“I think it’s kind of interesting that we get to see how Ponyville was in the past, don’t you?” Starlight asked Spike as the two of them walked down the streets of their home.
“Considering the circumstances? No. I don’t.” Spike responded to her.
Starlight rolled her eyes at his attitude and the two of them kept on walking. As was somewhat expected they were given a wide berth by most of the common ponies of Ponyville, they just weren’t used to seeing a dragon walking down the street. It amused Spike a little bit considering how in the future Ponyville would essentially become the central hub for all sorts of creatures visiting Equestria. And that wasn’t even to mention all the random monster attacks and other crazy events that would take place once Twilight arrived.
“Do they have to all stare at you so much?” Starlight said.
It was true, Starlight just looked like a normal unicorn so Spike was getting most of the eyes of the confused citizens drawn towards him. At least they weren’t running in terror and locking their doors and windows or anything like that.
“Eh, no big deal. I just like to think about how they’re looking at a future hero of Equestria.” Spike replied nonchalantly, not sweating the small stuff as always.
Starlight again was forced to roll her eyes at him. “Right.”
It was strange to see how similar Ponyville still was to how they knew it but with all the little differences that stuck out. Looking through the window of Quills and Sofas the two of them didn’t see Davenport but instead an older pony that must’ve been his father. Similarly while the marketplace was still full of the same kind of food and vendors they would see if they were in the present quite a few of the ponies working those stalls were obviously parents of the ones they knew. The most obvious being Applejack’s two parents selling apples, Starlight had never seen a picture of them but there was nopony else they could be with little filly Applejack standing there learning the trade from them.
“Wow. It all feels kind of surreal.” Starlight said.
“I know right? And you never even knew the old library like I did, man that place brings back memories.” Spike said as he fondly looked in the direction of Golden Oak Library.
“We’ll definitely go check it out. I’d like to see it too you know?” Starlight playfully rubbed her friend’s head. “For now though I wanted to hang around somewhere where there will be more ponies. Also I’m kind of hungry, what about you?”
“Always.” Spike rubbed his belly, frowning. “But I don’t know how easy I’ll be able to get my claws on some delicious gems around here now.”
Starlight hummed to herself, thinking. “Hm, well if worst comes to worst we could always go digging in one of those caves Maud likes to hang out in. I know em pretty well by now.”
Spike licked his lips. “I go down in there with Rarity sometimes too. They’re full of tasty gems.”
“Alright, that can be plan B then.” Starlight giggled at his anticipation. “But right now I’m thinking Sugarcube Corner is the perfect place to satisfy both of my desires. What do you think?”
“Sounds perfect.” Spike said and the two of them walked through Ponyville to their well-known destination.
It looked pretty much the same as ever, although without Pinkie Pie the both of them were wondering just how good it could be. Starlight opened up the door and the bell gave a ring, notifying Mrs. Cake that new customers had just arrived. When she came out to the front counter her eyes opened wide in surprise at seeing a dragon in her shop accompanied by a nervously grinning unicorn. Starlight meanwhile was thinking about how much younger she looked.
“Oh, why hello.” Mrs. Cake said, getting herself back into gear. “Sorry for the surprise, we just don’t get many dragons in here. Or any, really.”
“No need to apologize.” Spike said and walked up to the counter with Starlight in tow. “We’re just here cause we, uh… heard about how delicious the food at Sugarcube Corner is!”
“Yep, that’s exactly it.” Starlight nodded along with a grin plastered on her face.
Their behavior seemed a little odd to Mrs. Cake but they seemed nice enough so she cheerily returned their friendliness with the smile that only a seasoned proprietor of Ponyville could have.
“Well alright then, so what would the two of you like?” She asked.
“Just two cupcakes would be great.” Starlight said.
Mrs. Cake smiled and pressed a button on her cash register. “Perfect, that’ll be four bits!”
Both Starlight and Spike suddenly gave a sharp gasp and looked at each other. Realization now finally dawning on both of the accidental time-travelers. With a nervous chuckle Starlight started rubbing the back of her head and gave Mrs. Cake a pained smile.
