I never thought I could Make such a Horrible Mistake
___________________________________________________________
I groan as I lay, face down on the coach.
“What’s up, Screwy?”
I lazily lift my head up to see Diamond and Silver standing in the doorway, both wearing slightly concerned, but mostly confused expression.
I groan, rolling over to look up at the ceiling. “I’m bored. DD’s off having tea with Fluttershy, so we can’t go mess around with the nobles together. It’s not as fun when it’s just me.”
I see from my upside down angle that they exchange odd looks, before returning to look at me, Silver Spoon speaking up.
“But, what about that human world? I thought you said there’s meant to be some event you’d like to go check out.”
I pout, folding my forelegs. “Yeah. But I keep checking my watch,” a small pocket watch appears floating before them, with big red words saying “NOT TIME YET”, “but that’s all it says. I wanna have fun there, but it’s like the time flow there is disrupting my teleports or something.”
Just as Diamond opens her mouth to say something, I suddenly bolt upright, my body shuddering like crazy. Somepony just cast a powerful spell, a REALLY powerful spell.
It kinda feels like when Twilight cast... Oh. Well, crap.
“Sorrygottabye!” I cry, teleporting, my aim fixed on where I sense the spell coming from, Twilight’s castle, specifically, the room with the Map.
As I arrive, however, it’s to see a half sphere of sorts with magical time runes or something of the sort popped out of existence.
“Um... what?” I ask, looking around and noticing Twilight and Spike are still here as they run over to the Map... which I’ve just noticed is active, but no Cutie Marks are glowing. Odd.
“Where’d she go?” Spike asks, before turning and noticing me. “Oh. Hey, Screwball. What brought you here?”
I frown at him. “The massive surge of a power spell I could sense from my house.” I turn to Twilight, who’s looking intently at the Map. “So, who cast it?”
“Starlight Glimmer.”
I blink, before grinning and shaking my head. “No, seriously, who cast it? That spell was powerful and she may have the raw skill for that, but the complex intricate lines in that spell are way too heavy for that dumb mare. So, who really cast it?”
Twilight looks firmly at me. “It was Starlight Glimmer, Screwball.” She looks back at the Map. “I don’t know what that she plans to do, but we’d better figure it out.”
Well, considering I know what type of spell she used, I don’t see why. It felt a little different, but it was still the same spell. We just have to wait here and she’ll be back when—
“I guess we could start with this.”
Twilight and I both turn to see the drake bending down, his hand reaching out for some crumpled up piece of parchment.
At once, I get alarm bells ringing in my ears, literally, Twilight and I crying out in unison, “Spike, don’t touch that!”
But, we’re too late. Just as we finish speaking, his claw grips around the parchment. At once, the portal I saw closing when I arrived opens up above the Map, a forceful wind sucking in the air around us, yanking Spike up into the air.
With my ears still ringing, I follow Twilight’s lead and grab onto Spike and a vain attempt to keep him from being sucked in, only to get pulled along for the ride.
We whirl around through what I can tell is the Time Vortex, myself blinking as I swear I saw the TARDIS pass us by, before we’re thrown into a bright white light.
When it fades, I see we’re falling. At once I stop myself from doing so, yet both Twilight and Spike keep falling.
I quickly move over to the Alicorn and point at my back and she suddenly seems to remember that, oh, yeah, she has extra limbs designed for flight.
As for Spike, I would grab him in my magic, but my ears are still ringing a bit, which is distracting. It’s hard enough keeping focus on staying airborne. Thankfully, Twilight’s magic catches him just before he’d have gone splat against one of Cloudsdale’s roads.
Wait a minute. Cloudsdale?
“Starlight doesn’t even have wings,” Spike says as I finally manage to get the ringing in my ears to stop. “Why would she come here?”
“I don’t know Spike, but it seemed like she could fly just magic,” Twilight says, rubbing her chin in thought.
Wait, that mare can do what now? Figures out a spell Twi hasn’t used since season 2, created a spell that takes away Cutie Marks and now she can fly with her magic?
Eh. I can’t be too impressed with that last one, I guess. I mean, Pumpkin figured out she could fly with just her magic and she’s a freaking baby. Doesn’t really say much about Starlight if she’s getting her ideas for spells by copying infants.
Still, depending on when we are, Starlight, as dumb as she is, could still cause some serious problems.
“Keep your eyes open, guys,” Twilight pulls me from my thoughts and I look to her. “We don’t know what she has planned.”
No sooner has she finished this, than I’m nearly bowled over by a cyan blur.
