> Into the Future > by sunshinemonster > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Race to the Future > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rainbow Dash looked up at the black alicorn that was hovering in the air. "Luna?" Rainbow asked, looking at the alicorn, "What are you doing here?" Luna smiled, "I took a day off, my annual holiday. Long story short, I wanted to do something fun, so here I am. Want to race?" "Of course!" Rainbow Dash replied, hovering next to Luna, "How about to that mountain and back?" Rainbow waved at a mountain in the distance. "The one with all those purple flowers." Luna nodded, "You're on." Luna shot across the sky, flapping her wings, and straining to beat Rainbow Dash. The two flew together for a while, creating two sonic Rainbooms, only one was the color of the night, and the other was rainbow. As the two flew faster, light seemed to bend slightly and the colors merged together. "Is it just me or is the light bending?" Rainbow Dash shouted to Luna. Luna shouted back at Rainbow, "The light is bend-" Luna suddenly shot ahead of Rainbow, leaving her words hanging in the air. Rainbow chased after Luna, flying closer to the speed of light. "Must. go. faster." she muttered, catching up to the Alicorn. The mountain grew closer, and the flowers looked like small gems, glittering in the morning sun. The two didn't notice that the flowers disappeared once they rounded the mountain. One last flap, and they reached the speed of light, and reached their starting point in a couple seconds. They touched down at the same time, and looked around them. "Where are we?" they asked, in unison. Celestia waited by the fireplace. Where was her sister? It had already been a week, and Luna still wasn't back from her vacation. Celestia looked at Twilight, "Where is Luna?" "Princess Celestia, I have no idea," Twilight replied, "I came here to ask if you knew anything about Rainbow Dash. She just disappeared a week ago, and Applejack and Rarity haven't come back from their search." "A search!" Celestia smiled, "That's it! I'll take Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and some of my guards to search for Luna and your friends. You will have to raise the sun and the moon. I know you'll be fine. Now, I must go." Celestia flew out the window, in a rush to find Luna. "Just great," Twilight muttered. "All I need is for all of them to go missing too." Twilight sighed, and sat down on the chair. > The Future > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Where are we?" Rainbow Dash asked, for the tenth time. Luna shook her head. They were standing in a small prison, with no way out. She blasted the stone wall again, and sparks showered over her and Rainbow. Nothing, not even a small crack, appeared. "This. is. impossible." Luna blasted the wall again. "Luna," Rainbow Dash spoke, "It's not going to do anything." Luna sighed, and dropped down on the floor. "I need some rest. You keep trying to find a way out." Rainbow nodded, and flew up to the small window. Equestria looked horrible, if they were still in Equestria. There was a large, crystal castle in the distance, shimmering purple. Smoke rose from the lake in the distance. And the forests. The leaves on the trees were yellow, and the branches drooped. There wasn't a single living thing, as far as she could see. And, that small cottage that resembled Fluttershy's was covered with a black, smooth, shiny stone. Rainbow Dash looked back at Luna's hopeful face. "Nope, nothing," Rainbow spoke. Luna tilted her head, staring at the rainbow horn on Rainbow's head. "What is that doing there?" "What?" "You're an Alicorn," Luna replied, her happiness turning to shock. "But, I can't be!" Rainbow cried, feeling the horn with her hoof. Luna shrugged, "I would say so too, but, you are." Rainbow sighed, "I guess you can teach me about magic while we're stuck in here." "I suppose," Luna replied, "Okay, try to think about your magic blasting the wall and breaking it into pieces." Rainbow nodded, and lowered her head, pointing her horn at the wall. Her horn lit up with rainbow light, and sputtered, before the light disappeared. "Keep trying," Luna encouraged. Rainbow tried several more times, all unsuccessful. "I think I'm going to stay away from using magic. It's way too tiring." "I guess it can be tiring. I've gotten used to it by now," Luna yawned. "Let's get some shut-eye now. We both need it. We can continue with our lessons on magic tomorrow." As soon as Rainbow laid down on the cold stone, a knock on the door sounded, and a guard came in, wearing purple armour, decorated with small pink stars. He had several buttons that glowed on armour, and a small thing around his ear. "Princess Twilight Sparkle has summoned you two for your hearing," he said, in a monotone voice. "Princess Twilight?" Luna asked hopefully, hoping that the younger Alicorn could