---{Third-Person Perspective}
A patch of sky several yards away from Canterlot...
"What the...? Who the hay are you supposed to be?"
"That's my line! You're the one that looks like a changeling copying me!"
"Nuh-uh! I'm the one and only Rainbow Dash!"
"No way! I'm Rainbow Dash, you faker!"
"Oh, you wanna prove that then?"
"Bring it on!"
"Let's see what you've got!"
*Shing!*
"Whoa, what...? What is that thing?"
"Heh, I knew you were a fake. Only the real Rainbow Dash would recognize Zangetsu."
"But I don't use big knives in a fight. How the hay is this fair?!"
"Too late to back out now! Hyaaaaaah!"
"Tch! Well, I'm not going to lose to a cheater. Yaaaaaaah!"
*Pang!*
...
*Ba-thump* *Ba-thump* *Ba-thump*
...
---{Dilan Shier}
About ten feet outside of Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle...
"Wait, wait, wait..." I slowly shook my hoof in front of myself in a manner one would push down on a stack of papers. "Let me just try and wrap my head around this. You're Twilight Sparkle from yet another world in which you've just recently patched up the hole between your Equestria and an Earth that watches you like a children's cartoon?"
"That's right." The wingless, beltless Twilight nodded with a small smile of approval.
I held an anklet against my helmet and sighed. I closed my eyes and tried to find the center of my mental focus. I vaguely heard Princess Twilight and the first wingless Twilight voice their fascination and the desire to know more about intricacies. I slammed my hoof down and groaned out loud.
"Does anyone want to come from the Matrix or the Inception next?" I raised my head, crying out to absolutely nothing. "Please give me a heads up now so that I can prepare to take all of this new information in a neat and orderly fashion!"
A rush of wind brought a couple of new dark beings to my right. The first looked kind of like the other Nightmare ponies I had met before, but her purple mane looked relatively normal. The second being rolled off of her back and was breathing really heavily.
"Well, I'm not exactly from a machine or a dream," said the mare. "What I am from, however, could be a nightmare to those with fears of skeletons."
"Tundra!" The Twilight with a belt ran over to her. "You're here too?"
"That's Tundra?" wondered Princess Twilight with a surprised look on her face. "She almost looks like another Nightmare pony."
"No, no, don't mind me," panted the neglected changeling. He almost looked like he was dramatically dying. "I'm just... an accessory."
"Wait, I know you," commented the wingless, beltless Twilight as she trotted in front of him. "You're that changeling that came to see us when you were fused with the son of a woman who was fused with that spirit channeler pony."
I squinted at her in bafflement. "What the flip?"
"Yes, hello, Twilight Sparkle," greeted the changeling between breaths. "Didn't think I'd need to see you again so soon."
"Don't worry about it, Fifty-one," she replied while shaking her hoof dismissively.
"Wait, am I the only one freaked out that there's a changeling talking with Twilight like they're best friends?" wondered Spike.
"I'm a little busy letting my brain melt from all of the madness," I answered the concerned dragon. "Ask me again later."
The wingless Twilight with a belt suddenly snapped to attention. "I completely forgot about Rainbow Dash! We were rushing out toward Canterlot because that's where I was sensing her reiatsu."
The dark alicorn that wasn't me also had her eyes open. "Now that you mention it, I sense her that way too."
"Let's go!" exclaimed the Quincy Twilight. Both she and the pony she had called Tundra vanished in what sounded like two rushes of wind.
The Twilight without wings or belt stared at that spot all wide-eyed. "Changing location without a teleporation spell? That's amazing!"
The changeling dry heaved. "It's amazing in theory. In practice, it's more like nauseating."
"So... Fifty-one was it?" asked Princess Twilight, trotting over to them. "Is that like an agent's numerical code?"
"Well, that is my designation number under Her Majesty Chrysalis," said Fifty-one for clarification.
"Twilight! He works for the changeling queen!" Spike ran up and grabbed Princess Twilight's back leg. "You've got to do something!"
"Spike, calm down," insisted the beltless Twilight. "The changelings are good now... well, at least they aren't going out of their way to invade cities now." She glanced back at the changeling. "Right?"
Fifty-one nodded. "On my honor, we have no more plans to attack pony civilization in that large-scale brutality."
Spike gulped. "Well... if you say so, Twilight."
At that point, my mind started to resume normal functions beyond keeping my body alive. I shook my head in hopes of removing any metaphorical cobwebs taking up space. Unfortunately, there were also spider guts covering the less dusty parts. Where the heck did that metaphor come from and what did I mean by it? I didn't know anymore.
