Say It Ain't So

Alone. Twilight felt alone. There was an emptiness in her heart that she felt could never be filled, and that was all it took to leave her absolutely, hopelessly… alone.

”Please! Show mercy, Princess! I repent! I repent!! You can’t do this to me!”

“Did my brother beg similarly, Sombra? Did you show him mercy in his final moments?” Twilight spat the words, dark magic leaking from the corners of her eyes as she stared down at her prey and he scrambled upon the ground to get away from her. “You deserve this, Sombra. You deserve to have your pitiful existence removed from this earth.”

“No! Please! I’ll do anything!” Sombra begged. Absolute terror could be seen reflected in his eyes as he stared into the face of the alicorn that had twice bested him.

Twilight glowered at the fallen stallion. Her cheeks were blackened from the tears staining her cheeks… her jaw clenching in white hot rage.. “You’ve done enough already, Sombra. You’ll never harm another soul as long as you live.”

Sombra blinked in confusion. He was struck dumb for several seconds, but sense returned to him along with a flood of hope. “R-really?” he inquired.

Twilight grimaced in return. She could not believe his audacity. Sombra had no right to feel hope in his heart after all he had done, not at a moment like this, . “Yes, Really,” she growled. “I am a mare of my word, and you will never hurt anypony ever again.” Her horn glowed white-hot with magic, and she let loose a lance of energy, her aura intent on striking a killing blow.

The beam hit Sombra in the chest like a cannon, burning through to his core as the earth cracked around him. He coughed painfully, and his vision began to blur and darken. The last thing he saw was Twilight’s face, his own blood splattered all across it.

Twilight woke with a start and shot up to a sitting position. The rough, gray wool blanket landed about her frame. Her breaths came in quick, terrified pants, and her shaky hoof raised slowly to wipe away the cold sweat forming beads on her forehead. As it brushed across, it clinked against the inhibitor ring locked tightly around her horn. Its soft hum was a constant, cruel reminder that her freedom was a thing of the past.

She flared her unkempt wings and groaned as she flopped back onto her dingy spring cot, yellowed and flattened with age and overuse. The brick ceiling above her was a dull gray, and she watched as dust slowly fell from the cracks. She could hear the gentle clopping from above, and she surmised the stallion occupying the cell above hers was pacing again. For the love of Celestia, she thought, Can’t that guy keep himself occupied without making everyone around him anxious as well?

After a few minutes, Twilight gave up on trying to psychically communicate to the guy above her that he was being annoying, and turned her head to the opposite corner of the room. There on the ground was the moldy, foul-scented mound of hay that served as her lavatory. But her lavatory wasn’t what she was currently concerning herself with; just a meter above—pinned to her wall—was the only decoration she had been permitted: a plain, black-on-white calendar.

“One hundred and sixty five days,” she muttered aloud. “One hundred and sixty five days since he died, and I’m still so lonely.” She stared back up at the ceiling a moment before she closed her eyes again to picture her brother in her head. She found it harder and harder with each passing day to get the face right, and that bothered her a great deal. BBBFF, if only I could see you one more time…

She was particularly upset that she wasn’t allowed visitors. She would do anything to see her friends again, even just one more time. Most of all, she missed Rainbow Dash.

She drifted further away from reality as she looked back on their first couple of dates. It had happened unexpectedly. One minute they were screaming at each other about something petty, and the next minute they were—still screaming at one another—confessing their mutual crush. Just thinking back on the absurdity of the situation made Twilight giggle, but the happiness only lasted a moment as she came to the realization that she’d never see Rainbow Dash ever again. That life was over. She would be spending the rest of her days in a dirty cell, alone.

A snide voice brought Twilight crashing back to reality, and any thoughts of her friends—her brother—were gone. “Am I interrupting your beauty sleep, Princess?”

For the first time since she’d woken up, Twilight turned her attention, and a glare that could give Fluttershy’s stare a run for it’s money, toward the iron bars of her cell. Standing there was her psychiatrist, accompanied by two heavily armored royal guards. “Don’t patronize me, you psycho.”

