Time Traveling Kids of the Mane Six! Ch. 20

Chapter 20: Meet your Maker (Rough draft. Will be eventually re-written)

As she passed the final green remains of Everfree Forest on the way to Twilight Sparkle’s home, a disguised Andromeda took a long, deep breath and closed her eyes. For a moment, the world around her was blocked out, giving her time to think for those precious few seconds. If anypony were to tell her that she would not only successfully time travel, but also meet her own mother in the past, she would have called them crazy. And yet, now here she was, alone with her thoughts and readying herself to explain everything to the one mare in the world that she didn’t want to admit defeat to. While Andromeda seemingly glided as she, Tempest, and Bismarck made their way to the house, Bismarck began to observe her odd behavior. With her new red and black appearance, she certainly looked like another pony, but there was something about her now that made her act like it as well. Bismarck couldn’t put his hoof on it, but there was something about her silence that made him feel uneasy. Drawing closer to Tempest, he nudged him a bit.

“What’s she doin’?” he whispered, watching her trance-like calm with concern.

Noticing what Andromeda was doing, Tempest motioned for Bismarck to remain quiet with a quiet hush as she opened her eyes once more and continued on. She seemed unusually separated from reality at the moment, as if she was more focused on walking in the right direction than anything else around her. As she moved in her mental fog, Tempest motioned to Bismarck to lean his head closer so they would not alert her.

“She’s preparing herself for Twilight,” Tempest said, whispering in his ear.

Confused at first, Bismarck began to inquire why, but then realization sunk. Lifting his head, his orange brows crinkled with deep arches.

“Oh,” he said softly.

“Yeah. Meeting up with her mom like this can’t be easy for her.”

Bismarck glanced back at their unicorn friend and frowned, checking to see if she would catch them whispering behind her. She didn’t, or if she did, she was too distracted at the moment to respond. Her face didn’t show sadness or even fear, but rather a mix of some other emotions that he couldn’t explain. Her eyebrows did twitch, however.

“She’s doin’ it again,” Bismarck whispered. “The tic. Whatever’s goin’ on in her mind right now, it’s got her stressed.”

Tempest sighed.

“She worries me, Biz. She’s tried so hard to step out of her mother’s shadow, but that’s easier said than done. Sometimes I think she obsesses over it. Maybe even dreams about it.”

“Andromeda has a level head on her shoulders,” Bismarck said. “She may be ambitious, but ah don’t think she’s obsessive.”

Tempest tilted his head at him.

“How would you know? You’ve never had to live up to the expectations of your mom or your dad.”

Bismarck smirked.

“Are you kiddin’? Ah’m the son of an Equestrian hero! You are too.”

“Yeah, but our parents weren't pupils of Celestia and neither one became Alicorns! Don’t take this the wrong way, Bismarck, but you’re the son of a simple small-town farmer. You don’t even have a fraction of the same pressure. Even if Twilight never became a princess, Andromeda still would have had a lot of expectations on her shoulders.”

Tempest’s magenta eyes gleamed with absolute certainty. With the recent news of their imminent demise, he was becoming more serious than his usual carefree self, and Bismarck could see it. Regardless, there was a truth in what he was saying and his new attitude backed it up with confidence. Bismarck sighed.

“You got a point, ah guess,” he admitted. “Being Twilight’s daughter can’t be good for the self-esteem, but ah still think yer overreactin’ a bit, though. She’s probably just thinkin’ of ways to get us home. With this whole time travel fiasco, she’s gotta be goin’ over all the details of the spell, right?”

“She could be. Or maybe…”

Without warning, Andromeda stopped in her tracks and fell behind. Seeing that they were walking on without her, her friends turned around to find her bright yellow eyes wide open. Her raven black hair hung in front of one eye, but she didn’t seem to care. Instead, she just stared into space a bit, mumbling something to herself inaudibly. Bismarck and Tempest looked at each other with confusion and approached her slowly. As they drew close, Tempest spoke up.

