Applejack and Twilight were sitting in the living room of Sweet Apple Acre's farm house. At first Twilight said their conversation could wait until the marketplace closed, but AJ insisted that she close up shop. A part of Twilight was sad that her friend was losing business on her account, but another part of her was quite touched by her friend's willingness to help. Upon arrival, after having been poured a cup of cider and given a spot on the couch, Twilight told her friend everything.

She started with the trip to the castle and finding Star Swirl's lost spells. As it turned out, AJ had already known about that. I suppose that part of the timeline is still in tact. I found and cast the spell and told my friends about it.

But Applejack's first question revealed that not everything was as Twilight recalled. "Are y'all sayin' that yer spell affected Dash? 'Cause the way I remember it, you said that Dash was too far away in Cloudsdale for the spell to have done somethin' to her."

Twilight was taken aback. This isn't the same story. When I went around town checking on my friends we ended up at Rainbow Dash's house. I guess in this future I stopped after finding AJ and Pinkie outside Sugar Cube Corner. A strange feeling came over her as she asked what probably seemed to be a silly question. "Applejack, did the five of us share a group hug after I talked to you?"

The orange mare was appropriately surprised. "Uh... I don't recall that happenin'. Why?"

Twilight's eyes and ears fell. "Oh. Just a thought. I remember things a bit differently." I guess in this version of events we didn't get to share that special moment together. She wasn't sure why, but this hurt Twilight a fair bit. That moment of reassurance. That hug. It signified to her the unique bond she shared with her friends. Knowing that this never happened was effecting her almost as much as no longer having Owlicious. I can't dwell on that now. I need to tell the rest of this to Applejack and find out how Rainbow became a Wonderbolt. So she continued her story. "The way the rest of that day went isn't that important. What matters is what happened that night."

Twilight recounted the trip to the events before the meteor shower. Preventing Spike from destroying her book. She explained that this was a trip to the past and that she awoke to find that she was a published writer. That got Applejack to stop her once more.

"Whoa there, hold on," AJ held up a hoof and seemed to be trying to find words. "Let me see if I'm hearin' y'all okay." She looked her friend dead in the eyes. "You're sayin' that things ain't the way they're supposed to be right now?"

Every muscle in Twilight's face and neck tensed up. This was, of course, the moment of truth and, by extension, the moment of her fears. Applejack was a level-headed pony, but it wasn't every day you discovered that someone changed history right out from under your hooves. However, who was to say that this was or was not the way that the universe was supposed to be.

There was no way Twilight could bring herself to try to argue that point.

With a mechanical nod, Twilight instead admitted her guilt. "Yes, I did. But it was an accident. I didn't know I was in the past until I'd already changed the future."

Applejack sighed. "Right. I guess I was the one who tried to convince y'all that spell was a dud. Shoulda known somepony like Star Swirl'd never make a bad spell." AJ thought about this for a few more seconds, then, "So you weren't gonna write any of those astronomy papers, but now you did. Did anythin' else change?"

Another nod from Twilight. "In my version of the past, I met a little owl that night and he became my pet. His name is-- well, was--" A pang of guilt went through Twilight at that correction. "His name was Owlicious and he became sort of my junior assistant."

AJ raised an eyebrow. "Owlicious? Really?"

Twilight glared at her friend for that. "Yes. And, furthermore, he was an amazing pet. His feathers could be used for quills. He was always neat and orderly. He helped me get my books when I couldn't find them and Spike wasn't around. Every now and then, he and Winona would go on play dates together. You once said he might be the sweetest owl in all of Equestria."

A look of awe had fallen on Applejack's face. "This is all real for you, ain't it? I mean, from your perspective this all really happened. And nopony but you knows about it because y'all were the pony who changed everythin'."

For some reason the idea of her memories about the past being somehow less real than everypony elses' hadn't occurred to her. The mare now realized that, in truth, her memories were false. She never had an owl as a pet. She did spend the last year as a published writer. Rainbow was a Wonderbolt. Any other interpretation of the past was inaccurate, and this all made sense to Twilight. At least, to the scientific and logical part of her mind.

"It probably sounds crazy, but I don't actually have any memory of Rainbow Dash becoming a Wonderbolt."

AJ blinked twice. "How did stoppin' Spike from burnin' a book make Rainbow a Wonderbolt?!"

