The moment the portal stopped its shimmering after Twily had stepped through it, the hovering Rainbow Dashes each shot their counterpart a dangerous face full of challenge.

As one they declared their first contest, though the twins had differing ideas as to what it should be.

“Ghastly Gorge and back!” shouted Primo.
“Canterlot Castle and back!” overlapped Rad.

“Ghastly Gorge?” Rad countered, while Primo had her own question.
“Canterlot? Endurance test first?”

“Canterlot’s the only place I know how to get to outside town,” Rad explained.

“Hurry up or my second point will be just as easy!” Rad goaded, launching herself out of the room and then the nearest window—pausing just a beat to make sure it was open—with Primo only a moment behind her.

The others in the room watched with grins, sighs, and/or eye-rolls spread among them as they grouped up to attend their own planned activities.

The Applejacks, having already sighed and eye-rolled earlier, gave each other flat looks which one of them shared with a passing Rarity. “Exploding universes is one thing. But if them Dashes are up to what Ah know they’re gonna be up to, these nice pony folk won’t want us back in the first place.”

It was just as they passed the second window on the way to the stairs when the first rainboom rattled the walls.

The extra colorful pony world blitzed by as Rad bee-lined straight for Canterlot Castle. She was still in the lead but the new rainbow ring that exploded behind her, tinting the sky, meant Primo was finally about to provide a challenge.

Rad considered what the results of their first contest would be. Of course Primo would complain about Rad’s head start after losing—Rad knew because she would have done the same in her position. But worse, if Primo actually managed to win, she’d gloat about her victory despite the late start. That meant Rad had no choice: she had to win!

“Rad wasn’t kidding about the rainbow butt light,” Primo thought to herself, coming up behind Rad. Taking advantage of the reduced wind resistance by flying in Rad’s slipstream just wasn’t going to work if she was blinded by a light show.

She angled to the side a bit to get a better look, away from the bright stripe of colors. Rad wasn’t quite getting the wing motions right. Sure, they were effective, but not the best speed to effort ratio that Twilight had worked out on her super mathy charts. She’d tire herself out too soon. An easy win for a long distance. Or, she smirked, she could give her some in-flight flight lessons.

Relying on years of experience of owning her own wings, Primo closed in, beginning to come up alongside Rad only to get a face full of rainbow as Rad barrel-rolled back in front of her.

“Gah!” Primo shouted, banking away to restore her vision. She followed this up with a chuckle. “So, the newbie wants to play, huh?”

Two Rainbow Dashes crashed down onto a castle balcony panting and wheezing. Hair and fur jutted out in random directions, feathers splayed misaligned with a couple escaped ones floating down around them. Both were on their sides unable to stand. One was sopping wet with a puddle spreading around her.

“I …,” Rad wheezed, before taking a deep breath and trying again. “I win.” She had raised a triumphant hoof with her declaration though it never got very high before allowing gravity to take over.

“I deserve a point for that, the way you tried to wrestle me in there, and you started it when you kicked me.”

“That was an accident!” Rad protested only to get a stare from Primo. “Fine, it wasn’t entirely an accident. But I still got here first.”

“You forced me into the train tunnels. I was going too fast to turn around and had to take the long way through.”

“And I had to climb straight up with all this water weight!” Rad plopped a hoof into her puddle. “I feel ten pounds heavier.”

“I did more rainbooms than you. The tunnels were too tight to keep my speed maxed. Had to re-rainboom up after the turns. A train nearly hit me.”

Rad gave out an exasperated groan. “Fine. So, point for getting here first.”

“And point removed for the forced water landing.” Rad returned a hoof of her own. “But point to me for coming up with the contest idea.”

“That one still doesn’t count, and—wait. The contest was Canterlot castle and back.”

The two pooped pegasai looked at each other, then at Twilight’s castle, in Ponyville, way in the distance.

“Point for being the first back on her hooves!” Primo breathed, having just gotten back to standing, before flopping back onto her haunches with a grunt. “How many points do we have so far?”

There was a moment of silence, followed by another as the twins did their calculations. Without her fingers, Rad used a wet hoof to make tally marks on the balcony but they ended up spreading and blending together.

