Play It Again, Dash
Chapter 1: Say It with Music
“Hey, I'm glad you could make it!” Rainbow Dash said to her alternate universe twin.
The other pegasus quickly balanced herself on all four hooves and glanced over her shoulder at the mirror portal. Then she hooked one foreleg under her guitar case to lift it up, and soon she rose into the air. “No problem! Any excuse to fly all the time is okay with me!”
“Cool,” said Pony Dash. “But try to keep a low profile. I'm not sure if it's against the contest rules for an alternate version of myself to help me, so I'd rather nopony found out.”
Human Dash held up her hoof. “No sweat! If there's one thing I can do, it's keep a low profile. One time in high school, I spied on a rival school, and I lasted twenty minutes before I got caught! And that was mostly Pinkie's fault, anyway.”
“Right,” said Pony Dash, mentally scrambling to adjust her plan. Planning was not one of her strong suits, unless she was planning an overly complicated prank. “If anypony does see you, just pretend to be me. No! Tell them who you are, but say that you're just on vacation. Pretend you don't know anything about the contest.”
“I know nothing about the contest. Got it, pony me.” Human Dash's forelock waved as she nodded.
Pony Dash flew up to Human Dash's level and placed her hoof on her double's chest. The other looked down at the hoof, surprised by the intrusion on her personal space, but she didn't move away.
“How about you call me P-Dash for Pony Dash, and I call you H-Dash for Human Dash?” asked P-Dash. “That way it'll be less confusing.”
H-Dash met her eyes an grinned. “H-Dash. I like it, P-Dash!”
“I knew you would!” P-Dash grinned at her. “You're me, after all.”
“By the way, I can't believe you never learned to play guitar! I've been playing since I was ten!”
P-Dash shrugged. “It just wasn't something I was interested in. I just wanted to fly and join the Wonderbolts.”
“But now that you're in a singing competition, you wanna win,” said H-Dash.
“Exactly!”
“Alright, first thing's first: where's your guitar?”
P-Dash rubbed the back of her neck. “I was hoping I could use yours.”
Shaking her head, H-Dash said, “Trust me, this'll go a lot better if you have your own guitar. If you really believe you'll be awesome at it, you'll want to have your own guitar to play for years to come.”
P-Dash held up her hooves. “Fine, you talked me into it. Wait here – I'll go home and get some bits.”
“Okay,” said H-Dash, scratching her head. “Why am I waiting here? Why can't I go with you?”
“Because two of us flying together will attract more attention,” explained P-Dash.
“I thought I was telling everyone I'm on vacation.”
“Not with that guitar case.” P-Dash pointed. “Creatures will start asking questions.”
“Oh, come on! Why didn't you think about this before?”
P-Dash pointed an uncertain, wavering hoof at her counterpart. “Why . . . didn't . . . you think of this before?”
“Because this is your contest!” said H-Dash, rolling her eyes.
“Whatever.” P-Dash wasn't sure which version of herself she was more annoyed with. “Listen, I'll be back with the bits soon and then you can go buy a guitar for me.”
As promised, P-Dash returned with a brown cloth bag full of coins.
“What, are we in a medieval themed game?” asked H-Dash, crinkling her brow.
“I'm sure it looks like play money to you, but this is the currency here.” P-Dash tugged open the drawstring and showed her the gold bits inside.
“What's the exchange rate between gold coins and dollars?”
“Hay if I know,” said P-Dash. “Just buy something cool.”
H-Dash thought for a moment. “Is it okay if I spend all your gold?”
“They're called bits, and knock yourself out,” answered P-Dash. “I budgeted for contests this month.”
H-Dash raised her eyebrows, impressed. “You have a budget?”
“I lived on my own for five years,” said P-Dash, waving her foreleg. “I had to learn to budget on a weather pony's salary. It was either that or run out of bits before I ran out of days till my next pay day.”
