Twilight's 1000th Birthday Blowout

by Cyndaquil

2 Arrival

“Is it safe to open my eyes yet?” Fluttershy asked.

“It is sugarcube,” came Applejacks comforting assurance.

The yellow mare uncurled herself from an almost fetal position, and looked around. Gone were the swirling lights and the psychedelic colours of the time vortex. Now they were supposedly in the future. “That was a pretty scary ride,” Fluttershy confessed.

“It wouldn’t have been so bad if someone hadn’t been reciting that creepy poem while we were travelling through the vortex.” Applejack glared at Spike.

“Sorry.” Spike gave a meek shrug. “That was the scary tunnel poem from ‘Filly Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.’ Twilight thought Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie might get a kick out of it.”

Chants of “Again,” and “That was awesome,” came from the aforementioned mares.

Fluttershy began to look around. Since she kept her head down, the first thing she noticed was the floor beneath her. It was made up of large tiles, each square big enough for two ponies to stand on. In the distance she saw tiles hover upward and carry ponies from place to place. Jets of blue magic, or something like magic, erupted from beneath the flying floor tiles.

When she lifted her head, she saw open sky. At least that’s what appeared to be there. Surely there was a dome or force field or something. She’d have to ask about it later.

They were in a town square-type area. There was a fountain in the center. The fountain had beautifully crafted statues of Princess Celestia and Luna as the centrepiece, with the Mane Mix on the outer basin.

Her eyes came upon a sign which showed a map of this strange place. Spike had mentioned that after the party, this station would become an amusement park. Fillies and adults alike danced around the map, telling each other what they wanted to try.

“Here is the list of restaurants. They have funnel cake with strawberries and ice cream on top, caramel apples, a Tasty Treat, Sugarcube Corner, hay fries, and spaghetti dinners.”

“Oh, and look at the shops, they have: gift shops, dress shops, jewellery stores, and antique stores.”

“The hotel looks so luxurious in the pictures.”

“Forget food, look at all the activities: hoof-painting, wild west dances, mild west dances, hayrides, Some kinda workshop were you customize your own equestria girls dolls.”

“I wanna see the petting zoo, and the aviary.”

“Waterslides for me!”

“I should take my special sompony to the Tunnel of Love.”

“What about the thrills? This place has a rock climbing wall, a haunted castle, roller coasters, go carts, and… Hey is this real? It says theres a shuttle bay for starfighter battles.”

“No way they let fillies play with starfighters.”

“What do you know, in your era starfighters are just science fiction!”

“Maybe they’re just VR simulations, or it’s like laser tag and the ships have proximity sensors that make the autopilot kick in if you’re about to crash.”

“Could be, but knowing Twilight, they might really be starfighters.”

“Look at the map. Different groups of shops and rides have different themes like in a theme park. There’s Discord’s Realm of Chaos, Chrysalis’s Changeling Horde, and… aw, this one must be for the babies; Breezie Village.

“Hey you think Discords in the Discord area?”

“Are you kidding? This is Twilight's park! I bet they even have Chrysalis.”

“Coolest Princess ever!”

This place was overwhelming and Fluttershy questioned if it was truly real. The residents of Ponyville were not the only guests, for ponies started appearing from all across time. Ponyville was unique in that Spike brought all its citizens to the park. Aside from Ponyville, Twilight seemed to have about two to seven close friends for every ten to thirty year interval, plus the ones who were parents brought their foals.

She saw Rainbow Dash be approached by a whole group of ponies dressed as Wonderbolts. One of them asked her, “Are you Rainbow Dash, the pony who held the fastest flyer record for over two hundred years?”

Rainbow knew every flyer in the Wonderbolts history ( except maybe ones from the future ). The part about two hundred years stuck out in the speedster's mind. “That’s me! Only who breaks my record in two hundred years.”

“Twilight, of course, she’s our team captain.”

Rainbow Dash wondered if she heard right. Does Twilight become captain of the Wonderbolts? Another Wonderbolt from further into the future joined in.

“Man that must have been incredible. Twilight was only a regular member for about twenty years. In my time she just makes a few honorary appearances when the fans beg hard enough.” The pony pressed her hooves to her cheeks and blushed, “She’s so awesome.”

Over in another direction, Rarity complimented a pony on her exquisite dress. It was quite interesting, white with splashes of colour that would change their pattern from time to time. “Thanks,” said she. “I hope Twilight notices. It’s the one she made for me in my time.”

