The Wrong Side of the Mirror

Rainbow Dash picked up the cigarette butt her human self had dropped and she had stepped out. “Shouldn’t have done that,” she said to herself. “Just one little smoke. Nopony would have ever known, and it would have calmed me down. But to late for that now. And probably for the better that way. I don’t actually want to smoke any more. Also, I’ve promised Scootaloo.” She dropped the butt again. Shouldn’t it be getting easier to resist the temptation after some time. Why do I want one more and more?

“Hi Dashie!” Rainbow heard Pinkie Pie’s voice calling her. As she looked in that direction, she saw her friends leaving the school building, walking in her direction. Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were easy to identify, looking similar to their pony counterparts she knew, the last one had to be Sunset Shimmer. “Haven’t seen you in history lessons today.”

“’Course not. Didn’t want a history lessen to be my last one before spring break. Boooring. And I’ve only skipped once before this semester, won’t be in serious trouble until the third time.” She just repeated what her human self had said to her so that her friends would not get suspicious.

“Totally can understand that.” Applejack smiled at her. “Almost fell asleep. Next time just tell us, we’ll skip with you.”

“That really isn’t funny,” complained Sunset. “They sure won’t throw you out after saving this school twice, but you’re here to learn something, not to skip or sleep through classes.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I won’t inherit Sweet Apple Acres Co-op until I graduated. But why do I need to know about some stupid people that lived two thousand years ago for that? Now let’s talk about something more interesting. We got one week off, time to celebrate that.”

“And combine that with getting something to eat,” suggested Rarity. “There’s a new hamburger restaurant not far from here, and it’s supposed to be really good. Not that cheap stuff you get at Burger King or McDonald’s. I’ll invite you all. Are you in?”

“As long as there is meat to eat, I’ll be in for anything,” agreed Rainbow, licking her lips. “I’m starving. Lead the way.”

“You sure were right when you said this wouldn’t be the cheap stuff like elsewhere.” Applejack frowned as she saw the prices on the menu. “I don’t know if I can afford any of this.”

Rarity patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about that. I’ve invited you, I’ll pay the bill.”

“Well, in that case, I’ll take the largest cheeseburger they have with extra fries and a coke.”

“Same for me.” Rainbow Dash didn’t know what the differences between the hamburgers would be, so copying Applejack’s order seemed to be the reasonable thing. She was feeling slightly guilty as an animal had to die for that, but the anticipation of trying something new made that up. And that animal is already dead, she told herself, not eating it would not make it alive again.

Rainbow’s mouth was watering from the smell of the burgers. She took hers in her hand and bit out a large part of it. Yes, it tasted as great as it smelled.

“You look like you never ate a hamburger before.” Sunset Shimmer looked at Rainbow Dash as she was slowly chewing on her meat patty.

“Of course I have,” lied Rainbow Dash, her mouth still full of food. “Just looks like I’ve forgotten how good they taste.” She took a sip for that strange, black, sweet, sparkling drink name Coca-Cola and ate another bite of her burger. I should come here more often.

“I’ll be outside for a short smoke,” announced Applejack after they had finished eating. “Wanna come with me?”

“Sure.” Sunset took a filter cigarillo out of her pocket. “You too, Rainbow?”

Smoking. Well, of course it had to come to this sooner or later. For a moment she just wanted to say yes and have a cigarette with her friends. The temptation was greater than ever, especially as her human version still smoked and her friends would expect her to do it. “Nah, I’m trying to smoke less. Gotta get better at running.” Yes, she thought, that was a good excuse. Smoking less never works for long, so her friends would not wonder when my other self still smokes as much as before.

She was intrigued by the fact that Sunset smoked. Applejack did it in her world, too. It was common around farmers, and loosing her parents at early age surely didn’t help either. But Sunset didn’t look like the person to pick that up. Well, she probably had her reasons.

After they had finished smoking and Rarity had payed the bill Sunset spoke up. “Finals are coming two months after the holidays, and if you don’t want Ds everywhere, we should better make good use of the week off. What do you say, want to come over to me for some studding?”

“Seriously, Sunset?” complained Applejack. “This is our last holiday before we graduate, and you want to do some boring learning?”

“As much as I hate to say it, she kind of is right,” said Rarity. “Those are the most important tests of our lives, we have do do something for them.”

Applejack sighed. “Yeah, unfortunately. Work first, fun later. I’ll be there, but I still don’t like it.”

“Just go ahead,” said Rainbow Dash. “I forgot something at school. Gotta fetch that first.” It was time to go home to her world and leave the studding to her human self.

“Sure, we’ll wait for you,” said Sunset. “But don’t dawdle.”

“I never dawdle.” Rainbow ran off towards the high school. As she reached the portal to her world, she took a look at the clock of her cell phone. It had almost been two hours since her other self left and she was nowhere in sight, so Rainbow decided to go ahead and get her back. She stepped against the portal, and bounced off.

