Rainbow is Magic S2 and Friendship is Magic Crossover Special: Equestrian Dimensional Shuffle

by aceotaku

Chapter 2: Ain't In Kansas

Twilight Sparkle blinked her eyes, disoriented from her trip through the portal. It was hazy but she was positive she saw...something while travelling through it. But she wasn’t sure what exactly it was. As she opened her eyes she took stock of her surroundings.

She frowned in confusion as she found herself standing outside giant crystal tree, she looked around herself and realised she was in Ponyville, and according to her memory of the town layout, this should be wear the Library should be, rather than this bizarre, giant art project. She shrugged to herself and trotted to the thing, and noticed a large door on the tree’s ‘trunk’ and knocked on it, hoping somepony might be inside to tell her what was going on.

All she knew was that Spike and Rainbow would not be happy to have their home replaced like this.

After a long while, the door slowly opened...and the occupant inside caused her to gasp in surprise and shock, as before her stood an almost exact duplicate of her, aside from minor differences: she lacked the same Stetson Twilight wore, her cutie mark was completely different (a bunch of stars in comparison to twilight’s own Soda Pop bottle cutie mark) and, most obvious of all, had a pair of wings on her back.

The almost-doppelganger blinked in surprise, looking over Twilight in turn. “Wh-what the...?”

“A...Chrysalis, is that you?” Twilight asked, jumping to the first conclusion that made sense. Sure, a lot of ponies look alike, but this was too eerie to be a mere coincidence.

The double’s eyes blinked. “Chrysalis...? Wait...are you a changeling?” She looked the generous pony over, as if trying to gauge her intent.

“Wha...!? I’m not a changeling!” Twilight sighed as she looked the pony in the eyes. “Look, I don’t know why you seem to have gotten rid of the library in place of this...thing, but you really need to put it back, Rainbow’s going to be REALLY mad at you, and a lot of ponies depend on the library or information!”

The other pony tilted her head, eyes wide and confused as a little purple dragon popped his head in through the doorframe. “Hey Twi, you...talking...to...yourself...?” The dragon asked aloud, his speech slowing down as his brain shut down trying to process the sight before him.

Twilight smiled. “Oh you’re here Spike! Mind telling me where Rainbow is? Do you know what happened here and who this pony is? Wait, how could you though, you were with us...” She frowned to herself, confused.

Spike pressed closer to the purple pony beside him, gazing up at Twilight. “What the hay are you talking about? Who are you supposed to be!?”

Twilight frowned. “Why I’m Twilight Sparkle! You know me! My family owns a farm near town, remember?”

Spike blinked. “Uhhh no? Twilight lives HERE.”

The purple unicorn before Twilight nodded to herself in thought. “Okay...I THINk I know what’s going on here, though it’s a lot different from what I experienced. Come inside and let me explain...I think you’re from a...well...a different Equestria, I think you could say?”

----------------------------------

Applejack rubbed her eyes to clear them after the...disorienting experience she just had. As her vision cleared she looked around, frowning to herself as she realised she was somehow back in Ponyville, standing outside her family’s farm.

“They better not be causing trouble here again...” She said huffily, turning her head as she heard hoofsteps nearby...and stared in disbelief. She saw a bright red stallion bucking at some trees with his powerful hooves. He was the very spitting image of the stallion Big Macintosh used to be, right down to the cutie mark.

But Big Mac wasn’t a stallion anymore. Or at least, not when she last had checked.

“M-Macintosh?” Applejack asked in puzzlement.

The stallion turned to her and nodded. “Eeeyup.”

“Oh your poor dear what happened!?” Applejack exclaimed, distraught. “What happened to change you back!? Was it our parents!? I KNEW they’d try SOMETHING, but...”

Big Mac blinked, tilting his head in confusion. “What...are ya talkin’ about AJ?”

“You’re a stallion, Mac! Not a mare!” Applejack blurted out.

“Uhhh....Eeeyup?” Big Mac frowned, looking his apparent sister over. “ya okay, Sis? Yer actin’ mighty strange, and yer not usually dressed to the nines like that...”

“Ex-excuse me?” Now it was Applejack’s turn to be confused. “What are you saying exactly?”

“Well sis, yer not really one for wearing a dress, at least not outside a special occasion or somethin’, an’...what was that about our parents?”

Applejack huffed, looking aside. “I don’t wish to get into discussing THEM right now...”

Big Mac flinched. “Yeah, AH suppose yer right, still you mentioned them which was pretty unusual...ya don’t really talk about them since they...left...”

Applejack blinked. “Hold on...left..? what are you going on about? When exactly did they leave?”

