A Catalyst in Time

Prologue

A long time ago, Princess Celestia, ruler of the kingdom of Equestria, discovered that her Equestria was not the only Equestria. When ever an unusually significant even occurred, an event that completely changed the course of pony history, an alternate universe is created where that event never happened or a pony made an alternate choice. One such event, the successful completion of a Sonic Rainboom by a filly named Rainbow Dash during a race, completely altered the fate of six young mares, bringing them together irrevocably. In another Equestria, Rainbow Dash never did this spectacular feat, and the same six ponies are scattered across the country. With the return of Nightmare Moon drawing nigh, these ponies must somehow be brought together even in the absence of the Catalyst.

Chapter 1

Pinkamena Pie pushed away from her desk. Frustrated, she threw the rocks her sisters had harvested away from her and let out a small sob. She hated this job. Always had. The rock farming business was tedious at best and downright dreadful at worst. At twenty-one, she had to be the oldest blank flank in the history of Equestria. No, scratch that, in the history of the world. Rock farming obviously wasn't her super special talent, but with the death of her parents and the mysterious disappearance of her Granny Pie, it was up to Pinkamena to run the farm. Even though she was the youngest, her sisters Margaret Octavia, also known as Inkie and Maggie, and Blinkimina Marie, or Blinkie, had no business sense. Pinkamena hated it, but she was best equipped to handle the farm. Consoled, somewhat, by the idea that she was better than her sisters even if she was the oldest blank flank ever, Pinkamena brushed her stick straight mane out of her eyes and went back to the account books.

***

Twilight "Nopony" Sparkle drudged through the campus of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Having barely passed her entrance exam, she was still, even after years of study, in the "special" class, which was something like Magic for Dummies. Twilight was nopony special. In fact, she didn't even have a cutie mark. No matter how much effort Twilight put into her studies, she remained the "special needs" blank-flank, with no friends and no future. At nineteen, Twilight had given up on even the slightest hope of becoming anything worthwhile. Through her drudgery, Twilight noticed another pony coming toward her. No, Twi, she probably doesn't want to talk to you. Twilight thought. Her thoughts were confirmed when she saw who it was. Trixie. Celestia's private student. She'd never even look at somepony like Twilight. When Trixie opened her mouth Twilight was surprised into shock.
"Hey Twilight "nopony" Sparkle. Gotten even the most basic spell working?" Trixie sneered. Twilight opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by Trixie's next snide comment "No? Too bad you'll never measure up to Trixie, Celestia's most faithful, devoted, great and powerful student!" The blue unicorn walked away laughing, her pale blue mane rippling as she walked away from a dejected and hurt Twilight.
If I were Celestia's favorite student, I'd be much more humble about it... Twilight thought. Then she laughed bitterly. She was a dismal failure. She'd never be Princess Celestia's favorite student.

***

"Darling, please pass the peas," Aunt Orange commanded politely. Applejack, now nicknamed "Appletini" for the martini glass on her flank, obeyed. In the years she'd lived with her Aunt and Uncle Orange, her country upbringing was fading more and more. Sometimes Applejack thought even her freckles were fading. She was truly a city pony. A lady. Ignoring her relatives' guests, Applejack gazed demurely at her hooves. Delicate, danity, demure. The three D's of being a lady and a city pony. Applejack had them down pat. But honestly, she was miserable. Even though she had her cutie mark, at times even that seemed fake. Like a temporary placeholder until she got her real cutie mark. But she had to stay here. She hadn't once returned to Ponyville. At twenty-one, she was way too old for her brother and Granny to welcome her back.

***

"Alright you Dogs. We have diamonds and gems to find and you all are lazing about. No more insubordination from you. And if I hear of another dog skipping a tooth brushing, bath or manicure, there will be repercussions," bellowed a white unicorn from what looked like a rock dias in an underground tunnel. Before her stood dog-like creatures who walked on two legs and wore diamonds on their collars. They were incredibly rough and tumble, but clean. Queen Rarity liked them to be clean.
The dogs howled or nodded their consent to Rarity's orders and hustled out. Rarity was left alone with her thoughts, for a time. She would join the dogs soon on their hunt for gems, her spells proving more valuable than the dogs' noses. Except when they got too close to the edge of the Pie family's rock farm. Then her horn would invariably drag her to a huge boulder. An image of that boulder resided on her flank, an annoying mystery Rarity had yet to solve. It had all started on the opening night of an Elementary school play. She had designed the costumes, but there had been something missing. That evening, while trying to solve what that something was, her horn and unicorn magic had quite literally dragged her to a mysterious monolithic rock, as it continued to do periodically. There, she was kidnapped by the creatures calling themselves the Diamond Dogs and, unwilling to submit to captivity, subsequently made herself their queen. Once a prim and proper fashionista, Rarity was now harsher, though she still liked her dogs and herself to be clean. She wore her mane down now, not bothering to style it as she once had, letting it fall in waves down her shoulders. She lived in dirt, practically breathed it, but it no longer bothered her. But she always felt as if something was missing from her life. She had no art here. Nothing but the hunting of gems for her dogs. She glanced again at her cutie mark and it struck her as almost an image of and egg waiting to be cracked open, as if the real cutie mark lay beneath it.

