Chapter One: Getting into some Zap Apple jam!
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It was early one morning, and Rainbow Dash was slowly flying through the skies. A lot happened recently, with her being kidnapped by changelings and fighting and defeating the Storm King. But out of everything, she became a Wonderbolt…a Wonderbolt after years of work and toiling through all the challenges and heartache. She was now sailing through the skies, letting the wind hit her face. It felt like she had everything: good friends, a wonderful life, and a dream fulfilled. But something felt empty, the thrill…that part of her that desired the feeling of facing danger or doing some insane stunt, the risk and reward of pulling it off or crashing. Then the idea came to her: how about she wake up by doing a Sonic Rainboom? It's been a while since she did one, and it would feel good just to let out some steam! She then soared through the skies, and as she gathered speed, she felt energy surge through her as a massive explosion rippled behind her; she squeaked, seeing a rainbow tear in the sky. As she went through it, all around her was a beautiful plume of rainbow colors streaking around her as she was whipped through the skies and slammed down towards the ground and then as she broke through a bunch of trees, she skidded onto the ground, breaking her landing. Rainbow Dash then looked around seeing the dozens of apple trees around her. It didn’t take long to recognize she was in Sweet Apple Acres, recognizing the rows of apple trees, then she heard a loud Crack and turned to see a massive blue-coated stallion with a short rainbow mane and tail and wearing a cowcolt hat. Rainbow Dash eyed him as she first mistook him for Big Mac, but the coat color didn’t match; im fact other then being a bulky earthpony stallion he looked much like her. She then slowly trotted over and asked, “uh…hello?”
The stallion turned to face her, rather surprised, and said, “Uh, hello, mam. Are you lost?”
Rainbow Dash was taken aback, surprised somepony in Ponyville wouldn’t recognize her, then snapped back, “What, no! In fact, who are you, and what are you doing here!?”
The stallion tilted his hat with a smug grin and said, “I'm Zap Apple, and I've been helping the Apples run this farm since I was a colt. Now, how about you tell me what ya doin’ here? This here apple orchard is private property.”
“What are you talking about!? I come here to visit Applejack all the time?!”
The stallion scratched his mane, “Well if Applejack’s your friend, I’m sure I would’ve seen you by now?”
Rainbow Dash started getting scared and angry as she snapped, “I could care less if you know me or not! I'm going to go find her!”
She flew off, looking around the apple orchard, scanning for any sign of her best friend. Then she saw the orange-coated earth pony not far away, landing near her and waving a hoof. “Applejack!”
The mare looked over and eyed her as she stepped back. “Um, who are you?”
Rainbow Dash stopped in her tracks, her heart freezing in her chest. “Applejack, stop joining! Is this some kind of prank? Is that just Big Mac in disguise!?”
The stallion looked at her as if she were crazy and asked, “Um, no? And whose Big Mac?”
Rainbow was now starting to get scared, “no, wait! You have to be a Changeling!” she flew over and looked her over as Applejack scoffed, “I am no changeling! Now, what is with you!? If anypony is actin’ like a changeling, it's you!”
Rainbow Dash flew back and shouted, “I’m no changeling either! I'm Rainbow Dash, your best friend, and this isn’t funny anymore!”
She then heard something and saw the big blue earth pony coming over, looking stern as he said, “Applejack, has this pegasus given you any trouble?”
“No, she ain’t; she just seems confused.”
Then Rainbow Dash felt something similar when she caused a Rainboom. She turned to see the sky above and watched in awe as bipedal creatures emerged from it. Rainbow Dash recognized them instantly as the minions of the storm king. It wasn’t long before she heard screams from Ponyville.
Rainbow Dash didn’t take a second to think about what to do next as she, Applejack, and Zap Apple were rushing toward the town.
In the middle of Ponyville, the storm creatures were smashing homes and dragging scared ponies into the middle of the square as more poured through massive rainbow portals. They were now gathering the ponies, enslaving them in shackles as a blue-coated unicorn sporting silver armor and hoisting a flag bearing the emblem of a burning sun flying over him. His stone-cold glare looked among the ponies and shouted, “I am Captain Nimbus! This is but a taste for what is to come as you must be ready to welcome your new ruler of this Equestria Princess Day Breaker!”
The stallion slammed his flag into the ground as he removed his sword and poised. “Now kneel!”
Many of the ponies stood there, but most were forcibly placed onto their knees. Soon, most were doing it of their own free will, too scared, and then somepony shouted.
