//------------------------------//
// Distorted Reflections 
// Story: For Want Of An Apple 
// by SilverNotes 
//------------------------------//

"I'm just saying, we'd totally have the market covered."

Rainbow Dash looked at the other six girls staring at her, and as she searched their faces, she found not a single one of them on her side. She would have thought that at least Applejack and Rarity could see a brilliant business model when they saw it, but the former had just facepalmed and the latter was rolling her eyes as she casually clung to Applejack's arm. The rest of her friends had on similar looks of incredulity, Twilight Sparkle in particular looking like she was going to faint on the spot at the thought.

They were at Pinkie Pie's place, because it was Tuesday and it was her turn. What had begun to be dubbed the perpetual sleepover had been going on for a few weeks now, rotating from place to place in a system that they had hashed out, each hosting on a set day of the week. They'd studied together, researched and compared colleges, and eventually the talk of jobs had come up, after which Rainbow had explained her idea that her friends were stubbornly refusing to see the full awesomeness of.

Everyone was looking at her, from where they were scattered across the bedroom, some having claimed parts of the bed, others the floor, and Rarity had staked a claim on Applejack's lap. Then Sunset Shimmer spoke up, using that voice she did when she was trying to be the group's collective mom. "Rainbow, we're not going to pay our way through college by becoming professional superheroes."

"But--"

"Because if there's a magical incident and nobody can pay, then are we going to just ignore it?"

"Well, no, but--"

"And if someone hires us to fight regular people, that's illegal."

"We could... start like... one of those patronage pages?" Rainbow offered, looking around at the others. "Support your friendly neighbourhood magical girls? Do social media stuff and--" Sunset shook her head, and the rest of them followed suit. "...Fine, whatever. We'll get boring jobs like normal, non-magical people."

Sunset looked like she was going to say something else, when a loud buzzing cut her off. She turned to her backpack, digging through it for a moment before she pulled the magic journal out, and before they knew it, Rainbow's latest scheme was forgotten as they crowded around to see what the message from the other world was. Even Rainbow herself couldn't sulk long as curiosity got the better of her and she moved over to try to read over Sunset's shoulder.

Dear Sunset Shimmer,

Sorry that I haven't been able to write you lately. Ever since taking over for Celestia and Luna, I've been up to my ears in paperwork and my new royal duties, not to mention making sure that the sun and moon are kept on an exact schedule. I've been making a list of different lands to make diplomatic overtures to, and thinking about which creatures I know would make the best ambassadors. After all, while I've made a lot of progress with the changelings, yaks, griffons, dragons, and hippogriffs, there's so much more out there.

I hope that things are going well with you. I know you've been continuing your education in the human world, and I do hope that someday we can talk about a more formal relationship between Equestria and humanity. I may have spent some time there, but your more extensive experience will be instrumental in bridging the gap, I'm sure.

I didn't write you for that reason, though. The last few months have really flown by, but all the stress also comes with a few perks. Namely, the fact that I'm now the arbiter of what's appropriate use of artefacts like the mirror portal. 

My birthday's coming up, and I'm looking to carve some time out of my busy schedule for a party, with all of my friends.

Smiles spread over seven faces, and Sunset turned to the others with the start of a grin. 

"So, who's up for a party in Equestria?"





"Girls!"

Seven teenagers and one dog had stepped through the portal at the base of the statue, suddenly found themselves in bodies that couldn't handle their current postures, and tumbled forward into a heap of seven horses and one dragon. Rainbow Dash had realized her error in wanting to be one of the first through, because now she was one of the people at the bottom of the pile, and she squirmed and scrambled, flailing alien limbs, as they all tried to untangle themselves before any of them suffocated.

In front of them was Mirror-Twilight, crown on her head and beaming at them, and while it wasn't the shape that Rainbow was used to seeing her in, the exuberance of her smile shone through. She might have been a magical winged unicorn right now, but there was no mistaking the radiating warmth of the girl who'd swept into Canterlot High and brought her and her friends back together again.

Pinkie Pie was the first one to leap forward, and reared up for a strange quadrupedal hug that Mirror-Twilight eagerly returned. Then Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow herself, and Sunset each took their turns figuring out the awkward hug posture, with Sunset in particular clinging the longest. Rainbow couldn't blame her; if that's what Sunset considered a normal hug to be, it'd probably been a long time since she'd had one.

