Into the Dashieverse

Rainbow Dash was somewhat confused when she suddenly returned to Sweet Apple Acres. Looking around, she spotted Applejack flying over and shouted, “Hey! Applejack!”

The Earthpony looked over rather surprised and asked, “Hey ya, Rainbow, where have you been?”

Rainbow Dash paused, feeling relieved at first to see her friend recognize her. But then came the issue of knowing how to start or even where to begin with her tale about being in a weird interdimensional rift with a bump of weird versions of herself flying about trying to stop a bunch of evil versions of herself. She paused, looking rather dazed as Applejack waved a hoof in front of her, “Uh, Rainbow? Are you OK?”

“What!? Yeah, I'm fine, just uh…ya know, was uh out doing some hardcore practicing since I'm a Wonderbolt now?”
Applejack eyed her, seeming not to buy her response, but shrugged, “Alright, if you don’t want to tell me where you’ve been, that’s fine. But I think you should go to Ponyville General.”

“Why, what happened!?”

The farm mare looked abit worried and then asked, “You haven’t heard then?”

Rainbow Dash was now getting worried and asked, “Heard what!?”

Applejack then said, “Well, I hate to tell you this, but it sounds like Soarin got into a pretty bad accident or a Sorain. There was something about there being two Soarins, but it sounds like some tall tale.”

Rainbow put a hoof to her chest, feeling it thump pretty hard. She remembered how clumsy Soarin can be, remembering how he hurt himself during the Equestira Game Tryouts. “I gotta go see him! Just tell the others I'm back, and I'm ok, alright!”

“Uh, sure thing, just don’t go off again, ok!?”

“Don’t worry; I’ll explain everything soon!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she flew off as fast as she could through the air and headed straight towards Ponyville General.

As Rainbow Dash was heading towards Ponyville, General Rainbow Skies waited in the hospital for what felt like hours, sitting there patiently for any news on Soarin’s condition. Things were getting rather frantic as the other Soarin was outside being mobbed by the press as he was trying his best to explain the situation. Rainbow Skies didn’t envy him, especially trying to explain why another version of himself was in a hospital bed recovering from a lightning strike. She continued to sit there, watching as nurses went to and fro. Still, she was only focused on the doors, waiting until a pegasus resembling her came through the lobby. As she was looking around, she spotted her and said, “So it's true!?”

“What's true!?”

“Soarin!? Is he ok!”

Rainbow Skies rose up, being abit astounded at seeing a pegasus version of herself fly over to her, seeming abit in awe of her but more concerned over the condition of her friend. “sorry, there’s been some misunderstanding. The Soarin being looked at is from a different dimension. Your Soarin is trying to explain things to the press outside, but it can be rather confusing.”

The Pegasus was starting to look abit relieved and sad, “Oh ok, that’s why there was another Soarin outside…” She flew over and held out a hoof. Sorry, my name is Rainbow Dash.”

The griffin then stuck out a talon and introduced herself, “Rainbow Skies, so I guess my hunch was right. I am in a different dimension?”

“Yeah, the last two days have been crazy! I just got sucked into a dimension yesterday.”

“What happened!?”

Rainbow Dash sat down and explained everything that had happened to her in the past two days, and Rainbow Skies mouth just dropped, listening intently to her. “Wow, so there’s like hundreds of different versions of us!?”

“Yeah! You wouldn’t believe it unless you saw it for yourself.”

The griffin started to get excited. " Oh, that's so cool! I have so many questions, like how many of them are Wonderbolts, and maybe there are other griffins who are Wonderbolts!”

The Pegasus placed a hoof onto her chest and said, “Well, I don’t mean to brag, but I'm a Wonderbolt myself.”

“You are!” Rainbow Skies squealed as she flew over. “How are they here? Are they cool!? Do they accept griffins!?”

“Woah, easy, um…I mean, yeah, of course, they’re cool, and I’m not sure they accept griffins, but I don’t see why not.”

Rainbow Skies squealed, “Oh wow! I gotta tell Soarin when he gets up, maybe we can hop into another dimension where the Wonderbolts aren’t horse-butts!”

“Um, ok, easy now, just uh, let’s focus on Soarin like what happened?”

Rainbow Skies started to remember the dark shadow creature sending a bolt of lightning into her friend, making her shiver in fear. She then fluttered back onto the bench and whispered, “I…I don’t want to talk about it, but I’ll tell you this: Something was trying to hurt me, and it hit him instead.”

Rainbow Dash then slowly came over to her side, sat by her, and said, “I get it. If that happened to one of my friends, I wouldn’t want to talk about it either.”

