Chapters Rainbow Dash's impish yet alert cerise eyes tracked the arc of the sun as it began its slow descent just below the horizon – taking half a second to appreciate the way the effulgent amber light kissed the glittering, snow-capped peak of Mount Cayuse, the mountain standing over Ponyville like a monolithic guardian – but even though the expansive skies around her were beginning to shade from blue to grey, it was still more than bright enough for her to see clearly. The rising wafts of air pressing on her cyan coat were just warm enough to be bracing, not smothering.
If you were to ask Rainbow Dash what her favourite time of day to fly was, she'd probably respond with something along the lines of, “Any time is a good time to fly ,” but ever since she'd been a filly she'd always held in her heart a particular fondness for early evening sojourns. Perhaps it was because the setting sun picked the landscape ahead of her out in such richly vibrant shades of orange, maybe it was because she was so thoroughly able to take her mind off the hook and simply enjoy flying for the sake of it without having to worry about being the best at something or impressing somepony, or more simply it could just be because nopony else was around to get in her way and it gave her the feeling that, for a few hours at least, she had the whole world all to herself.
As she banked into a turn, Rainbow Dash became aware of the heady, spicy scent of cinnamon and sugar tickling her nostrils; she inhaled a bit more deeply, and her rumbling stomach, if not her internal compass, informed her that she was passing close enough to Sweet Apple Acres to know that Granny Smith had just baked one of her delectable apple crumbles. The verdant orchard, as it always was in the spring, was in full bloom, and a glorious vision of green and red fields greeted Rainbow Dash as she made her approach toward the fruit-filled grove.
“Maybe if I'm lucky,” she said, a mischievous smile playing across her muzzle, “I'll be able to get a prank in on Applejack before heading back.” A little light exercise, messing with her best friend, and then home to Tank, Daring Do and a good sleep. Could life get any better ?
As if in answer to her unvoiced question, Rainbow Dash's laser-like focus on the fast-coming farm was diverted rather harshly when a pronged flash of lightning sizzled across the sky in front of her, bringing a brief false dawn to this side of Ponyville; she stopped at once, hovering in place to take in the enormity of what she was seeing. This was no pegasi-induced storm – none had been scheduled for this area, anyway, she knew – and that meant only one thing: it was one of those weird, unnatural ones created in the Everfree Forest and was therefore beyond pony control.
Usually, they were nothing much to worry about; they had the fortunate tendency to burn themselves out just as quickly as they were formed, expiring before they could do any real damage, but this one unsettled Rainbow Dash for reasons that had very little to do with rationality: deep in her bones, she got the sense that it was wrong somehow. That, at its core, it was pure evil. Maybe it was because she was a pegasus, and her weather magic gave her an affinity with different atmospheric conditions? Even if it hadn't been created by her or her compatriots' hooves, Rainbow Dash still wanted to understand the storm. She had an instinctive need to bring it to heel. Whatever it was, she could sense the danger radiating off of it in great waves.
And danger is my middle name !
The central mass consisted of a constantly churning sable-coloured cloud – to Rainbow Dash, it looked more like the bilious fumes that were said to pour out of Tartarus itself than any cloud that she was used to dealing with – which roiled across the sky, spitting bolts of amethyst-tinted lightning in every direction. The dying embers of the sun shed none of their radiance upon in; instead, whatever light did strike it seemed to be sucked inside its turbulent core. Rainbow Dash had to duck and weave several times to avoid being singed by the wildly firing bolts, and she quickly came to the conclusion that making any sort of an approach to the heart of the cloud would likely end up with her becoming a crispy-fried entrée. A little unwillingly, she backed off out of its vicinity, hoping to give herself some time to come up with a new plan. If this thing gets to Ponyville ...
Apparently growing weary of fooling around with the now-elusive pegasus, the storm continued on its chosen path. Rainbow Dash felt her eyes widening in alarm when she realised that it was going to be passing directly over Sweet Apple Acres. Heedless of her own safety, concern for her own well-being replaced now with an adamant determination to warn Applejack and her family of the impending danger, she flapped her wings furiously and immediately put on a burst of speed that allowed her to keep pace with the twirling black mass. It continued to spit bifurcated projectiles at her, but Rainbow Dash's finely-honed reflexes coupled with her adrenaline-enhanced senses worked in concert to keep her out of harm's way. In fact, once or twice she could've sworn that she'd begun moving out of the path of a bolt before the cloud had even fired it off. Doubtless, she conceded, it was just the stress of the moment playing tricks with her perceptions.
