Epilogue
Twilight's eyes opened blearily, revealing blurry objects and fuzzy colours. Blinking her vision clear, the world around her fell into focus to reveal her bedroom, clean and organized as always. Minus the one corner that had become Rainbow Dash's when she'd moved in; it was littered with weights, Wonderbolt memorabilia, and the odd Daring Do book.
Yawning, Twilight rolled over, expecting to find an empty bed like she had for the past couple months. Instead, she found the peacefully sleeping face of her wife. The pegasus's odd behaviour had not gone unobserved over the months since the imposter incident. She's tried to hide it, but Twilight knew something was up when Rainbow outright refused to be seen unless they were already half way through a conversation. Other little things caught her attention too, like Rainbow's complete reverse in sleeping patterns; normally she was first to bed and last to rise, but recently she'd been deliberately avoiding her usual pattern.
It was almost as if Rainbow didn't want to be seen if she wasn't awake. There was the odd time Twilight had awoken in the middle of the night and seen her, but int he darkness she'd never noticed anything different to warrant such a desire.
“What's been going on with you?” Twilight murmured to herself, reaching up a hoof and gently stroking the pegasus's soft cheek.
Rainbow stirred at the contact for a few moments, before settling down again and letting loose a single snore. Twilight giggled gently at the noise as she resumed her idle pondering. She'd heard of behaviour like Rainbow's before, but she couldn't quite place where. A book on mental health came to mind, but that was silly; neither of them were mentally ill, as far as she knew. The only strange occurance was the when Rainbow had been replaced by the imposter.
Twilight frowned suddenly, releasing that she'd never actually figured out what it was or where it had gone. It just disappeared when the real Rainbow Dash came back. For that matter, Rainbow had never even mentioned what had happened to her, always dodging the subject. More and more lines were connected in Twilight’s' head as certain patterns began to emerge. She'd heard of things like this before, but her sleep-addled mind couldn't remember where.
Rainbow Dash moaned quietly as she finally began to awaken, her eyes fluttering open slowly as she smacked her lips. “Oh, hey Twi,” she muttered, yawning and stretching as her mind slowly fought off the haze of sleep.
“Hey Dashie,” Twilight greeted with a fond smile, pushing her thoughts tot eh back of her mind. “Sleep well?”
“Yeah, I-” Rainbow froze, eyes growing wide. “Y-you woke up before me?” She asked incredulously, almost in a panic.
Twilight quirked an eyebrow. “Yeah... that hasn't happened in a while, has it?” she added with a quiet chuckle.
Rainbow blinked at her uncomprehendingly for a few seconds before speaking in a barely audible whisper; “Y-you.... you recognize me?”
“I... yeah, why wouldn't I?” Twilight furrowed her brow in an mix of confusion and concern.
Grinning, Rainbow shot out of bed, picking Twilight up in her hooves and bringing her into the air in a hug. “Oh my gosh, Twi! You recognized me! It's over! It's finally over!”
Twilight opened her mouth to ask what was going on, before a sudden realization struck. The behaviour Rainbow had been displaying, what she was had just said about being able to recognize her, and even the...
“Rainbow...” Twilight asked hesitantly, almost scared of the answer.
The pegasus chuckled guilty, lowering them both to the floor and releasing her embrace. “Heh... sorry Twi, dunno what got into me. Come on, let's have some breakfast.”
“Rainbow,” Twilight repeated, a little louder. “Why... why wouldn't I recognize you?”
Rainbow turned from her spot at the door, biting her lip nervously. “Uh... that's not what I said?” She offered weakly.
Twilight swallowed thickly as all the pieces fell into place. “Rainbow... tell me the truth. You weren't replaced by an imposter, were you?”
“I.. uh... I don't know what you're talking about...”
“I....” Twilight licked her dry lips fruitlessly. “I... did I... Capgras?”
Chewing her bottom lip, Rainbow did the only thing she could manage and nodded slowly.
“That means I... and you... oh Celestia Rainbow, what you must have been going through...” Twilight felt tears welling up in her eyes. “All this time... you've had to tiptoe around me for fear of me accusing you as being a fake.. I even attacked you! Oh Rainbow.... I'm so sorry....” The dam finally burst and tears came streaming down Twilight's cheeks, even as Rainbow rushed over and wrapped her in a hug.
