DS

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// Story: Dash's Secret
// Author: Blue Thunder
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// Chapter: The secret
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	Rainbow Dash had a secret. It had been eating at her for the past five months now. Ever since that train ride home from the Crystal Empire. You see, she wanted to tell everypony what the secret is but she was afraid she might lose Twilights’ love and the others friendship. She has been keeping this secret for so long, ever since she was a filly in Flight school. This secret was so important to her the only ponies that knew, were her parents. And soon you, but not just yet.

	Rainbow Dash walked up to Twilights house and started to knock before she remembered it was HER house now too. She sighed and walked in. Twilight was reading her books at her desk, as usual, and Spike was busy re-shelving all the books that had been returned to the library today. "Hey Twilight, how’s the studying going." Twilight looked up long enough to give her a kiss before she went back to reading. "Oh, you know, same stuff different day. How was the weather today?" Rainbow smiled as Twilight continued to read while talking. "We had a rogue thundercloud strike town hall but this time Derpy was the one who stopped it, not the one who released it. Other than that, it was just a matter of clearing the skies." Twilight nodded and continued reading. Rainbow frowns. "I’m going out for a walk, I’ll be back later." Twilight just nods saying "See you later." Dash walked out the door before Twilight realizes what she said. She looked over at Spike. "Did she just say she’s going for a ‘walk’?" Spike nodded with a confused look "Yep, a walk."

	Rainbow Dash walked through town, ignoring all the other ponies around her. 'Who am I supposed to talk to? I'm the element of loyalty, so I’m the only one of my friends I can trust not to tell anypony else. Well, besides Pinkie but I don't think I want to confide that in her.' Dash sighed, realizing Pinkie was the only one she could trust to keep her secret, so she headed towards Sugarcube Corner. When she arrived she found Pinkie in the back making some cupcakes. "Hey Pinkie, do you have a minute?" Pinkie smiled at Dash and put the last tray of cupcakes in the oven. "Sure Dashie, OOOO you have to try my cupcakes when their done baking. They have a secret ingredient that you'll never guess." Dash looks at all the ingredients scattered around the kitchen. "Maybe later Pinkie. I want to talk to you about something, but you have to Pinkie promise not to tell anypony else." Pinkie turned towards the wall suddenly, “Don't think I've forgotten about you. YOU have to Pinkie promise not to post spoilers in your comments.” Dash looked at Pinkie for a moment before dismissing it as Pinkie Pie. "OK Pinkie. I'm about to show you something that might scare you, you just have to remember that no matter what you see, I’m still the same Rainbow Dash you first met in Ponyville all those years ago." Pinkie nodded and Dash took a breath to calm her nerves, readying herself for what she was about to do. There was a flash of green light and Pinkie nearly screamed. Her eyes went wide for a few moments and her hair instantly deflated. She took a nervous gulp and remembered what Rainbow Dash said. She slowly calmed down enough to walk over and examine the pony standing in front of her. "Wha... what happened to you?" Dash took a breath and said three words Pinkie would never forget. "Pinkie, I'm a changeling.”

	Pinkie gasped. "You’re a changeling? If you’re a changeling, where’s the real Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie was starting to look worried and scared, so Dash quickly explained. "I am the real Rainbow Dash. I've always been a changeling, well part changeling. You see, my father was a Pegasus while my mother was a changeling. I am only half changeling. I have all the powers of a normal changeling, but I don't feed off the emotions of other ponies. Instead I get nourishment from food, just like everypony else." Pinkie's hair started to re-inflate and she started to walk around Rainbows unfamiliar changeling body. "But why did you tell me all of this?" Dash changed back into her 'normal' self. "Ever since me and Twilight fell in love on that train back from the Crystal Empire, I've been dying to tell her. But I can’t bring myself to do it. What if she tells the Princess and I get treated like every other changeling and get banished? What if she shuns me? What if she doesn't love me anymore?" At that last statement Dash broke down and started crying. Pinkie grabbed her in a hug and Dash buried her face into Pinkies shoulder.

