“Rainbow Dash! Are you okay?” Twilight asked with great worry. Both of us moved to help the dizzy rainbow-haired pegasus to her fee— hooves.

“Yeah… yeah, I’m good. Thanks Twilight. I was trying this new trick, and…?” She began to say as she snapped out of her daze. She stared at me for a second, seeming to be trying to register me in her thoughts. “Who’s this guy? Your new coltfriend?” she immediately asked in a teasing tone.

“What?? Uh, n- no!” Twilight hastily answered, blushing.

"Well THAT assumption came up a lot sooner than I thought..."

“He’s new to this place, and I’m just showing him around.” Rainbow and I laughed a little at Twilight’s sudden loss of composure at Rainbow Dash’s question.

“I’m T-uh… Ponder Memoir,” I introduced myself. “An' no, Twilight an' I ain’t datin’. We’re good friends.”

“Huh? Good friends? How’s that possible if you’re new here? She hasn't mentioned you before. Are you a friend of hers from a different city?”

“Hmm, you could say that," I dismissed. "Mind if you introduce yourself?”

“Well if ya know Twilight, then SURELY, you know who I am..."

"Nope. Sorry t' say you haven't exactly come up in any conversations of ours. Wha'ss ya name?" Rather than get an acceptable response, the light blue pegasus simply gawked at me like I was uneducated.

"You never told this 'friend' of yours about me?" Rainbow asked, turning toward Twilight.

"Sorry, Dash..." the unicorn mare in question uneasily began. "I haven't really told him about anyone, to be fair... I uh... suppose, as he said himself, the topic of friends hadn't come up in our conversations. In fact, we just got done introducing him to A.J."

"...That's understandable, I guess," Rainbow responded in a tone of consideration, seeming to mercifully let her friend's excuse slide. "Still," she continued, turning back to me. "I shouldn't need an introduction. I mean, who in Equestria HASN'T heard of Rainbow Dash?"

"G-Guilty..." I reluctantly raised a hoof, unsure of how to approach the prismatic-haired pegasus mare's assumption that I had any idea who she was.

"Y’mean you REALLY haven’t heard of me? The fastest flier in Equestria? The mare who did not one, not two, but THREE Sonic Rainbooms? The savior of many a pony in this land? The aspiring Wonderbolt?” She boasted, getting uncomfortably close to me.

“…Uhh, no?” I flatly answered with a slight hint of annoyance as I moved my head back, staring at her with a cocked eyebrow. I had NO idea what she was talking about, and it perturbed me for her to think I did. “And what is a ‘Wonderbolt?’”

“PFFT, seriously??" This would-be 'Wonderbolt' criticized, further wearing my already-thin patience even thinner. "Wow, you must be either living in a cave or from another universe if ya haven’t heard of your friendly neighborhood Rainbow Dash,” she insulted. “…let alone the Wonderbolts, the only pegasi in Equestria with talent that rival, if not exceeds mine!” she pompously stated as she struck a heroic pose.

Already, I could tell this girl had a knack for talking too much without thinking, as well as attention seeking, which instantly rubbed me the wrong way. However, her comment about me being from an alternate universe almost worried me before I figured she was just being... her.

“Hey, now who do you th—?” I began to angrily ask before I got a sudden mouthful of hoof from my traveling companion.

“Sorry, Dash. He’s just not very familiar around here,” Twilight interrupted, saving me from starting an argument before removing her dirt-covered hoof from my mouth.

“Thanks for the taste test, Twi, but I’m pretty sure dirt ain’t for eatin’,” I flatly said. “As for you, Miss… Rainbow Dah…” I trailed off as I noticed her Cutie Mark; a familiar-looking cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt coming out of it.

"Uh... what?" she asked, noticing my sudden change in behavior.

“That mark… No way! How…?” I whispered in amazement as I scurried behind the now-confused pegasus.

"What? My Cutie Mar--! Huh?" Without thinking about it, I roughly grabbed her flank with a hoof to get a closer look at her Cutie Mark. BIG mistake on my part... Man, was I glad to have good reflexes, because she would have knocked my head off with the kick she threw at me had I not ducked in time and backed away. “YO! What the hell!?”

“HEY, PERV! You’ve got some nerve pulling a move like that on ME!” Rainbow angrily screamed at me as she quickly turned around to face me.

