"Whoah, cool!" A prismatic pegasus flew up to Rainbow Dash. "You look just like me!"
"Dude!" Another flew up. "You look just like me!"
"D-dude!" Another. "You and you look like me and the other me!"
"Oh yeah?!"
"Yeah!"
Two of the pegasi tackled each other, rolling across the supply station with a series of grunts and voice-cracking yelps. They knocked over barrels full of metal tools while the other Rainbows gathered in a circle, whooping and chanting.
"Awesome, a fight!"
"Awesome, a fight!"
"Awesome, a fight!"
"EE?" Josho grumbled.
"Yeah, old st-stallion?"
"I did quit the booze months ago, right?"
"I hope so..."
"I hope so too."
FWOOOSH! Another pegasus flew into the group and hovered before Eagle Eye. "Hey, Twilight! Lookin' spiffy!"
Fwooosh! "Yeah! Nice shield, Twilight!"
Swisssh! "Why's your muzzle so freaky looking, Twilight?"
"Uhhhhhh..." Eagle Eye nervously backed away from the grinning pegasi. "Wh-who's Twilight...?"
"Nnnngh..." Rainbow Dash hovered beside Roarke, face-hoofing. "Why me...?"
"Because..." Roarke spoke underneath her helmet. "...if they all chose to impersonate a breeder like Zaid, the mountain would have imploded by now."
"No, I get why they're all 'me!'" Rainbow exclaimed. "When I dethroned Chrysalis, I gave the zap to every brood on this plane! But..." Rainbow grimaced. "Why aren't they—y'know—in default?!"
"H-huh?!" Eagle Eye flashed her a weird look.
"You know... default!"
"Rainbow, they're changelings, not plastic molds!"
"You sure?" Josho droned. "You're pretty good at making Ebon melt."
"Josho... tch..."
"Say, uh, not to be a sore llama, but..." Winree hopped into view on steaming leg-braces. "What's a changeling?"
"These are, ya woolie talking penis," Josho grunted. "You've been harboring a bunch of secret bug-eyed shape shifters and you don't even know it."
"Hah!" Winree grinned with twitching eyes. "You mean these fuzzy wuzzies?! Since when has something so cute been so deceptive?!"
"He's really starting to annoy me," Rainbow Dash grumbled.
"Is that so? I'm only now beginning to warm up to him," Roarke droned.
Rainbow glared aside at her. "You must be eating this all up, aren't you?"
"Not necessarily," the metal mare said, staring at the group of wrestling, cavorting rainbows. "However... hmmm... that could swiftly be remedied."
"Ugh... That's it!" Rainbow marched straight forward and stomped her hooves. "Everypony! Listen up!"
Every doppelganger froze, locking eyes on Rainbow's figure.
"You've had your fun, but it's time to ditch these frozen spittakers and own up to who and what you really are!" Rainbow hovered high to the metal ceiling. Her voice resonated, rattling icicles and clumps of frost in the torchlight. "Months ago, Queen Chrysalis—your 'mother'—lost control of you and every other hatchling across the globe! For some changelings, this meant new and unprecedented freedom! For others, this meant having to sacrifice their lives to patch up the nasty stuff Chrysalis had set into motion! Now... you guys are in a pickle of your own, but you don't even know it! Not that I blame you for picking such an awesome form to shape-shift into, but game over! You gotta wake up to who and what you really are! These llama dudes have enough on their hooves without having to deal with—"
"Pffft! What are you talking about, dude?!"
"What are you taling about, dude?!"
"I'm Rainbow Dash, and I'm awesome!"
"I'm Rainbow Dash! I'm awesome!"
"There ain't nothing awesomer than me but me!"
"Nopony's awesomer than me!"
"Listen!" Rainbow sputtered. "I'm trying to tell you that you've made a huge mistake! I'm flattered—really! But you gotta change into—"
"I'm awesome!"
"Awesome!"
"Awesome!"
"Awesome!"
"Dang it! Cut it out! You... rrrrrrgh!" Rainbow Dash pulled at her mane.
"Snkkkt—Heeheeheee!" Eagle Eye fell against Josho's side, giggling so hard that tears squeezed out of his eyes. "Ohhhhhh ho ho ho ho this is too rich!"