It didn't take long for them to reach the outer edge of the farm; evading lightning bolts and worrying about her friend, however, had made the journey seem like hours to Rainbow Dash. With her superior eyesight, it was possible for her to see Applejack even though they were still a fair distance away from where she was calmly bucking trees. Rainbow Dash uttered a cross tut as she watched her at work. It's just so typical of Applejack to be out on a night like this, completely unaware of the approaching danger and the fact that I'm about to save her apricot butt once again . Over the roaring storm that continued to vent its fury beside her, shouting was an exercise in pointlessness, but Rainbow Dash bellowed at the top of her voice, anyway, desperate to alert Applejack.
When she was in the zone, Rainbow Dash suspected that Applejack would remain blithely oblivious to everything going on around her, so she decided to save her voice. If she can't hear this storm, my voice is going to be like the buzzing of flies to her .
Rainbow Dash knew that she was beginning to tire; even before her pursuit of the cloud had further depleted her reserves, she'd been about ready to call it a night and head home, but now she demanded more from her body than she'd ever asked of it before. I have to get to AJ before this storm does ! Her wings felt heavy, her muscles were cramping, sweat poured copiously from her brow, but still she strained, urging herself onward through her growing fatigue. Miraculously, she reached the farm just ahead of the cloud and charged toward her friend, calling out to her once more now that she was closer.
A hideous crackling noise from somewhere behind her made Rainbow Dash turn her head, a look of dread etched into her muzzle.
A particularly fierce bolt of lightning was let loose from the cloud.
Rainbow Dash's eyes followed its path.
It was sizzling its way through the sky toward Applejack.
All of a sudden, everything seemed to be happening to her in slow-motion, as if someone had just poured a filmy layer of treacle across her brain; crying out in a blind panic – the sound stretched out to infinity – she charged, forelegs outstretched, into the path of the bolt, determined to protect Applejack from the maelstrom even at the cost of her own life. Seconds before it would've struck her friend's body, Rainbow Dash's extended hoof made contact with her sturdy ribcage and nudged her out of the way, knocking Applejack's hat loose from her head in the process.
The searing bolt collided with Rainbow Dash instead and she let out an agonised bawl of pain as every nerve-ending lit up in agony at once. The last thing that she was consciously aware of was Applejack's shocked jade eyes meeting her own, disorientation and confusion writ large across her face at the sight of what was taking place before her.
And then, in the blink of an eye, she was gone.
Smoke and ash drifted on the wind.
The absurdity of what Applejack had just witnessed was almost enough to make her laugh. There's just no way in Tartarus that somepony like Rainbow Dash would let themselves get killed by something as pathetic as a measly lightning storm . The storm itself – now that it had finally claimed a victim – seemed to be abating, the cloud continuously folding in on itself until it reduced itself to a nothingness. Applejack's anxious eyes scanned the skies over and over, desperate for some sign of her friend. “This had better not be one of your pranks, Rainbow Dash, or Celestia help me-” she trailed off, something dull and heavy in her heart telling her that this was no prank.
It took a few moments for the full horror of what had just happened to dawn on Applejack and she felt her knees turning to jelly as it sank in; she fought to stay on all four hooves, wobbling slightly as her eyelids shut involuntarily, desperate to stem the flow of salt water building up behind them. She failed. Falling heavily to the ground, Applejack let out a despondent sob. “No !”
Through her grief, a word instantaneously popped into Applejack's addled mind. Twilight . Twilight, not Celestia, she'll know how to fix this. She always knows how to fix things . Fuelled by the most tenuous glimmer of hope, she fled toward the Castle of Friendship as quickly as her hooves would allow.
Normally whenever she had occasion to approach the Castle of Friendship, warm feelings would be stirred up in the heart of Applejack as she basked in the memories of all the good times that she'd spent there with Twilight and the others, but this was so far removed from a normal situation as to be almost comical; all she could think about was what had seemingly happened to Rainbow Dash back at the farm, and as the balmy evening finally gave way to a cold, onerous night and darkness encroached upon Ponyville the pearlescent glow of the moon cast intimidating shadows across the town. Nowhere was this more apparent than with the odd spires and turrets of Twilight's crystal palace. Applejack shivered, though it wasn't entirely down to the falling temperature.