"By the way, who are you?" asked beltless Twilight as she trotted in front of me. "You kind of look like Nightmare Moon, but... your armor isn't all the same color." She squinted as she stared straight at me. "And... you have heterochromia iridum."
Heterochromia... Oh! I jerked my head in realization. Different eye colors.
"Right, I can explain that. Though, I kind of wish everyone that I'm going to have to tell this story to would show up altogether so that I didn't have to repeat it several times over. It's a rather long story."
"Oh, well in that case... how about I just get the short version?" Suddenly, this Twilight had her hoof on my head. Her horn immediately glowed in a white aura.
"Wait, what?!" I exclaimed.
The air suddenly tasted like... rose petals. Images of the recent past flashed on the outskirts of my vision. Tail Demon, Nightmare Spectrum, the Pony of Shadows, Mistress Vine, N. A''ight-mare, and Reflect Sun were some of the highlights. A crystal pillar, a hoof-ful of lightning, the Shadow Sprint, and the orange shield flickered in memory as well. It finished off with a bright light between a stained-glass floor depicting Princess Luna and I swimming around each other from head to tail. Before I knew it, I was back outside Princess Twilight's castle standing in front of beltless Twilight.
"Ha ha ha!" she chuckled. "The Aristocrats! I get it."
"D...Did you just read my mind?" My eyes were wide in horror.
"Yep, yep!" She was practically wagging her tail in glee.
"Wha...? A mind-reading spell?" Princess Twilight teleported to the position where her face was leaning right into her other self. "Where did you find something like that? I've been looking for that spell for years!"
"Well, it makes sense that you didn't find one if you spent all your life in Equestria," said beltless Twilight, still smiling. "I had to make it up from my mind's ether in the other world."
While the intimidating princess and her other self went deep into magic-babble, I softly walked over to the forgotten boys of the group.
"Am I the only one scared of the ethical ramifications of the fact that there is a Twilight Sparkle who can read minds?" I inquired.
"Meh, that doesn't sound worse than anything else she's practiced with me before," said Spike with a shrug.
"My whole life was filled with beings who could see and hear my thoughts," commented Fifty-one. "One more isn't going to set me on edge."
"So it is just me," I whimpered and lowered my head so that I was looking at the grass. "... great."
---{Tundra Stanza}
Approaching Canterlot...
Twilight and I appeared within several yards of the outside of Canterlot. I could sense Rainbow Dash's reiatsu quite clearly now. She was close... really close. Twilight rushed off to the left half of the city. I took to searching around the right. There were some prim and proper ponies wandering about, but none of them looked like Dash. I tried flying around the rooftops and looked every which way I could possibly think to look.
Where is she? I thought.
I sense that her spirit is close, added Sode no Shirayuki, but there is something blocking out her exact location.
I know, I agreed. That's the problem.
In a rush of my Shunpo and and Twilight's Hirenkyaku, we reconvened near the Canterlot Archives.
"Any luck?" I asked.
"No." Twilight shook her head. "I don't understand it. She has to be around here somewhere."
"Yeah." I crossed my front legs. "It feels like she should be right on top of us."
A sudden wave of black and red energy went right between us. I felt my mane stand on end as I saw Twilight's do the same. The familiar attack crashed into the library, sending some of the towering structure to the ground. Ponies that were nearby screamed and galloped away. Twilight and I turned our heads, worried that we were right about who had initiated that attack.
"R-Rainbow Dash?" stammered Twilight.
It looked like Rainbow Dash. That was certainly her roy-g-biv mane style. I even recognized the sword Zangetsu in her possession. What I didn't understand was why she had her Bankai outfit on. What in the world was she fighting that was worth risking Canterlot's lives? To top it off, why did her eyes look like they were glowing in an eerie red manner?
"I finally found you, faker!" Dash yelled. That was definitely her scratchy voice.
"Dash, what's going on?" I asked while turning in the air to fully face her. "Why are you in Bankai form? Why are you using so much reiatsu?"
"Most of all, why did you attack the library?" shrieked Twilight. "What did those innocent books ever do to you?"
A sweat drop formed behind my ear. That's really where your priorities are right now, Twilight?
Rainbow lifted her black katana and pointed it at us. "Listen here, you copycat! There's only room in this world for one Rainbow Dash, and that one is me!"