Then that left the little, purple, bespectacled unicorn sitting awkwardly in the back, with a small dragon who was flexing his front limbs and their clawed digits with open curiosity. Mirror-Twilight slowly approached Twilight and Spike with a gentle smile. "Would you be comfortable with a hug too?"

"I..." Twilight's glasses slid down her short snout, and she tilted her head back to get them to slide back into place. "You wouldn't find that weird? We barely know each other... even if we kind of... are each other."

Mirror-Twilight's small smile didn't waver. "You were invited too. As far as I'm concerned, we're friends. Just new ones who're still fully getting to know each other." She tilted her head. "And that means that we don't have to be huggy, if you don't want to be."

Twilight seemed to be considering that. Rainbow wondered if she knew that her ears were twitching while she did. "How about..." She extended one of her front legs. "...This?"

Mirror-Twilight nodded, and lifted her own leg, bumping the offered hoof with her own. "I'm glad you could come, Twilight. And of course--oof." She rocked back as Spike tackled her with a hug, the former dog clearly having much fewer reservations about hugging someone he didn't know well. She hooked a front leg around him, giggling. "You too, Spike."

He eventually let go, hopping down to sit next to Twilight again. "Where's your Spike?"

"Oh, he's helping with last-minute preparations. There's a lot to juggle, especially with the length of the guest list. Speaking of..." Mirror-Twilight's horn lit up, and Rainbow felt a sudden, full-body tingling as magenta light washed over all of them. "This spell will inform anyone who looks at you that you're from another world. It'll help cut down on confusion with the other guests." 

Rainbow looked down at herself, watching the shimmer of colours rushing along blue fur as Mirror-Twilight continued, "The existence of your world has been a closely-guarded secret until recently, but I made sure that everyone attending got a briefing. I think it'll be a nice first step before officially announcing your existence, to have you meet and mingle with everyone!"

"Oh?" Sunset smirked a little. "Is that why you invited us? All part of your big interdimensional diplomacy plan?"

"What? No no no!" Mirror-Twilight's fur didn't seem to hide her blush very well. "I really wanted you all to be at the party. Any advancement of diplomacy is just a happy side-effect."

"Uh-huh."

"Anyway! I'll show you the palace guest rooms. You'll be able to rest here tonight after the party before heading back home."

She trotted off, and seven bipeds-turned-quadrupeds, plus one quadruped-turned-biped, did their best to follow.





There was a lot that Rainbow Dash hadn't been ready for.

One was the fact that the magic horse dimension had a whole lot more than just horses. Sure, Mirror-Twilight's messages had mentioned that, but there was a difference between knowing that, and seeing it. Right now, she could see griffons, dragons, hippogriffs, some kind of shimmery beetle-horse things, a dapperly-dressed cat, and much much more. There was even some kind of snake-y patchwork creature that she swore kept changing to a different set of body parts every time she looked at him. Still, the majority of them were horses, or at least currently looked like them.

The other thing that had caught Rainbow Dash off guard was the palace and ballroom. She'd expected a tiny horse dimension to be a lot more... pink and girly, she supposed? Instead, there was pearly while and dusky grey marble everywhere, accented with gold and silver, and of course, the massive red carpet. Most of them were sticking to said carpet when they could, due to not fully trusting these new hooves on the stone, but that still allowed them to take plenty in, from the statues and tapestries to the dazzling stained glass windows.

Classical music filled the air, soft and unobtrusive, and Rainbow idly wondered about possibly bringing their instruments here and doing a gig. Then the thought of trying to play guitar like this presented several mental images of how awkward that would be and she pushed it aside.

Rainbow could pick out her friends in the crowd easily. Even setting aside the magical shimmer from the spell, they were the ones who kept rearing up and gesturing with their front legs, which seemed to amuse the two-legged guests while making a lot of the actual ponies back away from them nervously. 

Pinkie was bouncing from group to group introducing herself, only stopping when she met up with Mirror-Pinkie and the two spent several minutes mimicking each other and giggling. Twilight was glued to Sunset, alternating between staring at Mirror-Twilight and nervously greeting guests who approached, and Spike, in turn, was glued to Twilight. Fluttershy had found a quiet corner, exactly opposite the quiet corner Mirror-Fluttershy had. 