Despite Rarity's attempts to improve her she wasn't much of a stickler for social niceties at the best of times, but dishevelled and out of breath as she was – with the events of earlier weighing on her mind and the oppressive waxen glare hanging overhead – Applejack used her stout withers to practically barge the heavy golden door off of its hinges. “Twilight!” she said, shouting into the inky blackness of the empty lobby. She took a few steps inside, feeling uneasy as she did so, so used was she to polished, translucent columns rather than this obsidian nothingness. Was Twilight even at home ? The castle seemed to her to be deserted. Had Twilight and Spike been called off on some emergency mission by the Cutie Map? “Twilight, are you here, sugarcube? Something awful's happened to Rainbow Dash and I need your help. Twilight?”
The only response was her own voice depressed voice returning to her, echoing mockingly off of the walls.
After a few fitful moments in which all Applejack could do was sink further into her anxiety, padding restlessly at the floor with her forelegs, Twilight – looking a mite worn-out herself – appeared from another room, an old oil lantern coiled in her telekinetic embrace. She was wrapped up in an elaborate dressing-gown that clearly had Rarity's name written all over it, and she could barely keep her heavily-lidded eyes open. It was obvious that she had been in the process of winding-down for the night.
Any thoughts that she might have had about rebuking her friend for boorishness, however, were forced from her mind when Twilight saw Applejack properly for the first time and realised the distress that she was in. She rubbed her eyes in order to clear the film of gunk that had collected there. “Applejack, what is it?” she asked, suddenly awake, suddenly alert. “What's wrong? Did I hear you say something about Rainbow Dash?”
“It all happened so fast!” Applejack said breathlessly, the words tumbling out of her mouth as she bounded up to Twilight and threw her forelegs around her. “There was some kind of a storm, but not a normal one. One of those freak things that comes out of the Everfree Forest every now and then. Rainbow Dash was flying toward me and-”
“-AJ, whoa , slow down,” Twilight said, placing a hoof on her friend's shoulder to try and relax her. Her eyes were forced open still further in surprise when she felt the hard knot of tension that had taken root there. “I can barely understand what you're saying.”
Urging herself to calm down – a near-impossibility after what she'd seen – Applejack took several deep breaths until she felt that she was able to speak clearly. “I saw Rainbow Dash struck by a bolt of lightning at the farm, Twilight. She was … it was going to hit me and she threw herself in front of it.” At this, her voice began to crack and her eyes welled up with tears once more.
For a moment, Twilight didn't know how to react, almost coming to the conclusion that she hadn't heard her friend's words properly; when the weight of what Applejack had said finally settled upon her, she felt her eyes widen in horror and the first prickle of tears. Terrible visions of having to tell Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and the others what had happened swam through her mind. How would her parents take it? And poor Scootaloo? “Oh, Celestia. Is she-?”
“-She was … I mean, one second she was there, and the next she was just gone , you know?”
“Gone? Uh, knocked out of the sky and landed amongst some trees, you mean?” asked Twilight, still not entirely following what Applejack was saying. I'm still asleep. This just has to be some kind of ghastly dream .
Applejack shook her head quickly, and it soon became apparent to Twilight that it was not simply a gesture to indicate a negative . She was trying to get her muddled thoughts back into some kind of order. “I mean, she was gone, poof -” she made an expansive gesture with the hooves of her forelegs “-kinda like what happens when you teleport.”
Utilising her sister-in-law's much-vaunted relaxation technique, Twilight fought to stem the rising flow of hysteria that she felt building up inside of her like a wellspring. Left untended, it would soon bubble over and cause her thinking to become muddied, and she needed to keep a clear head now more than ever before. She knew that it was important to keep two key facts in mind: the nature of pegasi, and the nature of Rainbow Dash herself. “Okay,” she said slowly, setting the lantern down on a convenient nook as she devoted all of her focus to the possibilities turning over in her mind like the cogs in some vast machine, “we know that pegasi react differently to storms than other types of ponies because of their weather magic, and we also know that Rainbow Dash is more attuned than most to the environment around her.”
“Attuned?” asked Applejack, blinking away her tears. “What do you mean?”
“Her abilities are partly innate and partly the result of her years of intensive training. Remember when we trying to teach her the history of the Wonderbolts?”
Slowly, Applejack nodded, though she didn't entirely comprehend where Twilight was going with this. “She passively absorbed the information while in flight. Don't all pegasi do that, though?”
“They do, but Rainbow Dash is a little bit more perceptive than most.”