Once I’m done spinning, I shake my head and frown. “Hey. That blur had a rainbow... mane?”
“Isn’t that... Rainbow Dash?” Spike looks from myself to Twilight, the latter of whom is looking really worried.
“Did Rainbow look really young to you? and... I didn’t see a Cutie Mark.”
As Spike takes a pair of binoculars out of the backpack he’s wearing, I duplicate them and follow his angle... only to feel really weirded out. I can see Rainbow and Fluttershy, both looking like fillies and with no Cutie Marks and... are those the bullies from Sonic Rainboom?
“You don’t think...?” I ask, not really sure if I should finish the question.
“...We travelled back in time to when Rainbow Dash raced the bullies who made fun of Fluttershy and performed her first Sonic Rainboom?” Spike says uncertainly.
Twilight facehoofs. “Spike, only Star Swirl the Bearded could do something like that, and even his spell just went back a week! How could Starlight do more than the greatest wizard in Equestria?”
As she says this, the scroll Spike grabbed back in the present floats down. I catch it in my magic and hand it to him.
He looks it over, his expression becoming stern, before showing it to the Alicorn. “With this.”
Twilight looks at it for a moment, before worry enters her eyes. “Star Swirl’s spell! Oh, no!”
“And it seems Starlight altered it somewhat,” I say, going over it with a faint tracing spell. “If I had some time, I could probably figure it all out. But, this is a really important moment in time, Twi. I dunno what Starlight intends to do here, but anything she does could cause a serious problem in our time.”
Spike puts the scroll in his bag, before starting off. “Come on, let’s go!”
Twilight and I look at each other, before looking to baby dragon. “Go where?”
“To watch the race,” Spike says matter-of-factly, “I don’t wanna miss the Rainboom! Whoa!” he cries out as he drops through the cloud, Twilight rolling her eyes as she catches him in her magic and levitates him up.
I roll my own eyes and cast the Cloud Walking Spell on him, before making wings appear on my back.
Both Twilight and Spike raise an eyebrow at me.
“What?” I shrug, flapping them and getting airborne. “We’re in Cloudsdale in the past, remember? An Earth Pony floating around would draw too much attention.”
“Good idea,” Twilight nods, before rising into the air herself. “Now, let’s go make sure nothing goes wrong with the race.”
A few minutes later, we’re standing on a cloud watching as the race starts. It seems, thanks to Spike riding on her back, nopony is question Twilight. Then again, these are kids, all focused on a big race, so I guess ignoring the Alicorn in the room, um, sky, is understandable.
The race starts, Fluttershy falling off the cloud and plummeting to the ground.
Twilight moves to fly after her, but Spike stops her.
I want to commend him for stopping her from falling... but I’ve always wondered just why those butterflies were flying around like that to begin with.
I teleport down and do a magic scan of the area. The is indeed a large swam of butterflies nearby, but they’re not flying around and Flutters is still falling.
I frown, before getting an idea. I grab a rock and toss it into the bush with the swarm of butterflies. At once, they all take to the air, gathering into a cluster and, seconds later, the shy foal lands on top of them all.
Grinning at having ensured time is flowing right down here, I teleport back to Twilight’s side and look for Rainbow in the race... only for my jaw to drop and my eyes to widen as I see Starlight floating above a cloud and firing a beam at Rainbow, halting her in place just a second before she’d have done the Rainboom and, moments later, the race ends with what’s his name, that bully with the high pitched voice, winning.
At once, Twilight and I nod to each other and we hurry towards Starlight, our eyes narrowed.
“What did you do?!” Twilight demands as the three of us glare at the unicorn.
Starlight just smirks. “You are about to find out.”
I sense the portal reopening and look up, only to be pulled into it, along with Spike and Twilight.
___________________________________________________________
After being mad really dizzy, I grunt as I’m unceremoniously dropped onto the Map and tumble off onto the ground, the grass tickling my nose.
Wait, grass?
Urgh. I’d be able to focus more on that oddity if not for the splitting headache I’ve suddenly gotten. Man, what the heck? Something feels really wrong, like the magic in the air is... less harmonic, I guess?
“I don’t know what Starlight’s up to yet,” Twilight’s voices says from somewhere, but I’m still shaking my head, trying to relieve myself from the pain, “but we’d better figure it out before it’s too late.
“Um, Twilight?” Spike says as I open my eyes. “I think it already is.”
