//------------------------------// // 12 - Double Rainbow // Story: Little Changes // by tom117z //------------------------------// A different world, huh? Rainbow gave off a quiet snort at the thought, her eyes glued loosely to the distant sunset in the distance. She was resting on a cloud high above Ponyville, curled up into a ball in an effort to quiet down her occasional bouts of shivering. Her tremors were not from the cold, however. No matter how hard she tried, she could not keep her mind from wandering back to her friends and family back home. She couldn’t stop worrying about how confused they must have felt over her sudden disappearance. She couldn’t stop worrying about Twilight suddenly losing the mare that had promised to help her find her life again. Or how Celestia would be on the verge of panic from her sudden disappearance so soon after their struggle with Chrysalis and Sombra. She shuddered again, her wings ruffling quietly at her sides. “Just hang on, guys…” she whispered to herself, her eyes drifting closed. She let out a long, tired sigh. “I’m trying to get home… just hang in there.” Silence fell over her for what felt like an eternity, leaving her with nothing to occupy her mind save for the doubts that already plagued her. A sound reached her ears. Faint and distant, but rapidly growing closer. Perturbed by the disturbance, Rainbow cracked open an eye and perked up her ears to listen better. It was a steady, rhythmic sound. It only took her another second to recognize it as the beating of pegasus wings in the air. The owner of those wings then came into view in front of her, rising up in a blur of many colours. Rainbow blinked, her jaw falling wide open in shock. “Woah! Twilight was noooot kidding!” the pegasus remarked with an amused snort. “This. Is. So. AWESOME!” “Uh…” “Ya know, at first I thought this was her idea of a prank. Like, she finally took a page out of my and Pinkie Pie’s book. You know how much the bug brain loves those. Probably. You’re me! But, uh, where was I?” Rainbow’s brain stalled at the sight and sound of a perfect replica of herself, albeit without the hairband and dressed in the uniform of a Wonderbolt reservist, the goggles hanging around her neck like a necklace. ‘Y’know what? I shoulda seen this coming,’ Rainbow thought after a second before listening to what her other self had to say. “Oh, right! Another me!” she then continued enthusiastically. “The Egghead said you went off this way. Something about ‘needing a sympathetic but effective dose of reality- yadda yadda’ boooring. You know. Egghead stuff! I zoned out, thought you might be a changeling or something, but she insisted this was legit and WOW! You’re here! Like, another actual me! Crazy! And, I know, pretty awesome!” Rainbow stared at her counterpart for several long seconds, trying to catch up with everything that had just come flying out of the pegasus’ mouth. After a moment, she clamped her hanging jaw shut. “Y-yeah, uh… awesome,” she echoed quietly, mentally noting how long it had been since she had said that word and actually meant it. “So, you a wonderbolt too? Oh! Looking at that scar there, I bet you’re a captain! You must have seen some real action! What was it? Dragons? Big monster from Tartarus? Bet it was sweet, whatever it was! What am I saying? OF COURSE it was! You’re me! And two of me is, like, at least twenty-five percent cooler.” Rainbow’s expression went from shocked confusion to cold remembrance. “...Wonderbolt? Me? Ha, I wish. But… yeah, I’ve seen action. And trust me… nothing about it was sweet, or cool, or awesome,” she said quietly, allowing some bitterness to creep into her voice before raising her scarred hoof. “...It was terrible. And I never want to go through it again.” That, combined with the unexpected dreariness of her tone, caused the wind the deflate almost entirely out of the Wonderbolt reservist’s sails. “Oh… Bad times, huh? Twilight might have said something about that, probably should have paid attention a bit more. Eh-heh, sorry.” Rainbow shook her head before lowering her chin back to her hooves. “Bad times is an understatement, trust me on that,” she grumbled. “And yeah, you should probably listen to Twilight more often. Much as she tends to drone on and on, she’s smart.” “Yeah, she is. Don’t tell her I said this, but she is kinda cool. Sometimes,” the pegasus admitted, landing on the cloud