(In)sanity

"Twilight, how long are you going to be looking through that thing?"

Twilight Sparkle jumped the tiniest bit upon hearing Rainbow Dash's voice so suddenly. They, along with the others, were at her castle waiting for the results, and Twilight was staring at a monitor that she had hooked to a mirror. She had spent the last half hour, more or less, sifting through all the different dimensions she could find, looking for the perfect one. Among all the pet peeves of hers, one of Twilight's biggest was being interrupted during important work, especially work as important to her and her friends as this.

"First off, Rainbow, be patient. With so many of these to look through, it can be difficult to find one that's just right."

Rainbow rolled her eyes in annoyance at being told what to do. For a split second, Twilight had the bright idea to tell her off just for that, but taking a deep breath, she remained calm.

"Second," she continued, "you need to understand just how important this is. Without him, we'll have lost quite a big help to us. Applejack won't be able to run the farm, being too busy getting into the apple cider every night as usual."

Rainbow thought about the apple farmer, and for a fleeting second, an image of Applejack's little sister came into her mind. So many bruises...

"Rarity's little....desires won't be kept in check nearly as much, which could affect the efficiency of her boutique," the alicorn went on.

"You know, at this point, I don't think her scars will ever go away," Rainbow butted in.

"Fluttershy's animals," Twilight persisted as if Rainbow hadn't talked, "might get it in them to attack her if they get enough strength and sense."

The pegasus believed that even without their helper, the animals wouldn't have it in them to rebel against Fluttershy. After all, they've seen what happens to those who do...

"Pinkie won't be as efficient with her treats."

Dash then considered that Pinkie seemed to be the most distraught over his leaving, but at this point, the only thing on her mind was to get through Twilight's lecture.

"I won't be able to get nearly as much research done."

A mere scoff from the pegasus.

Hearing the sound, Twilight turned around in her chair and raised an eyebrow. "Even you have to admit that your job has lost something big ever since our helper left."

Rainbow nearly fell asleep from Twilight's speech, having been reminded of this information many times before. But at the mention of her job being affected negatively ever since their assistant left, she brought her head upright again in attention. "Well....maybe a little..." she grumbled quietly. She didn't like to admit that she needed help sometimes.

"You see?" Twilight asked. "That's why we need to do this, so be patient." The alicorn turned back to the monitor, watching all the different images and versions of other dimensions flash by, waiting for it to stop on the best match.

"Well, that's not all, Twilight," the cyan mare stated. "No matter which one we find, he won't be nearly as good as OURS. Don't you think he might not be so willing to go along with all of this?"

Twilight gave a little chuckle at the ridiculous question and turned back around to her friend. "Rainbow, you need to have more faith in me thinking these situations through. If he isn't so willing....we'll just have to make him like it," she said with a grin.

As she looked at Rainbow, the glow of the monitor flashed different colors, indicating the different dimensions being scanned. However, as she made her chilling yet casual statement, she noticed that the flashing stopped. She turned back to the monitor to see what the best match would be. The info on the creature shown on the monitor was displayed to her, and the more she read it, the more a devious smirk spread across her face.

"Perfect...."