Cheese Sandwich stared at the desolate town in front of him and carefully made sure he had the right location. "How very, very odd. Why in the wide world of Equestria would my Cheese Sense send me out here of all things? Unless this dilapidated town is in need of some rather impromptu cheering up in form of a musical number. Though I really can't just come up with music on the spot. When I do that, it usually relates to food. . .and after what happened in the Equestrian Bake Off, I'd rather not summon something accidentally." He carefully skipped down the hill into town, absentmindedly waved at the four ponies nearby and walked onward.

Until he didn't. His Cheese Sense turned him right around and he found himself staring in the eyes of a pony he really didn't expect. A certain pink pony that stood out like a sore hoof or a how a bad joke echoed in a bad theater. Waiting for comment, waiting for something to pick him up and say that he really wasn't staring into Pinkie's face. Cause Ponyville and this place were so different that it could be seen as a weird joke.

"Pinkie? Or are you Pinkie cause you sure look like her, and while I don't really believe in clones cause the sheer impractical nature of how things are, I mean clones could be a possibility. . ."

Pinkie shrugged. "Clones aren't too bad. Though it really did a number on me that one time. Though I think we have more pressing issues." Pinkie pointed at her sisters, who were starting to come out of their collective stupors. "I mean this isn't really a party, but I would probably like some help getting my sisters back home."

Cheese stared at the decidedly quiet toned ponies and put his eyes back on Pinkie. "How does that even work? I mean I was thinking if you had sisters, they'd be like you but different colors, periwinkle, mauve, maybe polka dotted- though I wonder how that could work- but like grey, grey, and more grey? I mean if this isn't the most disappointing surprise ever. Though a surprise is a surprise." Cheese wrapped a hoof around one of Pinkie's sisters and let another carefully balance on his back. Thank goodness he had a few gymnastics lessons under his proverbial belt- a party pony must be elastic, bombastic, and fantastic, but still he really wasn't the whole lead a horse to water type. The humor in that kind of act was just C level material. Sure way to get kicked out of real parties.

Pinkie nodded, oddly tired herself from the day. "Granny Pie always did say I did brighten up the room. Though I don't know if she meant that literally or figuratively."

Cheese shrugged. "Why not both? I always did like a good turn of phrase myself. See there was this one time in New Mexicolt, I was trying to cheer up a Calavera, a rather odd undead customer, and the rest of this little town and well one thing led to another. . ."

Manehattan

Sunny Flare cursed to every demon in Tartarus as she thought of every single thing that the other commanders of the army would say about her as she regaled them on how she fucking lost Manehattan. The Celestia damned hub of trading and whatever the fuck was entertainment in that Broadway things her recruits ate up. She groaned thinking of some particular barb Lemon Zest and her little vampire nest might cook up. She seethed as she walked up to a dragon. She could feel the fucking unicorn magic from here. She wasn't born yesterday and she scanned the horizon for the signals of a particularly special unicorn. Something like a prodigy, like that little princess type one. Whatever her name was- she wasn't one for names. "I see you, bitch."

She breathed out and gripped the dragon with her magic, quickly snapping its neck to get the unicorn's attention. Results were key and, well, she had seen some things she wasn't proud of in the far North, and this spell has a similar taste to it. Dark, brewing, bitter. Like coffee but unpalatable. She quickly threw up a spell shield as she ducked behind a overturned cart, quickly scanning the horizon for any backup, hopefully she had a few still around.

Though with how she had been running a half full ship with a scattering of new recruits, she wasn't too hopeful. She tried to make light of her situation. At least she was close to Manehattan's Square Garden. The idea of that place being on fire made her laugh- chaos magic grew the place. They'd probably lap the heat up like it was a cool summer rain. She grinned as she thought of that. At least something might survive this bloodbath.

She popped her head out carefully, trying to see what the unicorn looked like. She tried to pull out any last idea of training in situations like this. She quickly lit up her horn and started amplifying her voice- at least if she did that, she limited her size and kept behind cover. "So mind magic, huh? What kind of unicorn uses that stuff anyway?"

A clipped clacking of hooves kicked up the cobblestones as the unicorn walked into range, her own amplification spell matching Sunny's own. "A pragmatist." Sunny could hear almost a hint of sadness in the voice. How odd. "Like so many others. It's rather strange seeing Celestia's own powerful army reduced to bumbling small ants against something as simple as these gryphons."

Sunny grimaced. She tried to focus as she didn't want to stop and mourn the dead soldiers under her. She had walked the streets of the city, not caring about the danger lurking within the hearts of the assorted crowds. One wrong move and she had watched a few new recruits run away as the madness started. They had splinched themselves into a nearby tree. It was messy and it had only gotten worse as the crowds had come once the first fires started burning. Sunny shook her head. She slid up against the cart and tried to focus. If only she could figure out the mare's trajectory, some kind of hint of where she was, it would bring her some kind of focus. "Sounds like somepony's jealous. Sure we aren't doing too hot, but would you and your little plan work if you were in our place. Try fighting against three ponies in a fight. Its untenable, unless you split them up, play off their weaknesses, try to goad them into something. And here you are trying to say the Princesses suck. Who's been leading the country for a thousand years? Not fucking you."

Sunny felt the unicorn's magic charge and almost blast her position. As she felt the air shift and crackle as a coming storm of emotion washed over the cart, she teleported away. She'd rather live another day than run headlong into a fight against an unknown factor. And unicorns were unknown factors- enough so that she heard whispers of how each was profiled by some small group of ponies. She thought that was just a conspiracy theory, but she was on the receiving end of that unicorn, and she was pissed off about something enough to perform black magic.

