Lazing on a cloud above Ponyville, Rainbow Dash basked in Celestia’s sunlight while she rested.
A cool breeze swayed her cloud like a boat, gently rocking her to sleep as the cloud drifted through Ponyville. It was a nice and relaxing moment, a peaceful break from her usually hectic life.
Being a Wonderbolt, an Element of Harmony, a part time teacher, and marefriend to the hottest alicorn on Equestria wasn’t easy, but by Celestia was it fulfilling.
Still, she needed the occasional break. A chance to slow down and appreciate the seconds ticking by. She earned a lazy Saturday, and by Celestia was she going to enjoy it.
The only thing that made her afternoon nap better was the sound of her marefriend’s wingbeats fighting to land on her cloud. Even After months of having her new appendages, Twilight was still clumsily trying to get used to a fully-grown pair of wings.
Landing on the cloud, Twilight quickly glanced around as as she stretched a wing over Rainbow.
“Hey gorgeous,” Rainbow Dash complimented.
“H-hey… Gorgeous?” Twilight replied awkwardly, earning a glance from Rainbow.
“You okay, babe?”
“Y-yeah, of course I am b-babe, baby, baberinooo, my babe, heh-heh I’llshutupnow,” she muttered.
Well, that was a lie. Sitting up, Rainbow looked at Twilight as the alicorn avoided her gaze.
“Twi, what’s up? You seem...”
“Seem what? Different? I’m not different, I’m normal, everything’s normal, totally not different,” Twilight rattled off with an awkward laugh.
“I was gonna say ‘flighty’, but yeah. Seriously, Twi, what’s up? Something going on?”
“Well, I…. I thiiiink we should take a vacation somewhere! Very far! Like, where nopony could find us. Just you me and nopony else. Certainly not another version of me or anything.”
Raising an eye brow, Rainbow Dash glanced away as she lightly bobbed her head. “A vacation?”
“Yup! I think we earned one, right? Just you and—”
“Me,” another Twilight finished, teleporting next to the pair as she blasted the first Twilight away.
Gaping like a fish, Rainbow Dash froze as the new Twilight wrapped her hooves around her. “Oh, thank Celestia, you’re okay!”
“W-what just happened?” Rainbow asked, nudging herself away from Twilight as she looked over the edge of her cloud.
“Changelings. We don’t have time, Rainbow. Follow me, I know—”
A burst of magic tore through the cloud, swallowing Twilight whole as Rainbow Dash was teleported into a dark alley. A familiar magenta glow wrapped around her, pulling her into another Twilight.
“Rainbow, oh my Celestia! You’re okay! They didn’t touch you, right? They—”
“Knock it off!” Rainbow yelled, shoving Twilight away as her eyes darted to the sky. “Tell me something only the real Twilight would know, or I’m bucking out of here!”
The new Twilight gnawed on her lower lip, doing that little nervous jig that Rainbow thought was absolutely adorable. Twilight’s wings fluttered as she bounced on her hooves, reminding Rainbow of all the times she spent calming down the alicorn inside her castle. It took all of her self-control to not jump right into protective marefriend mode, at least until she could know this was her marefriend.
“Um-you-you snore in your sleep when we cuddle and it’s really cute!” Twilight blurted out.
Relaxing her wings, Rainbow heaved a sigh of relief as she fell to the ground. “Twi… What the buck is going on?”
“Okay, soooo… You remember that world peering spell that would have theoretically allowed me to look into alternate worlds of Equestria using the same frequency as Discord’s snaps to create a black hole anomaly contained in a theoretical—”
“Slow down the nerd, Twi. In Equish,” she groaned, rolling onto her back to stare at the open sky.
“Right, sorry. I was really close to finishing a spell I was working really hard on and some other Twilight from another world did it before I could so she brought every Twilight over to her world to brag and she was so mean about it so I said, ‘well at least I have a marefriend,’ and then every-me was laughing and said I was a liar and I proved we are dating so now they’re trying to date you because they’repatheticallydesperate!” She rattled off.
“… What?” Rainbow Dash blinked.
