Back to Equestria

         Applejack snorted. "Fiff?"

                The older colt, already enraged, grew even angrier. "Somethin wrong with my name, filly?"

                "Naw, s'just Ah don't understand why you think 'Fiff' is less ridiculous than 'Filthy'."

                "Ain't no-one calls me Filthy!" The young Filthy Rich lowered his head and began running, meaning to ram the pair of Apples.

                Little Mac’s eyes widened, and he began to shake. The orange mare just rolled her eyes, and swiftly sidestepped, tugging Macintosh right along with her.

                Oblivious, Fiff barreled past them, and straight into a passing wagon. This wagon happened to be filled with manure. The colt plowed into the pile of fertilizer, until only his legs and tail could be seen, which he began to thrash, violently.

                And uselessly, as they were several feet off of the ground. Little Macintosh stifled a giggle.

                AJ looked at him, also chuckling. “Did he deserve that?”

                “Definitley.”

                “Well, tha’ts good then, innit?” She smiled. “You wanna help me find my friend?” The young colt nodded. “Alright. She should be pretty easy t’spot. She’s pink, her hair looks like cotton candy, and she’s crazy ‘bout parties.”

                “She really likes parties?”

                “Naw, she’s crazy about parties.”

                “Celestia, I don’t think this is working.”

                “Try again, Marty. We don’t want you dropping dead now, do we?”

                The teenager sighed, then turned again to focus on doing magic.

                He was standing in the throne room, along with Celestia and Spike the Pegasus. Resting in front of him was a simple earthen mug, standing atop a small table. Celestia was watching keenly, and Spike was jumping in the air, trying to fly.

                Furrowing his brow, Marty glared at the mug. Imagine the entire mug, then don’t. Celestia gave infuriatingly vague instructions.

                A thought occurred to him. He reached out, this time with his hands, rather than his thoughts. The princess gave him a curious look, but said nothing.

                First, the time traveler imagined picking up the mug, with his hands. He imagined how it felt, how heavy it was.

                Then, he forgot about it, yet still held it. A not entirely unfamiliar sensation, forgetting about something he was holding. Ignoring something in his hands, seeing past it. Not unlike playing music.

                The mug seemed to sparkle, and then was encased in a dark blue glow. Grinning, Marty imagined lifting it. The mug complied.

                “Nice goin, dude.” Spike complemented from across the room.

                “Th-thanks.” He couldn’t quite believe it himself. “It feels… weird, kinda like-“

                He was interrupted by another sensation coming from the mug, aside from him holding it. It was a sudden sucking feeling, which pulled at his entire being, without moving him an inch. Marty grunted.

                The earthen cup began to spin, rapidly, in mid-air. The teen fell to his knees as light began to seep out of his hands, his eyes. The light was a pale blue, and quickly evacuated itself from the teen and into the spinning inferno, which began to glow.

                As quickly as it began, it stopped. Marty fell to the floor, groaning, and the mug ceased spinning, coming to a rest once again on the table. It seemed to be filled with a glowing, white-blue liquid.

                Celestia approached it, then cautiously picked it up with her own magic, eyeing it. “Congratulations, Marty. This was much more magic than I expected. I once again applaud you for not dying.”

                The human slowly sat up, grumbling. “Gee, thanks.”

                “I’m sorry that I tricked you in such a way, but it was necessary. I enchanted this mug to draw and store excess magic, and as such I needed you to be unaware, so that you wouldn’t hold back.”

                “Naw, I get it. Just… ow.” He gave the small table an angry look, then waved his hand at it.

                The table encased itself in the same dark-blue glow, and then flew across the room, in time with Marty’s hand motion. Celestia looked immensely pleased. “I knew you could do it!”

                The teen gave her sudden enthusiasm a quizzical look. “uh, thanks?” The alicorn blushed slightly, checking herself.

                Spike slowly trotted towards them. “So, now what?”

                “Well, since young Marty here isn’t on the verge of death anymore, you two can begin to go fix things.”

                The dragon-pegasus started. “Fix things?”

                “Yes. You two arrived… incorrectly. What should have been a stable time loop has become unstable, and the effects are already starting to kick in.”

                Marty jumped at this. “Effects? What effects?”

