[Note: This chapter has been edited due to recent revisions to "Past Sins"]
"What?! That's crazy talk," Scootaloo shouted. She zipped toward the Doctor, glaring icily at him. "Rainbow Dash is the most awesome pegasus ever! There's no way in this or any other universe she didn't pull off the Rainboom!"
The Doctor sweated nervously as he struggled to reach around her to get to the controls. "Ah... a little help...?" he asked Nyx, who rolled her eyes before lifting Scootaloo out of his way with magic. "Thank you... last thing we need right now is for me to crash the TARDIS (again) right before we land. And I'm only telling you what the circumstances are in this timeline. You can see for yourself, once we've consulted with Captain Sparkle."
Nyx blinked in surprise, accidentally dropping Scootaloo as she released her magic. "We're going to see Uncle Shiney?" That thought excited her. Twilight's big brother had intimidated her at first. Technically, the first time they had met was when, as Nightmare Moon, she split herself into numerous clones disguised as rookie Guards in order to infiltrate the royal palace. She hadn't known about his relationship with her mother, then, and had caught him unawares with a sleep spell so that she could confront the princesses he had been sworn to protect. Then, like the rest of the Guard, he had been brainwashed with the "blessing" by Spell Nexus.
After she was de-powered once again to a filly, and the time came to meet him again as uncle and niece, he had been the one pony in all of Equestria that she was most afraid of. She could still remember the sleepless nights of worry over what he would do to the pony who had threatened his protectorate, his family, and the very land he loved. And feeding those fears for days and days was the knowledge that he would be entirely justified to hate and despise her for what she had done.
When the day did come for them to meet, she was a jittery, exhausted wreck who was pretty sure that despite the princesses having made their decision regarding her 'punishment', Shining Armor would storm in filled with righteous anger and smite her hard. When he actually walked into the library, looking so much larger and more menacing due to her diminished stature, drastically reduced power and filly-like mindset, the first thing she did was throw herself at his hooves, wailing and apologizing until she lost her voice, then spend a good fifteen minutes after that sobbing her little eyes out.
She hadn't even noticed when he started hugging her, just that when she started to come out of her haze of guilt and fear, he had his forelegs wrapped around her, Twilight and Spike watching the scene. As it turned out, he and Twilight had been sending letters to each other for months before his visit. At the time of Nightmare Moon's rise to power he had been terrified by his inability to stop her coup against the crown, and frustrated by his failure in the aftermath. But greater than his fear was his trust in the judgement of his little sister and the royal sisters he was sworn to protect, and the understanding that she had released them of her own free will.
After she got her voice back, the two of them had talked about everything. They had been candid and honest, and it had been hard at times, but after it was over, they had been able to face each other without fear, and that had been the first step to acknowledging each other as family. Ever since, he had been a warm and loving uncle.
The Doctor interrupted her reminiscing by saying, "Umm... Actually, Nyx, it's rather different..."
The alicorn shook her head, pulling herself back to the present. "I know, I know. This timeline's Shining Armor won't be my Uncle Shiney, so I have to make sure not to act all weird around him. Still, I can be happy to see him, right?"
"That's not what I-" Before he could finish, the TARDIS chimed. "Oh! We're here! Alright, ladies, when you step outside, we'll be in Canterlot, so be on your best behavior."
Apple Bloom replied skeptically, "But we didn't even move."
Going to the door, Sweetie Belle opened it and peered outside. "Uh... actually, we did," she replied, a silent 'but' hanging in the air like punctuation. She left the TARDIS with the others to look around, finding that while they were no longer near Sweet Apple Acres, they were still in Ponyville, and the morning had turned to early night in the few minutes since they entered the box.
"Oh, blast it," the Doctor muttered. "We should be right outside the royal palace. Still, if we're here, then there's probably a reason for it. See? We're in the proper timeline, at least." He pointed up to the sky, and everyone followed his hoof. Their jaws dropped as one at the sight of the moon... along with the shadowy mark of the Mare in the Moon. A sight that most of the mares hadn't seen since they were fillies, and Nyx had never seen with her own eyes for obvious reasons.
"How's that there?!" Sweetie Belle asked, glancing over at Nyx to make sure that her friend was still with them. The alicorn was at least as surprised as her, and could only offer a weak shrug.
"As I understand it," the Doctor exposited, "in this timeline, Celestia's battle with Nightmare Moon lasted several years longer than it did in yours before she was able to imprison her sister with the Elements of Harmony. As a result, the thousandth year in the prophecy regarding her return has yet to arrive. It's quite a good story, actually, but we'll have an opportunity to hear it from a pony who knows it better than I soon enough. For the moment... do you hear that?"
The Cutie Mark Crusaders cocked their ears and listened carefully, hearing...
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