Predictions & Prophecies

by Kinrah

Rating: everyone
Tags: Main 6, Original Character, Trixie, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Adventure, Twilight Sparkle
Length: 188480

What exactly is the link between a famous historical painter, a mare with a talent for exaggeration, and the student of Princess Celestia? It always comes back to this...

What exactly is the link between a famous historical painter, a mare with a talent for exaggeration, and the student of Princess Celestia?

When Twilight Sparkle examines a book thought to be lost to time, and casts a spell she probably shouldn't have, questions like that are only the start. Soon, she's not only dealing with glimpses of the future, but also the fallout from some misplaced weather, an errant thief, and a dream pony who isn't quite what she seems. But perhaps the most important question...

...is why everything keeps coming back to the same place.

Cover art by yours truly, veteran story of NaPoWriMo three four years on the trot. Featured on Equestria Daily 23rd April 2018.

Published 2016-12-15 05:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2018-03-11 20:18:10 UTC

1 - The Book

It was scheduled to be a light rainstorm over Ponyville. A lot of traders had prepared for it, the pegasi in charge of it were all pumped up, and the town was generally ready. However, by the time the morning rolled around, it became quite evident that something somewhere along the line had Gone Wrong, leaving everypony with patchy cloud coverage and a soft westerly wind. More than anypony else, it confused the weather patrol, as they swore blind that they’d set up the storm which was now missing, and annoyed the traders, who, having expected to keep their merchandise inside and away from the marketplace, were in a panic to get their stalls out in time for the morning rush. Fortunately, the reveal had come early enough that most of the townsponies had just about managed to get their schedules back on track. This included the pegasus Rainbow Dash, whose schedule was not only back on track but also through one of the windows of the library for the fifth time in three days.

“So let me get this straight,” Twilight Sparkle said blearily, rubbing her eyes, and fully aware that her mane had frizzed. She’d had a late night of studying and being woken up relatively early by a pony breaking into her house - again - was not, never was, and never would be on any of her to-do checklists. “You were practicing and misjudged your aim, so you hit the window instead of the clouds you’d set up.”

Rainbow, on the floor buried beneath the contents of the bookshelf she’d hit, groaned and nodded.

Of course it was. When was anything else ever the excuse? Sighing, Twilight looked up at the smashed window passively. She hadn’t the concentration nor the energy to summon up a repairing spell at the current moment, hiring somepony to come and replace it would take too much effort, not to mention great expense, and she didn’t have anything to board it up with. Unless Rainbow was willing to park herself in the window frame until she’d worked out what to do with it, it was going to have to stay smashed.

“And you couldn’t practice anywhere that wasn’t near the library?”

It was a different question every time. There had been ‘What were you trying to do?’ and ‘How exactly do you misjudge your aim?’ and ‘Why oh why do you keep hitting the same window?’. Twilight really didn’t know why she bothered, because the response was almost always exactly the same. The window hadn’t even originally had glass in it, it was just open, but she’d had it fitted with some proper glazing when she realised that it let all of the heat out in the winter. A side-aim of the action was to try and deter a certain pegasus from entering by means other than the door, but apparently Rainbow Dash liked scattering books and glass all over the building whenever she felt like it.

“Everywhere’s above your library, Twilight. I can’t help it.” Rainbow stood up and shook, sending a shower of glass sparkling to the ground. Twilight instinctively ducked for cover behind the table in the middle of the room. “It’s a good thing I’m invincible!”

Twilight’s mouth opened and closed a few times, before her brain decided that a comment like that wasn’t even worth responding to. Sighing again, she walked over to the door, unlocked it, pushed Rainbow out, and locked it again. There was only one thing certain about today: she needed more sleep.

Going upstairs and climbing onto the upper deck, she glanced at the prone form of Spike, who was quite happily snoring away in his basket, apparently having not heard a thing. It was fine for him, he was a dragon, and they were reknowned for sleeping through everything. Twilight, on the other hoof, had trained herself to wake to loud noises, when such things usually meant Pinkie Pie setting off a firework outside, Spike belching a letter from the Princess in his sleep, or the usual, everyday occurrence of Rainbow Dash arriving inside by means other than the door.

Pulling herself into bed, she made a mental note in her thought journal to make the tree even more Rainbow-proof, before closing her eyes.

It was a more respectable hour when she woke again, now feeling a great deal more refreshed. Her mane was still frizzled, but a short bath and a quick session with a brush in front of a mirror took care of that problem easily. Downstairs, Spike was already up, holding a tray with her breakfast - buttercups on toast, lovely - and staring at the mess on the floor.

“Did Rai-” he began.

“Yes,” Twilight said immediately, taking the toast. “Thank you, Spike.”

“Did she-”

Crunch. “Offer to help? No.”

Leaving Spike to start cleaning up the piles of books on the floor, Twilight stared at the window, racking her brain for the spell matrix for Reconstitution. (Take the parts and recreate the sum! Do not mention existence of this spell to the Canterlot Guild of Artificers, disbanded CE 731. Perfect reconstruction not guaranteed. Not intended for archaeological purposes. Do not under any circumstances use on magical artefacts. The city of Manehattan is not responsible for any damage caused by unauthorised casting of this spell.) Levitation, teleportation, most magic she could recall in a flash. Her special talent was magic, after all; where for most unicorns much beyond levitation and a special talent spell would be exhausting, she manipulated magic like it was an additional limb… yet she could never remember Reconstitution.

Oh. Right. Her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment, despite the fact that nopony could possibly know the error she’d made. Reconstitution. Difficult to remember, also incredibly uncomplicated. Closing her eyes, she concentrated, and the glass on the floor glowed briefly and vanished, reappearing as a solid pane in the empty frame. Except for a single sliver right in the middle.

Frowning, Twilight stared at it for a moment, wondering. Something had gone wrong with the spell, that was evident enough. She double- and triple-checked the matrix. No mistakes there. No sign of the last bit of glass anywhere on the floor, and Spike hadn’t said anything (despite the hardiness of dragons, he would notice). That couldn’t be right. Unless… she shook her head, and suddenly realized it could only mean one thing: Rainbow had walked out with a bit of glass stuck to her somewhere. Not that the hotheaded pegasus was likely to notice - having crashed enough times she probably considered ‘pain’ as something somepony else had - but nevertheless it was still dangerous, and she didn’t want to have to retrieve it from Ponyville Hospital.

“Spike, I need to go and find Rainbow Dash,” she started, without turning around. “She’s still got a bit of the-”

“Oh no!”

There was a crash behind her, and she flinched, finally turning around to see what she’d dreaded; Spike had fallen off a ladder, along with the contents of another set of shelves.

“…window.”

“I’m okay!”

It was at times like these where she’d normally call her friends over to help and to have tea, and they’d happily and willingly assist Twilight in restacking the bookshelves, in what was akin to a bonding session that happened mostly every other week. However, she knew three of them were unable to help out - Applejack had her hooves full with preparation for her family’s upcoming reunion, Rarity had a huge dress order to take care of, and that was an understatement, and Pinkie Pie was scheduled to leave town in a few minutes’ time, having offered to ‘supervise’ a shipment of treats that were on their way to Hoofington in reparation for the Mirror Pool incident a few days prior. That just left the two pegasus ponies, Fluttershy and of course Rainbow Dash herself.

Well, she needed to talk to Rainbow anyway about the glass. Since she wasn’t a pegasus, Twilight couldn’t actually go to the organisation of cloud structures that the racer called home, and most other pegasi wouldn’t go near there either, for reasons only described to her as ‘booby traps’. Yeah, that had started happening too, ever since Rainbow Dash had been introduced to the Daring Do novels. The lavender unicorn was glad that her friend had discovered the joy of reading, but there was taking it too far, and then there was installing cloud tripwires everywhere. Hadn’t that been fun to sort out when Fluttershy found them. It was pretty much only Rainbow who knew the safe routes in and out. Well… almost only Rainbow. There was one final option.

Instructing Spike to resume the cleanup, Twilight seized two blank pieces of paper and a quill. Scribbling out two quick letters, she sealed them in a pair of envelopes, carefully wrote ‘RAINBOW DASH, 17 SOMEWHERE, PONYVILLE’ on one, did the same for Fluttershy on the other, added some stamps and headed for the front door. For all the pegasi who wouldn’t go near Rainbow’s home, there was one pegasus who always braved the odds and won. Through rain or snow or gloom of night… three, two, one…

Knock knock.

And she was always bang on schedule. Twilight had often speculated on Ditzy Doo’s uncanny ability to remain precisely to schedule when everything else was falling apart, and by extension the rest of her family at the post office, but seeing as the last time she’d actually investigated such a thing she’d almost been eaten by a hydra in a swamp, unless it was vital she know, she left well enough alone. The inner workings of Ponyville’s postal system was one such mystery. As long as it worked, everything was fine. Don’t break what isn’t broken. Observe it, and it will change. That was one of her favorite Star Swirl the Bearded quotes.

Evidently the grey pegasus had had a good morning, Twilight found as she opened the top half of the door, if the direction her eyes were pointing were any indication. It had been explained to her that Ditzy suffered from a rare condition that for much of the time prevented her eyes from focusing in the same direction, resulting in each eye almost permanently pointing in a different direction from its twin. Some ponies made jokes behind her back, about the odd sight she made and about her apparent lack of hoof-eye coordination, but of all the things Twilight was, she wasn’t insensitive, and she’d found out after a couple of months in Ponyville that the mailmare just had few words to say to the jokers.

But today, both of her eyes were pointing in the same direction, straight at Twilight. “Morning, Twilight Sparkle!” she chirped.

The unicorn acknowledged the greeting and said hers in return. “Good morning, Ditzy Doo. Sleep well?”

“Sure did! Oh, you have a letter!” Ditzy flipped open one of her saddlebags and retrieved said correspondence. It looked like somepony had gone crazy with an ink stamp all over it; Twilight’s name was only just legible beneath it all. For a moment, Twilight considered it, wondering what in Equestria could have happened to it, before remembering that she’d seen this sort of thing before. Ah. She smiled.

“Tell Dinky she did a wonderful job,” she said, accepting the letter. (Top marks for effort, but restraint could use some work.) She brandished the two newly-written letters, and passed them through the doorway. “Could you get these to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, please?”

Ditzy carefully tucked the letters into her bag, and then started to salute, an action which Twilight quickly stopped. Every time she’d managed a salute in the past she’d managed it by poking her eye. The pegasus blushed. “Sorry.”

“No problem at all, Ditzy,” Twilight said. “Have a great day!” She watched the pegasus fly off, continuing her round that should take her to Fluttershy’s in fifteen minutes twenty two seconds, and Rainbow Dash’s a further two minutes forty-five after that. She didn’t know what she’d do without the postal system. Sure, Spike was a direct link to Princess Celestia, but only to Princess Celestia, and one of the ground rules that had been established on her taking on Spike as an assistant was that his ability was not to be used as a way to mooch off the official royal mail service. Besides, there were special protocols in place if an occasion arose that required hijacking the royal messengers.

Now, the letter. Nothing too fancy, a standard post office seal on the back, ink from the stamps running slightly where it hadn’t dried, envelope with the texture of something easily available at any good stationers. Unlikely to be anything library-related then. Personal mail was a safer bet at this point. Glancing back at Spike to make sure he wasn’t about to have another accident, she pulled open the seal and unfolded the paper within. Ah, an invitation to the charity drive at the hospital next Thursday. She remembered offering her assistance with that, good to get a reminder. Noted to thought journal; add to both calendars. Also noted; bump up the next reshelving day, and ask Rainbow Dash to find the time in her ‘busy’ schedule to assist.

Behind her, Spike lost his footing on the ladder again. ‘Great day’. Yeah.

By the time Fluttershy arrived, not long later, the cleanup had gotten nowhere, mostly because some of the older books had actually fallen apart, and once Twilight had calmed down from Crisis Mode, she’d busied herself carefully organising the pages into the right order and using Reconstitution to fix them. Spike had done his best, but no matter what he tried, he always managed to end up with more books on the floor than he’d started with - and this was in no way his fault. In between repairing books, and nipping out to the kitchen to put water on the boil for tea, Twilight had given helping him a shot, with exactly the same result. However, the damaged books were of higher priority, which was a bit obvious, seeing as there were some unique volumes in the library. Losing them would be catastrophic to the literary world. As soon as the problem had started escalating, she’d made the wise decision to remove the most valuable ones from the shelves and secure them upstairs. The world would have access to Equestria’s last first-edition copy of A Study in Mauve!

“Um, Twilight Sparkle?”

That said, a couple of the older ones had already bitten the proverbial dust, in particular the fifth century medical textbook Effective Combinations of Medicinal Herbs and Magicks, which had practically disintegrated. With any luck, its contents would have been analysed in the Canterlot Medical Journal, those that hadn’t yet become common knowledge or obsolete. Fluttershy cleared her throat. It did provide an interesting dilemma on the subject of attempting to reassemble what remained, though; were the fragments large enough to be Reconstituted, or would she have to use the dreaded book glue (ick)? A missing chip from a window might remain, sure, but there were recorded hazards when using it on ripped paper. Reattaching the pages to the binding was foal’s play. Finishing the jigsaw of page pieces? Not so much.

It was probably best not to try it, really. Experimenting with magic was good, it led to new and interesting discoveries, but it was best saved for a particular time and place. “Twilight?” The basement was ideal for small spells, things that required the higher throughput of the capacitors or the added safety provided by the thaum drain, and maybe she’d try prodding Reconstitution down there. She’d read up on the documentation thoroughly first, as history had taught her. Make sure you understand things before you fiddle with them. (Star Swirl again, paraphrased.) She still didn’t see why some ponies blamed her for the castle music room. Trying new things in public was also a major no-no; it had taken her several hours to track down the creatures she’d accidentally transfigured into living oranges.

Something waved in front of her face as she tried to concentrate on the history book concerning the evolution of the city of Manehattan, and she swatted a hoof at it. She hadn’t read this one for a while, and was trying to read it and Reconstitute it at the same time. Go, multitasking! Normally, she wouldn’t try something like this, but she just couldn’t drag her eyes away from the words, jarring as it was when she picked up pages in the wrong order. It was useful as a comparison tool, though, comparing future situations to past ones; reading about the Great Fire in CE656 and then the cultural boom that immediately preceded it really illustrated the way even in the past things could change at the drop of a hat. Moments like that existed throughout history; Nightmare Moon’s banishment, the griffon wars, the-

Twilight’s thought train derailed and flew off a cliff. Somepony had nudged the book glue (ick). Oh. Fluttershy was there. Why was Fluttershy there? You invited her, dummy. Horseapples.

“Oh! Sorry! Good morning, Fluttershy!” Darn darn darn darn darn-

“It’s quite alright, Twilight,” Fluttershy said, retracting her wing away from the tube of (ick). “You looked busy, and I didn’t want to distract you, but…”

“No, no, it’s fine. I got carried away.” Twilight looked back down at the pages all over the desk, and the pitiful few which she’d rebound back to the spine. “It’s a bit more of a problem than I anticipated. Glad you could come and help. It’s not too much trouble I hope?”

The butter pegasus smiled sweetly, and Twilight heard a strange ‘hng’ noise from behind her, though when she checked she saw only Spike rearranging the books on the floor into neater piles. Weird. “Oh no, of course not. I’d just finished feeding the animals, and it’s always nice helping out here.”

Twilight’s thanks were drowned out by the sound of tumbling books as Spike overbalanced a pile and knocked it over. “Sorry!”

A great many things were odd about Ponyville. When she’d first moved to the town, Twilight had brushed it off; the ponies were crazy, the town was close to the Everfree Forest, an infamous source of wild magic, and she was experiencing culture shock having lived her whole life until then in Canterlot. She was noticing these things because she was too used to living her secluded life mostly in the castle library. But it had been well over a year since then, and things were still cropping up. One of her experiments had proved that something in the town was drastically affecting the laws of probability, but that was nothing solid to go on. That was far more likely to be the wild Everfree magic doing something unexplainable rather than the entire town being some sort of cosmic plaything. The result was the same, though. Unusual things were more likely to happen in Ponyville than they were in Canterlot.

The situation was fairly quickly described to Fluttershy, as the three of them rearranged the stacks. “I just don’t understand it,” Twilight was saying. “I have a diagram that shows where every book should be, in case this happens, and it’s not working at all.” Even to scale, it was a fairly hefty chart, but that was necessary to show the level of detail required. The only other alternative was a list, and both the unicorn and the dragon had discovered that staring too long at very long lists without interspersed pictures made their eyes hurt and every entry blur into a mess of ink and parchment. Staring at books could be done for a much longer duration, though Spike would eventually lose interest and without external stimuli, Twilight would fall asleep. Staring at charts and diagrams worked much better, and it was very simple to cast Erasure on them in the event that a book needed to be resorted. An alphabetically sorted list would be a nightmare to reorganize if even one entry was changed.

Plus, after the first time all the books had been knocked from the shelves - guess who - it had been discovered to Twilight’s horror that the previous librarian had used no such sorting system at all bar alphabetically sorted by title. It pained her to think that for years, Kraftable Kitchen Kookery had been on the other side of the library from Rainy Day Recipes, the two bestselling cookery books by Puff Pastry. Was even putting the same author’s books together too much to ask for? She’d vowed to give the previous librarian such a lecture, if she ever found out who’d actually occupied the building before her. She really hoped that wherever they were, they weren’t in an even bigger library. Shivers ran down her spine when she imagined the stallion or mare working at the biggest libraries of Equestria, Manehattan, Vanhoover, or - Celestia forbid - Canterlot.

Fluttershy didn’t have any suggestions, so with no other ideas, Twilight put forward that they should try again, but slower and with great care. That didn’t work; as soon as the last book on the journalism shelf slotted into place, the whole lot came out again, nearly bringing the contents of the shelf above it were it not for quick thinking. So they tried it even slower. That really didn’t work.

“Ouch.”

“I’m not sure that was such a good idea…” murmured Fluttershy, helping her friend from the heap of books that had landed on her.

“I don’t understand it at all,” Twilight repeated, rubbing the back of her head where she’d taken most of the impact. “Unless Rainbow fundamentally altered the woodwork when she crashed, which I don’t see as possible, this shouldn’t be happening.” Then her eyes caught on something. “Spike, what book are you holding?”

“This one?” Spike lifted it up. It was a fairly old, red bound book, with a few signs of wear on the spine. From a distance, it looked like every other book in the library, but up close, it… something was odd about it. “Uh, I dunno. I think it’s the same one I found in that secret compartment.”

“That would be the same one with the mirror pool legend in it.” Twilight lifted it out of his claws and opened it up to confirm it. There was no mistaking the magic-written scrawl in which the passage was written. “Yes, now I remember.” She glanced over at the shelf in question. Since the discovery of the book, she’d taken a closer look inside the cubbyhole, but it had no more to yield. Actually, now that she thought about it, she hadn’t shelved this book, she’d left it on the table. So why was…? “Spike, this doesn’t belong on the journalism shelf.”

Her assistant blinked back at her. “Duh, even I know that.”

Fluttershy had caught the thread too. “I think she wants to know why you were holding it…?”

“Uh…”

“Well,” Twilight coughed, “While Spike remembers why he picked it up, let’s have another go, shall we?” She levitated the book back to the table where she’d left it. “Let’s try fiction, W through to Z.”

Halfway through the attempt, she took a step back, and reviewed the contents of the shelf. Call of the Beat, Wave, Sound. Thunder Dragon, Wind, Rose. (Equestria Without Magic series, Withers, R.F. - all out on loan.) Mirror pool book. Daring Do ser- “STOP.” She lifted out the offending book. “Spike, why did you put this on here?”

“I did?” he looked back towards the table, then did a double take. “I never went anywhere near it!”

Twilight walked the book to the table, set it down, then walked back. “Well, I don’t think Fluttershy did, and I think I’d notice if I picked it up and brought it over. If you didn’t, then-” she blinked, and the book was back in Spike’s claws. She shot a look over to the table - nothing. “How did you do that?”

“Do what?” Spike looked down, and yelped in shock, dropping the book with a solid thud. “Twilight…!”

Okay. This could be a problem. “Spike, don’t move.” Twilight did have an idea, and she really hoped that was what it was. If what she suspected was indeed the case, then it was fairly benign and otherwise accidental. If it wasn’t, she was going to leave nothing to chance. “Fluttershy, could you walk over there and fetch the book titled Security Charms and You, please?” She didn’t want to risk using magic right now, it might disrupt whatever spell was in effect. “I think it’s just a Return charm, but I’ll need to double check.”

“Wh-what’s a Return charm?” Spike stammered, eyes flicking between Twilight, Fluttershy, and the book laying upside-down on the floor.

“It’s a charm designed for forgetful ponies,” Twilight explained, slowly making her own way towards dragon and book. She’d done an entire essay on them. “A pony can never lose a charmed item, because it will always return to them.” Fluttershy quickly located the book and pulled it out of the shelf. “If it’s just a malfunctioning Return charm, I can dispell it easily.”

“But this never happened when I first found the book!”

“Spike, relax.” Fluttershy passed the book to Twilight, and the unicorn flipped the book open to the correct page. “Old charms have been recorded as latching on to other ponies when they can’t find the original enchanter. Rainbow Dash must have reactivated it when she crashed into the bookcase, and you were just the first one to pick it up.” Bending down, she touched her horn to the offending book, hoping it was simple. Please, don’t let it be anything more than…

Return, revision four. Her eyes flicked across the relevant information in the book. Version dated from the 600s, around the time such enchantments were becoming popular… no additional binding sigil, so definitely a unicorn owner… Huh, that was weird. The charm had already been forcibly deactivated once, the identifier had been completely ripped out. Had the book been stolen? It certainly didn’t look pretty, she noted, as she gently unweaved the tattered remains of the matrix. No wonder it hadn’t responded well to being smashed into, the charm would’ve reactivated instantly. Who could possibly have done this? Whoever it was must’ve been in quite a hurry… There! Without the key threads holding it together, the charm dissolved. “That should do it.”

Almost immediately, Spike took a few steps backwards. “Are you sure…?”

One last double check, just to be sure… no additional enchantments detected. “It’s just a normal book now,” she said, lifting it up and examining it. “Thanks again, Fluttershy.”

“Oh, no problem at all, Twilight.” Twilight didn’t like imposing magical incidents like these on her friends, knowing that most explanations she gave wouldn’t interest them at all. A lot of the time, she was perfectly aware that she was saying everything for her own benefit and no more. That was another holdover from her time in Canterlot, where in most of her study situations she’d only had the sound of her own voice echoing around the library to keep her company while she read, plus it was proven that repeating things out loud helped the learning process. That, and sometimes new things arose just from hearing the words spoken rather than just reading them.

Phew! Situation solved. With any luck, that was the root cause and everything would go back on the shelves nice and neatly now. That was the way a lot of these things worked; resolve even the tiniest thing and the fixes cascade back up to the top. But now the book had her attention. What was it, exactly? Something about the charm’s weave had been familiar, like she’d seen it before. No title, no marked author, notes about various magical legends, artefacts, and spells inside… it seemed more like a notebook than a reading book. Or a workbook. There were many of those in the Canterlot library, and it had a similar constitution. But who…?

She needed a clear mind to look at this. Right now, there was only one way to guarantee that. The kettle should have boiled by now… “Fluttershy, would you like a cup of tea?”

Sometimes, it was honestly a mystery to Twilight why tea wasn’t used all across Equestria as a calming agent. Even the smell of it from the cup next to her on the desk was already working its own magic, cleaning up her thoughts and helping her organize them. It was also completely baffling how Rainbow Dash could actually dislike it. Rarity and Fluttershy had, like Twilight, been brought up in families that drank tea (though maybe not quite as much), the Cakes had introduced Pinkie to tea when she’d started working for them, and Applejack had gotten a taste for it during her brief time living in Manehattan, but Rainbow stubbornly refused to have any. Now that she thought about it, Rainbow had reacted the same way to reading for leisure before being introduced to the Daring Do series - that was something to look into, but that had only happened because she’d been grounded in the hospital, and the hospital had a tea ban, sad but very necessary. Only water and chilled fruit juice to be found there.

With the tea by her side, and with additional cups for Fluttershy and Spike by their sides (they were currently exchanging animal- and dragon-type stories), she was able to look once again at the Unknown Book.

First off, the cover. As previously noted, a deep red, with a blank title plate on the front. Spine showing considerably more signs of wear than observable from a distance; it had been opened frequently. A Dating spell estimated its age at about 350 to 400 years old, which was consistent with the Return charm, and it did match her memory of other surviving books from that period. Whoever had come up with the preservation spell that was weaved into most book-related paper created from about the third century onwards was unquestionably, undeniably a genius, though the same couldn’t be said of the ponies who refused to use it. On the back, not much else.

Inside was an entirely different matter. Along with the legend of the mirror pool/pond, there were a number of descriptions on half-finished spells, some annotated legends - including the thousand-year legend of Nightmare Moon, which was odd, as there was only one other book that mentioned that specific number - some anatomy sketches, diagrams of ancient magical artefacts - Elements of Harmony (what?), Firespeaker’s Staff, Alicorn Amulet? She’d have to look at that in more detail later… Huh, some of the pages from the middle were missing. That added a level of credence to her theory that it had been stolen. Taking a sip of tea, she turned a page, and very nearly spat it out all over the desk and the book, instead settling for gargling and choking on the mouthful. This was…!

“My goodness!” Fluttershy exclaimed, setting her tea aside and quickly trotting over to thump Twilight’s back to clear her throat. “Are you okay, Twilight?”

A few more spluttering noises came out before Twilight was able to find her voice again. “Okay? This is amazing! This could be- no, this is the literary find of the century!”

“You said that just before you flooded the castle,” Spike pointed out.

“I-” What?! “Why does everypony keep saying that’s my fault?! No, this actually is! Spike, do you know what this is?” She shoved the book in his face. “Look at it!”

The dragon leaned out to look at her. “…It’s a pony with two heads, eight legs and four wings?”

Twilight’s face twisted in incomprehension. How could he not know this?! “Spike, this is a preliminary sketch for Stalleonardo da Colton’s Vit’hoovian Stallion! This must be his workbook!” She made a squeeing noise, and clutched the book close to her chest.

“Oh my,” said Fluttershy, putting a hoof to her mouth. “Wasn’t he a really famous artist?”

“He was the famous artist!” Twilight was slipping into Ecstatic Lecture Mode, but she didn’t care. “He was responsible for driving Equestria into a cultural golden age! Everypony knew his name! He was Princess Celestia’s first personal student!” Ooh, she felt lightheaded. Already, she could sense a growing bond with her predecessor. It had always been claimed that da Colton owned a workbook that never left his side, but it had always been unprovable as none of his surviving journals ever mentioned it. To think it’d been in this library - her library - this whole time! It made her giddy.

Trying not to hyperventilate, she placed the book back on the table and opened it up again. This was his writing. No wonder the weave of the Return charm had been familiar; in one of her lessons with Princess Celestia she’d been instructed to examine and write an essay on how his particular method of casting had prevented his paintings from deteriorating, and there was a little bit of flair that was unique to his spells. Even now, as she cast her eyes over the matrices within the book, she could see that flair emerging. It was incredible. She had in front of her a piece of real history that nopony had seen in years, maybe even centuries - Dating had estimated that the library tree itself was over a hundred years old, much older than Ponyville itself, and who knew when the book had been placed in the hidden compartment?

Wait, what was that? She didn’t recognize the bulk of this spell. Again, there was something familiar about the matrix, which meant she’d probably cast another spell with an element of it before, but much of it was new to her, and it had a one-word vocal component. Spells with vocal components were usually private, as even if you read it aloud, you’d have to know the precise inflections that it had been created with before you could cast it. The stallion must have really trusted in the security charm, then, because this spell’s inflections were all clearly marked. Anypony who could get their hooves on this book long enough to read it and understand the weave could cast it. Was this what the book had been stolen for?

Twilight had to find out.

It was a stupid, stupid idea. She knew that. The vocalization was in Old Equestrian. The matrix was patchy. Who knew what it could do? But she knew, from bitter experience, how to safeguard against a spell gone wrong. Besides, there was an element in the spell common to a spell she knew from somewhere, and all the dangerous spells she knew, she didn’t, because Princess Celestia had shielded her from actually casting them. Nothing could go wrong. Just in case, though, she advised Fluttershy and Spike to stand back, and lit up her horn. It wasn’t a complicated spell. She visualized the weave, double- and triple-checked it against the book, made the necessary adjustments to fix it, and steeled herself. One word.

“Prophetia.”

Clarity hit her like an anvil in the split-second before the spell completed itself. Prophetia, Old Equestrian for ‘prophecy’. Why hadn’t she said it out loud first?! Prediction magic was just as dangerous as time manipulation magic! That must have been the common connection, Star Swirl’s time traveling- She had to interrupt-

With a flash, there was no going back, the spell was cast, and she had barely enough time to process the images flashing in front of her before everything went black.

Author's Note

So, a year happened. Funny, huh...? Okay, so here's the deal: The story is DONE. It is COMPLETE. So that means a new chapter a week, at least! No more procrastinating! It's been waiting far too long.

Edited for missing italics.

2 - The Prophecy

Author's Note

Was planning on doing Thursdays/Sundays, but it's been waiting long enough just for the first chapter, so this one comes a little early, then I'll settle into regular updates.

2 - The Prophecy

“…kle?”

Twilight’s head hurt. No, it really hurt. It felt like somepony had taken a sledgehammer to her head - actually, it wasn’t unlike that one time Ditzy had accidentally unloaded several objects including a piano on top of her. Systems check… she could certainly feel no physical injury. Her senses identified her immediate surroundings as Ponyville Hospital, so either Fluttershy or Spike had had the initiative to call for help, whatever had happened. A thought popped into her head; it was like brain freeze after eating too much ice cream, only without the pleasant taste of ice cream in your mouth. She liked ice cream.

“Twilight Sparkle, can you hear me?”

There was her hearing, and that was Nurse Redheart, she of magnificent healing abilities, trying to wake her up. Also much like the piano incident. Twilight groaned.

The next voice was, surprisingly, Rainbow Dash’s. “Does that count as a yes?”

What had she been doing? Library, reshelving, Da Colton’s workbook- oh, the prophecy spell. What had it actually done? She’d seen something, that was for sure, but whatever it was was on the very edge of her mind and stubbornly refused to reveal itself to her. So much for that. Maybe that was a good thing, though. Maybe she’d had just enough time to Interrupt it before she caused irreparable damage to the present by second-guessing the future. She tried opening her eyes, squinting at the light above her. Redheart loomed into her vision.

“Good, she’s awake. Can you hear me, Twilight?”

Twilight managed a nod.

“Welcome back.”

“Hhh-” she started. Her throat was dry. Redheart directed the straw from a glass of water towards her, and she took a couple of loud sips before trying again. “How long was I out?”

“About an hour,” Rainbow said from a distance. Somehow Twilight could tell that she was at the window looking out at the clocktower. “So why’d you go and collapse like that?”

The unicorn opened her mouth, but Redheart answered for her. “Magic fatigue, nothing to be worried about. I’d guess she cast a spell and it overwhelmed her.”

“Overwhelmed?” Rainbow echoed. “Twilight? You’re kidding, right?”

In all honesty, Nurse Redheart was probably correct. Twilight was no stranger to magic fatigue, it had been a regular occurrence during the earlier years under Princess Celestia. It seemed every other week she’d find a new spell that was very interesting but very not designed for a young filly to cast, and then wake up in the Magic Grounding Ward of Canterlot General Hospital having overreached herself. It was one of Princess Celestia’s preferred teaching methods, allowing Twilight to find out for herself what she could and couldn’t handle. Casting a previously unknown prophecy-generating spell and an interruption spell simultaneously was something she most definitely could not.

Struggling slightly, she pulled herself upright. Whoa, still a little woozy. “What’d… what’d I miss?”

“Nothing much,” said Rainbow, glancing back outside. “Spike came running out of the library calling for help, I swooped in, and carried you here. I, uh…” she grinned sheepishly. “I found your bit of glass, hehe, left it with Spike. Sorry about that.”

A tutting noise came from the direction of the nurse, looking up from a clipboard. “Rainbow Dash, have you been flying through windows again?”

Rainbow sat down and crossed her forelegs. “I fly through my windows all the time.”

That much was true, Twilight had witnessed that. Flying through the windows of her own house was a completely different story to the library’s windows, though. Cloud building windows were basically just clouds thin enough to see through, and passing through them caused no harm whatsoever besides possibly making you a bit damp. It was difficult to process how Rainbow could keep going through the same earth pony constructed window for nearly a year without realizing the difference. Nurse Redheart pulled a funny face, but didn’t argue. You had to try really hard to change the blue pegasus’s mind, and if you tried too hard she’d get you back by pranking you when you least expected it. Pretty much the whole town had learned that by now.

“What were you trying to do anyway?” Rainbow continued. “Must’ve been big stuff if it made you faint. Was it like that time you flooded the castle?”

“That wasn’t my fault!” Wait, what? “How did you know I did that?”

“Spike told me.”

Twilight put a hoof to her face and shook her head. Spike knew far too many embarrassing stories about her. “Nevermind. I was trying a new spell I found without knowing what it did first, and I guess I used a little too much magic trying to stop it.” One hour unconscious? That was pretty good, for being the result of a potentially catastrophic action. The last time she’d done such a thing she’d been out like a light for five hours. At least this time she didn’t have to worry about the library burning down. Rainbow was making some motions with her hoof. “What?”

“So…?”

In any case, she still wanted to get back to the library as quickly as possible, in case Spike let somepony in to use the library and they saw the open book and the spell on its prominently open pages. She threw a pleading look towards Redheart, who sighed. “You should be good to go, Twilight. Just don’t overstress yourself so soon after recovering.” Scribble, scribble on the clipboard. “I’ll let Nurse Tenderheart know I’ve given you the clean bill.”

“Thanks, nurse.” Twilight pulled herself out of the bed, stumbling a little but otherwise in full control of her faculties. “I’ll tell you on the way back to the library, Rainbow.”

“…the future?” Rainbow repeated, as they entered the marketplace. “Seriously? Awesome!”

“But it’s not,” Twilight insisted. “Knowing the future is dangerous! Don’t you remember what happened when I got a message from myself from the future?”

Everypony in the marketplace seemed a little more on-edge than usual, but that could be attributed to the light rainstorm that had up and vanished, and the whispered rumor was that it would return as suddenly as it had disappeared. At the drop of a hat, or rather at the first drop of rain, all the stallholders were ready to dismantle their stands and rush their merchandise to shelter. Still, the shoppers weren’t perturbed, and the square was as busy as it ever was.

Twilight found it interesting to observe what other ponies could be found buying, though not as close as to be invading their privacy. There, Spring Forward buying some impressive looking cabbages, and there, Lyra Heartstrings attempting to haggle with Big McIntosh at the apple stall (yeah, that’d be successful); in the air, some of Rainbow’s weather patrol keeping an eye out for any errant rainclouds should the alarm need to be sounded. Every now and then there was the commonly-heard wail of a Cutie Mark Crusader trying to catch up with another one. Normal ponies doing normal things. If only her life could be so simple.

“Well, yeah,” her companion admitted, taking to the air to avoid Jubileena struggling with a heavy sack of potatoes. “But everything was fine.”

“Even-”

“And you did some super cool ninja stuff without me.” The less that was said about the Next Tuesday Morning Incident, as Twilight had come to refer to it, the better, especially as it seemed the spell involved there held part of the blame for the current problem. “I had to do dress modeling, Twilight! I would’ve done anything to get out of that!”

“You shouldn’t have been teasing Rarity then.” From what she understood, having been related the story after the fact, Rainbow had made some jabs about Rarity’s contribution to the future-proofing the Incident had brought about, and as an apology Rarity had insisted that the pegasus join her and Fluttershy for some emergency modeling. There did seem to be a lot of that in her friend’s fashion career lately. “But back to the point - hopefully, I managed to stop the spell in time.” She paused, something was scratching at her mind, but she couldn’t work out what it was, so she ignored it. “I won’t be trying it again, that’s for sure.”

Rainbow pouted. “That sucks. You should’ve used it to see what your birthday presents will be.”

That was a rather… mundane use. “That would rather ruin the surprise.”

“Yeah, I guess… When is your birthday, anyway?”

“I didn’t tell you that before? It’s-” Twilight stopped, and twitched. “The symbol of magic will shatter.”

She clapped a hoof to her mouth. All around her, the marketplace had gone eerily quiet; everypony was staring. The phrase had just smashed into her head, drowned everything out, and demanded to be spoken. It had been her voice, but with an uncanny quality to it, almost as if she’d been… channeling. Prophecy. It had to be. She hadn’t stopped it. This was the future! She…

A thud next to her announced Rainbow landing, and she bent in to whisper in the unicorn’s ear. “(Uh, Twi, what was that?)”

“(I think it was part of a prophecy!)” Twilight hissed back. She could feel everypony’s eyes on her, and already she could sense their growing uneasiness. It was no secret that some ponies viewed her as a trouble magnet, and when trouble came to Twilight Sparkle, the wisest of the wise would stand well back. Ponyville as a whole was still on edge after the whole Pinkie Pie thing, and who could blame them? That hadn’t even been a week ago, and a bad decision had spiraled out of control and made their lives misery. For something like this to happen to the bearers of the Elements of Harmony again so soon… “(I need to get out of here before everypony panics!)”

Barely a moment passed before the pegasus leapt into action. “Uh, nothing to see here, folks! Move along!”

“What did she say?”

“What was wrong with her voice?”

“Mom, why did her eyes go funny?”

“(My eyes went funny?)”

“(Yeah, they went kinda all white and glowy.) She… she’s sleepwalking!”

“She’s not asleep!”

“Yeah she is, totally, definitely… asleep. Gotta get her home before she hurts herself, y’know.” Rainbow tugged at her leg. “(Come on, work with me here!)”

“She will sink into the deep.”

“(Stop doing that!) Ha ha, very funny, Twilight, that’s a good’un! You just crack me up!” Rainbow should never be an actor.

“She did it again!”

Twilight couldn’t move; she was also unable to communicate to Rainbow that she was having a mental breakdown. This was badder than bad. This was terrifying. Glowing eyes wouldn’t be a symptom of the prophecy spell, but a telltale sign of an impending magic cascade; that was raw magic begging to be released. She’d said only two sentences, and deep down she knew that was only the tip of the iceberg.

“(Twi, if we don’t move-)”

“Coming through!”

The shout from behind them made them, and mostly every pony in the square, jump, the shock from it freeing up Twilight’s mind. Leaving. Yes. That was what- Rainbow yanked her aside just as an orange blur on a scooter shot past them, proceeding to hit several other ponies and flatten a celery stall before disappearing deeper into the town. Scootaloo’s vehicle had been unconfiscated, then… a panting yellow earth pony filly entered the square just as her fellow Crusader left, finally giving in to draw breath a short ways past the two Element bearers.

“Scootalooooo!” Apple Bloom wailed, even if her friend was too far away to hear her now. “Ya know Ah can’t… run that faaaast!”

“(This is our chance.) Hey, Apple Bloom, want a lift?” Without waiting for a reply, Rainbow darted forward and swung the filly up onto her back, then picked Twilight up bodily.

“(Hey, what are you-)”

“Next stop, squirt!”

“Ah don’t even know where she’s goooooooiiiiiiin’!”

Rainbow Dash was unquestionably the fastest pegasus in Ponyville, well on her way to being the fastest in all of Equestria. Since the sonic rainboom event at the Young Flyers Competition, she’d been training herself to achieve supersonic speeds whenever she wanted to, much to the irritation of all the ponies who disliked the constant noise the mare made. (The rainbooms themselves were pretty loud, too.) As Twilight and Apple Bloom screamed their way across town, the older of the two suspected that her top speed would be quite hampered by carrying passengers. It was still fast enough to give the pair of them serious discomfort, though. Surely they’d caught up with Scootaloo by now? Twilight had another moment of sudden clarity. Oh no.

To the fortune of them all, Spike saw them coming and opened the door. To the misfortune of Spike, he didn’t get out of the way in time. With a colossal crash, and the myriad thumps of books falling to the floor, there ended up a groaning pile of mares, fillies, scooter and dragon against the library shelves. Twilight hadn’t noticed when Rainbow had picked up Scootaloo, but one of the scooter’s wheels was in her left ear, and from the complaints being issued by her assistant, she guessed that the hoofbars had come off and gone up his nose. Eh, he’d suffered worse. Dragons were made from sterner stuff. Besides, if Spike could walk away from an accidental hoof buck in the chest by Applejack with hardly a scratch, he could walk away from anything.

The state of the library was much as she left it, besides the pony pile and freshly laid carpet of books. Da Colton’s workbook still lay open on the table, next to the sad sight of the forgotten, now cold cup of tea. (It was foal’s play to reheat it, but reheated tea tasted awful.) The other shelves, the ones that had escaped the new disaster, had books neatly lined up on them, indicating that the time hadn’t been wasted. Thinking of, Fluttershy was still there, though she’d shrieked and curled up into a ball when Rainbow had come barreling into the building. Now, she cautiously unraveled herself, and made a noise like a very quiet but squeaky door.

“Oh my goodness! Are you all alright?” She could move quickly when she wanted to, and she darted over to help untangle the pile of ponies. “What happened?”

“Urghh,” Rainbow eloquently offered as a response.

“Really? Oh my.”

“The final pillar cannot stand.” Twilight gasped for breath. “I need… I need to write all this down! Quill! Ink! Paper!” She forced her way out from underneath the other ponies. “I don’t know how long I can keep- Turn back to answer Hurricane’s call. -Gah!”

Fluttershy shuffled out of the way as Twilight shot towards the table. “W-what’s going on?”

“She’s- agh! Sorry, Scoots - Babbling on about some sort of prophecy thing.”

“No problem at all, Rainbow Dash…”

The ink pot nearly fell over as Twilight snatched for it. Quill, quill, quill - there, on the shelf. Paper. She’d been due to shop for it later, oh darn- her eyes fell upon Da Colton’s workbook. No. No way. She was not going to vandalize a five-hundred year book because of some spell she cast by mistake! It was invaluable to the literary world! It could lead to new advancements in culture! It- Oh, horseapples. She flipped to the back of the book, thankful that it hadn’t been completely filled, dipped the quill in the ink, and released the spell.

To Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student

First of all, let me assure you that you have nothing to fear. I am aware of the spell Prophetia’s existence, and the danger of such magic, but know that I have complete trust in your ability to control it. That being said, it would be wise if you were to not mention it to those who do not know already. Keep the workbook hidden, too. Some may not be so pure of intention.

I did have my suspicions about Da Colton. I do not know where he learned Prophetia, but I believe he expressed his prophecies, as he would have put them, through his art, just as you expressed yours through words. Some of his works that remain, though not all of them, depict events that had not yet passed at their creation. He was still gifted, as are you. His talent was not solely due to the future. Incidentally, the Hoofington Museum finishes renovating its fine art hall in a few days’ time, and they have a number of those works as part of a special exhibit. You may find it interesting.

As to your prophecy itself, do not let panic take hold; it will take time to understand. Sometimes it is best to stop, then think. Do not let it define you.

I look forward to your next letter.

Your teacher, Princess Celestia

“That’s just maddeningly unhelpful,” Twilight commented, when Spike had finished reading out the scroll. “At least she won’t send me back to magic kindergarten this time.”

Spike put a blue ribbon around the letter marking it as read and placed it with the other correspondences from the Princess. “She didn’t send you back to magic kindergarten last time.”

If in doubt, contact the Princess. Twilight had been against it at first, but Spike had reminded her of the last time she’d thought that way. Everything had turned out well, but she’d driven herself to the point of insanity in the process, and only the timely intervention of her friends had prevented any lasting punishment. This time around, it was even worse; she’d feared that the Princess would stop her from casting magic altogether. Despite Rainbow’s choice comments as she’d expressed her worry, that was possible and she would do it to her student if the situation required it. Fortunately, she’d been talked out of the ridiculous behavior, and a letter had been fired off to the Princess post haste, detailing the situation.

“Yeah, ‘cause we swooped in and saved the day!” Rainbow cried, looping the loop. “How’d Applejack put it? Big darn heroes?”

Something like that. Twilight sighed. It was a good thing the Crusaders had been convinced to leave for lunch else there’d be some awkward questions to answer. “I’m still worried, though. It’s cryptic, and I’m convinced it’s saying bad things are going to happen. Look, see - ‘The symbol of magic will shatter, the city by power be battered’. What if that means the Elements of Harmony will break?” She hoped it wasn’t possible. The Elements of Harmony just couldn’t break, could they? “And this part, ‘she will sink into the deep’? What does that mean?”

“Aw, you’re just over-thinking it.” It had to be said, Rainbow Dash was not the best pony to talk to when Crisis Mode was threatening action. Especially as she was now, with tissues wadded up her nose. “Like the Princess said: just stop thinking about it.”

“She didn’t say-”

There was a very soft throat clearing from Fluttershy. “Um, Twilight?”

She’d almost forgotten the yellow pegasus was there. “Yes, Fluttershy?”

“I know this sounds something Rarity would say, but… when I have too much on my mind, I go to the spa to relax.” She was right, it did sound like something Rarity would say, but Fluttershy did spend her fair share of time at the town’s spa too. And the spa was relaxing, no denying that. Much more relaxing than the big place in Canterlot, which was always crowded and the air was always thick with the latest expensive perfumes. “I think you should go, Twilight. If that’s okay with you, I mean.”

Now that she mentioned it, Twilight’s muscles were beginning to feel awfully tight. (That right there was most definitely psychological, but she ignored the thought.) But the book, the prophecy, was so much more important…

“Go on, Twi,” said Rainbow, punching her shoulder, though lightly enough not to hurt her. “We got the library, right, Spike?”

“Right!”

“Oh, how wonderful!” Fluttershy clapped her hooves together. “I can take Twilight to the spa to relax, and Rainbow Dash and Spike can clean up while we’re gone!”

Rainbow’s face froze mid-grin. “Clean up?”

Everypony looked at the books on the floor, ignored after the second crash of the day. Then back at Rainbow, whose face hadn’t changed.

“Fluttershy, that… that was devious of you.”

“It was? I’m sorry!”

Admittedly, Twilight was a little nervous about going outside after what had happened in the marketplace, but it seemed that after Rainbow Dash’s little stunt, the ponies of Ponyville had very nearly forgotten the strange voice and the glowing eyes. The market square was in a different direction from the spa, so at least any fear remaining there wouldn’t be stoked by the unicorn’s presence. Given time, perhaps they’d just brush it off as a Ponyville Weird Thing and think nothing more of it.

Even so, she couldn’t get her own mind off the prophecy, or prophecies, whichever it was. The Princess had described it as singular, while Twilight was convinced that mostly each line was something completely different. She got that feeling, like she hadn’t completely mastered the spell and sent it bouncing around different points in the future rather than concentrating on one specific event. That wasn’t unique to any one spell, it was common with a lot of high level spells when underlevelled unicorns (cough) tried to cast them. Her first teleport had done just that, even though it had been an accident and she wasn’t quite sure where she’d learned it. Her magic reserves had then kept feeding the spell and kept teleporting her to random places around Canterlot castle until the Princess cast the magical equivalent of nailing her (harmlessly, of course) to the floor.

Analyzing it was a must, but how to go about it, and in which order? The most innocuous ones first, or the ones that sounded dangerous? ‘Turn back to answer Hurricane’s call.’ Hurricanes couldn’t call, so how would a pony go about answering, and why was the word capitalized? ‘Friends around see shock indeed.’ Friends of who, and shock at what? It was messing with her head. Her mother had once suggested meditation as a way to clear the mind, but sitting around going ‘om’ a lot didn’t seem to do anything worthwhile, except get you some odd looks and Pinkie Pie following up with ‘nom nom’. Pinkie herself had her own suggestions, most of which involved ingesting vast amounts of sugar.

The spa wasn’t a regular thing for Twilight, as it was for Fluttershy and Rarity and their meetups every Wednesday. Today was Monday, though, and Rarity was very busy besides. Whenever she got finished with her current order, it was likely she’d spend at least half a day there. As far as Twilight was aware, the white unicorn had been without sleep for the past two days, ever since the Mirror Pool incident.

“Devious in a good sort of way, I mean.” Twilight made a mental note to treat Spike to a gemstone dinner treat the next time they were both in Canterlot. He’d been working very hard recently and deserved something in the way of gratitude. “Gosh, I just wish I’d never cast that spell in the first place.” How tempting was it to go back to Canterlot and try to find that single-shot time travel spell again? Very. Tempting enough to put herself through another week of Tartarus? Not a chance.

“Oh, well, if you’re sure.” The aroma of freshly baked bread wafted through the air; Baker Dozen must have been cooking again. It certainly made Twilight’s mouth water. “Um, I was thinking, maybe…” Sunshower Raindrops drifted past them in the other direction, apparently entranced by the fresh bread. “I… should write a book about caring for animals…”

That was somewhat surprising, but… Twilight gave her an encouraging smile. “You should, Fluttershy. Your talent with animals is spectacular, after all. I’m sure lots of ponies would find it interesting.” Now that she thought about it, the section of the library relating to animal care was mostly filled with books for foals, teaching them how to take care of their first pet, and the occasional pamphlet on dealing with wild animals in jungles and the like. There was also a very succinct pamphlet on how to take care of animals from the Everfree Forest; it said ‘Don’t’. Fluttershy could certainly revise that.

“Really?”

“Of course.” Plus Fluttershy was herself an example of a pegasus with what was widely considered an earth pony talent, but Twilight couldn’t find a way to say that without it seeming uncomfortable, so she didn’t bring it up. “You should ask Princess Celestia how she cares for Philomena.”

Fluttershy blushed. “Oh no, I couldn’t do that.” They’d reached the entrance to the spa; the pegasus put her hoof on the door. “Not after what happened with her after that party.”

“Fluttershy, that was six and a half months ago, and Princess Celestia did say that she doesn’t blame you for thinking what you did.”

“Still…” Fluttershy gave an involuntary shudder, and pushed the door open.

Even standing in the foyer, Twilight could feel the spa working its magic, her own body shivering in anticipation. She’d done her own research into just what made this particular establishment, run by the Blossom twins, so much better than its Canterlot equivalent; eventually it just came down to size. She’d been dragged to the Canterlot spa enough times by her mother (prior to becoming the Princess’s personal student), and every time it’d been rather… impersonal. It had so many staff members that you invariably got a different pony for your session every time you went. Here in Ponyville, you got Aloe, Lotus, Quake, or sometimes Roxie if it was particularly busy. That was it. By the time they’d finished with you, they knew where all your aches could be found for your next visit.

However… how would they deal with an ache in her mind?

To look upon the rainbow band
The final pillar cannot stand
Friends around see shock indeed
She will sink into the deep
Help them as they flee their fate
The Iris opens up the gate
In teacher’s eyes, past truth

The symbol of magic will shatter
The city by power be battered
Two will rise, one will fall
Turn back to answer Hurricane’s call
Upon the surface last signs float
Importance lies in his last note
This was the seventh hourglass

3 - The Dream

“Gah!”

Twilight awoke in a cold sweat. It was still dark; her body clock told her it was sometime around midnight. At the foot of the bed, Spike snored, giving no indication that he’d heard her wake. It felt colder than it ought to have been, for an evening in the middle of April. Apart from Spike, it was otherwise silent.

Some dream, huh. Despite the spa session doing its job well and alleviating the stresses the spell had put on her body, it still did little to ease her troubled mind. Da Colton’s workbook was placed carefully on the bedside table. Funny, from where she was in bed, it looked like any other book from the library’s collection. If only it was. Giving a resigned sigh, she levitated it in front of her and flicked it open to the words she’d written. It was the future. But was it a future she wanted? In a way, it was scarier than the time-travel related message from the future; then, she’d known that something was coming but had no idea what, albeit it had actually been nothing; now, all she had were cryptic messages with no indication as to how soon they’d come true. Any one of them could be coming true any moment and she wouldn’t have a clue.

And the dream she’d just had… normally, she couldn’t remember them, but this one was much clearer than normal. (Princess Celestia had once taught her about lucid dreams, but the whole concept just didn’t seem to work for her.) Images had crossed her mind, emotions, along with the lines from the prophecy. There’d been a balloon. A lake. Her cutie mark. A strangely familiar crystal. Fear, despair, triumph. Gazing at the book, her eyes unfocusing, she wondered if that was what Da Colton saw when he cast the spell, images that he turned into paintings. She remembered once seeing some of his portraits in the Royal Gallery, as a little filly behind the towering figure of the Princess, and those sessions spent examining his spell weave. Had they really been…?

Pages turned backward. There was such a myriad of information here. Some of it was things from the artist’s lifetime, but, others… she stopped on the pages describing the Elements of Harmony. He’d listed and sketched all six: honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty, and magic. The identity of the sixth element hadn’t been known at that time - more to the point, scant few books mentioned the Elements at all, because they had been considered a faerie story, an old mare’s tale. The writing here paid due reverence to them. Had he seen them in a prophecy?

She sighed again. She’d read herself to sleep, just like her mother used to do. Turning to a random page, she yawned, and began to read out loud, softly, so as not to disturb Spike.

“The Alicorn Amulet bears resemblance to many charms of the pre-unification era, and whoever wears it is blessed with untold powers…”

Wait, was that a breeze? Twilight opened her eyes. “Guh.”

Okay, so either she’d lost track of time and fallen asleep really quickly and was now dreaming, or she’d sleepwalked outside. That was a definite possibility, though she tended to sleep-write instead of sleep-walk. Bearing in mind that she had absolutely no idea where she was, and that the sun was just being lowered across the horizon, she was probably dreaming. Again.

This felt real. This felt too real. Most dreams that she did remember, she remembered after the fact, as an event that had happened. Right now, this dream was happening. She was standing in a field. There was mud under her hooves, there was the scent of wheat in the air, and yet… her surroundings were sort of empty. There was a river, barely deeper than her legs were long, a couple of trees, some clouds, and the sun. Nothing more.

“Okay,” she ventured. “Lucid dreams are controllable. They can be influenced. In them, you can do what you normally could not.” The Princess’s lesson was finally coming into use. “But you have to be careful not to let them influence you.” Whatever that meant. “Okay,” she said again. “So… what do I do?”

No voice answered her but the sun, completing its glimmering descent behind the empty horizon. No moon rose to take its place. Was there some significance in that? The sky now was populated by a single star, which twinkled at her. She tried twinkling back, before questioning why she was attempting to twinkle and whether ponies could twinkle in the first place, and ridiculing herself for trying to communicate with a star. What was she supposed to do? The Princess had regaled her with tales of building magnificent cities in the dream world, and here she was without a clue. Her imagination was drawing a blank. (That was clever of it.) Was there any way she could just wake up? She could try pinching herself, that seemed to be—

“What do you see?”

Twilight jumped at the voice behind her, and turned to see an orange pegasus mare with a brown mane and a labcoat sitting behind her, staring at her. Instantly, two questions ran through her head - the first, why is this pegasus in my dream, and the second, who is this pegasus anyway? She’d met many ponies over the course of her life, and was ashamed to admit that she’d forgotten a lot of them, but she felt positive that this was a new face, not one that her subconscious had filed away and randomly called up. On her flank there was no cutie mark to speak of, yet…

If in doubt, ask. “Who are you?”

The expression on the mare’s face was passive. “What do you see?”

“Um, can you tell me your name first?”

“What do you see?” There was no urgency or insistiveness to her voice, like… a record that had gotten scratched.

“Um.” Okay, Twilight wasn’t going to get anywhere like that. Maybe it would just be a good idea to play along and see where her mind took her. “Well. I see… a star, I see trees, I see a river, I see you…”

“(I see you?)” the mare mouthed, and she blinked a few times. “Are you sure?”

Uh. Was this an interrogation? “I think I’m sure.” Twilight laughed nervously. How did one go about having a proper conversation with a dream pony? Was there some sort of checklist you had to follow? Had anypony ever written a book about talking to ponies in your dreams? Were there any etiquette guides?

The pegasus frowned, and looked off to the side. “That can’t be right.” Twilight tried to follow her gaze, but there was just more nothing. The trees were in the opposite direction. “Are you sure you’re doing this properly?”

“I don’t know how to interact with you!” Twilight flailed. “This is the first time I’ve met a dream pony!” She really, really hoped that there wasn’t an entire species of ponies that lived in dreams and that she could somehow offend them all by making a bad first impression. Things had been bad enough when the thestrals had come across the western seas to join the Royal Night Guard. The last thing she wanted to do was pull a Blueblood and end up insulting their traditions with everything she said. “Is there anything I’m supposed to do, or say?”

“You’ll know when it’s working,” the mare said, adjusting her labcoat. “How about now?”

(Okay, Twilight, focus! What would Princess Celestia do?) “Uh, hello! I’m Twilight Sparkle.” She held out a hoof. “Pleased to meet you.”

Finally, an emotion crossed the mare’s face. “At last! Now, hurry up and let’s get on with this before—”

An almighty rumble interrupted her, and the ground trembled beneath them. Panicked, Twilight looked around for its source, but there was nothing. What was that meant to represent in the dream? Was that something to do with the pegasus, or something completely different? “…the hay?” the mare finished. Twilight jumped again; whoever she was, she was now at her side, wings outstretched, and they were both standing next to the river. When had they moved? Or had the environment moved around them? What was with this pony?

Wind rushed past them, but it only seemed to affect the pegasus. At their hooves, the grasses bowed to the currents of air. What…? Twilight was just lost for words now. How would any of this connect to the events of the past day? This had to be a result of the spell, but how?

“I lost the balloon!” The mare was getting stranger and stranger. “Darnit! We were so close!” She looked at Twilight with apologetic eyes. “Sorry, now we’re going to have to start again.”

“Why?”

“We’ll try again later when the weather’s better.”

“What?” A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention; the star had inexplicably moved to the horizon. “I don’t—”

“You know, I really think—”

With an enormous sound too big even to describe, the star exploded, knocking Twilight back into the river. Only there wasn’t a riverbed. She fell out of the water into empty air, tumbling head over tail, for what seemed like an eternity, until—

Crash.

“Yaaagh!” said Spike. “Twilight, are you…?”

With a groan, Twilight Sparkle woke up, the side of her face pressed against the floor, her mane over her eyes. She’d fallen out of bed.

“I just don’t get it, Spike.”

It was raining now, the weather patrol having gotten enough clouds together to make up for yesterday’s problem-ridden skies. Still, the Forecast Centre up in Cloudsdale wasn’t likely to be happy, they never were when any weather was missed, even when there was good reason behind it. No doubt in a few days Rainbow Dash would be summoned before the southern region weather chief to answer why the scheduled weather hadn’t happened. Again. Once, Twilight had asked why Ponyville didn’t get more leniency, being next to the Everfree Forest and all. Storms were drifting from the Forest into the main Equestrian airspace all the time. What she’d gotten was a lecture - a lecture, given to her! - that sounded full of jargon the pegasi probably didn’t expect her to know the meaning of. Princess Celestia had had words afterwards, but there was little reason to think the situation had gotten any better.

Even before breakfast, Twilight had something to deal with; the window. In the ‘excitement’ of yesterday, she’d completely forgotten the final sliver from the window that Rainbow had returned after her first crash. Lacking anything to cover the hole in the meantime, Spike had thoughtfully installed a bucket below to catch any rain that got blown in. Reconstitution had fixed that easily and without fuss, proving that her magic levels had returned to normal. Resting up after the magic exhaustion, check. Make sense of the night… not check. (She’d had to draw up an emergency checklist for that, and not being able to put a tick in one of the boxes was extremely aggravating.)

Spike swallowed his mouthful of emerald. “Which part? The prophecy part or the dream part?”

“Both!” Twilight rested her head on the table. It still hurt from its earlier impact with the floor. “I mean…” She looked up at him, and cast a quick spell to brush her forelock out of her eyes. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a dream that weird before.”

“I had this dream once where everypony was made of wood and I wasn’t allowed to breathe in case I set anypony on fire,” Spike pointed out, gesturing with his half-an-emerald. “Your weird dreams have nothin’ on mine.”

Oh, Spike. Twilight allowed herself a laugh. “Yeah, that is… pretty weird.”

“And this one time…” he stuffed the rest of his breakfast in his mouth and continued talking, but Twilight had already turned her thoughts back to trying to interpret the dream and the dream pony. One of the first things she’d done that morning, besides having a bath and fixing the window, was find a book on the subject of lucid dreaming. If it was to be believed, the pegasus was a construction or avatar of her subconscious, attempting to communicate something that her waking mind either couldn’t or refused to process. Yes, that was a possibility, but it hadn’t really tried to tell her anything at all.

And the prophecy… that still lingered, but maybe the Princess was right, maybe it would be better to wait and see what would happen. The only other clue she had to what it might mean was the images she’d seen during the first dream, but she’d tried drawing them and failed. She was not an artist. Maybe if she could find one willing to help her, Share was a fairly easy spell to cast, and she’d had some fairly recent practice with it, too. Until then, though…

During the spa visit, Spike and Rainbow had done a good job of getting all the books back on the shelves, despite all the Daring Do books piled on the floor on Twilight’s return. According to the dragon, there had been some resistance from Rainbow on the subject of using the diagram, but she didn’t put up too much of a fuss and just got on with it. That was her dues for breaking the window done. Hmm… Twilight got up from the table and trotted over to the DIY section. Was there a spell she could use that could increase the tactile strength of the window itself? Maybe the pegasus would use the door if she couldn’t get in through the window.

Unfortunately, it seemed she was out of luck. There were books on carpentry, plumbing, furnishing… but no windows, and as far as she knew, generic strengthening spells weren’t effective on glass. She’d have to do some experimenting sometime. With much more care and attention than she’d paid yesterday. And-

There was a muffled voice from outside. “Whooa—” Thmp. That was somepony at the door. Oh, Ditzy was due. She’d been so distracted she hadn’t noticed the time.

“Good morning, Di— oh gosh.” Upon opening the door, Twilight found Ditzy on the ground, eyes spinning, bearing a very red nose. She must have slipped on the— oh, hay. Wet leaves were always a hazard in the rain, and if you lived in a house that happened to be covered in them, they did tend to get on the path if said house gets crashed into, and if you didn’t sweep them away because you were distracted over a certain spell. Getting to the door normally with leaves on the path was fine, if you were careful, but if you lacked a certain degree of depth perception… She lifted the mailmare up. “Ditzy Doo, are you okay?”

“I’m fine!” She wasn’t. With all the rain, she was sodden through, her left eye had wheeled away from the right, and now there was just the tiniest hint of a nosebleed. Twilight retrieved a tissue and dabbed it away. Yes, the mail was vital, but with this weather and in this condition, she couldn’t conscientiously let Ditzy continue on. After all, if she’d remembered to clear the leaves away, she might have been okay to go on. “I’m not gonna cry!”

Curse her inability to master healing magic. “Ditzy, I think it would be better if you went home and let your sister continue your rounds,” Twilight suggested. While the rain wasn’t going to let up, at the very least Flutter Doo wouldn’t be juggling an eye defect and a banged nose.

“No, no. The mail must continue!” Ditzy pulled out a letter, pushed it past the unicorn into the interior of the library, turned around, and promptly fell on her face again. “Ow!”

Time to be proactive. “Spike, I’m going out! Ditzy, I’m taking you home. I’m sure your sister will understand.” Glancing around, Twilight grabbed an umbrella from the box near the door. By this point, the mailmare was crying, even if she refused to admit it. “Let’s go.”

“But—”

“I know this is important to you, but you’ve hurt yourself and it’s partially my fault.” As she said it, she cleared the leaves from the path with a quick multitude of Levitations. It was simple, easy, and she should have done it yesterday after the actual impact, though the lack of rain had probably pushed it from her mind. She put the umbrella up. “Come on, let’s get you to the post office.”

It must have been an unusual sight, Twilight reasoned, leaving the library with a teary-eyed pony in the pouring rain. The weather being what it was, there were barely any ponies on the streets; those that were, dashing between shelters, gave them sympathetic looks. Ditzy didn’t hurt herself that often, but every time she did, everypony noticed her absence and wished her well. Ponyville was always changing, what with all the Weird Things that kept happening, but Ditzy was a constant. Ponies like her made the town what it was.

The pegasus sniffed loudly, and Twilight passed her another tissue. She graciously accepted the cloth and blew her nose loudly, veering slightly off course as she did so, and Twilight had to pull her back to a straight line before she hit a fence. She’d once asked how flight was even possible with little to no depth perception, and the answer was simply that Ditzy had practice. In a situation like hers, ponies could do one of two things; they’d either never fly again, or they did what this grey mare did and just got on with it like there was no problem at all.

With the umbrella keeping them mostly dry, it wasn’t long before they reached the post office, just off the town square, and Twilight rapped on the door. Even during the mail delivery window, there was usually at least one pony still to be found behind the counter. Yes, they were in luck - and it was the purple-maned mare they were here to see. Flutter Doo opened the top half of the door.

“Oh dear,” was her only comment, before unlocking the lower half and pulling it open. “Orange!” she called further back into the office. “Ditzy’s crying again!”

Ponyville’s post office wasn’t quite a Ponyville Weird Thing, but it operated on the edge of becoming one. Letters were collected and delivered by Ditzy and Flutter, and the more bulky parcels and packages were dealt with by their twin cousins Cryo Doo and Orange Box. Some ponies claimed that occasionally letters arrived at their destination before their writer had even written them, and the conspiracy theorists (aka the flower shop ponies Daisy, Lily Valley, and Roseluck) believed that the entire family had mastered the art of time travel. That was of course impossible. It had sapped a lot of Twilight’s strength just to go back for a minute or so, and to suggest that such a strenuous magical activity was being used by pegasi to deliver mail was just ridiculous.

Ditzy entered the building. At least, she tried to. Before Twilight could correct her she walked straight into the doorframe.

When she, with a fresh red mark down her face, had been settled inside on some cushions, Twilight turned to Flutter to explain, and opened her mouth—

“Rainbow Dash, right?” Flutter said.

Twilight was taken aback. “Um, no?” Well, indirectly, but…

“Oh.” Flutter’s brow furrowed. “Are you sure?”

“Pretty sure.” What did Rainbow Dash have to do with this? “She slipped on some wet leaves outside the library and hit her head on my door.”

“Told you so!” hollered one of the twins from somewhere upstairs.

Putting a hoof to her head, Flutter sighed. “Okay. Ditzy, did you do Bell Perin’s, or—” Ditzy shook her head. “Right. Pass me the bags then. Guess it’s time to get wet.”

“Sorry about this,” Twilight offered, as Flutter strapped the bags on. “It’s my fault she slipped.”

“Don’t worry about it.” The pegasus grinned. “It tends to happen around wet trees, if not Ditzy, then one of us. Right after the Running of the Leaves it’s the worst.”

“Wrong!” announced Orange Box, dropping through the mail hatch in the ceiling. “It’s worst in winter.”

“Wrong!” announced Cryo Doo, also dropping through the mail hatch and landing on top of her sister. “It’s worst in summer!” Her face twisted in mock horror. “So. Many. Postcards.”

“Get offa me.”

“You two, get back to work.” Flutter had a commanding voice, though with the twins Twilight suspected that was a necessity. “Time to take the plunge.” She opened the door again, to the pounding rain. “Oh boy. Rain, snow, gloom of night, my plo—” Slam.

For a moment, Twilight’s gaze lingered on the door, before moving to the twins, who were giving each other death glares. She’d comment on the strangeness of the situation, if only it wasn’t like this every time she stepped into the post office. It wasn’t that she came here often, though - most of the time, it was simply easier to give the letters to Ditzy on her morning round rather than trudge down here and resist the urge to research the office’s inner workings. The big office in Lower Canterlot near where she used to live had never been as confusing as this place could be.

Ditzy blew her nose again, the noise apparently making the twins snap to attention. “You didn’t have to do this, Twilight Sparkle.”

Resting a hoof on her back, Twilight smiled. “Don’t be silly, Ditzy. What kind of friend would I be if I let you go on to hurt yourself more after something that was my fault?”

“I hurt myself all the time,” Cryo put in.

“She does,” confirmed Orange. “I’m gonna go make tea. Want some?”

With another loud nose-blowing, Ditzy nodded. Twilight nodded too, and sat down; Spike would be alright in the library for a while. “Please. No sugar.”

She’d never had tea from the post office before, and she idly wondered how it would taste. It would obviously hold nothing over the Zebra blends that Zecora brewed, and it would have to be very good indeed to come close to the exclusive Royal Tea, but at least it couldn’t be any worse than the awful stuff from Fillydelphia that didn’t even deserve to be called not-tea. Princess Celestia and she had drunk some during a lesson there, and afterwards both of them agreed: never again. The mare serving the ‘Authentic Equinnium Tea’ as it was called was very adamant that it was good for the nerves; she’d also evidently been duped as Twilight had tasted actual Equinnium tea, and the authentic stuff? It wasn’t.

