//------------------------------// // Apples to Apples, Dashies to Dash: Part 1 - The Exchange // Story: Sharing Beat Up Stories // by Graglithan The Greater //------------------------------// Sunday morning crawled it’s way into Sunset’s eyes as the sun did the same into the sky. With a few muttered curses, she sat up in bed and glared at the window, now that the light wasn’t hitting her eyelids. “Maybe this is why my mother named me Sunset. It’s the antithesis to the very occurrence I hate most first thing in the morning.” Even as she was muttering about the sun waking her up too early, she couldn’t help but feel some nostalgia at the event. It wasn’t like it was the first time the “sun” woke her up early, much to her protesting. The sensation of nostalgia crept up on her. Those were the days; desperately trying to remain within the comfort of a mountain of plush toys, and play tug-of-war against a slightly irate princess. A small pang of guilt hit her heart from the memory, but she shook her head and marched over to her bathroom, getting ready for the day. “No time to think on her right now, Sunset. We’ve got a big day today.” Staring herself in the mirror, she sighed and rubbed her face before continuing her morning routine. “You also really need to stop talking to yourself. People will think you’re crazy.” With her teeth brushed, body clean, and outfit looking as sharp as ever, Sunset gave herself a once over in the mirror before her phone started to go off with a string of text messages. Applejack: Morning girls! Rarity: Good morning. Is everyone ready for today? Pinkie: Abso- tootly- lutely! Fluttershy: I hope Rainbow doesn’t sleep in too much. Rainbow: I’m up! Geez... Sleep in on something important once, and nobody lets you live it down. Fluttershy: Sorry, Rainbow Chucking, Sunset picked up her phone and started leaving the apartment, remembering when they were scheduled to perform one morning, and their lead guitarist was asleep for another two hours. Adding her own texts into the mix, the fiery-haired girl started walking around to the back of her apartment. Sunset: Morning girls. Rarity: Good morning, Sunset! I actually had a quick question for you. Sunset: Oh? Rarity: Will I need to bring anything with me when I cross over? It just occurred to me that I might be mistaken for my counterpart. Sunset thought about it for a moment as she got to her motorbike. “Hmm... that’s a good question.” She spent a minute leaning against her bike in thought, trying to figure how Twilight was planning on handling everything on her side. When she couldn’t think of anything, she decided instead to trust her royal friend. She was about to add her thoughts to the group chat when she saw that one of their friends was thinking similar. Rainbow: I don’t think so, but I’m pretty sure Twilight has a plan or something. Egghead and all that. Rarity: Really, Rainbow Dash? There’s no need to be like that. Rainbow: What? She is! Like, she and Sunset keep making my head spin from half the stuff they go on about! Applejack: She’s got ya there Rares. Rarity: Oh hush, both of you. Snickering at the three’s messages, Sunset tucked her phone away and started up her bike. With a roar, her ride came to life, and she tore down the road to the school. The wind in her hair felt phenomenal, in her opinion. The high speeds were the closest she’d get to flying without leaving the ground, danger included. It brought back memories of chariot rides as a filly, and her Dad giving her tours of places only pegasi could go. A part of her wondered if he was still running that blimp service he started. Shaking her head gently, Sunset put her focus back on the road. She had places to be. Twilight was pacing in front of the door leading into the portal chamber/relic storage, or as Spike liked to call it, Twilight’s ”I just really like these books, and you can take them from my cold dead hooves” room. The guards customarily stationed at that door since the entire debacle involving a certain pegasus leading a makeshift crusade into another world were currently off duty at her order. To be fair, The princess had mixed feelings about Lemon Zest and Sugarcoat, as well as the rest of her new guard, but they seemed like decent enough mares. Still, it didn’t stop her from wishing her dad’s and brother’s influence as a former captain from ensuring that any stallion would never make it into the first enlistment of her branch. She kinda wanted to see for herself what she missed out on as a filly while reading all those books. Especially after Sunset shared that certain little secret she’d kept since her time as Celestia’s student. She wasn’t desperate. Honest. The thought of her being desperate was absolutely insane, and by no means Cadence’s fault for reminding her of how single she was. The lavender alicorn’s