Inside Golden Oaks Library, two criminal minds plotted their greatest scheme ever.

“Muahahaha, we will have our revenge against those pesky ponies!!” Spike said, twirling his moustache.

“Indeed, my macabre companion! Together we will humiliate those rascals and snatch our beloved ones! Ohohohoho!” Spines laughed, waving her fan in what she considered a sophisticated manner.

“That Butterscotch is such a sleaze! Twilight told me he was just as kind as Fluttershy but she will never try to steal Rarity away from me! Well, unless those rumours I heard were right...”

“Ha! That's nothing compared to what that hideous Twilight Sparkle is doing! How dare she try to seduce my dear Elusive?” Spines almost fainted on that line.

“Hey, remember that is my sister you're talking about! Besides, I don't think she has even noticed that Elusive is pining for her.”

“My poor darling! He's just confused, I need to save him from the hooves of that seductive mistress and back into my comforting claws!” What a drama queen...

“Right!” Spike pull the Madame of Crime closer to him. “That's why we must work together! First, we make them forget about those intruders...”

“And then, we make them realize we are the right ponies umh dragons for them!”

“Exactly!” One evil laugh later. “So...any ideas?”

Obviously, the great criminal masterminds have not thought this far in advance. After a long moment of pondering, Spines finally said:

“What if we make them look ridiculous?”

“Ridiculous how?”

“You know, we glue a clown wig to their heads or something!”

“I don't know. I could never play a prank on Twilight, she would never forgive me and I'd feel bad if I play one on Butterscotch too...” Spike confessed

“Yeah, you're right...hey, what if we get them new couples!”

Spike seemed to like that idea.

“I've seen Twilight spending an awful lot of time in the farm. She says she is just visiting Applejack but I think she means the other Applejack...” She said. How could she wiggle her eyebrows when dragons have none?

“I have noticed that Butterscotch hangs out a lot with Rainbow Dash. There must be something there...”

“Then, it's settled! We will arrange blind dates for these four and if we do everything right...”

“When we do everything right!” he added.

“Yes! Twilight will fall for Applejack, my Applejack, and Butterscotch will be all clouds and rainbows for Rainbow Dash! Ohohohohoho!”

“Excellent! Muahahahahahaha!!”

*****

On the upper floor, Twilight Sparkle was doing her best to ignore the “evil laughs” from below. She had bigger problems to deal with. Namely, how she will tell Bubble Berry how she really feels?

Twilight was glad of the extra time. Applejack had insisted on doing it today but the girls managed to talk her down and take an extra week before “The Confession”, as Rarity calls it. Even Pinkie Pie was against the idea of coming right up to the guys. Guess despite all her eccentricities, she was a girl deep down.

Oh, Pinkie Pie. For a long time Twilight had admired her strange sense of logic, that allowed her to solve problems that Twilight´s structured mind could not. She had never seen her as anything more than a friend but, ever since she first lay eyes on Bubble Berry, that had changed. He is basically identical to Pinkie in every single aspect except for the most important. He is a boy, a perfect match for her. Twilight noticed all the signs, the heavy breathing, the accelerated pulse, the blush on her cheeks, it was obvious even to her that she was falling in love with Pinkie P- Bubble Berry! She was falling for Bubble Berry! She liked colts!

Did she?

Since she was little Twilight had felt this “admiration” for certain ponies, such as Cadence or the Princess. Some other ponies may call it “a crush” but that doesn't seem right. She once “admired” her big brother, for Faust sake! But maybe, just maybe, there was a tiny part of her that perhaps...

“Something is wrong, sis?”

Twilight almost teleported by accident.

“Woah, calm down!”

“Oh its just you, Dusk Shine. I was just brushing my mane, that's all.”

“Here. Let me do it.” And Dusk Shine magically grabbed the brush and started to tend Twilight's mane.

“Uh, what are you doing?”

“Remember that I grew up with a big sister. I used to do this for her all the time,” he explained in a deadpan manner. “What's so funny?”

