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Time Traveling Kids of the Mane Six! Ch. 10

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CHAPTER 10: Cutie Mark Criss-cross (First draft. Final version in the works)


Bucky's eyesight remained blurry as he looked around, desperately hoping to find something or somepony who could help him. He was in a room of some sort, but felt too nauseous to tell whose it was. His chest heaved with difficulty with each gasp of air becoming more shallow than the last while something clung tightly on his throat. His hoof grasped his neck to feel his Cutie Mark Crusader's cape. He had forgotten that he had put it on, but now it was choking him. Grasping at the knot, he tore it off, flooding oxygen into his lungs. He coughed loudly and painfully, gasping for a while before he sunk his head back to the cold floor. Taking the moment to catch his breath, his green eyes darted around, searching his surroundings. He was inside a small warm bedroom, not the cool basement where he once was. Stuffed animals surrounded him from all sides, their glass eyes watching his every move and motion and blanketing him in a feeling of uneasiness and paranoia. This was not Orion and Andromeda's house. Something felt very wrong.

'Ah have to get up!' he thought to himself, trying to will his arms and legs to move.  

Rocking back and forth, he attempted to pick himself up, but his body felt like it was being pressed down by an imaginary force. The floor felt like it was tumbling and his head felt dizzy and heavier than it had ever been. There he laid for a few more minutes until muffled voices echoed in his mind, mumbling some sort of language he couldn't understand. He could not tell who or where the source was, but their tone seemed to be worried.

"Bucky!" the first voice cried, clearing up slowly. "Wake up!"

        "Can you hear us?" the second joined in. "It's us...Orion and Peach Cobbler."

"Rion?" Bucky mumbled softly. "Petch?"

"Yeah, that's it!" an encouraged Orion said. "Come on, man, come back to us!"

Bucky took a moment to allow the spinning room to slow down before he attempted to get himself up. His arms and legs felt weak and shook when he tried to support his weight. Peach and Orion helped him up while he pushed until he finally stood lightly on his four hooves. His legs wobbled a bit and he nearly fell back down, but  Peach Cobbler caught him and held on.

"Thank Celestia you're okay," Peach said, giving him a tight hug.

Orion and Bucky both remained silent out of shock, making Peach feel awkward and letting go of her grip as quickly as she started it. Bucky stumbled back slightly, but had now found his strength to at least sit up straight. He rested his back against a wall and sighed heavily.

"Well," Peach said, clearing her throat, "it's about time you got up. We've been looking all over this house for you."

"Where," Bucky started, still trying to muster the ability of speech, "where..." "Are we?" Peach finished. "I think this is Sugar Cube corner. Orion and I ended up in the other room. Nopony is home it looks like. We found a note on the downstairs counter saying the Cakes will be back in an hour."

"Wha? How did we..."

She patted him on the back, indicating he didn't have to speak, and motioned to Orion, who was making his way to a window.

"Idiot here thought he could pull off time-travel, remember? Apparently, it worked, but we haven't left this house yet, so we have no idea how far back we went!"

"Hey, you agreed to come with!" Orion retorted, not quite paying attention to her as looked outside. "I told you I could have done it alone."

"Some good that did us! Did you see the size of that blast? Who knows if we would have been caught in it anyway! What if our older sisters got caught in it too?"

Orion's face reflected a pale doppelganger in the window pane, frightened and unsure. His lips trembled slightly and a bead of sweat trickled down the side of his forehead.

"If they traveled with us," he said horrified, "then...."

"Yer one dead colt." Bucky said in a raspy voice before clearing his throat.

"Yeah." Orion said, growing quiet again.

A silence weighed on the room while they looked around. Along with the stuffed animals, various baby toys surrounded them, along with two wooden cribs. None of the Crusaders had any memory of the Cakes having cribs in this room, but it was no surprise to any of them to whom they belonged to.

"Guys," Orion said, pointing them out," look."

Peach and Bucky turned and inspected the baby beds carefully while Orion continued to look out the window. Bite marks covered one of the gates extensively and another gate looked like it had been kicked off several times and hastily put back together.