Her eyes glowed even brighter. The air practically ignited all around her. Twilight and I held up a hoof each to brace against the forceful gust coming from Dash. It was her spiritual pressure, and yet it seemed to be something else too. Something was not right with the way she was acting. Her words didn't make sense either.
"Where is all of that power coming from?" shouted Twilight.
I didn't have an answer. I was just as baffled as she was. Just as I was trying to think, Rainbow lifted Zangetsu up and more red and black energy pooled at its tip.
"Getsuga..."
Crap! I whipped my front legs out. Danku!
"Tensho!"
Rainbow lowered her sword. Immediately, another wave advanced on our position. But, it looked bigger than her attack from before. My "Splitting Void" barriers held in front of Twilight and myself, but I still felt a lot of force as the energy danced around my giant, transparent rectangles and cut through one of the fancy rooftops behind us. How was she this strong? As soon as the attack had passed, I quickly flew over to Twilight's side.
"Twilight, find Celestia and tell her to put up a defensive spell around Canterlot," I urgently requested.
"What? But regular magic doesn't work so well against soul-based attacks!" she exclaimed.
"I know that," I said with a nod. "But it's better than nothing right now. Besides, if we want to calm down Rainbow from whatever this is, it's going to require somepony that can deliver just as much as she can give... and I know Canterlot can't survive two ponies flinging around Bankai attacks."
She bit her lip and closed her eyes. "Good luck." On that note, she vanished.
I released my Danku and looked directly at Dash again. She was snarling fiercely. The red eyes didn't help make the sight any less intimidating. But as calmly as I could, I reached to the side and pulled out my own weapon and partner. I saw the beginnings of a golden shield originating from the castle. The time was now. I willed my reiatsu to build up all throughout my body.
"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki! Bankai!"
---{???}
I was neither Tundra nor Shirayuki. I was simply the pony that would fight their enemies. In the instant of them pooling their energies together, I was given awareness again. My body was clothed in white robes while I held a folding fan in either of my front hooves. This was their Bankai: Kazekage Sode no Shirayuki, the "Wind Shadow Sleeve of White Snow".
In addition to their reiatsu, I was given their memories. I didn't need to ask the current situation. I already knew what I had to do. It was simply a matter of accomplishing that goal.
Rainbow Dash raced in with a multitude of flash steps, racing around faster than any normal pony could track. But I saw and I reacted in kind to each of her direct swings of her sword. My fans are not exactly normal themselves. They withstood her strikes and I even pushed her back several times. This exchange went on for what I estimated to be three seconds. During that time, I countered thirty-five strikes from Rainbow Dash's sword.
She flew up and raised her sword. "Getsuga..."
I held my fans behind me. "Fifth Dance..."
"Tensho!" Her energy wave rushed down.
"White Typhoon!" I conjured a freezing tornado about as tall as four of me.
The attacks of our souls met. Her "Moon-Fang Heaven Slicer" was whirled around inside my attack. But her strength was persistent. My tornado ended up spitting out small portions of her energy wave in sporadic directions. I swung my open fans and cut through some of the incoming blasts, though I believe one of them cut somewhere on my shoulder. However, Rainbow also received a bleeding gash atop her face. Only one of her red eyes was staring at me now. I would finish this battle.
"Fourth Dance: White Blizzard!"
I spun around and my spirit rewarded me with an extremely cold gale composed of ice and air. Rainbow's wings were faltering in these conditions. She had to close her eyes against my attack. She spun out of control and fell straight into the ground. This was good timing, as I could feel the fusion of minds slipping from my grasp on consciousness.
---{Tundra Stanza}
I caught a glimpse of my robe turning to shreds before it vanished. I held onto my sword again as I hovered down. I sighed from the fatigue. The Bankai was called the "Final Release" because it was meant to finish the job with an overwhelming exhaustion of spiritual pressure, not be sustained for an extended period of time.
I carefully trotted over to the fallen Dash. She wasn't dead. I could still sense her reiatsu. It was currently lower than a warrior with fury, but it was definitely still there. The abnormal sinister energy had faded completely. I was relieved and sheathed my Zanpaktou. Rainbow's sword, meanwhile, had reverted back to its normal form of a butcher's knife before leaving the physical plain of existence. Her Bankai outfit disappeared as well.
She groaned and opened her eye that wasn't covered in blood. Thankfully, it was back to being her normal magenta iris in the middle of a white eye.
"Wh...What's going on?" She rolled a bit and noticed me. "Tundra?"
