Dash had started the day quite happy about the situation with Twilight and the remarkable and adventurous world she'd landed in. Now, she was starting to think that had been the universe fucking with her, just so it could drop all this other crap on them. Dash felt her body slam against the side of the vehicle as Scooter took yet another ridiculous turn, knocking the wind out of her for a few moments. Damnit! This day just keeps getting more ridiculous! Gangsters, crazy ponies who look like Twi's brother, and now I'm stuck in a scene straight out of the movies! Not that Dash wasn't having fun, but she could use a breather! "We lose em?" She asked Daring, keeping one worried eye on Twilight.

"For now... They're not going to give up though." Daring commented with a remarkable amount of calm. Although perhaps not so remarkable, given the sort of thing she did for a living. "Scoots! We need to get to..." She grabbed up one of the scattered papers Applejack had given them from the back seat, examining it for a moment. "The east side... Wait, We were just at these warehouses!" She yelled incredulously, and Dash blinked at her uncomprehendingly. "Last night!" Daring elaborated, and the information clicked a moment later.

All thought of that was driven out of Dash's head though, as Daring stuck her head into the front seat to argue with Applebloom, Twilight started to come around from her mental daze. "Whuzza... did I miss anything?" Twilight asked in a muzzy tone, shaking her head firmly as she tried to clear out the cobwebs. "Dash? Is everypony okay?" She asked in a small, kind of lost voice.

Dash couldn't help it - she shook her head and grinned at Twilight. "We're all okay, Twi. Just take a breather. You kinda scared me there for a second." She mock scolded, smacking Twilight's shoulder with her hoof. Twilight just smiled back as she started to rub at her temple. "Jeeze, Twilight - I knew you'd been holding back all this time, but I didn't realize you'd been holding back that much." Dash chuckled softly, feeling an odd rush of pride. "Bet you gave those goons one heck of a shock."

Twilight smiled briefly. "I haven't been holding back, Dash... something's different about me. About my magic." She shook her head, that small smile still on her face. "I think... I think it has something to do with... coming through the portal. It's just a theory right now, but..." She frowned. "Do you feel any different? Like... faster, or something?"

Dash blinked at that one, opening her mouth to reply, then shutting it. Huh. That Rainboom... was it easier, and I just didn't notice? Dash already knew she was pretty damn awesome, that was just a given... but that had been one of her harder tricks she'd pulled when she barrel rolled through that doorway back in the warehouse. "I dunno. There's only one real way to find out." She flexed her wings a little and grinned at Twilight. "You're all about the scientific experiment, Twi... Want to do a little test?"

Daring pulled her head back from the front seat and blinked at Dash as she worked the handle to roll down the window. "Wait, what are you two talking about?" She asked, furrowing her brow. Rosetta (who Dash now noticed had been listening in the whole time) was stifling a grin and had a mischievous twinkle in her eye. Twilight's mouth twisted into a slow grin as Scooter pulled them around a corner and let out a yell that filled the cabin, "They're still following us! Bucking Celestia, don't they ever give up?!"

Dash grinned fearlessly. Should I....? Heh. Why the heck not? "Hang on Scoots. I'll just step outside and have a word with 'em." She said, in a saucy and confident tone as the wind whipped past the now opened window. Dash looked back through the hole that had been the rear window for a moment, and smirked as she saw the black-uniformed goons leaning out of their own windows. "Be right back." She continued, then launched herself out of the window.

Daring yelled something behind her, but Dash was already too far gone into the air to give a buck. The wind blazed into her face and felt like a balm - her wings snapped open and caught the rushing stream of air as she transited from moving vehicle to moving on her own power. Sharp pegasus eyes caught the incredulous stare of Daring Do and the jaw-drop of one of those black uniformed goons as Dash banked into the wind. Okay... Twi thinks we're changed. Her magic is supercharged.... I wonder if I'm just... better.

Dash mulled over that thought... until she realized she was keeping up with the vehicle without so much as trying. She pulled her wings in for a moment and then gave one mighty beat of them... the passing buildings became a massive blur around her, as her speed launched her down the streets and far away from the car-chase behind her. Instinctively, she banked up and then back in midair, carrying her back at insane speed towards one of the goon vehicles. With a fierce grin, Dash pivoted in midair just in time to meet the forward-window of the vehicle with her rear hooves.

What came next seemed to go in slow motion - she shattered the glass as though it wasn't even there, rocketing through the plate so fast it left a Dash shaped hole as she passed through.  Her rear hooves connected with the jaw of the driver...and kept going, carrying him along with her as she traveled through the car's cabin through to the back seat - where the stunned goon-pony went crashing through the rear window, his chin still tucked over her hoof. Her body followed his until she was fully clear of the car, at which point she snapped open her wings and rocketed away from him, leaving his body to tumble along the ground while the vehicle he'd been driving crashed into a lamp post.