“Chill out! It wasn’t even like that!” I tried to explain, now realizing my foolish mistake. “It’s just that your Cutie Mark looks familiar! That’s all! I realize my mistake now, and I’m sorry! There ain’t no need to be kickin’ nobody in the head!”

“Yeah, sure!” She sarcastically remarked, not believing me for a second. “What the hay kind of stallion claims to not know who I am, then pulls a move like that just to say my Cutie Mark looks familiar!? Not cool, dude!” Although she raised a fairly good point, we exchanged glares of enmity as the air around us got eerily quiet.

“Rainbow! Calm down! I’m sure he didn’t mean it like that!” Twilight interjected, trying to bring the situation to a peaceful close. At that, the pegasus mare only scoffed in disgust.

“You’re actually DEFENDING him, Twilight? Wow, way to help a friend!” Rainbow brashly screamed at the unicorn. “The wrong one, at that! Whose side are you on!?” I was taken aback by her bullheaded hostility, especially towards Twilight. The sheer disregard for her friend’s concern in the wake of her anger at me appalled me.

"Don't put her in the middle," I suggested. "If you would just listen to m--!"

"Just who do you think you are, anyway!? I have half a mind to knock some sense into you!"

"Oh, so now you're threatenin' me?? Listen to me! I said I was sor--!"

"No! I'm not gonna listen to a pervert who thinks it's okay to make dirty moves on mares!"

"Jesus Christ, how hard-headed IS this one?!"

"And it's worse that you can actually THINK to justify it, Twilight!" the pegasus screamed at the unicorn. "Some friend YOU are!"

“Rainbow, please!” Twilight pleaded. “I’m not justifying anything! I'm just saying that he didn't—!”

“Hmph! Whatever, I’ll leave you and your special somepony to have fun with each other! I’m outta here!” She interrupted as she began to fly away.

"Un-friggin'-BELIEVABLE...!"

"I can't... believe she just took her anger out on me... without even listening to me... What do I do now...?" muttered Twilight. I took a look at the light purple mare, only to see her face riddled with sorrow. The tears I saw forming in the distraught unicorn’s eyes as she hung her head instantly drove me from irritated and a little guilty to outright pissed off. Turning around and fueled with sympathetic anger, I called toward the disgruntled mare who'd just flown off in huff.

“RAINBOW DASH!!! GET’CHO ASS BACK DOWN HERE!!!” I exploded, shocking everyone, including the pegasus I was shouting at, as well as myself. Surely enough, Rainbow floated back down to the ground, not out of fear, but out of anger at me. I was surprised she even heard me, given how far away she seemed.

“You know, you’ve got SOME nerve talking to me li—!”

“I don’t wanna hear it! Tha'ss enough arguin'! I want to make things clear.”

"Things ARE clear between us! It's clear you're a--!"

"STOP!" I shouted, not letting the hotheaded mare intimidate me. "Give me like, a MINUTE t' explain myself, will ya?"

“*sigh*…Fine, I’m listening.” She said. I was actually surprised she was going to lend me her ear, but I wasn’t going to let this go to waste. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to cool myself down.

“Listen,” I began in a much calmer tone, looking her dead in the eye. “I’m sorry. I… I don’t know what kind of idiotic impulse came over me for me t' disrespect your personal space the way I did. I’m not lyin’ when I say your Cutie Mark looks familiar, though. I’ve actually seen it somewhere before, but I honestly did not have a clue as t' who you were until now."

"Okay...?"

"An' Twilight deserves none of your frustration. This is all my fault, and my fault alone. But I SWEAR to you, I meant NOTHING personal when I stupidly grabbed you the way I did, especially when I only just met you."

"Right..." she simply commented, seeming not to want to hear me out. Almost desperate to earn the mare's approval, I went on a whim.

"In fact, if you still don’t believe me, I want you to give me a kick, right here.” I offered as I lifted my chin up and closed my eyes. “If you still have any aggression towards me, kick me as hard as you can to let it go, and we’ll never speak o’ this again.”

"What??" I heard Twilight stammer in surprise from behind me. "Ty, that's incredibly d--!"

"I know what I'm doin', Twilight," I cut in, never moving from my position. "Well, Rainbow Dash? The choice is yours..."

