Chapter 4: What Do You Mean I'm Not From Earth?!
Raymond was locked up in that same contraption for at least 2 hours. She was being watched by Sunset Shimmer, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and the dragon, now known as Spike, while Twilight was waiting outside for Princess Celestia. Raymond was still trying to struggle herself out of the device, but she stopped when her hands and feet started to lose blood pressure.
"So, let me get this straight," Spike said. "Rainbow Dash finally came back, but only her body with something else's mind is in control of the mind."
"That's right, Spike," said Sunset Shimmer. "Rainbow Dash might still be missing in that other world. But we don't know where the real Rainbow Dash is."
"We need to find Dashie soon!" said Pinkie. "She's a very important pony in our lives! Ever since the Sonic Rainboom!"
Raymond was about to say something, but then some thought went into her mind.
Raymond was seeing a memory that was not his own. It was when Rainbow Dash was in flight camp. Rainbow Dash was standing up to three bullies that were being mean to Fluttershy.
"Ooh, what are you gonna do, "Rainbow Crash"?" asked one of the bullies.
"Keep making fun of her and find out!" Rainbow Dash said to him.
"You think you're such a big shot? Why don't you prove it?" asked another bully.
"Whaddya have in mind?" asked Rainbow Dash.
Later, young Rainbow Dash and the two bullies were getting ready to start racing. Fluttershy held up the flag. She then waved the flag, and then young Rainbow Dash and the two bullies started racing. Rainbow Dash and the two bullies flew through some hoops made out of clouds. One of the two bullies crashed into a cloud column. Young Rainbow Dash was winning until the other bully purposely bumped into her.
"Ha! Later, Rainbow Crash!" said the bully.
Young Rainbow Dash growled angrily, and then she started flying down to the last hoop. She was accelerating to a speed. Right as she went through the last hoop, she broke the sound barrier, and giving it a rainbow explosion. She accelerated past that one remaining bully, and she flew all over flight camp.
The memory made Raymond's head ache in pain.
"Gah! My head!" Raymond said.
"Whoa, are you okay, darling?" Rarity asked.
Raymond then looked at Sunset angrily and asked, "What did you put in my head?!"
"What do you mean?" asked Sunset.
"I saw a memory that wasn't my own!" said Raymond. "I saw her..." Raymond motioned her head towards Fluttershy. "...and two other young ponies. I saw some race through the sky... through young eyes. And there was also a rainbow explosion."
"Flight camp!" said Fluttershy.
"The Sonic Rainboom!" said Applejack.
"What are you talking about?!" Raymond asked.
"You don't think that Rainbow Dash's memories are coming into this Raymond's mind, do you?" Rarity asked, looking at Sunset.
"That's only a possibility," said Sunset. "I'm not sure how that's possible."
Then the basement door opened. Twilight Sparkle came back with two more alicorns. Alicorns that are really tall.
The blue alicorn then walked towards Raymond and asked, "Are you sure I got the wrong one? I'm pretty sure I got her exact blood type in the same reality she was sent to."
"I'm not Rainbow Dash!" Raymond shouted. "Send me back this instant! I wanna go back to my home! My reality! To my pregnant girlfriend!"
"I am sorry about that," said Princess Luna. "But you did not belong there. I tracked your blood to that reality, and brought you back to your family."
"My family?!" Raymond asked, angrily. "I'm the son of Xavier and Ashley Dallas. I spent 18 years in North Carolina! I have a girlfriend name Alice! She's with child!"
"Sadly, a life that can never be," said Princess Celestia. "Twilight. Do you still remember that memory spell? From the first time you faced Discord."
"What?!" Raymond asked. "No! Stay away from me!" She then tried getting out, but then the shackles tightened again. "OW!!"
"Rainbow! Stop!" Twilight shouted. "You'll get your wrists cut off!"
"Then you shouldn't have put me in here!" Raymond said. "I demand you to send me back to my reality and my body this instant!"
"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash," said Princess Celestia. "But there is no way to bring you back to the world you don't belong in."
"Especially to the world of your adopted parents," said Princess Luna.
"Adopted?" Raymond asked. "What are you talking about?! I wasn't adopted there!"
"Ever since you came back to our reality, I've looked into your memories," said Princess Luna. "The parents that you have been raised by. They found you on their doorstep. They took you in. They had no idea where you came from. We were lucky to remove the transformation magic that the changeling queen put on you."