	 Dash finally regained control of her emotions again. "Thanks for understanding Pinkie. I’m sorry for keeping this a secret for so long, but would any of you have accepted me as a friend when we first met if you knew?" Pinkie looked like she’s about to start crying. She hung her head in shame. "No, we would have been too scared to go near you, like we were with Zecora. We never would have given you a chance." Dash hugged Pinkie to cheer her up. "I understand. If our places were reversed, I would have done the same thing. Ever since my mother left me and my father, all I've wanted was to be a normal pony. When I enrolled in flight school, I was prepared with a disguise. I loved flying and rainbows were the most beautiful thing to me back then. It was only natural I made myself blue like the sky with a rainbow mane. After flight school when my father passed on, I decided to move here to be near Fluttershy. Ever since then this form became me and the other form became a shadow." Pinkie nodded in understanding. "What are you going to do about the others?" Dash thought about it. "Nothing for now. I’m going to need a lot of time to think this through." With that she said goodbye to Pinkie and flew to her cloud house to think in private.

	<A/N Now I’m sure you know that for the sake of time and boredom I can’t just let Rainbow Dash take as much time as she wants. What’s going to happen? Find out soon in the next chapter.>

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// Chapter: The Truth
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	Rainbow Dash jumped out of her cloud bed as a huge bang erupted from under her cloud house. "What the hay was that!" She flew out the front door and looked down to see Pinkie firing her party cannon straight at her cloud house. Dash landed next to Pinkie and grabbed her. "What are you doing?"

	Pinkie had a worried look on her face. "I just heard from Twilight. Apparently she put up a spell to detect when a changeling changes form. She says it’s been there since the attack on Canterlot. Dash, SHE KNOWS THERE'S A CHANGELING IN PONYVILLE."

	Dash shoved a hoof in Pinkies mouth. "Quiet pinkie."

	Pinkie pushed Dash's hoof away. "But Dash, she plans on using that reveal spell she used in Canterlot to discover who it is. If she uses it you'll be exposed and no pony will believe you when you try to tell them the truth because you've been hiding this secret so long and you didn't reveal yourself so Twilight had to force you to." The pink pony's face had turned blue and she started gasping for breath. The realization of what Pinkie had said slowly dawning on Rainbow Dash.

	Rainbow Dash thanked Pinkie for telling her about Twilights’ plan and flew off towards the library. As soon as she arrived she bolted inside and found Twilight concentrating, her horn glowing. Fear flooded her body as she tackled Twilight "NO DON'T DO IT YET."

	Twilight jumped up, angry at being tackled. "What’s wrong with you Dash!!"

	Dash ran up and grabbed Twilight in a hug. "Don't use the reveal spell to find the changeling. Please just don't."

	Twilight looked at Dash like she was crazy. "What are you talking about? That was a locating spell to find Spike. I haven’t figured out how to make the reveal spell spread throughout Ponyville yet. That's why I need him."

	A look of relief passed across Dash's face. "Phew. That's a relief."

	Twilight did a double take of sorts. "Wait, why don't you want me to reveal the changeling?"

	Just then Pinkie ran into the room. Pinkie walked up to Twilight. "You can't use it yet because me and Dash think we know who it is, but we want to try to figure out what they want before we get rid of them. Besides, if they've taken the place of somepony here, shouldn't we get them to spill the beans on where their hiding the pony before we chase them out of town. If they had kidnapped a pony to take their place and hidden them where only they know where to look, We could lose them forever."
'Thank Celestia for Pinkies perfect timing.' Dash sighed.

	Twilight thought about this for a moment "Your right Pinkie. We don't want to lose a friend forever just because I was hasty in casting a spell."

	Dash and Pinkie both sighed with relief. Dash walks over and kissed Twilight. "Thank you Twilight. I promise well get to the bottom of this fast."

	"You had better, because if somepony gets hurt I’m casting the spell." Twilight kissed back. "Now go and find the changeling."

	Dash and Pinkie ran out of the library and back to Sugar Cube Corner. When they arrived, Dash managed to pant "Ok, now what."

	Pinkie just shook her head. "You have to tell her Dash. There's no other way.”

	Dash shook her head. "No, I just can’t do that. But I do have a plan. I need you to gather up the other three and bring them back to the library. Don't tell them anything, just that Twilight knows there’s a changeling in Ponyville. I’ll explain when I get there." She turned to leave

	Pinkie grabbed her and spun her around. "Where are you going?"

