"It can't be her." Rainbow Dash set down her controller and leaned around the TV to get a better look out the window.
"Yo! Dash! You gonna play, or what?"
"Huh?" Rainbow winced as her character got tossed off a ledge. "Damnit, Gilda!"
"Fair game, loser."
"Whatever." She stood up and walked to the window to stare out the window of her dorm at the purple haired girl who'd just gotten off the bus.
"Twilight?" It was her. There was no mistaking those bangs, or those eyes, or her purple skin, and that star she had tattooed on her shoulder was unmistakable even from a distance. "Twilight!"
Her roommate groaned and stood up. "You can't be serious, Dash. She's gone. Just accept—" Gilda's mouth clicked shut and her forehead thumped against the window.
"I'm not seeing things! You see her too." She jabbed the white haired girl in the bicep and was out the door half a heartbeat later. Twilight's back! She wanted to shout it to the halls, but she kept her breath for her breathless flight down the hall, dodging dorm-mates and friends as though it were a crowded soccer field.
She bounded down the stairs three at a time, almost crashing into a blonde girl with a tray of muffins. Then she was dashing out out the lobby and was on the sidewalk in less time than it took to have second thoughts.
But they caught up with her, crashing into her mind with all the weight of a soccer ball to the face. What if she's our Twilight? "What if she is? She might not be!" Her mental voice shrugged and sat back down.
"Some help you were."
She found the girl not a block away from the bus stop, her nose in a book. From behind she was definitely the same. A couple years older, with longer hair, and a thankfully updated wardrobe. Rarity... I spend way too much time with you. But the rest of her... that butt, her shoulders, the way she walked. Please be her.
"Excuse me, Twilight?" Rainbow reached out to tap her on the shoulder.
The book in her hands disappeared as if by magic, and she spun about. "I wasn't reading—" She stared, mouth open. "Hey! I know you."
Rainbow's heart soared.
"You're that girl that was in the news two years ago, aren't you? The one involved in that fancy hoax with my lookalike?"
And her heart shuddered to a stop, along with her thoughts. "Uh."
"How'd you know my name, anyway?" She almost brought the book out in front of her, but stopped at the last moment. "Oh! Let me guess! It wasn't a hoax at all, and all those rumors were true! Oh my gosh!"
"Uh."
"No? Huh." Not Twilight thrummed her fingers on the book behind her back.
"Look... I'm sorry. I think I mistook you for someone else."
"Really? Because my name is Twilight, and you look an awful lot like that other girl who looked like me." She brought the book around, showing off the cover with a picture of that night. "You know, without the wings and the ears."
The title read: Hoax or Reality? Do other worlds actually exist? and the author: Lyra Heartstrings.
Who the heck is that?
Rainbow shook her head. "No. I was..." Think! "Lucky guess?"
"Psh. Lucky guess my butt. What's your name?"
"Rainbow Dash. Look... I'm sorry to bother you. I probably should get back to, uh, studying."
"Rain—I was right! You are that girl. The one with the wings in that photo. And ears! I've seen quite a few photo edits in my day, and that wasn't one. My theory on inter-dimensional portals existing has to be right! I'm even quoted in this book!"
She flipped it open and started looking through the pages, ignoring Rainbow for the half a second it took for her to backpedal.
This girl is... weird. Right, but weird. "Look, I think you have me mistaken for someone else." She continued backing away. "It's been weird, but I gotta go."
Rainbow slowed to an easy lope around the last leg of the track, listening to Rarity natter on about her latest creation and something about business school.
"Rainbow, are you still there? All I hear is heavy breathing."
"I'm still here." She paused, but Rarity didn't continue. "Hey... have you ever met this world's Twilight Sparkle?"
"Opalesence! No!" There was a crash in the background. "What was that, dear?"
"It was the weirdest thing, Rares. She was just like her. Our Twilight, I mean. Nerdy, insightful in weird ways, but she wasn't... she wasn't her."
"I can barely hear you over that racket, Rainbow Dash. Where are you?" Half the racket seemed to be coming from Rarity's end, but Rainbow had no trouble making out her voice despite that.
"I'm on the track." She headed off the rubber matte track and plunked down on a bench to grab a swig of water. "I needed some alone time."
"That's fine, dear, but could you at least shield the mic—Oh, that's better. Thank you. You were saying something about Twilight?"
"Yeah. I think I ran into this world's Twilight Sparkle. I was so excited to see her again! But then it was just... I dunno." She took another swig of water and spat it out. "She knew of us, and the coverup didn't phase her. And she started talking about inter-dimenshiwhatsits. She sounded just like her."
"Because she is her. Just not the same her. Remember, she knew us—" Rarity clucked her tongue. There was a hiss on the other end of the line, and a muffled: "Opalescence! No!"
"I know! It was just so weird to see her and not be able to... connect with her."
