December 21, 2064
Cloudsdale
Sunday
Quantum fell.
The instant she struck herself with Hal’s sister’s hoofball bat, the world around her crackled away into the blue flame of the Accelerator effect. This time, Quantum had no time to experience the vertigo that came with spacetime displacement. She was falling. There was nothing to see but the crisp, gloomy sky of winter and the snowy earth below.
Quantum ran the numbers in her mind without thinking, and reasoned that she had approximately fourteen seconds before her head impacted with the ground at terminal velocity. Give or take a second for wind resistance.
“HAL!!!” She screamed, flailing her legs and kicking at nothing, “HAL! Hal help! I’m gonna die!!”
Had she not been plummeting to her death, Quantum might have considered the number of times she’d declared her own imminent demise in recent weeks. Up until now, there had always been at least a moment to prepare. She wondered if perhaps she’d failed after all - not done as the shadow tribunal had wanted and consequently damaged too many futures. Was this her penance? To simply be killed at the beginning of a vault with no chance to prevent it?
She would have smiled from the irony, but she found that having her life suddenly ended was not so satisfying as taking it on her own terms. Thus she screamed her mane off, shutting her eyes against the inevitable…until an impact with an unexpectedly soft object knocked the wind out of her.
It was too soon for her death - there should have been at least six more seconds. She opened her eyes to find herself staring at a sea of cerulean, with a pattern of yellow lightning bolts on it.
“Hey boss, you okay?” A spirited voice suddenly came to her, and Quantum found she was no longer falling. “You get a wing cramp or something?”
Quantum found herself riding on the back of a pegasus in flight - and not just any pegasus. This lithe specimen was decked out in the easily recognizable uniform of the Wonderbolts, complete with flight goggles. Quantum thought fast.
“I uh...y-yeah! I sure did!” She laughed dryly, “Wing cramp! In my...” she looked ineffectually behind herself, seeing only her normal, minty unicorn back and the seagreen tail jutting from her rump, “...in my wings! You got me!”
The pony under her laughed and began to ascend back towards the clouds, “In more ways than one! You better not skimp on your wing-stretches. You’d never live it down if some reservist saw you, of all ponies, with a wing cramp!” The voice paused, “Plus, you know. You’d be dead. And nopony would ever let you hear the end of that! Hah ha!”
Quantum shared a forced laugh with the nameless pony who stood between her and plummeting back to her death. She made the mistake of looking down during the ascent, and squeezed her benefactor around the midsection tightly with her hind legs.
“Hey c’mon,” The pegasus complained, “You’re gonna choke me! Just relax.”
Though she was still no master at it, Quantum was getting used to thinking fast through new situations. She forced her jittery muscles to relax and drew herself into a casual sitting position atop the other pony’s back. The trip started off nearly as terrifying as the fall, but she eventually found herself staring at the marvels of the pony civilization above the clouds that she knew so little about. The pegasus flew low under a cloud - Quantum had her neck stretched out too far and ended up eating a face full of the puffy substance, but she found herself lost in the enjoyment of the wind brushing her cheeks, and laughed the impact off.
Where there had once been nothing but the hard, wintry earth of Equestria below, there was now an entire city - held aloft merely by patches of clouds gathered into a solidarity Quantum would have thought scientifically impossible, had she not already known this place to exist. She couldn’t be sure of the year, but she was positive that this was Cloudsdale - the one and only bastion of pony society that soared above all others. Most of the homes and businesses were low, modestly-constructed buildings (likely condensed because they too seemed to be made entirely of clouds), but the larger structures were a sight to see - Cloudsdale Stadium stood proudly before a backdrop of partially-obscured afternoon sun, its flags whipping in the elevated breeze. As they passed over it, Quantum could see the images of tiny ponies going about various tasks from maintenance to exercise.
With her mind still trying to grasp how clouds could be so light and airy, yet also so solid, Quantum’s eyes fell upon a sight that defied rational explanation.