“What’s the matter, Andromeda?”

Andromeda didn’t move, but her lips still whispered with mute volume while her eyes darted around from one side to the other. It was as if they were mentally measuring her surroundings like a great calculator. A worried Tempest spoke again.

“Andromeda,” he repeated.

The second time seemed to jolt her awake. Her body began to move again and her eyes switched from analyzing to looking around at where she was, like she had just been sleep walking.  

“What’s up?” Bismarck asked, drawing closer to her. “You okay?”

Andromeda looked blankly at him for a moment before shaking herself out of it and smiling lightly.

“Yeah,” she said, still off-balance. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Tempest and Bismarck both examined her with doubt. Andromeda was not the kind of mare who slipped into dreamland like this. She was too precise and organized to suddenly become a daydreamer, and the sudden change did not feel right.

“We’re just going to see your mom,” Tempest said.

“I know,” Andromeda said.

“You’re even in disguise. There’s no way Twilight is going to recognize you.”

“I know.”

“We need to get goin’, Andromeda,” Bismarck reminded her. “We’re runnin’ out of daylight and we need to bring our situation to Twilight as soon as possible.”

Andromeda continued to walk.

“Then let’s get going,” she replied casually.

Picking up the pace, Andromeda suddenly began to walk towards her home with a purpose, but Tempest was still concerned about her behavior.

“Andi, you can talk to us. We know you’re going through a lot right now, but your emotions have been all over the map lately. Whatever you’re going through right now, we can help. We’re your friends.”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Tempest,” Andromeda answered bluntly.

As she continued to blaze the trail ahead, Tempest spun towards Bismarck and motioned at him for support.

“Come on man,” he whispered, “help me out here.”

Bismarck scanned Andromeda a bit and frowned.

“Ah don’t think now’s the right time fer it.”

“But if we don’t talk to her now, she may have a breakdown in front of her mom,” Tempest argued. “At Zecora’s, when I saw her and Berry come back from their time in the forest, I could tell she had been crying. There’s a lot of pent-up emotion in her right now and I’m afraid she’s getting close to a breaking point right now.”

Bismarck smirked.

“So are you gonna lay it on her right now? Right as we’re heading over to Twilight’s? You need to learn to be more patient, partner. Wait until we’re home and she’s calm enough to take it before you play ‘psychiatrist.’”

Tempest didn’t like the idea of having to wait even longer to get these feelings out in the air, but despite his own feelings on the matter, Bismarck was right. If they were to talk about it now, they could unintentionally made things worse. With another sigh, Tempest nodded his head with reluctant agreement.

“Fine. We’ll wait until later. Can I ask you something, Biz?”

“Shoot.”

“Will you be there with me to help her out? I don’t like waiting on this, but if I’m going to choose another time to do it, I’d like some support.”

Bismarck smiled and gave him a light punch on the arm.

“You bet.”

As they finished, Andromeda turned around again and started laying out the plan. Luckily for Tempest and Bismarck, she didn’t seem to give any clues that she had overheard their conversation.

“Okay,” she said plainly, “we need to focus on convincing my mother that we’re time travelers without blowing our cover. I’m the only one who can fix this, but when I made my safeguard spell, I already had my mom’s notes to work off of. In order to try to bring us back home, I’ll need to start everything over from scratch.”

Tempest and Bismarck nodded. It was time to get back to work. As they continued towards their destination, Andromeda could feel an awkward silence in the back of her mind. Though her thoughts had drowned out their conversation with each other earlier, she could still hear their muffled voices peripherally. Now all she could hear was the light crunch of the grass below their hooves and the distant sounds of the townsfolk all around them. Not only that, but anypony who spent any time with Tempest would soon realize that not talking was uncharacteristic of him, and from her friends’ nonverbal actions, she could tell that there was something about her that they were discussing. She could see it in the way their eyes darted elsewhere when she looked at them.

