“Time is the longest distance between two places.” - Tennessee Williams
When it came to making mistakes Twilight differentiated between simple mistakes and those made when facing a challenge. The former were hard to deal with as they exposed failure and weakness in handling life's everyday problems, and there was little to learn from them. The latter, however, she had learned not to fear. A mistake made during a challenge was an opportunity for growth. Twilight realized now that she had made a mistake in her voyage to the past. She was pretty sure that constituted a mistake made during a challenge since traveling to a previous point in her life was hardly an everyday thing.
In saving her book from Spike she had managed to create a future where she was now a published author. However, something about how her night writing had gone after the meteor shower had been different because she had never met Owlicious. She wasn't there for that part of the evening, but she imagined with the book at hand she was able to focus much more on her work. The lack of distractions must have allowed her to ignore the owl flying past the windows of the library. Or perhaps with the book available she had decided to leave the work for the next day. After all, the only reason she had wanted to stay up late was that she was worried the paper wouldn't get done on time. Whichever the case was, in this version of events she never met her owl. So, while she was now a published author, she was also a pony without a pet.
The bigger problem, of course, was how to correct the error. Could she go back to that night again? Make sure she opened the window and let the little guy into her home and life once more? Or was it not possible to be that precise with the spell? She hadn't really picked that night. It was just random that she'd ended up there.
Or did I pick that night? Was I thinking about Spike ruining my book when I cast the spell in the first place? It was possible. But all she had was questions. She needed to know facts. But she also didn't want to tell anypony about what had happened.
First, she would probably sound crazy if she tried to explain that her pet owl she'd never had was missing from the past. She remembered the mocking she had received when she tried to explain to everypony that she was visited by herself from the future several months before. Not to mention the fact that everypony knew how dangerous it was to mess with time.
Twilight had not originally intended to mess up the timeline, of course. She hadn't known for sure that she was in the past until she had already altered the future. She was sure her friends would understand. Even Celestia would likely understand and believe her that she hadn't meant to change anything. So it was probably safe to talk to them. But, then there was that part of her that was afraid she could lose this future she had created. A future where she was a published author was one she'd only dreamed could be possible, and now she was living it. Living the dream.
I'll try to get this all figured out somehow. Once I've got a solution to the problem I can just go back to the past and get Owlicious back. Then nothing bad will have changed. I just have to know more about how this spell works.
"Spike!" Twilight had waved off her comment to Spike about Owlicious, but now she called him back into the main room of the library. He entered quickly and she asked, "Where are those Star Swirl scrolls we found in the castle yesterday?"
"Oh, no." said Spike, shaking his head. "You promised me you wouldn't try to cast anymore spells! So I'm not going to tell you what I did with them."
Twilight groaned. Think. What's a good reason I'd need those scrolls. She thought and then continued, "Spike, this is serious. I think there might have been a side-effect of that spell I cast yesterday. I need to look at the notes to see if I'm right."
The dragon now looked concerned. "Does it have something to do with that Owlisis guy you were asking about?"
"Owlicious," Twilight corrected before even thinking, then, "but yes, as a matter of fact, it does. I think the spell might have changed something. So I need those notes."
Giving a sigh, Spike turned to leave. "Hang on," he said, but before he was out of the room he turned back. "I'll go get them. Just promise me you won't try to cast any of them again, okay."
Twilight bit her lip. She didn't want to give her word unless she meant it. "Alright, Spike," she said. "I won't cast any of the other spells." But I might cast the same one again...
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After looking through the scrolls, Twilight found herself frustrated. She now understood just how incomplete this spell really was. Obviously the spell worked, but the notes for it didn't really describe specifically how it worked. I guess Star Swirl really was still working on this one. I wonder if he ever even cast it? This doesn't really seem to describe how to control the magic in this spell, just how to activate it.
How had she not noticed this yesterday? Because I was so eager to try out one of these spells that I didn't care if it was actually complete. "Argh," she flopped her head onto the page in front of her. This inspection of the scrolls was sobering indeed. All the words about fixing mistakes and traveling back to relive a part of your life were just fluff now that she saw them again. There was no meat to this document. Except for the spell. That was very real and very powerful.
