Cheated Dreams
Chapter 6
Aftermath
Rainbow Dash never once looked back as she made her way quickly through the rapidly-darkening town. The sun was almost completely hidden by the horizon as Luna's moon began rising into the sky, signifying the beginning of night. She watched as the building's shadows grew longer and longer, extending out further onto the empty street she walked down. The occasional bit of golden light would spill out onto her from a window or from within a late-night shop as she continued her hasty journey through town, but she was the only soul visible on the road. The escorts had dropped them off in the middle of Ponyville, and her house was on the far side of the town's limits.
Her wings ruffled at her sides, begging her to fly the remaining distance, but she ignored their silent pleas. Every feather and muscle in her wing had been trained and refined for one day becoming a Wonderbolt. Her entire body was built and conditioned for a dream she could never achieve. The feathered appendages were now nothing more than a painful reminder of that fact. The sky she once loved mocked her; she'd never be able to truly call it her own if she wasn't the best. And how could she be the best if she wasn't with the best? How could she call herself the best if the best had denied her?
So she walked. She walked to forget the pain and the heartache. She walked to leave the world behind her as she made her way through the deserted street in the sleepy little town that she had called home for such a long time. The shadow's began blending into the blackness of the approaching night, the light from within the buildings becoming more frequent and even brighter in contrast to the dark world outside as ponies began lighting their lanterns in preparation for the encroaching night. Some few houses were totally dark for those who liked to go to bed early.
Rainbow Dash knew she would be lucky if she got any sleep at all that night.
Slowly the houses became farther and farther apart as she approached the edge of the town, eventually stopping altogether. The cobbled road became a dirt path as she crossed the hills outside Ponyville, her cloud house becoming visible in the distance. Before long she was directly underneath it, too lost in equal parts shock, rage and sorrow to fully comprehend the world around her. With a pained grimace she opened her wings, taking off quickly and flying up to her house.
Wishing to spend as little time in the air as possible, she opted for a more direct route into her house than a door; through the floor. Extending her hooves out in front of her she shot through the layer of clouds holding her house aloft, the white fluff dissipating as she punched a hole clean through it. The cloud instantly curved back into the space, filling and erasing the hole from existence.
Rainbow ignored the hole closing behind her as she landed on the floor, her wings instantly closing into her sides as she began walking through her house. It wasn't big or fancy, but it was home. It was empty and lonely, but it was home. It was high in the sky that she could never again call her own, but it was home.
She walked through the cloud structure slowly and solemnly, one goal in her mind; sleep. The day had been one big event after another, and the emotional and physical fatigue had finally caught up to her. The sun's light was fully replaced by the moon's silvery glow as she reached her bedroom and slumped down on her bed, burying her face in the soft cloud pillow. Her eyes clenched shut as she struggled against her own body and mind's desire.
She lost the fight; a few solitary tears leaked through her eyelids, and that was all it took for her to lose control. She cried. She cried openly and freely into her pillow, the cloud instantly absorbing her tears only to be fed more as she wept on her bed. She fell into a fitful sleep holding her pillow against her face.
-_-_-_-
Twilight stumbled through the front door of her home, the darkness of night being banished by the bright interior as the various lit lanterns and candles let loose their light around the front room of the library. Her mind was blurred with thoughts, too blurred to recognize the purple dragon looking at her worriedly from the kitchen door.
“Twilight?” He called curiously, watching as the unicorn walked begrudgingly into the tree, shutting the door behind her and promptly falling to her haunches, leaning her head and back against the solid wood.
“It just doesn't make any sense,” she mumbled, eyes reaching up to the ceiling as if searching for some all-powerful answer in the rings of the tree.
“Twilight?” Spike called again, a little louder as he walked out into the main room and approached the distracted unicorn.
Twilight shook her head forcefully, clearing the mental fog of thoughts, and turned her eyes away from the ceiling, focusing them on the purple and green dragon looking at her curiously. “Hey Spike,” she greeted quietly, a weak smile adorning her lips as she pushed herself away from the door and onto her hooves.
