• Published 9th Apr 2012
  • 1,633 Views, 74 Comments

Very different beneath the surface - Slick Dash



A surge of magic creates problems for Ponnyville as it crashes to the ground and greats the mane six

  • ...
4
 74
 1,633

That's a good point

“Ummmm...” Rarity began, feeling silly to ask, and yet she needed to know. “If you are all copies”- the group of new ponies all seemed to wince at the word she had used. She rushed to correct it. “I mean, if you are all... umm... other versions of us, then may I ask where the alternate Rarity is?” The leader looked around and frowned at the other Fluttershy, who shrugged and gave a “I have no idea” kind of look. The pink scarred pony turned back to the fashionista.
“Sorry, never heard that name before in my life.” There was silence as the words sank in. Twilight looked at her fellow unicorn, completely incredulous at the idea of this other version of themselves, all living life... without their own Rarity.

Rarity seemed to be frozen in surprise, the dragon stood next to her leant down and rubbed her back. The contact seemed to pull her from her reverie and she looked up into the dragon’s big green eyes and half grinned sheepishly up at him. She let out a small “Oh... I see.” And the subject was dropped by all.

Now there was yet another silence, but this one lasted longer than any before it. Each pony kept their thoughts to themselves. Ocationaly Rainbow would send a poisonous glare at the other Fluttershy, who would all but happily send one straight back. Next to her, the timid other Rainbow simply looked to the ground, trying to keep out of sight, she reached up and brushed a strand of her main back into place over her eye.

Fluttershy looked at the sad looking Pegasus, she looked so similar to what Fluttershy had been like when she had started flight camp. Terrified of everypony being upset or annoyed at her, she would lock herself away as much as possible, and try to simply wait it out until her next lesson. But this poor creature sounded as though she had been brought up in a world where there had been no possible place to escape to. A world where all that fear and insecurity was always there, all around you.

Maybe it was her identical appearance to her best friend, but Fluttershy suddenly felt the need to comfort this sad little Pegasus. Slowly she walked out from behind Rarity’s tail and came out into the glow of the fire. “Ummm... Rainbow Dash?” Both the Pegasy looked up at her voice.
“Yeah Fluttershy?” Asked her friend, the other simply looked crestfallen at her realisation it had not been one of her companions who had spoken her name. She looked back to the ground and flicked her hair back into place once again.

“Umm, I’m sorry Rainbow... but I was speaking to... the other Rainbow Dash.” The long fringed pony looked up, only one of her pink eyes visible. They stared at the yellow pony in surprise. Fluttershy smiled warmly at her, trying to make her smile. She knew Rainbow had a wonderful smile, all she wanted was to see it on this other ponies face.

The blue coated Pegasus’s lip quivered for a moment, twitching at the corners, threatening movement. Fluttershy heal her eye contact with the other quiet winged creature, filling her with the infectious smile. Finally, the blue Pegasus’s mouth broke into a small timid smile, her lips parted slightly, and hinted at the shining glimmer of white teeth. There we are, she knew the pony’s smile would be nice.

“You know what!?” The loud voice bellowed through the room, immediately breaking the warm atmosphere between the two ponies. The other Rainbow Dash quickly looked back to the ground, ensuring that she couldn’t do anything to enrage who was speaking. It was the other Applejack, she had a puzzled look on her face and was rubbing her chin with her right hoof in thought. “That just got me wonderin’ what do we call each other?”

The other Fluttershy rolled her eyes, letting a small sigh of exasperation escape her lips. “We call each other our names Applejack, what else would we call ourselves?” The orange pony shook her head, her yellow strands of mane flailing around with the jagged movements of her head.
“Naaahh, I mean... well, there’s two of each of us.” She glanced at the white unicorn and the dragon, “Well most of us anyways, so how do we know which ones any of us is talkin’ ‘bout?” Twilight frowned for a moment, realising their dilemma.
“That’s a good point.” She mused, trying to think.

“I say we stick with our normal names, and just don’t talk TO or ABOUT the other ones.” Huffed the yellow Pegasus still seated on the sofa.
“That’s fine by me!” Agreed Rainbow dash on the other side of the room. Rarity sighed, at the immature actions of the two Pegasy and finally decided to intervene.
“Well, I’m sorry but we all know we aren’t going to be able to let that happen now are we? It would seem that you two are too similar to speak politely to one another, so maybe you should just sit and stay quiet.” The two Pegasy huffed and crossed there forelegs in annoyance, but remained in silence.

“Thank you.” Said the other Pinkie who rolled her eyes over her companion. “But Applejack has a point, how are we supposed to be able to speak with each other if we’re always thinking their talking to the other us?” The real Pinkie seemed to bounce with happiness for the first time since her doppelganger had put her down. She smiled around at everypony, showing of those big pearly whites as she giggled with excitement.
“Well, it’s easy! We just call the new ponies by their nicknames!”

