Dear Minuette,
If you are reading this, I have either finally chosen to die or I have been struck down by something beyond my control. As your mother, it is important that I explain to you the true nature of the world, the true nature of time. Time is not cyclical, but branching. It splinters outward in an ever expanding tree of alternate worlds following alternate timelines which do not terminate after the death of all life in the world, or even in every world, but only once the individual universes themselves cease to exist. For you see, life can spring from anywhere and anything. But that is not the point of this tale. Time is immutable, nothing of the past can in fact be changed and though for any who attempt to do so may see positive results, all they have succeeded in doing is shifting themselves to another timeline.
Somewhere out there, it is theorized that there is a timeline where everything goes right, life prospers as best it can, science and magic reach their peak while nature continues to thrive, all diseases have been cured and all beings live in harmony with each other and the universe. We call this timeline Shangri-La. It is thought to be a veritable paradise for all life. We also believe there to be a complete opposite to this timeline, a universe which has come to ruin in every way imaginable. It goes by many names: Pandemonium, Purgatory, Perdition, Hell, Tophet, Hades, Niflheim, the Netherworld, Sheol, Abaddon, and many more besides. This is said to be the realm where monsters first originated, where the first murderer in all of existence dwelled, where anything and everything considered wrong or depraved got its start, the birthplace of all evil, and a land without hope. In between are timelines too innumerable to count which even now grow in number with each choice made by any and all creatures in every timeline.
It is no extraordinary feat to shift timelines, no. Any time a creature makes a decision; through action or inaction, they in fact take all possible courses of action and inaction, and in so doing split off into multiple versions of themselves and give birth to as many timelines as their choices allow. What is extraordinary is finding individuals who can make these choices, then move backwards along their timeline and make them again, ultimately ending up in a separate branch entirely. While it may not allow for the manipulation of alternate instances of the worlds themselves, it does allow for beings who manage to harness this ability through science, magic, or natural processes to explore more of the landscape of time and space than they may otherwise, reveal hidden possibilities or branches in a timeline based on their knowledge, and become more or less immune to death by old age through the process of continually moving backwards before such a threshold is met.
Throughout our family’s history, the Gift has been passed down for generations. My mother had it, and her father before that, and his mother before that, even down to some of your uncles and aunts. All of us have had the ability to move backwards across the span of our own lifetimes, and so too shall you in time. I have taken the liberty of compiling our ancestral logs into a single unified tome. This book contains all that our ancestors have discovered over the ages in their travels, though it reads a bit more like a collective journal than a research log. It may appear quite daunting now. I assure you that you should have plenty of time not only to read this book in its entirety, but even enough to memorize and add to it with your own journey so long as you spend your time wisely and don’t get yourself killed. And please know that though I may be gone, I live on through you, so try not to mourn me too heavily.
To the best daughter in any and all instances,
Strange Aeon
Minuette sat for a minute, then two. The whole month had been a blur for her what with learning that her mother had passed, helping arrange the funeral, and of course the month was twice as long for her trying to ensure that the proceedings went perfect and taking time to handle her own grief. She pondered a few times whether she should go back and talk to her again. She didn't want to get caught up in that cycle, but it was harder not to now that she had so many questions.
Then there was the fact that her mom hadn’t told her, even if she went back it seemed almost in violation of her mother’s wishes. On top of that there were the things she had learned from her mother’s letter on the inside cover of the book. Revelations came to her one by one. She wasn’t the only time traveler, she hadn’t changed anything by going back in time. The only thing she managed to change was her own timeline. She hadn’t saved her friends on their trip, she just went to another reality where the tragedy was avoided. She'd merely run from a cruel reality. As the dots continued to connect in her head she remembered the sickening crunch of Lemon Heart’s body colliding with a tree, the sight of deep wounds with blood seeping out of them in waves. She was still dead, Minuette hadn’t saved her, hadn’t saved any of them, hadn't even saved that version of herself.
For a moment, she considered going back, saving who she could, but then what about this Lemon Hearts? She was the same pony, the only difference was that she hadn’t died that day. Do I really want to live in a world without her when I have a choice? Maybe I’d just die trying for a reality I can’t change. Is it selfish of me to want to live in a world where my friends are all alive? Is there another me back there going through it all in my stead? Would my ancestors have done the same? Did they? Or maybe they lived through all their realities regardless how brutal they may have been.
Glancing up from the book, she realized she was still in the post office. She’d gone there to see what her mother had left her after being hoofed the key to her mother's safety deposit box by the lawyer disseminating her will. She placed the book in her saddlebags along with the other effects her mother had left in the box and headed home. Along the way she took no detours, she didn’t even bother to grab lunch. When she reached her home she fumbled the key twice before she finally got inside and shut and locked the door behind her.
She opened the bag and took out the book before depositing her saddlebags on the couch and plopped into her reading chair. Opening the book, she noticed the first few journals were written in Old Ponish, and it took Minuette a bit to remember her mother’s lessons on the subject. Flipping through the book, it began to click in her mind why her mother had been so insistent on teaching her several different languages as a kid. She saw passages in Ancient Roaman, Prench, Neighponese, and even some depicted entirely in alchemical diagrams which hid their meaning in various depictions of fantastical images meant to hide their secrets from all but the practitioners of the ancient art. Fortunately for Minuette, her mother had thought to include a key stating what some of the symbols or in some cases the lack thereof meant.
