"Dusk Shine! Dusk!"

Dusk Shine growled and tried to get up. His head was still a bit dizzy and the sound seemed to come from very far away but it didn´t take long for him to recognize the figure rushing to his side. Dusk Shine got up and greeted Twilight Sparkle with a smile.

"Hey, parallel m-" Dusk´s attempt at witty banter was interrupted by a tender hug. "Hey, I´m...fine. Seriously."

"I was so worried. You ran out and I fear...well, I fear..."

"Hey, relax Twi, I´m fine."

Twilight took a second to catch her breath and noticed that Dusk Shine was smiling. "What?"

"Nothing. It´s just...this past couple of days we have been not exactly in the best terms. I just basically accused you of being a changeling spy a few minutes ago. Wait, is been a few minutes, right? Can´t remember how long I´ve been out..."

"Dusk Shine...you and FLuttershy have been gone for threee months now."

"WHAT?"

Twilight stick her tongue out and Dusk Shine sighed.

"Heheh, sorry for that. I couldn´t resist it. But you´re right on something, ever since this whole thing started I´ve been a little...distracted. Princess Luna opened my eyes to the whole situation. I don´t know exactly what my brother told you but if he decided to trust in you rather than me..."

Dusk put a hoof on Twilight shoulder, looking to comfort her. "Look, I have part of the fault. I should have trusted you from the get-go instead of being all sneaky. I´ll tell you the full true later but just so you know Twilight, the reason your brother handled me thsi responsibility, is because he couldn´t beare having to fight you should the need arise."

Twilight wiped a tear and said "Heh, he knows I could take him down..."

Twi and Dusk shared a laugh when the whole gang appeared.

"Hey you two, allright?" both Rainbows said, failing to notice their synchro.

"Yeah, guys, I´m just fin-"

Dusk got interrupted again, this time by Bubble Berry jumping over the still unconscious Fluttershy. "Fluttershy! Everypony I need 200cc of maple syrup! ASAP!"

"What kind of medical procedure is that?" Dusk Shine asked, while Twilight blushed a little.

"Uh...wha...what happened?" Fluttershy asked being greeted by a double comforting hug by the pink ponies. "Is...is everypony okay?"

"I´m fine, Fluttershy. Thanks for calming me down."

"Did I do that?"

"Yes, just right before I tried to escape again and you crashed against a tree."

"Classic Scotch," Rainbow Blitz said.

"Ya mean Flutters," Rainbow Dash corrected him.

"Whatever."

"Point is, now that Dusk Shine is back, we should really get back to the library and start making up a plan. It seems we have a second crisis on hoof, that could possibly be related to the first one," Twilight Sparkle said.

"Yeah, like if the universe mumbo-jumnbo wasn´t enough, now we have changeling spies!" Rainbow Dash said.

"Seriously, can´t this get any weirder?" Blitz added.

"Oh it could be! We could have actually encountered a time displaced versions of ourselves that met a terrying end at the hands of a Decepcticon special task force!" Bubble Berry said.

"Or we could be stranded in Earth searching for the missing piece to ressurect an ancient cybertronian weapon that could start a new war!" Pinkie Pie added.

"What in Eque-" Rainbow Dash began but Blitz took a hoof to her mouth.

"Forget it. When Berry starts rambling about the giant robots thing, he just won´t shut up."

"We better get moving," Dusk Shine said and the entire group retreated back to the Golden Oaks library, none of them noticing the cloaked figure watching them from behind some bushes.

*****

"So, let´s resume everything we know so far..." Twilight Sparkle said, levitating a pointer to a chalkboard, much to the frustation of the two speedsters pegasus.

"King Coocon, who is the boys´counterpart to our Changeling Queen, has switched places with Prince Solaris, basically taking control of our fused worlds. Presumaly, he took the opportunity to do so after the dimensional chaos produced by the team-up of both Discord and his coutnerpart..."

"And we were so busy fighting that Chrysa-Chrysi-whatever bug lady ta notice something was wrong!" Applejack, the male one, added.

"Is not your group fault, Applejack. We also got distracted..." Twilight Sparkle admitted, taking a small glance at Bubble Berry who was insisting on giving Fluttershy a drink, despite the mare declining every time. "While we were busy dealing with those foes and trying to do damage control of the fused Ponyvilles, we left the Royal Ponies open to an attack."

"Prince Artemis is currently being held hostage, along with several other important ponies like someone named Blueblood," Dusk Shine added, Rarity reacting accordingly to that name. "Cocoon tried to take over Princes Luna´s mind but she managed to be free."

"What about Celestia? Isn´t she in danger? Why are we wasting time talking instead of rescuing her?" Rainbow Dash said, getting very excited.

"At the moment, my sister is locked in keeping our skies together, using every ounce of ehr magic to protect our jointed lands. My guess is that Cocoon does not dare to attach her, risking breaking the connection and being forced back to his world," Princess Luna said.

"Wait, that can actually happen?" Blitz asked.

"Is a possibilty we have been discussin with Twilight," Dusk said.

"Our universes are being forced to occupy the same layer in the dimensional continuum but if we enough pressure in the energy paralleles are applied then..." Twilgight began with a long, complicated explanation that even Princess Luna was unable to follow.

Dusk Shine then stepped in, "Basically, there´s a chance to get our universes back to where they belong. Problem is that could suck us back to our respective places and also...well, also..."

"Also, that we will never be able to see each other again," Twilight finished.