                “Well, from what I can ascertain, you stopped something from happening, As to what, you wouldn’t-“ The princess caught herself. Marty cocked an eyebrow.

                Ignoring him, she continued. “As to what, I don’t know. I can only trust you to go and fix what you’ve set wrong.”

                The human shook his head. “Hang on, I don’t think-“

                “Wait a minute!” Spike interrupted him. “Princess, what exactly is changing?”

                Celestia tittered. “There is a large amount of landscape, changing, at the fringes of Equestria. Long-extinct magical plants are springing into existence, and the world is being permeated by darkness. By last count, there are over six thousand Moon Trees near the Crystal Empire, and that number is steadily growing.”

                “But how are we doing that?”

                “Because, my little pony-“ Spike rolled his eyes at the cliché remark, which now applied to him, “-Whoever is doing this is reaching backwards from some point in the future, somehow. Somepony who would have been defeated, until you arrived, and changed that pony’s fate.”

                Marty frowned. “Who could possibly do-?”

                Once again, Spike cut his friend off, this time by turning and pushing him towards the door. “Whelp, thanks for your help, Princess! We should be going now, off to save the world! Or save the pony who saves the world, but whatever! Bye!” The young colt shoved the human out of the grand entrance, and slammed the door shut behind him.

                Celestia sat, stunned. Well, to be honest, she thought to herself, I don’t really know how else I expected it to end. It was nice to see Marty again, though. I wish I hadn’t been so blunt with him.

The regal alicorn turned to leave the throneroom, humming to herself. Assuming he’s successful, I’ll see him again in a few years. AND Luna. And…

                She stopped, her expression turning sad. And… Emmet. Oh, dear.

                “Spike! What the hell?!”

                “I know what we did wrong!”

                The small Pegasus was pulling Marty through the royal hallways with alarming speed. The human stumbled along behind him, trying to keep up. “What?!”

                “I know what we did! We need to go fix it, fast!”

                “What did we do?”

                “Twilight!”

                Marty gave the Spike a quizzical look. “How did we…?”

                “She’s told me the story, like, a bazillion times!” The colt rambled, frantically looking for the exit. “She went to the Summer Sun Celebration in Canterlot, this one, and saw Celestia raise the sun. That’s what inspired her to go to the school!”

                “What school?”

                “Celestia’s private school for ‘gifted unicorns’.” he inhaled deeply. “It’s because she saw Celestia that she went to the school that she became Celestia’s student that she went to Ponyville that she met her friends that she found the Elements that she saved the world!” Spike let out the entire thing in one go, gasping for air.

                “The… elements?” Marty thought back. “Wait, those Elements of Symphony?

                “No, the- ah, whatever. Yes!”

                “Alright, so all we gotta do is go and talk to her, convince her to try and sign up for this school, and hey presto! So where is she?”

                “Hopefully she’s at her parents house. But we’ve gotta get there fast!”

                Applejack and Little Macintosh were having a bit of trouble, finding Pinkie Pie.

                Asking the ponies around town was no use. Nopony had seen a ‘crazy pink earth pony’ anywhere, and the town was too different from the Ponyville Applejack knew for her to navigate efficiently.

                Lil Mac was beyond helpful, asking every pony in sight about Pinkie. However, the pair of Apples were still being tailed by a certain, smelly brown pony. Fiff had taken to stalking them, not long after he freed himself from the manure cart. He not-so-subtly sulked in the alleys behind them, waiting from them to be alone.

                Anxious, AJ had steered her brother out of harm’s way and into the throng, keeping the search to the crowded areas of Ponyville. An easy feat, considering their current tactic of asking anypony they saw. Unfortunately, that tactic wasn’t working.

                The orange mare frowned. She could easily take on this stupid colt, but Macintosh couldn’t. They needed help.

                Glancing up, Applejack was greeted with a familiar sight. The leafy branches of a familiar library, just a few houses down. She grinned, grabbed her little-big brother, and broke into a gallop. Fiff followed.

                The cowpony glanced backwards to be greeted by the sight of an angry brown pony, a few dozen feet back. She growled. Motherbucker!

