"You will be such a help to SPOAF," Future Fluttershy said as she flew up the mountain trail.
"I hope so," Past Fluttershy panted. She had given up flying long ago and was now trudging along on her hooves. "Why... do you... live so far... from Canterlot?"
"To be closer to the animals that live here," Future Fluttershy said, waving hi to a pair of birds that flew past. "And... and one other thing." She turned around, flying backwards as she looked Past Fluttershy in the eye. "You would do anything to help the animals, wouldn't you?"
Past Fluttershy paused. "Of course. Why?"
Future Fluttershy flew up to a rock. "Just wanted to make sure we were of the same mind. That's all." She sang a brief song that Fluttershy had never heard before, and the rock ground aside, revealing a set of stairs into the ground.
"Come on then," Future Fluttershy said, trotting down the stairs. Past Fluttershy followed, and was greeted by a family of mice. They entered an underground cave with a few rooms branching off of it, filled with animals, animal homes, and comfortable furniture.
"Ohhh," Past Fluttershy cooed, floating over to look at a collection of bunnies in a snuggly den. "It's so adorable!"
"The room, or the bunny?" Future Fluttershy said, smirking.
Past Fluttershy could not remember the last time she'd smirked. "Uh. Both." She spun around and admired all the animals. "Oh, what is this place, that is so wonderful? Aw, you have chipmunks! And an otter! And a tortoise! And kittens and cats and- wait, huh?" Past Fluttershy did a double take. "That cat..."
"You do want to help the animals, right?" Future Fluttershy said, casting her eyes to the ground.
"That's Opalescence! And that's Tank! And that's Winnoa! And that huge crocodile... no, that isn't little Gummy, is it? What are they doing here? Don't tell me you have Owlowiscious too!"
"Yes," Future Fluttershy said, making herself small.
"What are they doing here?"
Future Fluttershy burst into tears. "I just couldn't take it! I couldn't leave Winnoa and that poor owl with those ponies! They were working them almost to death! I had to do something! And Opalescence wouldn't have lasted another day with Rarity and her smothering affection! Neither would any of her other cats! And Gummy, oh, Gummy... well, would you leave him with an owner like Diane Pie?"
Past Fluttershy blinked. "I... I..."
"And Tank was being terribly neglected! You should have seen how Rainbow Dash treated him! It was just horrible!" Future Fluttershy fainted on the couch.
Past Fluttershy just stood there. Conversations tend to grind to a halt when one of the participants faints.
A rabbit hopped up to her.
"Oh, Angel!" Fluttershy sighed, stroking his back with her wing. "You seem just as bouncy as you were when I left you ten years ago!"
Angel looked from her to the Fluttershy on the couch and then stood on his hind legs and gave an exagerated shrug. He remained in that position, his head cocked to one side and his eyes wide.
"Oh... You want to know who I am?" Past Fluttershy sat back. "Well, the short version is, I'm from ten years ago, and I time travelled to the future." She leaned down and looked Angel in the eye. "I, uh, don't suppose there's anything you want to warn me about?"
A shudder went through the little rabbit's body, and he hopped to the other end of the room, stopping to scratch his ear, and sniffed around for hay. Fluttershy knew that game; occasionally, Angel would suddenly try to pretend he was not unusually intelligent. Fluttershy wondered if Angel had changed at all.
"Oooooooh..." Future Fluttershy heaved herself off of the couch. "Oh, I'm sorry, Me. I just get so scared when I remember the terrible treatment my children had to go through."
"Children?" Past Fluttershy stared at Angel, who shrugged.
"My children, yes. Adopted children, but still mine." Future Fluttershy picked up a passing racoon and hugged it gently. "You know, it's a little inconvenient to know what to call you... but I'll tell you what. I was knighted a while ago for my work with animals. You may call me Dame Fluttershy if you prefer, and you can be just plain Fluttershy."
"Okay, if you say so," Fluttershy said. "Uh, Dame Fluttershy... have you told any of our friends where their pets are?"
"No!" Dame Fluttershy shrieked. "I mean, no. Rarity would just disolve in a puddle, and Twilight Sparkle would hate me for all eternity, and you really don't want to see Diane Pie when she decides the earth would be better off without you..."
"Then why did you do it?" Fluttershy said.
"You can't ask me to put the feelings of my friends ahead of the well being of these creatures, which have just as many rights as you!" Dame Fluttershy put the racoon down and flew in front of Fluttershy with her hooves on her hips.
"They don't, though!" Fluttershy said.
"Fluttershy!" Dame Fluttershy gasped, flying backward into the couch. "I'm ashamed of you. Can you look Angel in the eye and say that he has no rights? Can you say that despite his intelligence and seeming conscience, he isn't worth as much as you?"
"I didn't say..." Fluttershy started, looking at Angel. He was hiding in a cardboard box that was clearly meant for the mice family.
"I can't believe you," Dame Fluttershy said. "Was I really that ignorant?"
"I... I'm sorry," Fluttershy said, shrinking into a corner.
"You will be," Dame Fluttershy said, glaring at Fluttershy. Her eyes grew large, energy radiated from them...
Fluttershy staggered around, feeling dazed.
"You will not tell about these animals," Dame Fluttershy said.
"I will not tell about these animals," Fluttershy repeated.
"You will do everything you can to help SPOAF," Dame Fluttershy said.
"I will do everything I can to help SPOAF," Fluttershy repeated.
"Good girl," Dame Fluttershy said, patting her younger self on the head.
"Good girl," Fluttershy muttered.
"Captain Dash?"
"Rainbow Dash?"
"Dashie! Are you alright?"
