Twilight's Secret
“NO! RAINBOW!” Twilight shouted behind the falling pegasus, ignoring her exhaustion as she lit her horn and leaped towards the edge in hopes that she would be fast enough to catch her friend.
Just a few seconds before Rainbow hit the ground, she was suddenly wrapped in a magical aura that slowed her descent. “No, Twilight! Please, just let me go!” she thought as she was gently laid on the ground. Mere seconds later, the unicorn teleported beside her.
“YOU PROMISED ME! WHY!?” Twilight cried as sky-blue pegasus laid dejectedly on the ground before her. “Why?” she breathed yet again, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“I promised nothing to nopony,” Rainbow replied with a low voice, glaring darkly at the unicorn.
“‘I'd never leave my friends hangin', “ Twilight quoted as she stared at the pegasus. “This is what you said the other day in the Everfree Forest, Rainbow.”
Rainbow snorted. “So what?” she asked disdainfully. “You’ve never lost anything. You don’t know how loss changes ponies! You have no idea what it’s like to lose something that defines you, do you, tardy? What are you going to do next? Follow me everywhere just in case I want to off myself? Is that it?”
Twilight’s expression went hollow and her ears went flat upon hearing those words. Her mind skipped most of the pegasus’ ramblings except for one single word.
“Tardy.”
She flinched, her head jerking in the direction of the offender. “Don’t you dare say that, Rainbow Dash,” she said in a dark tone, void of all emotions.
Rainbow’s eyes went wide as Twilight’s tone suddenly changed. She stared at the unicorn in fear, unsure as to what she was going to do.
“Don’t you dare,” Twilight repeated herself as her horn started to glow. Her magical aura surrounded both of them, and they suddenly disappeared in a bright flash of magenta light.
~*~*~
With a loud pop, they both re-appeared in Twilight’s bedroom back in the library.
Looking around for her assistant, Twilight called out, “Spike!” She turned towards the still-empty basket, speaking in an emotionally-detached voice. With no reply from her scaly assistant, she turned her head back to the still-shocked pegasus as she lit her horn yet again, causing Rainbow to take a nervous step away from her in fear. “This will only take a moment, Rainbow.” she breathed, her magic wrapping the library in a protective bubble, preventing any unwanted company from eavesdropping around the library.
“When I was a little filly—” just as Twilight started to talk in a calm and soothing voice, she was interrupted by one of Rainbow’s thoughtless remarks.
“What is this; another one of those lectures? Are you trying to put me to sleep?” Rainbow asked dejectedly, expecting the unicorn to give up on the entire ordeal.
Twilight paused for a moment, glaring at her friend with a piercing stare. “Rainbow.” Her voice was dark again, void of all emotions, which jolted the pegasus back to attention as she continued, “Sit down and listen.”
Rainbow’s mind protested, but her body listened to Twilight’s words like they were a command from a high-ranking officer. Her flank flopped onto the wooden floor and her mouth, previously ajar to object to the comments that would be spoken by the unicorn, slammed shut and her ears perked up. She was certain that Twilight was doing this to her with her magic, but her horn wasn’t lit. It was something in her voice that made her listen to every spoken word.
“I wasn’t always a reserved pony, you know?,” Twilight continued in a calm and soothing voice, a drastic change from before. “I wasn’t interested in books in general back then,” she added with a little smirk, “but magic fascinated me more than anything else.”
She looked at the still-frozen pegasus, waiting for a moment if she had something to say before moving onward.
“When I was accepted into the School for Gifted Unicorns, I was treated like an outcast because everypony in the class knew what I did on my entrance exam. Everypony was afraid of me... Or rather what I might do, if my magic ever got out of control.” Twilight paused again, again looking into the eyes of the silent pegasus. “Except for one single pony,” she continued. “The sweetest, smartest and most wonderful filly that anypony ever met.” She snickered. “Smarter than me, too...” She paused. “Her name was Crimson Skies.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Rainbow asked almost with a squeak.
Twilight hung her head, “She was my best friend for a great number of years...”
“Yeah, yeah, and then she moved somewhere else,” Rainbow remarked sarcastically. “and that’s the story about your loss.”
Twilight looked at Rainbow with a piercing look. “That would be the happy ending,” she said darkly. “But then there’s the real ending.”
Rainbow closed her mouth as she stared at Twilight.
“Crimson Skies was the only pony that I ever allowed to call me ‘tardy’. That’s because she was much smarter and better than most of ponies in almost everything but magic.” She smirked. “She was horrible at that. She was also the pony responsible for making me enjoy learning things that aren’t magic-specific.” Twilight paused, a faint smile now showing on her lips, “She was the only pony aside of Princess Celestia that I’ve felt comfortable with. She even showed me how to kiss.”
“And? Most mares and colts know how to do that,” Rainbow remarked.
“And she was a great explorer, too... She showed me tons of secret hideouts all around Canterlot. I think, that...” Twilight paused as her face started to bathe in slight red hue “I think I fell for her. I never managed to find out, if she shared those feelings, because...” she paused yet again, taking a deep breath.