Rainbow tried again. She hammered her fists against the surface, she kicked it, finally she gave up. “I need Twilight’s help. Only she knows how to open the portal. And the only way to reach her is Sunset’s book. Now how do I ask her for that book without making it sound too suspicious? And what would I give for a cigarette right now!”

As Rainbow Dash reached the throne room of the castle, Twilight wasn’t there alone with Spike any more, but accompanied by four other ponies. Rainbow gave them a quick look. They look similar enough to her friends to be their pony counterparts. “Hi there,” she said. “What are you doing here?”

“Same as you, Rainbow,” replied Twilight. “Helping my with my letters. Ever since I became the Princess of Friendship, I’m getting way too much mail from ponies all around Equestria asking for help with their friendship problems. Spike already takes care of the trivial questions, answering them with something like ‘Talk it out with your friend and find a solution or compromise,’ just in more fancy words, but that still leaves too much for me while still doing my other duties.

“So Rarity agreed to take care of those about clothing and high society, Applejack answers those about family and farming, Pinkie Pie those about parties and pastry, Fluttershy those involving pets or other animals, and you those about flying and sports. But don’t you already know that, Rainbow?”

“Yes, sure. Somehow forgot.”

“Rainbow Dash, what’s wrong with you?” Twilight looked at her friend “You’ve been acting strange all day.”

“I, well, I don’t know if I can tell you.” Rainbow looked away from Twilight.

“Of course you can.” Twilight put down her letters. “How should I help all those ponies if I can’t help one of my closest friends. Just say what happened, and we will find a solution.”

“Well, let’s just say, I might have done something very stupid. And it might not only be a problem for me, but also for someone else.” Rainbow’s eyes filled with tears.

“Rainbow,” said Twilight, “whatever you might have done, we surely can forgive you. You’re one of the best friends we can have. You helped to defeat Nightmare Moon. You chose us over you old friend Gilda. You saved Rarity’s life at the young flier competition. You helped us beat Discord and Chrysalis. The last one twice. When Rarity’s turned into Nightmare Rarity, you stopped at nothing to bring her back. You were willing to give up your chances of fulfilling your life’s dream of becoming a Wonderbolt to stay loyal to us. You risked your life and broke about every bone in your body destroying that gremlin cloud threatening Ponyville. And last but not least, you took an important part in opening that chest, beating Tirek and getting me this shiny new castle. So just tell us what happened and we will work it out together. Nopony will be mad at you.”

“Twilight, I have never done any of that. I’m not even your Rainbow Dash. Okay, have to tell you the truth. Me and your Rainbow Dash though it would be a good idea to switch places. Well, mostly me, she actually wanted to stop me in the end, but I didn’t listen. It was supposed to be just for one afternoon to see if anybody finds out. But when I wanted to go back, the mirror was closed. Looks like I’m stuck here.” She looked down at the floor.

“First, it’s ‘Your Rainbow Dash and I’, not ‘Me and your Rainbow Dash,’” Twilight corrected her, “and second: Don’t you know that you shouldn’t mess around with interdimensional portals? Those things are dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing. Now you see what happened. And the other Rainbow Dash is trapped on the other side? I just hope I can fix whatever damage you did.” There was some anger in her voice for the first moments, but it quickly changed to helpfulness.

“I’m sorry,” said Rainbow Dash. “Should have thought about that before. But you can fix that, Twilight, can you?”

“As I said, I hope I can. First I have to figure out what is wrong with it. This mirror is a thousand years old, and even I don’t completely understand the magic in it. But I’m sure I’ll figure something out. And don’t worry. You may have done something stupid, but you could not have seen that coming. It’s not your fault.” She gave Rainbow a smile.

“You’re not mad at me?”

“Of course not. You might not have done all the things I mentioned before, but you helped me reform Sunset. And when we were up against the Dazzlings, yes, at first you where a bit of a jerk, but you realized what you had to do in time and saved the day. You may not be our Rainbow Dash, but you’re still a good friend to me.”

“Thanks. Glad to hear that. By the way, does anyone have a cigarette for me. Haven’t smoked since I came here ’cause your Rainbow said she stopped two weeks ago, so I really need one now.”

“Sure.” Applejack produced a pack of Gauloises Blue from under her hat. She took one in her mouth, then tossed the pack to Rainbow. “Keep the pack. I think Twilight might take some time reopening the portal.”

“Hey, no smoking in the throne room,” Twilight warned them. “You can go to the smokers guest room, or my private smoking room. Or just outside. And for the rest of you, looks like we won’t come to answering letters today. I got a mirror to fix.”

“We could still get some done without you,” objected Rarity. “Good luck with that mirror. And don’t worry, Rainbow. Twilight will solve this. She always does.”

“And Rainbow,” said Pinkie Pie, “next time you do something like this, take me with you. Visiting another world without anypony knowing sounds like fun. Well, maybe without that being trapped there part.”

“Sure thing, Pinkie. But now I do need this cig. You’re coming, AJ?”