“What happened?” Spike asked, motioning for Twilight to sit on one of the cushions in the living area of the tree. “There were two stallions in black suits here a few hours ago looking for you. Then, a little while later, they came back, saying you and Rainbow Dash had been taken to Cloudsdale for questioning regarding the Wonderbolts and they started asking a whole bunch of questions about the necklace she's been wearing almost constantly.”
“It's...” Twilight trailed off, unsure of how to explain her situation as she obeyed Spike's request and sat down on the plush, purple cushion.
“What is it?” Spike asked, egging her on as he took a seat next to her on the floor.
“Complicated,” she finished slowly, cringing as she saw the deadpan glare her draconian assistant was giving her.
“Really Twilight? You've been gone all day, a pair of black suited stallions ask a whole bunch of weird questions, and all you have to say is that it's complicated?” He asked rhetorically, “I already figured it was complicated. I want to know what was going on, not how convoluted it was.”
Twilight sighed, crossing her forelegs and resting her chin on them as she laid down. “It's been one big misunderstanding after another today. Somepony claimed that Rainbow cheated in the Wonderbolt competition, and that I helped her do it. And from there it just went... downhill,” Twilight explained, looking over to see Spike's wide eyes.
“They thought Rainbow Dash would cheat on something like that?” He asked incredulously. Twilight simply nodded in response. “What would you have to do with that? Did they think you enchanted that necklace for her?” Spike asked through a chuckle at the shier absurdity of the notion.
“There... was an enchantment on the necklace...” Twilight admitted quietly, so quietly Spike almost didn't hear her. His laughter died in his throat as he gaped at Twilight.
“You didn't...” he gasped, staring wide-eyed at the unicorn before him.
“I didn't!” Twilight protested loudly, shooting up from her prone position on the floor. “But... somehow there was a level three flight enhancer on that necklace,” she continued with a sigh, laying back down to the floor.
“Well, if you didn't place it, then it must have been the pony she got it from,” Spike deduced, scratching his chin with a claw thoughtfully, “so who gave it to her?”
“That's just it!” Twilight groaned, rolling over onto her back and staring at the ceiling, “I gave it to her! There certainly wasn't any kind of enchantment on it when I had it! And to make it even worse even she believes I put it there!”
Spike opened his mouth to respond, but slammed it shut a second alter, regarding Twilight with a skeptically raised eyebrow. “Did you just say that she believes you put it on the necklace?”
Twilight sighed, long and low, as she closed her eyes. “Yes; even Rainbow Dash thinks I placed that enchantment. When they dropped us off in Ponyville after questioning us she sounded like she wanted to kill me, before throwing the necklace into the fountain and storming off.”
“She can't seriously believe you'd try to sabotage her shot at the Wonderbolts can she?” Spike asked, a little surprised that Rainbow Dash would believe some ponies in fancy suits over her friend. Twilight's solemn nod, however, confirmed it.
“The last thing she said to me was that she never wanted to talk to me again.” Twilight finished quietly, frowning deeply as her mind brought her back to the exact moment in time. Her eyes grew wet as she remembered the look in Rainbow's eyes; the burning hatred mixed with a sorrow deeper than the deepest ocean. Despair was written clearly across her features, and Twilight hadn't been able to do anything to help. In the pegasus's mind, she was the one who caused that hurt.
“What!?” Spike yelled, “how could she say that to you!?”
Twilight sighed again as she rolled back over onto her hooves. “Because of the enchantment on the necklace she was kicked out of the Wonderbolts and told she'd never be able to try to enter again. As far as she knows, I ruined her only chance at achieving her dreams.”
Spike frowned thoughtfully, silently mulling over the information he'd just been given. He was getting nowhere as he heard a long, tired yawn from beside him. He looked over, seeing Twilight struggling to keep her eyes open as she laid in the soft embrace of her cushion.
“Well unless you have any better ideas, we're not going to be able to do anything about this tonight. Why don't you go to bed?” He suggested. Twilight looked up at him, smiling gently.
“I thought I was supposed to tell you when it was time for bed,” she joked, eliciting a chuckle from the dragon.