And Rarity was, naturally, inseparable from Applejack and carrying on like the lovesick idiots they were, just like--

Rainbow froze.

She'd spotted Mirror-Applejack, but it wasn't Mirror-Rarity next to her. Instead, she was left staring in stunned silence as her own counterpart worked the crowd at the farmgirl's--farmmare's?--side. She briefly hopped into the air, wings flapping as she hovered above the other guests, only for Mirror-Applejack to roll her eyes, rear up to grab the end of her tail in her teeth, yank her down to the floor again.

Then when the other Rainbow started to protest, Mirror-Applejack kissed her on the cheek.

It felt like the room were tilting sideways, and it was suddenly even more of a fight to keep her hooves under her. She watched her alternate self lean away from the affection and say something, while Mirror-Applejack rolled her eyes and gave that exasperated-yet-affectionate smile that she'd always seen on Applejack's face with Rarity, even as the other Rainbow got back into her groove with the crowd around them.

She needed air.

Instinct took hold, and Rainbow didn't notice until later that she'd literally flown away.





Rainbow's hooves landed on the palace balcony, and her legs shook slightly beneath her as she fought to keep herself steady.

Applejack?

Me? With Applejack?

It was like someone had just thrown a grenade into Rainbow's sense of how the world worked. All the magic, all the doppelgangers, all the growing of horse ears and wings and now a whole pegasus body, none of it prepared herself for the upheaval that sight had given her.

Had AJ ever flirted with her? Even once? Them being two of the most athletic members of the group had certainly had them gravitating toward each other at times. If Rainbow needed someone to test herself against, she knew who her number one choice for a practice buddy was, and there had been a time or two when it'd spilled over into friendly rivalry. They got along well in the way that some folks could think that they didn't get along at all, willing to push each other's boundaries and buttons because they knew and trusted each other well enough to know where the line was.

But she'd never thought of that kind of bond as a potential romantic one. Sure, Rainbow wanted a boyfriend or girlfriend who could keep up, or at least would make an effort to, and so she tended to let her eyes linger on athletes, but honestly, until Applejack had started dating Rarity, she hadn't considered the idea that the group might start pairing off with each other. And so far, other than them, it hadn't.

So far. If anything that sight had just told her, it was even someone as awesome as her couldn't predict the future. Or in this case, the alternate present.

Cool night air blew through her hair--mane?--and she took a few steps toward it, hoping to clear her spinning head with a gulp of fresh air. Then her eyes caught up to her whirling thoughts and she registered the unicorn who was already staring out at the night sky, with a familiar swoop of purple hair.

Rainbow stopped in her tracks. "Oh! Hey. Didn't know anybody else was using this balcony. I'll go find another o--"

"Go right ahead, Rainbow. I don't mind company. Though I thought you'd be spending time with--" The exact last being in two worlds that Rainbow had expected to be there then paused, and only then did she look over her shoulder to take in the transformed teen standing there with eyes wide. "Oh. Yes, you used anybody. You're the human Rainbow."

"Right. Yeah. That's me. 100% human." Rainbow glanced down at her current four-legged, fuzzy body. "Well. On the inside."

Mirror-Rarity gave a small titter. "Well, you're still quite welcome to join me. I'm certain this balcony can hold two wistful souls just fine."

Rainbow blinked. "Wistful?"

She got a small smile in response. "It means possessed of regretful longing, dear."

"I know what it means." Rainbow snorted, startling herself a little with the horsey-ness of the snort. "But why wistful?"

"I thought it was obvious." Mirror-Rarity tilted her head slightly. "Unless you weren't also seeking a moment to clear your head after seeing Applejack."

Silence descended, stealing anything Rainbow could have said as if a professional pickpocket had just raced past, deftly snatching the words from her tongue. She could only stare at the unicorn in front of her, so much like one of her best friends and yet not, wearing a knowing smile that also looked so sad.

Mirror-Rarity eventually broke the silence with a small clearing of her throat. "I suppose that was a bold assumption on my--"

"I never thought I was ever AJ's type." The words felt like someone else was saying them, with her own voice, but Rainbow's counterpart was still inside, and so she couldn't blame it on her.

