The Princess that Equestria Never Had

by rillegas08

A Company of Seven

Fluttershy trembled and stopped in her tracks as the stone covered the hole and Pinkie nearly bumped into her. "Wow... it's pretty dark in here..."

"Well, it is an underground tunnel. Here, I'll make it brighter." Twilight's horn glows brighter, lighting up twice as much of the tunnel as before, soon coming to a branch in the tunnels. "We should go to Rarity's boutique first. Which tunnel goes her way?"

"Stay with the right tunnel. The left one goes toward the Everfree forest because Rainbow Dash used to live in her house above the edge of the forest until Nightmare Moon got tired of Rainbow Dash not being afraid of her and bucked it out of the air," Pinkie answered.

"That's too bad. Does Rainbow Dash live in Cloudsdale now?"

"No, that's too close to the moon. Nopony in Cloudsdale leaves their homes anymore. Rainbow Dash has taken to living with one of us for a few days at a time."

"So that means she's either with Applejack or Rarity today. But you said the tunnel goes to the edge of Everfree Forest?" Pinkie nodded in confirmation. "Then that tunnel should be dug farther so we can get to Zecora's hut if we need her help."

Fluttershy and Pinkie stopped in their tracks. Twilight continued a few steps before she realized she couldn't hear their hooves anymore. She turned to face them. "What is it?"

"You... want to see..." Fluttershy began, but couldn't finish.

"You want to see Zecora? Are you crazy? Do you know how scary she is? I even wrote a song about her! Listen:"

But before Pinkie could continue, Twilight sang the song instead, using her own tune.

"She's an evil enchantress
She does evil dances
And if you look deep in her eyes
She'll put you in trances
Then what will she do?
She'll mix up an evil brew
Then she'll gobble you up
In a big tasty stew
Soooo... Watch out!"

Pinkie and Fluttershy looked at each other, then at Twilight. "Sorry, I keep forgetting we're from different timelines. Where I come from, we became friends with Zecora. The ponies were only afraid of Zecora because she looked scary and nopony had the courage to actually talk to her. I was afraid of her for a while, too, actually. A zebra is closely related to a pony, after all, and she's not that different. Trust me; she can help."

"If you say so..." Fluttershy didn't seem convinced. Pinkie, however, had grown to trust Twilight's knowledge and decided that it was at least worth a try, placating her friend. They returned to the pet shop and gathered some of Fluttershy's digging animals, and Fluttershy told them to keep digging the tunnel to Zecora's and, after Twilight warned them of the blue plants, told them to stay away from any blue plants as well. They returned to the path they had been on before.

"What else has happened in Equestria since Nightmare Moon returned?"

Once again, Pinkie answered. "First one of the statues, a dragon with body parts of other animals, near the hedge maze came to life soon after Nightmare Moon returned and there was fear everywhere and he's been messing things up all over Equestria since."

"Discord. In my time he was released when some fillies were arguing. He's the embodiment of chaos. If we do the same things as we did in my time, we should be able to stop him quickly. I noticed Ponyville didn't seem to have any of his effects, though. If he's been messing things up all across Equestria, why is Ponyville untouched?

This time, Fluttershy was the one to speak up. "One time Discord decided to make it bright in Ponyville, and at the same time everypony was upside-down and couldn't step outside. Nightmare Moon came down and they talked. He turned everything normal and dark and scary again."

"Then he was interfering with Nightmare Moon's eternity of darkness. Anything else?"

"There have been rumors of a big purple dragon roaming around and damaging towns. Good thing he never got as far as Ponville."

Twilight paused a moment. "This big purple dragon didn't happen to have big green spikes and an appetite for jewels and gifts, did he?"

"Yeah. Did something like this happen in your timeline too?"

"Yes, it did. I hatched him and named him Spike. He's my assistant and one of my closest friends, but one time he got greedy and turned into a big dragon like that. Fortunately he had become infatuated with Rarity and seeing her with a gift he'd given her earlier made him remember that greediness isn't who he was. He turned back to normal soon. However, I don't think that will work again, since he hasn't seen Rarity yet to become infatuated over her. We'll have to stay away from him as much as we can."

Fluttershy's soft voice interrupted Twilight's. "We're getting close to the entrance by the boutique. We'll come out among the bushes at the base of one of the trees."

"Thanks, Fluttershy. I'm going to turn off the light so we don't alert Nightmare Moon. Stay close."

