"Oh you should've seen me! I went down so fast, I made a sonic rainboom! Then I grabbed Rarity and the Wonderbolts, and whoosh! I pulled right out of that dive!"
"Sounds amazing!"
"Of course it was! I'm awesome!"
"Yeah, yeah. We know," Spike said. They were meeting in the shadow of Rainbow's house, and it was quite a sunny day in Ponyville.
"So whatcha doing here in Ponyville?"
"Oh, I won a contest, so now I get to learn lessons directly from the Princess of Friendship."
"Hey, did you know she needed lessons from me? How do you think she got so good at flying?"
"Oloy is cool too. You know what that contest was in? Archeology!"
"You're an archeologist like Daring Do?"
Oloy shook his head. "Actually, I was competing in Arcology. It's about combining Architecture with Ecology."
"So you put plants on buildings?" Rainbow asked. "It's not a bad idea. I guess. It's just not as awesome as Daring Do."
"We just started getting Daring Do books in the Crystal Empire. My brother likes them, but I don't see the appeal," Oloy said.
Rainbow gasped. "You don't like Daring Do?"
"Hey, you didn't like it at first either," Spike said, "maybe he just needs to reread the first book."
"Your eye okay?" she asked. Oloy got the message.
"Right, I'll give it another try!" he said.
"Awesome! You can borrow my spare copy. Let me go get it!" With that, Rainbow flew up to her house.
"The last time she got worked up about Daring Do, she stalked the author!" Spike whispered.
"I have to reread the whole series? Do you know how long those books are?"
"Shorter than a trip across Equestria." Oloy gave Spike a dubious look. "Shorter than a trip across dimensions, at least." Just then, there was a flash of light, and three ponies fell out of the sky, pinning Oloy to the ground.
"Pinkie Dianemena Apple Pie, why did you say that to Discord?" Applejack was on her hooves at once, shaking one at the aforementioned party planning pony.
"Um, sorry we kind of fell on you," Fluttershy said from the air. "Not me, I mean. But-"
"Pinkie! It's so good to see a familiar face!" Oloy exclaimed. "Are you here to tell us more good news from Mr. Rich?" Pinkie popped off of him and landed next to the path. She glanced between her angry friend and the happy stranger.
"Do I know you? Not the me whose body this is, I mean another me from this dimension, because you seem really nice but I don't have a clue what you're talking about! Applejack I'm sorry! I just thought it would be fun to see a third dimension because all we did in yours was have that tea party don't get me wrong it was fun and all but Discord was really dragging things out." She smiled.
"Um..." Oloy stared. Applejack facehoofed. Spike and Fluttershy moved towards Pinkie at the same, noticed that, and kept walking to give her a hug.
"You seem stressed about something Pinkie," Fluttershy said.
"Is Discord making you keep a secret?" Spike asked. The pink pony broke out into sobs.
"He told me I could" *hic* "go on an adventuuuuuuuuuuure!" Oloy walked over and hesitantly patted her on the shoulder, then looked at Applejack.
"You really upset your friend," he said. Applejack's face softened.
"Ah'm sorry Pinkie Pie, this adventure has me more stressed than a squirrel in a beehive. Then Discord did something to ya and it feels like you're a completely different pony, and..." She sighed. "You're still my friend, Pinkie. Can ya forgive me?" The pink pony sniffed, then nodded slowly. She pulled the farmer into the group hug.
"What the-Pinkie? What are you doing here?" Rainbow Dash said, dropping her book in shock. "Didn't you just tell me you were running to the patent office all the way in Canterlot?" Pinkie wiped her tears.
"Rainbow, can't you see she's been crying?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well-yeah-"
"Give her some space and time to explain herself." She paused. "Please." The hug fell apart over time, and Rainbow brought down a picnic blanket and some hay sandwiches. After snarfing down hers, the party planner stood up and began to explain.
"Okay so I may not have all the details right, but here's what I know." She took a deep breath.
"You're from universe 1, your soul was swapped with a counterpart from universe 2, and Discord just sent you and your friends here to universe 3?" Oloy said. Everypony looked at him. "What? She explained everything, all I needed to do was listen fast enough to keep up." Pinkie let out the breath.
"It feels different when somepony does it to me," she said.
"But...um..." Fluttershy raised her hoof.
"Oh yeah, Oloy is totally right!"
"Woah woah woah, you're from another dimension? Like in Power Ponies issue 326 when aliens crash land on a farm and have to build their ship before the planets align?" Spike asked.
"As a matter of fact I am," Pinkie said, crossing her front legs to look cool. "I even met an alien called Lapis Lazuli, she's blue and has hands and wings!"
"How fast can she fly?" Rainbow asked.
"Idunno, Twilight raced her but I don't know who won."
"Can she do a sonic rainboom?" Pinkie shrugged.
"Maaaaybeeee?"
"Ugh Pinkie you never ask the important questions!" Rainbow huffed. Then a lightbulb appeared above her head. "Saaaay, I need to get out of dodge for a while-I mean, I need to race this Lapis Lazuli lady to prove that I'm the fastest. Could you send me to her dimension?" Before Pinkie could reply, Applejack stuffed a hoof in her mouth.
"Don't call him," she said.
"Oh, Discord!" Rainbow said from the air.
"Rainbow Dash, that's cheatin' with yer wings. Get down here!"
"Discord, discord!"
"Yes there's no need to shout, I'm right here," the chaos lord said, lifting a corner of the picnic blanket and walking up the stairs under it, "what do you want now, Rainbow Dash? Shall I perform another Sonic Chaosboom for your amusement?"
"Nope! One was...too many," the pegasus shuddered. "Just send me to that other dimension so I can race Lapis Lassie."
"Lapis Lazuli," he drily corrected.
"Right, right." Discord sat on the blanket and stroked his goatee.
"You're sure you can handle the consequences? The tone is a bit different over there, sort of...dramatic."
"Wait let me grab my bags!" She flew off. Oloy hid behind Applejack, who was looking about ready to throttle Discord with her lasso. Fluttershy and Spike approached the chaos lord.
"Hi Discord," the dragon said, "how's it going?"
"It's going fine," he said, "I'm just a little busy. You let it get out that you can dimension-hop, and suddenly everypony wants a taxi service."
"You shouldn't work too hard," Fluttershy said, patting him on the back gently. "Even you have limits." He nodded, and the bags under his eyes loaded onto a small plane and flew away. "Please, get some rest."
"Alright Fluttershy, I'll get some rest. For you." He gave her a hug, Spike a fist bump, and Oloy a thumbs-up. Then Discord snapped his fingers and disappeared.
"Okay Discord, I packed snacks and the first Daring Do book, I'm ready for an adventure!" Rainbow said as she flew down from her cloud house. "Aaaaand he's gone."
OMG I thought this story was dead; thanks for the update, man.
12007810
You're welcome! Yes, I'm trying to weave three of my stories together a bit, to help with writer's block. It really paid off here.