Twilight Sparkle gasps as I just stare, open-mouthed. The castles’ gone, like, just gone! The thrones and Map are still here, admitting the former mostly looking damaged and the Map’s glowing red for some reason, but everything else is gone!
“Uh, Twilight?” Spike asks, turning his head this way and that. “Where’s your castle?
Twilight turns to the crystal table still present. “The map pulled us back, but whatever Starlight did in the past changed things here!”
Spike cocked an eyebrow. “But why? And how did we get here? Where’s here?”
I look to Twilight and nod. She lights her horn, pulling the scroll out from Spike’s pack. “More like when.”
Spike folds his arms. “What do you mean?”
I facehoof. “Spike, it isn’t that freaking hard.”
Twilight nods, pointing to the scroll. “Starlight altered Star Swirl’s spell, then somehow used it on the map to travel into the past and change something!”
Yeah, she stopped the Rainboom and I’m getting a really bad feeling that was the stupidest thing she could’ve done. “Once she did, the map pulled us back to the present!”
Spike frowns in confusion. “So we’re back where— I mean, when we started?”
Twilight shakes her head as she walks over to the Map. “Not exactly. Everything’s different. Look. The map doesn’t even make sense anymore! The Crystal Empire takes up half of Equestria!”
“Which really doesn’t make sense and gives me the creeps,” I say, shuddering.
“Plus there’s the whole missing castle thing,” Spike indicates around us.
Frankly, I know there’re a lot of bronies who wouldn’t have minded seeing that. I was never one of them, myself.
“Right!” Twilight looks at the Map for a moment, before her expression becomes determined. “This is too big to handle on our own.”
“You think?” Spike asks, though I can’t tell if his being genuine or sarcastic.
“We need to find our friends and get help!” Twilight turns in the direction of Ponyville... which is looking less cheery than I remember, even from a distance.
A few minutes later, we walk into Ponyville, and I get an uncomfortable feeling as I look around. The grass looks like it’s dying and the houses seem to be in disrepair, with holes in their roofs and most windows are boarded up.
As we pass one house, Spike stops and turns. I follow his gaze and see Carrot Top looking out one of the windows.
Wait. Doesn’t she live on that small farm next to Sweet Apple Acres?
Spike waves and she quickly closes the curtains, causing me to raise an eyebrow.
“I’m gettin’ a bad feeling about this, Twilight,” Spike says as he and I resume following the Alicorn.
I have to agree. I’m getting really bad reminders of the Silent Ponyville series. I enjoyed them, at least the first two, but I don’t like being in a setting that makes me feel like I’m in them.
Twilight looks back at us. “I know, Spike,” she then smiles, “but this is Ponyville. How bad could things be?”
I facehoof as I float after them. You just had to jinx it, didn’t you?
As we reach the area where Sugar Cube Corner should be, I notice something very wrong with the building, just like the rest of the town. Not only does the bakery look like vibrant, but, instead of a cupcake sign, there’s a simple loaf of bread.
“Is that Sugar Cube Corner?” Spike asks, confused.
We stop in front of it, just staring for a moment.
Twilight shakes her head. “I don’t understand.”
Well, I think I do. Without the Rainboom, Pinkie likely never got inspired to spread happiness like in the original timeline, so never came to Ponyville... yeesh, seems the Cakes really needed her.
Spike suddenly gasps and runs off.
Twilight looks to me and I her, before I return my gaze to the drab looking bakery. What the heck is going on? Sure, without Pinkie, Ponyville wouldn’t be nearly as cheerful, but why does it look like Silent Ponyville around here?
We hurry after Spike to find him at Carousel Boutique, which, while boarded up like most of the other buildings around Ponyville, is still pretty colourful.
Huh. Guess Rarity still made it into the fashion world in some way, even without the Rainboom breaking open that boulder.
Twilight moves up to Spike and comforts him. “I don’t think she’s here, Spike. I’m not sure anything we know is the same.” Suddenly here eyes light up. “But I know one place that could never change!”
A few minutes later we’re standing outside of what should be Sweet Apple Acres. I say should be because, instead, I see a large, barn-like factory, spilling black smoke into the air.
I turn to Twilight with a deadpan expression. “Do you ever get tired of being wrong all the time?”
She frowns at me and we head through the gate and look inside the windows of the barn, after rubbing grim off of them first. Inside is something that reminds me of those factory settings from those old Disney and Warner Brothers cartoons.
Apples are being heated and turned into what I think is some manufactured cider... I think.
The three of us look to each other. What the heck is going on around here?
