//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Stuck in Generation 4 // Story: When Times Collide // by RobtheMorpherPony //------------------------------// At Canterlot, Twilight was currently doing some deep breathing to calm herself down with the gathered future residents of Equestria as the purple alicorn and their friends were just finding out about. Shortly after being told how they got to the present, Rainbow Dash took Zipp out to see how the later handled flying. And now there were two in charge figures and one worried mother in their mist alongside the two alicorn sisters. "I must admit, I'd never would have imagined meeting Princess Celestia and her sister Princess Luna in my life time. After all, Zepher hieights was built on a nearby mountain from Canterlot Castle." Queen Haven said. "Admittedly, I feel the same." Phyllis said. "But I'm more worried about what my son is up to right now." She added. Suddenly Cadence and Shining Armor teleported into the throne room with Sprout in tow; the red earth pony was still in complete shock and fainted. "Oh my...what's happened to him now?" Phyllis asked. "He got overwhelmed by the sight in the Crystal Empire." Shining Armor said. "That's...probably a good thing." Phyllis said. "Did we miss something? Whose this mare?" Cadence asked. "I'll fill you in while we wait for Rainbow Dash to come back with Zipp." Flash Sentry admitted. Some time later, Flash Sentry had explained everything. Just in time for Rainbow Dash and Zipp to return. "So let me get this straight: Somehow a bunch of time portals dumped a bunch of ponies from Equestria's supposed future here in our time, and in that future, this red stallion basically pulled a King Sombra on the Earth Ponies and almost killed Sunny Starscout over there?!" Shining Armor exclaimed. "I was partly responsible for that occurring, as I had pushed my hatred of non-earth pony races way too much onto my own son." Phyllis said. "The result was the near total damnation of all ponies." She said with a heavy sigh. "Blame not yourself for your child's own doings." Luna tried to comfort. "Thanks for trying, but a parent can't help but be concerned that they may have unintentionally almost ended all of pony kind." Phyllis said. "Admittedly, I'm glad things turned out for the best anyways. I'd hate to see what would happen if Sunny was unsuccessful in uniting the pony races when my own son became as power hungry as he did." She explained. Starlight looked right at Sprout. Now...now I can't help but think what would've happened if I did stop the Sonic Rainboom anyways and prevented Twilight and her friends from ever becoming friends in the first place. I don't know if the results would've been like Twilight showed me, but I can at least guarantee it probably wouldn't be very good at all. Starlight said. "So, this is nice and all; what with getting to meet the six ponies my father always talked about; but...uh..." Sunny Starscout said. "But what?" Applejack asked. "We all should really get back to our own time, admittedly." Sunny Starscout said. "I'm afraid, based on the information I've collected from how you ended up here in our time and the circumstances around it, going back to your own time is very much impossible." Twilight added. "...Say what now? What do you mean? What information could you have collected that made you come to that assumption?" Sprout asked. Suddenly the main six other then Twilight gasped. "What? What did I say?" He asked before Twilight teleported a chalkboard into the room and began writing on it. "You just asked Twilight what information she's collected. And judging from what's happening, she's about to give us a lecture." Rainbow Dash said. "Better get comfortable, none of us are leaving until she's done.' She added. "Does anyone got any popcorn?" Zipp asked. "...That's the first thing your asking about is if anyone has any popcorn?" Rainbow Dash said. "Well if we're forced to sit here until it's over, might as well have a snack." Zipp said. "...Huh...never thought of that. I'll have to remember that." Rainbow Dash said. "So, judging from what I know happened here in the present compared to what happened in the future, when you were all teleported here, the nine of you were touching what you called the combined Unity Crystals which I had created to try and stop ponies from fighting one another poring your magics into it. Now, at that same time, I believe that I had just managed to convince Starlight Glimmer from preventing Rainbow Dash's first Sonic Rainboom which resulted in me and my friends all getting our cutie marks at the exact same time as one another. Now, here's where it gets interesting: I believe that the magics you were pouring into the combined Unity Crystals and Starlight's modified Time Travel spell worked in tandom witch each other to cause you to come to our time. Now, while a copy of the original time travel spell does still exist and all we'd have to do is get Starlight to make the same modifications again, there's no guarantee that would work and send you all back to your own time. And even if we did use it, we'd obviously need