Midday's mind raced. Of all the ponies, in all the world, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had managed to run, literally run, into her. Into Cadance.
'Of course they did. Who else were they really going to run into?' A part of her said. Drastic, immediate action was required to remove them from the area before there was a paradox. Right away. The minute she stopped thinking.
"Are you a princess?" asked Sweetie Belle. "I thought there were only two, Celestia and Luna." Cadance, strangely enough, looked embarrased.
"Well, yes, I am actually." She smiled. The three fillies were impressed. Midday meanwhile, still hadn't moved. Her mind was suddenly filled with a dozen panicked thoughts and desires. It was Cadance. The Cadance, the one and only. Nopony else smiled quite the same way as her, even her own daughter couldn't quite manage it. And then Midday's already hyper-active mind started picking out memories of her cousin, of everything the two had done together, including that time wi-
"So what's got you three running about the streets on a day like today?"
"Well, we were looking for a pizza place, but then we got... a bit lost." Scootaloo said, gingerly. That brought Midday out of her panic-induced state, and she marched over towards the fillies. She stopped right behind them, and coughed politely. She couldn't see their faces, but she knew there was an aura of panic on them. They swivelled to look at her, smiling nervously.
"Hi" Sweetie Belle said. She tried to look more than mildly annoyed, but it was incredibly difficult considering their attempts to look innocent and the fact that Cadance was nearby.
"Sorry about running off" Scootaloo said. "We just thought we'd go look for somewhere to eat, then come back an-" Midday stared at her, and the filly trailed off.
"When Rainbow Dash said 'don't run off', I'm fairly certain she meant you three as well."
"We just wanted to be helpful." Apple Bloom said, looking down at her hooves. Midday tried not to laugh.
"And running around town seemed like the best idea to you?" They tried to look innocent. Midday looked up to see Cadance was still standing there looking slightly amused.
"Ah, where are my manners, Midday Eclipse, your highness, and these three are Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, otherwise known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders." She bowed slightly, not seeing the noticable blush on the mare's face.
"Cutie Mark Crusaders, this is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza." Cadance instantly looked embarrassed.
"Just... Cadance, please" she insisted.
"Just Cadance? That's a kinda weird name." Scootaloo frowned, to which Midday sighed.
"Scootaloo, I'm pretty sure there isn't a Cutie Mark for jokes that bad." Cadance, for her part was smiling, though she did look slightly confused.
"Have we... met before? I'm sure I've seen you somewhere." She said to Midday, who blinked. The last time she'd seen Cadance was... recollection came to her.
"Yes, we have... sort of met before. A few months ago your..." she strained. She knew this was the year Shining Armor had proposed, and it had been Cadance's birthday not three days ago, so she decided to throw concern to the wind. "Your fiancee tried to arrest me, simply for accidentaly teleporting into his lunch. Congratulations, by the way."
Cadance smiled warmly, "Thank you." Then appeared to remember meeting the mare. "Yes, I remember now. But... you seemed to have changed your appearance." It took Midday a moment to remember that she'd had her hair dyed lilac back then. She still wasn't sure why she'd chosen that colour, since from all appearances it just made her look more like Twilight Sparkle. Suddenly she realised why Cadance thought she recognised her.
"Yes, I had my hair dyed back then. And considering what some ponies tend to say, I do have this uncanny resemblance to Twilight Sparkle." She saw the smile on Cadance's face grow larger at the mention of her. "She doesn't see it, herself." Cadance's smile grew wider.
"How is Twilight Sparkle, by the way?"
Midday shrugged. "Same as usual. Loves studying, more studying, writing reports on studying." Cadance nodded. Midday didn't have the heart in her to point out Twilight Sparkle hadn't actually mention her, even a little. Then she looked down towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders, to make sure they hadn't ran off again.
"By any chance, you wouldn't happen to know somewhere that sells quality pizza, would you?" Cadance blinked, before nodding.
"Yes, there's one just two streets down from here." Cadance said, helpfully nodding in the direction they'd came from.
"Thanks." Midday smiled, "You're a lifesaver." Cadance gave a small blush. Midday was quite aware that Scootaloo was rolling her eyes.
"Well, it was nice meeting you. We'll let you get on with your day now" Midday said. As they turned to go, something occured to her, something she'd not even been aware she'd been thinking of. She quickly turned around again.
