A Mistake in Time

Chapters

Chapter 1: When Are We?
Chapter 2: What Else is New?
Chapter 3: Sh#tstorm at 3
Chapter 5: The Twilight Hours
Chapter 6: Meeting the Family
Chapter 7: A Rainbow and a Pie
Chapter 4: An Unusual Gem

Chapter 1: When Are We?

Chapter 1: When Are We?

"Why are we all here?" Applejack asked as Rarity came into the library, being the last one to join them. Twilight had suddenly sent all of them a letter telling them to go to the library ASAP, without any explanation why. Rainbow had been the first to arrive, followed by Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Applejack had shown up about ten minutes ago to after finishing her work on the farm, so they had been waiting on Rarity to show. Now that she was here Applejack hoped that they would finally find out why they were here.

"Celestia sent me a letter this morning, shortly before I sent the letters to all of you" Twilight explained, "She wants all of to go to Canterlot as soon as we can because there is something important she has to tell us"

"Why couldn't she just come here then?" Rainbow asked, still somewhat annoyed that her afternoon of napping was being taken away for another "important mission" that Celestia always seemed to have for them. Despite the fact that she was the Element of Loyalty she was really starting to get tired of it all. She honestly wished that Celestia would just throw them a "Congratulations on being Awesome" party or something like that, they all deserved.

"Right now she is dealing with some dignitaries and diplomats from all the countries around the world, she doesn't have time to visit us" Twilight said, obviously annoyed that Rainbow would suggest such a thing, "Now, I need all of you to come close to me, I might have a way to get us there right now without you guys having to do a single thing" When all them were crowded around her Twilight's horn began to glow, and just as it got too bright for them to look at there was a loud pop, followed by darkness.

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When everypony opened their eyes they found themselves at Sweet Apple Acres, or so they thought until they noticed the second farm house on the other side of the barn.

"Where the hay are we?" Applejack asked, the similarities to her own farm starting to freak her out. She started to look around quickly, seeing her favorite tree that sat just on the edge of the east orchard. Applejack knew it was her tree because she had scratched her initials into it when she was eight, and she could still see it there, but just beneath it were the initials SS underneath her own, surrounded by a heart.

"Hey isn't that the weather bane that I made for you a few months ago dearie?" Rarity asked, bringing attention to the rather fancy looking weather bane that was perched on the top of the barn. Everypony followed her gaze and saw it as well, noticing the distinct ruby and emerald gem that Rarity had put in the middle of it.

"Now this is just getting creepy" Applejack said as she saw a small pony that looked that looked almost like her running around. The pony, which they could assume was a filly, had a white coat with a blond mane that faded into pink around the middle, and was a Pegasus, but she still looked scarily like Applejack did when she was that age.

"Hey sis! Rainbow!" somepony yelled from behind them, making both of them turn around quickly.

"You idiot, that isn't Rainbow, she has wings!" another pony shouted, obviously reprimanding the first one for what she had said. This made the rest of them turn around as well, and what they saw were four mares, about the same age as them, Spike not included, all of which looked oddly like Applebloom and her Crusader friends.

"Uh... hi?" Applejack said, the mares who looked a lot like the fillies she knew scaring her slightly. With everything that they had seen so far things had just been really creepy, but now they were just plain scary.

"What are you two doing out here, I thought you guys were supposed to help Big Mac and Soarin with the apple harvest?" the first mare said, her voice having the same southern twang to it that Applebloom's did.

"Uh, did you just say Soarin?" Rainbow asked, her fangirl side slipping out at the mention of her second favorite Wonderbolt of all time.

"Yeah..." the mare said, starting to get suspicious of the situation, "You know, my sis' husband"

"HUSBAND?!" both Applejack and Rainbow shouted at the same time, making everypony around them jump. The outburst had finally made the first mare want to question what was going on.

"Applejack, what's my name?" the first mare asked, her eyes looking all over Applejack to see if she was about to try and lie.

"Uh... Um..." Applejack stuttered, unable to place a name to the mare's face. Even Pinkie seemed to be having a hard time placing a name, which surprised everypony.

"It's Applebloom. I'm your sister" the mare said, causing Rarity to gasp, "Do you know their names?" She waved her hoof at her three friends, causing all of their eyes to open wide. If the first mare was Applebloom, then that meant that the other three were Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Babs...

"Are you really Applebloom?" Applejack asked cautiously, getting an angry look from her.

"Of course I am! I have been for the past 22 years!" she shouted, the mention of her age making Twilight gasp louder than Rarity ever had, or did, because she had gasped and promptly passed out. As Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie tried to pick Rarity up Applebloom and the rest of the Crusaders talked to each other about what to do now. Once they had come to a conclusion Applebloom turned around a very serious look on her face.

"Applejack, can I ask you a few questions?" Applebloom asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Uh, okay, shoot" Applejack said, unsure of it herself.

"When did we rebuild that?" Applebloom asked, pointing towards the barn.

"The family reunion, the one that I planned that went horribly wrong" Applejack said, thinking back to the fiasco at the last family reunion.

"Wrong!" Applebloom said, sounding like a lawyer, "We rebuilt it last year, after Pinkie went overboard with the party for Apple Cider, Pink Lady, and Pink Pearl's birthday party. She used her mega party cannon and it blew the barn down!"

"Yeah, I could see her doin' something like that" Applejack said, eyeing Pinkie for a short moment, "Next question"

"Ok, when did Rainbow lose her wings?" Applebloom asked, making the six of them look at Rainbow, who still very much had her wings. Applebloom took notice of that and saw that Applejack wouldn't know, so she gave the answer first.

"She lost them three months before she married Big Mac, just so you know" Applebloom said flatly, her patience starting to grow thin.

"I MARRIED BIG MAC?!" Rainbow shouted, probably loud enough to wake the dead.

"Yeah, you did, fifteen years years ago" Scootaloo answered, giving her idol the most confused look she's ever had. After that Rainbow froze completely, her face in the weirdest position that anypony had ever made. Not even Pinkie Pie was able to make a face like it, and she was trying.

"Anyways... Who is that?" Applebloom asked, now pointing to a young Pegasus mare that was walking by. The pony had a blond mane with some red streaks in it, which were the same red as her coat, emerald green eyes, and some freckles. The first thought that came to everypony's mind was that she was part of the Apple family, mainly because of the freckles. Applejack quickly racked her brain to try and remember that pony's name, but nothing came to her.

"That's Red Gala, your niece" Applebloom said tiredly, the amount of things that Applejack didn't know had just about made her angry. At the mention of her name the pony trotted over, smiling happily.

"Hi Auntie!" Red Gala said as she trotted up to Applebloom, giving her a big hug before looking at Applejack and Rainbow with raised eyebrows, "How did you two get here so fast?"

"Huh?" both of them asked at the same time.

"I saw both of you just a few minutes ago, working with Daddy and Uncle Soarin out in the orchard" Red Gala said, starting to become suspicious of the situation as well.

"Daddy?" Applejack echoed, the name making her suspicious.

"Daddy Big Mac" Red Gala said, raising an eyebrow to Applejack, "You know, your brother, the same one that married my Mama, Rainbow Dash?" Again Rainbow froze while looking at Red Gala, not only because she was shocked by the news, but also because she couldn't believe that this pony was supposed to be her daughter.

"Ok, now, when did we have to bury Winona?" Applebloom asked, wanting to get the final clue to see if this really was Applejack.

"Winona?" Applejack asked, her voice cracking. If they had to bury Winona, then that meant she died, and that meant...

"Applejack?" Twilight asked, seeing Applejack's troubled look. She almost looked like she was about to cry, but her farm pony pride was forcing her to hold it together.