At least Ditzy was looking a lot better now, and there weren’t any more signs of the nosebleed. That wasn’t to say it had stopped; Twilight was not a doctor, and all her attempts to try healing magic - even diagnostic spells - had failed spectacularly. There was nothing to freak out the royal guard more than to have the Princess walking around as a living x-ray for a few hours. She was drying out, too; by listening to extensive complaints from Rainbow Dash Twilight had learned that flying in the rain was at least twenty times more difficult than normal flying due to water affecting the aerodynamics of the feathers. Sometimes, she looked at this mailmare and wondered how in Equestria she was still able to fly.

“Ditzy,” she started, “Have you—”

Before she could ask her question, Ditzy’s eyes bulged, and she lunged forwards, wings outstretched. For a moment, Twilight was left wondering why, until the reason became apparent as the grey-purple and blonde shape of Dinky Doo dropped from the mail hatch and landed on her mother’s back.

There was a story behind Dinky Doo known to precious few ponies. Twilight was not one of them. In Ponyville, it was limited to just the Doo family and Fluttershy, and the first time Twilight had inquired, Fluttershy had advised her, very sternly indeed, that asking was a Very Bad Idea. The filly herself was as cheerful as any other foal in the town, having quite clearly inherited Ditzy’s enthusiasm and passion for muffins, along with a sense of perception that was somewhat unnerving at times. Twilight had first met her on her third day in the town; Dinky had immediately told her exactly what she’d eaten for lunch and pointed out a scrap of mashed potato in her mane that would otherwise have gone unnoticed.

“Good catch, Momma!”

“Muffin, what has mommy told you about the mail hatch?”

“I was following Auntie Cryo.” Cryo, who’d been standing behind the office counter with a somewhat vacant expression, tried to disappear behind a set of scales. “Good morning, Miss Twilight!”

“Good morning, Dinky Doo.”

“Dinky…”

The filly gave a rather exaggerated sigh, and hopped down from her mother’s back. “Mister Mail Hatch is not a toy, Mister Gravity is not our friend.” Immediately she brightened up. “I drew a picture for you, Momma!” She produced an envelope and gave it to Ditzy. “I kinda ran out of charcoal though…”

Whatever it was, Ditzy’s expression was impressed, and somehow Twilight could tell that it was genuine as opposed to the look most ponies gave foals regardless of whether the action was impressive or not. Ditzy’s bubbly personality always seemed more subdued when she was with Dinky - was that parenthood at work? “Beautiful as always, Muffin. Why not show it to Miss Twilight?”

Twilight didn’t know what she was expecting - the art class she’d assisted Cheerilee with at the Ponyville school had been mostly stick ponies in fields - but she was not prepared for the rendition on the back of the envelope when Dinky proudly presented it to her. Though it still had a slightly crude foal-like composition, it was the town hall and the town square, undoubtedly the view from one of the upstairs windows, probably as it looked right now, with the exception of the large lightning bolt that was striking the fountain in the square. There wasn’t a thunderstorm outside, it was only rain. She asked Dinky about it.

“I was running out of charcoal and worked out if I put lightning there I wouldn’t have to use as much.”

“That’s…” Twilight blinked. “…clever.”

“Still ran out, though, look.” Dinky gestured to the left edge of the envelope, where the clouds conspicuously lightened. “That was my last bit, too.”

Almost as if she was anticipating what her daughter was going to say next, Ditzy took the advantage. “Sorry, Muffin, but Mommy needs those for work.”

“Aww.”

Dinky is good at art.

Was she seriously even considering that?

She’s an artist and in front of me right now.

There were plenty of artists in Ponyville!

Ponet hates me, Rarity’s busy, and let’s not even talk about Cinnamon Swirl.

Surely Ponet couldn’t still hate her for— yeah, he could. He most definitely could. Cinnamon Swirl… gloss over that… Rarity was more of a fabric artist, and was likely to be on her third day straight without sleep. Twilight had been there, as had Applejack; even after one skipped rest their cognitive processes had been breaking down. Hopefully Rarity finished that order before the sleep deprivation ruined it.

Whatever way she looked at it, Dinky was a viable option for the whole prophecy stroke art situation, and the mental lever was leaning towards asking her. What harm could there be in asking? Share was completely harmless and had a certificate to prove the fact. It practically had a doctorate in spell safety. Oh, and it had been written by artists specifically for artists. Mustn’t forget that. If Dinky’s talent lay somewhere in artistry, and from this level of skill it’d be very surprising if it didn’t, she was bound to end up learning this spell anyway.

“Dinky,” Twilight ventured, “Do you think you could help me with something?”

Dinky paused in the middle of tucking the envelope away. “What is it?”

Phrase this carefully, Twilight… “I’ve got a bit of a… an art problem, and I was wondering if you could…” Ah! “Do you take commissions?”

The little pony’s brow furrowed. “What’s a commission?”

“It’s where I ask you to do some art for me, and I pay you.”

“What with?”

Ditzy giggled. Erm… “Money?”

At the mention of the word, Dinky’s eyes lit up, and there was a very audible cha-ching. “Auntie Cryo’s playing with the till again.”

“Sorry!”

“Hmm… What sort of art?”

“Well… I have a spell that’ll show you what I would like you to draw.”

“When we don’t know what it does, Mister Magic isn’t our friend either,” Dinky recited. “I think.”

Very astute. But… “It’s called Share, and it’s the same one I used last week to show you and your classmates our fight against Discord.” Twilight didn’t operate well at the teaching end of a classroom full of foals, at least not yet, but Share had come in very useful when Cheerilee had asked if she and the other Element bearers would come in and teach them about harmony. It wasn’t easy for Twilight to explain things like that without going into all the scientific and technical terms, and using them wasn’t efficient if you had to define every single one of them every time you used one. Much easier to beam the images directly into their minds, as if they were actually there. “It’s actually a spell artists use when colla— when working together, so they can show each other ideas before they start. When we’re finished, I can teach it to you, if you want.”

“Oooh,” put in Ditzy, who’d relocated back to the cushions. “What d’you think of that, Muffin? Miss Twilight can teach you a new spell!”

It wouldn’t quite be as simple as that, in a worst case scenario Dinky’s magic would be incapable of casting it successfully, and it would take a while, but Twilight didn’t mention any of that. Foal unicorns had to be careful when learning new magic; overdoing it even a little would result in exploding. Twice. Or more. It varied from pony to pony. Only—

“Nope.” Oh well, fair dos— “Can’t. Got no charcoal.”

“I’m sure we can find some charcoal somewhere.”

The search for drawing material went on for some time, not helped in the least by the arrival of the tea shortly after the start. (Six out of ten. Standard Equestrian blend.) Ditzy had been very quick to mark off the charcoal pots on the desks which were reserved for the post office work, the twins had argued over whose turn it had been to go out and buy some more, Dinky had raided her supply tin (new envelopes to draw on, twelve bits worth of pocket money, a speck of fluff, and a candy wrapper), but it seemed that the whole building was otherwise devoid of things to draw with.

In any other weather, Twilight would’ve suggested going back to the library; after all, she had plenty stored away for all her checklists. Not in the pouring rain. She was just about to give up and say never mind when Dinky pointed something out.

“We didn’t look in Auntie Flutter’s desk drawer. She keeps spares in there.”

Two loud gulps were issued from the direction of the twins. “Not a good idea, Dinks,” said Orange. “You know how grouchy she gets when we borrow her things.”

“Grouchy and mean,” Cryo agreed.

“I’m sure she won’t mind if we take just a couple of pieces.” Why would she? There certainly were a few in there; Twilight selected two that ought to last the foal long enough. “Now, how much do we think…?”

Dinky beamed. “One million bits.”

Uh. Um. “A million, huh?” Twilight laughed nervously. “W-well, I’m sure we can bring that down a bit…” She was terrible at haggling. Her attempts at haggling involved detailing the exchange rates, and that never worked.

“Don’t you think that’s a little bit much, Muffin?” Ditzy asked, ruffling her daughter’s mane. “I don’t think Twilight has that much money.”

Twilight would have retorted, but instead chose to word it differently. “Um, how about twenty bits and a promise to teach you the spell?” She didn’t have twenty bits on her, but that was easily sorted when she got back to the library…

“Done and done!”

Thought journal, bookmarked entry; April CE 1001; 4:12PM

I had my doubts before I Shared the prophecy images with Dinky, but now… I managed to get her to Pinkie Promise not to tell anypony about what she drew, with the exception of Ditzy, who insisted on staying in the room, not that I mind, as long as she doesn’t go shouting it out either. Spike accused me of making this too easy for me to figure out, but I can’t stand how vague the prophecy text itself is. At the very least, it gives me something to work with so I know when parts of the prophecy are being fulfilled instead of guessing all the time.

Okay. I have fourteen envelopes here; the charcoal lasted just long enough. Listing and analyzing them here for future reference before I forget the artist’s comments on them.

‘To look upon the rainbow band’: It’s just a big circle, though with a reflection crescent to the upper right, so I suppose it could be some sort of lens. Dinky indicated that it was moving. Is this ‘rainbow band’ only observable with a specific type of lens or glass? It’s certainly possible. Nopony could prove the existence of sea sprites until somepony looked through a telescope the wrong way.

‘The final pillar cannot stand’: A column, so this one’s very literal. Seems to be in the process of collapsing. There’s some sort of symbol on a band around it, but I can’t work out what it is and Dinky couldn’t either.

‘Friends around see shock indeed’: Dinky was very proud of this one, because Ditzy’s in it. Also me, Rarity, and Spike. No idea what we’re being shocked by or where we are when it happens.

‘She will sink into the deep’: There’s no nice way to put this, but it’s a pony underwater, and according to Dinky, not making any attempt to swim. Ditzy was very distressed by it, and I offered to stop but Dinky wanted to continue.

‘Help them as they flee their fate’: Rainbow Dash. She’s got her hooves above her head like she’s holding or supporting something, but no indication of what. No indication of who ‘they’ are either. But she’s the bearer of Loyalty, so it doesn’t surprise me that she’s assisting other ponies.

‘The Iris opens up the gate’: A spinning octagonal prism. Both Spike and I agree that we’ve seen it somewhere before, but we can’t remember where. Dinky liked working with the geometrical shape but otherwise had no comment. No gates anywhere in the image, though I suppose it could be metaphorical. But does it mean an iris as in the flower, or an iris as in the eye? Like the word ‘Hurricane’ in the second section, it’s capitalized, so maybe it refers something specifically called Iris or The Iris. Could it be some sort of title?

‘In teacher’s eyes, past truth’: Princess Celestia, and this one doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. She’s the first pony that comes to mind when I think of the word ‘teacher’. However, don’t know what this truth is or why it’s past; all the image can tell is that she looks surprised to see it. (This troubles me. I’ve only seen the Princess this surprised once, and that was when Discord was released.)

‘The symbol of magic will shatter’: No easy way to put this - my cutie mark covered with a fracture pattern. Dinky didn’t like it, and I don’t like the connotations. Symbol of magic because it’s the same shape as the Element of Magic, obviously, but I have to hope it doesn’t refer to me. This is slightly scary, but not as scary as the next one.

‘The city by power be battered’: Blank envelope. According to Dinky, it was just so bright she couldn’t see anything. I don’t need to say how much this worries me, if something that bright that produces or transmits power is in Canterlot or another Equestrian city. The presence of the word ‘battered’, aside from rhyming with ‘shatter’ in the previous line, indicates that whichever city it is it will receive some degree of damage.

‘Two will rise, one will fall’: A hot air balloon. Dinky says there’s a pony that looks like Applejack falling out of it but I really can’t tell. If there are two ponies in it, it would make sense, if the balloon went up with two and one falls out… I don’t want to think about what would happen to the pony falling out if that is the case. Spike says it looks like Cherry Berry’s balloon, but I disagree, I think it looks more like Pinkie’s party balloon.

‘Turn back to answer Hurricane’s call’: It looks like a bunch of scribbles, but I think it could be a seismometer or a thaumometer. Dinky doesn’t know what either of those are and has no idea of its context. Seems to show a large event, whichever graph it is. (Could an earthquake be part of the ‘by power be battered’? No natural earthquakes have been recorded in central Equestria for decades.) No sign at all of this hurricane that’s mentioned. (Could a hurricane generate this strong a tremor? You’d need a lot of pegasi to generate something that big, that’s for sure.) Capitalized, so a name, or a title.

‘Upon the surface last signs float’: It’s Applejack’s hat, or apparel similar, floating on water. Combined with the earlier underwater pony, and the balloon, I’ve got a bad feeling about this…

‘Importance lies in his last note’: A book. Though the drawing’s obviously in charcoal on an envelope, Dinky assures me that it’s blue. (Not that that really helps, there are dozens of blue books in the library.) Not sure where ‘his last’ comes into it, nor why it’s only described as a note.

‘This was the seventh hourglass’: An hourglass. I don’t know what I expected.

I’ve tried putting the pieces together; I’m now convinced that each line and each image isn’t necessarily in chronological order. The sinking pony and the floating hat obviously go together, as do the blank image and the graph, or maybe the graph and then the column. I’ve got a gut feeling - one that’s terrifying - that the balloon comes before the two water-related images, and I really hope that doesn’t mean Applejack’s going to fall out of Pinkie’s balloon and land in the sea or something. Still…

I tried teaching Dinky Share, and she made good progress, for her first attempt at learning it. She showed me a fuzzy and incomplete image of what I guess was Ditzy cooking. While I still feel uneasy about big classes, maybe I could have a go at one-on-one tutoring, for the stuff I’ve already passed with flying colors. I’ll talk to Princess Celestia about it when I next get the chance.

…There’s not much more I can do without more data, and short of casting the spell again (which I’ve forbidden myself from doing), for the time being I can’t collect any more either. I suppose the next step will be following the Princess’s advice and attending the Hoofington Museum’s special exhibit on Da Colton when it reopens on Friday. I’ll see if my friends are interested in joining me; if I recall correctly, Pinkie Pie will still be in the town, staying with Mr Cake’s sister. I suppose it’ll depend on whether Applejack and Rarity have finished their work by then; not sure if Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy will be interested, but I’ll ask anyway.

Wait, hold on, there was one more thing. During the incident with Ditzy at my door this morning, she pushed a letter into the library. Spike reminded me of it when I returned, but the only thing in the envelope was a blank piece of card. I don’t think it’s connected to the prophecy thing - it’s got a Trottingham postmark on it, so it must’ve been sent at least a few days ago, before any of this started.

It’s still raining, so I’m going to catch up on some studying. I’m sure nothing more can happen today, at least. If all of these things are in my future, if I stay away from large bodies of water and any major cities, I can control to a degree when (if indeed they do at all) they come true. Hopefully. Maybe.

Huh, I can smell… something’s burning. I think Spike’s just set fire to something.

No dreams came to Twilight that night, so there was no chance of trying to make amends with the dream pony, whatever her name was. Again, she’d looked at da Colton’s workbook, and separately the blank card; still they yielded no more answers, and she’d set them down on the bedside table. No doubt about it, though. This was turning into what the town’s resident author Written Script had started calling an Adventure. She didn’t like the term, but admittedly she couldn’t come up with anything better. Most ponies stayed away when Adventures were in progress. (And though this was an exception, she did notice they very frequently occurred on Saturdays.)

As she woke again and rolled over, trying to get comfortable, she pondered the drawings and the prophecy again. Perhaps, at the end of the Adventure, she’d be able to look back at the whole thing and wonder how she didn’t see stuff coming. Stuff was always more obvious in hindsight, as the events with Discord had proved rather harshly. Strangely, she was starting to draw parallels between the prophecy she’d created and the draconequus’s riddle. Twists and turns, the phrase which had led her to the hedge maze, had indeed been his master plan; when suggesting the maze, she’d completely skipped over the final step, and if she’d interpreted it first she’d have gone in a completely different direction.

What would have happened then? They’d have gone straight back to Ponyville, found the Elements, and blasted Discord. That simple. Too simple. Discord had to have been counting on her misinterpreting his riddle. So what if the same thing was happening here? What if - and it was a crazy notion - the prophecy would resolve itself because she thought she could beat it?

A howl of wind almost made her fall out of bed again. It shouldn’t have been that loud - and it definitely shouldn’t be that cold. Had Spike left a window open? Nothing seemed obvious from where she was… sighing, and with the chance of going back to sleep soon out the metaphorical window, she had nothing better to do than go downstairs and look… With a yawn, she pulled herself out of bed, located her fuzzy purple slippers, and trudged downstairs. It’d just be a window that hadn’t been fastened. Not like—

She stopped midway down the stairs. The front door was open, letting the rain in, and there were hoofprints and books all over the floor. It took her less than a second to process. There’d been an intruder.

“Spike!”

Slamming the lights on with her magic, she jumped the rest of the way downstairs and dashed over to the door to look outside. No sign of anypony in the dark rain, and the muddy hoofprints disappeared into puddles. Whoever it was… they’d gotten away. Who would want to steal from a library?! The books weren’t worth that much! Sure, the unique ones, but they were still upstairs in places of protection. Only— oh no. Suddenly realizing, she ran back through the library, past Spike on the stairs, back to the upper deck of the top floor. Please, please, please…

The cabinet next to the bed was almost undisturbed. Bedside lamp, glass of water, mane brush, blank card.

Da Colton’s workbook was missing.

5 - The Return

“But why is Trixie here?” Twilight asked, slightly under her breath. Trixie couldn’t possibly hear them from that far away, but she still felt the need to keep her voice down. “I thought after that Ursa Minor…”

“As did I,” agreed Rarity. “Nevertheless, she has been down there calling for you for five minutes.”

She hadn’t forgotten the Ursa Minor incident. Who could? It’d been plastered all over the next day’s copy of the Foal Free Press. The Great and Powerful Trixie’s Secrets Revealed, all the info behind the showmare and her boasting. In any other case, Ponyville might have been perfectly normal with the visit of a traveling magician, but as well as magic tricks which were honestly impressive, Trixie had brought with her an ego that put Prince Blueblood’s to shame. That, combined with two colts who didn’t yet comprehend sarcasm, resulted in an Ursa Minor wreaking havoc on the town. Twilight had been pretty much forced to save the day by nearly driving herself into magical exhaustion, something which Trixie had regarded as an elaborate way of ‘doing one better’.

At the end of the evening, she’d run away, only returning later once everypony was in bed to retrieve what remained of her wagon after the Ursa had smashed it. After that, no hide nor hair had been heard of her. So why would she turn up now…? How did she even know that Twilight was there?

“Is that… Trixie?” asked Spike, panting, only now catching up. “But I thought…”

“I know you’re here, Twilight Sparkle!”

“You and me both, Spike.” Sure, Twilight had expected to see her again at some point, when she’d learned her lesson, but not this soon, and certainly not in the middle of a deserted courtyard that should otherwise have been full of ponies. “I wonder what she wants…?”

“Looking for this?”

What had she— Twilight’s heart sank like a stone. Trixie was waving a red book around. Oh no. She desperately hoped it wasn’t, yet she knew it could only be da Colton’s workbook. If she had resorted to thievery… “I’ve got to go down there,” she told the others. “I’ve got to get that book back.”

“But what if it’s a trap, Twilight?” Rarity did have a point. Trixie may have been boastful, and Twilight could definitely feel her ego from the balcony, but she wasn’t stupid. It was almost certainly a trap. But she didn’t really have any choice. The spells in that book were incredibly dangerous in the right hooves, let alone the wrong hooves, and at that moment Trixie’s hooves couldn’t have been any more wrong. Whatever she was up to, she was willing to commit petty theft to see it through.

Gulping, Twilight prepared a teleportation spell. Spike grabbed her leg. “Twilight…!”

“I’ll be fine, Spike.”

“Not that! Look at her cape!”

What about her cape? It looked exactly the same as it had in Ponyville. Purple, covered in blue and yellow stars and moons, fastened with a… an octagonal prism. The Iris opens up the gate. That’s where they’d seen it before. So Trixie was part of the original prophecy too? But how?

Well, only one way to find out… imagining the cobbles beneath her hooves, she fired the teleport.

“Come out, come out, Twilight Sparkle!”

“I’m right here, Trixie.”

To give her credit, most ponies would have jumped at hearing a pony speak from a spot that had been empty a split-second before, but Trixie simply turned, cool, collected, with the same smirk on her face that had been a characteristic feature of the magic show. Behind her head, the book hovered, tantalizingly close but still so far. If Twilight tried to grab it now, she’d never get it back. Hopefully, she’d get it returned with the minimum of fuss. For a pony whose talent was practically to create fuss, though…

“Ah, at last, she shows herself, as Trixie predicted she would.” She spoke as if she were still on stage, as if this were her opportunity to show off against Twilight, the opportunity she’d been denied last time. “How goes the day, Sparkle? Found what you were looking for?”

Don’t let her get to you. You’ve dealt with Blueblood, you can deal with her. “Just tell me what you want, Trixie.”

“What Trixie wants? What about what you want?” She waved the book around in circles. “Trixie doesn’t know how you tracked her here, but she assures you that she is still ready to claim what she deserves.”

Did she seriously think…? “Trixie, I didn’t come here looking for you, I came to visit the museum.”

That broke the facade. “What? But, I thought—” Trixie coughed. “It doesn’t matter! You’re here now, and the Great and Powerful Trixie will show you once and for all that she can do better!”

Where was all of this coming from? This was sudden. Then again, this was also Trixie. From what Twilight had seen of her, she’d jump at every chance she got to prove that she was better than all of the other ponies. She was very much like Rainbow Dash in that regard. Rainbow Dash however generally didn’t do things that she considered hurtful towards others, whereas Trixie had showed no qualms about making another pony physically sick. Still… Twilight couldn’t exactly place it, but Trixie seemed… somewhat upset, more so than she’d been when she’d left Ponyville.

“Did—”

“Silence!”

The word was accompanied by a wave of magic that blew dirt away from the cobblestones. If the situation wasn’t what it was, Twilight would have been impressed - that was definitely more powerful than the magic Trixie had shown before. “Trixie will defeat her biggest rival, here and now! After all…” A glimmer came to her eyes, and suddenly Twilight was very, very afraid. “…Trixie has seen the future.”

Oh no. No way. “You can’t just—”

“Does Twilight Sparkle wish to know the future that the all-seeing Trixie has foretold?”

“No!”

“Too bad, she’s showing you anyway. Prophetia!”

After her original casting, Twilight had gone over the event with Spike, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, just to confirm what exactly had happened from a third-pony perspective. In the library, she’d said the vocalization, and her eyes had immediately started glowing, as they did later in the marketplace - the indicative sign of an approaching magic cascade, where an overpowered spell would either spill over and start randomly firing off other spells to try and ease the pressure, or explode. Because Rainbow Dash had gotten her to the library quickly, and she’d gotten the prophecy out of her system, neither had happened.

Right now, Trixie was casting the prophecy spell, which itself used far too much magic and automatically triggered a cascade. Whether Trixie could handle it was her own problem, though as she seemed intent on showing rather than keeping it to herself, it probably wouldn’t be. Twilight took a few steps backwards. She just didn’t want to be too close in case their magic synchronized and doubled the power of the spell. If Prophetia resonated at the wrong frequency… Thought journal, don’t forget any of it!

“BEHOLD!”

Da Colton had expressed his prophecies through painting. Twilight’s had been through words. Trixie… used imaging fireworks.

Thought journal, emergency entry; April CE 1001; 2:41PM
(edited 5:02PM)

Wow, this was a mess. I guess I panicked when I made the entry, though I guess I can understand that. Trixie’s prophecy, or prophecies, as I guess it is; I could feel her magic bouncing around just as mine did. Her prophecy, as I listed it down, in the next part of the entry; analysis to follow when Pinkie Pie isn’t blowing bubbles into my face.

Fluttershy, looking worried, clutching Applejack’s hat;
The octagonal prism from Trixie’s cloak being lifted out of Ditzy’s mailbag;
A caped pony facing a monster;
The same, but as a crude foal’s drawing;
The Cutie Mark Crusaders, hugged together in fear;
Myself bolting a door;
A book falling to the ground, its pages flicking open;
Lightning striking the Ponyville library;
Me, lying on the ground, and Trixie standing over me, triumphant.

“Ow…” Twilight sat up, shook hay off her, and groaned. “Anypony catch the number of that coach?”

“What coach?”

“Oh, thank goodness you’re alright,” came Fluttershy’s voice. A fuzzy shape loomed into Twilight’s field of vision and offered her a hoof up. “What happened?”

What had happened? It’d been her and Trixie in the square, Trixie had da Colton’s book, she’d cast the prophecy spell… Twilight attempted to review the emergency thought journal entry she’d made, but evidently she’d been so panicked that she’d cast another spell straight through it, and it was unreadable. When she got some time to sit down and think, she’d have to reorganize and put it back together again. That was okay, though. Not the first time she’d done that. Patching that up would be a piece of cake.

She’d cast Interrupt, that much was clear from the scarring. Prophetia would have shut down, as would have the imaging fireworks. So… wait, where was she? She squinted, trying to focus. Her friends were with her, that was the square over there… hadn’t she been next to some of the sculptures? What was she doing all the way over here? She asked.

“There was an explosion,” answered Rarity. “When the dust… ick… settled, you were over here and Trixie had vanished.”

“What about the book?”

“Book and all.”

“Was it a good fight?” Pinkie was eating her way through a box of popcorn. “I nipped out to get this but by the time I got back the fight was over. I always miss the cool stuff!”

Exactly why Pinkie was under the impression that they’d been fighting was a mystery, but this was Pinkie Pie. “We weren’t… ow… we weren’t fighting, Pinkie.” Best guess, completing Interrupt had been the final step in Trixie’s cascade and triggered a magic explosion. She’d be perfectly fine, after a while, but she wasn’t going to be casting Prophetia anytime soon. Or any other major spells for that matter. Cooldown times after explosions varied from pony to pony and from spell to spell - Twilight’s average cooldown time was twelve minutes twenty-one point six two seconds. At Trixie’s level of skill, well above average but not spectacular, and the difficulty of the prophecy spell (moderate to very), it ought to take her about an hour, if that.

Ponies had returned to the square in the time that she’d been out, which shouldn’t have been too long. Most of them seemed unconcerned with what had just happened, though a few nearby kept giving Twilight nervous looks, and one in particular looked very agitated (but given his manner of dress and the stains on his coat, he was likely to be the owner of the hay cart she’d landed in). No chance of Trixie hiding amongst them; given her need of attention, removing her cape and hat to be a face in the crowd would be impossible, and with after that explosion she’d be nursing the mother of all headaches. No chance of retrieving the book, either.

“Aww. I missed your last fight, too, and I totally would’ve put money on you, Twilight!”

“We didn’t fight last time either.”

“Really? (There goes that fanfiction then.)”

“What was that?”

“Nothing!”

Keeping an eye on Pinkie, Twilight shook herself free of all the hay that she hadn’t managed to previously dislodge, making sure not to get any on Rarity. (If that were to happen, the fashionista would probably faint.) “Let’s go back to the Confectionary,” she suggested. “We can work out from there what to do next.”

“Uh, Twi?” Spike gestured to the agitated sales-stallion. “I think this guy wants to talk to you.”

…

For obvious reasons, they didn’t let Spike navigate back to the shop, and instead let Pinkie lead the way. As it turned out, that was also a mistake. Spike had simply been reading the wrong map; Pinkie insisted she didn’t need the map and promptly pronked proudly back to the popcorn place, which was in the wrong direction. By the time they’d spent the best part of twenty minutes going in circles, every loop Pinkie expressing surprise at there being another popcorn stall in their path, Rarity had had enough of walking, and had wrested control of the lead to take them back to the Confectionary.

At this point in the afternoon, the lunch rush was over, but there were still a few customers sitting both inside and outside the shop, and, judging from the foal-like shouting coming from inside a cardboard fort, Eccles and Bluebottle were back. With drinks and eclairs, the group sat down in a booth to discuss what had happened.

Well, that was the intention, anyway.

“Pinkie, did you really need to order so…” Rarity was lost for words. “…so much?”

“Mmhmm,” said Pinkie, around a mouthful of chocolate. “I mtthd lnch!”

“Argh!” said Spike, ducking the spray.

Fluttershy sipped her milkshake quietly.

With her head in her hooves, Twilight sighed. She had, admittedly, forgotten what Pinkie Pie was like when she missed a meal, and they’d been in the museum longer than she’d expected (not that that was a bad thing). Honestly, she hadn’t expected Pinkie to be that interested in art, history or science, but she’d been very well behaved, for a pony that was bouncing off the walls when she got bored, and sometimes when she wasn’t. All of her friends had hidden depths like that; Fluttershy’s knitting hobby, Applejack’s knowledge of high culture that she’d retained from her time in Manehattan, Rarity’s talent at chess - even Rainbow Dash was able to give a full-on rant about her job on the weather team when Twilight unintentionally insulted it. Pinkie being interested in museums shouldn’t have been as surprising as it was.

Idly, as she watched the pink pony stuff herself and the others try to avoid becoming involved, she wondered how Rainbow Dash was doing up in Cloudsdale. Since the previous year’s Young Flyers Competition, she’d returned to the city using Cloudstep on two occasions, once to visit the library, the other to visit the Central Sorting Office as part of a research project. It was astounding how much mail went through there every day, and she’d previously thought that Ponyville got a lot. (Yes, the castle got more than some of Equestria’s smaller towns combined, but she’d never needed to use the main mail system there, as she had Spike, and until she’d moved she’d only written letters to the Princess. Oh, and sometimes her parents and brother, but in those cases she normally left the letter lying around where the royal messengers could find it.) Cloudsdale was almost as big as Canterlot, with the added complication of the buildings not always being where you left them.

The meeting in the Weather Forecast Centre had been yesterday. Hopefully there wouldn’t be a completely different weather team in Ponyville on their return.

“Really, Pinkie? Why would you do that?”

“Sorry, Rarity…”

“Hmph. Apology accepted, but you must be more considerate towards others when you’re… eating.” Rarity took a napkin and wiped crumbs from her cheek. “I simply do not know how you manage to eat so much and yet remain…”

Pinkie selected a cupcake from the array on the table in front of her and swallowed it whole. “Not-fat?”

“Not quite how I would have put it, but yes.”

“Oh, that’s an easy one! I run lots and lots. Five laps around the town, every day! How else did you think I was so fast?”

Untangling the remains of the thought journal entry was a little tougher than Twilight expected. Most of the time, she could just make an entry, file it away, and if necessary recall it and transcribe it later. A spell neatly compartmentalized the journal away so she wouldn’t forget any of it. When panicking, though, an entry couldn’t fully form, and other spells might imprint over the top. Fortunately, she knew Interrupt very well, and could identify what belonged where, but the amount of force she’d used was making it difficult to separate them. Words were coming out here and there - ‘pages’, ‘together’, ‘her’… but she wouldn’t get any coherent sentences for a while.

‘Applejack’.

A chill ran down her spine. What connected Trixie’s prophecy to Applejack? Did it have anything to do with her own prophecy? Two will rise, one will fall; she will sink into the deep? That had easily doubled her fear. The others were laughing about something, but she just couldn’t.

Something else occurred to her, something she’d overlooked because she’d been busy at the time. In the exhibition, the pamphlet had said something about da Colton writing a book before his death but never publishing it. Importance lies in his last note. Assuming ‘note’ referred to this text, what was so important about a book he didn’t finish? And if it was so important, how would she do anything about the contents of the book not being known? Everything she’d tried to alleviate in the museum came piling back on top of her. No. She promised she wouldn’t let it take control of her. She would control it. Everything would be fine.

Apparently, Fluttershy noticed her expression. “Twilight, is everything okay?”

“I’m fine, really—”

“Twilight.” Rarity gently pulled Twilight’s head round to face her with her magic. “Even if you don’t admit it, we can tell something troubles you.”

“Yeah, ‘cause we’re friends!” Pinkie paused to devour another cupcake. “And friends always have trust in each other!”

“Just tell us what’s wrong, darling.”

At first, she didn’t want to, but Twilight eventually told them everything, her fears over Applejack in her prophecy, the balloon, the exhibition. Trixie still had the book. The spell had taken over da Colton’s life. Her own resolution. She left out the dream pony, though - there was no solid evidence that she was even connected to Prophetia, and for all she knew could have just been her own brain firing random synapses and conjuring up a situation to take her mind off everything else. Upon finishing, she slumped against the back of the chair and brought her milkshake’s straw to her mouth. She needed the hydration.

Silence descended upon the booth for a while, the only noises coming from the kitchen and the cardboard fort, as the ponies and dragon tried to understand exactly how their friend felt.

Eventually, Pinkie spoke. “Hmmm.”

Twilight blinked. “That’s it? Just ‘Hmmm’?”

“Hmmm,” Pinkie agreed. “Mm-hmm.”

“Is… is your mouth stuck closed?”

“Uh, no, silly.”

“Then what are you—”

In another blink, Pinkie had donned a doctor’s head mirror. “Doctor Pie has diagnosed a serious case of the glums, and she has prescribed Hmmms. Say ah!”

“What? I— ah!” Her mouth was forced open and a cupcake was lobbed down her throat. Still not the most invasive thing Pinkie had ever done. “Mmm! Ack!”

“Pinkie Pie!” exclaimed Fluttershy. “Twilight was being serious!”

“So was I! There’s nothing like Hmmms as a way to cure the glums!”

Wait, was that… “Pinkie Pie, now is hardly the time for—”

“When life throws you a curveball and the future’s looking bleak…”

“Pinkie.”

“Something glad to cheer you up is what you now must seek…”

“Pin-ack!” Twilight suddenly found herself choking on the cupcake, and Spike frantically thumped her on the back.

“You’ve been here before, you’ve pulled right through! You can’t let glums get the better of you!
Chin up, don’t frown, don’t look so sad, just think of all the fun you’ve had,
And then you’ll find that all your troubles are gone!

A case of the glums? Just take some Hmmms!
Feelings sinking? Don’t stop thinking!
No rush, don’t be quick, you’ll make yourself sick! Take it slow, you’ll be fine, you’ve plenty of time!
Keep yourself together,
And you’ll go on forever!
So remember your Hmmms, and if you get glums,
You can bounce back better than ever!”

“She does have a point, Twilight,” Rarity said.

“The Princess did say not to panic,” Spike added. “Remember?”

Pinkie Pie, she just… Twilight couldn’t help but smile. “Did you come up with that just now?”

“Eh, a little bit.” The pink mare removed the mirror and stashed it in her tail. “Still needs a little tweaking, but I can work with that. More of a book number than a breakaway pop hit.”

A walking self-help book, that’s what Pinkie was. Her Element of Laughter was well deserved. Nopony but her could have cheered Twilight up in that situation, and she did it in a way so unique that you couldn’t be sad afterwards, even if you tried. And, as Rarity said, she did have a point. Trying to barge straight through the situation would only lead to more problems, more headaches, and eventually a point of no return. She had been there before, the lowest point, right after she’d fallen to Discord’s tricks, and with the help of the Princess, Spike, and her friends, she’d thought through the situation and come out on top.

So, think things through, calmly and rationally. What could she control right now? One part of the prophecy was done and dusted - ‘This was the seventh hourglass’, check - and the ambiguity of another had been decreased, now that Trixie, or at least her cape’s clasp, was involved. Da Colton’s book was more or less in play, she knew who had it, but Trixie would be a difficult pony to (intentionally, anyway) track down. Parts of Trixie’s own prophecy were starting to clear up. Without knowledge that didn’t seem to exist, ‘his last note’ was out of reach. ‘Hurricane’s call’ possibly referred to a steam locomotive’s whistle. None of those were the answer.

Start with Applejack, then. If she never went in a balloon at all, how could she possibly then fall out of it? Preventing that would be as easy as, well, asking Pinkie. But Pinkie refusing to pilot AJ in the balloon (or anypony else, for that matter) would be out of character, and the farmer was the bearer of Honesty besides, she’d see straight through it, and criticize Twilight for placing too much trust in a future event based on guesswork, which it was. (There was no proof that the two lines of the prophecy were connected, besides Dinky’s claim that the pony falling from the balloon was Applejack, but logic seemed to say they were.) She’d made a similar complaint after the whole time travel thing.

On the train back to Ponyville, she’d have to finish repairing the thought journal entry concerning Trixie’s prophecy, and do some editing to merge it in with her analysis of her own. Keep everything together in one place. She was good at organizing things.

“Enjoying the food, are we?” Fairy Cake had come around with a tray to collect the empty milkshake glasses. “You certainly packed a lot away, Pinkie.”

“She has, hasn’t she?” observed Rarity, who clearly envied her friend’s ability to eat so much and not worry about her figure. “Ten chocolate eclairs, was it?”

“Twelve,” Pinkie corrected. “And three cupcakes.” She paused to lick her lips. “Eight out of ten, would devour again but they don’t stand up against the superior delicacies at Sugarcube Corner that Mrs. Cake makes. And by Mrs. Cake, I mean our Mrs. Cake and not you Mrs. Cake, because while you are both Mrs. Cakes and you’re both married to Mr. Cakes, we always call our Mrs. Cake Mrs. Cake and it would just get confusing if we referred to both of you as Mrs. Cake because then nopony would be able to tell if we were talking about Ponyville Mrs. Cake or Hoofington Mrs. Cake and then— mmph!”

Zip-It was usually a spell reserved for when Spike started making illogical or otherwise silly statements. Pinkie Pie was also an acceptable subject.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to make them even better, won’t I?” A week with Pinkie would destroy most ponies, but it seemed Fairy Cake was taking her quirks in stride. “You’ll have to tell Cup that we’ll be coming for that title of Best Local Bakery, then! The rest of you girls okay? How was your day out in Hoofington?”

“The museum was great!” Spike said, slurping up the last of his milkshake and passing the glass over. “Shame about afterwards, though.”

Fairy Cake looked up in thought for a moment. “That reminds me, did something happen over there this afternoon? I heard some of the other customers talking about some sort of showdown or something that took place.”

Twilight tried to avert her eyes, but Spike did the job of opening his big mouth. “That was Twilight and Trixie having an argument.”

“I wasn’t having an argument either! I was just trying to get my book back!”

“Oh dear, not again.”

Wait, again? Had Trixie already shown off here before? Rarity asked before Twilight could. “Mrs. Fairy Cake, are you acquainted with Trixie?”

The baker pulled over a chair and sat down. “Just about everypony knows Trixie Lulamoon here, I should think. Used to be a regular sight in the square, her magic show, Eccles loved watching her. Then she left to show her tricks to the world, and… she hasn’t really been the same since.” She shook her head. “Used to be such a sweet little filly, too.”

“Are you saying… this is her home town?” Was that what Trixie had meant when she said Twilight had tracked her down? Suddenly the whole Ursa Major boasting made a lot more sense. “When we first met her, she did say she’d defeated an Ursa Major here…”

“Defeated?” Fairy Cake gave a short laugh. “She was always adamant that she’d seen it, though she’d have been a bit young to fight it. But yes, she’s a Hoofington pony, born and raised. A regular here, too, right up until she left, three years ago? The world needed to see her magic, she said, she was going to try and become the greatest stage magician in Equestria.”

“Wow.” Twilight honestly couldn’t believe it. What had happened, then? Just from hearing about her, Trixie sounded like any other pony following their dream, far from the stuck-up showmare who’d arrived in Ponyville and claimed to be better than all of them. Had she seen or heard something that caused her to become disillusioned? Or had she just forgotten her dream in the pursuit of greatness? It was hard to think that such a thing could happen to anypony, let alone Trixie.

Maybe, even Prince Blueblood… no. There were enough stories going around to suggest that Prince Blueblood had always been like that.

The shop door bell rang, interrupting her thoughts. “Well, seems I have another customer,” Fairy Cake said, climbing to her hooves. “You five have a safe trip back to Ponyville, now.”

“Thanks for letting me stay, Hoofington Mrs. Cake!”

“You’re always welcome here, Pinkie Pie.”

“That was… enlightening,” commented Rarity, as they walked towards the train station. “I didn’t expect to hear such a story about Trixie.”

“It makes you think of her in a different light, doesn’t it?” It certainly did for Twilight. Maybe, if they ever saw her again, their reactions would be different for having heard the story.

“Mm,” quietly agreed Fluttershy. “And we were so horrible to her before.”

Most of the walk was in quiet silence, which Twilight was thankful for, as it allowed her to work on the thought journal entry. A few minutes to the station, a few hours on the train… she was confident she could have it fixed and analyzed by the time they reached Ponyville. Rarity was leading the way again, so there was a zero percent chance they’d end up lost.

The day had been full of surprises, not all of them pleasant. Part of her prophecy had revealed itself, the Princess had paid for their museum entry, da Colton’s paintings, Trixie, and now what equated to an origin story. How would all of it fit together? Sometimes, there were coincidences, but she didn’t believe any had happened here. (Aside from the Princess getting their tickets. That was completely plausible to be a coincidence, seeing as Twilight was predictable when it came to learning new things.) Why exactly had Trixie stolen the book? How would her prophecy connect to the grand scheme of things? What had changed her? And just what was the story behind that Ursa Major anyway?

No trains were at the station when they arrived. “Pinkie, did I hear Mr. Cake right in saying that you hired a private coach for your delivery?” Rarity asked, looking for a timetable. “And that if we caught up with you, we could take it back?” Rarity tolerated public transport, but she did tend to prefer private coaches which she perceived as cleaner.

“Oh, we did one better than that!” Pinkie put her hooves in her mouth and whistled loudly. Another whistle answered in the distance. “We got a whole train!”

“You what?!”

She wasn’t kidding. A few puffs of smoke appeared from an engine not far away, and given a couple of minutes it chuffed up to the platform in front of them. It was a small, orange thing - nothing like Hurricane - but it was an entire locomotive nonetheless, pulling two coaches marked with very large stickers saying ‘private’ on the doors.

“That’s not one better, that’s a thousand times better!” Spike gasped. “I won’t have to use a baby seat this time!”

“Pinkie Pie, how in Equestria did Mr. Cake get you an entire train for delivering candy and baked goods?!” Twilight was flabbergasted. From what she’d read of the Equestrian railways, hiring engines for private trains cost a lot of money, much more than would be viable just for a return trip to Hoofington to deliver low-cost foodstuffs. “I don’t… Doesn’t he normally get room on the Friendship Express to take things to Canterlot?”

Pinkie waved to the engine driver, who waved back. “Oh, he pulled some favors with a railway friend who’s a regular at Sugarcube Corner,” she explained happily. Then her face turned sour. “That and nopony else would give up two coaches worth of space to carry muffins, the rotters. Hey, I have a bubblegun! Who wants to play with bubbles on the way back?!”

…

Sitting down, inside the train, with nothing else to worry about, it only took Twilight a few minutes to finish repairing the thought journal entry. She’d tried editing it as well, but Pinkie had declared she could detect some more glums oncoming and insisted Twilight join the bubble war that was going on between her and Spike. After being ‘deaded’ a few times, she’d excused herself and moved through to the second coach, where Fluttershy was asleep and Rarity had some sheets of designing paper laid out in front of her, hmming and ahing her way across them. Peace. Comfort. Both of those, and Fluttershy was quietly singing in her sleep. A good atmosphere to organize the prophecies together.

Thought journal, bookmarked entry; April CE 1001, 5:11PM

What follows is a detailed account and analysis of the prophecies generated by Twilight Sparkle and Trixie (Lulamoon, I think?) in April CE 1001.

Nothing had changed, for some of the lines. She could copy them straight over from the last bookmarked entry. Some, though, required updating.

‘The iris opens up the gate’: A spinning octagonal prism, the one Trixie uses as a clasp for her cloak. Dinky liked working with the geometrical shape but otherwise had no comment. No gates anywhere in the image, though I suppose it could be metaphorical. But does it mean an iris as in the flower, or an iris as in the eye?

Still no connection between the words and the image, but at least the prism had been identified. Whether Twilight liked it or not, Trixie still had a part to play in the prophecy.

‘Two will rise, one will fall’: A hot air balloon. Dinky says there’s a pony that looks like Applejack falling out of it but I really can’t tell. (There is however some evidence to suggest she may be correct.) Spike says it looks like Cherry Berry’s balloon, but I disagree, I think it looks more like Pinkie’s party balloon. Pinkie and I have touched on what to do if a situation like this arises, but there’s not a lot she can do.

For now, the best bet would be to keep Applejack clear of any hot air balloons, either until the prophecy had resolved itself in another way or until some way of changing the future could be found. Easier said than done.

‘Turn back to answer hurricane’s call’: It looks like a bunch of scribbles, but I think it could be a seismometer or a thaumometer. Dinky doesn’t know what either of those are and has no idea of its context. Seems to show a large event, whichever graph it is. (Could an earthquake be part of the ‘by power be battered’? No natural earthquakes have been recorded in central Equestria for decades.) No sign at all of this hurricane that’s mentioned. (Theory: This could relate to the whistle of the locomotive Hurricane, the fastest steam engine in Equestria, but still no connection to either meter. Trains don’t produce that much vibration, nor do they run on magic.)

An interesting theory, but still probably not correct.

‘Importance lies in his last note’: A book. Though the drawing’s obviously in charcoal on an envelope, Dinky assures me that it’s blue. This could be referring to a book Stalleonardo da Colton was writing before his death, but never published. If so, how to find out its contents?

Critically, Dinky had been able to identify a blue cover. If it did indeed refer to da Colton’s last book, then he had had it bound, which meant it did exist, and more importantly, he finished it. All she had to do was find it… again, easier said than done.

‘This was the seventh hourglass’: PASSED; this referred to Chiselgrip’s bronze hourglass installed in the courtyard of the Hoofington museum when I visited it a few days after the initial spellcast.

Fluttershy’s singing stopped; Twilight glanced over towards her, but she was still asleep. Rarity was in the zone. Spike and Pinkie were probably still warring in the first coach, or if they’d finished, they’d probably be playing another game. Time, she guessed, to properly review Trixie’s prophecy without interruption.

TRIXIE’S PROPHECY, ANALYSIS:
I will admit, Trixie is a master at those imaging fireworks. I have little to go on but the repaired text here; while I can remember standing in the courtyard, watching her fireworks, I can’t for the life of me remember what images she displayed. I’d have to reclaim the book to prove it, but I suspect this might be a side-effect of Prophetia. Here we go, then…

Fluttershy, looking worried, clutching Applejack’s hat: This is the second time Applejack’s hat has appeared, so it must have some significance. She barely removes it, though. Why would Fluttershy be holding it, unless… think positive, Twilight, move on.

The octagonal prism from Trixie’s cloak being lifted out of Ditzy’s mailbag: Again, the prism, but why in Equestria would it be in Ditzy’s mailbag? I did have a feeling today’s event wasn’t the last we’d see of Trixie, but this is baffling. Is this at all connected to Ditzy’s appearance in ‘Friends around see shock indeed’?

A caped pony facing a monster: I’m not at all sure, but this stinks of fantasy to me. I’m reminded of Trixie’s tale of taming the Ursa Major…

The same, but as a crude foal’s drawing: …though Mrs. Cake in Hoofington did say that Trixie claimed to have actually seen the Ursa Major. What did she actually see? Would she have drawn something like this?

The Cutie Mark Crusaders, huddled together in fear: I don’t think Trixie ever met the Crusaders, but they do this all the time, even when they receive a jump-scare from Rainbow Dash, so I don’t think this is at all relevant.

Twilight Sparkle bolting a door: Okay, so I’m going to lock a door? Why? Am I locking myself in, or something else out? I guess Trixie was of the opinion I’m trying to get away or hide from her.

A book falling to the ground, its pages flicking open: Argh, book abuse! No apparent significance to anything else.

Lightning striking the Ponyville library: I can guess why Trixie would think this is bad for me, but the library’s covered in magical lightning rods. No danger at all to anypony inside during a storm. I actually recently hooked the rods up to some new capacitors in the basement, but the basement door was locked and remained so on the night of Trixie’s thievery so I don’t see how she can know.

Twilight Sparkle, lying on the ground, and Trixie standing over her, triumphant: Oh. So I guess she did see herself beating me. But unless my friends missed it, it wasn’t today in the courtyard, so she misinterpreted it. When is this going to happen?

This one seems to be slightly more in chronological order, though anything’s possible, I guess. I wouldn’t know Trixie’s interpretation, but if I had to make an assumption (which is naughty of me, I know), I’d say she’s going to reevaluate the last image, and predict chasing me into the library, where I lock myself in and knock a book onto the floor. Then she’ll predict bringing down lightning onto the library (weather spell, really?) at which point she’ll enter and stand over me.

I shouldn’t have added that, really. All of that is guesswork.

Next? I’m not sure, again. Last time, I had the museum visit to look forward to, but I’ve got nothing important on my calendar now until the charity event at the hospital on Thursday. I think I’ll just have to let the next part of the prophecy come to me, instead of actively seeking it out. Yes. I’ll control the prophecy rather than letting it control me. That’s what Princess Celestia’s advice was, and I’m going to stick to it this time.

“Oh, feathers,” muttered Rarity. Twilight glanced over; she’d made a rather glaring error. “Well, that wasn’t turning out as well as I’d imagined it, anyway.” She rolled up the designs. “How far from Ponyville, do you think…?”

“Shouldn’t be too far.” They’d been on the train a couple of hours already, and the sky was beginning to darken. Soon, Ponyville’s lights would appear, and four ponies and dragon could get some proper rest and relaxation. Speaking of… “I wonder how Pinkie and Spike are doing?”

“If they’ve any sense at all, they’ll have settled down.” Previously, there had been some muffled shouting coming from the door to the first coach, but that had stopped a while ago.

“Mmm.” Both mares looked at Fluttershy, still curled up on the seat. “We’ll have to wake her.”

“When we get there.”

Just one look at Fluttershy sleeping on that train would have melted anypony’s heart, but whether they liked it or not, she would have to be woken up when they reached Ponyville. It wasn’t as an impossible task as it would look from the outset, though; she woke quickly, and without fuss, when the train pulled in to the station.

Three mares detrained. One mare and a dragon were conspicuously absent.

“Twilight…?” Rarity ventured, stepping around to get a closer look at the first coach. “Were the lights in there blue before…?”

“Wait, Rarity—!” Too late. Rarity had pulled the handle to open the door. With it came a sea of water, a very soggy dragon and Pinkie Pie wearing an inner tube, which washed the three of them off the platform and into the mud.

6 - The Discovery

How did she keep getting dragged into these things?!

“Y’volunteered,” Applejack pointed out.

Come Monday morning, Twilight had been expecting nothing major to happen, besides maybe an unscheduled re-shelving day after Cheerilee’s school class was done putting them all back in the wrong order. She most definitely had not expected to be standing outside the schoolhouse early the next morning, very cold, wearing a lanyard that was very uncomfortable, and surrounded by hyperactive foals.

Yes, she’d volunteered; how couldn’t she? When an entire class of colts and fillies looks at you like that when their teacher asks you, how could you say no? Apparently, their last school trip, to Canterlot castle (a couple of days before Discord’s release) hadn’t been without its own incident, and that was with only eight of them. Cheerilee had been very unhappy when explaining why Apple Bloom had two black eyes, Sweetie Belle had a limp, why Scootaloo had to have a trip to the hospital for an emergency bucket removal, and why four of the others had detention. All three of the Crusaders had promptly been grounded. This time around, there were nineteen foals, and Cheerilee was understandably anxious to get some assistance for their trip to the Canterlot Marble Mines.

Why mines?! Why not a sweet factory, or a library, or something?! How would foals be interested in the mining of marble?!

“Hey, don’t diss marble! Marble’s a super-cool rock to work with! Also, did I tell you my sister’s name is Marble too?”

“Yeah, Pinks, you did.”

Train journey. Introduction. Split up into groups, do activities around the mines. Rotate activities. Meet up. Go home. Assign homework. That was the entirety of the schedule that Cheerilee had presented her four new assistants with. Twilight Sparkle, knowledgeable. Applejack, done with the applebucking season, responsible. Pinkie Pie, experienced in the area of mining/rock farming. Fluttershy… why?! It was a known phenomena that pegasi got very uncomfortable when underground!

“Oh, the marble mines are full of marble boring moles! It’s a valuable opportunity to see them in their natural habitat.”

Right. Of course. Silly Twilight.

“Silly Twilight!” Boop. Thanks, Pinkie. Thanks a lot.

Five adults with nineteen foals made four groups of four and one group of three, which was more manageable than one group of eight. Those would be sorted out when they got there. Until then…

After the trip to the museum, Applejack, predictably, had guessed that something was up. Twilight had shared the information about the prophecy spell with her (it would have been unfair just to leave her out, considering all her other closest friends knew) but neglected to mention the parts that implicated her impending… whatever it could be. Pinkie’s balloon, fortunately, hadn’t been a factor - Pinkie had immediately tried to get it out to go for a test flight and discovered a puncture, and had to send it away to get it fixed. As long as it was with the aeronautical repair ponies in Fillydelphia, nopony could go up in it and logically Applejack couldn’t fall out of it. Problem, well, not solved, just delayed.

In the meantime, nothing new had emerged regarding the contents of either prophecy, or if anything had, Twilight hadn’t been informed of it. No news of Trixie or the book, no noteworthy events regarding Hurricane, no major explosions in any major cities, nothing - at - all. It was a lull in the action, for which Twilight was grateful, but she’d come up with no further theories. That too, in its own way, was refreshing, and allowed her mind to concentrate on other things, such as why in Equestria she’d agreed to help on a school trip.

Cheerilee stepped out of the schoolhouse with her saddlebags strapped on tight, and locked the door. “Roll call!” Nineteen foals, each laden with their saddlebags, went silent, for the moment. The journey would be a nightmare, let alone the mine experience itself. Twilight was not overly optimistic about the day. “Apple Bloom!”

“Here, Miss Cheerilee!” (Apple Bloom had been looking forward to this, Applejack had told them. Another crusading opportunity, no doubt. Whoever got charged with minding the Crusaders - would the three-pony group be anything else? - would have their work cut out for them. She’d need an eye kept on her.)

“Aura!”

“Here, Miss Cheerilee!” (Mischief maker, ringleader, Foal Free Press reporter. Maybe won’t go as far as the Crusaders did, but still would do anything for news. Keep an eye on.)

“Berry Pinch!”

“Heeere, Miss Cheerileeeee!” (Hyped up on Phruit Phizz. Pinkie had been giving it out like candy yesterday. Keep an eye on.)

“Button Mash!”

Pause. “He’s over here, Miss Cheerilee!”

“Put the JoyBoy away, Button.”

“Sorry, Miss Cheerilee.” (Unlikely to concentrate on the trip. May have brought additional games. Keep an eye on.)

“Diamond Tiara!”

“Here, Miss Cheerilee…” (Didn’t want to come on the trip, but apparently coming anyway to make her father happy. Likely— no, will cause arguments. Keep an eye on.)

“Dinky Doo!”

“Here, Miss Cheerilee!” (Won a star for last week’s history homework. Some of the more competitive students were annoyed about that. Keep an eye on, but if necessary she can keep order just as well as the teacher can.)

“Featherweight!”

“Here, Miss Cheerilee!” (Editor-in-Chief of Foal Free Press. Not a hit with Diamond Tiara, not all that great on understanding privacy either. Pegasus, may get agitated. Keep an eye on.)

“Noi!”

“Here, Miss Cheerilee!” (Poster filly for the school clubs. Also not a hit with Diamond Tiara. Possibly a member of Aura’s prank gang. Keep an eye on.)

“Piña Colada!”

“Here—” cough “Miss Cheerilee!” (Recovering from a cold. Extra tissues provided if necessary. Keep an eye on, don’t let her sneeze on any of the more troublesome students.)

“Pipsqueak!”

“Over here, Miss Cheerilee!” (Small for his age, don’t let him fall down any holes, don’t let any of the jokers pick on him for said vertical challenge. Keep an eye on.)

“Rumble!”

“Herre, Missis Cheeriee!” (Also on the Phruit Phizz, also a pegasus. Will zoom off at the first sign of, well, anything, really. Keep an eye on.)

“Scootaloo!”

“…”

“Scootaloo?”

“Here, Miss Cheerilee…” (Sulking. Had her scooter confiscated again, and was apparently promised, by somepony unknown, that Rainbow Dash would be volunteering to assist Cheerilee. Of the rainbow-maned pegasus there was no sign at all. Likely to start an argument, probably with Diamond Tiara. Keep an eye on.)

“Shady Daze!”

Click. “Here, Miss Cheerilee!” (Foal Free Press photographer. Most expensive colt the school’s ever taught, he does not know how to be frugal with film. May take awkward pictures, be ready to confiscate the camera if necessary. Keep an eye on.)

“Camera away please, Shady. Silver Spoon!”

“Here, Miss Cheerilee!” (For some reason, just as eager as Apple Bloom. Also seen drinking Phruit Phizz, but seems unaffected, for now. Do not allow prolonged combination with Diamond Tiara. Keep an eye on, just in case any hyperactivity symptoms manifest.)

“Snails!”

“Here, Miss Cheerilee!” (Unlikely to be too much of a problem, as long as he doesn’t get left behind. Interactions with Snips okay if they don’t get any silly ideas. Keep an eye on.)

“Snips!”

“Here, Miss Cheerilee!” (Ditto.)

“Sweetie Belle!”

“Here, Miss Cheerilee!” (Rarity didn’t want her to come, but their parents insisted. Sweetie had no strong feelings either way. Should be fine, unless the other two Crusaders drag her into trouble. Keep an eye on though, just in case.)

“Truffle Shuffle!”

“Here, Miss Cheerilee!” (Very likely to have eaten his lunch before getting off the train. Could keep order if he tries hard, but his voice doesn’t have the oomph to it. Keep an eye on his saddlebags.)

“Twist!”

“Here, Misth Cheerilee!” (New braces, could get teased. Make sure her glasses don’t get broken. Keep an eye on.)

“That’s everypony!”

Great. Twilight silently groaned. All of them needed close supervision, with the possible exception of Dinky. Two, possibly three students under the effects of Phruit Phizz, two who didn’t want to be there, four pranksters, one sick, one who’d make a hefty dent in the school’s budget… But they were foals. Foals were like that. She herself had been very demanding of new books, something that can’t have been very light on her parents’ money either. She hadn’t needed to supervise herself in a mine, though.

With everypony’s bags checked and double checked, Diamond Tiara chided for pulling faces at the Crusaders, Shady Daze forced to put the camera away and Button Mash forced to put his game away, the group left for the station, in the manner that all foals would: loudly. It had been quieter in the middle of Canterlot’s marketplace on a Saturday afternoon. Foals had a lot more volume behind their voices. (Especially Berry and Rumble, who hadn’t stopped vibrating since they’d left.) Twilight could tolerate them, but she was very thankful not to be in Cheerilee’s horseshoes.

Even though the station wasn’t that far from the schoolhouse (okay, other side of town, but Ponyville wasn’t that big), there was still enough time for something peculiar to occur, which she noted as she kept pace to the right-hoof side of the group. Social boundaries were forming. The Crusaders were talking together along with Applejack who was bringing up the rear, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, Snips, Snails and Piña, Truffle Shuffle at the front talking to Cheerilee, Aura with Featherweight and Shady Daze… They were still a group, but there were visible divisions between smaller groups of the foals. Not being big on the social sciences, Twilight couldn’t properly analyze it, but she wished she could. That would make a fantastic study paper.

Station, conductor presented with 19 foal tickets and five adult tickets, Button Mash asked to put JoyBoy away, reserved coach on the Friendship Express as far as Mount Canterlot Junction. Coach, students asked to sit down and talk quietly amongst themselves, Shady Daze asked to put camera away, bubble gun confiscated from Pinkie Pie. It wasn’t looking good.

“Ah-choo!”

“Eww! Miss Cheerilee, Piña needs a tissue!”

Mount Canterlot Junction was one hour and two minutes from Ponyville, but to Twilight it felt like much, much longer, especially once the predicted argument had broken out between Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara. Fortunately for the teacher and her four assistants, all of the other foals decided to stay out of it, which rather deflated the proceedings when they sought backup, and both participants were successfully placated by the time the train pulled into the station. Cheerilee had taken charge of the camera; Button Mash had had two JoyBoys removed and Twilight suspected he had at least one more stuffed into the bottom of his bags.

A large group of foal students talking at the loudest possible volume was bound to draw a lot of attention, so urgency was placed on trying to move them on through the station as quickly as could be. Cheerilee did a quick headcount. “Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen… Aura’s over there… nineteen. That’s all of them,” she added, somewhat embarrassed, to the guard who was assisting her.

“No problem at all, ma’am.” The guard poked his head into the coach and had a quick look up and down to make sure. “Last call for the Friendship Express, non-stop up the mountain to Canterlot!”

Truffle Shuffle’s lunch had survived the journey, barely. It had actually been Pinkie who’d convinced him not to eat it, though it had been because she’d demanded that if he got to have lunch early then so did she. Other than that, and the argument, and the contending entry for biggest sneeze in Equestrian history from Piña, the entire trip so far wasn’t that bad by Ponyville standards; Cheerilee had related much worse stories over tea outside the town’s restaurant.

If Twilight remembered the quick once over of a book on the mines correctly, then there was a built-for-purpose classroom in the visitor’s centre where the foals could leave their bags safely while they were given the tour of the mine. Not that she minded learning more about it, she’d just rather do it without having to safeguard other ponies at the same time. The place was the origin of about eighty to eighty-five percent of all Equestria’s marble, the rest coming from smaller mines and a small amount from overseas, but Canterlot Marble specifically was more durable and better for building decoration. …There wasn’t much beyond that, really.

“Okay, class!” Once again, the foals immediately went silent; you had to admire Cheerilee’s control over her students in that respect. “In a few minutes, we’ll reach the mine’s visitor centre, where the foremare, Mrs Stone, will give us a short presentation on the mine’s history.” Even though she was standing near the back of the group, Twilight could sense that some of them had rolled their eyes. “After that, we’ll split up into groups, and there are different activities around the mine for you to have fun with, but I’ll explain more about that when we get there. Any questions?”

A hoof shot up. “Yes, Shady?”

“Can I have the camera back yet, Miss Cheerilee?”

“Not yet, Shady. Anypony else? No? Alright, let’s get moving!”

The foals exited the station, and their volume went right back up.

“I wonder what we’re gonna be doing?”

“I want to be in your group, Dinky!”

“Maybe we’ll get our cutie marks!”

“Don’t count on it.”

“That weren’t nice, Diamond Tiara.”

“Sorry, Miss Applejack.”

“Arewethereyet?”

“Not yet, Rumble… Rumble?”

“YessMiss?”

“Are you… feeling alright?”

“NeverbetterMiss!”

Pinkie Pie’s Phruit Phizz ought to have a large warning label on it, marked ‘unsuitable for foals’. Pinkie could drink it fine, she was Pinkie, and seemingly had an endless supply of energy already. These foals were still growing, and giving them ‘200% more energy’ (as the cartons proclaimed) wasn’t helping in the slightest. Eventually, they’d crash, and then Berry and Rumble would be out like lights. Silver Spoon still looked perfectly fine, but her sugar rush was probably a timebomb waiting to explode at the most inappropriate moment, and a foal bouncing around the inside of a mine was not what anypony wanted to supervise.

The pink pony had tried to bring more Phruit Phizz, but unanimously the others had told her to leave it at home.

Mrs Stone’s presentation went about as well as could be expected, what with half the foals not paying as much attention as was necessary. A few of the more well behaved ones took notes, sensible, seeing as Cheerilee intended to set them homework on what they’d learned. Twilight too had brought a notepad and a pencil, but was dismayed to hear that most of the presentation was a re-hash of what had been written in the textbook she’d already read. She wrote it down anyway, to show she appreciated the effort, but already the trip was going downhill.

“Thank you, Mrs Stone!” The few students who’d been paying attention clapped. “Now, as I mentioned, you’re now going to split up into five groups, and Mrs Stone has organized some fun things for you to do. You’ll rotate through each activity, so don’t worry about missing out on anything. Yes, Pipsqueak?”

“What are we going to be doing, Miss?”

“I’m glad you asked, Pipsqueak. Group one, which will be myself, Diamond Tiara, Noi, Rumble and Snails…” Diamond Tiara gave an audible gasp and looked heartbroken, or at least she tried to. “…will begin in here with Mrs Stone, who will be teaching us about famous ponies who use Canterlot Marble.”

It was very difficult to describe the multitude of expressions that were fighting for control over Diamond Tiara’s face. She was being split up from Silver Spoon - Cheerilee had picked up on Silver’s attentiveness and decided to gently keep them apart - and she was being placed into a group with Noi, who as a carrot farmer’s sister took some issue with the rich filly’s lifestyle. Oh, and the two colts in the group weren’t likely to bow to her influence either, what with Rumble on a sugar rush and Snails on the equivalent of the opposite. To say she was upset would be an understatement.

“Group two, who will be going with Fluttershy, are Dinky Doo, Featherweight, Piña Colada, and Pipsqueak, and you will be heading off to Marblela, the miners’ village, where you’re going to learn how the miners and their families live, and you’ll see if you’ve got what it takes to live as a marble miner.”

Pipsqueak looked somewhat relieved at that, and Twilight could understand why. For one, he’d taken a shine to Dinky, who’d shown him the ropes when he’d first arrived from Trottingham; and another, he hadn’t been grouped with any of the major mischief makers. Again, that was Cheerilee being sensible, allocating some non-problem students to Fluttershy, who could double as a nurse in case Piña’s nose decided to explode again. Starting Featherweight in a place where ponies actually lived sounded a bit fishy, but he was on good terms with Fluttershy after she’d looked after his pet hamster while it was sick. If anypony could convince him to respect privacy, it was her.

“Group three, that’s Aura, Shady Daze, Silver Spoon and Snips, you’ll be going with Applejack to the train yard, where you’ll see marble being shipped out to everywhere in Equestria, and you’ll meet the ponies who make sure that the marble that goes out is the best of the best. I believe…” Cheerilee inclined her head towards Mrs Stone “…that they’ll be having a go at loading a model train…?”

Mrs Stone nodded. “That’s right. We’ve got some scale equipment set up so they can try their hooves at marble sorting.”

Mixed feelings there. Applejack could keep Aura honest, but Aura and Snips weren’t the best possible combination; but it was better than some of the alternatives, like putting Aura with Diamond Tiara or Twist, or putting Noi in the group instead. Ever since she’d quit the Foal Free Press, Shady had been attempting a prank war with her, and much like with camera film, Shady didn’t pull his punches when it came to pranks.

“Group four will be Twilight Sparkle, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle…” Oh, nuts “…and you will be starting with a hooves-on sculpting workshop just inside the mine proper, where you’ll have the chance to make your own marble sculpture to take home with you.”

Okay. She had the Crusaders. All three of the Crusaders. No, of course that wasn’t going to be a problem… How hard could it be? Twilight supposed it would have been more trouble to separate them that it was to keep them together. Virtually all of the other combinations presented potential problems, which would escalate until nopony was happy. To be honest, she would have preferred to swap with Applejack, but she had to admit she was interested in the sculpture workshop, and wondered if they’d let her have a go as well…

“That leaves group five to be Berry Pinch, Button Mash, Truffle Shuffle and Twist, and Pinkie Pie will be with you as you take a tour deep inside the mine, where you’ll talk to some of the miners and see just how the whole operation ticks. Won’t that be fun?”

Pinkie nodded so vigorously her head nearly came off. “Abso-dutely-utley!” No question, she was the one pony who’d have the most entertaining day. As she’d been willing to explain, multiple times, until Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainboom had come along rocks had been her entire life. Chances were, the foals under her jurisdiction would learn the most, providing Berry didn’t crash and Button could pay attention long enough.

“After a while on each activity, which depends on how long the mine tour lasts, each group will change activities, so group one will move to the village, group two to the rail yard, and so on, until everypony’s had a chance to do everything. You can leave your bags here in the meantime. Any questions?”

There were a few, mostly foals asking if they could change groups. Cheerilee said no. Truffle Shuffle asked if they could eat, not until lunchtime when the activities would pause and they’d return to the classroom in the visitor’s centre. If anypony got separated from their group, they were to make their way to the centre directly, and join up with the group there. Bathroom, also in the visitor’s centre. No problems should arise in terms of confusion. They would, but the precautions had been taken.

Twilight, Pinkie and their groups got an additional safety briefing at the entrance to the mine, only natural. Hard hats with firefly lamps to be worn at all times while underground, and each foal and adult was given a junior miner’s belt, which came equipped with a small bell in case the worst should happen and they get trapped behind a cave-in. Hard rule #1: Absolutely no wandering off while in the mine. (Which meant that at some point, a foal would wander off and get lost. Twilight promised herself not to let the Crusaders out of her sight.) Hard rule #2: In the unlikely (read: likely) event of actually getting lost, the tunnels were all fitted with ropes on their left-hoof side; keeping a rope to your right would eventually bring you to one of the main mining shafts, from where it was impossible to lose your way to the surface.

Hard rule #3: The minecarts are not for riding in. The foals were very disappointed about that.

Only a short way inside, the groups parted ways; the Crusaders were excitedly chattering about being Cutie Mark Crusader sculptors, while Pinkie was happily detailing her life’s story to the tour guide. Moments before she entered the activity workshop, Twilight glanced back; still talking. Maybe she’d have to take back what she’d thought about Pinkie’s group learning the most.

