My Little Pony - A Dash Through Time
Rainbow Dash hurried towards Sugarcube Corner. The storm clouds were a sign of trouble brewing, and she knew neither she nor any of the other pegasi could stop it.
"Pinkie Pie!" she hollered, "Please let me in! It's wild out here!"
"Hi!" chirped Pinkie Pie, popping her head out the door.
"Lemme in! Hurry up!"
"Oh, okay!" The two hurried inside. Oddly enough, Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity were all huddled together inside.
"What are you guys doing here?" asked Rainbow.
"Same as you. We got caught outside in this dreadful storm and the nearest building was here," whimpered Rarity, "oh, I do hope my house and shop don't suffer any damage!"
"I'm just worried about the animals," whispered Fluttershy, "what if they get hurt? I couldn't bear to think of it." Rainbow sat down next to her friends. Mr Carrot Cake trotted in carrying his twin baby foals, Pumpkin Cake and Pound Cake on his back, bawling their eyes out.
"Some storm, eh?" he sighed, "the twins can't sleep, so I guess if this turns into a sleepover they'll be joining us."
"Allow me, sir," breathed Fluttershy silkily. She followed Mr Carrot Cake up to the twins bedroom
"Now, there is nothing to worry about, the storm will pass and you'll wake up to see the lovely sunshine from your bedroom window in the morning," she cooed, "time for Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake to go to sleep." She began singing a lullaby whilst stroking their heads, and the twins' eyes began to close.
"You're amazing, Fluttershy," whispered Mr Carrot Cake.
"I just know how to talk calmly and reassure babies." The two came down stairs to join the others.
"Whoo-ee! Look at that wind fly!" hooted Applejack, closing the shutters. Rainbow glanced out the crack in the shutters. At the centre of the storm, she was sure she could see a large blue object swirling around, surrounded by lightning bolts.
"Huh?" she mused, "I wonder what that could be." She then noticed two ponies standing directly below it.
"Holy Pony! There's still somepony out there!" She swung open the door and raced to the two of them. It was Time Turner and Derpy.
"What are you two doing out here? Are you crazy?"
"Rainbow Dash! Go back inside, it's too dangerous," yelled Time Turner.
"I know, that's why you two should come too!"
"It's okay," shouted Derpy, "we'll be all right." Rainbow stared at the two, puzzled as to what they meant.
"Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie Pie called out from the door of the bakery, "you've got to come back inside!"
"What? Back in time?" she howled.
"INSIDE!" Rainbow was frozen to the spot. She glared up to the clouds, where the blue object she was sure she had seen earlier was hurtling towards her. Her mouth fell wide open, while her friends looked on in disbelief. The blue object landed at her feet. Suddenly, the storm stopped.
"What the heck was that?!" she screamed at Time Turner and Derpy.
"It's nothing, just, take care, Rainbow Dash. I'm glad to see you've turned out to be a fine young woman."
"What are you talking about?"
"Just trust us," sighed Derpy, "we know what we're talking about."
"Can I see into your box?" She gazed up at it in amazement. The box was navy blue, with a lantern on top, two white and blue panelled windows, double doors at the front with a tiny door on one, and a sign that read "Police Telephone - Free for use of PUBLIC. Advice and assistance obtainable immediately, officers and cars respond to urgent calls." The box reminded her of something - almost like a dream. She'd certainly never seen one in Equestria!
"Uhh…well…" mumbled Time Turner, "you'd probably better not, it's not a good…" It was too late, Rainbow had barged past them and opened the door. Inside shocked her. It was huge! She dived in and out the door.
"It's bigger on the inside!" she yelped. Inside was decorated with bronzed bubble-like circles on the walls, and some sort of controls in the centre. It was what was on the screen above the console that amazed her. It showed a picture of her, and information about everything she had ever done in her life.
"Who the hell are you two?" she demanded, turning back to Derpy and Time Turner.
"Uhh…well…we're…um…" stuttered Derpy.
"I guess I should explain. My real name is not Time Turner. My real name is Dr Whooves, and this is my TARDIS. It means Time And Relative Dimension In Space. This box, this wonderful blue box…can travel through time." He rested his hoof on Derpy's shoulder, "which is how the two of us became stranded here for the last four years."
"Well, I'm confused! If you can travel through time, prove it to me," huffed Rainbow, folding her arms.
"I wish I could, but it isn't safe. You could end up stranded just like your mother and me - " Rainbow cut him off.
