“Tell me not to go back in time, she thinks she’s so smart. ‘Oh Rainbow if you go back and interact with anyone you could destroy the future’ yeah right, what does she know…”
Rainbow Dash tossed back and forth on Twilight’s couch, wrestling with the complication of everything.
“..hey wait a minute.. if Thunder never leaves for practice that night then she can’t get into that accident and then she won’t..”
Rainbow got to her hooves as her mind raced with plans and theories.
“Twilight said I can’t interact with anypony, but this doesn’t really count right? Just quick in quick out, like I wasn’t even there! That’s how I can save her!”
Rainbow ran out of the library and continued forward as fast as possible and before long was back in the energy field from before. She continued going back further and further until finally she met the sight of her sister getting ready for practice in the morning.
“Ok, ok, how do I stop her from going out. Come on think, think, think!”
Finally, the bulb turned on in her head.
“The only time she’d willingly miss practice is whenever I was sick..”
Rainbow stepped out of the field and was transported right outside her childhood home, 13 years in the past. She quickly flew down to Ponyville below, searching through every flower field and garden. Rummaging through another field, her nose twitched to a familiar scent.
“Ugh, sorry about this little me..”
She plucked out the flower and flew back up to her old home, grabbing a pot off a passing balcony on her way up. Rainbow placed the flower in the pot and put it on the window sill of her fillyhood room.
“This better work…”
Without a second thought Rainbow Dash sped off at blistering speed to make her way back to the present. As she reentered the energy sphere she was met with images passing by of a life unfamiliar to her, a life with her sister by her side. She stared in wonder with each life defining moment. Every birthday, every graduation, every new friend, all with Thunder Streak.
Suddenly, a tear appeared just outside the field. Rainbow slammed to a stop and watched it slowly rip across the void surrounding her. The tear then suddenly changed direction and ripped right through the field holding Rainbow Dash and began to pull her out.
“Oh shitshitshitSHITSHIT!”
Rainbow backed up as far as possible but was still forcefully removed from the energy field, sending her who knows how many years back. Rainbow rolled across the ground as she was spat out of time. Unable to react in time, she watched as the void closed, leaving her stranded.
“What the hell was that about?!”
Rainbow got to her hooves and took in her surroundings. All around her were the familiar buildings of Cloudsdale. She began walking through the streets, looking for any clue as to when in time she was. As she scanned every building it was all just painfully plain and familiar.
“Huh, I guess I did make it back to the prese- ow!”
“Ow! Oh, I’m sorry man, I wasn’t paying attention.”
“No worries, I wasn’t.. either…”
Rainbow Dash recovered from her collision and realized who she had bumped into.
“Hey y’know what? You look exactly like my little sister. Except she’s ten and you’re.. not.” Thunder Streak pointed out with mild amusement.
“I, you and, and, and I and… I do?”
“Uhh.. yeah..”
“Haha, oh wow that’s, isn’t that funny, heh.”
“Hey are you like, new around here? There’s not a lot of Pegasi I don’t know up here so it’s refreshing to see a new face.”
“Yes! Yes that’s it, uh huh yep just call me new face Andy with how.. new.. I am.”
“Right.. well, I’ll uh, see you around I guess.”
“Waitwaitwaitwait! I uhh.. I uhhhhhhhhdont have a place yet, to stay, actually, so I was, um..”
“Say no more pal, I catch your drift. Why don’t you come over for dinner?”
“Oh! Oh, oh really? Thank you so much Thu- imeannameidontknow!”
Rainbow flashed a cheesy grin, waiting for the agonizing awkward pain to end her.
“Right.. my place is over this way, come on.”
Rainbow followed closely behind Thunder, merciful for the pain to be over.
’Who the heck is Andy?!’
_______________________________________________
“Knock knock! I brought a guest over!” Thunder Streak called out from behind the door.
“Oh well bring them in honey!” Windy Whistles responded as she opened the door. “We just love having guests ov- oh, oh wow, you are not gonna believe this but you look exactly like my youngest.”
“So I’ve heard.” Rainbow chuckled.
“Well hello, my name is Windy but you can just call me the head chef for tonight.” Windy laughed to herself. ”Now come over to the table dear, we’re having pancakes!”