She’d never tried sculpting before, but then again, she was a student in terms of reading rather than physical activities. Long, long ago, before the Princess had withdrawn her from the main school classes in favor of exclusively private tutoring, she’d attended a gym class. It… hadn’t been pretty. She was pretty sure there were still trace amounts of exploded hoofball in the walls. Art classes, she couldn’t recall going to any. But then again, she and Rarity had examined her artistic sense, and found it to be practically nonexistent. If possible, she’d join in the workshop, but she was unlikely to produce anything that looked good.

“So… how does this work?” The Crusaders rightly recognized the hammers sitting on the marble blocks in front of them, but were completely baffled by the chisels.

The instructor showed them a quick example. “It helps,” she said, presenting a miniature rendition of Scootaloo’s face, “if you concentrate on what you want to sculpt, then remove anything from the block that doesn’t look like it.”

Three blank faces. “You mean… if Ah were to want to carve an apple…” Apple Bloom ventured, “Ah’d need to shave all the bits off that didn’t look like apples?”

“Exactly.”

Beat.

“I’m gonna carve Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo exclaimed, almost attacking the marble block. “It’s gonna be the best sculpture of Rainbow Dash she’s ever seen!”

“Ah think it’d be the only sculpture of herself she’s ever seen, Scoots.” Apple Bloom cautiously examined the block from all sides. “Don’t look much like an apple, if’m honest…”

Twilight was going for a book. A little predictable, but, broken down, a book was just an oblong block, with some extra details on. Fortunately, four blocks had been prepared for each group, which left one spare with the single group of three. “What are you going to carve, Sweetie Belle?”

“Hmmm.” The little white unicorn sat back and stared at her block. “I was thinking, like an elephant or something?”

…

By the time Applejack’s group arrived (with a suspiciously filthy Aura), the results were… mixed. Twilight, it had to be said, hadn’t done too badly. It looked like a book. It’d never pass for one on a shelf, but it was pretty good for a first try. Sweetie Belle’s attempt too was passable, it could be an elephant, if you squinted. Apple Bloom’s block had disappeared into a pile of chips on the floor (“Nothin’ in it looked like an apple,” she’d explained), and Scootaloo’s rendition of Rainbow Dash, had, there was no kind way to put it, not come out very well at all.

“What is it?” Shady asked, using up another roll of film documenting the effort.

“Is it a… bird?” Silver Spoon asked.

“Is it a potato?” Aura asked.

“Is it Snails when he tried to do break-dancing yesterday?” Snips asked.

“It looks… great, Scootaloo,” said Applejack, having to strain herself just to tell a white lie.

“It kinda doesn’t, though.”

“You wanna start something, Aura?!”

“Girls, this isn’t the time or the place.” The last thing Twilight wanted to do was referee an argument here, of all places. “Come on, Crusaders, let’s go and find the tour guide.”

“You can pick up your sculptures in the visitor’s centre before you leave!” the instructor called after them, glad to be free at last from the torment.

...

“(What was Button going on about?)”

“(He was gibberin’ about creepers in the dark, or somethin’.)”

“(He’s weird.)”

“(You don’t think anything’s really down there, do you?)”

“(Nope. Hey, think we’ll get a chance at being Cutie Mark Crusader Marble Miners?)”

“(Fluttershy wouldn’t let us be coal miners…)”

“(That was last year, though.) Wow. (We’re older and wiser now.)”

“(Um…)”

“Cool. Are we gonna get a chance at doin’ some minin’?”

“Hmm… we’ll see, little ones.”

“(That’s grown-up speak for no.)”

“(Aargh, this helmet’s itchy!)”

“(I think the fireflies have escaped from mine…)”

“(Ah didn’t think it’d be this borin’… hey, Sweetie Belle, did they just say your name?)”

“Huh?! Yeah?!”

“No, no, Sweetie, Mr Axe was just saying how they use a system of bells and ropes to communicate with the miners down in the tunnels. Weren’t you listening?”

“Uh… I was listening! Honest!”

“Have any questions for me? Axe away!”

“…”

“…”

“(That was the worst joke Ah’ve heard in my life.)”

“(Can think of worse…)”

“Now, mine-d the gap as you step onto the elevator!”

“(Like that.)”

“(Y’know, Twilight didn’t seem that int’rested when we started…)”

“(She probably knows all of this stuff already.)”

“(This thing doesn’t feel very sa—) Whoa!”

“(Could’ve warned us…)”

“(Wonder how deep we’re goin’… Scoots? You okay?)”

“(I’m… fine.)”

“(Y’look kinda sick. You ain’t comin’ down with Piña’s cold, are ya?)”

“(Please don’t sneeze on me!)”

“(Look, I’m a pegasus! We’re supposed to be up in the sky, not underground! I don’t like it!)”

“(But you can’t—) Mmph!”

“(Not the best time for that, Sweetie.)”

“(I know, I know, I can’t fly yet. You don’t have to rub it in.)”

“(Sorry… I didn’t mean…)”

“(It’s okay, Sweetie Belle, real—) Ooph!”

“Sorry, it does stop rather suddenly.”

“(I think I’m blind.)”

“(Yer helmet’s over yer eyes.)”

“(Oh.)”

“Now, here we are at the bottom of Shaft C, the deepest of our four shafts in operation…”

“(Scootaloo?)”

“(Shut up, I’m trying not to think about it.)”

“(We’re here for you if you need us, Scoots.)”

“(And I’m sure if you ask Twilight, she’ll be happy to take you back outside.)”

“(Are you kidding? She looks like she’s having a dolphin of a time. What?)”

“(Ah’m not sure that’s right…)”

“(Isn’t it ‘whale’ of a time?)”

“(You know what I meant! She’ll probably think I’m looking for an excuse to get out of here. The sculpture thing was fun, but this isn’t. At all.)”

“(It’s gettin’ darker…)”

“(Sweetie?)”

“(Yeah?)”

“(Your fireflies. They have escaped.)”

“(I knew it.)”

“(Is it just me, or is my light goin’ out too?)”

“(It’s just you, Apple Bloom.)”

“(Um…)”

“(Okay, okay, it is, it is, I just didn’t want to admit it!)”

“(Scoots…?)”

“(I need something to take my mind off this!)”

“(Ah got it!)”

“(What?)”

“(Cutie Mark Crusaders Pot-holers, go!)”

“(Yay!)”

“(What’s pot-holing?)”

“(Isn’t that putting those little holes in flowerpots? We already tried that.)”

“(No no, it’s like cavin’. Y’know, explorin’ and stuff like that.)”

“(That’s not going to help, Apple Bloom! …Alright, fine, I’ll ask Twilight.) Twilight?”

…

“(Uh oh.)”

“Mr Axe?”

“(They were there a second ago…)”

“Anypony?!”

“(Weren’t we right behind ‘em?)”

“(Girls, are either of you going to join me in panicking?!)”

“(Panickin’ gets us nowhere, Scootaloo. What was it the lady at the entrance said about the ropes?)”

“(Left-hoof side, I think?)”

“(’Kay, Ah got it. So if we go this way, it’ll get us out of here.)”

“(Which way’s this way? I can’t see a thing.)”

“(Wait, when did my light go out?!)”

“(…We didn’t want to mention it in case you started to panic.)”

“(I’m panicking now!)”

“(Um, I can feel something on my back…)”

“(Yeah, that’s me. Can you feel where Scoots is?)”

“(I’m over here.)

“(Ouch!)”

“(Sorry.)”

“(Right. Ah got the rope. Stick together.)”

“(…)”

“(Apple Bloom?)”

“(Yeah, Sweetie Belle?)”

“(Are we supposed to be going downhill?)”

“(Wait, I see light up ahead!)”

“(S-Scootaloo, wait for us!)”

“(Surface, here I come!)”

“…What was that noise?”

“What noise?”

“Sounded kind of like…”

Crack.

“Yeah, like that.”

…

“Sweetie Belle, that weren’t me.”

“Scootaloo?”

“Come on, girls, I can’t stand to be down here any longaaaaaaaaaagh! Oof!”

“Scootaloo!”

“Where’d she go?!”

“Scootaloo!”

“…I’m okay, I think. Watch out for the drop.”

“What droooooooaaaaah!”

“Apple Blooooooooooom! Ouch!”

“That one.”

“Darn.”

“I… I think I cracked a hoof…”

“Now can we all panic?”

“Yeah.”

“Agreed.”

“Help!”

The cry echoed down the empty tunnels.

“What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?!”

“Stop panickin’, Twi. We’ll find ‘em.”

She should have noticed them missing sooner! Why hadn’t she recognised when three of the five lights disappeared?! It was all her fault! Twilight had been beside herself ever since she’d exited back into the shaft and suddenly realized the girls weren’t with her, and the presence of her friends, who’d been relieved from their supervision duties to help with the search effort, wasn’t helping. The alarm had been raised immediately, all available hooves were in the tunnels looking, the students had been corralled and returned to the visitor’s centre (along with the sculpting workshop and a couple of the tour guides, just so their trip wasn’t completely ruined), but no sign had yet been found of them. She was, genuinely, an irresponsible pony!

Applejack grabbed her and spun her on the spot. “Quit pacin’, Twilight. This could’ve happened to any of us.”

“But it didn’t!”

Up until the call had been spread about the missing Crusaders, the trip had actually been going fairly well. Applejack’s group had just about finished their sculptures, Pinkie’s had, with the exception of Button, been very attentive during the famous ponies talk, Fluttershy’s was very filthy but overjoyed with the trainyard demonstration, and Cheerilee’s was moving on from the mining village. Most of the problem students were fine; Shady had completely used up the camera film that had been brought, Rumble had (predictably) crashed, and Diamond Tiara hadn’t been very gracious to the village tour guide, but they were the minority. The others had been having a great time until Twilight’s inattentiveness had brought all of that to a screeching halt.

The Princess would find out about this. She’d find out that her student had lost three fillies in a dark, mazelike mine, and then… gulp… Twilight could wave goodbye to her exclusive tutoring.

“Twilight!” Thwack.

“Ouch!” Twilight rubbed her cheek where Applejack had slapped her. That was going to leave a mark. “What was that for?!”

“Sorry, but y’all were panickin’, and panickin’ gets us nowhere.”

“I think I can sense some more glums coming on…!”

“Pinkie, while I appreciate the sentiment, now is not the time.”

They’d already been up and down the tunnel that had been reserved for the guided tour a couple of times. In a remarkable feat of unobservantness, none of the miners they’d talked to had noticed the lack of foals following Twilight, so they’d gone missing before reaching the end, but there were several branches which each spiderwebbed off into an almost maze. Without knowing which one the fillies had gone down, accidentally or otherwise, locating them would be an incredibly difficult task.

What hadn’t helped was Pinkie presenting further cause for alarm; in the same place she stored away large party equipment like her cannon (which appeared to be thin air, but investigating it was impossible not to mention mind-destroying), she’d brought along an entire hot air balloon. It, so she claimed, was for the winner of the surprise sculpture contest that the foals were going to have before they left to ride in. (”(But it’s okay!)” she’d stage-whispered to Twilight, who’d already aroused Applejack’s suspicion with some very nervous glances, “(It’s not mine! I borrowed Cherry’s balloon!)” Twilight was not overly reassured by this, nor by Pinkie’s offer to blow the balloon up to help look. Inside.) There weren’t any large bodies of water in the mine, but the vehicle’s presence was enough to bring the prophecy back to life.

She did have to say though, she envied Applejack’s ability to cycle into and straight through Panic Mode. If she’d had a little sister lost in a deep mine, she would be out of her mind with worry, especially considering the… circumstances that surrounded the Apple family. Upon learning the news, Applejack had dropped everything, galloped over, nearly shaken the life out of the tour guide, then almost instantly calmed down. So many ponies were on the search that finding them, while tricky, would be guaranteed eventually. It was only a matter of time.

Still…

The Crusaders had been distracted, that’s all it had to be. She had noticed them whispering to each other, but ignored them, rather foolishly in hindsight. If they’d noticed at all while anywhere near the main path, they’d have shouted and/or rung their bells - they weren’t so catastrophically silly that they’d keep such a huge error to themselves. That lesson had been learned well during the Gabby Gums incident, where they’d gotten into such deep trouble that they’d found the only way up was to dig themselves out, rather than waiting for somepony else to find them. And they’d been present at the safety briefing, and they’d been told about the ropes, so either they’d not been listening then either, or they’d forgotten which side the ropes were on.

Miles underground, in the darkness with only headlamps and each other for company. This time, the Crusaders were really out of their depth.

There! A flicker of light, down a side tunnel! Twilight darted towards it, hopes rising, until they were dashed completely when the light turned out to be a single firefly. It spun around her head a few times before landing on Fluttershy’s nose.

“Really? Oh, goodness!”

Fluttershy communicated with animals on an entirely different level to everypony else. Whereas most ponies who worked with them learned through repeated exposure to body language and sounds, Fluttershy spoke with them as if they were using the same language. And, she’d told them, they were, in a language she called Natura. While this was dubious, as Twilight couldn’t find any books which brought up the subject (maybe that was something else Fluttershy could put in hers?), the result was still the same; the pegasus rarely misconstrued any meanings, though it sometimes took longer for her to understand a particular animal’s dialect. “What is it saying, Fluttershy?”

“He said…” the firefly relocated to Fluttershy’s mane “…that he and his brothers escaped from a crack in their lamp.” (While to any unfamiliar with the practice keeping fireflies in lamps would seem cruel, properly made lamps included simple enchantments that kept them healthy. Such magic was very easy to cast and never needed replacing, unlike the Light family of spells which were notoriously short-lived when they were added as enchantments rather than cast directly.) “They tried to follow the fillies, but this one got separated, poor thing.” She twitched one of her ears. “He says that he can lead back to where he last saw them.”

“Then what are we waiting for?!” Pinkie cried. “Follow that firefly!”

Chasing the firefly through the tunnel evoked familiar feelings for Twilight, only this time there was no chain of revealed gems to follow, only a speck of light that flew ahead of their own lamp beams. How similar this place was to the Diamond Dog caverns, which felt like an entire lifetime ago. No Diamond Dogs to block their way (hopefully) but still a friend, or three, at the end. All Rarity had suffered was a slight blow to her pride; with any luck, it would be the same for the Crusaders, though Fluttershy had brought along a first aid kit in case of the alternative.

Just how deep were they…?

“Whoawhoawhoawhoa!” In front of Twilight, Pinkie pinwheeled, and everypony behind her slammed on their brakes. “That was a close one!”

By the light of their lamps they could see what would otherwise have been hidden by the darkness; the floor of the cave had collapsed. Another firefly was spinning around an orange feather at the entrance of another tunnel below.

“Well,” assessed Applejack, craning her neck to see. “If we go down there, we ain’t comin’ back up this way. Any suggestions?”

Twilight had been trying to keep a mental map of the mine, to navigate them out safely in case there was a problem with the rope, but by now it was in tatters, so she threw it away. She did have another idea, though. “I ought to be able to teleport us out,” she said. She hoped. Four adults, three foals, that was seven individuals to a destination she couldn’t see. Possible, yes. Safe, probably not. Overcook your teleportation spell and you could end up… anywhere. Princess Celestia had once shared a story about ending up on a mountain several miles from her destination with her magic on cooldown and thirty minutes before she was expected at an extremely important meeting. One of Twilight’s own early teleports had nearly fried both herself and Spike.

“Are you sure, Twilight?” Fluttershy had every reason to sound worried.

“Positive.” No pressure.

The pegasus of the four was able to fly down, while the others had to resort to sliding down the steep incline. At the bottom, there was an additional sign of the foals, hidden by an outcropping - three helmets, each of their lamps completely empty. Just their luck it seemed they’d gotten three defective helmets. They were neatly stacked though, so they’d been removed and set aside safely ready to put back on. But where were the Crusaders themselves?

There was the barest whisper of a voice from the tunnel.

“Apple Bloom?!” Applejack called, cautiously entering. “Are you down there?”

A pause, and then— “Sis?!”

“Apple Bloom!”

“We’re down this way!”

“We found something cool!” added Sweetie’s voice. “Seriously, you gotta come see this!”

The ponies shared a glance before galloping into the almost-darkness. Please don’t let it be a lake, please don’t let it be a lake…

“But what is it?” Scootaloo’s voice, a short distance ahead. “It’s all… rusty.”

“No, Sweetie Belle don’t touch it—!”

Clank. A scream.

They reached the foals a moment later, unharmed but still huddled together and quaking in fear, in the shadow of… something… that was lit from behind by the rest of the fireflies. Applejack immediately scooped up her sister, while Fluttershy went to calming the other two. “Don’t ever do anythin’ like that again, y’hear?”

“Agh, we’re fine, sis, honestly.” Apple Bloom struggled to get out of her older sister’s grip. “We only got a little lost.”

“A little?!”

“Okay, a lot. But we’re still fine.”

“I cracked a hoof!”

“Apart from Sweetie Belle.”

Twilight was trying to be relieved, but at the same time, her curiosity about what the Crusaders had discovered was fighting to be noticed. It wasn’t a lake - thank Celestia for that - but…

“Sorry about the scream, heh,” Scootaloo giggled nervously. “Something fell off of it and I’m, like, über-nervous right now.”

Not being an archaeologist, Twilight couldn’t say much about whatever it was, but her eyes told her it was a spherical metal thing, with spindly rings around it, some of which had rusted through and broken off. It had definitely been there a while. The chamber it was sitting in too was spherical, almost perfectly so. She’d read about bubbles of molten magma leaving such holes in the earth, but Mount Canterlot was most definitely not a volcano, and it was far too cold besides. Had it been carved for this…? Her hoof brushed against something on the ground, probably the thing the Crusaders knocked off, and she picked it up to get a better look at it. Some sort of tube. Something reflected light inside. A lens?

“We tried gettin’ out, but the slope was too steep,” Apple Bloom was saying. “Then the fireflies turned up, and we decided if we weren’t gettin’ out that way we’d try goin’ the other way.”

Sensible, not quite as sensible as staying put, but the tunnel ended here anyway. There was something extremely off-putting about the entire device, something which was niggling at Twilight’s brain, a feeling she usually got when she’d seen something before. But she hadn’t had she? Maybe, in a book…

Oh. Oh, so that’s what it was. “Teleport accident.”

“Say what?”

Teleporting had the potential to be dangerous. A lot of magic did, that’s why there were safeguards. In particular, teleporting could be very hazardous if the destination was off by even a smidgeon, so there was a safety built into the spell that prevented unicorns from teleporting into the middle of walls and getting stuck. If you just missed the open space, and hit the edge of a wall, you’d get pushed back so you weren’t intersecting anything. If you were to, say, teleport into the middle of a mountain where there is no open space, you’d end up teleporting a bubble of air along with you. Somepony had teleported the thing, and teleported it into the middle of a mountain.

Why?!

She quickly waved off the questioning glances from her friends. “Don’t worry, just thinking out loud.” The device warranted further examination. Some cursive writing was engraved on its base, but it was faded and in a language she didn’t know. There was a tiny bell on the top, which wouldn’t move and was probably rusted solid or otherwise seized. Another lens with a tube, one that brought the word ‘eyepiece’ to mind, stuck out on the other side, but unlike the first one it refused to budge an inch. Peering into it revealed nothing but blackness inside; judging from the state of the metal, it probably had years worth of dirt and/or dust caked around the interior, if it even had an interior.

The feeling of familiarity persisted, so it hadn’t been the chamber. No, she had definitely seen this device before. But surely she’d remember such an unusual thing? Where—

“Twilight!”

Pinkie’s voice snapped her out of her trance. “Huh? Yes?”

“Don’t mean to be intrudin’ on your, uh, examination…” Applejack said, “But d’you think you can wrassle up a teleport and get us out of here? The miners need to know we’ve found the girls, and Ah’m sure this thing’ll still be here later.”

True, true. “Okay then, gather around me.” Here was the difficult part. Adding a passenger to a teleport was easy, the equivalent of tying a loop in the spell’s weave and latching it on to another pony’s unique magical signature. Add six, and the matrix would be stressed but okay to continue. Add a destination she could visualise - it would have been much trickier if she was trying to teleport to somewhere she’d never been before - the mine’s entrance would do, she could picture that.

Twilight Sparkle, Apple Bloom, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Scootaloo, Applejack, Sweetie Belle, seven loops, all check. Confirmed destination, check. Likelihood of ending up singed? Fairly high. One last check to make sure the weave was still holding, confirmed. Firing the spell.

…A teleport with seven shouldn’t use that much magic. Doing the math, that level was consistent with twelve. But there were only seven—

There was a light ringing noise as the bell on top of the device chimed.

Flash!

7 - The Plunge

It had been a unique experience - Twilight had never come out of a teleport on fire.

Okay, so it wasn’t actual fire, but it was the first time she’d cast another spell mid-teleport. The Crusaders had been somewhat alarmed to see their friend burning merrily away, but Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie were unconcerned, as they’d seen it before, and accepted Twilight’s explanation. Whenever she got too stressed and had too much magic in her system, she’d burn it off. Simple as that. She was smoldering for a while afterwards, though, and her mane was fuzzed to the point where Rarity would faint on seeing it.

Their immediate concern hadn’t been her. Their immediate concern was with where they were.

Something with the spell had gone wrong, that much had been evident even as it was being cast. The ringing of the bell aside (she’d probably just loosened it), there was too much magic fueling the spell, which ought to have been impossible. Twilight carefully regulated her magic when she could, and she had definitely used the right amount for seven ponies, so where in Equestria had the magic for five additional ponies come from? More to the point, how badly had it affected her aim?

Obviously, the forest they were standing in wasn’t the mine entrance. Mount Canterlot towered above them; they weren’t quite at its base, that would be at least half a mile away, and the mine at least another one further. Also visible through a gap in the tall trees was the outskirts of Cloudsdale, so somewhere to the west? Earthen Forest then, where the earth ponies had tried to settle in the Hearth’s Warming tale. One of the waterfalls from Canterlot landing somewhere to the south corroborated that suggestion. Not quite as bad as in Celestia’s story; about a mile and a half wasn’t bad for a teleport overcharged by that much. On first arrival, she’d feared arriving on the other side of Equestria, or worse, outside of Equestria. She had her friends with her, true, but the last thing she wanted was to be the one who’d gotten them all stuck in somewhere like Zebrica or Airsia. That would’ve been difficult to explain.

“Can’t you just teleport us back?” Pinkie asked, after Twilight explained the situation.

“It doesn’t work that way, Pinkie.” Her magic was most definitely on cooldown now. She’d tested it with a small tree branch; lifting it had been much more of an effort than it would otherwise have been. “I’m not going to be able to teleport again for a while.”

Earthen Forest was another place she’d never been before. She’d nearly been there once, when she’d not been looking where she was going and fell off a castle balcony, but one of the Royal Guard pegasi had caught her before she had the chance to plummet to her doom. One of the scariest moments of her life, along with the Fire in the Library Incident and the Want It Need It Incident. A lot of her life seemed to be classified in incidents, as her brother had poked at her when they’d got the chance to meet after her last birthday.

At least a mile and a half from her intended destination. Not bad, but not in any way good either…

“Does that mean we have to walk?”

“How far do we have to walk?!”

“My hoof still hurts!”

…And they had three foals with them, and they, even earth pony foals, were not built for long-distance walking. They lacked any supplies, apart from Fluttershy’s first aid kit which would work in a pinch but otherwise wasn’t helpful. They lacked any solid evidence as to their precise location, and the most efficient route they should take to reach the mine. By now, it would be past lunchtime, so they were all hungry, and as evidenced by the previous week, Pinkie didn’t cope well with missing lunch. They were absolutely unprepared for any kind of survival trek at all.

Closer inspection of Sweetie Belle’s hoof did reveal a crack, and that was going to sting like mad while she kept standing and walking with it. That was the sort of thing Zecora could fix, though, so getting her back to Ponyville would be enough. If only the Earthen Forest wasn’t so far away with no nearby train stations… Mount Canterlot Junction was somewhere southeast of them, Cloudsdale was somewhere in the opposite direction, and hitchhiking from the nearest cart track would be futile, assuming they could even find one. Could she be carried? Applejack would probably be the best candidate for that, though Twilight had practice with Spike, and he weighed about the same, so she could if really necessary.

At least, he’d weighed about the same as her when Rainbow Dash had decided to try juggling. That had been fun to watch. Also painful. Rainbow Dash was never again going to try juggling.

Speaking of… “If only Rainbow Dash were here,” Scootaloo sighed, casting an eye up towards Cloudsdale. “She’d get us back in a flash.”

“Scootaloo, the last time Rainbow Dash gave us a ‘lift’, she broke your scooter,” Twilight pointed out. “And her nose.”

They weren’t going to get anywhere just by standing around, so she had a quick conference/battle planning/strategy meeting with the others to decide on a plan of action, estimated the heading they’d need to take, and led them deeper into the trees.

“Yeah, but I fixed it again!” Scootaloo protested, trotting faster to keep up alongside her. “And then Mayor Mare stole it again.”

“Ah fixed it,” corrected Apple Bloom.

“An’ the Mayor locked it up so you can pay off the stall ya demolished first,” finished Applejack. “Common sense, Scootaloo.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know…” The filly pegasus scowled. “(Not my fault Miss Spring set up her stall five feet further left than normal…)”

“What was that?”

“Nothing!”

“This place seems very familiar…” murmured Fluttershy from the middle of the group. “I feel like I’ve been here before.” She had; she’d fallen into the north-western part of the forest after Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainboom eleven years ago, and found her special talent. Twilight told her. “Oh, really? How wonderful! I’ve never been back here since that day. Rainbow Dash seemed very concerned that I get back up in the clouds as soon as possible.”

“Ooh, ooh, I remember!” As per usual, Pinkie was forgoing walking in favor of bouncing. “When she first came to Ponyville she was terrified of the ground!”

“Heh, as if Rainbow Dash would be scared of the ground.”

“But she was! She was all ‘ooh, aah, it’s all solid’ and I was like ‘so are you, silly!’ and then I pelted her with a snowball.” She giggled. “That snowball fight was fun.”

Even from the front of the group, Twilight could hear Applejack’s brow creasing. “Didn’t Rainbow Dash come to Ponyville a week after we finally finished wrappin’ up winter?”

“Oh, I always keep a freezer full of snowballs, in case anypony craves snowcones or if somepony wants to have a snowball fight.”

“That seems a little impractical— ow!” Something thwacked Twilight in the back of the head, and she could feel water dribbling through her mane. “Pinkie! Where did that even come from?!”

All three foals burst out laughing. “She got you good, Twilight!”

“Rule #1 of snowball fights: Never let down your guard!”

“We’re not having a snowball fight! We’ve got more pressing matters on our hooves!”

“Aww, you’re no fun anymore.” Pinkie suddenly ducked, as if she was anticipating something to hit her in the head. “Oh good, they’re not still upset about that.”

“Who?”

“The snakes!”

“S-snakes?!”

“I don’t see any snakes around here…”

“I didn’t think they were native to this forest,” Fluttershy put in. “I know there are some living in Whitetail Wood, but…”

Everything became brighter as they stepped into a clearing, though there were still no signs of any other ponies. The only signs of life were some birds and some rabbits, which hid as they approached. “Are we nearly there yet?”

“We’ve only been walking for a few minutes, Sweetie Belle.” The filly had opted not to take a lift, instead enduring the discomfort from her cracked hoof. “There’s still a long way to go yet.”

“Everypony back at the mine’s still gonna be lookin’ for us. Ain’t there any way to get there faster?”

“I don’t think so, Apple Bloom. I still can’t teleport, and I don’t know any spells that would speed us up.” None that were safe, anyway. Rainbow Dash had begged her to cast Accelerate on her, and just as quickly begged her not to when Twilight demonstrated with an orange, which had traveled the length of town in half a second and turned itself inside out. “We’re just going to have to walk and hope we find somepony with a cart traveling in the right direction.”

“Hold up a tick.” Applejack stopped, and the rest followed suit. “Ah knew Ah’d forgotten somethin’. Pinkie, didn’t you say you had your balloon on you?”

It took Twilight a moment to process, but when it did, her entire body froze. She’d been trying to avoid bringing up the subject of the balloon, and it had come up anyway, from the pony she least wanted to hear it from.

“Nope.” Phew, that was a close— “I said I had Cherry’s balloon on me!”

“Pinkie!”

“What?”

One of Applejack’s eyebrows had gone up, which meant that so had her suspicions. Again. Twilight had managed to avoid explaining before, but this time it didn’t look like there’d be any escape. “What’s got you so riled up, sugarcube? Ah was gonna suggest that Pinkie ‘n’ Ah could go on ahead to let the others know we found the girls.”

“Why, uh, why not just let Pinkie go?” Straws were being pulled, and Twilight was rapidly running out of them before she’d even started. “I’m sure she could get there quickly enough…”

“Well, and no offense here Pinkie, they might just think you’re…”

“Being Pinkie Pie?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, I get it. None taken.” Her ears did turn down a little at the tips, though. The town still hadn’t quite forgiven her for the Mirror Pool Incident. They still missed her fun and laughter, but they were just a bit wary when they thought she was trying too hard.

“Why not send Fluttershy instead? Or me?”

“Fluttershy’s got the first aid trainin’, and you can put up one of them beams of light to let us know where to find you.” Curse Applejack’s memory of her spell list. Beacon was exceptionally easy and practically a mandatory requirement in unicorn learning. “Come on, Twi, you ain’t normally like this.”

“I, uh, um…” Sweat ran down her brow. Stalling tactics! She’d forgotten them. Evasive maneuvers! Already exhausted. Lie! Don’t be daft, Applejack was a walking lie detector. “I…” Out of options! Abort! Abor— Thwack. “Ow! Pinkie!”

Said pink mare was sat back on her haunches, another snowball in her hoof primed and ready to be thrown. “Aw, quit being such a silly filly, Twilight!” Her ears were back up. “Lighten up already!”

“But Pinkie— ow!” The second snowball hit her in the side of the face. “Will you stop that?! I’m trying to stop Applejack from-”

“Stop me from what?”

Oh. Oops. “Uh, I meant… ow!”

“Twilight’s just being all twitchy and panicky ‘cause she looked into the future and she says that the future says you’re gonna fall out of the balloon if you go up in it,” Pinkie said, brushing snow off her hooves. Aaaagh! “And if she stops you from going up then logically you can’t come down again. I think that’s right. I might be paraphrasing. Did I get that right?”

“(Busted!)”

“(Shut up, Scoots.)”

Applejack put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Twi? Is what she’s sayin’…”

With Pinkie’s outburst, there just simply wasn’t any point in holding it in anymore. She had to tell her, come Tartarus or high water… “…Yes, it’s true.” Two would rise, one would fall, she would sink into the deep, her hat would be left floating, the parts of the prophecy that she’d left out of her original explanation. It was the future, the unavoidable future. Now, as she was finding out, even if she tried her hardest to prevent it, it was still going to come true.

“Twilight, my Granny Smith has a sayin’ she uses a bunch.”

One of the fillies took the moment to pipe up. “You mean ‘The loudest timberwolf is the most cowardly timberwolf’?” Apple Bloom scrunched up her nose. “That don’t sound right.”

“No, AB. She says ‘If’n you don’t like the future, change it.’”

It was profound, but… how? Twilight had tried, both this time and the time when she’d been time traveling, and both times it seemed the future was unavoidable. Every occasion, no matter what she did, despite her intentions, she ended up contributing to the future rather than preventing it. Her voice was resigned now. “…That’s just it, Applejack. I don’t see how.”

Her friend stood there for a moment, looking at her. Then… “Pinkie, get the balloon out and fire ‘er up.”

“Yessir, Captain AJ! I’m gonna need all of you to look away, just for a teensy-tiny moment. Can’t do this while you’re watching!”

Twilight stared at her.

“I was being serious, Twilight~!”

Applejack grabbed her and spun her around. “Work with me here, Twi. Just for a moment.”

“But Applejack—”

“Ta-da! One hot-air balloon ready and prepped for takeoff!” In the instant they’d all been facing the other way, Pinkie had retrieved the balloon, fully inflated it (how?!) and strung a banner from the basket that read ‘Congratulations!’. Cherry Berry’s balloon did look a lot like Pinkie’s own balloon, but there were still a few key differences - Cherry didn’t keep hers fully laden with party equipment or, bizarrely, commentating equipment - that had been enough for Twilight to identify which had been in Dinky’s drawing.

This wasn’t it.

“…Ah’m not even gonna ask how that’s possible.”

“It works because it would be boring otherwise!”

“Like Ah said: Not gonna ask.”

“But that implies you want to ask, and I just told you.”

“No— Pinkie— Ah— Forget it.”

“(I was watching and I still can’t work out what I saw,)” whispered Sweetie Belle.

“(It’s just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.)”

Twilight tried again. “AJ, please— what are you doing?”

Ask any pony to describe Applejack, and the hat was always one of the first things they’d remember about her, along with the accent, and possibly the strength of her hind hooves if you’d happened to make a bad impression. She rarely left home without it. It was the same for her sister’s bow, or her brother’s yoke; you saw it, you knew who it belonged to, and knew they weren’t far away. (Twilight had experimented accessorizing similarly, but a ‘junior scientist’ pin didn’t really have the same effect.) Whenever she took her hat off intentionally, she meant business. She had taken it off.

And pressed it into Fluttershy’s grip. “Changin’ the future. If Ah’m not wearin’ my hat, how can it be left behind?” She winked. “C’mon, Twi, think a little.”

Gobsmacked, lost for words, Twilight watched as Applejack and Pinkie climbed into the balloon and took off. She had been despairing, there had been no way forwards, and Applejack was completely and utterly right. Why hadn’t she thought of that? Upon the surface, last signs float - because it had been that particular hat, she’d just assumed that it was Applejack. Nothing in that line of the prophecy indicated the last signs of who. Fluttershy had the hat now - she looked at Twilight, hat clutched tightly to her chest, the worry even deeper on her face - and she wouldn’t be falling out of a balloon into water.

She needed to update her journal entry, now.

“Come along, girls, let’s keep moving.” They entered the tree line on the other side of the clearing.

‘Two will rise, one will fall’: A hot air balloon. Dinky says there’s a pony that looks like Applejack falling out of it but I really can’t tell. Spike says it looks like Cherry Berry’s balloon, but I disagree, I think it looks more like Pinkie’s party balloon. Applejack has taken off in a balloon, but definitely not the one in Dinky’s drawing. With any luck, this disconnects it from my previous assumptions - or even better, averts that future entirely.

‘Upon the surface last signs float’: It’s Applejack’s hat, or apparel similar, floating on water. Probably no longer combined with the line involving the hot air balloon, as Fluttershy has Applejack’s hat.

Under normal circumstances, Applejack rarely let any other ponies wear her hat, with the exception of her sister, but Fluttershy had no alternative. Not that she would have minded right now… Something about that seemed very familiar, and no wonder - Fluttershy holding Applejack’s hat had appeared in Trixie’s prophecy. That one was starting to come to pass, too. Some quick edits there…

Fluttershy, looking worried, clutching Applejack’s hat: PASSED; Applejack gave Fluttershy her hat prior to taking off in a hot-air balloon with Pinkie.

And, she hadn’t even noticed it at the time - she’d been too worried, fearful, to make the connection:

The Cutie Mark Crusaders, huddled together in fear: PASSED (possibly): The Crusaders discovered an odd apparatus in the tunnels of the Canterlot Marble Mine, and were like this when my friends and I reached them. Still entirely possible that this is predicting an entirely different event.

Two in one go, both from Trixie’s prophecy. That didn’t make sense, Trixie wasn’t there for the resolution of either, so why had they been shown to her in the first place? Was it possible that she, and by extension Twilight herself, seen not their own futures but the future in general? That would explain how da Colton could have seen Princess Luna, if he looked forwards to after her return, and… actually… quite a lot of his paintings, really. She should have seen that coming. How, then, would she know if any of her own, or Trixie’s, passed in her absence?

The sound of rushing water was starting to fill her ears, the waterfall from Canterlot was getting quite close now. She’d seen them, the mountain rivers that had been rerouted to run through the lower levels of the castle, and sitting listening to them while reading was pleasant indeed. Some of them had reading areas constructed next to them for that very reason. Spike had fallen in one once, and the guard had to keep a close eye on the sluice gates where it fed out into the castle basin. If he’d kept going, maybe this would be where… he’d… end up…

Once more, the trees parted, revealing the fall’s destination - she now remembered, Skyview Lake, another place she’d read about but never been to. (Not that the lake itself was special, aside from the waterfall.) Just nearby, visible over to their right, were the ruins of the unimaginatively named Earth City, where Chancellor Puddinghead of the earth ponies had stubbornly tried to erect a capital before admitting that Canterlot’s site was more strategic, defensible, and a darn sight better to look at. (From the records that remained, virtually all of the earth ponies had been against it in the first place, but Puddinghead, coupled with some delusions of grandeur and absolutely no sense of scale, had ordered construction started immediately, and then just as immediately ceased some two months later.) Pinkie and Applejack weren’t too far ahead of them, already well over the water, not showing any signs of any trouble.

Again, Twilight had read about the ruins. What her gaze was stuck on was the column-lined avenue that led from the ruins to the lake, presumably once to some sort of dock. At least, it would have been column-lined, once upon a time. All that remained was a single, solitary pillar, that rose up where the avenue met the water.

The final pillar cannot stand.

She broke out into a gallop, and she could hear the others behind her trying to keep up. Had they just sidestepped one prophecy’s trap to fall straight into another one? It would collapse, but when? And with what consequence?

“Whoa,” commented Apple Bloom, once they’d all come to a screeching halt at the edge of the avenue. “That’s one big pillar.”

Chancellor Puddinghead’s lack of sense of scale was well-documented, for the little that remained from that period. He had led his ponies to settle in a large valley, which turned out to be a wheel rut with a dribble of water running down it. He had led his ponies to cross a small ravine, which turned out to be several miles across. Following unification, he’d drafted plans for a farming village, which still existed as a foal’s attraction in a Canterlot back garden. So, then, it should have come as no surprise that, now that they were closer to it, the pillar was actually some forty feet high.

“Twilight…?” Fluttershy murmured into her ear. “Is this the…?”

“Yes, I think so.” Even from this far below, there seemed to be an inscribed band near the top, like in Dinky’s drawing; also like the drawing, Twilight couldn’t make it out, but knowing its era of origin, the Royal Emblem was the most likely candidate. She suddenly realized that standing near it was a very, very bad idea. “I… I think we should move a bit further away. Just to be safe.”

“What about those ponies over there?”

Following Sweetie Belle’s outstretched leg, Twilight’s vision came to rest on a group of pegasi, another school class judging from the abundance of foals, making their way around the ruins towards them. Oh, darn. Of course, this was a place of historical importance, there would be other ponies here, why hadn’t she thought of that first? It wasn’t just them, either; multiple ponies were dotted around the main portion of the city in the distance, and another young pegasus filly wearing practically opaque sunglasses was approaching them along the avenue. If the pillar was going to fall - and it would - the last thing that she wanted was to have foreseen an event which caused casualties. (’She will sink into the deep’ notwithstanding; ‘the city by power be battered’ was one she now hoped to prevent.)

Only one thing for it, then; clear the area. The pegasus, who’d nearly reached them, would be a start, at least. “Excuse me—”

The pegasus completely ignored her, paused a moment to kick the pillar solidly (causing Twilight to wince, even though nothing happened at all), and took off over the lake.

“Hey, that was rude!” Scootaloo shouted, prompting Fluttershy to hurry and shush her. “But it was, though!”

Yes, it was, but Twilight wasn’t about to make a big deal of it; for whatever reason, the filly had seemed quite upset as she’d passed, and she’d taken up a sort of meditative position with her wings flapping steadily to keep her hovering some distance out over the lake. That, if her memory of a conversation she’d had with Ditzy at one point served her correctly, was a fairly common thing among pegasi who wanted to be left alone. From the expression on Fluttershy’s face, that would seem to be the case here. Alright, then. She could respect that, especially if she was upset enough to take it out on inanimate objects. The foals were a bigger concern, anyway.

How to go about removing them, then? As had been proven in Hoofington, very few ponies recognized their feats as the bearers of Harmony. Cloudsdale, which was probably where the group was from, was notorious in Twilight’s memory for ignoring her position as Princess Celestia’s student. None of them were wearing the proper safety equipment or high visibility jackets that could identify them as health and safety workers. (Though it was worth noticing, and she had it filed away in case of an emergency, that all five of them still had their mine bells on them, which in a pinch could at least attract attention. Really that would only work in the moments between the pillar starting to fall and landing.)

Which way would it fall anyway? It looked fairly solid, it hadn’t budged an inch when the pegasus had kicked it, even given her size, and if it had lasted this long, what could possibly topple it? The seismometer in part of the prophecy came to mind, but if there were a hurricane around, there would be signs of its genesis in the weather. Not that such an event would be organized this close to Canterlot without warning, well, the whole of Equestria first.

In her moments of deep thinking, the Crusaders had started to squabble. “Hey, why are we hangin’ around here, anyway?” Apple Bloom asked. “Shouldn’t we be movin’ on?”

“I don’t mind,” Sweetie Belle responded, sat on the grass. “It gives me a moment to take the weight off my hoof.”

“If your hoof hurts so much, why didn’t you go in the balloon with Applejack and Pinkie?” Scootaloo was probably the least happy of the three now, mostly due to the lack of her scooter. “They’d have let you go ahead with them.”

“Balloons fly faster if there’s less ponies in them.”

“And how do you know that?”

“She was probably payin’ attention when Miss Cheerilee was teachin’ us about hot air flight instead of sleepin’ on her desk.”

“I wasn’t sleeping! I was examining the woodwork!”

“Miss Cheerilee didn’t fall for that one either, Scoots.”

“Where did you get those glasses anyway? I asked Rarity and she said they looked ‘ghastly’, whatever that means.”

“Rainbow Dash gave them to me. They were hers!” Beat. “Not that I’m saying Rainbow Dash slept through all her classes!”

“Girls, don’t you think—”

“Ah’m pretty sure that’s the only use for them types of glasses.”

“I, I’m sure Rainbow Dash knew all that sort of stuff anyway!”

“What sort of stuff?”

“Girls…?”

“You know, stuff!”

Fluttershy gave Twilight a pleading look, one that broke her concentration. With no way to keep ponies away, and with the Crusaders getting antsy, they really had no choice but to keep moving. “Come on, let’s get going.” Still, she led them on a wide path around the pillar, just in case. She didn’t want to lose the Crusaders to potential injury twice in one day.

Walking around the edge of the lake near to the ruins, she tried to keep one eye on the Crusaders and one eye on the balloon in the distance, an effort that didn’t work very well and nearly took her to the ground over some loose rocks. Applejack and Pinkie had nearly cleared the lake by now, and there was still no sign that anything was going wrong. “You know, Fluttershy, I think we did it.”

“Did what, Twilight?”

She pointed towards them. “They’re in a different balloon, you’ve got AJ’s hat, I don’t see how those parts of the prophecy can come true now.” Closing her eyes, she beamed. The impossible was possible. “Together, we changed the future.”

BANG.

The subsequent windrush and earth tremor nearly took four of them off their hooves, and did knock Scootaloo into the shallows. Twilight knew that noise, the fizzing sensation in her horn, the color that was washing across the sky. What was Rainbow Dash doing, practicing her sonic rainbooms again? She could have chosen a better time, a better place, a better— Oh no. The pillar— agh!

“The final pillar cannot stand.”

Falling, towards the lake, towards the pegasus still meditating, undisturbed. Alert her. How? Bells. Only time to reach for two closest. She practically ripped them from their holsters and rang them as if her own life depended on them. The pegasus noticed, turned in her direction. Looked up. She could easily move in time.

Moved the wrong way.

With a noise that drowned out the sound of the waterfall, the pillar hit the water and disintegrated. But the pegasus— Twilight’s entire body went rigid. “She will sink into the deep.”

Any normal pillar by a lake, the water wouldn’t be that deep. One that was forty feet high, though… But she couldn’t do anything. Twilight’s hooves were rooted to the ground, her brain unable to focus properly. What would she even do if she could reach, though? By the time she’d swum out there, the pegasus would be at the bottom of a waterfall-carved lake, and though she couldn’t remember the exact depth, the word the prophecy had used was extremely apt: deep. She willed herself to move. Come on, Twilight, you can—

A yellow blur shot past her, out towards the bubbles popping on the surface of the water. Fluttershy? Why would she— Where was she—? Surely she couldn’t- Where did she learn to dive like that?

“Agh!” Suddenly, Twilight’s horn was red-hot, and the bells dropped. This had never happened before! What in Equestria was going on?!

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had darted forwards to help Scootaloo up, and now they stood, looking out towards where Fluttershy had disappeared, open mouthed. “Do you think she…” one of them started.

The volume of bubbles was lowering, indicative of… she didn’t want to think about it. Next to them, something brown, something familiar, appeared, and even before the prophecy spoke Twilight knew what it was. “Upon the surface, last signs float.”

“Twilight!” Apple Bloom had come back and was tugging on her mane. “You gotta do somethin’! Anythin’!”

Inside Twilight’s mind, her thoughts were racing, all of them trying to complete at once. Prophecy, three lines in less than a minute. Fluttershy and unknown pegasus, underwater. Sonic rainboom. Very painful horn. None of her limbs would respond. Just… how?! And what about…

“Come on, Fluttershy!”

“You can do it, Fluttershy!”

“Please!”

The fillies, they didn’t need this. They could cheer all they wanted to, but… there was no possible way…

With a gasp that must’ve been audible across the whole lake, and an equally loud cheer from the Crusaders, a yellow pony broke the surface, with a purple mane just visible between her and the water.

“Talk to me, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy had remained wordless, trying to get her breath back, ever since she’d reached the shore and performed CPR, swatting away the other ponies from the ruins that had come running to help. Some asking around had revealed that absolutely nopony knew the stricken filly’s name, nor any part of her identity whatsoever; she’d come to the ruins completely on her own, and as a guess from her state as she’d passed Twilight, she probably hadn’t told anypony where she’d gone either. When Fluttershy had been satisfied as to the condition of the mare’s lungs, she’d finally relented to let some stronger pegasi put her on a makeshift stretcher and begin a long ascent to Canterlot General Hospital. Only there then would her identity be revealed, either when she woke up or when her family recognized her and came forward.

‘The final pillar cannot stand’: PASSED; A sonic rainboom knocked the last pillar of an Earth City promenade into Skyview Lake. (Will have to follow up on this; when a pegasus kicked it, it showed no signs of moving whatsoever, yet the windrush and tremor from a sonic rainboom did; was that really all it took?)

Twilight herself had been stuck standing where she was for about five minutes after the event, battling the questions in her mind and desperately trying to settle her horn. The feeling had all the hallmarks of the tail-end of a magic cascade, which seemed to have no actual origin. A strong rise in the local environmental magic levels could have been the cause, but even though a sonic rainboom did have a remarkable effect on environmental magic - the one from eleven years ago had been testament to that - Twilight had measured that effect, and it had been nowhere near enough to cause a cascade, especially not one on that level. If it did, going supersonic would’ve been classed as harmful and Rainbow Dash would have been banned from doing it, not that she’d have been likely to pay attention to a ban anyway.

‘She will sink into the deep’: PASSED; Not Applejack as initially feared, but an unknown pegasus who was knocked unconscious by the falling pillar in the second line and sank into Skyview Lake.

Nothing had been as unexpected as three lines from the prophecy passing in more or less the same instant. Pillar, pony, hat. Speaking of, it had taken a while, but the hat had eventually washed up on the shore, where Apple Bloom had been all too eager to collect it. There was no longer any sign of the hot-air balloon, but if it had crashed on the lake, it would definitely still be visible, and if Applejack had fallen out of it, Pinkie would be trying to get their attention somehow, and if Pinkie wanted your attention, she got your attention. If Pinkie had fallen out of it, she would’ve been fine. She’d dived from higher and still somehow managed to use the water as a trampoline.

‘Upon the surface last signs float’: PASSED; Fluttershy was wearing Applejack’s hat when she dived into Skyview Lake to save the unknown pegasus.

“Fluttershy.”

“I’m… I’m fine…”

The Crusaders had their moments, but they knew when a situation was serious, and not Pinkie-serious, but super-serious. Fluttershy had silently thanked them for but turned down their offer of a massage (on account of Cutie Mark Crusaders Day Spa Attendants, Aloe and Lotus had banned all three of them), and it was hard not to appreciate the effort they were going to to make her comfortable. Twilight remembered well the incident in the Everfree Forest with the cockatrice (how couldn’t she? She spent at least an hour as a rock, an experience she had no desire to repeat), and ever since then there’d been some sort of understanding between the three boisterous fillies and the shy mare. It might well be down to Fluttershy being capable of scarier things than the entire Forest put together, but they still treated her with a great deal more respect than they did most of the ponies in town.

To all of their great relief, the other ponies had respected their privacy after the pegasus had been rushed away; the last thing Fluttershy needed, in any situation but especially this one, was to be crowded. Now it was just them, lying on the grass near the water’s edge, recuperating. (And in Fluttershy’s case, drying out.)

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t do anything, Fluttershy.” Twilight really was. Obviously she couldn’t have flown over, but maybe, just maybe, her magic would have reached if she hadn’t been petrified by Prophetia. Levitation wasn’t as effective underwater but anything would have made the difference.

Her friend smiled at her between breaths. “It… wasn’t your fault, Twilight. I’m just… I’m just glad everything turned… out okay.” She paused, looking up to where the specks of the other pegasi could still be seen on their journey skywards, though faint dots by now. “I’m not sure what came over me.”

“It was super awesome, though,” Scootaloo said. “I’ve never seen you fly that fast before, Fluttershy!”

“Yeah! You’re the best, Fluttershy!” Sweetie Belle took a moment to think. “Um. Apart from Rarity, I mean.”

“Sweetie Belle, Applejack don’t mind when Ah say another pony’s the best.”

“Apple Bloom’s right, you know,” Twilight interjected, to put off a comment from Scootaloo who was also having a conflict of interest over the question of best pony. “I’m sure Rarity - and Rainbow Dash - would both think that Fluttershy’s the best now too. I certainly do.”

Fluttershy’s yellow face turned bright red. “Oh. Um. Please don’t…”

“Fluttershy, you saved another pony without even thinking about your own. Right now, you’re probably their best pony too.” Twilight added a mental note to follow up on that, to ask either Nurse Redheart or possibly Princess Celestia to keep her appraised of the pegasus’s condition.

“Fluttershy’s the best, yay!” all three Crusaders shouted, apparently having made up their minds.

“Hey, girls, Ah got an idea.”

“What is it, Apple Bloom?”

“We should try bein’ Cutie Mark Crusader Lifeguards!”

Here we go again…

“Twiliiiiiight! Fluttershyyyyy!”

Huh? Pinkie Pie?!

For a moment, Twilight’s fears for Applejack sprung up again, but were quickly quashed by the sight of both earth ponies galloping around the edge of the lake towards them as fast as their legs could carry them. Why were they coming back? Applejack skidded to a halt before them; Pinkie overshot her marks, tripped and tumbled head-over-tail into a bush.

“(Apple Bloom?)”

“(Yeah, Scoots?)”

“(You can’t swim. Neither can I.)”

Being an earth pony and a farm laborer besides, Applejack had barely broken a sweat. Pinkie was a little more out of breath but over-exaggerating it to entertain the fillies. “What happened back here?!” the former demanded, eyes cycling between Twilight, Fluttershy and the lake.

“I thought you were going ahead!”

“(I can!)”

“(Not all of us have swimming badges, Sweetie Belle.)”

“Oh, we crashed,” explained Pinkie, pulling bits of bush out of her mane and tail. “We got blown into a big nasty tree and it put a ginormous hole in Cherry’s balloon.” She pouted. “Cherry’s not going to like that very much.”

“Then we saw somethin’ was goin’ on back here, so we rushed over quickly as we could,” Applejack confirmed. “So just what happened?!”

“I mean, two dead balloons in less than a week!” Pinkie gasped loudly. “What if I’m cursed?!”

“Cursed?!”

“You’re not cursed, Pinkie.” Twilight explained what had happened to them both, the pillar, the pegasus, the sonic rainboom, the parts from the prophecy, with Fluttershy providing input on a couple of parts and the Crusaders allowed to wander away a short distance and stand around in the surf being philosophical. “…and that’s about it.”

Applejack stamped a hoof. “Consarnit, Rainbow Dash! What’d you go and do that for?”

“I thought she was back in Ponyville.” Fluttershy murmured, putting a hoof to her mouth. “I mean… she wasn’t very happy, but…”

No, Rainbow Dash hadn’t been happy, and that was an understatement. While the Ponyville weather team remained in operation, the Forecast Centre had been extremely critical of the missing storm, and said they would be taking serious action - though what that action was had yet to be decided. The first time, they’d managed to get the equivalent of a slap on the fetlock, and the second, the pony deemed responsible had been demoted to the night shift, but this was the third strike and that warranted more than a severe talking-to. It was entirely possible that Rainbow had been summoned back up to find out what the action would be, and the answer had required an extra-fast return. Still…

“…So now we’re back to walking, I suppose.”

“Awww.”

With no balloon to go ahead, there was little other choice now. “How’s your hoof doing, Sweetie Belle?”

“It still hurts, but not so much as before.” Good, at least the pain from the crack was starting to dull down; by the time they could ask Zecora to mix a remedy she wouldn’t even feel the difference. “I wish I knew how to teleport.”

“Not an easy spell to master,” Twilight warned her. She did feel bad, putting down a hope like this, but it was better to tell her than not to. “A lot of unicorns don’t have the aptitude to learn it.”

“Well, I’m going to have the ap— the attit— the whatever you said!”

“Attagirl,” said Applejack. “Well, let’s get movin’. No time like the present.”

“Y’know, I’ve always wondered, why doesn’t time like presents?”

“Figure of speech, Pinkie.”

“That too - what sort of figure does speech have?”

“Pinkie.”

“There’s all these weird things that everypony says and then ponies accuse me of being weird. What’s up with that? I mean, I don’t hold it against them, I like being weird, though now I think about it it’s all really a matter of perspective and everypony is somepony else’s weirdo and ooh are we going to teleport again?”

It took Twilight a moment to catch up to the last part of that long run-on sentence. “What? No.” Yes, she probably could teleport again now, but after what happened earlier, she didn’t want to risk it. After walking this far, she didn’t want to accidentally undo everything by misfiring again. Why would Pinkie even ask that? Long range teleports took a while to charge up, she’d have to concentrate on it fully, and furthermore she’d have to be concentrating specifically on her why was her horn hurting again? Her magic hadn’t activated on its own since, well, since the time she’d accidentally transported herself and Spike away from a horde of ponies after her gala ticket. What was it doing? It was looping around the other six ponies, which would explain Pinkie’s comment as she’d start feeling all tingly and oh blast—

Flash!

“Aaaaagh!” Thump.

“My goodness!”

Groaning, Twilight opened her eyes and squinted out from underneath Fluttershy’s wings. A familiar face was bent down in front of her, concerned.

“Are you okay?” asked Cheerilee.

Author's Note

This (almost) takes us up to the point where NaNoWriMo 2014 finished, and NaNoWriMo 2015 started with a rewrite of the next chapter.

8 - The Cause

Twilight Sparkle, the personal student of Princess Celestia and the bearer of the Element of Magic, was deep in thought.

This session of deep thinking had come about due to a multitude of factors which had been piling up against her over the past few hours, factors which she had been unable to focus on at the time because more important things required her attention.

Teleport magic didn’t work like that, at least not to her knowledge. Casting the spell without properly visualizing the destination could have landed them anywhere, yet she still brought her friends safely back to the Marble Mine’s visitor centre. Granted, it had taken the entire class about ten minutes to untangle them all, and there had been some singed eyebrows, but they were otherwise unharmed. A degree of accuracy like that shouldn’t have been possible by autocast alone. Hay, if Pinkie hadn’t warned her, in her own way, she wouldn’t have even known that they were going to teleport before it happened.

She pretended it was intentional, it made the Crusaders happy, it made the other foals happy. Knowing otherwise was agonizing. Of course, Applejack could tell it wasn’t, and if Twilight had understood her gestures correctly she intended to ask her about it when they got back to Ponyville. That was fine. She could do that. Would she have the answers by the time they got there, though? At this rate it was looking unlikely. She didn’t like not having all the answers, especially when other ponies assumed she did. That was the pitfall of being the Princess’s student. Along with the pressures that put on her. And the nobles trying to curry favor with the Princess, and the bullying from the other students, and having to deal with the fallout from flooding the yeah, okay. There were many pitfalls, but the learning made up for them all. Twilight wouldn’t have it any other way.

Happily, the train journey back wasn’t as eventful as it had been in the opposite direction. Along with Rumble, Berry Pinch and Silver Spoon had both crashed (according to Cheerilee, Silver Spoon’s sugar rush had lasted approximately ten seconds); Diamond Tiara and Aura had both been given detention for conspiring to rig the sculpture competition; Button Mash, of all ponies, had won the sculpture competition with his well crafted if a little blocky rendition of a spider, and as a reward in lieu of the balloon ride had had his JoyBoys relinquished; the others had remained trouble-free, and as was usually the case on the way back from an exhausting trip, most of them were asleep. The relative quiet had allowed Twilight the time to think.

Is it in any way possible for the teleport to have been incomplete?

No, of course not. As with teleporting into solid objects, incomplete teleport spells were hard weaved to bounce back and prevent the teleportee from getting lost in the ether. To suggest that the entire lake matter was a delusion caused by a bad spell would be ludicrous, especially as the same delusion would have had to be shared across seven ponies, not to mention Applejack’s hat had still been wet when they’d gotten back to the mine. It had been real, no question.

Could the teleport have been hijacked?

Again, no. Everything had been entirely down to Twilight’s own magic, and she would know if any other pony’s magic had interfered. Could it have been tied to the additional five ponies’ worth during the initial teleport? Possibly, though surely that would have been wasted on relocating the exit.

What about the surge after the rainboom?

She still didn’t know what had caused that, though she had worked out she’d been about to enter a cascade, which was preposterous. Unless her magic had been resonating with another unicorn’s, there was no way to enter a cascade in the first place, and the only nearby unicorn had been Sweetie Belle, whose magical ability was nowhere near strong enough.

Am I thinking too hard about this?

Almost definitely.

By the time the train reached Ponyville, Twilight had come to no conclusions whatsoever. By the time the fillies and colts had been distributed to their homes, she still had no answers. By the time Sweetie Belle’s situation had been explained and she and Fluttershy had headed off to Zecora’s, still nothing. By the time she, Applejack and Pinkie had relocated to the library and were sat around a boiling pot of tea, she was about ready to bang her head on the table.

“Don’t stress yourself over it too much, sugarcube,” Applejack was saying.

“Yeah! We got back, and that’s what matters, right?” After the events of the day Pinkie was somehow even more chipper than usual.

“Well, yes, we did, but…” Twilight glanced out of the window. “I just don’t know how. I’ve been thinking about it the whole way back and none of it fits together.” There had to be an appropriate metaphor or simile somewhere… “It’s like I’m trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle but none of the pieces go with each other.” Her face scrunched up. “I’m not even sure they’re all from the same jigsaw.”

As she spoke, she retrieved Predictions and Prophecies from the bookshelves, and pulled out the envelopes with Dinky’s drawings on. “Before today, I thought I had some of these in the right order.”

She lay them on the table and shuffled them. Balloon - Sinking - Hat. Then she had a thought, and got out some blank flashcards, and wrote on them the keywords of Trixie’s prophecy, before adding one to the chain; Fluttershy+Hat.

“…And then it turns out I didn’t.”

Hourglass - Crusaders - Fluttershy+Hat - Pillar - Sinking - Hat.

“I’ve got no way of working out what comes next or what even comes last.”

She idly rearranged some of the others, trying to construct some sort of narrative that made any kind of sense. Trixie’s clasp - Book falling - Shatter - Celestia - Blank - Trixie+Twilight. Mailbag - Trixie’s clasp. Book - Book falling. Graph - Blank - Party invitation. What? Glare at Pinkie, receive wan smile in return.

“Pinkie?”

“Glums~!”

Twilight sighed. “Again, not the time, Pinkie.” But she was right, she was starting the downward spiral again, and she’d promised not to do that. It was scary how easy it was to lose control.

“Hmm.”

“See, Applejack’s got the right idea!”

“Ah was just thinkin’…” Applejack tapped the table, and swiveled a couple of the cards around. “If Big Mac can’t find the edges to a puzzle, he starts from the inside and works his way out.”

Stopping short of voicing a complaint, Twilight considered this. It did seem counter productive, but there was method to that madness. “…so once he’s completed what he knows, he can build up the rest from there…” Instead of searching in vain for the pieces she didn’t yet know the context to… Oh, that was genius. Why hadn’t she thought of that before?

“Ooh, ooh, let me!” Pinkie Pie dived forwards and reshuffled the envelopes and cards. Hat - Sinking - Party invitation (”Whoops!”) - Pillar - Fluttershy+Hat - Crusaders - Hourglass. Still not very helpful. But, wait. Pinkie’s accidental inclusion of the invitation had given Twilight an idea. The prophecies were only part of the puzzle - there were her experiences, too. Da Colton’s workbook. The teleports. The underground device. A sonic rainboom.

Okay, she hadn’t expected that, of all things. “I don’t know about you girls…” Twilight sat back, looking at each of them. “But I think the next piece of the puzzle is Rainbow Dash.”

In theory saying that Rainbow Dash was the next piece was all well and good. In reality, she was more like that one piece that falls down the back of the sofa and doesn’t turn up until long after you’ve thrown the rest of the puzzle away. Rainbow’s cloudominium was one of two such structures in Ponyville, the other being a much smaller construction that the pegasus foals used as a playpark. The latter tended to get caught in wind eddies above the school; the former could be above Sweet Apple Acres one day and near the library the next. Her address of 17 Somewhere had apparently demanded by the post office, who refused to accept “The Sky” as a valid street name. It still only took Ditzy two-and-three-quarter minutes to get there from Fluttershy’s, though. Exactly two-and-three-quarter minutes, no more, no less, regardless of the distance. Even if that distance was straight up. It made no sense. (Then again, considering most of the activities of the post office…)

Twilight and her friends had no such direct path to Rainbow Dash. Not even the four yard one that led up to the front of the weather patrol building, which was locked and bore an ‘out for lunch’ note that was signed with some very angry scribbles. Icy Rain’s mouth-writing was very distinctive, and normally never this cross. You had to do a lot to make that mare angry. Considering the circumstances, it seemed something very bad indeed had happened in Cloudsdale. That was likely to mean Rainbow Dash was in a similar sort of mood, and thus even more difficult to track down.

Well, if you wanted to find a pegasus, you asked a pegasus. By now Fluttershy would only just have reached Zecora’s hut, so they’d have to settle for the next best thing.

Again, the upper half of the post office door opened and the purple-maned Flutter Doo appeared. “Oh, hello, Twilight!” She spotted the others behind the unicorn. “Uh oh, three of them.”

“Just what is that supposed to mean?!”

“Sorry, Applejack, bad morning. You girls want to come in, or…?”

Time to get straight to the point. “No, thank you. We’re actually looking for Rainbow Dash.”

Flutter groaned and sagged over the door. “You’re not the only ones.” Why would anypony else be looking for Rainbow Dash? “Ditzy, Orange! Rainbow Dash’s friends are here! There’ve been ponies coming to ask for us to find her all afternoon,” she explained. Apparently she made a really big noise and then a really big fuss over something or other, then flew home in a huff.”

That would fit a sonic rainboom and a disturbance in Cloudsdale… “Don’t suppose you’d be willing to…?”

“Oh, I can take you, sure!” said Ditzy, appearing at the upstairs window. “Just, y’know, make sure we’re not tailed by the weather patrol. They’re super mad.” She gestured towards the town hall; Twilight turned just in time to see a pair of ears disappear beneath a window frame.

“If you can fend them off, I’m coming with,” said Orange, appearing alongside Flutter in the doorway. “Rainbow Dash got a huge package earlier and we didn’t think it was a good idea to deliver it if other ponies were gonna follow us and mob her.”

So something had happened in Cloudsdale, urgent enough for Rainbow Dash to fly home at supersonic speeds, and now the weather patrol ponies were upset with her? Twilight prayed that Wind Chime hadn’t done anything too drastic. It would fit her method, but… Rainbow wasn’t the sort of pony to let herself be walked over by others, even if they were higher up the management chain than she was. Should something of the replacing sort actually happen, she wasn’t going to let it go without a fight. Only she had stood between the Forecast Centre and Under D. Weather being fired over the calamities in the winter, and had anypony else been the patrol captain, Under wouldn’t have been merely demoted to the night shift.

For whatever reason, Pinkie insisted they all bunch up for the journey, all crowded around the package for which ‘huge’ was an accurate description, and that they needed to surround themselves with ‘shields’. Her preprepared ‘shields’ (stashed around Ponyville in case of shield emergencies) included a trash can lid, a table with the legs sawn off and the upper half of Davenport’s old door. Pinkie herself carried no shield, but was riding on top of Applejack’s shield armed with a bucket of grapes and a slingshot. It was easy enough to see where she was going with the idea after that.

“Merry May, hiding in the bushes, eleven o’clock!”

“Gotcha!”

“Candy Floss, chimney at five o’clock!”

“Boom, headshot!”

“Thunderlane, pathetically trying to hide behind the small sign at one thirty!”

“Oh, thanks for noth— not the eyes again!”

“Ha! Take that you— oh, sorry, Forsythia!”

“We’re trying to work here, Pinkie!”

“(I can’t see where we’re going,)” Twilight complained, adjusting her magic’s grip on the trash can lid. “(Where is Rainbow Dash’s house anyway?)”

“(She hid it over the outskirts of Whitetail,” Ditzy whispered back. “And that was this morning so she knew something was gonna happen.” It was a rare moment indeed when Rainbow manually moved her house rather than leaving it to the winds, only editing its journey if it strayed too far from town. She’d do it to try and skip the queues at the cider stall, or skip the queues for an upcoming free food giveaway at Sugarcube Corner - she still hadn’t worked out that other ponies used her very obvious house’s position as a landmark for such things and beat her to the punch anyway.

Still, over the outskirts of Whitetail Wood was a fair distance from the middle of town. Ditzy was right - Rainbow would only do that if she’d expected this kind of negative reaction from her co-workers. What had Wind Chime done…?

Twilight almost missed Orange’s next muttered comment. “(This would have been a lot easier if you dusted off your disguise thing,) she grumbled in Ditzy’s direction.

“(It’s been broken for years,)” was the reply, which suddenly seemed incredibly terse, even for Ditzy, so it probably wasn’t a good idea to ask.

As they cleared the town, the assault from the weather team died away, mostly thanks to some quick thinking from Applejack and some promises of free apples from Sweet Apple Acres, which just so happened to be on the opposite side of town. (Doubtless Granny Smith wouldn’t be too happy.) By the time the cloudominium became visible through some low concealing clouds - raising questions about how Ditzy had been able to find it in the first place - there was nopony behind them, and Pinkie’s shields were ditched to lighten the load, leaving them with just the huge parcel. Twilight had been trying to work out what it was - rectangular, but too flat to be a book box, or any other Daring Do merchandise she could think of, unless they’d started officially licensing art prints, and she was pretty sure she’d know about that. What sort of normal post did Rainbow receive, anyway?

She became aware of some muffled noises from above, then some shuddering pink in front of her. What was Pinkie doing? Her tail was— oh no. Crash. “Ow!”

“Ooh, so that’s why my tail was twitching!” Pinkie exclaimed happily, as Twilight fought off the stars that were circling her head, and Applejack made to brush away the remaining bits of flowerpot. “I didn’t think Rainbow Dash kept flowers.”

“Not any more…”

Applejack tilted an ear upwards. “She sounds mighty upset up there. Ah ain’t heard her that vocal since she went and blew up at Lightnin’ Dust. Didn’t she get away with it last time this sort of weather thing happened?”

It took a moment to work out what she was talking about. “If you mean after the Parasprite infestation last year, only just.” Twilight remembered that well. “And that was with a little outside intervention, which was only going to work once. And if you meant in winter, she was barely able to get them to let the pony in question keep their job.”

Something else came sailing out of the clouds above, and they all watched the empty cardboard box bounce off the grass a few yards away. “Ah think somepony’d better go up there before she starts throwin’ bigger stuff.”

After a quick conference with the mailmares, it was decided that Twilight go up to placate the pegasus while Orange made sure the parcel was delivered safely. It was only the work of a moment for the unicorn to cast Cloudstep on herself, and a moment more after teleporting up to reacclimatize herself to the slight sense of vertigo that told her she ought to fall through any second. She wouldn’t, of course. Cloudstep lasted for several hours, and shortly before it wore off it would distress the caster until canceled or refreshed so it couldn’t be forgotten about.

She caught up to Orange Box at the front door, and was just about to knock, when suddenly her ears pricked at the sound of a voice that wasn’t Rainbow Dash’s.

“Rainbow Dash, please, I’m just trying to be the voice of reason—”

“She can’t do this to us! What reasoning did she have, huh?!”

