The journey to Baltimare had felt somehow as if it had lasted forever and passed in the blink of an eye simultaneously. Rainbow had spent the entirety of the journey staring out the window of the train, her head somehow empty yet full of anxiety and doubt. Barely a thought wandered through her head, but that didn’t stop the wordless storm of emotion and memory in her gut from raging on and on like a hurricane.
When the city itself finally came into view, though, time seemed to slow to a crawl. Rainbow couldn’t help but inhale sharply through her nostrils when she saw the flat roofs of the buildings squat skyscrapers in the distance. The last time she had seen those structures, her parents had died in front of her. Seeing them again now was giving her the most uncomfortable form of Deja Vu she had ever felt.
Chances were high that everypony else noticed her distance. She could hear them chattering amongst themselves for the duration of the ride, but she never listened or cared to participate. She knew they had spoken to her once or twice on the way, but she had usually sent them away with a quiet grunt or noncommittal hum.
The only one who wasn’t as active in approaching her was Twilight, oddly enough. As the train finally pulled into the Baltimare train station, Rainbow forced herself to tear her eyes away from the cityscape so she could find the changeling princess. Twilight was standing in the middle of the aisle, talking with Luna and Chrysalis about something. She briefly caught Rainbow’s eye before returning to her discussion.
Rainbow frowned. Twilight had been unusually distant and quiet around her ever since they left the war room. ‘Did I do something wrong?’ she wondered to herself. Not that she would be surprised if she did. It was pretty much her modus operandi at this point.
“We are now arriving in Baltimare Station,” a voice declared over the intercom. “This is our final stop. All passengers, please disembark. Thank you for travelling with the Friendship Express!”
“Tis as the disembodied voice says,” Luna noted. “Baltimare is upon us, as is the continuance of our quest.”
Her words were met with snickers and chuckles from the other ponies and changelings, even Chrysalis giving her a sidelong smirk.
Luna raised an eyebrow. “Pray tell, what is the humour you find in this situation?”
“Oh, dear…” Twilight muttered between a snort.
“No, we should be silent,” Chrysalis remarked. “The mystical disembodied voice may delve upon us more questing wisdom!”
“I feel mocked,” Luna deadpanned. “Am I being mocked?”
“It’s Chrysalis,” Rainbow chimed in automatically, leaping at the chance to distract herself from her tumultuous mind. “Mockery is to be assumed.”
“Especially when it’s well deserved,” Chrysalis defended.
The other Rainbow snickered. “Short answer is yeah, we’re totes mocking ya, Luna.”
Luna glared at them. “I fail to see the reason for this slander! Who are you, my sister?”
“And we won’t tell her if you don’t send us to the dungeons,” Twilight remarked in some attempt to defuse the situation. “Now! Misunderstanding basic technology not available a thousand years ago aside, she’s not wrong. We’ll probably want to get ourselves set up somewhere before we poke around too much. No telling how long we’ll need to find this rift.”
“Less than a week ideally,” Rarity noted. “But plenty of time to admire the sights. It’s no Manehatten, but it’s not so far off I should think.”
And just like that, Rainbow’s momentary respite from her own thoughts was ended. A small scowl appeared on her face as she jumped down from her seat. “There’s nothing admirable about this place,” she spat as she strode for the nearest exit. “And I’d rather not spend any more time here than I have to.”
The native Bearers of the Elements of Harmony all shared concerned glances, the Princess of the Night and Queen of the Badlands Hive merely giving her looks of pity. Rainbow may have even been taken aback by the latter’s show of empathy, had she been in any state of mind to notice.
Without another word, she slipped out onto the train platform after the train pulled into the station and the breaks brought it to a halt. The Deja Vu from earlier swelled in intensity as soon as she was outside. She came to a stop and took it all in, suddenly feeling incredibly small and weak. She swallowed heavily, the tips of her hooves going numb. She was actually here…
“Rainbow?”
Rainbow blinked and turned, seeing Fluttershy next to her. Rainbow cleared her throat and looked ahead.
“Are you alright?”
“I hate this place,” Rainbow replied, deflating with a heavy sigh. “My whole life got thrown on its head in this stupid city. I’m not exactly thrilled to be here again.”
Fluttershy hummed quietly and placed a comforting hoof on Rainbow’s back. “I’m sorry. But we’ll get you through this,” she said with a small, reassuring smile.
Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, I guess,” she mumbled before quietly shrugging of Fluttershy’s hoof. The others had already disembarked and were starting to make their way deeper into the city. The words all blurred together in Rainbow’s ears, but she picked out enough to know they were looking for a hotel to use as their base of operations for the duration of their stay.
“...Let’s go,” Rainbow eventually muttered, taking off after the others.
Twilight wasn’t sure why she couldn’t work up the courage to confront Rainbow Dash in some way. The dread, the terror. This city was bringing out the deepest depths of the pegasus’ highly troubled psyche. After all, this was where it all started for her. The complete shift in her timeline’s chronology, the source of a break so massive that it had bounded from her world to their own. But worse, it was where Rainbow Dash had lost something no child should have to. Her parents, and kickstarted her development into the haunted individual quietly sauntering on ahead of the changeling princess.
She should say something. She was the empath, she knew exactly how badly this was affecting her. Heck, she was the counterpart to the pony she loved, who else was she going to listen to?
Oh, but that was the problem, wasn’t it? The thought of it made Twilight’s stomach churn like no amount of love energy had ever done before. After all, that dream of hers back in Ponyville had made that clear, hadn’t it? A changeling with the face of the mare she loved? It was amazing to the mare that Rainbow had buried that fact as much as she had. Twilight was grateful for it, of course.
‘She tries. But beneath that, I’m not Twilight to her, am I? She laughs it off, as any Rainbow Dash would. But…’
Twilight sighed, the action going unnoticed to all but the ever-watchful eyes of Queen Chrysalis.
“What’s on your mind, daughter?”
“Always quick on the draw, aren’t you?”
“You are my child. It’s my job.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Yeah… Love you too.”
“Agreed. But you didn’t answer my question.”
Twilight remained defiantly silent for a few moments more, trying to pull ahead of her mother while not getting too close to Rainbow Dash in the process.
As it turned out, this attempt is what clued her mother in.
“Ah. The interloper?”
“Don’t call her that!”
“Should I call her your marefriend?”
“Mother! You’re worse than Rarity!”
“Don’t insult me,” Chrysalis retorted. “But the dramatic one is beside the point. Why are you avoiding her as you are? You were not so distant a short time ago.”
“I’d have thought you’d be pleased.”
“Pleased? You insisted we handle her your way, seeing as she is your responsibility, so this change is… disconcerting and unusual for you,” her mother pointed out. “And I will admit, she has some more likeable qualities than the usual flavour. She fights her battles rather than ignore them and then brag later as if she’d won.”
“Rainbow isn’t that bad.”
“One of them isn’t.”
Twilight shook her head. Sure, her Rainbow Dash wasn’t the wittiest soul in the immediate vicinity. But both pegasi did have the same heart, in both a literal and figurative way. Was that the price of wit? Her own happiness?
“But you really are taking a liking to her, aren't you?” Twilight noted with a hint of amusement.
“Her eyes show she is a soul with much wear and tear, but she is all the stronger for it,” Chrysalis confirmed. “So yes, against the odds I do believe I have come to respect at least one of your motley group of friends, albeit one as unusual as she is. And she does have her heart set on your protection, a task I do so share.”
Twilight blinked, her mental image of the scarred pegasus clashing with the description her mother had just given. “Protection? But I’m a-”
“Ah, I do believe this establishment shall meet our purposes,” Luna announced, ignoring the awed looks directed at herself by various bystanders as she gestured up at a grand highrise hotel. “Such marvellous architecture this century! How does it not blow over?”
Twilight took in a breath “Well, first they invented a new material that is-”
“Later,” Applejack said with a nudge. “Educate later.”
“Why yes, I do believe this is the Royal Ponesta Harbor Court,” Rarity noted with a glint. “Five stars, of course. Nothing but the best for royalty!”
“And a spa?” Fluttershy asked hopefully.
“Five stars, darling!”
“That a yes?” Applejack deadpanned.
“Oh, please. Five stars!” Rarity further insisted.
“That’s a yes,” Fluttershy translated.
“Bleh,” the native Rainbow Dash complained.
Rainbow gave her counterpart a sidelong glance. “That a bleh of disgust or the bleh of a mare succumbing to a damn good massage?” she asked knowingly.
