Ch. 2 - Starting From Scratch
"Hi!" Twilight greeted, jumping right in front of a stallion. “You wouldn't happened to have seen a pinkish-purple unicorn flying around, would you?"
"Uhhh..." The stallion tilted his head in utter confusion.
"Purple mane, light blue streak running through it? She’s using magic to levitate herself.”
“N-no, I-I don't think I've seen her; s-sorry miss,” he replied, before frantically flying off.
Twilight had spent the past 45 minutes interrogating nearly every pony in southern Cloudsdale, trying to get a lead on where Starlight may have went, but she'd ultimately gotten nowhere.
“Twilight, I don’t think we’re gonna find her at this point,” Spike stated, still seated atop Twilight’s rump.
The alicorn landed on the street, sighing. “You’re right, Spike. Starlight's probably figured out some brilliant hiding spot for now. If we're gonna find her we'll need a different approach.”
Spike glanced at the pavement. “Maybe we ought'a think at home before I almost fall to my death again,” Spike suggested.
Twilight froze as her eyes widened. “Spike, there's just one problem with that... Our home doesn’t exist yet.”
The full depth of their situation was finally registering. She and Spike were stranded 11 years in the past, with no money, and no place to stay. Both simply sat there, processing everything.
A minute later, they were brought back to reality by an eager young voice.
“Heyuh, yhou dhropped vhis!”
Turing around, Twilight saw a gray filly with a yellow-blonde mane, and more importantly, Spike’s blue backpack that Starlight had teleported to herself to get at the time-scroll. Twilight levitated the backpack over to Spike, who promptly put it back on.
“I saw it fall through the clouds, and I’ve been trying to find you ever since so I could give it back!” the filly beamed.
“Aw, that's so sweet of you!” Twilight replied, smiling.
“You’re welcome! I'm Derpy Hooves!” she announced, holding out her hoof.
Twilight froze up. She realized this was the filly who would grow up to be her regular mail-mare. It was a little unnerving to know that everypony she and Spike had talked to so far would be considerably older if this was the present.
“N-nice to meet you, Derpy, I-I’m...Twilight Sparkle,” she responded, shaking the hoof uneasily.
“Anyways, I gotta get back to flight camp. See ya!” the filly said, before flying off.
Twilight gave a small, awkward wave, before turning to look at Spike. “Well, we got the backpack,” she stated dryly.
“Like that solves anything,” Spike sarcastically responded.
Twilight tapped her hoof to her chin. “Hmm... Maybe we could try talking to Princess Celestia; I’m sure if I explain everything she’ll be willing to help us.”
“And if telling her you’re from the future destroys the timeline?” Spike pointed out.
Twilight bit her lip. “Well…”
“Plus if she listens to you she’d probably listen to any lies Starlight might tell her. So unless you're ready to spend the next 1000 years in Celestia’s garden or Tartarus…”
Twilight groaned. “Okay, okay, you made your point; Celestia's too big of a risk. But first thing’s first: we need a place to stay."
"And we have no money..."
"I think we both know there's only one place for two ponies like us.”
“To Ponyville we go!” Spike declared, pointing ahead.
It was early afternoon by the time Twilight and Spike reached Ponyville. Heading into town, Twilight noticed that it felt somewhat sleepier than she was used to, not to mention smaller. Many houses were missing, several buildings looked much fresher, and significantly less ponies were out and about.
“Ponyville sure was smaller back in the day,” Spike commented, walking along side Twilight.
“Mm-hmm,” she replied.
Even more different than the buildings, were the ponies, as many the two recognized were younger, some even foals. There were even some elderly who clearly weren't around in the future. Overall, the town felt surreal, especially since many ponies stopped and stared at the sight of an alicorn and dragon walking around.
Eventually, two arrived at white archway, with a sign proudly displaying the carved words of “Sweet Apple Acres” upon it. Not surprisingly, the farm looked almost no different than it did on the other side of the 11-year gap.
Twilight walked up to the main entrance door to the farmhouse. The top was open, letting in the warm summer breeze.