“Don’t let her friendliness scare you, everyone can get pretty excitable around here.” Thunder whispered to Rainbow.
“No worries, it’s the same back home with my folk.” Rainbow winked.
“Hey hey hey, I heard we have a guest!” Bow Hothoof called, entering the kitchen. “Now who do we got h- oh, oh wow, honey doesn’t she look exactly like our little Dashie? Like wow it is spot on! Anyway, I’m Mr. Hothoof, Bow Hothoof. It’s a pleasure to meet you Ms…”
“Oh! Ummm I’m uhhhhhh….. Randy… Randy.. Cash.. yeah, Randy Cash.” ‘Randy’ replied.
“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you Ms. Cash!” Bow shook hooves with ‘Randy’.
“Hold on! I’m coming!” A small voice called from upstairs. “Did I miss anything? Did you save my se- oh, oh wow, they really do look like me.” A rainbow maned filly stared in wonder.
“Rainbow! What have we told you about staring.” Windy whispered to her daughter.
“Oh! Right, sorry.” Rainbow apologized as they climbed to their seat.
“Oh it’s alright really, I can only imagine how it feels to see somepony that looks just like you sitting at your dinner table.” ‘Randy’ chuckled.
“You got that right, Y’know this reminds of this funny story from work where-“
“Dad. I’m telling you. We’ve heard every single one of your work stories.” Thunder cut in.
“Ah come on you didn’t even let me start!”
“Is it the one with the hammer and the mongoose?”
“…yes.”
“So, Randy, how are you liking Cloudsdale?” Windy inquired.
“Oh Cloudsdale is great, it’s like I’ve been here my whole life.” ‘Randy’ chuckled.
“It’ll have that effect on you!” Windy laughed to herself.
“Where’d you live before here?” Thunder asked.
“Oh, in uhh, Ponyville, of course.”
The table fell deafeningly quiet.
“Oh.. I’m so sorry, I-I had no idea. I wouldn’t have asked if I knew..”
“What? What are you apologizing for?” ‘Randy’ asked more confused than ever.
“Well it’s just, I hope you didn’t lose anybody in the attack.”
“What attack?”
“You know, the attack of Nightmare Moon. When she took over the land of the earth ponies.”
Her heart sank. She didn’t know what to think. The attack of Nightmare Moon? Why didn’t Celestia stop her? Is Celestia even still alive?
“I-if you’ll uhh, excuse me I have to use the, uh, the bathroom.” ‘Randy’ excused herself.
“Third door down the hall!” Rainbow called from the other end of the table.
_______________________________________________
“OH MY GOSH. OH MY GOSH. WHAT DID I DO?! HOW- WHEN- I- WHO- UGGH! Ok, ok, ok, ok, calm down Dash. You can fix this, just gotta find Celestia. Right, find Celestia. Easy.” Rainbow Dash paced in the “lawn” behind her fillyhood home.
“Why would you want her?” A curious voice asked from above.
Rainbow looked up and found her younger counterpart poking out her bedroom window.
“Oh, hey there, Rainbow was it? Yeah I just need to talk to Celestia about… things.”
“Good luck with that, her sister tried talking to her and see what happened to her.”
“Princess Luna? Luna became Nightmare Moon because she.. talked to Celestia?”
“What? No, she got permanently imprisoned by her sister, Nightmare Moon.”
There’s that sinking feeling again.
“I must got clouds in my ears cause it sure did just sound like you said Celestia became Nightmare Moon.”
“Uhh, yeah? Did you.. not know that?”
‘Randy’ was too stunned to respond.
’WHAT?! HOW DID- BUT SHE- AAHHH HOW DOES NOTHING MANAGE TO MAKE SENSE AROUND HERE?!’
“Y’know I’ve been thinking, what kind of name is ‘Randy’ anyway? Like what even is a Randy?”
“Well it’s, it means uh, oh to hell with it listen here kid. I’m gonna tell you something, and it’s gonna sound ridiculous but trust me, it’s the least weird thing about today for me. I, am you, from the way far future.”
“…I knew it!”
“The thing is, everything in the past is different. Where I come from, Luna was the one that became Nightmare Moon and Celestia was able to defeat her and bring peace to Equestria.”
“Blech, sounds too happy.”
“And now I have to get back to the future and find a way to fix all of this.”
