Rafting Against the Current

Chapters

Chapter 1 - Immortality's Fatality
Chapter 2 - Half of a Lifetime
Chapter 3 - The False Ones
Chapter 4 - When Dominoes Topple
Chapter 5 - Running from the Inevitable
Chapter 6 - Taking the Wrong Approach
Chapter 7 - Buying the Lie for More Than it's Worth
Chapter 8 - One False Feather
Chapter 9 - On the Basis of the Bead
Chapter 10 - The Equine Encounter
Chapter 11 - Under Control
Chapter 12 - A Small Request
Chapter 13 - Capture Capers
So Here's His Picture, Remake Him, Maybe?

Chapter 1 - Immortality's Fatality

As Twilight read, she questioned her magical abilities. You see, Twilight had been searching for the right spell to travel back in time to see her friends again. Her friends had died a long time ago, but, since Twilight was a princess, she was immortal, and thus still alive.

She had thought about trying the spell she had used to attempt to warn her past self not to worry about anything, but Twilight then remembered that the spell she was thinking of could only be performed once per pony.

It was at this point that Twilight had decided to search for another time-traveling spell so that she could see her friends again. She went to the library and started searching day and night for a long time. Hours turned to days, and days turned to weeks.

Twilight was about to give up when she suddenly saw a book entitled ‘The Magic of Multi-Dimensional Transportation.’

“Finally!” Twilight chanted, her mood suddenly brightened. “I’m willing to bet there’s a spell in here that gives me the ability to travel through time!”

Twilight levitated the book over to herself and opened it to the table of contents. As she read the table, she found what seemed to be what she was looking for.

“’4-Dimensional Travel and the Precautions You Should Take.’ Yes! I’ve found it! ‘Page 8,’” Twilight read aloud. She thought for a moment.

This is it, this is definitely it! My weeks of searching have finally paid off! Twilight felt accomplished, though nowhere near as much as she had when she got into Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.

Twilight then flipped through the pages to page 8 to find exactly what the Table of Contents had said would be there.

Twilight read the page silently to herself.

Twilight heard a loud noise. Twilight glanced over to where the noise originated, only to find that nothing was there. Twilight then turned back to her book, saying the spell quietly to herself. Twilight became nervous. She felt as though something was wrong with her, but she couldn’t quite put her hoof on it.

Another noise broke the silence, this time slightly louder and closer. It sounded like somepony was trying to get the alicorn’s attention. Twilight glanced over once more, still seeing nothing there. Twilight turned back to her book.

Twilight’s vision suddenly went blurry. Her horn suddenly lit up. She had lost control of her magical powers. It was as if the alicorn’s horn was taking on a mind of its own, removing Twilight's power over it, removing all self-controlled magical abilities from her...

Twilight knew exactly what was happening. She was performing the spell. The old spell. However, it seemed Twilight had no control over it. It was as if the spell, as opposed to herself, was controlling her horn.

Twilight knew she couldn’t cast the spell. She’d already used it once, and she couldn’t again, but for some reason, she couldn’t stop it from happening.

Twilight now felt as though the nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach was correct. There was something wrong with her.

Twilight struggled to take back control of her own mind for several minutes, until the alicorn finally came out victor.

Twilight was safe from her own horn.

For now.

Twilight had trouble sleeping the following night. She went to the doctor to see what was wrong with her, but the doctor said there was nothing wrong. In fact, the doctor even said to Twilight that she was in a better condition than almost everypony else who had ever come to see him.

This worried Twilight because there obviously was something wrong with her, and if the best of mental doctors couldn't detect it, surely nopony could.

Twilight suddenly awoke. Her horn was glowing once more.

“Oh no, not again!” Twilight sighed loudly. “Not this again!”

Twilight got up from her cozy bed and struggled once more to regain control of her horn. This time, however, it was much harder to do. In fact, this time, Twilight didn't even succeed.

Twilight saw a flash of bright light. She saw her world spinning around her as she was taken somewhere. It was as if it was her future self telling her current self something, as if she was trying to show herself something.

It was as if her horn was trying to show Twilight something.

It was like she was drawn to do this, but not by her own mind. It was as if she was drawn to do this by another. Drawn to continue with this, Twilight struggled to undo what she had already done, but she couldn't.

At this point, it was really looking like a part of a certain pink pony had been left behind when she’d died, because Twilight felt the nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach again, and, for all she knew, Twilight just got a sense of things.

Just like Pinkie Pie.

Twilight’s heart was beating a mile a minute as she raced through the stream. She tried desperately to escape, to wake up, to go back, but she simply couldn’t. The damage had already been done.

Twilight was legitimately scared of what was to come. She had only wanted to see her friends again. To hear the voices she hadn’t heard in what seemed like the length of time she would live. To say the one thing she had never gotten a chance to say…

A tear fell from Twilight’s eye.

Twilight just wanted to escape this wormhole, this deathtrap, this stream…

Twilight just wanted to be her old self again. She just wanted to be normal. She had never wanted this. Yes, she was overjoyed when she was first turned into an alicorn, but she never thought about what would happen to her friends.

… this paradox, this simulation…

Twilight once more shed a tear, followed by another two or three.

Twilight just wanted to be mortal. She wanted to be with her friends. She didn’t want to be trapped in the normal world forever. She wanted to move on from this world, to leave it. She wanted to be done. But she couldn’t.

No matter what she did, she would forever be immortal. She couldn’t change that.

Twilight burst into tears. She was desperate to see her friends again. But she couldn’t. She was trapped.

… this… lie…

It was as if reality was playing a cruel joke on Twilight. Perhaps it would spring out and shout, “Haha, I got you!” but Twilight knew this wasn’t the case. She knew it wasn’t a lie. She knew it was reality, and she couldn’t change that.

There was a moment of silence, in- and externally. Twilight’s tantrum stage had ended as she moved into the short cool-down phase of her fit. After a few seconds, she spoke.

“I just want to see them again. I just want this to be over. But it won’t come to an end. It will never come to an end. I just wish it was over. I just want… I just want…” Twilight’s thought drifted off as she burst into tears once more.

Several minutes passed as Twilight drifted to the end of the tunnel to what seemed to be the world as it was 1000 years prior.

With her friends still alive.

Chapter 2 - Half of a Lifetime

Twilight drifted into the end of the tunnel as if it was a portal- well, it was a portal. It was a portal to what Twilight thought was an impossibility.

Twilight emerged into Ponyville Square. All of her friends were there- Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack.

When her friends saw her, they were overjoyed. Twilight had been so busy with her duties she had hardly gotten any time to hang out with her friends.

“Twilight!” they all yelled in unison.

“Uhm… Hi, guys!” Twilight responded nervously.

Twilight’s friends all gathered around Twilight to hug her and ask her how she was doing with her royal duties. Her friends had all been dying to see her.

Twilight would have been happy, as well, but something was… different. Something had changed. Something wasn’t quite right. But, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t put her hoof on it.

“Are you guys all okay?” Twilight asked.

“What do you mean? I'm just as awesome as always!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“You guys just seem… different...” Twilight said.

“Well, ah can’t see wah,” Applejack said.

“I just… wasn’t sure, that’s all,” Twilight replied, worried.

“Summon the false ones. Now!” the stallion in the black robe ordered his servant.

“Yes, Master! Right away, Master!” the servant, also in a black robe, replied, bowing down to her master. The servant then left to bring to her master the ‘false ones.’

The stallion was left alone in his lair deep beneath the Everfree Forest, staring at a large screen.

“Yes… Yes…” muttered the stallion. “Everything is going exactly according to plan… Soon, Twilight Sparkle will be mine, and I shall replace her as a ruler. I shall be a better ruler!”

It was at this point the stallion paused to pick up a case of breath mints off of the desk. He then proceeded to open the case and pull out one of the mints, popping it into his mouth. “Aah, minty fresh. Now, what was I talking about again? Oh, right.