“It turns out that I’m kinda the only Twilight in the known multiverse who ended up having a marefriend and now every-me is jealous of me and is trying to foalnap you for-for cuddles and things! Things Rainbow! Thiiings,” her Twilight explained, grabbing Rainbow’s face and pulling it close to hers. “Things that only married ponies can do like-like hoof-holding and long trots on the beach and co-writing a thesis paper on the dynamics of the marital life between a mortal and immortal!”
Twilight’s right eye twitched erratically as they broke off, pacing up and down the alley as she tried to formulate a plan. All the while, Rainbow Dash was completely lost in her own world as Twilight muttered to herself.
“We’ll need to go somewhere they won’t think to look, possibly an alternate Equestria away from here posing as that world’s Rainbow Dash and Twilight. It’ll be fine since my doppelgängers are all here, but the Rainbow on that world may be a problem. If I can formulate a spell matrix maybe I can—“
Rainbow barely had time to react as her third Twilight erupted into a puff of smoke, vanishing as the latest Twilight glided down into the alley.
“Oh, come on!”
“Rainbow Dash, I came to rescue you.”
“How the buck do I know if you’re the real Twilight?!”
“I'm obviously the real Twilight, Rainbow. Ask me anything."
"I asked the last one too! You'll need something better than that!"
"Oh, please, Rainbow. When have I ever panicked that much?”
“All the time!” Rainbow yelled as she sat up, letting an odd thought strike her as the taller Twilight trotted towards her. “… Oh. Buck me.”
“Sure thing, babe.”
“N-not what I mean! I have a marefriend!”
“I know. But I could be better,” Twilight’s twin offered huskily before a blast of arcane magic washed over her.
“Stay away from my marefriend!” The hopefully real Twilight roared from the other end of the alley.
“Twilight, pleeeease be the real one,” Rainbow pleaded as Twilight flicked an ear in annoyance.
“Of course, the Great and Powerful Twilight is the real Twilight. She’ll always be here to help you, little Dashie.”
“… Ah crud.”
Rainbow Dash was sitting at Sugarcube Corner with the rest of her friends as yet another Twilight vanished. The new Twilight rushed over to their table with genuine relief washing over her face.
“Rainbow, there you are, I’m sorry about this whole mess but—“
And, like the others, Twilight’s twin was sucked through a portal as a foal Twilight took her place, babbling something as Pinkie Pie swept her into a hug.
“Aw, who’s a cootie-patootie-fake-a-roonie? You are! Yes you are, yes you are!” Pinkie Pie cooed to the adorable foal.
“I think it’s safe to say that she’s not the real Twilight, either,” Rarity said, leaning back into her seat as they enjoyed a few rare moments of peace.
Rainbow finished off an Apple Cider, courtesy of Applejack when she heard about the mess, and planted her face into the table with a groan.
“Ya’ll alright, Dash?” Applejack asked, earning an eyeroll from the mare.
“Super. My marefriend just invited every version of herself here to have a wing measuring contest, and they’re all sore losers. How the buck do you think I feel?!” She snapped, glaring at the farmer while Fluttershy rested a comforting wing over her friend.
“Don’t worry, Rainbow, I’m sure Twilight will fix this. Um, the real one, I mean,” she clarified as she glanced at the purple foal.
“And if she can’t then we can always take you to the mirror pool and give everypony their own Dashie to take home. Isn’t that wight, wittle twi-wight? Who’d get a mawe-fwiend? You would! Yes you would, yes you would,” Pinkie Pie babbled.
“Pinkie, no, just… No,” Rainbow refused, reclining in her seat with a tired sigh as she glared at the ceiling.
She barely reacted to the blinding flash of light next to their table, revealing a fully-ascended Twilight who towered over them.
“Rainbow, I’m your Twilight from the future. I need you to come back to my timeline so we can keep you away from my past alternate selves.”
“Three, two, one,” Rainbow counted, and like clockwork another flash erupted next to the taller Twilight. A regular unicorn mare planted her hooves on the table, brushing past the all-powerful princess as she tried to sell her own time travel story.
