Time and Space in Harmony

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 4

Chapter 1

by Inkspots

Chapter 1

Twilight Sparkle looked out across her kingdom, the kingdom she ruled with an iron hoof, and felt dismay. Cheerilee had brought her entire class of students to the Ponyville Library. After lunch.

“Now remember everypony, you’re looking for one fiction, and one non-fiction book that you’ll enjoy reading over the summer,” Cheerilee called over the babble. “No, Snips, you already read that. We went over it in class. Well you were supposed to have read it, pick another one.”

Spike came out of Twilight’s room carrying a letter, but Twilight didn’t look away from the children. She was fairly certain some of them were covered in jam. In her library.

“Hey Twilight, Celestia sent you a letter,” Spike said. When she didn’t respond, he tapped her on the shoulder. Still nothing. “Is everything okay?”

“Spike, you might as well get the cleaning supplies now. And write me a note. Next year, she should bring her class by before lunch,” Twilight said, grimacing as two fillies fought over the sixth Daring-Do book.

“They both need to be appropriate books for your reading level, remember you’re going to have to write a report on both and hand it in on the first day of class next year. Yes, Diamond Tiara, I know you’re switching schools next year, you don’t have to write a report,” Cheerilee explained.

“Well, I guess you can read the letter later, I’ll put it on your desk, okay Twi?” Spike asked.

“No, no it’s fine. I need to not watch this,” Twilight said. She levitated the scroll out of Spike’s hands and opened it up. It was very short, and written in Celestia’s flowing, archaic script.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

In ten days time, Star Swirl the Bearded will be arriving in the Star Swirl the Bearded Section of the Canterlot Library. Please come to Canterlot at least twenty four hours in advance and bring a gown that fully hides your wings. Come alone, and tell no one who you are meeting.

Your Friend,

Celestia

The yelling children became a distant, remote thing. Twilight tried to wrap her mind around the content of the letter, and the phrase time travel floated across her mind, which just raised more questions than it answered.

“You’re sure this came from Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked, trying to buy her mind time to think.

“Oh I’m sure, I’m pretty familiar with the taste of that spell by now. What does it say?” Spike asked, peeking over Twilight’s shoulder. “Oh, it’s blank? Why did she send a blank scroll?”

“It’s enchanted, only I can read it,” Twilight said. She thought for a moment, yes that had to be true. So she could still think. It was a small victory.

“Oh, royal business eh? Well I won’t stick my nose into it then,” Spike said.

“Alright, Twilight, we’re ready to check out, everyone form a line over here, and have your books ready,” Cheerilee said.

Twilight came down from the balcony and started stamping books, doing her best to smile, greet the students, and act normal. She wasn’t sure she was doing a good job because when Sweetie Belle walked up with her two books, she asked Twilight if she was feeling alright.

“Uh, oh I’m fine, thank you Sweetie Belle. But, um, can you do me a favor actually? Can you tell your sister I need a gown that completely hides my wings,” Twilight said.

“A what?” she asked.

“Completely hides my wings, yes. Enjoy the books.”

* * * * * *

That evening Twilight went over to Carousel Boutique after it closed and knocked on the door. After a moment Rarity came to the door and unlocked it.

“Twilight, darling, is Sweetie Belle telling the truth? A gown that hides your wings?” Rarity asked as they walked upstairs from the store to the workshop.

“She is,” Twilight said.

“Whatever for?” Rarity asked.

“Well, I actually can’t tell you,” Twilight replied. “It’s uh, Princess business?”

“Well I will simply have to get it out of you later with a bottle of wine,” Rarity said with a laugh. “In the meantime I am so glad she was telling the truth. After I got over the oddity of the whole thing it turned out to be a particularly fascinating challenge. I tried looking at the gowns pegasus actors use when portraying different kinds of ponies, and those work if you’re twenty feet away from a stage, but they are just no good face to face. Then I thought, corset darling! I talked Fluttershy into putting a few on but they were simply unbearable. The boning is a nightmare on the wings. Eventually it was Rainbow Dash of all ponies who had the right idea. She came over with Fluttershy, and suggested I use the material that flight suits are made out of. It’s stretchy, but taught and comfortable against feathers.” Rarity pulled a sheet off of her creation. “And Viola! Magnificent, yes?”

Twilight had expected the gown to have a massive bustle to hide her wings, but it was actually quite sleek.

“I can’t believe how far along you are already, it’s very pretty,” Twilight said.

“Now, Sweetie Belle didn’t say if this was for a formal occasion or an outside engagement or what have you, so I can modify it if needed, but I went with an evening gown just to be safe,” Rarity explained. The dress was black with blue and purple accents.

“Well I am meeting an important pony, so I suppose a formal gown works well,” Twilight mused.

“Oh, an important pony? The clues begin to appear,” Rarity said. “A date, perhaps? You are always so secretive about your love life. But the gown... perhaps a date with a pony you haven’t seen in awhile?”

Twilight frowned at Rarity. “I really can’t say anything more, please.”
“Fine, fine, I’ll be patient. But back to the dress, I won’t lie, dark colors were the obvious choice for a deceptive gown. Now let’s get you into it! I used the measurements I had down from your Best Mare dress but in truth it’s all just pins and magic holding it together.”

Rarity and Twilight made small talk as the seamstress measured and sewed and wrapped Twilight in the gown. Her wings rested in sleeves beneath the outer layer of the dress, and once it was on, Twilight looked like a unicorn again. It was more shocking than the first time she had seen herself with wings because for a brief moment she felt relief: she was finally back to normal. Then the reality of what normal now meant came crashing back down. She didn’t really expect to start crying.

“Twi? Twilight dear what’s the matter?” Rarity asked. She summoned her fainting couch and brought Twilight over to it. Twilight put her head in Rarity’s lap and had a good long cry, doing her best to ignore the stabbing pain of the pins from the incomplete dress. Rarity didn’t say anything, just stroked Twilight’s mane in silence.

When the tears finished Rarity gave Twilight a scrap of spare cloth to dab her eyes with.

“Now I know this isn’t about the dress, because let’s be honest, it’s me, the dress is fabulous,” Rarity said. Twilight couldn’t help but smile. “There, that’s what I wanted to see. Now, Twilight dear, can you tell me what this is about?”

“I just, I just had to finally admit to myself that everything is different now,” Twilight said.

“Well that’s simply not true,” Rarity said. “And I suspect there are a handful of ponies who feel the same way.”

* * * * * *

Eight days later Twilight arrived in Canterlot. She had hired a Pegasus Chariot, so the flight only took two hours. They landed just outside Canterlot Castle. Twilight tossed the two pegasi a few extra bits each and made her way through the gate. Celestia was waiting for her just inside. As the pair talked they walked through the lush, blooming palace gardens.

“Hello Twilight Sparkle, how are you my dear?” she asked.

“Very, very confused,” Twilight admitted.

“Well we can talk about that in a moment. First, did you follow my instructions?” Celestia asked.

“Yes, Rarity made me a dress that hides my wings, and I didn’t tell her why. I didn’t tell anyone,” Twilight said.

“Good. After this is over, this might all seem slightly unnecessary, but we felt it was better to take the precautions just in case,” Celestia said.

“We?” Twilight asked.

“Star Swirl and I,” Celestia replied. “Come, let’s head up to my tower, we can talk there.”

They had reached the base of Celestia’s tower, where the princess’ private quarters were. The two alicorns spread their wings and took to the air. The floral haze of the palace gardens gave way to the thin, mountainous air as they rose above the palace walls. They touched down on the balcony of Celestia’s tower, then stepped inside her laboratory. They sat down on floor cushions and Celestia waited for Twilight to get her thoughts together.

“So, does this have to do with time travel?” Twilight asked.

“Yes.”

“Okay, but he can’t be using the spell I used, that only allowed you to go back in time,” Twilight replied.

“Indeed, that spell was an early product of his research into time travel. It is mostly useless, and suffers from all the problems that the Praxial Bridge model imposes on temporal magic,” Celestia said.

“But it also confirms his theorem, doesn’t it? The energy that flows along the Praxial Bridge goes forward in time, making the act of going backwards in time exceedingly difficult as the magical energies that you expend to do so are quickly overcome by the flow of time, and you’re pushed back along the Praxial Bridge to your original time, and you’re deposited there instead of further in the future because the magical expenditure that sent you back in time creates a temporal flux that makes it the most energy efficient point to remove you from the flow of time,” Twilight said.

“And the implications for going forward in time?” Celestia asked.

“It requires less energy, but once you’re further along the Praxial Bridge going back to your original time is just as difficult as any attempt to go back in time, and also temporary, making it essentially a one way trip,” Twilight replied.

“Very good, Twilight,” Celestia said. “Now, what would be the implication of a device that allowed you to simulate a Praxial Bridge, and thus actively affect how time flows along it?”

Twilight was silent for a moment, trying to guess if Celestia was asking simply to test her, or if she had such a device tucked away somewhere. “It would allow, if it existed, for a pony to go forward in time without it being a one way trip, and go backwards in time without expending so much energy, you could go back incredibly far. Princess, did Star Swirl build something like that?”

“Indeed. Though he had some help from a certain Princess,” she replied. “However, despite our best efforts it did not allow us free reign over time, to go where we wished at whim. And in truth that is probably for the best. We had the knowledge, what we lacked were materials. It was more than a thousand years ago, and we just didn’t have the magical components needed to create a device like you described. I could have waited, but Star Swirl couldn’t. He was already getting old at that point. So we made the best device we could. Then it was simply a matter of deciding where to go. We quickly agreed that we would make no attempt to change the past, simply observe it. So we eventually decided we would send him back to Harmonia.”

Twilight was tired of being confused. She was so rarely confused. “But that’s just an old mare’s tale!”

“Like the Mare in the Moon?” Celestia asked.

Twilight blushed. “Okay, good point.”

“What do you know about Harmonia?” Celestia asked.

“Just the bedtime story every pony knows: The Kingdom of Harmonia existed long ago, and was a beautiful place where everypony was happy. Then, after thousands of years of peace a pony, either a wizard or general, or something, arrived and tricked the Queen, stealing her throne and ruling over her subjects as a tyrant. All the ponies began dying, and soon there were barely any ponies left. The final pony or ponies then rise up and defeat the evil tyrant, sealing him away, and leaving the kingdom,” Twilight said. “But I never heard of any evidence that it actually existed.”

“Thousands of years ago the story was told a little differently. Luna and I heard that story, and when Discord threatened the world, we followed its clues, searching for the power the heroic ponies used to overthrow the tyrant king. Out investigation led us to the Elements of Harmony. We found them in the Everfree Forest, just like you did,” Celestia explained. “We suspected then that Harmonia really had existed, but we had little to go on. If these ponies had created the Elements of Harmony, then they would have had to of had remarkable magical knowledge, power, and an understanding of unity and friendship, which begs the question: how was their kingdom destroyed? These were the questions we hoped to answer. However, because we didn’t have the best of components, we couldn’t create a perfect simulation of a Praxial Bridge. We made, more of a spiral. For a trip that far into the past he would need to then travel into his future, so he would end up back in his original time without any extra energy trying to distort the flux point where he exited. That is why he will appear here briefly, before returning to his original time.”

Twilight’s brain made an heroic effort keeping up. “So, why in the Star Swirl the Bearded Section?”

“He will arrive next to the device, the hourglass in the middle-”

“Wait that’s a device, I thought it was a sculpture!” Twilight remarked.

“No, it is a device, a Praxial Bridge Simulator,” Celestia said.

Twilight’s head hurt. “I’m not even sure what words to use for this.”

“Yes, he always said the problem with time travel was grammar.”

* * * * * *

The next day Twilight had a maid help her into her wing-hiding evening gown and headed for the Canterlot Library, feeling a little bit ridiculous, but also nervous because she was about to meet the most famous wizard in Equestrian history. The butterflies in her stomach kept her preoccupied until she got there. She found Celestia sitting in the Star Swirl the Bearded section, waiting. Twilight sat beside her, and in the silence, suddenly a host of questions rose out of her roiling stomach.

“So, Princess, why do I need this gown?” Twilight asked.

“Star Swirl will only be in our present for about an hour. I do not want to distract him with the knowledge that you are an alicorn. If he asks, you are simply my most prized student, here to take notes,” Celestia replied.

“Oh, okay,” Twilight replied. She pulled out the parchment and quill she had brought along and cast a spell on the quill so it would record every word it heard. They then returned to sitting in silence. After an hour, Twilight asked her second question. “Don’t you already know what he says? After he shows up here, he’s going to show up in... his present, and you’ll be there, and you must have talked about his findings.”

Celestia did not respond. She did not look at Twilight. She simply stared ahead.

“I’m sorry, it’s none of-”

“No Twilight, I’m sorry. I haven’t been completely honest with you, and I haven’t told you the whole truth because it is so hard to say. Yes, you are here because Star Swirl will appear and might just answer one of the most important archeological questions ever asked. You are also here for another reason. After Star Swirl leaves our present, he will return to his present. There, the device will malfunction, and he will fail to exit the temporal flow through the proper flux point. As the Praxial Simulation collapses around him, he will cease to exist. This is your second task: I cannot tell him. We will speak only of his findings. If I show weakness, if I cannot control myself and try to warn him, you must use whatever magic you see fit to stop me,” Celestia said. “When he arrived in his present, he did not know the device would malfunction. Which means I don’t tell him now, which means you won’t fail.”

“Princess, I’m not sure I could use magic on you like that,” Twilight said.

“Perhaps you won’t. Perhaps I will make it through the meeting. But if you must, you will.”

They lapsed back into silence. Twilight tried to imagine what spell she would even use. She tried to imagine using, for instance, a tongue swelling spell. But almost as soon as she thought of it, she was mortified at the idea. Time passed, perhaps another hour. The section was silent, library silent.

The enormous hourglass that Twilight thought was a sculpture began to vibrate, then started to turn slowly. As it did so the base opened up to reveal a complex network of magical crystals and runes. Finally, the hourglass completed its turn, and with a flash, a pony appeared before them.

He was not wearing the cape and hat all the stories described, and his beard did not drag the ground, but was perhaps two feet long, still longer than any beard Twilight had ever seen on a stallion. His mane was steely grey with a hint of blue, and his coat was white and shaggy.

“I must say, I’m still not used to that sensation,” he said, shaking his head.

“Hello, Star Swirl,” Celestia said.

“Oh hello darling, and who is this?” he asked.

“She is a student, here to take notes for us,” Celestia replied.

“Really? You must be quite the student to be invited to this little meeting,” Star Swirl said with a chuckle.

“She is my brightest pupil,” Celestia said, casting a warm smile at Twilight.

Twilight blushed. She wanted to say something, but she didn’t want to give anything away. Celestia had no doubt gone over this meeting thousands of times in her mind, but Twilight was thinking on her hooves.

“It’s really an honor to be here, Star Swirl,” Twilight said. She didn’t think he could discern anything for that statement.

“Very carefully put my dear,” he said.

“Do not try to pry any information out of her, she is far too well read to reveal anything you shouldn’t know,” Celestia said.

“Well read you say? I would imagine so to get this far, but you’re right, tricking pupils must wait. I, well, in truth, I really don’t know how to preamble this: I have walked the streets of Harmonia!” Star Swirl exclaimed.

“So it really did exist?” Celestia asked.

“Oh yes it did. And it was beautiful. Deep in the Everfree Forest, every street lined with ancient trees, the houses towering above those. On every street corner the lamp posts shine like they house captive stars, and the sky never quite gets bright enough to be day, and not terribly dark at night,” Star Swirl waved his hooves around as he spoke. “But the Elements of Harmony! When I arrived I headed for the center of the city, to a giant domed palace. There, in the main hall, sat the Elements in their physical form, resting on an elaborate stone fountain. Based on all the evidence I could see they did indeed create them, their magical signature matched the fountain perfectly. Well, we can talk over all of this when I get back to-”

“Oh I know, but everything is fresh in your mind, we should try to get as much of it down right now, just in case,” Celestia said. Twilight watched her face. She was smiling, but her eyes were looking into the space beyond Star Swirl.

“Your academic integrity is matched only by your beauty. Very well,” Star Swirl spoke at length about the types of cutie marks he saw on the ponies, the architecture, ponies drinking water from the Fountain of Harmony. He tried to relate as many words from their ancient language as he could remember hearing and seeing. Celestia had dozens and dozens of questions ready, and Twilight’s magical quill raced to record it all. And looming over all of them was the hourglass. Twilight glanced at it as Star Swirl recounted the appearance of the military uniforms of the guard ponies. How much time did he have left, fifteen minutes?

Eventually the academic focus of the questions began to waiver. Twilight felt like an intruder. It was shocking at first, how much they loved each other. Twilight had a hard time thinking of the Princess as a pony like any other, who wanted somepony special in her life. Then it felt sweet, it felt right. She blushed at his compliments, they made obscure in-jokes for each other. Then, in the final minutes, it was almost too painful to watch. These were the last peaceful moments they would have together, before his sudden death, hundreds of years ago.

“And their queen, was she more beautiful than me?” Celestia asked quietly.

“Now you’re just being silly,” he said, but all the same he leaned in to kiss her. Twilight looked away, at the sand silently pouring through the hourglass.

“Star Swirl, I-”

“Princess, did you want to go over any of the astrological questions?” Twilight asked.

Celestia steeled herself. “You’re right, of course.”

“Oh we can talk about it later. Besides, I’m sure I’m around some corner feeling absolutely jealous that I stole a kiss from you,” Star Swirl said with a laugh at the absurd nature of the sentence.

“You know I can’t tell you that,” Celestia said.

“There’s no need. I’m fairly certain I’m one, maybe two spells away,” Star Swirl replied. “And when I meet you on the Astral Plane, this time travel nonsense will seem like child’s play.”
Twilight remembered that Star Swirl had been working on the magic of friendship, trying to unlock that mysterious field of magic and transform into an alicorn. She pictured it in her mind, Celestia and Star Swirl, king and queen ruling over Equestria across time. She suddenly felt like a thief, like she had stolen his work and taken his place on the Astral Plane.

“Star Swirl, enough, you know I can’t,” Celestia said.

“I’m sorry dear, I’m putting you in an unfair position,” Star Swirl said. He glanced behind him at the scant moments he had left, then turned to Twilight. “Thank you for your assistance, faithful pupil. Do you have any questions for me yourself? Maybe something modern Star Swirl would never admit to?”

Twilight had to unclench her throat, which was knotted with guilt, and thought for a moment. “Is there really no spell you’re bad at?” she asked.

“Teleportation,” he replied in a matter-of-fact voice. “I throw up, oh practically every time. I never use the spell now, I stick to gravity manipulation,” he said with a grin.

The hourglass behind him began to turn, creaking on its hinges.

“I’ll see you in a moment my dear. This has been an exhausting couple of days. But I suppose it’s a small price to pay for travelling thousands of years across the Praxial Bridge,” Star Swirl said.

“I love you, Star Swirl. You’ve done an amazing job,” Celestia said. Twilight watched her, wondering if she would begin to cry.

“I love you too. And I’ll see you soon!” he called as the magical energy began to arc around him. And then, in a flash, he was gone.

Once he was gone the device began to power down. In the silence of the library, each click and hum of the magical device was audible until its final moment. Then, as the room became quiet and still, Celestia let go. Twilight watched the strongest, most powerful pony she knew, collapse in on herself. And just as Rarity had done for her, she held her mentor silently, running a hoof through her ethereal mane, which always felt like silk and water. Everything was different now.

Author's Note

Just a heads up, I have written this entire story out already. (It's 12 chapters, approx. 65k words) However I'm revising as I go. New chapters will likely be posted every week on Tuesday. Hope you like it and thanks for reading.

Chapter 2

Time and Space in Harmony

by Inkspots

Chapter 2

Twilight was too hungover to conjure up a telekinetic field that morning, so she nursed her coffee cup with her hooves. She was going for maximum efficiency, so she simply laid her head on the table and periodically worked up the strength to tip the cup towards her mouth. This was a brilliant solution, because it also allowed her to hide from her parents’ gaze behind the massive seasonal centerpiece her mother had put on the table.

In her more generous moments, Twilight admitted that she was too old to stumble home drunk to her parent’s house, fail to open the door with a key and end up melting the lock off of the door, but these things happen to even the best of ponies, she thought.

But most ponies weren’t Princesses.

“Twilight, eat some toast,” her mother said sternly. A blackened slab of bread dripping with an ambiguous goo floated towards her. It was revolting.

“Shiny can eat it,” Twilight mumbled.

“Prince Shining Armor is busy in the Crystal Empire being married and ruling a kingdom and no doubt being a good boy and eating some toast if his lovely wife offers it to him,” Twilight Velvet said.

“Honey, come on,” came her dad’s voice, trying to calm the situation. “This really isn’t a big deal, and she said she’d buy us a new lock.”

Twilight wondered briefly if she had enough composure to successfully teleport outside of the room. She determined that no, she did not. She spilled some coffee on the table, and decided consciously that she wasn’t going to clean it up. There came a knock on the door, and her father got up to go answer it. After a moment he returned and gave Twilight a letter. It had the royal seal on it. Twilight gingerly tried to pry it open with her hooves, but after a few moments her father opened it with magic and handed it back to her.

“Don’t help her, she deserves this,” her mother said.

Twilight tried to glare at her mother, but all she could see was the fruit and flower summer themed centerpiece, so Twilight glared at a pear for a moment, then read the letter. Maddeningly, the handwriting was as fluid and elegant as ever. Twilight wondered if Celestia was somehow immune to hangovers, and decided probably.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

Thank you for your company this weekend. It is good to have a friend with you in difficult times. And in the difficult times ahead, I know you will have the best of friends at your side. I have a new assignment for you, and I am quite sure it will be the most difficult task I have ever given you.

I am granting you the title Princess of Harmonia. I would like you to travel to the Everfree Forest and restore the Kingdom of Harmonia to its former glory, either through the reversal of whatever foul magics corrupted it, or its reconstruction by traditional means. Though I and other ponies have wielded the Elements of Harmony in the past, none have come close to embodying their timeless essence as you and your friends, and as such, there are no better ponies for the task of restoring the Kingdom of Harmonia.

Come see me when you are feeling better, and we can talk at length.

Your Friend,

Celestia

Twilight nodded, as if she was listening to the Princess speaking. Then she stood up, the first of a number of bad decisions.

“Oh, well, sorry mom, I gotta run. I’m the Princess of Harmonia. A kingdom. A real one. And it needs me to run it. So I’m off to do that,” Twilight knew that sounded lame. “Sparkle, out!” That was better. Then she teleported outside into the shrubs in the front yard, instead of into her room upstairs. Then she threw up.

Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Harmonia.

* * * * * *

“Did you not get the ‘Don’t Drink and Fly’ lecture in school?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I didn’t fly,” Twilight replied. She was back in Ponyville, in her Library. All of her friends were splayed out on cushions around her.

“Yes and the phrase for Unicorns is ‘Drinking and Magic, Always Tragic,’” Rarity replied.

“You all are ignoring the best part of this story,” Pinkie cut in. “‘Sparkle, out’ is a great catch phrase. If I could teleport I’d be all like ‘Pinkie OUT!’ Bam! Gone.”

“I still can’t believe you got drunk with a Princess,” Applejack said.

“I still can’t believe we’re talking about this, I have other news!” Twilight replied.

“Is it more shocking that Celestia teleporting wine bottles out of the castle cellar?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Actually, yes,” Twilight said. She told her friends about Star Swirl the Bearded, the Kingdom of Harmonia, and her assignment from Celestia. Everypony was taken aback.

“So you’re telling me I stood in the Kingdom of Harmonia?” Applejack asked.

“We all did, we just didn’t know it,” Twilight replied.

“Well I feel like a storybook character,” Applejack said.

“Like Daring-Do! We’re going to crawl through ancient ruins and probably dodge dart traps-”

“I really don’t think they’ll have dart traps,” Twilight said.

“-And swing on vines and solve puzzles, fight our way out of snake pits-”

“There are no snake pits,” Twilight cut in.

Rainbow Dash glared at Twilight. “A girl can dream, can’t she?”

“But, the place was in ruins, are we going to have to rebuild the buildings and everything?” Fluttershy asked. “I don’t think I’m cut out to be a construction pony.”

“Well, we might have to bring in construction crews, but for a whole Kingdom to just cease to be, it seems very likely magic played a part in it. If so, reversing it may take care of some or all of the problems,” Twilight explained. “But maybe not. If it comes to it though, no one’s asking you to be a construction pony, Fluttershy, but you know the Everfree Forest is full of strange monsters. And you’re just the pony I’d want helping me with that.” Twilight took a deep breath. “This more than just an assignment though, it’s also sort of a job offer and... a new home. And I know that’s a lot to ask, but there’s no one in the world I would rather have with me than you guys.”

“How is this even a hard question? Of course I’m down. I’m not going to turn down the chance to be Weather-Master General for an entire kingdom,” Dash said.

“But what about becoming a Wonderbolt?” Twilight asked.

“Oh yeah,” Dash rubbed her chin for a moment. “You know what? I’ll start my own flying team. Wings of Harmony or, well, something better than that, that’s a terrible name. But you know what I mean, a better team! All I know is if I stayed here to join the Wonderbolts, and all my friends moved away, I wouldn’t be happy for very long. Maybe one or two seasons, depending on the schedule,” Rainbow Dash said.

“What about the rest of you?” Twilight asked.

The rest of the ponies talked it over out loud. In truth, Ponyville would be the closest town to Harmonia Kingdom, it would probably take two days on hoof, a half day on the wing or by train if they connected it to the train network.
Twilight looked at Applejack across the room. She was silently tapping her hooves together, deep in thought. Twilight knew from the start that asking Applejack to leave Sweet Apple Acres would be the hardest part. Rarity decided she would hire a sales pony to run Carousel Boutique and open a new store in Harmonia. Fluttershy admitted that she was well over the pet limit on her lease and could take the opportunity to build a properly sized Animal Rescue. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie didn’t have a good reason not to go.

“Well, what are we waiting for then?” Applejack said.

“You’re coming?” Twilight asked.

“Of course I am. I’m an Apple Family pony. And an Apple Family member has been part of every frontier settlement worth a hay in the last five hundred years,” Applejack said. “To be honest, I was probably going to be leaving Sweet Apple Acres soon anyway.”

Everypony was shocked at the admission.

“Now hold on, it’s not like that. Big Mac would never come out and say it, but him and Carrot Top have been sweet on each other for a few years now. And I know they want a mess of fillies between the two of them. If I didn’t leave, they’d have to build a new house somewhere on the property before they could get hitched, and that kind of money would take awhile. The quicker I get out of their hair the quicker they can get on with their life,” Applejack explained. “Besides, any of you ponies know how to grow food? Exactly.”

* * * * * *

Later that night after her friends left Twilight had a stack of letters to send out. So, after putting it off for years, she went into the Library and dug out a book she had been avoiding. It was Birch Wand the Younger’s Exhaustive Guide to Matter Displacement, second edition. She opened up the first chapter.

There are two methods of approach when the unicorn wishes to displace matter. The purist’s approach involves the proper combination of teleportation effects, the reduction of complex forms to manageable variables within the mathemagical equation, and passive remote viewing combined with inanimate geases. The practical approach is simulating dragon fire, which to this day far surpasses our efforts in Matter Displacement in speed, accuracy, and efficiency, with no effort on the part of the dragons to hone or even understand the mechanics of the spell.

“Is that Birch Wand’s second edition?” Spike asked from behind her. “Oh no, you’re leaving me here, you’re going to go off to Harmonia and leave me to clean the library forever!”

“Spike, I’m doing no such thing,” Twilight said. “But having you around has meant that I’ve put off learning this rather basic spell for years.” Twilight closed the book and turned around. Spike was covered head to toe in mud and dragging a wooden chest that was so full of gems it couldn’t shut properly. “Traveling supplies, eh?”

Spike looked at the chest. “Hey, a dragon’s got to eat. I can only put up with hay and flowers for so long.”

“Well put it in the cellar and clean yourself up. Then, you can send these letters. They’re important, so it might actually be a bad idea for me to try sending them without some practice,” Twilight admitted.

“Alright, now we’re talking,” Spike grabbed the pile of letters and blasted them with green flame, dissolving them in a puff of smoke.

“How do you know they’ll get there?” Twilight asked. She had asked before.

“A letter knows where it needs to go,” Spike replied before dragging the chest of gems to the cellar.

* * * * * *

After the letters went out a sudden flurry of activity descended on Ponyville that meant every pony in town knew about the expedition in less than a day. Big Mac proposed to Carrot Top, Rarity and the Cakes put out help wanted signs, and Fluttershy started appearing around every corner, thrusting pets into the hooves of unsuspecting ponies. Twilight met with the mayor and resigned as town Librarian, adding that Cheerilee could look after the Library until school started again in the Fall. Celestia sent a letter informing Twilight that an account had been opened at the Ponyville Bank, the money within intended to outfit her expedition for the journey ahead.

After that came more letters. Letter from her brother and sister-in-law, congratulating her on her new position. A letter from her father, wishing her safety and telling her that her mother would stop being mad and be proud of her in a month or two. From then on Twilight lived in a hectic post office, with Derpy appearing at all hours with letters and packages and Spike spitting out missives so often his stomach ached.
But as chaotic as it was she knew she was better off than Applejack.. Sweet Apple Acres had turned into a mad house. The wagons and supplies for the expedition were being assembled there. While all that was going on Big Mac had insisted that Applejack be the Best Mare at his wedding, and that he get married before she left. This left less than a month for the couple to plan their entire wedding.

Eventually, it was proposed that their wedding reception be combined into a Wedding Reception/Going Away Party for the ponies leaving town on the expedition, with essentially every pony in town attending, as well as Princess Celestia, a few dozen ponies from Canterlot, and a handful of Cloudsdale Pegasi. At that point Carrot Top dropped to her knees and begged Pinkie Pie to arrange everything for her so she could hide in the hayloft till it was all over.

Finally, a little under a month after Twilight sat in the Star Swirl the Bearded Section of the Canterlot Library and met Star Swirl the Bearded, Big Mac and Carrot Top walked down the aisle at their wedding, said their e’yups, and were married. Twilight cried a little and Applejack cried a lot, all over the beautiful Best Mare gown Rarity had made for her. Their wedding reception was easily the biggest party that had ever been thrown in Ponyville, and once Pinkie Pie realized just how many ponies were coming she decided the location for the party would have to be the entire southern orchard. So long tables were set up between each row of trees with candles hanging over the tables and the air lit by a flock of fireflies Fluttershy had somehow talked into attending the wedding. Twilight warned her expedition that they would be leaving early the next morning and that everypony should go easy on the drinks, but there were dozens of toasts and casks of cider constantly being tapped and drained. Less than an hour into the reception Carrot Top fell asleep sitting at the head table, so Big Mac announced they were leaving. It took them another half hour to escape to a carriage that was waiting to take them to their honeymoon.

“Welp, I’m probably going to be an Aunt ten months from tomorrow,” Applejack said, sitting down on the bench next to Twilight. They were off on the far edge of the party, surrounded by only a handful of ponies and a low murmur of conversation.

“Not ten months from tonight?” Twilight asked.

“My brother hasn’t slept in three days, and she hasn’t slept in four. I reckon the carriage driver is going to have to toss them out himself,” Applejack explained. Twilight sipped her cider without responding. “You’ve got something on your mind, sugarcube.”

“Just thinking about tomorrow,” Twilight said.

“You nervous?”

“Well, yes,” Twilight admitted.

“You know why? Because you’re a smart filly. It’s real easy for a fool to be confident. But Princess Celestia picked you for this because you’re capable of doing it,” Applejack explained. “We’re always doing crazy things like this, and we’re going to be fine. Except Rarity, she’s going to die of an allergic reaction to trail dust. But the rest of us will be fine.”

Twilight chuckled. “I’ll tell her you said that, she’ll make you pay for the dress.”

Applejack snorted. “Now come on, lets hike on over to the dance floor and cut loose a little.”

“You know I’m a sucker for dancing,” Twilight said.

“You do suck at dancing, but it’s a hoot to watch,” Applejack replied.

“AJ!” the mare was already galloping away, so Twilight bolted after her.

On the dance floor Pinkie Pie was cutting a large swath with her wild gyrations. She caught sight of Twilight and bounced over. “Alright Commander Sparkle, the dancing will have to wait. The envoys from the Princesses are here and you still haven’t met them.”

“I’ve been really busy Pinkie Pie,” Twilight replied.

“More like been really shy, come on, this’ll be fun,” Pinkie grabbed Twilight around the neck and hurried her off towards the buffet. There, a red-brown unicorn was munching away on an apple fritter.

“Twilight, this is Princess Celestia’s envoy, her name is-”

“Quick Fix,” Twilight finished.

“Awww, you already know her?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“We went to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns together,” Twilight explained.

“Yeah, we did,” Quick Fix said, blushing.

“That’s so super cool, so you’re a master wizard pony like Twilight?” Pinkie asked.

“Oh no, no I’m not anything special,” Quick Fix replied.

“Nonsense, you’re the best Artificer I’ve ever known. I think pretty much every telescope I have is still using the calibrations you suggested from school,” Twilight said.

“Art-i-what?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“I just tinker a bit,” Quick Fix replied.

“She creates complex magical devices that mimic or perform spell effects. It’s something I’ve tried my hoof at, but I’m nowhere close to Quick Fix’s level,” Twilight explained.

“Oh, stop it,” Quick Fix said.

“Spells huh, oh! Could you like, build a set of shoes that lets Earth Ponies walk on clouds like a pegasus?” Pinkie asked.

“Uh, well, maybe, if I had the right supplies-”

Pinkie grabbed Quick Fix in a hug.

“You are the best friend a pony could ask for!” Pinkie said with a squeeze.

“Uh, Pinkie, we should track down the other two envoys,” Twilight suggested, hoping to spare Quick Fix from being hugged to death.

“You’re right. Nice to meet you Quick Fix,” Pinkie said before walking away.

Quick Fix hoarsely managed a vague reply as she rubbed her ribs. Twilight and Pinkie headed off towards the Zap Apple grove, where Twilight assumed Pinkie knew a pony would be. The grove was quiet because it lacked tables or party decor, but the air was dotted with the light of Fluttershy’s fireflies, which was enough to spot the shimmering pony they were looking for.

“Twilight, this is Jade,” Pinkie Pie said.

“Good evening Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Jade said.

“Please, Twilight is fine. So Princess Cadence sent you?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, she did,” Jade replied. “After Celestia sent her a description of the kingdom of Harmonia, Cadence suspected you would need my skills. I’m an Arcane Herbalist. All of the food grown in the Crystal Kingdom is grown under magical conditions since the ground is technically tundra. And I think magical conditions will be needed to grow food in a kingdom with no day or night.”

“You’re right, I honestly didn’t even think of that,” Twilight replied. “So you like the Zap Apple Trees?”

“They’re beautiful. I just wish I could be here when they bear fruit,” Jade replied.

“They’re crazy,” Pinkie Pie said. “There are Timber Wolves and a lightning storm zaps the whole grove and each apple is rainbow colored.”

“It sounds amazing,” Jade said. “I’m surprised they bear fruit without an Arcane Herbalist tending them.”

“Granny Smith has been looking after them for decades,” Twilight explained. “She figured out how to grow them by watching the wild Zap Apple Trees in the forest. Actually, we might end up growing them in Harmonia, they’re native to the Everfree Forest.”

“I should go talk to Granny Smith then,” Jade said.

“And we should go track down the last envoy,” Pinkie Pie said.

Twilight and Pinkie Pie headed back through the party and towards the clearing where they had the wagons waiting for the next morning. Just beyond the clearing they found three barrels that hadn’t been loaded on yet. Twilight picked them up with her magic and floated them over to the clearing. There, Twilight spotted a dark figure standing guard. It was a stallion in dark blue armor. As they approached Twilight realized it was a member of Luna’s Night Guard. His wings were made of a leathery membrane, his eyes were golden with vertical pupils, and rather than a mane he had another spined membrane running down the back of his neck, protruding from his helmet.

“Twilight, this is Dark Matter, he’s a member of the Night Guard,” Pinkie Pie said. Twilight set the barrels down to greet him.

“Good evening, Dark Matter, how are you?”

“Princess,” he said with a salute. “Princess Luna has ordered me to be your personal guard. I will defend you with my life.”

The three stood in silence.

“So, are you excited to be going,” Twilight asked.

“I am concerned with the dangers we will face,” he replied.

More silence followed. Twilight looked for something to do, so she decided to float the three barrels into the back of the wagon and then cleared her throat.

“Well, that’s done. I think we’ll go find Applejack,” Twilight said.

“I will stand guard here till morning,” Dark Matter said.

Twilight and Pinkie Pie slowly walked away.

“Well that’s a dour pony,” Twilight said.

“He seems really nice,” Pinkie Pie said. “I bet he’s going to enjoy himself.”

Twilight shook her head, then walked onto the dance floor. Applejack grabbed her almost instantly and pulled her into a square dance.

* * * * * *

Twilight and Applejack stumbled up the stairs of the farmhouse. Neither were particularly drunk, but their hooves ached from dancing and both had been working double overtime for weeks.

“We’re all up in my room tonight. All the guest rooms are full o’ponies,” Applejack mumbled.

Upstairs Applejack’s room was covered in sleeping bags. Rarity and Fluttershy were already asleep, with Rarity snoring loudly. Twilight’s sleeping bag was under the window. Applejack made for the bed, but found Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash curled up together in it. So she left them to it and dragged Pinkie’s sleeping bag over next to Twilight.

“Remind me, do they think we don’t know about them?” Applejack asked.

“I uh...I think it’s supposed to be a secret? I have no idea,” Twilight said as she climbed into the sleeping bag.

“I don’t know how Pinkie is keeping a lid on it,” Applejack tossed her hat onto a dresser and slid into Pinkie’s sacaran pink sleeping bag.

“Dash probably made her swear a Pinkie Promise,” Twilight said.

Applejack made some word-like noises, already falling asleep.

Twilight turned away from AJ and looked out of the window at the sliver of moon outside. In moments Twilight found herself in the Astral Plane. An unexpected side effect of becoming an alicorn was that she was fully in control of her faculties while sleeping. She could instantly wake herself up or slip from the Astral Plane into her dreams, and even there she retained control. That night she found Princess Luna waiting for her.

“Hello Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said.

“Good evening Princess Luna. I’m sorry you couldn’t make it to the wedding,” Twilight replied.

“It is alright, I am not a party pony,” Luna said. “How has Dark Matter performed in his duties?”

“He’s so serious. He’s barely said anything at all, just stood guard,” Twilight said.

“I fear he has taken this assignment as an offense, that I picked him because he was not worthy to protect me. I will visit his dreams and see if he feels wronged. In the meantime, please be patient with him, Twilight Sparkle. The Night Guard were outcasts during my thousand year imprisonment, times have been, difficult, for them,” Luna explained. “But I must speak with you on another topic. You leave in the morning, correct?”

“Yes, tomorrow morning we’re heading for the ruins of Harmonia.”

