Another morning in Ponyville...
The sun was still rising in the horizon and Star Twinkle just woke up.
He raised his head out from beneath of his bed sheets and looked out of the window next to him.
Seeing how early it still was, he decided to extend his nap a little longer and covered his head with his bed sheets again.
While under his bed sheets, he noticed some noises starting to get louder and louder.
He sat up on his bed and looked around, only to find out that there was literally a storm inside of his room.
“What's happening here!?” He exclaimed confused, covering his head with his bed sheets out of fear.
Eventually, the storm got smaller and turned into some kind of light explosion.
After that, everything seemed to have calmed down.
But something was still in the room...
A pony, having a light green coat and dark green star shaped mane.
A pony that looked exactly like...Star Twinkle!
“Where am I?” The pony said confused while checking his surroundings.
Needless to say, Star Twinkle was shocked to see himself in front of...himself.
The pony in the quickly noticed where he was and turned his head towards Star Twinkle who was looking at him in disbelieve.
“Who are you?” Star Twinkle asked confused.
“Oh no...
Is that what happened?” The pony replied, not even listening to Star Twinkle.
“Hey!” Star Twinkle said to get the attention of his visitor.
“Me?
I mean, yes!
I AM you!
I think that scroll from Canterlot sent me back as well...” the pony replied in a slightly annoyed tone, still trying to figure out things.
“Sent back?
From where?
Why are there even two me in the first place!?” Star Twinkle asked after he realized what crazy thing was actually happening right now.
The pony changed his expression from mildly annoyed to concerned.
He walked up to Star Twinkle who was widening his eyes in confusion.
“You may not believe me but...
I am from the future!”
“You are from the future!?” Star Twinkle asked in disbelieve.
“Yes. Twilight sent me back from next Tuesday with some kind of scroll in Canterlot,” the pony explained in a desperate voice.
The pony was trying to make it sound like something really big and kinda threatening in order to impress Star Twinkle.
However, Star Twinkle was not too impressed and mostly wondered why he was here and how he ended up looking like that.
If it was true that Twilight sent him back then it probably involved some kind of magic which was something that Star Twinkle would not understand anyway.
Star Twinkle found it hard to believe but seeing himself in front of...himself was enough reason to at least listen to what he had to say.
But he also couldn't help but wonder how he ended up like this.
After taking a closer look at his future self, he noticed just how messed up he looked.
Some rings under his eyes, a paper cut on his cheek and his mane was really messy as well...
He was probably really stressed or didn't sleep for a while.
Star Twinkle knew himself better than anypony else and was sure that something bad must have happened in the future for him to end up like that.
This kinda scared him to some extent.
What could possibly be so bad to make him end up like that?
“What happened?
You...I mean, I look like I haven't slept for days...” Star Twinkle asked.
“Yeah...it was a rough week...” the pony replied almost exhausted.
Star Twinkle still couldn't believe that he was casually talking to himself from the future.
This was certainly not something that everypony could say for themselves.
It was also very hard to believe.
“I can't believe that I am talking to myself...
Talk about scientifically possible.
I wonder what Twilight will say after I tell her that...”
Suddenly, the other Star Twinkle approached Star Twinkle even further after hearing those words.
“No!
Not Twilight!
She is the reason how I ended up like this!” Star Twinkle's future self-explained desperately.
“Wait...does that mean that she is responsible for something that happened to me in the future?” Star Twinkle asked.
“Yes!” The other Star Twinkle replied before he realized that he had to correct himself.
“I mean no!
Just stay away from Twilight, this week!” He insisted.
“Why?
What happens in the future?
Is there some kind of post-apocalyptic war or something that she is responsible for?” Star Twinkle asked in order to find out what happened in the future.
“No it's just-” Suddenly in the middle of the sentence, another storm was surrounding the Star Twinkle from the future, making it hard for Star Twinkle to understand anything he said.
“Stay...away...from...and...Twilight!” were the last words that Star Twinkle could hear before the pony vanished again.
There was only silence left in the room and Star Twinkle who stood there in confusion.
“Comet...
you saw that too, right?” Star Twinkle asked his goldfish, questioning his own sanity.
There was no reaction from Comet.
“I'm not crazy, right?” Star Twinkle asked.
Comet didn't reply.
“I thought so!
Something very terrible must have happened in this one week!
He said that Twilight was sending him back in the past so maybe I should ask her what to think about it.
But he said that I should stay away from Twilight...
Why?”
While asking himself this, multiple ideas of what could happen popped into his head.