Her face registering the confusion that she felt, Applejack said tersely, “That's all well and good, Twilight, but what does it actually get us? I mean, is there a point to any of this?”
“A normal pegasus might very well have been killed by the lightning bolt,” Twilight said patiently, making allowances for her friend's outburst, “but one who happened to be in possession of an enormous reserve of particularly potent weather magic might have been able to use it – subconsciously, perhaps, if they were unusually sensitive to the ebb and flow of the world around them – to pull off a move similar to a teleportation spell. It's something that I've theorised about before, but I've never had a chance to study the practicalities of it.”
“So,” said Applejack slowly, slow-burning rays of hope beginning to rise within her, “you think that Rainbow Dash might still be alive?”
It was Twilight's turn to nod. “Alive, but displaced. Lost somewhere, anywhere , in the world.”
“Then, we have to find her!” Applejack said ardently, already itching to get moving. She would quite happily tear the world apart just to see that smug look on the pegasus' face one more time.
Holding up a hoof to attract her attention, Twilight said, “I know, but where do we even start? I'm clutching at straws here, Applejack, and even if I am right it still means that Rainbow Dash could be literally anywhere in Equestria. Or beyond, depending on how powerful the storm was.”
“Actually,” said an all-too-familiar voice laced with just the faintest traces of girlish cracks, “I'm right here.”
As one, Applejack and Twilight turned toward the door to see Rainbow Dash standing in the threshold, bathed in moonlight and sporting a wide cocky grin that practically split her muzzle in two.
The two friends looked at each other, then back at Rainbow Dash. “What ?” they said flatly in unison.
As she placed the steaming mug of vile-smelling brew on the marble table in front of Rainbow Dash, Twilight took theopportunity to scrutinise the interloper pretending to be her friend up close; it was odd how every detail was almost perfect, yet they had managed to get the age so spectacularly wrong. She even had the same odour as Rainbow Dash, for Celestia's sake: that peculiarly airy scent that clung so deeply to her, an aromatic testament to her thousands of hours spent travelling through the skies of Equestria. If she, it , was a Changeling or another shape-shifting species, Twilight knew it was imperative that she figure out what their plan was before anypony else came to harm.
Rainbow Dash delightedly wrapped her hoof around the cup, enjoying the warmth that thrilled through her, and brought it to her lips; she inhaled deeply, savouring the pungent fragrance rising from the dark brown liquid within. With her eyes half-closed, she said to Twilight, “Princess Celestia gave this blend to you as a castle-warming gift, even though she knows that you don't drink coffee.”
“How did you know?” asked Twilight, trying to mask the surprise that she so keenly felt as she took a seat opposite her. Applejack was still hovering uncertainly behind the impostor, presumably ready to tackle her to the ground if she tried to escape once her ruse was uncovered. “I never told you, uh, Rainbow Dash , about that.”
“It was my idea,” Rainbow Dash said, offering Twilight a tight grin before taking a sip of her drink and sighing in satisfaction as the zesty taste tickled her tastebuds. “It's my favourite flavour, from Saddle Arabia, and I wanted to make sure that you had some waiting for me when I got back home.”
Looking at each other again in obvious befuddlement, it was clear that Twilight and Applejack's thoughts lined up perfectly regarding the doppelgänger: it might not be Rainbow Dash, but it sure acts like her .
Applejack slammed a hoof down on the table, almost putting a dent in its smooth alabaster surface and startling Twilight into sitting bolt upright just as she was beginning to slouch. Rainbow Dash seemed to take no notice of her eruption, contenting herself with her drink instead. “Listen, whoever or whatever you are, I want to know what's going on here. I just saw my best friend get vaporised by lightning – saving my life in the process – and then you show up here moments later pretending to be her. Was the storm something to do with you? Was it a Changeling, or somepony else's, plot to replace one of us?”
Leaning forward, Rainbow Dash replaced her half-empty mug on the table and said, “All right.” She gave Twilight a significant look. “You were mostly correct about the storm. It did activate my weather magic and I was teleported somewhere … or rather, somewhen . I wasn't displaced in space, but in time, Twilight.”
“But that's-” she stopped, pursing her lips, catching herself before uttering a word that had ceased to have much meaning considering all the things that she'd seen and done over the past few years “-very, very unlikely .”
“Where, or rather when , did you end up?” Applejack asked sceptically, still not believing a word of this. She leaned on the back of Rainbow Dash's chair, eyes transfixed on her greying mane.
