"Ah, Tia's little pets, I've been expecting you girls.” The doors open as the voice says “Come in."
“This is obviously a trap,” Rainbow Dash speaks up. She then notices the others going in. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you!” she says as she gets in as well.
"I can take every single vun of you and scatter you all throughout cross-time, banishing each of you into separate universes!"
"Girls, I don't know if you can hear me or not, but don't panic! We'll find a way out of this, for we still have the magic of friendship on our side!"
Zoom in on Rainbow Dash.
“I totally called it, this was a trap!”
The episode opens and we see a black hole opening up in a horizontal position just above the ground. Rainbow Dash comes flying out of the hole. “Whoa!” She then lands on the ground as though she is thrown out of some place. “Oof!” The black hole then closes right behind her trapping her in this alternate universe.
Rainbow Dash gets up and looks at her surroundings, looking horrified at what she is seeing. Equestria has been reduced to an apocalyptic wasteland, the sun and the moon are stuck in a permanent total solar eclipse position making the sky dark all the time, Sweet Apple Acres' apple trees have all withered away, the Apple family farmland has decomposed and rotted to almost nothing, the Everfree Forest looks like it was burned down to the ground, Canterlot has been converted into a nearly impenetrable fortress and Ponyville lies in ruins as though someone dropped a powerful bomb on it.
Rainbow walks around Ponyville wondering where everypony is. She sees posters everywhere saying "Obey the Overlord or else!".
How long have I been gone? Rainbow wonders.
She then sees an old newspaper on the ground, claiming that everything is being taken over by this Overlord character. She looks at the date and is confused.
No way… this was printed about two years ago! But I know this stuff never happened!
She keeps exploring the ruins of Ponyville, trying to find somepony… anypony.
Suddenly she is hit by a bright light. She has just been discovered by the ones who work for the Overlord, the Enforcers. "Halt! In the name of the Overlord, you are under arrest!" she hears.
“Under arrest? For what?” asks Rainbow.
"No unauthorized personnel are allowed in restricted areas!”
Of course, Rainbow won't be arrested that easily. “Just try and arrest me, buster!” But the Enforcers have some pretty mean magic weapons and start firing magic bolts at Rainbow.
In response, Rainbow tries to take to the sky, but there are also flying Enforcers who also start shooting magic bolts at her.
Realizing that she's pretty much a sitting duck in the sky, she may have better luck losing them on the ground, so she flies back to the ground and runs as fast as she can. She then takes a left turn at a corner and suddenly bumps into somepony.
Looking to see who it is, Rainbow notices that it's the Twilight Sparkle of this world, looking just like Future Twilight from her previous escapades, complete with the tattered full body suit, the weird mane-cut, the headband, the eyepatch and the scar on her left cheek. Only this time, these wasn't caused by a bunch of accidents, it all happened for real. Twilight is also still a unicorn and is a member of "The Resistance", a rebel group of freedom fighters united to taking down the Overlord and restoring peace and harmony to Equestria. (Gee, doesn’t this sound familiar…)
“Twilight…?” Rainbow Dash tries to talk to her.
“Rainbow Dash…? But how-” Before Twilight can finish, Rainbow grabs her and says “Come on!” and the two start to run away from the Enforcers.
The Enforcers run right past a pile of debris. When the coast is clear, Rainbow lifts up a board on top of the debris to check. “Phew… I think we lost them.” She then turns to Twilight. “Alright Twilight, do you mind telling me what in Equestria is going on here?"
“I should be asking you the same question, you're supposed to be dead!"
“Say what?!”
Back at the mainstream universe, Princesses Celestia and Luna are worried about the safety of our heroes. Celestia keeps wondering how to bring them all back, now that they are stranded in six different universes.
Suddenly Starswirl the Bearded appears and tells Celestia not to worry, for in anticipation that Anarchy would try something like this, he has assembled a team of experts to try and find a way to bring the missing ponies back home. Among them he has gathered: Time Turner, who has studied much about time and space, including some of Starswirl’s workings; Professor Bill Neigh, an expert in quantum physics and astrological mathematics; and Zecora the Zebra, whose Shaman Magic allows her to tap into forces from beyond their dimension.
“And are you sure this team of yours can bring the girls back home?” asks Celestia.
“I believe that if anypony can bring them back, the team I gathered can.” He then turns to face his team. “Alright, everypony, let’s get started.”
“We will need you…” adds Luna, “to stop Anarchy before it’s too late for all of Equestria.”
We cut back to the dystopian present, where Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle are in a sewer-like tunnel hidden underneath the ruins of Ponyville.