“Then I must give you a warning my sister could not,” Luna said. “When jealousy took hold of my heart, I lost control of the Elements of Harmony. I knew I could not face my sister without a power to match hers. I went to the Everfree Forest, to the castle where we found the Elements, searching for other magical weapons. Instead, something found me. I remember searching the ruins of the castle, and then a long span of vague and terrible memories, like a nightmare, and then I recall seeing your face, and my sister’s, asking me to let friendship back into my heart. I accepted, because the prospect of returning to that nightmare realm was so horrifying.”

“Wait, that means you didn’t really commit those crimes, you’re innocent,” Twilight said.

“No, I have heard the tales of my actions, and they were exactly what I planned to do. So I deserved to be punished for them. The warning is this: something in those ruins showed me the path to Nightmare Moon, to the fulfillment of my every dark desire. Until you find it and destroy it, you must keep your heart free of hatred and jealousy, or it will find you.”

Author's Note

Author’s Notes:
Quick Fix and Jade are background ponies, you can see a picture of them on the FiM wiki. I’m using Quick Fix’s appearance verbatim, but I changed Jade’s Cutie Mark from a fleur-de-lis, because what does that even mean? To the three wheat stalks. I’m assuming Dark Matter’s appearance from the two bat-winged ponies who pull Luna’s chariot in Luna Eclipsed, but he is not one of those two ponies in particular.

Since I’m dealing with a part of the show (first two episodes) that have various plot holes and inconsistencies I’m completely ignoring the part where they call the castle in the woods the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. This brings up so many unanswered questions, and is never again mentioned in the show, so I’m leaving that fact out entirely. I’m also taking some liberties with the modestly sized ruins seen in the show.

Chapter 3

The morning after the massive wedding reception/going away party, Twilight Sparkle had three covered wagons packed with supplies, and the ten members of her expedition were waiting to depart in various states of consciousness and sobriety.
Leading the way on sobriety was Dark Matter, who was pulling the first wagon with Rainbow Dash. It was loaded down with armor, weapons, tools, and camping supplies. The middle wagon was pulled by Applejack and Jade, and it was loaded down with all of the party’s food, herbs, and medicine. The final wagon was pulled by Pinkie Pie and Quick Fix, and was loaded with magical devices, books, crafting supplies, and general personal effects. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike were tersely assigned to scout duty by Dark Matter, leaving Twilight to ride along with the middle wagon, somewhat bored. She had suggested that she could rotate out with one of the other ponies when they got tired of pulling, but the idea had caused Dark Matter to flare his nostrils in the single most dramatic show of emotion Twilight had witnessed from him so far.

They got on the path to the Everfree Forest with little fanfare, just Granny Smith waving a creaky goodbye as they rolled into the forest. Initially there was a thin but manageable road, which Twilight knew ended at Zecora’s house. After that they would be having a much harder time of it. With little to do but think, Twilight soon stumbled onto a concern.

“Uh, Applejack,” Twilight said.

“Yes?”

“Were the Cutie Mark Crusaders at the wedding? I just realized that stowing away on this expedition would be right up their alley,” Twilight explained.

“I thought quite the same,” Applejack replied. “We wanted to have Apple Bloom around for the wedding, but I knew if they were gonna be around the farm when we left they’d try their hoof at it, so me and Rarity talked it over and decided to send’em to a summer camp. They refused to go because the orphanage couldn’t pay for Scootaloo to go, but we told Rainbow Dash and she pitched in the bits to have Scootaloo go too.” She then lowered her voice and turned her head back to Twilight. “I reckon if those two ever settle down they’re gonna snatch that little filly up. Ten bits says I’m right.”

“I’m not taking that bet, I know you’re right,” Twilight said with a shake of her head.

“Those two who?” Jade asked.

“Dash and Pinkie,” Applejack replied.

“Oh, they’re an item?”
Applejack and Jade began gossiping quietly. Twilight looked around at the Everfree Forest as they passed. The pines and oaks of Ponyville had already been replaced by the dark, knobby trees of the Forest. The road beneath them was a vague depression with a rare, ancient paving stone every half mile or so. Twilight wondered if in centuries past the road had run all the way to Harmonia through the forest.

The most dramatic change, of course, was the light. Looking behind her Twilight saw the blue-gold shine of early morning light, but looking ahead the sky was darkened, like dusk on a rainy day. When they had chased Nightmare Moon into the forest at night time, she had thought nothing of it. It wasn’t until she spent her time learning magic from Zecora that she began to notice how dark it always was. After meeting Star Swirl, and sometime after their first bottle of wine in Celestia’s tower, Twilight had asked why it was always dark in the Everfree Forest. Celestia had explained that the very air was full of magic, which acted like a giant shroud, diminishing the light of the sun, but amplifying the light of the moon and stars. Apparently ponies at Manebridge University had been studying the effect for hundreds of years and they still weren’t sure why.

Twilight wondered how drastically her kingdom would change once it had been restored, she suspected the ominous air of the place was no coincidence. Then she felt a shiver run down her back at the thought. Her kingdom. It was such an odd thought to wrap her mind around. She even had the Royal Decree in her pack. Celestia had brought it to the wedding. It was a work of art all on its own, obviously a number of master calligraphers had spent the month drawing it up. After Twilight read it through she had signed her name at the bottom, and for the first time, she had signed it Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“Hold!” called Dark Matter. The wagon train stopped, and the ponies looked around curiously. Then a rustle came from the bushes and Zecora appeared.

“Calm yourself, winged one, your long journey has just begun. Many greater dangers here lurk, than me, in all this murk,” Zecora said.

“You should have announced yourself before approaching a guarded convoy. What business do you have with us?” Dark Matter demanded.

“She’s our last stop before the road ends,” Twilight answered. “Good morning Zecora.”

“And good morning to all of you, swing by my cottage for a farewell brew,” Zecora motioned with her hoof.

“We need to make progress,” Dark Matter said. “Get to a defensible position before nightfall.”

“Don’t worry, we’re just stopping here for lunch and some key supplies,” Twilight lept off of her seat on the wagon and joined Zecora and Dark Matter. “Besides, she knows a great deal about the Everfree Forest, we should take a moment to visit.”

Dark Matter nodded and said nothing more. The wagon train turned off the path and headed for Zecora’s cottage. They pulled the wagons up outside and headed in to crowd around the modest dining table, except Dark Matter, who stood watch over the wagon train.

Once inside Jade let out a sigh of pleasure. “Oh, you’re an alchemist? I never thought to run into one,” Jade said, browsing through the many herbs that were hanging along the walls to dry.

“Yes it’s true, there’s more than tea that I can brew,” Zecora replied. “I have supplies for your to take, it isn’t much, but it’s what I could make.” Zecora produced a woven satchel stuffed full of glass vials, most with strange and brightly colored liquids within. The party sat down and drank Zecora’s tea as she explained what the various concoctions did. Some were anti-venoms for the more common monsters in the forest, others fought fevers or infections, some allowed the pony who drank it to see in darkness. Twilight handed the satchel off to Jade, who seemed the best pony to watch after it, and then lunch was unpacked.

* * * * * *

When they got back on the road Twilight insisted on taking a turn pulling the middle wagon, leaving Jade to ‘scout’ along the middle of the wagon train, though she spent most of the time picking herbs from the side of the path. Spike was already complaining about his feet, so he climbed up to the top of the middle wagon to watch for branches. Once they passed Zecora’s cottage the road disappeared and they were left with a small game trail, which frequently had to be widened. Dark Matter, Applejack, and Quick Fix pushed, bucked, or cut their way through the forest, widening the trail. After hours of the tedious work they had made just a few miles of progress into the forest.

As the party was stopped, waiting for Quick Fix’s machete to clear a patch of vines, Fluttershy flew over to Twilight.

“Um, I’m not sure, I mean, don’t tell Dark Matter. But, I think there’s an animal following us,” she said. “I heard something, but it could be a curious raccoon or something, I don’t know.”

“Are we in danger?” Twilight asked.

“Well, maybe? I know we’re being followed. I don’t know if it’s the kind of animal that would eat anypony, I haven’t managed to get a look at it,” she explained. “But really, don’t tell Dark Matter. If it’s nothing, I think he’ll yell at me.”

Twilight could only barely hear the last part as Fluttershy whispered it. “He’s just a serious pony, but I don’t think he’s mean.”

Fluttershy didn’t want to take the chance, so she returned to the rear wagon. Twilight began glancing around into the dark forest the surrounded them. It was soon going to be ‘night’ in the Everfree Forest. Which meant the sky would darken, except around the edges, which kept a faint glow of light, and the stars and moon would pour down light that was bright enough to cast cool shadows on the ground.

“Next clearing we’re circling the wagons and setting up camp,” Dark Matter called out.

The wagon train struggled on for thirty more minutes and suddenly the trees thinned out and they found themselves at the bank of a river.

They circled the wagons and began setting up tents. After a few moments a loud voice echoed over the forest.

“Ohhohohooo! If it isn’t my favorite ponies.”

A giant serpent rose out of the water near the camp.

“Darling!” came Rarity’s voice. “How have you been?”

Dark Matter looked between the ponies and the serpent, seemingly shocked that he wasn’t going to have to fight the monster.

“I have been fabulous, really. Feast your eyes upon it.” he gestured towards his moustache, which he had curled into a dramatic handlebar. “I have been using this wonderful wax that these trees produce.”

“How do you all know a river serpent?” Dark Matter asked.

“We met him when we were on the trail of Nightmare Moon,” Pinkie Pie replied.

They continued setting up camp as Rarity and the river serpent talked. Once Rarity told him they were headed into the center of the forest the serpent let out a yelp.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. There are some lovely clear springs across the river that I used to soak in. You know, the minerals are so good for the scales. Well ever since you all came through the last time I’ve been chased off from those springs,” he explained.

“Whatever by?” Rarity asked.

“I don’t know, some terrible grey roaring thing. It’s a nightmare. I think my scales are getting dull. Simply not enough calcium in the river water,” he replied.

Rarity explained that they had to head on, so the serpent told her he would show them the shallowest ford in the morning. Rarity returned to camp and Dark Matter assigned her to first shift guard duty, since she didn’t help set up.

“Well heaven forbid I catch up with an old friend,” Rarity huffed, then stalked away from the camp fire.

Twilight followed Dark Matter around the back of a wagon as he was taking out cooking supplies. “I think that was a little unfair,” she said.

“I feel that was proper troop management, Princess. She didn’t tire herself out setting up camp, she’s the logical choice for first shift,” he replied.

“But it feels like she’s being punished for being friendly with the serpent.”

“I never said that, she decided to take it that way,” he replied. “I need to get back to work, Princess. Excuse me.” he carried the pot stand away from the wagon.

That night after they ate a simple vegetable soup most of the ponies climbed into their tents for some sleep. Twilight found Quick Fix and suggested they break out a telescope. After a few minutes they set it up outside of the ring of wagons.

“I can’t believe how clearly I can see the moon. This would take an incredibly strong telescope back in Canterlot,” Quick Fix said.

Twilight explained the magical field to Quick Fix.

“That’s pretty fascinating. You should set up an observatory in Harmonia. It sounds like the best place in the world to watch the night sky,” Quick Fix said, then she turned over the telescope to Twilight. “Look, you can see the fifth star in the Three Fillies Constellation. Normally, that’s so dim you can’t see it if the moon’s out.”

Twilight looked through the telescope into the night sky. Quick Fix continued talking. “However, I’m going to have to change some of the settings on my devices if the ambient magical energies are so strong. Especially the ones with visual light sensors.”

Twilight was listening, but as Quick Fix talked she heard a rustle in the bushes. She looked away from the telescope into the night.

“Quick Fix, shhh,” Twilight whispered, then she pointed a hoof into the bushes. Quick Fix stopped talking and turned. The pair quietly walked forward, entering the bushes. Suddenly, Jade appeared carrying a satchel.

“Oh, good evening,” she said.

Twilight and Quick Fix let out a sigh.

“We thought you were a monster,” Quick Fix said with a chuckle.

“I’m sorry, I went out gathering. Some of the plants near the river are amazing, I had to go grab some,” Jade explained.

“But the forest is full of creatures, you could have been attacked,” Quick Fix said.

Jade nodded. “That’s true, but animals in the forest don’t really scare me, they can only hurt me.”

“Only hurt you?” Twilight didn’t understand.

Jade set her satchel down and sat next to the two ponies, shimmering in the moonlight.

“When Sombra took control of the Crystal Kingdom, I was put on a chain gang in the mines, like many other ponies. His soldiers would follow us around whipping us periodically, even if we were working quickly,” Jade explained.

“I’m so sorry,” Twilight said.

Jade actually smiled. “It’s quite alright. It took me a long time to realize that the whip was the easiest burden to bear. Sorrow, fear, hopelessness, those were much more dangerous than the soldiers.”

Twilight thought about it for a moment.

“I guess you’re right, in a way,” Twilight said. “What is health if you’re not happy?”

“I like my health, I don’t want to lose a leg to a scorpion sting,” Quick Fix said.

“Well I don’t want to get hurt,” Jade replied with a laugh. “But I don’t want to miss out on all the great things in life because it isn’t perfectly safe.”

* * * * * *

“Wake up, we need to move out!”

Twilight grumbled at the voice outside of her tent. A few seconds later she heard Dark Matter yelling at the tent next to hers.

Breakfast that morning was a portion of hay for everyone. They packed up the camp and met the river serpent at the water’s edge. He led them up stream a bit and showed them where to cross with their wagons. They bid the serpent farewell and continued on into the forest. For the first hour they were cutting vines and pushing aside branches like they had the previous night. Rainbow Dash was scouting from the air, and soon she spotted a path. They cut their way over to it and found it was a wide, but winding animal trail.

“What animal would make a path this large? A hydra?” Twilight asked.

“Oh no, a hydra would stick to water paths in a swamp,” Fluttershy replied. She followed the trail back towards the river for a bit, then returned. “Well, it’s something with cloven hooves, eight feet tall, and weighs more than a ton.”

“Then it’s something dangerous, and we’re in the most likely place to run into it,” Dark Matter said.

“But we can make excellent time on this path, it’s heading towards Harmonia,” Rarity said. “And I think the less walking the better.”

“Dead ponies don’t walk, does that sound appealing?” Dark Matter asked.

“But Fluttershy is amazing with wild animals, even manticores. I think we should take advantage of the path,” Twilight replied. “If we run into something, we’ll deal with it.”

“Now we’re talking. I’m going to suit up,” Rainbow Dash said. “What do you say AJ?”

“Why not? Lemme get my armor.”

The pair got into the front wagon and pulled out two suits of armor. Rainbow Dash had sent a pleading letter to Princess Cadence asking for a suit of Crystal Kingdom armor for her journey. Cadence sent three, and Rainbow Dash had the other two fitted for Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Once they were suited up in the blue and silver armor, the wagon train started moving, making excellent time along the animal trail. Dark Matter was at the front, with Applejack at the back, and Rainbow Dash alongside the middle wagon.

They marched on through the morning with little incident. At lunch time they ate another quick portion of hay, stopping for less than ten minutes. Fluttershy finished her hay, then went over to Dark Matter.

“Um, Dark Matter, I just wanted to tell you that, yesterday, I heard some things along the trail, maybe a raccoon or deer-”

“And you’re bringing this to my attention now? What good are you as a scout if you’re not reporting information?” he asked.

Fluttershy’s reply was barely a whisper.

“And what are you even reporting, was it an animal or a threat?”

She bowed her head and started backing away.

“I’m asking you a question, where are you going?” Dark Matter was practically shouting now.

“That’s enough,” Twilight said. “She was trying to explain it to you.”

“She was endangering us, either by failing to report in a timely matter, or wasting our time here,” Dark Matter replied. “Princess, I am trying to conduct an assignment by certain parameters, certain standard.”

“You’re being rude,” Twilight said. “You’re ordering everypony around like we’re soldiers.”

“I don’t hear you giving orders, Princess,” he replied.

Twilight’s face grew warm. She didn’t like giving out orders. These were her friends, not soldiers under her command.

“We don’t have time for this, we’re asking for an ambush. Get back to your harnesses ponies,” Dark Matter called out.

Twilight didn’t know what to say. Everyone stood around for a few minutes, glancing about nervously, then they started hooking into their harnesses. She didn’t want to rule over these ponies, she didn’t want to put a barrier between herself and them, but the expedition needed leading.

They got moving again, but just a minute later the silence and Twilight’s consuming thoughts were interrupted by a distant roar.

“There’s the beast,” Dark Matter said. “There’s no chance to be stealthy with three wagons. We need to move. Double time ponies.”

The wagons sped up, and Twilight got off the middle wagon and started flying alongside Fluttershy, who was pulling the rear wagon with Quick Fix.

“Fluttershy, what was that?” Twilight called out.

“I don’t know, I’ve never heard a roar like that,” she called out between pants. “Honestly, it didn’t even sound like an animal.”

“What?”

“I don’t know, it just didn’t sound right,” Fluttershy replied.

For an hour the wagon train barrelled down the path, going almost as fast as they could without crashing into the trees. But everypony was tiring out, except Dark Matter, who called for them to slow down only after the front wagon couldn’t keep up with him. They ‘rested’ at a slow trot for a while. Each pony’s ears were listening desperately for another roar, something that would tell them if they had put distance between themselves and beast, but it was silent. After thirty minutes they resumed a quick trot. Some of the ponies were taking it better than others. Rarity and Fluttershy were drooping under the weight of their harnesses. Dark Matter switched with Applejack, bringing up the rear. Every few minutes he growled at the rear wagon to speed up, and Twilight suspected that Fluttershy was more afraid of Dark Matter catching up to them than the monster.

The light shifted from the purple and deep red of dusks to the bright blue of night, leaving the ponies to barrel forward in the semi-darkness. The forest was beginning to thin, but the path started sloping up, making the going even harder for the ponies pulling wagons.

“We’re getting near the cliffs, we’re near the city,” Twilight called out.

“How much city are we talking about, walls? Buildings, something we can defend?” Dark Matter asked.

“Some walls and gates, and the central palace has a tower thats pretty intact,” Twilight explained.

“What about these cliffs?”

“Well,” Twilight admitted. “More like a canyon. We’re going to have to fly or float the wagons over.”

Behind them came a roar. It was closer, much closer.

“Then you’re with me. Hopefully this beast can’t fly,” Dark Matter said.

The harness change that came next was the quickest Twilight had ever seen. Dark Matter and Rainbow Dash got into the harness of the first wagon, Fluttershy and Twilight hooked up to the middle wagon, and Applejack and Jade got the rear. Spike and the other ponies hopped on and they took off.

Another roar, and every pony was running flat out for the cliffs. Finally the trees thinned further, and the canyon loomed before them. The rickety rope bridge was out, but it wouldn’t have held the wagons anyway. Dark Matter and Rainbow Dash put their heads down and spread their wings, carrying themselves, the wagon, and Rarity across the canyon. Twilight took a deep breath.

“Fluttershy, we can do this,” she yelled.

“I don’t know if we-”

“We can do this, we’re doing this!”

Twilight spread her wings and jumped. Pinkie Pie and Spike yelled out as they left the ground, one in terror, the other with excitement. She began flapping furiously. A few weeks after getting her wings she had sat down with Rainbow Dash and they talked over flying. When she asked about flying chariots, Rainbow Dash had commented about how important the hooves were.

‘I don’t know what it is,’ she had said. ‘But you’ve got to kick your hooves, kind of like you’re running.’

Twilight furiously kicked her feet, refusing to look below her. The weight of the wagon tugged on her harness, trying to tip her one way or the other. She heard barrels slide out of the back of the careening wagon, but she simply flew on. Moments later the wagon crashed onto the far side of the canyon. Fluttershy collapsed, but Twilight didn’t have any time to rest. She kicked her way out of the harness and spread her wings again. Applejack and Jade were waiting on the far side of the canyon for Twilight to fly back over and float them across.

As she crossed over the canyon the beast appeared out of the forest. Applejack was already out of her harness, and Dark Matter and Rainbow Dash were flying across the canyon as well.

Now she knew why it needed an eight foot tall trail. It was a chimera. But, as she neared it, she knew something wasn’t right. All of the familiar forms were there, the lioness head, the goat body, and the serpent headed tail, but it was all the wrong color. Another roar came from its mouth, and now Twilight could hear it, like the sound of a rockslide.

Rainbow Dash and Dark Matter beat her to the other side of the canyon. Rainbow Dash flew over the chimera and dived down with her back hooves, but pulled up at the last moment and ended up landing delicately on its back. As Twilight got closer she saw the problem: the chimera was made of stone.

Dark Matter circled over it, then dived and flew at it from the side. He connected with its head shoulder first, and the chimera shifted slightly to the side and let out another roar. Then it swatted at Dark Matter with a paw he barely avoided. Twilight landed and forced herself to turn away from the battle.

“Jade, Applejack, get on,” Twilight yelled.

“Jade, go, I’m sticking with you sugarcube,” Applejack replied.

Twilight didn’t argue, and Jade didn’t either. She hopped up and Twilight wrapped the wagon in her telekinetic field. She had moved heavier things, and she had moved more delicate things, but she had never floated a wagon while an angry stone chimera roared behind her. She dared to look away from the wagon and saw that the chimera was headed straight for her, ignoring the two pegasi who were circling about her.

Applejack ran out between them and put her two back feet up, catching the chimera under the chin and amazingly, stopping it. It responded by swatting her aside with a paw. Applejack went sliding across the cliff side, and Twilight almost dropped the wagon as she cried out. Twilight forced herself to turn from the chimera and finish floating the wagon across the canyon. She dropped it a from a few feet above the ground and turned in time to see the chimera barrelling towards her. She closed her eyes and blinked out of the way and appeared next to Applejack. The chimera changed direction quickly for a giant stone monster and turned back towards her, but Dark Matter and Rainbow Dash had other ideas. She hadn’t even noticed them fly back across the canyon, but they had, and they were now armed with fixed lances, and Dark Matter’s hooves were covered by bladed battle shoes. They dived at the chimera from opposite angled, their lances caught it at the base of the neck. It lifted its tail to bite and them, but Dark Matter kicked it away with his hoof.

Twilight turned back to Applejack. She was breathing heavily.

“Are you hurt?” Twilight asked.

“That’s a dumb question sugarcube,” Applejack replied.

Twilight saw that the plate of armor covering her ribs was bent in, she wondered if any had been broken.

“Let’s get you out of here,” Twilight levitated Applejack up onto her back then started running for the canyon. The chimera looked away from the pegasi and roared again. It started running towards her and Applejack. Dark Matter flew up alongside it and kicked it in the face with his battle shoes. The bladed shoes made a jarring sound against the stone, but the chimera slowed and swiped at the Night Guard.

“Look out below!” came a call. Twilight saw that Rainbow Dash was hurtling up into the air. Twilight made it to the canyon and looked across the expanse. She couldn’t fly with Applejack on her back, so she had to do the whole thing in a single teleport. She closed her eyes and the magic burst around her. She appeared a moment later at the far edge of the canyon. She looked back to see Rainbow Dash had peaked, and was now rocketing downwards, energy rippling in front of her.

“Dark Matter, get away from there!” Twilight yelled. The pony was wrestling with the chimera’s serpent headed tail. He looked up at Rainbow Dash and instantly released the tail and started flying towards the canyon opening.

Rainbow Dash pulled up just feet over the chimera, and the dark evening was instantly brightened by the seven colored explosion. For a second Twilight couldn’t even see what had happened to the chimera, but her eyes adjusted and she could see that it had been flung sideways by fifty feet and was crashed into a tree. Remarkably, it was slowly getting to its feet.

“Twilight, come here!” Quick Fix yelled out.

“Jade, Pinkie!” Twilight yelled back. “Come get AJ.”

The two earth ponies came scrambling over, and once Applejack was being looked after, Twilight ran towards the city and Quick Fix’s voice.

“What is it?” Twilight asked.

Quick Fix was standing in the shadow of an old gate house, though most of the wall it was attached to was long gone. However, on the wall was a lever with a green jewelled handle. “I spotted it when we landed, then I came over and scanned it. As far as I can tell, it creates some sort of barrier. I don’t know if it’ll work, or what kind of barrier, but it might be enough to keep the monster out. Should we use it?”

Twilight thought for a moment. She looked back across the canyon. The chimera was standing again, and turned towards the city. Twilight nodded to Quick Fix.

“Everypony, we’ve got to get on the other side of this gate,” Twilight yelled out. Ponies ran to the harnesses and Pinkie Pie and Jade gingerly lifted Applejack. They quickly moved inside the gate.

“What’s the point Princess, if it can cross the canyon this pile of bricks isn’t going to stop it,” Dark Matter said.

“It’s an order, I’ll explain later,” Twilight replied. Dark Matter looked taken aback, but crossed under the gate. A roar came from across the canyon. The chimera was backing up, and Twilight suspected it was going to try to leap the canyon. As soon as everypony was through the gate she motioned to Quick Fix who pulled the lever. For a moment, nothing happened. Twilight started thinking of other ways they could defend themselves, but then a loud noise pierced the air, like the edges of two metal plates were rubbing together. A bright green light burst from behind them, from the palace, and arched overhead, coming back down just beyond the gate. Across the canyon the chimera began roaring in fury, but for the moment, Twilight suspected they were safe.

“We need to move into the palace, just incase this barrier fails,” Twilight said. “Applejack needs to be looked after, and we need to see what supplies fell out of the wagon.”

The ponies quickly harnessed up, and AJ was laid in the back of the first wagon. They headed into the crumbling city, through the open doorway where double doors once stood and into the chamber where they had found the Elements of Harmony years ago.

“We can use the wagons to block the door, the supplies we can move up into the tower,” Twilight said. “But first, Applejack needs to get out of her armor.”

Twilight and Rarity went over and started stripping AJ of her damaged armor.

“I’m not helpless ya’ll, jeez,” Applejack said.

“Just lay still, these clasps are worse than a corset’s ties,” Rarity said. Jade came over and started lightly tapping Applejack on the side.

“You’re gonna tickle me if you-” Applejack was cut short at Jade tapped her in the middle and hit a broken rib, causing Applejack to hiss in pain.

“You’ve broken at least one rib, maybe two here,” Jade said. “You’re going to need to be bandaged up.”

Twilight walked away and found Dark Matter and Rainbow Dash, who were standing near the doors, looking back towards the canyon.

“That was rather impressive,” Dark Matter said.

“Most ponies are a little more blown away when they see the Sonic Rainboom for the first time,” Rainbow Dash said.

“That was impressive, but not what I was talking about,” Dark Matter said. He turned to Twilight. “It’s good to see you assuming control Princess. It gives me hope for the future of Harmonia.”

Chapter 5

Time and Space in Harmony

by Inkspots

Chapter 5

Twilight woke up to find Spike cooking porridge, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie trying to have a fight secretly, and Applejack running a fever.

“Give me a day or two and I’ll buck this fever I bet,” AJ said. Twilight and Jade were having their breakfast with her.

“Considering what could be wrong with you, there’s no way I’m taking that chance,” Twilight said.

Twilight left the obvious things unsaid: AJ was likely bleeding internally.

Applejack sighed. “I’m messing everything up, aren’t I?”

“I would hardly say saving my life is messing up,” Twilight replied. “But enough of that, Jade, what were you saying about the south-eastern part of town?”

“Oh yes, well, look here,” Jade produced a rough, hoof drawn map that she, Rainbow Dash, and Dark Matter had produced after their day of scouting about the town. The river that ran through the center of the city from the northwest split after it passed the palace, isolating a part of the town. There she had found the orchard and the Market of standing stones. “I think this whole area was agricultural, going all the way down to the canyon. The grove that we found was very overgrown, but if we thinned it out and tended the trees, I think it would start producing food in a year or so.”

“You said there were Zap Apple Trees in that grove?” AJ asked.

“Among other things, yes. And I suspect that here, they might produce fruit every year, rather than every few years,” Jade said. “And considering the two rivers nearby, this land could be irrigated easily for growing crops. I’ve got a couple root vegetables and some berries I think we could cultivate on this land, but first we need to see how appetizing-”

Heated voices floated over to their side of the camp.

“This is getting real old,” Applejack said. “Tell them a sick pony’s dying wish is that they’d shut up and come clean.”

“Don’t joke about that,” Jade said.

“You’re right though, things are tense enough,” Twilight stood up. “We can continue this in a bit.”

Twilight stalked across the camp. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were zipped up in their tent, trying to yell at each other quietly. Rarity was sat nearby, drinking silently with a smirk on her face. “Is this your doing?” Twilight asked.

“What do you mean darling? I’m not the one fighting,” Rarity said, then she busied herself sewing up a tear in a saddlebag.

Twilight rolled her eyes then levitated the whole tent up into the air, opened the zipper and dumped both ponies out onto the ground.

“There wouldn’t happen to be anything a good friend could help you two with?” Twilight asked with an icy voice.

“Yes, you could-”

“No, nothing,” Rainbow Dash cut in.

“Really, nothing?” Twilight asked. “Well that’s good, because between AJ being sick and the food we lost in the canyon and the golem stalking the barrier, I would hate to think anypony would be keeping secrets and causing trouble now, of all times.”

“Twilight, please,” Rainbow Dash started.

“Please, what?”

The pegasus let out a sigh. “Fine, fine. But look, I didn’t do this for no reason. We’re all friends. I didn’t want to mess this up.”

“I think I understand, but you need to stop this,” Twilight said.

“How many times do I have to tell you, even if we broke up, I could never stop being friends with you,” Pinkie said.

Two high pitched gasps came from the camp. Spike and Fluttershy were standing with their jaws hung open.

“Really?” Twilight asked. “How did you two not know?”

“Well this is simply wonderful,” Rarity said. “And how fortuitous for me. Oh AJ,” she called out.

Applejack’s voice floated across the camp. “You can pry my bits from my cold, dead hoof.”

“Very well, dear,” Rarity saw Twilight’s look. “Oh just a little wager, I bet her I could get it out of them before the end of the week.”

* * * * * *

After breakfast Dark Matter ordered all the relevant ponies to meet him outside. They headed over to an enormous tree that had toppled over in a storm.
“Will this do for practice?” he asked.
“I’m not sure it’s as heavy, but close enough,” Twilight said.

“Alright ponies, here’s how the operation will go down,” Dark Matter said. “Quick Fix and Pinkie Pie will be stationed at the Eastern Gate House, Quick Fix is going to be pulling the switch to drop the barrier. As soon as she does, Fluttershy, you’re going to be flying the cart holding Applejack. We’re making it as light as possible so you should be able to fly back to Ponyville in one go, understood?”

“Got it,” she replied.

“Then myself, Rainbow Dash, and the Princess will cross the canyon. I will engage the chimera and keep it in place long enough for the Princess to cast the spell on the tree,” he explained.

“Changing the gravity isn’t like levitating it, I won’t be able to keep it still, it’ll just float upwards. But, given how heavy it is, I won’t be able to do it for long,” Twilight explained.

“Which brings us to the difficulty of the whole thing. Dash, you need to hit it with the Rainboom in a narrow window of time and from the right angle to send it into the canyon,” Dark Matter said. “Which is what the practice is for. Alright, places ponies.”

Everyone trotted off , save Twilight.

“Don’t lose that nerve now, Princess, for your friend’s sake,” he said.

Twilight gritted her teeth and walked away.

For the next hour Twilight cast her gravity spell on the tree, and Rainbow Dash sped towards it, though not at full speed. At first she always arrived above it, meaning her explosion would just send it into the ground, but eventually she arrived at the right time and at the side of it. After an hour Twilight was sweating and her vision was blurry, so she called off the practice.

They returned to the camp for lunch, which was meager, given their lack of food supplies. Applejack was laying down, covered in sweat, with Jade at her side. Twilight sat with them for a moment, then went to find Quick Fix. She was in the main hall, dismantling one of the wagons to create a small cart to carry Applejack.

“How’s it coming?” Twilight asked.

“I wish I had a few tools that would make this go quicker, but it’ll hold together just fine.” replied the unicorn. Twilight hovered around for a moment. “Everything alright Twi?”

“Do you have time to come see something?” Twilight asked.

“Sure, I guess,” Quick Fix answered.

“Alright, bring your sensors.”

The pair left the palace and headed through the ruins of the town to the gate where the griffon golem lay in pieces. Twilight directed Quick Fix’s gaze into the body of the golem. She looked around for a moment, then let out a gasp that sent Twilight’s heart plummeting.

“It holds a pony, doesn’t it,” Twilight said.

“I, I just can’t think of any other reason... So the chimera... Twilight we can’t kill it,” Quick Fix said.

“But what else can we do? How do we get a pony out of a golem without getting killed?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know, Twilight. I’ve never worked with, well, that kind of power source, because I’m not a monster. I knew, in theory it would be possible but-” Quick Fix looked a little queasy, so she stepped away from the golem.

“What’s been keeping the pony alive all these years? I looked at the runes and I didn’t see any designs that I recognized that pointed to sustaining life energies,” Twilight said.

Quick Fix pulled out a curious device that looked like a metal pencil with a cord at the end that attached to a small green screen. The unicorn put the device up to the runes and traced their designs. The screen started flashing up mathematical values. Quick Fix traced the dozen runes inside the golem them looked over the values and grew pale.

“I don’t believe this,” she said. “I didn’t think it could get worse, but there it is.”

Twilight picked up the screen, but she didn’t know what the numbers related to.

“What, what does it mean?” she asked.

“The pony isn’t kept alive, it’s dying. But that moment in time is just...” Quick Fix lost it, she bent over the edge of the gatehouse and vomited. Twilight magically held her mane away from her face as she did so. After a moment Quick Fix was done and Twilight was rubbing her on the back. “Two of the runes are drawing energy from the dying pony, they only take life energy. The other ten are all time magic, just keeping the chamber in temporal stasis will allowing dynamic magical processes.”

“So the pony has been dying for thousands of years?” Twilight asked, horrified.

Quick Fix didn’t reply, she was back to throwing up. After a while she was all empty.

“Buck field work.”

* * * * * *

Twilight and Quick Fix returned to the camp. Everypony was trying to bustle about and be productive, but the coming conflict and Applejack’s condition kept the ponies from making much headway. Twilight spent an hour before lunch just sitting next to Applejack, who was restless. Her fever made her want to toss and turn, but her broken ribs made moving painful, leaving her to weakly flail her hooves around to try and take her mind off the pain.

“You need to kick me, just kick me,” Twilight said.

“We don’t need two broken up ponies,” Applejack said with a smile. After that Twilight had to take a break. She decided she was going to go investigate the magical laboratory in the lower levels. Dark Matter told her not to go down there alone, so she took Rainbow Dash with her.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash descended into the lower levels. Dash got her first look at the grim scene in the kitchen, but kept it together. They moved down the servant’s passage and into the library.

“So, can you read this stuff?” Dash asked, looking at the symbols on the bindings of the books.

“Not a word of it,” Twilight replied.

They entered into the magical laboratory. Twilight looked around with suspicion. If the original wizard who had worked here had created the golems, then he was a thoroughly evil pony, but the lab looked innocuous. Alembics, a few scattered crystals, notes on scraps of paper that had almost dissolved to nothing.

“Uh, Twi, I can read this book,” Dash said with a weird voice.

“It’s written in modern Equestrian?” Twilight walked over.

“Well, more like old-timey Equestrian,” Dash said.

Twilight looked at the book Dash was reading, it was a handwritten journal filled with a flowing elegant script that was almost certainly written by a unicorn, and based on the spelling and slightly different alphabet, it was written in Old Equestrian.

Simulating the electrical discharge without a cloud begins with the acceptance that the cloud isn’t needed to create the lightning bolt, simply the pegasi’s hooves and the innate magic of the pony.

“It’s talking about lightning, right, that’s what you’re getting?” Dash asked.

“Yeah, making lightning without clouds,” Twilight said.

“That’s impossible, right?” Dash asked.

“I would think so, but this person doesn’t,” Twilight replied.

Dash walked over to a bare space of wall. “Kicking the charge out of a cloud usually goes like-”

Dash turned and kicked the wall, creating an audible crackle. Both ponies stared at each other.

“You saw that, right?” they said in unison. After a second both ponies returned to the journal and began reading further.

It is endlessly fascinating that so many of the magical limitations are psychological, but when one peels back the facade of preconception and reveal the mathemagical components of magic, the simple equations expressed in the rhyming meter of classical spell casting, or the infinitely variable data created by mental magic, it makes sense that magic would not be restrained by the race of the pony, simply modified by the manner in which magical energies pool and flow through the pony. The unicorn simply enjoys the advantage of retaining magical power in their horn, allowing spontaneous mental magic, where the Pegasus must work with the magic that resides in the wings and keeps them afloat, and the Earth Pony must channel the magic through their legs and hooves.

“Okay, it lost me,” Dash said. “Is it talking about pegasus magic?”

“It seems so. I mean, it’s known that Earth Ponies and Pegasi have inherent magical qualities, non-aerodynamic flight, promoting plant growth. But this is... it’s talking about active magical effects,” Twilight explained.

They had reached the end of the page. Twilight desperately wanted to read more, but she was afraid to shift the ancient journal and have it crumble to dust. She looked around a found a thin metal piece that was once part of a magical device. She levitated it over and gently slid it between the page she was reading and the next. Then, without a single breath, she gently pushed the page over. It broke free from the binding, but turned over without dissolving.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

“Twilight!” came Pinkie Pie’s voice.

“Princess!” Dark Matter called.

Twilight and Dash stepped out of the laboratory to see the two ponies rushing through the library towards them, Rarity’s light gems casting a red light ahead of them.
“Princess, we’re going to need to move up the operation,” Dark Matter said.

“Applejack’s getting really sick,” Pinkie Pie said.

“Jade says she needs to be flown out of here tonight, so we need to get rid of that golem this afternoon,” Dark Matter explained.

Twilight cringed. She had wanted more time to think it over, to come to terms with what she was going to do. What she didn’t want to do, didn’t want any part of.

“Princess, time is of the essence,” Dark Matter said.

Twilight huffed and shook herself out. “Okay, let’s move.”

* * * * * *

“How are you holding up?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t like to say it, sugarcube, but I’m not feeling so good,” Applejack replied.

Twilight laughed, but her eyes were stinging with tears. “Okay, I’m going to lift you into the cart.”

Twilight enveloped her friend in her levitation spell and lifted her into the small cart Quick Fix had built. It was just barely wide enough for Applejack, and had ropes and blankets to keep her comfortable, warm, and secure on the flight. Once Applejack was in, Twilight covered her with the blanket.

“I should get roughed up more often,” she said. “This is first class flying.”

“AJ, please, don’t talk,” Twilight said.

“Well color me offended,” Applejack managed.

Fluttershy was harnessing herself up while Rarity tried to foist a scarf and ear muffs and leg warmers onto Applejack, who was weakly trying to fight her off, claiming she was a million degrees already.

“Hush, you’re sick as can be and you’re going to be flying through the night, you need layers,” Rarity said tersely.

Dark Matter flew into the main hall and landed. “Alright, I got the golem to chase me around to the eastern gate, but we need to move quickly before he moves on.”

