Don't Let The Fire Dieby GleamingChaptersPrologue - Why Me? Chapter I - Secret SocietyChapter II - The SewersChapter III + Epilogue - Words of Wisdom and Home, Sweet HomePrologue - Why Me? Prologue - Why Me? Don’t Let The Fire Die Twilight skimmed through The Anthology of Magic by Starswirl the Bearded, a book that she is very fond of, which that was saying a lot when it came to the subject of researching the hidden secrets of magic. “I can’t wait to read more of this book,” Twilight suppressed a yawn, small rings around her eyes and covered her open mouth with a hoof. The small flame from a lone candle glowed in the dark room, expelling all the shrouded darkness that was around it. The young alicorn’s eyes looked out the window at the moon glowing in the beautiful night sky, she turned her attention back to the book. “This looks promising. Hmm, Starswirl the Bearded’s quote on time travel.” Her curiosity piqued as her face lit up with a big, toothy grin. “Let’s take a look at this quote,” Twilight read the quote aloud to herself, alone on the main floor of the library. ”Our mind wraps around the thought of the unknown, where we question our own sanity before we set out on a path of destruction. It’s better to look away from the past and focus on the future.” - Starswirl the Bearded The gears in Twilight’s mind began to turn after reading the quote. Analyzing quotes was Twilight’s specialty, besides reading books that portrayed the simplicity of life and how its meaning is left up to interpretation. “Let’s see, under this quote is one of the time travel spells that Starswirl learned.” Starswirl chose to learn alone in his private study, cutting himself off from the rest of the world without the intent of making friends. He discovered a time travel spell where the user can choose which period/era of their choosing. But be warned, this spell can have dire consequences if it is not done correctly. If you are trapped in this alternate world when the portal closes, you can never return back to your world. Instructions are listed on the bottom. Twilight raised an eyebrow, intrigued with the urge to test this spell rising. “I’m going to test it out tomorrow and jot down my hypothesis, for now, I’m going to get some sleep.” She blew out the candle and walked up the stairs to her bed, she jumped on the bed as her belly flopped against the constellation decorated sheets. The young mare closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. After Twilight’s slumber, Luna skipped along the dreamscape in the recesses of her subjects’ minds and watching over their dreams, as well as their nightmares. Her job wasn’t just a royal duty for her to perform just to get it out of the way, she felt that this duty turned into a passion and a way of life. Luna closed her eyes and her body floated freely in the realms of the dreamscape. The energy coursed through her horn, her pupils dilated and glowed with a milky white complexion to them. A small, blue orb formed on the palm of Luna’s hoof as she threw the orb into huge strands of magical webs that were weaved together, that can only be accessed by a pony who mastered the art of dreamwalking. “I can see that Twilight Sparkle read one of Starswirl the Bearded’s books about time travel in The Anthology of Magic. No wonder my sister trusts Twilight that she can defy the odds and grow stronger as a pony in her own right.” The magical flow between her horn and the dreamscape faded as she slowly descended back down from her floating. She moved along on her hooves, the sound of her metallic hoof guards clip-clopping against the reflective surface of a dream mirror pool and swirled her hoof around in the pool. Using her magic to concentrate, Luna walked along the pool to avoid falling in if her concentration was broken. “Time for me to sleep, the sun has made its presence known once again.” Luna stopped the fading flow of her magic completely as she made her exit out of the dreamscape, through an open door in the realm and closed it behind her. She was back in her private chambers of the castle in her bed with her two Night Guards standing outside of the doors, they kept a firm grasp on their spears. The two guards stood at attention, knocking on the door for permission to enter. “Permission to enter, princess?” “Permission granted,” Luna answered silently, covering her mouth after yawning. “Is everything alright in here?” One of the guards asked before she bowed before her. “Everything is quite alright. I shall alert you once I’m in peril or in need of assistance with some tasks,” Luna waved her hoof dismissively as the two guards nodded at her. “Very well, your majesty.” The two guards stepped out of the room, leaving Luna as she laid her head down on an indigo-colored pillow with her cutie mark stitched on the top of the pillow. I don’t doubt Twilight Sparkle’s abilities at all, but this time travel spell might take her to the dark remnants of the past, Luna thought to herself in the mental confines of her mind, her eyelids closed slowly. Twilight was sleeping soundly in her bed while the sun shined through the windows. She yawned and purple feathers fell across the bed from her stretched out wings, the young alicorn ran down the stairs after she jumped out of bed with a pep in her step. She grabbed the Starswirl book from yesterday in her magic, placed it down on the desk, sat down on a soft purple pillow with her haunches planted softly on the pillow. Twilight groaned at the black top hat ceremoniously left on the floor with the open part of the hat exposed, she looked into the hat. A thick cloud of smoke and fireworks flew out of the hat as a familiar voice spoke, “Well if it isn’t, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight groaned and smacked herself on the forehead. “Trixie, do you ever stop trying to invade my privacy and exact your revenge?” Trixie scoffed, the black hat transformed into her purple, star-covered hat and cape, “You really believe that I came here for revenge again? One time was already good enough.” Twilight rolled her eyes annoyingly and looked back at the book, “Then what are you here for?” Trixie crept up behind Twilight, whispering in her ear. “I came back from my show in Trottingham, so I decided to drop by and show you my impressive feats in magic. What’s new with you?” Twilight flipped to the Starswirl the Bearded’s time travel page, and pointed Trixie in the direction of the instructions of the time traveling spell. The former student read the instructions, Trixie paying a minimal amount of attention while she read. “This time traveling spell can be performed by a unicorn who mastered the art of arcane magic, after they perform said magic, the portal will open taking them to the time period of their choosing. Choosing the time period can be activated when they say the time period aloud or recalling an event in the past/present/future,” Twilight concluded her rendition of the instructions, she heard Trixie’s snoring with her mouth open and a small strand of drool sliding down her cheek. Twilight slammed the book down on the wooden desk, snapping Trixie out of her short nap. “Wake up!” Trixie held her head up high and wiped the strand of drool off her face. “I do love performing for ponies, but that whole speech bored me. I bet you need my help right?” She whipped her mane around only to be carried out of the library in Twilight’s magic, and dumped out on the ground. “I guess that’s a no,” Trixie heaved with a sigh and turned her attention to a glass window near the door. Now that Trixie is dealt with, I can focus on this spell, Twilight thought silently in her mind and sat down in the center of the floor. The magic in her horn flowed around in a circular motion as her aura painted a purple circle with the arcane symbols, her pupils widened as a white flash could be seen from outside the library. Points in the circle connected in the form of a triangle, all three points of the triangle flashed purple. She pointed her horn at the wall, the magic surging through her body from the arcane symbols in the circle and shot out a magical blast as a portal formed in front of the bookcase. A flight of stairs appeared at the foot of the portal as Twilight ran up the stairs, Trixie’s ears perked up at the sound of Twilight’s hooves tapping against the stairs. Trixie was left speechless and jumped through the window, the glass broke upon impact. She rushed up the stairs staying on Twilight’s tail, the showmare launched herself at her former rival, wrestling her to the ground. “You’re not leaving me along that easily!” Twilight threw Trixie off of her and got up off the final flight of stairs at the portal, she lit her horn up also telling the event of her choosing, “Take me to the early period of Clover the Clever, Princess Platinum, and Starswirl the Bearded.” The portal’s frequency changed to Twilight’s request, a bright flash of light illuminated from the portal. Trixie charged forward at Twilight, she dropped down on her back and kicked her hind hooves up at the resilient mare, sending her into the portal as her body twisted around the spiral vortex. “Looks like I’ll have to save her,” Twilight jumped through the portal after Trixie, the spiral vortex stretched her body around while she was tossed down onto a cobblestone street. “Agh, the things I do to save you,” The portal closed behind her, Twilight clinged to her belly hitting the hard cobblestone street below, turned her head and glared at Trixie. “Looks like you do care about me.” Trixie said, laughing at Twilight. “This is going to be a long trip,” Twilight’s eyes glanced at the world around her. The cobblestone streets that would start the foundation of Canterlot, ponies hiding in their homes, and the dark clouds looming overhead as rain poured down across the streets below. “We’re going to need some shelter too,” Trixie said as Twilight draped her foreleg over her back, carrying her over to a small hut with a bar outside. Chapter I - Secret SocietyChapter 1: Secret Society Twilight perched Trixie down on a stool near the bar countertop, the tent-like cover above the establishment prevented rain from pouring down on the patrons. “Trixie, are you okay?” Trixie nodded her head weakly in response. “Fine, but out of all the places we could have visited, we picked a bar?” Twilight’s nose began to tickle from the cold air. Her nostrils flared up and green mucus shot out of her nose. The mucus landed unceremoniously on the bar counter as the bartender grabbed an old rag and wiped down the counter, wiping the mucus off. “Hello ladies, what can I get for you?” Twilight answered for them, “Just water for me, thank you. My friend would like a lemonade martini.” Trixie slumped her face down on her hoof, trying to contain her enthusiasm in front of her former rival, “Thanks, Twilight. Do you... get the strange feeling that this world is a bit peculiar?” Twilight had to agree with her on that. An alternate universe of Equestria was one thing, but this world had a strange, vague feel to it. She nodded her head and began to answer, “I’ve noticed it as well, Trixie. We are in a time period where Clover the Clever, Starswirl the Bearded, and Princess Platinum are still alive. I don’t know the current whereabouts of Celestia and Luna though.” Trixie scratched the back of her head. “We could pay them a visit then. Just need a map, that’s all.” The bartender placed the lemonade martini and water down on the counter, Trixie paused for a moment and sipped from her lemonade martini. The sour taste of the martini touched Trixie’s tongue. Trixie savored its texture as she swallowed the martini. “This thing is not half bad. Though it could use some stylish flair,” she chuckles at herself, “now I sound like your fashion-obsessed unicorn friend, Rarity.” Twilight chuckled along with her, taking a sip of her water. She didn’t prefer to drink alcoholic beverages at a public place like this. Most of the time, she stayed away from bars, as they would interfere with her late night studying when she was a student in Canterlot. “Where are we going to find a map anyway?” Twilight asked with a shrug of her shoulders, confused as to where one could possibly locate a map at a time like this. The bartender’s ears perked up as he overheard their conversation. Trotting over, he withdrew a map from beneath his white apron and slid it to them. “This map can lead you to wherever you need to go on your journey. Good luck.” Twilight cleared her throat and corrected him, “Actually, sir, we’re not on a journey together. My friend and I just so happened to stumble into this universe thanks to a time spell I was testing out... for scientific reasons, of course.” The former antagonistic foil to Twilight tapped her on the back repeatedly, giggling as she was doing so. “Oh Twilight, you don’t have to hide your feelings from me. Sure my