Twilight sat, staring at the tiny business card that now solely occupied her work desk. Every fibre of her being screamed that this was a joke. No, it was more than that. There was no ounce of common sense in all of Equestria that would believe that the card sitting in front of her could do what it said. Then why, nearly an hour ago when Twilight had found it, had she not immediately thrown it away? Why was it still sitting there instead of in the bottom of her trash bin? And, why was she reading it through for the fifth time?
The answer was simple. It was the answer to everything she ever wanted:
This card good for one free wish
As she flipped it over, yet again, Twilight found herself absolutely entranced by the seemingly obvious rules:
Rules
The card can grant any wish
The wish cannot be reversed
Discussing the card with others will accomplish nothing
More so by the one little rule tucked away in the very bottom right, like a treasure chest:
Wish at your own risk Twilight Sparkle
~LtW
LtW? Twilight couldn’t stop wondering who or what that was. Could there really be a pony, or group of ponies, out there that had the power to make such a card? No, that was just silly. The kind of power required to grant any wish could never be generated, much less sealed into a tiny business card. Besides, as her hooves slid over the card for what must have been the twentieth time, Twilight was sure there was no detectable magic coming from it.
Okay Twilight, you can either stare at this card all night, or admit that it’s just a card. No magic there...Or, you could test it. The basis of scientific knowledge is experimentation, right?
She was right, of course. By trying it out she could collect data from the experiment. If the card really did work she might even be able to figure out how the magic worked and why she couldn’t detect it. It was the perfect opportunity to learn something new. And, it had nothing to do with the dusty old scroll tied up tight and hidden deep under her bed. Nope, no horrible burning passions hidden in there at all.
“I wish she loved me back,” Okay, maybe one or two burning passions. But, that didn’t matter anyways. As Twilight sat there, card in hoof, focusing intently on the object of her wish, nothing happened. No, nothing literally happened. She couldn’t really be sure what she had expected out of a magical wish granting card, but surely something should have happened, right? At the very least, the card should have disappeared or changed in some noticeable way. As it stood there was no way to tell the wish had even been used.
What are you doing, Twilight? The card was utterly ridiculous and now you’re sitting here staring at it like a filly waiting for Hearth’s Warming Day. Face it, the experiment proved the card didn’t work. It’s not like you cared about the wish anyways.
It was slow, but Twilight managed to get herself up off her flank and put the card in the trash bin. Still, it called, even from the confines of its metal prison. It was an unfinished experiment taunting her, but she desperately didn’t want to focus on it. She wanted to go to sleep and forget that she had ever uttered those words aloud. A brief flash of ethereal purple and the crimson flames danced to life in her wastebasket. It wasn’t the first time the basket had been home to an incinerator and it probably wouldn’t be the last.
A few minutes later, with the supernatural flames now but a flicker of transcendent light, Twilight examined the fruits of her magical labour. The card was gone, not even ash remained in the now perfectly clean basket. The taunting was gone too, it was impossible to be taunted by an object that no longer existed. Tomorrow, well it would actually be today now, would just be another day. Maybe she would sleep in. Not because she was crushingly disappointed about the wish, but because she had been up so late experimenting. Yeah, that sounded about right.
The knocking was incessant. Who could possibly be trying to get her attention this early in the morning?
“Spike,” Twilight called from the welcoming darkness of the blanket thoroughly tucked around her head. There was no answer.
“Spike, get the door.” She called again in the hopes that her little dragon assistant could save her attempt to sleep in. No such luck.
The knocking continued and, try as Twilight may, there really was no way she was going to get to sleep in today. Then the familiar voice rang out, “Come on Twi, we’re gonna be late if you don’t get your flank in gear!”
Rainbow Dash? The blanket was expelled from her bed with a few good kicks of her rear hooves and she struggled out of its welcoming embrace. A purple glow engulfed the scroll next to her bed and brought it up to eye level so Twilight could see the very detailed schedule she had for the day.
Breakfast? A quick x adorned the box to left of that one. Dust the library? No, that item could still be accomplished by Spike later, wherever that dragon was. Help Applejack with her problem? No, that was scheduled for this afternoon. Had she forgotten to add something to her schedule for the day? Had she actually forgotten about a commitment she made to Rainbow? No, that just wasn’t possible, Twilight didn’t make mistakes like that.
“Come on Twi, just open the door already or I’ll break another window,” The voice of her impatient friend snapped Twilight back to reality. On the list or not, Rainbow Dash certainly seemed to think they had something scheduled and Twilight really didn’t want another fiasco like the last time she had decided to use the window.