“It doesn’t even matter that I’m a stallion and she’s a mare! I shall replace her, and there’s absolutely nothing she can do about it! Nothing!”

The stallion began laughing horribly with a devilish smile on his face.

“I, Domino Maxwell Mint, shall take down Twilight Sparkle, and from there, I shall take down Princess Celestia herself! No matter what they do, nopony will stop me! Nopony!”

Domino Mint was in magic kindergarten, doodling, as usual. It seemed as though almost everything they tried to teach them was something he had already known.

Domino Mint was outraged at how stupid everypony there thought he was. Domino Mint was a minty teal colored colt. He, like most of the other ponies in the class, had yet to discover his true talent.

It wasn’t until several years later that he learned his special talent was planning out chain reactions in very clever ways. It wasn’t until the moment he discovered his talent that he had his cutie mark – three dominoes overlapping each other.

Domino Mint’s talent, however, was something only those with great knowledge of the world and great understanding of its physics could have. And, of course, within that knowledge was the knowledge of quite a bit of magic, about as much as Twilight Sparkle.

Because of this, Domino Mint attempted to get into the same magic school Twilight did. In fact, Domino Mint’s test took place right after her test did. Sadly, since Twilight’s test had gone so well, the expectations had temporarily been set higher for Domino, making it much harder for him to get in. In fact, Domino never did get in.

Domino went home that day, devastated by what had happened. He cried nearly the rest of the day, only ever stopping to do what he needed to sustain life.

Domino lay there, in his bed, talking to himself.

“Why did I have to test right after her? Why? Why did she have to do so well? Why couldn’t I have been her?” Domino asked himself.

“Besides, the ponies who determine whether or not are supposed to be good and not being biased!”

For a second, Domino considered the fact that Twilight’s performance was so amazing.

“Okay, fine, how could somepony not be biased toward that? But still, she used to be absolutely terrible at magic! What changed? When did she get so good?”

Domino sobbed. “I just wanted to show them how good I am at magic… I just wanted to show them how clever I am. I just wanted to show the world my planning skills, my knowledge of the physics of the universe. I just wanted… I just wanted…”

Domino trailed off. Anger started building up inside Domino, ripping up what little relationship he had had with Twilight.

“Twilight Sparkle, from this day forth, I will do all in my power to get my revenge on you for preventing me from getting into the school of my dreams! I will forever hate you, Twilight Sparkle, and I will do all in my power to show that to everypony! I will do all in my power to give everypony the knowledge of what you did to me! And no matter what you do – I have Celestia as my witness – I will never, ever forgive you.”

From that day forth, Domino Mint always hated Twilight Sparkle for what she did to him. He did all he could to bring misery upon her. He did all he could to ruin her life.

And here Domino was, half of his lifetime later, about to do with his life what he had sworn he would do all that time ago. He promised himself he would not stop. He promised himself he would not give mercy, he would not let Twilight win.

He would not let Twilight get away after doing what she had done to him half of a lifetime ago.

Chapter 3 - The False Ones

“Master! I have retrieved them for you!” said Domino’s servant.

“Brilliant!” Domino cheered with the same wicked smile he bore earlier. “Let them in.”

His servant nodded, then turned around and allowed 5 ponies to pass.

The first to walk in was a pegasus. She was a light blue color. Her eyes were a dark pink color, and her mane was made up of 6 different colors – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Her cutie mark looked to be a cloud with a red, blue, and yellow lightning bolt coming out of it.

The second to walk in was a regular earth pony. Her body was a light orange color, and her eyes were a sparkling green. Her mane was blonde, and she wore a cowboy hat on her head. Her cutie mark was a picture of three red apples.

The third was another earth pony. This one was pink with a slightly darker pink colored mane. Her mane was puffy. She had light blue eyes and a cutie mark of two blue balloons surrounding a third one, which was yellow.

The fourth to walk in was a white unicorn. Her mane was a dark purple color, and her eyes were blue. Her flank bore a cutie mark of three light blue gems.

The last one to walk in was a yellow pegasus. Her mane was a light pink color, and her eyes a cross between dark green and teal. Her cutie mark showed three pink butterflies.

“I’m glad you could make it,” Domino remarked, “I was started to get a little worried.”

“Well, we rayn into a bit ah’ trouble on the way here,” the orange pony replied.

“But we’re here now!” the pink pony exclaimed, jumping up and down.

“Yes, I can see that,” Domino responded. “Look, how is it going with… her?”

“Quite well, actually,” the white mare retorted. “We saw her in Ponyville Square earlier, and I think we did quite well in pretending to be her friends.”

“Excellent!” said the mint-teal unicorn. “I think it’s time we let the real ones know of our progress. Misty!”

The servant teleported over to Domino and responded with, “Yes, Master Domino?”

“Misty, would you be a dear fetch the others for us?”

Misty nodded and ran off to fetch the real ones.

I've finally done it! It’s finally worked! I've successfully created the false ones! Domino thought to himself.

“And now,” he said, turning to the ponies strapped to the machines, “you get to stay in the cages! Misty!”

Misty came over to her master with a drink surrounded by her magic aura and instantly replied, “Here’s that drink you requested. What do you need, Master?”

Domino took the drink from Misty’s aura and gulped it down. “Ah, there's nothing like the taste of fresh, cold water when you're thirsty. Misty, please go get the cages. It’s time.”

“Yes, Master! Anything for you!” Misty acknowledged, running off to get the cages.

“You won’t get away with this!” the rainbow-maned pony exclaimed, panting shakily and heavily from the severe trauma she had just gone through. “Twilight is way more awesome at magic than you! She’ll save us!”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Rainbow Dash. You see, your silly little friend will never suspect that anything is out of place. Your clones, here, are perfect replicas of you- except for one thing. They," he paused, "work for me.”

“All you are is weak! You and your friendship! Did you really think friendship could get you out of this? Did you really think that your silly little ‘Elements of Harmony’ could get you out of this? Pathetic!” the fake Dash mocked them.

As she mocked, Domino picked up the case of mints off of the desk by the large screen and took out a mint, popping it into his mouth.

“You shall never get away with this! I know Twilight too well to believe what you say! I know Twilight, and I know she’s more than capable of saving us!” Rarity rebelled.

“Now, now, I know you all think that, but not everything is as it seems. Ah, Misty, you’re here with the cages,” Domino stated as Misty trotted into the room with five cages hovering above her.

“Misty, be a dear and put these silly fillies into the cages. Be careful!” Domino commented as Pinkie Pie tried to bite Misty’s hoof off. “Don’t let them hurt you!”

What's wrong with them? What changed? What's different? Twilight wondered as she walked to her library from Ponyville Square. Is it really them? No, there’s definitely something different about them.

Twilight growled in frustration at the fact that she couldn’t figure out why this felt wrong.

Twilight spent several more minutes mumbling to herself as she walked to the library.

When she finally got there, she opened the door and walked inside. The door slammed shut behind her as she walked over to her desk and plopped herself into the chair.

Twilight rested there for a minute or two before noticing something on her desk.

“What’s this?” Twilight questioned, picking up a blank piece of paper. Twilight flipped the paper over to the other side.

And what else did the piece of paper read but one certain special thing-

Run!

Chapter 4 - When Dominoes Topple

Twilight looked behind her. They were gaining on her.

I need to run faster, she thought to herself.

Twilight sped up as she turned her head forward again. In doing so, she saw it.

A wide, deep ravine just outside Ponyville. It stretched for miles. Twilight expanded her wings- "Wait... Where are my wings? Oh no! My wings must have disappeared when I was casting that spell!

"I’ll never make it without them!” Twilight cried aloud. “But I have to try…”

Twilight ran as fast as she could. She ducked her head down and ran as fast as she could towards the huge crack. Twilight bent her back legs as she pushed herself into the air with all of her strength-

Hold up, hold up. I think you deserve to know how it came to this...