“Damn I grow up to be cool.”
“Hey! Watch your mouth young lady!”
“Hmm, maybe not. Oh! Oh! When do I get my cutie mark?”
“You don’t have it? That’s weird, I got mine by the time I was six and you’re like, what, ten?”
“Hey are you making fun of me? Cause that'd mean you’re making fun of yourself and that would make you pretty stupid.”
“No, no, it’s just.. whatever, I got my cutie mark in a race at summer flight camp.”
“No way! My first day of camp is tomorrow!”
“Wait, if she never gets her cutie mark, then she might never do the sonic rainboom, and would that mean I’d technically never learn how to do it? Which would mean I’d lose my only way back home?”
“The sonic rainwhat?”
“The rainboom, it’s like this super big rainbow explosion thing, the point is, it’s super awesome and we’re the only pony that can do it and it’s how we time travel. If you don’t do it tomorrow then we might never do it and the future may be erased forever.”
“Thanks for sugarcoating it, there totally isn’t any pressure.”
“Don’t you give me lip I’m saving your blank flank right now!”
“Ok so I just go to camp tomorrow, do the rainbow super boom or whatever and the universe is saved?”
“Pretty much, maybe, hopefully. We’ll see how it goes.”
“What do you mean ‘We’?”
“Well I gotta make sure you do the rainboom and it’s not like I can do it from your backyard, I mean, our backyard.”
“Ugh, fine. But don’t embarrass me in front of my friend.”
“Embarrass you?! I AM you!”
“Yeah, old me.”
“O-Old!? I’m only 24!”
“Scratch that then, you’re ancient me.”
“Ohohoho you think you’re real funny huh? We’ll see how funny this is when you’re a slave under Nightma-“
“I’m going to bed I can’t hear you!”
The filly disappeared to her room and promptly shut the only light that was shining in the night, signaling she was done chatting.
“Was I really that much of a brat?!”
“I heard that!”
_______________________________________________
“Sorry I can’t stay sweetie but you know how work can be, I’ll be off in time to pick you up though.” Windy planted a kiss on her youngest’s forehead. “You have fun now!”
“See ya mom!” The filly waved as her mother flew off to work. “You can come out now weirdo.”
Rainbow Dash popped out a nearby cloud-bush.
“Ok, let’s do this thing.”
The tiny mare rolled her eyes. The two Dashes approached the entrance to the camp with determination in their eyes.
“Wait a moment.” A wing suddenly sprung out in front of them. “Ma’am are you related to this filly?”
“Are you kidding me.” Both Rainbows said in unison.
“Hey it’s just protocol.”
“Yes, I’m related to her. I’m her… aunt. Four times removed.” Adult Rainbow sighed.
“Alright, just sign her in on the roster and you can go in.”
As her adult self signed the form, the younger Rainbow looked past the entrance and saw the scope of the camp. Complete open air with activities and obstacles placed everywhere.
“No way.. This. Is. Awesome!” The filly absentmindedly wandered in. She did a full rotation to get a full grasp of all the possibilities at her hooves. As she scoped the area she spotted a familiar pink mane from across the camp.
“There she is!” The filly took off to the sky.
“Ok squirt let’s save the uni…. where the hay did she go?” Rainbow searched for her past self in a panic.
“Now I see why you’re four times removed.”
_______________________________________________
“Yo Flutters!”
A yellow coated filly looked up from the spot she was sat and saw her rainbow haired friend rapidly approaching.
“Oh, hello Rainbow Dash.”
“I didn’t expect to see you here Shy.”
“I didn’t expect to be here, but my parents thought it’d be good for me to ‘get out’ and ‘meet ponies that aren’t your brother’.”
“I’ve been there before, well, not really, but I get it.”
“Are your parents here with you?” Fluttershy asked.
“Nah. They had work so now I’m stuck with my future self watching me.”
“That’s a shame. Wait what?”
“Yeah she showed up all like ‘if you don’t do the super rainbow explosion bomb then the universe is doomed’ and it’s totally cramping my style.”
“Oh. I’m, uh, sorry?”
“Yeah it’s a drag. Oh! Do you wanna see me go through all those hoops?” Rainbow pointed up at a long lineup of ring shaped clouds positioned above them.
