This is the 24th chapter. I don't own the series of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
It's About Time
Something in the land of dreams where an entire world was in the human world called Italy, both Comet and Daylight were looking at the sight of Trevi Fountain with their family, Spike, Princess Cadence, and their old parents. Of course, they still miss their parents but they always think about them and how much they miss them very much. But their dream was interrupted when they heard a sound of hoofsteps, causing them to wake up and Spike was also awake. Comet, Daylight, and Spike made their way down the steps to see Twilight pacing around the room.
"Twilight?" Spike called her sleepily as he, Comet, and Daylight made their way down the steps.
"Oh, hi Spike, Comet, Daylight." Twilight said as she continued to pace around back and forth across the room.
"Mom, it's the middle of the night." Daylight said as she pointed outside to show the moon was high in the sky. "Why are you still up?"
"Frankly, I don't how you three can sleep like this!" Twilight said to her daughter, continued pacing.
"It's 3 in the morning." Comet said bluntly, using his magic to levitate the clock as Twilight quickly teleported to her son.
"It's awful, it's horrible, it's tragic!" Twilight said fearfully, got into Comet's face.
Twilight then puts a book down on her desk and used her magic to turn the pages in it. Then, she placed another on top of it.
"Eh...I don't understand." Spike said, puzzled. "What's wrong?"
Twilight then shoved a calendar into Spike's face.
"Here, now do you see what's wrong?" Twilight said as Spike, Comet, and Daylight just looked at it skeptically.
"We forgot to celebrate Arbor Day?" Spike asks.
"No, the problem is that Mario and I just finished planning our schedules for the month, but I forgot to leave time to plan for next month!" Twilight answered as she smacked a face-hoof over her head. "Don't you see? There's no time in my schedule to put together another schedule! I could move Mario and my meeting with the Ponyville Hay Board to the following Tuesday, but I'd have to reschedule my lunch with Pinkie Pie, and you know what a nightmare she is with scheduling."
KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK!
"Who's that at this hour?" Twilight asked.
"I'll get it, you two go back to sleep." Spike said crankily as he headed downstairs while Comet and Daylight went back to their room to get some sleep, opened it to find Mario standing there with a cranky look.
"Hi Spike. Twilight woke me up from a smoke bomb wake-up call. Don't ask me how." Mario said crankily, walking inside as he put down a book as he turned to Twilight. "I just checked my schedule for next month and I found out I forgot to make time schedule next month."
"Are you serious?" Spike asks in disbelief while Twilight gasped.
"Me too!" Twilight said. "How are we gonna get prepared for next month, next month?!"
"I...I guess if you wanna cancel a date to plan..." Mario said.
"Why?! You don't wanna go out with me anymore?!" Twilight snapped defensively while Mario blinked.
"Sorry, Twi, I didn't know our dates had any priority for you." Mario said. "After all, I've kept them more as downtime so you can relax and spend some time with Come and Daylight, and not feel pressured to be romantic. I'm willing to sacrifice one night so you can make your schedule. Your need over mine after all, even if it means I don't intend to be busy and overreact to something terrible."
Twilight softened and chuckled herself.
"That's sweet, but our dates are very important to me, Mario." Twilight told him. "And I look forward to them each month, but I do spend some time with my foals whenever I'm not busy. In fact, if you checked your schedule, I increased the number of times we go on dates each month from five to seven! I'm not canceling one."
Mario looked at his planner and was surprised to see she was right. As much as he wanted to feel happy that Twilight enjoyed spending one-on-one time with him while having her spending some days with her kids, there were more important things to worry about. But frankly, he didn't have any problems with it at the moment.
"Then what are we gonna do about it?" Mario asked curiously.
"I don't know!" Twilight said in a nervous tone as she grabs hold of Mario by the shoulders and shook him a bit as she let go of him as his eyes spun around a bit before he glared at her, even though she wasn't paying much attention. "This is an absolute disaster. Our whole year could be thrown off!"
Spike just glared at Twilight before heading upstairs.
"And I woke up from an ice cream dream for this." Spike muttered to himself as he rubbed his head and went back to bed.
My Little Pony, My Little Pony
Ahhhh
My Little Pony
I use to wonder what friendship could be
My Little Pony
Until you all share this magic with me
Big adventure,
Tons of fun,
A beautiful heart,
Faithful and strong,
Sharing kindness
It's an easy feat
And magic makes it all complete
You all have my little ponies
Do you know all you're my best friends?
The sun was rising into the sky as the rooster crowed in the distance. Twilight was hard at work, trying to figure out a solution to her and Mario's scheduling while Comet and Daylight left to get to school. Mario was also with her, even though he didn't see any problem if he'd just gotten some sleep.
Neither of the two had gotten much sleep and they both had dark circles under their eyes. Twilight was at her desk as she's jotting down some notes.
"Uh, you know, Twilight, maybe you might be a little overreacting a bit about this." Mario said with a look of uncertainty as he yawned a bit. "Don't you think we can just ease off a bit and have a little peace and quiet?"
Twilight wasn't listening as she's still looking at her notes when she suddenly smiled.
"Oh my gosh, I think I did it!" Twilight said. "If I can find a way to read 'The Art of Invisibility Spells' and 'Thornhoof's Brief History of Canterlot' at the same time, that could leave me a half-hour scheduling window!"
"Sure that's enough time?" Mario asked with worry.
Suddenly a wind started to whirl behind them, blowing papers, turning pages of already open books, and sparkles of magic were starting to appear and were making cracking sounds.
"It's the best I can...huh?" Twilight said, turned around and saw cracking magic sparks.
Mario soon turns around as well to see the sight before them. Both of them leaned away from the crackling magic sparkles as a bright light appeared in the middle of the room, making the surrounding books and papers fly around the two ponies like a cyclone. Twilight and Mario backed away with a single fore-hoof shielding their eyes from the light as it became even brighter.
"What's going on?" Twilight asked.
"I don't know." Mario said.
The ball of light shrunk for a moment as the brightness intensified, making Mario and Twilight cringe and turn away. Once the glare subsides enough for Twilight and Mario to lower their forelegs, they find the last of the energy receding into itself. Now, lying among the freshly tumbled books and papers, is a unicorn that was identically to Twilight. Sparks crackle over the collapsed form, she was in a badly torn, dark gray body suit that covers everything but the head and tail, her mane was cut very short and she had a white headband wrapped around her head, a scar on her left cheek, and she had an eyepatch on her right eye.
"Twilight, you've got to listen to me!" Twilight said, rushed up to her when Mario looked puzzled.
"Who are you?" Twilight asked. "I mean, you're me, but I'm me too. How can there be two me's? It's not scientifically possible. You are not scientifically possible."
Twilight walked behind her future self and then poked her to emphasize her point. Mario rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Twilight, you said you read the book I gave you about parallel universe." Mario said. "Maybe she's..."
"I'm not an alternate version!" The future Twilight snapped before glaring at the present Twilight in the room and put a fore-hoof on her shoulder. "Twilight, I have a very important message for you from the future!"
"You're from the future?!" Mario and present Twilight exclaimed.
"That's right, now listen..."
"What happened to you?" Twilight interrupts with a question. "The future must be awful!"
"Did we get together and then have a fallout that's so bad, you went into depression and live on the streets? Or did Lord Garmadon finally took over Equestria?" Mario asks with confusion.
