Lost Time

by bookplayer

First published 29th of December, 2015

When Rainbow tries to change the course of the zap apple harvest to keep her date with Applejack, she finds that ancient magic loves an ironic twist.

Rainbow Dash can’t wait for her first date with Applejack; they always have an awesome time hanging out, and a relationship just means there are even more physical activities they can try together. So when the dumb zap apple harvest postpones their date, she decides it’s the zap apples that are going to have to change their plans. Equestria should know by now that wild, ancient magic is no match for Rainbow Dash, especially when she might get laid.

Everything is going according to plan, until she crashes. Or, rather, until she wakes up after crashing and fifteen years have gone by. Fifteen years during which she seems to have been a very busy pony.

Now Rainbow Dash has to adjust to a life she never thought she wanted, and figure out if she’ll ever get to live the life that brought her here.

Update: Proofreading and formatting by RBDash47

Written for the AppleDash Group Contest prompts "Family" and "An Important or Memorable Date."
Cover art by SketchyJackie

Sooner or Later

There was a weird breeze blowing as Rainbow Dash banked to descend onto Sweet Apple Acres. It sent a shiver down her spine as she circled the farm. She flew low over the apple trees dotted with red fruit and the barnyard scattered with chickens, empty bushels, watering cans, and sacks of fertilizer before something different caught her eye: the scraggly zap apple trees had scraggly dark leaves today.

She headed in that direction, and sure enough there was Big Mac, hauling a cart heavy with stacks of bushels, while she found Applejack unloading a similar cart and placing the brown baskets around the bases of the crooked trunks.

Rainbow grinned and landed in the middle of the row. Applejack was turning away from a tree to get a new bushel, her careless ponytails just barely holding onto all that blonde mane and tail and the dust clinging to her damp, messy coat. Anypony who didn’t think AJ looked hot when she was working obviously wasn’t into mares—at least, not awesome mares. Applejack noticed her and smiled in return, but she didn’t pause on the way back to her cart.

“All ready for tonight?” Rainbow asked, using a hoof to casually smooth her mane.

“I’m glad ya came by, I was gonna send Apple Bloom with a note.” Applejack hoisted a bushel onto her back and headed to the next tree. “The timberwolves were howlin’ last night, so the zap apples are comin’ and I’m busy as a bee at a flower stall. I’m gonna have to reschedule.” She paused and looked up at the branches.

Rainbow’s face fell to an annoyed frown. “Come on, you can’t work all night!” She smiled again and trotted to where Applejack was carefully placing the bushel, then gave her a nudge with her shoulder. “You’ll need a break, and a date with Rainbow Dash is the most awesome way to relax!”

Applejack chuckled and shook her head as she turned to go back to the cart. “‘Rainbow Dash’ and ‘relaxin’’ ain’t exactly words I’d put together. Besides, I don’t wanna be dog-tired on our first date.”

“Planning on being pretty active, huh?” Rainbow smirked, leaning against the tree. A sharp shock from the bark jolted her standing again, and she glared at the thing.

“I’m plannin’ nothin’ of the sort.” Applejack smirked back. “We’re doin’ this to see how we like it, and if you can go three hours without drivin’ me crazy.”

“Three hours is easy! I bet I could go four and a half hours without driving you crazy!” Rainbow said, grinning as Applejack turned her back to get another basket. Rainbow Dash stuck a hoof out and moved the already-placed basket about a foot to the left.

“Prove it,” Applejack said over her shoulder.

“I will!” She eyed the basket she had moved, then silently snickered. “…Later. So if you can’t go out tonight, how about tomorrow?”

Applejack turned around and smiled at her, trotting to another tree with a basket on her back. “I’m gonna be busy all week, Dash. But I was thinkin’, if I work hard and everythin’ goes right, I could take off Saturday evenin’. That’d be the day before harvest, and there’ll be a meteor shower that night. It seems right nice for a date.”

“I was going to Canterlot Saturday night.” Rainbow frowned. “Sunday they’re doing fittings for flight suits for Wonderbolts reservists, and I wanted to be first in line.”

Applejack bumped the bushel to the ground. She turned to Rainbow and shrugged. “Then we’ll have to wait for next week. I’m gonna be neck-deep in zap apples ’til then.”

“You can’t be working the whole time!” Rainbow flapped into the air to cross her forehooves.

Applejack rolled her eyes. “I already told ya when I can catch a break, but you got Wonderbolts stuff.”

“This totally isn’t fair.” Rainbow waved a hoof. “You can’t ask me to choose between you and the Wonderbolts.”

“Who’s askin’ you to choose between that?” Applejack trotted over to Rainbow and laid a hoof on her foreleg. Rainbow slowly sank back to the ground. “It’s just a first date, sugarcube. Either we wait another week and you go to Canterlot Saturday, or we could go out Saturday night and you could fly out early Sunday for your fittin’.”

“Well, before I decide…” Rainbow smirked and looked Applejack over for the millionth time, taking in all her curvy muscles. “How many dates is it gonna be before we get to the good stuff? Is there a chance we’re making out on the first date, or do we need to get another date in before that?”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Well… I reckon we could make out on the first date.” She cocked her head to the side, considering. “Shouldn’t take more than a week to get a weddin’ together after that. Then, of course, you can’t rush foals, so it’ll probably be next winter before the first of those comes along.”

Rainbow’s eyes shot open wide. “Foals?! I don’t want to marry you or anything, I just wanna kiss you!”