“Not if I can say anything about it!”
Then he turned to see Rainbow Dash slamming next to him, dirt flying everywhere, her eyes glaring as she shouted. “You will let these ponies be, or get ready to get your flank kicked!"
“Don’t forget about me!” the massive stallion she met early slammed next to her as he looked up, tilting the hat on his head, and said, “This pompous windbag needs to learn a lesson bout messin' with Ponyville."
The knight just scoffed as he held up a hoof and shouted, “These are your champions! Some peasant and this mare!" Lightning started to spark from his horn as he reared his head and then shouted, "Come then, let's see what you can do!"
Then, the rest of the creatures started to surround the two. Zap Apple then lowered his head and whispered, “I don't know you, but for now, we both wana to stop this crazy colt, so we work together to stop this, agreed?”
“Agreed,” Rainbow Dash replied, seeing she had no choice. Then one of the storm creatures attacked, and Zap Apple slammed her hooves into its face, sending it back smashing into one of his comrades while Rainbow Dash flew up, missing two as they collided into each other. Zap Apple then took out a lasso, tied one of them, and started to swirl him around, knocking a couple more as Rainbow Dash bucked and hit left and right, slamming one after the other as she circled around in circles like how Zap Apple was and their motions started to create a lightning storm zapping and knocking out the rest of Nimbus’ minions. Then the knight came forward as his eyes filled with lightning, and lightning started to shoot out of his horn. “Don’t think I will go down so easily as those fools!”
He was about to send a blast of lightning at Rainbow Dash as Zap Apple lassoed Rainbow Dash out of the way, then threw her up in the air and ran right at the knight as he bent his head, readying his horn this time, Zap Apple anticipated the lightning jump up and took his lassoed his muzzle then jumped over and slammed him down onto the ground. As the cowcolt got up, Nimbus was about to ram him with his horn, but then they heard a massive Boom! Everypony looked up in amazement as a rainboom appeared above them; a blast of rainbow enveloped the entire field, and the two blinked and looked up to see Rainbow Dash standing on top of the stallion as he struggled under her, shouting, “Unhoof me, you cur!”
“Such naughty language for a knight in Shining Armor!” as Zap Apple started to tie him up with the lasso, the storm creatures started to jump back through the rainbow-colored tear, and the stallion shouted but couldn’t as his minions fled, and the tear disappeared, Then, as the danger passed, many of the ponies around them started to clap and cheer. Just as six ponies came running into Ponyville, Rainbow turned to see she recognized most of them as her friends except for a red-coated pegasus with a straw-colored mane blinking in confusion as she groaned, “Aww, we missed all the fighting!? I wanted to show off a new trick!”
Rainbow Dash blinked, looking at the red pegasus with confusion. As she was about to say something, she felt queasy, and every muscle in her body seemed not to want to listen to her. As she began to lose her footing, the pegasus felt lightheaded and then fell backward, as she felt two massive hooves catch her before everything went dark.
Later that day, Rainbow Dash groaned as she lifted her head, trying to gauge where she was. Looking around, she saw a massive room filled with bookshelves, a trophy case, and some plowing equipment. Then she looked to her side to see a massive stallion sitting by her bed reading a book. He looked towards her and, with a sigh of relief, “You’re awake.”
She groaned, slamming back down, and said, “I was hoping that was all just some crazy dream.”
He came forward, wiped his forehead, and said, “You’re telling me the last few hours were nuts? The princesses came down, and they took that crazy stallion away to their dungeons. Meanwhile, I’m being praised as a hero despite trying to tell them if it weren’t for you and doing that sonic rainboom, I'd probably be dead.”
“Oh, stop! You saved my flank, and you deserve some praise. I'm starting to realize that this might not be my universe anyways.”
Zap Apple turned to her and said, “Twilight mentioned something like that while I took you over here. Especially what Applejack saying somthin' about knowing her, but she doesn't know you.”
Rainbow turned to see a bowl of soup and a mug of cider on the table. “Is that for me?”
“Yeah, it’s some cider, and Granny's cream and mushroom soup thought it could help.”
Rainbow got up and ate her food, which was okay, but she eagerly drank the mug of cider, enjoying every last bit of it. As she wiped her mouth, she then asked, “So, another universe? Ho…how did I come into another universe?”
Zap Apple sat down next to her bed and simply shrugged, “I can’t say for certain, that's something some egghead like Twilight will know.”