‘They stopped whispering both times I spoke to them,’ she thought to herself. ‘I don’t like this secrecy, but if they’re talking about me, then I’d better come up with something else to talk about.’

Her sunset eyes moved left and right as they searched for something to change the topic to, but she couldn’t find anything. Thinking for a moment, an idea sprung in her head, and the more she thought about it, the more she grinned. Bismarck, who was now walking alongside her, noticed her change of expression and smiled as well.

“What are you all giddy about?” he asked.

He was interested. Now she had him right where she wanted him.

“So what exactly did I walk in on with you and Radiance back at the hut, Bismarck? From what I’ve heard, you two haven’t been getting along lately. What changed?”

Bismarck’s grin dropped, his orange cheeks glowing redder as both Andromeda and Tempest seemed to direct their attention at him. Tempest especially seemed curious and, for a moment, did not realize that he was walking into his friend. Bismarck shoved him off lightly and huffed.

“Radiance and ah got into an argument back at the barn and we said some harsh things to each other that we didn’t mean. When we were at Zecora’s, ah was apologizing to her.”

“Oh really?” Andromeda replied with a wink. “I didn’t know apologizing made Radiance blush.”

“Aw shaddup.”

Andromeda laughed. Now her distraction had become a fun interrogation, and for what seemed to be the first time all day, she was now smiling because she was truly happy for a moment. Even Tempest began to beam too.

“And it all comes together,” he said, joining Andromeda’s poking.

Bismarck wasn’t amused, but he still chose to grin and bear the mockery.

“Oh yeah?” he replied. “And what’s that?”

Tempest stopped, forcing the others to stop for him.

“You like her, don’t you Bismarck?”

Two pairs of eyes and ears were fixated in the country stallion’s direction once again. After having to quickly come to grips with death, both seemed eager to hear or pry out any form of good news out of him. All he could do was try not feed their gossipy suspicions without looking like he was hiding something.

“We’ve known each other since we were foals,” Bismarck replied calmly. “We’ve literally grown up together. Yeah, we may not always see eye to eye, but we’re good friends.”

“Nope,” Andromeda smirked. “Not buying it. You may be old friends, but I think there’s more to it. I’ve seen you two spend time alone together before and I’ve had my suspicions about you guys. You’re hiding something.”

“Come on, Andi. Really?”

“And if he isn’t hiding something,” Tempest added with a playful conspiracy tone, “then Radiance is. We had a little chat when I flew her from the barn to the hut. She sure was upset about what you guys were arguing about.”

“What did she say?” Andromeda asked.

“She wouldn’t tell me anything. She didn’t even say that they argued, and that doesn’t sound like Radiance, does it?”

“Nuh-uh. She’s not the secretive type at all.”

Now Bismarck was getting aggravated. He didn’t appreciate their ganging up on him like this.

“What do you guys want from me?” he asked with a frustrated voice.

“Dude,” Tempest said, wrapping his arm around Bismarck’s neck, “just tell us the truth! Do you like her or not?”

“Of course ah like her! She’s mah friend!”

“He means like like her, you dope,” Andromeda teased. “You should know by now that Tempest and I won’t stop until we get to the bottom of this. If you don’t want to spend what could be your last few weeks of your life answering our questions day after day, I suggest you tell us.”

Bismarck glanced at Tempest, who shrugged.

“I don’t think she’s bluffing, Biz. I’d tell her if I were you. It’ll save you a lot of trouble. And sleep.”

Bismarck’s emerald eyes narrowed at him.

“Yer a real pal, Tempest,” he said grumpily.

“I know. Now, do you or do you not like Radiance?”

Bismarck could see that there was no way he was going to be able to get out of this situation. Like Andromeda said, if he didn’t tell her now, she’d just keep on asking until he did. With a deep breath, he let out a loud sigh.

