A Prior Lifeby Silver LetterChaptersA Journey BackwardsPonyville of the PastThere is no Future without a PastA Journey BackwardsCrystal Wishes was having a pretty awful week at her fortune telling shop. It was one of those weeks that made her wish that she lived anywhere else other than Ponyville. Those drab citizens came in with the same drab queries. Will I pass my test? Will I have a good harvest? Should I get a new pet? They were barely worth a passing concern, much less a prediction from her crystal ball. The hours just dragged. She just couldn’t wait to go home and the day had just begun. The previous pony came with her daughter and wanted to see her future. As interesting as that sounded, it was just another bit of standard drama about school acceptance. As usual, one concentration and a vision later, and the mother was well pacified. The little darling would be off to school and that would probably be the extent of her caring. Even the jiggling of coins in the little bag given in payment sounded more real than the mare’s unremarkable voice….as unstimulating as it was. As Crystal lost all hope of anypony in town giving her something worthwhile to predict, two ponies peeked in. “Come in if you’re coming in,” Crystal told them in a languid manner. The two sat down and she recognized one as Cheerilee, her sister’s friend. That piqued her interest at once, which made her stop slouching in her worn out chair. “Hello, Ms. Wishes,” Cheerilee said. The other pony was a Pegasus foal with a dark yellow coat and a magenta mane. “You’re back, I see? I suppose that must be a sign that your problems must be stacking up, Mrs. Cheerilee,” Crystal quipped. The foal’s wings fluttered and she sneered. “Hey, what’s your problem?!” Crystal’s fur on the back of her neck stood on end and she shot a rude glare back at the foal. She then recalled seeing the little brat laugh at her when she was temporarily banned from the town. “Most of it would be ponies with no future….and foals,” she remarked as if talking about pests. They were pests to her. Their desires and motivations were often so erratic that they were hard to predict. And they always had to be gratified like babies. There’s no patience in a foal’s blood. “Good thing, you are not talking to just any foal,” Cheerilee interjected. She tapped the foal on the shoulder and smiled expectantly. “C’mon, don’t be shy.” The foal groaned. It was a worse sound than gravel being scraped. “My name is Scootaloo. Uh, nice to meet you and stuff.” Crystal raised an eyebrow. “And I am Crystal Wishes but you both likely know that.” “Yes. I know of you from my friend, Ribbon. She recommended you for your fine work in fortune telling,” Cheerilee said. “I am aware of your relationship. But I don’t know what relationship you two have.” Cheerilee beamed. “She is one of my students.” Her voice was so sugary that Scootaloo looked embarrassed. “If you both want your fortunes read then the little one may go to my sister in the next tent over. I don’t do two at once,” Crystal informed her. “Whatever. I knew this was a waste of time,” Scootaloo said with a petulant roll of her eyes. She got up and turned to leave. Cheerilee pulled her back and the foal let her body hang limp against her hoof. “Um, we were actually wondering if you would help us both out at once. It’s sort of for her sake that I request this.” Usually, Crystal would never entertain the thought especially with a foal no less. But with her shop more dull than a rock farm as of late, she didn’t want to turn them away too hastily. “Well, what did you both need for me to look into?” Cheerilee smiled in appreciation and had Scootaloo sit down again. “Well, it started when this little pony came to see me after class.” Cheerilee started to recall that morning when Scootaloo looked less enthusiastic than usual. She was even the last to go outside for midday break with the rest of the foals. Sensing that something was off, Cheerilee gave a note to Scootaloo so she could come and talk to her about what was going on. In private, it didn’t take much prodding for her to find out that Scootaloo was feeling down about her wings again. Crystal was familiar with Scootaloo. She was the one with a scooter. And she always zipped around on that contraption, sometimes splashing mud or water on other ponies without as much as a backwards glance. Crystal wouldn’t say that she hated Scootaloo but she was one of her least favorite foals, which are already a class of ponies she was never fond of. Ribbon Wishes, her sister, was the one with the best personal perception in the family. It’s why she loved to talk to ponies face to face. She may have lacked that but even Crystal noticed things about others. For a Pegasus, she always wondered why Scootaloo never flew. She assumed the foal was just scared of flying or that she was too absorbed in her scooter toy and wasn’t anything more than average at flight. “So, Scootaloo was just getting worried about not having learned how to fly yet,” Cheerilee continued. “I told her that it’s normal to not learn something right away like your sister, Crystal. Ribbon learned about her wonderful skill as an adult.” “Well, that is true,” Crystal said. She leaned back in her chair. “But, Cheerilee…that doesn’t matter,” Scootaloo complained. Her voice was a high pitched whine that was worse than a mosquito’s drone. She also, like most foals, couldn’t sit still and kept fidgeting in her chair like she constantly had to urinate badly. “It only matters if my family has a history of having a hard time with flight.” “And that is the basis of your visit, I presume?” Crystal said to Scootaloo. “Yeah, I want to know if you can look into the past and tell me about my grandparents perhaps or even earlier.” Crystal gave an exasperated sigh. “Everypony else asks for me to peer into the future. I assume it’s most relevant to your ability to fly?” “I personally thought that looking into the past would give Scootaloo a needed frame of reference into where she came from. It might help for her to see where