Rainbow Dash snickered. Seeing so much in her in this stallion made her want to know more about him, so she asked, “Alright? So why not tell me about your life? Why are you here in Ponyville?”
“Ah well, been born and raised here my whole life by to two pegasi no less; parents were quite surprised to birth an earth pony; nonetheless, they loved me, and I simply found I had a talent growing Zap Apples and been here helping the Apples farm ever since.”
“I see, so what about that red-coated pegasus? I don’t recognize her.”
“Oh, Candy Apple!? She’s quite a show mare. I've been trying to be a daredevil, going to fairs and performing ever since I knew her as a filly,” he then took a draught from his mug of cider as he chuckled, “She and her friends are the ones going out to save Equestria. I mainly just stay here and take care of the farm.”
Rainbow scoffed, seeing that if this stallion was anything like her, that wasn’t the only thing he does, and asked, “Oh, if you’re like me, you have bigger ambitions than that!”
“Well, I said I help out on the farm. My true passion is competeing in rodeos. Heck, I went to the big Rodeo in Canterlot last year and won nearly every blue ribbon!”
Rainbow sighed in relief, then said, “See there, that proves it! You’re me! Despite it, you’re like a Big Mac Rodeo star mixed with my personality!”
“I still don’t know who this Big Mac you’re talkin’ bout, but sure? So what about you? what ya do in your universe?”
Rainbow blushed a little as she started to talk about herself, “Me, well, I saved Equestria by turning Nightmare Moon into Luna, stopped Discord’s rampage, helped the Crystal Ponies and stop Sombra from returning, helped Twilight defeat Tirek, stopped the Storm King from taking over Equestria, and became a Wonderbolt!”
Zap Apple chuckled and said, “Is that all? You didn’t become a princess, too, and now you have a kingdom?”
Rainbow couldn’t help but snicker at Zap Apple’s sarcastic remark, then said, “No, my friend Twilight became a princess; I'm just a pegasus.”
The stallion rose, stretched his limbs, and replied, “Well, it seems we have some similarities, except you’re a hero, and I’m just a simple farmer.”
Rainbow felt a pang of regret, just lambasting her glory a little. She then trotted to the trophy case, admiring the dozen blue ribbons inside, and said. “Don’t sell yourself short; getting all those blue ribbons is quite an achievement. I bet you even gave all the prize money to help Ponyville?”
The stallion was surprised to hear this and asked, “How did you know?”
“My Applejack would’ve done the same; in fact, when she competed, she didn’t earn any blue ribbons at the Cantelot rodeo and tried to gain enough bits by working at a cherry farm.”
The stallion paused, and he couldn't help but chuckle and replied, “That’s funny, my Applejack did the exact same thing?”
They both paused for a second, and then they started laughing, and Rainbow Dash felt another pang in her chest thinking about her Applejack, Ponyville, and all her friends. She started to feel sad and depressed as she said, “But now I'm stuck in another universe, and I can't get home…" Rainbow Dash couldn't hold back, tearing up a little and crying, "I’m stuck here forever.”
Zap Apple slowly came over, and she looked up into those two big magenta-colored, caring looks in his eyes as he said, “Rainbow, listen, I don’t know you that well, but you saved my life and helped my Ponyville. The least I can do is help you get you home, and I promise that’s what I'll do.”
Rainbow felt in her heat. Zap wanted to help her, but the problem was he was just an earth pony. Feeling abit angry, she blurted, “But how!? I'm sorry, but you don't have magic powers, and you're not really smart, as you said! So how can you help me if you literally can't do anything!"
Zap Apple stepped back, clearly not really knowing how to respond as he stammered, “I’ll…I'll ask around; I'm sure somepony has to know how to get ya home, ok? I'll do research, ask Twilight, I'll beg the princesses if I have to. I promise I ain't gonna just leave you high and dry." Rainbow then started to stumble as Zap went by her, aiding the mare up on her hooves as he suggested, "You're still pretty beat from the fight; why don’t ya rest?”
The pegasus tried to get back up on all fours, wanting to support herself, but every muscle in her body was aching in pain, so she lay there against the big oaf and grumbled, “Fine…if I'm gonna be bedridden all day I might as well read, do you at least have some Daring Do books in this universe?”
The stallion laughed as he helped her to the bookshelf she had noticed before and then saw that it was completely filled with Daring Do books. “Help yourself.”
