Stopping the Future That the past Creates

by Yoshi1990

Chapters

Chapter 2: Story Time
Chapter 3: First Day
Chapter 4: Ponyville
Chapter 5: A Gift from Rarity
Chapter 6: Riding on Balloons and Trains
Chapter 7: The Crystal Mountains
Chapter 9: Opening a new Restaurant
Chapter 10: The Future is Here
Chapter 11: New World
Chapter 12: New Mission
Chapter 13: Emerald Leaves
Chapter 14: Another Crash in the Past
Chapter 15: The end of one Future
Chapter 1: A Crash in the Past
Chapter 8: Visiting Lyra Heartstrings

Chapter 2: Story Time

In the land of Equestria there are stories of a golden age. A time of harmony, a time of friendship, a time of peace, and a time of happiness. But those times ended when an ice dragon appeared from within the Crystal Mountains. The first places to fall to the dragon’s dark powers were villages and towns in the Crystal Mountains. After destroying some of the villages and towns in the mountain range, the dragon started moving towards the Crystal Empire.

Queen Chrysalis, Princess Cadence, and Prince Shining Armor had been preparing for an attack on the Empire for a few days since they had seen the dragon in the mountains. The crystal ponies were taking shelter. They would help protect the Empire but not directly. They would stay in their homes thinking about happiness and love so that they could help power up the Crystal Heart. Five days after Cadence and Shining Armor had seen the dragon, their worst fear was now coming true. The dragon was flying toward the Crystal Empire. The power of the Crystal Heart was protecting the Empire from long range attacks from the monster. However, it did not stop the dragon from entering the Empire. The dragon pounded against the magic shield until it collapsed and left the Empire unprotected. Thats when Queen Chrysalis, Princess Cadence, and Shining Armor would use their magic with the help of the Crystal Heart to fight in a more offensive way. Sadly, all their magic had little effect on the dragon, and physical attacks had even less effect. Soon the Crystal Empire had fallen, and then it became the new home of the dragon. The power of the Crystal Heart became part of the dragon’s power.

In Canterlot the three other princesses were preparing to attack the Crystal Empire or to have to defend Canterlot. Whatever came first. Unfortunately they had little time to do anything as three hours after the fall of the Crystal Empire the enemy was now coming towards Canterlot.

Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends representing the Elements of Harmony used the Elements to create a shield around Canterlot so that the dragon could not attack from far away. Just like the last one, this one was no problem for the dragon. The dragon crashed right through it when he got to Canterlot. The forces of it being destroyed caused the six elemental ponies to fall down as their concentration was broken. The shield slowly dissolved from the spot that was broken until it was no more.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna prepared their most powerful spells to attack the ice dragon while Twilight and the elemental ponies were recovering, but before the sister Princesses could launch their attack, the dragon used its own magic spell first and teleported the two princesses somewhere else.

Twilight was filled with worry and anger from not knowing if the princesses were OK. She realised that they were most likely fine. She was still filled with some anger as she realised that her brother and sister-in-law were probably not fine and she would never see them again.

Twilight was ready to use the Elements of Harmony to their fullest and totally destroy this monster. Twilight’s eyes glowed white with magic as rainbow-colored energy surrounded the six elemental ponies. This magic was then directed towards the ice dragon. The dragon countered with his own magic as he shot a light blue beam of magic from his claw. The two powerful magics collided in an explosion of light and energy. The two magic forces continued to clash against each other, but Twilight and the elemental ponies were running out of energy. The dragon did not seem to be losing any energy. If anything, the dragon seemed to be getting stronger. As if from nowhere, the dragon had what seemed like an infinite amount of magic and the light blue magic shot straight through the rainbow magic of the Elements and turned Twilight into stone. As it impacted her, the magic radiated from Twilight and turned all the elemental ponies into stone. The dragon shot a ball of magic at the now defenceless pony statues. Upon impact they all shattered, and only the crown of princess Twilight was left.

The dragon turned towards the castle and crashed through the roof to get to the Princesses. Both Princesses were trapped in a light blue shield that made them unable to use magic. The dragon landed in front of Celestia and stuck his claw through the shield and grabbed Celestia's horn. He began absorbing her magic energy using an ancient spell that has been banned and forgotten from history. Princess Celestia could feel her life fading as her magic was leaving her. Princess Luna could do nothing but watch her older sister slowly die.

Luna began to cry and pound on the shield that was trapping her as she realised that she could not save her older sister and that her magic would stand no chance against this powerful enemy. Luna was tempted to give into her anger and transform into Nightmare Moon but she knew that it would not help anypony if she was evil. Even if by some amazing miracle she did save Equestria from that dragon, she would then take over Equestria. So she sat there crying as she saw her sister die. She regained some composure as she saw her enemy coming toward her. She pleaded and begged for her life. The dragon chose to spare Luna's life due to the fact that Luna was no threat but Luna was never seen again.

After the fall of Equestria, the rest of the planet fell to the power of the dragon. The Crystal Empire was used as a weapon to destroy all who rebelled. Only a small place with a few cities in the mountains of an unknown nation were able to repel the dragon and his floating city. That place was known as Maple Valley. A unicorn claimed to have found a magic greater than that of the sun and the moon combined. She was able to fight the dragon, but not without losing the ability to protect the small valley that she lived in. So she chose to make an agreement with the dragon. The two powerful creatures would leave each other alone and would not interfere with the other’s worlds. Ponies from the miracle valley can leave and come as they want. Some go around the world to spread hope to others. So in this new world of darkness there is a small place of hope but nopony from the outside world can go into it. They can just see the magic shield that protects the valley and listen to what the ponies from this miracle valley say to them.

====================

Lightwing stood up and stretched her hooves. They were getting a little sore from sitting. “I have actually talked to some of these ponies and seen the valley...the shield that protects it anyway. Living over six hundred years and being rich has its advantages.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “You're over six hundred years old?”

“I have not got to that part of the story,” Lightwing said with a slight blush. “Yes, I am that old. I have talked to the alicorn that rules that valley too. She would not tell me much because she feared it might make problems for her agreement with the dragon. She only told me that in her dreams she sees a large round object in space that has the power to destroy anything, but it is also the source of creation for families of stars. It is also her cutie mark. Have you heard of such a thing?”

Twilight had a look of fear in her face. “It sounds like a dark vortex.”

“It did look like a vortex but it was not dark. What is a dark vortex anyway?”

“It is an object in space that destroys everything that gets too close to it. Nothing can stop it except a bigger dark vortex. Celestia and Luna might know more about it.”

Lightwing looked at Celestia. “Do you know more?”

Celestia nodded “I may know a story of two. I shall keep it short so as to not interrupt your story. Long before I was born, an evil unicorn discovered this power and used it to take over our world. For a large time is history she was ruler of the world but she was eventually defeated by a small group of unicorns that harnessed an older and more powerful magic. As the goddess’s final dying act, she destroyed the sun and moon in hope that our world would die with her. The group of unicorns used their magic to make a new sun and moon. They used their magic to move them around the planet, so that one side of the planet would not burn while the other froze. That is how the sun and moon of today were made. Both the magic that was used to take over the world and save it were sealed away in hope that something this bad would never happen again.”

Lightwing was amazed at the story. “That is just as amazing as my story. Except my story is not over.”

Celestia smiled. “Thanks for the complement. Do you want to hear another short story about a similar event and possibly the origins of the evil dragon that controls your world?”

Lightwing nodded her head as Twilight said, "Yes, she would, and I would as well."

Celestia began the next story. “A long time ago, before I was born but not as long ago as the last story, an evil unicorn tried to take over Equestria, but he failed. He was banished from Equestria and was not heard from for quite some time. He came back hundreds of years later and claimed he had found a new world to take over, and would create a dragon and an army to take over this world while he ruled over the other. He began to cause trouble in Equestria again for many years, but nopony could find him before he would vanish. Many cities would be destroyed by him, and no trace of him could be found after he left. Only the stories of the ponies that survived in that city gave any clues. One day he vanished. Nopony knows when, where, why, or how. Most ponies forgot of this evil unicorn over the years. The rulers of that time kept the story alive by telling their children who would one day be rulers too, so that they could be ready for such a day that this unknown dragon and army might come, but they never came. I am pretty sure that the rulers of that time did not want to have to make a new sun and moon like their ancestors. So they kept this obscure story alive and told their children to do the same. Equestria has never liked having dragons in its borders because of this, but we have not banished them from our land. I have never had a reason to tell this story because I have no children but I have told this story to Princess Cadence, and my sister knows of it too.”

Twilight had a question, but not for Celestia. “Lightwing, how do you know all your story if you were not there?”

Lightwing was now laying down on the ground. “I read it in a history book that was hidden in the Canterlot Library. Celestia, that was an interesting story, and it would explain the origins of a mysterious dragon appearing to take over the world. I think it’s time to continue my story now. Now you will learn about me.”

11,600 years after the world was taken over (give or take a few years) a new pegasus was born into a dark world and named Lightwing. This pegasus was interested in unicorn magic from a young age, but that was not a good thing in this day and age. She loved to try to make potions that could mimic magic, but her parents tried their best to keep her away from magics. So she secretly practiced making magic potions in her spare time. Sometimes she would be seen by others, and as a result of that her family had to move homes quite a lot until she was seven years old. They had moved to a small town in a valley between some mountains, and Lightwing found a small cave to practice in.

Lightwing liked to visit the place known as the Canterlot Ruins. It was a historical monument and, even though it was in ruins, there was a large library that had lots of books on history.

====================

Twilight raised a hoof. "Why are you talking about yourself like you are somepony else? How do you know that you were born 11,600 years after the world was taken over?"

Lightwing sighed. "First answer is because its a story and second is because there are history books and schools. Just because an evil dragon rules the world, doesn't mean there is no education.”

====================

One day Lightwing found a sealed-off section of the library and like any curious filly she found a way in. The books in this section were also about history but from the time before the dragon. Such a time had been long forgotten. By the age of eight, Lightwing was paying for trips to the Canterlot Ruins by herself because her parents did not have the time to take her there every day. Three days after Lightwing turned ten she discovered a huge book titled Advanced Potions and Recipes of Chaos in the sealed-off part of the library that told of a potion that could allow her to stay young forever and a lot of other strange potions and meals. She made it her goal to figure out how to make the forever-young potion flawlessly. She already had her cutie mark which was about making potions.

Her parents did not approve of her making potions. It was hard for Lightwing to get supplies into her home without her parents noticing. So it made making complex potions annoyingly hard.

At age fourteen Lightwing was really good at making random herbal potions that were usually good for healing. Also at that age, Lightwing moved into her own home and started her own food business using the recipes from the book Advanced Potions and Recipes of Chaos. The foods were very popular with all the weird, strange, and fun stuff that happened after eating it, and the food was just awesome. I mean, who would not want to drink chocolate rain, eat cupcakes that taste different every time you take a bite, eat fruit that changes your mane color or buy a cake that lasts forever? Lightwing made those cakes very expensive since you only have to buy one for your life.

Lightwing did not let any worker ponies cook food in her restaurant. They could only serve food and clean the restaurant. No pony wanted to cook the food anyway because she told them it involved using magic and magic always came with a price.

Lightwing spent the next few years alone in her home, only leaving to go to work and visit her parents on weekends. At the age of thirty-four Lightwing had finally mastered making the potion she had devoted twenty-four years of her life to. The anti-aging potion was a great success. It had taken a lot of testing and time but it was worth it. So now what was she supposed to do?

Lightwing decided that she would devote her life to making strange and amazing potions of all kinds. That was what Lightwing loved to do anyway and she had a longer life ahead of her than most ponies.

Now that Lightwing knew she could outlive her parents by thousands of years she decided that she would spend the rest of their natural lives with them, but she still had a restaurant to run. So for the next seventy-six years she lived with her parents and sometimes gave them small doses of the anti-aging potion.

After her parents died, she sold their home and returned to her home to continue making new potions. She also had a large underground chamber built for her under her home for making potions in secret. Lightwing liked her appearance to be in her early twenties. On the rare occasion that some pony saw her and asked her age she would tell them she was twenty-three but she wore a cloak when she went out to buy stuff from others to hide her identity. For the next one hundred years Lightwing used the knowledge from the books in the hidden part of the Canterlot library to make lots of strange potions and learn history. In that time she had found a potion that would allow her to be invisible for a short time.

It took three years for Lightwing make the invisibility potion. In the sealed off part of the Canterlot Library she found a history book that explained in detail how the dragon took over Equestria but, to Lightwing's disappointment, not the origins of the ice dragon. It was like somepony who was there saw how the dragon took over the land and they wrote the book. The book also told of an item called the Dragon Pendant that the dragon had created. The book also said that the Pendant was directly connected to the dragon's life energy, and it gave true immortality to the dragon and made it immune to magic. That meant that the pendant had to be destroyed in order to kill the dragon. The book also said it was hidden in the Crystal Empire. Not too many exciting things happened for next year as Lightwing was just researching the Crystal Empire and made an exact replica of of the Dragon Pendant but it lacked the magic qualities of the real one. Lightwing had a plan and that was to save Equestria from the dragon somehow.

After a few more months Lightwing had made a plan on how to steal the Dragon Pendant and replace it with the fake one using the invisibility potion. She successfully executed her plan and now she had to figure out how to destroy the pendant. That would be more difficult than she knew.

After five years of trying every way she could think of to destroy the pendant, she gave up on that goal. She had tried just about everything, even putting the thing into magically enchanted lava. Lightwing decided to give up on destroying it and put the pendant around her neck and vowed that she would never go anywhere without it.

Now it was time to make new potions. Lightwing went over to one of her many bookshelves and dusted off the old book Advanced Potions and Recipes of Chaos. She needed a goal that she had faith in completing, and making new potions was just what she needed. The next week was spent reading the whole book. She found lots of potions that piqued her interest but none more so than one that said she could travel through time. That seemed too good to be true. Magic always came at a price. It was a super-complicated potion and it required something she could not get and that was true magic. The kind only a unicorn has but finding a unicorn that would be willing to help her could be a problem.

Lightwing began getting unicorns to help by bribing them with money. She had plenty of it with her one-of-a-kind foods. Lightwing did her best to not get to know the unicorns working for her. It was simply a do-what-I-tell-you-and-you-get-paid relationship. Lots of unicorns worked for her. They came and left when they felt they had enough money.

One day when when Lightwing was at her restaurant she received a letter saying that the ice dragon was coming to visit her restaurant the next day. She was very surprised. She knew her one-of-a-kind food was good but she never expected the ruler of the world to eat her food. She made plans for the special guest and put a sign up that said the ruler of the world was coming to visit and when he arrived all other guests were to leave. There were no normal guests at her restaurant the next day. Only a dragon came that day. The dragon told her an important piece of information that surprised her in a good way and a bad way. Before the dragon left he said that his master created him for two reasons. Those reasons were to take over this world and to kill Lightwing, but he would not kill her because of reasons she would find out later.

====================

Twilight raised a hoof. “Did you ever find out what those two other reasons were?”

“Um...no. At least, I don't think so. The only thing I can think of is that the dragon knows more than his master did about time travel or I somehow did something to offend his master. The master traveled back in time to change history by creating this dragon and now I had to travel back in time to fix it. I honestly don't know.”

====================

After 227 years of bribing unicorns Lightwing met a young unicorn mare at the age of eighteen. (They were all young compared to her considering that they only live 180 years at most.) She was named Vivian Rivers. Vivian wanted to help Lightwing but would not accept more of Lightwing’s money because Vivian already worked at the restaurant and made money. Lightwing was shocked that such a young unicorn would not accept more.

Five years after Vivian started working on potions, Lightwing decided to get to know her as a friend. Ten years after meeting her new friend, Lightwing trusted her new friend enough that she began to share some of her secrets with her and when Vivian reached the age of thirty-four Lightwing shared the Secret of her anti-aging potion and they worked together for the next 211 years. They worked together on potions and the restaurant until Lightwing finally finished the time-traveling potion and traveled to the past and...you know the rest of the story.”

Chapter 3: First Day

Twilight started clapping her hooves, "You actually traveled through time! And not just a little! That’s amazing!"

Celestia smiled as she looked at Luna, "Now we can mark another pony in the history books as a time traveler."

Luna giggled, "Too bad we will not be able to tell anypony."

Twilight looked over at the other two princesses with a curious face. "Can you tell me who else traveled through time?"

Both the princesses answered unanimously, "We can tell you one of them. Star Swirl the Bearded figured out time travel."

Twilight looked a little sad. "I should have known that. It was kind of obvious."

"Who is Star Swirl the Bearded?" asked Lightwing.

Twilight gasped, "What did you just say?"

"I just asked who Star Swirl the Bearded is. Should I know who he is?" replied Lightwing.

Twilight gasped again, "He is only one of the most important unicorns in history! It saddens me that he was lost from your history."

Lightwing gave Twilight a pat on the back, "I’m sure I could find a history book with him in it from my time. I have a huge library that I can go to."

Princess Celestia stood up. "Does anypony want to get some food to eat before I raise the sun?" She started walking to the doors.

The other ponies all nodded and followed Celestia to the dining room. Lightwing noticed that there was only one table in this big room, but it was big enough to fit twenty ponies. The three princesses sat down in the chairs that were obviously made for them. Lightwing sat across the table from them. Food was already in the center of the table because there was a meal planned in twenty minutes.

Lightwing looked a little worried about eating the food but chose to eat it anyways. "I’m so lucky to get to eat with the princesses!"

A minute later, Lightwing frowned and her ears flopped down when she realized she was the only pony there who could not eat her food using magic. She was going to change that. She reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a potion labeled Levitation and she drank a little bit of it. "Time to impress you, princesses." She began to levitate her food using a green colored magic.

As princess Luna and Celestia were eating, they looked shocked to see the pegasus using magic. Twilight almost choked on her food as she saw the amazing sight. "How are you doing that?"

Lightwing sighed. "I make magic potions. I told you this in my story but using magic always has a price."

Twilight flailed her hooves around. "But potions are not supposed to give you magic! They just mimic magic by themselves and don’t give ponies actual magic. And what do you mean by using magic has a price?"

Lightwing levitated her cup over for a drink. She began to levitate it back. A feeling of fear took over her as she felt her magic fade. The green aura surrounding the cup faded and gravity pulled the cup toward the floor. Thinking fast, Lightwing dived out of her chair toward the falling cup. Her wing collided with her plate in this process. She grabbed the cup with all four of her hooves and landing nicely on the floor. A shattering sound was heard a second later. Lightwing saw her broken plate and food on the other side of her chair. The mess vanished in a purple light.
Lightwing hovered back into her chair and forcefully put the cup on the table. Without thinking, Lightwing pounded the table with a hoof. The cup fell over and rolled off the table, shattering on impact with the floor.

Lightwing growled like an angry dog, "Well that’s a nice example of a price for me using magic. I hate it when that happens!" I need to behave. I’m in the company of princesses. Lightwing took a few deep breaths to calm herself. "As you know, I’m a pegasus and we don’t naturally use magic. So using magic has more strain on my body than it does on unicorns and as a result I can’t use magic without deep concentration. So I can’t use magic in simple tasks without putting more effort into it than it’s worth... " Lightwing took another deep breath, "I also age faster than normal, but luckily for me I have an anti-aging potion. So I’m technically immortal, but immortality in turn has its own price."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."

Celestia still looked surprised. "I would not have expected a discordian to have been the reason you are here to save Equestria."

"What’s a discordian? I think I heard that name somewhere." asked a confused Lightwing.

Twilight facehooved in shock at the question. "A discordian is a follower of a creature named Discord that once ruled over Equestria."

"Oh! I think I saw that name somewhere in one of my history books." she replied to Twilight.

Celestia rose from her chair. "It’s time to raise the sun. You should come watch it, Lightwing."

Lightwing smiled as she got out of her chair. "That would be amazing."

The four ponies left the dining room and began their journey down the halls of the castle with the guards following behind them. Lightwing was looking at the nice hallways as she followed the three princesses. She would have gotten lost if the princesses were not there to guide her. Every pony that walked by would move to the side of the hallway and bow to the princesses. Lightwing found it a little weird. She only snapped out of her trance as her gaze fell upon the massive doors of the castle, engulfed in a purple aura opening to allow the four of them access to the bailey.

The light from outside did not look like normal moonlight. It looked weird to Lightwing. Almost like there was some other light source as well. Lightwing didn’t notice that the princesses had stopped walking and almost bumped into Princess Luna because of it. She also noticed there were lots of ponies gathered around.

Princess Celestia turned around to face the other three ponies, Luna in particular, "Are you ready, my sister?"

Luna nodded her head. Lightwing raised a hoof to signal she had a question.

"What is your question?" replied Luna.

"Why is Princess Luna needed in order to raise the sun?" Lightwing said in a confused voice.

Luna giggled at the young ponies lack of knowledge. Twilight facehooved yet again as Celestia began to answer the question. "Luna is not needed for raising the sun. She is needed for setting the moon. I move the sun around the planet and she moves the moon. Every twenty-four hours we both use a spell to move the sun or moon one cycle around the planet. It is far easier for us to only have to move one instead of having to move both."

Twilight pointed towards a mountain range in the distance, "Lightwing, look over here, don’t look directly at the sun as it comes up."

Celestia and Luna began to focus their magic energy. Magic began to radiate from them as they began to float up into the air.

A radiant light began to appear from behind the mountains, and its interaction with the clouds began to change their colors. Ranging from red, purple, pink, blue and a few others. Lightwing was awe struck as she watched. She saw the amazingly beautiful sight in front of her, and it was as if the rest of the world was not even there anymore. Even reading about the sun had not prepared her for this.

As the light from behind the mountains was increasing in luminosity, Lightwing put a hoof over the top of her head to make some shade for her eyes. However, the radiance of light continued to increase until it got to the point where she had to look in a different direction before going blind, sparking the memory of when she had first arrived in past and the light had blinded her.

A few minutes later, Lightwing noticed that a purple hoof was waving in front of her face and it was shortly followed by Twilight’s voice "Are you there? Are you there? Say something. Are you there?"

Lightwing raised a hoof and nodded, signaling she could hear Twilight.

Twilight smiled. "Welcome back to reality."

Lightwing giggled. "Thanks"

Lightwing looked at Celestia and then back to Twilight. "Where did Luna go?"

"My sister left to go to bed and you should go to Ponyville with Twilight."

Twilight clapped her hooves. "Thats a great idea."

The exchange was lost to Lightwing who was in her world of thoughts again. She was thinking about how beautiful the princesses’ manes looked in the sunlight, and I wonder how my mane looks right now in contrast.. Suddenly, a waving Twilight hoof was once again waving in front of her face as her sign to return to the conversation. It wasn’t long before she was caught up and the two went on their way.

"You and I are going to Canterlot train station to see my friends." Twilight beamed.

Lightwing seemed distracted, "Oh, that’s cool, but do you have a mirror?"

Twilight looked puzzled for only a moment before she vanished in a flash of light and reappeared five seconds later with a small mirror.

Lightwing looked in the mirror and was in awe when she saw that her green mane looked amazing in the sunlight but not as amazing as the princesses’.

Celestia walked over to Twilight and giggled. "We lost her again."

"I can see that. You better leave. You got a busy day today with me leaving."

Celestia nodded and walked away with some guards. Twilight looked back at Lightwing and saw that she was still staring at the mirror. Twilight let out a sigh.

"I wonder if this will work," Twilight said as she moved the mirror a little to the left. She giggled as she saw Lightwing’s head follow the mirror. She moved the mirror back to the right and smiled as a hypnotized head continued to follow it everywhere it moved.

"Ok, time to bring her back to reality," Twilight said as she teleported the mirror back to her room.

Lightwing looked around a little before realizing that the mirror was gone. Twilight signaled the slightly confused pegasus to follow her, and Lightwing followed. Two guards also followed them.

Twilight put her head down in disappointment. "It’s annoying having guards follow me everywhere."

The guards looked back and forth between each other but there was no reply from anypony. Lightwing was too busy enjoying the heat of the sun on her body. The warmth was amazing. In the future it was never this warm outside. She had even forgotten she was even walking.

Twilight turned her head to look behind her to see what Lightwing was doing. She saw that Lightwing was just enjoying the sunlight. So she turned her head back to see where she was going. An idea came to Twilight.

"We’re taking a small detour and going to Donut Joe’s," she said with a smile. Twilight began trotting toward her destination, dodging down a familiar sidestreet. They reached their target in less than a minute.

Twilight turned to the black pegasus. "Lightwing, are you coming inside with us?"

"No," she replied with a pleasant smile. "I’ll stay out here and enjoy the sun." Lightwing sat down at a table outside while Twilight went into the shop with her guards. Lightwing put her saddle bag on the table next to her and turned her chair to face the sun. With her eyes closed, she relaxed in her chair and waited for Twilight.

A small sound caught Lightwing’s attention. She opened one eye to see what it was. Seeing nothing on the table next to her, she assumed her imagination was playing tricks on her and closed her eye again. Feeling around the table with a forehoof, she quickly opened her eyes and frantically looked around for her missing saddlebag.

She zoomed into the sky. "Equestrian Golden Age, and still there are thieves," she muttered angrily as she hovered above the street.

She spotted three ponies close by who had saddlebags. She dismissed one of them because there were fillies with the mare. Lightwing watched the two remaining carefully. "This is my chance," she said as one of the ponies sat down on a bench.

Lightwing began a nose dive toward the pony still walking away. "Hey you! Wait for a second."

The mare with the saddlebag turned toward Lightwing. "Can I help you?"

Lightwing quickly responded to the question with one of her own, "Can I see what’s in your saddlebag? Mine was stolen and I’m looking for it."

The mare opened her bag and Lightwing saw it was not what she was looking for. "Sorry to bother you," said Lightwing as she flew back into the sky. “Only one suspect left.”

Lightwing quickly found her prey. She lined herself up behind the target pony and slowly glided down to him. "Hi," she said with a smile.

The unicorn-stallion looked toward his guest but had no reply.

Lightwing kept her smile. "Would you mind showing me what’s in your saddlebag? Mine was stolen and I’m trying to find it."

In a nervous voice he answered, "Oh… I can’t do that. This is my friends saddlebag and she put a guard spell on it. Looks like we’re both out of luck, lady."

The smile on Lightwings face turned into annoyance. "Sounds about right. That’s what I do to my saddlebag." Lightwing let out a sigh. "I’ll make a deal with you. Give me my saddlebag so I can open it. I won’t tell anypony you stole it."

"Sister, you need to back off." With that, the unicorn began to nervously walk away.

Lightwing blocked his path. Annoyance was making itself well known on her face. "I’m going to say this one time, so listen. Give me my saddlebag and I won’t hurt you. If you refuse, I will make you regret it."

Lightwing could see the fear in her enemies eyes as he answered. "I… I can’t do that. Why would you challenge a unicorn? I have magic and you don’t."

Lightwing sighed again. "Smart question. Here’s my answer." Lightwing smashed her fore hooves against the sides of unicorn’s horn. The force of the attack stunned the unicorn. Lightwing took this time to land in front of him. She twisted around and coiled her hind legs. With full force, she bucked her target in the face and knocked him clean out.

Lightwing opened the saddle bag and saw her stuff inside. With a snarl, she hissed at the thief. "Better luck next time."

She strapped her bag on and turned to her left. She was surprised to see two unicorn mares watching her with fear. She looked back at the stallion bleeding onto the sidewalk, then at the bag she’d just pulled from him, and finally at the mares staring at her with growing horror

"This... isn’t what it looks like!"

Lightwing could just about see the screams bubbling to the surface. She quickly cut them off. "I can prove this isn’t what you’re thinking. One of you should go to Donut Joe’s. Princess Twilight is there and she can help with this. I’ll even let you use your magic to hold me in place."

The two unicorns glanced at each other and one used a levitation spell on Lightwing. The other mare slowly walked away. An awkward silence filled the air for the next few minutes.

Princess Twilight, her guards and the other mare turned a corner.

Lightwing smiled awkwardly. "Care to help me with this mess?"

Twilight barely needed to glance at the familiar saddlebags to know the truth of the matter.
"Release her. She’s telling the truth," Twilight muttered in disappointment.

Lightwing was released from the magic. She smiled ruefully at Twilight. "Thanks for the help."

"Lightwing, you can’t do stuff like this."

Lightwing just shrugged and tapped a hoof to her saddlebag. "He stole my saddlebag."

Twilight shook her head again. "That doesn’t matter! You can’t just knock out somepony because he stole something. This… this is not the place you came from. We have laws that must be followed."

Twilight walked over to the unconscious stallion. She used a healing spell to bring him around, none too gently. She didn’t even wait for him to stand, hissing as she turned away, "Get out of here thief. You’re lucky this time." Twilight looked back towards Lightwing. "And as for you… I’ll let this be a warning. Next time you will not be so lucky."

Lightwing looked from the thief skulking off, to the guards, to Twilight. Slowly, the weight of realization kicked in, and she hung her head "I understand. It won’t happen again. Let’s… just get to the train."

The trip to the train station was quiet except for the ponies walking around Canterlot. It still annoyed Twilight how every pony she passed bowed down to her. So she walked on streets that were usually empty.

Lightwing could hear the train and ambient noise of the station around her. She sped up her walking till she reached Twilight. "Did it bother you that I did not talk to you on our walk here?"

Twilight looked over at her new friend. "Not one bit."

"Oh thats good. I thought my complete silence would bother you."

They approached the train station platform. Princess Twilight got some bits out to pay for two tickets but the ticketmaster had a strange look on his face. Twilight gave the bits to the ticket master. "Are we going to go through this again, or are you just going to take the money?"

The ticket master took the bits without saying a word and gave the princess and her guest each a ticket. Twilight then realized that her guards were coming with her too, and she put more money in front of the ticketmaster. "I have to pay for my guards to come too. They don’t get on free either."

The ticketmaster just shook his head in disagreement, but still took the bits and gave the tickets.

Once the train arrived, they were the first to get on the train. Ponies on the train did not look as shocked to see the princess as Lightwing had expected them to. "I’m guessing you ride the train a lot." Lightwing looked around at the not-so-shocked ponies that were already in the train.

Twilight giggled and started walking down the small plush path between the seats. "Well, more than any other princess. They know I like to ride the trains. So they built a special train car on every train because I’m a princess, but I don’t approve of it."

"Where is your special train car?"

Twilight pointed her hoof towards the back of the train. "It’s in the back because I asked them to put it there."

"Why did you want it in the back?" asked Lightwing with a hint of confusion in her voice.

"Ponies don’t usually bow down to me when they are sitting as you can see, and no pony walks through my car. So fewer ponies would bow down to me. Obviously."

Oh, thats totally obvious," Lightwing said with sarcasm.

"Other ponies can use my car in the trains since they are unused most of the time, but they do have to pay a little more for it."

Lightwing had noticed that no pony was getting up out of their seat to get off the train and this was the third car that it was happening in.

Twilight saw that Lightwing was thinking of something. "What are you thinking?"

"Why is no pony getting up and off the train?" she replied.

Twilight blushed a little "Oh that. They announce that a princess is going to come onto the train and tell everypony to stay seated till I get to my car. I usually go directly into my car from the outside but I forgot because I was talking to you. My car is next."

Twilight opened the door and pressed a button to the right as she entered her train car. A voice came over the intercom saying all ponies could leave the train. Lightwing could see the purple-coated car, and it looked much nicer than the others. The front had three sets of seats on each side, four beds in the back, and a table in the back for eating food. Lightwing sat next to a window, Twilight sat down behind her, and the two guards went to the seats on the opposite side. A few minutes later, the train left the station.

As the train went through a tunnel in the mountain Lightwing began singing a song to herself, and Twilight listened.

"Every cloud in the sky, green leaf on a tree is reminding me, faraway dreams really do come true.

“Come on, let’s go and run around, run around. What a beautiful feeling we finally found. A peaceful valley and everypony is having a good time now."

Twilight liked the song but felt is was missing something. So she started singing too.

“Sunsets and rises plenty of things to see. Every day surprises. Sneaking upon you and me as we go to and fro let sweet harmony flow. We’re having fun now. Sky’s so blue and our dreams really do come true.

“Yeah, let’s go and run around, run around. What a beautiful feeling we finally found a peaceful valley and everypony is having a good time now.”

Lightwing smiled at Twilight, "Nice job adding to my song. You did a good job. I might just keep that verse."

Lightwing began to sing her song again. However, she didn’t get far before the train exited the tunnel and she saw the true size of Canterlot. She trailed off from her lyrics and into a low mutter. "It… it… it’s so much bigger than I thought."

The true height of towers was awe-inspiring. The city was practically half the size of a mountain. Airships were docking at the towers. Waterfalls were coming down the mountain side and through the city. The group of buildings that made up the lower levels of the castle were also bigger than expected. The library and observatory stood out among the city due to their shapes and size. A little farther down the mountain was a whole residential area and shopping zone that Lightwing had never even seen. The arches and platforms that connected the city were breathtaking. Lightwing looked down and saw the underbelly of the city. There was no towers but there was still a lot of buildings and platforms for airships.

As the train made its way around and down the mountain, Lightwing watched Canterlot fade behind the mountain and began to see the east coast and cities of Equestria. As the train continued, the Crystal Empire came into view in the far distance. The radiating light from it was almost as amazing as Canterlot. The crystal mountains were nice too, but nothing compared to everything else that could be seen. Lightwing continued looking out the window and saw Cloudsdale start to come into view. The only things Lightwing could really see of it were the the towers, race track and rainbow falls. Canterlot began to come back into view and the whole thing started again.

Lightwing wanted to look at Twilight but was too mesmerized by the view outside. "I can see why you like taking the train to and from Canterlot. It’s simply amazing."

Twilight simply smiled back.

Chapter 4: Ponyville

The train came to a stop at Ponyville station. Twilight and Lightwing got up and prepared to leave the train. Lightwing walked to the door first but then turned around to ask the princess a question.

Lightwing tried to stop herself from laughing. "Princess, shall I open the door for you?"

Twilight cleared her throat dramatically. "Yes, my servant. I’m too lazy to open doors by myself. So do it for me."

"Yes, my princess," Lightwing replied. She was bowing and laughing as she opened the door. She motioned to Twilight to go through the door.

Twilight burst into laughter as she walked through the door with her two guards. Lightwing followed Twilight through the door. Lightwing could see the town, and it looked totally different from Canterlot or any town from her time. It was not as amazing as Canterlot, but it was still a new experience. Lightwing could smell a strong scent of apples.

After Twilight stopped laughing she asked, “Do you ever get tired of bringing a saddlebag everywhere?”

Lightwing replied, “Not really. I’m use to it. It is just like an extension of me. I actually like it with me everywhere. It has my supplies, and I always like to have access to my supplies. Where are we going?"

"To my home," replied Twilight. She smiled. “It’s so nice to be back here.”

Lyra Heartstrings waved and Twilight waved back. Lightwing noticed that the architecture of Ponyville was very different from the architecture that she was use to. As she walked through the town she noticed that the town seemed a little empty from what she was expecting. The main road of the town had only a few ponies walking on it. It was underwhelming.

"We are here," said Twilight as they approached her home. "Why does Spike have all the lights on?"

"It’s a tree..." replied a confused Lightwing.

Twilight turned around and looked annoyed. "What’s wrong with living in a tree?"

"Nothing...I guess. It is just not what I expected."

Twilight turned back towards the door and opened it. She was surprised to see a lot of ponies in her home and her friend Pinkie Pie bouncing in place ready to greet her.

"Where is Spike?" asked Twilight, as she stood in place, looking into the streamer-strewn library.

"He’s drinking some punch," Pinkie replied as she bounced outside and across the grass to Lightwing.

"Hi Future Pegasus!" exclaimed Pinkie as she hugged alarmed charcoal pony.

"How do you know I’m from the future?" squeaked Lightwing with a slight worry in her voice.

Twilight turned her head toward the to other two ponies and laughed as she interceded on the confused pegasus’ part. "That’s just Pinkie Pie. Don’t question it. I tried that once and almost went crazy."

The three ponies and the guards entered Twilight’s home, only to be greeted by what seemed like half the town. Ponies milled between the snack tables and the shelves, weaving in between streamers and bunting and a constant downpour of confetti. They called friendly greetings and watched curiously as the new pony spoke.

"Now we know why the town was so empty," Lightwing said as she looked around the home, eyes wide. The smell of cake was prominent.

Twilight walked away as her friend Rainbow Dash came flying up towards Lightwing. “I’m guessing you’re the pegasus that Pinkie was telling us about."

"Probably," replied Lightwing.

"Are you really from the future or is Pinkie Pie just being crazy again?"

"Yes, from the future, that’s me..." Lightwing gulped nervously.

Rainbow Dash did a backflip. "Thats so awesome! Do you want to get some food with me?"

"Sure. That sounds nice." Lightwing fanned her wings and followed Rainbow Dash to the food.

The two pegasi made their way over the herd of ponies on the floor and landed at the largest snack table, both immediately setting to. As they were eating, Twilight was walking towards them with a small purple dragon on her back. "This is Spike, my number one assistant!” She beamed proudly. “He’s a dragon."

“So I noticed,” Lightwing chuckled, she raised a hoof to shake his claw. "Hi, Spike. Did Pinkie Pie tell you where I’m from?"

"Yep," replied Spike as he got off of Twilight.

"Did she tell everypony?" Lightwing sighed as she took a bite of an apple.

"Yes, she did. That’s kinda the whole reason for this party."

"Well, I guess I can’t complain, but I really don’t think a party is the best thing right now."

A voice yelled from across the room. "Parties are always the best thing!"

Lightwing sighed. "Is there some place quiet I can go to? Parties are fun and all, but I’m not in a party mood right now." Or ever, really, she thought to herself.

"I’ll go find Fluttershy," replied Rainbow Dash as she took off.

"Twilight, I’ll be outside. Tell the rainbow pegasus were to find me."

Twilight eyed Lightwing worriedly. “Hey, are you okay? Is there something wrong, with the party maybe?”

