At an unknown part of Equestria, Lightning Bolt and her Washouts, Short Fuse and Rolling Thunder, are setting up their gear to perform in front of a crowd. “Alright, Washouts, let’s hurry and get our gear ready for today’s performance!” Lightning called out to her two Washouts. “We don’t want to leave them hanging!”

“YEAH! LET’S NOT KEEP THEM WAITING, OR I’M GONNA GO CRAZY!” Short Fuse yelled out.

"It's gonna rock, especially with the new equipment we just got." Rolling mentioned with a grin. "The buzz saws will definitely take our performance off the chain."

“And this time, there will be no Rainbow Dash or her little friends to disturb us.” Lightning added with a look, still holding a grudge against her rival the last time she saw her when she was shot into the sky by her own rocket.

"Still a little sore about the rocket thing?" Rolling asked her rhetorically. "But you got to admit that little stunt was epic."

“IT WOULD’VE BEEN BETTER IF THAT RAINBOW CRASH DIDN’T RUINED IT!” Short Fuse yelled.

“You said it, Fusey.” Lighting said with a growl before she recomposed herself. “But forget about her, let’s just set up our…” She was cut off when she saw something that made her eyes widened. “What the?!” She asked in shock when she saw the ramps all withered and a bit old, like aged into dust old. “What happened to the ramps?!”

"The buzz saws!" Rolling called out when she saw that the new buzz saws they got had become old and rusted. "I just got those things!"

“WHO RUINED THE FIRE RINGS?!” Short Fuse yelled as he saw the fire wrings all rusted up and a bit twisted.

“I-I don’t get it!” Lighting called as she looked at their gear. “All this stuff is still brand new! How did they become old so fast?!”

"Hey, Lightning, I found a trail over here!" Rolling called out as she was standing in front of a trail that looked like it was made by some sort of creature, when they had never seen before. "They look like it's going down to the desert."

“That is weird.” Lightning said with a brow. “And apparently, it’s like it burned through the ground. Whoever it was, it certainly heated up to the bone.” She said as she looked out to the desert.

“So what do we do?” Rolling asked.

“We are gonna follow it and kicked their flanks for ruining our gear!” Lightning declared with a look.

“YEAH WE ARE!” Short Fuse yelled out.

"Washouts, move out!" Lightning shouted before they flew off into the sky and followed the trail. They followed it for a good miles until they spotted some sort of old town with a wall made out of bricks and a barrier around it for miles. "The hay is that?"

"Don't know, but look what else is here!" Rolling called out as she noticed Alien Force and the others just outside of the town.

“Rainbow Crash and her foolish friends?!” Lightning asked in shock before she glared and growled. “Oh, of all the places, why here?!”

With Alien Force, they are looking at the wall barrier with a look of wonder. “Uh, why are we here, again?” Cozy asked with a brow.

“Yeah, because I don’t see anything cool or fun about this place." Button mentioned.

"I just thought I'd come by and see this place one last time." Celestia mentioned with her ears dropped back.

“It sounds like you have an attachment to this place like Squidcity.” Rainbow said with a brow. “Just, what is this place exactly?”

"It used to be an old facility where an old friend of mine got lost." Celestia replied with a sad tone. "An experiment she was conducting went wrong and she hasn't been seen since."

“Ah, now I get it.” Flash said with a nod. “But what kind of experiment was your friend working on?”

“Celestia told me that this facility used to be a research facility.” Luna said to them. “But I don’t know what they were researching. And I have yet to be told.” She said as she gave a brow to her sister.

“Well, whatever it was, it must’ve been a very serious one.” Manny said while tapping the break wall. “Centuries old and from the looks of things, they’re still no way in, unless you’re an alien.” He said with a smirk as he cracked his knuckles.

“Hold on, Manny. Look.” Zs’Spooky said as she pointed to the side, seeing two big holes on the walls, which surprised them, but most of all, Celestia.

"That's… that's impossible, these weren't here before.” Celestia said with shock before she carefully checked each hole. “What exactly made these things?"

"That's what we want to know!" Lightning called out before they saw her and the rest of the Washouts fly down.

“Lightning Dust?!” Both Rainbow and Scootaloo called out before they gave her a glare.

“You three know each other?” Delta asked with a surprised look.

"Meet the Washouts, perfectly named because they washed out in the Wonderbolts tryouts." Rainbow mentioned while she marched up to Lightning Dust. "Reason behind it, they're psychopaths!"

“We were only trying to show ourselves worthy, and then you ruined it!” Lightning countered as she marched up to Rainbow as the two were inches away from their faces. “And of all the places to get away from you, you showed up here!”

“Like I would purposely run into you since you nearly blew Scootaloo up with a rocket?!” Rainbow countered. “What are you and your lackeys doing here?! Trying to show a town your dangerous stunts?” She mocked.

"Whatever, not my fault she was too chicken to do the stunt." Lightning said before she looked past Rainbow Dash. "Right now, I've got bigger fish to fry. Something that came from here, totaled our equipment we were going to do for our show."

“Eh, apparently they did us a favor from what you show.” Rainbow mocked before Dust nudged her.

“Enough, Rainbow.” Dust said with a look as Rainbow looked at her in surprise. “We take it that this someone might be here?”

“Well, the trail leads to this city through that hole.” Lightning said while gesturing to the hole on the brick wall. “When I find them, they're gonna get it!”

"Well, even I'm curious as to what it is because these holes are barely pony shaped." Luna mentioned after examining the holes. "Is there something in here that we should know about, sister?"