Looking back at each other, they voiced a realization. ““We’re gonna need a ref.””

Rad let out a snerk, which Primo returned, before they both burst out into chuckles.

The chuckles stopped when a voice cleared its throat, calling their attention upward.

“P-Princess Celestia!” shouted Primo returning to a stand and giving a salute.

“That’s pony Celestia?” asked Rad looking up at the rather tall, and bright creature, somehow still referred to as a pony. She noted that a group of palace guards and the blue-uniformed ponies had also come close. And why was her hair moving? Rad looked around for a fan.

Celestia smiled at the waterlogged visitor. “Ah, so you’re the Rainbow Dash from Starswirl’s portal. My guards alerted me to some … commotion around the castle.”

“Uh, yes, um, ma’am—Princess ma’am,” Rad replied, also getting to her hooves in a nervous rush. Detention’s bad enough from a principal. What would a princess version be like? She began to bow until she noted her counterpart’s salute and copied her.

With a chuckle, Celestia waved the Dashes down. “At ease, my little pony and welcome visitor.” Celestia turned and nodded to the ponies behind her, most of whom returned the nod and left. “I wanted to introduce myself. I’ve visited plenty of other worlds through Starswirl’s first portal, but you’re the first creature I’ve met from your world. I’ve heard I have a young counterpart there.”

“Yes, Princess ma’am,” Rad replied. “Well, I guess she’s in her thirties or forties.”

“That’s still quite young from my point of view,” Celestia chuckled. “And she’s a teacher?”

“Sort of. She’s the principal, though she used to be a teacher. Still subs sometimes when a teacher gets sick.”

“Good for her. I miss it myself. Are any of the others from your world in our Canterlot now?” Celestia’s eyes twinkled just slightly. “Or Sunset?”

“No, Princess ma’am,” Rad looked to her twin. “Just us. Having a race.”

“Twi, Spike, and us ponies will be here tomorrow though,” Primo offered before pointing at Rad. “These girls are going back home a couple at a time. Their Twilight already left.”

“And Sunset said she was going to catch up on stuff. Family, probably. And maybe learn how to use her wings.”

After a slight drop learning the other world’s Twilight had left, Celestia’s smile grew with the words family and wings. “I am very much hoping to see her do both soon.”

“Nah,” Rad answered. “She’s an egghead like the Twilights. She won’t have any more trouble than your Twi did when she got hers.”

“No more trouble you say?” Primo chuckled at a few memories. Celestia politely covered her own chuckling with a hoof. “I got a few stories about that I think you’d enjoy. We can use those magic journals we’re getting for that once you’re back home.”

“Speaking of your new journals,” Celestia spoke up, putting her hoof back down, “The royal enchanter completed the remaining journals Twilight requested.” Her horn lit and a pair of saddlebags appeared between them. Opening one pocket, she showed off a pair of books with her and her sister’s cutie marks. “I’ve made a set for our counterparts as well. Could you be sure that the next of you to return to your world delivers them?”

“Of course, ma’am-Princess,” Rad assured her with another salute. “Pinkie’s heading out later today, I’ll let her know.”

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash. It would be good to be able to communicate with them even after you and your friends graduate.” Celestia paused and her bright expression softened while looking into the distance at Twilight’s castle. “We lost a pony in your world some time ago.”

“She never returned from an exploration mission. We searched every thirty moons when the portal opened with no luck. Eventually we had to face the facts that she would not be returning. But now that we can, at least sparingly, make use of the portal outside of its schedule, and we’ll have so many contacts in your world, I would like to try again.”

Puffing out her chest, Rad saluted harder. “We’ll find her, Your Majesty ma’am!”

“All the information is already in the journal for my counterpart, along with a request that she or her sister coordinate the effort. Given how time works between our two worlds, you and your friends may not have been born yet when she entered the portal.”

“Oh,” Rad deflated a little. “That could make things difficult, Your Highness, ma’am. But I’m sure Twily and Sunset—”

“It’s alright, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia cut her off, laying a gentle hoof on her shoulder, ignoring the wet fur, “You needn't bring this to them. Just deliver these journals and let my counterpart and her sister come up with a plan.”

