My Little Pony: Through Space and Time

by Magic Step

Spoonful of Sugar

The two Rarites, the two Pinkie Pies, and Spike remained in the throne room.

"Can I leave?" Diane Pie asked. "I have... a life."

"Hmm," said Princess Rarity. "I don't know... what's the rush, at any rate? Your show is over."

"I have to... do stuff, ya know?" said Diane Pie.

Princess Rarity raised an eyebrow. "'Stuff'? You have to do 'stuff'? Really, darling? Isn't that some sort of... code word?"

Diane Pie half-growled, half-shrieked. "Okay! I have to take my absolutely necessary life-saving medicine and you're keeping me from it! Let me through!"

"No, Diane!" said Princess Rarity. "I won't let you! Ever since you started taking that... foul concoction, you haven't been the same! I've had enough! Your past self reminded me how much fun you used to be, how light-hearted and kind, and I. Want. You. Back." She lowered her head and glared at Diane Pie.

Diane Pie lowered her head and glared right back. "If you don't let me take my medicine, Equestria will perish in fire and brimstone!" she declared.

After a pause, Princess Rarity said, "I think I'm willing to take that chance."

Diane Pie screamed, and all the stained glass windows in the throne room shattered. All the tapestries burst into flame. Thorny black plants broke through the floor tiles.

"O-Okay!" said Princess Rarity, starting back. "Calm down, Diane! Please!"

"I'm not fine!" Diane Pie shouted. "Nothing is fine!"

The sun went out.

Nopony could see anything and there was general panic, but Pinkie Pie could still tell where Diane Pie was. So, unfazed, she trotted after her future self. Diane Pie was obviously trying to be quiet.

After they'd left the castle, the sun came back on, but by then there were no guards to see them. Diane Pie broke into a full gallop, not that this hindered Pinkie Pie in the slightest. Once Pinkie Pie set her sights on following a pony, she always caught it. She initiated 'Pursuit' and made it to Diane Pie's house before she did.

Diane Pie pulled open the medicine cabinet and took out a black bottle. It looked frighteningly familiar to Pinkie Pie. She could just make out the label: Doctor Diabo Losexma China's Depressant and Suppressant.

"What do you think you're doing?" Pinkie cried, leaping from behind the sofa.

Diane Pie jumped. "I... it's... it's my medicine," she said lamely.

"What are you doing with that black garbage? Don't you remember what happened to you last time? Do you want to go back to those horrible days on the rock farm? What would your parents say if they-"

"My parents?" said Diane Pie. "Don't talk to me about parents! My parents are the reason this whole mess got started! You know why? Because they decided they wanted a kid, that's why! Never mind what I thought about the matter! This! Is! Their! Stupid! Fault!" She punctuated the last sentence by smashing the black bottle against the wall, which then regrew in time for her to smash it again.

Pinkie Pie stared at her for a moment. "How much?"

"I'm up to half a glass," said Diane Pie.

"Wha-at? How can you live like this? Don't you remember how things used to be? Don't you want to smile again?"

Diane Pie turned away and started pouring the thick, black, syrupy liquid into a small glass. She didn't answer the question until she'd licked the glass clean. Then she put the bottle back and collapsed on a nearby couch.

"You think everything's just wonderful, don't you?" she said. "Your world is happy and bright and cheery. Never a bad day... at least nothing permanently horrible... you just go on your merry way, smiling and laughing, poking holes in the fabric of reality like there's no tomorrow. Wait until you grow up and things start falling through those holes. And are lost forever. Then you'll understand." Tears appeared in Diane Pie's eyes. "That's why... I have... to do this. That's why... I live like this." She started crying in earnest. "I hate my life. I hate it, hate it, hate it. And I can't fix it... I can't escape... that black stuff digs me into a deeper hole of depression every day, but I need it. It keeps me sane. It stops me from plunging off a cliff into madness and dragging the whole planet with me. I hate it. But I need it..." she turned aside and mashed her face into the arm of the couch, sobbing.

Pinkie Pie hesitated, then reached out a hoof and rubbed her future self's shoulder. There seemed to be nothing to say at that moment.

Diane Pie seized both of Pinkie Pie's hooves. "Pinkie... if I had to... tell you one thing, to try and fix your timeline..." She brushed a few tears from her eyes. "Don't ever grow up. Stay your young, perky, fun-loving juvenile self forever. Stay a child. Whatever you do... don't ever grow up." She pulled Pinkie Pie into a hug.

"Aw..." said Pinkie Pie. "I'm sorry I made such a fuss..."

"It's okay..." said Diane Pie. "You didn't understand..." she paused. "Would you like... to see... what happened?"

"O-Okay," said Pinkie Pie.

"Go ahead," said Diane Pie, bowing her head. "I'm ready."

They paused for a moment.

"You may begin," said Diane Pie.

"Begin what?" said Pinkie Pie.

Diane lifted her head and blinked. "Don't you know how to 'Initiate and Enter Flashback'?"

"Noooo!"

"Didn't Starswirl teach you?"

"Nope!"

"Oh, well..." Diane Pie leapt off the couch. "But that's terribly important! You need to know how to 'Initiate and Enter Flashback'! Here, I'll show you!"

Pinkie Pie smiled. "Okie Dokie Lokie!"