She quickly hid as she felt dragons land nearby. She didn't dare peek out or breathe as the pony quietly mounted the huge beast and speared off into the sky. "Fuck."

Zephyr put his rudimentary Wonderbolt training to use- rudimentary as in that his own sister taught him a few moves, badly, on a drunken night in Las Pegasus- though that hardly mattered since he was a terrible flyer. He didn't really care as he saw a giant dragon nearby shooting gouts of flame, the sight almost pretty in that it shimmered with a myriad rainbow of colors, blues and purples, greens and golds, as the heat of the dragon's breath interacted with Manehattan's latent weather magic. He barely dodged a Changeling's jaws as he marveled at the sight, twisting away at the last minute as it tried to grasp onto his neck. He rhythmically swore, his cadences rolling up and down as he ran into cloudbanks and heat sinks, blindly dodging attacks as the rising black smoke blinded him through and through. He could hear the screams and shouts of dying things- unsure if the shouts were genuine or not he didn't dare to stop and check.

He barreled through the clouds and saw the collapsing mass of hundreds of buildings, their massive stone edifices falling into one another like dominoes. He dodged and swerved the best he could, but he felt pain shoot through him as a large piece of rock sheared off and hit his side. He felt his world spin as the air was forced out of him in a large whoosh as he somersaulted through the air for a few seconds, the world turning topsy turvy as he tried to right himself.

He breathed again in blinding hot stabs of pain and tumbled through the air, running smack dab through a clot of Changelings- luckily fast enough to be only bruised and battered, not eaten. And he fell further through the clouds, now in a spiraling sense of doom as he carefully touched his wing quickly to see what was wrong and came back with a sticky glob of blood.

"Oh."

He gulped air as quickly as he could as he crashed into the water, skidding like a stone as his momentum bounced him around enough to rattle his bones. He silently thanked Celestia that pegasi magic usually held strong in a crash, else he would have been a casualty as his body ran face first into a brick wall.

Zephyr popped his head above water and paddled through the pain as he watched Manehattan slowly get smaller. He smiled faintly as he climbed onto the far shore and gingerly walked through a pile of washed up corpses. He stared at the cold, lifeless eyes and said a quick prayer for them as he walked towards a nearby rocky outcrop. He hated camping with a passion, but at that moment, any kind of possible shelter was better than nothing. He scooped up a bundle of dried driftwood as he walked the beach of death and hoped he remembered enough from training to build a fire.

He wheezed through his mouth, flecks of red staining his lips as he walked. "Great first day. Sis told me it would be a bundle of fun. Mom would just be right as rain to see me now."

Dust ran. She felt her legs trip faintly over bits of rubble as she ran through the underground of Manehattan. Rara followed close behind, only keeping up from being full of stamina thanks to her being an earth pony. Dust could hear the faint wheezing as she banked a corner, seeing flashes of green as she ran away from the building horde of Changelings that had now holed into the mess of Manehattan. One lunged towards her, its fangs sharp and glinting in the faint sunlight creeping in from above. Chitinous armor glinted black, spittle flying from its jaws. She would stopped right then and there. Dead in a corner below some Celestia fucked place in Manehattan.

She quietly wished she was somwhere else. Acacolto or maybe the Isle of Mare. Somewhere far away from whatever mess that this was.

She blinked once, waiting for the feel of her last breaths as the jaws of some nameless 'ling crushed her through and drank her blood. She waited.

"Come on, come on. You can't be failing on me now."

Dust opened her eyes to see Rara covered in dust and greenish blood, smiling ever so faintly as she shook her hoof free of all the ichor and grime that covered it. Dust looked down to see the head of the Changeling pounded into mush, its brains splattered over the paving stones of the subway, a part of its compound eye staring up at her, slowing running out in a river of slime and blood. Dust felt sick for a moment, but kept it down as she had better things to do.

"Equestria to Dust."

Lightning Dust breathed out. "Yeah?"

Rara pointed towards a map of the subway, tracing the route out of here with a hoof, carefully delineating what routes were busted up- crossing out the entire middle of the city on principle- and pointing where they were at the moment. "Okay, so maybe I messed up a bit. You may sue me for. . .let's say a million bits. Svengy won't like that, but on sheer principle, I think having an alive me and not a dead me is better for business."

"Ha ha, very funny. Coming from the pony who doesn't pay her tab. Where would you get that kind of money."

Rara smiled and went on. "Well, we'll burn with that bridge when we get to it. But let's see. Main line's a no go. So cross out any lines connecting to it on principle what with the worry that everything fell down. That leaves the ways out of town with the. . .northeastern. . .and south line? Dust, heads or tails?"

Dust groaned, her body hurt from running through miles of track, and she breathed heavily now that she had a moment to compose herself. She brought a hoof up to show Rara that she was listening and she counted to ten to steady her breathing. She glanced at Rara again and tried to put on a courageous face as she spoke. "Heads."

Rara traced the map and hummed quietly to herself as she worked out their destination. "Okay, south it is."

Lightning Dust cocked her head. "Woudn't we go the other way?"

The blue earth pony chuckled. "No, I was deciding on what way to definitely not go- you chose northeast. So I decided to go south. Just call it an artistic hunch. A great trembling of cowardice, a miasma of death. I just want to go near water and what's the closest line? South."

Lightning Dust groaned in protest as Rara pointed the way out of the subways.