“Hello? Is anypony home?” she asked, staring into the seemingly empty living-room.
“I hear ya, just hold yer reins fer a minute there!” came the unmistakable voice of Granny Smith.
A few seconds after, the elderly mare walked into the living-room from the kitchen. She looked fair bit younger than Twilight had always known. “What can I do fer ya?” she asked, stopping before the door. Looking at Twilight square in the face, she squinted and rubbed a hoof on her chin. “Now wait jus’ a darn minute; I don't recall seein' ya'll before. Yous must be new ‘round these parts!”
“Oh!” Twilight froze as she was momentarily taken by surprise. Taking brief moment to collect her thoughts, she responded, “Um, my name’s Twilight Sparkle, and this-” Twilight wrapped a foreleg around Spike’s neck and squeezed him against her “-is my little brother Spike.”
He waved.
“Well howdy-do then! I’m Maria Smith; most ponies jus’ call me ‘Granny’ though. Now what brings ya'll ‘round here?”
Twilight thought for a moment, trying to formulate a story that could at least be half-true. “W-Well, Spike and I used to share an apartment in Canterlot, but this past week, we...kind of ended up homeless. One of my friends is an Apple though, and she recommended I come see you all in Ponyville to find a place to stay.”
“Eh, which Apple was this?” Granny asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Uhh... We...called her Apple Jam.”
Granny paused, continuing to stare at Twilight. “I guess my memory’s just goin’ bad. Come right on in!” she announced, opening the bottom of the door.
They walked in and sat down on the couch while Granny walked back to the kitchen. A couple of minutes later, she exited and sat next to Twilight.
“Wish I coulda made another apple pie fer y’all. Normally like ta have one ready fer house guests.”
“Don’t worry about it; you seem like you’ve had your hooves rather full,” Twilight replied.
“Oh that don’t make up fer anythin’ though!” Granny maintained.
The front door swung open and Little Mac walked into the room, looking quite exhausted.
“I – got the – garden watered, an' the – animals fed, but if I keep goin', ...my legs are gonna fall off faster than the leaves on a zap apple tree!” he panted, walking over to one of the chairs and dropping into it. His voice, while still deep enough to be instantly recognizable, was a few octaves higher than in the future. The same couldn't be said for how he looked, though. His frame was far smaller and lankier, and the poor colt looked as though he was gonna pass out from only half a day's work.
“Woah, he sure changed!” Spike whispered to Twilight. She nodded slightly in response.
“Little Mac,” Granny said, getting the colt’s attention. “This here is Miss Twilight an’ –” she looked down at Spike, “– eh, what’d ya say yer name was again?”
“Spike,” he replied.
“– and Spike.” She continued, “They’re gonna be stayin’ with us fer a little while ‘till they get back on their hooves.”
Little Mac groaned slightly as he rolled his eyes.
“Miss Apple,” Twilight began, turning to Granny, “if it isn’t too much of a problem, me and Spike could help out around the house while we stay here. I imagine Bi– err –your grandson would appreciate it.”
Mac's eyes lit up slightly.
“Thanks for asking me if I–” Spike got cut off by a sharp jab in the side from Twilight.
“Oh I wouldn’t wanna inconvenience ya any,” she replied, waving a hoof. “Little Mac an’ I have got it taken care of, right Mac?”
The colt's mood fell back down like a rock. He reluctantly nodded, before hopping off the couch to head upstairs.
“You sure? Because if you need help with anything at all, I’m here,” Twilight insisted.
“I appreciate yer offer, but I’m assurin’ ya, we got it all corralled. An’ Mac’s jus’ upset that his parents an’ sisters ain’t around anymore.”
“Her name’s Applejack, right?”
Granny nodded. “Yep. She’s in Manehattan right now. An’ the youngest is Apple Bloom: she's bein’ babysat by one 'o her cousins.”
Bored with the conversation, Spike hopped off the couch and followed Mac upstairs. Peering into his bedroom's doorway, he spotted Little Mac lying on the bed. Spike stepped in further and Mac sat up.
