Chapter 6: Meeting the Family

As Applejack and the two Rainbow Dashs came up the path to Sweet Apple Acres they were met by a group of young ponies, which they knew were their future children. Red Gala happily jumped up to her mother and gave her a tight hug before turning to face the past version of her mother, eyeing her suspiciously. The triplets on the other hand were fairly welcoming to Applejack, even offering to show her to her room for her time with them, being happy to see their mother when she was only a few years older than them. When they got up to the farm house Applejack heard the sound of two ponies running around rapidly, accompanied by the sounds of them cleaning up.

"Hello?" Apple Cider asked slowly as he opened to door, catching Soarin with his butt high in the air as he picked up some dust that was on the floor. He jumped into the air and spun around, blushing slightly.

"Hi, welcome to our home" Soarin said nervously, getting a laugh out of the two girls.

"Dad, it's just mom when she was younger, why are you acting to weird?" Pink Pearl asked, giving her dad a confused look, a small smile still hiding on her lips.

"I know, but if I act stupid now your mother would have never thought to go out with me, and none of you would have been born!" Soarin said dramatically, managing to get all three of his kids to laugh hysterically. He even managed to make Applejack laugh, even with the knowledge that this stallion was one day going to be her husband.

"Ah! She's laughing at me!" Soarin complained as he grabbed his head, "I've failed, now you three will never be born!" The laughter continued until the Applejack from the future came into the front hall, looking at the group of ponies that were laughing their flanks off.

"What's going on in here?" future Applejack asked, looking at the group for a while until her eyes finally settled on her past self. The two of them looked in each other's eyes, both of them searching each other for, something. The future Rainbow trotted up to her Applejack and put a hoof on her shoulder, a small smile on her face. After the two of them walked away Applejack turned to face Rainbow, who was doing her best to not fangirl over Soarin being right there in front of her.

"So, you going to head over to your house?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow to Rainbow. She seemed to be zoned out while she looked at Soarin, but eventually her brain began to function again.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I'll just wait right... here..." Rainbow trailed off as her mind once again slipped away from the sight of Soarin in front of her. Applejack chuckled quietly and turned to face Soarin, but her future children had other plans for her. Without saying anything they pulled her out of the house and towards the barn, where the sound of barking could be heard.

"Come on Applejack, let's play with the dogs!" Pink Lady said happily as she pulled Applejack along behind her, the other two running ahead to open the barn doors. Inside they found Red Gala, who had slipped away from the group before they entered the house, playing with the four dogs. She seemed to pause when she saw Applejack behind the triplets, but with a shake of her head she went back to playing, not wanting to focus on her at all.

"So, how old are these pups?" Applejack asked, not being able to tell based on their appearance. They all looked like Winona, with a few differences here and there, but that didn't let her know how old they were, nor did it give her any idea when Winona passed. She hated to think about it, but now that the shock of it had started to wear off Applejack was curious. Was it a natural death? Did she live a long life? Were these the only pups she had? Who was the father of the pups? Applejack had so many questions, which she suspected her future self to have the answer to, but she couldn't just up and ask her about it.

"They're around ten years old now, I think they all turn eleven in a few months" Apple Cider answered as he played with Ashley, who was happily licking his face.

"We each got our own puppies when we were seven, or eight in Gala's case, and we've been taking care of them ever since" Pink Pearl said as she filled the four dogs' food bowls, which had been just about empty. As Applejack watched them she felt a hoof come down softly on her shoulder, and when she turned around she saw future Rainbow standing beside her.

"How did things go with, uh, me?" Applejack asked, hoping that her future self wasn't going to overreact or get upset about the news.

"I have no idea" future Rainbow said honestly, "Twilight showed up and told me to leave so she could explain it to her" Applejack stared at future Rainbow for a moment before turning to look at the dogs and their owners playing happily. Pink Lady and Pink Pearl were playing with Chris and Sherlock together, having them race each other for a toy one of the two mares would toss across the barn. Apple Cider and Ashley were rolling around the ground together as Ashley tried to lick his face. Red Gala and Ellie were having a tug of war with an old rope that somepony turned into a toy, with Ellie winning by quite a bit.