Ponyville

Dash walked carefully as he tried to keep away from the weird thoughts clogging his brain. Rarity had mentioned some of the odd feelings being a stallion, but she hadn't been totally true with some of it. The dick for one. He gritted his teeth as he carefully walked through the town, trying to avoid main streets and all kinds of important areas just in case some awkward think might happen.

"Dash, you know we could just walk on up to Twilight, say what was up, and he'd fix us right? Because I am totally for any odd plan you have, but we've spent five minutes trying to get past Quills and Sofas."

Dash rolled his eyes, careful to keep his deep voice quiet. It still freaked him out to speak in what everypony called the Flutterguy voice, but it didn't freak him out more than the odd copy of his dad staring back at him. He had kept any memory of his parents to the one moment- their idea of selling him to the circus. Not thought of them at all since then- well besides the few times it was brought up, or in times of decidedly uncool, but totally acceptable, moments. But here was Fluttershy. "I keep saying that we'll move when we're ready. It's not my fault that Bon Bon is taking way too long buying a quill."

"So just walk out there and nobody will care. It's Ponyville. If we say Twilight's spell messed up, they won't mind at all. I mean she did cause a riot with her Want It, Need It spell."

Dash shot Fluttershy a quick look. "I know that. But you aren't like three heads taller than anypony else. It feels weird."

Fluttershy sighed and climbed up on Dash's back, feeling slightly bigger than the last few weeks with the new stallion body, but still small enough to fit snugly on Dash. "Whatever. But I feel like hiding in a bush isn't a great idea then. I mean most ponies can see you anyway." Fluttershy lazily waved at a passing Sparkler who just rubbed her head in sheer annoyance as she passed them, her eyes bugging out slightly as she took in the two of them. "But do what you want to do. I'm taking a nap."

Dash groaned, feeling the odd weight of Fluttershy on her. Feeling certain parts that weren't there before. He shook his head. "Fine, fine. I'll just go on out and deal with it. But I'm not going to like it." He carefully eased his way out of the bush, not caring that he left a sizable hole in the middle of it and walked firmly into the street. Right into a pony he disliked meeting.

"Watch where the fuck you are going- Fluttershy?" Spoiled Rich grimaced and put herself together as she looked up at the rather intimidating form of what she assumed was a stallion Fluttershy. "Just the one pony I wanted to see." Spoiled Rich's eye twitched as she noticed Dash on the back. "Amended. The two ponies I wanted to see."

Dash groaned. "I didn't want to see you either. Plus don't you like sell jewelry? What keeps you from that?"

Spoiled Rich carefully smiled and wiped her face. "I'll have you know that I would be working on a few things for the elite of Canterlot, like I do every single day, but it seems like my sweet daughter has gone missing. I was just talking to one of her classmates, you know the one with the speech impediment, and she said she was this way."

Dash shrugged. "Haven't seen her at all. Are you sure she isn't like at Silver Spoon's house. Or maybe she just wants to be alone. Like how you were with Filthy when you were younger."

Spoiled's face twisted into a rictus smile as she carefully chose her words. "Whatever I did in foalish folly, I'd rather not have my daughter repeat. Especially what I did with Filthy. There is a time and a place where sharing deep emotional thoughts and feelings are totally fine. She's hardly old enough to care for herself. Which is why I'm so worried about her. She could fall into a hole and break her leg. I mean this isn't Canterlot, or Appleloosa with the dirty buffalo, but she could be dying and I don't know it. Or she was foalnapped."

Dash chuckled. "Well if she was foalnapped, I bet she's fine. Probably would be dropped off without a ransom because she's so talkative."

Dash could feel Fluttershy's stifled laughter as he talked more and more to the worst pony in Ponyville. After a few more minutes, Spoiled left and the pair of pegasi were alone in the middle of the street. "Celestia damn it, I dislike her."

Fluttershy nodded. "I know. And she seemed off."

Dash's eyebrow raised. "Like how? Cause all I saw was her normal prickly self."

Fluttershy shrugged and rolled over carefully, laying his nose in Dash's mane. "I don't know, but she just felt like wrong somehow. Less kind."

Dash sighed and stretched his wings. "That's a real feat. But whatever. Probably just some family stuff. Or not. Don't really care. Cause I'm sorry, but I'm keeping anypony like her at hoof's length. Cause I still remember the few. . .memories you have up in here." Dash tapped his temple and shook his head. "So she could drop dead and I won't feel all too bad about it."

"I would."

Dash chuckled, deep and dark. "Well that's partially one of the reasons I keep you around. You keep me grounded. Now let's just get this over with before I have to deal with somepony like Scootaloo seeing us like this. Cause I will not be the one teaching the birds and the bees to foals because Twilight thought a spell like this would be okay."

Fluttershy poked Dash in the ribs, knowing full well where the most discomforting spot to prod to produce a reaction. "It's been like half an hour. It's not that bad."

"Coming from the pony that looks like my dad."

Fluttershy stopped. "Wait, what?"

Dash swore quietly.

Roxie carefully set the little pony near her as she tried not the think of the pain the little one was experiencing. She cautiously set the grey pony on the dusty couch in the middle of the room. Stacks of old things cluttered the space and she hadn't dared to touch anything of importance. Wailing Diamond's mate lived on this land and hurting any sense of that kindness freely given- that was not something she would do. Not after being run out of Appleloosa due to some misunderstandings about ponies and things. She shivered slightly as the breeze hit from the open door, fur rising on her neck as she felt feelings she had tried to not think about. Home. Death. She rose on her haunches and stalked carefully around the room, making sure that they were alone. "Sorry for mess. New in town."

