Chapter 1: The Theater
“Dear Princess Celestia, when you first sent me to Ponyville, I didn’t know anything about friendship. I met somepony tonight who was having the same problem—your sister, Princess Luna! She taught me that one of the best things you can do with friendship is to give it to others, and help them find it themselves! And I’m happy to report that all of Ponyville has learned that even if somepony seems a little intimidating, even scary, when you offer them your friendship, you’ll discover a whole new pony underneath. And even if my Star Swirl the Bearded costume didn’t go over, this still turned out to be the best Nightmare Night ever!” Twilight Sparkle finished, popping in a piece of candy corn from the candy pile at the hooves of the Nightmare Moon statue, as her number one assistant and friend, Spike, had just finished the friendship lesson letter that he would send to the princess.
Unaware to her or the baby dragon, however, a mysterious blue figure inched closer to them on a black cloud. The figure was a blue pegasus that had a rainbow mane and tail, and wore a purple jumpsuit. On her muzzle, she wore a black mask with yellow fabric where the eyes would be. Even though her face was concealed, except her mouth, she smiled a mischievous grin. Any second, she was going to give her friends a good Nightmare Night scare. However, before she could continue with her prank, she, Twilight, and Spike, all vanished in a flash of light.
“Well, I think you’re the Crystal Empire’s big important wizard,” Starlight Glimmer said, smiling while she placed a hoof on her old friend’s shoulder. “Whether you like it or not.”
Sunburst blushed. At the same time, Starlight took her hoof off . “I don’t know if I’ll have time for any wizarding. I’m a Crystaller now. That’s a big responsibility.”
“I can’t think of anypony more qualified. Just... Promise you’ll stay in touch?” Starlight asked, hoping he’d say yes. After all this time being angry with Sunburst and herself, she hoped they could continue where they had left off when they were young. To her delight, Sunburst leaned in and embraced her. She smiled, hoping this could last forever.
“Hm, like I’d ever lose touch with my oldest friend,” Sunburst said compassionately, and Starlight could tell the stallion meant it. After letting go of each other, Starlight made her way to the train. However, before she could climb onto onboard, her vision clouded over with a white light.
Sunset had finally acquired the Element of Magic, sure, it was in the human world, but, she was the queen of that high school, and it would be simply too easy to snatch up the crown after she returned. That annoying violet alicorn who had jumped at her earlier glared at Sunset, their bodies tangled in a heap. “What did you do with my crown?”
“Sorry, it had to be this way...” The orange mare smiled maliciously as a green aura coated her horn, and teleported herself to the mirror where the crown had disappeared to. “-Princess.” The bully continued mockingly, before saluting and jumping into the portal.
In the furthest regions of the galaxy, a solitary spacecraft rested on a floating platform in the vast expanse of space. However, this was only a facade—a camouflage to conceal what lay within. The interior of the vessel was a colossal cinema, adorned with magical blue torches that illuminated its four wooden walls, that gave the room a cold ominous feel to it’s atmosphere. At the heart of the room, a large screen was projected in front of nine comfy red chairs.
Suddenly, the room was filled with light as six different colored ponies and a purple baby dragon flashed into existence, all of them disoriented by the strange unexplained experience. Rainbow Dash, still wearing her Shadowbolts costume, was the first to get up from the wooded floor, and spoke with a weary voice, putting a hoof to her forehead, her vision disorientated. “Ugh, my head...”
Applejack got up from her haunches and picked up her scarecrow hat, looking around with confusion as she realized they were in a different location. “What in the hay just happened?” she questioned no one in particular. One moment, the farmer was at Town Hall trying to cheer up the children after the whole thing with Princess Luna, the next; she was here.
It wasn’t just Applejack and Rainbow, but they were all confused. Just who had taken them here? “Wow, it’s like we’re in some kind of magical movie theater,” Spike commented, looking around the blue lit room. “Where do you think we are, Twilight?”
Twilight looked at him and then at her other friends while they all turned their gazes toward her. She instinctively rubbed her fake beard in thought. “I don’t know,” the violet unicorn replied, “but I think we better find out.”