“Well, it has been a while, but uh, how should I put this?” Celestia said while rubbing her chin. “Well, it was basically a research facility for collection quarts in the mine. Saying it has the potential to create something greater. The friend I was telling you about was conducting an experiment with these crystals when something bad happened. After that, I had this place shut down and the barrier put up that way no one would get in again and no one would get hurt.”

“Well, we’re not gonna figure out who broke in just by standing here.” Helix said with a suspicious look. “We should go in and see what’s up.”

"Everyone, in the base." Delta called out before looking at the Washouts. “That goes for you three too."

“What?! They’re coming?!” Rainbow asked in disbelief. “No way are they--”

“Rainbow.” Delta said with a firm look that made Rainbow flinched.

"Uh, how are we going to fit in such a tiny little carriage?” Rolling questioned after seeing the disguised mobile base.

"I AM NOT GETTING CRAMMED INTO THAT THING!" Short Fuse shouted before Rainbow started pushing all three of them.

"Just get in!" She told them as Trixie and Twilight looked at both her and Lightning Dust.

"Wow, their grudge against each other is almost as dangerous as ours was, Twilight." Trixie commented as Twilight nodded in agreement.

“Lightning’s first time meeting Rainbow nearly caused my friends and I to fall from the sky and the second time nearly blew Scootaloo from a rocket, so yeah.” Twilight said with a sigh. “It’s a rival thing.”

“Yikes.” Sunburst said with a cringe. “Now I get why they don’t see eye to eye.”

"Yup." Starlight mentioned before they heard the gasps and shouting of shock from the Washouts when they got into the mobile base.

Soon they drove into the facility as the place looked very abandoned. The mobile base stopped as the group exited it as they looked around at the abandoned buildings that are surprisingly intact except for boarded up doors and shattered glass.

“For a century old facility, this place is surprisingly intact.” Flash commented. “Well, mostly but still stable.”

“So how come something that came from here if no one has been here for years?” Helen asked with a brow as Helix looked down at the ground with a serious look.

“Weird. Maybe something, I’m not sure, burns through the wall after it just woke up from one of the experiments.” Helix suggested.

“Look at these.” Misty said as Fluttershy gasped at what she saw as the others gathered around her.

“This is a bird.” Fluttershy said a bit pale as they saw a skeleton of a bird before she saw another of a lizard as she carefully picked it. “And these are lizard bones. They’re fossilized.”

"And it's not just them, look at this." Looma told the others as she walked up to a booth that looked like it had been aged for decades. "That trail you were following goes here and it looks like it was for some sort of writing a letter."

"To me, just in case something went wrong here." Celestia mentioned before Luna noticed the trail was going away from the booth and over to a building.

"It seems like it went to a police station and then… I suppose there are apartments?" Luna added before she saw the spot in the booth. “And it’s like something turned slay into sand just by standing on it.”

“He was probably on hold.” Pinkie joked with a chuckle as the others groaned.

“Just to view, someone stood here a million years ago and then walked into those buildings centuries ago?” Spike asked with a brow.

“Yeah, because that’s just crazy talk.” Lightning added with a brow.

"We have seen plenty of crazy things, and may I remind you what your world is called?" Xylene mentioned with a brow.

Sweetie Belle then saw something that made her nervous. “Uh, guys, I think I found the creature who caused this!” She called as she pointed ahead.

They saw something that was glowing bright blue and looked almost like a skeleton as it was heading straight towards them, while a trail of echoes of itself all behind it. "What the hay is that?!" Rolling questioned before the disguised aliens took off their ID masks.

"Whatever it is, it's got to be more interesting than just standing here." Manny said as Smolder readied her magic while Helix and Misty transformed with their Omnitrixes. Helix had transformed into Bloxx while Misty transformed into her version of Chromastone.

“Let’s get it!” Ruby called as the heroes charged at the creature while the Washouts looked in shock at what they saw. The team was about to charge right at the creature, but it only made a turn as it seemed to be running away from them. The creature moved around them as it then hit the side of a building, causing it to tumble.

“Look out!” Button Mash called as the building came down on them, but the group got out of the way just in time as Bloxx turned to where the creature went, only seeing its trail.

“Gone.” Bloxx muttered as he and Misty transformed back.

“At least the building it destroyed wasn’t the library.” Twilight said optimistically.

“You really loved books that much, huh, Twi?” Applejack asked with a brow.

"I'm saying we need to know what that thing is and a library filled with information on the experiments here might be what we need." Twilight explained before she looked at Celestia. "Do you mind leading the way?"

"After you explain to us what the hay are they!" Lightning exclaimed while pointing at the aliens.

“Oh, boy.” Attea muttered with a sigh. “We’ll explain on the way. Right now, we need info.”

“And what we know so far, it’s looking for something right here on the base.” Lolaxx said with a serious tone.

A bit later, after explaining about the aliens and the Omnitrixies to the Washouts, which they were shocked for a bit before they got their heads together, they were inside the library, with many books gone while Twilight looked at the still working computer.

“Anything, Twilight?” Dust asked her.

“Not much. The films are corroded from time, but it looks like this base was built for a time experiment called Project Temporal.” Twilight mentioned after reading one of the files. “Is that on the experiment that got this place shut down, Celestia?"

“Now I remember.” Celestia said with a thoughtful look. “This was inspired by the time travel spell Starswirl made to travel through time. This base here was built because of the huge quartz deposits that were studied to be used for time travel.”

"Well, what else happened?" Zs'spoocy asked.

"I…I don't fully remember…" Celestia replied with confusion. “I just remember an experiment happening and… strangely enough, nothing else after that."

