Twilight Sparkle was out for a walk with her friends Rainbow Dash and Applejack, when she came across the poster which would turn her and her friends' lives upside-down. Blissfully unaware of the far-reaching consequences that would result from her actions, Twilight pointed it out to her friends.
"Hey, look," she said. "It's the Wonderbolts."
"Where?" Rainbow Dash asked excitedly. "Is it—oh. A poster."
There was a picture of four Wonderbolts, along the bottom edge of the poster. The majority of the poster had no pictures on it. Instead, the poster was dominated by large, imposing text.
Think what you have to become one of the Wonderbolts? We're having tryouts! Join us at the Cloudsdale Amphitheater!
"An open audition!" Applejack said, reading the poster. "Dash, this sounds like it's right up yer alley!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know about that already," Rainbow Dash said, trying to sound cool and unconcerned. "They're holding auditions next month. I'm totally going to try out and win!"
"Um...it's not next month," Twilight said.
Rainbow Dash stopped cold. "Huh?" she asked.
"It's not in Septemare," Twilight said. "According to the date, it's this month."
"WHAAAAAT?" Rainbow Dash shouted. She practically ran over Twilight in her hurry to double-check the poster. "But it's not—no! That's this week!"
"Three days from now, to be exact," Twilight Sparkle said.
"What idiot made this poster?!" Rainbow Dash said, stomping the ground. "I thought it was next month! That 8 looks just like a 9! Arrrgh! I almost missed it!"
"Good thing I caught that mistake," Twilight Sparkle said happily.
"GOOD?" Rainbow Dash asked. By now, she was starting to panic. "Tryouts for the Wonderbolts are in THREE DAYS, and you think that's GOOD? I haven't even started practicing yet!"
"No worries," Applejack said. "I'm sure you'll do fine. Yer the best flier I know!"
"Yeah, but I'm not in peak condition!" Rainbow Dash said. "I have to be at my best, if I want to join the Wonderbolts! I need weeks to build up to this, not days!"
Twilight Sparkle was struck by a sudden idea. "Hey! I can be your coach!" she said.
Rainbow Dash started laughing.
"No, I'm serious!" Twilight said, slightly offended by her friend's reaction. "I'm great at organizing things! I can make an exercise schedule for you!"
"Yeah, no offense, but I need the help of a flying pony," Rainbow Dash said. "This is only the most important thing in my whole entire life!" She shot a nasty look at the date on the poster, which stubbornly remained three days away.
"Yer exaggerating," Applejack said. "Ah—"
"Sorry, I gotta run!" Rainbow Dash said. "I mean, fly! And maybe find out who messed up the date on the stupid poster so I can knock him upside the head!"
Rainbow Dash flew away at a high speed, cursing to herself. This left Twilight and Applejack alone, near the poster.
"Well, there she goes," Twilight said.
"Guess it's just you an' me now," Applejack said. She shook her head. "It's just like Dash to mix up an important date, too. She needs a calendar."
"What she really needs is a coach or something like that," Twilight said. "I know Dash is good, but she needs somepony to train her. Or at least, somepony to stop her from sleeping all day."
Applejack let out a polite chuckle and said, "Yeah, but she's too proud t'accept help from one of us."
"I know!" Twilight said. "What if a really good coach just happened to appear?"
"Like who?" Applejack asked.
"I don't know," Twilight said. "But I can use a summoning spell to bring—"
"Eh, Ah'm not so sure that's a good ideer," Applejack said. "Remember when ya tried to help me by summoning extra farmworkers during applebuck season? You ended up bringing the Flim Flam Brothers back ta town!"
"That was just an accident," Twilight said, waving her hoof in dismissal. "I'm sure I won't make the same mistake again. And besides, technically they were unemployed apple workers, just like you wanted."
"They tried ta ruin mah farm!" Applejack said. "I'm warnin' ya, Twi. Don't mess with that summoning spell again. Somethin' bad could happen."
"Like what?" Twilight asked. "Summoning a coach for Rainbow Dash is hardly dangerous."
"I dunno, what if you bring back that mean griffon that Dash knows?" Applejack asked. "Nope, it's better to play it safe and not mess with magic at all."
Twilight frowned. This wasn't the first time Applejack recommended against using magic to help solve somepony's problems. But then again, Applejack was just an average Earth pony, not the Element of Magic. She couldn't be expected to understand complicated magical matters like this.
And besides, if Twilight messed up, it would make a great letter for Princess Celestia.
"Well, I'm going to help Rainbow Dash if I can," Twilight promised. "And if that involves getting a coach for her, it involves getting a coach for her."
Applejack shrugged. "Nothin' wrong with trying to help yer friends," she said.