Run!

Twilight gasped as she saw what was on the other side of the paper. She recognized the hoofwriting as Applejack’s. She looked around to see if her friend was anywhere in the library, but, from what Twilight saw, she was the only one in the building.

Twilight suddenly heard a noise. It was the same noise she had heard the night before.

She glanced over to the source of the noise. Unlike yesterday, somepony was there.

“Who are you?” Twilight asked.

The stallion in the black robe never responded.

“Hello? Who are yo- AHH!” Twilight shrieked as the stallion leaped at her.

Twilight began running. She opened the door with her horn, placing a large pile of books in front of it before shutting the door behind her.

“That should stall him for a little while…” Twilight said.

The stallion teleported through the door.

“Oh,” Twilight corrected herself.

Twilight ran fast as the wind away from the stallion, knowing he was trying to do something to her.

“What do you want from me?!” Twilight questioned loudly.

“Revenge!” the stallion yelled.

Twilight felt like she should recognize the voice of the stallion, but she couldn’t quite put her hoof on it.

Domino got out of bed, his eyes still wet with tears from the night before. He hadn’t slept well. He could taste his breath, and it tasted horrible. He trotted over to his window sill and picked up a case of breath mints. He opened the case and selected one, popping it into his mouth.

He then looked up to see what was outside. The sun was shining, the building across the street was still there, and the occasional pony walked by on the sidewalk. Everything was in order. Except…

Sitting outside his house, studying, was a lavender unicorn. “Twilight Sparkle,” Domino grumbled in anger, “that little… of course, she’s studying right outside my window, just trying to rub it in my face…”

Domino grabbed a small Starswirl the Bearded toy from his room, opened his window, and chucked it at the pony.

“Ow!” the purple filly yelped in pain, putting her hoof up to where he’d hit her. “Who threw that?”

Twilight turned around to where Domino was at his window. Domino quickly ducked to keep his position hidden from the unicorn.

“Hello?” Twilight asked, getting up from her spot. “Is anypony there?” Twilight approached the window.

“I think it came from this direction…” Twilight mumbled to herself. Twilight brought her face to the window, noticing that it was open. Domino stayed as close to the floor as possible as he tried to hide from Twilight to prevent himself from being discovered by her. Twilight leaned in through the window. “Hello? Is anypony there? Hellooo?” Twilight called for her attacker.

Twilight waited for a response. There was no response. “Hmm… I could've sworn it came from over here…”

Twilight began to trot away from the window to search for her attacker, when Domino suddenly shouted to Twilight.

“I’ll get my revenge!”

Twilight turned around again, and Domino ducked again. Twilight continued glancing in his direction for several more minutes. It was as if she knew it was him.

Twilight finally turned back around and started walking away again. After she was about 10 meters away, she hovered her things over to her and placed them gently in her saddle pack.

Domino got up from his position and looked out the window after her. Several minutes later, he spoke gently. “Maybe she isn’t so bad after all… Maybe I should go after her and say I’m… No. I promised myself I would never forgive her, and those weren’t just empty words. I will get my revenge.”

Yet, somewhere in his heart, he knew he’d regret his decision. Somewhere in there, he knew he was wrong. He knew he should go after her.

Somewhere, deep down inside, he knew he was throwing away the chance of his lifetime. He knew he would likely waste the rest of his life trying to get his revenge on Twilight Sparkle, each attempt ending further from revenge than the last.

He then remembered what he’d said the previous night.

“I just wanted to show them how good I am at magic… I just wanted to show them how clever I am. I just wanted to show the world my planning skills, my knowledge of the physics of the universe. I just wanted… I just wanted…”

“I just… I just wanted to feel... loved…” he completed his statement, a tear falling from his eye.

As he bowed his head down and walked away from the window, he knew that he had just given up his final chance to get what he wanted.

That chance, he knew, was Twilight Sparkle, the filly who had ruined his dreams.

Chapter 5 - Running from the Inevitable

“What do you want from me?!” Twilight questioned loudly.

“Revenge!” the stallion yelled.

Twilight felt like she should recognize the voice of the stallion, but she couldn’t quite put her hoof on it.

“For what? What did I do to you?” Twilight demanded.

“You kept me from my life dreams! You took the test for that magic school right before me, and you did so well, you set the standards way too high for me! How did you do that? You’d completely sucked at magic in magic kindergarten! How did you get so good so quickly?”

Memories suddenly rushed back to Twilight from that day.

She had been studying, when something suddenly hit her…

“You’re the one you threw that toy at me!” Twilight yelled back.

“Yes,” the stallion in the robe responded you, “and that was only the start of my endless attempts to get my revenge on you. Each ended further from revenge than the last, but now, I’ve finally done it! I’ve finally developed the perfect plan to get my revenge on you. Oh, false ones!” Domino called the fakes.

Domino had known exactly where he would call them and had the false ones prepared there for when he called them.

And, yes, all five of Twilight’s ‘friends’ popped out from behind the bushes of the area.

Twilight saw them and gasped loudly.

“Som-n’ wrong, Twah?” the fake AJ questioned.

“Yeah, Twilight! Am I not as awesome as always?” mocked the fake RD.

“Do you mind, Twilight?” Flutter-lie rudely asked.

Twilight’s legs began to weaken, and the lack of motivation from her ‘friends’ wasn’t helping.

Twilight looked behind her. They were gaining on her.

I need to run faster, she thought to herself.

Twilight sped up as she turned her head forward again. In doing so, she saw it.

A wide, deep ravine just outside Ponyville. It stretched for miles. Twilight expanded her wings- “Wait… Where are my wings? Oh no! My wings must have disappeared when I was casting that spell!

“I’ll never make it without them!” Twilight cried aloud. “But I have to try…”

Twilight ran as fast as she could. She ducked her head down and ran towards the huge crack. Twilight bent her back legs as she pushed herself into the air with all of her strength-

“Y’all are an idiot!” the fake AJ exclaimed. “Y’all’ll never make it!”

Must… not… let it… get to me… Must… have faith… in self…

Twilight forced herself to believe she would make it.

“All you’re doing is running from the inevitable, Twilight Sparkle!” the black-robed stallion shouted. “I, Domino Maxwell Mint, will get my revenge on you! I will!”

Domino Mint! That’s who he is! I never thought he would become evil! He always seemed so… well, nice!

And suddenly, as if by instinct, Twilight cheered back to Domino.

“I know I’m running for a purpose, and that purpose is my friends!” Twilight yelled back, reaching her hooves out in front of her. Catching herself on the ledge, Twilight leaned onto her backside and flipped over. She was now safely on the other side of the ravine, running away from Domino Maxwell Mint, the black-robed stallion.

As she ran, she felt the earth below her hooves shake wildly, as it would during an earthquake. Quickly looking behind her, she saw the edge of the ravine closest to her collapse into the ravine, most likely crush anypony who was unlucky enough to have been down there for whatever reason.

Twilight’s eyes widened as she turned around and began to run faster.

“I just… I just wanted to feel… loved…” he completed his statement, a tear falling from his eye.

He knew that he just gave up his final chance to get what he wanted.

Domino sat there for several minutes, thinking about what he’d done. He then continued to levitate the toy back from outside where he’d thrown it to himself, then shutting the window and leaving it.

He walked to the front of his home. He was somehow still the first of his family to awaken. He quickly levitated a piece of paper and a pen over to where he was and wrote a note to his family, telling them he was going out.

He then placed the note on his bedroom door and walked out of the house.

Domino proceeded to run along the path he’d seen Twilight take, unsure why he was doing this.

Why? Do I want revenge? Do I want to apologize? What do I really want?

He then thought back to the devastation he’d felt the day before after returning home.

Domino smiled wickedly.

“Revenge!” he shouted, drawing attention from everypony around him, but he didn’t seem to notice. In fact, he wouldn’t have cared even if he had noticed. He was too focused on sweet, sweet revenge.