“Ugh, another time travel mishap.” Starlight said, still having some issues after her meddling with time back when she was a bad mare. "Well, do you at least remember the name of who was in charge of it?"

“I'm afraid not, and her name has been censored." Celestial replied after seeing the file of a unicorn mare.

“Maybe she was trying to build the world's biggest watch." Manny said jokingly, earning him a look from the others.

“Well, whoever she was, her temporal theory was the basis of an experimental tunnel through time.” Misty said while looking at the files. "Luckily for us, the building she was working in is not far from here. Maybe we can go there and it'll jog your memories." She said to Celestia.

A bit later, they entered the room where they saw a giant quartz shape like portal where the lights and machines were stretched out in an impossible angle while only one trail was in the room. “Looks like my place after I threw that party last weekend.” Rolling commented before Applejack noticed the trail.

"Anything yet?" Sunburst asked Celestia as she looked around the place.

"I… I vaguely remember something rising up from the middle of the floor when one of the scientists got sucked into that gate." Celestia mentioned with a worried look. "It just showed up out of nowhere."

"Well, that thing was here and there's only one trail." Applejack mentioned after looking at the trail. "So either that thing came in here and vanished…"

"Or it was born here." Dust finished before they heard a noise coming from the room next to them. Helix quickly activated his omnitrix and transformed into Chromastone.

"Who ever's there, you're going to get chroma all over your stones!" He called out before he rushed into the other room and grabbed something in there. "Got you!" But soon as he pulled whatever he grabbed up, he got a better look as he was holding onto a unicorn mirror wearing a cloak around her body. Her coat was a light orange while her mane was dark brown with blue lines in it while it looked all wavy and she almost looked as tall as Celestia.

"Ah Chromastone, that really takes me back." She said with a smile before she had a confused look on her face. "Or was that forward? It's so hard to tell these days, Helix. Have we met?"

"How do you know who I am?" Chromastone asked as he let her go.

“Have we met, yet, I supposed the question was.” The unicorn mare said with a smile.

“Hey, that’s the unicorn from the photo, that temporal mare.” Spike said in surprise as the group walked up to them.

“You haven’t changed at all. In centuries.” Rarity said in surprise.

"I don't believe it…" Celestia spoke with disbelief.

"Oh it was certainly more than that." The Unicorn mentioned before she pulled out a bag and used her magic to levitate a few gumballs out. "Gumball anyone?"

“No thanks.” Chromastone said to her before Pinkie snatched one.

“I’ll take some!” Pinkie cheered as she ate some gumballs.

“Who are you? What’s your name?” Twilight asked in curiosity.

“You just read my files. I was rather hoping you could tell me.” The Unicorn said with a smile. “It slipped my mind several billion years ago.”

“Did she just several billion years?” Gallus asked in shock.

"Yeah, why would-What the…?" Chromastone was going to ask the unicorn, but when he looked back, she was suddenly gone.

"Where'd she go?" Helen asked as they all wondered where she went.

"By the way, have any of you seen a creature that could be a spacetime anomaly around here?" They heard the Unicorn asked, which startled them before they turned around and saw her by the door. "About yay big, incredibly destructive and virtually unstoppable?” She asked as the group saw her in shock. “No? I must’ve been thinking of another moment. Ta-da for now!” She said as she walked off.

Lightning rushed after her, but saw that she was gone. “Where did she--?”

"Look, she's outside now!" Trixie called out as she saw the Unicorn outside through one of the windows. "How did she get out there without teleporting? We would have seen her use her magic."

“Perhaps she has some sort of connection to that creature, which must be why she's looking for it." Luna theorized. "We must talk to her and see what she knows."

“Yeah, talk to her.” Manny said before he charged through the wall and went straight towards the Unicorn. “Right after the pounding!” He called as the Unicorn leaned against the pole with a calm look before she walked to the pole, but when Manny got there, she was gone. He turned and saw her in a building waving to him before she shut the door. Manny punched through the building and started wrecking the place, trying to find her.

The Unicorn then walked in front of the group before she looked back at them with a smile. "Was I in there?" She asked before she started to run away. She soon went past a building before a fire blast burst open the door as Misty jumped out as Heatblast. The others soon followed behind before they heard her from behind them. "That was public property you almost burnt down." They turned around to see her standing next to the hole.

"How is she moving so fast?" Discord questioned as they wondered the same thing. “She even has me baffled and I'm the Lord of Chaos…"

"I believe you mean how am I moving so quickly." The Unicorn corrected as they saw her from across the street all of the sudden. "It's called walking." She told them before she walked behind a building and suddenly appeared next to both Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust. "Strolling is more like it."

“That’s better!” Rainbow called as she grabbed the Unicorn.

“Easy on the fur coat. I had it right for 1,200 years.” The Unicorn said before she removed her cloak and they were shocked to see she was really an alicorn with wings on her back and royal armor on her hooves and around her neck. "By the way, thank you very much."

"Okay…one: how are you an alicorn, and two: thanks for what?" Twilight questioned her.

“One: I’ve been an Alicorn for a melinia since the accident. And two: I have a feeling if you make enough noise, he’d show up.” The Unicorn said with a smile before they heard a familiar noise.

"That thing is back!" Attea called out as they saw the creature heading towards them.

"Finally, some payback for my equipment!" Lightning said as she cracked her hooves.

"Oh I don't think that's a good idea, just take a look at the ground." The Unicorn told them as they noticed something happening to the ground by the creature.

“The trails! They’re not burn marks, they’re… aged!” Starlight said in shock. “That creature excelurates time!”

The Unicorn gave an approval smile as Lightning rushed towards the creature with Rainbow following behind. “Very good observation.” She complimented.

