Prologue: Past and Future
A gentle warm light cast its glow upon the skies of Equestria as morning had arrived. The light began to shine through the windows of a certain cottage just outside of Ponyville. Slowly beginning to stir in bed, Toby's eyes slowly opened as he sat up. Yawning, he got his glasses off the bedside table and put them on.
"Geez, morning already." he said as he got out of bed. "I guess all that piano practise really did tire me out last night. Ah well, still means I have to do stuff this morning." Toby said while stretching, with his hand nearly touched the ceiling while he did. Then again, it wasn't that much of a surprise for Toby when it did happen, he was pretty tall now. Opening his drawer, he found his usual red plaid shirt and blue jeans. However, taking it out of the drawer, revealed his long cherished old red hoodie and blue pants.
"Heh," Toby chuckled with a smile, pulling out the old hoodie and taking a look at it. "Man, it really has been that long, hasn't it?" he chuckled again, putting the hoodie back neatly. After getting on his clothes, Toby went downstairs to the sight of his mother, Fluttershy, still sleeping. "Ironic, she used to wake up before me," quietly walking over to her, Toby knelt down and kissed her forehead. Fluttershy's eyes slowly blinked open until she could make out her son right next to her. She warmly smiled.
"Good morning sweetie," she said wrapping her forelegs around him, and bringing him into a hug. Hugging back and resting his head on her shoulder, Toby smiled warmly as well.
"Good morning Mom, or should I say sleeping beauty?" Fluttershy giggled as they gently broke the hug. "So, what do you want for breakfast?"
"Aw, thank you sweetie, but you don't have to-"
"I insist," Toby said with a smile. "Besides, I have to go pick up the cupcake order at SugarCube Corner this morning, and help Aunt Rarity with cleaning up the boutique after that. It would be a good way to wake myself up before I head out." he chuckled. Even when he's sixteen, Fluttershy just couldn't say no to that face.
"Oh alright, just some waffles and fruit with orange juice is fine for me, um, if you don't mind that is Toby."
"Do I ever mind?" he said with a smile. Fluttershy giggled again at her son and nuzzled his cheek before he went off into the kitchen.
"Even when he's all grown up, he's still my wonderful baby boy," Fluttershy sighed as she got off the couch and went into the kitchen herself. After Toby had finished making breakfast for his mother, he took the animal feed from the cupboard. Fluttershy looked at him curiously as she finished a bite of her waffles. "Toby honey, what are you doing?"
"Well, can't let critters go without breakfast either. You know how Angel gets," he lightly chuckled.
"Toby, you really don-"
"Mom, you work too hard." Toby stated bluntly. "Sure, I had piano practice for the upcoming recital on Thursday last night, but you worked all night." It was true. Fluttershy had to work nearly all night last night to take care of the all the new nocturnal critters. Fluttershy sighed in defeat seeing as her son was actually right.
"Well, yes, but..."
"Don't worry Mom, I've done it a thousand times, just take the day off. I should be back in time to give everyone lunch." Toby said with a smile as he exited the kitchen. Fluttershy just sighed again and smiled, followed by continuing to eat her waffles and banana. By the time she had finished, Toby had already fed all the animals, as well as giving Angel some of his 'special salad'. Toby's eyes widened when he looked at the clock.
"Oh geez, gonna be late. Have to get there early before the line starts to build," It was Saturday. The line always proceeded to get immensely long at SugarCube Corner on a regular basis, but Saturday was an absolute nightmare, even in the morning. Quickly grabbing his bag and his scooter, Toby kissed his mother on the forehead before heading towards the door.
"Bye Honey! Be careful!" Fluttershy said with a bright smile at her son and waving her hoof.
"Bye Mom! I'll be back soon!" with that, the door was closed. Fluttershy's smile faded as she stopped waving her hoof and sighed. She walked over to a picture hanging on the wall. She regained her smile as she looked at the picture.
Toby and herself on his thirteenth birthday.
"Still my baby boy," she giggled.
SugarCube Corner...
"Lemon cake?" Mrs.Cake said going down the morning checklist.
"Check!" Pinkie Pie cheered in her usual joyous tone.
"Chocolate cake?"
"Check!"
"Strawberry cake?"
"Check!"
"Carrot Cake. Honey!"
"Ugh..." groaned Mr.Cake as he descended down the stairs with two high energy foals jumping up and down on his back. "Check."
"Can we play something daddy?" Pound Cake asked with enthusiasm that could match Pinkie Pie's.
"Yeah, can we? Can we? Can we?" Pumpkin Cake gleeded. Luckily for all three of them, Toby walked through the door.
"Good morning!" Toby happily said with a smile.
"Uncle Toby!" Pound and Pumpkin happily jumped off their father's back.