"Where" Applejack said, her voice sounding very strained, "Where is she?"

"Over here" Applebloom said, the pain in Applejack's voice making her feel like a horrible pony. Even though this confirmed her thoughts that something was off, the way Applejack was acting showed just how hurt she was, and Applebloom hated it. As Applebloom walked off towards the farm house Applejack followed, tipping her hat forwards so she could hide her face. From where they stood the other ponies watched as they stopped in front of a small cross, and when Applejack saw it she dropped to the ground, shaking violently. Applebloom moved to comfort her, but she got pushed away by Applejack, who was getting back to her hooves so she could go back to the group.

"Applejack?" Twilight asked worriedly, her friend's state making her worry. Applejack didn't say anything, the only sign that she was still there was the line of tears that had started to come down her chin, her eyes being hidden behind her hat and mane.

"Come on girls, let's go" Twilight said sadly, knowing what was going on. As she turned to leave Spike walked over to Applejack, but was pushed away, so he quickly trotted over to Pinkie and Fluttershy, who were still carrying the passed out Rarity. As they all walked away Applebloom returned to her group, a very pained look on her face.

"Is everything okay Auntie?" Red Gala asked, managing to pull her eyes off of the other group long enough to look at Applebloom as she spoke.

"I'm not sure..." Applebloom said, sounding like she was down in the dumps, "But I think I need some time alone" At that her friends and Red Gala all nodded knowingly, and walked away to do something else, leaving her all alone. As soon as her friends were out of earshot Applebloom fell to the ground, and began to cry.

Chapter 2: What Else is New?

Chapter 2: What Else is New?

Once they were far away from Applebloom and her group of ponies Twilight began to really think about what was going on. Thinking back to Appleboom's supposed age, as well as all of the questions she had asked Applejack, Twilight had a fairly good idea of what was going on, but she couldn't be %100 certain of it.

"Applejack, come on, cheer up" Rainbow said, finding it painful to watch as one of her best friends tried to hide her pain from everypony, which only made it worse. If the state Applejack was in was any sign of how traumatic it had been to find out everything she did, then things were going to get a lot worse before they got a tiny bit better. When Twilight trotted over to see if Applejack was okay she was met by a hoof to her neck, holding her up on her hind legs.

"Why did you take us here?!" Applejack asked, tears flowing down her face, "Why did we come here?!"

"I don't know, something went wrong with the spell!" Twilight said quickly, feeling Applejack's hold on her getting tighter and tighter. No pony could even come close to sympathizing with Applejack. Just that morning she had been playing with Winona, throwing her old ball around the farm without a care in the world, and now, she was gone, complete with a grave and everything. It was like someone had just taken her own sister from her, right there in front of her, without remorse. Right now, all Applejack wanted to do was hurt Twilight for sending them all into the future, and she wanted to go home, where she could play with Winona again.

"Get back here Ellie!" somepony shouted from nearby, causing everypony to jump in surprise. They had all been so focused on Applejack's outburst of emotion that they had forgotten where they were. A minute later a small dog with brown coat came bounding through the bushes, stopping when he saw Applejack. Without anypony saying anything the dog sat down, it's tail wagging happily as if it was waiting for Applejack to do something. When it saw the tear stains on Applejack's face it hopping up, happily licking them off in the hopes that it would bring a smile to Applejack's face.

"Finally, there y-" the pony who had been running after the dog froze, staring at Applejack in surprise, "Mom?" There was a stunned silence as everypony realized what her calling Applejack that meant. This young mare, around thirteen or fourteen, was one of Applejack's children...

"Mom? Aunties?" the mare asked, beginning to get worried about what was going on. For her, seeing the six of them, and Spike, together was strange, and for them to be acting the way they were was even stranger. Twilight came up with a plan to find out her name without missing a beat, coughing to bring attention to herself.

"Um, excuse me..." Twilight said, leading on that she didn't know the mare's name. Thankfully she picked up on that, finding it to be normal for some reason.

"Oh, sorry Auntie Twi, I'm Pink Pearl, the oldest of the triplets" the mare said with a bow of her head. which made everypony look at each other worriedly. Was the Twilight of the future some hunchback that no pony ever saw, or was she being kept so busy that she wouldn't get to see her best friend's children? While they all thought about it two more ponies jumped out the bush, with dogs by their sides.

"Old by what, three seconds?" the mare said, accidentally placing herself as Pink Lady, the other mare.

"Hey, I thought I was oldest!" the colt said in a whiny voice, making his sister's laugh, meaning that he was Apple Cider. The triplets continued to laugh together as their dogs walked over to Applejack, joining in Ellie's efforts to make her smile. They happened to notice this and stopped laughing long enough to bring it up.

"Everything okay mom?" Apple Cider asked worriedly, not liking it when any mare, especially his mother, was feeling down. Applejack was about to tell them that she wasn't their mom, or at least, not yet, but Twilight stopped her by pulling her aside.

"Applejack, don't let anypony know that we're from the past, it might cause problems for us" Twilight whispered, making Applejack look at her in confusion. She understood that it might be bad if their future counterparts found out, but hiding it from the kids that she was going to have, she didn't know if she had it in her to do that. Twilight noticed and looked over at the triplets, thinking of a way to ask the question that Applejack had in her head for her.

"Are these Winona's pups?" Twilight asked as she knelled down to pet one of them, who happily jumped up to lick her face.

"Eeyup" Pink Lady said, the Apple Family's trademark yes having been passed on, "The one you're petting is Christopher, or Chris for short, and the other three are Ellie, Ashley, and Sherlock" Twilight looked back to see Applejack on her back as she tried to hold the three "attackers" at bay, the dogs each trying to give her face a good licking so that she'd cheer up. After some more fighting Applejack gave up defending and went on the offensive, rolling to her hooves and quickly chasing the three pups around the group, getting some surprised giggles from the girls.

"I've never seen mom do that before!" Pink Lady said in between a giggle, quickly being over taken by a laughing fit as Applejack turned around and jumped over the dogs, the three of them obviously confused as they looked around frantically until one of them, Sherlock probably, found her standing behind Apple Cider.

"Come get me!" Applejack shouted, and at that the dogs charged at her and Apple Cider.

"No, no, no!" Apple Cider said quickly as the dogs ran up to him and knocked him to the ground, trampling over him with reckless abandon. Everypony laughed hysterically when one of the dogs came back and gave him a slobbery lick on the forehead.

"Always the joker, aren't you Ashley!" Apple Cider shouted as he got up, and angry look on his face that only made the girls laugh harder. When everypony eventually calmed down Applejack stopped, silently ordering the dogs to freeze with the wave of a hoof. She was pretty impressed, Winona's pups were as obedient as she had always been, and who ever trained them must have been really good with animals.

"So what brings you three out here?" Applejack asked, trying to pretend like she actually was their mother.

"Talking them for a walk" Pink Pearl answered, "Gala would be walking Ashley but she's busy with homework today"

"We were also thinking of going off the farm to practice our flying techniques" Pink Lady said, bringing attention to her and Pearl's wings for the first time, "Dad said that he was going to teach us when we were older, but his work around the farm has taken up most of his time this year, so we're teaching ourselves" Applejack smiled at her two daughters, extremely happy to see that they were being self reliant and taking it upon themselves to practice something they wanted to do. She didn't quite know if that was something that Soarin had taught them, or if it was something they had just learned themselves, but she was proud of it. Apple Cider was about to ask who the strange, rainbow maned Pegasus was, seeing as he had lots of time to look around while they were talking about flying, but somepony came through the bush behind him and...

"BOO!"

