//------------------------------//
// A New Friend 
// Story: My Little Pony: Through Space and Time 
// by Magic Step 
//------------------------------//

Fluttershy slowly dragged herself up the mountain. It felt like her legs were screaming at her to stop, but she made herself keep going.

It was only then that she realized she didn't remember which rock Dame Fluttershy's home was behind.

In fact, for all she knew, she passed it ten minutes ago.

She collapsed in despair, which had the added bonus of giving herself a rest while she moped.

After she got her breath back, she closed her eyes and tried to picture the rock Dame Fluttershy had gone to. Then she remembered that Dame Fluttershy had sung some kind of song to move the rock, and she couldn't remember the song either.

Tears leaked out of Fluttershy's eyes. She was hot and tired, and she had failed to help her friends.

And she was betraying her future self.

She rested her head in her hooves.

A soft paw brushed against her cheek. She lifted her head.

"Angel?" she asked. "What are you doing out here?"

The rabbit shook his head and hopped a distance away. Then he turned to Fluttershy and motioned for her to follow.

Angel led Fluttershy off the path, among more rocks and then a group of bushes. Under one bush lay a small bundle. A note was pinned to the blanket. It read "Care for her like she was your own. Maybe someday she will be."

Fluttershy gasped at the long white ears poking out of the heap of blankets. "Oh, Angel..." She reached in and gently pulled out a soft, warm... baby pony.

"Ohhhhh!" Fluttershy breathed, looking the sweet white filly over. It had lavender hair with pale yellow streaks and a shiny white horn. "Ohh, Angel! Where... how..."

The filly opened its eyes and blinked, a little confused. Fluttershy shifted to sit on her hindquarters and rocked the baby pony back and forth.

"Ohhh," said Fluttershy. "You are so sweet!"

Then reality hit her like a train.

"Angel...?" she said. "Where did you find this...?"

Angel sighed and kicked the ground with frustration. Then, to Fluttershy's surprise, he pulled a pencil from the bush and wrote at the bottom of the note:

"Her parents can't keep her anymore. They would give her to Dame Fluttershy, but I don't trust her. Please take her."

"I... you... you can write... Angel?"

Angel sighed heavily.

"How long could you do that? We could have communicated so much better! Oh, Angel..."

Angel kicked Fluttershy in the leg and pointed to the pony in Fluttershy's arms.

"Oh, right, about her..."

Fluttershy looked at the filly, who had gone back to sleep, smiling slightly.

"O...Okay," she said to Angel. "If you're sure about her parents..."

Angel nodded, then shooed Fluttershy off.

"No, Angel. I always thought you were special, but where did you learn to write?"

Angel screamed in response, then started writhing on the ground as though in pain.

"Oh, oh, oh!" Fluttershy looked him over. "What's wrong?"

Angel wrote at the bottom of the note, "Forget the writing already! Get going before we're caught!"

"Oh, Angel..."

Angel kicked her in the leg again.

"Ow. Fine, then. But I will have a long talk with your past self!"

Fluttershy took off, holding the filly in her arms. She smiled at the little creature.

As sweet as it was, she had no idea what to do with it. She'd never taken care of a baby pony before.

Fluttershy then became aware of several crosshairs focused on her body.

"TARGET DETECTED!"



Both Rainbows crashed in a field somewhere.

Rainbow Dash tried to leap back up, but she was stuck to the grass. The cotton candy kept her glued to the ground, and kept one of her wings glued to Captain Dash's wing.

Captain Dash screamed with frustration. "It's cotton candy! How strong is it supposed to be?"

"Captain?" Rainbow Dash said. "No need to scream. The other pony soldiers will probably be here in a second to arrest me and take you back. It'll be fine by your standards."

"No!" Captain Dash screamed. "It is not fine! Discord has returned, and Sparkie will be too busy crying to do anything about him!"

"Crying?"

"Oh, I don't know, she'll probably do something, but she needs me! I'm the element of Loyalty, and we might be able to make it work with... five out of six." Captain Dash shook herself. "No, what am I saying? We have the element of Honesty- from the past! We need Applejack back!"

"Um..." said Rainbow Dash.

"You don't get it, do you?" said Captain Dash. "This is Discord we're talking about! He will destroy all of Equestria if we don't stop him! I need to catch Applejack- not to put her in jail, but to save everypony! And since we're stuck together, I need your participation! I need you to fly with me! I need you to help me!"

Rainbow Dash glared at Captain Dash. "How do I know that you didn't just get a unicorn to conjure up this cloud to get me to help you?"

"Do you think I would really glue my own wings to yours just to get your cooperation when I could easily have caught you as it was?"

"Do you think Discord would actually return now of all times?"

"I don't have time to talk about this!"

"You'd better find time, Captain, cuz I'm not going anywhere." Rainbow Dash lay down.

Captain Dash rolled her eyes with frustration. "Okay, to be honest, I don't know why Discord would come back now, either. Actually..." Captain Dash leaned over to Rainbow Dash, as if to whisper a secret. "Actually, last we heard of Discord, his statue had turned into powder."

"Really?" said Rainbow Dash. "How?"

"Pinkie Pie smashed it with a sledgehammer, I think."

"What? Why?"

"She said that we couldn't risk Discord returning again."

"Seems deep for Pinkie."

"That's what we all said. But Twilight cried about it for almost a whole day."

"Crying? Why?"

"She didn't explain. She just said something like 'time is cruel, and there is nothing we can do about it.' But the point is, he's back, and he's going to be madder than ever. He won't play games with us this time: he'll go for the kill. So that's why I need you, Dashie. Please. For Equestria."

Captain Dash threw herself at Rainbow Dash's feet (twisting both of their wings in awkward positions in the process) and looked up, her eyes pleading.

Rainbow Dash sighed heavily.

"Okay," she said. "Let's go find Applejack."

Using one wing each, the pegasai took to the air.

"That's them," said Captain Dash.

"Huh?" said Rainbow Dash. "Those gray pegasus? ...yeah, I can see an orange dot there..."

"Sorry," said Captain Dash. "I forgot you wouldn't have VisEn."

"I do too have vision!"

"No, VisEn. It stands for Visual Enhancer. Um, shortly after I was appointed in charge of the millitary, I got my own personal unicorn to design spells to maximize my abilities."

"Your own personal unicorn?"

"Lilac Blue. Very bright."

"You've been using spells to improve your abilities?"

"Hey, now that I'm Equestria's number one protector, I have a responsibility here."

"Oh, gee, no wonder you're testy."

"I have responsibilities. Ones that transcend my social life! Okay?"

"Okay, sure, whatever. But who are the gray pegasi?"

"Oh, yeah. Thanks a lot, you made me forget them. Actually, they aren't pegasi. They're the Iron Clad Crusaders."

"The Iron Clad-" Rainbow Dash began laughing hysterically.

"Not funny. They're ponies in metal suits. Their job is to protect Applejack. They are ruthless ponies who shoot intruders first and ask questions later. We need to use caution. Flap a little faster, will you?"

"What?" said Rainbow Dash. "You suggesting this is the best I can do?"

"Is it? Come on, Rainbow Dash, show me what you're made of! Show me what you can accomplish without magic, if you feel so strongly about it!"

They streaked across the sky.