immediate concerns kept interfering with that line of thought, however, as she was more worried about how the day would go. After all, planning a meeting across dimensions was a rather tall order. Twilight finally stopped her pacing and turned to her assistant, who was leaning against the wall looking bored. “Spike, is this still a good idea? What if they all fight again?” Her mane started to fray as she sat down and played with her mane. “What if it malfunctions and half of our friends are stuck as the wrong species forever!? What if the mirror closes or breaks and they’re trapped on the wrong side!? What if it shrinks them!?” Spike, in contrast, took a deep breath and sighed. “Twilight. You have been up all night, making sure every last detail about the portal was properly maintained, clean, and was as up to date as possible. You made me go out and get a new mana coil, at midnight, just to ensure everything was working. I think everything is going to be fine.” “But what if it isn’t Spike!? What if it--” Twilight’s lips were pinched shut by her assistant before the Royal Voice V.4 could escape any further. “Twilight, calm.” Spike patted her on the neck for a moment before letting go of her lips. The lavender princess took a moment to glare at the drake, before performing the same stress relief technique her sister-in-law showed her as a filly. After a few iterations, Twilight’s mane began to return to normal, along with her stress levels. “Spike, thank you. I needed that.” The young drake smirked as he crossed his arms. “That’s what I’m here for.” Rolling her eyes a moment, a smirk of her own grew as the lavender alicorn pulled the young dragon over for a hug. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Still somewhat smirking, Spike looked up. “Probably go insane?” Twilight’s hug remained the same, even though she gave him a light noogie in retaliation. “Don’t ruin the moment.” The sound of hooves from down the hall made both of them perk up and look to the hall’s end. “That must be the girls. Can you double check the portal for me?” Giving his surrogate sister a salute, Spike headed for the door leading to the portal room. “Sure thing, Twilight.” Alone in the hallway once more, Twilight took a final deep breath and stood tall. “Alright. Let’s do this. And I’m not saying anything else on the matter, cause I’m not going to jinx this.” Putting her bike into park and dismounting, Sunset quickly spotted her friends at the statue. A smile graced their faces as they noticed her walk over and adjust her coat. “You know, I really should start heading out earlier. I’m almost always last to these meetings for some reason.” “I know, right? Like, whenever it’s something important, you’re late, but if it’s anything else, you’re practically first. It’s like the world’s pulling some stupid joke on you.” Rainbow added, throwing her arms up as she leaned against the side of the statue. The party planner of the group rolled her eyes a bit, standing a bit to the soccer star’s left. “That, or the Author was being lazy and didn’t want to write everyone showing up one at a time and instead spent at least five days reading instead of writing like they told themselves they would.” Everyone blinked at the surprisingly judgemental tone that Pinkie just used, before shaking their heads. It was just Pinkie being Pinkie, after all. There was... no reason she was correct about that. None at all. Despite Pinkie glaring at something off in the distance, the girls all diverted the topic back to their plan for the day. “So, Rarity, Fluttershy, you two ready to cross over to Equestria?” “As ready as we can ever be.” The fashionista adjusted her hair a bit and put her compact away into her tote bag. A few papers could be seen peeking out, and Sunset raised an eyebrow. Rarity blushed as they noticed them looking curiously and waved a hand. “I know you all said that we wouldn’t need anything, but I can’t help but want to bring over some of my work, even if it is just the sketches. Maybe after all the talks are over with my counterpart and I can talk about fashion. Without Sweetie adding her two cents, this time.” The butterscotch girl nodded with a small smile. “Um, I didn’t bring anything like that, but I think it would be easier for us to talk if there were some animals nearby.” “Well, she is technically you, so I can see that working.” Sunset tapped her chin and hummed for a moment before the journal started to buzz. Taking a peek inside, she smirked and nodded to the girls. “Well, that was Twilight. She says she’s ready for you two to come over.” Rarity and Fluttershy shared a glance before the former scooted the latter closer to Sunset, getting a small eep out of the girl along with a panicked stare at the dressmaker. With a bashful smile, the animal caretaker turned to the