Hey there!

This is a one shot requested by Retro mania. The plot comes from the episode "Me!Me!Me!" from Archies weird mysteries and "It's a wonderful life" from Seven little monsters. It took soooo long to write...sorry.

Anyway, I hope this is what you expected/wanted, sooo...enjoy!

Note: You can request one shots, but I can't guarantee I'll write them or be quick about it.

Be Careful What You Wish For

ZAP!

"Rainbow Dash!"

"Haha! You should've seen your face! It was awesome!"

Twilight only stared at her, mane an electrified mess and eyebrows ticking. She was not amused. Rainbow shrugged.

"Oh, come on! It was hilarious, you have to admit it!"

"We already had this conversation, Dash," the purple alicorn replied, attempting to fix her mane. "What you find funny…"

"…isn't necessarily funny for others," the Pegasus sighed, burying her nose in her fluffy cloud. "I get it. But I'm not going to stop just because you're no fun at all!" She sulked childishly. Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Didn't you have some shopping to do?"

"Oh, right!" The young mare exclaimed, eyes suddenly bright and shining. "I gotta buy food for Tank –and I'll treat myself to a few cookies afterwards! See you later, Twilight!"

"Ah, don't forget you promised to help me ship the old artefacts to Canterlott at four!" She yelled as her friend flew away. Dash replied by a small wave before disappearing completely from view, already hunting her cookies down. Twilight went back to her studies –but as soon as she sat down at her desk-

Prrrrrrttttt.

"RAINBOW DASH!"

"Yum, some nice, chocolate cookies, with sparkling chocolate chips and marshmallows…" Dash was already drooling on her cloud, not looking where she was going.

"Hey!"

"Watch out!"

"Clouds aren't supposed to fly so low!"

"Move!"

Rainbow narrowly avoided an apple cart, before almost running headfirst into a toy shop. In her path she left many angry ponies and colourful expletives that made many ponies glare disapprovingly.

"Geez. Don't they know by now they should move away when I'm coming? Seriously," Rainbow grumbled, annoyed. She was, like, the fastest Pegasus in Equestria! Back in Cloudsdale, they were all in awe whenever she flew by, congratulating her and wishing they could be more like her. Why should ponyville be any different?

"Pfft. They're just jealous of my awesome skills! But I'll show them. They'll all wish they were me! But first…" She got rid of her cloud, landing safely on the ground. She pushed the door open, hearing the small bell ringing as she did. A brown unicorn in the back of the shop turned to look at her, and his features turned nervous as he identified her.

"Hey there! As usual, I need a can of food for my pet Tank," She sauntered into the shop without a care, flying around to look for what she needed. The unicorn gulped.

"Sorry, Rainbow Dash…" The Pegasus did not look at him, too busy rummaging through the different items. One almost crashed to the ground, and the shopkeeper caught it just in time. He sighed.

"We're out of turtle food."

"You're WHAT!?" Rainbow Dash got in the unicorn's face, an incredulous look in her pink eyes. "Why! I'm, like, the only one with a pet turtle in all of ponyville! How can you be out of turtle food!?" The unicorn took a step back, placing the counter in between him and the crazy Pegasus.

"Exactly. You're the only one; I always order turtle food just for you, but since there is so little of it, I didn't notice it wasn't there when it was delivered in my shop. You'll have to buy elsewhere, I'm afraid."

"Can't you just make a call and ask to be delivered now? I don't want to buy elsewhere! I have better things to do!" She whined loudly, wings flapping rapidly with her mounting distress. The unicorn pushed her away.

"I'm sorry," and he was sweating bullets, "but I won't get it until tomorrow. So please, if you don't intend to buy anything else, can you return later? You're scaring off my clients."

Indeed, behind her, a small foal was discreetly hiding behind his mom, glaring at the blue Pegasus. Rainbow didn't even notice.

"Fine," she scowled. "But there better be my turtle food tomorrow, or else I won't be held responsible for my actions!"

"Yes, yes," the unicorn shooed her away, too happy to agree so she'd just leave him alone. "There will be. I promise."

Rainbow exited the shop, head high, and took flight, mumbles and curses escaping her mouth here and there.

