The Princess that Equestria Never Had

by rillegas08

What Happened with the Timelines

Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie made their way quietly through the tunnel. Scootaloo, although very afraid, showed little of her fear aside from sidling closer to her idol Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash was better at hiding her fear, having had years putting on an air of confidence to hide it. Sweetie Belle and Rarity stuck close together as siblings do, and Pinkie Pie had to keep pushing Fluttershy onward. Twilight continued in the lead, shining the light from her horn down the tunnel, when it started descending.

"What's going on? Why are we going down?" asked Sweetie Belle.

Suddenly there was the echo of soft thumping behind them.

"Stay still and be quiet! I'm turning the light down" Twilight said quietly, and they all waited in anticipation. Sweetie Belle and Rarity moved closer together, Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash moved closer, and Fluttershy moved close to Pinkie. Twilight looked behind them, the light barely bright enough to shine a few feet in front of her, and started walking past them. If they needed to run, she wanted to delay their pursuer or pursuers as long as she could.

They waited with baited breath. Two tiny glints appeared, as the thumping grew louder. Twilight braced herself in preparation for a fight.

A small white rabbit appeared in the dim light. Twilight relaxed and turned her light up. "It's just Angel."

Fluttershy pushed her way past Pinkie and Twilight, a happy expression on her face. "Angel! What are you doing here?" Angel chattered for a little, then Fluttershy turned to the others. "Angel says we're about to cross under the river, after which we'll come across a fork in the tunnels. That's why we're going down right now. We need to go to the left to get to Sweet Apple Acres, and the right tunnel goes back toward the school and the center of Ponyville."

"Thanks, Angel. Let's keep going." Twilight moved back toward the front of the group.

"These tunnels are starting to feel cramped. Not to mention dirty!" Rarity said.

Sweetie Belle broke from her sister and walked behind Twilight. "What was your name again?"

"It's Twilight Sparkle. My special talent is magic, and I got my cutie mark the same day as your sister and the other ponies our age. A six-pointed star surrounded by six smaller stars."

There was silence for a moment as Sweetie Belle counted the stars on Twilight's flank. "I only see five."

"What?" Twilight turned and looked at her flank, seeing that, in fact, one of the smaller stars was indeed missing. "We should hurry, guys. Come on!"

They hurried through the tunnels toward Sweet Apple Acres, and came up through the floor of Apple family's barn. Angel squeaked, and Fluttershy spent a little time talking with him. After listening to Angel, Fluttershy explained what he had told her:

"Since the barn's floor was dirt, the digging animals didn't need to keep this entrance as secret as the others. Thanks, Angel!" she gave Angel a carrot which, unfortunately, had not grown well due to the lack of sunlight.

"Thanks, Fluttershy. And thank you too, Angel." The rabbit looked up at Twilight, expectant, and she realized he was expecting a gift. "Oh, I don't have a carrot to give you..." At this Angel frowned. "But I can give you a gift of my own!" Twilight's horn glowed as she made the carrot's size grow larger and more healthy, bigger than a normal healthy carrot would grow. "Rainbow Dash, take a quick flight to the top of the barn and look for Nightmare Moon. Don't spend too much time exposed, though."

"Sure thing," Rainbow Dash responded, and flew out the barn doors. She returned seconds later and told them that she hadn't seen Nightmare Moon.

"Thanks, Rainbow Dash. Now someone needs to go get Applejack."

"Ooh! Ooh! Pick me!"

"Thanks for volunteering, Pinkie, but I was already planning on picking you. You're really good at being stealthy."

Pinkie saluted Twilight, and crept out of the barn, holding herself flat against the wall, a serious look on her face. Twilight peeked her head out the open door and saw Pinkie in a ninja outfit at Applejack's door. The door opened and Pinkie went inside. Moments later she returned to the barn along with Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Big Macintosh. As they came into the barn, Twilight wondered where Granny Smith was, but passed the thought from her mind.

Twilight directed everypony to sit or stand as she started telling her story. Rarity took out her brushes and started cleaning everpony's manes and furs, starting with the three fillies.

"All right, now that we're all together, I can tell you everything I know.