“Oh, no,” Lightwing laughed hollowly, “It’s just, one of the plus sides of going to the past was being able to tell everypony ‘I’m from the future!’ Really, it’s no problem. I’d just like some fresh air.“

Twilight nodded and smiled back. "OK.”

Lightwing made her way through the herd of ponies as she walked to the door. She left still completely unaware that it was actually a library. A few minutes latter, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy followed to talk to her.

Twilight smiled. "I brought Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to see you.”

Lightwing pointed a hoof at the rainbow-colored pegasus. "I’m guessing you are Rainbow Dash. You’re the rainbow one, so it makes sense."

"Yeah, that’s me! I, uhh...I guess I never told you my name. Anyway." Rainbow Dash pointed a hoof at Fluttershy. "This is Fluttershy. She’s the quiet one. You’ll be spending some time with her."

Twilight began to turn around. "After the party I’ll bring my other friends to Fluttershy's cottage and you can meet the other three. I’m going back to the party.” Her brow furrowed. “Somepony has to clean up the mess, and it won’t be the guest ponies. Rainbow Dash, you’re going with Fluttershy and Lightwing.”

Rainbow Dash flailed her hooves around and flared her wings out. "What?! Why do I have to leave the party!? Why can't you go with your new friend!?"

Twilight glared at Rainbow Dash. "I need a break from all that royal work, and a party is just the thing I need to calm my nerves. So you’re going with Lightwing. Do I need to make that an order!? We both know that Fluttershy won’t say a single word to Lightwing if nopony else is there to start a conversation.” She took a quick breath and continued her lecture. “Pinkie Pie is too...well Pinkie Pie to go with them, and she is the life of any party. Rarity and Applejack are not even here. So that leaves you! Is that clear?”

Rainbow Dash bristled for a moment, then deflated. "Right, right. Just, you know how much fun Pinkie Parties are! But hey, it's not like she won't throw another one next time she meets a butterfly or something. Sorry about that. Forgive and forget?"

Twilight nodded. "Of course, that’s what friends do. I’m just a bit stressed right now. And whoever said you can’t have a quiet party at Fluttershy's?"

"That’s true," Rainbow Dash said with a laugh. "It’ll just be a different type of party. A pegasus-only party. We better get going." The three pegasi took off and flew towards Fluttershy's home.

Lightwing noticed that the town looked quite nice from up in the air.” She looked at Rainbow Dash. "So how far away is this house we are going to?"

"Only about seven minutes at this speed. Just fly toward the Everfree Forest and you will get there, but I could get there in two minutes at full speed. Lightwing, Do you want to race me to Fluttershy's home?"

Lightwing tightened her saddlebag and replied, "Sure. Just tell me what direction it is and give a countdown."

"It’s straight ahead." Rainbow Dash turned her head towards Fluttershy "We’ll see you later, Fluttershy. Three...two...one...go!”

The two pegasi took off at full speed and left Fluttershy in their tailwind. The two racing pegasi were zooming over Ponyville. The buildings looked like blurs as they went by.
"You’re pretty good," said Rainbow Dash as she quickly glanced at Lightwing. "But it’s time for you to lose now. I can’t lose to some new pegasus who I never met." She started to gain speed.

Lightwing laughed as she started to pick up speed to in order to keep up with her competitor. “I don’t think so."

The two pegasi were evenly matched for another minute before Rainbow Dash knew what she had to do. "Impressive, but can you handle this! Its sonic rainboom time!"

"Is that supposed to impress me?" an arrogant Lightwing replied.

Both pegasi were picking up speed and going faster and faster. They did not even realise they had passed their target house. They were having too much fun to care. A ring of energy began to surround each of them, but it kind-of looked like just one with how close they were to each other. Lightwing could feel her energy fading, and then BOOM! A bursts of rainbow energy knocked her out of the sky. A rainbow ring filled the sky. The energy flattened some of the trees in the Everfree Forest that Rainbow Dash was over at that moment.

Rainbow Dash looked around for her competitor. “Where’s Lightwing?”

========== At the Party ==========

After the three pegasi left, Twilight could not even enter her home because everypony was coming outside . "Why is everypony coming out here?"

A pony turned their head towards Twilight and gave an answer. "Because Pinkie Pie told everypony there will be a sonic rainboom in three minutes."

Pinkie Pie was pointing towards the Everfree Forest telling all to look at the sky in that direction.

Twilight walked over to Pinkie "Are you sure a sonic rainboom is going to happen, Madame Pinkie?"

"Yes!" replied a super-happy bouncing Pinkie. “Dashie and Darkwing are going to race and both will go super fast, but only Dashie will make a sonic rainboom. Darkwing will fail at the last second because she is mentally tired and that makes you physically tired too."

Twilight sighed and tried to ignore her obsession with logic. She always had to do that when dealing with Pinkie Pie. "First her name is Lightwing and not Darkwing, and I won't question how you know this is going to happen."

Pinkie laughed "I know her name is Lightwing, but Darkwing is a cooler name because it’s the name of a superhero and he is cool. Even if Lightwing is not a superhero, it still fits her better because she is a black pegasus and has black wings."

Twilight just stared at Pinkie with a confused face. This stuff should not surprise her but it still did. "What type of animal is this Darkwing superhero?"

"A duck," Pinkie said as she stuck a hoof out that had a clock on it "Hey Twilight, take one of my countdown clocks. So you don’t miss the event.”

Twilight took the clock. "Thanks," she said with a smile on her face. She looked at the clock to see that it said two minutes were left.

Pinkie began to bounce away. "I’m going to go get the cake for anypony who wants it. Be back soon."

Twenty seconds later Pinkie was back with all the cake from in the house. "I can still enjoy cake."

All the ponies were now looking in the direction of the Everfree Forest.They were all looking forward to this event. Twilight was watching the countdown clock but stopped once it said ten seconds were left. Twilight's anticipation was building as the timer was getting closer to zero. Every second seemed to take longer than the previous one. Right when the countdown clocks reached zero everypony gasped as a sonic rainboom could be seen over the Everfree Forest. Everypony was in awe of the amazing sight. Everypony loved to see a sonic rainboom. All the ponies at Twilight's began to clap their forelegs in applause at the amazing event.

"That was amazing," said Twilight as she was clapping her forelegs. "I knew it was going to be amazing, but I still have a hard time believing you when you predict the future."

Pinkie Pie started giggling "Were you being too smart for yourself again? Do you want some cake to celebrate?"

Twilight smiled. "Yes and yes, my good friend."

Pinkie got a megaphone and made her announcement. "Ok everypony, the main event is over, but the party is still here! So don’t leave!"

Twilight covered her ears because she was right next to Pinkie Pie. Some ponies started going back inside and some stayed outside, but they all had a party to enjoy.

====================

Rainbow Dash came to a complete stop. “Lightwing! Where are you?!”

Fluttershy had reached her home, and she saw that all her animal friends were outside watching the crazy event that had taken place over the forest. None of them even noticed that their caretaker had arrived and was sitting behind them.

Lightwing popped her head up from some trees. “Over here, Dash.”

Rainbow Dash looked at Lightwing with an impressed look on her face "Lets go to Fluttershy's house now. We had our fun.”

Lightwing nodded "Alright. Lead the way.”

Rainbow Dash took a left turn and started going straight towards the target house at full speed. Fluttershy and all her animals watched as Rainbow Dash approached them at full speed. Fear began to make its way onto all the animals' faces as Rainbow Dash got closer and closer. Rainbow Dash could see the animals as she approached the house. Right before she was about to fly over the animals and Fluttershy she came to a sudden full stop, and the wind from her sudden stop pushed Fluttershy and a lot of the smaller animals over on their backs.

Rainbow Dash landed in front of them and looked proud. "Another awesome performance by the amazing Rainbow Dash. Best flyer in Equestria but I might have some competition in the near future."

Lightwing could be seen coming towards the house but at much slower speeds. She landed next to Rainbow Dash and put a hoof up to shake Rainbow Dash’s hoof. "Nice flying back there, Dash."

Rainbow put her hoof up to shake Lightwing's "Impressive. I might have to rethink my opinion of you, future pony. You had me worried back there. I thought you were going to pull off a sonic rainboom."

"I’ll take that as a compliment," Lightwing said skeptically. I can pull off a sonic rainboom...It’s how I time travel.

Rainbow Dash put a wing over Lightwing’s back "It is a compliment. Anyway, say hi to Fluttershy. She is...shy.”

Lightwing looked over at Fluttershy and with a smile said, "Hi there, Fluttershy. I’m Lightwing, but you knew that already.

Fluttershy just stared at Rainbow Dash’s new friend for a few seconds. Then she opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

Rainbow Dash face-hoofed. "It doesn’t matter if she doesn’t say hi or anything else. Let’s go into her home and hang out. Fluttershy, can you make us some soup? I’m starved after that awesome race with my new friend, and I’m sure she is starved too."

Lightwing nodded her head in agreement.

Fluttershy nodded too and in a whisper said, "OK."

"She can speak?" replied a surprised Lightwing.

All three pegasi went into Fluttershy's home, and Fluttershy went to the kitchen while the other two stayed in the main room of her house.

" Your shy friend has a nice place here," commented Lightwing as she sat down on a couch.

"Yes she does, but my place is bigger," replied Rainbow Dash as she sat next to Lightwing.

"That’s cool. Maybe I will visit there sometime." Probably not. She thought to herself.

"You’re welcome to visit my home any time."

"So where is your home?"

"In the clouds to the east."

Lightwing lowered her head as she sighed. "I have never lived in the clouds even though my mother was a pegasus."

"What?" replied a wide eyed Rainbow Dash.

"The clouds are not big enough to hide some stuff I like to keep secret. The underground does that much better and, as a result, I lived on the ground. My family always lived on the ground because my father was a unicorn.”

"Then you have to visit my house at some point. I hope our soup gets here soon. Those carrots smell amazing. Don’t forget the vinegar!” Dash’s stomach growled. “I am hungry enough to eat a pack of timber wolves. Fluttershy! How long till the soup is ready? It smells amazing. It better be ready soon or I might eat some of your animal buddies." Rainbow Dash laughed.

A gasp could be heard from the kitchen and a quiet voice replied, "Five minutes."

Lightwing had a look of shock in her eyes from what had just been said by Rainbow Dash.

"Don’t look at me like that. I would never actually eat another animal...unless it was a plant." A laugh came from the two pegasi on the couch. "But when would a plant ever be considered an animal? And Fluttershy knows I would never hurt one of her animals."

Lightwing smiled nervously. “I can’t say that the animals are safe from me.”

“Does that mean what I think it does?” asked a shocked Rainbow Dash.

“Um...maybe.”

With her hooves crossed, Rainbow Dash glared at Lightwing. “Just answer the unasked question.”

Lightwing leaned towards Rainbow Dash and answered in a soft voice. “The answer is yes. I do eat meat. But don’t tell your friend Fluttershy. On the bright side, I only eat ham.” Lightwing giggled softly. “By that logic, all of Fluttershy’s animals are safe from carnivorous me. Hey, Dash, do you mind if we eat outside? I would like to enjoy the warm sunlight because thats something I could never do in the future."

A surprised look came over Rainbow Dash's face. "Where is the sun in your future?" Rainbow Dash gasped. "Did Nightmare Moon take over Equestria and make eternal night again?"

"Nightmare who? Um, no that is not what happened. A dragon took over Equestria and made it eternal night. So...you’re half right."

"I guess that makes sense. I mean, there had to be a reason you came back in time. Other than meeting me." A smug look came over Rainbow Dash’s face.

Lightwing rolled her eyes. "You still have not answered my question."

"Oh, sorry," said Rainbow Dash with a slight blush. "I was just so surprised about the no-sun thing. Yes, we can eat outside."

Fluttershy came walking in with her pet bunny on her back. "The soup is ready and I brought it outside."

Rainbow Dash quickly got up off of the couch. "Great! I’m starved."

Lightwing looked at Fluttershy. "How did you get the soup outside without going through the room we were in?"

Fluttershy looked over and answered, "Oh...um...well, I have a door in the kitchen for just such times."

The three pegasi walked outside and sat at the round table that had their food on it. Some of the animals came because the food smelled amazing. There was plenty of extra soup because Fluttershy knew her animal friends would want some. Fluttershy gave some soup to her little animal friends. Rainbow Dash was eating her soup like a crazy pony. She was on her second bowl already. Her face was a mess, but she was too hungry to care.

Lightwing ate her soup like a civilised pony, enjoying the nicely cooked meal with the vegetables and leaves. "I knew that that race of ours made her hungry, but I had no idea it made her this hungry."

Lightwing was just starting her second bowl of soup. She made sure this bowl had extra tomatoes in it. She enjoyed the sunshine as it warmed her fur. The day time felt so amazing, but the night was still her favorite. "What is the Everfree Forest like? Is it the same now as it is from my time?”

Rainbow Dash was to busy eating her food to answer. So Fluttershy answered. "Is your forest scary and dark? Do plants grow without any help? Do animals care for themselves? Does the weather change without magic?...does that answer your question?" Lightwing nodded her head.

Lightwing finished her third bowl of soup and stretched her wings as she got some more. "I want to take a nap in this warm sunlight. This is a great meal you made for us. The tomatoes and celery taste great together, and that hint of vinegar makes it perfect."

Fluttershy blushed. "Thanks."

Rainbow Dash had just finished her sixth bowl of soup and was now full. She grabbed a napkin to clean her face. She pushed her bowl away from her. "I can’t eat anything else. I’m more full than a squirrel at an acorn convention."

Lightwing almost spat out some soup as she held back a laugh. She quickly swallowed the food. "Then don’t eat so much."

"How could I not eat so much awesomeness?" replied Rainbow Dash.

After Lightwing finished her fourth and last bowl of soup, she went over and lay down in the grass on her back with her wings stretched out on the nice warm ground. "I never knew grass could be so warm.” She closed her eyes. It’s like a heated bed. “I would pay bits for this."

Rainbow Dash made a quick glance over towards Lightwing from the table and simply said, "Why?"

"Have you forgotten that where I come from there is no sun? And no warm air, no warm grass and no day. It’s really sad but true. So, yes I would pay money just to have some warm grass to relax and lie on. I’m going to rest here. Wake me up when it’s time for dessert."

Rainbow Dash thought laying down on the grass sounded like a good idea but she did not want to get up out of her chair.

Fluttershy brought the empty bowls back to her kitchen and then brought the pot of leftover soup there as well. She went back outside and started cleaning the table with help from her pet bunny. As she was cleaning, she heard Rainbow Dash began to snore. Fluttershy walked over to Lightwing.

“Don’t expect a big conversation from me," said Lightwing.

Fluttershy sat down next to Lightwing and began watching the clouds. "Ok. I’m not big on long conversations either. So we will get along fine."

Lightwing looked over at Fluttershy “I’m jealous of this light world. It’s so much nicer than where I am from.”

“Oh, that’s fine. I would be jealous too if I was from a dark world. I have to go now, but you can stay here. I’ll be back later.”

“Bye, Fluttershy,” replied Lightwing.

Lightwing fell asleep in the heat of the sun.

Chapter 5: A Gift from Rarity

Lightwing could feel the warm grass on her back as A noise roused her from her slumber. She could tell that the noise was a group of ponies talking to each other from Fluttershy’s balcony. She could recognise some of the voices, but others sounded less familiar. She could also smell the soup she’d had earlier; they were clearly eating the leftovers. Lightwing thought about getting up, but decided to rather secretly listen to the conversation without them knowing.

Lightwing could hear Twilight talking. “We are going to Canterlot tomorrow to make a plan with our new friend on how to save the future!”

Lightwing was surprised to hear the Princess call her a friend. Why does she think of me as a friend? I hardly know her.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a sweet and elegant voice replied to Twilight. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to blindly trust a random pony from the future? If that’s even true in itself...”

“Don’t be so critical, Rarity,” Twilight snapped back tersely.

The elegant voice became a little more forceful. “Do you realise who your talking to, dear Twilight? Of the six of us, it’s my duty to be the critical one when the rest of you refuse to see reason.”

Twilight’s reply was muttered in a whisper but loud enough to be heard from the ground. “Says miss melodramatic... What do you think, Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow Dash’s words were a bit harder to hear because of the food she was chewing on. “Do you think we will travel to the future? That would be sweet!”

Rarity smiled condescendingly back at Twilight. “Quite.”

“Oh shut up…” Twilight muttered, but she couldn’t help a small giggle. Then Twilight put a hoof on her chin thoughtfully. “I honestly don’t know, and I won’t speculate.” Twilight took a breath of air. “To your disappointment, I would actually be against traveling to the future. Seeing your own future could make you totally different and completely change your future for better or worse. Just seeing a pony from the future here to save it already tells us that bad stuff will happen in the future. I would rather travel to the past. At least I know what to expect and I can avoid changing it.”

Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs. “You can’t deny that it would be so cool to see the future before anypony else. You could be like a hero of time by saving ponies before they die from some unseen event. I’m sure that would make lots of families happy.”

Twilight let out a big sigh. “Saving ponies that are going to die is the last thing a time traveler should do because that would change the future in so many ways for better or worse. Once you start changing the timeline it will be impossible to change back.”

Lightwing found Twilight’s logic to be very interesting. She almost flew up to the balcony to say something, but chose not to out of curiosity to where the conversation was going.

Rainbow Dash glared at Twilight. “So you would not save me or anypony in this room if you knew we were going to die?”

Twilight put her head down and answered in a quiet voice “I would have no choice but to let you die. I know it’s not what a true friend should do, but time travel has side effects like that. If I never knew you were going to die, then I would not have stopped it from happening and, as such, I have to act like I don’t know the future even if I do. It would be the most painful thing in the world to let a friend die.”

“I...guess I understand where you’re coming from. I may not like it, but...hang on, what does that mean for Lightwing? Is killing an evil dragon that took over the world wrong? I promise you that she is saving a lot of ponies from death and completely changing history.”

Twilight raised her head up a little. That question was interesting but she had no answer. “I don’t have an answer to that, but from what I just said I would have to stand by my logic and say yes. But she is saving the world from a time of darkness and pain, so that makes it the right thing to do. So I don’t know.”

Lightwing almost got up in order to reply to Rainbow Dash’s comment, but she stopped herself out of curiosity again. Is Twilight right about this? Am I doing the right thing or the wrong thing? This was not the first time she thought about this. Changing history was a big deal and not to be taken lightly. Maybe I should just live my life in the past as a restaurant owner.

Rarity raised a hoof signaling she had something to say. “So are we going to help this future pegasus or not? I for one would hate living in a world ruled by an evil dragon and would want somepony to change history if they could. And Rainbow Dash, how do you know that a dragon rules over the world in the future?”

Rainbow Dash looked over to Rarity. “First, I vote yes to saving the future, and second, sleepy pegasus told me, before our lunch, that an evil dragon ruled her world.”

“You were here for lunch and not at Twilight’s home?” Rarity asked in confusion.

“You got that right, and it was awesome. We had a great time.”

Twilight let out a giggle. “You were also a great attraction to my party with the awesome show you put on over the Everfree Forest.”

“You saw that?”

“I would not be surprised if everypony in Ponyville saw that. I mean, eighty percent of the town were at my house watching your race with Lightwing, and the rest could probably hear the rainboom from wherever they were. I wanted there to be two sonic rainbooms.”

“You won’t have to wait long for that,” Rainbow Dash said with a smile. “With a little more practice, she will be as good as me.”

Twilight tried to hide her smile. “She never told you...did she?”

“Told me what!”

Lightwing grew bored of not being in the conversation and flew up to the balcony. “So how is everypony?” she asked.

Pinkie Pie started bouncing around the balcony. “I don’t have to be quiet any more! It’s so boring being quiet.”

Twilight looked over to Lightwing and smiled. “I’m glad you are awake. I've been wanting you to meet the rest of my friends.”

Lightwing nodded her head. She called me a friend again. It was indirect but it was there. Lightwing bowed. “It would be an honor to meet and see all the Elements of Harmony in one place.”

Every pony laughed, and Twilight rolled her eyes in slight annoyance. “You just had to bow to me.”

“Of course I had to,” Lightwing chuckled. “It’s so much fun knowing you don’t like it.”

Twilight turned back toward the table. “If you look at the round table, you can see my closest friends. First there is Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash raised a hoof. “I’m so cool that she met me first. After Twilight, of course. And what did you not tell me during our race?”

Twilight continued. “Second, there is Fluttershy.” Fluttershy gave a smile.

“Third is Pinkie Pie.”

“We already met at Twilight’s party,“ Pinkie replied.

Twilight pointed a hoof at the regal looking unicorn. “Fourth is Rarity.”

The white unicorn waved a hoof. “I made you a gift. We can pick it up later.”

Twilight pointed a hoof at the orange earth pony. “Fifth is Applejack.”

The orange earth pony tipped her hat toward Lightwing. “Nice ta meet ya, sugar cube.”

“And last but not least is, Twilight Sparkle. Also known as me, but you knew that already.”

Lightwing looked around for a few seconds and asked, “Where’s Spike?”

“He’s at my home, cleaning. I helped with the party cleaning, but he can handle the rest.”

Rainbow Dash stood up, grumpy about being ignored repeately. “Lightwing, I asked you a question!”

Lightwing giggled as she replied, “Fine. The big news that Twilight was talking about is…I can do a sonic rainboom. I just failed during our race. I don’t practice sonic rainbooms, so I can’t perform them too much. The sonic rainboom is how I time travel.”

With slight annoyance Dash replied, “That’s... cool.”

“So what do we do now?” Lightwing asked conversationally in the stunned silence.

Rarity replied, “We could go to my place and get the gift I made for you. It is getting late and I need my beauty sleep if we are going to Canterlot tomorrow.”

“That’s a great idea, but I have no idea where to go,” replied, Lightwing.

Rarity put a hoof over her forehead. With a voice of dramatic-worry she said, “Whatever shall we do?” She smiled with pride. “Oh, right. Just follow me, dear.”

The seven ponies left Fluttershy’s home and began walking towards Ponyville. Ponyville looked nice from this place. Lightwing also noticed that the lighting of the sky had changed again and was different from anything she had seen. She figured it had to do with the sun again, something she had never been able to see in her own time. Lightwing could hear Rarity talking to Twilight and Fluttershy about fashion stuff, and Rainbow Dash was talking to Applejack about farming stuff. Pinkie Pie was nowhere to be seen.

Lightwing shivered as the cold air surrounded her, but the cold was nothing new to her. This temperature was actually warm compared to what she was normally feeling.

They were now at the town. The town was much more active now compared to the first time Lightwing was here. Ponies were in the market and in shops, mostly cleaning up. Lightwing started thinking about what this gift for her was going to to be. She thought it would probably be something really nice, because Rarity seemed like she had expensive tastes. Lightwing noticed Twilight’s house said Ponyville Library as they passed it. Was that there before? She thought to herself.

“We are almost there,” said Rarity.

Lightwing looked off into the distance and saw a building that stood out from the rest, with its circular shape. “I’m guessing that fancy place over there is yours.”

Rarity smiled. “Yes it is. Isn’t it lovely?”

Lightwing nodded her head. Two minutes later, they reached Rarity’s home, and all the ponies went into the home. The lights were off, making it hard to see.

“I shall go get your gift,” Rarity purred as she walked upstairs.

Some noise could be heard from upstairs as Rarity was going through stuff. Rarity came back down the stairs with a necklace floating next to her. However, she hid it from view until they’d all dutifully trooped outside again.

With a smile of pride Rarity said, “I made you a necklace to match our necklaces! Now you look like one of the other Elements of Harmony. So tell me what you think.”

Everypony looked amazed at the beautiful necklace. Twilight was the first to speak up. “It looks nice."

Lightwing walked up to the floating necklace. “It’s beautiful! it has my cutie mark on it.” The necklace floated onto her neck and sat next to the pendant she already had on. She admired who the two complimented each other, and glinted in the evening sunlight.

Rarity giggled. “That is kind of the point. Amazingly it only took half an hour to make it.”

Lightwing held back a laugh. “Now somepony might mistake me for a new Element of Harmony.”

Twilight raised a hoof. “It’s time for us to leave. We should all go home and get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a big day and I need you all in good working order. Be at my place by nine in the morning.”

Everypony nodded their heads in agreement. The ponies left and began heading toward their own homes. Lightwing started following Twilight to her home. They could see the sun starting to set in the sky. Lightwing noticed that the sunset was just as beautiful as the sunrise, and she was in awe of the beauty once again. Twilight saw this and smiled. She was laughing on the inside. Twilight stopped at her door and used magic to open it. Lightwing almost bumped into Twilight because she was paying attention to the clouds and not Twilight.

Twilight turned around. “You need to watch where you are going.”

“Sorry. I’m just too mesmerised by the beauty of this light world. It’s so amazing, but the dark world that I am from is amazing and beautiful too. Just in a different way.”

Twilight smiled. “The dark world is coming here for a few hours, and I need my sleep. You should probably do the same.”

Lightwing had a slightly annoyed look on her face. “Where am I supposed to go?”

“Oh...I forgot that you have nowhere to live. So you can stay here. Spike cooks good breakfasts, and you don’t have to give him a tip.”

A voice from inside the house replied, “I heard that!”

The two ponies went into the home and Twilight informed her friend. “You can sleep in the guest bed upstairs.”

“OK. Why do you live in a library?”

“I love to read books, so there is no better place to live than the town library.”

Lightwing let out a sigh. “I never got any dessert from Fluttershy.”

“Do you want some ice cream?”

“That would be nice,” replied Lightwing.

Suddenly a container of ice cream appeared next to Lightwing. She blinked at the random appearance, but replied, “Thanks, Twilight.”

Twilight grinned and whispered in passing. “Don’t let Spike know. He’s been hoarding that tub for three days now. It’s better for you than him, anyway. Goodnight, Lightwing.”

Lightwing took the ice cream up to where she was going to sleep. The light in the hall turned off, and Lightwing turned the light in her room off after she finished her ice cream. She put her cloak on a table, put her saddlebag under the bed, and got into the bed too go to sleep.

Chapter 6: Riding on Balloons and Trains

Lightwing awoke. “That’s a great idea. Thank you, dream, but is it really the best Element name for me? I like it and that is what counts.”

Lightwing got out of her bed. She grabbed her cloak and saddlebag and left her room to go to the kitchen. She could smell something yummy.

Twilight could hear her new friend approaching. “Sounds like we are going to get another breakfast member.”

Applejack smiled. “Good. Ah needed a new face to talk to anyway. This here princess was makin' problems.”

“What? You don’t like talking to royalty? I will have you banished for such words.” Twilight started laughing.

Lightwing could not hold back a laugh after hearing the small conversation. “You girls are funny. I’m happy I got the chance to meet you. So what’s breakfast?”

Twilight answered, “Just simple chocolate pancakes and apple juice made by a princess.”

Lightwing walked over to the table and sat down, ready to eat. “Where is Spike?”

Twilight looked over towards the Lightwing. “He is sleeping. I told Spike he could take today off because we will be gone. Are you going to use magic to eat your breakfast?”

Applejack turned towards Twilight with a confused look on her face. “How can she use magic?

“Watch and find out,” Twilight said as she pointed a hoof at Lightwing.

Lightwing gave Twilight a quick glare. “Please don’t advertise to everypony that I can use magic. I don’t want to be swarmed with questions or have ponies be jealous.” Lightwing opened her saddlebag and grabbed a potion labeled Levitation and she drank some of it. A green aura began to surround her apple juice and it moved to her and she drank some.

Applejack looked amazed but at the same time annoyed. “That’s some fancy trick ya got there. What would happen if somepony else drank that potion?”

Lightwing swallowed a bite of pancakes. “They would be able to use magic too. The whole potion only lasts for about half an hour, and it does not taste too good. It also makes you age faster because our bodies are not used to the strain of using magic. I’m pretty use to it but that’s only from years of using magic potions. What time is it?”

“A little past eight,” replied Twilight.

“Can ya give me some of that potion?” asked Applejack.

“Sure. You just have to drink a little, but don’t blame me for the not-so-great taste.” Lightwing rolled the potion towards Applejack.

Applejack quickly drank a small bit of the potion. Twilight could tell that it tasted bad from the look on Applejack’s face. “I am so happy that I don’t need a potion to use magic,” she said.

Lightwing pointed at a cup. “Now focus on something like this cup and tell it to move with your thoughts. It’s all a matter of how much you want it and can focus.”

Silence fell across the room as Applejack focused on the cup. A yellow aura started appearing around the cup, and it slowly started to move towards Applejack. Once the cup reached Applejack, the yellow aura disappeared as Applejack let out a gasp of air. “That ain’t as easy as ya all make it look.”

“Good job,” replied Lightwing. “Don’t feel bad. It takes a lot of practice to be as good as me or Twilight. I will never be as good as Twilight because she is a unicorn and is naturally good with magic. I’m just a pegasus that found a nice little trick.”

Applejack looked over at Lightwing with a confused look on her face. “Now ya told me this thing makes ponies age faster, but ya don’t look as old as ya should with years of using this stuff.”

Lightwing smiled. “I have an anti-aging potion too. So I look young.”

Applejack leaned forward. “So how old are ya really?”

Twilight answered before Lightwing. “She is six hundred and fifty six. I remember that because it has two sixes and one five in the middle.”

Applejack’s jaw dropped at the answer she was given.

Lightwing smiled and nodded in agreement. “The big sixes are guarding princess five.”

“Thats a good way to think of it,” said Twilight with a laugh.

Applejack was still speechless, but at least she was smiling now.

A knock was heard from the front door. Lightwing put the potion away as Twilight teleported to the door and opened it using her magic. To her surprise, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were at the door.

“Doesn’t Spike answer your door? asked Rainbow Dash.

“He’s asleep. I gave him the day off. Come in and join us for breakfast if you are hungry.”

“That’s an awesome idea. I’m starved.”

“Me too,” replied Fluttershy as she entered the home.

All three ponies went to the kitchen and sat at the table. Rainbow Dash wasted no time and started eating some breakfast. Fluttershy started eating too but slower.

Lightwing had finished her breakfast. “I’m going to go outside to be alone for a little bit.”

“Is something wrong?” asked Twilight.

Lightwing shook her head. “No. I just want to be alone to think about stuff.”

Twilight did not believe her but said, “OK.”

“Did we do something wrong?” asked Fluttershy with concern.

Twilight replied, “No, she just has a lot to think about with all she has been through and all she plans on doing.”

The ponies finished their breakfast in ten minutes. Twilight thought about going outside to see if Lightwing was alright but she chose not to. The four ponies went to the main hall of Twilight’s home and sat down on a couch. Twilight began to read a book while the other ponies talked for about fifteen minutes, and then they saw the door open. Lightwing came in with Rarity and Pinkie Pie.

Lightwing spoke up. “We are ready to leave now. I think we should take an air-balloon to Canterlot.”

“That’s a good idea,” replied Twilight as she grabbed the Elements of Harmony and gave them to her friends. “But first I need to make a quick stop at Ponyville Hospital to see how Derpy is doing.”

“She’s ok,” replied Rainbow Dash. “I was just there before I went by Fluttershy’s home. Dinky is still there to make sure everything is ok. She has not left for a whole week. Luna says that Derpy is still having nightmares. I hope Derpy recovers and wakes up soon.”

Twilight vanished in a flash of purple light. The ponies inside Twilight’s home got up off the couch and went outside, and they began walking to the air-balloon station. Lightwing was humming the tune to the song she sang on the train as she walked. After about a five minute walk, they reached the balloon station.

To everypony’s surprise, Twilight was already at the air-balloon station. “I’ll pay for the ride,” said Twilight.

The pony in charge of the station looked surprised and asked, “Don’t you usually ride the train?”

“Yes I do, but my friends want to ride the balloon,” Twilight said as she gave the money to pay for the ride.

“The balloon is all yours,” replied the pony.

Rainbow Dash jumped into the air balloon first. “I’ll take the sky any day.”

The other ponies got into the air-balloon one by one and they took off.

Lightwing looked towards the Crystal Mountains “Look at those amazing mountains. We will be going there soon. The fate of this world is over there.”

Rainbow Dash looked at Lightwing with a confused face “Is that where the dragon is? Seems like a weird place for a dragon.”

“It’s an ice dragon,” replied Twilight.

Rarity quickly looked over towards Lightwing. “Why was I not informed? I could have packed scarves and winter clothes.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “We have that stuff at the castle. You can pack there.”

Lightwing looked down at Ponyville as the balloon took off. “The view is amazing from up here. I never knew it could be so beautiful from the sky. In a world of darkness it is hard to see the ground from in the sky.”

“My hooves like ta be on the ground,” replied Applejack.

“Rainbow gave Applejack a quick glare. “Oh don’t be such a boring pony.”

“Well as long as no tornadoes hit us we should be fine,” Rarity said with sarcasm.

Rainbow Dash raised a hoof in defence. “Hey now! That was not my fault.”

Everypony except Lightwing laughed. “When did you get hit by a tornado?” asked Lightwing.

Pinkie Pie answered, “When we were delivering a care package to Rainbow Dash to help her remember us.”

“And R.D. here saved all of us,” replied Applejack.

Over the next ten minutes, Lightwing was watching the scenery go by as the air-balloon floated towards Canterlot. She was looking in many directions when she saw something in the distance. She jumped in excitement and pointed toward some mountains. “Oh! Look over there at that small valley in between those mountains. That is my future home!”

All the ponies looked over in that direction.

“There is no town there now, but it’s nice to know one will be there in the future,” replied Twilight.

Lightwing smiled as she watched the valley go by their air-balloon “That is such a great valley. It brings me such happiness. It’s almost as if I’m home. This is just like when I was a kid and rode air-balloons to Canterlot. Hey Twilight, this is where I made up that song we were singing earlier, but I was eight at the time.”

Everypony looked curious and Fluttershy asked “What song is that?”

Lightwing and Twilight sang the song for their friends.

Everypony clapped her forehooves in excitement when the song was over. “What a lovely song,” replied Rarity.

Lightwing smiled. “Thanks, but I can’t take all the credit for the song. I only came up with the first part. Everything after sunsets and rises was Twilight’s creation. It went so good with my song that I chose to keep it.”

Pinkie Pie was the last pony to stop clapping her hooves. “I loved that song.”

“Thanks,” replied Lightwing. “I wish I had gone to the Canterlot Library. Maybe I’ll go there later. What are we going to do when we get to Canterlot?”

Twilight nodded her head in agreement. “When we get there I’ll see if Princess Celestia has any free time. We will talk to her and make a plan to save Equestria.”

“Can’t you just go and talk to her?” asked Rainbow Dash. “I mean you’re a princess, and as such you have like the right to talk to her more than any boring nobles.”

Twilight smiled “I wish I could do that, but that is rude and I need to be kind. I won't do it even though it is very tempting sometimes. Only for emergencies like when a pegasus comes through a portal and crashes through a castle window.”

Lightwing glanced over towards Twilight. “You interrupted a meeting because of me?”

“Yes, yes I did.”

Lightwing went back to watching the scenery go by as the other ponies talked about their lives and some other stuff. Lightwing could see that they were almost at Canterlot Castle. Canterlot Castle looked amazing from the sky. This light world kept on amazing her time and time again.

Twilight noticed that Lightwing was mesmerized again and giggled. Then she pointed it out to her friends.

Lightwing noticed that they were now over a landing spot for air-balloons and that they were landing. Lightwing was the first to get out of the balloon followed by Twilight and then Rainbow Dash. Rarity and Applejack both came out next as Fluttershy just flew out.

Twilight opened her wings and started to fly instead of walking. “It has been a while since I flew around.” She did some somersaults around her friends. “It feels so nice to fly again after two weeks of no flying, but I should not push my wings to hard. We princesses are supposed to walk with our guards...” Twilight gasped as she realized something, and she giggled. “I forgot to tell my guards that I took a ride here. They are probably still waiting at my home. Well...they are used to it. I tend to sneak away a lot.”

All seven ponies laughed. Her five friends from this time all knew it was true because they helped her sneak away half the time.

“I don't need guards anyway, but they are required. I won't be taking any guards to the Crystal Mountains. It’s too dangerous for them.”

Lightwing thought about flying with the others, but she chose not to. “Twilight, why have you not used your wings in two weeks?”

“Two weeks ago, I was at a picnic with Derpy and I injured my wing in an accident. It would have been a lot worse if Derpy had not been there. She saved me by taking most of the damage from our fall.”

“Sounds painful,” replied Lightwing.

Twilight smiled. “The fall did not hurt as bad as the manticore scratching my wing. That is what really hurt me. The fall is what hurt Derpy the most. She broke her left wing and both her left legs. Her wing is better, but her legs need about another week.”

“Sounds like she took a pretty bad fall trying to save you. I hope she gets better soon. I was thinking I could be the Element of courage. All the element names except magic have something to do with the way ponies act. And I wanted an element name to go with my new necklace.”

“You have my approval,” replied Rarity.

Fluttershy landed next to Lightwing. “I think it is a nice idea.”

All the other ponies nodded their heads in agreement as they reached the castle doors. The doors opened as some other ponies came out. Twilight and her friends went straight to the main hall of the castle and saw Princess Celestia talking to some ponies who did not look familiar at all to Twilight.

Twilight raised a hoof signaling her friends to stop, and they stopped. “I’ll go talk to her and you stay here.” Twilight walked over to the group of ponies that were talking to Celestia. “Who are these guests?”

Princess Celestia answered, “They are delegates from an island in the far east known as Mare Lind. The delegates from Saddle Arabia told them of us.”

Twilight smiled at the guests. “Is is alright if we cut into your meeting with Celestia? I only need two minutes.”

One pony in the group nodded his head signaling that it was alright. So Twilight signaled her friends to come over and they did.

Lightwing began talking. “We are ready to start prepping for our journey to the Crystal Mountains. As you know, the Elements of Harmony are coming. So try not to have any major disasters take place. This might be the last time I see you. So I’m going to say bye.

Celestia nodded. “Good luck on your mission. I hope for the best.”