She stared at the book, turned back to the front page, and began reading.
From the Diary of Testament the Learned*
Translated into Old Ponish by the scholar Lost Rune
*The following pages were all that could be recovered from the ruins of the Library of Alexandrimare
27th of August, 962*
I remember a time when it used to be quiet and peaceful this time of year. Ever since Grogar plunged the world into darkness with his monstrous creations, I hardly get a wink of sleep. I constantly find myself going back these days, reminiscing on realities in which I wasn’t able to save my friends who even now struggle to bring down the mad goat and his accursed bell. Of course I say friends, but some may be confused by this, it is a strange situation I find myself in, giving up friendship for the safety of the ones I wish to protect. There was and will always be a reality in which Harmony prevails against evil at every turn, it could be several realities, or hundreds, or thousands, or quite possibly even some unfathomable number far beyond our comprehension. Still, it feels as though the opposite if true for just as many. Maybe if I hadn’t made this sacrifice, I could’ve found another way, but I’ve just seen too much death. Maybe if I couldn’t run from it all, I would face it head on. I only hope that future generations may never face such a struggle, though I doubt that will hold true.
They have plans to steal… for their sake… wish I could… my love… endless torment… cursed.
*962 in this context refers to the year 775 BE (Before Equestria)
Beyond that point it became a series of incomplete quotes. Several footnotes denoted what scholars believed was meant or implied by the remnants of coherent thought but regardless, it all pointed to a sad and incomplete existence. At the end of this journal, it was mentioned that this was only the first in a 10 volume set of journals, the rest of which were burned beyond all recognition by dragon fire along with the library itself.
She looked up at the clock and noticed the day was almost over. Her stomach grumbled, she’d already missed lunch and it was getting to be about three hours past the time she usually had dinner. Minuette sighed, closed her eyes, and found herself once more in her hallways of images, her timeline. She trotted down a little ways and quickly found an image of herself walking past Donut Joe’s. Placing her hoof to the image, she concentrated for a few moments and when she opened her eyes she found herself in the same location the image had displayed.
Abruptly, her trotting hooves came to a stop before making an abrupt turn towards the confectionery in question. As she entered the familiar place, the smell of fresh donuts flooded her nostrils and the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach seemed to lighten, if only a little. “Minuette, haven’t seen you around lately.” Donut called out. Then, as she approached the counter, he added in a softer voice, “Hey, listen, I heard about your mom, she was a great mare. I’m not gonna go through all that ‘I’m sorry for your loss’ stuff, but I’m here if you need to talk and I’ll go ahead and get you a baker’s dozen on the house. How’s that sound?”
Minuette looked up into his eyes and saw the sincerity in them. “Th-thanks, Joe, I really… I really appreciate it. It’s been a bit of a long month.”
He passed a box of assorted donuts her way. “Hey, it’s no problem, just, what was that again? Don’t say I did nothin’ for ya?”
She smiled, “Close, it’s ‘don’t say I never did nothin’ for ya.’” She started to turn to leave, then thought better of it. She turned back to Joe and said “Seriously, thanks for this. It means a lot.” Then she headed out the door.
September sat on a bench and stared with a blank expression at the bakery across the street. He licked at his ice cream cone. Vanilla. The gray unicorn stallion with no mane was conspicuous enough with his peculiar, maneless appearance and by all means the fact that the aura around his horn and cone was clear should’ve attracted some attention, but somehow nopony noticed. It was as though he wasn’t even there.
He’d been sitting there for roughly half an hour, five minutes earlier he’d picked up an ice cream cone from a local vendor. A mare with a blue and white color scheme and an hourglass cutie mark exited the bakery with a box of donuts. The stallion dropped his cone, not out of surprise or shock, but as though it had fulfilled its purpose and he had no more use for it. He got up and calmly followed her at a slow, but even pace.
Doctor Whooves was in Canterlot on business. At least that’s what he told anyone who asked. His real purpose was a rather personal matter. And while it was true that he had a job at the Canterlot College of Applied Sciences, he was off during the Summer.
The truth was that he’d heard rumors of a mare who somehow shared his cutie mark. Given what his cutie mark denoted, he initially found the claim far fetched if not impossible. He bet a colleague fifteen bits that nopony could find this mysterious pony because she didn’t exist. So certain was he in his assertion, he gave a generous time frame of a year to find her. Admittedly he’d been half joking even then, but three months later he found a picture on his desk along with a gloating colleague. Needless to say, he was now 15 bits lighter.
He had to wait another month before his investigation began in earnest. Though “investigation” gives a bit of the wrong impression of the search, as he found her almost as soon as he started looking. Minuette, graduate of Princess Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns, currently residing in a townhouse near the corner of Mane Street and Sunset Avenue, regularly frequents Donut Joe’s, friends with Moondancer, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, Lyra, and even Princess Twilight Sparkle if the rumor of the recent visit the Princess had made to her home roughly a month prior bore any truth, all these were clues he had been able to gather quite easily. He even knew that her mother had recently passed and that she was used to work as a dentist but had more recently started up her own business selling time pieces of all things. Regardless of what he’d learned, it’s one thing to investigate someone and quite another to actually own up to it and ask her the questions he really wanted answers to.
