Time Travel Insanity

Chapters

Chapter 1: Destination Unknown (Rewrite)
Chapter 2: Arrival (Rewrite)
Chapter 3: Need Materials
Chapter 4: Secret's Out

Chapter 1: Destination Unknown (Rewrite)

In the ordinary town of Ponyville, Twilight and her friends relaxed by SugarCube Corner. They ate, drank, and laughed. Of course, the pink party pony had invited them over. Meanwhile, there was a rainbow haired pegasus enjoying her meal. It was a chocolate cupcake with delicious vanilla-strawberry swirl on top. On top of the pastry were some toppings of thinly shaved dark chocolate and strawberries chopped in half. It was beautiful, surely something to appreciate and take your time eating.

That didn't stop Rainbow Dash, where she quickly engulfed the entire cupcake, chocolate crumbs still on her muzzle.

"Fanks for va cutcaphs!" she muffled with bits of frosting flying out of her mouth.

"Rainbow, swallow your food," Twilight teased.

A hint of red flushed on Rainbow's muzzle, before she quickly looked away and gulped down the food in one go. "What I was trying to say was thanks for the cupcakes, Pinkie," she stated, huffing as she made eye contact with Twilight.

"You must really like that cupcake," Applejack commented, chuckling as she enjoyed her own frosted goodness.

"I mean, come on, it's Pinkie's baking. She's amazing at what she does," Rainbow said, praising Pinkie's craftsmanship.

Then, she quickly glanced at the clock, where it read 12:30. She was late. I should probably get going.

Rainbow quickly stood up. "I gotta get going. I got something important to do."

"Awww, but you just got here!" Pinkie whined.

"Surely you could stay a tad bit longer?" Rarity asked.

"Nah, this is pretty important. I can't miss this!" Rainbow rushed, giving a quick smile before flying off.

"Well, darling, what could be so important-" she was cut off by a gust a wind as she saw Rainbow Dash fly into the distance. "The audacity of that mare!"

"It's fine. Whatever she needs to do probably is really important to her, so we should leave her be," Twilight commented.

"But darling, she does this every time! What is taking up that mare's time?" Rarity asked with a frown, before deciding that it ultimately wasn't worth going into discussion, and continued to enjoy the cupcakes at their disposal.

Rainbow touched down in front of her house and quickly barged in, she had a job to do. Years of work she had put into this, and it would finally pay off today.

"Finally, I can finish this thing..." she muttered to herself.

She ran over to her bookshelf, which sat tall at around 6 feet, nearly touching the ceiling. Scanning the bookshelf of its contents, eventually she was satisfied and grabbed a book labeled "Quantum Mechanics - The Theoretical Minimum". Slowly, she pulled it outwards, where the ground beneath her feet shuddered and the bookshelf started to shake. Then, the door swung open like a set of double doors. Twilight would totally freak out if she saw this. Rainbow thought to herself with a smirk.

Rainbow stepped on inside. The room was quite spacious, filled with gadgets and devices of sorts, with blueprints and mappings lining the walls. On these walls also stood trophies of her past achievements. Her Wonderbolt badge hung on the wall along with a spare Wonderbolt suit she had gotten from her dad. Tables also filled the room, each having a set of boxes filled with screws, nuts, and blueprints. By her main table, where she did most of her handiwork, was a blueprint laid out on top of the table. Besides it was a lamp, which lit up her bench completely while she worked. There was also a toolbox filled with all sorts of various useful tools.

The most eye-catching thing, however, was Rainbow's hand-crafted 3D model design of a crystal, made of plastic and metal, sitting on top of the desk standing at a mere 2 feet tall by 1 foot wide. Right next to it, a battery that looked similar to a car's, but was much bigger and looked brand new, with a unique shine glaring off of the battery's label. Rainbow made her way over to the huge battery and picked it up. It was quite heavy. It felt like a 50 pound weight, threatening to drag her through her cloud floor and crash into the town below. Then, she walked over to her workbench, where she grabbed her trusty toolbox with her free hoof. Slowly and carefully, Rainbow inched towards her life's work.

It was a giant box that towered over Rainbow and nearly touched the ceiling. It looked like it came straight out of a sci-fi movie. It was covered in protected wires, with large piping each having labels on them like Oxygen Supply and Nitrogen. Rainbow traveled around to the back compartment of the machinery, where she grabbed her screwdriver out of her toolbox and screwed opened the large panel that covered half of the wall. A blinding light shined into her eyes and Rainbow had to look away slightly, before squinting through the light to see what she was working with. It was the same crystal from her model, except it was twice as big. And extremely bright. It gave off an aura of all the colors in the light spectrum, slowly transitioning between each color, not that Rainbow could tell. She was too busy trying not to turn blind.

Quickly, Rainbow placed the battery inside a secondary compartment area, where there was a spot reserved for the chunk of metal. Careful not to electrocute herself, she grabbed the thick wiring and connected them to the battery, a spark of electricity shooting out upon interaction. "Alright, now I just need to test that new code I was working on," she reminded herself.

She worked her way back to the front, where the door automatically opened for her and a blast of gas rushed through the opening crack, making Rainbow squint. She took a step forwards where she saw a chair in the back wall of the machine, a light cushion providing the only comfort in the entire thing. Humming to herself, she sat down on the cushion, where a monitor popped up from the side wall, seeming to extend out slightly towards Rainbow, where she then pulled out her laptop. She then plugged in the USB into the USB port and opened up her code. After uploading her files, the UI popped up on the screen.