“I just figured you’re in such a rush…” Applejack said with a shrug.

“Yeah, to date you.” Rainbow shook her head clear. “We’re both awesome ponies who like doing awesome stuff, and there’s even more awesome stuff we can do if we’re going out. I mean, maybe someday we can get married and have a foal… when we’re old and already did all the awesome stuff.” She shrugged. “And when we figure out how two mares are gonna have a foal.”

Applejack chuckled and nudged her with her shoulder. “I’m messin’ with ya. The rooster’s got a lotta crowin’ to do before we get to that stuff, if we even get there. First we gotta have a first date, and I reckon we’ll find out then if I wanna kiss you.”

“Well, I wanna find that out as soon as possible.” Rainbow smiled. Applejack’s athletic body being so close to her made her think right now was a good time.

“Then that’s Saturday night,” Applejack said, trotting back to the cart.

“But the Wonderbolts…” Rainbow sighed, watching her trot away.

“I guess you can’t have your cake and find out if you’re gonna kiss it, too.” Applejack smirked over her shoulder. “Sometimes you gotta make the tough choices.”

Rainbow wrinkled her muzzle. “I hate tough choices.”

Applejack shook her head. “This really ain’t all that tough. It’s gonna be good either way.”

“It’s going to be good either way, but if you could go out with me tomorrow it would be awesome both ways,” Rainbow pointed out.

“I think you’re underestimatin’ how awesome good stuff can be,” Applejack said, bumping a basket onto her back and bringing it to another tree.

“Whatever. I guess…” Rainbow sighed. “We’ll go out next week. It’ll look really good to the team if I’m first in line.”

Applejack smiled. “That sounds just fine.”

“But you’ll let me know if you have time before then?” Rainbow asked.

Applejack walked past her. “I sure will, but I wouldn’t hold your breath. Zap apples never hurried up for nopony before.” As she passed, she gave the basket near Rainbow a kick to the right, and raised an eyebrow at Rainbow.

Rainbow snickered for a moment. Then she took off, calling behind her, “I’ll see you later!”

As she flew over the gray zap apple trees, Rainbow frowned down at them. If it wasn’t for those trees, Rainbow would be going to get ready for an awesome date right now. A thought entered her head, the kind of great idea that she knew better than to tell anypony about because they always wasted a bunch of time telling her it wasn’t a great idea. Zap apples might not have hurried up for anypony before, but zap apples had never met Rainbow Dash. She adjusted her wings, caught an updraft, and headed in the direction of the Everfree Forest.

Over the Everfree, the clouds were churning in a slow, lazy circle a couple miles wide.

All weather had magic in it that pegasi could feel; normally it felt like pieces clicking together or snapping apart between the pony and the standard Cloudsdale weather components. As Rainbow Dash flew over the moving clouds she could feel the magic here shifting, changing shape, fighting against her own magic. She grinned. It reminded her of wrestling with the forces and magic just before a sonic rainboom, and winning that match always felt awesome.

Rule number one of the Ponyville Weather Patrol was “Do Not Mess With the Weather Over the Everfree.” Rule number two was “Especially Not the Zap Apple Weather.” There was a good reason for that. Weather magic was one part skill, one part physical prowess, and one part natural talent, and to try to mess with the untamed stuff a pegasus had better be sure they were on top of all three parts. While a lot of pegasi thought they could handle it, and even more of them would claim they could handle it, Cloudsdale knew better than to let them risk their tails with a wild magic thunderstorm.

But those pegasi had never mastered a sonic rainboom, and they didn’t have a wild storm keeping them from a date with Applejack.

Rainbow set her sights on one of the clouds and came in for a landing. As her hooves touched the surface it set off a crack of thunder, and a bolt of lightning shot down somewhere in the forest. Wind whipped her mane and tail as the cloud shifted and rolled beneath her until she set her jaw and willed the thing to stay in one shape. It still moved across the sky, but she was riding it comfortably… masterfully, even. She smirked out at the rest of the weather, ready to work some magic.

The magic had to follow some pattern, she figured. The zap apples came on schedule, controlled by the weather magic, so right now the weather was just slowly getting to where it would need to be in the next few days, to set off the zap apples.

But if that weather got there faster, the zap apples would come faster. Heck, even if it just got there a day faster Applejack would be free on Friday night and they could go out then.

Taking off from her cloud, she made another sweep over the rough, tumbling sea of vapor below. The magic pushed and pulled in every direction, but there seemed to be something spinning it around a center point. That was just what she was looking for.

Rainbow flew to the center, working to keep control in the rough winds and unexpected shifts in the drafts. Once she found the spot, she dove down through the clouds, and through the winds and occasional lightning bolt under them, aiming for a clearing in the trees.

As she landed, the floor of the Everfree Forest was darker than ever, and wind shook the trees and brush, casting constantly moving shadows and reedy moans. The clearing wasn’t very large, and the movement around the edges could have been either shaking trees or horrific monsters waiting to eat her, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t that worried. The space was big enough for what she needed, and she’d be out of here in a few seconds.

Before she took off again, she spread her wings, feeling for the magic in the wind. The tumbling currents slipped through and around her feathers and her magic. Closing her eyes, Rainbow cleared her mind like she was pushing the force cone for a rainboom, her face twisted in effort. Her magic clamped onto the magic in the wind, and she was ready.