“Say what, Rainbow Dash?” Applejack asked the native variant with a smug grin.
Said variant looked rather ashen. “I… Uh… Shaddup…”
“Like I said. The wit of a plank of wood,” Chrysalis demonstrated.
“Let the jesting cease, I believe royal funds should suffice to let us stay the maximum of a week,” Luna stated. “Let us see to a… what is it they call the best rooms available?”
“Penthouse Suite,” Rarity said helpfully.
“Yes! One of those!”
Eager to not show any further how the Princess of the Night was still out of date in certain areas, Luna thrust the doors to the hotel open and marched inside with the expectation that the others would follow. And, after noting the surprise from the ponies inside at the sudden arrival of the alicorn, they all started to pile in and see what was in store for them.
All except for one…
A short while later, a room was selected at the very top of the hotel. A room that seemed to have a rather large balcony and set of windows offering an impressive view of the whole city. And, of course, enough space and beds to accommodate the entirety of their admittedly large group. The bits weren’t cheap, but it wasn’t anything the funds of the Equestrian crown could not handle. Plus a nice discount for the Princess of the Night, the hotel all too happy for the inevitable publicity her presence would bring.
Chrysalis seemed slightly put off the same courtesy wasn’t extended towards her, but only showed it in idle grumbling straight to her daughter's hive link.
And soon enough they had the keys in hoof, the mare behind the desk giving a pleasant little wave to the entourage as they started their way towards the staircase. They went to ascend, mostly ignoring the elevator as it opened and a few heavily startled ponies stepped out to the sight of them.
And then Twilight realized something.
“Where’s Rainbow Dash?” she asked aloud, stopping and looking around in a mild panic as she realized there was only one of the pegasus with them. “She was right here! Didn’t anypony see her wander off?”
“Eh, I did!” Pinkie claimed. “But I just assumed she was going on the Baltimare youth scavenger hunt, so I didn’t say anything.”
“What does that even mean!?” Applejack demanded to know.
Pinkie pointed towards a nearby notice board with a flier stating just what she had. “Scavenger hunt! I kinda wish I went with her!”
“Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow shouted in indignation. “You lost ME!?”
“...Whoops?”
“Pitiful!” Chrysalis growled. “Gah, where would she have gone?”
“She hates this city! She could be in trouble!” Twilight said fearfully.
“...Or maybe she went to pay her respects,” Rainbow Dash said slowly.
All eyes turned to the pegasus. Twilight stepped forward, her eyes desperately glued onto the local counterpart of her quarry.
“Pay her respects?” the changeling parroted. “Do you mean…”
“It’s what I’d do,” Rainbow pointed out. “And what I am, so… Yeah. If my parents… died here, then I’d want to go there. I’d hate it, but I’d feel like… I dunno, like I had to, you know?”
“Oh my…” Fluttershy said sympathetically, placing a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Rainbow. But that is very brave. Loyal too.”
“She’s me, so yeah,” the pegasus replied. “And I think I know where that would be, too.”
“And how would you? Your counterpart she may be, but I do not recall you being able to know her mind so accurately,” Luna addressed.
“No, but… I mean, construction equipment. That’s what killed them. And there’s only one place, one time, I can think of that could be it,” Rainbow responded, turning towards the door. “Twi, ya coming?”
“Yeah, but where…?” Twilight asked, Chrysalis and Luna also following along with the latter gestured for the others to stay behind and claim their room.
“To the place where I saved my future, I guess…”
‘It’s exactly the same…’ Rainbow Dash thought. She was sitting on her haunches on a street corner, looking down the road towards a distant stadium. Sports teams would play there sometimes, and the Wonderbolts would put on displays for the city there from time to time as well.
This was where it happened. It was just as she remembered it. Even the crowd was more or less the same. The only difference was the distinct lack of steel beams sticking out of the broken stone street like spikes from a dragon’s back. The road was clean and clear of damage or obstructions, and the ponies were going about their business with nary a care in the world.
Some of them gave the pegasus odd looks as they passed, but she could not find it in herself to care about them just now. Her mind was well and truly focused on the street ahead of her.