H-Dash nodded in sympathy, but in the back of her mind she wondered if a bit was a reference to the part of a horse's riding tackle that went inside the mouth to control the horse. She couldn't imagine why that kind of bit would exist in a world where ponies talked. Maybe it was just a coincidence.
She brought her train of thought back on the rails of the conversation. “I'm in my freshman year of college, and Mom and Dad still pay for everything my scholarship doesn't cover.”
“Sometimes I forget that you're a bit younger than I am,” said P-Dash.
Is that what they mean by bit? H-Dash wondered. Is it a small amount of money?
“You'll learn how to adult when you're ready.” She closed the drawstring and placed the bag in H-Dash's hooves. “Now, you'll have to pretend to be me just when you buy my guitar. But the rest of the time, you're H-Dash on vacation.”
“Alright, P-Dash.” H-Dash was growing uncertain. She trusted herself, or at least she wanted to, but at the same time, she wondered if she was already getting in over her head.
“What should I do after I buy the guitar? Should I meet you back here?” asked H-Dash.
P-Dash shook her head. “Too risky. Starlight might see us. You'll have to meet me at my house, but we'll have to arrive separately.”
“If you say so.” H-Dash jingled the bits in her hooves. “Where do I need to go?”
Pegasus directions were much simpler than human directions, H-Dash found. Go southwest six miles until she saw a building with a guitar-shaped sign, and if she flew over the stream, she'd gone too far. Even though she was running an errand for P-Dash, H-Dash still felt freer than the other times she'd been to Equestria. Those had been emergency trips when her cruise ship had been stuck in a storm, which had weighed heavily on her mind . . . Okay, not so heavily that she couldn't stop for twenty minutes to enjoy some fondue from Ponyville's Sugar Cube Corner, but the whole time she'd been eating chocolate, she'd been wondering in the back of her mind what she should do about the freak storm. Plus, she'd had to stay close to her traveling companions. But this time she was by herself, free to fly without worrying about staying close to land-bound ponies (was that an offensive term? H-Dash would have to remember to ask P-Dash about that later). True, she had to pretend to be the other Dash, but how hard could that be?
H-Dash soared high over the city, relishing the acceleration and the wind in her hair – mane, currently. She glided past houses made of clouds, which she gaped at. However, most of the action seemed to be at ground level. Before long, she spotted a sign in the shape of a guitar, just as P-Dash had described. The sign was suspended out from a building that had a bright red awning and a thatch roof. This really was a medieval-themed game – but with ponies.
H-Dash landed beneath the awning and stared at the door. It was wooden with a large window and a metal handle. The door was ordinary, but that was the problem: it looked too human for a pony to open. So far, she'd gotten by with scooping up objects in her hooves, or pressing an item between her hooves so that it wouldn't slip out. Maybe if she pressed her hooves on either side of the handle, she could pull it open. She hoped so, because if she couldn't work something as basic as a door, how could she play a guitar, assuming they were the same?
“I'll get the door for you, sugar cube.”
H-Dash watched carefully as the single orange hoof stuck to the handle and pulled open the door. Pony AJ made it look so easy. She stood to one side as she held the door open, and then stared expectantly at H-Dash. “You okay?”
“Oh, sure,” H-Dash said breezily as she trotted through the doorway (at least she remembered how to trot from her previous visit). “I'm just surprised to see you here, that's all.”
“Oh, I'm just here for some new picks. Then I'll have everythin' I need 'cept inspiration, and that's somethin' bits can't buy.”
“Right,” agreed H-Dash, wondering if ponies had special picks that fitted to their hooves . . . But then there was still the matter of fingering the frets on the neck of the guitar. She couldn't imagine how finger without, well, fingers.
“I s'pose you're here to buy an instrument,” said AJ.
“Yeah, a guitar,” confirmed H-Dash. She was beginning to think about trying to convince P-Dash to play something that didn't require fingers, like the trombone . . . Of course, the problem with that was that she didn't now how to play the trombone. Besides, P-Dash had told her that this was primarily a singing competition. It was hard to sing and play the trombone at the same time, although H-Dash had seen Pinkie Pie do it once during her one-woman show that portrayed the history of the Pie Rock Quarry.