The group of friends left as Twilight led them down some halls to her bed chambers. Lightwing was admiring the castle again, because it might be the last time she saw it in one piece. Once they reached the bed chamber the ponies went to Twilight’s closet to get some warm clothes for the trip to the Crystal Mountains and to pack their saddlebags that Twilight had given them. Twilight had to make sure Rarity did not over pack. This stuff was Twilight’s. So she could say not to bring stuff.

Lightwing was sitting at the door waiting for the other ponies to get their stuff. “Can you girls hurry up? You're killing me from boredom.”

Rarity commented from the other side of the room. “You can not tell us to hurry up just because all you grabbed was a scarf.”

“Sorry, but I’m just eager to get going.”

After a few minutes, all the ponies were ready to leave. Twilight led them out of the castle and to the train station. She paid for the tickets and they all got onto the train and it left the station.

Lightwing was sitting next to Twilight, and Applejack was sitting behind them. The rest of the ponies were sitting on the opposite side of the train car.

“Hey, Twilight, how often do you wear those fancy princess shoes?” asked Lightwing.

“Every day but I take them off when I’m sleeping. They are quite comfy. The insides are padded so that the shoes don’t irritate my hooves. All the princesses' shoes are made this way. Now, time for my question. Do you always bring that saddlebag and cloak everywhere?”

“Yes, Yes I do. Are we really going to be on this train till tomorrow morning?” asked Lightwing.”

Twilight nodded her head. “Do you not want to be on here for that long?”

“I don’t have a problem with it. I was just not expecting such a long train ride. I did not realise how far away the Crystal Mountains are.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “What happened to you having explored a lot because you're so rich?”

“I usually just teleport to my destination. The first time I travel by balloon and then I set up a teleportation point for easy access later. It saves a lot of time.

That makes sense, but I never knew you could teleport. Is there any magic you can’t do?”

Lightwing put a hoof on her chin in a thinking pose. “Hmm...I don't think so. I have a potion that makes me able to do any magic that a unicorn can do, and I have special potions that I have refined to make it easier to use specific magic. Like the levitation potion Applejack and me had earlier. Obviously I can't use the Elements of Harmony.”

“I think you probably could use the Elements of Harmony, specifically mine. I mean, you have been practicing magic for over six hundred years. I think It would be easy for you to master using the Element of Magic, but I ultimately have control over it. So I could stop you if you tried something evil.”

Lightwing turned her head to face Applejack. “Is Twilight messing with me or being honest?”

“She’s being honest.”

“Why would I lie to you?” asked Twilight.

What makes you think that six hundred years of using a temporary magic makes me able to learn one of the most powerful magics in Equestria?”

Twilight smiled. “After the incident with the Elements being stolen, I think any pony with enough magic skill could use this Element.”

Lightwings eyes widened. “The Element were stolen!?”

Twilight nodded her head. “And they were used for evil, but I ultimately have control over them. So I could stop the evil coming from them and turned them back to good.”

Lightwing stared blankly at Twilight for about thirty seconds. Twilight waved a hoof in front of Lightwings face.

Lightwing pushed Twilight’s hoof away. “I’m still trying to figure out how such a thing could happen. How can the Elements of Harmony be used for evil?”

Twilight answered, “It’s only an item. It can not tell the difference from good or evil.”

“I guess that makes sense, but I’m still amazed at that fact.”

“There are a lot of things that don't make sense. You just have to accept that there are some things you can not understand.” Twilight giggled as she said, “Like Pinkie Pie.”

“Hey Twilight, what are your thoughts on this whole situation that I have put you and your friends into?”

“Hmm, I would have to say I have conflicting feelings towards it. On one hoof it’s very brave and kind of you to come to the past to try to save the future. On the other hoof messing with time is very dangerous. It can have so many unseen consequences. The Elements of Harmony will always help when needed. So I’m here for you.”

“Twilight, have you ever killed a creature using the Elements of Harmony?”

“No...are you saying I’ll have to kill this dragon?”

“Yes,” replied Lightwing. “It’s the only way to really stop this horrible future from happening. I don’t want any problems when we are fighting the dragon. Are you sure you can kill a creature?”

“Don’t worry about me. I can take it. Protecting Equestria is the main goal. I can kill a creature even if I do not approve of the idea. You know this dragon better than I do. So I will do what you say, but you might want to tell Fluttershy about this. So that she is mentally ready.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Applejack put her head between Twilight and Lightwing. “Don’t we all get a say in this?”

Twilight turned towards Applejack. “I would think you agree with what I am saying. I know you well enough to assume that.”

Applejack nodded. “That's true. So I’ll just be quiet now.”

Twilight turned back toward Lightwing. “You should probably tell the other ponies that story you told me and the other princesses.”

“Good idea. Lets go sit over there.” Applejack and Lightwing got up and began walking over to the other side.

“Do you mind if I come sit over there too? I don't want to be here all alone,” asked Twilight.

Lightwing turned her head towards Twilight. “I think you can do whatever you want. You’re a princess.”

Twilight opened her wings and flew over to one of the seats and sat down as Lightwing and Applejack walked over and took a seat.

Twilight raised a hoof to signal the ponies to be quiet. “Our new friend has a story she would like to tell us.”

Lightwing smiled. “But before I tell the story, I must tell you our plan to stop the dragon. First, I will use the magic of the pendant I’m wearing to connect and absorb the dragon’s life energy into the it. Second, Twilight and all of you will use the Elements of Harmony to destroy the pendant. It’s a short and simple plan but probably won't be as easy. You can ask question after I finish my story.”

Lightwing began telling her story again. That took a few hours of the train ride.

The scenery outside had changed from the green grass to a light snow and the sun was beginning to go down in the sky. Lightwing, Twilight and Applejack had moved back to the other side of the train car. The rest of the train ride was pretty uneventful because Lightwing was the only pony awake in the night. Lightwing was enjoying the view of the mountains in the distance. She enjoyed watching the Crystal Empire slowly come into view as the train got closer. Lightwing was in awe of the green grass of the Empire that was surrounded by harsh snow. The crystals were not as amazing since she had already seen them but they were a lighter color from what she normally saw. She noticed that there were small strange black structures around the Empire. Roads connected to them. So they had to be meant for something. She also liked watching all of it fade back into the distance as the train continued past it towards the mountains.

Chapter 7: The Crystal Mountains

The train came to a stop at a large town named Ice Lake Village. The seven ponies put on their winter clothes and got off the train. Several ponies around the train bowed when they saw Twilight walk off the train. Twilight did her best to not complain or show that it bothered her. She looked over towards Lightwing. “You're now in charge of the journey. So where do we go to from here?”

Lightwing pointed to a map store. “We go there and buy a map that tells us how to get to the Glacier Canyon. I bet you could get a discount since you're a princess.”

Twilight smiled. “That will probably happen. If I don't get it for free. So many ponies offer to give me stuff for free because I’m a princess, but I refuse to get stuff for free. Here is the plan. I will go and ask to buy a map. If they insist on giving it to me for free--and I am sure they will--Lightwing will walk into the store and ask for the same thing and I’ll pay her after she buys it. Rarity will stay by the door and open it when we want Lightwing to come in.”

Twilight and her friends walked over to the store and entered it as Lightwing stayed outside.

The pegasus mare at the counter saw the princess and bowed. “How may I help you, princess?”

Twilight walked to the counter and pointed to the maps behind the mare. “I am looking for a map to Glacier Canyon. Do you have any?”

“Of course we have some.” The shop owner turned and grabbed a map from behind her and gave it to Twilight. “One map for one princess and her friends free of charge.”

Twilight put her head down and sighed. “I did not want to hear that. I want to pay you.”

The shop owner shook her head. “No way. I won’t accept money from a princess. I don’t see princesses out here too much, and I want them to have a nice time. Not to think I’m some money-hungry pony.”

Rarity opened the door and Lightwing walked in. She stopped at the counter.

Twilight looked over at Lightwing. “You can ask for what you want. I will be here for a while, and I do not want you to have to wait.”

Lightwing turned towards Twilight and bowed. “Thank you, Princess.” She then turned to face the counter. “I would like a map to Glacier Canyon.”

The pegasus grabbed a new map from behind her and gave it to Lightwing. “That will be twelve bits.”

Lightwing reached into her saddlebag and put the money on the counter. “Seems a little expensive for a map.”

The shop owner smiled. “Glacier Canyon is a large tourist attraction, and lots of ponies go there. So I charge more for the maps. It’s simple business. “

Lightwing smiled back. “Thanks for the map. We got your map now, Princess.”

The shop owner facehooved. “Did I really just get tricked by a princess?”

Twilight smiled and put twenty more bits on the counter. “More money for you since I had some fun here.” Twilight and the others left the shop. Twilight paid Lightwing for the map.

Lightwing opened the map. “Looks like we need to go south from here. It’s only a two hour walk from here if we follow the path.”

Rainbow Dash hovered over to Lightwing. It‘ll be a two hour fly for me. Unless I chose to walk at some point.”

Pinkie Pie walked up to Lightwing. “Can we stop for snow cones?”

Rarity looked confused. “Why would you want snow cones in this weather? Why not get some refreshing hot chocolate instead?”

Pinkie Pie put a hoof over Rarity. “How could I not want snow cones with all this snow around? I’ll take a hot chocolate too.” Pinkie Pie’s eyes widened. “Or hot chocolate rain. That would be awesome. I wish Discord was here.”

Twilight smiled. “I could make a little hot chocolate rain for you. I have taken a few magic lessons from Discord on my spare time. I can see why he likes it.”

Pinkie Pie jumped for joy and streamers flew out of her mane. “That would be sweet! I would love some hot chocolate rain!”

Twilight giggled. “I’ll do that when we are out of the town.”

The seven ponies began their journey towards the south town border. The ponies enjoyed the snowy town as they walked through it. Ponies were never in the way of Twilight and her friends when they walked to places. That was one of the perks of being a princess that Twilight did not mind. It only took about ten minutes to reach the town border. The ponies stopped and looked at the view of the mountains. Lightwing was mesmerized by the amazing sight of the snow as it glowed in the sunlight.

Twilight waved a hoof in front of Lightwings face. “Stay on track, future girl.”

Lightwing smiled. “This light world is still surprising me.”

The ponies could see a cement path that led out of the town and into the distance. So they began to follow it.

Pinkie Pie began bouncing again. “It’s time for the rain!”

Twilight began focusing and a small pink cloud appeared next to Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie pie stood right under the cloud with her mouth open as hot chocolate began falling. “Oh, chocolaty goodness. It tastes so yummy.”

The pink cloud began to move as Twilight began walking away. Pinkie Pie joyfully followed the small cloud.

Rarity opened her saddlebag and grabbed a small cup. “Pinkie Pie, can I have some of your delightful hot chocolate?”

Pinkie Pie replied, “Yes, you can have some of it.”

Rarity levitated her cup over to the pink cloud to fill it up with hot chocolate. The cup came back to her when it was full and Rarity began to drink it. “Not bad for a cloud of chaos.”

Twilight looked over to her other friends as they were walking. “Does anypony else want some hot chocolate?”

The rest of the ponies all said no in unison.

Lightwing was remembering a time when she had visited the Crystal Mountains in the future. The snow was not as shiny but it would still glow in the moonlight. Lightwing noticed that there was no snow falling from the sky. “I wonder why it is not snowing at this time.”

Twilight turned her head to face Lightwing. “That is a good question. I guess we just assumed it would snow here all day. It will stop raining soon.”

Applejack looked around in confusion. “It ain't raining. So how will it stop?”

Twilight pointed a hoof towards Pinkie Pie. Applejack nodded her head as she realised what Twilight ment by rain. Twilight focused her magic and the pink cloud over Pinkie Pie vanished.

Pinkie Pie’s ears flopped down and her mane deflated. “My hot chocolate...”

Twilight gave Pinkie Pie a hug. “I'm sorry but I still don’t trust those clouds to much. Sometimes they seem to have a mind of their own. So I don't keep them around for too long.”

Pinkie returned Twilight’s hug and her mane inflated back to its normal shape. “Just promise me that you will make me some chocolate rain again some time.”

Twilight went back towards Lightwing. ”Hey Lightwing, do you know where in the Glacier Canyon this ice dragon is?”

Lightwing slowly smiled awkwardly. “No...but I do have a plan on how to find it. So don’t worry. We won't be out here searching for days.”

Twilight tilted her head to the left. “And what is this plan?”

Lightwing smiled normally. “It’s a simple tracking spell.”

Twilight did not look convinced. “Just a simple tracking spell? And how do you plan on initiating such a spell without an item from the dragon?”

Rarity giggled before answering Twilight’s question. “Lightwing does have an item from the dragon. Just look at the pendant around her neck. That’s the pendant and not the necklace.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “I guess you're right. Sorry I doubted your plan.”

“It’s fine,” replied Lightwing.

The walk was uneventful for half an hour.

As Rainbow Dash was flying, she pointed a hoof forward. “I see something shiny in the distance. It looks like a unicorn wearing something gold around his neck.”

Rarity’s eyes lit up at the thought of something valuable.

A few seconds later the unicorn was within eyesight of the ponies on the ground. Lightwing could see the blue unicorn and his yellow mane. “He is not wearing any winter clothes. Just a necklace.” Lightwing began walking faster until she had got to the unicorn. “Hi. Do you need some winter clothes? We have extra.”

The unicorn stallion smiled. “Thanks, but no. I live in these mountains. So I'm use to the cold.”

The other ponies were now caught up. Twilight greeted the new unicorn. “Hi. Where are you going?”

“I’m going to the Glacier Canyon but I’m taking a different path. So Princess, who are these other ponies?”

“These are my friends. Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Lightwing. It was nice to meet you. I hope you have a nice journey.”

Rarity began to examine the large gold-colored diamond around the stallions neck. “This is gorgeous. It looks like a diamond but made from a unique type of gold that I have not seen. What does the strange eye symbol mean?”

“This is the Millennium Diamond. It’s an ancient artifact that has magical powers. I found it in a cave when I was young. I don’t know what the eye symbol on it stands for.”

Rarity frowned. “I guess that means you won’t give it to me.”

“That is correct,” he replied. The blue unicorn began walking away. “Good luck on your journey, ponies.”

Lightwing began leading the ponies on the path again.

Pinkie Pie had an annoyed look on her face. “I did not like that unicorn.”

Everypony looked at Pinkie Pie in shock. “What did you just say? asked Twilight.

“I said I did not like him.”

All the ponies stared at Pinkie Pie for a few more seconds until Rarity spoke up. “Pinkie, are you feeling OK?. You love to make friends with everypony. What changed to make it different for that unicorn?”

Pinkie pie still looked annoyed. “I was just getting bad vibes from him.”

Twilight’s face lit up. “Next time I talk to Celestia. I will make sure to mark this day in the history books. The day Pinkamena Diane Pie did not want to make a new friend. It will be a national holiday.” Everypony laughed. “How about you begin that tracking spell. The sooner it is activated, the sooner I will be less worried.”

Lightwing realised she needed some information. “Twilight, I forgot to ask you something. When you were asleep I saw the Crystal Empire and there were strange black structures connected by roads. What are they and what is there purpose?”

“They are entrances to the tunnels that the changelings live in. Changelings feed off of love. The Crystal Heart collects the happiness and love from the crystal ponies and spreads that all over Equestria. So the changelings live in and under the Empire because they can feed off of some of that energy.”

Lightwing nodded. “I never saw any of those things in my time. The Crystal Heart is a mysterious thing. Somehow it made the dragon more powerful than the Crystal Princess before he even absorbed it. It made him more powerful than the Elements of Harmony after he absorbed it. We have to stop this dragon before it can absorb the energy from the Crystal Heart or all hope is lost. What are changelings?”

“Changelings are a parasitic species of ponies that change their shape into a pony that you love. Then they feed off your love for that pony until you have no more love left and you're just a grumpy pony.” Twilight smiled. “The Crystal Heart fixes this problem. Recently a new way to fix that problem was discovered. If a normal pony actually loves the changeling directly as if it were a family member or a pet, the changeling gets a free source of love without having to steal it from a host. So the host pony stays normal and the changeling gets food.

Lightwing nodded her head. “Will you cast the tracking spell? It would be faster and easier if you cast it.”

Twilight closed her eyes. “Here we go.” Magic energy began to surround Lightwing. The Dragon Pendant glowed for a few seconds. The magic dissipated and the pendant stopped glowing. “Done. It should work.”

A cold wind began to blow from the west as a small blizzard approached. The ponies walked closer to each other to share body heat as they continued their journey across the barren snow field. It took them fifty minutes to make it through the blizzard.

Lightwing could see the canyon in the distance. “The blizzard is fading. I can now see our goal. Looks like it’s only a four minute walk before we get there. The canyon is bigger than I thought.”

The ponies began their walk through the canyon. The towering walls of the canyon looked amazing as small crystals shimmered in the light. Rarity was in awe of the crystals.

Lightwing pointed towards smaller path. “We need to go this way. That is what your tracking spell is telling me. Just so everypony is not surprised. The dragon we are going to fight is about fifteen times taller than us and about five times as long as us.”

Fluttershy froze in place at the sound of that. “I don't think I can do this.”

Rainbow Dash landed by Fluttershy. “Don’t worry. You’ll be safe. This is not the first time you have faced a dragon.”

Fluttershy began to walk forward again. “I know but this is the first time I faced an evil dragon.”

Rainbow Dash continued encouraging her friend.

Twenty minutes after the ponies entered the Glacier Canyon, they entered a huge opening in the canyon, Twilight saw a griffon and some ponies on a cliff. “Look up there.” She pointed a hoof towards a far cliff with lots of ponies and a griffon on it.

“I wonder what all those ponies are doing,” asked Rarity. “Maybe it’s a tour.”

Lightwing shook her head as she realised something. “That’s a bad place for a tour. We’re pretty much at the spot where we’re going to release the dragon. It’s over there.” Lightwing pointed at a wall on the far left.

Twilight opened her wings and flew to the cliff that had the group of ponies. “Why are you all here?”

A blue unicorn with a familiar gold-colored diamond stepped out from the crowd. “Nice to see you again, princess. We were told that you would be here and that you we're going to fight a dragon. So we are all here to watch.”

Twilight began to focus her mind on the diamond. “Is that really why you are all here?” she asked.

The group of ponies and single griffon nodded in agreement.

Twilight could feel a powerful magic within the diamond. It gave her a strange feeling. “Will anything I say get you ponies to leave?”

The blue unicorn smiled. “No, my princess.”

Twilight flew back to her friends and landed next to Lightwing.

“Why are they here?” asked Rainbow Dash curiously.

Twilight sighed. “The group is kind of a tour group. They came to watch us fight the dragon. How they know of it and its location is beyond me. I think I know why Pinkie doesn’t like that unicorn from earlier; His Millennium Diamond gives off a powerful magic energy but it has a strange feeling to it. It feels like changeling magic, but at the same time it feels very different. It’s just weird... It’s like nothing I’ve ever felt.”

Lightwing walked over to the far wall she had pointed to earlier. “I bet I know how they know about the dragon. I bet the creator of the dragon is up there and told others about the show that would take place here. I’ve time traveled, so what’s to say that the creator can't time travel too? Maybe that gold diamond belongs to the creator.”

Twilight had wore a calculating expression. “If that is true, why is the creator just standing around doing nothing? Why not come down here and try to take you out or stop you from coming here in the first place? There were plenty of times that you were vulnerable to attack.”

Lightwing’s ears drooped and she lowered her head. “Maybe we lose this fight and the creator knows it. That gives him a reason to do nothing but watch.”

“No!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash as she raised a hoof. “We’ll win! Nothing will stop us! I don’t lose. Our world needs us and we won't let them down!”

Lightwings ears perked back up. “Right...Right! Thanks, I feel a little better now. I just lost my head there.”

The ponies reached the wall that Lightwing had been walking to. Lightwing opened her saddlebag and grabbed a potion, drinking the whole thing before replacing the empty bottle. She closed her eyes and began to focus on the magic of her pendant, and it started to glow. Moments later the ground began to shake. The ponies backed away as the wall began to collapse. Chunks of ice fell in front of the ponies and shattered across the ground. The earth continued to shake violently as the wall continued to implode on itself until there was nothing but a gaping hole in the cliffside. A roar emanated from deep within, echoing a thousand times in the entrance, and through the ponies in its path.

“Did y'all hear that?” asked Applejack, gulping.

A large turquoise dragon come flying out of the hole and landed behind the ponies in the huge clearing of the icy canyon, eying them malevolently as he shook out his massive wings, shimmering in the bright light of day..

Lightwing flew toward the dragon. “We meet again for the first time. Your light-blue scales are beautiful in the sunlight. I...I was not expecting that.”

The dragon stared blankly at Lightwing. “Thanks for the compliment. I like my scales when they shine in the light. How are we meeting again if this is the first time?”

Pinkie Pie ran up to the dragon and began talking fast. “This pegasus is from the future and in that future she has met you, but now she has traveled back in time and is meeting you again, so this is technically the first time you’re meeting! So saying we meet again for the first time makes perfect sense.” Pinkie Pie took a breath.

Twilight laughed. “I actually understood that one.”

The dragon began to back away. Rainbow Dash blocked his path. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Over to the audience,” the dragon repled. “I want to make sure they can see you ponies well. Seeing me is no problem but you ponies are small.”

Twilight teleported all her grounded friends to the side of the canyon below where the observing ponies were. A few moments later the dragon and Rainbow Dash were there too.

The ice dragon looked at Lightwing. “Lightwing, I must thank you for freeing me.”

“How do you know my name? Nopony has told you my name.”

“I was told that a black and green pegasus named Lightwing would be the pony to free me.”

Lightwing smiled. “I’m flattered that you know of me but now we must stop you. Remember the plan, girls.”

Rainbow Dash and Lightwing started flying around the dragon. The dragon began to glow as he shot ice towards the annoying ponies that flew around him.

“Try and hit me, you slow dragon!” taunted Rainbow Dash. She was successful in getting his attention away from Lightwing. Bolts of magic began slicing through the air towards the dragon as Twilight opened her wings and joined Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie got out her party cannon and shot frozen water balloons at their enemy.

Lightwing took the opportunity to begin her plan. Her eyes began to glow with magic. Green light began to radiate from her as she floated behind the dragon. She focused on feeling the life energy of her enemy. It only took a few seconds because she was familiar to the energy that the pendant gave off. A green light shot from the pendant and hit the dragon but seemed to have no effect.

Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack stood on the ground watching their friends fly around at amazing speeds. The ponies on the cliff began to cheer.

The green light from the pendant began turning into blue light and started coming back towards the pendant. Twilight saw this and paid close attention. The blue light around the pendant and green light around Lightwing made a beautiful turquoise light as they touched. Both lights stopped and disappeared. Lightwing started pointing a hoof at Twilight and her friends. Twilight and Rainbow Dash got the signal and started a nose dive straight back to where their friends were.

The ground shook and the wind picked up as the ice dragon began to hover in place. Ice continued zooming by the flying ponies as they zigzagged in between them. Twilight’s eyes began to glow with magic. A rainbow energy surrounded her and her friends. It protected them from the attacks. The dragon roared in anger and the air crackled as the dragon shot a beam of turquoise magic from his claw towards Twilight.

Twilight’s hooves dug into the icy ground as the magic hit her shield. She was using her full power to stop the attack. Lightwing saw that Twilight could spare no extra energy. She began a nose dive straight towards the beam of magic. She took off the pendant and held it in her hoof. Making sure not to fly into the beam of magic she quickly pulled up and dropped the pendant into the powerful magic. It shattered on impact.

The attack from the dragon stopped immediately. As the dragon began to fall, Twilight kept her shield up. The dragon hit the ground and shards of ice flew in all directions as a huge crater formed in the icy ground where the dragon had crashed.

Lightwing smiled and landed in front of the dragon. “It’s over. You lost.”

The dragon glared at the pegasus pony. “Thats what you think.” The dragon closed it’s eyes and stopped breathing. The body disintegrated into a turquoise light.

Twilight and her friends ran up to Lightwing. Twilight gave Lightwing a hoof bump. “Nice job!” commented Twilight.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “That was kind of anticlimactic, but it was fun at least. It seemed too easy for a battle with a creature that was going to rule the world. There wasn’t even any monologuing from the dragon.”

Lightwing turned towards Rainbow Dash. “The battle is not over yet.”

Rainbow Dash sat down with a confused look. “But we saw the dragon die.”

Lightwing spread her wings, and her eyes turned white with magic. She laughed evilly and her voice deepened. “I would not say the dragon is dead. In fact I would say he is quite alive and even stronger.”

“How are you alive?!” asked Rainbow Dash.

“It does not matter how. Would you like me to monologue now?”

Twilight flared out her wings and her crown glowed with magic. “No! We have no time to listen to some random story.” Twilight prepared to attack but hesitated. I can’t attack Lightwing, She thought to herself.

The now-possessed Lightwing began to hover above the ground. “What's wrong Princess? Are you scared to attack an innocent pegasus?” Her eyes turned back to normal and she fell to the ground. “Help me.“ A familiar voice said as her eyes began flashing between normal and white.

“How?” replied Twilight.

Lightwings eyes turned white. “Lightwing is not h h...help...Wow she is one stubborn pegasus.”

Twilight started to glow with magic. “I am going to stop you.” Rainbow energy swirled around Twilight and shot at the evil pegasus. Lightwing stuck a hoof up and blocked the attack. Twilight stared in amazement. “How did you block the Elements of Harmony? Thats impossible!”

Lightwing smiled evilly. “This pegasus has a very unique magic. The results of my magic with hers are very intriguing. I bet you did not know that your new pegasus friend could absorb unicorn magic and use it for herself.”

Twilight stood there in shock. “So you amplified her power and used it to absorb my attack. How interesting.”

Lightwing glared at Twilight with a face of evil. “It gets even better. I can even absorb your magic without you directing it at me and cut off your ability to replenish your magic.”

Twilight had a look of confusion. “What does that last part mean?”

“I expected more from you,” replied evil Lightwing as she rolled her eyes. “I guess your magic schools don’t cover this subject. I’ll keep it simple. This planet's core is rich with a powerful energy. We call it magic. This energy is so powerful that it radiates across the whole planet and even into space. The sun and moon also radiate powerful energies that can be controlled but are harder to connect with. If one is able to master all three of these magics, they can have amazing powers. Discord is one of the few to do this. Thats why Celestia and Luna can’t defeat him without the Elements of Harmony.”

Rainbow Dash smacked her face with a hoof. “I’m so bored. We did not come here for a school class. We came to save the world, and talking is not helping.”

Twilight glared at Rainbow Dash. “I find this interesting. So be quiet! Please continue with the lesson.”

“As you wish, Princess,” replied evil Lightwing. “By mastering the power of the planet, moon and sun, you can find and connect with an even greater power that is radiated from the center of the galaxy. It is known as the dark vortex. Only two things can stand up to the power of the dark vortex and those are itself and a mysterious rock called the Stone of Orichalcos. The Stone of Orichalcos vanished over six hundred thousand years ago with the great city of the sea ponies, and no other creature has mastered the power of the dark vortex. So when my master chooses to take over your world, you will have no way to stop him.”

Rainbow Dash was flying in circles trying to entertain herself. I thought we didn’t have time for a story?

“Unicorn and alicorn horns automatically channel the energy of the planet into their hosts to keep them alive. They can also channel the energy out of you but you know that. Pegasus wings work the same way but on a much smaller scale. This is how pegasi can walk on clouds. Earth ponies can tap into this energy too but on an even smaller scale. Unicorns and alicorns need this energy to be alive and will die if the energy is not in them. On a side note, this is also how Lightwing is able to use magic while being a pegasus. Her specially made potions make her brain give off specific signals that a unicorn horn gives off. This is also how magic artifacts work. They give the holder a deeper connection to this powerful energy, allowing the holder to control more of this magic energy.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “So by absorbing the magic from within me and stopping my horn from replenishing the energy...you would kill me. If a pegasus can do that, then I guess a unicorn or alicorn could do that too. That is probably why this subject is not in our schools.”

“Here is a demonstration.” Lightwings eyes glowed and purple aura began to leave Twilight. It floated from her horn into Lightwings fore hooves. Twilight began to feel weak and could barely hold her weight. So she collapsed, but her friends caught her.

“Leave her alone!” said Rainbow Dash as she zoomed at Lightwing trying to hit her. Dash just ended up hitting a purple shield.

Evil Lightwing stopped taking Twilight’s magic. “I was planning to stop anyway. I would not want to kill her. That would be no fun. I want her to see me take an even better magic.” Turquoise light radiated out from Lightwing. “These toys are too much for you!” The Elements of Harmony disconnected from the ponies and began to float towards the evil pegasus. Rainbow magic swirled around her and engulfed her. The rainbow magic began going into her eyes until there was no more. The Elements of Harmony were now gray. The lifeless artifacts fell to the ground with a thud. “I now control the most powerful magic in Equestria!”

Twilight’s friends all looked horrified but Twilight smiled even though she was about to faint. “You forgot one thing Mr. Dragon...and that is that I am ultimately in control of that magic you just absorbed.” Twilight’s eyes glowed white and Lightwing fell to the ground. The air sparked with magic as rainbow energy began to leave Lightwing and go back into the lifeless artifacts on the ground.

Lightwing heard a voice in her head. This isn’t the end. She dismissed it. A Turquoise aura left Lightwing. The Elements of Harmony each shot out a beam of energy at the turquoise-colored smoke and It disintegrated.

Lightwing laid on the ground, lifeless. "I’m dying…" she said.

Twilight could feel herself about to lose consciousness. With a smile she said, “Ha! Take that you evil dragon spirit. You should have killed me when you had the chance.” She fainted after her victory speech. Twilight’s friends stood around her to take care of her.

Rainbow Dash rushed over to Lightwing, who was shivering on the icy ground. “Are you OK, future pegasus!?”

Lightwings eyes were closed, but she answered dully, emotionless. “No I am not okay. I am going to die.”

“What? Why?” asked a frantic Dash.

Lightwing groaned in pain. “When the dragon possesed me, it mixed our life energies. So now that he is dead, I will soon follow in that path. Magic always comes at a price: this is mine.”

Rainbow Dash started pacing back and forth. “There has to be a way to save you! I just know it. I won't give up.”

Rarity walked over to Dash. “I overheard your problem, and I think I might have a solution. Do you remember what Lightwing said about the Dragon Pendant when we were on the train?”

“What does that have to do with this?” asked Dash.

“She said it gave the dragon immortality because it was connected to his life energy. That is why we had to destroy it. So if we connect her life energy to an object, she should be immortal too.”

Rainbow Dash smiled. “That just might work.” The smile turned into a frown. “No offense, but you can’t cast a spell like that and Twilight’s out cold. So what now?”

Lightwing grumbled and Rainbow Dash turned to face her. A potion bottle rolled toward Rainbow Dash. Lightwing smiled. “All of you drink some of this potion. You will be able to use magic and you can all cast the spell together. The more ponies that cast the spell, the easier it is.”

“Everypony come here now!” exclaimed Rarity. Everypony came right over to her. Rarity drank a little of the potion and coughed. “This tastes dreadful. Everypony drink some of this. It will give us some magic and we can save Lightwing’s life.”

They all drank some and all agreed it tasted bad. Rarity spoke up. “You have to focus on Lightwing’s life energy and tell it to move to her necklace. That will save her. Close your eyes and focus.”

Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie surrounded Lightwing. All the non-unicorns closed their eyes and focused on Lightwing. A few moments later a green aura began to come out of Lightwing. The necklace she was wearing began to glow as the green aura slowly went into the necklace.

Rarity smiled. “Good work, everypony.”

The group let out a sigh of relief as Applejack laughed. “That’s still just as hard as last time.”

Rainbow Dash looked over at Applejack. “You have used magic before? When?”

Lightwing answered before Applejack. “At a breakfast we had.” She slowly got up onto her hooves and wobbled a little bit. “I don't feel one hundred percent but I do feel a little better. I hope Twilight will be okay.” With help from Rainbow Dash, Lightwing walked over to Twilight.

The ponies on the cliff, now bored of the events, began to leave.

Lightwing grumbled again. “We need to get to the top of the canyon and build a an igloo. Twilight and I are not going to be able to make the long walk back till tomorrow.”

Rainbow Dash patted Lightwing with a wing. “I’ll get you and everypony up there.”

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy brought the ponies to the top one at a time. Lightwing went to sleep in the snow next to the unconscious Twilight. The snow was not very comfortable, but Lightwing was too exhausted to care. The other ponies built an igloo and brought the two sleeping ponies into it for the rest of the day. Twilight and Lightwing both recovered as the day went on. They did not leave until the next morning.

Chapter 9: Opening a new Restaurant

Lightwing woke up early in the morning and went to Sweet Apple Acres to pay them for their help. She spent the day helping build her home but did not help paint it. She went back to Lyra and Bon Bon’s home to spend the night there.

Lightwing woke up with a yawn. “I have to keep my worries under control for today. I can’t get distracted at work. I should invite Lyra and Bon Bon to my new home before the restaurant opens.” Lightwing grabbed her saddlebag and cloak before she left her room. When she was downstairs she went to the kitchen. “Hi, girls.”

Lyra was too busy eating breakfast to say anything. Bon Bon waved a hoof at Lightwing. “How was your night?”

“Not too great,” replied Lightwing. “I was thinking about stuff and had trouble sleeping. I’m sure you had a much better night than me.”

Bon Bon gave Lightwing a hug. “Everything will be fine. Do you know who’s going to work at your restaurant?”

A smile found its way onto Lightwings face. “I usually run my restaurant alone. My...my friend would come in and help me sometimes, but I usually worked alone. Now my friend runs my restaurant alone. Technically it’s her restaurant now. Just like my pet is hers now.”

Bon Bons face reflected lots of confusion. “How can you run a whole restaurant by yourself? You don’t even have magic to make stuff easier. I think you need help. I’m going to work at your restaurant and-”

“I want to work there too!” interrupted Lyra.

Bon Bon glared at Lyra. “As I was saying before I got interrupted, I would also like to know what your pet was.”

Lightwing smiled. “I have...had a snake as a pet. It’s bigger than me, but I trust it and it trusts me and my friend. I may not be able to talk to it but we can communicate. I usually feed it fresh fish. I also buy animals that have recently died for its meals. Since its a carnivore. The snake makes a great guard to stop thieves.” Lightwing let out a sigh. “You might not believe what I am about to say. Please do not tell anypony what I’m about to say. I actually can use high level unicorn magic. I have been practicing magic for almost all my life. So running a restaurant is actually easy.”

Bon Bon and Lyra were speechless at that fact.

Lyra broke the silence with a question. “How is that possible? I know Zecora does some strange types of magics but those are with potions. She understands a lot about unicorn magic but can't actually use it.”

“I don’t know who this Zecora is, but she sounds cool,” replied Lightwing. “My magic comes from potions too. I need to drink the potion in order to be able to use magic. Thats how I traveled back in time. A whole dose of my potion gives thirty minutes of magic. If I use high level magic for more than thirty minutes straight, it gives me a headache. I always keep my potions close. Thats why I bring my saddle bag everywhere.”

“What are you going to serve at your restaurant?” asked Lyra.

Lightwing began listing stuff. “On the normal list I’ll have burgers, fries, pasta, fruits, vegetables, flower salads, pizza, ice cream, cake, pie, and a few high class meals. For a few extra bits you can have honey spread on your food or just have it directly. The list of drinks will be apple-juice, lemon-juice, milk, water, apple-cider, tea, and other juices from fruits or berries. On the special menu or the chaos menu, I will have hey-burgers, ice-scream, endless cake, flavor changing cup-cakes, funny-honey, fruit drinks that change the color of your mane for a limited time and voice changing muffins.”

“Thats a nice list,” replied Lyra. “But what do the hey-burgers do? They sound like a normal food item and do all the special foods actually do what they sound like they should do?”

“The hey-burgers talk when you eat them.”

Bon Bon smiled. “And I guess the ice-scream screams as you eat it.”

Lightwing nodded her head.

“That seems a little...carnivorous,” replied Bon Bon.

“I'm going to my new restaurant. You two better come with me if you plan to work for me. I just realised that my old system won’t work. I don’t have all the fancy magic devices from my future restaurant. You two can be waitresses. I’ll pay you a lot for being waitresses today. I expect there to be a lot of guests. I’ll have to hire more ponies to serve food.”

The three ponies left the house and walked down main street. After a five minute walk they reached their destination. Bon Bon was impressed by the size of the restaurant and the size of the crowd of ponies outside. She could only see the tables and chairs outside of the restaurant. A quarter of the town could fit at the restaurant just eating outside.

Lightwing smiled as she opened a door on the side. “I can see you two are impressed by just the outside. The inside is just as big, but it is divided into two separate sides. This building was not cheap.”

Lyra was in awe of the ceiling. The chandeliers glowed with blue light and spread a beautiful blue aura across the white ceiling. Bon Bon was admiring the darker colored wood floor with beautiful patterns on it. Both ponies were so mesmerised by the beauty of the building that they did not notice the smell of fresh food and scented candles.

Lightwing raised her voice. “Pay attention, girls! This place opens in twenty minutes. You two need to do some exploring and learn the table numbers. Make sure you wash up before you serve the food. Bon Bon, you are going to seat ponies and take orders. Lyra, you will serve the food. Do you girls understand?”

Lyra and Bon Bon nodded in unison. Lyra raised a hoof. “Is there a VIP spot in this restaurant?

“Yes,” replied Lightwing. “Do you see the three tables in that roped off spot to your right? Thats what your looking for. Why do you ask?”

Lyra smiled. “I wanted to know if you would allow Octavia a spot at one of those tables.”

“Sure. I’ll even let Vinyl sit there if she comes but there will be others there too. Princess Twilight, her friends, and Discord will be over there. I’m going outside to make sure the mayor is alright with the crowd outside.” Lightwing left the restaurant through the front doors as Bon Bon and Lyra familiarized themselves with the inside of the building.

Twenty minutes later the front doors opened letting in Lightwing, Discord, Octavia, Vinyl, a changeling, Princess Twilight, and her friends. Lightwing went straight to the kitchen and began preparations for cooking. A large group of ponies began entering the restaurant.