“You used to, but right now you need sleep more than I do; you look like you've just come back from fighting a hydra.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Twilight agreed, yawning again as she forced herself up from her cushion. “I just don't know what what I'm going to do about any of this. Even if I convince Rainbow I didn't place that enchantment, she'll still be out of the Wonderbolts.”
“Don't worry; I'm sure we'll figure something out,” he assured with a gentle, caring smile, before motioning to the stairs, “But you're no good if you're half asleep. Rainbow will come to her senses and realize you wouldn't do anything like that.”
Twilight nodded, walking over to the staircase to the second floor. She took the first few steps before turning, looking down at the dragon locking the door for the night. “I hope you're right, Spike.”
“I know I am,” He assured with a cocky grin that would suit Rainbow Dash more than himself. Twilight found herself smiling at the little dragon.
“And... thanks. I'm glad I didn't have to work through this on my own.” Twilight said gently before resuming her ascension to the second story and her bedroom.
“It's what I'm here for. Oh hey! Wait a second!” He called suddenly, running to the base of the stairs and looking up at the unicorn at the top.
“Yes?” She asked, curiously cocking her head to the side.
“You said you gave Rainbow Dash that necklace, right?” He asked, making her even more confused.
“I did...” she trailed off, unsure of where he was going with this.
“Why?”
“For good luck in the competition,” she answered quickly. Spike's interest only seemed to grow as he looked up at her.
“Really? And she actually wears it?” He watched as Twilight nodded slowly, “huh. I figured she'd only wear something like that if it were from her special somepony or something; she doesn't strike me as the jewelry type.”
Twilight shrugged, “I guess she liked it. Anyway, goodnight, Spike.”
“'Night Twilight!” He called as the unicorn, oblivious to the blush on her cheeks, went up the stairs and to her bed.
I hope these two work it out and that dick who framed Twi gets thrown in jail.
3872610 shrugs. there has to be some manner for them to investigate magically involved crime. considering unicorn magic is color coded, it would seem their magic is unique to them. perhaps the magic could become unnoticeable to radiant magic over time but one would presume the enchantment would be like their own magic for some amount of time before it decayed. like a fingerprint eventually being eroded away iguess.
even if you stick to your oirignal thought on it, it still does not prove that twilight WAS the one to enchant it. twilgiht would not know how to use that at first, but she could easily realize that it was weak enough that she could fight against them for rainbow dash.
this story does have a good idea behind it, the story needs a bit more thought put into it though. it is those touches that makes a story all the more enjoyable. put some thought in, okay how would the ponies go about investigating all of this? and how would this character react to that? felt that rainbow dash would ahve reacted much more violently and wrecked her home after having her dream shattered so violently. she is just that impulsive and owuld not know how ot emotionally deal with it otherwise.
i see something good in this. needs a bit more elbow grease.
3921405
Your problem is you assume everyone's head cannon follows the same logic. What's the point of proving who placed the enchantment when the enchantment was placed, and they know she was wearing the necklace during the competition? At this point it doesn't matter much who placed it. And besides, they themselves said nopony had had it besides them, so what point was there in investigating that? When the defense offers testimony incriminating themselves, what prosecution in their right mind would question it? As for the aura thing... well I can't give too many spoilers, but what I can tell you is that, in this instance, my head cannon does follow a similar path to yours (I'm modeling mine similar to the current DNA evidence, so it's similar to your theory with the decay thing). However, after the initial shock and the feeling of utter hopelessness that would have sunk in after the enchantment was found would have thrown Twilight's mind into a metaphorical tailspin. As far as she knows she's the only unicorn to have even touched that necklace. And After Dash accuses her of it, well, she's not going to be in her right mind, and may not be thinking clearly enough to think of such things.
As for Dash, we've already seen how she reacts after being rejected. I point you to Mare Do Well. She didn't react violently to being all but shunned, instead she became depressed and moped about on a cloud. This, while a larger scale, would still be essentially the same. Being rejected by those she wants so desperately to accept her. In Mare Do Well, it was her home town that she wanted to accept her as a hero. In this, it's the Wonderbolts she wants to accept her as Equestria's greatest flyer. However, I am planning to have her go through the "five stages of grief" and as such she will exhibit such anger. But not everyone experiences the stages in the same order, and some won't even exhibit all of them.
