When Twilight woke, she was lying in a soft bed in some sort of farmhouse, with a purple earth pony colt with a dirt-colored mane looking at her.
“Aah!” the two of them yelled at the same time.
Twilight blinked, and the colt grinned sheepishly. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine.” Twilight told him. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Little Macintosh, but nobody calls me that. Pa says that if they call me it, a ‘fallout’ may happen. Don’t know what that means, but the point is, they call me Little Mac.” The colt – Little Mac – smiled. “I already know who you are, though. You’re Twilight Sparkle, right? I thought you’d be taller, though. Also, don’t princesses usually have both a horn and wings, instead of just a horn?”
Twilight laughed and ruffled Little Mac’s mane. “I am Twilight Sparkle, but I’m not Princess Twilight Sparkle. I’m an accidental time traveler, I guess.”
“Wowww!” Little Mac squealed. “What’s it like?! Can I come with you?! Do you have a blue box?! Or a companion?! Or a car?! Or…” Twilight shook her head.
“Answer number one: Confusing. That’s what it’s like. Answer number two: I don’t know how to get back yet, and when I do, no, you can’t come. I’m pretty sure your parents wouldn’t like it, and also, paradoxes. Answers number three, four, and five: What are you talking about?” Twilight asked him. To that, he just shrugged.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. It opened, and Applejack poked her head in. “You’re awake! Great!” she said. Rainbow Dash was standing next to her, holding a brown Stetson hat. “We were worried when you just fainted like that.”
“Yeah, we were!” Rainbow Dash said, flying over. She placed the hat on Little Mac’s head.
He laughed. “Thanks, Auntie Dashie!” Twilight stared as he hugged her, then Rainbow Dash, then Applejack. Little Mac noticed her staring and explained, “Auntie Dashie is Aunt Applejack’s wife, and Aunt Applejack is my father Big Macintosh’s sister.”
“Oh my.” During the time period that Twilight usually lived in, lesbian or gay couples, although existing, were rare. Twilight wouldn’t call herself a homophobic pony, but she was surprised. “Oh, sorry... Did I say that out loud? I apologize. I’m just a little surprised, that’s all.”
“It’s alright, Twilight. We get it. Neither of us actually came out until a couple of months ago, so it’s sort of new for us too.” Rainbow Dash laughed, and Applejack joined in. After a few seconds, Twilight did too.
Once she had calmed herself, Rainbow Dash continued. “Besides, we’re not the only lesbian mares in Ponyville. Scootaloo’s aunts Holiday and Lofty live here, and Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon have been married since 8 AT.”
“Wait… Lyra Heartstrings?” This was the first time Twilight had heard of any of her Canterlot friends in this future. “She’s married to a mare named Bon Bon?”
“Yep!” Little Mac stated happily. “She gives me free treats sometimes. Bon Bon’s great!”
“Enough about this, though,” Applejack said. “We need to get back on track.”
“Yeah, you’re right. How long was I out, by the way?” Twilight asked.
“Um… about an hour or two?” Rainbow Dash said. “I think?”
Twilight gasped. “Aah! I need to find the library! I’ve wasted enough time as it is!”
“Well, I guess I could ask Headmare Starlight Glimmer of the School of Friendship for access to her library.” Applejack shrugged. “We’re still in relatively close touch, even though I’ve retired from teaching.”
“School… of… Friendship?” Twilight asked. “What? Why would you need an entire school to teach about friendship of all things?!”
“Well, it’s not just friendship, obviously!” Pinkie Pie said, popping up from behind Applejack, who jumped about a foot in the air.
“Pinkie?! What are you doing here?!” she yelled, her breath heaving. “Ya almost gave me a heart attack!”
“I just got here, silly!” Pinkie smiled, and hopped over to Twilight. “So, are you ready?”
“For what?” Twilight asked her.
“Duh! For your Welcome-To-Ponyville party!” Pinkie squealed happily, then paused. “Actually, it’s called Welcome-To-The-Ponyville-Of-29-Years-In-The-Future-For-The-Pony-That-This-Party-Is-Being-Thrown-For, but we shortened it.”
Everypony stared at her. Twilight blinked, then got out of the bed.