skills in the art of magic are a sliver compared to your prowess, but I do know when you’re hiding something.” A rose-like blush appeared on Twilight’s cheeks and she scrunched her nose in an effort to hide her embarrassment. The sound of rain pattered against the cover above the bar as Twilight secured the map in her ethereal purple grasp and remembered that she had forgotten her saddlebag. “Trixie, do you have a saddlebag on you?” Trixie checked around her stool for any sign of on, her face lighting up as she picked up her saddlebag, which was adorned with a star-shaped wand, custom to her cutie mark, on the cover. “Got it right here, Twilight. So… you propose that we go out on this journey, find the Canterlot Castle, locate Celestia and Luna, and ask them to kindly bring us back to our universe?” Twilight knew the plan was farfetched, but it wouldn’t hurt to try. “Pretty much, yeah. Did you have another idea in mind?” She narrowed her eyes at Trixie, wondering if she had something else to say. “At the moment, you can’t blame me for having limited options in an unfamiliar setting. Let’s go with your plan and see how it goes.” Trixie smiled sheepishly. Twilight dropped the map into Trixie’s saddlebag. The old, grainy parchment solely depicted Canterlot. “Strange. Judging from this map, Canterlot is the only part of Equestria on the map. No other parts of Equestria are even visible or mentioned on it... is this even a real map?” The bartender crouched behind the counter, his head buried between his hooves and hind legs. “The map only has Canterlot on it, because it is the only part of Equestria that has been discovered.” “Who is in charge at the Canterlot Castle?” Trixie asked curiously, heading towards the double doors of the bar. Twilight and Trixie leaned closer to the counter, the bartender got up off of the floor and began to tell them the royal dignitaries who are in charge. A tall, grey stallion with a curly black mane that was drenched by the rain, wearing a red bandana that masked his face stormed through the two doors of the bar, hurling a spear directly at the bartender’s neck and spiked through his throat. His head dangling from the spear, bobbing back and forth pinned up against the wall. “Hooves up in the air, now!” Twilight and Trixie stepped off their stools with their hooves raised up high. The stallion held onto his bandana covering his muzzle, his emerald eyes stared deeply at the unicorn and alicorn. “Just come with me and nopony gets hurt.” “Technically, that line would imply that if we go with you, I’m absolute certain that you’d have us commit heinous acts for your own personal gain.” Twilight racked her brain around this mysterious stallion. Trixie twirled Twilight around and whispered in her ear, “I got a plan, but you have to trust me.” Twilight’s eye began to twitch and she flailed her forearms dramatically, “If you know what you’re doing against a stallion who threatened us, be my guest.” She stepped over to the side, allowing Trixie to take on the attacker. Trixie and the stallion stood across from each other face to face as the unknown stallion bolted over to the showmare, who was in her defensive fighting stance, he twirled a small knife and lunged forward with the knife. The azure unicorn dodged the oncoming knife as she leaped on the top of a flat table and jumped over to the opposite side of the table, she pulled the bottom of the table down towards with her magic sending the table flying at the stallion. The stallion grunted in pain from the table careening straight into his stomach, his body pinned against the wall. “Is that the best you’ve got?” He said arrogantly, squirming through the table and clenched his stomach. “I’m going to show you more,” Trixie walked along the bar counter, that was now covered in blood, she jumped on the back of the stallion as he started to rotate his shoulder to knock her off his back. But to no avail, Trixie clung onto his head and wrapped her forearm around his neck with his head trapped under her forearm. “Now start talking, why did you kill the bartender?” Trixie demanded, crossing her hind legs around his waist and locked her grip firmly. “I don’t have to tell you anything!” He roared, gritting his teeth at her. The stallion felt the immense pressure of the hold that Trixie planted on him, dropping down to one knee on the ground. He panted with bated breath as his face started to turn blue from the forearm locked around his neck. “Alright, I’ll talk.” Trixie waited for an answer, stretching her right foreleg around his neck. “Start spilling the beans, or I’ll make you pass out faster than you can say, dead on arrival.” “You… wouldn’t dare.” He called out to her, claiming that her threat was a bluff. “Oh, wouldn’t I?” Trixie stood by her threat and wrenched his forearm straight up, bending the bone back in which he screamed out in agony. “Ah, okay, okay. I’ll start singing, just let me go.” “Gladly,” Trixie released the strong grip around his body as the stallion dropped down to the floor, his head laid down at her hooves. She looked down at him and raised an eyebrow, tapping her hoof impatiently. “I was sent here to keep the secret of Equestria hidden. I’m a part of a secret underground society where we plan out things in secrecy to overthrow the government,” He said solemnly, he felt his bones aching in pain. “Take us to your hideout. We swear not to tell anypony about this, and that I was inches away from incapacitating you.” Trixie pressed her hoof against her chest. “Fine, come with me.” He walked out to the two double doors, opening the doors as they swung open and brushed against each other. Cracking his limbs on his way out, he felt lighter on his hooves and limped slightly to the downpour of rain outside. “Come on Twilight. Wait, you were drinking the rest of my martini while I was fighting that guy?” Trixie’s eyes stared blankly as Twilight sipped the remains of the martini, letting a huge belch before excusing herself. Twilight’s nose scrunched up and her eyes wandered off, “No. Come on, we should follow that guy.” Trixie snickered, following Twilight on her pursuing of the stallion. “I still question why, Celestia made you a princess. The consumption of alcoholic drinks and cake will go straight to your flank.” They followed the stallion closely to a brick wall with a poster attached to the wall, the stallion applied the pressure from his hoof against the poster. A red button popped out of the wall and he pressed the button, as the wall started to open and stairs lead down to a secret passageway down below with well-lit torches attached to the wall. “Swore to secrecy?” The wall reclined behind them, it slammed with a thud. Twilight and Trixie crossed their hearts, Twilight unfurled her wings while Trixie pretended that she had her wings, then the pressed one hoof to their eyes, without poking their eyes out. “Very well then, let us proceed.” He walked down the stairs, dirt and grime covering the bottom of his hooves as he proceeded down to the last step. “Still can’t believe that you have wings, the end is neigh!” Trixie shrieked, ringing a golden bell. Twilight was not amused, her eyelids drooped down for an annoyed expression. “You’ll never get over it, will you?” “Not in the slightest.” Trixie said honestly, shaking her head. They approached a stone wall with a scanning device on the right of the wall. The voice command of the device spoke, “Password identification please.” “Resistance is Futile,” He spoke into the device, the device scrambled through a list of passwords and chose the one he uttered. “Password accepted.” The voice command responded. A rumbling noise caused the stone wall to shift upwards, they stepped away from the wall and slid under the wall as it came crashing back down. “Phew, that was a close one.” He wiped the sweat off his brow and flicked the light switch on the wall next to him, the lights illuminated the entire room in its bright glow. Practice dummies, graffiti on the wall, and posters of the current Canterlot royalty spread all across the room with red crosses stamped on them. Twilight’s mouth hung open before Trixie closed her mouth. “What is all of this? I understand that you want to overthrow the government, but this is taking it too far.” He scoffed and ran around the room, brushing the edge of his mane. “Oh, this is just the beginning. The society also assigned me to assassinate one of the royal family members, they gave me a list of instructions and two names came up.” Twilight swallowed her spit and her pupils shrunk to the size of ping pong balls. “And what would those two names be?” Trixie’s pupils shrunk as well, glaring at the stallion. “Those two names are, Princess Platinum and Clover the Clever,” He pointed to the two posters at the top of the wall, each poster was crossed out to signify that they were assassinated by him, all except Princess Platinum and her associate.” “There is no way that you could pull it off.” Trixie snapped at him. “Oh contraire, you feeble little unicorn.” Chains emerged from the wall behind them and restrained them to the wall, he watched as Twilight and Trixie were fighting away at the chains. He grabbed two rings from a small crate in the corner of the room, slipping the rings on their horns as the ring reached the bottom of their hair. “You won’t get away with this!” Twilight stretched her wings out, but the wings were restrained to the wall, as well as her hooves. “I will. In the meantime, I can’t leave you two all alone.” An elevator came down from the wall as the wall opened and the doors of the elevator slid open. Four mares dressed in latex suits emerged from the top of the elevator, all of them wearing the same red bandana as him. They jumped off the top and landed on the floor, standing straight up on their hind legs. “Goodbye for now,” He waved goodbye while he stepped into the elevator, moving downward to the sewers. “We’re so bucked now.” Chapter II - The SewersChapter 2: The Sewers Twilight wiggled her hooves and banged her head against the wall, in an attempt to free herself from the chains that bind her. “Trixie, how are you faring with these chains?” “Let’s see… we’re in the hideout of a secret society, captured and chained to a wall by a psychotic anti-government nut, and four mares that were probably trained in the deadly art of martial arts ready to take us on. How do you think I’m faring right now?” Trixie said sarcastically, blowing her mane away from her eyes. “When you put it that way, it’s pretty bad,” Twilight answered, she pouted and lowered her head down, admitting defeat. Twilight looked at the rings on her horn and Trixie’s horn, “These rings are magic suppressors, they may appear to silence magic when used. In reality... the rings prevent us from using our magic,” Twilight finished her explanation, turned her head over to the four mares. Twilight watched as the four mares were playing a round of poker on a poker table with poker chips and cards all across the table, after hours of being put on ‘hostage duty.’ “I can tell that these mares are pretty bored of us.” Trixie kicked nothing but the air, she turned her head to Twilight. “If I had a boss like him, I’d be bored too.” “I got a plan,” Twilight said, calling Trixie to lean her head closer to her. “I’m listening,” Trixie raised an eyebrow, interested to hear the plan. She leaned her head closer to Twilight, her ear perked up to listen. “Think of a way to distract them. Use your magical feats of entertainment,” Twilight insisted, nudging her in the side of her ribs. “Only because you asked,” Trixie alarmed the guards, she made a hissing noise with her teeth. “Want to see some magic?” The six mares nodded their heads, they passed the deck of poker cards over to Trixie. “Oh darn. If only I could perform the magic trick, would you ever be so kind as to removing this ring?” One of the six mares stood up on a stool and removed the ring from Trixie’s horn. Trixie’s horn started to glow with her aura surrounding it, she shot out a magical blast and struck the latex-suited mare in the stomach as she was sent colliding into the wall, with a small tear in her her suit. “Oldest trick in the book.” The magic in her horn swirled around the chains, setting her free from the cold, metal grip restraining her will. She trotted over to Twilight with her horn pointed at the chains binding her, and broke the chains off with one strong blast. Twilight landed on her belly, rubbed the edge of her hooves, and was brought up on her hooves when Trixie grabbed her hoof. “Thanks for the save, Trixie. I really appreciate it.” Trixie rolled her eyes playfully, waving a modest hoof at Twilight. “Don’t mention it, you would do the same for me.” Twilight stammered, “Y-yeah, o-of course.” Twilight spread out her wings and took flight in the air above the mares, she flew full-speed at one mare who stared with a blank expression across her face as the alicorn charged straight at her, and slammed her forearm into her belly. The two mares crashed through the stone wall of the hideout, they fell into a compartment area filled with water pipes. As they laid on the floor with water dripping from the ceiling, the martial artist’s neck buckled from the sudden impact of the attack. Trixie’s eyes looked around at the remaining five mares surrounding her, their menacing gaze watched her every move and locked on her like a pack of rabid timberwolves. She felt one of the mares swing her hoof forward at her, the showmare grabbed her hoof, climbed along the side of the wall holding her hoof as she jumped off the wall and flung the mare out on the floor. One mare ran towards Trixie as she readied herself for the oncoming target. She saw Trixie kick her hoof out to her, the mare slid under the kick that was intended for her, and grabbed her from behind as she wrapped her forelegs around Trixie’s waist. Trixie took a step back for some breathing room, she ran towards the wall with her back facing it, and crushed the martial artist against the stone wall. Both of them cried out in pain, her grip loosened once Trixie arched her spine and stepped away with her adversary kneeled down on her haunches. Trixie stood up triumphantly, she showed off her confident bravado, brushed off the dusty remains of the wall on her back, and rushed up to the mare kneeled down with her. She jumped off the ground as her right forehoof came down to her skull, stomping her skull down to floor, her skull bouncing off the floor with a crack. The mare coughed up blood and with an eerie moan, then passed out on the floor. “Twilight, where are you?” Twilight waved her arm up slowly and called out to Trixie, “Over here.” Two mares came flying out at Trixie, kicking their hooves out at her, and sending her into the stone wall. The foundation of the wall cracked from Trixie’s body making contact with the hard surface of the wall, Trixie wailed from the additional pain in her back, all four mares grinned devilishly as they approached her slowly until Twilight tackled one of them to the ground. She sparked her horn as the bright glow of the horn burned its way into the mare’s eyes, blood gushing from her burnt eye sockets. “Nice tackle, Twilight. That’s three mares down, two to go.” Trixie admired Twilight’s physical strength and the way she mastered magic, that’s why she has newfound respect for her. Twilight turned her attention to the last two mares and watched both of them cross each other’s paths jumping in the air with their right forehooves stretched out, she dodged the attacks swiftly and grabbed both of their heads, banging their heads against each other. They laid back to back on the floor, knocked out from the sudden blow and added another definition to ‘meeting of the minds.’ “How did you learn to fight like that?” Trixie asked, her gaping mouth hung open. She fell off the cracked stone wall and into Twilight’s hooves. “I learned hoof to hoof combat, it’s a necessity. We need to get you patched up,” Twilight carried Trixie’s limp body over to an opening in the floor of the hideout, she tapped her hoof against the opening and they fell through the opening. Twilight sloshed around in the green murky water of the sewers with Trixie’s injured body wrapped in her forearm. “Okay, we have to follow the path he went through.” She trudged through the water, the foul stench of the water made her skin crawl and she scrunched her nose to block the stench from invading her nostrils. “We’re going to need a shower after this too.” Trixie rubbed her hoof along her back. “That guy is going to pay. If we’re lucky, the path we talk will lead us in the right direction.” A light illuminated down the sewer where four tunnels leading directly to one different way left Twilight at odds, scratching her head on which path to take. “Only one way to find out,” She swam through the dirty water down the tunnel to the left, her head looked up and noticed a ladder with a metal grate that leads them back to the streets. “Hold on tight, Trixie.” Twilight climbed up the ladder, rung after rung, she blasts the metal grate up in the air and caught the grate in her magic, throwing it to the side. She dragged Trixie out from the sewers and onto the streets above, they laid down breathing heavily as their eyelids drooped and their eyes closed shut. A silhouette stood above them, the bells on his wizard hat jingled in the cold, brisk wind. As the moon’s dark light casted shadows and the silhouette dragged them with him, he took them to a tall school out in the distance. Chapter III + Epilogue - Words of Wisdom and Home, Sweet HomeChapter 3 + Epilogue: World of Wisdom and Home, Sweet Home Trixie and Twilight’s eyes opened to an old unicorn standing in front of them, their vision still blurry from the harsh and damp weather outside. “This can’t be who I think it is, the stories and books I read about his contribution to teaching magic to all unicorns!” Twilight jumped around with excitement in a circle around Trixie, Starswirl watched as his eyes boggled at the alicorn that was so excited to see him. “Twilight, try to hold your composure. I’ve never seen you act like this before. Though I wish that some ponies would act like this at my shows,” Trixie sipped a cup of chamomile tea that Starswirl left for herself and Twilight. Twilight ceased her jumping. She pressed her forehooves against her cheeks, and hyperventilated from being in the same place as Starswirl the Bearded. She cleared her throat and began to speak, “It's an honor to meet you, I’d have to say that it’s an honor to meet you.” She bowed before the ancient unicorn, he started to giggle. Starswirl looked through his collection of books in the school, he found a book called Magical Healing: The Guide to Fixing Injuries and Curing Ailments. He squinted his eyes, looking through the pages with complex and simple descriptions of ailments and injuries. “Ah here we are, this should heal your friend’s wound right up,” Starswirl aimed his horn directly at Trixie’s back, he let his magic travel along the wound, closed the wound with one last blast and wrapped gauze around her injured area. “That should heal you up, don’t put too much pressure on it.” Trixie coughed up some blood, but made sure to not strain herself. “I’m grateful that you took the time to heal me. I can say that Twilight is a little too hyper today.” Starswirl nodded his head and kept his stoic posture, “It was no trouble at all. A lot of ponies can say that they’re fans of me, I appreciate the praise and admiration though. I’m just a wise, old unicorn who has lived past his time.” Twilight ran up to Starswirl, knocked Trixie off her seat and her cup of chamomile tea spilled out of the cup into her mouth. Trixie’s face turned red with the heat building up in her cheeks, feeling the warmth swishing around in her mouth and leapt up to her hooves panicking. “Sorry about that, Trixie.” Trixie dunked her head down a container of water, she lifted the container up and tilted her head up as the water was left half-empty. “Sorry won’t rid this tea from my tongue!” “Starswirl, we’re to inform you that a member from a secret society is out to assassinate Princess Platinum and your student, Clover the Clever.” Twilight bit her lip nervously, Starswirl looked down at her with his eyes focused on her. “I knew that secret society wouldn’t give up their efforts, no matter how hard they fall from the mountain of failure. I’ll keep my eye out for anything suspicious. As for you two, I suggest getting to the Canterlot Castle as quickly as possible,” Starswirl stated as Trixie and Twilight walked up to him, he leaned forward with the two mares wrapping their forelegs around him. A single tear streamed down his face. He trotted up to the windowsill, opened the window as the rain poured into the room. “Never stray away from your path to justice, curing injustice in this world can help all of ponykind. Life has many challenges, now I wish you two the best of luck in defeating your adversary.” “Thank you so much, Starswirl. Trixie, hop on my back and hold on tight.” Twilight raised her wings and flapped them with all her might,Trixie hopped on her back and she shot up into the sky, as a strong gust of wind trailed from behind her departure from the school to the castle. Trixie’s screams could be heard from the skies above and the ground down below. “This is not what I’m used to! But, we’re doing this to save royalty and Starswirl’s student.” She stopped her incessant screaming when Twilight dipped downward towards the gates of the castle, two guards stood at attention, armed with spears. The guards stretched their wings to block her path. “Halt! State your business for being here.” “There is a pony who has planned to assassinate Princess Platinum and Clover the Clever. It may sound absurd to you, but we’re here to make sure that doesn’t happen.” Twilight inhaled and exhaled rapidly, Trixie stretched her foreleg over her back to calm her down. “Any proof of this accusation?” the guards stared at them nonchalantly, not phased by their words. “This is a serious, urgent matter. We would provide proof if we had any,” Twilight pleaded to them, her pupils began to grow with her lip quivered and ears flopped down on the side. “Still don’t believe you. We can’t let you without proof.” Golden Shield said to Twilight. Trixie grabbed him by his throat, yelled into his ear. “Listen you two, this urgent matter is very important to my friend and I. If you do not let us pass, we will grab those spears and shove them down your throats!” Golden Shield’s face turned pale, while the guard beside him swallowed his spit and sweat trickled down his face. “Alright, we’ll let you pass. But, do not pull off any funny business.” They opened the gates to the castle, Twilight and Trixie trotted onto the castle grounds as the gates closed behind them with a thud. “That was one impressive intimidation tactic, Trixie.” Twilight smiled weakly. “I am Great and Powerful after all,” Trixie felt the warmth in her cheeks, puffed out her chest and her eyes wandered over to the two ponies in the castle gardens. “You might want to look over there,” Trixie grabbed Twilight by her head and turned her head sideways to the castle gardens, they watched two ponies frolick around with each other. Twilight looked down at their flanks and noticed the cutie marks on them. One mare had a pristine, white coat while the other had a dark blue coat on them - immediately she figured out that these two mares looked familiar. “Trixie, this might sound crazy but I believe that those two mares are Celestia and Luna, in their young age.” “Preposterous, I’ll believe it when I see it.” Trixie’s eyes peered down to their flanks, both symbols were scanned across her pupils and her mind clicked. “You’re absolutely right, Twilight!” “We should go talk to them,” Trixie trotted over to the gardens before Twilight grabbed her by the tail and yanked her back to her position, she dragged her ever-so-slightly. “If we change anything in the past, we are bound to alter the future. It’s bad enough that we may have changed a few aspects of the past and the future, time to focus on the task at hoof. Eliminating this unknown stallion,” Twilight dragged Trixie along the dirt road to the large gate that spread across a moat. The gate slowly opened across the moat, chains clanged along the side of the gate as Twilight and Trixie walked across the gate, and into the castle. They were unaware that their intended target swam through the moat under the gate to jump on it, the chains reclined back to close the gate. As the gate closed behind him, he walked near a wall and turned his head around the corner where a guard walked towards him. Anarchy stalked the guard closely as he turned the corner, sneaked up behind him and covered the guard’s muzzle with his right forehoof. He kicked the rear end of his legs only to watch him drop down on the floor, watched the surroundings around him to make sure the coast was clear and silenced his muffled cries for help. The guard struggled to break free of his grip, but failed as he was flopped down on his belly, and Anarchy stomped his head down into the floor. “I’m going to have my hooves full with all these guards around, I should take them out from the source. That’s pushing my luck, time to find Princess Platinum and Clover the Clever,” he thought to himself. Anarchy trotted down the hallway, he stopped in his tracks as four guards were walking in his general direction. The four guards heard him trot away, they followed him down a narrow and down a flight of stairs in the Royal Guard barracks. He came to a complete stop with his back against the lockers. “What are you doing trespassing on restricted grounds?” One of the guards