Second at Best

by Wages of Sin


Revelations VIII

Twilight stepped off the train in Ponyville, the darkness of the moonless night casting deep darkness that even the multitude of lanterns could only feebly combat. No pony braved the darkness, even those who would normally traverse the night. There was no reason for the ponies of such an agricultural hamlet to be awake, though more and more the same could be said for even urban centers. Lanterns and lights could provide illumination, but without the spheres in the sky, there was just an innate wrongness to the nights.

Twilight felt oddly calm despite any of this, a feeling that only served to solidify her resolve.

"Hey Twilight..."

Twilight wheeled laying her eyes upon the sole occupant of the nightly town.

"Pinkie."

And indeed it was, though the usually vibrant mare looked only a sight short of death. Her mane fell as if pulled taught by weights, her color was drained to the point that in the faint lantern light she almost looked like a ghost. Her body was slumped, and her face looked afraid, but also bore signs consistent with having been crying for hours.

"Twilight?" Pinkie said feebly, "I know you don't want to see me right now... but... just know that you can come to me, or Rarity, or Fluttershy if you need somepony to cry on..."

Twilight looked at the pink mare expressionlessly.

"My... My Pinkie sense says Somepony important to me is in for a doo... for some really bad news... and I..."

Pinkie looked up at her, cracking a pathetic smile that didn't spread to her teary eyes, "Just know that we're all here for you... We may not always be the best of friends, but we want to be..."

Twilight turned and began to walk away.

"We love you Twilight!" Pinkie called after her, "We'll always be here for you! I'll always be here for you! Pinkie promise!"

Twilight kept walking.


Twilight walked up to the Sweet Apple Acres farmhouse, knocking on the door with its golden apple-shaped knob.

It wasn't long before the door opened and a large red muzzle peaked out.

The farm stallion simply opened the door, turning and going up stairs.

Twilight made her way into the foyer, not going towards the kitchen or den as most visits would typically involve.

After a short time a quick clatter of hooves was heard upstairs, and an orange mare tumbled down the stairs. Recovering, Applejack threw her hooves around the visitor.

"Twi, you don't know how happy I am to see you alright!" She said, squeezing almost painfully tight.

"Applejack." Twilight said firmly, devoid of inflection or emotion, "I'm not alright."

"Oh my! Is there a problem? Do ya need somethin'? When the Princess told us about-"

Applejack nearly missed hitting her head on splintered wood as her body shattered an end table.

"So, you didn't even bother to find out for yourself? For somepony so blindly obsessed with truth, I would have expected you to be a little more discerning about actually finding it." She said coldly.

"Twi? I don't..."

Applejack looked up to her friend, only to find her glare upon her.

"You should have been the first to know when something was wrong. But you weren't. You never were. Not any of the times I’ve needed you."

Without waiting for response, she then turned and walked back through the farmhouse door into the concealing night.


Rarity opened the door to her boutique after being fitfully awoken, if the disheveled sleeping mask and curlers were anything to go by.

"Twilight!" She cheered as she opened her door, "It's so good to see that you're..." her face fell upon seeing Twilight's expression, "What's wrong dear?"

"Now you care?" She snapped, "I guess you would."

"Twilight? I'm sorry if there's something I've done to-"

"To what? Upset me? No, I'm so far beyond that right now. Tell me, what was more important, me or my connection to Canterlot and royalty?"

"Dear I don't-"

"Just answer the question! Or rather I'll answer it for you. You wouldn't have given me the time of day had I not mentioned Canterlot. You would have listened to me, you would have feigned interest, all of those social pleasantries, but you wouldn't have actually cared. Not until you knew I was an 'in' to Canterlot."

Rarity looked stricken, "Dear, I have no idea what started this, but I assure you that given time-"

"But you didn't give it time! You didn’t listen to a word I said until you heard the word 'Canterlot' and suddenly I’m your ‘best friend’, otherwise you would have treated me like anypony else interrupting your work. Not worth your time."

"Twilight, I resent your implication." She said haughtily, "I treat everypony with the respect they deserve."

"Yeah, it's just that Canterlot ponies deserve more of it. Something you've decided on multiple occasions."

"Now see here! I was just interested! I never play favorites! I treat everypony equally! No pony is ever 'not worth my time!'"

"Except your sister when there's a job to do, or me when there's a princess to attend to."

"Now see here! That's just keeping good priorities!"

Twilight stared until Rarity recognized what she had said.

"No! I didn't mean-"

Twilight turned and walked out the door.


Fluttershy's cottage was more active than would normally be expected, but 'expected' was far from fitting anything as of late.

To drive that point further, it was Rainbow, not Fluttershy that opened the door to the caretaker's cottage.

"Twi! Good to see you're-"

"Twilight!" Fluttershy shouted, racing up from behind some crevice somewhere, "Are you alright to be out of bed? You probably shouldn't be-"

Just as before, greetings, smiles, and conversation ended as they saw her face.

"Twilight? What's-"

"Don't even ask."

"Oh..." Fluttershy squeaked, hiding behind her mane.

"Hey there Twi, she's just worried about you."

"I'm so glad to hear everyone's so worried about me now."

"What are you implying?" Rainbow asked accusingly.

"Nothing. I'm stating the fact that worrying about me now that I'm right up in your muzzle, rather than when I was off on my own really shows just how much you really care. Out of sight out of mind, right?"

Rainbow made to argue, but Twilight cut her off, glancing between both Fluttershy and Rainbow, "It was neither kind nor loyal to leave me alone, not when I was upset about being tardy, not at the wedding when you all rejected me, and not when I was left alone at the funeral. You two, just like the rest of my so called friends, only pretend to care about me when I'm around, otherwise you're too busy having fun."

"Hey! We didn't-" Rainbow tried to argue, before being cut off again by Twilight.

"Oh, it's 'ol crazy Twilight, coming to us with her concerns. She seems upset, should we help her? No let's laugh at her. She just stormed off, obviously distraught, and likely unbalanced, should we help her? and miss out on such a wonderful picnic?"

"Or how about at the wedding." Twilight sneered.

"Hey girls, Twilight just interrupted her own brother’s wedding to accuse one of her oldest friends of being a mind controlling witch, should we take her seriously? No, let's tell her she's crazy because we definitely know the bride better than her, I mean, she's only one of her oldest friends, and we've known her for this whole afternoon! Well should we at least go figure out why she would make such a claim? No, we know she's just has a jealous brother complex, there's no way she's genuinely concerned, let's tell her that to her face. She's running off crying, should we go comfort her? No, let’s comfort Cadence instead. You mean the one we barely know, who's been a jerk to us behind our back all day? Of course! She's a princess!"

Twilight finished her rant, both Fluttershy and Rainbow frozen in horror.

"Or my favorite:"

"Twilight just lost her father and is mysteriously missing from the funeral reception, should we go try to comfort her? No, I hear they're serving cake next."

"Loyalty and kindness. Good work."

Twilight left the pegasi sitting in silence, and began making her way back to town, after all, she had a train to catch, and her next visit was long overdue.

Just thinking about it made her spine tingle.

So preoccupied was she that she didn’t notice that anticipation wasn’t the only thing making her spine tingle.