Twilight nodded. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were armored up, but Dash had forgone any weapons in favor of mobility. Dark Matter’s Night Guard Armor was polished to a fine shine, and he had on blunt striking battle shoes on his hind legs and clawed battle shoes on the front, as well as a fixed lance on his right side.

“Alright everypony, remember the plan and keep your heads together,” Twilight said. “AJ is counting on us”

The team moved out towards the eastern gatehouse. Quick Fix positioned herself near the switch, with Pinkie standing guard in case the golem somehow made it across the canyon. Out beyond the barrier and the canyon the chimera golem roared at the sight of the ponies.

“Ready?” Dark Matter called out.

The ponies yelled back in the affirmative and Dark Matter gestured at Quick Fix. She flipped the switch and the green barrier dissolved. As soon as it was gone Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy took to the air. The golem let out a growl and began backing up to leap the canyon, but Dark Matter and Twilight flew across to meet it.

Dark Matter flew over the chimera’s right shoulder at full speed and latched onto its tail, causing the massive golem to actually slide back a few paces. Twilight landed and peered up into the dim sky. Fluttershy was rapidly disappeared over the Everfree Forest. She looked up to see where Rainbow Dash was. She was just reaching her peak and turning for the dive. Twilight turned back to the golem to see Dark Matter kick the serpent tail away from himself and fly up. He turned and hit the chimera lance first in the neck. Twilight hoped the pony trapped inside couldn’t feel any of this.

She closed her eyes and began weaving the gravity spell. The approaches to gravity spells are generally restricted to two methods: firstly, the pony can create a field, within which gravity’s effects are modified in some way. This method is increasingly difficult as the size of the field increases, but allows for finely tuned effects. Twilight couldn’t use this method, because the field would cause Rainbow Dash to slow down at the critical moment when she approached the golem. The second method involves wrapping an individual object in a field that reacts to gravity’s forces in some way. This method was significantly less precise, given the degrees of separation from the desired effect, but Twilight had used this spell to climb Sombra’s magical staircase.

In front of her the golem was bathed in a purple glow and began floating up. It flailed helplessly, trying to latch on to the ground, but it was too late. Twilight focused on the basics of mental magic: keep breathing, keep your eyes open, don’t clench your teeth. Don’t ignore the spell.

Dark Matter dodged the swipes of the rising golem then began flying away from the blast zone. Twilight knew she was closer to the golem than was safe, but she couldn’t move now, she had to focus on the spell. She wanted to look away, to look and see where Rainbow Dash was, but she knew it would ruin the spell. The golem was so heavy, gravity was fighting against her field of magic.

She couldn’t look up, but she could hear the the dull sound of Rainbow Dash hurtling through the air. The golem turned to her and roared in anger, and for a moment she almost lost the spell. Then it happened. It happened so quickly she had to piece it together later, but Dash entered her vision. She was aimed too low. Twilight’s spell dissolved and Rainbow Dash pulled up feet from the ground. The Sonic Rainboom erupted under the golem, sending it high into the air, rather than hurtling towards the canyon. Twilight’s eyes were blinding by the seven colored light, then the shock wave knocked her off her feet and sent her sliding across the ground.

A few moments later she could see again, though her ears were ringing. She looked around. Where was the golem, where was Dash, Dark Matter? She looked across the canyon. The golem was clinging onto the far edge of the canyon, It was covered in cracks, and its front right leg was missing entirely. Twilight watched as Pinkie Pie charged from the cover of the gatehouse. She turned at the last moment and kicked the golem in the face. The golem struggled to hold on, but started sliding off the ledge. Then Twilight watched in horror as the cliff began to collapse under the the weight of the golem. With a loud crack the cliff crumbled, sending Pinkie and the golem into the canyon. Twilight yelled out, then she saw Rainbow Dash, still moving so fast that a rainbow erupted in her wake, hurtling down into the canyon. After a few seconds she appeared again, clutching Pinkie in her grasp, and Twilight collapsed from relief. She sat there breathing, and then she was crying.

She was happy it was dead, and she didn’t want to be happy, not about that.

* * * * * *

That night Twilight didn’t eat. She sat at the campfire in silence, then got up and headed into the lower levels. Dark Matter said nothing this time. She found her way into the laboratory. It was easily the most well preserved room they had found so far.

After a moment she began destroying it. She swiped the dusty magical instruments off the tables and toppled the stone bookshelves. She didn’t feel any better, she still hurt in a place she couldn’t reach, so she levitated the massive stone table that ran through the center of the room and threw it at the far wall.

Surprisingly it didn’t stop, but crashed through the wall to reveal a room beyond. Twilight wiped at her eyes and looked into the newly revealed chamber. She cast a ball of light into the room, which was about the same size as the laboratory, but it was dominated by a single, massive magical device. At the center was a clear glass tube, and within it swam a black vapor. Twilight walked towards it. The device was a bizarre combination of stone, steel, and crystals, looking like it had been built by several ponies who only vaguely knew the other’s designs. She wondered what it did, she wondered if it had been used to create the golems, but she couldn’t bring herself to throw the stone table into it. A faint light emitted from the crystals, and as far as she could tell, the device was functioning. She peered into the black vapor of the central tube, until a face appeared and stared back at her.

“Good evening.”

Chapter 6

Time and Space in Harmony

by Inkspots

Chapter 6

Eventually, Twilight stopped screaming.

“Why so scared, little pony?” came a voice from the tube.

“I didn’t expect to find anyone down here,” Twilight managed.

“I didn’t expect anyone to find me this soon,” replied the voice. “Typically it takes a few hundreds years for someone to find their way down here. Most use the door though.”

“Who are you?” Twilight asked.

“I am Taraxipos, Master Wizard, King of Harmonia and the Everfree Forest,” he said. His voice lovingly savored the titles, drawing the words out. “And you are?”

Twilight didn’t reply. “A Master Wizard? Did you create the golems that guard the city gates?”

“I did, though certainly not my most impressive work. Still, much more efficient than crystals,” Taraxipos replied.

“You monster,” Twilight said.

“I can’t say I’m hurt, I haven’t felt pain in many thousands of years,” Taraxipos said with a chuckle.

Twilight levitated the stone table above her.

“Well how impressive, casting light, picking up objects. You are an alicorn of the highest order I see,” Taraxipos said.

“Shut up! I’m the ruler of Harmonia now,” Twilight yelled. “And I won’t stand to have your evil in my kingdom.”

“Very well, destroy me. It should be more interesting than contemplating the walls of this room for another thousand years. You know, there are six hundred and three marble paving stones making up this floor?” Taraxipos offered.

Twilight hurled the stone table against the glass tube. With a crash, the table split in half.

Taraxipos’s face bobbed with laughter within the black vapor. “Let me guess, did one of my golems kill a friend or yours, maybe more than one?”

“No, I destroyed it, and the pony inside...”

“Oh my, did you have to make an unpleasant decision? You’re not ready to rule a kingdom. Apparently, you’re not even ready for complex spells. You must be a terrible disappointment to your mentor. I know I’m disappointed, I’m still alive,” Taraxipos said.

Twilight picked up half of the broken table, she molded the marble into a lance and then changed the stone into steel.

“Congratulations, you’re a blacksmith,” Taraxipos said.

Twilight dug deeper, deep into her knowledge of entropic magic. She sheathed the metal lance in crackling electricity, then wrapped it in a field of gravity amplification, making it so heavy her telekinesis could barely lift it, then she sent it hurtling into the glass tube. The lance shattered, reverting to stone. The glass tube was slightly marred.

“I’d ask you to just stop, but this is mildly more interesting than counting the paving slabs,” Taraxipos said.

Twilight’s jaw was sore, the back of her skull prickled with pain that she knew would be a headache later. All the signs of mental magic straining her body, but she couldn’t take it anymore. In her mind she drew a circle around the base of the device, then she turned the gravity field up to eleven. The roof quickly buckled, warping and cracking the stone and metal top of the glass tube. Her vision blurred further, which she knew was the point where the tiny capillaries in her eyes were bursting. If her tongue had been between her teeth her mouth would be full of blood, but she had made that mistake long ago. The pipes and supports of the device flattened and collapsed the the floor which was cracking under the strain of the gravity. Finally with an ear splitting pop a crack ran across the face of the glass tube, and then the room was flooded with darkness. Twilight’s gravity spell faded, and she collapsed to her knees.

“Well now,” Taraxipos’ voice surrounded her. “That’s was much more impressive. I was beginning to think no pony would ever manage to break through Star Swirl’s containment device.”

Twilight looked around her, but she could see nothing but black vapor.

“I want to thank you, little alicorn, for freeing me. In return, I will give you this offer: leave Harmonia, and I won’t bother hunting you down and killing you,” Taraxipos said. “But if you are still here when I reclaim my throne, I will rip your soul from your body and consume it. And then I’ll eat the rest of you. I have never eaten alicorn before, but I suspect it would be delicious.”

The vapor began drifting away, out of the room and into the laboratory. Twilight’s heart sank as she realized she had done exactly what Taraxipos had wanted by attacking the device. In moments the vapor was gone, drifted from the room. Twilight sat down in the rubble, tired on every level. After a few moments she heard the voices of her friends, calling for her, searching for her. Seconds later they were there.

“Princess, are you okay?” Dark Matter asked.

“We heard a crash and yelling and explosions,” Pinkie Pie said.

“I’ve made a terrible mistake,” Twilight said.

“What happened, what did you find in here?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I found a monster,” Twilight said.

* * * * * *

Twilight tried to rub her eyes but Jade swatted at her hoof. Twilight had faced the chimera and emerged unscathed, but her time below ground had covered her in nicks, cuts, and bruises, ruptured the capillaries in her eyes, and given her a massive headache and a sore jaw. Jade was dabbing her with disinfectant and wrapping the larger cuts in bandages. Twilight sat at the base of the ruined device, next to a stack of journals she had not seen during her fury. She had opened the first one and found the same small paragraph written on the first page in several languages.

To whomever may find this room and this device:

Sealed within is Taraxipos the Usurper, who killed Queen Arion, the rightful ruler of Harmonia, and many others during his cruel domination of these lands. If you value your life and the lives of others, do not tamper with the device in any way, or attempt to harm him. His power is manifold, and his life extended by the souls of the fallen. It will take many thousands of years for death to find him, and until that day of final justice comes, the device binds him completely.

-Star Swirl the Bearded, 8653 BME

“So wait, Star Swirl was here?” Quick Fix asked. “This is one of his creations?” The unicorn eyed the containment device skeptically. “His pieces are usually... more elegant than this.”

“He must have been. Which means he didn’t fade from existence when his device malfunctioned, he was just pushed back along the Praxial Bridge, back to Harmonia,” Twilight managed.

“But okay, he goes to Harmonia, finds it to be an wonderful place, but doesn’t mention it’s ruled by a terrible tyrant?’ Quick Fix asks.

Twilight knew, somewhere down in her brain, the answer, but thinking, answering, talking, it all hurt. Everything about her hurt and she wanted to feel none of it, but it was all her fault, so she forced herself to keep at it. “His original trip sent him back to 9000 BME, or Before Modern Equestrian, which was established two thousand years ago, roughly. So when he was sent back the second time he must have ended up closer to his original time by a few hundred years. He probably talks about it in the journals, but I can’t read anything right now.” Twilight’s vision was cloudy, and she knew it would be for a day or two. “The important question is, can you repair the device?”

“No, you did a number on it,” Quick Fix said. Twilight chest tightened with anxiety. “I’d be better off building it from scratch.”

“You ponies have to stop doing that to me,” Twilight said. “Lead with the good news.”

“Sorry Twilight,” Quick Fix said. “I can build one of these, sure, maybe salvage a few pieces from this one, but I didn’t bring supplies to build something like this, I’m going to need some things from Canterlot.”

Twilight heard the hooves of approaching ponies coming from the library. She turned, and on coat color alone identified Dark Matter and Rainbow Dash.

“Princess, you should come see this,” Dark Matter said.

“I won’t be seeing much of anything till tomorrow, just describe it to me,” Twilight said.

“You know the fortress, on the northwestern side of town? It’s surrounded by a green barrier, like the one we had around the whole city,” Rainbow Dash explained.

“It seems Taraxipos has taken up residence there,” Dark Matter said. “Which will make confronting him very difficult. Who knows what weapons are hidden in that fortress.”

“We can talk about it in the morning,” Twilight said. She got up and made her way towards the Library.

“Princess we might want to take action now, before he entrenches himself-”

“Tomorrow, it’ll have to wait until tomorrow,” Twilight replied.

“That’s hardly a responsible attitude to take at a time-”

“Dark Matter, enough!” Twilight yelled. “I’m going to bed, set up a watch rotation, don’t include me because I can’t see. Good night.” Twilight marched off through the Library, through the kitchen she was glad she couldn’t see, and up into the camp. She zipped herself up into her tent and thought about crying, but fell asleep instead.

* * * * * *

The following morning Twilight apologized to Dark Matter, who ignored the apology and asked what the plan was for dealing with Taraxipos. Twilight replied that they were going to wait for Fluttershy and Applejack’s return, so that all six Elements of Harmony would be present before they tried anything. In the meantime she would look through Star Swirl’s journals, and they would keep watch on the Fortress from across the lake.

The Night Guard seemed mildly placated by the idea of surveillance, and set about creating a rotating schedule of ponies to watch the fortress, and signals they would use to alert the others to danger.

The rest of the ponies were sitting around, finishing their breakfasts. Twilight cast her mind about. What could they do to prepare themselves?

“Pinkie Pie, can you help Dark Matter set up the observation post?” Twilight asked.

“Sure can do,” Pinkie Pie replied.

“Spike, I need you to send out a few letters. First, get Quick Fix to tell you everything she needs to build another containment device, then send a letter to the Arcane Emporium in Canterlot and tell them to deliver the supplies to Ponyville Hospital. Then send a letter to Ponyville Hospital, telling Applejack and Fluttershy to bring the supplies back with them, as well as food to make up for what we lost,” Twilight said. The dragon hopped up and began digging through his supplies for parchment. “Rainbow Dash, how well do you remember the Fortress?” Twilight asked.

“Pretty well, but there were only a few rooms, I bet there are plenty I didn’t even see,” Rainbow Dash admitted.

“That’s okay, can you draw out a map for Dark Matter? Just do as well as you can,” Twilight said.

“On it,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Jade, you said you had some items you wanted to test out for edibility?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, I’ve got a little collection going,” she replied.

“You’re on lunch cooking duty then. After lunch could you figure out where on the palace grounds the garden was?” Twilight asked.

“I’d be ashamed of myself if I couldn’t,” Jade replied.

“Great, once you find it, you’ve got free reign for anything you want to grow or experiments you want to run,” Twilight said.

“What about me, Twilight?” Rarity asked.

“You’re going to be my eyes. I have some serious reading to do,” Twilight said.

After breakfast everyone wandered off to be productive. Rarity went down into the lower levels and returned with Star Swirl’s journals. The two ponies then left the tower and brought some cushions out into the palace hall. There in the shadow of the Fountain of Harmony, Rarity began reading to Twilight, who layed on her stomach with a bag of ice on her face, trying to reduce the blurriness in her eyes as quickly as possible.

The first journal began with twenty pages of mathemagical formulas that Rarity tried to convey to Twilight, but between hearing them second hand and the odd notation of Old Equestrian, she could only discern than they were dealing with time magic. Twilight suspected that they were the work of Star Swirl trying to determine why he had ended up in Harmonia. Eventually, Star Swirl began writing in the journal.

“Here we are, a nice block of text,” Rarity said. “‘I have arrived in Harmonia in 8664 BME, if my calculations are correct. I have given up trying to pin down which component’s failure would result in this malfunction, and begun dealing with the much more real problem of getting by in Harmonia with no money and no competent grasp of the language. To that end, I have decided to avoid the city proper. I’m travelling to a small farming community with the hopes that I can work for my food and begin learning the language.’” Rarity read.

Star Swirl’s journal went on to talk about the pleasant farming community where he took up work at a vineyard, where he spent his days mashing grapes with his magic. Small entries were broken up with pages of notes as he learned the ancient language, listing phrases and vocabulary, as well as a page that was devoted entirely to curse words, which Rarity had a fun time reading.

“‘My cover story, now that I know enough of the language to convey one, is that I lived in a community far to the east that was attacked by parasprites, and decided to flee to Harmonia and start over. The family recoiled at the mention of the parasprites, seemingly they had been an issue in the forest in centuries past.’ Well I can’t believe those monsters have been around for so long,” Rarity said.

Then, roughly a year after he arrived in Harmonia, Star Swirl wrote that the Queen of Harmonia, a Pegasus named Arion, had died, though no one was sure why, given that she was middle-aged.

“‘The word spread like fire, and very little work is being done today, instead most ponies are gathering at the village square to gossip and speculate. I have managed to gather that she had no children, but did have aunts, uncles, and nieces. Everyone is wondering which will be crowned.’” Rarity read. “Let’s see, next entry. Ah ‘I have heard today that a unicorn named Taraxipos, Arion’s court wizard, has claimed the throne. From what I have gathered, this is highly unorthodox. Again, little work was done today. Most of the ponies in the village seem very upset at the development.’ I guess that’s the first mention of Taraxipos,” Rarity said.

Twilight listened as Star Swirl talked about the changes that came over the kingdom. Many members of the royal family began disappearing, soldiers started defecting, and the ranks of the military started to be filled with golems. Ponies who spoke out or caused trouble disappeared.

“‘I have battled with myself daily over a single point: do I dare take action? Even if I only help ponies, save ponies, will I be affecting the future in some unknown way? In modern Equestria there is virtually no knowledge of Harmonia, seemingly, any action I take will be obscured by the sands of time. But, what if I do something that preserves this great kingdom? While that seems a most worthy course of action, what if, as a result, the Elements of Harmony are not available to Celestia and Luna when they must defeat Discord? These and many other things have plagued my mind, and I have come to only one conclusion: Time Magic, my life’s work, is not worth the risk.’ Oh, now that is a simply heartbreaking,” Rarity finished with.

“I can’t imagine trying to make that choice,” Twilight said.

After a few more entries, Star Swirl wrote that he was going to leave the farming village and head to the capital with the trade wagon that brought casks of wine and sold them in the city.

“‘When I arrived I saw that the entire city was shrouded in a green energy barrier which blocked the way of the trade wagon. After the guards poked about the cart and demanded a free cask of wine for entry, they opened a hole in the barrier and we pulled the cart through. My friend told me that had become standard practice in the past months, any trade wagon had to bribe the guards to enter the city.’ And then there’s more symbols and equations and such,” Rarity said.

“Wait, bring it over here,” Twilight said. She lifted the now melted bag of ice off of her eyes and peered at the journal Rarity floated in front of her. She had to read with the lower right corner of her vision, but quickly, she realized that the mathemagical equation was everything she could ever ask for. “Star Swirl you genius!” Twilight yelled.

“What, what is it?” Rarity asked?

“It’s a formula for the spell the guards used to breach the green barrier, Star Swirl must have reverse engineered it after he saw the guards use it! Do you know what this means?” Twilight asked.

Rarity’s face was blank for a moment, then it dawned on her.

“We can get inside the fortress!” Rarity said. “Well that is simply the best news.”

Their buoyant mood was soon dampened as they read on, and heard Star Swirl’s description of Harmonia under Taraxipos’ rule. No pony lingered in the streets, fearing the patrols, which were always made up of two guards and a golem. The golems he described were pony shaped, but half again as tall and menacing with spiked armor carved into their stone bodies. The palace and fortress, which Star Swirl called the Royal Arsenal, were surrounded by guards around the clock. The ponies from the vineyard sold their casks and left the city in less than two hours. They begged Star Swirl to leave with them, but he stayed, and using the money he had earned to rent a room in an inn. That night, guards burst into his room and pulled him from bed. They demanded to know what business a foreigner had in their city. Star Swirl told them he looking to become a wine seller. After thirty minutes of rough interrogation, the guards left after warning Star Swirl not to cause any trouble, or else.

“Lunch time,” came Jade’s voice from the stairs to the tower.

* * * * * *

Jade had turned their normally meager lunch into a bizarre feast that looked both appetizing and alien. Strange berries, odd root vegetables, and pointy leaf salads were spread out in the middle of the camp.

“Okay, so here’s what we’ve got,” Jade explained. Everypony was present, and all of them were eyeing the food with a mixture of hunger and hesitation. “These salads are made with a mix of greens we brought, and also an herb I found in the forest that I’m calling Pepper Point. It’s the dark, star-like leaf. I’ve tried a few and they taste like eating a romaine leaf with pepper on it, it’s pretty nice. These berries here should be good raw, and I tested them in a solution so it’s very unlikely that they’re poisonous.”

“Unlikely?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Very unlikely, but just in case, I’ve got a little potion here. If you eat something and it starts affecting you, drink this, and leave the room quickly, and the toxins will be removed,” Jade explained.

“Removed how?” asked Quick Fix.

“Suddenly,” Jade said. “Anyway, I haven’t tried them, so we can think up names after we eat them. Finally, these roots are boiled, chopped, and lightly seasoned, kind of like a potato. If they’re tasty, I think I can make a flour out of this one here,” she said, gesturing to a pile of bright orange squares. “Let’s eat!”

Everyone hesitated, but Pinkie Pie moved in and grabbed a pile of the mysterious berries and soon, hunger overwhelmed caution and the ponies began eating. Quickly, the Pepper Point salad was agreed to be delicious, and the ponies talked about various dressings they would put on the salad if they weren’t eating in the middle of abandoned, crumbling ruins. Rarity bravely tried the first kind of berry, which was a little larger than a grape and bright blue. It turned out to be very sour, and Rarity’s face twisted into hilarious displays of discomfort which set the rest of the party laughing.

“You all are terrible,” Rarity managed. “That was completely unexpected. But you know, it wasn’t all bad. I think if you made it into a jam, added some sugar, it might go well in candies.”

“That’s a good idea,” Jade said.

“That’s a great idea!” Pinkie Pie said. “I love sour candy.” Pinkie Pie popped one into her mouth and chewed it, her own lips curling at the edges.

“Well I had to suffer it first, I think I should get to name it. How about Sour Sapphires?” Rarity suggested.

They agreed on the name and moved on. The second berry, a tiny, pale yellow fruit with a small pit, turned out to be mildly sweet and tart, so they called them Sundrops. The third berry was dark purple, and thoroughly unpleasant tasting. Jade suspected they would need significant coaxing before they became palatable. There were two roots, one orange, the other white, almost identical to a potato. Twilight tried the orange one and found it to be chalky and bland, but she could see how it would work as a flour. The white root surprised everyone and turned out to taste like a fruit, which led to a round of ridiculous competition over names like Pinkie’s Deep-Nana, and Quick Fix’s Sugar Root, until Jade suggested Froot, which everyone agreed was easily the best name for a food ever.

They settled down into eventually to actually eating their meals, and Rarity and Twilight told the rest of the group what they had learned from Star Swirl’s journals.

“So we can get inside the Royal Arsenal? Excellent. Then we don’t have to wait for Taraxipos to make the first move,” Dark Matter said.

“Still, before we do anything, we need all the information on how Star Swirl defeated him, and we need Applejack and Fluttershy,” Twilight said. “So don’t get ready to storm the gates just yet.”

“Very well, Princess,” he replied.

Jade and Spike started cleaning up lunch and Twilight and Rarity decided to continue reading the journals in camp. The other ponies hung around to hear the tale unfold.

“Here we are,’I have quickly come into contact with various rebellious groups, some led by members of the royal family, others led by soldiers who had defected after the coup. Though it cannot be spoken of openly, it is widely known that Queen Arion was planning on naming a successor in the week leading up to her death. The official story is that she died of a sickness that developed after a visit to the forest’s border, and that in her final moments she named Taraxipos her successor. The general consensus, however, is that she was poisoned. I have decided to lend some degree of aid to these groups, mainly by using my magic to help ponies escape the city, and help bring in supplies. The markets here are barren, and more and more of the food that arrives is stolen at the gates or bought up by ‘government procurement’ merchants who hoard the food for the military and the nobles who had allied with Taraxipos.’ Now there’s a cowardly lot,” Rarity added.

The journal talked about various nights Star Swirl went and opened the barrier and the aid he lent to the rebel groups. Then came an entry no pony was ready for.

“A story has spread today that gives credit to the rumors I have not bothered recording here, thinking up until this point that they were too preposterous to have any basis in fact. However, it seems the rumors of Taraxipos’ unnatural appetite are true. Today in court a noblewoman who has long been known for her insipid and ceaseless talk was boring Taraxipos. After thirty minutes of her meaningless babble he gestured her to the base of his throne. When she approached, he leaned in and bit into her neck, tearing out a chunk of flesh. She died there on the floor, and the nobles fell over themselves trying to flee the throne room.’” Rarity struggled through the passage. “‘I now look with a more generous eye upon the accounts that Taraxipos has begun eating those troublesome ponies who are dragged into the lower levels of the palace and never seen again. If this is true, I suspect it is not simply the perverse action of an insane pony, but a deliberate plan to increase his power. It sickens me to contemplate it, but I suspect he is consuming the innate magical energies that reside within ponies, and using it to bolster his own.’ That is the most horrifying thing I’ve ever read.”

“But wait, then the kitchen...” Pinkie said.

A horrible realization dawned on the group.

“I’m so glad I didn’t cook in there,” Jade said.

After a few minutes of shuddering and gagging the ponies settled down and Rarity continued.

“‘Most of the nobles have fled the court. It is repulsive to think that it took this long for them to defy Taraxipos. The rebel groups have been flooded with requests to escape the barrier, but the guards have increased their patrols. This cannot last much longer.’” Rarity read.

It didn’t, soon Star Swirl wrote of open conflict in the streets, with soldiers fighting the rebels in skirmishes around the city. Soon Star Swirl was working with a group of five other ponies.

“‘It has become clear that the Elements of Harmony are our only hope. I have collected the five ponies I have grown closest to in my time here and together we are working towards infiltrating the palace and activating the Elements. Taraxipos’ magic grows ever more powerful as he consumes more and more of his enemies. The city is a city no longer, but a war zone. The rebel groups and soldiers fight along empty streets. Shortly after the conflict broke out the magical barrier was deactivated by a rebel group from three hours. They took control of the gatehouse and during that time ponies fled the city en mas. Even as I write this, hiding on the third floor of an abandoned house, I can hear magical explosions and the crash of golems in the distance. The golems are particularly troublesome. The Royal Arsenal is active around the clock, producing new and more terrible golems. They are slowly destroying the rebel groups, who cannot stand against them in open combat. Which is why the Elements must be used. My only consolation is knowing that Taraxipos, with evil in his heart, cannot wield them.’” Rarity read.

The next entry in the journal was a month later.

“‘It is done. I hope with all of my heart that the actions I have taken here have been for the best, and that the future will not suffer because of it. I will transcribe this account into as many languages as my friends and I know, so that the knowledge won’t be lost. We pulled together as many rebel ponies as we could and had them launch an attack on the palace. In the confusion, we entered the main hall through teleportation. There, the Elements of Harmony waited. However, I cautioned my friends. I cast a spell and detected a myriad of deadly wards weaved into the stone of the statue. It took some time to unravel Taraxipos’ wards, and the fighting outside began to go poorly. Finally we took hold of the Elements, the power was greater than any magic I have ever controlled. A light surrounded us, and when it cleared we were adorned with pendants set with brilliant gems. Taraxipos teleported down from his chambers. He was no longer a pony, but a twisted, terrible thing. His teeth had become sharp like a wolf, and his eyes were pitch black. His coat was covered in dried blood, and he was wearing the Royal Battle Regalia. On the metal plates he had drawn runes of protection in blood. He began to weave magic about himself, and I knew his magic would be lethal. We activated the Elements and we were each sheathed in splendid magical armor. Taraxipos’ first volley of dark magic washed over us. We charged, dodging blasts of magic from his horn, and when we closed, vicious bites from his mouth. At one point he caught Aethon, the Element of Honesty, in his bite, and ripped a chunk of flesh from his side. Beyond the visible damage, the wound burned and weakened Aethon. I tried to pin Taraxipos with my gravity field, but he dispelled it, and I cast light to blind him but he shrouded his eyes in darkness and continued fighting. Eventually I turned to magic I had never cast against a living thing, fire and lightning erupted from my horn. Lampos, the Element of Laughter and a keen magician in her own right, rained shards of ice from the ceiling that Taraxipos countered by turning them back into water as they approached, then boiling the water and casting it back at us. The armor of the Elements protected us, but we were not immune. I backed out of the fight and searched within me, looking for the primal place beyond my learning and my theory where the power of the Elements waited to be tapped. I found it waiting, and when I embraced it, all became clear. I reached out, from my own mind, and slowed time around us. Taraxipos and my allies slowed until they hung motionless in the air. I released them from the effect, and there we stood, facing the still Taraxipos. I suspect that time across the world stopped, but I cannot be sure. We each reached within and felt the limitless power of the Elements, and in a blast, turned them on Taraxipos. A many colored light consumed him, strpiping his physical form, until all that hung before us was a shadow. Time resumed, and Taraxipos collapsed into a puddle of black vapor. He tried to reconstruct himself, but could only manage a limb or so at a time. I cast a barrier about him, trapping him there in the hall. Then we went outside. It was a horrible scene, most of the ponies on both sides were dead, with the last of the rebels trying to destroy the final golems. We destroyed the golems and captured the final soldiers who were left. Finally the city went quiet, and we realized that it was destroyed. Destruction was everywhere, not an area in sight had been left whole. Harmonia had fallen. We gave the captured soldiers over to the rebels and returned to the palace. We began contemplating a more permanent solution for Taraxipos. Eventually, one presented itself. We discovered in his private laboratory a device for extracting life force to power golems. We quickly modified it, and sealed him within it. I am unsure how long it will take for his unnatural life to end, but he will hopefully spend the rest of it within that glass tube.’” Rarity finished reading.

The camp was silent. Twilight’s face burned with shame. So many ponies had given their lives to defeat Taraxipos, and she had given him a second chance to corrupt the world.

“I’m so sorry,” Twilight said.

“Why are you sorry? You never ate anypony,” Pinkie replied.

Twilight couldn’t help but smile.

* * * * * *

Later that evening Spike belched out a letter from Fluttershy, who must have paid for the post office to send it via dragonfire. Twilight read the letter with her right eye.

Dear Twilight,

Applejack and I made it to Ponyville Hospital before dawn. I’m really glad you tied her down, because she wasn’t really herself and tried to jump out when we flew over Sweet Apple Acres. She’s much better now, and her fever has broken. Doctor Stable said that he could discharge Applejack in a week, but she would need to rest up for another two weeks after that. But I think based on your letter we’ll need to get back to Harmonia soon. Parts for Quick Fix’s project have already started arriving, and the Cakes were nice enough to order some new food supplies for us. I’ve been staying with Applejack at the hospital, for the company, and to keep her from leaving before she’s healed. We miss you all, and we’ll try to get back to Harmonia in six or seven days.

You’re Friend,

Fluttershy

At the bottom of the page was another paragraph in Applejack’s handwriting.

Twi, if you beat yourself up over this, then I’ll beat you up. And then you’ll have to tell people you got clocked by a broken down mare in a hospital gown. I’m going to mend up and get back out there, and together we’re going to build you a kingdom. Love ya, sugarcube.

Twilight finished the letter, told everypony that Applejack was doing well and to expect her and Fluttershy in six days. Then she headed for her tent and curled up around the letter, which was still warm from the dragonfire, and that was comforting enough.

Chapter 7

Time and Space in Harmony

by Inkspots

Chapter 7: Camping with the Crusaders

Apple Bloom was hanging out of the window of the train, waving to her sister, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie, who were standing on the platform waving back.

“Are they still there?” Sweetie Belle asked from inside the compartment.

Apple Bloom tried to reply yes without the ponies on the platform hearing her.

“They can’t stand there forever, right?” Scootaloo asked.

Mercifully, the four ponies started to walk off the platform, with Applejack turning around every few steps to wave again.

“That’ll have to do, let’s go,” Apple Bloom said. She pulled her head in the window and the three grabbed their luggage and headed into the corridor. They rushed to the back of the train and opened the door of the caboose. Scootaloo peeked out to see if anypony was around, then the three jumped off the train. “We just got to get back to Sweet Apple Acres without anypony seeing us, then we can wait in the hayloft. With the expedition and the wedding, hardly any farm work’s being done.”

A few days after the expedition had been announced, Applejack had come by the Clubhouse and told the three fillies that they were going on an adventure of their own.

“It’s an all-fillies summer camp up in the mountains near Canterlot called Roan Valley. It’s got hiking and canoeing, camping, all sorts of fun stuff,” AJ had said. “And all three of you are going.”

“Why can’t we go on the expedition? That would be free,” Apple Bloom had insisted. “We could be a lot of help.”

“I know ya’ll want to come along, but there’s a good chance it’s going to be all sorts of dangerous. If it isn’t, you all can come visit in the fall,” Applejack had explained.

After she left Apple Bloom waited until she was far enough away from the Clubhouse and turned to her friends. “We’re going on that expedition.”

So they had planned and schemed, devoting an entire wall of the Clubhouse to diagrams and lists and ideas. At the end, after Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle told Scootaloo the final plan, she had been skeptical.

“But it’s so simple,” she has said.

“So there’s less that can go wrong,” Sweetie Belle insisted.

Now they were in Phase Alpha, as Apple Bloom had insisted on calling it, they would hide out in the hay loft for the two nights until the expedition left. In the days leading up to them ‘leaving’ for camp, they had stashed food, comics, pillows, and a pile of books in the very back of hayloft where they would be spending their time.

They also had Apple Bloom’s trick barrels, which were the centerpiece of their devious plot. Each barrel had a normal lid, and if opened, a pony would see food, but, beneath that initial layer of food, was a wooden floor, and beneath that a cavity where a filly could fit comfortably, until she squeezed her saddlebag in there, then it was uncomfortable. The bottom came off as well, and Apple Bloom had built them out of spare barrels around the farm.

But Phase Alpha was really just an extended sleep over, with limited stress reserved for the stealthy trips to the bathroom on the ground floor of the barn, and mostly a lot of reading and chatting.

“Hey Apple Bloom, if Carrot Top has a baby, do you think it’ll turn Sweet Apple Acres into a carrot farm?” Scootaloo asked.

“No, it’s called Sweet Apple Acres, that would be silly,” Apple Bloom replied, not looking up from her book. She had brought the two books she had picked to read over the summer for Ms. Cheerilee’s class. The first one was a novel about a settler pony who went out looking for a stray cow, and ended up trapped on the slope of a mountain all winter. She was at a particularly good part where the settler pony, a mare called Prairie Wind, was running from a mountain lion who had been tracking her for a week.

Scootaloo paced around the hayloft.

“Hey Sweetie Belle, what did you think about my new design for the Crusader Cape?”

“I don’t think it makes sense to have Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark on it. Anyway, I’m working on a book reading cutie mark,” Sweetie Belle said.

Scootaloo collapsed into heap, then groaned and rolled around in the hay.

“This is the most boring plan ever. Maybe we should have just gone to the camp? Get a cutie mark in mountain climbing, or campfire songs, or crafts,” Scootaloo said.

“Well, we can’t go now, and if we don’t go on the expedition, then we have to stay in the hayloft all summer,” Apple Bloom said.

Scootaloo shuddered. “I think I’d rather just go back to the orphanage and be in trouble.”

Apple Bloom shut her book. “Look, just wait it out, read something, and in no time, we’ll be in Harmonia, and they have to rebuild an entire kingdom, which means they’re going to need ponies to do everything. Building and cleaning and planting. It’s like a cutie mark crucible.”

“What’s a crucible?” Scootaloo asked.

“It’s like a really difficult bowl,” Apple Bloom replied. “I just read it.”

* * * * * *

Finally, the night of the party, Scootaloo helped lift Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle up onto the roof of the barn where they looked out over the massive party. The air beneath the trees glowed with light and hummed with conversation. The three watched as various ponies rushed cakes and platters around the apple orchard, the dance floor bustled with ponies, and the buffet table was the center of an endless stream of hungry guests.

However, very quickly their attention turned to the distant, empty edge of the orchard where three wagons waited, and in front of them stood a single vigilant Night Guard.

“He’ll give up and join the party eventually,” Sweetie Belle insisted.

Two hours later the trio were still perched on the roof, and the Night Guard hadn’t moved an inch.

“Oh come on! Who does that? During a party! A PINKIE PIE PARTY!” Sweetie Belle yelled, flailing her hooves on the roof.

“You’re going to get us caught, Sweetie,” Apple Bloom said.

“Well apparently it doesn’t matter, how are we going to get past him?” Scootaloo said.

Apple Bloom thought about it for a moment. “We won’t have to! We’ll get somepony to put us on the cart.”

“How?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Just follow me,” Apple Bloom said.

The trio got off the roof and entered the hayloft. They packed up everything they were taking with them, then they climbed down to the first floor of the barn. In the back corner, behind a woodpile, they grabbed their three fake barrels. Apple Bloom pulled out a marker and wrote on top of each barrel ‘Expedition Wagon 2.’

“Now, we just move them out to somewhere a pony will pass by, and they’ll put us on the cart,” Apple Bloom said.

“But they’re all partying, who’s going to stop that to heft barrels onto a cart?” Scootaloo asked.

“I think I know just the pony,” Sweetie Belle said.

Soon, three barrels began creeping their way out of the barn. Apple Bloom’s even had a little hole in it so she could see where they were going. They left the relative quiet of the barn and were soon sneaking about the edge of the party towards the wagons. Occasionally a pony would approach, and Apple Bloom would whisper to her friends and the barrels would drop, motionless, until the pony passed. Finally, as they neared the wagon, Sweetie Belle heard Twilight’s voice.

“Apple Bloom, go towards Twilight,” she said.

Apple Bloom turned her barrel until she could see the purple pony, who was walking along towards the wagons with Pinkie Pie. As she neared, the barrels dropped to the ground and waited. Suddenly, all three were lifted into the air. Each filly had to quickly put the bottom on their barrel so they weren’t discovered. They waited, Apple Bloom didn’t even dare to breath.

They were set down again. Apple Bloom dared to look out of the small hole on her barrel. She could see little besides Pinkie’s voluminous tail, but she could hear the three ponies talking, then silence. Then after a long pause, the barrels flew into the air as Twilight slid them into the second wagon. Apple Bloom wanted to cheer with delight, but kept silent. They had hoped to get out of the barrels and sleep on the floor of the wagon, but with Dark Matter outside they didn’t dare move enough to leave the barrels. Apple Bloom couldn’t even warn her friends against it, she just hoped they had enough sense not to make any noise.

The hours dragged on. The noise of the party faded away eventually, and Apple Bloom drifted in and out of sleep, occasionally waking up enough to take note of the even breathing and small shuffling noises of Dark Matter, then falling back into an uncomfortable sleep, hunched over he supplies in the bottom of a barrel. Finally, as dawn approached, she heard Dark Matter walk away from the wagon. She looked out of her hole and out of the back of the wagon to see hints of light at the edges of the sky.

“Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom whispered.

“Huh?” Apple Bloom couldn’t even recognize who’s sleepy voice it was.

“The guard left, we can get out of the barrels,” Apple Bloom said. She removed the false bottom of the barrel and as quietly as she could lifted it up and over her head. Sweetie Belle simply levitated hers off, and after a few moments, the three of them were out. They stood in the back of the wagon and stretched and yawned.

“Oh shoot, it’s almost morning,” Scootaloo said. “We’re going to be leaving soon.”

“Well, we should get some sleep outside of the barrel,” Apple Bloom insisted. “Who’s going to stay up though?”

The other two groaned.

“Alright, we’ll play for it,” Apple Bloom said. They decided they would play Horn, Hoof, Wings for the pony to stand watch. Hoof beat horn, horn beat wings, wings beat hoof. “One, two, three.”

Apple Bloom pointed her hoof down for hoof, and the other two pointed their hoof forward for wings. “Shoot, I gotta stop throwing out hoof.”

So Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo curled up in the back corner of the wagon and quickly passed out, while Apple Bloom watched the sky outside slowly brighten, and soon the trees started to echo with the music of birds calling back and forth to one another.

The farm seemed different. Not because of the hour, she would often be up early, helping her brother and sister out before she headed off to school, and not because it was festooned with streamers and lights and tables. But it wasn’t the same farm anymore. It was Big Mac and Carrot Top’s farm. It would belong to them, and their children. And then Apple Bloom realized she felt different too. Not like a pony leaving home, like she had in summers past when she had gone to visit family members or go to summer camps. She felt like a big question mark.

* * * * * *

Apple Bloom looked out of the hole in her barrel. The sky was purple and pink, but she thought it looked like a slightly darker shade of purple and pink, and as far as she could remember, that meant it was night time in the Everfree Forest. She wondered when the wagon train would stop for the night. In fact, all three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders were thinking that, for the same reason.

And that reason was bladders.

“Scoots, Belle, I think it’s getting late,” Apple Bloom whispered to the barrels next to her. “I reckon we’ll stop soon.” But even if they stopped, she wondered if her and her friends would be able to escape from the barrels for a much needed bathroom break. Food was conveniently stored just above them, and they packed canteens, but now they regretted every drop they had drunk during the day.

“This. Is. The. Worst. Plan. Ever.” Sweetie Belle whispered with long, pained pauses between each word.

“It was your plan,” Scootaloo said.

“Well, more like a group plan,” Apple Bloom admitted.

Apple Bloom banged her hoof against the bottom of the barrel in time with the steps of the ponies outside, just to give herself something else to think about. She didn't know how long she had been doing this, when the wagons stopped, and a loud, echoing shout came from outside the wagon. Eventually, when fighting didn’t break out, the three fillies decided they had to escape the barrels, or this was quickly going to become the most embarrassing camping trip ever.

Scootaloo was practically trying to throw the barrel off of her when Apple Bloom hissed at her to be still. The ponies were hitching back up to the wagon. Apple Bloom wanted to scream in frustration, but after a moment of moving around, she realized that they were simply circling the wagons. She watched as the ponies began setting up camp, which meant they would be getting out food. Just after she thought this Dark Matter approached the wagon and began pulling out the cooking stand and soup pot. Twilight came over and the two began talking. Apple Bloom tried to listen, but she could barely concentrate. She pushed her hooves together until it hurt, then relaxed, then pushed them together again.

“I need to get back to work Princess. Excuse me,” Dark Matter said. Then he left, carrying the soup pot. Twilight breathed heavily for a moment, then stalked off with her head hung low.

Beside her, Apple Bloom heard Sweetie Belle begin to lift her barrel.

Then Jade and Pinkie Pie were there, grabbing vegetables for a soup. Jade even opened the lid to Apple Bloom’s barrel, but when she saw that it only had hay, she closed it again, so Apple Bloom let herself breathe.

Finally, it was silent. All the ponies seemed to be around the campfire, waiting for dinner.

“That’s it, we’re doing this now, I don’t care if we get caught,” Scootaloo said.

“Alright, but be quiet,” Apple Bloom insisted.

The three lifted their barrels and glanced outside of the wagon. A campfire was burning and the ponies were splayed about, all trying to stay off their feet, except Dark Matter, who was stalking the area between the camp and river.

Without consensus the fillies leapt from the back of the wagon and hit the ground running into the forest. They slipped between the trees and bushes and after twenty yards they stopped, looked at one another, and dashed off into different directions.

Several minutes later they returned to the clearing they parted from.

“We’ll never speak of this again,”Sweetie Belle said.

“Speak of what?” Apple Bloom asked knowingly.

“Of this, this whole-” Sweetie Belle caught on. “Anyway, I don’t want to go back into a barrel. Let’s get in trouble already and get some soup.”

“I don’t want to quit after spending all day in a barrel, then what would the point be?” Scootaloo asked.

Apple Bloom began to speak, but heard a noise behind her. She motioned for the other fillies to be quiet and follow her. The trio left the clearing and hid behind a bush. After a moment, Jade appeared with a satchel. She stopped, looked around at the trees, then bent down and plucked a plant from the ground and sniffed at it, then sighed, put it in her satchel with a smile, and headed towards the river. Once they were sure she was gone, they crept out of the bushes.

“Anyway, we don’t have to get back in the barrels, we just need to get into the back of the wagon,” Apple Bloom insisted.

“I wish we could just camp out here, the weather’s pretty nice,” Sweetie Belle said.

“In the Everfree Forest? Just out in the middle of it?” Scootaloo added.

“Oh yeah, well, when you’re not being attacked by Timber Wolves it’s kinda pretty,” she said.

They headed back to camp, and quickly ran into a problem: Twilight and Quick Fix were outside of the circle of wagons with a telescope. They watched as the two ponies swung the telescope across the sky and talked, and completely blocked their way back into the wagon.

“So, maybe sleeping outside?” Sweetie Belle whispered.

Apple Bloom looked at her with a murderous glare.

“Quick Fix, shhhh,” came Twilight’s voice.

Apple Bloom’s blood ran cold. She grabbed her two friends by the neck and pulled them away from the camp and behind a tree. Just as she settled into position, she saw Jade returning from the river with her satchel. She walked right past them, humming, and up to Twilight and Quick Fix.

“Oh, good evening,” she said.

“We thought you were a monster,” Twilight replied.

Apple Bloom released her two friends. Scootaloo let out a sigh of relief, but they said nothing. After a bit the three ponies packed up the telescope and returned to camp. They approached, and saw that Rarity was on first watch, so she was mostly buffing her hooves, which made sneaking back into the wagon easy.

The three quietly shifted the barrels around and made a hidden well where the three could lay out their blankets and curl up beside each other and not be seen from the front or back, and after each pony stretched their limbs as wide as possible, the trio drifted off into sleep.

* * * * * *

“Wake up, we need to move out!”

Apple Bloom heard Dark Matter’s voice, and for a moment her sleepy mind lit up with fear that he was talking to them, then she realized he was outside of the wagon, rustling ponies out of their tents.

Apple Bloom quietly nudged Sweetie Belle awake, then Scootaloo, who had to cover her mouth to silence her dramatic yawns. The camp began to bustle outside, and inside the wagon the Cutie Mark Crusaders grimmly set to work climbing back into their barrels. Before they were all settled in, Apple Bloom risked talking.

“Just one more day of this, then we’ll be there, and we can get in so much trouble. Then Cutie Marks, alright?”

“Alright,” the other two replied.

The wagon ride started off slowly, with the wagon constantly starting and stopping. Apple Bloom’s dread grew at the prospect of another night in the forest before reaching the city. She decided to focus on her arguments she was planning to make to get Applejack to let them stay in Harmonia and not send them back to Ponyville.

Her best so far was simply to appeal to Applejack’s hard working nature, and convince her that taking them back to Ponyville would waste so much time she could spend working. Honestly she suspected that Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy wouldn’t be hard to convince, but her big sister, Rarity, and Twilight were a different story. Honestly, she had no idea what the other three would say.

Her contemplations were interrupted when the air was pierced by a distant roar. From within the barrel she had no idea where the roar was coming from, and after a moment, the wagon launched forward. She tried to brace herself as the speeding wagon jostled her inside the barrel, but soon her arms tired to constantly straining and he resigned herself to the bruises she would have in the morning.

In the roar of the speeding wagon, Apple Bloom dared to ask her friends how they were holding up.

“I think my wings are going to be sore for a week,” Scootaloo replied.

“I have such a bad headache I’m not even feeling the other sore parts,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Well, at least we’ll be there soon, right?” Apple Bloom offered, trying to make her voice sound optimistic.

After what seemed like a lifetime of rocking and banging around in the barrel, the wagon stopped. Apple Bloom listened, and incredibly, it sounded like they were getting out of the harness. Where they going to abandon the wagon? After a moment the wagon began moving again.

“Fluttershy, we can do this,” Twilight yelled from the front of the wagon.

“I don’t know if we-”

“We can do this, we’re doing this!”

Apple Bloom felt the jolt as the wagon left the ground and Pinkie Pie’s piercing laugh as they took to the air. Then, horrifyingly, she felt the barrel she was in slide across the crate it was resting on. The flying wagon was tilted upward, and after a moment, she felt the barrel slide again, and she was tumbling down. Outside of the peephole she saw the stone walls of the canyon twirl around her. She didn’t even realize she was screaming, until she hit the water. With the impact her head hit the side of the barrel and darkness took her.

* * * * * *

Apple Bloom woke up because her feet were wet, and she feared she had gone to the bathroom. She didn’t want to think about how she would hide it from her friends, until she looked down and saw that the bottom of her barrel was full of water. Then it came back to her: the mad dash through the forest, the flight over the canyon, her barrel slipping out of the back. She was suddenly terrified. Was the water rising? Was she going to drown? Without a second thought she punched a hoof through the top of her barrel, pushing the false bottom and food out of the top. There was air above her, and she didn’t seem to be moving. She wiggled out of the barrel and looked around. Canyon walls towered above her on both sides. She couldn’t even see the top of the canyon through the misty clouds that hung overhead. She looked at her barrel, which was caught between the shore and a large rock. A little further downstream she saw the river went over another cliff. She walked over and saw that she was feet away from going over a fifty foot drop into the water and rocks below.

Suddenly she thought about her friends. Had they fallen out as well? Or had they made it to the other side? She returned to her barrel and pulled it out of the river. She grabbed her saddlebag, which was damp, and fished out her flashlight, which thankfully was still dry. She turned it on and held it with her teeth, then headed upstream. The canyon walls, she could see now with her flashlight, were covered in thick vines that grew up from the base of the walls into the cloudy air above her. She scanned the river, and after a few minutes of walking she found another barrel. She opened the lid and felt for the false bottom. It was there, so she pulled it off and looked inside. Sweetie Belle was inside, unconscious. Apple Bloom tried to pull her out, but found that the unicorn’s horn was embedded in the side of the barrel. She gave a yank, and with a yelp Sweetie Belle awoke.

“Stop stop stop! You’re going to yank my horn off,” she cried out.

Apple Bloom stopped. “Well we’ve got to get you out of there.” She rubbed her chin. “I’ve got an idea, hang on.”

“What kind of idea?”

Apple Bloom walked around to the other side of the barrel. She could see the tip of Sweetie Belle’s horn poking out.

“Close yer eyes,” she said, then she hit the barrel with two quick jabs, breaking the plank holding Sweetie’s horn above and below it. Then she went back around the other side and pulled Sweeite Belle out, then dragged her barrel out of the river.

“Where’s Scootaloo?” she asked.

“I’m not sure, I’m not even sure her barrel fell out,” Apple Bloom admitted. “Just be glad your barrel stopped here, there’s a waterfall down that way.”

The ponies continued up river, calling out Scootaloo’s name. Apple Bloom swung her head around, casting her light at the river and the walls of the canyon. Eventually they found a barrel smashed on the rocky bank.

“You don’t think?” Sweetie Belle asked.

Apple Bloom edged forward, then carefully with her hoof moved a piece of the barrel aside. It was empty.

They both let out sighs.

“Hey, up here!” came a voice. Apple Bloom looked up. High above her was Scootaloo, clinging to a small outcropping of vine covered rock.

“Well how’d you get up there?” Apple Bloom yelled up.

“I leapt out of my barrel, but I’ve only got one good wing right now. I glided down to here, but, uh, I’m not sure I can get down,” Scootaloo admitted.

“Just jump, we’ll catch you,” Sweetie Belle suggested.

“She doesn’t weigh nothing,” Apple Bloom said.

“I heard that.”

“Well, can you climb down the vines?” Sweetie Belle suggested.

Scootaloo looked down below her. “I’ll try, just, be ready if they break.” The pegasus carefully backed down over the edge, wrapping her legs around the thick vines, then sliding down a bit. Apple Bloom tried to keep the light shining on the wall so Scootaloo could see where she was going. After a few minutes she had descended about halfway to the ground when her legs gave out and she tumbled off the wall. Apple Bloom’s yell was muffled by the flashlight in her mouth, but Sweetie Belle let out a screech of terror. Scootaloo didn’t crash on the ground though, but floated there, suspended by Sweetie Belle’s telekinesis. Sweetie Belle slowly lowered her to the ground.

“Well why didn’t you say you could do that?” Scootaloo asked.

“I didn’t know I could. I’ve never picked up anything heavier than a bolt of fabric,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Well thanks anyway,” Scootaloo wrapped Sweetie Belle in a hug.

Apple Bloom spit out the flashlight and turned it off to save the battery.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” she said.

“I’m surprised you’re okay, your face is covered in blood,” Scootaloo said.

Apple Bloom touched the side of her face with her hoof, then felt around for a cut, finding it just beneath her mane.

“I didn’t even see that in the dark,” Sweetie Belle said.

“It’s alright, I feel fine,” Apple Bloom insisted.

“Well we’re not fine. We’ve got to get out of here,” Scootaloo said.

“The others will come looking for us in a bit,” Sweetie Belle insisted.

“They don’t know we’re down here,” Scootaloo reminded her.

“Oh. Right.”

Apple Bloom turned the flashlight back on and looked around. Remarkably, across the river she spotted a cave at the base of the cliff.

“Well, it’s pretty late, we can camp in there for the night,” Apple Bloom suggested.

“Fine, anything but a barrel,” Sweetie Belle said.

“I never want to see another barrel again in my life,” Scootaloo added.

The three fillies split up, grabbing their supplies and their barrels and dragging them to the cave. After thirty minutes they were sat in the entrance with their things.

“We need a fire, I’m freezing from that dip in the river,” Apple Bloom said.

“How are we going to make one?” Scootaloo asked. “I didn’t bring matches or anything.”

“Well, we’ve got wood...”

“I can make a spark,” Sweetie Belle said. “At least, I’m pretty sure I can.”

Apple Bloom grabbed some dead vines from the wall of the canyon, wanting to save as much of the wood as she could, and built up a small fire. Sweetie Belle took about ten minutes to spark the tinder and get the fire going, but soon they were sitting around a warm fire.

Apple Bloom took stock. She had a significant gash on her head, Scootaloo’s left wing was bruised and stiff and useless, and Sweetie Belle still hadn’t removed the wooden board on her horn, which gave Scootaloo something to laugh about. They had two intact barrels, one broken barrel, and part of their disguise food supply, which looked like enough to last them maybe four days. The stream seemed to be clean water, and they each had their personal pack, so they weren’t helpless, but they weren’t in good shape.

After they judiciously portioned out some of their hay, Sweetie Belle levitated a plank of burning wood and used it like a torch. She walked deeper into the cave, flushing out some bats, but after a minute she found the cave ended without revealing a sleeping bear or lion or horrible beast. She returned to the campfire.

“So, cave exploring Cutie Mark?” she asked.

Apple Bloom looked and saw nothing. Sweetie Belle returned the wood to the fire and sat down with a huff. “I guess it makes sense, we didn’t do it together.”

“Well, I don’t think that’s what stopped it. There’s every chance you might get a Cutie Mark from something we don’t do,” Scootaloo said.

“I always figured we’d get a Cutie Mark at the same time, like Applejack and Twilight and all them, they all got their Cutie Marks at the same time because they’re super special friends,” Apple Bloom reasoned. “We’re super special friends right?”

“We’re double plus special friends, but we’re not the Elements of Harmony,” Scootaloo replied. “I think they might be a special case.”

“Yeah, I’ve asked all the ponies in school and a lot of ponies who come to the shop, and pretty much none of them got Cutie Marks at the same time as their friends or siblings,” Sweetie Belle added.

“Well that’s for regular ponies, we’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders, I can’t imagine us not getting our Cutie Marks as a team,” Apple Bloom said.

“I guess it might happen. What do you think an escaping certain death Cutie Mark looks like?” Scootaloo asked.

“Like a pony just stepping out of the way of a wagon,” Sweetie Belle offered.

“I’ve never seen a pony with another pony on them as a Cutie Mark,” Apple Bloom commented. “That would be pretty weird.”

They sat in silence after that. Apple Bloom tried to imagine getting her Cutie Mark alone. What would the group do then? Would she still get to be a Crusader? She caught herself nodding off, thinking about her Cutie Mark. She got up and stretched.

“We should get some sleep girls, in the morning, or... morning-ish time, we can work on getting out of here,” Apple Bloom said.

Sweetie Belle rolled from where she was sitting onto her blanket, Scootaloo helped Apple Bloom put out the fire, and then they laid down to sleep. Apple Bloom stared up into the darkness of the cave ceiling.

* * * * * *

“Is it morning?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“I think so? I’m not used to needing a watch,” Apple Bloom replied.

The canyon was brighter, that was true, but the wispy clouds hadn’t burned off as Apple Bloom suspected, simply thinned. The grey stone beneath the vines could be seen in places where the canyon walls had recently fallen away.

“Well, I know down river is a waterfall, we should go up river and see if there’s a way out,” Apple Bloom suggested.

“Well, they can’t see us, but we could call up to them?” Sweetie Belle suggested.

She stepped out of the cave and stood in the middle of the canyon, then yelled in a piercing squeak up into the clouds. The answer was a terrible roar from whatever creature had chased the wagon train, causing Sweetie Belle to dash back into the cave.

“I didn’t want that thing to hear us, whatever it is.”

“Did either of you get a look at it?” Scootaloo asked.

They both shook their heads.

“Well come on, let’s hoof it up river,” Apple Bloom repeated.

The trio walked for about a mile upriver, following the slow curve of the canyon west. What they saw would be remarkably beautiful if it wasn’t so discouraging. The canyon ended at a massive waterfall, easily five times the height of the one Apple Bloom had almost gone over. The river crashed down on a rocky wall hundreds of meters high, letting off a continuous stream of mist that Scootaloo said was probably creating the constant cloud cover.

“So, downstream it is,” Sweetie Belle said in a matter-of-fact voice.

The trio turned around and walked the length of the canyon in the other direction. They reached the smaller waterfall Apple Bloom had seen in the night, which had seemed so dangerous and now looked kind of meager.

“Okay, we could probably get down this side here if we pull some vines from the walls of the canyon, use them like ropes,” Scootaloo suggested.

The Crusaders grabbed at vines and all together pulled them from the canyon walls, then dodged the rocks and pebbles that came tumbling after it. After thirty minutes of getting too short or too weak vines, they pulled down a thick, healthy vine and threw it over the waterfall, where it dangled just a few feet above the ground. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo tied it off to a rock.

“I’m not sure why I’m asking, but, knotting Cutie Mark?” Apple Bloom offered weakly. Scootaloo glanced over and shook her head, and Apple Bloom said no more. Sweetie Belle pulled on the rope and found it to be secure enough to start climbing down.

“It’s not so bad, but it’s very wet,” she called out.

The other two ponies soon followed, and after ten minutes the trio were at the bottom of the small waterfall, and damp from sweat and spray. After a break at the bottom the three picked themselves up and started walking. The canyon walls were getting wider and wider, and the river became less of a rapid and a more tame flow. Still the purple dusk of the Everfree Forest continued, even though the river was slowly curving back towards Ponyville.

Scootaloo stopped eventually and looked around.

“Okay, bear with me, but I think this is the Dew Drip River that runs south of Ponyville,” she said.

“What makes you think that?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“I saw it from the air once,” she said.

“But, how?” Apple Bloom asked.

Scootaloo blushed. “Uh, well, Dash took me up flying one day, you know, just, getting started before the wing-spurt happens. Look, point is we were on this cloud south of Ponyville and I could see the Dew Drip River coming out of the Everfree Forest and going past Ponyville, so I think this is it.”

“How far do you think that is?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Hmm,” Scootaloo closed her eyes, digging through her memory. “Maybe a hundred miles?”

Sweetie Belle’s jaw hung open. “We’d starve before we made it back, not to mention we’d have to walk back through the Everfree Forest, so we might get eaten before we starve.”

“We’ll think of something,” Apple Bloom insisted. “Let’s just head this was a bit more and see if there’s anything.”

They continued on and the river widened. Here and there trees and shrubs started appearing. After an hour of walking they found a stone jetty sticking out into the river. Carved pillars flanked it on the shore, and a paved path led back up from the river to the cliff face. They walked over and found it entered a cavern and started climbing up ramps. Hope grew in their hearts until, at the top of the third ramp, they found the cavern caved in.

“Today is not our day,” Scootaloo said.

“Not our week,” Sweetie Belle added.

“Not our life more like it!” Apple Bloom yelled. “Everypony else just gets a Cutie Mark, they don’t have to go zip lining or fall out of a flying wagon or starve to death in a canyon.” Her yells echoed through the cave. She sat down, her eyes watering.

“Apple Bloom, it’s okay, we’re going to make it out of this,” Sweetie Belle said.

“You don’t know that,” Apple Bloom managed.

“Well, saying it doesn’t hurt,” she replied. “Let’s get out of here, anyway, this isn’t going to help.”

The three walked back out to the jetty and Apple Bloom stood away from the other two, trying to get her eyes to stop watering.

“If only we had a boat,” she heard Scootaloo say.

Then it dawned on Apple Bloom.

“We do have a boat!”

“No, I don’t think we do,” Scootaloo replied.

“Well, we’ve got two barrels, vines, and a bunch of planks, so we’ve got boat making supplies,” Apple Bloom explained. “And if we head this way, I bet we can get some nice branches to add to it. All we’ve got to do is build a boat and sail down the river. We won’t get eaten, and we’ll end up just south of Ponyville, then we can walk back.”

“Hey that’s not a half bad idea,” Scootaloo said.

“Yeah, except I can’t build a boat, can you?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Well it won’t be pretty, but I think I can get something that floats, and that’s pretty much a boat, right?” Apple Bloom replied.

They agreed that, given the circumstances, that was good enough. They decided they would gather branches and leave them at the jetty, then head upstream and gather vines from the canyon walls, then in the morning they would bring all the supplies downriver and start building.

They spent another hour downriver, breaking branches off trees and listening to the alien chirps of the Everfree Forest birds. Once Apple Bloom was satisfied they dragged them all to the jetty and left them there, beneath one of the carved pillars.

“You know, this must be part of Harmonia,” Sweetie Belle mentioned before they headed back upstream. “This must have been a little dock, and the cavern went all the way up to the city.”

The three stood on the jetty, looking up to the mythical city they had never managed to reach.

“Alright, let’s head back before we get a cloud watching Cutie Mark,” Apple Bloom said.

“Hey, I’d take what I can get at this point,” Scootaloo said.

The three headed back upriver. Finally they reached the small waterfall and rested before the climb. Eventually their hungry stomach prevented them from loitering longer and they climbed up, Apple Bloom, then Scootaloo, then Sweetie Belle.

“After we go down it tomorrow, let’s not go back up, this is too much work,” she panted after reaching the top.

“We shouldn’t need to come back up. But right now, we can pull down vines and throw them over,” Apple Bloom instructed. They began tearing down thin, young vines and throwing them over the side of the waterfall, into a pile at the base. After their jaws ached from pulling vines the trio trudged back upstream to their cave and collapsed inside.

“Let’s get a fire going, I think I can get the spark quicker this time,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Actually, we can’t burn anymore wood, we need it all for the boat,” Apple Bloom said.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo groaned.

Eventually they ate some hay, then laid down on their blankets in the darkness, but none of them were very sleepy. They weren’t even sure what time it was. Outside, the river created a subtle white noise that filtered into the cave. Sweetie Belle hummed aimlessly as she laid in the dark, creating cords and climbing scales. Scootaloo wasn’t even restless, she just laid still on her good side, staring out towards the river.

Apple Bloom was on her back, looking into the blackness of the ceiling. She raised her hooves and began moving them, arranging the planks and barrels, imagining the boat she was going to make. Soon her focus wandered, she tried to trace out the features of Scootaloo’s face, then Sweetie Belle’s. Then she did her sister, her brother. Tried to do Carrot Top but she suspected she was way off. Then she traced out the layout of the barn, then the layout of the farm. She kept going bigger, the farm, then Ponyville’s streets, then cities in Equestria. Before long she was trying to trace out the distant coasts she had seen on the map in geography lessons.

She reached the outer limit of what she knew, and her arms dropped to the side. She looked into the darkness that held her creation, and decided it was flawless.

* * * * * *

“This isn’t breakfast, this is just cruel,” Sweetie Belle complained. “Eating this is just going to remind my stomach how hungry it is.”

A small pile of dried fruit was breakfast.

“I’ll eat it if you don’t want it,” Scootaloo said. Sweetie Belle hunched over her pile defensively.

“Back off.”

They quietly ate their ‘breakfast’ after that, then set to work. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo each grabbed a barrel and rolled them down towards the waterfall which was difficult because the slope of the bank made the barrels want to roll into the river, however, neither wanted to see the inside of the barrel ever again. Sweetie Belle collected the scattered pieces of the broken barrel and their camping supplies and was making quick, light trips back and forth to the waterfall.

In truth, it wasn’t terribly hard work, but they were hungry, cold, and each sore in exciting ways. Sweetie Belle’s horn occasionally sparked magic from the barrel wound, which would cause her to wince with pain. Scootaloo kept accidentally moving her sore wing, then she had to stop and grit her teeth for a few minutes before she could go on. Apple Bloom’s head had scabbed over, and she was grateful that her friends weren’t mentioning how horrible her blood encrusted mane probably looked, but she was cold and damp as it was, and had no desire to dip into the canyon stream to wash the wound, which itched fiercely.

As a result, it took most of the day to get the supplies to the waterfall, then they spent an hour wrapping up bundles of wood and lowering them on spare vines down to the pile below.

“So, should we go down?” Sweetie Belle asked.

The three ponies looked hesitantly over the edge.

“How about no?” Apple Bloom offered. “It’s late, we wouldn’t be able to finish the boat tonight, so we can just do all the building tomorrow, and leave tomorrow afternoon?”

“That sounds great, laying down sounds, really, really great,” Sweetie Belle said. They grabbed their blankets and returned to their cave. Before heading in, Apple Bloom couldn’t take the itching anymore. She dipped her head into the stream and rubbed at her head wound, trying to clean it. She lifted her head out of the water and went inside the cave.

Both of her friends looked at her and broke out laughing.

“I didn’t just freeze my head for ya’ll to laugh at it,” Apple Bloom said.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that your mane is sticking out in, pretty much every direction,” Scootaloo said.

“I wish I could take a picture, a mane like that would give Rarity nightmares,” Sweetie Belle added.

Apple Bloom defiantly made no attempt to fix her mane, she just rolled out her blanket and laid down.

Her sulking lasted for only a minute or two before an explosion echoed outside. All three ponies sat up straight and looked outside, then rushed out. Looking up they saw, through the clouds, the sky lit up with a rainbow of colors.

“Oh, oh! I think that was a Sonic Rainboom,” Scootaloo said. “Rainbow Dash told me about them. But, I wonder why she’s doing Rainbooms?”

“Maybe they’re fighting that thing? The, you know, the roaring thing?” Sweetie Belle suggested.

After a few moments they got their answer when a huge chunk of cliff fell through the clouds and crashing into the river upstream from where they were standing. They ran back into the cave, wondering if any other huge piles of rocks would come tumbling out of the air, but after a few minutes of stillness, they crept out.

In the darkness of the canyon they could see only a pile of rubble. They approached it, looking to see if the creature was in the rubble. Seconds later, the rubble itself moved, and all three let out a shriek. The stone chimera rose, shaking, to its feet, the three it had left. It’s tail was missing, as well as huge chunks on various parts of the body, and the entire thing was laced with cracks.

The three fillies stood rooted in fear as the chimera dragged itself out of the river and then turned its head towards them. Its mouth opened, attempting to roar, but the jaw fell off.

“What do we do?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“I think we should run,” Apple Bloom said.

“My hooves won’t run,” Sweetie Belle hissed back.

The chimera stepped towards them, fell to its knee, then got back up and took another step. Scootaloo swallowed loudly.

“Alright, I got this,” she said.

“Are you crazy?” Apple Bloom asked.

Scootaloo pried herself from her friends clutches and stood between them and the chimera.

“Back off you... you broken down statue! Stay away from my friends, I’m warning you,” she called out.

The statue took another step, almost in striking distance.

“I warned you didn’t I?” Scootaloo took a few paces back, then ran forward and leapt, back legs first at the chimera’s face. She hit it, and the stone beast’s head toppled off at the neck, and then the beast flopped onto its side with a crack.

“Scootaloo that was amazing!” Sweetie Belle yelled.

“I’m not sure how much of that was me,” she replied, scratching her head in confusion.

“That’s not the only thing,” Apple Bloom said. “Look, your flank!”

Scootaloo looked down. Her flank was still glowing slightly, and there she saw her Cutie Mark. It was a deep red heart with a bright, orange flame burning in the middle of it. Scootaloo started crying almost instantly.
“I can’t believe it, I got it, I got my Cutie Mark,” she said, choking back tears.
“But for what, exactly?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“I think it’s a courage Cutie Mark,” Apple Bloom replied. “Courage or passion or something.”
Their speculation was interrupted by a noise from the rubble.;`

The statue was in pieces and completely still, then after a moment, they heard another noise within it. The three edged forward, looking for the source of the sound, then Apple Bloom spotted a pony in the rubble.

“Oh my gosh I think it ate somepony!” she cried out. The three then scrambled forward, trying to push pieces of the chimera away. They eventually opened up inner cavity of the beast, and saw a pony within, but it wasn’t any of the members of the expedition. It was a unicorn mare with a blue coat and pink hair, which was dirty and tangled. She had was bound to the inside of the statue with metal cuffs on her hooves and around her torso. Most of the cuffs weren’t connected to anything anymore, but the unicorn’s back leg was still bound to the chimera.

“Quis enim es tu?” she asked weakly. The three fillies looked at each other in confusion. “Ubi sum?”

“Did you catch any of that?” Sweetie Belle asked the others, who shook their head. Apple Bloom got into position and kicked at the metal binding until it snapped, and the other two pulled the mare out and onto the bank of the river. There, they saw that an ornate, gemmed dagger was thrust between her ribs.

“You’re hurt!” Apple Bloom said. “Who did this?”

The mare lay there, her eyes glassy, her breath shallow.

“I don’t think she speaks Equestrian,” Scootaloo suggested.

“Do we try to take it out?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Or does that make it worse?”

Apple Bloom waved her hoof in front of the mare’s face. Her eyes focused slowly. Apple Bloom pointed at the dagger in her ribs, then shrugged her shoulders, trying to convey her question.

“Taraxipos occiderit me, nihil potestis facere mihi in salutem,” she managed. Speaking sent her into a coughing fit. Apple Bloom saw blood dot the stones in front of the unicorn’s mouth.

“She’s dying, isn’t she?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“I, I didn’t mean to kill anypony,” Scootaloo said, tears returning to her eyes.

“No Scoots, you didn’t kill her, whoever stabbed her did,” Apple Bloom said.

“But, why was she inside the statue? And who stabbed her while she was inside it,” Scootaloo asked.

“I don’t know, okay? But there must be something we can do, right?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Quot caesa mannis sum, miror?” she asked softly. “Quam bene merui fatum?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry I don’t understand you,” Apple Bloom said, she was crying with frustration now. “I wanna help but I don’t know what to do.”

“Nolite flere super me manet, et ego non sum dignus ut tandem mori,” she said, then closed her eyes.

Apple Bloom sat there at the unicorn’s head, crying. Scootaloo was a few steps away, sitting in silence. Sweetie Belle walked over and sat next to Apple Bloom and the mare. She moved the mare’s head into her lap, off the rocky ground. She began humming aimlessly, then it turned into a tune, and then a song, which was carried into the air by the river’s sound.

I often sing for those I love

Who find warmth with the sun above

No more on earth their forms I'll see

When I am gone, who'll sing for me

Who'll sing for me when I am gone

As I so oft for friends have done

And it won't be long 'til when I'll see

When I am gone, who'll sing for me

The time to go is drawing nigh

'Til I too must say goodbye

When up above with her I'll be

Get all my friends to sing for me

Who'll sing for me when I am gone

As I so oft for friends have done

And it won't be long 'til I'll see

When I am gone, who'll sing for me

The mare was silent. Sweetie Belle had kept her composure until the last verse, but then she let go, and was crying quietly. Apple Bloom stared into the middle distance, until a light caught her eye. She watched as a Cutie Mark slowly faded into view on Sweetie Belle’s flank. Two bass clef notes were turned towards each other, forming a heart with musical bars running through it. Apple Bloom almost said something, but she didn’t trust herself to speak.

An hour later they had dug as deep a hole as they could in the rocky cave they had camped in. Then Sweetie Belle lifted the unicorn up with her magic, despite her horn arching with magical energy that made her wince. She set her down in the grave, and finally, before they brought over the rocks to cover it, Apple Bloom braced herself and pulled the dagger out with her teeth. The other two looked at her.

“She shouldn’t have to go like that,” Apple Bloom said.

They covered up the grave with stones, and without having to discuss it, they turned and left, heading for the waterfall. In the dark they climbed down the vine and headed for the cavern near the jetty, and without speaking, they threw down their blankets, curled up close to each other, and fell asleep.

* * * * * *

The next morning Apple Bloom got up before the others. She didn’t eat anything, though there wasn’t much to eat anyway. She didn’t try to wake the other two up, she just left the cavern and headed for the small waterfall. She gathered up all the vines and planks and the two barrels, tied them all together and then pulled them back to the jetty. By the time she was back she was dizzy from exhaustion. She drank from the river, but she knew her body wanted food. She ignored it, and set about her work. She turned the barrels on their sides and set the branches and planks on top, then started lashing the whole thing together with vines.

After a bit, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle emerged from the cavern. They came over to the jetty.

“Can we help?” Scootaloo asked.

“Nope,” Apple Bloom replied.

“Are you sure?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Yup.”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at each other, then back at Apple Bloom, who was turned away from them, working on the raft.

“Are you okay, Apple Bloom? I think we’re all probably a little sad still,” Sweetie Belle offered.

Apple Bloom didn’t reply. She was washing the gemmed dagger off in the river, then using it to cut the vines to length.

Scootaloo went back into the cavern and came out with some hay. “Look, why don’t we take a break and eat breakfast?”

“I should get this done, so we can get out of here,” Apple Bloom didn’t turn around.

“Come on, what’s the matter?” Scootaloo asked.

“What’s the matter?” Apple Bloom replied. “Everything is the matter!” she yelled, turning to the others. “This whole trip has been a disaster! We’re bloody and starving and lost! And then, to top it all off, apparently I’m useless. I can’t make a good plan, I can’t save anypony, I can’t get a Cutie Mark! And I know that’s selfish and the last thing I should be thinkin’ about, but there it is.” Apple Bloom was breathing heavily. Her vision was blurry, but she suspected that was the hunger, because she didn’t think she had any tears left in her. “We were supposed to get our Cutie Marks together, and now I’m just the odd one out. Again.”

“Apple Bloom, we’re still Crusaders and all,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Yeah, we’re not going to stop being friends because you don’t have a Cutie Mark,” Scootaloo said.

“We love you, and we’ll keep loving you even if you never get a Cutie Mark,” Sweetie Belle insisted.

“Yeah, we uh, we love you, you know, friends for ever,” Scootaloo said, blushing.

“You’re just saying that. When we get back to Ponyville-”

Apple Bloom was interrupted as her friends wrapped her in a tight hug. And she realized that it felt right, it felt like just what she needed after the worst week of her life.

After a few minutes they parted.

“I guess I really should finish the boat,” Apple Bloom said trying to dry her eyes.

“Nah, you should take a look at that,” Scootaloo said, pointing down.

Apple Bloom turned her head and there it was, still shimmering slightly on her flank. Her Cutie Mark was a wooden heart, with a blossoming apple tree carved in scrollwork in the middle.

“Uh, is that for building the boat?” Scootaloo asked.

“Nah, I think it’s ‘cause I realized I couldn’t not be friends with you two,” Apple Bloom replied.

“Well it’s not for grammar,” Scootaloo commented.

“Wait a second,” Sweetie Belle said. “Mine’s a heart made out of notes, Scootaloo’s is a heart with fire, and yours is a wooden heart. We are destined to be friends!”

“Take that Elements of Harmony!” Apple Bloom yelled.

* * * * * *

Apple Bloom was laying on her back, staring into the cloudy sky. She turned her head to the side, to see Sweetie Belle, and her vision twisted and spun.

“Alright, what about, the Three Heart-migos?” Scootaloo suggested.

Apple Bloom wanted to laugh, but air just whistled through her mouth. After about five minutes she realized it was her turn to suggest a new group name. They had been playing the game all day, so they wouldn’t pass out. They had been floating down the river for three days, and they hadn’t eaten in two.

“What about, the Cutie Mark Crusaders?” Apple Bloom finally managed.

“We’re already called that,” Sweetie Belle objected.

“I know, it’s a really good name, it’s on our Clubhouse and everything,” Apple Bloom said.

“Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo said. “If I die, you can eat me, and carry on the journey.”

“Awww, that’s sweet,” Sweetie Belle replied. “If I die, you’re not allowed to eat me. I want an open casket.”

“How are you going to stop us?” Scootaloo asked.

“I dunno, ghosts?”

A call came from above them.

“Hey there ya’ll, you fillies alright?”

Apple Bloom lifted herself up onto her elbows and forced her eyes to focus. They were floating towards a bridge, and on it was a pony pulling a wagon.

“Mister, where are we?” Apple Bloom asked.

“You’re about five miles south of Ponyville, don’tcha know where you are? Are you lost?” he asked.

Apple Bloom grabbed the crude oar she had made out a branch and with her remaining strength, steered the raft to the bank of the river, where it stopped suddenly, pitching the three fillies out onto the bank. Somehow they explained the relevant points of their story to the pony, who offered to take them back to Ponyville in his wagon, and he even offered them some of the cabbage he was hauling. They each inhaled a head of cabbage in record time, and before they knew it, they were in Ponyville. The pony asked them if they were going to be able to get home alright, and they said yes and thanked him for the cabbage before he left.

“Well, we made it back alive,” Apple Bloom said. “And with our Cutie Marks too.”

“You know what I just realized?” Scootaloo asked.

