//------------------------------//
// Two Rainbow Dashes? 
// Story: The one where Rainbow Dash is weird 
// by Brosif1357 
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"So... are we just going to pretend this ain't happenin'?" Applejack asked. 

The farmpony stood awkwardly beside Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie around a coffee table, eyeing Twilight as she poorly hid behind a bush. A pair of binoculars poked out of the shrubbery, fixated on the blue pegasus. Rainbow Dash sneezed and Applejack heard the sound pencil rapidly scribbling on paper. 

"Don't look at me! I can't help it if Twilight wants to act weird for a week straight" Rainbow Dash protested, seeing the others eye her. "You should have seen what she did yesterday. Came up to me asking if I'd been to Starbeard's wing or something, then just stopped talking for a few seconds. When I asked her about it she panicked and ran away!"

Rainbow Dash would never tell anypony, but Twilight's fixation with her was starting to become scary. Of course she trusted her friend, but that didn't stop her from fearing that one day she'd wake up on a dissection table. Everybody had their irrational fears, even a mare as awesome as herself. And this was starting to become hers.

Though that might just be the odd feelings she'd been getting recently. A week ago, Rainbow Dash found herself telling Twilight to say hi to somepony named Starlight Glimmer. That name was unfamiliar to her, but in that moment Rainbow Dash felt like she'd been friends with this pony for a long time. Though she'd never even met anypony by that name. 

"I admit that is strange, but Twilight can be a bit... intense with these kind of things," Rarity reminded them. "You all remember the Pinkie Sense incident? Or when she couldn't find something to write for Princess Celestia?"

The four other mares exchanged looks and shivered. 

"Um, maybe we should talk to her?" Fluttershy suggested. 

"Fluttershy's right. I figure it's about time we got to the bottom of this," Applejack agreed.

Pinkie Pie nodded and hopped over the hedge, landing right next to the alicorn. "Hi-ya Twilight!" 

"Ah!" Twilight shrieked in surprise, jumping back defensively. The spell holding up her notebook faded, sending it falling to the ground. Pinkie sniffed it a bit and picked it up, carrying it back to the four other waiting at the table in her mouth. 

"Hey girls, look what I found!" Pinkie showed them the notebook. 

Twilight scrambled after the pink pony. "Wait, don't touch that!" 

But it was too late. Rarity was flipping through the pages while the Rainbow Dash and Applejack fixed Twilight with hard looks. 

"Look sugarcube, this business with Rainbow Dash needs to stop," Applejack insisted. Fluttershy nodded, silently pleading with Twilight to see reason. 

"'Subject shows knowledge of events that occurred in the past?" Rarity read aloud from the most recent entry in the notebook. "Honestly Twilight. We know Rainbow Dash has a memory. Remember we helped her pass that history exam?"

Twilight's face flushed. She couldn't meet their eyes. "Ok... admittedly I may have been caught up in the moment. But the fate of Equestria may rest on this!"

"On you following Rainbow Dash around?" Applejack sighed. "Look, why don't ya just tell us what's ailing you and we'll see if we can help."

"I can be a great help!" Pinkie Pie shouted. "Look at all the things I can help with!"

She reached inside her mane and pulled out a scroll. With a flick, it unrolled down the street. Seeing the unamused looks on her five friends, Pinkie Pie somehow made the scroll roll back up stuffed it back in her mane. 

"I'm sorry Pinkie Pie, this may not be something any of you can help with," Twilight admitted. She surveyed the five identical looks of concern and sighed. "But I'll tell you what's going on, for all the good it will do. Meet me at Golden Oaks later this afternoon."





"So you all came?" Twilight asked, mentally counting off each of the five mares entering the library. 

"Yes, we came. Now what's all this about?" Rainbow Dash tapped a hoof on the ground impatiently. 

"I'll get to that. Spike, can you bring out the projector screen?" 

Spike nodded and pushed out a white fabric frame into the middle of the room. Rainbow Dash wasn't the most perceptive pony, but she could tell something was bothering the normally cheerful dragon. Usually, she'd dismiss it. But the cause of this investigation was her. Why? It wasn't like Rainbow Dash was broke the laws of physics on a whim like Pinkie Pie. 