“I was still in Sweet Apple Acres, but twenty-five years in the past,” Rainbow Dash replied, turning to face Applejack. “Obviously I didn't know that at first and I kept calling out for you, but when I found a young Big Mac and a young...er Granny Smith, it started to click that something wasn't quite right. I thought it was because of the storm at first, that it had made everypony younger or something, but when I got back to Ponyville to investigate and found a newspaper … well, to cut a long story slightly shorter, I learned that I'd somehow ended up travelling back in time.”
Despite her desire to remain aloof, Twilight found the story concocted by Rainbow Dash to be intriguing; from her own experiences, she knew that time-travel was indeed possible. She'd gone through dozens of loops – each of them depicting progressively more dire fates for the future of Equestria – during her battle with the wayward Starlight Glimmer after all. She shuddered inwardly. Even after all this time, even though things had worked out just fine, it was still difficult to think about all those versions of her home where things had gone so badly wrong.
All those versions of her friends who didn't get their happy endings.
Not helped by the sudden revelation that there was an unknown force out there, this storm of which Rainbow Dash spoke, capable of sending ponies on journeys through time. It was the kind of thing, should it fall into the wrong hooves, that could prove to be incredibly dangerous.
“What did you do after making this discovery?” Twilight asked softly.
This drew a questioning look from Applejack. “You don't actually believe her, do you?”
“I'm keeping an open-mind, like I said,” replied Twilight, raising a hoof to indicate to Applejack to remain calm.
“I took a page out of The Book of Twilight as a matter of fact,” Rainbow Dash said with a small smile, taking another sip of her almost-forgotten drink. “I flew to Canterlot Castle to speak with the princess. I figured that if anypony could help me out it would be her.”
“And she believed your story?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.
“She did.” Rainbow Dash inclined her head slightly. “In fact, it wasn't the first time that she'd heard it either. She's been aware of the storms for hundreds of years now. That she knows of, anyway, at least a hundred or so pegasi have been displaced by them.”
“So it really does only affect pegasus ponies?” Twilight furrowed her brow, deep in thought.
“Yeah, it's something to do with our unique weather magic, but don't ask me to explain the nitty-gritty of it,” said Rainbow Dash, fiddling with her hooves. “It's pretty much random where – when , sorry – you end up, too. I was luckier than most to still be relatively close to the present. What I think of as the present, that is. Others, well-” she felt her expression turn momentarily morose and she shook her head. If there was a fate more awful than being cut off from your loved ones by the cruel, uncaring barriers of time, then she didn't want to know about it.
“Why didn't Princess Celestia ever say anything to me about them, then?” asked Twilight curiously, wondering out loud. “I mean, if they're so powerful, so dangerous, you'd think that they'd be mentioned somewhere in the archives. I've never read about anything even remotely similar to one of these … time storms.”
“They're one of a few things that Celestia has classified as top secret,” Rainbow Dash said, adjusting her posture as her back began to seize up. The things they DON'T tell you about getting older . “Because of the possibility of screwing up the timeline beyond repair, she didn't want Sombra, Tirek, Chrysalis or anypony else to have access to a potential form of time-travel. If any of them were able to figure out how to harness the storms, how to control them, then you could kiss the Equestria that you know and love goodbye.”
That, at least, made sense; having seen firsthoof the devastation that could be caused by somepony misusing a time-travel spell, Twilight understood why Celestia wouldn't want there to be any information regarding it in the public domain. “Couldn't she have used Star Swirl's spell to send you and the others home?”
Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Because I'd travelled in time using unnatural means, it did something to my body that made it impossible to use the spell successfully. Some kind of-” she screwed up her eyes in concentration, trying to remember the exact words that Celestia had used “-magical interference wave . It didn't work on any of the other affected pegasi either. No, the best that Celestia could do was offer to resettle us.”
“Resettle?” asked Applejack.
“She couldn't very well let us return to our homes with our knowledge of the future,” said Rainbow Dash, her tone barely above a whisper, “otherwise we ran the risk – even accidentally – of making changes in the timeline. Since I wasn't allowed to go back to Cloudsdale or Ponyville, I ended up staying in Canterlot until … well, until I caught up with the present.”
Twilight wasn't slow in detecting the audible note of sadness in Rainbow Dash's voice. “Have you … been alone all this time?”