Rainbow Dash shook herself and glanced at the two princesses. "Yeah, just dandy." She grinned at them. "Just a bit stunned to see myself."
Princess Twilight stared at the ground. "It was your wings, wasn't it? I mean, her wings. I'm sorry to shock you like that, but it seemed like the easiest method to subdue your duplicate."
Rainbow Dash bobbed her head. "Yeah."
"Ahem," said Diane Pie.
Everypony else jumped.
"Oops," Princess Rarity said, "We forgot. Er. Which one is real, Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow Dash pointed at Pinkie Pie. "She is."
Scootaloo seized Diane Pie and tied her hooves behind her back before anypony could say anything.
"What?" Diane Pie said as she was led off. "You liar! You... you... traitor."
Princess Twilight instantly raced over to Rainbow Dash and started stroking Rainbow's mane as though she was a little pegasus again. "Oh, Dashie, don't worry about it; you aren't a traitor, you're doing your job, right?"
Diane Pie was dragged out of the room.
"Yeeeeah," Rainbow Dash said, a little creeped out by Princess Twilight's sudden affection.
"Well," Princess Twilight said, "If we're all done here, I'm going to go do some more studying." She beamed and pranced off, her dark purple, diaphonous wings fluttering happily.
Spike screamed.
"It's just a needle," Princess Twilight said, telekinetically moving the hypodermic needle forward. "It'll all be over in less than a minute, trust me." She plunged it in Spike's arm.
"AUGH!" Spike shrieked as the needle drew out a blood sample.
"I'm done," said Princess Twilight. "No, seriously, Spike, stop screaming." She trotted to the microscope and put a dot of blood under the lens.
Spike whimpered.
The princess put her eye to the eyepiece. "Hmm. Nothing totally unexpected, still, the readings should give me... wait, what's that?!"
Spike leaned his head forward, staring at Twilight expectedly.
"No," Princess Twilight whispered. "It can't be, not so soon... no..." She took her eye from the eyepiece and fled into the hall, knocking Rainbow Dash over in the process.
Princess Twilight backtracked a bit. "Dashie? Were you... no, never mind. Just look at these!" she shoved some charts into Rainbow Dash's face.
"Er..." Rainbow said, worrying there was something she was supposed to be understanding.
"Oh, I forgot... sorry... you!" She dashed towards a purple unicorn stallion standing nearby. "Look at these!"
The purple stallion levitated the charts towards himself. "I... these look like the same sample to me..."
"No," Princess Twilight said softly. "No, I can't... you there!" She flew over to another unicorn. "Could you please look at these and check my analysis?"
The unicorn looked them over. "Everything is in order, princess."
"No!" Princess Twilight flew out the window. "Fluttershy! You're back! Take a look at this!"
Rainbow poked her head out the window to see Fluttershy shaking her head sadly.
"No!" Princess Twilight flew back in the window (making Rainbow Dash duck) and ran into her lab. She studied the charts her magic was holding, frantically looking from one to the other.
Then she turned to Spike. "Spike?" she asked, her voice shaking. "Could you...?" She floated the charts in front of Spike's face.
Spike stared at the printouts. "It's just a row of numbers, Twilight. The numbers in each column match exactly. I don't see how you could read those wrong, especially with four opinions."
Princess Twilight turned aside. "No. No, this can't... not now... not now... No. No! No!"
The tower burst apart in a spray of flying bricks and purple energy. Lab equipment flew around in a magenta tornado. Spike, still strapped to a machine, was flung into a pile of rocks.
"NO!" Princess Twilight screamed in the Royal Canterlot voice, remaining in the sky. "NO!" The grass burst into violet flames.
Guards ran forward and quicky retreated. A pegasus flew off screaming, "Princess Rarity!"
Spike's machine tipped forward at that moment, obscuring his view of the rest of the scene, though through the corner of his eye he could still see magical winds flinging debris around.
"TWILIGHT!" Princess Rarity shouted. "TWILIGHT SPARKLE!"
"Sparkie?" said Rainbow Dash uncertainly.
"NOOO!" Princess Twilight screamed in reply.
"Stop! Twilight! Twilight Sparkle!" Princess Rarity boomed in the Royal Canterlot voice. "What are you doing?"
The storm stopped raging. Hooves stomped next to Spike's hiding place. Then somepony began sobbing.
"Twilight?" Spike asked.
"Oh, Sparkie," Princess Rarity said. "What happened, dear?"
Spike was lifted back into an upright position.
"The... the tests," Princess Twilight sobbed. In less than a minute, her clothes had been torn, her crown had been lost, and her hair was as wild as it was when she became anxious. "I... the spots... it was too late, Rare-rare. Ten years ago, and it was still too late." Twilight burst into a flood of tears.
"Rare-rare?" said Spike.
Rare-rare, alias Princess Rarity, pulled Princess Twilight into a hug and rubbed her hoof in circles on Twilight's back. "Oh, Sparkie. Poor, poor Sparkie."
The two remained like that for a while, with Rainbow Dash awkwardly hovering in the air besides them.
"Captain Dash?" a guard whispered, and Rainbow Dash followed him to a spot nearby, looking relieved.
"Sparkie?" Princess Rarity asked, very softly.
"Yes?"
"Do... do you think... I-I mean, is there... should we... our, err, our past selves..."
"Oh," Princess Twilight pulled away from Princess Rarity. Very calmly and slowly, like the frozen surface of a river, she said, "Yes... I... suppose there is no real reason to let our past selves remain in this time stream. So then. Next opportunity, we shall erase their memories and send them back to their own time. I still remember the spell." She trotted towards the castle, mane waving in the wind, then spread her wings and flew up to a balcony of the castle.