He sat in Donut Joe’s, eating a glazed donut, drinking black coffee, and pondering what to do when the mare herself trotted through the door and nearly made him choke on the bite he’d just taken. He quickly took a swallow of his coffee and washed it down before glancing around to ensure nopony was staring. A few ponies gave him worried glances but he waved his hoof in such a way as to try to indicate he was okay. Somehow, Minuette had remained oblivious to the whole event. Pony Joe handed her a box of donuts, she thanked him and left. Doctor Whooves left the bits for his meal on the table, put on his scarf and windbreaker, and walked outside in time to see Minuette walking off in the direction of her home.
He sighed, debated with himself for a moment, then came to a decision. It’s now or never. The sooner I confront her, the sooner I can have my answers. Besides, I can’t just keep following her forever. As he trotted along after her though, he started to notice a gray unicorn stallion without a mane. The stallion kept a calm, even pace, yet somehow was always right behind them. When they turned their fourth corner and still he saw the stallion on their tail, he came up with a plan.
Minuette was walking by the Quillden Books bookstore when suddenly she felt herself enveloped in a telekinetic aura and thrown into the alleyway. She landed flank first in a heap of garbage bags which softened her fall. When she got up, she had several apple cores caught in her mane and a bag stuck to her leg by some sticky substance, probably syrup. She sighed, levitating the cores from her mane and ripping the bag off her leg like a bandage, removing a small patch of fur from her coat in the process. Seconds later, a brown unicorn stallion in a multicolored scarf and what appeared to be a light gray windbreaker.
He locked eyes with her and for a second they both sat there silently, staring each other down. When he didn’t pull out a shovel and his horn didn’t pulse with magic energy, Minuette released a breath. “Look, dude, I don’t know what it’s like where you come from, but around here, shoving mares into piles of alleyway trash is frowned up…” He had a hoof over her muzzle before she could finish her sentence.
“Shhhh! He’ll find us.”
“He who?” Minuette whispered when he took his hoof away.
“Gray unicorn stallion, no mane, blank ominous expression, kept showing up around every corner despite going at a virtual snail’s pace, started following you when you left Donut Joe’s.”
She looked down at the crushed box of donuts, then saw the gray stallion at the entrance to the alleyway. “Great idea! Let’s talk there!”
“What?” he asked incredulous but she had already closed her eyes.
Minuette swiftly found the memory of herself about to leave Pony Joe’s, put a hoof to it, and focused. There she was, a few feet from the exit, moving towards it when suddenly she stopped. She peered around the room, searching for somepony. When she spotted the brown stallion, she trotted over, took the seat opposite him, and set down her box of donuts. “Hey there, so what I’m about to say may sound a bit crazy. You ready?” she asked.
The stallion nodded.
“My name is Minuette, and I’m from the future. Well, not that far in the future, like maybe five to seven minutes in the future.”
“Wait, so you’re…”
“A time traveller, I know, it’s…”
“just like me.”
“Wait what?”
“What?”
Author's Note
Welp, this has taken forever to put out. Sorry for the long wait, inspiration has truck at last and I ended up writing this in a day. Anyway, I have the next chapter on the way already, so expect that soon. Also don't trust my announcement blogs, but then, you probably knew that.
“But Lyra’s gonna be here tomorrow, Twilight. Are you sure you have to go?” Minuette asked for the third time that day. “It’s just been so long since we’ve all been together like this, all six of us.”
“I know, I just have somepony waiting for me back home and I’m worried about her. We can all get together again another time.” She gave the blue and white mare an awkward smile.
Minuette sighed, then smiled widely as though posing for a camera “Okay Twilight, we’ll see you next time. And be sure to bring along your new friend! I can’t wait to meet her!”
She gave her friend a mock salute “Mare, yes mare!” Twilight boarded the train as Spike trailed along with her bags.
“See ya later, Spike!” She called before he reached the door.
“Uh, yeah, see ya Minuette.” He replied, nearly dropping the luggage he was carrying.
Minuette suppressed a giggle. Spike was so funny when he got all flustered like that.
“Are you sure about this, Twinkleshine? You remember what happened last time, don’t you?” Lemon Hearts asked with trepidation.
Twinkleshine grinned smugly, “Of course, besides, we have Moondancer right here in case anything goes wrong this time. And I’ve been successful before, remember the time I turned you into an alicorn?”
“Yes, but you were trying to turn me into a bird, not an alicorn. It’s lucky it wore off as soon as it did or we could’ve been in big trouble.”
“Which is precisely why we have to do this, once I have complete control over my magic I won’t make those kinds of mistakes and maybe I’ll even become as famous as Twilight. I’ll be a star. Once I’m well known I can make my debut as an actress on the big screen and-”
Moondancer sighed, “We get it, you want to be a star. You’ve been telling us that since we were fillies. Let’s just get on with this before Minuette gets back and sees you trying out spells in her house. I still think we should’ve taken this outside.”
“But if we’re outside somepony could see.” Lemon chimed.
“Whatever, just do it before she gets back, otherwise there’ll be no way for me to clean up if this becomes some big mess.” Moondancer said before burying her head in her book.
“Fine, fine, I’m doing it now.” Twinkleshine said as a sky blue aura appeared around her horn. As the aura wrapped around Lemon, she began to change shape and size. Her legs became larger, her mane and body was consumed by coarse fur, and her horn receded into her head, and a couple teeth and her tail grew to about three times their normal size before flattening. Where Lemon had once stood, now stood a massive beaver with a yellow coat.