The doctor chuckled—it sounded more goading than sincere—as one of the guards unlocked the door to her cell. It swung open, and the significantly smaller stallion pushed past him to sneer at Twilight from within her cell. Originally, he’d not been accompanied by guards, but the two had accrued an extensive history of physical altercations. They were there for Twilight’s safety just as much as they were there to protect the doctor and prevent escape.

“Me? A psycho? Such harsh words from an insane murderer,” the doctor jeered. Though it had never been proven, he was a corrupt doctor. It was evident the stallion swiped meds from his patients’ daily dosages. A variety of psychedelics and sedatives had left him with a nasty demeanor and a fairly disturbing body… he was all skin and bones. Twilight had won every time he’d lashed out at her, and it surprised her he could even walk on his own. His messy mane had gone white prematurely, and his dark brown fur was peppered with gray, though Twilight had seen how much of his fur was falling out in clumps underneath the dingy white lab coat he wore.

Twilight seemed to take offense to that statement in general and shot up out of bed to stare down her doctor. “You know as well as I do that’s bull, Hip-bone!”

The doctor’s eye twitched in irritation. “For the last time, girl, it’s Hypnotic Tune, Hypno for short! Hyp. No.” Twilight had given him the nickname to poke fun of his gaunt features; she enjoyed how much he hated it. Time spent in her cell and away from her friends had given her quite the rebellious streak.

“Whatever, Hip-bone,” Twilight responded, completely ignoring Hypno. “You know as well as I do that I’m not crazy!”

“Of course you are! You had a mental breakdown when your brother lost his life, before you brutally murdered his killer. You’re bat-shit crazy, and that’s okay, because I’m here to help you.” Hypno grinned and puffed out his chest like some sort of scruffy skeleton with a god complex.

Twilight raised a brow with all the sass she could muster. “Oh yeah? If you’re here to help me, then why don’t I ever get my meds at dinner like I should?” One of the guards raised a brow and the other grunted a bit. Their stares began to bore holes in the back of Hypno’s head.

The doctor laughed nervously. “Heh heh heh, such a kidder. Obviously, you’d have gone on some sort of psychotic rampage by now without your sedatives.” That was enough to put the guards at ease for the time being, and Twilight rolled her eyes.

Those meat heads are useless without Shining Armor, she thought.

“Y’know, admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery, Princess. You’ll be in here forever with that attitude,” Hypno needled.

“The only problem I have is that you keep coming in here to bother me, and teasing me about the loss of my brother is doing nothing to help the situation along. Unless you have some form of literature for me to read, get out of my face, Hip-bone.” Twilight turned around with intent to climb back onto her cot.

“B-but, I-”

Hypno’s words sent Twilight reeling back around to face him. “No buts! I didn’t even plead insanity in court! I was guilty as sin, but Celestia refused to accept that I was capable of such a thing. There was no possible way I could be sane, right?” Twilight scoffed. “Oh no!” she mocked, “The poor mare went hysterical after the loss of her brother.”

“I know what I did was right, the law be damned! If killing that monster makes me a monster… then I’ll be that monster to protect those I love.”

“Well, I heard the rumors about you two, but I hoped that the aggression was more one-sided.” Celestia trotted around the corner. It was unclear just how long she’d been listening in. “I’m disappointed in your behavior, Twilight Sparkle.”

Hypno bowed, and the guards stood at attention as the princess waltzed into the tiny prison cell, but Twilight just stared her down the whole way.

“Yeah, well you’ve never been a good judge of character, have you?” Twilight hissed. Celestia was the last pony she’d wanted to see, but she had some choice words in stock for her former mentor.

Celestia frowned, though her eyes seemed more inquisitive than sad. “I only want what’s best for you, Twilight.”

“Oh please,” Twilight responded with a roll of her eyes. “If you really cared about what was best for me, I wouldn’t be trapped here like some rat in a cage, someplace due east of nowhere!” she spat. “This is about hiding your failings from the public! Why not just petrify me, put me on display in the Canterlot Gardens like all your other failures!?”