And if I cast it one more time, I bet I could get this right. Twilight looked across the room. Spike was working on sorting through some books. He had been glancing over at her every so often, possibly making sure she wouldn't renege on her promise. If she was going to cast this spell again, he'd have to leave the room. "Spike," she said, pretending to still be deep in concentration with her work. "Could you get me some tea?"
The dragon hesitated, but only for a moment, then, "Sure. I'll be right back." And the moment he was out of the room, Twilight's horn began to glow.
Under her breath, Twilight read out the incantation again, working through the spell and focusing on the night she got - or in this case didn't get - Owlicious. She had to cast it quickly, because she heard Spike coming back from the kitchen already. He was probably just setting the pot on the stove and returning to make sure she wasn't doing exactly what she was doing now.
Just remember that night, she thought to herself. And she felt magic move inside her. The spell had been cast and the glowing of her horn died just as Spike rounded the corner. Twilight continued to pretend to look through her papers and, in fact, did return to looking through them. Even if she did cast the spell in the hopes of correcting her mistake, she still wanted to see if there was any other possible solution. After all, she wouldn't time travel until that night, so there was no reason not to keep working during the day.
But sadly, the rest of the day was mostly uneventful. The other scrolls were not that useful; none of them were related to the time spell. So Twilight gave up on that project after another hour and returned to her work on the mysterious Box from the Tree of Harmony. At one point, Rainbow Dash dropped by to give Twilight some outlines for the novel she had started thinking on. It wasn't anything concrete, but Twilight thought some of the ideas did show promise.
So that night, as she fell asleep, Twilight thought about her possible novel collaboration with Rainbow Dash. She smiled again at the knowledge that she was now a published writer, and she smiled because she remembered how, on the night she should have gotten Owlicious, Rainbow would never have wanted to read or write anything with her. She remembered that Rainbow having a stay in the hospital was what had caused her to fall in love with Daring Do books.
Ironic as it was, while trying to correct an accident, Twilight recalled that the only reason that Rainbow Dash wanted to do any of that was because of an accident...
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Twilight again found herself floating, this time following herself across a green field. Her other self, again wingless, was walking toward Pinkie Pie and Rarity. Rainbow Dash could be seen up in the sky performing various tricks. Twilight thought she might already remember this day, yet she still couldn't place it. Whatever day this is, it's definitely not the same day again.
Evidently thinking of a day when casting the spell was not a factor. So then what was? As Twilight thought her other self stopped and began to talk with her friends.
"Hey, Pinkie Pie! Hey, Rarity! Whatcha lookin' at?"
"Rainbow Dash!" shouted Pinkie.
Oh no! This is the day that Rainbow Dash hurt herself. The moment she thought this she began to move toward the other Twilight and, again upon touching her body, she found that she was united with her past self. This time, she didn't test any of her movements. She immediately began to run toward the point in the field where she knew Rainbow would soon crash into the ground. "Rainbow!" She shouted up to her friend. "Be careful!"
The blue pegasus couldn't hear her as she pulled up into a high spiraling loop. It was one of her more impressive tricks. She knew that it would really impress Rarity and Pinkie, but more than that she needed to practice it so she could impress the Wonderbolts. There was a rumor that Soarin was going to be coming to Ponyville in the next week and she wanted to be ready to wow him. But, as she reached the peak of her arc she suddenly felt herself meet some turbulence. It wasn't much, but the delicate nature of the trick meant that she wasn't able to correct herself. And before she knew it, she was going down. It was hard to tell what exactly was happening, but she saw the green grass coming closer to her and tried to brace for impact. Then she saw a magenta glow everywhere in her field of vision and felt herself slowing down. Which was strange considering that normally she felt an abrupt stop before she started seeing weird stars and colors. Blinking, the color wouldn't go away and, soon, she felt herself connecting with the ground in a relatively soft manner. Then the magenta was gone. Looking left and right she saw Twilight wiping sweat from her brow and breathing heavily.
"Twilight?" Rainbow asked, slowly moving around and standing up. The adrenaline from the acrobatics and near crash was still coursing through her body. Dash was shaking slightly as she walked over to her friend. "You saved me," she said, dumbfounded. Then she started to piece together everything that happened and laughed as she declared. "That. Was. AWESOME!"