The sound of creaking wood draws our attention to an orange mare wearing camouflage attire, her tail tied back and held in a hairnet and her mane held back by a greyish-brown ribbon as well as another hairnet.
It takes a second for me to realize who it is, by which time, Twilight’s beaten me to the punch. “Applejack?!”
Applejack looks confused for a moment, before pushing Twilight, who’d just hugged her, away. “What can I do for you?”
I blink. Odd. Applejack said “I” not “Ah”. Well, without the Rainboom, I guess she didn’t get the inspiration to go home from Manehatten as soon, so stayed a while and wouldn’t have kept as much of her accent, depending on how long she lived there. Though, clearly, after some time, she just decided she’d come back anyway.
Twilight smiles as the other mare continues rolling a barrel of what I’m assume is either cider of just apples towards a cart. “It’s so good to see you! We couldn’t find Pinkie or Rarity or Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash, but I just knew you’d still be here!”
Applejack grunts as she gets the barrel up. “Of course I am. This is my home.” She then looks to us in confusion. “But who in tarnation is Pinkie Bow and Flutterdash?”
I find myself suppressing a snicker. Oh, if she only knew what those words can mean.
“Or you for that matter?” she finishes as she walks back past us.
Twilight’s expression saddens. “You... don’t know who I am?”
Well, I guess that would be right. Without the Rainboom, Twilight would never have become Celestia’s student. She’d still have been accepted into her School for Gifted Unicorns, but not as her personal student, so there would never have been a time she’d have been sent here to Ponyville to make friends and stop Nightmare Moon... which brings up the question of just what happened then.
If time’s changed, either Celestia found a way to beat Nightmare herself, or something else happened, since it’s daytime, so no eternal night and it’s been over a year since the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration.
I groan, rubbing my forehead. This is why I made sure never to drastically alter the timeline whenever I travelled through time. Trying to understand dramatic changes without any info yourself will give you a headache.
“Honestly, the only name I recognize is Rarity, but she left for Manehattan years ago,” Applejack’s voice pulls me from my train of thought and I’m thankful to change tracks.
Wait. Rarity went to Manehatten years ago?
Spike smiles. “Probably to become a world-famous fashion designer, I bet.”
Applejack shakes her head. “Not that I know of. Last I heard, she went to help with the cause like everypony else.”
I blink, cocking an eyebrow.
“The cause?” Twilight asks, seeming just as confused as I am.
Applejack looks blankly at us. “The war against King Sombra and the Crystal Empire?”
“What?!” the three of us cry at once, causing Applejack to flinch from our outburst.
War? Sombra? Huh?!
Applejack seems to recover and frowns. “Where have you three been?”
Spike smirks. “Actually, it’s when.”
Twilight looks firmly at the orange mare. “I know this is hard to believe, but you and I and those other ponies I mentioned are friends!”
Applejack cocks an eyebrow. “Did you bump your head on a crate of cider or somethin’?”
I groan, looking to Twilight with a deadpan. “Seriously, Twilight, there are easier ways to go about this. Besides, I’m still reeling from this war. I mean, war? Seriously? First I think we’re in Silent Ponyville, but it’s more like Fallout: Equestria? Seriously?”
The two mares and dragon all give me odd looks.
I blink, before shaking my head. Right. They don’t know about those. Probably better they don’t... though, if there is a war, like Applejack says, maybe she wouldn’t be too fazed by the latter of the two.
I shake my head again. “Look, whatever the case, we can show you something that’ll prove we’re not from here. Besides, how many Alicorns do you know exist?”
Applejack gives me a stern, but, for some reason, sad frown. “Ya mean nowadays?” she sighs. “After Princess Nightmare Moon died during a skirmish, only two.”
“WHAT?” Twilight and Spike glance at each other, while I step forward.
“You mean... Princess Luna never got reformed... but still fought for Equestria?”
The other Earth Pony nods, her expression sombre. “Yeah. Broke the princess’s heart, but, in the end, she fought for her subjects. That makes her a good ruler in mah books.”
I sigh, before looking firmly at her and pointing at Twilight. “Take a close look at this mare, Applejack. A good, hard look.”
She obliges, looking carefully at Twilight for several moments, before her eyes widen like saucers and her mouth hangs open. “A... another Alicorn? We’ve another princess? When did that happen?”
Twilight steps forward. “It’s a long story. Applejack, please come with us. Then, maybe we can help each other figure things out.”
The farm mare stares at the lavender mare for several more seconds, before shake her head and nodding. “Sure, Princess. Whatever ya say.”