Fluttershy sat next to Rainbow Dash, offering a supporting look. Rainbow Dash nodded silently. The yellow pegasus was her oldest friend and Rainbow Dash was lucky to have her. The other three kept close eyes on the blue pegasus as Twilight fiddled with the projector. 

In a flash of light, an image was displayed on the screen. It showed a line, slowly increasing against two axes labelled 'Subjective Time' and 'Desynchronization'. Neither of those words meant anything to Rainbow Dash and looking at the faces of her friends she could tell she wasn't the only one confused. Though looking closer, Rainbow Dash noticed that the line graphed looked like a irregular stairs, increasing suddenly then returning to a flat plateau. 

Twilight gestured to the graph, like it was supposed to mean something to them. 

"Ok, what is this?" Applejack said after a long moment. 

"It's the problem I've been investigating!" 

"Twilight, I think you need to explain more," Spike reminded her. He was holding a small timer that Rainbow Dash found strangely familiar.

"Oh alright. Basically what you need to know is that the timer Spike is holding is gaining additional time randomly throughout the day," Twilight tapped the vertical axis marked 'Desyncronisation'. 

"Clocks do that sometimes silly!" Pinkie Pie reminded her. "That's why you need to reset them every now and then!"

"This is a magic-resonant timer. They loose an average of a second a century, but this one has 'lost' 20 minutes in only a week. I have another one just like it and I've been running them both since the Sonic Rainboom experiment. And the measurents are different."

The Sonic Rainboom experiment? Rainbow Dash barely remembered that test, it was all overshadowed by the strangeness that followed. Like that storm she'd accidentally created. What about the Sonic Rainboom experiment made the alicorn so frazzled? 

Twilight levitated a stick and pointed at the tiny 'jumps' along the graph. 

"At random intervals, the measuring equipment will sense what I'm calling a 'stutter'. Everything flatlines for a few seconds, never more than five. But relative to the equipment I attached to Rainbow Dash time will pass."

Rarity politely raised a hoof. "I don't think I quite understand, darling. So you're saying time stops? Wouldn't we know if it did?"

"That's the thing. We wouldn't," Twilight explained. "Relative to the 'stutter-proof' measuring device, everything would suddenly freeze in place. But to objects or ponies compliant to the flow of time? They wouldn't perceive anything until time resumed."

"Ah think I get it," Applejack spoke up. She turned to Rarity. "It's like one of those new-fangled motion pictures. You can pause 'em and do something else, but when you press play the film will keep playing like nothin' happened."

This was starting to sound familiar to Rainbow Dash. Uncomfortably familiar. 

"That's a very good way to explain it, Applejack. Which brings me to the main point of thisssssssssssssss-"

Twilight froze. She stared unblinking up at the projector screen, mouth still open. The last sound she made hung in the air, like a song played in slow motion. Had she just lost her train of thought? Rainbow Dash had seen a lot of ponies do that recently. And yet, something about Twilight's lecture stuck with her. Moments where everything froze, like somebody had hit pause on a film? That was sounding awfully familiar right about now. 

Rainbow Dash turned to her other friends, only to see they were in similar states. Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack stared into nothing. Pinkie Pie's eyes were closed, caught in a blink while Spike was caught in mid stride. What the Tartarus was going on here!? 

Only a few seconds had passed, but Rainbow Dash was already feeling unnerved. She leapt up and approached the frozen alicorn. Just as she was about to lay a hoof on her friend, Twilight moved. 

"-presentation, which is to highlight the- SWEET CELESTIA!" Twilight leapt backwards from Rainbow Dash, flairing her wings instinctively. The sudden movement knocked over the projector screen, sending it tumbling to the floor. 

"Land sakes, how did ya get over there so quickly!?" Applejack stared at Rainbow Dash with wide eyes. 

"I... I don't know," Rainbow Dash admitted. How had they not seen her get up? Everybody but Pinkie Pie had their eyes open, they should've seen her move!

Twilight took a few breaths to compose herself. "And that's why I'm investigating Rainbow Dash. I believe she has the ability to move through stutters."

Excuse me, what? Rainbow Dash could hardly believe it. "You mean I can-"

"That is so cool!" Pinkie Pie leapt in Rainbow Dash's face. "You've got this super awesome superpower. I have my Pinkie Sense and Fluttershy has her stare, we can be super buddies!"