"Thank Celestia," Carrot Cake mumbled. "I need coffee, bad." he mumbled to himself as trotted into the kitchen to do just that. Pound Cake flew up to Toby's right arm and hugged it, while Pumpkin Cake happily hugged his left leg.
"Well good morning you two. How are my niece a nephew doing this morning?" Pound hovered back down to the floor and Pumpkin let go of Toby's leg as he knelt down.
"We're doing really, really good Uncle Toby! I can fly really high now!"
"Yeah, and I can levitate some more bigger stuff!"
Toby smiled warmly. "I'm so proud of you two," he said bringing them in for a hug, which the pair gladly returned. He glanced over to Pinkie Pie who gave him a knowing smile followed by a nod. Toby looked down at the pair in his arms.
"How about you two play with your Auntie Pinkie while I take care of something, okay?"
"Okay Uncle Toby!" They cheered happily as they bounced happily to Pinkie Pie. Standing up straight, Toby walked over to the counter to be greeted with the warm smile of Mrs.Cake.
"Good morning dear," she said happily. "I'm assuming you're here for your order?"
Toby chuckled. "You bet." She brought lifted a small box from under the counter as Toby laid a small bag of bits on the counter.
"I noticed they were all chocolate. A special surprise for certain special pony I'm assuming?" Mrs.Cake asked.
"Hehe, yeah Wednesday night we're going out. I'm also spending the night at her house. Bye Mrs.Cake!"
"Bye dear! I hope you two have fun, but not too much fun!" she snickered. Toby's cheeks turned a rosy pink for a moment, but then happily laughed, bound for his next destination.
Meanwhile at the mansion home of Diamond Tiara...
Diamond Tiara was putting the finishing touches on her hair as her best friend, Silver Spoon watched.
"So care to tell me what the big special occasion is for you to be getting all freshened up like this, Diamond?"
"I already told you Silver," Diamond Tiara stated putting down her hair brush. "I always have to look my best."
"Or you just want to impress Red Tails," Silver Spoon snickered. Diamond Tiara turned her head so that Silver Spoon couldn't see the now red blush painted on her face.
"That stallion is as thick as a brick," Diamond Tiara mumbled to herself.
"Oh come on Diamond," Silver Spoon began. "You two have been on picnics together, gone out to dinner together, you two even danced at the grand galloping gala, yet you still haven't just asked him to be your boyfriend yet?"
"It's not like I haven't!" she defended herself. "I've just been dropping hints as to be subtle, and no matter how hard I try, he just doesn't seem to see any of them!"
"If there's an actual problem with just straight up asking him out, i'd really like to hear it. You two have practically have been on a bunch of dates already! You've even ki-"
"I told you that's supposed to be a secret!" Diamond stated with her blush growing deeper.
"There's nopony in this room other than us." Silver Spoon stated bluntly.
"Oh c'mon, give me a break already. Don't you have a date with Toby on Wednesday?"
"Of course! We're going out and he's staying over night at my place."
"Doesn't he have that recital the day after? Won't he be tired from the night before?"
"Well yeah, you should know that. After all we're both go- wait, what do you mean tired from the night before? Why are you looking at me like that?" Diamond was giving Silver a smirk, after a few seconds, turning her cheeks a rosy pink. "D-diamond!"
"I didn't say anything," she snickered. Silver Spoon huffed.
"Okay, why don't you ask Red Tails to come to the recital with you?" she snickered. It was Diamond's turn to blush once again.
"B-but he's already going..."
"You know what I mean."
At the Golden Oaks Library, Red Tails's ears perked up. "That's odd," he said. "I could have sworn, ah, nevermind." he proceeded with continuing his book.
The Carousel Boutique...
"I'll be upstairs if you need me Rarity!" called the voice of Sweetie Belle as she ascended up the stairs.
"Okay Sweetie Belle!" Rarity said levitating a box of pins to a shelf. As of late, Rarity's organized chaos had gotten a little too, well, chaotic. Luckily, the bell of her shop door had rung.
"Aunt Rarity, I'm here!" Toby said closing the door behind him and laying his bed gently on floor.
"Oh hello Toby darling!" Rarity said levitating another box. "I am over here!" Toby walked over to Rarity's designing room.
"Jeez, Aunt Rarity," Toby said.
"Oh I know dear nephew, it is quite a horror-"
"This is all?" he said.
"Bu- what?" Rarity was surprised at he nephew's response.
"I shouldn't take too long, you can go rest Aunt Rarity."
"B-but isn't this a bit much darling? The last thing I want to happen is for you to get hurt-"
"Trust me, Aunt Rarity, helping Aunt AppleJack and Papa BigMac on the farm can be hard work. Helping Aunt Twilight and Uncle Spike with reshelving day can be a challenge. But this is just a matter of reorganizing things and making things neat, something I'm often used to doing when helping Mom with the animals." Toby chuckled.
