Chapter 17
Future Shock
They say when you are visited by your future self it can only mean three things. First reason: they are there to tell you to that something very important is going to happen soon and you need to do something specific in order for it to happen. Second reason: they have come back to protect you from a robot that was sent to kill you after robots have taken over the world in the future. Third reason: they have come back to kill your husband because he is the destroyer of the world in the future. Unfortunately for Twilight, she was about to receive the worst of them all, reason three. It all began one morning in Ponyville. Twilight was sitting near the desk in the main room, reading a book, when she began to hear a crackling static sound. Twilight then turned around in her chair, only to be blinded by a bright light. After the light faded, her jaw dropped. What was standing before Twilight was none other than herself. However, this Twilight seemed older, was wearing a black jump suit, an eye patch, and her mane was spiked-up like a wild rock star. The older Twilight put her hoof up to her head.
"Wow...my head is pounding," she muttered, "Who knew time travel was such a strain on the body." Twilight got off her chair and slowly walked over to her older self.
"Um...excuse me?" Twilight asked, "Who are you?" The older Twilight spun around to face her younger self.
"Where is he?" she asked firmly.
"Who are you talking about?" Twilight replied confused.
"Look...I don't have time to explain. Just tell me where he is and I'll get it over with quick," older Twilight said as her eyes were searching around the room. As Twilight was trying to figure out what her future self was talking about, the front door opened and Flareon appeared. As he closed the door behind him, Flareon spotted Twilight and someone else standing by her. She seemed familiar somehow.
"Hey Twilight, I'm back! By the way...who's your friend there?" Flareon asked. Immediately, the Future Twilight charged into Flareon, knocking him into the wall. As Flareon opened his eyes, he saw the strange unicorn standing right in front of him. She was seething with rage as her horn was shining brightly.
"I finally found you!" she yelled, "Just stay right where you are! I promise this will over be over soon Destro! You will never be able to return Equestria to the Dark Ages ever again!" Right away, Twilight began to realize what her older self was attempting. She was going to kill Flareon!
"No!" Twilight exclaimed as she charged up power in her horn. Flareon quickly shielded his face with his hooves. As Future Twilight shot a beam of magic at him, Twilight happened to shot her own beam towards her future self. Luckily for Twilight, she was able to counter her future self's attack just in time. Soon after, Flareon moved his hooves away from his face and slowly turned to the right. He was completely shocked as there was a gigantic hole in the wall besides him. Older Twilight quickly turned to her younger self. She wasn't happy.
"What the heck are you doing?!" Future Twilight exclaimed, "You moron...I almost had him! Do you realize what you just did?" As Twilight was trying to respond to her future self, Flareon tacked the strange unicorn from behind and wrestled her to the ground.
"Alright...spill it!" Flareon yelled, "Why did you just try to kill me?" Suddenly, his eyes widened in shock. After closer inspection, Flareon realized that this strange unicorn looked almost exactly like Twilight. "Wait...Twilight? Why do you look like her? Who are you?!" Unfortunately, she didn't want to cooperate with him.
"Get...off...of...me!" Future Twilight yelled as she tried to break Flareon's hold on her, "I will never submit to you Destro! You hear me? Never!"
"I'm not going to let go until you calm down and promise to explain yourself," Flareon replied, "Otherwise...I'm going to stay here until you do." Sadly for Future Twilight, she saw no other way around this. Future Twilight bit down on her lip as she admitted defeat.
"Fine...you win," Future Twilight muttered, "I promise I will tell you everything." Even though Flareon was thinking she was going try something funny, he had no choice but to believe her. Soon after, Flareon, Twilight, and Future Twilight were all sitting around the coffee table. The silence weighed heavily around the room. Twilight finally decided to break the tension.
"First off...are you really me from the future?" she asked.
"Yes...15 years more precisely," Future Twilight replied.
