In a flash of purple magic, Twilight Sparkle appeared in front of the fortuneteller’s house. A minute ago, she had excused herself from her family and friends, saying she needed to go see a pony in Canterlot before they could go to the art museum. She left out the fact that she was going to see the fortuneteller, sure that her friends would either wonder why she believed in fortunetelling or want to come with, or worse get her to tell them what was wrong. They bought her not entirely false excuse and she left the square, coming to a stop as she realized she didn’t know how to get back to the fortuneteller’s place on hoof. But she could visualize the house in her mind, so she used her magic to teleport there.
Looking up at the fortuneteller’s house, she murmured to herself, “Did my fate change? Am I still in danger? Did anything happen…?” After a moment, she walked forward and used a hoof to push the door open, stepping inside.
As soon as the door closed behind her, the fortuneteller greeted her, “Welcome… Oh? You have been defying fate, haven’t you?”
Twilight approached the table and took a seat on the cushion in front of it before saying, “Yes. I’m really grateful for your advice earlier. It saved my life.”
The fortuneteller replied, “So I see. But you did not catch the one trying to kill you, did you?”
Twilight looked confused as she replied, “Well, no. But I changed my fate, didn’t I? That’s what you meant by ‘defying fate’, right?”
The fortuneteller answered her, “Yes and no, my little pony. I am beginning to see a new thread, but I can also see that you are still in danger. 10:00 is now the fated hour…”
Twilight asked, “What? You mean I still haven’t gotten to the root of the problem? I’m… still going to die?”
The fortuneteller replied, “Listen carefully. What I tell you is nothing more than one possible future. The shape of your destiny can change depending on what actions you take. If you can return here, even after the appointed hour has passed, then I will tell for you the next fortune.”
Twilight nodded, “Okay. I understand.” She stood up, gave a quick bow, and left the fortuneteller’s house. Rather than teleport herself back to the square, she decided to make her way back to the streets on hoof so that she would know where the house was located for future reference. As she made her way through the alleys, she began to hear the sound of ponies screaming and picked up her pace. She soon found her way back onto the streets of Canterlot. The first thing she noticed was that she wasn’t far from the Canterlot square. The second thing she noticed was all the ponies on the street.
Twilight’s eyes moved left and right as she looked at all the ponies in front of her. They were all screaming and panicking about something. A few were running to her left, but most of them were running to her right. “What’s going on?” she wondered absently.
Suddenly she heard Spike call over the screams, “Twilight! Over here!” The lavender unicorn turned to her right and saw the baby dragon making his way towards her while trying to avoid being stepped on. Narrowing her eyes, she focused on him as her horn lit up. Seconds later, a magenta aura surrounded Spike and lifted him off the ground, causing him to panic for a moment before he realized it was Twilight using her magic. She pulled him over to her and ducked back into the alleyway before setting him down. “Thanks,” he breathed.
Twilight immediately got down to business, “Spike, what’s happening? Why is everypony panicking like this?”
Spike replied, “I don’t know! I was just leaving the square with the others when that stampede suddenly came barreling down the street! I got separated from the others, but I heard Applejack say that she and the others were going to go check it out, so I started looking for you!”
Twilight nodded, “Okay, let’s go meet up with them then. Climb on!” She bent her knees, allowing Spike to grab onto her side and climb up onto her back. She then moved towards the entrance to the alley and, upon seeing that the charging herd of ponies had lightened up somewhat, ran out, going left. After a minute of running, she came to a ‘T’ junction and turned left. She and Spike quickly saw her friends and parents with a group of ponies down the street, as well as what everypony had been screaming about.
Near the end of the street, standing all on its own, was a large indoor restaurant, and it was on fire. The fire must’ve started recently, but it was already well on its way to devouring the building. Twilight ran over to her friends; Pinkie Pie heard her coming and turned her head to look, saying, “Twilight! You made it!”
Fluttershy looked over at the lavender mare as she came to a stop and said, “Oh Twilight, this is terrible. What are we going to do?”
Twilight looked up at the burning building. She might be able to put the fire out herself with one of her spells, but she hadn’t exactly studied and spells involving water or dirt. And from the look of this fire, that was what she was going to need. As they all continued to look up at the building, Rainbow Dash noticed a young unicorn stallion sitting on his haunches, a hoof covering his face while he cried. He had a green-blue coat and a yellow mane and tail, both of which were about short-medium length. From where she was, she couldn’t see his cutie mark. She flew over to him and asked, “What’s wrong?”