Twilight shook her head. "That didn't happen that night. That happened last night." And Twilight relayed the next dream to her friend. She also explained that, in her past, Rainbow spent a week in the hospital recovering from a broken wing. She wished she could offer some sort of explanation for how not being in the hospital gave Rainbow the opportunity to join the 'Bolts. "Do you recall anything about that week? Anything that Rainbow did that could explain why she's living in Cloudsdale as a Wonderbolt instead of Ponyville as a weather pony?"

Applejack rested her chin on a hoof. "I don't remember that week off the top of my head. You'll need to ask Dash. I know you said I went to Pinkie's party for you savin' Rainbow, but, to be honest, Pinkie Pie has a lot of parties. I can't keep track of every one."

"True," Twilight nodded. "But, somehow and some way, without intending to, that change gave Rainbow Dash a chance to fulfill her dream." Twilight chuckled at that word. "It's exactly what the spell promised."

"What'cha mean by 'what the spell promised?'"

"The spell's last line is: 'Through my dreams I will shape my life to be a dream come true.' That's exactly what it's doing. It's given us a world where I'm an author and Rainbow Dash is a Wonderbolt. Isn't that amazing?" Now Twilight tensed slightly again. She was anxious about her friend's reply to that question. What will AJ think about me changing things like this? She must understand what it's like to want to change the past. But will she go and tell Princess Celestia about this?

In reply, Applejack exhaled deeply. "Woo wee! Twi', y'all've done a lot of things since you came to Ponyville. Us six have been through more in the last couple years than most ponies will go through in a lifetime. But this..." Applejack got up and walked over to the window, looking out across apple orchards and hills toward Celestia's sun. "This is a lot to take in. I don't know what ta think yet, and that's just the truth a' the matter. From ma perspective, nothin' changed. I don't remember you havin' an owl. I can't imagine Dash still bein' grounded here in Ponyville. That was my life both yesterday and today." AJ turned back to Twilight. "But I do believe ya. I have no doubt y'all changed all this from whatever once was."

"So, what are you going to do?" Twilight dared to ask the question because it had to be asked.

With a sigh, Applejack turned back to the window. The two were in silence for about half a minute as the orange mare collected herself and her thoughts. Then, "I don't know. I can't figure that out quick. I need time ta think for maself." AJ walked back over to the couch and sat down next to Twilight. "This is big. Real big. Bigger than me and bigger than you. If you was some random pony who found that spell I'd be right scared. Changin' history. It just ain't natural." Twilight's head dipped at the words, but Applejack gave her friend a hug. "But you ain't a random pony. And I trust you."

Returning the hug, Twilight asked about what she'd been most afraid of. "So you're not gonna tell Princess Celestia about this?"

Breaking apart, Applejack pondered that for a moment. "Not yet. I do think we'll wanna tell her eventually. Like I said, I need ta think this over. In the mean time, y'all gotta talk ta Dash."

"Do you think I should tell her that her past's been changed?"

"Don't ya think she's got a right ta know?" Applejack countered.

Twilight gave a light snort of a laugh at that. "I suppose she does."

Applejack smiled. "And you're gonna have to be the one ta tell 'er, 'cause I ain't got the time. Ta be frank, I gotta get back to the market before they close. Ya mean the world to me, Twi'. If I thought there was anythin' I could do ta help now, I'd do it lickity split. But I can't think a' nothin' and apples don't sell themselves."

"This has already been a lot of help." With that, Twilight got off the couch. "Thank you for talking with me, Applejack. You really are a great friend."

"No trouble at all, Twi."

Twilight thought about how much trouble this really was for Applejack, considering their walk and conversation would cost her well over an hour of peak hour sales. If only there was some way I could make it up to her. And then a strange thought occurred to Twilight. I suppose I could try to make it up to her... Turning back before the door, the purple alicorn asked, "AJ? Don't you have any parts of your life that you wish you could have done over again?"

The orange mare shook her head and gave a confident "nah" in reply.

"But surely there's something you regret? What about during my first applebuck season in Ponyville when you poisoned half the town with bad muffins."

AJ's cheeks flushed. "Ah, well, I might have a mite of regret about that. It's true. I am sorry that I got everypony sick. Maybe--" Applejack paused and thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No, I wouldn't wanna change it. That whole experience taught me a lot 'bout myself. I got to see how ma pride and stubbornness wasn't nearly as important as the rest of y'all. If I hadn't done that stuff then I'd never've learned ma lesson."

Twilight sighed. I guess AJ just doesn't think about the past like I do.