next to her alternate universe doppelganger and sitting down. “But I learn better by doing. Books are a bit of a no go. Except for Daring Do, Twilight got me into that one time when I was in the hospital with a broken wing. Back then, even when I tried to deny it, she always seemed to know how I was really feeling. Go figure now, huh?” Rainbow frowned. “Right. Changeling…” she mumbled quietly, a small pang of guilt piercing her chest as it fully dawned on her just how horrible she had been treating her up until now. “...That’s not a thing where I’m from.” “Wait, really?” the second Rainbow asked curiously. “Huh. A year back that would seem… almost normal. As normal as she could ever be, being the adorkable nerd she is. But now none of us, me and the girls I mean, could imagine her being anything else. ‘Course it means that she’s barely around anymore… Stupid royalty and hives and stuff…” Rainbow got the tiniest ghost of a smile on her lips, giving the pegasus at her side a sideways look. “Careful. You’re talking to royalty right now,” she said in a lightly teasing voice. The other Rainbow started chuckling to herself, before meeting the deadly serious gaze of her counterpart and having her humour quickly bleed away. “Uh… You serious? Seriously?” Rainbow nodded, slowly hauling herself up to a sitting position. “Yup. Princess Celestia’s adopted daughter,” she replied before looking away, the mirth rapidly fleeing her voice. If she went on with this topic, she’d have to talk about her birth parents, and she was not willing to do that right now. “A-anyways, you’re a Wonderbolt reservist, huh? What’s that like? I mean, I’m probably never gonna get to know, so…” “Never going to know? That was our fillyhood dream!” the reservist protested. “I mean, come on! Remember that rainboom? The look on the faces of those bullies. HAH!” Rainbow screwed her eyes shut. “Yes, I remember the rainboom. It was great, yeah, but…” she looked away, letting out a long sigh. “It went different for me, alright? The rainboom was about when things started going downhill for me.” The other Rainbow’s face fell, starting to shift somewhat uncomfortably. “Right… Well, being a Wonderbolt is pretty neat. Spitfire is a hardass, but eh, that’s just her leadership style. I’m top of the list to enter the main team when one of them retires next. Not sure when that might be, but my bits are on Fleetfloot or Fire Streak. Least that’s what Soarin thinks, and I mean, he always has the best ideas...” “Soarin, huh?” Rainbow asked with a raised eyebrow. “Hmm… Well, I’m happy for you. Make the most of it, yeah?” She got an odd look in turn. “Uh… Huh? Wadda you mean by that? I just mean we hang out a lot. He’s pretty smart, likes pies a bit much, but there you go. Kinda strong, bit like Applejack, she’s also fun to be around, but Soarin is-” “Not what I meant,” Rainbow cut her off, her wings ruffling at her sides. An even odder look. “Um, okay? I don’t really know what you meant. Come on, other me, I’m not the emotion-reading Egghead you’ve gotten to know.” “I meant, I’m happy you’re in the Wonderbolts, even if you’re only a reservist right now,” Rainbow elaborated with a roll of her eyes. “Living our dream. I can’t do it in my position, so I’m asking you to make the most of it for both of us. Make sense now?” The pegasus in question made an ‘o’ shape with her mouth as understanding dawned on her. “Ahhh, gotcha. I can do that. I guess being royalty is kinda a bummer, huh?” “It has its perks,” Rainbow said slowly, leaning back slightly. “I mean, for one thing, I don’t really gotta worry about money at all. Royal coffers and all. Means I don’t have to work for money, though I do volunteer full-time hours at the local Weather Teams.” “The Ponyville Weather Team! I lead it during my shifts. Hey, you have a Derpy over there? She ever get her weather schedules mixed up on accident? You know, general clumsy stuff?” Rainbow nodded, the corner of her mouth twitching up at the memory. “Yeah, once or twice. Nothing major, but kinda funny at the time.” “Yeah, ditto. Still, finally something we have in common. I… was starting to wonder whether you were actually a changeling with my face.” Rainbow’s amused expression twisted into a grim frown. “...I was like you, once. Only a few months ago, really,” she said, her ears drooping as she thought back on the days just before Discord woke up and flipped