Rafting Against the Current

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.