Rainbow started slowly flying in large circles around the clearing. It wasn’t a clean circle, thanks to the wind whipping around her, so she picked up speed. Moving faster let her cut through the currents more easily, dragging the magic she had grabbed behind her with the wind attached.

As she got her bearings, she tightened the circle, until she almost had a small tornado formed in the Everfree Forest. At that point she started moving up to the level of the canopy—the last thing she needed was a wild magic tornado to charge off toward Ponyville. At the treeline she was out of that danger, but the winds around her got even rougher, forcing her to increase her speed again.

The magic she was holding trailed after her, gathering more as she flew. It was turning from a strong breeze into a powerful gust of wind. If she let go now, there was no doubt it would sweep over her like a wave, tossing her like a foal’s pail in the ocean. She grit her teeth and held onto it with all of the magic inside of her.

Finally, when she was sure the magic was strong enough to hold up against the huge pool of magic above her, she flew in a tight corkscrew toward the clouds in the middle. As she burst through them, the winds behind her caught on the magic in the storm and it started spinning faster and faster.

Safely above the clouds, she had left most of the magic below, so she released what she had left. A sharp wind hit her from behind, but she was moving fast enough to hold steady. She looked down to see the sky below spinning quickly, the clouds darkening and rolling, lit up by the occasional flash of lightning.

She reached up to wipe her brow with her hoof and grinned as she shifted direction to speed over the storm toward Ponyville. That was what pegasus magic could do. Unicorns thought they were all cool—oh look at me, I can float stuff around in my glowy magic—but how many of them could take the reins of a mass of magic and energy miles across? None of them. Okay, well, maybe Twilight could’ve, but that’s why they made her a princess. Pegasi didn’t need horns to give the magic of nature a flying kick to the—

A sudden downdraft took her by surprise, sending her off course by at least twenty yards, where she found herself in the middle of a shifting system. She fought to regain control but the pressure was all over the place.

She descended to try to catch some wind, and she did, but it was a powerful blast left over from her magic that shoved her down into the clouds. Storm clouds gave off shocks and shot lightning bolts toward the ground as she tumbled through them. She couldn’t see in this mess, and with the constantly shifting winds she wasn’t even sure what direction she was headed.

Rainbow Dash reached out through her wings for the magic of the wind, to steady her and give her speed, but it just seemed to rip at her feathers and slip away.

Her heart starting to beat faster, she aimed for what she was pretty sure was up, and flew with all her might. Wings beating like mad against the wild magic and powerful winds, she prayed to Celestia she was moving in a direction that would take her out into the open sky.

As she approached the top, she could faintly hear the caw of crows above the wind and see fluttering shadows through the clouds. Her wings caught more familiar, steady magic and drove her faster until she finally broke free.

But she didn’t come out the top of the clouds. For just a second, Sweet Apple Acres spread out like a map in front of her.

Then she slammed into it, and everything went black.

As Rainbow opened her eyes, she was confused about why the sky had turned green. She could feel the soft grass under her back, so she was pretty sure she should be looking at blue.

She blinked, revealing that it wasn’t the sky, it was some number of blurry green ponies. Another few blinks and she decided it was a single, less-blurry pony. A colt with a green face and a red and orange forelock.

“That looked bad, Mom. Are you okay? Does anything hurt?”

Rainbow shook her head, rolling over to stand up. Was ‘mom’ what the foals were calling older mares these days? That was totally uncool, she wasn’t that old. Her body was sore from the crash, but nothing seemed to be broken as she pulled herself to her hooves.

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Dash, you okay?” Applejack was trotting up fast, followed by a brown pegasus filly with an orange mane and tail streaming behind her. Somehow Applejack had ended up with a baby carrier with a little blue baby attached to her side. “I told you to be careful flyin’ during zap apple season, those storms’ll take you like a cat on a cricket.”

“Yeah, just a little banged up.” Rainbow tried her wings, flapping into the air. She looked around; she was surrounded by apple trees, so she was probably in the orchard at Sweet Apple Acres. But AJ hadn’t mentioned anypony else around. “Where’d all these kids come from?”

Applejack chuckled, nuzzling the baby’s green mane. “Sometimes it seems like they just wandered onto the farm, don’t it? But I kinda like ’em, so I guess they can stay.”

Rainbow tilted her head to the side, examining the kids. The colt seemed to be the oldest; he was about the age that Scootaloo and her friends were, but Rainbow had never seen him around. He was an earth pony, green with a mane streaked red, yellow, and orange, and no cutie mark yet. The brown filly seemed younger, and her orange mane was tied in a ponytail like AJ’s. She had freckles like AJ, too. Probably a relative, but Applejack had never mentioned being related to any pegasi. The little blue baby with the green mane was also a pegasus, and… probably a colt, as far as Rainbow could tell. Whatever it was, it was definitely too little to have just wandered onto the farm.

“Don’t they have parents or something?” Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow. “Where’d you find them? I was just talking to you, like, fifteen minutes ago, before I crashed.”

Applejack stared at her, and her smile fell. Her eyes darted to the green colt and brown filly, then back to Rainbow as she said slowly, “Rainbow Dash, what day is it?”

“Wednesday?” Rainbow asked.

“No, it’s Saturday!” the filly corrected, giggling at her.

Rainbow furrowed her brow. “I was laying here for three days?”

“What month?” Applejack went on.

Rainbow raised her eyebrows. “June?”