"Changeling queen?!" asked Raymond. "What the heck's a changeling?!"
"According to the Greek Mythology of the world you came from, that they are creatures that can take place of some loved ones," said Princess Luna. "Although, the Greek got it all wrong. Changelings can shape shift into your loved ones and steal all of the power and love from the one who loves the one they're pretending to be. Queen Chrysalis sent you to that world, transformed you into a human baby of the opposite gender, and did everything she could to keep the Elements of Harmony from working without you."
"Stop it! Stop it!" Raymond said. "I don't believe you! You're ruining my life! I'm not gonna let you ruin it any more!" She was struggling to get out of the device, but then she felt her limbs being hold perfectly still in dark blue magic.
"I am sorry," said Princess Luna. "But we must get your memories back if all of you are going to keep our world safe."
"By the logic of those changelings, how do I know you guys aren't changelings?!" Raymond asked.
"None o' us are changelings, Rainbow Dash!" Applejack said. "Ya gotta believe that we're yer friends."
"Friends don't transform and take friends away from their homes!" Raymond shouted. "I want my life back!"
"What do you think we're doing?" asked Princess Celestia. "We want what's best for everypony's protection." She then looked at Twilight and said, "Twilight. Do it."
Twilight nodded, lit up her horn, and walked towards Raymond. Raymond attempted to get out again and move out of the way, but with Princess Luna preventing her from moving, she was helpless. Just then, Twilight's horn made contact with Raymond's forehead. Memories were starting to pool into her head, but he was trying to push them all out.
"Stop! Stop it!" Raymond said. "Those... aren't... my... memories! Gaaaaah!" She then went unconscious. That made Twilight stop.
"Sorry, Rainbow," said Twilight. "But when you wake up, you'll feel like yourself in no time."
"I suggest that the six of you keep a close eye on Rainbow Dash," said Princess Celestia. "Just in case her memories of that other creature she used to be before we brought her back return and block out her original memories."
The six young mares nodded. Twilight then released the shackles off of Rainbow, and then Applejack and Sunset took her and wrapped Rainbow's arms around their shoulders and headed out of there.
Raymond was waking up and he saw a memory. It was a memory of Rainbow Dash learning to fly with her parents. Raymond then saw all of the memories of Rainbow Dash learning to fly. It felt like Raymond was in control of the wings to her.
Just as the memory ended, Raymond woke up from the dream and saw that she was back in the house that Rainbow was living in. She was in Rainbow Dash's room. On the floor, she saw the six girls all around her bed, all asleep.
"Great. Just great," Raymond thought. "These girls just won't leave me
alone, will they? I need to get out of this place, back to my reality, and get my real memories back." She quietly got out of the covers and tried to get out of bed. Her left foot got caught on the blanket, and she was about to fall out of bed and land on the pink pony. But strangely, no impact. Raymond then looked on her back and saw the blue wings flapping. Wait! I... I can control my wings?! What did they do to me?!"
She then hovered over the sleeping girls, and she landed in front of the bathroom door, opened it, and closed the door behind her. Raymond then walked over to the toilet, pulled down the pajama bottoms and panties, and sat on the toilet seat.
"Guess these girls changed me into this before they went to sleep," Raymond thought. "This isn't fair. I shouldn't belong here! I have my own family back home! I have a pregnant girlfriend! She's carrying my baby in her stomach! Or at least she was until reality changed around me!" Just as she finished, she heard some evil laughter. She looked around trying to find the source of the laughter, but there was no one there. She then asked out loud, "Where are you?! Show yourself!"
"Look in the mirror, fool," a weird, womanly voice said. Raymond looked in the mirror, not only seeing herself, but bug-like pony behind her.
"What the--?!" Raymond asked. She then was about to punch the creature, saying, "Get away from...!" When she looked behind her, there was no one there. "...me? Wha... but... how...?"
"You still don't get it, do you, Rainbow Dash?" asked that bug creature from the mirror. Raymond looked back at the mirror and got angry. "You really are clueless. Especially when you thought you could take me on when I foalnapped your sister and her friends that day a month ago. Your friends thought that a near perfect clone of yourself, and some memory alteration to your loved ones would fix all of that, would they?"
"Who are you?" Raymond asked. "Why are you here?"