Big Mac stared at her in disbelief, eyes widened as he noticed the expression on her face and he came to a realisation. “Ya...don’t know? Did ya hit yer head or something...?”

“Don’t know what?” Applejack shook her head. “Look, Ah don’t want to get sidetracked talking about our parents! Ah just want to know what happened to you!”

“Uhhh...nothin?”

“You’re a stallion!” Appljack repeated in exasperation, gesturing to him with her hooves. “Either mother and father pulled some hairbraned scheme because they just don’t GET you’re a mare or...wait, was it Uncle Rotten? Did he and his family have something to do with this?”

“Who? AJ, Ah have no right idea what yer talkin’ about, we don’t HAVE any Uncle named Rotten or anything, and AH certainly ain’t a mare, never have been never will be. Are ya SURE you’re okay...?” The stallion gazed at her in concern.

Applejack blinked, staring at Big Mac in confusion and rising dread. “W-what are you...? Macintosh, you’re a mare! I even helped you talk to Rainbow about it! And what do you mean we don’t have an Uncle named Rotten!? He’s mother’s brother, Granny’s son!”

“Makin’ a lot of assumptions there, AJ.” A familiar voice broke in.

Applejack blinked, turning to look to the speaker, as did Big Mac. Stepping out from behind the barn, a hoof wrapped over Granny Smith’s shoulder, was Braeburn Bad Apple, glaring hatefully.

“Now, AJ, Ah won’t hurt this old mare if ya don’t give me reason to.”He gazed at Big Mac. “That goes double for you.”

Granny Smith gazed at the stallion. “Braeburn, what are ya doin’? Yer actin’ crazy!”

“What are ya doin’ in POnyville anyway...?” Big Mac asked, gazing warily at the other stallion.

“You’re thinking of another Braeburn.” He answered,keeping his gaze on Applejack. “You’re very confused, I get it, ya got a lot of questions, but Ah don’t exactly have patience for ya to argue yourselves in a circle. The Element of Loyalty,now, ah know ya got it.”

“...And what if I were to refuse?” Applejack hazarded, gulping.

“You know exactly what Ah might do, if AH were inclined.” Braeburn said evenly. “Now, are ya willing to take that or risk or”

Something sped through at incredible speed, and Braeburn was suddenly against the barn’s wall, groaning in pain from being pushed into it, a blue Pegasus standing a few inches from where Braeburn had once stood, Granny Smith blinking and looking back and forth between the newcomer and Braeburn.

‘Rainbow! Where did YOU come from!?” Applejack exclaimed in surprise.

“Was napping nearby, then I heard something going on down here, decided to butt in.” The Pegasus shrugged before glaring at Braeburn. “What was THAT all about? Last I saw you was at Appleoosa, what are you doing here?”

Braeburn chuckled as he got up. “Wrong Braeburn, ma’am. Ah ain’t from around here, an’ neither is that mare.” He pointed at Applejack. “But to make things clearer: what’s the name of your parents?”

Applejack scrunched her face in confusion and annoyance. “It’s Juicy Apple and Hard Cider, what is the point, you...” She suddenly stopped as she found Big Mac and Granny Smith staring at her. “Why are you staring at me like that...?”

“Our parents aren’t called that at all...” Big Mac muttered.

“Indeed, Ah’d certainly know mah own son’s name, it certainly ain’t either of those.” Granny Smith concurred with a nod.

“W-wait...what...?” Applejack paled, looking around in confusion. “A-ah don’t...Ah don’t understand...”

Braeburn smirked, gazing at Rainbow Dash. “Ya probably don’t know this, ya seem a simpler type, so lemme just spell it out: she AIN’T yer friend. She ain’t from around here. So what are ya gonna do about that?”

Rainbow turned to Applejack, finally taking in her odd appearance, the confusion on her face, and the confused and suspiscious gazes her grandmother and brother gave her...and then made a decision, rushing at the mare and pushing her to the ground.

“What did you do to my friend!?” She snarled angrily. “If you hurt her I swear I’ll...!”

“Yoink!” Braeburn exclaimed, running off as he pulled the Element of Loyalty that had fallen to Applejack’s side with a long rope from his vest and pulled it under his hoof. “See ya, suckers!” He smirked as he ran off into a portal, disappearing from view.

“What the...!?” Rainbow exclaimed before turning to Applejack again. “What was that about!? What did your friend just take!?”