"No!" Future Twilight snapped with a glare as Mario sigh with relief. "Please! I don't have much time!"
"Is there some sort of epic pony war in the distant future or something?" Twilight asks with a fore-hoof on her chin.
"If that's true, then old age was really good to you." Mario said. "You look so young!"
"Thanks Mario, but actually, I'm from next Tuesday morning, but that's not important right now!" Future Twilight said, leaving Mario shocked.
"I can't believe that time travel is really possible!" Twilight said excitedly. "How did you, I mean I figure it out?"
"The time spells are in the Canterlot Archives." Future Twlight answered. "But that's not-"
"Really? Where? I've never seen them!" Twilight interrupted.
"Twilight, we need to hear the-"
Mario tried to get Twilight to be quiet so Future Twilight could speak.
"They're in the Starswirl the Bearded Wing." Future Twilight answered. "Now, you have to listen to-"
"Is time travel fun, or does it hurt?" Twilight interrupts again. "I have so many questions-"
Twilight was cut off when her future self shoved a fore-hoof to her mouth.
"Quit talking and let your future self tell us her message!" Mario said firmly.
Future Twilight was soon covered in white energy again, started to speak louder.
"I have something extremely important to tell you about the future, and I only have a few seconds, so you got to listen!" Future Twilight said. "Whatever you do, don't-"
POOF!
Before Future Twilight could finish the warning, she vanishes with one last flash, leaving only a charred spot on the wooden floor of the library.
"Great." Mario said, frustrated that the message was left incomplete while Twilight looks worried.
"Future Twilight? Oh no! What would she try to warn us about?" Twilight asks nervously.
"We might have know if you keep your mouth shut and let her finish the message." Mario told her, earned a glare from her.
"Don't make me hurt you." Twilight warned him.
"Try me." Mario challenged her.
"Her clothes, her mane, that scar! Oh, what a mess she is! ...I mean, I am...or will be!" Twilight said as she gasped, looked at the burnt mark on the floor. "She must want me to prevent whatever horrible thing happens in the future!"
"Maybe that or maybe it might have been one of Lord Garmadon's attack. But we don't know what message she's trying to tell us, thanks to you." Mario said, glaring at her as he sighed. "Still, we need to figure out of what the message is."
"No, we'll figure it out, and...sorry I ask too much questions." Twilight said, apologizing to him. "Still, it must have during one of those moments when I requested personal space or something beyond your control."
"I highly doubt it." Mario said, rolled his eyes and saw Twilight made a run for her front door. "Twi! Wait up!"
Outside of the busy street in Ponyville, Pinkie Pie was carrying a bunch of balloons on her back and the buoyancy was enough to carry her off the ground and 'walk' in the air.
"C'mon, Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie said. "The party can't start until the party supplies get there!"
Fluttershy was weighted down onto the ground by so many bags that she's carrying that she had to crawl on the ground.
"Happy to...help...but...can I carry...the balloons next time?" Fluttershy grunts.
When she tried to stand up, she's immediately hit broadside by somepony, and both she and Twilight wind up sprawled out among a litter of candy, streamers, and noisemakers. A set of Groucho Marx joke glasses has ended up on Twilight's face, but this doesn't stop her from darting away. Mario then arrives as he uses his magic to clean up the mess that Twilight made from bumping into Fluttershy and puts all the things back in their assorted bags.
Twilight then jumps onto a post at one end of a bridge over the stream bordering Ponyville and the ponies gather around her.
"Listen, everypony, I've got something really important to sat!" Twilight announces.
The crowd of ponies started to laugh at Twilight, which made her confused. Mario quietly warned her about the glasses, causing her to noticed it and sternly pulled them off.
"This is no laughing matter, we have a crisis on our hooves!" Twilight snapped, causing the ponies, except Mario, gasped. "I've just visited myself from the future!"
The ponies around were puzzled from that, until it turns into laughter once again.
"This isn't a joke!" Twilight retorted as she jumped off the post. "My future self tried to warn me about a horrible disaster that's going to occur sometime before next Tuesday morning?!"
"What kind of disaster?" Applejack asks with worry when she and Rarity arrives. "Is it Lord Garmadon? The Serpentines?!"
"I don't know!" Twilight answered. "I got sucked back into the future before I could explain!"
"And present Twilight kept talking so much, her future couldn't speak." Mario muttered to Applejack and Rarity. "I can't imagine how that must feel like. I'm hoping I wasn't at the mercy of Lord Garmadon."
"Run for your liiiiiiiiiiife!" Pinkie Pie screamed as she tried to run off, but the balloons tied to her torso made her float forward as her legs moved helplessly above the ground. Twilight just stared at Pinkie Pie as Rarity walked up to her.
"What ever should we do, Twilight?" Rarity asked. "How do we stop a disaster if we don't know what it is?"
"We'll just have to work together to make sure we're safe." Twilight said as Mario walked next to her.
Twilight turned to speak to Rainbow Dash hovering above her.
"Rainbow Dash, you and the other Pegasi spread out over Equestria, and look for kind of problem that could lead to a disaster, and I mean anything." Twilight said.
"You got it!" Rainbow Dash replied with a salute as she flies off quickly while Twilight and Mario turned their attention everypony else in Ponyville.
"Everypony else-"
Pinkie Pie interrupted Twilight as she was continuing to scream and run across the air in front of the crowd.
"Anypony else wanna panic? No?" Pinkie Pie asked before she continued to scream panickily and run away, still in the air.
"Ugh, like I don't have enough headache." Mario groaned, hoof-palmed himself in annoyance.
"You'll live, Mario." Twilight said. "Everypony else, time to disaster proof Equestria."
With that being said, everypony scattered around to try and prevent anything that could happen.
At the dam, Applejack, Rarity, and a bucket of cement are lowered along its height on a suspended plank platform, and Applejack seals a crack with the help of a trowel in her teeth. She's been thoroughly spattered with cement, sone of which Rarity scrubs away with a levitated handkerchief, and Twilight descends into view on a second platform. A checklist and quill float alongside under her control, marks off one item.
At the water tower of Ponyville, its top has been removed, and it's being filled from a hose that's been run up into it directed by Mrs. Cake. Mario teleports right beside her which surprises her as he checks the status of the water being filled into the tower and he smiles to see that it's at close level to being full.
At the bridge, Big Mac was holding a cable that was wrapped around Pinkie Pies midsection and she was lowered to a metal reinforced plate covering a crack in a wooden post while carrying a wench in her teeth. Pinkie Pie leans in and tightens one of the nuts holding it on. When she's finished wrenching, she smiles upward to tell Big Mac she's done. Mario and Twilight then run to check on them with her carrying the checklist.
"You two got the bridge fixed?" Mario asks.
"Eeyup." Big Mac replied.
Apparently, Big Mac saying that made him let go of the rope that he had in his mouth and he accidentally drops Pinkie Pie in the lake, however, Mario levitates her out of the lake with his magic to land back on the sidewalk, wet from the fall.
Over in a corner of a Ponyville sidewalk, the CMCs wipe off the policed up as Twilight marks that off as well and walks away along with Mario. More stuff was checked off along the way too as Spike painted a dried out wall in the library, Rarity cut an extra strand of Pinkie Pie's mane off, and finally Mario and some other ponies pushed around some crates and carts off to clear the streets of Ponyville.
