1: The Ponies from my Textbook
Beneath the shadow of the large Oak that was at the center of the city, I, a brown stallion, silently walked towards my usual spot.
The roof of an abandoned building. The place felt too natural after what had happened, but at the same time, I didn’t know what else to do. After all of this time, I had finally lost the pillar that had been my entire life’s center. The sun beamed down, and it was complemented with a cool breeze.
I felt betrayed, that the weather wouldn’t reflect my own inner feelings.
Walking up the staircase of the abandoned apartment building, I soon arrived at the roof. Sitting down and looking towards the sky, I saw the breeze slowly caress the lower branches of the oak.
“I’ll never get used to that…” I mumbled to myself, looking up at the massive tree that controlled the entire city.
Behind me, I heard a thump, and, craning my head to see the rainbow mane, I heard her say, “I thought you’d be here...”
Normally, I came here for solitude, but it wasn’t the first time she had stumbled upon me in this haven. But this time, it felt almost as if there was additional meaning to her being here. Sometimes, we would sit here, under the shade of the Giant Oak, and I would tell her stories of her ancestor, and of the Wonderbolts, a flying team whose legend had long since vanished. Sometimes, I would tell her of the days when the sun and moon rose with Celestia and Luna, or of the legendary Sonic Rainboom. I would tell her of Discord, and of Nightmare Moon.
I briefly nodded, though my face didn’t show any emotion. Thinking about my past, I took a slow, deep breath. I still found myself at a loss for words when I thought about how large the tree had grown, to the point where it overshadowed the largest city in Equestria.
“It was a small library when I was a little filly,” I said.
Walking up beside me and putting a wing around me, the pegasus sat down silently, and at that moment, I knew she wanted to hear a story. I always told her stories of my childhood, and, realizing perhaps that she also needed to be comforted as I did, I decided to tell her another story.
However, this story was unlike any I had ever told before. This wasn’t a story about the world of the past, or of other heroes or the original Elements of Harmony.
This was a story about the world of the present.
This was my story.
For the first time in my life, I was doing something exciting. The thing was, I was jobless, my cutie mark was just a pile of two small bits for reasons I still couldn’t remember, and my solidary lifestyle wasn’t promising at all. I had never accomplished anything before in my life. I had never had a real relationship that lasted any length of time, and I had no real friends. Still, as I walked up the staircase, I really began to think, “This is my destiny.” Surrounded by famous and wealthy ponies dressed in priceless gowns and tuxes, I could barely believe the reality right in front of me: I was a guest at the Grand Galloping Gala.
The invitation came out of the blue. A single, golden ticket found its way, unexplained, into my mailbox. I spent the next several days panicking over trivial matters. What was the proper way to arrive at such a party? Would I be ready as emotionally and mentally as I was physically? Where dates allowed? Were they mandatory?
However, in the end, I simply went with my gut. I dressed up, and, taking the train by myself to Canterlot, arrived at the entrance of the largest, most extravagant party in Equestria.
“Hello, and welcome to Canterlot Castle!” Princess Celestia greeted each and every guest as they entered. Looking around, I suddenly felt my best attire being dwarfed in comparison to even the most casually dressed ponies around me. My hair was, in comparison, shoddily combed, and I became aware that my half-off tux-collar was slightly more asymmetrical than was pleasing to the eye.
“Maybe I should just go home...” I mumbled to myself as I approached the entrance. Shaking my head back and forth, and reminding myself I was invited, I forced a smile and walked up to the Princess at the top of the staircase. Each step felt more difficult than the last, and it felt as if I were being pushed away from the entrance by an invisible set of hooves.
“Hello, Princess. I- it’s a pleasure to have been invited.” Somehow, I managed not to stutter throughout the entire sentence. Still, self-doubt welled up in my chest, and my hooves began to sweat. Perhaps it was a blunder, and one of the ponies who had delivered the invitations accidentally sent it to my home. Why should a nothing-special blue Earth stallion like me with a few bits for a cutie mark be important enough to spend an evening with the Canterlot nobility? Sure, the words, “To Shimmer” were on the front, but perhaps I was insane and had just misread it.
However, I was met with a warm smile, “Shimmer. Welcome to the Grand Galloping Gala. I hope you enjoy your time here.”
My jaw slightly opened, and I took a reflexive step backwards out of the surprise from the fact she knew my name and that she had welcomed me so easily.
Chuckling, and, as if guessing my thoughts, she continued, “I remember the names of all of my subjects. Oh, and I hope you enjoy your night.”
Nodding, I walked into the crowd of ponies ahead of me. Getting lost in the halls, soon, I bumped into a white pony with a beautiful purple mane and tail.
