Crystal Wishes was having a pretty awful week at her fortune telling shop. It was one of those weeks that made her wish that she lived anywhere else other than Ponyville. Those drab citizens came in with the same drab queries. Will I pass my test? Will I have a good harvest? Should I get a new pet? They were barely worth a passing concern, much less a prediction from her crystal ball. The hours just dragged. She just couldn’t wait to go home and the day had just begun.
The previous pony came with her daughter and wanted to see her future. As interesting as that sounded, it was just another bit of standard drama about school acceptance. As usual, one concentration and a vision later, and the mother was well pacified. The little darling would be off to school and that would probably be the extent of her caring. Even the jiggling of coins in the little bag given in payment sounded more real than the mare’s unremarkable voice….as unstimulating as it was.
As Crystal lost all hope of anypony in town giving her something worthwhile to predict, two ponies peeked in.
“Come in if you’re coming in,” Crystal told them in a languid manner. The two sat down and she recognized one as Cheerilee, her sister’s friend. That piqued her interest at once, which made her stop slouching in her worn out chair.
“Hello, Ms. Wishes,” Cheerilee said. The other pony was a Pegasus foal with a dark yellow coat and a magenta mane.
“You’re back, I see? I suppose that must be a sign that your problems must be stacking up, Mrs. Cheerilee,” Crystal quipped.
The foal’s wings fluttered and she sneered. “Hey, what’s your problem?!”
Crystal’s fur on the back of her neck stood on end and she shot a rude glare back at the foal. She then recalled seeing the little brat laugh at her when she was temporarily banned from the town. “Most of it would be ponies with no future….and foals,” she remarked as if talking about pests. They were pests to her. Their desires and motivations were often so erratic that they were hard to predict. And they always had to be gratified like babies. There’s no patience in a foal’s blood.
“Good thing, you are not talking to just any foal,” Cheerilee interjected. She tapped the foal on the shoulder and smiled expectantly. “C’mon, don’t be shy.”
The foal groaned. It was a worse sound than gravel being scraped. “My name is Scootaloo. Uh, nice to meet you and stuff.”
Crystal raised an eyebrow. “And I am Crystal Wishes but you both likely know that.”
“Yes. I know of you from my friend, Ribbon. She recommended you for your fine work in fortune telling,” Cheerilee said.
“I am aware of your relationship. But I don’t know what relationship you two have.”
Cheerilee beamed. “She is one of my students.” Her voice was so sugary that Scootaloo looked embarrassed.
“If you both want your fortunes read then the little one may go to my sister in the next tent over. I don’t do two at once,” Crystal informed her.
“Whatever. I knew this was a waste of time,” Scootaloo said with a petulant roll of her eyes. She got up and turned to leave.
Cheerilee pulled her back and the foal let her body hang limp against her hoof. “Um, we were actually wondering if you would help us both out at once. It’s sort of for her sake that I request this.”
Usually, Crystal would never entertain the thought especially with a foal no less. But with her shop more dull than a rock farm as of late, she didn’t want to turn them away too hastily.
“Well, what did you both need for me to look into?”
Cheerilee smiled in appreciation and had Scootaloo sit down again. “Well, it started when this little pony came to see me after class.”
Cheerilee started to recall that morning when Scootaloo looked less enthusiastic than usual. She was even the last to go outside for midday break with the rest of the foals. Sensing that something was off, Cheerilee gave a note to Scootaloo so she could come and talk to her about what was going on. In private, it didn’t take much prodding for her to find out that Scootaloo was feeling down about her wings again.
Crystal was familiar with Scootaloo. She was the one with a scooter. And she always zipped around on that contraption, sometimes splashing mud or water on other ponies without as much as a backwards glance. Crystal wouldn’t say that she hated Scootaloo but she was one of her least favorite foals, which are already a class of ponies she was never fond of. Ribbon Wishes, her sister, was the one with the best personal perception in the family. It’s why she loved to talk to ponies face to face. She may have lacked that but even Crystal noticed things about others. For a Pegasus, she always wondered why Scootaloo never flew. She assumed the foal was just scared of flying or that she was too absorbed in her scooter toy and wasn’t anything more than average at flight.
“So, Scootaloo was just getting worried about not having learned how to fly yet,” Cheerilee continued. “I told her that it’s normal to not learn something right away like your sister, Crystal. Ribbon learned about her wonderful skill as an adult.”
“Well, that is true,” Crystal said. She leaned back in her chair.
“But, Cheerilee…that doesn’t matter,” Scootaloo complained. Her voice was a high pitched whine that was worse than a mosquito’s drone. She also, like most foals, couldn’t sit still and kept fidgeting in her chair like she constantly had to urinate badly. “It only matters if my family has a history of having a hard time with flight.”
“And that is the basis of your visit, I presume?” Crystal said to Scootaloo.