"Any chance you could tell me why you were on a rampage just a minute ago?" I asked her directly.
She rolled onto her back and looked straight up. "I... I don't know. I was just... so angry. I could only see... an enemy to vanquish." She sighed before looking at me again. "I really made a doofus of myself, huh?"
"Don't worry about it," I insisted with a dismissive wave of my hoof. "You seem to have snapped out of it." I lowered my head and lifted her onto my back. "How about we get ourselves patched up, R.D?"
She let out a forced chuckle. "Sure thing, T.S."
---{#51}
Inside the Castle of Friendship...
"So you see," continued Twilight Sparkle, "it's simply a matter of temporarily adjusting the neurologically typical functions of the caster's cerebellum to that of the subject's and the ability to comprehend their cognitive recollections becomes easy as pie."
"But what prevents the aforementioned neurons from those of the subject from creating a resonance cascade and permanently causing a disruption to the central nervous system of the caster if the length of memory being photocopied extends over a larger time period?" asked the winged Twilight Sparkle.
"Ah, see that's where the new postulates come in..."
The excitement flowing from the Twilight Sparkles was very tempting. But I knew that if I tried to feed on that, I would only be taking in empty calories. I would either need to find a loving couple or some actual food within a day or two. Until then, I was content to walk the halls of this open and comforting castle with cool and relaxing floors.
"So, uh... Fifty-seven was it?" asked the young dragon walking next to me.
"It's actually Fifty-one," I replied calmly and with a small smile. That seemed to help make him more comfortable talking to me.
"Okay, Five-one. Got it!" He tapped his head with both of his hands. "Anyway, is there some reason you're keeping one of your eyes like a pony's instead of changing it back to a changeling's?"
I sighed. "As of right now, it uses up some of my energy to change my eye. Some unexplainable side-effect took place when Discord trapped me in that world called Earth." I kept trotting. "All of the creatures had slight adjustments to their physical appearance, be it the cutie marks of ponies on one side of their bodies, or a new mind born from the collective consciousness of two beings fused together." I lifted a hoof and moved it up and down while pointing it at the right side of my face. "In my case, I lost a fang and my eye was switched out for this one."
"That... doesn't make any sense at all." Spike scratched the part of his spine on the top of his head.
I shrugged my wings and they buzzed slightly. "It's Discord. What sense is there to make?"
"Touché," he said while crossing his arms and still walking.
The Nightmare pony quickly trotted up to my other side. "Long shot, but... you didn't happen to see news of somebody being found dead in a car crash that happened to share my name, did you?"
I turned at her scent of wonder. "I vaguely recall hearing about one or two vehicle collisions, but the names of the victims escape me."
"Oh, okay." She scratched her neck as she trotted along. "Sorry, that probably wasn't the best question to ask."
"No offense taken, Ms. Shear," I said while gently smiling.
She let out an audible exhale. "When I was brought back to life, I knew that there had to be more than one world. But man... I had no idea just how many there were."
"Tell me about it." I chuckled. "I knew fully well that Twilight Sparkle was capable of great feats, but I didn't realize there would be a universe in which she was princess material. Yet here we are, walking through her castle and everything."
Dill Anne Shear's wings tensed up a bit. I was smelling... fear coming off of her for some reason. Perhaps the tension of being in close proximity to a changeling hadn't quite settled yet.
"You can rest assured that I mean you no harm," I said, trying to ease her.
"Huh?" She glanced at me. Confusion briefly wavered through her other emotion. "Oh, no. It isn't you. It's... um..." She leaned her neck down and whispered into my ear. "Princess Twilight has a really scary aura when she looks at me. I don't want to get on her bad side."
I tilted my head at that. Scared of Twilight Sparkle? Really? Shouldn't that be the other way around? Last I checked, Nightmare Moon's power was greater than hers without her friends to back her up. I turned and stared at this world's Twilight Sparkle. Does a pair of wings and an extra two inches in height really make her that much stronger?
As I pondered that thought, I saw the winged Twilight Sparkle turn her gaze to meet mine. There wasn't any readable expression directly on her face besides curiosity. However, something else was being said with the emotion that I could smell. It was uncomfortably similar to an overdose of salt. I don't mean a pinch or two to help flavor a plate of food. This emotion that the princess was sending smelled saltier than a cup of the ocean.
Suspicion and distrusting fury. I involuntarily gulped.
It is probably wise to stay on her good side, I decided.
---