Mirror-Rarity's sad smile returned. "Neither did I."

"Not that I was really looking." Even the backpedal felt like someone else was doing it.

"Neither was I."

"But y'know, when it's staring you in the face--"

Mirror-Rarity's voice was incredibly soft, and yet it still effortlessly cut her off. "You start looking back?"

"...Yeah." It was the only thing she could say.

"At all the little things." It was strange how the sounds of the party inside seemed to hush to make sure the words were heard. Maybe it was some kind of magic.

"Yeah." All other words seemed to have left on vacation.

"And you... wonder what you may have missed."

"Y-yeah..."

They stared at each other silently, and despite the fact that neither had taken a step toward each other, the distance between them seemed that bit smaller.

"I'm... not the only one who finds this supremely weird, right?" Rainbow finally said, and one of her wings moved in a gesture between the two of them. "That we're talking to each other about this?"

"Well... While I still occasionally have trouble wrapping my mind around the concept of alternate worlds, let alone alternate versions of myself and my friends..." Mirror-Rarity's shoulders rolled in a shrug. "Who else would understand what we're feeling but each other?"

"Makes... sense." Rainbow started to move, listening to the sound of each hoof against the floor as she finally stepped fully onto the balcony. The night sky here had so many more stars, and the moon was larger and more vibrant; she remembered Mirror-Twilight saying that it was always full. "So how'd it happen?"  She cracked a small grin. "Bet the other me waltzed over to AJ and was like 'you, me, date tonight,' am I right?"

Mirror-Rarity laughed. "It was more that she was stumbling around with four too many mugs of liquid courage in her system." The laugher was the warm, fond kind, and she gave a small shake of her head. "It was the same night as Twilight's coronation. Apparently all the change on the horizon had her thinking that she should, in her own words, 'shoot her shot.' Applejack had to give her a proper 'yes' after she slept it off."

"Hey, that's--Well..." Rainbow felt her wings fluff up. "I guess a slightly less awesome me might have some nerves..." She stopped and blinked. "Wait, how does a horse--"

"Pony." The correction was gentle.

"How does a pony get drunk?"

"With either a great deal of deliberate effort or a spectacular lack of keeping track of one's intake." The laughter had faded, but she still wore an amused smile. "We're all still unsure which one was the culprit that night, and I suspect so is she." Curiosity gleamed in Mirror-Rarity's eyes, the kind that Rainbow recognized from her own Rarity whenever she smelled juicy gossip on the horizon. "So, what about the other me? I imagine it was a grand, whirlwind love affair the likes of which ponyki--ah, humankind, has ever seen?"

"No idea." Rainbow gave a shrug. "We didn't find out they were dating until three months in."

Mirror-Rarity's face went blank. "What."

"That was her reaction! We told her that she and AJ always acted like that together, and we thought it was just business as usual."

"I... you..." Mirror-Rarity turned to look back out at the view." Harumph."

"She said that too."

The silence that settled in then was a kinder one, one that didn't make Rainbow feel an invisible weight on her chest, pressing air from her lungs. She looked up at the starry expanse, and found her wings twitching. Maybe if she could pry her alternate away from her adoring public, they might be able to fly together before she had to go back to her own world. Or maybe it'd just be too awkward, after what she'd seen. Besides, if her counterpart clung to Applejack half as much as Rarity did--

There was giggling from the spot next to her, and she turned to look at Mirror-Rarity. "What's up?"

"Oh just... a memory." She hummed in thought, as if weighing whether or not to tell her, and eventually said, "Did your world's Rarity ever meet a Trenderhoof, perchance?"

Rainbow shook her head. "Not ringing a bell."

"Well, at the time, he was the object of an ill-advised crush. Somepony I had admired from afar." The giggling started up again. "And once I had the opportunity to woo him, or so I thought... he fell head over hooves for Applejack at first sight."

Rainbow tried to picture that, the Rarity she knew flirting with a guy only for that guy to turn around and chase Applejack, and the look of raw, unrefined irritation on her mental image's face had her chuckling along. "Bet she hated that."

