“Alright, Discord, this ends now!” the alicorn shouted as she approached the door and smacked it open, ready to find the draconequus at once.
…Had a familiar pink earth pony not immediately tackled her the instant the door had opened.
“Twilight! Twilight! Twilight!” Pinkie Pie said frantically, her blue eyes wide with panic.
“Pinkie, what in Equestria is this all about?! Did Rarity find out you put the gray mane dye in her shampoo last week?”
“No, not that!” Pinkie said, then paused, rubbing her chin with her hoof. “Wait… how did you know about that? I thought only Rainbow Dash knew!”
Rainbow could feel herself growing hot under the collar, so to speak. Her eyes darted to the left and right as she tried to think of an answer. “Ehh, wasn’t hard to figure out. Who else would?” she asked. Luckily Pinkie seemed to buy it.
“I guess you’re right! Well anyway…” Pinkie Pie took a deep breath and cracked her neck a few times before resuming her panicked state. “That’s not why I’m here! I sent Rainbow Dash a care package and she never sent anything back! I know Dashie and she’d never take this long to respond to me when she’s still in town!”
“Pinkie! Calm down! I-I just got a l-letter from her today!” Rainbow answered, hoping this would get the pink pony off of her.
“Really? She sent you a letter? Does she mention me or anything? Can I please see! I gotta know she’s okay!” Pinkie Pie said, finally getting off the alicorn and letting her stand back up.
“Uhhh you gotta… see it?” Rainbow asked nervously. Pinkie Pie just gave a hopeful, eager smile and confirming there was no other way out of this. “Well... then... let me go get it!” she said with a smile and nod, trotting upstairs and going through Twilight’s papers and finding a blank scroll. Trying to focus her magic, Rainbow floated a quill and dunked it into the small ink canister, soaking it more then she intended and trying to write out a message.
Hey, Twi!
Thanks for helping me out by taking care of Tank while I’m sick. Also, tell Pinkie I said thanks for the care package, you’re both the coolest friends I can ask for! Not as cool as me, obviously, but still.
Rainbow Dash
Something else crossed her mind.
PS Tell Fluttershy and the others not to be worried either, I’ll be fine by tomorrow!
Perfect! She looked down at her letter and shuddered, dropping the quill. Her writing was awful! She could barely read it and half the words were mushed together or written over eachother! She had to make another one, fast!
“Ooh! You found it!” Pinkie suddenly said from behind her, climbing over her shoulder to look. “Wow! Rainbow really does overestimate herself sometimes! Her being sick’s REALLY messed up her writing! No way she’s gonna be better by tomorrow!”
“Right, I was gonna visit her later and see if any of the healing spells I know can straighten her out a little,” the alicorn said, relieved she’d dodged the bullet. “Buuuut anyways, I was on my way out because I have to go take care of some things, and might have to go back to Canterlot for something. Hopefully I’ll be back soon but in case not, I’ll see ya later!” With that, she galloped down the stairs and out the door.
“Huh. I probably should have told her about this doozy I’ve been sensing the last two days too…” Pinkie mused to herself.
~
She didn’t think she could have ever moved so fast on her own hooves, though as soon as she’d gotten outside, she’d taken to the air and began flying. She had no idea where Discord could be, but she had a good idea of who might.
“Hey, Fluttershy!” Rainbow said, landing outside the small cottage where the pegasus was feeding some of her animals. Oddly, though, her friend seemed rather downcast instead of her usual upbeat demeanor she had when she was feeding her many critter friends.
“Oh, hi Twilight,” Fluttershy said, her tone giving away her depression.
“What’s wrong, is everything alright?” the alicorn asked.
“Oh, I’m just worried about Rainbow Dash is all. When I tried to see her, she was so insistent she didn’t need me there, and I haven’t heard from her since… I hope I didn’t offend her,” Fluttershy said, looking down.
“No way, she’s just been out of it. I was gonna see her later to check up on her anyway,” Rainbow said with a hoofwave. “So… uh, anyway I was wondering if you’ve seen Discord around at all?”