"Pumpkin and Pound Cake," Bucky said aloud with a recovered voice. "So this means...."

"It means we've gone back a lot more than a few hours." Orion said shyly.

"Try a few decades, genius!" Peach chided. "How did this even happen? I thought the spell wouldn't work, not become super effective!"

"It doesn't matter how it happened." Bucky said, calming her down. "We need to figure out what we're gonna do. What do ya think, Orion?"

There was no answer.

"Orion?" he asked again.

Both of them looked at Orion, who was now sitting by a window, looking out. He did not hear them and was consumed in his own thoughts, twirling his CMC cape in his hooves. He said nothing and just sat there, staring at the Ponyville of the past. Bucky stood up slowly with the help of Peach and took a step closer.

"What's with him?" Bucky asked, looking at Peach. "He's actin' a bit strange."

She shook her head.

"He's been acting weird since he recovered from the time jump. When I found him, he was having some kind of nightmare. I don't know what's going on with him."

Something was definitely off with their friend. The crimson eyes that once sparkled with enthusiasm and courage were not wide and dark. Their pupils were small, like dots of ink on a page while they trembled slightly. Orion did not look well and was mumbling something to himself inaudibly. Bucky approached him.

"You okay?" he asked.

Orion continued to stare out the window, oblivious to what was going around him. Bucky drew closer.

"Orion!" he said loudly, making the unicorn jump.

Nothing made him startle that easily.

"Are ya with us?" the worried earth colt asked, putting his hoof on his friend's shoulder. "Yer a bit jumpy all of a sudden."

Orion shook his head. Fuzzy thoughts emptied in his mind while he tried to regain control of whatever was happening. His eyes moved to the side, looking at the concerned looks on his friends' faces. What just happened? Was he suddenly losing his mind?

"I'm fine!" he said, lying to them and himself. "I'm okay."

Peach and Bucky continued to look at him with concerned faces.

"Come on," he said, hoping to change the topic, "we need to get goin' before the Cakes show up."

His friends said nothing as he made his way to the door. Before he could leave, Peach stopped him and raised her eyebrow.

"You're sure everything is fine?" she asked.

"Yes, yes!" Orion said in an aggravated tone. "Now let's go. We can't stay here."

"Alright," Peach said, aqua eyes fixed on his own. "You're the time traveler. How are we supposed to get back home? Shouldn't we just time jump back now?"

"Um, we could," Orion said, obviously unsure of himself. "though I don't think I can repeat a spell that powerful, though."
Bucky stepped in.

"That's the least of our worries. If our friends and family are here in the past with us, we need to find 'em."

"We can get our moms to help us look." Peach added.

"No!" Orion exclaimed, scaring his friends.

Seeing his behavior was getting odd looks, Orion took a deep breath and calmed himself for a moment.

"We can't do that." he said, rubbing his eyes in frustration. "Mom and Andromeda both said that we can't let ourselves be seen by family."

"Because it might change history?" Peach Cobbler asked.  

"Yeah."

"Then how in Equestria are we going to search for our friends without bumping into our parents?"

"We'll just hafta be careful." Bucky suggested. "First we need to do somethin' about our Crusader capes. We can't take 'em with us without riskin' bein' noticed."

Peach shook her head.

"We can't leave them here, either. What if the cakes spot it? They'll show it to this time's Crusaders."

"There may not be Crusaders in this time yet." Orion said, looking back at the window. "I don't know, but we are going to have to take that chance. We can't leave them here. Flip your capes around so the logo doesn't show. We can use them as hoods to hide our faces."

"Do you think that will work?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. All I know is that we can't stay here. The Cakes will be here any minute."

"Call me crazy," Bucky added, "but ah'm excited about this whole time travel thing. We're in the past, guys! How cool is this? Mah whole family has been in Ponyville fer....."

He stopped and looked at his hooves.

"Aw shoot! There's no way ah'm gonna avoid them! Look at me!"

Orion and Peach inspected their country friend. He was right. There wasn't an ounce of Apple family traits that he didn't have. His green eyes and white freckles were identical to Applejack's and his orange mane and yellow coat were common family colors.

"What do ah do?" he asked. "My mom will spot me from a mile away!"