potentially help them. "Yes," the guard said, "Princess Twilight Sparkle, princess of magic and leader of Equestria. Now, hurry up, we don't have all day." Luna and Rainbow Dash looked at each other, and followed the guard. The guard snapped a glowing band onto their horns, and pressed a button. In a blink of an eye, they were kneeling in front of Princess Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash looked at them, noticing that Twilight's horn was longer, Twilight was much taller, and her mane was etherealized, shimmering, and curling in the air. Pinkie Pie's mane was as poofy as usual, but her tail was flattened. And she was in a wheelchair, her back and hind legs supported by a harness and wheels. "Princess Twilight Sparkle," Rainbow began, "What happened?" "Rainbow Dash!" Twilight cried, jumping down from her throne. "Please exit and lock the doors," she muttered to the guard, who promptly disappeared, locking the door on his way out. Pinkie Pie made her way down the ramp on the side, pulling herself forward with her front legs. "It's a long story." "We want to hear it," Luna replied, looking at Twilight. "If you say so," Twilight answered, "But first tell us how you two ended up in one of my prisons." "We don't know," Luna replied, "I challenged Rainbow here to a race, and we landed in the prison." "You guys disappeared for 1894 years, 4 months, 18 days, 3 hours, and exactly 2 minutes," Twilight said. "You've been keeping track?" Rainbow Dash asked skeptically. "And we only were racing for a couple minutes! We can't have been gone that long!" "You have!" Pinkie bounced up, but her hind legs were useless, and the wheels stayed firmly on the ground. After the second bounce, Pinkie managed to flip the wheelchair over, and land on her back. "Pinkie!" Twilight cried, "For the last time, don't do that!" "Sorry!" Pinkie replied, lifted upright by Luna's magic. "Thanks Princess Luna!" Luna nodded, "You guys feel like telling us what happened while we were gone?" "So, Celestia, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy went to look for you." Twilight said. Pinkie Pie shuddered, "We tracked you to a mountain with purple flowers, but then, the mountain rumbled, and exploded. Everyone but me got killed. I managed to get back to Twilight's castle. Since both you and Celestia were gone, Twilight became the ruler of From then, it's a long story, but, a lot happens in 1900 years." "Then how did you get paralyzed?" Rainbow asked, concerned about her friend. "Twilight's original castle collapsed on top of me," Pinkie replied. "Oh," "I'm fine now!" Pinkie smiled, "Aside from the inconvenience that I have guards that have to do everything for me and that I have to use ramps to get everywhere." "Anyways," Twilight interuppted, "I'm going to need to get you two a room. I've got some spare ones in my hallway. Come on, I'll get you settled in. Pinkie, you can come too." Rainbow Dash flew behind Twilight, Luna walking on the ground. "Wow! 1900 years has made everything so weird!" Rainbow poked a small glowing button, and the hallway they were in suddenly lit up. "What are those round thingies that just lit up?" she asked. "Light bulbs," Twilight replied, "Right, we didn't have those before you disappeared. Pinkie can help you get caught up with the technology. Computers, online libraries, oh yeah, and Search it!. You have a ton to learn, but my computer program should help." "Anyways," Pinkie smiled, prodding a small button on the side of her wheelchair, making it contract around her legs, forming a small metal support system. "Twilight made this for me. It makes getting up stairs slightly easier." She strained a bit, and lifted her leg up, the metal bending to help her move, and get up the stairs. "Ramps can't be found everywhere!" "Cool!" Rainbow shouted, flying up the stairs. There were computer things everywhere, on the wall, and some on the ceiling. She poked a screen, and dozens of pictures came up. Pictures of food, drinks, and just about everything she could imagine. "Those can be used to order food or drinks from our chefs. Or you can use them to check the weather," Twilight explained. "Since you are here, and you're an alicorn, you might as well take over with controlling the weather. And Luna, you can take over with the moon." Pinkie made her way up the stairs slowly, arriving behind the others. Once at the top, she pushed the button again, and the wheelchair reappeared again. "I still prefer my wheelchair!" she exclaimed, speeding down the hallway. "Are these their rooms?" Pinkie asked Twilight. "Yes," Twilight replied, opening the door with her horn, "These are your rooms. Rainbow, yours is the one on the right, and Luna, yours is the one on the left. I must go and deal with the floods near Appleflower's farm." Rainbow flew into the room, and flopped down on the bed. It had been a long day, or 1900 years.