Celestia’s frown became a grimace. She’d never expected she would ever receive such harsh words from her former student. “I had to do something, Twilight. You killed somepony!”

Twilight’s anger began to manifest as a physical magic, and the inhibitor ring on her horn crackled with the strain of containing the magic of an alicorn. Twilight growled through clenched teeth. The hairs of her mane began to defy gravity as magic leaked from her body. Her hooves left black singe marks on the hard stone as she stomped up to Celestia, her eyes glowing a bright orange as she stared the taller mare down. “You dirty liar! You could have done nothing! After all, it’s what you did when it came to Sombra!”

“And I am no lunatic, killing for my own pleasure! He deserved it!” she spat.

“Vengeance is not justice, he should have been put on trial, Twili—”

“He had a trial!” Twilight interrupted. “You put him on trial and gave him a damn slap on the fetlock, so I took matters into my own hooves!”

Twilight could see through Celestia’s well practiced mask, small twitches revealed to her the older alicorn was clenching her teeth, trying to retain her composure. The pressure in the cell became heavy, stifling. This was the power of alicorn magic, even if one of them was stifled. Hypno slinked away in fear under the false pretense of tending to other patients, but the guards stood their ground, their stoicism unwavering. “That was my ruling as a princess of Equestria, Twilight Sparkle! Who are you to go over my head!?”

“And how many more deaths would have to be on his hooves, before you did something? How many more families would have to lose sons… brothers… husbands… fathers?” Despite her best efforts, Twilight was beginning to cry, and her voice elevated to a screech that made even the guards cringe with sympathy. “I did what you failed to do, and I am being punished! He was a terrible, vile creature, and I put an end to his evil so nopony would ever have to feel like I do ever again. It’s what you should have done in the first place!”

“You can’t take the law into your own hooves , Twilight!” Celestia screamed. “That’s not how justice works!” The building rumbled and shook with the thunderous anger of two powerful alicorns, and now even the guards were beginning to feel faint.

“That’s the most hypocritical thing you’ve ever said to me! Before I came along, you took care of all your problems with force, and you didn’t even bat an eyelash! You made a country disappear trying to take down Sombra! You sent your own sister to the moon! Every single mistake you ever made blew up in your face, so you had me do the dirty work and fix it all. That’s all fine and dandy, but then I get persecuted for doing the same once? One time!?”

Celestia ground her teeth together and bit back her anger. “Is that really how you feel, Twilight?” she asked, quiet and cold. With a nod from her former student, the princess turned and strode out of the cell, her guards following suit after locking the door once more. As she walked around the corner, Celestia added, “Then there’s nothing I can do for you.”

“Because you’re a coward, Celestia! You’re too scared, too proud to admit I’m right!”

Twilight slumped to the floor in the middle of her cell and hung her head. Heavy tear drops hit the dusty bricks. Alone. The emptiness in her heart only grew with each passing hour, with each encounter she was forced into. Celestia would never understand. Twilight had become a pariah among even the criminals she shared a prison with. They feared her power, despite her inhibitor ring, and kept their distance. Twilight wiped away her tears and sniffled. No, she thought. No matter the means, what I did was just. I’ll stand my ground here and forever!

She climbed onto her cot and rested her head atop her hooves. Ever so slowly, the emotional fatigue took over and she fell to sleep. For the most part, Twilight had avoided sleeping when unnecessary, because she’d been plagued with nightmares, but she actually began to have a pleasant nap for once. Unfortunately, it was all too soon interrupted as a guard came by and slid a tray underneath her bars, a bowl and spoon atop it. The thing was filled with a dark black green slop that Twilight had long since given up on identifying.

“Soup’s on!” The guard called out loudly. He didn’t even slow down as he passed. Twilight groaned and looked over to squint at the slop. She quickly decided she was nowhere near desperate enough to eat it yet, and so she resigned to saving it for later.