Power: 1.21 Gigawatts (99.987%)

Travel Destination: NULL
Preparation: Not Started.

Travel Destination:
NO INPUT

Rainbow then reached out to the keyboard to type in her destination. 5 minutes into the future should be enough for testing. She thought to herself before changing the travel input to her desired time.

Then, she pressed enter.

Preparing...
Destinationnnnnnnnnnnnn...

"What the hay is wrong with this thing?" Rainbow smacked the side of the monitor. It didn't help. "Hello-o? I thought I already tested this code like, ten times already!" she groaned in annoyance, before opening up her laptop once more, furiously scrolling through looking for her mistake, forgetting to click the very obvious Stop Code button.

"Should be in here somewhere... aha! Gotcha!" she exclaimed, and quickly fixed her error.

All of a sudden, the front door slammed shut on her. The lights started flashing red.

"Oh, buck," Rainbow's eyes went wide and her pupils shrank to the size of a pin. She ran over to the door. "Let me OUUUT!" she screamed, banging on the thick metal wall blocking her only chance of escape. All of a sudden, the lights turned off, and the monitor flashed a line of text. Please fasten your seatbelts. "BUCK!" she ran over to the chair, but it was too late. She felt herself get shoved into the floor as the box seemed to fly up into the air, though she had no idea where it was going. The machine darted around the skies, left, right, up, down, and along with that, came a petrified screaming Rainbow Dash, who was lagging behind, hitting all sides of the machine as she was flung across the small internal space.

Then, just when she thought it couldn't get worse, the power in the room seemed to get cut off completely, all sounds getting cut off and the room going pitch black. She tried to find grip, before managing to get a hold on something, probably the lose monitor from the side walls. Then, without warning, she was flung away from her grasp of safety and her head hit a sharp corner in the room, instantly knocking out Rainbow Dash.

"Ya know Pinkie, I don't think Rainbow Dash was exaggerating about these cupcakes of yours, they're really good!" Applejack claimed and took a rather large bite out of her cupcake, smearing frosting all over her muzzle before wiping it off with her hoof.

BOOM

There was an explosion. Everyone looked up and saw that it came from Rainbow's house, where there was a strange box flying through the sky incredibly fast. Then, a painfully bright light engulfed the box and disappeared without a trace.

"What in tarnation?!" Applejack spat out her food and the others had a similar reaction.

"RAINBOW?!" Twilight cried out and teleported to the scene.

"Wait, Twilight!" the others yelled out, but it was too late. They would have to find their own method of transportation.

Twilight landed on Rainbow's front doorstep and furiously knocked on the door. "Rainbow?! Are you in there? Are you okay?" Twilight yelled out through the door.

No response.

"You know what?! I'll just let myself in!" Twilight gritted her teeth and kicked down the door. She sprinted down her hallway and found the bookcase, still open from before. What the heck? She thought to herself. It didn't matter, that would be a question for later. Right now, she needed to help her best friend. She galloped through the passageway and found a trashed room with papers all over the floors and walls. In the middle of the room was a gaping hole in the roof, easily able to fit her entire body plus more. However, the cyan pegasus was no where to be seen.

"R-rainbow? This isn't funny!" she yelled out, her voice cracked. Tears started to form. "Rainbow, where are you?! I swear if this is some prank, I'm going to kill you!"

She examined the room, looking for where her friend could have gone. That's when she found a journal, its pages ripped out on the floor next to it. She picked it up with her magic.

Day #567

Today was a doozy. Worked on my code, like usual. I didn't think I would actually make any progress until I found that pesky issue! Took me three hours to find. Note to self: double check for spelling errors.

Day #568

I should have seen this coming! A fuse completely blew out! Do you know how expensive those things are?! It took ages to fix it up, and it came right out of my savings! I swear, I'm going to be flat-out broke after this. Not only that, but I had to take the compartment apart layer after layer! And I nearly lost another fuse! I almost lost a hundred fifty bits right there!

The journal went on and on, filled with more notes on Dash's work along with diagrams and specific drawings on ideas on extra things to put in, and sample code to remember for next time. Twilight stared in awe as she flipped through the pages and saw hundreds, maybe even thousands of journal entries. She's been working on this for a long time. What made her even more worried was the fact that there was a huge spot on the floor where the ground had molded in, as if it was carrying something extremely heavy.

She was so confused that she almost didn't hear the obnoxiously loud beeping besides her. When she went to look, she found a device in the shape of a box. It had a handle for grip and had an LED on the top of it. Every few seconds, she'd hear a beep resonate from the device. Slowly, she picked it up in her hooves and the screen lit up.

Destination: February 1st, 1978

Arrival: Unknown

Power: 13.5%
Crystal Condition: Unknown
Passenger Health: Unknown
Location: Unknown

"Rainbow... what happened to you?" Twilight choked. Tears flooded from her eyes as she stared at the device in silence.

Author's Note

Yes, I was so unsatisfied of this chapter that not only did I remaster it, but I completely rewrote it. Again! Hopefully I don't have to rewrite this. Enjoy!

This is what I imagine the device looking like, if you're wondering.

Chapter 2: Arrival (Rewrite)

@#$*#@#@$@ ERROR.
ERROR.
ERROR.
ERROR.

