Friendship is Gambling

A dense fog wafted freely throughout Luna's room. It lingered for a long, long time, and then, at last, Rainbow began to see the pony standing before her.

It was none other than herself. "Whoa," Rainbow exclaimed ecstatically while eyeing her up and down. "Cool! That is so... amazing! How'd you do that? Is that really me? Can I race her sometime? Will she be faster than me?" She gruffly huffed after asking so many questions all at once. "Why... is she here exactly?"

At that, Luna said, "To help you, of course."

Rainbow looked back at her clone again, and admired her features. Soon enough, though, she realized that there was something small, and insignificant either missing or added in. "Huh?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"That... is so that I might be able to tell you from your very own counterpart."

There was a much more art deco style in the way that this Rainbow Dash held herself. She wore the same outfit, but it furrowed differently. Her mane was just a tad bit shorter, and she seemed a little bit skinnier, too. Even her demeanor, and the way she was looking at Rainbow was more pouty rather than bold and brash the way the real Rainbow was.

"I'm pleased to meet you," she said politely.

Rainbow just chuckled, and replied, "You sound very chic." She then looked at Luna, and said, "This is... amazing, Ms. Luna."

Her Highness merely smiled, and nodded quite kindly. "Why thank you, my caring servant... By the way, that reminds me." She looked at the other servant, and said, "I shall address you as Ms. Bow."

While Luna had been speaking, she had also been using her magic to tie a red ribbon around Ms. Bow's neck. She blinked her beady eyes at the Princess, and then and Ms. Dash, and said, "I'm going now..."

Ms. Dash was a bit confused, but she just held her tongue for a few moments. When Luna failed to reply, she asked, "That was... unexpected... I don't even know what we're doing yet!"

Luna gulped, and cleared her throat after a moment more. "I'm sorry," she said. "Tonight isn't actually sex oriented. I need you for something important. She was informed prior to all of this... Your assignment for tonight is a simple one, so I expect the two of you to be finished fairly quickly."

Luna told Rainbow of her duties, and she got to work. For a long while, she was cleaning all by herself in a very lonesome, and long hallway. It seemed to stretch on and on forever, so as Rainbow just kept cleaning, she began to stare, and stare.

"Which way... did I come from?"

Her echo bounced off the walls in an odd manner, and as she continued to trot, she noticed that the sound of her hooves were somewhat different, and louder as well. She wasn't cleaning anything anymore. There were no turns, and no other ponies for a long, long time. She just kept going down the path that she had chosen. In time, she started galloping, and panting, and huffing by all of the uncleaned, and dusty ornaments that aligned her left side.

They were repeating without end.

"What's going on?! What is this place?!"

The windows to Rainbow's right were all shining so intensely that Rainbow couldn't quite see through them. She just kept running, scared of her situation. In time, she collapsed on the red carpeting, and her vision faded in and out thanks to her overwhelming exhaustion. "Where... am I...?" She then saw somepony else come up to her at last. It was none other than Ms. Bow, and she was staring down at her counterpart servant with a smile. she laughed for a second, and then heard Ms. Dash say, "I don't remember... there being a never-ending hallway of hell in Canterlot."

Ms. Bow simply smiled, and said, "This is the hallway that links our two worlds." Rainbow just stared at herself oddly. "She wanted to... clone you for tonight, but she couldn't. When she realized this... she reached out to another world, and here we are."

Rainbow merely stared in Ms. Bow’s direction, and then after a pause, she asked, "You're telling me... that you're me from another world?"

Ms. Bow nodded, and she then tossed Ms. Dash a rag, and said, "Yep. Basically, this hallway hasn't seen a good cleaning in a long time, so..."

She then started to hover, and Ms. Dash asked, "What's the big idea? Where do you think you're going?"

Ms. Bow looked down, and stated simply, "You won't really be needing that rag, by the way. The decor in here isn't going anywhere. In case you haven't noticed, it's stuck! All of it is stuck! So, the easier way to clean all of this is to...?"

Rainbow raised her eyebrows, and asked, "No matter how fast we fly?"

"That sounds like an offer to race!"

It was quiet, but then Rainbow came level with Ms. Bow, and smiled. "You're on..."

They took off together sporadically . Their spectrum rays and speeds swept the dust off all the ornaments, tables and shelves easily. The whole time, Rainbow stayed side by side with her new friend.

When they finally reached the end, Ms. Dash came trotting tiredly up to Ms Bow. They stood at a magnificent gate, and a world unlike anything Rainbow had ever seen was just beyond it. She knew, though, that she couldn't go there just yet, and instead, she had to stay with Ms. Bow for a very little while longer.

"I... guess I'm not allowed to come with, huh?"

Ms. Bow frowned. "No, I'm afraid not... at least not tonight."

Rainbow looked away, and then dared to ask, "I wonder... if you... knew that I had feelings for you... would you find that creepy, or satisfying?"

"We're from other worlds."

"You didn't answer my question."

The golden mist in the air was still.

Ms. Bow closed in, and allowed their equally blue lips to touch. It was for less than a second, and she then swiftly backed away, saying, "G'bye, Ms. Dash..."

The mare just kept her hoof extended, and then, she noticed that she was touching a blank wall.

Ms. Dash was standing strangely at the end of a hallway that ended with a few turns, and she looked back to see Princess Luna standing behind her.

"Thank you for getting that taken care of for me... By the way, that was quite the beautiful show," Her Highness said pleasantly. It was sprinkling outside, and Rainbow trotted ever closer towards her dear, and loving mistress. They embraced one another happily at the end of the night, and turned in for bed shortly after getting themselves something to eat.