“Time for some payback, creep!” Lightning yelled out.

“And time for you to get pummeled!” Rainbow yelled.

“Rainbow, Lightning, wait!” Misty yelled out. But it was too late that when the two Pegasi punched the creature with their hooves, their hooves began to age before the two of them started to feel weak. They both soon fell onto the ground as their bodies were becoming wrinkled.

The rest of the Washouts and the others rush up to them while Misty and Chromastone watch the Unicorn chase after the creature before they rush to the down Pegasi. “Rainbow! Lightning!” Chromastone said as he moved the two Pegasi around, which showed them to be two elderly Pegasi with gray mane and tail, wrinkles and lost some tooth.

"Oh my goodness, they aged into elderly ponies!" Rarity gasps as Helix and Misty timed out before Applejack and Rolling Thunder picked up the two elderly pegasi.

“Just touching that thing made them aged 60, or I don’t know, 80 years?” Helix asked in shock.

“We gotta get them to a hospital!” Sunburst told the others just as Rainbow and Lightning opened their eyes.

“What are you doing?” Lightning questioned as she pushed Roller off her as Rainbow did the same to Applejack.

“Get your hooves off us.” Rainbow added.

“Come on, Rainbow.” Scootaloo said to her idol in concern. “We’re gonna get you and Lightning some help.”

“What do you mean help?” Rainbow questioned. “I’m gonna kick that thing’s flank!” She did an airkick before some cracks could be heard as she grunted and held her back.

“Are you okay?” Looma asked in concern.

“My back is aching, my legs feel like they're going to snap, and what the hay is with these horseshoes?!" Lightning Dust questioned after she noticed something off about herself.

“Is it too much to ask for a little support?!” Rainbow questioned while shaking her hooves.

“They’re like Granny Smith when she asks about herself from time to time.” Applejack noted in surprise.

“Why are you whispering?!” Rainbow asked a bit loud with a hoof over her ear.

“Speak up! I can’t hear you!” Lightning asked loudly.

"Besides the wrinkles and the gray manes, they're pretty much the same as always.” Helix said with a shrug.

The group soon made it back to the mobile base as both Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust were looking in the fridge. "Do we have any prune juice?" Rainbow asked the others. "I suddenly have a craving for some."

"What is with old ponies and prune juice?" Helix quietly asked.

“You’ll understand when you’re older, Helix.” Applejack said with a small smile.

“We should’ve been famous to all of Equestria when I was young and beautiful.” Lightning complained.

"Maybe because you were being too immature about it.” Starlight mentioned.

“What about now?” Lightning asked, gesturing to herself.

“Too old and cranky.” Starlight joked with a smirk.

“Delta then starts up the mobile base. “Okay, now let’s get out of here before…” He was cut off when the time creature came from a building and drove at them.

“Backup! Backup! Backup!” Dust frantically exclaimed as Delta backed up the mobile base in reverse at high speed. But then Ruby looked towards the back and saw the creature coming up from behind.

“Delta! On the right!” Ruby called as Delta turned to the view mirror and saw the creature behind them.

“Slow down you hooligan!" Lightning complained.

“Sorry, not happening at the moment!” Delta called as he turned the mobile base around and turned a corner as he drove at high speed to get away from the creature, but it was still on their tail as the creature went up to them and with a simple touched, the creature aged the mobile base as it began to lose its cloaking tech as it then rusted up, windows cracked, and engine started sputtering. "Oh no, not good!"

"Dad, ramp up ahead!" Helix called out while pointing towards a ramp just ahead of them.

“Hang on!” Delta called as the group held on as he drove up to the ramp as the rusted mobile base landed on the roof and served around as they came to a stop as the group looked surprised by what just happened.

They soon exited the mobile base as Lightning Dust was glaring at Delta. "I am never riding with you if you're going to drive it like that!" She complained before they jumped when the base fell apart.

"Well at least not in that thing anymore." Helix said jokingly.

"Where have you been?" They heard a familiar voice ask before they turn to see the Alicorn from before. "You were supposed to be here six seconds ago, or is this thing running fast?" She wondered as she looked at an old pocket watch.

"Who are you, and what thing that was chasing us?!" Twilight questioned her with a look.

“Can you fix our mobile base?” Xylene asked.

"Can you also fix our equipment?" Lightning asked the Alicorn.

Celestia looked at the Alicorn, feeling something coming back to her as the Alicorn walked up to the elder Rainbow and Lightning. “There’s something different about you two. Is it your mane?” She asked casually.

"Yeah, they turned gray when that thing turned us real old!" Rainbow complained.

“Don’t talk to me about old.” The Alicorn said with a look. “I walk in eternity.” She added.

“Well, you better start running in eternity, smart mare!” Lightning exclaimed while shaking her hoof.

“Mmm, you both might slow us down.” The Alicorn said in thought. “I need to fix that. We’ll come back right over there.” She then pointed to the side as the group turned left.

They then saw the Alicorn coming around the corner before they were shocked to see both Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust behind her as they were back to the rightful age. They then saw that the two elderly pegasi they were holding were gone as they were surprised by this. "How did she do that?” Short Fuse asked before Pinkie Pie rushed up to Rainbow Dash and hugged her.

“Dashie! You’re okay! You’re good as new!” Pinkie cheered as she hugged Rainbow tight, which made her cringed.

“Well, my back might hurt again if you keep doing that.” Rainbow said with a cringing.

“Okay, sorry.” Pinkie said cheerfully as she hopped away while Rainbow rubbed her back.

"So, princess whatever, if you wouldn't mind fixing up our equipment like you did to us." Lightning told the Alicorn.