The two ponies outside exchanged glances. From Orange’s expression she didn’t know who the other pony was either.

“She’s doing her job, Rainbow. You know that. Look, for the record I’m not happy with this either, but neither of us have any choice in the matter.”

Who was that? Somepony from the Forecast Centre? What were they doing all the way down in Ponyville? Eavesdropping was rude, and Twilight chided herself for intruding on another pony’s conversation, but she couldn’t help listening. They were being very loud after all - at least, Rainbow was. It was kind of difficult not to listen.

“You could have said something!”

“I did say something! I do winter weather, not spring showers! But if she hadn’t sent me she’d have sent somepony else, probably Doc Stratosphere!”

“Oh, hay no.”

“Exactly! So please, just… settle down. Have a mint drop. Things could always be worse.”

Perhaps then wasn’t the best moment to knock on the door.

What followed could only really be described as a ‘petrified silence’, broken only when Twilight came to her senses and waved in through a window.

“Twilight?!” Rainbow Dash almost broke out into shouting again once the door was open. “What are you doing here? And what is that thing?”

“I’m Orange Box.”

“I meant that thing you’re carrying.”

Orange straightened herself up to her full height, which didn’t really work as she was exactly the same size as the others there. “Package for Miss Rainbow Dash, sign here. I’ve forgotten my clipboard. Hayfeathers. Just take it, it’s heavy.”

Twilight had been in Rainbow Dash’s house only once before, when she’d been instructing a new Daring Do fan in the proper storage and maintenance of books. It wasn’t a particularly simple construction, though that was hardly surprising as pegasus architecture was by its nature complicated and elegant, but despite Rainbow’s lack of interest in aesthetics, it could hardly be called plain and boring. Like any other pony’s home, there were signs of her interests all over the place, in the sort of logical untidiness one could learn to expect from a pony like her. Knick-knacks and miscellaneous junk prevailed, though leaving enough space on a few couches to crash out on if she couldn’t make it all the way upstairs to bed. There were a few pieces of equipment used to keep her wings in shape. One wall held a trophy cabinet. There was, Twilight was pleased to note, the new addition of a bookshelf with a few titles that weren’t Daring Do. And, of course, the white-and-grey pegasus standing in the middle of the living room awkwardly.

Still, it was the house of a pony who spent most of her time outside.

It took a bit of maneuvering to get the big package through the door, but at least they wouldn’t have to deal with the issue of it sinking through the floor - it would already have been slapped with a pegasus cloud charm at the sorting office. That enchantment made things so much easier. If only it worked on ponies too.

“Okay,” Rainbow said, once the parcel had been leaned up against an empty section of wall. “I get why Box is here and Derpy’s probably around somewhere, but why are you here, Twilight? You don’t do social visits. Unless Spike wants his comic book back.”

With Rainbow, it was best to get straight to the point, so Twilight did just that. “Rainbow Dash, did something happen in Cloudsdale today? You made a rainboom, and then all the patrol pegasi were looking for you…”

Rainbow’s face immediately folded back into a frown. “I had to get back here in a hurry. They didn’t follow you here, did they?”

“No… What happened?”

There was a rustling of paper. “Temporary total weather team replacement for the remainder of the spring season,” said the other pegasus, reading from a scroll. “Effective immediately, no appeal, straight from the desk of Southern Chief Wind Chime.”

An expression of panic shot across Rainbow’s face giving the notion that she’d completely forgotten the other mare was there. “Oh, uhm, Twilight, Box, this is Snow Veil from the Forecast Centre. Snow Veil, Orange Box, delivery pony, Twilight Sparkle, egghead.”

“Oy.”

Snow Veil stepped forwards to shake their hooves. “Hi. Sorry this had to be our first meeting.”

“Total team replacement?” Orange echoed, once the meet and greet had been gotten out of the way. “Why?”

“Because apparently we’re ‘not to be trusted’.” Rainbow didn’t even have to do the air quotes to make the inverted commas apparent. “After the Parasprite thing, and the Hearth’s Warming thing, and now this thing, Wind Chime said, and I quote, ‘The Ponyville weather team cannot be trusted to maintain its allotted forecast zones until summer begins’. Like she’d know what to do!” She rounded on Twilight. “Please tell me you can talk to the Princess or something and get her to change the decision.”

“It does seem a bit excessive…” Twilight rubbed her mouth. But then again, that was definitely something Wind Chime would do, especially if she herself couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong with the weather. As far as she was concerned, any weather glitches were always the fault of the ponies in charge of that particular weather, and if one pegasus couldn’t be singled out to blame, why not replace the whole team? Sometimes Twilight wished she had more influence over that sort of thing. It was one thing leaving things to the experts trained in them, but what can you do when the experts are blatantly ignoring things like rogue Everfree storms?

Yes, she could send a letter to Princess Celestia, and as soon as she rejoined Spike at the library, she’d do that. But there was no guarantee the Princess could make any significant change. Key ecological systems like the Weather Forecast reacted badly to external disruption, whatever its source, and a skipped pebble could easily become a tsunami by the time it reached the other side of the river.

So that was the story: Rainbow Dash, Icy Rain and the dozen ponies or so on the Ponyville team would have to step down until the summer season began in June, Snow Veil would be leading a team of ponies put together by the Forecast Centre in the meantime, and the stood down Ponyville team wouldn’t get paid, which was probably what had most of them riled up. It wasn’t fair, as Rainbow repeatedly stated. And just what were they supposed to do in the meantime? Sit around doing nothing being all glum?

“Hey, don’t you start with the glums now too!”

“GYAH!”

“Hi Rainbow Dash! Hi Twilight! Hi Orange! Hi pony-I’ve-never-met-before-and-totally-need-to-start-planning-a-party-for!”

“Pinkie Pie! Stop putting holes in my floor!”

The pink pony pouted, and paused just long enough for Twilight to cast Cloudstep on her and levitate her up onto the floor. “Aw, there’s no need to be like that.” Her face immediately snapped back into her usual bright grin. “Hey, if I’m feeling down, opening presents always gets me back up again!”

A quick exchange of glances passed between the others. “Pinks, it’s not my birthday for another few months.”

“Well, duh, I know that! But you got a package! A package is like a present that doesn’t need a party ‘cause a package can come any time it wants!”

Everypony turned their heads to look at the large parcel still propped up against the wall. Now that Pinkie brought it back up, Twilight was really curious about what was inside now. “Were you expecting anything, Rainbow?”

Rainbow rubbed the side of her head. “Uh, a battery for Tank’s gyro?”

That threw Twilight off. “What, already? It’s only been…” she did the math in her head “Two weeks!”

“He likes flying, okay?”

Okay, just ignore the disregard for burning out an entire magic battery in two weeks… “Okay, fine. But this isn’t a battery.”

“No kidding! Hey, Box, you got any ideas?”

Orange Box blinked a few times, clearly not having anticipated being brought back into the conversation. “Uh, flatpack wardrobe?”

“Nah, I can never put those together. Snow Veil?”

The other weatherpony shrugged. “Wouldn’t put it past the Chief to send you a work ethics poster…”

“For once, I’m bamboozled!” Pinkie proclaimed happily. “So it’s a surprise!”

Twilight could only offer a shrug.

“Well,” Rainbow observed, running her hoof along an edge, looking for a seam, “It’s gotta beat what mom got me for Hearth’s Warming…”

For its shape, it could have been any one of a number of things, most of them as Orange Box had put forward flat-packed. What it actually was, when Rainbow Dash managed to untangle herself from the packaging, was something so unexpected that Twilight was rendered speechless.

The blue pegasus stood back. “So, what? It’s a painting?”

“Hey, it totally looks like your sonic rainboom!” Pinkie pointed out, entering into happy bounce mode.

It didn’t just look like her sonic rainboom, it was her sonic rainboom. There was no mistaking those colors washing across the sky, or the tell-tale rainbow streak arcing away from it. Nor was there any doubt as to who the artist could be. Twilight had seen his work just the previous week. But… just who would send Rainbow Dash, of all ponies, a Stalleonardo da Colton painting? She’d never read about this particular one before, which meant it was undiscovered, which meant it was practically priceless! It went without saying that it had to have been the result of Prophetia yet again. Every time she tried to go out on a tangent she just got pulled straight back into it. Maybe that was a side effect of the spell, that the only way out of the whirlpool was through the hole at the end, there was no escaping it.

And then there was the worrying matter of the bright light emanating from Canterlot castle in the background. The city by power be battered…

She’d found Rainbow Dash’s piece of the puzzle, only it had come with a piece she didn’t even know was missing.

To Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student

I understand your friend’s position on Chief Wind Chime’s decision; please let her know that I will schedule a meeting with the Forecast Centre as soon as is possible. However, in all likelihood this won’t happen until next week at the earliest, so in the meantime she will have to be patient and be tolerant of the replacement team, and it would be for the best if she were to communicate this to her own team as well.

To the main body of your correspondence then, and I will address the three points in the order you brought them up.

The painting. While I didn’t have the time to go through the entire record of Da Colton’s paintings - as you know, there are a great many of them - I believe you are correct in saying that an image depicting a sonic rainboom has not been part of any public display thus far. That being the case, it is likely to have come from a pony’s private collection. Perhaps a kind soul who wished to anonymously donate it to the only pony known to be capable of creating one?

Events at Skyview Lake. I am glad to hear that things did not turn out quite as serious as they could have been, and I must commend Fluttershy on her quick thinking. I will also make inquiries as to the condition of the pegasus you mentioned, and will keep you appraised of her status when I get an answer. And don’t worry about the rainboom’s damage to Earth City’s column - in previous years numerous questions were raised about its safety and it had already been decided on to dismantle it and transport it to the Three Tribes museum in Fillydelphia. It will be recovered.

Finally, events at the mine and your teleport spell. Doubtless the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the mine staff have both learned valuable lessons from today; no further action is warranted on that part. I am however intrigued by your mention of an overcharged teleportation spell and your description of the strange device beneath the mine. Without a perfect replication of the conditions of the spell it may be impossible to determine the source of the additional magic required, but I can tell you that the device should have not been a factor, as I believe it matches the description of a telescope once belonging to Princess Luna that went missing some while ago. She may be pleased that it has been located, if not at its condition. How it came to be there I honestly cannot say.

I know all too well the feeling of being caught in a spiral, that life demands you to finish what you’ve started before you can move on, and I repeat my message of last week to you: it will take time to understand. Stand back, look at how far you’ve come, and use what you’ve learned to move forwards.

I wish you all of my luck.

Your teacher, Princess Celestia

Flashcards liberally covered the floor of the library, and Spike’s attempt to cross to the stairs was almost like an interpretive dance. He was almost clear when he tripped over the string connecting [Crusaders] to [Telescope] and brought the blackboard crashing down on top of him.

Twilight wasn’t good at keeping String Theory tidy. She could very easily have just written everything down on the blackboard, but no, she had to get the big picture, and that meant using all of the available floor space, plus the blackboard, several yards of string in multiple different colors, and a number of Rarity’s unused dress needles which held in the wood alarmingly well. To the casual observer it looked like a minefield. If one were to stop and look, they’d start noticing the common themes, the fact and the speculation. Sitting on the table in the middle, the unicorn was getting the sinking feeling that she’d made things far more complicated than they needed to be.

She’d been very meticulous in plotting out which particular strings marked events that had already happened, and which represented her guesswork, and which related to whose prophecy if at all. With the new information provided by the Princess, she had a new theory she was pretty sure was accurate, [Telescope] to [Sonic rainboom] via [Rainbow band], so… would the telescope have to be restored to working condition before that part of the prophecy could be fulfilled?

“Okay,” she said, mostly for herself, as Spike crawled out from underneath the blackboard and pulled it back up onto its legs. “So where that part of the prophecy comes into play, somepony looks at a sonic rainboom through the telescope, and at the same time something happens at Canterlot castle which ‘batters the city with power’. That’s probably just after Celestia sees ‘past truth’, and might have something to do with the ‘symbol of magic’ shattering.” She cast an almost involuntary glance at her cutie mark. “That’s the more complete scenario I’m building.”

“Is this really a good idea?” Spike picked the pin with the string from [Telescope] up off the floor and put it back into [Crusaders] on the blackboard. “You’ve been doing this all afternoon, and last time…”

“Yes, I know, the whole time travel thing. I’m trying not to go that far, Spike.” She looked helplessly across at her assistant. “Only this time, instead of not having enough information, I’ve got far too much.”

“Uh, yeah. Just a bit…”

Admittedly, Trixie’s prophecy was where most of it fell apart. Aside from [Crusaders] and [Fluttershy+Hat], which had already happened, no cards belonging to that prophecy were connected with anything other than speculation lines. She’d tried to construct some sort of narrative from them, [Door] to [Book falling] to [Book] to [Da Colton], and [Lightning] through [Shock] to [Mailbag] to [Clasp], and at a real stretch, connecting the [Monster] in the prophecy to the tale of the Ursa Major in [Hoofington], but there just wasn’t any proof. She was looking at the bigger picture and it really wasn’t helping at all.

Deep breaths, Twilight. Deep breaths. She inhaled and exhaled. Take things slowly. You might be missing the tree for the forest. All you need is one link to explore. Start looking at your speculation and run through different permutations.

[Balloon]. If Applejack was still going to fall out of a balloon, where, when, why? Dinky’s drawing couldn’t offer any context as to location. Both balloons were currently broken, so it would be some time before either of them could fly. To the third question… her eyes fell on [Sonic rainboom] again. Being close to an event of that magnitude would certainly cause a lot of turbulence, though being in that situation to begin with would require some gross negligence on Rainbow Dash’s part for making one so close to them. Still a possibility, though.

[Lightning]. There was a new weather team taking care of the Ponyville skies for at least the next week. Was there a thunderstorm on their cards? And what was the significance of such an event? As she’d already noted down in her thought journal, she had those new capacitors hooked up to the lightning rods, but that wouldn’t make any difference. They met the very rigorous safety protocols demanded by the Magitek Regulation Bureau, and on installation Rainbow Dash had helped her stress-test them.

And there were still the very first questions that predated the first prophecy, those of the [Workbook]. Its Return charm had been deliberately sabotaged, possibly at the point of being stolen, so who had stolen it, and why? It had found its way into a secret compartment in the Ponyville library, which, old as it was, would definitely not have been around in the 600s when da Colton was alive. Sure, the first form of the dam had been built shortly before his birth, so the land that would later be Ponyville was definitely there…

Spike put his hand up. “My head hurts.”

Twilight chuckled, and shook her head. “Mine too, Spike. I think we need some dinner, some tea, and a good night’s sleep.”

“I second that!”

On her way to the kitchen, Twilight paused, looking down at the cards she was trying carefully not to disturb. Everything was connected. Everything… except [Teleports]. She lifted the card up with her magic to stare at it, perhaps hoping that it might reveal any secrets. Princess Celestia had pretty much shot down the idea that the telescope had anything to do with the overcharged teleport. The atmospheric magic from the sonic rainboom, powerful as it was, simply hadn’t been there for the first one, and the delay between it and the second was just too great, the magic would have dissipated within about five minutes. Prophetia as a trigger could also be ruled out, as it shared no weave traits with Teleport. Still, it might be an idea to tone back on the teleports for now.

Was that the next step? She stared at the linked cards surrounding her, and then again to the one she held. Everything was connected, all the pieces fit together… so maybe she should stop looking at what did fit together, and start looking at what wasn’t connected… She had more questions to ask.

As she’d been standing there, Spike had danced his way back over to the kitchen, and now he reappeared in the doorway. “Um, Twilight?”

“Yes, Spike?”

“What exactly are we going to have?”

The unicorn and the dragon stared at each other for a moment. Ah. The hard questions first.

“I’ll go out and get some pizza.”

Dinner, tea, a good night’s sleep. Exactly what she needed, and exactly in that order. She’d put together a little checklist for it.

“Uh.”

‘Have another weird dream’ was most definitely not on the list.

It was the same as previously, as far as she could tell. Same breeze, same field, same river, lowering sun. No sign of the pegasus this time, though the first time she hadn’t shown up for a little while. Twilight had her bearings, though, and the benefit of a previous experience to somewhat alleviate the confusion, even if the hyper-realistic dream was a little disorienting.

After the previous dream, she’d done a little more research and correspondence, particularly with Princess Luna, who had the power to enter dreams. According to her, at least, it hadn’t been a nightmare, she (the Princess) would have known about that the moment it started. No, it was something different. The Princess had been unable to promise to join her if the dream reoccurred; after all, she couldn’t spend her entire night dreamwalking, and still had the duties of the night court to attend to amongst others. (One thing she had done, though, was confirm that yes, there were such things as dream ponies, but no, the pony Twilight had encountered was most certainly not one, and she could rest assured she had not jeopardized diplomatic relations with them.)

That wasn’t to say the lunar diarch couldn’t help, of course…

“Princess Luna?” Twilight called out. Nothing answered but the light gurgling of the river. “Are you here?”

Silence. Nothing significant at all bar the sun completing its descent as it had done previously, and the star appearing to take its place. It hadn’t been long after that that the pony had appeared last time, so presumably, she too would follow the pattern.

Ah, speaking of… Instead of popping up behind her, now the orange pegasus had appeared some distance away, staring blankly off into the distance. With apparently no wisdom from the Princess forthcoming, Twilight decided that she would make the first move this time, and started trotting towards her. “Hello!”

The pegasus flinched, but recovered pretty quickly. “Ah, don’t do that, you scared me!”

Whoops… “Sorry.”

So, something was different this time… she didn’t know what she’d been expecting, but Twilight guessed she’d probably anticipated the same conversation as last time, if this was indeed her subconscious trying to give her a message. Or, at least, a conversation which would get straight to the point rather than stumbling around awkward greetings.

The look she was getting was somewhere between scrutiny and confusion. “Are you supposed to be here?” The pegasus looked past her; again, looking at nothing in particular. “Is she supposed to be here?”

Twilight rubbed her mane. “Well, it’s my dream…”

“Oh, really?” The pegasus’s face brightened up. “Welcome back.”

“Um, thank you.” Well, at least she was a nice pony. Twilight could imagine being trapped in a dream with Wind Chime and it was not a pretty thought. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, if you remember from last time.”

A blank stare. “Um, was there a last time…?” she continued. “Do you remember that happening?”

“Something like that, yeah.” The pegasus rolled her eyes. “Look, are we going to get started or—”

She was interrupted by a loud splash from the river, and Twilight turned just in time to see a blue alicorn rising from the water like a lighthouse suddenly looms up out of the fog. Oh, so Princess Luna was able to join her after all. Great, now she was nervous again.

Of course, by the end of the few seconds it took the Princess to walk over to the two of them, she was completely dry. Was that just because it was dream water, or because it was Twilight’s dream and its events didn’t affect her? No, that was the wrong question to be asking. The Princess would know what she was doing. Twilight bowed. “Princess Luna.”

A royally-shod hoof gestured her up. “Rise, Twilight Sparkle. Forgive our lateness, there was a matter which required my urgent attention, but fortunately it seems Equestria is light on nightmares tonight.”

At a guess, that was to do with her telescope, but right at the moment that was an irrelevant topic and Twilight didn’t bring it up, as much as she wanted to know about it. Much more important was the dreamscape, which the Princess was already analyzing. Was this sort of thing common amongst dreams? From the look on Luna’s face, the answer was ‘no’.

“I did detect an oddity coming from your dream before I entered,” the Princess said, looking back at her. “Is this the same dream you mentioned previously?”

“Almost—”

“O-kay, I can work with that.” Both of them turned to look at the pegasus, who appeared to be looking not quite at but maybe straight through Princess Luna. “Both of you, follow me.”

Twilight raised her eyebrows. “Follow you where?” The mare wasn’t going anywhere. Her wings were twitching, but there was otherwise no movement. “(I think she might qualify for being the oddity,)” she whispered.

“(We— I concur,)” was the reply. “Please remain still, little pony. You need not fear me.”

Fear looked like the last thing on the pegasus’s mind. “I hope you know what you’re doing. I’m new to this too, you know.”

The Princess’s horn glowed, and the pegasus became enveloped in light. She rose off the ground without aid from her wings, suspended entirely by the magic alone, some sort of analysis spell if Twilight wasn’t mistaken. She never ceased to be awed by the power of alicorn magic. Sure, Princess Celestia was always telling her that she had a magical ability with the potential to outshine both her and her sister, but that always seemed so far away when compared to moving the celestial bodies, or stepping between the real and dream worlds with the ease of breathing. Those goalposts were always just out of reach.

Once, Twilight had tried to lower the moon and raise the sun, just to impress her teacher. That was a mistake she’d never make again.

With a few impressive sparks, the magic subsided, and the pegasus was set down again. Now curiosity was the predominant expression on Luna’s face, and Twilight had come to taking curiosity on the faces of the royals who’d been around for centuries as a bad thing. “Princess Luna?”

“This is most strange,” the Princess said, observing as the pegasus blinked the magic away. “As you suspected, she is not a construction of thy— this dream.”

“That means…” Twilight tried to figure it out. “…she’s from the real world?”

“Yes and no. She is also dreaming, and her dream is bleeding into yours.” Luna concentrated, and her horn sparked a few times. “Strangely, I seem to be prevented from entering her dream, though I sense no malicious forces at work.”

Dream… bleeding? So somewhere in Equestria, there was an orange pegasus mare who was dreaming this dream too? Suddenly, Prophetia’s involvement seemed a lot less likely. Prophetia had only been cast by Twilight and Trixie, and Trixie was nowhere in sight, not to mention this was a pegasus they were talking about. The involvement of a third-party pony threw a spanner into everything, including the other spanners. Yet another thing that made no—

“Furthermore…” there was more?! “…and this is most irregular… It is not exactly a dream which is bleeding. It is a memory.”

“Sit yourself over there, and let’s get this show on the road.”

“A… memory?”

Princess Luna nodded. “Yes. She may appear to be responding to our words, but to her, she is simply reliving a past event. In itself this is not uncommon, as momentous or traumatic events form a foundation for many dreams and nightmares to build upon. However, I have not previously encountered a base memory bleeding like this before, and certainly not in a way that would prevent me from entering the source pony’s dream and healing the wound.”

“I see.” Well, no, she didn’t, but the picture was clearing up as she thought about it. “Why would this start happening now, though? After I cast the prophecy spell?” Beat. “Princess Celestia did tell you about that?”

“There we go,” said the pegasus, to nopony in particular.

“Yes, she did inform me of the ongoing situation.” The princess frowned down at her. “Your disregard for safety in spellcasting aside, I would have to see the spell’s matrix and know of the other party’s identity before I could state an opinion.”

“Oh.”

“It should be coming through!” Twilight looked back, and jumped, as the pegasus was inches away from her face. “What do you see?”

“Uh… the same things as last time?”

“Twilight Sparkle, permit me a moment.” Princess Luna stepped forwards, and looked around. “Have you attempted changing the construction of this dreamscape?”

Oh yes, that was something she’d thought of last time, wasn’t it? Last time she’d been, well, stunned by the entrance to the dream and her imagination had abandoned her. Then the pegasus had turned up and she’d put it out of her mind completely. Might as well give it a shot now… she imagined something simple: a giant book, rising from the earth.

There was a short pause.

“Nothing’s happening.”

“Are you sure? That can’t be right.” The pegasus tapped a hoof on the grass. “Are you sure you’re doing this properly?”

“Peculiar,” commented the Princess. “Perhaps the bleeding memory is overriding any attempted alterations.”

“You’ll know when it’s working.” No, what was peculiar was that even though the pegasus was apparently repeating lines from a memory, they were still responding to her, and her following words seemed to also be a perfect response. Twilight mentioned this out loud.

Apparently, that hadn’t occurred to the alicorn, who furrowed her brow. “That is most strange.”

“How about now?”

…caught in a spiral… Twilight’s eyes widened. It was the same thing. Events in the real world all led back to da Colton and the prophecies. Everything they said in the dream world all led back to this pegasus’s memory. Did that then mean that this pony was somehow connected to the prophecy itself, rather than the spell used to create it?

“At last!” Oh, the wind was coming up— “Now, hurry up and let’s get on with this before—”

The ground rumbled exactly the same way as before, all three ponies stumbling. “Is that a dream quake?!” Twilight shouted, perhaps a little louder than was necessary. She didn’t know if there even were such things as dream quakes but she didn’t want to waste time asking that.

“No!” came the reply. “Dream quakes are much more violent than this!”

“…the hay?”

What was next? The star? No, it was the wind. The wind…

…accompanied by a sonic rainboom washing across the sky.

That didn’t happen last time.

“I lost the balloon! Darnit, we were so close!”

She rounded on the pegasus. “What balloon?! Tell us!”

“Sorry, now we’re going to have to start again.”

Princess Luna opened her mouth to speak, and suddenly wasn’t there any more.

“We’ll try again later when the weather’s better.”

The dream was about to end; Twilight had to think quickly. Was the sonic rainboom part of the other pony’s memory? If so… the memory was either less than a year old or eleven years old, more likely to be the latter. Eleven years ago, Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainboom that had resulted in her cutie mark and those of her future friends. What had been happening around that time?

Too slow.

“You know, I really think—”

The star exploded.

9 - The Storm

Wednesday morning. Wake up, bathe, breakfast. Tidy library. Prepare checklist set for restocking stationery as required. Receive mail from Ditzy Doo, promise to give Dinky another session practicing Share later, read latest news in Canterlot Star. Head out to Quills and Sofas for new quills as required. Restock parchment and ink as required. Visit Sweetie Belle, check on her hoof, apologize profusely to her parents. Visit Rainbow Dash nearby, make sure she didn’t get mobbed in the night. Visit weather patrol HQ, check with Snow Veil, rain planned for later. Stop off at Carousel Boutique, update Rarity about the previous day’s shenanigans. Stop off at indoor market, buy some fruit, chat with Applejack. Detour to Sugarcube Corner, get some snacks, endure weirdness from Pinkie Pie. Head back to library.

After the dream had ended, and Twilight woke up in a cold sweat, the rest of the night had been fairly uneventful, and what remaining sleep she got was quiet. Her second wake-up call came from a letter delivered by a sleeping dragon, which sought to alleviate the concerns she hadn’t yet remembered about Princess Luna; her vanishing act had come about as she was ejected from the dream as it destabilized. That, at least, had a perfectly logical and reasonable explanation. She would do her best to track down the pony whose dream she couldn’t enter, but feared that it may be the equivalent of tracking down a needle in a haystack made of needles. (Or at least that’s what she probably meant to say. After having had her language patterns desynchronized by a thousand years, she was doing well with her diction, but she still had trouble with metaphors.)

Using the library floor as a workspace was, she decided with the benefit of sleep on her side, not one of her brightest ideas. There had been sound theory behind starting it but it had very quickly spiraled out of her control towards simply becoming an obstruction. There were multiple ways to go about looking at things from a distance, and that was evidently the wrong way. Fortunately with Spike’s assistance, it was pretty easy to transfer the diagram in its entirety to the blackboard and return the downstairs floor to a workable state. As she had to keep reminding herself, it was technically a public building. Tree. Whatever.

And of course, since she’d wasted a whole pot of ink just writing out all the cards in the first place, and broke two quills due to overexcitement, she needed to replace them. That was fine. Twilight got along well with the stationery salesponies, Davenport in Quills and Sofas and Bee Pencil in the other stationery shop (thinking about it on a tangent, she couldn’t actually recall ever seeing its name), and actually got slight discounts for being one of their best customers. She could pick up a ream of parchment, too, while she was at it. There were duplicate checklists filed away for the purchase of writing implements, since she always burned through them quickly as part of her studies. Some slight adjustment to one of those, done and done.

Wednesday was the day the Canterlot Star published, so that was what Ditzy Doo brought to the door when the mail rolled around, as usual not a second late. Not that there was anything likely interesting in it, though; Twilight gathered it had been a slow news week in the city, and Rainbow Dash’s rainboom of the previous day was unlikely to even make a small column due to the recent frequency of them. It had been big news after the Young Flyers Competition, and even bigger news eleven years ago, but now they were barely worth mentioning.

“Morning, Twilight Sparkle!” Ditzy chirped, pulling said paper from her mailbag. “One copy of the Canterlot Star, and a thanks for looking after Dinky yesterday ‘cause I forgot about it till this morning.”

“Actually, Dinky was in Fluttershy’s group,” Twilight said. “Though I’m told she was a model student throughout the trip, even after it… got cut short a little.”

Ditzy waved a hoof at her. “Aw, details. She had fun, and that’s what counts, right?”

You couldn’t help but smile at that. “Yes, I suppose it is.”

The pegasus turned, and got a couple of steps before apparently remembering something and spinning back. One of her eyes continued whirling. “Oh yeah. Dinky wanted me to ask you if you wouldn’t mind trying again to teach her that spell you showed her last week.”

It took a few seconds for Twilight to run through the loose schedule for the day. The morning would be spent shopping, but the afternoon should be free, excepting any prophecy-related stuff happening which no doubt it would. “Sure,” she eventually decided. “If you want to bring her over at about one-ish, I’ll be free.”

“One-ish. Gotcha.”

As predicted, the Canterlot Star didn’t contain much in the way of notable news, opting instead for the usual April sales advertisements and fashion faux-pas articles, so she was slightly ahead of schedule when she left for the morning’s shopping. First stop: Quills and Sofas, where Davenport was all too happy to sell her some new quills, and would she possibly be looking to maybe look into buying a sofa? Her refusal was polite but firm. The math had already been done, and there was no room in the library for a sofa, or even a settee, without sacrificing shelf space, which was much more valuable. Bee Pencil in The Other Stationery Shop was similarly amicable but minus the specificity, so she had the offer of things like geometry sets, charcoal, and, rather bizarrely, Princess Celestia-shaped erasers in addition to the ink and paper Twilight was already purchasing.

While she was in the area, she decided to knock at the house of Magnum and Betty Bouffant to see how Sweetie Belle’s hoof was holding up. Zecora’s remedy would have fixed the crack almost immediately, but it would still be sore for a few days so she had strict instructions not to do anything strenuous, or at the very least nothing which would involve much running around or jumping up and down (so in other words, no crusading). Despite that, though, she seemed perfectly content with getting the day off school (conveniently forgetting that all the foals got the day off school due to repairwork to the schoolhouse). Her parents were making a fuss of her as parents tended to do, and stubbornly refused to accept Twilight’s apology for losing track of their daughter. “Foals do these things,” they said, “and she’s learned her lesson.” She suspected they might be singing a different tune if Sweetie Belle hadn’t turned up at all, but you had to work with what you got, and she had been found, so all was well.

Another thought that occurred to her, as she caught a glimpse of a rainbowfall being tugged across the sky, was that of Rainbow Dash. The pegasus had been in a slightly better mood when Twilight and the others had left yesterday, but that of course wasn’t speaking for the rest of the suspended weather team, who Snow Veil said she was going to make a personal visit to each and every one of them. If Rainbow was pulling her house right across the middle of town without any effort made to conceal it then things must have presumably improved, if only a little.

“Rainbow Dash!”

A rainbow maned head popped out from behind the cloudominium. “Oh, hey Twilight.”

Sometimes the only practical way of talking to pegasi was to just raise your voice. “How are things with the weather patrol this morning?”

“Ughh.” Rainbow rolled her eyes dramatically. “I mean, better, I guess. Snow Veil made ‘em promise not to blame me for Wind Chime’s decision but it’s gonna be a while before we can work as a team again. Did you get anything from the Princess?”

Oh, right, the letter. “Earliest she can schedule for is likely next week,” Twilight explained. At Rainbow’s groan she continued. “In the meantime she wants you and the team to be tolerant of the replacements.”

Rainbow huffed. “Yeah, that’s gonna go down well. Is she sure she can’t do something, like, today?” Twilight opened her mouth, but got cut off. “I know, I know, she’s busy, can’t drop everything, so on, so on. I’m just gonna get really bored.”

“Well, if you’re interested, yesterday afternoon the library got a copy of the third Young Daring Do spinoff book…”

That got her attention. “Seriously?”

“Super-seriously.”

Ever since the hospital incident Rainbow had become very bribable with Daring Do literature and merchandise. “Fine, you got a deal. I’m coming over later and it better be there.”

“Already reserved it in your name.”

A smirk spread across the pegasus’s face. “Are you sure you didn’t prophesize that, too?”

Actually, Twilight was pretty sure Rainbow would have been at the library within 24 hours regardless of whether she specifically had mentioned it or not. When Daring Do and the Trek to the Terrifying Tower had been published, the unicorn had woken up to the pegasus plastered all over one of the downstairs windows, having apparently sleep-flown there so she could be the first one to read it. Rainbow Dash didn’t need a prophecy; she was just predictable.

There was one more matter Twilight wanted to ask about, and she quickly moved on to that topic before Rainbow could abscond. “Before you go, do you know what the weather’s going to be today? Everypony I’ve passed this morning seems to be unsure.”

“Ughh.” The expression dropped back into annoyance. “I’m not allowed to know so I don’t try to help. Those guys may have been hoof-picked but they know nothing about telling anypony.”

That was her next destination, then, the Weather Patrol Headquarters in the park. A couple of the Ponyville team were loitering in the vicinity, not maliciously, but rather more hopeful than anything else. Trying not to make eye contact, Twilight stepped up the path and knocked on the door. To her slight relief, it was opened by Snow Veil, rather than one of the other replacements she hadn’t met yet. In her words, the schedule wasn’t fully approved yet (wasn’t this what Wind Chime had been annoyed with in the first place?) but it had been decided that there was going to be a shower later. Wonderful. There was still plenty of time before that was to begin, though, so she had time to finish her shopping, but around the time that Dinky would be showing up it would be getting very wet outside.

Since Carousel Boutique was on the way back to the main part of town, Twilight made a spur-of-the-moment decision to stop for a moment and talk to Rarity. Despite her disapproval for Sweetie Belle’s going on the trip in the first place, she ought to know what had happened if she didn’t already. If she were to be kept out of the loop there somepony (meaning Twilight) would get shouted at. In fact, adding her to the loop was probably going to earn her some shouting anyway. Rarity had reached a not-quite-Applejack-on-Apple-Bloom-level of sibling overprotection since the Sisterhooves Social.

As it turned out, she was one hundred percent correct.

“Oh, Twilight! What if they’d never been found again?!”

“Rarity, that’s what I—”

“Ooh, it sounds like it was just horrid down there!” The fashionista shivered. “So dark, and dirty, and labyrinthine…”

“Rarity.”

“To think it would be that easy to get lost down there… it would be the worst—”

“Rarity!”

Rarity shook her head. “I… I’m sorry, darling, I let that get away from me.”

Twilight put a hoof on her back and smiled. “Happens to the best of us, Rarity. But everything turned out good in the end. Well, mostly.”

“Yes…” Rarity picked up the teacup she’d almost dropped when Twilight had first started speaking. Alas, tea for Twilight would have to wait until she returned to the library. “I must thank Zecora when I next see her, and perhaps Sweetie Belle will be more respectful of why I frequently have my hooves cleaned and cared for professionally.”

Well, doubtless Sweetie Belle would be back up and about in no time at all. Foals bounced back quickly, especially the Crusaders. They just wouldn’t stop. At this point, it didn’t even seem like finally getting their cutie marks would stop them.

“Oh,” Rarity added, “That reminds me. Would you mind if I stopped over the library later? I seem to recall seeing an intriguing title last time I was there but I hadn’t the time to read it. Something about hoof accoutrements of the 9th century…?”

It only took Twilight a moment to run through the library catalogue in her head. Of course she’d memorized the whole thing. She’d read the whole thing. “Accoutrements, Bracers and Cuffs: An ABC of hoof and sleeve decorations in the 9th century. No, of course I don’t mind.” Oh, right. “Just so you know, the replacement weather team let me know there’s going to be a shower later.”

Hardly anypony in town didn’t know of Rarity’s dislike of rain. “Joy of joys. Thank you for telling me.”

Dinky, Rainbow Dash, Rarity. The library was going to get busy later. Not as busy as its busiest had been, of course, it took Pinkie Pie to build up a crowd that strong, but nevertheless. As there was going to be rain later, she might as well bump forward her snack shopping trip from Thursday. Usually that meant heading to the market, but the rain necessitated the indoor market being trialled in the town hall. Some fruit, some vegetables, and then maybe a trip up the road to Sugarcube Corner for some sweeter treats. Spike should have come with her, Twilight thought. He was usually happy to be of assistance carrying shopping. She could carry it all in her magic, though, so going back to the library now wasn’t necessary.

It was… crowded in the town hall, for lack of a better word. Mayor Mare may have had the best intentions when announcing the testing of an indoor market, but despite the building’s impressive interior size for an exterior that appeared small, it really wasn’t big enough to fit the entire marketplace at once. Twilight would have been willing to aid in the logistics of it if only the Mayor would ask. She tried not to butt into things if she could help it.

Locating Applejack amongst the melee was easy enough, the giant apple sign above her stall acting as a beacon. Reaching her was another matter entirely. The sea of ponies swarming to buy and sell their merchandise threatened to swallow her up if she wasn’t careful. One wrong step and she, along with a number of other ponies, would plant their faces into the floor.

Fortunately for the unicorn, though, it still paled in comparison to Canterlot during the Summer Sun Celebration.

Applejack didn’t have a lot to say on the recent matters, mostly because she was trying to field sales to several ponies at once, but she took her usual stance of not rushing headlong into things, giving a word of caution about keeping an eye on Rainbow Dash, and darnit Emerald Green I said the golden deliciouses were two bits each. Not wanting to cause too much disruption, Twilight finished the conversation and transaction as quickly and politely as possible before excusing herself and fighting back through the crowd towards the doors. And she managed it without slipping over on the cabbages that had been spilt across the floor, too. That had to be some kind of record.

Normally, Sugarcube Corner was just as busy (well, in terms of queues out the door rather than an impenetrable throng), but this being mid-morning, it was just the couple of regulars on the outside benches and a few ponies who had missed breakfast. Mrs Cake was all too happy to prepare a box of assorted baked goods for Twilight, Pound and Pumpkin Cake appeared behind the baby gate to say hello, and the unicorn was just about to leave when she noticed Pinkie Pie, or the conspicuous absence of. She could hear her, there was no mistaking that cheerful humming, and she sounded nearby, but Mrs Cake was the only pony behind the counter, there was an insufficient pinkness quotient at the tables, and the humming lacked the muffled quality that might indicate her being trapped in the basement again.

Then something dripped on her nose, and she looked up.

“Pinkie Pie?!”

Pinkie craned her neck to look down, and waved the wet cloth at her, sending more droplets everywhere. “Hi, Twilight!”

What… why… there were just no words. The pink pony appeared to be completely unsupported up there, her hooves just dangling into the air. “Why are you up there?!”

“Well, I’m cleaning the ceiling, silly! The fact that I’m getting weird Pinkie Sense signals meaning I’m stuck up here is a complete coincidence. Well, actually no, I’m cleaning the ceiling because I’m stuck up here and it saves Mr Cake embarrassing himself with the ladder again. Eh, makes the same.”

That explained the bucket strapped to her side, and the cloth… Twilight tried to ignore all the warning flags ‘Pinkie Sense’ was bringing up and failed. “I’m sorry… what?”

“I got a doozy twinge earlier and it surprised me so much I flew straight up here! I totally didn’t see it coming!” As if to prove her point, Pinkie spasmed. “Ooh, that tickles! And of course a doozy twinge means somepony’s gonna get a really big surprise! I hope it’s me!”

Doozy. Warning flag the size of Canterlot Mountain right there. A hydra had been involved during the last doozy. “So… why are you still up there?”

With a splash, the cloth dropped into the bucket. Twilight ducked. “You know that fun game you play where you rub a balloon across a carpet and then it sticks to things?”

“…Static cling?”

“Yeah! That’s the weird part, though.” Pinkie rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Normally when my mane goes all like that and I start getting my head stuck to things it means I’ve missed something, or somepony’s missed something really important, like a flyer for free cupcakes! Free cupcakes are srs bzns. Anyway, I’ve never had this combo before, and it doesn’t make any sense! So somepony’s gonna get a surprise, but they’ve already missed getting that surprise? How does that work?”

It was probably a bad idea to bring up how Pinkie Sense made no sense most of the time. Twilight glanced off to the side, and momentarily locked gaze with Mrs Cake, who was shaking her head slowly; don’t ask how. Side-stepping the issue of how exactly Pinkie was able to generate static cling in her hair, the unicorn tried to work it out anyway. She just couldn’t help it. “Are you sure that it’s not just a pony being surprised by something other ponies have already been surprised by?”

“Oh, nonono, that’s the same as ‘late to the party’ and that’s an itchy neck. I don’t really get that one that often though. Hmm. It could be that somepony was surprised by something once and totally forgot about being surprised by it until suddenly they’re surprised by it again. I’ll have to write this one down somewhere. Staticky mane and doozy quiver, a missed surprise that’ll make you shiver! No, that’s not it. Doozy quiver and staticky mane, things will never be the same! Staticky ends with ‘icky’ and that’s not the message at all, so drop that…”

As Pinkie was showing no signs of stopping, even for breath, Twilight took the moment to slip out unnoticed. She had enough to worry about without bringing Pinkie Sense into the equation. ‘A surprise that a pony will get but has already been missed.’ There was a fine line between legitimate Pinkie Sense (ugh), completely innocuous twitches, and things Pinkie was interpreting wrong. Chances were it didn’t even apply to the situation at hoof anyway. She’d lost track of the amount of times Pinkie had twitched, Twilight had prepared for the worst only for the predicted situation to happen to another pony entirely.

She felt a certain amount of relief when she returned to the library. Most of the Ponyville Weird Things happened outside its walls. It was safe. It was home.

The rain had just started falling when the first visitor arrived, Rarity, who took a moment to shake off her umbrella before committing her entry to the tree. “It seems I arrived just in time,” she mused, joining Twilight at one of the windows. “Shower or not, it’s not pleasant out there.”

“Spare a thought for the ponies who have to keep it in check,” Twilight said. And the ponies who should have been keeping it in check, she added to herself. When she got there, Rainbow Dash was not going to be a happy bunny. A week without being able to do one of the things she did best… it was going to be hard preventing her from going stir-crazy for one day, let alone at least a week. Daring Do would only last so long. If Rainbow hadn’t discovered the intrigue of the series, Ponyville probably wouldn’t last.

Though then again, if she hadn’t discovered it, there would be a significantly less amount of awkwardly worded, Mare-Sue-ish fanfiction going around.

Rarity had barely been shown to the history shelf when Ditzy and Dinky turned up, slightly wetter but fortunately no worse for the wear. As she hadn’t quite gotten the coat-drying spell down pat yet, Twilight went and got a couple of towels for them; Ditzy’s saddlebags would have to stay wet for the moment. Having a wet coat was immensely distracting even if you weren’t trying to cast a spell, and the towel was a much better alternative than simply shaking dry in a place where water damage was a real concern. Time and time again Twilight had made mental notes to install some kind of cover on the shelves nearest the door, just to prevent any accidents from occurring, but at that point she’d have to put covers on all the other bookshelves, and that would just mean an extra shattered pane of glass when Rainbow Dash inevitably came crashing through the window.

Speaking of, while the mother and daughter were drying themselves, she wandered over to the weatherpony’s favorite access point and looked out. No sign of her out there yet… With any luck she’d be considerate enough not to be breaking and entering while it was raining. Well, there was no harm in having the book with Reconstitution out just in case. It paid to be prepared for the most likely eventualities.

“Before we start,” Twilight began, sitting down to a now mostly-dry unicorn foal, “Have you been practicing this past week?”

Dinky nodded. “Mm-hm! I’ve been practicing lots!” Her face fell slightly. “I set fire to a muffin.”

“Oh dear. Do you know where you went wrong?”

“Um…”

Twilight looked up at Ditzy, then over at Spike on the stairs, whose eyes hadn’t left his reading material. “Feel free to find a book or something. I think Spike’s going to be making tea when he’s finished with his comic book.”

Ditzy’s leg sprung up in a salute and its movement was only arrested by magic an inch or so away from her eye. “…Oops.” She giggled. “My mistake.”

“Momma, you really need to be more careful.”

Mother and daughter stuck their tongues out at each other.

Twilight could only let out a light chuckle. Her relationship with her own mother had been… somewhat different. There were more books involved on her side, and her mother had the benefit of already having dealt with a young teenage stallion. And then there was Princess Celestia, whom Twilight had considered, much more when she was younger, a second mother. Things hadn’t really changed that much in eleven years, aside from the obvious changes that naturally came about as she grew and learned more. Life had had its fair share of highs and lows, triumphs and embarrassments. Dinky’s no doubt would be full of the same.

When Dinky found the words to explain it, the burning muffin incident turned out to be a simple mistake; a slight error with the matrix and the incomplete Share had discharged on the nearest non-living object it could find. Twilight herself had done it many times. Once, she’d managed to set fire to Princess Celestia’s tiara; while the alicorn found it very amusing, the guards hadn’t. Naturally, Twilight had been mortified, but stopped panicking when the Princess dumped a bucket of water over her own head to put it out, and the two had laughed it off. It was her patience that the unicorn now sought to emulate while teaching a spell to another unicorn slightly younger than she would have been.

An hour was spent back and forth, Twilight giving encouragement, Dinky not-quite-casting Share, and a few fuzzy images transferred. Much like the previous week, Twilight didn’t expect her to master it; like most spells, Share became harder to cast the more ponies it was being cast for, and like most learning situations, jumping in at the deep end only gave you more problems. It was progress.

No Rainbow Dash.

As they took a short break for tea, now that Spike had finished, spotted Rarity, darted upstairs to find a hat, not found one, come back, and boiled the kettle, Twilight voiced her concern. “Did anypony know if Rainbow Dash was occupied with something this afternoon?” she asked, filling in Rarity and Ditzy about the Daring Do spin-off. “I find it a little strange she isn’t here yet.”

“Oh, she’s probably shouting at the ponies replacing her,” Rarity dismissed, without looking up from the 9th century fashion book. “I wouldn’t worry yourself too much, darling. It’s only a shower, after all.”

“’S dark for a shower,” Ditzy said around a mouthful of cupcake.

It was dark, now that Ditzy mentioned it, and it was only a little before two. And now that Twilight was taking a closer look out of the window, the rain was coming down awfully hard for what she’d been told was going to be a short shower. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say it was going to—

The door crashed open. Rainbow Dash stood there, soaked through, out of breath, fury on her face. It was the same face she’d been wearing when confronting Lightning Dust at the Wonderbolts Academy the previous month. Very not a happy bunny.

“Rainbow Dash, are you—”

“I’m fine.” Before Twilight could get another towel, Rainbow shook herself, spraying water everywhere. “If I was still in charge, this wouldn’t be happening!”

The others shared a glance. “It’s only a shower, Rainbow,” Twilight ventured. “Surely they can manage a—”

“They changed their minds,” Rainbow said curtly. “It’s not a shower anymore.”

Lightning flashed behind her, followed by the loud rumble of thunder. “It’s a thunderstorm.”

Despite the added effects in the background, it still took a moment for that to sink in. Yes, all the signs were there, it was too dark for a shower, it was raining too hard for a shower, that was lightning, that was thunder, but it was just so… sudden. On record, ponies had to be warned a minimum of twelve hours before the scheduled start of a thunderstorm, allowing for preparation ahead of start times at night or in the early morning. For one to just come up out of the blue (or, well, the lighter grey) was unheard of.

“My stars, darling!” exclaimed Rarity, book forgotten, jumping up to her hooves. “You’re drenched!”

“Yeah, no kidding.” Normally Rainbow Dash would have objected to Rarity fussing over her with the towel, but either because she was wet or because she was cross she didn’t. “This is how they think rain should be done in Cloudsdale.”

“Wait, so…” Ditzy swallowed her cupcake. “I thought it was just gonna be a shower, not a big storm.”

“They were told to do it,” Rainbow said, scooting her hooves against the doormat. “Wind Chime, again.”

“How do you know that?” Twilight frowned. “I thought you told me you weren’t allowed to help.”

Rainbow waved a hoof in the air and twirled it around. “Yeah, well, they suddenly realized most of their team’s never been here before so they had to get a pony in who knew the town. Naturally they came to me first, ‘cause of my awesomeness, but whatever. So I wasn’t allowed to chip in or anything, just show them around, make sure they know the tricky spots and stuff, you know? So they get the shower going. Then this message comes down from Cloudsdale, saying it needs to be a thunderstorm instead, Snow Veil flips out, I flip out, she gets told off and I get kicked out!” She sucked in a breath. “I’ve been flying all over town like crazy trying to warn everypony. Not. Cool.”

“That doesn’t sound very nice,” piped up the foal’s voice from the direction of the floor.

The blue pegasus finished drying herself off, walked into the library proper, and ruffled Dinky’s mane. “Yeah, you got that right, little buddy. Grown ups are jerks.” She looked up, remembered Ditzy, and immediately backpedaled. “Er, most grown ups are jerks,” she corrected, grinning sheepishly. Ditzy giggled.

By all counts, that had to be against the rules, or something. Twilight’s memory of weather laws and stipulations wasn’t fantastic, though, so maybe there was a clause or a loophole somewhere which allowed Wind Chime to do that. Probably something along the lines of ‘In (x) circumstances, the Weather Forecast Centre can request specific schedule changes’. It was a little odd that a pony known for being a stickler for the rules would do such a thing, unless she really wanted to get Rainbow Dash’s metaphorical goat. That… Twilight wouldn’t put it past her.

Well, the library had survived countless thunderstorms before, it could survive another one. If push came to shove, and the storm lasted into the night, it would be easy enough to do another sleepover-type-dealie like she’d done with Applejack and Rarity last year. They wouldn’t need to go quite as far as following the Sleepover 101 book this time (as much as that was an excellent reference) but it would save sending the others out into the deluge. It was a good thing that Ditzy was here with Dinky, otherwise somepony would have had to go over to the post office regardless.

Four full-size ponies, a foal and a baby dragon. There were some spare blankets somewhere.

“I wanted to tell ‘em they were doing it all wrong,” Rainbow continued, breaking the short silence. “Putting storms together is easy peasy, but the way they were doing it you’d think they’d never made one before.”

“I’m sure they’re all professionals, Rainbow Dash,” said Twilight, gingerly taking the dripping towel back and carefully levitating it upstairs. “They wouldn’t have been sent otherwise.”

While Spike handed out another round of tea to everypony but Rainbow Dash, and the pegasus herself was placated with an apple and the Young Daring Do book, Twilight put her thoughts to the day’s events and how they went together in the grand scheme of things. This would doubtless be something the Princess brought up in her meeting with the Forecast Centre. Even if it was on a technicality, you didn’t just make a storm and leave it to somepony who wasn’t even supposed to be working to communicate it to the affected ponies. You had to organize it. Rainbow Dash may appear lazy from time to time, and leave all of her work to Icy Rain, but at least she talked to others and let them know what was going on.

She and Dinky tried practicing Share a few more times, but every time they’d be making progress another flash of lightning distracted both of them and they’d have to start over. The foal was doing rather well, all things considered. Her best transmitted image was upside down, and a little sketchy in places, but it was still a little more than you could expect from a pony her age in only her second lesson. This little pony was definitely going to be going places when she was older.

Thought journal, bookmarked entry; April CE 1001, 3:01PM

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Dinky could get a place at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. While she hasn’t found the specific area of magic that her special talent lies in, I have no doubt that she could find it there. Ditzy can definitely be proud of her as her

Please hold.

Something didn’t feel right, but Twilight couldn’t quite place it. No leg tremble. Spike hadn’t set fire to anything. The other ponies were occupied. And it wasn’t something in her gut, either, it was in her head. Sweep for nearby magical anomalies. Nothing. Everything was perfectly fine, and yet…

Okay, edit that out. Ditzy can definitely be proud of

“WHAT?!”

Twilight flinched, then risked opening one eye. Everypony was staring at Rainbow Dash, who was staring at the Daring Do book with her jaw practically on the floor.

“What was that for?” Rarity rubbed an ear in discomfort. “I’m sure you do have an indoor voice, Rainbow Dash.”

“That was louder than Twilight was just before the Crystal Empire thing,” Spike felt the need to add.

The pegasus picked the book back up and frantically flicked through the first third. “What? I, I don’t… what?! How can they do that?!”

False alarm, Rainbow Dash just found the book’s act two twist. I had the exact same reaction when I read it, too, and I had to go back and make sure it hadn’t just been a deus ex machina. Nope! The signs were all there but I’d just glossed over them without paying too much attention. I love it when books do that. It makes for great re-reading bonuses when you understand how the plot actually works.

Doubtless that’s going to happen with… okay, that’s not what this is about. Where was I? Oh dear. Right, ahem. DITZY CAN BE PROUD OF HER AS HER MOTHER. No interruptions? No interruptions, huzzah. Now, let’s rerail the train of thought. At her current rate of learning, it should only be a couple more lessons before she can Share on a 1:1 basis reliably, and then, maybe half a dozen more if she wants to broadcast to multiple ponies. I asked her a couple of minutes ago, and with the sage advice you can normally get from foals, she said she’d see when she got there.

Now that we’re done, I’ve dragged out my Star Swirl the Bearded costume from Nightmare Night last year, since she wanted to look at it. She went out as a firefighter then, but she wants to do something more magic related this year, so for something simple yet effective Rarity and I are going to try and make a little more accurate version of the Clover the Clever costume I wore in the Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant. I’m pulling out all the stops with this one, trying to find all the textual references to her dress. At that point if she doesn’t like it, well, Rarity can probably sort her out another costume and then I’ve got something to refer to when I do more research. Win-win.

This really is some storm they’ve got going outside. I’m getting the shive

Shivers. Not due to temperature, or nerves. That was a sign of surrounding magic beginning a peak. Twilight looked around. There still didn’t seem to be anything odd in the room. Neither Dinky nor Rarity were spellcasting, though if the shivers was due to them they would have needed to get themselves checked as soon as possible. No, this was something more. She cocked an ear downwards. It didn’t sound like the capacitors were overloaded, not that she thought lightning had hit the library at all. That would be harmless, but just very loud.

Another sweep for magical anomalies. Noth— no, wait, there was something that time. It was faint, but it was there. It was familiar somehow, but it wasn’t yet strong enough to be actually recognizable.

“What is it, Twilight?”

She was startled again by her #1 assistant walking up beside her. “Oh, don’t worry, Spike. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”

“Are you sure?” He was giving her The Look - the one he always put on when weird magical things were going on that he didn’t understand and that he was sure Twilight was playing down to make him feel better. As usual, he was correct. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn’t. Now was not one of those times.

In this case, though, it was just a little magical buildup. So what? Magical buildup happened all the time. Unicorns felt uncomfortable when they were going on, and true to that Rarity was looking a little ill at ease now, but it wasn’t harmful or anything. It only became dangerous when ponies set out to mess with it, and even then it would only leave them with a little magic fatigue and, hopefully, the will not to do it again. But Twilight knew better than that. She patted Spike on the back.

“Absolutely, one hundred percent—”

Then the first bolt of lightning hit the rods.

Lightning bolts were categorized using a number system, from 10 being the weakest to a 1 being the strongest. A Category 10 was the equivalent to being stung by a wasp; pegasus foals kicked them out of clouds all the time, while Categories 3 to 1 were reserved for high intensity storms and were forbidden in built up areas. A normal thunderstorm would have bolts ranging from 10 to about 5. The first bolt to hit must have been about a 9, on one of the outlying branches, but as the current ran down the conduits into the basement Twilight felt like a 6 had hit her directly on the horn.

“Ow!” Both hooves went up to a horn that was aching like crazy. Never before had a lightning storm elicited this reaction - they just weren’t magical, or at least, not unicorn magical, anyway, but there wasn’t much crossover between unicorn and pegasus magic, and Twilight was hoping desperately that running through the facts would distract from the experience. What didn’t help was realizing that what she was feeling was similar but not completely identical to the surge she’d experienced at Skyview Lake yesterday. She was not going to have a full-blown cascade here if she could help it. Not here, not now.

There was a clatter and series of thumps as everypony dropped what they’d been holding, and they each let out exclamations. When Twilight Sparkle had trouble with magic, you helped, you didn’t just stand back and wait for her to fix it. Even if you could only offer words of encouragement, that was better than nothing at all.

Before anypony could speak again, the second bolt hit another outlier, in the region of a 5, the hum from the basement became audible as the capacitors charged, and the intensity of the magical charge in the room spiked. This was exactly what the lightning rods were meant to prevent! If it was to get any worse…

“Dinky!” Twilight managed through gritted teeth. “Could you… go and get an ice pack… from the freezer, please?” She’d rather have the foal as far away as possible. “Everypony else… stand back!” She was going to have to cast something, anything, to stabilize the magic both inside her and in the tree. Burning it off was no longer an option, there was just far too much of it. What she needed was a spell to dump magic as quickly as possible. What spells did she know that took up a lot of magic?

Oh, hay no.

But she didn’t have much choice in the matter. If she didn’t do anything there was going to be a pretty significant explosion. Any moment now her magic was going to start misfiring and casting at random. She had to act. Now.

Of course she remembered the matrix. How could she forget it?

She screamed.

“PROPHETIA!”

A 3 hit the central lightning rod.

Everything went white.

10 - The Jump

At first, confusion reigned.

Against all odds, Twilight had been the first one to wake up, with a pounding headache and an initial fuzziness over what had happened. Library… storm… cascade… Prophetia. Yes, she’d cast it again. It seemed to have worked as a method for draining the magic, and the magic fatigue wasn’t quite as bad as last time, but… what was going to happen now? Did she have another prophecy to speak? There wasn’t anything gnawing at her mind like there had been with the first one. Or had she already spoken it, or written it down somewhere?

Around her, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Ditzy Doo and Spike were stirring and groaning. They looked okay, for an initial assessment. They probably had headaches but that would be much better than the alternative. Much, much worse had happened to them and they’d bounced right back.

“Urrgh,” Rarity offered eloquently, opening her eyes. “Oh my…”

“I never want to do that again,” Rainbow Dash muttered, sitting up and rubbing her nose. “What did you do, Twilight?”

To be completely honest, Twilight wasn’t sure. Last time Prophetia hadn’t knocked out Fluttershy and Spike, though last time it hadn’t been horrendously overcharged by a magical lightning storm. Nothing she remembered of the spell’s matrix regarded the involvement of other ponies, it was a solo cast, so… had there just been backlash? Had the sheer power of the spell simply triggered a shock wave?

She tried to explain it as best she could, between apologies, but it was somewhat lacking as even she didn’t know exactly what happened beyond casting the spell. It was difficult explaining the technical details to non-unicorns. Rarity could somewhat understand what she was talking about, and Spike was only paying attention because he’d been brought up listening to in-depth magical explanations, but Twilight was pretty sure everything she was saying was going in the ears of the pegasi and out the other. Rainbow Dash had a short attention span anyway. For Ditzy it was just completely irrelevant.

“Um, Twi…?” Spike tugged at her leg.

“Did I forget something, Spike?”

He looked around. “Where are we?”

Uh.

Sudden clarity was never a good thing. Well, sometimes it was, when you had an a-ha moment that tied everything together, but in this case, no, not really. She’d been so caught up in explaining, and before that the disorientation, that she hadn’t actually looked at her surroundings and just assumed she was still in the library. They weren’t. The inside of the tree had been replaced with a scuffed marble floor, dusty portraits of anonymous ponies, and decorations that actually wouldn’t have looked out of place in…

“We’re in Canterlot castle.”

The sheer incredulity of it was astounding. Prophetia was markedly not a teleport spell, as she’d already found out via the non-similarities in the weave of both, so how had casting it resulted in teleporting all five of them to Canterlot? A teleport miscast with such pinpoint accuracy was already improbable enough as it was. By all rights, just the teleport alone with all that magic should have slingshotted them around the moon - twice - and could have dropped them anywhere in the world from the Airsian mountains to the bottom of the Marelantic Ocean. But no. They had ended up in Canterlot.

Jury was still out on whether that was a good sign or not.

A few objects had been teleported too, a couple of books, Ditzy’s saddlebag, the Star Swirl costume, several loose sheets of paper, a pencil, basically anything that had been in a close enough proximity that hadn’t been nailed down. That was hardly worrying, though, she’d done that before too. On the other hoof there was no sign of Dinky, either, but, as Twilight reasoned to Ditzy, who was just about to start panicking, she had sent her to get a freezer pack from the kitchen, and thus was likely to be out of range of the teleport. She was sensible enough, and she’d be safe in the library until their return. Unsurprisingly this did little to calm Ditzy’s panic but it was better to have some reassurance than none at all.

Judging from the state of the decor, the amount of dust over the floor and on the portraits, this was one of the many unused corridors in the castle. It was a big castle, Princess Celestia had told her once, and it would be unreasonable to expect every single inch of it to be kept spotless at all times. Guards would patrol the unused areas occasionally, and sometimes it would be permitted for amateur spelunkers to go exploring and for historians to examine the architecture (accompanied, of course). Here, though, it didn’t look like anypony had been through for quite some time. Hopefully that didn’t mean it was one of the restricted areas of the castle.

With the way Twilight’s luck was going, that was probably going to end up being the case.

“Can’t you just teleport us back or something?” Rainbow Dash asked, earning the same micro-lecture about magic cooldowns that Pinkie Pie had gotten yesterday. She seemed to understand that. “Oh, it’s like long distance flying when you’re not built for it. I get it.” That wasn’t quite how it worked, but Twilight wasn’t going to waste time being pedantic about it now.

Priorities: Getting back to Ponyville and, should the opportunity arise, a slight detour to talk with Princess Celestia. Not if that involved going out of their way, though. If that was the case, Twilight could flag down a guard and ask them to take a message to her, no problem. There was a train journey of a few hours in between the city and the town, that would be anxious, but maybe the storm would have finished by then. If not, well, the stationmaster was always willing to accommodate travelers in the waiting room. Twilight could teleport from there to the library, hopefully, and make sure Dinky was okay. Assuming she felt confident in manually teleporting again.

All of that required getting bearings, and Twilight didn’t recognize this corridor, or at least, nothing that would separate it from any of the other anonymous corridors. She was spending a lot of time lost lately, she realized. Hoofington, the mine, Earthen Forest, now Canterlot castle. This fourth occasion was by far the most irritating, as she ought to know where she was but didn’t. They would just have to start walking and hope they came across either a public area or a guard who could direct them. Ditzy was equipped with her saddlebag, the loose books were stored inside, the Star Swirl costume was folded as much as possible, Spike gathered up the miscellany, and after a brief argument on which way to go, they departed.

“I can’t say much for the decor here,” Rarity commented, alternating glances between the uncarpeted floor which clacked under their hooves and the completely unlabelled paintings. “It could do with a little maintenance.”

“Try a lot,” was Rainbow Dash’s retort. “Even the dungeons look swankier than this place.”

What? Twilight turned her head back to look at the pegasus. “You’ve been in the dungeons? Why?”

She got a hoof wave in return. “School trip from Junior Speedsters for no reason at all. I only really remember it ‘cause Gilda—” Rainbow suddenly realized what she’d been about to say and clamped her mouth shut. “Okay, nevermind.”

Nopony pursued the matter; it had been just a few months short of a year since Rainbow had fallen out with her griffon friend and it was still a sore subject with her. She was right, though. The dungeons were more like a learning space now for school trips from outside of Canterlot, and to Twilight’s memory were indeed better maintained than this corridor looked. There was a door coming up on their left; it was locked, but from its basic design was probably only a small unimportant room.

“Hey, Twilight!” Spike jumped up onto the unicorn’s back. “You think on our way past to the train station we can call in at Joe’s?”

“Only if you’re quick, Spike.” If Joe’s donut shop was anywhere other than on the Broadway, Canterlot’s main thoroughfare, then she would have said no outright.

“Oh, I’ll be quick, alright. I know exactly what I want.” The baby dragon licked his lips. “Hazelnut chocolate donut with ultra sprinkles. I wonder if Dinky would want one?” He turned to look back at Ditzy. “Hmm?”

Ditzy blinked back. “We don’t like donuts.”

For some reason Spike classed this as a ‘wrong’ answer. “What? How can you not like donuts?!”

“Probably the same reason you don’t like tourmalines, Spike.”

“Tourmalines make me feel sick.”

“There you go.” Another door, also locked. “Keep in mind we’ll be looking to get the first train back to Ponyville that we can.”

“Tell you what, Spike,” Rainbow Dash put in, “Soon as we get out of here we’ll zoom straight there and buy stuff, and meet these guys back at the station. Deal?”

“Deal!” Spike’s face immediately fell. “I didn’t have any bits on me when we teleported.”

“Darn, me neither!”

That… was a very good point, actually. No money for train tickets. Maybe they would have to detour to see Princess Celestia after all, much as Twilight disliked having to borrow bits from her. That was mainly because the Princess always insisted that her student needn’t pay it back, and Twilight always tried to pay it back as soon as was possible. She wasn’t a moocher. She pointed this out to the others.

“I got bits in my bag!” Ditzy beamed, then her face fell immediately. “Not that much though… Maybe twenty?”

Single ticket from Canterlot to Ponyville via the Friendship Express was eight bits, so the money that Ditzy had on her would only be enough to get two ponies back to the town. If Princess Celestia was unable to give them passage home, perhaps she would instead be willing to house three of them in the castle while two of them went back, and then one came back again with the money to get the others tickets. It was complicated, but you had to deal with that if you wanted to run the logistics favorably. If that was the case then Ditzy was definitely one of the ponies who should go down the first time.

If it were to come to that, of course. It shouldn’t, but there wasn’t any harm preparing for any eventuality.

The corridor ended in a door that looked more promising than the previous two had, and bore the iteration of the Equestrian Royal Emblem that adorned a more familiar part of the castle. To everypony’s relief, this one wasn’t locked, and creaked open with the tone of a door that hadn’t been oiled for a long time. Beyond was another corridor, although this time brighter, cleaner, and with large windows that looked out towards the north west of Equestria. Twilight closed her eyes, and exhaled. This was familiar territory. She knew where she was, and more importantly, where the exit was.

“It’s this way,” she explained, leading the group down to the left. “We should be able to exit through the Meditation Chamber.”

“That sounds divine.” Rarity was visibly relaxing already. “Have you been there before, Twilight?”

Twilight nodded. “A few times. Princess Celestia always used to bring me to the Chamber whenever I was practicing a spell that needed my complete concentration. It’s just through that door up ahead.”

“Oh! You mean where that pony is?”

What? Twilight did a double-take. Ditzy was right, there was a cloaked and hooded pony beyond the doorway to the Meditation Chamber, doing something to the weird sandstone slab that she’d never worked out why it was there. There was the slight glow that indicated a spell at work. Couldn’t be a staff member cleaning, why the manner of dress?

“Excuse me!”

She wasn’t sure what exactly happened next. She’d been trotting forwards to greet the pony, and then… the pony had thrown the cloak in her face as soon as she’d stepped into the doorway? By the time she and Spike had untangled themselves the pony was gone, and there was the tell-tale click of the other door, the one that led out towards the exit, locking. What gave?!

“How rude!” Rarity exclaimed, taking the cloak at magic’s length and folding it up. “That was entirely uncalled for!”

All of Twilight’s strength couldn’t push open the door, even with the assistance of Rainbow Dash; and this was Canterlot castle, the locks were specifically made to be magic-resistant, even if she knew a lock-picking spell in the first place. The bolted doors weren’t much better, they were enchanted so they couldn’t be magicked open from the wrong side. No good. They were stuck for now, until the next guard came through to patrol in, uh, hold on, castle west side, lower outside corridor… maximum of twenty minutes. Wonderful. Well, could’ve been worse, they could have been trapped in that unused corridor. She explained this out loud, to Rainbow’s annoyance, Rarity’s displeasure and Ditzy’s agitation.

“Spike, what do you think?”

“Uh…”

“Spike?” There was no reply from the dragon. Twilight turned back around to face him, saw what he was looking at, and yelped in surprise. “Ah!”

This was not how she remembered the Meditation Chamber.

What she did remember of it she remembered well. Sitting on the cushions, listening to the pool, working on multitasking levitation. Standing at the windows, looking out, Princess Celestia pointing to all the visible landmarks. At one point, even, looking out through the torus skylight wondering about the Mare in the Moon. You couldn’t really forget it.

Now, the room was ablaze with color, beautifully rendered stained glass filling each of the windows and the eastern half of the skylight. The eastern wall below that bore a sparkling mural of a starscape, an ambient magic bringing the twinkle of each star to life. In the centre of the room, most striking, was a shining bronze mechanism that could only be the telescope from under the mountain yesterday, or at least, a restored version of, a neatly cut crystal suspended in magic above it. As a whole, the chamber practically screamed ‘Princess Luna’. Was this what she had been doing the previous night?

Rarity was beaming, and turning over and over to try and take everything in. “It certainly is magnificent. Why didn’t you mention this place before, Twilight? I would have loved to come here and get inspiration!”

“It is pretty,” added Ditzy, who wasn’t quite willing to let the spectacle wipe away her concern for her daughter. That still didn’t stop her from gravitating towards the telescope with the intent to fiddle, though. “What’s this thing?”