“Yeah, I want to know if you can look into the past and tell me about my grandparents perhaps or even earlier.”
Crystal gave an exasperated sigh. “Everypony else asks for me to peer into the future. I assume it’s most relevant to your ability to fly?”
“I personally thought that looking into the past would give Scootaloo a needed frame of reference into where she came from. It might help for her to see where her future lies?” Cheerilee said.
“It’s as good a reason as any,” Crystal said, shrugging her shoulders.
Scootaloo stood, her two bundles of energy on her back flapping. “Good, let’s get started.”
“Not so fast.” Crystal looked at Cheerilee. “Since you’re her teacher, I think you ought to join in as well.”
“By all means….I’ll do it,” Cheerilee accepted.
“Of course, dealing with the past instead of the future is never easy. It’s more than a prediction and both of you will be equally present in the magical process. I demand double the payment up front,” Crystal said, giving her best “pay me now” look.
Cheerilee took out a bag of coins and set it in front of her. “Ribbon told me that would you ask for it but it’s worth it to help my students.”
Crystal tapped her hooves together, eager to begin. “Alright, you two start concentrating,” she instructed. The two of them closed their eyes and took deep breathes. Crystal used her horn to infuse the crystal ball with a powerful magical light. Soon, the blue edges were radiating a soft blue, pulsing and rippling like water. “Now, open your eyes.”
The two of them did and in mere seconds, were enthralled in the crystal. “Let the ball pull you in and let your minds be consumed in the pure water,” Crystal said softly. She hummed for a few minutes and in that time, Cheerilee and Scootaloo lost all sense of the world around them. Their eyes were blurry save for that light and soon, it got larger and larger as if it was a portal opening up before them.
Scootaloo felt like her voice was ripped from her mouth and her body seemed as if to weight a ton. It didn’t seem real but the water came so close that it turned into a lake and she was free falling towards it. She hit it like a meteor but she felt no pain. She struggled to the surface and spat out water. Panting, she looked around her. There was nothing but a white fog all around.
“Uh, hello!” she shouted into the white void.
Then a booming voice came from around her.
“Ah, Scootaloo…isn’t this grand? I’m at the very edge of your mind.”
“Is that you, Crystal Wishes?” Scootaloo said. Being able to see Crystal but not hear her was unnerving but she tried to suppress it like her idol, Rainbow Dash, would do. She already wished she was gone from there and the cryptic words of that mare didn’t help.
“It is I. I am not present with you because I am looking into where you’re concentrating. My magic allows me to make predictions like this…but that’s not why you’re here. Since we’re at the edge of your mind, I can sense links to past events as well as the future.”
Scootaloo felt frustrated. “So how do you know where to find them?”
“You just have to think. It’s the only power you possess around here.”
“I’ll try.” Scootaloo closed her eyes and thought hard about the past. She tried to imagine ponies long ago twirling through the clouds. Since she didn’t know their names or faces, she soon imagined herself doing the flying. She imagined the wind caressing her fur and blowing her mane back. And when she did, she was on the ground, never the sky. She was used to doing that, even during class.
Daydreaming was one of the few things that countered the pain she faced every day.
Scootaloo suddenly caught a whiff of burnt rubber. Most ponies hated that but to her, it was prettier than a rose. She barely fazed her after years of burning it on her scooter to the point where she could reek of it and barely notice it at all. Then the smell transitioned to fresh grass, cleaning oil, and dirt. It was like the essence of adventure rolled into one. She took another look and saw a green trail leading away into the mist.
Scootaloo’s eyes shot open. “Crystal, are you seeing this?” There was no response. “Hello?! Crystal….!” She cupped her hooves and shouted but nopony answered back.
“Oh, great. She must have went to talk to Cheerilee.”
Scootaloo waded into the white mist. As she went on, the fog stayed equally as thick at the same distance. There was nothing in there with her as she followed the trail of smoke. It was the only possible lead she had so there was no way she was going to ignore it.
For some reason, the smoke led her to what appeared to be an edge to the water. It was surreal and Scootaloo was hesitant to go any closer to it until she heard a faint voice on the other side. She swam faster. “Hello?! Who’s out there?”
She reached the edge and looked over where there was more water and she nearly bumped into Cheerilee, who was swimming in her direction.
“Scootaloo!” she started.
“Where are we? This is a pretty strange place….I don’t like swimming all that much since I fell in that river a while back. What happened to going back to the past?” Scootaloo quickly rambled.
“I don’t know where we are but it has to be important,” Cheerilee replied.
Scootaloo noticed that the green trail had vanished. “Hey, were you brought here by something?”
Cheerilee shook her head. “No, I was not.” She looked at Scootaloo with concern. “Are you alright?” Before Scootaloo could respond, she tried to touch her with her hoof and they were both blinded by some kind of white light. They couldn’t hear, see or even think.