"No turtle food! Turtles are awesome! If everypony had a turtle like me, this wouldn't happen! Why can't they see that turtles are the most awesome of pets? Geez." She glimpsed Sugar Cube Corner on her right, and her spirits lifted considerably. Cookies! The next thing on her to-do list. Then she'd challenge Applejack to a race, mess with Rarity, hide Twilight's books…

Right, Twilight. I have to help her with these stupid old relics no one cares about. Geez, I shouldn't have agreed to help. They're not even the kind Daring Do fights for! Just a bunch of useless things with no use whatsoever…What's so interesting about them anyway?

"Rainbow! Nice to see you! Do you want a cake? A cupcake? Oh, try this one! It's my new supper-dupper-crusty-yummmy-banana-strawberry-peach-marshmallow-cupcake with my special cherry-sirup-coconuts-apple slices pie! And I have a lot of-"

"Hey, Pinkie," Rainbow interrupted her, before she actually tried to make her eat one of those disgusting pies. The pink pony kept jumping all around the place, baking maybe ten different pies at once and never messing up. "I'll just take a box of cookies, you know, the kind with the delicious chocolate chips and the sugary cream-"

"Oh, oh. I'm sorry Rainbow, but I'm out of these! The school ponies stopped by earlier and they bought the whole bunch! It was for their teacher's birthday, they also asked for a huge pie! Hey! Hey! Do you want a chocolate pie? I can bake you one real fast and I still have these lemon crusts you love and I can-" Rainbow deflated.

"No cookies….? Geez, today's so not my day! You should make more of them, Pinkie. Or at least don't let them buy my cookies next time!"

"What? Refusing to sell cookies to poor, sugar-hungry foals? That's a crime! No one should ever be deprived of cakes and pies!"

"Except me, apparently," Rainbow dash frowned. "So not fair." She turned around to leave.

"See you around, Pinkie."

"Have a nice day~"

The door closed behind her, and Dash let herself crumble before the shop.

"Come oooooonnnnnn," she whined. "First there's no food for Tank, and now no cookies? Why can't ponies think about me more! They KNOW I need food for Tank, and they KNOW these cookies are my favourite! Wait. Maybe they haven't eaten them all yet? Let's go!"

She flew away straight to the school, hoping she could still have her cookies, but fate was really not on her side today.

"Ah! Come on! I'm in a hurry! Move! No! Let me through! Come on! Seriously!"

What should have taken less than ten minutes in the end took close to twenty, and the Pegasus eventually arrived at the school quite winded, and more than a bit fed up with Ponyville's inhabitants. Seriously, why did they keep getting in her way? Couldn't they just let her through? It wasn't like it would have bothered them to wait just a few minutes more or to move a few inches away so she could arrive faster.

But in the end, it was no use. When she arrived, the school ponies had already eaten all the cookies, and Rainbow Dash was once more left disappointed and hungry –and quite irritated too.

"For Celestia's sake! Why is everyone against me today!?"

"Something's wrong, Rainbow Dash?"

"Yeah. Ya look like somepony ate your 'ay from under your nose."

"Maybe she's just tired?"

"Tired? Rainbow Dash? Never!"

Dash raised her head to look upon the Cutie Mark Crusaders; the three had started bickering as usual, and behind them, the foals and fillies were slowly pouring out of the building to go home to their families. It gave the Pegasus an idea.

"Hey Applebloom!" She straightened at once, startling the three. "School is over for the day, right?" She asked, getting in her face. The filly blinked.

"Err…Yeah? Why'd you ask?"

"That means your sister is done with her chores too, right?"

"Well…usually yes, but today-"

"Great! She can race with me! See you later girls!"

"Ah wait, Rainbow-"

The blue mare left in a hurry, leaving a strong wind in her wake that ruffled the CMC's manes and scared off more than a few pets. While Scootaloo stared after her with admiration and respect, the other two rearranged their manes, wondering what had gotten into her. They eventually chalked it up to Rainbow Dash being Rainbow Dash, as usual, and the three were off to their little lair, the matter forgotten.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash raced through the town straight to sweet apple acre. After the disaster her morning was, all she needed was a good race with Applejack to forget. She couldn't wait! Besides, the last time they'd raced was, like, maybe a week ago. Way too long!

But when she arrived to the farm…

"Are you KIDDING me!? Seriously!"

"Nope."

"You're telling me she's gone to Appleloosato help your cousin!?"

"Eeyup."

"And she won't be back for a whole week!?"

"Nope."

"Oh come on! And you're busy too, I guess?"

"Eeyup."

"Ugh. So not fair," Rainbow Dash whined. "I'll just have to go home and stay bored and…"

A short while away, the bell stuck four times, and the Pegasus deflated even more.