“What?” Sweetie Belle responded.

“We’re rich! We have the money for the summer camp in our packs!” she explained. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

A few minutes later the three ponies were sat at the counter at Sugarcube Corner. Mrs. Cake had been shocked to see the three fillies enter, they were thin, dirty, covered in bruises, cuts, blood, and bug bites, and barely able to stand. After they sat down, they each dumped their money out on the counter and Apple Bloom told her to bring them all the food she had. She wandered off into the kitchen in confusion, and the three fillies were sat waiting in desperate hunger when Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon entered.

“Ugh, you know, this is exactly why I’m glad I’m transferring to that private school near Manehattan. You go anywhere in this town and you just run into a bunch of dirty, smelly, blank flanks,” Diamond Tiara said loudly from the other side of the room.

The three fillies didn’t even turn around to acknowledge her, being singularly focused on the coming feast.

“What a bunch of idiots, have you become so stupid you can’t recognize words?” Diamond Tiara asked.

When the three fillies continued to ignore them, Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara approached the counter.

“Is this some sort of new scheme? Ignoring me?” Diamond Tiara asked. “Because it’s not working.”

Silver Spoon tapped Diamond Tiara and pointed at the new Cutie Marks on the fillies’ flanks.

“How did you three manage to get Cutie Marks? I bet you painted those on,” Diamond Tiara said with a scoff.

Apple Bloom couldn’t take it anymore.

“You know how we got these? By being kind, loving, courageous ponies, and true friends,” Apple Bloom said.

“And no matter what, we’ll always be friends and have friends,” Sweetie Belle said. “And no matter how many schools you transfer to, you’ll never have any friends.”

“Because you’re horrible, and mean, and literally everypony in school is glad to see you go,” Scootaloo said. “Even Silver Spoon.”

“That is not true at all,” Diamond Tiara yelled. “Silver Spoon and I are true friends, right Silver?”

Silver Spoon didn’t say anything for a moment.

“Right, Silver?” Diamond Tiara said again.

“You know what? No, we’re not friends. I thought we might be, but all semester you were just so happy to be leaving finally. You don’t even care that we won’t see each other anymore,” Silver Spoon said. “I hope nopony at your new school falls for your tricks, because you’re just going to leave them too.” With that, Silver Spoon stomped out of the dining room.

Diamond Tiara stood there, mouth hanging open.

“Now if you don’t mind, we want to enjoy this meal,” Apple Bloom said.

Diamond Tiara huffed, and scoffed, and started several sentences, then just yelled and ran out. Moment later Mrs. Cake appeared with a tray of assorted muffins.

“Muffins!” they moaned in unison.

Author's Note

Next chapter will be back to the story proper.

Chapter 8

Time and Space in Harmony

by Inkspots

Chapter 8

The next morning Twilight was barely out of her tent when Rainbow Dash ambushed her.

“Alright, I’ve been reading one of the other journals, the one we found in the lab? With the pegasus magic? I just, I can’t do it, I need you to translate because half of it’s numbers, and half of the letters aren’t in the right place,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Can it wait until after breakfast?” Twilight asked.

Rainbow Dash agreed that food always sounded like a good idea and the pair moved over to the camp fire where Pinkie Pie was cooking oatmeal.

“So how are you two?” Twilight asked.

“Pretty good,” Rainbow Dash said.

“I mean, since the other day,” Twilight corrected.

“I guess worse off since Taraxipos is out and everything,” Pinkie said.

Twilight glared at them both.

“I mean your relationship, how is your relationship?” Twilight forced the point.

“Well why didn’t you ask?” Pinkie asked.

Twilight rubbed her eyes in frustration.

“Like I said, pretty good,” Dash repeated.

“So much better. It’s like taking a walk after you’ve been carrying around saddlebags all day and you ditch them and suddenly you feel like you’re lighter than air,” Pinkie said. “And let me tell you, it’s so much easier to relax after a hard day of fighting evil wizards when you’ve got a warm ball of feathers to curl up to at night.”

“Pinkie,” Rainbow was blushing.

“I mean, two tents? We lugged them here for nothing, I haven’t used mine in days,” Pinkie continued. “Anyway, I think now that I’m not so distracted, Madame Pinkie needs to get back to finding you a special somepony.”

Suddenly, it was Twilight’s turn to blush.

“I’m a busy Princess, fighting evil, saving the world, trying to get some oatmeal,” Twilight said.

“But Twilight, isn’t it better to be open and honest?” Rainbow asked.

Twilight regretted her earlier prodding.

“No, relationships are a private matter, I’ve always said so,” Twilight replied.

“Well isn’t this my favorite topic of conversation,” came Rarity’s voice. “I was off in a wonderful dream when my ears started burning and I knew, somewhere, somepony was talking romance.”

“That’s not true at all,” Twilight said.

“The truth is I smelled the oatmeal. But Twilight, my dearest friend, sister of my heart, my favorite Princess, you vex me so,” Rarity said.

“That’s also not true,” Twilight said.

“I knew the very day that Big Mac and Carrot Top started dating, I knew the hour Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash got together-”

“That can’t be true,” Dash insisted.

“Less than an hour after Sugarcube Corner closed, eight months and oh, what day is today? Eight months and seven days ago,” Rarity replied. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie’s mouths hung open. “And yet, I know nothing about my favorite purple pony. You won’t even let me set you up with anypony, and I know all the best ponies-”

“There are no ponies here, just us,” Twilight said. “So thanks but, I don’t want to date a tree. I’m not Fluttershy.”

Pinkie Pie cracked up.

“Don’t try and joke your way out of this Twi, you’ve never said one word about anypony you’re interested in. And I know, I bribed Spike for information,” Rarity said.

Pinkie Pie started serving up bowls of steaming oatmeal and everyone in camp was heading over to the campfire.

“Dash, if she keeps asking me about this, I’m not teaching you Pegasus magic,” Twilight said.

“That’s a bluff-” was all Rarity managed before Rainbow Dash leapt on her and covered her mouth.

“That’s a risk I can’t take,” Dash said.

Twilight ate her porridge in peace. Dash let Rarity go after she promised not to bring up the subject, then she got her own bowl from Pinkie.

“Thanks Sweetie Pie,” Dash said.

“Ohhhhhh isn’t that adorable,” Rarity cooed.

“I meant Pinkie Pie, they’re really similar!” Dash insisted.

The gossip stopped as Dark Matter approached the camp.

“Combat drills this morning. We’ve got a week of waiting, so we need to turn that into a week of prep. When the time comes, we all need to all be in fighting shape,” Dark Matter said.

“Actually, we should do the combat drill after lunch,” Twilight said. “I want to do magic training this morning.”

“Well you can work with the unicorns, and the rest can come with me.”

“Actually, this is magic training for everypony,” Twilight corrected.

* * * * * *

“Alright, before we begin, I need to read through some of these notes,” Twilight said. “But this is magic, so we can all prep by meditating for a moment before we start. Rarity, can you get them going?”

“Very well. Everypony take a seat and get as comfortable as you can,” Rarity instructed. “Close your eyes and think about your body. Start at the horn and simply make yourself aware of every part of you as you go down.”

“What if we don’t have a horn?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Hm...that’s a good question,” Rarity replied.

“Pegasi, focus on your wings,” Twilight said, then she scanned the notes further. “Earth Ponies, start at your feet and work your way up.”

“Alright, now, slow your breathing. Breath in, and while you’re breathing in start at your horn or hooves or wings, and spread all the way to the other end, then exhale, and while breathing out go all the way back,” Rarity explained.

Twilight couldn’t believe what she was reading, and from Star Swirl’s tone, he could barely believe it either.

Earlier today the owner of the vineyard, a hard working and even tempered old earth pony, came into the field where we were picking grapes. We came upon a section of the vineyard that has sandy soil, and the vines produce few grapes. A certain vine looked to be dead, and I asked if we should remove it and try planting a new vine there. The earth pony shook his head and placed a hoof on the withered vine. After a moment it turned green and the leaves uncurled. The earth pony wiped the sweat from his brow when he was done. The plant was restored, and I couldn’t believe my eyes. I tried ask the farm owner how he had done this, but when he answered my limited vocabulary picked up little of what he said. When it became clear I didn’t understand, the owner simply told me ‘In the future.’

“What’s supposed to happen now?” Dash asked.

“Silence happens now,” Rarity replied.

Twilight looked ahead to an entry some months later.

Today the owner’s daughter and I were clearing the land west of the vineyard when we found a large boulder. I began levitating it up, but Carme told me to set the rock down. She approached the rock and closed her eyes. I cast a different spell, to reveal magical energies, and saw her hooves glowing with power. Then with a grunt she heaved the rock out of its hole and began rolling it across the field towards the property line where they would build the new wall.

Twilight was speed reading, but it was still fifteen minutes before she was ready to begin.

“Alright everypony, feeling calm and empowered?” Twilight asked.

“Feeling bored,” Rainbow Dash replied. “I want to buck lightning already.”

“I feel pretty amazing,” Jade said.

“Alright,” Twilight looked around for one of the larger marble blocks scattered about the rubble. “Earth ponies, you’re going to move that block.”

“That’s crazy talk,” Pinkie said.

“No, it’s magic,” Twilight said. “Pegasi, you’re going to be bucking lightning against the wall over here.”

The ponies moved into position.

“Alright, now, when you’re trying to push the block, don’t try to force it with your physical strength, it’s too heavy for that by far,” Twilight explained. “But you want to concentrate on the magical power in your hooves. Earth ponies focus their magic in their hooves, you want to use that to push the block.”

Pinkie and Jade started pushing against the marble block, which didn’t budge an inch.

“Now for lightning bucking, it says here that the key is to discharge the energy that is built up in your wings. You don’t make the charge with your feet, you just release it there. Star Swirl says you can release it other places, but the buck is the easiest way to start,” Twilight said.

Rainbow Dash turned around and bucked the wall, producing nothing.

“What? But it worked the first time,” she said.

“The first time you bucked it like you were cloud bucking, move your wings when you do it,” Twilight said.

Rainbow Dash tried again, with an audible crackle. Dark Matter looked at her with shock. He tried himself to no avail.

“You call that cloud bucking?” Rainbow asked.

“No, I’ve never, bucked clouds,” Dark Matter replied. “I buck faces.” He thrust his hooves out again.

“See, you’re doing it like you’re trying to kill the wall, but you’re trying to move energy from your wings to your hooves,” Twilight said.

“Are you sure I’m even capable of this?” Dark Matter asked. “I’m no wizard, I’m a warrior.”

Twilight set the journal down and cast a spell over Dark Matter. “Warrior or not, you’re a pegasus, which means your wings are full of magic, look,” Twilight gestured at Dark Matter’s black, leathery wings, which were shimmering with green light under the effect of the spell. “You’re trying to move that energy to your hoof.”

“Speaking of moving, this block is going nowhere,” Pinkie Pie said.

Twilight walked over to the marble block. Both ponies were sweating from the strain.

“No, you’re trying to push the block. The magic needs to push the block. Here, stop pushing at all,” Twilight instructed. “Just lean against the block with your hooves, okay?” Both ponies stood there, waiting. “Now, just picture the block moving, like a gust of wind is coming out of your hooves and pushing the block back. Don’t try to move your legs, just lean against it.”

Both ponies stood there, leaning against the block silently. After thirty seconds or so, Pinkie’s end shifted forward slightly. The shift in balance caused the pink pony to topple to the ground, but she was up in a flash. “I did it! It moved, Dash it totally moved!”

Twilight set the four ponies to practicing, cautioning them against wearing themselves out or getting frustrated, then she went over to Rarity and Quick Fix and sat down.

“Pretty remarkable, eh?” Twilight asked.

“Quite so. I can’t believe nopony has stumbled on this since the ponies of Harmonia,” Rarity said.

“Star Swirl suspected that here in the Everfree Forest, with so much ambient magical energy in air, non-unicorn ponies were more likely to express their powers, but any pony should be able to do this with training, it’ll probably just be a lot harder for say, a pony in Ponyville to learn to do this, but they should be able to eventually. Anyway, we can turn back to traditional magic,” Twilight said.

“I don’t know, Twilight, you can just work with Rarity. I could be salvaging pieces from the containment device,” Quick Fix said.

“You’d rather be down in that horrible basement than up here?” Rarity asked.

“Well, if it’s magic lessons, yes,” Quick Fix said.

“Quick Fix, you’re selling yourself short. If you doubt yourself you’re never going to get better,” Twilight said.

“Well I’m sorry, I don’t doubt myself, I just know myself,” Quick Fix said with anger in her voice. “I’m not like you Twilight, I’m not a wizard.”

“You’re a skilled, intelligent unicorn, you went to Celestia’s School-”

“I don’t care that I went there, I don’t care where I went to school I’m not that kind of unicorn,” Quick Fix got up and started walking towards the tower. “I’m going to do something useful with my time,” she said as she left.

Once she was gone Rarity turned to Twilight.

“Well I did not see that coming,” Rarity said.

Twilight frowned. “It’s been like that for years. Celestia asked her to attend the school because she’s a genius with magical devices, and you need to know the ins and outs of mathemagical theory to work in that field. Celestia’s school was the best place for her to learn that theory. The problem was, everyone else at the school was applying that theory to their spellcasting, while she was applying it to her craft. She can levitate things, and create light, but that’s about all I’ve ever seen her do. Other ponies at the school gave her a pretty hard time about her spellcasting.”

“Well, hopefully her mood will improve and we can approach the topic differently later. But Twilight, I must confess, I don’t feel terribly useful in the battle to come,” Rarity admitted. “When the Elements activate it all seems so natural, I don’t have to really think about it, the magic just happens, but you know me, I’m not exactly a wizard pony myself.”

“I’ve been thinking about this since Taraxipos escaped. He didn’t out perform me in magic, he didn’t do any magic at all. He tricked me. Which made me think of you,” Twilight said.

“I know you’re going somewhere with this but I’m a little hurt,” Rarity said with a smile.

“You know the scenes you create for your fashion shows?” Twilight asked.

“Oh yes, those, I actually learned those from a pony who did the sets for a travelling theatre company. It’s much cheaper to hire a unicorn who can create the look of a stage than building one and carting it all over Equestria, setting it up and tearing it down. But what am I supposed to do with those?” Rarity asked.

“You’re just thinking about it from one point of view. But really, they’re illusions, and illusions have turned the tide of battles. Fourteen hundred years ago during the second Pegasus War, one side hired a unicorn to disguise a battalion of soldiers as a flock of migrating birds. The enemies flew right under them, thinking nothing of it, and the ambush wiped them out,” Twilight explained. “Have you ever changed a pony’s appearance? Maybe make it look like they were wearing something they weren’t?”

Rarity looked around to see that the other ponies were out of earshot.

“If you repeat this, we will never be friends again, but, perhaps I once used my magic to make a model appear like she was wearing a dress. But that client gave me absolutely no time to actually produce ten dresses, he’s lucky he got an illusion at all,” Rarity whispered.

“Taraxipos isn’t just a monster, he’s a wizard. I doubt anypony would be able to produce an illusion that could fool him completely, but I bet you could confuse him, make him hesitate, and in a battle like that seconds can make all the difference,” Twilight said.

“You make a good point. Now let me ask you something: mares or stallions?”

Twilight wrapped Rarity in a binding spell and hung her upside down from the Fountain of Harmony.

“First lesson, dispel those magical effects,” Twilight replied.

“Well you are just no fun,” Rarity said. Twilight started walking back towards the other ponies. “No wait, Twilight, Twi? Twilight come back please, Twilight this isn’t funny. Twilight Sparkle you let me down this instant!”

Twilight ignored Rarity and checked in on Rainbow Dash and Dark Matter. Rainbow Dash was succeeding in creating an electrical charge with almost every strike against the wall, but the crackle didn’t seem very intimidating. Dark Matter had managed only three successful lightning bucks.

“Princess, even if we’re capable of doing this, what is the point, I doubt this much electricity would hurt a pony, much less a powerful wizard like Taraxipos,” Dark Matter said.

“I know it’s not much now, but Star Swirl talks about a rebel pegasus bucking a guard and putting enough electrical charge into it that the charge jumped from that guard to three others and knocked all of them off their feet and unconscious,” Twilight said. “We’ve just got to work up to that.”

“Well how do I put more charge into it? When I try to really give it a kick, I usually end up making no charge at all,” Dash asked.

“I’m not completely sure, because Star Swirl isn’t completely sure yet. I just need to read further. For now, focus on getting the charge down every time,” Twilight said.

“Twilight, look, look!” Pinkie Pie called out. Twilight looked over to see Pinkie and Jade were moving the marble block slowly across the floor. “It’s like I’m not even moving it, but Mind Pinkie is moving it, it’s crazy.”

Jade started laughing and then Pinkie started laughing and the block came to a halt as the two Earth Ponies cracked up.

“Oh Pinkie, I had it going,” Jade said. “You ruined me.”

“Laughing never ruined anything,” Pinkie said very seriously, which just caused Jade to laugh harder.

* * * * * *

After a few hours everypony returned to the camp for lunch, which Spike told them was just hay.

“Just hay, not even hay with powdered sugar?” Pinkie asked.

“Sorry, but if we’re going to make these supplies stretch for the next seven days, it’s going to be just hay for lunch. We lost three whole barrels of food in the canyon,” Spike explained.

“I’m gonna be happy to see AJ and Fluttershy again, but I’m going to be even more happy to see some fruit,” Rainbow Dash added.

“Well when combat drills start, you’re going to be glad you’re not full. A good kick to the stomach can make you vomit almost instantly, and then you’re done for,” Dark Matter said.

Quick Fix came up from the lower levels with a couple of pieces of the device floating in front of her. She came over to the camp and grabbed her hay and took it back to her tent silently.

“Is Quick Fix upset?” Jade asked quietly.

Twilight nodded.

“This sounds like a job for Pinkie,” Pinkie said, then she got up and headed for Quick Fix’s tent. Twilight quickly levitated Pinkie up into the air and away from her destination.

“Sorry Pinkie, but I made her upset, I need to talk to her,” Twilight said.

“Awww, okay, but only if you sing her a song. I haven’t gotten to sing anypony a song in so long,” Pinkie said.

“I’m not going to sing to her, I just need to apologize,” Twilight said.

“Sad or happy, everyone has combat drills,” Dark Matter added. “Jade, do you think you could wear Applejack’s armor?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t tried it on,” Jade said.

“Oh you could put it on, but it wouldn’t fit you at all,” Rarity said. “AJ’s a good bit thicker in the thighs and shoulders from all that apple bucking. I’ll make some adjustments tonight.”

“Well Dash, Pinkie, armor up when you’re done eating, then everyone meet me in the palace hall,” Dark Matter said.

After lunch the group collected back in the hall. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were wearing their Crystal Kingdom Armor, the rest were just standing around. Quick Fix had said nothing to anypony.

Dark Matter had spread out numerous pairs of battle shoes, lances, and even two swords.

“I do not expect to turn you ladies into soldiers,” Dark Matter began. “We don’t have enough time for that. My combat training began when I was five, and I did not deserve the title of soldier until I was twenty-seven. What we can do is get you combat comfortable. Now, that’s going to mean different things for each of you, based not only on your physical condition but also your nerve and determination.” He walked over to the spread of weapons. “To begin, we’re going to assign weapons. The lances are for the armored troops, and I wish we could outfit all of you, but we only have four suits of armor between us. Rainbow Dash, this is your lance, and these are your battle shoes.” He gestured towards a pair of shoes that had curved hooks on the front. “These are basic pegasus battle shoes. The hooks are for latching on to your enemy and dropping them from height, or disabling the wings of a flying opponent. Jade, you can work with your lance tomorrow. Today, you and Pinkie will be using these.” He gestured towards two different pairs of boots. These lacked hooks, but were thicker, with a sharp edge on the front and a thick, reinforced back. “These are striking shoes, for close combat. A well placed kick with these on can snap a leg in half.” He moved on to the two swords. “Quick Fix, Rarity, these are your swords. Unicorns have traditionally eschewed fixed weapons in favor of telekinetically wielding weapons.”

“What about me?” Twilight asked.

“To be honest, Princess, I would prefer you stayed out of combat, but I realize that won’t be the case. I considered assigning you a sword, but it seemed pointless to divert some of your energy towards floating a sword about and away from your magic,” Dark Matter explained. “If I had any armor to give you, I would gladly do so, but I do not.”

A thought popped into Twilight’s mind. “Hang on a second.” Twilight left the main hall and entered the tower. She went into the camp and dug out the ornate chest that the Elements of Harmony were kept in. She opened it and pulled out her crown and the pendants for the others. She desperately wished Fluttershy and Applejack were there with her, but she left their pendants in the box and went back downstairs. “Sorry to bring some magic into your combat drill, but this could be very beneficial,” Twilight said. She put on her crown and clasped the pendants onto her friends.

“In Star Swirl’s journal he and the other ponies use the Elements to protect themselves with a magical armor,” Twilight said. She could feel the power emanating from the crown, a vast power that even in her most impressive moments she felt dwarfed her magic like the sun dwarfs a candle. She didn’t know what to do, the Elements always seemed to have a mind of their own, so she simply spoke the word armor in her mind. Light flashed from the crown and Twilight felt her body grow warm, like she was stepping into a hot shower. The light faded and Twilight looked down. Her body was covered in armor, but she felt, if anything, lighter than before. The armor was incredible looking: the plates were the same purple as her coat, but the edges were lined with gold trim. Her crown had become a helmet, with her mane flowing out of the gap along the top. Her wings emerged from two slits in the back, and the armor went all the way down to her hooves and covered them, creating striking shoes that merged seamlessly with the armor. “It’s amazing feeling, like I’m wearing nothing.”

“And beautiful, look at this your Cutie Mark is on the flank and everything,” Rarity said. Twilight looked back and saw her star shaped Cutie Mark was there, made of encrusted gems. “How did you do it?” Rarity asked.

“Just ask for it, I just said armor, and it appeared,” Twilight explained. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie got out of their armor and set it aside. Then they closed their eyes. Rarity’s armor appeared first. It was brilliant white with silver trim and the panels had ornate flares and scroll work. Her Cutie Mark was there, three brilliant sapphires, and her mane curled out of the gap in the helmet without a hair out of place. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie both erupted in light. Dash’s armor was blue like a summer sky with gold trim, and even though it was magical and weighed nothing, it was still light and sleek looking, with the panels hugging her body closely. A brilliant ruby made up the lightning bolt of her Cutie Mark. Pinkie’s armor was quite the opposite, with heavy, overlapping panels of cotton candy pink with blue trim. Her hooves were wrapped in thick striking shoes and her mane exploded out of her helmet gap. Two blue topaz and a citrine made up her Cutie Mark.

“I have never seen armor such as this,” Dark Matter said, with genuine awe in his voice.

“I’m thoroughly jealous,” Jade said.

“There are perks to the job, but you have to save the world a lot,” Pinkie Pie said.

Once they were done admiring their armor, Dark Matter returned to business.

“Alright, we can get Jade and Quick Fix outfitted in the Crystal Kingdom Armor, and then we’ll all be battle ready. Now, let’s warm up,” he said. They stretched, did pushups and jumping jacks, ran in place, and then Dark Matter set them to their first task. “Keeping cool in combat is one of the hardest things for a novice pony to do. You have to stay alert, but stay calm. You’ll find that you can only fight for so long if you’re on edge and nervous the whole time. So, to this end, I want you to charge at the marble block over there, like you’re going to attack it. I’m going to make it more difficult than that. Pinkie, you’re up first.”

“Oh, allow me to lend a little realism,” Rarity thought for a moment and cast an illusion over the block. Suddenly, it looked like a model pony wearing a green sundress.

“I don’t think I can take that seriously,” Quick Fix said.

“Well forgive me I haven’t built up an intimidating collection yet,” Rarity replied. She cast another illusion that briefly looked like a Changeling, then morphed into a model in black lingerie.

“Now it’s just disturbing,” Dash said.

“Hush, I’m going to get it in a moment,” Rarity closed her eyes from a moment, then the model turned back into a Changeling and stayed that way.

“That will work,” Dark Matter said. “Pink, charge.”

Pinkie Pie stamped her hooves and started running full tilt at the Changelings. Before she was halfway across the room Dark Matter swooped down from above and caught her in the side and sent her skidding across the ground.

“No, you’re focusing too much on the target, what did I say? Calm and alert,” Dark Matter barked.

“Hey, lay off her,” Rainbow Dash cried out.

“You leave your emotions back in camp, pegasus, I’m not picking on her I’m helping her,” Dark Matter replied.

“It’s okay Dashie, I’m not really hurt or anything,” Pinkie Pie said.

Dash backed down, but her face was clouded with anger.

“Alright, Pinkie, again,” Dark Matter ordered.

Pinkie got back up and shook herself out, then charged again. This time Dark Matter came at her from directly above. Twilight saw her tail shiver, and she leapt to the side.

“Ha, dodged it!” Pinkie said.

“And failed, now those Changelings would be on you. After you dodged my attack you need to continue on and complete your attack,” Dark Matter said. “Try it again.”

Pinkie made another charge at the illusionary Changelings. This time Dark Matter tossed a piece of stone rubble at her, which pinged off of her armor. She continued on anyway and swiped at the Changelings.

“You need to be aware of what I’m doing. If an enemy who can strike you at range, like a unicorn or giant spider takes aim at you, they’re now a serious threat. Alright, take a break, you can try again later,” Dark Matter told her.

“Let me try,” Dash said.

“Fine, charge when you’re ready,” Dark Matter said. Rainbow Dash burst forth at full speed, leaving a rainbow contrail behind her. Just before she reached the Changelings though, Dark Matter flew behind her and caught her tail in his teeth. Dash responded by bucking her back legs at Dark Matter, who was caught in the side with both hooves. He didn’t let go of her tail though, and dragged her to the ground and stepped over her. “What is this?”

“I thought this was combat training,” Dash replied.

“This is you being petty, being a show off. You’re pitching a fit like a foal all because I tackled your girl and it’s pathetic. If you cared about her you’d let me do my job,” Dark Matter yelled into Dash’s face.

“Of course I care about her,” Dash yelled back.

Dark Matter latched onto Dash’s armor with his battle shoes and picked her up into the air in front of him, shouting into her face.
“Then grow up and let me teach her how to defend herself. The reality is that along the way it’s going to hurt, it’s going to hurt all of you. And I hope I hurt all of you, so that when the time comes you have some vague idea what you’re up against,” Dark Matter shouted.

Twilight lifted Dark Matter and Rainbow Dash and separated them, and set them down about ten feet apart. “Regardless of right or wrong this can be discussed rationally,” Twilight said.

“I don’t need you playing Mother Hen right now Princess, I need to know that this Pegasus is smart enough to realize I’m doing her a favor,” Dark Matter said.

“Dark Matter, that’s going too far,” Twilight said. Dark Matter glared at her, then turned his gaze back to Dash, who was breathing heavily and crouched down like she was about to lunge on him, but after a moment she stood up and exhaled, visibly trying to reign herself back in.

“I got carried away,” Rainbow Dash admitted after a long pause.

“You did, and I know your heart was in the right place, but Dark Matter is trying to help us,” Twilight said. Then she turned to Dark Matter. “But you have to accept that we’re not your cadets, you’re not our commanding officer, and this isn’t a military unit, we’re friends here.”

Dark Matter flared his nostrils and turned to Rainbow Dash, then back to Twilight.

“I’m sorry, Princess, I’ve never trained civilians. I’m used to pushing a pony to their absolute limit, because that’s what they signed up for,” he said tersely.

“That’s okay,” Twilight tried to lighten the mood with a happy, buoyant voice. “We’re all out of our element here. How about we switch to a different exercise and come back to this later?”

“Very well.”

Dark Matter walked the ponies through basic attack stances and basic attacks. Rarity created an illusion of a wooden training dummy, and the ponies practiced rushing it with their lances or lunging at it with their battle shoes. When it was Quick Fix’s time to practice with her sword she had trouble unsheathing the weapon, which hung at her side out of her vision. Once she got it out she was very slow and deliberate with her movements. Dark Matter told her to be faster and more fluid, or the enemies would dodge any attack she made. She swung the sword in an arc and lost control of it. It went skidding along the floor and Jade had to leap out of the way to avoid getting her hooves sliced.

“Quick Fix, what is this? How are you going to keep a hold on it when you’re striking a solid object? Or trying to block an attack? This is as basic as I can make it,” Dark Matter said.

Quick Fix let out a yell of frustration.

“This doesn’t matter! I’m not going into combat, I’m going to build the containment device and then I’m going home and you can all stay here and get eaten,” she yelled out and stomped off to the tower.

Dark Matter stood there for a moment. “What did I do this time?”

“Nothing,” Twilight said. “This is a long standing problem. How about we wrap it up for the day?”

“Fine, but tomorrow, we need to cover more ground,” Dark Matter said.

“Hey Twilight, how do I get rid of this armor?” Rainbow Dash asked. Moments after she asked the armor melted away into nothing. “Oh, I guess you just want it to.”

* * * * * *

Twilight braved the grotesque kitchen and travelled down the servants’ passage to the library, and into Taraxipos’ lab. There, she found Quick Fix sitting at one of the tables, pushing two cogs together slowly with her hooves.

Twilight sat across from her at the table and said nothing.

“You never bullied me,” Quick Fix said finally.

“Of course not,” Twilight said.

“But we weren’t really friends.”

“I didn’t have any friends back then.”

“I wonder if Celestia thought we were friends, if she asked me to come on this journey because she thought ‘here’s two school chums, they’ll love the chance to take an adventure together,’” Quick Fix said.

“I doubt she thought that, and I doubt she’s ever said the phrase school chums,” Twilight said. They both shared a chuckle.

“You’ve got five really wonderful friends. It’s so easy to tell. Like, sometimes you see two ponies together, and you know they’re in love, they just can’t hide it, it’s in everything they do. It’s like that. Even when you argue, even when Rainbow Dash is picking fights, there’s no question. You all are tied together so strongly,” Quick Fix said.

“I’m very lucky to have them,” Twilight replied.

“It’s hard to be around that, but outside of it. It’s like being back in school. Like I was standing on the edge of a massive maelstrom of magic, and I wanted to throw myself in, be a part of that, but I couldn’t,” she said.

Twilight thought back to her days in school, to exam days, when ponies would wait with dread for their turn to stand up in front of the class and perform a spell they had been tasked with learning. She had shared a few classes with Quick Fix, who waited until everypony was done and started leaving, and then she would pull some device out of her saddlebag and bring it up to the teacher and there, in the empty classroom, she would show her work.

“I want you to stay, after you complete the device,” Twilight said.

“Why?”

“Because you’re my friend now,” Twilight said.

“They’re your friends,” Quick Fix replied.

“The six of us have been tied together since our birth, possibly even before that, but I would never say they are my only friends. Spike, my brother, Cadence, Celestia, and now you, Jade, even Dark Matter, I suppose, all friends of mine,” Twilight said.

“Friends or not, once the device is completed, I’m not good for anything else.”

“I don’t think that’s true at all. When Spike came with me to save the Crystal Kingdom, I didn’t think he’d be much more than a burden, but he ended up saving them. And I know you’re smart and skilled, and I have no doubt in my mind that I want you to be here,” Twilight insisted. “But I’m not forcing you. This is a volunteer expedition. If you want to go, you can.”

Quick Fix didn’t reply, she just kept turning the cogs for a while. Then finally, she spoke.

“What’s it like, being good at magic?”

“You already know what it’s like. It’s like finding an oasis in a desert, and as soon as you dip your hooves in you want to bathe in it, you want to consume it and have it in you and know its every facet. I imagine you feel exactly the same way.”

* * * * * *

The ponies waited, and trained. Twilight read every word and formula in Star Swirl’s journal, and as the days passed the ponies learned more and more about harnessing their innate magic. Soon Jade and Pinkie Pie were hefting marble blocks over their heads and tossing them around. Once they had gotten comfortable doing that they started working on using the magic to enhance their jumping. Dash insisted that the last thing Pinkie needed to be able to do was jump more. They had also begun turning their skin to stone, but the progress on that ability was slow for both ponies.

The pegasi learned how to increase their already impressive speed by consciously tapping into the magic in their wings, increasing the voltage of their lightning bucks, and create cyclones with just a flap of their wings.

Rarity began creating more and more menacing monsters for them to attack, though they frequently fell apart when the ponies moved through them, and more often than anyone was comfortable with they were exceedingly well dressed monsters.

Dark Matter worked them into a sweat every afternoon with exercises and weapon drills. Their muscles burned in new and exciting ways, and by dinner time it was usually just Rainbow Dash and Dark Matter left standing.

But looming over it all was the green glow of the barrier around the Royal Arsenal.

When it was Twilight’s turn to man the observation post she sat and stared into the glow, looking for some sign of a black vapor floating along the tower’s walls, but never any movement. She wondered if he was simply hiding in there, all smoke and no fire, failing to regain any of his old power. And then she wondered how wrong she might be.

And then suddenly, one afternoon twelve days after she left, Fluttershy appeared in the air above Harmonia during combat drills. She tried to tell everypony that AJ and a wagon were waiting on the far side of the canyon, but she was passed around like a doll and wrapped in tight, desperate hugs. Eventually they all headed out to the canyon and saw the wagon and then noticed the enormous two headed dog that was pulling it.

“I know exactly what you’re going to say about strays following me home,” Fluttershy began. “But I think this time he might really be helpful.”

“Where in Equestria did you find an Orthrus?” Twilight asked, dumbfounded.

“Actually I found him in Harmonia. He was in the Everfree Forest, lost and alone. He’s just a puppy and I couldn’t let him stay there and get eaten by a Manticore or something. His name is Oscar,” Fluttershy explained.

“A puppy? How can you call that a puppy? Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well, when he’s fully grown he’ll likely be twice that tall,” Fluttershy said.

“Well she named it, so there’s no getting rid of it now,” Rarity said.

Twilight, Dark Matter, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy flew over the canyon. The Orthrus began to growl at them, but Fluttershy said they were friends, and the massive dog stopped growling and sat down, its two foot tongues hanging out of its mouths. Twilight climbed into the wagon and found AJ resting on a cushion, her midsection wrapped and splinted.

“I guess ya’ll met the pup?” she said.

Twilight wrapped her in a tight hug around the neck, trying to avoid her ribs and succeeding in choking her.

“I thought you’d be happy to see me, not trying to kill me,” AJ said.

“I’m sorry, I’ve missed you so much,” Twilight said.

“Missed you too, sugarcube. You defeated this Taraxipos yet?” she asked.

“I wasn’t about to let you miss out on that fun,” Twilight said.

“That’s real kind of you, Twi, real kind.”

Rainbow Dash and Dark Matter flew the wagon back to the palace hall, while Fluttershy led the Orthrus around the canyon on foot. Twilight helped Applejack out, and they slowly made their way up to the camp. When they entered, they found the camp torn to pieces and Spike knocked out in the firepit.

A cold chill ran down Twilight’s spine. She rushed through the camp and pulled Spike out of the fire. His dragonhide meant that he was unharmed. Twilight looked around for the attacker, but the camp was empty. Then she realized what was worth taking, and began searching the supply tent. She found the ornate chest that the Elements of Harmony had been stored in, though recently only Fluttershy’s and Applejack’s. It was empty.

Spike woke with a jolt, screaming. Once they calmed him down, they asked him what had happened.

“The skeletons, the pony skeletons, from the kitchen.”

Chapter 9

Time and Space in Harmony

by Inkspots

Chapter 9

“We need to find those skeletons before they get back to Taraxipos,” Dark Matter said.

Twilight turned from Spike and nodded her head.

“Fliers, let’ go, everypony else, defend the camp until Fluttershy gets here, then Jade, Pinkie, come with her to the Royal Arsenal,” Twilight called out.

Twilight, Dark Matter, and Rainbow Dash leapt out of the second story window and started flying towards the Royal Arsenal, scanning the ruins and forest beneath them for some sign of the skeletons. They passed over the palace grounds, then through the Ancient District.

“How fast can skeletons even move?” Dash asked.

“I don’t know, I’ve never faced the undead,” Dark Matter replied. “In fact, I don’t think anyone has faced a necromancer in several thousand years.”

Twilight knew. She had read the last reliable account of a necromancer fighting ponies. It was roughly two thousand six hundred years ago when a necromancer took up residence in the Canterlot Cemetery. He chased away any mourners with skeletal minions, and when the Royal Guard came, they had to fight their way through the undead to reach him in the Royal Mausoleum. The records stated that ten members of the Royal Guard died in the assault. It was one of the reasons cremation had become the standard practice by the modern era.

They were flying over the lake now, certain of the horrible prospect that the skeleton had returned to its master. The Royal Arsenal was glowing in the dusk on the far side of the lake, turning the surface of the water a sickly green color. They flew up to the main gate, and there, on the battlement, hovered a dark cloud.

“Hello little rebel Princess, have you been enjoying my palace?” Taraxipos asked.

“Where are the Elements you stole?” Twilight demanded.

“Such a rude tone? And when I’ve been so generous as to let you squat in my palace and play with my pet golems,” Taraxipos said. “I could make things much more uncomfortable for you,” he began chuckling. “I thought about it, and I’m so very glad you’ve decided to stay, despite my warning. I have thought of something so much better to do with you, Princess, than eat you.”

“Give us the Elements or we’re going to come in there and take them,” Twilight said.

“Hm, well, perhaps, you might be able to breach this barrier with your Element alone, true, but, oh I wouldn’t recommend it. Take for instance your little yellow friend here,” Twilight turned to see Fluttershy riding Oscar up to the Arsenal with Jade and Pinkie in tow. “I have her Element, and magically speaking I might as well have a claw wrapped around her heart. If you attack me, well,” Fluttershy’s pendant emerged from the haze of Taraxipos’ form and he cast a black aura around it. Behind her, Twilight heard Fluttershy cry out in pain. Twilight turned and watched Fluttershy fall off Oscar and lay, twitching on the ground. After a moment it stopped. “That was a very mild demonstration. I could kill her and the other one in an instant. I hope you know at least enough about magic to see that I’m not bluffing.”

Twilight felt her face growing hot with rage, her teeth were grinding together.

“I have made you upset, it seems.”

Twilight stopped. She relaxed, remembering what had happened the last time she had fallen for Taraxipos’ taunts.

“Well you haven’t killed them yet, so what do you want?” Twilight asked.

“I want you, Princess,” Taraxipos said. “A simple trade, you, for these two baubles.”

“Why, so you can kill me?” Twilight asked.

“Why should I tell you? I’ve outlined the trade, those are the terms, you have until morning. You can tell when it’s morning, right?” Taraxipos asked, then laughed.

“We’re never going to give you Twilight,” Dash yelled out.

“Ugh, really, I have no interest in talking to a peasant, Element or not,” Taraxipos replied. “I’m going now, this has become boring. Until morning, Princess.”

“Wait,” Twilight called out. “How did you learn modern Equestrian?”

“Oh? Ohohohohoo, little pony, you have these moments of intelligence that shock me. So many things you could learn, so many things you could infer from an answer to that question. And yet on the surface it seems so innocuous. No, I’m not going to answer that. Go away and gnash your teeth over your decision, and then I’ll see you in the morning.”