Hooves flew down the stairs of her precious library in a flurry of desperation. All those glass shards, all those books scattered on the floor. It would throw her entire day into chaos if she had to clean that kind of a mess up.
Seconds before hitting the main floor of her library Twilight reached out, her mind gently touching the door. Silently, and effortlessly, the locks released and the knob turned. She would have opened the door as well, but apparently the cyan pegasus was in no mood for that. By the time Twilight actually reached the door her visitor was already inside and...laughing? Yes, there was no denying that the cute scrunched up snout was laughing at her.
“Nice look for you Twi,” The laughter slowly died down over the next few seconds as her pegasus friend began to drift lightly towards her. Normally she would do something weird, or stop at a decent distance away, this one was pleasantly different. Rainbow didn’t stop, she just kept going till they were precipitously close. Twilight could feel the small fine hairs of her friend’s chest tickling her nose, and those piercing eyes staring down on her head.
Roses? Why was she thinking about that at a time like this? Still, it was the only thought that permeated Twilight’s usually active mind. Rainbow smelled like roses, she didn’t usually, but today the smell was both overpowering and wonderful. It was enough to make her knees weak and her mind blank. So blank that she didn’t even care that there was no reason why this moment was happening. It just was.
“You forgot, didn’t you?” And, the moment was over. It had only been a few seconds, but the moment left her completely off kilter. It didn’t matter that there was nothing in her schedule about Rainbow. All Twilight felt right now was a shame for forgetting some important thing her friend had needed her for...and roses. She felt Rainbow Dash in a field of roses. Wait, roses aren’t an emotion.
“I’m sorry, I was up late last night with an experiment,” Twilight was slowly slipping back to reality. Reality was cruel, though. Reality took away the roses and replaced them with a pegasus who had circled around to float above her back. At least Twilight could hold onto the guilty apologetic feeling. She could be sorry for letting her friend down, “And, I must have forgotten...”
“You forgot you were supposed to take me out to lunch,” Wait, what? Twilight was absolutely sure she hadn’t forgotten lunch with her friend. Especially not when that friend was Rainbow Dash, the pony who usually warranted a complete clearing of her schedule followed by blocking off at least two hours for obsessing over, “But, it’s okay. Give me your brush.”
Twilight was absolutely sure she couldn’t have forgotten it. No, this had to be just a dream instead. That didn’t matter, though. She had her roses. Okay, roses might not be an emotion, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t feeling happy. She was elated, euphoric, blissful, rapturous, and, above all else, complacent. Yes, she didn’t even offer a single word of protest, fearing the end of this wonderful dream, as the lavender glow engulfed her brush on the other side of the room and wafted it gently into Rainbow’s outstretched hoof.
Sure, Twilight could have done this herself, she could have done it faster, she could have done it gentler too, but then she wouldn't be feeling that cyan hoof holding her head in place either. The gentle breaths that Rainbow let go with each brush stroke; a filly playing at styling her doll's hair, was almost enough to melt Twi's mind completely. Yes, somewhere in the back, locked up in its tiny cage, there was still a part trying to logically piece together this impossible situation. That part, however, was quickly being beaten into submission by her precious roses.
“There, perfect,” The triumphant pegasus beamed as the final few unruly strands were delicately tamed into place on Twilight’s mane. Twilight was beaming as well, a much more crimson shade, having long since forgotten the exact reason her marefriend was busying herself with her mane. Marefriend? No, not her marefriend, just Rainbow Dash. It was a desperately sobering thought to think that her heart could be pounding in her chest like this, her mind could think of only one thing, and the cause of it all was still just a friend.
“You know, a less amazing pony might start thinking your experiments are more important than her,” Rainbow gently drifted around into Twilight’s view again. What a magnificent view it was. Lean cyan body melding with perfectly formed smirk and taught wings. No, that was the roses creeping back in again; the roses that her whole mind had started craving by now. Twilight was trying to remain grasped onto the one sobering thought of friendship, but even that was not long for this world.
Quickly, behind that perfectly formed smirk, a Dash of evil had formed. Cyan hooves danced nimbly across Twilight’s neck to meet with agile feathers on her back. The assault was merciless and exact as Twilight was almost immediately overcome with melodic laughter, quickly building to a crescendo. As the laughter melted into a squeal, one Twilight herself was unaware she could produce, that smirk parted. Cyan lips parted and sealed the squeal within their encasing tomb. A tongue darted in, quickly enforcing its power within the prison and immobilizing its prey.
Twilight’s mind melted completely back to her roses, the once tickling hooves and wings gently wrapped around her form. They caressed her and held her tightly. It was amazing and a moment that she couldn’t possibly have dreamt up in a million years. Perfect was too insufficient to describe it, immaculate even failed to capture her feelings. Marefriend; the word drifted back with the power of a wrecking ball. Friendship was crushed, and thrown aside. This time, there could be no mistaking or sobering up. The tongue capturing her mouth was all the proof she needed of that.