Dash had always been fast, even as a little filly in flight school. It had taken her time to learn maneuverability, which is what had earned her the nickname 'Rainbow Crash' in that same flight school. Yet after a decade of dedication to her sport, she wasn't just fast - nor just maneuverable. She was at the pinnacle of her art, the ultimate flier. All that truly separated her from her idolized Wonderbolts was experience. But here?

She was beyond merely fast. She was only just starting to exert herself, and she was achieving speeds at ground level it would have taken her hard work and distance in the thinner air of the high skies to achieve. She wasn't simply maneuverable - she was pulling turns that would have given her muscle strains back home. It was as though this world took everything that was her and turned it up to eleven. Including my emotions... and Twilight's. But does that mean it's just because we're here or... it wasn't a pleasant thought to consider that every bit of progress she'd made with Twilight might just be because of this crazy new world they were in but... she couldn't dismiss it.

The last car, containing a screaming pony in a funny hat, peeled off from the chase of their vehicle. Dash gave a satisfactory nod at that and then swept her wings back firmly to pick up her speed a little. She needed time to think, and there was no better time to do that than when you were flying. Maybe by the time they got to where they were going she'd have figured out what the heck she was feeling... and what it might mean for her and Twi.

"You all caught that, right?" Daring said in a soft, almost too-gentle tone of voice.  "I wasn't the only pony who just saw her do that... right?" she continued, as dead silence filled the rest of the cabin of the car. Applebloom was rubbing her chin, and Scooter was practically vibrating in her seat from pure, unadulterated excitement. Rosetta had caught Twilight's eye, and the pair of them nodded at one another. "Holy Solaris." Daring whispered softly, sinking back down into her seat as Dash pulled up alongside the car and flew along as casually as if she did this sort of thing every day.

Twilight was quite calm, however. "Are you thinking..." She began to speak, as her mind raced with this little piece of confirmed information...

"Yes, I think so." Rosetta cut her off - or did she finish her sentence? Did it matter? They were effectively the same pony, even if death and a few... other details had changed some of their experiences. "Our reality apparently has slightly different physical and magical rules than yours does. They wouldn't even have to be that significant on a cosmic scale to be effecting you."

Twilight nodded slowly, picking up the thread of logic. "Our bodies are adapting to that set of rules. It's supercharging our magic - unicorn and pegasus alike." She frowned. "I suppose It might do the same to an earth pony, though I don't quite know how. Regardless, we're changing..."

Rosetta picked up again, as their thoughts moved quicker and quicker in tandem. "And you're also... fitting in to things better." Rosetta appeared to be groping for the right words, which was just fine because Twilight didn't have them either. In fact, she simply couldn't explain why this world kept getting more and more absurd... and why none of it seemed to bother her in the least. Why was that? There had been so many physical impossibilities today, that Twilight well and truly had lost count.

After all, all of the events so far had truly strained the boundaries of credulity as far as it came to coincidence. She and Dash just so happened to be in the warehouse Daring Do was investigating in the disappearance of Manehatten Silver. She and Dash just so happened to have been discussing that very same relationship, mere minutes before they were pulled into that warehouse. Further, Rosetta just so happened to have access to data regarding a portal, that just so happened to have kidnapped them into a world where it just so happened that Twilight Sparkle had died and become somepony new entirely. And worst of all, a world where Rainbow Dash just so happened to have never performed the Sonic Rainboom.

It was a long, torrid series of coincidences and happenstances that - when you added them all up - didn't seem so much like coincidence or happenstance at all. What was it Luna told me? Once is mere chance, twice is suspicious, but three times is enemy action. It didn't make sense - logically speaking - for all of this to be going on. Rarity lacked the power to open that portal, and Twilight had known that right from the start. She should have been asking questions as to how that portal had gotten there, yet she had just as recklessly thrown herself into this story as Rainbow Dash had. As though they were characters in a book.

...As though we were... in a book.

They hadn't acted rationally, now that Twilight stopped and truly thought about it. They'd simply accepted that this mare was Daring Do, and this other mare was Rosetta. They'd not even questioned the insane and inept villains, the crazy schemes and plots being hatched by virtually everypony around them. The smoky rendezvous at a nightclub, where a familiar friend just so happened to have the information they needed. Even now, even this insane vehicle chase... where were the other vehicles on the streets? Where were the pedestrians? What about those poor ponies in the vehicles she'd crushed with her power?

Yet Twilight would be willing to bet that some perfectly reasonable, if utterly insane reason would appear if she raised the question. Road construction, villainous backup, the ponies in the cars were faceless and evil goon squad members. They'd found Miss Kitty because that was the most logical next move for them to make if they were looking for a lost somepony. As though this was the way things were supposed to be happening... as though... "Wait." Twilight said, her train of thought crashing to a sudden stop. "I'm... Daring, when you first saw me and Dash - what were your first thoughts? Beyond the obvious problems we were having with those gangster ponies." She elaborated, listening carefully for the pegasus' reaction to that question.

