"What?!" Naomi said yet again.

"I can understand the initial shock, but was saying it seven times really necessary?" Cameron muttered.

"Yes! Why wouldn't it be?" Naomi exclaimed. "I'm married to a guy I barely know!"

"You barely knew me back in your time, maybe, but this is ten years in the future." Cameron said.

At this point, Naomi was hyperventilating. Questions flooded her mind and she wanted to ask them, but she couldn't get past the subject.

"Didn't you have a fling with Fluttershy or something?" Naomi asked.

"Seriously, was it not that much of a secret?" Cameron turned and asked Jake.

"It was practically written all over your face." Jake answered, smiling.

Cameron sighed and turned back to Naomi. "Just get on to a different subject."

Naomi, with some effort, forced herself to calm down.

"Alright, next question. Why does Canterlot look like it got nuked?"

Both Jake and Cameron looked at each other and sighed.

"It all started ten years ago, actually. Things were looking as if we would never get home. Mike wasn't finding anything in the Canterlot Archives, and we couldn't get back without some kind of spell." Jake said. "When we least expected, a newly built city called Las Pegas was completely leveled. Nopony died, but all the money and time it took to build the city was gone. It caused a serious economic disruption and made ponies fear that they were next."

"Princess Celestia wouldn't have any of that." Cameron continued. "She tasked an entire brigade of Honor Guard to deal with the 'terrorist attack'. In a month, the entire brigade came back sporting injuries. Again, nopony died, but they were all seriously hurt."

"All of them were ambushed by three incredibly strong individuals. News of this leaked out, and ponies everywhere went into extreme panic." Jake said. "For the first time in a thousand years, the Honor Guard, the elite of the elite, had been defeated."

"And the panic and chaos that ensued gave Discord the little push he needed to break out of his prison. After that, things basically went to hell. The Griffons were the first to ally with Discord, then the Changelings followed." Cameron said.

"Why didn't Celestia send the Elements of Harmony to seal Discord again?" Naomi asked, intrigued by the story.

Jake looked at the ground. "Discord wanted revenge for his imprisonment, and he got it the best way he could think of. He sentenced Celestia to the same punishment he had been given. He encased Celestia in stone along with the Main Six."

Naomi shuddered as she tried to imagine what it would feel like to be imprisoned in a place of pure nothing.

It would be boredom at its extreme. She thought.

"Everything hit the fan after that." Cameron grumbled.

"Wait, what happened to Luna?" Naomi asked.

"I think she got one of the worse punishments. She had to watch as her sister fell, helpless to do anything. She had to watch as her kingdom fell." Jake said. "Honestly, I'm surprised that she's still confident to keep this war going."

"And she did a pretty damn good job, too. We've almost won. All that's left to do is to retake Canterlot." Cameron said.

"Where's Luna now? Where's Future Me now?" Naomi asked quickly.

"To answer your first question, Luna is probably with General Shining Armor, checking up on operations around the city." Cameron said. "Future You should still be in the market district with Mr. Oh-So-Important-Chief-Of-Military-Intelligence."

"Otherwise known as Mike." Jake chuckled.

"Can I go see them?" Naomi asked.

"I don't see why not." Jake said.

"Wait, what if this is like one of those time traveling shows where if you meet your future self, the universe explodes?" Cameron said.

"Cameron, if that actually happens, you have my deepest apologies." Jake said as he rolled his eyes. "Let's move it out."

Market District…

"Honestly, don't they ever give up?" Mike said, sighing. "You would think the dumb bugs would have some amount of common sense."

He and Naomi had been sent here hours earlier to support the newly formed outpost. A few minutes after they had gotten there, however, the Changelings had come numbering in hundreds.

And yet, they were still able to hold off the love-sucking insects.

Naomi shrugged. "Don't know, don't care."

A rather young-looking unicorn walked up to the two. His dull silver armor signified that he wasn't an officer.