The door swung open and the three looked on in horror as the double-striped unicorn strode through the door.
Minuette had always been a pretty easy going mare, but they’d never attempted something like this in her house. Then, a giggle. A snort. Soon the blue pony was near tears with laughter. “I’m sorry Lemon, that’s just too funny.” she said when she caught her breath. “You’re just a big ol’ yellow ball of fur now. Hold on, lemme’ get a camera, I gotta get a picture of this!”
Once Minuette was upstairs, the three looked to each other. Soon, they were laughing too. “Seriously, it’s Minuette, how else would she react to something like this?” Twinkleshine remarked.
Moondancer giggled, “Yeah, I feel kind of ridiculous thinking she’d be upset about this. Then again, we’ve only been hanging out again recently so I guess it’s good to know some things haven’t changed.”
Minuette trotted down the stairs and over to her friends, followed closely by her camera. After a few small adjustments to the angle she claimed an empty spot next to Moondancer. “Okay, now on the count of three everypony do a funny pose!”
“Are you sure we should be eating donuts for dinner?” Moondancer asked incredulously. “They’re more a dessert than dinner.”
The striped mare gave a mock expression of shock. “But it’s always time for donuts!”
“Well we do eat here a lot. It’s sort of a thing at this point.” Twinkleshine replied. “The conversations and memories are better than the food here, not to say that the donuts here aren’t amazing.” She gave a nod to Donut Joe, who returned the gesture.
Lemon finished chewing a chocolate donut with sprinkles. “True, not to mention this is the place where we always met up, since we first became friends.”
“I don’t think any of us could forget! We had some crazy times, we even ate here after I earned my cutie mark.” Minuette chuckled, “That coulda ended badly.”
“I don’t think I was there for that.” Moondancer said, setting aside a donut she was levitating. “Are you sure I was there?”
Minuette grabbed a glazed donut with her magic. “Oh yeah, I don’t think you or Twilight were there. You two were usually too busy studying to hang out. We could tell you a few stories if you’d like.” She smiled wide.
“Sure, I guess. I mean I did miss out on them so the least I could do is listen to a few of your adventures. Maybe it’d even make us a bit closer as friends, and I haven’t had another pony tell me a story in a long time.”
“Well, you were there when Twinkleshine and I got our cutie marks, so I think it’s only fair you get to hear the one about Minuette’s cutie mark first.”
“You really love that one, don’t you?” Minuette replied. “Though if I remember right, you were the one who complained the most throughout that trip, weren’t you Lemon?”
“I’ll go into why I like it so much later, I really don’t wanna spoil it for Moondancer.”
“Okay, you win, I’ll tell it.” Minuette mock sighed.
“You’re in for a treat” Twinkleshine told Moondancer through a smug grin.
It was a day like any other, yet at the same time unlike most. They had been planning this trip for a whole month. Unfortunately Twilight and Moondancer had proven extra elusive this month so it would just be the four of them.
Minuette arrived first, followed by Lemon, then Twinkleshine, and finally by Lyra who was half an hour late.
“What took you so long?” Minuette asked Lyra.
“Oh, just packed a few things, you never know what we’ll find out there. We may even find some ancient artifacts! This is so exciting, we’ll be going where nopony’s set foot in millennia!” The seafoam green mare was practically glowing.
“I still think we should’ve told somepony, it’s gonna be dangerous out there.” Lemon warned. “Wh-what if one of us gets hurt, or maybe even w-w-worse?” Her hooves trembled as she pondered the possibilities.
“Don’t worry, we’re four unicorns and with Twinkleshine’s magic I think we should be fine.” Minuette chimed.
Twinkleshine cast Minuette a nervous glance. “But I don’t have much control over it yet, sure I can cast a powerful spell or two but it almost always backfires.”
“Which is exactly why you need this. We’ll be in uncharted territory, so you can practice without having to worry if you mess something up.” Minuette replied, laying a conspiratorial hoof over her withers.
Lyra’s eyes lit up. “Uncharted, maybe. But uninhabited? I think not, just look at the map and you’ll see that there’s what appears to be a trail running through the middle of those mountains. Everypony I ask says it’s some kind of mistake with the map or some naturally formed structure. This whole thing smells like a cover-up and I can’t wait to find out what’s out there!”
“This is about the humans again, isn’t it?” Lemon shuddered. “I still can’t believe you’re interested in those abominations. Even if they’re just a myth, their biology reads like a horror story.”
“For the last time, humans are real and they are not disgusting, how else would you explain sinks and soap, these were clearly made for hands and prove that humans were clean, sophisticated creatures!”
A familiar whistle blew, alerting everypony in Canterlot station to the presence of the train. This sound was soon accompanied by the presence of the train itself. Fortunately for the four friends, it wasn’t uncommon for fillies to ride alone when visiting relatives, on family business, or when attending performances or events from Ponyville to Manehattan.
Soon the train was away with the four unicorns in tow. They watched through the window as the scenic city of Canterlot grew smaller and smaller.
“Wow, I didn’t even know the train even had a station at White Tail Woods.” Twinkleshine said, pointing to the platform just ahead of them.
“How else would ponies get to see the Smokey Mountains? It’s not like anypony wants to walk all the way from Tall Tale, the hiking trail is all the way on this side of the mountain. It’s dangerous to climb from any other side, especially considering the terrain.” Lyra explained. “That said, doesn’t this make the Undiscovered West even more suspicious? We have a train station just a few miles from this undiscovered area, wouldn’t it make sense for somepony to have mapped that place out by now? I say it can only be a conspiracy.”