”Definitely! Just, please be safe.”
Rainbow shot up into the air and began to maneuver through each ring, taking every turn perfectly.
“Yo Flutters! Are you seeing this?” Rainbow asked through the wind blowing in her face.
When there was no response she slowed down for a second to see if Fluttershy was still watching. When she looked over to where her friend was sitting she saw two other fillies closing in on her.
“Now who the hay are those two?”
Rainbow abandoned the hoops and immediately diverted to where Fluttershy was.
“Leave her alone!”
_______________________________________________
“Hey have you seen a blue filly around here? Kinda looks exactly like me actually.”
“Sorry to say I haven’t.”
“Ok, thanks anyway.”
’Yeah, thanks for nothing.’
Rainbow continued searching for her past self through the sea of Pegasi with increasingly annoying results. Just as she was losing hope, she heard the sound of a familiar shouting match from across the camp.
“You think you’re such a big shot? Why don’t you prove it!” The nasally voice of a prepubescent colt challenged.
“What do ya have in mind?” A youthful but raspy voice shot back.
“A race, through the whole camp.” The colt proposed.
“You’re challenging me to a race? Now you’re just asking to be embarrassed.”
“Not just me. If you’re so ‘awesome’ then you’ll have no problem beating me and my bro here. I mean, unless you’re chicken.”
The young mare saw fire in her eyes.
“Chicken?! Ok buster, get your flank to the starting line right now and let’s settle this!”
“Woah, woah, what’s going on here?” Rainbow Dash cut in after finally finding her filly self.
“Who’s this? Is she your babysitter?” The colt teased.
“Actually she’s Rainbow Dash from the fu-“
“Shshsh! Fluttershy that’s a secret!”
“But you told me about it.”
“Because you never talk to anypony else!”
“Oh, that makes sense.”
“If you’ll excuse me I have to talk with my NIECE in private for a second.” Rainbow said as she pulled her younger self aside.
“What do you want? I was just about to totally destroy that guy!”
“You told Fluttershy?! It’s kinda hard to keep a low profile if you’re going around telling everypony I’m from the future!”
“We’re keeping a low profile but I also have to preform an impossible stunt that’ll literally change history? Kinda contradictory don’t ya think?”
“Ok listen just, just try to stay low for now. You’ll know when it’s time to do the rainboom when you just… feel it, y’know?”
“Fine.. now let me go destroy that guy.”
_______________________________________________
The silence was sharp. Three fillies stood at the starting line, wings at the ready. Their hearts starting up like a jet engine. Fluttershy stood before them, raising the checkered flag into the air. After a tense pause, she waved the flag down and all three racers shot forward. Rainbow took the lead and tightly took the first turn. Checking behind her, Rainbow saw the two opposing colts keeping closely behind. She took a sharp right turn, throwing off one of the colts and causing them to crash into a cloud pillar.
Rainbow continued to hold the lead as she shot forward with the wind blowing past her and adrenaline running through her. In all her days of flying she’d never felt anything quite like this. While Rainbow was wrapped in her own thoughts the remaining colt took the opportunity to slam into her and knock her off course.
“Later Rainbow Crash!”
“Hey!”
Rainbow darted forward as fast as possible. And then went faster. And faster. No matter how much she pushed she still managed to gain more and more speed. She felt the air wrap around her as she reached unprecedented speeds. Everything around her became a blur of color until she felt an explosion of energy that shot her up with a rainbow trail following behind her. She flew through the finish line and above all of Cloudsdale.
“Yes! She actually did it!” The adult Rainbow cheered.
The younger Rainbow came in for a landing.
“Do you see me out there?! I went all *fwoosh* and then *bwush* and then *kaBOOM* I did the super rainbow boom bada just like you said!” The filly celebrated to her older self.
“Hell yeah you did! And you got yourself a pretty sweet cutie mark.”
“I sure di- wait I got WHAT?!” The filly looked back to her previously blank flank and saw it was now adorned with a coveted cutie mark.
“OhmygoshohmygoshohMYGOSH!! That has to be the coolest cutie mark anyone has ever seen! It’s just like your- uh.. didn’t you say you got your cutie mark?”
“Uhh, yeah? What you can’t see it’s right theWHERE DID MY CUTIE MARK GO?!”