Changing Time

With John resting back at the lab, I decided to take a walk by myself. I was kind of worried about him, but he insisted that I take some time alone. I had my saddlebag with me, containing my doll, my time travel device, and both journals. I wanted to figure out why John's journal pages were all blank, I checked it out for invisible ink already, but nothing showed. I thought about where I might find the answer, but it was too risky. I couldn't travel through time again, at least not without telling John. I limped to a bench by the river and sat down, I took out my device to see if it was even worth it. All of the sudden, my ears perked up. I looked over my shoulder, to see a filly change into a stallion. I knew it was a changeling, and once it looked my way I panicked and entered a random date. After pressing the button I regretted it.

I knew I was on the same bench in Ponyville, so I flew shakily to the nearest hiding spot. I hid in a random apple tree near the lab. I put in the date on my device, but when I pressed the button, nothing happened! I knew it was just a small short in the circuits, because I programmed it to say what was wrong before it shut down to save the power. I was near the lab, but right as I was about to fly in I heard a sigh below me. I looked down to see the older John settling down with a book. I tried my best not to move, but as I positioned myself I bumped into an apple. I watched as it fell, along with my doll. The doll luckily landed on a branch slightly below me, but the apple hit John on the head.

"Ow!" I heard him yelp in his British accent. I knew I was already in trouble, so I reached down to grab my doll, when I slipped. I fell right in front of John. I saw the shocked look on the twenty two year old John's face. I grabbed my stuff quickly, and ran off, ignoring my limp.

I got into the lab, seeing that my bandaged hoof was throbbing in pain. I ignored it as I fixed my device as fast as I possibly could. I entered the date and quickly pressed the button as the door to the lab opened.

I appeared in the middle of the lab back in my own time, right in front of John.

"Hi John, uuuh how...how's your wing doing?" I stammered with a hilariously guilty looking smile on my face. It was obvious that I was hiding something, so of course I expected John to ask what I did or something along those lines.

"Candy, you should know it is not easy to fool me," John said, "What were you doing?" He said, while looking at a book and drinking some tea. I sighed, knowing I couldn't trick him this time.

"I...time traveled."  I felt a tear come to my eye as I braced myself for his response.

"Did any pony see you?" he asked calmly, still looking at the book

"You did...in the future." I started to cry a bit.

"Well if it was only me then we're fine." He said, sipping some tea.

"You aren't upset???" I asked, wiping away a tear.

"I can't really be upset, not good for my health." He said, not looking away from the book.

"Would you be upset if you weren't hurt?" I asked, tearing up once more.

"Not at all my dear, I mean, it was only me who saw you." John never looked up from his book once.

"I'm so sorr- huh?!" I said, shocked to see that he wasn't upset, nor would he be.

"Well, I do know about your ability of time travel, so It's not a big deal, and future you would know as well, any pony else would have thought you were our child." He said, still looking at the book.

"Child??" I shook my head changing the topic quickly, "So what ARE you reading?"

"Well, considering you and I have been living together, ponies might think that, you know how obnoxious and stupid ponies can get. Oh this book? Umm, cats and dogs, differences, I've already read almost all of the books in Twilights library. I thought I might look at something simple." John said, still not looking up.

"Neat! I'm uh...I'm gonna message Luna. Ask her if my mom has been captured yet." I lifted my bandaged hoof and stretched my bandaged wing, and then I limped over to my little desk. "Need anything while I'm up?" I asked John. He whispered something I couldn't hear and looked down. "I'm sorry what did you say?" I asked.

"Nothing, just some bread." He said, sadly. I could tell he was holding back some negative feelings, but I didn't want to make him upset, because I knew it would hurt him more.

"Toasted?" I sighed as I turned back to face him.

"Heh, I like to do that part myself." He said, obviously trying to make it seem like nothing had happened.

"John, is something wrong?? You know you'll only hurt yourself if you hold it back." I said, grabbing his bread.

"I am fine, I just hope you will never have to deal with what I am first hand, this shouldn't be handled by a normal pony. Heck, I'm lucky to just be alright." He said, working himself up and starting to tear up.

"But you KNOW I'm not a normal pony!" I said, holding back my red glow of anger. He then got up and flew off shakily, straight to the Everfree forest. I could tell that he was getting very upset, and that I wasn't helping. I limped out and flew to Everfree myself.

After an hour or two, I eventually found John, just sitting in the grass crying. "John...are you okay?" I asked, startling him. He was holding a music box, similar to the one he gave me, but it was more worn out, and it was playing a different tune.

"I wish they were still here." He said as he held the box closer. I knew what he was upset about at this point.

"John it's alright...they are still here," I pointed to the middle of his chest, where his two hearts touched. "and they love you. At least you're able to say that about them, because remember that while my mom loves me, she abuses me." I took a deep breath after saying that, "Also, you still have Doc...and isn't he you're blood father?"

"I'm sorry that you have to deal with worrying about me. About whether or not I'm dead. I wish I could make you happier. I'm sorry." John sighed sadly, ignoring my question. He sobbed into his music box as I hugged him.

"John I'm happier then ever! And while it may be hard at times remember...in the end," I turned his head to face me, "it's all worth it."

"I'm scared for you though." He said, he opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off,

"John, don't be scared for me. As long as we're together everything will be fine, I won't leave you alone again, especially in this state! now come on, let's get home so you can rest." I said as I teleported us back home with my own teleportation watch. He started to whisper about something to himself, but I couldn't hear it. "Come on John, please stop the whispering."

He had no pupils, and his eyes were pure white, and he sounded a lot different. "They are coming for us, they know about what I am, and who I am, and they know about you, we are not safe, we are not safe, because of me." Then he closed his eyes, and opened them and his pupils were back and he was sad again. I simply stood there, staring. John then fell asleep, I put him in his bed as I limped back to my desk.

"What...just...happened?" I thought out loud.