Twilight rapidly cantered on the spot, the carpet beneath her hooves deadening the clopping that would otherwise have filled the throne room. Inventing a new spell was rare, especially one involving taking something from the past and placing it here to the present day! The equation on creating her new ‘From Past to Present' spell was long and arduous but she managed to do it with just a few complications. All that remained to complete her experiment was to test it. And what better way to test it than showing it to her friend and former mentor? She trotted over with a skip on her steps towards the solar princess.
“If what you say is true, Twilight, you really believe it’s possible to bring anything from the past here to us in the present?” Princess Celestia watched as her former student began etching a purple circle into the carpet with her magic.
“I believe so, yes,” Twilight replied. “I have written down my calculations on this paper. Theoretically, all it does is borrow something from the past and place it here on the circle in the present. It now just needs to be tested. Who knows, we could finally figure out how large the time gap was during the Reign of Chaos! It’s a huge mystery that needs to be solved!”
“I don’t know, Twilight. As much as the possibilities excite me, using this spell could be dangerous,” Celestia warned. "I am sorry about this, but I have to forbid you from searching for things from the Reign of Chaos. Trust me, you would rather not know anything about that timeless nightmare."
“Of course, I understand that summoning anything from the past could lead to possible disastrous situations. But I can assure you, Celestia, I will try to be as careful as ever. I can't promise if I will succeed, but I will try.” Twilight stood tall and rigid, her head held high as she smiled at Celestia.
The solar princess thought for a few seconds. Oh, why am I doubting her? I trust Twilight without hesitation. Of course she’ll be careful. Besides, if she does accidentally summon an ancient monster, I will be there to stop it. Her mind made up, she nodded at Twilight. “Okay, I trust you on this one, Twilight. Just please make sure that you do be careful.”
“Don’t worry, Celestia. I will,” Twilight replied with a smile. She walked towards the circle she had projected on the throne room floor and stopped right in front of it. Her horn began to glow, her eyes shut tightly as she imagined taking something from the Tribal Era and placing it on the circle on the floor. The air started to tingle and a light zephyr filled the room. Celestia squinted; the light from Twilight’s horn had begun to rival that of her own sun’s. After half a minute of intense magic in the air, the spell stopped and the light started to fade. In its place in the middle of the circle was an Earth pony mare.
The Earth pony had a white coat, complemented by a pale pink mane and tail. Half her barrel, her left foreleg and half her face were covered in blue markings. The markings on her barrel were swirl-shaped while on her left foreleg and her right half of her face were full as if painted using a brush. She looked dirty, as if she had not washed for at least a week.
But what shocked Celestia most was the mare’s cutie mark, which was the sun. Wait, now that I am seeing this, I think I have vague memories of what happened.
Twilight finally opened her eyes and panted. “Did... did it... work?” The earth pony shifted as she regained consciousness, slowly opening her eyes. Her pupils contracted and she started to hyperventilate. As she looked around the room frantically, her eyes fell upon the two alicorns. She began to speak in a language that Twilight could not understand.
“Winged unicorns! Who are you, what are you, where am I and why did you take me as prisoner?” snarled the mare.
Twilight just stared. “Er... Celestia, did you understand what she said? Wait, no. That’s impo―”
“Answering your second question, we are alicorns: a mixture of Earth pony, pegasus and unicorn. As to where you are, you are in my palace. We did not take you as prisoner and you should not think of yourself as such.” Celestia answered with the same surprisingly fluent alternate language. “As to who we are, the purple one next to you is my best friend Twilight Sparkle. As for me, I am you.”
The mare stared at the white alicorn with wide eyes and her jaw dropped. She remembered to breathe afterwards and looked at Celestia sceptically. “That cannot be true! You are speaking in my tongue, but you are not an Earth pony, you don’t look like a warrior and our manes and tails are different.”
Celestia closed her eyes and nodded. “That may be true. And my name today may also be different from when I was very young, though my true name will always be Sun Flower,” she said.
The mare blinked her eyes rapidly and began to hyperventilate again. “I-if you are me, then w-where am I?” Sun Flower said weakly.