“Not alone exactly.” Rainbow Dash sighed softly. “But yeah, I was pretty much forbidden – for fairly obvious reasons – from forming close relationships with anypony. Just in case ,” she added dryly for emphasis.
Even Applejack's expression had softened somewhat at that. “It must've been terrible, sugarcube,” she said, placing her hoof on Rainbow Dash's tensed shoulder before she even realised what she was doing. Not that she'd ever shown any inclinations in that direction, to be suddenly told that you couldn't become involved with anypony for fear of the repercussions must've been difficult for Rainbow Dash to take.
Rainbow Dash smiled warmly, dabbing at her suddenly moist eyes with a hoof, grateful that Applejack was finally beginning to warm up to her, if not necessarily believe her story. “The days weren't so bad. I got to hang out with Celestia a bit, give her some pointers-”
“-Pointers ?” asked Twilight incredulously, her eyes going wide. “You gave Princess Celestia pointers?”
Suppressing a snicker, Rainbow Dash said by way of clarification, “Nothing too on the snout or anything, Twilight. With Nightmare Moon's return imminent, she was obviously a bit worried about how things were going to turn out should she fail to free Luna from her clutches. I, uh, may have been the one to suggest to her that a certain purple unicorn would have a very important part to play in the future.”
“You're saying that you're responsible for Celestia inviting me to try-out for the School for Gifted Unicorns?”
Rainbow Dash favoured Twilight with one of her trademark obnoxious grins. “You're welcome. If you've ever wondered why she's always seemed so calm whenever things started to get a little bit chaotic, or why she's had such a high degree of confidence in you, well, now you know.”
Applejack and Twilight exchanged glances, shaking their heads as one. “So what now?” Twilight asked, and she wasn't really sure who she was directing the question toward. This entire night had been incredibly tiring for all involved, and the morning wasn't going to get any easier. She baulked at the prospect of having to explain all of this to everypony in town.
“I think we could all do with a good night's sleep,” Rainbow Dash said sagely, noticing that her friends could barely keep their eyes open any more. Adrenaline and coffee were all well and good in the short term, but they could only do so much, and their effects were already beginning to wear off. The promise of getting to sleep in her own bed again for the first time in twenty-five years – to say nothing of seeing Tank again after so long, though from his perspective it would only have been a matter of hours since she'd gone out flying earlier that evening – had her practically salivating. Stretching out her creaking limbs and fighting to suppress a yawn, she added, “Everything else we can sort out later, yeah?”
Applejack, deliberately trailing a few uneasy paces behind Rainbow Dash as they bade good night to Twilight Sparkle and departed from her castle, was lost somewhere deep in the tangled mire of her thoughts; her heart had just about come to accept the fact that this was indeed her friend, but her head still had some ways to go in believing it fully. Nonetheless, she still felt the need to say something – anything – to make up for what had happened to her. Her mouth opened and closed several times, but the words just wouldn't come. What can I possibly say that will make things right ? How do you apologise to somepony for robbing them of a quarter-century of their life ? All that beautiful, brilliant potential – all of those hopes and dreams – now … dashed .
“You're gonna catch flies if you keep doing that,” Rainbow Dash said, drawing to a halt and turning to face Applejack, shaking each of her wings in turn to prepare them for the comparatively short trip from Ponyville to Cloudsdale. Twenty-five years ago, she would've been off like a shot, but these days they required a much more stringent set of warm-up exercises before engaging in any sort of prolonged flight. She didn't doubt that she still had a good few years of adventuring left in her old bones, but Rainbow Dash knew it was unlikely that she'd ever be turning out competitively for the Wonderbolts again. Strangely, she found herself regretting that prospect slightly less than she'd expected.
The euphoria of finally being back in her proper time had yet to fully wear off, though. There were so many new experiences to look forward to now: spending time with her closest friends again, going off on crazy, danger-filled adventures, waiting for the next Daring Do book, maybe even – if it was not too late to do so – finally finding a special somepony to spend her remaining years with. That last thing had never seemed terribly important to her when she was young enough to believe that she had all the time in the world to do it.
Now that she had her life back – no longer did she have to worry about stepping on eggshells, or even the wrong blade of grass , and risk making some catastrophic change to the timeline – and was once again the master of her own destiny, she could do anything that she wanted. It was a thought worth savouring. There would be some adjusting to do, of course, but she was thankful for the fact that she wasn't facing anything like the severe culture shock some pegasi had been forced to deal with when they were sent dozens or even hundreds of years out of their own time.