"…and help Twilight ship off her boring, dusty, old artefacts to Canterlott. What an awesome way to spend your day."

"Why do they even want these artefacts anyway?" The Pegasus asked, barely reigning in her disgust as a dusty, moldy and definitely rotting book was placed in a cardboard next to her nose.

"They're very ancient. It would be a great plus to the Canterlott History Museum -and an excellent way to teach foals and fillies about our past more." Twilight explained, eyes sparkling as she took in yet another priceless figurine. Rainbow Dash just yawned while carelessly tossing one into a box. Luckily it did not break.

"I just can't imagine anyone wanting to see these," she barfed in disgust, showing her friend some sort of mold-covered ugly statue, blackened by soot and something she couldn't describe. Twilight scowled at her.

"This," she stressed out, "is a pre-equestrian sculpture of the supposed goddess of fertility, before Celestia and Luna's time!"

"Aaand I care because?"

"Not everything has an exciting, fabulous adventure story attached to it," Twilight sighed. Then she brightened, "but some carry pretty interesting legends."

She took out yet another figurine from a box, and Dash saw it pictured an earth pony -obviously bigger than the others, and a lot more regal-looking. Garbed in a colourful cloak and countless jewels, it had probably been an important figure of the past. Despite herself, Dash's interest was piqued.

"Who is that?"

"Lord Stoneweave the first. They say he had such an amazing strength that he carved a whole village by himself in the mountain, in under a month."

"Tch. I could do that in half the time. And this one?" It looked like an old painting, rolled up like a piece of parchment. A high stone wall was used to keep two giants at bay, mouths wide open. Dash did not recognise anything.

"We don't know much about this one. Apparently it depicts a kingdom very far from here, whose inhabitants were constantly assailed by terrifying creatures, bigger than the Canterlott Castle and with more destructive power than a volcano." Dash shook her head.

"Looks like someone drank too much before painting," She snickered, under Twilight's disapproving gaze. She busied herself somewhere else and let her friend roam freely through the collection. It was not long before Dash called her again.

"Hey, Twilight! What about this one?"

In her hooves, she held a small statue of a unicorn this time, standing on her hind legs. The base on which she was standing looked to be depicting, on one side, a strange mix of riches, jewels, gold, musical instruments, hearts, and other smaller objects she couldn't quite identify, but its meaning was clear -happiness, desires fulfilled and dreams come true, talents, wealth, health…anything you could ever hope for in life. But, on the other side…dried leaves, broken toys, dirt, tattered pieces of clothing…despair, and helplessness. The unicorn above looked regal and solemn, but unforgiving. Her eyes were hard, her features schooled in a frown. She looked straight ahead, but on closer look, she didn't seem to be a pony at all. Her mane dissolved into nothingness instead of hair, same for her tail, and she had no pupil. It gave her an eerie air that would have made most ponies wary, or at least unwilling to handle the statue for fear of breaking it.

Rainbow Dash was not most ponies.

"It is called 'the Wishmaker', an ancient being who grants wishes. But if you make a selfish wish, the legend says she'll make sure you'll regret ever wishing for it, and only a truthful admission of the wisher's fault will break the wish and restore order."

"Keh," Dash shrugged. "That's just a story made up to scare foals. But if she was real, then I'd wish Equestria and everypony was more like me." She tossed the statue in a cardboard and closed it off with tape.

Neither mare saw the furious spark of red in the statue's eyes.

"Careful with that, Dash. Don't break anything."

She did not break anything, but the rest of the artefacts was quickly tossed into their boxes and closed with tape. In the blink of an eye, there was no more statue, book, jewel or anything left, and Dash stood in the middle of countless boxes, which contained all these priceless artefacts, in questionable states. Dash waved her friend away.

"Alright, alright. Are we done yet?" Twilight glanced around.

"Yes, we are. Thanks for the help, Dash."

"Yeah, yeah, t'was nothing. See you later!"

She flew away in a dash, leaving nothing but dust in her wake. Twilight did not pay attention, too occupied with shipping the boxes to Canterlott already, so she could get the space in her library free again.

Outside, as Rainbow Dash left the castle, a young foal blinked.

"Wow. That speed was awesome!"

Rainbow Dash yawned. She was glad to be done with these silly statues, but since her job was done, Applejack wasn't there and her favourite treats were gone…there wasn't much else to do.