“Need somethin’?” the colt asked.
Spike shrugged. “Not really. Just wondering what you do for fun.”
Mac relaxed a little bit. “Oh, well, me an’ my sister do all sorts of stuff t’gether! We race each other, hoof wrestle, toss horse-shoes, go swimmin’, square dance, an'..." He paused. "...Well, we did do all that. She’s in Manehattan now,” he snorted, crossing his forelegs. “So, what’s a dragon an’ alicorn doin’ in Ponyville anyway?” he asked.
“Oh me and Twi used to share an apartment in Canterlot.”
“Canterlot? So ya friends with the Princess or somethin’?”
“Well I have used her as my personal transportation before!” Spike declared, proudly putting his fists on his hips and puffing out his chest.
“Ya what?”
“Well, it was only for a minute, and she was the one who set me on her back...” His proud demeanor deflated.
“Huh. So Twilight yer mother or somethin’?” Mac asked, cocking his head.
Spike scratched the back of his head. “Eh...Sorta. She was the one who hatched and kinda raised me, but I always call her mom ‘Mom’, so Twilight’s more like my big sister...it’s weird.”
“Family’s family. That’s all that matters.”
“So...wanna do anything?”
Mac raised an eyebrow. “Huh? Ya mean, just do somethin’? Fer fun?”
“Sure! I mean, you and– err, uhh... –I mean, I had a friend like you back home I did stuff with all the time!”
A small but happy grin was starting to creep across Mac’s face. “So what do ya wanna do?”
“Well, I happen to know of a little game full of vast, unconquered lands, vicious beats, and hoards of treasures, all ready for two mighty explorers to conquer!” Spike stated, clenching his fist and pulling it downwards, while he took a grand step forward.
Mac’s eyes were wide with amazement. “That sounds amazin’! How do we play?”
Spike sat down on the bed next to Mac, and put his arm around Mac’s neck. “Come young apprentice, as I introduce you to the fantastical world of Ogres & Oubliettes!”
“Diinneer!” Granny shouted.
The colt and dragon walked into the kitchen laughing about their fictional adventure.
“You two seem like you became friends pretty quick!” Twilight noted.
Spike was about to reply, but was interrupted by Little Mac.
“No kiddin’! Spike’s the best friend I’ve ever had! Well, ‘cept fer winnin’ four hoof-wrestlin’ rounds in a row!” Mac gave a small glare at Spike.
Spike just smiled smugly at Mac in return. "Hey, you were the one who wanted to challenge the tavern owner on those prices!"
“Well I’m glad you two hit it off so well!” Twilight said.
“And thank you fer offerin’ a helpin’ hoof...and I guess a horn an’ a wing too with makin’ dinner!” Granny chuckled to Twilight.
The four sat down at the table. Granny and Twilight's meal consisted of a green-bean casserole, a side of fresh salad, baked potatoes, and buttered biscuits.
Little Mac gulped down his soda and belched loudly, then turned to Spike with a smug smirk and one eyebrow raised. Spike responded by gulping down his own glass of soda, which he followed with a large burp of his own. It sent a plume of fire across the table however, engulfing a stray butterfly that had flown inside. All that was left after the fire dissipated, was a tiny stream of ash floating down.
“Oops.”
Granny looked up and noticed the ashes. “Well that’s one way ta get rid of those darn moths.”
Mac wrapped a foreleg around Spike. “Guess I know who ta call if I ever need ta light a fire! You jus’ keep gettin’ better an’ better!”
“Just don’t let him hold something you aren’t prepared to lose,” Twilight snarked.
Spike chuckled nervously as Mac looked over at him with a sly grin.
Twilight proceeded to take her first bite, her eyes lighting up as soon as the food reached her mouth. “This casserole is great!” she exclaimed.
“I know!” Mac excitedly replied, losing some of it through his words. “It’s– ...one of Applejack’s favorite dishes.” The colt's spirits fell.
