//------------------------------//
// Episode 19: Hold Onto That Feeling! 
// Story: My Little Pony: Sparkling Harmony: Future Incursion 
// by Captain_Cosmos 
//------------------------------//

Sparkler galloped through Maretime Bay towards The Medley Delly. She had gotten a call from Winter-Moon saying she needed her help, and it sounded like she was in real danger, so after telling Spike to take Flurry home, she bolted into town. “By Faust I hope I’m not too late.” She said to herself as she ran through scenarios in her head.

Within minutes, she reached the Medley Delly, which had its windows covered from the inside so she couldn’t see into it. She turned the knob on the door and swung it open, and that’s when she saw it. The place was crawling with LADYBUGS. Sparkler’s jaw dropped. How and where did all these bugs come from?

She didn’t have a lot of time to think as she heard Winter’s voice from behind the DJ stand. “Sparkler? Is that you? Get these monsters out of here!” Winter screamed.

Sparkler picked her jaw off the floor and used her wings to hover over the bugs until she got to the DJ stand. She peered over and saw Winter Moon curled into a little ball shaking. “Winter? What happened? Where did all these ladybugs come from?” She asked.

“I don’t know!” Winter responded. “But I do know that they terrify me and I’m begging you to get rid of all of them! Please!” She cried.

Terrified of Ladybugs…just like Twilight… Sparkler shook her head. No, she couldn’t think about that right now. She lit her horn and activated a magnetism spell to a ball of tissue paper that she rolled up, the ladybugs all were pulled from whatever they were on and all came crashing into the toilet paper. She summoned a trash bag and promptly deposited the ball of ladybugs into it. She smiled as she tied the bag closed. “There. Problem solved.” She said.

Winter peaked her head out from behind the DJ stand and saw all the monsters in the trash bag. She smiled in relief. “Phew. Thank you Sparkler.” She said. “You saved my tail.” She added.

“No problem.” Sparkler responded. “I’m just surprised there was a vermin infestation.”

Winter nodded. “Yeah. Flappy Jack and Hurricane Storm went to Zephyr Heights to get some supplies, same with Sparkle Hearts and Twinkle Spark in Bridlewood, and Bender and Foxtrot went to the print shop to get flyers for the grand opening printed. So it was just me here.” She explained. “Sorry I had to call on you to do this.”

Sparkler chuckled. “Eh, you aren’t the first one to be afraid of ladybugs…” Sparkler trailed off, her smile fading. Although she was the first pony I ever met to have such a fear…

Winter noticed the change in mood in Sparkler. “Sparkler? Is something wrong?” She asked.

Sparkler sighed. She opened her mouth to answer before the door swung open and an angry growl filled the room. “Hey! What are you doing with my ladybugs?!” Asked a clearly angry Sprout.

Sparkler and Winter gasped and Sparkler whirled around to see Sprout standing at the door and looking angry.

Winter, being a restaurant owner, put on her manager face. “These are your bugs that infested our restaurant?” She asked.

Sprout nodded. “Yeah! But I never meant to infest your restaurant.” He said. “They were meant to infest her house!” He growled as he pointed directly at Sparkler.

Sparkler, upon her brain processing that information, became enraged. “I’m sorry, WHAT?!” She growled.

“Yeah! I was trying to bring those bugs to her house so she and her little monsters might move out and away from Maretime Bay and…I…shouldn’t…have…said…that…” Sprout’s ears drooped as his brain connected the dots of what he just confessed to, and to WHOM he confessed.

Sparkler’s mouth was agape. This pony, who had already nearly killed Melody, was trying to run her and her family out of town?! After her brain processed that information. She sneered at Sprout and approached him. Sprout wanted to run, but Sparkler lit her horn and ensured that he couldn’t. She got in his face and stared daggers into him. “Listen you featherbrain, you are in VERY hot water with me right now. Between nearly killing my daughter and THIS.” She held up the bag of ladybugs for Sprout to see. “I am well within my rights to press assault and harassment charges against you. But instead, here’s what’s going to happen.” Sparkler released Sprout. “You are going to leave this building, you are going to stay as far away from me and my family as possible, and if you ever come near me or my family for any reason not caused by Flurry Heart or by you being a customer at this establishment, I WILL be pressing charges. Am I clear?“ Sparkler asked.

Sprout somehow gained a ton of confidence because he was about to retort that threatening him also granted him the right to press charges, but was shut down when behind Sparkler, he saw Winter Moon standing there sneering at him, and she had a horn and wings too. So instead of retorting, he shrieked. “A PegaCorn runs this place!” With that, he bolted out of the building.

Sparkler was confused at his outburst, as far as she knew she was the only Alicorn in the room. She looked around, and her jaw dropped when she saw Winter, standing there with wings and a horn. “You’re an ALICORN?!” She exclaimed. Before, she saw Winter with a horn only. What the heck?!