Again, everything went silent. Yet, there I stood, chin up, eyes squeezed shut, half-expecting Rainbow Dash to break my jaw into a million pieces. But what she actually did shocked me beyond belief. She gently touched a hoof to my cheek, causing me to open my eyes as I gasped and flinched. She chuckled a little at my fearful knee-jerk reaction.

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna hit you,” she said calmly, smiling. I sighed in relief as I lowered my head to meet her gaze. “Y’know, you’re the first stallion ever to willingly let me kick him if I didn’t accept his apology… That, I respect. I also find it pretty cool that you stood your ground, especially for a great friend like Twilight. Speaking of..." she trailed off before turning toward Twilight. "Sorry about that... I-I shouldn't have lost my cool..."

"It's fine, Rainbow," the lavender mare assured. "Our friendship's a lot stronger than some silly old argument, right?"

"Right," she concurred with a smirk before turning to me. "As for you, I do see your sincerity and I’ll accept your apology… under one condition.”

“And that condition is…?”

“You answer me this question…: Where have you seen my Cutie Mark if it's really true that you've never seen or heard of me before right now?” I normally would have been delighted to answer her question, but given that my answer would sound completely ridiculous, I hesitated. I stood there, staring intensely at Rainbow, worrying about my answer as I felt a sudden shortness of breath, my heartbeat speeding up a little to compensate. “Well?” she said impatiently. “Where did you see it?” she asked again in a demanding tone.

“I… uh...” was all I could manage to choke out before I went silent again.

“Listen, if you don’t answer me now, I’m going to take you up on your offer from before!” She shouted, beginning to lose her patience again.

"Screw it, jus' tell 'er the truth... Especially if you wanna eat your food without havin' t' suck it through a straw for the rest o' ya life..."

“*Sigh*…Looks like I’mma hafta come clean with you, huh?” I reluctantly began. “What I’m gonna tell you, I want you to make absolutely sure it don’t leak to anyone else under any circumstance. Do you promise?”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” she answered as she made strange motions, which I took as a “yes.”

“Ty, are you sure?” Twilight asked.

“Yes. She deserves to know, especially since i'ss part of my apology to her. Alright, Rainbow Dash…”

“Just call me Rainbow. Or Dash.”

“Duly noted. First of all, you were right..."

"About what?"

"About me not bein' from this world. I really am from a different universe. That is the reason I’ve never heard of you or whatever it is you was talkin’ about before. Second, I’m here because Twilight brought me here to show me around this world after she teleported herself to mine and took a tour of it."

"What??" her eyes bugged out in total astonishment at the news I was relaying to her, but I could tell I finally had her attention.

"Third, while I was showin’ her around my world, these three me— colts began chasin’ us because they somehow recognized her. One of the three had a… a Cutie Mark that looked strikingly similar, if not exactly like yours.” Dash gawked at me with such a look of surprise that I’d thought she didn’t believe me. But, her wings were flared in what I assume was interest.

“So... lemme get this straight... YOU'RE from a WHOLE different world, and somehow, some way, MY Cutie Mark, or something that looks like it, exists there??" she asked, leaning in toward me like I had something to give her.

"Tha'ss the gist of it, yea..."

"I-is that seriously where that spell sent you for the last two days, Twi?” Rainbow asked Twilight.

“Yes… Everything he said is true. The spell I used to try and teleport to Manehattan actually wound up sending me to his world."

"Whoa..." Rainbow seemed astounded. "So... what's this other world of yours like?" she addressed me.

"I'd be here all day tryna explain it to ya. Tha'ss why I'm tourin' the town with Twilight... so I can make a comparison an' actually give HER a good enough answer..."

"Rainbow, I’m holding you to it that you don’t tell ANYPONY anything you heard. We don’t want to cause a panic or draw too much attention towards us.”

“I’m not the Element of Loyalty for nothing, y’know! You have my word. But still… uh…” She trailed off as she turned to me, which I took as her forgetting my name. But there was that thing about being an Element of something again… just like how Applejack was saying she was the Element of Honesty. Maybe they’re part of some secret club or something…?

“Call me Ty,” I said.

“Ty. You’re from an alternate universe, and yet my Cutie Mark exists there, huh?"