I think I've thought this out a little more than you thought I had.
Either way, I thank you for the feedback and I do tend to add a few things to the next chapters from your comments.
3921545 shrugs. i will keep an eye out then.
3921545 also was not being insulting, i just trying to give some suggestion.
I like the story and am interested to see where it goes,
the only issue I have is
'you HAVE to come with us'
'its not a criminal investigation'
seems contradictory, if its not criminal then they basically abducted rainbow and twi then forced their friends to give away personal info.
There was a crime committed there just by them.
Also who has the gull to tell celestias student she cheated. Celestia is going to be PISSED!
I can just immagian how that conversation went.
"we got word that Twilight Sparkle and rainbow dash may have cheated in the competition"
"isn't twilight sparkle the student of Princess Celestia"
"so that changes nothing"
"should we maybe give Celestia a heads up before we accuse her student of cheating"
"I don't see why we would"
"I want to put in for leave till this is over, incase she decides to roast you guys alive"
3921688
They never once broke any law. They did not force Rainbow or Twilight to come with them, they merely asked. They boarded the chariot of their own accord. And when Spike describes it, they only "asked" for the personal info; they were under no formal obligation to give it.
And since when as Twilight gotten or asked for special treatment for being Celestia's student? I'm pretty sure she'd be offended if they went easy on her for that reason.
3921840
“We're under strict orders to bring you both to Cloudsdale immediately,” the other said, his voice deep and rough much like the first one. They looked more like bouncers from some club in Canterlot than Wonderbolt employees.
this seemed more then asking to me, it was just the impression I was left with anyway.
Also, while Twilight has never used her association with Celestia for personal gain, I find it hard to believe other pony's (famous ones in particular) don't recognize it. Politics are in everything and this would be a BIG DEAL. when you insult Twilight character, you insult Celestia's character for having chosen her as her student. (as Rainbow said, these rumors don't stop) It would just snowball down hill from there.
If i were going to accuse Twilight of something like that the first step would be telling Celestia at the very least as a curtsy. last thing you want is that note twilight will undoubtably write her taking her by surprise.
Again just my two cents. I do have to reiterate that I like the story and am looking forward to where it goes.
Good chapter, MOAR
3921894
Exactly. The absolute worst thing Celestia could do in this situation would be to show favoritism. It would set a precedent in the public mind that "the closer I am to the Princesses, the more I'll be able to get away with." Sure, telling Princess Celestia could have been done as a courtesy, but by definition that does not make it necessary, nor would (or rather, should) it have changed anything--after all, even Celestia would have to admit the case (as it currently stands) against her student is pretty air-tight.
On the other side of things, though, I find it odd that no legal action is to be taken. Of course this is almost certainly some kind of set-up (only other explanation I can think of is the Rainboom itself "casting" the enchantment), but how deep does the set-up go?
3921545
Well Twilight isn't the only unicorn to have touched the necklace, I know of at least one other(and so do Twilight).
And as for non unicorns, let me present a suspect.
fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/107/c/6/Enchantment_by_meonlyred.jpg
3922128
I don't know, on the other hand this would lead to pony's questioning her judgment and decision making. which could lead to a LOT WORCE outcomes then playing favoritism.
At the very least she would examine all the evidence herself to ensure that a fair outcome was reached. Her magic would easily be able to tell what enchantments were cast and by whom.
This goes well beyond Rainbow's reputation; this will have an impact on Twilight's(the student who cheats) and Celestia's(The Princess who 'raised' a cheater) like I said at the VERY LEAST she would investigate the matter herself and the evidence presented here would not hold up to more 'scrutinous' inquiry.
It just my military bearing but you would never go behind a commanders back and investigate their solder without letting them know, I can't see any way that Celestia would be ok with this in the slightest. favoritism or no.
3922214
That's just headcanon that you cannot say applies to this story. "It's magic!" doesn't make everything possible...