Winter nodded as she folded her wings. “Yeah. I’ve been keeping my wings under wraps since coming here.” She said.

Sparkler had so many questions, why did she hide her wings? How was she an Alicorn, but out of all of them, one question, fueled by what Night Shade said earlier about using what they had available, Sparkler asked the question that was most definitely a beggar question. “Winter do you mind donating a magical signature sample to Canterlogic? They need all the Alicorn signatures they can get.” She said before she could stop it.

Winter couldn’t help but chuckle. “Of all the questions you probably have, THAT was your first?” She asked. “What do they need it for?” She asked.

Sparkler’s mind raced as it dawned on her how much she just screwed up right now, she just asked her boss, who just revealed herself as an Alicorn, to donate a sample of her magic to Canterlogic out of the blue. “I-It’s for a research project they’re doing. Uh, top level clearance, they don’t want anypony talking about it outside the build—“

“Sparkler.” Winter said, cutting her off. “You can relax, and drop the charade. I know exactly why you need Alicorn Magical signatures.” She said.

Sparkler’s eyes widened and she gulped. “Y-you do?” She asked. Not sure what to expect. Dear Faust I HOPE I’m not about to get fired for this. was a thought that came to her mind.

Winter nodded to Sparkler’s question. “Yes. I know exactly what’s going on. You and your family are trying to get back to your own time 1,019 years in the past.” Winter honed in on the real story.

At that, Sparkler gasped in surprise. Winter KNEW?! Sparkler glanced at the door, before glancing back at Winter. “…H-HOW?!” She asked, her mind struggling to keep up.

Winter Moon chuckled. “Follow me.” She said as she turned and walked towards the kitchen.

Sparkler, unable to think of anything else to do, followed Winter. Winter smiled as they entered the kitchen. “My siblings and I didn’t choose this location by chance. We’re here on purpose. Because we knew you’d be here. And we knew you’d need our help while trapped here.” She said.

Sparkler was close to panicking at this point. “You…you knew I’d be here, and you knew I’d need help…how? How did you know I’d need help? How do you know these things?” Sparkler didn’t know if she should run now or stay, but either way, she was becoming afraid of the answer, and she had an idea of what it could be.

Winter led Sparkler to a back room with the lights off, closed the door behind them, and went to turn on the light. “My siblings and I know.” She flipped on the light and Sparkler saw a sight that made her nearly jump. “Because you told us.” Winter said.

There, hanging on the wall, Sparkler saw a picture of herself, in a frame that had a caption. “The Medley Delly, inspired by Great Granny Sparkler.” She read aloud.

Sparkler couldn’t believe it. She just couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “You…you’re…” Sparkler stammered in horror of the time paradoxes she was SURE would come from this knowledge that she now possessed as she stared at the mare that was apparently her GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER!

Winter nodded. “Your great granddaughter. Yeah.” She said. “When I saw you come in for your interview, I was thrilled that we set up shop in time. We all knew that one day the story of your time travel adventure would unfold in the present. And we knew that we had to help you in any way we could.” She explained.

Sparkler shook her head. “Winter…is this why you hired me? Is this why it only took ten minutes for you to talk to your siblings?” She asked.

“We thought about outright just helping you financially, but future you specifically told us not to, because you hate having to accept handouts.” Winter explained.

Sparkler gasped. “That’s right!” She exclaimed. “I would say that…Winter…” She trailed off, not knowing what to say or do.

Winter just gave her a reassuring smile and draped a wing over her. “I also know that today is your six month anniversary with Great Granny Twily.” She said. “Don’t worry. It’s gonna be ok.” She said.

“Do my kids and I make it back? I mean, you know how this is going to go.” Sparkler responded.

Winter chuckled. “No time paradoxes have been caused yet, because so far everything that’s happened was supposed to happen. But rule number one of time travel, if one tells you what happens, it won’t happen.” She said.

Sparkler nodded. “Winter…I don’t know what to say…” She admitted. She was truly speechless.

Winter smiled. “Hey, we’re Medleys. And Medleys always have each other’s backs.” She said.

Sparkler smiled and nodded. She could agree with that sentiment. “Are you sure no time paradoxes have happened yet?” She asked.

“100% positive.” Winter responded. “From you finding Light and Dark to coming into this room, everything has happened as it was supposed to thus far.” She said.

Sparkler nodded. She would trust Winter on this, but still, the sheer fact that she now knew of her family’s future, it was nerve racking to say the least.

“Oh, and one more thing, if it’s not already clear, yes I’ll donate a magical signature.” Winter said.

At that, Sparkler just sighed and smiled, deciding to just roll with it. “Thanks Winter.” She said.

“Anything to help our awesome great granny.” Winter responded, hugging Sparkler.





