//------------------------------// // Past noponies and future celebrities. // Story: Snips in Time // by FacadeArt //------------------------------// Snips in Time Tuesday morning Celestia's and Luna's reign Year 0 Snips woke up with a yawn and immediately winced in pain. The cold floor of the time machine wasn't the most comfortable sleeping spot but there was nothing else to it. Then he heard his stomach complain in hunger, he hadn't thought about eating at all! Then again, he had been quite busy with the risks of time travel to start thinking about daisy sandwiches. "Sparkle 2000, what is our food situation?" he asked formally like a captain from Star Trot. "Morning master! How was your sleep?" said the computer. "Oh, just divine! I especially liked the cold metal feel of the floor and the wires running around here are just like cushions of comfort!" Snips said while he kicked around the wires like they had just poked him for seven hours and asked "does this annoy you?" "Glad to hear it...oh my dear Celestia! I just had an idea, I'll just have to say this!" the computer said. "I was watching you sleep." the computer whispered in Twilight Sparkle's voice. "Hey! Stop that! Stop it!" Snips said annoyed but the computer simply laughed. "About the food situation tough, we have some tea, in fact, we have a lot of tea." the computer said. "That's it?" said Snips while he dispensed some good old fashion tea. "Time Turner didn't seem to think that anything else was needed." the computer answered. "Of course he didn't..." muttered Snips while he sipped the tea like a well behaved gentlecolt. "Give it to me straight Sparkle, what the next item on the list?" "Authentic red silk from Tartarus." the computer said. Snips would have spitted out his tea had he not expected something like this. "Red silk from Tartarus as fuel? How the buck does that even work?" he asked. "Don't ask me, I did not build myself." said the computer. "Well!" Snips said and stood up confidently. "All I gotta do is get some Tartarusian silk and grab some lunch, I would have said something along the lines of "easy right?" but who am I kidding?" he opened the door with a *DING* "See you later Sparkle...if you're still here when I return...or if any of us are still here when I return... or if I return at all...or" "Get on with it!" the computer said. "Right!" Said Snips and stormed outside before he could change his mind. "Oh what a beautiful morning! Oh what a beautiful day! Oh what a beautiful feeling! Everything's going my way!" sung Snips while he gaily skipped over to town. Don't blame him! What would you have done if you were a magical pony in a fairy tale land of dreams? Exactly the same that's what. The day was simply perfect, the birds chirping in their usual way, the sun shining in its usual way, the trees rustling in the wind in their usual way, a filly crashing into Snips's side with a scooter in the usual way, Snips flying in the air and crashing into a pile of trash in the usual way. You know, all the usual things happened. "Ugh sorry, there was something wrong with the wheel I guess..." the filly said. Snips crawled his way out from the trash pile groaning in pain. Then he spotted the orange filly and recognized her instantly! It was Scootaloo! The captain of The Wonderbolts! "Oh my gosh! You're Scootaloo!" Snips said excited. Scootaloo was naturally confused "Uh...yeah, that's me." Then he noticed a white filly who had trotted over to the crash site. "Oh no...who did you crash into this time?" she said. No way! It was Sweetie Belle! The world famous pop star from Ponyville! "Oh my gosh!!! You're Sweetie Belle!" said Snips. Sweetie Belle was also confused and she gave Scootaloo a glance that said "explain please". "I think he hit his head or something." Scootaloo whispered. As you can see, Snips was quite excited to meet these future celebrities, with no regard to the fact that the fillies wouldn't be celebrities for at least another six years. He proceeded by shaking both of the fillies hooves like he had just met the princess herself. Needless to say the fillies had no idea what was going on. "I can't believe it! Its really you! Can I have your autographs?" asked Snips. "Autographs? Whats an autograph?" Scootaloo asked while she tilted her head to the side. "Autograph is a document transcribed entirely in the handwriting of its author! Its a paper where a famous pony has written his or her name!" Sweetie Belle answered, smiling proudly. "Way to go dictionary." Scootaloo said while she rolled her eyes. "Don't laugh! Her absurd knowledge of dictionaries will help her write the lyrics to some of her best songs!" Snips said while he mindlessly defended his future idol. "What?" Sweetie Belle squaked "I don't have any songs! I don't even like singing in front of an audience!" "Why would you want our autographs anyway?" Scootaloo asked in suspicion. "Why wouldn't I? You, Sweetie Belle, you're a famous pop star!" Snips said smiling. "Huh?" said Sweetie Belle. "And you Scootaloo, you're the captain of The Wonderbolts!" said Snips. "Uh...I'm flattered I guess, but I can't even fly yet..." Scootaloo said embarrassed. "But all of that is