Chapter 2: An Expected Visitor
"You can't change a worrier," mused Twilight on her fifty-first lap of pacing the length of the hallway. She had already asked every single one of her friends - multiple times - what the letter could mean, and Spike had told her quite firmly not to talk to him about this any more.
Celestia and Luna were both away on separate diplomatic missions, and Cadence was attending the birth of her first great-great grand-foal. Not that any of this had stopped Twilight sending a dozen letters to each of her mentors.
Pinkie and her friends would be arriving today if Twilight understood correctly.
What if it wasn't Pinkie? What if it was a prank? Or a distraction and someone was coming to foal-nap her?
"No, no-pony like that could be in Ponyville," she reassured herself.
She had told her friends to keep away from the castle today, just in case it really was a letter from Pinkie. Having to introduce her old friends and her new was one stress she could do without.
Spike was the only one left in the castle with her.
"I told you already, she must have sent a delivery at the same time as the letter." Spike rolled his eyes as he lounged over the armrest of the couch. "Maybe it's a cake? Or some gemstones if I'm lucky."
Nearly as old as Twilight, Spike had grown longer - reaching the size of all but the largest ponies - but was still only a teenager as far as his species was concerned. Unfortunately for him, his sardonic replies did nothing to slow down the purple unicorn.
"I mean, it sounded like she was coming with the girls to visit."
"Mm hmm," Spike responded distractedly.
"But that's advanced time magic! Even I wouldn't be able to do something like that."
"Mm hmm."
"And anyway, surely I would know if the girls were trying something like this."
"Mm h-"
"But Pinkie loved surprises so much, maybe she would do something like this."
"Uh, Twilight?"
"But then I'm back to asking how she would even do something like that?"
"Twilight?"
"Maybe if she got some help from Celestia... Or Luna might be able to keep a secret like this."
"TWILIGHT," Spike raised his voice urgently at the anxious unicorn.
Twilight turned around and for a moment couldn't understand what she was looking at. Mist had built up at the opposite end of the hall, and a large blue box had seemingly materialised in amongst it. Big enough that a pony could fit comfortably inside it, it had white trimming and an ornate tiled roof, giving it an aged feeling that was at odds with how quickly it had appeared.
And then the door opened and all five of her oldest friends stepped out.
"Don't get all sappy on me, Twi," Rainbow Dash almost shied away from Twilight's hug, before leaning in and wrapping her foreleg around her friend.
The rest of her friends already had deep stains on their coats from Twilight's teary greeting.
"I just... I don't," Twilight sobbed.
"It's alright deary," Rarity reached out and rubbed Twilight's back, "I'm sure it's a surprise to see us here in the future. Just take some deep breaths and you'll be alright."
Twilight hugged Dash harder for a few moments before letting go and turning to the rest of her friends. Unable to help herself, she responded to Rarity.
"Actually, it's only the future for you. For me it's just the present."
Twilight noticed Rainbow give Applejack a quick look before they broke into roaring laughter, quickly followed by the rest of their friends. Twilight tilted her head, trying to figure out what she'd said to get this reaction.
"Um, it's just-" Fluttershy began before Rainbow interrupted her.
"Twilight you haven't changed a bit," she managed to say before collapsing again in laughter.
"It's nice to see you'll always be our Twilight," Applejack said, wiping away her tears of laughter.
The momentary silence was broken as Twilight's stomach let off a grumble.
"Sorry, I didn't really eat last night... nerves and all," she dragged her hoof meekly along the ground.
"Well I know a great bakery we could go to!" Pinkie hesitated. "If Sugarcube Corner still exists," she looked at Twilight inquisitively.
Twilight looked away for a moment before responding, "yes, Sugarcube Corner is still there."
Rarity responded, "darling, you've always worn your heart on your sleeve, and we've known you a long time, is there something worrying you about the Corner?"
"It's not the Corner that I'm worried about," Twilight hesitated for a moment before looking down, "I just... I don't know what I'll do if we..." she trailed off, mumbling the last few words.
"I'm sorry darling, but I didn't quite catch that."