“Oh, nothing  Actually I know what you mean, Shining Armor used to force to play with his army toys, I was always the griffons. What a meanie.”

“Twilight...”

“Yes, bro?”

“Have you ever umh dated somepony?”

Twilight tried to hide her embarrassment but it was useless. They were sitting in front of a mirror. “Umh no I haven't. W-why do you ask?”

“Well, the thing is... the guys have been teasing me a lot with that. Especially Rainbow Blitz and Elusive because they date like two mares per week. But it’s not like I was never interested, its just back then in Canterlot I was busy studying so...”

“I get it, bro. I had the exact same problem.”

“Right, I know! But now I have...ugh how do I say this? I...”

“Dusk Shine.” Twilight looked at the distressed reflection, trying to understand what was hurting him.

“Twilight, you think that friends can become more than friends?”

“You mean close friends becoming...lovers?”

“Yeah because I...I have for the last week...”

“You too?”

Almost. Almost there. Almost able to say what they truly feel. They shared a bond, a common mind, a common soul; they understand each other better than anypony could, And if they finally said it, all this confusion will disappear. Talking with each other they will come out with a solution, if they just said it...

“Dusk! Twilight! Letter! Prince! Solaris! Urgent! Read!”

“One at the time!” they yelled at the dragons, failing to realize they were doing the same thing.

Dusk Shine and Twilight grabbed their respective letter and read them. “Prince Solaris requests my presence in the palace. Something about some magical disturbances. I'm guessing Celestia is telling you the same thing.”

“No, actually... this letter is from Prince Solaris too.”

“He sent a letter to you?” Dusk Shine looked at Spines but the dragoness just shrugged and played with her fan some more.

******

“There you go, little friends.”

Like always, Angel pushed all the other animals aside to grab the food first, only to finch the second he heard the female bunny tapping the ground with her pawns behind him. Reluctantly, Angel agreed to share his food.

Butterscotch giggled at this scene. He still had to feed his own friends who, because they were bigger and mostly carnivores, had to be kept outside. Usually, Butterscotch will feed the larger animals and Fluttershys the small ones but the last couple days Fluttershy had been neglecting her duties, leaving Butterscotch to tend to all the animals in the cottage. Butterscotch wondered if something was bothering her but if she really was her exact copy, he had a pretty good idea of what it was.

The Confession. Applejack had insisted on doing it today but the guys managed to talk him out of it, gaining an extra week to gather some courage. Even Elusive, who was usually the ladies man of the group, was a bit reluctant about such a straightforward approach. Umh Elusive, they have been friends for years. Almost as long as with Rainbow Blitz; and despite all the jokes that were made at his expenses he never saw his friends as anything more than that. But now there was Rarity,. She was clearly interested in him and Butterscotch was too kind to tell her off. No, scratch that, he wasn't kind, he was just spineless. Solaris knows how many times Bliitz yelled at him for not talking back when somepony was pushing him but he simply lacked the courage to speak up. And there was also Pinkie Pie. Form the first second he laid eyes on her, Butterscotch couldn't get the pink baker out of his head, which raised some disturbing questions about how he saw his friend. Where all the rumours and jokes about him true? Was his interest on the girls just proof that he was actually thinking of the boys?

Butterscotch sighed. A tiny, almost miniscule sigh, but the animals were used to him so they recognized his distress. Angela gently patted his leg while Angel not so gently pushed him like saying  “come on”.

“Thanks, guys.”

The gentle sound of wings flapping indicated that Fluttershy had descended the stairs. Curiously, she was wearing her saddlebags.

“You're going anywhere, Fluttershy?”

“Oh yes, I'm going to Sweet Apple Acres to gather some apples for angel.” The bunny made a “gross” face but she decided to just ignore him. The second she opened the door, she was met by two loud little unicorns.

“Hi, Fluttershy!”

“Oh hi, Sweetie Belle and umh Silver Bell?”

“Sweepy.”

“What brings you here, kids?” Butterscocht asked the two crusaders.