“Come on. I can’t wait for my marefriend to buy me lunch.”
The meal in front of her could have been rotten apples for all Twilight cared. Her attention had been entirely captured by the pegasus which adorned the seat across from hers. In fact, had her gaze been any more powerful she probably would have melted the table between the two into a heart shaped puddle. Laser beam eyes, that sounded like a spell Dash would like if she could find some way for it to work.
Across from the table another set of eyes was eagerly boring back the gaze. Neither pony seemed capable of noticing the concerned looks hastily thrown in their direction or the immaculate blushes they held which might as well have been a flashing neon heart above their very heads.
“You know, if you keep staring like that I’m going to eat your sandwich too,” It barely registered as a thought in Twilight’s head, somewhere in between laser beam eyes and the possibility she was sitting on a tack. That said, she did finally bring herself to look away from the object of her affection, only for a moment, and notice the empty place laying under Rainbow’s hooves. A quick glance confirmed the opposite of her own plate. They had been sitting there almost an hour now and Twilight hadn’t even thought to levitate her sandwich up, let alone take a bite. She would remedy that.
Well, she would attempt to remedy that. Fate, or possibly fashion, had other plans for her it would seem. As the sandwich had finally made its way to her mouth fashion had to rear her ugly head. Okay, Rarity, but fashion is as good a pseudonym as any. The white unicorn also seemed to lack any solid sense of timing as she felt the need to barge in at the apex of sandwich time, “Rainbow Dash! What kind of a display is this for a lady?”
“It’s called a date, Rarity,” Sandwich time was definitely more important that this. Twilight’s stomach was rumbling loudly enough to disturb the roses and Rainbow had all the answers. Rainbow’s answers were all she needed.
“And, since when are you dating Twilight? Honestly, if this is another of your jokes...” Since when? Twilight kind of wanted an answer to that too, but she also feared what the answer might mean. Frankly, the cyan hoof silencing Rarity’s tirade was the only thing Twilight needed. Was an answer really going to do anything but ruin her day?
“It’s not a joke. I would never do that to Twi,” Rainbow was on the verge of spitting in the fashionista’s face as she rose out of her chair. Such an innocuous little comment had triggered something far outside what Rainbow could take, “We’ve been together forever, Rarity. I love her, you should understand that.”
Love? There were a million other things that should have been going through Twilight’s mind. Rainbow Dash was poking and seething at Rarity with uncharacteristic hate and Rarity looked like a deer caught in the headlights. But, none of that mattered as that simple sentence ran on infinite loop through Twilight’s mind. Rainbow actually loved her back. It was one of those once in a lifetime epiphanies that pushed the rest of the world into just the right spot.
By the time Twilight’s mind had finally exited from its perfect moment she had managed to chew her bit of sandwich exactly one hundred and fifty-seven times; proving that there was still a small portion of her mind dedicated to minute useless details no matter what the situation. Oh, and Rarity was currently backed up into a coat rack while two waiters pulled Rainbow Dash away and back to their table. Everything was perfectly right with the world.
“Come on Twi. Let’s find something else fun to do. I’ve got the entire day off just for you.”
“Sounds wonderful.”
Two Days.
It had been nearly two days of nonstop whirlwind romance. The two had been together every waking moment, and some non waking ones as well. Honestly, as amazing as the last two days had been, Twilight was a little relieved that Rainbow had to go to work today. The fresh morning air and an empty library were finally starting to set her brain right.
She had struggled with it for the first dozen or so minutes, but now, with the aid of a wonderful healing cup of tea, she was able to stand being apart from Rainbow. The fog in her mind was slowly clearing leaving half finished and barely started ideas to finally float freely into view. Most of them were small. Guilt over blowing off Applejack, embarrassment for leaving a half eaten sandwich, more embarrassment for the thing they did behind Sugar Cube Corner, and then again behind the mayor’s office. Okay, maybe she would skip past the guilt for now. Later, when she had some alone time, she would relive those moments.
For now, her mind would have to fall on a much heavier topic. When had Rainbow Dash started going out with her? The question was indeed heavy, and every time her mind danced across it she could feel the familiar warmth of those words. I love her. It took almost the entire cup of tea and sprawling herself out on the floor of her library before she was able to let her mind flow past those words.