"AH!" Cider screamed as he jumped forwards, spinning around in the air so that he would land facing his assailant. When he looked behind where he had been standing he saw a cyan pony with a rainbow mane, the only difference between her and Rainbow being their cutie marks and that one had wings while the other didn't.

"Auntie Dash!" Cider whined, making them all laugh.

"You always did scream like a little filly" the mare laughed, her voice sounding almost identical to Rainbow's, except the fact that it was a slight bit lower. She seemed to notice Rainbow, but passed it off as nothing, thinking it was some illusion or coincidence, so she went on with why she was there in the first place.

"You guys should come home, lunch is almost ready" she said, looking at the triplets with a smile.

"But we were just about to go flying!" Pink Lady whined, getting a laugh from the mare.

"Ok, well then you guys can miss out on the sunflower salad that your mother just made" she said before turning around and making her way back into the bush, the triplets all looking at each other with wide eyes. Without saying anything they ran off after the mare, obviously really wanting to get some of the sunflower salad.

"So..." Pinkie said, looking at Rainbow suspiciously, "Was that you?"

"I... think so..." Rainbow said slowly, obviously very freaked out by what had just happened, "Twilight, this isn't going to cause any- Twi?" Everypony quickly turned to look at Twilight, who was on the ground stroking her tail, mumbling something about paradoxes and the world imploding.

"I think she's broken" Spike said, poking Twilight in the face with one of his claws. She twitched slightly and started to come back to reality, her face turning bright red when she realized what she had done. After she fixed her mane Twilight returned to normal, still blushing from the embarrassment.

"So..." Twilight trailed off, "Should we get off the farm now, before we run into anypony else?"

"That sounds like a good idea" Applejack said, nodding in agreement. After some more nods from everypony else they headed towards the border of the farm, seeing the wide expanse of Ponyville just ahead of them. It looked almost identical to the Ponyville they knew and loved, other than the fact that they saw a new neighborhood on the outskirts of town. From where they were standing they could see the familiar outline of Sugar Cube Corner, in the exact same place it had been for them, fifteen years ago.

"Do you think the Cakes still run it?" Rarity asked, making everypony think. Would the Cakes still be there, even after fifteen years, or would they have passed it on to somepony else so they could go work somewhere else, in a new bakery?

"It couldn't hurt to go and check right?" Pinkie said, her stomach growling to give her an idea, "We might even get a nice snack out of it!" The girls laughed while Spike nodded in agreement, his own stomach growling now that the mention of a snack was in his mind. A few more growls from the girl's stomachs made them decide to go down to the bakery, hoping that them being together wouldn't cause any problems. As they got close to the bakery they heard the door slam open, followed by some excited hoof steps.

"MOM!"

"Oh no..." the group groaned, knowing what that word had in store for them.

Chapter 3: Sh#tstorm at 3

Chapter 3: Sh#tstorm at 3

"Who's is it this time?" Applejack asked, looking at her friends nervously. She already had an idea, given that they were at Sugar Cube Corner, but deep down in her mind she knew who was the one that would eventually pop out the mare that was running up to them.

"Mom!" the mare shouted as she jumped up and latched onto Pinkie's neck, swinging around it happily. Rarity seemed to be the most confused of the group, probably because she thought that Pinkie would be the least likely of them to have foals. Pinkie seemed to like it, even going as far to pull the mare into a hug, swinging her back and forth around her neck even more.

"How is the little Surprise doing today?" Pinkie asked, making everypony else look at each other in confusion. The way Pinkie had said Surprise almost seemed like that was the mare's actual name, and how she would have actually known that made no sense at all. Before anypony could ask about it the filly ran back into the bakery, coming out a few minutes later with a Pegasus stallion beside her.

"Mom, you know Pound Cake, right?" the mare asked, waiting for Pinkie to nod before continuing, "Well... We're dating now!" There was a dramatic gasp from Rarity, but she wasn't able to pull her drama queen couch out to catch her if she fell, so she just brought a hoof up to her forehead. Pinkie seemed to enjoy the news, jumping forwards and pulling the mare into a big hug, then moving on to hug Pound Cake.

"How long have you two been seeing each other?" Pinkie asked, getting a nervous look from Pound.

"Around six months, give or take" Pound said, looking down at the mare nervously. He wasn't sure if it was okay for him to be honest about it with Pinkie, but the smile that the mare had on put him at ease. While the three of them talked together about it Twilight leaned over to the rest of the group, a suspicious look on her face.

"Is it just me, or does that mare have a southern accent?" Twilight asked, getting some confirmation nods from everypony else.

"Who do you think Pinkie ended up getting together with?" Rainbow asked, looking up at Pinkie to see her coming back to the group.

"So, I guess Surprise and Pound are really in love!" Pinkie said happily, getting some confused looks from the other ponies.

"How did you know her name was Surprise?" Fluttershy asked, speaking up for the entire group. They all looked at Pinkie with inquisitive looks, all of them really wanting to figure that out. Given the fact that none of them had any idea that they were going to be going to the future it seemed highly unlikely that Pinkie would have already known her name, unless...

"I just guessed it!" Pinkie said innocently, "I always knew that I would name something Surprise!" Pinkie earned some looks of disbelief from her friends, but they went unnoticed by her as she turned around because of a twitch. Just as she turned around she was hugged tight by somepony, who's face that they couldn't see.

"I love you Pinkie-Winkie!~" the stallion said in a sing song way, making Pinkie blush until he let go so that he could look her in the eye. Loud gasps escaped from Rarity and Applejack as Braeburn pulled his face back, his golden coat contrasting against Pinkie.

"Braeburn?!" Applejack said in surprise, getting a strange look from him, like her reaction was completely out of the ordinary.

"What's up Applejack?" Braeburn asked, one of his eyebrows raised up as he looked at her. Everypony then looked at her at the same, even the ponies in the group were confused about her reaction. It was completely out of the ordinary for Applejack to be reacting this way, surprising even Rarity, who was only mildly surprised by the news.

"Oh, it's, uh... nothing..." Applejack said, her cheeks flushing red as she realized that she just had an outburst. After a few minutes everypony's attention was gone from Applejack and back on Braeburn and Pinkie Pie. The main group was surprised that Pinkie and Braeburn had gotten together at some point, but they were more surprised that Pinkie was completely okay with what was going on right now. She seemed to accept it without any complaints, which gave them the idea that she might have had something for Braeburn after their time in Appleloosa.

"Anyways, who's up for a late lunch?" Braeburn asked, getting a growl from Pinkie's stomach, "I made muffins!"

"Blueberry?!" Pinkie asked excitedly, her stomach growling to show that it wanted to ask the same thing.

"Of course, I always make your favorite!" Braeburn said as he leaned in and gave Pinkie a kiss, which seemed to catch her by surprise, but she quickly got used to it. After they broke apart, which was met with a disgusted noise from Surprise, the group headed inside the bakery, which looked nothing like how it did in their own time. Everything was more organized and practical, even the displays seemed to have gotten nicer.

"Wow..." Twilight said quietly, getting Surprise's attention by accident. Braeburn silently trotted into the back of the store and came back with a tray of muffins that were still hot from the oven. While everypony else was staring at the delicious looking muffins, Twilight was looking at the handle that Braeburn was carrying the tray with. She had never seen anything like it before, other than on baking carts, so the sight of one being used for one baking tray amazed her.

"Okay, eat up!" Braeburn said as he put the muffins down, somehow releasing the tray from the handle's grasp with a pop. As everypony began to devour the cupcakes there was a knock at the door to the bakery, and when everypony looked they all saw...