The restaurant was a busy place for the next two hours. Lightwing, Lyra, and Bon Bon worked nonstop the whole time but had some help from the Elements of Harmony when they volunteered as a food servers. The restaurant had slowed down enough for the Elements of Harmony to stop helping after the fourth hour. After the fifth hour of work there were only two unicorn stallion customers in the restaurant. One white unicorn with a light-blue mane and a blue unicorn with a yellow mane. Lightwing, Lyra and Bon Bon sat down at the table with their last guests.

“Hi, Lightwing,” said the blue unicorn.

Lightwing smiled at her last customer. “How do you know my name?”

“Your name is in the title of the restaurant and I have met you before. Do you remember me from the Crystal Mountains?”

Realization hit Lightwing like a rock. “Yes, I do remember you. Why are you here and who is this other stallion?”

“He is my son. I came here to see the opening of the newest restaurant in Equestria. Sadly, we also bring bad news.”

“And what is this news?” asked Lightwing.

The white unicorn answered her question. “We are sorry to have to tell you this, but the dark future you have tried to stop is still coming. It will be here in one hundred years. A dragon told us to tell you this. He also said that a spell was cast over you. One that would kill you if you tried to tell any other pony about this. That means you die if your two waitresses tell anypony too.”

The three mares were speechless for a moment.

The blue stallion spoke up. “He also said that you will die if the spell is broken.”

Lyra leaned forward. “What are your names?”

The blue one smiled. “My name is Pegasus and his name is Jade.”

Lyra looked confused. “So...you're a unicorn, and your parents named you...Pegasus?”

“Not exactly, he replied. “I changed my name to remind me of my goal in life. I hate the pegasus species. They took my family from me.”

Lightwing sighed. “Will all of you please leave my restaurant? I need time to think to myself.”

The two stallions paid and left. Lightwing stood motionless as she thought about what she had just been told.

Lyra walked up to Lightwing and put a hoof over her. “Are you alright?”

Lightwing glared at Lyra. “Am I alright?…am I alright?!” A burst of green magic pushed Lyra backwards and over onto her back. “Why would you ask if I’m alright? I was just told that my entire life's work was all for nothing by a unicorn who hates my species.”

Lyra picked herself up off the floor. “I’m sorry I asked. I was only trying to help. Do you honestly believe some random unicorn?”

Lightwing let out a long sigh. “Yes, I believe him. I’m sorry. I’m just upset. I think it would be best for you and me if you left here.”

Bon Bon slowly nodded. “I agree with that. It would be nice if you came by our home later to meet Octavia. She has been wanting to meet you.”

The two ponies left as Lightwing went upstairs to be alone. Lightwing slammed her bedroom door closed and collapsed onto the floor in anger and sadness. What went wrong? she thought to herself. I had it all planed out. It went so good too. How could the dragon be alive? It makes no sense. I covered every loop hole I could think of. Lightwing slammed a hoof into the floor. “How could this happen!?” I need a new plan, but I don’t know where to start. How am I supposed to get Twilight to help if I can’t tell her? Lightwing pulled a small box out from under her bed. She opened it and began eating the food inside. She heard a knock on her door. “Come in,” she replied.

The door opened revealing Lyra. “I know you told us to leave you alone but I could not do that to a friend. You need somepony to express your feelings too. I think I know how you feel.”

Lightwing turned around and sat up on the floor. “You’re right. I need to express my feelings instead of keeping them bottled up. How did you get Bon Bon to let you come back?”

A smug look came over Lyra’s face. “I told her I was going to go out and eat. So I went a different way and looped back here.” Lyra moved her head to the left to get a better look at the box behind Lightwing. “Are you eating...meat?”

“Yes, I eat ham when nopony is around. I use to have a pet carnivore. So I tried some of his food.” Lightwing grabbed the box of ham and took a bite of the food. “Your plan was not too bad,” replied Lightwing. “I’m really angry and sad right now because of what those stallions told me. I have to believe them. How else could they know of the dark future? I can understand how they know of the dragon I fought but not the dark future. I don’t go around preaching that I’m saving the world.”

“I don’t know either, but I do know that you have a long time to figure out a plan. One hundred years is plenty of time to fix this. I will help you for as long as I live.”

Lightwing hugged Lyra tightly. “Thank you.”

“Are you feeling better enough to go meet Octavia?”

“Yes I am.”

Lyra smiled. “First you will have to stop hugging me.”

Lightwing released her grip, and the two ponies left for Lyra’s home.

Lyra opened the door to her home. “We are here.”

Lightwing walked over to the couch. “Where is Octavia?”

A gray earth pony walked into the room from the kitchen. “I am right here.” She looked over at Lightwing. “You must be Lightwing. I have heard nice things about you.”

Lightwing smiled. “Nice to meet you. I really like your mane. I think the black color fits you nicely.”

“Thanks for the compliment,” replied Octavia. “So you are the newest member to this fair town. I hope you like this town. It really is a nice place to live and relax.”

Lyra waved a hoof in the air. “Hey! What was it like having eight hooves? Was it cool?”

“It was...awkward, strange, and interesting.”

Lightwing smiled as she got up off of the couch. “It was nice to meet you, but I have to get back to my home. Please don’t be offended by my cutting this meeting short.”

Octavia waved a hoof as Lightwing and Lyra walked out the door.

“Lyra, why are you following me?”

“So we can talk more. I’m here to help you.”

“Thats nice of you. Do you really plan on helping me for as long as you live?”

“Yes,” replied Lyra.

Lightwing grabbed Lyra and flew them both to the restaurant.

Lyra went up to the bedroom and Lightwing followed. She chose to lay in her bed. “So what do I do now that I know I have to fight the dragon again?”

Lyra said nothing at first. Her thinking face made it obvious that she was not ignoring her friend. After a minute she said something. “I read a book once about an enchanted sword that had the power to seal away evil. We should have the Elements of Harmony enchant a sword for us. We don’t have to say why we want it. Just that we do.”

“That is a good idea. I like it.”

We will need Spike’s help too. I also read that a sword forged from a dragons breath is unbreakable by normal stuff and repels magic. It’s the same with armor. Oh, and diamonds dipped in a dragons blood repel dragon magic.”

Lightwing raised an eyebrow even though Lyra could not see it. “Not to sound like a pessimist, but how do you know this stuff?”

Lyra rubbed a hoof on the floor and smiled nervously. “I like to read books that tell of legends of humans. I know most ponies think humans are just an old pony tale, but there are some interesting things in those books. I have done some experiments. Stuff can be true. I know the diamond thing is true. Twilight likes a good experiment. So I made a proposal to try it. Spike wasn’t too happy about giving some blood, but it was for a good cause.” I’m also from the human world, but that’s a six pony secret.

Lightwing was impressed by this. “You seem to know what you're talking about. We should try the sword and armor thing. We should come up with a different plan as well. Always have a back up plan.”

“I don’t have another plan...but I’m sure we could think of one. It won’t be easy if we can’t tell any other pony. So no help from the Elements or the Princesses. That really complicates things.”

Lightwing raised her head off of her pillow. “I need to tell you this. I have an anti-aging potion that I use to stay young. I was wondering if you would like to learn how to make it and drink it? You will have a type of immortality.”

Lyra was in shock. Her eye twitched for a moment. “Did...did...did you just offer me immortality?”

“Yes I did. You seem very content on being my friend and this is my way of repaying you. I do need a friend, since I don’t have any. This offer extends to Bon Bon too. So tell her when you get back.”

“Immortality...” Lyra walked over to the side of the bed. “You're offering me immortality like it’s nothing. Are you being serious? Aren't the Elements of Harmony friends with you?”

Lightwing turned her head to face Lyra. “I know it’s a big offer and seems unbelievable, but it’s real. You can stop being immortal if you choose. I’m not turning you into an alicorn. All you do is drink a potion or don't drink a potion. I only drink a potion once a year. Don’t go jumping off any cliffs or crazy stuff. You’re not death proof. I don’t see the Elements as my friends. They were just doing their job and I was there to help them. I realised that I do need somepony to be my friend in this new world. The smaller the number...the better. Six is bigger than two.“

“That’s a little harsh. I’m sure they consider you a friend. You really are serious about this. I would be glad to accept your offer. It will allow me to help you more. I know Bon Bon won’t accept your offer, but we should still ask her. She might surprise me. On a different subject, How much are you paying us and when are you going to pay us?”

“I’ll pay you now if you want. Your one thousand bits will be teleported to your home.”

Lyra went wide-eyed. “One thousand...what did you just say? Did I hear correctly?”

Lightwing slowly nodded her head.

“Is that one thousand for both of us as a total or individually?

“Thats one thousand for each of you.”

Lyra gasped. “Thats crazy. How can you just give that much money away so fast?”

Lightwing rolled her eyes. “Did you pay no attention to the fact that I offered you immortality? Obviously I have immortality. So I have lots of bits from a long life. You should go home now. Your bits will be teleported in twenty minutes. Don’t forget to tell Bon Bon of my offer. If Bon Bon says yes, come to my restaurant tomorrow morning, but if she says no, don’t come to my restaurant tomorrow. Stay with Bon Bon on the weekdays. Don’t deprive her of a happy life. You and I can work on weekends.” Lightwing waved goodbye as Lyra left.

Twenty minutes later, Bon Bon and Lyra were two thousand bits happier. Bon Bon declined the offer of immortality. They had a nice night together talking about stuff they wanted to buy.

Chapter 10: The Future is Here

Lightwing realised that she and Lyra would work alone when she did not see her two guests in her new home the next day.

Lightwing watched for the return of the ice dragon by taking a three day trip to the Crystal Mountains once every three weeks. She got to know some of the ponies in the mountain range pretty well. Bon Bon and Lyra came on her trips sometimes too.

On weekdays, Lightwing ran her restaurant. On weekends, Lightwing worked with Princess Twilight and Spike to make an enchanted sword and armor. She had every princess and Discord enchant the items. It took two years for the items to be complete.

Lightwing and Twilight began teaching Lyra advanced magic. Lyra and Lightwing also began practicing sword fighting.

After thirty years, Lightwing realised she would not find the ice dragon. She chose to stop looking for it but she still took trips to the Crystal Mountains and the Crystal Empire.

An anonymous letter arrived telling Lyra to embed Stone of Orichalcos into the sword. They chose to embed Stone of Orichalcos into their enchanted sword.

Lightwing had a great time living in Ponyville. Lyra was such a good friend to Lightwing. At some points Lightwing would forget about the dark future she had come from, but then she would remember having fun with her friend Vivian.

After fifty years, Lightwing began to realise that her time in this light world was slowly coming to an end and slowly grew less happy over the next month. Lightwing went into a small depression for two months. Lyra and Twilight were able to make her happy again and helped her realise that she had to make the best out of the time she had left.

Lightwing had no trouble staying happy for the next fifty years. She chose to to enjoy the time she had left.

Now Lightwing and Lyra are preparing for the return of the ice dragon. Lyra is in Ponyville while Lightwing is now at the Crystal Mountains with a unicorn from the mountain range that she knows well.

The sun was beginning to appear over the mountain tops as it got later in the morning. Lightwing was beginning to wake up. The smell of freshly cooked eggs caught her attention. “Breakfast smells nice,” said Lightwing as she exited the igloo. “Your white fur blends in with the snow quite well.”

Lightwing’s stallion friend smiled. “I’m glad you like breakfast and thanks for the compliment.”

Lightwing sat down at the small table with her breakfast. “Jaden, Why did you make me breakfast? You have never made me breakfast on any of my nine trips here with you.”

“It’s...kind of a sympathy gift.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

Jaden smiled. “I am about to tell you a secret, but you might not believe it. I know where that ice dragon that you are looking for is.”

This caught Lightwing’s attention. She stared at Jaden with disbelief. “I think your light-blue mane is making you light headed.”

Jaden kept a straight face. “I told you that you would have trouble believing me but it is all true. Here is the best part. I am the dragon you have been looking for. I have just been disguised as a unicorn to prepare for my return.”

Lightwing still had a look of disbelief as she ate her food. “I’m following your story so far but I am not convinced yet. If you are what you claim to be, then why am I not dead?”

“That is simple,” replied Jaden. “I have no reason to kill you. I convinced my master of a better way for revenge.”

“So your master wants me dead?” asked a confused Lightwing. “Why? I have not done anything wrong.”

Jaden shook his head. “That is what you think. The truth is that you killed his family in a flying accident and now he is out to kill you.”

“Oh...I see. That is tragic but it was an accident and I’m truly sorry. Is there anything I could do to help your master?”

Jaden shook his head as he stood up. “My master is consumed by anger and hate. There is nothing you can do or say to change his mind. Sympathy breakfast is now over. Are you ready to begin the longest nightmare of your life?”

“Not just yet. You don’t seem to be consumed by anger and hate. You seem quite calm. So why help your master? You have free will.”

Jaden teleported next to Lightwing. “Excellent question. The simple answer is I was created specifically to kill you. It is in my blood. Now you wonder why I have not killed you when I have had so many opportunities.” Lightwing nodded her head in agreement. “That answer is simple too. I was told I can’t kill you for reasons I will not say. This makes my master even more angry. He knows that you can’t die yet too. So we came up with a different revenge plan. One where you stay alive but still suffer. Any more questions before the nightmare begins?”

“Just one,” replied Lightwing. “How did you survive the attack from the Elements of Harmony one hundred years ago?”

Jaden giggled. “Silly, Lightwing. You should know the answer to that. Remember the future pendant that you had destroyed? It is kind of the same as that but instead of my life energy being connected to that, It was connected to a specially made unicorn body. Just another way to cheat death.”

Lightwing shook her head. “Time to prove that you're a dragon. Transform into a dragon and I will believe you.”

Jaden was surrounded by a large magical light for a few seconds. As the light began to fade Lightwing could see a very familiar looking dragon.

Lightwing turned around and ran full speed into the igloo. She looked around frantically. “Where is my saddle bag?!” The igloo shattered into many smaller bits in a sof bang. Lightwing looked up to see a large dragon staring directly at her. This is not good. She thought to herself.

A light-blue shield appeared around Lightwing. She and the shield floated up into the dragon’s claw. The dragon looked at the pegasus prisoner. “I destroyed your temporary magic-giving supplies before you woke up, but I think you figured that out. Now you have no magic to fight back. You’re just a helpless pony now.”

Lightwing let out a sigh of defeat. “So this is how it ends. Defeated by a dragon who is scared to fight a pegasus. Before you defeat me like a coward, answer me this. What is this nightmare you told me of?”

“I am going to merge all of your life energy with mine. By this event you will be able to see, hear, and feel everything I do. You get to see me kill ponies. You get to hear them scream in terror. You can feel me crush them with my claws or eat them. It will be like you are killing them, and there is nothing you can do to stop me. It is a nightmare you are forced to see and can not wake up from. I will have complete access to your whole mind, while you are trapped in a small dark corner of mine.”

Lightwing quietly watched as the magic shield began closing in on her. The shield touched her wings first, and they began disintegrating. Surprisingly being magically disintegrated did not hurt like she expected. In a matter of seconds the shield had collapsed into nothingness taking Lightwing with it. A lone cloak floated down onto the snow.

The ice dragon smiled victoriously. “Time to destroy some defenseless towns. The Crystal Empire can wait until tomorrow.

========== The next morning ==========

Lyra was eating her breakfast while sitting on her couch when she heard a knock on her door. She opened it with her magic. One of her Changeling friends was at the door. “Good morning, Devon.”

Her friend barged into the house. “Lyra! You need to come outside right now.”

“Ok,” said Lyra as she got off the couch. “What’s so important that you had to interrupt my breakfast?”

“There is going to be an attack on Canterlot,” replied Devon with slight worry.

Deven bolted back outside followed by Lyra. Lyra saw lots of ponies outside already. Devon grabbed Lyra’s head and pointed it towards the North. Every pony was watching a dragon fly towards Canterlot.

Lyra went wide eyed. “That’s the ice dragon Lightwing was talking about...this is bad.” Lyra dashed back into her home, almost hitting the wall as she turned to go up the stairs.

Ten seconds later, Devon was upstairs in Lyra’s room too. “Lyra, what are you doing? Don’t you want to watch the battle?”

“No,” she replied as she frantically threw armor out of a closet. “I need to get to Canterlot. My friend needs me.” The armor began hovering around her and was attaching itself to her. “Go get me a scroll!” demanded Lyra.

“On it,” replied Devon as he zoomed downstairs. A few seconds later he returned with a scroll.

The scroll floated towards Lyra and she began writing on it. Devon took this time to notice how nice the full body armor looked on his friend. The green colors matched her fur. It was like her fur had became a metal shield. There were many small white diamonds embedded into the armor, giving it a mysterious shine. Yellow diamonds made up the picture of her cutie mark. There was also a sword strapped to her back.

The scroll vanished in a flash of green light. “Who did you send that to?”

Lyra smiled even though her helmet hid it. “Princess Twilight,” she replied. “I need her to teleport me to Canterlot because a train or balloon ride would take too long.” Twilight appeared in a flash of purple light and vanished with Lyra in half a second.

Devon stood in shock at the speed that Twilight had come and gone. “I guess I should get out of Lyra’s home now.” With that, he left.

====================

Twilight and Lyra appeared in Canterlot next to the ponies barring the Elements of Harmony. Twilight looked toward her friends. “I brought our friend Lyra. “

Rarity trotted over. “I hope you know where Lightwing is.”

“No,” replied Lyra. “Last time I saw her, she was going to the Crystal Mountains. I don’t think we'll be seeing Lightwing any time soon. We are on our own. Is there anything you need me to help with?”

Twilight pointed a hoof to her left. “Go to to the library, find Trixie Lulamoon and bring her back here.”

Lyra turned and galloped at full speed toward the library. The streets were completely empty due to the city having been evacuated. A minute later, a large shattering sound caught her attention. She looked to see what it was. She saw the magic shield protecting the city was now collapsing. Lyra could feel the ground shaking and the air crackling with magic from the battle that was now beginning. Several pieces of ice were now zooming through the city, hitting many things. A piece of ice crashed into a tower near Lyra. She watched the building implode as she galoped past it. She ran for three more minutes as destruction surrounded her. She could now see the library ahead. She was getting tired because of the heavy armor she had on, but was determined to not slow down. Lyra jumped up past the stairs leading up to the door into the library. The doors to the building flew open as Trixie came running out and collided with Lyra. Both ponies tumbled down the stairs.

Trixie quickly jumped onto her hooves. “Out of my way!” she snapped. Using her magic, she picked up the book that was with her and galloped off, followed closely by Lyra as buildings around them continued collapsing from bolts of magic. “Why are you following me?” asked Trixie.

“To help,” replied Lyra. “Twilight told me to find you.”

Buildings were still collapsing and imploding from the damage the magic over sized hail had caused. A tower fell over and crushed a small corner of the library. After three minutes of loud destruction, there was a strange silence. Both ponies saw and heard the ice dragon crash through the roof of Canterlot Castle. They continued toward their target, paying little attention toward the dragon. A minute later, Trixie turned a corner and came to a complete stop.

Lyra stopped next to Trixie. “Why did we-” She stopped mid sentence as she saw a horrible sight in front of her.

Twilight and the Elements of Harmony had been turned into stone and were now shattered into many pieces. Twilight’s crown was the only thing that was not a fragmented piece of rock.

Trixie threw the book down and crushed it with a hoof. “Trixie is mad! If only Trixie had got here sooner! Then...Twilight would be alive.”

“What was the book for?” asked Lyra.

“It had a spell that Twilight and I were working on.” Trixie crushed the book again with more force. “It was going to help make the Elements of Harmony stronger.” Trixie’s horn lit up and the book burst into flames. “What’s your name?” asked Trixie.

“Lyra Heartstrings.”

Trixie glanced over toward Lyra. “Did Luna give you immortality too?”

“No, Lightwing did that.”

“Ah, it was Future pegasus,” replied Trixie. Twilight’s crown floated over to Trixie. “Trixie must keep this for safe keeping. Luna has told me to do so. You shall not see Trixie until the sun rises again. The sun sets for good tonight.” Trixie trotted away.

Lyra looked around for any sign of the dragon. “I must stop this monster for my friends.” Lyra shot a few bolts of magic into the air, trying to get the dragon’s attention.

A large shadow flew over Lyra, and the dragon landed in front of her. “I have been expecting you. Do you really think a simple unicorn like you can beat me?”

Lyra was ready to fight as she held her sword with magic. “I don’t think I could beat you with just my magic. As you said, I’m just a simple unicorn. Thats why I have a magically enhanced sword and armor. I’m sure my sword will destroy you. I don’t know what you did to my friend Lightwing but I will make you regret it. So prepare to fight.”

The dragon sat down. “Do you really think your toys will help you?”

“Yes!” snapped Lyra. Wasting no time she flung her sword at the dragon. The dragon vanished before the sword hit.

“You missed,” said a voice from behind Lyra.

“Fight me!” growled Lyra. Her sword turned around and zoomed toward its target, but the results were the same.

Large pieces of hail began to fall. Lyra jumped to her left avoiding a blast of magic. Lyra looked up to see another blast of magic flying straight at her. Thinking fast, she stood on her hind hooves and watched the magic impact the ground in front of her.

A cold object impacted Lyra’s back. “Cold! Cold!” she said as she felt her armor freezing over. A second later she was under a piece of ice. Fly this way ,dragon. Into my trap. With a smile, Lyra used a teleportation spell with a smoke spell to cover her escape. With sword in hoof, Lyra smiled as she was falling through the air toward her unsuspecting target.

Lyra’s fall came to an abrupt stop as an icy tail pierced through her and her armor. Lyra coughed as her sword fell to the ground.

The dragon looked at Lyra with an unimpressed face. “Did you really think your simple trick would work? I’m impressed with that armor. Too bad it doesn’t stop physical attacks.”

With a weak voice Lyra said, “Kill me already. I...I can’t escape.” Lyra coughed again. “I don’t know a strong enough healing spell to save me.”

“I can and will save you,” replied the dragon. Lyra stared at the dragon in confusion but said nothing. “I bet you wonder why I would save you. It’s simple. I am Lightwing.”

Lyra coughed as she tried to hold back a laugh.

“It will make you happy to know that your magic sword is capable of defeating me, but you should know one thing. If you seal me away with that sword, you do the same to your friend too.”

Lyra rolled her eyes. “Liar...your mind games won’t work on me. You're just afraid.”

The dragon smiled. “I have you right where I want you. You will die soon. I have nothing to fear. Why would I offer to save you when you’re dying if I was not Lightwing?”

Lyra’s eye twitched as she felt herself losing energy. “What’s stopping you?”

“Your magic blocking armor. You have to take it off.”

Lyra’s horn shimmered as she reluctantly took off her armor. After the last piece fell to the ground, she felt a magic energy surround her. Lyra was put on the ground.

The dragon looked down to Lyra. “Are you going to thank me for saving you?”

Lyra chuckled as her armor connected itself to her. “I’m going to continue fighting you now.”

No you won’t,” replied the dragon. “I did more than just heal you. I put another spell on you that will freeze you when you think of attacking me. You can use the sword for other stuff.”

A green aura surrounded the sword and Lyra was turned into an ice sculpture wearing armor. Ten seconds later, Lyra turned back to normal. The sword strapped itself onto Lyra’s back. “So...what now?” she asked.

The dragon lowered his head down to Lyra’s level. “Just go back to Ponyville. You will see your friend in about twelve thousand years. If you choose to live that long.”

“What’s so special about that number? Why not one year or right now?”

“In about twelve thousand years, I’ll die.”

“Won’t that kill my friend too?” asked Lyra. “You said my friend will die if you die.”

“That’s not what I said,” replied the dragon. “I said your sword would seal both of us away. That sword was made to seal evil away, not to kill. The item that kills me in the future--technically the past--was directly connected to me before I absorbed your friend's life energy and soul. Although the item from the future is also connected to your friend because it was created by future me.”

“Wait one moment.” Lyra took a deep breath. “My head hurts. This is like a Twilight Sparkle-level conversation. How can the item be in the future and the past? How is Lightwing not going to die if she is supposed to?"

“Ok, sit down and listen,” stated the dragon. “Lets start with my first defeat. Lightwing traveled to the past with a pendant. She called it the Dragon Pendant. It gave her nightmares because it was technically part of her. She knew the item was connected to the future dragon’s life energy, but she did not know that she is the future dragon in a way. So she is going to kill her future self. She came back in time and used the item’s own magic to connect it to the past dragon’s life energy. The Elements of Harmony destroyed the pendant, thus killing my body in the past but not my spirit. I possesed Lightwing in an attempt to kill the Elements of Harmony but then they killed my spirit. Because I had possessed Lightwing, our spirits and life energy were merged together. Since I was now dead, Lightwing began to die too. The Elements of Harmony saved Lightwing’s life by enchanting a necklace of hers. Creating...a pegasus pendant. It does the same thing as the pendant that was used to kill me but it’s connected to Lightwing. So she will die when that is destroyed.

Lyra shook her head. “How are you alive if you were killed physically and spiritually?”

“My master resurrected me. He knows some nice ways to cheat death. Soon I’ll create the Dragon Pendant. In about twelve thousand years, the Dragon Pendant will be taken into the past and destroyed. Once the pendant vanishes from the future, it’s like it has been destroyed at that point, since the past has already happened. So then I’ll die. Sadly, Lightwing has her magic necklace from the past to keep her future self alive.”

Lyra nodded her head. “I think I got it. You make magic item with knowledge from the future. Item gets taken to the past by Lightwing. You absorb Lightwing in revenge and that’s how you got the knowledge. Lightwing goes back in time to defeat you and technically herself. You try to kill her but then her friends save her and that same thing will save her again.”

“Sounds right.”

Lyra sighed in relief. “My head still hurts. Come get me in twelve thousand years. Then I can watch you die!”

“You're a feisty little unicorn. Would you like to stay and watch the sun set?”

Lyra turned around. No, not with you. I’m leaving now. I have a restaurant to run and it’s called Heartstrings Diner.” Lyra saw a shadow start to cover the ruined city. She looked up to see the sun being eclipsed by the moon. “I guess the dark world that Lightwing tried to stop is now here.”

========== 12,000 years later ==========

The ground shook as something big landed behind Vivian. She slowly turned her head to look behind her and began shaking in fear at the sight of a large ice dragon.

The dragon lowered his head to Vivian’s eye level. “Hi, Vivian. That Sonic-rainboom was an amazing sight.” Vivian continued shaking in fear with no reply. “Vivian, you are coming to my castle. Grab your friend’s time travel supplies and bring them with you.”

Vivian nodded her head slowly as her horn glowed. “Yes… master.” A saddlebag was teleported onto Vivian. “What now, master?”

“I congratulate your friend for traveling through time. We have much to discuss once we return to my castle.”

Both disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared in the main hall of the Crystal Castle at the crystal Empire. One green unicorn and one dark-blue pegasus were waiting in the center of the hall.

The dragon flew over to the two ponies and landed next to them. “Come over here, Vivian,” he commanded.

Vivian began trotting over to the center of the hall while thinking to herself. Just do what he says and all will be fine.

Once Vivian reached the middle, she was greeted by the dark-blue pegasus. “Hi, Vivian. My name is Luminara Unduli. Just call me Luminara. I am the dragon’s lifelong servant.”

Vivian stared and said nothing. The green unicorn walked up to Vivian and greeted her. “My name is Lyra Heartstrings and I’m not a servant for this dragon.” Lyra smiled. “I was invited to this event just like you. Nothing bad is going to happen to you, so relax.”

“If you say so,” replied Vivian.

Lyra sat down on her hind legs. “So should I tell her the good news or are you going to do that, dragon brain?”

“I’ll tell her,” said an annoyed dragon. “Here is the good news. I’ll die soon and my control of this world will end.”

“Really?” asked Vivian.

The ice dragon began glowing. The ponies covered their eyes from the blinding light. As the light began to fade, Vivian saw a shadow appearing. A familiar pegasus now replaced the once evil dragon.

Lightwing looked up from the ground. “Is it over?” she asked.

Vivian ran over to her friend and hugged her. “I can’t imagine what you have been through. I hope you’re ok now. You have only been gone for a few minutes in my time but I’m sure its been a life time for you. That new necklace of yours is amazing.”

“You have no idea,” replied Lightwing as she began to cry softly. “I...I killed innocent ponies. I killed the princess of the sun and enslaved the princess of the moon.”

“Don’t lie,” stated Lyra. “You did no such thing. It was all because of that dragon. You were just an observer.” Lightwing smacked Lyra in the face. “Ouch! What was that for?”

“For not saving the world when you had the chance.” She hit Lyra again. “You should have killed the dragon when you had the chance. I was trying to stop this dark future and you just let it happen...please forgive me for what I’m about to say. You're a horrible friend. This is why I don’t make a lot of friends. Something always goes wrong! You made my whole life's work totally useless, and I hate you for that.”

“I forgive you. I know you're mad, and I’m sorry. I hope you will forgive me some day. I did try to save you, Lightwing.”

“Lyra is right,” replied Vivian. “Don’t blame yourself for what the dragon did. And don’t blame Lyra for doing something wrong.”

“Attention!” exclaimed Luminara. “I have an important announcement to make that all of you need to hear.” Everypony turned their attention toward Luminara. “First, is that I am not actually a pegasus and my name is not Luminara. Lightwing knows this. I am actually an alicorn named Luna.” In a small flash of light, Luna revealed her true form.

Lyra stared in shock at the princess of the night.

Luna smiled. “Lyra, I bet you are wondering how this is possible. It’s actually simple. The dragon never killed me. It only enslaved me. I was told to hide my true form and change my name in order to stop anypony from believing there was any hope of being saved. The next bit of news is going to surprise Lightwing too.” Lightwing looked up at Luna with an angry face but curiosity too. “My second announcement is that my sister is not dead either.”

Lightwing stared in disbelief and Lyra asked, “How?”

Luna continued smiling. “My sister, Discord, and I made a plan after we were told about the dark future that was to come. In order to save my sister, we moved a part of her spirit into an enchanted object so I could free it later and technically revive her. In order to save me if I died, we moved a part of my spirit into another unicorn. Lyra, you know her as Trixie. By doing this, Trixie became immortal like me. If I died, I would then share control of Trixie’s body until Discord would come and create a new body for me using his magic. We put some of Discord’s spirit into the Element of Magic, so if he died, Trixie could revive him. I told Trixie that if Twilight died, she had to hold onto Element of Magic until the sun rises once again. ”

“What about Twilight and her friends?” asked Lyra.

Luna shook her head. “Twilight and her friends chose not to accept this. They felt that their lives had been long enough and if they could not stop the dragon, they would die with no regrets.”

“Nice plan,” said Vivian. “But I don’t know who any of those ponies are. I feel so left out of this story. When are you going to revive your sister?”

“Right now. Lets go outside and bring light back to this world.”

The three ponies exited the the Crystal Castle and sat down in the courtyard.

Luna teleported a small card with a picture of Celestia next to her. Luna’s eyes and horn lit up with magic and the card began to glow. “I call on the power of the moon and stars. Help me release my sister. I summon Celestia, goddess of the sun!”

The card continued glowing and got brighter. A portal appeared in front of the card. A white alicorn stepped out of the portal, and then it closed.

Luna hugged her sister. “I am so happy to have you back.”

“Me too, my sister,” replied Celestia.

“Is there any food here?” asked Lyra.

“Yes!” exclaimed Lightwing. “I’m starved. I have not eaten at all today. Lets go eat...I want ham.”

Lyra and Vivian giggled as Luna and Celestia stared blankly at Lightwing.

“I need to move the moon before we eat.” Luna closed her eyes and began focusing her magic. Every pony looked up to the moon and watched it start to move. A bright light could be seen from behind the moon as it moved. Light covered the Crystal Castle. The rays of light continued to spread across the ground until it covered the land as far as the ponies could see.

Vivian stared off into the distance, watching the snow sparkle. Lightwing patted her friend on the back. “Lets go, Vivian. You can admire the light all you want after some lunch.” Lightwing and Vivian walked toward the Crystal Castle followed by the others.

Lightwing and Vivian stopped right at the entrance to the main hall.

“Why did you stop?” asked Lyra. The two ponies in Lyra’s way moved and Lyra saw what had caught their attention. A large ring with eight symbols evenly spread around it had appeared on the floor in the center of the hall. “That was not there when we left. Why is one of the symbols glowing blue?”

The symbol on the opposite side of the circle lit up with a blue glow. The ponies watched as all eight symbols lit up one at a time. Once all the symbols were glowing, they all shot a beam of magic into the center of the circle that they surrounded. The center of the circle began to rotate as a blue portal appeared. The two alicorn princesses used their magic to try to close the portal but had no effect on it.

Lightwing started floating forward as a magic energy slowly pulled on her. A green aura surrounded Lighting as Lyra used her own magic to hold her friend in place. “Why is the portal trying to get you?” asked Lyra as she grabbed Lightwing with her hooves.

“I don’t know,” replied Lightwing. A wave of magic shot out of the portal and Lightwing felt the pull on her get stronger. “Vivian, help Lyra.” Lyra felt the magic trying to push her away.

Vivian wasted no time and grabbed her friend with her hooves and magic. Electricity began surging out and around the portal as another wave of magic bolted out from the center and the magic aura surrounding Lightwing vanished.

Lyra’s grip on her friend was getting weaker with every passing second. “Why aren't the Princesses closing the portal with their magic? Why has Vivian’s and my magic stopped working too?”

“We are trying!” said an annoyed Luna. “The magic used to open it is more powerful than our magic. The longer it stays open, the less effect our magic has on it. It appears that the portal is repelling all of our magic. There is nothing any of us can do!”

A burst of magic came from the portal and hit Vivian and Lyra. Vivian’s grip became weaker and Lyra’s weak grip was broken. Vivian gasped as she saw Lyra lose her grip and get thrown against a wall.

“Let me go,” said Lightwing.

“What!?” replied Vivian.

“You heard me. Let the portal take me. I’ll find a way back from wherever I go.”

With a heavy sigh, Vivian released her hold on Lightwing. Vivian watched as her friend flew straight into the portal and vanished. The portal evaporated and silence filled the air.

After a minute of silence, Celestia spoke up. “I’m sure your friend will return. She traveled across time. She is also the only pegasus to learn how to use magic and that takes determination. We need to focus on our next job, and that’s finding new users for the Elements of Harmony.”

“I agree,” stated Luna. “Trixie will be here in a few days with the element of magic and then we can begin our search.”

Lyra looked over to the princesses with a smile. “I have an idea. Since we are bringing up a new Equestria, we should have a few new princesses. One pony princess from each pony species. We can have the two alicorn princesses, a unicorn princess, an earth pony princess, a pegasus princess, a thestral princess, and a changeling princess. I think it will help show that we are trying to help everypony. What do you think about this, Princesses?”

“It’s a good idea,” Luna answered.

Lyra turned toward Vivian, who was sitting in the center of the room. “Vivian, how would you like to be the unicorn princess?”

Vivian’s voice had a hint of sadness as she answered, “It would be an honor. I have a lot on my mind right now. So I’m sorry if I don’t sound super excited.”

“Want to tell us?” asked Lyra.

“Sure. I’m wondering if I should be more upset that my best friend just got sucked into some unknown portal. First, I had no feelings of joy or happiness when Lightwing returned from her lifelong adventure. This is understandable since she had only been gone for five minutes for me. Time travel is weird like that. That makes me feel guilty that I could not show my friend true joy or happiness that she obviously needed when she came back from her nightmare. Next, I have almost no feelings of sadness or regret that my best friend just disappeared and might not come back. This comes back to the whole five minute thing. We prepared for the possibility that she would never come back from her time traveling trip. Thus, I was prepared to never see my friend again. Once again this makes me feel guilty for not having feelings for my friend.”

Lyra was now standing by Vivian. “You should have no feelings of guilt. You said that you and her prepared for this moment. It just came in a different way than you thought.” Lyra put a hoof around Vivian. “So get rid of those feelings of guilt and find some happiness. I know I can’t replace Lightwing but I’ll do my best to be your friend.” Lyra turned toward Luna. “Luna, I have a question. Is the portal to my second home still here?”

“No,” replied Luna.

A thought came to Lyra. I wonder if I could use my enchanted hoofheld mirror to open a portal to my previous home? I use it to send letters.

Celestia teleported over to Vivian. “As a new princess, you must say the oath of the princesses.” A scroll was teleported in front of Vivian. “Please read this aloud.”

Vivian began reading.

“A princess is the guardian of peace.
There is no war, there is peace.
A princess uses her powers to defend and protect, never to attack.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
A princess respects all forms of life.
There is no anger, there is serenity.
A princess is meant to serve others, rather than rule over them.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
A princess seeks to improve herself through knowledge and training.
There is no no trying, there is doing.”

Princess Celestia smiled. “We will have a proper coronation after the other princesses are found. One coronation for five princesses."

“That sounds great,” stated Vivian. “Lyra, why do need a portal to get home? Can’t you just take a train or balloon?”

Lyra hid her sadness with a smile. “My home is too far away to get to without a portal. I was brought here through the portal. I can only return home using the portal...but now it’s no more.”

Chapter 11: New World

Lightwing was cruising through a blue tunnel of magic energy with no control over where she was going. A weird screeching sound could be heard as she floated through the blue portal. After sixty seconds of floating through this weird portal, Lightwing saw the the sky through an opening in the portal. It was evening wherever she was going. She passed through the opening of the portal and she watched the portal close below her. She saw that the ground was made of dirt.

Lightwing heard some creatures whispering to each other in a language she did not know. She looked up from the ground and saw a large crowd of plants watching her from a distance. Their beady eyes staring at her with fear. I have now gone crazy. She thought to herself as she slowly looked around at the large crowd surrounding her. I’m surrounded by a variety of plants and they are terrified of me. If I was a plant, I would be terrified of a pony too. These plants are larger than the ones back home. Lightwing's stomach made a sound that told every creature she was hungry. The crowd of plants gasped and took a few steps back.