Everypony stared. Each ones mouth hung open at the actually reasonable idea that had escaped the random pink pony’s mouth. Twilight was the first to recover from the shock. “Uhh, that’s a... a really good idea Pinkie!”
“Thankies!” She beamed at her magenta friend, who ignored the latest new addition to Pinkie’s vocabulary. She turned to the visiting ponies.
“So? What do you all like to be called by your friends?”

Each of the visiting ponies looked to each other, frowning slightly as they did. The other Dash bit her lip as she looked up to the unicorn, who smiled at her and urged her with a kind “Yes?”
“Oh, umm... well... my parents used to call me... D-Dashie.” Pinkie exploded!
“REALLY!?!? That’s what I call Dashie! I call her Dashie ‘cos it’s a cute name and it’s also short for Dash, well actually Dash is shorter than Dashie, but I really think that Dashie sounds better, then again”-
“Uhh Pinkie, I think we get it.” interrupted Twilight, she looked to real Rainbow Dash. “Do you mind if we called her Dashie? Seeing as it could still cause some confusion on your part.” The Rainbow pony shrugged.

“Ehhh, no worries, you all call me the same usual thing, it’s just Pinkie who calls me that, so it won’t be that hard.” Twilight smiled at her friends cooperation.
“Well then,” She walked up to the pony on the sofa, “Hello ‘Dashie’ I’m Twilight Sparkle, it’s wonderful to finally be introduced to you.” She held out a hoof, the newly dubbed Dashie looked at it for a moment. She seemed to quake slightly, her eyes glinted in fear as the slightest whimper escaped her lips as she recoiled from the outstretched hoof.

“She only wants to shake your hoof Dashie!” Sighed the pink scarred pony rolling her eyes at the Pegasus’s –at what was in her view- cowardice. Dashie looked over to her leader, and then back at Twilight, who’s hoof still hung there waiting to be greeted. The unicorn smiled.
“Hey, it’s ok. I don’t want to hurt you. You’ll be safe here.” Dashie returned the smile sheepishly, she lifted her hoof and placed it above Twilight’s, they shook for a moment. When Twilight finally retracted her hoof, Dashie did the same. However, for the first time that night, her smile remained. It twinkled discreetly in the corner of her mouth, hidden by her position on the sofa on which she sat.

So... Ummm, what do...you like to be called?” Asked Fluttershy, she began to move across the room towards her counterpart, finally showing some courage smiling at her fellow yellow Pegasus. “I like to be called Fluttershy, but I suppose if that’s what you like to be called, I could find something else.”
“Good, ‘cos I’m not changing what everpony calls me all because of you!” The Pegasus didn’t even have the decency to look Fluttershy in the eye.

“O-oh, ok.” Fluttershy grew quiet and looked to the ground. For what seemed like the thousandth time, the Pinkie Pie double prepared to yell at her yellow companion. But before she could even utter a single word, Big Macintosh finally spoke up.

“Excuse me!” Though he didn’t speak often, his voice right now was strong and demanded everypony’s respect and attention. The other Fluttershy’s head snapped towards him, her anger immediately breaking into surprise and shock. “Now I have no idea what your problem is missy! But you’re still a guest here, an’ I think you’ve been takin’ a few too many liberties with your words! You need to calm down. I don’t know what could have possibly happened to turn this beautiful young thing!” He gestured gently to the quiet Fluttershy who now stood in the centre of the library; she smiled up at the compliment from the large red stallion. “Into this bitter nightmare! But you need to show some darn respect!” finished Big Mac, his eyes stayed locked on the now shocked face of the usually frustrated Pegasus.

“I... uhh-It’s just...I...” The Pegasus spluttered out. Mac couldn’t understand her attitude, one moment she was yelling at everypony in the room, but the second he spoke up, she began to act just like the normal Fluttershy would. Was she afraid of him? No. As he looked into her eyes, he could swear he saw something else. Something just behind those teal eyes was screaming out for him to see it, but what was it.
“Look, it’s late, I think we’re all a bit too tired to really be trying to talk to one another. We can’t get off on the right foot after everything we’ve all been through. Maybe we should just all go and rest.” It was the other Pinkie who had spoken up. She looked around and smiled with difficulty, trying to adopt some of the happy nature of her counterpart. (poorly)

“Yeah.” Agreed Twilight. She did a quick head count of the new ponies, and her face fell. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think the library has enough room for all of you, I’ll gladly let some of you stay, but I just don’t think there’s enough room.” Twilight seemed flustered, but soon her friends came to the rescue.
“Hey, I don’t mind letting Dashie-WOW that feels weird!- ummm yeah, if she wants to she can stay at my place for the night she can.” Dash looked back at the curled up copy and smiled, inside her head Dashie was completely blown away, everypony here was... just so nice! And they were always trying to smile!
“I don’t mind! I’ll stay with Rainbow Dash!” She piped up quickly, speaking the loudest that any of them had heard yet.