“Rainbow, I’m Twilight from the past and, oh Celestia’s fetlocks, why are you here?! You’re too old for Rainbow Dash!”
“I’m from the future. What’s you’re excuse?”
“Liar! I’m from the past and—”
The foal in Pinkie’s forelegs took the opportunity to strike both Twilights, sending them both back to their respective dimensions as her magic enveloped them. Rainbow forgot which Twilight explained that to her.
All she could remember about her was that it wasn’t a unique Twilight like the foal or the Trixie Twilight or… The stallion that just trotted in.
The lavender alicorn stallion that just trotted in…
That… That broke something. Rainbow wasn’t sure what, but it definitely broke something in her.
“Rainbow Dash, I—”
“Buck no! You’re not tricking me into thinking that you’re Twilight! Get out!”
“Well I—”
“Actually, you know what? I’ll leave. I gotta do something really quick.”
“But we could—”
The youngest Twilight once again took full advantage of the stallion’s distress, and the imposter was ejected from their reality.
Rainbow trotted through Ponyville square, not even bothering to talk to any of the Twilight’s that tried to get her attention. Weaving through the crowd of desperate hooves and glowing horns, Rainbow Dash flew to the top of the Castle of Friendship and landed on a balcony.
Another Twilight met her on the balcony, trotting outside of the castle with a bundle of books floating in her magic as she tried to hug Rainbow.
“Rainbow, you—"
“Up-up! Save it, I’ve already heard ‘you’re okay’ enough! No, I’m not okay, I’m bucking mad! I don’t know or care if you’re the real Twilight or not. I’ll kiss you if you give me a speech amplifying spe—”
“Done!” Twilight easily agreed, casting the requested spell with a flash of light as she closed her eyes and leaned forward with waiting lips.
Twilight did end up getting a kiss of sorts, at least if a super-sonic hoof to the muzzle counted as a kiss. Still, it did what it needed to, knocking the mare out cold as she slumped to the ground.
Rainbow should have probably felt bad about sucker punching that Twilight in the face… No, no she definitely should have felt bad. Didn’t mean she did though.
Trotting towards the railing, Rainbow took in a deep breath as she called out to every Twilight in all of Ponyville.
“TWILIGHT!”
This was going to hurt a lot. She just wasn’t sure who it would hurt more.
Just treat like a band-aid. Rip it off and get it over with.
“Twilight, if you can hear me…. I’m breaking up with you!”
Heavy silence washed over the town, maybe even all of Equestria, as her voice reverberated in the wind.
And in that deafening silence, she heard a sound that broke her heart.
Blinking away her own tears, Rainbow Dash flew off into Ponyville, crashing down next to a sobbing Twilight as she pulled her into a tight hug.
“Shh-shh-shh-there-there Twilight, it’s fine, I’m not leaving you, I’m not leaving you,” she quickly consoled, letting her crying marefriend sink into her forelegs as she balled her eyes out.
Rainbow Dash could hear a few guttural apologies between sobs, each one breaking her heart a little more as she tried to calm down her marefriend.
“Shhh-shh, it’s okay, Twilight. Let it out, that’s it. I’m still here. You’re not… You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” she tried to joke before one of the other Twilights awkwardly coughed in her hoof.
“What?” Rianbow hissed, causing her marefriend to flinch as she sunk deeper into their hug.
“Well, the other Twil—”
“I don’t bucking care! I don’t know what I’m like on your planet, but I’m the Element of Loyalty here, jerks! I’m a one-mare pony show, and that isn’t changing! So buck off creeps!”
“But—”
“I’ll tell every single Celestia what a bunch of creeps you’re being!” She threatened.
A chorus of terrified gasps rung out in the air, before a series of pops and flashes announced their immediate departure from her dimension.
She didn’t bother to see if everypony left or not, she could do that after making sure her marefriend was okay. It was all that mattered to her.
“Um-I-huh-I-I’m sooreeee,” Twilight sobbed, earning a tighter hug as Rainbow gently rocked her.
“It’s okay, Twi. We’re cool, everything’s cool. Just let it out.”
Everything would work out in the end. After all, she had the best marefriend in the multiverse. Faults and all.