"Let me just say that I'm surprised he had all of his teeth after his first attempt to talk to her." The mirth faded some as Mirror-Rarity sighed. "Of course, at the time, I didn't see that. I was so jealous that I went off and did some frightfully uncouth things to attempt to appeal to him... and eventually came to terms with the fact that it was not to be." Then another giggle bubbled up. "Though not before I got to see Applejack in a ballgown."

Rainbow snickered. "Ballgown?"

"She was trying to get back at me for my own foray into wearing a straw hat and overalls."

The mental image sent snickers tumbling into full laughter "I would've paid to see that."

Mirror-Rarity fell into full laughter with her, and together the pony and human let their mirth take over, one at memories and the other at the canvas of her imagination. By the time the uproar faded, they were leaning against one another, and Mirror-Rarity was trying to get enough breath to speak. "Yes, it was quite the mess. I'm still not sure if it ranks as better or worse than the incident with Blueblood--"

Rainbow stared at her incredulously. "Blueblood? Mr. 'My Aunt's the Principal and Maybe Claiming I Could Get You Expelled Will Get Me My Way the Thousandth Time I Try?'"

"...In my defense, in this world, he's royalty. I met him for the first time at a gala, and proceeded to have the worst night of my life." Mirror-Rarity gave the wry smile of someone looking back on a funny memory that was not remotely funny at the time. "Airborne cake was involved."

"Okay, in the bad dates department, you definitely win." The two shifted, no longer leaning on each other, but still standing close as Rainbow thought. "'Course, I was focused on sports, and music, and everything, so I didn't really... I mean, I could get a date anytime I wanted, obviously, but got to focus on my future, right?"

Mirror-Rarity nodded. "I was exactly the same at your age." That was when she paused, and then turned to really look at Rainbow. 

While under the scrutiny, she got the feeling that, regardless of the spell that was supposed to identify them, Mirror-Rarity would have been able to tell her apart from the other Rainbow. "...That's one of the things that's hardest to reconcile, that you're all younger than us, somehow. Of course, thinking too hard about the immortal Princess Celestia being a mortal school principal is already asking for a headache--"

"Same here. Well, in the other direction."

"--But I look at you and I see the version of Rainbow Dash who was fresh out of school and coming to Ponyville for the first time. The one I didn't give a second thought for years because we lived in completely different worlds, not to mention elevations."

"Ele..." Several blinks from Rainbow. "Oh right, the cloud... buildings... thing." It was another thing she wanted to experience for herself, if she got the chance, the cloud cities that Mirror-Twilight had talked about that pegasi lived in. "So... you guys went a while before becoming friends?"

Mirror-Rarity gave a small nod, and her eyes went up, to the massive perpetually-full moon. "The whole group did. When Twilight came to town and befriended each of us, we each had to come to terms with being in one another's social spheres, and eventually we could call each other friends, but..." She glanced sideways at Rainbow. "Admittedly the other you and I were the ones who stayed the most distant the longest."

"Huh." Rainbow glanced at the moon, but her own gaze settled downward instead, staring out at the palace gardens. She spotted a hedge maze with some surprise; she hadn't expected a pony princess to have one of those either. "I guess with us, all going to the same highschool and... y'know, all living on the ground, it gave us the nudge we needed. At least until Sunset did her whole thing and pushed us apart. Your Twilight's the one who brought us all back together, though. And then we got our own Twilight."

"Little echoes, little reflections, things in common, but we aren't quite the same." Mirror-Rarity's voice sounded distant as she spoke, then the sigh she let out brought it all back down. "Which explains how Applejack ended up with so very different partners."

"Yeah..." Rainbow glanced back over her shoulder at the party, then at Mirror-Rarity again. "So, are you seeing somebody?"

Her mouth quirked into a smirk. "Cross-dimensional dating would never work, darling. And you're too young for me."

"That's not--" Rainbow huffed. "Stop laughing, I was just making conversation."

"I know, I know, it was just too good a line to resist." The amused grin faded quickly as Mirror-Rarity shook her head. "But no. After being burned a few too many times by the likes of Blueblood and Trenderhoof, I'm a bit more cautious in my searching. Plus, I have my career to think about. I can't neglect it."

Rainbow nodded. "Right, yeah. Everyone on our end is focused on getting into a good college... Well, except Twilight. She's got universities fighting over her." Another glance at the party. "Still... maybe the other me has the right idea."