her future lies?” Cheerilee said. “It’s as good a reason as any,” Crystal said, shrugging her shoulders. Scootaloo stood, her two bundles of energy on her back flapping. “Good, let’s get started.” “Not so fast.” Crystal looked at Cheerilee. “Since you’re her teacher, I think you ought to join in as well.” “By all means….I’ll do it,” Cheerilee accepted. “Of course, dealing with the past instead of the future is never easy. It’s more than a prediction and both of you will be equally present in the magical process. I demand double the payment up front,” Crystal said, giving her best “pay me now” look. Cheerilee took out a bag of coins and set it in front of her. “Ribbon told me that would you ask for it but it’s worth it to help my students.” Crystal tapped her hooves together, eager to begin. “Alright, you two start concentrating,” she instructed. The two of them closed their eyes and took deep breathes. Crystal used her horn to infuse the crystal ball with a powerful magical light. Soon, the blue edges were radiating a soft blue, pulsing and rippling like water. “Now, open your eyes.” The two of them did and in mere seconds, were enthralled in the crystal. “Let the ball pull you in and let your minds be consumed in the pure water,” Crystal said softly. She hummed for a few minutes and in that time, Cheerilee and Scootaloo lost all sense of the world around them. Their eyes were blurry save for that light and soon, it got larger and larger as if it was a portal opening up before them. Scootaloo felt like her voice was ripped from her mouth and her body seemed as if to weight a ton. It didn’t seem real but the water came so close that it turned into a lake and she was free falling towards it. She hit it like a meteor but she felt no pain. She struggled to the surface and spat out water. Panting, she looked around her. There was nothing but a white fog all around. “Uh, hello!” she shouted into the white void. Then a booming voice came from around her. “Ah, Scootaloo…isn’t this grand? I’m at the very edge of your mind.” “Is that you, Crystal Wishes?” Scootaloo said. Being able to see Crystal but not hear her was unnerving but she tried to suppress it like her idol, Rainbow Dash, would do. She already wished she was gone from there and the cryptic words of that mare didn’t help. “It is I. I am not present with you because I am looking into where you’re concentrating. My magic allows me to make predictions like this…but that’s not why you’re here. Since we’re at the edge of your mind, I can sense links to past events as well as the future.” Scootaloo felt frustrated. “So how do you know where to find them?” “You just have to think. It’s the only power you possess around here.” “I’ll try.” Scootaloo closed her eyes and thought hard about the past. She tried to imagine ponies long ago twirling through the clouds. Since she didn’t know their names or faces, she soon imagined herself doing the flying. She imagined the wind caressing her fur and blowing her mane back. And when she did, she was on the ground, never the sky. She was used to doing that, even during class. Daydreaming was one of the few things that countered the pain she faced every day. Scootaloo suddenly caught a whiff of burnt rubber. Most ponies hated that but to her, it was prettier than a rose. She barely fazed her after years of burning it on her scooter to the point where she could reek of it and barely notice it at all. Then the smell transitioned to fresh grass, cleaning oil, and dirt. It was like the essence of adventure rolled into one. She took another look and saw a green trail leading away into the mist. Scootaloo’s eyes shot open. “Crystal, are you seeing this?” There was no response. “Hello?! Crystal….!” She cupped her hooves and shouted but nopony answered back. “Oh, great. She must have went to talk to Cheerilee.” Scootaloo waded into the white mist. As she went on, the fog stayed equally as thick at the same distance. There was nothing in there with her as she followed the trail of smoke. It was the only possible lead she had so there was no way she was going to ignore it. For some reason, the smoke led her to what appeared to be an edge to the water. It was surreal and Scootaloo was hesitant to go any closer to it until she heard a faint voice on the other side. She swam faster. “Hello?! Who’s out there?” She reached the edge and looked over where there was more water and she nearly bumped into Cheerilee, who was swimming in her direction. “Scootaloo!” she started. “Where are we? This is a pretty strange place….I don’t like swimming all that much since I fell in that river a while back. What happened to going back to the past?” Scootaloo quickly rambled. “I don’t know where we are but it has to be important,” Cheerilee replied. Scootaloo noticed that the green trail had vanished. “Hey, were you brought here by something?” Cheerilee shook her head. “No, I was not.” She looked at Scootaloo with concern. “Are you alright?” Before Scootaloo could respond, she tried to touch her with her hoof and they were both blinded by some kind of white light. They couldn’t hear, see or even think. Ponyville of the PastWhen Scootaloo came to, she had no idea where she was or what time it was. Her vision was blurry at first but her body felt fine. She was in some kind of house it seemed. The walls were painted with blue and purple swirls. The doorways had some kind of purple lining and there were pictures of things like ice cream and butterflies on the wall. The very air had a thick sweet smell to it. It would usually make her want to gag but she somehow suppressed it. “Wow, what is this place?” Scootaloo nearly jumped at the sudden voice and turned around to see Cheerilee behind her. The mare looked at some pink colored countertops. Her body was grey and thin like a ghost or a bad photograph. Scootaloo yelped and jumped into the air. Her wings, which normally did little more than make her hover, launched her like a rocket into the sky and right through the roof. But she soared through as if it was made of