• Published 17th Mar 2013
  • 16,017 Views, 741 Comments

What Didn't Happen - Zeg



Chasing a mystery into the past, Twilight finds an Equestria that is different from what she remembers. Will she be able to set history back on track by fixing what didn't happen, or is this Equestria destined to take a different path?

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A Friend From the Future

What Didn't Happen

by Zeg

Chapter I – A Friend From the Future

A clear nighttime sky containing the brightness of a full moon and a countless number of stars illuminated the land below well enough for the two pegasi who were strolling through the streets of Ponyville. Their vibrant pastel coat and mane colors seemed dulled under the moonlight, but Fluttershy's bright yellow and pink still stood out easily among the rest of the darkened surroundings, as did Rainbow Dash's unique multicolored mane. The pair made their way through the streets, happening by other ponies along their way but only exchanging quick glances with a simple smile or nod before wordlessly moving on to their destination.

“Thanks again,” Fluttershy said quietly, breaking the pattern of their hoof steps clacking against the cobble path.

“Yeah, don't mention it Flutters. There's no way you could have carried all this stuff back on your own,” Rainbow said as she nodded her head at the loaded saddlebags strapped across their backs. “And I don't blame ya for not wanting to run around out here on your own now a days.”

“I'm just lucky you stopped by today. I don't know what I would have done. All the little animals staying with me have been getting so anxious, and I was starting to run out of things.”

“I'll check on you every few days... how's that sound?” Rainbow offered.

“Oh, thank you. You're such a good friend Rainbow,” Fluttershy said with a warm smile, one returned by her friend.

They continued on toward the cottage just beyond the edge of Ponyville that Fluttershy and her woodland friends called home. Despite being a usually inviting scene, the moonlight hues along with the sight of the Everfree Forest looming just off in the distance behind the home made for a rather eerie sight. Fluttershy seemed to tense a bit as she approached the gloomy looking bridge in front of her home.

“You gonna be okay?” Rainbow asked as she noticed her companion’s unease.

“I... yes... I think so,” Fluttershy weakly responded, kicking her front hoof against the ground.

“If you need me too, I can stay for a bit.”

“Um... well, that might be nice... but,” Fluttershy trailed off as she glanced up the dark path to her home, a visible sigh escaping from her.

“But?” Rainbow prompted.

“I can't stay scared forever. Not now. I mean... things are always going to be like this now, right?” Fluttershy said as she gestured around herself with a hoof.

“Well... maybe. But maybe things will change. Maybe things will get back to normal.”

“Normal,” Fluttershy repeated the word, noting just how strange it actually sounded. “How could that ever happen? We need help, but there's nopony left who can help.” Glancing up to the star filled sky, Fluttershy silently traced the stars one by one with her eyes, almost as if she were searching for an answer. “I just wish there was somepony that could help us. I want things to be like they used to be.”

Rainbow didn't know what to say. She didn't consider herself to be very good at offering advice for one's problems, so she offered the only support she could think of by simply being there for her friend and listening. After all, Fluttershy had always seemed to value the companionship more than any kind of solution to her worries.

Looking up to the sky herself, Rainbow stood there along side her silent companion and took in the sight. If it weren't for what this view had come to represent, she could have easily considered it to be beautiful, but found it impossible to appreciate it. The night sky and full moon simply stood as an imposing symbol, reminding all ponies everywhere of what they had lost and would never have again.

The sky looked like a living painting. The moon and stars stood dead still against the impossibly deep blackness of the sky, with only a slight change in brightness from the stars as they twinkled, noticeable only to those with good enough eyes to catch it. Nothing else moved, not even a cloud in the sky as there were none. But there was one speck that seemed a bit more lively than the rest in the inky darkness. It seemed to change color from a bright white to a more orangish, and it twinkled much more rapidly than the rest of the stars. And if one was watching it close enough, it looked like it was moving slightly in relation to the rest of the heavenly bodies.

“Hey, do you see that?” Rainbow squinted at the unusual star, trying to focus on it. Fluttershy took notice of the direction her friend was looking, and tried to spot what had been noticed for herself. It didn't take long for her sight to pick up on the odd movement of the star against the others.

“A... shooting star?” Fluttershy nearly whispered.

“Iduno. Don't they usually move a lot faster?” Rainbow said as she glanced to her side at her friend shortly before continuing to track the strange object in the sky.

“Well... normally,” Fluttershy said as she continued to gaze at the object.

