You Can't Be Missed If You Never Left

It was the wall-clock which finally brought Twilight back to her senses, letting out a loud bong that hung in the air for a few moments before letting loose with another bong. The purple unicorn raised her head from where it had been placed, against one of the walls of her bedroom, and looked around.

The room was still dark, sparsely decorated; only a pair of purple curtains and the wall-clock, done up in rainbow patterns, were visible—just the way she’d left it after Dash… She sighed, shaking her head and lighting up her horn to get a look at the numbers on the clock: it was 8:01. A few pangs of guilt thumped in the mare’s chest—she’d left Marina sitting out there, waiting for her, for 40 minutes while she sobbed against the wall. She grinned ruefully to herself. Just like after the tryouts, eh Twi? she thought.

Knowing she needed to gather herself together and go back downstairs, Twilight shook her head, trying to get herself straight, and slunk away from the wall and out the door leading into the upstairs hallway. When she reached the bottom of the stairwell, she was greeted by the sight of Marina slumped over on the table, a small stream of drool leaking from her open muzzle. The purple unicorn chuckled; kids could be so funny sometimes. Attempting to be quiet, Twilight softly clopped over to where her student lay, nudging her head with her snout.

“Marina,” she whispered in the filly’s ear, “Marina, wake up. We’ve got to finish the story.” With a small snort, Marina woke, her bleary eyes looking around for a moment before focusing on her teacher.

“Ms. Twilight!” she said, her voice thick with sleepiness. “I was starting to get worried about you. You were gone for a long time.” Twilight smiled, her horn glowing as she pulled out the adjacent chair and sat down in it.

“I know, Marina, and I’m very sorry about that. I shouldn’t have left you down here all by yourself. I was just looking through some things and lost track of time.” This was, of course, a blatant lie, but it seemed to satisfy Marina.

“I understand, Teacher,” she said, smiling as she rubbed her eyes. “Whenever my mom shows me pictures of me as a foal, or my little brother comes out of his room to play, hours can go by and I never notice.”

Twilight nodded, levitating over a glass of water to quench her ragged, pained throat—all that crying had worn her voice out a little. “I can see why you’d be concerned, Marina,” she said, sipping on the water. “I am an old mare, and if I’d fallen, it could’ve turned out very badly.” She chuckled ironically. The book glowed and opened up, the pages flipping quickly.

“Ms. Twilight,” Marina said, cocking an eyebrow skeptically, “you’re not that old, right? I mean, Green Leaf, my neighbor, is a unicorn too, and she’s, like, a million years old!” Twilight made a face of mock surprise as the book laid open on its spine, showing a picture of the Wonderbolts—Soarin’, Spitfire, and the pony who had always refused to disclose his name.

“A million, you say?” the purple mare cried, recoiling. “Why, she’d be older than the princesses, in that case!”

Marina rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “You know what I mean, Teacher,” she said. “She’s just really, really old. I’m sure she’s older than you.”

Twilight chuckled a little. “I know, dear, I know. I’m just having a bit of fun with you.” She shook her mane a little, the grey locks swaying back and forth until the tail-end of her mane rested on her neck.

“You know, Ms. Twilight,” Marina said, her eyes soft and caring, “no matter how old you get, even if Ms. Dash doesn’t find that fountain of youth, I know we’re still going to be best friends forever!” Twilight felt her heart give a pang of sorrow at the unexpected sincerity.

“What makes you say that, my student?” she asked, her eyes threatening to let loose all over again. “I am like any other pony—if the fountain of youth does not turn up, well…you know as well as I do what will happen. I will pass away, much like Fl…” Twilight paused a moment as Marina raised an eyebrow.

“Like who, teacher?” she asked. Twilight swallowed hard.

Fluttershy, she thought to herself, tears welling up, the very first one of us to go…The mare was roused from her thoughts when Marina shifted the position of her hoof, blue eyes still searching for an answer. Twilight didn’t want to tell this story, so instead she quickly dismissed the issue. “Uh, nopony, Marina. Never mind.”

“But I want to know!” Marina insisted.

Twilight bit her lip, and was floundering for a response when the clock struck nine.

“Marina, I would love to continue this discussion another time, but the story is almost over. We must finish it up if you’re going to get home at a decent time.” Marina pouted, but reluctantly motioned for Twilight to continue. Twilight cleared her throat and began again.