asked him, his glare caused Anarchy to freeze up with the blood rushing to his head. “Well, you see-” He stopped mid-sentence, the guards tackled him into the lockers with full force of a rampaging bull. The guards approached Anarchy with precaution and pointed their spears at him, his head started to rise as he stretched his hind leg out and sweeped two guards off their hooves to the ground. Anarchy hoisted a guard that laid down on the ground at his hooves, who begged for mercy and picked him up on his withers. He turned his body counterclockwise on his withers, locked his tight grip around him, spun him around in the air, and drove his body down onto the hard floor below. Blood gushed out of his broken skull, he looked down at him with remorseless eyes. The three guards ran out of the barracks to alert the Princess and Clover. Anarchy followed soon behind them and tackled one of the guards to the floor, the guard retaliated as he kicked him into the wall, it caused a small dent to form in the wall. Anarchy was scraped off the wall and dragged up the hallway to the throne room. “Looks like we’re here at the throne room. Where four guards are guarding the doors,” Twilight moaned as she walked up to the throne doors, the four guards stopped Twilight and Trixie immediately. “Do we really have to go through this again?” Trixie backed one of the guards to the wall with her foreleg pressed against his neck. “That won’t be necessary,” They opened the throne doors that towered over them, a loud creak could be heard throughout the room and hallway. Trixie removed her foreleg from the guard’s neck. “Good, glad they saw things my way.” The doors closed behind them with an ominous slam that echoed in the throne room. Two guards with flat, blue berets with orange quill feathers poking out from behind their berets were standing beside Princess Platinum’s throne. Short, puffy purple sleeves that were embroidered with Celestia’s cutie mark, their tails tied in a knot and a miniature three star flag draped over their backs and flanks. There on the throne was Princess Platinum, her platinum crown mounted on her head and purple robe covered her back. She held her scepter high as the bottom of the scepter came down with a loud thud, Platinum stepped off her diarch making her way to the two mares standing on the long carpet. “What brings you two in my throne room?” Princess Platinum looked suspiciously at the two travelers, awaiting an answer. “Pardon our intrusion, your highness. But, we’re here to protect you and Clover the Clever from a pony who plans to assassinate you,” Twilight said, she bowed before the princess as Trixie bowed soon after. “Guards, see to it that we’re heavily guarded inside and outside of the castle!” Her voice boomed in the throne room. The guards nodded their heads and stood outside of the doors of the throne room, while the rest of the brigade rushed out to the gates at the entrance of the castle. Twilight shuddered from the high volume of her voice, “Where is Clover?” Platinum pointed her hoof to the white unicorn in the corner. Her purple eyes were fixated on the diagrams that Starswirl the Bearded left her to study with, the diagrams would help her practice and enhance her magic. As she picked up a quill and dipped the quill in the black ink, writing down the notes on History of The Royal Guard Brigade. “These notes could show Starswirl how much I’ve learned over the past few months,” she dropped the quill once Twilight startled her then she turned around to her. “Wah! You startled me,” Clover’s aura dropped the quill in the ink, black spots of link splattered across her face. “What brings you here to the castle?” “We’re here to protect you from a secret society member,” Trixie shook Clover back and forth repeatedly, Twilight raised Trixie in the air with her magic and dropped her on the marble floor. “Sorry about that, Clover. Trixie can get a little carried away with these things,” Twilight smiled sheepishly, then her expression changed as she glared contemptuously at Trixie. “That’s alright. Do I have the matter of addressing?” Clover’s smile stretched across her face. “My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle. You can address in whatever matter that you feel accustomed to,” Twilight took a bow in a curtsy motion. “My name is The Great and Powerful Trixie. I know how to put on a show and leave all ponies begging for more,” Trixie raised her forelegs dramatically as a plethora of fireworks went off behind her, swirling around and shooting off into the sky. “Nice to meet you both.” Clover extended her hoof out to them, they shook her hoof and turned their heads as the huge doors opened. Two guards barged through the doors, dragging Anarchy across the carpet leaving a thick trail of blood behind them and small drops of blood poured from his face. Bruises and cuts, all the way from his head to the end of his back with visible bumps on his cheeks. “Sorry to bother you, your majesty. This intruder attempted to carry a hit on yourself and Clover the Clever, what shall we do with him?” They hurled Anarchy’s mangled body at the hooves of the princess, he looked at her soulless eyes for an ounce of forgiveness. “I hereby decree that he is executed in the middle of the streets, in front of everypony.” “Yes, your majesty.” The two guards locked their forearms around Anarchy’s forelegs, dragging him out of the throne room and slammed the doors behind them. Twilight, Clover, and Trixie looked at Princess Platinum with questionable expressions. “That was a little too far, your highness.” They said simultaneously. Princess Platinum turned around to them and said, “You can go out to the streets and do what you wish, but this pony must pay for even the thought of killing myself and you, Clover.” Twilight and Trixie rushed out of the castle with Clover and raced down the road to the castle gardens, as Clover and Trixie hopped on Twilight’s back and Twilight flew over the gates. “Why are we going to watch or save this guy from being executed?” Trixie felt her eyes boggle out of her head, she wondered whether she would retain her sanity after this. “I’m conflicted right now, Trixie. Whether this guy deserves his fate sealed by execution or just to spend the rest of his life in misery, I just don’t know.” The questions and thoughts came rushing into Twilight’s mind, even she began to question her morality. “Never stray away from your path to justice, curing injustice in this world can help all of ponykind.” Twilight thought of those inspiring words that Starswirl said to them, she dipped down to the cobblestone streets below and felt the ground move beneath her hooves. The two guards assigned to execute Anarchy, kept a firm grasp on the rope that would hang him by the neck on a stool and kick him off said stool. They hoisted him up on the stool with the rope dangling above his head and began to wrap the rope around his throat, until Twilight raised a hoof at them to stop. “Stop!” Trixie hopped off of Twilight’s back. “You have to listen to Twilight! We know that Anarchy killed a bartender, sent six ninja mares dressed in latex suits, also plotted to kill Princess Platinum and Clover the Clever. But, maybe there is another way.” Princess Platinum rushed out of the castle and onto the Canterlot streets. “What alternate solution could you possibly have for this criminal?” “You could try sending him to an insane asylum. Have twenty-four surveillance on every move and action that he does, especially if he steps out of line. Then, have Clover suggest some alternatives to you,” Trixie finished her speech, Princess Platinum nodded her head as the guards released Anarchy from the rope and he stepped off the stool. Anarchy wrapped his forelegs around Trixie, catching her off guard and she returned the warm embrace with a hug. “I’ll be sure to change my ways from now on.” “You better. Twilight, let’s go back to the castle to see if Celestia and Luna can bring us back to our universe.” Trixie said as she hopped on Twilight’s back. “Hi-ho, Twilight!” She kicked Twilight in the side as she flapped her wings and took flight back to the castle gardens. Celestia’s light magenta hair flapped in the wind as she chased after a butterfly, Luna trotted behind her on the pursuing of the aerial animal. She leapt off her hooves in an attempt to catch the butterfly, but she missed and fell down on her sister’s back. “We’ll get that butterfly next time, Luna.” she giggled softly at her sister, wrestling her down on the grass and rolled around with her. Luna rubbed her nose as a white butterfly perched itself on her nose. “My dear sister, thy loves it when we try to capture these butterflies. The capturing has been doubled!” She raised her hoof high, Celestia caught the butterfly in the golden glow of her magic. Twilight’s hooves landed on the soft grass of the garden, white daffodils flapping in the cool breeze of the wind. “Celestia and Luna, we need you to help my friend and I return back to our universe.” Celestia and Luna looked at each other confused then looked back at Twilight and Trixie, they huddled in a small circle to discuss amongst themselves. “Tia, should we believe these two about their tall tales of parallel and alternate universes?” “After all of the events that have happened today, involving Princess Platinum, Clover the Clever, and Starswirl the Bearded, we need to return these two back to their world. Can’t have anymore things getting out of hand,” Celestia spoke silently to her sister and nodded her head, they turned around to the two mares. “We have decided to return you two back to your universe. Both of you have to promise not to alter anything else, are we clear?” Luna’s stoic gaze met their eyes as they agreed to the request, standing next to each other. “We’re clear, Luna.” Twilight leaned her wither against Trixie’s back, she watched the dark clouds cover the entire sky above them giving the eerie feeling that sent chills down their spines. A loud rumbling sound of lightning and thunder echoed throughout the land, Celestia and Luna’s horns started the glow with the sizzling of sparkles circulated around their horns aimed at Twilight and Trixie as they smiled nervously, they felt lighter when their bodies floated in the air. Their pupils were aglow in a milky, white color when the arcane symbols formed on the grass where Luna and Celestia stood, a circle formed and two sides of the circle were colored differently in two shades of indigo and white. The magic started to surge through their bodies as the mixed combination of Celestia’s golden aura and Luna’s dark blue aura intertwined with each other, swirling around Twilight and Trixie floating in the air. Lightning shot out of the dark clouds, its electric energy sent both mares spiraling through the open portal as the aura rotated around them. Celestia and Luna’s magic dissipated as the dark clouds were cleared out of the sky, the arcane symbols and circle faded away. “That is the last time we help complete strangers,” Luna laid on the grass, her slow, deep breaths coming out of her mouth. “Ditto to that,” Celestia sighed as she laid near her sister. The portal sent Twilight and Trixie through a celestial plane into their own universe, spitting them out onto the library floor. “Finally, we’re home!” Twilight kissed the wooden floor, her body filled with excitement and relief. “So I guess that I’m off the hook, huh?” Trixie bursts into a fit of laughter, Twilight lowered her brow and glared at her with a long stare. “Not by a long shot. I should throw you out of here for this, but I’ll take pity on you since I got to meet historical ponies from the past. I did fly you a lot so, massage my wings for me please.” Twilight stretched out her aching wings, snapping a few bones in her wings, and plopped down on the floor. “Argh, fine.” Trixie walked along Twilight’s wings, pressed her hooves against her wings and massaged her delicate feathers. “We should go on adventures more often,” Trixie smiled sincerely. “Never again,” Twilight said, her voice muffled from her face down on the floor. “Pretty please?” Trixie whimpered, ears flopped down on the side of her head and her lip quivered. “Fine… but no more time travel.” Twilight groaned as she felt her bones slightly crack from Trixie’s hooves pressed against her wings. “You have my word,” Trixie shot out a blast directly at the Starswirl book, setting the book ablaze as the smoke started to rise from the flames that engulfed the book and Twilight's nostrils picked up the smell. “Fire!” Twilight bounced Trixie off her back, hurling her out the door. She grabbed a bucket from the kitchen, filled it up to the top, and poured the water on the book. Smoke faded away from the smoldering remains of the book and scattered ashes surrounded the remains, Twilight dropped to her knees and yelled up to the ceiling. “Trixie!” Trixie galloped away from the library to escape Twilight’s wrath. THE END!