“Alright, Rainbow,” Twilight starts. “Do you remember when you tried to pull off this impossibly-looking trick?”
"Do I ever!” Rainbow responds. “I pulled that trick off flawlessly, it was totally awesome!"
"No, you didn't. In the middle of your trick, you were struck by a bolt of lightning from a stray thunder cloud, which caused you to spiral out of control and crash into a cliff. Then the cliff broke apart and you were crushed under tons of rock. We tried to dig you out as fast as we could, but we were too late... you were already lost to us... Everypony in Ponyville showed up for your funeral."
"Whoa there Twi, what are you talking about?” Rainbow tries to reason with Twilight. “That never happened! The sky was perfectly clear that day! That couldn't have happened... unless…” Understanding dawned towards Rainbow Dash. “Twilight, did that happen because of Count Anarchy?"
"Uhhh... who's Count Anarchy?" asks Twilight.
"Well, duh! He's Princess Celestia's evil ex-boyfriend! Guy who can control time and space! We went to fight him, but then he opened these weird black hole things right behind us and said” She then tries to make a really bad impression of Anarchy. “‘I can take every single one of you and scatter you all throughout cross-time, banishing each of you into separate uni… verses…” Rainbow then finally figures out what's going on. “Well, duh, of course! It all makes sense now! Count Anarchy sent me into some freaky parallel universe, where the me of this world did die at some trick that I-me did perfectly!"
"Parallel universes?, The you of this world?” Twilight speaks up. “So let me see if I've got this straight. You're another Rainbow Dash, from another world?"
Rainbow Dash nods in approval. Suddenly she starts fluctuating. The two of them look at each other, wondering what is happening. Twilight tries to touch Rainbow, but Twilight’s hoof goes right through Rainbow.
"It feels like I'm in some kind of tunnel and home is right on the other side... but I can't get any closer to it..." Rainbow speaks up.
When Rainbow stops fluctuating, Twilight starts to theorize. "It seems like some unknown force is trying to bring you back home, but it's just not strong enough to completely remove you from my world. Maybe, if you give it enough time, your problem may just fix itself."
Rainbow sighs in relief. "Well, as long as I'm here, I'm going to help you out with your problem, because there's no way I'm leaving any Equestria in the control of some Overlord creep!"
Twilight smiles. "Spoken like a true Rainbow Dash.” As the two start walking through the sewer tunnel, Twilight explains. “You know... it's kind of a coincidence... not too long after you--or my you--died, I found some books that spoke of worlds beyond ours, each with it's own duplicates of the inhabitants here. I tried to learn more about this subject, so I could find out if there really were other worlds out there, with other versions of all of us, and other versions of you.
“Sadly, before I could get more into the subject, the Overlord came and took over everything. We tried to stop him with the Elements of Harmony, but without our you, we failed.
“With nothing to stop him, all of Equestria soon fell under his control. He even made Princesses Celestia and Luna his slaves, forced them to use their powers to stick both the sun and the moon in a non-stop total solar eclipse, and used them to take control of all the Royal Guards, who then started capturing innocent ponies and forced them to toil away mining in the Crystal Caverns under Canterlot.
“Of course, some of the ponies had already lost all hope and harmony, so they decided to side with the Overlord so they wouldn't have to go to the crystal mines. They now work for him as his Enforcers.
“Those who were once close friends are now sworn enemies... but there was still a group of us who still remembered what it was like to have harmony and friendship, so we all banded together to forge 'The Resistance', to fight back for freedom and friendship.
“Unfortunately, we haven't been very successful in the winning department, and we have had many losses in the process."
Twilight then uses her magic to lift up her eyepatch and show Rainbow Dash what happened to her eye. Rainbow is absolutely disgusted and grossed out by what she sees. “Aah! Eewww! Put it back on!”
Putting her eyepatch back on, Twilight continues. "Yeah, that's just something that happens when you're fighting a losing war against an evil tyrant.”
They then continue walking until they reach a hidden door at the end of the tunnel. “Well, parallel world Rainbow Dash, welcome to Resistance Headquarters. Be warned, what you are about to see may shock and disturb you.”
Twilight then opens the door and the two walk in. Rainbow Dash looks around, seeing a lot of familiar (but not so familiar) faces. Applejack lost her front left leg and had to have it replaced with a peg leg. Rarity lost all the hair on both her mane and her tail, so she is always wearing a military-grade helmet on her head, so nopony sees her bald face (especially Rarity herself). Fluttershy was physically and psychologically scarred, so she has a few battle scars on her face. She has also seen things that nopony, especially Fluttershy, should have never seen in their life, making her a hard-boiled, tough as nails loose cannon who would rather blast something with a magic weapon first, then ask questions later. But she still means well sometimes.