"Wait, what?! You're my parents?!" Derpy bit her lip.
"I guess there's no point in trying to lie about it anymore, you have to learn the truth sometime. Yes, sweetheart. We're your parents."
"So this is where you've been all my life…"
"When I met the Doctor, I was young and in love. He asked me to come away with him, so…I did exactly that! We spent many happy years in the TARDIS, going on adventures, meeting many different characters. Then one day, we got married under the purple moon of a planet known as Mantle Five. Then came the time when we talked about settling down…"
"And?" Rainbow looked hopefully at her mother.
"Well, that's when you came along, you and your sister, and we were thrilled to be a family. The only thing was, settling down would mean no more TARDIS, no more time travel, no more adventures. That was until we decided to take you on your first adventure…"
"Oh?"
"We packed everything and planned on taking you with us to see your future, to find out what kind of young woman you'd become. Only problem was, we ended up way in the past on your father's home planet. The Time War was raging on, and there was nothing we could do to stop it. The Cybercolts and Dragleks formed an alliance merely to defeat the Gallopfreyans. That's where your father is from. We hurried back to the TARDIS with you both in my arms, but we were accosted by a Zygoat. He snatched you both from our arms and raced away. As he ran off, you both cried, causing Pinkie's hair to straighten from your lovely curls to a dull mane. I screamed, and your father and I chased after him, but it was too late, they made off in their ship. The Zygoat gang had kidnapped you as a warning to the Gallopfreyans. Your father and I were never going to stop looking for you. We travelled all over time and space looking for you, and here you are! A beautiful, confident, athletic, healthy young woman, on her way to becoming as good as a Wonderbolt, if not better! We have no idea what happened in between the day you went missing and when we arrived here four years ago, but we're glad you're alive."
"Wait, I have a sister?!" gasped Rainbow. Her father nodded. "There's one thing I don't get," Rainbow shook her head in confusion, "if you guys have been here for four years, how come you never told me?"
"Your life was confusing enough. You were a teenager, that's when life is most confusing, and we could see you were handling it well without us. Telling you would have mixed you up so bad, so we watched you from a distance. We've seen everything: meeting Twilight; your Sonic Rainboom; the day you went to the Grand Galloping Gala and many more. We just needed to know you were safe, honey. The only thing was, once arrived in Ponyville and we knew you were alive and well, the TARDIS took off without us! We reckon that - because the TARDIS is a live, sentient being - she left us here so that this fixed point in time could happen, so that we could be with you. We were stranded here; terrified that you would recognise us; hence the reason we disguised ourselves. The Doctor took the name Time Turner, and I changed the position of my eyes."
"Was that the reason when we were hanging the banner over Town Hall you kept falling over?"
"I was so nervous. This was the first interaction I had had with you since you were a few weeks old. I couldn't see right when I squinted, which is why half the time I wasn't squinting. I was desperate to tell you, but I knew it was wrong. I messed up hearing the first thing you said to me."
"No you didn't," said Rainbow with huge tears in her eyes, "Oh mom, I'm so sorry I got mad at you! If I'd have known, I'd never…"
"It wasn't your fault, sweetie," she breathed as she rested her head on Rainbow's shoulder, "I just wanted to talk to you, to see what kind of person you were up close. Your father was furious when he found out, though. He kept saying 'What were you thinking? How could you? You could have caused a hole In the Space-Time Continuum!', blah, blah, blah!"
"Honey, we'd better go," winced Dr Whooves. His wife looked at him in agonising desperation, her eyes watering.
"I…I can't," whimpered Derpy, "she's our little girl, I don't want to leave her. She's safe, she's alive, and she knows us. If we go back in time and find her, we could mess all that up. Don't you want to spend time getting to know her better? See the rest of her life, even though we've missed so much?"
"I do, but the time is not right. She's waited years to see us again, whereas for us it feels like five minutes. We should be in this time, older, seeing our little girl grow up."
"But we can now! And what does it matter that we're not as old as we should be? I want my daughters and I want to be with them, here and now. If you don't want to stay, you can just go. Besides, if it wasn't for you, she'd never have gone missing."
"Don't you think I know that! I've regretted that every day for the past five years. This could destroy all of space and time, all because of our selfishness - my selfishness. I'm the one who wanted to keep up with time travelling. I should have put the most important thing in my life first: my family, my wife, my daughters. But it's too late for that, and there's nothing I can do to change that."