everything on its head. “...But a lot of bad things happened really fast. And a lot of it was my fault. Or, at the very least, I made things worse by being stupid and reckless.” “Hey, bad things happen. But you shouldn’t let it turn you into, to make Applejack proud in being entirely brutally honest, kind of a miserable-looking pony. No offence, but I can just see it on you. And I don’t just mean the ponytail but, I mean, what the hay are you thinking there?” Rainbow’s frown deepened. “I have a responsibility, you know. Like it or not, I’m a Princess of my Equestria, and I have a duty there. I shunned it for a long time, and then I had to step up and lead when the chips were down. What kind of message would it send to the ponies following me if I looked like a rats nest that came alive?” she asked, glancing briefly back at her counterparts wild and messy mane. “No offence.” “Eh, none taken. But I don’t think Celestia is as good a leader as she is because of her mane stylist. Whatever Rares might rant in the morning,” was the retort. “Don’t think I’ll ever give less than my best for the ponies around me. Especially my friends. But I’m not planning on changing myself in the meantime to reflect what they think I should be. I’m just plain Rainbow ‘Danger’ Dash. And I don’t think my friends would want me to, either.” Rainbow was quiet for a second, reaching up to touch her hoof to the tuft of her mane sticking out of the end of her ponytail. “...Well, for me, it’s a way of reminding myself of my obligations. Making sure I don’t let things get that bad again, you know?” she asked after a moment before letting her mane fall out of her hoof. “It’s not about how it looks. It’s about what it means to me.” “Well, just so long as you’re being loyal to who you actually are, I can dig it,” the other Rainbow conceded. “Hey, you work it. It’s not for me, but for… uh, me? Am I getting that right?” “Let’s not overthink this. We’re two different ponies,” Rainbow pointed out with a small smile. “This chat’s been more than enough to prove that.” “Eh, guess this is why it’s an alternate universe. Changes and divergences and stuff, pretty interesting to read about.” Princess Rainbow Dash gave her alternate a curious glance as said alternate blushed. “...Like I said, I read some of the things Twilight recommended.” There was a silence for a moment, the Wonderbolt reservist being somewhat irritated at being caught out in anything even remotely considered to be an ‘Egghead’ moment. But it passed by quickly, the decidedly younger-feeling Rainbow Dash glancing up at the clear blue sky as she hummed in thought. “Speaking of Twi… Is something up there? She seemed really beat up over something. She gave me a really odd look, like she was… I don’t know, worried? Nervous? It was directed at me, it was kinda weird. Then she shook whatever it was off and started her usual rant. Chrysalis looked kinda bugged about something as well. Ha! Bugged…” Rainbow did not find it amusing. She looked away, her ears drooping. “Er… yeah. When I first woke up in the hive, I… I kinda punched her square in the face the first chance I got,” she admitted, her ears drooping in shame. The uniformed pony frowned. “You what?” Rainbow sighed. “I was scared, alright? I…” she hesitated, biting her lip for a second before turning back to her counterpart. “How much did she tell you about me? About what I’ve been through?” “Like I said, it was a rant that I missed most of. Partly on me, but yeah…” she answered. “I don’t know why you did that, but I’m going to let it slide because as different as we’ve become, I still know myself enough that you must have had a really good reason to flip out. Still, don’t do that. Nopony hurts my friends, especially not me. I’ve already come close enough to making mistakes with her as it is.” Rainbow was quiet for a second before shaking her head. “I got my scar from a changeling. Specifically, my world’s version of Chrysalis. To make a long story short, she damn near killed me, damn near killed my Twilight, and then her favourite drone did kill her. I had to deal with so many stressful situations over only a couple of months, and I only just got home from it all not all that long ago. Then I woke up in a changeling hive with one that looked just like my best friend looking back at me… How else was I supposed to react? I was scared and had no idea what was going