"Rainbow Dash! How nice of you to show up today" Braeburn said cheerfully as he went over to the door to shake her hoof, "Is everything okay, you look like you've seen a ghost"

"No, everything is not okay" Rainbow said, sounding mildly upset, "Why are you giving those ponies free muffins?" She waved a hoof towards the group angrily, making all of them except for Pinkie stop eating. Braeburn turned around and looked at them for a short while before turning back around to face the future Rainbow.

"I don't see anything wrong with them, it's just Pinkie and her friends" Braeburn answered, getting an annoyed look from future Rainbow.

"Didn't you notice that there's a Rainbow Dash in their group, and that she still has wings?" future Rainbow asked angrily, quickly trotting over to the group and pulling Rainbow out of her seat. She shoved Rainbow towards Braeburn, in such a way that threw her so off balance that she had to stick her wings out to prevent herself from falling flat on her face. Braeburn looked at her intensely for a few seconds before looking up at the rest of the group, quickly scanning all of them. Just as his eyes settled on Pinkie he was tackled by a pink blur, nearly throwing him across the room.

"HI BRAEBURN!" the blur said, slowly turning back into a pony to reveal itself as the future Pinkie Pie. If you looked close enough you would be able to see smoke coming out of Braeburn's ears as he tried to comprehend how there were two Pinkie's in the bakery at the same time, but nothing his brain could come up with made any sense.

"How? Wha?" Braeburn stammered, unable to figure out how to properly ask how the world hasn't destroyed itself because there were two Pinkie Pies in it at one time, as well as HOW there were two of them there. Anypony else's brain would have completely stopped working in this situation, but given the fact that he was married to one of them Braeburn's mind managed to hold itself together, if only a little bit.

"I'd like to know the same thing" future Rainbow said, looking over at Twilight, knowing that she would have some sort of explanation for how they managed to come into the future. After some nervous shifting in her chair Twilight finally spoke up, willing to admit her mistake.

"We were summoned to go to Canterlot to see Celestia..."

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"...and then we came here" Twilight finished, looking around to see that Applejack and Rainbow had fallen asleep, while the future Rainbow and Pinkie were both looking at her with interest.

"How come we don't remember any of this then?" future Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow at Twilight.

"Maybe because it was so long ago you forgot about it, or maybe something happens at the end and you forced it from your memory?" Twilight said, her eyes slowly dropping down to the scars on future Rainbow's back where her wings used to be.

"No, it's not that, I know how I lost those" future Rainbow said, looking to make sure her past counterpart was asleep before continuing, "There was a big crash just a while before I got married to Big Mac, they had to amputate them because of how badly they were broken. That's all I want to say about that for now"

"Ok, but then why would neither of you remember it, and why does everypony think that we're you, or us, but the future versions?" Twilight asked, remembering that both future Rainbow and Applejack's children didn't notice that there was something different about them, and even the Cutie Mark Crusaders saw them as their future counterparts.

"Might be a side effect of the magic you used, it could be masking your true appearance to anypony but us, because we must have gone through the same thing" Rainbow suggested, getting a confused look from Twilight. The current Rainbow Dash would never have thought of something like that, nor would she have explained it so well. Future Pinkie seemed to notice it so she decided to speak up and explain why that was.

"After losing her wings Rainbow started working around the farm and hanging out with the ponies on the ground more and more" future Pinkie said, taking a break to smile at future Rainbow, "She probably started learning from spending time with Applejack and, well, you"

"Ok, but how are you guys taking this so well?" Twilight asked, just as Rainbow and Applejack began to wake up, "I would have thought that you would freak out having seen us"

"I did, believe me, but now I just want you guys out of here, ASAP" Rainbow said, giving them all a very serious look. It was clear to everypony that they needed to get home, but there seemed to be another reason for future Rainbow to want them gone, and no pony could figure it out. After they finished their muffins they got up and left, not before thanking Braeburn of course, and headed for the library, where they would find the one pony that might be able to help them.

Chapter 5: The Twilight Hours

Chapter 5: The Twilight Hours

As the library came into sight after almost an hour of walking the ponies from the past all froze in place, awestruck by it's brilliance. It was nothing like the library they had been in that morning, it didn't even look like it belonged in Ponyville for that matter. The old tree was replaced with a small palace, complete with golden spires and shining stone walls that shone in the light of the setting sun. All of them were completely mesmerized by the beauty that was in front of them, which made future Rainbow laugh.

"We forgot to mention that didn't we?" future Rainbow said with a grin, "Twilight became a Princess, like Celestia, Luna, and Cadance" When she finished speaking everypony slowly turned their heads to face her at the same time, all of them wearing a look of disbelief on their faces.

"Twilight got to become a Princess, but not us?" Rarity asked, looking as if her dreams were slowly being crushed right in front of her. Future Rarity giggled a bit which changed to focus of attention to her, catching her completely off guard.

"Don't worry, Spike will treat you like a Princess, trust me" future Rarity said with a wink, making both the Spikes blush. Meanwhile Twilight was busy trying to figure out why she would become a Princess, and what she was going to be Princess of. She easily imagined Rainbow saying that she's "Princess of the Nerds", but that would just be a joke, or so she hoped. Seeing that Twilight was thinking about it future Rainbow decided to go and get the Twilight that was inside the majestic library, to answer any questions they might have. After a minute or two Rainbow emerged from the library with a tall lavender Alicorn next to her, the cutie mark matching Twilight's.

"So Rainbow tells me that you're from fifteen years ago, yes?" future Twilight asked, actually being forced to look down at her old self because of the height difference between them.

"Yes" Twilight replied, "Do you have any idea how this could have happened?" Future Twilight thought for a moment and then her eyes snapped open in realization.

"You may have accidentally ripped a hole in the fabric of space and time, and then your teleportation spell sent you, along with everypony else, through it into this time period" future Twilight explained, getting a confused look from everypony, including her former self.

"Can you explain that again, um, simpler, please?" Twilight asked sheepishly, not wanting to come off as stupid in front of her future self. With a loud sigh future Twilight began to go over what she had figured out in her head, trying to narrow it down to a few simple points so that they would all understand.

"Basically, you created a time travel spell, but you weren't able to choose when you would appear" future Twilight said, getting some "Oh..."s from everypony as it began to make sense to them. Future Twilight rolled her eyes and turned around to head back into her own little castle. Since no pony had anywhere else to be right then they headed inside after her, finding out that the exterior looked like a castle, but on the inside it was still a library.

"Are all of these books yours?" Twilight asked, getting a happy smile from her future self.

"Yes, in fact I've written a few of them myself" she replied, getting an amazed look from Twilight, who has always wanted to write her own book. Questions of what the subject matter was, how long they took to write, why she wrote them, and how did she get them published began to pop up in Twilight's head, her eyes starting to glaze over as they began to overload her mind. Applejack noticed this and quickly decided to ask future Twilight if she knew a way for them to get home as soon as they could, she didn't quite like seeing the future versions of her friends, and definitely didn't want to run into herself.

"So, future Twi, got any idea how we can get home?" Applejack asked, snapping the Twilight from her time out of her trance.

"Yes, that's why we came here" Twilight said, "We were hoping that you would know of a way to get us home" Future Twilight thought for a moment and then pulled multiple books with her name on them from the shelves. After flipping through them at an amazing speed she put them back, a somber look on her face.

"Nothing that I've written, or studied, has the answer to that question" future Twilight said with a sigh, "I don't know how to get any of you home" A depressing silence fell over the library as everypony realized how pointless it had been to come here in the first place. They could have spent the day looking for a way to get home, but instead they followed a different path right into a dead end.

"Wait, what if we just tried to same spell again, it might-" Rainbow started to suggest, but both Twilight's shook their heads, telling her that it was pointless to even suggest such a thing. As silence fell yet again the sound of excited hoof steps could be heard from the second floor, making future Twilight's eyes shoot open. She frantically ran to the stairs, hoping to stop whoever was upstairs from coming down, but she was too late, he was already there.

