Rainbow Dash shook her head and blinked her weary eyes, trying to pinpoint her location. She moved Fluttershy off her flank and blinked again, this time a little longer. When she opened her eyes, she nearly fell on top of Rarity. Six faces stood above the cluster of ponies, their faces all too familiar. "Ahh!" she screamed, instantly zooming upwards in a vain attempt to escape her dream. Wake up, Rainbow Dash! Wake up! She started hitting herself, biting her lip, shaking her head side to side til she couldn't take it anymore and fell to the ground with a thud.
"Uh...are you okay?" asked the orange stallion.
"Applejack...?" Rainbow Dash shook her head again, getting a closer look at him. "No, wait. You're not Applejack!" she got up again, this time slowly so she wouldn't fall again. She put her face into his and frowned, looking at his hat, then at his orange coat, and then at his cutie mark. "Applejack, what happened to you?"
"Ah'm not Applejack! Whatcha talkin' 'bout?" the stallion pushed her with his hoof. "Names Applejackson, but you can call me AJ."
"Okay...?" Rainbow Dash said awkwardly, looking around the group. Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy... she thought, listing the faces she saw, but stopped when she saw a blue stallion with a rainbow colored mane. And...and...me? The stallion wouldn't look at her; he kept his gaze on Twilight's house, purposely avoiding her.
When he finally couldn't take being stared at by Rainbow Dash, he huffed and turned around. "I suppose you want me to explain why you're here." Rainbow Dash could only keep staring at him with her mouth open. "Well, I don't know." he held out his hoof a little, as if he wanted to know who she was but not that much. "I'm Rainbow Blitz, and you might be...?"
Rainbow Dash just stood there for a few seconds, then shook her head but didn't take his hoof. "I'm Rainbow Dash, and you have no right for looking exactly like me. Except, you know. Being a stallion. But still!"
"Oh my word!" Rarity suddenly cried, looking at her match. "You look amazing, darling!"
"Quite right. I am Elusive, and you look absolutely beautiful." said the white stallion, giving Rarity a closer look.
"I'm Rarity, and let me just say, that hairstyle looks great on you!" Rarity scooted closer to him and played with the end of his hair.
While Rarity and Elusive talked some more, laughing from time to time, Pinkie Pie hopped to her hooves. One look at the pink stallion and she lept on him, rolling over and over until she finally landed on top of him. "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! Who are you?"
The stallion laughed and pushed her off, introducing himself. But Rainbow Dash didn't hear his name, for she was focused on Twilight, who had found her twin. "Well, this is strange..." she said, though she looked as if she were bursting with excitement. "I'm Twilight Sparkle." she said formerly, holding out her hoof.
"Dusk Shine."
"What in tarnashion?!" Applejack exclaimed as she looked over AJ. "Who are you?"
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Blitz just ignored each other. Something about him made Rainbow Dash infuriated, like he was stealing her style. While Rainbow Dash was busy thinking about what she would do with this imposter, Pinkie Pie came running up to her, jumping in excitement.
"Rainbow Dash! Guess what?!" she said excitedly.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes in annoyance. "What?"
"Guess!"
"You got married?"
"Nope!"
"You found the perfect cupcake?"
"No!"
"You adopted Sweetie Belle?"
"Not even close!"
"Well, I give up. What is it?"
"I met my twin, but it's a stallion! His name is Bubble Berry, and he looks exactly like me, but he's a stallion! He likes everything I like, and he's a stallion! And he's really awesome, and he has the same cutie mark as me! Did I mention he's a stallion?" Pinkie Pie said, hopping up and down even higher.
"Great," Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes again. She looked around the scene again. Fluttershy had gotten up and was looking over her twin as well.
"Oh my, um...I didn't know I had a brother...um...I'm Fluttershy." her voice shook when she spoke and she hid her face behind her hair.
"I'm Butterscotch, and I didn't know I had a sister." the stallion extended his hoof a few inches in greetings.
Once everyone had met their twin, Twilight looked around the group, stallions and all. "What are we doing here?"
Applejack shrugged. "All ah' can remember is that you were casting a spell, and there was this light."
"Then there must be a way to reverse it." Twilight said, turning to her house. She pushed the door open and ran up the stairs to where she had cast the spell. "Spike, where did you-oh..." for the first time Twilight realized that she had told her assistant to stay at home, and she beat herself for it. "I should have let him come!"
"So, what are you guys doing here?" Dusk Shine asked, tilting his head to the side a little. The rest of the ponies had followed Twilight instinctively, and even the stallions felt she had authority in her group.
"Aren't we in Ponyville?" Rainbow Dash asked, crossing her arms.
"Yes, but we've never seen you before." Dusk Shine turned to Rainbow Blitz. "Didn't you see them appear?"
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and looked at Twilight. "Yes, they came out of the sky from a black oval."
"Hmm..." Dusk Shine put his hoof on his chin, thinking. "When you cast that spell, did it come easy?"
"Yes, my friends got teleported, actually. I didn't summon them, just sent Spike to get them." Twilight looked at the floor and scraped her hoof on the wood.
"It's almost as if the spell wanted you to cast it."
"Yes, it is! There's something going on here, and I don't like it one bit." Twilight stared into his eyes for a few moments, then turned back to the bookshelf. "Now let's find that book."