The Phone Competition

by SilverStar7

A Crime of Opportunity

"And in conclusion to this resolutionary addendum to my final point, I would like to again apologize for all the inconveniences caused to you by my action. While I believe the long-term effects on these worlds to be minimal, as outlined in Appendix 1, Risk Assessment, I do know that your personal hardships are significant to you, and I hope you will find it in your heart to forgive me. (And, yes, I did learn that humans also have hearts, and much more about their circulatory system. See List of possible scientific leaks in Appendix 2b.)

"Above all else, I hope you will remain my friend.

"Sincerely sorry,
"Twilight Sparkle"

Spike sighed for the last time, and again turned his face to the coffee table, taking a long drink from the bowl of water Sunset had placed in front of him.

Sunset was grinning. "Is that all?" she asked.

The purple dog held up a paw as he continued to drink. He finished with a gasp and looked back to Sunset. "That's all, unless you want me to read you the six appendices right now."

Shaking her head, the human girl picked up the apology letter. Or perhaps apology textbook was a better description? "Honestly, I wasn't even that upset at Twilight. I just wanted my phone back."

"Well, Twilight was pretty upset with herself," said Spike. "I haven't had to write an 81 point paper with her since she became a princess."

Sunset raised an eyebrow. "You had to write an 81 point paper before this one?"

Spike stared off into a distant place beyond the wall of Sunset's apartment. "I barely even remember the details. It was something to do with unicorn magic. Or maybe unicorn biology? All I remember now is writing. It was just my claw, my quill, and words. Endless... words..." Spike became quieter, but his mouth still moved as he continued to mumble for a few moments. The dog finally brought his consciousness back to the room when Sunset touched his shoulder. He shook his head and looked to his dominant paw. "My claw was cramped so badly I needed three massages to fix it. Twilight promised me a trip to the spa when I got back this time. But, honestly, it doesn't hurt much as a dog."

"I would guess you don't really have the same muscles now." Sunset touched a finger to her chin. "In fact, that's probably exactly why. You wouldn't have writer's cramp because you don't have any writing muscles to cramp up."

"So I guess you'll need to write your apology acceptance back to Twilight. If you aren't sure what to say, you can fill out that form she mentioned in Appendix 4."

"I'll do that as soon as I get back from class." Sunset pulled out her smartphone and grimaced. "Although, I guess I'll be starting with third period once I get to school..."

"I warned you that might happen."

"It's fine. I'm doing well in my classes anyway." Sunset stood up and walked across the room, grabbing her jacket and book bag. "Besides, Twilight is more important."

Spike hopped off of the couch and followed Sunset toward the door. "Well, make sure you tell her that in your apology. She hasn't felt this bad about a decision since the time she made half of Ponyville almost destroy each other over a doll."

Sunset stopped and blinked. "Over a doll? I find that hard to imagine, unless Twi--" The girl facepalmed. "She put a 'Want-It, Need-It' spell on it, didn't she?"

Nodding, Spike went ahead of Sunset and pushed her door open for her. "Twilight was just glad she wasn't exiled for that one. Or, well, sort of glad..."

"What do you mean 'sort of glad?'" asked Sunset as she walked out of her apartment.

"Well, she thought she got off too easy," said Spike, as he shut the door behind them. "So this time she decided that she was going to give herself the punishment she deserved..."

★ ★ ★

Rainbow Danger Dash was, by all accounts, the most super, ultra, extreme, aweso-mazing pony in all of Equestria. Well, at least by her accounting, and considering how professional she could be, her accounting skills were certainly just as full of radical-ness as her death-defying flying skills. After all, she had earned the title of Wonderbolt, and now she could add another title. "Yep, I'm liking the sound of Royal Guard Wonderbolt Rainbow Danger Professionalism Dash."

"Did you just give yourself two fake middle names?"

Dash looked over at her friend Twilight, who was sitting in her castle's dungeon. It was really just a row of storage closets with recently fitted barred doors, but whenever Dash smirkingly asked Twilight when she would finally come out of the closet, the Princess of Friendship would reminder her that, first, it was a dungeon, and second, this was not a joke. Dash still laughed.

