Rafting Against the Current

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.