Twilight occupied the next couple of hours laying on her cot, doing what she’d made a bit of a game out of over the time she’d been incarcerated. She kept her eyes closed and listened carefully to the near inaudible sounds of the other prisoners. She listened to every hoofstep, every sigh, every scratch and whisper, and she determined from that exactly what each of them was doing, and where they were within their cells, assuming the other cells were like her own. She assumed some had to be at least a little different. There were cells not connected to an outside wall, and Twilight had a window.

Her ears perked up. She had a window! Twilight felt like slapping herself across the muzzle. All this time she had a window, and she’d never once thought of looking outside. At times, it seemed her intellect made her far denser than any dumb pony could ever be. It was a phenomenon Twilight had come to know as “eggheadedness,” though it was Rainbow Dash that had coined the phrase. Twilight sighed heavily. If there was anything at all she missed, it was her friends. She could only hope they missed her as well. For the most part, she had no idea what any of their opinions were on her actions.

Celestia knew it wouldn’t be much of a punishment for Twilight if she could have visitors or books, and so she’d banned her from both. For once, being so close to the princess had turned out to be more of a hindrance than anything else. She could have guessed as much. She remembered hearing rumor of Prince Blueblood getting locked up for a month for sexual harassment and public intoxication. For the first two weeks, he wasn’t allowed to brush his hair, and the general public was allowed to walk up to his cell during visiting hours like it was some sort of zoo exhibit. It seemed Celestia was particularly hard on those she knew well, and she had all the ammo in the world to make things worse for that pony specifically.

She realized that Celestia had done the same to her sister. Luna, feeling ostracized and unloved by her subjects and sister, was sent to the moon to be alone for one-thousand years and her legend became an iconic symbol of fear and hatred so that her sentence didn’t even quite end when she finally arrived home. Celestia could be extremely cruel. Twilight was realizing that more and more with each passing day. This was a side to Equestria not many had to see. Twilight decided then that when and if she got out, she’d do all she could to revolutionize Equestria’s prison systems.

For the time being, however, she resigned herself to simply checking out her window. She stood up on her cot and stretched, groaning in the sort of pleasure one can only feel when stretching after a good nap. The window was high, and so Twilight had to stand up on her hind legs to get her head up high enough to see through. The wave of fresh air that wafted toward her was refreshing, but she only got to enjoy the sight of Luna’s moon and stars for a few brief seconds before a grungy pegasus filled her field of vision with a goofy smile planted on her face.

Twilight was so surprised she nearly lost her balance and fell backwards onto the stone. “Hey there!” the pegasus greeted in an all too familiar, raspy voice.

“R-Rainbow Dash!?” Twilight asked incredulously.

“Ssshh,” Rainbow shushed, “Do you want to alert the entire royal guard?”

“What are you doing here?” Twilight asked, a lot quieter than she’d been a moment ago.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Isn’t that kinda’ obvious, Egghead? I came to see my marefriend. Give me a sec’, kay?” Rainbow Dash reached a hoof into her saddlebags and pulled out one of two scrolls that were protruding from the side, too large to fit all the way. The papyrus look weathered, much like the pegasus unrolling it in her hooves.

Rainbow brought the scroll up to her face and squinted as if she’d never read before. After a moment she began to mutter something in Latin, the universal language of magic, that she could just barely pronounce, and she did the most amusing thing Twilight had seen in a long while. She flew straight into the wall dividing them. “Ow! Dammit! I said it wrong. Hold on.”

Twilight giggled and waited patiently as Rainbow Dash read the incantation once more, audibly this time around. “Aether corporis, firmus animum,” Rainbow Dash chanted. This time her body shimmered with a soft violet light, and she tentatively touched a hoof to the wall, testing the waters more cautiously the second time around.

Her hoof passed through easily, and the rest of her body glided in after it. “Incantationis finitoque,” she muttered, and the light surrounding her body extinguished just before she touched her hooves gently to the ground with all the grace of a cat slinking toward her prey at night. She gave her wings a little shake before tucking them into her sides. With a toothy grin, she turned to face Twilight once more. “Ta-da!” she bragged.