"It is kinda cool," Fluttershy admitted. 

"I'll say! Rainbow Dash, think of the possibilities!" Rarity insisted. 

Applejack, ever the voice of reason, interrupted the fanfare. "Now Twilight, you're telling me time pauses randomly? Is that what's got ya so worked up?"

"Of course that's what I'm worried about! Time just stops without us ever noticing!" 

"But, if we don't notice it, what's there to be worried about?" Applejack reasoned. 

Twilight opened her mouth to reply, then paused. "I... suppose you're right. Wow. I think I got so caught up in discovering time was stuttering that I never considered what that would actually mean. For all I know this could be a natural occurrence. But what if they're not? I've noticed a lot of time anomalies since the Sonic Rainboom experiment, these stutters could be one of them. Of course it's possible that's only because I've never had the equipment to detect these anomalies..."

"Well you could always ask Rainbow Dash," Rarity suggested. "She can tell when they happen, remember."

All eyes turned to her and the pegasus suddenly felt very self-conscious. It was all getting too much to handle. Subjective time. Desyncronisation. Time anomalies. That was egghead stuff! Everything she knew about time weirdness came from a Daring Do book, one that ended with Dr Caballeron nearly destroying reality. 

"Look, I don't know!" Rainbow Dash replied, more to herself than anyone else. 

"Surely you can remember moments when everything seemed to pause around you?" Rarity probed. 

"Or maybe other people have noticed you seem to teleport?" Twilight added. She quickly summoned her notebook and looked at the pegasus expectantly. 

Rainbow Dash wanted to say no. She really wanted to. But Twilight's words got her thinking to a moment back in Flight School. Rainbow Dash had been struggling with weaving through the hoops of an obstacle course. In the practice runs, she'd collided with the hoops and came last. That had really frustrated her. Getting the worst mark in her class was unthinkable to Rainbow Dash. But after weeks of training, she was ready for another attempt. And she aced the hoops part, just as she expected. Only to be accused of having a unicorn teleport her through the course.

"I think I remember something. It was a few days after I got my Cutie Mark. I was going through an obstacle course, but when I finished first everybody claimed I cheated by teleporting."

"Oh I remember that," Fluttershy spoke up. "You were so angry."

"So, there you go!" Applejack said. "The stutters have been occurring at least since Dashie was a filly."

Twilight looked down in embarrassment. "I suppose you're right. I'm really sorry about acting so weird recently. I promise to not be so obsessive in the future."

"That's alright Twi," Rainbow Dash laid a hoof on the alicorn's shoulder. "Look, if you want my help with some experiments I'll consider it. This stuff may not be Equestria-destroying, but... I think I'd like to know more. Figure out what I'm supposed to do with this ability." 

"Well thank you for forgiving me. And I'll take you up on your offer some time later."

"See, didn't it feel good to be honest with each other?" Applejack asked. 

"I'm glad that's behind us. Now, why don't we get something to eat?" Rarity suggested. "I never got anything at the cafe."

Spike got up, but Rainbow Dash beat him to it.

"I'll get something from the kitchen!" 

Now, which way was Twilight's kitchen? Left door or right door? Rainbow Dash couldn't decide. Eventually, she decided to just try one door and see what was inside. 

Suddenly, her body was set alight in blinding agony. A distorted scream echoed though the library. Two figures stepped out of the space in which there was only one, walking to both doors. They painfully glitched forward and back randomly in flashes of rainbow light. And poor Rainbow Dash was forced to experience the sensations of both bodies. It was a maddening feeling, to control two bodies at once. She felt incomplete, like her very essence had been ripped in half.

Just as quickly as it started, it ended with both glitching figures snapping back into one. Twilight caught Rainbow Dash in her magic before she could collapse to the ground. 

"What in the unholy depths of Tartarus was that?!" Applejack shouted, pointing a trembling hoof at Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had tears in their eyes while Rarity seemed too stunned to even blink. Twilight herself was caught between confusion and horror. 

Rainbow Dash was floated over to a soft sofa and laid gently upon it. Fluttershy raced over to tend to her friend, though there was little she could do. The pain had gone, but the aftermath remained. It was hard to even produce a coherent thought with two conflicting sets of memories waging a war inside her mind, but the part of Rainbow Dash still lucid shared Applejack's confusion. What in Tartarus had just happened to her?