“Mac,” Granny began, “ya know Applejack left 'cause she felt she needed ta find her own path. That was her decision ta make.”
“But how can she jus’ leave like that?!” he yelled, slamming his hoof on the table. “She always liked helpin’ out ‘round the farm, then she jus’ wants ta leave right after Mom an’ Dad get killed!?”
Twilight coughed on her food slightly as she looked up at the two. “Killed?”
Mac looked over at her. “Timberwolves. Granny kept sayin’ they’d be around fer the zap apple harvest anytime, but Mom an’ Dad jus’ went on that walk anyway!”
Twilight paused. Applejack hadn’t spoken much of her parents, and even more so the circumstances of their death. “O-oh. I’m so sorry; Apple Jam told me it was sudden, but...I didn’t think it was that sudden.”
Mac sighed. “Granny said we’d get through it t’gether, an’ then Applejack ju’s goes an’ leaves, sayin’ she’ll be better off in some big fancy city? It makes less sense than an' apple on an' orange tree! I know Applejack, this just ain't like her!”
“Now, Mac...” Granny began.
“Actually,” Twilight interrupted, “I think it does make sense.”
Everyone looked at her.
“Mac, you said Applejack liked helping out around the farm, right?”
“Yeah. She an’ I would always be out helpin’ Mom an’ Dad any way we could.”
“That might just be it.”
“Huh? Whadd’ya mean?” Mac asked.
“You two always did farm work with your parents, but now that they’re gone, it’s probably hard for her to do that without constantly being reminded of them. It’s just a natural part of grief for some ponies; feeling like everything’s reminding you they’re gone.”
“I guess yer right, it’s been hard fer me too. But I never felt like leavin’ though.”
“Everypony takes it differently. Besides, it’s pretty normal for a pony to make rather bold decisions when they’re going through pain.”
“I wish ya could’ve said all that ta Applejack before she left,” Mac sighed, slumping in his chair.
A lightbulb went off in Twilight’s head.
“Actually,” she began, “what if I did say that to Applejack?”
Mac curiously looked up at Twilight. “Huh?”
“What I mean is, what if I had a talk with Applejack about all of this?”
“An’ how are ya plannin’ on doin’ that?” Granny asked. “I don’t think she’s just gonna listen ta some random stranger. 'Specially one all the way here in Ponyville.”
Twilight paused. Sure it would be hard for Applejack to listen to a stranger, but she also knew Applejack well; putting her at ease wouldn't too difficult. If this worked, she could potentially give Applejack the push she'd need to come home and earn her cutie-mark - putting a part of history back on track.
“I think I should still try,” Twilight said. “If I go to Manehattan and sit down with her, face-to-face, she'd at least be focused enough to hear me out. The worst that could happen is she’ll stay there, which will probably happen if we don’t say anything.”
“Really? You’ll go all the way ta Manehattan ta talk ta her?” Mac asked, becoming excited.
“If it means making everypony happier, then yes.”
Mac beamed with joy at the thought of his sister returning.
“So, when are we gonna do this?” Spike asked.
“We’ll leave tomorrow,” Twilight replied.
“Thank ya, Miss Twilight,” Mac said.
Twilight smiled. “It’s the least I can do.”
“Well here's the guest,” Granny said, opening the door to a rather bare bedroom. "It probably ain't much compared to them fancy bedrooms in Canterlot, but it's a lot better than shiverin' out under the stars."
Twilight looked around. The only things she could see were a bed, a dresser, a nightstand, a small desk, a mirror, a window with curtains, and a rug. On the nightstand sat a lamp, a flashlight, and an old wind-up alarm clock.
“This is plenty,” Twilight said, walking in with Spike. "Thank you so much for letting us stay here."
“Oh it ain’t a problem,” Granny said.
“Have a good night!”
“And yerself.”
“Hey Spike!” Mac called into the room.
“Yeah?” Spike replied, turning around.
“If ya wanna do somethin’ before we go ta sleep, I’ll be up.”
“Sure; I’ll be over in a few! We can continue that Ogres & Oubliettes game if you want.”