"Ugh, what is that noise?!" Rainbow groaned. The obnoxiously loud and annoying warning sounds blared through the cabin, forcing Rainbow awake.

She tried to sit up, but winced in pain as she felt a sharp stab in both her head and lower body. Upon further examination, she felt that her head had an open wound and nearly lost consciousness from merely touching the injury. She could feel flesh sticking out of her head, having a spongey texture. But that wasn't even the worse of it. As she continued to examine herself, she looked down onto her lower body, where she saw a thin pole that had pierced through her abdomen like a hook through a fish. When she tried to remove the pole, she felt her body complain as her stomach acid nearly came onto the floor.

I need to patch myself up... She looked up at the wall and saw a still quite secure First Aid kit inside a compartment in the wall. She reached for the compartment, trying to keep her lunch inside her body, and managed to open the door, where a beaten up white box fell in front of her. She opened it up and found some bandages, alcohol, and most importantly, pain killers.

"Oh, thank Celestia," she muttered to herself as she popped open the lid and chugged a few pills. It would take a bit to set in.

She then reverted her attention back to the piercing hole in her body and reached down to grab it. She knew what she had to do.

"This is going to hurt so much," Rainbow murmured. She took a deep breath in and applied a large amount of pressure to back end of the pole. SNAP She had successfully broken off a segment of the stick. This allowed her better access to more easily remove the rest of the staff. Still holding her breath, she pulled the pole out, crying out in pain as blood began to pour out of the wound like a river with no signs of stopping any time soon.

Quickly, she grabbed the bandages and stuff it in her wound and wrapped it around her abdomen, hoping that it was enough to stop the bleeding. The stretched out, soft white bandage instantly turned a deep crimson red as more blood soaked into the cloth. Rainbow moaned in pain as she finished wrapping the bandage and tightly tied it off.

Rainbow gasped for air and laid back down on the floor again, taking a deep breath, trying to subdue the pain. After what seemed forever, she pulled herself up using the side bars and tried to gain her footing. As soon as she was up, she started to feel nauseous and the world started to spin around her, until she ultimately doubled over, emptying her contents onto the cold, metal, floor. Her fur soaking up the throw up like a towel.

"Ugh- buck this crap," she groaned, nearly throwing up a second time. Then, she stood up again to be met with her left leg buckling under the pressure where she fell back down, kissing the sweet barf that was neatly laid out before her.

"Oh, dear Celestia, its in my mouth!" Rainbow gagged. She spit into the air, trying to get the disgusting substance out of her mouth and back on the floor where it belongs. When she tried to check what was wrong with her leg, her eyes widened in realization. her leg was completely broken, bent in ways that it shouldn't be bent, with a bone sticking out the side. Could this get any worse?!

Without the ability to walk, she pulled herself along the floor, outside of the cage she was stuck inside. "I hate my life..." Rainbow said to particularly no one and continued forwards, using her other rear leg as support. After making her way a few feet in front of the machine, she checked her surroundings, to which she was met with trees. Lots of trees. The only hints of light shining through were tiny sunrays, poking through the leaves above her. Besides that, it was nearly pitch black. Her ears perked up as she heard the rustling of bushes around her. She gulped. Only now had she realized where she was. She was in the everfree forest.

The feeling of dread started to weigh down on her like an anvil pulling her into the floor, giving her a paralyzing feeling, making her unable to move. She felt hopeless. Alone. She just wanted to see her friends again. To tell them how much she cared for them. Tears streamed down her face. It was too late for that. She would never see them again. She would die there. Lonely, cold, and afraid. She would die right next to the very machine she spent years creating. The very thing she had sought out to create had banished her. Leaving her to die, in the pointy grass that stabbed into her fur. The rough feeling of rocks digging into her skin.

"NO!" Rainbow yelled aloud. "I'm not going to sit here and just die! If I die, I want to die at least knowing that I tried." With what little strength she had left, she forced herself to stand. "Get... UP!" she shouted at herself, and pulled her rear legs underneath herself, and managed to be able to stand. "I'm not..." she grunted in pain. "Dying..." She took another step forwards. "-like this!" A wave of determination came over her, and she pushed her way through the pain, through the blood and throw up, and made her way towards freedom. Walking forwards at an increasingly faster pace, hoping, just hoping, that she would run into a path that would lead her away from this awful land.

Then, her prayers were answered. As she walked, she could see a dirt path form in front of her, which she followed closely. Eventually, she could see a light. Freedom! Tears streamed down her face. She would make it. She would survive. She wouldn't die lonely. She would see her friends again. Then, she stepped into a blinding flash of light that was the sun. She was out. She looked through the bright lights and found something she never would've expected. Ponyville.

"I'm home," Rainbow said to herself. "I'm HOME!" she laughed out in joy as tears flooded her eyes.

All of a sudden, a sense of lightheadedness seemed to slap her in the back of the head and she felt increasingly tired and nauseous. The world started to spin and darken. She landed on her knees, looking up into the sky before her eyes crawled to the back of her head where she was met with darkness.

Twilight paced across the room inside of Rainbow's cloudhouse. She was a mess. Her hair was messed up, her usual smooth bangs replaced with strips of hair sticking up on its end. Her face had wet stains and her eyes were sore. Waves of thoughts flooded her head. "How could I let this happen? I saw something was up! I should have said something! I should have asked her what she was doing! And now she's gone and it's all my fault!" she cried out, a flood of water flowing from her eyes.