Perhaps in a day or two, or a couple of weeks from now, when things got as close to normal as they ever did around here, she'd have the time to be disappointed about all the things that she'd lost. Right now, though, Rainbow Dash was only focusing on the positives; they more than outweighed any negatives, and she was more than satisfied with that. Joining the Wonderbolts had been the dream of a young girl, but the adult had plenty more to live out before the end came.
Her biggest fear, and it had been growing inside her as each arduous day toward the present came and went, was whether or not Scootaloo would still accept her; her other friends would understand what had happened, but would she be able to?
“It's my fault that this-” Applejack pointed a hoof at Rainbow Dash but was unable to meet her expectant gaze “-happened to you.”
“No, it's not,” Rainbow Dash replied delicately, reluctantly pushing aside her thoughts of Scootaloo and gently brushing her hoof against Applejack's. “You didn't know about the storm. I'm the one who threw myself into the path of the lightning bolt. I chose to do it, nopony forced me. I would have done it for anypony, but you know what-” she grinned cheerfully “-I'm glad it was for you.”
Applejack returned the smile as best she could, but her conscience was not in the least bit salved by Rainbow Dash's words. “At least, if I'd been the one sent back in time, I would've had the opportunity to see my folks again. Even if it was at a distance.”
Casting her eyes in the direction of the heavens above, Rainbow Dash watched a shooting star streak by and let out a breath she didn't even realise that she was holding. If those mysterious celestial bodies had any answers for her, though, they were keeping them very much to themselves. “I think that's why I'm not as angry about what happened to me as I should be,” she said, briefly switching her attention to Applejack before resettling her focus on the skies. “Whenever I was able to sneak away from the castle, I'd go to Ponyville and Cloudsdale just to see what you guys were doing. Watching all of you grow up, facing your own challenges, becoming the ponies that you were destined to be, let me see a whole new side to you all, and I wouldn't trade that experience for all the coffee in Saddle Arabia. It was worth losing twenty-five years because it meant I got a gift few that ponies ever receive: the chance to get to know my friends all over again. I know we've often talked about the small things that we'd like to change in our pasts if we could, but having lived through it all with you, I wouldn't want to change a thing.”
Overcome with emotion, Applejack could think of nothing to add to that sentiment, so she instead settled for nuzzling against Rainbow Dash's neck and joining her in her stargazing.
“You should probably have this back,” Rainbow Dash said almost as an afterthought, offering Applejack her Stetson. It was battered and worn-through in more than one place, but still amazingly intact after twenty-five years in the company of a not-particularly-careful pegasus. “I did my best to keep it one piece, but it's been with me through more than one scrape. After it survived through the storm with me, I kinda started to see it as a good-luck token. As well as a piece of … home .”
Applejack's hoof reached out to take the hat; she made the slightest of contacts with its wide brim, then felt a subdued smile cross her muzzle and she pushed it back toward Rainbow Dash. “Keep it. You've had it a lot longer than I have, anyway.”
Closer to the door as she was, Applejack made it to Rainbow Dash slightly ahead of Twilight; she threw her forelegs around her friend's neck, embracing her tightly, relief coursing through soul her in great waves. “Oh, Celestia, Rainbow Dash,” she said, almost hysterical with delight at the sight of her, “it's so good to see you. I thought that you were-”
“-Rumours of my death ,” replied Rainbow Dash, gently extricating herself from Applejack's overbearing hug. Being an earth pony made her naturally very strong, of course, but years of hard work on the farm had only served to increase her strength and she seemed determined not to let her out of her considerable grip. She looked at her friends and let out a small, contented sigh. “It's good to see you guys again, too. It's been a while.”
“What do you mean, a while ?” asked Twilight, studying Rainbow Dash with a curious expression darkening her muzzle. “We saw you just this afternoon.” It was definitely her – the cheeky grin, the playful cast to her eyes and the confident posture attested to that – but there was also something decidedly off about her. Her polychromatic mane, what she could see of it underneath the threadbare Stetson that she was wearing, seemed duller somehow, as if the colours were beginning to fade, and it was shot through with streaks of grey, the corners of her eyes had developed crow's feet, and the normally thick, lustrous feathers of her wings looked brittle and worn. If Twilight didn't know any better, she would've guessed that she was looking at a pony who was a good twenty or thirty years older than she knew Rainbow Dash to be. “Applejack, step back,” she said warningly, igniting her horn, veins of incandescent purple light suddenly reflecting off of the castle walls.
