The Time Before

by LegitTheKid

Chapter 5: Olden Canterlot

Being waken up by a stranger's voice asking why you're sleeping in their field is sure to wake you up instantly. It did for Twilight, as she jumped up from her rest at hearing this voice speak to her.

"Huh?" She mumbled, rubbing her eyes. She looked directly above her, revealing that she was under a tree, lying on the ground below it. She turned to her right and saw that a middle-aged light-blue mare who was wearing a straw hat was standing in the shade of the tree staring at her. She looked quite annoyed.

"I said," The mare repeated. Her voice was somewhat higher pitched, but not like that of a filly. "What are you doing sleeping in my field?"

"I..." Twilight stood up instantly. She felt a sharp pain in her forehoof, the same one that she stepped on the glass shard with. She let go of her weight on it and continued. "I'm so sorry, ma'am! I didn't mean...er...you see, it's a long story, but I didn't mean to intrude..." The mare interrupted her before Twilight could continue.

"That makes no sense, miss."

Twilight tried remembering what happened, but it was very blurry. She didn't remember stepping on broken glass, barely remembered the demented colt who she had encountered earlier, and had no idea why all that even happened in the first place. But there was one thing she remembered clearly, which was the trip through the alternate dimension. She remembered the thousands of suns lined up around the monstrous star in the middle. She remembered the blackness of space and the swirl of the entire light spectrum behind the behemoth. And the clearest memory was Rainbow Dash and whoever in Celestia's name the insane pony who sent them all there in the first place was. The laughter of insanity made by the colt, and the wails of her friend Rainbow Dash made her shudder and instantly shun just the thought of the entire experience. Speaking of Rainbow Dash and this crazy pony, where were they? Twilight turned to look everywhere around, and sure enough just as the mare who just woke her up said, she was in a wheat field. Despite this, Rainbow Dash wasn't around, and neither was the colt. Twilight instantly turned back to the mare and said, "Where am I?"

"I already told you, you're in my field." The mare said, looking more annoyed by the second. "Now scram before I force you out myself."

"Where are my friends?" Twilight raised her voice in a worried way. She took a step closer to the mare. Tears began welling up in her eyes. "One of them is a cyan mare with rainbow colored hair, and the other is brown with black hair! I must have lost them, I don't-"

The mare interrupted her again. "No idea what you're talking about. You must be crazy. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for them, but this is your last chance to get out of my field before I go grab my sickle and chase you out of here myself, miss."

Twilight knew that when she said the colt was her friend, it was false. But she didn't take it back, because then she would have to explain the unbelievable story, which would only make her look even crazier. She paused for a brief second, and then let out a short sigh and spoke again. "Okay. Thank you, ma'am." Twilight limped out of the shade of the tree and into the blinding light of the sun, reflecting its light on the golden wheat around her. She made sure to keep her weight off of her injured hoof, while the mare just stared at her until she left. After Twilight got out of the field, she immediately knew she wasn't in Canterlot. The first thing was that it was dirty. The houses and environment just looked dirty and unclean, and the streets were literally made of dirt instead of the cobblestone roads. The houses were entirely made of wood with wooden beams instead of the plaster, bricks, and some stone bricks. They were also much further apart instead of practically touching. The only thing that was similar was the population. Just like in Canterlot, there were ponies walking around all the time. Not so many that it was overcrowded, but not so few that there was hardly anypony walking the streets. Just like in Canterlot. But as she walked down the streets, she immediately noticed something wasn't normal. There were beggars and hobos. In fact, she couldn't even go one block without seeing at least one pony sitting on the sidewalk begging for bits or something else, laying in rags that were probably used to keep themselves warm during the nights. Another notable thing was the technology. Normally, wooden wagons would be used to carry things, but this wasn't the case. Most ponies were carrying things around in old-fashioned bags, and some even having other ponies carry their stuff for them. This was extremely rare in Canterlot. Then another thought hit Twilight, and it wasn't a good thought. If she was teleported to a completely different town and Rainbow Dash and the colt weren't with her, then they could literally be anywhere. For all she knew, Rainbow Dash could be at the border of Equestria, and the insane colt could be all the way in the Crystal Empire! This thought made Twilight's heart sink. Maybe she could somehow find her friend, and then find the colt. And hopefully in that order. But she couldn't be sure. She kept walking aimlessly, staring at the air in front of her, dust from the streets following behind her hoofsteps, completely alone with her thoughts. She looked into the sky in front of her, and noticed a tall mountain with a castle. She thought nothing of this for a moment, but then she snapped out of her dreamworld and looked back at the mountain and castle. Everything she thought was strange about the town now was confirmed to be off, but also debunked previous theories about what just happened. For the mountain and castle was the exact same mountain and castle in Canterlot.