“I told you, you are in―”
“No, what is today?” Sun asked.
Celestia just looked at her. “Around three thousand years since your birth.”
Somehow, Sun’s face turned whiter than her coat as she stared at the alicorn. Two seconds later, her eyes rolled up into her head as she collapsed on the floor.
Diverting her attention from the unconscious mare, Twilight turned to Celestia and asked the first thing that came to mind:
“How did you learn to speak Old Earth Pony? I thought it’s been extinct since the Reign of Chaos!”
Celestia looked at her. Twilight caught a glimpse of what could have been a nostalgic look in her eyes. “The reason I know how to speak Old Earth Pony, my dear Twilight, is because I was an Earth pony when I was young. Just like how you were a unicorn before you ascended,” she said. “Haven’t you noticed the cutie mark that pony had?”
“Yes I did. It was a sun. But I don’t see how that...” Twilight stopped and stared with a surprised look on her face. "But... I thought that was just a coincidence," she said weakly.
Celestia chuckled. “You doubt your own ascension? Don’t you feel that anypony could do as you have if they would only realise their true destiny?” She vacated the throne room, leaving Twilight to her past self to contemplate her words. As she opened the chamber doors, she heard a second thump and smiled to herself.
***
With a small stir Twilight awoke in one of the castle’s guest rooms half an hour later. The shock after Celestia’s reveal had simply been too much. Not that Twilight had anything against Earth ponies, but the idea of Celestia being originally an Earth pony, especially an ancient Earth pony warrior... She saw Celestia sitting beside her bed with an amused smile.
"Now you know more of my past, Twilight. Are you okay?"
Twilight nodded. She knew that Celestia was mysterious in many ways, but that reveal....
“So... you were an Earth pony.”
Celestia gave her own nod. “I was.”
“And this Earth pony we spoke with is a younger you?”
“Yes, Twilight. That dirty Earth pony warrior covered in blue war paint is me when I was barely a mare,” the solar princess answered. “Yes, my true name is Sun the Honourable of Clan Flower. Though at that time the Earth ponies knew me as Grian Flùr, same name but in Old Earth Pony.”
Twilight sat up quickly with this revelation. “So you are the Grian Flùr from the Legend of Tirek’s Defeat!”
Celestia chuckled at her friend’s excitement. “Indeed, Twilight, I am. Though you must know that the legend is a watered-down version of what really happened,” she said. “But that is a story for another time. What you really need to know is that by bringing Sunny – that is to say, me – here three thousand years into the future, you have given me hope in my lowest point that I will see another day. Though I admit I was still shocked when I found out that what happened here wasn’t a dream.”
Twilight thought for a moment. “...Yes, that makes sense. That is basically the biggest golden rule of time travelling: history cannot be changed. If it happened, it happened. So what I did technically made you feel reassured that you will live for the next three millennia.”
“Yes, Twilight. You did,” Celestia agreed. She saw Twilight suddenly beaming.
“Oh, oh! Can you teach me how to speak Old Earth Pony? Please? It would be incredible to converse with you and Luna in a language only you understand!”
Celestia laughed. “Of course I will, Twilight. When the both of us have time, we can have some private language lessons.”
“Thank you, Celestia!” Twilight chirped.
Celestia breathed a sigh, relaxing. A moment later, she turned for the guest room door. “I am going to check on Sun Flower now, Twilight. Oh, if anyone asks about her, just tell them that she is a native of the Everfree Forest with a thirst for adventure, who came to explore Canterlot,” she said.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Uhm... Celestia, I don’t think they will buy it. First of all, I don’t think there even is a herd of wild ponies living in the Everfree Forest. Secondly, even if they do exist, I don’t think any forest pony would want to leave their home,” she said.
Celestia chuckled. “Actually, Twilight, there are some scattered herds of wild Earth ponies living in the Everfree Forest. You are just lucky you never met one.” With a final nod to Twilight, Celestia departed, lightly closing the door behind her.
Twilight stared at the door after Celestia left. Even having known her personally for most of her life, she could never understand the solar princess.