                Quickly, they reached the door of the tree-library. The door was painted a peeling brown, instead of red. She tossed Macintosh inside the dark building, before quickly following and slamming it shut.

                Applejack grabbed her brother and held him low. The stoic little colt didn’t speak a word, absolutely trusting of this cousin he had never met before.

                Noises came from outside. The mare turned to face the only source of light in the room, a dirty window. The shadow of Fiff, peering inside, obstructed it.

                After a moment, the young bully snorted and left. AJ let out a sigh.

                “Wh-who’s there?” a shaky voice came from the other side of the dark room. Both Apples whipped their heads around to face it.

                An elderly mare, dressed in a bathrobe, slowly descended the stairs, a flame-lantern held in her mouth. “The library’s closed, young-uns. Yyyyou’ll have to come back between five-thirty and six.”

                Applejack blinked. “Paper Sheets?”

                Paper Sheets was Applejack’s old librarian, before she had retired with the arrival of Twilight Sparkle in Ponyville. AJ hadn’t seen her much, but she had seen her before enough that she was recognizable

                And old, even now. “Why, I do-o-o-on’t know how this much dust managed to acu-u-u-u-umulate, I must’ve forgotten to open yesterday.” The wisened pony blinked, befuddled.

                The younger mare glanced around. By the light of Paper’s lantern, she could tell that the dust was coating everything. It seemed that Paper Sheets had forgotten to open the library for quite a while. “Uh, Miss Sheets, is everything okay?”

                “Don’t let that Grass boy come in here, y’hear?” The wrinkly mare didn’t hear her, merely continued one half of her own private conversation. “He says he brings me food, but I know he’s here to steal it. They’re all here to steal it.”

                Applejack gave a worried look down to Little Macintosh, who merely shrugged.

                Paper continued with her ranting. “But oh! I ke-e-e-eep it safe, so no-one will get it. I have it here, you see.” She reached into the folds of her robe, and withdrew…

                …a dented old watch, hanging from a chain. AJ noted with some amusement that it was running backwards. The trinket turned on its chain, and the cowpony could make out a faded inscription on the back, “Starswirl”.

                Applejack rolled her eyes. “Miss Sheets, Ah’m sorry we interrupted you. We’ll just be leaving.”

                “I-it’s safe, you know. I keep it safe.”

                “Oh, Ah’m certain, Miss Sheets. You do a good job, too. We’ll be seein ya round, okay?”

                The old mare nodded, and AJ turned to leave, followed closely by a very confused Macintosh. She opened the door.

                And then it exploded.

                Marty followed Spike through the town, growing uncomfortable being on the receiving end of several odd looks.

                Canterlot was massive, far larger than the simple palace it seemed to be from the outside. The cobbled streets continued around every side of the mountain, culminating in several small suburbs that were just as prosperous as the palace region.

                Spike moved quickly through these streets, navigating them coolly, easily. The small purple colt was difficult to spot, among the crowded streets. The human, on several occasions, had to call out for his small friend, after losing his view.

                Eventually, they arrived at a small manor house, facing outwards onto one of the foothills. Spike pointed with his hoof, and they stood at the front door.

                Marty shrugged. “Now what?”

                The small pony grimaced. “I dunno. I figured we’d come up with something on the way. Any ideas?”

                The time traveler thought for a moment. “I think so. How old would she be? About your age?”

                Spike scoffed. “A bit younger than that!”

                “Close enough?”

                The purple pegasus conceded. “Yeah, I guess.”

                “Alright. You just have to say you’re a friend of Twilight’s, wondering if she can play or something. Then we can talk to her, and get her interested in that school you mentioned.”

                “Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns?”

                “Right, that. I’ll go hide in those bushes.”

                Marty ducked into a nearby hedge, pushing stray branches out of his way. Once he was seated (un)comfortably, he gave Spike a thumb’s up.

                The young colt looked at him like he was crazy. The human just rolled his eyes and motioned for Spike to continue.

                Clearing his throat, the young pegasus trotted up and pressed the doorbell. After a moment, a pale-blue unicorn stallion with blue hair stuck his head out of the doorway. He glanced around, then looked down at Spike. “Can I help you?”

                “Uh, you’re Twilight Sparkle’s dad, right?” The not-dragon feigned ignorance, smiling broadly.