“Or maybe it’s undiscovered because n-n-nopony’s ever returned.” Lemon suggested timidly.
“Welp, there’s only one way to find out!” Minuette replied. “C’mon, just think of it as an adventure or maybe a vacation, I even brought my camera to commemorate the event.” She took that opportunity to snap a photo of Lemon and Lyra.
The train blew its horn as it pulled into the station and soon the four mares were trudging through the undergrowth.
“Are you sure you know where we’re going?” Lemon asked Minuette. “We’ve been walking for a few hours now and I still don’t see the trail from the map.”
“Maybe where we’re going, there are no roads!”
Lyra couldn’t stay quiet at that. “Of course there are roads, there have to be roads! The map said so, besides, we’re not even out of the forest yet. According to the map there should be a clearing coming up soon.”
“Minuette, please quit making movie quotes, you’re upsetting Lyra.” said Twinkleshine, a tired look in her eyes. Usually Lyra understood Minuette’s jokes, but at that moment she was in what the others referred to as conspiracy mode. Whenever she was like this she was so busy digging for answers , speculating, forming theories, etc. that she failed to recognize when ponies weren’t being serious. More often than not this got annoying fast. Twinkleshine desperately hoped she wouldn’t be like this the whole trip.
It was night by the time they made it out of the forest and into the clearing. Minuette thought they should all collect firewood since there weren’t many trees along the path. She may have been a goofball most of the time but she could be reliable when necessary.
After setting up camp they made a campfire, Minuette took a few pictures, they ate some of the dinner they’d each packed in their saddlebags, and told ghost stories. Well, Lyra mostly had cryptid stories like the one about Mist Dwellers who come out on foggy days and steal ponies away for reasons unknown. Lyra was a big Marey Hijinx fan, though a lot of Marey’s work involved studying magical beasts, she did delve into cryptid tales on occasion. She even went so far as to write the book based solely around such mythical creatures which Lyra had brought with her.
Of course Lemon was a mixture of terrified and intrigued. On one hoof she loved animal sciences and learning about new species always filled her with joy, on the other hoof Lyra’s descriptions of their behavior and pony-focused aggression was far from comforting especially given their circumstances. There were already so many ways things could go wrong and these stories were only adding to her worries.
Lemon slept fitfully that night. She couldn’t stop thinking of worst case scenarios. It was two in the morning before she finally got to sleep.
Sunlight peaked through the canopy above as birds chirped their usually pleasant melody. Though these sounds were usually a comfort to Lemon Hearts, on this day, in this setting, they seemed almost an omen of the horrors to come. She shrank back and positioned herself closer to the ground as they walked. “Are you sure we’ll be alright out in the open like this? I feel so vulnerable out here.”
“Don’t worry Lemon, it’s not like we’re gonna get attacked. Nopony’s out here and if there’s any trouble we’ve got magic on our side. If nothing else we could always run.” Minuette said, falling behind to match Lemon’s pace. “Besides, we’re following this trail, so there’s no way we’ll get lost.” she gave a reassuring grin as though she could transfer her carefree nature through a simple facial expression.
“Are you sure? What if our magic doesn’t work and we’re not fast enough to get away?”
“Well then we’ll be dead; but death comes for everypony, life’s no fun if you don’t take any chances.” Minuette replied as cheerfully as she could given the subject matter. “If we’re meant to die today, we’ll die even if we try to avoid it so it’s better just to enjoy the time we have.”
“I-I guess you’re right. Okay, I’ll try to have fun then I guess. I mean, what you said makes sense and I don’t wanna be the one bringing everypony else down either. I-if it h-happens, it happens.” Lemon gulped as if in doing so she could swallow down her nerves.
Minuette gave Lemon a concerned glance. “You don’t sound very convinced. Well, in any case I don’t think it should come to that. This’ll just be a fun nature trip and we’ll all laugh about it later.”
“Wh-Whatever you say, let’s just catch up to the others for now. If we’re left behind we really might get into trouble.” No matter what they said, Lemon just couldn’t stop worrying. It was true that she wanted everypony to have a good time but she just couldn’t get used to the solitude.
All her life she’d been surrounded by reliable, responsible ponies. On field trips there were always teachers and chaperones, at home she had her parents, anywhere else in Canterlot there was the police and Celestia’s royal guard. Here there were no authority figures, there were no safety bars, there was nopony who could help them. Worse, if Lyra was right, those very authorities may be against them.
“How much longer?” Lyra grumbled. “It feels like we’ve been on this trail for hours already.”
“Unfortunately this map doesn’t account for distance, but I’d guess that we’re still a couple days out at least since this is about two and a half times the distance from Ponyville to Canterlot.” Twinkleshine replied.
“And how do you figure that?”
“I’m glad you asked that Lyra, my friend. You see, according to some old books I read for my Equestrian history project it usually took half a day on average for pegasi to fly from Ponyville to Canterlot back before the railroads. And that was on a good day. Since we’re walking I figure we’re going at most half their speed so it’ll take double the time to go the same distance if the weather holds up and we don’t have to make too many unnecessary stops along the way. I used my hoof for measure and we’re not going in a straight line so overall it’s not very accurate, but if anything it’ll probably take longer.”