“Oh! Uh, thanks … uh, lady?” When Rad turned and saw the stunned look Primo was giving her, Rad added with haste, “Calling adults by just their names like that feels weird and I don’t want detention.”

Taking note of the pony puddle and the reports of rainbow explosions in the train tunnels, Celestia bit back a mischievous smile. “Why would you think I’d give you detention?”

“Well, that’s usually what happens when the other Celestia wants to talk to me.”

Both Rainbows jerked their heads up in alarm. “Uh, we should go deliver these books, right?” Primo came to her twin’s rescue—and possibly, by extension, her own.

“Oh, right, yeah!” Rad agreed, watching how Primo directly flew into the straps of the saddlebags still hovering in Celestia’s magic. She tried to copy her, and her way of tightening the undercarriage strap by pinching it between some feathers, but just did a tumble until that same golden glow covered her and fastened the bags correctly while also applying a drying spell to her fur.

“Come on. I’ll teach you how to long distance glide. Not as awesome as rainbooms, but you’ll get to know your wings better!”

Now fully geared up, Primo turned and saluted her nation’s ruler again. “Thanks, Princess. We’ll make sure your doubles get these and we’ll find your missing pony.” She turned back to her twin after getting a return salute and called out while diving off the balcony. “Wings out and copy me, Rookie.”

Celestia watched them go, declining at an easy glide, the native Rainbow Dash giving pointers to the visitor.

She sighed, once alone, giving Twilight’s palace another look. “I haven’t given up, Sky’.”

The Pinkies were nowhere to be found when the Rainbows returned to Twilight’s palace, though there was quite a large amount of confetti coating a nearby pond indicating where they had been. The Rainbows instead stashed the saddlebags filled with correspondence journals beside the portal and got cleaned up from their earlier adventure in “good” sportsponyship, or their version of it at least. They were just in time to recruit their referee.

““Yo, Scoot!”” the Rainbows called down from the roof of the Ponyville schoolhouse as the excited students exited in a rush to switch from school to play mode.

The young pegasus looked up at the edge of the roof to see two of her mentor grinning down at her. “Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Dash!” she squealed, her instant enthusiasm lifting her inches into the air.

“Absolutely!” Scootaloo grinned, her eyes growing in size and emitting stars.

““Great—”” the Rainbow Dashes began to reply before Primo leaned forward, giving Rad a slight push back, “because we’ll need somepony to officially declare me the greatest pegasus of all time.”

“You mean me!” Rad challenged, sliding out from behind Primo’s hoof and taking to the air. “She’s picking me!”

Scootaloo blinked, fading out the stars, and the pupils of her giant eyes bounced from one Dash to the other. “Uh.”

Two fillies beside her traded awkward glances at each other. “This is great, Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle popped in with a cheerful note.

“Yeah,” agreed Apple Bloom. “Now we all get to hang out with our doubled sisters today! Jackie’s going to tell us all about her Dad, and we’re teaching Wallflower more about earth pony magic!”

“I’ll be doing all sorts of things with Share and Renae once I finish my Home Ec homework!” Sweetie squeaked. “I bet they’ll love the dinner I cook tonight!”

This time it was Apple Bloom and Scootaloo that traded worried glances. “Heh,” Scootaloo chuckled nervously, “I bet there won’t even be any leftovers …” she shot Apple Bloom another look, “this time.”

“Uh, eeyup, “Apple Bloom agreed. “You’ll have no need to bring any leftovers around—have-fun-bye!”

Before Sweetie Belle could turn around to wish her friends a good time, Apple Bloom had already galloped off the playground and Scootaloo was practically climbing up the outer wall of the school to get to her de facto sisters. “Okay, bye!” Sweetie called out with a cheerful giggle before galloping toward her sister’s boutique.

With a snicker, the Rainbows swooped down from their perch on the school roof and scooped up Scootaloo on their way to their next proving ground.

Scootaloo looked from one to the other as they juggled her back and forth, then to the sky and clouds all around them as they all flew off into the wild blue.