An orange foreleg waved in front of her face. “You sure you're okay, Dash? You seem outta sorts.”
“Fine!” H-Dash shook her head to clear it. “I just, uh . . .” She glanced around the store. It looked like every other music store she'd been in, with guitars and other instruments, straps, cases, music sheets, and other supplies. She turned her gaze toward Applejack and decided to be as honest circumstances would allow. After all, this was Applejack.
“I'm just not sure if these hooves can learn to play guitar in time for the contest.” H-Dash held out her front hoof for emphasis.
AJ smiled and sat back on her haunches, and she took H-Dash's front hoof in both of hers. H-Dash's mouth formed an O of surprise at the intimate gesture. She'd expect this kind of touching from Fluttershy or Pinkie, but not Applejack. However, H-Dash got a curious sensation from the hooves that made her want to stay in contact, like static clinging fabric to skin. Intrigued, H-Dash gave AJ her undivided attention.
“Sugar cube, with enough hard work and practice, you can do anythin' you set your mind to.”
This sounded familiar. H-Dash let down her guard and smiled back at her friend. Even as a pony, Applejack was still Applejack.
“You've always had an ear for music,” continued AJ. “And even if you only learn to play a few chords, you got a good enough voice to carry you through.”
H-Dash's smile broadened into a grin. “Thanks, AJ. I know my voice is awesome, but it means more coming from you.”
Applejack chuckled. “Oh, you.” Then she leaned toward H-Dash and whispered into her ear. “You doubted that your hooves can learn to play the guitar, but I wouldn't worry 'bout that.”
Her breath tickled H-Dash's ear as she added, “I've felt what those hooves can do. If they can make me feel like I've never felt before, I have no doubt they can make beautiful music.”
What?
H-Dash's brain went through a few more cycles of “what” as her face heated. She wanted to say, Aren't you and Rarity together? Aren't Fluttershy and I dating? But she couldn't ask either of those questions when Pony Applejack was behaving as if the answers would be “No” and “Hail no!”
This would require tact. Tact didn't come naturally to H-Dash – or any version of Dash, probably – but Fluttershy had helped her improve.
“Um.” Her voice was even more hoarse than usual. “Applejack? Just so we're clear, what's the, um, what's the status of our relationship?”
Applejack pulled her head away, although she still held onto H-Dash's hoof using her static cling. She crinkled her brow as she searched H-Dash's face.
H-Dash didn't know what Applejack found in her expression, but whatever she saw made her forehead and eyes soften.
“You are my very special somepony,” she answered. “No silly contest is gonna change that, no matter what the outcome.”
“Right, right, that's what I thought,” H-Dash said quickly. What she actually thought was, Really? Very special somepony? That's so cheesy! Fluttershy would eat it up.
Applejack frowned at her, still clasping her hoof.
Sensing that AJ expected more from her, H-Dash said, “You're right, it's just a silly contest. All that matters is that we love each other.”
As soon as she saw the way Applejack's eyes lit up, H-Dash knew she'd really stepped in it.
“We . . . You love me?”
H-Dash couldn't very well say no. If she was going to accidentally confess her love to someone for the first time, she might as well own it. She'd want P-Dash to do the same thing if their roles were reversed.
“Of course! Ever since our first date, I've known you were the only one for me.”
“Oh, Dash, I wanted to tell you that I love you, too, but I was waitin' for the perfect moment.” She raised her right hoof to touch H-Dash's face. This was bizarre, because H-Dash felt the suggestion of fingers in the static cling on her cheek, concentrated in four tingly prints. H-Dash was no animal expert, but she was pretty sure that hooves shouldn't work that way. But the rules were clearly different here.
Applejack gazed at her through half-lidded eyes. “It turns out that this is the perfect moment.”
And then Applejack went in for a kiss.