However, Naomi didn't think he looked right. A smirk was firmly planted on his face, and his helmet was missing.

"Private Flash, what are you doing? You're supposed to be securing the-" Mike said.

No sooner had Mike finished the syllable had Flash shot a sickly green burst of magic at Mike.

Naomi placed a force field directly in front of Mike and shot her own burst of Magic at the Private, who promptly dodged.

Naomi couldn't exactly say that she was surprised. One of Discord's powers was that he could corrupt certain individuals and make them turn against their officers.

However, he could only corrupt so many ponies for so long. Defections weren't common, but there were some serious cases of subordinates attacking fellow soldiers or completely ruining missions.

But there was something different about this stallion. He was, for lack of a better word, weird.

The stallion vanished behind green flames and reappeared in his original Changeling form. It launched two sickly spheres of energy and sent them towards the two officers. Both of them dodged, and Naomi levitated the Changeling and flung it through a nearby building.

Mike silently cursed as he picked himself off the ground.

"That sure was a cheap shot on their part." Mike mumbled.

"Weren't you complaining a few seconds ago that they weren't smart?" Naomi smiled.

Mike said nothing and glanced behind Naomi.

"They're persistent, I'll give them that." Mike said as he motioned for her to look. Naomi turned her head and saw Jake and Cameron walking up towards them. She scowled as she saw what seemed to be a shorter version of her.

Changelings sure can't make themselves perfect copies of me, can they? She thought. The last one that had tried posing as her had been just a tad bit too tall, but nothing too noticeable.

This Changeling made it much too obvious.

"Obviously Changelings." She said.

"Let's humor them." Mike said with a smile. Naomi returned the smile.

The trio approached the duo and Cameron said, "Good to see you both. We have a pretty interesting story for you."

Both Mike and Naomi looked at each other, suppressing smirks.

"Oh sure, 'Facade'." Naomi said. "What's the story? That we're supposed to surrender? That we lost the war?"

Cameron gave a confused look, as did Jake and the duplicate Naomi.

Boy, are they bad actors. Naomi thought.

"You okay, sweetie? Have you had a rough day or something?" Cameron asked.

The duplicate of Naomi visibly twitched at the mention of the word "sweetie".

Naomi let out a big sigh. "Seriously, who are you trying to fool? Your acting is horrible and you made me too short. Heck, why did you even make a copy of me and bring it along? What's the point of that?"

Jake and Cameron looked at each other.

"Coo coo, coo coo." Jake said as he rotated his hoof at the side of his head.

"Mike, did she have a heat stroke or something?" Cameron asked, genuinely concerned. "Can you get her some water?"

"Cameron, what's your favorite kind of cake?" Mike asked.

"Favorite?"

"Yep, he's Cam." Mike said with a sigh of relief.

"Then explain the mini-me." Naomi said, irked.

"Like I said before, it's an interesting story." Cameron said.

Past Naomi listened as Cameron explained everything to a skeptical Future-Naomi. Naomi was surprised at how tall she was. She was taller that both Mike and Jake by an inch. Cameron was barely any taller. She was definitely not as tall as Celestia, but still quite a sight.

She was also more beautiful and mature-looking. Of course, Past Naomi would never admit that.

"She could be faking." Future Naomi said.

Cameron sighed. "We've gone over that already, she isn't."

The Naomis looked at each other and didn't say a word.

"Was I really that short?" Future Naomi said, earning a scowl from Past Naomi.

"Will I really be that dumb?" Past Naomi retorted.

The two were now in a staring contest that would have sent chills down the spines of any unfortunate soul that would have been unlucky enough to be caught between them.

Of course, Mike and Jake were laughing at the sight.

Cameron tried changing the subject. "So, when are you heading back to your time?"

"Trying to get rid of me already?" Naomi shot a glare that caused Cameron to recoil, but only slightly.

"I'm just wondering."

"The spell requires a full day before I can use it again." Naomi answered.