The longer the pair watched the odd star in the sky, the more it appeared that it was twinkling much brighter than the rest. It also seemed that it was slowly picking up speed, moving against the rest of the sky that seemed frozen in place. And it also appeared that it was growing.

The area around the two pegasi began to brighten as the star suddenly started to get much bigger. It didn't take much longer for them to realize that this thing wasn't just moving across the sky, it was headed right at them, and fast. Fluttershy began to backpedal away as she realized the star was falling toward her, but found herself being suddenly pinned to the ground as Rainbow threw herself protectively over her friend. The sky grew brighter than day momentarily, and the air was filled with a roaring sound of fire as the star quickly passed just overhead. After harmlessly flying by, it continued on its trajectory toward the Everfree Forest. A few bright flashes of light and the sound of something crashing off in the distance was followed closely by ground tremors and a sudden rush of wind.

“What... what was that!?” Fluttershy squeaked as she remained huddled under Rainbow's protective stance.

“Not sure, but it went down close.” Rainbow stood and took a few cautious steps in the direction that the strange object had fallen toward. There was no light left now nor any sounds, just a slight breeze that seemed to linger from the impact. She hummed to herself as she rubbed at her chin with the tip of a forehoof. Fluttershy managed to walk up next to her friend, although she seemed like she was ready to bolt to a hiding spot at a moments notice the way she crouched low to the ground.

“It's not safe out here,” Fluttershy hissed quietly, trying to break Rainbow's attention away from the forest's edge.

“Still, we should check that out, don't you think?” Rainbow asked as she glanced back to Fluttershy.

“C-check... check it out!?” Fluttershy squeaked again. “B-but, it's off limits! We could get in big trouble!”

“And if that thing catches the entire forest on fire, Ponyville could be in big trouble,” Rainbow argued. She noticed the reluctance in her friend and quickly decided take care of the matter on her own. Giving the saddlebags on her back a quick tug, she slid them off to the ground.

“I won't be long,” Rainbow said as she spread her wings to prepare for flight. “I'll just do a quick flyover, you won't even know I was gone.” Rainbow crouched down, getting ready to propel herself into the air.

“Wait!” Fluttershy squeaked. Rainbow Dash nearly stumbled to the ground as she caught herself at the least second before flying off. She glanced over to her friend, and noticed the terrified look in Fluttershy's eyes.

“Don't worry, it'll be fine.”

“Y-you shouldn't go alone! You could get attacked by some sort of moon-monster or something!” Fluttershy rambled on as her imagination started dreaming up possible horrors that the ball of light could have been. “N-no! I can't let you go alone out there! You could get hurt. I'm going too!”

The shaking in Fluttershy's voice and legs didn't seem to match up to the words she was saying, causing Rainbow to give her a confused look. “Are you... sure about that? You don't have to force yourself you know—”

“I'm going!” Fluttershy still shook where she was standing, despite her best efforts to look determined.

Rainbow wasn't quite sure if Fluttershy was attempting to face her fears or was just afraid of being left behind in the darkness. Either way, she didn't mind the company. She shrugged her shoulders and turned back toward the Everfree, readying herself for flight a second time. “Alright, together then. We'll just fly over real quick, make sure everything looks okay, then get back here. Easy breezy.” With a quick thrust from her legs and wings, Rainbow took off into the night sky. Fluttershy followed suit a few seconds later after slipping out from under her saddlebags, a quiet 'meep' sound escaping from her as she took off.

The two pegasi climbed into the night sky, Rainbow pausing to hover for a few seconds here and there to allow Fluttershy to catch up to her as they made their way toward the Everfree. The trees below them began to grow more dense and odd shaped as they continued over the border of the forest. Up ahead, an area that looked to be carved out of the otherwise dense forest canopy could be seen. Rainbow began to soar in a lazy circle above the scar in the forest as she scanned the area below for any signs of a budding forest fire. The light of the full moon provided barely enough illumination for her pegasus sight to make out details down below, barely enough to notice something she hadn't expected to see.

“Hey! You see that?” Rainbow called out as she pointed to a spec of color on the ground below. Fluttershy squinted and focused her sight on the ground, and after a few seconds spotted what was out of place. There was a bright color that stood out among the otherwise dark hues of the forest.