He spent half the day walking up and down, imagining many scenarios that might have to happen in the future.
“Maybe Twilight was using a spell that horribly backfired?
But shouldn't I stop her then?
Maybe she becomes evil and did it on purpose?
But why should I stay away from her then?
To save me?
…that actually sounds like something that I would do...”
His thoughts were interrupted after he heard somepony knocking on the door.
While still thinking about it, Star Twinkle walked up to his door and opened it.
“Hey, Star Twinkle,” said Twilight after Star Twinkle opened the door for her.
“Oh, hey, Twilight...” Star Twinkle greeted absent-minded before he realized.
“Twilight!” He then screamed before slamming the door shut again.
That reaction left Twilight quiet puzzled outside.
Of course, the one thing that he had to avoid happened.
That is when he realized that getting out of Twilight's way was probably impossible.
One or two days were possible but there was no way that he could avoid her for one full week.
Knowing Twilight, she probably would worry if he didn't talk to her for that long.
Still, Star Twinkle was pressing his body against the door as if he feared that Twilight would break it open.
“Is something wrong, Star Twinkle?” Twilight asked from the other side of the door confused.
“Uh...no...I was just surprised to see you!” Star Twinkle replied.
“Okay...” Twilight replied in disbelieve.
“Are you gonna open the door then again?”
“No...” Star Twinkle quickly replied, trying to find some kind of excuse.
“Is there something you need?” He said in order to change the subject.
While still being very confused, Twilight talked from the other site of the door.
Apparently, she was visited by her future self as well.
But unlike his future self, Twilight from the future was giving out some more details.
Apparently, there was some danger coming up until next Tuesday.
Now, this could be the perfect opportunity for Star Twinkle to bring up that he was visited too but he kept his mouth shut.
It actually raised, even more, questions.
If Future Twilight was warning Twilight about this week then why would Star Twinkle's future self warn him?
All that didn't change the fact that Twilight was waiting on the other site of the door waiting for an explanation.
She was waiting for Star Twinkle to help her preventing from something terrible to happen.
So Star Twinkle had to come up with something.
“Sorry, Twilight but I have to...feed Comet...”
“Equestria is in potential danger and you are going to feed your fish!?” She replied confused, making a valid point to the situation.
“I'll come and help you later!
If I finished feeding him...
But unfortunately, he is a slow eater...”
He could feel that Twilight wasn't buying this excuse, even if he didn't saw her reaction.
But Twilight did accept his excuse and walked away from his house, giving Star Twinkle more time to find a better solution.
Some time has passed and Star Twinkle took a walk outside.
There must be something in different in Ponyville in order to make this week go terrible in some way.
He just had to find it and keep Twilight from it.
Whatever it might be.
“What am I even looking out for?
My future self looked really tired...
Something must have kept him awake this whole week...
Something big and dangerous that kept him from going to sleep or...”
But Star Twinkle's thoughts were interrupted after he saw a shadow appearing below him.
It was really big and was produced by something behind him.
When he turned his head around he instantly noticed what it was.
A giant black dog-like creature with three heads and three spiked collars around his necks was standing right behind him and looked at him like he was some delicious meal.
“- Or THAT!” He exclaimed in shock.
After the giant dog growled, everypony in town screamed in terror after seeing this creature in the middle of the road.
Star Twinkle was also running and tried to get away from this thing but unfortunately, it followed him.
That is until it caught sight of some shop where Star Twinkle was running past by.
It was chowing on some roof which had giant fruits as decoration on it.
The creature must have mistaken it for real fruits and tried to eat them, forgetting all about Star Twinkle.
The Earth Pony quickly realized his chance and was hiding from the creature to save himself.
”What is that thing!?” He wondered as he inspected the creature while still remaining hidden.
“That's Cerberus!” Twilight explained as she walked up to Star Twinkle.
“Cerberus?” Star Twinkle replied.
“He's supposed to be guarding the gates of Tartarus. But if he's here, then all the ancient evil creatures that have been imprisoned there could escape and destroy Equestria!”
“Destroy Equestria?” Star Twinkle replied confused.
“Yeah! Isn't it great?” Twilight replied surprisingly excited.
“I think your definition of “great” is a little different than mine...” he replied, confused by Twilight's choice of words.
But Twilight didn't bother to reply and confidently walked up to the creature in an attempt to fight it with her magic.
However, Fluttershy was one step ahead to deal with Cerberus.
She was petting it like any normal dog, despite the huge difference in size.
It was quite impressive to look at.
