It was a cloudless afternoon in Ponyville. A brilliant blue sky hung overhead as the sun's powerful rays beamed down, casting stark shadows underneath the flying forms of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. The two pegasi were returning from a flight through the hills outside of town.
Rainbow looked over at Fluttershy as the pair glided down towards the ground. The somewhat frail pegasus was slightly out of breath, but still smiling brightly.
"You're gettin' better at this, Flutters," Rainbow said. "Remember the first time we came through here, and you kept needing to stop? Now look at you! Barely sweating."
Fluttershy giggled. "The first time we came through here, you were also going about three times as fast and telling me to keep up."
Rainbow laughed. "Alright, well, we're both getting better." Fluttershy laughed with her. The pair of them leveled out as they skimmed the ground, gracefully moving around the trees in their path. Ponyville was still a ways off in the distance. They heard only the sounds of rushing air and the chirping of birds.
Rainbow perked her ears up. "So what are those birds saying?"
Fluttershy's ears twitched as she slowed down just a touch. Rainbow fell back with her.
"Well… it doesn't translate directly, but one of them is marking his territory, saying 'This is my area'... One is them is looking for a mate... Two of them are just saying 'Look how well I can sing!' 'Well, I can sing better!' 'No, me!'" Rainbow laughed.
"And there's another pair…" Fluttershy concentrated, then beamed warmly. "They're just singing a happy duet."
Rainbow took a long look at Fluttershy's smiling face. She saw a lot of beauty in the world through Fluttershy these days.
"That one looking for a mate…" Rainbow said. "Y'ever try to help those guys out? I bet you'd make a great wingpony," Rainbow said, grinning.
"There was one…" Fluttershy said. "There was one bluejay whose voice I'd been hearing for a few weeks outside my bedroom window, and he started to sound so sad… I got to know him a little better, and then I flew over to Applejack's orchard and found a female. I didn't drag her back or anything, but I… well, I put in a good word." Her eyes lit up. "I saw him just last week! He had a nest with three beautiful blue eggs!"
"Nice!" Rainbow said. "That's awesome! You matchmaker, you." Fluttershy giggled.
They approached the borders of the town, Fluttershy's cottage growing nearer. "Alright. See you this evening?" Rainbow said.
Fluttershy nodded and flew closer to Rainbow. "See you this evening!" They shared a brief kiss before Fluttershy broke off, flying for her front door.
Rainbow continued flying, a wide grin on her face. She started to hum a tune, flapping her wings in time.
She looked back, checking to make sure Fluttershy was inside her house.
"Alright… time to stretch." She smirked.
With one powerful beat of her wings, she burst forward, shaking leaves off of the trees around her. She soared towards the center of town, barrel rolls and loops punctuating her flight path.
Her eyes settling on Twilight's castle, Rainbow veered towards it and spotted Twilight through an open window, writing in a book. She circled the castle twice before looping back and gliding through the window. "Hey, Twilight!"
Twilight looked up. "Hello, Rainbow! What brings you around?"
Rainbow hovered over the table supporting Twilight's book. "Ehh, just killin' time. Fluttershy needs some time to herself, and needs to make sure all her animals are taken care of for tonight. The usual. So you get to entertain me!" Twilight rolled her eyes, smirking.
Rainbow flipped over and peered at Twilight's book. She saw two different styles of handwriting. "Wait, is this the book you use to talk to… who was it? Sunset Shimmer!" She peered closer, almost blocking Twilight's view. "What are you talking about? Tell her I said hey."
Twilight chuckled. "You haven't even met her, but sure, why not?" She put her quill to the page and wrote another line. "Rainbow Dash has now said 'hey' to Sunset Shimmer."
"Nice," Rainbow said. She spotted Spike walking past a doorway and waved. Spike waved back.
"Sunset just came up with a few theories," Twilight said, "on the connection between our journals that might help us figure out a better method of traveling between worlds than that contraption over there." Twilight motioned to the magical mirror in the corner, still surrounded by wires and machinery, currently inactive. "Probably won't pan out, but half of science is failing, after all. Her thought process can be all over the place."
