Rainbow's Quest

by Zetriax

Return of the Time Traveler

Chapter 29- Return of the Time Traveler
“Rainbow Dash? Is that you? Are you okay?”
Rainbow didn’t want to open her eyes. Whatever Twilight had done had caused a great toll on her body. The pain from the injuries Dash had delivered throbbed. Pain was clouding her mind. Time travel with injuries must be a bad combination. She would have to remember that.
“Come on Dash, get up.”
Rainbow’s eyes opened for this. She stood up and looked around, expecting to see the black pegasus somewhere nearby. She was surprised to find that she was in Ponyville again, though something seemed a bit off. How far in the past was she, exactly?
“What’s going on?”
Rainbow turned to see an orange pegasus filly with a magenta-colored mane before her, about the size of young Jade. “Scootaloo?” she asked.
“Yeah?” the young Scoots replied.
Rainbow was baffled. After seeing Scootaloo as an adult for more than a week, she was unused to seeing her like this. It was like another pony altogether. Was that how her friends saw her in the future?
“Weren’t you going to ask me something?” Scootaloo asked.
Rainbow shook her head to clear it. “Um, yeah. No. I don’t really know. What time is it?”
Scootaloo cocked her head, a puzzled look playing across her face. “Not really sure, but isn’t that a watch around your neck?”
Rainbow nodded. “It is, but it doesn’t…” she faltered. Scootaloo at this age couldn’t possibly understand, and it wouldn’t help to start confusing everypony by explaining time-travel. She opened the watch to see that more time had passed than she had expected. There were only three days left and the clock was still ticking down.
“It doesn’t what?” Scoots pressed. The filly was about to steal a glance at the watch, but Rainbow snapped it shut before she could.
“It doesn’t work. I need to get it fixed,” Rainbow lied.
“Oh. Maybe I could get the other Cutie Mark Crusaders and we could work on it. We could get our cutie marks in clock fixing!” Before Rainbow could object, Scootaloo took off in the general direction of Sweet Apple Acres shouting, “Cutie Mark Crusaders Clockmakers!” The cyan pegasus sighed and turned the other direction, towards the Golden Oak Library.
As she cantered through town, all the new sights from the future were gone. It was exactly like she remembered it. In fact, there was something odd about how well she remembered everything. It was as if this had been an important day in her past. But what day had it been?
Just then a rainbow streak blazed past overhead, heading out of town. Rainbow recognized herself soaring above, a saddlebag strapped across her back.
“Canterlot,” Rainbow said, realization dawning on her. This was the day she went to Canterlot about the Fate Stone. Maybe if she could catch up to her past self, she would be able to get the stone and go back to a few days before, when she hadn’t even had the Fate Stone. Or she could stop herself and prevent the whole scenario in its entirety.
Rainbow spread her wings and took off after her former self, all pain forgotten. She had only one chance to catch up with her. There was only one day to spare as the End of Time drew nearer.
---
The flight took longer than expected. Once or twice Rainbow had to stop and rest when her chest started throb with pain. However, she made it to the castle not long after her past self flew up to Twilight’s tower.
Rainbow was about to follow when a pegasus guard yowled, “Halt!” and shot after her. Rainbow tried to evade the guard, but the pain in her chest cost her valuable speed and the pegasus was on her in an instant.
“No! Let me go!” she shouted as he flew her down to the front gate. A pair of unicorn guards took her from the pegasus and held her still before a guard that bore more superiority than the others.
“I am the current Captain of the Royal Guard,” the pegasus spoke with great authority. “State your business here and why you are impersonating a trusted friend of the Princess.”
“I’m not impersonating her, I am her! You have to let me in there!”
The guards holding her exchanged confused looks, but did not voice their puzzlement. There would be no use in explaining time-travel to these single-minded warriors. She needed to speak with somepony who would understand. Wasn’t Twilight up there right now, explaining the Fate Stones to her past self? That’s who she needed to talk to, at least then she would be welcome in the castle.