A small Pegasus pony that rubbed the belly of a creature who was ten times her size.
Even Twilight seemed surprised that Fluttershy was able to tame it that easily.
While Star Twinkle was looking at this and approached Twilight, Pinkie Pie was running past him, screaming her lungs out in terror, startling Star Twinkle in the process.
Cerberus was not exactly rampaging anymore but he still had to go back to the gates of Tartarus.
And Twilight seemed to know how to accomplish that.
“Pinkie?” Twilight asked, getting Pinkie Pie to stop running and calming her down surprisingly fast.
“Yes, Twilight?” Pinkie Pie replied.
“Do you have a ball I can borrow?” Twilight asked.
“I have balls stashed all over Ponyville,” she said before she reached her hoof inside of a nearby tree and grabbing out a small yellow and blue ball.
“In case of ball emergency,”
“Of course you do...” Star Twinkle said, not even bothering Pinkie Pie's logic.
Twilight then grabbed Cerberus attention with the ball and lured him out of Ponyville, probably bringing him back to Tartarus and avoiding any danger that might have occurred.
Some days later...
“So you are telling me that you got visited by yourself from the future...” Steel Hammer asked as he walked through Ponyville along with Star Twinkle.
“Yeah, but everything seems to be alright again.
Twilight is bringing back Cerberus to Tartarus and whatever danger he would have caused was prevented,” Star Twinkle explained happily.
“Now, I don't know much about this Tartarus or time traveling and all that but there doesn't seem to be any danger in Ponyville so that's good I guess...” Steel Hammer replied thoughtfully.
Meanwhile, a Pegasus mare with a gray coat and yellow mane was flying above the two Earth Ponies, carrying a mail bag.
But little did she know that some letters were falling out of her back without her noticing.
One letter, in particular, was falling down towards Star Twinkle.
“In fact, it looks like a really beautiful day today,” Steel Hammer added.
“I guess,” Star Twinkle replied as he looked up to the sky.
While looking up to the sky, Star Twinkle noticed a letter falling towards him.
It was flying towards his face but barely managed to dodge it by moving his head a little.
Or so he thought.
“Ugh...this mail pony lost one of her letters again...” Steel Hammer said annoyed as he picked up the letter from the ground.
When Steel Hammer looked to Star Twinkle to show him the letter, he instantly noticed something different on Star Twinkle's face.
“Uh...looks like that letter gave you a little paper cut,” Steel Hammer said as he pointed towards Star Twinkle's face.
“Paper cut?” Star Twinkle asked obliviously while touching his face in order to find it.
It was then when he realized something that shocked him.
In fact, he screamed in terror.
Steel Hammer, of course, jumped after this sudden reaction.
“Does it hurt that much?” Steel Hammer exclaimed in surprise.
“My future self also had a paper on its cheek just like me!”
“So?” Steel Hammer replied.
“Don't you get it!
If I still got this cut, then it means that nothing changed!
There is still something that is going to happen!” Star Twinkle realized in shock.
But if Cerberus wasn't the danger than what else?
Maybe it was because he didn't listen to his future self and didn't keep away from Twilight.
Whatever the reason, something was still going to happen.
“But what do I have to look out for?
What is going to happen!?
If there was just a way to look into the future!” Star Twinkle repeated while walking up and down in frustration.
This caused Steel Hammer to think as well.
Eventually, he got an idea how to help Star Twinkle.
“I think Madame Pinkie can help you with that,” Steel Hammer suggested.
“Madame Pinkie?” Star Twinkle asked confused.
Before he knew it, Steel Hammer convinced him to ask this Madame Pinkie.
But Star Twinkle could only guess who it was and had a doubtful expression on his face before he even met her.
They both walked up to a purple tent with a cauldron in front of it.
This tent was strangely close to Sugar Cube Corner and only confirmed Star Twinkle's guess.
Still, Steel Hammer presented the tent like it will actually help Star Twinkle and prompted him to enter it.
While walking inside, both Earth Ponies could already hear a very familiar voice that tried to scare them with some mystical words.
“Come... Enter the chamber of Madame Pinkie Pie... For the answers you seek, let us consult the mystical orb of fate's destiny...”
Of course, it was Pinkie Pie.
She was sitting there dressed like a fortune teller, wearing a purple scarf and turban with some kind of “Mystical Orb” in front of her.
Just the thought that Pinkie Pie would see into Star Twinkle's future was just unbelievable for him.
“Since when can you see in the future?” Star Twinkle asked in a really unmotivated voice.
“Since like a few days,” she replied proudly followed by a big grin.