Time slowly ticked by as Twilight tried to piece together the past week, and then the past month, finally culminating in a checklist of every significant event the two had shared over the last year. Her own diary helped tremendously to track down these events. But, in the end it was just as Twilight feared. Not only had there been no event to trigger the “been together forever” of Rainbow’s words, but there had also been a huge switch in her behaviour the last two days. Just the fact that she hadn’t bothered to practice her tricks in two days seemed completely uncharacteristic. All signs pointed in one direction.
Hooves scrambled in desperation and her teacup shattered to the ground as that one wastebasket was the only thing on her mind. The teacup was a regrettable casualty really, she really loved that star pattern set she had received from Luna. Still, the casualty proved completely useless as her scrambling revealed the same sight she had created a little over two days prior. Nothing, absolutely nothing remained of her last logical answer.
Logical? Twilight’s mind raced. She was actually considering a magical wish granting card as a logical answer for the erratic difference in her marefriend, “When you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”
Twilight recited her favourite calming line, a common catchphrase of her favourite literary detective, Surestep Holmes. It always did the trick when she needed to work on a particularly puzzling mystery. This time was no different, “Okay Twilight, the card really is the only thing that changed in the last few days. It’s got to be the cause of all of this. Now, if only I hadn’t destroyed every last trace of it. I can’t exactly experiment on something that doesn’t exist.”
Great, now she was having a full on conversation with herself, out loud no less. Normally her little dragon assistant would have been around for her to bounce her ideas off of and prevent her from realizing the inherent craziness of conversing with oneself, but he had been gone for several days now. Come to think of it, where was Spike? Sure, she had been in a fog for the past two days, but now with it lifted she was finally able to realize that she hadn’t seen Spike since he went to bed the night she found the card.
No, one mystery at a time. Her lazy assistant would wait until she understood exactly what kind of force she was up against. Admittedly, there was a large portion of her mind screaming to leave the reasoning alone. Even if the card had caused it, Twilight had Rainbow Dash now, her roses, and that was worth just as much as any explanation could give her. Unfortunately, the other part of her mind knew exactly what could come out of messing with magic she didn’t understand.
It hadn’t been long after her tutelage began under Princess Celestia that Twilight had decided to attempt a teleport spell without ever having been instructed in it. Even with her enormous talent, no perhaps because of that very talent, Twilight had accidentally shifted the entire room she had cast the spell in into another realm. The Princess would never speak of exactly how Twilight had caused it, but there had literally been nothing in that spot for the next three weeks as carpenters worked at a furious pace to rebuild a room in the middle of a perfectly fine castle.
Ever since those days Twilight had been unable to simply accept magic as magic. She couldn’t feel comfortable about a spell unless she knew exactly how it worked. And, this was perhaps one of the most powerful spells she had ever encountered. It had fundamentally altered Rainbow Dash to a level she hadn’t seen since Discord, and he was a god for Celestia’s sake. Okay, maybe comparing it to Discord was a stretch. There were a lot of other explanations for how the spell had accomplished what it had, but the concept of a wish granting card spell still refused to sit well with Twilight.
LtW. The thought came barrelling back to Twilight somewhere in between Discord and the Elements of Harmony. If Twilight couldn’t examine the card then maybe she could find something out about its creator. If she could locate information on this LtW, whoever or whatever it was, then perhaps she could find something out about the spell and she had the best tool to facilitate this search, her own library filled with enough reference materials about every subject.
Minutes melted into hours and melted again into even more hours. A comprehensive guide to Equestria, A Definitive list of Equestrian Organizations, Companies, and Research Groups, Famous Ponies in Equestrian History, and Important Contributions to Magic all turned up no strong leads to the name. Sometime in the long flurry Twilight had abandoned the pot of tea for something a lot stronger, coffee. Coffee was good, very good. It had occurred to Twilight, though, that by the fourth cup she might have been overdoing it. She had ignored that thought. This was now her sixth anyways.
Knock, knock, knock!
Knocking, at this time of the night? Oh, after a quick glance to her window Twilight realized it wasn’t night anymore. With the sun just barely peeking into the windows of the bottom floor it must have been very early in the morning. A general sense of annoyance washed over her. She had been up all night and discovered nothing. Well, there had been a few plants that could have fit the acronym as well as one organization, Worshipping the Laughter which was sometimes written as Laughter the Worship, but none of those fit what Twilight needed.
None the less, Twilight would have to peel herself away from her research for the time being as the door refused to stop knocking. As her magic shakily engulfed the great oak door and clumsily released the locks Twilight was finally realizing just how bad six cups might have been for a first time coffee drinker. Worse yet, the pony on the other side of the door was the intensely distraught form of Ponyville’s mayor.