“No, ah don’t like her like that. She’s a friend and that’s it.”

Andromeda squinted and stared him in the eyes, but Bismarck knew what she was doing. Applejack may have had a terrible poker-face, but that trait did not pass down to him at all. Andromeda leaned closer until her face painted the blacks of his eyes with her reflection.

“I don’t believe you,” she said.

“Ah told you the truth! Now are we gonna get goin’ or not?

“He’s not going to crack with you just staring at him,” Tempest said. “If you’re going to get a secret out of him, you need leverage.”

“What is this, CSI Ponyville?” Bismarck exclaimed.

Andromeda looked at Tempest with puzzled expression, but quickly figured out what he was getting at.

“Oh,” she said with a smile, “you mean like the spell?”

“Wait,” Bismarck said, “what?”

Andromeda and Tempest were on a roll now. They were going to get the information out of him one way or another, and this was getting fun.

“Yeah,” Andromeda continued, “you know, it’s going to exhausting working on it. Maybe I shouldn’t even bother.”

“I agree,” Tempest added.

Bismarck couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“No,” he said in shock, “you’d never! Ah don’t believe you.”

“You can believe her or not,” Tempest said with a shrug, “but I’m willing to bet she’s crazy enough to try it. You seem willing enough to keep us all here over a little secret, so maybe she isn’t the crazy one. Maybe we should just go.”

Andromeda nodded and began walking with him towards Zecora’s hut again.

“Sounds good to me,” she said. “We should tell the rest that we’re not going home after all. Somepony will need to inform Radiance.”

“I think Bismarck has that covered. He can tell her himself.”

Bismarck’s resolve crumbled as they spoke. Even if they were just bluffing, he knew his secret wasn’t worth the risk. As they walked away, he shouted after them.

“Alright!” he said, defeated. “Alright, okay, you win. You win!”

His friends quickly returned with smiles on their faces.

“Is there something you need to tell us, Bismark?” Tempest asked mockingly.

Bismarck shook his head.

“Yes, okay? Yes! I like Radiance.”

Andromeda’s face lit up like a Christmas tree.

“Do you like her a lot?” she asked with shimmering eyes.

“What are you, five?”

“Do you,” Andromeda repeated more sternly, “like her….a lot?”

“Fine, yes! Ah like her a lot! Are you happy?”

Andromeda’s attitude went bubbly once more at the idea of Bismarck having hidden feelings for Radiance.

“Very,” she said with a look of self-satisfaction. “Does she know?”

Bismarck groaned.

“Yes, she knows. Now can we talk about this another time? We’re burnin’ daylight as it is and we need to get to get goin’!”

“Going where?” a voice asked from above.

Tempest, Bismarck, and Andromeda’s eyes all shot open wide at once, each one praying it didn’t belong to who they thought it did. Slowly, all three looked up to see a familiar pony with colorful hair hovering above them, only for each one to feel as petrified as Discord’s old prison of stone. Seeing that they were too busy gawking, Rainbow Dash landed next to Tempest with a graceful drop and looked at them with a raised eyebrow.

“And what is it about tourists who keep staring at me when I talk to them?” she asked.

Andromeda ignored the question.

“I’m sorry,” she answered nervously, “but were you eavesdropping on us?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to spy on you guys. I heard you all talking about somepony called Radiance and watching this Bismarck guy squirm when you put the pressure on him was just hilarious!”

The three didn’t know how to respond. She knew their names and none of them had any idea that she had been listening in the first place. From the sound of it, though, she didn’t seem to have heard anything important, nor did she see fit to mention their reference of the spell. Despite dodging a bullet, Andromeda remained on her guard.

“Name’s Rainbow Dash,” the blue pegasus said with great confidence. “You guys new around here?”

“Yes, we are,” Andromeda answered.

“That’s cool. You know, a lot of new ponies have been showing up in this town recently. It’s kind of weird. What brings you here?”