Upon a swatch of land that looked as though it had been torn from the earth and raised by a massive levitation spell rested nothing less than a full airstrip, with a number of utilitarian buildings, several training areas, and a few dozen pegasi in various stages of field dress milling about. Fluttering upon a tall flagpole was a device that nopony could possibly mistake - the emblem of the Wonderbolts.
Quantum’s pega-taxi descended with the perfect poise of a trained flyer, and Quantum soon found her hoofs clicking against a patch of blessedly solid, concrete sidewalk near a bronze statue. There was a collection of park benches and greenery nearby that reminded her of something she might see in Canterlot - not thousands of hooves in the air.
“No problem about the lift by the way,” The pegasus quipped. “You know I won’t tell anypony. Just be careful, huh?”
Quantum turned, but the pony that had so casually saved her life was already trotting away, giving her little to go on but a shock of orange tail and a full Wonderbolts’ costume. Left to her own devices, Quantum sought her bearings, turning first to examine the statue.
The pony atop the marble pedestal was as unmistakable as the uniform she wore, or the bold, wingspread stance she took. Quantum read the inscription--
Wonderbolts Captain Rainbow Dash - Altius Volantis - est. 2050.
“Twenty...fifty?” Quantum attempted to pronounce the other phrase inscribed into the bronze, but had no luck with it. She glanced up at the statue again, enough to notice minute, telltale signs of wear that suggested it wasn’t erected yesterday.
Her mouth hung open.
“...I’m in the future...”
It was the only logical explanation. The last time she thought she was eons in the future, it tuned out she was eons in the past, but Rainbow Dash was a name anypony of her era would know. This had to be the future. How far in the future was still a question to be answered. Had the statue been erected to honor the Elemental Keeper of Loyalty in life, or posthumously?
Quantum’s suppositions about the timeframe were confirmed by a small roaring sound. She turned, and was amazed to see half a dozen of ponies gathered around a stallion in a beat up flight suit and goggles...with a horn jutting out of his forehead. Instead of wings, at his flanks were mounted two small tanks that were smoking, as though the apertures at their tips had been recently ignited.
Quantum’s eyes lit up like a Manehattan skyline. She was pushing past the dispersing crowd in an instant, reaching up to adjust her glasses openly without any thought for the fact that nopony but her could see them.
“A-are these...rocket engines?” She marveled aloud, “Y-you built a functioning jetpack in full scale!?”
The unicorn levitated his goggles off and laughed. His coat was deep blue, and the twisted goatee made him look even wiser than his middle age. He poked his starboard engine and pulled his hoof back immediately, cradling it. “Ow...yep, but this is the high performance version. If I didn’t have that insulating blanket on under it, I’d have had my flanks burned off by now!” He cackled at his own comment and rubbed sweat from his brow with a dirty rag. “Nopony wants to test it so I’m having to take matters into my own hooves. Call me crazy, but nothing can stand in the way of progress, right?”
Quantum reached out to touch one of the tanks too, fully expecting the burning sensation - just so she could feel the molded steel under her hoof for an instant. “High performance?”
“Yeah, you know,” The unicorn nodded at the sky, “More oomph than the economy line. I tell ya, once we get these babies in mass production? Won’t matter what tribe you were born into. Everypony will be flying like an eagle!” The port engine choose that moment to backfire, and both ponies found themselves coughing and waving their forelegs in an attempt to dismiss the ensuing cloud of smog. “Well...more or less. Won’t ever beat the dexterity of real wings, but it might carry you faster than they can!”
Quantum followed the unicorn’s skyward nod. Pegasi were flying through the clouds above...but a small number of earth ponies and unicorns were doing the same thing. In the case of the wingless tribes, each pony was wearing a beige flight suit, with two tanks - smaller than the ones the unicorn wore - strapped to either side of their bodies. Simple observation showed that these ponies were capable of little more than slow flight in a straight line, with wide curves...but they were flying.
“The Mark One systems are the safest way,” The unicorn mused. He patted one of the engines, this time protecting his hoof with the sweat rag, “But the Mark Two? You’ll see. They’re gonna at least halve the turn radius and triple the top speed. Imagine being an earth pony who could fly up and tend the clouds above their farm all by themselves, or a unicorn traveling from Canterlot to Ponyville just with a quick flight!” He stopped himself and smiled wryly, “Well, I guess that’s not so much a dream for you though, is it. Heh.”