The small pony grimaced and laughed. "It's just nice to relax. After all of. . .this." She focused on her leg, silently running her eyes up and down the spreading blackness.

"Roxie agrees. But black rot is rare in Diamond Dogs. Big for warriors, cold dogs, hunting packs. Not for pups."

The pony grew silent.

Roxie's ears drew back on her head. "You no need to speak."

"No, it's fine. It was my mom, she just snapped. One day she was fine, complimenting me about getting the best in class for a project I did about how the Rich family came to Ponyville, and the next she's acting strange. Staring too long at things. Talking to herself. Then something happened and she-" The small pony's voice waivered, unable to directly continue. "But she probably had it in there. Probably. My aunt's in the Ponyville Hospital after Discord. So I don't know. Maybe it was always there."

Roxie felt awkward as she sat down and beckoned the little one to her side, holding out a paw for the small gray pony to hold onto as she scrabbled to her hooves, and placed her right in her lap. "Roxie doubt that. This seems magic. Smell it on you. Like home, but twisted a way towards not. Smells like the gray pony that held Roxie and her kind prisoner in the caves. Magic bring out things unseen in the heart, change it, add to it. But smell of leg and smell of this place feels off. Good, but there something there."

"That's Ponyville. It's weird. I wished we could have gone to Canterlot. I heard it was rather nice, and the few times my dad brought me on trips around Equestria- that place kept me happy. Just all the shops and everything was all new, but maybe it was just because I wasn't around Ponyville with its small town stuff. It's okay, just not exciting."

Roxie raised a careful eyebrow, glancing at the filly. "This is exciting for you."

"No! I mean, yes. But it felt nice to be in Canterlot without. . ."

A knock on the door broke the thought.

Dash knocked firmly on the castle door, his hooves tapping in sheer annoyance. "Come on, come on, come on." She glanced back to see the lowering sun on the horizon, the beginnings of dusk now creeping slowly through the town. "Twilight has to hear me. What in the name of Tartarus is he doing in there?"

Fluttershy shrugged. "Probably something important."

Dash rolled his eyes at that comment. "Well, we're dealing with some major stuff."

"Well more like a minor problem. We aren't dealing with a stampede of wild animals or the end of the world."

Dash stopped knocking for a moment and rubbed his head. "Those scenarios aren't even comparable."

His blue companion stretched out a hoof and contemplated it. "Then you've never seen a truly horrible meal or two. I still remember when a part of the Everfree burned down cause of some unknown burning. For two weeks, I was the single owner of nearly a thousand animal families and had to come up with the time and money to scrounge up food. Rarity had to help me with costs then."

Dash sighed, her curiosity only so slightly piqued. Not enough to stop fidgeting- far from it. But enough to stop her from putting a hole in Twilight's door. "Fine. I guess not. But you had to learn who started the fire? I mean fires don't just start by themselves usually. Though it is the Everfree so I guess they could. But I mean out here, with pegasi, controlled burning is a thing. And a pegasi weather team member wouldn't just start a fire. That's like the first rule with lightning."

Fluttershy turned her head and looked at Dash carefully. "And who was the one that dragged a cloud around to scare ponies with lightning last Nightmare Night?"

Dash groaned. "Okay, so like that was a prank and I was totally using like low level lightning. Not the big ones. Those only cause like mild irritation and slight damage to non pegasi. For lightning, that's like completely harmless. What I'm saying is lightning, the big ones, are usually regulated for major storm events. The tornadoes, the monsoons, hurricanes, and the like. Nopony just burns part of a forest."

Fluttershy slid off Dash's broad back and walked carefully to the door and politely knocked. Turning his head to Dash, his eyes partially covered by a long polychromatic fringe of mane, he sighed. "I've lived out near that forest for years. I don't know everything that's in there. And the things I know make me nervous to step in that tangle without proper planning. Honestly, it could have been anything that set it off. But one thing that the animals kept saying over and over again was that some kind of deer set it off."

Dash laughed. "Deer? That's. . ."

Fluttershy nodded. "Ridiculous I know. But after Ironhoof? I don't know."

The door opened, a slightly miffed Twilight at the doorway, his mane disheveled and a coffee cup in his purple aura. "What do you-" He stopped looking up- his mind skipping a beat as he tried to contemplate that possibility- at Dash. He had slightly expected Dash to not heed his warnings about mixing magic, about how not to do a thing. The pegasus was known far and wide as either a contrarian or a bit obtuse when it came to prime directives. But Twilight had not expected seeing a horse standing in his doorway to his castle. Even if Fluttershy's medical records hinted. Horse hybrids were rare due to the impracticability of, well, equipment. Twilight carefully counted the prime numbers to 73 in his head and quietly calmed down his racing mind. He composed himself again and tried to be civil. "Who was it?"

Dash looked down confused. "What?"

"Who was it who turned you into. . .stallions. I have to know because the counterspells are slightly different- alicorn magic is a pain to untangle. Celestia said it's something about how it's both the most stable and powerful of pony magic. I wouldn't bore you with the details, but lets just say that she's probably right when it comes to pony magic. Unicorn magic, though, is less complex when compared to alicorn weaves. So who was it? Cause I doubt you walked into the Everfree and got Zecora to fix you a potion. There'd be a completely different signature."