Rainbow Skies gave the nod, and the two sat there silently, waiting for any news until Nurse Red Heart came out from the doors; the griffin perked up as the white-coated mare looked towards her and asked, “Um, Rainbow Skies? Is that your name, right?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Well, there’s some good news; the doctor just wanted to let you know your Soarin is doing very well and believes he will fully recover in a week or two.”

The griffin placed a talon on her chest, let out a sigh of relief, and chirped, “OK, can I go see him?”

Red Heart held up a hoof and, with an apologetic expression, said, “You can tomorrow. He needs his rest, and we want to make sure there’s no permanent damage…though the doctor made a note on his wings…”

Rainbow Skies winced, remembering again Soarin was already badly hurt from his crash during the Equestria Games tryouts, and said, “I know about his wings, just as long as the lightning bolt didn’t add to his condition.”

“It didn’t, as far as we are aware. Now, Rainbow Dash, would you mind providing accommodations to your other you?”

Rainbow Dash laughed, nudged the griffin version of herself, and said, “Yeah, that won’t be awkward.”

The griffin brushed a talon over her head and whispered, “That's fine, as long as I won’t be too much of a burden.”

“It’s no problem at all! Now let’s head out the back so nopony sees us.”

The Pegasus then led Rainbow Skies into a back entrance and up to the clouds, with the blue feathered griffin relieved that her coltfriend was okay. She’ll be at the hospital first thing tomorrow morning with flowers and a massive apple pie.

The two flew through the skies for quite some time as they headed towards Rainbow Dash’s home. She was rather tired and exhausted from flying quite abit, fighting a weird evil knight version of herself. The mare was quite happy seeing her home as they went through the door, and she revealed her spacious living room,” welcome to my abode. Please take your time to chillax. I most definitely will.”

The two then went to the couch, laid down, and spent a few hours chilling and snacking. Once they were settled, Rainbow Dash felt it was time to talk to this griffin version of herself and asked, “Um, hey, listen, Rainbow Skies?”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“We need to talk about some stuff mainly because we’re from different dimensions, ya know?”

“We can, sorry, just worrying about Soarin makes it hard to chillax.”

“I know, and I don’t want to pry about that, mainly because, as I mentioned before, I recently accidentally went into a different dimension and found another me. Now I'm going to try working with a bunch of different mes, and I was wondering if you're a part of that?"

The griffin blinked, looking rather confused for a second, then said, “What, no!? I don’t know anything about that! I wasn’t even sure I went into a different dimension until I met your Soarin!”

Rainbow Dash winced, feeling abit stupid for saying that out loud, seeing it should’ve been obvious Rainbow Skies wasn’t a part of the “Element of Loyalty Society.” Then they said, “Right, sorry, it seemed you didn’t. I just had to be sure.”

The griffin was now rather concerned and asked, “Well, what's going on? Do they know why we were attacked?”

“If something did attack you and Soarin, it seems an evil me is working with a version of Tempest.”

The griffin jumped back and flared her wings as she exclaimed, “You mean Tempest Shadow?”

“You know her!?”

“Well, yeah! She and the Strom King tried to take over Equestria, but my friends and I stopped them; technically, we had to find the hippogriffs, and we did this whole run around with pirates and a talking cat.”

Rainbow Dash held up a hoof and said, “I know. You don’t have to relay everything my friends and I went through; we went through the same thing.”

Rainbow Skies paused, tapped a talon to her beak, then said, “So let me get this straight: a bunch of good Rainbow Dashs are facing off a bunch of evil ones! And my dimension is getting hit in the crossfire!?”

The Pegasus was looking abit confused as she wasn’t sure and exclaimed, “Well, hopefully not! I'm not sure!? But I'm going back to this "Society of Loyalty" tomorrow. Maybe you should come with me to help learn more and get you and your Soarin home.”

“That sounds like a plan, but I have to see Soarin first. I’m not leaving until I make sure he’s okay.”

“Of course, we’ll just have to get up early tomorrow." Looking around her home, Rainbow blushed, then said, "You can take the couch; sorry, I don’t normally have guests over.”

Rainbow Skies laughed and waved a talon, “No, it's ok, it's okay. I might go out to get some grub, but I think I just want to stay here and relax for abit.” But then the bracelet Rainbow Dash was given started to blaring red as a massive rainbow swirling portal opened up as Rainbow Skies shouted, “What in the hay is that!?”

Before she could say anything, the portal glowed and sucked the two into it as it closed up behind them.

Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Skies suddenly plopped down onto a glossy, rainbow-like floor, and the Pegasus got up, shouting, “What the buck was that!?”