"Connect with her? Whatever do you mean? Well, we were all connected at the end, I suppose. Like we'd been friends forever." Rarity clucked her tongue. "Oh. I see. You mean you couldn't connect with her."
Rainbow had once heard Rarity use the phrase 'pregnant pause' to describe a particularly tawdry moment in a film. Right then, she felt the pause was not only pregnant, but also about to give birth.
Rarity giggled. "You know, now that I think of it, I've never heard you call anyone else awesome before."
"Gotta go! Thanks, Rares." Rainbow almost hit end call button right away.
"It's okay, you know. We all love her as—"
"I did not fall in love with her!" She mashed the button and Rarity's voice ended with a beep. "I didn't!"
Rainbow Dash fumbled for the music app and cranked the volume up to full and started running again. Around in circles, retreading the same ground. No matter how fast she ran, she couldn't escape the feeling.
She kept running.
Her eyes stung from more than just sweat, but she kept running. Maybe she could run fast enough to get away from it.
She was going to try.
Fall began to fade into winter and the outdoor sports Rainbow threw herself into began to wind down, leaving her with too much time to think, and too many questions she wanted to answer but was afraid to ask. And a face that kept haunting her dreams.
Making matters worse, her world's Twilight was apparently a new student at Canterlot U. Rainbow kept seeing her all over the place. In the quad, in the Student Center, and even in her private sanctum: the sports complex.
Rainbow tried her best to avoid the girl, but her traitorous feet kept on bringing her back to places where Not Twilight was most frequently. Seeing her face and hearing her voice tore at the wound she'd kept raw since her Twilight had left two years ago.
Her friends kept pushing her and trying to get her to at least talk to the girl. She loved her friends, and she'd stick with them through thick and thin. But she had Twilight Sparkle from another world to thank for that. She couldn't just betray that thanks and move on.
It came to a head one night when she met them for movie night at Rarity's house. Not Twilight was there already when Rainbow arrived, chatting animatedly with Pinkie Pie about what their other selves might be like on the other side of the statue.
Rainbow pulled Rarity aside after a cursory wave, and dragged her into the kitchen.
"What is she doing here?" she hissed at Rarity, surely the mastermind of the whole plan. "You know how I feel about her!"
"We do. We all do. You haven't exactly been..." Rarity waved her hand, searching for the right word. "You haven't been subtle in your expression of distaste. You should give her a chance. She really is quite a lot like the Twilight—"
"Shut up! She's not like Twilight. She can't be."
"Why not? Surely our counterparts on the other side are quite like us. Why can't our Twilight be like theirs?"
"Because that Twilight didn't bring us together. She didn't..." Rainbow groaned. "Look, I don't care if you all like her, but I can't just—" She gritted her teeth and shook her head.
"At least be nice to her. Frankly Rainbow, you've been a real jerk to her. I know she's not your Twilight, but she's still a very sweet person who just happens to be almost exactly like another person that you maybe happened to fall in love with."
"I did not fall in love with her!" The chatter in the other room fell silent, and Rainbow realized that she'd shouted the last sentence. She slapped herself in the face and groaned. "I didn't!" she hissed.
"Oh?" Rarity poked her chest with a stiff finger. "If you weren't in love with her, then why have you been avoiding this world's Twilight?"
"Because—"
"Why have you been acting like a royal pain in the keister?" When she didn't give a reason—or say anything at all—Rarity poked her again. "Because why, Rainbow Dash?"
"Because I—"
Rarity poked her again; harder. "Why?"
"Because I loved her!" She didn't care that she shouted it. "Because she was the most awesome thing to happen to our school. To happen to me! And..." She looked away. "She left before I could say that."
"I'm sorry, Rainbow. Sometimes we just never get to say the things we want to say before it's too late. But she didn't just happen to you. She happened to all of us, and we all love her because of it." Rarity pulled her into a hug, and she didn't resist. "We just think you're taking it a little too far."
Rainbow shook her head. "I just don't want to feel like I forgot her."
The door to the kitchen squeaked.
Rainbow pulled free and turned around to see Twilight standing there, looking puzzled and hurt. Behind her stood Rainbow's friends, all of them looking varying degrees of guilty. Especially Fluttershy, her face hidden almost entirely by her long hair.
Rarity sighed and pulled back on her hair. "Couldn't you have waited just a little longer?" She pinched two fingers together.
"Sorry, Rares. Just..." Applejack leaned forward through the door. "Rainbow, we're worried about you. You ain't been the same since pony Twi left."
"Wait, pony Twi?" Twilight's eyes widened and looked back at Applejack, then Pinkie. "You didn't say anything about—"
Pinkie clasped a hand over Twilight's mouth and pulled her back from the door. "I'll tell you about it later," she whispered, too loudly.
"I don't need this," Rainbow snarled. "You have no idea—"
"Stop right there, missy." Applejack pushed her way past Twilight to confront her friend. "We all hurt when she left. I'm not sayin' forget about her. I'm sayin' you need to let go and move on."