Sweetie was the first to answer. “We came to have a tea party with you!”

That was strange, Butterscotch thought. Sweepy wasn't much fond of tea.

“Oh, I'm terrible sorry but I was just leaving to visit Applejack...” Fluttershy apologized.

“It's okay! We can spend the afternoon with Butterscotch!” Sweetie said as she basically barged in.

“In that case, I will escort you to the orchard, miss Fluttershy!” the little colt said, extending his hoof like his brother taught him too.

“Oh, what a gentlecolt!”

Butterscotch looked confused as his counterpart left, walking alongside the colt.

“So....” Sweetie asked, blinking a few times.

Was she flirting with him?

“...what do you want to do, Chime Belle?”

“Sweetie Belle!”

This was going to be a long afternoon.

*******

Prince Solaris rested on his throne, surrounded by pillars of light descending due to his sheer manliness. Truly he was the Sovereign of Flames.

“Greetings, Twilight Sparkle and Dusk Shine.”

They both bowed in respect but Dusk Shine wasted not a second in asking the question that was nagging both unicorns. “Prince, why did you sent a letter to Twilight too?”

“Relax, Dusk Shine. Don't let petty jealousy get the best of you, my most faithful student. It was merely a matter of convenience. Princess Celestia is unable to leave her chambers while she keeps both our suns in motion, so I'm assuming the most bureaucratic of chores.”

“Oh.” Dusk Shine did his best to ignore Twilight’s smug grin.

“Now listen well, wielders of the elements. While the cause for this dimensional disruption remains a mystery still, our best advisers had detected several surges of magical energy in the area surrounding Ponyville.”

“What types of surges, your majesty?”

“Powerful ones Twilight Sparkle. Since you are our most reliable students on magic matters, we order you to investigate this phenomenon.”

“As you wish, your majesty.” they both said.

“Twilight Sparkle, everything Celly has told me about you is true. You are incredibly talented and not to mention, quite attractive.”

“Thank you, your majesty.” Dusk Shine looked confused as Twilight blushed at the compliment.

“You are dismissed.”

They respectfully left the room but Dusk Shine couldn't help but ask Twilight if she had noticed if something seemed wrong with the Prince. Of course, the only answer he got was a flustered “no, of course not!”

Dusk Shine sighed, frustrated.

Twilight excused herself to the bathroom to “freshen up a little” leaving Dusk Shine in the hallways all alone. Something seemed wrong with this whole scenario but everytime he tried to pull the pieces together, Rainbow Dash´s face kept appearing. Furious, he removed her image from his head and walked just two steps before a hoof covered his mouth and he was dragged into a dark corner of the palace.

*****

Rainbow Blitz was soaring the sky at full speed, trying to escape from his problems. He couldn't stand being in the cloud house anymore. He and Rainbow Dash were terrible roommates, always throwing books at each other. Not to mention that he had something stuck on his chest but was unable to take it out. He was out to shout in frustration when he noticed a purple dot running through the fields.

“Stallion-Do-Good?”

Great, his friends were back to playing superhero just to humiliate him some more. Didn't he learn the lesson the first time? Well, maybe not. But that was no excuse! With a loud boom Rainbow Blitz landed in front of the masked pony.

“Okay, who is it this time? Dusk, Scotch? I'm guessing Berry cause you have no wing-hey,wait a minute, you’re a mare!”

Always the detective, Blitz just stood still as the mare did a somersault over his head.

“Woah.”

Recovering for the shock, Blitz trotted full speed trying to catch the mare but she was slippery like a snake. Every time he was about to catch her, she did some kind of circus trick, going so far as to kick him in the face.

“That's it!”

She was good, he give her that; but Rainbow Blitz didn't win the Best Flyer Competition by a lucky chance. Rainbow spread his wings in a straight line, gaining maximum speed and he soon cornered the masked pony against a tree.

“You're done, lady!”

The mare responded with a cloud of green smoke that took the form of a manticore. It took a second for Blitz to realize it was an illusion, a second the mare took to pull a staff of who-knows-where and start hitting him.

