It was all a blur. One moment, Sparkler was holding on for dear life, trying to save her kids, Spike, and Flurry. And the next, something banged her in the head and she lost her grip, the last thing she saw before being knocked out was the looks of horror on Twilight’s and Night-Mare’s faces as she and everypony that was holding onto her were sucked into…whatever the Faust the glowing light was.
After who knows how much time, Sparkler slowly regained her consciousness as she heard ponies talking to her. “Mom?”
“Mom, please wake up?”
“We need you.”
Sparkler let out a weak groan in response as she slowly opened her eyes. Her vision cleared to see Lightning, Lumber, Trail, and Spike standing over her. “Ugh.” She let out. “What happened…?” She asked groggily.
The boys let her sit up and rub the back of her head. Spike smiled in relief. “Thank Faust you’re alive Sparkler!” He exclaimed.
“Yeah. Ugh. Is everypony all—“ Sparkler’s eyes snapped as wide as saucers when she took in the situation, and noticed a SEVERE lack of some ponies. “What?! Where is everypony else?!” She asked frantically as she got up.
“We don’t know.” Lightning said.
“We just woke up and everypony else was gone.” Spike said.
Sparkler blinked as she frantically looked around and took in her surroundings. As far as she could see, they were in the middle of nowhere, green grass, clear blue skies, a few trees, and nothing else. “What, is going on?” She asked, trying her best not to hyperventilate. “Where the heck are we?”
“Your guess is as good as ours.” Trail responded.
Sparkler took multiple breaths in an attempt to stay calm. She was having trouble believing what was happening. She was certain of two things. That they weren’t in Detrot anymore, and that she was missing six of her kids, and Flurry. Her eyes returned to who WAS with her, and that’s when she noticed that they looked different. “Guys.” She said. “Did you notice any changes?” She asked.
“The fact that our hooves are bare and our wings are more feathery than usual?” Lumber asked.
“Yeah. We noticed. It happened to you too.” Spike said.
Sparkler looked down to examine herself, and indeed her hooves where bear and her wings…weren’t feathery, but kinda looked more like a falcon’s wings. “What the frax was that thing that dumped us here?” She asked.
“We don’t know.” Spike said.
Sparkler was on the verge of actually hyperventilating at this point. Every second was becoming more and more stressful. Until something clicked in her brain. “Wait! I might be able to find the others! At least most of them!” She said. She closed her eyes and lit her horn. After Sparky and Misty escaped custody after the trial a few months back, Sparkler had placed tracking spells on all the kids. That way if Sparky and Misty tried anything, she would know. She concentrated really hard on that spell, and much to her utter devastation, she came up EMPTY! “No…no no no this isn’t happening. Come on, come on!” She tried harder, but still got nothing. After a good minute, she sadly gave up. “I…I can’t locate anypony!” She revealed.
“Not even the clones?” Spike asked. “Isn’t that hive-like mental link you guys have supposed to give you a precise location for each other?”
Sparkler closed her eyes again, and this time focused on the mental link. Thankfully, she could hear three beating hearts. So she knew that the clones were still out there, but much to her utter dismay, she couldn’t get an exact fix on their location. She opened her eyes again. “Gah! I know the clones are still alive but I can’t get a fix on their location!” She stomped the ground in frustration. “And I don’t even have a way to even TRY to track Flurry. I’m still learning Alicorn Sense. And given how well the first two methods went, I doubt that Alicorn Sense will work anyway.” She explained.
“So…we don’t know where anypony else is, we’re in the middle of nowhere, with apparent new looks, and for some reason your magic isn’t working right.” Spike said.
“Yeah.” Sparkler responded.
Spike and the colts looked at each other. “Is this the time to panic?” Lumber asked.
“No, no nopony is panicking. We just…need to stay calm, and try to figure out what is going—“
That was as far as Sparkler got before her eyes suddenly glowed bright white and she entered a trance like state.
“Sparkler.”
“What? Who’s there?” Sparkler asked.
“Listen, we do not have much time. You and all nine of your kids, Flurry, and Spike just traveled 1,019 years into the future.”
“We WHAT?!” Sparkler asked.
“Listen carefully. Your missing charges are still out there, here’s exactly what you need to do…”
Spike and the colts stared as Sparkler stayed in the trance-like state. Unsure of what to make of this. “Ok. This is all kinds of strange.” Trail said.
“Uh…Sparkler?” Spike asked.
As if that triggered something, Sparkler’s eyes returned to normal and she left the trance-like state. “We need a LOT of tree bark.” She said, immediately walking over to the group of trees.
“Huh?” The boys asked.
“Spike, please find something small, a rock or something, and try sending it to one of the colts.” Sparkler said.
“Why?” Spike asked.
“I’ll explain what we’re doing right now, but please just do it.” Sparkler said.
Spike, not knowing what else to do, shrugged and picked up a random rock. He shot his firemail fire at it and it disappeared in ashes. A few seconds later, it reappeared in front of Lightning. “Ok so my firemail’s working A-ok.” Spike announced.
Sparkler grinned as she returned with seven planks of tree bark. “Good. Because we’re sending messages to the others.” She said.
“What?” Lumber asked.
“Will that even work?” Trail asked. “We don’t even know if they’re alive.”
“They’re alive. All of them are out there, alive.” Sparkler announced, determination clear in her behavior.
“Uh, and how do you know that?” Spike asked.
“I can’t explain it, but somehow, I know that all of them will get the message we’re gonna send them.” Sparkler responded. She started writing out a message in the dirt path. “I just need to copy this dirt message onto the bark and Spike, if you could send them on their way that would be great.”
“Uh, sure. I can do that.” Spike asked.
“Mom? What is going on?” Lightning asked.
“Feel free to look over my shoulder. I’ll explain it all in the message.”
Without knowing what else to do, the boys all looked on as she wrote out her message. As they read, their eyes widened in shock. “No way.” Lumber said.
“Is that actually true?” Spike asked.
“We’re 1,019 years into the future?!” Lightning asked.
“That’s what I was told.” Sparkler said. “I’m not sure what it is, but something reached out to me and explained what we needed to do.”
“Did this thing say WHERE our family was?” Lighting asked.
“It didn’t.” Sparkler responded. “But they’re out there.” She said. She looked out into the distance. “They’re out there somewhere. And we’re GOING to find them.” She said, her voice full of resolve.
Sparkler finished writing out the message, and after a quick copy and paste spell, the message was on all seven planks of tree bark. “Ok. Spike, it’s all up to you now.” She said.
Spike nodded, and one by one, he sent the tree bark messages through his firemail. The ashes flew off into the distance. Sparkler and the boys watched them go. “Don’t worry kids.” Sparkler said into the sky, with hope, determination, and will. “We’re coming.”
To be continued…