Recognizing the figure from a picture I had once seen in a book, I suddenly, instinctively replied, “W-wait, are you Rarity?”
Nodding, she laughed and introduced herself, “Yes, I am. And you are?”
Unsure of how to continue, I responded, “Uuh… I’m, uuh, Shimmer.”
Smiling kindly, she continued, “Well, Mister Shimmer, I’m pleased to meet you.”
She was one of them. The Elements of Harmony. Heroes of Equestria. Remembering the textbooks I’d been reading, I remembered their many exploits. From saving Equestria several times, to helping return Princess Luna from banishment, to helping Princess Mi Amore Cadenza save the Crystal Empire, it was obvious that they weren’t your average ponies. However, as I wandered about the halls, I made a resolution that my goal for the night was to meet each and every one of the ponies who I had read about. Perhaps I would find inspiration from one of them that would give me some form of direction… It was a stretch, but while I had come to the party with high expectations, I really hadn’t known what to do once I was there.
Finding a rainbow mane in a Wonderbolts Uniform among a different crowd after saying goodbye to Rarity, I navigated through the busy crowd to get a glimpse of her and perhaps even introduce myself.
“Yeah, I’m Rainbow Dash. Whatcha want? Want an autograph or something from the best flier in Equestria?”
“Um… yeah!” Nervously nodding, I watched as she pulled grabbed a small Wonderbolts poster from a nearby table, and had her sign it with a marker she had. Folding it up, I quickly moved it to the small saddlebag I had left at the entrance of the Castle. After a short discussion, she took off to speak with some other ponies.
Fluttershy, however, I didn’t hold much of a discussion with, and, as shy as I was approaching her, the only words she said were, “Umm… hi… I guess…” before she quickly rushed away. Shaking my head, I decided to not chase her down.
Applejack and Pinkie Pie were together when I found them. Introducing myself, I didn’t get a single word in before I was pounced upon, drawing the gazes of several surrounding ponies.
“Hi, I’m Shimmer. Are you-”
“Hiya! I’m Pinkie Pie, and I’m suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper happy to have met you! Want to play a game!?”
“Whoa, Pinkie. Ya might be a bit loud fer the Gala, and yer scarin’ our guest. I’m Applejack, nice ta meet’cha.”
“N-nice to meet you.” I said, laughing due to being caught off of guard. After a short conversation, that due to the pony pony’s constant exclamations and outbursts, was shockingly tiring, I slowly began to mingle around the crowd, wondering where the final pony, Twilight Sparkle would be. I wandered throughout the halls, outside among several fountains and throughout the entire castle, but still couldn’t find her.
As I walked into the main ballroom, however, I was struck speechless. Suddenly, though I couldn’t pinpoint exactly when, everypony had vanished. The ballroom seemed covered in dust, and there was a stream of sunlight entering through the stained glass. There were no candles or tables, no celebrating ponies, and it was completely silent. An echo sounded of a pebble, somewhere in the large, empty ballroom, falling.
The room was ancient, and nopony was nearby. Daylight streamed in from some of the stained glass windows and a few cracks in the ceiling. Vines snaked up a few of the walls, and the floor was clear of everything except for dust and a small amount of debris.
However, as soon as this happened, I blinked, and, shaking my head, was suddenly surrounded by the loud chatter of the ponies at the party. There were candles again. It was night. The party continued. Unsure of what I had just seen, I convinced myself it was simply that I had too much to drink and returned to my search. However, as I continued on with the night, a small headache in the front of my head formed and it quickly became worse.
I had come to this party thinking that this night would be memorable, that I would be able to somehow leave the party a changed pony. However, I was wrong.
Sometimes, the thing that needed to change wasn’t yourself. It was everypony else.
While standing next to a table near the entrance of the main ballroom that had been set up, it suddenly became worse, and, involuntarily, I collapsed near a table, knocking it over. Hearing gasps and shocked cries, I began to lose consciousness. In the last few moments, I saw the Princess of Day standing over me, looking down with a worried look on her face as several guards placed space between me and the other ponies.
Then... nothing.
Author's Note
Attending a University is a difficult job. With all of this work I have, it's a wonder I'm able to write at all. Sadly, I don't have anyone to proofread these, so I'm stuck doing it myself, and, admittedly, I'm not as good at it as I wish I could be. Still, this idea is one I came up with near the beginning of Season 3, and it's been on my mind so much lately that I'm finally going to share this world with you.
Oh well, right? Hopefully, you'll enjoy this story as much as I have enjoyed creating this world. Still, it's only just beginning, so sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.
~Eyeclops.
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.