Applejack nodded and seemed to relax a little. “Year?”

“1005,” Rainbow answered easily. Then she caught the mix of worry and skepticism on AJ’s face.

The green colt rolled his eyes at Rainbow. “Mom, stop fooling around.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes right back, and crossed her forelegs. “Why do you keep calling me Mom?”

“Okay, everypony, up to the farmhouse!” Applejack said suddenly, before the colt could respond. “I gotta have a talk with Mom.”

“Is she gonna be okay?” the colt asked.

“She’s gonna be fine,” Applejack said, nudging him to start walking and looking around to make sure Dash and the brown filly were moving too. “Just got her brain rattled around when she crashed. Celestia knows she’s probably done it enough in her life.”

Rainbow frowned, flying along with AJ down the row of trees. “My brain is—”

The little brown filly flew up next to her. “Do you need Mama to kiss an owie, Mommy?”

Whatever she had been about to say was lost in total confusion at that statement. “I… uh…”

“That’s just what she needs, half-pint,” Applejack said with a smile at the little girl.

“What if something is really wrong?” The colt trotted along with AJ on the ground, his brow furrowed in worry. “She could have a concussion… or brain damage! A lot of pros mess up their brains after too many crashes…”

“Then we’ll go see a doctor,” Applejack said, ruffling his mane. “Don’t you worry.”

“AJ, I don’t wanna have brain damage!” Rainbow darted down on the other side of Applejack. Her eyes were wide and there was a sudden twisting feeling in her gut.

“We’re gonna take care of it.” Applejack glared at Rainbow, then leaned over and whispered, “Dash, don’t get ’im worked up. Tell ’im it’s okay.”

Rainbow blinked, then looked over at the foal. He was looking really concerned, so she swallowed and smiled. “It’s… um… okay. It’s all cool.” She shrugged and tossed in a dashing grin. “Nothing to worry about.”

The boy didn’t seem convinced as they came to the farmhouse. “If you say so…”

Rainbow did say so, and as the small group made their way to the farmhouse she almost started to believe it herself. But she still found herself flying close to Applejack’s side.

If Not Now, When?

The farmhouse looked exactly the same as when she flew in that morning. Rainbow was pretty sure of that. Except for the red apple weather vane being a zap apple. And… were some of the curtains different? And the chicken coop should be orange, and it was brown. The more she looked, the more details she found that she was pretty sure weren’t right.

As they stepped inside, she was totally sure the living room wasn’t right. There was a big fluffy-looking couch, a trophy case in one corner, and kids’ toys everywhere. The rocking chair and old-fashioned couch were nowhere to be seen, and the wood trim and curtains were still dotted with apples, but the walls had totally different pictures than they had the last time she was here.

“Leaf, keep an eye on Cider and Sky,” Applejack said, taking the baby out of the carrier and setting him down to toddle across the floor. Then she turned and nudged Rainbow toward the stairs.

“Sure…” the colt said with a nervous glance at Rainbow.

“Can we have fritters?” the filly asked, looking from Applejack to Rainbow with wide, green eyes.

“One each,” Applejack said, nudging Rainbow again and following her up the stairs without a glance at the kid. “And there’s a dozen there, so there’d better be nine left.”

Rainbow had only been in Applejack’s room a few times, but the door Applejack led her to wasn’t it. Applejack opened a door at the end of the hall that Rainbow had never been through.

The room was big, with a large bed in the middle. The walls were split between wooden panels below and bright blue paint above, which made it feel almost like it was open to the sky. The bed was covered with a fluffy white quilt embroidered with zap apples, and the curtains were white with rainbow trim.

That was as much as Rainbow took in before she turned to see Applejack glaring at her. “If this is a prank, it ain’t funny.”

Rainbow flapped into the air, scowling. “It’s not a prank, I don’t know what the hay is going on!”

Applejack’s face softened, her mouth gaping and her ears starting to droop. She hesitated, then said softly, “You really think it’s 1005?”

“Yeah, because that’s when it is!” Rainbow insisted, because she had to. Because any other option didn’t make any sense. Because if it wasn’t the year she thought it was, when could it be?

“Dash, that was fifteen years ago,” Applejack said, her expression unchanging except for her slowly widening eyes.

Rainbow just stared at her. She knew Applejack’s expression was probably some combination of shock, fear, and panic, because that’s exactly what Rainbow was feeling and her face started to mirror Applejack’s.

“AJ… stop it. This really isn’t funny.”

“I ain’t laughin’.” Applejack shook her head. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“I came to see you. You were just starting zap apple harvest, and we had a date for that night, but you had to reschedule. I flew away, and… uh, ran into a storm, and next thing I know I’m laying on the ground and that kid is looking at me.”

“I—I remember that, I think. The third sign kicked up right after you crashed, two days early, but then it was near a week before the fourth one. That was when the zap apple harvest started goin’ as it pleased. The fourth sign came on our first date.”

She paused and bit her lip before she looked Rainbow in the eye and said, “We been married eleven years now.”

Rainbow took off, flying in circles around the room. It was cramped, but she had to fly to process this. There was no way to mistake the plain truth coming from Applejack, so Rainbow started to try to wrap her head around it. Married. Eleven years. That was, like, half of her life! But it wasn’t, because she was fifteen years older than she thought she was. She was thirty-six. That was almost old!

