Spike sighed as he dusted through the books for the tenth time that day,making sure to not miss a single one. Twilight had kept him at this for hours. Princess Celestia was coming to see how her student was doing with her studies and she wanted to make sure everything was neat and tidy, though Spike couldn't see how Princess Celestia would spot one patch of dust and run off screaming.
Finally, Spike brushed the last book clean and stepped back, grinning at his accomplishment...for the tenth time. Twilight, who had been standing in the corner and watching over him with eagle eyes, started to inspect the books...for the tenth time. So far Spike hadn't missed anything, but then she spotted a small patch of dust and gasped...for the tenth time. "You missed a spot, Spike!" she said angrily...for the tenth time. And Spike went to clean it up...for the tenth time.
There was a knock on the door, and Spike thanked Celestia as Twilight went to answer it. He pushed the books aside and started dusting the back of the bookshelf, just in case she looked there too. As he dusted, his feather duster revealed a small button, which he pressed when he curiousness got the best of him. There was a small click, and the entire bookshelf rotated, carrying Spike along with it. He screeched and tried to stop it from turning, but to no avail. When the bookshelf finally clicked back into place, Spike was in a room covered in cobwebs and dust, and in the middle was a stand with a small book-more like a journal-on it. The young dragon shakily got to his legs and walked slowly towards the stand. He grabbed the book and wiped the dust off it, looking at the cover.
The book was dark brown with golden tips and golden binding, and the cover said the golden words, "Gender Bender". Spike looked it up and down, front to back, as if there were any description to the strange title. But it was blank except for the words. Maybe I should take this to Twilight. It looks cool. He thought as he started walking back towards the bookshelf, flipping through the pages. Most of them were blank, but one in the middle caught his attention. Before he could read it he rammed into the bookshelf, and it twisted back again.
Twilight came running up the stairs, her eyes wider than before. "Spike, Princess Celestia isn't-what's that?" she picked the book up with her magic and looked at it. "Where did you get this?" she asked.
"Um...I just, found it on the bookshelf." Spike lied, scrapping the wood with his foot.
Twilight read through it, flipping the pages with her magic. She stopped on the page with the words on it and thought aloud, "Maybe I could do this with my friends. This looks interesting." Looking at Spike, she said, "Spike, get the girls while I get the spell ready."
"Yes sir!" Spike said, saluting and racing out the door. Twilight rolled her eyes and looked at the book again. She peered at the title, frowning.
"What a weird name for a book, Gender Bender. Hmm..." she looked at it again, wondering exactly where Spike got it. But, she shrugged and set the book on a stand, opening it to the page with the spell and reading it over again. The girls will be a big help with this. Ooh, goodie, this will be so much fun! she thought with excitement.
Suddenly, the book started glowing with a rainbow of color, shooting out in all directions. The golden tips turned a bright yellow color, nearly blinding her. And then there was a great wind, knocking Twilight off her hooves. The book flew up in the air, and the title grew larger and literally pulled itself off the book. The letters got even bigger and the wind got stronger, and Twilight was blown across the room. Just when the woods wouldn't fit into the room anymore, it stopped abruptly, and Twilight fell to the ground, panting.
"What was that all about?" she said aloud, looking around the room. Everything was as it should be, except her friends were lying on the ground, Fluttershy shaking with fear. "How did you guys get here?!" Twilight said, racing over to them and helping them up.
Rainbow Dash got up on her own, shaking her wings. "I was just reading the newest Daring Do book, which is amazing by the way, and then I get teleported here."
"Y'all better have a good reason for this." Applejack got up and looked around. They helped the rest of the ponies up and, once Fluttershy was soothed, Twilight started telling them what she planned to do.
"So, Spike found this book called Gender Bender," Twilight began, nodding to Spike, who had also been teleported. "And I wanted to perform the spell I found in it. Something about seeing your inner twin, and other stuff. But, yeah. It looks pretty cool. Who wants to do it with me?" when her friends didn't say anything, Twilight assured them, "Oh, don't worry. It seems easy enough, and it won't hurt a bit! Trust me!"
After a few moments of silence, Rainbow Dash shrugged. "I'm in, I guess. Just make it quick, okay?"
"Thanks." Twilight said, still looking at the others.
"Oh, alright." Applejack agreed somewhat reluctantly.
"It sounds fun, and you all know I love fun!" Pinkie Pie said, jumping up and down excitedly.
"Well, I guess I should agree." Said Rarity.
Twilight turned to look at Fluttershy, who was still cowering on the floor. "What about you, Fluttershy?"
"Well, I...I guess I could...I mean...if you want." the yellow pegasus said shakily.
Twilight grinned and clapped. "Yay!" she turned and read the instructions to the spell. "Okay, can we all stand in a circle and all hold hooves." she looked at Spike. "Spike, can you leave us in peace, please?"
"Aww, Twilight. I wanted to join you guys too! I found the book, by the way." Spike crossed his arms and tapped the ground with his foot.
"I know Spike, but I don't want my #1 assistant getting in trouble." Twilight said truthfully.
"Fine, I'll wait for you." Spike turned and headed to the kitchen.
Twilight picked up the book with her magic once Spike was gone and read it over once more. "Alright, close your eyes and brace yourselves." she instructed. She lowered her head and shut her eyes, muttering under her breath. Her horn started to glow a bright purple, and she was surrounded by the light. It reached out and touched her friends, covering them with the color of their coat. They started struggling, and the light around them started flashing, first growing lighter, then darker. It did this for a few moments, and then stopped on dark. Twilight's horn started glowing brighter, and the group was lifted off the ground, the book falling to the ground. They were completely surrounded by pitch black light, and then a large zap sounded. The light vanished, and so did they.
