The Everfree Forest was a strange place. The sky almost seemed darker, a purple hue amongst the clouds. The three ponies walked along the road from Zecora's house, Twilight being the most worried of them all. The sound of soft hoofsteps did nothing to drown out the odd noises of the forest.

Twilight closed her eyes, trying to get her mind off her fears. “Thank you both for coming out here with me. I don't think I'd do this alone.”

“It's not a problem Twilight. You're our friend.” Fluttershy said.

'Exactly.” Applejack nudged Twilight with her elbow. “Nothin' in this forest's gonna' change that.”

The unicorn smiled upon hearing such words from her friends. “Alright, I'm just worried about what Zecora said. She knew that whatever was in that area must have been hostile.”

“Relax Twi'. There's three of us, that's more than enough ponies to keep ourselves safe.” Applejack comforted.

The trio continued to follow the orange Acanti flowers. The slender plants lined the road, eventually leading to a narrow clearing in the forest. Twilight hesitantly lead the group away from the road, and into an even more unpredictable area. Twilight shuddered at her lack of safety, this place was nothing like Ponyville.

Applejack started to hum a tune to pass some time. Eventually, the small pathway they were on revealed a grove. “Hey, is this where Zecora was talkin' about?”

“I would believe so.” Twilight snooped around, looking for any trace of the doll.

Fluttershy smelled some of the flowers. They looked beautiful, contrasting against the scary image that was the Everfree Forest. It was a calm place, despite what Zecora had told her.

“Uh Twilight...” Applejack spoke.

The unicorn turned her attention from the ground to her friend. “Yes?”

Applejack stuttered, hesitant to ask, “D-Do you think that perhaps one of them creatures took it?” Twilight paused, silence overtook her. She breathed a heavy sigh and sat herself on the ground, looking at nothing in particular. Applejack moved over to her and put a hoof to her friend's shoulder. “I'm sorry sugarcube, wish I could do more to help.”

Fluttershy turned to see a rather concerned Twilight, being comforted by Applejack. She fluttered softly to her friends and put her own hoof on Twilight. “I-I'm sorry, it must have meant a lot to you.”

The unicorn waited for a bit, just sitting in the grove while her friends were so close to her, materially and emotionally. “That's alright girls, I'm fine,” she stated, not sure if she herself was telling the truth or not. She rose up to her hooves and started to walk away. Her two friends waited for a bit, to which Twilight turned around and asked, “Are you coming?”

Fluttershy and Applejack nodded in unison, trotting next to Twilight as they turned their backs to the grove. A loud, disconcerting noise could be heard, and then a crash. All three ponies spun around to see a tall blue box which wasn't there before. They all exchanged glances for a while, and then walked towards it. The box's doors swung open, and a grayish amber-coated pony with a darker brown mane slowly peeked out of it.

Twilight stepped forward, and offered a very confused look. “Uh, hello?”

“Hi, anypony know where we are?” he asked, seemingly unaware of how awkward the situation was.

“This... This is the Everfree Forest.” Fluttershy responded. “H-How did you do that?”

“Oh, I didn't do any of that. My friend here did.” He tapped his hoof against the tall blue door on the box next to him. “Want to come in?”

Applejack brought her hoof up to her chin. “I uh... I don't think that box could fit four ponies in it.”

“Of course it can, there's plenty of room. You see, it's bigger on the inside, than it is on the outside!” he said, spreading his forelegs in the air like Pinkie Pie would.

“That's nonsense.” Twilight rolled her eyes.

“You're welcome to prove me wrong,” the stallion motioned with his hoof, walking back into his box.

“I think I will then.” Twilight trotted across the grove and towards the amber pony. “It's impossible for-” Twilight's quickly stopped speaking when she entered. It was much larger than it appeared on the outside. “How?” she asked.

“It was uh... That's how it was grown.” He quickly changed the subject after receiving odd glances from Twilight, and her two friends which entered as well. “So what are your names?”

“I'm Twilight Sparkle. That's Applejack and Fluttershy.” Twilight pointed as she spoke.

“Great, you can call me Doctor Whooves,” he paused. “But I'm not that kind of doctor. Anyway, what in Equestria were you girls doing in the Everfree Forest?”

Fluttershy slowly walked around the interior of whatever it was that she was in, examining what appeared to be some sort of console. “We're searching for Twilight's doll.”