"Cadance?" She asked, feeling a bit weird at adressing her aunt in such a casual fashion.
"Yes?" The mare said.
"Your special talent, is love, right?" She asked, already knowing the answer to that one.
"Yes." Cadance looked a bit confused.
"So..." Midday fought down the bad memories screaming in her mind, and tried to focus on the question she'd wanted to ask. "If somepony was in love, and something bad happened to their... love, or partner, you'd feel that, right?"
"Yes." Cadance actually looked worried at that question.
"So, if someponies were in love, and one of them was killed, you'd feel it?"
"Well, yes. I think I would." Cadance said, confused and sounding increasingly concerned. The answer was more than Midday had hoped. She smiled again. Cadance suddenly found herself being hugged by a royal blue unicorn.
"Thanks. Really." Midday pulled back and tried smiling. "Sorry for the weird question but it was something I was thinking about, and you were the only pony who could give me an answer."
Cadance looked a bit unsure, but still smiled. "Happy to help." She said. Midday nodded and quickly walked back to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who stared at the mare's smiled, then back to the retreating form of the pink alicorn.
"So, how come she knew Twilight Sparkle, anyhow?"
Midday looked at Apple Bloom. "Oh, she's Cadance. She used to foalsit Twilight. And she's marrying Twilight's brother in a few months."
"How come you know all this, but you can't find a simple pizzaria?" Scootaloo asked. "Are you a spy?"
Midday stopped and stared at Scootaloo. Before she could say anything Sweetie Belle piped up.
"Maybe she's an outcast."
Apple Bloom looked confused. "How can she be an outcast spy?"
Before the three girls could take their debate any further, Midday cut in. "I never said I was either. Now come on, Rainbow Dash is probably wondering where we got to."
As she walked on the three fillies noticed an odd smile on her face, and the fact that she was humming. It quickly unnerved them.
"Miss Eclipse?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Yes, Sweetie Belle?"
"Why are you smiling?" The mare blinked at that, and felt a slight pang of... something when she realised she hadn't been aware she'd been smiling.
"Is there some reason I shouldn't?"
"Well..." Sweetie Belle looked to her companions for help. "We were just wondering why you were smiling."
"I just figured something out is all." She suddenly stopped smiling. "Something I've been blaming myself for. And something that... It's complicated." She said, and resumed walking, though the fillies noticed her smile didn't return, and she looked, to their eyes, like she'd just realised she done something terrible. In fact, she looked to their eyes remarkbly like Fluttershy after the Grand Galloping Gala.
They found Rainbow Dash sitting on a bench, staring up at the sky.
"Hi, Rainbow Dash." The fillies said as one. She looked over to them.
"Hey." She said, calmly. "Can we go get something to eat now?"
*****
Finding the pizzaria took a grand total of twenty minutes. Once they were in, Rainbow Dash ordered a pizza with almost everything on it, with Scootaloo naturally doing the same, until Rainbow Dash pointed out she was going to share hers. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle insisted on seperate servings. After a while a pony came along and took their orders, and they sat there. Sweetie Belle coughed politely.
"Miss Eclipse?" She asked. The royal blue mare looked at her.
"Yeah?"
"You come from Canterlot, right?"
"Yes. So?"
"Well..." Sweetie Belle looked nervous, "Have you ever met one of the Soulless Minions of Orthodoxy?"
There were several seconds of silence at that table, and Midday saw Apple Bloom and Scootaloo staring blankly at each other.
"I don't think I've ever heard of any such group." Midday said, slowly. "Where did you hear that phrase?"
"Rarity mentions it sometimes, when she gets all angry. I asked her, but she said it was a 'Canterlot' thing." Midday looked over to Rainbow Dash, who seemed to be either dreaming of her truly-unhealthy sounding pizza, or being a Wonderbolt, or, quite possibly some unholy combination of the two.
"Maybe she was just irritated at somepony in Canterlot at the time." Midday said. "Didn't she have some trouble getting onto the Canterlot fashion scene?"
Sweetie Belle shrugged, in a way that managed to indicate she had no idea what Rarity got up to with her business at the best of times.