Now they’re even more terrified of me. She thought as she looked at there faces. They all seem to recognize the sound of a hungry pony. Lightwing closed her eyes and slammed her face into the dirt. I’m going to die from starvation.

The crowd of plants took a few more steps back as her stomach made more noise, reminding all that she wanted food. With her head still in the dirt, she continued her thinking. I’m a carnivore in this world. I don’t want to kill any of these plants. They are too cute to want to kill. So...unless I can magically find a plant that does not have eyes, a mouth, leaf-hand-things and roots for feet...I’m going to die from lack of food. Die from starvation...I travel through time with little trouble. I fight off an evil dragon and live. I get possessed by said dragon and almost kill an alicorn but do I die?...no. I just get teleported to a new world and die from hunger.

Lightwing heard a sweet voice greet her. “Hi.”

Lightwing looked up from the dirt and saw a purple tulip standing over her. The first thought that came to her mind was, This flower is a little taller than me. Lightwing stared at the purple tulip in disbelief. “You can speak my language?”

“Yes we can. You're not the first pony to come here. My name is Tracy.”

“Can I know who were the other ponies to come here?”

Tracy sat down next to Lightwing. “The first and only other pony to come here was an evil unicorn that chose to enslave the whole planet. He wanted us to help him take over another world, but we never had the chance.” Lightwing’s stomach begged for food again. Tracy smiled. “I hear a hungry pony. I can get you some food that you won’t feel guilty about eating. Follow me.”

Tracy began walking toward her right followed by Lightwing. The two of them reached a piece of the huge crowd and Tracy signaled the other plants to move. All the plants continued staring as Tracy and Lightwing walked through the new opening in the crowd. The two of them walked over to a group of what appeared to be normal trees. Tracy stood next to a tree and lots of leaves began to fall from it, slowly making their trip to the ground.

Tracy smiled. You can eat these leaves. It does not hurt the tree when the leaves fall off. And now that the leaves are not part of the tree, you can eat them with no worry.”

“Why did so many leaves suddenly fall?”

“It’s simple,” replied Tracy. “I connected to the tree roots and told the tree to give them to you.”

Lightwing looked down and saw that tracy’s roots were buried into the dirt. “I guess that makes sense. Please continue with the other pony story, while I eat these leaves.”

Tracy sat down. “Our world is a pure world. One of hope, light, peace, and life. As such, we have no need for weapons. This planet is held together by the purity of life itself. Our world has never had any evil on it. Our protector and goddess keeps all evil away from our planet. Our planet radiates a powerful energy and, throughout history, many evil forces from the stars have tried to approach our planet in order to have this energy. These evil forces have always been defeated before they could touch our world. Most don’t even make it closer to our world than our own star. A few have made it to our planet. We have seen a few great battles in the sky as the forces of evil battled against the power of our goddess but no evil force has ever gotten to the surface. So when an evil force came directly onto our planet, we were defenseless against its dark magic. The evil unicorn could not kill our protector or our whole planet would begin to break apart. The corrupt magic of the evil unicorn would not be able to save our world, but our guardian could not attack the evil unicorn without killing some other life on the planet, and that is something our goddess would never do. Because of this, our world fell to the powers of darkness.”

Lightwing swallowed another bite of leaves. “This sounds like the evil unicorn from another story I heard. Is there any water around here to drink?”

Tracy smiled, and a small sinkhole appeared next to Lightwing. A geyser of water shot up and the sinkhole filled up.

Lightwing shook her head in disbelief. “Not even going to ask how. Please continue the story.”

“After two hundred and forty years of evil trying to control us and the enslavement of our entire species, our goddess had found a way to save our world without killing any living creature on our world. Using her powers and that of our star, she created five magical leaves. They are called the Emerald Leaves They are connected directly to our goddess and, if our goddess chooses, they can channel her powers into the one who has these leaves. These items were used to send the evil unicorn back to his world, and the power of our goddess stops him from ever returning.”

Lightwing jumped into the small pond to relax. “So where are these emerald leaves now?”

“I don’t know,” replied Tracy. “They were hidden away to stop any thoughts of evil from entering our minds. Great power can easily corrupt.”

“That makes sense. Do you think this goddess of yours can help me get home?”

“I do,” Tracy said with a smile.

“Tracy, why did you chose to help me?”

“It’s my job. My goddess told me to help you.”

“Oh...wow. That makes it very important. What does this goddess look like?”

Tracy pointed behind Lightwing. “If you look over there, you will see our goddess towering over the whole planet. She can be seen from almost any spot on our world.”

Lightwing turned around and looked off into the horizon. She saw a nice mountain range and behind it was a huge tree that practically went into space. The mountain range paled in height when compared to his huge tree. The mountains were just a tiny bug in the shadow of this tree. Lightwing looked back at Tracy with a confused face and pointed a hoof at the tree in the distance.

Tracy nodded her purple head. “That’s the Tree of Life.”

"It’s a tree..." replied a confused Lightwing.

Tracy looked annoyed. "What’s wrong with our goddess being a tree?"

"Nothing...I guess. It is just not what I was expecting...deja vu."

“What?”

Lightwing laughed. “I’m having a deja vu moment. Its when something happens and you feel like it has already happened before.”

Oh, I see,” replied Tracy. “It’s getting late. We should go to my home and get some rest. It gets really dark out here after the star fades behind the horizon. Too dark to be out here safely.”

“If you say so.” Lightwing got out of the pond and followed Tracy towards a small town. “Does your world not have a moon to light up the night?”

“What’s a moon?” asked Tracy.

“A moon is an object that orbits around the planet and reflects light to brighten up the night. Just like the sun. As you call it, a star.”

“Oh! You're talking about a satellite. Thats what we call them. And no, our planet does not have one. Also...the star does not orbit around the planet. That's physically impossible. Planets orbit stars and satellites orbit planets. Even the smallest star is larger than the biggest planet. So its gravity wins. I guess your pony species has a little more learning to do than I had thought.”

Lightwing noticed they were entering a town, but It was hard to see in the dark. “You're wrong Our sun does orbit our planet. We created it and we move it around the planet. Same with the moon. We have to make sure they stay on opposite sides of the planet.”

Tracy turned around. “Are you serious? Thats crazy. How big is this star?”

“It’s about a half the size of the planet. The same as our moon. I assume it helps with balancing out the gravity. Our world is a lonely one in the emptiness of space.”

Tracy opened a door to a house. “This is my home.” The two creatures entered the dark home. Lightwing could feel the solid rock under her hooves. Tracy turned to face her house guest. “That explains why you don’t know that planets orbit stars. You have no stars around to observe. Your night room is to your left. I’ll be in the room to your right. There is a small pond and a small tree in your room with leaves for you to eat. Just tap the tree lightly and they will fall off. There are lights in here. Just tell them to turn on and they will. At full power, they will only stay on for five hours and it stays dark for nine hours. So use them on low power or normal power.”

“Where do I sleep when I’m in my room?” asked Lightwing.

“On the bed I made for you. It’s not anything you are familiar with, but it will have to do. It gets very very cold at night. I would not be surprised if it was cold enough to damage your internal system. So turn on the heater in your room. It works the same as the lights. There is a floor heater too. That should be everything. Come wake me up if you have any questions.” Tracy entered her room and Lightwing went to her own.

Lightwing stood in her dimly lit room. The only light came from a window made from a hole in the wall. Lightwing discovered that it was actually an invisible stone. “Low power lights on.” Eight dimly lit lights appeared on the ceiling. Lightwing saw a pond in the upper left corner and a medium sized tree in the upper right corner. “Normal heaters on” A small red light next to her door turned on. In the bottom left corner of her room was a flat pile of dirt. “Sleeping on a pile of dirt is better than hard stone. To bad it’s not grass. I have not seen any grass at all. Just dirt and rocks. I wish I had a blanket...guess thats why there are heaters.” Lightwing laid down on the soft dirt. “This is not as bad as I thought it would be.” Lightwing took off her necklace and set it down next to her. She closed her eyes and rested for about an hour before telling the lights to turn off and going to sleep.

========== The next morning ==========

Lightwing opened her eyes to see a purple tulip sitting next to her reading a holographic book. “I guess yesterday was not a dream. I wonder what Rainbow Dash would think if she were here.”

Tracy looked over at her guest. “Nice of you to wake up. What’s a dream?”

Lightwing closed her eyes. “A dream is when our brain shows us stuff as we sleep. It’s almost like you're awake, but you’re not. If you're good enough, you can control what happens in your dream.”

“Sounds interesting. We plants don’t have the thing you call a brain.”

Lighting let out a yawn. “Do I need to get up? I’m so comfy. This heated bed is really nice. Even if it’s just a pile of smooth dirt.”

“You have to get up at some point if you want to talk to our goddess.”

“Fine,” replied Lightwing. “But first answer this. Is that a book made from magic?”

Tracy giggled. “No, it’s not made from magic. It’s just a hologram.”

“How is that possible without magic?” asked Lightwing.

“When your technology gets this advanced, you will know. Have you ever seem space from up close?”

Lightwing put a hoof on her chin. “Technology that is like magic. That’s cool. No I have never seen space from up close. Only from the planet’s surface.”

Do you want to see it up close? It’s really beautiful and the planet looks amazing from in space.”

Lightwing stood up. Her face showing happiness and a hint of disbelief. “Did you just offer to take me to space? Like the space where the planets and stars sit in.”

“Yes.”

“That sounds amazing. I want to go now. How long till we can get there? I’m guessing you have some sort of technology to get us there.”

Tracy opened the door to Lightwing’s room. “We can leave right now. We just need to walk to the spaceship docking building and rent a ship.”

Tracy and Lightwing left the house. Lightwing could now see the small town at its best. Every building was made from stone, but the architect was very different from her world. Canterlot looks better than this place and yet this place has better technology.

Other plant life forms were still staring at Lightwing as she walked by, but she paid no attention. It took six minutes to reach their target building.

Lightwing looked around the inside of the building, observing everything. “Every space ship is made from vines and stone. Nothing here looks like it could fly...let alone make it off the ground.”

“O ye of little faith,” Tracy said with a smile. “Just because it looks like it can't fly does not mean it won’t fly. Now follow me onto a ship and we will fly.”

Lightwing followed Tracy onto a small ship that was made for four passengers. They both sat down, and Tracy connected her roots into some vines on the floor and grabbed the steering wheel with her leaf-hands.

Tracy smiled as the spaceship began to shake. “Time for take off.”

Lightwing could hear the engines turning on. The ship began to hover in the air.

Tracy turned toward Lightwing. “Pony-girl, You should sit against the back wall.” Lightwing scooted back a little and sat against the back wall.

The small spaceship turned so that the front was facing the ceiling of the building. Lightwing would have fallen onto the back wall if she were not already there. Lightwing watched as the stone ceiling of the building the ship was in slowly opened up.

The engines began to make some more noise. Tracy grabbed the steering wheel tightly. “Hold onto your wings, pony-girl!” The ship zoomed out of the building, flying straight up at amazing speed.

Lightwing could feel the force of gravity pulling her against the back wall. She could barely move. “How long will this last?” She asked.

“About one hundred seconds. I just realised that I never found out what your name is.”

“It’s Lightwing.” It feels like I’m getting heavier every second. She thought to herself. As they were passing through the atmosphere of the planet, Lightwing could see a few stars coming into view. The blackness of space was coming more into view too as they continued their journey. To Lightwing’s amazement, there were no clouds in the sky for the whole trip.

The blueness of the sky had completely vanished and the blackness of space and stars now took up all of their view. “Ten seconds left,” said Tracy.

At the end of the ten seconds, the spaceship’s engines turned off and Lightwing began to float in the air.

Tracy disconnected her roots from the vine and floated toward her friend. “So what do you think?” she asked.

‘“Well...I’m use to flying but not like this. It’s more like I’m swimming. The stars are so clear in the sky. I can see stuff that I could never see from on a planet. Although...the stars don’t twinkle from up here but that does not matter.”

Tracy floated back toward the steering wheel. “You need to see the planet now.”

The engines hummed lightly and the ship slowly turned to its right. Lightwing stared out the front window. She assumed it was made of invisible stone, just like the window in the room she spent the night in. A faint blue glow appeared on the right side of the window. The blue light got brighter as the ship turned more until the planet started coming into view. A large ocean could be seen as more of the planet came into their range of sight. The ocean had a few visible islands on it, but it was mostly just water. A large piece of land bigger than the ocean was coming into view. The land had a brown tint to it. Lightwing assumed it was from all the dirt that covered the planet. The land was mostly flat but it did have a few mountain ranges, valleys and forests that stood out with the bright green color they had. A large forest came into view. At the edge of the forest a mountain range was becoming visible. This was the largest forest and mountain range on the planet. The forest surrounded the mountains, almost like it was protecting them. The mountain range seemed to be curving around something too. Lightwing was eager to see what was at the center of them.

Lightwing raised an eyebrow as she saw leaves come into view. They were above the sky and clouds. “I should not be able to see leaves from this high up.” Tracy shook her head as more and more leaves came into view. Lightwing was amazed as she saw a tree trunk in the center of the mountain range. The tree shined with a magic glow. “That tree is thicker than the whole mountain range surrounding it, and it reaches into space. That has to be the biggest tree on the planet…” Realisation hit Lightwing. “That’s the tree I saw on the horizon. That’s the protector of the planet, the goddess of their world.” The huge tree took up most of their window as the mountains and forest took up what was left at bottom.

“Isn’t the Tree of Life beautiful?” asked Tracy.

“Yes,” replied Lightwing.

Lightwing watched as the tree, mountains, and forest slowly left her range of sight. A large shadow was being cast by the huge tree but the shadow was hard to see because the planet was getting darker. Darkness was taking over the window fast. Soon the planet appeared to be a dark spot in space. The only light coming from it was from large cities.

Tracy turned and smiled. “That’s pretty much the whole planet. You saw the Great Ocean, the Tree of Life, the land of our world, the day side and the night side. The ocean takes up about thirty percent of the planet and the land takes up the rest. There are rivers and lakes, but most of the water is in the ocean.”

Lightwing continued staring at the dark circle with little blobs of lights on it. “I wonder what my world looks like from space.” Lightwing saw a different spaceship flying away from the planet. “Where are they going?”

“Probably to the Space Observation Platform,” answered Tracy. “Its a large structure we built in space. We use it for observation. They would never let a pony on it, so don’t ask to go there. I think it’s time for us to go back to the planet. I hope you liked the small tour around the planet.”

Tracy began flying the ship back toward the day side of the planet. Lightwing fell to the floor with a bang as gravity returned. The trip back to the surface was a lot smoother and a little longer then the trip into space.

Chapter 12: New Mission

Lightwing and Tracy exited the spaceship docking building and began their eight minute walk to a temple. Once again, Lightwing payed no attention to all the stares she got from the locals. The top of the temple could be seen from anywhere in town. It was the tallest building and the second widest in the town.

Tracy and Lightwing stopped just outside of the temple. Lightwing asked in a nervous voice. “Am I allowed in there?”

“Yes.”

Lightwing began pacing around nervously. “But that’s a temple built to worship your goddess...and I’m considered an evil creature on this world.”

“You need to go in there with me.” Tracy firmly stated. “The Tree of Life needs to talk to you. Our goddess knew you would come here and even where you would appear. Did you think it was just an accident that a huge crowd was there surrounding you right when you got here? She has been telling our whole species of your arrival since our freedom from the evil unicorn. Every creature on the planet knows of you.”

Lightwing stopped pacing. “Alright, I’ll go in there. I’m obviously expected.”

“Just be quiet when we are inside. Don’t say anything unless something is said to you first.”

Tracy opened the door to the temple, and the two entered it. The floor of the temple was all dirt. The temple was filled with hundreds of plants of different types, all lined up in rows on each side of the building. All were singing a beautiful song in perfect harmony. Tracy joined in the singing. Too bad for Lightwing she did not speak or understand their natural language. On the walls were murals of many types of plants. On the back wall was a huge mural of the Tree of Life. Also in the back was a large green emerald statue of a tree. After five minutes of the plants singing, all of them stopped singing at the exact same time. It kind of freaked Lightwing out.

The statue in the back glowed bright and a green light shot out across the soft floor straight toward Lightwing and Tracy. Silence filled the temple as Tracy and Lightwing walked up toward the glowing statue.

Tracy was first to break the silence. “Lightwing, touch the statue with your front legs.”

“Hooves,” answered Lightwing.

“Yeah, those. Then close your eyes, and the Tree of Life will speak to you.”

Lightwing did as she was told and stood on her hind legs and touched the statue with both her forehooves. She closed her eyes and felt a magic energy engulf her. She could hear a small sweet voice in her head.

Do not be afraid to open your mind to me. I am not here to hurt you, but I can not help you if you do not open your mind.

I’m not afraid.

Why are you lying to yourself and me? You can not hide your fear from yourself.

I’m sorry...I just don’t like other entities in my mind. I have had a few bad experiences with other entities in my mind.

Every creature has bad experiences, but you can not let those hold you back.

How do you know I was lying to you if you’re not in my mind?

You apoligised, and then you admitted you lied when you asked your question. Also, if you were not afraid, you would not have closed off your mind and put up your strongest defense. You might have closed off your mind and have a small defence in order to be cautious, but you put up your strongest defense. That tells me you are afraid.

I guess I did admit to lying. Again, I’m sorry I lied to you. Why do I need to open my mind to you if I can talk to you just like this?

In order for me to help you get home, you need my magic, and I can not give it to you if you do not open your mind to me.

That makes sense. I really don’t want to do this. The last time I had an entity in my mind...I was trapped in a twelve-thousand-year nightmare! And the time before...well that one was OK. Princess Luna is nice. But the time before that…I don’t want to think about that. I hope I won’t regret this. I’m now going to...open my mind.

Good job getting over your fear. Now you must keep your mind open as I explore it. In order for you to use my full power, I must have access to all of your mind and you must be able to accept it. Only together can I save you.

So...when can you send me home?

Only after you find the Emerald Leaves.

Figures it would not be free. But I know why I must find them. The Emerald Leaves are how you transfer your magic to others. Tracy told me this. Thanks for sending her to help me. Is there anything else I need to know, or can I start my treasure hunt?

There are a few more things. Your treasure is in a secret cave in the Castle of the Unicorn King. The castle is in the Mysterious Oak Woods. There is a diamond in the throne room. It contains a great evil power within it, but will only be unlocked when it is used to open a portal to your world. This diamonds is indestructible at this time. After you find your prize, the dragon enemy of yours will return again. You can stop him for good with my powers. Then I will send you home. You must find the other half of the diamond when you get back and bring them together. For only then can you destroy the diamond and the evil within.

So I need to save this world too. That dragon is so annoying. Why can’t he stay dead?! So is that all I need to know?

Yes.

Do you have a name?

Yes.

May I have the honor of knowing the name of the one who helped me get home?

I will tell you my name but you can not tell any other creature. Do you understand?

I understand completely. I will never say your name to any creature here or on my world.

Alright. My name is Yggdrasil.

Lightwing felt the magic leave her. She opened her eyes and saw Tracy and all the other plants in the temple.

“Welcome back. Did you learn how to get back home?”

“Yes,” replied Lightwing. “How long was I standing here?”

“About three seconds.”

“What? I have to remember to not question magic.”

Lightwing followed Tracy out of the temple back to her home. To Lightwing’s surprise, Tracy already knew of everything. Lightwing was expecting to pack a lot of supplies, but Tracy just put on a necklace and said they were ready to leave. The two went back to the spaceship docking building and Tracy paid a pilot to take them to the Mysterious Oak Woods.

Tracy waved to the pilot as she left the ship. “Thanks for the ride, Lily.”

Lily, rolled her eyes. “That’s what friends are for. I don’t know how you can walk around with a pony and not be afraid. Your new name is Crazy Tracy. Don’t you ever wonder if she will eat you?”

“At first I was a little worried,” Tracy said with an awkward smile. “But I got over the fear as I got to know her. She is a nice creature once you get past the fact she eats our species. We all know that the Tree of Life trusts her, and that means we should trust her too.”

“I’m still going to call you Crazy Tracy. You have a strange forest to explore. So you better get off my spaceship.”

Tracy left the spaceship and watched it fly away. “So...pony-girl, are you ready to enter this dangerous forbidden place?”

Lightwing was watching the dark clouds over the dark forest. She let out a sigh as she sat down. “I think you should tell me about this place first.”

“Alright,” replied Tracy as she sat down too. “This place was created when the evil unicorn opened a portal to our world. The evil unicorn traveled between the two worlds many times. Every time he opened the portal, it weakened the barrier between our worlds and parts of both our worlds merged and created this forest. This forest is is very strange and unnatural. The trees are not alive enough to communicate with us but they still grow as if they are living creatures. The plants here grow without sunlight. Most of the plants here eat each other and the weather never changes. It’s just a strange place. We need to be careful.”

“Sounds dangerous. Are you sure you want to go in there with me?”

“Yes. Let’s get going.”

The two of them took their first steps into the dark forest. After a minute of walking , it was almost too dark to see anything. Tracy’s necklace glowed and two smaller pendants with glowing stones in them appeared.

Lightwing put on the new pendant with a smile. “What else does that special necklace of yours do?”

Tracy casually waved her leaf-hands. “It’s just a storage device. I have all the supplies we need in it.”

With light to guide them, they continued their journey. The only plants to be seen were trees and bushes. The quest was oddly quiet for the first ten minutes.

The two reached a circular clearing in the mess of the forest. It was about thirty feet wide. Lightwing’s eyes scanned the clearing thoroughly. “It looks safe...too safe. There isn’t a single form of life in this clearing. It’s just a pile of dirt. I say we fly over it.”

“I disagree,”replied Trace nervously. “I say we test it and see what is really here. We should know what to expect as we continue. Lets throw a rock or two in there and watch what happens.” Tracy grabbed a small rock and hurled it into the clearing. The rock hit the dirt and rolled a few inches before a small plant popped out of the ground and swiftly disappeared back into the ground with the rock. “Did you see that? It was some kind of red plant and it had white dots on it.”

“My vote is still to fly over this place. Hop onto my back and I’ll take off.” Tracy jumped onto the back of her friend. Lightwing flapped her wings, bringing up dust as she became airborne. A small white-spotted red plant popped up from in the clearing. It had obviously been alerted by the wind her wings made. It chomped at the air with its sharp teeth. Lightwing stuck her tongue out in a mocking way as she slowly flew over the clearing and the mini plant. Three more of the same plant popped up and chomped at the air too. ”You can’t get me from down there,” Lightwing mocked. “Better luck next time.” Lightwing continued mocking the strange plants as she flew over them. Tracy jumped off once they reached the other side of the clearing. Lightwing smiled with pride as she landed. “I told you flying was...OUCH!” She said as something bit her left hind leg. Lightwing turned around with anger. She bit off the head of the plant that had attacked her.

Tracy stared in shock. “You just...ate it.”

Lightwing swallowed the now chewed up plant. “A little spicy but good. It sealed its fate when it bit me first. Now it knows my teeth are bigger.” Lightwing jumped toward one of the small red plants. It vanished into the ground as she landed next to it. “Aww, you don’t want to play any more. Was I too mean?”

The ground shook a little as eight medium-sized versions of the red plant popped up in between Lightwing and Tracy, effectively cutting them off from each other. Tracy did not like the fact that they were as tall as her. The ground shook again more violently as more of these new medium sized plants popped up and formed a circle around the clearing.

Tracy peaked over the top of the white-spotted plants, with a worried face. “Are you going to be alright?”

Lightwing forced out a laugh. “Of course I’ll be alright. I can just fly over them if things get too tough.” Lightwing felt the ground vibrate a little. She quickly jumped to a new spot. She looked back to see one of those mean plants in the spot she just left. She jumped again as she felt the same thing. I think I know how can beat these things. If I time my moves right, I can get out of their way and attack them as they come up.

Lightwing focused on feeling the motion of the ground, waiting for the small vibrations made by the moving plants. There it was, she could feel her enemy coming. She raised her hind legs milliseconds before the plant popped up. A second later, the plant hissed as it was crushed under her hind legs. She repeated this process three more times before the plants began to counter attack by delaying their attacks.

Lightwing smiled as she let a plant bite her. “You fell right into my trap.” It hissed as she ripped its head off of its stem and used it as a weapon. “Say bye to your head too,” she used her new weapon to bite the stem of a different plant, thus disconnecting its head. She jumped into the air with excitement. “Now I have two weapons!” With twice the firepower, she jumped around disconnecting other plant heads from their stems. She continued having fun for about a minute.

The strange biting plants stopped coming up. This puzzled Lightwing because the wall that blocked her from leaving was still up. Lightwing stood there and caught her breath. She did not mind the thirty second break. The ground shook violently as a row of these plants that stretched all the way across the clearing popped up. Another row popped up after that and another. Lightwing realised the plants were taking over the battlefield. She opened her wings and took to the air.

“What now ya spotted piranhas?” Two plants zoomed off of the ground toward Lightwing, She ducked under them. “Wow, those are long stems.” Five more shot toward her. She dodged two. She screamed in pain as the other three bit her and held on tight. She quickly started biting them back but for every one that was disconnected, two more latched onto her. With eight strange plants on her, she gave up trying to bite them and focused on trying to fly away.

Every plant that was not connected to a struggling pegasus went back into the ground. Tracy gasped as she saw Lightwing in a tough spot. “Should I come help you?”

“No! I’m not dead yet. I can still win this...I just need to think of how.” Lightwing was slowly being pulled toward the ground. “These things would pull your fragile plant body apart in no time. So stay away.”

Tracy stayed put.

A huge sinkhole appeared in place of the clearing. Tracy looked over the edge and was happy she listened to her flying friend. She would be inside a huge, hungry and scary plant if she had not listened. “Pony-girl! We have a problem. I think you made the mother plant angry. This has bigger teeth than you.”

Lightwing glanced behind her and saw the twenty five foot wide plant head in the ground. She continued trying to escape but with no success. She looked back at the plant. Trying to think of a way to escape. Those teeth are spread apart enough that I can fit in between them...I don’t like this idea. “I hope this works.”

Tracy watched in horror as Lightwing let herself get pulled into the monster of a plant. She watched the plant close its huge mouth with her friend inside it. If Tracy had had eyebrows, she would have raised one when she saw the monster plant twitching.

Seconds later Lightwing was spit out of the plant at full speed. She flew through the air screaming. “Victory!” She landed next to Tracy and collapsed. “No...no plant is eating me for lunch.”

Tracy used her necklace to make something appear and then attached it to Lightwing. “How did you pull that victory off?”

Lightwing could feel her injuries being healed. “I saw that I could fit in between the monster's teeth. I figured I would eat my enemy from inside. As you could see, I was not going to win from the outside. I figured it would spit me out if I started eating it from within. If something bit the inside of my mouth, I would spit it out.” Lightwing gave the small device back. “Thanks for healing me. I needed it. Too bad it doesn’t heal my tiredness. I need a five minute break.”

Five minutes later, Tracy said, “The five minute break is over, pony-girl.”

“Alright,” said Lightwing as she began walking through the dark forest. “Why do you keep calling me pony-girl, when you know my name?

“I like it. Do you want me to stop?”

“No”

“Do we have any idea where we are going?” asked Tracy.

Lightwing looked at Tracy with a smile. “Nope. Too bad I can’t fly over the forest. Those storm clouds are trouble. This place is dull...all the trees and bushes look the same.”

“I’m sure we will see something exciting again.”

Lightwing stopped walking and looked to her left. “Hey, look over here.”

Tracy looked and saw some small white flowers. “Are you happy now. You got your different color plants...aside from the obvious purple flower next to you.”

“I wonder what the white flowers do?” asked Lightwing. “Lets not find out.” Lightwing and Tracy continued on their way.

The forest was slowly getting colder. The two explorers had no more encounters for the next hour. They decided to rest for the night. Tracy teleported a small device out from her necklace and used it to put up a shield that kept the temperature at a specific level and stopped any form of plant life from entering. They both went to sleep.

Tracy woke up. She saw that Lightwing was sitting next to her and already awake. “Good morning pony-girl...although it’s a little dark to be morning.”

“Then it’s a good thing we have those glowing pendants. It’s time to move out.”

Four minutes after they started, they encountered a strange group of blue bushes.Tracy was mesmerized by the color of the plants and wouldn’t stop looking at them.

“Tracy, are you feeling ok?” said Lightwing with a worried face. “Do you need to get more sleep? You’re acting weird.”

“I’m fine. I’m great.” Replied Tracy without breaking eye contact with the blue plants. “Can’t you see the beautiful plants in front of us? They’re simply stunning.”

“They’re just blue bushes...the white flowers were better looking than them. Lightwing shook her head. “Even the red plant with white spots looked nicer. And it was mean!“ She moved herself in between Tracy and the blue plants. “Stop looking at these things. They’re messing with your head.”

“Looking at what?” asked Tracy.

“Behind me are strange blue bushes. They were controlling you somehow. I guess it only works if you can see them. I don’t know why they had no effect on me. I guess my mind is too advanced for them,” she said with a smile.

Tracy giggled at her thought. Or your mind is not advanced enough and they don’t see you as a threat.

“Why you laughing?” asked Lightwing. “It doesn’t matter. Turn around and get on my back. I’ll fly us over them. You just keep your eyes closed until I say otherwise.” Tracy did as she was told and Lightwing flew for about two minutes. “You can open your eyes.”

“Finally,” she said as she opened her eyes. “I thought I was lost in darkness forever.”

“You were lost...until you were shown the light.”

Tracy forced out a laugh. “You’re so right. There’s so much light in this dark forest. I can totally see the light now.”

Lightwing rolled her eyes in response.

The two explored for two hours with little trouble from the forest. They saw several small forms of plant life wandering the forest. The biggest threat was from a group of small purple plants that tried to eat Lightwing. They were no bigger than Lightwing’s hoof. They were easily dealt with. She called them mini eggplants, but Tracy had no clue what an eggplant was.

Lightwing sighed as she saw another thirty foot circular clearing. “I really didn’t want to see another one of these. Get on my back and I’ll zoom over it at full speed.”

“Are you sure you can make it?”

“Yes.” Tracy got onto the pegasus and held on tight.

Lightwing turned around and started to fly the opposite way “Wrong way, pony-girl.”

“I know,” replied Lightwing. “I need to build up speed.” Lightwing turned around again and took off at full speed. To both their surprise, no plants shot out of the ground as they passed over the clearing. Lightwing landed nicely on the other side. “That was not what I expected.” She kicked a small rock into the clearing but nothing happend. “There was a huge monster plant in the last clearing...where is this one? Not even the small ones are popping up.”

“Forget about it,” said Tracy. “I don’t think you need to go through that again.”

“One moment,” replied Lightwing. She slowly walked into the clearing, being extra cautious. She stood in the center for a minute, expecting the ground to open up. Lightwing quickly flew to a tree and broke off a small branch. She hovered back to the clearing and tossed the branch onto the ground but nothing happend. She sighed in defeat and hovered over toward Tracy.

Tracy looked at, Lightwing with confusion. “Are you trying to get yourself eaten?”

“No, I was just doing an experiment.”

Then you will be happy to know that it was a success. Just look behind you.”

Lightwing glanced behind her and saw seven small red plants with white spots slowly eating the branch. She slowly began to hover closer. One by one, the familiar plants went back into the ground as she got closer. She backed up to see if they would pop back up. Lightwing smiled as she saw them start eating the branch again.

Lightwing went back to Tracy. “They seem to be afraid of me. I guess its buddy told it to watch out for me.”

“That’s one theory,” stated Tracy. “It could also be the same plant. They could be two separate plants but be connected with their roots. That would support your theory.”

Lightwing’s eyes brightened with an idea. “Your night-shield protects us from the weather, so why can’t we use it to protect us from the storm clouds above us? Flying above the trees would make this trip much easier.”

“I don’t like that idea,” said Tracy with a shake of her head.

“Please...,” begged Lightwing. “Just a quick look around.”

“Make it quick.” Reluctantly, Tracy mounted Lightwing and activated the shield. “You have five minutes before I turn off the shield.”

Lightwing spread her wings and took to the air. Lightwing began zooming over the trees carefully watching the ground for clues. She did not notice that a bolt of lightning struck the shield around her. As Lightwing was frantically searching for anything to help, Tracy saw a beam of light shining out from the forest into the clouds.

Tracy smirked as she realised that she probably found their target. Lightwing continued watching the ground for any clues. Tracy stayed quiet for the next three minutes. “You can stop looking now, pony-girl.”

“I still have two minutes!” the frantic pegasus argued.

“I know,” replied Tracy with a hint of sarcasm. She continued with more sarcasm. “I am feeling generous, so I shall give you an extra ten minutes to search.”

“I don’t like your tone of voice, plant-girl,” growled Lightwing.

Tracy patted her pegasus friend on the back. “I would not like my tone either. I am going to take a ten minute nap. Make sure you tell me when you find the castle or a sign of some sort.” Tracy relaxed and began watching the storm clouds. The bolts of random lightning were enticing to her. About every twenty seconds, a bolt of lightning would strike the shield.

The ten minutes went by faster than Tracy wanted. With a sigh she said, “Time is up, Lightwing. Have you tried looking in front of you? I know the ground can be fun to watch but you should look where you are going.”

Lightwing looked up and away from the ground. She facehooved as she saw a beam of light piercing through the forest and clouds in the distance. With a deep breath, she flew full speed toward their target.

Chapter 13: Emerald Leaves

Lightwing landed in front of a tall castle in a clearing. To both Lightwing and Tracy’s amazement, the castle was well preserved. Lightwing looked behind her. “I guess it’s time to say bye to the Mysterious Oak Woods.” She turned back toward the gray-walled castle and looked up to see a large tower in the center.

Tracy jumped onto the ground. “I bet the throne room is at the top of that tower. The one with no windows!”

Lightwing entered the castle followed by her purple-tulip buddy. The gray walls became purple as they walked through the first hallway. Candles were evenly spaced on the wall and hieroglyphs filled the rest of the spaces. The two girls were silent as they walked through the hall of hieroglyphs.

The two girls reached the main chamber of the castle and noticed its square shape. Lightwing saw the corner of the tower and an open door. “Thats an odd place for a door. Why is it on the corner of the tower and not one of the walls?”

Tracy shrugged. “Why would I know? This place was built by a pony.” Tracy began walking to a doorway toward the right.

“There’s another hallway to our left. Why are you going toward the right one?”

Tracy turned around and asked, “What do you notice about this hallway?”

“The walls are green…”

With a sigh, Tracy continued walking toward the green hallway. “Read the sign above the doorway and you will know why I chose this hallway first.”

Lightwing took notice of the sign and saw it said Emerald Passage. “Don’t forget we need to go to the throne room at some point.” Tracy did not respond. She was too busy observing the blank walls. “Tracy?”

Quiet, Lightwing!” Commanded Tracy. “I am looking for clues. You should too. Go observe the other wall.” Lightwing walked to the other side and began searching for clues, whatever they may be. The next five minutes were silent. They reached the end of the hall but had no new information.

“So now what?” asked Lightwing.

Tracy jumped onto the Lightwing’s back. “Lets go see what is at the top of the tower. The two left the hall.

Lightwing chose to fly instead of walking up the stairs. Getting to the top of the tower was more time consuming than the heroines wanted but was not a real problem.

The throne room was the same dull gray color as the outside walls. The room was strangely empty aside from a single chair in the center and a black diamond embedded into the floor in front of it. Lightwing was in awe of the beam of light that shined out from the diamond and into the sky through a small hole in the roof. She noticed the light start to flicker. She blinked a few times to see if it was an illusion. Lightwing stared in shock as the light faded and did not come back.

Tracy stood right next to Lightwing and readied her voice. “Pony-girl!” Lightwing turned her head toward Tracy and eyed a broken diamond in Tracy’s leaf-hands. “Pony-girl, it’s time to go back down stairs. We still need to find magic leaves.”

Lightwing nodded in agreement. “Get on my back and hold onto that broken diamond. The trip downstairs will be much faster.” Tracy go on and held on tight as Lightwing walked to the staircase. Lightwing smiled as she dived down the center. She watched the stairs as they zoomed by her and loved the feeling of free falling.

Tracy was cautiously watching the floor get closer. “Are you going to open your wings? The ground is approaching fast.”

“No way! This is the best part!”

Tracy continued holding on tight. “But...you need to slow down or you will not have time to stop.”

With a chuckle, Lightwing continued her free fall with no sign of slowing down. Worry was taking over Tracy as the floor was getting too close for comfort. A thought made itself known in her head. We are going to die any second now.

Adrenaline was coursing through Lightwing’s body as she mentally prepared to open her wings. Her wings flared open when she was only a few inches from the ground. Lightwing’s momentum changed from downward to forward. “I love this!” she exclaimed as she zoomed out the door of the tower. Flying quick circles around the square room, she showed no sign of slowing down.

After two minutes, Lightwing’s momentum had slowed enough for Tracy to safely jump off. Tracy watched the pegasus continue making laps around the room, slowing down a little each time. After another two minutes, an out-of-breath pegasus landed in front of Tracy and collapsed on the ground.

Tracy stared at Lightwing before asking. “Did you have fun?”

“...Yes,” replied an out-of-breath pegasus. “I need to rest a little. Give me a minute and then we can continue our search.”

Two minutes later, the two got up and walked over to the sapphire passage. Looking into the blue-colored hallway, the two were disappointed to see the walls were as barren as the emerald passage.

Lightwing sighed as she walked out of the sapphire passage. “I guess the tower was the highlight of our search...literally.”

Highlight? thought Tracy. “High...high! Pony-girl, go check the roof of the emerald passage.”

“Yes, boss.” Hovering over to the green hallway, she began looking at the roof for clues. Tracy walked in a moment later. “See anything up there?”

“Yes boss. I found a hieroglyph of four leaves surrounding a circle...and an outline of a leaf.”

“Will you bring me up to the roof?” Tracy asked curiously. “There was nothing on the roof of the other hall.”

