Equestrian Borderland
The blast that sent Dan flying had been more of just to shut him up and get him out than do any real harm. As such, Dan landed just past the border of the Crystal Empire relatively unscathed. After all he'd been through that day, a blast of insecure magic didn't even scratch him.
"Haaa... haaa, I am SO going to get him back for that in a thousand years," Dan said. He stood up, brushed himself off and noticed a sign by the railroad tracks.
Now Entering The Crystal Empire
No Solicitation
"Oh crap."
He burst into a sprint. "No no no no no no NOOOO!!"
A bright flash of light emanated from the center of the Empire. Dan was blinded for just a moment, and when he looked again, it was gone. It was all gone.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NO! NO! NO! NO NOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAGGH!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWGGGAADAMALLLLGGAARRRAAA!!!"
Dan roared an incomprehensible series of noises, grows, screams, wails, moans, groans and other such odd sounds. He writhed on the ground, tossing and turning on the grass in pain. Torment. Anguish.
"It was there... it was right there, I'd made it! I MADE IT!!! NO, NO IT'S NOT FAIR!!!"
With the Crystal Empire gone, his window to the future had closed. It would be a thousand years before the Crystal Empire would return. A thousand years before the Equestria he knew came to be... and he would not be around to see it.
A thousand years before he would see Chrys. His Chrys, anyway. Queen Chrysalis was still in this time, currently disguised as Princess Quartz. In hindsight, not the most clever disguise but it worked. The Chrys he knew had been summoned from another version of Equestria, another world.
Dan was distraught. Storms, wild storms, formed over the spot where the Crystal Empire had been and it began to rain. Dan didn't care. He lay on the ground, curled up in a ball as the rain poured down on him. He felt completely and utterly hopeless.
What would his friends think? Would they find his bones in a thousand years? When pony archaeologists and paleontologists like Daring Do dig him up as a fossil, display him in a museum? Maybe Tuxley's museum?
His lowest point. He wasn't just miles away from home, he was generations away. Not just another place but another time. The distance between them was too great, even for him. Even if he wrecked the world, destroyed the timeline, it would not get him home.
He might as well have never been on that plane.
He thought of his friends again. Chrys, Twilight, Spike, Nicky, Fluffle... he longed to see them again. What WOULD they think of him? Laying on the dirt in the middle of the rain... no. This wasn't him. This was very much NOT him. He had to get home. There had to be some way.
He began a long walk back to Ponyville. At the mining quarries, he slept in one of the abandoned shacks, ate some jarred food he'd found, stuff leftover from the mining operation. And in the morning, he found a minecart and set out for Ponyville.
Some way, somehow, he was going home.
Ponyville
After Unification
He snuck his way into Ponyville in the middle of the day. A delegation from the unicorns and another one from the pegasi were in town. This was the beginning of the official talks of a unified Equestria, an ending to the division of the three tribes and a beginning to the Kingdom of Equestria. Even now, Princess Quartz was using her power to establish her sole rule of the kingdom by unicorns- her rule.
Dan arrived at a very specific time indeed.
The doors to the conference hall burst open. Typhoon walked through, flanked by her guards.
"Stop."
Typhoon stopped. She turned about, ever the soldier and saluted.
"No, no, no," Quartz waved her hoof. "There's no need for that any more, Ty."
"You've stripped me of my rank... your highness. What more can you do?"
An aura of magic gripped her helmet and lifted it off her head. It lifted the helmets off the pegasus guards as well. Their pauldrons were removed by magic, and their weapons.
"I can do quite a bit."
Ty stepped back, completely shocked. She felt almost naked without her armor. The earth ponies stared at her, matching looks of shock on their own faces.
"As of this day, the Pegasus Army is officially disbanded."
"WHAT?!" Ty shouted. "You can't do this! The Army is-"
"Disbanded," Quartz said sternly. "The pegasi will report to the princess now. Your job will be to clean up the skies, maintain the weather with more vigilance so that this... incident never happens again."
"I-" Ty stopped, teeth gritted, wings raised. She couldn't do anything. She had accepted the blame for killing the chancellor, for causing the accident. If she revealed the truth, she'd sound crazy. Quartz had an alibi, even though she conspired with Typhoon and it had been her plan to destroy the train. They hadn't been trying to kill him... but it had happened anyway. Because of them. Because of her.
"You warmongers killed the chancellor!"
"Justice for Rice! Justice for the earth pony tribe!"
"My ponies, the Pegasus Army bears the blame. We do not need to add to their dishonor. They may still serve Equestria and the harmony between us can continue."
Typhoon bowed her head. The other pegasi followed suit. "We will... continue to serve. In whatever capacity is required of us. It is our honor... as pegasi."
Quartz nodded. The mare was a very regal and even quartz-colored mare. She wore royal garb, a purple cape with a white furred collar, the kind of plumage that made a statement about one's status. Only the elite of the elite bothered with such overt pomp, but it was useful in communicating status to one's peers at that level. Her mane was just a shade darker than the rest of her, and was striped with gems, as was her tail. Finally, she wore shoes made entirely out of jewels, earrings and gem-studded glasses and a necklace, all of which bore a similar color to her body and eyes. It made her look very much like a Crystal Pony, even if she wasn't.
"You may start by clearing what's left of the skies. After that, we'll have further instruction for you. Dismissed."