“So based on what you’re saying it’ll probably take about six days there and back; if not more, not including the time we spend there? Why didn’t you tell us sooner? Do we even have enough food between us for six days?” Lemon asked.
“Calm down, I didn’t say anything because I didn’t think of it until after we’d already left camp and if we run out of food we can probably scavenge or eat grass if absolutely necessary. It might be a bit… savage, but we spent a whole month planning this trip and I don’t intend to head back with my tail between my legs now.”
Lemon glared at Twinkleshine. “A month, more like three days in a month. We had like six or seven meetings about this and most of those devolved into us simply hanging out or speculation about what was going to be out here. We’re lucky we even remembered to pack food! But everypony just keeps saying ‘it’s fine, Lemon’, ‘calm down, Lemon’, ‘it’ll work itself out, Lemon.’ Well I’ve done what you’ve asked, I’ve tried to stay calm, but how can anypony stay calm in a situation like this? All this time I thought at least you had a plan, but nooooo, this whole time you didn’t even have a clue, did you?”
“Um... L-Lemon, you should really-” Twinkleshine stuttered.
“No Twinkleshine, I’m done taking listening to your reassurances, I’m done with this trip. You can do whatever you want but I’m going…”
Wham! Just then something slammed into Lemon’s flank with a force unknown to the mare. She was suddenly weightless, all comprehension flew out of her mind as she felt her body fly through the air. As her limp form hit the ground and her consciousness faded all she could think was So this is it. It’s… all my fault.
It was dark when Minuette came to. The ground felt rough, cold. She soon realized that the darkness wasn’t absolute, in an area some distance behind her she noticed a dim light suspended from the darkness. Is this… a cave? How did I end up here?
She closed her eyes and thought back to the last thing she remembered. “I was walking with my friends. Then Lemon got into a fight with Twinkleshine. I saw Lemon go flying, I was about to go over and help her but then… then everything went dark.” Is Lemon okay? What happened to the others? If only I’d seen what happened, we might still be together. I want to go back. Please, Celestia, let me fix this!
She felt a burning feeling on her flank and when she opened her eyes she found herself in a hall. It’s walls shined an iridescent blue. The walls behind her were strewn with images of her past and before her stood many branching hallways filled with images she didn’t recognize. All this was so unfamiliar to her, yet she felt like she understood. This was a timeline, her timeline. After taking in her surroundings, she looked to her flank. There sat an image of an hourglass, like the ones she had grown so fond of collecting.
When the initial shock faded she felt a strange tug in her mind. Minuette followed this feeling and quickly found an image of Lemon walking along the trail. She raised her hoof to touch the image and when she blinked again, she was there, looking at Lemon. The light blue mare stopped in her tracks.
“Minuette, why did you stop? Is something wrong?” Lemon asked.
“L-Lemon? I-is that really you?” Minuette asked, still staring wide eyed at the mare before her.
“Who else would it be? Minuette, are you feeling…“ Lemon’s gaze drifted. “alright? Um… Minuette, I don’t really know how to say this, but you’ve uh, I mean when did you?”
Lyra was the one who said it first. “Minuette, is that a cutie mark? But how? I swear I looked back a couple minutes ago and you were blank!”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know how I got here. Well I kind of do, but it doesn’t make a lick of sense, ya know? Well I mean it kind of does, but not in a way I can really put words to.”
“Woah there, slow down. We’re not going anywhere until you explain this. You’ve been here the whole time. What do you mean?” Twinkleshine said, trying and failing to sound calm.
“Okay, it’s pretty out there though, so I need you to believe me.”
“S-So you can travel through time?” Lemon asked timidly.
“It seems that way; but I think I can only travel to my own past, not anypony else’s.”
“Does that mean you can travel to the future too?” Twinkleshine was beaming. It was as though she’d just found out Minuette was secretly a talent scout who wanted her in their next film.
“I’m not sure because I haven’t tried but I have the feeling that’s impossible. I can look all I want but I only saw pictures, some of them were pitch black. I couldn’t even be sure what was going on in a few of the ones I could make out. Even if I could I think it would be more dangerous than useful. I could accidentally stumble into a future where I’m already dead.” Minuette replied, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof.
“I wonder what kind of creature it was. I can’t wait to see it for myself!” Lyra declared.
“What? Did you not hear any of what I just said? Whatever it is, it’s hostile to ponies, fast, and very powerful. There’s no way we can go any further.”
Twinkleshine walked over to Lyra and smacked her across the muzzle. “Seriously Lyra, you’re gonna get yourself killed! We all understand that you want to unravel the mysteries of Equestria, but you won’t be doing anything of the sort if you’re dead.”
“And you’re saying we should just go home? That after all this we’re gonna just turn tail and run? This trip was supposed to be my big break, I’m finally on the verge of finding something to prove the existence of humans or at least uncovering some hidden truth about Equestria and you guys just wanna get in the way of that.”
Twinkleshine put a hoof over her friend’s withers and gave an expression she hoped would express sympathy. “Lyra, Minuette already saved us once, would you rather die for real this time? Even if we were imprisoned like Minuette, how do you intend to spread that truth from some cell? I’m not saying this because I want to leave, I’m saying this because we have to if we want to live. I don’t want any of my friends to die or be imprisoned by some beast. You’re all too important to me to lose over some stupid trip.”
“So, what do you say?” Lemon asked. “Will you come back with us?”
