The Twilight Years

by Kendrick

Dash of Hope

Twilight had a fairly good idea of where she would be able to find Rainbow Dash. Considering it was a nice afternoon and there weren’t any plans to change that today, it was very likely she would be at the meadow north of town. Even though she knew she was going to have to do this sooner or later with all of her friends, she felt more concerned about Rainbow Dash’s reaction than the others. The fact that rainbow was so fiercely loyal was what scared her. Would she feel that her dedication had been betrayed by the deception?

Before she realized it she had reached the meadow. It seemed strange how quickly she had gotten there no more than she had been trying to hurry. She wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed to see that she had been right. The blue pegasus was rocketing towards the ground at a breakneck pace. Twilight was certain she was about to watch her friend kill herself as she approached the ground at an insane speed. Just as Twilight was wincing in anticipation of the impact Rainbow pulled up, turning as she did. She went into a corkscrew close enough to the ground that Twilight could see the tips of her wing feathers brushing the grass.

Just watching the spiral was enough to set Twilight’s stomach on edge. Beyond all belief Rainbow pulled her wings back, tightening the spin until she was nothing more than a blur rocketing along inches from the ground. Mouth agape, Twilight watched as she released the spin and shot into the air. Her trajectory carried her in an arc back towards Twilight where Rainbow slammed to a stop before her. Wings held aloft and head high; she was an image fit to grace an air show poster.

“What’d ya think?” Rainbow asked, breaking her pose.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Twilight replied, ashen faced. “Isn’t that the trick you broke your wing trying?”

“Yeah, but I had the angles all wrong then. I’ve got it down pat now!” Rainbow beamed, practically glowing as she spoke. “I saw you over here so I had to make a last minute change in that last turn to get the landing, but an ace flier has to be prepared for anything. Right!”

“Right,” Twilight said with a lot more enthusiasm than she felt. “Listen, Rainbow, I need to talk to you.”

“Sure thing, Twilight. What’s up?” Picking up on Twilight’s demeanor, her attitude changed in an instant. Tucking her wings to her sides, she took on a serious air.

“There is something I need to tell you, but it’s so important that I’ll have to use a spell so that you can’t tell anypony about it.”

Rainbow Dash cocked her head to the side and gave Twilight a quizzical look. “If it’s about Rarity, I already know she wasn’t really sick last week. I saw her sneak off to the train station,” she said, puzzled.

“No,” Twilight sighed, “It’s about me.” Unable to look Rainbow Dash in the eye, her head sunk as she spoke until she was looking at the ground.

“Oh. Okay. Whatever you need to do. I’m here for you.”

Rainbow’s declaration made Twilight’s stomach tighten. Worst case scenarios kept running through her mind. Gritting her teeth she raised her head and decided to get on with it.

“I can’t cast the spell on you. You have to accept it, so when I cast it you will have to touch my horn yourself for it to activate. Okay?” She waited for Rainbow’s nod before she continued. With what was now practiced ease she formed the sphere of energy of the binding spell and spoke the key phrase, “By accepting this spell you will be bound to not speak of the things I am about to share with you other than to ponies you know share the secret or if permitted by Princess Celestia.”

Rainbow stepped forward just as the others had and touched her head to the tip of Twilight’s horn allowing the spell to encompass her. She ruffled her wings and kicked once as the spell took effect, an annoyed look on her face. Looking back at herself she flexed her wings a bit and lifted a few inches off the ground. Seemingly satisfied, she nodded to herself and landed once more.

“So what’s the deal?” she asked bluntly.

Twilight took a deep breath and braced herself. “I’m not the same Twilight that originally came to Ponyville. I used to be Princess Celestia, but we switched a year ago and that Twilight is the Princess now,” she blurted out in a rush.

She stood there looking at her friend with her ears down and a nervous grin hanging weakly on her face. Rainbow’s eyes got big for a moment as the words sank in. Then she burst out laughing so hard that she fell to the ground with the force of it.

“Whew, that was a good one, Twilight! You almost had me there for a second. I didn’t know you ever loosened up enough for a good joke,” she laughed, “No offense.”