And luckily Twilight already had a hypothesis. 

"I think somehow, Rainbow Dash just accidentally attempted to move in two different possible timelines at the same time, then was suddenly forced back into existing in only one timeline. Rainbow Dash, were you uncertain about what you wanted to do?"

Rainbow Dash didn't want to answer. She didn't want to think. She didn't want to recall anything that had led up to that horrid moment. But she nodded anyway.

"Well... maybe try to be absolutely certain you want to do something before you do it? That's all the advice I can give."

"All the advice you can give?!" Applejack repeated with venom. "Our friend just tore herself in half! How can you make sure that never happens again?"

Twilight glared back at the cowpony. "How should I know? This is new to me as well! Two versions of Rainbow Dash must have been created for two different timelines stemming from the two potential choices she could make. So as long as she is certain about wanting to do something before doing it she theoretically shouldn't have this problem."

"Well 'theoretically' ain't good enough, but that's not your fault," Applejack relented. 

Fluttershy tried to coax life back into Rainbow Dash, but it was hopeless. She looked over Twilight, seeking some kind of explanation for her friend's condition. "I thought you said that Rainbow Dash could only avoid time pauses?"

"No. That's just the tip of the iceberg. After the Sonic Rainboom, I noticed Rainbow Dash do strange things. Most notably, I think she accidentally time travelled to give Rarity a piece of golden fabric."

"I remember that!" Rarity said. "It was so weird. She apologised for a storm that didn't happen and gave me a gorgeous piece of fabric and that very night a storm happens and blows the fabric right off my clothesline! I thought I was going crazy!" 

"That's the only time I've seen Rainbow Dash time travel. And besides... whatever this was-," Twilight gestured to the still unmoving form of Rainbow Dash. "she hasn't done something anomalous since. The only theory I can provide is that the Sonic Rainboom somehow 'supercharges' inherent time-altering abilities."

Sweet Celestia, her head still felt like it was going to split. And Rainbow Dash, for the first time in many years, was terrified by something. Strange things were happening to her and she knew nothing about it. Why couldn't it have been Twilight to be infected with time weirdness? At least the alicorn would know how what was going on. 

"And that's not all. Twice I saw Rainbow Dash react like she was experiencing future events," Twilight continued. "First when she predicted how much birdseed Fluttershy needed and next when she mentioned a pony called Starlight Glimmer who I can only assume is somepony we've yet to meet. It's possible the memories of her future selves are bleeding over to present Rainbow Dash."

"Feelings," the blue pegasus stated. It had taken a while, but Rainbow Dash had sorted through the two sets of memories and finally felt lucid enough to talk.  

"What was that?" 

"They weren't memories. They were feelings. I felt like a friend was going through a tough time, so I just said the first thing that came to mind. And that was to tell you to say high to Starlight Glimmer." 

Twilight's eyes widened. She scratched out entire pages of her notebook and wrote new things over the top. "Of course! Feelings! Linear interpretations of events like a memory could never have survived travelling through non-linear time! 

Now Rainbow's head hurt, but for a completely different reason. Twilight's logic was impossible to decipher by anybody but Twilight. Or possibly a team of researchers in Canterlot. But at least it made the alicorn happy. 

"So, what do we do now?" Applejack asked. 

"Whatever means I don't have to experience that horrible splitting feeling again," Rainbow Dash replied for Twilight, head still buried in the sofa. 

"I agree," Twilight nodded. "A friends comfort should come first. I'll need to test whether uncertain decisions triggggggggg-"

A bleary magenta eye opened. Twilight was standing still, caught in the middle of an unfinished sentence. Rainbow Dash was surprised how quickly she got used to seeing her friends like this. With a sigh, she rolled over to snuggle deeper into the sofa. Perhaps a nap would banish the remaining pains in her body?

Dimly, Rainbow Dash wondered why her friends hadn't started moving yet. Hadn't Twilight said these stutters only last a few seconds? Well, ten seconds had passed and nothing had moved. But her mind wasn't in the state to ponder such things. Maybe she just misheard the alicorn? 

After all, why would the stutters be getting longer?