The Human Pet

Twilight hummed happily, trotting on the road. She was returning home after a productive week visiting the Timespotting club in Fillydelphia. Similarly to trainspotters at a railroad, these ponies were dedicated to observing and documenting any movement along the timeline. Thanks to her brief use of Star Swirl the Bearded's time travel spell two years ago, Twilight had become a huge idol for them, and they were more than happy to help her analyse the mysterious future saddlebag Skinny had found.

In addition to confirming the suspicions she'd shared with Fluttershy about the bag's origins, the Timespotters used their specialized laboratory to help her trace the spell that had been cast to send it through time. On a basic level, it matched Star Swirl's original, but they found several modifications which allowed for the bag to exist indefinitely in another timeframe. Which in turn meant that the timeline was more malleable than Twilight's previous experience had indicated. She now knew the spell, and that meant that she would never invent it herself. The inventor could only have been a version of Twilight that had never received the bag, from a previous timeline. Either that, or they were dealing with what the Timespotters referred to as a 'Saddle-Strap Paradox'. Whatever the case may be, the Timespotters were so ecstatic by the finds that they baked her a clock-shaped red velvet cake. But they'd already eaten it yesterday. Lovely ponies.

As she enjoyed her walk, a blue blur flew down from the sky and took the shape of her friend. "Hi, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight chirped, happy to see her. "What brings you so far out?"

There was an odd green reflection in Dash's eyes, gone in a blink. The blue pegasus grinned at her. "Youuuu didn't tell us you've been looking into time travel!"

Twilight groaned, and her ears flattened against her head in frustration. "Did Fluttershy tell you that? And how many apple ciders did that take?"

"A couple... dozen... b-b-but that's beside the point!" Rainbow Dash bit her lip, barely able to contain her excitement. "Is it true? Is your saddlebag really from the future???"

"Shhh! I don't want everypony to hear! Time travel is VERY dangerous!"

"... I know that... !" She looked from side to side, then slowly closed in on Twilight. "... But we can totally do it, right?"

Twilight blinked, shocked. "What? No! No! I mean... theoretically we can. But-"

Rainbow Dash somersaulted in glee. "I knew it! Give us a T! Give us an I! Give us an M! Give us an Eeeeeee!" She squeed. "We could go back and see all kinds of stuff! Or we could go ahead! We could see every Wonderbolt show ever!!' Her eyes nearly popped out of her skull.

"We can't." Twilight explained. "There are risks concerning time travel."

"Pfft. Risks, schmisks! Don't tell me you never wanted to look into the past! Meet that beardy-weirdy pony you never stop talking about... find out where Skinny came from..."

Twilight stopped Rainbow with her hoof. "Skinny is the number one reason I don't want to go. He found my saddlebag right next to where he appeared. Why would future Twilight drop her saddlebag? Something must have gone wrong."

"Ooooor maybe you dropped it as a clue?" The blue pegasus rolled her eyes. "C'mon, Twilight, it's just you and me. I know you got the time travel spell memorised."

Twilight blinked in confusion. "How?"

"Because I know you! You must've spent hours going over that bag to figure it out like a total egghead!" Rainbow laughed.

"Actually no. I already know the time travel spell because I used it to warn my past self not to panic."

"... You did?"

Twilight frowned. "Yeah. And I told you all about it."

Dash's eyes flicked furtively from left to right. "But, err, this is different. Isn't it? I mean, otherwise you couldn't resist time travelling... right?"

The unicorn nodded. "That's true. I could only travel back for a limited amount of time, and not too far back. With this updated spell, the range is greater and one could stay in the past permanently... as evidenced by the bag."

"So come ooon...! Let's go see Skinny's first day." Dash grinned. "We'll be careful. Anything happens, you can get us home, right?"

Twilight pondered a little. "That is true..." She focused back on Rainbow, and smiled brightly. "Alright. Why not? Princess Celestia always says I should live a little." Her horn lit up. She slashed ahead with it, as if cutting through a curtain. The resulting gap revealed the ominous jungle of the Everfree Forest, with a weather far cloudier than the one they were currently experiencing. Rainbow Dash gasped. Twilight had indeed sliced a gap in time and space.

The two ponies stepped through. The gap closed behind them, though a shimmering scar remained floating in the air.

"This is incredible..." Dash whispered, staring at her surroundings. They were in a clearing. A light drizzle of rain was coming down, giving their fur a beautiful sheen. But neither of them noticed, so wrapped up were they in what they had just done.

"This is the place. Skinny said he woke up right here. I could only time it approximately, but whatever brought him could appear at any minute. Hopefully, we'll have enough time."

"Time for what?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight's expression hardened. "Time for you to tell me who the hay you are. You're not Rainbow Dash." She stomped her hoof against the ground. "Fluttershy would never have told anyone about the bag. She thought it would put Skinny at risk. So who are you and what do you want?