“...this is amazing...” Quantum gaped, “A-are they magic-powered? Or did you actually come up with a practical means of internal combustion?” The latter of the two concepts was little more than a drawing-board idea in Quantum’s time. The unicorn tilted his head quizzically.
“Gee...you sure know a lot more about this stuff than I would have given you credit for!” Encouraged, he craned his neck around to his flank and explained. “It’s a combination of both. There’s no way engines as small as even the Mark Two could get a full-grown pony off the ground, and even if they did, all you’d have is thrust - just blind, uncontrolled power. Fire one of these babies up ‘raw’, and you’re likely to have your head stuck in a tree two seconds later!” He chuckled again and lit his horn. “You need that magic subtlety added in. Not only does it provide the rest of the lift, the way inherent pegasus magic works, but it controls the course and speed.” He doused his horn, “It’s easier for unicorns of course, but even earth ponies can get by on the Mark One system, using the optic sensors in those goggles you wear with it. Blinking for speed settings, moving your eyes for turns...just gotta be careful not to get distracted and stare in the wrong direction!”
Quantum stood up straight, forcing her giddiness down, and cleared her throat. “Well I’m sure everypony is very excited about your work...mister...er...” she faltered, “...professor...”
The unicorn brightened at the use of a title. “Yes! Professor Golden Notion! I’m an inventor. And...well...” he scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, “Thank you for your...recognition. For one in your station, I’m flattered to have your support.”
Quantum was still trying to contain her enthusiasm, “Are you kidding? How could anypony not support such a fantastic invention! This is the epitome of progress!”
Golden Notion glanced around as if suddenly feeling self-conscious. “I’m...pleased you think so. Most ponies from every tribe seem to agree, but there are some pegasi out there who...support the idea that machines like this could never be safe enough to be practical. The idea that ponies without wings were born that way for a reason. I apologize to say this in your presence, but...” he lowered his voice, “...I think they feel threatened.”
Quantum felt an instant pang of sympathy for Golden Notion. Even before she’d built her first automatic apple peeler, she had known how it felt for other fillies in the sandbox to mumble in hushed tones whenever she built a random shape that only she could recognize as the next big blow for science. She reached out and patted the professor’s shoulder.
“Stay the course,” she offered. “One day ponies will wonder how they ever lived without inventions like these.”
Professor Notion beamed and blushed at the same time. “Th-thank you...! Now all we have to do is perfect cloud-grip horseshoes, so more than just the bravest ponies will use the Mark One to come to cities like Cloudsdale!” He reached over the side of the patch of asphalt he was standing on and probed his hoof at the barrier of clouds there, easily pushing straight through them. “Alas, actually walking on clouds is still just a pegasus thing.”
Intrigued, Quantum reached out and probed the cloud as well. She felt a spongy, soft substance under her hoof...but the cloud did not give way. Notion laughed again.
“Were you expecting anything different? At any rate, I’d like to get this contraption off of me before I sweat thirty pounds off, so, if you please!”
Quantum smiled and politely waved Professor Golden Notion away. She had a million questions, but without knowing who she was or why she was here, she forced herself not to ask them. As she watched the lanky, middle-aged stallion trot away, it occurred to her that she could very well be as old as he was, if not older. She turned to the statue again, staring dumbly.
“I’d be...about...”
“Fifty.” A familiar voice completed the thought. Quantum heard the wooshing noise that always preceded that voice, and felt on some instinctual level the familiar presence behind her that wasn’t actually there.
“Thirty-six,” She insisted. “The statue says it’s twenty-fifty.”
Quantum’s ears swiveled at the sound of familiar booping noises as her constant companion spoke. “That statue is fourteen years old, Cutie. Tizzy says this is the year two-thousand sixty-four.”