"It's not that I don't understand." AJ continued. "I get why y'all want ta change the past. It's just that I believe things happen for a reason. When I got back from Manehattan and earned my cutie mark I knew I was supposed to run Sweet Apple Acres. But even with these apples on ma flank, there were times I couldn't imagine running this here farm.

"One day, I was crying under a tree that I just couldn't buck. I'd been at it for probably fifteen minutes and not even one apple fell. I thought: How could I run a whole orchard if I can't buck just one tree? It had gotten me so upset. I was feelin' sorry for ma-self and I wondered if this was my destiny after all. When I finally was about to call it a day and give up Granny Smith saw me and put her arm around my shoulder. I tried to explain about the tree and my future and all that, but she just gave me a hug and I cried for a while more 'til she eventually said somethin' I'll never forget.

"She said, 'These things happen for a reason, deary. I know this is hard, but hard times should help us remember who we are, not make us question it. A pony doesn't get her cutie mark and then lose her destiny.' So I never fret the little things and I don't regret the past.

"Think of it like this: Do y'all remember that crazy cider makin' competition? Without that applebuck season I'd never see how letting ma friends help me was good. I might've turned y'all away when ya asked if y'all could help. Without your help, Flim 'n Flam would've never ruined their cider and we would've lost the farm."

Having seen first-hoof how cause and effect played out in her time travels Twilight knew that this was a real possibility. That particular choice of helping Applejack not mess up the muffins could actually cause more harm than good. I need to make sure I'm careful on my next trip. I don't want to make anypony else's lives miserable when I try to help them. "Thanks again, Applejack. I needed to hear that."

"Don't thank me," AJ said. "Thank Granny Smith. She's the wisest pony in Ponyville, even if she don't always seem to have it all together."

Twilight gave a smile at the thought of Granny Smith singing to watering cans in a bunny costume and gave a final nod to AJ as she left the house for Cloudsdale.

The flight to Cloudsdale was longer than Twilight remembered. Perhaps it was just because of the anticipation. She imagined that her body was producing some amount of adrenaline at the thought of talking to a Wonderbolt Rainbow Dash. That and her brain was working overtime to find out where she would time travel to next...

She wanted to help Applejack. Even if her friend didn't have any request about changing something, Twilight was convinced there was something she could do. Still, the mare's words of warning were important to her, so she knew she wouldn't be visiting the applebuck season episode. Perhaps there were other ways she could help AJ.

The pony usually seemed quite content about her life and rarely did wrong by anypony. The only thing she ever seemed troubled with was the success of her farm. That wasn't really a concern for her, but the incident with Flim and Flam was an indication that the Apple family could be doing better financially. If one bad cider season was enough to ruin the farm then surely they needed help. But how?

Let's see. There was that time the vampire fruit bats ate up all those trees. But that got resolved fairly peacefully. Flutterbat was more of a problem than the bats themselves. So that wasn't the solution. How else could she help her friend make some bits?

What about when AJ didn't win those blue ribbons? The idea seemed somewhat impractical. Because Twilight was in Ponyville when the rodeo took place it would burn most of her time in the past just traveling to Canterlot. The duration of the time spell was longer than the one from the Canterlot archives, but it wasn't unlimited. Besides, Twilight remembered something. She was gonna give that money to the mayor anyway. Changing the results of the rodeo wouldn't help her directly.

Twilight struggled to find something she could do in the past that would help AJ without the threat of negative consequences. She was just pondering how she might help Applejack through helping Apple Bloom when Cloudsdale appeared before her and Twilight realized that she had a more immediate problem to deal with.

She hadn't asked where Rainbow's house was.

Author's Notes:

So I basically ripped this out of the next chapter, which was going to be the end of the prior chapter. Basically I had too much stuff to write about, so I now am splitting this one chapter into three. This chapter turned out shorter than I felt when writing it because I ended up gutting about 50% of it. A hard choice for any writer, but sometimes it's better that way. We didn't really need to address Twilight and AJ's trip through town or have Twilight actually recount all of the events of her dreams. While I thought Twilight's own insights into her visits to the past were interesting I realized it also made the story repetitive.

Also, with how busy my life has been lately, I'm going to stop promising chapters in a timely fashion. They will come out as they come out. Hopefully that is quickly, but promising delivery in the near future will not change my present circumstances.

Finally, feel free to comment on anything. Good or bad. Reader comments help me to stay engaged in the story.