“Haha… funny story about that. We kind of don’t have any bits on us right now.”
Spike sighed deeply and buried his face in his claws. “This just gets better and better...”
“Oh, I see.” Mrs. Cake replied, returning Starlight’s pained smile with one of her own. She didn’t want to be rude or anything to them but this whole situation was just getting weirder and weirder. Why didn’t they have any bits on them? And how or why would they come in here before making sure they could actually buy something? The two ponies continued to silently smile at each other in a disturbingly awkward moment while Spike just grumbled on and on.
Starlight was about to apologetically excuse themselves from Sugarcube Corner when a new customer came in through the door, the ringing of the bell alerting the three already inside and making them turn to see who just came in.
The new pony stopped for a second, her eyes darting between the three others and taking in the awkward atmosphere before she decided to break the ice.
“Am I interrupting something?” Pear Butter asked them while her young daughter Applejack came up beside her, also quizzically looking at the scene unfolding in Sugarcube Corner.
“No, no, not at all, Butter.” Mrs. Cake said to her good friend while happily beckoning her to come further inside.
So that’s what her name is. Both Starlight and Spike thought at once.
Pear Butter walked in with Applejack tight on her heels, the filly unknowingly walking right up to two of her closest friends in the future. The Pear turned Apple smiled at her friend before glancing at Starlight and Spike.
“Sorry, it just seemed like you were in the middle of something. Have you already ordered?” She asked them.
“Not quite.” Starlight said while looking away with a light blush on her face.
“To be honest-” Spike said, craning his neck up to look Pear Butter in the eye. “We wanted to come here to grab something to eat but we don’t have any bits on us. We’ve kind of gotten stuck in a bit of trouble and we didn’t really have the chance to bring any of our stuff along.”
Mrs. Cake and Applejack were giving the both of them a somewhat incredulous look, clearly wondering just what the hay was going on with them.
Pear Butter on the other hand smiled sympathetically at them. “I’m sorry to hear that.” She turned to Mrs. Cake. “What was it they wanted to order?”
“Two cupcakes.” Mrs. Cake replied.
“Well if that’s all then I’ll be more than happy to cover for them.” Pear Butter said.
“Wait, hold on!” Starlight said, holding Pear Butter by the shoulder. “We can’t accept that. It just wouldn’t be right when we can’t repay you.”
“Oh think nothing of it!” Pear Butter playfully waved Starlight off. “Just consider it some Ponyville hospitality. Knowing that you two aren’t from around here after all makes me wanna give you the best first impression possible of our lovely little town.” Her eyes drifted upwards for a second as a thought occurred to her. “You should come on down to Sweet Apple Acres in the future some time too. Now there I could give you a really warm Apple family welcome. And if you still find yourselves needing some bits, well we could always use some help around the farm that we’d be willing to pay for.”
A warm but embarrassed smile spread along Starlight’s face.
“You’re too kind.” Starlight said. “We’ll keep that in mind.”
Pear Butter happily paid for their cupcakes and then finished her own transaction with Mrs Cake, heading out of Sugarcube Corner with Applejack. Spike gave a friendly smile and wave goodbye to the future Element of Honesty and Applejack returned it. Big Mac would be jealous to hear that she got to meet a real live dragon. If he believed her.
“I suppose it’s good that the citizens of Ponyville are so nice.” Starlight said to Mrs. Cake as she held the two cupcakes with her magic.
“The Apples have always been the pride of Ponyville.” Mrs. Cake happily said, glad that two new strangers got to learn how nice of a pony her friend was.
Starlight and Spike then sat down at one of the tables inside Sugarcube Corner to eat their cupcakes and talk about their next move.
“Alright, I’m still a little worried that we’re going to accidentally mess things up. I mean, what if Applejack recognizes me in the future now? Or the present… uh, I’m not sure how it works?” Spike said, a tad confused over the time-travel.