“Because?” Rainbow echoed her final word.
“Rainbow,” Twilight asked in a low voice. “Have you ever witnessed a pony being crushed by a boulder?”
“W-what?” Rainbow looked dumbfounded at the sound of the unicorn’s question.
“Because I have,” Twilight replied as sadness crept into her eyes.
Rainbow Dash said nothing as she stared blankly at the normally happy and cheerful librarian.
“We were exploring one of the caves underneath Canterlot. You would never have thought that underneath the castle there are these caves made out of beautiful green crystals. We were warned that the caves were dangerous, but we both thought that those were just tales to scare the foals away from enjoying the natural beauty.” Twilight paused as she hung her head. “As Crimson found out first hoof, we were dead wrong.”
“We were playing in one of the abandoned mine shafts,” Twilight continued. “As we thought that we’ve seen something sparkling at the end of it, we started to race towards it...” Twilight paused momentarily, continuing with a weaver in her voice. “I won the race. But I shouldn’t have. I should be the one that was left behind...”
“W-what happened?” Rainbow asked in a low voice.
“A support beam on the ceiling snapped, and a large crystal crushed her.” A tear slid down Twilight’s cheek, splattering as it hit the wooden floor. “I never knew that something so beautiful could do something so horrible.” She paused for a moment as she regained her focus. “Never stop trying to improve yourself. Those were her last words,” she continued. “That day part of me died in excruciating pain with her.” She took a deep breath. “I’ve told all of you how I passed my entrance exam. Now imagine an older pony like that a few years later losing control. Like I did.”
Twilight looked at the now shivering pegasus who looked like she was preparing to run away from her. But she had no intention to stop speaking. “I wanted everypony to feel what I felt at that very moment.” She continued, “The earth started to shake and some of the Canterlot houses started to tremble.” Twilight lowered her voice as she looked towards the pegasus. ”I wanted for the city to pay for what it did to Crimson Skies.”
Rainbow gulped heavily.
“Princess Celestia figured out what was going on. She managed to stop me by putting me into a coma,” she sighed. “She is trying hard not to show it, but I think she’s still a little afraid of me.”
“W-why are you t-telling me a-all this?” Rainbow asked with a faint squeak, trying to curl up into a ball as if to escape the increasingly darker image of the mare before her like she was some kind of stranger. This wasn't the Twilight that Rainbow knew. This was wrong.
“Rainbow Dash,” she continued. “Have you ever had a nightmare?”
Dash nodded slowly. “W-when I-I was a f-filly,” she added with a stutter.
“Consider yourself very lucky, then,” the unicorn said with a smirk. “Everytime I close my eyes, I can see her and hear her screams the moment the crystal collapsed on her. It’s been ten years, and I can still see it as if it was yesterday.”
Rainbow grew pale as Twilight closed her eyes in front of her. She cringed as she imagined what Twilight must have had to relive every time she shut her eyes.
“Y-you’re lying,” Rainbow said in a raspy voice. “You’re just making stuff up to try and scare me from doing what I was gonna do.”
“No. I wanted to show you that you’re not alone, that the—”
“No; thats a lie!” Rainbow shouted.
“No, Rainbow...it isn’t...”
“Stop lying! I know you! Nothing like that ever happened!”
“Just by you saying that confirms that you don’t know me that well,” Twilight breathed darkly as she turned away from the pegasus. She lit her horn again, and suddenly they both disappeared from the library in a flash of magenta light.
~*~*~
Re-appearing in the caves below the castle, they were greeted with faint, greenly tinted reflections of themselves. Their reflections grew clearer as well as the structure of the cave as Twilight lit her horn and flooded the cave with a magenta light.
Twilight led them over to the wall, and her light revealed an old and deteriorating writing in chalk saying ‘Crimson Skies was here’, and a slightly slanted addition of ‘Twilight Sparkle, too' on one of the support beams.
Rainbow Dash froze as she saw the writing.
“I promised myself that I would never visit this place ever again,” Twilight breathed, hanging her head. “I don’t need to be reminded of what happened...” She paused as fresh tears slid down her face.
Rainbow looked around, the support beams catching her attention.
“You don’t need to worry about those beams...,” Twilight said as she saw what the pegasus is looking at. “I made sure that they won’t collapse... Ever again... At least not in here...”
Twilight stopped, causing Rainbow to lightly bump into her. “I don’t want to go any further,” Rainbow said in a raspy whisper.
“It’s just behind that pile of rubble...,” Twilight said in a low voice, pointing towards the dimly lit pile.
Rainbow walked with a slow pace towards the spot that Twilight pointed to. Her legs felt heavy as she realized that what Twilight told her might be true, rather than just a made-up story. The pegasus’ heart sank as the dimly-lit grave marker with a fading photograph tacked on it greeted her. For some reason, the light started to grow brighter, illuminating the fading photograph that showed the two ponies in a friendly hug. Rainbow immediately recognized Twilight, but she didn’t know the other filly. She was a light-green filly unicorn with a full crimson mane that had a few golden strands in it. Both fillies were smiling and happily waving towards the camera.