Dash ran his hoof across his face slowly in sheer boredom. "Geez, Twi, you don't have to lecture me about it. I know I did a bad thing. Let me just go through the spiel: 'Dash, you shouldn't have. And why did you have Shy turn too? Something about magic and stable stuff and blah blah blah, whatever. I just want you to fix this so I don't have to feel the sheer oddness happening between my legs. Like it's a pain to walk cause its unwieldy." Dash slightly blushed as he moved.

Twilight looked down and quickly looked back up, the sight burned directly into his retinas. "Well that's a thought and image I never needed to know about, but no, Dash, it's not a problem with your magic. Or the interplay between the spell I've been working my plot off trying to fix with this. This just confirms my hypothesis about Fluttershy."

Fluttershy's ears perked up. "What are you talking about. Twilight. Cause I know I'm rather, um, well, large, but not to that extent. I think, maybe. Though I don't know."

Twilight smiled briefly at Fluttershy, his annoyance firmly planted on Dash's shoulders. "Well I wanted to break the news in any other way than having you stroll up like this, but you remember being in the hospital in Canterlot?"

Dash rolled his blue eyes. "Vaguely. There was a lot going on then, so I might be hazy about it. What with a near concussion and Starlight and all that mess. But sure, I remember being in an uncomfortable bed."

Twilight huffed. "Yes, well, I did some tests for the baseline way to fix you two. And some other tests to sate my curiosity, but. . .well, I'll just come out and say it- Fluttershy is about twenty percent a Saddle Arabian horse instead of a pony. Now genetics and percentages can vary, but. . ."

Fluttershy stopped her. "Twilight, I can't be that. I might be wrong, but I would think I would have heard about a horse being in my family tree. Especially in Cloudsdale. They can't fly. They don't have pegasi."

Twilight shrugged. "I tested all of you. You, Dash, and Lightning Dust, just to be sure. And well, Saddle Arabian genetics kind of stand out- what with their slightly isolationist history and. . ."

"But my mom wouldn't have just-"

Twilight really didn't like where this was going, but he decided to just rip off the bandaid. "And that's the thing. Pony and Horse hybridization only works when it's a female horse and a male pony. I had to check Meadowbrook's and Gallop's tomes on medicine and anatomy. It wasn't helpful, but there was cases of that working. The other way was deadly for both the mother and foal."

Dash could feel the waves of emotion radiating off Shy. She would have said she hid it well, but she could sense the slight twitch of Shy's eye, the grit of her teeth, and a slight loss of vocal tone that tipped her off. Or Dash just knew her own body well enough to know when her own voice sounded wrong. Even if it was currently a stallion.

Fluttershy breathed out. "So I guess my mom isn't my mom. Which puts a lot of things in context."

Twilight smiled and cautiously breathed out his held breath. "Well looks like you took that well, now there was a second thing. . ."

Dash cringed as she realized that Twilight, for being so smart, was absolutely terrible at reading the room.

"What?"

Twilight continued. "Let's see, when I was fixing your scuffle with Lightning Dust, I had to set up some rather hard spells to knit bones and things together and. . .well, I came up with some weird, but interesting data."

Fluttershy coolly nodded, quiet and barely moving as Twilight spoke.

"She's, um, well, how do I put this? Your half sister."

Dash whipped his head around as that news broke. "Twilight, what the fuck? That's kind of big news to sit on. Like the both of those. Are you sure?"

Twilight recoiled back as Dash stalked forward, his wings full on display as the pegasus walked in front of Shy. "I mean. . .like pretty sure. The thing about certain genetic markers is that they are rather rare and auras tend to match in families. Then similar facial features, and then I had the Canterlot Archives expedite me a few files of yours and hers. I didn't get all of those due to how medical systems work in Equestria, but. . .same parents. But that would be impossible since she's full blooded pegasi and you. . .well aren't."

Fluttershy stared blankly at Twilight and breathed out, his chest heaving with emotion as the news broke to him. His head hung down as he could hear Twilight almost mumbling to himself. Or he thought he was. It was just that he had other things on his mind at the moment. He blinked and could see each moment of his life from beginning to now, just there in his vision and he snatched out the snippets of memory of his. . .'mother'. The late nights, the glances, the almost disdain she had for him. Never picking him up from Ponyville. He had compartmentalized that hurt just fine for years. Maybe she just thought he died. It was a long fall from Cloudsdale to the ground. Or they were still looking. Or she was dead. But the news of having a half sister. A sister he never had. Never mentioned. Didn't exist.

"They replaced me."

Dash's blood ran cold. "Shy, they didn't."

"Actually, with how the dates match and how she wasn't. . ."

Dash glared at Twilight. "Shut up before I make you."

"They replaced me. They thought I died and they replaced me. Right away." Fluttershy's eyes went down to pinpricks as he turned away and began to run. With a running start, he shot off into the sky, a rainbow trail highlighting his mad dash away from reality. A broken squiggle of a line, but still a complete thought of one.

Dash stood there for a moment, his breath hitching as he tried to focus. Then turning on his hooves, he peered down at the smaller alicorn with controlled anger in his blue orbs. With great restraint, he picked up the purple prince and slammed him into the doorway once, dragging him up to eye level. Twilight's hooves dangled in the air as he fought for a lungful of air. Dash spoke slowly and with purpose as he stared directly into the alicorn's eyes. "Twilight, you just hurt the kindest fucking pony in all of Equestria. I'm going to try to fix your stupid mistake. But just know that you did a number on. . .him. And the next time, I'm not pulling my punches. Cause for some fucking reason you keep being unable to read the room. So stop it. Just fucking stop." Rainbow dropped the alicorn, who stared up at him coughing as he tried to get lungfuls of air. Dash turned away and headed towards the place that Fluttershy's trail stopped. Rainbow Falls.