"What do you mean, you don't have turtle food!? Turtles are the most awesome pets! If everypony had a turtle, this wouldn't happen!"

Rainbow Dash blinked in confusion. What? Had she heard right?

An earth pony stormed out of the pet shop, visibly ticked off. The Pegasus flew closer.

"Hey, what's wrong? I heard you-"

"This stupid shopkeeper doesn't have turtle food, that's what's wrong! And it's not cool! At all! Turtles are fabulous pets, even if they're so slow! But I gave mine a skate so he could be as fast as me when we play! And I also-"

Dash tuned him out at that point, too confused to think of anything to say. Wasn't she the only one with a pet turtle in ponyville? And why did that pony do the exact same thing as her -get his turtle something so it could be faster? Was somepony finally appreciating the genius of her ideas? It was about time!

"Ha! I knew they thought I was pretty cool," she laughed. Then her stomach rumbled.

"Guess it's time to eat some juicy, delicious apples…" The blue Pegasus drooled a bit just thinking about it.

She took flight above the rooftops as to not startle anypony, and raced off to the farm. The thought of somepony buying all the apples before her -as irrational as it was- made her fly even faster. She'd already lost both her favourite cookies and the opportunity to race today, she wasn't going to lose anything else today!

In no time at all for somepony as fast as she was (and she was the fastest Pegasus in all of Equestria) she stood in front of the great barn.

"Hey there!" She called out. "I was wondering if I could buy some app-"

Only her lightning-fast reflexes saved her from being trampled over, as two blurs of red and white rushed past her.

Dash hovered in the air, heart racing. Had she really seen…?

She dashed after the two blurs, but she had to look around for a while until she spotted them in the field.

In the muddy field.

In the muddy, spongy, dirty field.

Was that really…?

"Rarity?"

"I'm kinda busy here you see, darling," she huffed, running after Bigmac ahead of her.

"I won't lose to you!" She yelled, and somehow managed to run even faster, not caring about the streaks of dirt now marring her beautiful white coat.

"That remains to be seen," Bigmac laughed ahead of her. Wait, what?

"What the hell is wrong with the two of you?!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "You," she gestured to the red stallion, "never speak more than a word, and you," she designed Rarity, "hates to race, because it gets you sweaty and dirty!"

"It's just some mud, you know," Rarity yelled back. "It's not gonna kill me! Now excuse me, but I have a race to win! I'm not the fastest pony in Equestria for nothing!"

"Ha! You wish you were!"

"Oh, but I am! Just as I am cooler than you, too!"

"No way! I'll just have to prove you wrong, then!"

"I'd like to see you try!"

"Just watch!"

And watch Rainbow Dash did, in pure disbelief. They didn't sound like themselves at all! If it wasn't for their colours and appearance, she'd have thought she was seeing, like, perhaps Soaring, Spitfire, or anypony else -and even these two weren't as competitive! Just what the hell was going on? The thought that Rarity had finally decided to follow her example crossed her mind, but it was…way too unrealistic. Same thing for BigMac. There had been no warning whatsoever. Dash shrugged.

"Perhaps it's a dare or something. But it'd be so cool if I could race them now…"

Nodding to herself, the blue pegasus left the farm and the two racers, retracing her steps back to the centre of ponyville. She was still hungry, but since she couldn't buy apples, any cookies of Sugar Corner would do. Pinkie Pie wasn't the best cook for nothing, and while she couldn't digest her disgusting pies, her cookies were definitely the best. Yep, she'd buy some cookies -maybe she'd had time to make her favourite while she'd been gone?- and then she'd just train, perhaps. There was a show planned next week, and she needed to be at her best. Her thoughts calm and clear once more, Dash confidently passed by Ponyville's first houses, as she always did.

But, as soon as she did, she'd have to be blind not to notice the changes.

"What the HELL is going on here!?"

What, indeed? Simply said, clouds.

Fluffy, big, small, grey, white, heavy, light -every size and form imaginable.

In the middle of ponyville.

And the Pegasi kept bringing more and more!

They were calmly arranging them, covering the buildings and the ground, the grass, the flowers, the shops, and basically everything that made Ponyville what it was. Now it looked like a smaller, more down-to-earth version of…

Cloudsdale?

"Hey!" Dash accosted a nearby Pegasus. "Why are you bringing these clouds in Ponyville? We don't need them!"

"Ponyville? What are you on about?" The mare huffed, polishing her latest creation -a cloud Pegasus. "This is Cloudsdale! And Cloudsdale is a fluffy, cloudy town for Pegasus! Isn't it right?"