“Look, you four seem like nice ponies. Really, you do. But right now, I have a very important mission. I need to get back home, and since Pinkie there seems to remember defeating Nightmare Moon, that means I actually do so! But I can’t do so if you’re following me around all this time!” Twilight breathed in, then out. “The fate of Equestria does NOT rest on me making friends!”
“Actually. . .” Rainbow started, then thought better of it and shut her mouth. “Never mind.”
“Now, if you’ll excuse me...” Twilight nudged herself past Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and stood in the doorway. “Thank you for the help. I’ll go see Starlight Glimmer straightaway!” She ran out of the barn at top speed.
Applejack snorted. “Wow. She’s definitely not anything like our Twilight.”
“You said it,” Rainbow agreed.
Suddenly, the sound of pattering feet and heavy breathing could be heard from behind them. Applejack turned to see Spike standing there, panting heavily. “I… got… here… as fast… as I could,” he breathed. “I tried to follow you, but Rainbow flew so fast, and Ponyville’s so new to me…”
Rainbow Dash noogied Spike affectionately. “Sorry ‘bout that, Spike. I should’ve remembered.”
He shrugged, then noticed the empty bed. “Wait. Where’s Twilight?” he asked, panicking.
“She’s fine, Spike!” Pinkie said. “She just ran out of the room no less than a minute ago. She was headed to see Starlight Glimmer at the School of Friendship!”
“Right… a School of Friendship…” Spike thought for a moment, then shrugged again. “I got nothing. Where’s that again?”
“You can’t miss it!” Pinkie pointed out the window, and Spike, following her hoof, could see a star-shaped point on a crystal castle extending above the treetops. “Go to that castle, and the school’s right next door! You wouldn’t be-LIEVE the trouble we had with Chancellor Neighsay at the beginning!” She made a show of shielding her mouth, then whispered to Spike, “If you ask me, he had a Brain that was full of racism.”
“Uh…” Spike stared at Pinkie, who was grinning like she had just won the Running of the Leaves.
Her mane deflated a small amount. “Aw. I was hoping someone would’ve gotten that joke.”
“It’s alright, Pinkie.” Spike hugged her, and her mane poofed right back up again. “I’ll head to the school then. Thanks!” With those words, he ran out of the barn.
************************
Twilight Sparkle was very, very confused.
She had trotted throughout Ponyville for at least half an hour, then finally had sucked it up and asked a passing unicorn for directions. After discovering that the School of Friendship was actually on the other side of the town, she thanked the pony and headed off that way, only to find that the school was closed when she got there. “Go figure…” Twilight grumbled to herself.
She sighed and turned, nearly bumping into a blue unicorn that had teleported straight out of thin air. “Gah!”
The unicorn punched the air happily. “Yes! Finally, the Great and Powerful Trixie has mastered the teleportation spell! After all this time, she has done it!” She turned around also, noticing Twilight lying on the ground. “Oops. Did Trixie knock you over?” Trixie offered her hoof to Twilight, who accepted it and stood up.
“Ugh… no, you didn’t. I wasn’t looking where I was going, that’s all. Plus, unicorns don’t really teleport where I’m from, so I was just surprised.” Twilight answered.
“Really? Where are you from?” Trixie asked.
“Canterlot.” Twilight answered again. “I’m Twilight, by the way. Twilight Sparkle.”
Trixie’s eyes went wide in shock.
“Oh no. Oops, I forgot… I’m sorry, I’m not your Twilight!” Twilight said frantically. “I’m just time displaced! Honest!” Trixie’s eyes were still widened as Twilight tried to get the blue unicorn to understand.
“Trixie?” The voice of a newcomer startled Twilight out of her mindset. She turned around and saw a light pink unicorn with a purple-and-cyan mane exiting the school. “What’s going on?”
Trixie shook her head. “Oh, nothing, Starlight! It’s just… Twilight Sparkle… here! She hasn’t returned to Ponyville in a while! IS SHE HERE TO INSPECT US?!” She grabbed Starlight, who quickly levitated the scared unicorn off of her.
“Trixie, Twilight doesn’t come to inspect us anyway.” Starlight explained. “Also, I don’t… see…” She trailed off, noticing the purple unicorn lookalike of her princess that was standing at the base of the stairs. Twilight waved shyly, not sure what would happen now.
Starlight blinked, her mind filled with questions. After what seemed like forever, her mouth opened and she uttered a single word.
“What.”