                Mr. Sparkle nodded. “Yes. Are you a friend of hers?”

                “Yeah, I was just wondering if she was home.”

                “Sorry, son, she went to the festival this morning. She’s been talking about it for weeks, I’m surprised that any friend of hers missed it.”

                “O-oh, okay.” Spike looked down, defeated.

                “Actually, young stallion, maybe you could tell me something.” Spike perked up at the sound of his name. “I heard there was a commotion at the parade grounds this morning, and that the festival went insane. Twilight is more than an hour late for when she was supposed to come home.”

                The younger pony’s eyes widened. His fears confirmed, Twilight’s father grew stern. “I see. If you’ll excuse me lad, I need to go find my daughter. You’re welcome to tag along.” The unicorn stepped around Spike and out the door, to begin trotting down the street.

                Spike whipped his head around to Marty. The human popped out of the bush for a moment, and then urged him on. Grimacing, the small pegasus trotted after Mr. Sparkle.

                Marty waited for a full minute, then crawled out of the shrub. Stretching his back, he looked down the cobbled mountain street. He sighed.

Let’s go over this, he thought. I’m seventeen years in the past, following a dragon that has turned into a pegasus who himself is following a unicorn who is looking for his daughter who is supposed to save the world, and I haven’t even had lunch yet.

                Another sigh. He ran down the street.

                Applejack blinked her eyes. Dazed, she blearily got to her hooves, shaking the ringing sound of the explosion from her ears. What the hay was that?

                “That was me!”

                A frizzy pink pony suddenly appeared in the cowpony’s vision, making her jump. “Gah! Wha…? Oh, Pinkie!” she shouted angrily. “Where the hay have you been?! Ah’ve been lookin all over hell an high water fer you!”

                “I was looking for the gang! I realized that I missed out on a whole bunch of birthday parties that I never thought about, from the birthdays they had before I met them! So I figured I was here, I might as well make use of the time. Good thing I brought my Party Cannon!” Pinkie spoke at a mile a minute, finishing with a flourish and presenting the large, pink cannon behind her.

                Applejack gave the infernal device a death-glare. It occupied the Library doorway, the ground beside it littered with confetti. “Pinkie, Ah don’t think y’need to give everypony all their old birthdays. Somepony else threw a party fer them all.”

                The pink pony gave her a wide-eyed look. “But… but they’re not Pinkie-Pie parties. How do I know if they were super-duper special enough?”

                The cowpony patted her friend on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, Pinkie. Ah’m sure they all had amazing parties, each an every one. Okay?”

                Pinkie Pie looked absolutely forlorn. “…Okay.” She snapped out of her funk almost instantly. “But AJ! You should still see everypony when they were really bitty! It’s adorable!” She made a kissy-face. “A-boo-boo-boo!”

                Applejack smirked. “Speaking of which… Pinkie, Ah’d like to introduce you t’mah cousin,” she nudged the pink pony, “Little Macintosh.”

                Macintosh hesitantly stepped into the light, out of the shadows of the library. Pinkie’s eyes widened, and her smile got even wider. “Oh-my-goodness…” She was almost whispering. “He-is-so-adorable.”

                Lil Mac gulped. “Uuh, Cousin Braeburn?”

                AJ nodded, ignoring Pinkie Pie’s snickers at her new name. “What’s up, hon?”

                “It’s Paper Sheets.” The young colt looked behind him. There, laying on her back, was the ancient librarian. She snored happily.

                Applejack chuckled. “Come on, Pinks. We should get Miss Sheets into her bed.”

                The party pony nodded, and the two mares set on getting the third one up the stairs. Macintosh waited patiently at the bottom of the steps.

                While the young colt was waiting at the bottom, he thought about life, as he often did in lieu of speaking. Cousin Braeburn sure is a lot like Applejack. Maybe she’ll stick around for a while.

Pause.

Ah wonder if she knows about the other Cousin Braeburn from Appleloosa. Relatives seem to use the same names a lot, but they never go and notice.

Pause.

What’s that?

                Macintosh’s attention was drawn to an object on the ground, glinting in the small amount of light. Uneasily stepping through the darkness, he reached down and retrieved it.