The stallion looked up as the others came over, Twilight noticing he had light blue eyes during the half second she saw them. “My grandpa’s still in there! Please, somepony help him! Please!” the pony pleaded. Everypony took another look up at the building at that; was there really a pony somewhere inside that inferno?
Applejack looked around as she said, “Dang it, doesn’t Canterlot have a fire department? What the hay is taking them so long ta get here?!”
Rarity spoke up, “Well, we can’t just stand here! This poor stallion’s grandfather is in trouble! We have to help him!”
Applejack turned to her and said, “I know, but we can’t just go charging in there! Look at those flames! Sure they’re bad now, but what if they get worse?! We could all get trapped in there and suffocate before the fire fighters arrive!”
Pinkie Pie chimed in, “Ooh! What if we had some water of our own! That way if we went in, we could put out the fire as we went!”
Twilight said, “I like that idea, Pinkie, but I think we’re going to have do something a little different.” She looked up at Rainbow Dash and asked, “Rainbow, do you think you could go to Cloudsdale and fetch some storm clouds to drop some rain on that fire?”
Rainbow saluted, “I’m on it!” She then turned to Fluttershy and said, “Fluttershy, come with me! You can grab some clouds too!” Despite her apprehensions, the shy pegasus nodded and extended her wings, flapping them and flying after Rainbow Dash as the rainbow maned pegasus flew out of Canterlot and towards their old home.
Applejack turned to Twilight and asked, “Why Cloudsdale, Twilight? It’s a lot further away than Ponyville is!”
Twilight turned to her and said, “I know, Applejack, but Rainbow Dash said the weather team didn’t have any storms planned while we were here, remember? Cloudsdale is probably our best bet!”
Applejack looked down and murmured, “Oh yeah, she did mention that.” She then looked back up at Twilight and said, “Even so, I’m not waiting for them to get back! If we’re gonna help his grandfather, we need ta do it now!”
Pinkie Pie immediately began to make steps towards the burning building, saying, “Come on, sillies! Let’s hurry!”
Twilight’s father stepped in front of her and said, “Absolutely not! The heat of the fire’s too great. It’s too dangerous to go in there!”
Rarity spoke, “Perhaps, but I daresay that we’re rather used to this sort of thing.”
Applejack nodded, “We sure are! Besides, if things start looking bad, Twilight oughta be able to get us all out no sweat!”
Twilight’s mother looked at her and asked, “Twilight, are you really planning to go in there too?” Her daughter’s only response was a no-nonsense nod.
Spike asked, “Can I come too?”
Twilight turned her head to look at him and sternly said, “No, you’re staying with my parents, Spike. And don’t try to argue with me.” She then leaned to the side, forcing Spike to get off of her back.
Applejack spoke, “Come on, y'all!” After saying that, she, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity ran past Twilight’s father towards the doors of the restaurant.
Twilight walked up to the doors and gave them a push. They moved a bit, but didn’t open all the way. When she took her hoof off the door, they moved back into the closed position. “They’re not stuck, but I think there’s something keeping them closed,” she said. She turned to Applejack and asked, “Care to do the honors, Applejack?”
The orange earth pony replied, “With pleasure, Sugarcube.” She trotted up to the doors, turned around, and then bucked her back legs as hard as she could. She hit the doors so hard that they flew off their hinges, landing noisily on the floor inside. Applejack shrugged and ran inside, Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie following her in.
Twilight’s mother whispered, “Please be careful, Twilight.” Her husband sidled next to her and placed the crook of his neck on hers, nuzzling her softly.
Spike, on the other hand, was less worried about the girls’ safety at the moment. “Oh sure, they can go charging into a burning building, but the dragon that can breathe fire can’t. Isn’t that always how it is?” he grumbled, turning to look at the stallion as he said the last sentence. But his agitated face quickly became one of confusion as he started looking around quickly. “Hey, where’d he go?” he asked.
Inside the restaurant, the four ponies looked around the interior from where they were standing. The tables, chairs, booths, the nearby counter, and parts of the floor were all on fire. As they looked around, though, they realized that it seemed they were the only ones in the restaurant. “Hey, what gives?! Where’s that feller’s grandpa?!” Applejack asked.