Prologue - Why Me? Prologue - Why Me? Don’t Let The Fire Die Twilight skimmed through The Anthology of Magic by Starswirl the Bearded, a book that she is very fond of, which that was saying a lot when it came to the subject of researching the hidden secrets of magic. “I can’t wait to read more of this book,” Twilight suppressed a yawn, small rings around her eyes and covered her open mouth with a hoof. The small flame from a lone candle glowed in the dark room, expelling all the shrouded darkness that was around it. The young alicorn’s eyes looked out the window at the moon glowing in the beautiful night sky, she turned her attention back to the book. “This looks promising. Hmm, Starswirl the Bearded’s quote on time travel.” Her curiosity piqued as her face lit up with a big, toothy grin. “Let’s take a look at this quote,” Twilight read the quote aloud to herself, alone on the main floor of the library. ”Our mind wraps around the thought of the unknown, where we question our own sanity before we set out on a path of destruction. It’s better to look away from the past and focus on the future.” - Starswirl the Bearded The gears in Twilight’s mind began to turn after reading the quote. Analyzing quotes was Twilight’s specialty, besides reading books that portrayed the simplicity of life and how its meaning is left up to interpretation. “Let’s see, under this quote is one of the time travel spells that Starswirl learned.” Starswirl chose to learn alone in his private study, cutting himself off from the rest of the world without the intent of making friends. He discovered a time travel spell where the user can choose which period/era of their choosing. But be warned, this spell can have dire consequences if it is not done correctly. If you are trapped in this alternate world when the portal closes, you can never return back to your world. Instructions are listed on the bottom. Twilight raised an eyebrow, intrigued with the urge to test this spell rising. “I’m going to test it out tomorrow and jot down my hypothesis, for now, I’m going to get some sleep.” She blew out the candle and walked up the stairs to her bed, she jumped on the bed as her belly flopped against the constellation decorated sheets. The young mare closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. After Twilight’s slumber, Luna skipped along the dreamscape in the recesses of her subjects’ minds and watching over their dreams, as well as their nightmares. Her job wasn’t just a royal duty for her to perform just to get it out of the way, she felt that this duty turned into a passion and a way of life. Luna closed her eyes and her body floated freely in the realms of the dreamscape. The energy coursed through her horn, her pupils dilated and glowed with a milky white complexion to them. A small, blue orb formed on the palm of Luna’s hoof as she threw the orb into huge strands of magical webs that were weaved together, that can only be accessed by a pony who mastered the art of dreamwalking. “I can see that Twilight Sparkle read one of Starswirl the Bearded’s books about time travel in The Anthology of Magic. No wonder my sister trusts Twilight that she can defy the odds and grow stronger as a pony in her own right.” The magical flow between her horn and the dreamscape faded as she slowly descended back down from her floating. She moved along on her hooves, the sound of her metallic hoof guards clip-clopping against the reflective surface of a dream mirror pool and swirled her hoof around in the pool. Using her magic to concentrate, Luna walked along the pool to avoid falling in if her concentration was broken. “Time for me to sleep, the sun has made its presence known once again.” Luna stopped the fading flow of her magic completely as she made her exit out of the dreamscape, through an open door in the realm and closed it behind her. She was back in her private chambers of the castle in her bed with her two Night Guards standing outside of the doors, they kept a firm grasp on their spears. The two guards stood at attention, knocking on the door for permission to enter. “Permission to enter, princess?” “Permission granted,” Luna answered silently, covering her mouth after yawning. “Is everything alright in here?” One of the guards asked before she bowed before her. “Everything is quite alright. I shall alert you once I’m in peril or in need of assistance with some tasks,” Luna waved her hoof dismissively as the two guards nodded at her. “Very well, your majesty.” The two guards stepped out of the room, leaving Luna as she laid her head down on an indigo-colored pillow with her cutie mark stitched on the top of the pillow. I don’t doubt Twilight Sparkle’s abilities at all, but this time travel spell might take her to the dark remnants of the past, Luna thought to herself in the mental confines of her mind, her eyelids closed slowly. Twilight was sleeping soundly in her bed while the sun shined through the windows. She yawned and purple feathers fell across the bed from her stretched out wings, the young alicorn ran down the stairs after she jumped out of bed with a pep in her step. She grabbed the Starswirl book from yesterday in her magic, placed it down on the desk, sat down on a soft purple pillow with her haunches planted softly on the pillow. Twilight groaned at the black top hat ceremoniously left on the floor with the open part of the hat exposed, she looked into the hat. A thick cloud of smoke and fireworks flew out of the hat as a familiar voice spoke, “Well if it isn’t, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight groaned and smacked herself on the forehead. “Trixie, do you ever stop trying to invade my privacy and exact your revenge?” Trixie scoffed, the black hat transformed into her purple, star-covered hat and cape, “You really believe that I came here for revenge again? One time was already good enough.” Twilight rolled her eyes annoyingly and looked back at the book, “Then what are you here for?” Trixie crept up behind Twilight, whispering in her ear. “I came back from my show in Trottingham, so I decided to drop by and show you my impressive feats in magic. What’s new with you?” Twilight flipped to the Starswirl the Bearded’s time travel page, and pointed Trixie in the direction of the instructions of the time traveling spell. The former student read the instructions, Trixie paying a minimal amount of attention while she read. “This time traveling spell can be performed by a unicorn who mastered the art of arcane magic, after they perform said magic, the portal will open taking them to the time period of their choosing. Choosing the time period can be activated when they say the time period aloud or recalling an event in the past/present/future,” Twilight concluded her rendition of the instructions, she heard Trixie’s snoring with her mouth open and a small strand of drool sliding down her cheek. Twilight slammed the book down on the wooden desk, snapping Trixie out of her short nap. “Wake up!” Trixie held her head up high and wiped the strand of drool off her face. “I do love performing for ponies, but that whole speech bored me. I bet you need my help right?” She whipped her mane around only to be carried out of the library in Twilight’s magic, and dumped out on the ground. “I guess that’s a no,” Trixie heaved with a sigh and turned her attention to a glass window near the door. Now that Trixie is dealt with, I can focus on this spell, Twilight thought silently in her mind and sat down in the center of the floor. The magic in her horn flowed around in a circular motion as her aura painted a purple circle with the arcane symbols, her pupils widened as a white flash could be seen from outside the library. Points in the circle connected in the form of a triangle, all three points of the triangle flashed purple. She pointed her horn at the wall, the magic surging through her body from the arcane symbols in the circle and shot out a magical blast as a portal formed in front of the bookcase. A flight of stairs appeared at the foot of the portal as Twilight ran up the stairs, Trixie’s ears perked up at the sound of Twilight’s hooves tapping against the stairs. Trixie was left speechless and jumped through the window, the glass broke upon impact. She rushed up the stairs staying on Twilight’s tail, the showmare launched herself at her former rival, wrestling her to the ground. “You’re not leaving me along that easily!” Twilight threw Trixie off of her and got up off the final flight of stairs at the portal, she lit her horn up also telling the event of her choosing, “Take me to the early period of Clover the Clever, Princess Platinum, and Starswirl the Bearded.” The portal’s frequency changed to Twilight’s request, a bright flash of light illuminated from the portal. Trixie charged forward at Twilight, she dropped down on her back and kicked her hind hooves up at the resilient mare, sending her into the portal as her body twisted around the spiral vortex. “Looks like I’ll have to save her,” Twilight jumped through the portal after Trixie, the spiral vortex stretched her body around while she was tossed down onto a cobblestone street. “Agh, the things I do to save you,” The portal closed behind her, Twilight clinged to her belly hitting the hard cobblestone street below, turned her head and glared at Trixie. “Looks like you do care about me.” Trixie said, laughing at Twilight. “This is going to be a long trip,” Twilight’s eyes glanced at the world around her. The cobblestone streets that would start the foundation of Canterlot, ponies hiding in their homes, and the dark clouds looming overhead as rain poured down across the streets below. “We’re going to need some shelter too,” Trixie said as Twilight draped her foreleg over her back, carrying her over to a small hut with a bar outside.
Chapter I - Secret SocietyChapter 1: Secret Society Twilight perched Trixie down on a stool near the bar countertop, the tent-like cover above the establishment prevented rain from pouring down on the patrons. “Trixie, are you okay?” Trixie nodded her head weakly in response. “Fine, but out of all the places we could have visited, we picked a bar?” Twilight’s nose began to tickle from the cold air. Her nostrils flared up and green mucus shot out of her nose. The mucus landed unceremoniously on the bar counter as the bartender grabbed an old rag and wiped down the counter, wiping the mucus off. “Hello ladies, what can I get for you?” Twilight answered for them, “Just water for me, thank you. My friend would like a lemonade martini.” Trixie slumped her face down on her hoof, trying to contain her enthusiasm in front of her former rival, “Thanks, Twilight. Do you... get the strange feeling that this world is a bit peculiar?” Twilight had to agree with her on that. An alternate universe of Equestria was one thing, but this world had a strange, vague feel to it. She nodded her head and began to answer, “I’ve noticed it as well, Trixie. We are in a time period where Clover the Clever, Starswirl the Bearded, and Princess Platinum are still alive. I don’t know the current whereabouts of Celestia and Luna though.” Trixie scratched the back of her head. “We could pay them a visit then. Just need a map, that’s all.” The bartender placed the lemonade martini and water down on the counter, Trixie paused for a moment and sipped from her lemonade martini. The sour taste of the martini touched Trixie’s tongue. Trixie savored its texture as she swallowed the martini. “This thing is not half bad. Though it could use some stylish flair,” she chuckles at herself, “now I sound like your fashion-obsessed unicorn friend, Rarity.” Twilight chuckled along with her, taking a sip of her water. She didn’t prefer to drink alcoholic beverages at a public place like this. Most of the time, she stayed away from bars, as they would interfere with her late night studying when she was a student in Canterlot. “Where are we going to find a map anyway?” Twilight asked with a shrug of her shoulders, confused as to where one could possibly locate a map at a time like this. The bartender’s ears perked up as he overheard their conversation. Trotting over, he withdrew a map from beneath his white apron and slid it to them. “This map can lead you to wherever you need to go on your journey. Good luck.” Twilight cleared her throat and corrected him, “Actually, sir, we’re not on a journey together. My friend and I just so happened to stumble into this universe thanks to a time spell I was testing out... for scientific reasons, of course.” The former antagonistic foil to Twilight tapped her on the back repeatedly, giggling as she was doing so. “Oh Twilight, you don’t have to hide your feelings from me. Sure my skills in the art of magic are a sliver compared to your prowess, but I do know when