******

A chill ran down Twilight's spine as she just stared at the castle. How could this be possible? The town was nothing like Canterlot, but it was in the exact same location as the Canterlot they were in before! Something obviously happened, but Twilight couldn't tell what. She just stood there, staring at the castle, trying to conjure up an idea. Her heart raced faster and faster. Then she thought of something. What if she was taken back in time? Maybe the interdimensional warp sent her back in the days of olden Canterlot. It seemed likely, and again, any idea was possible at this point. But this still begged the question, where was Rainbow Dash and the colt that they were sent to take care of? She couldn't lose him, or else the quest that the Cutie Map sent them on would be failed, and she certainly couldn't lose Rainbow Dash. She also wanted to test this theory that they had traveled through time.

Then she thought of something. She thought back to Nightmare Moon, and the time it took. Back home, it had been about two years since Nightmare Moon was defeated, and Nightmare Moon had been stuck in the moon for exactly one thousand years, so that would mean if Nightmare Moon was still on the moon, or even still living in the castle with her sister, that would mean they did indeed go back in time.

Of course, she had to go and find out.

Twilight searched for a place that might provide useful information, like a shop, or even just asking somepony random if she had to. Then she spotted a diner on the other side of the street, which was as good a place as ever. Besides, she was starting to get a bit hungry. Twilight trotted across the dusty street toward the small building, dodging the traffic of other ponies along the way.

She pushed open the door of the diner, and walked in. The diner certainly looked like something from hundreds of years ago, with old-fashioned decoration on the walls including small banners and shiny blades, and long tables meant to seat multiple ponies at once. In the back was the counter where one would order, and had a snow-white mare with a long, crimson red mane and tail tending the bar and taking orders from the line of ponies waiting to get theirs. A few other ponies had already been seated, and some of those already eating. The smell of fresh food filled the air in the building, making Twilight realize just how hungry she was.

Twilight stepped up into line, nearly forgetting what she was originally there for. After about a minute, the line shortened down to her. The white mare began taking her order.

"Hello, miss," She said, forcing a smile, "What would you like to eat?"

Twilight looked at the menu above. The first option was a salad, so she decided to take that.

"Let's see," Twilight said, looking back at the mare. "I'll just have the salad."

"Okay then," The mare used her magic to lift a feather pen and write something down in a small notebook. "That'll be two bits."

Then Twilight remembered that she didn't take any bits with her. How could she have forgotten? She looked around, and then, too embarrassed to look back at the mare, told the truth.

"Um, sorry," She started with a cough, "But I forgot to bring any bits."

The mare just gave her a weird look, and then tore the page out that she had just written in. "Okay then, come back when you have bits, I guess."

"Hold on," Twilight said. "I was going to ask you a question. And as weird a question I know it'll sound, I need you to answer it."

"Um, okay..."

"Who's ruling Equestria right now?"

The mare looked at Twilight like she was an alien. "Um, that would be Prince Galaxy, miss..."

Twilight's heart sank. So it was true. She wasn't in the same time period as she had been in before. She was so far back in time, Princess Celestia wasn't even their ruler yet! Twilight tried to hide the look of sheer bewilderment on her face, but the the mare seemed to have noticed it.

"Are you okay?" The mare asked.

"Uh, yeah," Twilight said slowly. "Sorry."

"Oh, and just in case you don't know, Prince Galaxy won't be ruler for much longer. There's the next Crowning of Equestria ceremony coming up in two months. Tomorrow is also the last day for anypony who's interested to sign up and take the Test of Royalty."

Twilight remembered this from previous history studies. But it also stated that this came only once every 1,500 years. The shock factor of her being in a time before Celestia was the ruler was almost overwhelming. Twilight stepped away from the front of the line and left the diner. The smell of dust replaced the smell of food, but Twilight almost didn't feel hungry anymore. Twilight's mind raced with even more thoughts as she leaned on the wall of the building. Her mind wandered back to her previous thoughts and questions, like why were they here? How would they get back? Where was Rainbow Dash?

What was the dark colt doing here?

Nothing added up.

Author's Note:

Holy hell, guys. I've been away for much too long, haven't I? Sorry about that, I've been grounded for a long time. I should be getting back to normal schedule now.

And because of my little two-month internet deprivation, I have no idea where the potato salad I'm going with this any more. I mean, I was mostly writing what I thought up as I wrote it before, but now I'm just blindly making crap up as I go along. Oh well, I hope this doesn't end up as a disaster.

As always, support is motivation. Thanks for reading :)

I hope I didn't lose my fanbase...

Comments

[Tim the Planes-pony]

My advice, read through what you have already published, it might jog your memory. If that fails try going through the plot step by step, and finally if that fails try not thinking about it. That last piece may sound counter-intuitive but it works for me.

[LegitTheKid]

6746563 Why thank you, thank you very much.

PS: I remembered all of it.

[Tim the Planes-pony]

6758140 Glad to hear that I could help.