//------------------------------//
// Counterclockwise, Part 1 
// Story: Counterclockwise 
// by AdrianJNovelle 
//------------------------------//

	I went back in time to the year of my supposed death. About two minutes later, I realized what a stupid idea that was, after ranting on about how I was trying to conceal myself, should I ever make contact with the old Twilight Sparkle. So, I needed a disguise: something to conceal my identity. 
I trotted over to what was formerly Carousel Boutique. Sure enough, it was still a boutique, but sadly, Rarity was nowhere to be found. Instead, I found a pony whose mane shined with the intensity of a thousand suns. Based on my encounter with her, she seemed to be Rarity without much dimension to her personality. And she shouted everything she said with, in my opinion, a little too much enthusiasm.
"Welcome to Crystal's Creations!" she exclaimed gaily.
"Uh, hi," I said calmly.
"What can Ms. Crystal - i.e. me - do for a foal like you?"
"I'm actually six-"
She grabbed my cheeks and squeezed them together like a zit. "Well, aren't you just the most precious jewel I've ever seen?"
"Can you...please...stop...you're...crushing my...tongue..."
She let go of me.
"Sorry about that, Sweetheart. I'm just that way with ponies. So, what can I do for a pretty, pretty pony like yourself?"
"Can you make me look nothing like myself?"
"Hmm..." the pony claiming to be named Crystal scrutinized my appearance. I was fortunate she did not recognize me. "So, what you're asking for is a makeover?"
"I, uh...I guess."
"Sorry, baby, no can do. But I can put you in some elegant clothes which would make you look just stunning for your special somepony!"
"I don't have a special somepony," I replied softly.
"Oh? Well, how 'bout that! Is there, um, anything else I can do for you, sweetie?"
"Um, no thanks...I'll stop by again if I change my mind."
"No problem, honey!" she waved me goodbye as I exited the boutique.
Then, it hit me. I know of a place where ponies do get makeovers: the spa. The girls I knew who worked there might have had their great, great, great, great granddaughters working their shifts, but between knowledge and technology, I'm sure if there was some way to disguise myself, it would be the spa. 
I used my prior knowledge of Ponyville's layout to trace my hoofsteps back to the spa. When I arrived - and noticed that it indeed was still a spa for the ponies of Ponyville - I began to wonder if anything in Ponyville really changed over the years. Except the Library becoming a shrine in my honor shortly after I will die (since I was in a time right before I croaked), every spa was still a spa, boutique still a boutique, and restaurant a restaurant. Sure, there were more houses than I remember, new faces all around, and even some additional points of interests, but the places I spent my years in Ponyville with were still there - refurbished and everything. I wonder if that was by design or coincidence.
"Welcome to Spa Poney de Détente!" said one of the two fiesty, young ponies who greeted me. "My name's Flo and this is my gal-pal Po. What brings you to our haven of relaxation?" Clearly they just changed the name. Did the original spa from my timeline even have a name? 
The ponies were nearly identical, like Lotus Blossom and Aloe were: one was light-green in her coat, and the other was light-blue. And they both wore the same headgear Lotus Blossom and Aloe did, matching each other's coat rather than their own. It was quite bizarre, really.
"Hi," I greeted back. "I'm here for a makeover. I don't have much money, though."
"A makeover?" asked Po. "Are you a first-timer?"
"Uh, yeah, I am."
"When we established this spa," Flo began.
"We agreed that everypony gets one spa treatment on the house," finished Po. 
"And we'll allow you to swap the spa treatment for an exotic makeover if you like," they both said in unison.
"Can I get a regular makeover?" I inquired.
Both girls smiled. "Sure!"
They approached me, the pony named Flo putting her hoof around my neck. "So, what do you want to change about yourself? Not that we think that's really necessary."
"I just wish to not look anything like myself," I said.
"A pity. But! The Flo-Po couplet does not judge," Po remarked.
The girls went right to work on Twilight. They put her mane up in a bun after dyeing it a soothing brown, with yellow and orange stripes where her pink and violet stripes were in her original mane. Her coat was dyed a royal-blue, and painted over every hoof, her plot, and even her cutie mark.