"Woah, who are all of these ponies?!" the young stallion asked as he looked around, his face soon contorting into a look of confusion, "And why do they all look like my mom and her friends from the old pictures?" The young stallion began to back away from the group and straight into future Twilight, who was looking at him angrily.

"Orion, I thought I told you to stay upstairs" future Twilight said flatly, watching every movement the young stallion made.

"I wasn't trying to, I just heard the familiar voices so I thought that it was okay for me to come down..." Orion said slowly as he lowered his gaze to the floor. Future Twilight sighed and walked past Orion to Twilight, a sad smile on her face.

"Twilight, this is Orion, our son" future Twilight said, a heavy hint of depression in her voice. Orion turned around when his mother said "our son" but what his eyes ending up meeting was his mother's past self, now the same age as he was. The two of them looked at each other in complete silence, both of them silently searching each other for anything that would let them know about the other.

"So..." Orion started to say slowly as he looked at future Twilight, "She's you?"

"Yes, she's me, from before you were born" future Twilight said calmly, finding it hard not to laugh at how her son and her past self were acting. Orion took a tentative step forwards and looked deep into Twilight's eyes for a moment, and once he was done he smiled, satisfied that the pony in front of him was indeed his mother.

"Why is she here, and not back in the past where she belongs?" Orion asked, getting an annoyed look from future Twilight.

"There was a mistake when attempting to use an extremely high level spell, that is all you need to know for now" future Twilight replied, giving Orion a short look before turning to face future Spike. He seemed to understand why she was looking at him before she said anything, so he ran off, coming back within a minute with a pen and paper.

"Princess Celestia" future Twilight began to speak, making all of them look at her, wanting to hear what she was sending to Celestia, "As of right now the past and present are mixing, as the Elements of Harmony, as well as Spike, from fifteen years ago have arrived in this time period. I do not have any knowledge on how to rectify this problem, and as such I am asking for your assistance. Princess of the Stars; Twilight Sparkle" With that future Spike sent the letter off, but instead of blowing magical fire onto it he simply snapped his fingers, creating a spark that lit the letter on fire, sending it to Celestia in a green smoke.

"Woah..." Spike said as he watched the letter his future self sent off float away, amazed by how the way he sends letter changed, and by how cool it looked.

"Now what?" Twilight asked her future self, as she was eager to return to her own time now that she was reminded of Celestia's summons that caused this entire fiasco.

"We will wait for Celestia to respond to my message, and it should come quickly knowing her" future Twilight said, a proud smile coming across her face, "She always responds to my messages with haste, deeming them to be extremely important when I do send them"

"You don't send her letters as much as you can anymore?" Twilight asked, not being able to think of a future where she doesn't communicate with Celestia through letters on a common schedule. It seemed almost impossible for that to happen, but then again, she also saw it as impossible for herself to become an Alicorn like her beloved teacher.

"It isn't common, as I am able to go directly to her when we wish to talk now" future Twilight said, slightly flaring her wings to remind her old self that she has wings due to her being an Alicorn. As they waited for Celestia's response they began to look around Twilight's future home, eager to see how much has really changed. The two Rainbow Dashs talked about their hopes and dreams, and how they've changed in fifteen years, as well as the loss of the future Rainbow's wings. The two Pinkie Pies talked about their favorite foods and treats, as well as had a small conversation about Braeburn and Surprise. Both Raritys and Spikes talked about how they ended up getting together, with their future counterparts happily reminiscing about their early love life, much to the past counterpart's surprise.

"Dear, if you had told me that I was going to end up with Spike, and that he was going to become my personal Romeo, I wouldn't have believed you!" future Rarity said as she nuzzled against Spike's side, "But here I am now, and I couldn't be happier"

"So, why did you give him, or uh, me, a chance?" Spike asked future Rarity, wanting to find out what was going to put him in that position fifteen years from now. The two future counterparts laughed and smiled before looking at Spike.

"You'll figure it out, don't worry" future Spike said with a short chuckle. Just then future Spike stood straight up like someone had poked him in the side, and with a snap of his fingers a scroll appeared in his hands, so he began to read it. His face slowly dropped as he got through the letter, and when he was done he turned to face everypony.

"Bad news" future Spike began to explain, "Celestia doesn't have any idea how to get them back to the correct time period, but she says that her and Luna are going to search through the Starswirl the Bearded wing of the archives to see if he had anything that would help"

"Great, now what are going to do?" Rainbow complained as she turned to face the two Twilights, "We can't just go outside like nothing, we have to hide somewhere, and I hate hiding" The two Twilights looked at each other for a moment before they got the same idea.

"We'll split up, and we'll stay with our counterparts" Twilight explained.

"Like how she, the Twilight from the past, will be staying here" future Twilight finished, causing Rainbow and Applejack's mouths to drop open. Neither of them wanted to have to stay with themselves, let alone have to meet the family they're going to end up having. Without taking no for an answer the two Twilights sent them all out, towards their homes for the time being, with Fluttershy being directed towards her home by the two Pinkies.

"Think it's going to work out?" future Twilight asked as she turned to her past self.

"I sure hope so, because we don't have very many options" Twilight answered, turning around so she could look at the books on the walls. With curiosity she pulled the books her future self wrote off the walls and began reading them intently, wanting to know everything they contained. In the meantime future Twilight and Orion went upstairs to get ready for bed, which in future Twilight's case, meant creating the night sky.

Chapter 6: Meeting the Family

Chapter 6: Meeting the Family

As Applejack and the two Rainbow Dashs came up the path to Sweet Apple Acres they were met by a group of young ponies, which they knew were their future children. Red Gala happily jumped up to her mother and gave her a tight hug before turning to face the past version of her mother, eyeing her suspiciously. The triplets on the other hand were fairly welcoming to Applejack, even offering to show her to her room for her time with them, being happy to see their mother when she was only a few years older than them. When they got up to the farm house Applejack heard the sound of two ponies running around rapidly, accompanied by the sounds of them cleaning up.

"Hello?" Apple Cider asked slowly as he opened to door, catching Soarin with his butt high in the air as he picked up some dust that was on the floor. He jumped into the air and spun around, blushing slightly.

"Hi, welcome to our home" Soarin said nervously, getting a laugh out of the two girls.

"Dad, it's just mom when she was younger, why are you acting to weird?" Pink Pearl asked, giving her dad a confused look, a small smile still hiding on her lips.

"I know, but if I act stupid now your mother would have never thought to go out with me, and none of you would have been born!" Soarin said dramatically, managing to get all three of his kids to laugh hysterically. He even managed to make Applejack laugh, even with the knowledge that this stallion was one day going to be her husband.

"Ah! She's laughing at me!" Soarin complained as he grabbed his head, "I've failed, now you three will never be born!" The laughter continued until the Applejack from the future came into the front hall, looking at the group of ponies that were laughing their flanks off.

"What's going on in here?" future Applejack asked, looking at the group for a while until her eyes finally settled on her past self. The two of them looked in each other's eyes, both of them searching each other for, something. The future Rainbow trotted up to her Applejack and put a hoof on her shoulder, a small smile on her face. After the two of them walked away Applejack turned to face Rainbow, who was doing her best to not fangirl over Soarin being right there in front of her.

"So, you going to head over to your house?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow to Rainbow. She seemed to be zoned out while she looked at Soarin, but eventually her brain began to function again.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I'll just wait right... here..." Rainbow trailed off as her mind once again slipped away from the sight of Soarin in front of her. Applejack chuckled quietly and turned to face Soarin, but her future children had other plans for her. Without saying anything they pulled her out of the house and towards the barn, where the sound of barking could be heard.