***
An hour passed before Sun of Clan Flower opened her eyes to find herself on unfamiliar bedding. Only one thought crossed her groggy mind: how this bedding was many times more comfortable than the straw cot she was used to sleeping in. Then she thought about that strange dream she had which involved meeting herself as some kind of nigh-immortal and ageless being from three thousand years since her birth. But that’s impossible. Nothing is immortal and ageless, except the very Earth herself.
But as Sun looked around and saw that she’d still not returned home, it clicked. The room was bright with sunlight passing through the window. Many gold symbols depicting the sun decorated the room. Rectangular objects encasing scrolls sat on shelves, lining the walls. There was also a fireplace. As she glanced about the room, there was only one answer to where she was. Unicorns. Well, at least I’m not in Roaman Pegasi territory, she thought, ever the optimist.
Without warning, the door of the room opened. Sun tensed to meet whoever the unicorn behind the door was. What she met was not a unicorn, but her other self from the dream. Then, that was no dream, was it? she thought. The large winged unicorn entered the room and closed the door behind her with her golden magic. It spooked Sun when she imagined herself using such powers like a unicorn. Even if I do someday grow into this pony, I’m still a proud member of Clan Flower. I will continue to live like a true Earth pony, no matter what.
The giant pony talked in the Earth pony tongue. “Ah, you are awake! My friend was worried about you, but I told her that seeing as I am fine now, she doesn’t need to worry,” the giant said.
Sun Flower thought for a moment before responding. “Yes, but what I don’t understand is how I got here, or why? Not even the most powerful unicorns are able to accomplish such a feat,” she said.
The giant smiled proudly. “You’re right, they aren’t. But my friend Twilight Sparkle has always been above the natural capabilities of an ordinary unicorn even before she gained the power of all three races. She became far more powerful again after she ascended,” she told Sun.
The Earth pony chewed the information. The purple one was always this powerful, and she became more powerful when she gained – wait a minute. “Unicorn? You sound as though you’ve befriended the tribe which are our cold allies at best,” Sun asked with surprise.
The giant only laughed at that. “Not only unicorns, but also pegasi and crystal ponies,” she said in a bubbly tone.
Sun stared in surprise. “What?” Befriending the pegasi? she thought. “For this to happen, then either Roam fell, the tribes stopped following traditions and integrated with their traditional enemies, or, and I really hope that’s not the case, some cataclysmic event happened and all ponies of all tribes banded together to survive.”
Her future self gave another annoying giggle. Do I sound like that when I laugh? the Earth pony thought.
The giant stood up and walked towards the window. “Come over here, Sun. The view outside this window should be enough to show you how much we now tolerate each other after three thousand years,” she said.
Sun Flower leaped off the bed and approached the window. What she saw made her jaw drop. Outside was a view of a large city on a mountain, not unlike the unicorn royal city in Adharcachia. And in the streets of the grand city were ponies. Of all tribes. Being friendly with each other! Her future self leaned down at her and whispered to her ear.
“Remember this, Sun the Honourable of Clan Flower. Tolerance and unity will always help you in your greatest time of need. The Roamans, Adharcachis, Gryphons and Caribou are not your greatest threat. Something wicked and vile your way comes. You must call for peace and unity, for only together can your powers defeat and contain this threat,” she warned.
Sun Flower could only stare wide-eyed and open-mouthed. The air suddenly began to tingle. Winds started to blow. Sun eyed her hoof in front of her face as she began to glow. “Remember my words!” the alicorn repeated. The glow grew brighter and brighter, eclipsing the sun’s intensity. After half a minute, the glow faded to leave nothing in Sun Flower’s place.
For a long while, Princess Celestia stared at the spot where Sun Flower disappeared. She remembered the horrors she’d faced, fighting against a primordial evil with Luna – then named Moonlight the Loyal of Clan Valley – their herds and some unicorns and pegasi allies that their herds tolerated. Though she knew now that it would be unnecessary, she prayed to the Earth that they would be okay during their fight against Tirek the Abomination.