“Sugarcube, what's gotten-?”
“-Whoever, whatever , that is, it isn't Rainbow Dash!” said Twilight, venom in her voice. “Look at her properly .”
If she was offended by how her friends were treating her, Rainbow Dash did her best not to show it; she allowed Applejack to peer at her intently without comment, instead maintaining studious eye-contact all the while with Twilight, keeping her face firmly neutral as she did so. She wanted to tell her that she wasn't a Changeling, or a Siren, or Discord playing some kind of an elaborate prank, but she decided that the best thing to do was to keep quiet and let Twilight figure that out for herself.
When she was finished with her examination – both her earlier heartache and her more recent sense of joy were now buried under a cold, hard layer of practicality borne out having had to incur so much responsibility from an early age – Applejack found herself coming to much the same conclusion that Twilight had. She backed away from the impostor and crouched into a defensive posture. Baring her teeth and pointing an accusatory hoof, she sneered and sternly asked, “Who are you? Really, I mean? D'you have something to do with the disappearance of the real Rainbow Dash?”
“Applejack, you'd know if I was lying, right? It's me ,” Rainbow Dash said quietly, tapping her puffed-out chest gently with the tip of her hoof. She took the hat from atop her head and smoothed out her silvery mane, letting it fall around her neck on its cord. She was neither angry nor was she bitter about their interrogation, simply resigned , as she'd been expecting something like this to happen. Didn't make it any less difficult, though . With much-practised patience, she said, “My name is Rainbow Dash. I was born in Cloudsdale to Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles. I work in the Weather Factory, and I am also a member of the Wonderbolts. I have a pet turtle named Tank, and I adopted Scootaloo as my little sister.”
“That's all basic information that anypony could find out pretty easily about Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said tersely, eyes narrowed, horn still bursting with energy. “If you want us to believe you, then you'd better tell us something that only she could possibly know.”
Thinking for a moment, her head bobbing from side to side as she considered the options, Rainbow Dash's eyes suddenly brightened. “Last year, when I tried to sabotage the Weather Factory to prevent winter from falling so that I could spend more time with Tank, Fluttershy said to me, Your winter is going to be pet-less , and that was the push that I'd needed to start getting over it.” She shot a reproving yet wistful glance at Applejack. “Of course, you weren't much help when you said that I'd see him again in a few months .”
Applejack frowned, shooting a sideways glance at Twilight, still maintaining her alert stance; there was just no way that this could be the Rainbow Dash that they knew and loved, but they'd all been there to witness her breakdown that day – probably the first time she'd ever cried over something that wasn't herself – and she could not detect any dissembling in the intruder's words. If this was some kind of an imposter, then they'd done some very thorough research into their target. She said as much to Twilight. “I don't know, though,” she added, a hoof dangling helplessly in the air between them, “I mean, I could be wrong.”
For a further few moments, Twilight continued to channel energy into horn; just because the facsimile wasn't lying – or at least, it didn't think that it was lying – didn't necessarily mean that it was the real Rainbow Dash, but still … there was just some indefinable sense of something about her that carried with it the beguiling notion that she was indeed who she professed to be.
Perhaps it was their connection through the Elements of Harmony?
Perhaps it was more subtle than that: Rainbow Dash was a close friend, and Twilight wanted to believe with all of her heart that – no matter what – she'd always recognise her friends.
Had the bolt of lightning from the storm prematurely aged her through some bizarre property of its magic? Was it something to do with the teleportation effect? Twilight just stared at her for a long time before finally coming to a decision: the luminous glow surrounding her horn faded. “All right, I'm willing to keep an open-mind,” she said evenly. “What happened to you? Why do you look so much older all of a sudden?”
“Look,” said Rainbow Dash, rubbing her chin thoughtfully as she watched the play of emotions across Twilight's mulberry eyes, “I have quite the story to tell you, and at my age it's one heck of a flight-” she extended her frail wings and fluttered them haltingly by way of demonstration “-from Canterlot to Ponyville, so can we discuss this like civilised ponies: inside the castle and with a pot of fresh coffee?”
Twilight and Applejack exchanged glances. “Since when do you drink coffee ?” they asked at the same time.
Strutting her way across the threshold, flicking her tail at her stunned friends as she passed by them, Rainbow Dash loftily replied, “I've been drinking coffee since before the two of you were even born .”