"Hey, ya know that's not true. We all coulda done somethin', but we didn't," Applejack told her, a tone of worry in her voice.

Twilight slumped down into a corner. "N-No no no. It's m-my fault. You guys d-didn't do anything wrong. I-I should've said something," Twilight sniffed, wiping tears from her eyes, only managing to further worsen her appearance.

"Hey, it's alright, Twilight," Fluttershy said softly. "It's not your fault. We all ignored what was going on," she further clarified Applejack's point. "We are just as guilty as you are. You didn't do anything wrong." Twilight looked up at the yellow pegasus where she was met with a pair of kind, caring eyes and a heartwarming smile of support.

"Y-you're right," Twilight said, the tears slowly coming to a halt. She wiped the wetness off her face.

"Don't worry, Twilight. If ah know anything about her, ah know that she'll pull through. She's tough," Applejack reassured her.

Twilight sniffled. "I know, it's just... I-I don't know..." she looked down at the floor.

"Well, if you need anything, you can always talk to us," Fluttershy offered. She leaned forwards and gave Twilight a soft hug, the rest of following her example. "We'll get through this, together," Fluttershy said softly.

"T-Thanks. You girls mean the world to me," Twilight looked up with a grateful look on her face. Her breathing slowed and her heart rate decreased and she leaned into the hug. They sat there for a good few minutes.

Rarity broke the silence. "Well, I'd hate to bring this up now, but, when are we getting the princesses? Surely they'd be able to help us out quite a bit," Rarity asked.

"Oh! Y-yeah. I almost forgot!" Twilight said sheepishly, before standing up and brushing herself off quickly. "Spike!"

Rainbow slowly regained consciousness and opened her eyes.

"Am I... dead?" she asked herself.

She sat up and looked around where she was met with the void. The endless, cold void. As she stared, it only seemed to get darker and darker and it seemed to pull her towards it.

She gulped. "H-hello?" she called out. Her voice echoed through the endless vast space where she got no response back.

Then, she heard a thud in the distance. It echoed out, just barely audible enough to hear. "Who's there?!" she yelled, quickly standing and getting into a defensive stance.

Then, the there was a thud again. This time closer. And heavier. "S-show yourself!" Rainbow shouted at the darkness ahead.

Her ears perked up, listening for the slightest sound to tell her where the sound was coming from. That's when she heard it. A slow breath, echoing through the black space. It's breath sounded ghastly, it seemed to be getting closer... and closer. That's when she noticed the blackness start to cave in around her.

Her fight-or-flight response kicked in, and she bolted in the opposite direction as fast as her legs could take her. She tried to take off flying, but her wings didn't want to work. The darkness got faster, and the thumping got louder and louder, gaining on Rainbow.

Then, a glimmer of hope appeared. A bright light somewhere in the distance, where she could hear voices speaking. She ran towards it, her legs burning as she kept her speed, not wanting to slow down for the entity behind her.

"Somepony! Anypony! Help me!" Rainbow cried out in fear.

The lights got brighter and she approached what looked to be an exit. Her legs started to fail. She started to slow and the entity only got faster. Not wanting to die, she leapt towards it, stretching her body out like a kite. Then, something grabbed her. It's touch felt ice cold and it pulled her back, away from the light.

"No, nononono! I don't want to die! Let me go!" Rainbow screamed. With her other free leg, she kicked the entity off of her and regained her footing, running through the light.

Rainbow bolted straight up, sweat drenching her body. That's when she noticed she was hyperventilating, and she tried to calm herself down. After she calmed herself, she realized she was sitting on a bed. A hospital bed. She could hear the beeping of the heart monitor to the side of her, where there was a bag of blood piping into her arm. She was wearing a blue gown, but she could feel bandages wrapped around her, covering her abdomen area and her head. Other than that, she was okay.

She laid back down and sighed in relief. Then, a sound echoed down the hallway, getting louder, and a Nurse barged into the room, her eyes wide and alert. When she saw Rainbow, she relaxed and approached her.

"How ya doing?" she asked with a kind smile.

"Oh, u-uh, hi! I'm doing... alright," Rainbow said with a tone of confusion in her voice.

"Ah, you must be wondering how you got here," the Nurse said. "Somepony called in and said they found a body on the outskirts of Ponyville, and we rushed over to help you out," she explained. "You almost died, ya know," she told her, her face getting serious. Then she relaxed again. "But now you're alright, and that's all that matters," she said with a grin on her face.

"Thank you. I thought I was going to die, too," Rainbow replied softly.

"Yeah, speaking of that, how did you get injured? What happened to you?" she asked.

"Oh-! It's just some accident! I fell while performing stunts in the air," she lied, giving her best reassuring smile.

"Huh, must've been some crash. You gotta be more careful next time. Got it?" she told Rainbow. "Oh, I almost totally forgot! My name is Nurse Pinkheart!" she said with a proud smile, bringing her hoof out to Rainbow, where she reluctantly shook it.

"Um, my name is-" she was cut off.

"Ah, no need to worry about that. We just searched up your description in the computer and your files popped up. It's weird though, it says you're only a filly," Pinkheart rubbed her chin. "Eh, but we'll fix it. We'll contact the others about this mix up stuff. Hasn't happened in a while."