“Oh I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Starlight was not half as concerned. “Besides for all we know any changes will just create some alternate timeline or whatever and where we come from will be fine. Maybe we’re not even really in our past in the first place but some kind of crazy alternate world, Discord told me about those.”
Spike frowned at Starlight. “I hope you’re not trying to use that as some sort of excuse to mess around with things, I’m not falling for it.”
Starlight groaned in annoyance. “Are you just dedicated to not having any fun right now, Spike?”
“Are you dedicated to doing something irresponsible?” Spike shot back at her.
“Being the guidance counselor for every creature at the school is stressful, I have to try and be perfect for them, but now I have the opportunity to have some fun and maybe do a lot of good in the process. It’s a win win.” She said. “I really don’t see how anything I want to do back here would make things worse.”
Spike just sighed and shook his head before perking up again, thinking about something. “Hey wait, Discord. Maybe he’ll be able to find us? This kind of thing seems right up his alley.”
“Ugh, no!” Starlight said. “Discord’s my friend but he’d never let me live it down if he learns about this and has to be the one that rescues us. I’ll take waiting over that.”
“Well, yeah, good point.” Spike couldn’t deny that Discord would endlessly tease Starlight about this little misadventure.
“At least we have something to fall back on now if we need it.” Starlight said as she chomped down on her cupcake, thinking about Pear Butter’s offer.
“Yeah.” Spike said, slowly eating his own cupcake as he thought about something else. “Hey Starlight, you keep talking about wanting to change things for the better and all that here. I figured if there was anything you’d want to change it would be keeping your past self in touch with Sunburst?”
Starlight just shook her hoof at that. “Nah, no chance of that anyways. Judging by how old Applejack is that already happened years ago.”
“Oh, okay.” Spike returned to eating before snapping back to look at Starlight, an eyebrow raised in confusion. “Wait, what? You’re saying that happened years ago? How old are you?”
Starlight frowned at him. “You don’t ask a lady her age, Spike.”
“Pff.” Spike rolled his eyes. “You a lady? Rarity’s a lady.”
Starlight’s frown turned into a glare at the young dragon. “Oh and I’m sure you see yourself as the perfect gentleman for her?”
“Exactly.” Spike said proudly with not a hint of irony.
The lilac unicorn snorted. “You’d probably have better luck with her back here now that she’s closer to your age.”
Spike pouted, folding his arms over his chest. “Barely.”
The two of them continued on in their combative mood like that for a while longer, Spike still annoyed at Starlight for getting them into this mess and Starlight tired that she was being held on a leash. It occurred to Starlight that she didn’t actually know that much about how Ponyville was in the past and just getting to see how things were now might actually be pretty fun even if she couldn’t mess around with anything. Even Spike probably didn’t know that much more than her.
“Well I think ducking out in Ponyville until Twilight finds us is going okay so far.” Starlight said, starting up the conversation again. “A little boring though.”
“I don’t think they had as many monster attacks back then- er, now, as they do in the future. Or present?” Spike said.
Starlight gazed out the window of Sugarcube Corner. “I was hoping we could just pony watch and spot the differences from here but now that we’ve gotten something to eat I’m kind of getting bored of sitting here, I’m curious to see the rest of the town.”
“Yeah, I get what you mean.” Spike said and smiled at Starlight. “How about we finally head on over to the Golden Oak Library? I’m sure you’ll love to see that. And me too honestly.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Starlight and Spike both got out of their seats and headed for the door. Starlight turned around and waved goodbye to Mrs. Cake. “Thank you for the cupcakes, they were great.”
“You’re welcome.” The kind Mrs. Cake waved back at them.
Even without Pinkie Pie the cupcakes had proven to be delicious, the Cake’s really knew their stuff. Satisfied for the moment and hoping that if they ever needed something or got hungry again there would be another friendly pony to help, Starlight and Spike walked through the streets of Ponyville again to see what Twilight’s one-time home was like right now. Starlight secretly hoping that with each turn of the street she’d get the chance to do something fun and Spike not so secretly hoping that absolutely nothing bad would happen.