“Sounds Great!”
Mac ran off and Granny pulled the door shut, leaving Twilight and Spike by themselves.
Spike tossed his backpack onto the desk, and Twilight, hearing the noise, turned around.
“Hey Spike, what did we put in that backpack anyways?” Twilight asked. “After this whole time-travel mess I've kind of forgotten.”
Spike unzipped the backpack and opened it somewhat wide. “Oh! It’s the slides from your presentation!” He pulled out the storage case, opened it, removed one slide, and held it up in the direction of the lit lamp. “This one looks like...I can’t tell,” he said.
Twilight took the slide in her aura and began examining it, squinting to try and make out the small, dark image. “It looks like...me and my mom? Spike, hand me that flashlight over there.”
He grabbed the flashlight and brought it over. Twilight turned it on and shined it through the slide, giving a slight projection onto the wall.
The resulting image was of a young Twilight, sitting next to her mother on the living-room couch. The Twilight in the photo looked to be in tears, trying to smile for the picture in spite of it.
Twilight’s face immediately grew concerned. “Spike, I don’t remember having this slide at all.”
“Neither do I.”
She narrowed her eyes. “It’s like Dad or Shining took the picture, trying to help me feel better or something." Her face twisted in even more confusion. "But how in Equestria did this get mixed in with my presentation slides without us ever noticing?”
“It...didn't,” Spike said, hesitantly. “I used every slide for the presentation – even that one of me on the beach.”
Twilight whipped her head around. “There was a slide of you on the beach?”
“Y– Yeah...I-I put it in by mistake.” He began rummaging through the backpack to find it.
Twilight groaned. "Well, I did say I wanted to leave an impression on those students..."
“Hey Twi? What’s the date on that slide?” Spike asked, pausing.
"Uh." She held the slide closer and squinted, only for her eyes to snap wide open again. “...Today,” she uttered, uneasily.
“I think that used to be the slide of your acceptance letter to Celestia’s school.”
Twilight nodded slowly. “There was no rainboom to help me pass the exam today," she stated, a thousand yard stare in her eyes. "Which means I never got that acceptance letter..."
"And this photo was probably taken instead," Spike remarked, pointing to it.
She shifted her gaze to her little brother. "Spike, if those slides are changing, we’re in big trouble.”
“We are?” he asked, slinking down slightly.
Twilight stepped over to him, and grasped his body between her forehooves. “What I mean is, without being in Celestia’s school, I won’t become a princess, which is what ended up driving Starlight to take revenge on us!" She hopped into a hover. "Without Starlight trying to take revenge on us, we won’t end up traveling back in time, and if we don’t travel back in time, we’ll stop existing!” She wasn’t even looking at Spike anymore.
“Stop existing?!”
She pressed her nose against his. “Spike, we need to figure out how much time we have left!” She pulled her head away. “Get me the slide with the most recent date on it. Oh, and the two most recent dates after today’s.”
Spike saluted as Twilight let him go, only for him to scream as he fell like a rock to the floor – now several feet below them.
Twilight blinked and looked down. “Oops.”
“Next time, check if you’re doing your anxiety hovering before letting me go,” he muttered.
“Sorry!”
Spike got up and began shuffling through the slides. Once he had found each requested slide, he passed them to Twilight.
She first shined the flashlight through the most recent slide, revealing one of the graphics from her presentation. The next one was a picture of Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark, taken around eight years ago. The third depicted a young and cutie-markless Twilight riding on her mother’s back while water-skiing.
“Well, at least two of them are fine,” Spike commented.
“But that also means the future is still changing, just slowly," Twilight reminded, "and we still might not be safe from its effects. We’ve only been here a few hours, and this water-skiing photo – which must’ve originally been the one of my cute-ceañera – already changed.”
“So how long do we have until everything catches up?”
Twilight tapped her hoof to her chin. “...I’m not sure yet. I’ll have to keep an eye on the slides to see when the next one changes.” Taking a deep breath and sighing, Twilight looked down, the fate of Equestria’s literal future resting on Spike and herself.