"Oh uh- I was totally going to say that!" Rainbow chuckled awkwardly. "But uh, you beat me to it!" she said with a half-smile on her face.

"Okay, well, I can check you out now and we can head out, but I would recommend at least another two months before-"

"TWO MONTHS?!" Rainbow yelled in disbelief.

"I mean, you can leave now if you want, but you'll undergo some serious risks of stitches re-opening, you bleeding out and stuff like that," Pinkheart warned.

"That's alright, I think I'll just be on my way!" she said as she quickly shuffled her way out of bed.

"Whoa! Sit back down! I still need to sign some forms for your release!" Pinkheart rolled her eyes.

"Fine.." Rainbow pouted. "Hey, how long have I even been here?" she asked.

Beads of sweat formed on Pinkheart's head. "Oh, um, just like um... five months," she cringed and looked away from Rainbow, not wanting to see her reaction.

"Five months?!" Rainbow shouted.

"Y-yes?"

Rainbow crumbled back down into the bed and slapped her hoof over her face. She let out a long groan and sunk even deeper into the sheets.

"Well... Ff you were wondering, the date today is July 15th, 1978," Pinkheart added with a small smile.

"Ugh! That just makes this worse!" Rainbow yelled into the pillow.

It was going to be a long day.

Author's Note

More rewriting, yay!
pls enjoy

Chapter 3: Need Materials

There was a knock at the door.

"Mmf... coming," Twilight weakly groaned as she got out of bed and sluggishly walked towards the library's front door. When she opened it, she found Applejack, looking at her with a worried expression on her face.

"How ya doing, sugarcube?" she asked. Twilight muttered a barely audible response that was something among the lines of "I'm fine."

"Sorry for waking you up so early, but ah, I just couldn't really sleep well last night and ah," Applejack stared off into the distance. "Can ah come in?"

"Sure. Make yourself at home," Twilight responded and turned around to go take a seat. Applejack followed shortly after. "What did you want to talk about?"

"It's about Rainbow," Applejack started. Twilight visibly tensed at the sound of her name. "Ah just haven't been able to sleep very well. Whenever ah try to fall asleep, all I can think of is what the hay happened?"

"Yeah, I don't really know what happened either," Twilight added.

"Ah assume you already notified the princess?" Applejack asked. Twilight responded with a simple nod of reassurance. "What do you think happened?"

Twilight frowned. "I don't really know. She's been acting strange all week, always needing to go somewhere. Now she's just gone. It seemed like she was working on something. There were journal entries blueprints all over the place," Twilight looked up in thought. "I plan on going back later today to research what she's been up to. See if I can find out what's been going on."

"That's... good to hear. Thanks Twilight," Applejack gave a warm smile. "Ya think I can help out?"

"Uh, sure! I need all the help I can get. Maybe you could get the girls? We could cover more groundwork that way," Twilight said, a sparkle of determination glinting in her eyes.

"Sure! Ah can gather everyone up right now if you want," Applejack offered.

"Let the others sleep in," Twilight chuckled. "I'm going to go make myself some coffee. You want any?"

"Nah, I'm good. Thanks for the offer, though," Applejack laid down on the chair and tipped her hat down over her face to get some rest.

Rainbow exited the hospital and flew up into the sky to get a vantage point. She looked around and spotted the area where she had came out of the forest. Somewhere near the less populated area of Ponyville. Quickly, she flew down to the zone and explored the forest until she came across the wreckage. There it was, standing in all of its beauty. Her broken down piece of art. It pained her just to look at.

"I'm gonna fix you up, just you wait," she told the machine. She went around to the back panel and examined what she had to work with. She didn't even need any screwdrivers. The screws were so beaten up and damaged with the panel that she could just pry it off! The metal sheet was extremely bent already, where battery acid poured from one side. She firmly gripped the sheet and pulled with all her might before having the sheet come clean off, along with some concerning parts. Not to worry, though. Most of the pieces she saw were pretty easy to replace. Some wires, metal rods - the basic stuff, along with some voltage input and output managers. There were other things too, but she could just buy them from the local mechanic shop.

Rainbow scanned the rest of the compartment, her eyes stopping at an open gap in the area. The area for the crystal that had once been in there.

"Are you serious? Buck me," Rainbow moaned in frustration when she saw the empty container that used to hold a very specific, very important crystal. It was like a body without a brain! A library without books! A cake without frosting!- you get the point. "How am I going to find another quantum crystal?!"

The sound of rustling papers could be heard inside of Rainbow's house. Twilight and her friends were all scavenging through papers, reading journal entries, blueprints, models; anything that could be of use. That's when Twilight came across the model of a gem of some sort. It was pretty big and seemed important, so she grabbed it and looked at the label on the bottom. "Model of the Quantum Crystal" it read. Must be important. She looked for other documents nearby that could be related to said crystal. She found a couple of journal entries that seemed to go in-depth on what the Quantum Crystal was and how it functioned.

The Model of The Quantum Crystal

It showed a quick sketch of the model.

This crystal took me forever to find. I mean it. These things are so rare that they cost me a fortune and a half to get my hooves on. I won't get into much detail on how I found it, I'll just go into depth on how it works, in case I forget, or if this is used as some scientific notebook thing that other scientists will look at in the future. Anyways, it's basically a crystal that messes with quantum physics, hence the name. It's formed from an environment holding an extreme abundance of energy. However, even after it is formed, it still needs to charge. After it is charged, it has a very unique way of function.