Rainbow got up, having enough strength to look through, chose a few titles she hadn't read before (or weren't written in her universe) and plopped them on the bedside table, looking forward to reading them all. She then gave one more look around the room and, with a confused look, asked, “Hey, if I'm using your bed, where will you sleep?”
The stallion pointed a hoof towards a sleeping bag with some pillows. “I’m comfy here.”
Rainbow was taken aback. It was a nice gesture, but this was Zap Apple’s room, and she did not feel comfortable stealing his bed. “No, I'll take the sleeping bag. You can sleep in your bed.”
The pegasus squeaked as the stallion laid her down and tucked her underneath some blankets like a filly, “Now stop your frettin’; you saved my life, and you get to sleep in my bed.”
The pegasus didn’t like this arrangement; seeing Zap Apple was way too nice for his good. In fact, he's been nothing but kind since they met, despite not knowing each other. Rainbow sighed, seeing a lot of the Apple's stubborn, kind nature in him, so fighting back would be like talking to a brick wall, so she relented. “Fine, but that just means I still owe you.”
“Well, if you're up for it, how about you help me with some chores tomorrow? That'll probably help keep your mind off things and pay me back abit while my friends find ya way home?”
“Fine, I've helped my Applejack buck apples before; it’ll be fun.” Rainbow yawned as she picked up a Daring Do book and started to read. She then spent the next few hours engrossed in the adventure of Daring Do trapped in the Underworld and having to explore a labyrinth full of traps and monsters! It was exciting, and she continued reading until her eyelids grew heavy. Then, she fell back on her pillow, dreaming of herself stuck in a labyrinth with Daring Do, searching for a way to get home.
Later that afternoon, Rainbow Dash was going around Sweet Apple Acres, flying up and picking apples from apple trees, placing them down in the baskets below. She wasn't paying attention to what she was doing, and she did her best to keep her mind busy and not think about being stuck in a different dimension. Zap Apple slowly trotted over, pulling a wagon with barrels filled with apples. The stallion looked up and said, "Wow, you got nearly all the apples here."
Rainbow looked around, rubbed the back of her mane, and apologized, "Yeah, sorry, I help my friend Applejack now and again."
Zap laughed, "No, need to be sorry, you've been quite helpful."
They then poured the apples into a barrel, and Candy Apple flew over, Rainbow Dash peering up as she said, "So you're Rainbow Dash, huh?"
"Yeah, what about it!?"
"Well, seeing another pony from another dimension is super cool!? What is it like? Do you have flying carriages!? Do you have princes instead of princesses!? Are there towers made of cheese!"
"What, no!? My dimension is almost exactly like yours except… well…" She looked at Candy Apple for abit longer, her red coat, blonde mane, and bright green eyes. "Um, you look very familiar to my friend's brother?"
Candy's eyes went wide, and she started to get giddy with excitement. She squealed, "Wait, hold on in your universe. Applejack has a brother!"
"Yeah."
Rainbow winced as she turned towards her, feeling abit embarrassed as she continued her train of thought, "And that means….well, you know…"
“What should I know!? Tell me! The suspense is killing me!”
Zap came over, ruffled her mane, and added, "That means in Rainbow's universe, you're a dude." He then threw his mane back and, with a cheeky smile, added, "And you look a lot like me."
Candy playfully pushed back. "Oh, buck off! Like we need two of you!"
Rainbow Dash was starting to trot away, but the red-coated pegasus flew over and asked, "So, is anything else interesting? I mean, what is this other me like?"
"Oh well, he's a big earth pony, definitely less talkative…sorry, that's all I got. I don't talk to him all that much."
"Oh, come on! You gotta give me more than that!"
Rainbow Dash started getting irritated, but Zap trotted over and nipped his friend. "Candy, stop asking our guest so many questions."
"Fine," The pegasus blew on her mane and followed with a moody look on her face. After putting the barrels of apples into a barn, they returned inside, where Granny Smith had some apple pie with cider. Rainbow Dash loved this stuff, but it still didn't ease her feeling homesick for being with her friends. Zap Apple sat back and asked, "So, are you feeling better?"
Rainbow Dash swished the liquid in her mug, taking a swig, then said, "A little; the cider helps."
"That's good to hear."
"Yeah, thanks for everything, letting me stay here, the food, the company…it means a lot."
"It's the least I can do for saving my life."