“So...so we just try and fix the future, right?” Spike asked, nervously.
“There’s no guarantee it’ll work, but yes, we have to at least try to fix things,”
“Like getting Applejack to come home?”
“Exactly. If we do things like that, we can hopefully correct the course of history enough for me and my friends to meet again." She yawned. "But right now, we should probably get some sleep; we’ve had a long day.”
Twilight pulled Spike into a hug and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Upon release, Spike started to head towards the door.
“I’m gonna go play some more O&O with Mac.”
“Don’t stay awake too late,” Twilight called out.
“And waste my last few nights of existence?”
Twilight’s eyebrows furrowed. “Spike, I said we’d only stop existing if we don’t-”
“C’mon Twi, relax; it’s just a joke.”
Twilight blinked. “Right… Well, goodnight Spike.”
“Night!”
Spike ran out of the room and shut the door. Twilight playfully shook her head and got ready for bed.
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Congrats! You get a like.
You have my attention.
Cool story
Interesting!
I was surprised that Twilight and Spike didn't stumble upon Bright Mac and Pear Butter at Sweet Apple Acres, but then again they might have distracted from the story's premise, possibly even stolen the show.
Them being alive would also have robbed the story of the similarities between Little Mac (and Applejack later on, I assume) and a younger Starlight. Not that I expect Twilight to notice them before a long time.
Speaking of noticing... in the previous chapter, Twilight being an alicorn makes filly Rainbow ecstatic and causes several pegasi to close in on her with questions about this very subject; soon into this chapter, she worries that her status as "an unknown alicorn walking around" will land her in Canterlot's dungeons if she as much as gets close to the city.
All of this disappears after they decide to go to Ponyville.
Yes, Granny Smith gets suspicious when a complete stranger shows up to Sweet Apple Acres, asking to stay over and mentioning a relative she doesn't remember to even exist. But it's never because Twilight is an alicorn.
Samewise, Little Mac isn't surprised at all to see his grandmother talking to an alicorn of all things when he walks in.
Granny Smith not batting an eyelid can be chalked up to having seen it all in her younger days, being thoroughly blasé at anything and everything the universe can throw at her or just plain grief over the death of her son and his wife. The last one could also explain why Little Mac doesn't care, but it's still odd to see something that seemed so important earlier in the story swept under the carpet.
True, I can't recall a time in the show itself where someone who never saw Twilight before commented on her being an alicorn—at least without "that means you're a princess" being the really important part—but as I just mentioned, it's not depicted as a meaningless detail here.
Letting it fade from memory could help a surprise or two later in the story, though. Word can travel far in five fours or so, especially when all the witnesses have wings, and Twilight and Spike's journey has just begun.
Twilight starting to think about her cover story only once she's talking to Granny Smith, even though she spent four hours and a half on a train just to get to Ponyville, on the other hand... It's salvageable as well, but you'd need to show why it never came to her mind during that train ride. Because as it is, not mentioning it doesn't come off as 'leaving subtext' but rather as skipping something genuinely necessary.
She certainly has enough things to worry about for it to slip her mind, though I'm not sure it's in-character for her for such distraction to last so long. There was Spike along with her as well, and he could have wondered the same and asked her about it.
Beyond those issues, I found the rest of the characterization faithful. Twilight and Spike are as obliging as I expect them to be, and that includes her little overruling jab when he spoke up about asking for his permission first.
I loved the bit about the slides from two different timelines merging together. Twilight and Spike wondering at first if this was caused by "chemical imbalance" is another nice nod towards her scientific knowledge as well as Spike's. He's lived with her his whole life. Just because he had difficulty with the word 'imperative' doesn't mean he learned nothing from being around her since he was born.
Moving on to another character, I disagree with Twilight's assessment of Celestia's reaction to "some lunatic who claims she’s from the future and is stuck here." Yes, she'll likely be swarmed by the royal guard as soon as one of them sees her. But Princess Twilight looks just a little too much like the culmination of all her plans, starting with Luna's rescue.