When I said it messes with quantum physics, I meant something more among the lines of quantum tunneling. Quantum tunneling is when a very small object - usually something like an atom - manages to penetrate a physical barrier, even if it seems to not have enough energy. This crystal basically allows me to do just that, just on a larger scale. However, it takes an immense amount of power to charge and is extremely unstable. That's why I created a special compartment to hold the crystal and stabilize it so it doesn't explode.

I plan on running more tests in the future. Right now, this thing is still pretty new and I'm not 100% sure how it works.

Twilight eyed the paper and re-read it over and over again to make sure she was getting this right. That she wasn't hallucinating. Quantum tunneling on a larger scale? How is that even possible? Twilight rubbed her chin. What did this even have to do with her disappearance? She sat down and looked at the evidence laid out in front of her, trying to connect the dots.

Rainbow exited the Everfree and flew near the outskirts of Ponyville. When she approached her destination, it was a mechanical shop called, "Dave's Auto Parts & Repair". It was a relatively small shop. It was just how she remembered it. Except it looked newer. The wood gave off a small shine when she looked at it. She could practically see her own reflection in it. She stepped inside through the store and a wave of cold air hit her. The AC was quite overpowering. It was almost cold, like in a supermarket. When she looked around, she could see shelves stacked with parts from motors to batteries and other common parts.

"Well, hello there young fellow," a familiar voice called out to her. When she turned to look at him, it was a younger version of the Dave that she knew. He no longer had grey hair. He had a nice flush brown color and an orange coat with a wrench as a cutie mark. He was wearing a dark blue mechanics outfit, with brown stains of rust stuck on.

"Oh hey! What's up Dave?" she responded.

"Wait, how do ya know my name? I just opened up this here shop," Dave questioned, eyeing her suspiciously.

Rainbow's heart stopped. Sweat formed on her head. "Well, uh, you see..." Quick, think! "It's uh, your name tag. I read your name tag."

Dave calmed back down. "Oh, heh. I forgot I wore these things." He flicked his name tag with his hoof. "What brings ya here?"

"Well, I was looking for repair parts for this machine of mine that I was developing. It's a huge project of mine. I actually have quite a list of parts that I need," Rainbow started. She looked over at the front desk, where there was a stack of paper. "Do you mind if I borrow some paper?"

"Nah, I have a ton of it. Take what ya need. Now, what was it that you wanted?" Dave asked.

Rainbow grabbed a slip of paper and collected a pencil from the cup on the desk, holding a few pencils and pens along with some highlighters. "Okay, I need..."

The conversation went on for a while and Rainbow wrote down all the things that she needed. Dave was surprisingly patient with her extremely long list of items. After she was done, he asked, "Is that all?"

"Yeah, I think that's everything," Rainbow said, giving an affirmative nod.

"Alright, well, I think I have everything. How are ya going to pay?"

Oh. Rainbow hadn't really thought about that part yet. "Heh, well, you see, the thing is... I kinda forgot about that," she gave a sheepish smile.

"Well, now, I can't just give ya this stuff for free ya know!" Dave gave her an annoyed look. "This stuff ain't cheap! This cost me a fortune! I need to make money, too!"

"Sorry!" Rainbow apologized. "I'll figure something out. I'll be back!" She gave an awkward smile and exited the shop quickly.

Rainbow walked to a nearby chair and sat down, running through her available options. "Hmm, I could sell my old parts, but I don't think he'd want to buy those," she muttered to herself. "I can't get a job, that'd take too long. And there's no way I'm stealing anything," Rainbow groaned loudly. "Ugh, why do things have to be so difficult?!" She slammed her hoof onto the floor.

Then a noise came from her right. It was footsteps. She looked over and saw a group of royal guards, walking down the street. Towards her. "Ma'am, orders from Princess Celestia require you to come with us. If you'd come with us without any problems, that'd be preferable," the guard ordered. "We will use violence if we have to," he said as he gave Rainbow a stern look.

Rainbow blinked. "And I thought things couldn't get any worse," she sighed heavily. She lifted her hooves towards the guard. "Take me away, officer," she rolled her eyes.

They escorted her to the royal carriage, where she was taken away from Ponyville, towards the city of Canterlot.

Author's Note

I'm not exactly proud of this story so far, but that's what I get for winging it for literally the whole story. Eh, it'll be fine.

Chapter 4: Secret's Out

Inside the cabin of the royal carriage, Rainbow could feel the wind hitting her face as they flew towards the giant city that was Canterlot. She sat in the back of the carriage, crammed from some boxes stored in the back. Two guards sat in the front, and every once in a while they would glance back at her to make sure she wasn't trying anything. Every time the guards looked back, they were met with the same what-are-you-looking-at glare from Rainbow. The ride was surprisingly short, taking up only a few hours of time even though the city was extremely far away.

Eventually, the carriage touched down by the entrance of the castle that sat, perched on the mountain side. Surprisingly, it wasn't much different back then to what she was used to now. The only difference was that there were more colors of the sun, as Luna wasn't exactly there. She kind of missed the midnight blue colors decorating the walls. It gave it a nice contrast. Reminded of the reason of why she was there, Rainbow gave out a heavy sigh.

