//------------------------------//
// Epilogue: Present Active Imperative 
// Story: First Pony Plural 
// by AugieDog 
//------------------------------//

Twilight was blinking so much, Fluttershy almost wanted to offer her some eye drops. But then she already wasn't drinking the tea Fluttershy had poured for her, and, well, Fluttershy didn't want to impose.

"So now wait," Twilight said, her gaze moving back and forth between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, sitting at the end of Fluttershy's dining room table and taking a swig of the soda pop Fluttershy always kept in the refrigerator for her visits. "You...you're saying—"

Rainbow rolled her eyes and gave a pretty sizable belch. "I don't see what's so hard to get here, Twilight." She brushed at the medal Fluttershy was pretty sure she'd been wearing around her neck ever since the ceremony at the Commodores' Club two days ago. "Eff and me: we came, we saw, we conquered." She leaned forward and tapped the table, one of her great big grins stretching across her face. "Three friendship problems solved in one afternoon plus we saved the entire city of Cloudsdale from a couple sky kraken." She sat back. "Awestacular's the word I'm using for it."

"But—" Twilight was still blinking. "You did this all while disguised as each other?"

"Oh. Yeah." Rainbow gave half a shrug, and a blush darkened her face. "That."

The silence that followed seemed to beckon to Fluttershy even though that awful little voice was whispering, You'll just embarrass yourself...

"We had to be disguised, Twilight," she said, putting into words what she'd been thinking about ever since they'd gotten back. "If I'd been entirely me or if Rainbow had been entirely her, I don't think things would've worked out nearly as well."

"Huh?" Rainbow asked. "No way, Eff! I mean, c'mon! You still woulda taken care of those kraken pretty much the same way you did!"

Fluttershy raised a hoof. "But I wouldn't've been there to take care of the kraken. I would've been at the Commodores' Club with Misty and Hoops."

"So?" Her lips pursing, Rainbow poked at her can of pop. "I didn't do anything at the Club but sit there! You coulda done that easy!"

"I'm sorry to disagree with you again, Rainbow." Fluttershy reached across the table and touched her friend's hoof. "I spoke with Misty and Hoops at the reception after we got our medals, and they said you gave them exactly what they needed to hear exactly when they needed to hear it: something about patience and practice and working for what they wanted?"

"Oh. Yeah. I—" Rainbow's blush came back. "I guess I did, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did." Picking up her cup, Fluttershy took a sip of tea. "And while I very much enjoyed my time pretending to be you, I think you and Twilight should switch the next time."

"What?" Twilight's ears folded back.

But Rainbow's perked up. "Hey, yeah. Yeah! The dye job'd be a lot easier, and all I'd need would be some sorta hat-horn-thing to wear! You could probably magic up something like that, couldn't you, Twi?"

"Okay!" Twilight jumped to her hooves, her wings partially spread. "Well, it looks like you're both fine, and with the, uhh, odd circumstances here, I don't think we'll have to worry about this happening with the map again." Her horn started to glow. "I'll just file it under 'Anomalies,' and we'll call the matter closed. See you at Pinkie's Friday night!" And she vanished in a puff of purple light.

Rainbow laughed and sucked down the rest of her soda. "I kinda doubt that'd work, actually, me and Twilight switching. Can you imagine her remembering not to use magic the whole time?"

"That's true." Fluttershy sipped from her cup once more. "Which is why what I really think we should do next is pretend to be each other pretending to be each other."

Half a heartbeat went by, then Rainbow asked, "What?"

Glancing over, Fluttershy couldn't help giggling. "I'll pretend I'm you disguised as me, and you'll pretend you're me disguised as you. We won't have to bother with any dye, and all we'll have to do is tell the truth."  She shook her head to muss up her hair just a little and put the tiniest bit of roughness behind her words. "No way! I'm totally Fluttershy! Why wouldja think I'm not?"

For a moment, the only thing Fluttershy could hear in the silence was the pounding of her heart and the voice in her head saying a lot of nonsense about how Rainbow was going to think that was the stupidest idea she'd ever heard. But Fluttershy was hardly even tempted to hide behind her bangs. She knew Rainbow better than that, and she knew—

"Eff?" Eyes wide, Rainbow had both her front hooves planted on the tablecloth. "Of all the awestacular things that anypony's every said to any other pony, that's the awestacularest!" She leaped into a hover, her chair tipping backwards onto the floor. "We'll do it for Pinkie's party Friday night! They'll all think we're trying to do the prank again, but we'll be doing a completely different prank! Uh, I mean—" She landed, set her chair back upright, and perched in it, her face and voice strangely bright and perky. "Oh, my, yes! As Rainbow Dash, I certainly agree that we should give it our very best try!"

Another second of silence, then Rainbow was pounding the table and laughing. Holding her teacup to keep it from spilling, Fluttershy giggled some more as well.