“Discord? Why ever would you want to know where he is? …He didn’t cause any trouble again, did he?” Fluttershy asked. Normally her other friends would avoid his company when they could, reformed or not, and if Twilight was seeking him out especially after coming straight from Canterlot… well who knew what he’d been up to?
Like you wouldn't believe... Rainbow thought to herself, gritting her teeth involuntarily.
“Are you okay, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, flying up to her level and looking at her with concern in those large, innocent eyes that made it hard to want to keep anything from the yellow pegasus.
Rainbow sighed, she may as well come clean, Fluttershy wasn’t one to freak out like the others probably would. “Uh, Fluttershy, something’s gone on, I’m really Twilight Sparkle.”
What the hay?! Did I just call myself Twilight Sparkle?! Rainbow thought to herself.
“Uhhh right, I think we all know that,” Fluttershy said, confused by the statement.
“No, you see, I’m Twilight S—“ Rainbow caught herself with growled in frustration, scaring her friend a little. When she tried to say her name she said Twilight’s! It didn’t happen with the letter, but here… did Discord do something to keep her from telling anypony or was she slipping even more?! “Tw... Twi... N-never mind! Just, can you tell me where he is? I need to find him. now.”
“Ummm… I think he went to the lake, said something about sunbathing—“ Before she could finish, her friend had already sped off. “Wow, she’s almost as fast as Rainbow Dash… she’s really gotten good with those wings,” the pegasus said, returning to tending to her animals.
~
Flying to the lake, the alicorn spotted Discord, who had a bathtub nearby and was scrubbing down a fake sun with soap and a cloth.
“DISCORD!” Rainbow shouted angrily, getting the draconequus’ attention. The god of chaos looked up at her and waved.
“Well, hello Princess Twilight! Lovely day for sunbathing, wouldn’t you say?” Discord asked with a hearty chuckle as the alicorn flew down and got right in his face.
“Save it, Discord! You’re gonna change me back right now or else!” Rainbow said, completely livid with the chimeric creature, who just responded with a smug grin.
“Now, now, Princess I believe we made an agreement. You learn the lesson I’m trying to teach, THEN I change you back to your old self,” Discord replied.
“Buck those terms! I’m sick of being like this and it’s causing me nothing but problems!” Rainbow protested.
“Sounds like a personal problem to me,” Discord said, giving a shooing gesture. “Now if you’ll excuse me…”
Growling with rage, Rainbow swung her hoof at the draconequus, but he easily turned his head and caused her to fly past him and land face-first in the sand.
“Temper, temper,” Discord said, toweling off the fake sun and grinning at his reflection in it before snapping his claws, making both it and the tub vanish. “What are you gonna do if I won’t? Beat me up? Tattle to Celestia? Oh that’s right, you can’t do the latter because you’ll just say you’re Twilight Sparkle!” Discord said, laughing. “Then again, I’d love to see you try and do the former because that worked so well the other times.”
Spitting out sand, the alicorn attempted to charge up magic in her horn and fired it at Discord, who simply transformed into a giant floating frosted donut and the magic blast flew harmlessly through the hole in the center. Reverting to his usual form, Discord leaned against an invisible wall and folded his arms, his smirk still present. Rainbow then flew straight at him, her hoof reared back but Discord simply snapped his claw and she vanished, reappearing behind him and crashing into a tree. Emerging with branches and leaves in her mane, Rainbow brushed them out and made one more attempt on the draconequus, tackling him to the ground but he remained as smug as ever.
“Feel like giving it up now?” Rainbow asked smugly.
“Ooh, on a first date?” Discord asked, his tongue snaking out impossibly long and wrapping around her face to provide a big slobbery lick before receding back into his mouth, causing the alicorn to cry out in disgust and jump off of him.
“ARGH! I shouldn’t have EVER accepted that offer to grant my wish! Since it’s YOU it was nothing but an excuse to prank me all along!” Rainbow shouted furiously, hovering in the air and wiping all the slobber off her face.