“Maybe we’re not seeing the whole restaurant. Can anypony see some stairs or anything?” Twilight asked.
“I do, I do! There are some stairs going up over there and some more going down right there!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. She pointed with a hoof as she spoke, first towards the stairs going up that were nestled into a corner of the wall and then towards a more noticeable set of stairs going down that had a railing next to them.
“Good eye, Pinkie Pie. He must be either up or down,” Twilight said.
Applejack nodded, “Makes sense ta me.” She then coughed into her hoof before continuing, “Let’s get done in here quickly. Ah can’t stand all this smoke.”
Twilight replied, “Right. Applejack, you should check upstairs with Pinkie Pie. That way, if you get stuck up there and Rarity and I can’t reach you, you two should be able to jump out of one of the windows.”
Rarity asked, “And I suppose we’re tackling the downstairs because we can use our magic in case we get trapped?”
Twilight nodded, “That’s what I was thinking, yes.”
Applejack said, “Well, let’s go then!” She and Pinkie Pie immediately headed for the stairs in the corner, being careful not to touch any of the flames as they went. Twilight and Rarity, meanwhile, did the same as they made their way over to the stairs leading to the underground section of the restaurant.
When they got to the bottom of the stairs, they looked around in confusion. “What is this?! It appears there’s nopony here!” Rarity exclaimed.
Twilight noticed the bar across from them and ran behind it, checking. She soon called to Rarity, “You’re right, there’s nopony down here except us!”
Suddenly, a fixture on the ceiling came loose and fell, breaking when it landed on a burning table. “Oh my *cough*, the fire is starting to get worse! Let’s go make sure Applejack and Pinkie Pie are all right!” Rarity said, turning and starting to head back up the stairs.
Twilight came out from behind the bar and moved towards the stairs, saying, “I’m right behind you, Rarity!” Just as she was about to set her hoof on the bottom step, a chunk of the ceiling suddenly came loose! Twilight quickly retracted her hoof and leapt back, the chunk of the ceiling landing rather noisily on the steps. For a second, she could’ve sworn she saw a green aura surrounding the rubble as it came down.
Rarity immediately turned around at the sound and ran back down, yelling, “Twilight?! Twilight, speak to me!”
She was relieved to hear the lavender unicorn respond, “I’m fine, Rarity! I just need to move this out of the way.”
Rarity called back, “Don’t worry, darling. I’ll do it for you.” Her horn lit up blue as she began to focus on the rubble. However, as she focused her magic on it, a green aura surrounded it, repelling her magic. “What is this?! What’s going on here?!” she exclaimed.
Twilight examined the rubble with her own magic before calling back, “It’s being protected by a ward, Rarity! But it’s okay, I can remove it!”
Rarity called to Twilight, “All the same, I’m going to get Pinkie Pie and Applejack! Just sit tight, darling!” She then turned and ran up the stairs to the ground level.
Twilight focused her magic on the ward surrounding the rubble, working to do undo the runes that made up the spell for several moments before the green aura around the rubble vanished. She smiled, “Got it! Now…” She stopped as she realized her mistake. What she hadn’t noticed when she was bringing the ward down was that it had a failsafe worked into it. As soon as the aura around the rubble disappeared, a blanket of smoke suddenly came rushing from it, engulfing her. Twilight began to cough uncontrollably, pressing a hoof to her mouth and nose to try to keep the smoke out. “Just… need to lift it up… Get out of… no…” She coughed several more times before her legs gave out, falling forward and collapsing on her side.
As she began to black out, Rarity returned with Applejack and Pinkie Pie. This time when Rarity used her magic on the rubble she was able to lift it up and moved it up to the ground floor. Pinkie Pie darted in front of her as soon as it was out of the way and looked down. “TWILIGHT!” she screamed, seeing the mare lying on the floor. She ran down the stairs to Twilight’s side, Rarity and Applejack following her. They quickly picked her up and began to hurry up the stairs towards the exit, towards fresh air. But they were already too late…
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When Twilight opened her eyes next, she found herself back in the strange location she had woken up in the first time she died. She pushed herself off the ground and onto her haunches, realizing what this meant. “Oh…” she audibly groaned.