As everything was done, Twilight's checklist has reached several yards long as she was finalizing everything that's been done with Fluttershy and Mario right beside her as both Applejack and Rarity walks up to them.
"Done, done, and done." Twilight said.
"All of the tasks are done." Mario adds while Rarity uses her magic to remove leaves from Applejack's mane.
"Applejack, what about the Everfree Forest?" Twilight asked.
"The perimeter is clear." Applejack answered firmly.
"Great." Twilight said before she looked up to Rainbow Dash, who's hovering with two other Pegasi near her.
"And my team gave the all clear from Fillydelphia to Las Pegasus." Rainbow Dash informed her.
"Excellent." Twilight said as she rolled up her checklist. "Well, we've done everything on the list, but still...Future Twilight looked like she had been through a horrible ordeal. I just have a nagging feeling we should be looking for something bigger than loose bolts and leaking pipes."
ROOOOOOOOOOOR!
A deafening roar was then heard as it got everypony's attention.
"You just had to ask, do you?" Mario asks sarcastically, turns to Twilight with a deadpan look.
A colossal, three-headed black bulldog leaps in from behind a house. Studded collars are fastened around all three necks, and six beady eyes with yellowed whites glare at the crowd. This is Cerberus, the guardian of the Underworld that guarded the Gates of Tartarus.
After a second roar, Pinkie Pie decided to speak.
"Okay, everypony, follow my lead." Pinkie Pie said sternly, stood before the crowd of ponies.
She then jumps and screams before running off as everypony else did the exact same and logical thing, except Spike, Twilight, Mario, and the six foals. They watch the ponies took refuge inside of the buildings as they shut the door and windows and a few hid inside of the nearby wooden barrels. Mario turns to Rainbow Dash and the two Pegasi with a glare.
"Rainbow Dash, you said your team gave the all clear!" Mario shouts angrily. "How the hay could you miss this?!"
Rainbow Dash and the nearby Pegasi just gave a sheepish and squeaky smiles as Mario face-hoofed himself.
"What is that thing?!" Spike asks frantically.
"That's Cerberus!" Comet answered. "He's supposed be guarding the Gates of Tartarus in the Underworld."
"But if he's here, then all of the ancient monsters that have been imprisoned there could escape and destroy Equestria!" Daylight adds.
"Destroy Equestria?!" Spike exclaimed.
"Yeah? Isn't it great?" Twilight said with a smile when Comet and Daylight gave her 'are you serious?' look on their faces.
"I'm happy you're proud of your knowledge, Twilight." Mario said calmly before snapping. "But this is anything but great!"
"I hope y'all can conjure up a doggy bone, cause it's about to turn this place into a chew toy!" Storm Hawk shouts.
"Hey, Cerberus!" Twilight said to Cerberus, who's just had it raised his leg to take care of business behind a shop. "You look like you could use some obedience training. Magic obedience training!"
Twilight stood her ground as she lits up her horn to face Cerberus head on. Cerberus roared at her as Twilight was just about fully charging her horn when...
"Twilight, wait!" Mario said as he held a hoof to stop Twilight in front of her.
"Huh?" Twilight said in shock.
Cerberus was now laying on his back, panting happily and letting his hind-legs positioned in the air. Fluttershy and Winter Breeze had moved in to rub his belly.
"Who's the cute widdle three-headed dog?" Fluttershy cooed as Twilight, Mario, Comet, and Daylight walk to the two Pegasi with smiles that they had the situation handled.
"Wow, I knew you were good with animals, but this is amazing!" Twilight said.
"What are you talking about? She tamed a manticore and disciplined a dragon that was the size of a building." Mario told her. "How does that surprise you?"
"Ugh! What I meant to say is it's great that you and Winter were able to handle the situation, Fluttershy." Twilight said with a groan.
"Aww, he's just a big furry guy who got out of his yard, that's all." Fluttershy said as she and Winter Breeze continued to scratch his belly. "Right, Cerberus? Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?"
Pinkie Pie was still screaming as she gallops past them, not before Djali stops her by biting her tail and pulled her next to Rose Lotus.
"The situation is handled, Mom. You can stop screaming." Rose Lotus said.
"Oh, okay." Pinkie Pie said as she happily hops along.
"Okay, so how do we send him back to Tartarus?" Storm Hawk asks with a ponder.
Twilight thinks for a minute before getting an idea.
"Pinkie!" Twilight called out.
"Yes, Twilight?" Pinkie Pie answered.
"Do you have a ball I can borrow?" Twilight asked.
"I have balls stashed all over Ponyville." Pinkie Pie told her as she rushed over to a nearly hole in a tree, stuck her fore-hoof inside and pulled out a yellow-blue striped ball.
Twilight then used her horn to collect the ball and hovered it before Cerberus, making him pant excitedly. Pinkie Pie, Spike, Mario, and the 6 foals watched with interest.
"Come on, Mario!" Twilight said before she started to lead Cerberus away. "We'll be back as soon as we've returned him to the gates of Tartarus. Once he's back home, there'll be no disaster!"
As the two travel off, Pinkie Pie, Spike, and the 6 foals smile at each other that they have the situation handled.
The next day at sunrise int he Golden Oak Library, a rooster crow wakes Spike, Comet, and Daylight up in their bed as they sat up with a yawn and stretch.
"I wish Twilight and Mario would go on epic adventures more often." Spike said with content. "Best night's sleep I've had in weeks."
"You can say that again." Comet agrees as he and his sister approaches him. "Best sleep we have all day."
"So, what were you two dreaming about?" Spike asks as he stretches again, but earned a sad look on their faces. "Oh, sorry."
"We just miss them, even our families in Italy." Daylight told him. "And along with Mom, our grandparents, Uncle Shining, Princess Cadence, and you were there with us, looking at the sites in our old homeland."
"What kind?" Spike asks curiously.
Before Comet and Daylight could answer, the front door is heard opening and closing, down in the reading room, Twilight and Mario walks in with their bodies covered in mud.
"Hey, Twilight, Mario, how'd it go with Cerberus?" Spike asks.
"Great." Twilight replied. "We got him back before any evil creatures could escape."
"Except it did want to play fetch for a while before letting us leave, then kick some dirt on us when he finally decided to bury the ball." Mario explains when Spike, Comet, and Daylight chuckled.
However, Spike begins to retch, and his cheeks bulge out which quickly into a blast of fire that solidifies into a scroll, bounces hard off of Twilight's face. She then felt something on her face as she rushes over to a mirror.
"Oh no!" Twilight said.
"What's wrong?" Mario asks when he, Comet, and Daylight follows her.
"What's the big deal?" Spike said, opened the scroll. "It's just a 'lost dog' flyer. I guess the Princess hasn't heard we found Cerberus yet."
"I'm sure she'll find out that Mom and Mario took care of it soon." Comet said while Twilight just stares at the mirror with her jaw hanging open a bit.
"It's not that, it's this!" Twilight told them, showing a paper cut under her left eye.
"A paper cut?" Spike said in a deadpan look while Twilight looked rather worried. "Come on, Twilight, you really need to toughen up. Just clean it out and you'll be fine."
Spike just walked away as Twilight looked in a state of panic.
"Be nice, Spike!" Mario said sternly. "Even paper cuts can sting a lot when you first get them!"