Memories dawned on Quantum as suddenly as the light of a new invention, and she whirled on Hal’s hovering form with no heed for volume or decorum. “Hal! What happened!? Do you remember anything? There was a flash of light the moment I took a swing at myself, and suddenly I was here, and I was falling, and I thought great, maybe I’m about to die, maybe I-maybe we failed, but now I’m up here, and it’s...and we’re in the future! Isn’t that awesome!? Can you imagine the kind of technology they’ve developed in the past thirty years!? I can’t wait to--”
“Shhhh!” Hal hissed, his eyes traveling to a few ponies who were now giving Quantum strange looks. “Cut it out! I’ll explain everything, but not here! Go...um...” he glanced around again, “Go behind the statue. Doesn’t look like the bench back there gets used much.”
Quantum obeyed, but the moment her rump touched the wooden planks of the bench, she was alive again with questions. Hal sought to sift his way through the assault.
“First of all, I don’t know anything more than you do about what happened to us. I saw you take a swing at yourself, I pushed the button to activate the interference pulse, and...I woke up in the imaging chamber.” He shrugged, “As far as Tissy and even Princess Twilight are concerned, you and I succeeded in keeping my life on track by you posing as me and ensuring I didn’t go to the dance. They thought I’d just fainted and took me out to dinner.” He hesitated, “Cutie, I think maybe we should keep what really happened to ourselves a secret. At least for now. Nopony else seems to remember anything the same way we do, and I don’t think it’s going do any good for what few supporters we have out there to think we’ve time-crimed one too many times.”
Quantum nodded her agreement. There was nothing else to be learned about the matter, or how both of them could even recollect it in the first place, for the time being. She went on.
“So fill me in. Who am I? What’s going on? Why am I here? Am I a pegasus again? Because if I am, we’re in deep kimchi because you know I can’t just--”
“Hey sqiurt! I thought I’d find you back here!”
The sudden cry from over Quantum’s shoulder stunned her into silence. Hal was staring. Quantum turned.
“I used to come here too for a little mental break,” the voice offered, “Of course the statue wasn’t here at the time. They totally put that up to commemorate my retirement. HUGE loss to Equestria, the day I hung it up!”
Quantum recognized Rainbow Dash right away. How could she not? In her time, this mare was among the most famous living ponies, captain of the Wonderbolts in her own right, and the famed Elemental Keeper of Loyalty. Quantum had only actually met her once or twice, but she felt awed simply to be in the presence of a pony who had been such a close friend and confidant to her mentor, Princess Twilight Sparkle.
Rainbow Dash looked...old. Her knees were knobby; her mane and tail faded with age. Her back was slightly stooped with a pronounced sway in it, and her once taught, cyan coat was sagging over her collarbone and jowls. Atop her head she wore a flight cap with a number of gilded badges – high honors both from the Wonderbolts and the royal house itself. She stepped over, put her hoof on Quantum’s lower lip, and gently pushed the younger mare’s mouth closed.
“Hey, I know I’m still totally awesome,” Dash grinned, “But you don’t have to be that obvious about how much you and everypony else envies me. You’ve done pretty good for yourself too, little buddy. I mean, not as good as me, but let’s be reasonable here!”
Quantum shook herself back to reality and grimaced inwardly. There hadn’t been time to get any information, so she had little choice but to keep playing the game. “So um...f-fancy meeting you here, uh, isn’t it...?”
Dash threw back her head and emitted a wheezy cackle. “Aw geez, if anypony had said that to me twenty years ago I’d have laughed them right offa this field! But yeah, I guess you’re right.” She glanced at the statue and the airstrip beyond, and her smile faltered. “Hey, come on out and trot with me.”
Confused by the sudden change in demeanor, Quantum fell in with the living legend. Nearly everypony they encountered stopped to pay their respects, but Quantum was surprised to find just as many of them also offering her at least a respectful nod or bow. She returned the gestures as haltingly as Dash did.
“So how’re the Hearthswarming preparations going?” Dash asked. Quantum looked around at the hanging lights and mounds of snow she’d nearly forgotten about up until now.
“O-oh!” She waved a foreleg at a decorated tree, “Pretty good, huh?”
Dash cracked a smile. “Yeah. Hey listen, you’re still gonna put on a little show for the season, right? I mean the usual little thing for the locals?”
