Days of the Past

It had been one heck of a day for Octavia. She had woken in the morning to find that time was frozen. This is not a metaphor for a hangover that made everything appear to slow down, or a metaphor for her being incredibly tired and unable to do anything.

No, time was actually frozen. This had, of course, made creating breakfast difficult,  So, being a sensible mare, Octavia had thought that perhaps this was a one off thing, and ignored breakfast all together, in favour of heading in to her living room. Only to find her cello floating in the air.

Octavia had decided to attempt to get the cello down, as instruments were not - more often than not - designed to fly. This had resulted in Octavia being stuck a few feet above her floor, attempting not to fall down. Just when she felt that she might be used to this predicament, the lord of chaos had knocked on her door, and dragged her on an adventure to restore the flow of time. This had annoyed Octavia immensely, as these were not her normal plans for a weekend. And, to top it all off, when she had attempted to attack the monster - Chronus - who had frozen time, he took her a thousand years in to the past, and left her there.

Sometimes you know when it's going to be one of those days.

Octavia awoke to find herself in a strange bed, with no sign of Chronus. She sighed, remembering the events of a few hours prior. She knew she was somewhere else, and, judging by Chronus' powers, some other time entirely. A quick glance around the room told her very little, as while she had a fairly good grasp of Equestrian history, most of the specifics related to music. With a soft groan, she rolled out of bed and landed heavily on the floor, where she lay still for a good few minutes, not wanting to face this particular day. If it was going to be yesterday - or a few thousand tomorrows from now, she supposed - it was going to be an adventure that she was not willing to go on.

She sighed as she heard the door open, followed by some soft footsteps which came towards her.

"Care to explain why you suddenly appeared in the room of the Princess, which has every protection known to ponykind, and is impossible for anypony but her to access?" Whoever this was, he was short, and to the point. This was the kind of conversation that Octavia could appreciate. It didn't mean that she was willing to help though.

"No, I wouldn't," Octavia mumbled, the purple carpet muffling much of her speech.

"Oh? Then perhaps you'd care to explain that when I analysed this pink bow-tie of yours for dangerous magical enchantments, the time of creation came up as nearly a thousand years in to the future?" The pony dropped said bow-tie in front of Octavia, but she merely grunted.

"Error in your magic?" Octavia's position on the floor was beginning to become uncomfortable, but she was far too tired to care.

"There are no errors in my magic. The Princess herself verified that, and I feel that even somepony from an apparently different time such as yourself would not wish to argue with her, am I correct?" The stallion grabbed Octavia's right forehoof in his own and pulled her in to a standing position. She offered no resistance, her only movement being to bend down slightly and pick up her bow-tie, before starting to place it on her neck. Looking at this mysterious pony, she saw that he was a unicorn with blue fur and a black mane. His cutie mark was a five pointed star with four smaller stars surrounding it, alongside a burst of purple magic. The ponies eyes were a piercing shade of yellow, and Octavia couldn't help but shake the feeling that he was constantly analysing her, judging her.

Admittedly, that was what she was doing at that particular moment in time, but that was besides the point. Octavia sighed, and - after adjusting her bow-tie one last time - decided to explain the situation.

"Your spell was correct in it's identification of the time in which that piece of clothing was created. I come from a time that is around one thousand years in to the future, but I was sent back through some... unique circumstances. Long story short, time collapsed and I got thrown back in time by the villain that caused it," Octavia frowned, finding it difficult to believe that those events had taken place just a day ago.

"Interesting. That explains how you ended up in Celestia's bedchambers, I suppose," Octavia nodded, imagining how it must have seemed; a strange pony shows up in the most powerful pony in all of Equestria's room without warning, somehow bypassing all of the magical protection. She was surprised that she hadn't been killed on the spot.

"I can't imagine how that must have looked. Thank you for giving me the benefit of the doubt, rather than simply murdering me," Octavia said, before finding herself unable to prevent the small grin that crept on to her face at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. The pony looked at her, confused, before smiling slightly himself.

"Yes, the guards were about to take you out before I arrived. I felt it would make sense to give you a fair trial, and as you lacked any wepaons with which to kill the Princess, the likelihood of you being an assassin were rather low. These bedchambers are in my wing of the castle, so you have them to thank me for as well," He said, before opening the door to the room and gesturing for her to follow with a hoof. They stepped in to the corridor, and Octavia pulled the large wooden door shut behind her. It was ornately designed, with golden hinges and a gilded doorknob. This was certainly Canterlot Castle, even if it was a while before Octavia knew it.

"You have my thanks for the accomodation, and the protection. Exactly what should I call you? It would be silly to continue thinking of you as 'pony', wouldn't it?" Octavia asked, walking beside the pony as he headed away from the main castle, as far as Octavia could tell.

"You can just call me Star. It does occur to you that I don't have your name either, correct? Perhaps we should rectify that, miss...?" He trailed off, looking at her expectantly.

"Octavia. A pleasure to meet you, Mister Star," Octavia stopped and held out her hoof to Star, but he just continued walking, apparently lost in his own little world. Octavia coughed quietly, a frown on her face, before continuing to follow him. "So, exactly what time period am I in, exactly? Has Nightmare Moon happened yet, or Discord?" She glanced at Star, who was still steadfastly ignoring her. She cleared her throat, which yielded no response. "Star!" She shouted, causing him to shake his head slightly and look at her.

"Yes? What is it?"

"I was just asking when I am. Have Nightmare Moon or Discord's reign happened yet?" Star paused, thinking deeply, before responding.

"... Nightmare Moon was just banished, not a few months ago," He said, before continuing on as if this was no big deal. Octavia had thought that this might be some sort of big deal to everypony, considering that it was one of the most influential events in Equestrian History, which changed the fate of most ponies forever. Perhaps this Star just didn't care. he certainly seemed pretty absent-minded. It certainly seemed that it would be a little while before she could learn everything there was to learn about this pony. She couldn't help but feel that he was incredibly familiar to her, but she just couldn't place it. Octavia was sure it would come to her in due time, when her mind was less occupied with other things. For now she was content to just head wherever Star was taking her, and she would work things out when she got there.

Or she would have a panic attack. One or the other.

Princess Celestia smiled as she sat in the Canterlot Laboratory. The smile was nothing more than a front for what she was actually feeling, but the mindless ponies that worked here would probably have a panic attack if they saw anything but pure bliss on her face. Why they expected her to be the epitome of happiness after being forced to banish her sister to the moon, Celestia didn't know. But she did know how to act like she was happy after years of ruling Equestira, and act happy she did, up until the last of the scientists trickled out for breakfast, leaving her alone with her thoughts. She had come here to watch some of the experiments that her team of scientists were performing on a new spell that would allow ponies to teleport, but she just couldn't bring herself to care. She could give them the spell in an instant if the need arose, but she felt it would be better to allow them to reach their own conclusion.

And then there was the matter of this mysterious new mare who she had been told was from the future. That was something Celestia hadn't expected to wake up to see, so she was quite surprised by the appearance of a grey earth pony in her supposedly impenetrable room. She looked forward to speaking with her about the circumstances of her arrival, but until that time, she had left the mare in the company of her protégé, in the hope that he would be able to extract some information about the situation.

Besides, Celestia thought to herself, Star Swirl needed some company more than most ponies.