you’re hiding something.” A rose-like blush appeared on Twilight’s cheeks and she scrunched her nose in an effort to hide her embarrassment. The sound of rain pattered against the cover above the bar as Twilight secured the map in her ethereal purple grasp and remembered that she had forgotten her saddlebag. “Trixie, do you have a saddlebag on you?” Trixie checked around her stool for any sign of on, her face lighting up as she picked up her saddlebag, which was adorned with a star-shaped wand, custom to her cutie mark, on the cover. “Got it right here, Twilight. So… you propose that we go out on this journey, find the Canterlot Castle, locate Celestia and Luna, and ask them to kindly bring us back to our universe?” Twilight knew the plan was farfetched, but it wouldn’t hurt to try. “Pretty much, yeah. Did you have another idea in mind?” She narrowed her eyes at Trixie, wondering if she had something else to say. “At the moment, you can’t blame me for having limited options in an unfamiliar setting. Let’s go with your plan and see how it goes.” Trixie smiled sheepishly. Twilight dropped the map into Trixie’s saddlebag. The old, grainy parchment solely depicted Canterlot. “Strange. Judging from this map, Canterlot is the only part of Equestria on the map. No other parts of Equestria are even visible or mentioned on it... is this even a real map?” The bartender crouched behind the counter, his head buried between his hooves and hind legs. “The map only has Canterlot on it, because it is the only part of Equestria that has been discovered.” “Who is in charge at the Canterlot Castle?” Trixie asked curiously, heading towards the double doors of the bar. Twilight and Trixie leaned closer to the counter, the bartender got up off of the floor and began to tell them the royal dignitaries who are in charge. A tall, grey stallion with a curly black mane that was drenched by the rain, wearing a red bandana that masked his face stormed through the two doors of the bar, hurling a spear directly at the bartender’s neck and spiked through his throat. His head dangling from the spear, bobbing back and forth pinned up against the wall. “Hooves up in the air, now!” Twilight and Trixie stepped off their stools with their hooves raised up high. The stallion held onto his bandana covering his muzzle, his emerald eyes stared deeply at the unicorn and alicorn. “Just come with me and nopony gets hurt.” “Technically, that line would imply that if we go with you, I’m absolute certain that you’d have us commit heinous acts for your own personal gain.” Twilight racked her brain around this mysterious stallion. Trixie twirled Twilight around and whispered in her ear, “I got a plan, but you have to trust me.” Twilight’s eye began to twitch and she flailed her forearms dramatically, “If you know what you’re doing against a stallion who threatened us, be my guest.” She stepped over to the side, allowing Trixie to take on the attacker. Trixie and the stallion stood across from each other face to face as the unknown stallion bolted over to the showmare, who was in her defensive fighting stance, he twirled a small knife and lunged forward with the knife. The azure unicorn dodged the oncoming knife as she leaped on the top of a flat table and jumped over to the opposite side of the table, she pulled the bottom of the table down towards with her magic sending the table flying at the stallion. The stallion grunted in pain from the table careening straight into his stomach, his body pinned against the wall. “Is that the best you’ve got?” He said arrogantly, squirming through the table and clenched his stomach. “I’m going to show you more,” Trixie walked along the bar counter, that was now covered in blood, she jumped on the back of the stallion as he started to rotate his shoulder to knock her off his back. But to no avail, Trixie clung onto his head and wrapped her forearm around his neck with his head trapped under her forearm. “Now start talking, why did you kill the bartender?” Trixie demanded, crossing her hind legs around his waist and locked her grip firmly. “I don’t have to tell you anything!” He roared, gritting his teeth at her. The stallion felt the immense pressure of the hold that Trixie planted on him, dropping down to one knee on the ground. He panted with bated breath as his face started to turn blue from the forearm locked around his neck. “Alright, I’ll talk.” Trixie waited for an answer, stretching her right foreleg around his neck. “Start spilling the beans, or I’ll make you pass out faster than you can say, dead on arrival.” “You… wouldn’t dare.” He called out to her, claiming that her threat was a bluff. “Oh, wouldn’t I?” Trixie stood by her threat and wrenched his forearm straight up, bending the bone back in which he screamed out in agony. “Ah, okay, okay. I’ll start singing, just let me go.” “Gladly,” Trixie released the strong grip around his body as the stallion dropped down to the floor, his head laid down at her hooves. She looked down at him and raised an eyebrow, tapping her hoof impatiently. “I was sent here to keep the secret of Equestria hidden. I’m a part of a secret underground society where we plan out things in secrecy to overthrow the government,” He said solemnly, he felt his bones aching in pain. “Take us to your hideout. We swear not to tell anypony about this, and that I was inches away from incapacitating you.” Trixie pressed her hoof against her chest. “Fine, come with me.” He walked out to the two double doors, opening the doors as they swung open and brushed against each other. Cracking his limbs on his way out, he felt lighter on his hooves and limped slightly to the downpour of rain outside. “Come on Twilight. Wait, you were drinking the rest of my martini while I was fighting that guy?” Trixie’s eyes stared blankly as Twilight sipped the remains of the martini, letting a huge belch before excusing herself. Twilight’s nose scrunched up and her eyes wandered off, “No. Come on, we should follow that guy.” Trixie snickered, following Twilight on her pursuing of the stallion. “I still question why, Celestia made you a princess. The consumption of alcoholic drinks and cake will go straight to your flank.” They followed the stallion closely to a brick wall with a poster attached to the wall, the stallion applied the pressure from his hoof against the poster. A red button popped out of the wall and he pressed the button, as the wall started to open and stairs lead down to a secret passageway down below with well-lit torches attached to the wall. “Swore to secrecy?” The wall reclined behind them, it slammed with a thud. Twilight and Trixie crossed their hearts, Twilight unfurled her wings while Trixie pretended that she had her wings, then the pressed one hoof to their eyes, without poking their eyes out. “Very well then, let us proceed.” He walked down the stairs, dirt and grime covering the bottom of his hooves as he proceeded down to the last step. “Still can’t believe that you have wings, the end is neigh!” Trixie shrieked, ringing a golden bell. Twilight was not amused, her eyelids drooped down for an annoyed expression. “You’ll never get over it, will you?” “Not in the slightest.” Trixie said honestly, shaking her head. They approached a stone wall with a scanning device on the right of the wall. The voice command of the device spoke, “Password identification please.” “Resistance is Futile,” He spoke into the device, the device scrambled through a list of passwords and chose the one he uttered. “Password accepted.” The voice command responded. A rumbling noise caused the stone wall to shift upwards, they stepped away from the wall and slid under the wall as it came crashing back down. “Phew, that was a close one.” He wiped the sweat off his brow and flicked the light switch on the wall next to him, the lights illuminated the entire room in its bright glow. Practice dummies, graffiti on the wall, and posters of the current Canterlot royalty spread all across the room with red crosses stamped on them. Twilight’s mouth hung open before Trixie closed her mouth. “What is all of this? I understand that you want to overthrow the government, but this is taking it too far.” He scoffed and ran around the room, brushing the edge of his mane. “Oh, this is just the beginning. The society also assigned me to assassinate one of the royal family members, they gave me a list of instructions and two names came up.” Twilight swallowed her spit and her pupils shrunk to the size of ping pong balls. “And what would those two names be?” Trixie’s pupils shrunk as well, glaring at the stallion. “Those two names are, Princess Platinum and Clover the Clever,” He pointed to the two posters at the top of the wall, each poster was crossed out to signify that they were assassinated by him, all except Princess Platinum and her associate.” “There is no way that you could pull it off.” Trixie snapped at him. “Oh contraire, you feeble little unicorn.” Chains emerged from the wall behind them and restrained them to the wall, he watched as Twilight and Trixie were fighting away at the chains. He grabbed two rings from a small crate in the corner of the room, slipping the rings on their horns as the ring reached the bottom of their hair. “You won’t get away with this!” Twilight stretched her wings out, but the wings were restrained to the wall, as well as her hooves. “I will. In the meantime, I can’t leave you two all alone.” An elevator came down from the wall as the wall opened and the doors of the elevator slid open. Four mares dressed in latex suits emerged from the top of the elevator, all of them wearing the same red bandana as him. They jumped off the top and landed on the floor, standing straight up on their hind legs. “Goodbye for now,” He waved goodbye while he stepped into the elevator, moving downward to the sewers. “We’re so bucked now.”
Chapter II - The SewersChapter 2: The Sewers Twilight wiggled her hooves and banged her head against the wall, in an attempt to free herself from the chains that bind her. “Trixie, how are you faring with these chains?” “Let’s see… we’re in the hideout of a secret society, captured and chained to a wall by a psychotic anti-government nut, and four mares that were probably trained in the deadly art of martial arts ready to take us on. How do you think I’m faring right now?” Trixie said sarcastically, blowing her mane away from her eyes. “When you put it that way, it’s pretty bad,” Twilight answered, she pouted and lowered her head down, admitting defeat. Twilight looked at the rings on her horn and Trixie’s horn, “These rings are magic suppressors, they may appear to silence magic when used. In reality... the rings prevent us from using our magic,” Twilight finished her explanation, turned her head over to the four mares. Twilight watched as the four mares were playing a round of poker on a poker table with poker chips and cards all across the table, after hours of being put on ‘hostage duty.’ “I can tell that these mares are pretty bored of us.” Trixie kicked nothing but the air, she turned her head to Twilight. “If I had a boss like him, I’d be bored too.” “I got a plan,” Twilight said, calling Trixie to lean her head closer to her. “I’m listening,” Trixie raised an eyebrow, interested to hear the plan. She leaned her head closer to Twilight, her ear perked up to listen. “Think of a way to distract them. Use your magical feats of entertainment,” Twilight insisted, nudging her in the side of her ribs. “Only because you asked,” Trixie alarmed the guards, she made a hissing noise with her teeth. “Want to see some magic?” The six mares nodded their heads, they passed the deck of poker cards over to Trixie. “Oh darn. If only I could perform the magic trick, would you ever be so kind as to removing this ring?” One of the six mares stood up on a stool and removed the ring from Trixie’s horn. Trixie’s horn started to glow with her aura surrounding it, she shot out a magical blast and struck the latex-suited mare in the stomach as she was sent colliding into the wall, with a small tear in her her suit. “Oldest trick in the book.” The magic in her horn swirled around the chains, setting her free from the cold, metal grip restraining her will. She trotted over to Twilight with her horn pointed at the chains binding her, and broke the chains off with one strong blast. Twilight landed on her belly, rubbed the edge of her hooves, and was brought up on her hooves when Trixie grabbed her hoof. “Thanks for the save, Trixie. I really appreciate it.” Trixie rolled her eyes playfully, waving a modest hoof at Twilight. “Don’t mention it, you would do the same for me.” Twilight stammered, “Y-yeah, o-of course.” Twilight spread out her wings and took flight in the air above the mares, she flew full-speed at one mare who stared with a blank expression across her face as the alicorn charged straight at her, and slammed her forearm into her belly. The two mares crashed through the stone wall of the hideout, they fell into a compartment area filled with water pipes. As they laid on the floor with water dripping from the ceiling, the martial artist’s neck buckled from the sudden impact of the attack. Trixie’s eyes looked around at the remaining five mares surrounding her, their menacing gaze watched her every move and locked on her like a pack of rabid timberwolves. She felt one of the mares swing her hoof forward at her, the showmare grabbed her hoof, climbed along the side of the wall holding her hoof as she jumped off the wall and flung the mare out on the floor. One mare ran towards Trixie as she readied herself for the oncoming target. She saw Trixie kick her hoof out to her, the mare slid under the kick that was intended for her, and grabbed her from behind as she wrapped her forelegs around Trixie’s waist. Trixie took a step back for some breathing room, she ran towards the wall with her back facing it, and crushed the martial artist against the stone wall. Both of them cried out in pain, her grip loosened once Trixie arched her spine and stepped away with her adversary kneeled down on her haunches. Trixie stood up triumphantly, she showed off her confident bravado, brushed off the dusty remains of the wall on her back, and rushed up to the mare kneeled down with her. She jumped off the ground as her right forehoof came down to her skull, stomping her skull down to floor, her skull bouncing off the floor with a crack. The mare coughed up blood and with an eerie moan, then passed out on the floor. “Twilight, where are you?” Twilight waved her arm up slowly and called out to Trixie, “Over here.” Two mares came flying out at Trixie, kicking their hooves out at her, and sending her into the stone wall. The foundation of the wall cracked from Trixie’s body making contact with the hard surface of the wall, Trixie wailed from the additional pain in her back, all four mares grinned devilishly as they approached her slowly until Twilight tackled one of them to the ground. She sparked her horn as the bright glow of the horn burned its way into the mare’s eyes, blood gushing from her burnt eye sockets. “Nice tackle, Twilight. That’s three mares down, two to go.” Trixie admired Twilight’s physical strength and the way she mastered magic, that’s why she has newfound respect for her. Twilight turned her attention to the last two mares and watched both of them cross each other’s paths jumping in the air with their right forehooves stretched out, she dodged the attacks swiftly and grabbed both of their heads, banging their heads against each other. They laid back to back on the floor, knocked out from the sudden blow and added another definition to ‘meeting of the minds.’ “How did you learn to fight like that?” Trixie asked, her gaping mouth hung open. She fell off the cracked stone wall and into Twilight’s hooves. “I learned hoof to hoof combat, it’s a necessity. We need to get you patched up,” Twilight carried Trixie’s limp body over to an opening in the floor of the hideout, she tapped her hoof against the opening and they fell through the opening. Twilight sloshed around in the green murky water of the sewers with Trixie’s injured body wrapped in her forearm. “Okay, we have to follow the path he went through.” She trudged through the water, the foul stench of the water made her skin crawl and she scrunched her nose to block the stench from invading her nostrils. “We’re going to need a shower after this too.” Trixie rubbed her hoof along her back. “That guy is going to pay. If we’re lucky, the path we talk will lead us in the right direction.” A light illuminated down the sewer where four tunnels leading directly to one different way left Twilight at odds, scratching her head on which path to take. “Only one way to find out,” She swam through the dirty water down the tunnel to the left, her head looked up and noticed a ladder with a metal grate that leads them back to the streets. “Hold on tight, Trixie.” Twilight climbed up the ladder, rung after rung, she blasts the metal grate up in the air and caught the grate in her magic, throwing it to the side. She dragged Trixie out from the sewers and onto the streets above, they laid down breathing heavily as their eyelids drooped and their eyes closed shut. A silhouette stood above them, the bells on his wizard hat jingled in the cold, brisk wind. As the moon’s dark light casted shadows and the silhouette dragged them with him, he took them to a tall school out in the distance.
Chapter III + Epilogue - Words of Wisdom and Home, Sweet HomeChapter 3 + Epilogue: World of Wisdom and Home, Sweet Home Trixie and Twilight’s eyes opened to an old unicorn standing in front of them, their vision still blurry from the harsh and damp weather outside. “This can’t be who I think it is, the stories and books I read about his contribution to teaching magic to all unicorns!” Twilight jumped around with excitement in a circle around Trixie, Starswirl watched as his eyes boggled at the alicorn that was so excited to see him. “Twilight, try to hold your composure. I’ve never seen you act like this before. Though I wish that some ponies would act like this at my shows,” Trixie sipped a cup of chamomile tea that Starswirl left for herself and Twilight. Twilight ceased her jumping. She pressed her forehooves against her cheeks, and hyperventilated from being in the same place as Starswirl the Bearded. She cleared her throat and began to speak, “It's an honor to meet you, I’d have to say that it’s an honor to meet you.” She bowed before the ancient unicorn, he started to giggle. Starswirl looked through his collection of books in the school, he found a book called Magical Healing: The Guide to Fixing Injuries and Curing Ailments. He squinted his eyes, looking through the pages with complex and simple descriptions of ailments and injuries. “Ah here we are, this should heal your friend’s wound right up,” Starswirl aimed his horn directly at Trixie’s back, he let his magic travel along the wound, closed the wound with one last blast and wrapped gauze around her injured area. “That should heal you up, don’t put too much pressure on it.” Trixie coughed up some blood, but made sure to not strain herself. “I’m grateful that you took the time to heal me. I can say that Twilight is a little too hyper today.” Starswirl nodded his head and kept his stoic posture, “It was no trouble at all. A lot of ponies can say that they’re fans of me, I appreciate the praise and admiration though. I’m just a wise, old unicorn who has lived past his time.” Twilight ran up to Starswirl, knocked Trixie off her seat and her cup of chamomile tea spilled out of the cup into her mouth. Trixie’s face turned red with the heat building up in her cheeks, feeling the warmth swishing around in her mouth and leapt up to her hooves panicking. “Sorry about that, Trixie.” Trixie dunked her head down a container of water, she lifted the container up and tilted her head up as the water was left half-empty. “Sorry won’t rid this tea from my tongue!” “Starswirl, we’re to inform you that a member from a secret society is out to assassinate Princess Platinum and your student, Clover the Clever.” Twilight bit her lip nervously, Starswirl looked down at her with his eyes focused on her. “I knew that secret society wouldn’t give up their efforts, no matter how hard they fall from the mountain of failure. I’ll keep my eye out for anything suspicious. As for you two, I suggest getting to the Canterlot Castle as quickly as possible,” Starswirl stated as Trixie and Twilight walked up to him, he leaned forward with the two mares wrapping their forelegs around him. A single tear streamed down his face. He trotted up to the windowsill, opened the window as the rain poured into the room. “Never stray away from your path to justice, curing injustice in this world can help all of ponykind. Life has many challenges, now I wish you two the best of luck in defeating your adversary.” “Thank you so much, Starswirl. Trixie, hop on my back and hold on tight.” Twilight raised her wings and flapped them with all her might,Trixie hopped on her back and she shot up into the sky, as a strong gust of wind trailed from behind her departure from the school to the castle. Trixie’s screams could be heard from the skies above and the ground down below. “This is not what I’m used to! But, we’re doing this to save royalty and Starswirl’s student.” She stopped her incessant screaming when Twilight dipped downward towards the gates of the castle, two guards stood at attention, armed with spears. The guards stretched their wings to block her path. “Halt! State your business for being here.” “There is a pony who has planned to assassinate Princess Platinum and Clover the Clever. It may sound absurd to you, but we’re here to make sure that doesn’t happen.” Twilight inhaled and exhaled rapidly, Trixie stretched her foreleg over her back to calm her down. “Any proof of this accusation?” the guards stared at them nonchalantly, not phased by their words. “This is a serious, urgent matter. We would provide proof if we had any,” Twilight pleaded to them, her pupils began to grow with her lip quivered and ears flopped down on the side. “Still don’t believe you. We can’t let you without proof.” Golden Shield said to Twilight. Trixie grabbed him by his throat, yelled into his ear. “Listen you two, this urgent matter is very important to my friend and I. If you do not let us pass, we will grab those spears and shove them down your throats!” Golden Shield’s face turned pale, while the guard beside him swallowed his spit and sweat trickled down his face. “Alright, we’ll let you pass. But, do not pull off any funny business.” They opened the gates to the castle, Twilight and Trixie trotted onto the castle grounds as the gates closed behind them with a thud. “That was one impressive intimidation tactic, Trixie.” Twilight smiled weakly. “I am Great and Powerful after all,” Trixie felt the warmth in her cheeks, puffed out her chest and her eyes wandered over to the two ponies in the castle gardens. “You might want to look over there,” Trixie grabbed Twilight by her head and turned her head sideways to the castle gardens, they watched two ponies frolick around with each other. Twilight looked down at their flanks and noticed the cutie marks on them. One mare had a pristine, white coat while the other had a dark blue coat on them - immediately she figured out that these two mares looked familiar. “Trixie, this might sound crazy but I believe that those two mares are Celestia and Luna, in their young age.” “Preposterous, I’ll believe it when I see it.” Trixie’s eyes peered down to their flanks, both symbols were scanned across her pupils and her mind clicked. “You’re absolutely right, Twilight!” “We should go talk to them,” Trixie trotted over to the gardens before Twilight grabbed her by the tail and yanked her back to her position, she dragged her ever-so-slightly. “If we change anything in the past, we are bound to alter the future. It’s bad enough that we may have changed a few aspects of the past and the future, time to focus on the task at hoof. Eliminating this unknown stallion,” Twilight dragged Trixie along the dirt road to the large gate that spread across a moat. The gate slowly opened across the moat, chains clanged along the side of the gate as Twilight and Trixie walked across the gate, and into the castle. They were unaware that their intended target swam through the moat under the gate to jump on it, the chains reclined back to close the gate. As the gate closed behind him, he walked near a wall and turned his head around the corner where a guard walked towards him. Anarchy stalked the guard closely as he turned the corner, sneaked up behind him and covered the guard’s muzzle with his right forehoof. He kicked the rear end of his legs only to watch him drop down on the floor, watched the surroundings around him to make sure the coast was clear and silenced his muffled cries for help. The guard struggled to break free of his grip, but failed as he was flopped down on his belly, and Anarchy stomped his head down into the floor. “I’m going to have my hooves full with all these guards around, I should take them out from the source. That’s pushing my luck, time to find Princess Platinum and Clover the Clever,” he thought to himself. Anarchy trotted down the hallway, he stopped in his tracks as four guards were walking in his general direction. The four guards heard him trot away, they followed him down a narrow and down a flight of stairs in the Royal Guard barracks. He came to a complete stop with his back against the lockers. “What are you doing trespassing on restricted grounds?” One of the guards asked him, his glare caused Anarchy to freeze up with the blood rushing to his