“I’m so sorry for waking you Twilight, but something terrible has happened. I really, well, I think you should just come and see for yourself,” There was no room for arguments or questions. The mayor had forgotten all semblance of control as she all but pushed Twilight out of her own door. Whatever was going on, perhaps six cups of coffee was not enough after all.
There were few good reasons to rush a caffeinated pony across Ponyville without explanation. That said, this was definitely one of them. There were just no words to properly describe the sight dancing in Twilight’s vision.
She could trace the blood trail down the wall of Carousel Boutique to the barely recognizable form of her once proud friend. Blood red stained all but the smallest patches of oranged fur. Tatters and clumps of blond hair lay in sprawls around the gashed side of her face. Worst, by far, was the barely connected front hoof. It now lay only attached by bone, flesh and muscle torn asunder completely around it.
“Who, who would do such a thing,” Tears were streaming down Twilight’s face leaving streaks of slightly darker purple fur in their wake. She had seen evil, she had battled evil, but this was completely different. This was malicious, without warning, and an act that had taken her most honest friend away from her.
“We were hoping you could help us with that one,” The mayor began to worm her way into asking for Twilight’s help. She didn’t have to ask, though. Half of Twilight wanted nothing more than to hunt down whatever had been responsible for Applejack’s death and provide her own punishment for the crime. The other half was weeping and terrified, “And maybe with your abilities we could...”
“What in Cloudsdale is going on here so early,” The loud brash voice silenced even the pleading of the mayor. Rainbow Dash had finally arrived on the scene. Everything was going to be all right, Rainbow would make everything alright.
“Rainbow, it’s Applejack, she...” Twilight had tried holding onto the hatred. She tried holding onto the logical part of her that wanted to solve this mystery and bring the culprit to justice. But, she couldn’t hold onto it with that voice. That voiced promised comfort and companionship, it pushed away logic and hate and, as Twilight hurled herself into that soft rose filled mane, it fogged away all the confusion and fear. The roses blanketed her mind and, all of a sudden, the tears, her, and Rainbow were the only things in the world.
“Oh Twi,” She could feel cyan hooves caressing her mane and a steady drip of tears falling from Rainbow’s face. The embrace continued, quelling the torrent of sadness within her until the tears finally dried up. The sadness was still there, but Rainbow could take it. She swallowed up the sadness and the angst and left only the good, “Don’t worry, Twi. They’ll figure it out. I’m sure whoever did this to her will be found.”
The fog was hardly even noticeable anymore, really. Ever since the second murder, and finding only Sweetie Bell’s head, Twilight hardly left Rainbow’s side. Leaving meant more pain and more questions. Staying ensured everything would be alright. Rainbow had permanently moved into the Library by now and even taken a leave from weather patrol, at Twilight’s request, so as to minimize the time they spent apart. Spike, well, Twilight hardly ever thought about Spike anymore. She didn’t have to worry about talking to herself with Rainbow around, after all.
There had been a total of four murders so far. Joining Applejack and Sweetie Bell had been Fluttershy and Derpy. Small sketches and notes about each of them littered the floor of a corner of the library. Sometimes Twilight and Rainbow would try to piece together the events and discover new clues, but thinking was rather hard for Twilight these days. Concentrating on the bad things only led her back to the roses. They could barely get twenty minutes in now before Twilight couldn’t handle the train of thought anymore.
Her research into LtW had long since been abandoned, finished before it had ever truly began. None of it mattered, though, because in this little corner of the world, protected by books and each other, everything was still fine. The pain only existed when they let it, or when they actually left the library to be greated by the harsher reality of what Ponnyville had become. Twilight had hardly left the library in these past two weeks. Thankfully, Rainbow had taken it upon herself to do most of the shopping and errands for her marefriend. Truthfully, Twilight wasn’t sure what she would do without Rainbow’s strength. She didn’t want to know, either. The spell, if it was a spell, that had created this didn’t matter anymore. Rainbow was there and that was all that mattered.
So, as Twilight sat at her breakfast table, holding her lovingly brewed cup of tea and reminiscing about how much better everything seemed now, she was entirely tempted to simply ignore the knocking at her front door. No, it was more like that she was so lost within her own mind that the knocking on the door didn’t even register. How long had it been going on? One minute, three minutes, ten minutes? How long had she been sitting at the table anyways?
Rainbow had left at a little after seven for the errands, it was now eight-twenty. Twilight had been lost in her own self-reverie for coming up on one and a half hours. Honestly, she would have kept sitting there if she could have, but she did finally decide to get herself up and answer the door. Sometimes it was nice to have another pony to talk to besides Rainbow.
As the door opened Pink frizzy mane met tamed lavender and a strange thing happened. For the first time in a while, Twilight smiled. This wasn’t contentment, nor was it the same feeling Rainbow gave her. This, instead, was just a simple smile. Pinkie Pie was always good for eliciting a smile.