The Next Day...
Twilight Sparkle was muttering to herself, as she wrote notes down on a piece of paper. "Somepony with coaching experience...probably a pegasus...maybe somepony who's familiar with Rainbow Dash's flying moves...good at acrobatics..."
She put down the pen, then picked up three books at once. Levitating them in front of her, she quickly looked through them for suggestions.
"Oh, yeah! Definitely not somepony evil!" Twilight said, remembering the most important part of the summoning spell. She double-checked her list of qualities, then smiled. "I think I've got it now!"
Summoning a pony is not an easy magical feat. In principle, it is similar to teleporting from one place to another, only with a lot more variables involved. Most unicorns could only summon a pony who was fairly close by, which hardly made it worth the effort. Only a powerful unicorn could use a spell to summon something from over a mile away.
Twilight's summoning spell was on a completely different level from your average summoner, though. It was really a dual spell. First, it would seek out a pony who fit all of the requirements, then it would transport the pony to the library.
Taking a deep breath, Twilight began the searching spell. She closed her eyes and felt her magic flow through the world. The best way to describe it to non-unicorns would be to say that she was using a quick-moving magnifying glass. It flew northward, and whenever it came within five feet of a pony, it moved towards that pony, seeing if it fit Twilight's requirements.
The spell quickly rejected everypony it came across. Within ten seconds, it had passed over seventeen ponies, and it left the town borders, heading for Canterlot.
Twilight took another breath. The farther the spell went, the less likely it would work. She reined in the spell, sending it back through Ponyville. The spell did another quick sweep of the town, this time moving southeast. No possible matches.
Twilight clenched her teeth, as she tried to expand the search while staying within Ponyville. The focus of the search split five ways, and Twilight's brain was overloaded with information. Imagine having five eyes, each of them looking at something completely different. They all moved at a slightly slower speed, and then they each split into five again.
Twilight's head started to strain, and she tried to block out all sense of sight. She focused merely on feel, the feel of the magic as it went through the multiverse, seeking out the perfect pony.
Wait, the multiverse? Twilight wondered. Just as she was about to question this development, she felt a tugging sensation on her horn.
This is it! she thought. She focused her energy on the one search module that was creating a match. The other modules either fizzed out into nothing, or joined with the successful one, creating link upon link, until she had a successful chain to the pony she had found.
There was no time to waste. Twilight could tell this would be a long-distance spell, and every second was precious. She envisioned a net, appearing around the pony. The magic swallowed him up, and she pulled as hard as she could.
Why...is this...so tough? Twilight wondered, as she struggled to bring the mystery pony to her. It feels like...I'm transporting somepony...across the country...not across town!
Once she had brought the pony a quarter of the way towards her, things became simpler, and she breathed a sigh of relief. The chain of magic connecting Twilight and her target recoiled smoothly and easily, as the target flew through space and something else—Twilight wasn't sure what.
With a pop, the pony appeared, four feet away from Twilight. He wasn't your average pony, however. He was a somewhat large pegasus stallion named Rainbow Blitz. Without knowing it, Twilight had brought him all the way from another dimension.
Rainbow Blitz's nostrils flared, and his rainbow-colored mane flew out behind him as he reared up on his hind legs in surprise. One second, he was in his house, resting. The next, he felt like he was being dragged through a rocky mountain by his lightning-shaped tail, as his body moved through dimensions. Now that he could move again, he had no idea where he was.
"This isn't my house!" he said, looking around quickly. "Where am I? Where—oh."
Rainbow heaved a sigh of relief, as he recognized where he was. "It's just the library," he said. "How'd I end up here?"
"I summoned you," a voice said.
A lavender-colored pony with a stripe in her hair stepped forward. Rainbow Blitz instinctively stepped back.
This pony...she looked exactly like Rainbow Blitz's friend, Dusk Shine. It was the creepiest thing Rainbow Blitz had seen all day, and it took a second for his mind to come up with an explanation.
"You...you must be Dusk's sister," Rainbow said. "I met his older sister at the Royal Wedding, but I don't remember meeting you there..."
Twilight's eyes widened as she got a good look at her visitor. He looked like one of Rainbow Dash's relatives: same cyan-colored skin, same rainbow-colored mane. Did she somehow summon Rainbow Dash's father?
"What?" Twilight asked. She had no idea what the stranger was talking about.
Rainbow Blitz shook his head, telling himself not to make a fool of himself in front of a pretty girl, even if the girl was eerily familiar. "Sorry about that," he said. "Just, uh, forget it. I'm Rainbow Blitz. You are?"
"I'm Twilight Sparkle," Twilight said. "I'm the student of Princess Celestia, and this is my library."