“Shiny...” Pinkie Pie uttered, her attention drawn to the mysterious blue torches that decorated the room. With a reach of her pink hoof, she attempted to touch them.
“Please, Miss Pie,” Rarity interjected, her gaze cast towards the blue torches that lined the walls of the room with concern. “I don’t think you should touch those.”
The party pony gave a sigh of disappointment. “Aww,” she whined. “But they’re so preeetttty.”
“Rarity’s right, Pinkie,” Twilight added. “Who knows what might happen if you put your hooves on those torches.”
While the 7 group of friends carried on with their investigation of their surroundings, those who still wore their Nightmare Night costumes, took them off and deposited them next to the movie seats. Although Pinkie remained in hers. After all, even if they were in another place, she couldn’t just throw away the spirit of the holiday!
In an instant another bright light appeared, temporarily blinding them all. When the light faded, and after their eyes adjusted, they all gasped in shock to see two unicorn mares they had never seen before. The first unicorn had a lilac coat, a purple with teal highlighted mane and tail, a cutie mark of a purple and white star with two blue glimmering streams. The other mare possessed a golden coat, a vivid crimson-colored mane and tail with yellow highlights. The pony also had light blue eyes and a half-yellow, half-red sun cutie mark. When Starlight, the lilac unicorn mare looked around the room, her eyes fell on Twilight and her friends, her eyes widening open when she noticed the alicorn’s lack of wings. “Twilight, why don’t you—”
Before she could finish what she was saying, a deep voice interrupted her. All the ponies turned their attention towards the source of the voice; they could only gaze in fear and trepidation at where the disembodied voice was coming from. “Hello, my little ponies,” the voice boomed, rattling the theater.
“What was that? What was that?!” Fluttershy demanded, her voice trembled and filled with horror. Not only did she get the shock of her life when she saw Nightmare Moon herself earlier tonight, but now she had whoever this thing was. This certainly was the worst Nightmare Night Fluttershy experienced.
Rainbow Dash stepped forward, her voice full of courage. “Alright, buster, show yourself! I ain’t scared of you!”
The voice chuckled. A voice that even made the bravest shudder from its sheer ominous power. “I am not your enemy, loyal Rainbow Dash,” the voice replied. “I am simply here to show you nine something.” The voice was strange and unfamiliar. It sounded feminine, yet ancient.
“What could that be? Hold on, are we...are we all from different time periods?” Starlight Glimmer asked, taking note of how Twilight did not possess her wings or seem to recognize her. None of the others recognized her either, for that matter. A feeling of sadness consumed the lilac mare because of that fact. After all her life feeling lonely, and rejected, she was back where she started.
“Yes, you are,” the voice explained in response. “The Element of Harmony bearers are from a different time from you, Starlight, or you, Sunset Shimmer.” Starlight’s ears perked up as she looked towards Sunset. Why did that name sound so familiar? Why was this pony even here if none of them knew her? Or did they all meet her in the future? This was all so confusing, and Starlight knew about time travel. “I have gathered you all here,” the voice continued, “to watch the past, present, and future.”
“The past, the present, and the future?” Twilight whispered in awe. A feeling of fascination and wonder flooding her studious mind. This mysterious being was promising an unforgettable and potential learning experience. Twilight was ready to embrace it.
Despite their uneasiness, the others seemed to love this idea as well. For two years, these seven were friends, heck, they were almost like family. If this figure was going to show them their lives, even if some of them, like Fluttershy was afraid, they’d watch it together. “Oh, this is going to be fun!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie excitedly.
“You nine will watch yourselves make mistakes and fail. However, you will also learn more about each other. Perhaps save ponies or other creatures in your future that you could not in your original timeline.”
“Save someone; you don’t mean somepony’s going to—” Twilight panicked. But the deep voice cut her off.
“No, that won’t happen, not if you can help it, Twilight Sparkle. Now, remember, you won’t need to use the bathroom, eat, or drink. If you make conversation or make comments, which I implore you to do, the video showing you the timeline will stop, so you may speak without talking over it. Starlight Glimmer, see that remote on the middle chair? You may push the play button when ready. Farewell.”
“Excuse me,” Twilight said, glancing at Starlight after the voice faded. “But do you know me in the future? Because from the way you looked at me earlier, it just felt like you did.”