air. That wasn’t a good kind of flight. Scootaloo simply couldn’t control herself after such a shock and flipped around and flew back, phasing through the roof and crashing into the floor. Cheerilee went and tried to help her up but her hoof went through her as if their bodies couldn’t touch. “Cheerilee….you’re a ghost or something!” Scootaloo cried. She kicked backwards with her hooves until she was able to crawl back to a standing position. Cheerilee huffed in annoyance. “Uh, you look the same way.” Scootaloo started running in place like she usually did when frightened. “What is this?!” “Calm down, Scoots,” Cheerilee said firmly. “Being this upset won’t help us. I don’t know what this place is but we had to have come here for a reason, right?” Suddenly, the front door was pushed open and a pony came rushing in. She had roller skates on her hooves. She had a blue and purple mane and her coat was a dark yellow. If it wasn’t for a butterfly cutie mark, a lack of wings and that bit of blue in her mane, she and Scootaloo would look like twins. “Seriously….we didn’t mean to break in or anything!” Scootaloo blurted, holding out her hooves as if to protect herself. But instead, the pony totally ignored her and went to the wall where an assortment of toys hung from the walls. She picked up what looked like a red jump rope made of little hearts. “This will be great….with these fun things, we’ll have a swell time!” the pony exclaimed happily. Her voice was like a foal’s, even though she looked as old as Cheerilee. But it was hard to tell. As big as she was, she lacked wrinkles and her coat had a certain glow that only the very young usually had. She started gathering some of the stuff on her wall. Scootaloo went near her. “Uh, hello? Sorry for intruding….hello?” she said. She then waved her hoof in front of her but she didn’t respond. “I’m pretty sure they can’t sense us,” Cheerilee said. “I figured.” The pony hummed to herself while getting her stuff. “Let’s see…I got my jump rope, skateboard, and my scooter of course! I bet Cheerilee will love it!” She turned around and put her helmet on while flashing a brilliant grin. “Let’s scoot!” She hurried out of there, leaving behind the two astonished ponies…or pony spirits as they were. Scootaloo felt her chest tightening. “What the….did she say ‘Cheerilee’?” “I heard that too. I wonder what she meant,” Cheerilee said. “And she looks a lot like you.” “Yeah. What the hay is up with that?” Scootaloo paced around in thought. She had been in that place for only a few minutes and she already distrusted it. “Well, sitting here won’t help. Let’s go follow her.” Cheerilee agreed and the two of them followed the strange pony around that weird town. Scootaloo of course flew the whole way while Cheerilee navigated the streets. She couldn’t feel the wind or the clouds but it was still better than nothing. The pony darted about on her rollerblades around rows of colorful houses. Some had turrets and hearts adorned most of them. The lawns were manicured and the streets were made of bright yellow stones. In the distance was a large pink castle with multicolored turrets and a huge blue balloon docked up high. They’ve never seen anything like it before. To Scootaloo, it was as visually intense as a carnival. Eventually, the pursuit ended at some kind of large park. The pony laid her things down and sat on a bench. Soon, another pony came into view. Her coat and mane were a variety of pinks and purples and she had a pretty flower on her flank. “Cheerilee! You made it!” the pony exclaimed. That other Cheerilee came and called her Scootaloo and they both laughed. “This is odd…how can they have both of our names?” Scootaloo wondered. “Look what I brought…I know we’ll have so much fun with it,” the other Cheerilee said. She put down a bunch of books and a set of markers. “She has my eyes,” Cheerilee said with discomfort. “That cutie mark though….” The other Scootaloo looked at her stuff with confusion. The other Cheerilee did the same. “Hey, wait a minute…” the other Scootaloo said. “….you brought stuff too?” the other Cheerilee finished. They looked at each other. “Oh oh….” Both of those ponies looked disappointed at what apparently passed for an impasse between them. “Oh no, I didn’t know you were going to bring something for us to do,” the other Cheerilee mentioned. “I didn’t know you were going to do it either,” the other Scootaloo replied. “Both of these things are something we like to do and we don’t have time to do both…Pinkie Pie is having a party later,” the other Cheerilee said sadly. The other Scootaloo scratched her head. “We got to put our heads together. I don’t want to just sit around. That would be a bore.” They sat and seemed to think for several minutes before they both leapt up to their hooves at the same time. “I have an idea!” they both declared in unison. The other Cheerilee giggled. “You go first!” “No, you go!” The other Cheerilee grinned. “Let’s both do our activities at the same time!” “That sounds like fun…I’ll take you on a ride around town on my scooter!” The other Cheerilee picked up a book. “And I’ll read one of my favorite books too!” “That sounds like a plan!” the other Scootaloo said joyfully. With the scooter set up, the other Cheerilee sat in it and opened her book. Scootaloo and Cheerilee followed behind as the other Scootaloo used her roller skates to go around town. The other Cheerilee read from a book as they went, which seemed to please them both. By the time their little playtime was over, they were at the doorstep of a pink house. The house had hearts all over and a huge bow at the top of the second floor that had a bulbous shape. The two ponies got up and laughed. “That was super fun! I’m glad we both brought something we liked,” the other Cheerilee said. “I agree…we should do that more often,” the other Scootaloo replied. Then a pink pony jumped out of the house. Her cutie mark were three balloons. “Hey, you two! You’re right on time!” she said, smiling. “We would never miss your party, Pinkie Pie,” the other