“A doll?” The doctor trotted next to Fluttershy, giving the console a quick glance. “I think I saw some lion-scorpion thing playing with it near a river, two hours from now.” There was no response, only an awkward silence. “It travels through time and space, you know. The whole reason I'm here was because of a little... accident. I could show you all right now.”

Twilight struggled to comprehend the fact that she'd just entered a room larger on the inside than on the outside, but couldn't pass the opportunity to observe what Doctor Whooves was offering. “Please do.”

“Alright then, here we go.” He turned back to the console and raised his forelegs before operating it. Fluttershy fearfully flew to her friends, unaware of what was going to happen. A grinding, heaving noise could be heard, but not from any particular direction. The doctor turned and smiled, as the loud noises were replaced with the sound of a bell's chime. “15 years ago,” he spoke. “Take a look outside.”

Twilight magically opened the doors and stepped outside. Doctor Whooves hadn't lied. The three other ponies stepped outside as well as Twilight observed the area around her. To her right was a red wall of some sort of building, the rest of had small picket fences and a large expanse of freshly cut grass. The doctor moved past the large red wall, revealing a bunch of foals gathering around a miniature stage. None of the fillies or colts seemed to notice them peeking out.

A tiny azure unicorn stood on the appropriately sized stage. She had light gray hair, despite the fact that she was only a filly. “Now watch in awe, as the gweat and powerful Twixie does the biggest, best magic in all Equestria!” Her horn let out a small spark as the filly struggled with her magic. A small, artificial pyrotechnic display formed in the air. She quickly threw her forelegs in the air as the crowd started cheering, her starred cape gently moving along with her.

“Hey, ain't that the showmare that came down to Ponyville a while ago?” Applejack asked.

“Yes, I think so.” Twilight called out. “She was doing this since her fillyhood?”

Fluttershy spoke up. “She doesn't have her cutie mark yet.”

“Perhaps she just doesn't realize that this was what she was meant to do, how does that sound?” Twilight put a hoof to her chin.

“Sounds right to me.” Applejack said.

“Quiet, I'm watching this.” Doctor Whooves shushed.

“And so when the evil Canis Major came to us, my mummy used her powerful magic to banish it back to the Everfwee Forest!” Trixie wildly motioned with her forelegs, eventually stumbling and landing on her face. Laughing could be heard amongst the audience, and Trixie picked herself back up. “T-That hurt, well... Let's see you ponies do better!”

“Sure, I'll do it.” An orange pegasus flew up to the stage, planting his hooves straight in front of Trixie. “Watch this everypony!” he said, flapping his wings until he rose eight feet above the stage. The colt started to move in a circular motion above Trixie. A small cyclone formed around her, comically spinning the filly until she fell to the ground once again, dazed. The colt landed back down on the stage, bowing as the other foals applauded.

“The gweat and powerful Twixie can top that!” she grunted, getting back to her hooves.

“Oh yeah? Do it.” The colt next to her grinned.

“You'll see.” Trixie harnessed her magic and pushed the air around the pegasus. The wind around him whistled, his image distorting in the eyes of the crowd. Trixie grinned, even as she struggled to keep it up. The crowd “Ooh'd” in recognition, only making the filly happier.

The colt pushed his wings out, attempting to stabilize himself, but then stumbled to his side. He laid there for a few seconds, before sighing and getting back to his hooves. “Fine, a draw I guess.”

“Twixie accepts your terms.” She said. “Anypony else think they best her?”

“I do! Here, I do!” A rather enthusiastic filly shot her hoof up. Trixie nodded in response, to which the earth-pony ran over to a nearby tree and picked up a fallen branch with her mouth. It looked large, but she managed to heave it all the way to the stage. It was quite impressive, for a filly of her size. “Bet you can't lift that!”

Trixie looked around nervously, but then closed her eyes, seeming to regain her composure. “Just watch.” The azure unicorn put her mouth to the branch, tensing her muscles to lift it. The branch stayed on the ground despite the unnecessary amount of squeaky grunting and flexing. Her horn suddenly glowed, and the snatch completed itself almost effortlessly.

“Hey, you can't use your magic! That's cheating!” The earth pony spat. The crowd booed at Trixie. “So that means I win, I win, and win in a winning competition against you!” she turned and walked off the stage.