                It was an old bronze pocketwatch, attached to a small chain. He clicked it open, examining the small, delicate hands.

                It ran backwards. By the young colt’s figuring, it was still accurate twice a day, which was better than nothing. He flipped it over.

                Shakily scratched onto the back, in big, fanciful letters, was the name Starswirl. Intrigued, Macintosh examined the smaller engravings, which were stamped, and not scratched.

                Squinting, Lil Mac read the letters aloud. “1912… Germany? …Von Braugn?”

                Hoofsteps. The two mares were rapidly descending down the staircase. Quietly, he slipped the pocketwatch into his yoke.

                Applejack beamed at him. “Let’s go, coz.”

                “Eeyup.”

                The three earth ponies exited the old library, one of them bouncing as she walked. They began to turn down the road.

                “Hey, McTosh!”

                Only to be stopped again by a young Filthy Rich. He stood in the center of the street, a number of other colts behind him, close to his age. “You’re gonna pay for that trick with the manure, McTosh. I swear it. I challenge you…” He inhaled deeply.

                A hush fell over the crowd.

                “…to a standoff!” Fiff finished, triumphantly.

                The other colts cheered. Macintosh didn’t move, but his expression betrayed his fear. “Oookay.”

                The older colt blinked, obviously expecting resistance. “Okay? Uh, right then. Tonight, at sundown. Me and you, one on one. If I win, you can never leave your precious little farm ever again!”

                More cheering.  Lil Mac nodded, his slight frame shaking. “A-and if Ah win, Fiff, you gotta g-go an never bother me again, y’hear? An... An you’ll always have to call me Sir Macintosh.

                The crowd of colts behind Fiff “ooh”ed. He glared at them, grumbling. Finally, he turned back to the young Apple, his own voice shaking slightly. “F-fine. Prepare to get your flank handed to you, McTosh!”

                The small crowd of colts dispersed, leaving Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Macintosh.

                “Now, why’d you go an do that, Bi- Ah mean, coz?” AJ said, shaking her head.

                “Ah had to, Coz. He’s annoying.”

                Nopony spoke. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie jumped in the air, shouting. “Oh! Oh! I know what you need, Wittle Macintosh!”

                Never, never had either Apple seen a smile so wide on this pony’s face, which was a feat in itself. “You need some of my super-duper Pinkie-Pie’s very-special Wake-Up Juice!”

                Spike tailed Mr. Sparkle, and was in turn tailed by Marty McFly, making for quite the peculiar precession for anypony watching.

                First, there was Twilight’s father, Mr. Sparkle. The sight of him, by itself, was not an odd thing. The fact that his horn was aglow with a locator spell was a tad peculiar, sure, but everypony had their own business.

                Second, Spike. Having been a pony for not more than two hours, he was still having trouble walking correctly, occasionally tripping over his hooves, particularly on odd cobbles. That, combined with his unique coloration, made him a bit of an oddity.

                Third, of course, was Marty, who elicited the slack-jawed stares of every citizen who happened to see him. He smiled and waved to a few of them, which only drew more gaping looks. That gets old real fast, he thought to himself.

                Mr. Sparkle led them back through the main throng of the festival, and up into the palace again, Spike at his heels. He came to a halt at the entrance to the palace gardens.

                “Hmm.” He rubbed his chin, pensively.

                Spike furrowed his brow. “What’s wrong?”

                “There’s a strong dispelling field around the gardens, though I have no idea why anypony would place such a strong enchantment on a garden. Still, my spell won’t work anymore. At least, we know she’s in here, so now we just have to find her.”

                The older stallion looked down at the little colt. “Stick with me, kid. It’s pretty easy to get lost in this maze.” Spike nodded.

                Mr. Sparkle continued into the large fields, quickly being lost in the tall hedges. However, Spike remained where he was. “Marty!” He whispered, loudly. “Hey Marty!”

                “I’m right here.”

                Spike jumped, whirling his head around. “Awuhwuhg!” Nopony was there. “Marty? Did you learn how to become invisible?”

                Marty stepped out from behind a nearby bush. “No, I was behind this bush.”

                “Oh.”

                A pause. “So, she’s somewhere in here?”