"Maybe they're a secret shadow society, tryin' to manipulate Equestria to their biddin'." Apple Bloom suggested. Everypony stared at her.
"Ah haven't said much in a while" she muttered.
"If there was a secret shadowy society of some sort, who'd be in it?" Midday asked.
"Nobles? Rich ponies?" Sweetie Belle suggested.
"I'm pretty sure I'm not part of a secret-y shadowy group." Midday said, "And neither's Twilight Sparkle."
"You're a noble?" Apple Bloom asked, staring at Midday. She gave a small 'huh'.
"Sort of" Midday said quickly and quietly, hoping the pizza would arrive soon and distract everypony. It did. For a while.
"So, how'ja become a noble?" asked Apple Bloom, between large chews of her pizza.
"Mouth closed, Apple Bloom, please. Not everypony needs to see you eating." The filly scowled, but still tried chewing with her mouth closed.
"You sound like Rarity." Sweetie Belle giggled, "She's always going on at anypony who doesn't eat with their mouths closed." Suddenly Sweetie Belle closed her eyes and started speaking in what was to Midday's opinion a passable imitation.
"'Oh, why can't you chew your food, darling? It's so uncouth, I may have to go lie down and listen to classical music just to restore myself to respectability.'" Scootaloo suddenly seemed to be having a hard time keeping the food in her mouth.
"Careful there, Sweetie Belle." Rainbow Dash chortled, "Or you'll turn into Rarity Point Two." If Rainbow Dash had been expecting Sweetie Belle to laugh, then the filly's horrified gasp was probably alarming for her.
After that, the discussion turned to other things, like who Rainbow Dash's favourite Wonderbolt was (Funnily enough, it was not Spitfire, as Midday had been expecting, but all of them) followed by whether Twilight recieved geography lessons from some kind of griffin king, which caused Rainbow Dash to look at the fillies like they were mad.
"You met a princess, who was not Celestia or Luna?" she asked, sceptically.
"Yeah. Princess... what was her name?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"Princess Mi Amore Cadenza." Midday said, while staring at the cutlery the waiters had left, wondering why waiters bothered with cutlery when most ponies couldn't use it. Maybe some pompous noble had complained about the absence of cutlery at some point. "But she doesn't really like being called that."
"And she's Twilight Sparkle's sister in-law." Apple Bloom smiled. "Or, she will be, 'cuz she's engaged and not married yet."
"To Twilight Sparkle's brother?" Rainbow Dash said.
"Yeah. And she's bright pink and she's got wings and a horn and she seemed really nice."
Rainbow Dash just nodded. "Right, okay. Good one. Almost believed you there."
"But it's true."
Rainbow Dash shook her head. "There's only two princesses kid, everypony knows that. Heck, even Doctor Whooves knows that, and somepony had to show him a picture of Nightmare Moon the other day."
Midday gave thought to arguing that one, but decided against it, just in case it made some nasty paradox. There were already enough of those going around anyway, she thought.
*****
Soon they finished their meal, and left for the train back to Ponyville. Midday couldn't help but notice Rainbow Dash was glancing at her every few seconds, but decided to say nothing. They reached the platform without incident, and quickly got onto the train. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo sat next to each other, with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom occupying seperate seats, looking slightly content. Midday just collapsed onto one and then sprawled out, sighing slightly. After a while the train began to move, and Midday just sat there. She heard whispering, and turned to see the three fillies whispering something, occasionally glancing at her. After a while, Scootaloo was nudged forward.
"Midday?" she asked, hesitance incredibly clear in her voice.
"Yeah?"
"We were wondering" Scootaloo smiled nervously, "If... well, this train journey's real long, and we thought you did such a good job talking about those strange ponies the other day" Midday raised an eyebrow, noticing Scootaloo's eyes were occasionaly turning to slits and focusing again in the direction of her two friends. Rainbow Dash was just observing this with a grin.
"We would like to know how you got your Cutie Mark." Midday looked at Scootaloo, and the forced expression of determined innocence.
"Why?"
"We were just curious." Scootaloo's grin was joined with additional ones from Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Midday sat up, and looked at them.
"I don't know. It's not very exciting. There's no chases, races, fights or anything like that." Scootaloo's smile seemed to flicker slightly.
"And I'm pretty sure you won't like it" she added. She knew they'd find a major issue with it, considering their attitude towards Cutie Marks.