Scootaloo said. Pinkie looked at the scooter. “It looks like you two had an absolutely positively fun time together!” They all started laughing. “I would never miss out on anything when it comes to my sister,” the other Scootaloo said, looking fondly at the other Cheerilee. Scootaloo had enough. She jumped in the middle, intent on interrogating them. The world she was in was so much like her own but everything was twisted and distorted. Like in a funhouse mirror, nothing made any sense. “What are you guys talking about?!” she shouted. “First you two have our names then there’s Pinkie Pie?” When they didn’t respond but kept talking about a pony named Rainbow Dash making them new dresses, Scootaloo stomped her hooves and yelled some more. She didn’t like those ponies one bit. They were like wax sculptures talking to one another. Cheerilee thought of going to her and getting her to calm down but before she could, the world started to melt before her eyes. She was too surprised to scream or even gasp. The colors all swirled into one light before fading to black. There is no Future without a PastCheerilee woke up back in Crystal Wishes’ tent. As her vision focused, she saw Princess Twilight kneeling beside her. A faint trail of smoke connected to the end of her horn. “Princess?” she mumbled. Her head swam. Twilight patted Cheerilee’s head and made a shushing sound. “It’s alright…it’s me.” “What happened?” Cheerilee’s head throbbed like it was a thousand degrees and she saw Crystal next to Scootaloo, which was also lying down in a daze. “I am not sure…Crystal came to me and told me that there was an emergency over at the tent involving you and Scootaloo. I was told that you were both in trances so I used my magic to undo it,” Twilight explained. “Is Scootaloo alright?” Twilight nodded. “I believe so. I might have come just in time.” Later, the two of them were sitting in the chairs and drinking water. Cheerilee was already feeling better by then. They had told Twilight about the place they had seen and the ponies that they encountered. Crystal figured that they had connected their minds during the fortune telling process by accident. She could only postulate that doing so separated them from Crystal’s magic which was why the two of them turned so unresponsive. “I’m guessing you two were sent off into the deep past where even I would normally not be able to see,” Crystal ruminated. “It’s strange that it was related to you two but considering my ball, maybe you two were meant to see it?” Scootaloo looked confused. “But I still want to know what that place was. How can there be other ponies with our names? Was it like another dimension?” “Do you ponies believe in past lives?” Crystal inquired. Cheerilee and Scootaloo shrugged their shoulders, unsure what to say. “I know of the idea,” Twilight said. “I’ve read books on the subject,” Crystal said. She looked at Scootaloo. “According to some fortune tellers, we ponies don’t just live the one life we know. But we get more than one. It may look different on the surface but the essence of ourselves is passed on beyond time and space.” “So, that Scootaloo was like me? But she didn’t have any wings even,” Scootaloo said, flapping hers as if to make a point. “The theory is rather sound,” Crystal insisted. “Sure, she had no wings but even from a general description, they sound similar enough to not dismiss outright.” Scootaloo stared at the ground and sighed. Her heart was a heavy stone. She had never felt so powerless before. It was even worse than when Diamond Tiara teased her. “She had no wings…I…what if that’s supposed to be my destiny then? To never fly?” “Tough, I guess,” Crystal said uncaringly. Twilight glared at her and she rolled her eyes. Cheerilee was finally able to go and pat Scootaloo’s mane. “Scootaloo, those ponies were like us but they weren’t us. I think if we live different lives then it just might be another chance for us to make each one even better. You just have to believe.” Scootaloo looked up at her teacher and managed to smile. “You’re right…I mean maybe I’m like an upgrade or something,” she said. Her whole body was recharged and her wings flapped like never before. “Not to say that you wouldn’t be a good sister but I like you as my teacher, you know?” Her cheeks turned a bit red. “I understand, Scoots,” Cheerilee replied amusingly. “I think I like the idea of a past life,” Scootaloo said. “Even if I can’t fly, I’m at least guaranteed some awesome things and some amazing friends.” “That’s a wonderful way to look at it,” Cheerilee encouraged. Scootaloo turned to Crystal. “Thanks a lot!” Crystal didn’t reply, being too stunned at the foal’s kind words. After, she said goodbye to her and Twilight and left the tent. She couldn’t wait to tell her friends all about her mental journey. She wondered if the past Scootaloo ever had doubts about her cutie mark too. Then she remembered it was a butterfly and hoped that it wasn’t something passed down with her love of scooters. “I’ll see you two later!” Cheerilee said. She ran out after Scootaloo to catch up. “That’s something I’ve never seen in my entire life,” Crystal muttered. She looked ready to draw herself a stiff drink. Despite her strong demeanor, her hooves noticeably shook. “Neither have I to be honest,” Twilight said in agreement. “Princess, you know a lot about our world…do you think those two saw anything that actually existed?” Twilight noticed that Crystal was nearly as intrigued about it as she was. “We’ve discovered a pink stone wall buried in ancient mud. It’s dated from pre-Equestrian times,” Twilight told her. “But we know little to nothing about the ponies that might have lived there. I would have loved to witness that world through Scootaloo’s eyes.” Crystal smirked thoughtfully. “Maybe it’s possible that our minds hold a hidden truth that’s normally beyond our capacity to see.” Twilight nodded. “I can accept some ponies not being able to accept such truth. Who would want to know that such a far flung past is connected to them so intimately?” For once those two ponies seemed to agree on something.