Trixie looked at the ground, defeated. It was a stupid mistake to assist her power snatch with magic. Now everypony must have thought she was a cheater. No, that wasn't going to happen. Determination filled her, she had to win the hearts of her crowd.

She raised her head back high and spoke loudly. “Alright, Twixie admits defeat. But she'll make up for it with something even better! Behold everypony, the brightest, bestest py- pywo- p- pywotechnichs show in Equestria!” She lowered her head, ready to pour all of her magic into the most amazing fireworks she could image. Her eyes closed, and a spark lit out of her horn.

The sound of foals snickering could be heard, and thus she opened her eyes. When she looked up, there was only a small glimmer of red light in the air. The showmare looked back at the crowd, and the laughing continued. “Wait! Wait everypony, there's more!” she insisted, lowering her horn to try once more. She struggled, but nothing was happening.

Another wave of laughter from the crowd, and another wave of disappointment in Trixie. She wasn't going to give up though. She tensed again, letting the magic flow through her horn, almost tearing up at her failure. She was so determined just a while ago, and now it was all falling apart. Trixie attempted to utilize the last bit of magic that she had left for the day in a ditch attempt to save her reputation. She closed her eyes once more, both to cope with the magical stress, and to not let any tears escape.

A large explosion resonated through the air. Trixie assumed this was her “gweat and powerful pywotechnic magic” at work. The foals murmurred amongst each other, before breaking out into wild applause. A pegasus mare, most likely a teacher, burst out of the schoolhouse to join the crowd.

“A... A sonic rainboom!” Fluttershy softly exclaimed.

“Fifteen years ago...” Twilight put her hoof up to her chin, as the giant prismatic halo expanded from the sky. “Would that be Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom?”

“I think so, looks amazing!” Applejack remarked.

Trixie's eyes remained closed as the gusts blew her hair forward. She did her best to hold in her excitement as the crowd cheered for her display. The luminous ring dissipated into the air, and it was over. The intense winds stopped as well. Finally, Trixie opened her eyes, finished performing her pyrotechnic show.

“That was amazing Trixie!” A high-pitched voice called out from the crowd.

“Yeah! Do it again! Again!” The earth-pony who bested Trixie earlier shouted.

Suddenly, the sound of bell could be heard, mercilessly ringing in the ears of the four ponies who were unfortunate enough to stand next to it.

“Well, I guess Trixie could do it again, after class. Great job Trixie!” The pegasus teacher fluttered towards the filly and patted her head. “Say... What's that on your flank?” she grinned.

Trixie bent her head to the side to look, and saw a marking. It was a magic wand waving pixie dust, and it was her cutie mark, a sign of her true talent. The crowd cheered once more for the great and powerful filly.

“Recess is over foals. Back to class, everypony.” The mare said.

“Aww, class isn't fun!” A voice cried out.

“Fun? We'll be learning about astronomy today! There's more in space than just the sun and moon. Doesn't that sound fun?” she asked.

“I think our recess is over as well. We've seen enough.” Doctor Whooves started walking back to his large blue box, ignoring the sounds of a certain filly screaming in excitement. Fluttershy and Applejack followed him.

“Are you coming?” The doctor asked.

Twilight didn't bother to look back at the doctor, her gaze was fixed on the foals following their teacher. “I... I want to learn about astronomy too...”

Applejack nervously chuckled at the stallion behind her. “Heh, she's just... She's just had one a' Pinkie Pie's 'special' cupcakes. Come on Twi'.” She bit down on Twilight's tail, dragging her across the ground into the doctor's blue box.

Doctor Whooves turned around to look at the three mares behind him. “So, how'd you all like looking into the past?”

“It was nice.” Fluttershy said.

“Could we see more?” Twilight asked.

“More?” Doctor Whooves put a hoof to his chin. “I guess so, I have the time to spare. Not to say that I ever don't have the time to spare. Yes, of course.” he stepped back to his console. “How does a year ahead of our time sound?”

“Sounds good to me.” Applejack commented.

The doctor turned back to the control panel, operating it as he spoke. “Alright then, a year ahead it is! Oh, and please try not to cause much commotion while we're there.” The box started to shake again, accompanied by the loud, obtrusive noise from all around them. Like before, the sound of a bell chime brought it all to a halt. “So, meet back here in let's say, half an hour?”

“A-Alright.” Twilight replied.

