You Can't Handle the Truth (Rainbow DashxTwilight Sparkle)
You Can’t Handle the Truth
Twilight Sparkle was sitting in her basement, currently absorbed in writing in her research journal. Beakers and vials bubbled and simmered around her, holding a variety of mixtures in a multiple of hues. Currently the only sound in the basement was the quick precise scratch of her quill as it darted across the parchment of her journal.
Twilight’s quill stopped and her ears twitched as she thought she heard a sound. After a few minutes of listening and hearing only the silence of an empty basement the purple unicorn shrugged and went back to writing. A few moments later she heard the noise again, this time she huffed in exasperation and whipped around to where she heard the sound coming from.
A cyan face and two magenta eyes dominated her vision when she turned around. With a yelp Twilight tried to jump back but only succeeded in falling back out of her chair, much to Rainbow Dash’s amusement.
“Rainbow Dash what the hay?” the embarrassed and irritated unicorn asked.
Dash chuckled, “I was just seeing what you were up to egghead, and I couldn’t resist sneaking up on you.”
“You could have tried.”
“So what are you up to Twilight?”
Twilight sighed, “I’m actually working on some potion recipes Zecora gave me, I’m hoping to get a measure of how much magic is in zebra potions and...”
“BORED!” Rainbow Dash interrupted.
Twilight huffed, “this could be important Dash!”
“Ok but why do you never do any cool magic stuff?”
Twilight rolled her eyes, “this is cool,” she mumbled.
Dash looked over the bubbling potions, “so what do any of these even do?”
“Well that one is an energy potion and that...”
“Ooh cider!” Dash interrupted again as she spied a stein of golden cider, “why didn’t you say you had cider!” the cyan pegasus reached for the drink.
“Dash no! That’s a...” Rainbow Dash downed the drink in one long gulp, “... truth ... serum...”
“Ahh!” Dash exclaimed happily, “Wait what was that Twi?”
“That was a truth potion! And you just drank it!” Twilight exclaimed franticly.
“What?” Dash shouted, “why was it in a cider glass?”
“I ran out of vials! Oh dear,” Twilight looked over her notes, “well you should start feeling the effects about now.”
Rainbow Dash felt a heat start in her stomach and move up her throat, “Yeah I’m starting to feel something. What’s supposed to happen now?”
“Well,” Twilight read through her notes some more, “You’ll steadily start revealing things for the next few hours.”
“Revealing what things? Like that I bought two Daring Doo plushies, one to collect and one to sleep with?” Dash’s eyes shrunk to pinpricks and she clapped a hoof over her mouth.
Twilight clapped her own hoof over her mouth in a heroic attempt to stifle her laughter. Even so a few chocked giggles snuck out, “Sorry Dash. Really I am.”
“This isn’t funny.”
“No,” Twilight coughed and tried to keep a straight face, “it looks like there’s an antidote, but I don’t have one pre-made, and it takes longer to make than for the potion to run it’s course.”
“So I’m stuck blurting out my secrets? Like that I dye my mane and tail?” Dash whimpered and tried to cover her mouth again.
Twilight tried to cover a giggle with a cough, “well yes. But I promise I won’t tell anypony anything. And I’m your friend, you can tell me anything.”
“Yeah you only say that because you don’t know that one of them is that I’m in love with you.”
Silence fell over the library with a soundless thundering crash. Dash stared at Twilight. Twilight stared at Dash. Tears began to well in the pegasus’s eyes.
“I...” Dash began, her face an alarming shade of red, “I...” the shamed pegasus bolted out of the basement and out of the library before Twilight could react.
Rainbow Dash took to the skies the minute she was out the door and took off like a bolt. Other ponies looked up as she passed, but Rainbow Dash racing through the town was no odd sight. And she was going too fast for them to see her tears. Dash’s path was straight as an arrow as she went directly from the library to her cloud home on the edge of Ponyville’s small Pegasus housing district. She barely braked in time as she hurdled through her open bedroom window, land with a violent thud on her bed. Rainbow Dash grabbed a pillow and pressed it over her face as she let out loud sobbing cries.