"Alright, you gotta cut that out! I told you you don't owe me for that!"
"What, it's true?"
"Well, it just means I still owe you, even if I knocked out half the harvest all by myself."
Zap Apple gave a hearty laugh, and then they heard.
"Get a room already!"
"Granny!" Zap shouted in response.
Then they heard a knock on the door, and then the two got up and went to see who it was upon opening the front door. Rainbow Dash stepped back, looking distraught, seeing a copy of herself, a rainbow-colored mane, light blue coat color, and magenta-colored eyes; the only difference was that this copy had her mane covering the left side of her face. She looked rather cheerful as she waved a hoof. "Hey, you're just the ponies I came to see!"
The other Rainbow Dash stared at the other with her mouth agape. She rubbed her eyes and asked, "Is this real?"
The other version of herself chuckled and then said, "First time seeing another version of yourself, huh?"
She turned to the big blue stallion and said, "Guess the second…or third considering the Day Breaker soldier…"
Rainbow Dash pointed at herself and then added. "But they well…are stallions and different you…you look almost exactly like me."
"Yeah, uh, if you haven't figured it out, there's a lot like me, or us, to be exact."
She then sniffed the air, "is that cider!?"
The mare flew in, took a glass, and chugged it down. "Oh, you have no idea how good it is to find a universe with good old Sweet Apple Acres cider!"
Granny Smith then trotted downstairs and asked, "So you travel to other universes!?"
"Yeah, you wouldn't believe the other Sweet Apple Acres variants are out there, ones that grow pears, peaches, watermelons, you name it. They all have their signature drinks: sweet teas and lemonades, sodas." She then took another draught, "but nothing hits it like Sweet Apple Acres cider.
Granny perked up in pride. "Well, thank you! I didn't know my cider was so popular! You could help me with marketing!"
"Trust me, no one beats old-fashioned cider, Granny Smith."
She gave her a hoof bump and asked, "Mam, would it be okay if I talked to my variants in private? It's not that I don't trust you; this information is top secret, ya know?"
"Of course, "she said, placing another jug down. You all just drink as much cider as you want; we had a lot left over."
She then left, and the three sat down together. They all started drinking. The suave Rainbow Dash asked, "So we're all variants of the same pony, so ask any question you want?"
The other Rainbow Dash then asked, "So, um? What's going on here?"
"Sorry, I should've explained," she then took out a piece of bread and some zap apple jam and poked it with various blobs of peanut butter as she continued to explain, "so I don't confuse the heck out of you. First of all, there is a multiverse represented by the peanut butter."
She then took out a jar of Zap Apple Jam and connected the blobs of peanut butter with lines of the rainbow-colored jam, "and then across these various dimensions, Variants of the Element of Loyalty or those connected to it and a lot of them seem to have a knack of accidentally causing rifts, mostly through using a Rainboom as most of are pegasi, but there are other instances as well with some using science or magic."
Rainbow blinked, looking abit overwhelmed as she replied, "So what you're saying is, I broke my dimension with a rainboom?"
"Kind of, yeah."
"So…am I in trouble?"
The other Rainbow Dash gave a sigh and then said, "Sadly, you broke Dimension code number six thousand thirty-two and will be placed in Dimension Jail for the next ten thousand years."
Rainbow's mouth dropped as there was a moment of silence, then the mare burst out laughing, "Oh my Faust, you should see your face!"
Zap Apple snickered as he nudged his friend, "You believed her!?"
She chuckled nervously, seeing she was being pranked, and asked, "Okay, ha ha, but seriously, did I do something wrong?"
"What no!? Most pegasi variants accidentally break the dimensional barrier all the time! We simply come by, figure out which dimension you belong to, and send you back, easy peasy."
Rainbow Dash excitedly exclaimed, "So you can get me home!?"
"Yup,"
The pegasus flew up, feeling a rush as she realized she was going back to her own dimension. She shouted, "That's Awesome!"
Zap Apple then held up a hoof, "that explains her, but what about that crazy knight version of us? What was that all about?"
"Oh, him? My partner is taking care of that; I promise he'll be sent to his own dimension soon."
The stallion continued to eye her suspiciously, then asked, "There's something else? Why are you holding stuff back."
She looked at the stallion, getting rather serious as she said, "Listen, you two seem like good, honest ponies; you don't want to get mixed up in this…"
"If it affects my world, I do want to be mixed up in this as you said."