"Never mind that!" Twilight snapped, looked at herself in the mirror. "Look where it is! The cut is in the exact same spot as the scar of Future Twilight's cheek! We haven't change the future at all! The disaster is still coming!"
"What?!" Mario exclaims in shock, realizing she's right which Comet and Daylight are confused, wondering what she means.
Later after Twilight and Mario cleaned themselves off all of the mud and given her children an explanation, she was pacing around the room trying to think about the future disaster that coming for her. Mario, Spike, Comet, and Daylight just watched her and always stayed parallel to each other.
"If the disaster wasn't caused by Cerberus getting loose, then what could it possibly be?" Twilight questions.
"I don't know." Mario said, but sighed. "If only we heard everything of what Future Twilight is trying to tell us."
"I said I was sorry!" Twilight retorted. "Do you want a smack on the head?"
"Hey, I know you're worried, but I won't let you take the frustration on me! I'm just trying to help!" Mario said sternly when Twilight sighed.
"I'm sorry, Mario." Twilight said. "I didn't mean to lash out at you. I just wish I knew what the disaster was."
"I dunno." Spike said, laughed. "But maybe you ought to give the pacing a rest. You've worn a groove into the floor!"
It's revealed that Twilight has worn out a groove on the library floor in a circular motion as it went deep as her knees. Though, they've got more important things to worry about as Twilight continued pacing in a circle.
"We don't have time for another one of your lectures, Spike!" Twilight said.
"This is serious!" Mario adds sternly.
"My lectures?" Spike asks indignantly.
SMACK!"
"Ow!" Spike yelped as he rubbed his head in pain after Mario smacked him from behind.
"We did everything I could think of the change the future, but it didn't work." Twilight said.
"I don't know, Mom. Time traveling can be strange at times, but also has its downside." Daylight points out. "What can you do?"
"That's it! Daylight, you just gave me the idea!" Twilight said to her daughter. "Maybe it's not what we do...Maybe it's what we don't do!"
Twilight then teleports into the middle of the library which confused Spike, Mario, Comet, and Daylight.
"Huh?" Spike said, scratching his head.
"Say what now?" Mario adds.
"What are you saying?" Comet inquires, raising his eyebrow.
"If I stand here and don't move a muscle until next Tuesday, I can't possibly do whatever it is that Future Twilight wanted to warn me not to do!" Twilight answered.
Twilight then made a rigid face as Mario, Comet, and Daylight just looked at her blankly.
"Twilight, you are really starting to be a little funny at the moment." Mario said bluntly.
"And we can tell you three ways how that's not going to work." Comet adds. "1) You'll eventually starve or getting thirsty. 2) You'll get another groove in the floor and numb your hooves. 3) You'll eventually have to sleep."
"But you can try, which you'll realize that standing in one place isn't going to work." Daylight told her.
Twilight just glares at her children while Spike got a mischievous look on his face.
"Really? So...no matter what happens, you're not gonna move a muscle, huh?" Spike said, walking up Twilight. "Then, maybe you won't mind if I..."
Spike darts away and returns with a tub of ice cream.
"...Eat an entire tub of ice cream!" Spike finished his sentence.
Twilight's eyes swivel back in his direction for a split second, then aim themselves straight ahead again as Spike starts to dig in. Sweat trickles down Twilight's frozen face as Spike holds his spoon tauntingly out toward her, but Comet uses his magic to levitate the spoon and a tub of ice cream away from him while Daylight whacks him in the head with the spine of the book.
"Cut it out, Spike!" Daylight and Comet said in annoyance.
"You're going to be sick for a week if you ate the entire thing!" Mario adds sternly.
"Sick, huh? That's Future Spike's problem." Spike said with a chuckle, but Daylight whacked him again in the head when Rainbow Dash enters the room.
"Hey, Twilight, Mario, another Pegasus just got back from Baltimare with an all clear and-"
Rainbow Dash then sees the situation with Daylight levitating the book and Comet puts the ice cream back in the fridge, starts laughing.
"What's going on? Aren't you going to stop them?" Rainbow Dash asked, hovered over to Twilight which she's just looks uncomfortable and held her breath.
"She isn't." Comet answered, walked towards to his godmother. "She said she's not going to move until next Tuesday. She thinks that if she doesn't do anything, then the disaster won't happen."
"Oh, this is too rich!" Rainbow Dash said with a laugh, but gasp. "Hey, Twilight! There's a mouse right behind you!"
Twilight flinches in place, her bottom lip caught in her teeth, and Rainbow Dash and Spike have a good belly laugh over this prank, making her and Mario very annoyed. Comet and Daylight simply just stares to see what happens as they know that their mother can't stand in a place like that.
"Wait, wait, wait, let me try!" Spike said, got an idea as he grabs the quill off of a desk.
Spike tickles every part of Twilight's body he can reach with the quill, causing her cheeks to bulge with suppressed laughter for several seconds. When she has had more than enough of this tickle-torture idiocy, she magically slings him into the wall back first, which knocks a flaming belch out of him that rockets toward her head and caused her to get hit. When Spike gets up from his fall to the wall and looks at her, along with Rainbow Dash, Comet, Daylight, and Mario when their eyes pop wide open at what they're seeing.
"Oh no!" Rainbow Dash groans fearfully.
"What happened?" Twilight asked in a deadpan tone.
"I'm so, so sorry." Spike apologized nervously. "I didn't mean to! It was a total accident!"
"Show me!" Twilight said sternly.
"Uhhhh...I'm not so sure that's such a-"
"Show me!" Twilight demanded.
Realizing there's no way out of it, Spike picks up a hand mirror and carries it to her which shows that Twilight's mane has been burned and cut the same way that her future self that made it view like it was spiky like a mohawk.
"Oh no!" Twilight exclaimed. "This is the same mane cut as Future Twilight!"
"Y'know...It really doesn't look that bad." Rainbow Dash said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.
"Spike, what did you do to her?!" Mario shouts angrily as he, Comet, and Daylight turned to Spike, who looked at them fearfully. "You could've hurt Twilight!"
"Just let it go! We've got bigger problems to worry about!" Twilight retorted. "It's just another sign that the future hasn't changed! Not doing anything didn't work either! Oh, I wish there was a way to know what was going to happen so I could stop it!"
Spike could only ponder for a second, thought of an idea.
"You wanna see the future?" Spike said. "I might know somepony who can help!"
Mario, Comet, and Daylight felt very annoyed, knew what Spike is planning and already knew exactly who.
Outside of Ponyville, Spike leads Twilight, Mario, Comet, and Daylight to a deep purple tent trimmed in gold, with an awning flap extended over the entrance. A steaming cauldron, a lit candle, and a sign board depicting a crystal ball, star, and horseshoe are set up on either side of the place.
"What's this?" Twilight asks curiously.
"It's Madame Pinkie's place." Spike answered.
"Madame Pinkie?" Twilight repeats.
"Since when was Pinkie a fortune teller?" Comet inquires. "Rose does the fortune telling, despite her as a gypsy."
"Eh, I don't know, it we know Pinkie, she can do anything." Spike said with a shrug.
"You can't be serious." Mario groaned. "I'm staying out here. Fortune Telling makes me very uncomfortable. Besides, one time the old group from Canterlot actually got me to try it out for fun, causes me to smack them right in the head with the frying pan."