"Do you think I'll, or she'll, take the news easily?" Applejack asked just as Soarin came into the barn, quickly being ambushed by the four dogs. He started to scream in horror as his face was covered in dog slobber, and while this was going on the kids just laughed, none of them moving to help him to his hooves. Soarin started to squirm under the weight of the dogs until they finally backed off, giving him a little breathing room.

"I have seen the end..." Soarin mumbled with his eyes staring blankly ahead of him, "It was so... wet"

"Dad!" Pink Pearl shouted playfully, pretending to be angry so that Soarin would freak out.

"What, I only say that when they really get me wet" Soarin said, his eyes shooting open when he realized what he had just said. The kids began to laugh so hard that they actually began to roll on the ground. From where she was standing Applejack could see tears coming down Apple Cider's face from how hard he was laughing.

"Dad, do you need a tissue to clean up the mess?" Pink Pearl asked as they all came down from their laughing fit.

"Now it wasn't that big" Soarin answered, his eyes shooting open as he realized he had done it again, "STOP MAKING ME SAY THINGS LIKE THAT!" The kids didn't hear him as they were slipping into another laughing fit, worse than before. While they were laughing future Twilight and Applejack came into the barn, the two of them trotting over to Applejack. The future Applejack looked almost the same as she did before, but now her hair was kept into a tight braid and had a beautiful diamond earring in her left ear.

"So, Twi here tells me you're me, from fifteen years ago?" future Applejack asked as she looked over Applejack closely. After a short examination she was content knowing that the mare in front of her was actually her, there was no mistaking it.

"Pretty much" Applejack replied, getting a strange feeling from actually talking to herself, "The Twilights suggested that I stay here with you, so that I don't cause any problems in the town or somethin'"

"That isn't why, but anyways" future Twilight said as she turned to face her Applejack, "So you're completely okay with this?"

"Eeyup" future Applejack replied with a smile, "It'd be nice to see how I was all those years ago, I've probably changed a whole lot"

"DAD HASN'T CHANGED AT ALL!" Apple Cider shouted from the ground as he continued to laugh at Soarin, whose face was now bright red, most likely because the kids kept making him say embarrassing things. Soarin's face started to go back to it's normal color until Pink Pearl picked up a tissue that he had used to wipe his face off.

"Ew, dad, could you clean up after your private time?!" she said in a mocking tone, making Soarin look like he was about to blow a blood vessel in his forehead. Everypony laughed at him this time, and the sight of both versions of his wife laughing at him made Soarin's emotion change from anger to embarrassment just before he turned to leave the barn, hanging his head low.

"Awww, I think we made him sad" Pink Lady said, barely able to contain her laughter. All the mares in the barn began to laugh as Apple Cider followed his father out of the barn, not wanting to have hurt his feelings. Even though he got along perfectly well with his mother, Apple Cider did like to spend time with his father, considering he always had interesting tales about his time as a Wonderbolt.

"Anyways, I should be going, it's getting quite late" future Twilight said as the laughter died down again, her eyes watering slightly from laughing as hard as she did.

"Ok, see you tomorrow Twi" future Applejack said as she waved goodbye to Twilight, who disappeared in a flash of light, leaving no trace of herself behind.

"She's been working on that hasn't she?" Applejack asked when she noticed that there was no mark on the ground, and it had seemed as though it was nothing to Twilight before she left.

"Yeah, she's gotten extremely good at using her magic in the last fifteen years" future Applejack said as she looked out the barn doors towards Ponyville, where you could see Twilight's castle library sticking out of the horizon, "Now then, let's get you settled in!" With that the Apple family headed inside, except for Red Gala and her mother, who headed to the other farm house on the property. When they got inside there was no Rainbow Dash, so Applejack assumed that she had already gone over to the other house. After some running around there was a room set up for Applejack, and with that everypony headed for bed, all of them tired from what had happened during their day. Next Chapter: Chapter 7: A Rainbow and a Pie Estimated time remaining: 8 Minutes