"Ok...I have a few more questions. What happens in the future? Why did you come back to the past? Who is Destro? Why did you just try to kill Flareon?" Twilight asked. As Future Twilight looked into the concerned eye's of her younger self and Flareon, she was hesitant to tell them the truth, but decided it was for the best and took a deep breath.
"Very well...I will tell you everything," Future Twilight replied as she began to tell Flareon and Twilight what happens in the future. "It all began 15 years ago, or in your case, about a couple of months from now. Alexei had finally regained all of his power and resurrected his entire army of shadow dragons. As they marched towards Canterlot, Princess Celestia ordered her royal guards, along with my brother and Cadance, to confront them in order to protect the city. Celestia and Luna were in charge of evacuating the residents of Canterlot, Cloudsdale, Ponyville, and Fillydelphia, which were the closest residential areas to the capital. Meanwhile, me and my friends, with the Elements of Harmony, had to deal with Discord as Flareon went to battle Alexei. It wasn't long after we sealed Discord using the Hexagon Seal Formation that a voice echoed throughout the sky saying that he, Dark Flareon, had absorbed Flareon and Alexei and obtained their power. At first I couldn't believe what I was hearing, but when I reached the spot where the voice came from, I saw a black alicorn flying in the sky. He then landed down where I was and told me that he wasn't Dark Flareon anymore. He was now Destro, the destroyer. He told me either to we could submits ourselves to him or he would declare war on us. Of course I refused and he right away declared the beginning of the Dark Ages II. I tried to reason with him, but he simply disappeared in a burst of black flames. At that moment, I knew that the old Flareon I cherished and loved with all my heart, was now gone. Soon after, we all headed back to Canterlot and turned put up the best defenses we could to protect the city. Later on, I formed the Equestria Alliance, a group of ponies willing to combat Destro and his army of shadow dragons. I was the main leader in charge of Alpha Team, Celestia was in charge of Beta Team, Luna was in charge of Gamma Team, and Cadance was in charge of Delta Team. Together we were the Elite 4. For 15 long, painful years in total darkness, we constantly battled against Destro and his army. I lost track of how many ponies we lost in the war. It was at that time that Solana finally became the Princess of Equestria. In response, I gave up my position as leader of the Equestria Alliance to her. It wasn't long before I realized that Solana was a much better leader than me. I don't know how to explain it, but she had this strong aurora of hope emitting from her that gave us strength that helped us not only in battle, but we were able to continue pushing on through all the pain and suffering we were forced to endure. During one battle, I jumped in front of a pony to protect him from a dragon's claw attack, but in return I lost my right eye, which is why I wear this eye patch. A couple of days later, I got word that Destro was spotted in the Everfree Forest alone, and immediately rushed over there. At that time, I didn't realize how reckless and foolish I was for trying to kill him by myself. Right away, I knew worlds weren't going to work on him, and the battle between me and Destro began. For a couple of minutes, he just continued to toy with me, that is until I unleashed all the power I could at him. Afterwards, I was hit by a black beam that come out of the smoke cloud that resulted from my attack. Unfortunately, I was too weak as he appeared to be completely unfazed. As I laid there on the ground, he prepared to finish me off, when suddenly, Princess Solana appeared in front of me. She tried pleading with Destro to end this war, to stop all the bloodshed, to return back to the father she loved, but he just laughed at her. Destro then charged up his magic and prepared to kill us both. What happened next, completely shocked me. Solana gave Destro one last request, and that was to let me go free. In return, she would sacrifice herself. Destro agreed to her deal. I tried to yell at her to run away and leave me, but Solana simply smiled at me as she slowly disappeared before my eyes." At that moment, Future Twilight began to cry. "Princess Solana...she...she...sacrificed herself to let me live. It's all my fault! I let her down! I failed as a mother!" Suddenly, Flareon slammed his right hoof down on the table, which resulted in a large crack appearing where his hoof landed. He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it. He was responsible for that future happening? For the Dark Ages returning? For all those ponies dying? For Solana, his daughter, being kill by him? It couldn't be true.