"Yeah, I'm staying out of this." Daylight agrees while Comet nods.
"Suit yourself." Spike said as he went inside, followed by Twilight.
Pinkie Pie's voice is heard from within, doing an exaggerated gypsy/fortune teller impression.
"Come...Enter the Chamber of Madame Pinkie Pie...For the answers you seek, let us consult the mystical orb of fates destiny..." Pinkie pie said.
Twilight and Spike then sit in front the said Pinkie Pie as she had the table set up with a crystal ball. Pinkie Pie was wearing a jeweled purple turban covering most of her mane and a purple scarf with gold fringe is seen wrapped around her neck. She then changes back to her normal voice once the two took their seats on some cushions.
"Do you like my mystical orb of fates destiny? I just got it." Pinkie Pie said with a smile. "Cool, huh?"
"Yeah uh...best one I've seen." Twilight answered sheepishly.
"Look deep into the crystal ball...for soon it will reveal all!" Pinkie Pie said in a spooky tone. "Ah yes, I see something...It is a vision of the future...I see...you, Twilight."
Twilight was intrigued by this.
"You will get a really cool birthday present next year..." Pinkie Pie told her.
"Yes, and?!" Twilight said anxiously and excitedly as Spike smiled.
"That's it." Pinkie Pie answered plainly as she leaned against the back of her chest with her fore-hooves behind her head.
"Are you sure?" Twilight inquires.
"Yep." Pinkie Pie answered. "Cool birthday present."
"Pinkie, I need your Pinkie Sense to tell me what the impending disaster is that my future self was trying to warn me about!" Twilight snapped.
"Oh, my fortune telling has nothing to do with my Pinkie Sense, silly." Pinkie Pie points out. "It's only good for vague and immediate events."
Then, Pinkie Pie's tail jitters so hard that she's lifted off of her cushion for a moment. A flowerpot was falling and it landed on Twilight's head.
"Like that, see?" Pinkie Pie said, pondered. "Where did that even come from?"
"Pinkie, you better not be up to your total randomness again!" The voice of Mario shouts. "Because if you are, you'll know what will come at you too! And that goes for you too, Spike!"
Pinkie Pie and Spike cringed at Mario's angry voice from outside as she chuckled nervously.
"I think Madame Pinkie is renouncing her retirement!" Pinkie Pie said sheepishly.
Many few days later, Pinkie Pie is seen hopping happily towards the Golden Oak Library as she hasn't seen her friends or her godson in some time. Rose Lotus stayed at the Sugarcube Corner to help the Cakes for babysitting the twins.
"Lalalalalalala, lalala...Gosh, I haven't seen Twilight since the flowerpot incident." Pinkie Pie said to herself. "Hope she still isn't mad. Not to mention Mario being so angry."
That last part made Pinkie Pie nervously shudder. But soon as Pinkie Pie arrives inside of the library, she stops in her tracks baffled by what she sees next in the room. Huge telescopes have been set up at the windows, other pieces of equipment stand around the floor, and notes and graphs are stacked, displayed, or scattered across nearly every square inch of remaining space in the room.
Twilight now has a white bandage on her head and bags under her eyes as she darts quickly to a telescope and rushes all around the room. Mario, Comet, and Daylight, meanwhile, sits calmly in the corner of the room while Spike tries to stuff himself with ice cream which the two ponies preventing that from happening.
"Off by point zero two from yesterday." Twilight said, then check the cart, and marked her notes down in a book. "Carry the fifteen...Negative Azimuth on the 14th moon..."
"Hey, Pinkie." Spike said when he noticed her in the middle of the mess.
"Twilight's really serious about finding out about that cool birthday present, isn't she?" Pinkie Pie asked, watches Twilight run around the room from one telescope to the next and eventually to the graphs occasion.
"I think she has more problems than that to deal with, Pinkie." Mario told her bluntly.
"She barely has any sleep since few days, and she's getting worse." Daylight adds.
"Who care?" Spike said dismissively, pouts. "And I would have the ice cream...if Comet and Daylight hadn't whacked me in the head or put them back in the fridge..."
"Are you okay?" Pinkie Pie asks, leans over at Twilight.
"Ah, Pinkie, I'm glad you're here." Twilight said, pushes Pinkie Pie up to another telescope in the room. "Can you help me recalibrate the apertures on the nine-and quarter catadioptric telescopes?"
"Sure!" Pinkie Pie replied, though has no clue what Twilight was talking about.
"So, I was thinking, after I came to see Madame Pinkie and the flowerpot landed on my head, see the bandage?" Twilight explains, walked over to another telescope while showing to prove her point. "Just like the bandage from the future."
"Nice!" Pinkie Pie said.
"And yet, another sign that our efforts to prevent a horrible disaster have been for nothing." Mario said in irritation.
"I had an epiphany after the flowerpot hit my head. But Mario is the only one not effected to anything because he's fine with everything." Twilight continued before she added the last part with jealousy. "Doing things didn't work, not doing things didn't work, and I couldn't predict the future either, so I only had one choice. Monitor everything."
Twilight gets up in Pinkie Pie's face with her eyes enlarged as her pupils shrank, making the red veins on her eyes as well as making her look slightly insane.
Mario just smacked himself in the face in annoyance while both Comet and Daylight shook their heads.
"Makes sense to me." Pinkie Pie replied with a nervous grin since Twilight was sticking her face to hers.
"That way no matter what happens in the future, I'll be ready." Twilight said, rushed to another telescope as her eye moves wildly from the top lenses. "I thought I saw something in the Horseland Nebula, but after staring at it for three straight hours, I realized I was wrong!"
Mario, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Comet, and Daylight just exchanged worried looks.
"Three hours? But when did you sleep?" Pinkie Pie asks. "And has Mario, Comet, and Daylight been here the whole time?"
"We brought sleeping bags and set it up on the basement." Comet answered. "We've been staying out of it few days ago."
"I didn't sleep." Twilight answered with a crazed smile. "I haven't slept since Future Twilight was here. There are only three days left until next Tuesday, I can sleep all I want after that!"
"Oh boy." Mario and Comet said in disdain.
"You've been awake too long, Twilight." Spike told her bluntly.
"And Tuesday is tomorrow." Daylight points out when Twilight looked at her daughter in shock.
"Huh?! How is it possible?!" Twilight exclaimed.
"You haven't slept for like 5 days and we've been trying to get you to stop, but you didn't." Comet answered.
Twilight gasps from that as she teleports up to the telescope where Pinkie Pie was and looks through.
"Pinkie, did you finish recalibrating the apertures on the nine-and-quarter-inch catadioptric telescope?" Twilight questioned.
"I have no idea." Pinkie Pie answered with a smile.
Twilight continues to look through the telescope and both Comet and Daylight gets worried.
"Mom, I wouldn't look at the sun if I were..."
But it was too late when Twilight accidentally looked directly at the sun, causing her to immediately jerks back from the telescope and covers her right eye in pain.
"Ah! My eye!" Twilight yelped in pain.
"Twilight/Mom!" Mario, Comet, and Daylight shouts, rushed over to her.
Pinkie Pie then rushes over to the library's fireplace and pulls out an eyepatch.
