The Mane 6 are put to the test by Lord Manaqire, this is their story.
Twilight and co are offered a chance to save Equestria from the insane dragon Manaquire. In accepting the challenge they find themselves ten years into Equestria's future, seeing familiar faces in a new light...
implied character death, gore, and all out doom for equestria, as the mane six must unravel the truth from the lies and find the secret to true harmony.
Directly tied to 'Human Nature' you can read this without it..but it will be a few chapters in before I give a background story as to how/why the mane six are there in the first place (as it is already covered in 'Human Nature')
A tie-fanfiction to human nature due to it's content, as it wouldn't really fit with the overal feel of human nature, enjoy.
'Light' Dark.
cover art by general zoi;s pony creator yada yada yada do not own.
Twilight woke up, wiped the sleep from her eyes with a hoof and took in her surroundings. She was somewhere made of wood, a hollowed out tree. Dozens of hap-hazardly made shelves lined the walls, crammed with books, scrolls, pieces of strange metal objects and jars and beakers filled with strage substances.
As she noticed the staircase winding it's way up to another floor, she realised her current location.
"Isn't this...Ponyville Library?" she asked herself.
"Good guess Twilight, it is our library, though not in the way you remember it" A voice, clearly female, praised her on her revelation and Twilight turned around towards the speaker.
Standing behind her was a light purple fully grown pony. She had purple eyes that matched her coat and her dark purple mane was tied up into a bun, with the visible pink streak in it being twisted by the hair do. the older mares tail was the same colour as her mane, and even though she had tried to keep it in some sense of neat order, a few hairs were unruly and messy.
she was wearing a white lab coat which sported a few patches and stains, as well as a pait of welding goggles on her head.
What was once a purple horn was now a purple bony stump with a prothestic metal horn studded with gemstones in it's place.
"You're.." Twilight was at a loss for words as she recognised the pony infront of her.
The older mare smiled.
"Hello Twilight Sparkle, my name is The Professor, and I'm you, ten years in the future" Twilight's look-alike replied.
"Nghn... Man what'd I do last night?" a groggy Rainbow Dash said as she woke up on a cloud idlely floating across the town's skyline.
"No wait a minute...That jerk! He tricked me!" the blue pegasus declared in rage as her memories returned.
"Tricked you huh?" a voice, female and with a slight unnatural buzz to it, spoke up. "And here i thought we agreed to it?".
Rainbow turned around and her heart skipped a beat in shock, for there, standing on a cloud was something that could only be called a living nightmare.
It was a fully grown cyan pegasus with a multicoloured rainbow mane. what was frightenning about her was how uncanny her appearance was, her right front leg and left back leg replaced by metal prosthetics, a band of metal stretched around the pony's midsection with large blue dragonfly like wings replacing the feathered appendages that should have been in their place.
"W-What are you?" Rainbow asked as the older gave her a sympathetic look.
Two pairs of rose coloured eyes stared at each other, the younger with fear, the other with sadness.
"I'm you Rainbow" the other mare, her voice semmingly demonic with the unnatural buzz, replied softly.
"But you can't be me , I'm me!"
"My name is Rainbot Dash, kid, and I'm you in ten years"
Fluttershy let out a squek of fear as she woke up and found herself in the dark and dangerous Everfree Forest.
"Tw-Twilight? Rainbow?" the yellow mare meekly called out.
She curled up into a ball as she heard some nearby bushes rustle.
The head of another pony comicly pooped out of the bush. Soft, motherly green eyes looked at Fluttershy as the young pegasus curled up even tighter and whimpered pathetically.
"It's ok Fluttershy, there's no pony here but me"
Fluttershy peeked out from behind her hooves, and at first thought she was staring a clone of herself; a much older butter yellow pony calmly stood over her, the same eyes, the same cutie mark..except something was..off. The Pegasus stood up to get a proper look at the new comer, what was once a beautiful long light pink mane was cut short, the beautiful tail was also chopped short.
Fluttershy let out a small squek of horror as she registered the scarred stumps where yellow wings once rested, and brown ,wooden false leg strapped to elbow jiont of the older mares left front leg.
"Y-you're me aren't you" she whispered fearfully.
"Yes Fluttershy I am"
"How..how long-?"
"Ten years Fluttershy, ten long years" the older mare answered sadly. "You can call me Flutters, but save your other questions later, we need to meet your friends in the town square".
"ok.." Fluttershy replied softly, still staring in horror at the mssing wings and leg.
Twilight, Rainbow and Fluttershy all stared at the older versions of each other as they met up in the centre of ponyville.
The trip there was not pleasant. the ground was dusty and bare of all plant life, and in some places cracked and upheaved as though an earthquake had hit the small town. buildings lay ruins, some nothing more than a pile of rubble, others mere shells of what they once were.
Even though it was the middle of the day clouds covered the sky, the once bright sun was now dimmer than a light bulb, barely giving off any heat or light.