“Hi, Twilight! Gee, it feels like forever since I’ve seen you,” Pinkie was right, of course. Well, not entirely right. In this case, forever was a few weeks, but Twilight still felt ashamed for it. Her hoof absently scratched at her head trying to come up with a better excuse than fear.
“Yeah, it has been a while,” The words didn’t flow as easily as they once did. Normally, with Rainbow, they didn’t have to. Or, maybe it was that she didn’t want to think of them anymore, “I’ve just been kind of busy lately.”
“Oh, I know silly, that’s why I’m here,” Wait, Pinkie knew how terrified she was? Shame burnt through her entire body like never before. She had been hiding from everything using Rainbow Dash this entire time while everypony else had to face it head on, “I heard you and Dashie moved in together and I decided we needed to throw a party to celebrate. Then I realized I couldn’t throw a congratulations party without inviting you and Dashie. So, here I am.”
The shame slowly faded as Pinkie dug through her mane, first producing streamers, a fire hose, a piece of cake, and gummy, before finally producing an invitation promptly shoved into Twilight’s hoof. It was colourful, happy, and everything Twilight would have expected from the party loving pony. It was almost as if the last two weeks had been a dream, like no pony was dead and the entire town wasn’t terrified, “Thanks Pinkie, but aren’t you worried about, you know?”
“Oh that,” You could see the slight depression hit Pinkie, deflating her normally full mane to nearly half mast. But, like most things with Pinkie, it didn’t last more than a few seconds, “See, that’s why a party is perfect! Can’t murder anypony if we’re all together. And, besides, I don’t think our friends would want us to sit around crying all day.”
She was right, in her own Pinkie way. Of course, it didn’t stop there. Pinkie continued on her tangent while Twilight tried to focus her mind on the concept of going out. Ponnyville had become so strange to her lately, but everything Pinkie said made perfect sense for once. Maybe a party could finally quell the fear that had been gradually welling up amongst the residents, “I mean, eventually you get hungry and then all you have to eat are tears. Party cake tastes better and punch is a lot less salty. Unless you like salty! Oh, I could probably bring some taffy to the party too. I bet I have enough time to whip up a big batch.”
Pinkie was already bounding out the door when a lavender glow engulfed her frizzy tail holding her taught in place. Twilight had already made up her mind to come to the party, but right now she wanted more. Not a lot more, just something more, something not the library, “Pinkie, do you think you could use some help getting ready for the party?”
Wide smile met wide smile, light hearted laughter met light hearted laughter, and only one thing was left to be said before Twilight could try to reclaim just a little bit of who she used to be, “Okie dokie lokie.”
The time Twilight had spent with Pinkie, preparing Sugar Cube Corner for the party, had felt just like old times. Admittedly, she had actually held her friend’s tail on the way there, but had quickly grown out of that fear once she got into the habit of working. For the first time in the last week Twilight had had tasks which she needed to complete. A checklist, important action items, and review of work done made her feel alive again. A different kind of alive, anyways. The normal smothering fog had rescinded to a light mist she could peer through with enough effort. It was a nice feeling to be checking off things again, even if those things had only been streamers, balloons, and refreshments.
Still, as the day droned on, it was time for Twilight to get back to the library. She was going to have to tell Rainbow Dash about the party and make sure the two could make it back in time. Besides, Pinkie was more than capable of finishing the party preparations on her own and this time Twilight was confident in her ability to walk the streets of Ponnyville unescorted. Sure, the ponies on her way home all had the same looks as before, panic and fear with a mix of loathing and rage, but this time Twilight was seeing the cause and pain behind those faces. She was afraid too, but she wasn’t going to let herself be afraid of them again.
The atmosphere back at the library had been mixed. Sure, Rainbow had been happy that Twilight had managed to bring herself to go out, but there was something else. What should have been a small hug of relief over Twilight’s safety had lengthened to almost three minutes, the fog threatening to squash the newly freed remnants of the old Twilight. It was tough, not on purpose, and probably completely coincidental, but Twilight felt like she was betraying Rainbow every second by not letting herself fall back into the roses. She wasn’t, but it was hard to shake the feeling that the only thing she should be doing was being in Rainbow’s arms. Still, the hug did eventually end and the two did eventually manage to drag themselves off the floor long enough to leave for the party.
Being fashionably late for a party thrown specifically for you was a thing, right? Well, even if it wasn't, not much could be done about it right now. Between the impromptu floor wrestling and Rainbow taking nearly half an hour to tame her mane afterwards, any time Twilight had left in her schedule had been long since been spoken for.