Quantum bubbled over with nervous laughter. “I, uh...sure, of course! L-like every year!”
“Yeah well...” Dash stopped before she was in earshot of another group of young Wonderbolt reservists, obliging Quantum to halt as well. “...I wanna be in it this year.”
Quantum looked the old nag that Rainbow Dash had become over and blinked. “A-are you...sure you wanna do that?”
Dash clouded over with an expression that bordered somewhere between anger and frustration. Quantum dropped her ears and let the elder mare speak.
“Look, I know I haven’t turned out for it in years. I get it. I’m old now, and I’m not the fastest pony in Equestria anymore, but...I’m still the fastest record breaker ever!” Dash persisted, “I gotta do this. I gotta...feel that speed again. Out there in my uniform. It’s just hanging in a museum now. I want to...wear it again. One more time.”
Quantum felt ashamed for even questioning the pegasus beside her. “One more time?”
Dash waved off the question. “Never mind that. I just...I really wanna do this. I’m not asking for much. Just, you’re the captain now. So it’s your call. I wanna fly again. Just...fly with the Wonderbolts again, that’s all. Nothing fancy.”
Quantum saw the sincerity in Rainbow Dash’s eyes. The wear, the age.
The pleading.
“Whattaya say?” Dash asked softly. “One more time with your old Captain? For the books?” She swallowed, “...soaring higher, together?”
Quantum felt somewhat mortified. She spoke, and her words came out an instant before she noticed Hal, who was floating just over Rainbow Dash’s shoulder, frantically making cut-throat gestures with his hoof.
“...sure you can,” Quantum heard herself say. “Who am I to say otherwise?”
Dash’s brightening was inversely proportional to Hal’s darkening. She reached out and nabbed Quantum’s hoof, shaking it firmly.
“It’s set, then! You won’t forget this, little buddy!” Dash stood back and flexed her wings, preparing to take flight. “It’s gonna be the awesomest show ever! You’ll see!”
Before Quantum could say anything else, Dash took to the sky, only to come down again on Quantum’s opposite side. The minty mare turned abruptly to meet her.
“Hey,” Dash’s voice was low, and she drew in close. “Were you talking to that crackpot inventor pony before?”
Quantum swallowed. “Uh...no? Yes...? Maybe?”
Dash smiled, her expression thankfully softening, and let out a chuckle. “Can you believe that guy? What’s next?” She put a hoof to her forehead, “Are they gonna make us artificial horns? Believe you me, I’ve had my wings longer than he’s even been alive, and I can tell you that unicorns and earth ponies weren’t meant to fly. Just like you and I weren’t meant to do...magic and farming stuff. Everypony’s got a role, and Equestria works best when we all stick to it.”
Finally, Dash was in the air for good. She saluted and flitted back into the city, Quantum watching her until her tail was out of sight.
“...what you did!?” Hal was prattling, “Do you have any idea what you just did!?”
“Huh...?” Quantum turned to her frazzled companion. “What I did?” She thought about it, “I dunno, was that bad? Rainbow Dash is like the ultimate Wonderbolts legend, isn’t she? I can’t really say no--”
“Yes you can!” Hal insisted. “Or you could have, but now it’s too late! Ugh, you’re always bull-rushing into everything...”
Quantum made sure the coast was clear before replying. “What’s the deal? I mean I know she’s old, but--”
“She’s almost eighty!” Hal supplied. He began furiously booping on his device. “Tissy says...well...okay, Tissy’s having a little trouble getting exact details. Apparently the future is harder to work with since there are no actual records from our own time to consult. But Tissy says--” He turned the display so Quantum could view the readouts, “Duh duh. Same thing you should know. Legend or not, Rainbow Dash is an old mare in this era. She’s gonna get hurt, and in case you forgot, you can’t fly out to help her!”
Quantum glanced at an earth pony flying lazily across the sky. “I’ll just use one of those things.”
Hal bapped his own forhead. “No you won’t!” He sputtered, and finally pointed to a thick window that gave off a faintly reflective surface in the glint of the sun. “Look!”