"What do you want for a cutie mark?" Flo inquired. "Your true will still be underneath the dye, but unless you wanna be a blank flank, you can have us paint something on your buttocks to disguise yourself, since you mentioned that's why you wanted us to dye you a different color."
"Hmm..." Twilight pondered. "I love to read. Can you give me a book cutie mark?"
"Easy-peasy!" Po exclaimed.
Po got a stencil which looked like a thumbnail of a book with Princess Celestia on it: the book of the Elements of Harmony. She put it to my flank as I was laid across a tabletop.
"Ahh!" I shrieked.
"Sorry," said Po. "Stencils hurt."
"Wait, stencil?" I tried to look at my body, but Flo restrained me. "I asked for a cutie mark, not a tattoo."
"Is no tattoo," Po answered. She walked around the table to the other side of my plot. "I know it's painful, sweetheart." She applied it to the other side of my flank and ripped it off. I shrieked again. "But it's the easiest way for me to get it done."
"It won't be permanent, will it? Because aren't tat-"
"It's no tattoo, darling. Nor is it permanent. Just take a bath or shower and when you step out, you'll be yourself again. You have to pay to get a permanent fixture."
"That's not necessary," I said. 
"Flo, be a dearie and get me some paint, please." 
Flo nodded and left the quiet room. Po walked away, fiddled at a countertop nearby, and returned with a strange-smelling liquid in a clear container, a brush in her other hoof as she walked on only her hind hooves to me. She applied the strange-smelling fluid to my flank. It jumped, for it was cold for only a moment, then relaxed myself.
"When she gets back," Po said during her procedure. "We'll paint your cutie mark with some tempra paint. You'd be surprised to know that both tempra and watercolor paint dissolve in water, unlike their cousin, acrylic. Acrylic paint is the number-one clogger of sinks, and is also-"
"Why are you telling me about paint?" I asked.
"Conversational diversion," Po answered.
Flo returned, a palette and two paintbrushes in her mouth. She put them behind me, and I could hear them rummaging with the materials. Then I felt the cold bristles of the paintbrushes as they brushed against my coat.
"Now just try to relax," Flo said. "Pretend you're at a spa-"
"I am at a spa!"
"...Oh yeah." She cleared her throat. "Well then, pretend you're in a hot bath of water - outside, in the warm weather, the midday sun beating down on you behind the clouds. And you're just immersed in the rejuvinating water, taking a nice, hot bath. You're relaxed...you're calm..."
I'm sure Flo went on after that. All that traveling through time I did had tired me out, and until I had a moment to relax, I guess I was simply too rushed to feel like falling asleep. That was the last I heard of Flo's guided imagery. Little did I know that I had actually fallen asleep. I didn't even realize it until I felt my body being nudged by Po. 
"Wakey, wakey, Sweetie," she said, too blurry to make out her facial expression.
I groaned.
"You're dry now. And we want you to see how she looks before you take off."
In retrospect, I wonder why Po referred to my fake cutie mark as a mare.
I fully opened my eyes, and saw her hovering over me. 
"There we go," she said. She was standing on her hind hooves, and outstretching one of her fronts to assist me off the table. We slowly got me to the ground; I was still out of it enough to make simple movements difficult. 
Flo dragged in a large mirror. 
"Whatdya think, Miss?" she asked, gazing at me, even though I was quite repulsive based on the image of my body I got from my reflection.
But, I was unrecognizable. There was no way Twilight Sparkle would recognize herself if she looked like this! I paid particular attention to my cutie mark. And I guess I had underestimated the sheer painting talents of Flo and Po.
"Excellent job," I said.
The girls smiled.
"I will be on my way now."
"Okay!" both of them exclaimed as I trotted off. "Thank you for your business! And remember that your dye will come right off in a shower or a bath!"
I headed out of the spa. Then I contemplated my next move.
Okay, so the elderly me who is cheating death by the day is certain to die by the end of the year. And since I don't know her exact date of death, she could be dead by now, or a few months away. I had already exhausted myself once jumping through time: I was not about to do so again. So, to make things easier on myself, I simply jumped back in time one year, to visit a slightly younger yet still ancient version of myself.