A Journey BackwardsCrystal Wishes was having a pretty awful week at her fortune telling shop. It was one of those weeks that made her wish that she lived anywhere else other than Ponyville. Those drab citizens came in with the same drab queries. Will I pass my test? Will I have a good harvest? Should I get a new pet? They were barely worth a passing concern, much less a prediction from her crystal ball. The hours just dragged. She just couldn’t wait to go home and the day had just begun. The previous pony came with her daughter and wanted to see her future. As interesting as that sounded, it was just another bit of standard drama about school acceptance. As usual, one concentration and a vision later, and the mother was well pacified. The little darling would be off to school and that would probably be the extent of her caring. Even the jiggling of coins in the little bag given in payment sounded more real than the mare’s unremarkable voice….as unstimulating as it was. As Crystal lost all hope of anypony in town giving her something worthwhile to predict, two ponies peeked in. “Come in if you’re coming in,” Crystal told them in a languid manner. The two sat down and she recognized one as Cheerilee, her sister’s friend. That piqued her interest at once, which made her stop slouching in her worn out chair. “Hello, Ms. Wishes,” Cheerilee said. The other pony was a Pegasus foal with a dark yellow coat and a magenta mane. “You’re back, I see? I suppose that must be a sign that your problems must be stacking up, Mrs. Cheerilee,” Crystal quipped. The foal’s wings fluttered and she sneered. “Hey, what’s your problem?!” Crystal’s fur on the back of her neck stood on end and she shot a rude glare back at the foal. She then recalled seeing the little brat laugh at her when she was temporarily banned from the town. “Most of it would be ponies with no future….and foals,” she remarked as if talking about pests. They were pests to her. Their desires and motivations were often so erratic that they were hard to predict. And they always had to be gratified like babies. There’s no patience in a foal’s blood. “Good thing, you are not talking to just any foal,” Cheerilee interjected. She tapped the foal on the shoulder and smiled expectantly. “C’mon, don’t be shy.” The foal groaned. It was a worse sound than gravel being scraped. “My name is Scootaloo. Uh, nice to meet you and stuff.” Crystal raised an eyebrow. “And I am Crystal Wishes but you both likely know that.” “Yes. I know of you from my friend, Ribbon. She recommended you for your fine work in fortune telling,” Cheerilee said. “I am aware of your relationship. But I don’t know what relationship you two have.” Cheerilee beamed. “She is one of my students.” Her voice was so sugary that Scootaloo looked embarrassed. “If you both want your fortunes read then the little one may go to my sister in the next tent over. I don’t do two at once,” Crystal informed her. “Whatever. I knew this was a waste of time,” Scootaloo said with a petulant roll of her eyes. She got up and turned to leave. Cheerilee pulled her back and the foal let her body hang limp against her hoof. “Um, we were actually wondering if you would help us both out at once. It’s sort of for her sake that I request this.” Usually, Crystal would never entertain the thought especially with a foal no less. But with her shop more dull than a rock farm as of late, she didn’t want to turn them away too hastily. “Well, what did you both need for me to look into?” Cheerilee smiled in appreciation and had Scootaloo sit down again. “Well, it started when this little pony came to see me after class.” Cheerilee started to recall that morning when Scootaloo looked less enthusiastic than usual. She was even the last to go outside for midday break with the rest of the foals. Sensing that something was off, Cheerilee gave a note to Scootaloo so she could come and talk to her about what was going on. In private, it didn’t take much prodding for her to find out that Scootaloo was feeling down about her wings again. Crystal was familiar with Scootaloo. She was the one with a scooter. And she always zipped around on that contraption, sometimes splashing mud or water on other ponies without as much as a backwards glance. Crystal wouldn’t say that she hated Scootaloo but she was one of her least favorite foals, which are already a class of ponies she was never fond of. Ribbon Wishes, her sister, was the one with the best personal perception in the family. It’s why she loved to talk to ponies face to face. She may have lacked that but even Crystal noticed things about others. For a Pegasus, she always wondered why Scootaloo never flew. She assumed the foal was just scared of flying or that she was too absorbed in her scooter toy and wasn’t anything more than average at flight. “So, Scootaloo was just getting worried about not having learned how to fly yet,” Cheerilee continued. “I told her that it’s normal to not learn something right away like your sister, Crystal. Ribbon learned about her wonderful skill as an adult.” “Well, that is true,” Crystal said. She leaned back in her chair. “But, Cheerilee…that doesn’t matter,” Scootaloo complained. Her voice was a high pitched whine that was worse than a mosquito’s drone. She also, like most foals, couldn’t sit still and kept fidgeting in her chair like she constantly had to urinate badly. “It only matters if my family has a history of having a hard time with flight.” “And that is the basis of your visit, I presume?” Crystal said to Scootaloo. “Yeah, I want to know if you can look into the past and tell me about my grandparents perhaps or even earlier.” Crystal gave an exasperated sigh. “Everypony else asks for me to peer into the future. I assume it’s most relevant to your ability to fly?” “I personally thought that looking into the past would give Scootaloo a needed frame of reference into where she came from. It might help for her to see where her future lies?” Cheerilee said. “It’s as good a