Kindred Spirits

The medicinal smell of the room awoke Rainbow blitz. He opened his eyes only to be blinded by the bright fluorescent lights above him. He sat up slowly, shielding his eyes with a hoof.

“You should stay down,” A female voice suggested, “You need to recover.”

He turned to his right and saw the cyan mare he was racing with earlier. She was seated on a chair next to his bed. He looked around the room; it was a decent sized hospital ward with white curtains on both sides of his bed. There was a sort of medical machine next to him, there were wires coming out of it that were attached to him.

“I said lie down,” The cyan mare repeated firmly, giving him a glare.

Rainbow Blitz ignored her, trying to spread his wings only to find them bound to his back.

“I thought you’d do that,” The mare said, rising to her hooves, “Honestly, we’re so similar it’s disgusting.”

She promptly pushed him down onto the bed. Blitz attempted to fight back, but his painful muscles and low energy prevented him from doing so.

“Who do you think you are?” He spat, “To say that I need rest?”

“Somepony obeying orders from the doctor.” She said firmly, sitting back down.

“Whatever,” He said, letting out a puff of air that blew his rainbow colored mane out at her. “Anyway, how did I get here, um… Rainbow Dash, right?”

“Yes,” she replied, “I carried you here after you collapsed. Really, don’t you know how to take care of yourself? Racing despite having severe muscle fatigue.”

“I thought I could handle it, okay?” Blitz said, slightly annoyed. He was a pro athlete and also part of the Wonderbolts; who was this mare to tell him he did not know how to take care of himself.

“Well, you’re a pretty good flyer,” Rainbow Dash commented, “I’ve never seen any other pony do a sonic rainboom before, save for me.”

“Same here,” He replied, leaning back on both hooves, “So,

where are you from?”

“Ponyville,” She answered promptly, “Why?”

“It’s nothing,” He said, closing his eyes.

“Well, where are you from?” She asked, resting her hooves on his bed railings.

“Cloudsdale,” He replied, “Though I went to live in Ponyville for a while.”

“I see,” Dash said, getting up, “Well, you’re a cool pony, so when you get better, wanna race?”

“Sure,” Blitz said, cracking a small smile.

“Great!” Dash exclaimed as she flew out of the ward, “Even though you’ll lose!”

“Hmph,” He grunted as she left the ward.

“With that speed, she’d make a good Wonderbolt,” He said to himself as he rolled over and fell asleep.
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“Ah’m pooped,” AJ stated, leaning back. He and the others had been researching in Twilight’s house for the past few hours, trying to find a way to return back to their universe. Dusk closed the book he was reading and looked at the orange earth pony, an eyebrow raised.

“You just took a nap three hours ago you lazy shit,” Dusk said tonelessly, “At least put in more work before you complain.”

“Whatever Princey,” AJ grumbled, grabbing a random book and opening it up.

“Um… sugar cube,” Applejack said, “We already read that.”

AJ let out a sigh of frustration and tossed the book aside. Applejack handed him another book, which he took and began reading.
“This doesn’t make any sense!” Dusk cried, resting his head on a hoof, “The only mention of the spell was in this book, yet there is nothing about how to cast it!”

“Calm down,” Twilight said, “maybe we should all take a break from this and head over to Sugarcube Corner.”

“An excellent plan dear madam!” Elusive said, piping up immediately.

“Ooh! Alright!” Pinkie Pie chirped, “I can treat all of you to my very special cupcakes and muffins!”

“I’ll stay here then,” Dusk said, levitating a book, “I need to find a way to reverse this as soon as possible.”

“Suit yourself,” Butterscotch mumbled, rising from the table. The other six ponies followed him and left the library.

“Well here we are!” Pinkie Pie said excitedly, “The one and only, Sugarcube Corner!”

They had just arrived outside of the cake themed bakery and the sweet aroma of baked goods already began attacking their nostrils.

“Wow!” Bubble Berry commented, bouncing up and down, “It looks just like it did before it back home!”