“I need to speak with Que— I mean, Princess Twilight. It’s of the utmost importance. The fate of Equestria depends on me getting this information to her.”
“And what might this information be?” the Captain inquired.
“It is for Twilight’s ears and Twilight’s only,” Rainbow denied his request. Hopefully, the guards wouldn’t try to force it out of her. Thankfully, the Captain turned to the pegasus guard and gave him orders.
“Firemane, go and tell Princess Twilight of this pegasus’ presence and request that she come down to listen to her.” The pegasus guard saluted the Captain and soared off to Twilight’s tower.
A heavy silence hung between Rainbow and the three guards. None of them even seemed to blink as they fulfilled their duties. Time seemed to drag by agonizingly slow as they awaited the Princess’s presence. Fifteen minutes passed before the gate protecting Canterlot Castle swung open to reveal the lavender alicorn princess, a guard placed on either side of her.
Rainbow saw surprise in Twilight’s gaze when she recognized the cyan pegasus.
“Rainbow? I don’t understand. You just left.” Rainbow felt her heart sink at this news.
“We think she’s an imposter,” informed the Captain of the Guard.
“No!” Rainbow objected. “It’s me Twilight! I used the Fate Stone!”
Twilight turned to the Captain and said, “Let her pass. We have some things to discuss. Rainbow, you follow me.”
---
Rainbow sat before the three princesses in the throne room, feeling slightly admonished. Celestia and Luna’s expressions were unreadable, but she had a creeping suspicion that they knew she had done something she wasn’t supposed to have.
“What brings you here today?” Princess Celestia asked.
“I… um… well, it’s kinda hard to explain. The guards got me all nervous, you know,” Rainbow replied honestly.
“An understandable circumstance under normal situations, yes. However, you are on good terms with our guards. Why would they detain you?” Princess Luna inquired.
“They probably thought I was a fraud.”
“Now, why ever would they think that?” Celestia asked.
Rainbow looked over at Twilight, wishing she would step in and help explain. However, the lavender alicorn refused to speak. She was probably mad that Rainbow had disobeyed her advice and not only kept the Fate Stone, but used it as well. This was a hole Rainbow would half to dig herself out of alone.
“Have you ever heard of a Fate Stone?”
Both the sisters nodded. Good, one thing she wouldn’t have to explain.
“Well, Pinkie Pie found this stone, you see, and it had my cutie mark on it. I took it to Twilight to see what it was and she told me it was a Fate Stone. That, to you, was about fifteen minutes ago. For me, it was ten days ago. You see, I used the Fate Stone against Twilight’s advice to throw it away and now I’ve broken the timeline and Temporal Distortions are occurring and Fallen are appearing and Chrono’s going to summon Ragnarok to destroy the world!”
All three alicorns wore bewildered expressions on their faces. Princess Celestia and Luna exchanged a confused glance, then turned back to her.
“I’m sorry, but would you go back and explain a little better?” Luna requested.
Rainbow nodded, but before she said anything another wave of pain wracked her chest. She crumpled to the ground, clutching her chest in an effort to snuff out the agony. Dash’s blast had done serious damage.
“Are you okay?” Twilight bolted to her friend’s side, none of her anger that she must have felt showing in her voice.
Rainbow shook her head and clutched harder. What had Dash done to her? That magic blast must’ve been more damaging than she had thought. Instead of dissipating, the pain continued to constrict on her chest, making it difficult to breathe without immense pain flowing through her. Had the dark pegasus placed her in a fatal situation yet again? Rainbow dreaded going back to that place on the verge of death, the fear of failing her quest and sealing the fate of the world looming over her.
“Twilight. Back away,” said Princess Luna. “I can help her.”
Twilight obeyed and Luna took her place. She leaned over the cyan pegasus and the bluish aura surrounded her horn as a she began a spell. Rainbow had no idea what the Night Princess was doing, but the pain was starting to fade. After a few seconds, the pain was all but a memory. Realizing she had been holding her breath, Rainbow gasped, feeling her lung inflate and deflate without the slightest hint of an ache.