The book buzzed, indicating a new message was coming through. Twilight read the new line. "Uh. Speaking of which, Sunset wants to know what your favorite food is." She shrugged at Rainbow.
Rainbow blinked. "What? Peanut butter and jam sandwich, I guess. Nothing fancy. Bonus points if it's zap apple jam." She looked to the mirror. "So what's wrong with that 'contraption'? I mean, all I know about it is science science science humans magic science, but it seemed to work pretty well."
Twilight relayed Rainbow's answer to Sunset. "It's fine, but it could be better. I don't think it's efficient enough to let more than a few ponies through a day, for example. If we made something better, it could open up a lot of possibilities."
The book buzzed again, another message from Sunset appearing on the page. "Ah! She says peanut butter and jam sandwiches is what human Rainbow Dash likes best, too. They don't have zap apples over there, of course." She giggled softly at Sunset's words. "She sounds pretty excited. This whole alternate reality thing is pretty fascinating."
Rainbow cocked her head, thinking. "...I've never really thought about the fact that there's someone else just like me." She paused. "Is she really, like… the same?"
Twilight nodded. "Yeah, all of our matches are pretty much exact copies in different bodies. Every single like and want and personality quirk seems to match up. Spike and I have met our twins a few times now." She chuckled. "It might be neat to start arranging some sort of meeting, where everyone can meet their twin, but… on the other hoof, some of them might go a little, um, crazy." She started replying to Sunset. "Or I would, if I put the Pinkies together…" she mumbled under her breath.
The room was silent for a time as Rainbow was lost in thought. Twilight continued exchanging messages with Sunset, wrapped up in discussion on alternate realities and future experiments.
"Does she like flyin—" Rainbow spoke up. "Wait. They can't fly, right? Does she like, uh… running? That sounds lame."
Twilight smiled. "She does!"
"Huh…" Rainbow contemplated this. "Is she the best? She's totally the best at everything, right?"
"If you ask her, she is." Twilight laughed.
"Yeah. 'Cause she is." Rainbow grinned. "This other Rainbow sounds pretty awesome. I mean, to be expected, of course." Twilight rolled her eyes playfully. "Ooh! What about her and, like, Human Fluttershy? Are they together? They gotta be, right? Sooner or later."
"Hmm… I don't think we ever talked about that. I think I did hear Fluttershy was with…" Twilight frowned. "Huh. I don't remember. But I guess it must be you. I mean, her-you. Hold on, I'll ask." She scribbled out a message.
Rainbow's head lowered to the bed again. "Heh… I wonder how long it's been for them. Two months, just like us? Maybe even longer!"
The book buzzed, and Twilight began to read the new message. Her expression shifted to a mix of surprise and curiosity. "...Huh."
"Well? Lemmee see!" Rainbow swooped off the bed, grabbing the book and flying into the air in one smooth motion. Her eyes fell to the latest message: Yeah, she's with Pinkie. Those two are probably the cutest couple I've ever seen. Why? What's it like on your end?
Rainbow stopped and re-read the message, a confused frown beginning to dominate her expression. She glanced at the previous message to make sure Sunset was talking about Fluttershy, then re-read it again.
Twilight nodded to herself, deep in thought. "Now, that's interesting. That's a pretty big divergence."
Rainbow slowly closed the book, wordless.
Twilight noticed her expression. "Oh… um, is everything alright? I mean, it's not… well, I guess I can't really imagine what this must feel like to hear."
Rainbow nodded slowly. "Yeah, I'm… I'm fine. I gotta get going. Gotta get things ready for tonight."
"Alright. I'll talk to Sunset some more." Twilight studied Rainbow's expression. "Don't think about it too much, alright? There's still a lot we don't know."
After a pause, Rainbow gritted her teeth and soared out the window with a flap of her wings.