“Hey, hey don't cry,” Rainbow whispered soothingly as Twilight cried into her coat. “You're better now, and that's all that matters. Everything's okay.”
Twilight shook her head. “But everything I did to you! How hard it must have been for you to do that with me every day, every time you wanted to see me...”
“It was no problem,” Rainbow assured with a slight tone of her usual brash cockiness. “You know I'd do anything for you, no matter how hard. It's over now and that's all that matters.”
“But I...”
Twilight's next objection was cut off as Rainbow pulled away just far enough to capture her lips in a kiss. A few seconds passed in blissful silence before Rainbow finally pulled away. “I love you, Twilight, and I was more than willing to do it for you. Now, no more guilt; let's go get breakfast.”
As Rainbow wiped her tears away, Twilight gave a small, hesitant smile. “I love you too Rainbow, and I'd do the same for you.”
Rainbow chuckled. “I know you would, Twi.”
Twilight's eyes lit up suddenly, and without saying a word she lit her horn and levitated over a blue vase with a single, red flower sitting inside, magically preserved so it would stay in pristine shape. “I went out to find this for our anniversary, is was supposed to be a surprise but... well, then everything happened...” she trailed off with a frown, before shaking her head clear and smiling brightly. “It's for you.”
Rainbow smiled amiably. “You know I'm not a flower mare,” she said, even as she accepted the vase.
“Touch it,” Twilight prompted.
Somewhat sceptically, Rainbow did as told and gently tapped one of the red petals with her hoof. Instantly the flower snapped shut, staying like that for a few seconds before slowly opening again. This time the petals were all the colours of the rainbow instead of just red. Before Rainbow could comment on it, Twilight lifted her own hoof and touched a petal. Again the flower closed, and this time when it opened the petals were a mixture of the traditional colours of the rainbow, and had purple and pink mixed in.
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Loved it! Glad to see you are back to writing!
Nice, decently sized, well written fic.
I'm glad Twilight figured out what was going on. Never having had Capgras Delusion I suppose I couldn't say for sure, but I would like to think that if someone explained it to me while I had it I would be able to accept that there wasn't really an imposter, no matter how felt when I looked at them. Then again I don't live in a world with changelings who really could be imposters, so that might be a factor.
5157747
It was very hard for me to write this for that exact reason. No matter how much research I did, I could find very little relating to people who suffer from capgras, but not dementia. In the end I gave up and used the line about telling someone what they see isn't real. Which, while that is true, doesn't exactly explain everything, especially in the case of someone like Twilight, who would be able to understand what was happening to her.
Great fic, love it.
Im not sure how it would exactly go in real life, as you said before, it shows up mostly in dementia patients and the like, but I truly do like the fact that you had Twilight figure it out herself. It feels like it's a great indicator of her recovery.
This was well done, and very entertaining. Great work mate.
Nice tale, earns the like. And for those that prefer a more 'visual' aspect of learning, I present the following!
)
Thankfully the reference to Capgras is the first bit in this episode)
(Warning: Series can get a little... creepy at times.
(This site does not do time coding apparently.
Another well written and really well executed story. Well done!
I did catch a couple of really simple errors.
Applejack's name should be capitalized.
To the stallion.
If anyone were to take advice from me, this is what I would wish it to be.
That it matters not what others may say. What matters most is your passion, day by day.
-Scuba12
I have memory issues but I've read this before and I remember the plot and I think I cried. This story clearly impacted me. I hope I Reread it when I calm down.
I think it makes perfect sense for Twilight to figure it out after the fact. She's the smartest mare in Ponyville and practically has perfect recall.
I think it felt actually kind of like a twist to have it be a trauma related mental issue. In a world with magic and changelings it could very well have been exactly like Twilight thought at first and the story could have been another round of people not believing her like in A Canterlot Wedding, only for somepony much dearer to Twilight's heart.
Very nice, as usual some of the best slice of life TwiDash around.
I think the epilogue is beautiful the way it is. It works. This is a beautiful story and the condition was handled with a delicate touch. Thank you for writing this. It means a lot to me.
I am iternally screaming right now at how cute this was written. I sometimes don't really like it if they aren't exactly married yet but this seemed to work fine for my brain. Absolutely adorable.
How do you come up with awesome ideas like this?!
Bravo! Have a like and such!
Anyone else feel like it’s 50 First Dates with Adam Sandler and Drew Berrymore