Chapter 6 - Taking the Wrong Approach

Domino lay in bed, tired from chasing after Twilight Sparkle all day for whatever reason he had been chasing her for.

That question still tortured Domino, lurking in the back of his mind, unanswered. He had answered it, but he knew that wasn’t truly why. He knew exactly why he was chasing Twilight, but he knew what would happen if he admitted it…

He would never forgive himself if he let that happen. He would never have gotten his revenge on Twilight Sparkle, the filly who ruined his dreams. He never would fulfill that promise. He had promised, and a promise is a promise. You can’t break it. That’s what held him back from admitting how he truly felt about Twilight Sparkle. That’s what kept him from accepting the fact that he…

“No,” Domino Mint whispered to himself. “I do not love Twilight Sparkle. I hate Twilight Sparkle. I want my revenge on Twilight Sparkle. I do not love her.”

And with that, Domino’s eyes grew heavy and closed, bringing Domino to the mercy of his mind.

Domino opened his eyes. He was in a dark room. A very dark room. Pitch black, in fact. Domino only saw one thing- a door.

The door was very far away, but he could see the light seeping through underneath it. Domino felt the urge to run to the door, to escape this room. So he did. Domino ran towards the door, but there was something wrong.

The closer he got to the door, the further he was from it. He ran towards the door. The door moved twice as far away from him.

Domino stopped for a moment. He thought.

When I approach the door, it gets further away… Then maybe, if I go away from the door…

“Maybe…” Domino mumbled to himself.

Domino tried it. He took a step away from the door. As far as he could tell, it didn’t move. He walked away from the door for around five seconds. He turned around. The door had definitely moved at least a little bit.

Domino noticed it, so he turned around and broke into a full-on gallop. The door rushed toward him and Domino knew it. When the door reached him, he bucked it open, only to see something… special on the other side.

“Twi- Twi-” Domino gasped. “Twilight Sparkle…”

“Yes, Domino,” Twilight giggled. “Last time I checked.”

“But… why are you…?”

“I’m here to warn you of something,” said the purple alicorn.

“But… why are you…?”

“I’m from the future, and I need to warn you of something,” the purple alicorn repeated, slightly annoyed.

“But… why are you… an alicorn?” Domino finally finished his question.

“Oh, that…” Twilight laughed. “You’ll find out sooner or later.

“I need to tell you something. Think about the approach you’re taking. Take the door for example. You tried approaching it, but all that happened to the distance between you and the door was increase. Now apply that to your own life. Should you really take the approach you’re taking? Or should you try a different approach? An approach of truthfulness, love, and kindness. An approach of care, passion, and loyalty. An approach of friendship. Think about your actions, Domino, and whether you’re taking the right approach. You never know when turning around can bring two ponies closer.”

“But…” Domino tried to complain, but he was too late. Twilight Sparkle had already disappeared.

Domino suddenly awoke from his dream, panting. He looked at his clock. It had barely been five minutes.

Domino sighed and lay back down, wishing he could figure out why he wasn’t sure how he felt about Twilight Sparkle. How he truly felt about Twilight Sparkle.

And with that, Domino fell asleep once more.

Chapter 7 - Buying the Lie for More Than it's Worth

The friends of Twilight Sparkle were all conversing in Ponyville Square, waiting for their friend to show up.

“Where the hay is Twilight? She was supposed to be here, like, forever ago!” Rainbow Dash moaned.

“Actually, she was s’posed to be here a couple ah minutes ago, Raynbow,” AJ corrected.

“Oh… right… that’s what I meant…” Rainbow replied, slightly embarrassed.

“Right…” Rarity retorted sarcastically.

“Twilight sent me a letter earlier…” Fluttershy interjected.

“What did it say, Flutters?” questioned Rainbow.

“She said that she would probably be late because of some royal duties she had…”

“Well, at least she told one of us ahead of time!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

There was a cough, and the five mares looked to the source of the sound to find that their friend had made it.

“Hey, Twilight! I see you finally made it!” Rainbow Dash greeted her friend. “Y’know, if you want, I could show you how to fly super awesomely fast and you could make it here in ten seconds flat!”

“That’s okay, Rainbow, I’m fine,” Twilight denied the offer. “I have something to show you guys.” Twilight rubbed her hooves together, an evil smile creeping across her face.

“Ah’m a little bit worried about what’s happening,” Applejack whispered to Rainbow Dash. “She seyms… a bit different.”

“Oh, just relax, AJ! Everything’s fine! You’re just being paranoid!” Rainbow Dash whispered back.

“If you don’t mind, could you, maybe, tell us what it is?” Fluttershy asked.

“Sorry, but it’s a surprise. Now follow me.”

“If y’all don’t miynd, ah need to go do som’n real quick,” Applejack interjected quickly, running off. “Ah’ll be back in a minute!”

“Here we are!” Twilight said, pointing a hoof to a small hole.

Applejack caught up with the five mares.

“Ah finally caught up with y’all!” she exclaimed, panting.

“What are we doing here, exactly?” Rarity questioned.

“Oh, you’ll see, don’t worry,” Twilight answered.

Suddenly, Twilight’s magical aura surrounded the five mares, hovering them above the hole.

“Twilight! What do you think you’re doing?!” Rarity demanded.

“How foolish of you… Did you actually think I’m your friend? Hah! I’m not Twilight!” the fake laughed.

“Whajja do with her?!” Rainbow demanded.

“Oh, you’ll find out soon enough,” she assured them. “Right now, you’re getting out of the way!” And with that, the false Twilight dropped the five mares into the hole. The hole sealed itself behind them.

Rainbow Dash awoke to find herself strapped down to a table with some sort of helmet on her head.

“Is Twilight trying to give me a brain scan or something?” she questioned quietly to herself.

She looked around the room she was in to find all of her friends, also strapped up with helmets on their heads as well. Well, except for Twilight.

“Not quite,” came an answer. The voice sounded female. It sounded soft and smooth, but mysterious, somewhat like Mist.

“Who are you?” Rainbow demanded.

“Me? Oh, Master Mint says you’re not worthy to call me or Master Mint by name,” the black-robed unicorn replied.

“Master Mint?”

“He’s my master,” the mare continued.

“Misty, are they here ye- Well, would you look at what we have here!” a black-robed stallion smiled devilishly as he suddenly walked in the room. “Misty, would you be a dear and fetch me a drink? I’m thirsty!”

“Yes, Master Mint!” Misty agreed to get the stallion a drink. She rushed off to do just that.

Rarity and Applejack woke up, shortly followed by Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.

“Oh, good, you four are awake!” cheered the stallion gleefully.

“Where are we?” the four mares questioned tiredly.

“Oh, that doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I think I’ve finally perfected my machine! All I need to do is test it, and why not test it on you five so that I can get my revenge on Twilight Sparkle!”

“So that’s what this is about!”

“Yes, that’s exactly what this is about, Rainbow Dash! And now, it’s time to test it!” answered the stallion with the sound of devilish enjoyment in his voice.

And with that, he flipped the lever. A bright flash of light took over everypony’s vision for several seconds.

Searing pain tore through Rainbow Dash’s body. She screamed in agony as she felt as if her stomach was being ripped out of her body. She felt her central body only to find that everything was still in order. She felt as though her heart was being wrenched out of her through her chest, as well as all love she had ever felt coming to and from her. She felt all of the happiness she had ever experienced ripped from her soul, leaving her.

As the light disappeared, Domino’s face lit up with joy.

The real ones were hauled away to the storage room in their cages. The door shut behind them.

There was a dim light. The walls of the room were a dark grey-blue color. On the opposite side of the room, there was a small stack of empty cages.

The only filled cages contained the girls. Rainbow Dash’s cage was on top of Rarity’s and Fluttershy’s. Rarity’s cage was on top of Applejack’s and Fluttershy’s was above Pinkie Pie’s. Applejack’s and Rarity’s were on the right, whilst Fluttershy’s and Pinkie Pie’s were on the left and Rainbow Dash’s was in the middle. Each cage was filled up to about 3 inches with hay.