To say the least, Twilight was surprised. “What did- How- When- What?” she planted down on the stone floor and stared slack-jawed at Rainbow Dash as she tucked the scroll back into her saddlebags.

“I convinced Luna to help me out, and she loaned me these awesome scrolls. They got spells that any species can cast. She tried to explain how they work, but I kinda’ tuned her out after that. Anyway, they helped me sneak in here to see you. Isn’t that awesome!?” Rainbow Dash explained.

“How did you manage that?” Twilight raised a brow, still absolutely confused by the situation. If she hadn’t just seen it with her own two eyes, she never would have believed such a thing possible.

“Well, Luna doesn’t agree with your sentence at all. None of us do. Any of us would’ve done the same, and Celestia’s just being stupid, y’know? So everyone’s been backing Luna as she testifies for you in cou-” Rainbow Dash cut herself off with a soft gasp as Twilight rushed at her and wrapped her hooves around her marefriend.

Twilight pressed her face firmly into the dirty fur of Rainbow Dash’s neck, and she couldn’t stop herself from cracking up. Rainbow Dash held Twilight tight as she shook with silent sobs, not minding at all that her fur was getting soaked with tears. She rubbed a hoof gently up and down Twilight’s back and soothingly whispered in her ear, “Shhh, it’s okay. Let it all out…”

After what seemed to be an eternity and altogether too short a length of time all in one, Twilight loosened her grip and leaned back far enough to give Rainbow Dash a gentle peck on the lips.

“Dash, why do you look so… unkempt?” She asked, finally noticing her marefriend’s muddy, matted fur.

Rainbow Dash raised a brow. “Hey, you’re not looking so hot either, bookworm.” Rainbow Dash grinned and pulled out the other scroll she was carrying in her saddlebags. “Yeah, Luna told me I’d need this one too. I didn’t understand right away, but it didn’t take long to figure it out.”

Twilight raised a brow, but before she could inquire further about the nature of the spell, Rainbow Dash had the scroll open and was reading the incantation inscribed on it. “Repecere corporis!”

With a hum, a white spiral of light slowly flowed around each of the mares, and their hooves were lifted off the ground by the force of the magic. As the magic lifted them higher and higher, Twilight could feel as it cleansed her form. Her wings, which she had long since forsaken, began to preen themselves, each and every feather shifting back into place. The grease and dust coating her mane and fur expunged itself from her form, and she couldn’t help but let out a little sigh of relief.

Ever so slowly, the magic carried them back to the ground, and Twilight turned to see Rainbow Dash grinning back at her, beautiful as ever. “Feel better, Twi?” the incredibly thoughtful pegasus asked.

Twilight nodded with a cute little smile that made Rainbow Dash grin even wider. “Grateful as I am for that, it still doesn’t exactly explain why you were so dirty.”

Rainbow chuckled nervously and scratched the back of her head with a hoof. “Yeah, about that… You see, when Luna gave me these spells, she gave me some rules to follow, and she told me she’d haunt my dreams for the rest of my life if I didn’t follow ‘em.”

Twilight’s brow raised almost on its own. “What sort of restrictions did she set that left you dirtier than I was?”

The pegasus still refused to make eye contact. “W-well, the first one was that I couldn’t use the ethereal spell on you and help you escape. She told me if you escaped it would cause all our hard work to disappear, and you’d be on the lam for good.”

Twilight nodded sadly. “As much as I’d love to get out of here and see the rest of our friends, I suppose that’s a sound decision. What else?”

“Well, I couldn’t just come see you whenever, she said. Made me Pinkie promise to this one. I had to wait ‘til you looked out your window. She told me that was to be sure you missed me too, then I could see you,” Rainbow Dash explained. She seemed upset about that particular rule and just how long she had to adhere to it. Twilight wrapped her hooves around her in another loving embrace.

“Oh Dash, of course I missed you. Every second of every day!” Twilight admitted.

Rainbow Dash just stepped away, out of Twilight’s range. “Yeah, well… it took awhile for you to look out the window, didn’t it?” She asked, sounding hurt now that her initial excitement had passed.