Tempest and Bismarck kept their mouths shut. Andromeda had spent half of their trip planning for the unexpected, and now she was about to be tested by fire, but if anypony could plan for something like this, it was her. Without missing a beat, she answered Rainbow Dash’s questions.

“We’ve been visiting some friends of the family here and in Canterlot for the past two days.”

“Yeah, I noticed this guy flying around this morning.”

Tempest gulped. Even though they weren’t looking at him, he could feel the angry stares of his friends drilling through him in his mind. Even worse, he couldn’t stop staring at Rainbow Dash. Seeing his mother so young was a shock, but not as much as the fact that she had no idea who he was. Catching his gaze, she smiled.

“What’s your name again?”

“Uh,” he stammered in shock, “Tempest.”

“Relax, Tempest,” RD laughed. “I’m not going to bite! I actually dropped by to talk to you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. Like I said, I saw you flying around and I’ve gotta say… you were pretty fast.”

“Um…thanks.Rainbow Dash.”

Tempest felt weird calling his mom by her name. It was going to take some getting used to.

“You’re still not as fast as me, though.”

‘This is too much,’ Tempest thought to himself. ‘She’s just as overconfident as Applejack told me. She has no idea who she’s even dealing with. In fact…’

The thought of his mother in her prime challenging him to beat her was too much to ignore. Competition was in his blood and it burned within him, just as it did in her.

‘I know I shouldn’t,’ he thought, ‘but I have to know once and for all who’s better. I need to know if I’ll be as good as she will in my time.’

“Is that a challenge?” he finally said aloud to the horror of his friends.

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings again and hovered as if she was lying on her back. With a dramatic stretch, she was relaxing in midair.

“It sure is. It’s been a while since I’ve had a real challenge. I’m a pretty awesome flier myself. You may have heard of me; Element of Loyalty, saved the Wonderbolts , saved Equestria several times, and I’m the only pony alive to have accomplished the sonic rainboom. Twice.”

“Maybe I have,” he said nonchalantly. “Sounds impressive.”

“You don’t sound impressed. You think you can do better?”

Bismarck and Andromeda looked at Tempest, stunned at the fact that he was taking the bait.

“Sure,” he said. “I think I can.”

Andromeda wanted to smack him in the back of the head as hard as she could, but the damage was already done. RD was invested now and she was ready for a race. Zooming up close to him, she pointed in a direction outside of Ponyville to a group of far-away clouds.

“Then why don’t you prove it in the sky? No rules! Just you, me, and the finish line! Think you’ve got what it takes? Or are you chicken?”

Tempest tried to hold back a laugh. At this rate, she was proving to be a bigger compete-freak than he was.

“Okay, RD,” he said confidently. “If you want to get beaten so bad, I’ll race you!”

Before any more trash talk could be thrown out, Andromeda grabbed Tempest by the wing and pulled him towards her and Bismarck.

“Ah ha, that’s great. Sounds like tons of fun!” she said with a fake grin. “But hey, can you give us a minute? Just a minute? Great! Thanks!”

Pulling him away from Rainbow Dash, Andromeda and Bismarck formed a small huddle so she couldn’t hear.

“Tempest,” Andromeda hissed in a loud whisper, “what the hay are you doing? Have you lost your mind?”

“Relax Andi. I’ve got this.”

“That’s not the point! We’re supposed to be trying to get home, not racing our moms just because we can’t keep our own egos in check!”

“It’s just a race!” Tempest defended. “It’s no big deal! I’ll just get it over with and we’ll be on our way.”

“It’s not ‘just a race!’ That is your mom over there! I am not going to stand around and let you blow our cover.”

“Look guys, my mom isn’t going to let this go. If I don’t accept her challenge, she’ll just keep poking at me until I do!”

“She’s your mom. We’re supposed be avoiding her, not hanging out with her!”

“You don’t get it, Andromeda. If I’m going to have to put up with it, I might as well race her.”