Without waiting for an answer, Rainbow banked and began to descend toward the spec. Fluttershy cringed, fighting down a surge of anxiety before she followed. Once on the ground, Rainbow trotted up next to the edge of the scar on the land. She looked back down the length of the trench, noticing numerous trees that had been snapped and splintered when the object had passed through them as it entered the forest. Glancing down the other direction she could see the bright color she had spotted from the sky, and her suspicion was confirmed. The color was somepony laying in the trench.

“Rainbow!” Fluttershy quietly called out as she landed behind her. “We're not supposed to be here,” she said as her eyes darted back and forth like a child worried that her parents might find out she was sneaking around where she shouldn't be.

“I think that thing hit somepony,” Rainbow said as she pointed toward the end of the trench. “What if they got hurt by that thing? We have to make sure they're alright.”

“I... well, yes, you're right,” Fluttershy agreed. “But we can't stay here long.”

“I know, lets go check and then we can get the hay outta here.” Rainbow trotted over to the edge of the trench, stopping for a second to test the ground with a hoof before fully stepping in. It was slightly warm to the touch, but nothing near what she had been expecting from a giant fireball.

As the two pegasi approached the pony laying at the end of the trench, they were able to get a better look. The mare laying there had a violet color theme to her, her coat being a lighter shade of purple than her mane and tail. A couple lighter streaks trailed through to the tip of her mane and tail, one of which was closer to a magenta color. She seemed to be wearing some sort of jewelry around her neck and on a couple of her hooves, but the jewelry hadn't fared well from the impact and was misshapen. One of her wings was visible, the other likely pinned under her body and buried in the dirt as she laid there on her side. Rainbow mentally tried to place a name with this pegasus but was unable to come up with one. Even the magenta star cutie-mark surrounded by five white stars didn't spark any memory. She realized she hadn't seen this pegasus before.

“Wait...,” Rainbow said as she glanced back down the trench at the landing path the fireball had taken. She looked back and forth, tracing the trench with her eyes back to the mare a few times. “I don't think she was hit. I think... she crashed.”

Fluttershy blinked a couple times as she looked at the mare laying before them. “She was the falling star?”

“Well, I mean it doesn't look like anything landed on her, does it?” Rainbow's reasoning seemed sound, as there was no object other than the mare half buried at the end of the trench. When Fluttershy didn't immediately answer, Rainbow reached out to the mystery mare to try to gently dig her out of the ground. She scooped some of the dirt away from around the mare's face, and began to try to prop her head up.

“Careful, she might be badly hurt,” Fluttershy cautioned as she watched Rainbow gently work at unearthing the mare. Then there was a sharp gasp from Rainbow as she jerked her hooves away, letting the mystery mare's head plop back down into the loose soil. “W-what happened?” Fluttershy asked.

“Look! Her head!” Rainbow said pointing at the mare's face. Fluttershy wasn't immediately sure she wanted to look, since she didn't do well at all with blood. She instinctively clenched her eyes closed for a second before she forced herself to peek with one eye at what her friend was trying to show her. Then she opened both eyes wide as she locked her gaze on what she saw.

The mare laying in the dirt had a unicorn horn. A horn and wings.

“She's... she's an alicorn,” Fluttershy said quietly as she gazed at the mare wide eyed.

Just then, a loud sound escaped from the mare and caused Fluttershy to yelp before she dashed behind her friend. The mystery mare coughed and gagged on dirt that she had inadvertently inhaled when she had sucked in a breath of air. Struggling to push herself up off the ground, she managed to free herself from the trench that she had been partially imbedded in, and continued to try to spit the grit from her mouth. “Pplaaagh, oh that's disgusting,” she grumbled.

“Hey, you okay?” Rainbow asked cautiously. The mystery mare stopped suddenly and snapped her attention toward Rainbow when she realized she wasn't alone, causing Rainbow Dash to flinch. She stared at Rainbow for a good long while, her eyes twitching quickly around as she looked the pegasus over.

“...Rainbow...?” The mare asked almost in a whisper. Rainbow couldn't help but blink back as she pulled a hoof up to her chest and leaned away. “Is... no, that can't be right. It can't be....” The mare seemed to incoherently bumble around with her thoughts as she tried to make sense of her surroundings, then she took notice of the light yellow pegasus huddling behind Rainbow Dash. The pattern of a long stare repeated again, and then the mare quietly mumbled, “Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy ducked her head lower behind Rainbow and whispered, “How does she know our names?”