"Are you sure you'll be okay with this dear? I could go get Sweetie to help-"
"Don't worry Aunt Rarity, it's not a problem at all, I should be done in no time," he hugged gently around her neck. "Now how about you go and rest for awhile?" Toby said gently breaking the hug. Rarity sighed.
"I suppose, you are right Toby. This is nothing for a big, muscular stallion such as yourself," she giggled, causing Toby to slightly blush. Sure, Toby was a definition fit, but it's not like he had ever bragged about his physical capabilities, or bragged ever for that matter. After Rarity departed to the living room, Toby began cleaning up and organizing the room.
However, about half way through, Toby heard strange noises coming from upstairs. Carefully setting down the box he was carrying, he went to go check and see if everything was alright.
Eight years prior...
"Ya'll sure about this Sweetie Belle?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Of course I sure! I've been practicing the spell for a whole month!" Sweetie Belle said. "Now if I can only find that book with the actual spell in it..." Sweetie Belle was at the top of a latter looking for said spell book.
"I could just use my tails to find it," Red Tails offered.
"Don't worry I got it!" she defended. Toby warmly smiled.
"I know you'll do great Sweetie Belle!" he cheered. Sweetie smiled warmly back.
"Aw, thanks little brother!"
"Did you find the book yet?" Scootaloo deadpanned.
"Yep!" In truth Sweetie Belle had found the book she was looking for, but accidently grabbed the book that was next to it instead.
"What spell are ya practicin' again that needs apples?" Apple Bloom asked as Sweetie came down from the latter.
"Well duh! Switching the places of two different things!"
"So that's why ya asked me to bring two different apples," Apple Bloom said putting a red apple and a green apple on opposite ends of a small wooden table.
"If they are both apples, doesn't that technically qualify as the same thing?" Red Tails whispered over Toby.
"Well, it's two different apples, so I guess it counts," Toby answered back.
"Alright let's do this!" Sweetie Belle said opening up the spell book to what she believed was the desired page. She lit up her horn in an emerald aura.
"Five, four..." They counted down together for Sweetie Belle who was concentrating on focusing her magic. "Three, two, one..."
There was brilliant flash of light.
Eight years proceeding...
"Ugh! I'm never gonna pass that test if I don't get this one simple spell right! I've done it, like, a bunch of times!" Sweetie Belle took a deep breath and calmed herself down. "Okay, one more time. Five, four..." Meanwhile, Toby was coming up the stairs to see if something was the matter. As he got closer, he heard the voice of his older sister counting down numbers.
"Sweetie Belle?" Toby asked getting closer to her room.
"Three, two..." Toby slightly opened the door to see ask if everything was alright.
"Hi Sweetie! Is everything ok-"
"One." There was a brilliant flash of light.
Author's Note
Hehe, yeah, for those of you who know me, you should already know I'm famous (or rather infamous) for cliffhangers 
Let me know your thoughts in the comments and thank for supporting the story!
Eight years proceeding...
"Geez, finally! For two ponykins, that was way harder than it should've been," Sweetie Belle exclaimed, "Seriously,It's about time this stupid spe-" upon turning around, Sweetie saw Toby standing in the doorway, and looking really out of it at that. "Oh, Toby, I didn't hear you come in, um, sorry about the mess, practicing magic and all..." an awkward silence filled the room. "Um, Toby?"
"W-what?" Toby said snapping himself out of his dazed state and pulling himself up.
"Are you okay? I didn't hear you come upstairs, you look like you're wiped."
"Um, uh, yeah..." he said still groggy, "Sweetie, just, I came upstairs to see what all the shouting was about."
"Oh, that," Sweetie Belle chuckled nervously, "N-nothing just practicing some magic, I've been trying to learn some more for a while now. I just did a simple swapping spell with two ponykins. Look," she pointed her hoof to the two identical ponykins standing behind her.
"Sweetie Belle... they look the same."
"Well of course, they're just ponykins."
"Then how can you tell whether or not you actually did the spell?" said Toby finally starting finally get out of his daze.
Awkward silence ensued.
"Ugh..." Toby held his temples, not in frustration, but to a headache the suddenly washed over him.
"Are you sure you okay Toby?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, just need to splash some cold water on my face. Really, uh, sweaty from finishing up downstairs," Toby didn't like lying, but he didn't want to worry Sweetie Belle and make her think that his current headache was involuntarily caused by her spell. "I'll be right back."
Eight years prior...
"Yes, it worked!" Sweetie Belle was jumping for joy.
"I must say, impressive work," Red Tails claimed, "What do you think Toby?" no response. "Toby? Are you okay?"
"Hm?" Toby snapped himself back into reality.