This question made Starlight uneasy. Especially since when she met Twilight Sparkle, they were enemies. No, she did not have the heart to tell her, at least not yet. Lying wasn’t good; she knew that. Still, if coming here meant another chance at friendship with Twilight without her sins getting in the way, she had to try. “Yes, we actually became really good friends in the future,” Starlight said, although her voice betrayed her anxiety. “I’m even friends with them,” she continued, pointing a hoof at Applejack, Spike, and the other mares.
Applejack trotted over to her and held out her hoof in greeting. “Well, it’s nice to make your acquaintance, Miss Starlight.”
“It’s nice to meet you, as well, again,” Starlight glanced at the farmer’s head and noticed her iconic hat was missing. “Where’s your hat?”
Applejack chuckled. “Well, we all were pulled from a Nightmare Night festival. I was a scarecrow. But now that you mention it... " Just as she said this, a familiar brown stetson hat materialized on her head as if out of thin air. Applejack jumped a little at that. “Well, I’ll be... Pa was right; the hat really does choose the pony.” Applejack shook her surprise off and focused her attention on Sunset Shimmer. “A pleasure meetin’ you as well, Miss Sunset Shimmer, was it?”
The golden-coated mare just glared at Applejack. “Let’s just get this over with; I have more important things to do,” she muttered gruffly.
She didn’t know why, but that response made Starlight really suspicious.
“Wait!” said Fluttershy. “If we’re here, who’s going to take care of Angel Bunny or my other animals?”
“Or the library,” Spike added.
“Or what if a new pony is coming to Ponyville, and I can’t throw them a party?!” Pinkie said, giving a chicken squawk to emphasize her point.
Before they could all panic, the voice from earlier spoke to them gently. “Do not worry, my little ponies; time has remained frozen in your timelines, so everything will remain the same once you return.”
They all breathed a sigh of relief as the voice faded again. Starlight looked at the remote sitting in the middle of the nine chairs and lifted it with her levitation spell. She then watched as they all took their seats. Rainbow Dash chose to sit on the far left, Fluttershy decided to sit next to her, Pinkie sat next to Fluttershy, Applejack trotted over next to Pinkie, Sunset made her way over to the last seat on the right, Rarity delicately and gently sat near Pinkie, Twilight sat next to Rarity, and finally, Spike sat next to Twilight.
Starlight smiled. Even though she hadn’t known the Twilight in her timeline for that long, she was aware of how much like family Twilight and Spike were. She turned her attention to the red and yellow-maned mare and grimaced. The lilac pony knew she wanted to keep a close eye on this Sunset Shimmer because of how suspicious she was acting, but since the mare was also sitting next to Spike, Starlight wanted to separate the suspicious unicorn from him. After bonding with the baby dragon at the Crystalling, she had grown quite fond of the kid. With that thought in mind, she made her way between Sunset and Spike. After settling down, she proceeded to press the remote button as the most special thing all nine of them were going to watch started to play.
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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Although this is a trope that has been in a lot of fandoms, I’ve never seen it in mlp. So this should be interesting.
This is gonna be VERY interesting!
11647344
I know, although if I’m being honest, even though there are a lot. I’ve rarely come across one that actually good. Like tons of spelling errors, grammatically incorrect, a ton of OOC moments in their reactions that just feel like straw-man from the writer.
And the watcher (my personal name for the type of character that brings other characters to the place to watch the thing) can get really annoying if they constantly interrupt the characters who already have a complicated relationship, or just give exposition after exposition. Like in my time I think I’ve only come two good ones. One being Stranger Things, and the other being Hamilton. That’s just my thoughts.
11647541
I actually haven’t noticed that.
11647561
What’s your take?
11647563
While I do find the trope interesting I sometimes feel like the watchher would be bias. Willing to point out the flaws of some characters while leaving some alone.
11647568
Exactly. And that is so unbelievably annoying. Anyhow, as for this fanfic, going through 200+ pieces of content, while trying to keep everyone in character is going to be one hell of a ride
11647576
Don’t forget to call out some of the characters, because sunset looks like she’s gonna need that a lot.