"Come on Applejack, let's play with the dogs!" Pink Lady said happily as she pulled Applejack along behind her, the other two running ahead to open the barn doors. Inside they found Red Gala, who had slipped away from the group before they entered the house, playing with the four dogs. She seemed to pause when she saw Applejack behind the triplets, but with a shake of her head she went back to playing, not wanting to focus on her at all.

"So, how old are these pups?" Applejack asked, not being able to tell based on their appearance. They all looked like Winona, with a few differences here and there, but that didn't let her know how old they were, nor did it give her any idea when Winona passed. She hated to think about it, but now that the shock of it had started to wear off Applejack was curious. Was it a natural death? Did she live a long life? Were these the only pups she had? Who was the father of the pups? Applejack had so many questions, which she suspected her future self to have the answer to, but she couldn't just up and ask her about it.

"They're around ten years old now, I think they all turn eleven in a few months" Apple Cider answered as he played with Ashley, who was happily licking his face.

"We each got our own puppies when we were seven, or eight in Gala's case, and we've been taking care of them ever since" Pink Pearl said as she filled the four dogs' food bowls, which had been just about empty. As Applejack watched them she felt a hoof come down softly on her shoulder, and when she turned around she saw future Rainbow standing beside her.

"How did things go with, uh, me?" Applejack asked, hoping that her future self wasn't going to overreact or get upset about the news.

"I have no idea" future Rainbow said honestly, "Twilight showed up and told me to leave so she could explain it to her" Applejack stared at future Rainbow for a moment before turning to look at the dogs and their owners playing happily. Pink Lady and Pink Pearl were playing with Chris and Sherlock together, having them race each other for a toy one of the two mares would toss across the barn. Apple Cider and Ashley were rolling around the ground together as Ashley tried to lick his face. Red Gala and Ellie were having a tug of war with an old rope that somepony turned into a toy, with Ellie winning by quite a bit.

"Do you think I'll, or she'll, take the news easily?" Applejack asked just as Soarin came into the barn, quickly being ambushed by the four dogs. He started to scream in horror as his face was covered in dog slobber, and while this was going on the kids just laughed, none of them moving to help him to his hooves. Soarin started to squirm under the weight of the dogs until they finally backed off, giving him a little breathing room.

"I have seen the end..." Soarin mumbled with his eyes staring blankly ahead of him, "It was so... wet"

"Dad!" Pink Pearl shouted playfully, pretending to be angry so that Soarin would freak out.

"What, I only say that when they really get me wet" Soarin said, his eyes shooting open when he realized what he had just said. The kids began to laugh so hard that they actually began to roll on the ground. From where she was standing Applejack could see tears coming down Apple Cider's face from how hard he was laughing.

"Dad, do you need a tissue to clean up the mess?" Pink Pearl asked as they all came down from their laughing fit.

"Now it wasn't that big" Soarin answered, his eyes shooting open as he realized he had done it again, "STOP MAKING ME SAY THINGS LIKE THAT!" The kids didn't hear him as they were slipping into another laughing fit, worse than before. While they were laughing future Twilight and Applejack came into the barn, the two of them trotting over to Applejack. The future Applejack looked almost the same as she did before, but now her hair was kept into a tight braid and had a beautiful diamond earring in her left ear.

"So, Twi here tells me you're me, from fifteen years ago?" future Applejack asked as she looked over Applejack closely. After a short examination she was content knowing that the mare in front of her was actually her, there was no mistaking it.

"Pretty much" Applejack replied, getting a strange feeling from actually talking to herself, "The Twilights suggested that I stay here with you, so that I don't cause any problems in the town or somethin'"

"That isn't why, but anyways" future Twilight said as she turned to face her Applejack, "So you're completely okay with this?"

"Eeyup" future Applejack replied with a smile, "It'd be nice to see how I was all those years ago, I've probably changed a whole lot"

"DAD HASN'T CHANGED AT ALL!" Apple Cider shouted from the ground as he continued to laugh at Soarin, whose face was now bright red, most likely because the kids kept making him say embarrassing things. Soarin's face started to go back to it's normal color until Pink Pearl picked up a tissue that he had used to wipe his face off.

"Ew, dad, could you clean up after your private time?!" she said in a mocking tone, making Soarin look like he was about to blow a blood vessel in his forehead. Everypony laughed at him this time, and the sight of both versions of his wife laughing at him made Soarin's emotion change from anger to embarrassment just before he turned to leave the barn, hanging his head low.

"Awww, I think we made him sad" Pink Lady said, barely able to contain her laughter. All the mares in the barn began to laugh as Apple Cider followed his father out of the barn, not wanting to have hurt his feelings. Even though he got along perfectly well with his mother, Apple Cider did like to spend time with his father, considering he always had interesting tales about his time as a Wonderbolt.

"Anyways, I should be going, it's getting quite late" future Twilight said as the laughter died down again, her eyes watering slightly from laughing as hard as she did.

"Ok, see you tomorrow Twi" future Applejack said as she waved goodbye to Twilight, who disappeared in a flash of light, leaving no trace of herself behind.

"She's been working on that hasn't she?" Applejack asked when she noticed that there was no mark on the ground, and it had seemed as though it was nothing to Twilight before she left.

"Yeah, she's gotten extremely good at using her magic in the last fifteen years" future Applejack said as she looked out the barn doors towards Ponyville, where you could see Twilight's castle library sticking out of the horizon, "Now then, let's get you settled in!" With that the Apple family headed inside, except for Red Gala and her mother, who headed to the other farm house on the property. When they got inside there was no Rainbow Dash, so Applejack assumed that she had already gone over to the other house. After some running around there was a room set up for Applejack, and with that everypony headed for bed, all of them tired from what had happened during their day.

Chapter 7: A Rainbow and a Pie

Chapter 7: A Rainbow and a Pie

After Applejack, her future children, and her future husband left Rainbow had nothing else to do, so she opted to head towards her own little home away from home, which was in fact just the house her future self lived it. It seemed so alien for Rainbow, a Pegasus of the high skies, to be living on the ground, let alone married to her best friend's big brother. When Rainbow got to the front door she froze, a little hesitant to open it because she had no idea what she would find on the other side. As she stood on the porch somepony began to watch her, without her even knowing it, until one of his big hooves went crashing down on a brittle branch.

"Who's there?!" Rainbow shouted as she jumped up and did a 180 so she could stare at her stalker. She scanned every inch of the area behind her before turning back towards the front door, only to come face to face with a large red stallion. Her mouth started to open so that she could explain what was going on, but her brain wasn't putting the words together for her, all she could manage to get out was a random assortment of gibberish.

"Who are you?" the red stallion asked, his gruff voice meaning that either he had just woken up, or he had just turned into a grump after fifteen years of marriage. Rainbow was sure she wasn't that bad of a wife, but then again she didn't have any experience at all in the romance department of life. The future Big Mac continued to stare at Rainbow until his wife and daughter came trotting up behind her.

"What are you doing jackass?" Rainbow asked, her voice sounding more playful than angry despite what she had said.

"Well, some strange pony from your fanclub showed up, and I want to know who it is" Big Mac replied as he leaned in to give her a big kiss, making both Rainbow and Red Gala cringe. Future Rainbow laughed before pulling Big Mac inside by his yoke, allowing Gala to lead Rainbow into the old farm house, which didn't look all that different than it was in Rainbow's time. Although there were a few more Wonderbolt related items than before, Rainbow had to admit that. A Wonderbolts clock, kitchen timer, as well as a magnet set, and that was only the kitchen.

