Shimmer

It was a dream. It had to be. Just like the vision I had at the Gala, light streamed down through holes into a room that stood barren. The cool wind gently drifted throughout the room, only enough to barely notice, but with the silence in the massive room, it was the only thing besides awe that I could comprehend.

It was beautiful. A picturesque set of ruins.

Yet the thing that surrounded me was a dusty floor, and, oddly enough, the saddlebag I had brought with me to the castle.

But how could this be a dream? I felt the cool touch of the now cracked marble floor. I felt the soft breeze across my body. I felt my hooves aching as if I had slept in an uncomfortable position. I felt a small bruise on my head from when I had collapsed at the Gala. I felt the…

Wait…

…collapsed?

Suddenly, I had remembered. I had fallen over at the Gala and lost consciousness. Rubbing my head with one of my hooves, I stood up and stretched.

“Where is this?” I thought aloud to myself. It looked so much like the ballroom I had last seen, but at the same time, it looked ancient. Was this some set of ruins in Everfree forest I had read about? Had the castle’s ballroom been based off of some ancient forgotten structure? Wandering out, however, I realized that the entire castle, or at least the parts I had happened to adventure through the night before, was all the same- or at least similar to what I had remembered. Stumbling through in a daze, I eventually wandered out the front entrance. The outside was also deserted, yet, as I looked at the castle, it became obvious that this was the same as the one I had attended the Gala. Outside, the plant life was gone and the fountains were dry, and it seemed almost as if the castle had lost all of its colors, but it was still the same.

As I looked towards the entrance gate, which was closed off, a bright orange earth pony with frilly hair walked by as if she had been in a rush all day. Her hat, a navy blue hat, stated in all capitals, “TOURS”, and, with a clipboard in her mouth, she glanced towards the entrance of the castle. However, as she spotted me coming out of it, suddenly she paused. Taking the clipboard in one of her hooves, she shouted, “What’re you doin!? The castle’s off limits without a tour guide, ya know!?”

Slightly dazed, I started to walk towards her, and, without thinking, replied, “Oh, sorry.”

Shaking her head, she exhaled audibly. “Didn’t the closed gate tell ya that ya shouldn’t be in there if ya don’t got a tour guide with ya? Those don’t start until-” Stopping and becoming suspicious, she suddenly changed tones, “Ya weren’t doing nothin’ you weren’t supposed to, were ya?”

Suddenly realizing the situation I was in, I held up a hoof and shook my head. “No, wasn’t doing anything bad. I don’t even know how I got in there. Well, I think I do but- err- Where am I… even?” I said.

Looking awkwardly at me, she laughed lightly and smiled. “Funny joke, but really, Canterlot Castle is off limits. The building is old, so it can be dangerous if ya wander inta the wrong places. Also, many ponies would suspect ya might damage the place with graffiti. If it weren’t for the fact that I’m a rather trustin’ pony and you look fairly respectable, ya would prolly be in some serious trouble right now.”

Canterlot Castle…

This was Canterlot.

Panicking, I stammered, “W- w- what happened?”

“What do ya mean what happened? It’s always been off limits,” the pony stated, confused at my inquiry.

“No, I was at the gala and-”

“Gala? Okay, now yer getting’ confusing.”

Stopping, I looked at her, unsure of what she had meant. “Excuse me?”

“Umm, you alright in the head?” Laughing lightly, she tapped me on the noggin, “If yer feelin’ a bit lightheaded, I can always direct you to the nearest tour station around here and ya can lay down. If it’s really bad and can get some medical attention. If ya’d like.”

“Wait, I really was at the gala, and…”

Letting out a light chuckle, her face seemed to have become increasingly concerned. “Ya know that the Grand Galloping Gala hasn’t been held in a good 800 years, right?”

I froze. 800 years? What… what had happened?

Yet, as I thought of this time, suddenly, I heard a calm, soothing voice. “I never would have expected it, but that face looks all too familiar. Shimmer, was it?”

Spinning around, suddenly, I saw something improbable. A pony I recognized.

Bowing awkwardly, I stammered, “P-Princess Celestia!”

Meanwhile, however, the tour guide smiled. “Howdy Celestia. Fancy seeing you here again! Having a nice day?”

How casually she spoke to the princess caught me off guard.

Nodding and seemingly ignoring the fact she wasn’t addressed with her title, the princess looked up at the castle behind us. “Just thought I’d reminisce, is all. It may be old, but at one point, this was my home,” Celestia lightly chuckled as she continued her sentence, “It was during this time of my life I met many wonderful ponies, and had some of the greatest moments of my life… And besides, it makes for a wonderful place to take a walk.”