"So what if I did?" asked Dash, grabbing her head in her hooves. "I'm just so bored. I didn't realize guarding a criminal was, like, the least interesting thing ever. It always sounded so cool to be a castle guard."

"Well, what do you want me to do about it?" asked Twilight. "Make some sort of escape attempt just to make your day more exciting?"

Dash's eyes brightened. "That would be epic!"

"No, it would not!" said Twilight. "I'm a princess, and a princess does not try to escape from her prison sentence."

"Well, Luna did." Dash pointed out.

"It wasn't Luna who escaped, it was Nightmare Moon. Luna would never do something like that."

Dash's right eyebrow rose to behind her mane as she tilted her head sideways. "How are Luna and Nightmare Moon any different? They are literally the same pony."

"Ugh!" Twilight shook her head. "Absolutely not! Luna became Nightmare Moon as a result of the bitterness in her heart, but her actions after that transformation were only Nightmare Moon's. Luna's own consciousness was suppressed by her resentment, and remained so until the Elements of Harmony purified her heart. In fact, this distinction is why the Elements could turn her back instead of sending her to the moon all over again. Luna had come to regret her transformation after a thousand years, but Luna didn't regret becoming Nightmare Moon on the night she tried to overthrow Celestia. Therefore..."

Sweet Celestia, what have I done? Rainbow Dash was hardly in the mood for one of Twilight's rants about magic and philosophy. The only way she was going to be able to sit though this was if she was the one locked in a closet. She couldn't bring herself to tell Twilight that, but when looking for an excuse to get away, her bladder came to the rescue. When Twilight paused for a breath, Dash interrupted with, "Could I use the little fillies' room?"

Twilight blinked. "Uh, I guess. Do you want me to send for somepony else to keep watch?"

"Are you saying you're planning on escaping?" asked Dash, standing up and walking away from the "dungeon."

"Of course not, it's just--"

"I'll be all of two halls away. If you're worried that you're gonna wanna let yourself out early, just holler and I'll come and stop you."

Rainbow Dash left Twilight to her cell and made her way down the hall toward the bathroom. At least, she was pretty sure it was toward the bathroom. The castle's layout was fine, but it was massive and Rainbow Dash had really only spent time in a few of the rooms. In fact, she'd probably spent more time in Twilight's castle when they were renovating it than all other times combined. It certainly didn't help that almost every door looked the same.

For someone as obsessed with organization as Twilight, you'd think she'd have signs on her doors. And then those signs would have a little sign on them that said "Room Sign." Dash smirked as she rounded the corner to the hall that held the bathroom. There were six doors, each with the same opaque stained glass panes. Rainbow remembered that this hall held a bathroom, because Rarity was uncomfortable using this bathroom in the castle. Sure, its door was glass, but Rainbow knew that nopony could see through it. Not that she'd tried to see into the bathroom or anything...

Sort of wishing Twilight had been persnickety enough to mark all her rooms, Dash shrugged and tried one of the doors. It lead to a mostly empty room with a single desk and chair. Not sure what Twilight would need that for, Dash tried again and found the door lead to a storage closet with some spare quills and parchment, a telescope, the Crystal Mirror, a few rolled up rugs, and a several stray boxes. Closing the door, Dash prepared to try a third one when she stopped. The gears in her mind first ground to a halt, and then flipped into overdrive.

"It sounds like having your own dragon assistant," Dash remembered Fluttershy saying that. And she also remembered that time when Applejack had gotten to have Spike be her assistant, and how AJ had totally blown off the opportunity. Dash had only been given a glimpse of the, what had it been called again, smart-something?

"Every one of those little pictures is something the phone can do." Smartphone! That's what it was. And it was super easy to use. At least until Sunset messed things up by cutting the thing off from the other world's stuff. But, if Rainbow Dash wasn't cut off, she could figure it all out. Having other-worldly technology could be beyond epic. It probably can't wash my laundry or clean my room, but it could totally help me with my unfinished novel. At least, maybe. I can't get cut off again if I want to try though.

