Chapter Two
Changing Fate
I ran as fast as I could, galloping up the canyon’s ledge. I could hear the others not far behind. I stopped at the ledge overlooking the hiding spot I told that mare about, and looked around. Good, the rock was where I had seen it before. I made my way over to it, and waited, watching intently on the scene down below. There. The mare appeared, and so did I, right behind her.
“Nonononono! This can’t be happening!” I hear, followed by a gasp. I knew what was coming. My past self tossed the rock over to the hiding place. I remembered how heavy the rock was to me, even though it was so small. Maybe I should test and see whether or not I should push this rock? I push a little, and it gives. I’m gonna have to start pushing as he makes his approach to the mare. Otherwise, this’ll all be for naught.
The mare moves, and slides into the hiding place. I see now that the noise must’ve attracted that stallion, as he comes to investigate the dead end. My past self looks around frantically, and as he lays eyes on me, I see him gasp. It’s a little surreal, looking at my past self, but I know we’re gonna win this time. I wave to him, smirking, and turn my attention to the stallion. My past self backs off, watching everything intently. The stallion spots the mare, and uses his magic to pin her down. I need to start pushing, now! Slowly, the rock starts moving, but as it does, it suddenly stops!
No! This can’t be happening! What’s blocking it?! I check, and see that the ledge suddenly turns up near the end. “You little cunt!” I hear from down below. Gah! This isn’t supposed to happen! “I’m gonna make you pay for what you did to my eye!” I throw myself against the rock in a fit of frustration, and it teeters on the ledge. Seeing this, I move before the rock comes tumbling back my way, pushing it over. “I’ll enjAH!”
I blink. There was nothing but silence. Did I do it?
I peek over, and I see the mare coming out from her hiding spot, a shocked expression on her face, as if she’s wondering what just happened. I also see the stallion from before, passed out on the ground.
“Ha! Buck yeah!” I shout in triumph, an overwhelming sense of elation washing over me. I jump down from the ledge. It’s quite high, but what’s the worst that could happen to me? I’m already dead. I land forcefully, but feel no pain. A bit disoriented, I get up, and shake my head, before moving over to the stallion collapsed on the ground. “In your face! That’ll teach you to mess with my plans! I’m the best in Equestria!” I gloat, reactively. This causes me to blink. Where exactly did that come from? Was this an aspect of my personality that I had before I kicked the bucket? But what was I the best at? Being a guard? A guard with plans?
“What kind of guard has plans?” My past self asks,as if reading my thoughts. “And what exactly is going on? Who are you?”
I look at him with a cocked eyebrow. “You don’t already know?” I ask him.
He shakes his head. “You can’t be me. I mean, I’m me.” He eyes me suspiciously. “If I’m me, then who are you?”
“I’m you from the future.” I begin to explain, waving him towards me. “Let me explain. In my past, I-” As I speak, I lay my hoof on his shoulder, and suddenly, I see myself colliding into him. This makes me more than a bit dizzy. In fact, if I ever ate anything, I feel like I’m gonna puke it up. I look around to see if he’s alright, only to see that he’s gone. Instantly, all his thoughts, memories, and experiences flow into me. I blink. Did I just...merge with my past self?
I look around to see the other pony, checking the stallion to see if he’s still alive. She sighs in relief, either because he was dead, and she didn’t want to see him again, or he was alive, and she didn’t want anypony to die. She backed away, shaking like a leaf. She closed her eyes and began to breathe deeply to calm herself. As she was doing that, I decided to check if our friend was dead. I moved next to the pony I was just gloating over, and try to interact with him. My hoof goes straight through him, and I can’t feel any resistance from his...well, his soul. I guess he’s alive, then. But if he’s alive, then the mare shouldn’t be here when he wakes up. I look up at her, and judging by the expression on her face, she just thought of the same thing I did. Fearfully, she began running off, out of the canyon. I follow her closely, if only to ensure nothing else happens to her.
***
We made our way back to the clearing, the pink mare and I. Sadly, she walks over at where my body lay, and stares at it, not knowing what to do. As she does so, an idea comes to me. If I can go back in time, and prevent her death, then maybe I can do the same for me. I trot over to my corpse, looking around. I need to find some sort of glowing energy, something I can touch to send me back in time. But to my dismay, there’s nothing like that. Looks like I’m stuck being dead. Why? Why does this have to happen to me? No, I can’t think about that right now. Equestria’s in danger, and I need to retrace my hoofsteps to find out what I knew. The only clue I have right now is this mare, currently sobbing to herself, watching over my corpse.
“Pinkie?!” I hear somepony shout. The mare perks up at the sound of the voice. “Pinkie?!” Another voice shouts. I see her gallop to the center of the clearing, and look towards the sound of the voices.
“I’m over here!” I hear her shout. So, her name is Pinkie? That name does sound familiar...As I watch, I see a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane appear from the bushes, and she smiles.
“Pinkie, there you are!” She replied, as she trots out from the bushes, followed by four others. A yellow pegasus, a white unicorn, an orange earth pony, and a purple alicorn. “We were worried when you said that you were gonna come out here alone!” Dammit, why do all these ponies look so familiar?
