- Written by Ted Anderson, Art by Toni Kuusisto
"Ponyville’s most courageous and magical ponies celebrate friendship and fun in this adventure set twenty years in the past! Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and the rest of your favorite fillies are young foals—surely things can't get too crazy, right?! One thing's for sure: no matter what escapades they face, the magic of friendship will see them through!"
This issue provides examples of:
- Comically Missing the Point: Pinkie Pie, after the adventure is over.Princess Celestia: So did you learn anything from meeting your younger selves?
Pinkie Pie: I learned that I've always needed conditioner! - Continuity Nod:
- Rainbow Dash performs her Sonic Rainboom in front of a delegation from Abyssinia. The country was first seen in the Movie Prequel series, being attacked by the Storm King's forces.
- Twilight acknowledges this isn't the first time she's travelled back in time.
- Continuity Snarl: Both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy seem to act less friendly towards each other despite them apparently being very close since they were children, made even more jarring by the fact that the entire race that resulted in the Sonic Rainboom was because of Rainbow Dash was defending her honor.
- Covers Always Lie: Despite being featured prominently on the cover, Princess Luna never once appears in the issue.
- Deadpan Snarker: Rainbow Dash.Twilight Sparkle: This portal must have been ripped open by our journey through time!
Young Twilight Sparkle: You're right! The magical signature of this portal is extraordinary!
Rainbow Dash: Wow, eggheads in stereo! - Future Me Scares Me:
- Taken literally with young Fluttershy, who screams when her older self appears in front of her.
- Averted by young Rarity, who is immediately amazed at how elegant and beautiful her future self is.
- Hidden Depths: The younger Pinkie Pie is quickly able to theorize why her future self appeared right next to her.Young Pinkie Pie: So some kind of temporal distortion sent you to the past?
Pinkie Pie: Yep!
Young Pinkie Pie: And you arrived next to your younger self because of quantum kirlian attraction, right?
Pinkie Pie: Right! - Jaw Drop: This is how Twilight's parents react when Twilight travels to the past; they simply stare at her in slack-jawed shock, and stay that way for the remainder of the scene.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: When the Mane Six depart from the past, past Princess Celestia uses a spell on their younger selves to seal away their memories of the encounter, in order to prevent history from changing. After they return to the present, the Mane Six's memories of that experience return.
- Lightning Can Do Anything: The Mane Six are sent back in time by a combination of wearing the Elements of Harmony and Rainbow Dash being struck by lightning at the same time as she performs her Sonic Rainboom.
- My Future Self and Me: The young Mane Six go on an adventure with their adult selves, recovering the Elements of Harmony (which were lost when the present day Mane Six were pulled back in time).
- Oh, No... Not Again!: Twilight's reaction when she appears before her younger self is to bemoan that she's time traveled again.
- The Power of Friendship: Discussed and joked about by Rarity and Rainbow Dash.Rarity: No one pony is as smart, or as tough, or as fast as all of us! That's the real magic of friendship!
Rainbow Dash: Well, that and the magic lasers we can fire out of these jewels. - Retcon: The Mane meetings with their future selves when getting their cutie marks changes it so their recount of getting them to Unreliable Expositor due to their suppressed memories. Younger Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie had their cutie mark when their older selves arrive but before the points in their memories where they got them.
- Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!: The younger Twilight naturally doesn't believe that friendship is worth having. Her future self tells her that having friends is going to change her life.
- Weirdness Magnet: Twilight acknowledges Ponyville as this, pointing out that "any time something weird happens, either it starts there or we end up there!"
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Fluttershy encourages her younger self by telling her that she will one day be far more confident than she is now, and that the strength to do so is already inside of her.