“Do what? And I’m still in the lead!” Primo protested. “Right, Scootaloo?”

Scootaloo turned to her clipboard and started counting tallies. The little pegasus, still a bit giddy, danced on her haunches as the Rainbows landed beside her. Primo had carved out a judge’s booth from a nicely-sized cloud for Scootaloo to observe from, complete with majestic pillars on the sides all topped with likenesses of her own head.

Rad, not wanting to get left behind, pushed the cloud all over the sky above Ponyville, anywhere Scootaloo wanted to go.

Primo argued that she could have done it better and challenged Rad to a cloud-pushing race: move ten clouds each in the shortest time.

And now Scootaloo hooved out the afternoon’s results. “Forty five points for Rad—“

“Three point lead!” Primo announced. “Who’s the pony?” She pointed to herself with a wing. “I’m the pony.”

“No, I’m the pony!” Rad countered before pausing with a blink. “Uh, lately! And I’m going to prove it!”

“That’s what we’ve been doing all day and I’m three points ahead of you,” Primo snickered.

There was a bit of silence as neither of the three knew how to respond to that. Finally, Rad’s determined expression went sheepish a moment. “Uh, sorry. Got a little sidetracked there. But my point stands!” She stamped a hoof onto the cloud to punctuate her point, though it merely wobbled a bit and the intended effect was lost.

““Awesome!”” Rad and Scootaloo perked up before Rad shook her head and got back on track. “The point is that I’m not losing and I’m going to prove it by keeping a rainboom going the longest!”

Rad cheered along with a hoof high in the air but paused when she noticed Primo seemed to be waiting for something. “Oh, right. Hoofbump,” she said, and bumped her hoof with Primo’s

The contest might have just had a simple, “keep flying fast until you can’t keep flying fast no more,” objective, but it still needed some ground rules.

Scootaloo was the referee, and since she could only either follow them from the ground or watch from a cloud, and they had to keep away from town to avoid causing property damage, the Rainbows set up a quick race track using various clouds in an empty area.

No rainfall was scheduled for the week so the clouds were simply decorative anyway.

After beginning with a straightaway to reach initial rainboom speeds, the track started high and declined in a large, lopsided spiral with a steep climb at the end to return to the highest point. This would force the Rainbows to make turns at varying angles and to hold their rainbooms at a steep incline. In effect, the track was designed to make a continuous rainboom as difficult as possible.

Scootaloo’s judge’s cloud was placed just outside the middle of the spiral so she’d be able to keep track of each Dash, who were wearing scarves of different colors to more easily tell them apart.

A red neckband for Rad and green for Primo. They both wanted blue of course. Blue ribbons are always the best. But after ten minutes of arguing, Scootaloo broke it up saying a blue neckband wouldn’t stand out on their blue fur anyway.

For added fun, Primo snuck out Twilight’s anemometer. Why not measure their wing power while they were at it? It was placed on one of the clouds near Scootaloo.

From her post, Scootaloo looked up and away at the Rainbows, both ready to jump off their starting cloud and rocket toward their track. “On your cutie marks!” she shouted and the Dashes crouched into launch position. “Get set!”

It was only a few seconds before they broke the rainboom threshold, in unison no less. The two rainbow rings exploded out from each pegasus and combined into a figure-eight as they expanded. Despite the distance from town and major land features, the rushing winds and sheer force of the boom echoed back at them from all directions. Trees shook, windows rattled, the flower trio jumped into their bunker’s bunker (because of course it had one).

The Rainbows reached the cloud marking the first curve of their track and turned into the spiral. They flew one above the other to avoid either one of them complaining that the other got the inside track and spun down together. Each turn a different angle, each rotation smaller than the previous, until the final turn and they climbed again to reach the top passing the anemometer on the way.

At the top, they turned back into the first curve of the spiral and started down again. At the bottom, they angled up and passed the anemometer a second time.

Primo began taking the lead after the final turns of the spiral started making Rad dizzy. All those sessions in the dizzitron helped Primo keep her equilibrium.

As any runner or pegasus racer would attest, running a marathon is much different than a sprint. To remain running for longer periods of time, one must pace themselves and not simply strive for the greatest speed.