They walked into the small bakery and were greeted with a warm welcome from two earth ponies, a blue mare and a yellow stallion.

“They look so familiar!” Bubble Berry thought to himself, “I could’ve sworn I’ve seen them somewhere before.”

“Welcome back Pinkie!” The blue one said cheerfully, “I see you’ve brought your friends over!”

“Yes I have Mrs Cake!” Pinkie said happily, “Can I borrow the kitchen to make some treats for them?”

“Mrs Cake?” Bubble Berry uttered. Were the Cakes still running Sugarcube Corner in this universe?

“Of course you can,” The yellow stallion replied, directing her to the kitchen. Mrs Cake then pointed the other ponies to an empty table and said, “You can sit over there.”

“Thank you Mrs Cake,” Twilight said as the group walked over to the table.

“The Cakes still run this place?” AJ asked as he sat down.

“Of course they do,” Applejack answered, “Why wouldn’t they?”

“Well, Dusk thought it would have been more efficient if the Cakes were replaced by a professional patissier,” Bubble Berry explained, “As a result, he made a ‘few’ renovations and other changes to the place to spiff it up.”

“What happened to the cakes then?” Applejack asked.

“He fired them,” AJ replied simply, “Made them lose their job. Ah however, took them in to help Macerina with making them apple pies.”

“Macerina?” Pinkie Pie asked, “Who’s that?”

“Mah sister,” AJ answered. Then he turned to the pink earth pony, slightly startled and asked, “Why are you here?”

“Well I finished baking silly!” She replied, placing a tray of assorted sweets on the table. The other ponies took a pastry each and began chowing down.

“Are they good?” Pinkie asked, looking at the stallions.

“These are really good!” Bubble Berry commented as he contentedly ate his lemon surprise muffin.

“For once, I agree,” Elusive said. AJ was too busy eating to respond and Butterscotch merely nodded.

“That’s good to know!” Pinkie said happily. She always felt happy when she could put a smile on somepony’s face. They sat there for a good while, talking and relaxing in the soothing atmosphere of Sugarcube Corner.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Rainbow Blitz left the hospital after he had a nice nap. The doctors had told him he needed to rest in bed for a whole day but he knew better than that. After all, he knew how to take care of himself.

“Well, I guess I’ll try to find Rainbow Dash” He said to himself as he trotted down the street. He did not have anything to do so he might as well check out this cool mare he just met. He walked around the town, asking about where he could find her. He eventually found her, relaxing on a cloud along the outskirts of town.

“Hey Rainbow Dash!” He called out. The cyan pegasus looked out from over the edge of her cloud.

“Hey Blitz,” She called back, waving a hoof, “How are you feeling?”

“Almost fit to fly,” He replied, “Are you doing anything?”

“Nope,” She said flying down to meet him, “Wanna hang out?”

“Sure,” He said, “you can show me around Ponyville; I haven’t been here in ages.”

The two of them set off down the road, talking together about various things and events related to each other.

The group made their way back to the library, completely de-stressed and relaxed. Their bellies full of their favorite treats, of Pinkie Pie.

“Man those were some good cupcakes!” Bubble Berry said, bouncing along the pathway, “Almost as good as my own!”

“I agree, those sugar tartlets were simply divine,” Elusive agreed.

“Well, I guess I can assume that we are all ready to resume studying?” Twilight asked, opening the library door.

All heads nodded in response.

“Then let’s do this!” She said, they walked in and noticed Dusk was not at the table.

“Dusk?” Twilight called out, “Are you there?”

“Duskie! Where are you?” Pinkie Pie called out.

“Duskie?” Elusive asked, smiling a bit at the nickname. AJ chuckled heartily while Butterscotch let out a “Pfft,”

“He’s probably in the toilet,” Applejack said, sitting down. She noticed a piece of paper with some writing on it. He picked it up and after reading it said, “Um, guys? We have a problem.”