This was originally done as a simple sketch to cheer up a dear friend ( who is now back online as well as on Twitter, so be sure to look her up!) but I thought that with a little bit of coloring work it would be a fine way to celebrate the new episode tomorrow, featuring another team-up of what has become a classic pairing on the show. There are, I feel, some duos on the show that are perfectly complimentary in nature... Not only do they reside on completely opposite ends of the personality spectrum, but somehow that draws out something quite favorable in each when they collide. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are one such a pairing, often put together to balance out the extremes in each other. "Hurricane Fluttershy" is probably my favorite episode featuring either of them as a result. Pinkie and Twilight are often paired as well, with the silly and the serious bouncing off of each other as they investigate Pinkie Sense, try to stop time, solve cake-related mysteries, hawk Princess-quality books or approach solutions to Yak relations.Tomorrow's episode revisits what I consider to be the most dynamic of these pairing in the show, one that the writers and artists always seem happy to revisit: Rarity and Applejack. Unlike Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, their opposite personalities aren't really born out of flaws that they must overcome (timidness and insensitivity, respectively). Their strengths are actually much the same... both are very hardworking mares running their own businesses, helping to raise their younger sisters. Their differences lie entirely in personalities and preferences, making for perfectly justifiable viewpoints that often simply come from completely opposite directions. And that, I think, is what makes them so much fun... They are equals. Their differencesdefine the plotline, but they certainly don't have to take center stage. As a result, even when the story isn't built around their differences, there are always opportunities for them to bounce off of each other in entertaining ways. The writers and artists are quick to take advantage of this, constantly drawing the two characters together over and over again to the point that their interactions have become comfortable while never dull.As a result, I'm always looking forward to their next team-up! I also take a certain amount of comfort in the duo as a reminder that you don't really have to share the same mindset in order to share a close bond with another. Sometimes it's enough to simply enjoy each other's company, despite the differences. These days when everything seems more and more partisan, it's a nice reminder that things don't always need to be that way.