Fluttershy tried to fly through a mask of tears as he angled his way towards the furthest point from civilization he could think of at the moment. Rainbow Falls. Not the Everfree. Each had their own memories. Rainbow Falls was near where he landed after falling from Cloudsdale, the prettiest place in his young mind, the falls falling from the sky, in a cavalcade of hues and colors. All of that surrounded by a flurry of birds and butterflies. He hadn't come back here often. Sometimes yearly, sometimes not. Sometimes with the girls. Sometimes not. But that day, watching the sky fall down around him, each hurried wingbeat, each moment the ground coming ever closer and yet here he was.

He laid back on the grass, the weeds and sharp points of the foliage slightly hurting his back and wings but he didn't care. He felt alive. He scrunched up into a fetal position and rocked back and forth as he tried to get the echoes of Twilight's words out of his head. Fluttershy breathed in and out as he tried not to think at all. It was better that way. He could enjoy the feeling of small bugs crawling over him in search for food, the wind through the trees, the crunch of leaves beneath his body as he rolled back and forth. The moment was utterly stark and wonderful.

And yet he couldn't enjoy it.

He stared up at the stars above, traced entire constellations in his mind. The Bell, the Draconequus, Ursas Major and Minor. He breathed out, his eyes taking in the vast expanse of near emptiness, the meaninglessness of everything, the realization of a single spark within darkness. . .he felt oddly small in a world where he had grown accustomed to being oversized and too big for things.

Then he looked at his blue forehoof and laughed in the cool twilight hours of the night. He remembered that he was trapped in a body he didn't want to be in just because of Twilight. That silly, stupid test caused everything to go out of whack. If he hadn't said yes that one moment, he wouldn't have had the last few weeks of his life.

He would have lived calmly near the Everfree Forest, slowly writing his novel, and staying deeply in line with everything.

Fluttershy laid back and felt numb as he sat there, uncaring about the world. A world where a pony he thought was his mother abused him for years because she knew, she knew that she wasn't related at all to the little daughter she had in her house. Just there stewing in so many emotions.

That didn't make it right. The abandonment, the abuse, all of that. Fluttershy had rebuilt her life and she had been perfectly fine. Perfectly fine. He slammed his hoof in the dirt again and again, not caring that he felt a slight bruise forming or that sharp sticks jabbed into the sides of his hoof. He stared at the drips of red near him as he turned, the maroon blood telling him all he needed to know.

Genetics. A series of choices done by his parents, his real parents- half known and half not, and here he was sitting in the most wonderful place unable to get over his world crumbling within a brief moment.

"Beautiful night out here. I can see why you got all the way out here to mope. Wilderness above and below. Stars cutting off the sky. Beats any kind of place I could dare dream up to mope. Usually I just go to the bar and buy enough booze to forget what I came in there for."

Fluttershy could feel a large, warm presence beside him. He didn't dare to look. He didn't have to. The deep bass voice stood out enough to him to know that Dash had sped up here in record time. "Leave me alone, Dash."

"No can do. Can't just leave my best buddy and. . .whatever gender friend to go and mope. Plus you are in my body during this and I'd much rather have that wonderful piece of work in one piece when Twilight fixes us."

Fluttershy scoffed. "Twilight can go eat a dick."

Rainbow stopped for a moment. Then what Shy said hit him all at once. He broke out laughing in great peals of laughter, each bout punctuated by a long gasp of air as he tried to calm himself down. He sat there giggling for a few minutes, barely able to speak, only able to say brief syllables of assent as he stared at Shy. He breathed out and smiled at the blue pegasus. "Yeah, Twilight can have a whole bag of those after what he, she, whatever said. I'd have been here sooner, but I had to have a harsh talking to with our least favorite princess. Or prince. Whatever. This gender spell shit gets confusing. I'm here. You can talk. You don't have to. We could fuck."

Fluttershy cocked an eyebrow at this. "That came out of nowhere."

Dash shrugged. "I had like twenty minutes to run through this huge speech about how you are beautiful and the best friend I ever had. With examples. But then I realized most of that had Twilight as a character in a lot of those shared memories. Then I tossed that cause that sounded gay."

Fluttershy rolled his eyes. "Dash we are gay."

Rainbow got up and stretched, carefully preening a few yellow feathers that became askew on the mad dash to here. "I mean technically. But I've seen dicks. There's something there. So like yes, but no? I think? Twilight's better with the semantics. But I tossed that speech and I thought 'What would Blossomforth do?' Cause she and Cloudkicker argue all the time and they never have issues like this."

Fluttershy rolled over. "You don't know that. I bet they do. Probably have a ton of issues."

Dash carefully rubbed Shy's back, rolling his hooves into some rather hard places. He could feel the tension stringing through his mare, er, stallionfriend. "I bet. But they stay relatively okay. That's the thing. They fuck all the time. And then they talk about it."

Fluttershy leaned into the brief touches of Dash's hooves, still angry at the world. "That's kind of gross."

Dash facehooved. "No, I mean they screw. And then they talk about their problems after that."

"Eh, I don't think that'd work."

Dash shrugged. "It's either do that or yell 'Fuck Twilight' at the top of our lungs for the next few hours and I bet the girls would hate that. I'd love to stick it to Twilight, but plans and all. Plus Rarity wouldn't be able to show off her costume design. She'd be pissed off. At us. Y'know, instead of Twilight."

"Still. . ."