That made Twilight blush a bit, and she too looked toward the floor. Her hoof made little circles in the dust. “W-well… You see, it wasn’t that I didn’t miss you, or my other friends, or the fresh air… I just… forgot I had a window…”

Rainbow Dash looked up at Twilight again, cocking her head in confusion. She wasn’t sure she’d just heard what she thought she had. “I’m sorry, but can you repeat that?”

“I...,” Twilight’s blush grew darker, and she looked up at Rainbow Dash out of the top corner of her eyes. “I forgot I had a window… for half a year...”

Rainbow blinked. She blinked once more, silence thickening between them until it was finally cut by Rainbow’s raucous laughter. “Oh my gosh! No way!” Rainbow Dash teased, rolling on the floor in laughter. “You’re such an egghead! I was camping out there for two months!”

“Shh! Dash, be quieter,” Twilight pleaded, still blushing violently. There was a large bang at the end of the hall as a door slammed open.

“Oh crap!” Rainbow exclaimed and shot underneath Twilight’s cot. Thinking fast, Twilight stretched out alongside her cot on the floor so she blocked it from view.

As the massive night warden approached Twilight’s cell, he growled in annoyance. “What’s all the ruckus about?” he asked.

“Oh you know,” Twilight responded awkwardly, “Just talking to myself.

“I thought I heard laughter,” the guard further inquired.

Twilight just shrugged. “What can I say? I’m cuckoo as a coconut.”

The guard rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well be crazy quieter. The other inmates are sleeping, and my soap’s on,” he said, and he walked away with a grunt. Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but snort that such a huge guy watched soap operas in his freetime.

Twilight stepped away from the dingy little cot, and Rainbow Dash squeezed out from under it. “This place is so lame,” she complained.

“You have no idea. You’ve got to be quieter than that, okay?”

Rainbow nodded. “You got it. Look, this’ll be over soon. I promise.”

Twilight frowned and hung her head. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Dash.”

Rainbow raised Twilight’s chin with a hoof. She looked into Twilight’s eyes lovingly. “No, I’m serious, Twi. We’re so close to setting you free. Luna came by and told me last week. None of us believe you’re crazy, Twi. You’ll be home in no time.”

Twilight smiled at her marefriend’s words and nodded a little. “Thanks. Tell everypony I love them and give them all great big hugs from me, kay?”

Rainbow grinned and nodded, then got a mischievous glint in her eye. “When I get you home, I’m gonna’ do you so good, you won’t be able to get out of bed for a week.”

Twilight playfully pushed Rainbow’s shoulder away. “Oh my Celestia, Dash. Way to break the tension.”

Rainbow just winked in reply, but her gaze averted to the window. The moon was fairly low on the horizon, and Celestia would be raising her sun in just a few more hours. “I guess I should be going now, huh?” she asked sadly.

Twilight frowned as well, tears just barely kept under control. “D-do you have to? Can you stay a little longer and cuddle? Just until I fall asleep?”

The frown on Rainbow Dash’s face was replaced by her signature grin once more. “That sounds awesome, Twi.”

Further words were unnecessary as the couple climbed onto the cot and curled up next to each other. Once nestled in, Twilight sighed contentedly and mumbled, “I love you, Dash.”

Rainbow Dash smiled and whispered back, “I love you too, Egghead. Of all the days to remember you have a window... Happy Hearts and Hooves Day, Twi.” Twilight didn’t respond, just enjoying the sensation of her marefriend pressed against her. Their fur intertwined, and their breathing synced together after a time. Her heart fluttered with every little brush of Rainbow’s tail. For the first time since her brother passed, she didn’t feel alone anymore.

Author's Note:

Happy Hearts and Hooves Day/ Valentine's Day everyone!

This is the two year anniversary of my first featured story, Be Mine, as well as the two year anniversary of the day I met a wonderful woman named Ava, whom I hope will be my "special somepony" this year.

I hope to make this story a testament to my exponential improvement as an author over the past two years, and I have all of you fantastic people to thank for that.