Then something else hit her like a brick, and she stopped in the air and turned a terrified gaze on AJ. “Applejack… those foals who keep calling me mom…?”

“They’re ours. Apple Leaf, Cider Splash, and Orchard Sky. You are their mom,” Applejack whispered. “You… don’t remember your own foals?”

Rainbow worked her mouth a few times before words finally came out. “I—How—We’re both mares!”

Applejack took a breath. “Well if you wanna get all technical about it, I had Leaf and Cider, and you had Sky last year. But you’re their mom, no questions about that.”

“I have foals?” She started flying in circles again. “Three foals? What about the Wonderbolts? How do I have time?”

“You left the Wonderbolts eight years ago, not long after Leaf was born,” Applejack explained in a gentle but dazed voice.

“I left the Wonderbolts? Why would I do that?”

“You wanted to spend more time with us.” Applejack shook her head. “Could you land already? You’re makin’ me dizzy.”

Rainbow landed in front of Applejack, her eyes wild. “So I went nuts?”

Applejack laid a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. She looked calm and strong, though it was obviously taking a lot of effort. “Rainbow Dash, I think you gone nuts now. You’re missin’ fifteen years.”

“This can’t be happening. This can not be happening.” Rainbow squinted her eyes shut. “It’s… it’s a dream! Princess Luna! Help!”

“Keep it down, the kids’ll hear ya,” Applejack said with a brief glare. Then she took a breath again. “It ain’t a dream, but we gotta get you to a doctor.”

“A doctor will fix it, right? I’m not stuck like this?” Rainbow pleaded.

“Course they will. And if not, we’ll head straight to Twilight. We’ll get you patched up before supper.” Applejack nodded, then she glanced nervously at Rainbow. “I—uh, I reckon we shouldn’t tell the kids? It’d be awful scary thinkin’ their own mom don’t remember ’em.”

“Why are you asking me?” Rainbow waved a hoof. “I don’t know anything about kids!”

Something shifted behind Applejack’s eyes, but she swallowed hard and said, “Okay. We won’t tell ’em until we know what we’re workin’ with. Let’s just tell ’em we’re goin’, and pretend nothin’s wrong.”

“Okay.” Rainbow took a deep breath. “Got it.”

Rainbow followed Applejack out of the room and down the hall. By the time they came to the bottom of the stairs, all three foals were waiting, the baby perched on the back of the older colt.

Rainbow stared at them. Now that she knew, she could see that the pegasus filly, Cider Splash, she guessed, looked just like AJ except for the wings and darker colors. The earth pony colt, who must be Apple Leaf, had Apple family coloring, but he wore his mane in a spiky style like Rainbow’s. And the baby… that was the one she’d had. Orchard Sky did look an awful lot like baby pictures of Rainbow, except for his mane.

“Kids,” Applejack said calmly, almost cheerfully. “Me and Mom need to go to the doctor. We’ll take Sky over to Uncle Mac’s, and Leaf, you stay here with Cider—”

“When will you be back?” Cider asked, a frown on her little face.

“That depends what the doctor says, half-pint,” Applejack said as she strapped the baby carrier around her waist.

“But Mommy is supposed to take me to get flight goggles for Flight Camp this afternoon!” Cider’s ears drooped and her eyes seemed huge and pitiful as she looked up at Rainbow. It seriously wasn’t fair that kids could do that, even if Rainbow knew that this was kind of more important than flight goggles.

Applejack sighed and rolled her eyes as she set the littlest foal in the carrier. He grabbed the end of her mane and waved it around a few times, but she pulled it away from him without looking back. “Well then… Leaf, you wanna take Cider to get flight goggles?”

“Sure,” he said with a nervous smile and a glance at Rainbow.

Before she could think, Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “Hold up, does he know how to pick out flight goggles?” She might not know about kids, but she knew about flying, and she was pretty sure that somepony who knew about flying had better make sure the girl was set for flight camp.

Leaf looked at her, confused. “I got you yours last Hearth’s Warming. You said they were awesome.”

Rainbow glanced at Applejack, who was giving her an almost panicked look.

“Oh! Yeah, I mean… they were… great!” Rainbow smiled, probably a bit too much. “I was just wondering because… because she’s so small, and it can be hard to get the right fit on little foals! And you gotta get them off to the right start, if they’re gonna grow up to be Wonderbolts.”

The kid raised an eyebrow at her, then looked over to Applejack. “Ma… are you sure Mom doesn’t have brain damage?”

Applejack sighed and nudged Rainbow toward the door. “She’s gonna be fine. Just trust me, Leaf. I’ll explain later.”

Once they were outside and on their way toward Ponyville, and Rainbow had glanced back at the house a dozen times to make sure Leaf and Cider hadn’t followed them, she leaned in and whispered, “That kid is onto me. What’d I say?”

“Dash, that kid is your son,” Applejack whispered back. Then she glanced back at Sky and went on softly. “And he knows more about flyin’ than you do. He can talk about flight goggles ’til the fruit falls from the trees. And we all know Cider’s got less chance of bein’ a Wonderbolt than I do. If that girl’s cutie mark ain’t in cookin’ or farmin’, I’ll eat my hat.”

Rainbow tilted her head. “He’s an earth pony, why would he know about flight goggles?”

Applejack glanced at her with a sadness in her eyes that made Rainbow sorry she’d asked the question. “He’s been goin’ to Wonderbolts shows since he was born, to see you. Then after you left the team, you’d always take him to watch. He loves it, wants to be a flight choreographer or somethin’ or other.”

