//------------------------------// // 5. Proof // Story: Cheated Dreams // by Kodeake //------------------------------// Cheated Dreams Chapter Five Proof Rainbow looked between the shock on Twilight's face and the unicorn she was staring at. “Uh... Twi? Who's he?” She asked quietly, leaning towards her friend. If Twilight heard her she ignored her question, instead she turned to face Spitfire. “You can't possibly believe-” Twilight asked in equal parts shock and indignation. She trailed off into silence as Spitfire nodded. “Twi?” Rainbow tried again. Still the unicorn ignored her. “I would never do something like that!” She protested loudly. All she got was a wicked smirk from Spitfire. “I'm sure you wouldn't; he's just here to make sure.” “Twilight!” Rainbow just barely kept her voice below a shout as she glared angrily at Twilight, who turned and frowned at her. “What?” She asked curiously. Rainbow motioned towards the grey unicorn that had entered the room mere minutes before. The fact that he still hadn't said anything was starting to get on her nerves. “Oh, right. He was one of my professors in Celestia's school; enchantment, to be more precise. He's Magic Flight, the unicorn behind a lot of the enchantments in common use today, including the cloud walking spell I use to allow myself and the rest of the girls to walk up here. He specializes in pegasus and flight related enchantments,” Twilight explained quickly. Rainbow quirked her head to the side, still not understanding why Twilight had reacted the way she did. Twilight saw the gesture and grumbled angrily. “They think I enchanted something that enhanced your flight capabilities. He's here to scan for any lingering traces of an enchantment,” she clarified. Rainbow's jaw fell open. “What!? You can't possibly be suggesting I'd go that far to win some stupid contest?” She yelled indignantly, anger flaring up in her chest as Spitfire, who she had idolized nearly her entire life, simply shrugged. “It would explain everything you were able to do. But he's not the only thing I have,” she said, tapping her brand new stack of papers with her hoof. “These are statements collected from the friends you brought to view the competition.” “Statements? You questioned our friends?” Twilight slammed her hooves down on the table, standing abruptly from her chair as all notion of Canterlot decency was thrown from her mind, “What the hay do any of our friends have to do with this!? Leave them out of it!” “Please, Miss Sparkle,” Spitfire spoke up, leaning forward in her chair as she too raised her voice, adopting a stern authoritative tone, “contain yourself. This may not be a court of law but you will conduct yourself as if it were such! Now, we collected statements from your friends to verify the origins of that,” she said, throwing a hoof out and pointing towards Rainbow. More specifically, the silver lightning bolt hanging around her neck. Rainbow reflexively brought a hoof up, pressing it against her chest and hiding it from Spitfire's accusing glare. “None of your friends know where you got it; they all say you just started wearing it one day out of the blue, and never told them anything about,” she accused loudly, which prompted Twilight to take the offensive, taking Spitfire's glare off Rainbow and onto herself. “I gave it to her,” she admitted, “for good luck in the contest.” Spitfire lifted and eyebrow, “I hope for your sake that's all it gave her,” she muttered quietly, before raising her voice again, “Then you won't mind if I have Mr. Flight here scan for any performance-enhancing enchantments? We already now she was wearing it during the competition.” “Go ahead,” Twilight cried defiantly, “I didn't place a single enchantment on that necklace, not even one to allow it to sit on clouds; it's a special type of metal with that ability already in it.” Spitfire nodded towards Magic Flight, and he stood from his seat, walking around the table and coming to a stop in front of them. Rainbow looked at Twilight questioningly, but nodded hesitantly when Twilight gave her a reassuring smile. She delicately pulled the necklace up over her head and handed it to the unicorn standing before her. His horn lit up, a white-grey aura surrounding both his horn and the necklace, the silver bolt lifting into the air in front of them. The room fell to silence as he cast the spell, Twilight sitting back in her chair with a smile. Magic Flight's horn flashed once, followed by a loud popping sound. Twilight's eyes grew wide as she leaned forward in her seat, staring at the necklace. A second flash came a second later, followed shortly after by another pop. Rainbow watched nervously as Twilight's jaw dropped. The second pop left the room in total silence, all eye watching the spell being cast suspiciously. Twilight was shaking as the third flash lit the room, the pop echoing about