They approached the door, where guards watched over the entrance. The escorting guards gave a nod to the ones guarding the gate, and they opened up the door, letting them in. Rainbow managed to catch a glance from one of the guards, who carefully eyed her as she walked through the gates. The halls they walked down were the same as she remembered. They were colored a subtle white color. Not too overpowering. Just right. It managed to create a feeling of calm as Rainbow walked through. The floor was also made of marble, with a red carpet stretching out through the middle. Small tables and cabinets sat on the sides of the halls, with mirrors on top of some of them, and flower pots sitting on others. There were doors on the side that went to other parts of the castle, but they went straight down the carpet path, towards a huge door, leading to the throne room, which was guarded by another set of guards.

After they passed through, they saw the carpet stretch out across a large room towards the throne, which sat Princess Celestia, who had a composed expression on her face. The walls lined with large windows, where rays of light glared through, which shined off of Celestia's flowing mane.

"We have the suspect you wanted, your highness," the guard on Rainbow's left stated.

"Excellent work, guards. Now I will take it from here," Celestia dismissed the group of guards with a wave of her hoof. They nodded and quickly left the room, leaving just the two of them in the room.

Rainbow gulped.

"You are here because you have committed false impersonation of a filly by the name of Rainbow Dash. How do you plead?" Celestia started.

Rainbow struggled to find words to explain her situation. "I-um, well, you see *cough*- I plead, uh, not guilty?" Rainbow said with an uncertain tone, the pitch of her voice going up at the end. Sweat started to pour from her forehead.

"Well then, explain yourself!" Celestia said. "Impersonation is a serious offense that will not be tolerated. What is your reasoning?" she asked.

"Well, uh, crazy story actually. You won't believe what happened! I actually am not from around here and, uh, I guess I just naturally look like her and stuff, so, if I'll be on my way-" Celestia did not let her finish.

"Would you explain why, when the nurse went to confirm your identity, you agreed with what she said?" Celestia gave her a stern look.

Rainbow gave a sigh of frustration. "I guess there's no easy way to put this," she frowned. "Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but just hear me out," Rainbow began.

"I'm listening," Celestia said.

"So, I actually am Rainbow Dash, it's just that I'm not this Rainbow Dash, I'm a different Rainbow Dash, from a different time period, and uh, I sorta crash landed here and stuff and I really need to get back to my time, but my machine broke, so I'm stranded here for now and I really need to get this thing called a quantum crystal, and if I don't get that I can't get home, and if I don't get home then the whole universe might end because of complicated things with time travel and such and I don't want to create any time paradoxes or anything. I can't really even look at myself otherwise the universe ends and-"

"Sorry, what?" Celestia said, baffled. "Could you repeat that?"

"Well, basically, I'm Rainbow Dash, just from the future," Rainbow gave Celestia a sheepish smile.

"And what, you expect me to just believe you?" Celestia groaned. "What you're talking about is complete madness. Stuff only Star Swirl the bearded used to talk about. You must be completely insane if you expect me to go along with your little act," Celestia said, frustrated.

"I'm not lying! I swear! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" Rainbow said, doing the motions to complete the promise.

"Excuse me?" Celestia asked.

Rainbow face-hoofed. "Ah, right. Still in the past," she muttered to herself. "It was just some thing that we do in my time. You'll see it eventually."

"Oh really? Tell me more about this future of yours, then!" Celestia doubted.

"Sure! Me and my friends are like, the bearers of the elements of harmony and stuff. I'm actually the element of Loyalty," Rainbow puffed out her chest in pride as she pointed to herself, giving a smug smile.

"The elements?" Celestia raised an eyebrow. "How do you know about the elements? Tell me more of these bearers," Celestia asked, now intrigued.

"Well, first there's Applejack, who's a great friend of mine. She's really passionate about what she does, but she's also really honest, making her the element of honesty. Then there's Fluttershy, a friend I've had since flight school and even though she is really shy, she is extremely kind and caring, which is why she's the element of kindness. Then, there's Rarity, and believe me when I tell you, she is obsessed with fashion," Rainbow chuckled.

"But with her fashion, she can be extremely generous, which makes her the element of generosity. Then there's Pinkie. She's a doozie. She'll throw a party for just about anything and make it the most fun you've ever had in your life. She's the element of laughter. And then there's Twilight," Rainbow face lit up with a warm smile. "She's such an egghead. She always has a book that she's reading. She actually owns a library, funnily enough. She's the element of magic, which brings us all together."

Celestia looked at Rainbow, puzzled. "You know of Twilight Sparkle?"

"Yeah, why?" Rainbow asked.

Celestia studied Rainbow carefully, looking for any hints of lies, but alas, she found none. Celestia sighed. "I suppose I have doubted you for too long. I believe you, Rainbow Dash," Celestia declared. "She actually is one of my students in my school. I believe she has an exam not too long from now."

"Oh yeah, wasn't that when she hatched Spike, or somethin' like that?" Rainbow asked.

Celestia chuckled. "Well, now I know you aren't lying." Her stern expression was replace with that of a calm one. "What is it that you say you've done to travel here?"

"Where do I begin?" Rainbow said. "So basically, what happened was..."

In Rainbow Dash's cloud house, there sat Twilight Sparkle, still working away as the hours went by.

And did the hours go by.

It was now what, 3 AM? She had been at this for hours. Reviewing pieces of parchment over and over showed to be of no support, but Twilight couldn't help but gawk at the marvelous work done by Rainbow. Had she had known earlier that one of her best friends could help her on her work, she would've spent way more time with Rainbow. Not that she wasn't already.