It was hard to tell how long she sat there on her own. But as the sun dipped closer and closer to the horizon, the scene became more and more like the one that so often haunted the back of her mind. Her eyes began to glaze over as she got lost in the memory. She could feel the earth shaking beneath her hooves every time one of the steel beams pierced the ground, she could hear the metal ringing in her ears, drowning out the panicked screams of pedestrians. She could feel the dirt kicked up from the impacts clinging to her coat and stinging her eyes, she could taste the dust in her mouth as it flooded her lungs.
And then the harrowing silence that had come as quickly as the chaos had. In a few short seconds, her whole life had been thrown on its head, and she had been left without the only ponies she had ever relied on to guide her through such things.
She had seen them, she remembered. Their bodies pinned beneath the heavy metal crane that had snapped and dropped it all on the street.
Rainbow blinked, tears starting to come to her eyes. “No… no no no…” she choked out before looking at the crane. She felt her blood go from ice to fire, a spike of adrenaline and desperation flooding her body. Without hesitation, she backed away and then rushed at the crane. She slammed into it with her shoulder, hoping to move it off of her parents. There was a loud clang from the impact, and the nerves on her shoulder erupted into searing agony.
Rainbow fell back to the ground with a scream of pain but was quick to get back to her hooves. ”Ow! GAH! WHY IS THIS STUPID THING SO HEAVY!?” she shouted before trying again.
How long had it taken her, even with the aid of other ponies, to lift that crane so her parents could be hauled out, only for her to discover there was nothing left to save? It had felt like forever, at the moment.
“Mom...! P-please, wake up! Wha… w-we still have to go see the Wonderbolts, remember? It’s gonna be awesome! Mom!”
Her words fell on deaf ears, and Rainbow’s resolve was quickly fading away. She moved back to Bow and gave him a hard shake. “Dad! DAD! Dad, please! WAKE UP! YOU TWO HAVE TO WAKE UP!” She went back to Windy. “PLEASE! YOU GUYS, Y-... YOU CAN’T DO THIS! YOU CAN’T!”
“MOM! DAD! PLEASE! GET UP! DON’T LEAVE ME! Not like this… not like this…”
“Rainbow!”
Rainbow jumped in surprise on hearing the familiar voice of Twilight calling out to her. She turned in place and caught sight of the changeling in question flying down for her, alongside her other self, Chrysalis, and Luna.
“Oh... hey,” she greeted in a low, quiet voice once the group touched down.
“See, I knew it would be here…” native Rainbow Dash noted, looking around the place with an odd look as she seemed to try and reconcile her memories of the place with what she knew had happened to her other. “Yeah… Right there, it was all scrap metal and junk all over. We were out to see a Wonderbolt show, it was great. But… we almost got squashed on the way, I pushed my parents to the side when I saw them coming down. I… I got a couple over the top trophies and a cake for that one.”
Rainbow visibly tensed, her shoulders hunching. “...Stop,” she said, her voice coming out choked. “Just… just don’t.”
“But I guess it wasn’t like that, was it?” her native self pressed on. “I… I can’t really imagine it. Them like… that. I don’t want to… It hurts to just even think about, and you… I’m sorry.”
“I said stop,” Rainbow cut her off, struggling to keep the tremble out of her voice. “I’m happy you did better than I did, but I don’t want to hear it.”
“Then don’t run off like that!” her counterpart shouted, her temper flaring at being brushed off. “I get it. It scares the crap outta me to think about! But we always stick with our friends! And we sure as heck don’t scare them like that! Twilight almost popped a gasket!”
“Rainbow…” Twilight said softly.
“No, it has to be said,” she rebuffed. “We’re going to get you home, but you can’t leave us out of the loop on this. And I know I would have come here too, but we can’t do that alone! I’m not just some featherbrained athlete like some people think.”
Chrysalis glanced away awkwardly.
“And yeah, I might have had it better in some ways. I like to act first, wouldn’t have it any other way! But seriously, I know. I know us, and I know that we need our friends. So don’t go all lone-wolf like that, okay? Don’t scare them. Please.”
Rainbow was quiet for several seconds before giving off a quiet sigh. “...I’m sorry if I scared you, but there’s a reason I waited ‘til we had found a hotel, you know. I was gonna come right back once we had a meetup spot. And…” she turned back to her other-self. “Look, it went differently for you. You saved your parents and I didn't. Maybe you get how scary it is, but please don’t pretend you know how much it hurts. I just… ugh. I needed to take care of this myself, is all. It’s personal, and you’re all already sticking your necks out for me enough as it is…”
“Of course they are. It’s them. If they didn’t, it’d hurt more,” the other pegasus pointed out. “And take it from another you who does dumb stuff like this too. Don’t shut them out. I’m no good to anypony alone.”