One adult mare hugged her mother. Fluttershy didn’t mean to pry, but she overheard their conversation. Apparently the mother died when her daughter was just a filly, her last words were a promise that they’d meet again at Twilight’s birthday.

“Whoa, Nelly!” declared Applejack, “Pretty soon somepony here’s going to be telling me that Twilight is Equestria’s top apple grower.”

A voice replied from the crowd. “No, but she did find a way to make zap apples bloom all year round.”

There was a mare who slouched next to the sign, and looked close to crying. Fluttershy approached her.

“What’s the matter?” She asked.

The mare timidly looked up at Fluttershy. “Hello. I’m sorry to be such a downer. My name is Minty. I don’t know anyone here. Twilight is my best friend and I’m glad she invited me. I’m just sad because I can’t stop thinking, ‘what if she doesn’t remember me?’”

“Oh, I don’t think Twilight would forget a friend.”

“If this is her thousandth birthday then she would be,” the girl started counting on her hooves “463 years older then when I last saw her.”

“463.”

“Yeah, what if I was just on a list somewhere, and she doesn’t even remember who I am?”

Fluttershy started to wonder if that could happen to her as well.. “I’m sure that’s not true. What sort of things do you do together as friends?”

“She helped me get my business started, selling custom socks for Hearths Warming Eve.”

“Don’t you mean stockings?”

“No, socks. Nice warm socks. They’re, like, the perfect gift; fillies all love them.”

Fluttershy gave her an incredulous look.

“Of course it doesn’t hurt that Twilight models the socks. Fillies really love her.”

“I’m sure Twilight will remember you. My friends are all excited to meet new ponies right now, so maybe we can hang out until Twilight shows up.”

“Really, you seem so nice.” Minty took a closer look at her new friend, then her eyes lit up, and she practically jumped.

“Ohmygosh, you’re Fluttershy. I’ve heard of you.”

---

Spike appeared in front of the Golden Oaks Library on Equestrian soil. It was actually the second library, which grew in the location of the first. Twilight planted the tree the day after Starlight Glimmer passed away. Spike remembered thinking that was a nice sentiment at the time.

Twilight would check up on the tree quite often; sometimes Spike would even see her speak to it. Once, when it was still a sapling, an animal trampled the trunk. Twilight was furious. Despite all that the tree grew strong.

When it was tall, it seemed a little more wild then the old Golden Oaks, though Twilight never let on if she noticed. The tree grew hollow on the inside; it was no secret that this was influenced by alicorn magic. This allowed Twilight to make the tree into a new library. It was an unusual extravagance for Twilight to have two homes in the same town, though Spike knew that she didn’t think of it that way.

“Hey. Tree,” he asked, “is Twilight home.”

“Yes, Spike she is.”

Spike shuddered. The voice of that tree still creeped him out. He hadn’t heard that voice for centuries, then suddenly there it was. It was a young voice. The voice had been raspy and old before it belonged to a tree. Twilight claimed that it was a smart home system and such things did exist in this time. However, that lie would have been more believable if electrical service actually ran to the Golden Oaks Library.

“So how you doing Glimmer?”

“This unit is functioning well within operational parameters.”

“Still keeping up the act, huh?”

The door opened for him, and Spike the dragon made his way up the stairs. He was a little surprised that Twilight was not still in the library, sifting through curious volumes of forgotten lore. Upstairs, the room looked just like the one he and Twilght had shared when Spike was still small enough to sleep in a basket. Even the basket was sitting in the room, despite Spike having grown before this new tree existed.

Twilight was behind a changing curtain, putting on her horseshoes. It was a type of shoe Celestia introduced her to, which didn’t need to be nailed on. She also had a necklace and a crown, and everything she wore was adorned with her cutie mark. Twilight was, for the first time in her life, accustomed to dressing like a princess. Doing so was probably just a passing phase, though tonight was a night that warranted dressing up.

“Are you almost ready, Twilight?”

“Be with you in a minute, Spike.”

“You remember where we’re going right?”

“Sure do. The library told me this morning.”

Spike somewhat hoped she had remembered on her own. None-the-less, all was going well.

“You know who’s going to be there right?”

“Everypony will be there.” Her answer was a little coy.