Dash sighed. "Fine, fine, we don't have to do any of that. Just sit right here, cuddle, and do nothing else. But if that is the case, you tell nopony cause this would make me go into negative cool points."

Fluttershy smiled. "I'd like that a lot."

Dash sighed and pulled his smaller date in close, pressing the two tightly together as he wrapped him up near him. He could feel the warmth radiating off Shy like a little sun, waves of heat buffeting him with comfort as they nuzzled together. Shy pulled close, pushing his rear into some rather unfortunate places, rubbing up gently against his lover's dick. "Uh. Shy. I really don't think this will work."

Fluttershy looked back and blushed profusely as he felt Dash's length harden at his touch. "Oh my." His voice cracked as he tried to angle himself away from the hardening rod, his legs scrambling for purchase as he crept his body ever so slowly away from Dash. "It was so much easier when we didn't have to deal with these."

Rainbow bent up to stare at Fluttershy, her own cheeks beet red as she stammered out a reply. "I'm sorry we got into this mess. Really should have thought things through, y'know, besides the whole stallion thing. Celestia, I'm such an idiot sometimes."

Shy waved a hoof. "Sometimes. But I think I have some blame in this problem. I mean, I did agree to this."

Rainbow laughed. "Not really, I was the one who pushed us into this. I do kind of rush into things without thinking. I got that all the time when I was little. 'Why don't you think about the consequences?' and the like. I mean, sure, this is fun and all, but I'm currently like nine feet tall with a ridiculous dick. You just look like a younger version of my dad. On who got the shorter stick it's me."

Fluttershy rolled his eyes. "Doesn't look that way to me from where I'm standing."

Dash cocked his head and leaned gently against a rock. "Wha- oh. That was a joke. Odd. Weird timing. But nice. If Pinkie was here, I'd say you'd need a bit of work. Still we have to fix these. Cause I don't know the whole danger of magical dicks but it's been like a few hours. I would have guessed they would have gone down by now."

Fluttershy tapped his chin in thought. "I mean we could ask Rarity or Twilight. Scratch that, probably just Rarity."

Dash groaned as he paced back and forth, his wings on proud display as he tried to think of every possibility. "Yes, ask the one pony who knocked up Applejack using this spell. Bet she'd love being asked 'so do these dangerous weapons go down on their own?' Though I doubt she noticed or cared."

Fluttershy smiled at the thought. "I doubt it. With how she was in school, she planned out every single thing to a T. She even kept a notebook of how to maximize the number of dates she had in a summer. She probably noticed."

Dash grimaced. "Okay, put that on the list of things I didn't need to know about her. Seriously? A fuck book?"

Fluttershy shrugged. "More like a daily planner, and I was the one keeping things on schedule. Else she would have-"

Dash raised a hoof. "Fine. Whatever, Rarity likes dicks and whatever else. Back to the problem." He pointed directly at the rather large elephant in the room. "And no, I'm not doing whatever you think with this thing. Cause I'd rip you in half."

Now it was Fluttershy's turn to cock his head. "What? That's not how this works. I don't have to take all of that. Where in the world did you think that was a safe idea?"

Rainbow glanced around. "I will not say it was porn, but I won't say it wasn't porn."

Fluttershy groaned.

"Shy, I feel stupid." Dash looked down at Fluttershy.

"Well I think this should work. Though my sexual education ended with Cookie Crumbles talking for hours about everything she every knew about sex. It wasn't the most fun sister bonding experience, but Rarity and I still mention it and laugh a little about it. Oh, and I've seen countless animals do it. And I don't like tooting my own horn, but I am a well liked erotica author. So who's more practiced in this?"

Dash shrugged. "Probably still me. Though I never thought I was attracted to a bookworm. But fine, I'll do what I have to do. But okay, just be Daring Do in the Temple of Ahuizotl. Focused on the mission." Dash leaned down and nibbled on Shy's ear, the soft texture odd to him as he let his tongue trace circles around the smaller stallion's ear, hearing the hints of moans and whimpers as he began. Dash smiled as he never thought he would be using his ticklish nature as a weapon.

Dash let go for a moment and whispered into the blue stallion's ear. "We're just getting started." He stretched his wings and let his larger body cover Shy in warmth as the night started to turn cold, the heat radiating off of the two of them. Dash bent down and kissed Shy on the lips, letting his tongue dance furtively into Shy's mouth as he pushed into the kiss, sending a real message and trying to let Shy enjoy something tonight. Since Twilight had ruined her life story in minutes, he wanted to build up Shy's confidence one lick and tender touch at a time.

He laughed as he could feel Shy bend into the kiss, letting his kiss settle on Dash's own lips as they sat there for a moment, letting there existence boil down to that. One kiss beneath the stars between ponies that understood enough about each other to let their hurt out and let it heal.

Dash broke the kiss for air and grinned devilishly at his lover. "So I guess that means phase two can start? Cause foreplay is fun and all, but I'm more of a take charge kind of pony. Plus the time is getting short." Dash motioned to the moon who stood halfway to the night sky. "Tight schedule."

Fluttershy rolled his eyes and blushed as he rolled over. "Be gentle."

Rainbow patted Shy's head and chuckled. "I will. Slow isn't my usual thing, but this isn't really a thing I expected."