"How do you expect me to do that?!" The Alicorn asked as if she was insulted. "I'm a time traveling princess, not a body shop. Regressing equipment such as yours will end up breaking all the chrono laws of space-time and--"

"Okay, enough already!" Helix interrupted with impatience. "We need answers, now!"

"Same old Helix Watch." The Alicorn said with a smile. "You're even more like yourself now than you were in the future. Which, for obvious reasons, I cannot tell you about."

“You want me to hurt her?” Manny asked as he ready his knuckles before Celestia stepped forward.

“No fighting.” Celestia said firmly as she walked up to the Alicorn. "It's you, isn't it. The lead scientist on the Temporal Project."

"Right on time, old friend." The Alicorn said with a smile. “I was wondering when the temporal flux in your mind was going to wear off."

“Wait, Celestia, that’s your friend from that Temporal Project she was working on?” Smolder asked in surprise.

"But how are you here and an alicorn, Miss… Tempora?" Ocellus asked the Alicorn.

"Tempora, yes that will do very nicely.” She said with a smile before taking out her pocket watch. "As for my story, I will tell you it in a way you can understand the beginning, middle, and end. We'll start somewhere in the middle. She said as her horn glowed as did her pocket watch before they were suddenly back in the place where the gate was, only everything was normal as two unicorns were working. "Remember this, Celestia?"

“The day… this is the day when we were at the lab together to see if the project would work.” Celestia said in surprise.

"Precisely." Tempora replied before they saw a different version of her without her wings working on the gate. "You see, this facility was made because of my ingenious theory about time travel. You see, I discovered this when I discovered the quartz crystal in a mine not far from here. Which allowed us to create a time tunnel, allowing us to access past and future events.”

“Well, for a genius, it looks like you blew it.” Lightning commented before Luna gave her a glare, which made her flinch back.

“You don’t know half of it.” Tempora said with a brow.

“You sure this is gonna work? Your time machine has cost the pony’s a pretty penny, Dr.” The stallion in the lab next to the controls spoke up while Celestia and Tempora were working on final adjustments.

“The Chronologer is hardly a time machine. In a sense of a device and not like Starswirl’s spell, but in a subatomic drill designed to burrow a tunnel in the fabric of spacetime. As to the cost, I think the pony’s suffering throughout history is ample justification, General.” Past Tempora said.

"I always trust you, my friend." Past Celestia said with a warm smile. "But to answer the General's first question, there's only one way to find out."

"I couldn't agree more." Past Tempora said as she put up some goggles on her eyes.

Past Celestia pulled the lever, which powered up the portal as it opened a tunnel, which Past Tempora was standing a bit close while the other unicorn felt a bit nervous.

“But uh, are you certain we’re safe?” the unicorn mare asked in concern.

“I’m not certain anything, Fluffy!” Past Tempora called out. “But the chronic magnetic field we generate should protect us from the suction of the !” She assured her as the portal got stronger.

"Doctor, I'm… I'm frightened!" Fluffy called out nervously before past Tempora held up the bag with gumballs.

"Have a gumball, it'll calm your nerves!" Past Tempora said to her as Fluffy backed away.

“Seriously, even back then you have a thing with gumballs?” Attea questioned with a brow.

“They are my favorite treats.” Tempora said with a smile before she frowned. “But some tiny miscalculation on my part destablized the experiment and rip a hole in the fabric of reality.” She explained.

Past Tempora felt the sucktion becoming stronger as the equipment in the lab began to stretched and either get sucked into he portal or remained stretched as Tempora’s book went in and Past Tempora was about to get away, but was caught by the portal as she was shucked in.

“No!” Past Celestia cried out as she saw her friend got sucked into the portal, but then suddenly a blue flash appeared that knocked her out to a wall before the portal deactivated.

“And a sudden temporal wave hit Celestia, causing her memories of that accident to be in flux and forgotten when she came to.” Tempora explained.

"That explains why I barely remember that day, but what happened to you?" Celestia asked before they saw past Tempora being hurled into a vortex.

“As for me, I was hurled into the eventorizon.” Tempora said as they saw her past self falling into an abyss of clocks. “I must’ve spent 100,000 years there. I didn’t age or need to sleep or eat, just exist.” She stated before they saw a multitude of colors.

"Boy, it must’ve been pretty boring." Rolling mentioned before they saw past Tempora began to change as her back solely started to form wings that looked mechanical while a bunch of dust and sand started to cover her.

"You don't know the half of it." Tempora said before a temple with a giant hourglass on it appeared in front of her past self. “Of course, I went mad, but got bored with that after a few melliena too and went sane, very sane. But I landed in an area that exists outside of time, and suddenly I became an Alicorn when I first landed there. And that's when I became the princess of time and began to live alone until the six of you came to visit.” She mentioned before a different versions of the Mane Six entered the temple.

"Wait an apple picking minute, I don't remember that happening to us." Applejack mentioned.

"I didn't say you you, these are different versions of you from a different time." Tempora said as she gestured to the different versions of the Mane Six. "You see, these versions of you have come here for my help because of something that was happening throughout time. However I wasn't bored with my insanity and I banished the six of you to a temporal pocket where you slept for many decades, all because I cannot accept your friendship. But then I felt the fabric of time unraveling in Equestria and that's when another version of the six of you came to me for help after a learning me from a different Star Swirl the Bearded, one where he lived in a tree so long ago and wasn't stuck in a limbo."

“I lived in a tree!” Twilight said in excitement. “I bet my other self was bursting in excitement to meet our hero!”