"Well then, we should be making the most of the time we have with her now! Don't you see? This is our second chance, Doctor, a chance to know our daughter. We may not have raised her ourselves, but look at the Ponys. Amy and Rory never got to raise Melody, but she turned out all right."
"Melody Pony is a time-travelling master criminal!"
"But our daughter isn't! Don't you understand, we have a lot to learn about her. We can be a family again. Please, stay," begged Derpy, the tears in her eyes growing larger by the second.
"I…supposed we could stay a while. But this isn't permanent. Rainbow?"
"Daddy!" she bawled, running into his arms. Derpy joined them, laying her head on top of Rainbow's and her arms around them both. Just then, the other ponies who had watched the whole thing rushed over.
"Yay, Rainbow's mom and dad!" squeaked Pinkie, joining the group hug.
"Pink…Pinkie Pie?" stuttered Derpy through her tears.
"Yes…?"
"We kind of have something to tell you too…"
"What? Am I going to be a successful party planner in the future? Do I ever find my parents?"
"Yes you will - have. You see, Rainbow, your twin…is Pinkie Pie. The two of you must have been sent to different places, but the same point in time."
"We're…sisters?!" gasped Rainbow, "this…is…unbelievable!"
"Oh my god I've always wanted a twin sister like Rainbow Dash and now I have you I don't want to stop hugging you!" screeched Pinkie Pie without taking a breath. Derpy nodded at the two of them.
"Technically you have the same birthday, something I'll bet you never really knew. Your adoptive parents probably had to guess your birthdays, which is why your current birthdays are different."
"Now we can have two birthdays each! One old birthday, one twin birthday!" cheered Pinkie Pie. Rainbow remained stalk still in shock.
"Well, honey? Would you be happy for us to stay?" smiled Derpy. Rainbow looked back and forth between her parents and Pinkie.
"I…uh…of course!" she gushed, "Oh, my family I never had!" The four all hugged each other tight. Her friends looked on.
"Aww, that's so sweet," sniffed Rarity. The four of them walked towards the group and each of them flung their arms around them. Spike jumped on Twilight's back.
"Hey Pinkie!" he shouted, "I think this calls for a party!"
"Yippee! A welcome home party!" she squealed, bounding up and down on the spot. The nine friends trotted into Sugarcube Corner. Fluttershy noticed that Applejack was welling up.
"Applejack?" she inquired, "what's wrong?" She put her hoof on Applejack's shoulder.
"Oh…it's nothing. I'm really happy for them, but this whole thing's just thinking about my parents," she sobbed, "I haven't seen them since I was a kid. They passed away, and that's why Granny Smith raised Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom and I." Derpy overheard them talking, and rested her hoof on Applejack's other shoulder.
"I'm sorry to hear that, honey," she whispered, "but I have something to thank you girls for. If it weren't for you, my girls wouldn't have had a family while we were gone. Without you, they might not have turned out the beautiful, well-balanced girls they are today." The three looked over a Pinkie Pie, who stumbled down the stairs, crashing on the floor and giggling.
"Well-balanced by our family's standards," she grinned awkwardly, "anyway, I'd like to extend the olive branch to all of you. You are my daughters' family, so that makes you my family. If ever you need anything, just come to your Aunt Derpy and Uncle Doc."
"We will," smiled Applejack, holding back tears.
"I know we'll never replace your parents, but we can be there for you."
"So…where have you been living all this time?" asked Rainbow Dash, trying not to pry, even though she had a million questions to ask them.
"Well, we have a place just outside Ponyville, near the Everfree Forest. We can see Fluttershy's house from our bedroom window, and since you two were always visiting her, we could see you."
"There's one thing I don't get," muttered Pinkie Pie, "how come I'm an Earth Pony and Rainbow is a Pegasus?"
"Well," explained Dr Whooves, "I'm an Earth Pony. Well, technically I'm a Gallopfreyan Pony, but that's beside the point, and your mother is a Pegasus. As you can probably tell, you're non-identical twins, and so don't share identical genetic codes. You must have my recessive genes: the blue eyes and no wings, while Rainbow has wings and pink eyes, like Derpy's mother."
"So how come our coats are pink and blue while you are brown and grey?"
"We believe it was the TARDIS. Your mother had been travelling in the TARDIS for such a long time even while she was pregnant, and I even longer, and the Time Vortex gives off a sort of background radiation. We believe that your mother and I had absorbed so much of it that it caused you two to gain colours from other ponies throughout the Time Vortex - possibly your ancestors. Don't worry, it's completely harmless, it merely indicated that you've travelled through the vortex." The two girls sat down beside their parents, grinning contentedly.