"I come from a timeline where we've all been friends since Nightmare Moon appeared at the Summer Sun Celebration a few years ago. Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and I were able to defeat her with the Elements of Harmony. In this timeline, because I didn't exist to recognize the prophecy about Nightmare Moon's return before it happened. I also wasn't here to bring the Elements together to turn her back into Princess Celestia's sister Princess Luna. And because the Elements were never found, Nightmare Moon succeeded in bringing about an eternal night. And since in my timeline Princess Celestia had mysteriously disappeared with the sun's absense, it's probably safe to assume she's been gone since the Summer Sun Celebration in this timeline as well. Since the Elements were never discovered, Discord couldn't be defeated either, so he's running rampant as well.

"But something else concerns me. In my timeline, my brother married Princess Cadance, who was my babysitter when I was a filly. That still happened, I'm guessing, but Queen Chrysalis had taken on the appearance of Cadance, and Canterlot was taken by Queen Chrysalis's army of demon ponies. And since Cadance had been imprisoned in the tunnels under Canterlot by Queen Chrysalis, she couldn't use her power of love to protect the Kingdom of the Crystal Ponies from King Sombra. So many things have happened in Equestria in my timeline because I existed."

"So how'd y'all get in a timeline where you didn't exist?" asked Apple Bloom.

"Thanks for asking. I think I was getting off track. Well, yesterday in my timeline was a particularly difficult day, and I came home to the Golden Oak library tired and weary. I said 'It's days like this I wish I'd never been born', and as it turns out I'd activated a spell I read earlier. I didn't understand it at the time, but it makes perfect sense now.

"When the time is gone
And the ponies sleep
All is undone
By the wish I shall keep.

"By saying the words 'I wish', I activated that spell with the condition that I'd never been born. When I woke up the next morning, the library was in the same dusty, empty condition it was in when I first arrived in Ponyville. Spike, my assistant, was also gone. I've been told he's grown up and has been hoarding gems in this timeline."

"Tell me about it, darling. I haven't been able to find many gems in a while because he's always gotten there first. Either that or I had to run and leave them behind. He's too fast.

"In my timeline he didn't grow up so fast. I'd hatched him as part of my test when I got my cutie mark, and has been a faithful assistant and a good friend ever since. Anyway, there's more, and this disturbs me the most. A few months ago I was able to create a new magic, and became an Alicorn and a princess. I'd gotten used to them by now, and tried to fly out the window, but they were gone! And in the tunnels, Sweetie Belle discovered that my cutie mark is missing a star." She turned and showed them her cutie mark. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Big Mac glanced at each other, fear in their eyes. The others looked confused. "This means that if we don't find a way to get me back to the my timeline, I'll stop existing in this timeline as well."

The ponies who looked confused now gasped in horror, finally realizing the full implications of the disappearances. Twilight lay down and hung her head, once again thinking over the consequences of her choices the day before, as she had continued thinking about them all day.

"Then it's obvious what we have to do," piped up Rainbow Dash. Everypony looked at her. "We have to get these Element thingies and stop Nightmare Moon and all the others."

"I'm not so sure, actually. The Elements of Harmony worked in my timeline, because Nightmare Moon had only been back a day. In this timeline, she's reigned for several years, and since you've all survived, and probably even gone up against her to fight..." at this Twilight looked to Rainbow Dash, who smiled back sheepishly.

"That... didn't work out so well. I was at my house and went up against her when she came to me saying something about being too close to her. I was barely able to escape after she destroyed it. I'm awesome, but I know when I'm not nearly as good as another pony."

"There's another complication to finding the Elements as well; they're hidden in the ruins of an ancient castle in the Everfree Forest, the same castle where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna used to rule together.

"There are six Elements of Harmony, and each is embodied by one of us. Applejack, you're the Element of Honesty. That's one reason I wanted to gather here: I can always trust your opinion to be the honest truth. Fluttershy, you're the Element of Kindness. You're also really good with animals, and there will be many times during this journey that we'll need that. Pinkie Pie, you're the Element of Laughter. We'll need that, too, especially during this endless night. Rarity, you're the Element of Generosity. You've been fixing everypony's manes ever since we got out of the tunnel, and it's not just because you don't like dirt."

"It's true, I suppose. I'd give anything necessary for my friends."

"Rainbow Dash, you're the Element of Loyalty. You've remained close to your friends even when you've had chances to join the Wonderbolts if it meant leaving us behind."

"So what's the sixth element thingy?" asked Pinkie.