H-Dash reacted before their lips could touch. “I'm not who you think I am!”
As much as she wanted to help P-Dash, there were some things she simply would not do, and one of those things was betray Fluttershy . . . and P-Dash, probably. She doubted her double would be happy if AJ kissed the “wrong” Rainbow Dash.
Applejack pulled her lips away and frowned. “What in tarnation are you talkin' about?” She looked her up and down. “You're not a changeling, are you? I thought y'all had reformed.”
“Those are the bug-ponies, right?”
Applejack's frown deepened. “I don't think that's very polite, and this is me sayin' this.”
“Well, I'm definitely not a changeling. I'm human.”
“You came through the mirror?” Applejack's eyes widened.
H-Dash nodded. “That's right.”
Applejack glanced around before narrowing her eyes. “You came to help my Rainbow Dash win the contest, didn't you?”
Chuckling nervously, H-Dash rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah, you got me. For what it's worth, I haven't helped her yet.”
Applejack's expression darkened as she let out a horsey snort. “You're not gonna help her ever, if I have anythin' to say about it!” She turned and stalked out the door. “Come on, I'm gonna have a word or two with my very special somepony.” She ground out the last three words in a way that made it plain that she meant the exact opposite, the way H-Dash had heard human Applejack say “honey” on rare occasions.
Applejack paused just outside the doorway and shook her head. “Now I don't even know if my Dash loves me!”
“Um,” said H-Dash, hovering behind her and tapping her front hooves together, “can we forget I said that?”
“Oh, there's no puttin' that genie back in that bottle.”
“You have genies here?”
Applejack sighed. “Just come on.”
“But how do you know where she is?”
“Oh, I know where she'll be, alright.” Applejack marched down the street toward the edge of town, where the thatch-roofed buildings were spaced farther apart and more apple trees grew.
“Wait a minute,” said H-Dash, turning her head from side to side. “This is starting to look like Sweet Apple Acres.”
“Eyup.” Applejack pointed her foreleg. “Look yonder.”
H-Dash gazed in the direction of her foreleg. What had looked like a low lying cloud in her peripheral vision was actually a pegasus cloud tower, floating about fifty feet above the roof of a big, red barn.
“Oh, come on!” H-Dash waved her arms. “That's where P-Dash lives?” She brought her hoof to her forehead. “Am I that big of an idiot, or is it just P-Dash?”
“Do you really want me to answer that?” Applejack trotted closer to the cloud, craning her neck to look up at it. “She's got her ladder pulled up. You'll have to carry me up there.”
H-Dash hovered over AJ and awkwardly hooked her forelegs under Applejack's. She wasn't worried about being able to lift Applejack into the air – she already had a good idea of how much weight she could fly with as a ponied-up human. She was more concerned about being able to keep her grip with her clumsy hooves. It was worse than wearing boxing gloves. Still, she was able to get a decent grip with the crooks of her elbows under Applejack's armpits – or whatever. Quickly, she flew up to the clouds around the base of the tower and set Applejack onto them.
Then H-Dash pointed to their left. “Is that stream supposed to be rainbow colors?”
“It's always been that way.” Applejack straightened her hat and marched up the inclined cloud surface toward the front door of the tower house.
“I just want to make sure it's not leaking chemicals all over your farm.”
“I dunno, it's pegasus magic.” Applejack opened the front door. “Oh Rainbow!”
H-Dash peeked around Applejack and saw P-Dash flying down the stairs. To H-Dash, the house looked spacious and posh, but also . . . cold. It would be a fabulous place to host parties, but not to sit alone and read a Daring Do novel. H-Dash couldn't imagine living in this blue-gray ice palace by herself. No wonder she wanted to be close to her girlfriend.
P-Dash smiled nervously as she landed in front of them. “Applejack! I . . . see you've met H-Dash! She's just here on vacation, right, H-Dash?”
AJ glared and took a step toward P-Dash. “I know you're lyin'! She done told me she was here to help you win the contest!”
