4

Sugarcube Corner wasn't exactly in ruins. It looked as if it had been torn down and in the process of reconstruction. The walls were up, giving no view of inside, but it hadn't been decorated yet, and part of the roof seemed to be missing. Twilight had a feeling it never would be finished. Which was kind of depressing.

Twilight approached the door, which had been mostly stripped of its magenta paint, and knocked a few times, exchanging a quick worried glance with Spike. Almost immediately she heard someone stumbling behind the door.

"Ah!" It sounded like the voice of a young filly, slightly younger than Apple Bloom. "I-is it...him?"

"No, if it was him he probably wouldn't knock." This was the voice of a colt of about the same age. "He'd just break the door or something. Like he did with Pinkie's window."

Twilight glanced at the unfinished reconstruction of the building. Pinkie had a window?

"I-I'll open the door." Twilight heard soft hoofsteps approaching the door, which then slowly opened. She saw a bright blue eye looking at her.

The filly opened the door all the way. She was a pale yellow, with a short orange mane parted a little to make way for her horn. Her blue eyes filled with curiosity. "Oh. Um. Hi?"

Twilight smiled a little nervously. "Hi."

"Who are you?" the filly asked. "You don't happen to be...say, a psychopath murderer, do you?"

"No." Twilight tried to refrain from staring at the filly, who looked so familiar somehow. "I heard of a murder here. And I was a little worried."

"Why?" A colt approached the door alongside the filly. He was an extremely pale brown with a short, much darker brown mane and eyes. He looked as familiar as the filly. "I don't know who you are. And I don't think Pumpkin does either."

Twilight blinked. Oh yeah. There were babies living here. She glanced at the colt. "Does your name happen to be Pound?"

The colt gasped. "P-Pumpkin, is she psychic?"

Twilight laughed a little. "No, I just...remember you from ten years ago." It felt odd to say "ten years ago," since ten years hadn't actually passed in Twilight's life. It was just this morning that Pound and Pumpkin were babies.

Pumpkin tilted her head. "Oh. Wow. Okay. So, um, why are you here again?"

Twilight hesitated, then asked, "I came to check on Pinkie Pie."

"You know about her?" Pumpkin asked, raising her eyebrows.

Twilight glanced again at Spike. Is she actually dead?

"Well, um...this is going to sound a bit too straightforward, but...was she the murder victim?"

The twins shook their heads. They suddenly looked sorrowful.

"Then who wa--" Twilight was suddenly struck with realization. "Oh."

"Please don't give us the 'I'm so sorry about your parents' treatment," Pound told her. "It doesn't really help much."

Twilight nodded, trying to reassure herself. It'll be fine. This is only what the future would be like if I disappeared without coming back. So, in reality, they're still alive. I just have to find a way to reverse everything.

She glanced around at the rest of the village. What exactly did happen here, anyway? Surely this isn't because of me?

Spike nudged her to get her attention. "Um, Twilight? She asked you a question."

Twilight glanced back at the twins, who looked like they'd been waiting. "Oh. Sorry. What did you ask?"

"If you felt like coming in," Pumpkin replied. "If you want to actually talk to Pinkie Pie, she's not here right now, so you'll have to wait."

Twilight glanced at Spike, who nodded. "We probably should talk with them anyway."

As they entered the darkened bakery, Twilight asked, "Isn't she worried about the whole murder thing, though?"

The twins shrugged.

"Where is she, anyway?"

"I think she wanted to buy some flour or something," Pound answered. "If she's going to keep giving food to the homeless, she has to be able to keep making it."

"She gives food to the homeless?" Spike asked.

Pumpkin smiled a little. "Yes. It's hard for them to get money so she gives it to them for free."

Twilight glanced around the bakery. It seemed mostly the same. Some of the decorations were missing, as well as the majority of the windows and one of the stairs.

"We should thank that missing stair," Pound said, noticing Twilight observing. "We probably would've all died if we didn't hear the killer stumbling."

"Didn't you say earlier that he broke Pinkie's window?" Twilight asked. "Didn't you wake up to that?"

"I did," Pound answered. "But when I heard him talking to Pinkie, it seemed friendly, so I didn't think much of it. I don't know exactly what they were talking about, though. I think he wanted to give her something." He hesitated. "Yeah, that makes sense. That's probably how he drugged her."

Twilight blinked. "He drugged Pinkie? Why?"

"I don't know how he knew to prepare something to drug somepony with. But Pinkie thinks she was drugged so she wouldn't follow him outside the room."

Twilight nodded. "That makes sense. He probably didn't mean to wake her up, so he drugged her to keep her from finding his real intentions. You'd think he'd just kill her, though."

"Then she'd probably scream and wake everyone else up," Spike pointed out.

"Wow, he really thinks ahead then." Twilight turned back to the twins. "When did she wake up?"

"When we followed the killer downstairs, he took out a knife and tried to stab us. But at the last second..." Pumpkin started crying silently. "...o-our parents ran over and tried to fight him. And we ran to get Pinkie."

"So was she awake then?"

"No. We tried to wake her up, but it didn't work." Pound paused. "I think she was able to say something, though. Somehow. Something like, 'He tricked me.'"

"So what did you do?" Twilight was really curious about the details of the murder now.

"We stayed with her." Pumpkin looked away. "We didn't find out about...that until the killer ran off."

"You mean you went back downstairs after Pinkie woke up?" Twilight asked.

"Yes." Pound sighed. "Which took a few hours."

Twilight paused, thinking of anything else she wanted to ask. Just then, she heard a squeal from the door. She turned and noticed Pinkie, who had somehow opened the door without any of them noticing. She threw her saddlebags aside and ran over to Twilight, embracing her. Twilight held her and glanced at the twins, who took a step back, looking curious.

"T-Twilight!" As Pinkie looked up, Twilight noticed she was crying a little. "Where were you?"

Twilight glanced at Spike, not knowing exactly how to answer. "Um..."

"Everyone thought you were dead! I thought you were dead!"

Twilight stroked her. "J-just calm down."

"You can't just act like you were gone for thirty minutes!"

"Well, um..." Twilight hesitated. "I think I may have gotten the time traveling spell wrong."

Pinkie blinked. "What time traveling spell? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Don't you remember? That's how I was gone for a decade. I was stuck in the time continuum." She hesitated. "I think that's what happened."

"Oh, that." Pinkie glanced at the twins, who were watching awkwardly. She wiped her eyes and pushed herself away from Twilight. "So, does that mean you can't undo it?"

"I don't know. Rarity said I never returned." Twilight glanced upward in thought. "I guess I have to find the solution here."

"Rarity?" Pinkie looked away.

"What's wrong?"

"She doesn't like Rarity," Pumpkin informed Twilight.

"What?" Twilight looked at Pinkie. "Why not?"

Pinkie glanced up at Twilight. "Sh-she hurt Fluttershy. After you left, she hurt her so badly she almost died."