The leader of the Resistance turns out to actually be Derpy Hooves. That’s right, Derpy. She is not the same old klutzy goofball we know and love, though. She is competent, hard-core, and has superb leadership skills.
Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy notice Twilight and walk up to her. “Twilight!” Applejack speaks up.
“Did you bring the thing?” asks Rarity.
"Yes, and that's not all I brought." Twilight then steps back to show the others who she brought with her. The others drop their jaws on the floor, their eyes as big as dinner plates.
Rainbow looks at the others and feels saddened, not liking what she is seeing. Suddenly she hears a familiar voice calling for her. The others step aside so Scootaloo can walk towards Rainbow Dash and hug her. “Rainbow Dash, it’s you! It’s really you! I can’t believe it, you’re alive!”
Commander Hooves walks towards Rainbow Dash. “You’re right, I don’t believe it,” she says with a straight face. She then pulls out a rifle and aims it at Rainbow Dash. "Alright, who are you and what are you doing here?" Rainbow starts to sweatdrop.
Twilight steps in to explain everything to everypony. “Commander Hooves... everypony... this is Rainbow Dash. But she's not our Rainbow Dash. She's another Rainbow Dash, from another universe. She was banished here by a villain from her world before she and her world's friends could defeat him, and she's pretty much stranded here. So I brought her here so she could be safe from the Enforcers.”
Derpy crosses her eyes looking at Rainbow Dash, and calls for Gizmo so he can take a strand of hair from Rainbow Dash’s mane. He then uses one of her devices to examine it.
“Her story checks out,” he says.
“Well then Rainbow Dash, welcome to Resistance HQ,” Derpy says in a very serious tone.
"Wow... Derpy Hooves is a rebel leader…” says Rainbow. “Now I know I'm definitely in a parallel world."
Derpy then turns to Twilight. “Alright, enough horsing around. Twilight, give me the thing.”
Twilight then pulls out a device that contains the schematics of the Overlord’s fortress (Canterlot).
Rainbow looks around. “Hey, where are Pinkie and Spike?”
“Pinkie’s an Enforcer now,” Twilight explains. “As for Spike, well… he had another growth spurt and he’s now the Overlord’s watchdog, keeping anypony from escaping the crystal mines.”
“What happened to all of you?”
“War casualties,” they all say.
“In one such battle,” Fluttershy adds, “Tank sacrificed himself to save me.” She then walks over to a display case hanging from the wall, showing Tank’s shell all cracked up, glued together and put on display with a plaque that reads "Tank - A True and Loyal Friend To The Very End". Dash is heartbroken to learn that even this world's Tank is gone as well.
In the Resistance meeting room, where Derpy ordered a mandatory meeting, we see a holo-display of Canterlot. The members of the Resistance discuss among them how they can get past their defenses.
“Well,” Rainbow suggests, “this time you have a secret weapon. Something that the Over-dude won't be expecting.” She then takes one of the rebel's stolen magic weapons and adds “Me!"
“You know…” Derpy speaks up, “that may not be such a bad idea after all.”
“But we already lost one Rainbow Dash!”
“What will happen if we lose another one?”
Suddenly the door is burst open, the Enforcers right behind it.
"Freeze, this is a raid!"
"That tracer implanted in those schematics lead us right to Rebel HQ!"
The rebels then all scatter in panic. Rainbow grabs Derpy and they both try to escape together, while back to back fending off the Enforcers with their magic weapons.
"Wow, you are not like the Derpy Hooves I know," says Rainbow.
"And you're just like the Rainbow Dash I remember,” Derpy replies, “though you do seem a little less reckless than her."
Some time after, Rainbow and Derpy get separated. After going through some ordeals, Rainbow ends up alone in a standoff with a lone Enforcer.
“Back off buddy, I don’t wanna hurt ya!” Rainbow warns.
“Surrender in the name of the Overlord!” the Enforcer replies. She then steps into the light.
Rainbow then lowers her weapon, instantly recognizing the Enforcer in front of her. “Pinkie Pie?” Indeed, this Enforcer was none other than Pinkie Pie, but she had her depressed manedo and personality.
Pinkie lowers her weapon as well. She then speaks up in a surprised manner. "R-Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow comes closer to Pinkie. "Pinkie, you don't ha-" Before Rainbow could finish, Pinkie bonks her on the head with her weapon. This knocks Rainbow dizzy, with birds flying around her head. "Oooh, look at the pretty birdiiiies..." She then falls unconscious, the last thing she sees is Pinkie having hit her on the head and the birds flying round her head.