P-Dash frowned at H-Dash. “You had one job.”
“Hey, don't try to pin this on me!” H-Dash stepped forward until she was at Applejack's side. “And take your bag of gold back!” She threw the coins at her alternate's hooves, where they spilled out of the bag in a satisfying array. “This plan never would have worked anyway! I mean, seriously, how did you think you were going to keep me a secret when the Apples are right under our noses?”
P-Dash scratched the back of her head. “Play quietly?”
H-Dash dragged her hoof down her face. “They'd still notice! And why didn't you tell me that you and AJ are together?”
P-Dash wrinkled her brow, and Applejack tilted her head.
“Because I thought you knew,” P-Dash said slowly. “Aren't you and your Applejack together?”
“No!”
“Then why did you say we love each other?” asked Applejack.
“You said what?” said P-Dash.
“Oh, yeah,” said Applejack. “She said, 'All that matters is that we love each other.' This was when I still thought she was you.” She pointed to P-Dash. “So why did you say that if you're not with your Applejack?” she asked, turning back to H-Dash. “The way you were talkin', I figured you had already told your Applejack that you love her.”
“I just thought . . . you know . . .” Heat rose to H-Dash's face. “Based on what you said about feeling P-Dash's hooves, I assumed you had already said you loved each other.”
Applejack's cheeks turned pink – apparently blushes could be seen through a pony's coat. Great.
“I mean, yeah, we had romantical times, but sayin' the l-word is somethin' else altogether.”
“You just said the word!” said H-Dash. “Why can't you say it now?”
Applejack looked to the side. “I don't know. I guess it's a big step in a relationship. I wanted it to be special.”
P-Dash sighed. “I know. So did I. The truth is, I wanted to use the contest to write a love song for you and sing it for the whole town, maybe even record it so the whole world could hear it!” She smiled and spread her foreleg.
H-Dash raised her eyebrow. “I didn't know you – or I – was such a romantic.”
“I'm not normally, but I know that everypony in the Apple family loves big, romantic gestures. I know the story of how her parents got together, and her mom wrote that pretty love song for her dad with the guitar and everything, and I wanted to do something like that for her!”
Applejack smiled as her eyes sparkled. “Really?”
“Yeah.” P-Dash rubbed one foreleg against the other. “But now the surprise is ruined.”
Applejack wrapped one foreleg around P-Dash and nuzzled her. “Surprise or no, I'd love to hear any song you sing.”
Smiling, P-Dash returned the nuzzle. “So, does this mean you're not mad at me?”
“How could I stay mad at you when you were plannin' to write me a love song?”
P-Dash looked down. “Well, now my plan's not gonna work. Nopony can teach me how to play guitar, and I don't think I can teach myself in time for the contest.”
“Shoot, I'm sure you could sing acapella and sound amazin'.”
“Thanks, but the guitar is important. I wanted it to be like your mom playing for your dad. I mean, it's not like I can follow my parents' example on that.”
H-Dash nodded knowingly. “They met at a college party, and they didn't even go to college.”
“I understand what you're tryin' to do, but it'd be weird if you were too much like my ma,” said Applejack, patting P-Dash's hoof. “I like – I love you just the way you are, sugar cube.”
“I love you too, Applejack. That's why I wanted to make the performance really special. I wanted to sing for you in front of a huge crowd!” She sighed. “But now I don't think that's gonna happen.”
“What are you talking about?” H-Dash flew into the air and jabbed her hoof at her double. “You're Rainbow Dash! You can attract a crowd in a few hours, even without technology!”
P-Dash tilted her head at that last part. “Huh?”
H-Dash continued as if her counterpart hadn't vocalized. “I once put together a charity gala in a single day!” She paused and sank to the floor as she rubbed the back of her head. “Well, I had help, but I did most of the promotion.”