* * * * * *

“Well there’s just no arguing it,” Applejack said.

“You’re right, I have to give myself up,” Twilight replied.

“What? No, that’s not what I meant at all and you know it,” Applejack said.

The entire expedition was up on the roof of the palace tower. After their camp had been breached, Dark Matter had demanded they move camp to a more defensible position. So now the entire camp was up on the roof of the tower. Pinkie and Jade had moved massive marble blocks in front of all of the entrances and stairs. Now the camp was circled around Quick Fix’s containment device, which had been slowly coming together, but was now constantly under construction.

“What choice do I have? He could kill you and Fluttershy at any moment, he could kill you right now, while we’re sitting here,” Twilight insisted.

“And if you give yourself up, then what? I think he’s made it right clear there are things worse than death, and he knows how to do ‘em,” Applejack replied.

“I can’t risk both of your lives though,” Twilight said. “Think about it that way, even if I die or worse, but it saves two of my friends, how could I not make that choice?”

“Why make the choice, why can’t we turn the tables?” Dash chimed in. “We can breach the barrier, let’s sneak in and take those pendants back.”

“How?” Dark Matter asked. “How do we take them out of his very body without him noticing?”

“Well I don’t know, magic? But how can we play his game?” Dash said.

“If anything, he wants us to sneak in, he wants us to make some snap decision,” Twilight cut Dash off. “He used me to break out of the containment device, and at the Arsenal he tried to bait me again. We have to stop, and think. Not about what we should do, let’s think about what he wants. Why does he want me? If he kills one of us, then suddenly we’re not the Elements of Harmony. When Dash wasn’t with us we were powerless against Discord. So why bother with this trade?”

The camp was quiet as the ponies thought, except Quick Fix, who was fitting a large green crystal in the bottom of the containment device.

“Strategy?” Dark Matter offered. “He’s a wizard, perhaps he only views other wizards as real threats to his rule.”

“Maybe it’s personal, since you released him,” Rarity suggested.

“I think it might be ego. He barely sees the rest of us worth talking to,” Jade said. “Perhaps the prospect of killing AJ and Fluttershy doesn’t appeal to him. You’re a challenge to his rule, we’re, well, peasants in his mind. Unimportant.”

“When you asked him where he learned modern Equestrian, what were you trying to figure out?” Applejack asked.

“Princess Luna told me that something in these ruins showed her the path to Nightmare Moon, I wanted to know if it was Taraxipos. How else would he have learned our language?” Twilight explained. “And honestly, the fact that he wouldn’t tell me, tells me it probably was Luna. If some traveler or explorer found him, what would be the harm in telling us?”

“So he did that to Princess Luna? Changed her?” Dark Matter asked.

“I’m not sure, she’s not sure, but she was not able to become Nightmare Moon on her own,” Twilight replied.

The ponies lapsed into silence again. Twilight looked up into the blue evening sky, trying to spread all of her knowledge and all of the possibilities out in the air. She tried to guess at what Taraxipos wanted, beyond control and power.

And then she realized: all he wanted was control, and power, and she had one of those things.

“He wants my power, my magic,” Twilight said. “He wants me because of my ability, he wants it for himself.”

“What do you mean, for himself?” Applejack asked.

“He’s a shadow of his former self, if he has me, he has a body,” Twilight shivered at the thought. “And magic. The two things he needs most.”

“Then we should deny him what he needs most,” Dark Matter replied.

Twilight turned to Fluttershy, who was curled up next to Oscar. “You haven’t said anything about this yet, and you deserve a say.”

Fluttershy looked up from the ground. “I don’t want you to go, but I don’t want to die, I’m sorry. Not like that,” she said, her voice cracking. “I don’t ever want to feel like that again, like he reached inside me and...” she trailed off.

“I’m going to give myself up,” Twilight said. “It’s decided.”

* * * * * *

Twilight sat in front of her tent, staring into the embers of the fire. She hadn’t gone to sleep, and didn’t really plan to. Quick Fix was up, carefully etching runes onto a metal plate. She wondered if anypony was sleeping, or if they were just in their tents, lost in thought.

She heard hooves approaching slowly. She looked up from the glowing embers to see Applejack settling in beside her.

“I cracked a couple of ribs to save you, and this is what I get, huh?” she joked.

“If the chimera had killed me, Taraxipos would still be in the containment device,” Twilight replied.

“I’m trying to lighten the mood, but alright, be that way,” Applejack said.

Twilight leaned over and rested her head against Applejack’s neck. “What would you do in this situation?”

“I was in this situation, you know, ribs, chimera, that whole thing?” Applejack explained.

“Then why do you think I shouldn’t give myself up?”

“It’s real hard to be on this side of the bargain. In the thick of things, throwing yourself in front of a friend, it feels right. Well, if you’re a decent pony, I reckon it does. But on this side, I can’t ask you to do. I can’t wake up every day for the rest of my life with that over my head,” Applejack replied.

Twilight said nothing, she just closed her eyes and listened to the faint scratches of Quick Fix’s chisel. On the other side of camp, Oscar’s two heads were snoring out of sync, and the fire was still crackling slightly.

“I was hoping I’d be shoulder deep in an archeological dig by now, pulling out little bits of pottery and scraps of metal, commissioning masons to begin work on the palace,” Twilight mumbled quietly.

“We’ll get there. And we can sit around a fire and you can bore the pink off of Pinkie talking about cloth fragments,” Applejack replied.

“Cutting the ribbon on a new library.”

“Bringing in the first Zap Apple Harvest.”

“Spending the night in a park down by the lake, you and me... and, well, all of-”

“You and me. Down by the lake.”

* * * * * *

Twilight looked up at the sky, which was beginning to turn purple at the edges. She got up and stretched her wings out, then her legs and neck. She looked around the camp, at AJ who was asleep where she sat.

Should she say anything, she thought?

Dark Matter walked over from his tent. He was, for perhaps the first time that Twilight had seen, out of his armor. The membranous ridge that ran down his neck in place of a mane was even more bizarre outside of his armor, and his coat was dotted with healed over wounds, spots where hair wouldn’t grow back. She saw his Cutie Mark for the first time, a steel shield with a crescent moon on it. She realized suddenly how similar they were: singular creatures, who had devoted their entire lives to the pursuit and mastery of a single skill, to the exclusion of all else.

“I supposed there is nothing else I can say to change your mind, is there?” he asked.

“No. Not really,” Twilight replied.

“Very well, I will don my armor.” He began to walk away.

“Dark Matter,” Twilight said.

“Yes, Princess?”

“You have performed admirably in your duty,” she said. “And I am a better pony for having met you.”

“You don’t have to say that Princess.”

“I know, but I mean it.”

The rustling of Dark Matter putting on his armor roused the camp, though Twilight doubted many were sleeping. Jade began putting her armor on as well. Spike got up and walked over to Twilight.

“Should I make breakfast or something?” he asked.

“No, not today,” Twilight replied.

“Twilight-”

“I’ll see you when we get back, okay?” Twilight said.

Spike smiled.

“Of course, you’ll be back by lunch probably. I’ll have something special ready.”

Soon the party was ready to move. Twilight put on her crown, and those who still had their pendants put them on. Quick Fix bid them a sleepy farewell from her workbench where she was polishing glass lenses, and then Twilight picked up the whole group and levitated them up, off the building and into the air. They flew over the palace and the Ancient District.

“As soon as she’s done with the device, I gotta get Quick Fix to start on those cloud walking shoes,” Pinkie said.

No one replied.

After a minute of floating they were nearing the Arsenal. Twilight set them down in front of the main gate. After a moment, the black haze that was Taraxipos appeared on the other side of the green barrier.

“So, you realized you didn’t really have a choice, I see a glimmer of potential in you, alicorn, you have mastered basic logic,” Taraxipos said.

“Skip the insults, give us the Elements and I’ll give myself up,” Twilight demanded.

“Oh, these exchanges are always so dramatic, aren’t they?” A small hole in the barrier appeared, big enough for Twilight to walk through. “First, take off the crown, leave it there.”

Twilight levitated the crown off her head and gave it to Applejack.

“Now, you walk through, and I’ll throw the baubles out. That’s how it has to be.”

Twilight walked through the barrier. As she approached Taraxipos, she felt the air chill. Taraxipos chuckled, then tossed the Elements out and closed the barrier.

“So what now?” Twilight asked.

“Shh, none of that, you’ll ruin the moment.”

* * * * * *

“Wait, how does thinking about the destination actually affect the mathemagical formula?”

Twilight looked around. She was in a classroom, standing at a chalkboard. She was levitating a piece of chalk, and after looking at the board for a moment, she realized she was writing out the mathemagical formula for teleportation spells.

“Professor?”

Twilight turned around. There were about twenty fillies sitting in the classroom.

“Uh, well, you’re giving the formula anchoring points. The location is a variable, x, but when you consider that you want to teleport say, into a room that has a yellow sofa, suddenly the sofa becomes a component and the destination variable becomes x-y. You’re eliminating all of the possible destinations in the world that don’t have yellow sofas. Which is why,” Twilight completed the formula. “You need a clear picture of where you’re going for long range teleportations. They did experiments many years ago, they furnished two rooms very similarly, with only slight changes, and then led a unicorn into it. Then out, and asked him to teleport into it. Depending on how clear his memory was, he might end up in the correct room, but if he forgot to recall, say, that the lamp in one room was in the middle of the ceiling rather than off to the side, he would end up in the room he didn’t go in.”

A bell rang in the distance. It was the belltower of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.

The students began packing up their saddlebags.

“Remember, if you’re going to practice, do so with a friend, for safety,” Twilight called out over the din of the students leaving. The fillies chattered as they walked out.

“Professor Sparkle,” a little blue stallion unicorn walked up to her. “Have you graded the homework from last night? I wanted to add the solutions into my study guides.”

“That’s very proactive of you,” Twilight turned to her desk. Where was the homework? She opened a few of the drawers, but couldn’t find anything. Did she bring saddlebags?

“Hey there,” came a voice from the door.

Twilight looked up to see a stallion leaning against the doorframe.

“Hey one moment, I’m just looking for something,” Twilight wondered where her saddlebags were. Did she even bring anything? “I’m sorry, I don’t think I brought the homework, I’ll have it next class, don’t worry. You won’t be tested on the material before you get it back.”

“Alright, cya tomorrow Professor.”

The student left and the stallion closed the door behind him. He was a grey coated unicorn with a brown mane. She smiled. Because? Because he was her husband.

“Hey Professor Sparkle,” he said. “You’ve got a break this period, right?”

“Yeah,” Twilight replied. “I’ve got Literal Composition in an hour.”

“Really? Well I’ve got an hour until my Reverse Engineering class,” he came over and ran his neck against hers and nibbled on her neck where it met her shoulder. She pulled back, shocked. He locked the door with his magic. “We should seize the moment.”

Twilight backed away from him. “We can go grab something from the cafeteria, let me just clean off the chalkboard.” Twilight turned and levitated one of the erasers up and started clearing the chalk board. After a moment, she felt him move up behind her.

“I had, something else in mind,” he said. He ran his hooves down her back.

What about her wings? That was stupid. Unicorns don’t have wings.

She shook her head, then felt something press against her flank. In a flash she picked him up and flung him over the desk.

“What was that for?” he cried out.

“What do you think you were doing?” she asked.

“I thought I was about to have quickie with my wife,” he said, his voice offended.

Twilight turned away from him, trying to avoid looking at the growth between his legs.

“That can’t be right,” she said.

“Two married ponies, having sex? Yeah that’s pretty unbelievable.”

Twilight shook her head. She couldn’t even picture herself having sex with him. Which was odd, she should be able to picture having sex with her husband. Unless they never had sex, which sounded right in her mind, but, why had they never had sex? Well, she knew she didn’t want to have sex with him, but then, why did they marry?

“This isn’t right,” she said.

“Yeah, it isn’t. Look, let’s just move over that, I’m sorry, you’re sorry. Let’s get something to eat.”

“I’m not sorry,” Twilight replied.

“Really, you’re going to be like that? Twi, what’s wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong is, I don’t think I’ve ever had sex with you. With anypony,” Twilight replied.

The stallion got up and chuckled.

“Well this simply isn’t working.”

* * * * * *

Twilight was soaring over the clouds. Beside her she heard the flap of wings and turned to see Rainbow Dash.

“Just a little further,” she called out with a smile.

Twilight smiled back and they flew on. After a minute they approached a puffy white cloud and Twilight followed Rainbow Dash to the top. When they got there, Twilight saw a flat spot had been cleared and a cloud bench carved out. They landed on the top of the cloud. Twilight looked around at the spectacular orange of the sky as the sun set.

“I’m glad you wanted to go out tonight,” Dash said. “I pulled a few strings with the other weather ponies and, well, it’s going to be awesome.” Dash pointed off towards the setting sun.

Storm clouds were gathering in the distance, and after a moment, a thunderstorm broke out. The lightning arced across the orange sky. It truly was beautiful.

“It’s amazing, Dash,” Twilight said.

The pegasus blushed. “Well I try. We’ve got cider and snacks, and a great show to watch,” she explained.

Twilight flopped down on the cloud bench and Dash slid in next to Twilight and put a wing around her and they sat in silence, watching the storm flash in the distance, and hearing the faint, pulsing rumble.

“It’s beautiful up here,” Twilight said.

“Well, you deserve it,” Rainbow Dash said. She reached over to her saddlebag and pulled out a bottle of cider. Twilight tried to float out a bottle, but couldn’t. She laughed to herself, of course she couldn’t.

“Dash, can you grab me a bottle too?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, maybe, for a kiss.”

“Come on Dash, I just want a drink,” Twilight said.

“I dunno, it’s really far away,” Dash said, she gave the saddlebag a shove with her hoof.

Dash turned to Twilight and started leaning in. Twilight’s face felt like it was on fire, should she go for it? For that first kiss? She realized she was leaning into it already, so she did it. She closed her eyes and her lips tingled as they met Dash’s. She tasted a little like the cider she had drunk. The warmth in Twilight’s face spread across her body and out to every nerve.

Eventually they came up for air. Dash rested her head against Twilight’s.

“I think you earned that cider,” Dash said.

Twilight felt wrong. She pulled back from Dash, who leaned over to grab another bottle of cider. Twilight ran her hoof over her forehead. It was smooth up to her mane. Which horrified her for some reason.

“Uh, what’s with the face? Am I not very good?” Dash asked.

“You’re fine, I mean, Pinkie could teach a rock to kiss,” Twilight replied. Why did she say that?

“What do you mean? Me and Pinkie? That would never happen,” Dash scoffed.

Twilight frowned. “I shouldn’t have kissed you, you shouldn’t have kissed me. How could I do this to Pinkie?”

“What are you on about Pinkie for?” Dash asked, her voice angry.

“You love her, how could you bring me up here and, all this,” Twilight said. “You’re not this kind of pony Rainbow Dash, how could you betray her like that?”

Dash got up from the bench.

“I’ve got limited time and patience, you’re being very demanding,” she said. “But this should work.”

* * * * * *

Twilight was sitting in a field of tall wheat. It was swaying slightly in the breeze. Above her the sky was a million shades of red and purple. It must be about six in the evening in the Everfree Forest.

“Twilight!” came a distant call.

Twilight stood up and stretched her neck to see above the wheat. The field stretched into the distance in all directions, but to her right a farmhouse rose out of the wheat field, and in front of the house was Applejack.

“Dinner’s ready!” she called out. Twilight’s mouth watered at the thought. She got up and headed back along the rows of wheat towards the farmhouse. As she got up to the steps she smelled a fresh pie, and what she suspected was Applejack’s potato soup. Twilight pushed her way into the farmhouse and there was AJ, in an apron, ladling soup into a bowl.

“It smells amazing,” Twilight said.

“Well sit down and I’ll bring you a bowl,” AJ said.

“I wish I could just float it over,” Twilight said.

“Don’t we all,” Applejack replied. “And we’ve got apple pie after dinner.”

AJ brought over a bowl, then brought her own and the two sat down. Applejack grabbed a kiss before she dug in.

“Oh that’s good stuff,” Twilight said. “I wish I could cook like this.”

“I keep tryin’ to show you,” Applejack said with a laugh. “But it’s alright, means you can’t run off on me, then how are you going to get your apple fritter fix?”

Twilight laughed and ate. Applejack talked about the wheat harvest, which she suspected was about two weeks off. Twilight agreed on the timing.

“Why haven’t we planted any apple trees yet?” Twilight asked suddenly.

“Remember, we’re saving up money with the wheat, then when we’ve got a good bit, we’re going to switch over to the orchard. Just gotta have money for the first few years before they bear fruit,” AJ explained.

“Right, right, sorry,” Twilight replied.

They ate the rest of their dinner in peace, then Applejack got up to grab the apple pie. Twilight looked around the quiet dining room. She could see into the living room, and stairs up to second floor. It was all quiet, except for the wind rustling through the wheat outside.

A knock came at the door. Twilight got up and opened it. Standing outside was Twilight. Twilight stared into her eyes, then shut the door quickly.

“Twi? You going outside?” Applejack asked.

“Uh, no, I’m just not feeling great,” Twilight said. “Look, I know it’s early, but can we just turn in?”

“Tuckered out eh? Sure, we can turn in.”

Twilight and Applejack walked upstairs into the dark second story, they walked along the hall and entered their bedroom. Applejack pulled out her hair band.

“Mind brushing me out before we go to bed?” AJ asked.

Twilight picked up a brush from the nightstand and started running it through Applejack’s hair.

“Nothing much to do with the wheat for the next few weeks, we should sleep in,” Applejack said softly.

“You’re right,” Twilight said. She finished brushing and the two climbed into bed. Applejack wrapped her legs around Twilight and they laid there in the darkness.

Twilight felt a rumble beneath her.

“No,” she said softly.

“What’s that sugarcube?”

The rumble intensified.

“No, not this one too,” she moaned, burying her face in the pillow.

The house was shaking.

“I love you, Twilight.”

“I love you too.”

The ground shook, then silence. Moments later the roof of the room was peeled off and there, towering above the house was Twilight.

“No!” Twilight yelled up. “I want this one to be real!”

“You can’t always get what you want,” Twilight replied.

Twilight felt herself rising out of the bed. Applejack was holding on to her.

“Don’t leave me, Twi,” she said, her voice cracking.

“Ignore him,” came the voice above her. “If you love her you must ignore him.”

“I don’t want to go,” Twilight said again.

“I’m sorry, but you must go,” her own voice replied.

Twilight felt herself rising into a bright, searing light. Soon she was enveloped in fiery pain that rolled over her body and then, just as suddenly, darkness surrounded her.

A face materialized before her.

“That last one was particularly good, wasn’t it?” Taraxipos asked.

“You monster,” Twilight was crying. “You horrible monster.”

“I’m hurt, really.”

“But I’ve figured out your tricks, you won’t fool me anymore!” Twilight yelled.

“Oh, and you assume that being aware of the illusion means you can escape from it? Your body is mine, you have simply spoiled the chance to feel happy about the distractions I have created,” Taraxipos replied. “Tell you what, you return to that quaint little farmhouse and I’ll put everything back, and you can just pretend.”

“No,” Twilight managed between sobs.

“Fine, then stay here, in nothingness forever. Forever and ever. I’ll warn you though, it gets rather dull, I know from experience,” Taraxipos said. He laughed, then his face dissolved into the blackness around her.

Twilight cried until there was nothing left, and then she laid on nothing, looking into nothing. For how long, she had no idea. Then a thought came into her mind. What was she even laying on? Probably a coping construct, like the Astral Plane, which never had a floor, but you stood around on nothing.

“You arrogant bastard,” Twilight said. She started moving. She turned herself right way up and then began hurtling through the blackness. She needed to find him. So she pulled off the shroud that surrounded her. And suddenly, she could see, simply by willing it. And just as soon as she could, she could see him, deep in her mind, a shadow cast by a figure that wasn’t there. She teleported to him.

“Hello Taraxipos,” Twilight said.

“Oh you are a clever pony,” he replied.

“You have underestimated me, which makes sense. You lack crucial knowledge,” Twilight said. Then she grabbed the air before her and pulled it apart, revealing Taraxipos. His coat was dark grey and his mane was white and dingy, matted.

“You are proving far too difficult to deal with. Perhaps I should have eaten you after all,” Taraxipos said.

“I don’t fear you, not here,” Twilight replied. She then put her hooves onto his forehead on either side of his horn and pulled his skull apart.

“You won’t enjoy what you find, I can assure you of that.”

Twilight ignored him and dipped her face into the growing pool that was appearing between the two halves of his skull.

She watched an endless litany of horror, from his very birth, pushed into the world by a mother dying of wounds from a timberwolf attack. The small animals found dead by his father, the accidents at school. Then, the more terrible things, as he learned control. The women he hunted at the Royal Academy, his posting to the court, celebrated by killing the daughter of his predecessor. His seduction of the Queen, her vicious murder. She wanted to turn away, to not see what was shown to her, but she could do nothing now but watch, watch his twisted experiments, his necromantic golems rising to life, the murders, the feasting, the endless enjoyment. Then, a terrible figure appeared, crafted by his hand, and then just as suddenly, nothing. The long, endless years, the paving stones of the sealed chamber. Then she saw them, the ones who came looking. She saw King Sombra, who came seeking power, and Princess Luna, who came seeking revenge. And then she saw herself.

Twilight pulled herself out of Taraxipos’ mind.

“What did you do to me?” Twilight asked.

“I made you a god.”

Twilight banished him from her mind with a single swipe. Here, and here alone, in the Astral Plane of dreams, he was nothing.

Chapter 10

Time and Space in Harmony

by Inkspots

Chapter 10

Rarity floated Fluttershy and Applejack’s pendants over to them, and the pair quickly clasped them around their necks. Fluttershy then watched in horror from atop Oscar as Taraxipos enveloped Twilight.

“We gotta do something,” Applejack called out. Rainbow Dash and Dark Matter rushed the barrier, but they bounced off the green energy field. Rainbow Dash got up and began pummelling the barrier, but a few moments later she stopped as the black haze faded away to reveal a pony beneath it.

“Princess?” Dark Matter asked. “Is that you?”

“No, I am not your Princess, I am your Queen, I am the Once and Future Queen, and now that I exist physically in this world once more, I will exist forever,” she said. Her voice had changed completely, as had her appearance. She had grown taller, her horn was twice as long, and faded from purple to black at the tip. Her eyes were colorless black pools, and her mane and tail had become flowing and ethereal like Celestia and Luna’s. Her wings spread wide, easily twice the wingspan of a normal pegasus. She was covered in shining black armor with purple trim, and her feet were covered in battle shoes with sickle like claws on them. “You, Elements, must die, but you others may prostrate yourself before me and be spared a slow, terrible death.”

“Come out from behind that barrier and I’ll show you a terrible death,” Rainbow Dash replied.

“You really understand nothing, do you?” she asked. A black aura surrounded her horn and the barrier faded away with a whine.

Dark Matter leapt into the air with his hooves out, the Queen simply looked in his direction and a telekinetic field surrounded him and slammed him to the ground. As he struggled against the magical force, skeletal legs broke through the ground beneath him and latched onto his legs and torso, pinning him to the ground.

“You have now lost the option to grovel at my feet for mercy,” she said. “What about you, crystal pony?”

“I suffered beneath the hoof of King Sombra, I will never again bow to a tyrant,” Jade replied in a matter of fact voice.

“Oh, really? Tell me, how did his conquest of the Crystal Kingdom go? When he came crawling through my palace in search of items of power, he was a truly miserable little creature. Third son of an unimportant noble house, no natural sense for magic, terrible at conversation. I taught him the black arts simply to have something to do, fight off the boredom. Did he amount to anything?” she asked.

This time Rainbow Dash leapt into the air, moving in a blur, using her pegasus magic to accelerate to amazing speed. As she came alongside the Queen, she thrust out her hoof and struck her in a flash of electricity. The Queen grabbed Dash with her magic and slammed her to the ground as well.

“Never mind all this, I have things to do, and I am so very, very, VERY TIRED OF WAITING!” she yelled out. Her voice flung the ponies off their feet and sent them sliding back across the ground. Then she turned to Rainbow Dash and bit into the pegasus’ left wing with an audible crunch. Rainbow let out a howl of pain, but the Queen simply dug in, tossing her head side to side then finally wrenching her neck back.

Fluttershy’s mouth hung open in horror as she saw the Queen held a long, thin bone between her teeth, and after a moment, she snapped it in half and spit out the pieces.

“Oh yes, oh yes yes, finally,” she moaned. “I have missed that taste. I have missed that smell.”

Then the Queen disappeared and reappeared in the midsts of them. She began lashing out, biting at everypony in reach and striking with her wings. Fluttershy grabbed the rope reins she had tied to Oscar’s two heads.

“Come on boy,” she called out. Oscar leapt forward. Fluttershy headed for Applejack first, who was still wrapped in bandages and could barely dodge the vicious wing swipes of the Queen. She leaned to the side, held on to Oscar by just her teeth and grabbed Applejack and hauled her up onto Oscar’s back.

“Thanks Fluttershy, we need to get Rainbow Dash and free Dark Matter,” AJ said.

“Hold on to the reins,” Fluttershy said. Applejack grabbed the reins in her mouth as they bounded across the battlefield. Rarity was throwing up duplicates and triplicates of ponies, causing the Queen to bite at the empty air. Meanwhile Pinkie and Jade were both trying to land blows on the Queen. Fluttershy, Oscar, and Applejack reached Rainbow Dash, who was covered in blood. Fluttershy flew down and picked up her friend, trying not to look at her wing. She flew back up onto Oscar and handed Dash off to Applejack then pulled on the reins, directing him over to Dark Matter. “Oscar, grab the bones.”

The two headed dog bent down and grabbed the skeletal legs and pulled them off of Dark Matter. The Night Guard got to his hooves in time to see the rest of the undead ponies that were attached to the legs appear out of the ground.

“That was rather brave,” Dark Matter said, shaking himself off.

“I’m trying not to actually think about what I’m doing,” Fluttershy replied.

“Deal with the skeletons, I need to be in that fight,” he said, then he took to the air. Oscar shook his heads and flung the skeletal ponies away. One crashed into the wall of the Arsenal and fell apart, the other got back up on its feet.

“Oscar, get ‘em boy,” Fluttershy ordered. The dog rushed forward and then pounced onto the skeleton, crushing the bones beneath its feet. Once she was sure the skeleton was destroyed, she looked over. Applejack was cradling Rainbow Dash to her chest, the were both covered in the pegasus’ blood now. Then she looked over to the battle unfolding.

The Queen wasn’t using magic, she was simply biting and striking at the smaller ponies around her. Pinkie and Rarity were wearing their magical armor, but Jade and Dark Matter were simply wearing steel plate. Fluttershy watched as the Queen bit at Jade and found the real one among a pair of illusion. Jade yelped with pain as the Queen’s teeth bit into her front leg, but Dark Matter took advantage of the distraction to leap onto the Queen’s back and strike at her wings with his clawed shoes. She gave out an indignant yell and bucked him off of her back. Fluttershy looked around for Pinkie Pie, then she saw the pink pony had backed out of the fight and was now returning, carrying an entire stone column from the wall of the Arsenal. She swung the entire column above her head and brought it down on the Queen, who put up a wing to block it. The column snapped in half, and Fluttershy saw that her wing was shrouded in black magical energy.

“Fluttershy, we gotta get in there,” Applejack said.

“But you’re both wounded,” Fluttershy replied.

“And if we don’t help, we’ll be dead. Come on Fluttershy, we don’t have a choice,” Applejack insisted.

Fluttershy said nothing. The Queen then took a swipe at Pinkie with her black shrouded wing. Pinkie blocked the first strike with the remains of the column, but it was shattered. The next strike she blocked with her own legs, which was had turned to stone. Fluttershy couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The previous night the ponies had explained to Fluttershy the innate magic they had been learning from Star Swirl’s journal.

“Fluttershy, what are you waiting for?”

Dark Matter was flying back into the fight. He dove low, attempting to catch the Queen in the leg and trip her. She simply lifted her leg without even turning around and brought it down on Dark Matter, pinning him once more. Jade was back on her feet, though she wasn’t standing on her wounded front leg. She reared up on her hind legs and brought her front hoof down with a slam that echoed off the walls of the Arsenal. A pillar of stone rose up from beneath the Queen, forcing her to fly into the air to avoid being knocked off her feet. Dark Matter started slowly getting up from the ground.

“Fluttershy, no matter how bad it hurt when he cast that spell on you, no matter how scared you are right now that he might do it again, we need to be in that fight,” Applejack said.

“It felt like watching my body die from the inside,” Fluttershy mumbled.

“You have to get over that Fluttershy, get over it and save your friends, please,” Applejack begged.

Fluttershy looked over at Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The pegasus was pale, limp, and unconscious.

“Oscar, let’s go boy,” Fluttershy said with a tug on the reins. Oscar bounded forward.

The Queen was floating in the air above them. Her horn emitted a black aura, and Fluttershy knew that whatever magic was coming next would dwarf the physical blows they had taken so far. As Oscar was bounding forward she let go of the reins and stood up. She spread her wings and took to the air. She flew as quickly as she could, maybe even tapping into the magic she had only the night before learned resided in her wings. The Queen sneered as Fluttershy approached, but then Fluttershy zipped past her up into the air. She banked and started heading back towards the ground.

She knew in theory, what she was about to attempt was possible. She also knew it shouldn’t in a million years work.

“Please,” she asked herself. “Let it work for them.”

The air in front of her hooves crackled with electricity, her face was prickling with pain from the speed of the wind. She was so close to the Queen.

Applejack watched from atop the Orthrus, holding on to her wounded friend with one leg and the reins with the other, as Fluttershy hurtled down towards the Queen, then at the last moment the sky erupted in a shockwave of pale pink light. The Queen came plummeting out of the sky and crashed into the ground below, while Fluttershy sped off across the sky, leaving behind a shimmering pink and gold contrail.

“Alright boy, get in there,” Applejack snapped the reins. Oscar ran towards the the crater where the Queen lay. She watched as the creature climbed up, but the giant dog was on her before she could stand. The dog’s right head bit the Queen at the base of the neck, and she cried out.

“No, no more games,” she yelled. A dark aura surrounded AJ, Dash, and Oscar. Applejack shuddered as all the warmth was sapped from her. The three were floating up into the air. She looked out and saw that all of the ponies were wrapped in similar auras and helplessly floating up and together. “I will simply drink the blood from your lifeless bodies and then your corpses will serve me for all time.”

Suddenly a wind picked up, and then Applejack heard the crackle of electricity. She looked down below her to the ground, and there she saw a bright point of light flare into existence, and then fade. When the light cleared, Twilight was standing there, wearing her crown.

“Twilight, you’re okay!” Applejack called out.

“NO!” The Queen screamed. “I have your body, you cannot exist. I know every spell you know, there is no way!”

“You know so very little,” Twilight said. Her eyes were glowing already, and Applejack felt the familiar warmth of the Element begin to radiate from her neck. In her arms, Rainbow Dash stirred and opened her eyes.

“What’s going on, AJ?” she asked weakly.

“I don’t even know Dash.”

Twilight’s horn erupted in purple energy, creating an expanding bubble that dissolved the black auras that held everyone captive. They landed back on the ground, and Fluttershy even returned from her rocket speed flight.

“How?” the Queen asked. “How can you do this?”

“Oh, you expect me to begin sharing information? Your tricks are getting old, Taraxipos,” she replied.

“I am not merely Taraxipos, not anymore. I am the Once and Future Queen, and I have beaten you once, I will simply do so again,” she yelled.

Twilight said nothing. The gem on her crown burst with light. Applejack looked down to see her own pendant glowing, then everything went white, and she realized that the Elements had activated. She felt amazing, like she always did, like her veins were pumping golden light. Suddenly she felt her breathing clear. She put a hoof against her ribs and felt no pain. Beside her, Rainbow Dash shook her head as if waking from a deep sleep. Her wing was made whole again. Applejack gasped with shock.

“I thought it was all over,” Rainbow Dash admitted.

“Get out of my body, Taraxipos,” Twilight said. And with that the power of the Elements erupted from Applejack’s body. A rainbow of light blasted the Queen, and her skin began to peel away in chunks. Her mouth opened in a yell, but Applejack couldn’t hear the scream over the blasting wind created by the Elements. As pieces flew off of the Queen, Applejack saw Twilight’s form revealed beneath them. After a moment, she was free, and the Queen was gone. Then she toppled to the ground, unconscious.

The light faded, and the ponies were left standing there before the gate of the Arsenal.

“Did we win?” Pinkie asked.

“We won this fight,” the conscious Twilight said.

“Wait, how are there two of you?” Rarity asked. “Didn’t we just free your body from Taraxipos?”

“You did,” Twilight replied. “I’m from four days from now.”

“Why’s it got to be time travel?” Applejack asked.

Energy began to erupt around Twilight.

“The spell I use is unfinished on the third to last page of Star Swirl’s first journal, tell me to go back after the device has been activated,” Twilight turned to Pinkie. “Don’t forget to tell me that when I wake up. You will have to fight him once more, but you can-”

Light consumed the pony, and with a loud blast of energy, she was gone. The ponies stood around in a daze for a moment.

“Uh, maybe we should go pick up Twi?” Applejack suggested.

* * * * * *

The ponies returned to their camp to lick their wounds and try to figure out just what was going on. Jade and Dark Matter were in the worse shape, lacking the magical restoration of the Elements, and Spike was beside himself with worry over Twilight.

After dinner the ponies gathered around the campfire at Dark Matter’s behest.

“This had been the weirdest day ever,” Rainbow Dash started off. “I lose a wing and Fluttershy pulls off a Sonic Rainboom!”

“Well, I don’t think I would call it a Rainboom,” Fluttershy replied.

“Twilight said any pegasus pony could perform a Sonic Boom, yours is a Rainboom because of how your innate magic expresses itself,” Pinkie corrected.

“Well, okay, magic stuff aside, that was amazing, you didn’t even get any of the training we got,” Dash said.

“I honestly don’t think I could do it again right now, and if I hadn’t gotten my Element back I don’t think I would have managed it at all... I just, I had to do something,” Fluttershy finished.

“What did it feel like?” Dash asked. “Wasn’t it the best feeling ever?”

“It was terrifying. My face is still sore from the wind. I wasn’t even sure how to stop after the explosion-”

“I’m gonna pretend you said best feeling ever,” Dash cut in.

“Aside from your contribution,” Dark Matter started. “Impressive though it was, we need to figure out what we’re going to do next. Twilight... future Twilight, said that we would need to face Taraxipos once more, correct? That is what everypony heard?”

They all nodded.

“And right now, he’s inside of her mind, for the next three days,” Dark Matter continued.

“Right, until she casts him out,” Rarity added.

Dark Matter tapped his hoof against his chin in thought for a minute.

“Why can’t we put her in the containment device? That way, when she drives him out, he’ll already be inside the device, he can’t escape, we don’t have to fight him again,” Dark Matter asked.

“Is that even safe? How would Twi get out?” Applejack asked.

“She can teleport out,” Dark Matter offered.

“If it was the kind of device you could teleport out of, Taraxipos would just teleport out,” Pinkie Pie countered.

“Really, we don’t know enough about this to make these calls, we should ask Quick Fix,” Jade said.

“Oh, no no no no, she just got the sleep for the first time in days,” Pinkie Pie begged. “Let her sleep a little longer.”

“She can go back to sleep after she answers our questions,” Dark Matter replied. “We have a three day deadline.”

Dark Matter got up and walked over to Quick Fix’s tent. He stuck his head in, and after a few minutes, the unicorn dragged herself out. Her eyes were bloodshot and her mane was dirty and tangled.

“What’s this about what?” she asked after collapsing onto a pillow near the fire.

“Can we put Twilight in the containment device, and then get her out later?” Dark Matter asked.

“Uh...what? Why?” she asked.

“Taraxipos is inside of her right now, but in three days he’s going to come out. Can we put her in the containment device so that when he gets out, he’s already trapped?” Dark Matter explained.

Quick Fix listened, then stared into the middle distance.

“Quick, you okay?” Pinkie asked.

The unicorn didn’t reply. Then a smile creeped across her face.

“This is a dream, right?” she asked.

“Quick Fix!” Dark Matter yelled.

“What?”

“Did you hear anything I said?” he asked.

“How did I get out of my tent?”

Eventually Quick Fix was awake enough to hear the question again.

“No, if you put her in there, she dies, along with Taraxipos. It’s an incredible machine, it makes sense that Star Swirl made it, because there’s no way the ponies eleven thousand years ago could engineer something like this. And mine’s even more advanced. The original device was actually part of the golem making process, then Star Swirl modified it to work as a containment device. This one is purpose built for containment. But it’s still a one time use. Once something is in it, and it’s activated, it can’t be opened again until the creature inside is dead. The pony, or well, monster, inside, is what powers the device. So it runs exactly as long as it needs to. Once the being inside is drained of all life force, the device shuts off. If you put Twilight in, there’s no way to take her out before the process is complete without completely destroying this device,” Quick Fix explained. “Anything else, or can I go back to sleep?”

“This mathemagical formula, can you complete it and make a working spell out of it in the next three days?” Rarity asked, floating over the journal future Twilight had said contained the time travel spell she used. Quick Fix took the book and squinted at it.

“Honestly, I can barely read these letters right now,” Quick Fix replied. “I can finish the device in two more days or so, but I am no wizard, it would take me weeks just to verify the components of the current spell and track down the existing problem.”

“Well then Twilight will have to figure it out when she wakes up,” Dark Matter said. “You can return to your tent.”

Quick Fix wandered back to her tent, running into a few others on her way, then flopped unceremoniously onto her sleeping bag. Pinkie got up and closed the tent flap for her.

“So,” Dark Matter began again. “The problem must be that when Taraxipos is driven from her body, she’ll likely be in no state to force him into the containment device, which give him the time to escape. Rarity, could you contain him until Twilight is capable of controlling him?”

“I really would have no idea where to start,” she replied. “Maybe if Twilight was awake and could teach me a spell, perhaps, but I never learned any combative magic and recently I’ve been working on my illusions, but not much else.”

“Twilight came from the future, she said we’d have to fight him once more,” Pinkie Pie said. “I think that means there’s really no way we can avoid fighting him. But, on the plus side, if we only have to fight him once more, that should mean we defeat him.”

“So, you’re saying that that future Twilight, is from after we defeat Taraxipos?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well I don’t know for certain but it sure sounded like that’s what she meant,” Pinkie replied.

“Well then we know we win, what’s there to worry about?” Dash asked. “We should kick back and use these three days to rest up.”

“All we know is that in that Twilight’s past she fought Taraxipos once more and survived. That doesn’t mean we all make it,” Dark Matter cautioned.

“But if one of us didn’t make it, she’d tell us that,” Dash replied.

“Would she though?” Applejack asked. “When Star Swirl showed up in...uh, his future, they knew his device was gonna malfunction. They couldn’t do anything about it, so they kept quiet while he was there, and he was only gonna live with that for an hour. You think she’d make a pony go three days knowin’ they’re gonna die?”