Dash slowly stood, feeling the power held in his borrowed body as he did so, and leaned over his little stallion, careful to take in the shape of everything- a possible version of himself staring up at him. He shook that creepy image away and licked a hoof in preparation. "This might fucking hurt, Shy. If it does, tell me and I'll stop cause-"

Fluttershy smiled, his hair slightly a mess with grass and twigs curling in his mane like he was truly a part of nature and Dash brushed a wingtip against Shy's nose as he moved, the motion making his partner laugh as he tried to move slightly away. The small, blue pegasus looked up, slightly afraid, slightly aroused, and to Dash, it was truly the most beautiful sight in all of Equestria- this moment. The sky full of stars, the night atmosphere, being in nature with a pony he loved, staring down in a protective way as they probed deep into one another with their eyes. "It's okay, Dash, go on ahead."

Rainbow let his damp hoof fall gently onto Shy's back, his back in a way, but this was the first time he truly took in his own self without use of a mirror, this alternate stallion version with similar enough features, yet coolly different. He traced circles in the athletic back, the muscles flexing as he massaged the worry out of his little stallion, the dancing hoof pounding out a brief rhythm as he could hear Fluttershy's coos and moans of pleasure. He traced lower still, tracing the oddly feminine ass that he would have had if he was a stallion- firmly packed with muscle from years, if not a decade of squats, and yet he felt the last mote of flab, the fat outer layer inviting him in as he stared into the place that Fluttershy told him to go.

He placed his damp hoof on the tight center and pressed, the hole slightly giving as his spit wet hoof parted the twin cheeks, Shy gasping as the slight pressure surprised him. He felt a corner of his hoof enter deeper and the lewd kiss Shy's insides gave him as he pulled back ever so gently. "Oh Celestia, this is the oddest thing, I've ever done."

Fluttershy laughed. "How do you think it feels from my end?"

Dash blushed as he bent his knees ever so slightly and angled his dick towards its destination. He bit his lip as he bumped into Shy, the feeling of touch there being odd, but not unwelcome. He rubbed up gently against his lover and pushed inside. He could feel Shy tense as the unfamiliar feeling of being filled hit the smaller pegasus and he grunted as he tried to move, the tightness of his smaller lover sucking on him greedily as he tried to pull back. Time slowed to a standstill as sensation hit his brain and he couldn't take the feelings anymore. His brain shut off and his vision almost turned white as he came, the warmth of that filling Shy and he could vaguely hear Shy's own release and moans as the pair just let themselves be free in the moment.

Dash brushed Fluttershy's mane dry with his wings, letting the feathers tickle his lover's scalp as he whistled a song he heard from Applejack, some country ditty about some mare taking a stallion from another pony. Nice little melody there and he kept thinking how rather odd it was. Sitting there at the bottom of Rainbow Falls, cleaning off the smell of a lovemaking session, carefully trying to pick out the pieces of nature that clung so fiercely to Shy's mane. It was almost idyllic, besides the stallion part, Twilight being a dick, and being probably fashionably late, as Rarity would put it, to any sort of Nightmare Night festivities.

Dash hugged Shy close and held him there, breathing slowly as he felt the warmth of his little stallion in his hooves. "Whatever happens, Flutter, I'm here for you. Anything."

"Thanks."

Dash rolled his eyes. "I'm serious. If we like meet your mom. Either of them- I guess- I'll have some rather nice words to say to at least one of them. Dunno what your actual mom has been doing for like twenty years, but fuck that bitch who raised you."

"I don't really-"

Dash held up a hoof quickly. "Sorry, I'm just. . .well, mad about it. I'm just. . .I would have liked something normal. I was raised in a circus, and here you are almost having a normal life. Or you should have. You should have been treated better than you were cause-"

Shy leaned in and rested his head on Dash's yellow chest. "Don't worry, Dashie, I get it. Everything you are trying to say, and I did have a mostly normal life. Just not exactly. Rarity's family took me in and showed me what it was like to be loved. Would I be happier if my life turned out differently? Maybe. But falling from Cloudsdale really started my life. And if I didn't have that happen to me, I might have never met you again."

Dash blushed. "Well, still. I'll put in a few choice words with whoever I have to."

Fluttershy smiled and nuzzled Dash's cheek, quickly planting a kiss on the larger stallion's lips. "I know, Dash. I know. Now let's get back to Ponyville, before Rarity has a conniption fit." Fluttershy laughed, his voice high and reedy as he shook his coat dry. "And Dash, I'll return the favor if I ever meet your parents."

"I guess fair's fair. Though don't scare them too much. You tend to get really intimidating when you're angry."

Shy groaned. "I'll try. And the Gala was only one time."

"And then there was that whole thing with Iron Will, and you staring cockatrices down for fun, taming a dragon. . .I could go on. Sometimes I think I'm dating one of those characters in the comics Spike reads."

Shy scoffed. "I'm nowhere close to a supermare, or stallion."

"You are to me. But don't tell anypony, cause I felt my cool points lessen just by admitting that." Dash playfully shivered and winked. "I could stay up here all night, but I guess if you have to pull my leg, we can go back to town."

"I-" Shy's response got cut off as he was swept off his hooves by Dash, the pegasus using Twilight's mishap to carry his lover in his hooves.

"But I'm going to take the scenic route. From what I can see of the moon-" Dash motioned towards the large full moon that illuminated the water, making the pools shimmer and glisten with moonlight as he twirled on his hooves. "I'm taking the scenic route. Sometimes being late to a party is better than being early. And we can just say I accidentally fell asleep. The girls would totally believe that." Dash launched him and his lover up into the sky, his large borrowed wings turning towards home. Shy felt safe in Dash's embrace and snuggled into the crook of Dash's shoulder, face aglow with both worry about what Twilight said, and hope for the future.