“Be that as it may,” Luna interrupted carefully. “You are both two sides of the same coin. And yet you are the same at your cores, the same thoughts and fears, just which are further expressed and which are suppressed are reversed. I would not dismiss what each side has to say to the other. Believe me, ignoring one side of yourself has a terrible way of creeping up on you.”
Rainbow looked down. “Right…” she mumbled before turning and looking down the street. “Well, anyway… this is where it happened, like other me said,” she declared before pointing down the street. “Right there, by that red building. That was where the crane fell… If the rift’s gonna be anywhere, it’s gonna be there.”
Luna hummed, her eyes closing as her horn lit up. She focused for several moments, mana swirling around the appendage gracefully as the others remained still in apprehension. But then, as quickly as she had started, she halted her efforts and looked up at them with a nod.
“Indeed, I can feel the presence of another rift at the edges of the Dream Realm. Fortunate that it manifested here, but not unexpected. I can attempt the connection to my counterpart tonight. I do believe you will want to be present, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, I will. And… can you try and get my friends in there, too?” she asked hopefully. “I could really use some familiarity right now.”
“I would also like to be there,” Twilight said as she stepped forward. “If that’s okay. A rift in the Dream Realm? A chance to meet my counterpart? I cannot miss this.”
Luna raised an eyebrow. “And a chance to be there for one’s friend?”
“I mean, does that even need saying?” she said with a sheepish chuckle.
“Yes,” both Rainbows and Chrysalis said in unison.
Luna smirked at the young changeling’s discomfort, but she nevertheless gave a nod of confirmation. “If you wish it, I can include you.”
“Then I would like that,” Twilight confirmed. “While you prepare, I’d like to stay here a while and do some tests of my own. Nothing strenuous, don’t want to disrupt the portal, but just make some notes and observations.”
“I will also remain to make sure she keeps that promise,” Chrysalis added in.
“You have no faith in me, do you?” Twilight said crossly.
“In matters of rule, life and or death? Complete faith,” she assured her daughter. “In the sciences and matters of restraint? No, not at all.”
“Thanks…” she deadpanned with her cheeks puffed in indignation.
“Never change, Sparkle,” native Rainbow Dash remarked with a bop on the said changeling’s shoulder.
“Alas, they shall do as they wish, we must return to this ‘penthouse’ of which Miss Rarity speaks so highly,” the Princess of the Night announced. “Rainbows, do accompany me. There is much work to be done to ensure a safe transition.”
“Right. We’ll see you all tonight!” Twilight stated.
Rainbow nodded. “Right. Be careful, kay?” she asked before turning her eyes one more time to the street. She fell quiet before shaking her head and allowing herself to be guided away by Luna and her other-self.
And as they did so, Rainbow Dash saw her native counterpart come in and walk up by her side.
“Hey, look…” she started. “I meant every word I said. And like Luna said, if we’re two sides of the same coin, you know it’s true. But… Eh, I guess I coulda said it better. So, sorry if I came off too hard. But I don’t like freaking my friends out like that, any version of me.”
Rainbow hummed. “I understand. Again, I’m sorry I scared all of you…” she apologized before looking ahead. “Probably should’ve said something before I left… I still would’ve wanted to go alone either way, though. It’s just one of those things.”
“Yeah, I know. We’re Rainbow Dash, as Chrysalis would tell you, we’re an idiot,” native Rainbow joked.
“Heh,” Rainbow snorted. “Idiots, huh? Well, she won’t get any argument from me on that one,” she conceded with a small, wan smile.
“Buuut, we’re two idiots together. And, I mean, two sides of a coin makes one coin, right? That work out?” the less scarred pegasus wondered before shaking it off. “Whatever. Point is, we’re going to kick the multiverse’s butt, yeah?”
Rainbow snorted. Did the multiverse even have a butt to kick? She dismissed the thought after a second and lifted a hoof to knock against her other’s. “Yeah.”
“Hah! Ah… I’m awesome.”
“Yeah, we are.”