“Ah… ah… that’s…” Before Twilight could find her voice the mailmare had already pushed her face up against the eyepiece. “That’s a—”

“Telescope!”

“…belonging to Princess Luna,” she finished lamely.

“It’s not working.”

“It’s daytime, Derpy,” Rainbow Dash pointed out, rolling her eyes, earning herself a glare from the two unicorns for the use of the nickname. “You’re not gonna see anything.”

“Oh yeah.”

By now, Rarity had noticed the confusion that was plastered all over the faces of her non-pegasus friends. “Twilight, Spike, is something the matter?”

Twilight couldn’t come up with anything to say, but she didn’t have to because Spike got there first. “It wasn’t like this when we were last here,” he said, looking around. “Or at least when I was last here.”

“Me neither,” Twilight admitted. “Though it has been quite a while since then. I don’t think we’ve been here since before we moved to Ponyville, and it’s possible that Princess Celestia had it restored for her sister. She told me once that traditionally this room had always had stained glass windows, even before Nightmare Moon, but they were constantly getting broken by accident so she just stopped replacing them a little before I became her student.”

“Fascinating, and a shame.” Of course Rarity would think that; she was a big fan of stained glass windows but being a designer was well aware of how complicated they were to make and maintain. “Though it seems she has changed her mind, and what a brilliant designer she commissioned too. They are gorgeous, stunning, and—”

A grey head poked out from behind the telescope. “Hey, that one looks like you!”

“What?!”

Oh no… Twilight winced. The number of stained glass windows in the castle featuring the six of them as the bearers of the Elements of Harmony was starting to get out of control. Yes, they’d freed Princess Luna from Nightmare Moon, they’d defeated Discord, they’d proved instrumental in the defeats of Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra (in the latter case, Spike bragged about it every chance he got), and she had mused to herself in Hoofington only the previous week that nopony seemed to notice anything different, but there was recognition and there was too much recognition. Putting the six of them in windows was just an ‘in’ thing for windows in the castle, apparently.

Yes, that window featured Rarity and her cutie mark, the two to its left Applejack and Pinkie Pie, the two to its right Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Twilight’s cutie mark featured prominently on the stained-glass half of the skylight. On top of that Rainbow’s depicted a sonic rainboom as best as stained glass could. Yet another monument to their accomplishments. It did somewhat detract from the base tranquility of the room, but ponies could get used to it, Twilight supposed.

She also rather wished Ditzy and Rainbow would stop climbing all over the telescope and swiveling it around before they broke it and had to face an angry moon princess.

“If there is one thing I must critique,” the fashionista wasn’t yet finished, “It is… this thing.” She gestured to the sandstone slab. “It is rather out of keeping with the rest of the chamber and somewhat spoils the atmosphere.”

“Oh, that thing’s been there forever,” Spike said, wandering over to it. “I think I tried to eat it once.”

Twilight, in spite of herself, giggled. “You were a growing dragon, Spike.” She’d asked the Princess about the slab a few times, but her teacher had always denied knowledge of its true meaning. There had once though been a very informative lesson about cursive carving done, and she’d learned about the technique of charcoal rubbing. She still sort of remembered the words written on it. “So when the day dawns on the great spark’s morn, the past will rise with a thousand eyes,” she recited, eyes closed, trying to grasp the memory. “When the chime is heard, fourth before third, do not put all of your faith in the star-shine that shows you everything.”

“Hey,” put in Rainbow Dash from the other side of the room, “Was that another prophecy or something?”

“It…” Twilight blinked. “It could be, I suppose.” The format definitely fit, though clearly she wasn’t responsible for it. Did that mean… she walked over to behind Spike to get a good look at it. Had this slab been inscribed by da Colton? A chill ran down her spine. Everything returns to the same point… Then she looked further down, and gasped.

“What?” Spike looked up at her gaping mouth, then back at the slab. “What’s the matter?”

What was the matter was there was more. Beyond the part she remembered, there was another verse, in almost the same old Equestrian script. “Spike, get out that paper and pencil and write this down, please?” She squinted, trying to translate it. “Though the mage opens the life-bearer’s vault, the magic unleashed will not be her fault. The circle be writ, six into three split, Cross the city of nine thousand… no, mistranslation, nine hundred and ninety.”

No sooner had she finished than something happened; Ditzy leaned on a catch on the telescope and the exit lens dropped with a loud clank. Everypony flinched.

“Derpy!”

“Sorry…”

Hoping desperately that it wasn’t broken - again - Twilight cracked open an eye. It didn’t look broken, aside from the fact the lens was now no longer pointing up at the sky (thank goodness for that, she thought it had fallen off). Instead it was just pointing through the Applejack window. Odd. From the looks of the spherical telescope body itself, it was intentionally designed that way, but why would Princess Luna have a telescope that looked at the land…?

Ditzy peered through it again. “Hey, I can see Ponyville! The storm’s gone!”

Twilight’s gaze shot back towards the Applejack window, then back to the telescope, trying to work out exactly where the lens was pointing. There was a circle of clear glass incorporated into the design and… yes, ignoring the complaints from the pegasi behind her, Ponyville was just about visible in the distance. Doubly weird. The telescope pre-dated Ponyville’s founding by several centuries, if Princess Luna had had it prior to her banishment. There wouldn’t have been anything there but a lake.

And yes, the storm was gone, the skies over Ponyville were clear. Something wasn’t sitting right, but… before Twilight could run with the train of thought she was interrupted by the sound of the telescope swiveling again, and another clank as it locked into position lined up with a similar clear glass circle in the Pinkie Pie window. Now it was Rainbow’s turn to push in front of the eyepiece. “This one totally looks like that cake Pinkie Pie made of her farm!”

Her turn didn’t last long before Twilight knocked her out of the way in a mad dash to see for herself. Yes, that was definitely the Pie family rock farm, which she wouldn’t have thought existed a thousand years ago… Pinkie Pie, rock farm. She swiveled right. Applejack, Ponyville. Right again. Rarity, the mountain ridges just east of Colton. Rainbow Dash… nothing in particular. Fluttershy, Earthen Forest. And… she found a clamp on the side of the telescope and released it, allowing her to swing it around almost a hundred and eighty degrees to line up with her cutie mark in the skylight. Perfectly framed was the tower in which she’d taken the entrance examination for the School for Gifted Unicorns.

“It’s our cutie marks,” she realized out loud, stepping back, eyes wide.

“Beg pardon?” said Rarity.

“It’s our cutie marks,” Twilight repeated. “You know, when Rainbow Dash did her sonic rainboom eleven years ago?”

“Heck yeah!” shouted Rainbow.

It had been a real shock when they’d all realized it, that all six of their destinies had been tied to their differing viewpoints on the same event. One sonic rainboom, directly responsible for one cutie mark and indirectly responsible for five others. Twilight had done the research afterwards and found that while some minor events had been the cause of two or three cutie mark appearances, nothing, not even the original sonic rainboom that had kicked off the myth, had caused six to appear. And that wasn’t even taking into account that all six of them had been in Ponyville, in the town hall ten years later when Nightmare Moon was released.

Princess Luna’s telescope from a thousand years prior to that could gaze upon the spots tied to their destinies. It was vastly improbable, but…

She took another look out of the circle towards Ponyville, ignoring Ditzy, Rainbow and Spike arguing over whose turn it was to look through the telescope next. No, there was something wrong, she could tell, but what was it? The storm was gone, how long had they been unconscious in the castle corridor? It had been shortly after 3PM when the lightning had struck. Her body clock was telling her not that long had passed, but the storm wasn’t just gone, there was no trace of it, and the shadows in the valley… the shadows…

“No, no, nonononono…” she muttered, scooting back from the window. “Something’s wrong. Something’s very wrong.”

Rarity put a hoof on her shoulder. “Twilight?”

The lavender unicorn pointed. “The shadows, outside.”

“What’s wrong with them?” Rainbow asked, leaning around the telescope, Ditzy having won control over it, and for no apparent reason had set it back to look through the westwards skylight.

“It’s mid-morning.”

“What?”

Twilight paced around the room, trying to ease her nerves. It wasn’t working. “There’s something I’m missing…” she muttered, sitting down beneath her cutie mark, Rarity trotting nearer. “It’s something obvious, right in front of my face, but I can’t see it.” Prophetia had overcharged into a teleport spell that hadn’t used up nearly enough magic. If that was the case, and the teleport had only partially drained it… what had she cast instead?!

She got her answer moments later.

BANG.

She knew that sound…

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash knocked Ditzy out of the way, and she nearly landed on Rarity. “That was…”

Rainbow hit the catch. The lens dropped.

“To look upon the rainbow band.”

“That’s my sonic rainboom!”

“Whaaaaat?!”

“Friends around see shock indeed.”

“Twilight, stop doing that!”

Everything seemed to slow down, and it felt to Twilight like she’d just ingested a gallon of Phruit Phizz. Of course there was only one possible explanation. It couldn’t be anything else. But… she just didn’t want to admit it. She didn’t want to admit that she’d been responsible for… she had to.

“We’ve gone back in time.”

Spike looked back from the window. “You mean like last time?”

“Last time was barely a week, Spike! We’ve gone back eleven years!”

“Wait, so…” Rainbow squinted through the telescope again. “That’s me, doing the sonic rainboom that got us our cutie marks?”

“May 21st, 990, half past ten in the morning.” Everything was adding up, now she knew what spell Prophetia had shared traits with. It could only have been the time-travel spell she’d gotten from the Star Swirl the Bearded Section of the Canterlot Archives, the one with which she’d perpetuated a stable loop. Why hadn’t she seen that before? Casting a prophecy would just be like bringing the future to you - or the past as it turned out - and expressing that through words! Add in a teleport spell, and… well… you stepped over the gap while it was small.

She had to assume a similar thing had happened ‘yesterday’. So she’d time traveled to this day again, there’d been the sonic rainboom, what had happened next? Oh…

“Twilight, you’ve gone as white as a sheet!” Rarity exclaimed.

“I… That means I’m about to…”

Crrkk.

As one pony, the four ponies and dragon turned to look up at the fracture lines spreading across the skylight. What was coming next… was the second explosion.

“The symbol of magic will shatter.”

Twilight had always known something serious had happened after the outburst which gained her her cutie mark. Princess Celestia described it as an ‘Interruption’ - the sheer magnitude of the magic explosion had interrupted every single spellcast-in-progress across the city. Thankfully, there had been no permanent damage. Sure, there’d been a fair number of windows blown out, and a record number of patients at Canterlot General Hospital with headaches, and the badly built weather patrol building had collapsed, but nothing really that serious. A few days following there were no lasting injuries, and the Princess was already personally leading the reglazing effort. Arguably the most serious thing to have happened to ponies had been the temporary transfiguration of her own parents into potted plants, which was fairly embarrassing but at the day’s end they barely remembered it.

All that magic had to go somewhere.

Time seemed to go even slower as the skylight blew in, and Twilight was thrown backwards. Everything that wasn’t being held onto tightly went flying. Spike had made it back across the room, and was clinging on to one of Rarity’s forelegs. Rainbow Dash and Ditzy Doo had gone the other way. The saddlebag with the books in it came sailing past, and out of compulsion Twilight grabbed for it with her forelegs. She felt like she needed something to hold on to. She didn’t quite hit the telescope with the force she expected, but she still bounced up and over the top of it. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the crystal wobble as the magic keeping it suspended was disrupted, and it…

Again, she didn’t know why she did it, but she swung the saddlebag and caught it.

This, as it turned out, was a mistake.

Afterwards she recalled an almost-forgotten memory, of striding happily alongside the Princess on her way into her first lesson a few days after the explosion, and overhearing a couple of the guards talking about the ‘third’ blast that had come from the ‘telescope room’. Of course, the first time she’d entered the Meditation Chamber, it had no telescope, and so she’d never made the connection. She’d simply guessed it was something else blowing up because of her magical incontinence, apologized (even though Princess Celestia insisted there was nothing to apologize for) and thought nothing more of it.

As soon as she’d linked physical contact with the crystal, she could feel magic pulsing from it, and realized too late that it was actually a charm crystal, similar to the Alicorn Amulet she’d read about in da Colton’s workbook the week before. What connection it had with the telescope was unclear, whether it had something to do with powering the internal mechanics or the star map on the back wall, but it was full to the brim with magical energy, waiting to be released. In difference to the Amulet, though, which was stated in the book ‘corrupted’ its user, Twilight instantly felt as if she’d taken a very comfortable nap, gotten an entire body massage and a very relaxing bath.

On the other hoof it triggered that third explosion.

All of the remaining windows in the room blew out. Once more Twilight’s horn was red hot, despite the soothing from the charm still being present, except this time she couldn’t just ride it out. She needed to cast something. Perhaps more importantly, she needed to get herself and her friends out of the past. If she tried teleporting now… would it cast the time traveling spell again? Or would she need to cast Prophetia for a third time, and risk digging the hole even deeper?

Snap decision!

Teleport, you’re up! Twilight put all of her concentration into casting it. Base spell. Loops around her four friends… She’d barely completed the weave when the charm opened up again, compounding the effect of both of the magical explosions, and pouring power into the spell. Just how much did that thing have?! A lot more than her friends were going to come along for the ride…

The bell on top of the telescope rang with a light chime.

And before the unicorn had even hit the floor, they were gone.

Teleporting should have been instantaneous. That counted for the time travel spell as well. So when Twilight forced her eyes open to the rushing streams of the ether, she knew she was in a lot more trouble than she thought.

Around her, she could feel her spell destabilizing. She had to concentrate! April 19, 1001. April 19, 1001. Ponyville library. Just getting them back to the right place and date would be enough, the details of hiding from their past selves would be easy enough to coordinate. Her friends weren’t visible, but she could feel the presence of Spike, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Ditzy Doo in the spell with her; they wouldn’t even know this was happening. They were counting on her to get them back to where they belonged. This was her doing, and she was going to get them safely home.

April 19, 1001. Ponyville library.

April 19, 1001. Ponyville library.

April 19, 1001. Ponyville library. At the edge of her senses, an opening. Mentally, she pushed her friends forwards. They were there.

…six into three split, Cross the city of nine hundred and ninety…

Oh no.

Just that one moment of distraction threw the entire spell off. Her friends shot off in the direction she’d been pushing them, towards the library, and she was knocked into an entirely different direction. Moments later she was knocked again by the telescope, ripped from its mountings, absorbing teleportation magic like a sponge. Guess that explained where the extra energy had come from before… A pulse ran through her as her friends left the spell, and she hoped for all their sakes that she’d been successful. If she hadn’t, she’d never find them again. A second pulse indicated the departure of the telescope to that bubble of air underneath Canterlot mountain.

They’ve left the spell. Stop thinking about them and start thinking about yourself!

She closed her eyes again and concentrated once more on the library in April. Relax. She was a perfectly capable student of Princess Celestia, and she was not going to be defeated by a spell of her own doing. Breathe in, breathe out (even though she was in the ether so breathing was an impossibility and entirely unnecessary). Focus. See the library. See your friends. There. Reach out, and finish the spell.

Bamf.

No!

She’d been there, and it had been wrenched away from her! What was going on?! Wait… a new presence had joined her mid-teleport. Setting aside all the rules of teleporting that broke, who was it?! Had a pony teleported into her teleport?!

She soon got an answer, along with a mouth full of gravel.

“What did you do to the Great and Powerful Trixie’s teleport, Twilight Sparkle?!”

Author's Note

This chapter was written before the teleport issues in All Bottled Up, but I have addressed this at the beginning of the next chapter.

11 - The Moonlight

“The Great and Powerful Trixie demands an answer!”

‘To look upon the rainbow band’: PASSED; Rainbow Dash looking on her own sonic rainboom with Princess Luna’s telescope, while we were back in time. …Going to have to get used to thinking about that…

‘The final pillar cannot stand’: PASSED; A sonic rainboom knocked the last pillar of an Earth City promenade into Skyview Lake. (Will have to follow up on this; when a pegasus kicked it, it showed no signs of moving whatsoever, yet the windrush and tremor from a sonic rainboom did; was that really all it took?) This seems to have occurred on May 21st 990 rather than April 18th 1001 as previously assumed.

It was sometime in the early evening; Princess Celestia hadn’t yet lowered the sun completely but it was showing signs of descent. The two unicorns, along with some of the minor miscellany from the Meditation Chamber, had landed on a road through a small forest somewhere, making it impossible to see any landmarks without climbing up a tree. That was one thing Twilight was not willing to do, seeing as a) she’d been moments away from collapsing from magic fatigue, and b) the last time she’d been up a tree it had taken Fluttershy the best part of half an hour to coax her down again. Trixie, who was sans cloak and hat and starting to sound like a broken record, had been repeatedly demanding answers in between refusing to be seen by anypony performing the demeaning act of scaling the environment. So Twilight had just picked a direction and started walking. After a few moments of spluttering Trixie had followed her.

“Are you listening to Trixie?!”

‘Friends around see shock indeed’: PASSED; Myself, Rarity and Ditzy Doo reacting to the revelation about the sonic rainboom in line one re time travel.

‘She will sink into the deep’: PASSED; Not Applejack as initially feared, but an unknown pegasus who was knocked unconscious by the falling pillar in the second line and sank into Skyview Lake. This also apparently happened in May 990 which means that the pegasus got admitted to Canterlot General then? Princess Celestia might have trouble finding her, actually, seeing as the hospital was inundated with ponies with headaches after the explosions. In fact, she’s probably already recovered and been discharged, so…

She was taking the time to update her thought-journal. It was helping her to concentrate over the sound of Trixie complaining behind her. The assumption - she stressed assumption because the other unicorn refused to tell her anything - was that Trixie had had her own run-in with the Prophetia/teleport combination and had simply collided with Twilight mid-spell. Simply, of course, being an operative word; there might have been a precedent for two teleports intersecting with each other but she couldn’t remember reading about it anywhere. It wasn’t exactly a common situation.

Actually, the more Trixie had protested about it, the more Twilight suspected that she hadn’t even intended for it to be a teleport in the first place.

“Aargh!”

‘The symbol of magic will shatter’: PASSED; This was my cutie mark in stained glass on the Meditation Chamber skylight being fractured before my past self’s explosion while we were back in time. I guess I’ve always been responsible for that room’s not being decorated as it was, and the telescope’s being underground. Still trying to weigh up telling Princess Celestia about this whole ordeal vs Princess Luna’s disapproval at vandalizing her property. It really has hit home that one of the few things that she would have owned from a thousand years ago was destroyed, or rather removed, ten years before she came back to the world.

‘The city by power be battered’: Not actually passed, I didn’t say it out loud, but given everything else I’d say it’s safe to assume (it’s never safe to assume) that the ‘flash’ was actually the previously mentioned magical explosion going off in the university tower of Canterlot castle. That certainly battered the city with power, even if it was mostly harmless.

Right now the key thing was Twilight didn’t know was where she and her companion (for want of a vastly more appropriate word) were, and slightly more important than that, when they were. They could be where they should be in 1001, just really off-target, but they could just as easily be anywhen else. Time travel needed a whole new dictionary to be understood properly. First step was of course finding a landmark. It would be much easier to determine the where first and then move onto the when, unless of course the landmark bore features that didn’t exist in the present day. Then it would be really easy.

‘Easy’ was of course not taking Trixie into account who, for all the talk about getting caught by nonexistent passers-by doing the embarrassing act of climbing a tree, was perfectly content with throwing a tantrum.

‘Upon the surface last signs float’: PASSED; Fluttershy was wearing Applejack’s hat when she dived into Skyview Lake to save the unknown pegasus. Also took place in the past.

Addendums to notes on Trixie’s prophecy: Fluttershy holding Applejack’s hat took place in the same 990 CE time period. For much of the rest I can’t say, though going by the significance of the event v already established prophecy moments, it’s very likely that the bolt of lightning hitting the library is the same one which hit just as I cast Prophetia. I don’t think that can have been deliberate. When I get back - if I do ever get back - I’ll try talking to Snow Veil to see what happened, and get her side of the story.

…This is going to need some revision… Okay. I have some notes.

First point is the painting that got sent to Rainbow Dash. Time was compressed a little but it must have been the 990 CE rainboom, with my explosion going on over Canterlot in the background. Only unicorns would have been sensitive enough to that type of magic to see it, and basically everypony who did see it got headaches, so… more confirmation that it was da Colton, I guess? I still have to do some research to see if I can find out where it came from and why exactly it got sent to Rainbow Dash. It might just turn out that the Princess was right, that it was just an anonymous donor who just figured out where Rainbow Dash lived, but surely it can’t hurt to know.

Thinking about it, that’s the second item of da Colton’s that has turned up in an unexpected place so long after he lived, the first being his workbook. Is this going to become a trend? Are loads of missing da Colton works going to start showing up? If I remember correctly, a number of destroyed works were found in his workshop once the Great Fire had been extinguished, and he had a track record of keeping paintings hidden for months before allowing them to be viewed. It’s very possible that some items survived but were never revealed publicly.

“Do you feel sorry for yourself, Twilight Sparkle?!”

“Sorry, what was that?”

Trixie turned a peculiar shade of purple. “Were you not even listening to Trixie’s tale of woe and despair?!”

Sighing, Twilight stopped and rubbed her nose. “Look, Trixie, I’ve got a lot more to be concerned about than just you at the moment.”

“Name one thing that is more important right now.”

“Oh, I don’t know, making sure that we’re not stranded in the past?!” That shut her up. “As much as I’m sure that you’ve… ‘suffered’ since the Ursa Minor, the more pressing issue is a result of the spell which I cast, yes, maybe a little foolishly but with no malicious intention when I discovered something new, and which you then stole and cast and the result is that we are now possibly stuck in a completely different timeframe than the one we each intended to teleport from!” Twilight paused for breath. “So please excuse me while I ignore your complaining so I can gather my thoughts and try to nail down the exact way things went wrong and how to fix them!”

Ah… blissful silence.

For a few moments, anyway.

“What do you mean, the past?!” Trixie galloped forwards to keep up. “Your meddling with time travel has gotten us stuck in the past?!”

“Maybe! I don’t know yet! I was inside a destabilizing teleport which was supercharged with a time travel spell and then you crashed into me!”

“Oh, so now it’s about me, when it comes time to apportion the blame?!”

“You know that’s not what I meant!” Twilight inhaled, then exhaled slowly. She didn’t want to lose her cool. “Given how much power went into it… we could have ended up anywhere.”

“How much power?” Trixie asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

Twilight responded after a moment to do the math. “Part of an explosion went in, then all of the energy from a magical charm, minus the amount it took for my own explosion. Then a teleport which fell apart, my friends went one way, a bit of the scenery went another, and then there was probably some burnout from the collision.” She blinked. “Actually, there might not have been as much as I thought, in the end. I thought we would have been lucky not to end up back before Nightmare Moon was banished.”

“That much?” The other unicorn muttered something under her breath. “Very well, the Great and Powerful Trixie accepts your proposal to assume all responsibility for this event.”

“What?”

“She can tell by your aura that you are clearly magic fatigued, so she will stop making a deal of it until you are able to get her out of this mess. Trixie is also fatigued, and as much as she doesn’t care to admit it she will need to wait for it to pass before she can even think about solving it herself. Until then, she is relying on you, Twilight Sparkle, not to screw up and make things even worse.”

Well… she was right, Twilight guessed. Even if it wasn’t one of those struggles which ended over laughs and a new friendship, if they were in the past - or even in the future - she owed it to her to get her back. It had been Twilight’s fault that the time travel spell was involved, after all. Trixie had stolen the book with Prophetia in, and it may have shared a couple of traits with the time travel spell, but not having the same level of access to the Canterlot Archives she wouldn’t have known that.

“I’m sure it’s not going to be that bad,” she said, to a huff from Trixie. “You never know, you might have knocked the time travel component out of the spell completely.”

“Any magic kindergartner could tell you that spells do not work that way, and it pains the Great and Powerful Trixie, a magician of humble origins, to have to say this to a pony who allegedly spent time learning from Princess Celestia.”

“Spells break the rules sometimes!” Trixie was probably right there, though. Still…

The sun was almost set now, and the shadows from the trees crossed the road right to left, so apparently they were heading south. Any moment now, Princess Luna would raise the moon, and it would get darker still for two unicorns who probably couldn’t sustain a light spell for very long. Hopefully they’d reach a settlement—

Ah, speaking of. At last, as they crested a ridge, a town appeared below them. Civilization. There was a train station too, so easy passage anywhere in Equestria if necessary. In fact… Twilight squinted, and could make out a familiar building in the town’s centre.

“Hoofington!”

Trixie’s face had broken out into a grimace. “Joy.”

That was an odd reaction. “Isn’t this your hometown?”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie reserves the right to not answer any of your irrelevant questions.”

“No, Trixie, I know it’s your hometown, Mrs Fairy Cake told me. Did something happen here?”

“Trixie refuses to tell you!”

“Okay, fine.” Twilight scanned the town. Nothing looked much different from her visit here the previous week, at least from this distance. What she needed now was a more, um, informed opinion, and the only way she was going to get there was by pandering. “Speaking as a long-time Hoofington resident,” she said, raising her eyebrows, “does the Great and Powerful Trixie see anything that would indicate the year?”

The returned glare was ice cold. The other unicorn knew exactly what she was trying. It still worked, though. “Trixie supposes she will be gracious enough to answer questions that the student of a Princess is uninformed enough not to know the answers to.” She put a hoof above her eyes and squinted, making a few ‘hmm’ noises as she did so.

“Anything?”

“Shush!”

“Sorry.”

After a few moments more squinting, Trixie gave up, sighed, rolled her eyes, did a double take, and pointed upwards. “Will that finally answer your inane questioning?”

Twilight followed where her hoof was pointing, took a moment to register, and groaned loudly. “You have got to be kidding me,” she muttered into both hooves, before looking back up again. The Mare in the Moon stared back down at her. “Yep… that’ll do it.”

Trixie stared at her. “You expect Trixie to wear this,” she said bluntly.

“It’s the only other thing I’ve got, and we cannot be walking around in the past undisguised.”

“You call that thing a disguise?”

Jangle jangle. “It’s not the best as disguises but you can’t tell it’s me.”

“Trixie will admit that her eyes are inevitably drawn away from your face.”

Come on… the Star Swirl the Bearded costume wasn’t that bad, was it? Yes, it was jangling a bit, Twilight had removed as many of the bells as she could without permanently damaging it, but it was still a functional piece of clothing. She would have thought Trixie would prefer the simple brown hooded cloak that the pony had left behind in the Meditation Chamber. It wasn’t her usual cape and hat, but that really couldn’t be seen walking around Hoofington right now. Playing it safe was the best bet.

While walking around in an inhabited area in the past probably wasn’t the best idea in the book, they really didn’t have a choice in the matter. Even at this point it was a total unknown how long their magic was going to take to recharge, and they were going to need food and shelter. The twenty bits in Ditzy’s saddlebag should be enough to last them, and then Twilight could repay it when they next met. Hopefully Trixie could keep her loud voice under control until then.

Right now, though, she was still showing her displeasure with the cloak.

“Even if you do expect her to wear this and disguise herself, Trixie cannot wear a cloak without a fastener.” She held up the neck, which conspicuously lacked a pin or clasp. Twilight hadn’t actually noticed that. “Trixie wishes she had her own cape because unlike you she knows how clothes work.”

The lavender unicorn was about to pop a vein. “Okay, you want something to hold it together with? Find a stick or something and use… this…?”

She trailed off, in the process of lifting the charm crystal out of the saddlebag. Only now did she actually look closely at it.

It was a dead ringer for the clasp on Trixie’s cloak.

Oh boy, that pulled up a few questions. Obviously this couldn’t be Trixie’s actual clasp, because that was sitting, presumably in a stage wagon, somewhere in the future. So, what, a lookalike? Had her clasp been made to look like this? Or was it a complete coincidence? Either way, she would have had reservations about giving a very powerful charm crystal to a pony like her, but as it turned out, she had no worries. It was immensely powerful, yes, but that power wasn’t endless. What she held in her magic was an octagonal prism, nothing more, completely lifeless. Everything must have been used up… it had probably kept the ether from collapsing in on her as she traveled. Dead as a doornail.

“I… but, that’s…” Trixie shook her head, and snatched it from her. “Nevermind. Trixie will make do.”

Trixie’s prophecy - clasp being taken from saddlebag - PASSED; Not actually Trixie’s cloak clasp, but a drained magic charm from the Meditation Chamber. Extra extra extra important note to research crystal charms, see if I can identify it.

Now, the exact date was going to be difficult to nail down until they could find either another pony or a newspaper, but Twilight was running on a hunch that it was still 990. If it wasn’t, well, at least their disguises wouldn’t look too anachronistic. Plain cloaks were universal, and gaudy cloaks were more popular than might first be thought throughout history. They shouldn’t make that much fuss just walking through the town. It was getting to the time of night where ponies would be retiring to bed anyway.

There was still a fair bit of walking to do before the town was reached, and most of it was spent in uncomfortable silence. Twilight tried breaking it a few times, a few odd forays into conversation (things like “What’s Hoofington like”, “Do you know where we could find a place to board” and “Where did you teleport from”), but Trixie, being Trixie, was stewing and refused to answer her. Well, at least she wasn’t throwing a tantrum now. The last thing they needed was a trip through the town having a loud argument. When they got there, though, Twilight would be entirely dependent on Trixie showing her the way to go.

On the final approach to the town, Twilight stopped and sniffed. “Do you smell that?” There was a strange scent in the air, not unpleasant, but familiar from somewhere she couldn’t remember. Smelled sort of like… pomegranate? No, not quite… Nope, whatever it was was eluding her for the moment. Beside her, the other unicorn stopped, sniffed, and glared at her.

“Trixie smells apples.”

“That’s not what…” Another sniff. Oh. That was odd. She was sure she’d smelled… the atmosphere was now definitely apple-scented. Hoofington wasn’t an apple-growing town, it was founded to be close to the nearby hills which saw strong winds and were perfect for flour mills, and even though the town had been alive with many smells when she’d visited a week ago in the future, there had always been the underlying smells of grain, flour and bread. Right now, it smelled like Ponyville when the wind was blowing over from Sweet Apple Acres. “Okay. Ignore me.”

“Funny, Trixie was doing that already. She must be better at this prophecy business than even she first assumed.”

No argument, Twilight, she’s trying to get a rise out of you… “Yes, Trixie, I get it. You don’t like this arrangement and to be perfectly honest I’m not keen on it either. As soon as it’s possible for us to go our separate ways, trust me, I’m going.”

Their first pony encounter was an earth pony mare standing outside one of the outskirts houses doing a little late-evening gardening. Or at least, that’s what it looked like from a distance. As they got closer it became increasingly apparent that the mare had fallen asleep standing up, and the watering can she had in her mouth was completely empty, the flowers she was next to half-drowned. Twilight shot a glance at her companion, who rolled her eyes and decided to pay attention to something else, before gently nudging the pony. “Excuse me?” she asked, keeping her voice down.

“Huh? Whuzzat?” The mare snorted, dropping the watering can, and blearily opened her eyes. “Whoozere?”

“Um, I’m sorry for waking you, but I couldn’t help but notice that you fell asleep outside…?”

The mare looked around slowly through half-lidded eyes. “Ohrly. Thnssgs.”

“(Do you know her?)” Twilight mouthed in Trixie’s direction, when the blue unicorn’s idle gaze happened to wander back. “(Is she normally like this?)”

“(How should Trixie know?)”

“(You did live here—)”

A light snoring interrupted them; halfway towards the house, the earth pony had fallen asleep again. Concern for her health - it wasn’t that warm out - overruled concern over influencing the past and Twilight had to rouse her twice before she got inside. Given her condition, she probably wouldn’t remember this anyway.

Disturbingly this quickly became a trend. Along the unpaved street that led into the town, there were numerous ponies crashed out, some standing up, some having apparently fallen over, one pony even halfway into his home. Okay, there was something going on, it was incredibly improbable for an entire town to have narcolepsy. It was magic, Twilight was sure of it, but she still hadn’t recovered enough of her own magic to throw out a detection spell. It wouldn’t be the first time (or would it? She wasn’t sure when the first had happened) that a large number of ponies had been made to fall asleep; she had read about two separate incidents, one involving an unfortunate combination of a miscast and an amplifier, and the other during a concert in Vanhoover where a song turned out to be an extremely effective Griffish lullaby.

When she mentioned these, Trixie huffed and pointedly looked the other way.

A newsstand, complete with salespony slumped snoring on top of it, confirmed Twilight’s suspicions - the Hoofington Press, dated 19th April, 990. She’d gotten the day and month right, but that distraction had cost her the year, fantastic. Even further back than she had been before. She left a couple of bits on the stand and flicked through it. No local events like the concert, no mention of any special circumstances… Come on. An entire town of ponies didn’t just fall asleep for no reason.

“Trixie, please,” she said, folding the paper and stowing it away. “I think you know more than you’re letting on here. April 19th, 990. Do you remember what happened that—?”

“Trixie does not remember.”

That had been said entirely too quickly, and both of them knew it. It took a few moments of Trixie weighing up continuing her denial or giving in for her to make the decision. “Fine. Trixie will educate you, if it will only cease your incessant nagging.”

“I wasn’t nagging, it was a perfectly reasonable request for an answer.”

“Which you repeated countless times despite Trixie’s unwillingness to answer.”

“I— Okay, yes. Sorry.”

“Hmph.”

Trixie’s path led them deeper into the town, and soon enough Twilight was on vaguely familiar ground. Yes, here was the train station, though they were approaching from the opposite side that she and her friends had left from. It was a very weird feeling, that she’d been here only recently but that recent time was eleven years into the future. Suddenly she was struck by Pinkie Pie’s Pinkie Sense prediction, a surprise that a pony was going to get but had somehow already missed, and how apt it seemed now. A surprise in the world’s past but the pony’s future. How typical of Pinkie to predict something like that.

For a moment, the sight of a train idling at the station platform was alarming - bringing to mind the possibility of an unconscious driver and an impending accident - but for once, Twilight actually remembered something about the time period before speaking. In the middle of April 990, the entire stretch of tracks from Hoofington towards the northern cities on the east coast had been closed, due to ‘wild animal encroachment’. There would be no collision, but… something wasn’t sitting right.

A poster on the side of the ticket office caught her attention, and she detoured from the road, ignoring Trixie’s complaint about not knowing what she wanted. “All townsponies invited to the grand unveiling of a marvelous new invention,” she read out loud, running her hoof over it. “April 19th at 6pm in the Market Square.”

“Congratulations, you can read.”

Twilight did her best to try and remember the tourism map. “We’re headed in the direction of the Market Square…”

“You can also read maps. Wonders will never cease.”

The lavender unicorn sighed. “Trixie, believe me, I want to get home as much as you do, but constantly offering sarcastic remarks isn’t going to help either of us.” Trixie opened her mouth. “And no, I’m still trying to work out how I’m going to get us back, so I still haven’t got time to listen to your story of the hardships you’ve faced since we met the first time. One thing at a time, alright?”

If Trixie had been fuming any harder smoke would have started to come out of her ears, but she caught herself before she snapped, thankfully. “Very well. Yes, we are headed to the Market Square.”

“What happened?”

“A pair of moronic brothers.”

Yes, it was exactly who Twilight thought it was, and somehow, it didn’t surprise her.

“The Flam-Flim Twins’ Grande Tempo Applespresso Mk. 3,” she read. No wonder the whole town stank of apples; here at the epicenter the smell was almost overpowering. The machine was vaguely recognizable, but it still had a long way to go before becoming the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. “Well, that explains a lot.”

“Trixie has had her various dealings with the Flim Flam brothers,” Trixie commented, waving a hoof. “But they couldn’t possibly hope to defeat the Great and Powerful Trixie in a stage-off.”

Ponies had made a half-hearted attempt to clean up after the event, which judging from the number of chairs and bottles still scattered around had drawn an immense crowd. The entire square must have been packed. “Were you here?”

“No. Alas, past-Trixie had been tragically struck down by flu. She is likely sleeping of her own will.”

All things considered, Trixie was taking the reality that there were now two of her in the town rather well. At least there would be no chance of the two meeting and causing time to unravel. Not that that had happened when future-Twilight met past-Twilight. This was an entirely different situation though and Trixie was Trixie. She didn’t handle having ponies upstage her very well. Still, one can only have imagined what would have happened if she’d been trying to perform while this was going on.

“For the record Trixie would easily have drawn the bigger crowd,” said unicorn dismissed, as if she’d read Twilight’s mind. “Any technological innovation would have been barely worth mentioning after a show of Trixie’s caliber. Not even the Dark Magician himself could outshine Trixie!”

“The Dark Magician’s fictional.”

Trixie flushed red. “Shut up!”

From what was written on the various chalkboards which were set or knocked over around the square, the Applespresso was ‘guaranteed to replace your morning caffeine’ using a ‘patented apple-flavored coffee’. For one, there was no such patent, even in 1001, and second, if all the crashed ponies were any indication, it didn’t work. Yep, definitely a Flim Flam brothers invention. Popular, with the effectiveness of a chocolate teapot, made on the cheap and sold for an exorbitant price. Some things never changed.

Something still wasn’t sitting right. Apples and coffee in a straight-up mixture would taste disgusting, but it wouldn’t cause sudden onset sleep. Obviously there was no question as to whether apples were a component, but coffee? Even through the apples Twilight should have been able to smell it, and while there was a lingering trace of coffee, maybe from the market itself earlier in the day, there wasn’t enough to give to that many ponies. Under the assumption that there was no coffee in it at all, then what had they used as a cheap substitute?

Trixie mock-yawned.

Ignoring her, Twilight headed for the barrels brazenly stamped ‘coffee’ and levered the top off one of them. Nope, what looked like little maroon berries inside was most definitely not coffee, and the scent she’d smelled on the outskirts, the pomegranate-ish smell, hit her with full force. Again, it was familiar, but she just couldn’t place it. Just what was this stuff? Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Applespresso’s tap. Tasting strange things was a bad idea, but some things just had to be done for science. She’d only need a drop; it couldn’t have that much of an effect, especially if she didn’t swallow it. Swiping a plastic cup, she poured herself a little, then very, very carefully tipped a drop out onto her tongue.

Oh, no.

She spat it out immediately, dropped the cup, and tried desperately to wipe any residue off her tongue. “No, no, no…” Those… morons! They must have known what this stuff was! Whatever would make them think it could make a coffee substitute?! This was idiocy on a universal scale! Trixie laughed; Twilight turned on her. “This isn’t funny!”

“On the contrary, this is the best show Trixie has seen since her own.” The magician smirked. “So what’s in it, o learned one?”

Twilight couldn’t keep the anger from infecting her voice. “Snoozeberries!”

“Whoever heard of a snoozeberry?”

“They’re nothing like coffee at all! They’re otherwise harmless, but just licking one is enough to put you out for ten minutes! They used to give these to ponies as anesthetic before major medical operations!” Twilight looked around. The berries had been diluted with the apples, but the smell was still everywhere. Nowhere to run. “And that’s not even the worst part!” It only grew in the north, they must have carried the berries by train, that explained the closure of the line, they never specified what kind of wild animal encroachment it was…

“Enlighten Tri—”

The ground shook. It was only a small tremor, barely enough to cause ripples in the tanks on the Applespresso, but both unicorns immediately paled. Trixie shot forwards and grabbed Twilight by the shoulders. “Tell me! What’s the worst part?!”

A roar in the middle distance. Both of them turned to look towards it. Then back to each other.

“They’re like catnip to Ursa.”

12 - The Shadow

What do you do with an angry Ursa?

Snoozeberry collections in centuries past (as Twilight remembered from an exam she’d taken) always required two things: the utmost of care not to ingest any residue, and a pony, nominally an agile pegasus, to distract and otherwise placate the Ursa living in the area who would be none too pleased that their ‘crop’ was being stolen. Okay, so the comparison with catnip may have been a little exaggeration, but the smell of the berries drove the giant star-bears nuts, especially after the plant had been disturbed. Otherwise, the bears would just chow down on them, and being as large as they were, by the time winter was rolled out they’d have eaten enough to hibernate properly. The Ursa that had attacked Ponyville had come from the Everfree Forest, and there was no doubt as to whether snoozeberries grew somewhere inside.

Flim and Flam had probably been on the trail of a very, very old (and completely untrue) rumor that deep in the forests west of Manehattan were a variety of snoozeberry that provided an energy boost, rather than a relaxant. While Twilight knew that wasn’t the case, the general population of Hoofington likely didn’t, so even if they’d noticed the distinct lack of coffee they might have believed the twins’ story. If it wasn’t for the fact the machine was still in town Twilight would have thought they knew that what they were spinning was a load of ponyfeathers. They wouldn’t even have tested it, they’d have collected the berries, stuck them on a train, brought them straight here and started creating their concoction. The presence of the apple juice would dull the berries’ effectiveness but wouldn’t eliminate it completely. Cheers, they’d say, and bottoms up, completely unaware that they’d be sending the entire town to the best night’s sleep they’d ever get. In the morning, nopony would remember a thing about the night before.

Meanwhile, angry about the theft, an Ursa would follow the smell down the railway line, moving only at night, damaging the tracks and causing the eventual closure. It would take days to reach the town, but inevitably it would, arriving just in time to meet a slumbering population.

And that was the first part of the story of the Hoofington Ursa Major. Ponies would wake up, unaware of the previous night’s commotion, to damaged buildings and a trail of destruction. Those few who either hadn’t partaken of the mixture or who bore a slight resistance to the berries’ effects would say they’d seen or heard a bear, memories that seemed treacherous but were, in fact, truth. A town legend would be born.

Most of this would only occur to Twilight after the fact. She had more pressing concerns first and foremost.

First concern was the Ursa Major itself. It would be coming from the direction of the railway, along that main street, heading for the square. If she could keep it on that route, it was a fairly wide road, it would just about fit. Second concern was chasing after Trixie, who had taken off - directly towards the bear’s roaring - at a sprint.

“Trixie, stop!” Twilight called after her, all care for trying to stay incognito gone, struggling to keep up. She wasn’t exactly in shape herself but Trixie was fast. “What do you think you’re doing?!” No answer. Another roar, louder. Wait… she wasn’t going to… “Please tell me you’re not going to take that thing on! You can’t possibly win!”

“Why? Because you couldn’t?!”

Twilight skidded to a halt, lost for words. “I…”

Ahead of her, Trixie slowed to a stop too, and looked back. “What’s the matter, Twilight Sparkle? Afraid that the Great and Powerful Trixie is going to outshine you?”

“That’s not what this is about, Trixie! That was never what this was about!”

“Hmph. You may have easily been able to vanquish an Ursa Minor, but Trixie will prove that she is capable of much more!”

“I don’t doubt that you’re capable, it’s just going after an Ursa Major shortly after experiencing magic fatigue is a—”

“Spare me the details!” Trixie snapped. “Trixie has recovered sufficiently. She will defeat this Ursa Major.”

“Trixie—”

“Did you forget?” There was that cocksure smirk again. “Trixie did prophesize it, after all.”

“Oh, no—”

There was a loud bamf, a puff of smoke, and Twilight just glimpsed Trixie’s tail disappearing into an alleyway. Fantastic. And the worst part was she was right. A caped pony facing a monster. But… that’s all it showed. Trixie was just assuming that because she faced it, she won… and now she was charging it head on. She wasn’t waiting for the prophecy to come to her. She was making it happen. Was it really just a big self-fulfilling prophecy, an infinite loop? So far, things hadn’t changed. The initial time travel to Skyview Lake had had no apparent repercussions. The explosion in the Meditation Chamber had always happened, as had the teleporting of the telescope. An Ursa Major would attack Hoofington.

But what would happen if Trixie defeated the Ursa Major too early?

Even the tiniest of deviations from the way things originally unfolded would ripple upwards into major changes ten years later. The disappearance of a Hoofington legend seemed minor at the outset but who knew what it had gone on to inspire. In the past, everything was important, and the past left lasting impressions on the future… and on the environment…

Something was off. What path would the Ursa have to take to cause the same pattern of destruction as there had been in 1001? There had been damage to the roof of the Cakes Confectionary, which was on the other side of the market square. There was no reason for the Ursa to go further than would be necessary to reach the snoozeberries, unless it was chasing something…

Bang. A firework exploded somewhere ahead of her.

ROAARRR.

Her ears flattened. No longer was that the sound of a giant star-bear crabby because its berries had been taken. Now it was the sound of a giant star-bear that had been provoked.

Okay. Think, Twilight, think! Her magic was starting to return much sooner than she’d expected it to, but it wasn’t yet strong enough to do what she’d done to the Ursa Minor, let alone calm an enraged Ursa Major. That wouldn’t even work this time, since that particular combination of spells had played to the fact that it was only a Minor. Plus, no cattails here to break, no water tower to vandalize, no barn full of cows (who had been thankfully reasonable once they learned why Twilight had done what she did) to milk. All she had to work with was the town itself.

Correction. A town, a machine, and barrels full of snoozeberries…

Another firework exploded, closer. Now the Ursa was visible, swatting at the aerial bombardment, taking out a chimney stack, exactly as huge as Twilight had read about. Whether the other unicorn liked it or not, Trixie needed to know about her plan before she could set it into motion. She wasn’t going to like it, but she didn’t have to. It might not even work.

The main problem with that though was nailing down the magician in the first place.

This was, Twilight decided, as she resumed running down another side street towards the Ursa Major, one of the stupidest decisions she’d ever made.

“(Trix—)” she started, in a stage whisper, but immediately gave up as she realized she was never going to be heard like that. “Trixie!”

A scrabbling noise drew her attention upwards to a bridge which carried the railway over the side street, and she looked up to see Trixie regaining her footing. “What are you doing, you imbecile?!” she shouted downwards, then looked behind her and jumped just as the Ursa’s claw demolished the bridge, landing on a roof nearby. “Are you trying to sabotage Trixie’s plan?!”

Twilight herself dived for cover in an alleyway. “I’ve had an idea!”

“Can it wait?” Trixie jumped again, into a hay cart, and a pile of roof tiles slid and smashed onto the street when the Ursa tried to catch her. “Trixie is busy!”

ROAARRR.

Bamf. Trixie cast another smoke bomb in the middle of the street, but before she could disappear in any other direction Twilight used what limited magic she had to drag her into the alleyway. “(What happened to defeating it?)” the lavender unicorn asked, hoping that the creature couldn’t smell them for the berries.

“(Trixie was working on it! She admits that her fatigue had not yet passed as much as she thought it had!)”

The Ursa roared again, and stomped on the hay cart.

“(If what you’re doing doesn’t work—)” Trixie glared at her “(If it doesn’t work, I’ve got a plan.)”

“(Be quick about it!)”

“(If you can keep distracting it, I think I could reconfigure the Flim Flam brothers’ machine to increase the potency of the snoozeberry juice! That would knock it out!)”

“(That will not be nec—)”

“(Defeat it first, fine!)” They had to get moving again soon, otherwise this wouldn’t work. Either the Ursa was going to get to the market square before the ponies, or it was going to start smashing into the houses proper rather than just the rooftops. “(Otherwise, I’m open to suggestions!)”

Forever seemed to pass in a moment as Trixie tried to weigh up the decision. “(Fine! The Great and Powerful Trixie accepts your challenge, and will vanquish the Ursa Major first!)” She scrambled up on top of a coal bunker. “(The game is on!)”

It was astonishing how nimbly Trixie was darting across the rooftops; Twilight was pressed to keep up in the street running parallel to the Ursa. She needed to reach the square first, with as much time to spare as possible tinkering with the Applespresso. It was a long shot, but given how strongly the apples had overpowered the snoozeberries in terms of smell, they had to be concentrating the apple juice before it went into the mixture. Swapping the insertion points and putting the berries in instead of the apples would be a start. Extra precaution would have to be taken that none of it splashed onto her by accident. Licking one put you under for ten minutes, eating one would send you to the land of nod for an hour, but half a dozen barrels with increased potency? There was no precedent.

Even if Trixie regarded it as a challenge, a straight up head-to-head duel, it looked like she was rather enjoying misdirecting the Ursa’s attention. It was getting twice as many claw marks in the rooftops, but the bear was definitely slowing, and taking more time to swat at what it probably regarded as a bothersome insect. Actually, Trixie probably thought of this as no more than another show she was putting on… no, she was like that most of the time. She treated everything as a show.

Hoofington as a bustling town in the day with friends was difficult to navigate. Going through the same town at night, eleven years in the past and with an enraged star-bear behind you was pretty much the equivalent of a nightmare, one from which Princess Luna couldn’t rescue you. Especially seeing as Nightmare Moon was probably looking down on the unfolding incident with amusement, if that was what she’d done on the moon. Every so often Twilight would glance up and see the outline of the Mare in the Moon looking back, and it made her shiver. She had to focus. No distractions this time. Without staying on the main street, she had to get to the market square as fast as she possibly could.

Two dead-ends and a tangle in a pony’s forgotten washing later, Twilight finally burst through a fence into the market square, and made a beeline for the Applespresso machine.

“Sorry, guys,” she muttered under her breath, using her recovered levitation to remove the hose used to pluck apples out of the barrels. “I’m going to have to borrow this…”

After the events at Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight had wished she’d gotten a chance to examine the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. Shrewd businessponies like the brothers would never have allowed it, but it would have been a valuable opportunity to examine their take on magitechnology - and valuable experience for fiddling with the Grande Tempo Applespresso Mk. 3. For once, she was glad Trixie wasn’t around to belittle her, because this time she really did have no idea what she was doing.

However, she was sure of one thing - there had to be an easier way to build a machine than this. ‘Needlessly complicated’ was how she’d describe it. More than half of what she’d removed so far was completely redundant. While she couldn’t say for sure, a lot of it was just stuff they’d put in to make it look impressive. Dummy capacitors that weren’t connected to anything, a thaumic ignition module that was broken, you name it, they’d faked it. Somewhere underneath all that was the key workings of the Applespresso. Hopefully she wouldn’t make such a complete mess of this that it wouldn’t work any more.

Just about the easiest part was swapping the insertion ports, so the snoozeberries would take the place of the apples as the stronger component in the mixture, then, as an afterthought, doing away with the apples entirely, to make a 100% pure snoozeberry… cider? Was that what you’d call it? Whatever. There was a dial that dictated ‘caffeine strength’ in the machine’s cockpit, but, like most of the contraption, it was only for show, and had broken off as soon as Twilight touched it. One of the brothers had probably been making stealthy adjustments with a switch somewhere inside the machine as necessary. Of course, they’d built it. They knew what they were doing.

They were also probably holed up in a hotel somewhere unconscious from their own concoction, and even if they’d be willing to divulge their secrets, which they wouldn’t be, they were going to be flat out until morning rolled around.

Ah! Here was a control box for… something. Rather unhelpfully it bore a sticker with the words ‘beware of the leopard’. For goodness’ sake. Twilight tugged on the wires, checking to see it was actually integral, and when she confirmed that it was, she pinged it. Very quickly she realized she shouldn’t have and hurriedly pinged it again to turn the ice-cream stand muzak off, but the damage was done; the Ursa roared and increased its pace. She needed more time, she needed an understanding of the machine, she needed… she needed to move the Applespresso. Could she drive it and make the necessary changes at the same time? Only one way to find out… Making sure not to spill any, she loaded up the barrels of berries, secured them, and jumped into the driver’s seat. Now, how did one go about driving this thing?

After a few false starts she’d worked out that the idiots had got the steering rack the wrong way around, they’d installed the wheel motors sideways and the wheels themselves were so misshapen it felt like she was riding a mobile earthquake, but she was confident enough to move it. Now, how close was… the Ursa…?

She looked up at it.

It looked down at her.

ROARR-bamf. A cloud of pink dust exploded in its face. The distraction was just long enough for Twilight to accelerate out from underneath the Ursa’s descending paw.

“Hoi! You’re supposed to be fighting Trixie, you overgrown star-chart!”

“Are you fighting it or just making it angrier?!” Twilight shouted up at her, as she navigated through the mess of chairs whilst trying not to shatter her teeth with the vibration.

“How’s that plan of yours coming along, Twilight Sparkle?!” was the retort. “Trixie doesn’t see you doing any better!”

“I’m trying, I’m trying!”

“You’re very trying!”

Twilight yelped as she narrowly missed falling roof tiles on one side, then ducked for cover as on the other the Ursa smashed the fountain in the middle of the square. “Are we really gonna do this now?!”

For a Flim-Flam invention, the Applespresso was actually quite fast, setbacks considered. Its turning circle was atrocious, though. Trying to turn left out of the square nearly got her squashed. If she accidentally drove down into a dead end, she was toast. Now was the perfect time to regret not having any sort of map on hoof. She was going to have to play it as it came, with her attention split between the road ahead, the machine beneath her and the Ursa behind her. All she had to do was find the part of the contraption which dictated the concentration strength of both juice entrance ports. Easy, right?

Another left turn. Cardboard relay set, useless, chuck. Right turn, cooling manager insulated with a back copy of Apple Farmer’s Monthly, probably important, accidentally dropped on the next right. False mustache labeled ‘Property of Flim’, throw back to be crushed by the Ursa. Empty wooden box labeled ‘flux capacitor’. Hourglass timing system. How much more was she going to have to—

Concentration control box. At last. Twilight jacked all of her spare magic into powering it up, then realized she’d need to sacrifice a little to get the engine pumping and the juice flowing. No problemo, that was doable… With an enormous hiss of escaping air, and a noise resembling a broken pair of bellows, the Grande Tempo Applespresso Mk. 3 wheezed into life.

Unfortunately, as she discovered moments later, it was Grande Tempo in name only. She facehoofed; she should have seen this coming. Why would the brothers put time and money into making the machine fast when they could make it appear fast while actually having made their applespresso in advance? After all, nopony but them was going to be operating it or poking around inside it; what need was there for the machine to be quick if it could make them a quick bit or dozen? If they’d known it would be needed to work quickly whilst being chased around the town by a wild Ursa Major, then maybe… no, of course not. They’d charge double for that.

“I’m going to need a little more time!” Twilight shouted, over the combined noise of the Applespresso, the Ursa, and all of Trixie’s spells. “How are things on your end?!”

“Trixie is still—” the magician darted out from under a paw, and fired another firework into the bear’s face “—winning!”

From down where she was, it didn’t look like winning, but Twilight held her tongue. Raw magic alone just wouldn’t cut it now. Maybe if that charm still had anything left in it… it glinted in the moonlight as Trixie leapt across the street in a single bound. No, if anything, prolonged exposure to it would probably cause a subtle magic drain as it tried to restore its energy. It was basically useless now. It would take magic on Princess Celestia’s scale to charge it up anywhere near its original level, and that would probably be a bad idea. Funneling the same magic used to raise the sun into it might even make it explode.

At its current rate… five minutes, at least. That’s how long it would take for the Applespresso to export the concentrated snoozeberry cider. That’s how long they needed to keep giving the Ursa the runaround. Whether they could keep it up for those five minutes… that was an entirely different question.

On the next bend, Twilight was nearly thrown from the cockpit. Clearly Flim and Flam hadn’t put any effort into making sure their machine worked smoothly whilst moving, too. (Come to think of it, the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 had always been stationary whilst in operation as well; they must not have figured that out in ten years of iterations.) If the ride got any rougher, she was going to need to divide her attention again, this time between driving and making sure the Applespresso didn’t fall apart underneath her.

Another bend. Twilight drew breath. Cafes, restaurants, she knew this one. Coming up on her right would be the building that would eventually become the Cakes Confectionery. An odd feeling welled up inside her, sort of like deja vu in reverse. Here came the Applespresso from one direction, here came Trixie and the Ursa from a slightly different one. Everything that was happening now had already happened. But… she had a bad feeling about this. Something was going to happen, she just didn’t know what.

A yelp a moment later interrupted her thoughts. Up ahead, she could see Trixie scrabbling for grip on the roof of the future-Confectionery, having apparently put a hoof wrong and tripped, getting her cloak caught in the guttering. From the side street opposite the Ursa roared, now even angrier from all the firework dust in its face, preparing for a strike the unicorn wouldn’t be able to dodge. Twilight had to do something, even if Trixie tried to turn it on her.

She yanked the steering left and the Applespresso veered right, scraping up against the storefronts. “Trixie! Let go!”

Multiple times over the course of the evening Twilight had given Trixie an instruction or suggestion and the latter had always responded either with sarcasm or with a very long pause for thought. This time, she did neither. Instead, she did exactly as she was told. She ditched the cloak, snatched the crystal, dropped, the paw smashed into the roof, and the Applespresso jumped the kerb just in time to catch her before she pancaked on the pavement. Next opportunity there was, Twilight got off that street, putting buildings between the ponies and the bear.

“Trixie had everything in hoof!” Trixie shouted from somewhere at the back of the machine. “She was about to claim her victory!”

“You were about to be flattened,” Twilight called back. “I think the berries are done processing! We’ve tried things your way, now we can try them—”

She yawned.

Now was not the time to be falling asleep! Why would her body suddenly decide that anyway? Adrenaline was pumping, she had been wide awake a second ago… Oh. Oh no. No, no no nononononono. One diluted drop on her tongue, that’s all there was, she’d spat it out, she’d wiped it off… but it hadn’t been enough. The snoozeberries were starting to kick in. Time was running out. They had to find the bear, force-feed it the cider, and knock it out before… before… yawn…

Around them, the town opened up as the contraption burst out into the plaza surrounding the museum. And that’s when things took a turn for the worse.

It had been on the edge of Twilight’s senses, but they were senses that were now occupied with trying not to fall asleep. The bear had gone quiet. Ursa were wild animals, they reacted as wild animals would, but they weren’t stupid, not to mention they weren’t deaf either. All the noise of the machine had been going in one direction.

Few yards had been covered in the plaza when the Ursa kicked the Applespresso straight through the statue of Sweet Royal. Everything broke apart. Twilight had the presence of mind to catch the export barrels as they flew through the air, and just about enough to catch herself with levitation before she hit the cobblestones. Amongst the flying debris was Trixie, desperately trying to shield herself with her own magic. The rest of the wreckage spread apart over the courtyard. All that was left now… was Twilight and the bear.

“Okay,” she managed, struggling to her hooves, another yawn fighting its way out of her mouth. “Got one shot at this. Got to make it count.” Her vision was starting to blur. She wanted to lie down and nap so badly, just for a second…

Tense few seconds passed as she waited for her window of opportunity to open, her now tattered cloak billowing in the wind. Come on, Mr. Overgrown Star-Chart. You know you want to…

The Ursa roared. Now! The barrels shot forwards into its mouth and burst, flooding its throat with concentrated snoozeberry juice. Then it choked a moment, swallowed, and gave a sort of strangled roar that could have been a yawn. It had to work. There were no more options left. Work your magic, snoozeberries.

With the sort of dramatic grace you could only get from a giant star-bear, the Ursa Major hit the deck.

Twilight proceeded to follow suit.

When she awoke, Twilight became dimly aware of Trixie standing over her, and the former opened her eyes just in time to see the look of triumph morph into a scowl. “Nice to know that somepony seems to think Trixie’s impending victory was irrelevant enough to interrupt with a nap.”

“How… how long was I out?”

“Five minutes. Trixie is pleased to announce that she heroically stayed conscious throughout your atrocious driving, and struggled from the wreckage of a hideous accident with nary a scratch.”

The crash… Twilight looked around. Bits and pieces of the Grande Tempo Applespresso Mk. 3 were scattered all over the courtyard, a courtyard that was mostly occupied by the Ursa, which was now snoring like a jackhammer. They’d actually been pretty lucky. One of the statues hadn’t been, guess that explained the absence of Sweet Royal in eleven years’ time, but that was a small price to pay, considering statues of her were fairly common around Equestria. Taking down an Ursa Major with just a few barrels of snoozeberries? That had to count for something, right? Yeah, Hoofington hadn’t come out unscathed, but considering the circumstances, it could have been much, much worse.

“Well, I think we did okay,” Twilight commented, climbing to her hooves. Diluting the berry juice with apples had halved the effects then, so at least Flim and Flam hadn’t screwed up to the point of sending the town to sleep for too long. When they woke up they were going to be disappointed as to the loss of their machine, but they’d bounce back, as soon as they’d outrun the ponies complaining about the lack of caffeine. “We make a pretty good team,” she said, holding out a leg to offer a hoofbump.

Trixie smacked it away. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is entirely uninterested in your observations and is more concerned with the blase way you are blowing off the challenge which you yourself set!”

In the middle of dusting herself off, Twilight paused. “You were the one who claimed it was a challenge.”

“You specifically said that if Trixie’s plan did not work then your plan was to be enacted.” Trixie sucked in a breath. “Trixie was not yet finished. She had everything under control.”

“You were about to be squashed!”

“Everything. Was. Fine.”

Breathe. In. Out. “I’m not going to start arguing with you again. Did you see where my hat went?”

The Star Swirl the Bearded costume was ruined. Several of the key pattern stitches had been torn out, most of the bells that she hadn’t removed before they’d entered the town (that seemed so long ago) were missing, and as Twilight had just asked about, the hat had been blown away during the accident. Rarity could probably fix it, but it would never be the same. Another casualty of the Ursa. She shouldn’t complain. Even though its donning and initial modification had been for nought, its suffering was paltry compared to what could otherwise have been.

Since Trixie was unforthcoming with an answer, preferring instead to sit down and glare icily, Twilight tried to work it out for herself. They’d come out of that street there, and the Ursa had kicked them when they were there… the wind was blowing south southeast… over that way, then. She trotted over towards the edge of the courtyard where it should have landed, hoping to find some sort of clue. It wasn’t going to stay here in the past if she could help it. Now, where was it? Not anywhere on the cobbles, not in that basement window well, it hadn’t blown under the stage…

Wait… the stage?

Her heart was almost in her ears as she scooted backwards to look at what she’d been ignoring. She remembered this stage. It was a little smaller than it was when she’d last seen it, it was slightly simpler, and with a little less decoration, but there was no mistaking that cutie mark emblazoned on the banner above it.

“Trixie, is this…”

“Is it not grand?” Trixie sat down and spread her forelegs in the air. “Behold the humble origins of the greatest unicorn in Equestria!”

So this was Trixie’s home back then. While the ‘greatest unicorn in Equestria’ part was up for debate, ‘humble’ was an accurate description. Aside from the stage out front, which was a perfectly reasonable place for a filly to keep her performance area, it was a perfectly anonymous building on the edge of the museum’s courtyard. Just a house, in a town, like the majority of ponies in Equestria. Twilight had barely glanced this way in the present. A light was on in the basement window; just about visible on the windowsill was a piece of paper with a scrawled drawing on it, and it was fairly easy to guess what it depicted.

The window was also open, and the Star Swirl costume hat was inside. Oops. Somepony would be developing a new clothing style. Once again, things were unfolding exactly the way they had unfolded before. The present was intact.

Speaking of which… forget the hat. How were they going to get back to 1001? Twilight quickly reviewed her notes. The first time, from the mine to Earthen Forest, it had just been a teleport in the presence of Princess Luna’s telescope, which she now knew was charged with her own magic from around about the destination time. From the library to Canterlot was Prophetia and a lightning bolt. From Canterlot to here it was the crystal charm and a teleport. But there was no explanation for the teleport from Skyview Lake back to the mine other than falling back on the time limit that had been a part of the time travel spell she’d cast on the previous occasion. Did they just have to wait, then?

Hmmm. Supposing that was the case, then she ought to be able to detect the spell running in the background somewhere, on a timer or something. Detect Magic should pick it up if she was looking for it, for any trace at all.

There was time magic all right. But it wasn’t where she was expecting it.

“Trixie?”

“What do you want now?”

“Could I possibly, uh, admire the crystal I gave you earlier?”

Trixie’s eyes narrowed, and glanced at said crystal, which she now brought up levitating beside her. “Why?”

It was a mental toss-up between telling her the truth and lying about it, and something tugged her in the direction of honesty. “That’s the charm that provided some of the magic that got us here in the first place, and I think there’s a little left that we can use to get back.” Little being the operative statement. When she’d pulled it out of the bag it had seemed dead, but there was just enough for it to be undetectable unless it was looked for specifically. She’d just not had enough magic to find it then.

At this, the eyes went wide. “W-wait. You’re telling me that this is a—”

Twilight didn’t see any harm in telling her, and nodded. “I don’t know why it looks like the clasp on your cloak, but it’s come from a room in Canterlot castle in… well, a month from now. I thought the trip here had drained it completely, but I might be wrong. If I can see it again, I might be able to use it to teleport us back to where we came from.”

“…”

This… wasn’t the reaction she’d been expecting. She’d expected Trixie to react with a boast about how of course powerful magical charms imitated her own wardrobe stylings, not the expression bordering on panicked terror that was now frozen on her face. “What’s the matter?”

“You, uh, you can’t have it!” The magician was shaking like she’d just gotten a Phruit Phizz rush. “It’s mine!”

“Please, I’d only need to see it for a second.” Twilight tried levitating it away, but Trixie’s grasp was holding it firm. “Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m fine!” She most certainly wasn’t. She was clinging onto that crystal as if her life depended on it. This wasn’t the Trixie that Twilight was familiar with. “Don’t touch it!”

“This might be our one shot at getting home.”

“Don’t!”

Again, Twilight tried to levitate it out of the other unicorn’s grasp, but it was still stuck. That mare had some grip. But when she went to release her hold, she suddenly found out she couldn’t. “Uh oh.”

“I told you—” Trixie blinked. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything! I—” A wave of that same relaxing magic as before washed over Twilight, though much weaker than before. The look on Trixie’s face pretty much confirmed she’d felt the same thing. Something was about to go down, and Twilight got the feeling she wasn’t going to like it.

They’d both been trying to levitate the same object simultaneously. While they’d been doing that, in a thousand-to-one chance, their spells had synchronized, resonating at the same frequency. The object they were levitating was a powerful magic charm that while not as powerful as it had been before still turned out to pack a punch. For all intents and purposes all three sources of magic were one and the same now, and it was drawing the matrix for a teleport.

Well… this was probably going to hurt.

When the dust settled, all that remained of the night’s escapade was a damaged town, a broken machine, and a small, innocuous octagonal prism which bounced onto the cobblestones.

And moments after that, after the little filly had come out to investigate, even that was gone.

Thought journal, bookmarked entry; April CE 1001, 4:17PM

…

Okay. I guess I should have some of this listed for posterity. Trixie’s gone, but her role in the story’s not over yet, I think. The part of my prophecy which contained her clasp - or the charm crystal I guess - hasn’t yet come to pass, so I’ll probably be seeing her again soon. I’d better, actually, because I don’t have da Colton’s workbook back yet, grr!

Spike and Pinkie Pie never told me how long had elapsed in the present when I traveled to the past last time, but it can only have been a few seconds, because this time all of us - myself, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Spike, Ditzy Doo and Trixie - landed in the library basement before the capacitors had even finished gathering the charge of the third lightning bolt. Confusion reigned, if only for a moment. Trixie absconded as quickly as she could, even firing off a few stunning spells that kind of fizzled out before they really hit their mark. Stands to reason, she’d just fueled our journey back. From the energy expenditure I’d guess we dragged the Ursa Major along too, and dropped it somewhere on the way. We weren’t in control though. Somehow… I think the charm was controlling it.

I’d like to have done some more research on the legend of the Hoofington Ursa, but this being the Ponyville library, there aren’t really the appropriate resources. Should I find myself in Hoofington again I might need to organize a trip to the Hoofington Press archive, if only to get a clearer picture of the already resolved situation. That, at least, has drawn to a close, and the mystery is solved.

The others were reasonably confused with my explanation of the events in Hoofington. After all, from their perspective, we’d all teleported from Canterlot at the same moment, and Trixie had just appeared out of nowhere. At the end of it, I think they got the basics, but I can excuse them for having trouble with the specifics. Hay, I’m hazy on the specifics right now. I’ve had Spike send another letter to Princess Celestia, but I’m still waiting on the reply. I was hesitant about telling the Princess about the time traveling last time, but in typical Princess fashion, she told me I should stop worrying about what her reaction would be and to trust my own judgment.

Oh, Dinky was fine, by the way. She seemed a little dizzy, and was a little confused as to why we were coming out of the basement and why that weird shouty magician from last year had gone galloping out of the building, but I was able to convince her that the whole thing was a weird but known magical event. Naughty of me, I know, but bright as Dinky is, what I don’t want is her proudly going around telling everypony that her mother’s been time-traveling.

So while I’m waiting for that reply, I’ve got some prophecy details to recap, plus a new(?) prophecy that might have been written by Stalleonardo da Colton himself.

Trixie’s prophecy, caped pony facing a monster: PASSED; I can only assume this was me as I was waiting for the Ursa Major to open its mouth.

Trixie’s prophecy, foal’s drawing: PASSED; I was right in guessing that Trixie drew this as a foal, though not that it would actually be me in the drawing. An image like that leaves a lasting impression on a pony, especially a filly like her. I’ve got the awful feeling that this is the reason she wears a cloak and hat most of the time.

Trixie’s prophecy, me and Trixie: PASSED; This must have happened just before I woke up from the snoozeberry power nap. The whole triumph thing must just be pride over not falling asleep herself.