to combine it with the unity crystals and you'd need to pour your magics into them once more. But that's where the problem lies: According to the reports that have been collected, only ponies from your time period in the far future came out of those time rifts. No reports of any crystals poring out of them what-so-ever. So, in other words, the unity crystals didn't come with you. Your essentially stuck here in our time." Twilight said. "...That being said, I am going to work hard to make sure that ponies don't end up fighting each other ever again." She added. "So long story short, is that we're stuck here in what is essentially the past?" Sunny Starscout asked. "But...there has to be something!" Sprout said. "There's one other factor that leads me to the conclusion that you are all stuck here: Canterlot Castle itself has transformed slightly. Now tell me, looking around, do you see anything that resembles something from your time period?" Twilight asked. "Now that you mention it, some of the features do look like they match how the castle ruins looked back in our time..." Pipp pointed out. "And that's the other thing: The combination of the magics of the modified time travel spell and the super powered Unity Crystals caused aspects of your time period to seep into ours; merging the two into one. As such, that is further evidence that trying the same combination again may not result in returning you to the Equestria you are all familiar with." Twilight said. "Oh buck us..." Hitch said. "...Buck us hard..." He added. "A-all I wanted was to make sure that the tribes could never be separated again...not this...." Sunny Starscout said. "It's fine Sunny. Really. I know your heart was in the right place. None of us could've ever predicted this happening." Hitch said. "I got to know something: You gathered Haven here for the Pegasi leader and Alphabittle as the Unicorn leader. But you only invited Phyllis over there because of Sprout. So then, where's the earth pony leader from your time?" Rainbow Dash asked. "As much as ah hate to admit it, but Rainbow Dash is right in asking that question." Applejack said. "Um...actually, as Maretime Bay's sheriff; which is where the earth ponies were situated in our time; I am practically the authority figure of the earth ponies. Sprout used to be my deputy, but after what he did, I fired him and was currently on the look for a new deputy after making Sprout do community service on my terms." Hitch admitted. "Considering he almost killed a pony, that's rather light sentencing." Shining Armor said. "Actually, after that he was going to have to see what punishments Haven and Alphabittle had in store from him for what he did, which is when I'd essentially cut him loose for good." Hitch admitted. "...Never mind then, I'm sure neither of them would've been so light." Shining Armor said. "Especially Nova." He added. "So everyone is stuck here then huh? Well after doing some flying with Zipp here, I can defiantly see her as part of this team Soarin and I are putting together with Luna being the princess we communicate with. We haven't exactly come up with a name yet as we're still looking for Pegasi who'd be up for joining, and I think Zipp defiantly fits the bill." Rainbow Dash said. "Hey, if they are all stuck here, they might as well get comfortable." She said "That's not why we are looking at you. What happened to wanting to become a Wonderbolt, Rainbow?" Rarity asked. "Oh. That. See, Soarin told me some things, and it made me realize that if Spitfire was wiling to have me replace Soarin for some medal, then I'd rather go about making my own stunt team. But...I've already decided that Soarin is going to be in charge." Rainbow Dash said. "That bit about Soarin being in charge doesn't sound like the Rainbow Dash ah know." Applejack said. "Soarin has more experience leading a team being the former second in command of the Wonderbolts. I don't have any experience like that. So, I'm perfectly fine with taking orders because I need to know what it's like to be on a stunt team before I consider leading one. Plus, I would rather earn that sort of leadership position then have it handed to me on a silver platter." Rainbow Dash said. "...Now there's the Rainbow Dash we know..." Twilight admitted. "Huh...heard about the Wonderbolts. Sure, why not? Might as well join up if indeed we are stuck here. I'm sure the rest of us would also like to see where we'll be able to fit in this time period." Zipp said. "It'll be exciting to work with Twilight at least!" Sunny Starscout said, her alicorn form suddenly shining through. "Whoa! What's with the magic wings and horn?!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "It's...something that I can do after having unified all the pony tribes from my time period." Sunny Starscout said. "So you somehow have some sort of faux alicorn state. This deserves much research!" Twilight said before running off ahead. "...Way to go Sunny. You've been here less than a day and your already being subject to one of Twilight's research projects." Flash Sentry said, deciding to escort Sunny back to the Friendship Castle.