"Don't encourage them," Rainbow growled.
"Why not?!" Eagle Eye grinned. "They make for a great role model! Don't you think?"
"Hey, Rainbow," Josho spoke with a smirk. "No biggie, but any chance we could stack them all together from end-to-end? I wanna see if there's a pot of gold beneath the hundredth mare's flank."
"I am the real Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow snarled while the stallions giggled.
"Hey... uhm..." Winree leaned in to Josho, grinning twitchingly. "Any chance I-I could steal that last one? We're short on more than just oxygen up here, not that I'm complaining. Heeheehee—" He spontaneously choked and wheezed.
"Perhaps if you appealed to their logic," Roarke spoke up. "Used something to convince them that you couldn't possibly be part of their brood."
Rainbow Dash brightened upon hearing that. With a devilish smirk, she flew in the center of the group and cleared her throat. "Hey... look alive, bozos!" Several blue muzzles tilted up to face her. "If I'm one of you guys..." She grinned and showed off the jacket clinging tightly to her figure. "Then how come I'm wearing something like this?! It's not as though the llamas had any to spare and—" The room lit up with countless green flashes. "OH COME ON!"
"Hey! Awesome jacket!"
"Thanks! Hey! Awesome jacket!"
"Thanks! Hey! Awesome jacket!"
"Thanks! Hey! Awesome jacket—!"
As the doppelgangers twirled about, showing off their warm, matching outfits, Josho trotted up. "Don't sweat it, Rainbow. At least they can't mimic your pendant."
FL-FLASH!
"Dude! You brought your Element!"
"Sweet! You brought yours too!"
"Dude!"
"Sweet!"
"Dude!"
"Mrmmffff..." Rainbow glared daggers down at Josho.
"Whelp..." The obese stallion shrugged. "You're screwed." He trotted back to Winree and Eagle Eye. "Have fun with your rugby teams."
"There just has to be a way to get them to recognize who they really are!" Eagle exclaimed.
"Yes," Roarke murmured. "Because spontaneous existential crises have worked so well for Elma and Ebon."
"I'm with Eagle on this," Josho said. "This is just too many to deal with, and we haven't got all the time in the world to spend here in a winter llama land."
"Oh, it gets warmer in the summer!" Winree chirped. "Our spit actually reaches the lower elevations!"
"Okay!" Rainbow slapped her hooves together. "I'm telling you for the last time, guys! I'm the real Rainbow Dash! And what's more..." She narrowed her eyes. "I can prove it!"
FWOOOOSH! All of the pegasi flew up and stared the mare down.
"Oh yeah?!"
"Ready to put your money where your muzzle is?!"
"What you've got, chump?!"
Rainbow smirked. "I've brought everything on the table, under the table, and smashing through the table!" She sneered. "If any of you are really Rainbow Dash, then you can never lose at anything!"
"That's for dang sure!"
"Buck yeah!"
"I'm the winningest pony there ever friggin' was!"
"Is that so?!" Rainbow folded her forelimbs. "Well, I've got news for you! There can only be one winner, and that's me! Wanna see for yourselves?" She spat. "I challenge each and every one of you to a race!"
Eagle Eye and Josho did double-takes.
"Uhmmm..." Roarke fidgeted in her armor. "Rainbow Dash...?"
"You heard me!" Rainbow threw her forelimbs up. "Everypony heard me!" She pointed into the thick of the blue fuzzy group. "If I race all of you and win, then that proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that I'm the real Rainbow Dash—the one and only—and the rest of you losers are just making pretend!"
"Pffft! As if!"
"You're so full of it..."
"You're all talk and no trot!"
"What's the matter?" Rainbow hissed. "You cowards?"
The entire supply station went dead silent—like a grave. Every feathery body froze as if time itself had stopped.
Winree glanced left. He glanced right. "PINDROP!" He slapped his knee and giggled incessantly. "Hahahaha... ohhhhhhhhh I'm so hungry."
FWOOOOOSH! No less than four dozen Dashes thrusted their sneering faces into Rainbow's muzzle.
"You can't call me 'coward' and get away with it!"
"You wanna race?!"
"You're on, bucko!"