All of that is tantamount to one thing; Trixie’s gloating over prophesizing ‘defeating’ me was just another boast, intentional misinterpretation of what she’d predicted. She’d assembled the images into a narrative that put her in the spotlight, and it just aggravated her to no end when she realized that none of it was true. It shows the difference between the two of us. I followed the Princess’s advice and waited for the prophecy to come to me, and while shocked the disparity between my speculation and what actually happened wasn’t really that big of a deal (more relieving than anything). Trixie intentionally tried to cause the conditions of her prophecy, and was outraged when she got it wrong.

Makes me wonder: Did da Colton ever run into a situation like that?

Speaking of, here’s the new prophecy, as transcribed by Spike, that was found on the complete sandstone slab in the Meditation Chamber, Canterlot castle, shortly before it was broken in the magic explosion incidents.

‘So when the day dawns on the great spark’s morn, the past will rise with a thousand eyes. When the chime is heard, fourth before third, do not put all of your faith in the star-shine that shows you everything. // Though the mage opens the life-bearer’s vault, the secret unleashed will not be her fault. The circle be writ, six into three split, Cross the city of nine hundred and ninety.’

I’d previously speculated on the first part, that which still exists in the Chamber, but seeing as I neither have that work with me nor do I think it relevant I’m not adding it to this journal. Instead, I’m looking at it with fresh eyes, and with the experience I’ve gotten over the last week or so.

‘So when the day dawns on the great spark’s morn’: No idea, really. Great spark? Is this my explosion again?

‘The past will rise with a thousand eyes’: Again, no clue. It talks about the past, probably in reference to time traveling, but the thousand eyes part stumps me. I can’t recall reading about any thousand-eyed beast anywhere. …With any luck, this isn’t a beast that pops out whenever ponies mess around with time travel too much.

‘When the chime is heard, fourth before third’: It’s easy to think there’s logic issues here, but once time travel becomes involved it gives you a new perspective on it. I may be wrong here, and probably am, but I’ve heard a bell ring twice in the past couple of days - the bell on top of Princess Luna’s telescope. It rang once when we were in the mine in 1001 (fourth), and once in the Chamber in 990 (third). From my point of view, I heard the fourth chime before the third one.

‘Do not put all of your faith in the star-shine that shows you everything’: Some sort of revealing light, and not trusting what it shines on? Still got no idea here.

‘Though the mage opens the life-bearer’s vault’: It’s pretty obvious by now that mage = Trixie, so this is where she becomes relevant again. ‘Opens’ is a key word that links back to ‘The iris opens up the gate’ from my prophecy, which featured Trixie’s clasp/charm. Trixie will use that charm (is it called an/the Iris? Must check on this) to open the gate to this vault, wherever it is. ‘Life-bearer’ could mean any one of a number of things under the circumstances, a mother, the sea, the planet, and so on.

‘The magic unleashed will not be her fault’: This calls the question of what exactly is in that vault? Whatever it is, this prophecy doesn’t want us to blame Trixie for it. I wonder if Prophetia will lead her there. Either way it’s likely dangerous and should be located as soon as possible.

‘The circle be writ’: Drawing magic circles is antiquated but still an acceptable form of spellcasting.

‘Six into three split/Cross the city of nine hundred and ninety’: Running into the number six in these things normally references the Elements of Harmony. Splitting them across a city - I suspect this literally means Canterlot, CE 990, as there’s at least one part of my prophecy there that hasn’t yet ‘resolved’ by way of forcing its way out of my mouth in a weird voice.

Data is data is data. I now have this to refer back to when necessary. I don’t know if it’ll become necessary, but as has been proven time and time again, there’s absolutely no harm in having it just in case. Tomorrow is the hospital charity drive, and I promised to help with that, so to allow time for my head to stop hurting, and to gain fresh eyes on the whole thing, this prophecy business is now officially on the backburner. The next day is all about ponies in need who aren’t occupied with talk of prophecies and time travel and who knows what else.

Twilight Sparkle out. (I’ve always wanted to say that.)

I wonder if I’m going to have the dream again tonight?

13 - The Melody

She didn’t have the dream again that night.

Instead, she was greeted by a nightmare about the Ursa Major, which was terrifying up to the point where Princess Luna burst out of a barrel of apples.

“I wonder if Princess Luna can enter my dreams,” Spike wondered idly, spitting out bits of emerald everywhere. “I’m a dragon after all, even if I consider myself a pony.”

“Say it, don’t spray it, Spike.”

“Sorry.”

As it turned out, the letter to Princess Celestia about the time traveling yesterday had been completely pointless; her day had been especially hectic and exhausting, and the moment she’d lowered the sun she pretty much dropped off to sleep immediately. Twilight always felt bad about adding to the workload on days like that. Princess Luna however was willing to listen to the story, and promised to inform her sister at the changing of the orbs. Her own quest to seek the pony whose dream was bleeding into Twilight’s had been unsuccessful; that pegasus had been dreaming again, but remained just out of reach. They would have to wait for the shared dream once more.

Despite her promise in her thought journal the previous afternoon, Twilight had to fight to keep her thoughts from wandering back to the incident as she pondered other things over her oatmeal. Chief on the list was the storm. Ignoring the fact that a lightning bolt that shouldn’t have been kicked out in a built up area had struck the tree (that lightning rod was going to need fixing) she would like to hear for herself what had gone on with the weather patrol. After everypony had returned to the library, the storm’s intensity lessened, but the odd lightning bolt still struck places across the town. She’d included a note about it in her letter to the Princess, so when she did get around to reading it, it would be another thing to bring up at the meeting with the Forecast Centre.

The charity drive didn’t start until mid-morning. That would give her a little time to head out to the patrol HQ first before hoofing it over to the hospital.

“Uh, Twi?”

“Hm? Oh, what is it, Spike?”

Spike pointed wordlessly at Twilight’s bowl, which was empty, and the spoon, which was frozen halfway into her mouth, also empty. Whoops. She giggled. “I guess I’m a little distracted this morning.”

“A little?”

“Okay, a lot.”

“I still can’t get over that we were in Canterlot castle before I was born yesterday.” The baby dragon paused, and scratched his chin. “That kinda made more sense in my head.”

“I know what you mean.” Time travel was mind bending whichever way you looked at it. At that point of time there had been one baby Spike and one Spike moments away from hatching, along with two Rarities, two Rainbow Dashes, two Ditzy Doos, two Applejacks, two Pinkie Pies, two Fluttershies, two of each of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and three Twilight Sparkles. Add to that another potential set of Element bearers if her interpretation of the slab prophecy was correct, and… no, no, no! Today was going to be a prophecy-free day, darnit! “Can we talk about something else?”

Any casual observer would be able to tell that the unicorn and the dragon weren’t good at small talk with each other. This was embarrassing.

“Uh…” Spike whistled, trying to come up with a new topic, and drummed his claws on the table. “Nice weather we’re having? Oh! That storm yesterday was crazy!”

Yes, it was. Pegasi were capable of some scary things. Never cross a weatherpony - they could zap you when you least expected it. On the other side of it, make friends with one, and they’d be there to deal with any personal rainclouds you were suffering from. Twilight was proud to say she could put names to the faces of every pegasus in the Ponyville Patrol. Most of the faces. Some of them…? Eheh… Yeah.

A not-quite silence reigned, punctuated by Spike’s chewing. It was surprisingly hard to think of something to talk about when you didn’t want to talk about the thing that had been taking up most of your time for the past few days. “So…” Twilight tested her tea; it was still slightly too hot to drink. “Have you got anything planned for today?”

Spike swallowed. “Eh, not really. I was gonna be helping Rarity with her pincushion problem again…” (Twilight winced internally. While she didn’t want to accuse Rarity of taking advantage of Spike’s crush, it couldn’t be healthy for her to keep sticking him with needles.) “…but she said something yesterday before she left about drawing up a new line so she didn’t want to be disturbed.”

Inspiration struck Rarity at the oddest of times. In this case it was pretty obvious, she’d fallen for the past-Meditation Chamber almost immediately, but she could just as easily start doing a dress line based on the critters at Fluttershy’s cottage, or water flowing under a bridge. No doubt she would be occupied for quite a—

Knock, knock. “Twilight, darling, are you there?”

Er-hm.

Well, this was awkward.

With a quick glow of magic, the door clicked open. “Good morning, Rarity!” Twilight said. “What brings you here this early?” Ditzy hadn’t even arrived yet.

“Oh… things.” Rarity was distracted. Seemed to be the general mood today. “Twilight, did you by any chance recover that book on 9th century accoutrements? I’ve decided to try and incorporate some of the styles in it into a dress I’m designing, but for the life of me I’m having trouble remembering some of the details. I thought I’d catch you early just in case you were heading out to solve more of the mystery.”

Accoutrements, Bracers and Cuffs had been one of the books sucked into the past by the lightning fueled spell, and subsequently stored in Ditzy’s saddlebag for the trip to Hoofington and back. Post-transit the bag was a little singed, but fortunately its precious cargo was unharmed. “Yes, I did. Spike!”

“Yeah?”

“Could you possibly fetch Rarity that book she was reading yesterday? I think I put it on the returns trolley.”

“Sure!”

Twilight turned back to her visitor. “He’ll be just a moment. And no, as much as I like mysteries, I’ve decided that today is going to be a prophecy-free day.” She smiled proudly. “I am taking a break.”

There was disappointment on the white unicorn’s face, but she did well to hide it regardless. “Oh, well, I suppose I can understand that. Shadow Spade always needed her downtime between cases. Ah!” Spike appeared and held out the book, his expression assuming that default aloof look he always got when Rarity was around. “Thank you very much, Spikey-wikey.” She rubbed his head. The dynamic between the two of them was hard to keep a firm grasp on. Spike’s crush was pretty obvious to most ponies, but it was difficult to determine if Rarity saw it or if she just saw it as the same chivalry she was determined to see in all stallions. “Sorry to have to rush off again, but fashion waits for no mare!”

“It’s no problem at all, Rarity. I hope your designing goes well!” Oh, right. “Oh, before you go, did you remember the hospital charity drive Nurse Redheart invited us to?”

From just the body language, apparently not. “Oh stars, is that today? Well…” she tapped a forehoof. “I suppose I may be able to find some time if I get my ideas down to a degree of satisfaction… but please, if I am unable to make it, convey my apologies to Nurse Redheart.”

“Will do.”

As Rarity turned to leave, Ditzy came bouncing up the path, and probably would have continued into the doorframe if Twilight hadn’t caught her. As it was she merely slipped and had to cling on to Rarity to prevent herself from falling over. “Hi, Rarity! Hi, Spike! Hi, Twilight Sparkle!”

Cue chorus of “Morning, Ditzy Doo.”

After all the worrying that she’d done yesterday, Ditzy had bounced right back into her usual cheer. While not quite on Pinkie Pie levels, it was still certainly a measure of the town’s overall mood; the faces of the mailmares reflected the attitudes of the ponies they’d already called on. Letting Rarity excuse herself and exit, the pegasus started to salute but caught herself this time. No mail today, but there was a card from Dinky, carefully inscribed with the words THANK YOU and accompanied by a doodle of Twilight’s face. Aww.

Unfortunately, as much as Twilight would have liked to continue teaching a pony who was certainly eager to continue herself, one thing she didn’t want was to put Dinky in the path of any more of the prophecy business. Given that yesterday had been perfectly fine before the time travel experience had come in out of the blue, the risk of it happening again was too great, and once she’d explained this, Ditzy understood perfectly. Sharing a spell was one thing; accidentally leaving her in the past, or even the future if that could happen, would be unacceptable. She would be disappointed, but maybe they could continue on and off after the whole thing blew over.

Safety while dangerous spells were involved was everypony’s concern.

Business concluded, Ditzy proceeded on her schedule, and Twilight went inside to clean up after her breakfast, before securing a few things and heading out to see the weather patrol.

Evidently, judging from the number of ponies mobbing outside the headquarters, she wasn’t the only one with a grievance. Not only was the entire Ponyville weather team there, but joining them were a number of townsponies complaining about damage to property, or damaged business by inaccurate weather. Of course this sort of thing would happen. Wind Chime should have known that.

Did she risk teleporting inside…? There were no magic-boosting stimuli around this time like a charged up telescope or a lightning bolt or a crystal charm… She’d have to try. No way was she going to let current events put her off teleporting for good. Scanning around surreptitiously to make sure nopony was watching, she charged the spell, concentrated on the interior of the building, and… release!

“Gyah!”

Okay, so she panicked a couple of pegasi, still the teleport worked as advertised and nothing untoward had happened. The mob was still shouting outside, the pegasi from Cloudsdale surrounding her were hyperventilating, and Snow Veil looked like she was going to be sick, but Twilight could count it as a minor victory. Taking back control of her own magic one spell at a time. Perhaps the ponies inside with her thought she was going to start shouting, and started backing away, but there was a collective release of held breath when she calmly but purposefully greeted the mare in charge.

A lot of ponies, put in Snow Veil’s position, would have broken down and started crying. Snow Veil looked like she wanted to. Still she put on a brave face, both for herself and for the ponies under her leadership. It was a difficult place to be put in, even for Rainbow Dash, who spent a lot of her time taking the flak for weather decisions. Rainbow Dash had never had a sudden thunderstorm decision dumped on her, though. Rainbow Dash would have fought the instruction with every breath she had, and had argued as much as she could when the order had come down, but as she’d had her authority removed it hadn’t done any good. Her replacement hadn’t really had much choice.

Unfortunately Snow Veil knew as much as Twilight or Rainbow did. They’d merely received the instruction via a messenger from Cloudsdale to put all effort into converting the rain shower into a storm as soon as possible with no explanation. Rainbow’s view of the event had been slightly inaccurate, the replacement team hadn’t been completely spineless, and more than just Snow Veil had questioned it, but they’d basically been threatened with being replaced themselves. Since this would apparently mean the involvement of an official named Doc Stratosphere (Twilight remembered the name, and Rainbow Dash’s reaction to it) they’d just shut up and got on with it, the immediate conversion not leaving any pony spare to go about warning the townsponies.

It had in fact been the first time manufacturing a thunderstorm for many of them, leading to a great deal of inefficiency and mis-aimed lightning bolts. That inexperience had been a chief factor in the lightning strikes on the library, and though the pegasus responsible for them owned up immediately, she swore that she hadn’t kicked the clouds that hard. Perfectly plausible. If it had been a 2 or a 1, maybe less so, but right on the cusp was probably an easy mistake to make. Twilight didn’t know. She’d have to ask Rainbow Dash about it.

But now the weatherponies were stuck in the headquarters, unable to leave for the mob outside, and with showers that needed putting up in the forecast zones surrounding the town.

With this new information that could be easily fixed. Twilight’s learning relationship with the Princess didn’t count for much sometimes, but she was at times regarded with just a bit more authority than others. Ponies would listen to her. This probably would involve saying something that would backfire on her later, but there was one thing she could promise. It was already on the Princess’s radar, after all.

In fact, now was probably a good time to test out that voice amplification spell she’d been reading about. Now, she needed to get outside, and the front door was now a better option over the teleport. Opening it did prove something - she really needed to improve on her timing, as Thunderlane had been in the middle of a knocking barrage and whacked her in the nose as he fell over. That… that was actually a pretty effective way of shutting the crowd up. She helped the pegasus to his hooves, rubbed her nose (that was going to sting a little but he hadn’t hit her that hard), allowed the mob to back up a bit and give her some space, and cleared her throat. Then she cast the spell and opened her mouth.

“Everyp—” OW. Head ringing, she canceled the spell. Her normal voice would do. “Uh, sorry about that.”

“My ears!”

“Um, if I can have everypony’s attention… those of you who can still hear me… I’ve already sent a letter to Princess Celestia about this, and, uh… oh dear.”

Nurse Redheart was not impressed. But at least she took it well.

“I thought today was going to be about getting donations for the hospital, not more patients,” she said sarcastically, carefully peering into Thunderlane’s ear. “Could I ask you not to do that again?”

“Who what?”

“I wasn’t talking to you, sweetie.”

Amplify was going to need a bit of work. It was supposed to be used for orations in big halls where sound didn’t carry well, and Twilight had sorely underestimated the volume it produced. If you thought Princess Luna’s Royal Canterlot Voice was bad… yeesh. At least the aftermath wasn’t that bad, no permanent damage, the affected ponies would just be a little deaf for a while. Still, the message had been communicated, and some of those who had originally stuck around to ask Twilight just what she’d been shouting at were now sticking around for the purposes of the charity drive, which was a plus.

Ponyville Hospital was usually a pretty sleepy institution. You got your minor accidents like DIY injuries, inattentive flight injuries similar to the one Rainbow Dash had picked up a couple months ago, and your usual sicknesses like the common cold and the flu. All that plus Hard Knocks, who was only ever found either in the hospital or falling off a rooftop. All the staff were well-trained, though, and for a town founded with earth ponies in mind they were familiar with the common unicorn and pegasus afflictions. There of course had to be costs. The entire event to be held today was to bring attention to those costs, as well as to some of the more unusual cases that appeared in hospitals all over Equestria that the doctors and nurses needed to be prepared for.

A sudden influx of hearing cases caused by a dodgy spell was basically a walk in the park.

“Yeah…” Twilight laughed nervously. “Well, at least I can say I have experience with that now.”

“And we mustn’t forget mistakes are part of the learning process. Just… next time, can you test it out before using it in a crowded area?”

“Of course.”

“Who’s talking about a cake?”

“You’re not that deaf, Thunderlane.” Redheart was apparently satisfied and pointed him towards the exit of the clinic. “Okay, Twilight, if you could just come over here.”

Naturally Twilight had insisted that everypony else be examined before her, it was her fault after all. By now she was feeling perfectly fine, but she would let the expert determine that. She would much rather trust the mare with the medical training over her own summation, especially after that one time when she got the pony pox as a filly and insisted she’d felt fine right up to the point where she’d fainted. And, unsurprisingly, it didn’t take that long before Redheart declared her perfectly fit (aside from a slight bruise on the nose) if a little stressed.

“You’ve not been stretching your magic too hard after last week?” the nurse asked, as they left the clinic and headed for the lobby. “I heard something about you saying strange things after you left.”

What? Oh, that. “It was just some lingering effects from the spell,” Twilight said, which was actually true. “It cleared up pretty quickly.” She carefully didn’t mention that she’d overcooked several other spells in the intervening period since then. Or that she’d ingested diluted snoozeberry juice. Those would be some difficult questions to answer, especially if she wanted to stay away from the matter of time travel or prophecies in general today.

“Just checking. The number of cases involving out-of-control magic is up this year so far.” Redheart paused at the reception desk to sign a form regarding the temporarily damaged hearing of twenty eight ponies. “Shall we?”

Twilight nodded. Just through the doors in the grounds outside there would be ponies winding up to the official beginning of the drive, setting up the various stalls and events and such. Very few ponies would chance to miss it, though it was unfortunate that Rarity was among their number. Well, she did run her own business, and that was one of the pitfalls.

Thinking of falls… this point wasn’t strictly prophecy related, but this was the likeliest place she’d get answers about it… “Nurse Redheart?”

“Yes, sweetie?”

“I don’t suppose…” this was a shot in the dark “…you know anything of the cases at Canterlot General after Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainboom eleven years ago…?”

Redheart paused at the doorway, and raised an eyebrow. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh, I’m doing a bit of an, uh… an investigation?”

The nurse gave her the look more commonly reserved for ponies lying about symptoms, but seemed to give her the benefit of the doubt. “As a matter of fact, I’d finished my nurse training there the week before. The place was pretty swamped.” She hummed. “I wouldn’t have thought a sonic rainboom would cause that much chaos, especially with how frequent they’ve become, but different circumstances, I suppose.”

“Do you remember any young pegasi who’d fallen in water?”

“There were four, you’re going to have to be more specific.”

Okay, okay, what did the filly look like again? Uh… darn. Try as she might, Twilight couldn’t remember. Too much had happened since that excitement. “Okay, thanks anyway.” It had been a long shot at best. Three other pegasus ponies falling in lakes on the same day? What were the chances of that? Actually pretty high, probably. Her explosion - the one she’d had as a filly, that is - had been powerful to knock nearby pegasi out of the sky, and if any of them had been flying over the castle river, or maybe even over the lake in Canterlot’s park, they too would have received a soaking.

Oh well. Time to move on to more important matters. The event wasn’t going to wait for them, after all.

Most of the drive was being held outside, where the ground was still slightly muddy, betraying the previous day’s storm. Not that it put a damper on what was going on. Amethyst Star had taken the reins as chief organizer for the event, which had probably been a good thing considering Twilight’s recent stress, and she had really gone all out for this one. It wasn’t a party per se, but Pinkie Pie had still been drafted in to handle the cake sale, and her presence alone was brightening the mood. Ponies were selling knick-knacks, Fluttershy was operating a micro-petting zoo, there was face-painting for the foals who would be coming up from the school, all proceeds going to the hospital fund. In fact the only thing that wasn’t there was Cherry Berry’s hot air balloon rides, seeing as said balloon had to join Pinkie’s with the aeronautical repair ponies on the other side of the kingdom. She instead was assisting at one of the knick-knack stalls, occasionally offering friendly jabs over at the pony responsible for the damage, Rainbow Dash, who herself was animatedly preparing for an aerial display.

Rainbow, as well as Rarity, Ditzy Doo, and Spike, had promised not to tell anypony about the whole time-traveling thing. It would be a little awkward to have to explain to Cherry that the sonic rainboom that had crippled her vehicle happened eleven years ago. Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy could all be briefed at a later time.

All in all, the event was showing life in Ponyville at its best. Forget all talk of prophecies, time-travel, stolen books. This was a social gathering everypony could enjoy, and all in the name of a good cause.

“Hey Redheart, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash said, waving, when she saw the two of them approaching. “So I hear you’ve been deafening my weather team.”

“Eheheh… yeah.” She was never going to live that down, was she? “The nurse says everypony ought to be fine in a few hours at most.”

“Yeah, I got all that from Icy.” Rainbow gestured over towards one of the nearby houses, where Icy Rain had set herself up on the roof with a deckchair. Despite the entire team’s suspension she at least had been allowed to keep an eye on and direct the replacements where weather surrounding the event was concerned. There was a lot of things Wind Chime could do, but she couldn’t take away their local knowledge. “Don’t worry about it, Twi. We’ve all been through worse. Remember that time AJ was so tired she poisoned half the town?”

Nearby, Applejack waved a hoof in mock indignation.

“One hundred and eight cases of minor food poisoning cleared up by the next day,” Nurse Redheart sighed. “And one dented pride.”

“Ah said Ah was sorry!”

“Aww, you didn’t need to apologize, Applejack, you weren’t thinking straight!” put in Pinkie Pie from the other side of the event area. “That happens to me sometimes too when I go days without sleep planning parties too, which actually happens more often than you’d think but power naps for the win!” She bent down below the cake sale table and brought up a box. “That, and Phruit Phizz, and I’ve got some today so everypony can— hey!”

While she’d been talking, Nurse Redheart had trotted straight over to her and taken the entire box of Phruit Phizz cartons, holding them just out of Pinkie’s reach, which was an impressive feat. “Sorry, Pinkie, but we’ve all got instructions not to let you give these out here,” she explained, ignoring the puppy-dog eyes she was being given. “This is a place of health, not sugar rushes.”

“Meanie.”

“It’s for your own good, Pinkie Pie.”

“O-kay.” Rainbow watched the Nurse carry the box into the hospital, much to Pinkie’s consternation, then turned back to Twilight. “So anyway, yeah. Did Snow Veil tell you anything at all?”

Twilight related the story about the threatened involvement of Doc Stratosphere, and the pegasus let out an annoyed groan. “Oh, great. Figures. I should’ve known he’d be involved somehow.”

“Who exactly is he?”

“It’s a long stupid story and I don’t know half of it.” From the bottom of the hill some more ponies began filtering in. “Long story short, uh… hang on… he’s the sort of guy who’d go into your library and say…” her voice inexplicably deepened in what Twilight guessed was an imitation of his voice “I’m looking for a book. It was blue.”

“That doesn’t sound so—”

“He also thinks he’s got spooky mind powers so everypony knows what he’s talking about even if he hasn’t said anything.”

The unicorn opened her mouth, changed her mind, and shook her head. “Nevermind. Forget I asked.”

“Asked what?”

“About—” Twilight caught herself. “I see what you did there.”

“I wasn’t exactly hiding it, you know? Hey, I gotta go practice, I’ve been working on this sweet move for the finale all morning and I can’t wait to show everypony!”

There was no stopping her when she got giddy like that, so Twilight waved her away, and the pegasus shot off like a rocket around and behind the hospital building, presumably where nopony could see her. The move she mentioned would certainly be spectacular, there would be no denying that, most of her aerial tricks were, she just had to complete them without getting distracted mid-maneuver and crashing. Well, if she did crash, all of the hospital staff were here…

Since she wasn’t helping Amethyst Star with the scheduling, Twilight was essentially just a general jobspony today, helping out the staff and other volunteers as they required it. Of course that wasn’t to say she couldn’t participate in the events either, and she absently levitated a couple of bits into the jar on Pinkie’s stall so she could get a cupcake. Later, Cheerilee would be bringing the school class up, and Doctor Horse would be giving a talk with a brief history of Equestrian medicine and giving examples of cases that had been particularly unusual to deal with (all with the patients’ permission, of course). She was looking forward to attending that.

For now, though, there was work to be done.

“Today is for them
Today is for us
As when we fall down, they help us back up without fuss

Today is for us
Today is for them
It’s time we gave back to those ponies who help us when

If you’re feeling rough, and a little sick
You get yourself to the hospital quick
They’re always helping us ponies in need
So now it’s our turn to help them, you see

You can give a little, give a lot, it’s up to you
We’re all working together, and we’ll see it all goes through
We can all make a difference, yes, you and me
And we’re doing it all in the name of charity”

“The only thing missing is a dunk tank,” Pinkie complained, as Twilight came to exchange the cake sale’s full bit jar for an empty one. “I’d totally pay loads and loads and loads of bits for that!”

“I think the doctors and nurses would rather they stayed dry, Pinkie. We wouldn’t want them to get sick, after all.”

“Eh, true. I’d also be using it all the time too and I’d hate me if I did that. Hi again, Nightingale!”

At first, Twilight couldn’t work out who she was talking to, until Nurse Redheart emerged from the crowd. “Nightingale…?”

Redheart smiled. “Can you tell mom wanted a pegasus? Just passing round the message that you girls can get a free tea for volunteering from the lunch tent.”

Ooh, you could never say no to free tea. Unless it was bad tea. What kind of tea did the hospital staff use, anyway? “Thanks, Nurse.”

“I think it’s only going to get busier, so I’ll let you two—” the nurse stopped suddenly, her ears pricked, her nose scrunched. “Excuse me, there’s a unicorn with a cold somewhere over there.” With that, she practically vanished towards the other side of the event area. Twilight had never seen her move so fast. Pinkie had, apparently, but from what Twilight understood she was constantly getting banned forever for trying to throw parties for the patients. You would need to develop that kind of speed to deal with Pinkie Pie.

Speaking of… the pink pony whipped out a slingshot. “Hey, Applejack!” she called out. “Swapsies!” She let loose with a bit, which sailed off over the crowd. Moments later there was a cry of ‘Heads up!’ and a small apple came hurtling back, which Pinkie caught in her mouth. “Nice!”

Twilight decided to make a getaway move to take the full jar back to Nurse Tenderheart before she got dragged into something.

“They give up their time
Making sure that we’re well
‘Til we feel better, and what was wrong nopony can tell

Now we’re here today
And we’re letting them know
That we appreciate all that they’ve done for us, here we go

Your body aches and quakes, you feel a touch queasy
You just know that they’ll fix you up easy
They’re always helping us ponies in need
So now it’s our turn to help them, you see

You can give a little, give a lot, it’s up to you
We’re all working together, and we’ll see it all goes through
We can all make a difference, yes, you and me
And we’re doing it all in the name of charity”

“They helped me get over the feather flu real quick,” commented Thunderlane, swallowing the muffin he was eating. “That was a relief.”

“Oh, I remember that.” Fluttershy had gone into that particular event with the blues, but afterwards became something of a savior to the town’s pegasi. At the very least it had stopped them all from embarrassing themselves in front of Spitfire of the Wonderbolts. For a pegasus who preferred staying out of the spotlight, she was actually building somewhat of a reputation. “Um… Thunderlane…?”

“Whassup?”

“Um, aren’t you supposed to be helping Icy Rain…?”

“I didn’t hear— ow!”

A shape had loomed up behind the stallion, and cuffed him round the back of the head. “Yes, he is,” said Icy, grabbing Thunderlane by the tail and dragging him away. “You’re not that deaf, cloth-ears.”

“Ooh, and they fixed Rainbow Dash’s wing, too!” Pinkie interjected, before anypony else could comment on the hapless pegasus. “She was doing a bunch of really cool tricks but crashed and then had to spend a few days in the hospital and she spent most of it learning to like books.” She paused, eyes wandering. “I wonder if that’s going to happen again today.”

“Thanks a bunch, Pinkie Pie!” shouted said rainbow-maned mare from somewhere above them. “You’re a real confidence booster!”

“Aw, I try my best!”

“They give it their all
To patch us up when we fall
And they’re always standing by”

The slide changed with a satisfying click. “Now, fillies and colts, does anypony know where we get the word ‘doctor’ from? No? It actually comes from a zebra named ‘Daktari’, who was a pioneer in the area of herbal remedies…”

“We can all make a difference, yes, we’ll all see
And we’re doing it all in the name of charity!”

Doctor Horse hmmed. “Now, this one is a most perplexing case.”

“(What does perplexing mean?)” Scootaloo whispered.

“(It means confusing,)” Twilight whispered back. “(Shh now.)”

“Now, this patient is in Canterlot General Hospital at this very moment,” the doctor continued, reading from a clipboard. “But she was very enthusiastic about her case being publicized like this and actually encouraged it, so we couldn’t say no. Pegasus female, age 28, admitted with insomnia.”

“(What’s insomnia?)”

“(Trouble sleeping.)”

“(Oh. I never get that.)”

“Sometimes, ponies can’t sleep because they’re sick, sometimes it’s because they’re anxious about something. Patient didn’t seem to fall into either of these categories, so she was given standard sleep-aid magic so we could determine more conclusively.” He paused, raised his eyebrows, and looked at the second sheet underneath. “…Patient reported no allergies to medical magic but was still subject to a negative reaction which necessitated a transfer to the Magic Grounding Ward.”

Twilight’s ears perked up; this was getting interesting. It wasn’t uncommon for ponies other than unicorns to be moved to the Magic Grounding Ward, usually if they were suffering from a spell gone wrong, but for a non-allergic sleep magic reaction? She raised a hoof.

“Ah, I see Twilight Sparkle has a question.”

All heads turned to look towards her. “What sort of reaction would require that response?”

“And it’s a good question.” Doctor Horse flicked through the pages on his clipboard again. “She was receptive to the magic and slept, but while sleeping… hm… she was subject to a small magic explosion which blew the north wing’s lights out.”

You didn’t need a Princess-tutored education to work out what was wrong with that, and a few of the adults started muttering quietly. Pegasi and earth ponies did use magic, in their own ways, but only unicorns were at risk of magic explosions.

“Yes, you see why we moved her. In the MGW, we’ve been able to get her to sleep for a few nights, but largely she has remained awake, and our diagnosis attempts continue. So, fillies and colts, what would you suggest we try?”

Twilight had to bite her tongue to stop herself from mentioning snoozeberries.

“Sing her a lullaby!”

“Get somepony to read her a bedtime story!”

“Phruit Phi— mmph!” Pinkie Pie tugged at the zipper on her mouth, then rolled her eyes in Twilight’s direction.

“All perfectly valid options!” Beat. “Except maybe that last one.” Laughter. The slide changed with another click, to show a pegasus sitting up in bed, waving at the camera. “Thanks of course go to the patient for allowing us to discuss her case.”

Everything that had been whirring away in Twilight’s head ground to an abrupt halt as she processed the image on the slide. Orange pegasus. Brown mane. The expression was slightly more frazzled than she was used to, but it was undeniably the same pony. Trouble sleeping, a magic explosion, and the Magic Grounding Ward. Guess that explained why…

It was an agonizing wait, but she caught Doctor Horse as the ponies were leaving to head back to the main event area. “Doctor?”

“Yes, Twilight Sparkle?”

“Is there anything more you could tell me about that pegasus with the insomnia problem?”

The doctor paused in the moment of turning off the projector. “She’s certainly caught your attention, hasn’t she? A most unusual case. I can only say so much, though.”

“I think I might know her… do you have her name?”

This wasn’t strictly prophecy, or time travel. She had free reign to explore this path, and it had been laid out before her like a red carpet. It hadn’t come at the most convenient time, or in a way she’d at all expected, but it had come nonetheless. Without a doubt, the pony in that slide had been the same pony Twilight had seen in her dreams, the pegasus whose memory was ‘bleeding’ into Twilight’s nighttime. Princess Luna had been unsuccessful in finding her in the dream world… but now she had emerged in the real world.

Doctor Horse consulted his clipboard. “Her name is Reeds Melody.”

14 - The Memory

Twilight had proceeded, calmly but with intent, back to the library, where she had instructed Spike to write another letter to Princess Celestia, asking her to ask her sister to join Twilight at Canterlot General in the evening when she woke up. Then she’d gone straight back to the charity drive to continue her assistance. As much as she wanted to go straight to the capital and meet this familiar stranger, Reeds Melody, she had a promise to fulfill.

Still there was a sense of anticipation. The perceptive ponies amongst her friends, Applejack, Fluttershy, they noticed a change, but for once this didn’t involve them. The dream had been Twilight’s and Twilight’s alone. Questions as to why and how could only be answered with the aid of Princess Luna, and hopefully would be when the night rolled around. Until then, there was nothing to do but continue on as normal. And it wasn’t just for nought either; right now the charity event was grounding her in the ordinary, a lifeline to the way things would be if everything surrounding prophecies, time travel, strange dreams had never come up. It was as normal as life in Ponyville could be.

Embarrassingly, more than once Nurse Redheart had commented on the unicorn’s being distracted, and at one point, to Pinkie Pie’s delight, had gotten out a light to shine in Twilight’s eyes to make sure there was nothing wrong with them. There wasn’t, obviously, but it was a reminder for her to try and pay just a bit more attention to present matters rather than future ones. It was just difficult. Volunteering in the name of charity was arguably more important than indulging a whim, but she just wanted to move ahead to the next engaging encounter.

As the event was entering its closing stages, Rarity eventually turned up, slightly disheveled, out of breath, and uttering an apology every other sentence, having apparently run all the way across town from Carousel Boutique. She didn’t really calm down until Redheart forced one of the volunteer teas into her grip. Her ideas, she said, had just run away with her and taken her to a place she’d never dreamed of, and she simply had to write everything down before it vanished. Then, ever the Bearer of Generosity, she strode over to where Nurse Tenderheart was counting the collections and deposited what could only be described as an enormous bag of bits.

“My client finally paid me for their last-minute order last week,” she explained.

To be honest, Twilight had almost completely forgotten about that; it had just been one of the mildly interesting things that had been immediately overshadowed. While that was only last week it felt like much, much longer.

What actually turned out to be much, much longer was the wait for a train at the train station.

“We didn’t miss the Friendship Express, did we?” asked Spike, who had insisted on tagging along. He hadn’t needed to, but Twilight was silently glad; having nopony to talk to for a few hours inside a box on rails would probably drive her crazy. Princess Celestia had since responded to the letter, and though she would leave comments on yesterday’s events to further deliberation, she had one of the castle tower rooms prepared in case they missed the last train back. It wouldn’t be the library tower Twilight had grown up living in, but it beat having to find a hotel.

All that wouldn’t matter though if they never made it to Canterlot in the first place. They had definitely been at the station at the time the train was scheduled, and yet… no train. The Great Equestrian Railway wasn’t the most punctual service in the kingdom, but in Twilight’s experience it had certainly never been this late.

“The stationmaster doesn’t know,” she reported, closing the door to the office behind her. “The train to the Crystal Empire half an hour ago went through with no problems.”

“Huh, weird.” Spike jogged down to the end of the platform and stared along the tracks into the distance. “I don’t see anything coming at all.”

Aside from the train, there wasn’t really a viable alternative solution. Teleporting the two of them to Canterlot was too risky for what was probably only going to be a minor thing. Stagecoaches took far too long. Both hot air balloons were out. If they had wings… meh. The temporary wing spell Twilight had cast on Rarity back at last year’s Young Flyers Competition would most definitely not be suited to such a flight, and would require a great deal of stamina which the lavender unicorn didn’t have, not to mention she’d need to carry Spike, as she didn’t know if the spell worked on dragons. Ground-based transportation solutions it would have to be, and right now, that meant waiting forever for a train.

Idly she wondered if the replacement weather team were again at fault. Snow Veil had mentioned something about rain in the areas surrounding Ponyville. Could Wind Chime have struck again? …No. Unlikely. If she wanted to change the weather in Ponyville proper on a dime, she could just send a messenger to the weather patrol HQ, but if she wanted to change the weather in surrounding zones, it could take hours to track down the pegasi maintaining it. And even if she wasn’t involved, wet rails were a standard railway hazard, and while yes, it could be responsible for delays, there would be signs up if it was going to be strong enough to cause them.

The Friendship Express ran every few hours, and should have been due ten minutes ago. A slower train, stopping at the smaller stations, ran every hour, but that was still about forty minutes away. If they’d been twenty minutes earlier, they could have caught the Crystal Empire train as far as the bottom of Canterlot mountain and changed from there, but… sigh…

Well, at least she’d brought a book, although she’d expected to be reading it on the train rather than at the station waiting for the train. She’d been meaning to reread the first Young Daring Do book for a while now, and it would at least kill a little time.

Rereading a book had its ups and downs. You would be wise to the cliffhangers, but you’d start noticing details that related more to the later chapters, as Rainbow Dash had discovered with the series’ latest installment yesterday. “Uh… Twilight?” Like here; the little bit of description about the orienteering certificate, which seemed like worldbuilding fluff the first time around, but suddenly became relevant when Daring Do had to find her way out of the Forest of Leota.

Spike tugged at her mane. “Not now, Spike.” Or here; how could a first-time reader possibly predict that Tumble’s habit of falling over would become a key plot point during the moment of most crisis? It was all in the details. And planning ahead. She couldn’t imagine ever writing something like this; she’d be constantly going back to the earlier chapters to insert references to the later ones and then overdoing it and… “Spike, I can hear that there’s no train. I’m trying to read. If you’re getting bored, you know the library’s only over there.”

“Actually I didn’t know that, but you learn something new every day, don’t you, Sparky?”

Uh oh.

A brief moment of panic followed, accompanied by an unceremonious toppling from the bench. That hadn’t been Spike. That was a pony who… er… she didn’t know whether to be relieved or annoyed. “Oh, um, Lieutenant Double Edge!” Of course at this completely random point in time she’d encounter her brother’s best friend in the Guard, because why the hay not? Behind her, she could hear Spike snickering; for reasons known only to himself, Lieutenant Edge always insisted on calling her ‘Sparky’, and had been the driving force for Twilight setting a ground rule for her assistant: No nicknames. “What, uh, what brings you this way?”

“Four hooves and a pair of finely-tuned wings.” Double Edge was not known for his ability to make good jokes. “Oh, and this guy,” he continued, gesturing to another pegasus guard behind him, who rolled his eyes. “Seriously though, Princess Celestia sent us to give you a lift.”

Twilight blinked. “You’re kidding.” Princess Celestia had sent the royal chariot out just for her? She’d done it before, of course, but now? “Why?”

“Hey Twilight, stop questioning it!” Spike called, already on his way to where the chariot could just be seen on the other side of the station building. “We’re getting a free ride!”

Sometimes, Princess Celestia’s timing was really peculiar. Not annoying, just… she was always in the right place at the right time, or did the right thing at just the right moment. In Twilight’s experience this also involved being in the wrong place at the right time or sometimes the right place at the wrong time, but over a thousand years of ruling over Equestria had given her the insight to know what was the right right place to be at the right time. If… that made any sense… rrgh. Wait, hang on. How would the Princess even know to send the chariot, anyway? They’d only been waiting a little over ten minutes, and she couldn’t possibly know the train was late… unless…

“…Spike…?”

Said baby dragon poked his head up over the edge of the chariot. “Yeah?”

“Did you send another letter to Princess Celestia asking for a lift?”

Hijacking use of the royal chariot was on the same level as hijacking use of the royal messengers, except slightly worse due to requiring two of the pegasus guards to pull it. He’d probably been about to vehemently deny any and all accusations against himself when Double Edge ruined everything for him. “Entirely. Thanks to Captain Lazy here we get to come out to the middle of nowhere.”

“Ponyville isn’t the—”

“It’s such a shame we had to get called away from that really interesting Health and Safety lecture, isn’t it, Sergeant?”

Even Twilight was impressed by her ability to change rant topics mid-flow. “You’re using this as an excuse to get out of a lecture?! You should be ashamed, Lieutenant Edge! Those lectures are not only mandatory, but entirely necessary! The knowledge gained from them is invaluable! To think that a Lieutenant in the Royal Guard - not to mention one who is up for promotion to Joint Captain - yes, I know about that - is taking relief in avoiding such a necessary talk!”

“You sound exactly like your brother did before his first lecture,” Double Edge grinned. “You’d change your tune if you sat in on one.”

“I’ve sat in on three.”

“In which case I bow to your superior patience.” She shouldn’t have expected any other reaction; like all the members of the Royal Guard, Double Edge was notoriously unflappable while on duty. The Sergeant next to him had hardly even moved. “And while we’d like you to take as long as you like, if we don’t get going soon you’re going to miss your appointment with Princess Luna.” They knew about that, too?! “And Shiny said if we took too long he’d give us South Hall duty.”

Deep breaths. “Okay, fine, Edgey.” Twilight climbed into the back of the chariot. “Were you told where the appointment is?”

Double Edge saluted, choosing to ignore the nickname. “Outside Canterlot General Hospital! One direct flight, as the crow flies! Come on, Sergeant, put your back into it.”

Flying was… well… She’d been in the balloon numerous times, and this chariot on a number of occasions, but it never failed to give her that slight feeling of vertigo. It took a surprising amount of willpower to keep from intentionally looking down and seeing just how far away the ground was. If she fell out, one of the pegasi would of course catch her, and in the event that they didn’t, she knew a quick-cast cushioning spell that would stop the appearance of a Twilight Sparkle-shaped hole in the ground, but… it just didn’t feel safe. How Cherry Berry managed it as an earth pony she had no idea at all. Some ponies were just born for the sky, pegasus or otherwise.

As they were taking off, Twilight took a moment to chastise Spike for hijacking the chariot for a non-emergency. Yes, the chariot would be faster, any train would have to first get to the mountain and then go up the mountain, and this way was just going across the hypotenuse, but a situation could have arisen in the meantime in which the Princess might actually need her personal transport for herself. The chariot was not a taxi service. Not to mention he’d been an unwitting pawn in getting two slackers out of a very important lecture.

That part she said louder, and she could almost hear the sound of Double Edge’s eyes rolling.

With a little more persuasion, Spike was convinced to cough up the return letter (though not literally; he’d obviously done that a while ago), and her eyes swept over it.

Spike,

I’m sure Twilight will remind you that the chariot is not a taxi service. However, as I’m sure she would not want to miss her meeting with Princess Luna, and I have no current need of it, I will send it down as soon as possible.

Princess Celestia

P.S. This is only going to work once. Don’t get too used to it!

Very slowly, very carefully, Twilight put her head in her hooves, and sighed. Ten minutes was far too short a time for a chariot to get from Canterlot to Ponyville, meaning he’d sent it before the late train had even become an issue. Her assistant still needed to learn the boundaries between using his fire breath to send a legitimate request and abusing that direct line to the Princess because he was lazy.

“Plus, this way, I don’t have to use a booster seat!”

If it were possible for Twilight to facehoof even harder she would have—

Pheeeeeep!

One eye cracked open, then her head shot up. That was a whistle from behind her. More specifically, a train whistle. They were leaving Ponyville behind already, but she could still see the station. The station, and the large blue locomotive approaching it… Turn back to answer Hurricane’s call…

No! She was not having it. Today was prophecy-free, and that meant that no matter what, she was not going to ask the guards to turn around and head back. They were going to Canterlot to meet Princess Luna! Hurricane may be the fastest train in Equestria, but even it couldn’t reach the city before the chariot would. Turning back now would be utterly pointless and would only delay their journey further. It could call all it wanted to, but Twilight Sparkle would not answer. Questions about whether that part of the prophecy was now untrue would have to wait until tomorrow.

The chariot began its ascent towards Canterlot mountain.

In the end, it turned out either way would have worked. They still arrived long before Princess Luna would be ready to meet them - the sun hadn’t even gone down yet - and it was only just nearing its exchange with the moon when Twilight watched Hurricane steam into Canterlot’s main station. It truly was a marvel of engineering, and before it had even stopped she was playing an exploded diagram of each working part in her head. The fastest artificial means of transport in Equestria. A record-breaker. When the subject was brought up around Rainbow Dash she constantly expressed a desire to challenge its drivers to a race. Pegasus versus train. That’d be a sight to see.

But now? Right now that was its only importance. It wasn’t key to anything else but its speed record. There was no call to answer.

Pausing every so often as she left, thinking she’d heard it whistle even though it hadn’t, she made her rendezvous with Spike, who was somewhat impatiently waiting outside Joe’s with a box of donuts. Box being the operative word; he’d eaten the majority of its contents, a fact which until Twilight pointed it out he hadn’t actually been aware of. Well, he’d have to finish them all before they went into the hospital anyway. The doctors wouldn’t take kindly to guests noshing in the corridors.

Canterlot General Hospital wasn’t that far away from Joe’s, about a five minute walk up the Broadway to the other side of the line of the Maiden Wall. Ponyville hospital was tiny in comparison to it. Here was a place of healing, where complicated methods and magic were used every day in pursuit of keeping ponies free from sickness. Its air of professionalism extended onto the streets, and ponies passing in proximity to its walls automatically seemed to quieten in respect to those within. Twilight had a few memories from here, some good, some bad, but most of them had been, most importantly, educational. Though it had been a while since her last visit as a patient.

Princess Luna’s arrival was heralded by a flurry of activity coming down the street from the direction of Canterlot castle as ponies were still conflicted whether they should be bowing, hiding, both, or neither. To think they still didn’t know even after almost a year with Princess Luna ruling alongside her sister… what resulted was most of the evening’s population tripping over themselves as they were passed by the Princess and her thestral Night Guard.

The thestrals, well… to be honest Twilight hadn’t had much contact with them. Bat-ponies were a known species, she’d studied them a little under Princess Celestia, and she’d love to sit down and talk with one, but they always just sort of stayed in the shadows. Even when guarding the princess of the night they blended in with the scenery, and at those times Princess Luna tended to command the spotlight anyway. Like the Day Guard when they were at Princess Celestia’s side, they were a fixture, leaping to action only when their charge required it.

“Good evening, Twilight Sparkle,” the Princess said with a nod, to Twilight’s and Spike’s bow. “Forgive me for asking, but th- your message to my sister did not mention the reason for this requested meeting.”

Yes, she had been a little… hasty with that letter writing. She’d been trying to dictate and think about things and get back to the charity drive all at the same time. “No, I was kind of in a rush at the time. I asked you here because I think I found that pony whose dream was leaking into my dream, and why you couldn’t trace it back.”

One of Princess Luna’s eyebrows went up. “Then make haste.”

Before she’d left the charity drive, Twilight had done her best to memorize the information that Doctor Horse had on the strange case of Reeds Melody. As one might expect it didn’t have all the details, that’s what the doctors in this hospital would have to answer, but it had enough to form a short brief and that was what she gave to the Princess.

When she was done, the first question came from Princess Luna’s mouth. “What is this… ‘Magic Grounding Ward’?”

Fortunately the unicorn was prepared for this question. Such a system wouldn’t have existed a thousand years ago, and she’d recalled her own studies on the subject on the offchance that the lunar diarch hadn’t had any cause to visit the hospital since her return. Almost a year, yes, but even with that long you couldn’t be everywhere at once.

“The Magic Grounding Ward was built in the early 10th century,” she explained, launching straight into Lecture Mode. She was probably the only pony in Equestria who could do this to her highness and get away with it. “It neutralizes all magic cast within it, so there’s a minimum amount of interference for ponies with magical maladies or medical magic allergies. Even your magic would be nulled, hence why you couldn’t trace Reeds Melody’s dream back to her.”

The concept was fascinating, and especially advanced for the time it was built. So when Princess Luna uttered her next words, “What a ridiculous idea,” Twilight was almost floored.

“It’s very, very useful.” Come on, think of some examples… oh, of course. “Did your magic explode at all when you were, uh…” Suddenly she had second thoughts about that line of questioning, and was about to change tack before she was interrupted, first by Spike choking on a donut, and then by her conversation partner.

“When We were young? Yes, such events were inevitable.” The gears were started, all they needed to do was get going properly… “…so are you saying this construction prevents this from occurring?”

Mental sigh of relief. Twilight hadn’t meant to head the topic towards the Princess’s foalhood, however long ago that was. “Not exactly, but it minimizes the effects by draining the excess magic.”

“I will withhold my enthusiasm for this concept. However I do recognize its merits. Now, let us proceed to this ‘Reeds Melody’.”

Ponies tried to drop everything and bow when one of the Princesses walked in. Princess Celestia always wished that they wouldn’t, and had on a couple of occasions told Twilight that she didn’t need to (though she did it anyway; she didn’t want to appear disrespectful in front of others). Canterlot General Hospital worked slightly differently, in that the receptionists bowed, but the various doctors and nurses going about their business made do with a deferential nod. This time it was Princess Luna’s turn to be floored, and might have resorted to the Royal Canterlot Voice had one of the receptionists not made a tactical interruption.

“Good evening, Princess,” the earth pony said, bowing again. “You grace us with your presence. Hello again, Twilight Sparkle, Spike the Dragon.”

“…Greetings.” After a couple seconds’ hesitation, the Princess went straight to the point. “We wish to see the patient known as Reeds Melody.”

“Pegasus, sleeping troubles, Magic Grounding Ward,” Twilight supplied helpfully.

“At once, your highness, her other highness’s student. I will call Doctor Caduceus. Please wait over here.”

“(Why do they always call me Spike the Dragon?)”

(Because officially his name on paper was Spike the Dragon, due to Princess Celestia having to come up with a surname without resorting to naming him ‘Spike Sparkle’ since nopony knew where his egg had come from. That would have been one heck of an awkward conversation to have when he became Twilight’s assistant. But he didn’t know this, and it was going to stay this way as long as it could be helped.)

The Princess’s two guards took up what could probably be called casual positions at the main entrance as their charge, the unicorn and the dragon positioned themselves on the ever-so-slightly uncomfortable seats. There had to be a science to making seats to this precise level of discomfort, so that you don’t mind waiting on them for a while but when you were called up you got off them as quickly as your legs allowed.

Though the receptionist had disappeared into the hospital corridors in search of Doctor Caduceus, it seemed like it was taking forever, and that left one thing to do, the one thing Twilight dreaded: Small talk.

“So…” she laughed nervously. Small talk with the Princesses was dangerous ground. “Any particularly interesting things happen in the night lately…?”

This foray into chatting was met with another raised eyebrow before a response came. “I have to say aside from this recent business the night has been fairly calm.” Oh, and she’d forgotten that unlike Princess Celestia, Princess Luna was short with her words. It was going to have to be yet another awkward silence. As her sister’s student, Twilight felt that she had to bond with the lunar diarch somehow, but even now after the whole Nightmare Moon thing was behind her, and she’d opened up a little on Nightmare Night, and almost immediately after that spending a week on holiday with Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, she was still reluctant to make many personal relationships. Disapproval had been written all over her face when Princess Celestia had sent Twilight out to the Crystal Empire.

Actually, she realized, and it almost caused a well in her heart, it was almost the same as she’d been before she’d moved to Ponyville. Did this alicorn next to her, whose eyes were exploring around the waiting area but whose body was stock still, just need an event to expose her to how wonderful friendship could be? Or… was it the opposite? Had Nightmare Moon done so much damage that she no longer trusted it?

Before she could ask (in a roundabout way), the timely arrival of the doctor interrupted what could possibly have been another terrible idea.

Doctor Caduceus, a blue unicorn mare with a tied-back white-and-blue mane, bowed before the Princess. “Welcome to Canterlot General, your majesty,” she said. “And Princess Celestia’s pupil, Twilight Sparkle, and her assistant Spike the Dragon of course. I’m Doctor Caduceus, supervisor for the Magic Grounding Ward. I understand you wish to talk to Miss Melody.”

Princess Luna nodded. “That is correct. We— I—” she glanced at Twilight and Spike “We believe we understand the reason for her insomnia.”

The doctor probably shouldn’t have visibly relaxed as she did but rolled with it. “That comes as a bit of a relief. Our diagnosis specialist exhausted all of his resources trying to work out why such a simple insomnia case resulted in a magic explosion from a pegasus. Please follow me. We’ll stop by the north wing ward first.”

Aside from a few decorative upgrades, the inside of the hospital was pretty much as Twilight remembered it. Like that examination office - where she’d thrown a tantrum over a flu jab and only calmed down when the nurse had given her the biggest biology book she could find in the building. Or that ward, where she’d been left for five minutes in which time she’d disassembled the heart-rate monitor to find out how it worked. Oh, the memories. Not all of them good ones, mind, but memories all the same. Likely Spike felt the same way, although most of his examinations had been carried out by Princess Celestia, since they’d been unable to find many ponies with dragon experience.

Beside her, the Princess was exuding a strange air; confidence tinged with the slight nervousness you get when exploring an unfamiliar place. With her current manner, it wouldn’t be surprising if it turned out she had a slight fear of hospitals. Well, she was here only as a visitor, not as a patient, so things ought to not get too intense. The presence of the thestral guards almost felt like a shadow following them, they were just about conspicuous enough to stop anypony from thinking of trying anything.

Ah, she’d better warn Princess Luna about that… “Princess?”

“Yes?”

“Uh, just as a warning, entering the Magic Grounding Ward can leave you feeling a little… strange.” As a magically oriented unicorn, Twilight really felt uncomfortable at being unable to cast anything. It was actually similar to magic fatigue, except with that you always knew you were regaining the ability to cast slowly, rather than just having the ability turned off. “It’s a little like…” how to explain it “…like reading a book you really don’t like for an exam. You can put it down any time you want but you’ve got to keep reading it.”

Both eyebrows went up this time. “We… I will keep that in mind.”

“The patient was originally in this ward here,” Doctor Caduceus suddenly said, making Twilight jump and Spike smack into the back of her leg. “Miss Melody was admitted on the evening of the 10th complaining of insomnia, and due to the recent rise in sleeping illness cases she was brought here for additional diagnosis. Subsequently she tested negative, and a standard Sleep spell was applied as is the norm.”

Princess Luna was nodding. “Yes, I am familiar with that process. It has not changed much in the last thousand years.”

“Tried and tested. Miss Melody was asleep for about three hours before the explosion, which blew the lights out in the wing. Again, standard procedure, immediate transfer to Magic Grounding in case of any further detonations.” The doctor hummed to herself for a moment. “Since then, we’ve tried a number of methods; the night before last we were able to get her to sleep for a little while using snoozeberry juice…” (Twilight cringed) “…but their effectiveness was somewhat nulled by whatever condition she’s actually suffering from.”

“As the guardian of the night,” said Princess Luna, drawing herself up to her full height, “it is my domain to safeguard ponies as they sleep. Maybe I am more familiar with her affliction.”

“Of course, Princess,” Doctor Caduceus acknowledged, bowing again. “Any insight you could provide would be most appreciated.”

Before they left, Twilight had another look around the ward; surely nothing in here could have triggered the explosion? She’d come across some crystals at the Crystal Empire which were capable of holding a small magical charge, but the doctors would have found something like that… Hm.

Another thing occurred to her as she turned to leave, and beheld the signage on the wall opposite the exit. Princess Luna had said… “She may appear to be responding to our words, but to her, she is simply reliving a past event.” Yet the first time Twilight had encountered Reeds Melody in her dream, she (Twilight) had responded to the question ‘What do you see’ with ‘I see you’ and the pegasus had almost responded by mouthing the question back, something she hadn’t done the second time around. Lying in one of the beds in the ward, and looking towards the door… a sign pointing towards the intensive care unit was clearly visible. ICU. That should have been a hint.

The Princess spoke again as they were heading now for the Magic Grounding Ward. “A symptom you may not be aware of is that while she is sleeping, her dream is bleeding.”

Quite rightly the doctor was a little perplexed. “Forgive me, Princess, but what does that mean?”

Twilight wished she’d brought a notebook and a pencil for this; oh well. She’d have to make do with her memory.

“Dream bleeding occurs when a pony’s dreamscape is damaged in some way, though it is unusual if not caused by external influences. Elements of the source’s dream will begin to enter into other ponies’ dreams. If the bleeding is not healed quickly, the more the pony sleeps, the more unstable their dreamscape becomes until it shatters completely and they become incapable of dreaming at all.” Princess Luna sighed. “Such a condition can be recovered from but it takes a great deal of time and energy. Fortunately healing the bleed at such an early stage, especially if the source has only slept twice since the start of the bleed, is fairly easy. However…”

This was where Twilight jumped in. “Princess Luna needs to enter the source’s dream in order to fix the bleeding. She tried traveling there directly from mine but she was unable to, and I think that’s because she’s in the MGW.”

“I’m here because why not,” Spike piped up from the back.

“Hmm. Interesting.” They walked in silence for a moment. “Until we can pinpoint the source of the explosion we can’t really risk moving her back to the standard wards. That can’t be helped.”

“We will see when we get there.”

The entrance to the Magic Grounding Ward couldn’t really be mistaken for anything else. Aside from the huge sign over the entrance that said MAGIC GROUNDING WARD, there were numerous warning posters plastered up around it as well as a pony on guard to make sure nopony walked in by accident. This was serious business now. There was no messing around where magical safety was concerned.

Entering it was a little like going through decontamination, in that there was an airlock that had to be passed through. Today was the first day Twilight had had an extended opportunity to observe the thestral guards, and even Captain Shriek was a little antsy at being in a fairly confined space that admittedly Princess Luna took up a lot of. There was some magical process involved that Twilight wasn’t allowed to study (and for good reasons). And, as always, all of a sudden…

Princess Luna let out a sharp gasp, and started breathing noticeably heavier. Behind her, her two guards almost fell over. “This is…”

It was a nasty, hollow feeling, not being able to cast magic like this, a little like missing a limb. Like most things in the medical profession, it was nasty but necessary. Some things just had to be done. Spike, meanwhile, in a perfect illustration of another difference between ponies and dragons, didn’t react at all.

Doctor Caduceus took a few steps into the ward and retrieved a small box. Deftly using her hooves she tipped out four small blue orbs, and offered them to the pony visitors. “Here, chew one of these,” she said, as the magic users fought the urge to try and levitate them. “They’ll help you take your mind off the process.”

Oh, yes, the chewy sweets. There was no scientific property that made them do what they did, it was entirely placebo, but even knowing about that they still worked anyway. Blueberry, this time. Mmmm. With all four of them chewing, and Spike stewing over being left out, the doctor led them out into the main part of the ward.

The interior of the Magic Grounding Ward was decorated much more colorfully than the rest of the hospital, another tactic to take visitors and patients’ minds off the stifling atmosphere. With the environmental magic at a minimum, it felt almost like they were walking through a very thin sludge. Total removal of magic was impossible, unnecessary, and probably downright dangerous too, but a balance had been achieved between minimal magical interference and enough magical energy to support things like pegasus flight. Any more than this and they’d just fall out of the air, and it would start becoming detrimental rather than beneficial.

…And there she was.

Twilight tried not to allow her heart rate to increase but it rose anyway. Over there, in the flesh, sitting up in bed and leafing through a magazine about weather discoveries, clad in orange coat and brown mane… Finally, they’d be able to converse outside of repeating an eleven-year-old memory. This was ridiculous, she was getting goosebumps.

The doctor cleared her throat gently. “Miss Melody?”

“Mmmhmmm?” Her eyes didn’t leave the pages.

“You have visitors.”

“Huh, about time, I…” she looked up, saw Princess Luna, and the magazine went flying across the room. “Gyah! You could’ve said one of them was a Princess!”

“Greetings, Reeds Melody,” Princess Luna said, stepping forwards. “Please do not be concerned.”

For a pony who supposedly had had two half-nights of sleep over the past week, Reeds Melody looked surprisingly energetic, even lying there in the hospital bed. After two nights of not sleeping Twilight basically stopped functioning. If there wasn’t evidence to the contrary, the pegasus looked perfectly healthy and especially not the sort of pony who’d been suffering from insomnia. For a moment, Twilight was slightly envious. Why, if she was able to stay up for weeks on end without sleeping, the sheer amount of reading that could be done…

Okay, right. Concentrate. “And I’m—”

“Twilight Sparkle, yeah, I know who you are.” Reeds grinned. “It’d be kind of hard not to.”

Was it… could it be true? Was somepony finally recognizing her from her reputation? “I… yes.”

“And I’m Spike!” Spike said, waving.

“Princess Luna and Twilight Sparkle would like to try and shed a little light on your condition,” Doctor Caduceus supplied, picking up the magazine from where it had fallen and placing it back on a nearby trolley. A couple of seconds later, Spike wandered over to said trolley and started going through the other magazines that were on there, and Twilight realized maybe he would have had a better time of it if he’d stayed at Joe’s.

“Hey, I’ll take anything I can get at this point, I just want a nap.” The pegasus kicked back. “Go on then, fire away.”

Some cushions were retrieved. At this point it was clear that the Princess still hadn’t gotten over the temporary nullification of her magic, but that was to be expected; even after Twilight’s numerous visits she wasn’t used to it either. Bearing in mind her special talent was magic, it was in a sense locking away her true self. She needed to be able to cast magic. It was only the chewing on the sweet in the corner of her mouth, and the constant reminders that she could step outside whenever she wanted to, that kept her from bolting.

“We will start with what we know,” said Princess Luna, keeping eye contact with her subject. “Twilight Sparkle became partially aware of your situation last week when your dream began bleeding into hers, and you took form in her dream.”

Reeds raised an eyebrow.

“She encountered you again whilst you slept the night before last, where I found myself unable to trace the bleed back to you to heal the wound, presumably due to your residence in…” the Princess waved a hoof around “…this place. It is our intention to remove you from this ward in order to enter your dreamscape and halt the bleed.”

That wouldn’t solve the entire mystery of why she was suffering from such a strong case of insomnia, or why the bleed started in the first place, or why it specifically seemed to target Twilight, but it would be a start. Like so many things recently, it would be working with what you know and then branching out to the areas that at the outset didn’t appear to make sense. Knock the first domino down, and the rest fall neatly into place.

As any pony would, Reeds reacted with relief at the news, and threw her forelegs up into the air. “Finally. No offense doc, but it’s kinda boring in here.”

“Magical items will not function in the ward,” Doctor Caduceus said automatically. “Our book list is plain to see over there. Non-magical articles of entertainment within reason are available on request.”

“You try spending a week in here.”

“I did.”

“Oh, fine. Well, it’s not like I’m gonna lose any sleep. Where’s my stuff?”

Sighing, Twilight tried to facehoof as inconspicuously as possible. Then she brightened up, trying not to betray her annoyance. “Doctor, I’ve an idea. If we went out into the gardens, we wouldn’t run the risk of blowing the lights again.”

“For the record I don’t know how it happened either!”

A few short minutes later they were settled beneath a tree in the hospital’s gardens, provided for the doctors, nurses and patients who weren’t bed-bound to get some fresh air and to stretch their legs/wings. Reeds was ecstatic to get an opportunity to fly; Twilight and Princess Luna were just relieved to get their magic back. It would be a shame if after this they’d have to go back in there, so hopefully between the three of them they’d be able to get this problem fixed. Twilight’s dreams would remain uninterrupted, Reeds’s dreams would stop bleeding and with any luck her insomnia could be cured too. Admittedly Spike wouldn’t get any benefit out of it but he was, as normal for him, determined to help in any way he could.

On their way from the Grounding Ward, they’d listened - there hadn’t really been any choice - to Reeds Melody’s description of circumstance. Her name was Reeds Melody, as they knew, age 28, as they probably knew from the case publicity that she’d endorsed, and she worked as a teaching assistant for weather studies at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. (While the name implied the school was for unicorns only, it actually employed all three races of ponies, as well as some non-pony species for specialist classes. Weather studies was primarily for students interested in the history of Cloudsdale’s weather production and extended to pegasus history in general.) This was a little bit of a shock to Twilight, who didn’t remember her at all; but then again, by the time she’d started weather studies, she’d been removed from her normal teaching classes and was being tutored exclusively by the Princess. There were probably a lot more staff she’d never met.

Questioned about the memory, the answer was surprisingly simple; she’d been helping to set up a weather balloon which the sonic rainboom subsequently blew away, and seeing it had just been one of the biggest events at that point in her life. Other than that it held no significance for her, which Princess Luna mused as being unusual for having bled twice. All previous dream bleeding she’d encountered, she said, involved dreams based off of experiences key to the pony’s development.

Twilight really wished she’d brought a pencil and paper.

Well, she had her thought journal, anyway. She had, probably just for the sake of reference, done her best to remember what Reeds had been saying in the dream/memory. That was a good point; who had she been talking to?

“Oh, there were two other ponies helping me with the weather balloon, since Professor Stormy Eye got called away for something or other,” Reeds explained, waving a hoof around. “Didn't know who they were, didn’t really see them after that either. Didn’t really have any reason to remember them, you know?” She hmmed for a moment. “Then… next thing I know I’m waking up in the hospital having fallen into the Princess’s ornamental fountain.”

“Wasn’t that when you—” Spike started, and Twilight had to hurry to shush him. Yes, that probably was when her magic explosion happened, and in a stunning coincidence, it would make Reeds Melody the second of four ponies knocked into bodies of water by the event. She didn’t want to admit it though.

“Huh, what was that?”

“Oh, nothing, nothing, haha…”

Unlike in Ponyville, there had been no rain for Canterlot during the day, so the gardens were solid underfoot and the atmosphere was cool in the spring night. The moon still relatively low in the sky cast long shadows, the lunar body from this part of the city not obscured by the mountain peak. Quietness prevailed, the gardens being populated by only a few other ponies who were giving the group (but mostly the Princess and her guards) some space, the normal hubbub of the city outside finishing its descent into the silence of night. You couldn’t really ask for a better evening.

“So,” said Princess Luna, when the three ponies and dragon had settled (Doctor Caduceus having been called away; so long as she was informed of any developments), and the thestral guards had taken up nonchalant posts at a respectable distance. “Our first step will be to lull you to sleep using a more powerful spell than that which is available to the doctors. We will then enter your dream… I will enter your dream…” she corrected with an apologetic glance towards Twilight, who nodded her agreement “…and locate the source of the bleed. You will be with me every step of the way.”

“Coolio. Hey, buddy,” Reeds directed at Spike, who at first looked behind him to see who she was talking to, “Do you mind if I ask you to keep an eye on my bag?” The pegasus’s saddlebag, which she’d rifled through to check for anything missing as soon as the doctor had returned it to her, had been leant up against the tree. Spike saluted, marched over to it, and did what he probably thought was an impression of the Royal Guards on duty. “Cheers. Go on then, Princess, do your worst.”

“It is not my intention to do my worst—” Twilight had to quickly clarify that it was an expression only. “Excuse us— me. Very well.” The Princess’s horn lit up. “Somnnia.” For a moment, it hadn’t appeared to have worked, but just after opening her mouth to say so, Reeds’s eyes slowly rolled up and the words were converted into a snore.

Twilight blinked. “(That… that was pretty easy,)” she whispered, for fear of waking her up again. Then she actually looked at Princess Luna, who despite the apparently simple spellcast was visibly breathing heavier.

“(Not as easy as it should have been,)” the alicorn replied after a pause. “(Hard as that may have been, the hardest part is yet to come. Please sta—)”

“Twilight!”

Even though only a couple of whispers had been exchanged Spike’s sudden excited outburst made them flinch. “(Spike! Shh!)”

“(Sorry! But look!)”

He pointed to Reeds’s bag. A soft blue light was now being emitted from within it, one that Twilight could have sworn hadn’t been there before. Surely she would have mentioned… before the unicorn could stop him, her assistant had undone the strap and begun rifling through it. Somepony would be getting a lecture on personal space… later on…

What.

Sorry, what?

Held carefully in the dragon’s claws was a very, very familiar blue octagonal prism, pulsing gently with light.

For yet another time, all of Twilight’s thought processes were derailed. Next to her, she almost missed the Princess’s recognition. “(The Iris…!)”

Okay. Okaaaaay. Everything stop. Ignoring everything else in recent times she’d applied the term to, this was actually impossible. That crystal… the Iris… had been removed from the Meditation Chamber in May of 990, and through time travel had found its way into Trixie’s hooves a month previously. In the present, Trixie still had it, though it had barely any magic left, and she’d still been wearing it as her cloak’s clasp in Hoofington when they’d visited the museum. Yet somehow, this pegasus, this Reeds Melody, had entered into the hospital prior to that with the crystal sitting in her bag?