Rainbow frowned. “Um… he’s… an earth pony.”

Applejack was silent for a moment, then she said softly, “You always said he’ll be the best one ever.”

“Oh… sorry.”

“That’s okay. You didn’t know.”

The frown remained on Rainbow’s face, but it had nothing to do with the kid. Maybe she was blowing smoke up his tail, maybe he was a genius at designing flying tricks, how the hay did she know? She didn’t know anything about him; she barely knew anything about foals except that they were little, dumber ponies. She didn’t know anything that was going on right now, and everything she said felt dumb.

Sweet Apple Acres seemed the same as they walked through it. The bright green trees in the sunlight with their red dots of apples felt like a trick. Everything was normal, she and AJ were just walking to Ponyville… until she saw the kid on AJ’s side.

Now that she looked closely, Applejack herself had changed a little—she was a little softer, though the weight had landed in the right places, and her blonde hair hid it well but there seemed to be a few streaks of white in her mane. Rainbow decided that AJ looked hot, for a mom who was pushing forty. But not quite as hot as she looked back when Rainbow asked her out last week.

It hit Rainbow that she hadn’t looked at herself. There was nowhere to find a mirror on the path, so she glanced back at her body. She’d put on some weight, just barely. She had had a kid, after all. But her wings looked better than ever, and there was no gray in her tail or mane that she could see.

As they came to the edge of town, Applejack stopped at a cottage where Cheerilee answered the door. Rainbow waited while Applejack unstrapped the foal and Cheerilee scooped him up in one arm. They had a quick conversation Rainbow wasn’t paying attention to, though as they walked away Cheerilee called out, “Get well soon, Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow just frowned.

“Cheerilee’s been married to Mac a while now,” Applejack said as they walked toward the hospital. “Since just after Granny passed.”

“Granny Smith died?” Rainbow blinked.

Applejack nodded. “She was an old pony, died in her sleep. I was tore up at the time, but you were right there for me through it.”

“How long ago was that?”

“’Bout ten years now.” Applejack frowned. “It was rough. Sweet Apple Acres just seemed so empty without her and Mac. And you were a Wonderbolt, and Apple Bloom was gettin’ ready to move out. That’s when you got it in your head we oughta have Leaf.” A smile started to creep onto her face. “You were never big on havin’ foals, but you said I’d lose my mind if I didn’t have a family, and you didn’t wanna be married to a crazy pony.”

Rainbow just furrowed her brow, trying to imagine that playing out in her life. “What else changed, AJ? I mean, it feels like pretty much everything, right?”

Applejack took a breath and her eyes widened. “Oh boy, just about. Fluttershy’s married to Bulk Biceps, they got two foals and they’re livin’ in Fluttershy’s cottage. Pinkie and Cheese Sandwich got twins, they travel a bunch, but darn if she ain’t back in Ponyville for just about every birthday here, so she’s around plenty. Rarity got married to a fella from Manehattan, but that’s over now, and good riddance. Durin’ the divorce I thought I was gonna have to lasso you to keep you from givin’ his flank a good kick, and I was tempted myself a few times. It’s hard, seein’ a friend cry like that.” Applejack shook her head, then smiled at Rainbow. “We still love ’em all. That’s never gonna change.”

Rainbow looked at her. It had never occurred to her that anything could have changed their friendships, though she felt dumb again because in fifteen years anything could have happened. But it didn’t, she reminded herself, and took a deep breath. “Good. What about Twilight?”

Applejack considered that. “She’s… just the same, I think? She didn’t get married, no foals, she says she’s got plenty of time and she’s real busy princessin’.”

A strange sense of relief passed over Rainbow. Maybe she had started to feel like everypony had left her behind… even herself. Or maybe it was just knowing that there was somepony she could go to who would be completely familiar. Whatever it was, she felt a little more optimistic as she asked, “Cool, and the foals? I mean, Apple Bloom and her friends, not your, um, our foals.”

Applejack chuckled. “They ain’t been foals for ages. The three of them are livin’ it up in Canterlot, workin’ with Princess Luna to find ponies with cutie mark problems and havin’ a grand time, from what I hear.”

“That sounds awesome.” Rainbow grinned. At least somepony was having fun, and probably doing amazing stuff, and not being old and boring with husbands and wives and kids.

Applejack nodded. “They oughta live it up while they’re young, I always tell Apple Bloom. Anyhow… we’re here.” She nodded across the street to the hospital.

Rainbow stared at it and nodded. “Let’s do this.”

A few hours later they were sitting in the library of Twilight’s castle. The ponies at the hospital had poked and prodded and scanned Rainbow every which way, and then shrugged. There was nothing wrong with her that they could find, despite a number of frustrating conversations with both Rainbow and Applejack pointing out that there was very clearly something wrong with her. Finally they were left with nothing left to do but go to see if Twilight could find something.

By the time the pair had explained the situation to Twilight, and listed all the tests the doctors had already run, the princess was ready for a puzzle. Twilight did a few magical tests of her own, and hooked Rainbow up to some fancy new magic equipment she’d never seen before, then pored over the results.

After a half an hour of watching Twilight read, circle things, and do calculations, she finally looked up and trotted over to them.

Twilight gave a half smile. “I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the doctors were right. Your brain is absolutely fine. In fact… you’re not even suffering from memory loss.”