"Don't worry, Twilight, I have eyepatches stashed all over Ponyville, in case of eye patch emergency." Pinkie Pie said, zips to her and ties the eyepatch in place, and darts away again. "There! Now you look like a pirate! A sleepy pirate, with a really weird mane cut."
Mario, Comet, and Daylight glares as Pinkie Pie pulled over a mirror, causing Twilight to gasp.
"The eyepatch...another sign! Nearly all the signs have come true!" Twilight said, rushed over to her notes. "We haven't done a thing to prevent the catastrophe!"
Both Comet and Daylight are getting worried, until it got them to realize something as they look closely at her, before realizing something. Twilight was the one causing what's happening to her.
"Um, Mom? Actually, we're thinking that there's no catastrophe." Comet told her as Twilight runs up to him in shock.
"What?! How can you say that after my future self-warned us about the disaster?!" Twilight yelled when Daylight uses her magic, pulling her away from Comet.
"Mom, think about it. Did she ever say that there's going to be a disaster?" Daylight questions when Twilight thinks for a minute before going wide-eyed.
"No she didn't." Twilight answered. "But was she tried to warn us about something?"
"Maybe it's because she ends up the same state as you." Comet points out. "I mean, paper cut from your cheek, burnt mane, and burned eye. You're doing it the same thing at the future you."
Mario begins to realize what both Comet and Daylight is telling her, which it begins to make sense.
"Well, then that means I can still stop me from becoming like that, and I know just how I can do it." Twilight said when Comet and Daylight raises their eyebrows.
"What are you planning?" Comet asks when he and his sister aren't liking where this is going.
"I need to...STOP TIME!" Twilight said, causing her kids to face-hoof.
Twilight then head towards the train station to buy some tickets to Canterlot as Mario walk towards Comet and Daylight.
"Don't worry, kids, I'm sure Twilight will find out the hard way. There's no trying to stop her once her mind is set." Mario assures them. "I'll go with your mother and keep an eye on her, okay?"
Though, it doesn't help Comet and Daylight, but gives him a nod with an understanding.
It's now nighttime in Canterlot as Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Spike, and Mario now had on black bodysuits as they got off a train and went to the city.
"Okay, the Canterlot Archives are right over there." Twilight informed them quietly. "Let's move!"
Twilight tiptoes ahead sneakily, causing Mario to roll his eyes since she's being overdramatic as he, Pinkie Pie, and Spike continue to just walk.
At the royal garden, Twilight then peeks her head out from the stone fixture before somersaulting over to a tree and charged ahead. They just continue to follow her.
"Uhh...I don't think we need to sneak around, Twilight." Spike points out. "It's not illegal to walk around Canterlot."
Mario agreed to that statement, but Twilight just ignore it.
"Guard!" Twilight warns quietly.
Twilight then leaps up onto a pedestal to strike a pose next to the unicorn statue, which both Mario and Spike looked rather annoyed.
"C'mon you guys!" Twilight called them.
Pinkie Pie does a quick, pirouette and freezes in mid-spin, as Spike does the same.
A guard then walk past the implausible new statuary without even batting an eye. After he's moved on with his patrol, all three relax and Twilight lets out a breath.
"That was close." Twilight said, but noticed one member is missing. "Hey, where's Mario?"
"Up here." Mario called, clung onto a tree branch high up onto a tree.
"You were on that tree branch? How?" Twilight asks when Mario landed next to her.
"Years practice." Mario answered as they continued to venture forward a bit.
"I dunno why we have to wear these things, either." Spike said in irritation, tugged his own bodysuit.
"Aren't we wearing them for fun?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"No, there is nothing fun about this!" Twilight retorted.
"Oh...Are you sure?" Pinkie Pie asks again.
"Focus, guys!" Twilight snapped in a hushed tone and stamping her fore-hoof. "The only way to prevent the disaster is to stop time! Time spells are kept in the Starswirl the Bearded Wing, the most secure section of the archives. That's why were sneaking around."
Twilight the pointed toward a tall tower that had a sun weathervane on top of it as well as two more unicorn guards standing at the entrance.
"Awesome! That sounds like fun!" Pinkie Pie said with smile.
"No, it's not fun!" Twilight said sternly, walks away.
"Aww." Pinkie Pie said sadly.
Twilight dives into a bush and rushes ahead from it as the other three stroll unhurriedly along the path. In her haste, she gets a piece of her suit caught and ripped away on a protruding bush.
"I still don't understand how sneaking into the archives is gonna help her find out about her birthday present." Pinkie Pie told them, but Mario can only rolled his eyes in annoyance.
Twilight then goes up to a window and opens it to peek inside to see if anypony was walking inside of the palace and she looks thoroughly to both sides to see that the coast was clear.
"The coast is clear." Twilight informed them. "Now slowly lift me into the window so we can-"
A couple of hooves then just simply push Twilight inside of the palace as the others simply jump inside normally and walk past her on the floor.
"Let's get this over with." Spike said with a dismissive sigh as Twilight just looked rather indignant when Mario helped her back on her hooves as she wobbled a bit before she clutched onto him.
They both stared at each other for a moment before they looked away with sheepish smiles on their faces with a blush as well before they continued on.
In a dimly lit spot just around the corner, Twilight plasters herself against the wall and risks a peek. A circle of light makes it way toward her and she pulls her back, now joined by Pinkie Pie, Mario, and Spike. A guard on patrol uses his horn to cast a flashlight beam, but he cuts if off an instant before it can reach them.
All four hurry and behind a pair of stationary guards and when the scoop falls off Spike's cone, he stops and slurps up most of it in one quick move. His bliss only last long enough for Twilight to gallop back and drag him ahead by a fold of his suit.
Now the two ponies hang on the uppermost sections of the banners on two adjacent support columns while Mario was actually hiding right in the shadows to avoid being seen. A passing guard sees neither of them and just misses Spike when he peeks out from a third banner. Mario jumped into the clearing as Twilight and Pinkie Pie slide down to the ground level, but Spike drops like a cinderblock.
Twilight was now hunched down to the ground sneakily walking.
"Okay, if my calculations are correct, the Starswirl the Bearded wing should be right...here." Twilight said in a hushed tone as she reached a closed door and open the window.
However, both Mario and Spike gives Twilight an unconvinced look.
"Um, Twilight?" Spike called her.
"What is it, Spike?" Twilight inquires.
"Isn't this where we came in?" Spike questions.
Spike points to the window that's indeed the same way they came inside in the first place which surprises Twilight before she starts pacing. Pinkie Pie then appears from the window.
"Cool! Can we climb in the window again?" Pinkie Pie asked excitedly. "That was super fun!"
"I don't understand." Twilight said. "It's supposed to be right here...How are we supposed to find it now?"
"If only you could see what's right in front of you." Mario said sarcastically which Twilight is confused.
"He means Starswirl the Bearded wing. Right there." Pinkie Pie told her, points at the locked gate directly across them.
"Huh, how'd I miss that?" Twilight asked as Mario face-hoofs and shakes his head.
Twilight, Mario, Pinkie Pie, and Spike then takes a look at the archives.
"Look at all those magic priceless scrolls." Twilight said with amazement. "There are more than I imagined!"
"Twilight, the guard!" Pinkie Pie called her as they look at the silhouette approaching them which caused them to get worried.
"What do we do, what do we do?!" Twilight exclaimed.