Twilight sighed as she thought of the things they did before this incident happened. She enjoyed the times they spent on the weekends, late at night, reading the newest book in the cyan pegasus's favorite series, Daring Do. Of course, it would always end with her friend falling asleep besides her, book in hoof. She would then neatly stack the book back where it belonged and heading upstairs to get some sleep herself.

Just thinking about it made glints of water droplets form in her eyes. She was still determined, though.

Another hour went by and she stifled a yawn. She wasn't going to get anything done at this rate. I'll probably feel better after I get some rest. Then I can continue working on this. She thought to herself. And with that, she put down the notebook she was holding and laid down on the soft, clouded floor.

***

There was an explosion. Everyone looked up and saw that it came from Rainbow's house, where there was a strange box flying through the sky at lightning speeds. Then, a painfully bright light engulfed the box and disappeared without a trace.

"What in tarnation?!" Applejack shouted. Twilight didn't pay much attention, though.

"RAINBOW?!" she cried out and quickly teleported to the scene.

She had landed on Rainbow's front doorstep where she furiously knocked on the door. "Rainbow?! Are you in there? Are you okay?" Twilight yelled out in worry. Still no response.

"Fine! I'll just let myself in!" Twilight clenched her teeth and kicked down the door. She needed to find Rainbow. With much haste, she ran through the darkened hallway, the mess of broken furniture laying on the already trashed floor. That's when she saw the open passage way from Rainbow's bookcase.

"I'm coming, Rainbow!" she cried out and ran into the room. It was completely empty. The air seemed to stop around her where she called out again. "Rainbow?"

"You're too late..." a voice called out from the shadows. She snapped her neck around to see where the sound came from. She screamed.

There lay her precious Rainbow, bleeding out on the floor. Deep cuts and bruises covered her from head to toe where she sat in a pool of her own blood. "Why didn't you save me?" Rainbow said weakly. She lifted up a broken, battered hoof. "You knew something was wrong, but you did nothing!" she spat out. Then, her hoof went limp, and her eyes turned lifeless, where her body further slouched onto the wall, sliding down slowly until she lay on her side, staring into the distance, blood coming out of her mouth.

"RAINBOW?! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Don't go! Please don't go!" she begged to the lifeless corpse, holding its hoof. "I'm sorry..." she sobbed into her mane, getting blood all over her face, but she didn't care.

Then, Rainbow's body started to dissolve into dust. "Rainbow?!" Twilight reached out to her friend, but she disintegrated upon touch. "Rainbow?! What's happening?!" Twilight quickly stood up, eyes darting around the room as she watched it also slowly start to fade away into a pane of midnight blue.

"That is enough," a familiar voice called out. She turned to see none other than Princess Luna herself, gliding down from the night sky, before landing besides Twilight.

Twilight ran quickly ran her hooves through her mane and tried to be more presentable, before wiping the tears from her eyes. "Princess Luna! What are you doing here? Where's Rainbow? What happened?" Twilight asked.

"Tis just a dream," Luna told her. "That was quite the intense nightmare. I'm sorry you had to go through that." She gave Twilight a comforting smile. Then, as if she remembered something important, her face went serious once again.

"Twilight, I have come with some serious news," she began. "Regarding your friend Rainbow Dash, me and my sister have been working hard to find a viable solution to finding her. Alas, all of our efforts have been to no avail. Our guards haven't spotted anything even remotely showing a sign that she's there, and I haven't been able to find Rainbow Dash in the dream realm."

Luna sighed. "That is why we want you to come to Canterlot tomorrow, where we will further discuss what to do next. Make sure to bring your friends," she finished.

"Uh, why didn't you just send us a letter?" Twilight asked, to which she got a worried look from Luna.

"I'm afraid my sister is not feeling too well, and we have been a bit preoccupied with helping with her condition. For some reason, she's been getting extreme headaches and has been unable to use her magic for quite some time now," Luna said. "I would've sent a message, but I was caught up in the mess and forgot," she smiled sheepishly.

"Oh," Twilight looked down at the floor.

"What is wrong, Twilight?" Luna asked. "Is this dream not to your liking? I can change it to something more relaxing if you want," she said as she changed the land around her to a nice area by a pond, the sound of wildlife being very faint.

"It's nothing. I'm just worried for Rainbow." Tears started to form in her eyes and she looked up at Luna. "Do you think she's okay?"

"Well, the worst case scenario would be that your friend is dead, but I don't think that is very likely," Luna stated simply. Twilight broke down and started crying. Luna slapped herself in the face. "What I meant to say was that your friend is completely fine. She can handle herself, yes?" Luna corrected, scolding herself in the process.

Twilight sniffed and looked back at the midnight blue alicorn looking down upon her. She nodded.

"Well then, she should be perfectly fine. Now is there anything else?" Luna asked.

Twilight shook her head.

"Good! Then I shall go tend to the other dreams of the night," Luna said and started to walk away and stepped through an invisible barrier.

Twilight was left alone. Alone by the pond, where she saw frogs jumping around the lily pads, and the sound of crickets in the bushes. She laid down and stared into the sky, where thoughts of Rainbow Dash flooded her mind.

Author's Note

I think I did slightly better with this chapter. I'm not too happy with the Celestia encounter, but maybe I'll go back and improve it some day. Hope you all enjoyed!