Back at the house, Spike and Flurry had come back after the meeting with Canterlogic. Sparkler had sent a text ahead letting the others know what was going on.

The kids had since taken to drawing. Pedal smiled as she drew on her paper. “I’m gonna make a picture of all of us together with Mom and Mommy Twi. That might cheer mom up today.” She said.

“Ooh. Right, because today’s…that day.” Sprinkle responded.

“Yeah we should do something to cheer her up. I did notice she was a little down this morning.” Mystic said.

“What are you guys talking about?” Dark asked.

“It’s our parents’ six month anniversary today.” Sky responded without looking up from her picture. “Except they’re separated for it, through means out of their control.” She explained.

“You mean the time portal that brought all of you forward 1,019 years into the future?” Light asked.

The reaction was immediate, everypony in the room stopped what they were doing, whirled their heads around, and stared at Light and Dark. Including Sunny and Pipp, who had been reading a book on the couch.

“W-where did you get that idea?” Trail asked.

“Yeah. Time portal? Ehehe. That’s crazy.” Lightning said.

Light glanced at Dark before sighing. “I overheard Sparkler last night when I was up to go to the bathroom.” He revealed.

“We know where you’re really from.” Dark said.

Everypony continued to stare at them. Light put his hooves up in defense. “Hey, I wasn’t trying to overhear, I just happened to catch it and it piqued my curiosity.” He said.

For the moment, nopony moved, before Melody flared her wings, lit her horn, and got up in Light’s and Dark’s faces. “You both will keep this to yourself. The less ponies know about our origins, the better.” She said. “Got it?” She asked.

“Promise.” Dark said.

“We won’t say a word.” Light added.

Melody nodded and dimmed her horn and closed her wings. Light bit his lip. “But for real, today’s got to be hard for Sparkler.” Dark commented.

“Yeah.” Lumber said. “And not just for her.”

“Today’s actually the 6 month anniversary for the day mom and Mommy Twi adopted us Sextuplets too.” Crystal explained. “That day, we all became a family.”

“Ouch. Mega dang.” Dark said.

“Yeah.” Spike said.

After that, everypony fell into silence. Then, Melody came up with an idea. “Hey! I got an idea for how we could cheer mom up!” She said.

“Oh? What is it Melody?” Pipp asked.

Melody beamed as she turned to her siblings. “Let’s put on a performance for her! A musical number!” She exclaimed.

“You mean sing her a song?” Mystic asked.

“Bingo!“ Melody said. “And not just any song, the song that was performed 6 months ago today.” She said.

At that, Melody’s other siblings beamed at the idea. “Yeah! Let’s do that!” They said.

Light and Dark smiled. “Is there anything we can help with?” Light asked.

“As a matter of fact, do you two know how to play trumpets?” Melody asked.





Some time later, Sparkler and Winter were walking back to the house Sparkler and her kids were occupying. Sparkler was still reeling from the knowledge that apparently Winter-Moon and her six siblings were her great grandchildren. “Two incidents. There have only been two incidents since we were thrown here. Everything else has gone our way. And no time paradoxes?” She asked.

Winter chuckled. “None.” She said. “So don’t worry about it.”

Sparkler sighed. “I can’t STOP worrying about it. Do you know how terrified I am now that I know who your family is? Do you have any idea what power that information has?”

“I wouldn’t have told you if it wasn’t safe to do so.” Winter responded. “I promise Great Granny Sparky.”

Sparkler winced at that. “Uhm…just…Call me Sparkler, please? I’m not sure I’m ready to be called great grandma yet.” She said.

Winter laughed. “Alright fine. Sparkler it is…GG Sparky.” She teased.

“Winter!” Sparkler whined, but couldn’t help but laugh.

Winter chuckled. “I’m sorry Sparkler. But I’m not gonna pass up a teasing opportunity.” She said.

Sparkler just rolled her eyes and smiled. “At least I don’t need to come up with excuses why I need to leave work early should Canterlogic call.” She said.

“Nah. You just need to say they called and we’ll cover for you.” Winter said. “Though I would appreciate it if you gave us a heads up if you have a firm idea when you’ll be leaving so we can start finding a replacement for you.” She said.

“Deal.” Sparkler responded.

They approached the house, and Sunny came out the front door holding Flurry. “Hey there Sparkler!” She said. Flurry launching at Sparkler and hugging her.

Sparkler caught Flurry and wrapped a hoof around her. “Hey Flurry.” She said. “Hey Sunny. How’d today go?” She asked.

“You and Twilight are doing all the right things. For real, the kids are angels.” Sunny responded. She noticed Winter Moon. “Oh, hello. Are you a friend of Sparkler?” She asked.

“More like…I’m her descendant.” Winter responded.

Sunny’s jaw dropped. “Descendant?! Wow.” She said.

“I know right?” Sparkler said. “Had me shocked.” She said.