“And there are two of us,” said P-Dash, eyes widening in realization. “I'll bet two Dashes will gather a crowd an put on a concert in no time! It's perfect!” P-Dash draped her wing over H-Dash's back. “And why stop there?” She pulled away and flew over to H-Dash's guitar case, which was propped against a gray pillar. “You could play guitar while I sing!” She flew back to H-Dash and held the guitar case toward her. “That way there will still be a Rainbow Dash playing the guitar, and you won't have to teach me.”
H-Dash carefully sat down on her hind legs to free her front legs so she could hold the guitar case. “Yeah, about that . . .” She looked down at the hard case resting on top of her forelegs. “I don't know how to play with hooves.”
“What do you mean, you don't know how to play?” P-Dash frowned. “You told me you could.”
“I can in my world, but I forgot that I wouldn't have fingers here.” She winced. “I guess I really am that big of an idiot.”
“Hey, don't be so hard on yourself!” said P-Dash before adding in an undertone, “Really, it's uncomfortable to watch.”
“Thanks, but . . .” H-Dash kept her eyes down and muttered so low that the other two ponies had to precisely angle their ears to hear her. “I can't even open a door.”
“Oh, sugar cube.” Applejack put her hoof on H-Dash's foreleg, but then she caught P-Dash's jealous expression and patted the foreleg once before pulling away. “Look, H-Dash, what happened when you tried to open the door? If we can figure out what went wrong, I reckon we could help you do it right.”
“I didn't,” answered H-Dash. “I thought about trying to squeeze the handle between my hooves, but then you opened the door first.”
Waving her foreleg in dismissal, P-Dash said, “Look, fingers are overrated. If AJ and her mom can play guitar without them, so can you!”
H-Dash rocked back at this outrageous declaration. “Overrated!? You wouldn't say that if you knew what it's like to have fingers. One time Applejack – I mean, H-AJ –”
“H-jack,” P-Dash said helpfully. “It's easier to say.”
“Fine, H-jack hit her hand with a hammer while she was building the set for our high school play, and she couldn't do much of anything for five days. I finished the set for her using my super speed,” H-Dash added proudly. “I used her vision board to build it the way she wanted to in her heart, but she knew she'd never have the time.”
“Wow,” said Applejack. “I can't believe it.”
“What, that H-Dash used super speed to build a set?” asked P-Dash.
“No, that there's a universe where I have a vision board.” Applejack shook her head. “I don't got that kinda time – or imagination. I'm self-aware enough to admit that.”
“I get what you're saying,” said H-Dash. “Honestly, I think Rarity inspired her. She told her that green was her power color, and AJ ran with it.”
Applejack turned to P-Dash. “The only 'power color' I have is the one that shoots outta my chest whenever we need to put the fear o' friendship into a villain.” She turned back to H-Dash. “You said that you and H-jack aren't together. Does that mean she's with Rarity?”
P-Dash shot Applejack a sharp look. “You jumped to that conclusion really quickly.”
AJ held up her hoof in a placating gesture. “Rarity's always been just a friend to me. But with the way H-Dash was talkin' about, uh, H-Rarity inspirin' H-jack, it made me think about how you inspire me. You push me to improve myself, and you're the only pony who really gets me.” She reached her hoof closer and hooked it around P-Dash's foreleg. “And nopony else I know would plan a big, romantic gesture to make me happy even though she don't really care for that mushy stuff.”
P-Dash's gaze softened as she rested her hoof on top of Applejack's – H-Dash got the impression that, were they human, their fingers would be intertwined. “You made me like it, AJ. I'll sing all the love songs you want if I can make you happy.” She looked at H-Dash. “What about you? Do you have a very special somecreature?”
H-Dash's mouth scrunched in a way she felt it was never meant to. “I wouldn't call Fluttershy somecreature.”
For some reason, this was the most shocking thing P-Dash and Applejack had heard all day.
“You and Fluttershy?” exclaimed P-Dash.