Fluttershy shivered and moved close to Pinkie as Twilight moved up along the roots of the tree. Pushing aside the bushes, Twilight looked around and saw Nightmare Moon in the distance, almost too far away to see. She lowered herself back into the tunnel, whispered that the path was clear, but to stay silent anyway just in case. The three ponies filed out in their usual pattern, and moved quietly to the door of the boutique. Twilight noticed that, unlike most of the buildings in Ponyville, the windows were boarded up,each board tight up against each other, and she was almost sure she saw light between the cracks. Pinkie knocked on the door, a simpler knock this time, and after a few seconds, the door, surrounded by the soft blue glow of magic, opened into darkness.

"Hurry inside," whispered a voice that Twilight recognized as Rarity's as the three filed in and the door closed behind them. Fluttershy shook, and they heard some shuffling around the dark for a few moments. Fluttershy gave a short cry as the lights suddenly came on, revealing that Rarity had placed pieces of fabric around the door to prevent light from coming through the cracks.

"I'd hoped that was you, Pinkie, otherwise I would have been in deep trouble. And welcome, Fluttershy. I haven't seen you in such a long time!"

"I thought I saw some light before we entered," Twilight said nonchalantly, forgetting for a moment that Rarity didn't know her yet.

Rarity looked at the unfamiliar pony, then at Pinkie and Fluttershy. "Who's this?"

"I'm sorry. I'm Twilight Sparkle."

"She's a time traveler and she knows all of us where she comes from!" Pinkie blurted out.

"I see. Oh, but look at your fur and your coiffures! Did you roll around in the dirt and bushes before you came here?" She started brushing their fur and manes.

"Kind of. We were using Fluttershy's tunnels, and the entrance near the boutique came out through the bushes by one of the trees."

"Well, you won't see me going in those tunnels any time soon if I come out looking like you girls."

"You're going to have to," Fluttershy said. "It's the safest way to get to the barn at Sweet Apple Acres without Nightmare Moon seeing us."

"Why do we need to go to Sweet Apple Acres? It's safe here," quipped a voice from the top of the stairs. Twilight, Pinkie, and Fluttershy looked up and saw the light blue fur and rainbow-colored mane of Rainbow Dash coming down the stairs, Rarity's little sister Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo following close behind her. "And who's the new pony?"

"I'm Twilight Sparkle. I'm from a different timeline in which Nightmare Moon and Discord were defeated years ago. In fact, the six of us have been close friends since the Summer Sun Celebration when Nightmare Moon made her debut."

Rainbow Dash flew down and hovered in front of Twilight, giving her a look of disbelief. "Oh yeah? Prove it."

Twilight sighed a little, but obliged. "You're Rainbow Dash. You used to live in Cloudsdale. You're friends with Gilda Griffon, and the thing you want above all else is to one day become a Wonderbolt, but your loyalty to your friends will always come first. You've also performed at least one sonic rainboom, a phenomena which occurred on the day all six of us received our cutie marks. You've got a long-standing rivalry with Applejack over which of you is the stronger pony."

As Twilight spoke, Rainbow Dash's expression slowly changed from skeptical to impressed, then back to skeptical. "Okay, there's no way you could have known all of that unless you're a spy or you're telling the truth. How do we know you're not a spy from Nightmare Moon?"

"Have you ever known Nightmare Moon to leave something as important as spying on somepony to somepony else?"

"Hmm. Good point. By the way, if we're gonna go, we should probably go soon. Nightmare Moon's heading this way."

"Quick, let's get to the tunnels!" The lights went out and Rarity and Twilight moved the fabric away from the door and opened it. Rarity quickly packed some brushes in some satchels so she could clean the others after they got out of the tunnels. Twilight led the way, followed by Rarity, the two young fillies, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie brought the rear as usual. They hurried under the tree and turned west toward Sweet Apple Acres. Pinkie's curiosity got the best of her, and she peeked through the bushes, seeing Nightmare Moon land near the boutique, the door still open. She ducked back down, hoping she hadn't been seen, and followed the others.

Comments

[Xarsor]

Wait, was this entire chapter basically just Twilight and co picking up Rarity and Rainbow Dash?

[Oddboy]

Not entirely sure I like what I'm seeing yet, but I don't dislike it. I'm going to give it a go and see what happens.

She ducked back down, hoping she hadn't been seen, and followed the others.

Calling it now, Nightmare totally saw her. Dammit Pinkie.