She's going to listen, whether she ends up believing Twilight is genuine or if she's false hope made flesh by one of her enemies.
There is one last thing I want to mention. I noticed this issue in the first chapter, but here, I feel that it's grown to an extent that's actually detrimental to the story. Possibly because it was spread across five thousands words rather than only one thousand.
The narration.
Most of the time, it just states what the characters are feeling, usually along with why they're feeling that way. The reasons are generally obvious from the context, making the explanation unnecessary then, and it comes back to the 'stating' matter when the reasoning could use some fleshing out.
For example;
can be shortened to
because the very sentence spoken by Twilight makes "at how cute the foal looked" redundant, and "Twilight said" is unnecessary because of the context, even before merging the two paragraphs together.
Another example;
Everything written after "he said in a depressed tone" is unnecessary, precisely because of this same context. Little Mac himself confided in Spike earlier in the story, and that's just the most recent instance.
The other half of the flaws I see in the narration is, as I mentioned, that the character's feelings and thoughts are just stated.
One example would be;
How does this "inner annoyance" translate into his face? What does this look, well, look like?
This line later in the story is better, for instance;
It's not much, but it's already better.
It could be improved, possibly by describing how jarring it felt to Twilight, busy as she was stuffing her face with Granny Smith's cooking, but this one is more a matter of writing style.
As much as I emphasize showing rather than telling, it's not automatically better. This line is entirely 'telly,' for instance;
and yet, there's nothing wrong with it. It's not redundant, it has nothing unnecessary. It's short and to the point. The simple "decided to comment" implies she took the time to think about doing so or not and the entire sentence works beautifully.
Despite my amount of criticism, I'm looking forward to the rest of this story. I may have my issues with the execution but the content is solid as far as I'm concerned. As I said previously, I like the premise and find the characterization faithful.
Huh???
9643762
Or they could obviously be DEAD
P-phone? Does this Equestria have phones? I guess I could see old timey phones — the new gen does have smart phones, so I guess. This just felt a bit out of place — specially when Twilight uses letters to the princess to communicate.
11465199
Look on the right side of the desk.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2019/11/16/2197913.png
(From "Rarity Takes Manehattan")
Additionally, in "Somepony to Watch Over Me", Applejack telling Scootaloo and Sweetie that "Rarity's on her way here to look after you two," directly implies that she had instantaneous communication with Rarity, while the two were not in the same location. Considering there would be no way for her to send "Spike-mail" for lack of a better term, this implies the existence of phones.
As for Twilight and Celestia, consider that as a princess, Celestia is quite busy. Thus, a letter is likely more convenient for her, as she can read it at any time. It saves her the issue of having to possibly step away from an important meeting to speak with Twilight, or play phone-tag should she have to just momentarily ignore Twilight.
Yeah she's probably long gone by now since we got distracted crafty Pony
Aww young Derpy so cute
Hate to break it to you but the timeline is already broken after Starlight stopped Rainbow Dash during the Sonic Rainboom
Little Mac
There's so many theories about what happened to Applejack's parents but it's still makes it sad that they're not around
Yeah the last time you tried to do something with Rainbow Dash did not go very well try to approach it gently
Oh no the time line has changed because she never got into Celestia school and Spike was never with her oh boy this is so like Back to the Future
this is so like Back to the Future Vibe here
Okay once again this is so like Back to the Future situation so after they couldn't find Starlight they need to find a place to stay in the meantime since their home doesn't exist yet and they only thing they can think of his Ponyville and they stopped at Sweet Apple Acres which Granny Smith gave them a home to stay and even Spike making friends with Big Mac or Little Mac at this time line since they are the same age kind of and when they're having dinner Twilight want to see if they can persuade Applejack to come home hopefully she will approach this a little bit better than last time but then they realize something that the timeline is changing and if they don't get everything back on line not only the timeline will change but the original timeline of Twilight and Spike would not exist anymore so they had to Race Against Time
Masha! Granny Masha!