“Guys, was it just me, or did that hurt like crap?!” Rainbow asked her friends.

“No… why do you ask?” Rarity questioned.

“Well, that hurt a lot for me…”

“Oh my! Are you okay? Oh, I hope you’re okay…” Fluttershy worried.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just that…” Rainbow drifted off.

“What is it?” Rarity asked.

“Nothing,” Rainbow kept her thoughts back from her lips. “I’m fine.”

Rainbow knew that the exact opposite was true. She hurt horribly on the inside, both emotionally and physically, but she didn’t want to worry her friends. She cared about her friends, and the last thing she wanted to do was to make her friends have to care about her. She knew her friends cared about her already, but she didn’t want for them to need to care. So she didn’t tell them.

What a big mistake she made.

Chapter 8 - One False Feather

Step 1: Trap the current Twilight Sparkle and have Misty take over her and capture her friends. Domino read his plan to himself silently. He levitated his quill to his paper. Check.

Step 2: Put the current Twilight Sparkle back into her cage and put Misty back into her own body. Check.

Step 3: Amputate the current Twilight Sparkle’s wings. Check.

Step 4: Create evil clones of Twilight Sparkle’s friends that work for me and replace her friends with them. Check.

Step 5: Plant the bead in current Twilight Sparkle’s brain. Check.

Step 6: Summon Twilight Sparkle’s future self to our time. Check.

Step 7: Chase future Twilight Sparkle to the ravine with the clones, causing her to fall into the trap due to her lack of wings. Check.

Step 8: Lay out false clues to trap future Twilight Sparkle in case she makes it over the ravine. Check.

Step 9: Once future Twilight Sparkle has been trapped and has gone unconscious, strap her up to the machine and take control over her body.

Step 10: Reattach Twilight Sparkle’s wings to her body so I can use them to my advantage.

Step 11: Use Twilight Sparkle’s body to get into Princesses Celestia and Luna’s castle.

Step 12: Kill Princesses Celestia and Luna.

Step 13: Before the news spreads, teleport to Princess Cadence’s castle and kill her.

Step 14: Once Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadence are dead, kill the current Twilight Sparkle and her friends and force future Twilight Sparkle to watch. Then, watch her writhe in pain as she disappears due to the death of her past self.

Step 15: Once all of the princesses are dead, declare myself ruler of the world.

Domino set the paper he’d written his plan on down on his desk. “This plan will never fail!” he declared.

What should I do now? Twilight wondered to herself, still running. I guess I should just look for clues as to where my friends are.

Twilight looked around her. If there was anywhere to start, simply looking around was the place. “What’s this?” she said, noticing a light blue feather on the ground. “I don’t know of anypony other than Rainbow who’s a pegasus with light blue feathers…” Twilight thought for a moment, making sure she wasn’t forgetting about anypony.

“Yeah, this feather’s definitely Rainbow’s.” Twilight confirmed.

Twilight marked the direction the feather was pointing by drawing a parallel line in the dirt. She then picked up the feather, taking note of the direction she held it. She then dropped it, paying close attention to the way it fell. She did this a few more times to get enough data to determine the direction the feather was pointing.

“The angle of a pegasus’ body to their average feather while holding it up is approximately 55°. That tells me, based off of where and in what direction the feather landed that she was going…” Twilight summoned her protractor to her. She then proceeded to measure the angle. “…this way!”

Twilight ran off in the direction she had determined through measurement, positive that she would find her friends somewhere in that direction.

As she ran, she thought about what might have happened to her friends.

Maybe they were brutally murdered… No, he wouldn’t do that. He obviously wants to trap me…Twilight gasped. What if that feather was just a setup? No, I doubt somepony would go that far just to trap me…

As she thought, a hole suddenly appeared in front of her.

Not paying attention, Twilight ran right into the hole.

“What the-!” Twilight yelped as she realized she was falling.

The hole closed behind her, as if the world itself was swallowing Twilight

Twilight blacked out, now trapped not only falling in a hole, but also in her own mind.

Looks like this positivity… JUST TURNED IN A NEGATIVE DIRECTION!

There was a huge mistake made. Well, honestly, there are plenty of huge mistakes made all the time. Take Idahorse, for example. In Idahorse, one school district near Coltse completely screwed up in keeping track of their money over the past few years, only noticing that they had done so just before the beginning of the 2012-13 school year.

This mistake was even worse than that.

Rainbow Dash had experienced plenty of pain on the day the mistake was made. In fact, the pain she experienced was because of the mistake.

Rainbow Dash resisted. She resisted to being cloned, and because of that, her clone was only half-baked. It was programmed incorrectly. It didn’t follow the code. It crashed the Matrix. She didn’t work for Domino Mint as she was supposed to. She just did whatever was the wrong thing. She was evil.

It didn’t matter if Domino Mint was to have a change of heart. Rainbow Dash’s false counterpart kept at whatever evil deeds Domino had her doing before.

The severe torture Rainbow went through was just the universe trying to tell Rainbow Dash to stop resisting and just let it happen, or else what did happen would happen. Unfortunately, Rainbow didn’t seem to get the memo.

Drip.

Twilight awoke to find her hooves and tail strapped down to a table. The next thing she became aware of was the water constantly dripping on her forehead.

Drip.

Twilight ignored it, though she still worried about it, knowing what it would feel like sooner or later…

Twilight looked around to see where she was. It’s too dark in here. I wish I could see…Oh, right. Twilight realized she could use her horn to give off light so she could see.

Drip.

Twilight concentrated all of her energy on her horn, only to find that the connection between her horn and her mind had somehow been severed.

Drip.

How is this possible? The severing spell has been lost for ages! Surely nopony actually found it! Twilight pondered the thought for a moment. Unless…

Twilight was interrupted by a sudden headache.

“Aggh!” Twilight yelled from the sudden pain.

Drip.

Twilight knew that the pain was on the inside of her head, not the outside, so it couldn’t have been the water dripping on her forehead, which had just stopped, although she still heard it.

Twilight then realized that there was something new attached to her. The sudden pain had been caused by the incorrect installation of a helmet with a bunch of wires all over it.

“Whoops. Sorry about that!” a voice said. As the voice spoke, a light blue aura surrounded the helmet, removing it and re-installing it correctly.

“Who are you?” Twilight demanded as soon as she heard the voice.

“I’m the one who’s taking over Equestria, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Now, be a dear and go to sleep.” The stallion’s aura surrounded Twilight’s head.

Everything went black.

Twilight’s wings were important to her. Sure, they weren’t quite as important as her horn was, as her horn was, for the most part, who she was.

Still, her wings aided Twilight greatly and quite often. Flying was very fun for Twilight, especially on her first time, and it could be used to great advantages.

Once, she had used her wings to save Shining Armor from falling to his death.

Because of this, Twilight often relied on her wings when she couldn’t on her horn. Unfortunately, she couldn’t when she jumped a certain ravine, for they were gone…

After using the current Twilight’s body to trap her friends, Domino amputated her wings in hopes of causing her to fall into the ravine so they could trap her there. This caused the future Twilight’s wings to disappear without her noticing.

The severed wings were stored in a special place for Domino, a place where nopony else would ever think to look.

The wings were stored in the past.

Author's Note

I'm still looking for cover art, if anyone's an artist... For more info, see 'So Here's His Picture, Remake Him Maybe?'

Chapter 9 - On the Basis of the Bead

“Misty, is she still unconscious?” Domino asked, walking into the room with a small bead floating in front of him.

“Yes, Master Mint. Twilight Sparkle is still unconscious and ready for the procedure.”

“Perfect.” Domino trotted over to Twilight Sparkle and looked over her.

“I’ll need to get into her brain so I can plant this inside of it.”