Peach and Orion thought for a moment. With his thick country accent and Apple traits, there was little chance nopony would spot the resemblance.

"Maybe you can pose as an in-town relative." Orion suggested. "A distant cousin."

Bucky smirked.

"Well what if ah run into my family and ah say ah'm a cousin? They'll ask me whose kid ah am!"

"I don't know!" Peach groaned impatiently. "You guys know all of your relatives by name! Figure it out, but don't tell them you're family until they ask."

"Great," Bucky sighed, "this is gonna be more difficult than ah thought."

"But I agree with Bucky." Peach said enthusiastically. "We're in the past! Let's have some fun and look around! At least for a bit."

She was excited about their situation more than any of them and made her way down the stairs quickly and ran to the front door. Opening it up, the light of the sun shone on her, warming her peach colored skin and wings. Fresh air filled hers lungs as she looked around. Bucky and Orion followed soon behind. Ponyville laid before them, seemingly untouched by time.


"Wow." Peach whispered in awe.

Familiar and unfamiliar faces abounded as they stood at the doorway in shock. The three crusaders walked slowly, taking in the surreality of their situation. Nopony recognized them, which was good for them. They could not allow themselves to be discovered. The three walked through the town slowly, trying not to attract attention. Various ponies gave them glances, but said nothing and did not approach them. Instead, they walked past them like three strange foals with red hoods were just ordinary. This anonymity encouraged Bucky, who was secretly having a wonderful time, despite knowing he needed to be the most careful of all three of them.

"Come on, guys!" he said excitedly. "Let's look around a bit!"

Orion hesitated in an uncharacteristic manner.

"I don't know. I think we should see if Andromeda and the rest are here first."

"Oh come on Orion," Peach Cobbler nudged, "nopony recognizes us. As long as we're careful, we're safe."

Orion continued to feel unsure. Twilight always told him that time travel was very unpredictable and was to be taken seriously. Something else, however, stirred in him. A feeling of insecurity and weakness fed inside of him, eating away at something inside him. He could not figure out what it was but hoped to shake it off. He was not acting right and he could feel it.


"Fine," he said, wavered by their wishes, "let's look around, but only for a minute."

Bucky and Peach were already gone, leaving a trail of dust behind them. Orion sighed and followed.

***
Not far away, three more adventurous fillies were walking and talking.

"Today is a special day!" Scootaloo said, beaming with excitement. "I don't know why, but I can feel it!"

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stared at their friend.

"How so?" Sweetie Belle asked. "What makes today so special?"

Scootaloo's eyes glistened as she stopped and pulled a small flyer from a small pouch and unfolded it. It big lettering it read "Ponyville Field Day" with pictures of fillies and colts enjoying various events.

"Today we could get our marks in athletics!" she said.

"Athletics? Us?" Apple Bloom said, scratching her head.  

"Why not? I'm athletic, you're athletic, and Sweetie Belle..."

Scootaloo stopped when Apple Bloom tried to hide a wide grin.

"Well," she giggled, "it never hurts to try."

"Ha ha, very funny." Sweetie Belle said sarcastically as she shoved her pegasus friend.

"Cheer up, Sweetie Belle." Apple Bloom winked. "At least this time we can all go together!"

"Then it's settled!" Scootaloo said confidently. "It's starting in a few hours! We need to get warmed up and ready!"

"Cutie Mark Crusader athletes!" the three exclaimed before taking off.

No sooner did they turn the first corner did they crash into some other foals, falling on each other. Legs and heads twisted together in a big pile as the six ponies tried to untangle themselves from the wreck. Scootaloo groaned.

"Watch where you're going!" she said, clutching her aching head.

"Where we're going?" the strange filly remarked with her back to Scootaloo. "You ran into us!"

Scootaloo shook her head to see a light pink colored pegasus filly, an orange earth colt, and a purple unicorn colt brushing themselves off and getting up. She had never seen them before, but the colts were staring at them nervously and Bucky was trying his hardest to hide his face in the shadow of his hood.

"Talk about rude!" Peach Cobbler continued, still not noticing who she had run into.