"Good! Fine!" Rainbow spun around and slid the door open to the wintry gale. "Right this way, slowpokes—"
FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FWOOSH! The entire flapping herd of Rainbows soared out the front entrance, filling the interior with an ear-splitting tempest.
Eagle Eye and Josho clung to each other. "Nnnngh...R-Rainbow Dasssssh!"
Outside, the three llamas fell as the mass of pegasi roared over their heads, extinguishing the flames of their burning barrel.
"Hey!" one Sam sputtered. "We were using that!"
"Get your own mountain!" shouted the other Sam, shaking his hoof.
"Just essay!" added Dave, cross-eyed.
"Rainbow..." Roarke hobbled out of the supply shed in creaking armor. She stammered, "You'd better know what you're doing!"
"Sure don't!" Rainbow shouted, grinning madly as she hovered ahead of the group. "Uhhhhh..." She pointed towards the western horizon. "There! See that mountain with the crooked peak?! We'll fly around that and then back! First to touch down on the llama's plateau is the winner—and the real me! Got it?!"
"Got it!"
"Got it!"
"Let's do this already!"
"Alright!" Rainbow cracked the joints in her neck. "On your mark, get set—"
Sw-Sw-Sw-Sw-Swissssh! Several bodies already soared past her, spinning Rainbow Dash in the air.
"Guhhh!" She gathered her balance, gasping. "Hey! You... y-you friggin' cheated!"
"Heeheehee!"
"Heehee!"
"Haaaah ha ha ha ha hahhhh!"
"Grrnnnghhh!" Eyes on fire, Rainbow rocketed after the flock of herself, slicing the snowy air in twain as she struggled to catch up to the group.
Oh boy that title! So many single minded Rainbow Dash's are fun!
I see what you did here.
This is gonna be the world's most awesome orgy.
Remember Roarke, It's Not EXACTLY Cheating...
Just send them all to Dunrandal and be done with it.
... This is going to end really badly because I'm betting all of Josho's donut stash that Dash suffers an attack halfway through the flight.
HNNNG! An entire room of Dashies!? MY HEART!....Anyways I bet Rainbow loses because of a conveniently timed plot device. AKA Chaotic dizzy spell. After that they should just give each Changleing a hoof prick. They would know that Rainbow Dash doesn't have green blood.
Won't exactly turn out well for RD if they can all fly as fast as her.
Dashie's worst nightmare: having to beat herself.
Also, Roarke's greatest fantasy...
Thirty pushups, ):(. Knock 'em out!
That's funny... I'm actually reading through the Winningverse right now.
Heehee.
Once again Josho reminds me why he is awesome.
This might be the funniest chapter in this entire saga so far.
yes i'm the real shady
It's really quite simple. Every Rainbow Dash removes her pendant. The one who turns into a chaos monster is the real Rainbow Dash!
Not sure why one of them would confuse Eagle Eye for Twilight. Forget the superficial resemblance. If they all have her memories as of Stratopolis, then they know who EE is.
5046540
I think either these changelings are from an earlier template of Rainbow or their memories are not in the right order or are missing altogether. It likely comes from them being stuck in "Dash form"
Here's a more pragmatic test for true awesomeness, should it be necessary: the Rainbow Dash whose pendant can communicate with a certain alicorn princess is the real deal. That should be good for a few more nights.
Oh, who am I kidding? The Rainbow Dash who doesn't sound like an escapee from a mental institution is the real deal.
5046164
Chapter 57
The Game is a Hoof
Urohringr
by Imploding Colon
*huehuehue*
5046120
Definitely the best.
5046872 This is only from the changelings that KNEW they were changelings. They had to make a conscious effort to change their blood in order to fool the blood test the other ponies were doing in Stratopolis. If you remember that Elma who thought she was a turtle bleed green and had little to no ability to use her changeling powers actively. All these changelings are convinced they are Rainbow Dash. They would not have the mind set or the know how to change their blood.
More like, "The Incredibly Dense Minds of Rainbow Dashes".
But yeah, this couldn't possibly backfire in any way, shape, or form. Nope. It would be literally impossible.
Also, Roarke is so cute during all of this.
Heres a Dashie, Theres a Dashie, Rourke wants another Dashie.