Everything was spiraling back to Prophetia, again!

“(Princess…?)”

“(We have not seen this for a thousand years…)” the Princess breathed. “(We feared it lost to time…)”

If the crystal had started in the Meditation Chamber, and it had then been with Twilight, then Trixie, then younger Trixie, where would there have been time for it to be given to a seemingly random other pony? It made no sense! And she really meant that this time! Naturally, in her confused state, Twilight made the stupid mistake of picking it up with her magic, forgetting what had happened on two of the three previous occasions when she’d made contact with it.

Lightning couldn’t strike twice. No matter how many times a pegasus kicked a storm cloud, two strikes wouldn’t hit the same location. But, of course, it already had.

Author's Note

This chapter, and a little into the next one, brings us to the end of Year 2. Oh, the struggles are real.

15 - The Sweep

Oh dear.

This was not good. This was worse than not good. Not good was an understatement. This was terrifying. Never before had three little numbers caused such a panic amongst ponies, especially not an alicorn princess.

Six. One. One.

When Twilight and Trixie had accidentally used the Iris to travel back from Hoofington 990 to Ponyville 1001, the charm had been… well, basically dead, that last time travel spell draining the last of the magic which admittedly Twilight had thought was already gone. Before that, during the jump which had seen Twilight separated from her friends and given her a rare glimpse inside the ether, the charm had contained an astonishing amount of magic, which no doubt contributed to both the spell’s power and instability. She’d never encountered a charm with that magnitude of power before, and at the time she doubted she would again.

Reeds Melody’s version of the Iris contained even more power than that.

Trying to use the same scale would be like trying to measure the height of a tornado with a ruler. It was just… so much more, on so many different levels. Doubtless it had been the source of the explosion which had necessitated the move to the Magic Grounding Ward, though it remained a mystery as to why the doctors didn’t identify it as a magical artefact. It refreshed Twilight so much that she thought she’d never need to rest again, a moment of infinite rejuvenation. According to Princess Luna, there was a reason for it having this effect, but the explanation was long and right now, they had much, much more pressing issues to deal with.

Could the Princess have done something in the short few seconds before the spell had fired? Possibly, but the shock and surprise of actually finding the charm in the first place had just lasted too long. This time, the travel had been instantaneous. Twilight’s involuntary teleport spell had been increased tenfold, hundredfold, she didn’t know, but it wasn’t unstable and it was uninterrupted. They could have landed anywhere.

The discarded news scroll in the alleyway where they did land told the whole horrifying story.

CE 611.

There would be no waiting this one out. Celestial Era year six hundred and eleven, three hundred and eighty nine years before Nightmare Moon would be released.

Twilight wanted to scream.

Upon seeing the date, Princess Luna had immediately summoned an illusion over herself, dulling her own magic down and reducing her appearance to that of a normal unicorn. “You should not use the name ‘Luna’ while we are in this time period,” she explained in a hushed tone. There were no ponies visible but you never knew who was listening. “My sister… she will detect an irregularity, so it is best we do not linger here for too long.”

At their hooves, Reeds snored again. Now that her sleeping state was the worst possible one to be in, she was showing no signs of waking up any time soon, and her snoring could easily outmatch Spike’s to boot. What a brilliant combination to have wandering around almost four hundred years in the past: a unicorn, an alicorn in disguise whose present self was imprisoned on the moon, a pegasus previously with insomnia now under the effects of one of the most powerful sleeping spells known to ponykind, and a baby dragon, who would draw attention. Seventh century ponies were highly fearful of dragons, even the smaller ones.

Perhaps one of the minor blessings was that it was actually nighttime, so a greatly reduced amount of ponies would be out on the streets of… wherever they were. Princess Luna was making a concentrated effort not to look up at the pattern of craters on the moon, though every now and then she’d glance upwards and cringe. Sadness, regret. Her sister had been ruling by herself for over six hundred years. Twilight couldn’t imagine how much she’d want to fly to Canterlot castle and rejoin her.

But no. Princess Luna had not appeared, not even briefly, in 611. Neither her name nor her visage would appear for another… six or so years when she would be painted by Stalleonardo da Colton. They had to keep it that way.

Okay. Situation: Stuck in 611. Twilight’s magic was stuck on cooldown, still plenty of magic emanating from the Iris but any attempt to touch it by Princess Luna caused a negative reaction in the form of a small shock. Reeds Melody, snoring like a train. Spike, understandably excited but cautious. They couldn’t stay where they were, in case Princess Celestia detected them. Spike had suggested trying to send the Princess a letter through his fire breath, but that idea was shot down quickly. Apart from the temporal confusion that would cause - 611 Celestia would have no idea who the message was from, and 1001 Celestia wouldn’t be able to do anything - they didn’t have any parchment or writing implements. What would they write, anyway? ‘Help, I’m stuck in 611’?

…Yeah, it felt really weird having to be on the run from the Princess.

As an afterthought, Princess Luna added an additional layer to the illusion spell - period clothes. It took her a few attempts with Twilight’s advice to get the details right - thank you Rarity and all your impromptu historical clothing research - but soon to the casual observer they looked like three almost perfectly citizens of wherever-they-were. Spike, being Spike, would stick out like a sore hoof regardless of what he was dressed in, and as powerful as Princess Luna’s magic was even after the dulling down, she couldn’t summon a baby carriage. Well, hopefully they wouldn’t have to explain him to anypony.

So naturally they were immediately accosted the moment they stepped out of the alley.

“‘scuse me!” called the yellow earth pony mare, who in a case of extraordinarily bad timing had been looking directly at the alley mouth when they stepped out onto the cobblestones. “What were you doin’ in that alley there? An’ is that gal alright?”

Twilight didn’t know exactly what she had been expecting but she hadn’t been expecting the accent; she had to fight not to stare in curiosity. In 611 the main Equestrian language had been Middle Equestrian, the language had evolved from Old Equestrian but it hadn’t quite reached modern Equuish. Middle Equestrian she actually knew how to translate, not flawlessly, but when reading it she had a pretty firm grip on what was being said. Saying that, she was pretty sure that no part of Equestria, then or now, spoke with what sounded like a mixture between Trottingham, Manehattan, and Appleoosa. “Um, she’s fine! (Is there a translation spell in effect?)” she added towards the Princess, who nodded subtly.

“(I included it as I was certain such an event would occur.)”

Behind them, Spike ducked back into the alley.

“She don’t look so fine.” The mare took a few steps towards them and craned her neck. “You sure ‘bout that? ‘s a dangerous time to out ‘n’ about, ‘specially lurkin’ in alleyways.”

Think of an excuse… “Our friend, she…” Twilight looked at Reeds, who was slumped over the Princess’s back having what was probably the most peaceful night’s sleep she’d had in ages. “…she’s prone to sleeping fits. We were just taking a shortcut, and, uh…”

Apparently this was a well enough crafted excuse to satisfy the mare, who nodded knowlingly. “Ah. I feel ya. Old Mrs Peach’s son drops off at the most awkward times.” Beat. Her eyes squinted at them. “Wait a tick. I don’ recognize yer accents. Where’re ya from?”

The Princess stepped forward. “Forgive my sister’s rudeness. I am called Moonshine, this is my sister Starshine and our acquaintance Wind Song. We are visiting here from Canterlot.”

A slight rattle from behind them announced the fact that Spike had found a box and had poked some eye holes in it. In the meanwhile, Twilight was rapidly trying to process a) her new alias of ‘Starshine,’ b) Princess Luna’s choice of alias ‘Moonshine’ and c) the fact that, even if it was only as a cover, she was being referred to as Princess Luna’s sister. It was very jarring.

“Ah, I see, I see.” The mare nodded knowingly again. “Big city folk. Don’t see too many of you unicorns down here. Well, the name’s Daffodil, Raven’s Town born ‘n’ raised. Nice meetin’ ya.”

“Likewise.”

Raven’s Town? Mentally, Twilight tried to run through her database of 7th century towns and what she remembered from a past mild interest in her friends’ genealogy. Raven’s Town, Raven’s Town… it wasn’t ringing a bell, maybe it was a local nickname. And no, nothing she’d found out about her friends’ ancestors even went back this far, so she wouldn’t be able to tell if she was talking face to face with a pony directly related to any of them. A pair of names, neither of which meant anything.

Did that in itself mean anything? Probably not.

On the Princess’s back, Reeds groaned in her sleep, and let rip a particularly deafening snore.

They really needed to get going. “Well,” Twilight said brightly, “thanks for the concern, but R- Wind Song is going to be fine. She’ll wake up. Eventually. We’d better get going though, right, uh, Moonshine?”

Princess Luna nodded. “Yes. It was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Daffodil, but we must be on our way.”

Daffodil reached up and brushed her mane, as if doffing an imaginary hat. “Th’ same. You stay safe now, ‘n’ get that friend of yours someplace warm! ‘s a strange evenin’ tonight.”

No kidding.

“I was hoping we could avoid such contact,” Princess Luna muttered, as they, carrying Reeds and Spike-in-a-box, started walking away, and Daffodil meandered in the opposite direction. “Twilight Sparkle, how long did your magic take to recover previously?”

Twilight ran through the night in Hoofington in her head. Walking to the town, walking through the town, investigating the Flim Flam brothers’ machine and then the entire debacle with the Ursa… it had to have taken at least a couple of hours. Whether this time around would be affected by just how far they’d gone back in time, they would have to wait and see. She relayed this information to the alicorn/unicorn, who sighed, knowing it could not be helped.

Held in Twilight’s magical grip, Spike’s eyes appeared at the hole in the box. “So where exactly is ‘Raven’s Town’?”

“Certainly a good question,” commented the Princess. “Do you know of it?” she asked of Twilight, who shrugged.

“Your guess is as good as mine. It’s probably a local nickname.”

Unlike when she’d been in the forest and in Hoofington with Trixie, this time there were a myriad of different directions to choose from and no pony to guide them. Even if they were able to identify what town they were actually in, there was no guarantee that the same landmarks and streets existed between their current time period and the present. Some of Canterlot’s streets wouldn’t have changed, but they plainly weren’t in Canterlot. What they needed was a vantage point, or a key town location, a market square, a public building, something like that.

And while she was thinking about it, off the top of her head, what was the general status of Equestria at the beginning of the 7th century? Two hundred years since the last worldwide event, farmland where Ponyville would later be founded had just started being farmed, the town of Yoke had recently burned down from the eleventh time… well, this place certainly wasn’t Yoke, for sure. If the records had been correct, there was barely a moment at this point in history when that town wasn’t on fire. There were a fair share of torches around, sure, but they were very conspicuously being kept clear of flammable material.

Oh, and another thing; that pony, Daffodil, had reacted to the half-truth that they’d come down from Canterlot as if it was normal, which meant that the capital wasn’t too far away. Merchants might make the trip from coast to coast, but tourism wasn’t as big a thing as it would later become. A town, nicknamed Raven’s Town, within reasonable distance of Canterlot. It just wasn’t coming to her.

The roads were sloping upward. That meant a hill, and that meant better views. They were heading in a good direction, at least.

Climbing the remaining distance to the summit didn’t take long, and from behind the houses Canterlot mountain rose, the moon somewhat above it, placing it somewhere to the east of them. West of Canterlot, west of Canterlot… what town was west of Canterlot? Trottingham? No…

“Mmmmf,” commented Reeds, unexpectedly sliding off the Princess’s back. “S’oky I’ll look afrit fyu.”

‘It’s okay, I’ll look after it for you’? Sleep talking? Twilight and Princess Luna exchanged a glance.

“That is most strange,” the Princess said, after a moment’s pause. “The level of sleep gifted by Somnnia should be far too deep to allow sleep talking.”

This was probably a bad time to make a pat diagnosis, and Reeds’ prior condition was hardly the most pressing thing on their minds, but Twilight had to at least get the ball rolling. “Have you ever encountered a spell or anything that would disrupt sleeping magic?”

The Princess shook her head. “Never. It is nigh impossible to disrupt such magic. Even if some effect were to alter the sleep state, the shock should cause the sleeper to wake instantly.”

So much for that idea, then. They probably should have asked what she was doing before she’d come down with super-insomnia. It was going to be pretty ridiculous if it turned out that she’d been on a coffee marathon or something. Oh no, what if it turned out to be Phruit Phizz? No, she had to stop thinking about this. The topic had to be put on the backburner.

If she woke up this would be much easier to explain to other ponies they might meet. Not all of them might be so readily accepting as Daffodil had been—

A point of light appeared at Canterlot castle.

“Celestia is awake. We cannot linger.”

Even worse news then. Stuck in the past, anonymous town, sleeping pony, dragon in a box, and a powerful alicorn who might be coming to investigate soon. Perfect! How could this possibly get any worse?

Moments later, as they descended from the hill and were too preoccupied to notice the stallion they crashed into, Twilight realized that might have been a bad question to ask.

When the dust had settled, the stallion, who’d ended up upside down against a house wall by the side of the road, shook his head. “Good grief.”

“(Ow,)” came Spike’s muffled voice.

“Ifnyr keepdntht yrgnna breakit,” offered Reeds.

For goodness’ sake, they were supposed to be trying not to make an impact on the past! Twilight picked herself up, dusted herself off, and headed straight over to assist the poor pony they’d knocked over. “I’m sorry, that was our fault, we weren’t looking where we were going.”

“Ah, no worries ‘bout it,” he said, accepting her offer of an outstretched hoof to help him up. “I reckon that was prob’ly my fault for standin’ around like a lemon. Is… your pegasus friend…?” Before Twilight could say anything, Reeds decided to answer instead by letting out a snore that put her previous outbursts to shame. “Oh my.”

“Heh, yeah…” Twilight laughed nervously. “She does that.”

From a pile of hay on the other side of the street, Princess Luna emerged. “That was most unpleasant. Starshine, we must not dally.”

Right. No time to stand around chatting. “Yes, sorry again, but we’re in a bit of a rush… obviously.” Twilight’s horn sparked, but she was able to summon enough levitation to pick Reeds up and lay her across her back. “It’s late and we need to get to… uh…”

“…we are staying in the vicinity of the market square,” supplied her disguised ‘sister’, picking up Spike’s box. “Do try to keep up, Starshine.”

“Uh, yes, Moonshine…”

“Oh, well then.” The stallion picked up his own box, which had gone flying in the impact. “Don’ let me hold ya up then, gals. This delivery ain’t that urgent.”

Encounter number two had been a little more painful but at least it hadn’t lasted as long. The fewer ponies they could get away with meeting, the better. Like that; if they’d interrupted an important delivery which arrived a few moments later than it had before the time travel had become involved, that could mean the difference between a pony making a discovery or meeting their life partner or… a skipped pebble would become a tsunami. For want of a nail…

“Where are we actually going to go?” she asked the Princess, as they moved, not too fast but purposefully, down the street. “Just as far as we have to before my magic recharges?” It was well on the way, evidenced by her ability to levitate a napping pony, but it was still nowhere near powerful enough to use the Iris to return to the present. A moment of panic passed as she realized she hadn’t got the charm on her, but then she relaxed when she remembered she’d seen Spike holding onto it tightly. He knew how important that was, and he wouldn’t let them down.

“That is the plan, yes.”

Okay then. Bearing in mind they didn’t actually know where the market square was, they couldn’t really go there if they wanted to. “You hear that, Spike?”

Silence. Princess Luna stopped, and looked back at the box.

“Spike…?”

Nothing.

Oh, hayfeathers. Panic time again. Twilight pried open the box and her heart sank. No dragon, no Iris. The box was packed full of blank books.

She cast a glance towards the Princess. “Can I scream now?”

The disguised alicorn bit her lip. “That delivery pony must have been transporting these books, and picked up Spike when we crashed into him. We have no choice but to find him before the delivery is completed.”

How far had they come since the scene of the accident? Far enough for the pony to have picked up what he thought was his box and walk off with it. Now they would have to run, all the while trying not to drop Reeds.

With a great exhalation, Princess Luna closed her eyes and concentrated. “I am able to detect faint traces of magic coming from the Iris,” she reported. “He went in this direction, but we must make haste.”

As they began galloping, Twilight realized that, whether through trying to keep up the illusion of Moonshine or just on her own, Princess Luna had stopped making old language mistakes by slipping into using the Royal ‘We’. Maybe all she needed was a bit of a push. If she didn’t know better, she’d suspect the diarch was enjoying this.

For a delivery that supposedly wasn’t urgent, that stallion had really hoofed it. A box of blank books… was he delivering to a scholar, or a writer? It could really be anypony; in these days blank books really weren’t expensive at all. Whoever it was would be getting a real surprise if they didn’t manage to swap the boxes back before they opened their delivery. Expecting books and receiving a baby dragon holding a super-powerful magical charm? That would cause more than a shock, that would be cause for an entire company of the Royal Guard to drop on the town.

He was certainly taking what seemed like a circuitous route… Wait, there he was! Just disappearing around a corner ahead. Glad for Princess Luna’s tracking, Twilight increased her pace, keeping as tight a hold as she could on Reeds with her magic. We’re coming, Spike, hold on, just a few more…

She turned the corner, and skidded to a halt.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!”

Whether by chance or fate, they’d found the town’s market square, which was unexpectedly busy for this time of night, mostly with ponies packing up their stalls. Raven’s Town, wherever it was, must operate with loose market times.

More than half the ponies were carrying identical boxes. The stallion had already disappeared into the throng.

“This is most unfortunate…” said Princess Luna.

“Snrrrrrrrk,” added Reeds Melody.

There was no way of knowing if the delivery pony had given the box to somepony else, and as Princess Luna then admitted the trace of magic the Iris was giving off wasn’t actually strong enough to pinpoint its exact location, even if it wasn’t being muddied by the magic being used by a few unicorns in the square. They’d just have to surge through, and hope either the Princess located it or Spike found some way to signal them. He was smart enough to do that. He’d trust that they were on the way to find him.

So much for making contact with as few ponies as possible…

“Excuse me!”

“I beg your pardon.”

“Coming through!”

“Forgive my sister’s brashness…”

“Hey, is that gal okay?”

“Snnnnnrrrrrrk.”

“Okay, nev’rmind.”

“(Anything?)”

“(We are closer but the trace is not clear enough.)”

Don’t let panic set in, keep calm, collected, focus on your goal… Twilight tried to picture the Iris, and the unique magic that had flooded through her when it had transported them. Relaxing, rejuvenating… she stopped, and clamped her eyes shut. The prophecy from the Meditation Chamber bubbled to the forefront of her mind. Life-bearing.

Everything assaulting her senses died away, the hubbub of the marketplace, the smells of poor hygiene, the worn cobblestones beneath her hooves. All she wanted to see, all she needed to see, all she saw… was the magic. A trail, clear as day, that wound past them and disappeared towards the main street on the other side of the square. “This way!”

Even she was impressed by the speed she put up as the trail left the square, and the ease with which she moved through the crowds. Call her crazy, but it felt like the trail of restoration magic was channeling itself through her and making the other ponies… flow around her, for lack of a better word. Oh, if only she had the time to examine all of this. But at that very moment, her mind was set on locating Spike and the Iris. Just the delivery pony would be a start. Just as long as they found him before he made the delivery.

Otherwise all they’d find at the end of the trail would be a scream.

So when she and Princess Luna rounded a corner and saw the stallion, minus box, saunter away around another corner whistling, Twilight almost collapsed. The magic trail ended at a door. It was too late.

“Do not be quick to assume, Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Luna said, trotting towards the house in particular, which itself was nothing they hadn’t seen already in the town. “The recipient may not have opened it yet. We can still perform an exchange.”

Right… they still had a chance. It was rapidly fading, but it was there. Making sure Reeds was still secure on her back, Twilight hurried to catch up to her companion at the door. Princess Luna knocked. Rat-a-tat-tat. Come on, come on… There was the sound of something being knocked over from within, but no screams, so Spike hadn’t been discovered yet…

Then a click as the door was unlocked, and it creaked open.

Most of the Raven’s Town inhabitants had been dressed simply, nothing too fancy, just what Rarity would call plain and utilitarian. High fashion hadn’t become a popular thing yet outside of the major cities. Given that they were in the past it shouldn’t have been surprising, but the stallion who answered the door was decked in exactly what Twilight would expect a seventh century scribe installment in a museum to look like. Most definitely an occupation which would require books and scrolls.

“Ah,” he said, which was rather anticlimactic. “I suppose you must be Starshine and Moonshine. You had better come in.”

Twilight and the Princess shared a concerned glance before accepting the offer and entering.

Again, the interior of the house was detail for detail what she’d read about in books and seen in museums. Same sort of construction as modern day village houses, but with less reliance on magic. Candles were burning. There was a fire lit in the fireplace. It had a very homey atmosphere. Scattered around (but not too close to the fires) were various books and scrolls, haphazardly strewn around floors and tables. A table carried several quills and bottles of ink. It was the sort of place Twilight could very easily live in, if only it were tidier. She was having to fight the urge to organize everything.

“You appear to have us at a disadvantage,” acknowledged Princess Luna, nodding. “May I ask how you know our names?”

The unicorn stallion’s eyes went wide and he bowed, flushing profusely. “Forgive my manners. My name is Sweeping Stroke, clerk to Raven’s Town council. And, uh…” he inclined his head towards another wooden table further into the house upon which Spike sat, waving sheepishly, the Iris very poorly concealed behind his back. “I believe he’s… yours?”

Even with the need to be secretive, Twilight couldn’t help herself, and darted forward to nuzzle him. Forgotten about, Reeds slumped off her back with another snore. “Spike!” Behind her, the Princess exhaled. Finally, a point in their favor.

But, then, who was this Sweeping Stroke, and why hadn’t he panicked upon opening his package to find a baby dragon? Twilight turned to look at him, now making a sudden hurried effort to make his dwelling a bit more presentable. A silver unicorn, with an almost carefully cut white mane, an inkbrush as his cutie mark. For some reason Twilight was reminded of one of Ponyville’s residents, amateur musical composer Royal Riff. Maybe this pony was Riff’s ancestor.

That didn’t explain the absence of panic, though.

Pausing only to move back and adjust Reeds into a more comfortable position, Twilight cleared her throat.

Sweeping Stroke flinched. “Um, yes?”

“Thanks for not, um…” what would be an appropriate term? “…freaking out when you saw Spike.”

The stallion gave a short laugh, and propped up the broom he’d dropped. “I have seen far stranger things than a dragon in a box. Believe me when I say that opening my delivery to find a passenger is not something I find odd any more.” He paused, and rubbed his chin. “You didn’t happen to walk away with, ah…”

For a moment, Twilight didn’t catch on, but a cough from the Princess drew her attention. “I believe you are looking for this,” she said, levitating over… oh, the box of books. Of course.

“Yes, ah, thank you.” Sweeping Stroke opened the box and quickly assessed its contents. “Good, it appears undamaged. Your friend told me about the incident in which he and my package were exchanged, and suggested that you would be a short distance behind.”

“Eh, I knew they’d come find me,” put in Spike, putting his hands behind his head and pretending to look nonchalant about the whole thing. “You guys wouldn’t just leave me here.”

How could they? If any of their number got left behind… well, to be brutally honest, it was really only Reeds Melody and Twilight who would suffer from being stuck in the past. Princess Luna could easily live out another four hundred years - though she probably wouldn’t survive psychologically - and dragons tended to live for several centuries, so Spike would merely be older. Either all of them went back, or…

Pessimism was taking hold again. She had to stop thinking about that. Her magic would recharge and she would get them all back to the time where they belonged. With every second that passed she could feel more of her magic returning. It was only a matter of time. If they stuck together, they would be fine. The ponies of 611 and the ponies of 1001 would separate.

One question remained there, though: How actually to get them to the future? Would it be as simple as casting the time-travel spell whilst holding on to the Iris? Or would she be forced to use Prophetia yet again to fold the future closer to them? Their journey to 611 had practically been cast for them. Thinking on that point, when had she intentionally cast a spell with the intention of timetraveling over the course of the events?

The mine 1001 to the forest 990 had been caused by her own residual magic. That sort of made sense…? But it still hadn’t been intentional.

The forest 990 to the mine 1001 again… she quickly reviewed her thought-journal. She’d speculated that the temporary nature of the time-travel spell had been responsible for that. There was a chance that the same would happen this time, too. There were a couple of problems with that, though; first was whether the distance into the past traveled directly correlated with the amount of time before the snap-back. Ten years had been a couple of hours. At the same scale that would give them a few days in 611 which they wanted to avoid at all costs. Second was the fact that she hadn’t actually cast the time travel spell this time around. She hadn’t cast anything at all.

Ponyville 1001 to Canterlot 990 had been Prophetia with the added jump of possibly magical lightning. Unintentional travel.

Canterlot 990 to Hoofington 990 had been pure luck. She’d made a snap decision and Prophetia’s energy had still been around long enough to enable the teleport over the gap.

Hoofington 990 to Ponyville 1001 was… under the control of the Iris, she’d previously suspected. Was it able to detect that she and Trixie didn’t belong in that time period? But then that would directly contradict the sixth jump, Canterlot 1001 to Raven’s Town 611, which again had been fueled by the Iris. It had plucked them from where they belonged and dropped them where they didn’t, the exact opposite.

That said, though, the home journey had been an Iris using up the last traces of its magic. This Iris, whether a past version or an alternate version or whatever, was still full and waiting for the command.

“Can I offer you two— three— uh, four, a drink?” Sweeping Stroke’s voice broke Twilight out of her stewing. “I’m afraid I can only offer water.”

Um… Twilight shot a glance towards Princess Luna. Did they have time for something like that before Princess Celestia arrived on the scene? Moonshine responded with a slow nod. They couldn’t keep running for the whole time while Twilight’s magic was recharging. Hopefully it would take Princess Celestia longer to navigate the town than it had taken the two of them. In the other direction, Spike gave a thumbs up. It would do none of them any good to get dehydrated.

“Yes, please.” On the floor, Reeds stirred but didn’t wake. “But only three. Our friend, she…”

All of them looked down at the prone pegasus. “Yes, I see,” said Sweeping Stroke, nodding. “A slumber so deep the sleeper is lost in the world of dreams. We can only wish to experience such peace of mind.” He gathered three flagons. “Drinks will be but a moment.”

Dreams. Even as the clerk had said the word Princess Luna looked like she’d been slapped in the face. Reeds Melody was asleep. Asleep and she had been sleeptalking. Sleeptalking implied dreaming. And if she was dreaming, that meant…

With the opportunity afforded by their host stepping away to use the water pump, Twilight sidled up to her ‘sister’. “(Could you do it?)” she whispered. “(Could you enter Reeds’ dream and heal her bleed?)”

“(It…)” for the first time since they’d arrived in the past, Princess Luna looked visibly unsure. “(…I… yes. I could do it. However… we would be telegraphing our position to my sister.)”

The solution, the catch, both going hoof in hoof as they always did. Solve Reeds Melody’s problem, risk getting caught by Princess Celestia in a temporal paradox. Play it safe and avoid attracting her attention any further, given the difficulty with which she’d fallen asleep in the first place, there was a chance that Somnnia would fail to work on Reeds again when they returned to the future. Arguably getting caught by Princess Celestia was worse, as there was no way to tell what would result from such a paradox occurring. That said…

They pondered the thought as Sweeping Stroke distributed the water to them. Princess Luna’s magical signature would be impossible to hide; as an alicorn, it was immediately identifiable. Between Princess Luna’s banishment and the ascendance of Princess Cadance in 987, Princess Celestia was the only alicorn in Equestria. If she were to sense that an alicorn were present here, now, everything in the future would be turned on its head.

“You must have seen some pretty strange things if a baby dragon doesn’t faze you,” Twilight commented, setting her flagon down. “Aren’t they worried that a dragon might be the cause of Yoke’s latest fire?” It was an obscure fact she recalled as she was thinking about the subject of dragons in this part of history.

Sweeping Stroke set his own flagon down too. “You’re well informed. I won’t lie when I say that Raven’s Town is concerned that a dragon may take offense and cause a great deal of damage. Uh, but your friend seems civil enough.”

Both of them looked at Spike, who was practically drowning himself. Civil? Yeah…

“Anyway, yes. It would be unfair to say I’ve seen everything, today’s experience can challenge that, but there are a great many things I’ve witnessed that most would think impossible.” The stallion lifted his flagon again and drank. “After I met a mare who could fly simply by spinning her tail and a griffon who could use magic, I came to accept that there are some things in this world that just defy explanation.”

“A griffon who could use magic?” Twilight echoed. That couldn’t be right! There were no records at all in modern times of any griffons being able to use any kind of magic besides passively! “Are you sure?” Oh, she wished she had a notebook or something…

“Summoned fire from her clawtips, I jest you not.” He paused to take another drink. “I never thought a clerk’s life would be so interesting. I only wanted to be a writer. Um, excuse me. I’m sure you don’t want to hear all this. Just blurting out my life’s story to some strangers… I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Hey, it’s interesting to me,” commented Spike, having now already emptied his flagon completely. “Sounds exciting!”

Twilight couldn’t help but agree. “Adventure always seems to be where we least expect it.”

Their host set his flagon aside again. “To be honest, I’m not entirely enamored with the idea of seeking out adventures. Just a sensible life would be fine for me.”

“Pinkie Pie would like a word with you,” Spike said, before Twilight could shush him.

“Pinkie who…?”

“Another friend of ours,” Twilight said quickly, almost too quickly. “She’d say something like…” what was a very Pinkie Pie thing to say in this sort of situation? Oh, right. “Like, ‘If you alone can keep your head whilst others around are losing theirs, you really need to lighten up.’”

“That…” Sweeping Stroke rubbed his chin again. “That’s good, actually. I’m going to write that one down.”

Before Twilight could object, he grabbed one of the blank books from the box, a bottle of ink and a quill, and quickly scratched the phrase down on the back page. “Ah, good. These are exactly the sort of books I was after. The ink doesn’t run, see?” He lifted up the book to show them that indeed the ink was already dry. “It’s hard to get books of this quality these days.”

Okay, so they’d just injected some Pinkie Pie philosophy into the past. That probably wouldn’t cause any harm… right? It wasn’t really any worse than what they’d already been doing, as long as Pinkie hadn’t come across that phrase written down anywhere in the first place. Sad as it was, Twilight hadn’t come across any books written by Sweeping Stroke in any of her library trawls. Just another pony consigned to the backpages of history.

“If you don’t mind me asking…” Sweeping Stroke said after a while, “I’m afraid I don’t quite recognize your accents.”

Finally, something that had an easy answer. Twilight launched into the explanation they’d given Daffodil. “We’re visitors from Canterlot.”

Hearing that, the stallion furrowed his brow. “I don’t mean to pry, but… I was in Canterlot not too long ago, and I’m sure that I didn’t hear anypony speak in the same manner that you do. And I’m fairly sure that the existence of a baby dragon in the capital would be a common talking point, only… I’ve not heard anything about such a thing.”

Busted. It probably gave the game away that both mares and dragon choked on their water at the same moment.

“Ah— well—” Twilight was floundering for something, anything to say. “It’s a secluded corner of the city, uh, we don’t get out much…”

“Y-yeah, what she said!” affirmed Spike, deferring to Twilight’s strapped imagination. “I don’t see that many other ponies, really…”

Princess Luna closed her eyes and remained silent.

“Why bring him to Raven’s Town, then?” the clerk pressed. “I apologize, but I would rather know the truth of the strangers I’ve invited into my home.”

“Uh… I, uh… um…” Twilight’s imagination flatlined. She was completely out of plausible excuses. “We should probably go…”

Abruptly, Princess Luna stood up. “We will tell you the truth.”

“We will?!” What was she—

“But you must make me a solemn promise, Sweeping Stroke.” Moonshine’s eyes were alive with Princess Luna’s ferocity. “What you hear from us in this room you must never repeat to another pony. Ever. It is a secret you must keep for the rest of your life, and dire consequences will occur if you relate any of the knowledge we are about to tell you.”

She wasn’t even the one being talked to and Twilight felt the need to flatten her ears and shrink back, just as Sweeping Stroke actually did. You did not say no to a tone like that. Still, she was glad that she hadn’t been the one to make that decision. She just hoped Princess Luna knew what she was doing. Could they really trust this pony?

“I— I promise.” The stallion’s posture was nervous, but his eyes never averted themselves. “I swear upon Princess Celestia.”

“Very well.” The Princess stepped back, and her horn lit up. “Starshine, I am proceeding. I suggest you use the Iris to mask my magical signature for as long as possible.”

Use the Iris…? But… Twilight retrieved the crystal from where Spike had hidden it, and once more the rejuvenating magic washed through her. If the Princess thought she could use it, then she probably could do something with it, she was familiar with the charm and seemed to know its capabilities.

Okay, Iris, she thought, staring intently at the web of the charm’s outer matrices. It was all her horn could summon up, she had to hope it was enough. Let’s see what you can do. With a soft humming, its glow intensified. Just a few… ah! Uselessly, she tried to blink away the Old Equestrian that was writing across her eyeballs. It certainly hadn’t done this the last time. Not that she could read any of it, it was going by far too quickly to translate. Once again she was messing with magic she didn’t understand.

Concentrating on the rapid lettering almost made her miss the Princess’s next instruction. “Will it to hide us.”

Seemed easy enough. Iris, hide us.

For a moment, nothing happened, and Twilight had a sinking feeling her magic wasn’t strong enough. Then— “Ah!” What had been feeling like a warm bath suddenly turned ice-cold, and though she retained her magic, she could have sworn she was back in the Magic Grounding Ward again. Hollow. She’d used that word to describe the MGW, and it was the same feeling she now felt. Gone was the rejuvenation, no longer a tool of healing, but a tool of stealth.

Poor Sweeping Stroke had been thrown in at the deep end, and he looked between the two unicorns, his expression ranging between bewilderment, fear and curiosity. Spike was staring at the lightshow the Iris was producing, his mouth agape. Only Princess Luna seemed unfazed, and she knelt down to where Reeds Melody lay on the floor. Wait, no, were they going to—

“Now…” she said, extending a hoof to gently caress Reeds’ head. “We begin.”

16 - The Loop (Part 2)

Behind the door, there was nothing.

Literally nothing. The floor reached the threshold and then ended. Beyond that was… it wasn’t darkness, but it was almost like a field of stars.

Twilight made to cautiously put her hoof through the door, but the Princess caught her leg. “Be careful, Twilight Sparkle,” she said, looking at her, then returning her gaze to the door to nowhere. “This is where the dream ends.”

“The dream ends?” Twilight echoed, looking again at the emptiness. Yes, she supposed. Reeds Melody would never have come in here, and her own memory didn’t extend beyond this door. Those were the two dreams making this landscape… “So what do we do now?”

For a moment, the Princess considered this. “I cannot contract the space for fear of destabilizing the dream further. It is likely we will have to try something unorthodox.”

“Unorthodox?”

“Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Sweeping Stroke.” Princess Luna seemed to have reached a decision. “I must ask something of you.”

Uh oh. For some reason Twilight had a bad feeling about this. Still, she gave her assent, quickly followed by the two males. She trusted the alicorn. Just being in the dreamscape was an implicit trust in her abilities.

“So far, we have been experiencing Reeds Melody’s dream with elements from Twilight Sparkle’s. However, both of their memories of this place end here. In order to continue, we must build our path. I ask for permission now to enter each of your dreams as we reach parts of the castle the others do not know.”

It took Twilight a moment to put together how that worked. A jigsaw puzzle of memories. Sweeping Stroke probably wouldn’t have any knowledge of the castle interior, but between her and Spike… she’d spent ten years learning and living here, and for Spike that meant his entire life until he moved to Ponyville. True, they didn’t know the whole castle, but they ought to know enough to get them to the school grounds, right? Interesting.

Then another thought occurred. “Princess, neither Spike nor I have been in here before.”

Princess Luna smiled. “But I have.”

There was a flash. It wasn’t blinding, nor was it as magically dangerous as the explosion from the 990 memory, but enough to make Twilight stagger a few steps backward. Then she looked again, and gasped. As she watched, the corridor behind the door was assembling itself, stone by stone, carpets and tapestries fluttering into existence, torches lighting themselves. No longer was it covered in dust, but lived in. It was like they’d taken a further step back in time.

Another, more muted flash. Then Princess Luna stepped across the threshold.

Just over a thousand years had passed since Princess Luna had last set hoof in the maids’ lodge, which meant that the memory had to have come from a time before Nightmare Moon. Twilight had trouble remembering some of the things she’d been doing yesterday, she couldn’t imagine how perfect the Princess’s memory had to be to clearly remember the interior over a millenia later. Everything from the details on the carpet to the individual maids they passed, who gave them funny looks but otherwise ignored them. The maids’ lodge was busy, as it was meant to be.

“Fascinating…” Sweeping Stroke murmured. He was unaware of the time difference, but he still seemed to grasp the gravity of the situation. “We walk amongst the ghosts of the past…”

This was how Twilight had originally imagined a time-travel spell to work, to place the caster as an observer only. Whatever actions they took here would not affect the future. Everything was fixed.

Wait, hold on. If this was Princess Luna’s memory, then—

A familiar voice from one of the rooms off the hallway interrupted her thought. “That is no excuse! She told Us that they were gone for good!” That was the Princess’s Royal Canterlot Voice, all right, and it sounded like she was upset with her sister. “We asked her to do one thing for Us, one thing, and We were ignored! Those infernal charms have brought us nothing but ruin!”

Princess Luna, their Princess Luna, looked slightly uncomfortable, and stopped at the next door, where within a decidedly angrier blue alicorn was pacing backwards and forwards, ignoring the maid who was trying to calm her down. “We had the situation under control! There was no need for the Elements!”

“Princess, please, calm down—”

“Calm down?! Our sister has betrayed Us. We will not let this stand! We—” the memory of Princess Luna stopped, and Twilight realized with slight panic that she’d seen herself in the doorway. After a second of confusion, there was a brief flash of understanding, and then the scowl on her face deepened. “Nothing better to do than trouble old thoughts, Princess?” she spat. “Take Thy guests elsewhere. This is no place for them.”

“Of course.” There was no hesitation. Their Princess Luna wanted the situation over as soon as possible too. “My apologies.”

Again, Twilight felt as if she’d intruded on something private. Memory Luna had referred to the Elements as ‘infernal’ and said they’d brought nothing but ruin. How could that be true?

The alicorn drew the door shut with a soft click. “I apologize. You should not be witnessing me on my worst days. The nightmare had taken me, and I perceived most of my sister’s actions as an affront.” She sighed. “She was right. We should move out of this memory as quickly as possible. We are using it as a passage, nothing more, and there is nothing but darkness here.”

With that, she strode off, the smaller ponies and dragon having to hurry to keep up with her. As if being in 611 wasn’t hard enough on her, she’d then had the tall mare and now this thrust on her. This night would change her, for better or worse. Twilight wanted to know more, and at the same time, she didn’t want to press the alicorn with any more questions. Was that conversation with reference to the first defeat of Discord? He’d been defeated with the Elements shortly before Nightmare Moon had come around…

To her horror, Spike asked for her. “So what was she— er, what were you complaining about?”

Before Twilight could shush him and apologize, Princess Luna spoke anyway. “Earlier in the day, we had been at the Crystal Empire. I foolishly believed I could defeat King Sombra on my own. So when my sister used the Elements of Harmony to save me, and the Empire subsequently disappeared, I held her accountable for everything, including my own rash actions.”

“You will have to tell me about these Elements of Harmony,” Sweeping Stroke said from the back. “Even if it is something I must keep to myself, they sound like vital artefacts.”

“They are!” Spike’s grin was wide. “They defeated Nightmare Moon and Discord!”

And they were responsible for allowing Twilight to meet her new friends. She couldn’t imagine what her life would be like now if she’d never read about the prophecy of Nightmare Moon returning. Actually, she’d probably be suffering under Nightmare Moon’s rule. The six ponies would never have met in Ponyville, and would never have confronted the alicorn at her old castle. Princess Celestia would still be banished, and Equestria would be approaching its first full year of eternal night. Even if by some fluke Nightmare Moon was defeated, there was still Discord, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra…

She decided not to stop Spike from gushing about the Elements. If Sweeping Stroke was anything like herself, pre-emptively shutting off his source would only increase his curiosity. Twilight’s own curiosity had gotten her in trouble more times than she could count. This entire situation had stemmed from a mistake attributed to curiosity.

Finally, after descending a flight of stairs, they reached the end of the hallway, which Twilight supposed was the other side of the building. This time, though, she recognized the sigil above the door.

“I know this door!” she exclaimed, dashing up to it. “I didn’t put it together before, but this comes out near the Meditation Chamber!” To be more specific, it was in the hallway leading from the Meditation Chamber up to the castle grounds. Her first time visiting the Chamber she’d attempted to open the door, then had to be rescued by a member of the Royal Guard when she got lost.

“Then it must be your dream to which we hop next. In order to reach the school towers from this location without venturing outside, we must take a shortcut.” Princess Luna put a hoof on the door as if to test it, then pushed it open. Again, the interior beyond was constructing itself, a perpendicular hallway with about the same level of decoration, just much, much newer. “We are too pressed for time to navigate the surface.”

Ah, now this was familiar territory. Somewhere down the hall to the right would be a door that exited into the grand foyer. Down to the left was the Meditation Chamber, through the door which had been locked when she’d been in the past previously. And this was her dream now, so— she had to restrain her imagination when an alcove popped into existence on the opposite wall with several books in. Careful now. Keep things simple. Just an errant thought could—

Princess Luna zapped the Changeling who had been utterly bewildered at appearing in the middle of a strange hallway. “Please, kerb your enthusiasm, Twilight Sparkle,” she warned. “Here of all places, where such things can be controlled.”

“S-sorry, Princess…” Twilight stuttered out an apology and rubbed her mane. “Left or right?”

“Left. I should not be showing you this, but like before, we have little choice.” What? Was there something in or beyond the Meditation Chamber that she hadn’t spotted before?

It shouldn’t have surprised her. There had been so much down the windowed corridor that Twilight didn’t know about, let alone the hallway she and the others had teleported into… wow, was it only yesterday? Felt like years. With a start, she realized that, even though it was only by a few hours, she and by extension some of her friends as well were slightly older than they should be.

They really ought to have thanked that strange mare, really, the one who’d locked the door on them. If she hadn’t been there, then they’d probably have paused slightly in the Meditation Chamber, then continued on, and they… they would have gone to find Princess Celestia to explain the situation. Not only would that throw all sorts of spanners everywhere due to the time travel, the Princess had been in the gardens at the time, she’d gone straight into the tower to release the extra magic younger Twilight had built up, and from there she’d proceeded almost directly to the hos-

“Excuse me.”

“Oh, sorry.”

The response was reflexive. The double-take that came a few seconds later wasn’t. Twilight stopped dead and turned to face herself.

“What.”

“Uh…”

So now there were two Twilight Sparkles in the hallway.

Meeting herself was something she’d been bound to do eventually. If this was the memory she was thinking of, Memory Twilight was investigating the apparent refurbishment of the Meditation Chamber, and they would meet her in there. But Twilight hadn’t been in this corridor for well over a year, and she certainly hadn’t been carrying a saddlebag then.

Real Twilight spoke first. “What are you doing?” It wasn’t the most elegant question, but it would do.

Memory Twilight opened and shut her mouth a few times. “…I don’t know.”

“Wh— how can you not know?”

“I don’t know how I don’t know!” Great, they’d only been talking for ten seconds and already Memory Twilight was descending into Panic Mode. She looked just as confused as the Changeling had been. “What am I doing here?! I—”

Princess Luna laid a hoof gently on Memory Twilight’s head. “STOP.”

The duplicated unicorn’s mouth hung open, paused midway through her sentence, her eyes frozen in a state of horror at her situation. Satisfied, the Princess removed her hoof. “Hmmm.”

“That was… weird,” commented Spike. “Didn’t you meet yourself before?”

“I’m starting to get a headache,” added Sweeping Stroke.

Yes, but that time there was definitively a Past Twilight, there was definitively a Future Twilight, and both of them knew, more or less, what they were doing. This was completely different.

At a stretch, though… Twilight had a hunch. “Princess, was that a random manifestation?”

“A what?”

“I think…” Twilight closed her eyes, and tried to mentally rewind the scene. “I think I accidentally called up the pony who threw the cloak at me in the Meditation Chamber, but since I don’t know who it was, my dream’s put myself in there instead…?” She looked at Princess Luna for confirmation. It made more sense than any other explanation she could think of. Since she had no idea what the mare would have been doing, the manifestation wouldn’t either.

Disturbing, but understandable.

To her relief, the alicorn nodded slowly. “Yes, an astute observation-” Memory Twilight abruptly turned around and started walking backwards down the hallway towards the Meditation Chamber. “Twilight Sparkle?”

“Sorry, sorry…” as if time travel wasn’t confusing enough, now they were traveling forwards while the memory around them was rewinding. Memory Twilight was almost running in reverse towards the door. That pony had certainly been in a hurry. Twilight’s subconscious must have heard the hoofsteps disappearing up the hall.

Sure enough, when the memory reached the door, she unlocked it, un-slammed it, and dashed forwards. On the other side of the Chamber, the other Memory Twilight struggling at suddenly finding herself under a cloak. Even as they watched, the cloak flew across the room back into the first Memory Twilight’s hooves, and the second Memory Twilight disappeared into the corridor opposite.

Spike was the first one to brave entering the room. “That was even weirder. I just saw myself.”

“Spare some thought for me, Spike. There were three of me.” The first Memory Twilight was bending over the sandstone slab, inspecting the prophecy written there. “This is probably all going over your head, uh, Sweeping Stroke?”

There was no reply.

Sweeping Stroke had stepped into the room and he was immediately lost in awe, his mouth hanging open. The telescope, the Iris, the stained glass, the colors… that was a pony who was inspired. A typical pony from a town like Raven’s Town would never see anything as bright as this, his own apparent adventures aside. Throughout this dream he was seeing wondrous things that he’d never normally… well, dream of. This was the future to him, and it was amazing.

Where to next? Twilight coughed, and this seemed to get the Princess’s attention. She’d been looking slowly between the telescope and the windows with a sort of concerned confusion. Something was up, but again, she didn’t want to pry. They had enough on their plate as it was.

“Right, yes.” Princess Luna strode around the telescope to the bookshelf on the back wall. “We will be entering my memory again for the chamber beyond. Twilight Sparkle, Spike, know that you must not disclose the existence of these passages to anypony else. Like I previously said, I should not be allowing you to know of it at all, but it is the shortest route to the school that we can take.”

Twilight gulped. What they were about to see was an alicorn-level secret, on par with the exact events of Nightmare Moon’s first fall, the battle with Discord, and Princess Celestia’s favored brand of bubble bath. She didn’t feel comfortable with it, not at all, but what choice did she have?

The alicorn reached out to the bookshelf. It wasn’t going to be one of those secret book levers, was it? Surely not! That would be too cliche for Canterlot castle! She didn’t care what secret was behind it, if there was one of those levers, then she was disavowing the whole—

There was the sensation of something poking against her leg, and she looked down to see Spike prodding her. “Twilight, you’ve got a really scary face on now.”

Uh. Twilight grinned sheepishly at the looks she was getting from the others. Maybe she was taking this just a bit too seriously… In front of her, Princess Luna gave her a sideways look, then instead of pulling a book out - thank Celestia - she moved some books aside, and pushed her hoof to the back of the shelf.

Something went click. Then the bookshelf rotated in and away from them, revealing a dark, barely lit passage that was almost finished building.

“Please follow closely.” With that, Princess Luna ducked into the passage, followed by Sweeping Stroke and Spike. Twilight cast one final glance back at Memory Twilight, still standing over the slab, then entered herself, and swung the bookshelf carefully back into position.

Now this is what secret passages were supposed to look like, like they were described in the Daring Do novels; unkempt, dirty, and direct. Proper secret passages were from getting from A to B only without worrying about what things looked like. They were headed in towards the castle again, somewhere under the grounds. Off-hoof, Twilight couldn’t remember the exact layout.

Would it end out somewhere incredibly obvious in hindsight? She would be annoyed, but also slightly thrilled, at the prospect of having stared at a fixture for years never knowing that there was the exit to a secret passage behind it. She had never doubted that there were secret passages, of course. Princess Celestia had gained a reputation for ‘teleporting’ around the castle without using magic. There was one in the library, which Twilight had discovered by accident, leading into the storage rooms of the royal kitchens.

Of course, Princess Celestia also had a reputation for cake smuggling.

The dimensions of the passage were big enough so that she and Sweeping Stroke could walk normally, but Princess Luna ahead of them had to stoop. Spike, of course, was only complaining about still having to walk. There was the occasional torch bracketed on the wall, but other than that, it was dark and for most of the time they were in their own shadows.

“(Where exactly does this lead, Princess?)” Twilight whispered. She didn’t need to whisper, but she just felt it was something that should be done whilst one was in a secret passage.

“A place where I have not been for the longest time.”

Not long later, the Princess stopped, and for once the others behind her were able to stop without crashing into her. Ahead, there was only blackness, but something glowed blue with alicorn magic, and the darkness slid aside—

“Aaagh! Bright light! Bright liiiiiight!”

“(Is he, uh, is he always like this?)” Sweeping Stroke whispered to Twilight.

“(Only on days of the week ending in a ‘y’.)”

“(But all days end in— oh.)”

Despite Spike’s exaggerated screaming, their eyes adjusted from the darkness fairly quickly. And, once again, Twilight had no idea where they were.

It was a perfectly circular domed room, like the Meditation Chamber, only this one had no windows. Around the walls were hung a number of empty picture frames, one of which had just moved aside to admit them access, above exquisitely detailed wooden paneling. Five double doors at regular intervals led out of the room, each bearing a different symbol. One that was marked with the sun and moon motif of the Royal Sisters was instantly recognizable, but the others, a flower, a spoked wheel, a wave, a lightning bolt bisecting a cloud…

The symbols were Important. Twilight didn’t even question that thought. Nor did she question the subsequent idea that she had just stepped into the most important room in Canterlot castle. The room exerted that notion in such a way that you just knew. Just thinking of speaking felt like she was defiling the room’s importance.

And yet the middle of the room was completely empty.

“Wow.” As usual, Spike was immune to all senses of such things, and he brazenly walked out into the room. “What is this place?”

“It has had many names,” said Princess Luna, replacing the empty frame to cover the secret passage. “The last name I knew it by was the Circuit Mensae.”

Circuit Mensae. That was fairly easy to translate. “Round Table.”

“A good enough approximation. The Round Table of Canterlot. Come.” The alicorn headed for the sun/moon doors. “We should hurry before the memory b—”

She had barely reached the doors when they opened.

Twilight only just managed to avoid gasping in shock. Yes, of course it was Princess Luna, it was her memory - but she was so… young. She was barely Twilight’s height. She was certainly dwarfed by Princess Celestia beside her, who was as tall as Luna was now. Both alicorns were lacking their ethereal manes, Luna sporting the light blue she’d had when freed of Nightmare Moon, Celestia a bubblegum pink, and their usual regalia was absent, replaced instead by a simple amulet each.

Were they… were they even royalty at all?

Both sisters were in deep discussion, but unlike the previous memory in the maids’ lodge, the conversation was entirely in rapid-fire Old Equestrian which Twilight hadn’t a hope of translating. Neither of them seemed to notice the strangers in the room. This was an old memory. This predated Nightmare Moon by… it could only be centuries.

There were a few familiar words here and there. She was sure that Star Swirl was namedropped a few times. Mention was made of the magical ley-lines. But all in all, it wasn’t really anything spectacular beyond how young the Princesses were.

From the doorway behind the sisters, the older Princess Luna beckoned them over. Yeah, they should hurry. They didn’t have time to linger and listen to every little memory. Slowly, carefully, Twilight, Sweeping Stroke and Spike shuffled around the edge of the room, trying not to make any sudden movements. If they were noticed, there was going to be one heck of a language barrier.

Twilight half expected that they would get interrupted by somepony else entering through one of the other sets of doors, but even when they joined Princess Luna at the sun/moon doors, the young sisters were the only two in the room, so engrossed in their conversation that they never noticed that they were in a memory. Their Princess Luna, for one, looked glad to be getting away from the room, but at the same time, looked wistful. They looked like simpler times.

Beyond the sun/moon doors was a staircase leading upward. They followed the princess up, and to another door, which creaked open at her touch. The next room was easy to recognize, but no less surprising. Of all the places in the castle, Twilight hadn’t expected this one.

“The Royal Portrait Gallery!”

It had to be. No other place in the castle that she hadn’t been would have so many paintings. She recognized a few of the great masters’ works, among faces of ponies who must have been important in their time but had just faded away into the depths of history.

“Indeed. The Gallery adjoins the school. We are almost there. Let us not dally any further.”

They’d covered about a dozen yards when Twilight stopped again. “No, wait hold on. Whose memory is this?” Some of these paintings were recent. Too recent. They had to be in somepony else’s memory now. Assuming they weren’t a more recent memory of Princess Luna’s, Twilight had never been in the room and obviously Sweeping Stroke wouldn’t have been in here. That only left…

Spike slowly raised his hand. “Um, mine.” He pointed down one of the halls, where a flustered Princess Celestia was trying to catch a toddling dragon. “Uh, aheh. I guess I kind of thought this was where all the food was.”

Right. Okay. Random, but at least it bridged the gap. Now they could get going aga—

“I admit I don’t know much about art,” came Sweeping Stroke’s voice from around a corner, and Twilight rolled her eyes, “but this is magnificent!”

What had he seen round there? Twilight followed the sound of his voice, and upon turning said corner, almost fell over in surprise.

“One of Stalleonardo da Colton’s works, I believe,” said Princess Luna from the main hall. “Please hurry.”

A Stalleonardo painting of a sonic rainboom over Canterlot. Twilight hadn’t expected to see that here. Wait, but did that mean that Princess Celestia had sent it to Rainbow Dash?!

Sweeping Stroke gazed up at the painting. “I have never heard of this Stalleonardo fellow. Still, I have seen some artists at work, and not one of them could match up to this skill.” He turned around and trotted back to the main hall. “Apologies for the detour, it just drew my eye.”

Spike had to drag Twilight by the tail to rejoin the others. Things weren’t making sense any more. The painting was here, now, before she’d taken Spike on as her assistant? Why had Princess Celestia chosen that moment to send it to Rainbow Dash? She was getting more questions, and none of the answers!

But that aside for the moment. The Gallery adjoined the School for Gifted Unicorns. They had jumped their last hurdle.

Or not.

Still reeling from the revelation about the painting, Twilight stared out at the starry blackness on the other side of the door. “What does this mean?”

“It means that none of us have a memory of the final remaining part of the castle,” Princess Luna stated the obvious. “I will have to contract the space and hope that it does not weaken the dream too much.”

Imagining what would occur if that were to happen wasn’t pretty. Twilight had heard stories - they were only stories but there was probably some grain of truth to them - of ponies who had lost the ability to dream and spent every night dreading the moment they fell asleep. For Reeds’ sake, they had to do this as carefully as possible.

Somepony stepped past her. Sweeping Stroke cast his gaze out into the empty space. “Could we not build our own way?”

The Princess shook her head. “The spatial relations would have to be exact. A wrong turn and we may end up in a different dream… altogether…” she trailed off, her eyes wide. “And yet you continue…?”

From behind, Twilight could hear the now familiar sound of bricks and stone being assembled. “You said yourself we had no other choice,” continued Sweeping Stroke, stepping forwards and through the door. “I fail to see why we cannot simply imagine a way to… what did you say her name was? Lady Melody? Why should we be afraid to dream?”

Twilight caught a glimpse of what was happening through the portal, and gasped. A sweeping path of stone led away from the door, twisting through the void, surrounded by loose bits of masonry, tapestries, paintings. In the distance, there was another door at the end of the path, that seemed to be illuminated from behind.

Again, Princess Luna took a few moments to find her words. “Mainly because such direct paths that the dreamer does not reject are impossible,” she said eventually. She stepped past Sweeping Stroke and looked back at him. “But using ignorance to your advantage is a quality not many ponies have. Well done.”

“(Was that a… compliment?)” Sweeping Stroke whispered as the Princess took the lead again.

“(I think so,)” replied Twilight. “(Thanks, Sweeping Stroke. How did you know where to build the path?)”

“(It just seemed like the most obvious route.)”

Well, Twilight had heard better reasons, but she decided not to press the issue. “Come on. We’d better catch up.”

Once more they rejoined Princess Luna at the door, and at her nod, they opened it and stepped inside.

The interior of the room was littered with weather surveying equipment, and judging from some of the furniture, it was supposed to be a student lounge. Students had certainly had their way with it, to Twilight’s disgust. There were discarded books and papers everywhere, some of which, she suspected, would have ended up in the library she’d take residence in a few years later. But this was definitely where they were supposed to be. Reeds Melody had mentioned she’d been assisting with weather experiments. Twilight had been expecting something like this. She hadn’t been expecting the tie-wearing pegasus stallion in the room.

From the looks of things, he hadn’t been expecting them either. “Oh! I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware there were any students in today,” he said, to the four newcomers’ nonplussed bewilderment. “It’s the induction today, you see. Lots of little’uns running about. Can I help you with anything?”

“(Induction?)” Sweeping Stroke whispered. “(Why in Equestria would he assume we were students?)”

“(This is part of the original memory,)” Princess Luna explained, glancing around. “(He only sees ponies who were here when the events originally played out.)” Out loud, she said “We are here to see Miss Reeds Melody, sir.”

“Oh, that should be easy enough. Reeds!” the stallion - Twilight suddenly remembered the name Reeds had mentioned, Professor Stormy Eye - called out. Much like Twilight’s dream, the response Princess Luna gave seemed to match up to what the original reply had been. “Reeds! Where is that filly? Reeds! I think she’s around somewhere. We’re preparing for an experiment, you see. If you’d care to follow me…”

As they followed the professor across the room, the Princess issued a quiet warning. “I will do my best, but we may find that Miss Melody cannot be broken from the memory. If that is the case, do not overstress yourselves. We can still break her from the loop. The bleed itself will be easy to heal in comparison.”

They found Reeds in the next room.

It was quite jarring to see her, ten years younger than they had… um… Twilight had lost track of how much time they’d been dreaming. That was worrying. But they were nearing the end. Immediately the reason for her lack of response was obvious, the oversized headphones a dead giveaway. She was bobbing her head to whatever she was listening to without a care in the world. She had no idea what she was about to be dragged into by Twilight’s past self.

Professor Eye tutted, and rolled his eyes. “I should have known.” He tapped her on the shoulder. “REEDS!”

Reeds Melody took off in fright and nearly crashed into the ceiling. “Ah!” she exclaimed, whipping the headphones off. “Don’t do that, you scared me!”

“You’ll ruin your ears listening to it at that volume!” the professor chided. “And you have visitors!”

It seemed Reeds was just as surprised to see them as the professor had, looking between the two ponies at the front of the four-strong group, which happened to be Twilight and Sweeping Stroke, the latter of whom who was staring at the dropped headphones in mystified concern. “Are you supposed to be here?” She cast a look at Professor Eye. “Is she supposed to be here?”

Whatever the Professor’s reply was, Twilight didn’t hear it, as Princess Luna’s horn hummed loudly with magical energy. She almost had to put her hooves over her ears to protect them from the din. Accompanying it was a strange sensation, as if the dream were… contracting around them. At the same time it was gaining a sort of vibrancy she never noticed was missing. Outside, she imagined that the Changelings were being overwritten as her own dreams’ influence was eliminated. Would the tall mare be removed too, if the reset hadn’t already?

She switched back on in time to hear Reeds continue with what she’d said in Twilight’s dream before. “Oh, really?” It looked like healing the bleed hadn’t woken her from her endless loop. “Welcome back.”

Despite the Princess looking like the magical assertion had taken its toll, and panting noticeably, she seemed confident that everything was going according to plan. Healing the bleed was the easy part, she repeated. It was now only a matter of time until she ‘woke up’.

“So, uh, Reeds!” Twilight could just about remember what the next lines of the script were, and if everything they said was going to be responded to the same way, it might as well make sense in the absence of the ponies she’d actually been talking to. “You’re doing a weather experiment?”

Reeds rubbed the back of her neck. “Something like that, yeah. Look, are we going to get started or—”

“Professor!”

A new voice but familiar voice called out from the other room. That couldn’t be—

Sweeping Stroke definitely recognized it, and turned to look past the others in surprise. “Was that Lady Daffodil?!”

Sure enough, standing in the other room was Daffodil, the first pony they’d met in 611, period clothes and everything, and the professor pushed past them to reach her. Clearly that couldn’t have been the pony who had actually called… maybe Reeds just didn’t remember their face, and had subconsciously picked up on the Raven’s Town mare while she was asleep? But then, where were the two ponies who’d helped her with the experiment? Surely they should be somewhere around…

She voiced this question aloud, and thankfully Princess Luna did have an answer for it. “They would be participating, only I have had to suppress their appearance to allow us to interact with the dream.”

“Simple enough,” supposed Sweeping Stroke.

“I’m sorry, ladies,” interjected the professor, returning, “but I’m afraid I’m needed elsewhere.” He rolled his eyes. “I’m the only pegasus staff professor on the campus and somepony’s let their little darling play hide and seek in the gymnasium. Reeds, we’ll have to do this another time.”

Wait, what? The thing was canceled? That wasn’t how it was supposed to… Twilight spoke before she even knew what she was doing. “We’ll help her! Um…” She could feel the gaze of the others on her, silently questioning her words.

Fortunately, it paid off, and the professor nodded. “Well, you’ve got some volunteers, Reeds. Glad to know somepony pays attention to my lectures. Are you comfortable with that?”

There was a healthy pause.

“O-kay, I can work with that.” Reeds looked… um… it was the sort of face you pulled when you were trying to be nonchalant but secretly delighted. “Both of you, follow me.”

Right. Now it would have just been Reeds and the two strangers, and the sonic rainboom was only a few minutes away. And then… that was a good point. If the loop ended, and the memory continued, was Reeds just going to end up in the fountain? That would certainly wake her up. Or maybe a big enough shock instead. That might work. Up was the general direction they were headed, with Reeds making use of her wings to avoid tiring herself out on the stairs. Spike had just jumped on Twilight’s back. That was cheating, but she let it slide. He was only a baby dragon, after all.

“I hope this hullabaloo ends soon,” Sweeping Stroke muttered as they ascended. “I’m not sure about any of you, but I’ve certainly had more than my fair share of excitement tonight.”

“Hah! This is nothin’!” Leave it to Spike to be the voice of optimism when Pinkie wasn’t around. “You think the stuff you’ve seen’s strange, you should see the stuff we’ve had to deal with in the future!”

“From what I’ve seen so far, I agree completely, little dragon. I am in a way glad I will not be around to see it for myself.”

Twilight shrugged. “Never know, the spell might not work properly and we might end up dragging you back with us.”

The clerk seemed to consider this for a moment, then shook his head. “I rather hope not.”

From up ahead, Reeds spoke again. “I hope you know what you’re doing. I’m new to this too, you know.”

Technically speaking, they didn’t really have to do anything, they could just ignore her until the end of the memory. There was an implication, though, that the two ponies who should have been there did know what they were doing, otherwise they wouldn’t have been allowed to continue unsupervised. Probably some older students.

The upstairs room, much like the lounge downstairs, was filled with weather studying equipment, although a lot of it was covered in dust sheets. Twilight recognized some of them from her own studies - she noted a couple which had to have been a decade old already. Pegasi were normally fine with unicorns studying the weather, and some (not some that Twilight could name, mind) actively encouraged it, but the moment they started actually manipulating the weather all of them got very hot under the collar. The one pegasus who’d been witness to her accident with Rainmaker had gotten very agitated. Next to the window was the weather balloon, which, unfortunately, was shortly going to be blowing away. Where had that ended up?

Only one of the machines was switched on. Instead of the fear she expected from him, Sweeping Stroke was actually the first to approach it in awe. He was going to have an awfully hard time keeping quiet about all this. Princess Luna had to know what she was doing, though. If she hadn’t permitted him to know the truth, or brought him with them on the dream journey, then they’d probably be doing all this in the street somewhere. One individual in 611 knowing the events and culture of 1001… But he must have been able to keep quiet, right? Because otherwise Twilight would have heard something about it in her own studies.

No. If she fell into that mindset, that she could do anything she liked if she hadn’t read about it, that the past was set because she’d already seen the outcome, it would be the top of a slippery slope she’d never recover from. Just because she’d never read about a clerk named Sweeping Stroke obviously didn’t mean that he didn’t exist. She’d never heard of a place called Raven’s Town, but it apparently existed. Aiming to minimize the effect on the past was better than working under the blanket assumption that everything was going to turn out the same no matter what actions were taken.

“Sit yourself over there, and let’s get this show on the road,” Reeds said, gesturing to the activated machine, whilst herself heading for the balloon. At Twilight’s guess, the data from the balloon was going to be magically sent to the machine, which… uh… its display was unreadable, vague blurs that were barely recognizable as words. Either Twilight’s eyesight was going, or Reeds just didn’t remember what it said. Seeing as she really had no idea what she was doing, the latter was far more likely. The professor, and subsequently the replacement ponies, would have interpreted the data. Reeds was only the assistant.

For a while now the Princess had been quiet. Either she was just waiting for the memory to play out, or she was still thinking about the appearance of the tall mare. She had been absolutely rattled on seeing her, an expression Twilight had only seen on Princess Celestia once before. Everypony had been watching in rapt horror as Queen Chrysalis revealed herself at the royal wedding, but Twilight had glanced towards her mentor, and she’d been wearing the same face of terrified recognition. What would cause the two sisters to react the same way to an ‘old friend’ as Princess Luna had put it and an evil Changeling queen?

While she’d been caught up in her thoughts, Reeds had untangled the weather balloon. “There we go,” she said, carefully maneuvering it through the window. Once she was some distance out, she called out again. “It should be coming through!” Here it comes… “What do you see?”

“Um…” Sweeping Stroke gave a glance towards the window, then back towards the equipment. “Should we be… assisting her? I don’t see how this is meaningful at all.”

“It’s not just you,” Spike said, climbing up onto the stool in front of the monitor. “I can’t read this thing at all. I think it’s broken.”

“It is likely Miss Melody does not remember what the results were,” Princess Luna finally spoke, a seconder for Twilight’s theory. “Following the Interruption she would not have had opportunity to find out either.”

“Are you sure?” called Reeds from outside. “That can’t be right.”

Something wasn’t sitting right. With everything she’d learned about this situation, something was nagging at the back of Twilight’s brain. Either the memory wasn’t accurate, or Reeds hadn’t been telling the truth. But about what?

She went to the window and looked outside. There was Reeds, looking between the window and the balloon with a mix between boredom and exasperation. The pegasus wanted this over as much as they did. But… the scene outside of the window looked otherwise normal, for what was due to happen in less than a minute. Over to the left just out of sight would be the tower where Twilight was about to explode, down on the right hidden by buildings was the Meditation Chamber where she’d discovered the time-traveling…

“Reeds!” she shouted, just hoping for a response that wasn’t the same as the past three times she’d heard it. “What’s wrong with this picture?!”

The response was what she expected. “You’ll know when it’s working.”

You’ll know when it’s working. She had to figure this one out for herself.

Spike came up behind her. “Twilight, what’s up?” Her hooves were tapping impatiently, and her tail was swishing from side to side, which she knew she only did when she was perplexed. Something was wrong.

“I don’t know…” she looked down. Around the base of the tower was the Royal Garden, where Princess Celestia should be, though closer to the other tower. Down there on the left was the fountain that Reeds was going to end up in when the explosion knocked her out of the sky. Everything seemed to be in order—

Above her, Reeds flapped higher, giving herself a commanding view of Canterlot, all the way down to the park where they’d first started. “How about now?”

On the left?

But the explosion would have knocked her to the right…

“That’s it!”

Twilight looked up at Reeds, who grinned back down at her. “At last! Now, hurry up and let’s get on with this before—”

BANG.

“-the hay?”

He hadn’t gotten a good view of it from the ground but from the window Sweeping Stroke had an unobstructed view of the sonic rainboom. His eyes lit up. That was the face of a pony who had just been inspired. Of course. Barely anypony in 611 would have even heard of such an event, and here he was, witnessing one that was due to take place in the future.

It was a life-making moment. A second later it was rather ruined by the windrush knocking everypony back across the room.

Twilight struggled back to the window just in time to see the balloon blowing away in the direction of the mountain, and Reeds flailing after it, herself vainly trying to stay in the air. “I lost the balloon!” she shouted, pointing after it as if the unicorn couldn’t see it. “Darnit, we were so close!”

Behind her, there was some commotion. Spike and Princess Luna were gathered around Sweeping Stroke, who… had some kind of black stain in his mane, which was spreading rapidly.

“W-what’s going on?!” he stammered, wiping his hooves across his head and finding them too stained. “What magic is this?!”

“Sorry, now we’re going to have to start again.”

Oh no you don’t! “Reeds! You have to come back inside!”