Twilight was looking at them suspiciously.
"Do you…do you believe them, Spike?" she whispered.
"Well, their stories check out. Why wouldn't I?" he replied.
"I don't know…it just seems weird that they've been here for four years and said nothing until now. You'd think that upon finding your daughters you'd run and tell them straight away."
"You heard them, they didn't want their daughters to be more confused as teenagers. Teenagers and adults act differently from each other; waiting until they were older meant they could handle the truth better."
"I just don't feel safe, Spike. I'm going to do some digging."
"Ooh! Can I come? My tail makes a good spade?" Twilight rolled her eyes and slinked out the door, followed by Spike. She sneaked over to her house, and began searching through the library.
"T…tadpoles, trolls, tricks - Spike, why aren't these in alphabetical order?" she groaned. Spike shook his head and mumbled something incoherantly with a mouthful of cake.
"Aha! Time Travel. Let's see…'It may be possible to travel through time, however, the timeline could be altered by travelling to the past. Travelling to the future may create set points in time that cannot be altered after they have happened.'"
"So, what can we do?" questioned Spike.
"Well…it is certainly possible to travel through time. I still feel like something's not right. Let's go to the Town Hall and check the records."
"Surely all they'll tell us is where they live?"
"The census could prove to us when they arrived here and if they have children. The children may not be registered at the same address, but could be registered as children of the people living there."
The two friends rushed out, closing the door behind them. When they arrived at Town Hall, all was not as easy as Twilight had thought it would be.
"What do you mean, I can't see the census?" she demanded, "It's supposed to be available for all citizens."
"I'm sorry, we're closing. Come back tomorrow," snipped the receptionist.
"But this will take just five minutes…"
"I'm sorry, but the answer is no!" Twilight hung her head, and Spike laid his hand on the back of her leg.
"Sorry, Twilight. I guess there's nothing we can do," he exhaled. She looked up with a defiant look on her face.
"I'm not giving up that easily." She waited outside until the receptionist exited and locked the door. Then, she placed an invisibility spell on herself and Spike. Twilight could see the key as the girl put it in her saddlebag. Using her unicorn power, she gently lifted the key from the bag and placed it softly into the lock. Once it was turned, the door opened, and she and Spike snuck in. Inside was a dark and vast library of documents all containing information about Ponyville and its citizens.
"Which section is it?" whispered Spike.
"Look under T for Turner. I think that's the name the Doctor will be registered under, then we can see if any birth certificates come with it." They rifled through the cabinets marked T.
"Here it is! Turner, first name Time. Birth certificate for Time Turner, marriage certificate for Time Turner and Derpy Doo, deeds to their house…no birth certificates for children. Why don't we try Rainbow and Pinkie's files?"
"Good idea." They could hear the security guard outside with his torch. They hid under the window as he shone it above their heads. Spike breathed fast, panicking. They looked at each other, terrified of being discovered without finding out the truth. Once he had passed, they whooshed over to the filing cabinets and began searching once more. Sadly, all they could find was adoption certificates, but nothing about birth parents.
"Come on," huffed Twilight dejectedly, "we'd better go back before they find out where we've been." She locked the front door, sliding the key under a rock when finished.
"Hey, where did you two go?" hooted Pinkie Pie, "you've missed some amazing stories!"
"Oh, just out. Pinkie, can I talk to you in private?" squinted Twilight.
"Sure!" The two girls hurried upstairs. "What's up?"
"Pinkie, I don't want you to get angry with me…"
"Why would I get - "
"Just listen. Are you sure these are your real parents? I mean, they could have made this up just because you two are the only orphans they knew of."
"What are you saying? My parents are fakes?!" Pinkie's face became unusually red and her face twisted into a grimace.
"I'm just looking out for you. What if they're trying to take advantage of your generous and trusting nature?"
"What is your problem? How could you say that? After all these years of searching, I've finally found my parents. Wouldn't you want that more than anything if it were you?"
"Yes, but that's no reason to believe it. You have to be sure, not just desperate to have your parents." The door creaked open.
"Twilight…you don't really think that about us, do you?" Derpy sounded hurt.
"Uh…well, I just can't find any evidence that it's true. If there was evidence I would know, but if not, you could be lying. I'm just worried for my friends."