“Uuuuh, okay,” Rainbow said as she scrunched her face up in thought and scratched at her mane with a hoof. “I guess... you're not hurt then?”

The mystery mare stared back at Rainbow Dash for a moment longer, and then looked down at herself, seeming to take notice for the first time that she had just crashed into the ground. She turned her front hooves over as she looked at them, then shook her wings a bit to get some of the dirt to fall out from her feathers before she folded them to her side as she seemed to take inventory of her body parts. “Well, other than eating a bunch of dirt I think I'll be okay, but I'm still trying to figure out what's going on.”

“Well you kinda fell out of the sky,” Rainbow said as she pointed up into the air. “Like, you must have been really booking it too. There was a huge fireball and... I think you went through all those trees.”

The mystery mare glanced around the two pegasi in front of her and took a good look at the trench that she had dug with her face when she had 'landed', as well as the trees that had been unfortunate enough to be in her path. “Good thing I had that barrier up,” she mumbled to nopony in particular.

“Did you hear my wish?” a quiet voice asked. The mystery mare focused back to Fluttershy, who was cautiously stepping out from behind her friend.

“...Your wish?”

Fluttershy nodded. “Right before we saw you falling from the sky, I had made a wish that somepony would help us.”

“Oh...,” the mystery mare said as she thought for a moment. She looked back and forth between the two pegasi that she knew she recognized, but had realized fairly quickly that they didn't seem to recognize her. That fact alone was causing her mind to race as it tried to come up with a plausible explanation. And, she still wasn’t entirely sure of where she had ended up. “Say,” she started as she stood up, “Where are we?”

Rainbow stood up as well, sensing that they would soon be leaving. “We're in the Everfree Forest, just near Ponyville,” she said.

“Really...,” the mystery mare responded thoughtfully.

“And we're not supposed to be here,” Fluttershy added as she glanced over her shoulder, as if she was keeping an eye out for somepony.

“We're not?”

Rainbow took a few steps back in the direction of the forest's edge and looked back. “Yeah, it's against the rules or something. We just wanted to make sure there wasn't a fire or anything. Then we found you.”

“I-I see,” the mystery mare mumbled as she seemed to once again lose herself in thought for a moment, then she looked up and noticed the two pegasi waiting on her. “Oh, right, I guess you two want to get out of here.”

“That'd be nice uh... say, what do we call you?” Rainbow asked.

The mystery mare seemed to think about how to respond to the question. She absentmindedly reached a hoof up to straighten something on her head, but then noticed it wasn't there. Letting go a quick gasp, she immediately turned around and began to dig around in the dirt that she had just been laying in.

Rainbow trotted up behind the mare, arching her neck to try and look over and see exactly what she was digging for. “What are you doing?” she asked as her eyebrows raised at the odd behavior.

“I lost it! I lost my crown!” the mare said frantically.

“Oh so, you're a princess?” Rainbow asked as she took a few steps back and watched the mare sprint up the trench. Though she had never seen this particular princess, everypony knew that the princesses of Equestria were also alicorns.

“Ohhh, where is it!” The 'Princess' didn't seem to be interested in anything other than finding her crown at the moment as she darted around, hoofing at the ground here and there in hopes of unearthing something. The two pegasi watched the strange scene unfold in front of them, unsure if they should be helping or if they should just keep out of the way. Fluttershy happened to glance around at the broken trees that were scattered along side the trench and then caught a glimpse of something. There dangling from one of the branches was something that was reflecting the full moon's light to her eyes.

“Um... maybe,” Fluttershy mumbled.

The Princess dashed by to the right. “I can't leave without it, it's far too important to leave here.”

“Well... it could be,” Fluttershy mumbled again.

The Princess dashed back to the left. “I can't believe this. I can’t just lose it in the dirt somewhere!”

“I think....” Fluttershy watched the Princess start to dash by again. The expression on her face suddenly grew more determined and she stepped out in the Princess's path, stopping her cold. She stared back for a moment before her stance seemed to wither and she shrunk back a step. “Um... it might be nothing, but I saw something in the trees,” she mumbled as she averted her gaze to the ground.

“Oh! Well, why didn't you say so?” the Princess said as she began to glance around at the tree branches above. Before Fluttershy could comment any further, the Princess took flight, leaving a small cloud of dust off her wings that caused Fluttershy to squint her eyes and back away.