Sunny blinked a few times before nodding. “Ahem, anyway, the kids are out on the back porch. They wanted you to go back there as soon as you got home.” She said.

“For what reason?” Sparkler asked.

“You’ll see.” Sunny said.

Sparkler smiled before the three Alicorns walked around the house. As they approached the back, Sparkler could hear something. She recognized it as her kids but they were…singing? What’s going on? she thought.

As they rounded the corner, Sparkler could clearly hear Lumber start to sing vocals.

🎶Just a small town girl
Living in a lonely world
She took the midnight train
Going anywhere

Just a city Mare
Born and raised in Canterlot
She took the midnight train
Going anywhere

A herd of little fillies and colts
A host of pets and one Dragon

For a smile they can share the night
It goes on and on and on and on!

Strangers, waiting
Up and down the boulevard
Their shadows, searching in the night.

Streetlights, ponies
Living just to find emotion
Hiding somewhere in the night!

Working hard to get my fill
Everypony wants a thrill
Paying anything to roll the dice
Just one more time

Some'll win, Some will lose
Some were born to sing the blues
Oh the journey never ends
It goes on and on and on and on

Strangers, waiting
Up and down the boulevard
Their shadows, searching in the night.

Streetlights, ponies
Living just to find emotion
Hiding somewhere in the night!

Don't stop believing
hold on to that feeling
Streelights, ponies

Don't stop believing
hold on to that feeling
Streelights, ponies
Don't Stop!🎶

The song came to an end and Sparkler was amazed, shocked, and nearly in tears. It became clear what just happened, her kids knew what today was and wanted to do something nice for her to cheer her up!

Melody, for her part, smiled as she ran up and hugged her mother. “Happy six month Anniversary mom!“ she exclaimed happily.

“We know you miss Mommy Twi so we thought we’d put on this little show to cheer you up.” Pedal explained.

“Yeah! Because this is also the six month anniversary of you adopting us.” Crystal said. “So we figured, why not do a celebration of that and you and Mommy Twi getting together?”

Ok, THAT got tears out of Sparkler as she smiled. “Awww. Kids.” All nine of her kids closed in and they all got into a group hug. “You’re right. Our Anniversaries include you too. Thank you. The performance was amazing!” She said.

“And thanks to the magic of digital video…” chimed in Pipp. Sparkler glanced around and saw that Sunny, Pipp, Zipp, Hitch, and Spike all had their phones out. “I can compile all the footage we just got to make one amazing music video of the performance.” She explained.

Sparkler smiled widely. “You guys were in on this?” She asked.

“We were too!” Light and Dark said excitedly, holding up the trumpets Pipp provided them. “Hey Mystic? Did we do good for only a few practice runs?” Light asked.

“You two did AWESOME. Thanks for your help.” Mystic said.

Sparkler chuckled. “We got some trumpeters among us.” She said.

Light and Dark beamed and hugged each other. Hearing praise meant that they were one step closer to Sparkler saying she’ll talk to Twilight. Overall, the day ended on a good note. Sparkler was particularly happy when Pipp told her that she’d edit all the footage she, Sunny, Zipp, and Hitch got into one music video for her to keep. “Twilight will definitely want to see it.” Sparkler had responded to that.





About an hour later, Sunny had returned home to her lighthouse and was rewatching her perspective of the performance from earlier when she heard the door open and the peppy voice of her marefriend. “Oh Sunny Bunny! I’m home!” Izzy called out.

Sunny beamed and galloped around the island in the kitchen and crashed into her marefriend in a loving hug. “Welcome home Izzy Kitty!” She said. Nuzzling Izzy on the cheek.

Izzy giggled as she gladly returned the nuzzle. “Somepony missed me.” She commented.

“What? I’m not allowed to miss hanging out with my marefriend?” She asked.

“Aww. I missed you too sweetie.” Izzy said as she pecked Sunny on the cheek with her lips.

Sunny blushed and smiled sheepishly. Izzy meanwhile trotted into the house and set the bag she was carrying on the island. “So, did I miss anything good here?” She asked.

“Pipp and I watched Sparkler’s kids while she was out in town, we played hide and seek, and they sang her a song upon her return.” Sunny explained. “I got the performance on video.”

Izzy beamed. “Ooh! You had a fun day!” She said.

“I did...” Sunny said, her smile wavering and her ears drooping.

Izzy noticed Sunny’s mood drop and raised an eyebrow. “Sunny Bunny? What’s wrong?” She asked.

Sunny sighed. “Izzy there’s something I think we need to talk about.” She said.

“What’s up?” Izzy responded.

Sunny took a deep breath, and began to talk about the incident in the closet, and how it seemed to have awakened something in her towards Pipp, while making sure that Izzy understood on no uncertain terms that her feelings towards her unicorn marefriend have not changed.

To be continued…