"Uh, Peach..." Orion said, tapping her shoulder while not keeping his eyes off of them. "Turn around!"

"What? Why-I-I-I-I....." she nearly shouted when she found herself staring at the original Crusaders. "Oh you've got to be kidding me."

"Who are you guys?" Sweetie Belle asked curiously. "I've never seen you before. Are you new to Ponyville?"

Orion, Peach Cobbler, and Bucky froze. They did not expect to actually run into the original Cutie Mark Crusaders, one of whom was Bucky's aunt. Panicked, they looked at each other, hoping the other would say something.

"Well, um, Orion started, waiting for backup, "we're from out of town."

"Canterlot!" Peach Cobbler added quickly. "We're from Canterlot."

"Canterlot?" Apple Bloom asked. "What are y'all doin' in Ponyville?"

Bucky's mind raced before spotting the Field Day flyer that Scootaloo was holding.

"We're, uh, here fer the Ponyville Field Day!" he nearly shouted. "To do....field day stuff?"

Peach Cobbler groaned silently. They were so dead, or so she thought until Sweetie Belle pipped in excitedly.

"Us too! We're on our way right now! We should all go together!"

Bucky winced. Here he was, together with his child-aged aunt in a time where any discovery could alter the future and praying to the sweet graces of Celestia that she wouldn't notice his family resemblance.

'Somepony kick me now!' he thought to himself.

"Yeah!" Apple Bloom added. "It'll be fun!"

Peach Cobbler and Orion glanced at each other. In just one milisecond, their eyes told each other that they had no choice but to go with. They had "come from Canterlot" to go to that event, and if they didn't, it would be suspicious.

"That sounds like lots of fun!" Orion said with a large awkward grin, trying his hardest not to look scared out of his mind.

"I'm Sweetie Belle, by the way. These are my friends Apple Bloom and Scootaloo."

"Hiya!" Apple Bloom said with a cheerful smile.

"Sup." Scootaloo said calmly.

"So what are your names?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Another moment of silence.

'Names!' Orion thought to himself. 'We forgot about names! Of course I'd be that stupid to forget!'

"Peach Cobbler, Orion, and Bucky!" Peach blurted out suddenly. Two pair of eyes drilled into her as she stood there, trying not to blush from embarrassment.

"Nice to meet y'all." Apple Bloom said cordially. "The Field Day is goin' to start soon and we're gonna practice. Let's get goin'!"

"Yeah." the three newcomers gulped. "Let's go."

As the three fillies led on, the future Crusaders looked at each other with nervous glances.

"So much fer staying unnoticed." Bucky whispered to his friends.
My most difficult chapter. (Yes, even more so than the all-rhyming Zecora chapter).

You guys don't know it yet, but there is a LOT more going on than just time travel here. Consider this chapter the base of this story's tree. The many details of the introductory chapters served as the roots and now it is coming together here, in the tree's trunk. As we get further along, there will be many branching arcs and hints that will be revealed.

I still can't tell you them yet, but there is a lot in store under the hood. Trust me! ;)

**** These characters were created by me. To know more about the characters' personality profiles and designs, check out my artwork below! ****  

Art Cover by LinaPrime: linaprime.deviantart.com/art/F…


Chapter 1: Andromeda's Discovery
Chapter 2: Orion's Big Day
Chapter 3: Country as Apple Pie
Chapter 4: High Fliers
Chapter 5: A Day at the Spa
Chapter 6: Swords and Spells
Chapter 7: Birthday Cake and Best Friends
Chapter 8: Take Me Back
Chapter 9: Welcome to the Past
Chapter 10: 
Chapter 11: Shelter


***THESE ARE NOT SHIPPING CHILDREN. No fathers will be implied, revealed, named, or described in any way. This is not a shipping story and I would like to stay neutral on that battleground. Thank you.*** ;)


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© 2012 - 2024 ShrapnelLeader
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SonicRainbowDash98's avatar
You are a horrible human being... I had TWO HOURS SLEEP last night! damn you for being such a good writer! I hate that i admire you so much! I curse how much I love this story! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT SO ADDICTIVE!? WHY!?!?