She then turned to see Zapp Apple rubbing his head, grunting, “I have no idea, but somepony is askin’ for askin’ for a buck in the face!”

Then a voice came over, “All versions of the Element of Loyalty red alert! This is a red alert! Shadow Dash has escaped and captured her! She is a pegasus, wearing a shadowbolt uniform! I repeat, this is a red alert!"

“What!?” Rainbow Dash then spotted across the way the office met the nerdy earth pony version of her bursting out with shards of rainbow glass being sent in all directions, as dozens of other versions of her all scrambling, flying, and trying to capture her, but this one Rainbow Dash just seemed way to agile and fast maneuvering around the others with ease that made it rather impressive. She kicked and evaded, seeming not to try to hurt the others but mainly trying to avoid capture.
The alicorn she met yesterday flew down, trying to blast her with beams of magic, but the shadowbolt flew up and soared right over them. Zap Apple then took out his lasso, twirled it, threw it around her, and slammed her down onto the ground, but she somehow slipped out from the rope, slamming next to them, cracking the Rainbow Glass. She then peered up, her face obscured by a purple mask over her face.

She smirked and laughed, “So you guys are the three newbies! good luck becoming agents!” the pegasus then threw out her wings, twirled about, and was now flying above them. Rainbow Skies flew up and grabbed her, trying to clasp her down with her claws as the other Rainbow Dash flew over to her and snapped, “Who are you? What’s going on here!?”

“Sorry, but I don’t have time to explain!” The shadowbolt then bucked Rainbow Skies in the gut and hit a button on the bracelet on her hoof, and another portal opened. The four were suddenly sucked into it as the portal closed behind them once more.

The three, once more, were flung into another world. This time, they were all flying through a bunch of trees, and Rainbow Dash had to brace for impact, throwing her hooves over her face as she came crashing to the ground. She then groaned, getting up and rubbing her head. As she gauged her surroundings, she turned to see they were deep in some forest, with grass-covered fields and groves stretching for miles. She looked around as Zap Apple was getting up, adjusting the colt-hat on his head, spitting out leaves, and grumbling, “I am starting to regret being a part of this "society of loyalty" thing."

“Me too,” Rainbow Dash grunted, getting up and shaking out the leaves and twigs in her mane.

Rainbow Skies flew downward rather gracefully, looked around, and then, with wide eyes, pointed into the sky, “Look at that!”

Rainbow Dash turned to hand. Her eyes grew just as wide as seeing a massive moon glowing overhead and her eyes went wide, “woah, that's a big moon!?”

“Get used to it, and we’ll be here for a while.”

Then the other Pegasus slammed down next to them, sporting a dark violet uniform with her mask having yellow visors, making her look rather menacing. She then unfurled it as it dissolved into inky black shadows, revealing the Pegasus looked exactly like her. Rainbow Dash has gotten used to seeing other versions of herself, with weird looks now, different species, and even a pegasus resembling her. However, this was like looking at a doppelganger or a changeling, trying to mimic her in every way.

This other Rainbow Dash slowly trotted over, admiring her for a second, then, with a chuckle, held out a hoof, “Nice to meet ya. Name’s Shadow Dash.”

Zap Apple stomped over, slapped her hoof aside, and snapped, “Don’t think we’re falling for that for a second! What did you do!? Why are we here!?”

“Yeah!” Rainbow Skies snapped, flying over, slamming a talon, and pointing at her, “Are you working with that shadow creature that attacked Soarin!”

Shadow Dash stepped back with a hoof out, “Oh no, please, you got me all wrong. I'm not here to hurt anypony. In fact, I’m trying to do the exact opposite.”

She then held up the bracelet, “One of Hurricane’s minions is coming here, and he’s the key to finding her and stopping all the other evil Rainbow Dashs for good.”

They all looked at each other, and Rainbow Dash got up and said, “Hold on. Are you related to Shadowbolt?”

“Oh her, we’re twin sisters.”

“Twins!?”

“Identical twins, to be exact; she and I go way back.” Shadow Dash chirped as she flew up and looked around, seeming to be avoiding saying anything else.

Zap Apple then trotted towards Rainbow Dash and whispered into her ear, “I don’t trust her one bit; the rest of the Rainbow Dashs were chasing her for some reason.”

“Yeah, I know that.”

“So go ask her why? She seems to trust you the most.”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but agree as she flew up to Shadow Dash, cleared her throat, and asked, “So, uh, Shadow Dash? Would you happen to know why you were being chased and why we’re here?”

She turned towards her, then, with a smirk, said, “Trust me, you don’t want to know, but mainly because my sister thinks I’m too reckless and doesn’t know what I’m doing. I’m here to prove her wrong.”