Pinkie and Rarity had come over and were standing by their friends. "Goodness, gracious!" declared Rarity, as she looked at Dash. "That was quite the fall."
"I know!" shouted Pinkie. "Rainbow was all zoom-zoom-voom-whoom! and then Twilight was all 'Be careful!' and then Rainbow was like brow-row-row gonna crash! then Twilight was like wa-woosh! and then Rainbow was like" Pinkie Pie lifted herself into the air and slowly mimed falling to the ground like only she could do.
It was then that Twilight began to register what had just happened. She had been acting on instinct and fear up until this point. Now that she was back she started to realize that she had, yet again, changed the future. This time not just changing the fate of a book or an owl, but the fate of her friend. Oh sweet Celestia... Rainbow was supposed to get hurt. She's supposed to be going to the hospital right now. Twilight took a deep shuddering breath. "Are you... are you sure you're okay, Rainbow?"
The pegasus stopped and examined herself. "I feel fine. You did great! I definitely could have broken a leg with a landing like that!"
"Or a wing," Twilight said, thinking hard.
Dash nodded and flexed her wings out. "Yeah, I guess. But I'm pretty sure these bad boys are A-OK." Taking the the sky, Rainbow arced around and landed on Twilight's other side. "Yep, A-OK indeed." Dash laughed again. "Wow, could you imagine if I'd broken a wing? I might have been in the hospital for a week!"
Yeah, you're supposed to do exactly that! Twilight's eyes went wide. What have I done now?
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Back in Ponyville the four friends went to celebrate at Sugar Cube Corner. Pinkie called it her "Twilight Saving Rainbow Dash from Going to the Hospital" party and Twilight wasn't sure she should be happy about being in attendance. At least the spacetime continuum as a whole is probably safe, but who knows what this will do to life in Ponyville. A lot happened that week while Rainbow was in the hospital. What will be different now that she's out and about?
Somehow about a dozen other ponies came to the little shindig Pinkie was having. Twilight wasn't exactly sure how Pinkie always managed to get word out about her parties, because she usually didn't do the singing telegram thing anymore. Instead, it was like the town somehow magically knew when to show up. Obviously that was impossible since Pinkie couldn't do magic, but it was still curious.
Working through the events that happened the week Rainbow was in the hospital, Twilight noted several things that would have to be different about the future. First, the weather team should have had an easier time with a rainstorm that had been a bit flawed in Rainbow's absence - that would only improve things. Second, Rainbow wouldn't have been still recovering during Hearts and Hooves Day, but that likely wasn't a problem since she wasn't dating anypony at the moment. And third, but probably most crucially, Rainbow wouldn't have gotten to read Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone. That did concern Twilight. Daring Do was an important part of Rainbow's life, not to mention an important part of Rainbow's future since she would later meet and help Daring Do defeat Ahuizotl for real. I have to fix this.
Walking over to her friend, who was now enjoying some punch with Rarity, Pinkie, and some of the other townsfolk, Twilight said, "Dash. I don't think you look so good. We have to take you to the hospital. In fact, I think you have to stay there for a few days."
All three of her friends, and the rest of the ponies, turned to her in confusion.
"Uh, come again?" asked Rainbow, tilting her head to the side.
The white unicorn raised an eyebrow, "Yes, Twilight, I must ask, why ever would Rainbow Dash need to visit a hospital?"
Pinkie chimed in. "Yeah, remember? You did the wa-whoosh! and saved her, so she doesn't have to."
"Heh, heh. Yeah, I guess you're right..." Twilight bit her lip.
"What wa-whoosh thing did Twilight do?" asked Blossomforth.
Rainbow Dash smiled and took to the air. "There I was! Doing some of the most death-defying and amazing moves ever seen by pony-kind. But then, suddenly falling from the sky, I was doomed to crash and end my flying career forever when Twilight Sparkle, expert of magic and amazingness rushed to my rescue and snatched me out of the air the instant before I connected with the ground!" As she spoke Dash performed several loops, and then landed solidly next to her purple friend.
The other ponies present gave "ohs" and "ahs" in amazement, but Twilight was still working out how she could get Rainbow to read the Daring Do books. Unfortunately, that was when she felt herself wake up.