"Toby were y'all daydreamin'?" Apple Bloom asked, perplexed as to why Toby would just suddenly daydream like that. Scootaloo would have asked him the same question, but she decided to go guard the apples instead. They knew what happened the last time she tried to use magic. Sweetie Belle secretly vowed revenge on that fluffy pony, but that's a tall for another time.
"Um, uh, did Sweetie Belle do it?" Toby said in a state equivalent to being half asleep.
"Yeah, she di-"
"I did it! I did it! I did it!" she continued to bounce around as if she was clone of Pinkie Pie. The rest of the evening was more or less uneventful for them. Well, excluding Sweetie Belle, as she continued to talk about her accomplishment for the rest of the evening like a broken record locked in hyper drive. Soon after calming Sweetie Belle down, the others stayed at the library for a while. Chatting and eating some extra apples Apple Bloom brought in case something happened to the ones Sweetie used, such as spontaneous combustion because of a mix up in the spell.
"Something wrong?" Red Tails asked.
"Hm?" Toby now noticed that he was rubbing his temples, yet, how come he didn't notice that? Suddenly, Toby felt a small headache coming on. "I-i'll be right back." Toby walked to the bathroom to the confusion of the others. Removing his glasses and going up on the stool, Toby turned on the faucet. He put some cold water on his face and then quickly dried it off with the nearby towel. However, upon putting the towel back where he had originally found it, he noticed something on the bathroom mirror in his peripheral vision, but he couldn't make it out without his glasses on. Turning to face the mirror and putting his glasses back on, he could clearly see the reflection the mirror made.
But instead of him standing there, it was a reflection of a man.
Shocked by this, Toby slowly put his hand up to mirror...
Eight years proceeding...
Toby rubbed his eyes, he could swear he starting to see thing now. Moments ago he walked into the bathroom just to see if some cold water on his face would help his headache a little until he made a cup of coffee later, but he could've just sworn he saw himself in the mirror. Well, by himself, he meant he saw in brief glance what he believed to be a picture perfect reflection of himself when he was a kid. Quickly rubbing his eyes, he only saw his normal reflection afterwards.
"But.. nah, it was probably nothing," Toby said trying to shake off the situation. Rubbing his eyes once again, he could see a crystal clear reflection of his younger self. He remembered being in another situation somewhat similar situation when he was younger, but this was just plain weird. "As long as an ocarina doesn't start playing..." putting his hand up to the mirror, the reflection matched.
Everything went dark for a moment.
"W-what?" Toby opened his eyes, seeing as there was a long hallway in front of him. "Yep, dreaming again, that explains it," he told himself, "No where to go but forward, hopefully Aunt Luna shows up soon..." he proceeded down the hallway.
Eight years prior...
"Um... h-hello?" Toby said weakly as he continued down the hallway. Was this some sort of dream? Or rather a nightmare? He thought he was at the library, how could he have ended up here? "I... I don't want to be here!"
"You and me both chap!" the sudden voice surprised Toby.
"W-who's there? Did you bring me here?"
"Not me mate, but ya gotta keep going forward,"
"What? W-why?"
"As much as I want to explain the current situation to you right now, if you don't go right now, you might be stuck there," Toby's face went pale at that thought.
"O-Okay..." Toby pressed on. The hallway itself was lit with blueish glow, giving an ominous feeling as if something could happen at any moment.
"Don't worry, everything is going to be fine, just um leave the rest to u-"
"Hi!" Toby jumped at the sudden greeting from nowhere by a much different sounding voice.
"Derpy, please, you're scaring the poor boy."
"Oh, sorry doctor," Doctor? Was he at the hospital? Did he pass out? As much as Toby wanted to try and make sense of his current situation, he knew he had to keep going. If what the 'doctor' said was true, then if he didn't, he'd be stuck there.
"How much further is it?" Toby closed his eyes as he continued to move forward.
That's when he heard a... meow? Opening his eyes, he saw his Auntie Rarity's cat, laying on chest as if he was a living pillow. Opal stretched her legs, and hopped off of Toby as soon as she noticed he was awake.
"Opal?" It took a couple of seconds for Toby to realize where he was, the Carousel Boutique.
"Oh, you're awake dear," Rarity said trotting up to Toby,"You were so tired that you fell asleep on the couch. Thank you so much darling for helping me with the boutique today."
"Um, you're welcome Aunti-" Toby cut himself off mid sentence. The voice he heard was one he didn't recognize.
"Here darling, have a glass of water, you must be exhausted," Rarity levitated over a tall glass of water over to Toby. He reached out and took it in his hand, noticing that his hand itself was much, much larger than before. Seeing a mirror behind Rarity, he put the glass carefully on the floor and walked over to it.
"Oh my..."
Author's Note
I meant to have this chapter be longer, but I guess the next chapter will make up for that So, let me know your thoughts in the comments, and have an awesome day 