Pinkie merely looked down at the ground. “I had to...he said he had something very important to tell me...”
“Oh, jeez.” The rainbow pegasus rolled her eyes. “That creep? Don’t you see he was just trying to get you alone?”
“I have to agree with Rainbow Dash, darling.” The white unicorn said. Wait, so that’s her name? Rainbow mane equals Rainbow Dash? “Who knows what that brute would’ve done had we not found you first?”
I saw Pinkie pout. “He wouldn’t have done anything, Rarity.” She said solemnly. “He wasn’t like that at all.”
“You hardly know him, Pinkie!” The alicorn reasoned. “He might be a royal guard, but that doesn’t mean he’s a good pony!” Wait, is that one of the princesses? Yes, it’s the new one! What was her name...
I watched the earth pony nod. “Twilight’s raight, sugarcube!” That’s it, that’s her name! Twilight Sparkle! “Ya’ll don’t know what he was gonna try once he found ya out here.”
“He’s not gonna try anything, AJ...” Pinkie replied, as she began sniffling. I saw by the expression on some of their faces they could tell something was wrong. Rainbow, however, was one of the ones who wasn’t paying attention to Pinkie’s expressions.
“You don’t know that, Pinkie!” Rainbow shouted. “That stallion is bad news! He’s hit on almost every mare in Ponyville! The only reason he called you out here was to take advantage of your trust for him!” Suddenly, I really didn’t like this mare.
“Rainbow, you don’t understand...” Pinkie protested.
“No, Pinkie, you don’t understand!” Rainbow cut her off. “That stallion wants to do Celestia knows what to you! Why else would he lead you out here in the middle of the night?! You don’t even know his real name! Face it, the only reason he led you out here was so that he could foalnap you and make you his-”
“Rainbow, shut up!” Pinkie shouted, her voice echoing through the forest, as tears streamed from her eyes. Rainbow was about to chastise her for this, but when she saw the look in Pinkie’s eyes, Rainbow kept mum. For a few seconds, nothing was heard except for the sound of Pinkie crying.
“Pinkie...” Twilight began. “...Did something happen?” She asked, her voice filled with concern for her friend.
Pinkie stood, and faced toward the murder scene. “...I’ll show you.” She said, her voice barely, above a whisper. Concerned, the other ponies followed Pinkie over to where my body lay. Before she showed them, however, she turned to her friends, hanging her head low. “Brace yourselves, girls.” She told them. “You’re not gonna like this.” She lifted a hoof, and moved the grass to reveal the scene. There was a collective gasp from the others. The orange pony had removed her hat, placing it on her chest. The yellow pegasus had hid behind her friends. The others had various expressions of shock. Twilight turned to Pinkie.
“Pinkie...” Twilight said, slowly raising a hoof toward my body. “Did...Did you...”
Pinkie shook her head, straightening up. “I found him like this, Twilight. He wanted me to come out here to tell me something very important. He wanted me to bring you girls, but when you refused, I decided to come out here on my own, so I could tell you later.” I saw Pinkie start to tear up. “But when I got here, he was...” She started sniffling again, unable to complete her sentence.
The one named Rarity rushed over to embrace Pinkie, letting her sob on her shoulder. “Sweetheart, it’s alright.” She tried to comfort her. “We’re all just glad you’re safe. Whoever did this could’ve been here as well, and-”
“He was here, Rarity! I saw him!” Pinkie confessed.
Everyone gasped again, as Rarity looked over Pinkie more. “Oh, you poor dear!” She cried. “How did you stay out of sight?!”
“I didn’t!” Pinkie shouted. “He spotted me, and-and he chased me, and there were rocks, and-” Pinkie’s tears overtook her voice as she broke down, crying. All of Pinkie’s friends crowded around her, trying to offer whatever comfort they could.
“Twi, we need ta git Pinkie home, pronto.” The orange one said, looking over at the Princess.
Twilight nodded shakily, clearing her throat. “I agree. I need to contact Celestia, and tell her there’s been a...” She gulped. “...murder.”
***
I suppose I was lucky. The princess was too distraught from seeing my corpse to focus on casting a spell, which means she couldn’t teleport the group back. As a result, I was able to follow them back to their homes. I know, it sounds creepy to me, too. But hey, with no sense of direction, and little more than scraps of what I was like to go on, there wasn’t many places I could go. Besides, these mares seemed to know me, despite most of them having a low opinion of me.
We entered a library in a small town. Ponyville, I think it was called. I looked around, surprised to find a baby dragon walking down the steps. “Ugh, what’s all the ruckus?” The little dragon said. He must’ve heard the other ponies still trying to console Pinkie Pie. She was far more calm, now that she was out of the woods.
As the others tended to Pinkie, I saw Princess Twilight turn to the young dragon. “Spike, take a letter.” She said, solemnly. Without hesitation, Spike produced a quill and parchment, and got ready to write, wondering what was wrong. Twilight began speaking. “Dear Princess Celestia. I apologize for the lateness in which you receive this letter, but something awful has happened that requires your immediate attention. A royal guard was found murdered by another pony deep in the Everfree forest.”