"What? No!" The blue Pegasus yelled. "Cloudsdale is up there, see? This is Ponyville, your town! How can you forget that?"

"How can youforget we're in Cloudsdale? It is the coolest town! Ask anypony, they'll tell you the same thing! Maybe you should see a doctor or something." She shrugged, and went back to her work, completely ignoring Rainbow Dash. The mare gently touched the ground, flabbergasted. I don't get it. First somepony has a pet turtle and does exactly the same thing as me, then Rarity races and gets dirty but doesn't care, BigMac starts actually speaking, and now Pegasi are turning Ponyville into CLoudsdale, and don't even remember it's Ponyville! There's definitely something going on here. But what? Maybe Twilight can-

ZAP!

"Haaa!"

The thunder missed her by an inch, and she could actually smell her hair burning. Granted it was less than inch, but still.

"Ahahahaha! You should have seen your face! It was awesome!"

Dash attempted to calm her racing heart. What the hell? That was an actual storm cloud! Had she not moved when she did, she could have gotten really hurt by the lightning!

"It's not awesome, it's irresponsible! I could've been hit by that!" She yelled angrily at the Pegasus above, who just looked irritated.

"Oh, come on! You have to admit it was hilarious!"

"No, it was not!"

"Whatever. I'm not going to stop just because you're no fun at all."

The Pegasus flew away on his dark cloud, and Dash suspiciously heard quite a few screams afterwards, but something felt wrong about it. Familiar, even, but not in a good way. Like when you're looking at a harsher version of something you did before. The whole prank felt surreal, somewhat, like she'd already seen it before; of course she'd already pranked maybe a hundred ponies with that one, but what the pegasus said reminded her of-

"Haha! You should've seen your face! It was awesome!"

Twilight only stared at her, mane an electrified mess and eyebrows ticking. She was not amused. Rainbow shrugged.

"Oh, come on! It was hilarious, you have to admit it!"

"We already had this conversation, Dash," the purple alicorn replied, attempting to fix her mane. "What you find funny…"

"…isn't necessarily funny for others," the Pegasus sighed, burying her nose in her fluffy cloud. "I get it. But I'm not going to stop just because you're no fun at all!"

Rainbow Dash stared ahead in stupor.

"Oh damn, that's exactly what I said to Twilight this morning! And every place I've been to in the morning was changed in the afternoon! The pet shop, Sweet Apple Acres, and- Pinkie!"

She took off in a hurry. Sugar Corner could never change, right? Pinkie would always be Pinkie, no matter what-"

"Ugh. Pies are really the most disgusting thing on the planet! I can't believe anypony could like them."

Oh, no…

"Yeah, totally! Cookies are the best. Especially those with chocolate chips and cream! They're my favourite~"

"Yeah, they're mine too! They're so awesome, I could eat them all day! If only ponies could stop eating them all the time, though."

"You don't say. They keep buying them, and I can never-"

Dash fled the scene. Pinkie, the cake-lover, super-duper party pony Pinkie, just said she disliked pies. It was like Rarity saying she despised Fashion, Applejack hating apples or Twilight throwing books away! Speaking of which, it was time to get the purple alicorn. Only she could do something, and if both Rarity and Pinkie were out of commission and Applejack was away, it only left her, Twilight and Fluttershy. If these two were still themselves…

Fortunately, Twilight's castle was on the outskirts of Ponyville, so it had yet to be affected by the transformation into Cloudsdale. Dash flew straight into the map room by the window, almost crashing into the opposite wall as she did.

"Twilight! You've gotta help me! Ponyville is turning into Cloudsdale and the ponies are acting all like me! TheyhavepetturtleslikemeandtheygetthemtoflyandRaritydecidedtoraceBigMacanddoesn'tcareaboutgettingdirty-"

"Woah, woah!" Twilight's wings fluttered nervously, "Slow down, I don't understand what you're saying!" Beside her, Fluttershy looked on worriedly. Rainbow Dash finally noticed her.

"Oh good, You're both here! Take a look outside, you'll understand pretty quickly!"

The two mares shared a glance, before moving in front of the window. Twilight's jaw dropped.

"Oh my," Fluttershy gulped. "Ponyville has turned into Cloudsdale? But how?"

"That's not all," Rainbow Dash explained. "Rarity's racing BigMac, who's actually speaking, and Pinkie said she hated pies!"