Ponyville was a ghost town, even amongst the more stable buildings not a soul, pony or animal could be seen, the only noise was sound of their breathing and movement as the six mares gathered in a circle in the town square.
"The others should be here soon" The Proffessor said calmly. "When everypony arrives we'll answer any questions you may Twilight".
"Hold yer horses Im'a comin'" a southern accent drawled as two ponies approached the group, one noticably Applejack, the other bore a striking similarity the farm horse, with the diferences being a larger stetson, a piece of wheat sticking out of the older mare's mouth and something being strapped to the rear end of larger pony.
"Oh no Applejack..." Twilight cried out as she realised what was strapped the hind quarters of Applejacs older self; a strange harness attached a contraption not unlike a wheelchair to the orange mare, her hind legs unmoving as the wheels attached to the device allowed her to walk without much trouble.
"You..You lost your back legs!?" Rainbow yelled out.
"Rainbot, could you please tell your younger self that I didn't lose mah legs, they just stopped workin'" the parapelgic mare replied, offended by the outburst.
"Um sorry.." Rainbow replied sheepishly, while Rainbot looked apologetic.
"How have you been Jackie?" The Proffessor asked.
"Jackie?" Applejack asked her older self.
"Just fine sugarcube, now AJ we all decided to give ourselves nicknames so that when you lot arrived we all wouudn't be gettin' confused and stuff, I'm Jackie, and this here is Rainbot Dash, Professor Sparkle, or just The Professor, Flutters is well...Fluttershy and all we have to do is wait for Gem an' Diane to get here" Future Applejack explained.
"Oh I thought I heard voices, over here girls" the prim and refined voice of Rarity reached the group as two white unicorns walked up to meet them.
"Woah Rarity..what happened to you..or what will happen...My head hurts' Rainbow began but soon got confused.
The Older Rarity had the same white coat and diamond cutie mark, but as with the others, there was still a difference, her mane and tail was now platinum silver and hung loosely, with only the slightest waves to tell it had ever been styled in the curls the girls knew so well. her eyes also seemed to lose their vibrant blue, clouded over and unfocused.
"I don't mean to be rude..." Twilight began "but are you-?
"Blind? Yes dear I am, but not to worry I've adapted my gem finding spell to allow me to 'see' by sensing vibrations instead of gems" the white unicorn replied.
"Gem here was telling me of all the marvelous spells she's been able to craft over the years from the simple ones I use..or we used in dress making" Rarity explaned.
"So Rarity's older self is Gem...so Diane must be Pinkie's...where are they?" Applejack asked.
Pinkie woke up and found herself near the border of Ponyville, and upon seing the destroyed and scarred land before her mane and tail went from bright and poofy to flat and much darker in colour.
"What happened?" She asked, only to be met with silence.
"We failed" a voice behind her answered.
The pink mare turned around to see an older pony with the same light pink coat and baby blue eyes looking back at her, the mare wore a shambled, haphazard attempt of a dark brown vest, while a piece of dark red cloth acted as a makeshift dress covering her flank. Her mane and tail mirrored Pinkie's in its strightness, but were different colours; her mane was black, her tail white.
Pinkie spent several seconds staring to the all too familiar blue eyes of the other mare, the had no sparkle or happy shine as her own, but a dark hidden sadness barely noticable under the mask of indifference on the pony's face.
"You're me" Pinkie stated, sitting down as the shock set in.
"Yeah..."
At this realisation Pinkie's eyes grew wide with fear and her ears splayed backwards.
"Y-You're not Her are you?" the small frightened mare trembled fearfully as she whispered her question.
"What? No! I'd never-We'd never...Pinkie she doesn't exist here" the older mare exclaimed, embracing the younger pony as she started hyperventilating.
After the party pony had calmed down the older mare started walking towards town, her younger self trotting after her
"So um...what do I call you? I can't call you Pinkie because that would be way to confusing" Pinkie asked.
"Call me Diane, oh and here you'll need a heads up so you don't get to bummed out by our friend's appearance" the black maned mare replied as she waved a hoof, causing a script to poof into exsistence.
It was titled The Search For True Harmony.
They stopped for a few minutes to allow pinkie to read what had happened so far.
"Everypony..is..." Pinkie's mane started to lose what little colour it had regainded from earlier.
"It's ok, you'll know the full story when we reach the town square" Diane replied, dispelling the script.
"Woah Pinkie your older self looks...weird" Rainbow commented.
Diane rolled her eyes.
"ok everypony, as you all know this is Equestria ten years in the future, you were summoned to learn about us, your future selves, as well as the fate of ponies we all know and care about in the hopes you learn the secret of true harmony as instructed by the Equestrian God of magic, lord Arcane" The Proffessor explained.
"Uh Prof, they won't know about Arcane for another five years" Rainbot interjected.
"Oh...my bad.."
"We should start by telling them about us, out loved ones and the three trails that dommed Equestria" Diane stated seriously.
Chapter's are short, but if you want more then please comment..please