The moment she said that, confetti exploded all around her and Discord let out a cheer. “Well done, Rainbow Dash!” With a snap of his claws, the alicorn was suddenly engulfed in a flash of light. When it faded, Rainbow rubbed her eyes with her hoof, and discovered it was no longer lavender but a familiar cyan blue. Rushing over to the pond, Rainbow saw her own reflection looked back at her now.
“Wait, THAT was your big important life-lesson?!” Rainbow asked, glaring at the draconequus.
“Of course it was! And quite a valuable one too, wouldn’t you say?” Discord asked with a chuckle. “I have to admit that was the most fun I’ve had since reforming! You know something, Rainbow Dash, I think I’ve learned something from all this as well!”
“And what would that be…?” the pegasus asked flatly.
“That this is the perfect way to use my powers for the good of ponykind, of course!” Discord said. “Well, in that case, I’d better get going! There are a lot of confused ponies still out there who need my help after all! Arrivederci!” With a hearty laugh, the draconequus gave a salute and vanished in a flash of light.
~That Evening~
Twilight Sparkle had noticed some rather odd stares she got as she trotted to the library she’d come to call home but had chosen not to ask of them. Maybe the other ponies just still weren’t completely used to her new form and status she’d rather unexpectedly acquired. Hopefully it’d all tone down soon. As she approached, she noticed the door was unlocked and nudged it open with her hoof, greeted by a rather unexpected sight.
Rainbow Dash was there, cleaning the place up. It wasn’t like her to clean up for anypony… it wasn’t like her to do chores period if she could avoid them. “Uhhh, Rainbow? What’re you doing here?”
“Oh, hey, Twi!” Rainbow said nervously. “Eh, let’s just say while you’ve been gone, I sorta got a new appreciation for you and all you’ve done for us! I figured I’d do my part and help out!”
The alicorn raised an eyebrow. The place had been nearly spotless when she’d left. “Did something happen?”
“Oh, nothing for you to worry about!” Rainbow said, rubbing the back of her head with her hoof, and was suddenly engulfed by a magenta magic aura and pulled closer to her friend. True this would save Spike some work when he came back from visiting Rarity but still there was no way Rainbow Dash didn't have one load of a story to tell if she was doing this
“Rainbow…”
The pegasus sighed. No way was she gonna be able to hide it all now. “Okay, it’s a really long story, and trust me you’re not gonna believe it... just Pinkie Promise you’ll help me make something up to tell everypony else after.”
~
Princess Cadance smiled as she finished the delicious cake slice she’d helped herself to that evening, it having helped her forget the argument she’d had earlier.
She’d nearly dropped her plate when a loud female scream came from upstairs. Perhaps a servant had been injured? She’d find out. Galloping up the stairs as fast as she could, she followed the sound to the master bedroom and bucked the door open, treated to a very unexpected sight.
There in the room, staring at the large bedroom mirror was… herself! Recalling the last time she’d dealt with a double of herself, Cadance’s eyes narrowed and she stood ready, her horn’s magic charging. “Chrysalis! You dare show yourself in my kingdom?” she said, firing a blast at her double, who narrowly avoided it.
“No! Stop! I’m not a changeling!” the other her pleaded as the alicorn princess lunged forward and pinned her doppelganger down.
“Likely story!” she said, raising her hoof back. She’d never forget what that vile creature did to her… what she tried to do to Shining Armor…
“No! I’m not Chrysalis! I’m not a changeling, I swear! We gotta find Twily! She’s gotta have a way to fix this!” Other-her insisted, cowering underneath the alicorn.
Cadance narrowed her eyes. “I’m not about to fall for—“ she paused. Did the other her say ‘Twily’? Did she mean Twilight? Nopony ever called her that… except….
Cadance’s eyes widened, her mouth hanging open as realization came over her of who this duplicate of her was. “…….Shining?!”
“…H-hey Cadance…” the other her said with a small, nervous smile on her face. Cadance’s eyes rolled upward and she fell on her back, unconscious. The other Cadance looked down at her wife, then at the mirror and glared in annoyance. “Not what I had in mind when I wished I could understand her better…” she muttered.
Outside, Discord laughed hysterically at his handiwork. “Well, this is sure to be entertaining!” he said with another laugh before vanishing in a bright flash of light.