"I see," Rainbow Blitz said, looking around briefly. As far as he could tell, it was pretty much the same as the Ponyville library he was used to. Not that he spent too much time in the library; he usually only went there to visit with Dusk Shine, or to read a book from the Dashing Dude series.
Awkwardness continued to linger in the air for a while, then Rainbow Blitz spoke again. "You brought me here to your library," he said. "Why?"
Twilight stared at Rainbow Blitz for a few more seconds, before clearing her throat. "Uh...right..." she said. "I summoned you here, because I wanted an expert flyer."
"Aha!" Rainbow Blitz said, instantly becoming excited. "Now that's what I'm talking about! Flying is my favorite thing ever!"
"Perfect!" Twilight said. "You see, I've got a friend named Rainbow Dash, who wants to try out for the Wonderbolts. She—"
"Don't you mean Wondercolts?" Rainbow Blitz asked. "They're having tryouts in, like, two days! It's gonna be awesome! I'm totally going to make it this time!"
"You...you're trying out for the Wonderbolts, too?" Twilight asked.
"Yep!" Rainbow Blitz said. "I figure I'll impress them with my signature move: the Sonic Rainboom!"
"Oh no!" Twilight said. Instead of summoning someone to help Rainbow Dash, it appeared she had summoned Rainbow Dash's direct competition!
"Where Rainbow Blitz goes, the colors fly!" Rainbow Blitz said. He winked at Twilight. "You can let all your fillyfriends know that, too."
"Ugh," Twilight said. She didn't like flirty colts. "Well, I'm sorry, Mr. Rainbow Blitz, but I don't think this is going to work."
"What's not going to work?" Rainbow asked.
"I brought you here so you could help train my friend Rainbow Dash," Twilight said. "I think she could use the extra help, and—"
"Yeah, sorry, but I'm a little busy now," Rainbow Blitz said. "What with the tryouts and all that. I'd be happy to meet your friend after that, though. Is she cute?"
"I...wouldn't know," Twilight said. Applejack was right. This is starting to look like a huge waste of time.
"Oh," Rainbow Blitz said. After a pause, he said, "So...you brought me all the way here, just to ask if I could help train your friend?"
"Um..." Twilight Sparkle said. When he put it that way, it sounded kind of...silly.
"Do you often summon complete strangers to your home?" Rainbow Blitz asked.
"I'm sorry," Twilight said. Her voice trailed off. "It's just...this is kind of important to her, and I wanted to help..."
Rainbow Blitz smiled. The filly in front of him looked kind of cute when she was embarrassed, and he decided he couldn't possibly get mad at her. "Hey, I understand completely," he said. "If I see her at the tryouts, I'll make sure to cheer for her. You said her name was Rainbow Something?"
"Rainbow Dash," Twilight Sparkle said.
"Great first name," Rainbow Blitz said. "Well, nice to meet you, but I should be going back to what I was doing."
"Sorry for bothering you," Twilight said, still sounding kind of embarrassed. "I can teleport you back to your home, if you want."
"Eh, no worries," Rainbow Blitz said, waving a hoof in the air. "I can fly all the way back to Cloudsdale. It'll be good exercise for me."
"Okay," Twilight said, nodding. "Goodbye, Mr. Blitz."
"See you later, Twilit Sparkly," Rainbow Blitz said.
"That's Twilight Sparkle!" Twilight said, but she was too late. Rainbow Blitz had already flown out of the library.
Well, that was a failure... Twilight thought. But at least he seemed like a nice pony, even if he was a bit flirty.
It didn't take long before Rainbow Blitz realized something was wrong. He thought he had been summoned to some far-off town. But the town he was in...it was Ponyville.
And then again, it wasn't.
The buildings were the same, mostly. But all of the ponies were different. He didn't recognize any of them. It was as if everypony in town moved overnight, and new ponies came to take their places.
"Where are all my bronies at?" Rainbow Blitz wondered. All his male friends were nowhere in sight. They were replaced with...mares.
Mares walking on the streets. Mares at the cafes. Mares at the barbershop, which appeared to have been converted into a salon. Everywhere Rainbow Blitz looked, he saw nothing but mares and the mare version of everything.
This stinks, Rainbow Blitz thought. Ponyville was known for being Stallion Central, the place where all the most eligible bachelors in all of Equestria stayed. Now that the town was overrun with mares, Rainbow Blitz's bachelor lifestyle would be over.
"Wait..." Rainbow Blitz realized. "The town is filled with mares...the town is filled with MARES!"
Rainbow jumped up and flipped over. He shook his fist triumphantly at the sky. "I'm living in Mare City! This is AWESOME!"