Any worries about tardiness, however, were easily alleviated when the two finally made their way through the colourfully decorated swinging doors of Sugar Cube Corner. Pinkie’s party had been a huge success, it seemed most of Ponnyville was in attendance and even several ponies Twilight doubted were residents at all. Everypony seemed to have found exactly what they needed from the party, from conversations to dancing, jokes to drinks, and love to consolation.
Twilight was rather impressed with the work the two had managed to pull off, the Corner looked like a completely different space. The shop counter had been transformed using a few cloths and now held a variety of baked goods, Pinkie’s toffee experiment included, as well as enough refreshments to keep the party going well into tomorrow. Tucked away into the back corner, a familiar white unicorn stood intently by her mixing table, earphones in hoof, laying out a beat loud enough to drown out normal conversations, not that the three unfamiliar ponies dancing on the tables scattered across the dance floor seemed to mind. Twilight had never before seen the beige pink pegasus with the crimson mane, the light yellow unicorn with the deep black mane, nor the emerald pegasus with the blue mane, but they certainly looked like they weren’t the type to care about being watched. Scattered around the lively dance floor, groups of other ponies talked and reminisced, albeit in a much louder register.
“I’ve been trying to get the hospital to put in a little shop for years,” A small excerpt of the familiar brown pegasus’ ranting dropped into Twilight’s ear shot, “You know, not a big shop. Just a small shop so ponies can, you know, shop.”
“Parties like this are great for business,” This time Twilight instantly spotted the familiar horn of Ponnyville’s only dentist, Colgate, “All these sweets. I bet I get ten ponies booking an appointment tomorrow.”
Light, happy conversation. The entire town could be transformed so easily. The couple exchanged quick glances and slowly came to the realization. They had been standing in the doorway for going on a minute, just staring at the proceedings. It didn’t take more than that, and a sheepish shared grin, for the two to move slowly onto the dance floor. It was a party, after all, and Twilight barely got the chance to do something like dance with her marefriend.
“Scar’s pretty good isn’t she?” The appearance of Pinkie, in the middle of a crowd of partiers, should not have been a surprise, but it was hard not to get a little surprised when a pony seems to appear out of thin air. She was even holding an entire pie. A pie on a dance floor? Sure, why not, it was Pinkie after all.
Twilight and Rainbow both glanced in the direction of the beige pink pegasus now hoof standing on her front hooves and flinging that crimson mane around without a care in the world. Scar, huh? An unusual name, maybe Twilight would get a chance to find out more about it.
“Not bad,” Rainbow said absentmindedly as she turned away from the display, the pegasus now back flipping and landing on only her rear hooves and continuing her slightly lewd displays, “She’s no Spitfire. Or Twilight.”
“Oh yeah, Spitfire was supposed to show up too. I wonder if she’s running late? Maybe she stopped to pick up a snack first!” It seemed highly probable that both Twilight and Rainbow were a little relieved that their friend decided to continue her rant while bouncing away from them, probably to check on somepony else, or disappear mysteriously into a potted plant. Heck, this was Pinkie, it was entirely possible that the plant didn’t even necessarily have to be around. Twilight had a theory where the plant just appeared because Pinkie believed it made sense.
The rest of the night passed as well as any pony could have hoped for. The couple managed to find most of their friends and enjoy a good time. A few times the conversation circled back around to Applejack or Fluttershy, once they had to console a broken down Applebloom, but they always managed to agree that it was better to enjoy the memories than it was to shed tears at a happy occasion. The deaths still stung, but, in the darkness of the hours that accompanied midnight, life could continue on. For the first time in weeks it was adamantly clear that they had to keep living on, if only to be true to the good memories of their friends.
The party had finally started to wrap up around three in the morning. With a couple of hours left before dawn would start to break it was more than late enough for the working ponies whose lives depended on the jobs they would barely be able to perform today. Others straggled behind for a few minutes. Long goodbyes and plans for next time, but eventually they all started to mill out. Rainbow had offered to help Pinkie with the cleanup as Twilight saw Rarity and Applebloom off, Big Mac having left earlier Rarity was going to see her home.
“Now, don’t be a stranger dear,” The words accompanied a brief hug as Rarity picked up the wobbling Applebloom and let her ride on her back, “We can’t let recent events destroy us. You still have Pinkie and I. And, of course...Raindbow Dash.”
“I know. I think,” The way Rarity had said Rainbow Dash had been completely off. Almost like she was terrified of the words. Twilight wanted to ask about it, but it was late and she worried that she might just be imagining things. After all, why would Rarity be afraid of Rainbow, “I think I just couldn’t handle it then. I’m sure I’ll get back to normal.”