Lightwing picked up Tracy and they both observed the hieroglyph. Tracy slowly put her leaf-hand into the outline. The hieroglyph glowed a dark green for a moment before a doorway magically appeared in the wall. Lightwing landed in front of the newly formed doorway and looked in to see a stone staircase going deep underground. Lucky for the two heroines, the cave walls were lined with candles that had a magic glow to them.

Lightwing began hovering down the stone staircase. Five minutes later, the stairs came to an end. The two explorers entered a large square room. Next to the entrance, there was a square tablet made from stone. The floor was divided into a sixty-four square grid, with an open door on the opposite side of the room. Multiple rows of candles lined the walls, leaving little space for darkness.

With Tracy still on her back, Lightwing looked at the tablet. “Plant-girl, do you know what these strange symbols mean?

Tracy turned her head to look at the tablet. “This thing is as big as me. It’s our written language. The path of the leaves shall guide you. That’s what it says.”

Lightwing smiled. “Looks like we need to take a special path.” With a chuckle, she opened her wings. “I think I’ll take a shortcut.” With a flap of her wings, she took to the air and began her flight. She never made it past the first tiled floor, as a white light surrounded her and she was standing back in front of the tablet. “...I guess that won’t work.”

“It was a nice thought, Pony-girl but I think you won’t be able to cheat the puzzles ahead of us.” Lightwing laid down on her stomach and started thinking while Tracy reclined against one of her pegasus friends wings and began thinking too. Something on the roof caught Tracy’s eye. The ceiling was divided into the same pattern as the floor but had leaves carved into some of the tiles. Tracy tapped the back of Lightwing’s head. “Look at the ceiling.”

With a glance at the ceiling, Lightwing replied, “I think you found our path.” She flew up to the tiled ceiling.

Tracy nearly fell off as Lightwing turned upside down. “What are you doing?” she asked as she tightened her grip.

Lightwing could not stop herself from giggling as she said, “I’m following the path of the leaves.” Tracy just shook her head and said nothing. Lightwing continued giggling as she walked on the ceiling, following the path set before her. Once she reached the end of the path, she landed on the floor and walked into a small hallway.

Lightwing looked down into the room in front of her. “This room is much smaller and has three doors to exit from.” She hovered down to the floor and saw another three doors behind her.

Tracy read the stone tablet in this room. “Move straight into the future to find your way, but don’t get left behind. Look to the past and make the right choice.” Tracy jumped off Lightwing and casually started walking around her. “It says to go straight...but it also said to look back. Maybe it wants us to take the door behind us. Then there’s that whole right choice thing.”

Lightwing was now sitting down on her hind legs and playing with her mane.“I guess we should go straight into the center door in front of us...but that seems too simple. However, it does seem like the best first choice.”

“Let’s do it,” agreed Tracy. The two walked through the center doorway into the next room. Tracy sighed as she looked at the stone tablet. “This tablet says the same thing as the last one…”

“Tracy, there are no more doors in front of us. We have to go back. Just like the tablet tells us.” Tracy looked up from the tablet and saw a solid stone wall a few feet ahead of them.

The two went through the center doorway again back to the other room.

Tracy began walking to the center doorway at the back of the room. “Follow me, Lightwing. I have an idea.” Tracy lead them into the back room and turned to face Lightwing. “It said to look to the past and make the right choice. I think it wants us to go through the right door in this back room.” The two went through the right doorway back into the center room.

Lightwing glanced around the room. “Nothing is happening or changing.”

Tracy pointed in front of them. “Lets go back into the future room. It did say move into the future and not get left behind.”

Lightwing smiled as she followed tracy into the future room through the same center doorway. Her smile faded as she said, “Nothing is happening or changing.”

“I see that,” replied Tracy.

Lightwing jumped into the air. “Idea! What if the tablet was telling us to go straight into this room through the center door but go back through the left door instead of the center door like we did? The whole left behind thing could be a clue to take the left. Then we go to the past room and take the right door into the present room and then the center one back to the future.”

Tracy agreed with a smile. “Good idea but it says not to get left behind. Lets take the right door first and try the left if that fails.”

The two heroines went through the doors in the order they agreed on but nothing happened. They tried the other order but had no results again. They tried five more paths but had no luck.

From the future room, as they called it, Tracy stood at the stone tablet reading it over, trying to think of more ideas. Lightwing sat against a wall thinking with her voice. “Why did none of our ideas work? What are we doing wrong? Move straight into the future to find your way. We did that and even skipped that part too. But don’t get left behind. We tried a few ideas with this too...look to the past and make the right choice. We did that too. Every door combination has failed us.”

Lightwing began pacing between the back wall and three doors in the front. As she was walking next to the back wall, she noticed a faint green glow on the wall in the farthest room. She stopped pacing and stood in place staring at the faint green glow that was two rooms away. Lightwing took a few steps forward only to see the green light vanish. She backed up and the light reappeared in the far room.

Without turning away from the tablet, Tracy asked, “Pony-girl, what has your attention?”

“I think I see something interesting...I’m going to check it out.” Lightwing reached the far wall and began looking for the source of the light.

Two minutes later, Tracy felt the ground begin shaking. She looked up from the tablet the back wall opening up.

Lightwing trotted room with a sigh of relief. “I figured out that annoying riddle...accidentally.”

“Accidently?” asked Tracy with confusion.

“Not what you expected,” replied Lightwing. “There was a diamond in the past room. It’s above the center door and it shines a green light. Sadly the light can only be seen from a certain angle, so we can see it from this room. I was hovering in the other room when I saw the glowing diamond. I rotated it to the right. It was a switch for the secret door.”

Tracy shook her head in annoyance. “I guess the riddle was literally telling us to look back from this room...whatever. On to the next room.”

The two adventurers walked down the newly opened hallway, admiring the candles as they passed by.

Lightwing trotted into the new room and closed her eyes as she sat down on her hind legs. “What’s the riddle for this room?”

“Make the leaves face each other to move forward.”

Lightwing opened her eyes and scanned the room. “The only leaves I see are the ones you use for hands and the hieroglyph on the far wall.”

Tracy rolled her eyes. “There is another hieroglyph on the front of the stone tablet. Pony-girl, do you think you can rotate this tablet?”

“I’ll try...but I don’t think it would be that simple.” Lightwing propped herself up against the tablet, using her wings to help balance. She pushed the tablet rotating it easier than she expected. Neither of them noticed that the hieroglyph on the wall had moved. Lightwing looked to the location of where she last saw the hieroglyph. “Where is the hieroglyph that was on the far wall? It’s...gone.”

“It’s behind us,” Tracy said as she walked around Lightwing. “Pony-girl, do you think you can lift the tablet up?”

“I don’t see why not,” replied Lightwing. “What’s the idea?”

“It’s simple,” replied Tracy as she pointed at the hieroglyph. “I just want to see if the hieroglyph moves on the floor and roof too.”

Lightwing opened her wings and stood behind the tablet. She turned to face the opposite direction of it. She slowly pushed one of her back hooves against the bottom of the tablet as Tracy pushed the top toward Lightwing. It fell onto Lightwing’s back with a little more force than the pegasus was expecting. Her legs trembled under the new weight as she stood in place.

“Turn toward me,” commented Tracy as she waved.

Still trembling from the extra weight, Lightwing slowly turned to face her plant buddy. Her voice was a little ruffled as she asked, “Why...why am I doing this?”

“Don’t move.” Tracy quickly got behind Lightwing. “Now slide the tablet off your back.”

Lightwing held up the tablet with her wings and stood up on her hind legs. Gravity pulled the bottom of the tablet down to the ground and Lightwing breathed a sigh of relief. She did not notice the door in front of her open.

With a smile, Tracy said, “Nice work pony-girl. Onto the next room.”

“What?” asked lightwing.

Tracy pointed behind them. “You got the two leaves to face each other. The hieroglyph only moves from left to right and not up and down.”

“Oh,” said Lightwing skeptically.

Tracy mounted Lightwing. “Pony-girl, lets move out.”

The heroines walked through the doorway into the hall. The walls were lined with the same candles as every other room. Upon entering the next room they saw it was the largest room and yet the smallest because of the huge hole in the center of the room.

Lightwing looked across the huge hole to the other side of the room, noticing many vines ten times larger than her passing through the walls. That’s odd, she thought as she saw an open doorway on the opposite side. “This room has to be at least three hundred feet across.”

“Is that your measuring system?” asked Tracy. Lightwing nodded as Tracy made another comment. “I would say this room is one hundred and twenty yards wide. The center hole being one hundred and eighteen yards and our walkway being two yards wide.”

Lightwing stared at the candles on the wall.“Plant-girl, go read the tablet.”

Tracy jumped off Lightwing and glanced around but saw no stone tablet. “There is no tablet here…just these really really big vine like objects around the room.”

“Oh...well it doesn’t matter.” Tracy was now examining one of the many large vines that cruised through the wall as Lightwing looked down the hole in the center and fear struck her. “Tracy...I...I think we should leave this room.”

“Nonsense,” dismissed Tracy. “These vines are interesting. They are transferring energy to something and I want to find out what.”

With fear in her voice, Lightwing replied, “I think I know the answer to your question.”

“Please share your knowledge.”

Still looking down the center hole, Lightwing answered, “It’s big...no, it’s insanely enormous...and has sharp teeth. One tried to eat me earlier.”

“Oh,” Tracy said with enthusiasm. “You think these vines connect to those large piranha plants.” With a slight laugh she continued. “But I would not call them insanely enormous...maybe large or even huge.”

Lightwing growled under her breath. “Stop looking at those vines and look down into the center of the room.”

Tracy rolled her eyes as she turned toward the hole. She was speechless as she saw what was in it.

A small smile formed on Lightwing’s face. “Do you see our one-hundred-eighteen-yard piranha plant. I like to call it insanely enormous. Tracy said nothing. Lightwing’s smile was replaced by a serious face. “We are going to walk to the other side of this huge room now. Let’s hope that insanely enormous plant does not chose to eat us.”

Tracy quietly got on Lightwing’s back and they began their long walk around the huge room.

Lightwing walked under the huge vines and flew over some too on her walk to the other door. Tracy was silent, only staring at the one-hundred-eighteen-yard monster plant.

As they were getting close to the halfway point of the walk, Lightwing began talking. “This insanely enormous plant is quite impressive. I have no doubt that the other two large piranha plants are somehow connected to this one. Don’t you agree?” Silence filled the air for a minute. “I guess you don’t want to talk. Anyway, I think I would be dead right now if this insanely enormous plant wasn’t connected to the other ones.” I bet this insanely enormous plant is the mother plant. I’m annoying myself by saying insanely enormous. I bet the plants above ground all eat stuff, digest it, and then that is the energy that we saw in those huge vines...I guess they are stems. “I wonder if plant-girl can talk to momma piranha? Plant-girl did say she can connect to other pants for communication.”

Lightwing stopped in front of their target door. “Tracy, do you think you can connect to this mama piranha?”

“No, I can only connect to its roots and they are not up here.” Tracy walked through the doorway into the next hall. Lightwing followed her.

The two heroines could see the end of the hallway. The next room glowed bright with candle light. The two adventurers could see a large circular shrine in the next room too. As they got closer, they could see some murals of plants on the wall too. Lightwing stopped at the entrance to the room and admired the large shrine. A staircase went up the side of the shrine to the top. Five pillars surrounded the large circular structure.

Lightwing and Tracy looked up at the roof to see a huge mural that covered the whole ceiling. The two stared in awe.

Tracy looked at the mural curiously. “I’m guessing the large creature on the left is an ice dragon.”

Lightwing nodded. “And behind him is the portal I came here through. If you look on the right side, you will see the solar princess and lunar princess of my world.”

“So those are the ones that control the sun and moon of your world,” commented Tracy. “ The solar eclipse behind them looks nice but I like the center of the mural best.”

“Of course you do,” said Lightwing as she rolled her eyes. “You and me do look nice at the center of it. The five Emerald Leaves above us and the six Elements of Harmony do add a nice touch.”

“So thats what those necklaces and crown are? Nice name for some magic artifacts.” The two heroines began their ascent up the staircase. “Pony-girl, who would know about all this and be able to paint it all? How would anyone know to paint us, my Goddess tree, your Princesses, the enemy that wants both our worlds dead, and magic artifacts from both worlds?”

“Your great tree knows about both worlds...so why can’t she be the artist of this mural?”

“Pony-girl,” said Tracy as she glanced at the hovering pony. “My Goddess is a tree...trees can’t paint.”

Lightwing sighed dramatically. “Magic. Not just magic but the magic that holds this whole planet together. I think it could make a mural on a stone wall...a stone wall that is underground.”

“Good point,” Tracy said with a nod.

The two reached the top of the shrine. Five podiums stood around, each with one Emerald Leaf on them. All radiating mystical light across the room. Lightwing stood in the center and focused, trying to keep an open mind.

The five podiums shot beams of light at Lightwing and the Emerald Leaves vanished.

“Pony-girl, do you feel any different?”

Lightwing shrugged. “No different than I feel when I use magic.”

“Can you teleport us out of here?”

Lightwing answered with a sigh. “I guess now is a good time to practice.” She closed her eyes and focused, trying to keep an open mind. I really don’t want to be possessed...even if it’s by a good entity that doesn’t take over me. Lightwing could feel magic radiating from within her. Now in a field outside of the Mysterious Oak Woods, Lightwing opened her eyes. “That was easier than I expected. Without a voice in my head to remind me that I’m technically possessed, it’s almost like I’m just using my own magic.” Lightwing glanced around. “Tracy, where are you? Tracy?!”

Frantically looking around, Lightwing noticed the Mysterious Oak Woods had no more dark clouds over them. Thats weird, she thought. “I wonder if the tree goddess...Yggdrasil knows?”

I do not.

Lightwing let out a sigh. “I almost wish you had not answered my question. Lets go back to you being quiet, please. Then I can continue pretending that the magic leaves don’t allow you to possess me.” I know I teleported Tracy here with me...so why is she not here?

Lightwing felt ice under her hooves. She watched as the field she was in froze over.

A familiar ice dragon appeared in front of Lightwing. “So nice to see my favorite pegasus,” he said with a smile.

With a glare and a calm voice Lightwing asked, “What did you do to Tracy?”

The dragon smiled gleefully. “Frozen, and soon you will follow the same fate. You have no magic potions to save you this time. Just give up like you did last time and all will be well.”

Lightwing took a deep breath. I have to keep an open and calm mind. She calmly replied, “No.” She spread her wings and took to the air. “You need to catch me first.” Lightwing zoomed away at full speed and the dragon gave chase.

Lightwing gracefully dodged large pieces of hail from above and shards of ice that were appearing in front of her. Lightwing could hear the dragon mumbling to himself. With no warning, the dragon appeared in front of Lightwing.

Lightwing came to an abrupt stop in front of the dragon. “You can’t teleport...that’s cheating.” Lightwing stuck her tongue out in a mocking way before she turned around and zoomed away. Once again the dragon teleported in front of Lightwing and she came to a stop. “Fine,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “I’ll fight you.” Lightwing raised her fore hooves into a fighting stance.

The dragon rolled his eyes as he shot a volley of ice shards at Lightwing.

Lightwing threw gracefulness away as she punched the ice shards into many pieces.

Shock was heard in the voice of the dragon as he said, “You should be a frozen block...unless...you have magic.” With new found confidence, he continued, “Now that I know you have magic, Any chance of you beating me is gone.”

“Why is that?” asked a curious pegasus. He must know he can’t win, she thought to herself.

“I don’t have to explain myself to you. I know I shall win,” replied the dragon. “All you need to know is that your magic won’t help you for long.”

Lightwing crossed her fore legs. “Stop stalling for time and prove to me how my new magic won’t help me.”

“Temporary magic,” replied the dragon.

You don’t need to be so specific, she thought. “It’s still enough to beat you and with little effort. I just wanted to have some fun while fighting you.” It’s a dumb question but I’ll ask it. “Why do you think it’s temporary magic?”

“Maybe I like being specific and-” he was cut off by a question.

“What did you...just say?”

“Maybe I like being specific and you did ask a dumb question.”

Lightwing said nothing as fear was slowly becoming visible on her face.

The dragon chuckled lightly. “Looks like you have realised I can read your thoughts.” And so much more when you keep an open mind. Lightwing heard the last sentence, but she was sure she shouldn’t have. Without thinking, Lightwing sporadically shot blasts of magic at the dragon but none hit the teleporting target.

Lightwing heard a thought in her head. You’re going to have to do better than that.

Continuing her sporadic attack she yelled, “Get out of my head! Get out!” I have to keep an open mind. I...I can do this. He’s only talking through my mind.

Another thought that was not her own came to her. Watch this. Lightwing lost all control of her wings. She fell to the icy ground and landed on her rump.

I can’t do this! I won’t get possessed again! Lightwing’s head shook violently as she tried to force the unwanted entity out of her mind. She could feel two entities fighting for control over her mind. One was pushing her into a dark corner of her mind. The other was trying to coexist with her and trying to bring tranquility to her. Lightwing wanted no entities in her mind. She was going to take her mind back at all costs.

A minute later, Lightwing sighed in relief as her mind was now free of any other entities. She looked up at the dragon standing over her and smiled nervously. “I’m…happy I got my mind back...to myself.”

A smile was returned as the dragon replied, “Me too. Now that you closed your mind, you have no access to magic.” A cage of ice formed around the powerless pegasus.

====================

Tracy woke up. Her petals and leaf-hands were a little stiff. She saw that she was in an ice field. “Last thing I remember is getting frozen. But how am I unfrozen?” she asked herself.

My powers freed you, a familiar voice told her.

Goddess? How are you communicating with me when I am not touching a root connected to you?

Simple, my friend. You now hold the power of the Emerald Leaves.

When did this happen? I thought pony-girl had them.

Lightwing gave up my power when she realised she would lose the ability to use my magic. She used my magic to find you and transfer the Emerald Leaves directly to you. She needs help now, and you are the only one who can help her.

I understand. I will do my best for you my goddess. How do I teleport?

Think of being close to Lightwing.

Tracy focused on the new power within her and thought of being close to her friend. Tracy appeared behind a dragon. Tracy almost screamed but stopped herself to keep the element of surprise. She took notice of pony-girl in a cage.

Lightwing stared up at her captor. “Answer one thing before you kill me. How were you able to connect with my mind and take control of me? You’re not a spirit this time.”

“We shared our mind, body, and soul. Twice at that.”

Lightwing could see Tracy waiting. “One more thing, dragon, I’m going to escape now by using magic.” A second later, a green shield formed around Lightwing and the cage of ice shattered.

The speechless dragon stared at Lightwing in confusion. Tracy took this time to attack. She shot a bolt of magic at the dragon’s left wing. It left a small hole in the wing.

The dragon turned to see his attacker. “Shouldn’t you be frozen? That was a nice shot,” he said as his wing healed itself. A beam of ice was shot toward Tracy. She frantically put up a shield.

Still sitting on her hind legs, Lightwing watched as two forces shot magic at each other and teleported to avoid getting hit. “I feel totally useless now...I have no magic...I’m just a helpless observer now.”

Tracy appeared next to Lightwing. “Pony-girl, will you help me?”

Icicles began hitting the shield protecting them. Lightwing’s voice had much sadness in it as she spoke. “And how can I be any help to you? You have the magic. I’m just a useless observer now. I’m no hero. I just bring destruction to wherever I go.”

“Thats just quitter talk,” said a disappointed Tracy. “You did not have magic for most of the time I was with you. That did not stop you before, why should it stop you now? Quit the woe-is-me act and fly me around. You are way more mobile than me.”Tracy mounted Lightwing and the two took off.

A volley of ice shards shot up from the frozen ground, aiming toward the two heroines. Lightwing did her best to avoid the onslaught of ice as she asked, “When do you plan on attacking back?”

Tracy shrugged. “Attacking will do nothing. The dragon will just teleport and avoid the attack. I could teleport us around too but the shield works nice too.”

Heavy hail began falling and obscuring Lightwing’s vision. “Just cast a counter spell.”

“And how do I do that, pony-girl?” Lightwing sighed. “Pony-girl! Don’t give me that tone. I’m totally new to using magic.”

“The same way you put up a shield and attacked. You just have to want it and your goddess will provide. Better yet, why don’t you ask her? I’m sure she could help more than me.”

“Good idea.” Three seconds later, Tracy sighed. “I guess it was not a good idea. I just talked to my goddess and she said our magic works differently than that.”

“Did you come up with another plan?” asked Lightwing.

“Yes we did.” Tracy focused her mind on the ground below the dragon. “That fixes that problem.”

Are you sure?” asked a confused Lightwing. “I didn’t see anything.”

Tracy chuckled, almost evilly. “That’s the point. Now watch this.” A small green ball of energy formed in Tracy’s leaf-hand and she threw it at her target.

The dragon vanished in a flash of light but then reappeared in the exact same spot. Having gone nowhere, the dragon was hit but little damage was done.

Lightwing shook her head in disappointment. “That pathetic attack was pointless.”

“Watch that attitude, pony-girl,” snapped Tracy. “I was just seeing if the plan had worked. I’m going to try a real attack now. I’ll have to lower our shield to do this.”

Tracy wrapped her roots around Lightwing’s stomach. Lightwing put a hoof above her eyes, in order to protect them from the onslaught of hail about to hit her.

The green shield faded as Tracy focused on powering up a new attack. A green aura surrounded, Tracy and radiated in an upward motion.

More shards of ice shot at Lightwing from the ground. She gracefully avoided them as she flew around the dragon.

Lightwing banked left as a beam of ice shot at her. She took notice that, Tracy was now holding a ball of magic that was at least five times bigger than the two heroines. “Shouldn't you through that thing at the dragon?” she asked.

“No,” replied Tracy. “It’s not strong enough.”

Lightwing narrowly avoided a blast of ice as she flew away from the ground. She kept a close eye on the ever growing ball of magic above her. The immense amount of energy was starting to singe her fur.

Lightwing nose dived avoiding two beams of ice from the dragon but took a few hits from ice shards that came from the ground. “How much longer, plant-girl? I can’t keep this evasive flying up for much longer.” I’m pathetic without my magic...I rely too much on it.

“I think it’s ready,” replied, Tracy.

Lightwing shot a quick look at the huge energy ball. With a bit of surprise in her voice she said, “That thing is as big as the dragon.”

Tracy threw the immense ball of magic toward the target. The air sparked with electricity from the magic. The dragon casually flew up to a point that the attack would pass safely under him. Surprisingly to Lightwing and the dragon, the immense ball of magic arched upwards toward the dragon. He reached out with his claws and prepared to hold the attack back.

The two heroines eagerly watched as the ball of magic collided with it’s target. It slowly pushed the dragon backwards but it was losing momentum. The heroines watched in horror as the the dragon and energy ball both came to a stop.

With a victorious laugh, the dragon looked at the heroines. “I must say that was most impressive. You are new to using magic and you had the ability to use an attack that could destroy me.” Tapping the immense magic with his claws, her continued. “However, you made a huge mistake. You should never never focus an attack into a ball, unless you can fire it fast enough. Now we have this huge mass of energy that is under my control.”

Wasting no time, the dragon pushed the blob of magic back at the heroines but at a much faster speed. With almost no time to react, Tracy put up a shield. This action stopped them from being disintegrated, but the force of the attack sent them both spiraling to the icy ground where they slid on the ice for a moment.

Tracy quickly got up. “Pony-girl?” she said as she looked around.

“Over here!” responded Lightwing.

Tracy looked up toward the voice and saw Lightwing being held by the dragon.

Tracy glared at the dragon. “Let pony-girl go!”

The dragon landed in front of Tracy. “But she will die if I let her go. I placed a spell on her. Since you can’t cast a counter spell, you must give up or pegasus-girl dies.”

Tracy stared at the dragon for a moment before Lightwing spoke up. “Incinerate us both. I will happily die if it means this dragon dies too.”

“Are you sure?” asked tracy.

“Yes. Focus all the energy you can and blast both of us into nothingness.”

Tracy shook her petaled head. “I won’t kill you.”

“Kill us!” Lightwing flailed her hooves, secretly unlatching her necklace. “You have to kill me or the whole planet will be doomed. The tree goddess gave you a job. So do it!”

A green aura surrounded Tracy as she moved her leaf-hands to her left and focused energy there. “Are you sure this is what you want, pony-girl?”

“Yes. Now blast us with every piece of magic you have.”

The dragon forced out a laugh. “You’re dying to save the planet...that’s so noble and predictable.”

Tracy let out a sigh of defeat. “Countdown to destruction. Three...two...one.” From her leaf-hands, Tracy shot a beam of magic that was big enough to engulf the dragon.

Lightwing saw the huge beam of magic hurtling toward her and her captor. The next second of her life was now the most important. Lightwing smiled as she tapped the dragon with a fore hoof and grabbed her necklace with the other. The dragon glanced at her and horror hit the dragon’s face. Lightwing’s smile grew bigger as she threw her necklace with full force, so that it was out of range from the attack. Both creatures watched as the beam of magic hit them and missed the small necklace that was now flying away at a decent speed.

Lightwing could feel the magic energy burning her fur and melting her. Before the two were incinerated, Lightwing opened her mind and sent a thought to the dragon’s mind. You lose! I will come back to life and you won’t.

Tracy made the beam of magic take a sharp turn upwards after it had destroyed its target. The huge blast of magic flew up and into space, heading toward the sun. The sun would swallow the magic like it was nothing.

Tracy stared at the now empty spot that her friend was at just moments ago. She had seen Lightwing throw the necklace but did not know why. She walked toward the necklace as the ice covering the field evaporated.

Tracy picked up the object and stared at it. “I guess I should keep this as a reminder of the sacrifice pony-girl made.” A faint light began to shine from the necklace and Tracy watched curiously. Another faint light appeared next to Tracy and took on the shape of a pony. After both lights faded, Lightwing stood next to Tracy.

Lightwing jumped into the air with great enthusiasm. “We won! I’m back and he is gone!” Tracy was speechless before her not-dead friend. Lightwing looked at her with slight annoyance. “Don’t I get a 'Hello, pony-girl'? What about a ‘'happy to see you're alive, pony-girl'?" Tracy glanced down at the necklace she was holding, back at Lightwing, and back to the necklace. Lightwing sat on her hind legs. “The necklace brought me back,” she said. “I knew it would...I’m surprised the dragon forgot about that. I also knew that my little necklace would have been totally destroyed by the magic blast, thus I threw it out of range.”

Tracy gave the necklace back to her friend. “How did you come back to life? Our goddess says she can’t bring creatures back to life. She says it would cause problems.”

Lightwing smiled as she strapped the necklace on. “She also said that magic from this world and my world work differently. In my world, bringing a creature back to life is not easy but it is possible. Now what do we do?”

“I guess one of us should open a portal to your world. It should probably be you.” A green aura briefly surrounded Tracy as five leaves made from emerald appeared in between the two heroines.

Lightwing touched a hoof to one of the leaves and focused her mind. A moment later, a blue portal opened up next to Lightwing. “You need to give me that piece of black diamond we found.”

“Oh...right.” Tracy’s necklace glowed as the half-diamond appeared in her leaf-hands. “I guess this is goodbye. I’m going to miss you, pony-girl. I’m happy I knew you for these four days. You are a good friend.”

Lightwing sighed with slight annoyance. “I really don’t like calling others my friends. I’ll make an exception for you. I had a nice adventure with you and would be happy to call you my friend.”

Tracy smiled as she gave Lightwing a medallion. “Take this. I want you to have something to remember this world.”

Lightwing looked at the picture of her and Tracy on the medallion and also saw a picture of a tree on the back. “I’ll keep it forever,” she said as she attached it to her necklace. “What do you have to remember me?”

“That’s quite simple. I’ll have two statues of you built. One here to remember the place the world was saved and one in the town you first came to. The whole planet knows you saved us...or at least helped.”

“How?” asked Lightwing.

“You remember the observation station in space? They recorded our battle with the dragon. This story of ours will be told for countless generations. I’ll make sure all the details are right.”

With a smile, Lightwing said, “Good luck with that. I’ll always remember you.” With half of a diamond in hoof, Lightwing hovered into the blue portal next to her.

Tracy watched the portal in front of her close. “I’ll always remember you too, Lightwing.”

Chapter 14: Another Crash in the Past

Blooming Shadow, the new thestral princess, was taking a casual walk through the crystal castle. This place still scared her but she knew that she had to be strong. If not for herself, then for other ponies who were getting use to this new word of light. Her morning had been pretty average. No exciting things had happened yet. In the room next to her, she could hear magic crackling through the air. Her curiosity got the best of her and she investigated. She opened the door to see a portal forming in the center of the room.

A black pegasus with a dark-green mane hovered through the portal and smiled at her. Blooming Shadow smiled back. “Hi,” she said. “That was some entrance. You do know we have a door to the castle?”

“Yes,” replied Lightwing. “Hey, do you know where I can find Princess Luna, Celestia, Lyra, or Vivian?”

Blooming Shadow smiled reassuringly. “Sure I know where they are but what’s your name?”

“Lightwing.”

Blooming Shadow’s smile turned into confusion. “Did you just say Lightwing? As in the Lightwing that Vivian and Lyra talk about?”

“The one and only,” replied a smug Lightwing.

“Follow me,” said, Blooming Shadow as she trotted away.

Lightwing followed closely as the two went through hallways. The familiar but empty hallways brought mixed feelings to Lightwing. There was no conversation for the three-minute trot to the throne room.

Blooming Shadow burst through the throne room doors. “I have important news, Luna.”

Luna continued looking out a window. “Hast thou gotten over thy fear of this castle?”

Confusion made itself onto Lightwing’s face as Blooming Shadow giggled. “You know you sound so weird when you talk like that. My fear is still here but I found Lightwing.”

Luna turned away from the window. With a face of confidence, looked at Blooming Shadow and Lightwing. “We have been expecting you, Lightwing. Discord told my sister and I when you would return. Come, let us inform the others.” Lightwing put the medallion and diamond the floor.

Two princesses of the night and a pegasus journeyed to the dining hall of the the crystal castle. Lightwing stayed out out of sight as Luna and Blooming Shadow entered the dining hall.

Lightwing carefully looked into the room as Luna and Blooming Shadow took a seat at the table with the five other princesses, Lyra Heartstrings, Trixie Lulamoon, and Discord. Lightwing didn’t know what food they had but it smelled delicious.

Celestia greeted her sister and the thestral princess with a wave of her hoof. “Welcome back sister. Has Blooming Shadow decided to eat with us now?”

Blooming Shadow rolled her eyes in disagreement. “I only bring news.”

Discord casually tapped the table with his bear paw. “News that four of us already know but do share.”

Celestia rolled her eyes in response to Discord. “This is another prank...I just know it. I know you are trying to spread fun around but this will only bring sadness.”

“Oh, Celestia,” replied Discord with a sad face. “Why would you think such a thing? I may be the spirit of chaos but I would not want to make anypony sad.”

Luna pounded a hoof on the table, quieting down the room. In a firm voice she said, “I think we should tell them the news.”

“No,” replied, Celestia firmly. “I will not give my little ponies false hope. And neither will you.”

“We should still tell them,” Luna calmly replied. “Even if you do not think it is the truth.”

“No!” growled Celestia.

Honeycrisp, the earth pony princess noticed something in the corner of her eye. She looked over toward the door to see a black-furred pegasus eavesdropping on their conversation. Lightwing motioned to the earth pony princess to be quiet. Honeycrisp nodded and went back to watching the alicorn sisters argue.

Lightwing facehooved as Honeycrisp raised her hoof to signal she wanted to speak. The alicorn sisters looked at Honeycrisp quietly. “I am going to put my two bits into this argument,” she stated assertively. “I believe we should know this news. Just tell us this news and we can chose to believe it or not.”

Violet Lily, the changeling princess spoke up next. “I wholeheartedly agree with Honeycrisp. Time for a vote. All in favor of hearing this news shall raise a hoof.” Every pony except Celestia raised a hoof. “Excellent,” said, Violet Lily with a smile. “Sister, please tell us the news.”

Blooming Shadow smiled back at her sister. “Thank you Violet Lily. The news I bring is that Lyra and Princess Vivian’s friend, Lightwing, has returned.”

“What?!” replied, Lyra and Vivian in unison.

Lyra giggled as she teleported a plushie onto the table. “Lightwing has always been here,” she said with a laugh.

The plushie vanished in a light-blue aura as Vivian laughed. “If only the real Lightwing were here.”

Celestia had a look of annoyance and slight anger on her face. “Play time is over Discord. You had fun but the real Lightwing is not here.”

Lightwing quietly took a deep breath. With full lungs, she yelled, ‘Tis a lie!”

Every pony and a draconequus looked over to see Lightwing standing in the doorway.

Vivian teleported over to Lightwing and gave a tight hug. “I’m so happy you were able return...and it only took you twelve days.” Vivian teleported back to her chair.

I was only gone three or four days, Lightwing confusingly thought to herself.

Lightwing tried to say something but was cut off by Vivian. “Time for you to meet all the princesses of the new Equestria. First we have our thestal princess, Blooming Shadow. Next we have her sister, Violet Lily.”

The changeling waved a hoof. “I’m adopted,” she said with a smile.

“Next is the earth pony, Honeycrisp.”

The yellow earth pony waved a hoof. “Don’t assume I work with bees.”

“Pegasus princess, Sparkling Sunrise.”

The blue pegasus waved a hoof but said nothing.

“And the unicorn princess is me,” Vivian said with pride. “Lyra is Celestia’s student and Trixie is Luna’s student. Discord is...just himself.”

Lightwing smiled awkwardly. “It was nice to meet you all, but I need to leave and find the other half of a diamond.”

Luna looked at Lightwing with curiosity. “Is this other half this diamond black?”

“Yes…,”replied Lightwing cautiously. How...would you know?”

“I have what you seek,” answered Luna. “I have a diamond that was split in half. I have had it since before I met you. A year after I was freed from an evil spirit, I found the diamond. I could sense a powerful evil in it. I took it for the purpose of stopping others from getting it. It also reminded me of myself because it was broken...like I was. Thus I kept it. Why do you need it?”

Lightwing began walking out the dining room door. “I’m going to destroy it and its evil. Meet me in the throne room,” she said as she galloped down the hall.

Every pony in the room left the dining room to go to the throne room.

Discord sat alone, tapping his talons on the table. “Things are going nicely. Not exactly as planned but well enough.” A smile found its way to his face. “Altering the timeline ain't easy. Not with that time traveling earth pony and the time keeper. I better go watch Lightwing destroy the Destruction Diamond. A very interesting magic artifact but the Chaos Emerald will be far more powerful.” Discord snapped his talons and vanished in a blast of confetti.

Discord appeared on one of the throne room chairs.

With all the ponies in the throne room sitting around Lightwing and her two supplies, Lightwing pushed the two halves of the black-diamond together. A small light radiated from the diamond as it became whole. A small piece of knowledge was given to Lightwing before Luna used her magic on the diamond, shattering it into dust.

Lightwing blinked a few times. “I just saw a vision of the past. I need my time traveling stuff.”

A light-blue aura surrounded Lightwing. “No,” stated, Vivian. “You just got back...you need to stay. You saved the future, so why do you want to go back in time again?”

With an eye roll, Lightwing replied, “I don’t want to save the future...I want to change it. Make it so this dark future never happens and I think I can do that now. So please release me from your magic. You know I don’t like you using magic on me.”

Discord hovered over to Vivian. “Release her. Don’t force her to stay. She needs to make her own choices.” Or at least think she is making her own. “Do you really think you can stop her from her life-long goal?”

Luna took this chance to voice her opinion. “I agree with Discord,” she said firmly. “She must choose her own fate.”

Vivian mumbled something under her breath as she released her magic grip. A saddlebag appeared next to Lightwing as Vivian marched out of the throne room.

Lightwing looked into the saddlebag and saw her potions inside. With an awkward smile, she put her medallion into it and closed it the bag. “I should probably pack some food and make sure I have enough money. Take a look towards Cloudsdale in about half an hour. You will see a sonic rainboom. Maybe you can travel two hundred thousand years into the past and visit me.” Lightwing took a quick drink of a potion, put on her necklace and teleported away.

Lyra, Trixie, Celestia, and Luna walked out of the throne room. Blooming Shadow, Honeycrisp, Sparkling Sunrise, and Violet Lily stared at the now empty spot where a pegasus had been. After a minute, Honeycrisp spoke up. “Lightwing teleported…”

====================

Lightwing appeared in a field northeast of Cloudsdale and southwest of the Crystal Empire. She exercised her wings for fifteen minutes and then preened her wings for the next ten. Lightwing chose to eat some wild flowers for a meal. She also drank water from a river, even though it seemed very uncivilised. With a full stomach and wings ready to fly, she took to the sky and flew over the field picking up speed until she left the timeline in a wave of color. Most of northern Equestria could see the sonic rainboom but few knew it was a time traveling pegasus.

====================

It was an average day in the town of Phoenix Burg, a large unicorn town, ponies were on main street with their shop stands, and others were in there homes enjoying large breakfasts. Today was the special once a month breakfast sale at the two bakeries where everything was seventy percent off until noon.

Martha Feathers was flying toward her new job at the garden center. Martha quickly covered her ears as a loud explosion was heard right in front of her. The sound had come from a strange rainbow-colored portal opening up in front of her.

Lightwing zoomed out of the portal and straight into another pegasus. The collision knocked them both out of the air and sent them spiraling downward at amazing speed. The two pegasi closed their eyes as they crashed through a second story window, two wooden supports and then through the wall.

The two hit the ground with a bang. Martha groaned in pain as Lightwing simply said, “I need to-” She was cut off by the sound of a building collapsing. She turned her head to see the new pile of rubble. “That’s...not good.”

Martha’s left wing twitched as she painfully said, “You broke my wing.”

Lightwing ignored the group of unicorns gathering in the street, around the event. She simply gave Martha a small bottle labeled healing. Lightwing smiled nervously. “Drink this. It will numb the pain.” Lightwing drank a potion herself too.

Martha stood up but was a little shaky from the recent event. “How did you appear from nowhere?”