“What does that do?”

Domino remained silent for a moment, thinking about how to put it.

“It gives me full control right now over Twilight Sparkle’s horn at any given time.”

“What?”

“It lets me control Twilight Sparkle’s magic at any given point in time from right now.” Domino sighed, aggravated at having to explain it twice.

“Ah, okay,” Misty responded.

“Misty, please give me the scalpel so I can cut through the skin.”

“Sure thing,” Misty retorted, her aura surrounding the scalpel and moving it over to her master.

“Thank you,” Domino replied, taking the scalpel in his aura and beginning to cut through the skin on Twilight’s head.

“Misty, hoof me that case of mints over there,” requested Domino, pointing at a case of mints on the desk.

“Sure thing, boss.” Misty’s aura surrounded the box, carrying it to Domino. Domino quickly plucked a mint out of the box and tossed it in his mouth. As he returned to making the incision, Misty placed the box of mints back on the desk.

“Towel.”

“Towel,” Misty replied, her aura carrying the towel.

Domino then took the towel and mopped up the small amount of blood that came from the incision.

“This is gonna take a while…” Domino mumbled.

“Now, the finishing touch. Misty, give me that bead I showed you earlier.”

“Sure thing, boss,” she agreed, giving her master the bead.

“If I place this bead in the right spot, I should be able to take control of her horn at any moment in time from whenever I want, as well as take over her completely if a large enough electric current flows through both of our minds…”

Domino carefully placed the bead in the center of Twilight’s brain. After several minutes of slowly and steadily adjusting the bead, he finally used his magic to shut the incision he had made earlier.

“Perfect…” Domino smiled devilishly and focused on the bead, choosing a time in the distant future to control her horn.

As soon as the connection through time stabilized, Domino focused the entirety of his magical energy on portraying his magic through Twilight’s horn in the distant future, summoning her through time.

Domino focused on using a certain spell he was almost positive she had already used, but he knew that, since it was another pony performing the spell through somepony else, even if the pony they used to perform the spell had already performed it, it was the magic of a pony who hadn’t used the spell.

But still, the connection seemed to fight him back. Future Twilight unknowingly took control of Domino Mint.

The thoughts of Twilight Sparkle took control over Domino Mint, not allowing him to think at all. The control over Domino stopped, and he fell to the ground.

“Master Mint! Are you alright?”

“Yes, Misty, I’m perfectly fine. I just need to try again. I should probably try when she’s sleeping to do it, that way she won’t be aware anything is happening.”

He once more focused his energy, this time on a time Twilight Sparkle was asleep. He concentrated on using Twilight’s mind to portray his goals. He used Twilight Sparkle.

He used Twilight’s horn.

The spell cast her.

Every time his hooves made contact with the ground he ran upon, a loud clop was heard.

The filly he was chasing after saw him and was now running at her top speed, adrenaline rushing through her, worried about what the colt might do to her.

Twilight Sparkle saw a corner. She prepared herself to lunge to the left and run that way unexpectedly, hopefully losing whoever was chasing her.

As she ran, she turned back to look at the colt. She didn’t quite get a chance to recognize him, but she saw that he was gaining on her. At the sight, Twilight accelerated.

Twilight approached the corner. Twilight aimed her legs to the right and, when the timing was right, extended them as quickly and extremely as she could, shoving herself to the left around the corner.

Domino had no time to react, since he was right behind her. He kept running forward and eventually came to a halt, now needing to find the filly again to chase her down.

Domino awoke two mornings after the test. He groggily climbed out of bed and tumbled over onto the floor.

After a few minutes of simply lying there on the floor, he got up and walked over to the window. He noticed that his breath tasted bad, just like the previous morning. He picked up the box of mints on the window sill, picked one mint out of the box, and shoved the mint into his mouth.

Outside, he once more saw Twilight studying. Domino smiled to himself without realizing it. When he noticed, he immediately stopped.

“You know what? I need to stop letting my emotions get the best of me.”

He then searched his bookshelf for the spell he was looking for.

“Here it is!” Domino exclaimed, pulling the book off of the shelf. He flipped to the page of the spell and read the page aloud. “’This spell forces you not to fall in love with somepony else. If one who had used this spell fell in love with the one he had forbidden himself to fall in love with using this spell, the spell would kill the user for breaking his promise. There is no known way to break the spell, so only use it if you know you absolutely don’t want to fall in love with somepony.’ Yeah, this is the spell I want. Well, here goes…”

Nervously, Domino focused his magical energy on his horn and read the spell. His horn lit up with a bright blue, casting the spell on Domino. He pictured Twilight Sparkle in his mind. There was a bright flash of light.

When the light faded, Domino found himself on the floor. “Why do my parents let me have spell books with spells that punish the user with death…?” he wondered aloud as he got to his hooves.

“Oh well. The deed is done.”

Author's Note

It took me a little while to come up with the name for this chapter, as I couldn't decide which segment was the main segment, but I finally decided that the first two segments were what this chapter was mainly about and named it what I did.

Remember, if you have any questions about the storyline, let me know so I can answer it in a future chapter. I might already have it on my list, but you never know.

Chapter 10 - The Equine Encounter

Scanning the area around him, Domino eventually concluded that he had lost track of the filly in his mad dash. He decided to walk around and search for Twilight, hoping to find her, only to be disappointed after a few minutes.

Domino walked over to the nearest building, which was coincidentally his house, and sat down. He sat there, disappointed in his failure to catch Twilight Sparkle, and thought about what he had gone through in his life so far. He thought about all of his failures and successes and asked himself what they could possibly all lead up to.

He could faintly remember some of his baby years. He remembered that when he first spoke, he spoke the word, “Dominoes?” He also remembered his first bath and how happy he had been to be in the water, splashing around.

“They were simpler times…” Domino mumbled quietly to himself.

Domino looked up at the sky. The sun had almost set. He had sat there for almost the entire day. He noticed that his breath tasted absolutely awful.

“I need to start keeping that box of mints with me,” he said aloud.

His parents had come outside earlier to check on him and found him sitting outside his window. They asked him if he wanted to come inside and have something to eat, but he had simply denied it, and his parents simply shrugged it off and walked back inside.

Suddenly, many loud clops of hooves echoed around the area. Domino looked up just in time to see a stressed Twilight Sparkle running by. Domino Mint propelled his body forward as he got up, resulting in his face making contact with the ground.

A loud yelp of pain could be heard throughout the area.

Domino pushed the front half of his body up to find Twilight standing in front of him with a smile on her face, reaching her forehooves out to help him up.

“Are you okay? You look like you hit your face pretty hard there.” Twilight waited a few seconds for a response before putting her hooves back down, frowning. “Well?”

Domino snapped out of his dazed state to realize that she had asked him a question. “Sorry… I, uhm… I zoned out,” he informed her, blushing.

Twilight giggled. “That’s okay. Let me help you up.” She reached out her forehooves once more, this time Domino taking them. Twilight and Domino worked together to get Domino on his hooves once more, doing so with little effort.

“What happened anyways?” Twilight asked. Domino simply looked at her with a look of deep thought on his face, making it clear to Twilight that she wasn’t getting an answer.

After standing there for nearly three minutes, each deep in thought, not realizing how important those three minutes were to each other, Twilight came to a realization.

“Hey! You’re that colt who was chasing me earlier! Why were you chasing me, anyways?”

“I…” Domino stopped. He didn’t believe that he actually wanted revenge on her, nor did he believe that he actually loved her. He remained silent for some time.

“Well?” Twilight questioned, a frown on her face.

“I don’t know,” Domino answered finally. “I… I just feel like… like… I need to.”

Twilight’s eyes enlarged slightly, curious about how this colt felt about her. Suddenly, her pupils dilated in realization that this colt was likely about to start chasing her again.