At some point, the Rainbows forgot this and switched from marathon flying to sprinting, both trying to outpace the other. Again, in fact, because they had already tried multiple speed races before. Though those were all point to point races rather than endurance races, and none were around a spiral track.

The track itself had begun to change at this point, the fluffy, white clouds warping and refusing to stay at their designated positions. The spiral wasn’t so lopsided anymore, the various forces of nature, such as they were in this magic world, began to balance it out.

The Rainbows took no notice, too focused on winning. They just kept circling around as the curves grew more uniform and easier to navigate while maintaining speed.

Scootaloo looked around, finally tearing her eyes off the awesome and onto the uh-oh as her own judge’s platform started getting sucked into the mix.

“Rainbow Dash?!” she called but to no avail as the two preoccupied pegasai were already into another lap around the spiral.

The closest trees to the track began bending and swaying. Dirt and debris in the area mixing into the wind.

“RAINBOW DASHES!” Scootaloo called again as her cloud warped, the cloud replicas of Rainbow Dash’s face stretched beyond recognition.

This time, as Primo rounded the middle ring of their spiral, she noticed an orange and purple thing wiz past them. “AAAaaaaahhhhhh!” it cried.

“Scootaloo?” she called out. She got a better look one more rotation down. “Scootaloo!”

Primo, who was in the lead, tried to pull to a stop only for Rad to smash into her. ““AAAaaaaahhhhhh!”” they copied Scootaloo as the winds flung them around, tumbling in circles until one circle was too sharp to contain their forward momentum and they escaped the vortex.

But without the two instigators, their pegasus-made, rainbow-colored tornado was no longer rooted, relatively, in place and drifted away from them.

Scootaloo was fine, the townsponies were fine. They weren’t happy but they were fine. The tornado didn’t cause all that much damage. Not really. Not like Tirek, Discord, or the parasprites had, but … well, there was some damage. In some places.

It was just in a meandering line from their starting point till … not the middle of town. No matter how many ponies said otherwise.

Town Hall is the middle of town and the tornado didn’t come that close to it. Only two windows were lost. And some roof tiles.

And the doors weren’t even from the tornado but a sofa from Quills and Sofas getting slammed through them … by the tornado.

Scootaloo actually had some fun when the tornado shot her cloud halfway to Canterlot at near rainboom speeds. It was then that she learned she could control it with her wings and air-scoot right back to town.

Just because she could control the cloud didn’t mean she had good aim. It wasn’t like she had a pilot’s license for clouds.

The Palace of Friendship’s throne room didn’t seem so friendly under that stare. Twilight, Primo, and Spike all sat in their thrones while Rad stood next to her twin.

“What?! No way!” protested Rad. “Not fair and it’s Shindy’s turn anyway. She called first!”

“Shindy can go tomorrow,” Twilight declared, laying her face in a hoof. “I thought two Pinkies would be the danger,” she muttered, “but it’s two Rainbows that end up smashing the town!”

“Close enough!” countered Twilight with a groan. “First all that setup in Canterlot. Then the panicking ponies here in town because of swamp gas or whatever those ponies in black said it was”—she shook a hoof in the air—“which still doesn’t make any sense. Then Sunset. Then back to Canterlot. Then back here. Then the party—which ended up with panicking ponies again! And now you two make a rainboom tornado?!”

“Well …,” Primo sheepishly scratched the back of her neck, “it’s not like we’d do that a second time.”

Twilight peered at the Rainbows. And it was like the buckets spilled their contents straight into their souls. “I slept twelve hours this week. Week! Rad’s going home so the town can be quiet and I can go stuff my head in a pillow in peace!”

Spike cleared his throat and leaned away defensively from Twilight. “Actually, Shindy’s already gone home.”

Twilight groaned. “And Twily didn’t want more than two returning in a single day.”

“The Pinkies left us all a bunch of goodies though,” Spike followed up, holding out a purple scone hoping it would have a calming effect. “See?”

A purple glow promptly appeared around the scone and it was only three bites until the whole thing met its preordained demise. But that only served to wake the beast.

