Try not to destroy the universe.
You get seven turns. The last player gets to see something beautiful.
So I did the only thing a good friend could do. I grabbed the rock again, stomped on it and shouted “Fluttershy’s house, five days ago!” I figured I’d have a better chance of fixing things the farther back I went
I was back in her house, and there on the table was the note, just like before. I picked it up and decided to be more careful this time.
Dear Dweeb
Seriously, Gilda? I was about to destroy this one too, but the wax seal on the other note was already making my belly hurt. Like, a lot. So I decided tearing it in half and throwing it in the garbage would be good enough.
While I was in the past, I suddenly had a thought. Halfway through the camping trip, some crazy pegasus had burst into my tent. It was five days ago, specifically, meaning it was now. So I took off towards Mount Neighverest, and by the time I got there, it was already dark. I hid stealthily in a tree and watched the six of them – well, us – sitting around the campfire, and watched Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy and Applejack as they wandered one by one back into their tents, so it was just me and Pinkie.
I remembered Pinkie was laughing so hard at some joke I couldn’t get her to explain to me, and watched myself get more and more irritated at being left out. I noticed how awesome I look when I’m irritated. Anyways, then nothing at all happened, and we each went back to our tents: Pinkie Pie to her massive pink fortress and me to my awesome rainbow-striped tent.
I could see my lantern through the tent wall, so I was still reading Daring Do. The intruder came just a moment after I blew the fireflies out, so I waited till the little flying specks of light left the tent.
I clung to the tree in the darkness and watched nothing happen. Nopony came. Not a sound was heard other than from Rarity’s tent. It was time, so where was she? Then I had a terrible idea – what if she was already in the tent? I had to act quickly, that creep could be brushing my hair or something by now! So I dashed straight into the tent to confront her.
“Where is she?!” I demanded.
“Where is who?” I asked.
“Not you! Her! Where is she, I know she’s somewhere around here!” I looked at my extremely hot body lying in the sleeping bag, eyes wide with totally-not-fear, and it all made sense.
“There’s nopony else here, just me! Get out of my tent!” I shot back, looking up at myself. “Go away!”
“Oh. Right. It’s me.” I zipped out of the tent and whispered home.
Well, that was a failure. But I was sure getting rid of the letter would work this time. How could it not? So when I got back, the fact that Fluttershy was still bawling made it pretty obvious that I had missed something.
“What happened now?”
“I threw the letter out and, guess who the pony who burst into my tent was!”
“You from the future,” she answered, surprisingly calmly “Duh.”
“How – how did you know that?”
“Same voice. Both pegasi. Plus, I saw you hiding up in the tree, I just didn’t tell you ‘cause I didn't want to ruin the surprise.” She lowered her voice. “Dashie, I don’t think this is going to work” Pinkie Pie was surprisingly mellow, probably because I wasn’t able to help Fluttershy. It actually made a lot of sense, for a normal filly. For Pinkie Pie to act like that was just weird.
“I can try again!” I stepped on the rock again, but now Pinkie pushed her hoof into my mouth.
“I don’t think we can change the past. See, if you got rid of the note, I would never have brought you the rock so you’d never be able to rid of the note in the first place. It already happened. Just like you sneaking into your own tent. We only have four turns left”
Turns? She never said anything about turns. “Let’s not waste them trying to change what already happened” she added.
I nodded and she pulled her hoof out of my mouth. Then I remembered something.
“What about the note I destroyed?” Pinkie tilted her head in her thought. She rubbed her chin for a minute and finally spoke.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about” From downstairs, I heard Fluttershy wailing even louder and Rarity promising to take her to the spa.
“The first time I went back, I destroyed a note that I thought was the one that made Fluttershy cry! I need to read it, it might have been important!” I started to step on the rock again, but she pulled it away with her mouth.
“Dashie, you’ve already had two turns! That means one of us won’t get any at all if you play again. That’s just not fair. Maybe let Applejack have a turn”