Applejack sighed and slapped her hoof to her face. “Not this again.”

“Twilight,” Rainbow said slowly, having had the same conversation with doctors five times already. “I can’t remember the last fifteen years. That’s, like, a ton of memory loss. And I promise, I’m suffering from it.”

“I know.” Twilight’s face fell to a frown. “What I’m saying is that this is magic. Your brain has reverted to a perfectly normal state from fifteen years ago. That’s the bad news: I can’t just get back the memories from the time in between, because they were never formed in this version of your mind.”

Rainbow’s eyes went wide. She had never considered that Twilight might not be able to do something. She was Twilight Sparkle. She was a princess. Of course she could fix it. She started to panic, until Applejack laid a hoof on her shoulder.

“It’ll be okay, sugarcube.” Applejack turned to Twilight. “So, she’s stuck like this?”

Twilight’s face shifted between answers before she finally settled on sighing. “I don’t know, I’m not even sure what happened. But I’ll do everything I can to try to help. She crashed during a storm of wild magic, that’s going to make it hard, there’s no written spell or magical structure to start with. I need all of the information I can get, every detail either of you can tell me about the situation.”

“Whatever you need,” Rainbow said quickly.

Twilight floated over a quill and scroll. “Applejack, what was going on before Rainbow crashed?”

“The timberwolves were howlin’ last night, so we were gettin’ set up for harvest. The second sign hit, and Dash thought it’d be safe to try to fly some of the baskets out to the trees, even though I told her not to do that durin’ zap apple season, ’cause we never know how fast it’s comin’.” Applejack gave Rainbow a look out the side of her eye. “She said that was all the more reason we needed to work fast, and she’d land if anything came up. Then the clouds rolled in like a freight train, and she went down just before the birds started makin’ the third sign. Leaf rushed off before I could catch him, and I grabbed Cider and ran right after.” Applejack bit her lip, her eyes wide. “Thank Celestia Dash was okay. If he’d found her…”

Applejack was blinking back tears, and suddenly she was leaning against Rainbow, her muzzle tenderly nuzzling just under Rainbow’s jaw. Her breath tickled Rainbow’s neck, sending a shiver through the pegasus that was actually pretty nice, but totally weird. Rainbow stepped back quickly.

Applejack looked at her, confused, then closed her eyes and hung her head. “Well, maybe ‘okay’ ain’t really the right word.”

“Um… sorry…” Rainbow said. She hadn’t done anything, but AJ just looked so sad, and that wasn’t cool.

“No, it was my mistake, I’m just…” Applejack swallowed hard.

Rainbow hesitated, then wrapped a wing around Applejack. She felt a tension leave Applejack’s body as she leaned against her.

“Thanks,” Applejack whispered.

“So, Rainbow Dash…” Twilight went on as she finished scribbling on the scroll. “What do you remember before your crash?”

“Me and AJ were supposed to go out tonight on our first date, but the zap apples were coming. We postponed ’til next week, and… um… as I was flying off one of those magic storms kicked up. And I crashed.” Rainbow’s eyes darted nervously. While she totally hadn’t done anything to make AJ sad in the current present, as far as she knew that morning she kind of… totally did do something. But that was technically fifteen years ago, and she was pretty sure if AJ found out she might kill her, so it was probably not important enough to mention.

“That was the first time the third sign came the same day as the second,” Applejack explained to Twilight. “Before that, we woulda been expectin’ the third sign the next day. Dash had no way of knowin’ there could be trouble back then. And it came in strong that year, too. Darn near blew over the barn.”

Twilight nodded. “What do you remember about after she crashed fifteen years ago, AJ?”

Applejack pursed her lips and looked into the distance, concentrating. “Darn, I dunno. It was a long time ago. I—I saw her go down while I was watchin’ the sign, and I ran to her. I know she ended up sittin’ by where I was workin’ the rest of the afternoon. I always thought she mighta got banged up, but wouldn’t admit it.”

Finishing up her notes, Twilight scanned them and said, “So, back in 1005, the zap apple weather starts acting strange, Rainbow crashes in it, then she spends the afternoon hanging out with you, possibly injured. In 1020, Rainbow crashes in the zap apple weather, and then she thinks she’s woken up after the 1005 crash. Are you two sure there’s nothing else important…?”

Applejack nodded. Rainbow opened her mouth, then she caught sight of Applejack, and closed it quickly.

“Well then, there are a few things that could have happened.” Twilight floated books off the shelves as she spoke, opening some of them in front of her and sorting others into piles. “Magical amnesia is the most simple. Head trauma in a highly magical atmosphere can result in brain damage that the magic immediately heals by just ignoring the damaged part. But usually it’s just a few days or weeks missing. Losing fifteen years would indicate something major, it would be amazing that that’s the only way you were affected. Of course, the synchronizing of the events might explain that…”

“Can you undo it?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight frowned and hesitated, the books pausing in the air around her. “It’s never been done before… but, that’s not a no. I can study it, see what’s been tried, and if there’s anything I can think of that might work where other treatments haven’t. It’s a long shot. The problem is that I’m not sure that’s what happened.”

A different set of books floated off the shelf as Twilight went on. “Another possible scenario is that it might have actually brought your mind forward in time. There was probably a lot of wild time magic floating around, since something had broken whatever kept the zap apples on a schedule before that point.”

By this point Twilight was surrounded by piles of books, some of them tottering dangerously.