reason as any,” Crystal said, shrugging her shoulders. Scootaloo stood, her two bundles of energy on her back flapping. “Good, let’s get started.” “Not so fast.” Crystal looked at Cheerilee. “Since you’re her teacher, I think you ought to join in as well.” “By all means….I’ll do it,” Cheerilee accepted. “Of course, dealing with the past instead of the future is never easy. It’s more than a prediction and both of you will be equally present in the magical process. I demand double the payment up front,” Crystal said, giving her best “pay me now” look. Cheerilee took out a bag of coins and set it in front of her. “Ribbon told me that would you ask for it but it’s worth it to help my students.” Crystal tapped her hooves together, eager to begin. “Alright, you two start concentrating,” she instructed. The two of them closed their eyes and took deep breathes. Crystal used her horn to infuse the crystal ball with a powerful magical light. Soon, the blue edges were radiating a soft blue, pulsing and rippling like water. “Now, open your eyes.” The two of them did and in mere seconds, were enthralled in the crystal. “Let the ball pull you in and let your minds be consumed in the pure water,” Crystal said softly. She hummed for a few minutes and in that time, Cheerilee and Scootaloo lost all sense of the world around them. Their eyes were blurry save for that light and soon, it got larger and larger as if it was a portal opening up before them. Scootaloo felt like her voice was ripped from her mouth and her body seemed as if to weight a ton. It didn’t seem real but the water came so close that it turned into a lake and she was free falling towards it. She hit it like a meteor but she felt no pain. She struggled to the surface and spat out water. Panting, she looked around her. There was nothing but a white fog all around. “Uh, hello!” she shouted into the white void. Then a booming voice came from around her. “Ah, Scootaloo…isn’t this grand? I’m at the very edge of your mind.” “Is that you, Crystal Wishes?” Scootaloo said. Being able to see Crystal but not hear her was unnerving but she tried to suppress it like her idol, Rainbow Dash, would do. She already wished she was gone from there and the cryptic words of that mare didn’t help. “It is I. I am not present with you because I am looking into where you’re concentrating. My magic allows me to make predictions like this…but that’s not why you’re here. Since we’re at the edge of your mind, I can sense links to past events as well as the future.” Scootaloo felt frustrated. “So how do you know where to find them?” “You just have to think. It’s the only power you possess around here.” “I’ll try.” Scootaloo closed her eyes and thought hard about the past. She tried to imagine ponies long ago twirling through the clouds. Since she didn’t know their names or faces, she soon imagined herself doing the flying. She imagined the wind caressing her fur and blowing her mane back. And when she did, she was on the ground, never the sky. She was used to doing that, even during class. Daydreaming was one of the few things that countered the pain she faced every day. Scootaloo suddenly caught a whiff of burnt rubber. Most ponies hated that but to her, it was prettier than a rose. She barely fazed her after years of burning it on her scooter to the point where she could reek of it and barely notice it at all. Then the smell transitioned to fresh grass, cleaning oil, and dirt. It was like the essence of adventure rolled into one. She took another look and saw a green trail leading away into the mist. Scootaloo’s eyes shot open. “Crystal, are you seeing this?” There was no response. “Hello?! Crystal….!” She cupped her hooves and shouted but nopony answered back. “Oh, great. She must have went to talk to Cheerilee.” Scootaloo waded into the white mist. As she went on, the fog stayed equally as thick at the same distance. There was nothing in there with her as she followed the trail of smoke. It was the only possible lead she had so there was no way she was going to ignore it. For some reason, the smoke led her to what appeared to be an edge to the water. It was surreal and Scootaloo was hesitant to go any closer to it until she heard a faint voice on the other side. She swam faster. “Hello?! Who’s out there?” She reached the edge and looked over where there was more water and she nearly bumped into Cheerilee, who was swimming in her direction. “Scootaloo!” she started. “Where are we? This is a pretty strange place….I don’t like swimming all that much since I fell in that river a while back. What happened to going back to the past?” Scootaloo quickly rambled. “I don’t know where we are but it has to be important,” Cheerilee replied. Scootaloo noticed that the green trail had vanished. “Hey, were you brought here by something?” Cheerilee shook her head. “No, I was not.” She looked at Scootaloo with concern. “Are you alright?” Before Scootaloo could respond, she tried to touch her with her hoof and they were both blinded by some kind of white light. They couldn’t hear, see or even think.
Ponyville of the PastWhen Scootaloo came to, she had no idea where she was or what time it was. Her vision was blurry at first but her body felt fine. She was in some kind of house it seemed. The walls were painted with blue and purple swirls. The doorways had some kind of purple lining and there were pictures of things like ice cream and butterflies on the wall. The very air had a thick sweet smell to it. It would usually make her want to gag but she somehow suppressed it. “Wow, what is this place?” Scootaloo nearly jumped at the sudden voice and turned around to see Cheerilee behind her. The mare looked at some pink colored countertops. Her body was grey and thin like a ghost or a bad photograph. Scootaloo yelped and jumped into the air. Her wings, which normally did little more than make her hover, launched her like a rocket into the sky and right through the roof. But she soared through as if it was made of air. That wasn’t a good kind of flight. Scootaloo simply