The doors opened as Doctor Whooves stepped outside of the box. They were in the slums of Ponyville, it seemed. “Well?” he asked. “Don't be shy! Being in the future's not going to tear the ponyverse apart!” He paused for a moment. “Or will it?” His eyes widened dramatically. “Maybe, but I've done this before many times. It's all good.”

Applejack was the first to step outside of the box, and the two other mares soon followed. The gentle flapping of wings caught everypony's attention, as a gray-coated pegasus fluttered next to the doctor. “Hi muffin!” she said, pulling him into a hug with her foreleg. She was carrying a brown courier bag, she would wear it even when she wasn't on her job. “Hi girls.” she looked at the three, revealing her crossed eyes.

“H-Hi Ditzy Doo.” Fluttershy spoke quietly. “I didn't know you two were together...”

“A year ahead and all, Ditzy knows about what I do.” The doctor clarified.

Applejack tipped her hat. “Well, that's real sweet. I never would'a expected this to happen.”

“That's alright. We're sort of in the background, if you'd understand.” Doctor Whooves and his new, or possibly old marefriend laughed. The other three shook their heads, unable to figure out what the doctor meant.

“So, you're okay with what the Doctor does?” Twilight asked. “You don't find it odd or anything?”

“Oh. It's alright... Some ponies think that I'm odd, I don't mind.” The pegasus stated calmly. Fluttershy cringed, she and Ditzy got picked on in Flight School, both of them receiving hurtful nicknames.

Doctor Whooves nodded. “Anyway, I figure you all have something to about the future you want to know. I'll spend my time with Ditzy here. See you all in a while.”

“Bye.” The wall-eyed mare waved to the three ponies. It wasn't often that she spoke with them, but she was still a very nice pony to be around.

“Oh, I can't wait to look at how all my pets are doing. I'm so happy, I... I could squeal!” Fluttershy softly spoke, following with a quiet but high pitched noise. At least it could be called a squeal.

“Slow down there, think yer gettin' a bit too excited.” Applejack said. “So I'm comin' with you, apple-buckin' season's over this time of the year anyway. How about you, Twilight?”

“Sorry girls. I'll check on how the library's doing.” Twilight shied away. “I'll try to catch up with you later.”

'Well, alright.” Applejack shrugged. “Let's go Fluttershy.” She trotted away as Fluttershy glided next to her, too excited to stay grounded like she usually would.

Twilight walked the other direction towards the library, which was also her home. She wanted to see how much it changed, even though libraries wouldn't change that much over the course of a year. A strong fascination of literature, it was something she regretted in the back of her mind, but this regret had never truly been displayed in her conscious thoughts. All she was thinking about at the time, was what new books the library had received.

---

Finally arriving at the library, Twilight stepped through the door. For the most part, it was the same, but a bit more organized than it already was. Spike was nowhere to be found, nor was another copy of herself. She trotted around the room, pulling books out at random and reading the titles, only a few of them were new.

A wooden door opened, and Spike walked out of it, not having grown at all. When he looked at Twilight, he tilted his head, almost unsure of whether or not what he was seeing is real.

“Hi Spike.” Twilight said, only making Spike seem more confused. “Spike, is something wrong?”

The baby dragon put a claw up to his head. “Twilight? I thought you were at Canterlot, the Princess requested your audience, didn't she?”

“Uh oh. This is bad.” Twilight thought. She shook her head and looked back at her assistant. “Am I now?”

“Uh yeah.” Spike said. “You left an hour ago, what's happening?”

Twilight looked away from Spike and paused. “Well, ask me once I come back. I'm sure a year is enough time for me to come up with an adequate excuse.”

“Wait, what?”

“Nothing.” Twilight grinned as her inner genius came into play. “Oh, and Rarity told me she wanted to see you at Carousel Boutique. She'd be really happy if you were available.” Spike's attention seemed to avert itself from Twilight's situation.

“Really? I've got to get there now! Bye Twilight!” he frantically sprinted out of the library as Twilight magically shut the door behind him. Problem solved.

Twilight continued to look through the new additions of the library, leaving a nice mess for Spike to clean up when he got back. Twilight moved on to the next room in the library, and found a brown coated unicorn sitting at a table which had a hefty pile of books on it. It wasn't very often that anypony came to the library, let alone to actually read something.