Maybe for a certain number of ponies, yet not only would the more rational be able to separate the teacher from the student's mistakes, but without evidence, "Celestia teachers her students to cheat" will be relegated to conspiracy theories without effort on anypony's part.
Also, I don't think it is occurring to anypony that this isn't already a "scrutinous inquiry", given the participation of one of Twilight's teachers, whom, I imagine, Twilight (and everypony else) still considers trustworthy.
3922487
Politics are anything but rational
appearances are more important, this is a damned if you do damned if you don't situation for Celestia she can be viewed as the ruler who razed a cheater (and hence has questionable judgment) or the ruler who stands by her student (and plays favorites) between the two i cant see her doing the former.
but i do not see us coming to an agreement on this anytime soon lol
3922556
Heh, I suppose so.
Right now, though (and I don't know why I didn't think of this before), is that the best Celestia can do is order a more thorough investigation--not conduct one herself--and make a point that only objective evidence is being considered.
I don't know what could be left to investigate, though, except the possibility of somepony lying...
3922487
3922556
I'm gonna have to side with Scary on this one, and not just because he's supporting how the story has it.
If a person who went to a certain university at some point in their life is later arrested for murder, do people look at the university and go "Wow, that place makes people murderers, better not go there!"? no. And anyone who does is just plain stupid. Do any of the faculty there get any kind of bad reputation? no.
Same with the murderer's parents. Anyone in their right mind wouldn't blame them for what their child did. (As a side note, I am well aware that often a bad home condition leads to such criminal behavior, but not always, and most of the time that bad home situation is not the parent's fault exclusively)
As such, Celestia would only be viewed as having poor judgment by, as Scary said, conspiracy nuts and those who already had a low opinion of her. Meanwhile, playing favorites is an immediate and comparatively large blow to her reputation and her political status as a whole.
Of course, no legal actions were taken due to Spitfire obviously having a soft spot for Dash, and as such is there really a serious need at this point to inform Celestia? What's Twilight gonna say?
"Hey, I ruined my best friend's life, except I didn't, but she thinks I did. Anyway do you think you could pull some strings and get her back in the Wonderbolts? I promise I'll explain later"?
Really, why does Celestia even need to be involved right now? Of course, that's not to say Twi couldn't, say, ask for some advice, but with the events in the coming chapters she doesn't exactly have time to do so.
3922673
If a school lets one bad apple in thats just averages 1 out of 5000+
if a president/monarch/princess/king/queen has one student and something happens, thats kinda different.
Also she knows her student, it seems like she wouldn't just let something like this pass.
Dear princess Celestia
today me and rainbow dash were both framed for cheating, (insert evidence here, word for word, no embellishing she's not the type) while I acknowledge that the evidence looks bad I can assure you I would never do something like this, I normally wouldn't bring something like this to you attention but as the evidence pointed towards me, Rainbow will not speak to me again, if the situation does not change we will be unable to use the elements of harmony ever again. I am not asking you to intervene personally, I do not wish to tarnish your reputation any more then this event has already done so. But i do ask that you look at all the evidence yourself and interview the accusers to ensure that a proper and fair judgment was reached.
Your faithful student
Twilight Sparkle
I don't think too many ponys could lie in the face of an Alicorn.
3922713
Alrighty then. I don't know if you have, but I've seen Equestria Girls. If you have seen it, then you know Sunset Shimmer, said bad apple. She tries to steal Twi's crown in the movie, and has a back story of being... well, a bitch. She was Celestia's student, and did that even dent her reputation for the show?
3922759
Hmm fair point, although it seems like since no one knew who Sunset Shimmer was that Celestia squashed any rumors about her. it probably also helped that sunset disappeared instead of causing major problems. (with the exception of the events of the movie that only a few ponies new about.)
hey Celestia what happened to sunset? - she went home
Hey Celestia whats with twilight cheating? - ……….
What I don't understand is how come Rainbow doesn't just do her routine without the necklace. Then it would prove her innocence better than anything.
Thanks Spike! Now the shipping begins!!!