The two exchanged another brief goodbye hug, Applebloom already snoring on Rarity, and the white unicorn was off. It couldn’t have been easy on any of them. Rarity had lost a younger sister, Applebloom an older one, and everypony had lost at least one friend. Yet, they could continue on. So could Twilight, she was sure of that. Tomorrow, or today, was going to be her chance to reclaim herself from fear.
She was ready to leave now, ready to start getting on with her life. All she needed was to get Rainbow and get back to their home. Rainbow had helped her through so much the past few weeks, now they could help each other. They could move forward together, maybe even actually work on finding the culprit. An actual future, no more hiding behind Rainbow all the time. It seemed nice.
As Twilight approached the doors the back she could hear Rainbow, but something about her sounded a little off, “Everything was perfect Pinkie, I was her everything. I didn’t have to do those things anymore.”
The voice on the other end of the door dripped with desperation. It wasn’t the Rainbow Dash Twilight knew. It was something else, “But, you just had to try and cheer her up. You tried to take her away from me, Pinkie. Do you get why that makes me upset?”
No answer was forthcoming. A lump was slowly building in Twilight’s throat, her hooves frozen in place as the familiar voice continued the unanswered tirade, “She’s my everything, Pinkie. I love her, I need her to look only at me. You ruined everything I worked on! But, it’s okay. You can fix it. I know exactly what you can do to make it up to me.”
That was all Twilight could take. Rainbow or no, she burst through the door terrified to be right and terrified to be wrong. On the other side of the door Pinkie’s limp body lay malleable underneath Rainbow. Knife in hoof, Rainbow was slowly carving into Pinkie’s face a permanent smile to match the jack-o-lantern esque toothy smile that was already adorning her pink torso. The blood splatters matted into Rainbow’s normally beautiful fur and she darted her head back to look at Twilight, a sick and twisted grin slowly morphing into angst in the silhouette of her precious marefriend.
“Twilight, you,” Rainbow was getting up off Pinkie’s body now. Slowly she inched towards and slowly Twilight inched away, “You weren’t supposed to see that. You shouldn’t have seen that.”
Fear, the slowly realization. Her heart was pounding with immense fear, but slowly Twilight was putting it all together. All of this, every last bit had been her fault. The mare Rainbow had been talking about had been her, “Listen Rainbow, something’s wrong with you, but we can get you help. We can make everything right again.”
“No, I’m not the one who’s wrong,” Smiling, Rainbow was starting to smile again. That twisted smile did more to unnerve Twilight than anything else ever could. Oh Celestia, if she had known that innocent little wish would turn Rainbow into this. That card wasn’t even supposed to have any power, “Everypony else is wrong, Twilight. We’re supposed to be together forever, but they all keep trying to take you away from me. They had to go, don’t you see?”
“Oh Rainbow, it’s all my fault,” Fear, confusion, and sorrow mixed into tears as Twilight allowed herself to break down over everything that she had caused. Somewhere, she was hoping that her earnest feelings would bring back the real Rainbow Dash, but that was just a filly’s dream, “I just wanted you to love me the way I loved you. And then, I found the card. I don’t know, it was just supposed to be a silly little wish. I never thought it would turn out like this...”
Rainbow had closed the gap between the two while Twilight bawled. Her hoof now gently picking up Twilight’s chin, allowing her gaze to rest on the bloodied visage of the pony she loved, “Oh Twi, I do love you. I have always loved you. We’re going to be together forever, I promise.”
It was fast, and without mercy. Rainbow’s other hoof brought her blade down into Twilight’s eye. The pain was immediate and intense as she let out a heart wrenching scream. But, they both knew this was far from the end. Twilight tried to bring up a magical shield to protect herself from the next strike, but Rainbow Dash had always been just a little too fast. Within moments her pain was mirrored in her other eye and Twilight was blind. She was terrified, in pain, and blind. There was no concentration left for her to be able to cast a spell. Instead, her lavender form crumpled on the floor, moaning and whimpering in her fear.
“Don’t worry Twi, it’ll be over soon. And then you won’t ever have to worry or think again,” Twilight could feel the blade dancing a heart around her chest, not deep enough to kill her instantly, but deep enough that her screams echoed throughout the now empty building.
“Shh, we have to be quiet Twi, think of what time it is,” Rainbow seemed so calm, so sure, as she slid the knife across Twilight’s windpipe. Screams of pain quickly turned to gurgles and gasps, the darkness of her blindness was quickly welcoming the embrace of her own death. She had created this with her own hooves, a world where Rainbow Dash loved her back. Unfortunately, love didn’t always have proper limits.
“We’ll be together forever, I promise.”