“It wasn’t a joke," Twilight whispered, "I’m serious.” .

Rainbow got back to her feet and shook herself off. The smile faded from her face as she looked at Twilight. Seeing her face, Rainbow grew serious once more.

“You weren’t kidding were you?”

Twilight merely nodded, not looking at Rainbow Dash.

“So you used to be Princess Celestia?” Rainbow asked, earning another nod from Twilight. “And the old Twilight is Princess Celestia?”

“Yes,” Twilight moaned.

“That is AWESOME!” Rainbow Dash yelled, launching herself into the air. “You used to be… and she’s… WOW!” she gushed, flying tight circles around Twilight.

“Awesome? You think it’s awesome? You don’t hate me?” Twilight asked in rapid succession, turning to try and keep up with Rainbow.

Rainbow slammed back to the ground giving the purple pony a confused stare.

“Why would I hate you?” she asked.

“For lying to you all this time. I’ve been telling you I’m somepony else for over a year,” Twilight explained.

“That? You couldn’t go just telling everypony that something like that happens. I get that,” Rainbow scoffed. “Besides, what right do I have to be mad if you switched that long ago and I never noticed?”

“And you think it’s awesome?” Twilight questioned.

“Well, yeah. You were her biggest hero. If I had the chance to trade places with Soarin or Spitfire don’t you think I’d take it in a second? And how cool would it be to know they thought I was good enough that they would want to trade places with me.” Rainbow fired all of this at Twilight with a glow in her eyes. Twilight began to suspect that her friend had thought of just such a scenario unfolding somehow.

“Imagine it. Me up there, flying with the Wonderbolts, pushing the envelope farther than anypony has ever seen,” she continued, confirming Twilight’s suspicions. “’Spitfire, you’re flying faster than ever before. How did you do it?’ they’d ask. And I’d just smile and say, ‘All it takes is training, boys.’”

“Training is all what takes?” Rarity asked, startling Twilight and Rainbow.

“Oh, nothing,” Rainbow answered, “Twilight was just…” She froze mid sentence, eyes wide and blank for a moment. Twilight and Rarity stared as she stood frozen in place. “Whoa. That was freaky,” she mumbled once she had recovered.

Twilight remembered well what happened when you tried to break the spell and shuddered briefly. During their experiments she had deliberately tried to break the oath of the spell and her mind had gone instantly blank. For several seconds she couldn’t focus on anything but a dull roar in her ears. While it wasn’t painful, it wasn’t an experience she wanted to repeat.

“Rarity! What brings you out here,” Twilight interjected, stepping between her and Rainbow Dash.

“I decided that today absolutely called for some fresh wildflowers. Aren’t they just lovely?” she prompted with a turn that flared her scarf dramatically.

“Not as lovely as that scarf,” Twilight commented with a nervous laugh, hoping to distract Rarity.

“This shabby thing? It’s just something I threw together this morning,” she cooed. “But enough about me, what were you and Rainbow Dash talking about?”

“Hey, guys, I think I’m going to bail,” Rainbow interrupted, “I’ll catch ya later.” Without waiting for either unicorn to reply she launched herself into the air, a muffled, “And she’s off!” barely audible.

“It’s a long story, Rarity,” Twilight groaned. All of the anxiety of the day had taken its toll and she was exhausted. She hoped Rarity could be put off until tomorrow when she didn’t feel so frazzled.

“Well it just so happens that I am free for the rest of the day,” she chirped, “You simply must join me for a repas d'après-midi and tell me all about it.”

“That sounds great,” Twilight growled as she followed Rarity to town.

Comments

[archonix]

And speedy updates too!

I've gone back and read the whole thing from the start againl; changing from letters to a regular story format was a very positive move and really worked! I'm a little curious to know what this is leading to, though it wouldn't be fair to expect anything really epic from this. The exploration of the characters is just a really cool idea in general.

[JKaneH]

that does seem like something RD would do....

[BenRG]

Yeah, I think that Rainbow is going to be so let down when she finds out that the Wonderbolts don't use the same recruitment methods as the princesses.