Daring blinked and shrugged her shoulder. "Mostly that you two looked pretty and you needed to be rescued. That, and I was wondering why the anonymous tip had said you two were so important." She frowned. "I couldn't figure it out then, and I'm still working on it now... who sent that tip? And why? How did they know you were going to be there, at that exact moment?" She shook her head slowly. "And why am I getting the feeling that we've been set up, somehow?"

Twilight paused, hesitating over the logic... yet... "What's missing here isn't a why or a how... it's a who. Two of them, to be precise. " She looked up, licking her suddenly dry lips. "It seems insane on the surface of it, but..." She looked up to the sky for a moment, biting down on her lip. "But it makes sense, even though the reasoning behind it is...I cannot believe she might pull something like that, but then again... maybe I can believe it." She continued, her voice reduced to a whisper. "Given no other choice, scared of the possibility of failure, I could fully believe that she would be willing to..."

"Twilight!" Rosetta said sharply, firmly. "What in Equestria are you going on about?" Her voice was firm, but not hard - she looked concerned to Twilight. Concerned for her doppelganger no less, which was as absurd as any other fact Twilight had dealt with over the years. Twilight sucked in a deep breath, It is likely she will not like what I am about to suggest, but it is our only option. We have no other choice...

"Rosetta, I think we need to speak to Princess Celestia." Twilight said calmly, though she felt no such calm. It was an insane thought, but the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Occams razor thus applied, it only made logical sense to follow that particular train of thought to its inevitable and terrifying conclusion. "Your Princess Celestia, to be a bit more precise." She looked up and out of the window, towards the gliding form Rainbow Dash, now so much more precious to her than she'd ever been before. "As soon as we possibly can." Twilight said with an air of finality to it.

Yet even if she was right. Even if this insane theory held any water whatsoever... did Twilight really not like it? If she was being utterly and completely honest with herself, did she really dislike the effects so much? Or was it merely her stubborn insistence that the world must make logical sense by her standards?

Rosetta stared at Twilight for a moment, her face a study in worry and concern. She looked as though she wished to say something, but dared not speak a word. Thankfully, Daring quietly cut through the silence, speaking softly and reasonably. "We'll be at the warehouse in a few minutes. Let's can this discussion until we get the next piece of the puzzle, shall we?"

Rarity was quickly becoming convinced that fate was somehow involved in putting her in the same cell with Manehatten Silver. Oh certainly, her fortunes had not precisely been perfect as of late - but she had little to no doubt now that they would escape here in due time. The stallion had obviously been in a scrape or two like this before - Rarity had long ago cultivated the skill of knowing the difference between arrogance and earned confidence. It was a useful skill in the fashion world, good for figuring out when somepony was bluffing you about the level of abilities they had in one manner or another.

Confidence - real blood and bone confidence oozed out of every pore of the handsome earth pony stallion. He studied her sketches of the guards and the butler with all of the diligence of a tried-and-true agent provocateur. Rarity in the meantime was busying herself with a few more sketches - with what few details he could recall about the madpony, along with a sketch of Sweetie Belle, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash. She figured it might be useful for him to know who to trust should the time come. "An you're absolutely sure about these guys? Pony tribe, coloration, the works?" Silver asked, in that gruff but not angry voice that told her he was simply confirming his data. He was rather crude at times, and rough around the edges - much like Applejack, when she thought about it - but he was never impolite to her.

"Of course, Darling. it's always the same seven or eight guards, switching off shifts every few days or so." Rarity gently flicked the sketches of her friends across the table, glad to know she hadn't forgotten any of the key details about mane color or style. "Always the same three different unicorn waiters, always on the same shifts." She paused, snatching up a bit of paper and eyeballing him while the muse came to her. "Why do you ask, dear?" She idly questioned, beginning to sketch him out. Oh he'd look positively dashing in something from those Film Noir movies. The long rain-jacket, the broad brimmed hat, Mm-yes.

He gnawed on his pencil for a moment, then spat it out onto the table. "Sheesh. Doc's got this place wrapped up tighter'n a virgin's plothole." He growled out in obvious frustration. Rarity paused in her sketch, moving over to the other side of her paper to capture the moment. Oh, such a brooding figure. She thought, enjoying the moment to study another pony in such depth, especially one as expressive as he was. It was rather like doing sketches of Rainbow Dash when she wasn't looking. She could imagine him hunched over a desk, glass of rough whiskey in hand as he agonized over a case. She was even willing to overlook the crude language.