on.” “Wow, guess you do have good reasons. I suppose if I were you, and I am I guess, I’d be the same. But… don’t judge Twi because of her fangs. If I… I can’t do that to her. Not like I nearly did before.” Rainbow glanced at her counterpart. “Nearly? You mean you managed not to screw everything up?” she asked before letting out a quiet, humourless laugh. “Better track record than me, I guess.” “It was close enough for my tastes. She… doesn’t actually know this, but for a bit after the wedding I…” the local Rainbow Dash sighed regretfully. “For a moment, I hated her. I thought she’d betrayed us, lied to us. For a second I was so scared that she’d been disloyal to us that I was to her. The others snapped me out of it, I was being stupid. But then… She told you how she got her own scar?” “Yup.” “Well, bet she didn’t tell you that moments before it happened we just left her. Just wandered off like nothing was wrong!” the pegasus stressed. “Then she’s almost dead and I did nothing at all to stop it! I’ve never wanted to physically hurt a pony as much as I did back then. Another reason for me to join the ‘bolts. I failed Twilight then, I won’t the next time any pony or changeling tries to hurt one of my friends.” Rainbow looked at her counterpart for several seconds before giving a slow nod. “Well, here’s to hoping you don’t have to prove that you mean that,” she said after a second before looking ahead. Her expression softened, a curious look appearing to replace her grim frown. “So… did your Twi want you to say something specific coming up here, or did you tune that out, too?” “Eh, maybe? Hearing all this, pretty sure she just wanted me to cheer you up. Or maybe just convince you that this is another world or something. Probably both. I… It’s a little jarring. You aren’t quite what I expected.” “How do ya think I feel?” Rainbow asked, putting a hoof up to her chest. “Not only am I talking to who I might have been like if things were different, I’m also, quite literally, a world away from home, with no guarantee I can ever get back, with all of my friends and family probably worried sick about me! One of which has amnesia and was kinda leaning on me like a crutch. It’s all… guh!” She flopped forward to bury her face in the clouds, trying to calm herself down. “It’s just… added on top of everything else, it’s almost too much.” “Come on, our friends always come through. Either we’ll get you back to your weird world, or yours will,” she tried to cheer her more jaded self up. “Twilight will figure things out, just like she always does. Though…” The rainbow maned pegasus paused, clearly somewhat hesitant to continue with the line of questioning in her head. But, taking in a breath, she decided that she needed to know the truth. “Look, I’m not an idiot, I know my next question might be a rough one. But what you said about Princess Celestia and you… I’ve been running it around in my head and… are… are our parents…?” And there it was. Rainbow’s eyes screwed themselves shut as she forced the mental images down. “...Yours are alive?” she eventually asked, her voice low and quiet. “The last time I saw them in pony was the last show I filled in for as a reservist. They were their usual overenthusiastic selves, had to convince security not to kick them out over a stray firework.” Rainbow couldn’t help the small, crooked smile that spread on her lips at hearing that. Fond memories long buried rose up to the surface of her mind, bringing with them the knowledge she would never get another one. With a shuddering sigh, she turned to her other self and placed a hoof against her chest, right over her heart. “...The next chance you get, you give both of them a really, really big hug. You tell them you love them, and you thank them for raising you, do you hear me?” “Uh, w-well, I mean-” “Please,” Rainbow pressed, her voice almost coming out begging. “Don’t leave those kinds of things unsaid. Don’t make the same mistake I did… y-you never know which chance w-will be the last. S-so…” she looked away, trembling as her emotions crept up on her again. “...S-so you take the chances you do get, and you make them count, alright? Don’t let them slip away… ‘cause when they’re gone...” She pulled her hoof away from her other’s chest. “...They’re gone for good.” Her counterpart sniffed, bashfully trying to wipe away an errant tear. Though, realising she would only be hiding it from