“Now, when the day of the tryouts came, I found Rainbow Dash first thing in the morning, but…”

Twilight hadn’t slept any better than the last few nights, that much was certain. She’d rolled around, disgusted at the fact that her sheets were soaked through with sweat from her burning body. When she had caught an hour or two, her dreams were invaded by visions of Dash laughing off her declarations of love and flying away, or of all the ponies in Ponyville pelting her and Dash with rocks, screaming at them to leave town before they infected every mare with their fillyfooling. Despite all this, however, Twilight had finally gotten a bit of lasting sleep, her fevered mind shutting down around 4:30 in the morning.

The sun finally roused her from her slumber with her hair twisted in unmanageable knots, matching the sheets around her legs quite nicely. Spike’s basket was empty, except for a note.

Twilight, it read, I can see you need to sleep, so I’m gonna leave you there and let you wake up when you need to; within reason, of course. Just to make sure you don’t miss Dash’s auditions, I went ahead and set the wall-clock to go off extra loud at 11:30. Remember, the auditions are at 1; don’t be late to the flying field!

The purple unicorn blearily processed the information, eyes slowly drifting over to the clock on the wall. 11:23. Thank goodness. With considerable effort, Twilight hauled herself out of bed, dragging her hooves tiredly over to the clock to shut off the alarm before it went off.

She hurried through her morning routine, swallowing a plate of hastily-made eggs, pulling a brush through her hair until it looked decent, and scrubbing her teeth as quickly as possible. Then the unicorn took a deep breath, held it for a few moments, and walked out into the sunshine just as her clock struck 12.

Outside, the sun was much too bright. It seemed to invade all of Twilight’s body, soaking her through with uncomfortable heat. The wind was mellow, wafting lazily through the air. It was a fine day for the best flyer in Equestria to show her stuff in front of the Wonderbolts, but it was an awful day for a nervous pony to spill her guts to the one she loved. Still, Twilight dragged her hooves through the grass, making her way towards the flying field, muttering half-hearted words of encouragement to herself. The walk, at most, took 45 minutes, but to Twilight, it seemed to drag on forever.

The flying field mentioned in Spike’s note was located on the southeastern end of Ponyville, past Sugarcube Corner. The field itself was unremarkable—a large, flat area of land populated only by shrubbery and short grass, with virtually no air obstructions; it was where Dash always practiced, and where Twilight liked to come and read on nice days. The air was still and quiet, much like it had been four days ago.

As more and more time passed, and she finally arrived at the flying field, she began to feel better. Her stomach was settling down and her brain had blood flowing through it. Yes, she was finally going to reveal her true feelings to Rainbow Dash after four grueling days of silence. It was going to be easy; cake, in fact. As she clopped further and further into the field, seeing Rarity and the rest of the gang waiting up ahead, she could feel her belly settling back down again.

But as soon as she saw Dash, all of that went out the window.

The pegasus was dressed up in her old Gala outfit, which sparkled brightly in the sun, especially in comparison to how plain the rest of the pegasi looked. Twilight had forgotten just how good Rainbow looked in that dress; her eyes fizzled with energy, her blue coat shined, and she looked altogether ready to destroy the competition. Twilight tried to turn and walk away sheepishly, not wanting everypony to see the bright blush on her cheeks, but her flight was cut short by a loud, beckoning voice.

“Twilight! Boy, am I glad to see you! For a minute there, I thought you weren’t going to show!” Rainbow’s smile faded into a look of confusion as she saw the blush lighting Twilight’s cheeks. “You alright? You look hot.”

The unicorn shook her head, forcing a smile. “No, I’m okay, Rainbow. It’s just…I had to rush out here so I wouldn’t be late.” She took a deep breath. “But I’m okay now, I think.”

Dash smiled. “Glad to hear it! I couldn’t have my number one fan all worn out, now could I?” The pegasus laughed and gave Twilight a friendly jab to the shoulder, which elicited a nervous giggle.

“Yeah, right, number one fan…” she responded. Things were quiet and a little awkward for a few moments, but eventually Twilight looked up into Dash’s eyes, her own sparkling a little. “Dash, I, um…there’s something I really need to tell you.” The blue pony cocked an eyebrow, continuing to hover.