"Please?" The three mares pleaded. Whatever Midday had been planning to say was washed away by the use of the 'P-word'. She sighed and frowned at the same time.
"If you insist." She paused, and tried to recall the events of that time, casting her mind back all of thirteen years, and an odd number of months. She smiled.
"The story you are about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the shy."
~~~~~
The air wafted with various scents, all of which intrigued the little blue filly as she rushed about, her eyes wide with excitement and joy, though at a greatly reduced speed, because the tiara on her head seemed prone to slipping off, and because her mother saw no reason to rush.
"But mom, if we don't get there quickly everypony will have run out of candy." Her mother just smiled.
"Don't worry, Twinkie, I'm sure there'll be plenty of candy waiting." The little filly didn't look reassured by this, simply pouting and trying to run on ahead.
It had been a matter of debate between Twilight Sparkle and Twilight Twinkle over what the filly was going to dress as for Nightmare Night. Her mother had suggested some boring historical pony who'd never done anything interesting, or just sat about all their life in a tower. Twilight Twinkle had argued against that via sitting very still and not saying anything. It had taken Twilight Sparkle a while to realise this was a form of protest from her daughter. When given a choice however, Twilight Twinkle had gone for the pony she remembered best from the bedtime history lessons her mother had given her, which turned out to be, of all ponies, Princess Luna. Twilight Sparkle had been a bit nonplussed that her daughter did not consider ponies like Star-Swirl or Mimic to be worth dressing up as for the purpose of recieving candies from their neighbours, but the filly had proved strongly resistant to her mother's spirited efforts to change her mind. It was to be Luna, or nopony. Of course, Twinkle's father had decided to remain behind, to make sure the little colts and fillies of Canterlot recieved candy from somepony at their house, much to Twinkle's disappointment.
Still, if the tiny royal blue mare was still disappointed as she scampered from house to house, she didn't show it. Of course, she couldn't really do much more in her Luna impersonation than yell loudly, since she wasn't anywhere near old enough for magic, only being five years old, after all. True, when she was a few months old she'd been showing the usual displays infants had of their magical potental, but all she'd really managed was managing to turn a potted plant into a large pillow, which had made Twilight Sparkle a bit concerned that her daughter had command of her magic before she'd learnt to speak, however that storm had thankfully passed without major incident, which had made Twilight Sparkle slightly more worried, leading her husband to question whether she'd have been happier if the house had been blown up, to which she had responded maybe she would have been, if only that it proved her daughter had some magical potential.
Some twenty houses worth of candy, and Twilight Twinkle's bag was filled. In fact, it was almost overflowing, save for the fact that when she thought her mother wasn't looking she snuck a few candies into her mouth. Twilight Sparkle, wearing a modified version of the costume she'd worn on her first Nightmare Night, just smiled slightly at her daughter's attempts at being sneaky. The two kept a wandering route throughout the town, the elder Twilight occasionaly chatting with other parents out and about, although she got annoyed when ponies asked if she was imitating somepony called 'Trixie'. Twinkle wasn't sure who that was, so she just kept eating. Soon enough they came to a large open square, where a great many ponies were chatting and talking in their costumes, some were even dancing strange dances, one of which seemed to involve a lot of weird gyrating, to which Twilight Sparkle quickly moved her daughter away from, muttering foul things under her breath. Then her mother smiled, as she saw a pony moving between the crowd, standing head and shoulders above everyone else. Princess Celestia, who saw Twilight Sparkle rushing towards her and smiled warmly. Twilight Twinkle wasn't paying attention to the meeting of former teacher and former student, as she was engaged in a battle with a difficult wrapper. She'd tried tugging it, biting it, squeezing the sugary goodness out, everything. She stared at it, her face replete with momentary frustration.
"Fine, be that way," she said, "I'll just get a different candy." She stood there for a few seconds. Then she went back to trying to open it again, growling and snarling at it to see if that helped. For some reason, her horn felt really itchy, which wasn't helping her mood.
Twilight Sparkle and Celestia, meanwhile were engaged in conversing about what they'd been up to since last they met, casually laughing and commiserating. Unfortunately, this meant they didn't see Twilight Twinkle rolling about trying to desperately open the candy, her horn glowing slightly. Or rather, they didn't see it until everypony else did.