The pegasi, heads hung low, turned and walked away. They took to the skies, heads still hanging low. They had suffered a great dishonor today, and it was at least partly self-inflicted. Their loyalty, their faith, their duty remained, but they had been blinded by rigidity and inflexibility. They had gripped the reins too tightly and now, watched them slip into someone else's grip entirely.
Dan watched it all unfold. He was tempted to speak his mind, as always, and would have if he hadn't been blasted out of the Crystal Empire yesterday. Dan was not the kind of person to learn from his mistakes that easily, but even he wasn't going to repeat the same one so quickly. Not when so much was riding on the line. The library being nearby... so close and yet so far away, reminded him to hold his tongue.
The crowd dispersed. The unicorns returned to the conference hall. Dan waited until everypony was completely gone to make his move. He went to the library.
Golden Oakes Library
The past
The door was locked, so Dan broke in. Not exactly a hard task. Thankfully, the security system hadn't been installed yet.
Alright, he was inside. He had to leave Twilight a message. The library still existed- he had to carve a message somewhere, somewhere she wouldn't see it right away, but WOULD see it in the future after the battle. He looked around and... realized another problem.
"Aw, fuck me." The library hadn't been remodeled yet. Even the crawlspace would be remodeled to fit the WOPR and other equipment, so the Dennis Quaid trick in Frequency was a bust. Or was it? They'd remodeled everything from the kitchen to the upstairs, the downstairs, the basement, the walls, floors, doors... but not the ceiling! Yes, Fluffle Puff was always on the ceiling! She could see it and get a note to Twilight!
Dan grabbed a got a ladder from the bookshelves and propped it up in the foyer. He climbed, then went back down and grabbed one of Rice's spare gauntlets from his workbench, and climbed back up again. He started carving a message. Something simple, something easy to understand.
"S-U-M-M-M-O-N... D-A-N... B-A-C-K..."
The door to the library opened.
"GAAAHH!"
Dan fell off the ladder.
"Vice? Is that you?"
He scrambled out of the foyer and bolted out of the backdoor. Hopefully, no one saw him.
Screw subtlety, he ran. Ran out the door. The library wasn't an option any longer. Damn it, damn it, damn it. He wasn't able to complete the message!
"Hey! Who's there?!"
Somepony saw him. He didn't look back, he ran. Ran all the way to the Everfree Forest. He couldn't be seen, he couldn't let his influence upset the timeline... couldn't risk it. Was there even a timeline any more? He didn't care. He just wanted to go home, back to the Equestria he knew. Back to his friends.
They were still searching for him. He went deeper into the forest. Deeper. He was familiar enough with the forest that he knew what bushes to duck through and which ones to avoid. Eventually, the voices stopped.
He breathed. He was actually roughly near where he'd landed originally. In fact-
"Thffft."
He spun around. Something was nearby, rustling in the bushes. Just like yesterday. Someone or something was watching him.
"Stay back! Stay back, I've got... nothing. I've... I've got nothing," he almost slumped. "Ah, crap. Whatever you're gonna do, just do it."
The bushes parted. A familiar face walked through.
"*Gasp!*"
"Fluffle Puff?"
She didn't pounce on him immediately. In fact, she retreated a bit into the bushes, cautious of him.
"No, no, don't be afraid. I'm friendly... I'm a friend."
Fluffle Puff said nothing. She retreated into her own fluff, which camouflaged into the background a bit. But her eyes remained open and curious.
"I..." Dan grabbed his knees. "You've got no reason to believe me. Honestly, maybe... maybe I never really had a place here. This whole world might just be... be better off without me..."
"I..." Fluffle Puff spoke. "I heard what you said. To the other pony. Yesterday."
"I, uh..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "You heard all that, huh?"
She nodded.
"Well, I mean, a lot of it was just stuff I was saying at the time, and... well..."
"Did you mean it?" Fluffle asked, point blank.
Dan was taken aback by that, just a bit. "I, uh... well..." He thought. What made something true when you said it? There was something beyond fact and fiction, and it went deeper than most other things. Did he feel it or not?
And there was only one answer. "Yeah." Because he did.
She hugged him tight. First time for her, and the million-teenth time for him. He hugged her back like it was his very first time.
"Oh, Fluffle... it's so good to see you again. I love you, baby girl."
"I... know," she said. "I... love you, too." They hugged again for a really, really long time. Finally, they released.
For a time that wasn't really measurable, could've been hours or even days, they bonded. Dan knew a lot about the Everfree Forest. What fruits were edible, what plants provided shelter, what creatures roamed it. They spent some time together, even visited the spot where Zecora's shack would be one day. The clearing he would pursue Flim and Flam through. Just Dan and Fluffle Puff, together.
They didn't talk about much except the forest and life. Fluffle was a very good listener, to say the least. And Dan didn't discuss anything about the possible future.
"I have to ask you something," he said. It wasn't easy for him to do. "What are you doing here? Why are you in the forest?"
Fluffle Puff opened her mouth, then closed it and sighed. "That... is a question for another day. I think it's time for you to get back home."
Dan looked away, as if seeing the distance between him and home before him. "That... is easier said than done."
"I know something that might help."
He turned to her, the shock of disbelief clear on his face. But he wanted to believe. "Really? What?"