Twilight kept her eyes downturned, but spoke more confidently. "I don't know what I'll do if you meet my new friends." She took a few breaths. "I don't want you to feel like you've been replaced, and if you don't get along then I would be devastated."
"Twilight." Rarity waited for her to look up at her. "Any friend of yours is a friend of ours."
Twilight smiled softly at her friend. "Let's go to Sugarcube Corner then."
"New friends!" Pinkie bounced happily back and forth.
"I've told them to go on with their days as usual, so we might not even meet any of them."
"I would so like to meet them, maybe you could tell us about them while we make our way there," Rarity said.
"I can do that much. Maybe it would be nice for you to meet."
Pinkie bounced up, "no maybes about it, bucko. If I meet any of these friends I'm gonna-" she made gestures that Twilight could only assume was a hug, but looked uncomfortably like somepony being strangled.
"I'll just get my bags and we can get going."
After a few moments Twilight returned. "Pinkie, I have a question," she began.
"Ask away, my Pretty Purple Pony!"
Twilight opened the door outside, "what happens if-" she started, before being cut off by four ponies - led by Arid Plains - falling through the doorway.
Twilight stood mouth agape for a few moments, "I thought I told you to go about your days as normal!"
"Oh! Uh... Hey Twilight! I was just dropping off the book you leant me on the Zebrahara desert," Arid said unconvincingly.
"And I suppose the rest of you needed to help him," Twilight raised an eyebrow.
A lavender unicorn mare spoke up, "You can't expect us not to be curious, Twi."
"I suppose you're right, Fern"
Twilight's ear twitched around as she thought she heard a steam train coming up behind her. A moment of realisation, and she jumped out of the way as Pinkie came barrelling though the door where she had just been.
"NEW FRIENDS!?"
Filling up half of Sugarcube Corner - and making more than their fair share of noise - five of Twilight's oldest, and four of her newer friends sat around several tables they'd pushed together.
Twilight sat on the end of the table, blushing as her friends old and new regaled each other with stories of her quirks and kindness.
"-she turned as red as a tomato when she realised it was none other than the Griffon Prince that she'd flown into!" Arid Plains barely finished the story before he and the rest of the table broke into another round of uncontrolled laughter.
Rainbow grinned at him, "that's nothing. You should have seen when Twilight lost her memories and tried to send Princess Luna back to the moon."
Arid gasped, "she didn't."
"Cross my heart and hope to fly. Uh, don't let Luna know I told you this though."
Twilight groaned, "don't remind me, Rainbow. I still feel bad about that."
Fern Dewdrop - a lavender unicorn and one of Twilight's new friends - suddenly asked, "wait, you're THE Rainbow Dash? Who saved Twilight on the day you became captain of the Wonderbolts?"
"The one and only-"
*blink*
*blink*
"I didn't mean to-" Fern blurted.
"I BECOME THE CAPTAIN OF THE WONDERBOLTS? THAT'S SO BUCKING AWESOME!"
"Congrats Dashie!" said Pinkie.
Fern reached a hoof over to Dash, "Oh Celestia, I didn't mean to tell you - are you sure it's ok?"
"Well I already knew I'm awesome, so it's no biggie."
Twilight grimaced, "I hope it isn't a biggie. Time magic is pretty finicky, and it's one area I don't have much experience in."
A loud voice came from the entrance of the store. "Did someone say time magic?"
Twilight turned around to be face to face with another pony from her early days in Ponyville. "Time Turner?"
Time Turner shied away for a moment - almost as if he didn't expect to be recognised - before stepping forward again.
"Yes! I heard you wondering about the limitations of time magic and I'm here at the rescue!"
Pinkie whispered discreetly to Fern beside her, "do you think he's been hiding behind the door for someone to ask about time magic."
Fern giggled, "he seems like the kind of pony who would do that."
Time Turner continued, "time magic is surprisingly easy to grasp for such advanced magic. Twilight, you're a smart mare, what do you think the biggest risk of time magic."
Twilight put her head in her hooves. "Probably the mistake we've already made. Telling somepony information that they shouldn't know, and then - I don't know - the time stream gets knocked out and a paradox is created."