"I certainly hope you don't mean getting blackout cider drunk."

"No no, I mean..." She looked at the gardens again, running her mind through every person she'd looked at, and just kept looking without ever speaking up. "When somebody does catch my eye, I should shoot my shot."

"That does sound wise. And as for me..." Mirror-Rarity heaved a deep sigh. "Perhaps I should also take a lesson from my other self, and instead of building fantasies about ponies I've never met, I should look toward the ones around me who've already shown that they care for me."

It was then that Rainbow truly understood why she'd called the atmosphere wistful, and she kept chewing on the thought in her mind until she finally said what she already knew they were both thinking. "You think... if things'd gone differently, we'd be like that? With our Applejacks?"

Mirror-Rarity could only shrug. "It's hard to say. Maybe it truly was a case of the right circumstances at the right time for something to catch fire... or perhaps we truly aren't her type, and she isn't ours. As I said, we're not exactly the same as our mirror images."

"Yeah..." This time, when she looked over her shoulder, her gaze stayed there. "Still feels weird, looking at them."

"Oh, incredibly."

Her body started to turn away from the balcony to follow her eyes. "But I guess we've gotta go back out there eventually. It's Twilight's big bash, we can't just brood out here all night."

Mirror-Rarity huffed. "Speak for yourself. A lady does not brood." Then she likewise turned away from the balcony. "But... yes, we should return to the party before our friends start to worry about us."

The human and unicorn who'd found each other on the same balcony looked at one another.

And the two friends returned to the party.





Everything was still in full swing, as if they'd never left.

Rainbow spotted Fluttershy, who'd ventured out, and now she and Mirror-Fluttershy were having a quiet conversation near some refreshments. There was another mare with them with a red, dreadlocked mane, who Rainbow wasn't sure she'd ever met a counterpart of but who looked like she'd look at home with the eco-kids at school. That strange, serpentine, mismatched creature was with them, too, floating above them and chatting away, occasionally causing the three to break into giggles.

Pinkie and Mirror-Pinkie were still together, but another pony had joined them, a stallion with an incredibly curly brown mane. Mirror-Pinkie was flailing her front legs as she spoke extra quickly, and Pinkie was nodding along with an increasingly wide grin. 

Not too far away, Twilight seemed have found her stride, and was talking to a mare who also had glasses--so ponies did use those? Rainbow had assumed that Mirror-Twilight didn't have any due to some kind of magic eye surgery--and seemed to be hanging on every word of what Twilight was explaining. Spike had likewise peeled off, and Mirror-Spike looked to be in the process of introducing him to a bunch of other dragons.

And then Sunset... Rainbow was about eighty percent sure that the pony she was talking to was a mirror version of Dean Cadence, and she blinked as she saw that Mirror-Cadence had wings and a horn. So she was a big deal like Celestia, Luna, and Twilight was, it seemed. And next to her had to be Mirror-Shining Amour. Sunset was pleasantly speaking with them, and Cadence was holding photos in her magic that she was showing her one by one.

But the main event was the Applejacks.

One of the refreshment tables had been cleared and dragged onto the dancefloor, where mare and human-turned-mare were positioned on either side of it, each extending a front leg and having them locked together in way that looked like it really shouldn't be possible with horse anatomy. Both had every muscle drawn tight, had sweat dripping from their forehead, and weren't moving an inch.

Mirror-Rarity was the first to question, as the two of them strolled over. "And what is this that's going on?"

Mirror-Rainbow immediately turned to grin at her. "Hoof wrestling!"

Is that what my voice sounds like to other people?

Rarity spoke up before Rainbow could think too long on it. "Applejack and... the other Applejack were doing some comparison of their lives on our respective sides of the mirror, which turned into a play-by-play of our adventures... and then the geode and its effects on us came up. Applejack mentioned her strength..."

Mirror-Rainbow puffed up with pride. "And our AJ pointed out that earth ponies don't need a magic rock to be super strong, so clearly it was just the human world giving the other AJ enough strength to catch up."

Rarity rolled her eyes. "And of course, Applejack couldn't take such an insult laying down. And so--"

"They're gonna wrestle it out!"