Twilight Twinkle wasn't sure what had happened. All she knew was that she had been trying to get at the foul wrapping paper, when there had been a burst of blinding light, followed by darkness.
When she came to, her mother and Princess Celestia were standing over her, and there were several ponies wearing the familiar golden armor of the Royal Guard standing between them and a small crowd of alarmed ponies.
"Mommy?" Twinkle blinked slightly, since there were still vicious spots in her eyes. "What happened?" Her mother just smiled gently, but there was something about her eyes that scared the little filly.
"Relax, sweetie. I'll explain it when we get home, though I think you've had a bit too much sugar for tonight." She said, slowly lifted the slightly emptied bag of candies. Then she lifted the little filly onto her back, nestling her between her wings.
"Can't we stay out a little longer?" Twilight Twinkle asked, not bothered by the cold that came from being out and about in Canterlot in winter. Twilight Sparkle shook her head.
"No, we've got to get home." Twinkle felt something, something she'd not felt before. She'd only been out twenty minutes, and now her mother was saying they had to go home and wasn't explaining herself. Tears began to well up in her eyes.
"But it's Nightmare Night!" she said. This did nothing to sway her mother, who tried not to look her daughter in the eye.
"Twinkie, guess what?" she said quietly. The filly didn't guess what what was.
"Look." Her mother said, and a small piece of candy floated out of the bag and started bobbing past the filly, until it was by her flank. The filly looked to see- she gasped. There, on her back was something she hadn't expected to see for years. It was a stylised image of a moon over a sun (not that she recognised that at the time).
"A Cutie Mark?!" she whispered.
"WHAT?!!"
~~~~~
Midday blinked slightly at the sheer volume of the outburst from the three fillies.
"You got your Cutie Mark when you were five?!" Apple Bloom asked.
Midday stared at them. She didn't see any way out of this that would not involve more screaming fillies.
"Yes." She said, as calm as she could manage.
"YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING US!" The three of them roared, alarming several other passengers in the train, who moved to other carriages to avoid the noise.
"No, I've had this thing since I was five." She paused, and considered some of her mother's capabilites, but decided not to raise those concerns. She was certain that it was her Cutie Mark, even if she had no idea what it meant, which as many ponies pointed out, really contradicted the whole purpose of the Cutie Mark. She had pointed out that she hadn't suffered Cutie Mark Failure yet, so she was probably doing the right thing.
'Except for all those times I did the wrong thing'. There was laughter from over by Rainbow Dash.
"Seriously? When you were five? Wow. So you couldn't cast magic, had only just started school, but you had a Cutie Mark? What does it even mean?"
Midday tried to look calm.
"Well, after the Nightmare Night festivities, my mother dragged me off home so she could look through every book she could find in order to figure out what an eclipse was."
"And?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Well, I found out some stuff about the early Pegasi languages, and an interesting mistake by Princess Celestia, but other than that? Nothing. I have absolutely no idea what this thing is telling me."
"But what is an eclipse?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"It's when the moon blocks out light from the sun from reaching us, or when the moon gets stuck in the world's shadow. And since the Princesses" She turned her gaze to Rainbow Dash, "Both of them, are really careful, this doesn't happen much."
"Doesn't look like an eclipse." Apple Bloom observed.
"What?" Midday asked. The red-headed filly looked up at her.
"Well, it kinda looks like... a sunrise. I mean, how do you know that's the moon?"
"It's grey and lifeless" Midday said, feeling caught off-foot.
"Could just be a desert. Or a quarry, or something." Scootaloo suggested.
"Or just an romanticised representation of a generic rocky plain, drawn to represent some artistic vision, rather than the actual features of the location it claims to present." Sweetie Belle suggested. There was a long pause as everypony stared blankly at her.
"What are you, an art critic?" Scootaloo finally quipped.
"Look, it's my Cutie Mark, and I say it's an eclipse, so an eclipse it is. End of story" The mare said, feeling slightly irritated at their nit-picking. She briefly considered tempting them to become Cutie Mark Crusader Lawyers, then decided some things were best left where they were found. Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes.
"You eye-rolling me, Rainbow Dash?"
"Might have been." She said, defensively. Midday looked at the mutli-coloured mare.
