3

"This must be ten years in the future," Twilight said to Spike. That eased her a little bit. She turned back to the mare, whom she was now certain that she was none other than Rarity. "So, um..."

Rarity nodded. "So we were correct after all."

Twilight stared curiously.

Rarity continued. "When Rainbow Dash went over to visit you on that day, she noticed you and Spike had vanished. She told the rest of us to join her and observe it because there was a big singe on the floor beside the table with the parchment."

"So what did you do?" Twilight asked.

"Some of us panicked," Rarity replied, "but after we soothed each other we came to the conclusion that your little time traveling spell went wrong somehow."

"How did you know that I wasn't just gone temporarily?"

Rarity sighed. "I saw a flash from your library, but I knew what was going on then so I didn't check up on you. Therefore, I knew when you cast the spell, and when Rainbow Dash discovered the singe on the floor, it was hours later." She paused. "And it turns out the time you traveled to...was here...?"

"Apparently." Twilight looked down at her hooves. "It's fascinating how what seems like a split second could be as long as a decade."

Rarity had aged. She did not have the appearance of an elder, but her eyes were less vibrant, a more grayish shade of blue, and her voice was slightly deeper. She broke what was about to be a long silence with that voice. "You must be concerned. I haven't seen any of our friends in a while, except Fluttershy, but as far as I know, they are all alive."

Twilight blinked in surprise. "Y-you haven't seen them in a while? What do you mean?"

Rarity gestured to her cloak. "As you can probably tell, I've lost my home. I have to try and scrape up what money I can, so I don't have time for much else. I don't even know where they all are." She hesitated. "I have no clue where Pinkie Pie and Applejack are. I haven't seen them since last year."

"But how did this happen?" Twilight asked. "Surely Ponyville can cope without us around, right?"

"It was a big deal all around Equestria," Rarity told her. "A princess had vanished and it wasn't long before you were presumed dead. And some ponies decided to take advantage of that."

"How?"

A tear leaked out of one of Rarity's eyes. "Let us just say...if you don't count yourself, there are no princesses left in Equestria."

Twilight and Spike gasped. Since Twilight found herself unable to ask, Spike did: "You mean Celestia...and Luna and Cadence--"

"They were killed off, one by one, by invaders. They attacked as soon as they knew we were all too stricken with grief for you to properly defend ourselves. And then they proceeded to ruin us."

Twilight fought her tears. "And all of Equestria is..."

"Ruined. Possibly forever." Rarity sat down. "They're gone now because they accomplished their mission. I don't know why they did it."

Twilight wiped her eyes. "Thank you for talking to me. Do you mind telling me...you were implying you knew where to find Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, so..."

Rarity nodded. "They aren't faring much better than I am, I'm afraid. You won't be able to talk to Rainbow Dash right now; she's in the asylum."

"You mean she's lost her sanity?"

"It's hard to believe that someone like her could be traumatized so badly." Rarity let a tear slide down the edge of her cloak. "You might be ableto see her later, though. Though you won't have much luck getting information out of her."

"And Fluttershy?"

Rarity sighed, and pointed. Twilight turned to see she was pointing toward the house where Twilight had encountered the rude stallion. She glanced back at Rarity. "You're not saying--"

"She has a home, unlike me. And that's it."

Twilight glanced down at Spike, who seemed just as surprised as she was. She sighed and began to approach the house.

"You shouldn't use the door," Spike advised her. "After that encounter, you know?"

Twilight nodded. She decided to approach the one open window instead. There was light coming from the room, so as Twilight approached she was able to clearly see a young gray colt quietly crying on a small, weak-looking bed.

Twilight tapped against the windowsill. "E-excuse me?"

The colt glanced up, his face streaked with a trail of tears from his teal eyes. They were full of fear for a split second, then he seemed to calm down a little. He approached the window. "Y-you should leave. Daddy doesn't like the homeless."

"Don't worry about me," Twilight told him. "Do you happen to know a pony named Fluttershy?"

The colt nodded. "She--" He stopped, looking startled.

Twilight glanced behind her, but no one was there besides Spike, who was watching with curiosity. She glanced back at the colt. "What is it?"

"A-are you a princess?"

Twilight nodded. She was a bit used to this. Back in the present, some young ponies acted as if she was a goddess.

But the colt's reason for his surprise was different than what Twilight thought. "Mommy says princesses don't exist anymore."

Twilight hesitated, then Spike reminded her from behind, "Rarity told us about that, remember?"

"Oh, right." Twilight looked into the colt's eyes with as much seriousness as possible. "Look. I need to find a pony named Fluttershy. I was told she lives here. Do you live here too?"

He nodded. Just then, his bedroom door opened. Twilight saw the same stallion from earlier enter the room. His dark mane was unkempt, and his coat was dark gold. He looked angrily at the colt. "Dusk, didn't I tell you 'bout talking to the homeless?"