"I understand. Wait here." Derpy was gone for five minutes, and when she came back she was holding four gold lockets.
"These," she hummed, "were yours, and the other two belonged to your father and I. When you were older, we were going to give you them. You were a bit too young at the time to wear them, although we do have a photo of you wearing them." Dr Whooves pulled something from his saddlebag.
"A Polaroid?" pondered Twilight, "but those haven't been around…for years…" He showed the girls the photograph. In it were two young fillies - a blue Pegasus with rainbow hair and a pink earth pony with pink curls - each wearing the little necklaces with a tiny sparkle in the centre of the pendant, held in their parents' arms - and sure enough, it was Derpy and the Doctor holding them.
"Open them." The girls each took one and opened the lockets. Inside was a pocket watch, a compass, and inserted into the photo frame was the same picture of their family. On the outer cover was the tiniest gem that sparkled and shone brightly.
"Those are specks of stars. We gave you these Gallopfreyan pendants so you would always find us, no matter where in the universe. Sadly, it was us that had to use the necklaces."
"I…I'm so sorry," sobbed Twilight, "I shouldn't have doubted you - oh please, forgive me!"
"Twilight, it is us that should be apologising to you. You were there for my girls, we were not. You were right, we should have done all this sooner. We were going to build up to it, show you our photos and see the photo albums from when my girls were young - seeing everything we'd missed." Pinkie and Rainbow examined the photo more closely. It had Dr Whooves and Derpy, looking as though they hadn't aged a day, holding the two baby ponies that were in the previous pictures, and the babies were too similar to Rainbow and Pinkie to not be them.
"So, there's no getting out of it now!" cheered Rainbow Dash, snuggling between her parents.
"Got that right!" squeaked Pinkie Pie as she joined them. Just then, Twilight had a brain wave. She asked Mr Carrot Cake if she could borrow the family camera for a minute. The four ponies were still standing together, hugging.
"Smile!" cried Twilight. The camera displayed the wonderful family photo. "That way, you have a then and now picture of your family!" They all crowded around her to look.
"Mr Cake?" smiled Derpy, sweetly, "May we borrow you for a moment?" Mr Carrot Cake took the camera. "All right! Everybody in!" This time all of the ponies (and Spike) bunched up together, smiling.
"This is our family photo. We're just the new members; this is the family you've known and loved for a long time."
"Well, you are most definitely welcome to our family," chuckled Twilight as Derpy hugged her. They all laughed. "So, are you going to stick around?"
"We actually have something to ask you two. You see, now that we have the TARDIS back, we can go anywhere we want in time and space. If you wanted…we could take you with us."
"We'd love to!" enthused Rainbow, "but…I can't leave my friends here in Ponyville. I've been here too long to leave. My place is here." Pinkie Pie nodded in agreement.
"In that case…it looks like your dad and I have our minds made up too." The two girls blinked at them, almost begging them not to go with merely their expressions.
"We should stick by our daughters," laughed Dr Whooves, "we're going to do what we should have done a long time ago - the right thing - retiring."
"You mean, you're staying?" pleaded Pinkie, beaming with excitement.
"Yep!"
"You guys don't need to retire because of us!" shouted Rainbow, flying just above their heads, "I mean…we could always use your, what's it called?"
"TARDIS?"
"Right! The TARDIS, if ever it was needed. You never know, Princess Celestia may give you a job using your TARDIS if you tell her!"
"Well, it beats sneaking around town trying to blend in! Your mother and I have been offered a job at the art gallery - we're the new curators!" They all chuckled heartily.
Later that night, the family were all downstairs sharing stories, when Twilight looked over and noticed the four Whooves' were fast asleep, cuddling into each other by the fire. She smiled sweetly, and went home to begin writing her letter to the princess:
Dear Princess Celestia,
Some days can turn your whole life upside down. In this instance, it turned out for the better! Pinkie and Rainbow have what they've been looking for all their lives: a real family. The lesson learned here for me is not to doubt the judgement of your friends, even if you are looking out for their best interests. People need to make their own mistakes to learn, even parents, or in Dr Whooves and Derpy's case, especially parents! I guess they learned their lesson a long time ago, at least it was a long time ago for us, for them, I don't really know. I guess that's the problem with time travel!
From your most devoted student,
Twilight Sparkle.
She looked over at the little photo frame on her bedside cabinet of her parents, then to her phone. Gingerly, she picked it up and began to dial.
"Hello…mom? I just wanted to talk with you…and tell you I love you."