"Indeed."

"Ohmygosh, I have SO many questions!” she stated with new-found excitement. "Are the ponies nice? Do they have Wonderbolts there?? Is there some sort of weird parallel-universe version of me that does everything I do???"

“Sorry, Rainbow,” Twilight began. “But as of right now, he’s here to learn about our world before meeting Princess Celestia. As he informed you, I’ve been taking him through town to observe, but so far, we’ve only gotten to see Applejack at Sweet Apple Acres before this little fiasco happened. I assure you, though; he’ll answer as many questions you have to ask as he can when the time comes. Speaking of time, we should really get going now.”

“Aw, what a bummer..." she dejectedly stated before turning and looking up into the clouds. "Aw, horse-apples! I’d tag along, but I just realized my break time is up. I gotta get back to work! See you guys later! Nice meeting you, Ty!” she said as she took flight and flew away.

“Bye, Rainbow!” Twilight yelled.

“I hope we meet again, Rainbow! Under different circumstances!” I shouted.

“Oh, don’t worry! We will!” she shouted back as she turned, waved and smiled, then continued her flight until she was out of sight. Once she was gone, I groaned in a mix of exasperation and relief in that situation being handled the way it was.

“My goodness, I done hardly been here a few hours and already, I blew my cover twice, and almost made an enemy!” I lamented with a face-hoof as we continued our trek through Ponyville.

“Well, at least you didn’t tell Applejack or Rainbow Dash that you were human,” Twilight countered. “All they know is that you’re from an alternate universe and, in Rainbow’s case, her Cutie Mark exists in your world. You did pretty well in leaving out any explicit details that would’ve REALLY given you away. And Rainbow's your friend now... I think.”

“Yeah, and the first time your cover was blown wasn’t your fault,” Spike added, owning up to his previous mistake. “But hopefully, they’re the only two to find out before we meet Celestia.”

“Yea, but can I REALLY trust ‘em to keep this on the down-low?” I asked.

“They’re two of my best friends. They’ll keep it safe,” Twilight assured.

“Alright, then…" I uneasily replied, having no choice but to take her word for it.

"Hey, Ty." Spike called.

"Yea?"

"What was that about you letting Rainbow Dash hit you in the face if she didn't accept your apology?"

"Uhh, i'ss a long story... Tha'ss somethin' I learned when I was younger. If you unintentionally hurt or upset somebody, you offer t' let 'em hit you for stress relief..."

"And has a strategy as dangerous as that worked?" Twilight inquired, seeming a bit disbelieving.

"Yea, actually. You'd be surprised at how many people actually decide NOT t' hit you, an' instead choose t' make amends... Not a lotta people like dealin' with aggression by lashin' out on others, even IF they feel like the person deserves it..."

"Wow... That's actually very insightful of you... Reckless and VERY risky, but insightful..."

"Yea, I hear ya. I'ss a good thing I'm good at makin' friends an' not enemies."

"I'd say it's a good thing, too..." Spike interjected. "Rainbow Dash is quite the athlete. Had she decided on hitting you, we'd probably still be at Sweet Apple Acres, looking for all of your teeth in the orchards..." he mused, much to my dismay as I cringed at how painful it would've been to have a horse kick me in the mouth...

"Okay, Spike, no need to frighten the poor guy..." the unicorn intervened, albeit gaining some humor out of the dragon's statement.

"I'm not scared o' her!" I defensively rebutted.

"Come on, Ty... I SAW you flinch when she touched your cheek. She actually took a look at me before making her decision... NOT to say she wouldn't have made the same choice if Spike and I WEREN'T there... but your chances would've probably been significantly lower if you were alone..."

"Oh, well thanks for THAT tidbit o' knowledge..." I sarcastically remarked. "I still wasn't afraid o' her, though. I was jus' expectin' her t' be a bit quicker on her choice..."

"If you say so..."

"Anyway, where should we go next?”

“Well, seeing as we’re apparently making a trend out of seeing my best friends first, how about we head to a place called the Carousel Boutique to visit my friend Rarity? It isn't too far a walk from here,” Twilight suggested. If there’s anything I’d noticed at this point, it’s that almost every place here has some kind of horse-related pun in its name…

"Sounds like a plan... Le'ss go."