former unicorn. “We’ll be back before you know it.” At Sunset’s sudden lack of vocal ability, Rainbow made a small gagging noise behind her back, unnoticed by the two who caused it. Applejack, however, just chuckled and tipped her hat towards the shy girl and fashionista respectively. “We’ll be waiting, Sugarcube.” “O-Okay, Um, I’ll see you later?” The butterscotch girl took a few steps back before looking at Rarity and heading for the portal. Both were hesitant for a moment but stepped through when they found their hands able to slide through the marble. The girls remaining on this side of the portal all decided to sit down for a moment, with Applejack laying on the grass, Rainbow leaning against the statue, Sunset on the sidewalk with her legs to the side, and Pinkie on top of the monument giggling. “So, what exactly are we gonna do once they’re here?” The soccer star asked eyebrow raised. “I mean, I get that we’re all gonna talk about what happened and all, but knowing me, my counterpart’s gonna want to do something other than talk.” The fiery-haired girl chuckled a bit and pointed a thumb over her shoulder. “That’s why I picked the soccer field for our meeting. Once you two are done talking, you can probably have an impromptu match.” The prismatic girl smiled widely and pumped a fist in the air. “Sweet! Maybe she can teach me how to kick like she did!” Sunset felt a bead of sweat drip down her cheek. I doubt it, Rainbow. Applejack tipped her hat back a moment to smile at the two. “Ah’ll probably just do some rope tricks with the other me while we’re waitin’ for Dash to finish up that match. Y’all said our counterparts were a bit older than us, so maybe she can show me a thing or two.” Pinkie perked up. “Yeah, that’s true! How old did you say you were again, Sunny?” Before Sunset was forced to answer such an embarrassing question, whatever divine being existed in this world saved her with the shimmering of the portal, as Rainbow and Applejack’s counterparts stumbled through, slightly off balance. The Equestrian Rainbow managed to catch herself, but her friend landed much less gracefully and pushed herself off of the ground afterward. Much to the high school girls’ surprise, the outfits of the two were different than the last time they came through. Rainbow’s counterpart looked to be in a blue, military grade flight suit, with her trademark rainbow bolt sewn into the breast pocket, along with a few medals and a single gold, winged lighting bolt pin, and a flight helmet on her head. The prismatic soccer player had to blink at the sight, thinking that somehow her counterpart had gotten into her home somehow. Applejack’s counterpart, on the other hand, left the farm girl feeling a bit dumbstruck. There was something about the orange n’ peach plaid shirt and the denim jeans the other her wore, like she’d seen them before, but couldn’t quite remember where or when. She recognized the belt and boots instantly, however, as they matched her own. Sunset looked between the two new arrivals and the portal, before looking confused. “Isn’t Pinkie coming over?” The plaid Applejack shook her head a bit and dusted off her hat, before replying. “Nope. Pinkie said that since she and your Pinkie were on good terms that it wasn’t really needed.” The pink young girl on the statue leaned over and gave a thumbs up. “Sounds good to me!” The soccer player got up and walked over to her counterpart, scrutinizing every detail she could see. “Weren’t you covered in belts last time?” The flyer took off her helmet and looked at herself in a bit of confusion. “Huh, weird. This is a lot looser than the Wonderbolt suits.” Sunset hummed in thought as she raised an eyebrow. “Does the mirror take into account one’s intentions when crossing? I wonder why I didn’t notice that before.” The younger farmer got up off the grass and brushed off her skirt, before looking at the former unicorn. “Why don’t we save that question for another day, and get this shindig going.” The fiery-haired girl nodded in agreement, before the six girls headed away from the statue, and towards the soccer field, ready to have some privacy so two pairs of them could talk in peace. They were unaware of the pair of purple eyes watching them from the bushes across the street. Their owner lowered the binoculars from her glasses and stared dumbfounded at the sight, before shaking her head and looking at the time. “Wow... I have been up way too long. I saw completely impossible hallucinations.” The young girl quickly beat a hasty retreat away from the school, determined to sleep for the rest of the day. “Until I can get my computer set to track those readings proper, no more field work.” She paused as the dog in her bag barked. “Or staying up for more than twenty-four hours on research binges. Thank you for reminding me, Spike.”