The Princess came to a hover just below the tree branches. “Sorry!” she called back down to the ground, and then turned her attention to searching through the broken limbs. It didn't take very long for her sight to catch a glimpse of the same thing Fluttershy had seen. There was a glint in the trees near where the trench started. A few more wing strokes and the Princess was near the source of the reflection; a golden crown that had a magenta star-burst gem set in the front center. Letting go a sigh of relief, her magenta colored magic grasped the crown, and lifted it from the tangled limbs before returning it to its rightful place atop her head. The crown seemed to be in surprisingly pristine shape compared to the rest of her regalia.

The two pegasi trotted up to where the Princess glided down to the forest floor. “Thanks for waiting, I really couldn't leave this behind,” she said as she nodded her head up at the crown.

“Not to be rude, since you're a princess and all, but...,” Rainbow took a few trots toward the edge of the forest once again.

The Princess nodded quickly. “Right, right, we really shouldn't be standing around in the Everfree anyway, it's not safe here.”

“Yeah, that too,” Rainbow said as she glanced back at the trench behind them. She then happened to notice something in her peripherals, and quickly glanced up at the broken canopy above. Drawing in a quick gasp, she managed to say one word before she dashed toward some thick brush. “Hide!” Fluttershy was only a split second behind her.

“Wha?” The Princess glanced back over her shoulder to see what sort of monster Rainbow had noticed, but didn't see anything at first. Then her sight picked up on a shadow moving through the sky above. What ever it was, she wasn't interested in finding out if it was friendly or not, so she quickly ducked into the brush along with the two pegasi. As an extra precaution, she cast a magical veil over the three of them that caused them to shimmer and vanish from sight.

The sound of hooves landing on the forest floor echoed through the trees. It was hard to make out any details in the darkness, but it was obvious from the silhouettes that these 'monsters' were actually just ponies. Most likely they had come to investigate just like Rainbow and Fluttershy had. The Princess let go a breath of air she hadn't realized she had been holding, and she started to stand up from the brush that she was crouching behind. However, Rainbow quickly grabbed her with a hoof across her withers and pushed her back down. The Princess gave Rainbow a hard look, but then noticed the panicked look in her eyes. She decided that it might be best to remain hidden.

“I don't see anything,” a stallion's voice rang out through the forest.

“Yeah, it's too dark. Even with night sight, there's hardly enough moonlight here,” a mare's voice called back.

“Wait, got something,” the stallion's voice sounded back again. The two silhouettes moved closer together, and one of them appeared to have something on the end of its hoof that the pale moonlight glinted off of.

“...Is that a shoe?” the mare’s voice asked.

“Don't know. Should probably take it back with us,” the stallion’s voice reasoned.

“That's mine,” the Princess hissed quietly in protest as she squinted her eyes at the offending pony, to which she felt the pressure of Rainbow's grasp on her withers increase slightly.

The mare’s voice echoed through the woods again. “Well, if there was anything or... anypony here... it isn't here now. You think something dragged it off?”

“Who knows,” the stallion’s voice answered back. “Lets get out of here, this place is giving me the creeps.” The two silhouettes sprung up into the air and flew out of sight through the open canopy. The Princess and two pegasi that had been hiding near by remained hidden for a moment longer. Rainbow finally let go a calming breath as she let the pressure she had been putting on the Princess relax.

“Sorry about that,” Rainbow said as she stood up. “I thought you were about to give us away.”

The Princess stood and let the invisibility veil fade out. “Well, I was... I guess. They were ponies, right?”

“Nightguard,” Rainbow said matter-of-fact like.

The Princess thought about this for a moment, then asked, “Why are we hiding from the Nightguard?”

The Princess might as well had asked why grass was green. The expression that crept onto Rainbow's face seemed to ask why anypony would ask such a dumb question as she furrowed her brow. “Are you serious?”

Now it was the Princess's turn to return the disapproving look. “Yes, I'm serious. Why are we hiding from the Nightguard? We should have asked them for help.”

“Look, obviously there's some things happening you don't know about,” Rainbow said as she began to walk past the Princess. “But for now, we need to get out of here. Like for real this time.”

The Princess let go a frustrated sigh but seemed to comply. She fell in just beside Rainbow, and the two of them were followed closely by Fluttershy, who had remained silent ever since the close call. The Princess glanced back to her, noticing her unease. “Are you alright, Fluttershy?” she asked with a look of concern playing on her face.