"She what? But how? Did a spell change their character somewhat? But it doesn't explain Ponyville turning into Cloudsdale…"

The Pegasus finally landed on the floor, desperate to share what she knew.

"Their character weren't exchanged. They're all acting just like me! Having the same pets as me, the same tastes, the same expressions! A Pegasus pranked me with a storm cloud on the way here, and he said exactly what I told you this morning!"

"Umm…girls…" Fluttershy called timidly, trying to get their attention, but the other two did not notice.

"Exactly?" The alicorn frowned. "Then maybe they're just getting back at you for your pranks?"

"That's way too excessive!" Dash stressed. "Besides, I barely prank anyone anymore!"

"Twilight, Dash…you should-"

"A spell, then?" Twilight started pacing the room, mentally checking every single spell she knew that could potentially change a pony's character. She shook her head "But I don't know of any spell that can change a whole town like that!"

"Discord, maybe?" The Pegasus said, wings fluttering with distress. "It's definitely something he could do!"

"Girls…"

"No, he'd already be gloating if it was him. It's definitely something else."

"Then what?!"

"GIRLS!"

The two mares jumped, turning to look at their quiet friend. Fluttershy immediately reddened, but quickly gathered her wits.

"The ponies outside…they look like Rainbow Dash."

"They WHAT!?"

"Uh-oh, Fluttershy's right, Dash." Twilight stared outside. "I can spot four of you -no, five- in the streets. The whole town is turning into you!"

"But…but…" The Pegasus sat on her hind legs, not understanding. "How can this be? Who did it? If it's a joke, then it's not funny! I don't want everypony in Ponyville to be me!"

Right then, Twilight had an epiphany.

"That's it! It's not a joke, Dash -it's a wish!"

Rainbow Dash only stared at her. Twilight rushed towards her books, quickly getting an old tome out of its shelf. Her horn lit up as she hurriedly turned the pages until she landed on the one she was looking for -and showed it to her two friends.

"The Wishmaker. When we were looking at the artefacts, you held it in your hooves and said something like, 'I wish everypony was more like me' or something. This must be why!" But Rainbow didn't look convinced.

"It's just a silly tale, Twilight! Made to scare the foals, and nothing more!"

"Every legend is based on real facts, Dash." Twilight resolutely slammed the book shut. "Besides, it's our only lead."

The three fell silent, unsure about what to do. Was it really the statue? Wasn't some other powers at play?

"So how do we nullify this wish, then?" Fluttershy asked. Twilight turned to her.

"Only a truthful apology from Rainbow Dash will break it. But we need the statue for that." The Pegasus brightened.

"Great! Then let's get to it! Where have you put it?" The blue tornado overturned books and papers in her search for the priceless artefacts, until Twilight's voice reached her.

"It's not there, Rainbow. They were sent to Canterlott, remember? We need to get to the train station."

"Then let's go!"

The three mares took off, determined to reach the station as soon as possible. Once they were in Canterlott, Twilight would get them into the museum, and Rainbow Dash would apologise for her selfish wish. Hopefully, it would restore everything.

"What do you mean, there's no train?!"

"Looks like the pony in charge left his work to…race?" Fluttershy, said, trying to decipher the awful writing. Rainbow scowled.

"That's a lie. I'd never just leave my duties like that!"

Someone coughed in the background. Twilight and Fluttershy exchanged a glance, but said nothing.

"Well, the closest way to Canterlott is through the forest, so let's go. We don't know how much time we have left until we turn into Rainbow Dash, too."

"Why can't we just fly overthe forest instead of throughit?" Rainbow whined. Twilight shrugged.

"Look up and tell me."

Above, perhaps a hundred Rainbow Dashs were flying around, racing each other, and competing at anything and everything in a chaotic mass of feathers and clouds. Flying in their midst would definitely be not only hard, but downright suicidal.

They began treading carefully through the forest in silence, wary of the creatures that might live inside. Twilight took the lead and Rainbow Dash watched their backs, somewhat comforting a trembling Fluttershy. So far, neither she nor Twilight seemed to be changing into Dash yet.

They all hoped it would last.

"Uhh….Twilight? Are you sure we're going the right way? Because I think we should be in Canterlott already-"

"I'm not lost." The purple mare said stubbornly, not even looking back at her two friends. Dash flew just above her.

"Never said you were, but-"

"I'm too awesome to get lost." Twilight almost snarled. "I know exactly the way!"