Quantum finally got a look at herself. She lifted her forelegs and pranced in place. In the reflective surface, a biscuit-colored pegasus stallion with a handsome chocolate mane did the same. Quantum craned her neck, checking herself over. This stallion was old, but not nearly as elderly as Rainbow Dash. Hal spoke.
“Your name is Pound Cake. You’re fifty-two years old, and you’ve been the captain of the Wonderbolts for almost a decade and a half, succeeding Rainbow Dash. You’re getting close to retirement yourself.”
Quantum considered the facts, the wheels in her head grinding along. “I thought...didn’t Rainbow Dash have another progeny? A...mare?” Recognition struck her, “Yeah, I met her once. She was like thirty-something in our time. Her name was...umm...”
“Scootaloo,” Hal offered, bringing up the data on his device. “Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash are close like sisters, but Scootaloo got her cutie mark when you and I were in diapers. Her destiny was different. She never joined the Wonderbolts.” Hal pointed at the reflection in the mirror, “Pound Cake became Dash’s flying protege, and the data says he’s a savant at it. He was in the air before most pegasi ever learn to use their wings, and while he’s apparently not quite as good as Dash was in her prime, he’s still a legend in his own right.”
Quantum made the image of Pound Cake do a raspberry. “Well, we’re sunk then. You’re a rug-cutter, not a cloud-cutter, and I don’t know a damn thing about flying. There’s no way in hell you can teach me to fly like that in...how long to we have?”
“A week.”
“A week. Again with the one week thing.” Quantum rubbed the bridge of her muzzle. “Great. Doom and gloom, doom and gloom. And I can’t wear one of those snazzy jetpack thingies because...”
“You saw how Dash reacted to those,” Hal answered the implied question. “It’s probably not going to look too good for the captain of the Wonderbolts to strap one of those contraptions on at all, much less during a show. You’ve got to make some attempt to be the pony you’re pretending to be, remember.”
Quantum sighed. “Does Tissy have any causality readings yet? Any idea what I’m probably here to do, other than fall to my death?”
Hal booped. “Eighty-nine point nine says Dash is the reason you’re here.”
Quantum saw that coming. “Mmhm. Dash wants a blaze of glory, and my job is to help her get it, right? Maybe inspire some colts and fillies to save Equestria someday too?”
Hal paused...then shook his head. Solemnly, he slipped his device back into the pocket protector of his argyle purple turtleneck.
“No. You have to stop her.”
“What?”
“You have to stop her,” Hal repeated. “Tissy says that figure I gave you is the percentage chance Rainbow Dash is not only going to participate in that event, but once she gets in the air, she’s going to go off half-cocked and try to pull off a sonic rainboom...” Hal looked down. “...and die in the process.”
Quantum’s ears flattened again. “Well, she...I mean I don’t wanna sound like a ghoul, but...she’s an old nag now, so...maybe this is how she wants to go out? Maybe she knows the consequences?”
Hal just shook his head. “That’s not the problem. The problem is, if she dies suddenly like that, there will be no successor to the Element of Loyalty. One will eventually be chosen of course, but until that happens,” Hal explained, “Until the element is magically bound to a new keeper, the Elements of Harmony will be powerless. Tissy says something bad will happen.”
Quantum scrunched her muzzle. “That’s it? Just ‘something bad will happen’?”
Hal took to absently floating on his wings again. “It’s like I said. Reading the future is harder than reading the past. Tissy fast forwarded to a year after today, and there was nothing left of Equestria but a wasteland. The headlines spoke of some calamity having to do with something...evil, striking Equestria at just the right moment. With no Elements of Harmony to stop it.”
Quantum felt a thickness in her throat. Hal’s eyes met hers as he floated into her personal space bubble and phased a hoof against her cheek.
“Tissy says this might be the last time Rainbow Dash ever gets to perform before an audience, but she can’t die without naming a successor. You’ve got to dash Dash’s dreams, Cutie. For the good of all Equestria.”
Quantum closed her eyes and tried to remember the touch of her companion’s hoof, back in the white space.
“Why do these things always have to be so hard?”