Rainbow raised her eyebrows. “So… this might really be me from fifteen years ago, here now?”

“Your mind, at least,” Twilight said, nodding. “But Applejack and your kids are here too, which means this is what was supposed to happen. At least in this timeline, which I think is a pretty good one. Though I guess I might be biased…” Twilight got a confused frown on her face and stared off into the distance for a moment.

“I reckon we oughta work with this timeline bein’ right,” Applejack noted, pulling Twilight back into the conversation.

“Yes, of course. Applejack, did you notice anything different about Rainbow after the crash in ’05?”

“I don’t think… huh. I guess I did, but I dunno if it’s worth mentionin’.” She blushed and hesitated, but Twilight motioned for her to go on. “Well, when Rainbow first asked me out she was flirtin’ pretty heavy, and… let’s just say she wasn’t shy about what she was hopin’ for. To be honest, I didn’t think it was gonna work out, I thought I was gonna be pushin’ her off me all night. Even then I knew I needed a pony who wanted more than a roll in the hay, but Rainbow was a friend and I thought it wouldn’t be fair not to give her a shot. But when our date came ’round, she wasn’t pushy at all. She was real sweet, and we had an amazin’ time, and by the time we were watchin’ the meteor shower I was the one that kissed her and… ahem.”

Applejack’s blush grew stronger. Rainbow felt her cheeks warming, too, but she wasn’t sure if it was from knowing that she totally had sex with AJ on their first date, or knowing that before that she had almost totally screwed up her chances of having sex with AJ.

Twilight just looked lost in thought, but it probably wasn’t about Rainbow getting laid. “Hmm…”

“Hmm?” Rainbow repeated. “What’s ‘hmm’ mean?”

“Well, that could be a coincidence, or an effect of your original crash,” Twilight said, scribbling notes on her scroll. “Or, it might mean that you’ll eventually return to that exact point, knowing that you’re only going to sleep with AJ if you keep your tail down on your date. Or your brain got switched.”

Rainbow was nodding, she liked the sound of going back to the same point, but then Twilight finished. “Wait, what was that last one?”

“Your brain got switched. You, from now, are in your body from fifteen years ago. So you’d know enough about AJ to not be a pig on your first date,” Twilight explained.

“If it’s that one, can you switch us back?” Rainbow asked quickly.

“And if it’s that first one, where’s my Dash now?” Applejack added. “Will she come back when this one goes away?”

Twilight held up a hoof to both of them, biting her lip. “One at a time. Rainbow, in answer to your question… I can try. But what’s meant to happen will happen, and… it doesn’t look good. If you’re meant to go back, when you get there you could write a note or leave some kind of hint… you could even have come to talk to me yesterday, knowing that it’s time for you to switch with your younger self, since you used to be your younger self. But… as far as we know, you didn’t do that.”

“That doesn’t mean anything!” Rainbow insisted. “I probably meant to, but I forgot or something! Or maybe there’s some boring thing coming up and I knew about it so I decided to go chill in the past and make past me do it!”

Twilight raised her eyebrows. “I’m not saying that couldn’t happen, but would you really put yourself and AJ through all this just to avoid doing something you don’t want to do?”

“Yes!” Rainbow nodded firmly.

Applejack frowned at Rainbow and shook her head. “No, ya wouldn’t. Not the pony I went to bed with last night. Not without a darn good reason.”

Rainbow looked at her to argue, but there was a certainty in her face…and Rainbow realized that she couldn’t match that. Not about the Rainbow that Applejack knew, at least, the one who left the Wonderbolts and had a bunch of foals. She scowled and crossed her forelegs.

Twilight shook her head clear. Then she closed her eyes. “And, AJ… do you really want to know the most likely answer to your questions?”

There was silence for a few moments. Applejack’s face didn’t move, it was like she was frozen. “I reckon I get the picture.”

Rainbow’s scowl disappeared as she watched AJ. “So… everything is messed up.” She looked from AJ, who just looked away, to Twilight, who reluctantly nodded.

“I still have a lot of work to do on this,” Twilight pointed out. “Nothing is certain, time magic and wild magic are both ridiculously complicated, and the change that AJ noticed might have been a coincidence, or seeing you in a different context. But I’ll do my best with everything we have to go on.”

“We know it,” Applejack said softly. “Thanks, Twi.”

Rainbow nodded, looking down. She wanted to tell Twilight she trusted her. She wanted to beg Twilight to come through for her. More than anything, she wanted Twilight to have an answer for her right now. But Twilight knew all of those things already, so there was nothing really left to say.

Applejack turned to go, and Rainbow started to follow her out of the library.

“And, you guys?” Twilight called after them. They both stopped and looked at her, and she offered them a sad smile. “Well… just take care of each other. You both need it, right now.”

“Will do.” Applejack nodded with a sad glance at Rainbow.

Rainbow hesitated. She looked at Applejack, and she knew that she could count on her. Applejack had always been the pony to count on, the pony who took care of other ponies. And on top of that, she loved Rainbow, at least the Rainbow Dash who was supposed to be here in this life.

But Rainbow was… not that pony. She was many, many, many awesome things, but the pony who took care of other ponies wasn’t one of them.

Still, Applejack was her best friend, and when it came down to it, Rainbow had done some dumb things to her. She was just going to have to be a pony who could take care of her, and be awesome at it.

Rainbow grinned at Twilight and Applejack. “No problem.”