	Dash gave her a huge hug. "I'm going to pack, just in case. I’ll see you there Pinkie." Dash walked outside and jumped into the air to head back to her cloud home. Once she arrived she packed her gala dress and her few belongings that she left when she moved into the library with Twilight. Just thinking about her marefriend caused Dash to break out in tears again. She stroked a picture of her "I'm going to miss you so much. I hope you will accept me for who I am, otherwise I don't know how I’ll go on living without you."

	A few hours later, Rainbow Dash walked into the library after having packed everything. When she entered she was peppered with questions from the others (excluding Pinkie of course). She holds up one hoof. "Twilight, is the spell ready?" Twilight just nodded. "Ok, I have the answer you seek, but before you hear it, everypony form a line and face Twilight." As soon as they were all facing Twilight Dash continues. "I have discovered the identity of the changeling, however before I tell you I want you to know that they haven't replaced any of our friends. In fact, they are one of our friends. They have been living as a pony since they were a foal. So I want everypony to think about this. If we use this spell we will be removing a great friend from our life forever. Do you really want to do that?"

	Twilight looks just as shocked as everypony else, but she snaps out of it. "I don't want to do it, but I believe it has to be done.

	Dash looks around at everypony nodding their head. "In that case, the changeling is standing in this very room." All heads turn to look down the line, wondering who it could be. All the heads besides Pinkies’ and Dash, who just reached over and hugged each other. They both said "goodbye". When the other four saw this they realized it was either Dash or Pinkie. They all took a step away from the duo as Dash ended the hug. "Ok Twilight, we’re ready."

	Twilight nodded." The spell will take a few moments to take effect after I finish casting it."

	Dash and Pinkie nodded. Twilight's horn lit up and flashed, then went dark. Twilight closed her eyes, as did everypony there except Rainbow Dash and Pinkie. Dash felt a tingling running through her body and looked at her hooves, now covered in green sparks, a bi-product of her changeling magic trying to battle Twilight's. Making one last move as Rainbow Dash, she rushed towards Twilight, who still had her eyes closed, and grabbed her in a hug while kissing her. Twilight opens her eyes just enough to see Dash's eyes turn green, before her whole body changed. "I love you Twilight Sparkle."

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// Chapter: Epilogue
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	Twilight broke off the kiss and hug as the others opened their eyes and gasp. Twilight started to circle around Dash as the others began to back away. Fluttershy looked like she was about to cry. "I always knew there was something weird about you. You would always disappear into the bathroom in a rush. You never talked about your mother AT ALL. You just ignored any questions about your past. I even GUESSED you were a changing once, but I thought you would tell me if you were so I dismissed it."

	Pinkie walked over and comforted Fluttershy while Twilight finished her circle around Dash. "That's not right. You’re not a full blown changeling are you? I've seen you scarf food like candy and changelings hate all food."

	Dash nodded her head. "I'm a half changeling on my mother’s side. She left me and my father when I was a filly. Ever since then my only wish was that I could be a true pony. I couldn't so I gave up on that. When I went to join flight school, I made a disguise for myself. Every once in a while my concentration would slip and I would feel myself start to change back. That's why I went to the bathroom so often those first few days. Eventually I got so used to it I could remain a pony in my sleep. Since then I haven't changed back until this week."

	Twilight looked away. "What else was a lie? Do you actually love me?"

	Dash walked up to Twilight and placed a hoof under her chin. "I do and always will love you Twilight." Dash wiped her tears away before turning towards the rest. "Now that you know, if you want me to leave Ponyville, I will. But I will never forget any of you, my closest friends." After a moment of silence where all gathered just looked at her, she sighed and turned to leave.

	"NO. Don't you dare leave."

	Dash turned to see Twilight crying openly.

	Twilight looked into Dash's green eyes. "Don't you ever leave me, I love you Rainbow Dash." She ran forward and tackled Dash to the floor in a hug. Pinkie ran over and joined the hug as well. Rarity and AJ joined in too, leaving only Fluttershy, still lying on the floor crying.

	Eventually Fluttershy got up and joined the hug, still crying. "I forgive you Dash."

	Rainbow Dash, surrounded by all her friends and her marefriend, changed back into her rainbow maned pony form. And never changed again.





A/N <I hoped you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Keep a look out for some of my other stories. I'm currently working on three others, including a Soarindash ship. A Spitfiredash ship. and a spin off of the Blue Thunder story, this time involving the colt of Blue Thunder.>