going to change when you're inspired by the death of..." Snips stopped his blabbering mouth just in time. "Wait a minute..." Snips said and his brains did a back flip "Right! You haven't done any of that yet!" Then he noticed that in front of him stood two clueless fillies who had no idea what he was talking about. Thank Celestia! If these fillies were as smart as Twilight Sparkle he would have been in some major trouble! He just stood there with a sheepish smile on his face and the silence lasted until it was broken by a high pitched voice. "Snips, right?" said the white filly. Sweet Celestia! They had figured him out faster then anypony he had met so far! Oh well, at least this terrible adventure was finally over! Snips hoped that the collapse of the universe wouldn't hurt too much when the white filly continued. "You're related to Snips right? You look a little bit like him." A wave of relief washed over Snips and he collapsed on the ground, partly from stress and partly from hunger. "Well, you could say that." he said. "You ok mister?" Scootaloo asked worried. "Hey! Lets help him out! Maybe we could try getting our cutie marks by being doctors!" Sweetie Belle suggested. "Nah, it wouldn't be fair when Apple Bloom is stuck working at the farm and besides I think we tried that one already." Scootaloo answered. Then she noticed something unusual "What the hay? He doesn't have a cutie mark!" Now Sweetie Belle noticed it too "Huh?! I've never met a pony this old without a cutie mark! Oh no...what if we'll still be blank flanks when we get as old as him too?" she said worried. Both fillies decided that there was absolutely no time to waste. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS DOCTORS! YAY!" they shouted in unison, all tough not as loudly, since the voice of a certain farm filly was missing. "We are doctors Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle" They said with a voice of authority "Tell me where does it hurt Mister....?" Of course it had to be The Cutie Mark Crusaders: those three crazy fillies from Snips' childhood. "Timey" Snips said reluctantly. "Look I'm just really hungry so...what if I just get to the nearest food joint and..." "Nonsense!" said the crusader duo "A doctor never leaves her patient unattended! Doctor Scootaloo, let us escort this pony to the nearest source of food." Sweetie Belle said. "Uh...what?" Scootaloo said. "Help me get Timey to Daisy's sandwiches." said Sweetie Belle. "Oh!" Scootaloo said smiling. "No please! There is absolutely no need to...!" Snips said but it was too late, his blank flank had given the crusaders such a scare that they would not give up on any chance of getting their cutie marks today. Off he went into the crusaders carriage and Scootaloo sped towards the sandwich joint. Snips was seated in the sandwich joint where he sat awkwardly. The scene was absolutely ridiculous, he was sitting in a table with two fillies, who wore sthetoscopes around their necks and sported the most serious expressions, like they were performing surgery at the moment. They stared at him with narrowed eyes and Sweetie Belle looked back and forth between him and and a notepad she was writing on. "Do you have a cold?" asked Scootaloo. "No, why would you think that?" Snips said. "Because you're wearing a red scarf in summer." She said and pointed out the scarf around his neck. Oh yeah, he was still wearing that. "Do you have a next of kin?" asked Sweetie Belle in her best doctor voice. "What? Why would I need that?" Snips asked worried. "In case of emergency." said Scootaloo. "We're just eating sandwiches." Snips said. "Don't underestimate the danger of sandwiches! Dinky's mom ate a sandwich once and had a terrible tummy ache!" Sweetie Belle said. "And Later it turned out... the sandwich was actually a sponge!" Scootaloo said dramatically like it was a mistake anypony would do. "Well I hope this place serves actual sandwiches." Snips said while he chomped down on the bread. Then he had a funny thought, he was eating sandwiches, that to him, were actually over ten years old, "Expired much?" he thought and chuckled to himself. The sandwiches were delicious! Suddenly Snips felt revitalized and full of energy. This just might turn out to be a good day! Heck, So far everything had went out without too much trouble (compared to yesterday when he had barely escaped) so he leaned back, forgot about the authentic silk from tartarus and decided to enjoy the summer, he had already enjoyed ten years ago, for a second time. (The day was about to take a turn for the worse however as you soon will see.) Still, he couldn't believe he was sitting in a sandwich joint with The Sweetie Belle and The Scootaloo! "So, Scootaloo, ever thought of being the captain of the wonderbolts?" he asked casually. "Well...yeah it would be great I guess." she said. "but I think some other pony, much awesomer than me, has that goal in her sights already!" she said excitedly. "Oh yeah? Whos that?" Snips asked. "Rainbow Dash of course!" Snips spat out his food and coughed violently. "Rainbow Dash!?" He asked, "Yeah, Rainbow Dash! Whats wrong with Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo asked. "Nothing!" Snips said and bit deeper into the sandwich hoping that he would never have to meet the rainbow maned pegasus. Snips didn't have much luck tough. Right at that moment, said cyan pegasus, with the said rainbow mane, swooped over to the table. It was Rainbow Dash in the flesh. "Couldn't help but overhear someponies talking about good old awesome me! And who do I see sitting here but my number one fan Shootanloot! Mind if I have that?" Rainbow Dash said and simply stole Scootaloo's sandwich. She was about to speed off when she saw the new pony sitting there, staring at her with an expression of horror. "You're Rainbow Dash!" said Snips. "So you've heard of me? Whats wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost or something." Dash said. Snips couldn't answer, he simply watched, so Scootaloo took advantage of the silence. "What are you doing Rainbow Dash? Practicing some new awesome tricks?" Scootaloo chimed in. "You bet Squirt!" Rainbow answered proudly. "Try outs for The Wonderbolts flight academy are tomorrow! Gotta polish those moves, not that I wouldn't get in without training tough! I'm just going for the extra points." Snips spat out his food again. "The Wonderbolts flight academy!?" he said. "Whats up with this guy? Does he have some kind of a "must repeat everything Rainbow Dash says" decease? Not that I can blame him tough, I mean, who wouldn't want to repeat my timeless sayings?" Rainbow Dash said. The fillies snickered at this, Snips however didn't laugh at all, he knew better. He knew that Rainbow Dash would die in that academy. A trick would go terribly wrong during one of the training sessions. And her death would inspire Scootaloo to take up her idols dream and finish what Rainbow had started. And Scootaloo would become The Captain of The Wonderbolts. And here Rainbow Dash was, alive and breathing, right in front of him, thinking she still had a future and a long life ahead of her, and here he was with a terrible knowledge that he couldn't share with anypony. He looked into those rose colored eyes, so full of life, and his heart wrenched in pain and all the happiness and hope he had felt simply disappeared in an instant. "Whats wrong Timey?" Sweetie Belle asked worried. Snips hadn't noticed but he was almost crying, tears were forming in the corners of his eyes yet he realized how weird it must have seemed so he attempted at wiping his eyes with a hoof. "Its nothing, I just...have to think." he said. "Its all right, you can tell us! Maybe we can figure something out." Sweetie Belle answered. How he wished he could just tell them everything... yet he couldn't. "Its fine, really." he answered. Time could be altered right? He could save Rainbow Dash right? Or would he just have to sit there and remain silent knowing that this pony was going towards her death? "Sheesh...what a loser...crying in the middle of the day like that, all of sudden, for no reason...well, catch you later Shootanloot!" Rainbow said and stormed off with Scootaloo's sandwich. "There she goes." thought Snips with sorrow. "Isn't Rainbow Dash just awesome? Did I tell you about the time she said my dance moves were cool?" Scootaloo said looking after the Cyan dot in the horizon. "Like a million times." Sweetie Belle said. "She said that huh?" Snips said. "Yeah! This one time when I was practicing dancing for the school talent show shew flew by and said "You have some real talent kid! I bet you'd make it to The Royal Canterlot theater school for gifted pegasi in a sinch!" " Scootaloo answered. "Would you like that?" Snips asked. "Like what?" Scootaloo said confused. "Like to be a dancer?" said Snips. Scootaloo was silent for a moment, but then she answered "Well...yeah it would be cool..." she said "its kind of...my dream you know." she whispered. Snips could feel the tears forming again in the corners of his eyes. "Ugh, would you stop that? Just spit out whats bugging you already!" Scootaloo said. That's it! He couldn't take it anymore! The heck with time and space! He would save Rainbow Dash and she could fulfill her dream of being The Captain of The Wonderbolts and Scootaloo could attend The Royal Canterlot theater school for gifted pegasi and fulfill her dream of becoming a dancer! It was the perfect plan! Nothing could go wrong and everypony would be happier for it! It was up to him and him alone to save the future! Snips stood up confidently and all the traces of his sadness were gone. "I can do it!" He said and pumped his hoof. "Do what!?" Scootaloo asked, surprised by the way that Snips' mood had taken a full one eighty. "Save Rainbow Dash!" Snips answered and stormed off. Both fillies looked after him in confusion until Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Pfft!" said Scootaloo while she smiled smugly "See Sweetie Belle? Rainbow Dash is so awesome that It took less then five minutes for this guy to go heads over hooves for her." "Yeah..." said Sweetie Belle. "But he still left without paying..." Just then the waiter came over for his payment. Both fillies just shrugged in defeat. "Sigh...just point us to the dishes." To be continued in: Can you rewrite time with a broken pen?