“Heheh, well it looks like she’s all set!” Hollered Applejack with a haughty laugh. She then looked down to the still seated version of herself. “So scraggily! You up for staying at the farm with me ‘till tomorrow?” The wild haired Applejack shook her head, pulling herself out of whatever thoughts had engrossed her mind. She looked up to the tamer looking orange pony and smiled.

“Does a tree need bucking?!” she asked enthusiastically. She bounced up from the ground. “Oh, and call me AJ, nice and easy, as long as you don’t mind?” She asked the hospitable country pony, who shook her head and smiled.
Pinkie bounced off of the sofa and jumped towards her own double, she streaked towards the scarred pony, who clenched her eyes shut waiting for the impact that never came. She dared to peak out of her unscathed eye and was greeted by the sight of another blue starring straight back at her. Opening her other eye she examined what had happened, Pinkie had skidded to a halt a mere centimetre away from away from the other mare’s face. She leant on her forelegs, letting her rump and hind legs float in the air comically.

The other Pinkie felt awkward, she didn’t like people in her personal bubble, so why was this pony so completely different to the point where she had to be close to every damn living thing in the room? She didn’t back away, her whole life had taught her to never back down, but she also couldn’t move forward either due to this pony. “Yes?” she asked awkwardly.

Pinkie beamed and bounced away a couple of feet and began to jump on the spot like a bouncy ball. “Woohooo! She said yes!” Everypony stared. Rainbow Dash suppressed a laugh at her friends randomness, pushing her hoof to her lips to quell any sound that may escape. Even Dashie beside her smiled meekly at the funny scene.
“No, no WAIT! I didn’t say yes to anything!” Protested the pony in the centre of the room, who was now free to move once again. She took a determined step forward, obviously growing tired of Pinkie’s randomness.

“Actually...” Pinkie began, her voice distorted by her every bounce that sent a shudder through her body. “You said ‘Yes’ just then! So you did say yes!”
“Ok then! I didn’t agree to anything like you seem to think I did!” fumed the other pink pony. Pinkie froze... mid-jump.
“Oh...” To all the local ponies it was nothing to be surprised about, she always did things that bordered on the impossible, so this was nothing new. But to the new visiting ponies, it was the most unbelievable thing they’d seen. An earth pony able to defy gravity without the help of her friend’s magic. All anger was wiped from the other pink pony’s face, replaced as her mouth made a single “O” in shock.
Pinkie floated to the ground, suddenly very sad looking. “I ... thought...”
“Yeah?”
“I thought, you would like to stay at Sugar Cube Corner, seeing as everypony else has a guest, I was hoping you’d like to stay at”-

“I NEVER SAID I WAS STAYING WITH HER!” Protested the other Fluttershy gesturing furiously at the other yellow pegasus, her temper rising once again! This time Big Mac had no time to respond before the other Pinkie did. Within a flash, the pink pony seemed to vanish and reappear in front of her yellow colleague with the blink of an eye. She stared straight into the other Fluttershy’s eyes, who stared straight back at her defiantly.

“I’m getting sick of this attitude Flutt!” The leader growled. “I know you’re upset. Hell, if anything I know JUST how you feel, but you need to stow it! We now have places to stay until Twilight recovers.” She jabbed the yellow chest of the Pegasus before her. “Show some damn appreciation!” the two stood there for a moment, locked in a fiery stare down. Finally the Pegasus looked to the ground, grumbling a quiet “Sorry” to no one in particular.

“Look, is there some place I can talk to her for a minute. You know...” The scarred pony asked Twilight, looking to the depressed Pinkie Pie who had now sunk to her knees in sadness. “Alone.” She finished. Twilight showed them to the spare room from which she had gotten the blanket, she showed them in and closed the door behind them. She turned to Pinkie and put on a smile.

“Don’t worry Pinkie I’m sure she is just...” The door behind her creaked open once again, everyone turned to see the long straight mane’d pony poke her head put around the side.
“And yes Pinkie, if you don’t mind, I’d love to stay with you at ...Sugar... Cube... whatever.” She smiled then retracted her head to speak to her version of Fluttershy alone.

“Eeeeeeehh!” Squealed Pinkie excitedly! She seemed to inflate slightly as she giggled with happiness at the fact she had a guest for the night.
“Jeez, that pony has some attitude!” Huffed Rainbow Dash.
“Funny...” Jibed Rarity, “She seemed to act a surprisingly similar way to you Dash dear.”
“Well...yeah, but it works on me don’t you think?” Rainbow shrugged, bringing a few smirks to the surrounding ponies lips. “Besides,” She added growing serious. “I’m not that bad... am I?” She frowned with a slight sense of worry.

“Nah, you’re not Rainbow.” Applejack consoled her. “Summit’s got that girl’s goat real bad!” There was a murmur of agreement from the local ponies, but amongst the noises, a small voice was heard. Dashie had cleared her throat. She seemed to be ready to talk for the first time that night, maybe with the loud Fluttershy in the other room, she finally felt able to speak. No. That wasn’t it. The Pegasus began to speak; amazingly, she began to defend the angry yellow Pegasus!