Twilight broke into a sprint away from Domino, Domino quickly beginning to run after her. The two ran through the city for nearly an hour before Domino finally lost her. Instead of trying once more to find her, Domino decided to call it a day and headed home. As he walked, he thought about what he truly felt for Twilight. He asked himself whether he loved her or wanted revenge on her, only to be disappointed by the answer that he didn’t know.

Author's Note

I actually did start writing the next segment, initially intending for it to be in this chapter, but I decided that, even though this would be the second shortest chapter yet after three of the longest, this chapter was of acceptable length and that next chapter was likely going to be of similar length to the first, seventh, eighth, and ninth chapters.

Also, I think I might like the cover art to be Twilight holding her hooves out to help Domino up instead of Domino throwing the toy at Twilight, but I'm not sure.

If you have any questions about the story, leave a comment about it. I might already have it listed, but you can never be too safe.

Chapter 11 - Under Control

Twilight opened her eyes to find herself strapped to a machine. She tried to open her mouth to question where she was, but found herself incapable of doing so.

Don’t even bother, Twilight Sparkle. I have control, now.

Twilight jumped- rather, she would have, if she was capable. She recognized the voice, but it sounded as though it wasn’t there. It seemed as though it was just in her mind. However, it seemed like it was forced into her mind by another, not thought up by her own.

Who are you? Twilight thought to herself, or so she thought.

Don’t you recognize me? It seems like, after all we’ve seen each other recently, you would recognize my voice, responded the voice.

Twilight knew exactly who the voice was, and she knew the voice was aware that she did, but she didn’t want to say it.

I feel like I should, but I just don’t, she finally responded.

I see…

“It worked, Misty,” Twilight told the servant.

Misty nodded to Twilight, unstrapped her from the machine, and exited the room. Twilight got up off of the machine and took the helmet off.

What? No! I didn’t do any of that! Twilight thought.

No, of course not, the voice said. I did.

What’s that supposed to mean?

Didn’t I just tell you? I have control, now.

What?

The voice sighed. I have complete and utter control over your mind now, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

If you have so-called 'complete and utter control' over my mind, how am I thinking?

The voice sighed once more. You’re able to think because I’m allowing you to.

Oh yeah? Prove it!

The voice sighed for a third time. You asked for it, so don't say I didn't warn you.

Twilight’s vision went completely dark. She could not think at all, and this didn’t worry her.

See? Oh, silly me, you can’t see. I turned off your vision!

Twilight had no response to this and didn’t even think of one because she couldn’t.

All at once, her vision returned, her thoughts rushed back to her, and her emotions came back.

Okay! I believe you now! Just promise you won’t do that again! Twilight pleaded.

Why? It’s not like you can do anything to me if I do!

At least do it for me! The thought that you might do that again scares me!

Yeah, well, that’s what you get for doing what you did all of that time ago…

Look, I'm sor-

Twilight was cut off as her thoughts (but not her emotions or senses) were disabled, and the voice didn’t say anything else to Twilight. Twilight’s body trotted forward a few feet. Her horn glowed and brought to her Twilight’s saddle pack, which had been placed neatly next to a box of mints on a wooden desk.

“Well, I ought to go back and get those wings now, rather than later. There’s no point in waiting…”

“Brilliant! The wings are severed, and they're still completely intact!”

Domino’s face bore a look of pride as he levitated the wings of Twilight Sparkle onto a large sheet of paper. He placed the wings down next to each other, the feathers of each facing away from the other, and wrapped the paper around the wings until its contents were undefinable to anypony who didn’t already know what they were and the paper didn’t unwrap on its own. His magical aura then surrounded the wrapped wings and carried them to Domino’s saddle pack.

“Master Domino, how long will you be gone?” Misty asked her master.

“Well, I plan on returning maybe a few minutes or so after I leave, so I won’t be gone too long,” the master explained to his servant. “Now, go relax in the hot tub or something. You’ve done enough for today.”

Misty nodded and trotted off out of the room toward the hot tub.

Domino trotted over to his desk and opened the box of breath mints there. It was empty.

Domino sighed. "Dang it... I need to remember to get more mints. My breath tastes terrible."

Domino shut the box and went over to a group of metal hooks on the wall. On each hook, there was a black robe. He levitated the robe on the far left over himself and put it on. After struggling to find the sleeves for his hooves, he put the hood over his head until it reached his horn and exited the room.

He walked through the twisting hallways of his underground fortress to his library and picked out a special book entitled ‘The Magic of Multi-Dimensional Transportation.’ He then flipped through it and found the spell he was looking for.

“Aha! Here it is!” Domino closed the book and placed it gently in his saddle pack, being careful not to disturb the wings.

Domino focused all of his energy on his horn and performed the spell.

And so, with a blinding flash of light, Domino Mint had returned to that time half of a lifetime ago.

He knew for a fact that Twilight Sparkle couldn’t stand to be an idiot, so he was going to make her feel like one. You may ask how he was going to do this. He planned to leave the wings with a certain lavender unicorn filly so that he could tell that same unicorn half of a lifetime later that she had helped her own enemy and make her feel moronic for doing so.

Author's Note

I was absolutely DREADING writing about Domino storing the wings and how boring it would be, but now that I have myself an interesting path to travel, I'm actually pretty excited to write Chapter 12, so expect Chapter 12 to come out in a shorter amount of time than Chapter 10.

Also, don't expect the name of this chapter to remain the same. I'm likely going to change it several times before I'm completely and utterly (see what I did there?) satisfied with the name. See? About a minute in, and I've ALREADY changed the name from "Completely and Utterly" to "Under My Control."

Chapter 12 - A Small Request

With a bright flash of light, a black-robed appeared in front of a young Twilight Sparkle. She was studying by his old house as she had been doing for the past few days due to a bet with her older brother, Shining Armor.

Twilight looked up from her book at the black-robed stallion, a mix of fear and curiosity showing in her face. “Who are you?” she asked.

“That’s not important. I have a reque-”

It was at this moment that Twilight spotted the book in his saddle pack. “Hey! What’s this book about?” Twilight eagerly got up and rushed up onto the stallion’s back, pulling the book out of his saddle pack to look at the title.

“’The Magic of Multi-Dimensional Transportation.’ Ooh, that sounds cool! Can I have it? Can I? Can I? Can I?” she begged as she hopped off of his back and onto the ground in front of him, holding the book up to her chest.

“Hold on, there. That has nothing to do with what I was going to say,” Domino declared, seizing the book from her hooves with his magic and placing it gently back into his saddle pack, all the while ignoring Twilight’s huge, pleading eyes.

“Look, I have a request for you. You see this?” Domino asked, pulling the wrapped wings out of his saddle pack.

“What is that?” Twilight questioned, confused at the sight in front of her.

“That’s not important either. I need you to hold onto this for me, okay?”

“What’s in it for me?” asked Twilight, cocking an eyebrow at him.

“If you do it, I’ll give you 10 bits,” offered Domino.

“50 bits,” demanded the filly, crossing her forehooves, a look of demand on her face.

“How about I give you 25 bits and the book?” Domino offered, holding up the book that Twilight had wanted so badly.

“It’s a deal!” Twilight exclaimed, a smile spreading across her face, eager to read the new book. She took the book, completely leaving the bits, and sat down to read it.

“Now, hold on,” Domino said, taking the book back. “You have to promise to me that you won’t let anypony- and I mean anypony- else see these and that you won’t look at what they are. It’s very personal.”

“I promise! Now let me have the book!” Twilight agreed, jumping up and down, reaching for the book, which Domino was levitating just out of her reach. Domino sighed and lowered the book within her reach, and Twilight immediately sat down with it and began to read it, completely ignoring what she was reading before. Domino giggled a bit at the sight. When he realized that he was, he stopped giggling and put a charm on the wings so that only Domino and Twilight could see them, backing that up with another charm so only Domino could unwrap them. He then levitated 25 bits and the wings into Twilight’s saddle pack and shut the bags tightly.