"Technically, I'm not here. I'm... in your head at the moment," said the bug pony creature. "As for who I am, I am Queen Chrysalis! I am the queen of the changelings, and the future ruler of Equestria! You and your friends stopped me before! So, I had a plan to get back at all of you! By taking away one of their closest friends, transforming that friend, erasing her memories, and eventually, making their friendship crumble before their eyes. I've already got one down. Too bad you don't remember it."
"So... so everything they said... it's all true?!" Raymond asked. "My whole life... my friends... my family... my relationship...? Was it all... just a lie?"
"You don't have to talk out loud," said Queen Chrysalis. "I can hear your thoughts. You can just talk to me just by thinking them."
"You're going to pay for that!" Raymond thought, communicating with Chrysalis. "I can't believe what you did to me. The life I knew was a total lie!"
"You'll never get your memories back," said Queen Chrysalis. "Not as long as I have... this." She held out a cyan blue orb with Rainbow Dash's Cutie Mark. Raymond was about to punch the mirror, but her punching arm was grabbed by a light orange hand.
Raymond turned around and saw that it was... "Sunset Shimmer?"
Sunset's eyes were glowing. She finished looking into Raymond's mind, then got angry and said, "Chrysalis." Raymond look back at the mirror and saw that she was gone. "It's over, Rainbow. Er... Raymond. Great. I can't decide what to call you."
"Call me whatever you want," Raymond said. "Besides... My memories can't come back by a spell. Chrysalis has them. I can't believe it. Everything I knew... it was all a lie." Raymond sighed. "But it seemed so real."
"I'm sorry, Rainbow," Sunset said, pulling her in for a hug. "Looking into your memories, you seemed to be prepared to be a father. We should've done that sooner. If we knew where and when you were in time, we would've brought you back before you met that girl. What was her name again?"
"Alice," said Raymond, now accepting to go by Rainbow.
"Listen, Rainbow," said Sunset. "I'm sorry. But, I'm afraid that you won't be able to be the father of that baby your girlfriend has anymore."
Rainbow looked towards the window and stared up at the moon. Thinking about Alice. She then said, "Sunset. My memories... they're..."
"I know," said Sunset. "Listen. We'll do whatever it takes to get your memories back. Guess the memory spell didn't have any effect on you."
"No, no effect," said Rainbow. "But I did somehow learn how to use these." She then extended her wings.
"Well, that's good," said Sunset. "We better inform Princess Celestia about this."
"So, how did you, me and the rest of our friends meet?" Rainbow asked.
"Well, I'll start with me and Twilight," said Sunset. "I've knew her my whole life." She then reached out her arm. "Grab my arm. I have something to show you."
Rainbow was hesitant, but she stepped towards Sunset, and put her right hand on Sunset's wrist. Just then, both of their eyes started glowing white.
Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer found both of them in the city of Canterlot. They saw a strip of houses. Rainbow looked around but then her shoulder was tapped. She looked at Sunset and Sunset then pointed towards a woman in a cloak.
"Who is that?" Rainbow asked.
"I don't know," said Sunset. "I don't remember her face. All I know is that she... Well, see for yourself."
The woman in the cloak had a basket in her arms. She was looking through the windows, trying to find something. She then saw something, went up to the door, left a letter on the basket, then rang the doorbell. The woman in the cloak then ran away. As soon as the door opened, there was an almost white unicorn mare with a purple and white striped mane standing there. She saw the basket, read the note, and then saw the baby. She gasped and then pulled the basket in.
"That woman who took me in was Twilight's mother," Sunset said. "It turns out that woman who dropped me off was a friend of my birth mother. My birth mother died. My birth father blamed me for her death. So he attempted to kill me. But that woman wanted me to be happy. My birth father made a horrible mistake in his life, and eventually killed himself."
"Wow," said Rainbow. "So... you... and Twilight are..."
"Sisters?" Sunset asked. "Legally, yes. I'm happy that my sister became a princess. But, I was a little upset that I didn't become one with her."
"Not everyone can get what they want," Rainbow said. "But, you can keep trying. As long as your not blinded by anger or greed."
"Wow," said Sunset. "That's some mature talking. I guess Chrysalis did you a favor by sending you there. You've become a lot more mature."
"Meh," Rainbow said.
"Alright," said Sunset. "Tomorrow, we'll send a letter to the princess about your memories. Let's get out of here and get back to sleep."
Rainbow nodded. Then they started fading back to the real world.