“That’s Crimson Skies. She was a lot like you, Rainbow,” a low voice behind her whispered as the pale pegasus turned her head back towards her friend. “You would like her. She was brave and hungry for adventure. She was actually the inspiration for Daring Do and her first book.”
“Why?” the pale pegasus asked in a husky whisper as she turned her attention towards the unicorn. “why didn’t you tell us about this?” she added.
“Everypony has their own their secrets, Rainbow,” Twilight said in a low voice.
“But... You can trust us with things like this... We—”
“We should go now... I don’t want to be in this place anymore,” Twilight interrupted the pegasus, turning away from her.
The two of them quickly disappeared in a flash of magenta light, only to reappear in the library a second later.
~*~*~
Rainbow Dash shook her head as she was met with familiarity of the library interior, turning her head towards the unicorn. “Twilight, you didn’t answer my question...”
Twilight hung her head and after a pause she said in a low voice: “You don’t want to know my answer.”
“What? Why not?” Rainbow countered.
Twilight paused as she glared into Rainbow’s eyes. “Rainbow, trust me on this one.”
“What are you talking about? I want to know.”
“I have a really hard time with trusting anypony.”
“Huh?” Rainbow’s head jerked with a shock. “B-but h-how? W-why? Aren’t we—”
“My brother’s wedding,” Twilight breathed as she saw the pegasus’ eyes widened upon her words as Rainbow took another step back, lightly bumping into the nearby bookshelf.
“But I— we— didn’t—” Rainbow stuttered as she tried to form a coherent answer.
“You have a lot to think about, Rainbow,” Twilight said as she lit her horn. “...but not here...”
“Wait, Twilight I’m—”
Rainbow didn’t manage to finish her sentence as the wooden floor beneath her hooves was suddenly replaced by a patch of grass and a distant view of Ponyville.
“...sorry...” Rainbow muttered, immediately recognizing the place where she was teleported to.
“Perilous Peak,” Rainbow muttered to herself. She clenched her teeth as a sharp pain shot through the bandaged remains of her left wing. But that wasn’t enough to snap her out of her thoughts.
She walked towards the edge as she thought about Twilight’s words; about her loss and what had happened at the royal wedding. Rainbow Dash, the element of Loyalty, had left her alone.
“I’ll never leave my friends hanging...” echoed in her mind as a tear slid down her cheek. “Twilight,” she breathed sadly. She was lost in thought for what seemed like a couple of hours as she tried to figure out a way to comfort the purple unicorn, but with very little success. As she stood up to make the walk back to Ponyville, she felt the ground suddenly fall from beneath her hooves.
“Oh, ponyfeathers.”
~*~*~
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DAMN.
~Skeeter The Lurker
holy shit.
i kinda like your twilight. she always seemed like the darkside hiding type to me.
i as usual await more.
2807605 couldn't of said it any other way...
Now that's a skeleton in the closet.
Poor Twi.
Am I the only one who took that as a pun the first time they read it? I know it was a serious moment and likely not meant to be one but I'm curious.
I've always wanted to see the caverns under Canterlot used to hide some secret. I felt like I missed something at the end: then I reread the trusting others bit. Yeaaaah. Dash done goofed that time.
I am anxiously awaiting the next chapter. You have alot more of my attention now.
Dash... you f***ed up.
dude, this is amazing. freaking A+ for this chapter
poor twi.
HOLY SHIT.
Wait, did twi just admit to writing Daring Do?
2810685 I think she did
2811970 Would explain how she has every copy including one that's not out yet (unless I read that last part in another fic)
But the question is, how long would it take Rainbow Dash to put 2+2 together?
Holy shit that was dark. but so, so good. I think that just went into my headcanon
Fuck yeah... This is so damn epic... It's probably good this isn't a 200k words story yet. It's 2:30 am and I should get some sleep. On the other hand this is so damn good! MAKE MORE! FAST! YOU ARE KILLING ME WITH ANTICIPATION!
Twilight one, Dash zero
I was like "dafuq
?" 
...
"I had the most amazing dream... I had wings and I was soaring through some amazing crimson skies. And, and, and... There was more, but I just can’t remember.”
did you name her Crimson skies for a reason or do you just like the words?
either it was coincidence thats what her name was or i just have some really good luck to read that story and read that line right after this chapter lol
You know the situation is bad when the crippled and suicidal one delay her own suicide to confort you... Wow , just wow...
That... Wow. I. Never thought maybe twi had a reason for not wanting friends like that. I've heard a. Reading of running from myself, but this makes it even easier to see...
I'm moving on to the next chapter now. I don't know what else to say
Life changing injury? Check!
Attempted suicide? Check!
Tragic back story? Check!
Accidental attempted murder? Check!
Romance? Not checked...