Lyra furrowed her brow. “Oh, alright, you win. I’ll go back for now. But make no mistake; I’m not running away, one of these days I’m definitely gonna come back. And when I do, I’ll uncover the truth behind all of this.”
As the Sun made way for the Moon, they set up camp once more. Though they were finally heading home, it was as escapees or refugees. Minuette wasn’t sure which word fit better.
The mood was heavy around the camp, as though there were an unseen pressure pushing down on all of them. They all just sat around the campfire, eating donuts and cold hayburgers. Lemon was the first to break the silence.
“When we get back, we should go to Donut Joe’s for Minuette’s Cuteciñera. Maybe we can get Twilight and Moondancer to come this time.”
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Lyra replied, “but I’m pretty sure if you could get Twilight to come, getting Moondancer to join us would be easy.”
Twinkleshine finished chewing a bite of burger and swallowed. “Should we really get them involved in this? They didn’t even want to come in the first place. This just feels like something that would be nice to keep between the four of us, at least for the time being.” She giggled before saying “Imagine the look on their faces when they suddenly see Minuette with a cutie mark. If we don’t mention it they might feel more inclined to hang out with us, at least for a while. Celestia knows they both need something like this to get them out of their shell.”
“When should we tell them then?” asked Lyra pointedly.
“How about a special occasion?” Minuette replied. “Twilight might be hard but if we can get Moondancer to invite us to something, that would be perfect!”
Twinkleshine nodded, “Of course it couldn’t just be an invitation to hang out. It has to be official, like a party or a concert, maybe even an invitation to go swimming. And it would be best if both of them were there.”
Lyra scoffed, “As if that would ever happen. They’ve never once invited us to anything. I don’t even think they have anything to invite us to.”
“Even if it never happens we can still just keep it between us as a mark of our friendship.” Lemon said before taking another bite of her cream-filled pastry.
In time they finished their food and headed off to bed. Twinkleshine and Lemon in one tent, Lyra and Minuette in the other.
As Minuette was about to drift into sleep, she was interrupted by the sound of Lyra’s voice.
“Hey Minuette, are you alright?”
“What do you mean?” she asked, her back turned to Lyra.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a little while now, but didn’t you have to watch Lemon, y’know…” she made a grim expression.
“Die?”
“Yeah, that.”
“Well, I couldn’t be sure at the time. I thought she might still be alive but looking back on it, there was a lot of… blood” Just thinking about it made Minuette shiver.
“And?” Lyra said expectantly.
“‘And’ what?”
“And it probably hurts, right? Seeing that kind of thing. So, if you want to talk about it or how you’re feeling, I want you to know I’m here for you. This probably sounds cheesy as Tartarus, sorry if I’m making things awkward.” Lyra buried her head in her hooves.
Minuette turned to face Lyra, tears trailed down her cheeks, “No, you’re right. It was painful. More in hindsight than at the time. I was just… so helpless, y’know. That entire time, I wasn’t able to do anything. I’d told Lemon beforehand that if we were in danger we could run, that if we die then it was just our time. It was destiny. But now not even that seems true and I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
“How did you even keep all this in? You seemed so happy at the campfire?”
The light blue unicorn sniffled before saying, “You can keep a secret, right?”
“Of course.” Lyra replied in a serious tone.
Minuette sighed, “I always feel like I gotta stay upbeat, like everypony else is relying on me to stay upbeat and make them feel like everything’s gonna be fine. But even I feel fear and pain. I don’t know that everything will be alright, only that panic would only make things worse. There are times when I feel like I want to break down and cry too but I just can’t, y’know. If I show them I’m also scared or sad or lost, then what do they have to believe in? If I panic, I just know they’ll panic too.”
There was a long silence as Minuette’s feelings seemed to almost permeate the enclosed space. For a moment, Minuette thought Lyra might just go to sleep. She couldn’t blame her, they’d both had a long day.
Then Lyra spoke, “When you panic, when you’re afraid, when you’re in pain, just remember that we’re all here with you. We’re there for you just like you’re here for us and together we can get through anything. Last time we were caught off guard but you still managed to save our flanks. You don’t have to be alone in this though, we can help. I can help.”
“You make it sound so simple.” Minuette said, wiping the tears from her eyes.
“Look, we’re all friends here, we rely on each other. When other ponies made fun of me for my belief in cryptozoology Lemon stood up for me. Friends are there for you even in times of difficulty and even when there’s no way for them to help, just knowing that gives me strength to overcome my own challenges. We all knew you had feelings, all you ever need to do is ask and we’ll be there for you in whatever way we can. So when you can’t be strong, we’ll be strong for you. It’s true that we need the same from you sometimes but when you need us, we can be there. If nothing else; even if we can’t be there physically, even if we’re dead and gone, always know that we’re there in your heart cheering you on.”
“That’s… really cheesy” the blue mare said, then smiled.
Lyra giggled. “Yeah, it really is, isn’t it?”
“But okay, and thanks Lyra. Thanks for listening.”
“Anytime.” she yawned.
“Tired? Well me too, I guess a good night’s rest is something we all need.”
“Got that right. Night, Minuette.”
“Night, Lyra.”
Lemon was the first to wake. She’d always been a punctual pony and almost never woke up later than half past six in the morning. As she opened her eyes she made note of the ceiling of her tent and her unfamiliar surroundings.