Rainbow sat down and said, "Yeah, please tell us why he came here."
"Alright, well, there's a group of Variants unlike us trying to create an interdimensional empire using evil versions of us as weapons. This problem is massive, and we're doing our best to control the situation."
Zap Apple scoffed as he snapped, "It doesn't seem you have."
The suave Rainbow Dash took offense to Zap's comment and then snapped, "Well, nothing's perfect, but we have kept these idiots from literally tearing the fabric of reality apart. So how about you learn to keep that big mouth shut!"
Rainbow's eyes lit up as she started to get excited, "We? So you have a society of Rainbow Dashes flying around, saving the multiverse! That's so awesome!"
Her copy then shrugged, "Yeah, that's close enough."
She then took the zap apple sandwich, ate it in a few bites, and then chugged down the rest of her cider, "but that's my problem, how about we get you home." She then took a device other forehoof and set it then a beam hit the air creating a swirling colored hole. "Just walk through that, and you'll be back in your Sweet Apple Acres…if that's what it's called in your dimension."
Rainbow Dash peered inside and slowly trotted towards it, then turned to see Zap Apple looking at her, shaking his head. "No," she paused, peering into the void. Then she thought about what this other person had said and considered the consequences if she had just left all of this. She shook her head, stepped back, and said, "No."
"Huh, what do you mean no?"
"No, I'm not going. If there are evil versions of me out there threatening the multiverse, I have to stop them."
The other Rainbow Dash eyed her as that calm demeanor was gone, "listen, you have no idea what you're asking for."
Zap Apple got up and titled his hat, "I agree with my friend here. If our worlds are being threatened, we gotta stop them, so stop stalling and show us where to sign up."
"You two aren't ready," Rainbow Dash flew to his side as the suave version of herself got up and pulled back her mane, which made Zap Apple and herself step back. There, on the left side of her face. Her face was covered in an inky black smoke pouring out of the side of her face, with his left eye a dark green color with magical essence oozing off of it. "There are universes where things don't work out, somewhere we don't make it, others…" she peered downwards and whispered, "Where were the only ones left."
She pushed her mane back down her face and added, "You two seem like good versions of me. You have friends and family who care about you, right? So don't make this decision lightly."
Zap Apple paused as Rainbow Dash's heart pounded in her chest, seeing how this version of her seemed like two opposites: this happy, cheerful pony and this broken pony with some horrible past, losing all her friends. Then she raised her head and said, "I don't know what you've been through, and I get what you're saying, but if we don't do something and our worlds are in danger, and we end up losing our friends and family it would be worse as we had the chance to stop it and did nothing."
Zap got up and tilted his hat. "My friend here is right. We understand the risks but are willing to do whatever it takes."
Her copy eyed them, then shrugged as she relented, "Alright, don't say I didn't warn you."
She then pushed a few buttons on her device, and the swirling colorful hole shifted as she threw a hoof. "Come on."
Rainbow Dash looked forward into the magical, colorful swirls, knowing she was risking her life but knowing deep down she had to help. The mare gulped and followed after the other versions of her into the portal as it closed behind her.
The two blinked, and now they were suddenly in a massive lobby made out of some rainbow-like essence. As she trotted along, it felt like walking on glass, and there was a loud clopsound as she and the others. Rainbow then started looking around her, seeing the area was filled with tons of versions of her pegasi flying about, earth ponies, and unicorns floating cider drinks and talking. There was a massive court where ponies tossed a ball across and threw it into hoops. There was a massive library field with Daring Do books and versions of her cosplaying as the famous adventurer. Rainbow then looked around as a massive roller coaster lopped around the building, with cars filled with screaming ponies. The blue-colored pegasus eyes were wide as she looked around, unable to focus on just one thing as their escort held up a hoof, "Welcome to the Society of Loyalty. It makes it easy to see that not everyone is named Rainbow Dash."
"Finally, somepony gets it," Zap chuckled as they continued, and another portal opened. An alicorn version of herself walked through with her mane long and flowing around her, not unlike how Princess Celestia had hers, with the knight they fought earlier, knocking out floating in her aura.
She then came over and kissed their escort on the lips, and they just embraced each other for a moment. Then the alicorn looked over at the other two and asked, "Who are they?"
"Just some greenhorns wanting to try out to be agents."
She looked them over, then scoffed, "They won't make it past tryouts." She threw her wings, which were quite large and way more majestic looking than hers, giving them a few flaps as she flew off, leaving a trail of rainbow dust behind.