Silver shook his head slowly and sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Aright, so bribery is out. These are prolly trusted subordinates of some damn type." He continued, looking as grouchy as  Twilight often did early in the morning. He winced and rubbed at his ribs under the bandages she'd kept tightly on him, remembering something about compression helping such things heal. "Any chances we're gonna get are gonna come if he decides to come gloat at us... or move us somewhere." He rubbed at his chin. "We'll need to be ready for that chance."

Rarity paused for a moment then smiled at the sketch she'd made of him - and the outfit she just knew he'd look perfect in. Later, darling. Business before pleasure. She reminded herself with a happy little hum. "I agree. What precisely did you have in mind darling?" She queried, putting her head up in her hooves and tilting her head at him. Imprisoned in some strange fortress or not, at least she wasn't quite so alone anymore.

The rough-and-tumble Manehatten Silver rubbed at his chin, eyeballing some of the furniture in the room. "I got a few ideas. How good are you at doing delicate work with that horn of yours?"

As the vehicle slowly pulled up outside of a very familiar looking warehouse, Twilight felt a tingle in the air. Something she couldn't quite put her hoof on... as though something very, very important was going to happen and quite soon. She stepped out of the vehicle quickly, with Rainbow Dash landing next to her with hardly a drop of sweat on her. "Dash... stay close to me." Twilight said softly, and got a silent nod. Dash feels it too. She looks tense, ready for a fight... I dearly hope we won't have another one of those. She thought faintly, as the rest of their little band piled out behind them.

Surely enough, something unusual was definitely going on as they approached the warehouse doors... only to hear a gentle male voice call out. "Quite an unusual collection of ponies, wouldn't you say, Sunny?" spoke a white-coated unicorn wearing a snappy looking suit as he strode out from around the corner of the warehouse.

A second pony soon followed - also a white-coated unicorn, and wearing the exact same suit. "I would have to agree with you Bright." She chirruped... in a voice that was instantly and chest-achingly familiar to Twilight. She pranced around after him...and came to a stop next to him. She was smiling brilliantly at all of them, her eyes tracing across and then stopping on Twilight with just a touch of wide eyed recognition.

In an instant, Twilight felt a powerful pulse in her chest... a feeling of safety. One she simply could not dismiss as being a reaction to the presence of her beloved Teacher. Celestia was here. It didn't matter to Twilight's brain that she was some other world's Celestia... Twilight had to believe, in her heart of hearts - that the only difference would be in the minute details.

The one she'd called Bright nodded a little at Twilight, the look of surprise slowly fading from his face to be replaced by... humor? He looked pretty amused, actually. "Well, I suppose we ought not to be surprised, Sunny."  He said with a slow smile on his face. "Or perhaps I ought to drop the pretense." He said, with a wicked sort of grin that reminded Twilight an awful lot of Luna's smile. "I think we're mostly already acquainted... aren't we?" He queried softly, his eyes firmly on Twilight.

Twilight took a hesitant step forward, Applebloom having shouldered her gun and eyeballing the newcomers rather dubiously. At least she isn't going to shoot first. Twilight thought faintly, as Sunny Skies took a hesitant step forward of her own. "I know you." Sunny whispered softly, in words meant only for her. "We have never met before today, and yet I know you." She continued, her steps and Twilight's matching one another as they came closer and closer, with Rainbow Dash hot on her hooves.

Twilight swallowed softly and smiled brightly. "Of course you do." She insisted, even though she knew that too was a lie... yet it was a Lie that right now, Twilight was willing to believe - willing to accept because the alternative would mean they were utterly, completely alone in this strange and frightening world. "After all, you're the one that taught me everything I know." She continued, ignoring the gasp of shock that came out of Rosetta and Daring Do's mouths. The words poured, unbidden from her mouth - Twilight utterly unaware of the forces she was about to set in motion. "Isn't that right... Princess Celestia?"

Applebloom's jaw dropped. Rainbow Dash's face lit up for a moment in confusion - and then naked, unrestrained joy exploded across her entire form, her wings flapping happily as she bounced up and down in place. Scooter's head popped out of the car to stare at them too, a look of awe come over her face. Sunny Skies smiled brilliantly, the disguise melting away completely to reveal the true Alicorn beneath it. Her mane and tail shone with multi-hued beauty and the bright golden crown she had once played with as a filly still sat regally upon her head. "Of course.." Celestia whispered, as though a revelation had come to her. "How could I possibly forget... my most faithful student?"

Had Twilight been paying attention in that moment, she might have felt it. She might have felt the titanic forces of magic and fate that she unleashed with but a few simple words, spoke in desperation. As it was, she was simply too relieved - simply too thankful that at long last, the world had begun to make sense again.

Everything was going to be fine. Twilight was certain of it now. Next Chapter: Chapter 11 - Domino Effect Estimated time remaining: 29 Minutes