___________________________________________________________
Well, I’ll admit,” Applejack says a short while later as we’re standing before the Map and remains of the thrones, Spike sitting in what I think is Rarity’s, “I’ve lived in these parts my whole life and I’ve never seen this before.”
“There’s also supposed to be a castle that goes with it,” Spike adds.
Applejack looks to me and Twilight, as I stand on top of the Map. “But I still don’t see what this has to do with you and I bein’ friends.” she blinks, before gulping. “Uh, Your Highness.”
Twilight’s expression firms. “First, just call me Twilight. As for what this has to do with us being friends, another pony named Starlight Glimmer used this map to travel through time and change things in the past. For some reason, the map’s here but everything else is different!”
Applejack narrows her eyes at Twilight. “Different how?” Seems we touched a nerve, because she’s forgotten she’s glaring at royalty.
“Well, for one thing, where we come from, there’s no war with King Sombra.”
Wow, Twilight, from the saddened look on Applejack’s face, you still really don’t understand the concept of tacked.
“Maybe you could tell us how the war started?” I suggest, floating over and putting a hoof on the mare’s shoulder. “Then we can figure out when everything changed!”
Applejack nods. “That’s easy enough.”
She then explains to us what happened. When the Crystal Empire returned, it brought King Sombra back with it, just like in our time. However, it seems that, in this version, Cadance and Shining Armour couldn’t stop him. They tried, but barely got out of there alive.
And, with him not having been stopped, it didn’t take long for Sombra to force every one of his subjects to fight for him against Equestria, using some kind of mind control in order to make the Crystal Ponies fight for him. Though it seems he’s forgotten about the Umbrum and just wants to conquer Equestria.
She even mentioned ponies that, though she never gave names, I recognized as Rainbow, who apparently lost a wing during the war and now has a cool metal one and Maud and Pinkie, both of whom are badass fighters, are able to even smash a massive boulder to dust in seconds.
True, Maud did the same with a rock that was going to crush Pinkie, back in our timeline, but from the description of the battle she gave us that she’d heard about, the boulders the two were known for smashing during battle were more than twice the size of the one from our timeline. Cool!
Even Celestia is fighting on the front lines.
“I just can’t believe it!” Twilight shakes her head, before grabbing Applejack by the shoulders. “We stopped King Sombra! You and me and all of our friends!”
Applejack calmly pushes her off. “But we aren’t friends. At least not here.”
Twilight’s eyes sadden and she looks down. “Right.”
There’s silence for a moment, before Applejack sighs. “Look. I hope all this helped, but I really need to get back to cannin’ those apples.”
“Wait,” I ask, and she pauses, looking back at me. “Can you tell us what happened when Nightmare Moon came back? Or during the royal wedding...?”
I trail off, realizing something. Old Cheese Legs might be around. Note to self, go looking for that bitch after sorting all this out.
Applejack sighs again. “Wasn’t really there for much of it, so I can’t say, mahself. I know Nightmare Moon came back during the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration. The princess was ready for her though. She was caught and imprisoned underneath the castle in a magic resistant cage. At least, that’s what the papers said.”
“What about Discord, or the wedding between Princess Cadance and Shining Armour?” I ask. I want to know as much as I can.
She shrugs. “The weddin’ went fine. Apparently, the groom’s sister noticed sumthin’ off about the princess, who’d just happened to be her foalsiter when she was a filly and it was found out she was a creature called a Changeling. The queen, in fact. They found the real princess under the castle, trapped somewhere else so nopony going down to feed Nightmare Moon would notice her.”
She cocks an eyebrow.
“Though, who or what is Discord?”
Ah, right. Since the CMC likely never came together because their sisters never really became friends here, they never became the CMC and wouldn’t have gotten into that argument that would’ve set Discord free.
Either that or Celestia and Luna still being bound to the Elements is still keeping the spell holding him strong, even if Luna’s... dead.
I blink, before noticing something she didn’t mention. “What about the Changeling Queen. What happen to her?”
Applejack shrugs. “Got away. Not that she’s much of a worry these days. Doubt she’d be able to do much with the war goin’ on an’ all.”
“Yeah,” I say, looking down. “Guess you’re right.”
Silence returns, before Applejack sighs. “Look, I’m going now, okay? I still got work to do.”
Twilight steps up next to me, putting a foreleg around me as Applejack starts to walk off. “Thank you. We’re going to set things right.”
“I hope you do,” Applejack sighs again and walks off.
Twilight and I return to the Map, where Spike looks to us.