the silence as he ended the spell. The room was dead quiet, everypony had their eyes trained on the small silver necklace. “That's... not possible...” Twilight muttered, nearly silently as she watched the stallion toss the necklace back to its owner before turning and facing the rest of the board. Rainbow quickly placed the bolt back around her neck, waiting to hear what he had to say. The look on Twilight's face didn't imply good news. “There is a level thee flight enhancing enchantment currently active on this pendant. Certainly powerful enough to grant Rainbow Dash the abilities she displayed at the contest,” he proclaimed loudly, “From my knowledge of Twilight Sparkle's magical capabilities, she is more than capable of placing such an enchantment.” When he was done her turned and sat back down, the room once again filling with the scratching of quills as the various advisers and lawyers took notes. “I... I don't... I didn't...” Twilight fumbled uselessly with her words, staring in shock at the apparently enchanted necklace. “Care to explain why a level three enchantment was placed on that 'good luck charm', Miss Sparkle?” Spitfire asked, smiling triumphantly. Though there was something more, something hidden behind her eyes. “I... I didn't... I didn't enchant it....” Twilight defended uselessly, the shock still coursing through her being. She looked over to Rainbow, who was simply staring numbly at the silver bolt around her neck. She wasn't the brightest pony when it came to magic, but she new enough to understand what had just been discovered. “Did anypony else have access to it between now and when you gave it to her?” Spitfire asked. Twilight turned to Rainbow, silently asking for the answer she couldn't give. “No...” Rainbow said quietly, looking between the necklace against her chest and Twilight, “Twilight was the only one who's had it aside from me.” Her entire body was numb as she stared between the two. There was only one explanation for this, and it was quickly dawning on her. The facts all lined up in a way she desperately wanted them not to. Spitfire made a gesture towards the door, “leave us,” she commanded quietly, yet still sternly. The entire room silently started filtering out the doors. After a few minutes of quiet shuffling, the room was empty aside from Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Spitfire. “I'm not going to lie to you,” Spitfire started, sighing as she leaned back in her chair, “I'm disappointed in you, Dash. I had hoped that all this wasn't true, I hoped that you had won fairly, I hoped the source was wrong. But this... this is conclusive, now. I have never been more disappointed with anypony in my entire life.” “I didn't know...” Rainbow whispered, feeling tears come to her eyes as she realized what was going to happen next. “I wish I could believe that,” Spitfire chuckled. A short, sad chuckle. “But we both know that's not true. I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, but after the evidence I've seen today... you are hereby discharged from the Wonderbolts. You are banned from ever again entering to compete in our contests, and may not reapply to the academy. You'll be escorted off the premises and back to Ponyville.” Like a judge's gavel, Spitfire slammed her hoof down on the desk as she rose from the chair, sealing Rainbow's fate. “But I didn't know!” Rainbow shouted again, her eyes wet and her vision blurry as she struggled to keep herself together. Twilight continued to sit in stunned silence. “Please, take what ever shreds of dignity you have left and stop denying it. I won't be pressing charges against either of you,” Spitfire said as she waled passed them, walking out the large double doors behind them. “Just leave now,” she called as the doors swung shut. The room was heavy with silence as both Rainbow and Twilight sat numbly in their chairs, both of them too far gone in their own thoughts to even realize they were in the same room. Eventually, the doors opened again, and the same stallions in black suits that had brought them to Cloudsdale walked in, standing at rapt attention by the doors. “We've been instructed to take you back to Ponyville. Please come with us,” one of them ordered. Both Twilight and Rainbow followed without question, allowing the stallions to guid them through the halls and eventually out into the open air of Cloudsdale, a chariot already waiting. After another prompt from one of the escorts, they boarded the chariot and were on their way back to Ponyville before either of them really new what was happening. Rainbow stared out the side of the chariot, pointedly looking away from the unicorn she was riding with as her mind finally began to process the information through her shock. Her mind brought her back, back into the small board room, back to the very moment it had all happened. Back to the very moment