“Auh! Auh! Auh!”

Remembering he was a boy, Blitz grabbed the staff and broke it. The mare was about to pull the smoke again when Blitz had enough.

“Not again!”

He began to spin around her at tremendous speed, dissipating all the smoke and trapping her in one place.

“Now, what are you going to do?”

She responded by taking an ocarina out and began playing a tune that hurt Blitz's ears.

“You want to keep it sonic? Let's keep it sonic!”

Rainbow Blitz began to ascend, ready to pull his best move ever, the invincible Sonic Rain-

“BLITZIE!!!”

“Augh! Pinkie Pie, what are you doing here?”

“My hooves were itching!”

“What does that even mean?”

“It's my new signal for my beloved Blitz is in trouble!”

“What? Get off me, you crazy mar- you said beloved?”

“No, I didn't!”

Blitz looked at her with a blank expression but then remembered the other mare around. The masked pony looked at them with no expression.

“Mare-Do-Well?”

With another puff of smoke, Mare-Do-Well disappeared.

“Wai-auh!”

“No Blitzie, don't go!”

“Why? Who is she? Ugh, don't tell me! You and your friends decided to teach Dash a lesson by dressing like a superhero.”

“Yes we did, but later we thrown the costumes away. We gave them to Rarity and I think she destroyed them.”

If she was anything like Lucy I doubt it, Blitz thought.

“So who was that? Girl-Jack? Why did she attacked me?”

“No, that wasn't Applejack. Hey Blitzie...”

“What?”

“Didn't you notice anything strange about that mare?” Pinkie asked.

“Like what?”

“Like she was too tall.”

“I don't know! I just want to go to Sugarcube Corner for a snack! I need to relax....”

“Uh uh, can you take me there?! Please please please with cherry on top uh and sprinklers and chocolate chips and...”

“Okay okay hop on! Ugh, you're heavier than Berry you know that?”

“Hihi, you let Berry ride you a lot?”

“What? No! Shut up!”

“Hihihi, you're blushing!”

“Shut up!”

The mysterious masked pony watched from behind some trees as the pegasus and the earth pony disappeared into the clouds. Her mask reflected nothing but sheer determination.

*****

“Auh! What is the meaning of this?” Dusk Shine complained to his unknown kidnappers.

“Sorry for the rudeness but my guards had orders to bring you immediately.”

Dusk Shine looked up at the white stallion that was standing next to him.

“I know you...Sparkling Shield!”

“Shining Armor.”

“Meh, close enough.”

“Get up, Dusk Shine. We have plenty to talk about.”

Shining led Dusk Shine through a series of halls and turns until they reach a large room. There he saw a wall covered with pictures of several ponies, including his friend and their counterparts. Some he recognize, others he didn't (especially the mares) Some of the pictures have "x" over them, other questions marks and others just circles.

Finally, Shining led Dusk Shine to a cell where a rather infuriated unicorn was being held.

“Finally, some pony with obvious class! Good sir, if you will be so kind, the captain of the guard has gone completely crazy and locked me in this horrible cell. Please, go contact my aunt and ask for my immediate release!”

“...Who are you again?”

“Wh-bu-I'm Prince BlueBlood, you ignorant peasant! How could you not possibly know who I am?”

“Ungh, he's louder than Princess BlueBelle...”

“Even worse. Look.” And Shining Armor lighted his horn, sending a magic wave at the Prince who yelled in pain before melting in front of their eyes.

“GAH! A changeling!” Dusk Shine yelled.

“And I'm guessing it comes from your universe since its much larger than the ones we had,” Shining commented as the monster roared at them.

“What's happening in here? What is this changeling doing here? I thought you - well my sister - both of you! Have kicked them out of the kingdom!”

“That we did but it seems they have returned and even worse, they have been taking their time to slowly infiltrated both courts.”

“What do you mean?” but Dusk Shine already knew the answer.

“This is an invasion.”