Rainbow slowly wakes up inside a prison cart heading to the Fortress, with Twilight, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy all hoof-cuffed together with long magical energy chains.
“Ooohhh… what’d I miss?”
“Glad to see you’re awake,” Fluttershy says in a rude manner.
Rainbow takes a look at what is going on. She then feels frustrated. “I can’t believe Pinkie betrayed me! And I can’t believe we’ve been arrested!”
After being pulled in past the gate, the five are forced out of the cart. Pinkie herself takes the five of them to be placed in the crystal mines. As they are walking, the five say mean things about Pinkie behind her back.
After pulling a corner into a weapon shed, Twilight speaks up. "Wait, weren't the crystal mines the other way?"
"Yeah, they were," Pinkie replies. She then takes out a remote control and deactivates the girls’ hoof-cuffs. As they look at her with confused looks, Pinkie continues. "I don't know how it's possible, but it's good to see all of you again."
Rainbow then gives Pinkie a hug while saying "Haha! Pinkie, I knew you weren't a traitor!"
Breaking up the hug, Pinkie replies. "Let's save the happy reunion for after we stop the Overlord."
The girls then load up on magic weapons and they head for the castle, taking on anything in their path. With the six of them all together they feel as though nothing can stop them now.
The group finally reaches the throne room, where they find Princesses Celestia and Luna hooked up to a device that runs off their powers, allowing the Overlord to keep control over the minds of the Royal Guard and Spike. They also see that the Elements of Harmony have been placed on display over his doorway like a bunch of trophies.
The girls finally meet up with the Overlord, and Rainbow Dash is horrified to see that the Overlord is actually a Wonderbolt colt named Rapidfire.
“Well, well, well… you girls actually have the guts to come to me,” he says.“I’ll give you props for that. But it’s too late! It was too late ever since Rainbow died.” Pause. “Oh, why didn’t I ever have the guts to ask her out?”
Rainbow finally understood everything. Rapidfire was in love with this world’s Rainbow Dash.
“But then she was gone. Then I became bitter, reckless, cold-hearted. Without Rainbow, there was nothing left to live for.” Insert evil grin here. “This made me the perfect candidate to wield the Nightmare Force, making me the next Nightmare Moon, as I like to call myself, the Overlord. And without somepony wielding all six of the Elements, there was nothing stopping me from taking over all of Equestria.”
Pause.
“Though… the last thing I was expecting was to see Rainbow Dash after all this time. But it doesn’t even matter now!” He turns to one of the guards, who was hidden from sight. “Get the intruders!” Suddenly from the ceiling Princess Luna’s Royal Guard comes attacking the girls.
“Bring it on!” Suddenly Rainbow starts fluctuating again. This makes it to where she can no longer hold her weapons because they just pass right through her. "Oh, not again! Not now!" Rainbow then tries to fight hoof to hoof, but she passes right through the guards, making it impossible for her to help, so Rainbow then just stands there helplessly as her friends are getting beaten because there are too many guards for them to take on by themselves. When the others fall to the floor unconscious, Rainbow stops fluctuating. "Oh great, now it stops!" Rainbow is now forced to take on the Overlord and his army unarmed and all by herself.
The Overlord approaches Rainbow. “How did you exactly come back to life, Rainbow Dash?” he asks.
“I’m a different Rainbow Dash, from a different universe.”
“Intriguing… well, since you don’t belong here, best to get rid of you here and now.”
"Do whatever you want, Overlord, but I won't back down!"
"How noble of you…” Making his eyes glow he continues. ”But ultimately futile!"
The Overlord then fires off his eye beams at Rainbow, but it gets blocked. When the beam clears up, we see that this world’s Element of Loyalty responded to Rainbow’s loyal spirit.
“What? The Element is reactivated? After all this time?” the Overlord says in a shocked tone.
The Element then attaches itself to Rainbow's neck, then the other Elements come flying around, then they attach themselves to the rest of the girls, who start rising up together with Rainbow.
The Overlord looks terrified as he speaks up. “What is happening?”
"Of course, why didn't I see it before?” Twilight speaks up. “In life or death, the Magic of Friendship will always exist, no matter what!" As the girls come together to activate the Rainbow of Light, Twilight continues. "Our Rainbow Dash may be gone, but her spirit lives on, in the hearts of her friends, family and other dimensional counterparts!" As the girls unleash the Rainbow of Light on the Overlord, Twilight finishes. "The Magic of Friendship is a force that binds us all together, a bond so strong not even death can break it!"