A large wind nearly blew the blue stallion over, his wings flapping. "What is that?!" he called to his friend next to him, but before he could answer, a black oval opened up in the sky, and six ponies fell down. The wind stopped after a few seconds, and as he got closer, they were all to familiar. "What?" he moved the one on the top, a purple unicorn, and looked at the pegasus underneath her. "What?" he looked closer at her, and then at her mane, and her cutie mark. "What?"
Rainbow Dash shook her head and blinked her weary eyes, trying to pinpoint her location. She moved Fluttershy off her flank and blinked again, this time a little longer. When she opened her eyes, she nearly fell on top of Rarity. Six faces stood above the cluster of ponies, their faces all too familiar. "Ahh!" she screamed, instantly zooming upwards in a vain attempt to escape her dream. Wake up, Rainbow Dash! Wake up! She started hitting herself, biting her lip, shaking her head side to side til she couldn't take it anymore and fell to the ground with a thud.
"Uh...are you okay?" asked the orange stallion.
"Applejack...?" Rainbow Dash shook her head again, getting a closer look at him. "No, wait. You're not Applejack!" she got up again, this time slowly so she wouldn't fall again. She put her face into his and frowned, looking at his hat, then at his orange coat, and then at his cutie mark. "Applejack, what happened to you?"
"Ah'm not Applejack! Whatcha talkin' 'bout?" the stallion pushed her with his hoof. "Names Applejackson, but you can call me AJ."
"Okay...?" Rainbow Dash said awkwardly, looking around the group. Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy... she thought, listing the faces she saw, but stopped when she saw a blue stallion with a rainbow colored mane. And...and...me? The stallion wouldn't look at her; he kept his gaze on Twilight's house, purposely avoiding her.
When he finally couldn't take being stared at by Rainbow Dash, he huffed and turned around. "I suppose you want me to explain why you're here." Rainbow Dash could only keep staring at him with her mouth open. "Well, I don't know." he held out his hoof a little, as if he wanted to know who she was but not that much. "I'm Rainbow Blitz, and you might be...?"
Rainbow Dash just stood there for a few seconds, then shook her head but didn't take his hoof. "I'm Rainbow Dash, and you have no right for looking exactly like me. Except, you know. Being a stallion. But still!"
"Oh my word!" Rarity suddenly cried, looking at her match. "You look amazing, darling!"
"Quite right. I am Elusive, and you look absolutely beautiful." said the white stallion, giving Rarity a closer look.
"I'm Rarity, and let me just say, that hairstyle looks great on you!" Rarity scooted closer to him and played with the end of his hair.
While Rarity and Elusive talked some more, laughing from time to time, Pinkie Pie hopped to her hooves. One look at the pink stallion and she lept on him, rolling over and over until she finally landed on top of him. "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! Who are you?"
The stallion laughed and pushed her off, introducing himself. But Rainbow Dash didn't hear his name, for she was focused on Twilight, who had found her twin. "Well, this is strange..." she said, though she looked as if she were bursting with excitement. "I'm Twilight Sparkle." she said formerly, holding out her hoof.
"Dusk Shine."
"What in tarnashion?!" Applejack exclaimed as she looked over AJ. "Who are you?"
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Blitz just ignored each other. Something about him made Rainbow Dash infuriated, like he was stealing her style. While Rainbow Dash was busy thinking about what she would do with this imposter, Pinkie Pie came running up to her, jumping in excitement.
"Rainbow Dash! Guess what?!" she said excitedly.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes in annoyance. "What?"
"Guess!"
"You got married?"
"Nope!"
"You found the perfect cupcake?"
"No!"
"You adopted Sweetie Belle?"
"Not even close!"
"Well, I give up. What is it?"
"I met my twin, but it's a stallion! His name is Bubble Berry, and he looks exactly like me, but he's a stallion! He likes everything I like, and he's a stallion! And he's really awesome, and he has the same cutie mark as me! Did I mention he's a stallion?" Pinkie Pie said, hopping up and down even higher.
"Great," Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes again. She looked around the scene again. Fluttershy had gotten up and was looking over her twin as well.
"Oh my, um...I didn't know I had a brother...um...I'm Fluttershy." her voice shook when she spoke and she hid her face behind her hair.
"I'm Butterscotch, and I didn't know I had a sister." the stallion extended his hoof a few inches in greetings.
Once everyone had met their twin, Twilight looked around the group, stallions and all. "What are we doing here?"
Applejack shrugged. "All ah' can remember is that you were casting a spell, and there was this light."
"Then there must be a way to reverse it." Twilight said, turning to her house. She pushed the door open and ran up the stairs to where she had cast the spell. "Spike, where did you-oh..." for the first time Twilight realized that she had told her assistant to stay at home, and she beat herself for it. "I should have let him come!"
"So, what are you guys doing here?" Dusk Shine asked, tilting his head to the side a little. The rest of the ponies had followed Twilight instinctively, and even the stallions felt she had authority in her group.
"Aren't we in Ponyville?" Rainbow Dash asked, crossing her arms.
"Yes, but we've never seen you before." Dusk Shine turned to Rainbow Blitz. "Didn't you see them appear?"
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and looked at Twilight. "Yes, they came out of the sky from a black oval."
"Hmm..." Dusk Shine put his hoof on his chin, thinking. "When you cast that spell, did it come easy?"
"Yes, my friends got teleported, actually. I didn't summon them, just sent Spike to get them." Twilight looked at the floor and scraped her hoof on the wood.
"It's almost as if the spell wanted you to cast it."
"Yes, it is! There's something going on here, and I don't like it one bit." Twilight stared into his eyes for a few moments, then turned back to the bookshelf. "Now let's find that book."