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Looking out the window, it was clear that today was going to be another sunny day in Ponyville. When thinking about the weather, Twilight bolted upright and got out of bed. What changed for Rainbow Dash?
The first place she checked was the bookshelf downstairs. That was going to be very telling. If she got Rainbow to read the Daring Do series then there should be a copy of Daring Do and the Ring of Destiny at the end of the shelf. After all, it was Rainbow and the rest of the six that had helped Daring prevent Ahuizotl from harnessing the power of the Rings of Scorcherro. If Rainbow never read the books then that book wouldn't be there.
Scanning the shelf, Twilight breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the spine of the book. I somehow got her hooked on the series anyway. But then she paused.
The color of the spine was purple rather than red as it once had been. Using her magic, she lifted the book down and saw that the cover lacked the depiction of her friend. Instead, it simply showed Daring flying by the ancient temple. Twilight's heart sank. So much for fixing mistakes. This time I really messed things up.
But it was still possible Rainbow was a fan of the books. It had to be possible that she was a fan without being so fanatical that she would go halfway across the known world in the hopes of helping A. K. Yearling do her laundry. Twilight had to know for sure what had happened as a result of this trip to the past. So without wasting time, the purple alicorn marched out of her tree home and went to talk to her friend.
Cantering through the streets, Twilight was on the lookout for anypony who might know where Rainbow Dash was. A likely candidate was busy selling apples at her cart in the marketplace. However, she didn't seem so busy that she couldn't be interrupted. Walking somewhat quickly but also trying to stay casual, Twilight made her way to Applejack's cart.
"Hey, AJ. Do you know where Rainbow Dash is?"
The apron wearing orange pony raised an eyebrow. "I reckon she's in Cloudsdale. Why wouldn't she be?"
I guess in this timeline Rainbow Dash is doing something in Cloudsdale right now. "Oh? I forgot she was visiting there today. Do you know when she'll get back home?"
Applejack looked Twilight dead in the eyes. "I'd assume she'd be home right now. Don't y'all remember? She's livin' in Cloudsdale ever since she became a Wonderbolt."
A jolt was sent through Twilight's chest on hearing those words. She inhaled sharply only to have her breath caught in her throat. The alicorn's mind strained to wrap around what her friend had just revealed to her about the future. Well, about the present. This can't be real. Rainbow can't be a Wonderbolt. I can't have changed that much.
Now Applejack put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder and said, "Listen, Twi', I can tell somethin's the matter. Why'd y'all need ta see Rainbow Dash?"
Twilight recognized her friend's concern, but she wasn't sure how to respond. Twilight also noticed that her own eyes had begun to produce tears. I made Rainbow Dash a Wonderbolt. A smile came on her face and she started to laugh. "Rainbow Dash is a Wonderbolt." Saying the words made it more real.
Now Applejack was getting worried. Something was very wrong with her friend. "Twi', if you ain't feelin' well I can take you to Nurse Redheart. She lives right over there." The pony pointed an orange hoof down the road. "I don't mind leavin' the cart. Or if ya need I can send fer Spike."
Twilight barely heard her friend. She was too wrapped up in thought. This future she was making - this future that she had made - was looking good. Even if it was coming about through minor accidents, and had some flaws, it was promising indeed. Those accidents, however, were problematic. She definitely wanted to have her pet, and to be able to share her love of Daring Do with her friend. Twilight honestly didn't know how to do that. Perhaps she could use some of her wise friend's advice on the matter...
"Twilight?" AJ tried to get through to her friend.
No, Twilight thought. I can handle this. These are big changes and this is a big responsibility, but I can handle this on my own. Then she remembered those thoughts once being relayed by the pony in front of her. She remembered that first applebuck season in Ponyville when Applejack, as stubborn as a mule, had decided to take care of the entire crop by herself because of her own pride. Now Twilight was about to do the same thing to hide her own fears. She looked at her friend's eyes, finding only genuine regard for her well-being. But if I tell her she might tell Celestia and I'll have to undo all this. That was again fear trying to control her. And she was not going to let fear be her guide in this. I have to tell somepony.
"Twilight?" AJ repeated.
Twilight took a deep, shuddering breath. "Applejack," she said, closing her eyes as she fought to get the words out. "I need to tell you something."