“But if she tells one of us that we die in the fight, we could do something different about it, and not get killed,” Dash returned. “She had to come back so we could use the Elements on the Queen, why not give us a heads up as well if one of us gets killed?”

“I’m not sure you can affect the future like that,” Pinkie said. “Twilight had to show up for us to defeat Taraxipos, otherwise, the Twilight in the future wouldn’t be free to come back to the past. Which would mean that Twilight was always going to show up at that moment, no matter what. Star Swirl was always going to get sent back to Harmonia, which would lead to Taraxipos being in the containment device when Twilight finds it. It’s just time travel, it’s not hard to follow.”

“You’re starting to sound like Twi,” Applejack said.

“Well with Twilight out of commission, somepony has to be purple-smart,” Pinkie responded.

Dark Matter shook his head.

“I don’t want to just spend the next three days waiting for Taraxipos to appear once more because-” he gestured at Pinkie Pie, lost for words. “Because of fate or magic or something. We need to do something to gain the upper hoof.”

“I think the best we can do,” Applejack said in a calming voice. “Is finish the device, keep Twilight comfortable, heal up our wounds, and get ready for another fight. Twilight did say he was weaker than ever before, and when he pops out, he won’t have a body.”

Dark Matter looked offended at the idea of accepting something that sounded like inaction, but he could offer no counter argument.

* * * * * *

The final pieces of the device, minute circuits and delicate crystal matrices, began to come to together. Quick Fix spent her days deep in the base of the machine with just her legs sticking out. Jade smeared various ointments on her wound, and Rainbow Dash spent a lot of time preening the place on her wing where the Queen had ripped out the bone.

“I woke up this morning,” Dash said. Her and Applejack were on Sparkle watch, as they were calling it. “And for a second I thought the bone was gone again.”

“So that was the yell I heard,” Applejack said.

“I spent ten minutes just poking it, over and over again, to make sure it was still there,” Dash finished.

“Doc Stable said I’d be in those splints for months,” Applejack replied. “But oh boy it feels good to just take a deep, deep breath.”

“You know, Rarity’s tail came back that first time we used the Elements,” Dash said. “I guess when they activate, you’re restored, or, healed or something.”

“I totally forgot that,” Applejack said. “But you’re right.”

“Dash, no,” Twilight said weakly.

“Twilight, are you awake?” Dash asked. Both ponies leaned in, but Twilight’s eyes were still closed. She tossed about, then rolled onto her side, facing Applejack.

“How, no,” she mumbled, and was still.

“I wonder if she’s dreaming,” Dash said.

“I dunno, if Taraxipos is in there, I can’t imagine it’s just a pleasant night’s dream,” Applekjack replied. She pushed Twilight’s bangs away from her face. The alicorn’s brow was wrinkled with consternation and her eyes were squeezed shut.

“Well, at least we know she wins. And honestly, if Twilight was going to fight somepony, I think fighting them in her mind gives her the advantage,” Dash suggested.

The pair sat in silence for a few minutes. Dash kept going back to preen her wing. Applejack looked around Twilight’s tent. The purple sleeping bag, the basket by her side where Spike had been sleeping. She looked into the corner and pulled out one of the books Twilight had brought and turned it over to see the title.

“Secret Fire’s Papers on Entropic Principles, in Translation and with Explains and Amends by Scroll Work,” Applejack read out loud.

Dash pulled her wing out of her mouth. “That sounds like the most boring book ever.”

“Careful, you’re getting feathers on her,” Applejack brushed a couple blue feathers off of Twlight’s sleeping bag. Then she turned back to the book. Applejack stuck to westerns, adventure novels, and occasionally something a little racey if Rarity or Pinkie Pie recommended she read it. She opened up the book to where Twilight’s bookmark was and started reading.

Secret Fire’s diversive opinion of the exponential path to ignition creation comes from an error on his own part. It has been found repeatedly in his notes that his exponential calculations suffered from many errors, a result of the already outdated notation method he performed his calculations in. His Papers are the last major work on Entropics that dissuade the practitioner from availing themselves of the exponential ignition method.

The rest of the page was taken up with a formula with various parts underlined and corrected. Applejack couldn’t understand a single part of it, and moved on.

The rest of Secret Fire’s criticisms of the exponential method quickly reveal themselves to be personal and anecdotal.

“Beyond the gross inefficiency of the mathemagical formula, the method produces slip shod practitioners who fail to wield fire, and simply fight to contain their tempestuous creations.”

In his personal journals Secret Fire details many accidents during the process of teaching ignition creation to his apprentices, and attributed many of them to teaching the exponential method, claiming that when he taught the linear method, his problems ceased. Likely, his students had difficulty executing the exponential method when working with Secret Fire’s flawed formulas, rather than the tried and true linear method.

Applejack closed the book.

“I’m real jealous of you, Dash.”

“Sorry, it’s the preening, isn’t it? Didn’t mean to give you wing envy,” Dash folded her wings away.

“It’s not that, Dash. I’m jealous of you and Pinkie,” she replied.

“Well, you know, once we stop fighting for our lives and there are some ponies in Harmonia, I’m sure you’ll go from being Ponyville’s most eligible mare to Harmonia’s. You totally had to chew out Lucky Clover ‘cause he wouldn’t leave you alone. And Noteworthy’s been carrying a torch for you for like...three years? I was sitting with you in Sugarcube Corner when Nurse Redheart asked you out. Actually, how was it being in the hospital with her around?”

“Let’s says she got a little frisky with a thermometer, I had to have Fluttershy watch me sleep,” Applejack replied. “That’s not the point though.”

“Well, you’re a busy pony, but you’ll find the right... stallion or... uh, mare?” Dash asked.

“What if I already found her, but I can’t have her?”

“Oh, wow, Applejack, I’m flattered-”

Dash stopped when she saw Applejack’s deadpan face. “Oh, sorry.” Then after a moment Dash’s face lit up. “Oh, you like Pinkie?”

“No, Dash, her,” Applejack replied with a flat voice.

“Ohhhhh,” Dash said. “She doesn’t like you that way though?”

“You know, I think she does...”

“I am so stumped as to where the problem is. You’re a pretty, single pony, you like somepony who likes you, is single...”

“You know it’s not that simple, Dash. Would you go ask Princess Luna out on a date?” Applejack asked.

“Well, no, you’re right, I wouldn’t. But I’m not super close with her. This is Twilight, you’re literally her oldest friend. By like, three hours, but yeah, where’s the problem?” Dash asked.

“This is the problem,” Applejack held up the book. “She’s... she’s a lot more pony than I can handle. She’s a Princess, a genius, brave, kind, who wouldn’t love that?”

“Eh, her manecut always bothered me,” Dash replied.

“Her manecut is cute and I will break you if you say otherwise,” Applejack shot back. “Besides, do I need to go get Rarity and have a talk about your ‘manecut’ situation?”

A realization dawned over Rainbow Dash’s face.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. I have the world’s biggest bargaining chip. I know who Twilight likes! And you! That’s like... a million bits in gossip money. I could finally get Rarity to make me a Wonderbolts uniform replica and damn the copyrights,” Dash said.

“Dash, this stays between us and the coma patient,” Applejack said.

“Do you know how long I’ve wanted that uniform? You can’t buy them AJ, you can’t. I paid a pony a month’s salary for a black market one and even it turned out to be a fake, don’t do this to me,” Dash begged.

“Swear, Pinkie Swear, right now, on your own wings, this doesn’t leave this tent,” Applejack demanded.

“I swear,” Dash mumbled angrily.

“Pinkie Swear,” Applejack insisted.

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Dash motioned.

“Alright, that’s that,” Applejack said.

The pair sat in silence, Dash with her arms crossed and her face twisted with displeasure.

* * * * * *

The days passed. Twilight tossed about in her tent while Dark Matter continued running, though not participating in combat drills. Rarity tried to keep the magic lessons on track, but they mostly reviewed the spells they had learned and started teaching Applejack and Fluttershy.

In the dark hours of the third day, Quick Fix dragged herself away from the containment device.

“Ponies, I have completed it,” she called out to the camp.

“That’s cool, now go to bed,” Dash yelled back.

Quick Fix then slept for the next twelve hours.

As dawn broke on the third day, the ponies waited around camp expectantly. Future Twilight hadn’t told them when on the third day she would wake up, which Dash was complaining about for most of the morning.

“If you’re going to complain, please do it somewhere outside of the tower,” Rarity told her by lunch time.

By the afternoon, all pretense of activity ceased, and the ponies were sat outside of Twilight’s tent, after Applejack had yelled at Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity for all trying to be in the tent at the same time.

Twilight started to thrash about violently by mid afternoon. Applejack held her down on her sleeping bag as the ponies outside waited. Dark Matter put on his full battle regalia, and brought over the chest with the Elements.

“We should be prepared,” he said. The ponies put their Elements on, and Applejack held Twilight’s crown in preparation.

Just as the sky was fading to a dark purple dusk, Twilight stopped thrashing about and laid still. Applejack watched as she began crying in her sleep, and then, thirty minutes later, her eyes and mouth opened. She let out a long breath and a faint black haze came from her mouth. It drifted up through the fabric of the tent. Applejack turned and looked at Twilight. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused.

“You alright sugarcube?” she asked.

Twilight’s eyes focused, then began to move about, looking around.

“Is this real?” she asked, her voice faint from days of silence.

“It sure is,” Applejack replied.

“How, how can I be sure, they all seemed so real, so wonderful. You seemed so real,” she said.

“Well, it’s not wonderful, it’s a ruin, in the woods, full of skeletons and horrible monsters, and the food’s not that good,” Applejack explained.

Chapter 11

Time and Space in Harmony

by Inkspots

Chapter 11

Twilight didn’t know she could be so tired after sleeping for three days, but after waking up from Taraxipos’ illusions, she stayed awake barely long enough to eat some food, wash her face, and look over the containment device before crawling back into her sleeping bag. The next morning the other ponies told her about Future Twilight, and what she had told them to tell her.

“What was it like in there?” Pinkie asked. “You were moving around the whole time, like you were having a nightmare.”

“He created illusions of situations he thought I wanted, trying to make me content and complacent,” Twilight replied. “But they never felt quite right. They were very empty, and... nopony acted like they should. Every time I discovered that it was an illusion, he would create another one.” Twilight thought back to the illusions she had experienced. “Weirdly enough, I was never an alicorn in them. The first time he made me think I was a unicorn teaching at Celestia’s School, the second time I was a pegasus-” Twilight glanced over at Rainbow Dash. “Watching a storm at sunset. The third time I was an earth pony, living on a farm.”

“How’d you break free though?” Applejack asked.

“After I kept escaping the illusions, he stopped creating them, he just left me trapped in nothingness. But the realm of the mind is the realm of dreams. And as an alicorn, I have a great deal of control in the Astral Plane, control he cannot even begin to match,” Twilight replied.

“Do you know what he’s going to do next? Where he’s hiding?” Dark Matter asked.

“Once I discovered him, I looked into his mind. I saw the most terrible things. I suspect I know exactly where he is and what he’s doing,” Twilight explained. “But he also knows a great deal about me, now.”

“Where is he?” Dark Matter asked.

“In the Mausoleum of the Royal Guard, beneath the Arsenal,” Twilight replied.

“Then we must strike at once, before he regains any of his power. Future-Twilight said he would now be weaker than ever before,” Dark Matter insisted.

“He is weaker, that’s true. Necromancy doesn’t work like normal magic, it’s finite and linear. His power is directly proportional to the life force he has consumed,” Twilight explained. “Creating the Once and Future Queen consumed a great deal of his power.”

“Very well, we should prepare for battle,” Dark Matter said.

“We should wait a minute,” Twilight said. “And let me tell you what we’re going to be up against in there.”

* * * * * *

After a light lunch, Dark Matter and the Elements left the tower. Quick Fix, Jade, and Spike remained behind. Jade couldn’t put any weight on her front right leg, and Quick Fix insisted they needed an able-bodied pony to guard the device, and Dark Matter agreed.

This time Twilight floated the group down off the tower, then they went the rest of the way on hoof. Twilight cast a transparent barrier around the group as they walked across Harmonia.

“This should mask our approach if he’s scrying for us,” Twilight explained.

“I will relish the day when I get to face a warrior in combat again,” Dark Matter commented. “Or just a monster, or criminal. I was never trained to deal with wizards.”

They walked along the shore of the lake, then across the bridge over the river to the Arsenal. The barrier was down, which didn’t surprise Twilight, since he knew she knew how to breach it. They entered the courtyard and Twilight looked around for the pile of rubble that hid the entrance to the lower levels. She was still looking around when the quiet was broken by an ear splitting screech. Enormous runes, painted ten feet high on the inside of the Arsenal walls began to glow with energy. As they came to life, Twilight felt her Element grow cold, and the subtle warming aura it always imparted faded away.

“This is new,” Twilight said.

“The fruit of my most recent research,” Taraxipos’ voice called out. The group looked about the courtyard but could see nothing. “Your mind was a most interesting read, much more interesting than interacting with you ever is. Harmonia is a charming place, that much is true, but when I’m done with you, I think Canterlot will make a much more fitting capital for my empire.”

“He’s suppressing the Elements,” Twilight said to her friends. “How long can you keep that up, before your life force runs out?” she asked.

“You see, Sparkle, this is exactly why you must die. We can’t have two ponies running about with all the same information in their heads. It would cause no end of trouble,” Taraxipos replied.

The group heard a noise from within the crumbling inner tower. After a moment, the wall near them exploded outwards. Twilight wrapped the group in a protective barrier, shielding them from the slabs of masonry that came flying out.
As the dust cleared, a figure emerged from within the tower. It was so much bigger in person than it looked in Taraxipos’ mind. Twilight watched as the Bone Golem crawled out of the tower. Taraxipos had begun building it after he killed Queen Arion and took power. It was about fifty feet tall, and shaped like the cross between a dragon and a snake, and it was made of the bones of Harmonia’s fallen. Twilight knew that it ran off of life force, like all of Taraxipos’ golems. Which meant that he was powering it himself with his own necromantic energy, as well as powering the rune grid that was blocking her from activating her Element.

“Well, you all are on golem fighting duty,” Twilight said quickly as the golem clawed its way out of the tower. “Rarity, you’re with me.”

Dark Matter nodded and the two groups bolted in opposite directions.

Rainbow Dash grabbed Pinkie and lifted her up into the air. Dash deposited her on the top of the central tower. Pinkie started pushing marble blocks off the tower and onto the Bone Golem. Applejack and Fluttershy were riding Oscar into battle.

The orthrus charged in, and the Bone Golem lifted one of its long, clawed arms up and brought it crashing down. Oscar leapt out of the way, then Applejack jumped off and ran up the golem’s arm and onto its back. The golem turned its long neck around to bite at AJ, which was all the opening Dark Matter and Rainbow Dash needed. They flew in with their lances and pierced the construct in the back of its head. The creature let out a roar, which sounded more like the cry of a bird than a dragon. The Bone Golem tried to reach up to grab the two ponies but Oscar latched onto its arm with both heads.
Dark Matter and Rainbow Dash pulled their lances out of the golem’s skull and backed off. Applejack hadn’t even stopped on the golem, and had run over it and back off the other side. The golem scanned the courtyard, looking for its prey, when an enormous section of the tower wall came crashing down on it from above. The circular courtyard echoed with the rumble of the falling blocks and the cracks of the bones along the golem’s neck that were shattered.

“Look out below!” Pinkie called out, she then leapt off the tower. Pinkie wrapped her legs together like she was diving into a pool and closed her eyes. She went through the steps Twilight had taught her, and as she fell she could feel her skin harden into a layer of solid stone. After a few moments she crashed into, and then through the neck of the Bone Golem and landed beneath it, creating a small crater. She opened her eyes and looked up through the hole she had punched in the golem’s neck. It turns its head around and looked down at her through the hole and Pinkie realized she needed to move out of the way. She got to her feet but the golem’s back leg swiped at her, sending her flying out from beneath the golem and through the lower wall of the tower.

Pinkie blinked her eyes slowly, trying to clear her vision. She looked out of the hole in the tower wall and saw the Bone Golem turn to attack other ponies. She looked around, seeing the hole in the ground that she guessed led into the Mausoleum where the Golem had been constructed. She got up slowly, glad that she had still been wrapped in stone when the golem hit her, but now her coat was returning to normal. She left the tower to see the battle outside. Applejack was back on Oscar, riding along with Fluttershy. She had her rope out, and had lasso’d one of the golem’s back legs. Pinkie saw her tie the rope to Oscar’s reins and the trio ran away from the golem, pulls its leg out from under it and causing it to lose its footing. This seemed to be the break Rainbow Dash was looking for, she plummeted out of the sky towards the prone golem. Pinkie knew she was going for a Sonic Rainboom, and Taraxipos seemed to recognize that was well. His golem raised its head and roared, shooting a field of bone shards up into the air towards Rainbow Dash. The pony veered off course to avoid getting skewered.

“Alright Pinkie, back into it,” she said to herself. She looked around, trying to decide how best to contribute to the fight. Then, she looked at the tower she was standing beneath. “Best. Plan. Ever.” she said.

Outside of the tower Applejack and Fluttershy guided Oscar around to the back of the Bone Golem and then the two headed dog leapt up onto the golem’s long, wide tail and began running up towards the golem’s head. The golem turned around and gave out another roar, launching another spray of bone shards at them. Oscar dodged to the side, but all three were still struck by a number of the bone shards. Oscar continued on without pause and began climbing the golem’s neck. Fluttershy snapped the reins and Oscar jumped up onto the golem’s face and began clawing and biting at the golem even as it shook its head back and forth trying to throw the dog off. Fluttershy grabbed Applejack and they flew off towards the wall of the Arsenal.

Bones cascaded down from the golem’s face, clattering onto the ground below. The golem could not pitch the orthrus off, it had one head latched onto the golem’s eye socket while the other head and all of its feet were pulling and clawing bones off of the golem’s face.

The golem let out another roar, sending a wave of bone shards into Oscar’s stomach. The orthrus let out a yelp and lost grip on the golem, which tossed its head and sent the giant dog flying into the air. It landed with a thud near the Arsenal wall. Fluttershy rushed to Oscar’s side.

Up in the air, Dark Matter and Rainbow Dash had not been watching idly. The moment Oscar was pitched off the golem’s face they both started diving. Crackling energy enveloped them as they plummeted out of the sky. The golem turned its head up and opened its mouth to emit another spray of bone shards, but it was too late. Rainbow Dash and Dark Matter split, heading in different directions. The air in the courtyard exploded as two different shockwaves, one rainbow colored, the other dark blue and hard to even see, blasted through the air. Bones flew in all directions as the Bone Golem was hit with the twin Sonic Booms. As the courtyard grew quiet, the golem staggered back to its feet. It was missing chunks in various locations, and most of the bones were covered in fractures. It pitched its head about, looking for the ponies who had abused it so, and found Fluttershy and Oscar by the Arsenal’s wall.

Applejack tried to pull Fluttershy away from the orthus, but she wouldn’t budge. The golem began to turn towards the bleeding dog and Fluttershy, when a deep rumble emitted from the tower. Applejack looked over to see that Pinkie had knocked down most of the blocks on one side of the tower’s base, and was now standing at the other end of the tower, lifting it up. Applejack couldn’t believe the magical strength Pinkie had displayed, but in truth, Pinkie had always been a magically minded earth pony. The entire tower was now tipping over, and the Bone Golem barely had time to turn around before all four stories of the tower ruins tipped over onto it. The air was filled with dust and noise, and it seemed like minutes passed before Applejack could see or hear anything. She looked around to see the tower was toppled over, and the golem was almost completely covered in marble blocks. And remarkably, Pinkie was standing there, where the tower used to be, panting.

“That’s my girl!” Dash called out from the air.

“Well, you know, Elements? Who needs em? You’ve got the Pink,” she said. “Oh man, that’s almost better than Sparkle out.”

Applejack turned back to Fluttershy, who was gingerly pulling bone shards out of Oscar’s stomach, causing the enormous dog to wimper like a puppy.

“It’s going to be okay boy, just hold still,” Fluttershy was cooing.

“Is he going to be okay?” AJ asked.

Fluttershy didn’t reply.

Applejack turned back to the courtyard to see a black aura envelope the remains of the Bone Golem. “Well, it looks like phase two is on.”

Even as she said it, a bright light arced over the courtyard. The bones of the golem rose from the rubble pushing aside massive stone blocks. It looked like it should be able to move at all, but every joint was emitting a dark aura, and Applejack suspected that Taraxipos was actively trying to keep his creation in one piece.

The golem moved quickly and with purpose. Moments after it rose from the rubble of the ruined tower it turns its head to the sky and blasted out another wave of bone shards. Rainbow Dash was caught off guard and her body was pierced all over with the shards. She quickly fell to the ground. Pinkie rushed over to help her, but the golem picked up a stone block and hurled it at the pink pony, it caught her in the side and she was caught between the block and the wall of the Arsenal. Dark Matter flew directly at the head of the golem. It brought up an arm and swatted him out of the air. Then it turned to Applejack, Fluttershy and Oscar, who were cowering in the shadow of the Arsenal wall. The golem grabbed the wall and pulled it down on top of them.

The golem let out a triumphant roar.

“Where are you Sparkle, you will be the last to die!” Taraxipos yelled from within the golem.

The Bone Golem twisted about, staring at the ruins around it.

“SHOW YOURSELF ALICORN!”

The black runes along the walls faded away, and Taraxipos felt fear.

* * * * * *

Twilight and Rarity dashed away from the combat. Both unicorns headed for the shadows beneath the gate of the Arsenal. When they got there, they closed their eyes and began casting spells. Twilight refreshed her field that protected them from magical detection. Rarity emitted a different spell.

Twilight turned to Rarity. “You’re sure we’re invisible now?”

“As certain as I can be,” she replied.

Twilight watched Dash fly Pinkie up to the top of the tower. “Alright, let’s get moving.”

The two ponies ran along the wall to the first of the magical runes. “Okay, we’re going to need to deal with these before phase two starts,” Twilight explained. She looked at the rune, first wondering what it was painted on with, then trying to figure out just how it was suppressing the Elements.

She picked up a pebble with her magic and touched the rune. The pebble began to melt.

“Ah, bile,” Twilight said.

“Ugh, what? How did he produce that much bile? He doesn’t have a stomach,” Rarity said.

“Don’t worry about it,” Twilight said. Corpse bile was one of the least pleasant aspects of necromancy, but was used in many necromantic rituals. The name was misleading, it didn’t require an intact corpse to make, but was instead a kind of death slurry, made from magically reducing dead tissue matter into its base components. She felt Rarity could go the rest of her life without having that mental picture. Corpse bile was problematic because few wizards bothered to counteract it directly. Leaving it exposed in the sun rendered it inert, but she didn’t have time to wait around for a sun that was never going to rise. She created small raincloud above the rune, but the water failed to wash it away, instead the bile tainted water simply pooled on the ground, killing the grass it touched. Rarity pranced about on tip-toe, trying to avoid stepping in the putrid pool. “Sorry, bad plan.”

Twilight decided to take a more direct approach. She created a ball of light, basic enough, and she knew it would have no effect. She began shifting the color of the light, and the intensity, trying to mimic daylight, or at least the part of daylight that rendered the bile inert. They stood for about a minute until a blue, dim light produced a reaction. The bile began to bubble, then dry and flake off of the wall.

“Alright Rarity, this is going to be the hard part,” Twilight said.

“And you think this invisibility field isn’t difficult?” she replied.

“I need you to create an illusion of this rune. Taraxipos can’t know we removed it,” Twilight said.

They both turned as they heard a crash. Pinkie had just pushed the pile of masonry off of the top of the tower, and then heard Pinkie’s yell before she cannon-balled off the tower herself.

“Rarity, you can do it, trust me,” Twilight insisted.

“Oh I do hope you’re right,” Rarity replied. She looked at the rune with a critical eye, then closed her eyes. Twilight watched as most of the rune had flaked off onto the ground.

“Alright, put up the illusion,” Twilight said.

Rarity’s illusion appeared. It lacked a proper glow like the original, but in the heat of combat, she hoped that Taraxipos wouldn’t have time to notice. She felt some degree of warmth return to her Element. She tried to conjure up the magical armor, but only a transparent ghost of the armor appeared before dissolving.

“We need to remove another one of these runes, the system isn’t a single conduit, it’s got redundancy,” Twilight said.

“Translation?” Rarity asked.

“We need to remove the right rune, or we’ll just end up needing to remove more,” Twilight replied.
She looked around at the runes that lined the courtyard. Tracing the figures with her eyes. She had picked the first rune because portions of it were echoed in the other runes, making her suspect that it anchored the conduit. She tried to see if there were other forms repeated in the runes, and if one of the runes contained an anchoring figure.

“Okay, I think we need to remove that one,” she said, pointing to the rune on the opposite side of the courtyard.

“Really, all the way over there?” Rarity complained.

“Seems so,” Twilight replied. She cast a spell over the fake rune, trying to replicate some of the necromantic energy so that Taraxipos wouldn’t easily notice it was a fake, but she could only create a vague magical signature. “Let’s move.”
Both ponies were now consciously sustaining multiple spells, they couldn’t run for fear of losing concentration, but instead walked with purpose along the wall of the courtyard, heading for the other rune. Soon they couldn’t actually see the battle going on behind them, but neither wished to turn their head to watch.

They finally reached the other rune. Twilight created the ball of dim blue light and the rune began to dry out and flake off the wall.

“Twilight,” Rarity said weakly behind her.

“I’m hurrying Rarity, just keep holding on,” Twilight replied. The second rune was gone.

“Alright Rarity, one more illusion,” Twilight said.

“My eyes are all blurry,” she said. “I can barely make out the pattern.”

“Just, just make another one of the previous, just do your best,” Twilight implored. Warmth was flowing back into her body from her Element. Rarity brought up a fake rune, which wasn’t quite big enough. Twilight created another fake magical aura. Then, with her head swimming she called upon the magical armor. Her armor appeared around her.

“Alright Rarity,” Twilight began. But she was interrupted as the central tower toppled over. Twilight’s mouth hung open in awe as she watched Pinkie exercise her magically derived strength. The golem was crushed by the tower, and for a moment, Twilight wasn’t sure they would need phase two, but then she saw the black aura envelope the remains of the golem.

“Rarity, use your Element, don’t try to do it all yourself,” Twilight said. “You should be able to tap into it now.”

Soon the strain on Rarity’s face cleared. She even opened her eyes.

“Alright, we need to move on to phase two,” Twilight said. “Do you have it in you?”

“What kind of friend would I be otherwise?” she said.

Twilight shot a ball of light out of the invisibility spell and it flew up into the air.

All of the other ponies stood still, and Rarity began to work her magic. One by one she created an illusion and cloaked the original pony in invisibility. Then she sent the illusions forth to get slaughtered by the golem. Rarity’s eyes and horn were pulsing with light and magic and she created more and more illusionary ponies and more invisibility auras. Once the ponies saw their illusion get killed they moved towards the gate.

“Twilight, what about Oscar?” Rarity asked.

Twilight looked over and saw the bloodied orthrus.

“I’ll get them out, put an aura on me,” Twilight requested.

Rarity turned to Twilight and draped an aura on her. Then Twilight teleported across the courtyard to Oscar, Fluttershy, and Applejack. She saw Rarity created their illusionary forms just in front of them, then the bone golem grabbed the wall. As it was bringing it down, Twilight teleported all four of them outside of the Arsenal gate.

“Where are you Sparkle, you will be the last one to die!”

Twilight heard Taraxipos call out. She turned and teleported back into the courtyard next to Rarity.

“SHOW YOURSELF ALICORN!”

“Alright Rarity, you can drop the illusions,” Twilight said.

Rarity closed her eyes, she was damp with sweat and breathing heavily.

“How did I do, Twilight?”

“You were wonderful,” Twilight said. “Now let’s finish this.”

Twilight teleported them both over to the gate. All of the ponies were there waiting.

“Dark Matter, look after Oscar,” Twilight said.

“I am still fit to fight, Princess,” he insisted.

“I know, but we have to take it from here,” Twilight said. “Come on Fluttershy, Dark Matter will look after him.”
Fluttershy ran a hoof across her eyes and got up. She walked over to the group and Applejack threw a leg over her shoulders and wrapped her in a hug.

Twilight turned back to the Arsenal. Taraxipos and his Bone Golem were waiting.

She activated the Elements and the full, comforting warmth returned. As a group they rose off the ground and floated into the air. They passed over the gate. The Bone Golem turned to them.

“NO!” Taraxipos cried out.

“Yes,” Twilight replied quietly.

The Bone Golem opened its mouth and roared, but instead of bone shards it emitted a blast of black magic. Twilight knew Taraxipos was desperate now, using the life force that allowed him to exist without a body to fight them. Twilight returned with a blast of blinding light that erupted from her crown. The light ripped through the black magic and slammed into the golem below. The bones that made it burst into flames and began to crumble away. Layer by layer the golem shrank and was diminished. Finally, writhing in the center was Taraxipos, a black haze she couldn’t even see with her eyes, but could sense with her magic.

The beam of light ceased and the group lowered to the ground, standing amid the burning corpse of an entire kingdom.

The haze slowly began to move, drifting away and heading for the dark pit beneath the Arsenal.

“No Taraxipos, this is over,” Twilight said. And with a flash, she teleported herself, the Elements, and Taraxipos back to the palace tower.

They appeared in the camp, causing Spike to yell out in shock. Twilight wrapped the black haze in a purple aura and floated it over to the containment device.

“Quick Fix, activate it,” she commanded. The unicorn ran over and pushed a large red button on the base of the machine. The glass tube lowered down and the device sealed with an audible hiss. Then, after a moment, an electronic beep sounded on the side of the device.

“I can’t believe it,” Quick Fix said.

“What?” Twilight asked.

“Well, one of the improvements I made was a counter. Seemed pretty logical to put one on. This reads how much energy is in the chamber, and how long that will power the device. Taraxipos still has enough life energy to power the device for nine-hundred and eighty three years,” Quick Fix explained.

“Well at least he’s in there, we just need to keep it safe for a thousand years,” Applejack said.

“That’s a long time,” came a faint voice.

“Oh man, he can still talk?” Rainbow Dash complained.

“I didn’t really know how to stop that,” Quick Fix admitted.

“A thousand years. Long enough for somepony to come. Somepony to need my powers,” Taraxipos said.

“We won’t let that happen,” Twilight said.

“We? They’ll be dead. And you? Are you going to sit here for a thousand years, watch my every move? Or maybe put guards here? I wonder how long they’d last. This is just another delay, Sparkle, this is a bump in the road,” Taraxipos insisted.

“A lot of huff and smoke, just shut up and die quietly,” Applejack replied.

Twilight said nothing.

“We should go get Oscar,” Fluttershy insisted. “He could still make it. Orthrus are very resilient.”

“Oh, is he hurt?” Jade asked. “Bring me with.”

“Oh man, Dark Matter is still back there too,” Rainbow Dash realized.

“You all should go get them,” Twilight said.

“You don’t want to come?” Applejack asked.

“Actually, I need to go back at save you all from the Once and Future Queen,” Twilight replied. “I’ll be back before you guys, then I can keep an eye on him,” Twilight said, pointing at the device.

“He’s not going anywhere, trust me,” Quick Fix insisted.

“I know, you did an amazing job,” Twilight said.

Fluttershy nodded and took to the wing. Rainbow Dash grabbed Jade and followed after her and the rest were floated off the tower by Rarity. Just Twilight, Spike, and Taraxipos were left.

“Spike, keep an eye on him,” Twilight said as she picked up Star Swirl’s journal.

“I’ll keep both eyes on him,” Spike replied.

“And don’t touch the device at all,” Twilight said.

“I’m not going to fall for his tricks,” Spike insisted.

“Release me, and I will give you the white one,” Taraxipos said.

“How does he-”

“Spike, don’t listen to him,” Twilight replied. She had seen the unfinished spell during her first read through, it was a brilliant formula, one of Star Swirl’s final attempts to perform safe, consistent time travel without the need for a complex device to produce the magical energy. Twilight realized though, with the Element of Magic, she could easily perform the spell. “I’ll be right back.”

“Alright Twilight-”

Before Spike finished the sentence, light exploded around Twilight and she was gone.

“A pathetic hatchling like yourself probably couldn’t even harm this device,” Taraxipos mocked.

“Nice try, but I’m-”

Spike was cut off again as Twilight returned suddenly with another explosion of light.

“I’ve got to stop trusting his math so much... his spells lack predictable durations,” Twilight said. Then she felt bad, insulting one of the greatest wizards who had ever lived, and whose work saved her life multiple times. Then she turned to the containment device.

“I guess I should move you back down to the lower levels,” Twilight said.

“Hide me away in whatever dungeon you wish, I still have a thousand years to break free,” Taraxipos replied.

“There’s no way you’re breaking out of that device,” Twilight countered.

“Oh I know, I’ll just have to wait for somepony foolish to come along. It happens rather regularly,” he said.

“You won’t be laying in a ruin. This will be a splendid kingdom, and I will rule it, and I will see that you never again harm or corrupt another pony,” Twilight proclaimed.

“It’s going to be hard to rule a kingdom, knowing I’m here,” Taraxipos hissed. “Or do you plan to set me up in your throne room, watch over me around the clock. Maybe not, maybe you’ll post guards. They’re a reliable sort. So that’s how it’s going to be? You and me, for a thousand years?”

Twilight grimaced.

“It’s not terribly appealing, is it? Every monument you erect, every acre you clear, every ceremony you preside over, I will be here. I will live on like an undying black heart, beating away beneath your lovely little kingdom. Long after your miserable friends are dead you’ll have me and only me. And someday, you will grow tired of your vigil, and you will falter. And I will be free,” Taraxipos vowed.

Twilight’s brow furrowed. Blood pounded in her ear and she felt rage building up within her. She wanted a victory, but all she felt now was a burden, like she had chained herself to a heavy stone. “No, I’m not going to let you win. I’m not going to let you ruin the time I have with my friends,” Twilight replied. She activated the Elements, and she knew the others would feel them activating as well. She needed to move quickly. “You and I, we’re going on a little trip along the Praxial Bridge. A thousand years outside of time. I will watch you die, and no pony will have the chance to free you.”

“That’s a long time to spend anywhere Sparkle, can you even comprehend a thousand years? My first was very difficult,” Taraxipos said.

“Wait, Twilight, you can’t leave,” Spike said. “You can’t go away for a thousand years!”

“Don’t worry, when I return, it will be like I never left,” she replied.

“But, not for you,” Spike said.

“I’ll be okay, Spike, I have you and everyone else to come home to, but I can’t let him escape again, and I can’t have him hanging over my head for a thousand years, I just can’t,” Twilight insisted.

“Well, then let me come with, we’ll keep each other company,” Spike replied. “I’m a dragon, what’s a thousand years?”

“It’s a great deal of time, Spike,” Twilight said.

“It doesn’t matter, I came with you to Harmonia, I’m coming along now. I can’t let you go alone,” Spike said.

“This is sickening,” Taraxipos said.

“Besides, he’s not going to be pleasant company,” Spike said.

Twilight smiled. “You’re a good friend Spike. Alright, we should do this before the others get back.”

Twilight dug deep, deep into the seemingly bottomless pool of magic that the Elements offered. Then she began to pull, pulling on the very existence around her. Then, with a crack, they disappeared from the roof of the palace tower.

* * * * * *

They appeared nowhere. Just Twilight, Spike, and the containment device, in a sea of infinite blackness.

“You won’t last a hundred years in this solitude,” Taraxipos insisted.

Twilight turned from him to Spike. “Thank you for coming along, Spike. Let’s make this a little more comfortable.”

Twilight set to work. She stabilized the pocket dimension they existed in, the little bubble floating along the endless flow of the Praxial Bridge. Then she build them a home. A little library in a big tree. She lovingly created the shelves, the books, the sparrows tweeting outside of the window. Their room upstairs, the wooden horse head bust in the main room.

“Miserable peasants,” Taraxipos quipped.

Then Twilight created the basement and threw the containment device in it.

“Well, tree sweet tree,” Spike bvvbb bb bb said.

“At least you won’t need to clean this one,” Twilight said.

Their long exile began.

Within a week, ‘time’ meant very little. Twilight and Spike talked and played and slept.

The first year was difficult. Periodically, Twilight went down into the basement and checked the counter on the containment device. Finally it ticked down. One year.

“Enjoying yourself Sparkle?”

“I’m enjoying myself every time I remember you’re down here,” Twilight replied.

Time dissolved into a single number.

982

981

980

“This isn’t so bad,” Spike said.

Twilight didn’t reply.

950

“We may need a bigger tree,” Twilight admitted. Spike was ten feet tall and almost as long. He was looking more and more dragon like with each decade.

“Well, how about, instead of a tree, a different home? This is all just an illusion anyway.”

933

Twilight descended into the lower reaches of the cavern she lived in with Spike. It was moving time.

“Hello Sparkle,” he said.

“Why don’t you ever use my first name?”

“It’s beautiful, you don’t deserve it.”

“Well, we’re moving again. Spike wants to try out cloud living.”

“I’ll pack my things.”

883

“I’ll admit, it was difficult.”

“How about you actually admit it?”

Twilight didn’t admit it.

700

“I hate you Taraxipos.”

“Why don’t we just go back, you can take your chances. Just a few hundred years to keep an eye on me.”

Twilight stopped checking the counter.
Time simply passed, and with the years the scenery changed from icy tundras to windy deserts to deep, languid jungles.

Twilight heard a beeping. She wasn’t creating it. She opened her eyes. She was curled up in the hollow created by Spike’s front and back legs. He was fully grown now, but he was lucky. After a few hundred years, he developed the ability to hibernate.

“Wake me up if you need me though, okay? Don’t let me sleep because you don’t want to bother me,” he had insisted. His voice was deep and it resonated within his long neck. Twilight hadn’t woken him up in three hundred years.

Another beep. She looked around. They were laying in a tidal cave, though the tide never came in here. Long shelves were carved into the stone walls of the circular chamber, and directly overhead was a circular opening that let in sunlight. The sun simulation she had created was shining on a point on the ground that told her it was fall in her illusionary world, which meant very little. She looked around at the shelves, covered in books she had written: journals she had kept so that she never forgot the life she left behind and essays on the many magical experiments she had devised and run, trying to fill the days. She had written six hundred and fifty eight books, and memorized them long ago.

What had woken her up?

The beep came again.
She walked out to the beach outside of the cave. Stretching away from the tropical island in all directions was a vast, motionless ocean. Twilight wondered how long it had been since she had created the island illusion. Another beep. She dove into the crystal blue waters and swam down to the brilliant colored reef. She entered a small hole and found the containment device. It looked almost empty, she had to stare to even see the black smoke within. The device beeped. For the first time in centuries, Twilight checked the counter.

0.1

“Are you happy, Sparkle?” came a faint voice.