"They've been at this for several minutes, and will likely be at it all night. You know how stubborn she can be."

"Not more stubborn than my AJ! She'll keep going after yours collapses."

"I told you that I am not going to engage in 'trash talk' for something this juvenile--"

Rainbow reared up on her hind legs, swinging her front limbs as her wings flapped to try to keep her upright. "Get'er, AJ! Show that horse how we do it at CHS!"

Mirror-Rainbow whooped. "You hear that, AJ? These foals think they're better than us. Show no mercy!"

Both Applejacks kept straining against each other's strength, with little sign that they heard the enthusiastic cheering. Out of the corner of her eye, Rainbow saw Rarity and Mirror-Rarity share a glance, and give a simultaneous roll of their eyes. That didn't matter, though. Her friend had thrown down the gauntlet, and she needed her cheering section.

Not matter the "what if"s or "could have been"s, including the one hovering nearby, that's what she was. Her friend. All of them were. No matter what.

Even if they couldn't see how totally awesome her career superheroes idea was.





It was always so weird going from some kind of magical event and then back to school as usual. Even when it wasn't some kind of disaster and instead a birthday party in the horse dimension, there was still a surrealism about strolling into the school building the next day. Combine that with a shock of being back in her old body just when she was starting to get used to the hooves and wings, and nothing quite felt real.

She found herself looking into her locker, over the accumulation of personal and school-related belongings. There were a few pictures of favourite athletes of hers, an old advert for the musical showcase that eventually became the Battle of the Bands...

And something new. A small notebook, primarily blue with a set of rainbow colours along the spine. Despite it being her birthday, Mirror-Twilight hadn't been able to help giving all of them gifts instead. And at that moment, said present started to buzz like a cell phone, and she smiled as she grabbed it up and flipped to the page that had previously been blank. 

The ink that had appeared was in a distinct shade of deep purple, and just in case that wasn't enough to identify the source, there was an image of a few diamonds next to the first line for good measure.

Dear Rainbow Dash,

I'll keep this brief, since I'm sure you have classes to get to, but I just wanted to let you know that I've been thinking about our conversation at the party. 

I decided to ask a good friend to lunch recently, and to my delight, it was a very pleasant outing. He's always been quite the charmer, but as we talked, he allowed that to fall away and simply converse openly and from the heart. He lives quite far away from Equestria, but we'll be exchanging letters regularly, and intend to have another date soon.

A date. A real, pleasant date with the promise of more. I'd almost forgotten what it was like not to be on pins and needles, wondering if fantasy would line up with reality and the shoe dropping with painful weight when it did not. I was so happy that I ended up running to see your counterpart here and giving her a hug. She was very confused, but supportive.

I hope that you have your own good fortune, whenever you decide to make your own move.

Your friend,
Rarity

Rainbow smiled as she shut the book, and placed it back. She was pretty sure that she knew who this friend of her was, as she'd caught sight of Mirror-Rarity with one of the other party guests, that cat-like creature, dancing to one of the slow songs. And good for her! Rainbow sure wasn't going to judge if a whole other species was what got her motor running. It'd sounded like other ponies had been nothing but trouble for her.

And as for herself...

She looked at her locker, and for the first time, felt the weight of the fact that it wouldn't be hers forever. They'd leave school, start a new chapter of their lives, and everything would change. Potentially some really big changes, if magic and alternate dimensions went public, and things were clearly heading that way. The school staff and her classmates had rolled with magic being real, but there could be a lot of bumps in the road in the future when it got all official.

But she and her friends would always be friends, and stick with each other through the changes.

A shadow passed over her locker, and she glanced over, catching sight of a very distinct physique on his way past. He always passed by at this time of day, on his way to class, usually with a friend or two in tow that he was chatting with. Well, who were mostly chatting at him with nods and small responses on his part. But this time it looked like he was taking the walk alone.

Some could have considered it the worst time to be looking. Considering. On the cusp of so many changes. Graduation,  college, interdimensional politics, and so much more were looming on the horizon. Who had time for relationships in all of that? But things never did stop changing, and waiting for the perfect moment could mean waiting forever.

Shoot my shot.

"Hey, Bulk, wait up! I've got something to ask you!"

And maybe the Rainbooms had room for a violin player.