On A Cross And Arrow

On A Cross And Arrow is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fan-fiction by Conner Cogwork.

Twilight Sparkle and her friends have planned a day trip to Manehattan, using a new teleport spell Twilight's been studying. Unfortunately, due to a slight mix-up the girls are instead sent to... Ponyville. It's not the Ponyville they know, however, but one in an alternate universe where everpony's genders have been switched. Now the girls have to figure out how to get home without drawing too much attention to themselves... especially the attention of their counterparts in this dimension.

A voice drama is in production. See here for more information.

Cogwork has also written a sequel, On a Whisper of Wind, where Applebuck travels to the mane 6's universe to find his "cousin" again.

"Somewhere in the back of Fluttershy's mind, an alarm bell rang off that said at any moment now, she would be exploding. Twice."
 * Adorkable: Butterscotch, being the male counterpart of Fluttershy.
 * Belligerent Sexual Tension:
 * Bi the Way: Dash and her counterpart Blitz are both secretly bi-curious. Elusive also gives a hint of this with some off-hand thoughts towards his masseur.
 * Camp Straight: Elusive (although his thoughts toward his masseur hint otherwise...)
 * Continuity Nod: The Cutie Mark Crusaders' tree house is mentioned.
 * Pinkie Pie still has her Pinkie Sense, as does Berry.
 * When Dusk offers to let Twilight use his bed while he sleeps in the spare bed, she asks if the spare is full of lumps from his sleepover with Applejack and Elusive.
 * When Dusk peforms a Bubble Berry swear, he pauses to make sure his eye is closed because of last time he did it.
 * In chapter 12, Applebuck makes it to the Mane Six's universe. How? With the help of someone known as "The Great and Powerful...Presto".
 * Here's a gem, from chapter 3:


 * Chivalrous Pervert: Elusive to an extent. He rather blatantly eyeballs Rarity - particularly her flanks - and primly compliments her figure in a way that Rarity knows is code for "you're hot." But of course, he's nothing short of a gentlecolt to her. Obviously, being technically the same pony, the same goes for Rarity in a rare female example of the trope.
 * Covert Pervert: Dusk Shine has to make a conscious effort not to ogle Rarity.
 * Male!Applejack also makes mention that Dusk sometimes shoots some looks at his big sister.
 * Crash Into Hello: Fluttershy's first meeting with Butterscotch. They fall in love instantly.
 * The Dandy: Elusive to Rarity's fashionista.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: When Rarity first meets Elusive and looks him over, her inner schoolgirl squeals at the length of his horn.
 * Female Gaze/Male Gaze: When first meeting Elusive, Rarity inwardly compliments how his cutie mark is set upon "such firm cheeks". Likewise, when she's invited into his boutique, she struts in to show off and begin seducing him, and is "not disappointed, as she felt eyes upon her flanks."
 * Male!Applejack comments that he's noticed Dusk Shine looking at his older sister (which probably means that Twilight Sparkle has been admiring Big Macintosh, as well.)
 * Follow the Leader: While not the first piece of fiction to have gender-flipped ponies, this story did open the floodgates for many other stories involving the gender-flipped Mane Six, and has given the gender-bent ponies their fannon names: Dusk Shine, Elusive, Butterscotch, Rainbow Blitz, Applejack, and Berry Bubble.
 * Glasses Pull: Pinkie Pie in Chapter 2, directly mimicking the master himself (and then comments on the missing Big Yes and song afterwords).
 * Ham-to-Ham Combat: This is what happens when you put Rarity and Elusive (being differently gendered versions of the same, histronic pony) in a room together. Hilarity Ensues.
 * Hammerspace: Where Pinkie Pie got the sunglasses for her Glasses Pull, with even the text saying that they came from hammerspace.
 * Ironic Echo: "And that's how Equestria was un-made."
 * Keet: Pinkie Pie's counterpart, Berry Bubble.
 * Love At First Sight: Justified with Rarity and Elusive-because they have identical personalities, their narcissism does the rest (the phrase "romancing your reflection" applies).
 * Also, Fluttershy and Butterscotch.
 * Meaningful Title: 'On A Cross And Arrow' refers to the female and male gender symbols, respectively.
 * Meet Cute: Fluttershy's and Butterscotch's meeting, straight up.
 * The voice-over takes it Up to Eleven!
 * Most Common Card Game: Chapter 10. They call it "Go Graze."
 * Name's the Same: Applejack and male Applejack. To avoid confusion and keep her cover from being blown, mare!Applejack refers to herself as "Cousin JayJay" to Applebuck and her male self.
 * Owlowiscious and Gummy, even though we never see them, are referred to by name by Dusk and Berry.
 * Never the Selves Shall Meet: Twilight is initially worried about this, but luckily her worries prove unfounded.
 * Oh Crap: Everypony's reaction to the chaos that would be created if Pinkie Pie and her counterpart Berry Bubble collaborated on a party.
 * Palette Swap: Apparantly Mr. and Mrs. Cake's genderswapped selves are just each other body shapes with their natural colors. Applejack is shocked to see this.
 * Porn Stash: Both Rainbows have a version of this.
 * Rule 63: The plot focuses on the canon characters meeting their opposite gender selves.
 * Screw Yourself: By the end of the fanfic, half the Mane cast is in love with their opposite gendered self. It's also implied the same between Celestia and her male self Solaris as well--though in that last case, it's difficult to tell, since they could just be trolling each other.
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Butterscotch and Rainbow Blitz, fitting counterparts to Tomboy and Girly Girl duo Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.
 * Sequel Hook: The last chapter of Cross and Arrow set up and is the prologue of Whisper of Wind.
 * Shout-Out: Pinkie Pie suggests space as the Mane 6 hiding spot. For a moment, she turns into the Space Core whilst doing so.
 * Rainbow Dash's new trick is the "Double Rainboom".
 * There are also a few allusions to fandom memes, such as Rainbow Dash getting a "wingboner" on seeing Berry Bubble.
 * An interesting one, but Applejack refers to a certain tan pony as "the Professor".
 * Also, PKE energy is mentioned.
 * Later, Doctor Whooves Adventures short: Doctor Whooves In: Crossed Wires, the female counterpart to the Doctor is called "The Professor." On A Cross And Arrow was noted as one of the influences in the short's creation, per Word of God.
 * Speaking of fan fic nods, Twilight mentions a universe where Rainbow Dash DIDN'T pull off the Sonic Rainboom while explaining the concept of alternate universes to her friends.
 * Twilight remarks at one point that Rarity's powers of observation would have made her a great detective, a possible reference to the Sherlock Holmes Fusion Fic A Study in Rainbows.
 * "Well, speak o' th' smooze."
 * Ship Tease: Many of the ponies find themselves attracted to the opposite-gender counterparts of the ponies they are often shipped with. (Rainbow Dash towards Berry, female Applejack towards Rainbow Blitz, Twilight and Dusk towards their mentor's gender-swapped selves, etc.)
 * There's also the fact that Celestia and Solaris do some light flirting at the end of the fanfic.
 * Sickeningly Sweethearts: Both interdimensional couples; Rarity/Elusive in a gushing, overdramatic Shakespearian-love sense, and Fluttershy/Butterscotch in a painfully shy, cutesy sense.
 * Sleep Cute: According to Solaris, Dusk and Twilight. Celestia gave the most unladylike Squee when he mentioned it to her.
 * Tsundere: Both Rainbows.
 * Twice Shy: Actually subverted with Fluttershy and Butterscotch.
 * Your Universe or Mine?: Both Applejacks fall for the alternate universe counterpart of their Rainbow friend, while Fluttershy and Rarity fall for their own male versions.
 * And just before the Mane 6 return to their world,.