"The sixth element, unknown until we found the other Elements, was prophesied 'when the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed.' I'm that sixth Element: the Element of Magic."

"That's what you said your special talent is!" piped Sweetie Belle.

Twilight smiled. "That's right, Sweetie Belle, and that day we learned that friendship was the most powerful magic of all. Rainbow Dash was right earlier; we need to go to the Everfree forest, find the Elements of Harmony, and defeat Nightmare Moon. Once that happens, Princess Celestia will return along with the sun, and we can ask for her help on getting me back to my timeline before I completely disappear."

"Where is the princess now?"

"I can't say for sure, but when we defeated Nightmare Moon, the sun rose again, and Celestia returned along with it. Based on that, my current hypothesis is that every year during the Summer Sun Celebration, she flies into the sun so she can make it rise at the right time on the Summer Sun Celebration. However, the moon has to set before the sun can rise, and since the moon never set, she couldn't come back. The old castle in the Everfree forest might have a book in it about the traditions of Equestria that would tell us where we can find Princess Celestia."

This time it was Apple Bloom who piped up. "So how're we gonna get to the Everfree forest? Nightmare Moon's still out there!"

"Through the tunnels that Fluttershy's digging animals have been working on. There's a tunnel entrance near the Everfree forest that we've asked them to continue on farther into the forest. Once in there, we should be safer from Nightmare Moon under the thick branches. But you're not going, and neither should the other fillies. The Everfree forest is dangerous, even for big ponies, and there are a lot of things that could go wrong. Big Mac, I want you to protect them here at Sweet Apple Acres until we get back."

"Ee-yup."

Without warning, Pinkie's tail started twitching, then the twitching spread all along her body. When the twitching ended, everypony looked worried, but both Pinkie and Twilight showed the most concern.

"What in tarnation does that mean?"

"I don't know! That's never happened before," Pinkie wondered. "But whatever it is, it's gonna be a doozy!"

"That makes sense," said Twilight. "In my timeline, I spent a lot of effort trying to find an explanation for the Pinkie Sense, and it was a doozy when I finally accepted that there didn't have to be a logical explanation. Since I didn't exist in this timeline, that doozy never happened. Then there's only one thing I can think of that would qualify as a doozy-"

Suddenly there was a chuckle from above them, a chuckle which soon turned into a hearty laugh. Shivers went down the ponies' spines as they realized that Nightmare Moon had found them. Some were frozen in fear, while Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie went into defensive positions. Up in the rafters, Nightmare Moon had somehow found her way into the barn and stood. Her mane flowing, her eyes glowing with the brightness of a full moon, as she descended to the barn floor until she stood between the ponies and the doors. "Such foalish ponies. I destroyed the Elements years ago."

Comments

[miiohau]

One problem with Twilight's exposition she stated everything as facts, even things she had no way to know (like Candace's wedding and the crystal empire). It threw me out of the story as I wondered how she knew all this. Twilight is a logical and exact pony, she could guess all she did but would state it as such including her non-existence (which despite having a good foundation is still a guess).

Also Twilight is a little calm, I expected at least one panic attack/depressive episode (like she had in magical mystery cure, she did after all sort of doom an entire timeline to the rule of Nightmare Moon and Discord), it doesn't have to be big, just moment of 'I WHAT!?' Or 'oh, no. This is bad.' After which she can pull herself together.

You are otherwise doing good at keeping Everypony in charater.

[rillegas08]

7167777 I can address both issues. First, the exposition is a lot of assumption and logical progressions. Second, and this goes for this whole fic as well as writing the characters a bit out of character, this was the first time writing creatively in many years. I'd gotten out of the habit and this chapter is one of the ones where I was literally winging it as I tried to keep up with a self-imposed weekly deadline on AO3.

I've considered rewriting it to fix most of the issues, but that's a lower priority at the moment.

[Fonypan]

How does she suddenly know for a fact that her cutie mark being different means that she's going to disappear?

Also:

derpicdn.net/img/2012/12/3/171345/large.png

[Oddboy]

Called it. Nightmare totally saw Pinkie. Dammit Pinkie!

[rillegas08]

8168498 When I originally wrote this, I don't think I had a clear idea on how Nightmare Moon knew, so I decided to leave it up to interpretation. I think my reasoning was that she heard the exposition conversation from the barn. I like your interpretation too, though.