H-Dash shifted her weight. “Is it that weird? We've known each other forever. We started officially dating just three months ago, but I have a good feeling about us.” She smiled as she thought about her . . . Well, she wasn't her girlfriend yet. Fluttershy wanted to take it slow, and H-Dash respected her wishes.
Applejack gave P-Dash a hard, scrutinizing look. “If Discord had never been freed, would you and Fluttershy have gotten together?”
P-Dash shook her head. “No! Fluttershy is like a little sister to me.”
“She's older than both of us,” said Applejack, arching her eyebrow.
H-Dash, however, was more concerned about Applejack's question. Her front legs went slack and she had to scramble to block her guitar's descent to the floor.
“Fluttershy and Discord!? Our Physics teacher? He's like twice her age!”
P-Dash frowned in thought. “Our Discord is actually much older than that.”
Applejack shrugged. “He's so old, he's more timeless than anything.”
“Fluttershy and Discord,” repeated H-Dash, shaking her head in disbelief. “Is he a pony here?”
“Nah, he's a draconequus. He has a snakelike body with the head of a goat, sort of, and the limbs of different creatures,” explained P-Dash.
Applejack held up her foreleg. “He's the immortal spirit of chaos and disharmony, so it comes with the territory.”
“I . . .” H-Dash tried to process this information. A hundred thoughts ran through her head, and the ones that ran the most laps were: How can I compete with an immortal spirit? Why is Discord an immortal spirit in this world and a middle aged, eccentric high school Physics teacher in my world? How can the same person fall in love with people who are so different? . . . If it is love. H-Dash glanced at her double and wondered the same thing about herself. She wondered if she and Fluttershy had a chance of staying together for the long haul.
Applejack gave her a sympathetic smile. “I know how you feel. It ain't easy hearin' that the one you love is with someone else. But I reckon there isn't just one soulmate you're destined to be with – or even if there is, it might be different for each world. Maybe you and Fluttershy . . .” She clung to P-Dash's hoof as if it pained her to say it. “Maybe you were destined to be together in your world.”
Wincing, P-Dash said, “Yeah, well, don't let Discord hear you say that. For the avatar of chaos, he gets surprisingly jealous.”
H-Dash chewed on her lower lip. “Is she happy?”
“I reckon you can see for yourself, if you stay here long enough. But I'd say she and Discord are very happy. She's learned to like a little chaos, and he's learned the true meaning of love and friendship.”
“Oh.” H-Dash felt simultaneously relieved and disappointed. She reminded herself that she could be a little chaotic and unpredictable; maybe that side of her would appeal to Fluttershy.
“What about Rarity?” asked H-Dash. “Is she happy?”
“I guess so,” said P-Dash. “I haven't seen her since she took Capper to the spa to get his claws trimmed, and that was three weeks ago.”
H-Dash's heart sank. “Capper's a cat, isn't he.”
AJ chuckled. “Yeah, but not the way you think. He's an Abyssinian, not a regular house cat. He's about the size of a minotaur, and he's as smart as you and I.”
H-Dash tilted her head. “That's actually not the weirdest thing I've heard today. Are they a couple?”
“Yeah, it's kind of like with Fluttershy and Discord,” said P-Dash. “Capper didn't understand friendship until Rarity showed it to him.”
“Rarity and a talking cat . . . I guess that kind of makes sense.” Then she smiled as she noticed something she'd overlooked. “So, you were at the spa, huh?”
P-Dash rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I got over my embarrassment about that a long time ago. It kind of defeats the whole purpose of relaxing at the spa if you spend the whole time trying not to be recognized.”
“That's true. Rarity and Fluttershy introduced me to the spa a few years ago.” H-Dash looked at the guitar case resting on her hooves. “Do you think my Fluttershy would like it if I wrote a song for her?”
“I'm sure she would,” answered Applejack.
“So, are you ever going to at least try to play the guitar here?” asked P-Dash.