Rainbow looked up at the majestic alicorn fly off as she whispered to herself. "Who is she?"
Their escort looked up at her longingly as she said, "She's my partner."
Zap chuckled, then asked, "In what way?"
The pegasus flashed him a smug grin and teased back, "In the ways that matter, big guy."
She then pushed them to an office where she saw an Earth Pony version of herself. She looked similar with the same blue-colored coat, but her rainbow-colored mane was tied up in a ponytail, and she wore a lab coat and thick glasses. The mare was typing away at various screens, which appeared around her in the air, filled with rows and rows of formulas and weird symbols scrolling around her like an endless rain of data. This made Rainbow's eyes gloss over how complicated it all looked. Then a brown-coated stallion wearing a green tie ran over and shouted, "Honey, just got word the Day Breaker Capitan Nimbus has been captured!"
"Good, move to make plans for Shadowbolt to start interrogating him. We need to know when Hurricane and Tempest's next moves are."
"Considering his psych profile, it'll be difficult to get anything from him?"
"Yes, but we have ways around that? Shadowbolt will get him to talk."
She then turned to see the others and laughed, "Speak of the devil." She hopped down and held out a hoof, "What's up, Shadowbolt?"
"Prism," they bumped hooves. Prism looked over and asked, "Huh, you brought some friends, I see?"
"We got two variants who are up for tryouts."
She pushed her glasses and eyed them," these two?"
"Yeah, they want to be agents."
She scanned them with the device on her hoof, then nodded as two data-filled screens popped up. The mare looked them over for a few hours, “they both have potential. What do you think, honey?"
The brown-coated stallion looked them over and gave a few nods of approval, "Very promising candidates; you know how to pick them, Shadowbolt."
"Thanks, it's a talent."
Rainbow eyed her as Zap scoffed, "Seriously? We practically had to pull our teeth to get you to let us come here?"
"Hey, what can I say? I had to see if you two were serious."
Prism then cleared her throat loudly as they all turned to her; she adjusted her glasses and said, "If you two are done, Tryouts begin tomorrow at seven AM sharp. If you want to become agents of the Elements of Loyalty, I suggest being here on time, as both of your dimensions are synchronized with ours. You can stay here for the night if you want to avoid being late."
Rainbow Dash blinked, then exclaimed, "Um, wait!? Shouldn't I tell my friends where I am?"
She sighed, took out a hoof device for each, and said, "This will get you back here; just push the red button at six AM."
Rainbow groaned, "Six, seriously!?"
Prism got into her face and snapped, "Yeah, you wana to be early for warmups; you want this, right?"
Rainbow slowly nodded and grumbled under her breath. Then Shadowbolt came over and said, "There it is. Miss it. Well, I'll come back for those bracelets, and you can forget helping us deal."
The two both saluted and exclaimed, "Yes, mam!"
Prism then returned to her desk, started plugging away at the various screens floating around her, and said, "Okay, now that we've got that over with Shadowbolt, we need to talk to you," she then looked over and nudged her muzzle towards the other two and added, "alone."
The pegasus nodded as she escorted the other two out of Prism's office. Then, she closed the doors behind her and said, "Now, you're free to stay if you like, but I'll leave that up to you. There's a lot to explore here." She then gave a sharp salute before heading back into Prism's office.
As the two sat there, she left, and Zap turned to Rainbow and, with a blush, replied, "So, uh… I guess you get to go home now."
Rainbow shrugged and said, "Yeah, I uh gotta try to explain what's going on to my friends at least, I guess…and um…guess you gotta talk to your family?"
"Yeah, they uh probably wana know where I am too? The Apples also think we just vanished into thin air."
Rainbow let out a burst of laughter and then said, "Applejack will go nuts, and Celestia knows how Candy Apple will react. But um…Thanks for helping me; I hope to see you tomorrow at tryouts?"
Zap started to look abit down as he whispered, "Yeah, me too…though...did you see how Shadowbolt looked? I mean…what if she's right? What if we're not ready for this?"
Rainbow thought about it, wondering what happened to Shadowbolt and what she might've lost, "As I said, this is scary, but if we don't do something to help, I feel like we'll regret it, ya know? we gotta try."
"Yeah, guess you're right."
They then both clicked the buttons on their bracelets, opening separate portals. They then both smiled at each other before going through them back to their own dimensions.
