Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there lived two regal alicorn sisters who ruled together in harmony. The elder, Celestia, used her magic to bring out the sun at dawn, and the younger, Luna, brought out the moon at dusk. Over time, the elder sister grew unhappy. Whenever her sun was at its most powerful and beautiful, their pony subjects hid inside during the day, and came out and watched the stars and creatures that came out during her sister’s night.
One day, Celestia would not lower the sun to make way for the evening. The Luna tried to reason with her, but her sister had been transformed into an evil mare of flames: Solar Flare. She made the sun burn hotter than ever before, making ponies miserable from the heat. With no other choice, the younger alicorn used the most powerful force in Equestria, the Elements of Harmony, to banish the evil mare to the sun.
The younger sister took over responsibility for both sun and moon, and peace has reigned in Equestria ever since. But legend says that on the longest night of the thousandth year, the clouds would aid in her escape, and Solar Flare would try to bring sun eternal.
As the thousandth year approached, Luna took a young unicorn, Twilight Sparkle, under her wing, teaching her magic, knowing that she would be special. The only thing that she lacked was friendship, without which she would never accomplish the task she had in mind for her: defeat Solar Flare, and revive Celestia. That is why she sent her to Ponyville.
Twilight, more of a bookworm than a social butterfly, was at first opposed to that idea. But as she met five mares her age in Ponyville, she began to find joy, and realize the magic of friendship. It grew stronger, and as Solar Flare came to the annual March Moon Celebration, a ceremony celebrating the moon, the night, and the defeat of Solar Flare, beginning to make her fire burn, Twilight led her new friends on a quest to defeat her. This quest led her to the Everfree Forest to find the mythical Elements of Harmony…
Rainbow Dash flew across the gap, about to hook the bridge back on the other side, so her friends could cross to the castle of the two sisters to retrieve the Elements of Harmony. At that moment, a voice called out to her.
“Rainbow,” It said, causing her to do a double take. “Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow determined the source of the voice, and watched as an elder pony, (from what Rainbow could see, an alicorn at that) stepped from the shadows. “W-what?” The mare had the same coloring as Twilight, just slightly greyed, and slightly taller, and her mane and tail were flowing like Princess Luna’s!
“Rainbow Dash, my loyal friend. It’s so good to see you again. It’s been too long.” The mare stopped in her tracks.
“Who are you?” Rainbow demanded.
“It’s me, Twilight Sparkle. I guess I can understand your not recognizing me.” She laughed. “I am a bit older now.”
“How is this possible? And, why are you an alicorn? I thought you were a unicorn?” Her face couldn’t hide her disbelief.
“It’s not supposed to be like this. Where I come from, Solar Flare doesn’t exist. She never rebelled against the night: in fact, quite the opposite.”
“WHAT?!?” the blue pegasus’s jaw dropped.
“It’s a long story. It isn’t relevant now. What is relevant is what happened after. Where I come from, we defeated Nightmare Moon, Luna in her evil form. I grew to consider you and the others my closest friends. I even often caught myself calling you my sisters, as time went by.” She looked over the chasm and smiled at the younger versions of her friends. “I became so knowledgeable, that Luna and Celestia, Solar Flare’s true identity, considered me ready to become a princess. But with wings and royalty…came immortality. Years went by. You, and the others, gradually passed on. I felt so alone, after you, the last one of you five to die, left me. I became resentful of Celestia, since because of her I was forced to outlive my closest friends.
“I tried to reverse things in my past.” She hung her head. “ I tried to use spells I had learned to turn back time, to go back and keep myself from becoming a princess, so I could live and die just like you five. Only, I made a horrible mistake. I accidently changed everypony’s history, not only my own. Celestia, as punishment for defying her, sent me here to watch my past self pay for the mistakes she hasn’t even made yet. Your life will never be the same as the life of the Rainbow Dash I knew.”
“Oh…my…I don’t even know what to say.” She frowned.
“Don’t say anything.” Twilight insisted. “If you let anypony else know outside of my telling them, it will alter reality even further. This is the second time I’ve changed your destiny; I can’t do it a third time. Unless…”
“Unless what?” Rainbow asked, tilting her head.
“Unless I do it to make things the way they were.” The alicorn began to perk up. “I’ll use my time spell again, you could come with me, and together we could make things right, just like old times. What do you say?” She smiled eagerly and leaned towards Rainbow for her response.
“But what about-” she looked across the bridge to her friends.
“Things will be the way they’re supposed to be for them, too. Come with me.” Twilight coaxed.
Rainbow Dash stood silent for a while, contemplating. Finally, she came up with an answer. “Things may not ever be the same, but… there’s nothing I could, or really should do about it. If I focus on correcting the past….or, my future…or…agh, whatever! Anyway, if I focus on that, I’ll be abandoning my friends now. I’m sure things will turn out okay, in the end, right?”
“I have no way of knowing.” Twilight shrugged. “I just think that this timeline won’t be as happy as mine.” She smiled. “But, I admire your decision. And I’ll do what I can to guide you from now on.”
“Any advice for right now?” Rainbow asked.
“Just stay loyal. It will come in handy, trust me. And make sure nopony judges Celestia too harshly, okay?” She winked
“Okay…” She said, backing up, unsure.
“Go on now. Your friends will be wondering.” Twilight pointed towards the other side of the chasm.
“Oh! Right. Well, I guess I’ll see you….in the future?” She began to turn.
“Of course.” She nodded with a smile.
“Twilight, one last question. “ Rainbow looked back at the princess. “You said this was the second time you messed with our destinies. What was the first?”
“I’ve already said too much for right now. Perhaps you will learn, in your own way, one day.” The elder mare said philosophically.
“Okay…” The blue pegasus tied the rope bridge to the post, then flew over to her friends.
“See? I’d never leave my friends hangin’.” She said in greeting.
“What took you so long?” Twilight asked.
“Oh..n-nothing big.” She looked back, but the elder Twilight had disappeared. Until we meet again...Princess.