"NO!" Both pink ponies yelled and the rest looked equally distressed, even the two small dragons who were eavesdropping.

"Neither of us want this to happen but as a final recourse, if we uh reset the universes..." Twilight said.

"Everypony and every creature suplanting one will be returned to its rightful place, ending this invasion effectively." Dusk Shine said.

"I must confess, in this short amount of time, I have grown accostumed to my counterpart. Artemis has been through a similar path as mine but his experiences have been different, becoming more involved with the ponies in his world, helping during some times like the first changeling invasion and so," Princess Luna said. "I expressed my envy of his involvement and he replied that my role of guiding filllies and colts when in doubt is something that she wished being able to do..."

There was a small moment of silence before Applejack spoke, "So the plan is to what? Raid the castle, take the Elements back from Celestia and cause this uh reset thingy?"

"We have a different plan. Cocoon doesn´t know that we are aware of his presence and that Luna has escaped his hooves..."Dusk Shine said.

"Therefore, we´re gonna play with his own rules. We´re gonna inflitrate the changeling ranks by letting ourselves be captured and taken to palace," Twilight finished.

"Sounds like a plan," Elusive said and Rarity agreed.

"Hey hold eggheads, when exactly did you two came out with this plan?" Blitz asked.

"Yeah, we´ve been kinda busy this past couple of days and you two have abrely spoke to one another," Rainbow added.

"We had a few minutes before the meeting and we managed to...connect," Twilight said and took Dusk´s hoof.

There was another silent moment.

"....OH I get it! Twi now likes Dusky!" Pinkie said, hitting her hooves when she figured it out.

"Hey, that´s not fair, Dusk! When did we agree going after our counteparts was fair game?" Berry added.

"Now that I think about it, it will certainly saves us some time in the courting process," Elusive pondered outloud.

"We already know almost everything about the other pony so it does seem rather convenient," Rarity added.

"Hey hey ya two can´t be serious!" Appleajck shouted.

"Falling for the very own prince? That´s something..." Luna murmured, blushing.

"Ewwwwwww!" both Rainbow said.

Butterscotch and FLuttershy just blushed.

"Wait, we could do that?" Spike asked Spines.

"You...you wanna do that?" Spines asked and they both blushed.

Both unicorns sighed and went back to the bedroom, deciding to ignore them. Still they felt a little bit of embarassment when they sat down facing each other, ready to do something that did required a certain level of intimacy.

"Good thing we haven´t told them what we´re gonna do," Twilight said.

"Eh, I figured they would make a big deal out of it," Dusk Shine said, shrugging. "In simple terms, mind bonding is a practical spell that will saves us valuable time when planning and sharing information."

"Yes but it does require two unicorns to completly trust one another," Twilight said. "Do we?"

"After all this, Twilight Sparkle. There´s no other pony I´ll trust," Dusk Shine and they both smiled.

"Really, not included a certain cute female guard. You know, the orange pegasus with the blue mane?" she said.

"Wha-what, are you talking about?"

"Come on, I have been in your head and seen some interesting thoughts..." she teased him and Dusk Shine sighed.

"Please, let´s just be done with this..."

"Heheh, okay. Just relax your mind and let me in..."

The ponies took a deep breath and let their magic beams interwine. After a few seconds, Twilight Sparkle was able to dive into Dusk Shine´s memory and see the one conversation that will turn the tide of this invasion.

*****

"Howdy, partner..."

Applejack took off her mask, revealing her face to Dusk Shine.

"Applejack? Why are you dressed as Stallion-do-Good? Wait, you girls don´t call him that, is..."

"We ´ave no time fer that. Listen Dusk, there´s a secret that ah have to share with you so listen closely..."

"....Applejack, if you want to whisper to my ear, you need to get closer to my face," Dusk Shine said, since he wasn´t able to hear anything.

"A-a-a-ah know that!" Aplejack yelled, blushing like a tomato.

Fighting against her embarassment, Applejack leaned forward, "Listen Dusk, as ya know, the changelings have taken the place of several ponies. What ya don´t know is that yer own sister has been replaced. In fact, Shining Armor has been played a fool and him telling you ´bout the whole business was nothing but a flim-flam..."

"What?" Dusk yelled but Applejack shushed him.

"Listen, the Changeling King is luring yah lot into a trap. He wants you all to go to palace and get captured."

"All this time...I was so worried of spies when I was turned into one..."

"And that´s not all, sugarcube," Applejack said and blew some green powder to the unconscious Fluttershy, revealing her true form as a changeling."

"What?"

"Ah´m afraid my friend was one of the first captured. Probably since before the big party we had. They have been replacing ponies all around, to keep the originals in palace, fer what, ah don´t know."

"Wait, Applejack, how do you know all this? How..."

"Zebra magic," Applejack said. "Mah buddy Zecora figured something was wrong with her zebra roommate and then found out ´bout the rest. She has a plan but we need your help. Changelings think ah was captured and are waiting for mah replacement. We got other plans but we need your help and Twilight´s..."

"Of course but, what exactly..."

"Ah need yah two to get captured and then make sure that our universes never connect again. That´s the only way to stop this Cocoon fella."

"But Applejack, that would mean..."

"To never see each other again..." Applejack said, putting back her cowl to hide her sadness.

****

The memory ended and the purple glow dissapeared from the library. Dusk and Twi took a deep breath and then looked at each other eyes. No longer needing any words, they shared a deep hug.