"Well, in that timeline he was more of a cranky old unicorn and I still wasn't over my insanity while also not accepting your friendship." Tempora mentioned as her past self started to attack them. "I blamed you for what was happening to the timeline as my body began to lose its form.”

“Sounds like you were having a rough time with your job.” Rainbow joked with a chuckle. “But that was uncool for attacking the other self like that!”

"After the temple began to fall apart and as did my body, all of time did as well and your past enemies began to enter through that timeline." Tempora replied as her past self began to lose form while the temple fell apart. “To survive and fix all of time, I had to put my consciousness into that version of Rarity before that version of Fluttershy convinced the different versions of Discord to help fix all of time before it collapsed and we would all perish.”

“Oh, that is so me.” Discord said with a smirk. “Some versions of me that would never change.”

"After that, I suddenly felt my body became repaired and that's when my Insanity was gone and I regained my sanity." Tempora told them as they saw her being reformed right in front of them. "And after that, I finally understood the magic of friendship and restored those versions of you back to the original timeline before my temple was repaired. That's when I truly began to learn after discovering others like me." Soon her magic canceled out as they were back on top of the roof. "After that, I began to learn and now I finally understand the spacetime continuum, allowing me to travel anywhere and any when I want. Within reason."

“So where Alicorn’s time machine?” Yona questioned with a brow.

“She doesn’t have a time machine. She has a map in her head.” Twilight said in realization.

"Precisely." Tempora replied. "I know where all the shortcuts are. I spent a dozen lifetimes crisscrossing the time stream, making it a better place.”

“And how does that pay?” Tempest questioned.

“At the moment, not even job satisfaction.” Tempora said as she walked forward, that the group were suddenly in a teaching room, which shocked them as Tempora walked up to the board. “You see, I recently discovered that some kind of extra-dimensional creature is going to wreak havoc across the universe.”

"So? The way you've been talking, you probably face monsters all the time." Helix said with a shrug. "How is this one any different?"

"Because like the thousands of foes I faced before,” Tempora started as she then drew a circle with an arrow in it. “This extra-dimensional creature came into our reality the moment my experiment went array.” She explained.

“Oh, so just to be clear, it’s your fault.” Gallus said with a smirk before Silverstream elbowed him. “Ow, what?”

"In a way, it is…" Tempora admitted before Princess Luna walked up to her.

"But this creature hasn't been around that long we would have known about it.” Luna mentioned before Tempora started to draw a river on the board before she drew a tree next to it.

"You see, time is like a river." She told them. "It moves, flows, and bends. And sometimes, time can be like a tree. Think of the trunk of the tree as the main timeline while the branches are the many different choices that could be made as they create alternate timelines from different ones. Such as Starlight and Twilight's time travel fiasco once before.”

“So that explains why Spike and I kept jumping to different futures everytime Starlight changed the past.” Twilight said in realization. “We weren’t jumping in the same time period, we were jumping between realities.”

"And that's the reason why I gave you your map every time you needed to jump back." Tempora mentioned, which surprised the three.

"You're the reason why the map was still in the same spot every time we returned to the present?” Spike asked her with a surprised tone.

“Yes. I made it so every time you traveled back in time, the map will follow.” Tempora said before turning to Starlight. “Which is why time shouldn’t have been messed with in the first place. Been making me have a headache everytime you time jump and change the past nonstop.” She said with a bored look. "Which is why I took the spell from you when you returned back to your main timeline."

"Yeah, okay, now I'm starting to get a headache from all of this.” Starlight mentioned before she wondered something. “But what does this have to do with the creature?"

“Many years ago, I accidentally put a depth charge in that river. The creature I released was blasted from my old timeline to your present.” Tempora said before she drew a swirly line on the river. “Doing this to your future.”

"But all that it's doing is running around an old facility." Helen spoke up. "Why is that a problem at all? Why not just leave it alone.”

“That’s a better question for the mare on the moon.” Tempora said with a smirk.

"What? Who's the mare on the moon?" Manny asked her before they were suddenly on the moon.

"I am!" Tempora replied as they got a look around the place.

"We're…on the moon…" Tempest said with disbelief.

“Not again.” Luna groaned, feeling deja vu of being on the moon again.

"Correction, we're on the moon in your distant future." Tempora told them with a smile.

"What?!" Short Fuse shouted. “How are we not suffocating with no oxygen on the moon?!"

“Good question, not remotely the point though.” Tempora said with a smile. “Imagine what Equis will look like in 200 years say, with that time monster wandering around all over it, aging everything that crosses its past to dust.” She stated as they got concerned. “For those of you who have no imagination, Equis is up there.” She said as she turned and looked up as the others looked up next, and what they saw shocked them.

What the group was seeing was Equis, but it was red with the continents brown with clouds around it, looking as if there is no life at all on the planet and no water or plantation. The group looked in shock and horror at what became of their home. “You’ve brought us to the worst possible version of the future.” Flash breathed in shock.

"No, should I fail to stop that creature, this is your best possible future." Tempora corrected the group, which shocked them to the core.

"Not a beautiful sight, is it?" They heard a familiar voice ask before they looked in front of them to see another Princess Tempora looking at the planet.

“What are you doing here?” Tempora asked her otherself.

“I’m allowing myself to feel the full impact of my failure.” The other Tempora said without turning.

“Okay, who’s she? How can there be two Tempora?” Attea questioned.

“She’s a parallel Tempora.” Helix realizes. "Another version of her, and it sounds like she's a future version of where she failed."

"Young Helix has every innate sense of trans temporal physics which will serve him well in his future or should I say past.” The other Tempora mentioned when she turned to them.