The visage of Rainbow Dash melted away in a green flash, revealing the chitinous body of Queen Chrysalis. She and Twilight circled one another around the clearing, like two powerful panthers waiting to stomp. "It's desssstiny, Sparkle!" Chrysalis hissed, a manic gleam in her eyes. She used her magic to levitate the saddlebag she'd gotten from Spike in front of them. "The secret of the alien will be known only to us! The secret of time travel we already possess! Together, we could rid ourselves of all our foes and establish a-"

"Actually, I think I'm the only one who knows the secret of time travel." Twilight said smugly, her tail flopping excitedly.

Chrysalis felt unnerved by the pony's lack of fear. Her slitted eyes narrowed. "I could kill you where you stand."

"Well, you better make it quick because Star Swirl's spell only lasts a few minutes. Trust me, I know! The only way to stay longer is to use the new spell attached to the saddlebag!"

The floating saddlebag flashed, as Chrysalis' fury affected her use of magic. "Which I have! I thought you might double-cross me, so I enchanted myself with the spell attached to this bag."

Twilight giggled behind her hoof. "But that's not the bag from the future, silly. That's the bag I threw out to prevent it from ending up in the future. And the only spell attached to it, I'm afraid... is my finder, in case I ever lose it. Makes it beep."

Chrysalis' jaw dropped. "B-beep?"

"There you go! It works!" Twilight joked. "And since you're using the incomplete original and I'm not... byeeeee!"

The Changeling Queen disappeared in a protesting flash. The saddlebag dropped to the ground. Twilight's head cocked to the side, her interest piqued. "Now how come you didn't go back with Queen Chrysalis...?" She wondered, and scanned the bag.

Of course! It was her own finder magic that had completed Star Swirl's original time travel spell. The able to locate oneself in space allowed one to exist indefinitely in any point in time! Twilight squeed in excitement. What a discovery!

Queen Chrysalis reappeared on the road, and found herself confronted by another Twilight Sparkle... and Discord. "What in Equestria...?!"

Twilight gave a friendly wave. "Hello! I'm future Twilight! Well, technically I'm present day Twilight. This is the present you left from. But in terms of our mutual timeline, I am from the future."

Discord stuck a pacifier in her mouth, causing her to go cross-eyed. "Twilight, please, you're only just confusing everypony." He turned to the shocked Changeling. "Allow me to make it perfectly digestible for the average reader. This is a swatter." He held up a giant electric racket. Then he booped Chrysalis' nose. "THIS is a bug. Bug, meet swatter. Swatter, bug."

"Eek" was all Chrysalis could say before Discord employed his best tennis move and swatted her straight into the stratosphere.

Twilight spat her pacifier out. "Wow. Is she gonna be okay?"

Discord shrugged. "She's got wings, hasn't she? I'm sure she'll figure it out. I didn't have this thing on THAT high a setting... anyway, now that she knows that Equestria is protected by someone of MY high caliber..." Discord's chest filled up with medals. "... she and the Changelings will think twice before returning from exile again. Oh, yes. I'm no longer a statue. I'm redeemed. I'm a hero. I'm brilliant in just about every way. Everything's coming up Discord!"

"DIIIIISCORD!"

Twilight and Discord whirled around to see Fluttershy galloping towards them with death in her eyes, and Sergeant Crimson Star, his sister and secretary right on her tail.

"You were saying?" Twilight couldn't help smirking.

Discord jumped behind her, and peeked over the mare's back in terror. "Ever heard of the Four Ponies of the Apocalypse? I think they've just found me!"

"... give me 500 bits and I'll mention what happened three minutes ago."

"You're an evil mare, Twilight Sparkle."

Two years back in the past, Twilight was so giddy over her discovery that she forgot why she had travelled there and nearly missed the opening of the round alien portal.

"Oh my gosh!" She ducked into the bushes just in time, forgetting all about the bag.

Four bipedal beings emerged. They were all identical. They were bald, with emerald green skin. A large black question mark was tattooed on each of their faces. Between them they carried what looked like a coffin. The aliens lowered it to the ground, opened it and dragged a fifth green creature out of it. They left this one lying on the ground, and carried the empty casket back with them through the gateway.

"S-Skinny?' Twilight whispered to herself, in awe. She watched, transfixed, as his skin steadily assumed its normal hue, as hair grew out of his head, as facial features asserted themselves. "What are you...?"

Ow. Light. Too much light.

You snarl a bit, feeling drowsy, waking up from a deep, long sleep. But this hard branch beneath you definitely doesn't belong in bed and neither do these crumbly leaves. Finally, your eyes adjust enough that you realise you're lying in the middle of the woods.

"What the fuck." you grumble, grabbing onto a nearby tree for support as you stand up. You're wearing your ordinary street clothes - a black jumper, denim pants, nothing special. You search your pockets and find the usual - phone, keys, wallet. The phone is dead, though. "Ah, shit."

Looking around, you note that the woods are beautiful - the trees are decked in gold and crimson, and the fallen leaves are clean and rather surprisingly, all undamaged. It almost feels like someone's dropped you in the middle of a painting.