"Come on, let's sneak upstairs, they can't hear us if we're really quiet" Gala said as she started trotting towards the stairs, her hooves making little to no noise as they hit the old wood floor. Rainbow decided to follow her lead and began to sneak over to the stairs, using tiny wing flaps to make sure that no noise was going to be made at all. When they reached the top of the stairs she could hear her future self and Big Mac having a heated discussion in one of the rooms.

"Do they always do that?" Rainbow asked quietly as Gala led her into what had used to be Applejack's bedroom in Rainbow's time. It looked so plain and empty that it gave Rainbow chills, which Gala saw.

"They don't always do that, only when they talk about something as weird as this" Gala replied, shrugging as she pulled some blankets out of the closet for Rainbow to use on the bed, "And even then this is a special kind of weird" Rainbow shrugged back as she picked up the other end of the blanket so that her and Gala could drape it over the bed. Once they had it all set up they sat down on opposite sides of the bed, just as future Rainbow and Big Mac stepped out into the hallway.

"You're completely okay with her stayin' here with us?" Big Mac asked in a somewhat confused tone.

"Eeyup" future Rainbow replied.

"Even though she's you back before we got married?" Big Mac asked, still feeling uneasy about all of this.

"Eeyup!" future Rainbow said, putting emphasis on it so that he would shut up, "Now, if I'm right they should be in here" Gala and Rainbow quickly dived under the bed, but they weren't fast enough as future Rainbow was soon pulling Gala out into the light by her tail, as Big Mac did the same to Rainbow.

"Let me go!" Rainbow squirmed, trying her hardest to avoid having her private areas seen by Big Mac, but she soon realized that was fairly pointless, especially since Gala was across from her laughing her head off.

"I didn't know you squirmed when you were younger!" Gala laughed, making both Rainbows facehoof at the same time, both of them equally embarrassed. Big Mac chuckled as well, making future Rainbow snap at him.

"Shut up you jackass, I know how much you like to see me squirm!" future Rainbow said, a small smile creeping across her face as she waited for it...

"EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Rainbow and Red Gala shouted at the same time, causing future Rainbow and Big Mac to fall to the ground laughing. After a few minutes the two of them got up and left the room, allowing Rainbow and Gala to cower in the corners all by themselves.

"Are they gone?" Rainbow asked as she cracked her hooves apart, a sigh of relief when she saw that both her future self and Big Mac were gone. Slowly both her and Gala got up, giving each other some disgusted looks as they thought about what future Rainbow had said.

"Well, I should get to bed now..." Gala said slowly as an awkward silence fell in the room. Rainbow nodded and started to climb into bed when Red Gala left the room, popping back in to give Rainbow a second look before she headed off towards her own bedroom, which was right next door. Meanwhile, Rainbow was snuggling up in the unfamiliar bed, her mind quickly going to rest as she stared at the wood walls that was right in front of her.

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Pinkie Pie slowly trotted into the bakery she knew and loved, admiring how it all looked. It may have been the exact same bakery that she worked in day in day out, but something about it being her future bakery made it seem different. Her future daughter trotted in behind her, making sure to not bump into her by accident. Braeburn and the future Pinkie were standing far from the door with smiles on their faces as they watched Pinkie suddenly dart inside to look at every little detail with great concentration.

"Is everything okay past mom?" Surprise asked as Pinkie shoved her nose into the cupcake display, coming back out with small clumps of frosting in her fur. Pinkie bounced on the spot as she licked the frosting off her face, making Surprise turn around to look at her parents in confusion.

"Don't worry, that's normal" Braeburn said as he watched Pinkie shove an entire tray of old cupcakes into her mouth, swallowing them in one go before she ran upstairs to look at every room. EVERY room. They could hear her turn the shower on and off as well as flushing the toilet multiple times. Future Pinkie felt somewhat embarrassed about it, knowing that at some point she had done all of those things when she was in the future, and worse yet, her daughter knew all about it. Surprise was looking at the stairs with a confused look, not understanding how her own mother could have acted like this at one time in her life. Yes, her mother was strange, funny, and weird, but Surprise couldn't have ever imagined her doing something like this.

"Are you really that crazy mom?" Surprise asked as she looked a future Pinkie, "Because if you are, then I'm scared of you now" Braeburn let a small chuckle come out before he straightened up, trying to put a serious face on so his loving wife wouldn't go Nightmare Moon on him. However, she only seemed to be embarrassed about the whole thing, judging by her blushing cheeks.

"Well, back then I was a bit more..." future Pinkie trailed off as a loud crash noise came from upstairs, followed by a quiet "Oopsie..." Surprise knew what her mom was about to say, but what happened during her pause caused Surprise and Braeburn to completely lose it. As the two of them rolled around on the floor future Pinkie started to laugh, but it was cut short when a loud bell came from town hall, meaning it was about time for everypony to be getting to bed. Many fillies and colts had school in the morning, and most of the adults were going to be spending their nights indoors.

"Surprise, can you go set up a room for her?" future Pinkie asked, her laughing daughter suddenly sitting upright so she could nod before running up the stairs without saying anything. Once she was out of sight future Pinkie gave Braeburn a light kick in the side, making him immediately stop laughing. He got up and gave her a confused look with a silly smile as he tried to hold back his laughter. She leaned in and gave him a kiss before making her way up the stairs after Surprise, wanting to get her own bed ready for sleeping. When she got to the top of the stairs her face turned a shade of green, followed by her throwing Pinkie and Surprise out of the bathroom in a hurry.

"Ow..." Pinkie and Surprise said at the same time as they rubbed the backs of their heads, which had smacked against the bottom of the wall across from the bathroom door. Braeburn was upstairs as soon as he could, but when he tried to open the door he found out that it was locked.

"Honey, are you okay?" Braeburn asked as he knocked on the door, getting a groan from the other side. His face drained of all color when he recognized the type of groan that Pinkie had made. She had only made that kind of groan one other time, and that was almost fifteen years ago...

"Eye twitch; tail whip; tooth ache!" Pinkie said as her body did what she said, making Braeburn's eyes open wide. If he was outside many small ponies might mistake his eyes for the moon, with how big and white they were right now. Those were the exact same movements his wife had done every time somepony was-

"PREGNANT!" Pinkie shouted suddenly, making Braeburn shriek like a little filly. He wasn't ready for this, he loved being a father, but two of them?! He would go insane just thinking off all the crazy things the two of them could get up to, and he wouldn't be able to stop them.

"Please no, please. No!" Braeburn said as he slowly curled up into a ball on the ground, the bathroom door opening beside him to show future Pinkie with a happy, yet sad, smile on her face

"I'm pregnant"

*manly whimper*

Chapter 4: An Unusual Gem

Chapter 4: An Unusual Gem

The group left Sugar Cube Corner with full stomachs and confused thoughts, but they knew where they were headed, and it was enough to keep most of them quiet. The two Pinkies were the exception, the two of them were happily chatting about things that were going to, or in this case, had happened in the last fifteen years. Among the things they talked about were how Pinkie and Braeburn go together, how it was to give birth to Surprise, and why the Cakes weren't at Sugar Cube Corner. From what everypony could hear, they met at a celebration that Pinkie planned, Surprises birth was rather eventful, and the Cakes had gone to Canterlot to open another Sugar Cube Corner, as they had to move anyways to accommodate their third child, which they had a few years back.

"So is Surprise a lot like us?" Pinkie asked, noticing Surprise's almost identical appearance, minus her tan coat and pink mane, which had a golden streak in it.