Twilight hits the deck just before a set of grey-armored hooves advances along the carpet. They stop right in front of her shaking, huddled form, and Twilight can do nothing but uncover her eye and look up into the guard's solid face. The guard stares her down impassively for a long second, then breaks into a smile.
"Hey Twilight, Mario, haven't seen you two in a while. Let me open it for ya."
He does so with his magic as Twilight gets to her hooves. Mario laughs a little at that before he and the other two head inside.
"Thanks." Twilight thanked him with a nervous chuckle.
"I figured you two would be a couple someday."
Mario and Twilight blushed and smiled sheepishly as the guard walked away. Then, they rolled their eyes and headed inside the wing, getting ahead of Pinkie Pie and Spike. Twilight then notices something and immediately rushes to a mirror.
"Oh no!" Twilight said as she and Mario stopped moving.
"Oof/Ooh!" Spike and Pinkie Pie grunts when they bumped into Twilight and Mario from behind.
"Look, I look just like Future Twilight..." Twilight said in horror. "The last sign came true!"
"Twilight!" Mario called her, earned her attention. "Like Comet and Daylight said, the disaster isn't supposed to happen."
"What?! Are you crazy?!" Twilight exclaims. "My future self was warning me about something!"
"Twilight! Will you listen to me for a second?!" Mario yelled, finally had enough. "Look at yourself once again! Don't you notice one thing?"
Twilight takes a look in the mirror, but notices nothing of what Mario meant.
"Uh...no." Twilight said.
"You look just like your future self, and doesn't anything else ring a bell to you. Like how everything we have tried to do in order to prevent what you thought was going to happen, did happen?" Mario questions. "Or the fact that nopony is surprised to even see you here in Canterlot?"
Twilight then thinks about what Mario just said before going wide-eyed and looking back at him.
"You mean..."
"Yes, I think that all of this was meant to happen in the first place. There's no disaster or catastrophe." Mario explains. "You've been too worried about what we thought was going to happen and...it all went just as it all was suppose to happen. That's why you look exactly like your future self."
Just as Mario says that, the sun rises and shines inside of the archives as it's officially Tuesday morning. Spike walks up to both of them.
"He's right, Twilight." Spike agrees. I don't see any disasters. Looks like a pretty nice day."
Princess Celestia then walks past each of them while also greeting them.
"Good morning, Twilight, Mario." Princess Celestia greets them. "Love your new hairstyle. Well, happy Tuesday!"
"See? Nothing bad was going to happen at all." Mario said.
"So wait, I've just been frantic over nothing?!" Twilight exclaims.
"Pretty much." Mario answered.
"But wait, if your future self weren't warning about you about a disaster, then what was she trying to tell you?" Spike inquires, removing the hood from his head as Twilight giggled.
"I don't know." Twilight said. "But I do know one thing, I look ridiculous."
It got Mario, Spike, and Pinkie Pie laughed.
"Yeah, you do." Spike said.
"You may look a little silly, but I still think you look beautiful." Mario adds when Twilight giggled.
"Well, you either need glasses or you're just being sweet, and this all happened because I couldn't stop worrying about the future and let the future self handle itself." Twilight said. "Well, not anymore! I'm gonna solve problems as they come, and stop worrying about every little thing!"
"That's great!" Spike said. "Does that mean there won't be any more late night pacing?"
"No more late night pacing." Twilight replied, then pointed at the giant sun dial. "If only I had learned this lesson a week ago, we wouldn't have had to got through all this."
"Twilight, Twilight, I found something!" Pinkie Pie said, appeared from one side of the room with her hoodie off and holding the scroll she found. "It doesn't stop time, but it lets you go back in time. It says you can go back once, and it only lasts a few moments. Does that help?"
"Pinkie, you're a genius!" Twilight said with a smile, hearing the information and looking at the scroll as Pinkie Pie cheered and happily hops up and down from that. "Now I can go back and tell my past self and past Mario that they doesn't need to go berserk with worry about a disaster that's never gonna come!"
"Do you want me to come with you?" Mario offers.
"I can manage alone, Mario." Twilight replied.
Twilight took a few steps forward and concentrated her magic so she can use the spell to return to the past. Pinkie Pie, Mario, and Spike watch in slight shock as Twilight uses the spell and eventually she end up back to the past as the same situation happens once again and she rushed up to her past self.
"Twilight, you've got to listen to me!" Twilight said, leaving the past Mario confused.
"Who are you?" Past Twilight asked. "I mean, you're me, but I'm me too. How can there be two me's? It's not scientifically possible. You are not scientifically possible."
Past Twilight walked behind the look alike and then poked her to emphasize her point. Past Mario rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Twilight, you said you read that book I gave you about parallel universe." Past Mario said. "Maybe's..."
"I'm no an alternate version!" Twilight snapped before glaring at her past self in the room and put a fore-hoof on her shoulder. "Twilight, I have a very important message from you from the future!"
"You're from the future?!" Past Mario and Past Twilight exclaimed.
"That's right, now listen..."
"What happened to you?" Past Twilight interrupted with a question. "The future must be awful!"
"Did we get together and then have a fallout that's so bad, you went into depression and a life on the streets? Or did Lord Garmadon finally took over Equestria?" Mario asks in confusion.
"No!" Twilight snapped with a glare as Past Mario sighed with relief. "Please! I don't have much time!"
"Is there some sort of epic pony war in the distant future or something?" Past Twilight asked with a fore-hoof on her chin.
"If that's true, then old age was really good to you." Past Mario said. "You look so young!"
"Thanks, Mario, but actually, I'm from next Tuesday morning, but that's not important right now!" Twilight said, leaving Past Mario shocked.
"I can't believe that time travel is really possible!" Past Twilight said excitedly. "How did you, I mean, I figure it out?"
"The time spells in the Canterlot archives." Twilight answered. "But that's not-"
"Really? Where? I've never seen them!" Past Twilight interrupted.
"Twilight, please, we need to hear the-"
Past Mario tried to get Past Twilight to be quiet so she can speak.
"They're in the Starswirl the Bearded Wing." Twilight answered. "Now, you have to listen to-"
"Is time traveling fun, or does it hurt?" Past Twilight interrupts again. "I have so many questions-"
Past Twilight was cut off when her present self shoved a fore-hoof to her mouth.
"Quit talking and let your future self tell us the message!" Past Mario said firmly.
Twilight was soon covered in white energy, started to speak louder.
"I have something extremely important to tell you about the future, and I only have a few seconds, so you've got to listen!" Twilight said. "Whatever you do, don't-"
POOF!
Soon enough, Twilight ended up back in the archives.
"-Waste your time...worrying...about..."
Twilight soon realized that she's back to the present with Mario, Pinkie Pie, and Spike as she face-hoofed herself.
"UGH! I can't believe I just did that!" Twilight said in frustration.
"Did you tell her about the cool birthday present?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"Remember last week when future Twilight came to warn me and Mario about something?" Twilight counters with a question. "That was me trying to warn myself not to worry so much! Now I am gonna spend the next week freaking out a disaster that doesn't even exist! Ugh!"
Twilight raised both her fore-hooves in the air and groaned loudly as she sat down with a sad and frustrated look on her face. Mario slowly approached her.
"Twilight-"
"And you!" Twilight snapped, turning her attention to Mario angrily. "You're supposed to be my voice of reason and you don't see any problem with that! What's got into you? I don't even know why you didn't tell me sooner that me going back was a bad idea!"