“What’s up, Twi?” she asked.

Twilight shuffled her hooves nervously. “I, um…well, you see, uh…” She was stammering. Why couldn’t she remember anything she needed to say? Why was everything Rarity had taught her going straight out the window?! “I think, er…Dash, you’re the most—”

“Ms. Dash?” came a deep voice from behind the pair. “You’re needed. The Wonderbolts would like to see your audition now.” Dash turned around, a look of shock on her face as she stared at the dark-blue pegasus behind them.

“But I’m, like, fourth in line! Are you telling me the other ponies already went and I missed them?!”

The stallion nodded.

“Well, can’t I at least get a little more time here? My friend has something important to tell me.”

The dark blue pegasus seemed to think about it for a few moments, but nodded, his expression hurrying. Rainbow smiled and turned back to Twilight. “Now, what was it you needed to tell me?”

Twilight fidgeted, her hooves making small holes in the ground as she scraped them nervously. “I, um…” She looked behind Dash, at the stallion, who was glaring at her. “Um…good luck. Knock ‘em dead, Dash.”

Dash smiled happily. “Thanks, Twi. You know I got this!” With that, she floated off to the starting line, leaving Twilight alone, feeling farther away than ever. She trotted up next to her friends, and immediately Rarity grabbed her foreleg, smiling over at her.

“Well, how did it go, darling?” she asked, her tone excited, “Did Rainbow say she loved you too? Oh, did you two kiss? You must tell me everything!” Twilight hesitated, but finally the truth came trickling out.

“I didn’t tell her,” she said.

Rarity seemed dumbstruck. “Didn’t tell her? But darling, why would you not have told her? I don’t understand!” Twilight felt tears brimming up, but sniffed them back.

“I don’t know,” she said softly, “I almost did, but then this stallion came up and I felt so rushed that I just…didn’t tell her.” Rarity sighed, visibly deflated by the news.

“Okay, dear, it’s not the end of the world,” she said, eyes not sharing the smile on her face. “You can still do this. All you must do is find another way to get her attention. Just…surprise her, that’s all.” Twilight thought on this for a moment, trying to gather herself, but was interrupted by a voice over the loudspeakers.

“Now flying—candidate number four: Rainbow Dash. Ms. Dash will be performing a standard series of aerial maneuvers to be judged by the Wonderbolts. The candidate will also be given the opportunity to perform one elective trick for the judges. Please stay seated on the grass until the performance is over. Thank you.”

Rainbow flew from the gate like a bat out of hell, her multicolored trail following her as she screamed into the air. Twilight had seen her pegasus friend fly many, many times, but never like this. She was graceful, she was fast, and above all else, that day, nopony would be able to match up to the performance she put on in the sky. The standard maneuvers flew by with absolutely no trouble—Dash had practiced them dozens upon dozens of times in this very field.

Twilight could feel her heart pounding in her chest, as though it were leaping and flying around just like Dash. Her mind was on fire, screaming at her to tell Rainbow Dash exactly the way she was feeling. Her throat burned more with every passing second, the words threatening to claw their way up and out of her mouth.

When it came time for the elective trick, Twilight found herself tapping her hooves on the ground, unable to hold still at all. Her body was brimming with a volatile mixture of emotions, and it was taking all of her concentration to keep them from bursting out.

The move Dash performed was unlike anything anypony had ever seen! She rocketed through the air, her rainbow hair trailing behind her, and began making a tight loop, creating the illusion of a circular rainbow in midair. She then broke away, screaming through the middle of the circle to form three prongs—the official symbol of the royal guard!

Ponies all around the flying field rose to their feet as the jaws of the Wonderbolts hit the floor, and cheering ripped through the once still air, filling Twilight’s ears, blocking out all other sounds. The cacophony lasted several minutes before dying down, letting the head Wonderbolt speak through the loudspeaker.

“Ahem. Well, now that the celebration is over, we would like to give a special message. Rainbow Dash, you are the seventh pony in the history of the Wonderbolts to score perfectly on her entrance exam. With that in mind, and seeing that our list of applicants is quite hefty this year, we would like to ask that you come forward and collect your suit, medal, and plaque now, please. Afterwards, you may leave. We will assign you to a group and schedule shows for you another time.” The blue pony nodded, and everypony around could see that she was trying to conceal her excitement.