Faithful in his work, Domino focused once more on his horn and took himself back to his present time. As he vanished, Twilight looked up from her newly acquired book to thank him, only to find that he was gone.

Domino opened his eyes to find himself back in the library. Domino reached into his saddle pack to get the book he had taken with him and put it back on the shelf, but he stopped when he remembered that he had given it to the filly Twilight Sparkle to prevent the haggling from dragging on and on.

He shrugged and exited the library, heading back to his scheming and inventing room. Once he reached the room, he took off his robe with struggle and hung it back up on the rack. He then took off his saddle pack and placed it on his desk for future use.

He headed to the hot tub room, where he found the walls covered in quickly disappearing bubbles. In the middle of the room, standing in front of the tub, was an embarrassed Misty, with her forehooves behind her back.

“Oh my sweet Celestia… Misty! What the hay happened here?!” Domino yelled out at his servant, his rage prevalent on his face.

“Um… Well, you see…” Misty sighed, looking down at the ground. She then looked back up at her boss. “It’s a long story.”

Author's Note

I told you it would be here faster than Chapter 10. Although, I admit, I could've squeezed another scene in there without it going on much longer than any of the other chapters, but whatever.
I only have 15 more scenes on my list as of now (although that will no doubt grow as I write those scenes, leading to more scenes), but I think it's safe to say that this story will have, at most, 30 or so chapters and at least 18.
There was absolutely no calculation behind that estimate. I actually have no idea how much longer this is going to run. I really don't.

Chapter 13 - Capture Capers

“Well, I ought to go back and get those wings now, rather than later. There’s no point in waiting…” Domino said aloud in Twilight’s voice.

He trotted over to the hooks on the wall and levitated the cloak off of the middle one and put it on. He then walked over to his desk and floated a small muzzle-shaped object up to his mouth and, using Twilight’s horn, stuck it there.

“Test, test. Okay, good, the voice modulator is working. That filly will recognize my voice and give me the wings.”

Domino purposefully called filly Twilight ‘that filly’ so as to not tell Twilight that she had helped her enemy yet. He wanted Twilight to see it for herself.

Once Domino was ready, he focused his magical energy on Twilight’s horn and recited the time-travel spell in his mind. With a bright flash of white light, they were gone.

Domino Mint opened Twilight’s eyes to find himself outside of his old house at the time he had specified to the filly the day before. Sitting there, reading her book was the young Twilight, a juice box on the ground next to her. As she saw what she assumed was the black-robed stallion, she looked up from her book, pulling her saddlebag out from behind her.

As the future Twilight saw her young self, she felt shocked. Domino allowed her thoughts once more, because he wanted to hear her horror.

What? Twilight thought, much to Domino’s surprise.

Y-you’re not mad at yourself? Domino questioned.

N-no, not really… just… confused.

Rolling Twilight’s eyes, slightly annoyed, Domino disabled Twilight’s thoughts again and returned to what he was doing.

“Hello, again!” filly Twilight welcomed Domino back.

“Um… hi. Can I have my things back now?”

“Sure. I have them right in here,” she answered, pulling the wings out of her bag with her magic. “Here you go!”

“Thanks...” Domino replied, taking the wings in his aura.

“Just out of curiosity, what are those? I tried to take a peek at them in my room last night, but something was preventing me from it.”

“Uh... I think it’s best for the both of us if you don’t know.”

She looked down in disappointment, her ears drooping. “Fine…” she groaned.

“Well, I ought to get going now,” Domino ended the conversation, preparing to perform the spell to take him back to his base.

“Wait!” filly Twilight cried.

Domino paused for a moment and looked back at her. “Yes?”

“What’s your name?”

Domino stopped moving for a moment and pondered the question.

If I tell her my full name, she’ll likely recognize me as the boy from school. But perhaps…

Domino closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath in. As he opened his eyes, he replied. “My name is Maxwell. Now then, I’ve really got to get going…”

“Wait! One last thing.”

Domino rolled his eyes, sighing. “Yes?”

“Thanks for the book.” Filly Twilight smiled up at Domino, her eyes seemingly peering into his frozen heart and pulling it out of cold, cruel darkness.

Once he got over how heartwarming the sight truly was, he opened up his mouth and replied, “You’re welcome.”

He turned around and focused his energy on Twilight’s horn, preparing to perform the spell. He looked back at filly Twilight one last time to see her pick up her juice box and take a drink. Slowly, he turned his head forward one last time and pulled himself forward in time once more.

Twilight lay in her bed, sleeping peacefully after a rough few days. After somepony tried to steal the Element of Magic and replace it was a fake one, Twilight noticed and chased her down until she seemingly jumped into a mirror of some sort. After telling Princess Celestia, she was sent into the mirror with no one else (although Spike went in after her at the last second) and ended up in a world full of bipedal figures. In that world, she had to retrieve her Element and get back to Equestria in only three days. Needless to say, she was tired.

As Twilight rested, Domino and Misty crept through the corridors of the Canterlot castle. To pull this off, they would need to be extremely quiet.

As Domino began to see one of the royal guards turning a nearby corner, he signaled Misty, telling her to hide. Nodding slightly, she quickly crouched down to under the nearest curtain and pulled it over herself as best she could by using her hooves. As a reward for their effort, the guard passed them without taking notice.

Once Domino knew for sure the guard was gone, he got out from his hiding place and signaled for Misty to do the same. “Phew,” Domino sighed. “That was a close one.”

After nearly an hour of sneaking around the halls of the Canterlot castle, Domino and Misty succeeded in finding Twilight’s bedroom without being seen by any of the guards. Domino signaled to Misty, and Misty nodded. Quickly and quietly, she pulled a fake Element of Magic out of her saddlebag with her magic, dropping it into Domino’s magic aura, ready for use.

Sneaking up to Twilight’s bedside table, he gentle pushed the fake Element against the real Element, switching their spots. Then, as swiftly as he could, he replaced the fake Element with the real Element, making sure to make enough noise to wake Twilight.

As she opened her eyes, she thought she knew exactly who it was. “Is that Sunset again? How did she even get back to Equestria? I thought the portal closed!” Quickly, she pulled the bed covers off of her and began running after Domino, trying to see who it was. Due to his normal black robe, she didn’t know who it was. All she knew was that, this time, it was two black-robed ponies.

She chased the two ponies down the halls of the castle for nearly twenty minutes until, finally, when Twilight got close enough to Domino, he pulled a long metal bar out of his saddlebag and smacked her across the face with it, successfully knocking her out.

“Finally!” Domino exclaimed softly. “Misty! Help me take her back to the base!”

Author's Note

Yep.
In five days at the cabin, that place where I usually write about three chapters in about two days, I wrote about half of this chapter. No joke. This is all I got done up there, and it took me several MORE days to actually put it up.
To be fair, however, as opposed to the usually three or four people that were at the cabin with me this time, there were seven, and there were a lot of activities planned, like river rafting (coincidentally, I actually ended up rafting against the current at one point, and I quickly realized it and was like "Oh my God...") and seeing The Lone Ranger at the local theater (it was pretty good. I liked it.), not to mention the fact that my cousin and I spent most of our time there bonding... over Super Smash Bros. Brawl (which we beat from the beginning while up there)... so I hardly had any time to write.
Anyways, that's enough ranting. I hope you enjoy the chapter.

So Here's His Picture, Remake Him, Maybe?

And so here's the first picture of Domino Maxwell Mint I made. This was created before the idea of this fanfic existed, but he evolved into what he is now through lots of thought and lots of time.

Remake him if you want, I personally don't care. In fact, someone please remake him, because I'm too lazy to redesign him for the cover art.

Speaking of which, any cover art you'd like to send in would be appreciated. I'd like the cover art to be a picture either of Twilight and Domino by the window like in the flashback from Chapter 4 or of Twilight reaching her forehooves out to help Domino up like in Chapter 10. Thank you!