“It' can't hurt to try it, right?” Steel Hammer pointed out.
Star Twinkle didn't even bother to reply and mind as well, sat down to let Pinkie Pie look into his future.
“Alright, Pinkie Pie...what do you see in your “Magical Orb”,”
“Mystical,” Steel Hammer corrected.
“...Mystical Orb...” Star Twinkle corrected as well.
Pinkie Pie wasted no time and was looking into her orb while waving her hooves around it.
If it was any other pony, he might have believed something, despite not believing in future telling but the fact that Pinkie Pie would be the one was just crazy.
But Star Twinkle remained silent and let Pinkie Pie do her thing until she finally spoke up.
“Yes!
Yes!
I can see it!
Your future!
There will be...
…
Gray...”
“Gray?” Star Twinkle replied confused.
“Yes!
There will be much gray!
Like smoke!”
“You mean like, the smoke that is inside of your orb?”
“...Yeah probably,” she replied unsurely.
Without giving much more thought into it, the two Earth Ponies left the tent and Star Twinkle continued to worry about what was going to happen.
“Well, that was a waste of time...” Star Twinkle mumbled to himself.
“Maybe Twilight knows something?
Maybe she has a spell to make you look into the future?” Steel Hammer suggested.
“No!” Star Twinkle replied instantly.
“I have to stay away from Twilight!”
“Why?” Steel Hammer asked.
“I have no idea!
My future self told me to stay away from Twilight, this week!” Star Twinkle replied frustrated.
“Wait a minute...
You!” Star Twinkle said pointing at Steel Hammer.
“What?” Steel Hammer asked.
“You are not me!” Star Twinkle exclaimed happily.
“Yeah...I could have told you that too...”
“No, don't you understand!?
You can go and see Twilight find out what might happen in the future!
Twilight was visited by Future Twilight, who probably knew more about what happened so you have to go and talk with her in order to find out what is going on!” Star Twinkle explained overly paranoid.
Steel Hammer began to notice that Star Twinkle was slowly driving into madness over this future time traveling but he decided to do what he said and visited Twilight in the Golden Oak Library.
He knocked on the door and waited until Twilight opened the door for him.
But he got surprised by how Twilight looked after he opened the door.
Twilight's mane looked very different and stood up.
She was also wearing an eye patch and had a scar on her cheek similar to Star Twinkle's paper cut.
“Holy hammer, what happened to you?” Steel Hammer asked shocked
“Don't have time, Mr. Steel Hammer.
Have to stop time,” Twilight said before she walked past the Earth Pony.
“Stop time?” He asked.
Spike and Pinkie Pie also walked out of the library and followed Twilight.
“She has this crazy idea to go to Canterlot in order to stop time with the help of a scroll from Starswirl the bearded that is in the Canterlot archives,” Spike explained while carrying a bucket of ice cream around.
“Yeah, we're going there this night!” Pinkie Pie said excitedly as she followed Twilight.
They both followed her and left Steel Hammer before he could even start a conversation with them.
“Canterlot?” Steel Hammer wondered.
“That's right!” Star Twinkle exclaimed after jumping out of the treetop of the library, startling Steel Hammer in the process.
“I totally forgot about that!
My future self was sent back in time by Twilight from Canterlot!
This is where something must have happened that ruined the future!” Star Twinkle figured.
“We have to go to Canterlot!”
“We?
Why do I have to go too?” Steel Hammer asked.
But starting to have a normal discussion with Star Twinkle was pointless right now.
Star Twinkle was determined to follow Twilight and the others and was beyond listening to Steel Hammer now.
It was decided that both of them went to Canterlot this night.
Later that night...
Star Twinkle and Steel Hammer both went to Canterlot and were on their way to the Canterlot archives.
It's a giant library with lots of books and scrolls that is open for mostly everypony.
Since Star Twinkle knew the princess to some extent, he was probably allowed to enter the library at any time which meant that there was probably no problem for him to enter it.
They both came across a guard that was paroling around the area and asked him how to get to the archives.
“Excuse me, do you know where we can find the Canterlot Archives,” Steel Hammer asked.
The guard gave the two a suspicious look and inspected both of them carefully before he answered very cheerfully.
“Sure!” He then replied as he directed them the way to the archives.
Moment's later, they found themselves in front of the archives and thanked the guard for leading them to it.
But when they entered the library, to their surprise, Twilight, Spike and Pinkie Pie were already there, all of them wearing black leather suits.
“There you are!” Star Twinkle said at the group.
“Star Twinkle?