her dreams had been crushed. A deep, dull ache filled her chest as Spitfire's words played over and over again in her head. The disappointment in her voice, the disdain in her eyes. It all hurt; it all hurt so much, and on top of it all she'd never be given another chance. Her one shot at her dream had been blown. Stolen from her. By Twilight Sparkle. The pain in her chest started shifting, shifting to anger; to rage. She hadn't known anything about the enchantment placed on the necklace. It had all been Twilight. Twilight had destroyed her dreams and any hope she had of reclaiming them. Twilight had helped her cheat against her will. Twilight... it all came down the the lavender unicorn riding beside her. There was no other explanation. Rage turned to hate as she was forced to remain so close to the pony who had cheated her out of everything. The trip was over before either of them had managed to speak a single word. The chariot touched down roughly on the uneven cobbled streets of Ponyville town square. The sun was starting to dip behind the horizon as they stepped off the chariot, the escorts quickly flying back into the sky and towards Cloudsdale. There was a few moments of thick, tension filled silence as both of them simply stared at each other, neither of them quite sure what to do. The square was practically empty, only the odd pony passing through on their way home after a long day of work. A few gave them an odd look, but didn't think any more about it as they continued on their way. Eventually, Twilight found her voice. “I'm going to fix this,” she said firmly, eyes bright with determination as she looked back at the chariot disappearing into the distance. “Don't bother; you did a pretty good job destroying it,” Rainbow shot back before she even thought about what she was saying. She didn't regret it, though, and once again found herself acting without thinking. The surprise on Twilight's face was obvious. “W-what do you mean?” Rainbow growled, her anger and hate overriding her shock and sorrow as she stared at the unicorn before her. The unicorn that had torn her dreams down brick by painful brick. “You know perfectly well!” She shouted, not caring who heard or what they thought. Her anger needed somewhere to go, and Twilight deserved every bit of it. “Rainbow, you don't mean you actually think I would do that!?” Twilight asked in shock, clearly hurt that her friend would mistrust her on something as serious as this. “Then who did? We're the only two ponies who've had the necklace, Twilight, and I certainly can't enchant it!” Here breathing quickened as adrenalin began coursing through her veins. She started seeing red as Twilight continued to try to make excuses. “But I didn't! I'd never do anything like that!” “Why should I believe you now!?” Rainbow yelled back, ignoring the pain on Twilight's face as she continued, “I trusted you! For so long I've trusted you with all of this! And this is what you use my trust for!?” “I didn't do it!” Twilight protested weakly, her mind flailing as if it were being swept down a raging river, looking for any solid argument to latch on to. “You did!” Rainbow screamed, “Because of you I will never be a Wonderbolt. Because of you I will always be known as the one who cheated the one who wasn't good enough to do it one her own! You've ruined the rest of my life, Twilight. And for what? Did you think you were helping me?” “Rainbow, you know that's not true!” Twilight gasped, mouth agape as her friend continued her angry tirade. “So it wasn't to help me? Than what was it? Did you know this would happen? Were you trying to get me kicked out of the Wonderbolts!?” Tears were brimming in her eyes once again. “Was this all some kind of joke to you!?” “No... Rainbow I... I would never...” Twilight trailed off, holding back tears of her own. Suddenly, Rainbow looked down at the silver lightning bolt dangling against her chest. In a fit of rage she snatched it in her teeth, tearing the chain off her neck and throwing it into the fountain in a single, fluid motion. It made a small splash as it broke the water's surface, sinking slowly into the crystal clear waters, the chain waving around it peacefully as it came to a rest on the bottom of the fountain. “Never speak to me again,” Rainbow said quietly, forcefully putting an end to any argument by turning and walking at a swift trot across the square, disappearing quickly around one of the corners. “Rainbow!” Twilight called, taking a few steps forward before stopping next to the fountain, thinking better of chasing her before she'd had a chance to calm down. “It's alright, Twilight,” she assured herself, taking a deep breath, “she'll think it over and realize I didn't place that enchantment.... I hope.” With her head hung low she began the journey back to the library, the determined glitter completely snuffed from her eyes.