“Wha...!? FRIEND!? FRIEND!?!?” Applejack sputtered, giving rainbow a headbutt and pushing her off to stand up. “Don’t you EVER say Ah’m FRIENDS with that HOOLIGAN! He kidnapped MAH sister! He threatened MAH family! He, along with the rest of his family, almost ruined one of the most important events in Equestria and helped to DIVIDE mah family! And he just TOOK one of the ELEMENTS OF HARMONY and you just LET HIM! How DARE you!?”

“What in TARNATION is goin’ on!?” Another voice called out, identical to Applejack’s own.

Everyone blinked, eyes wide in surprise as they turned, seeing a second Applejack wearing a brown Stetson over her blonde, loosely braided hair...standing beside a second Rainbow Dash who had what appeared to be Spike on her back.

“There better be a DARN GOOD explanation for what’s goin’ on, Rainbow Dash!” The Applejack doppelganger said in a thick, country accent, looking angry.

The Rainbow that Applejack had headbutted stared, then turned to the fashionista.

“Ah’m just as confused as you are.” Applejack replied dumbly.

------------------------

Earlier

Rainbow stood before the Stetson clad earth pony, frowning in thought. The voice was the same, as was the face, but as she focused she noticed the differences. The hat and hair, obviously, as well as the cutie mark, that was unmistakable but there were also little things. The WAY she spoke, the subtle hints of muscle on her body, the subtle specks of dirt in her hooves and hair and even a bit on her face.

Yes, now that Rainbow thought about it and focused, something became clear. This was NOT her friend...but she WASN’T just some random pony. She acted like she knew her, or at least someone who looked like her, and she had enough in common with the ‘real’ AJ that it couldn’t JUST be coincidence.

And as she thought about this...Rainbow saw something that derailed her train of thought. Something that silenced all thought in her mind.

Walking through the street...was Grey Mare, formerly Mayor Mare of Ponyville. And upon seeing her, Rainbow was overcome by an intense emotion.

Pure, unbridled rage.

“Dash?” Applejack asked. “Ya alright?”

Rainbow ignored her as she ran towards Gray Mare, standing before the mare with pure hatred as she muttered “youuuuuuuuu” moments before decking her hardin the shnoz with her right hoof.

“Dash!” Applejack called out to her as she ran over. “What they hay!? Why’d ya go an’ hit Mayor Mare for!”

Rainbow blinked, turning to Applejack. “Hold on? You...she’s still Mayor?”

“Wha!? Of course! What are ya talkin’ about, an’ what does that have ta do with anythin’!?”

Rainbow stared at her and then at the mare crumpled to the ground before her, who slowly tried to get back up on her hooves. “I-it’s quite alright, I’m quite fine!” Mayor Mare said, gasping for breath.

Something clocked in Rainbow’s mind as she took of her surroundings and then turned to the dragon on her back.

“We’re in an alternate reality.”

“What.” Spike replied incredulously.

“Alternate what now?” Applejack responded.

“Alternate Reality, alternate timeline, parallel dimension, another world, mirror universe, take your pick.” Rainbow Dash explained. “There are tons of stories exploring the concept, but the idea of actually appearing in one is...not exactly high on things to expect.” She turned to the fallen Mayor Mare with a grimace, gently helping her up her hooves. “S-sorry about that I just...thought you were somepony else...”

Mayor Mare gave her a reassuring smile. “Oh don’t fret, that sort of thing happens all the time, at least in my experience.”

“Rainbow that’s a little ahrd to believe...” Spike said, arms folded over his chest.

“Between how UN-AJ this Applejack is and Mayor Mare apparently still being Mayor despite us BOTH knowing Filthy Rich is Mayor and...loook, just look over there!” She pointed to the giant crystal tree thing in the distance overlooking the town. “THAT certainly wasn’t there in OUR world!”

“Ya’ll mean Twilight’s castle?” Applejack said, head tilted, looking pretty confused.

“Exactly!” Rainbow responded. “That makes literally NO SENSE to me! So this MUST be some...alternate equestrian where everything’s weird and different and crazy! Like...like this applejack could still be a farmer, for example!”

“Ah AM a farmer!” Applejack said.

“See!” Rainbow put a hoof to her chin in thought. “Hmm come to think of it the others must be around here too, most likely, and the best places to start would be places they’d be drawn to...” She turned to this world’s Applejack. “Mind taking me to your farm? A friend of mine might be there.”

“Uh, sure Dash, Ah still ain’t too sure what you’re on about and uhh kinda still upset you just hit Mayor Mare like that...”

“Oh don’t worry about it, Miss Applejack!” The Mayor replied. “Happens all the time!”

“Look, you’ll better understand once we’ve gotten everypny together and I’ll properly apologise for my behaviour later, but right now we gotta focus.” Rainbow said, taking charge. “Just show me the way, please, there’s still a lot we need to figure out.”