couldn’t control herself after such a shock and flipped around and flew back, phasing through the roof and crashing into the floor. Cheerilee went and tried to help her up but her hoof went through her as if their bodies couldn’t touch. “Cheerilee….you’re a ghost or something!” Scootaloo cried. She kicked backwards with her hooves until she was able to crawl back to a standing position. Cheerilee huffed in annoyance. “Uh, you look the same way.” Scootaloo started running in place like she usually did when frightened. “What is this?!” “Calm down, Scoots,” Cheerilee said firmly. “Being this upset won’t help us. I don’t know what this place is but we had to have come here for a reason, right?” Suddenly, the front door was pushed open and a pony came rushing in. She had roller skates on her hooves. She had a blue and purple mane and her coat was a dark yellow. If it wasn’t for a butterfly cutie mark, a lack of wings and that bit of blue in her mane, she and Scootaloo would look like twins. “Seriously….we didn’t mean to break in or anything!” Scootaloo blurted, holding out her hooves as if to protect herself. But instead, the pony totally ignored her and went to the wall where an assortment of toys hung from the walls. She picked up what looked like a red jump rope made of little hearts. “This will be great….with these fun things, we’ll have a swell time!” the pony exclaimed happily. Her voice was like a foal’s, even though she looked as old as Cheerilee. But it was hard to tell. As big as she was, she lacked wrinkles and her coat had a certain glow that only the very young usually had. She started gathering some of the stuff on her wall. Scootaloo went near her. “Uh, hello? Sorry for intruding….hello?” she said. She then waved her hoof in front of her but she didn’t respond. “I’m pretty sure they can’t sense us,” Cheerilee said. “I figured.” The pony hummed to herself while getting her stuff. “Let’s see…I got my jump rope, skateboard, and my scooter of course! I bet Cheerilee will love it!” She turned around and put her helmet on while flashing a brilliant grin. “Let’s scoot!” She hurried out of there, leaving behind the two astonished ponies…or pony spirits as they were. Scootaloo felt her chest tightening. “What the….did she say ‘Cheerilee’?” “I heard that too. I wonder what she meant,” Cheerilee said. “And she looks a lot like you.” “Yeah. What the hay is up with that?” Scootaloo paced around in thought. She had been in that place for only a few minutes and she already distrusted it. “Well, sitting here won’t help. Let’s go follow her.” Cheerilee agreed and the two of them followed the strange pony around that weird town. Scootaloo of course flew the whole way while Cheerilee navigated the streets. She couldn’t feel the wind or the clouds but it was still better than nothing. The pony darted about on her rollerblades around rows of colorful houses. Some had turrets and hearts adorned most of them. The lawns were manicured and the streets were made of bright yellow stones. In the distance was a large pink castle with multicolored turrets and a huge blue balloon docked up high. They’ve never seen anything like it before. To Scootaloo, it was as visually intense as a carnival. Eventually, the pursuit ended at some kind of large park. The pony laid her things down and sat on a bench. Soon, another pony came into view. Her coat and mane were a variety of pinks and purples and she had a pretty flower on her flank. “Cheerilee! You made it!” the pony exclaimed. That other Cheerilee came and called her Scootaloo and they both laughed. “This is odd…how can they have both of our names?” Scootaloo wondered. “Look what I brought…I know we’ll have so much fun with it,” the other Cheerilee said. She put down a bunch of books and a set of markers. “She has my eyes,” Cheerilee said with discomfort. “That cutie mark though….” The other Scootaloo looked at her stuff with confusion. The other Cheerilee did the same. “Hey, wait a minute…” the other Scootaloo said. “….you brought stuff too?” the other Cheerilee finished. They looked at each other. “Oh oh….” Both of those ponies looked disappointed at what apparently passed for an impasse between them. “Oh no, I didn’t know you were going to bring something for us to do,” the other Cheerilee mentioned. “I didn’t know you were going to do it either,” the other Scootaloo replied. “Both of these things are something we like to do and we don’t have time to do both…Pinkie Pie is having a party later,” the other Cheerilee said sadly. The other Scootaloo scratched her head. “We got to put our heads together. I don’t want to just sit around. That would be a bore.” They sat and seemed to think for several minutes before they both leapt up to their hooves at the same time. “I have an idea!” they both declared in unison. The other Cheerilee giggled. “You go first!” “No, you go!” The other Cheerilee grinned. “Let’s both do our activities at the same time!” “That sounds like fun…I’ll take you on a ride around town on my scooter!” The other Cheerilee picked up a book. “And I’ll read one of my favorite books too!” “That sounds like a plan!” the other Scootaloo said joyfully. With the scooter set up, the other Cheerilee sat in it and opened her book. Scootaloo and Cheerilee followed behind as the other Scootaloo used her roller skates to go around town. The other Cheerilee read from a book as they went, which seemed to please them both. By the time their little playtime was over, they were at the doorstep of a pink house. The house had hearts all over and a huge bow at the top of the second floor that had a bulbous shape. The two ponies got up and laughed. “That was super fun! I’m glad we both brought something we liked,” the other Cheerilee said. “I agree…we should do that more often,” the other Scootaloo replied. Then a pink pony jumped out of the house. Her cutie mark were three balloons. “Hey, you two! You’re right on time!” she said, smiling. “We would never miss your party, Pinkie Pie,” the other Scootaloo said. Pinkie looked at the scooter. “It