H-Dash carefully set down the guitar case on the floor and reached toward the nearest clasp. She pressed the tip of her hoof under the metal tab of the clasp and pushed upward, but it wouldn't budge – her big hoof couldn't fit behind the tab to let her push outward the way she needed to open the clasp.
“You have to use your sticky hooves,” said AJ.
H-Dash frowned. “Sticky hooves?”
“Twilight calls it contact telekinesis,” said P-Dash, “but in Cloudsdale, everypony called it sticky hooves.” She put her hoof on H-Dash's shoulder, and H-Dash felt the same static electricity that Applejack's hoof had produced. The hoof withdrew just half an inch, making the hair on her shoulder stand on end.
“Even young foals can do it,” added P-Dash as her hoof finally separated from H-Dash's coat.
“Go on, try it,” said Applejack.
H-Dash eased her touch on the clasp and simply . . . pulled. There was a static charge between her hoof and the clasp, and then it came forward with her hoof and fell open.
“Yesss!” she hissed as she went for the second clasp, and then the third. “These hooves are almost as good as fingers!” She lifted her beloved blue Super Strat guitar from its case and slipped the strap over her shoulder. “Although, there are still some things you can't do with sticky hooves. Like make rude gestures.”
P-Dash laughed and wrapped one wing around H-Dash's shoulders. “Oh, sweet, innocent H-Dash. That's what wings are for!” She stretched out her other wing, and then folded all of her feathers inward except one.
Applejack rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. “Is that what they're for? I thought they were for flyin' outta reach when I'm tryin' to tackle you.”
H-Dash chuckled. “You'll have to teach me some of those wing gestures later. For now . . .” She pulled the pick out of the case with her right hoof and adjusted its position. Then she placed her left hoof just behind a fret on the narrow neck, raised her pick high, and struck a chord.
“Hello, Ponyville!” H-Dash exhaled loudly to imitate a crowd roaring.
P-Dash tapped her shoulder. “You might want to save that for a real crowd.”
In the next two days, the two Dashes rehearsed their song and spread the word about their concert, which was held on the outdoor stage that served as a setting for many of the performances in Ponyville.
“Hello, Ponyville!” yelled P-Dash to the crowd of ponies and other various creatures. “I'd like to introduce . . . myself!” She swept her foreleg toward her double, who waved her hoof. “She's not a changeling, and she's not from the Mirror Pool, and don't anycreature try to use the Mirror Pool, it, uh, it burned down. Yeah.”
H-Dash flew in front of her and grabbed the microphone before P-Dash could lose the crowd. “I'm from the other mirror, the one that goes to the human world! And I'm ready to rock!”
The crowd cheered; she was pretty sure she heard Bulk Biceps' “Yeah!” among them.
P-Dash's static hooves proved stronger as she wrestled the mic from H-Dash. “Thank you, Human Dash! This song goes out to my very special somepony.” She locked eyes with Applejack.
And then H-Dash struck a single note on her guitar.
It was not a typical performance, or a typical love song. For one thing, there was only the electric guitar, with no rhythm section whatsoever. H-Dash missed having the drums, bass, and tambourine, so she had to make do with stomping on the floor. The song itself had a punchy, soaring tune, since P-Dash's smoky voice was better suited for rock music than a pop ballad.
When the guitar strings ceased vibrating, the crowd erupted in applause and cheers, and Applejack climbed onto the stage and kissed P-Dash on the cheek. “That was amazin', sugar cube! It's got what it takes!” she said, quoting the song. “And now I have a surprise for you!” She turned toward the side of the stage. “Come on up, H-jack!”
The two Dashes looked at each other in shock. “H-jack?”
The other Applejack walked out onto the stage with two guitars strapped to her back – H-jack's bass and P-jack's acoustic guitar. H-jack lifted the acoustic guitar by its strap and passed it to P-jack.
“Two can play at this game,” said P-jack, winking at P-Dash. “The two of us are fixin' to sing and play a song for you.”
“Yeah, uh . . .” H-jack adjusted her guitar and stage whispered, “How do I play with hooves?”