“U-um... well,” Fluttershy seemed a bit taken off guard once again, having nearly forgotten in all of the unwanted excitement that this mystery princess somehow knew her name. “Yes... I mean I will be, when we get back home.”

“Yeah, sorry about all this. I really didn't mean to cause you two any problems. Seems I may have really messed things up somehow.”

The group stayed mostly silent the rest of the trip through the forest and kept to the ground to avoid any unwanted attention. Eventually the trees thinned and gave way to the open meadows and fields that surrounded the town of Ponyville. And just a short distance away, the dark silhouette of Fluttershy's cottage was a very welcome sight for the group. It wasn't much longer before they had made it to the bridge just outside the cottage. After gathering the saddlebags that had been discarded there, the pegasi lead the Princess into the safety of the home.

“Wow...,” the Princess commented as she glanced around at the interior of the cottage, seeming to be in awe of her surroundings.

“Oh, it's really not anything impressive,” Fluttershy said with an embarrassed smile. The Princess smiled back to her warmly before she continued to look around, taking all the sights in. The home was beautifully decorated, and had an almost outdoors like feel. Scattered around the room were small cubby hole homes for the animals that lived with Fluttershy, and here and there some animals were scurrying about, mostly circling around Fluttershy's hooves.

“I bought some things back for you little guys,” Fluttershy said with a motherly tone as she trotted over to the saddlebags that had been placed on the floor near the door. She lifted the flap of one of the saddlebags with a hoof, and then smiled as a squirrel scurried up and stuck its head into the bag. After a moment, the small animal came back up with a few various nuts in its arms and quickly scurried away. Fluttershy smiled warmly as the rest of the animals began to gather around the saddlebags and help themselves to the contents in turn.

Rainbow Dash had been watching as Fluttershy tended to her woodland friends. She then turned her attention to her side when she heard the Princess speak up next to her. “I can't believe I'm really back here.”

Rainbow perked up an eyebrow at the odd statement. “What do you mean? You've been here before?” The Princess stopped gazing at her surroundings at the question and focused her attention fully on Rainbow. “And you still haven't told us your name. I mean, you do have a name other than Princess right? And how the hay did you know our names?”

The sudden barrage of questions seemed to make the Princess tense up. She glanced back and forth between the two pegasi that stared back at her expecting some sort of explanation for the very odd behavior they had seen tonight. She knew that she wouldn't be able to explain away how she knew their names and definitely didn't want to lie to them, but she was still unsure how much she should be revealing. There was at least one piece of information that she was going to need first to gauge the situation with.

“Before I say anything more, I need to know what day it is,” the Princess said simply.

“Er... it's Tuesday,” Rainbow said as she shrugged her shoulders.

“No I mean, the date. The exact date... even the year.”

Both of the pegasi looked to each other, a bit confused by the inquiry. Rainbow shrugged her shoulders again and decided it was an easy enough question to answer. “Well, it's July the seventh, one thousand.”

The Princess balked at the answer. It didn't make sense, if it were true then something was horribly wrong. “Are you sure?” she asked hoping that it may have just been some sort of mistake. When she saw the disapproving look reappear on Rainbow's face again she raised a hoof quickly. “Okay okay, I get it. You want answers. I guess... well I guess I owe you that much. And if this really is the thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration....” The Princess's gaze hardened as she began to realize the gravity of the situation she was in.

“So you do know about Nightmare Moon then? Why didn't you know about her Nightguard though?” Rainbow questioned.

“I... do know about Nightmare Moon, but my memory of her is probably different than yours,” the Princess said as she seemed to stare off into the space ahead of her, almost like she was peering into the past. “You see, where I come from, Nightmare Moon was defeated over two hundred and fifty years ago. I had a hoof in it and... well this is going to sound crazy but, so did you two.”

“...Say what?” Rainbow asked as she jerked her head back. Fluttershy blinked her eyes a few times as she tried to take in the confusing information.

“I guess what I'm saying is, I'm not from now. I'm from over two hundred and fifty years from now. It wasn't really intentional, mind you. I was following somepony, but I lost them along the way and kind of fell out of the time spell I was following them through. I'm just amazed that I landed here of all times.”

The Princess sat back on her haunches and let go a heavy sigh before she continued. “But, it appears things have changed. You see, you should have met a young unicorn that looks just like me here in Ponyville on the day right before the Summer Sun Celebration, about two weeks ago.”

The Princess sat up straight, looking to the two pegasi in front of her. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, and you two were both very good friends of mine.”