                “That’s what Twilight’s dad said. This garden’s huge, though. I don’t know why she’s hiding in here, but if we split up, I think we can find her before her father does.”

                The teenager shook his head. “No can do, Spike. You have to go and talk to her by yourself.”

                The small pegasus was flabbergasted. “Me?! Why can’t you come?”

                Marty shrugged, folding his arms together. “She saw me, remember? When we first came here. She didn’t recognize me.”

                “So?”

                “So, why shouldn’t she recognize a strange-looking creature who helped to convince her to go to that school?”

                “So why wouldn’t she recognize me?” Spike argued. Then he blinked. “…Oh, right.” Grumbling, the young dragon-turned-pony turned to head into the gardens.

                He stopped. “How do you think of this stuff?”

                Marty grinned, ear to ear. “Like Doc always says. You just have to think four-dimensionally.”

                Spike wandered aimlessly through the gardens, encountering the occasional statue or sculpture.

Man, this place is HUGE. It’s gonna take forever to find Twilight at this rate! He thought. Continuing to grumble in this manner, he rounded another corner.

Bloody alien. I bet he’s just sitting there, playing his guitar, not a care in the world. I bet-

                ‘sniffle’

                The sudden sound cut him off. A small, innocent sniffling sound, coming from the bush to his left. Cautiously, he trotted around it. The sound grew louder, and Spike began to hear tiny sobbing. He broke into a gallop, rounding the closest hedge.

                He spotted her sitting at the foot of a large statue, crying. “Twilight!”

                The small lavender filly looked up. “Who’s there?”

                “Uh, hi.” Spike waved a hoof, sheepishly. “Why are you crying?”

                “Why do you care.” She glared back at the ground, angry. “I’m just some dumb little filly with no friends.”

                “That’s not true!”

                “How do you know?”

            The young colt blanched. “Well, uh, I’m your friend.”

            Twilight gave him a quizzical look. “I’ve never seen you before. How are you my friend?”

            Spike sat down next to the young filly, who had stopped crying. “Well, uh, I go to school with you, see.”

            “Then you know that I’m just a stupid blank-flank that’s not good at anything. It’s just-“ she sniffled again, wiping an eye, “-it’s just that I was really looking forward to seein the princess, an everything, and I didn’t think of anything else for months. Then I finally get to see it, and it’s ruined.”

            The small dragon-pony winced. “But, why does that make you sad?”

            “Because now I don’t have anything!” she cried. “The festival’s over, and I still don’t have friends, and I still don’t have a cutie mark. It was stupid. I’m stupid.”

            “You are not stupid, Twilight Sparkle!”

            Twilight jumped at Spike’s tone of voice. He continued. “You are without a doubt the most brilliant pony I have ever met. You shouldn’t say those kinds of things about yourself.”

            Twilight gave him a tiny smile. “Y-you mean it?”

            Spike returned it. “Of course I do. In fact,” the young pegasus added, cautiously, “I bet you could get into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.”

            The little filly’s face lit up. “No way!”

            “Totally way. I wish I had talked to you earlier, Twilight Sparkle.”

            Twilight blushed. “Gee, Celestia’s own school…” she gazed wistfully off into the distance. She smiled, and leaned backwards onto the statue’s base. “How come I’ve never seen you in class before?”

            Spike leant back as well. “Uh, I’m pretty shy, I guess.”

            “I know that feeling. You should come say hi!”

            The young colt looked away, guiltily. “I will. Definitely. But you have to promise me you’ll try for that school!”

            “Deal.”

            They sat under the statue, content. After a moment, a distant voice could be heard, from elsewhere in the gardens. “Twilight!”

            “Oh, that’s my dad. I gotta go.”

            Before the young pegasus could react, Twilight leaned over and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. Spike blushed and looked at her, dumbfounded. She giggled and galloped off, but stopped and looked back. “Seeya!” She rounded a corner and was gone.

             His face still cherry-red, Spike put a hoof to the cheek, rubbing it slowly. “S-see ya.”

            Dazed, the young colt got to his hooves and trotted off, leaving the base of the statue empty.

        It was Discord’s statue, of course, not that anypony noticed. He probably enjoyed that little moment as much as you did.