So, really, there was only one solution if Dash wanted to find out what the other world's technology could do without it losing the magical connection it had to the tower thing. But every time she or one of the others asked to go to the other world, Twilight gave them some excuse as to why they shouldn't. Now Twilight was literally behind bars. If Rainbow Dash was ever going to get a chance to visit that other universe and try out their technology, she would never find a better time to do so than that moment. Would Twilight buy her explanation that she'd gotten lost on her way to the bathroom and ended up in a parallel dimension?

The pegasus' bladder kicked at her lower abdomen, begging her to first use the bathroom before gallivanting off to another dimension. They have to have bathrooms in the other world, right? And I can't find the one here... Clearly, going to that world was the mare's only option.

That half-baked explanation and sense of urgency was enough to convince her that she had no choice. Dash opened up the storage closet. To say she was throwing caution to the winds would imply she still had caution with her after all the years of stunts. In an instant, the pegasus had flown headlong into the mirror, and vanished from Equestria.

Author's Note:

Sorry this took so long to come out, but I'm glad I waited. The whole idea of Twilight throwing herself in the dungeon only occurred to me in mid-June. Another idea about Twilight in the later chapter didn't come to me until October. And the final piece was Rainbow's motivation for going, which didn't occur to me until December.

Honestly, I had fears about producing my first sequel. How could it live up to the success of the previous story, while addressing all of the criticisms of the first one? I wanted it to be proof that I was a better writer. But, after watching a movie that came out a month after my previous story, I should have learned that being perfect isn't the point - it's about trying even though I could fail.

So you can let me know what new mistakes I made this time around.

Comments

[garfan]

cool story, but I think you need to switch this to incomplete

[Jlargent]

This cannot and will not end well.

[andrizzi]

When Equestrian Rainbow Dash steals the human Rainbow Dash's phone, the two hold a competition to decide who keeps it. But, more importantly, the contest will determine which of them is better!

I'm sorry, either this story is incomplete or I think I missed the part where this happens.

[SilverStar7]

7873226
7873242
Yes, I made a oopsie. I went through, updated tags and stuff, and, somehow, missed that. Sorry.

[B_Munro]

Starts off well - my one objection is the cover illustration (not that it necessarily indicates intent): as Twilight didn't come through wearing Sci Twi's school outfit, RainPony Dash shouldn't be wearing the same outfit as RainHuman Dash. She needs something maybe 20% cooler.

[I need a new name tbh]

Why is this so awesome?

The human world is about to get about 200% cooler.

[Windsor]

Did Sunset got her phone back?

[SilverStar7]

7873363 This story is a sequel. If you haven't read the previous story, I would recommend reading it before this one. If you have, here is the relevant line from the previous story:

"Okay! Fine! You win!" Twilight grabbed the smartphone out of Rainbow Dash's hoofs and threw it down at Sunset, who gratefully snatched it with her hoof.

[SilverStar7]

7873306 I was debating about how best to respond to this so I didn't spoil too much. I'll say this, which is only half a spoiler because it just draws attention to something that is already known: if you look closely, she isn't actually wearing exactly the same outfit that Rainbow Dash does.

[nobody dreamer]

Oh dear, another of Rainbow Dash's "wonderful" ideas. At least over there without pegasus magic she can't break too many things... probably. Can Canterlot High survive the egos of Double Dashes? Looking forward to finding out (wonder how quick Dash will get used to walking on two legs and how badly she'll take the loss of her wings).

My money is on Dash winning. I hope Pinkie starts up a betting pool in time (Sunset will probably be busy trying to keep things sane).

[MrAskAPirate]

Let's see how badly Dash screws up this time...

i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/097/722/b8c.gif

[MDCommissioner]

....I want the others to take a turn to use the magical mirror portal for something.

[HB_DS2013]

7875175 Oooh, pass the popcorn!

[erictheblue]

For someone as obsessed with organization as Twilight, you'd think she'd have signs on her doors. And then those signs would have a little sign on them that said "Room Sign." Dash smirked

reminds me of "iso 9000" and that Dilbert cartoon where a guy wearing a shirt that said "stupid label guy" put a "coffee maker" sign on the coffee maker.

[Random User 22]

Rainbow Dash going to the human world. Well this should be entertaining.