"Okay, Rainbow Dash, what is it?"
"What's what?" the mare asked nonchalantly.
"You've been acting suspicious of me for months now, and you obviously didn't agree to this just because Rarity or Applejack gave you some lecture on trust, so" Midday threw her forelegs wide, "Here I am, ask away"
Rainbow Dash tried not to let her emotions show. She failed, as a sly grin spread across her face. "Okay then." She said, icily. The train was beginning to get close to Ponyville now, and was slowing down.
"Who are you, Midday Eclipse? Who are you really?"
The mare stared at Rainbow Dash. She blinked.
"That's all you want to know, is it?"
"Yeah."
"You just want to know who I am, not why I came to Ponyville, or anything?"
Rainbow Dash scoffed. "I've got a pretty good guess on those. Now are you actually going to tell me?"
Midday normally wouldn't have, but with what she'd asked Cadance, and been told in kind, she felt slightly less cautious than usual. And besides, she thought, it's Rainbow Dash. There is no way she'd actually believe me if I told the truth.
"Okay." she said calmly, taking a deep breath. Rainbow Dash actually looked a bit shocked, small wonder considering the mare had been trying to prise the truth from her since the whole 'Mare Do Well' incident.
"I am actually Twilight Sparkle's daughter, from some twenty-two years into the future, brought back in time via an accident with magic and now eeking out a living in Ponyville until I can find a way to return myself to my time." She said. Rainbow Dash stared at her for several seconds. Several long, silent seconds.
"You're a sick mare, Eclipse." Rainbow Dash finally said. Midday just looked at her.
"You asked." Rainbow Dash just shooked her head and muttered something, before turning away from Midday and saying nothing to her even after the train had stopped. Not even thanking her for paying for the tickets to see the Wonderbolts, paying for the pizza, nothing. She quickly stormed off the train once it arrived, but not before asking Scootaloo if she needed a lift, to which the filly who proclaimed herself Rainbow Dash's biggest fan declined. Midday felt slightly awkward as she stood there on the platform watching Rainbow Dash fly off. Scootaloo was staring at her.
"Midday" she said. The royal blue unicorn turned to look.
"Y'know a few months ago, you said you were 'hardwired' to be honest." Midday felt a rising panic.
"You remember that?" she asked. Scootaloo looked straight at her with the most deadpan expression she could muster. Midday wasn't sure why she'd bothered asking, when she'd said that when her mind and Rainbow Dash's had been swapped, which was probably on Scootaloo's list of worst days ever.
"You remember that. So?"
"You meant it, right?" Scootaloo asked. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were both looking confused.
"Yes." Midday said, stretching out the word.
"So... you really are from the future?" Scootaloo asked. She looked amazed, and amused. "You really are... her daughter?"
Midday looked about and motioned for the fillies to move closer.
"I'll tell you the answer if you promise you won't tell anypony."
There was a pause as the three fillies confered.
"We promise" They said solemnly.
"I am."
They stared at her in shock, even though she was just confirming what she already told them.
"That's... kinda cool." Sweetie Belle said.
"Do we have our Cutie Marks yet, in the future?" Apple Bloom asked, though Midday was fairly certain she was making a joke.
"Does Rainbow Dash ever join the Wonderbolts? No, wait, no, if you tell us it might change it." Scootaloo frowned.
"You know us in the future, don't you?" Sweetie Belle said. Midday bit her lip.
"Does she?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Oh come on, she hates Diamond Tiara, even though nopony seems to notice what Diamond Tiara gets up to."
Midday found herself recalling that incident with crystal clarity. She facehoofed. "Yeah, probably wasn't the best idea I've ever had. But, then again, she is Diamond Tiara."
"What's she like in the future?" Scootaloo asked with trepidation. Midday shrugged.
"Don't know. Never met her. Never even seen her. But I'm pretty sure I can guess. She'd be the sort of mare who talks down to everyone, treats them like little kids, and probably wears little bows in her head and bright pinks all the time, and her office (because she'll have an officer) will be filled with pictures of kittens, and then the minute you talk back at her..." Midday let their minds do the walking. They looked suitably terrified. Fortunately Scootaloo managed to recover quickly.
"If you're from the future, why are you here? Was there some kind of apocalyptic pony war?"