“C’mon, let’s move closer in for a better view.” Rarity’s voice slipped into Twilight’s ear and, following her lead, she stood, clopping over to the stage with her group straddling her.

Once everypony had moved closer to the front, they could see Dash standing next to a pegasus with bright green hair, but a black coat—the current leader of the Wonderbolts. She looked collected enough, but Twilight knew that underneath she was bouncing off the walls with excitement. As the pony handed Dash her suit and medal, Twilight could see a single tear slip out, but she quickly wiped it away and sniffed the rest back. After years of trying, she’d finally made it. She was a Wonderbolt.

But even with all the excitement, as happy as Twilight was for Rainbow, she could still feel the words bouncing around inside her mouth, tearing her tongue to pieces as they begged to scream to the heavens. She couldn’t say it, not now, not in front of everypony…

“Rainbow Dash,” the black pony said, “it is with great pride that I welcome you, our historic seventh perfect-scorer, into the wings of the Wonderbolts. We are a group dedicated to perfection, both in and out of the sky. We perform, we help in our communities, and we maintain our stature above all else. The Wonderbolts shine as an example of what every pony should be. Are you ready to accept that responsibility?”

Rainbow Dash, her lip quivering, nodded. “I am,” she said. “Always have been.”

The black pony chuckled a little at the statement, picking up a large plaque which was inscribed with the Wonderbolts insignia and placing it in his hoof. “Then I present to you this plaque, the symbol of your great accomplishment on this day. Please accept it, along with our heartfelt welcome. Member number 62, Rainbow Dash of Ponyville, welcome.” In that moment, despite her brash attitude, her bold ways, and her lack of forethought, Dash stood tall, accepting the plaque and even pausing to smile for the photographer standing a yard or two away, a big smile on her face.

“Thank you,” she said simply, turning to gather her things.

“Rainbow!” Twilight paused for a moment as Rainbow turned, along with everypony else, to look at her. Had that been her? Twilight tried to stop herself, but words spilled out from her mouth unbidden. “Rainbow,” she said, her voice full of passion, “you are the most wonderful pegasus in Equestria. Heck, you’re the best pony in Equestria! The most beautiful, the most passionate, the most bold, the most talented…” Rainbow’s jaw slowly dropped open, along with most of the crowd, but Twilight continued. “I have loved you ever since we defeated Nightmare Moon. You’ve always been there for me, helped me, and…” She paused once more, trying to remember what Rarity had told her. “I love the way I feel when I’m in your arms. I love you, Dash. Please be mine. You’d make the happiest mare in Equestria if you’ll just be mine.”

Nopony made a sound as Twilight finished. As the last words rolled off her tongue, the air went still once more, thick with tension. Realization hit Twilight like a ton of bricks; she’d just made her big speech to Dash in front of the entire crowd. The blue pony raised a hoof, her mouth opening as though to answer, but Twilight never gave her the chance; she turned and ran away, fighting back tears. Rarity tried to call after her, but she ignored it, charging forward as breakneck pace.

The purple unicorn didn’t stop until she was all the way home. She threw the door open and slammed it shut behind her, not even bothering to lock it as she fell to the floor, banging her hoof into the wood. “Stupid, stupid!” she screamed. “Why did you do that? You made a fool out of yourself, and worse, out of Rainbow Dash! Oh, I bet she’s out there already, wanting to give me a piece of her mind…” As though on cue, there was a loud knock on Twilight’s door. “I knew it,” she said, slumping around to open the door and reveal Dash standing there, looking awkward.

“Hey Twi,” she said, shuffling her hooves.

“Hello, Dash,” Twilight responded robotically.

“Um…that was some show you put on back there. Everypony was totally shocked. I got outta there before anypony said anything, though.”

“I understand. It was a little shocking.”

The blue pony nodded, looking away. “Well, I’ve never been too good with mushy-gushy stuff, but, uh…”

Twilight cocked an eyebrow. “What is it, Dash?” she asked. In an instant, the blue pegasus skipped forward, locking lips with Twilight. The two ponies kissed for a few fleeting moments before Dash pulled back, smiling and blushing.

“I love you too,” she said softly.