Rainbow paled and landed on the forest ground, eyes wide.

"No! You're turning into me! Fight it, Twilight! You can't let it happen!"

But Twilight only shrugged, determined to go on. Fluttershy followed her without saying anything. Dash carefully watched the two, panic rising.

"I'm perfectly myself, I assure you. I know everything there is to know about this forest! We'll be here in no time!"

"Maybe, but we're not going fast enough," Fluttershy finally yawned. "I swear, we're even slower than Granny Smith."

Rainbow Dash turned to her with distress.

"No, not you too, Fluttershy! We absolutely need to-"

"Are you calling me slow!?" Twilight had stopped dead, now glaring at Fluttershy. The Pegasus returned the glare.

"So what if I am? You are."

"Guys!" Dash tried to interfere. "We need to-"

"Oh, I'm gonna show you! Race me!"

"You're on!"

"NO! GUYS!"

Her two friends took off into the sky, and she could only watch as both of their manes turned rainbow, just like hers. She took off right after them, but they were as fast as her -if not more. She soon lost sight of them among all the pegasi.

"Oh, come on!" She screamed. "I didn't mean it like that! I never wanted anypony to turn into another version of me!"

Only silence answered her. She kicked the treetops angrily.

"That's it! I'm gonna put an end to this now!"

Canterlott could be seen in the distance. She did not waste time; she speeded past the other pegasi, successfully zigzagging between them. Somehow, they might look and act like her, but they certainly weren't as smart or fast. She snorted inwardly as she finally reached the capital, its streets and buildings surrounded by…clouds.

"Seriously! Not here too!"

It was yet another replica of Cloudsdale, albeit a much bigger one than Ponyville. At least she could still recognize the original buildings, even covered up by clouds as they were. Except…

"…Uhh…where the hell is the Museum…?"

She could have smacked herself. She had no idea what it even looked like! How the hell was she going to find the artefact?

"Hey, you!" She yelled at another version of herself. "Tell me where the Museum is! It's important!"

"I'm busy, you twit! Get out of my way!" She zoomed past her. Dash tried another one.

"Please, I need to find the Muse-"

"Race you!" Dash sweatdropped. I am sooo not like that. This artefact doesn't know me at all.

"Just list-"

"Come on, I'm in the middle of something extremely important right now! Don't bother me!"

Rainbow deflated, sitting dejectedly on the ground. It had been perhaps the tenth pony to refuse to stop and listen, and she was running out of options. There's no point in trying. They're all so focused on racing and proving themselves that-

A light bulb went off in her head. She, the true Rainbow Dash, did not race all the time, but these ponies apparently did. If the artefact had somewhat exaggerated her strongest traits, like her love for competition, then perhaps her pride had been exaggerated too?

"Hey!"

"I'm bus-"

"I bet you're unable to reach the Museum before me!" The other Dash stopped abruptly. When she saw the indignant glare in her twin's eyes, Dash barely restrained a triumphant grin.

"What? I'm the fastest Pegasus here! I'll show you!"

The Pegasus took off speedily, and Dash let the grin show. Finally!

It wasn't that hard not to lose her –she was following herself, after all- and after a few minutes up in the air, her rival stopped in front of a tall, imposing and ancient-looking cloud –it probably used to be a building- where bright, bold letters on the front said: MUSEUM.

"Ha! Told you I was- hey!"

Rainbow Dash slipped inside without looking back. The dimly-lit interior made it hard to see, but she managed to spot the indications towards the newly installed artefacts room, and then to the Wishmaker.

She barely read the board about how they had decided to recreate the deadly traps that had once been set around the statue to prevent anyone from stealing it. She flew straight in, narrowly evading the poisonous arrows and the fireballs, before landing carefully on the marble floor in front of the statue. Since it came from an isolated tribe of unicorns, who had probably never seen a Pegasus at the time, the traps were no real challenge; they hadn't been made to stop a winged pony, only unicorns. She briefly thanked Celestia she wasn't a unicorn –the traps made certain using magic in the room would be deadly.

At long last, she stood before the statue; it looked as odd as she remembered, but perhaps also a bit…angrier?

Dash straightened before taking a hold of the statue.

"Alright here. I never meant for anypony to become a clone of myself, nor for every town in Equestria to turn into Cloudsdale, so could you please undo the wish I made?"

There was no answer, but the cloud-like walls of the room did not turn back into stone.

"Oh, come on, I apologised! Why won't you undo my wish already?"

