A Princess Alone
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Between Applejack giving me the cold shoulder and Rarity , Pinkie, and Fluttershy’s newfound Twilaphobia, maybe a nice, quiet day of re-shelving is just what I need to clear my head…I guess I’m just tired after the Coronation…
No sooner had her horn started to glow, reaching out with magic to pick up the first book, when somepony knocked at the door. Twilight looked up, the glow fizzling out and the book flopping to the ground. “Who…?”
A quick trot to the door and a telekinetic twist of the knob revealed the answer. Rainbow Dash stood in the doorway looking at her, and almost right away, Twilight knew something was terribly, horribly wrong. It was the same kind of ‘wrong’ that her other friends had had: that same dead look in her eyes. Still, Twilight put on her best smile.
“Hi, Rainbow Dash!” She flinched inwardly as her voice cracked with a pathetic squeaking noise. “Sorry about the mess: it was like this when I got home.”
Rainbow took a glance around the library, pulling a face. “Yikes, you’re telling me…”
“You can come in, if you want.” Twilight started back into the library, gesturing with her head for Rainbow to follow. “Maybe you can help me re-shelve some of these and…I dunno, maybe we can go for a walk, or…fly or something? You can teach me how to use these things.” She gave a bitter look back at her new wings. “I tried to break them in getting back here and almost…er…broke them.”
Rainbow actually chuckled a bit. It just made everything more wrong, if that was even possible. The mirth didn’t extend to Rainbow’s dead eyes. If anything, it made her gaze all the more hollow. “Heh…I’d be happy to help,” She chortled darkly. “I mean, if this problem’s too big for a princess, it’ll need all the hooves it can get.”
There it was. Twilight froze, the book she had just started to pick up thudding back into the pile that covered the floor. “W-what did you say?”
The smile…no the LEER on Rainbow Dash’s face grew wider, her eyes darkening ever more. “Man, even after everything, the all-powerful alicorn princess Twilight Sparkle is still at the utter mercy of her books.”
Twilight felt her self-control waning, the corners of her eyes burning as tear began to gather. No…not you too…you’re the only one left. You’re LOYALTY, Rainbow Dash! Please, let there be ONE friend who hasn’t gone crazy!
But Rainbow was already gone. The cold, dispassionate look in her eyes didn’t change a whit, not even when the Pegasus laughed outright. “Oh, you have no idea how this feels, do you, your Majesty?”
“F-feels?” Twilight found herself answering, despite all her attempts to stay silent. Rainbow took a deep, satisfied breath, drinking in Twilight’s horror.
“Seeing you asking for MY help.” She said coldly. “I mean, everything just comes so EASY to you, doesn’t it? One look at a spell and it’s yours, even if it took ten years for the guy to INVENT. And meanwhile, there’s ME: I train and train and TRAIN, until my BONES crack, and it’s STILL not enough.”
Twilight shook her head in horror. That’s not true! It’s not! What do you think I’m doing whenever I lock myself in my room? Magic may come easier to me than other ponies, but I still have to WORK at it! I’ve spent whole nights doing nothing but studying, and there are still spells I haven’t gotten the hang of!
She opened her mouth to protest, but nothing came out. Just like last time, and the times before that, her tongue had glued to the roof of her mouth. She could do nothing but watch silently as Rainbow Dash continued to rave.
“And of course, it’s not enough that everything just…falls right out of the sky and lands in your lap, is it?!?” Rainbow Dash said rancorously. “No, you have to BRAG about it! The moment I get so much as a bounce in my step, the universe yanks on the leash! Or even better: my FRIENDS yank on the leash! Don’t need me getting a swelled head, right? I mean it’s not as though I have any real skills to my name! Other than maybe the freaking Sonic Rainboom, of course. Oh wait, you have WINGS now. How long until you copy me and manage to pull off a DOUBLE Sonic Rainboom?
”
Twilight shook her head all the more vehemently. “B-brag?!? I don’t brag! If I started bragging, you and the others would...!”
Rainbow laughed so hard her voice seemed to echo off the walls. “You don’t even NOTICE, do you? Oh, that’s RICH! And what are we supposed to do about it, Madame Perfection? We step out of line, you zap us into the Mirror Pond, or get us all fighting each other over a stuffed animal, while you just sit there and laugh! You can do it, you know! You can do ANYTHING! You’re a GOD! Horn waved, problem solved, with plenty of time left to solve everyone else’s problems and have them worship you! Or even better, just sit back and watch the ants scurry to and fro with their little worries and cares!”
“No…no, I’d NEVER…!” Tears were pouring unimpeded down Twilight’s cheeks now. The laughter vanished instantly from Rainbow Dash’s face, leaving her expression as cold as angry as her eyes had been this entire time.
“Enough.” She snarled. “You have your own problems to deal with. Just…leave me and the others to ours. We’ll stay out of your way.” She turned to leave. “Farewell…your majesty.”
Twilight couldn't take it anymore.
“RAINBOW!”
The Pegasus gave a grunt of surprise as Twilight hurtled forward, seizing her in a tight hug. “Rainbow, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to pull you down like I did…! I just…!”
“I said, ENOUGH!” Rainbow snapped, her voice echoing again. Was ‘echoing’ the right word? Her voice had an unnatural reverb behind it, one that Twilight was sure didn’t come from it bouncing off the walls. Whatever the case, Rainbow raised a rear hoof and drove it into Twilight’s chin. The entire library whirled around her as she was sent sailing backwards, thudding painfully into the pile of books that coated the floor. It took her a couple of seconds to regain her bearings before she staggered upright, looking around frantically.
The Pegasus was gone. Twilight was alone.
The alicorn princess Twilight Sparkle collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut. And then she screamed. She screamed at the top of her lungs as tears poured from her eyes.
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It was the piercing, deafening sound of her shrieks that blasted her awake. Twilight sat bolt upright in bed, gasping for breath.
A…dream. A nightmare. All a dream…all a nightmare… Twilight repeated to herself. She chuckled to herself, a small, embarrassed sound. She grunted as she worked the soreness out of her neck, her hooves, her wings…
Twilight froze, staring down in horror at the feathery appendages. Then she tore downstairs and ran out into the night without so much as a backwards glance.