It was all over. Twilight knew the one thing Dash didn’t want her to know. That she loved her. That she was a sick filly-fooler that went after her own friends. Probably former friend now. And it would probably tear their other friends apart. Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty, would be the one that drove the elements apart. Dash would have laughed if she wasn’t too busy crying.
Dash stopped crying and looked up when she felt something tap her shoulder. She looked to see a concerned and upset Tank the Tortoise blinking slowly at her, one enchanted boot shod foot on her shoulder. Twilight had made the boots as a gift so tank could live with Dash. Thinking of the lavender unicorn’s kindness only reminded her what she was sure she lost.
“Oh Tank,” she said turning on her side and pulling the worried reptile against her stomach so that she was curled around the tortoise’s shell. “I told her, I didn’t mean to but I did. And now she must hate me.”
Tank slowly shook his head as if to say ‘that can’t be true.’
“What else could she feel?”
Tank bumped his nose under her chin in sympathy. Dash hugged her tortoise tighter, emotionally drained from the previous events it took her little time to fall asleep.
Dash woke later when something blocked the sunlight from coming in her bedroom window. Dash looked out but could only see purple. Careful not to wake Tank who had retreated into his shell Dash opened the window to get a better look.
Her window was blocked by a purple hot air balloon. Beneath the balloon a purple unicorn was making her way unsteadily across the loft clouds that made Rainbow Dash’s ‘yard.’
“T-Twilight?” Rainbow Dash croaked, her voice still raw from crying.
Twilight looked up relief on her face, “oh Dash there you are!”
“W-what do you want?” Dash asked nervously.
“I just want to talk,” she smiled reassuringly.
Dash chewed her bottom lip. She didn’t want to have this conversation, but she knew she would have to eventually, “Ok, um, the door’s open.” She ducked back into her house as Twilight made her way to the door.
Dash looked at a mirror, she was a mess. Her mane was frazzled and her eyes were still red. Sighing she ran a hoof through her mane a bit so it wasn’t too messed up and went down to face the music.
When Dash came down the stairs Twilight was in the living room curiously inspecting the pegasus abode.
“H-hey,” Dash attempted to be nonchalant. “Twilight I’m sorry I...”
Twilight stopped her with a raised fore-hoof. “You ran out so fast,” she started, “that I didn’t get a chance to say anything.”
“I uh didn’t think I wanted to hear what you had to say,” Dash scuffed at the floor with a hoof.
“Well you don’t know until you hear it do you?”
Dash blinked at her.
“Now,” Twilight continued, “Since you uh kinda let loose some things you didn’t mean to.”
Dash blushed.
“I um thought I could tell you some of mine, so we’re even.” Twilight blushed but was determined to see this through. “So that’s three secrets right?”
Dash nodded nervously.
“Ok um first,” Twilight blushed lightly, “when I was little I once dressed up in Princess Celestia’s regalia and pretended to be her until she caught me...”
Dash snickered in spite of herself.
Twilight chuckled nervously, and girded herself up. It was now or never. “Um s-second my favorite color is cyan because third,” she took a deep breath, “I love you too Rainbow Dash.”
Silence fell for the second time that day. Rainbow Dash stared at Twilight. Twilight stared at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash spoke first.
“W-what?” Dash was now blushing profusely.
“I love you too Dash,” Twilight answered walking up to the stunned pegasus, “you left before I could tell you.” Twilight nuzzled Dash’s cheek, a bright red blush gracing the unicorn’s cheeks.
Dash couldn’t help herself and knocked Twilight over as she held on to her for dear life. Dash cried again, but this time the tears were not of sorrow but of uncontained joy. The mares fell into a giggling crying heap letting out all the unrequited love they had been feeling.
Tank stood at the top of the stairs and watched the mares for a moment before slowly nodding with a smile and turning around to leisurely make his way back to the bedroom.