Rafting Against the Current

“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.