-----------------------

Sweet Apple Acres, Present time

Rainbow stepped up from beside the Stetson clad applejack to move closer to her own doppelganger, looking her over.

“Hmm same basic look, hair’s messier, cutie mark’s different, I think I even see some slight muscle on your body...” She muttered.

“Wh-who the hay are you!?” The other Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “Why do ya look like me!?”

“Because I AM you, or rather, a version of you from another world.” Rainbow quickly explained.”That mare you got under you is my Applejack, and I’d like to know why you currently have her pinned to the ground.”

“Well...I...” The Pegasus stammered, glancing at the Applejack in the brown Stetson.”I thought she uh...did something to her so uhh...”

“You can clearly see she is not, and in fact I have stepped away from her so she is in no danger from me.” Rainbow glared. “Get off my friend now or I’ll MAKE you get off.”

“Dash, just do what she says.” The upright earth mare added, gazing at the other other Rainbow Dash like a big sister scolding a little sister.

The Pegasus slowly, dumbly nodded and stepped off, the fashionista quickly getting to her hooves, staring at her double in disbelief...and horror.

“M-my word! Y-your ensemble! Your mane! Your cutie mark!” She shook her head. “No no no no no! This SIMPLY will not do! Somepony can’t go around looking like ME looking like THAT!”

Rainbow facehoofed. “AJ, look, we don’t need to worry about a fashion emergency, besides she looks fine.”

“Says you.” Spike scoffed. “Our Applejack is WAY prettier.”

“NOT. THE POINT. SPIKE.” Rainbow growled, turning to her friend. “What happened here.”

Applejack sighed and looked down. “Nothing too important but....Braeburn took my Element of Loyalty.”

“...Element of Loyalty?” The other Applejack asked. “Not Honesty?”

The fashionista frowned, raising a brow as she turned to Rainbow. “Rainbow, what is going on here?”

“Long story short, it seems the Bad Apples brought us to....another Equestria, where everything is different. First priority, we get everyone together. Applejack, you come with me.”

Both Applejacks trotted to her side.

Rainbow groaned. “NO I meant...okay...FIRST PRIORITY: figuring out what we call each other to avoid confusion. SECOND PRIORITY: We find the others and get them up to speed on the situation.”

“third priority: makesure PInkamena didn’t upset anyone.” Spike added.

“....okay yes that is a good point, we should probably try to find her first. BUT FIRST! You can call me Rainbow, it’s what everypony calls me and what I’m used to.”

The other Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Call me Dash. It’s cooler than just going by Rainbow anyway.”

“Jus’ callin’ me Applejack or AJ is fine by me.” The local earth pony said.

The fashionista frowned. “Very well, Ah SUPPOSE for now you can call me Jackie for short, but only until we get home away from these confusing matters.”

“Just call me Spike.” The dragon said simply.

“And what if we run into another Spike?” Rainbow pointed out.

“Then he should’ve voted first.” Spike said with a wry smirk.

“We could call him Rainbow Spike.” Dash suggested. “Since he seems to be with you and all. Kinda weird to be honest, seeing Spike with someone other than Twilight or Rarity...”

“We are not calling him Rainbow Spike, that’s ridiculous.” Rainbow scoffed. “We’ll figure it out when we come to it, right now we need to find Pinkamena.”

“What, ya mean Pinkie?” Applejack asked. “Why is that?”

“Cause she can be pretty....DIFFICULT.” Rainbow replied.

--------------------------

Pinakeman trotted through the town and as she looked around her Honest nature told her one thing.

This wasn’t her home. It looked more or less the same, the ponies looked more or less the same, but everything was different and she could just TELL, this wasn’t the town she mostly called home, it was someplace entirely and the clues were all there if you looked for them.

For starters there was a pink pony identical to her save for a cheerful disposition and a propensity for stalking Pinkamena wherever she walked.

She turned to said pink mare grouchily. “And WHO are YOU?”

“Hi!” The mare greeted cheerfully. “I’m Pinkie Pie! I’m ehre to welcome you to Ponyville since you seem new here! Though you look kinda like me but I’m POSITIVE you aren’t one of those weird clones of me and you seem pretty unhappy so I thougth ‘HEY! Maybe I should go introduce myself and help cheer this pony up!’ And here I am to do just that!”

PInkamena stared at the grinning abomination before her, reminded of her worst nightmares AND what happened to her when Discord was around. “Go away.”

“But I didn’t even learn your name!”Pinkie Pie said, aghast.

“My name is Pinkamena Pie.” PInkemena snarled. “Go away, you’re like a living nightmare.”