Spike crossed his arms, and gave a little grunt, “Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity.”

“Yeah,” Twilight acknowledged, not sounding all that interested. “Hey, grab that notebook on my dresser. I have some great new sock designs I want to show Minty.”

“You heard me right? You’ll be seeing them for the first time in more than nine hundred and a half years.”

Twilight stepped out from the changing curtain. She sat down on her bed, and raised her head, as though thinking about what Spike just told her. “They time travelled here, Spike. In their minds they saw me this morning. It’s not like they’ve had time to miss me.”

“And in your mind.”

“In my mind,” she thought for another moment. “In my mind the Hearth's Warming Eve Pageant was just one sleep ago. You know how my mind works.”

“I do. Your mind has been that way since the accident.” It was hardly an accident. Spike was of course referring to the time Twilight drank Starlight's overpowered version of Zecora’s potion. When her friends disappeared, Twilight was desperate to find them. So desperate was she, that she drank a potion which was supposed to induce visions. Nopony is quite sure what that potion did to her. The potion is like another form of time travel, allowing an alicorn to astrally project herself in order to witness past events. Some speculate that the visions were so intense they burned a part of her. Another theory is that her brain formed defences to reject the harmful visons, and those defences remained after the offending images stopped. Whatever it did, the result was a permanently altered state of consciousness that still affected her to this day.

Spike checked his pocket watch, thinking once again about the party, and Twilight decided to take a look. She leaned in. “Which one is the day hand again,” she asked?

“There is no day hand. There are hours, minutes, and seconds.”

“Right,” Twilight nodded, not getting it at all. Maybe day was just some word she made up.

“Geez, Twilight. This must be some subconscious mental block you put on yourself. There’s no way the accident did something so weirdly specific as make you forget how to tell time.”

“I know, but I’ve been trying for weeks.”

“You’ve been trying for centuries.”

“Whatever.”

“You know you used to love schedules.”

“Me?” Twilight laughed at the very idea of that.

“You don’t remember.”

“Isn’t that the other consequence of my,” she made hoof quotes, “accident. My long term memory only keeps the good stuff.”

“Yeah, and scatters it all over the place. Do you really think the Hearth's Warming Eve Pageant was yesterday?”

“Maybe it was, and everypony else is remembering in the wrong order.”

Spike sighed, and lied down on the bed.

“Why are we talking about this now?” Twilight spoke. “It’s been this way for…which one is it? Hours, seconds.”

“It’s been like this for centuries. I think we’re talking about this because your oldest friends are the only ones in Equestria that don’t know about your condition.” He turned and faced Twilight, gently brushing a hair out of her eye with this claw. “Are you afraid to tell them?”

“Not really. I'd be surprised if someone at the park hasn't blabbed it to them already." One thing about being friends with ponies, you have to forgive a little bit of gossiping. "I’m more worried about telling them they can’t go home.”

“Are you sure they can’t?”

“C’mon Spike, you know me and Starlight worked this out together. It’s a pre-destination paradox.”

“Yeah. You understand that and artificially intelligent robots, but you can’t figure out an egg timer." he turned his head. "Starlight,” Spike called, “explain this to me again.”

“I’m not Starlight Glimmer, I am Twilight’s smart home.”

“Just explain it.”

“We can’t send Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, or Pinkie Pie back to their time. We know this because they never did go back. If we tried to send them back, something would have to go wrong. We know this because the outcome is predestined. That’s why it’s called a predestination paradox.”

“But how do these paradoxes get started? That part doesn’t make sense.”

“That’s why it’s called a paradox. They don’t make sense.”

“Look on the bright side,” Twilight teased. “You’ll get to be with Rarity again.”

“Shut up. That was a kid's first crush.” Spike checked his watch again. “Well everyones waiting. I guess you better go make your big entrance.”

---

Comments

[twidash1993]

Can't believe nobody commented on this story yet I love it! Can't wait for next chapter.

[Cyndaquil]

8528235
Glad to hear it. I've been waiting for a comment, so it's nice to have the first one be so positive.

[Jiopaba]

I'm quite curious to see where this goes. Twilight seems disconnected in a very interesting way. I wonder... do all these later ponies remember many of the earlier ones vanishing from time itself?

And poor Twilight, especially. How terrible to have her perception of time shattered, or transcendentalized or whatever, simultaneously with her friends disappearing for a thousand years.