“And I became wiser too.” Helix bragged with a smirk.

“We can breathe on the moon in the future but you can’t fix our equipment?” Lightning questioned, but both Temporas ignored her as Celestia walked up to the other Tempora.

“Tempora, how can we prevent this?” Celestia asked her old friend.

“Certainly not what I did, old friend.” The other Tempora said while looking at the lifeless Equis. “But whatever you do, you better do it quickly.” She said as she took out her pocket watch as it glowed. “Time is running out.”

The sooner came back to the present as something came to Looma. "Why return here?" She asked Tempora. "Why not go back in time and stop the experiment from ever happening?"

“To think like a strong warrior princess to think outside temporal conventions.” Tempora said with a smirk.

“You did not just…” Looma tried to say with a glare but was cut off.

“The experiment that releases the creature also unstuck me in time.” Tempora said to them. “And that must happen because, in all modesty…”

"You saved the world dozens of times." Helix said with realization.

"Hundreds actually, in fact on one occasion all of us teamed up with all your foes to stop the invasion of the-Nevermind." Tempora stopped herself from revealing too much before she took out her pocket watch. “It should be here any--” She stopped when they heard a familiar tone as they turned to the direction of it in concern while Tempora smirked. “You can set your watch by it.”

"Okay, so how do we deal with that thing without touching it?" Applejack asked before Twilight flew up in the air and started to fire magic beams at the creature. However, her magic seemed to have no effect on the creature before Tempora took out some gumballs and threw them at the creature. To the others' surprise, the gumballs managed to hit the creature without aging to dust as it seemed to stop for a moment.

“They hit it?” Misty said in surprise. “Doesn’t everything age into dust as soon as they touch it?” She asked Tempora.

"Gumballs last for a very long time." Tempora told them before she looked at Helix. "I suggest using Clockwork for this."

“Uh, what?” Helix asked in confusion.

“The clock looking alien you turned into when you were fighting Looma. He has the power to control time.” Tempora said with a small smile.

Helix’s eyes widened before he smiled as he set his Omnitrix and slammed it down as he transformed into Clockwork. “Sweet! I have the power of time now!” He said in excitement. "But uh…how do I use them?!"

"Just trust your instincts and the rest of you, get back!" Tempora called out as the creature started to move again. The others all moved out of the way as it headed towards Celestia, but Tempora quickly grabbed hold of the creature and stopped it in its path.

“Tempora! Let go! It’ll age you into dust!” Celestia called out in concern for her friend.

“I exist outside of time, Celestia!” Tempora reminded her as she struggled to push the creature back. “But I can still feel the eons pasting!”

Clockwork then rushed up to her. “Tempora! Take us back to the accident! Now!”

"But just told you--"

"Just do it, I have an idea!" Clockwork told her as Tempora then used her power to send them, including the creature, back to the past to the moment the accident happened. “Guys, the lap! Now!” He told them as they rushed to the lap before turning to Tempora. “You just keep that time creature busy!” He instructed as he rushed after the others as fast as he could.

“Keep it busy!? I’m a time traveling princess!” Tempora exclaimed in disbelief. “I don’t keep things busy!" She remarked before she was dragged along with the creature.

They soon reached the building where the experiment was happening as Twilight used a cloaking spell to hide them as they snuck in. "Are you sure this is going to work?" The general asked past Tempora as she, Past Celestia, and Fluffy were making last minute adjustments to the gate.

“At the cost, I think the suffering of ponies throughout history is ample justifications, General.” Past Tempora said.

“Why would it try to send a letter to Celestia?” Clockwork asked, thankful that the cloak spell is soundproof.

“What are you talking about?” Ruby asked with a brow.

“The Creature. It tried to use the letter booth to try and call Celestia.” Clockwork stated. “Then it went to the police station and the dorms. It didn’t act like a trans-dimensional creature, it did everything a normal creature would do.” He added.

“If they suddenly found themselves in an abandoned facility.” Misty finished in realization.

"One who was probably confused by an empty facility, it was trying to find help." Twilight said with realization just when the machine got turned on.

They then turned to Fluffy as she backed away to a control panel and accidentally elbowed it, which caused the controls to explode. “Look, Fluffy!” Celestia called in shock, now realizing why the experiment failed in the first place as Fluffy backed away from the explosion.

That's when the gate started to malfunction and the past Tempora got sucked into the portal while Past Celestia got hit by a temporal wave, which knocked her out as they then saw Fluffy being pulled in as she screamed before she grabbed hold of the stretched out machine to prevent herself from going into the portal, but was losing her grip.

Clockwork saw that she was in danger as he carefully moved closer towards Fluffy. "Beloved, you'll get sucked in along with her!" Looma called out.

"I'm trusting my instincts, like Tempora said!" Clockwork shouted as he was getting closer to Fluffy. But the closer he got to her, the cloaking spell that was on him soon wore off. Fluffy then yelled before she let go with a scream, but Clockwork then used his dial as it spun around, freezing time as it slowed down, which surprised him as he saw Fluffy slowing going towards the portal. “Cool.” He said as he then rushed up and grabbed Fluffy by the leg as time resumed, which Fluffy noticed him. “Trust me, this beats the alternative!” He said as he then tossed Fluffy to Celestia, who caught her.

“Here goes nothing!” Clockwork said as he then turned his dial on his own again before the green gears on his chest with the Omnitrix was at glowed brightly before he fired a beam at the portal, which collided with its own energy as green and blue mixed into the portal as the others watches in awed as Clockwork kept pouring more energy into it as the portal then started breaking apart and crumbled into the pieces as it sucked the quartz into the portal before it closes in a flash.