She then turned towards the others. “I assume you all want to help stop Hurricane, who probably sent her minions to your dimensions as well? Hurting friends, causing havoc!?”

The two reluctantly nodded as she flew over and slammed back onto the ground, with it cracking beneath her hooves. She then placed a hoof over her chest and said, “Listen, I'm sorry for dragging you all here, but those other versions were trying to stop the problem one bad Dash at a time. I’m trying to stop it for good; they don’t like me, but I get results and get things done. If you want to go back and report to me, that's fine. But trust me when I say this: I’m not a villain I just want to help end this so we can all go home to normal lives.”

The others weren’t sure, but they seemed to find her convincing. Rainbow Dash meanwhile felt a kinship with this alternate version of herself, yearned to trust her instincts, and said, “Alright, we'll follow you, but tell us where we are exactly?”

Rainbow Dash held up a hoof and proclaimed, “This is universe code number 00BA1p09y! My favorite universe, to be precise!”

The others just stood there, giving Shadow Dash blank looks. She laughed, “Sorry, um, better yet, I’ll explain this world’s backstory.”

“No need, I can do that, Shadow!”

They then turned, and soon they were all staring as they saw hundreds of bat-winged ponies staring down at them with yellow-slited eyes glowing in the dark backdrop of the forest. The three companions all stepped back, all looking rather scared. Then one gently flew down towards them with the blue coat and magenta-colored eyes, but her rainbow-colored mane and tail were a frazzled mess and puffy; there were bats flying in and around her. As she looked up and smiled, “Shadow Dash, is that really you?”

“Rainbow Bite! It’s so great to see you!” Shadow Dash flew over, and they bumped hooves as she held up a hoof, “I came in peace with some friends; I was going to explain what’s happening in your world.”

Rainbow Bite fluttered over and bowed with a smile. “I apologize for scaring you. My fellow bat ponies and I were just curious and being rather cautious. But seeing your friends with Shadow Dash means your friends of ours, so welcome.”

“Oh, your bats are so cute!” Rainbow Skies squealed as she flew over and started flying and playing with a couple of them.
Rainbow Bite placed a hoof over her chest. “awww, they like you!” she fluttered over to the griffin as they started talking about how cute the bats were. They eventually flew back down as Rainbow Bite turned her attention to them. “Sorry, I got a bit distracted anyway. Welcome to Chiroptera, where bat ponies live in harmony with nature. Quick backstory of our world a thousand years ago: we were all different pony tribes: unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi. We lived in harmony and worked together under the rulership of princesses of the sun and moon. However, the moon princess was jealous of her sister and turned into a nightmare creature, sealed her away into the sun, and made the land under an eternal night with the sun, never allowing her to shine. But the ponies could not live in such a manner, so she transformed us all into bat ponies, and we thus became her worshipers, brainwashed to believe she was our savior. That was until my friends and I discovered the truth, and we defeated her, sealing her into the moon.”

The other ponies just blinked, looking completely confused and bewildered as Zap Apple asked, “Um… so earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns aren’t here anymore?”

Rainbow Bite shook her head. "The curse placed upon us is thousands of years old and possibly permanent for all eternity. But do not worry; we bat ponies are quite kind and have changed a lot in the past few years. Come, there’s so much to show you!”

They all started to move through the first, with Rainbow Dash seeing a massive mountain in the distance illuminated by the moon. Hundreds of black silhouettes were flying around it. Despite how weird this world was, Rainbow Dash felt that it was rather interesting and wondered why they couldn’t turn their Nightmare Moon back into Princess Luna. Then Shadow Dash came up next to her and asked, “Are you doing alright?”

“Yeah, I'm fine, confused, and abit bruised, but overall, I’m doing fine though this world is weird.”

“Good, sorry. I really didn’t mean to drag you and your friends here. If the other Dashs caught me, I would end up in their stupid little jail, and then I couldn’t help anypony.”

“Why, though? You keep saying that, but you're not really explaining how you’re helping!?”

“It has to deal with their story; they didn’t use an alternate version of elements of harmony; they were destroyed a thousand years ago between their version of Celestia and Luna. The bat ponies used some old spell to seal their Nightmare Moon away, and I need your help to find it.”

“Why?”

“It’s hard to explain, but as I said before, it deals with luring an evil Dash here and taking him down,” The shadowbolt nudged her, “Just trust me, ok?”

“Alright?” Rainbow Dash muttered, eyeing their new companion. She wanted to trust her, but Shadow Dash was keeping her cards to her chest. She should keep an eye on her, and if she felt this version of herself was using them for evil, she’d immediately turn her into the other Elements of Loyalty.