"Shut up!" Flareon yelled angrily, "You're lying! Tell me your lying!" In response, Future Twilight lowered her head and looked away. She just wasn't able to bring herself to even look at him. Immediately, Flareon got up and ran outside without closing the door behind him.
"Flareon!" Twilight exclaimed. Soon after, Future Twilight softly put her right hoof on Twilight's shoulder and shook her head.
"Leave him be," she muttered, "After what he just heard, I can't blame him." As much as Twilight wanted to help Flareon, she knew it was best to leave him alone for now. Meanwhile, Solana, along with Rainbow Dash and the others, were walking through Ponyville. They had just come from the bowling alley.
"Wow Solana...you sure have got better at bowling," Rainbow Dash said, "Keep practicing kid and you might be as good as me someday."
"Rainbow Dash...you bowled an 94," Applejack replied.
"Yeah...so! I still bowled higher than you did!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Soon after, everyone burst into laughter. Suddenly, they spotted Flareon running towards them.
"Hey Flareon!" Pinkie Pie yelled. Unfortunately, Flareon paid no attention to Solana or his friends as he ran right past them. As they watched him run away, they decided he must have been in a rush and happened to not see them. As they walked into Golden Oak Library, their jaws dropped as they saw two different Twilights.
"Um...it is just me or are there two Twilights standing right before us?" a baffled Rainbow Dash asked. As Applejack closed the boor behind her, they cautiously walked up both Twilights. When Future Twilight spotted Solana, she kneeled down before her.
"Princess Solana, please pardon my intrusion into your home," Future Twilight muttered. Solana, including the others, just stared at her blankly. Rainbow Dash then flew towards Twilight and leaned closer to her.
"Where did you get the weirdo from?" Rainbow Dash whispered.
"That's me...from the future," Twilight replied. Immediately, everyone gasped in amazement.
"Wait...what?! That's you? From the future?!" Applejack exclaimed, "Ok...just hold on for a minute! I think we need some explanation here." As everyone nodded their heads agreement, Future Twilight sighed.
"Fine, I'll explain everything...again," she said as everyone gathered around the coffee table. Later on, after Future Twilight had finished reciting her story, everyone just sat there in complete silence. None of them could believe what they had just heard. Suddenly, Solana lifted up her head and looked at everyone's depressed faces.
"So what? Who cares if that is the future? That doesn't mean we can't change it!" Solana yelled without any hesitation in her voice. Everyone was completely dumbfounded as they couldn't believe their ears. Even though she had heard what the future had turned out to be, Solana was refusing to let that happen. At that moment, Future Twilight's eye began to tear up as she saw the adult princess version of Solana before her. The pony that lead the Equestria Alliance had given everyone hope during the Dark Ages II. A couple of seconds later, they decided to go find Flareon. They quickly searched everywhere in Ponyville and eventually found Flareon in the park, resting under a tree. As they ran up to him, Solana jumped into his hooves, and began to cry. As Flareon softly patted her on the head, he looked up to see everyone's worried faces, including Future Twilight. Solana quickly wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Dad...I don't care about that future! I don't want it to happen! I want to change it!" Solana exclaimed, "Please...don't give up! Let's work together to make a bright, sunny future where everyone is happy!" Flareon smiled as he hugged Solana and held her tightly. He then looked at Future Twilight.
"I...all of us...promise we will find a way to change the future! Future Twilight...please believe in us!" Flareon yelled as everyone nodded their heads in agreement. At that moment, Future Twilight began to glow. It seems her time in the past was just about over. She then smiled at them as a tear ran down her face.
"Flareon, Princess Solana...I mean Solana, my younger self, everyone...I give you my trust that you can and will save the future! I believe in you!" Future Twilight exclaimed as her body slowly disappeared. No matter what, Flareon was going to make sure that dark future that never happened. He, Twilight, Solana, and his friends were determined to make way for a bright future where everyone could be happy and live in peace.