An Unfashionable Future

The purple sky shimmered in the window of Twilight Sparkle's study room. The room was organised chaos, as Rarity would put it, books everywhere though not a single one out of place in the eyes of Twilight. It was odd how chaotic she could be. And on the occasion she studied for three days straight, that was very chaotic. The amount of floor space covered by books was only beaten by the area covered in scrolls, actual visible floorboards were at a minimum. A checklist on top of one of the piles read:

Requirements:

• Controllable destination

• Controllable departure time

• Needs less than 25 units of magic to cast

• Portable Centerpiece

None of the boxes were checked but the rest of the parchment was covered in hasty equations, diagrams and notes. As did most of the (once) blank parchment in the room. Twilight Sparkle herself was reading. Her eyes had bags underneath them and her mane needed to be brushed about ten times, off hairs point in every direction. Maybe she smelled a little, but it was the smell of science...

...or the smell of a pony who had been researching for two days and two nights without washing.

Unappreciated, but no less magnificent despite the lack of attention it was receiving from the sleep deprived pale violet alicorn, the sun began to rise. It cast bright rays of orange and pink into the sky around Ponyville, Celestia was welcoming her little ponies to enjoy a new day.

Twilight sparkle however, still wasn't finished with the day from two days ago: She was on a roll and refused to sleep until she won her prize, a fully functional time travel spell. One that you can use more than once and doesn't just last a few measly seconds.

Ever since the time she drove herself crazy trying to prevent a disaster that wasn't coming, it had been irritating her a great deal. Sure, she told spike she would stop worrying about the future, but how could she if she was so confused about the past?

Great unicorn mages across the centuries had tried to craft a spell that would allow free travel across time but all fell short. It was uncanny how they had all failed at the same point in their research. They lacked a focus point, an object that would let the time magic flow perfectly. A geometric masterpiece she had discovered two days ago. The only thing left was to figure out what material the focus would be crafted from.

Twilight sighed a tired sigh and stood up shakily, she had been reading the same paragraph for the last 10 minutes and decided it might be time for some food, and maybe a nap. Taking a rest may seem like a sign of defeat, and she was all for non-stop science, but she knew from experience when her brain stopped helping and started hurting her chances of success. Letting out a groan (not too loudly so she didn't rouse Spike who was sleeping in the bedroom across the library) she started through the ocean of words to reach the kitchen.

The construction of the focus point, probably her biggest contribution to science ever, was titled the octotrigonal-hexaspherical-hexahedron. Pinkie Pie, however had dubbed it the "Squar-cle-angle" due to it looking like a square with circles and triangles jutting out of it. To Twilight's horror, the name had stuck and now there was no point in even trying to address it correctly. She couldn't complain really, it did roll off the tongue quite nicely and you can't fault Pinkie for being herself. Besides if her time travel spell became a common occurrence you couldn't be writing down its full name in textbooks everywhere. It was a bit of a mouthful.

In any case it was a piece of junk (though beautifully mathematical) unless it was made out of the perfect substance to aid the spell. A substance she was no closer to finding even after researching for three day straight. It had to have the perfect density to allow the magic through, but not too brittle or it would shatter under the strain. It had to have the slightest bit of magical radiance to magnify the flow, but not so much that it would take control of the spell and cause an explosion or worse. It was driving her nuts.

She reached the kitchen and started making a sandwich, her bed seeming more and more appealing as she buttered the bread and picked out fillings. Her brain however, not one to give up a train of thought, continued.

Isn't it strange how nobody could ever find the right material for the center piece? Really, the shape is the hard part, especially when you have nothing to make prototypes out of in order to test them. Many tried to find the right substance after realizing the shape would be easier after it's discovery, but none had found success. This made Twilight worry.

She was starting to think, as much as she wanted to believe otherwise, that no such element or compound existed. Surely someone would have found the answer if there was one to find! Even her hero Star Swirl the Bearded being supervised by Celestia herself had failed in this regard, although Star Swirl's research on the angles of the focus point helped her a great deal with her breakthrough.

The strangest thing was that there were traces of crude time magic from old pony culture. How did they manage it? It's not like there's some kind of substance that existed and then up and vanished from the universe about 1000 years ago! That just didn't happen!

she had moved into the main room of the library to eat the sandwich and it was helping. Not with her problem but with her hunger. She eagerly took a few more bites and then sighed. Of course she had asked the princesses, who were actually around that long ago, but unfortunately they had no clue, time magic was a mysterious study lost in, well, time. To put it simply, Twilight thought, the whole problem made no sense.

What happened next made even less.

A breeze blew through Twilight's mane. She stopped chewing and swallowed. The breeze intensified until there was practically a gale in the library, pages swirling everywhere like a paper hurricane. In the center of the room fizzling blue-white sparks began to fly. Sweet Celestia, Her heart stopped, I've seen this before.

Just like last time, the point of light where the sparks were coming from grew to a pony sized ball of light. The light shimmered and grew until after one blinding flash it solidified into a tired looking (but completely ecstatic) purple pony, magical residue sparking around her body. It worked! future Twilight realized to her glee.

"It worked!" She yelled, causing present Twilight to wince at the volume. Unfazed by her own reaction to herself, future Twilight continued: "It worked! I'm scientifically possible! It's scientifically possible!". She was trotting on the spot unable to stay still due to her excitement.

Present Twilight was speechless. Then a thought crossed her mind and her eyes wandered down to the shiny object in front of her future self. "Sorry, no peeking!" said future Twilight quickly, snatching it up and hiding it in her mane before she could get a good look. "If I give you too much help it won't really be your discovery, will it?" she continued and then her thoughts wandered. "Who's discovery would it be if I did that?" she muttered absentmindedly.

"So, I guess you just came to boast then," present Twilight managed, grumpily interrupting future Twilight's train of thought. "Well," started future Twilight, "I needed a time to travel to to test the centerpiece and I knew now would be a good time because I was you and I've already had this conversation!" This thought made future twilight giggle. "Did you know I haven't slept in four days?" She asked with a manic look in her eyes. This made present Twilight sigh. "Can't you just tell me what it's made out of?" present Twilight implored, "Please, please, please, pleeeaaase, I'm stumped," her head drooped.

"Did you know I haven't slept in three... oh. Right."

"Yes! I knew that because I was you! heeheehee! I can't believe I did it! I can't wait to get back and tell every-"

Present Twilight was making a grumpy face, sitting on her plot, forehooves crossed.

"Aww, listen, I'm sorry." she held out her hoof to help herself up. "I guess I was kind of a jerk. Or... am being a- hmm." she looked off to one side again. "It's alright," present twilight said her frown softened.

I can't stay mad at myself.

"I'm sure I'll understand your reasons when I'm you." she said sadly. She took the hoof, though she was still a little annoyed her she hadn't offered herself any assistance with her problem. "Oh yeah I guess you will!" future Twilight replied, oblivious to her own feelings.

Then she grinned, her horn starting to glow, "Don't worry, I helped you more than you think," a second light was emanating from her mane where she had stashed the squarcleangle. "You figure it out soon enough!"

And with one last cry of "I did it!" and another blinding flash, she was gone.

Twilight was alone again and feeling many emotions. She had found the right material or at least would find it soon.

But what was it that she had told herself? "I haven't slept in four days" she muttered, remembering. Then she smiled, unable to contain her excitement. Her bed was no longer looking so good and she still had plenty more coffee.

Who needs sleep anyway?