Outside of the circle, Rainbow Dash was beginning to get impatient.

“You know, if there’s a problem, I could come by later! Or you can just admit that I’m the best and we can get it over with quick and easy, like ripping off a band-aid!”

“Just a minute!” Bismark shouted back.

“Don’t you see?” Tempest whispered. “This is my only chance ever to see if I’m as good as I think I am. I’ve never had to race my mom when she was my age! This is my chance to push my limits!”
Andromeda rubbed her eyes in frustration. This was going nowhere.

“Bismarck, I can’t reason with him. You’re a guy who understands the whole machismo testosterone mentality. You talk him out of it.”

“Bismarck,” Tempest pleaded, “please. I need answers too.”

Bismarck looked at Andromeda and back at Tempest again.

“Dangit, how come ah’m always the one getting roped into these things? Are your wings even healed yet?” he asked.

“Bismarck!” Andromeda hissed.

“What? Maybe he’s right. What if Rainbow Dash doesn’t stop pushing his buttons? If he can get it over with now, he should. But Tempest,” he said, switching his attention back towards his pegasus friend, “you have to take a dive on this one. If you beat her, she’s going to hold a grudge, and we’re old enough to remember when Rainbow Dash was a really sore loser. If you lose, she’ll think she’s still the best and she’ll leave us alone.”

Tempest stared at Bismarck with a look of astonishment.

“Not to be impatient or anything,” Rainbow Dash shouted again, “but I’ve got stuff to do! Are we doing this or not?”

“Okay,” Tempest responded, getting back up, “you’re on! Lead the way!”

Rainbow Dash grinned and flew towards the far away mountains.

“Finally!” she said. “Alright, follow me. Where we’re going, we’ll need to get as much distance as we can from the town. You know, sonic rainbooms and all that!”

With a quick takeoff, Tempest leaped into the air and flew high above the ground until he had caught up with his mother.

“If your flying is as fast as your mouth,” he replied, “then this should be interesting!”

As they rapidly grew smaller in the distance, Andromeda and Bismarck turned back towards Twilight’s, with her grumbling under her breath as they flew away.

“I can’t believe you let him go like that. If this ends up biting us in the flank….”

“Running into RD was goin’ to do that anyway,” Bismarck explained. “Hopefully Tempest will have enough self-control to not tick her off.”

“Be honest, Bismarck. Do you really think he’ll use it?”

Bismarck looked back up in the sky to see the sun slowly prepare to set, its orange rays beginning to cover the town in its glow. There was no sign of Tempest or Rainbow Dash, but he knew they were out there somewhere, and he could only pray that their friend would make the right choice.

“Ah guess we'll find out, won't we?”

The house wasn’t far away and there was little more need for conversation. As they approached the front door of Twilight Sparkle’s home, Andromeda took another deep breath and closed her eyes. Her hoof trembled slightly as she lifted it to knock on the door. Bismarck gripped it gently and held onto it for a moment.

“You can do it,” he said gently. “We’ll get through this.”

Andromeda paused for a moment and nodded. Letting go of her hoof, Bismarck stepped to the side and allowed her to take center stage, and with great reluctance, she knocked on the door. Andromeda’s heart beat so hard as she waited that she nearly thought the knocks had made an echo. A light shuffling could be heard from inside and after a moment, the clinking sound of a lock opening pierced the quiet. Opening slowly, the large wooden door revealed a purple unicorn who would eventually become a pony of legend. Andromeda’s nerves continued to tremble as she stood at the doorway. Seeing her guests, the mare looked upon them curiously with dark amethyst eyes.

“Can I help you?” she asked genuinely.

Andromeda gazed at Twilight’s young beauty and couldn’t help but smile herself. Part of her feared this moment, but now that it had arrived, all she wanted right now was to be with her family, no matter what time period they were from.

“I hope so,” she said, trying not to lose her calm. “I really hope so.”