“I’ll go get dinner,” Spike offered, happy to have an excuse to leave the room.

After a sigh, Twilight accepted the current state of her life. “Thank you, Spike.” She looked to Rad. “Tomorrow. Early. Until then,” her eyes narrowed, “you two are going to make up for the mess.”

Rad had wondered how ponies could build houses. Could they use hammers without hands? Apparently yes.

It was a good hour before a construction worker showed her how they use bands to strap hammers to their wrists, or “pasterns” as the pony called them.

Pony hammers had a magnetic strip on one side and had a small spike on another to make pilot holes for the nails, so it wasn’t always necessary to hold a nail in place to start it off.

Use the spike to make the pilot hole. Stick a nail on the magnetic strip. Slap the nail in the hole with the hammer. Then hammer as “normal.”

Neat. Could solve the whole smashing thumbs thing back home too. Picking up the nails was still a chore though. Good thing she had her tetanus shots up to date.

She bent down to pick up another nail and the sign on her back shifted. She signed, pushing it back into place.

Princess Twilight had decided that since Q&S had seen the brunt of the damages, both Rainbows would wear the brightest, most attention-grabbing, and humiliating advertisements possible draped over them while they did the work around town.

They were ordered to work until sundown … and stay out of—more—trouble. It was a royal decree.

When she got serious, this Twilight really meant business! It was only Sunset, and sometimes Fluttershy of all people, who could get that scary back home. And maybe Rarity during a fashion emergency.

Rad looked at her wings, then the bright, blue, beautiful, inviting sky that she wouldn’t be flying in—unless it was while patching up a roof—and sighed.

Rainbow Dash tucked and rolled out of the portal, ending in the best karate stance she could imitate from her favorite action movies and gave herself a satisfied smirk. “I make this look good,” she thought to herself. “If only someone saw how awesome that was.”

Dash stood upright and proudly strutted over to recover her cool factor. “Thanks, Pink. Nice landing hu—?!”

She was cut off by a large bag exiting the portal and slamming into her. “Oof!” she belted out before landing on a stack of yoga mats.

“Uh, yeah,” Dash coughed out before standing. She opened the bag and handed Pinkie a book decorated with balloons. “Here’s your journal thing to talk with Peachie.”

Once Dash brushed herself off, she put the bag down near Pinkie. “Take this for a sec.”

Dash took a few steps back, fished her geode out of her pocket, put it around her neck, and smiled when it flashed.

That smile turned into a smirk just before she took off in a blur. If Pinkie felt the rush of wind that whipped her curly hair all over, she gave no indication.

Seconds later, Pinkie turned around to face the opposite way while reading one of the books.

“HA!” she cheered herself on. “All around the edge of town and back—” she checked her watch, “—in nine seconds flat! Let’s see Primo get those kinds of speeds!”

“Huh?” Dash checked the book. “Oh, that one’s for Principal Celestia,” she said, taking the book and putting it back in the bag. “She and Vice Principal Luna got journals too.”

“I’ll have to change the banners and the invites! Bake a new cake! Tell her to give me ten minutes!”

“Pinkie!” Dash caught her before the party girl could rush into the school. “I mean me!”

“Geh—! Uh,” Dash stuttered. “Doesn’t matter!” She pointed a thumb at the portal. “Next time that portal resets and the universes are safe from exploding, she’s coming here and we’re settling things for good!”

“Uh, huh,” Pinkie nodded slowly with a wink. “So why’d you come back so soon? Thought you’d want to keep your wingies longer.”

“Well,” Dash flicked her eyes to the side and felt a bead of sweat drop. “Uh, because, this way … I can be the one to tell everyone how amazing I—we were in the other world. You know, those who already know about Equestria and we don’t have to hide it from that is. We can make stuff up for those who don’t.”

“W-what?” Dash blinked, seeing Pinkie turn to head for the school. She picked up the bag and followed after. “What do you mean by that?”

Back in Equestria, a day later, Princess Celestia sat reading a newly proposed law when she was distracted by a buzzing.

Mission to the Pony Planet

by ersmiller

The Rainbow Road to Destruction