Pinkie grinned widely. “Awww don’t be like that! I’m sure we’ll be good friends if you just try!”

“Or you could respect my privacy and not force yourself into my life like a weirdo.” PInkamena growled.

“WOW!” A new voice called out. “Hello there Pinkie! Hi there other pinkie!”

PInkamena’s eyes widened as she saw Fluttershy gleefully flying over to them, and just like that the situation had just gotten worse.

Pinkie grinned. “Hey Fluttershy! You seem a lot more excited today!”

“I sure am Other Pinkie!” Fluttershy’s grin widened as she flied to the pink pony. “It’s so great to make new friends!”

“I know right!” Pinkie nodded in agreement. “I’m so glad you understand!”

Pinkamena’s eye twitched as she stared at the pair. This was far worse than any nightmare she had ever had.

“No...” She muttered. “There’s TWO of them...!”

-----------------------------------

Rarity pouted to herself as she stood before Carousel Boutique.

“Okay so I was in Manehatten and now I’m in Ponyville...in front of Aplejack’s shop. Great.” She sighed. “Well, maybe AJ’s inside and might know what happened? Or something? ....hopefully she won’t try and make me wear a dress of give me a ‘makeover’.” She rolled her eyes, sticking her tongue out in disgust and trotted forward....the very moment another Rarity opened the door to step outside.

The other Rarity blinked. “Oh! A customer? I was about to head out to see my friends, I wasn’t expecting...” Her eyes widened as she took in the other mare’s appearance: short messy many, a black ring around one eye, a mouth full of broken teeth, bandages around the legs, a blank flank and several bruises along the back. Her eyes rolled back as she fainted from the dismal sight before her and collapsed to the ground with a dramatic whine of pure horror.

Rarity, for her part, simply watched the performance with a raised brow. “You okay there, ma’am? Also you kinda look like how I used to as a filly before stuff happened.”

The other mare huffed and got to her hooves. “Now this simply won’t do! I have no idea who you are, darling, but you simply MUST get come in! We can’t have you parading around town looking like...THAT. Not on my watch!”

Rarity gasped and stepped back, paling. “Oh no, don’t you dare mess with my awesome look. I’m fine how I am.”

“Darling, you look like you crashed through a building!”

“Hey I haven’t done since I was five!” She paused. “And last month. But still!”

“Whatever are you talking about?” The other unicorn asked in confusion.

“None of your business! All that matters is I am NOT having ANYPONY mess with my look!”

“it won’t take very long and I can assure you you’ll thank me!”

There was the sound of a mechanism cocking, interrupting the two mares and drawing their attention to the green, red bearded stallion standing closeby, blunderbuss at the ready.

“Alright, as amusin’ as this is, AH got important work ta do.” Rotten Bad Apple smirked. “Now, Rarity, right? Give me the Element of Kindness. Or else.”

Comments

[D48]

Well, I don't have a lot to say about this chapter since it's just setup. Admittedly there is a part of me that's worried you're going to take the common misreading of canon Rainbow's character and make her an idiot because she seemed too slow on the uptake here, but based on your work with your AU of Rainbow I'm more inclined to believe that was an accident since you obviously know Rainbow is very smart.

[aceotaku]

9816216
my interpretation is that Rainbow is not DUMB, but is quick to make assumptions i.e. her immediately becoming kinda suspscious of Twilight knowing who Nightmare Moon was in the first episode (if memory serves well, of course) and can let her anger cloud her judgement. Plus the general situation is quite confusing and strange in general so it messes with everyone's expectations.

Hopefully I can do a good job portraying the canon characters but we'll see, it's kinda soemthing I've beeen a little nervous about >.>

[D48]

9816447
While it's certainly fair to say she can jump in without thinking and is reluctant to admit she's wrong, you definitely misread (or misremembered) her at least a little. Accusing Twilight of being a spy doesn't fit as a random assumption and isn't obvious at first glance, but it does actually make logical sense from the limited information available so it's actually a perfect example of Rainbow's intelligence in action, especially considering the time and pressure involved. Unfortunately my memory's a little fuzzy at this point so I'll probably screw up the details if I try, but the gist of it is that they have nothing but Twilight's own word about why she's there, she has knowledge of what's going on, no one else had any idea it was a thing at all, and Rainbow's limited interaction with Twilight didn't really paint her as personally caring about the holiday going well.

All in all, I'd recommend re-watching seasons 1 and 2 and focusing on Rainbow, Twilight, and possibly Rarity to refocus their characters in your mind because they were all butchered as soon as Faust got the boot and the people who cared have largely left the fandom as a result.