head. “Well, you see-” He stopped mid-sentence, the guards tackled him into the lockers with full force of a rampaging bull. The guards approached Anarchy with precaution and pointed their spears at him, his head started to rise as he stretched his hind leg out and sweeped two guards off their hooves to the ground. Anarchy hoisted a guard that laid down on the ground at his hooves, who begged for mercy and picked him up on his withers. He turned his body counterclockwise on his withers, locked his tight grip around him, spun him around in the air, and drove his body down onto the hard floor below. Blood gushed out of his broken skull, he looked down at him with remorseless eyes. The three guards ran out of the barracks to alert the Princess and Clover. Anarchy followed soon behind them and tackled one of the guards to the floor, the guard retaliated as he kicked him into the wall, it caused a small dent to form in the wall. Anarchy was scraped off the wall and dragged up the hallway to the throne room. “Looks like we’re here at the throne room. Where four guards are guarding the doors,” Twilight moaned as she walked up to the throne doors, the four guards stopped Twilight and Trixie immediately. “Do we really have to go through this again?” Trixie backed one of the guards to the wall with her foreleg pressed against his neck. “That won’t be necessary,” They opened the throne doors that towered over them, a loud creak could be heard throughout the room and hallway. Trixie removed her foreleg from the guard’s neck. “Good, glad they saw things my way.” The doors closed behind them with an ominous slam that echoed in the throne room. Two guards with flat, blue berets with orange quill feathers poking out from behind their berets were standing beside Princess Platinum’s throne. Short, puffy purple sleeves that were embroidered with Celestia’s cutie mark, their tails tied in a knot and a miniature three star flag draped over their backs and flanks. There on the throne was Princess Platinum, her platinum crown mounted on her head and purple robe covered her back. She held her scepter high as the bottom of the scepter came down with a loud thud, Platinum stepped off her diarch making her way to the two mares standing on the long carpet. “What brings you two in my throne room?” Princess Platinum looked suspiciously at the two travelers, awaiting an answer. “Pardon our intrusion, your highness. But, we’re here to protect you and Clover the Clever from a pony who plans to assassinate you,” Twilight said, she bowed before the princess as Trixie bowed soon after. “Guards, see to it that we’re heavily guarded inside and outside of the castle!” Her voice boomed in the throne room. The guards nodded their heads and stood outside of the doors of the throne room, while the rest of the brigade rushed out to the gates at the entrance of the castle. Twilight shuddered from the high volume of her voice, “Where is Clover?” Platinum pointed her hoof to the white unicorn in the corner. Her purple eyes were fixated on the diagrams that Starswirl the Bearded left her to study with, the diagrams would help her practice and enhance her magic. As she picked up a quill and dipped the quill in the black ink, writing down the notes on History of The Royal Guard Brigade. “These notes could show Starswirl how much I’ve learned over the past few months,” she dropped the quill once Twilight startled her then she turned around to her. “Wah! You startled me,” Clover’s aura dropped the quill in the ink, black spots of link splattered across her face. “What brings you here to the castle?” “We’re here to protect you from a secret society member,” Trixie shook Clover back and forth repeatedly, Twilight raised Trixie in the air with her magic and dropped her on the marble floor. “Sorry about that, Clover. Trixie can get a little carried away with these things,” Twilight smiled sheepishly, then her expression changed as she glared contemptuously at Trixie. “That’s alright. Do I have the matter of addressing?” Clover’s smile stretched across her face. “My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle. You can address in whatever matter that you feel accustomed to,” Twilight took a bow in a curtsy motion. “My name is The Great and Powerful Trixie. I know how to put on a show and leave all ponies begging for more,” Trixie raised her forelegs dramatically as a plethora of fireworks went off behind her, swirling around and shooting off into the sky. “Nice to meet you both.” Clover extended her hoof out to them, they shook her hoof and turned their heads as the huge doors opened. Two guards barged through the doors, dragging Anarchy across the carpet leaving a thick trail of blood behind them and small drops of blood poured from his face. Bruises and cuts, all the way from his head to the end of his back with visible bumps on his cheeks. “Sorry to bother you, your majesty. This intruder attempted to carry a hit on yourself and Clover the Clever, what shall we do with him?” They hurled Anarchy’s mangled body at the hooves of the princess, he looked at her soulless eyes for an ounce of forgiveness. “I hereby decree that he is executed in the middle of the streets, in front of everypony.” “Yes, your majesty.” The two guards locked their forearms around Anarchy’s forelegs, dragging him out of the throne room and slammed the doors behind them. Twilight, Clover, and Trixie looked at Princess Platinum with questionable expressions. “That was a little too far, your highness.” They said simultaneously. Princess Platinum turned around to them and said, “You can go out to the streets and do what you wish, but this pony must pay for even the thought of killing myself and you, Clover.” Twilight and Trixie rushed out of the castle with Clover and raced down the road to the castle gardens, as Clover and Trixie hopped on Twilight’s back and Twilight flew over the gates. “Why are we going to watch or save this guy from being executed?” Trixie felt her eyes boggle out of her head, she wondered whether she would retain her sanity after this. “I’m conflicted right now, Trixie. Whether this guy deserves his fate sealed by execution or just to spend the rest of his life in misery, I just don’t know.” The questions and thoughts came rushing into Twilight’s mind, even she began to question her morality. “Never stray away from your path to justice, curing injustice in this world can help all of ponykind.” Twilight thought of those inspiring words that Starswirl said to them, she dipped down to the cobblestone streets below and felt the ground move beneath her hooves. The two guards assigned to execute Anarchy, kept a firm grasp on the rope that would hang him by the neck on a stool and kick him off said stool. They hoisted him up on the stool with the rope dangling above his head and began to wrap the rope around his throat, until Twilight raised a hoof at them to stop. “Stop!” Trixie hopped off of Twilight’s back. “You have to listen to Twilight! We know that Anarchy killed a bartender, sent six ninja mares dressed in latex suits, also plotted to kill Princess Platinum and Clover the Clever. But, maybe there is another way.” Princess Platinum rushed out of the castle and onto the Canterlot streets. “What alternate solution could you possibly have for this criminal?” “You could try sending him to an insane asylum. Have twenty-four surveillance on every move and action that he does, especially if he steps out of line. Then, have Clover suggest some alternatives to you,” Trixie finished her speech, Princess Platinum nodded her head as the guards released Anarchy from the rope and he stepped off the stool. Anarchy wrapped his forelegs around Trixie, catching her off guard and she returned the warm embrace with a hug. “I’ll be sure to change my ways from now on.” “You better. Twilight, let’s go back to the castle to see if Celestia and Luna can bring us back to our universe.” Trixie said as she hopped on Twilight’s back. “Hi-ho, Twilight!” She kicked Twilight in the side as she flapped her wings and took flight back to the castle gardens. Celestia’s light magenta hair flapped in the wind as she chased after a butterfly, Luna trotted behind her on the pursuing of the aerial animal. She leapt off her hooves in an attempt to catch the butterfly, but she missed and fell down on her sister’s back. “We’ll get that butterfly next time, Luna.” she giggled softly at her sister, wrestling her down on the grass and rolled around with her. Luna rubbed her nose as a white butterfly perched itself on her nose. “My dear sister, thy loves it when we try to capture these butterflies. The capturing has been doubled!” She raised her hoof high, Celestia caught the butterfly in the golden glow of her magic. Twilight’s hooves landed on the soft grass of the garden, white daffodils flapping in the cool breeze of the wind. “Celestia and Luna, we need you to help my friend and I return back to our universe.” Celestia and Luna looked at each other confused then looked back at Twilight and Trixie, they huddled in a small circle to discuss amongst themselves. “Tia, should we believe these two about their tall tales of parallel and alternate universes?” “After all of the events that have happened today, involving Princess Platinum, Clover the Clever, and Starswirl the Bearded, we need to return these two back to their world. Can’t have anymore things getting out of hand,” Celestia spoke silently to her sister and nodded her head, they turned around to the two mares. “We have decided to return you two back to your universe. Both of you have to promise not to alter anything else, are we clear?” Luna’s stoic gaze met their eyes as they agreed to the request, standing next to each other. “We’re clear, Luna.” Twilight leaned her wither against Trixie’s back, she watched the dark clouds cover the entire sky above them giving the eerie feeling that sent chills down their spines. A loud rumbling sound of lightning and thunder echoed throughout the land, Celestia and Luna’s horns started the glow with the sizzling of sparkles circulated around their horns aimed at Twilight and Trixie as they smiled nervously, they felt lighter when their bodies floated in the air. Their pupils were aglow in a milky, white color when the arcane symbols formed on the grass where Luna and Celestia stood, a circle formed and two sides of the circle were colored differently in two shades of indigo and white. The magic started to surge through their bodies as the mixed combination of Celestia’s golden aura and Luna’s dark blue aura intertwined with each other, swirling around Twilight and Trixie floating in the air. Lightning shot out of the dark clouds, its electric energy sent both mares spiraling through the open portal as the aura rotated around them. Celestia and Luna’s magic dissipated as the dark clouds were cleared out of the sky, the arcane symbols and circle faded away. “That is the last time we help complete strangers,” Luna laid on the grass, her slow, deep breaths coming out of her mouth. “Ditto to that,” Celestia sighed as she laid near her sister. The portal sent Twilight and Trixie through a celestial plane into their own universe, spitting them out onto the library floor. “Finally, we’re home!” Twilight kissed the wooden floor, her body filled with excitement and relief. “So I guess that I’m off the hook, huh?” Trixie bursts into a fit of laughter, Twilight lowered her brow and glared at her with a long stare. “Not by a long shot. I should throw you out of here for this, but I’ll take pity on you since I got to meet historical ponies from the past. I did fly you a lot so, massage my wings for me please.” Twilight stretched out her aching wings, snapping a few bones in her wings, and plopped down on the floor. “Argh, fine.” Trixie walked along Twilight’s wings, pressed her hooves against her wings and massaged her delicate feathers. “We should go on adventures more often,” Trixie smiled sincerely. “Never again,” Twilight said, her voice muffled from her face down on the floor. “Pretty please?” Trixie whimpered, ears flopped down on the side of her head and her lip quivered. “Fine… but no more time travel.” Twilight groaned as she felt her bones slightly crack from Trixie’s hooves pressed against her wings. “You have my word,” Trixie shot out a blast directly at the Starswirl book, setting the book ablaze as the smoke started to rise from the flames that engulfed the book and Twilight's nostrils picked up the smell. “Fire!” Twilight bounced Trixie off her back, hurling her out the door. She grabbed a bucket from the kitchen, filled it up to the top, and poured the water on the book. Smoke faded away from the smoldering remains of the book and scattered ashes surrounded the remains, Twilight dropped to her knees and yelled up to the ceiling. “Trixie!” Trixie galloped away from the library to escape Twilight’s wrath. THE END!