Mario looked rather upset as he glared at Twilight.
"Do you have any idea how worried I was for you? You made Comet and Daylight worried as well, Twilight!" Mario said angrily, then softly glares. "The moment you nearly lost your mind was because I was afraid something really bad was going to happen to you and I don't know what would become of you. After Comet and Daylight figure it out, I thought I would try to stop you. But...I decided not to, and try to reason with you by getting you to learn the hard way."
Twilight softened as she heard Mario speak, especially when he looks at her with a serious, yet calm look.
"Comet and Daylight need you, Twilight. They need a mother, and they're worried about you. And...I need you." Mario continued, sighed. "I just hated seeing all the unfortunate incidents happen to you. Part of me was that I didn't stop this madness because I never wanted to be a part of it, but I was desperate to protect you and the other was to make sure you're going to be okay."
Twilight just smiled as she nuzzled Mario under his chin and let him embrace her.
"You won't." Twilight said. "I should've figured this would affected my children and you. You suffered a bad anxiety as much as I do, and I didn't realize how much I forget about Comet and Daylight."
"We have a lot in common, Twilight. Not in strengths, but in weaknesses." Mario points out. "Normally, I would've seen the reason, but I kept fearing the worst about Lord Garmadon's plan. When that times comes, I have to ready for a fight."
"I know, but with our friends, we can learn to overcome it." Twilight said, kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you for looking out for me. I really do appreciate the fact you went your way taking care of my foals and made me realize what I'm missing."
Mario smiled as Pinkie Pie approached them.
"And I wouldn't worry about the time travel future." Pinkie Pie said. "It's past Twilight and past Mario's problem now."
"Huh, I guess you're right." Twilight said with a giggle as the three ponies laughed.
Then, Spike drew their attention by letting out a loud groan.
"Ohhh...my stomach..." Spike said as his stomach gurgled, laid on his back on the floor. "I, I think it's all that ice cream...I thought the stomach ache would be future Spike's problem, but now I am Future Spike. Oh..."
Mario just smirked as Pinkie Pie and Twilight giggled each other.
"Come on, Future Spike." Twilight said, using her magic to put Spike onto her back. "Let's get you home."
They took one last look at the sundial before making their exit and getting on the next train home for Ponyville. Mario and Twilight sat on the same cushion together as Pinkie Pie and Spike sat across them. Mario wrapped a fore-hoof around Twilight as she rested her head on his shoulder as they closed their eyes to relax. By the time they'd arrive back to Ponyville, Pinkie Pie and Spike found that Mario and Twilight had fallen asleep holding each other. Pinkie Pie had to get the cart for the both of them to their own homes so they can rest.
Over the past few days, Twilight and Mario are now well-rested since the lack of sleep finally got to her. Mario is right now spending his time with his niece after spending some time with Twilight. Spike is doing his chores after he made a full recovery thanks to the medicine that Zecora made. Twilight spends her time with her children while taking a long days off since she got a chance to relax a bit.
However, Twilight felt like she started to think about Mario more and for some reason...she felt lovesick and really want to spend his days with him. She did get a chance to spend some time with Comet and Daylight while try her best to be the mother for them, giving them some love and support.
Twilight began to sigh, turns to her kids.
"Comet? Daylight?" Twilight called them, earned their attention. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you."
"What is it?" Comet asks.
"Is something wrong, Mom?" Daylight adds.
"It's just for some reason...I've been thinking about Mario lately and I don't know why." Twilight told them with a sad look. "I've been thinking about him more and I can't focus anything else."
It got both Comet and Daylight shocked at that, never knew that their mother is thinking about Mario.
"When did this happen?" Comet inquires as Twilight recompose yourself.
"In the past few years and before you and your sister came into my life." Twilight explains. "I just...find myself about Mario more and more these days. Sometimes I can't concentrate on my studies. I always feel this happiness whenever he's here. Lately, just the thought of him makes me feel like bouncing around like Pinkie Pie! And ever since Hearts and Hooves Day, I just wanna be close to him and cuddle. I never used to be like that around him and he never did since he got over his crush on me when we were your age! Sure his hugs were nice and all, but I never wanted them to last forever. Then all this stuff about worrying about the future happened and he tells me that he idea of losing me terrifies him and how much I'm really missed of being the mother to the point you two needed me. And it made me realize...I don't think I can be happy without him! Just the idea of him being gone forever...just...just..."
Twilight couldn't speak as her crying overtook her. Comet and Daylight just hugged her for comfort until Twilight had settled down. Both Comet and Daylight now knows why their mother is like this.
"Mom, we have a pretty good idea why." Comet said. "You're in love with Mario."
Twilight then froze and her eyes widened once again. Her body began to tremble and she started to breathe heavily.
"Mom, what's wrong?" Daylight asks with worry. "We're glad you loved him. Then, you're starting to scare us!"
"It's happening!" Twilight said frantically. "It's happened! The one thing that terrified me the most has happened! Mario...finally did it!"
Twilight continued to tremble as her tears continued to stream down to her cheeks.
"Mom, please! Calm down!" Comet said, tries to comfort her. "Things happen and...we're happy for you that you love Mario."
Twilight then turns to her children.
"Y-You were?" Twilight asks, sniffled.
"Yes, and it's wonderful. Love can be strange at times, but it's still a wonderful thing." Daylight told her. "And I know Mario feels the same way about you as well."
Comet and Daylight took a few steps back with a smile while looking at their mother.
Comet and Daylight (Sings):
There's a calm surrender
To the rush of day
When the heat of a rolling wind
Can be turned away
An enchanted moment
And it sees us through
It's enough for this restless warrior
Just to be with you
And can you feel the love tonight?
It is where we are
It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer
That we got this far
And can you feel the love tonight
How it's laid to rest?
It's enough to make kings and vagabonds
Believe the very best
Twilight then wipes the tears off her cheeks, but notice the spirits of the wolves from behind her children. Then, the wolves turned themselves into Comet and Daylight's late biological parents, Chris and Mary, who smiled at Twilight. She was shocked and surprised as they nodded at her while embracing their children, which it got Comet and Daylight's attention as their eyes began to feel in tears with a smile, hugging them. Twilight then smiled as she sings, approaching her kids.
Twilight (Sings):
There's a time for everyone
If we only learn
That the twisting kaleidoscope
Move us all in turn
There's a rhyme and reason
To the wild outdoors
When the heart of this star-crossed voyager
Beats in time with yours
And can you feel the love tonight?
It is where we are
It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer
That we got this far
Both Comet and Daylight turns to their mother, who hugged her foals.
Twilight, Comet, and Daylight (Sings):
And can you feel the love tonight
How it's laid to rest?
It's enough to make kings and vagabonds
Believe the very best
It's enough to make kings and vagabonds
Believe the very best
And as the just ends, Chris and Mary then turns back into wolves when Twilight turns to them.
"I promise, I'll become the best mother they could ask for." Twilight told them with a smile. "And...I'll take care of them better and not overworking myself."
It was enough for Chris and Mary to be convinced as they gave a nod one last time, then vanished. Twilight then starts given her foals a heartwarming hug.
'I promise I'll look out for them...And I will...tell Mario that...I'm in love with him...' Twilight mentally thought.
That's it for the 24th chapter.