How long since the two had spoken? Likely a hundred years or more. How long since Twilight had even spoken out loud to herself? Decades, probably. She opened her mouth a few times, then hummed. Everything seemed to be working.
“No,” she said finally.

“Good.”

“Do you regret any of it? A single moment?” she asked.

“I regret not killing and eating you.”

Twilight sat down in front of the device. She did away with the illusion of the tropical island, which was easy, despite the fact that the illusion had existed for hundreds of years.

“Leave me, Sparkle.”

“No. I’m going to stay here and wait for this.”

“Do you want to enjoy it, savor it? Will a thrill run through your body when I finally cease to be?”

“No, I’m not you. But I have devoted nearly a thousand years to this task, I want to be present for the end of it.”

“You are pathetic. Don’t use me to placate your ridiculous moral constructs.”

Twilight said nothing, simply waited.

Twilight could see nothing within the tube, but it was still active.

“Goodbye, Taraxipos.”

The device beeped a final time, and was silent. The counter briefly read zero, then powered down.

Author's Note

The Epilogue will be up in a day or two.

Chapter 12

Time and Space in Harmony

by Inkspots

Chapter 12

Dear Princess Celestia,

I would like to apologize for not writing you sooner, but upon arriving in Harmonia, I found myself dealing with a number of issues: a stone chimera golem injured a member of my expedition and I inadvertently released the murderous necromancer Taraxipos, the pony responsible for the collapse of the Kingdom of Harmonia in antiquity.

However, it should please you to hear that Taraxipos no longer threatens the world. I took him to a pocket dimension outside of time’s flow, and there, Spike and I waited the 983 years for Quick Fix’s containment device to drain all of the remaining life energy from him.

We are much changed, Spike and I.

However, as per the Royal Decree under which I am bound, I have officially taken up the mantle of Princess of Harmonia, and with the largest threat to peace and order in the Everfree Forest dealt with, I have moved ahead with plans to begin the restoration of the Kingdom of Harmonia.

I have sent plans for the layout of the capital city to a number of architects in Canterlot. They will work in tandem with a group of archaeologists from Manebridge to begin designing buildings that celebrate the characteristics of the original vernacular style while benefiting from modern construction techniques.

Our agricultural efforts are being led by Applejack and Jade, who have built a model farm of sorts, which will serve to guide and educate ponies who seek to grow food in the unique environment of the Everfree Forest. While Applejack is running the model farm along with her little sister, I have appointed Jade to the post of Royal Groundskeeper. She will be maintaining the palace gardens once there is a palace to build the gardens in.

Rarity and Pinkie Pie are being tasked with creating economic opportunities to attract ponies to settle in Harmonia. Rarity has a number of ingenious ideas using local resources that should create a number of viable industries in short order. Pinkie Pie is serving as an ambassador of sorts, talking business ponies into buying stakes in Rarity’s ventures.

I have appointed Rainbow Dash to the post of Weather Master General, and she has been away in Cloudsdale recruiting pegasi to join the Harmonia Weather Service. I believe she might also be recruiting racing ponies for a private side venture.

Fluttershy suggested the creation of a team of rangers to deal with the more dangerous flora and fauna of the Everfree Forest. I agreed that such a team should exist, and appointed her to lead the Everfree Rangers, as she has decided to call them.

Quick Fix declined my offer to head up a group with the purpose of getting an educational system in place in Harmonia, stating that such a degree of responsibility and public exposure would be unpleasant, but she has agreed to teach mathemagical engineering at the Harmonia Magical Academy, when such an institution comes into existence.

Finally, Dark Matter has sent a separate missive to Princess Luna, requesting an honorable discharge from his commission as an officer in the Night Guard. Conditional on his relief from that post, he has requested the honor of creating and leading a military force to serve and protect Harmonia. We have, so far, failed to reach a consensus on what this force would be called.

Upon completing the previous sections I realize that this letter lacks the tone and warmth of previous letters I have written to you. I apologize. I wrote this letter several hundred times in my head during my long sabbatical outside of time. I now know first hand how Luna felt after her thousand years isolation. Every conversation that I have I have had a hundred times in my head. Little that happens surprises me, but at the same time everything that happens is surprising because I am not the one doing it. I constantly look to Spike for guidance. He has picked up right where he left off, and feels nothing but joy and satisfaction now that we have returned. I suspect that naturally, as a dragon, his mind and body are built to handle long gaps in stimulation and interaction, given the lifespan and hibernation habits of dragons.

I see that I have failed once again in the above paragraph to restore some personal tone to this letter. However, what I say next is not pre-planned. I could never decide how to tell you this.

Star Swirl did not cease to exist after his device malfunctioned. The device returned him to Harmonia, a few years further in the future of his original visit. He kept a journal during that time. Finding these journals in the ruins of the capital saved my life, and allowed me to defeat Taraxipos. But now that they have served that purpose, I have sent them along to you, so that you may have them to remember him by, and so that you can see that he never stopped loving you.

Twilight stopped writing. A wet spot had appeared on the page, and she realized that she had begun to cry. She had not cried for a thousand years. She rolled over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling of her tent and wept silently. Her sorrow disappeared quickly, and was replaced by a growing sense of hope that caught in her throat and she fought for breath between the sobs.

She could still feel.

However, I doubt you need these journals to know that his love for you was everlasting.

I will write again soon.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle

* * * * * *

“Oh man, Twilight, I don’t think I can do this,” Spike said.

“You are going to do this,” Twilight replied. “And you’re going to do this now. And you should fully expect her to say no because you waited until the last possible minute to ask her.”

“Well if she’s going to say no, why should I ever bother?” Spike countered. Twilight smiled, it was endlessly amusing to hear the note of fear and nervousness from the deep, resonating voice of Spike.

“Because you like her!” Steven Magnet said.

Twilight was sitting on a bench on the shore of Amethyst Lake. After Harmonia began to be developed, Steven Magnet, the river serpent of the Everfree Forest, asked if he could move into the city and live in the central lake. Twilight had agreed, seeing it a fitting gift to give the serpent who had helped them twice in their travels through the forest. Two years later his sister had come up from southern Equestria to live in Harmonia as well. Her name was Selena Magnet, and Spike had been smitten with her from the moment she arrived..

“Here she comes, just, be natural, be smooth, be calm,” Steven said.

Spike was breathing heavily, small gouts of green flames were escaping from his nostrils. Selena surfaced next to her brother. Her scales were teal, though she had the same orange hair as her brother, and much less pronounced nostrils. To Twilight she simply looked like a river serpent, but Spike thought she was gorgeous.

“Oh, Princess Sparkle, forgive me, Steven didn’t say you wanted to see me,” she said.

“Actually, Spike wanted to have a word with you,” Twilight replied.

Everyone turned to Spike. He squeezed his claws together and inhaled deeply.

“SelenawouldyouliketoaccompanymetoRainbowDashandPinkiePie’sweddingtomorrow?” he asked quickly in a single breath.

“Come to a wedding, tomorrow? With no warning? With nothing to wear?” she asked.

“I’m, I’m sorry, Selena, I should have asked sooner-”

“Yes you should have,” she said, then crossed her arms. Spike’s head drooped and his green spines dramatically flattened. “But a girl doesn’t turn down an invite to a wedding, so you got lucky this time. I’ll go with you.”

Spike let out a triumphant roar, spitting flame into the air.

Twilight left Spike and Selena to make plans for their date and started heading back through town to the palace. In the four years since Taraxipos’ defeat, Harmonia had become a bustling city. and on her way back to the palace Twilight had to pass through the Garment District, which was what everypony was calling the Ancient District now. Rarity had become something of a mogul in four short years. She owned the busiest boutique in Harmonia, and on top of that she held a commanding interest in several gem mines in the canyon south of the capital, and she ran a textile factory that spun silk out of the cocoons of Everfree Silkworms. Bolts of Everfree silk were shipped out of Harmonia and sold at Rarity’s boutiques in Canterlot, Manehattan, Ponyville, and the Crystal Kingdom.

Twilight stopped in at Rarity’s boutique and found her upstairs pinning Pinkie Pie into a wedding dress.

“Spike’s bringing Selena to the wedding,” Twilight announced.

“Awwwww, that’s so super sweet,” Pinkie said.

“I can’t believe she said yes at this late hour,” Rarity said without looking up from her work.

“Is somepony a little jealous? Eh? Eh?” Pinkie asked.

“No, I am not, Pinkie, but I will be furious if you keep moving about and I stab you with a pin and get blood on your gown. Now hold still,” Rarity demanded.

“I think she’s a little jealous,” Pinkie whispered loudly enough to be heard across the room.

“Really, Pinkie, I was always flattered by Spike’s affection, that is true, and he will always be a wonderful friend to have, but there were certain, basic incompatibilities that as a child he didn’t really understand, not the least of which is the fact that I will be nothing but dust before he is middle-aged,” Rarity explained.

Pinkie kicked Rarity, who almost blew up at Pinkie until she realized what she had said.

“Uh... but really the main problem, of course, was,” Rarity glanced about the room. “Probably the penis thing, that’s a much bigger problem than age.”

Rarity forced a smile on her face.

“It’s okay you two, really,” Twilight insisted.

“I’m very sorry Twilight, it was an insensitive thing to say,” Rarity replied.

“Wait, what’s wrong with his penis, is it weird looking?” Pinkie asked.

“It’s bigger than I am Pinkie, that’s the problem,” Rarity tied off a knot. “And why on earth are we talking about this? This is terribly rude, all around. Really, enough about that. He has an appropriately sized date and I hope they get on wonderfully.”

“Where’s Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked.

“She’s back home,” Pinkie replied.

“Really, her gown is very basic, it took no time for the final fitting,” Rarity said. “I will forever be disappointed that she did not let me make her a more fabulous gown for her wedding, seeing as every fashion magazine in the world is going to be here, scrutinizing my work, but it’s her big day, so she gets what she wants.”

“Besides, she can’t see me in my dress before the wedding,” Pinkie added.

“You know you two can be downright old-fashioned sometimes,” Rarity said.

“My grandpa saw my Granny Pie in her dress before the wedding, and ten years later, a piano fell on him,” Pinkie said.

“Well what on earth does that have to do with seeing him on the wedding day? It was ten years later,” Rarity shot back.

“I dunno, but Granny Pie said it was because he saw her in her dress before the wedding, and Granny Pie was right about most things,” Pinkie replied.

“I think you’re done,” Rarity said, floating away her pins and threads, then she teleported the dress right off of Pinkie. “Twilight, you have no idea how helpful that spell is.”

“Glad I could teach you,” Twilight replied.

“Now, I’m actually glad you’re here. Aside from the brides, your outfit is the second most important, being the officiant and Princess and all, so let’s get you in it.”

An hour later Pinkie and Twilight left Rarity’s boutique. Pinkie was humming a tune as they walked along.

“You seem pretty calm for the day before your wedding,” Twilight said.

“Yeah, I am. But Dash is a mess,” Pinkie replied.

“She isn’t getting cold hooves is she?” Twilight asked.

“Nah, she’s just not cut out for tough stuff like throwing parties. Honestly, you ponies always made it sound like I had an easy job,” Pinkie explained.

* * * * * *

Pinkie tore open the wrapping paper on Quick Fix’s gift.

“YESYESYESYESYESYESYES!” Pinkie screamed out.

She pulled out four shoes. They had a thick heel and were stylish, obviously Rarity had been involved in picking them out, but most importantly each one had a magical rune etched on the front, and the bottom actually glowed slightly.

“Are they?” Pinkie asked, desperation in her voice.

“Yes, I finally finished them-”

“HONEYMOON TIME EVERYPONY, THANKS FOR COMING!” Pinkie called out across the reception.

Twilight laughed as Pinkie wrapped Quick Fix in a bone crushing hug, which considering her magic, Pinkie really could do, then she shook hooves and hugged her way to the edge of the reception and finally Rainbow Dash picked her up and the pair took off into the sky.

“Pinkie, the bouquet!” Rarity called out.

“Oh, right,” Pinkie threw her bouquet down at the massive wedding reception. On the ground, mares rushed to catch the bundle of flowers, but instead of landing in the crowd of ponies it was snatched out of the air by Selena, who had the advantage of being thirty feet tall.

“Good luck, Spike!” Rainbow Dash called out, then she flapped her wings and the newlyweds disappeared into the sky, leaving behind a rainbow contrail.

Twilight turned from the sky back down to the wedding reception, which would likely continue until well into the morning. She excused herself from the two noble women who were talking to her about land claims around the ancient satellite farming communities and began searching through the massive crowd for somepony specific.
Instead she ran into Fluttershy, which wasn’t exactly bad.

“Oh, hello Twilight,” Fluttershy said.

“Hey Fluttershy, enjoying the reception?”

“I am, but, there are so many ponies here,” she said. “I’m kind of looking forward to getting back out to the forest. That doesn’t sound rude, does it?”

“No, it’s not. This is a big crowd for anypony,” Twilight replied.

Almost magically, Dark Matter appeared at her side.

“This is a security nightmare, Princess. I implore you that we hold future events of this size off the palace grounds,” Dark Matter said.

“Relax, Dark Matter, you’re not even on duty,” Twilight said.

“I should be on duty, I don’t think Raindrops is ready to be leading security on such a demanding assignment,” Dark Matter said.

“Dark Matter, you are at your friends’ wedding. Please, relax, and enjoy yourself,” Twilight implored.

Her looked grim for a moment, but then he straightened his dress armor and his face almost smiled. “You are right, I should enjoy the night off. Good evening Princess, Fluttershy,” he trotted off in the direction of the food.

Twilight left Fluttershy and finally found the pony she was looking for, but she was talking to Cadence and Shining Armor. Twilight approached the group.

“Well Twilight, we’re visiting, and it’s official, disaster hasn’t broken out,” Shining Armor said.

“There’s still the rest of the night,” Twilight said. “Who knows, a band of manticores might attack the town before you leave.”

“Twilight, you did a wonderful job up there, I’m not looking forward to the first state wedding in the Crystal Kingdom,” Cadence said. “I’m going to be a crying mess.”

“You did a great job, sugarcube,” Applejack said.

“Thanks everypony,” Twilight said.

The four ponies talked for awhile, then Shining Armor and Cadence left to go find Twilight’s parents. Twilight sighed with displeasure, but Applejack grabbed her leg and dragged her away.

“If anypony asks, official business came up,” Applejack suggested.

“Thanks AJ, I wasn’t looking forward to that,” Twilight said.

The wedding was taking place in the expansive palace gardens, Jade’s personal realm of exotic and colorful plants. But despite the enormous size of the wedding, it still wasn’t taking up all of the gardens. Applejack and Twilight headed for Jade’s personal alchemy garden, a gated, secure corner where she grew rare herbs, some of which were deadly enough that there was usually a guard nearby. However, as they approached, Twilight saw no guard, which she knew would send Dark Matter into a fury if he found out.

Applejack opened the gate and the pair walked inside. Jade was quietly sipping a glass of wine.

“Oh, too much bustle for you too?” Jade asked.

“Uh, yeah,” Applejack said. “We were looking for a quiet corner, you know.”

“Well the herb garden was probably a good pick,” Jade replied with a smile.

Applejack said nothing. After about thirty seconds, Jade put her glass down.

“You know, maybe I should get back out there. I, think I might be getting hungry,” Jade said, then she quickly left.
Applejack and Twilight had the garden for themselves.

“Applejack, what’s this about?” Twilight asked.

“Just wanted a little peace and quiet, sugarcube,” Applejack replied.

“What’s this really about?” Twilight asked.

Applejack took her hat off and set it down beside her on the bench and tapped her hooves together in thought.

“Ah know you had a pretty hard time of it when you and Spike got back,” Applejack started. “And you’ve gotten so much better, you smile, you laugh. It makes me so happy to see you happy again.” Applejack drew in a deep breath. “But I don’t see much of you anymore.”

“I am busy, AJ, we’re all busy,” Twilight replied.

Twilight looked away from AJ.

“Twi, come on, I’m not dumb,” Applejack said.

“I know, AJ,” Twilight said, crestfallen.

“We talked about an afterwards, remember?” Applejack said.

“I remember.”

“Well, I gotta know if you still want that afterwards,” Applejack said.

Twilight dropped her face into her hooves.

“Because either way, I still want to have you as a friend, Twi.”

Twilight was silent for a few minutes.

“Do you think Rarity and Spike would have worked out?” Twilight asked finally.

“I think if they had really loved each other,” Applejack replied. “If they couldn’t stand to live without each other, sure. And I’ll be honest, I might not have said that yesterday. I wasn’t even sure I was gonna bring this up yesterday. But I was talking to your brother and sister-in-law earlier. Seemed like about the happiest two ponies I’ve ever met. And I realized I wanted that. I want that even though you’re so much smarter than me-”

“I’m not smarter than you.”

“-and so much more important-”

“That’s also not true.”

“-and I’m just a farmer pony from Ponyville and you’re about the best catch a girl could hope to pull down in several lifetimes.”

Twilight’s face was on fire. Suddenly the night air seemed to turn into steam. She thought she had buried all of these feelings away, that she wouldn’t have to make the choice. It just wouldn’t come up. She thought about sitting in the Star Swirl the Bearded section of the Canterlot Library, stroking Celestia’s mane as she said goodbye to her love. The pain on her face and in her voice, the absolute defeat. Then she thought about Cadence and Shining Armor, and their love that saved the Crystal Kingdom. How did those scales balance out?

“That’s a lot of silence, sugarcube,” Applejack said nervously.

“I’m sorry, I’m still used to having a lot of free time on my hooves,” Twilight replied. “Tell me AJ, and be honest. What would you do if you were me?”

The earth pony kicked at the ground for a moment in silence.

“I’m still me, still feel and think the way I do? Just... you know, a few more bits and pieces and live forever?” Applejack asked.

“Yes.”

“I think I’d jump in front of a chimera for you,” she said.

Twilight kissed her, and she knew it wasn't a dream, because nothing had ever felt so real.

Chapter 4

Time and Space in Harmony

by Inkspots

Chapter 4

Applejack was laying next to Twilight, drawing in shallow breaths. The earth pony’s mid-section was covered in bandages with a splint down the middle. Jade had crushed some dark purple leaves and smeared them onto AJ’s side before she wrapped her up, so she smelled minty. Twilight had decided this was well worth one of the doses of painkiller Zecora had sent with them, so Applejack took that and quickly fell asleep.

“Twilight, darling, you should get some sleep,” Rarity said. “I’ll stay with her.”

“I’m already up, you don’t have to,” Twilight replied.

“You’ve been casting spells and pulling carts today, you get some sleep,” Rarity insisted.

Twilight got up as quietly as she could and gave Rarity a short hug, then headed for the tents. The palace was mostly in ruins, save three levels of one tower, and the ground floor of the main hall. At least, that’s all they had found so far. There was rubble everywhere, and Twilight would bet her horn that a palace of this size had basements.

The campsite had been set up on the second floor of the tower, in the very room they had fought and vanquished Nightmare Moon. When they had set up camp and told Dark Matter this was where the battle took place, a strange look came over his face, and he quietly thanked them.

Twilight walked through the camp of ten tents in a circle around a fire, but kept going. She headed for the stairs. On the first level of the tower was a similarly sized room with a doorway into the main hall. One of the wagons had been drawn up in front of the doorway, making a ‘choke-point’ Dark Matter had called it. Rainbow Dash was sitting there on guard duty.

“How’s AJ?” she asked.

“She’s sleeping,” Twilight replied.

“The next time I go up against that chimera, it’s payback. I’ll tear it apart,” Rainbow Dash said.

“I wouldn’t get too mad at it,” Twilight said. “It’s a golem, a magical construct. Someone built it, probably thousands of years ago, and it has no choice but to follow its orders. Which I guess are attack anypony who approached the city.”

“Still, it needs to go down. We just need to figure out how.”

Twilight left Rainbow Dash to her battle strategies and entered the main hall. It was a grand room, with tall pillars that looked like they were holding up the sky now that the roof was gone. In the middle of the room was the Fountain of Harmony. It was as dry as when they had first come there in years past. Now, Twilight looked over it with a critical eye. Here and there she saw tiny holes. The floor was depressed less than an inch around the base. The Fountain would be an amazing sight to see if they could get it working again, though it now lacked the stone representations of the Elements.

There was a muffled roar in the distance, the chimera. Twilight walked out of the front of the hall and looked towards the gatehouse and the magical barrier that protected them. Quick Fix had tried to track down the source of its power, hoping to get an idea of how long it might last, but all she could tell was that it originated from the palace. Twilight looked away from the gatehouse and around the areas next to the palace. She began walking. Here and there she saw ancient walls, reduced down to a foot or two high. Occasionally she found an arched window frame, a doorway, or even a pillar. All of it was covered in vines, bushes, or wrapped up in the trunks of towering trees. At one point she even found one of the starlight street lamps, rising suddenly out of grass beneath the hanging limbs of a black leafed tree.. She looked around, picturing the street and the buildings that would have line it.

“Princess, you’re putting yourself at risk out here,” came Dark Matter’s voice.

“I know, but if I go up there I’ll just sit at Applejack’s side and worry,” Twilight said.

Dark Matter walked over to an intact piece of wall that was just a bit taller than himself and brushed off a layer of vines with his hoof, exposing the marble blocks beneath.

“I am ashamed, Princess,” he said.

“Why?”

“Applejack put her life on the line to save you. I should have been protecting you first and fighting the chimera second,” he explained. “I let my emotions dictate my strategy.”

“You’re the only real warrior here, I think fighting the chimera was the best thing you could do,” Twilight replied.

“I was of little use. I simply don’t have the weapons to fight a stone beast. Rainbow Dash’s-”

“Sonic Rainboom,” Twilight supplied.

“Yes, that. It was the only thing that affected the chimera,” Dark Matter said.

“It’s not just a chimera, it’s a golem. Fluttershy said that when she heard the roar, it just didn’t sound right, and it makes sense now. It’s a magical construct mimicking a chimera’s roar,” Twilight explained. “And if it’s a golem, that means that something is powering it.”

“So we must discover its power source?” Dark Matter asked.

“Quick Fix could explain it better, but yes. The only problem is, it’s large enough the power source could be inside of it,” Twilight said.

“What are we talking about? A crystal? A machine?”

“I don’t know, many things have been used to power golems over the years, and I have no idea what ponies were using as far back as Harmonia,” Twilight said. “I’m honestly surprised they had the ability to make them.”

Dark Matter scratched his chin. “How is the earth pony?”

“Applejack,” Twilight said.

“How is Applejack?”

“She’s sleeping. Jade put some herbs on her that should help her breath, and she’s on a dose of the painkillers and bandaged up,” Twilight explained.

“Do we need to get her back to Ponyville?” Dark Matter asked.

Twilight didn’t answer. She had been thinking about it all night. They had just gotten to Harmonia, but things weren’t going at all how she expected. She hoped to arrive, arrange an archeological dig, unearth the evidence of some ancient magical battle and device a clever counterspell that would see the whole kingdom restored.

“We’ll see how she’s feeling in the morning,” Twilight said. “But if there’s any risk of permanent harm, then yes, we’ll take her back to Ponyville. I think the best option would be stripping down one of the wagons and having Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy fly her back.”

Dark Matter nodded. “Very well Princess.”

* * * * * *

“Heck no,” Applejack said. “I’m fine as a fiddle, just need to convalesce, you know?”

“Be honest AJ,” Twilight asked.

“I’ll be honest, about five years ago I was out bucking my way through a harvest. Hit a tree and a branch high up broke, swung down and caught me right in the side. Well, the other side that time, but still. I went to the doctor and they did just the same as you’ve done here, but without the herbs. So I reckon I’m better off than last time,” Applejack insisted. “I just need to rest up, like I did last time, and I’ll be back at it soon enough.”

Everypony was sitting around the camp eating breakfast the morning after the battle.

“Applejack don’t be afraid to say you need to go back,” Rarity said.

“If I could get up and stomp off I would,” she replied. “But I told you, I’m fine.”

They returned to their hay fries and buttered bread.

“So, what are we going to do today?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Well, if the chimera wasn’t here I would probably start excavating this place, looking for evidence of what happened here and how to reverse it. But obviously we have a more pressing problem,” Twilight said. She took a deep breath. “Quick Fix, can you figure out where that golem’s power is coming from?”

The unicorn munched on her hay fries for a moment. “I thought about that last night, actually. I have a Magimeter, but it’s kind of a short range, about ten feet. I’d have to walk right up to it, then trace the magic back to the source carefully. I don’t think I’d make it. Besides, if the power source is on board, then we’re no better off, we’ll still need to get inside it to deactivate it.”

“Is it indestructible until the power source is turned off?” Dark Matter asked.

“No, but as a golem it feels no pain, you have to literally dismantle it,” Quick Fix replied.

“Then we have an option, we can drop it in the canyon. It would be like dropping a stone tower. It might be strong, but its own weight will destroy it there,” Dark Matter explained. “Princess, could you lift it?”

Twilight shook her head. “If I had absolute calm and it was perfectly still, yes, but if something is moving around in your telekinesis its very hard to move it.”

“But you moved that Ursa Minor,” Pinkie Pie insisted.

“Honestly, the hardest part about that was moving the water tower. The Ursa Minor is ethereal, it weighs very little,” Twilight explained.

“What about you, Rainbow Dash? Could you launch it with your Sonic Rainboom?” Dark Matter asked.

“I would need to make sure I came down on the right side of it. Once you start reaching those speeds turning just slows you down, so I can’t really aim after a point,” Rainbow Dash explained. “Again, if it wasn’t moving, sure.”

“So is there a way to disable a golem?” Dark Matter asked.

“If I was standing next to the power source, sure, easily. But on the golem end, not really a way to do it magically,” Quick Fix said.

The ponies sat in silence, eating quietly. Then a thought dawned on Twilight.

“The problem is, it’s so heavy, right?” Twilight asked the group. “Well what if I cast a gravity spell that made it float in the air. Then it can struggle all it wants, and Rainbow Dash can line up a shot and blast it into the canyon.”

“That might just work. How close would you have to be?” Dark Matter asked.

“I’d have to at least cross the canyon myself,”Twilight said. “Which is why I think we should spend today, maybe tomorrow as well searching the city for the power source. If we just can’t find it, if it’s well hidden or onboard, then we can resort to the canyon.”

“Alright, search parties then,” Dark Matter said.

* * * * * *

After breakfast the group split up, with Spike and Applejack staying in camp, planning to go through the supplies and see what fell into the canyon. Twilight, Quick Fix, and Dark Matter spread out and started searching the palace, tower, and grounds. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy took to the sky, and the rest of the ponies spread out through the town. Before they left Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash donned their armor, just incase.

Jade, Rarity and Pinkie Pie began east of the palace, but quickly found that the city was reduced to rubble in that direction, with entire swaths of it indistinguishable from the forest. They then headed south and crossed over a stream to find an open space filled with tall pillars. They weren’t entirely sure what it had been, but decided to call it The Market. The stone pillars were very plain, with no fluting or scrollwork on the plinth or capital. They were arranged in three concentric circles, with large paving stones of the same color creating a large circular clearing out of the forest. Interesting though it was, they found nothing but the pillars, so they moved on. Then they stumbled into a dense grove of trees. Initially they made to go around it, but Jade caught sight of something.

“Wait a minute,” she said. “This is a planted grove. These trees are in rows.”

“It’s a garden?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“I think it’s an orchard,” she replied. “These look like the Zap Apple Trees from Sweet Apple Acres, these I’m not sure, but look there, the ground is covered in fruit pits.”

“However did you spot those?” Rarity asked.

“I’m just used to looking for them,” Jade replied.

The three ponies entered the grove and found themselves walking down covered corridors created by the overgrown trees. The grove echoed with the sound of hidden song birds, and in the center they found a clearing that was almost entirely covered by the tree branches overhead, save a circular opening in the center, just above the remains of an ancient stone building. It was in surprisingly good shape, so they investigated.

“Jade, I think this was a farm, I bet we’re on a huge Zap Apple Farm,” Pinkie Pie said. “Oh, I wish AJ could come see this.”

“It’s lovely in here, honestly I think the overgrown trees make it more lovely. It’s like standing in a tall grand hall,” Rarity said.

They entered the building and looked through the three rooms, finding little but dust, animal nests, and bits of wood. The silence was broken when Jade kicked open a trapdoor she found in the corner of the house’s main room.

“I know logically that’s probably just a cellar for preserves and such,” Jade’s voice trailed off. The three ponies stood around looking into the dark opening for a moment.

“Alright ponies, this is a soldier’s job,” Pinkie said.

“You’re not a soldier, you’re an event planner,” Rarity said. Pinkie gave her a critical look. “But you know what, you’re right. Here,” Rarity pulled a small red gem out of her pack and shot a beam of magic into it. The gem began to glow brightly like a torch. “Take that down there so you can see.”

“Good thinking, private,” Pinkie said. Rarity ignored that and affixed the gem to Pinkie’s helmet. The pink pony then turned and hopped down into the root cellar. Jade and Rarity peeked over the opening.

“What’s down there?” Jade asked. “Dusty jam jars and such?”

“Not much, some bits of wood, I think some glass, annnddddAAHHHHHHHHH!” Pinkie’s word morphed into a horrified scream and in a bolt the pony was out of the cellar and clutching onto Rarity’s legs.

“Pinkie, what did you see?” Rarity asked.

“Uh, well, some ponies.” she managed.

“There are ponies down there?” Jade’s voice was incredulous.

“Well, what’s left of them,” Pinkie said. “We should leave, I didn’t see any power source.”

“Alright Pinkie, let’s head back into town,” Rarity said, patting the pony in the head. Jade gingerly replaced the trapdoor and the three ponies quickly left the grove. Outside they saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flying overhead. Pinkie waved Rainbow Dash over. The pegasus came down and Pinkie wrapped her in a tight hug. “I’ve seen some stuff.”

“Uh, okay? What’s with the hug?” Dash asked.

“Pinkie found some... remains,” Jade explained.

The two ponies took a moment, then Pinkie shook herself out.

“Sorry, a soldier’s got to keep it together,” Pinkie said.

“But you’re an event planner,” Dash said.

“I know what I do for a living, jeez,” Pinkie said.

“Well we were flying over the town, and we only saw two places that looked in decent shape. One was west of the palace near the shore of the lake,” Rainbow said.

“Yeah, there were four of five buildings that looked intact,” Fluttershy added.

“The other was this fortress looking tower near the northwestern gate, how about we check out the fortress, you guys check out the buildings near the lake?” Rainbow suggested.

“We’re on it captain,” Pinkie said with a salute.

The pegasi left to follow the barrier back around to the northwest and the three ponies headed back towards the palace. They circled around it and headed for the lake. Just before they reached the water they found an entire city block in good shape. Most of the buildings had their roofs intact and all of their walls. A few even had colored glass panes still hanging in the windows.

“Do we have to go inside?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Indeed we do, private,” Jade said.

“Please, I’m a lieutenant, obviously,” Pinkie replied. “Alright, let’s do it then.” She made her way up the steps into a building.

“Wait, why am I a lower rank than you?” Rarity called out with a hurt voice.

After thirty minutes exploring the ruins they discerned that the two buildings on one side of the block were houses, and the three buildings on the other side were offices. Pinkie refused to enter the basement of any of them, but they lacked golem power sources and skeletons. The rooftops gave a stunning view of the lake, though the experience was tinged with the fear of the roof collapsing, so the ponies didn’t stay long. The alley that ran between the buildings had marble benches in it, so the trio sat for a moment to rest.

“So, Pinkamena, how are you and Dash these days?” Rarity asked.

“Uh, what do you mean us? We’re all on the same expedition here,” Pinkie said.

“Pinkie, you know what I mean,” Rarity insisted. Jade giggled and looked away. Pinkie frowned at Rarity.

“I’m fine, Dash is fine, everypony is fine except Applejack,” Pinkie answered.

“Darling, there simply must be some reason you two are sneaking about like thieves. It isn’t healthy for a relationship. And literally no one will care. Mostly because they all know,” Rarity said.
“Look, I’m not saying Dash and I are in a relationship, because I’m not the kind of pony who breaks promises, not that I’m saying I promised anypony anything. I just...”
“You don’t like it being a secret either,” Jade finished.
Pinkie sighed and rubbed her face with her hooves. “Alright soldiers, we need to hoof it back to base camp.”

* * * * * *

Twilight looked around the lower level of the tower. The ceilings were vaulted, with stone braces running from the center of the room to the walls then down to the floor. She looked at them, noticing the regularly spaced gaps between them, save one gap, which was a bit wider. She approached the wall beneath the gap and started levitating rubbled out of the way. Eventually she uncovered a small opening. She crouched down and shot a beam of light inside. It lit up a terrible scene. she saw three or four pony skeletons scattered about the large room beyond. She backed away from the opening and shuddered. There was no way she was going in there alone.

She went upstairs and found Dark Matter combing the main hall. She told him what she found, then they both went outside and tracked down Quick Fix, who was poking around the buildings on the palace grounds. The three then returned to the underground chamber.

“Princess, allow me to go in first. It could be dangerous,” Dark Matter said.

Twilight nodded. She then picked up the remaining rubble and set it aside, revealing a doorway. She created a ball of light at the end of her horn and shot it into the dark chamber beyond, where it hung in the air. Dark Matter walked forward, he battle shoes clicking audibly on the marble floor. The room turned out to be a kitchen, with fire pits, water basins, and stone ovens along the walls. The skeletons were scattered about the room, draped over the counters.

Dark Matter waved the two in, though neither were eager to enter the room. There were two more doors on the adjoining walls that led off into other rooms. Twilight nudged the ball of light with her magic until it floated into the left hand room, which was a larder or storage, filled with rotting barrels and empty shelves. They found no skeletons or anything of note, and moved on to the other doorway, which led into a narrow hallway.

“I think this was a servant’s passage,” Twilight said.

“It’s a terrible place to get stuck too, be cautious,” Dark Matter added.

To their left the passage was caved in, and none of them wanted to risk shifting the rocks and bringing the tower down on them. To their right the passage continued on, with stairwells at odd intervals that were collapsed or caved in. Finally they reached a doorway on their right that opened to reveal a large chamber beyond. Twilight sent in her ball of light, then Dark Matter scouted ahead. Quickly it became apparent where they were, it was a library.

“Well this is an excellent find,” Twilight said.

“I know, this could have been caved in just as easily,” Quick Fix added.

The ponies spread out, heading down the aisles between the towering stone bookshelves. Twilight gently cast a levitation around an old tome, and almost instantly it crumbled to dust. She found another book that had fallen over and was laying open. The pages were thin and dry, and on it she saw symbols similar to the ones Star Swirl had described, thought she could read none of it.
They searched the library until they found a small, ornate door. It was made of a dark stone with scroll work radiating from the center. Dark Matter pushed it open and Twilight cast a new ball of light into the room. Within was a smaller room with bookshelves lining the walls. In the middle of the room ran low stone tables covered in various devices. Twilight quickly recognized the room for a magician’s laboratory. They stepped in and began looking around.

“Look here,” Dark Matter pointed at the ground. The dust was inches thick in the corners, but the middle of the floor was disturbed. Around them on the tables sat devices with little dust on them at all. “Somepony has been here recently.”

“Perhaps Nightmare Moon came here? Luna said she explored the complex,” Twilight said.

“What-what if we’re not alone here?” Quick Fix offered quietly.

“Either way, do you see a golem powering device?” Dark Matter asked.

Quick Fix pulled her Magimeter out of her saddlebag and waved it around as she circled the room. “No, and honestly a magician’s workshop would make sense. If it’s not here, I don’t know where it would be.”

“Then we’ll head back up and see if the others found anything,” Dark Matter said.

The three ponies retraced their steps through the library and through the grim kitchen and up the stairs. When they reached the ground floor, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were waiting for them.

“You’ve got to see this,” Dash said.

* * * * * *

Twilight, Dash, and Dark Matter flew over Harmonia, heading for the north western gate.

“So, we checked out the fortress on the northwestern side of town, I think it housed the city’s guards, didn’t really find anything but rusted metal, we decided to check out the gatehouse before we headed back, and guess what? We found another golem,” Rainbow said.

“Another golem?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, but this one’s busted,” Rainbow replied.

Twilight’s heart slid back down her throat to its proper place. “You could have led with the broken part.”

The three ponies touched down near another gatehouse. Like the one they had entered through it stood alone without much wall on either side. On top of it was a pile of rubble. Once they got closer, Twilight started noticing the stone blocks were shaped like parts of a griffon.

“It looks like a statue,” Dark Matter said.

“Yeah, but check this out, it’s got joints to move the limbs, and look at this,” Rainbow led them over to the opposite side. There, the body of the statue was broken open. Twilight peered inside the cavity and saw that it was lined with exotic materials molded to create dozens of interlocking runes. She lit her horn and peaked in. Clearly the power source of these golems was internal, but she couldn’t tell what was powering it. Runes, metal clamps, maybe holding a crystal or gem? Twilight looked around to see more clamps arranged in a pattern. After a few moments, she realized what they were meant to hold.

A roar came from beyond the barrier. The chimera golem was just outside the gate, whipping its tail against the green barrier, causing it to pulse with light.

“So is this a golem?” Dark Matter asked.

“Yes, and the power source is on board,” Twilight said.

“Can you tell what powers them?” Dash asked. “I mean, it’s been thousands of years, it must be pretty impressive crystal or something.”

“I’m, not sure. I’ll talk to Quick Fix, maybe bring her out here,” Twilight said. Dark Matter was staring at her. “We should head back.”

Later, Twilight was back at camp, sitting next to Applejack was was reclining on a pile of sacks that had been filled with leaves to make a couch of sorts.

“I bet you want revenge on that golem, right?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know,” Applejack replied. “It’s like getting mad at a thunderstorm I guess. It’s just a machine, right? I guess I kinda feel bad for it. Waiting around for thousands of years, must be lonely.”

Twilight looked away from Applejack. “Such a long time to be trapped here.”

“Princess,” Dark Matter approached them. “May I have a moment?”

Twilight got up and walked away from the camp with Dark Matter.

“So what powers these golems?” he asked.

Twilight bit her lip. But she had to tell someone.

“Ponies. Somehow it’s ponies. The clamps inside are meant to hold a pony prone in the cavity, with the runes touching them at various points,” Twilight explained.

Dark Matter’s eyes widened at the news. “I, I did not expect that. So inside the chimera?”

“Yes.”

“How? How can a pony survive thousands of years like that?” Dark Matter asked.

“Not naturally, that’s how. But now what do we do? There’s a pony in there somewhere,” Twilight said.

“Honestly, this changes little in my mind,” Dark Matter said.

“How can you say that?” Twilight was shocked.

“Trapped in a stone prison for thousands of years, kept alive by unnatural magics? Destroying that golem won’t just save us, it’ll save another pony too,” Dark Matter explained. “We should run drills tomorrow, practice our timing, then carry out the plan.”

“I don’t know if I could give that order,” Twilight said.

“I hope you do, Princess, and if that pony in there is aware of any of this, I bet he hopes so too.”

Author's Note

To make up for a few late chapter updates, here's a really early chapter update!