“So... how are we gonna set things right?” he asks as Twilight lets go and sits down in her dilapidated throne.
“I don’t know!” she cries, flopping her head against the table. “The only thing we know for sure is that Starlight stopped the Rainboom.”
“And that the map’s still here,” Spike points out.
Twilight gasps as her face lights up. “Spike, that’s it! The map is connected to the Tree of Harmony! It must sense that something isn’t right! That’s why it’s still here!”
Huh. Makes sense. And, Starlight used the Map in her spell. Guess she failed to realize that would give it an edge of sorts. Like I said, she’s not exactly smart.
“I’ll just use Starlight’s version of the spell and go back a little earlier and stop her before she even knows we’re there!
A loud screeching sound, like those of tires, rings out, before Twilight is no longer levitating the spell in front of her and it’s in front of myself.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa there, Sparkle,” I say, my tone scolding. “We can’t just up and go. This timeline will likely still be here, even if we don’t return to it.”
“Huh?” Spike looks from Twilight to me. “But, if we stop Starlight from stopping the Rainboom, we’ll go back to our time, not this one.”
I nod, my brow furrowed. “Exactly. We’ll be back in our time. That doesn’t stop this timeline from existing though, only us coming back to it. It’ll still exist, meaning these ponies will still be fighting a war they very well may lose against King Sombra.”
“But, what can we do?” Spike asks anxiously, looking between us all. “We’re just one Alicorn, a filly and a baby dragon. How can we stop a war?!”
I roll my eyes. “Um, Spike?” I levitate into the air and make a glass of chocolate milk appear in my outstretched hoof.
He blinks, before giving a sheepish smile. “Oh... right. Chaos Magic.”
Twilight frowns. “Normally, I wouldn’t like the idea of either you or Discord messing around with your Chaos Magic on such high levels, but, considering what we’ve been told about this timeline...” She sighs, before nodding. “Okay. We should make a plan.”
___________________________________________________________
Twilight was caught off guard when Screwball suddenly burst out laughing.
“What?” she frowned at the chaotic filly. “We don’t want Sombra to get the better of us and we can’t just waltz in without letting the princess know at least.”
Screwball snickered. “Um, yeah, we can. Gimme a sec.”
Before Twilight could do anything, Screwball was gone.
“Well... that was unexpected,” Spike said, scratching his neck. “So... what do we do now? Go after her?”
Twilight groaned. “I don’t think that’d be wise, Spike. There’s no telling where she teleported to, or what her plans are, even she even has any. That filly always acts like she knows just what she’s doing, without any consideration for the consequences.”
“So, that’s a yes to waiting, then?”
Twilight went back to the Map and flopped her face down on it, giving a muffled and grumpy, “Yes.”
After about ten minutes, a popping sound told them Screwball had returned.
Looking towards the direction of the sound, they were both shocked to see Screwball... crying?
Quickly, Twilight got up and flew over, pulling the filly into a hug.
“Screwball, what happened?” she asked, worried. Screwball wasn’t known to cry. In fact, she only knew of one time, one Applejack had told her about, a story that had made her realize there was more to Screwball than just a fun-loving filly who cared for her family and had a vendetta against her abusive mother. Once again, it seemed she was being reminded of that.
Screwball sniffled. “Th-they... they killed him.”
“Huh?” Twilight asked, confused and worried further.
“Who?” Spike asked, having reached them.
“Sombra,” Screwball sobs, holding tightly onto Twilight. “I-I... I took the evil out of him and sent it and the Umbrum crystal, plus those still trapped, into Tartarus, I thought things would be fine. I even put the Crystal Heart back where it should be. But, where the Equestrian soldiers saw him, they attacked before I could do anything and killed him!”
There was silence for a few moments, save the sound of Screwball’s sadness.
Twilight felt horrified. Were the ponies in this timeline really that far gone, that they’d willingly kill another pony?
I mean, I guess it makes sense, she thought glumly. They were at war and, from the way Applejack described it, it wouldn’t be much to assume they’ve been living so long in the war that they have no choice.
After several hours, Screwball had cried herself to sleep.
“Um, should we wake her up and go back in time now or...?” Spike asked uncertainly.
Twilight sighed, shaking her head. She levitated Screwball onto her back, before heading in the direction of town. “No, Spike. We’ll spend the night here in town, then go back in the morning. It should be some time before news reaches here that the war’s over, by which time, we’ll be long gone.”
Spike nodded anxiously and followed after the mare, his eyes on Screwball’s body lying prone across the Alicorn’s back.