Pinkie chimed in, "Oh! Like a spoiler!"
"Yes, like a spoiler. Time is actually very stable - usually when something like this happens, it's actually already happened in the past. So in the past, Dash would have known she'd be the captain of the Wonderbolts, so she would work very hard, which would make Spitfire pick her as her successor. And then you would be here to accidentally tell her that she became the captain of the Wonderbolts. It's all very neat and tidy."
"But what if I had told her about something worse- like how she would die."
"Oh, most ponies don't like to know how their life ends up, so I've also got a memory wiper in the time machine. I'm of the belief that it's not good to keep such big secrets for your whole life. I've offered your friends that I can undo their memories of this excursion once we're done."
"That's a relief." Twilight took a sip of her coffee before floating her notebook over. "While I've got you here, do you have time for a couple more questions about time magic."
Turner's expression changed in an instant, suddenly caught in the fire. "I... Uh... Um," He stammered, "I have somewhere I need to be."
He raced off before anypony could say anything.
Pinkie whispered under her breath, "no pony's touching these memories o' mine."
"Um, has anyone seen Rainbow?" Fluttershy whispered.
To no response she asked a bit louder, "has anyone seen Rainbow Dash?"
Applejack looked over, "I'm sure she's fine, probably just relieving herself, sugarcube."
Fern grinned, her eyes glinting. "Not likely, little pony. Did you see the eyes she and Arid were giving each other?" She did an exaggerated mine of the two of them kissing.
"Oh my..." Fluttershy squeaked.
"Celestia Darn that mare. As long as she's back before we need to go." Applejack rolled her eyes and took another sip of her cider.
"Time Turner, we're back! Aren't you going to come out?" Pinkie asked pressed her face into the glass door of the time machine.
"Do you know how pushy that mare is when she wants to learn something from you?" Time Turner whispered hurriedly, already feeling the curiosity building once again from Twilight.
Pinkie turned to Twilight, "he says he can't because of time magic."
"Oh, well I would love to learn from him some other time." She put away her notebook. "It's been a wonderful day, and I hope I can see you all again."
"I'll make sure of it!" Pinkie saluted to her.
Once they were all in the time machine, Pinkie whispered at Turner.
"Psssst, I thought said we would be at Twilight's hundredth birthday, but she's actually only thirty six thousand four hundred and fifty six days old," Pinkie whispered to Time Turner, back in the Time Machine.
"Well, yes, I did say I would try to get us there, but time magic is a bit of a wibbly wobbly thing and sometimes she doesn't want to take us where we want to go. It's more of an art than a science really. A time art."
"But I do really, really, really want to be there for her next hundredth birthday," Pinkie pleaded.
"Uh, Pinkie. What do you mean next one?"
"Twilight's two hundredth birthday! You know, like her hundredth birthday, and then plus a hundred years."
"I thought you said you just wanted to visit her hundredth birthday."
"No, I said I want to visit her hundredth birthdays! Emphasis on the 's'."
"Oh, no, no, no. My time machine is not for hire. This is all I can do."
"But what about Twilight" - Pinkie gave Turner the most pleading puppy-dog eyes he'd ever felt - "she'll be so lonely for all those hundreds of years."
Turner hesitated for a moment. "No, I can't do it."
Pinkie dropped the puppy-dog eyes and for a moment Turner thought she gave an evil grin. "Well in that case I might accidentally let it slip to past Twilight that you have time magic she doesn't know about."
Turner gasped. "You wouldn't"
Pinkie tried to whistle innocently.
Defeated, Time Turner hung his head. "I'll do it, but it'll cost you bits."
"Thanks Turner!" Pinkie reached into her mane and pulled out a huge bag of bits that she handed to Turner.
"Pinkie that's..." Turner grabbed the bag and nearly fell over under it's weight. "How did you even get this many bits."
"It's my friendship emergency fund, of course." Pinkie responded incredulously. "And this is a friendship emergency."
"Well then, I think the least I can do is take you where you want without complaining."
"Time art permitting," Pinkie added.
"Time art permitting."
