disappearing out of sight. “So much for cock-sure,” Regret muttered to himself as the tree rustled and moved about with the pegasus within. Honoured looked over at him, “Hmm?” “My great-granddad said he’d met her before; he called her the most cock-sure pegasus he’d ever seen, oozing confidence and stuff.” Regret shrugged and gestured towards the tree. “I wouldn’t exactly call her confidence oozing material.” Honoured shrugged in reply. “Times change,” she elaborated, “I bet this is before your great-granddad met her.” Any further conversation they were going to have was cut off as Rainbow hopped out of the tree, landing a lot more gracefully than the first time she’d done so. There was a scroll poking out of her wing as she straightened herself up. “Found it,” she announced triumphantly – Twilight rolling her eyes beside her – only to pause for a moment. “Sorry…” she started apologetically, “it’s not exactly a… traditional gift or anything.” She flexed her wing, taking the scroll from under it and offering it over to Twilight anxiously. Twilight glanced at Rainbow curiously before she took the scroll in her magic, unrolling it in mid-air as Rainbow dropped her hoof and seemed to stiffen. Twilight’s eyes flickered to-and-fro as she read the paper in front of her, her expression becoming more and more incredulous with every line that she read. Soon enough, she looked up, “This is one of your pranks, isn’t it?” “What? No!” Rainbow replied, shaking her head emphatically with each denial, “No, no, no, no, no.” Twilight looked back at the paper in front of her before continuing, “Well you can’t be serious…” she started, ignoring Rainbow as she seemed to sink, “I mean… no, what- no. There’s illogical and then there’s- No… just no,” she said finally, her horn sparking into action with an almost alarming speed. “Now they’ll be wondering where I am,” she said hurriedly, “I’ll see you-” She disappeared in a flash of light and magic, leaving the scroll floating in mid-air and Rainbow stood, alone on the hilltop. There was a moment of silence as the wind took the paper from the air and set it drifting. Rainbow caught it at the last moment and slid down the tree so she was sat where Twilight had been not five minutes ago. “Well that went well…” she muttered to herself, lifting the sheet in front of her before scrunching it into a ball and throwing it as far as she could. “A joke?” she asked the empty air bitterly, “What kind of pony does she think I am?” Regret was vaguely aware of Honoured slipping away after the sheet of paper as Rainbow continued to mutter bitterly to herself. A cracked laugh forced its way up her throat. “She never even told me why not…” she choked back a sob, “Wonderful.” Her hoof caught on something on the ground and she looked down. There beside her was the black book from before; Twilight’s diary. Rainbow glanced inside the cover before slamming it shut immediately afterwards, her eyes shut tight. “No… Not my secrets…” she muttered, resting the book on her lap instead and keeping it there. Someone tapped on Regret’s shoulder and he glanced around to see Honoured, holding the scrunched-up piece of paper in her magic and wearing a crooked smile. “Found it,” she whispered redundantly. “D’ya think there’s anything else we need to see here?” He glanced around at the peaceful hilltop and shook his head. “I think we have our winner,” he muttered. “Excellent,” Honoured replied, “No point staying here then…” Her horn glowed brighter and the landscape before them seemed to saturate itself as the colour washed itself out. Then the lines receded into themselves, becoming thinner and thinner until the two of them were left standing in the white-space yet again. “What’s the damage then?” Regret asked once the last dot of colour disappeared into nothingness. Honoured opened up the paper in front of them and held it in the air while they both read it. Twilight Happy birthday and everything – hopefully it is still your birthday when I remember to give you this, – it’s hard to believe that you’ve been around for over seven years now; I can’t even remember what I was doing before that now. This kinda has something to do with that – or that line of thought anyway. I’ve been thinking; the six of us have been through so much together that it’s hard to imagine us ever parting forever and… well; I never want to lose you. As cheesy as it sounds, I don’t think I’d be able to bear with losing you. That’s not saying that losing any of the others would be any better… but I’d move on… I think… I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’d like to stay with you, side-by-side, forever. I’d like you to see you smile and make you smile; more than usual. I’d like you to give this a try and come on a date with me, tonight, as my birthday present to you, however late it may be. Rainbow There was silence for a while as the two of them registered just what the scroll had said. “Damn…” Regret muttered quietly. “I know,” Honoured sighed, “Just wonderful…” “That rejection…” Honoured paused, then she laughed. “Aren’t you worried about how in Equestria we’re going to manage this?” she coughed out between more bouts of laughter. Regret looked at her oddly, “Well… yeah… but- are you feeling okay?” “Never felt better.” “Right…” he said slowly, “I don’t know… there’s still something iffy about this whole mess… I think we should go and talk to the nearest approximation of the present Twilight… there are some things that really don’t add up.” Her laughs finally dying down, Honoured thought for a moment, “That’s… a good idea,” she agreed, “There are some things I’d like cleared up too.” Without waiting for Regret to reply, she set her mind to taking them back, letting the white-space fade away into colours.