***

Fluttershy huddled in the corner of her earthbound cottage, struggling not to succumb to the fear of other ponies she had maintained since nearly dying from a fall as a filly. She'd been caught, but barely, the swarm of butterflies she had landed on buckling under her weight. Since then, the only contact with the outside world had been when the doctors had removed her wings, deeming them unusable and broken beyond repair. Not that Fluttershy minded. She always preferred walking to flying. But the doctor who had treated her had also done some pretty terrifying experiments on her, trying to see if he could prompt her body to grow new wings, another experiment to try and artificially produce a cutie mark. He'd been caught by the authorities before he'd moved on to anything worse, but his experiments had taken hold. Fluttershy now had an unidentifiable cutie mark, something that resembled a mangled butterfly and child-size wings on an adult body, which made her something of a freak on the few times she'd ventured into town. So she stayed in the cottage she'd found near the edge of the Everfree Forest, only venturing out to get food and water, even though by avoiding other ponies, she felt as if she were denying some buried part of her nature. But the fear was too strong. In her heart she knew she wanted to be around other ponies, to help others, but the betrayals of her doctor and, to an extent, Rainbow Dash, her only childhood friend who had inadvertently caused her fall, had caused her to fear ponies with such a deep-rooted fear. Her strange appearance only added to that, since other ponies stared when she went near town. So Fluttershy stayed hidden, wishing to Celestia she had normal wings and a normal cutie mark so she could be normal.

***

Rainbow Dash went to work feeling like she always did: miserable. Not that making rainbows was fascinating, but that race always haunted her, even now, years later and at twenty-two years old. She'd not only lost, miserably, she highly suspected she may have inadvertently caused Fluttershy's death.
The pegasus search party that had gone looking for Fluttershy had never found anything to suggest that the shy filly was alive, nor had they found anything to suggest she was dead.
But Dash was haunted by a nagging guilt, convinced that her one true friend was dead and that it was her fault. The worst part was that Rainbow Dash could have saved Fluttershy had she not been so prideful. Wiping unexpected tears from her eyes, crying was so not her thing, she went back to the drudgery of rainbow making. It was the only thing she was good at anymore besides failing. Once, Dash had wanted to be a Wonderbolt, the best of the best, to fly and race with the best flyers in Equestria. But the death of Fluttershy and her dismal failure as a filly had dashed, no pun intended, those dreams. Rainbow Dash had quit flight school and joined Cloudsdale's weather makers, since she had yet to find her special talent and her flank was bare. But it was only a matter of getting through the days. Who cared if she was talentless? She had nothing worth trying for anymore.

***

Spike the dragon trailed behind Trixie wondering for the millionth time why he couldn't have stayed with the pony who'd actually hatched him. Twilight Sparkle HAD managed to hatch his egg, though he'd had to finish the job himself. They'd then taken her to the lowest level magic kindergarten while Spike was given to Trixie, the protege of Princess Celestia. Also known as the biggest pain in the rump Spike had ever met.
"Come on Spike! I have to try this spell to impress the Princess!" Trixie whined. "For I am destined to be great and powerful!"
"Coming oh Great and Annoying Trixie," Spike muttered. Spike sometmes wished Trixie was more than just his boss. What he really wanted was a friend.

***

Ditsy Doo, known as Derpy Hooves for her strange, walleyed stare, was watching all of this. Though many assumed her eyes were from an accident or injury, she'd actually been born with a rare, unique gift. Ditsy had interdimensional clairvoyance. Now to the laypony, this sounded confusing, even absurd, but this gift meant she could see across both the dimension she currently resided in and into other realities. In this dimension, a single altercation of a single even had completely changed the course of Equestrian History.
In another reality, six ponies had defeated Nightmare Moon, Celestia's imprisoned then escaped sister, transforming her back into Princess Luna with the powerful Elements of Harmony. In this dimension, Nightmare Moon had not yet returned and the dimensional counterparts of those six ponies were miserable. Ditsy intended to change their lives for the better. Gathering up her mailbags and kissing her daughter Dinky on the head, she headed clumsily to the palace in Canterlot with a message for Princess Celestia.