Her ears perked up as she heard the mysterious voice speak, “It is difficult after all, isn’t it? To change one’s very destiny…” Twilight looked around for the owner of the voice, but she didn’t get long to look before all went dark around her.
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“All the same, I’m going to get Pinkie Pie and Applejack! Just sit tight, darling!” Twilight heard Rarity call to her. She blinked; she realized she had been warped back to the moment shortly before she died. Once again, she was in the underground part of the restaurant, the fire burning uncontrollably around her.
She looked at the rubble on the stairs and thought to herself, “If I break the ward on that, the smoke is going to come rushing at me again. I could try teleporting, but what if this fire was caused by the killer? He might have prepared for that as well.” As she considered her options, she noticed a glow coming from her right saddlebag and levitated the Z-pad out of it. “Oh no! This isn’t a good time for this!” she said. As she thought about it, though, she realized that using it could probably save not only herself, but also her friends and that stallion’s grandfather.
She brought the Z-pad close to her face and examined it. It seemed to be saying that she could now travel back to 9:00. “The fire hadn’t started yet at that time. Maybe I’ll find something if I travel back to that time,” she murmured to herself. Letting out a small squeak as one of the flames came close to touching one of her hooves, she quickly pressed her horn against the Z-pad. She saw the green flash out of the corner of her eye and then she was lifted up off the ground, a time travel bubble surrounding her. A white light soon appeared, causing her to disappear.
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Twilight reappeared on the street outside the restaurant, landing on her hooves after she was released from the green bubble. As she expected, the restaurant was not on fire when she looked up at it and, when she walked closer to the doors, she could hear the sounds of ponies talking inside. She was about to push the doors open, but stopped herself as she realized something, “Surely the pony responsible wouldn’t be inside with all those other ponies when the fire started. They'd need to be inconspicuous about it.” Nodding to herself, she decided to check outside before going inside and making a foal of herself.
As she began to walk past the doors, something suddenly tickled her nose hairs. It smelled like smoke! Moving around to the side of the building, she poked her head out around the corner and looked. At the other side of the building, she saw a cigar butt wrapped up in an old newspaper fall to the ground behind an empty rain barrel, having been held up by a green aura a second ago. She also saw a brief flash of a green-blue flank and yellow tail as a pony spotted her and ran away before she could get a good luck at him.
“Hey, stop!” Twilight yelled, galloping out from where she was standing and heading towards the other side of the restaurant. When she reached the other side, however, she saw no trace of the pony she had just seen. “Shoot!” she groaned before turning around and running over to the empty rain barrel, bringing her hoof down on the burning piece of newspaper. Thankfully, she had read a book on how to deal with small fires once, so she knew she could put this one out by smothering it. She lifted her hoof a second later, the paper no longer burning. She sighed as she looked up, “That should take care of it. But who was that pony responsible for the fire?”
She walked around to the front of the restaurant, hoping to maybe find some kind of clue that the pony might have dropped in their haste, but found nothing. Knowing it was pointless to keep searching with nothing to go on, she summoned the Z-pad from her saddlebag and set it to take her back to her proper time, hoping Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were okay.
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Twilight could see the burning restaurant and the ponies gathered around it as she began to reappear in the present, but like an illusion, it faded away as she faded in. Once she was sure she was back all the way, she looked around and noticed she was standing on an empty street. Looking up at the restaurant, she saw that it was standing tall, filled with ponies looking to satisfy their stomachs.
While she was looking up, she suddenly heard Applejack call, “Twilight! There ya are!” The lavender unicorn turned to see the orange earth pony cantering over to her. Once they were standing in front of each other, Applejack asked, “What’cha doin’ over here? Did ya take care of yer errand or whatever it was?”
Twilight nodded a moment later, “Oh, uh, yeah! Sorry, I guess I got a little sidetracked on the way back. I was just looking at this restaurant.”
Applejack glanced up at the building and said, “Looks like a nice, cozy place. Not too fancy, the kinda place I like. Might be a little early to be thinking ‘bout lunch, though, don’t ya think?”
Twilight replied, “Yeah, I guess you’re right, Applejack.”
The orange pony placed a hoof on Twilight’s back and said, “Come on, let’s get back to the others.” Twilight nodded and allowed Applejack to take her hoof back, both of them walking back towards the square.
Twilight looked back over her shoulder at the restaurant one last time and thought to herself, “So, this is what it means to change the past.”