What are you doing here?” Twilight asked confused.
“That's a good question...
Why are we here?
Didn't you say that you had to avoid Twilight until next Tuesday?” Steel Hammer pointed out and reminding Star Twinkle about his future selves warning.
“Oh no!
I forgot!” He exclaimed shocked.
This caused the group to react rather confused.
“Why do you need to avoid Twilight?” Spike asked.
“Because Star Twinkle from the future tried to warn me from something that involved staying away from Twilight,” Star Twinkle explained frustrated.
This caught especially Twilight's attention, causing her to walk up to Star Twinkle curiously.
“Future Star Twinkle?
Does that mean that you got visited by somepony from the future too?” Twilight asked.
“Yes, and he told me that you were the reason that he ended up like that!”
“What!?” Twilight replied confused.
“I tried all week to prevent something horrible to happen until this Tuesday!” She explained.
“Which should be right now,” Steel Hammer said, pointing at a window showing everypony that a new day has already begun and that it is Tuesday right now.
Both Star Twinkle and Twilight instantly freaked out and cowered on the ground to save themselves from whatever was about to happen.
Star Twinkle slowly opened his eyes to check if anything happened yet.
But to his surprise, nothing happened, at all.
“...Is the disaster here yet?” Star Twinkle asked out of fear.
The two looked out of the window to look out for any kind of disaster but there was nothing.
It was actually a really beautiful day outside.
“Nothing happened...” Star Twinkle figured.
“Does that mean that I was worried about absolutely nothing?” Twilight asked.
“If future Twilight and Star Twinkle weren't warning you about a disaster, then what were they trying to tell you?” Spike asked confused while still eating his ice.
The two ponies were wondering about that as well and looked at each other before they inspected themselves as well.
They then laughed because of the way they acted before.
Both worried their heads about nothing and ended up like this because of that.
Star Twinkle's mane was ruined because of all the worries he had before and Twilight didn't look better at all wearing this black suit.
“And it's all because I couldn't stop worrying and let the future handle itself! Well, not anymore. From now on, I'm gonna solve problems as they come, and stop worrying about every little thing!” Twilight said to which Star Twinkle couldn't agree more.
They decided to go home again but Pinkie Pie still caught their attention with a scroll that she found in the last second.
Apparently, it was a scroll that would let them travel back in time for a few minutes, giving Twilight an idea.
“Now I can go back and tell past Twilight that she doesn't need to go berserk with worry about a disaster that's never gonna come!”
“Yeah...
Wait...
That reminds me of something...” Star Twinkle said before he rubbed his chin in order to think.
But before he remembered, Twilight was already casting the spell.
However, Star Twinkle remembered and tried to grab Twilight in order to stop her but this eventually caught him into her spell as well, leaving only Pinkie Pie, Steel Hammer and Spike in the room.
“Wow!” Steel Hammer said after watching the two ponies disappeared in front of him.
“I hope Twilight tells her about her cool birthday present,” Pinkie Pie said.
“What?” Steel Hammer replied.
Only a few seconds later, both Star Twinkle and Twilight returned again, both looking really annoyed.
“I can't believe I just did that!” Twilight exclaimed frustrated.
“So that is how it happened...” Star Twinkle figured.
“Remember last week when future Twilight came to warn me about something? That was me trying to warn myself not to worry so much! Now I'm gonna spend the next week freaking out about a disaster that doesn't even exist!” Twilight said frustrated by the outcome of all of this.
It was then when Star Twinkle also realized what Future Star Twinkle was about to say.
“Now I get it...
Future Star Twinkle wanted me to avoid Twilight so that I wouldn't have to worry about anything in this week...
He tried to warn me not to do anything so that I wouldn't end up like that...
I can't believe it...”
“Ah, don't worry about it. It's past Twilight's problem now,” Pinkie Pie said in order to cheer Twilight up again, making her actually laugh because she was right.
“Can we go home now?” Steel Hammer suggested.
“I think I heard enough about future this and future that in one week...”
They were all about to leave but noticed that Spike was laying on the ground with a stomach ache.
Apparently, he was eating ice cream for the last days because Twilight was too worried about the future and didn't stop him.
“I thought the stomach ache would be future Spike's problem... but now I am future Spike...” he said as he laid on the ground with pain in his stomach.
“Alright, Future Spike,” Star Twinkle said as he grabbed Spike and put him on his back.
“Let's go home so that Future Star Twinkle can get some sleep,” he added causing everypony to laugh while they left the archive together, not worrying about the future anymore.