Only silence answered her.

"I know I made a mistake!" She cried, losing her cool. "I know I shouldn't have wished for everypony and Equestria to be more like me! I just wanted them to understand what fun is, because they don't! But it's no fun at all when every pony is like me, and I really want my friends back, with everypony else! Because…because…"

The statue's eyes started to glow, but the Pegasus didn't notice.

"Because…not everypony shares my idea of having fun. And because having fun together, with who we are…I'd take that a thousand times over having fun with clones of myself."

There was a small creaking sound, as though something was breaking.

"Everypony's different," Rainbow went on, not noticing the noise. "And I don't want them to change because of something I have done. I want Rarity to care about being clean all the time, about Pinkie liking pies, and Fluttershy being timid and supportive. I was wrong to wish they would be like me! I love them the way they are…I'm sorry for wishing this, so please…!"

Her eyes filled with tears. She fixed the statue with a pleading gaze.

"Please…undo it!"

There was great puff of smoke, accompanied by confettis and small fireworks. Rainbow Dash blinked her tears away in complete and utter confusion, when a figure she knew all too well appeared in the smoke.

"My, my, Rainbow Dash, it was about time! I was wondering if you'd actually succeed~" The Pegasus stared.

"Wait, I know that voice- Discord!"

The Lord of Chaos himself popped out of the smoke, clapping his claws elegantly.

"Bravo, my little friend. You finally realised your mistake, and you learned a valuable lesson! Aah, you should thank me for this. What a good friend I am, for helping you learn this!"

Dash's jaw dropped. Then she exploded.

"It was yousince the beginning?! What the hell, Discord! This is not something friends do!"

"On the contrary, my dear," he answered, theatrically rolling his sleeves. "Friends help each other, and you needed my help to see the errors of your way. And now that you have…"

Snap!

A snap of his fingers and the museum's walls turned into stone again. Outside, the clouds disappeared to let the original town come back, and several ponies almost crashed to the ground as their wings suddenly disappeared with the return of their respective personalities. Ponyville turned back into Ponyville, and a piercing scream startled all of Equestria as a white unicorn realised she was covered in mud.

Dash looked put off.

"So you just-"

"Oh? What is this I hear?" He comically put his claws to his ear, pretending to hear something. Rainbow Dash listened hard, but she did not notice anything.

"I don't-"

"Duty calls, my dear! The realm of Chaos needs its king, and what king would I be to let it wait in need. Don't forget to let Twilight know what a wonderful friend I was~"

"Wonderful my a-"

There was an annoying poof! And Discord was gone, leaving Dash alone in the room, fuming and incredulous.

"I swear, I'm sooogoing to get back at you someday…"

But in the meantime, she had to go back to her friends. AS the ponies came back to themselves, maybe her cookies would, too…

"So it was Discord all along?" Twilight asked, her book on artefacts miserably discarded in a corner.

"Yeah." The Pegasus replied, in a sour mood. "It was not cool."

"At least we're back to being ourselves, darling." Rarity stressed out, a mirror in her hoof. "Getting all that muck out of my mane really was a terrible experience."

"I think Discord really wanted to help Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy smiled. "He just wanted to have fun at the same time." The Pegasus snorted while the others giggled.

"I don't actually remember much from being you," Twilight mourned. "It could have been such a great subject of research!"

More than one of them sweatdropped.

"Well, I think only one Rainbow Dash is more than enough, don't you think?"

"It's even too much."

"Hey!" Dash protested. Applejack, newly returned from Appleloosa, smiled at her.

"Just kidding, sugarcube."

"If only this had taught you to take better care of your mane." The white unicorn sighed.

"Rarity!"

"It's true, darling."

"I just hope for my part you'll ease up on your pranks. They're not funny for us, you know."

Each had an opinion to share and they talked animatedly among themselves, ignoring the Pegasus. Things had gone back to normal; once again, at the end of they day, they were exchanging about their experience while enjoying the delicious pies and cookies from Sugarcube Corner. However, they were also teasing her for her wish, and while she knew she deserved it, it had gone on long enough. Rainbow Dash frowned, before chuckling inwardly. There was only one way to get back at them all, and she knew exactly how. She faked a pout.

"Oh, come on! I wish everypony would just adore me! It'd be so awesome!"

Silence descended upon the six. They all stared at Rainbow Dash, wide-eyed, and she only stared back at them blankly.

And then she smiled.

"Got you."

XxxX

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