“So it wasn’t just a dream.” she mumbled to herself before removing herself from her sleeping bag and stretching her hooves. She opened her saddlebags and removed a comb. As she brushed her mane she thought over the events of the past few days.
It all seemed like fiction to her, like she’d stepped into a storybook. Time travel, huh?
Even if it were limited to one pony, this was a big change. What do we do moving forward? What profession does a time travelling pony even end up in? How many times will she relive the same events? Will she just change completely one day with no explanation other than some events I never got to be a part of? Or maybe she’ll always know just the right thing to say because she’s already lived through whatever conversation we have.
Lemon walked out of her tent and looked out at the fields and forest surrounding their camp. She was happy to be going home, but uncertain about what would change from now on and how to feel about it. Maybe nothing would change or maybe it was better if she acted like nothing had changed regardless of circumstances. In a single instant, her life had become a maelstrom of uncertainty. And what about Minuette, how will all this affect her?
The yellow mare knew it was probably better not to worry about it, yet still she worried. She worried as she gathered more sticks and started the fire up again. She worried as she made a sandwich for each of the still sleeping ponies. She worried as she watched the morning sun rise above the trees. And she worried as each of her friends woke up, ate the breakfast she’d prepared, and packed their bags once again.
Lemon hadn’t even realized when Minuette waved a hoof in her face.
“Helloooo, Equestria to Lemon, anypony home?”
“Huh, what?” Lemon replied, nearly tripping over her hooves in surprise.
“I was asking if you were excited to go back home. Is something bothering you?”
Lemon sighed, “It’s… nothing.”
“Are you sure about that?” asked Minuette, giving her friend a look of concern.
“It’s my problem, nothing you have to concern yourself with.”
“Not sure if you’ve noticed this, Lemon, but we’re friends. Your problem is my problem.”
“I know that, it’s just… difficult. I mean, talking about that with you is… um… kind of… y’know.”
“Oh, so it has to do with me then. But isn’t that all the more reason to talk to me about it?”
“Well, I guess. Promise you won’t get upset?”
Minuette gave her a sly look, “Have I ever really gotten mad at you?”
“No, but still.”
“Fine, if it makes you more comfortable then I promise.”
“Thank you. It’s not really so much you as your cutie mark. For one thing, I’ve never heard of a cutie mark giving a pony an ability, usually it’s the other way around. But more importantly, I’m worried about how this will affect us as friends. Like what if you suddenly change on me and I don’t know why?”
Minuette thought for a moment, “As for why it happened this way, I’m not sure myself. I’ve always had a fascination with time and some spells associated with it, but I’d never tried casting any of them before. But when it happened it all made sense to me, like shifting perspective rather than a spell. As for the second part, don’t worry about that. I’ll be sure to explain why I’m acting a certain way when I can if not immediately and I don’t plan on going too far into the past unless I absolutely have to anyway. The further back I go, the longer the walk.”
“But even if that’s the case, how can I know that you’re not just giving me the right answers or saying what I want to hear because you already know how I’ll respond?”
No matter how she thought, she couldn’t come up with a solution. Eventually she decided to just say what came to mind, plain and simple, “You can’t I guess, but I’ll tell you now that I wouldn’t do that to you unless I really had to and I’d tell you about it later if I could. That kind of thing feels wrong to me anyways. Friends should come at least somewhat naturally. Like, I’d consider it okay to maybe go back and talk to somepony I hadn’t talked to before, but going back to make myself look better in their eyes just seems like cheating. In any case you’re just gonna have to trust me. Is there anything else?”
“A few more things.”
“Then we went home and celebrated at Donut Joe’s. All in all the trip was probably a bit more important to me than anypony else. Especially considering all the events we’ve gone to since then.” Minuette might have said more if Lemon hadn’t chosen that moment to speak up.
“It was important to me, Minuette and I became better friends for that trip and that was the first time she saved my life.”
“Wait, what do you mean by events?” Moondancer asked.
Twinkleshine smiled, “Oh, since Minuette can go back in time, she can tell us about events we would’ve missed otherwise, like Twilight’s first party in Ponyville and Canterlot Carousel’s going out of business sale, well, before Rarity decided it wasn’t going out of business. We even got to take part in the Hearths Warming play thanks to her ability. She’s always able to give us enough advance notice to get away from work or take work with us. Our lives weren’t nearly as exciting before that trip, even Lemon’s gotten a bit more bold.”
“It was a shame you never got to practice your magic out there though, Twinkleshine.”
“Oh, that was just an excuse. Really all I wanted was an adventure with some of my best pals. Canterlot may be full of things to do but after a while you start to get bored with the same old things. It’s more of a shame we had to cut it short.”
Minuette looked outside and noticed the moon was already beginning its ascent into the night sky, “Anyway, looks like it’s getting pretty late. Didn’t think that story would take so long. We should really start heading home soon”
The others all agreed, each saying their own version of the same sentiment before they all parted ways and headed back home for the night. Tomorrow is a new day, thought Minuette, and I can’t wait to see it firsthoof!
Author's Note
I do intend to write more about these five, and look forward to doing so. This first chapter has been pretty fun to write and helped me solidify some new headcanons for what are now some of my favorite background ponies. Once again, all these colorful horses belong to Hasbro and Lauren Faust, I just enjoy writing about them.
As before, constructive criticism is always welcome. And I hope you all have a wonderful day. 