“Oh, hi.” Twilight spoke. The filly looked up, but didn't answer. “I don't think I've seen you in Ponyville before, what's your name?”

“I-I'm Chestnut Swirl.” Twilight quickly recognized that his swirly mane correlated with his name. “My mom and I are from Fillydelphia, she took me here to visit for a day.”

“You know, there's a bookshelf dedicated to foal-books in the other room.” Twilight said.

“I know,” the colt mentioned as he got back to reading.

Twilight Sparkle didn't say anything for a while. She glanced at the title of the hardcover book. “'Algebra and Trigonometry 3rd Edition'? Wouldn't you find that a bit, 'boring' or something?”

“I study when there's nothing else to do.” Chestnut Swirl said.

Twilight bit her lip. “Oh, studying's nice. So I guess you'd rather be playing with your friends back home at Fillydelphia?”

“No. I don't have any friends,” he mentioned.

Ouch. To think that Twilight was the same way, and perhaps would stay like that were it not for Princess Celestia's guidance... “Well, when you get back home, why don't you try and talk to somepony? I'm sure they'll be your friend.”

“How would you know?” He asked.

Twilight sighed. “Experience. Your studies and education are very important things, but friendship is too. I never really took my parents' advice on that, but perhaps you'll take mine.”

“Um.. Maybe.” Chestnut replied.

“You might learn a thing or two, also.” she added.

The colt seemed relatively interested. “Really?”

Twilight looked at a small locket the colt was carrying. Probably from his parents. “Yes, I myself did, many times. Just stay out of drama, and your friends will make Magic Kindergarden roll so much smoother.” She eyed the brass locket again. “I-I think I'll just leave you alone now.”

“Goodbye, Miss.” he said.

“Bye, don't forget what I told you.” Twilight quickly said, shutting the wooden door. Talking with her spitting-image brought back some unpleasant memories, but it needed to be done for the colt's sake anyway.

Hopefully, he was actually listening to what Twilight said. Hopefully, he wouldn't stress himself out the way Twilight always would. It never did anything good for her, her obsessive compulsive behavior only slowed the mare down, something she realized, but never conquered.

Guiding oneself with balanced emotions trumps being driven by fear and discontent.

---

Twilight nervously trotted back and forth on the grass, unable to think coherently amongst the chaos. “Oh, what have I done?” she asked herself aloud, accepting defeat.

First it was just the three fillies fighting over Smarty Pants, then Big Macintosh. Mayor Mare had to come in too, and now, nearly all of Ponyville had come to check what all the commotion was about, only to be dragged into the issue themselves.

Everypony formed a large mound on top of each other, fighting tooth and hoof for the doll. In an extreme feat of strength, Big Macintosh pushed away most of the ponies on top of him, holding Smarty Pants in his mouth. “Mmnope!” he said, before galloping away.

Five ponies came into Twilight's view. They were her friends. “No... Not them too!” Twilight thought to herself.

“Y'all hear that?” Applejack asked. “What in the name of all things oats 'n apples is goin' on here?”

Rainbow Dash turned to the doll, now on the ground. Twilight quickly moved towards her and averted her eyes. “Don't look at it!” she panted.

“Don't look at what?” Rarity tilted her head.

Twilight inhaled deeply and quickly explained the situation to her friends. Hopefully they'd understand her. Not that she deserved their understanding, this was her own fault, or so she thought. None of the six ponies said anything for some time, only hearing their own thoughts, as well as the sound of rioting ponies.

Lightning shot through the skies, and the majestic figure of Princess Celestia could be seen sitting on a cloud. Ponies looked at each other in disbelief. The local mailmare and the mayor took their hooves of of one-another, exchanging confused glances.

“Twilight Sparkle!” Celestia called out.

“Woah, nelly.” Applejack quietly said to herself. Twilight could briefly see Applejack's brother taking the doll. Not that it really mattered. She wouldn't see Big Macintosh again anyway, or Applejack, or any of her friends for the matter.

“Meet me in the library.” she said firmly, gliding away. It sounded more like a command, one that Twilight would definitely obey. She couldn't afford to disappoint her Princess anymore. She'd already done enough in the past hour.

Twilight rose back to her hooves, not brave enough to face her friends, and certainly not proud enough to hope for any other fate. “Goodbye girls.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 3 Estimated time remaining: 34 Minutes