"No. Or if there was, I didn't notice it." She frowned, remember she had been supposed to deliver Wisp's warning. Which hadn't done much good considering what happened afterwards. "Just an accident with a teleport spell."
"Oh." Scootaloo looked disappointed.
"If you do know us, that would kinda explain why you're the way you are to us, not treatin' us like dumb kids or nothing." Apple Bloom said. Something seemed to occur to Sweetie Belle.
"But I guess we do look like dumb kids to you, because you know the adult us, and we've still not got our Cutie Marks." She said quietly. Midday knelt down in front of them.
"You want to know something?" She said quietly, "I think you three look like giants." There were faint smiles on their faces, but then something seemed to occur to Apple Bloom, and she fixed Midday with a wrought-iron stare.
"Hold up... Twilight Sparkle gets wings?!"
~~~~~
Ten years from 'now'
Twilight Sparkle and Celestia had been talking, and therefore hadn't noticed Twilight Twinkle's desperate battle with the candy-wrapper. But they had noticed the panic, and the bright flash of light as the little filly, still dressed as Princess Luna, floated into the air, her horn and eyes glowing brighter every second, and then there was a deep rumbling. Celestia seemed to be in pain, and then Twilight saw something horrifying. The sun was beginning to move across the sky, despite it being early in the evening. Twilight Sparkle ignored this, rushing over to her daughter, who didn't seem to notice her. Twilight Sparkle was reminded of when she got her Cutie Mark, when her magic had run rampant, turning her parents into plants, turning Spike into a giant freshly-hatched ragon, and causing everything else to start floating. True enough, it had led to one of the top ten moments of her life, but it had still been utterly terrifying. And now history seemed to be repeating itself with her daughter.
'But she can't. She can't be doing this. She's just a little filly' She told herself. Then the sky went a strange colour, and Twilight looked up to see the sun had moved behind the moon, tainting it an odd colour, and then... she placed a hoof on her daughter, just as Celestia had done for her. She let her magic flow, restraining the rogue casting of her daughter, trying to find spells that would calm the little filly. After a few seconds, which for Twilight Sparkle felt more like a horrible eternity, Twilight Twinkle dropped to the ground, and the sun gradually disappeared back behind the horizon.
"Mommy?" she whimpered. "Mommy, my horn hurts." Twilight Sparkle just held her daughter close, as if she was about to fly apart on the wind. Celestia walked over at that point, along with several guards Twilight Sparkle hadn't noticed.
"Feel sleepy..." The tiny royal blue mare's eyes closed, though fortunately she was still breathing. Twilight Sparkle's mind raced.
"What was that?! She wasn't supposed to have magic for... for another five years!" She yelled, to nopony in particular. Celestia just looked concerned.
"And she moved the sun? Even I can't do that!" Actually, she wasn't sure if that was true. She didn't make a point of trying, and she didn't really want to try either. She was certain she could, but... the proof that the tiny slumbering form in front of her had managed it... she felt terror, and concern, and awe, and a dozen other emotions colliding together.
"What should I do?" she asked, hoping Celestia would help. Celestia always helped her, and she needed her help now.
"She is your daughter. Only you can determine that." Twilight Sparkle frowned. That wasn't exactly what she'd been hoping for, but then, she wasn't sure what she hadn't not been hoping for. She looked at the filly, and decided.
"Maybe I should try and... restrain her abilities. At least until she's old enough" she said quietly. "Old enough to be able to use them without hurting anypony, or herself." Celestia said nothing. Twilight Sparkle's horn glowed, and she looked at her daughter, occasionaly twitching in her sleep. She saw something on the filly's flank. A small image of a sun obscured by a moon. An eclipse. She felt a deep amount of pride, despite her terror and concern. Her daughter had managed to move the sun itself. Despite everything, she found herself smiling a small smile. Managing to perform an insanely overpowered act of magic by accident?
"That's my girl." she whispered, as her magic moved towards the slumbering filly, ready to lock away just enough of her power until... until... Twilight Sparkle paused, as the question occurred to her, until when?
"Until the time is right" she told herself. Her horn glowed once more, and she felt a slight tear move down her cheek. The filly made a small noise as the magic began it's work.
"Sorry, sweetie." Twilight said, mournfully.