The room then gets consumed in a huge flash of light. Celestia and Luna absorb this light energy, then they direct it through the device they are hooked up to. This sends out a wave of light that traverses across the land, which makes Spike return to his normal self, all of the Royal Guard cleansed of the Overlord's influence and all of the Enforcers stop what they're doing as though they feel freed from the Overlord's tyrannical rule.
Back in the throne room, the girls are all lying on the floor. Rainbow gets up and asks the girls if they're alright. Then we see Twilight with her mane back to normal and her scar gone. Feeling something odd with her eyepatch, she takes it off. She then opens her eye, and it seems as good as new. "Hey, my eye, it's all better! I can see out of it again!"
Suddenly Applejack’s voice is heard. "Sweet Sassafras!" One look at her and we can see that her peg leg has been replaced with her real one like it grew back. "My leg is back!"
Rarity is then seen with her mane and tail grown back. "My mane! My tail!” she says. “Oh, I swear, I'll never get another mane-cut as long as I live!"
Fluttershy is then seen with all of her battle scars all cleared up. "I feel all warm, fuzzy and cuddly inside!"
Pinkie is then seen with her hair back to normal, and with her bubbly personality back as well. "I feel so happy I just want to celebrate with a party for all of my friends!"
"Now those are the girls I know and love!" Rainbow speaks up.
The Princesses then walk towards the girls. “My little ponies, congratulations on a job well done,” Celestia speaks up.
“Glad to see you’re alright, Princess,” Twilight speaks up.
“You girls have restored the light in all of our hearts,” Celestia adds. She then looks at the Overlord, who has changed back into Rapidfire. “Now if only somepony else could reopen his heart to the light.”
Rainbow removes the Element of Loyalty from her neck, sets it on the floor, then walks up to Rapidfire and says: “Rapidfire, listen: I know you feel bad that the me of your world is gone, but what you've been doing is just wrong, especially for a Wonderbolt.
“Look, sometimes bad things happen and there's nothing we can do to change them. But we can't just dwell on the past and let those events determine the rest of our lives. We all have to learn to let go of our past and move on with our lives, or we may not have any future to look forward to.
“You were a hero once, Rapid. And you still can be, if you're willing to put the past behind you and move on to help make a better future for everypony.”
Rapid then gets sad and starts crying. Hugging Rainbow he says "I'm sorry, it's just... I miss Rainbow Dash so much..."
"Then you will always miss her,” Celestia speaks up, “but she'll always be with you. As long as you keep the memories of her alive within your heart."
Celestia and Luna take to the skies, using their magic to move the sun and the moon, so Equestria can once again bathe in the warmth of the sunshine.
Rarity looks at the ruins of Ponyville and says "It used to be so beautiful..."
Twilight puts her hoof on Rarity's shoulder and says "And it can be once again."
Applejack bumps Rainbow and says "And we all have you to thank for that, parallel world R.D."
"Yeah, but... I just wish there was more I could've done for all of you," Rainbow says.
Celestia comes down and says "Oh, Rainbow Dash... you have already given us all the greatest gift imaginable. You gave us back our hope."
“And our future,” adds Luna.
“Well, I’m happy to know you're happy.”
Suddenly a black hole opens just a few feet above Rainbow's head. Everypony looks at it with confused looks. Rainbow slowly starts raising off the ground towards it.
"Huh, I guess I'm going home. For real this time."
"Awww... do you have to split now?” a disappointed Pinkie says. “We didn't even get to celebrate with a party yet!"
"Sorry, but my friends still need me to help them take down a foe even worse then the Overlord."
"I never thought I'd end up losing you twice," Rapidfire speaks up.
"Will this change anything?" asks Rainbow.
"For me, yes,” Rapid replies. “But not for the rest of Equestria."
"And just remember, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia speaks up, “even in the darkest, most grim of moments, there will always be hope."
"Now that's something I won't soon forgeeee-" Rainbow is sucked through the black hole real fast, which then seals shut.
We cut to the center of the park, where Twilight is giving a speech to unveil a few statues.
“We are gathered here today to honour two mares. They were great friends, sisters in both arms and spirit. The legacies they started will be remembered for generations to come. Applejack, if you please.”
Applejack pulls a rope to reveal two different statues, dedicated to both Rainbow Dashes, both of which have plaques on their pedestals. One of them says "Gone But Never Forgotten, Rainbow Dash" while the other one says "Our Hero, Parallel World Rainbow Dash".