“Wait, murdered?” Spike looked up at Twilight, who only looked back solemnly.
“Yes, Spike. And it’s important Princess Celestia know.” Spike nodded, and returned to the letter. “The murderer threatened to kill Pinkie Pie, and she’s been frightened greatly by the incident. This is not something I’m sure myself and the others can handle on our own. We require your wisdom in this matter. Please come to Ponyville as soon as you can. Sincerely, Princess Twilight Sparkle. And send it.”
Spike quickly rolled up the letter, and blew a green flame onto it. I wa confused, thinking for a moment that Spike had burned the letter. But everyone behaved as if the letter was sent. Well, if they’re fine with Spike burning that letter, then who am I to argue? It’s not like I could, anyway. Seems like nopony ever pays attention to ghosts.
The girls managed to calm Pinkie down enough that she could tell them exactly what happened. She began to relay the events of the night, how she perceived them. To my surprise, Princess Celestia began walking in the door as soon as Pinkie got to the part where she found my body. Following her were a pair of royal guardsmen that I didn’t recognize. I’m quickly learning that amnesia’s a bitch. All the ponies turned to bow, as did I. I knew she couldn’t see me, but that’s not the point. She’s the only pony I know of that’s worth my respect. Present company excluded, of course.
“There’s no need to stand on ceremony.” She informed the ponies, causing all of us to rise. “I came as soon as I could.”
“I’m glad you’re here, Princess.” Twilight said. “Pinkie was just telling us exactly what happened.”
Princess Celestia nodded. “Don’t let me stop you, Pinkie. I would like to know, as well.”
Pinkie nodded, sniffling. “When I found Mr. Stallion, h-he...I didn’t know what to do. I sat there for I don’t know how long, looking at him. Then, my Pinkie sense told me something scary was about to happen, and I felt something touch my back. That’s when I saw somepony approaching Mr. Stallion’s body.”
“Pinkie, this is very important.” Twilight said, stepping forward. “What did the pony look like? The one that you saw when you turned around?”
“He…” I saw that Pinkie was drawing a blank. The shock must’ve been getting to her. I rested a hoof on her shoulder, trying to remember the details. She looked over at me with a gasp. I kid you not, she was looking right at me. The others grew concerned.
“Pinkie? Ya’ll alraight, Sugarcube?” I heard the orange pony ask, as I began to wonder if she could see me.
“I-I’m fine, I just…thought somepony else was here for a second.” She faced forward, and frowned dejectedly. Guess she can’t see me. “The pony I saw at the clearing…” She began drawing a blank again. I could remember the details clearly, possibly because I was the only one there who was thinking with a straight head.
“He had a black mane.” I mused.
“He had a black mane.” Pinkie parroted. Wait, did she hear me?
“That’s good, Pinkie.” Said Twilight. “Anything else?”
She couldn’t respond immediately, but I thought she could hear me. So I said, “He was a unicorn with a pale blue coat.”
“He was a unicorn with a pale blue coat.” Pinkie replied.
She can hear me, I concluded. “And he was big. Like a clydesdale.”
“And he was big, like Big Mac.” She told them. I sighed, as I wondered who Big Mac was. Maybe she couldn’t hear me after all.
“He was big, like mah brother?” The orange pony asked. Pinkie nodded. Well, that answers that question.
“What about his cutie mark?” Asked the yellow pegasus who I didn’t catch the name of. At this, I couldn’t help them. I didn’t catch his cutie mark. Pinkie didn’t look like she knew what it was, either.
“I...I didn’t see his cutie mark.” She said solemnly. “I’m sorry.”
One of her friends rested a hoof on her shoulder, and I backed off. She sighed, before continuing her story. She told the others about how she heard the murderer talking, but couldn’t make out any of what he was saying. She told them how she started running after snapping a twig, and the rest of the events leading up to her hiding in the shadows.
“That’s when he spotted me.” Pinkie said. “He used his magic to hold me down, and I thought for sure he was gonna do...things…to me.” Pinkie started crying loudly, burying her face in her hooves. “I thought I was a goner!” The others helped calm her down again, offering comfort however they could.
Twilight looked like she was straining her mind over something. “Something’s not right.” She said. “How did you escape?”
“I don’t know exactly what happened!” Pinkie confessed, as Spike brought her a drink. She took the glass, chugging down the contents greedily. She was considerably calmer as she spoke again. “Just as he was approaching me, my tail twitched, and a rock fell on his head. I thought for a moment somepony had saved me, but when I looked up, there was nopony there. It’s like I was saved by sheer luck!” She caught her breath, and let out a weak laugh. “Which is actually kinda funny, when you think about it. It was kinda like slapstick comedy.”
Princess Celestia closed her eyes, as if concentrating on something. Twilight looked like she was writing something down on some parchment on a desk. “Pinkie, I know this is hard for you, but can you show us where you found the dead guard?”
Pinkie looked up at Celestia, and nodded. “I think I’ll be alright as long as I have everypony here with me.” Everyone stood to leave, and I followed them, unbeknownst to them. I can say that I was excited to learn something about who I was, but still, Pinkie didn’t hear that the stallion wasn’t working alone. How was I gonna get that vital piece of information out?