Lightwing was unable to answer because a unicorn stallion came up to talk to the two pegasi. “You two are under arrest for for accidental pony slaughter and shall be punished accordingly.”

“What?!” exclaimed a confused Lightwing. With a cautious voice she asked, “What is said punishment?”

“Death,” the stallion calmly answered.

“Oh…,” was all Lightwing could say. Realisation hit her. “Does this punishment go to the other pegasus too?” The stallion said nothing as he nodded his head. “She did nothing wrong...she is a victim too. You can’t punish her. I won’t let you.”

In a calm voice the stallion replied, “Please do not resist arrest. I only enforce the laws, not make them.”

A huge group of ponies was now gathered around the scene and more law enforcers were arriving.

Two more stallions joined the first one near Lightwing. “Is she resisting arrest?” they asked.

“No but I fear she will,” he replied to his fellow law enforcers.

Lightwing sighed in annoyance. “Am I allowed to get a drink from my saddlebag?” Lightwing received a yes from the law enforcers. Lightwing opened her saddlebag and grabbed a potion, making sure to hide the label from the other ponies. She downed the whole thing and put an empty bottle in the saddlebag.

Martha sat motionlessly on her hind legs as sadness took hold of her. “Today was supposed to be a good day. I just got a new job...my family will be so sad to know I will be dead soon.” Martha softly cried.

Lightwing put a reassuring hoof over Martha. “It will be fine. I’ll make sure you are not punished for my mistake.” Lightwing turned to face the three law enforcers. “I’m only going to say this once. You will leave this other pegasus alone. She is not responsible for my actions. She is innocent. I take full responsibility for my mistake but I won’t let you kill me for it. I’m sorry that I accidentally killed the ponies in that house. I’ll have to live with that forever. I’ll accept a form of punishment but not death.”

The law enforcers faces showed true concern and regret. “We have no choice. You killed nine ponies, almost ten. We can lighten the punishment for the other pegasus but you must be put to death. Are you going to come with us peacefully or not?”

“I didn’t want it to come to this…” Lightwing ascended into the air, ready for a fight. “Save yourself the trouble and just let me go. You won’t win against me. I have a lifetime of experience.”

One of the law enforcers' horns lit up with magic. The two other unicorns and the huge crowd of onlooking citizens watched as nothing else happened. Martha, still crying decided to watch the battle between the unicorns and a strange pegasus who seemed to be immune to magic.

Lightwing snickered as she said, “It will take more than a simple levitation spell to stop me.” The three law enforcing unicorns all charged up an attack and shot shot bolts of magic at Lightwing. She was able to dodge them with little effort. “You’re so outclassed,” she said as she teleported around the sky.

The three unicorns looked at each other with confusion. “We need the advanced spell casters.” One said. He then galloped off while the others waited. A minute later, a group of eight new unicorns joined the two remaining unicorns. “You have to take this pegasus down. We are unable.” The two law enforcing unicorns joined the crowd as the eight new unicorns looked up to see a pegasus with a green shield protecting her.

Lightwing’s confidence faded slightly. “Eight unicorns that are good with magic is a problem...two or three is easy. Four or five is annoying but any more and it becomes problematic.”

The eight unicorns surrounded Lightwing but paid no attention to Martha. Two of the unicorns began sporadically shooting balls of magic while two others used random attacking spells. The four non-attacking ones raised shields to protect the group.

Lightwing smiled as she avoided most of the attacks. “You ponies need to learn to aim,” she said. “Time to see a real magic trick.,” mocked Lightwing. She shot a beam of magic straight through her enemies shield and knocked a unicorn out. The enemy shield quickly fixed itself and Lightwing blasted another beam at it but the shield held this time. “That was not supposed to happen.” Lightwing jumped--if that was even possible from in the air--as a bolt of lightning struck her shield. “Hey! Watch where you shoot those things.” Lightwing gracefully dodged incoming attacks as she thought to herself. My strongest attack won’t work now. Three unicorns using a protection spell at the same time is too much...I only broke it last time because they did not expect it.

Lightwing teleported next to Martha. Now both pegasi were in her shield. Martha looked at Lightwing and asked, “Why are you down here?”

“I have a plan but I need you to stay by my side,” replied Lightwing. “Listen to me, attackers. I am going to lower my shield and if you continue to attack, you will hurt an innocent bystander. Is that what you want?” All attacks aimed at Lightwing stopped. Lightwing smiled as she lowered her shield. “Now let us talk about this like civilised ponies.”

The unicorns just glared at her. “There is nothing to talk about. You are resisting arrest.”

Lightwing could sense a teleportation spell being cast. She sidestepped to avoid her attacker and punched him in the face as he appeared, knocking him out. Lightwing chuckled as she said, “Two down and possibly six to go.”

One of the unicorns looked at martha. “Are you being forced to stay there as a shield?”

“No,” she replied.

“Then why not leave?” Martha had no reply. In a flash of light, Martha was teleported next to the group of unicorns.

Lightwing foresaw her attackers next move and teleported into the sky. She looked down to where she was a second ago that was now occupied by all of her attackers. She smiled. “Nice sneak attack but did you really think I would fall for that? I’m still willing to talk about how we can solve this problem.”

One of the unicorns smiled evilly. “We will now use your own strategy against you. We are going to use innocent bystanders to help us.”

“What?” asked Lightwing.

“Will all unicorn citizens watching this battle please use a levitation spell on this troublesome pegasus?”

Lightwing looked around her at the huge group of unicorn observers and an occasional non unicorn. Fear overtook her as she realised that there had to be over one hundred unicorn citizens. She sighed as she realised she could not counteract a spell being cast by so many unicorns, even if they were all weak with magic.

Lightwing could feel magic surrounding her, forcing her down to the ground. “Well played,” Lightwing reluctantly commented. “But this is not over yet.”

“How so?” asked one of her enemies. “You have no defence.”

Lightwing chuckled evilly. “Oh how wrong you are. I have one last trick and it’s a one hundred percent victory.”

The six enemy unicorns raised their shields. “Lets see this victory,” one said sarcastically.

Lightwing replied in an evil voice. “As you wish.” Her irises turned black with magic. Everypony around watched in fear as an evil aura pulsated around Lightwing. “I really don’t like using dark magic but you left me no choice.” A wave of dark magic pierced through the air instantly knocking out her six enemies. “Does anypony else want to challange me?” she asked as she looked around at the hundreds of observing ponies. There were no replies.

Martha cautiously walked up to Lightwing. “Did...did you kill them?”

“Almost but No,” said, Lightwing as her irises turned back to their normal blue color. “I just-” A blinding flash of light cut her off.

A regal white and red alicorn was now staring at Lightwing and Martha. Everypony except Lightwing was now bowing down.

Enceladus, the queen of the land looked around with a perplexed face. “We sensed evil here but we only see thy pegasi and unconscious unicorns.” She made direct eye contact with Lightwing. “Dost thou know where the evil is?”

“Yes,” replied Lightwing. “I...used dark magic but I can explain.”

With an eyebrow raised, Enceladus said, “Continue.”

Lightwing took a breath of relief. “I crashed into another pegasus,” she pointed at Martha. “And then the momentum pushed us through a home and it collapsed. It killed nine ponies. The law enforcers and law-enforcing spell casters tried to arrest me for accidental pony slaughter, which is punishable by death. I did not want to die, so I fought them off until they had almost won. I then used dark magic to ensure my victory but I did not kill them.”

“Interesting,” was all the queen could say.

With skepticism, Lightwing asked, “Do you believe me?”

“We do not know.”

Still bowing, Martha fearfully said, “She tells the truth. She can use magic...and did use dark magic but it was only for protection...please spare her.”

Enceladus stared at Lightwing with interest and disappointment. “Thou art a magic-using pegasus...most impressive. We shall spare thee out of amazement and curiosity. Thou shalt not be spared if there be a next time. Are we clear?”

“Yes,” answered Lightwing.

Enceladus released a wave of magic that revived the eight unconscious unicorns. “We hereby decree that thy pegasus be spared from death.” Enceladus vanished in a flash of light.

Lightwing and the spell casters exchanged glares for a few seconds before the spell casters chose to teleport away. The huge crowd of unicorn citizens began to break up and go back to their lives.

Lightwing took this time to notice there were some nurse unicorns standing next to a young unicorn blue colt, seven or eight years old, who was staring at the pile of rubble that was a house earlier. With slight fear in her eyes, Lightwing stared at the blue colt who had a yellow mane and began to lose track of her surroundings.

Martha used a wing to lightly slap Lightwing back to reality. “You look like you’re seeing a ghost. Do you know something about that colt?”

Lightwing’s eyes stayed focused on the young colt as she answered, “I recognize that colt...just put a gold-colored diamond around his neck. Pretend he is older and...he looks just like a pony I saw before. That can’t be a coincidence…”

Martha stared at Lightwing questionably. “But you have never seen him.”

“I’m a time traveler,” Lightwing said almost too casually. “I have seen him...in the future. That was so long ago. He told me his life story. A pegasus killed his whole family...I killed his whole family.” Martha nodded her head pretending she actually knew what Lightwing was talking about. Lightwing fell back onto her hind legs, disappointment emanating from her. “It makes sense now. He was there when I fought the dragon...watching me. At my restaurant too.” Lightwing collapsed to the ground, almost crying. “The dragon even told me I killed this poor unicorns family in a flying accident. I...I...I have now created the very thing I set out to stop.” Lightwing buried her face into her fore hooves as she silently cried to herself.

Martha put a reassuring wing over Lightwing. “I don’t know what all these time travel shenanigans are, but I’m here for you.” Martha sat down as she saw the young colt walking toward them.

The young colt almost said something but was cut off by Lightwing, who had no idea the colt was there. “I need to go back to the future and stay there. Every time I travel back in time...something goes wrong. I vow to never travel through time again after I return home. Traveling through time is just too painful.”

The young colt stared at Martha, waiting for something to be said but when he got to reply, he spoke up. “Is this a bad time?” he asked with concern.

Lightwing’s tear filled face looked up at the colt. “So you’re here to tell me how horrible I am.”

“No,” replied the colt.

Lightwing wiped some tears off her face as she asked, “Then why be here?”

“I came to say I forgive you,” answered the young colt. Lightwing and Martha’s faces showed confusion at that statement. “My family told me that bad stuff happens to everypony and we should not blame others when an accident happens.”

Lightwing smiled at that fact. “I honestly wish I believed you...but I don’t.” I have seen the future. I know what you become. It might just be an insanely enormous coincidence.

“You don’t have to believe. I know it was an accident. I may be alone now but I can go live with my friend. I promise that I will always show you kindness and forgiveness, even if most unicorns don’t like pegasi and earth ponies.”

Lightwing’s smile grew a little. “Nice speech. You won’t be seeing me for a long time. I’m leaving soon. I wish you good luck with your life.”

An idea sparked in the colt’s mind. “You claim to be a time traveler, so come visit me in thirty years. I promise I will be nice,” he said with a smile.

“Nice idea kid,” Lightwing said with a slight chuckle. “Exactly thirty years from tomorrow, I will see you at this location.” With that, the young colt walked away.

Martha shuffled her hooves as realisation hit her. “I’m late for work. You can rest at my home. It’s the only cloud house to the east.” Martha galloped away.

Lightwing shouted, “But your wing is broken!” Martha was too far away to hear. “Well...she’ll figure it out in a few hours.” Lightwing stood up and looked at her surroundings. There were a few non-rubble houses, a school, a candy shop, and a few taller buildings to the south.

Lightwing began her journey to the east. She noticed that almost every citizen was keeping their distance from her. She could not blame them.

It took ten minutes to reach her destination. It was a two story cloud house with two balconies. Lightwing flew up to the wooden door and knocked. A green stallion opened the door and greeted her. “Hi. Do you work with my wife?”

“No,” replied Lightwing. “She said I could stay here. I’m just passing through town.”

“Welcome to one of the three cloud homes in this large town,” he said with a smile.

“Is there a spare bed I can sleep on?” asked Lightwing before she yawned. “I need some rest.”

The stallion pointed up stairs and said, “Second door to the left.”

Lightwing hovered up the stairs and went into the room she had been told. She put her saddlebag next to the bed but chose to keep her necklace on. She levitated the blanket over her and closed her eyes.

After a four-hour nap, Lightwing began waking up from the smell of food. With a yawn, she rubbed her sleepy eyes. “That was a nice nap.” Her nose twitched as she said, “I smell food.” Lightwing grabbed her saddlebag and scurried out and downstairs to the kitchen, where she saw Martha and her husband. In a cute voice, Lightwing asked, “Can I have some food?”

Martha dramatically pointed at an empty seat with a third plate of their dinner on it.

“Thanks.” Lightwing took a seat and ate some dinner. “Why did you make an extra plate? Did you know I would wake up?”

Martha smiled as she swallowed some food. “Yes, we knew you would wake up. The room you were in is right above the kitchen.”

“Interesting,” replied, Lightwing as she poked at her dinner with a wooden fork. There was no more conversation for the rest of the dinner. After dinner, Lightwing said goodbye and trotted to the outskirts of the town.

Lightwing looked around the field, making sure there were no roads passing by and no buildings of any sort. With a smile she said, “This spot should be good. No time travel accidents should happen...hopefully.” Lightwing took a drink of the time travel potion. She spread her wings and took flight, making sure to fly away from the large town. She continued picking up speed until a wave of rainbow energy emanated from her location as she vanished.

====================

A loud explosion to the east caught the town of Phoenix Burg’s attention. Some of the town citizens saw a rainbow-colored portal and fear struck them, as they recognised the portal.

Lightwing came to a quick stop as she exited the portal. Looking around, she smiled. “Yes! No accidents. This is just a quick stop and then I go back to my original time. Two hundred thousand years into the future.” Lightwing landed on the ground and began trotting toward her target destination. After five minutes, she reached a road that led into the large town. Several unicorns had a look of terror in their eyes as they passed Lightwing. Black fur was rare, so it made sense that they would recognize her, even if it was thirty years later. After a fifteen minute trot through the town, getting all sorts of looks from the citizens, Lightwing was at her destination.

Casually walking up to the house that she had once turned to rubble, she knocked on the door.

Before the door was opened, she heard a young colt inside yelling. “Oh no! Please tell me that’s not her!”

A familiar blue stallion with a yellow mane opened the door. “Wow you look the exact same as I remember you...you really are a time traveler. Nice to see you again, time traveling pegasus. You never told me your name. I have wondered what is is for thirty years.”

“Lightwing,” she answered.

A young colt who looked exactly like his father came to the door and glared at Lightwing. “So it is you. The unicorn murderer.”

Father glared at his son. “Be respectful to our guest, son.”

The young colt rolled his eyes as he walked away.

“Forgive my seven-year-old son. We just told him about you a month ago.”

Lightwing forced a smile. “No problem. I’m sure he will get over it.” I don’t think he will, but I hope. “Maybe this is a bad time. Maybe I should go away.”

“Nonsense. My name is Lightning Bubble. Come in and meet my wife, Radiant Rose.

Lightwing followed Lightning Bubble into the main room of the home. She saw a pink unicorn mare with a curly yellow mane.

The mare smiled at her guest. “Welcome to our home. I apologize for our son.”

A golden shimmer from another room caught Lightwing’s attention. She looked over into the room to see a faint golden glow on a wall. “What’s in that room?’ she asked as she pointed a wing toward the room.

Worry was present in Lightning Bubble’s voice. “That’s my son’s room. It’s probably best for you to stay away from it. He already dislikes you...we don’t need it to get worse.”

Radiant Rose walked over to Lightwing. “Our son has been unnaturally protective of his room ever since he received that hybrid golden-diamond. It looks like a diamond and is shaped like one too but the thing is made from an unnatural-weird gold substance.”

Lightwing’s eye twitched as she said, “Golden...diamond.” With determination, Lightwing looked directly into Radiant Rose’s eyes. “You need to take that thing away from him. That thing has some kind of unknown magic. It’s dangerous.”

Radiant Rose gave a look of concern. “Bad idea. Our son loves that thing. It would break his already fragile heart. Maybe we should talk about this outside, away from my son.”

Lightwing tried to smile but could not hide her annoyance. “Good idea.” The two mares left the house and began a walk through town. “How can I convince you to give me that diamond?”

“Why do you want it so badly? It is just an old artifact.”

Lightwing huffed in anger. “It’s so much more than an old artifact. That thing is the source of twelve thousand years of darkness and evil...possibly more.”

“I had no clue.” Radiant Rose turned a corner. “Are you positive about that claim? Seems a bit much.”

“Yes!” Lightwing snapped back. “That diamond is trouble. You will-” Lightwing had been pushed to the ground as she heard a sound pierce the air. She opened her eyes to see Radiant Rose had been stabbed through the heart by a sword. “What happened?” she asked. Lightwing received no answer. Radiant Rose was already dead.

Five unicorns had seen the event, and an orange unicorn mare walked up to Lightwing. “Are you hurt?” she concernly asked.

Lightwing was still staring at Radiant Rose as she answered, “I’m fine. Did you see what happened?”

“I did,” she answered. “A unicorn teleported behind you and magically threw a sword at you. The other mare pushed you away and took the hit. The unicorn responsible teleported away.”

Lightwing pounded a hoof on the ground. “And things started out so good.” Still staring at the dead unicorn in front of her, Lightwing asked, “Would you help me take her to her home?”

The orange mare nodded and an orange aura levitated Radiant Rose onto the back of Lightwing and the helper. The two walked back to the house that Lightwing had only left five minutes ago.

Lightwing motioned to the orange unicorn to stay outside. Lightwing entered the home with worry. She saw father and son in the main room. They both looked at her, one with kindness and one with anger. Lightwing sighed before she said, “There’s a problem.” Both father and son waited for an answer. Lightwing shuffled her hooves nervously as she said. “Radiant Rose is...dead.”

The room was speechless as the orange mare brought the dead Radiant Rose into the house. The orange unicorn forced out a smile. “She died a hero...if that makes you feel better.”

Lightning Bubble asked with worry. “What happened?”

His son forced out a sarcastic laugh. “I know what happened. The time traveling pegasus is the bringer of death. Everything that pegasus touches dies! One day I will kill you, time traveler.”

Lightning Bubble took a deep breath to calm himself. “I know it was an accident. Don’t say that stuff about Lightwing.”

Lightwing fell back onto her hind legs, a few tears forming in her eyes. “Your son is right...everything I touch does die. The Elements of Harmony died, countless ponies died because of a dragon I released, your family died, and now your wife is dead. I should have never come back. I’m sorry I ever met you.” Lightwing tightened her saddlebag and trotted out the front door, taking to the air as she closed the door.

The orange mare looked at the father and son with confusion. “What just happened?” she asked.

Using magic, Lightning Bubble opened the front door and calmly said, “I think you should leave now.” The orange unicorn left without a word.

A few hours later, a wave of rainbow-colored energy was seen in the east skies of Phoenix Burg.

Chapter 15: The end of one Future

A rainbow-colored portal opened up over a field and Lightwing came zooming out of it. Her adventure through the timeline of the planet Nectaris Mare was now over. “I will never travel through time again. Ever!” She hovered to the ground. She chose to lay down and bury her head into her fore hooves. “Traveling through time was the worst choice I ever made. First I traveled twelve thousand years into the past to destroy a dragon but I instead doom the world to twelve thousand years of darkness and turmoil. Next I go two hundred thousand years into the past to try and stop a unicorn from becoming evil and wanting me dead and I totally do the opposite.”

Lightwing’s self pity speech was interrupted when Luna greeted her. “Welcome back. Discord told me you would be here.”

Still laying on the ground, Lightwing glared at Luna. “I wish that draconequus had not known my location. Then I could just vanish and nopony would care.”

“Why speak such things?” asked a concerned Luna.

“Simple,” replied Lightwing as she stood up. “Death follows me everywhere. Everything I touch dies. I never told anypony this until now. There was this time that I was practicing using dark magic and I killed a group of my friends.” Lightwing’s voice increased in volume, with anger. “That’s why I don’t like having friends. Death followed me when I was with my parents. My family always had to move to new places because of my interest in using magic. Luckily I figured out how to keep it secret from all. After my parents died naturally, I needed friends to keep me sane but my interest in magic killed them too. I killed off the Elements of Harmony and I just got back from killing an innocent family two hundred thousand years in the past. Destiny has thrown a lot of stuff at me and I’m tired of it. I think I need to disappear.”

“You have a new family now,” Luna reassured. “One that is immortal.”

“But you will all die because of me too.”

“This conversation is over,” Luna said forcefully. “You are coming back to the Crystal Castle. You have two guests.”

Luna teleported both of them away before Lightwing could respond. In a flash of light they both appeared in the main hall of the castle. Lightwing recognised there a dark-yellow unicorn standing next to Celestia. Lightwing looked around to see Discord and Trixie, who was wearing the Element of Magic on her head. The five new princesses of Equestria were also present and wearing the other Elements of Harmony. Lightwing had no clue to who had what element since the necklaces only showed the cutie marks of the wearer.

Lightwing glanced around at the small crowed again. “Where are Lyra and this other guest?”

Luna walked over to her sister as Vivian trotted over to Lightwing “Lyra is busy. She said she will be here later. As for your other guest, he should be here any second.” Right on cue, hoofsteps could be heard from a nearby hallway.

Lightwing’s face turned from curiosity to horror as she saw a blue unicorn stallion with a yellow mane step around the corner and a familiar gold artifact around his neck. The only words she said were, “Oh no…”

Sadness was apparent on the stallion’s face. “Your not happy to see me and my diamond?” Sadness quickly turned to anger as he said, “That’s fine by me. I’ll never be happy to see you, time traveling pony.”

Vivian, still standing next to Lightwing said, “That escalated fast.”

Lightwing motioned to her friend to go stand with the other ponies. She focused back on her enemy. “I assume you are here to kill me?”

Lightwing’s enemy smiled gleefully. “Oh how right you are and you can’t stop me.”

A rainbow-colored shield surrounded Lightwing. Vivian appeared in front of Lightwing. Her elemental necklace glowed as she glared at their enemy. “Can’t let you do that to my friend. The Elements of Harmony will stop you.”

Flawless Shadow chuckled. “Your magic toys won’t help you. I possess a magic that is older than the planet and is far superior. So get out of my way before you get hurt.”

Vivian looked at Lightwing for an answer.

Lightwing nodded her head. “He’s right. Your new magic is still no threat to him.”

Vivian pounded a hoof on the ground. “No! The magic of friendship will always win.”

Trixie quickly spoke up. “Vivian, you’re wrong. The Elements of Harmony were already beaten by his lesser magic. Trixie saw it. Trixie won’t let the elements be destroyed again. Come over here and don’t interfere.”

The shield around Lightwing vanished. With a sigh, Vivian walked over to Trixie.

Flawless Shadow smiled with victory. “Good choice. Now I would like to have no more interruptions, so we shall be leaving.” Flawless Shadow and Lightwing vanished in a blinding light. Both Lightwing’s saddle bag and necklace fell to the ground after the light faded.

Vivian levitated both items over to herself.

The earth pony, Honey Crisp asked, “What do we do now?”

The dark-yellow unicorn, Sparkling Aurora answered the earth pony. “We wait for Lightwing to come back and then I fight. I do have the same powers as Flawless Shadow.”

Vivian looked over toward Trixie and asked, “Did you know that pony wanted our friend dead? You seem to know he defeated the Elements of Harmony.”

“Trixie did not know the specifics. Trixie knows a dragon was created to kill your friend. The dragon spoke of his master when talking to your friend. Trixie will answer questions later.

====================

Lightwing was now standing on a large metal beam that was suspended in the air. The temperature around them had gone up immensely. Many other metal things were around her, connecting to the sides of mechanical canyon. Lightwing looked down. Far down was a magic shield protecting the place from the heat of an ocean of lava.

“Isn’t lava beautiful?” asked Flawless Shadow.

Without looking up, Lightwing asked, “Are we in a volcano base you built?”

Flawless Shadow replied with confidence. “It’s much better than that. This is a base built above a sun of a different world. Not by me.”

“A...sun?” asked Lightwing. “No wonder it’s so hot here.”

Flawless Shadow’s horn lit up with dark magic. “Prepare to die a fiery death, time traveler.”

Lightwing took to the air as a bolt of magic was shot at her. She dived straight towards her enemy, almost smacking into the metal beam as her target vanished. “That shining diamond around his neck distracted me.”

Lightwing quickly shot a volley of magic attacks behind her, every shot hitting her target. “I still have magic from the potion I used to travel back to the future.”

Holding back a laugh, Flawless Shadow replied, “Your temporary magic is useless against me. I’ll even let you attack me again.”

Thinking quickly, Lightwing cast a magic negating spell on her enemy and pushed him off the metal beam. Smiling with pride Lightwing said, “Your overconfidence was your weakness.”

As Lightwing hovered away, she heard a voice from behind her. “You’re right. My overconfidence is my weakness.” Lightwing narrowly avoided a bolt of magic that flew by her. Lightwing jumped into the air and flew backwards, away from her enemy.

Now hovering a safe distance above and away from her enemy, Lightwing saw a metal aircraft hovering a small distance from her, only big enough to fit one pony inside. It’s light-gray color sparkled in the heat but not as much as the blue pieces that connected to the wings. The mark on the front-side of the ship stood out the most. It was Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark.

Lightwing refocused her attention on the fight just in time to see a beam of magic hurtling at her. Thinking fast, she closed her wings and safely fell out of range of the attack. “That was too close,” she said as she flew back up. “What a cheap shot!” she complained.

Flawless Shadow replied with a roll of his eyes. “It’s not my fault you were distracted.”

The air around Lightwing sparked with magic as a large yellow bubble of magic formed around her. As Lightwing flew to one side of the bubble, she looked at the aircraft again. She was awe struck when she saw a unicorn Twilight Sparkle looking at her too, with head and fore hooves outside of her aircraft.

Lightwing flew full force toward the other side of the magic bubble. “Ouch!” she yelped as she impacted the unbreakable magic barrier. “Not trying that again,” she said as she rubbed her forehead with a hoof. The bubble moved toward Lightwing’s enemy, taking her with it.

With horn glowing and a devious smile, Flawless Shadow said, “It’s time to die that fiery death. I shall lower my magic barrier down past this solar base barrier. Then I’ll turn my shield off and you will be incinerated instantly.” The magic shield quickly descended down to the magic barrier that protected the base.

Lightwing watched as her and the magic bubble slowly passed through the shield of the solar base. Lightwing rubbed her fore hooves together maniacally. “This just might be the advantage I needed,” she said, also maniacally.

Lightwing was now frantically trying to teleport, with no success. Lightwing was able to teleport the millisecond the magic barrier began to dissipate. This was still not fast enough to totally escape the immense heat of the sun. Lightwing could feel the sun burn on all of her skin.

Lightwing quietly hung below a large metal bar, out of sight. As she saw her mane hanging down, she thought, Is my mane an even darker green now? It’s definitely warmer. I need to focus on sensing that evil magic. Then I can throw that diamond of his into the sun. With eyes closed, Lightwing focused on the precise location that was emanating a familiar dark magic. Lightwing quietly hovered under the metal bar until she was right below her unsuspecting prey. Lightwing quickly but quietly hovered up behind Flawless Shadow and grabbed the golden artifact around his neck. Using magic to increase her strength, she pulled the diamond off and threw it down into the boiling abyss.

“Yes!” Lightwing said victoriously. “You’re powerless without that thing, and now it’s gone.” Lightwing performed a somersault and gleefully said, “Victory loop.” With her wings still open she landed next to her enemy, her enthusiasm having turned to concern. “I...guess that means...we’re stuck here.” Lightwing turned away from her enemy. A huge burst of pain hit her left wing as a beam of magic pierced straight through it, cutting off more than four fifths of the wing. Lightwing fell onto her hind legs and stared at her injured wing. She sat motionless as pain shot through what was left of her wing.

Flawless Shadow teleported in front of Lightwing with a smug look on his face. Shaking his head with disappointment, he said, “Never turn your back on your enemy.” With a devious smile, Flawless Shadow pushed Lightwing off the metal bar.

Thinking fast, Lightwing used a levitation spell on herself. She levitated herself back up into view of her enemy. Hiding her pain with a fake smile, she said, “I guess cheap shots are the only way you can win. I was using magic to protect myself...how did you hurt me?”

“My magic is still stronger than yours,” he replied.

Lightwing frowned. Her irises turned black “I guess it’s time for dark magic.” She focused magic between her fore hooves. “Ironic that you’re going to die by dark magic.” Lightwing reluctantly shot a beam of dark magic at her enemy.

Flawless Shadow’s horn lit up and absorbed the attack.

Lightwing starred in shock as her attack had no effect on her enemy. “Why...why did it not work?” Lightwing flailed her hooves around. “How is that possible?”

Flawless Shadow shook his head in disappointment. “I thought you were smarter than this. You know that magic artifacts can only be destroyed by another magic artifact or a stronger magic. Lava is neither of those.” In a flash of light, a familiar diamond appeared next to Flawless Shadow.

Lightwing sighed as she landed next to her enemy. “How could I be so dumb?”

“Are you ready to die now?” Flawless Shadow asked with more joy than necessary. Lightwing sat back on her hind legs but said nothing. Flawless Shadow hung his golden artifact around his neck with a smile. “ My Millennium Diamond and I have tried to kill you many times...to no success. This time will be different,” he said as his horn lit up. “Any last words, time traveling pony?”

“Just one question,” replied, Lightwing. “When and what were those times you tried to kill me?”

With an eyebrow raised, he answered, “You want to know of my failed attempts...makes sense. I will oblige,” he said as he raised a magic barrier around Lightwing. “I tried to study time travel but it took too much effort. I was able to send a pony back in time for about thirty seconds. I sent them with a sword to throw at you. My minion returned to tell me that he missed his target, so I killed him. After that incident, I chose to start work on creating a dragon...but you know that. Jump two hundred thousand years into the future and I know you are going to the Crystal Mountains. I planned to kill you on your walk to fight my creation...but my Millennium Diamond decided to stop working a few days before.” Flawless Shadow pounded a hoof into the metal bar they were on. “Two hundred thousand years of a magic artifact that always works, and it broke when you were so close...fate was on your side. I followed you back to Ponyville, where I planned to kill you the no-magic way. Fate chose to save you again when you met that green unicorn girl. I could sense tones of magic artifacts in her home. Three of them powerful enough to scare me even if my Millennium Diamond was working. You were always around that green unicorn.”

“What!?” asked a stunned Lightwing. “Lyra had magic artifacts that could stand up to you? I had no clue...not even about the lesser ones. Why did she not use them to kill that dragon...oh right, she wanted to save me. But that means she had three, maybe four ways to try to save me...and she only tried one of them.”

Flawless Shadow forced out a sarcastic laugh. “Some friend she turned out to be.”

Lightwing huffed in anger. “Rub it in! I’m not the only one who made a mistake. At least I did not kill my own mother. Ha! what do ya think of that?”

Flawless Shadow asked in a confused voice. “What do you mean?”

Lightwing chuckled evilly. “Your mother died by a sword that was thrown at me. The pony responsible vanished a second later. Put the pieces together.”

“That’s a lie!” Flawless Shadow snapped back.

“That’s not even the worst part,” replied a calm Lightwing. “Your mom did not have to die. I would have come back to life if that sword killed me.”

“What!?”

Lightwing failed to hold back a laugh. “Surprise, surprise, I’m immortal. I took an idea from you and your dragon, and used it for myself. Win win!”

Flawless Shadow put a hoof on his chin in a thinking pose. “So you enchanted an item with your life energy. Smart move, but would it work if you are in a different world than the enchanted item?”

A maniacal smile formed on Lightwing’s face. “If you kill me here, you will never truly know if I died. If I come back to life, I’ll make sure you never know.”

Glaring at Lightwing, Flawless Shadow said, “I’ll just have to kill you in our normal world and then destroy the item that brings you back.” Flawless Shadow tore open a portal in the air. Lightwing, still in pain, chose to go through the portal first. Flawless Shadow turned to face the still-observing Twilight of this world. With an evil smile, he waved at her and went into the portal himself.

====================

Blooming Shadow, Violet Lily, Honeycrisp, Sparkling Sunrise, Vivian, Celestia, Luna, Trixie, Discord, and Sparkling Aurora all stood next to each other, in front of the Crystal Castle. They were all enjoying the moonlight. A small distance away in front of them stood Lyra, magically holding her enchanted sword high in the air. She yawned. “Are you sure a portal is going to open up in front of me?” Sparkling Aurora nodded her head, but before she could say a word, a portal opened in front of Lyra. Lyra realised she was standing behind the portal as Lightwing walked out from the other side.

Vivian ran up to her friend. “Lightwing, what happened to your wing?” she asked with worry.

Lightwing shrugged with a fake smile. “Nothing I...can’t fix over time.”

“Nonsense,” replied Vivian. “I bet that bad pony did this.”

Flawless Shadow stepped out of the portal and it closed behind him. Lyra knew the time for her sneak attack was now. Wasting no time, she threw her sword straight down toward Flawless Shadow.

Flawless Shadow raised an eyebrow at the sword that was stuck in the ground, inches from his face. He turned around to face Lyra. “Your attack missed.”

Lyra stared blankly at him for a moment. “Oh really.” She pointed a hoof at Flawless Shadow’s chest. “I think I hit my target spot on.”

With curiosity, Flawless Shadow looked down to see the ground. No diamond was blocking his vision. He turned his head to see his Millennium Diamond on the ground, with a sword sticking straight through it. Magic was sparking from both objects as they slowly began disintegrating. Clapping his his fore hooves, Flawless Shadow said, “Impressive. I bet you think you have beat me.”

Lightwing smiled, almost evilly. “We have beat you.”

“Wrong again,” replied Flawless Shadow. “You have now sealed your doom.”

“How?” asked Lightwing.

She got her answer as the disintegrating diamond shot a beam of dark magic straight into the sky. The beam pierced through the clouds with no effort and continued into space. Everypony across this half of the planet watched as a huge black and red vortex began forming in the sky. It took up the whole sky. The beam of dark magic faded as the diamond was no more.

Looking up into the red and black vortex, Flawless Shadow smiled. “I forgot to mention that my diamond takes the whole planet with it when it gets destroyed. I may be a normal unicorn now but you will still die.”

Lightwing nearly fell over as the ground began to shake. Vivian helped support her friend as the ground began to crack beneath their hooves. Vivian glared at Sparkling Aurora and yelled, “Do something! You said you have all the powers that Flawless Shadow had. Close that vortex of death.”

Aurora sighed. “I can’t do that. Lyra is the only one who can save the planet.”

Lyra looked over with wide eyes. “What!? How is that even possible?”

“Simple,” replied Aurora. She pointed a hoof at Lyra’s chest. “Use the Stone of Orichalcos. Only it can close the vortex.”

Lyra was now looking at the small necklace with a green stone on it. “That was embedded into my sword...when did it get there?” Lyra looked up at Aurora. “Why can’t you use the stone?”

Violet Lily interrupted the conversation. “Look!” The changeling pointed a hoof toward the sky.

Everypony looked up and saw the moon beginning to deform. It was slowly being sucked into the vortex.

Everypony lowered their ears as Aurora yelled, “Use the stone’s magic!”

Lyra closed her eyes. “Hope this works.” On the ground, a large green ring of magic formed around Lyra. Strange symbols appeared on the outside of the ring, and a six sided star formed in the center, where Lyra stood. Magic energy emanated around Lyra as another ring of strange symbols appeared around her. She opened her eyes, now glowing green with an ancient magic. Everypony watched as Lyra was completely engulfed in magic. All the ponies looked into the sky as the same ring surrounding Lyra appeared in front of the vortex. A vertical beam of magic appeared between the two green rings. The red and black vortex began to turn green. A moment later, a shock wave shook the planet as the vortex exploded in wave of green light.

The magic left Lyra and she opened her eyes. An angry Lightwing and calm Sparkling Aurora were standing next to her. Aurora spoke up first. “To answer your question from earlier, only the Stone of Orichalcos can stop the Dark Vortex after it has been opened. Not even the pony who opened the vortex can stop it. I can’t use the Stone of Orichalcos because it would kill me.”

Lyra looked around for a moment. “Where is Flawless Shadow?”

Lightwing rolled her eyes. “He died,” she huffed. Lightwing continued glaring at Lyra, with anger in her voice, she continued speaking. “He disintegrated when you stopped the vortex. He did tell me an interesting thing. Remember back when I first met you? You had three magic artifacts that could possibly stop him and his dragon.” Lightwing got right up in Lyra’s face. Glaring at the green unicorn. “So why did you doom me to twelve thousand years of torture? You had three ways to save me and you only tried one...why?”

“I...I had hundreds of magic artifacts in my home at that time. Now I have a few thousand.” Lyra shrugged. “I don’t know what they all do. Never have, never will. We both know the Stone of Orichalcos was one of them, and we both had no clue of its power. The only other artifact that I think would be strong enough to have helped you is...my enchanted hoofheld mirror. But...that thing is a little unpredictable. Sorry to disappoint but I have no clue what the other artifact could be.”

Lightwing turned around, hitting Lyra’s face with her tail. “Can somepony tell me where I can find a room to rest in? I need some alone time to sort through my emotions.”

Vivian pointed a hoof toward the Crystal Castle. “Follow me,” she said. “You can stay in the room that we keep your pet snake in. Trixie can fully heal your wing.”

After Vivian and Lightwing were gone, Lyra yawned and sat down on her hind legs. “I don’t know what I did wrong.”

In a flash of light, Discord joined the group. “Everypony should be in their beds. Princess Candy is coming tomorrow. We would not want the princess of Udrogoth to be upset with us.” Discord laughed lightly. “I heard she can be quite a barbarian.”

Celestia nodded her head in agreement. “But if we are all rested, that would not cause much chaos.”

Discord took his eyes out and rolled them into the castle. The rest of him vanished.

Everypony except Lyra began trotting into the castle.