"Yes, actually, she loves to throw parties for her friends" future Pinkie said, smiling as Surprise bounced around Pound Cake, kissing him every five times she passed his face, making him turn almost as red as Big Mac. The two Pinkies laughed at the sight and then noticed a strange pony running towards Surprise, jumping into the air at the right moment so that he would land on her back.

"SURPRISE!" the strange pony shouted, getting a happy giggle out of her as the two of them rolled around on the ground. After some struggling Surprise was able to push the pony off, the two of them getting to their hooves.

"Gem, what are you doing here?!" Surprise asked happily before she jumped at the pony for a hug. The strange pony seemed to notice the members of the group and froze up, unable to return the hug that he had been given by Surprise. She pulled back and looked at his face, following his line of sight to two members of the group in particular.

"Mom? Dad?" the pony said slowly, his face twisting into a look of confusion. It was then that the rest of the group turned to look at the pony, his appearance making Twilight gasp.

"A Kirin?!" Twilight said excitedly, her eyes lighting up with a look that said, "I want to learn everything about this pony" Everypony looked at her in surprise, but their eyes quickly shifted over to the pony, a Kirin, as Twilight called him. His eyes stayed focused on Spike and Rarity however, and when they turned to look at him his eyes grew even wider. He tried to say something, but it came out as a garbled mess of words, none of it making any sense to anypony.

"Is everything okay dear?" Rarity asked, her words only managing to confuse the pony even more.

"Gem, are you okay?" Pound asked, putting his hoof on the pony's, which now everypony knew was called Gem, shoulder. Gem turned to face Pound and put his hooves onto his shoulders as well, his eyes barely managing to focus on him.

"Pound, why are my parents here?" Gem asked shakily, "And why do they look like they did in the old photographs?!" Everypony looked around to see who he was talking about, all of them eventually following Surprise's gaze to find her staring at Rarity and Spike, who had been standing next to each other.

"Why is everypony looking at us?" Spike asked nervously, his eyes slowly looking from side to side as he backed up slowly, eventually bumping against Rarity's side. Instead of giving him an earful like she usually would she began to back up with him, the two of them being watched closely by everypony.

"What has gotten into all of you, why are you looking at us like that?" Rarity asked, looking at everypony with fear in her eyes.

"Don't you get it, Gem is a Kirin!" Twilight said, making everypony turn to look at her in confusion, "A Kirin can only be born to a pony and a dragon!"

"What does that ha-" Rarity began to say until she noticed the little purple dragon that was currently pressed up against her side. When the realization hit her she froze, stiff as a board, and just stared at Gem, her eyes slowly looking over every aspect of his body. He had a pearly white coat, same as hers, and he had a purple mane that ran all the way down his long, dragon-like tail. On his head was a Unicorn's horn, and dragon scales, he even had a few fangs in his mouth. By accident their eyes met, and the two of them stood completely still, looking straight into each other's eyes.

"What's going on, what am I missing here?" Spike asked worriedly, watching as Rarity and Gem continued to stare into each other's eyes, neither of them moving an inch for the longest time. While they stared at each other two ponies ran up to the group, freezing when they saw who was there.

"What in Equestria?!" one of the shouted in a deep voice, making both Rarity and Gem snap out of their daze. The two of them, along with everypony else, quickly turned to look at the source of the deep voice, all of their mouths hanging open when they saw who it was. An older looking Rarity was standing next to what seemed to be an older dragon, probably in his teen years, and he looked eerily similar to...

"Spike, what is going on?" future Rarity asked nervously as she slowly moved towards Spike, who was moving to stand in front of her. The two Spikes slowly looked at each other, and when their eyes met they had contrasting looks on their faces. The younger Spike had a look of amazement on his face, while the older Spike seemed almost disgusted to be looking at his younger self.

"Rarity?" future Spike asked as he leaned back towards future Rarity, "Did I really look like that?"

"Of course, why do you ask?" she replied, the disgusted look on future Spike's face increasing.

"I looked so weak and cute, not fearsome or cool!" future Spike whined, making everypony laugh. The two Spikes started to stare each other down angrily, making them laugh even harder until future Rarity stepped forward, coughing to bring silence so that she could speak.

"So, would anypony like to explain to us what is going on here?" future Rarity asked, looking around until her eyes finally settled on Twilight, who let out a tired sigh. She didn't like having to constantly explain how she made a mistake, but she knew she had to, otherwise there would only be problems down the road.

"We were summoned to Canterlot by Celestia and-" Twilight began, only to be cut off by future Rainbow Dash's hoof in her mouth.

"She messed up, they all got sent into the future, they're from fifteen years ago" future Rainbow explained, pulling her hoof out of Twilight's mouth when she was done. Future Spike and Rarity seemed to understand what was going on, which made Twilight feel slightly insulted. It was as if they didn't see it as too impossible that she would manage to do something like that by accident.

"So, how do we get rid of them?" future Spike asked, still giving his former self a disgusted look. It did make sense that he wouldn't like how he used to look, especially with how he was now. He had grown quite a bit taller, his male features had really begun to appear, and over all, he looked fairly cool, and the old Spike was just short, a little chubby, and looked harmless.

"Well, we were going over to Twilight's to see if she would know how to fix this, but your precious little Gem came by and disrupted us" future Rainbow said sarcastically, looking over at Gem out of the corner of her eye, making him squirm uncomfortably until he remembered why he had even showed up in the first place.

"Oh, yeah!" Gem said suddenly, making everypony look at him, "Surprise, I wanted to know if you'd help me plan for Orion's birthday, it's coming up soon and I'm not good at planning things like that..." Gem seemed to blush a little bit before Surprise started to smile at him, instantly cheering him up.

"Of course I'll help you!" Surprise said happily before she playfully trotted over to Pound Cake, "You'll help too, won't you?" She made a pouting face at Pound Cake until he nodded in agreement, which earned him a kiss on the lips.

"Thanks Poundy!" Surprise said, her face turning bright red when she realized what she had just said, "Um, I mean, honey... bun...?" There was an awkward silence until Surprise decided to grab both Gem and Pound Cake and make a break for it, heading back to the bakery so they could plan the party, as well as so Surprise could get out of the awkward situation she had created. Once they were gone future Rainbow was the first to speak up.

"Any idea why she called him 'Poundy'?" Rainbow asked, looking back at future Pinkie, who had an innocent smile on her face.

"I have no idea!" future Pinkie said happily, "But he better be wrapping it up!" Another awkward silence fell over the group as they thought about what future Pinkie had said, and how it related to the nickname Surprise had given to Pound Cake. Both Rarity's visibly shivered as they thought about it, and both Spike's quickly went to their respective Rarity's side, eager to help take their minds off it.

"So..." Twilight said slowly, getting everypony's attention once the shock had worn off from future Pinkie's statement, "Are we still going to the library to see future me?"

"I'd imagine so, otherwise we came out all this way for nothing" future Rainbow said sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she turned to make her way towards the library with the entire group in tow, with the addition of future Spike and Rarity. At the back of the group Spike walked beside his future self, wanting to know how he managed to get Rarity around his arm.

"So, what did you do?" Spike asked excitedly, his eagerness to learn how it all went down barely being contained within his small body.

"Nothing special, I just old her how I felt, then she accepted me" future Spike said, looking down at his past self with a bored expression on her face, "It was just an out of the blue moment, and look what happened"

"Really, that's it, you just told her?" Spike asked, having the feeling that the explanation he got wasn't entirely true.

"Yup, and after a while she came to me, and took up the offer I had given her of a date" future Spike said, a small smile coming across his face as he thought about it.

"Huh..." Spike said thoughtfully as he began to plan out how he was going to win over Rarity's heart when they got back to their own time. For the rest of the trip the entire group was silent, except for the occasional humming noise from Spike as he thought hard about what he would do.