Fear filled Dusk's teal eyes, apparently fear that stopped him from replying.

The stallion trotted over to window and looked Twilight in the eye. "Look, filly, we got no business with you. You tryin' to get money out of my son here?" He then glared at Dusk. "And you...you come with me to the living room."

Dusk glanced at Twilight, whispering an apology before his father slammed the window shut. Twilight had to quickly pull her forehooves away. She then glanced back at Spike.

"Should we break in?" he asked.

Twilight nodded. "Fluttershy's in here somewhere, and I'm afraid I know why."

"Is she his mother?" Spike asked.

"Most likely. The colt was young enough to have been born in the past ten years. But why would Fluttershy want to have foals with someone like that?"

"We can ask her when we find her."

Twilight nodded. She shot a beam through the window, which shattered into the bedroom. The beam hit the wall opposite the window and singed it.

She blinked. "I hope Dusk understands." She climbed in through the window, and Spike did the same after she was inside the bedroom. She then walked through the open door and heard voices.

"S-Someone broke in!" This was definitely the voice of Fluttershy. It sounded slightly older, but it was still Fluttershy.

"You tryin' to get me to leave the room?" Dusk's father asked angrily. "I ain't going nowhere till you talk to me!"

"J-just keep our son away!"

"Stop hurting Mommy!" Dusk cried.

Twilight took a few quiet steps closer. She saw Dusk watching his parents, crying again. His father was pinning Fluttershy to the wall.

Fluttershy looked as if she had been beaten several times by her husband, given the bruises scattered on her body. She had a scar across her chest, and her body looked frail, as if she wasn't eating enough. Her discolored eyes had dark circles underneath them, and from them streamed tears. She was the only one who noticed Twilight standing there, but she quickly looked away.

I've been gone for ten years, Twilight reminded herself. She probably thinks I'm an illusion or something.

The stallion quickly took something from the nearby table. As soon as Twilight noticed the silver gleam of a knife, she panicked and shot another beam at him. She put more power and energy in it than her usual beams, enough to knock him out. His knife clattered on the floor as he fell with it.

Both Fluttershy and Dusk glanced over at Twilight, who approached them. She looked at Fluttershy. After a long silence, she said, "Um, hi."

"T-Twilight?" Fluttershy whispered, disbelieving.

Dusk gasped. "Y-you're the princess Mommy was friends with?"

"Yes." Twilight glanced at Spike, who was just now entering the room, then back at Fluttershy. "So...um...how are you...?"

Spike rolled his eyes. "Twilight, you kind of just saw her about to get stabbed by her husband."

"Oh. Right." Twilight hesitated. "Um...well..."

"You time traveled here?" Fluttershy asked softly.

"Yes." Twilight wiped a tear from one of Fluttershy's shocked eyes. "Why did you marry this stallion?"

"He used to be different." She glanced at the unconscious body lying nearby. "He...he helped me. He gives me a home and he gives me food."

"He clearly doesn't give you enough food," Twilight replied, glancing at Fluttershy's frail body.

She nodded, a little sadly. "That's why Pinkie secretly gives me food when Sandy isn't looking."

"Is Sandy your husband?"

"His name is actually Sandstorm. But I've always called him Sandy."

Dusk tugged on Twilight's wing. As she looked down at the colt, he asked, "I-is Daddy dead?"

Twilight looked down at him. "Your father's fine. He's just unconscious."

Dusk tilted his head. "Un-con-shuss...?"

"Sleeping," Twilight corrected herself. She glanced at Fluttershy. "Do you know where Pinkie is? I just want to know if you're all okay."

Fluttershy glanced down at her hooves; she was standing on all fours now. "Well, um...she still lives at the bakery. Or at least, I think she still lives."

Twilight blinked. "Eh?"

"Well, it's just that...I don't want to upset you, but I heard Sandy say there was a murder at Sugarcube Corner."

Twilight gasped. "Who was the victim?"

"He didn't say. But I haven't seen Pinkie since last week, before the incident." Fluttershy's eyes were brimming with tears again as she glanced up at Twilight. "C-could you please check on her, to make sure she's...you know...alive? Besides, I don't want you or Spike to be here  when Sandy wakes up."

Twilight nodded. "It's still in the same place, right? The bakery?"

"Yes. Now hurry." Fluttershy glanced at Dusk. "Go back to your room. I'll take care of Daddy."

The colt nodded, glanced at Twilight, and proceeded to obey his mother.

Twilight glanced at Spike. "We should get out of here while we can."

The dragon nodded and hurriedly followed Twilight out of the house.

As they looked for the bakery, Twilight silently hoped that Pinkie wasn't the murder victim.