Luna stopped and stood by Lyra. "Do not worry We shall sort out any harsh feelings tomorrow morning. Lightwing is under some stress. Her adventure is over but not the way she wanted." Luna and Lyra walked into the Crystal Castle together, to prepare for the new day.

Chapter 1: A Crash in the Past

Lightwing sat in the grass; her green mane fluttering in the breeze. Vivian Rivers, her younger unicorn friend, sat next to her as they looked upon the stars. At the time, Lightwing was thinking to herself. The moon is beautiful in the sky, the stars are beautiful too, but the constant darkness does make problems for everypony. It was weird how such a beautiful thing like the moon could exist in such a dark, cold, and desolate world. It always seemed to bring hope with it when it rose into the sky. The sky looked so empty when the luminescent moon was not there. Lightwing wondered what the sun would look like. Most ponies didn't even know that a sun ever existed or what a sun even was.

Despite the fact that an evil dragon ruled over the world in eternal night, life was actually pretty good, but probably not as good as the Equestrian Golden Age was told to be. The fact that most magic was now illegal made lots of problems for ponies who liked that kind of thing. Anything more than a simple levitation spell would bring the full force of the law.

Vivian looked over towards her friend. “Your cutie mark seems to sparkle in the moonlight; I wish mine did that.”

Giggling softly, Lightwing replied, “Get a glass bottle as your cutie mark, then it will sparkle.”

Vivian looked back at the black sky filled with twinkling lights. “What is the news you wanted to tell me?"

Lightwing smiled. "I finally made a potion that will allow me to travel back in time, but It only works if I’m going sonic-rainboom speeds."

Lightwing had been trying to make this potion for almost 449 years of her 656 year life.

Vivian Rivers put her head down and stared at her hooves for a few seconds. "Does that mean you’re leaving soon? Will you ever return?"

Lightwing let out a sigh. "I wish I could say I would return, but I don’t want to give you false hope. I’ll try to come back, but I don't think I can. This type of magic always comes at a price. I know that you want to come with me, but we both know that’s not possible without you using some sort of magic, since you don’t have wings."

"So now who is going to make anti-aging potions with me or style my light blue mane?" Vivian asked while she giggled.

Lightwing gave a false laugh. "Some lucky new friend… that’s who. Don’t become green with envy. More green fur is the last thing you need."

With a chuckle and a roll of her eyes, Vivian asked. “Why do you always make that joke?”

“Because it’s fun and I have to say jokes to stop my heart from becoming as black as my fur.”

“I am going to miss your bad jokes and stargazing with you. Well mostly just the stargazing.”

The two girls went into Lightwing’s house to gather the supplies for the trip. They were sad to think they would never see each other again, but it was worth it if Equestria could be saved and none of them would remember this bad place.

Vivian went to the kitchen and opened the fridge; she grabbed the muffins that she had made earlier and started packing some into a saddlebag. Lightwing was in her room opening her safe to get a very special book and the dragon pendant that she had stolen from the castle at the Crystal Empire, or at least what was left of the empire. She put the pendant around her neck, and she put a cloak to hide it from sight. Vivian Rivers walked over and gave her friend the saddlebag of food and other supplies.

"Here is your food for the trip. I packed the muffins that I made. I know you love them. Do you have your bits and that dragon necklace thing?"

Lightwing gave her friend an annoyed look. "It’s a magical pendant! Not a necklace thing! It is directly connected to the dragon’s life energy. So once I absorb all his life energy into the pendant, we can destroy it with the Elements of Harmony and the nightmare will finally end.” She sighed. “But in order for it to work, I must release the dragon from the ice in the Crystal Mountains. So if this doesn’t work, Equestria will be doomed earlier instead of saved."

Vivian could see the worry in her friends eyes. "Have faith in your abilities and the Elements of Harmony. Don’t be a silly filly," Vivian Rivers said with a small laugh, "So if you’re ready, we should probably get ready for your departure."

Lightwing stared at her friend for a few seconds then answered with a sigh, "True."

Vivian sensed the fear in her friend. "Everything will be fine. You just have to believe."

The two ponies went back outside. They could feel the never-ending cold air on their skin.

The two ponies gave each other one last hug before Lightwing spread her wings. With a quick, "Wish me luck!" Lightwing took off.

Lightwing grabbed a teleporting potion from her saddlebag and drank some of it. Thankfully all her potions were labeled for easy access. She closed the bottle and put it back in her saddlebag. Closing her eyes, her thoughts became focused on Canterlot. A moment later, the strange zap sound that happens when somepony teleports was heard. Opening her eyes, Lightwing could now see that she was above the Canterlot Library Ruins. All the ruins of the castle and other buildings were visible to her as she flew over them. She smiled
while thinking of how beautiful it would look in the past. Lightwing tightened her saddlebag so it wouldn’t fall off when she was flying at sonic-rainboom speeds and then began to increase her speed. As she went faster and faster, a ring of energy began to surround her until it exploded into a large wave of rainbow energy. With a loud crack, she vanished from that spot and time.

Vivian and most of southeast Equestria could see the sonic-rainboom because of the location of Canterlot in the high mountains. Vivian stared at the amazing sight that was so far away and softly said, "Good luck my friend.”

The ground shook as something big landed behind Vivian. She slowly turned her head to look behind her and began shaking in fear at the sight of a large ice dragon.

Vivian nodded her head slowly as her horn glowed. “Yes… master.” A saddlebag was teleported onto Vivian. “What now, master?”

“I congratulate your friend for traveling through time. We have much to discuss once we return to my castle.”

====================

It was a normal day in Canterlot. The sun was out and shining brightly. Princess Celestia was in the castle talking to some ponies about political stuff. Princess Luna was asleep in her chambers. The newest princess, Twilight Sparkle, was outside talking to her assistant about her friends in Ponyville when a loud explosion was heard in the sky. The source of the sound was a strange rainbow portal that appeared in the sky with a pegasus flying out of it at incredibly fast speeds.

"It’s so bright!" Lightwing screamed as she put a hoof over her eyes.

Feeling disoriented from the sudden burst of so much light, Lightwing began to spiral out of control. Crashing through a window of one of the castle towers, she hit the floor rolling straight through a wooden bookcase and into a wall. The force of the blow made her faint on impact with the wall.

Twilight Sparkle saw the tower the pegasus had crashed into and teleported to it.

Some guards came rushing up the stairs and into the room.
"Take this pegasus to the medical chamber," Twilight said as she used her magic to levitate the unconscious pegasus onto one of the guard’s backs.

"Yes, Princess!" the guards replied as they hurried down the stairs.

Twilight thought to herself. I better inform Celestia about what happened.

Using her magic, Twilight teleported to the castle’s main hall. "Princess! Something has happened at the northeast tower," Twilight said frantically as she ran toward Celestia. Twilight turned towards the other ponies and said, "I am sorry to cut your meeting with the Princess short, but this is more important than whatever you are discussing with Celestia."

Celestia turned her head toward Twilight and asked, "Does it have something to do with that loud sound that we heard from outside?"

"Yes," Twilight said with a worried look on her face, "A strange pegasus came flying out of a rainbow-colored portal and then crashed into the tower."

Suddenly the main hall doors opened and Luna came walking in. "What was the loud sound? It woke us up from our sleep."

"I was just telling Celestia about that," Twilight answered.

Twilight filled Luna in and then informed both her and Celestia that the pony was now in the medical chamber

The other princesses looked at Twilight with some worry. Celestia said, "Is the pegasus alright?"

"I honestly do not know," Twilight said as she looked down at the ground.

All three of the princesses teleported to the medical chamber in a flash of multicolored light.

The nurse bowed when she saw the princesses. "I did not expect to see all three of you here," she said with slight reservation.

With a worried look on her face Twilight asked, "Is the pegasus ok?"

The nurse responded with a smile. "She does not seem to have any major injuries."

Celestia looked at her little sister and said, "Luna, you should use your abilities and go into the pegasus’ dreams to figure out why she is here and what happened… but do not be too forceful."

"We agree," Luna replied.

"We should leave and let my sister concentrate," Celestia beckoned to Twilight as she turned for the door.

Twilight nodded her head in agreement and both princesses left the room.

"Should I leave too?" the nurse asked.

Luna gently smiled. "You do not have to but it would be prefered."

"Then I’ll leave," the nurse said with some worry in her voice.

Luna closed her eyes and started to concentrate. She opened her eyes and saw that it was night. The snow under her hooves surprised her. A bolt of magic zoomed over Luna’s head. When she looked to see the originator of the attack, she saw a light-blue dragon battling three flying ponies.

====================

Lightwing glared at the dragon. “Time for you to die! The Elements of Harmony and I will stop you!”

A burst of magic flew at her. While she had little time to react, she managed to throw up a hasty shield. However, this proved to be too little and she was thrown back from the force of the attack.

“Are you alright?” cried Twilight.

Lightwing nodded her head.

“Good,” Twilight sighed. Turning towards her enemy, she loosed a salvo of purple lightning towards the dragon. Unfortunately, the dragon effortlessly redirected her attack towards Lightwing.

Lightwing’s shield shattered under the force and she spiraled toward the ground. Fluttershy caught her before she hit. With a shake of her head and a hasty thanks, Lighting wasted no time in taking to the air again.

Twilight and Lightwing shot a volley of magic bolts at the dragon as they continued zooming around him until a wave of magic pierced the air as the dragon activated a shield.

Lightwing shot a burst of magic at the dragon but it was just as easily deflected as the former barrage. “Twilight, my magic is having no effect on him!”

A bolt of magic singed Twilight’s wing as she flew toward Lightwing. “You need to rely on the power of your pendant, not your own magic!” Twilight cried as she retaliated with a bolt of magic back at the dragon. “You can’t be afraid to tap into its powers!”

Lightwing focused her mind on the pendant. She could feel the magic energy welling within it. However, before she could do much more, she noticed three balls of magic were lancing straight for her. Lightwing charged a rushed counterspell, but was never able to use it. A concussive boom was heard from far below, and suddenly the air before Lightwing was filled with razor shards of ice, slicing clean through the attack.

The pegasus looked down to see Pinkie Pie, way below, waving happily from beside her party cannon. Lightwing waved back thankfully, then focused the energy from the pendant into a single point. Once she felt there was enough power to attack, she released the energy toward the dragon in a beam of light blue magic.

Twilight and the Elements of Harmony watched as the magic engulfed the dragon.

“Is it over?” asked Twilight as the magic began to fade from around the dragon. An answer was given as there was no dragon in sight. She gasped from shock at what she saw next. “Lightwing, why are you standing where the dragon was, and how are there two of you?”

Lightwing stared at herself. “I don’t know,” she replied as she floated over toward Twilight. The two ponies hovered down to the mysterious Lightwing. “Who are you?”

The mysterious Lightwing smirked. “Are you blind? I’m you, just evil.”

“That’s not true!” she replied to herself. “I would never become evil. Your mind games won’t work on me.”

Evil Lightwing shook her head with a smile. “Don’t be a fool. I’m you from the future and you know it. We created the Dragon Pendant and you can sense it as you wear it. If you’re so sure I’m not you, then have Twilight destroy the Dragon Pendant. I can’t stop you because you took my magic away. Know this first. You die with me, if you destroy it.” The Elements of Harmony were now surrounding evil Lightwing. “I’m just a weak and helpless pegasus without my magic.”

Twilight looked over at her Lightwing. “What’s your choice, friend?”

Lightwing stared into her evil counterparts confident eyes. “I… I don’t know. I don’t know what to believe. I want to save the future but I don’t want to kill me… if that really is me.”

The confidence of evil Lightwing only grew more. “Give into your selfish desire to stay alive. I know it’s in you. You want to live to see the dark future gone. I know you will do anything to make sure it ends, but if you kill yourself… you will never know if you truly won or not.

Lightwing sighed in defeat. “She is right. I just hide my fear behind my temporary magic. Twilight… destroy the pendant. I’ll die if it means saving the future. I just hope it’s the right thing to do.”

Twilight’s eyes glowed white as rainbow magic surrounded her. The magic moved to surround the pendant and it shattered into nothingness.

Evil Lightwing began to disintegrate into the air. “Good work. You have now killed us and failed to save the future.”

Lightwing started to feel weak. Her world began to black out. Before she lost all sight, she saw the Elements of Harmony turn into stone and shatter.

Lightwing opened her eyes. She was now floating in a black void and Luna was standing in front of her. “Am I dead?” she asked. Luna shook her head. “Where am I if I’m not dead?”

“Thou are asleep. The nightmare hath ended.”

Lightwing poked at the mysterious void she was in. “Then I should be awake. I always wake up after these nightmares.”

“Your body is too weak to wake up. How common are thy nightmares?”

Lightwing looked to Luna with worry. “I usually have them three or four times a week but that does not matter.” Taking a firm stance and tone of voice, she continued. “I want you out of my mind. I don’t trust other entities in here.”

“Then we shall leave. Are thou sure about not wanting our help? We are willing to help with thy fear of hiding with magic.”

“Yes, I’m sure,” she answered with annoyance. “Now leave before I make you.”

Luna looked amused. "Does thou really think we could be defeated so easily?"

Lightwing rolled her eyes. "Yes! This is my mind. So I am ultimately the one in control."

Luna giggled slightly. "Do not worry thy self. We shall leave. We shall see you again when you wake up." and with that, she vanished from sight.

====================

Luna opened her eyes and exited out of the room. Seeing that Luna was done, the nurse went back into the room.

In the castle's main hall, Celestia was continuing her meeting, and Twilight was sitting there too. Luna entered the main hall and told them that she had not learned anything.

"You did your best," Celestia replied as Luna began to leave the room.

Luna yawned. "We are going back to sleep."

========== Later that night ==========

Lightwing opened her eyes and yawned. "I really hate those nightmares." She looked out the window to her left and saw that it was night time. “This is where I would have a midnight snack to calm myself down. Eating ham with my pet snake was very calming. I wish she was here with me. She thought.

The nurse turned her head towards Lightwing and smiled. "I hope you had a nice rest. Was it nice talking to Princess Luna?"

"I did not really talk to the Princess a lot, and where did you put my saddlebag?" said Lightwing with a little worry in her voice.

The nurse giggled. "It’s under the bed."

Lightwing sighed. "That’s good to know. Thanks for the info, nurse."

"No problem."

Lightwing raised an eyebrow. "Am I allowed to leave this room?"

"Yes, you are, but you have to have a guard with you at all times. It’s the Princesses' orders."

Lightwing sighed. "I guess that makes sense." She got out of the bed to grab her saddlebag and cloak.

Lightwing opened the door to the room and motioned to the guard that they were leaving. The guard nodded and began to follow her. She opened her saddlebag to see if everything was still in it and intact. Unsurprisingly, everything was perfectly fine. “It’s a good thing I used diamond bottles. Glass bottles would have totally broken when I crashed. Where are Princess Celestia and Luna?"

The guard answered, "Celestia is probably in her chambers, and I don’t know where Luna is.”

The two ponies continued their walk through the castle. Lightwing was really enjoying the beautiful scenery of the not-destroyed castle. The moonlight looked amazing as it reflected off of the walls and stained glass.

"Hey!" Twilight yelled from across the hall.

Lightwing stared at the purple pony as she ran up to them. "You’re um… Twilight the element of magic… right?”

Twilight smiled. "That is correct. I guess I am more popular than I knew." She giggled at her next thought. Probably still not as popular as Celestia.

The guard looked at Twilight and invited her. "Would you like to come with us to see Princess Celestia and maybe help us find Princess Luna too?"

Twilight nodded in agreement and the three ponies went to Princess Celestia's chambers. It took close to five minutes to reach their destination.

The guards at the doors bowed to Twilight. "The princess has been expecting you two."

Lightwing looked a little confused. Why would anypony be expecting me? The guards opened the doors so Lightwing and Twilight could enter.

Celestia heard the doors open and greeted them. "Welcome, Lightwing and my student."

Lightwing looked at Celestia with a slightly confused face. "How do you know my name?" I don’t know if I’m liking this.

"Luna told me," Celestia replied.

Twilight raised a hoof. "Should I go get Luna? This does seem important for both of you.” Celestia nodded and Twilight teleported away in a flash of purple light.

Celestia looked back at Lightwing. "How is your night going, my little pony?"

"Pretty good. This is quite a nice castle you have here." It’s better than I expected, but that’s not a surprise.

In a flash of light both Luna and Twilight appeared in the room.

"We are here," Luna said as she walked towards her bigger sister and sat next to her.Twilight chose to lay down. She found it more comfortable.

Celestia put a wing over Luna. "Lightwing, I think it’s time for you to tell us why you are here, how you got here, and what you want to do here.”

"Ok," Lightwing responded as she sat down and began her story.

Author's Note

A friend of mine drew Lightwing. So here is Lightwing. The necklace Has a dragon pendant at this point in the story. It doesn't look like the one in the pic till latter chapters

Chapter 8: Visiting Lyra Heartstrings

The ponies reached Ice Lake Village and took the first train that was going to Canterlot.

Lightwing sat next to a window again. “This was a nice adventure. What do I do now?”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash were sitting behind Lightwing. Rainbow Dash yawned. “Shouldn't you go back to the future? Your job of saving the future is over.”

Lightwing started staring out the window. “I don't think that is a good idea. If I have changed the future, everything I know is no more.” Her ears flopped down and her voice now had a sadder tone. “In theory, I should not be here now but let’s not get into theories and stuff. I have no reason to go back if nothing I know is there anymore. So I think I will just start a life here. That’s my price for using magic.”

Twilight patted Lightwing on the back. “It’s OK. I think you will have a great life here. I have been meaning to ask you something. Can you really absorb magic directly from from unicorns?”

“Yes I can, but I would never do that. Also, it would only work on average unicorns. I do have to admit I was impressed when I absorbed your magic. You are an alicorn. It will never happen again. I don’t plan on being possesed by an evil dragon with more magic than me or you. I have practiced some darker magic, but I stopped because it’s a bad path to go down. Six hundred years of practicing magic has it’s advantages...and disadvantages.”

Twilight moved up a seat and sat next to Lightwing. “That type of magic was banned long ago. I am sure you know why. We better keep that little skill of yours a secret. So what are your plans for your new future?”

Lightwing had not stopped looking out the window. “I think I will start a new restaurant business in Ponyville and other cities. Not Canterlot. Those ponies are too boring to enjoy my crazy food.” Lightwing smiled at that thought. “I need some time to think. Would you mind if I laid down in one of the beds here?”

“Of course not,” Twilight said with a smile. “Anything for a friend.”

Lightwing hovered over to a bed in the back, laid down, and thought to herself. She called me a friend again. I think she would be sad if she knew I don’t think of her and the Elements of Harmony as my friends. Lightwing grabbed an apple from the table next to her. I wish this apple were a ham. I’m craving some ham right now. “I guess I’ll have to wait.”

“Wait for what?” asked Twilight.

Lightwing lied and said, “Lasagna. I want some lasagna, but you don’t have that here.”

Twilight and her friends got off the train at Canterlot while Lightwing stayed on till the train reached Ponyville.

Lightwing got off the train, but was surprised when she was greeted by a mint green unicorn. “Hi.” The mint green unicorn put a hoof up.

Lightwing gave a hoof shake. “Hi, and who are you?”

“My name is Lyra Heartstrings, but you can call me Lyra. I just wanted to say I really like your necklace. I saw you with it a few days ago but never had the chance to talk to you.”

Lightwing blushed as she said, “Thanks. It was a gift from Rarity.”

“That explains why it looks so nice. Hey! Do you want to come to my home?”

“Sure. I got nowhere else to be. Where do you live?”

Lyra pointed a hoof to the east. “About one minute east. Do you like being here in the past?”

Lightwing threw her hooves up and began hovering over Lyra. “Does everypony know I’m from the future?”

“I would say yes. Pinkie told everypony at that party.”

The two ponies entered Lyra’s house. Lightwing saw there was a green chair to the left. A blue couch stood against the back wall with a bookshelf next to it. A door was to the right and a staircase next to it. The home had a strange but nice smell.

Lyra pointed a hoof to the right. “Over there is the door to the kitchen and other rooms. There is also a staircase to the three bedrooms. There are two beds in each room. We don't have a lot of food right now. Bon Bon should be back with some food soon.”

“Who is Bon Bon?” asked Lightwing as she put her cloak and saddlebag next to the couch.

Lyra smiled as she went over to the green chair. She sat down in an upright position that looked unnatural for a pony. “Bon Bon is my lifelong friend. We live together. She is an earth pony but knows a lot about magic. She is also a voice actor.“

Lightwing hovered to the couch and laid down on her back. “Thats a weird way you’re sitting.”

Lyra rolled her eyes in annoyance.“I find it comfortable. Do you have anywhere to live?”

Lightwing rolled over onto her stomach. ”I don't, but I do have money to buy a home. So I just need to find one.”

Lyra’s face lit up. “Maybe you could get the Apple family to build you a home. They love building stuff. I am sure they would be more than happy to build you a home. It should only take a day to build.”

Lightwing waved her hooves through the air in random patterns. “Getting a home built for me would be nice. I just need to figure out where to have it.” She continued moving her hooves around. “I think I will take after Pinkie Pie and Rarity with the home and work at the same place. It’s a nice concept. Before you ask, It will be a restaurant. I will have desserts. So I will give Pinkie Pie some friendly competition.”

“And the Cakes.”

Lightwing turned her head towards Lyra. “The who?”

“The Cakes,” Lyra said with a smile. “They are the owners of Ca...Sugarcube Corner.” Lyra laughed. “I almost said Carousel Boutique. Twilight works at her home too, and technically Applejack too.”

“Seems like all the Elements of Harmony work from their home. Even Fluttershy. I could pose as an Element too. Thanks to Rarity’s fine work on my necklace.” Lightwing jumped as she heard a knock on the door.

A voice from the other side of the door asked, “Will you open the door, Lyra?”

A green aura surrounded the door and opened it. Lightwing was overwhelmed by the smell of fruit as she saw a pony enter the house. She assumed it was Bon Bon. Lightwing flew over to her and grabbed the large box of apples on Bon Bon’s back. Lyra used her magic to carry two of the four saddlebags from Bon Bon.

The three ponies went to the kitchen. Lyra started emptying the saddlebags. “You brought more food than I was expecting. That is good because we have a guest. It’s almost like you knew.”

Bon Bon shook her head as she put food away. “I bought some lemons from Lemon Dreams. Sweet Apple Acres was having a sale on apples. So I got a large box of apples. I had no idea you had a guest coming over. I wish you would have told me. Your spontaneous guests do get annoying sometimes, but it is fun.”

Lightwing was sitting at the kitchen table across from the stove. A green aura surrounded the apple she was eating. With her teeth, Lightwing held on to the apple tight as it tried to float away. Her grip on the apple got so tight that she bit through it and the rest floated over to Lyra. Lyra took a bite and returned the stolen fruit to the table. Lightwing opened her mouth ready to say something, but the apple floated into her mouth. Lyra smiled and Lightwing rolled her eyes and continued eating the apple.

Bon Bon sighed in relief as she put away the last of the groceries. She closed the fridge with a bang. “What is our guest’s name?”

“My name is Lightwing,” she said in a flat tone.

Lyra giggled. “I just realised that I did not know your name either. I forgot to ask you because I was so happy to meet you.”

Bon Bon groaned as her muscles ached. She started walking to the main door. “I am going to the Ponyville spa.” She grabbed her saddlebag with some bits. “Do you two want to come?”

Lightwing shook her head as she flew to the couch and lay down on it again. A green aura surrounded her and put her on the floor.

Lyra looked Lightwing directly in the eyes. “We may not be going to the spa, but we are leaving.” She waved at Bon Bon as the front door closed. “We are going to Sweet Apple Acres to ask the Apple family to build you that work home. So bring your bits.”

Lightwing grabbed her saddlebag and strapped it to her. In a firm voice said, “Can you please not use your magic on me?”

Lyra smiled. “As you wish. What do you have against other ponies using magic on you?”

“I had some bad experiences in my time,” replied Lightwing.

“Sounds like you and Bon Bon have something in common. Bon Bon hates magic being used on her too. She had abusive unicorn parents. I’m sure something totally different happened to you.” The two left the house.

The two ponies began their journey to the apple orchard. Lyra trotted towards their goal. Lightwing hovered a few inches above the ground but was going the same speed. Lyra tried to start a conversation but Lightwing wasn’t in the mood to talk. It took ten minutes to get to their destination.

A yellow filly was at the front gate ready to greet the two guests. “Hi. Ah’m Applebloom. Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres. Big Macintosh is busy right now. Only ah’m here to help.”

Lightwing landed in front of the filly with a smile. “I would like your family to build me a restaurant and home. It will all be one building. First floor is the restaurant and second floor will be my living space. I will pay for all the supplies and I’ll pay your family for the work. Tell Big Macintosh about my request. Send a letter to Twilight’s home tomorrow with the answer to my question. Have a nice day.”

Applebloom nodded her head and walked away.

Lightwing stared at Applebloom until she was out of hearing range. “This might sound crazy but I think I have seen a picture of Applebloom in the future.”

“How is that possible?” Lyra giggled as a thought came to her. “Maybe the Cutie Mark Crusaders found your time travel potion and traveled to the future.”

“Did you you just say that she is in the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

“I guess I did,” replied Lyra. “Why do you care?”

Lightwing was paying no attention to Lyra.“This can’t be the same Cutie Mark Crusaders that I know of. This just has to be a coincidence.”

“Hey! Explain it to me,” asked Lyra.

“No need to yell. In my time, there is a worldwide company called the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They help ponies find their cutie marks. Thier main building is in Manehatten. In the building, there is a mural of the three founding members of the company, and one of them looks like an older Applebloom.”

“Wow,” was all Lyra said.

“Care to expand that thought?”

“Sure,” Lyra said with a smile. “I’m guessing the mural has an orange pegasus with a dark-pink mane and a white unicorn with a light-pink and purple mane.” Lightwing had no response and just stared in amazement. “Judging by your face, I would say I got that spot on. I would have never guessed that those three trouble makers would have a worldwide business...and one that is still around in your far off future. So what do we do now?”

“We could explore the Everfree Forest.”

Lyra went wide eyed. “Are you crazy? That’s like suicide.” Even more suicidal than going to Tartarus for a vacation or sneaking into the human world from that special mirror in the Crystal Empire. I miss my home world...I love you dad. Why do we have to be in different world? At least I can talk to you with my enchanted hoofheld mirror

“Lyra!”

“I’m back. I got lost in my thoughts. I do that sometimes. Why would you want to go into the Everfree Forest?”

“I like to be in forests when I’m thinking a lot. It makes me feel better.”

“I’ll go to the edge of the forest with you. What are you thinking about?” asked Lyra as she began walking toward the forest.

“I guess now is a fine time to talk about it. I got possessed by the dragon when I was fighting him and before he was defeated, he said that this was not the end. Now I’m not sure if I saved the future or not.

“Doubting yourself is a problem. You should believe in yourself. Even if you have to fight that dragon again, I’m sure you would win.”

Lightwing shook her head in disbelief.

“What are you disagreeing with?”

“I spent my whole life planning how to defeat that dragon...and for what...just to fight him again?”

Lyra stopped at the edge of the forest and sat down. “You’re thinking about this too much. You won and you’ll win again if needed. You still win if you never see the dragon again. So quit your worrying.”

With a sigh, Lightwing answered. “I guess you’re right but I don’t know if I can just magically stop worrying. My entire lives work might have been for nothing...It’s hard to not think about that.”

Lyra raised an eyebrow. “I never thought of it that way. I don’t know your life, so I can’t help with that. I can be here to support you.”

“Thanks for the talk but I think we should go back to your home.”

Lyra nodded her head in agreement. “Can I get a ride home?”

Lightwing flew above Lyra and grabbed her. She lifted up the unicon with some extra help from magic. Lightwing began flying towards their home at decent speeds. Lyra waved at everypony as she floated by them. Most waved back but some just watched.

Lyra was put down gently in front of her door. “That was a fun ride.” The two ponies went into the home. Lyra went straight into the kitchen. “Lightwing, How are you going to get all the bits to pay the Apple family?”

Lightwing hovered into the kitchen. “I already have the bits to pay. I brought them from the future.” She sat down at the kitchen table. “I bet you're wondering how I have that many bits. They are all in my saddlebag. It has been magically enchanted. It can hold an almost infinite number of bits.” Lightwing smiled. “So I’m a super-rich pony but nopony knows. I usually keep my bits in a magic portal at my home and have it connected to my saddle bag for instant access. I have no home here and I don’t think my saddle bag can connect to my home in the future. So I took half of my bits with me.”

“That’s cool. Do you want some of this salad that I am making?” Lightwing’s stomach growled as if it had heard the question. Lyra giggled. “That’s not the answer I was expecting to hear, but any answer is a good answer.”

The front door opened. “I’m home,” called Bon Bon. “And I brought Lemon Dreams.”

Lyra giggled again. “I thought you were against spontaneous guests.”

“I figured we could have another guest. Since we already had one.”

The two earth ponies entered the kitchen and sat down with Lightwing.

“Do you two want some salad too?” asked Lyra.

“Yes for both of us,” replied Lemon Dreams. She looked over at Lightwing with a smile. “You must be future pony.” Tears began flowing down her face. “...My sister…you could save my sister. I don’t know how a pegasus can time travel but obviously you can. “ Lemon Dreams wiped some tears from her face. “So...Do you think you could save my sister?”

Lightwing rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. “I don’t think I should do that.”

What! Why?!” Lemon Dreams slammed her head and a hoof into the table. “We all know that you already saved the whole world. So how is saving one more pony going to hurt?”

Lyra sat down at the table. She magically moved the four plates of salad to the table.

Lightwing was going to reply, but Bon Bon began talking first. “Future pony is right about it being a bad idea.” She put a hoof over the crying Lemon Dreams. “Let’s look at it in a different way. Let’s say she does go back in time and saves your sister. Now your sister is alive, but what if she dies again but in a different way? Do you really want to go through all that pain again? There are so many things that could go wrong. You had a type of happiness after your sister died this time, but that might not happen next time. Bad things happen to everypony, and we have to live with them. I would love to have things in my past changed too but I know it’s better to live with the bad stuff. It helps you learn to better yourself. Your whole life could change. You might never come to Ponyville. Then you would never meet all the friends that you have here. And that book you wrote might help somepony else who is going through a bad time. I think you can agree that you have a good life, and changing it would not be good.”

“You're right,” replied Lemon Dreams. “I’m sorry I got upset. I get a little emotional when thinking about my sister.” She started eating her food. Bon Bon and Lightwing began eating their salads too.

Lightwing glanced over at Lemon Dreams. “What is the name of your book?”

“It’s called Life is a Lemon. Are you going to buy it some time?”

“Sure. I have the bits to afford it.”

Lyra had finished eating her salad. She quietly clapped her fore hooves together. “Good job, Bon Bon. You are always good at fixing problems and making others feel better.” Lyra got up from her chair. “I am going to send a letter to Octavia. It’s been awhile since I talked to her.”

========== At Canterlot ==========

Princess Twilight saw a letter appear in a small box next to her. “Octavia, you got a letter from Lyra. Do you want me to send a reply of just ignore it?”

“What does it say?” asked Octavia.

Twilight grabbed the letter and began to read it aloud.

Dear Octavia.

It’s been a while since we have talked. How are your concerts going? Is Vinyl still scaring your audience on random occasions?
Today I met a new friend. Her name is Lightwing. She is planning to open a restaurant in Ponyville. I have not asked what she is going to be serving, but I think it will be good.
How is that high end fancy life of yours going? Has anything exciting happened, or is it just the same old same old boring stuff?
I hope you reply soon. I know how busy you can get. So don’t feel too obligated to reply fast.

Your friend, Lyra.

Octavia smiled. “Send a reply to her. Tell her about the incident today. She loves to hear about the exciting things. I think me growing four extra hooves falls into that category. Thank Celestia that I do not have them any more, but in this case it is more of thank Discord. I never thought I would say that.”

========== At Lyra’s and Bon Bon’s home ==========

The four ponies were sitting in the living room. A green glow surrounded the small box next to Lyra as a letter appeared inside it.

“Read it to us,” stated Bon Bon.

Lyra grabbed the letter with magic and began reading.

Dear Lyra.

I am sorry that I have not talked to you for so long. You know how busy we fancy ponies can get.

My concerts are going good and yes Vinyl is doing her thing. I am used to it. It is funny to watch the civilised ponies freaking out. I can see why Vinyl does it.

Maybe I will come over to this restaurant on opening day. Make sure you tell me what day that will be. I look forward to meeting your new friend.

You will be happy to know that my life has been quite exciting today. I was going to tell you about it tomorrow morning, but you seem to have a way of getting to know sooner.

The day started out normal. I was planning to play at a concert in the afternoon. Forty minutes after I woke up, I was invited into the castle by a letter from Princess Twilight . I went to the castle and was told to wait for the princesses to finish their meeting. So I chose to go visit Trixie Lulamoon in her chamber. I should have knocked first. I entered her chambers not knowing she was practicing a new spell that Luna had asked her to do. I startled her and she lost control of her spell. It affected me and a few other things in the room. I saw things in the room grow extra stuff. The plants grew some extra vines and leaves, the books grew more pages and I grew four extra hooves. It was actually painless.Trixie and I were speechless for a few moments. She then offered to try to fix me, but I told her not to. I did not trust her abilities.

I started to freak out. She told me she would go and get Luna. I looked at her notes after she left. I saw she was practicing some kind of healing spell that rejuvenate injured parts of your body. A few minutes later Princess Celestia, Princess Twilight, Princess Luna, and Trixie appeared in the room. Luna and Twilight tried to hold back a laugh but failed. Thankfully Twilight had a solution to my problem. It was Discord. Since chaos was his speciality.

Twilight left and came back with Discord. Discord liked my new look. He said it fit my name nicely. He also said I could make more money from my concerts by playing more instruments. That actually made sense but I was not going to do that. He turned me back to normal after a few minutes of Twilight and him talking about why he should help.

I was too stressed to play at a concert and chose to go back to my home in Canterlot. Discord decided that he would play a song at the concert in my absence. I can only assume it will be his theme song. He and Vinyl really like that song. All the concert guests will get a free ticket as well. I will never understand why Princess Celestia chose to have Discord brought back. (Back on track) Princess Twilight and her friends chose to come with me to keep an eye on me. Just in case something happens. I have been home ever since then.

Your friend, Octavia.

Lyra put the letter down with some other papers. “That sounds like an interesting day. I wish my days were that exciting, but I know how my nights can be exciting.”

“And how is that?” asked Lemon Dreams.

Lyra smiled and blushed a little. “I sleep with Bon Bon.”

Bon Bon facehooved. “Don’t go telling our guests that we sleep together.”

Lyra giggled. “Does telling them embarrass you?”

“No, but-”

“Then it does not matter,” interrupted Lyra.

Bon Bon sighed. “I guess you're right. That does not give you a reason to go tell others of our personal life.

Lyra rolled her eyes. “Any pony who has lived here for more than a month could figure it out. It’s pretty obvious to any pony with a brain. You and I have lived together for so many years, and we do almost everything together.”

Bon Bon sighed again. “You're right, but I’m still annoyed about it. So I won't sleep with you tonight.”

Lyra’s ears flopped down. “Aww...that’s not fair.” Lyra stared at Bon Bon with wide eyes full of sadness and cuteness.

Bon Bon sat down on her hind legs. “Don’t give me that look, Lyra. It won't help you this time. I won't change my mind just because you look cute.”

“What about tomorrow?” asked Lyra.

“Sure,” replied Bon Bon.

Lyra’s face brightened up. “Do you promise? No! Do you Pinkie promise?”

“Yes I Pinkie promise.”

With her fore hooves crossed Lyra replied, “Say the oath.”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Lyra’s smiled grew a little bigger. If you break your Pinkie promise, I will tell Pinkie pie that you made a Pinkie promise and broke it. We both know how that will turn out.”

Bon Bon smiled nervously. “You probably won’t have to tell her. I think she will already know. She is Pinkie Pie after all.”

Lemon Dreams opened the front door. “It’s getting late. I am going back to my orchard now.” She waved a hoof. “Bye, everypony.”

“Bye,” everypony said in unison. Lightwing cleared her throat dramatically when the door closed. “Lemon Dreams has left the building.”

Lyra walked over to a bookshelf. “Do you girls want to play a game before we go to bed?”

Bon Bon nodded her head. “Grab Dungeons and Dragons.” She saw a green glow to her right. “You got another letter from Octavia.”

The letter levitated to Lyra and she read it.

This is from Twilight and not Octavia, but it should be from Applejack. It’s for Lightwing. Sorry, Lyra.

Applejack has told me that her family will start building your home tomorrow. They will buy the supplies tomorrow. Don’t forget to pay them back. They should have it built by tomorrow night and painted by the next morning. So your restaurant should be opening the day after tomorrow. I told Octavia, Trixie, and Discord to come by your restaurant for the grand opening. I will be there as well. I sent a letter to Mayor Mare too. So most of Ponyville should be there as well.

Applebloom went to my home and asked Spike to send a letter to Princess Celestia, who then sent me the letter. Thats how we know you wanted a home built and how I sent Mayor Mare a letter.

The girls and I are spending the night at the castle and will be back at Ponyville tomorrow morning.

Have a nice night at Lyra and Bon Bon’s home.

A knock was heard at the door. The door opened revealing a blue unicorn with a gray and dark-blue mane. She was humming a song to herself. “I brought your gift, Lyra.” Her eyes focused on the their game. “Am I interrupting your game?”

Lyra smiled. “Thanks for bring Stone of Orichalcos and the Green Diamond of Courage from Mt. Tamaranch Museum, Colgate. It was expensive. We have not started the game. Do you want to join us?”

I wish I didn’t have to give you these artifacts. Unfortunately...you are the only one I would trust. Colgate levitated the gift to Lyra’s chair. “I do not have any plans for the rest of the day. I would love to play with you, Bon Bon, and your friend.”

The four ponies played Dungeons and Dragons into the late hours of the night. After their game, Colgate went home and the others went to bed.