"And what about her?" Rainbow stabbed an accusatory finger at Twilight. "Are you just going to try to replace her with... her? 'Cuz that won't fly in my book, AJ."
Twilight's eyes narrowed. She pulled Pinkie's hand away from her mouth, but only frowned.
Applejack stepped up to prod Rainbow's shoulder. "I ain't sayin' anything of the sort! Stop being so stubborn!"
"I'm stubborn?" Rainbow laughed. "Me? Who was it that refused to even talk to me after Sunset Shimmer pulled the wool over her eyes?" She pulled the brim of Applejack's hat down over her eyes.
"Rainbow..." Applejack pulled the hat off and clutched it tight to her chest. "That ain't fair. I wasn't myself that whole week. Or... y'know."
"Oh yeah? Why not?"
Fluttershy came up close and put her hand on Applejack's shoulder. "We were just..." She blushed and hid her face behind her girlfriend's long ponytail.
"I would've understood." Rainbow stepped up to her friends and clapped them on the shoulders. "AJ, I forgave you because you were my friend. And I was so glad that Twilight got you to see that. But she isn't my... our Twilight."
"I am right here, and I do have feelings." Twilight pushed herself between Rainbow and Applejack. "I'm not your Twilight Sparkle. I never wanted to be." She jabbed at Rainbow's shoulder and leaned forward. "And you saying your friends want to replace her with me hurts, because they don't."
A chorus of assent rose from the four girls.
"I don't care if you dismiss me, Rainbow Dash. But don't dismiss me because I'm not someone you think I should be." She pushed Rainbow back half a step. "Dismiss me because you don't like me."
"You're making it real easy to do that right now." Rainbow pushed aside the prodding finger and stepped back.
"I'm sorry about that, but you hurt me, Rainbow Dash." She didn't sound sorry.
"I didn't—" She looked away from Twilight. Her face came back, haunting her and speaking to her in that voice, so full of confidence and self-assurance. Her friends stared at her, and she sighed. "I can't deal with this. See ya later."
She headed for the first door she could see, opened it, slammed it shut, and found herself in the pantry.
"Rainbow, that's the pantry," said Pinkie's voice.
"Shut up!" She opened it back up and stalked up to Applejack and Pinkie, standing in the doorway. "Let me go."
"We will," Pinkie said, pulling a poster from who knew where. "On one condition. You have to help me run this year's DaringCon downtown next weekend."
"Pinkie!" Applejack stared at the party girl. "That weren't part of the plan! We were supposed to—"
"I'll do it." Rainbow glared at Applejack and started to step past Pinkie.
"Gotta sign first!" Pinkie pulled a pen out from the tangled mane she called hair and held it out. "All volunteers need to indicate their intent."
"Fine!" She snatched the pen from Pinkie's hand and looked over the list of volunteers, most of them she didn't recognize, and scrawled her name below Vinyl Scratch.
"I'll see you this weekend." Rainbow stormed out past her friends.
"Do you think she'll really come?" Twilight asked the other four girls.
"Rainbow's nothing if not stubborn. She puts her name to something, and she's gonna do it." Pinkie passed the flyer to Fluttershy.
Fluttershy shook her head. "I don't feel good about tricking her like this... and I really wish that Rarity had been able to talk her down. But..." She sighed. "I do know her, and you're right. She is fixated on other-Twilight as a perfect person." Fluttershy signed her name just below Rainbow's. "That's not healthy for her; or kind to you, Twilight. I'm in."
Applejack smiled at her and kissed her cheek. "I know ya don't like trickin' her. Neither do I." Applejack signed her name below Fluttershy's. "But she needs to see the truth. I'm in."
Fluttershy wrapped her arms around Applejack's waist and leaned against her.
"Hey, you two! Wait for the con! Plenty of time for snuggles then." Pinkie plucked the list from Applejack and wrapped herself around Rarity. "How about you?"
Rarity didn't even bother trying to pry Pinkie off and sighed. "Of course I'm in. The intervention was my idea." She signed and kissed the back of Pinkie's hand. "But I think you're right. I suppose that we can't just tell Rainbow what's best for her."
She glanced at Twilight. "You really don't know how much she fixated on other-you. Thank you for agreeing to help us help her."
"I'm happy to! You have no idea how surprised I was to get your call. I mean..." She blushed and leaned back against the door. "I know of all of you. But meeting you is something different. I mean, you're all famous!"
"We ain't celebrities, Twi. We're just folk."
Twilight shook her head and tapped her backpack. "Maybe."
Pinkie licked Rarity's cheek. "Come on, y'all. What about that movie I suggested, my little marshmallow? It is movie night!"
"I am not a marshmallow!" Rarity sighed. "I got us that... movie that you insisted on."
Pinkie gasped. "Samurai Biker Babes From Mars? Yes!"
"The things I do for you." Rarity giggled.
Twilight stared. These girls are crazy.