"So what are you going to do for the time being?" Jake asked.

Mike had a look of pure confusion on his face.

"Are you freaking serious? Don't you know what her being here means?" Mike said. The entire group looked at him as if he were crazy. "She can go back into the past and change all of this!"

"You're right!" Jake said.

"Wait, what?" Past Naomi asked.

"The main reason why those three jerks working for Discord succeeded in starting the war was because the Princess tried playing it safe." Mike said. "If she had sent us in the first place, we might have been able to stop all of this."

"All we need to do is make sure they never destroy Las Pegas." Cameron said.

In the (recently) destroyed building…

Scout 5716-A couldn't have been happier. The Masters had sent him along with the assault force as they tried to overtake the newly built Equestrian Loyalist outpost.

His proficiency wasn't combat, however. It was watching.

His mission was rather simple, only containing three objectives.

The first was to watch the battle unfold and report the outcome. Although he doubted the Masters would be pleased to know that the attack had failed miserably, he was sure that the first objective was assured.

The second, and perhaps most important, was to capture and deliver a captive officer, alive, for interrogation. The Masters were quite clear that the captive had to be alive.

The second objective was botched. Drone 5716-A knew this. The ruined house and his wounds were sufficient proof. He wasn't mortally wounded, but he would most definitely need to heal for a day or two.

However, he still had the third objective.

The third objective was to gather as much information that could possibly pertain to the battle strategy of the Loyalists.

After hearing the golden-armored ponies talk for a while, he had learned that the small brown one was from the past. He had little familiarity with the concept of "time", but he had heard of such things from many of the Masters' conversations with one another.

Everything else he had memorized, but understood even less of. It made his rather small brain hurt.

He contemplated for a moment whether or not he should try achieving the second objective, but then thought better of it.

Go unnoticed, live another day. That was his creed.

At that, he vanished in a display of green fire.

Back outside…

"So, if you don't mind me asking… why Cameron?" Past Naomi asked Future Naomi after the three guys had departed to various places.

"Well, he's a nice guy." Future Naomi answered.

"You married him because he was nice? Is that what you're really trying to say?" Past Naomi said and raised an eyebrow.

Future Naomi sighed. "You'll understand when you're older."

"Don't treat me like a six-year-old!" Naomi huffed. "Answers. Now."

Future Naomi was about to retort when she was interrupted by a flash of dark blue light. Past Naomi blinked repeatedly, trying to get rid of the blinding aftereffect of looking directly into a teleportation spell.

"Princess!" Future Naomi said, snapping to attention.

Past Naomi's vision finally cleared, allowing her to see the tall figure before her.

Is that really Luna? Naomi thought.

Luna was incredibly tall, simply towering over the two ponies, even Future Naomi. Perhaps she was as tall as Celestia, if not more so. She looked vaguely like how she had been while she was Nightmare Moon, but there was no harshness to her appearance. She didn't look as young as she did, not by a long shot.

Behind Luna was a white unicorn in full golden armor. Even though age and stress had undoubtedly changed his features, Naomi instantly recognized him as Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle's older brother. His armor was battered, no doubt from ten long years of fighting, but his eyes still shone with energy and intelligence.

"Wow…" was Past Naomi's intelligent greeting.

Luna looked at Past Naomi, then at Future Naomi, and back again at Past Naomi.

"Did you mess up the duplication spell again, Alona?" Luna asked. "I told you already, picture yourself with very specific detail and-"

"Princess, this isn't a duplication spell." Future Naomi said.

At the Canterlot Castle…

"You're sure?" Ryan asked the damaged Changeling before him. Green blood oozed from the wounds on his sides and legs. One leg was obviously broken.

Ryan enjoyed sitting in the Royal seats that the Princesses of Equestria had once sat in. Not only were they comfortable, they also made him feel like he had absolute power over the universe.

It wasn't true of course. At least not yet.

"Yes, Master." The changeling hissed, its voice a mere whisper.