looks like you two had an absolutely positively fun time together!” They all started laughing. “I would never miss out on anything when it comes to my sister,” the other Scootaloo said, looking fondly at the other Cheerilee. Scootaloo had enough. She jumped in the middle, intent on interrogating them. The world she was in was so much like her own but everything was twisted and distorted. Like in a funhouse mirror, nothing made any sense. “What are you guys talking about?!” she shouted. “First you two have our names then there’s Pinkie Pie?” When they didn’t respond but kept talking about a pony named Rainbow Dash making them new dresses, Scootaloo stomped her hooves and yelled some more. She didn’t like those ponies one bit. They were like wax sculptures talking to one another. Cheerilee thought of going to her and getting her to calm down but before she could, the world started to melt before her eyes. She was too surprised to scream or even gasp. The colors all swirled into one light before fading to black.
There is no Future without a PastCheerilee woke up back in Crystal Wishes’ tent. As her vision focused, she saw Princess Twilight kneeling beside her. A faint trail of smoke connected to the end of her horn. “Princess?” she mumbled. Her head swam. Twilight patted Cheerilee’s head and made a shushing sound. “It’s alright…it’s me.” “What happened?” Cheerilee’s head throbbed like it was a thousand degrees and she saw Crystal next to Scootaloo, which was also lying down in a daze. “I am not sure…Crystal came to me and told me that there was an emergency over at the tent involving you and Scootaloo. I was told that you were both in trances so I used my magic to undo it,” Twilight explained. “Is Scootaloo alright?” Twilight nodded. “I believe so. I might have come just in time.” Later, the two of them were sitting in the chairs and drinking water. Cheerilee was already feeling better by then. They had told Twilight about the place they had seen and the ponies that they encountered. Crystal figured that they had connected their minds during the fortune telling process by accident. She could only postulate that doing so separated them from Crystal’s magic which was why the two of them turned so unresponsive. “I’m guessing you two were sent off into the deep past where even I would normally not be able to see,” Crystal ruminated. “It’s strange that it was related to you two but considering my ball, maybe you two were meant to see it?” Scootaloo looked confused. “But I still want to know what that place was. How can there be other ponies with our names? Was it like another dimension?” “Do you ponies believe in past lives?” Crystal inquired. Cheerilee and Scootaloo shrugged their shoulders, unsure what to say. “I know of the idea,” Twilight said. “I’ve read books on the subject,” Crystal said. She looked at Scootaloo. “According to some fortune tellers, we ponies don’t just live the one life we know. But we get more than one. It may look different on the surface but the essence of ourselves is passed on beyond time and space.” “So, that Scootaloo was like me? But she didn’t have any wings even,” Scootaloo said, flapping hers as if to make a point. “The theory is rather sound,” Crystal insisted. “Sure, she had no wings but even from a general description, they sound similar enough to not dismiss outright.” Scootaloo stared at the ground and sighed. Her heart was a heavy stone. She had never felt so powerless before. It was even worse than when Diamond Tiara teased her. “She had no wings…I…what if that’s supposed to be my destiny then? To never fly?” “Tough, I guess,” Crystal said uncaringly. Twilight glared at her and she rolled her eyes. Cheerilee was finally able to go and pat Scootaloo’s mane. “Scootaloo, those ponies were like us but they weren’t us. I think if we live different lives then it just might be another chance for us to make each one even better. You just have to believe.” Scootaloo looked up at her teacher and managed to smile. “You’re right…I mean maybe I’m like an upgrade or something,” she said. Her whole body was recharged and her wings flapped like never before. “Not to say that you wouldn’t be a good sister but I like you as my teacher, you know?” Her cheeks turned a bit red. “I understand, Scoots,” Cheerilee replied amusingly. “I think I like the idea of a past life,” Scootaloo said. “Even if I can’t fly, I’m at least guaranteed some awesome things and some amazing friends.” “That’s a wonderful way to look at it,” Cheerilee encouraged. Scootaloo turned to Crystal. “Thanks a lot!” Crystal didn’t reply, being too stunned at the foal’s kind words. After, she said goodbye to her and Twilight and left the tent. She couldn’t wait to tell her friends all about her mental journey. She wondered if the past Scootaloo ever had doubts about her cutie mark too. Then she remembered it was a butterfly and hoped that it wasn’t something passed down with her love of scooters. “I’ll see you two later!” Cheerilee said. She ran out after Scootaloo to catch up. “That’s something I’ve never seen in my entire life,” Crystal muttered. She looked ready to draw herself a stiff drink. Despite her strong demeanor, her hooves noticeably shook. “Neither have I to be honest,” Twilight said in agreement. “Princess, you know a lot about our world…do you think those two saw anything that actually existed?” Twilight noticed that Crystal was nearly as intrigued about it as she was. “We’ve discovered a pink stone wall buried in ancient mud. It’s dated from pre-Equestrian times,” Twilight told her. “But we know little to nothing about the ponies that might have lived there. I would have loved to witness that world through Scootaloo’s eyes.” Crystal smirked thoughtfully. “Maybe it’s possible that our minds hold a hidden truth that’s normally beyond our capacity to see.” Twilight nodded. “I can accept some ponies not being able to accept such truth. Who would want to know that such a far flung past is connected to them so intimately?” For once those two ponies seemed to agree on something.