Meanwhile, Tempora still held on to the creature as it smashed her through a few buildings. It was about to smash her into another one before it only stopped and she saw she was holding onto Fluffy in her hooves.

“Fluffy! Of course!” Tempora said in realization with a wide smile, not realizing it was her old assistant to begin with. “As if it was a snake, it would’ve bit me on the flank!” She said as she placed a wing over her head as the others walked up to her as Helix timed out and gave a smug at her. “Don’t look so smug. I would’ve figured it out eventually.”

“You had over billions of years!” Helix retorted as the group vanished in a flash, leaving the confused Fluffy behind as she looked around.

They soon came back to the present, with the tracks and rumble gone now that Fluffy wasn’t a time creature anymore and prevented her from traveling to the future, as Tempora had a smile on her face. “Although I have to admit it, I’m impressed. All those centuries in the eventorizon, and it never occurred to me that the accident wasn’t my fault.” She said to the group before she looked at Helix. “You’re much smarter than you were when I met you later.”

“Thanks, I guess.” Helix said with a confused look.

“But, Tempora, whatever happened to Fluffy?” Celestia said, in concern for her old friend. “I know that she vanished in the accidented up to that point. But now that it never happened, what has become of her?"

"That's because I lived my life, your highness." A familiar voice replied as an older Fluffy walked up to them.

“Fluffy!” Tempora cheered as she and Celestia walked up to her.

“How are you my old friend? And how are you still alive after so many years?” Celestia asked in surprise and joy at seeing her old friend again.

“Well, it was thanks to a little spell that I learned that had my aging process slowed down, to spend more time in Equestria as my old friends would’ve wanted it.” Fluffy explained with a smile before turning to Tempora. “And you looked the same, and an Alicorn. And I haven’t seen you in over a thousand years.”

“Well, I haven’t seen you in a billion years.” Tempora said with a smile. “But you don’t look that bad. How was your life?”

"A good, a good life… but uh, I'm sorry for everything…" Fluffy said with a sad look. “I've ruined the experiment, all because I was scared. I’ve never got to time travel."

“Would you still want to?” Tempora asked her old friend.

Fluffy gave a smile. “Yes. I’m not afraid anymore.” She said.

“Glad to hear it.” Tempora said with a smile as the two then turned to Celestia. “If you would like to join us, Celesita? It would be great to have the original trio together again.”

Celestia looked between her old friends and to her sisters and the others before she smiled. “As tempting as it may seem, but I think I prefer to spend more time with my friends then see any other timelines. I would prefer this one.” She said, which caused her sister and her friends to smile as she turned to her old friends as she gave her old friends a hug, which they returned. “But it was wonderful seeing you two again. I hope we can meet each other again in the future.” She added as she broke the hug.

"Or sooner than later." Tempora said with a slight chuckle before she took out her pocket watch. "Now then, how about I give you a behind the scenes look at eternity and our new time home, Fluffy?” She asked as her watch glowed and a portal opened up.

Tempora placed a wing over Fluffy, making her smile as they turned to Celestia and the others, which Celestia smiled warmly at her old friends as they nodded as Tempora and Fluffy entered the portal as they vanished before it closed.

“See ya, later or soon, my old friends.” Celestia said with a small smile as she wiped a tear of joy from her eyes as Luna walked up to her sister and placed a wing over her in comfort as the others huddled around her.

“At least Tempora and Fluffy are together, sister.” Luna said with a smile.

"Oh and thanks for straining us in the middle of nowhere!" Lighting shouted sarcastically.

“For once, I agree with Lightning here!” Rainbow called out. “Thanks so much, Tempora!”

“Come on. We've got a long walk to the train station.” Twilight said as they began to walk, but when they turned to the corner, they saw the mobile base and the Washout’s equipments as they all looked good as new.

"Oh ho ho, that sneak!" Rolling said with excitement when they saw them.

“The mobile base!” Delta called as he, Dust, and Xylene rushed up to it.

“They look like new!” Silverstreem said with a smile as they inspected it.

"They just don't look new, they are new!" Lightning told them. "These equipment was factored over like 50 years ago! Tempora, I take back everything I was going to say about you!!” She called out, knowing the Tempora is always watching.

“Sweet! That means we’re back in business!” Short Fused called out with determination.

“Alright, Washouts, let’s go to the nearest town and start performing our stunts!” Lightning declared as they began to grab their gear.

"And what about the mobile base?" Flash asked his aunt and uncle.

"This is also new, it was made by the plumbers about 60 years ago!" Delta said excitedly.

"Tempora definitely has some taste!" Dust complimented as the others climbed aboard before Helix noticed a note that was left by Tempora.

"'To the Washouts and to both Delta and Dust, keep in mind if either this mobile base or the equipment comes in contact with anything else from 50 or 60 years ago, it'll explode like antimatter. Enjoy, Princess Tempora.'" He read the note out loud before he went into the mobile base.

But the Washouts, Dust, and Delta looked concerned by this before Lightning gave a chuckle. “She’s kidding right? Some kind of time travel joke, right?” She asked. "Isn't it? Guy?!” She asked her team while Dust and Delta got inside and drove off.

“Let’s make sure the mobile base stays clear of anything from 60 years ago.” Delta said while driving the mobile base.

“Agreed.” Dust said as the Washout then flew off away from the facility, making a mental note to keep their gear away from anything 50 years ago.

Author's Note

Princess Tempora is an oc made by Light262 from his fan-made comic series Timey-Whiny: https://www.deviantart.com/light262/gallery/51693913/mlp-timey-wimey