I woke up to the sound of Dash snoring, every exhale one of pain. I felt bad that she had to step up for me like that. I kissed her on the cheek, eliciting a small, pained smile from her face. I got up and went to the kitchen to get started on some breakfast. When I was about halfway done with breakfast, I heard a thud and a pained yelp coming from the bathroom. I left everything and went to see what had happened.
A couple seconds later, I got to the bathroom to see Dash with her back against the shower door, struggling to stand up. She looked at me with pleading eyes, and I understood what she was trying to say. I nodded and walked over to her. I held out my hand, which she readily accepted, and proceeded to help her up. She came up a bit fast, and I had to catch her, but the catch ended in a living embrace.
"Did you plan this?" I quietly asked her.
"Maybe." she said vaguely, chuckling to herself. The chuckle ended in a pained inhale. "I think I should forego the shower, just for today."
"I think that may be a good idea." I said in sympathy. "Breakfast is almost ready in any case. Are you gonna have tea or coffee this morning?"
"I think I'm gonna go for some tea for once." she replied.
"Alright. Just wash up. I'll meet you in the kitchen." I said, turning to leave. I stopped and looked at Dash over my shoulder. "Oh, and Dash…?"
"Yeah, Sunset?" Dash replied.
"I love you." I finished and walked out.
A couple of minutes later, we had finished eating. I set to work cleaning up while Dash went to get changed. We were approaching the time we had told AJ to meet us at the statue. After I had cleaned up, I walked to the bedroom to see that Dash was only dressed from the waist down. The sight of her chest, clad only in a white sports bra and her bare and made me freeze, blushing a deep crimson.
"Enjoying the view?" Dash asked playfully. I just gulped and nodded. Dash laughed, which elicited a small wince of pain from her lips. I decided to get changed right in front of her, stripping down teasingly slowly, eliciting a gasp from my girlfriend. I giggled and started to get dressed.
Fifteen minutes later, Dash and I were ready to go. I grabbed my keys from a bowl on the kitchen island, threw on my jacket, and exited the apartment, Dash following suit. I locked the door behind us and we walked to the car, Dash holding her ribs. I could tell she was in quite a bit of pain, and I was a bit worried about the effect the portal would have on her. Twilight said that no problems would arise from it, but I was a bit skeptical. Portal magic wasn't a study that was frequently done in Equestria. I didn't dwell on it. We got to the car and I hit the unlock button on the key fob. I helped Dash climb in, her wincing in pain when her back caught on the Recaro seat. I climbed in afterward and we set off for the portal.
A couple minutes later, we arrived at CHS. AJ was sitting on one of the benches near the statue, and waved at us as we stopped. I cut the engine, climbed out and helped Dash out. We walked up to AJ and she suddenly stopped walking, a look of concern on her face.
"What the hay happened?" she asked as we approached. I looked at Dash and she nodded.
"After we left your place yesterday, we went to the mall to do a bit of shopping. We got it done and went to the smoothie bar to get something to drink. Gilda was waiting for me, spouting something about revenge. She would have succeeded if it weren't for Dash." I said, to which AJ nodded.
“Well, she is the Element of Loyalty. It makes sense that she would wanna protect ya.” AJ said, to which Dash nodded.
“Anyway, Dash and I had best be off.” I said, handing AJ my car and apartment keys.
“Are y’all sure it’s safe fer Dash to go through?” AJ asked in concern.
“Twilight said there shouldn’t be any repercussions, but I’m a bit skeptical.” I replied.
“Well, good luck.” she said, giving us each a hug, careful not to hurt Dash. We nodded and walked toward the portal, AJ walking with us. I turned to Dash.
“It may hurt, but when you’re going through, bend over a bit. It’ll bring your body closer to the centre of gravity you will have on the other side.” I said. Dash nodded and walked up to the portal. She held out her hand for me to take, obviously a little whatever the cool version of scared was, and we walked through together.
I opened my eyes to see crystal above and below me. I looked over to Dash and saw that she was struggling. She was overwhelmed by pain, being in a new place and not really knowing how to stand, and she was hyperventilating, obviously freaking out.
“Dash, listen to me. You’re okay. We made it.” I said soothingly. She visibly calmed down enough to open her eyes. When she laid eyes on me, her eyes went even wider in shock and awe. “What’s wrong?” I asked, crossing my forelegs in self-doubt. She shook her head, trying to get rid of a few errant thoughts.
“I don’t know how it is possible, but your original form is even cuter.” she said, blushing. The comment made me blush as well. It was then that I looked at her a little better. She had the same colour fur as her counterpart and had the same rainbow mane, except the colours were reversed. Her cutie mark was different though. Where her counterpart had a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt, she had a soccer ball in a goal with rainbow wreaths around it.
“Well, that settles it. You don’t have many similarities to your counterpart.” I said.
“Well, you guys are early.” Princess Twilight said, coming up behind us. She was obviously engrossed in a book while walking, because it took awhile for her to register what was in front of her. I heard her gasp, and turned to see her staring at me in shock.
“Surprise.” I said, flapping my wings in discomfort.
“How the…? You know what, it’s not my place to question Princess Celestia’s judgement.” she said. “ Have you guys thought of a way for us to differentiate between the two Dashes?”
“Not yet, but…”
“Just call me Snowflake. It was given to me by my grandmother when I was young because I was tiny and delicate, and it kinda stuck.” Dash said, interrupting me.
“That’s adorable. Snowflake, huh. Has a nice ring to it.” I said with a chuckle.
“Shut up.” she grumbled, turning her head away, but not before I saw the blush that made the fur on her cheeks look more purple than cyan. She regained her composure and turned to Twilight. “Is there a spell to lessen the pain so I can try to stand?”
“Sorry, Snowflake. I forgot about that.” I said. I lit up my horn, Snowflake’s body being enveloped in the same teal aura that surrounded my horn. She breathed out a sigh of blissful relief. When I was done, I walked up to her and offered her a hoof. She took it and I helped her up. She gave her wings a test flap, finding that the pain was significantly less than before. As soon as she did that, she took to the air, showing a finesse fitting a Wonderbolt.
“Snowflake, be careful. You don’t have enough experience with wings. You’re going to…” Princess Twilight started. As she did, Snowflake crashed into one of the bookshelves. “...crash.” I ran to where she had landed, lifted the books that had landed on top of her with my magic, worried that she may have hurt herself again. As I lifted the books, she burst out, taking to the air again.
“That was fun.” she said, no pain evident on her face. My anger flared up, turning my aura from teal to crimson.
“That was not funny! I was worried that you’d hurt yourself again!” I yelled.
“Awe. I’m touched that my marefriend worries about me.” she said with a wink. My anger melted away in an instant. There was no way I could stay mad at her.
“I hear someone is having fun without us?” Pinkie Pie said, bouncing up to us. The others seemed to take my ascension more in stride.
“I can tell we have much to discuss, darling.” Rarity said.
“Yip.” I said, turning to address the entire room. “I think we should head to the throne room. I’ll explain everything when we get there.” There was a chorus of agreement as we all turned to walk off, Dash and Snowflake getting into a race to see who could get there the fastest.