"Very good." Ryan said. "Thank you."

After he finished his sentence, Ryan blasted the Changeling with sickly blue-black energy, simply vaporizing the insect on contact.

The scout let out what could be compared with a yelp of pain, but it was barely audible.

"Ick. Why do you always kill them?" Diane asked as she looked at the charred area where the changeling once stood.

"We literally have millions of the bugs. I might as well have some fun with them." Ryan said.

Christopher just stood next Ryan, unmoving and not talking. Diane always complained about how creepy that was, but Ryan let it slide. It almost felt like he had a personal bodyguard.

"So what do we do now?" Diane asked.

"Nothing." Said a new voice. Ryan turned and sighed at the sight of his mentor/captor. Discord smiled as he looked at his three pawns. "Ryan, get out of that seat and stop playing 'The King Game'. You know that only I can do that."

Ryan huffed as he got up. "What do you mean by 'nothing', old man?"

Discord resisted the urge to moan at Ryan's casual use of the nickname "old man". He regretted ever having introduced himself to Ryan while having the white beard.

True, he was old. Very old. However, he didn't like being reminded of it.

"You're not going to do anything about this time traveler. Let them go back and warn of the' horrible future' that awaits them" Discord said, casually floating. "There really is no point. No matter what happens, I know that your past selves can prove more than a match for those annoying Heroes or whatever the Princesses have to throw at you."

Ryan wasn't too sure. He was incredibly powerful now, but ten years back, he had been weak. Been much too lax and forgiving.

Back then, he may have questioned whether or not all the destruction now was morally right. Now, he knew that there was no alternative.

Discord raised an eyebrow. "Or is there something that you wish to tell me? Do you not have faith in yourself?"

"Of course I do." Ryan said quickly.

"Then don't worry about the past and focus on the now." Discord said. "Chaos doesn't happen by itself, so get cracking."

Discord snapped his fingers and disappeared.

"So what now?" Diane asked. "He's too full of himself. We don't know for sure if our past selves will get the job done."

"We do what he says. Nothing." Ryan said with a sigh.

"Why?" Diane asked quizzically. Even silent Christopher looked somewhat concerned.

"Because if he's determined to act like he has infinite power like an idiot, he's going to have to accept the consequences." Ryan said. "If this comes back to bite him, it's his fault."

Back in the Market District…

Both Luna and Shining Armor stood silent after Future Naomi finished the story.

Luna seemed to be in deep thought while Shining Armor looked confused.

"But time travel is make-believe. No spell exists that can do it." Shining Armor said.

"Maybe not a spell that you know about, but one exists in the Royal Archives." Past Naomi said.

"Preposterous. My sister skimmed every last book in the Archive. Twice. She even made copies and made her own personal library of them." Shining Armor said.

"General, what they say is true. Calm down." Luna said.

General Armor looked at the ground. "Yes, Princess. Forgive me."

"Your arrival here is of more help than you know." Luna said. "As you know, my sister and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony are imprisoned as statues in the Royal Garden. For the longest time, we have tried to free them, but every attempt we have made has ended in failure."

"Okaaaaay…" Past Naomi said anxiously.

"Not many unicorns are powerful enough to perform the spell required to free them." Luna said. "With you, however, we might be able to free them."

"What about Mike? Or you? Or Future Me?" Past Naomi asked.

"Mike, as well as 'Future You', will be required to provide a distraction so you can pass through the enemy defenses and get to the Garden." Luna said. "And I am not able to go. If I went, I would meet a fate similar to my sister's if not worse. If I were killed, then this war would be over. Everypony would lose hope and give up."

"Let's, hypothetically, say that I make it to the Royal Garden. What makes you so sure that I can perform the spell?" Past Naomi said.

"Because I wouldn't expect anything less from my future apprentice." Luna said.

Next Chapter: I've been gone for how long? Estimated time remaining: 18 Minutes