herself, she ceased her attempts and simply turned to face her other. Red, bleary amethyst eyes met an identical set, just as emotional. “Yeah. I will. Thanks…” she said tenderly in response. “I’ve been meaning to introduce my sis- Uh, Scootaloo to them. They’d love her.” Rainbow nodded. “Yeah… they would, wouldn’t they? Scoots is definitely a lot like us. Or, well… like you, anyway. Can’t say the same about me anymore.” “Hey, I bet a little of me is still in there. I mean, you’ve still got a certain fire in those eyes of ours. And I bet loyalty is everything to you, right?” Rainbow nodded shakily. “...In part, because I can’t bear the thought of losing anypony else, yeah.” “Yeah… I suppose there must be a lot of you in me too. I… hope I don’t have to use it anytime soon,” she admitted slowly. “I… Before we get back to the whole ‘multiverse’ crisis, do you… Do you want to go home? Come with me, Dash. Our parents would freak out. Probably bake you a cake for… every birthday they couldn’t. But… they might help. They would help.” Rainbow went rigid, her eyes snapping open at the idea. Getting to see her parents again? It was a very tempting idea, of that there could be no question. But… was it really right to say they were her parents? The more she thought about it, the more the idea became more and more fraught with uncertainty and anxiety. Slowly, she looked back at her counterpart and, with a broken smile, shook her head. “No… no, I don’t think that’s a good idea. If I see them again, I… I might never let them go. And I can’t do that… I can’t latch on to yours and replace mine… they deserve better than that… And besides, as you said...” She turned to face her counterpart directly. “...Loyalty is everything to me. I can’t give up mine for yours… no matter how much I want to. And no matter what I might say now, they’d never hear it. Get to hear how sorry I am. How I never said ‘I love you’ enough. How much I miss them. How grateful I am that they took care of me. The only ponies I could ever say those words to are the parents I lost, and I won’t find them here.” Letting those words sink in, the Rainbow Dash of that world slowly nodded her head in understanding. “Yeah, I suppose I’d be the same. Still, it’s always an option. Even just to see what could have been, I don’t know. But…” She stood up, quickly fluffing back up the piece of cloud she’d been sitting on before turning and reaching out a hoof to her scarred other-self. “Come on, let’s get back before Twi freaks out so hard that she sends out half the hive as a search party. Trust me, it’s not fun when she does that.” “You say that like it’s happened before,” Rainbow replied, managing a tiny smile before reaching out and taking her other’s hoof. “I swear, you got lost in the Everfree Forest one time…” “Wait, what?” “Never mind. My friends can probably tell you, it was really not my fault anyway,” she claimed. “On the way back, you can tell me a few of the more happy times with your friends. Compare notes?” Rainbow stared at her other self for a few seconds, then gave a slow nod of her head. “Yeah, sure… how about the time Twi used my status as royalty to absolutely own those bullies back in Cloudsdale?” “Oh my gosh, that sounds AWESOME!” she squealed as she hopped into the air alongside her counterpart. “Heh, I’ve got one about the time Fluttershy tried to get me a pet. Tank is great, you should meet him!” “It was awesome, yeah. Also, Tank? You have a pet?” “Yeah, he’s the most amazing tortoise ever!” she bragged. “Tortoise?” “I know I know. But trust me, he’s almost as cool as us,” the reservist claimed. “Oh! Also, if you’re up for it, I have the greatest idea for a prank the two of us could pull off together. Had it in mind for a while, but Twilight is a killjoy and won’t help me with it.” “Killjoy, huh?” Rainbow echoed, her smile slowly returning. “Yeah, she is, isn’t she? Heh… well, I dunno about a prank, but I’d be down to race ya.” “Oh, you are on! But seriously, think about the prank. A certain friend of mine would be ecstatic to finally do it! Oh, and whatever differences we have, that has to be something pretty much the same, right?” “The same? What is?” “Only the one pony who has to be, to borrow an egghead term, a universal constant.” The visiting Rainbow could almost hear the maniacal giggles of a party pony having a weird supernatural sense in the back of her mind. “Ah.”