Thinking about it, Dash better have a siezure or some such, so the clones just fly quickly, because think of the alternative. A Hundred converging Sonic Rainbooms on a small outpost stuck on teh side of a snow and ice covered mountain thousands of feet above the valley floor. Then again, if the effect did occur, and the Jury survived, someone would have the idea of trying to use the effect to attack the Val Roa shield. And, we would be back to Missile Command, expert mode?
The llamas are in trouble if a flight can blow the fire out without flipping the barrel over.Very weak fire.
Onto. The Race.
This is pretty lighthearted... I expect terrible things.
So, after 100 rainbooms, the mountain then implodes. Not much better.
So... Super Rainboom incoming. Assuming they can imitate speed.
"Just Essay"
:l roundstable.com/forums/images/smilies/DashEmote2.png
5046966 that's seven words. Maybe next book assuming we don't go back down to 1 word chapter titles.
As for the chapter, what can be said here? These are perhaps my favorite comedy chapters so far. Only topped by the epic fight scenes throughout this series. I eagerly await the next chapter. All hail Zadubadabu.
The planet is not large enough for this many rainbows
These dashie fascimiles seem very hollow and shallow, like the mirror pool pinkies.
Josh has some of the best comedy in this ser...
That got really dark really fast
Really dark at really random moments..................Winree should have a hat
5046607 i am willing to bet the llamas made them all think like crazy.
This chapter was hilarious.
do the copies get chaos attacks?
Woo winningverse reference!
Also, I predict a nuclear rainboom from the rain-no dashes
This place is bad voodoo. We should leave. Now.
5047120
You and me both, bab.
5046164 Didn't the applejackling prove that Changeling's can disguise their blood colour way back in Stratopolis.
So that test is a dud.
5048098 Nah it would still work. I guess you missed my other comment (silent muse said the same thing) so ill just throw a copy pasta that explains it
" This is only from the changelings that KNEW they were changelings. They had to make a conscious effort to change their blood in order to fool the blood test the other ponies were doing in Stratopolis. If you remember that, Elma who thought she was a turtle, bleed green and had little to no ability to use her changeling powers actively. All these changelings are convinced they are Rainbow Dash. They would not have the mind set or the know how to change their blood. "
Rainboom time.
Quite a bit more than a double rainbow.
Also, what exactly has happened to the Tarkington?
Whether she wins by rainboom or loses because of a dizzy spell, I don't think these Dash impersonators will be over quickly. And there has been an overabundance of happiness lately. Expecting the Dashes to have an identity crisis.
EDIT: in light of the recent chapy, none of this is relevant
5048204
5046913
There's no way to know for absolute that they aren't fully aware of themselves, merely unwilling to decry the likelyhood that they are not the real Rainbow.
Not, mind you, that they are unaware of their abilities necessarily, merely likely unaware that RAINBOW doesn't have them. After all, they suddenly give themselves jackets and pendants, no? And treat that as normal. So they have control and power, so what is lacking? Understanding: understanding that what they ARE is not pony, but changelings.
Of course both side of this argument are void, as none of them would willingly submit to cutting themselves (If I recall Rainbow had issue with that back in Uro).
Wut.
5047717 They only had what the hive knew of her to work with.
God dammit, Dave!
And I think even Floydien would find the llamas crazy.
5046120 I lost it at that section.
This is insane...
"Hey, Rainbow," Josho spoke with a smirk. "No biggie, but any chance we could stack them all together from end-to-end? I wanna see if there's a pot of gold beneath the hundredth mare's flank."
DAYUM josho that was a bucking KNOCK OUT hilarious!!!
5047717 yeah i agree
Yup. They're all off their rockers.
-Spirit
Dear God, this is going to be fun. If Rainbow loses, it's going to be ridiculous. I'm happy that this isn't due to the Mirror Pond because then the real Dash would doubt herself.
All we need now are violet berets
NOTHING CAN POSSIBLY GO WRONG HERE!
Yeah. He just couldn't resist referencing himself.
Fun times for all, except RD
Oh come on ... ! if she just had those guys 2 books ago they wouldn't have had to face shell at all, he just would have seen them and released the mother of all screams then his brain would have melted.