The tour guide smiled before continuing, “So this stinker’s name is Shimmer, is it?”

Hearing my name a second time, I jumped in, “Y-yes, it is. B-but Princess, how did you remember?”

Smiling knowingly, the alicorn replied, as she had at the Gala, “I remember the names of all of my subjects, Shimmer.”

Then, it was the tour guide’s turn to be surprised.

“S-subjects?”

It was impossible, but it was true. As we wandered throughout the castle, it became increasingly obvious as to what had somehow happened.

I had somehow ended up long after the time I had been born. With me were just a cheap suit and a small saddlebag. “Do you really not know how it happened, Celestia?” She had requested I no longer refer to her with the title, though it still seemed natural to me.

Shaking her head, Celestia answered, “No, I don’t… I don’t know of any magic that would allow it. Pulling you into the future would require editing what would have normally happened to be changed in such a way that it never would have happened.”

“What do ya mean?” The tour guide interjected.

“Well, the fact is, every pony changes the lives and interactions of every pony they meet and speak with. Each action taken slowly grows and ripples outwards, affecting more and more ponies. Removing a pony, depending on who the pony is, causes ripples that change what happens through time more and more. So, to cause a pony to travel through time means changing not only everything that they’ve ever interacted with, but everything that interacts with everything that the pony had interacted with, and everything that has interacted with those, and so on. Does this make sense?”

“I… I suppose?”

“Think of it like this. If I tell you to try a flavor of pie, and suddenly you realize it’s your favorite food, when next asked by someone what your favorite food is, it’s now changed. If I were to travel through time, this event might be altered, or might never happen at all. What then?”

“Well, that seems kind of small…”

“Perhaps, but let’s say that a week passes and you get the last slice of pie at a restaurant due to the conversation we had. The pony after you, who also likes this flavor of pie, finds out that the restaurant is out of the pies.”

“So?” The tour guide asks.

“Perhaps the pony is then inspired to create a machine which, with the push of a button, makes the pie out of magic. It becomes incredibly popular, and many ponies use it and many find out that this, now, is their new favorite food? How much would you have to change then?”

The tour guide thought for a moment, before saying, “But isn’t that a little extreme?”

“Well, perhaps,” Celestia continued, “but when you consider that it won’t be the only thing you’re doing when you suddenly disappear. Many actions and many words will no longer be done or said, not just a small discussion of pie. And, after this effects a million ponies in such a slight fashion, is it so far-fetched to believe something major that affects everypony would most likely happen?”

“This just goes over my head, Celestia.” The tour guide said expressing the same feeling I held as well.

“So… basically, you’re saying that only an immense amount of magic could have brought me here?”

Nodding, the Princess said, “The average pony would be impossible to move this far in time. A week would take an exceptional unicorn, and even then the change would only be temporary, but to move a pony this far in time and to make that change in time permanent would take an exceptional pony.”

“But… isn’t there some other way?”

Shaking her head, Celestia sighed. “I’m sorry, Shimmer, but the only thing I can do for you is, perhaps, have you search for an answer yourself. I wish I could help more, but I’m old, as well.” Her soft and gentle smile confused me. Now that I had looked, I realized that, aside from a few wrinkles under her eyes, she didn’t look a day older than when I had lost consciousness at the Gala.

The Gala? What… what HAD happened at the gala? What had happened after I had collapsed? Had I vanished? What did the Princess know? What was it?

And then, as I was about to ask, she turned to me as though she had an idea.

“I know what we can do!” It wasn’t an exuberant shout, but compared to the princess’s normal smooth calming voice, it was something that seemed as though she had an epiphany of some form. “Why don’t you go to the libraries in the capital city? Perhaps some studies done in the city will have the answer to your questions?”

Before I could respond, she was gone. The tour guide shouted after her, “Princess! Are ya sure? I mean, I can arrange it if you’d…” She trailed off before turning to me. “… Shimmer, right? The story seems kinda interesting, if you ask me. I’m a student, just so ya know. I was wonderin’, if, perhaps, I could ask you a few things? My name’s Poppy.”

I only nodded absently, however. Still stunned, I thought about how the Princess had taken off in a surprising and uncharacteristic rush. It was almost unbelievable.

First, she mentioned some magic had transferred me through time, then she continued by stating she was old, and now she was acting excited about something? Was this really the Princess?

Or… had she sensed the question I wanted to ask? Did she want to throw me off?

That exact thought, however, didn’t come to me until long after I was already on the train to Ponyville, the capital city of Equestria.