“Remember what I said,” Luna whispered in her ear quietly, “You have a greater destiny than you could ever imagine.”
“Wait. I thought that was your future self that told me that,” Rainbow whispered back, befuddled.
“Prophecy transcends time, young one.”
“Is she alright?” Celestia asked, worried. Twilight was beside her, quivering.
“I am,” Rainbow replied.
Both Twilight and Celestia let out relieved sighs. Luna returned to her place beside Celestia’s throne.
“I believe you should be off, now. Rainbow Dash still has the Fate Stone, and it may be your only opportunity to stop her,” Princess Luna reminded her.
“Oh, right! Bye then!” Rainbow flew towards the exit, then halted, hovering in midair. “And thank you, Luna.” With that, she resumed her pursuit of herself.
---
Rainbow’s journey back to Ponyville was uneventful. The sun was already setting in the clear sky as the town drew nearer. Time seemed to be flying past her, forcing her to press on in haste.
Rainbow knew where she would find herself: at her house, studying. It wouldn’t be long before she went to the past. Time was short.
“Rainbow Dash!” somepony called to her as she reached the city limits. She glanced down to see Applejack on the ground below her. Reluctantly, Rainbow soared down to see what she wanted. There wasn’t much time to spare.
“What is it?” she asked, a bit too harshly.
“What in the hay’s goin’ on with the weather?” AJ demanded, “It ain’t ‘spose to rain until the day after tomorrow. Not just that, what’s up with the cold wind? It’s gonna kill my crops. I need to know these changes ahead of time, RD.”
Rainbow flapped her wings in impatience. “Come on, Applejack. There’s not a cloud in the…” She faltered as she noticed that the sky over Sweet Apple Acres was dark, swirling with unnatural clouds. The storm was progressing towards the town with great speed, accompanied by a freezing wind that ruffled Rainbow’s fur.
“That’s no ordinary storm,” Rainbow said, fear edging her voice. “It’s the Fallen.”
“The what, now?” Applejack asked, clearly not sensing the danger.
“This is not good!” Rainbow exclaimed, panic rising within her. Applejack looked alarmed at Rainbow’s sudden distress. The pegasus had to get Applejack to do something, but what? She wasn’t thinking straight. “Stay indoors! Go out and tell others to do the same!”
“Um, you do realize I can’t do both…”
“Just do something!” Rainbow interjected. “The Fallen are extremely dangerous creatures! Do what you can to make sure ponies are safe! Now, hurry up while I stop myself from going to the future!”
Without bothering to explain, she shot off toward her house. Already, the rain was beginning to drizzle from the clouds. A flash of lightning illuminated the horizon and a rumble of thunder echoed its existence. Time fought against her as she shot over the city, desperately hoping to reach the floating house in time.
The billows overhead blocked the setting sun, settling immediate darkness over the town. They burst all at once, dropping a downpour over her head. Even though the heavy drops of water threatened to pull her wings earthbound, she struggled onward, pushing her wings to flap harder and faster. Claws of lightning stabbed around her, unleashing deafening roars of thunder. However, nothing would stop her approach.
The cloudy building she called home loomed into view. Rainbow sped towards it, praying desperately she wasn’t too late. The cyan pegasus smashed through the door and bolted up the stairs to her bedroom. She crashed through her door and saw herself on the ground with the Fate Stone, her back towards herself.
“No, Rainbow! Wait!” she yowled.
No sooner had the words left her mouth when there was a brilliant flash of light. Rainbow jerked her head away from the blinding aura. When it subsided, Rainbow’s past self and the Fate Stone were both gone. That’s when Rainbow remembered the intruder nearly eleven days ago. This was all bound to happen.
At the realization of defeat, a wave of fatigue washed over her. Rainbows eyes rolled back in her head and she fell onto the cloudy floor with a puff, unconscious.