She was flying closer, now that the windrush was dying down, but she was still too far away. “We’ll try again later when the weather’s better.”

“Reeds!”

“You know, I really think—”

There was no time to think any more.

Twilight screamed, gripped the pegasus in her magic… and pulled.

She woke panting heavily on an unfamiliar floor. Sweeping Stroke’s house, the past. That part hadn’t been a dream. She really was temporarily stuck in CE 611. But… she was having difficulty remembering the dream she’d just woken up from. Like many other dreams before, only vague elements remained. Changelings. Lots and lots of running. A tall mare in a green cloak with four swords. A painting. Reeds Melody—

Next to her, Reeds Melody groaned and blearily opened her eyes. “Whuzzgoinon,” she put forth eloquently. “Anypony know… where I can find some… coffee…?”

The other three were in varying stages of waking. Spike was still out, though stirring, the Princess was just shaking off the last of her slumber, and Sweeping Stroke was making a rapid ascent from waking through realization to panicking at the state of his mane which… oh yeah. Why had it been turning black? Twilight’s eyes went up from the stallion’s head… to the desk, which he had clearly rolled into, and the two overturned bottles of ink. Ouch. That was going to be expensive and, knowing the state of hygiene in this part of history, unlikely to ever come out.

Well, they didn’t have Princess Celestia standing above them, so that was a plus. From where she was, she could see that it was still night outside, so they hadn’t been asleep for too long, not that she knew what time it had been when they’d started anyway. She hadn’t had enough of a frame of reference with the moon earlier to determine that. Every minute they spent in the past was too long anyway.

“For your information,” Princess Luna said, once again in her guise of Moonshine, attempting to calm the stallion down so she could try and do something about his mane, “we have been asleep for approximately twenty seven minutes. I have detected that my sister is on her way, but we have earned a reprieve in that she is not teleporting. Unless you feel your magic has recovered sufficiently, Twilight Sparkle, I suggest we move on as soon as possible.”

Less than half an hour…? It had certainly felt like longer… Twilight rubbed her horn. How much of what magic she remembered using in the dream had been actual, and how much had just been due to it being the dreamscape? And the Iris… it sat floating and spinning gently a short ways away, still giving off that hollow feeling, but now she was used to it, it was just sort of there.

The pegasus among them tried to sit up. “Urgh. Crazy dream, guys. Haven’t slept that well for ages. Seriously though, where’s the coffee?”

At this point, probably about two hundred years away, but Twilight didn’t want to point this out. Reeds Melody probably didn’t even know they’d traveled in time. If they could get moving - or even better, get back to 1001 - before she started asking awkward questions, that would be great. Trixie had been antagonistic about being dragged through time, but Trixie was Trixie; Reeds was if anything enthusiastic, and that was marginally worse. She didn’t fancy their chances of remaining incognito if one of their number was more likely to slip up.

So why wasn’t Princess Celestia teleporting? Obviously she was more than capable of it. Maybe she didn’t want to disturb the subjects of this town… wherever it was.

Her attention was distracted by Spike, who, now awake, was fanning himself. “Is it hot in here or is it just me?” Huh, it was a little warmer than she remembered it being… their body heat while sleeping had probably contributed. Yeah, that was it. That and the Iris, which as a magical charm was bound to give off some heat.

Sweeping Stroke had calmed down now, and was using a loose piece of cloth to wipe away the trails of ink that were dribbling down his face. “I suppose that is that, then. Are you sure that I should not mention any of this? Not even obliquely?”

“So long as you are sure you will not become responsible for them in the future. That book,” Princess Luna indicated the one in which he’d written the Pinkie Pieism, “cannot leave your side. Nopony else can be permitted to read it.”

The stallion nodded. “Very well, Princess. I’ve been meaning to try this for a while now.” His horn lit up, and he lifted the book. Twilight watched him draw the matrix. Now she had the chance to examine it, something about it seemed awfully familiar. And the spell he was casting…

A sick feeling welled up in her stomach.

“There.” The magic glow faded, and Sweeping Stroke put the book back down on the table. “I got the details for this spell the last time I was in Canterlot. If I get too far away…” He crossed to the far wall, and in the blink of an eye, the book was in his magical grip again. “…it returns to me.”

No. No, nononononono. That couldn’t be right. It couldn’t… It was all Twilight could do to prevent herself from hyperventilating. “Princess, we need to leave. Now.” The others looked at her in surprise, but she continued on. “I can’t tell you why, but we just need to go. Spike, get in the box. I’ll get the—” as she spoke, she reached out and grabbed the Iris. They obviously couldn’t leave it behind.

When she grabbed the Iris, the Iris grabbed her.

No! Not again! For the third time, uncontrolled magic surged through her, and she yelled out, magic surging, just waiting to be released. Why did it do this now?! They needed to get out of there! They needed to… they needed to…

The Iris still has instructions that it must follow…

Spike yelped as he found himself picked up bodily, and Princess Luna gave an uncharacteristic squeak as the magic lifted her off her hooves. Reeds looked as though she thought she was still dreaming. Sweeping Stroke pressed himself back against the far wall. No! She wasn’t going to cast it! She wasn’t! She…

She drew the matrix for Prophetia.

And could only watch as the clerk, unable to take his eyes off the spectacle, opened the book and began writing it down.

She had to warn him. She opened her mouth. Don’t cast this spell. It will destroy your life. “Prophetia!”

“The Lords and the Ladies came out to play
To celebrate their lifebearer’s birth
But one lone Royal was absent that day
Still she guarded her vault in the earth.”

FLASH!

The unicorn, pegasus, alicorn and dragon hit the grass rolling, followed shortly thereafter by the Iris, which started hissing in the light rain that had started falling. Immediately they were set upon by familiar faces - Princess Luna’s guards - who quickly helped them to their hooves.

By now it was fully dark, and a lot of ponies would be in bed, but Twilight couldn’t stop herself screaming at the Iris. “No! Take me back! We can’t let him… I…! We just…!”

Princess Luna shook her by the shoulders. “Calm yourself, Twilight Sparkle. What’s wrong?”

Twilight looked up at her, red faced. She was responsible for everything. They’d just looped back to the start. “We just gave Prophetia to Stalleonardo!”

Author's Note

There's a reason why this chapter is called The Loop.

17 - The Idea

The clock in the grand foyer chimed midnight.

Bong.

Welcome to April 21st, everypony.

Bong.

Why did she think she could have changed things?

Bong.

That’s all time travel was. Loops.

Bong.

Stalleonardo never let the book leave his side because Princess Luna told him not to.

Bong.

He’d probably taken the name Stalleonardo because of his encounter with them.

Bong.

Her mind had just been a total blank. How else could she have not remembered reknowned 6th century settler Raven Call?

Bong.

Raven’s Town. Raven Call’s Town. Call’s Town. Calltown. Colton. It should have been obvious.

Bong.

Deep breaths. In. Out. Just like Cadance taught you. Stay calm. What’s done is done.

Bong.

But was that still true when you added time travel into the equation?

Bong.

So far, there had been a grand total of zero paradoxes. Every action that had been taken in the past had contributed to the way the things had worked out the first time around.

Bong.

Was it even possible to overwrite previous events?

Bong.

Was that how the spell worked?

For the first several minutes after they’d returned from the past, Twilight had been inconsolable, despite the best efforts of Princess Luna and Spike. She’d never before started a catastrophic chain of events which destroyed a pony’s life, and she hoped she never would again. It was even worse knowing the exact outcome, one she’d seen in Hoofington only a week ago now. He’d never be able to tell that he’d transcribed the spell slightly wrong.

The Princess had all but dragged her back to the castle, with her magic still clinging tightly to the Iris. In the meantime, Spike had offered to stay behind and assist the doctors with Reeds Melody, who had expressed multiple non-sequiturs about coffee before conking out again. Fortunately, the Princess confirmed that her trouble, at least, was over; her sleep was now natural and her dream was no longer bleeding. That seemed to be just about the only good thing that had come out of the entire experience. Hopefully she’d regard the entire sequence as a dream itself and forget all about it. While Twilight thought she should get to know her better later, and made a mental note to do so, for now she was glad she didn’t have to deal with at least that any more.

Given that it was midnight, they were unlikely to be able to wake Princess Celestia. Ever since her sister had resumed her duties with the moon, the solar alicorn had started sleeping like a log. She would only receive a report of the situation at dawn. Honestly that may have been for the best. Twilight really didn’t want to be in front of her when the Princess discovered that her current personal student had just screwed up the life of her first one.

So now…

The unicorn was lying on one of the plush benches in the foyer, being mostly successful in her attempts to calm herself down, with the Iris hidden in a bag beside her. Upon arrival, Princess Luna had hurried away to deal with the night court, which had sounded quite rowdy until, presumably, she opened the doors. She was alone with her thoughts.

Good. She needed to recap.

Thought journal, bookmarked entry; April 20 CE 1001, 12:04AM

Once again I find myself needing to recap, get my thoughts in order. If I don’t, well, I run the risk of falling apart. If Prophetia did that to Sweeping Stroke, I don’t want the same to happen to me.

So to recap the previous day’s events for a noted record of where I stand. The whole Reeds Melody line of enquiry is done bar a couple of details which I intend to ask her about when she wakes up. Those points, chiefly, are:

1) Where did you get the Iris?
2) …Okay, I can’t think of a second thing. That’s it.

I don’t for one second believe that there are two Irises. You can’t just duplicate a magical charm like that and have it feel exactly the same, there would be subtle differences, and the more powerful the charm, the more pronounced those differences would be. The Iris I have here, which is the one that Reeds Melody had, and the Iris Trixie has, are 100% the same object. Given that we’re messing with time travel here, that provides a suitable explanation for the how. The main question here is the when.

Thinking about it, there are only two possible situations (excluding alternate universes, which would really complicate things and I hope to Celestia that that isn’t what I’m dealing with). Either this Iris becomes Trixie’s Iris, or vice versa. With the amount of power involved it’s more likely to be the former, which means that at some point this Iris is going to be time traveling again, and it’s going to end up in the Meditation Chamber where I pick it up in 990.

A noise broke her from her concentration; she couldn’t help but smile as her eyes focused on Princess Celestia’s Scribe, Raven, crossing the foyer with an absurdly long scroll and a preposterously huge mug of coffee. Not all of the day staff could sleep the same as their royal.

Reeds Melody. Right. I can only get from her how she got the Iris, but now that I’ve got it, what route is it going to take to get back to 990? …Wait, the prophecy from the Chamber itself. “Six into three split cross the city of 990.” Assuming my original speculation that this means myself and my friends, and the time travel involved, we’re going to take the Iris back to complete the chain.

IRIS TIMELINE: ??? -> Reeds Melody -> Me -> ??? -> Meditation Chamber -> Me -> Trixie… and she still has it.

Speaking of prophecies, I know that I said one as we left 611, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it is. Sweeping Stroke would probably have written it down, those council clerks were trained to write extremely quickly, but he would have written it in the workbook which Trixie has.

That also means that that prophecy has been in there the whole time. That and the Pinkie Pie philosophy. I really should have read it all the way through first.

So where do I stand on some of the mysteries? Well, da Colton’s workbook, obviously. I witnessed its inception, even if I didn’t recognize it at first. Determined to keep his promise to Princess Luna, he kept it by his side his whole life, right up to the still mysterious point where Return was broken, the book was stolen, and somehow ended up in the Ponyville library.

BOOK TIMELINE: (Technically) Me -> Sweeping Stroke/Da Colton -> ??? -> Library -> Trixie. She’s still got that too.

Meanwhile my own personal timeline looks something like:
1001 -> 990 -> 1001 -> 990 -> earlier in 990 -> 1001 -> 611 -> 1001 -> ??? -> 990 and then hopefully back to 1001 again.

Managing multiple timelines like this is such a pain. This is why you don’t abuse time travel.

I’m a little surprised I didn’t encounter any moments from my previous prophecies while we were in the past. Then again, I guess some things have to be done as they come? I should be grateful, really, but I’m still not happy that these things are happening because they’re meant to happen rather than because I make them happen.

…I should go to the Archives and figure out how the time travel spell works.

And while I’m there…

Gaining access to the Canterlot Archives was much easier than last time, though granted last time she’d been horribly sleep deprived and under the impression that there would be some kind of cataclysmic event less than twelve hours following. Now that she had a much clearer head, and she knew exactly what she was doing, it took less than ten minutes to cover the grounds, sign in, and request entry to the Star Swirl the Bearded wing. Fortunately even a year after she’d left Canterlot the guards were perfectly willing to let her in in the middle of the night. Her sleep schedules had been havoc back then.

Technically, the Star Swirl wing was restricted. Twilight had her own pass, though. So long as she didn’t cast anything stupid - and Princess Celestia had granted her a reprieve for the time travel spell - she wouldn’t get her pass canceled.

The Canterlot Archives held some of the oldest written material in Equestria, and Twilight would have loved for some study sessions in which to examine and transcribe them. But that time was not today. She had to find one spell in particular.

Inside, she was pleasantly surprised to see that Chiselgrip’s First had been cleaned up since her previous visit, and was glowing in the moonlight, casting a relaxing green glow around the room. That was a nice touch, even if most ponies wouldn’t get to appreciate it. It would certainly assist with the light level, given that illumination spells had to be dimmed down to avoid damage to the parchment, and open flame torches were expressly forbidden.

It didn’t take long before she found what she was looking for.

Okay, got it, Star Swirl’s time traveling spell. Not here to cast it, just to examine it. Like teleporting, casting it directly requires a destination both in time and space, and without confirming one or the other you could end up anywhere. Numerous safety features, as expected. Can’t have anypony traveling back in time and finding themselves in a wall or underwater, can we? These must have been groundbreaking back when he wrote them!

It’s such a shame there isn’t more of Star Swirl’s work around, really. For such a great and important unicorn, there’s so little of his work out there. Yes, most of it’s going to be antiquated by now, but it’s the principle of the thing. This is where this started. It’s almost as if…

No, don’t get distracted, Twilight. Focus. Look at the spell.

Gah, my Old Equestrian isn’t as good as I thought it was. While the matrix is clearly marked out, I can’t read any of the annotations, especially not in that horn writing. The only ponies who might be able to read it are—

Nope, not going there. I don’t want to involve the Princesses at this level.

There are some more diagrams, but without the annotations, they just don’t make sense. …This was entirely pointless. I came here looking for some sort of answer, any sort of answer, but… Given the matrix’s links with Prophetia, I think maybe Star Swirl wrote that one too. But where then did…

Stalleonardo copied the spell from watching me cast it, and then I only cast it from his notes…

My head hurts.

Oh well. I won’t make this a wasted trip, anyway.

Disappointed, but hopeful, Twilight put the scroll gingerly back on the shelf and left the Star Swirl wing. She should have expected as much, really. She’d been able to read enough to describe the spell’s basics when casting it the first time, but much more beyond that was impossible without extensive translation time and an Old Equestrian dictionary.

Her second destination was much less restricted. Where the Star Swirl wing was the section of the Archives concerned with old magical spells, she was headed to the section concerning art. There really was no other name to pick, she mused, as she entered the Stalleonardo da Colton wing. No other artist had been so prolific and so well known. Only she and the others who’d joined her in 611 knew the true story behind that now.

She’d never been in the Stalleonardo wing before. She was hoping it would be easy to navigate.

It wasn’t.

This must be what it’s like to be an artist. I’ve seen cleaner pigsties.

There must be some sort of order somewhere! Where’s the logbook? Come on, there has to be a logbook somewhere. How else is anypony supposed to find anything?! Gah! This place really needs organizing!

Urge to tidy… rising…

EXTRA BIG BOOKMARK: COME BACK HERE WITH A CHECKLIST AND CLEAN THIS UP!

Ten minutes later, she found the logbook, by which point it was pointless, as it was under a big binder marked ‘Stalleonardo’. Quietly fuming, she lifted the binder down and opened it up. Ah, this was what she was looking for. Written histories on the stallion himself. She knew a lot about him, of course, but it wouldn’t hurt to supplement her knowledge with the facts that weren’t available to the public.

Stalleonardo da Colton, real name unknown. (Sweeping Stroke, previous occupation clerk of the Colton council.) Born, unknown exact date, September CE 593. Adopted the name Stalleonardo in 611, and attributed the inspiration for that to a dream. (Oops.) Added surname suffix in 614 when Colton burned down. Discovered CE 617. Became Princess Celestia’s personal student CE 618. Completed pioneering anatomy studies with his Vit’hoovian Stallion in CE 628. Completed most famous painting, “The First and Last” in CE 637. (What? Most famous? Twilight had never heard of such a painting.) Disappeared for five years from CE 651 to 656.

Lost during the Great Fire of Manehattan in CE 656.

Right, that was the basic timeline. Ignoring for the moment that his ‘most famous’ work was one she’d never heard of, that was 45 years worth of painting and using Prophetia, during which he was… how had the museum put it? Going crazy. Paraphrasing for sure but that had been the gist of it.

The next page had a list of his works and their current locations. A vast number of them were listed as being in ‘Private Collections’, but just as many were attributed to museums. Hoofington Museum was listed for a few of them, the Upper Canterlot Museum of Art, Prance’s Hoouvre Museum, really, the most well known museums. There was the entry for the Mona Luna, Royal Portrait Gallery, Canterlot Castle. There didn’t seem to be any mention of the rainboom painting.

Out of sheer curiosity, she looked up the entry for “The First and Last”.

The First and Last, CE 637. Private Collection.

That seemed a little weird. His ‘most famous painting’, sitting in a private collection somewhere? Something was off. But that wasn’t her priority right now. She needed something… else.

She turned the next page, and bingo, list of written works. There weren’t many, but there were enough. Surely there should be a biography of some kind, or something…

Inside, she was still conflicted over what her next course of action should be. The more rational part of her mind was content to wait and see what happened next, while her conscience was screaming for her to go back and try and fix things, paradoxes be darned. Looking up all this information about the stallion… she didn’t know which option she was trying to be convinced of.

No, wait, hold on, what was that entry there? Her eyes refocused, and she had to stop herself from gasping. Right there on the page was…

An explanation on the virtues of painting stars at dusk. It was an innocuous title. Nopony else could look at it and see anything wrong with it. But da Colton had never painted pictures focusing on the night sky. Then you considered that stars at dusk could, in more flowery terms, be rephrased as the twilight sparkle…

She scanned across the line. An explanation on the virtues of painting stars at dusk, CE 632. Upper Canterlot Museum of Art.

Twilight had teleported out of the Archives and was galloping for the castle gates before anypony could blink.

The Upper Canterlot Museum of Art sat proudly on the north side of Six Ways Yard, in one of the older parts of the city. Its facade wasn’t quite as impressive as that of the Hoofington Museum, which had more space and was a joint effort, but the purely unicorn construction still towered over the surrounding buildings. It had been a city hall at some point in its history, before most civic events had been moved to the castle. It had been one of Twilight’s most frequently visited parts of the city.

It was also closed.

It was 3AM. What did she expect? Augh. She’d just run across the city and worn herself out for nothing. There weren’t even any backup plans. Her focus had been so set upon that book that…

With nothing else in her head, she sat down on the wet cobbles and stared at the museum.

Lack of sleep wasn’t the only thing that drove her loopy, she was discovering. Really, she should know that already, after the Want-It-Need-It accident last year. Not being able to do what she was best at was making her lose it.

With a start, she remembered that Stalleonardo had lost it too. He’d been so focused on the prophecies that… she guessed that he’d lost sight of the definition between present and future. Clerks were meant to write in the moment. He’d been unable to fulfill his special talent. Twilight remembered occasions during the past year that similar things had happened to her friends. All those things had been sorted pretty quickly, though. Nopony had helped Stalleonardo for 45 years.

Well, apart from Princess Celestia. But Twilight knew from her own experiences that it was possible to become jaded in some things the Princess said if it went against the listener’s ideals. She’d been utterly pessimistic in the instruction to make some friends, and, well, here she was. Bearer of the Element of Magic.

If Stalleonardo had had somepony to talk to like she’d had…

“Twilight Sparkle!”

Twilight almost jumped out of her coat with a surprised neigh. Approaching at speed flying just above the cobblestones was…

“Ditzy Do-oof!”

The pegasus and unicorn tumbled head over hooves across the slick cobbles before coming to rest in a puddle.

Of all the ponies she could have met in Canterlot, even at 3AM, she had not expected the mailpony from Ponyville. Even as she was picking herself up and trying to wring some of the rain out she was asking the obvious question. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you!” Ditzy was out of breath, but jubilant on having discovered her quarry. “You’re a really hard pony to find, you know?” She climbed up, and shook to dry herself. “Somepony in Ponyville said you went to Canterlot Hospital, and when I got to Canterlot Hospital Spike said you went to the castle, and when I got to the castle somepony there told me you went to this archive place, and when I went there they wouldn’t let me in but said you’d come here…” the pegasus paused for breath. “You’ve got a letter!”

“A letter?” Twilight echoed. “At 3 in the morning? In Canterlot?!”

Ditzy responded by pulling said letter out of her saddlebag. The moment she did so wet spots started appearing on it, but Twilight caught a glimpse of something stamped on the envelope. URGENT.

“I always deliver urgent letters whenever I get them!” the mailmare explained. “I figure it could be something really important!”

It would have to be, for getting up to 3:15AM. “Don’t you have to be back in Ponyville for—”

“Flutter’s covering for me.” Ditzy shook her head as her left eye approached an unmanageable angle. “Besides, I need to go to the mail office here and take something back to them that had a bad address.”

“Well, first off—” Twilight looked up. “Let’s get somewhere dry!”

With none of the shops around the yard open, the easiest dry place to get to was just in front of the museum doors. While it wasn’t dry dry, it was sheltered from the rain, which was enough to unfold the letter and read it under the light of an illumination spell.

Hey Twilight!
14b Twinkle Street. See you there! ;)

What?

Reeds Melody

WHAT.

“What!?”

“What?” asked Ditzy, who was completely oblivious to the night’s events so far.

No. How was this possible? Reeds was asleep in the hospital. And… no, she would have had to have sent it before tonight. They hadn’t even met until yesterday evening! What was going on?! Were these more time travel shenanigans?!

There was only one thing for it.

Twilight took the stairs down from the museum entrance two at a time, nearly skidded over on the cobbles, and set off at a gallop in the direction of Shetland Yard. Twinkle Street was just beyond it. She needed answers and she was going to get them.

As she ran, she became dimly aware of Ditzy flying behind her, trying to keep up. Fair enough, the post office probably wouldn’t be open at this time either. She’d just have to try and keep any discussions relevant to the time travel to the bare minimum.

By the time they reached Shetland Yard, and the old gate, the rain had stopped, though the cobblestones were still slick underhoof. Running on them felt at times like she was running on marbles. Around the gate. Past the Watch building. Twinkle Street ahead. On the right. 8, 10, 12… 14 Twinkle Street was the darkened storefront of a curio shop. Next to it was the door to the apartments above the store. 14a, 14b.

Twilight rapped on the door. It opened moments later.

“Hey, Twilight!” Reeds Melody said, cradling the biggest cup of coffee she’d ever seen in her life, and which absolutely put the one she'd seen Raven carrying earlier to shame. “Come on in!”

“Welcome to Chez Melody. Sorry about the mess. It’s not usually like this, I’ve been in the hospital a while. Well, no, it is.”

Twilight followed Reeds up the stairs and into the second apartment in a sort of bewildered stupor. A little over three hours ago this pony had been out like a light and now…

It certainly was a messy apartment. There were a couple of dresses draped over chairs, a dirty labcoat, in the kitchen area the dishes weren’t quite at a state that might be described as disgusting… Rarity would hate this place. A look here without seeing the outside wouldn’t give off any indication that it was in Canterlot at all.

“Have a seat, have a seat. Um, your friend—”

“Ditzy Doo.”

“Reeds Melody.” The two pegasi shook hooves. “You have a seat too. Pull up a chair.”

Ditzy shrugged. “Eh, I’ll stand.”

“Stand on a chair then.” Reeds tossed the labcoat onto the bed, which was probably the only neatly made thing in the entire room, then hopped onto the stool it had been covering. “Bet you’re wondering what all this is about, huh?”

YES. Twilight was bursting with questions. How could you have sent me a letter before you met me? How did you wake up so quickly? Why aren’t you still at the hospital?

The one she ran with first was “Where’s Spike?”

Reeds’ gaze went towards the kitchen. Twilight followed it, and… oh, Spike. He’d been hidden by the partition when she’d entered, but now he was plainly visible, lying on the kitchen floor, with an empty donut box next to his outstretched claw, snoring away. He was only a baby dragon, Twilight had to keep reminding herself of that. Ten pony years was nothing on the lifespan of a dragon.

“I bribed him with donuts,” Reeds explained, as if it wasn’t obvious. “He said as long as you came here he’d take them but he wouldn’t like it.”

…Yep. He definitely didn’t like those. By the looks of things he was going to be the only one getting a decent night’s sleep tonight.

Alright. It was question time. Twilight turned her gaze back to the offending pegasus, and narrowed her eyes. “Reeds.”

“Twilight.”

The dam ruptured. Questions poured out of Twilight, so much that she was sure that some of what she was saying was the product of a sleep-deprived mind. She realized she didn’t even care if Ditzy heard. Opposite, Reeds leaned back under the effect of the verbal onslaught.

Their host waved her forelegs about. “Whoa whoa whoa slow down, Twilight. I don’t know everything, what would be the point of that? Just pick a few questions and ask them or something!”

Thought journal, bookmarked entry; April 20 CE 1001, 3:48AM

More information to add to the prophecies, more data for the map. In the grand scheme of things it’s pitifully small, especially when compared to everything I’ve encountered so far, but I have to remember that, realistically speaking, Reeds Melody is only a small piece of a huge puzzle.

On the subject of sleep: “When you’re a teacher, even an assistant one, you get used to working on as little sleep as possible.” I guess I can understand this. It would certainly explain how she continued functioning with several days awake without a noticeable detriment to her cognitive functions.

On the subject of the hospital: “They had me do a few tests but couldn’t see anything wrong with me and let me out.” Aside from the fact that it was, to them, the first time she’d slept for days? Surely she should have stayed an outpatient for a while longer. “But if they didn’t let me out I couldn’t have met you here.” That’s not an answer!

On the subject of the letter: “The Iris told me to.” Of course it did. And is listening to a magical charm with unlimited potential common sense now? So the Iris told her to send a letter, great. Who told the Iris to tell her to send her a letter? “How in Equestria am I supposed to know that?” Okay, fine. You win this round.

On the subject of the Iris: “I can’t tell you.”

“What do you mean, can’t tell me?!”

Reeds shrugged. “I mean what I mean. I promised that I wouldn’t tell you.”

“Promised who?!”

“Also can’t tell you.” The pegasus slurped noisily from her coffee. “C’mon, Twilight, use your brain! If I told you everything, it’d ruin the surprise!”

“She’s got a point,” said Ditzy, turning to look at Twilight. “‘f you know everything, what’s the fun in that?”

But she didn’t want to be surprised! She wanted the truth! In spite of herself, Twilight thumped the table next to her. “It’s not fun! Every time I want some answers, I just get more questions, and it’s infuriating! It’s… it’s… it’s unfair!”

Everything came bubbling up again, and she found herself blubbing while Ditzy patted her on the back awkwardly. Unfair. The events from the casting of Prophetia onwards had just been taking, taking and taking and hardly giving anything back. She was close to the breaking point. If much more was taken out of her, by the time the whole thing finished there wouldn’t be anything left.

Just like Sweeping Stroke. Prophetia had consumed him, and now it was consuming her. Only he’d had it 45 years. She’d not even had it for two weeks yet.

There had to be a way to solve this once and for all. A tipping point where everything would start coming up Twilight, where she would stop finding the puzzle pieces and start putting them together.

She blinked away the tears. Then she blinked again.

“Habwuh?”

Her first thought was where did everypony go? The second was you’ve cried yourself to sleep, Twilight, good job. A++. Take a medal. Entry into the dream world had been instantaneous. You never really notice when you enter a dream.

Around her, she could still… ‘feel’, for want of a better word, Reeds and Ditzy talking in the real world. Her dream world was far less chaotic than what she remembered of the one in the past, and this time, gone was the open field and the bleeding dream courtesy of one assistant weather studies teacher. Instead, there was… the Meditation Chamber as it had been in 990. Colorful and relaxing.

Celestia knew she needed it.

Was this her brain telling her she needed to relax? Probably. Meditate. Think things over. Don’t get too stressed.

A voice broke her from her reverie. “Why?”

“What?”

The voice had come from the windows… Twilight turned around, and found that Applejack’s image on the stained glass window had been replaced with a visage of Sweeping Stroke. Da Colton, she had to remind herself. Her own image of the artist was so far removed from the stallion he’d used to be that it was difficult to remember they were the same pony.

“Why?” the image on the stained glass repeated, staring at her. “Why did you do this to me?”

Oh no. The lavender unicorn knew exactly what was going on, but that wasn’t going to make it any less stressful. “I didn’t do it on purpose!”

“You caused all of it. Everything was your fault.”

“It wasn’t!”

“But you don’t believe that, do you?” His voice was scathing. “If you had done something, anything, differently, none of this would have ever happened.”

It was an honest mistake. Twilight tried to say it, but knew that she couldn’t, and he was right. If at any point along this journey she had made a different choice, if she’d kept a better eye on the workbook and it had never been stolen, if she had forced the door on the Meditation Chamber instead of waiting it out, if they had never accidentally exchanged Spike for Sweeping Stroke’s books…

No. She swallowed. She had to stand up to this. “No it wouldn’t.”

“And how do you know?”

“I…” Twilight didn’t know how she knew, but she just… knew. Some part of her brain was telling her that all of the paradoxes she’d been afraid of creating, that would have averted this poor stallion’s destiny, could never be made and would never be made. Somewhere, she’d seen proof that this was the case, she was sure of it.

“It’s the truth. And Sweeping Stroke would know that.” The window fractured. “He’d understand my predicament, because… because he casted Prophetia.” The cracks widened. “He saw the future, multiple times. He’d try to avert catastrophe, and he’d fail, and he’d understand! The choices we make still take us to our destiny, even if they seem pre-determined!”

Beneath the cracks, the moving stained glass image of Sweeping Stroke smiled. “Good.” Then the window shattered.

When the Upper Canterlot Museum of Art opened its doors at 8AM, Twilight was the first one to enter, followed closely by Reeds Melody, who’d insisted on tagging along. Ditzy had headed off to complete her business at the Post Office, and Spike… well, Spike had still been flat out, so Twilight had flagged down a passing guard and asked him to take the baby dragon up to the castle. He’d at least know most ponies there, and she was sure that he didn’t want to spend all morning being dragged around a museum.

Inside, the atmosphere was decidedly more arty than the entrance hall of the museum at Hoofington had been, and the smell of paint was strong to the point of being able to bench press Big McIntosh. Art of all mediums and subjects lined the walls. But, technically speaking, it wasn’t the art that they were there to see.

Tucked away in one corner of the museum was the art reference library, where books of the masters were kept in glass cases. She had been in luck, though; the curator had recognized the student of Princess Celestia and had granted her immediate access to anything she wanted.

“It gives you perks,” Reeds had commented.

A, B, C, D… da Colton, S., An explanation on the virtues of painting stars at dusk. Twilight unlocked the case, and very carefully lifted the book down to an examination table, with Reeds hovering over her shoulder. The pegasus clearly didn’t see the appeal in all these old books, and pulled faces at the smell of old paper, but at least respected the care that needed to be given to their treatment.

It could have been nothing. She was clutching at straws. But Twilight needed to investigate the possibility.

An explanation on the virtues of painting stars at dusk turns out to be about painting stars at dusk.

I’m jumping at shadows here. After nearly two weeks of things looping back to the prophecies, I’m now looking for those loops and not finding them. This is what my life has become. This is so frustrating I have no words.

It’s still strange that da Colton would choose to write a book about painting at night - and from what little art I remember, it all seems accurate - when painting the stars at night is something he’s never done, at least, not to my knowledge. He’s certainly not reknowned for his night-time paintings. Sure, prophetic visions could occur at night, but nopony has ever said “I’m going to look up Stalleonardo’s advice on painting in the dark.”

Fascinating as it is to learn the techniques he would have used to illuminate the canvas without ruining the ambience of the subject he was painting, it’s completely irrelevant to everything.

“You’re not even reading it, are you?”

Reeds’ voice shook her from her thought-journal, and she looked down at the book. Admittedly, while she’d been concentrating on the journal, she’d been flicking through the pages without paying attention to what was written on it. But everything was still just techniques. An art book without any hints of prophecy whatsoever.

Just about the only thing that wasn’t related, then.

Next to her, Reeds rolled her eyes. “Come on, Twilight. Am I going to have to point it out to you?”

“Point what out?”

The pegasus sighed. “I thought you unicorns were supposed to be good at this stuff. Go back to that page with the star map.”

Twilight turned a few pages back to where da Colton had sketched the brightest points in the night sky. “This one?”

“Yeah, that’s the one.” Reeds leaned in close, and Twilight had to push her back slightly to prevent her from exhaling directly onto the pages. “Don’t you see it? Come on, tell me you can see it.”

“See what?” The unicorn scrutinized the page. She saw a star map, with some of the stars labeled. She saw an accurate representation of the stars in the northern sky. She saw Middle Equestrian comments on how to align the map. “I don’t see anything unusual. Are you sure there’s something there?”

“Pegasus eyes. Look at that one there.” Her companion reached out a hoof to point, then quickly remembered herself, retracted it, and used a wing instead. “Real close. Get a magnifying glass or something.”

Twilight squinted. There seemed to be nothing unusual about the positioning of the brightest star in Draco’s tail, apart from… she was pretty sure that there was only meant to be one star there, and not six. Is that what she was on about?

“Oh for crying out loud!” Reeds almost shouted. “It’s your cutie mark!”

It was?! She squinted in closer, and flushed red. One six-pointed star surrounded by five smaller six-pointed stars. Without the color she just hadn’t recognized it, but there it was clear as day… or night, as the case may be. Twilight’s cutie mark, hidden as a star on a map in a book written… 20 years after their encounter.

He remembered her.

Something crazy was beginning to happen in Twilight’s head. Slowly, she retrieved the Iris from the bag she’d borrowed from the castle, and looked at it. Since they’d left 611, it had dropped its magic-hiding aura and had returned to one of pleasant rejuvenation, still containing immense power though significantly drained from before following two four hundred year time jumps and having to shield them from an alicorn for half an hour.

Could she use it, intentionally?

“Uh oh,” commented her companion. “I’ve seen that face on students before, and it means they’re gonna do something silly.”

“I’m wondering…” Twilight said slowly. It was a crazy stupid idea, and probably wouldn’t work, but that automatically meant it was worth a shot. “…is it possible to trick out time?”

“I’ve got no idea what you’re on about and I think you need some air,” Reeds said, trying to pull her away from the book. C’mon, all this must or whatever you call it is going to your head.”

Reluctantly, Twilight slotted the book back onto the shelf and locked the cabinet again. Yes, she probably did need some air, but that notion just wasn’t going away. In the five years before the Great Fire of Manehattan, Stalleonardo hadn’t been seen in public. A few ponies claimed to receive letters from him, sure, but nopony had actually seen him.

Therefore, if she time-traveled to 651 and brought him back to 1001… nopony would notice the difference.

They reconvened outside Donut Joe’s, where they bumped into Ditzy again. Knowing how often Twilight had come into here to find somepony she recognized, it shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise.

“I thought you said you didn’t like donuts?” Twilight commented around her own.

Ditzy gestured across the street, and spoke around her own mouthful of muffin. “Mths fprinkls tbls r wet.” Where she was pointing, Mrs. Sprinkle’s Bakery indeed had wet tables outside. Donut Joe’s had the space to take the tables inside, which was probably why all of Mrs. Sprinkle’s customers were coming over and using them. Neither baker seemed to mind, and even as they’d been sitting there they’d been outside bantering with each other.

Really, she should have gone up to the castle first and found Spike. He’d never forgive her for going to Donut Joe’s without him. But it was still morning, and knowing him, he’d still be flat out, not to mention he’d had some already that morning and having too much baked goods without interspersing a few gems into his diet made him very sick indeed.

It was an atmosphere which really should have made her forget about everything else. But the idea wouldn’t go away.

She kept absent-mindedly spinning the Iris under the table. All the times she’d time traveled with it so far, she’d simply been holding it at the wrong time. How would she go about triggering that intentionally? All she had to do was go back to 651 and convince Sweeping Stroke to come back with her. As for the appearance at the Great Fire, she’d read into that in more detail, and the reports had all been very sketchy about it. All of the ponies who’d claimed to have seen him were all unsure of the events, the stress of the fire taking its toll, and she thought it was reasonable that they had simply seen a stallion that looked like Stalleonardo who had simply faded into the crowd.

An uncomfortable silence settled over the table. Twilight looked up, and became painfully aware that the two pegasi seemed to be having a staring contest.

“Uh…”

Twilight swallowed her mouthful and tried to subtly direct Reeds away from the topic. Don’t talk about her eyes, don’t talk about her eyes, don’t talk about—

“What’s wrong with your eyes?”

The unicorn winced.

Gently, Ditzy set her half-eaten muffin down on the table, and swallowed her own mouthful. Her voice was level and calm, the disappearance of her bubbly personality an immediate indication that she’d entered Mothering Mode. “I have a condition.”

“Can you actually see out of that eye?”

“Yes.”

Drop the topic, Reeds. Don’t— “So you don’t have any depth perception problems or anything?”

“I do.”

Please, for the love of Celestia, Reeds, shut up— “Doesn’t that make it hard to fly?”

“Sometimes.”

“OKAY,” Twilight said forcefully, in a desperate attempt to change the subject. “That sure was a good donut! How was your muffin, Ditzy?”

There was a beat, and for a moment Twilight was sure that the mailmare would snipe a final shot at the assistant, but then Ditzy’s cheerful persona returned. “Oh, sure! You know I love my muffins! (Except when they’re bad muffins,)” she whispered conspiratorially. “(Bad muffins are super awful and make you sick.)”

“Eh, I don’t like muffins as much,” Reeds commented, picking up her donut. “Donuts beat muffins forever.”

Oh no…

“What have muffins ever done to you?”

“They don’t really agree with me.”

How had her life come to this, sitting in the middle of a donut vs muffin argument?

“I’ve got more.” Ditzy lifted up a box of muffins and set it on the table. “Lots more. You sure you don’t want one?”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Reeds took a bite of her donut. “Mm, that’s good stuff.”

Twilight put her face in her hooves.

“Muffins are much better than donuts, and that’s easy for me, since I don’t like donuts.”

An expression of abject horror crossed Reeds’ face. “You don’t like donuts?”

“Nope! And neither does my daughter.”

“You have a daughter?”

“Yep, her name is Dinky and she is the best daughter in Equestria.”

“And she doesn’t like donuts either?”

More and more Twilight was wishing she could escape from the argument without being rude. Maybe if she just sort of slithered off her chair and under the table neither of them would notice… Nah, they’d definitely notice. Needing to use the little fillies’ room? A juvenile excuse. A foal could come up with better. What would Rarity say? Something about powdering her nose? But Twilight didn’t use any sort of makeup—

In her magical grip, the Iris pulsed.

Argument forgotten, Twilight brought it out from under the table and looked down at it. Something about it had changed. It still had the passive rejuvenation field, but now, it was… waiting. Expectant. It wanted her to do something.

If she was to try now to get Stalleonardo from the past before the fire of 656…

The instant the thought crossed her mind, the Iris pulsed again, stronger, and began glowing brighter. Both of the pegasi at the table shut up immediately and snapped their attention to the unicorn between them.

“Twilight, what’s that?” Ditzy asked.

Reeds already knew what it was. “Oh, don’t tell me you’re gonna—”

Take me there, Iris. Take me to Stalleonardo da Colton.

She could almost hear the reply. “As you wish.”

18 - The Search

Ditzy glowered at Twilight, which was an impressive thing for her to do while one eye was pointing the wrong way. “You did it again.”

She hadn’t meant to bring the pegasi with her. Or the table. But she’d let the Iris commandeer her magic, willingly this time, and it had teleported all three of them plus the furniture. Unfortunately, it seemed that this time, time traveling had come at a cost. The muffins did not survive. They would be missed.

The resident muffin connoisseur was only marginally more upset about the time traveling than the ruined confections. Reeds Melody, on the other hoof, looked a little dazed. She hadn’t been conscious for her first journey through time, and had conked out immediately after the second. This was her first trip where she’d been awake on both ends.

Much like with the trip to 611, they were in an alleyway, though there was no convenient newsroll this time to tell them exactly when it was. Mainly, the difference was the smell, which had a definitive 7th century poor hygiene city smell on the borderline between breathable and choking. As long as they’d hit the target of 651, that was all Twilight cared about. All that was required then was finding Sweeping Stroke, and convincing him to come back with them. As to the general time and place, it looked more built up than Colton had, but it still wasn’t Canterlot. Probably Manehattan, as Twilight remembered that the artist was based here for the last years of his life.

Unlike last time, Twilight’s magic didn’t feel burned out by the journey. Maybe it was because this time she’d done it on purpose? Whatever the case, the Iris was still humming pleasantly in her grip, waiting for the instruction to return them to the place where they came from. At the very least, they had an escape plan. That, and the period clothes. 651 fashion wasn’t too far removed from 611 fashion, and though she hadn’t been expecting to conjure them for three ponies, it wasn’t as taxing as she had expected it to be. She had a sneaking suspicion that the Iris was bolstering her magic reserves.

“It’s okay,” she tried to reassure the pegasi, who weren’t happy. “We’re not going to be here for very long. We’ve just got to find somepony, then we’re going to go back. We won’t have to wait like last time, we can just go when we want to.”

Still managing her impressive staredown, Ditzy spoke again. “Prove it.”

“I shouldn’t—”

The pegasus was in her face. “Prove it.”

Twilight sighed. “Hopping about through time like this is probably a bad idea—”

“So why did you do it in the first place?!”

“Because I want to fix a mistake I made, okay!” Twilight snapped. “I’m responsible for something happening, and I want to make it right.”

“You’d better.” Ditzy had never sounded so angry.

“Hey, guys,” Reeds Melody put in, adjusting her clothing into a way that the 7th century citizens certainly wouldn’t have worn it. “Are we gonna stay in this alley the whole time or are we gonna get moving? Also, it smells real bad down here.”

Twilight and Ditzy stared at each other for a moment longer before the pegasus relented. “Fine,” she said, fluffing her wings. “I’m antsy ‘cause I’m separated from Dinky. As long as you get me back to her, you’re okay.”

Thank goodness for that. Twilight released a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding, then headed for the end of the alleyway.

“Okay,” she said, stopping them at the end. There weren’t any ponies obvious in the street outside, but unlike last time, it was broad daylight. “Using our real names is going to cause havoc, so while we’re here, I’m Starshine, Reeds is Wind Song, and Ditzy is… uh…” Princess Luna was much better at coming up with fake names…

The grey pegasus sighed. “Bubble Dew.”

“Bubble Dew, right. Now, we need to find a news stand or a town crier or something, confirm the exact date, then we need to find Stalleonardo’s studio or wherever it is he works from.” It was a good plan. It should work. “You guys ready?”

“I guess.”

“No, but go anyway.”

Come on, they could at least show some more enthusiasm. “Right then. Let’s go play a trick on time.”

Ten minutes later they found a Manehattan news stand.

Reeds elbowed Twilight in the ribs. “Looks like time played a trick on you.”

No, this couldn’t be right… it just… Time. She needed the time. What was the time? Where was that clock tower? With unsure footing, Twilight ran down the street, the pegasi following closely behind her. On either side, the wooden buildings were pressing in on her, making the passage seem narrower than it actually was. How could it have… why were they… she said… she…

She skidded to a halt on the flagstones of Exchange Square, and stared up towards the clocktower on the city hall.

“Twi— Starshine!” the others came to a halt behind her, panting. “What’s wrong?”

6:14PM.

“It’s quarter past six,” Twilight whispered to herself. “Quarter past six in the afternoon.”

“Yeah, that’s kinda obvious,” Reeds said, looking up at the tower. “So what?”

“You’ve gone kind of pale,” added Ditzy. “Are you alright?”

No. No, she wasn’t. This was a catastrophic error.

“It’s quarter past six in the afternoon on September 1st, CE 656,” she said quietly.

“So?”

She turned to look at the pair of them. They genuinely didn’t know.

“We’re less than eight hours away from the Great Fire of Manehattan.”

Given that a lot of Manehattan’s records had been destroyed in the Fire, its cause was well-documented - a careless baker had left his oven door open and within minutes, his store had become an inferno. Bad winds and flammable houses built too close to each other contributed to a city-wide blaze within two hours of the fire’s inception. And here they were, less than eight hours before it was due to start, in the very early hours of the following morning. Fast forward 24 hours, and most if not all of the wooden structures surrounding them would be burning.

“We’re not…” Ditzy suddenly looked very afraid to touch anything. “We’re not gonna start the fire, are we?”

Twilight shook her head emphatically. “No. There were several witnesses to the start of the fire, and the initial sparks are entirely due to the bakery. But, uh, just to play it on the safe side, if you see a street named Pudding Lane, turn around and walk in the opposite direction.” On the one hoof, it was comforting that they were coming up to a big event which they definitely weren’t going to cause. On the other… the fire had raged for three days and destroyed over half the city. Manehattan had been set back a century in terms of building. Would be set back a century. In less than eight hours.

This was very problematic. It meant they now had a time limit. Call it until midnight to find the artist, convince him to come with them, and leave. After that, they ran the risk of being caught up in history.

Five years late. Today would be the last time anypony ever saw Stalleonardo da Colton. It was now or never.

Reaching a decision, Twilight hailed a nearby pony. “Hello there!” she said, in what she was sure was mangled Middle Equestrian. With any luck, the locals would just think she was a foreigner. “Can you tell me where I can find Stalleonardo da Colton?”

The other pony stared at her.

“(Maybe she didn’t understand you,)” Reeds whispered. “(What sort of language was that?)”

Hopefully Twilight was going to understand the reply, or the mare would point, or offer to take them there. If not, they were going to have ask somepony—

The mare laughed.

“(I know that laugh…)” Ditzy muttered with disdain. “(She’s mocking him.)”

Then the reply came, and given that Twilight was translating on the fly, she thought she did pretty well. The actual content of the response, though, left a lot to be desired and the mare’s opinion of the artist was very obvious. “That old fool? Good luck finding him. Better luck understanding him!”

Oh… darn! Twilight now recalled the last parts of the museum pamphlet. “In the later years of his life, he complained of hearing voices, and seeing hallucinations which he claimed as real. His works were slipping into a realm of fantasy.” Gone was the time of the groundbreaking paintings and the respect of the whole kingdom. In 656, Stalleonardo da Colton was no longer a great artist.

He was a joke.

This was strange. How had the Princess’s personal student - the first pony she’d ever taken into that role - come to earn this label? Surely Princess Celestia wouldn’t allow such things to be said about her protege. Yet she was now seeing the real reaction to his name. A sad end for such a great pony… it wasn’t your fault, Twilight. Keep it together.

“Could you at least tell me where I could start looking?”

The mare said something that even to Ditzy and Reeds’ untrained ears sounded rather rude and left, laughing to herself, Twilight staring after her in disgust.

“What did she say?” Reeds asked.

“She said…” it wasn’t quite the right word, but it was close enough. “…try the asylum.”

All three of them pulled the same face. What disgusting behavior.

The worst part was that the next few ponies Twilight asked exhibited a similar behavior and gave similar responses. Why in Equestria would anypony be looking for that lunatic? Why look for him? You’ll find better artists elsewhere. And if you want to buy one of his paintings, it’ll cost three bits from a pawn shop! Nopony seemed willing to even dignify them with a polite response.

This was getting them nowhere.

Where had Stalleonardo been seen during the fire? Not anywhere near Pudding Lane, certainly. And as for his studio, it was certainly in the city, but after the fire nopony had been concerned about it and the replacement buildings had been erected on top of the destroyed ones. Somewhere, underneath some part of present-day Manehattan, waited the remains of the great artist’s workshop.

That was a thought. If they discovered it here, and then went to the same location in 1001…

Focus. They needed to find it first.

Splitting up to cover more ground was too risky to even think of, let alone suggest. She could manage on her own, sure, she had intended to, but Ditzy and Reeds couldn’t speak a word of Middle Equestrian and were totally ignorant of any of the social customs or eccentricities of the time period. If either of them ran into a situation they couldn’t handle…

“Why don’t we split up?” Reeds suggested. Twilight facehooved.

“Do you know Middle Equestrian?” she countered. “If you can’t speak any of the language, what will you do if something happens?”

The assistant pointed at her wings. “Fly away.”

Oh, right. They were pegasi. They could fly over the buildings. Twilight sat down so she could use both of her forehooves to cover her eyes. Even now her brain was frazzled.

“Okay… fine. Ditzy, are you okay with that?”

Ditzy folded her forelegs. “As long as it’ll get us done quicker.”

“Got it.” Twilight sighed. She really didn’t want to do this, but it seemed they have no choice. “We’re looking for a silver stallion with a blue-ish black mane and an ink brush for a cutie mark. Meet back here in one hour, okay?” She pointed up at the clocktower, which now read 6:31. It was a big enough landmark for them to be able to see from the sky, and if she got lost, she could ask directions. “We’ll try to find you if you don’t turn up, but be careful.”

“Gotcha.”

“Okay.”

With that, both pegasi took off, and climbed up over the city.

“Good luck.”

For a moment, Twilight was left alone with her thoughts. She was making everything up as she went along, she had nothing but the bare bones of a plan, and on top of everything, she’d dragged friends into it too. At least Spike would still be comfortable in the castle, and she wouldn’t have to try and explain him if he got discovered. One less complication. They didn’t have an alicorn princess with them either, both a positive and a negative. Princess Celestia wasn’t a risk this time, unless they were still hanging around the city when she arrived around 5AM.

Although, they did have a mother with them. When it came down to it, an enraged mother was just as dangerous as an enraged alicorn. She certainly didn’t want Ditzy’s wrath upon her either. Reeds… Twilight still didn’t know her that well, but she seemed like she’d understand if anything. That pegasus seemed to have adopted the Pinkie Pie school of take-it-as-it-comes philosophy.

When you alone can keep your head while others around are losing theirs, you really need to lighten up. …Yeah.

Being in the past this time felt different to the last time. Maybe it was just the knowledge that unlike all the previous times, she had a guaranteed escape plan. Every single other time she’d returned to the present from the past it had been by accident, and it felt nice to have control back again. Hidden in the bag at her side, the Iris was patiently waiting for its instructions.

A memory floated up from somewhere. The Iris still has instructions it must follow…

Where to begin, then, if she couldn’t rely on asking around? She was just going to have to patrol the nearby streets and hope she got lucky. Admittedly, this part of the plan could use some work.

Just to be on the safe side, she followed the sound of a bell being rung to a town crier, waited for him to shut up about the latest decree from Canterlot, and tried asking discretely about certain artists. This idea, she decided, when she finished cringing from the combined mocking laughter of all ponies within earshot, was not a very good one. It was all going to be down to some good old-fashioned detective work.

Given that 656 was at the end of Stalleonardo’s creative era, he wouldn’t really start being considered as great until several years later, and the cultural golden age he’d set into motion was going to be crashing and burning in less than 8 hours, where would one go to find some of his artwork? Pawn shops had been suggested, but if Twilight found an art dealer, there was a good chance she’d find something there. It wouldn’t do her any good, since she didn’t have any money on her, but it would be a start, at least.

For a moment, she tried to use her present-day memories of Manehattan to form a mental map of the area, then groaned silently. The fire, duh. Only the biggest streets in this part of the city were the same. Post-fire all of the damage had allowed the city to restructure itself without having to move ponies elsewhere while they were doing it. It was cruel, but a fact of 7th century life.

With nothing better to try, she picked a street at random.

The buildings along this street seemed to be mostly residential. She was getting a few stares here and there, but most ponies were ignoring her, because this was Manehattan, and the city was always full of Foreigners with a capital F. It was the northeast coast’s trade hub. They’d see griffons, minotaurs, maybe the occasional zebra. They wouldn’t trust them as far as they could throw them, of course, but that was diplomacy for you.

…No, this wasn’t doing any good. She wasn’t going to find anything back here.

A change of tack was in order. “Excuse me,” she asked of a passing stallion who looked like he knew where he was going, “Can you direct me to any art dealers?”

The stallion gave her a funny look. “If you’re looking for art, you’re a long way out of your way,” he said, or Twilight hoped he said. When all of this was settled, she was going to look up translation spells and learn them before doing anything else. “You want the traders’ district.”

Twilight rubbed her head and laughed sheepishly. “Uh, I’m new to the city. I don’t know where that is.”

She received an even funnier look. “You walk through it to get into the city.”

Oh. Uh. Um… “I… came in by boat?”

“By what?”

It took a moment, but Twilight flushed red with embarrassment. That wasn’t the word for boat. “Um, I mean boat.” She had not come in by seasonal cloud inversion. Why were those words so similar to each other?!

“Go back to the Broadway, turn right, and go all the way to the end.” The stallion turned, and Twilight could have sworn she heard him mutter “Blasted foreigners” under his breath. Okay, so this whole diversion had been entirely pointless. How long had it taken? Re-entering the Broadway, she could see the time on the clock was 6:48. She’d wasted quarter of an hour on that. She had to allot travel time as well as investigation time.

At any rate, she could start heading down towards the trade district regardless. It was still ground covered, which the pegasi would be doing more of. It was these very rare times where she wished she had wings too. They were incredibly useful for this sort of thing.

It was ten minutes down the Broadway that something caught her eye, and she stopped in the middle of the street. An alleyway, like the one they’d landed in, branched away from the main street and disappeared behind some houses. Something about it was… enticing was the wrong word. Intuition she didn’t understand was drawing her towards it. With some furtive glances to make sure that nopony would concern themselves with a pony slipping into such a place, Twilight sidled towards it and entered. On the wooden wall of the building to her left, there was… something, it was too dark to tell what. She was going to have to use an illumination spell.

She did so. The cat who’d been sleeping on a windowsill nearby objected with a loud hiss that made her jump almost a foot in the air.

Great. Now she was upsetting the wildlife too. That had distracted her. Now, what was—

Scrawled on the wall was an image of herself being startled by a hissing cat.

Now if that wasn’t a sign of Sweeping Stroke’s presence, nothing was. He’d been here, and recently too, the paint was barely dry and still stank horribly, almost as bad as the smell coming from the alley itself.

He knew she was there.

“Sweeping Stroke…?” she cautiously questioned into the darkness. “Are you here…?”

No response. The artist hadn’t stuck around.

Oh, good, she thought bitterly. This has just become a chase.

As if looking for one pony who hadn’t been seen in public for five years in a huge city wasn’t enough, that specific pony knew they were there, and… she looked at the graffiti again. It almost seemed like a taunt. Come and find me. Catch me if you can. Not behavior she’d expected from him at all, even if everything that had happened to him had driven him a bit loopy. Stalleonardo da Colton, reduced to drawing on walls in alleyways? Just how bad had things gotten for him to stoop so low?

Another short hop down the Broadway, another alley, a similar situation. Twilight had spotted the artwork from a distance, and had had to apologize profusely to the ironmonger whose pots she’d knocked over; and lo and behold, depicted was a lavender unicorn crashing through the ironmonger’s display. This painting, too, was fresh. The pony she was seeking was just out of reach, and…

She didn’t want to risk heading any further down the Broadway now in case she couldn’t make it back to Exchange Square in time to meet the others. Unless they timed it perfectly, which was unlikely, one of them was going to turn up late, and she was determined it wasn’t going to be her, even if that meant getting there far too early.

Besides, she had the ticket home. Without her, Reeds and Ditzy would be stuck three and a half centuries in the past.

At 7:31 and 1 second, Ditzy alighted on the cobblestones to meet with a scowling unicorn.

“What’f up, Twlght?” she spoke around her mouthful of what in all likelihood was a muffin. There was a paper bag held in her hooves. “Wnt mffn?”

Muffins were hardly what Twilight was concerned about right now, but she took one anyway, without breaking her scowl.

Ditzy swallowed. “Oh dear, somepony’s got the frowny face. What’s up?”

Things were getting ridiculous now. Twilight was trying to find Stalleonardo for a serious thing, darnit! She was going to put things right! But this… this! This was stupid!

She responded to the pegasus’s question by pointing at the wall to the right of the City Hall entrance, and the graffiti on it, of a grey pegasus holding out a baked good. She had come back to Exchange Square and found it immediately. The paint had still been running. He was toying with them now.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh,” Twilight fumed. “He’s playing games with us. If we go out there to look for him again he’ll just be running rings around us.” She looked down at the muffin in her magical grip. “Where’d you get these? You didn’t—”

“Aw, relax.” Ditzy waved the bag at her, and winked. “Hoof on heart, I can’t ‘cause I’m holding the muffins, I didn’t go to any bakeries.”

Phew. Internally, Twilight relaxed a little. “So…”

“Eh, I think some guy thought I looked hungry or something. What language are they talking in again?”

“Middle Equestrian.”

“Did you know the Middle Equestrian for muffin is muffin?”

“…I do now.”

Anxiety about their missing friend grew with each minute that went by, but just before Twilight was about to suggest going to look for her, Reeds Melody, uh… buzzed into the Square. She was practically vibrating. Oh no, what had she done?

“Done? Nothing. Nothing at all. I deny everything. Why are you looking at me like that? It’s not that bad, right? Right? C’mon, guys, why are you judging me so hard? Hey, Twilight, did you know that they already have coffee here?”

Slowly, Twilight slipped her face into her hooves.

“It’s real good stuff, you know. Phwooar, what a kick! That’ll get you out of bed in the morning! Just one cup and I was like voom! I tried to make this girl teach me how to make coffee that strong, but I couldn’t understand a word she was saying. Not a thing. Zip. Zilch. Darn shame. Can’t get coffee like that at home. I tried another cup, but I couldn’t work out how she did it. They work miracles with coffee here, Twilight! Why don’t ponies time travel more often?”

The unicorn risked removing a hoof. “How many did you have?”

“Seven. Eight— wait no that one doesn’t count. No, tell a lie, it does count. I had just the nine cups. Might have been ten. Can’t remember. Did I ever tell you that I’m a coffee connoisseur? Love coffee. Must have coffee. Teacher’s special. This’ll get you through sommmmmmmphl!” Reeds’ caffeinated ramblings were cut short as Ditzy shoved another muffin into her mouth. Oh, what blissful silence. Had the doctors in Canterlot been 100% sure that she wasn’t just suffering from a caffeine overdose?

“Did… either of you two even look for Stalleonardo?” Twilight risked asking while she had the chance.

To her credit, Ditzy looked offended. “I did! I couldn’t see any ponies like that anywhere!” The other pegasus probably meant to add the same, but instead choked on the confection in her throat. Well, if he’d been evading Twilight for the whole hour, they probably wouldn’t have been looking in the right place.

So they were back to square one. Or square minus one, even, if Sweeping Stroke was determined to stay a step ahead of them the whole time. He had Prophetia on his side, and 45 years of experience with it. He knew exactly where they were going to be, probably not exactly when, but that was enough to predict their movement. And on top of that he probably knew the layout of the city like the back of his own hoof. Their quarry had the home field advantage and he knew what the plays were going to be even before the ball was pitched. This… yeah, she hadn’t banked on this being so hard.

What had she been thinking?! Going back in time intentionally to remove someone from their home timeframe? Trying to trick time into going the way she wanted it to?

With a start she realized that was what Trixie had been trying to do back in Hoofington. Here in the past, all of the future was still just a prophecy of its own, and Twilight was trying to cause the events she’d read about to result in her favor, just as Trixie had taken the words of her own prophecy and tried to manipulate the outcome for her desires. She’d seen herself standing over Twilight, and thought her ‘nemesis’ defeated. Twilight saw the final disappearance of a single pony, and thought it because of her own actions.

What if… what if Stalleonardo would disappear without their intervention?

Something nudged her in the side. “Twilight,” suggested Ditzy, in a tone somewhere between the frustration at being separated from her daughter and the authority she’d scolded Dinky with, “eat your muffin.”

Ugh. Fine. Sighing, Twilight bit down into it— wow. By Celestia, that tasted - and smelled - good! Even if it was only for a moment, her immediate worries about the future were replaced with pure bliss dancing across her tongue and down into her stomach as she swallowed. What flavor was that?! That… she wanted more of those!

I mean, she added in a quick footnote to her most recent thought journal entry, knowing my luck there’s pretty much no way these muffins didn’t come from the bakery in Pudding Lane. But compared to how they taste… yowza. Baked to perfection and given a phenomenal finish. I don’t even know that much about baking, really, but… Pinkie Pie would beg to be able to cook such a delight.

“Oh yeah.” Her buzzing incessant and throat now cleared of its blockage, Reeds retrieved something she’d stashed in her dress. “Nearly forgot about this. Coffee does that to the memory sometimes. Need some more.” Half of her concentration was still worshiping the confection she was eating, but Twilight still grabbed the folded sheet of parchment that Reeds was waving around. It was a difficult thing to get hold of, mostly because the pegasus had forgotten to let go. “You really ought to see this place and try a bit, Twizy, Ditzter! You’ll love it!”

“I object to the nickname,” Ditzy said immediately. “One is bad enough, thanks.”

“Twzy sn’t—” Twilight swallowed “—Nopony has ever called me Twizy. Please don’t. Reeds, could you, uh…”

“Show the way? Sure! It’s right over—”

“…let go.”

Reeds looked at the parchment for a moment, bewildered. “Oh. Oh, right!” She relinquished it quickly. “The coffee lady gave it to me. Said some stuff I didn’t understand. I think it’s an advert or something. I think maybe if I bring you guys there we get some free coffee.”

Unlikely. This was Manehattan, after all. Nothing was going to be free. That aspect of the city was never going to change. Rolling her eyes, Twilight unfolded the parchment. Then she groaned loudly, and deflated. Come on. He wasn’t serious, right?

The grey pegasus was trying to look over her shoulder, so Twilight simply passed the parchment to her and lay down, trying to disappear on top of the flagstones. Of course he’d know that Reeds would be unable to resist coffee. It was one of the few words he’d actually heard her say in the real world. To him, the future was an open book by now, and he was plucking phrases from the story whenever he wanted to, the story he himself was now writing.

He had predicted that they would still be waiting there for him - or at least, Twilight would - at half past ten. In three hours’ time.

Ditzy’s eyes synchronized to examine the drawing. “So what? This is just a drawing. And that graffiti’s just graffiti, right? I don’t really get why you’re so upset, Twilight.”

Oh, that’s right, Ditzy didn’t know about that part… “He’s doing by himself what I had Dinky do for me,” Twilight explained from hoof level. “He draws pictures of the future.”

“This could mean anything, though. It’s you, some stallion, and a clock. Don’t mean it’s here, don’t mean it’s now.”

“I appreciate the gesture, Ditzy, but why else would he have some storekeeper give it to Reeds if it wasn’t a message?” The two observed said pegasus, who was attracting some unwanted attention with her bouncing and odd manner of dress. “‘Meet me here at half past ten.’ He doesn’t want us to find him, he wants to come to us when he’s ready. Reeds, please stop, you’re making a spectacle of yourself.”

“I want some more coffee,” Reeds complained, mercifully coming to a stop, and batting away the citizens who’d stopped to watch. “So was that thing important? Only I just realized that I didn’t ask Mrs Flat A to water my flowers before we went out. Gotta look after the flowers. Can’t let them wilt, you know? Mm-hm. Means we need to get back sharpish. So are we gonna find him, or give up, or what?” She lifted Twilight bodily. “We gotta go back, Twizy. Back to the fuchsias.”

For a moment, Twilight could have sworn she heard a whole audience of ponies groaning loudly. No, she was just getting a headache.

They had to choose between waiting or giving up, and she sure wasn’t giving up now. “We’re waiting here for three more hours,” she declared. “If, like Ditzy thinks, it turns out to be nothing, we go home, and I’m sure that we’ll arrive seconds after we left. Please, Ditzy?” She smiled awkwardly. “It’s only three hours.” Three hours closer to the fire, but that left them with one and a half hours before the self-set deadline of midnight, and a two hour buffer after that before the fire started. Plenty of time.

“‘S not like we’re gonna starve or anything,” Reeds added to try and convince the third member of their party. “You got muffins, I can go get coffee, I can see a well over there so we’ve got water, bip bam thank you ma’am we’re sorted.”

Finally, Ditzy sighed. “Fine. On one condition.”

Twilight nodded. “Name it.”

“Reeds gets no more coffee.”

“Deal.”

Reeds’ jaw dropped open, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Seriously?! Aww, c’mon, guys!”

Three hours was still a long time. Food, sure, okay. Coffee was a luxury and given the way Reeds was currently behaving if she had any more she was going to explode, not to mention the attention she was already attracting. She’d had far too much already. The muffins… yeah, Twilight was more than willing to help finish those. As for the water… CE 656, major city… it wouldn’t be clean clean but still far better than a town of Ponyville’s size would have. Proper water cleanliness scrubbing wouldn’t become widespread for a couple more centuries. It was probably a good idea not to risk their chances.

Three hours. It was only three hours. Not much could go wrong in three hours, right?

What followed were three of the most boring hours she’d ever had in her entire life. Ever. Five hour lectures at the Royal Academy of Mathematicians, pshh, a breeze, she was learning. That one time she’d been forced to spend a day out in Canterlot, grouchy at being dragged away from her studies and having to be ‘escorted’, she’d discovered with glee the existence of the Lower Canterlot Lending Library. Even 24 hours locked in the castle dungeon study area when the caretaker didn’t notice she was there and then lost the key was more interesting than the three hours she spent waiting for Stalleonardo.

No books. No tea. No entertainment bar the antics of ponies some three hundred and fifty years her elder. Yep, Twilight could safely say that she had never before experienced boredom to match the level of three hours waiting for a single pony in a 7th century city.

Night had fallen, and the mare in the moon stared down at them once more, silent and cold. A perfectly clear night had settled over Manehattan. When the fire started, of course, that meant there were no rainclouds nearby to stop it from spreading. Slowly, but certainly, the ponies rushing through Exchange Square had decreased from a torrent to a trickle, and now only the occasional pony darted down the street. Some stores were braving the night and staying open, and that would include a certain bakery.

Despite that, though, an unusual silence prevailed. It was the sort of silence in which Ursa Major sniffed out their snoozeberries and icebergs drifted into shipping lanes. The world was taking a breath.

For reasons Twilight couldn’t quite place, the boring three hours were also very tiring. Predictable had been the crash that followed Reeds’ coffee high, with her continuing to protest right to the point where she keeled over and began snoring, but Ditzy had also drifted off to sleep, and were she not so determined that she was going to set things right, Twilight was sure she too would be dropping off. Really, she shouldn’t blame the others, the day had been very tiring, and it was entirely possible that Ditzy was simply catching up on sleep she’d missed during the night in Canterlot.

Time distortion was making it difficult to remember that the time they’d departed Canterlot and the time they’d arrived in Manehattan wasn’t the same. Far less than 24 hours had passed since she’d been sitting despondently in the grand foyer moping about what she’d just done to Sweeping Stroke. Maybe their bodies were just reacting to the veil of darkness that cloaked the city. Yeah. That had to be it.

Again, Twilight looked at the parchment with the drawing on it. It didn’t show 10:30 exactly, the minute hand was closer to 10:35, but it was close enough. And it was now.

Tick. 10:32.

And she became aware of a cloaked figure approaching them. Finally.

“(Ditzy!)” Twilight hissed, trying to nudge the pegasus awake. “(Reeds! He’s here!)”

“Jussa few more minuts…” muttered Ditzy, rolling over but showing no signs of waking.

“No mom I did the dishes already…” moaned Reeds, in a similar situation.

“They will not wake for a while.” Sweeping Stroke’s voice was advanced with age, the voice of a pony who’d seen everything and done more. Twilight blinked. And he was speaking in perfect Equuish. “I’m afraid I have to ask you to sleep too, Twilight.”

“Wha—” Twilight was suddenly swept under a sea of drowsiness. That… what had he done…? “Sweeping Stroke…!” she managed. “What did you…”

Tick. 10:33.

Golden sparkling eyes glinted in the shadow of the cloak, and Twilight’s heart fell. She’d seen that gleam before. It was the same twinkle that had repeatedly flashed across the face of the spirit of chaos. They betrayed what had been the Colton council clerk’s ultimate fate. Madness. “I think you already know, my old friend. Had I not predicted it, I would be surprised you’d fall for it so easily.”

What had all three of them done? Struggling to keep her eyes open, Twilight let them fall to the empty wrapper trapped underneath Ditzy’s forelegs. All three of them had eaten the muffins. The drawing had been planted at the coffee stall, there was no reason he wouldn’t have gotten to them too…

Clarity came too late. She could only ask… “Why…?”

Tick. 10:34.

In her last conscious moment she stared up at the stallion, still hidden in shadow. “I will explain when you awake,” she heard, as her eyes finally shut. “You will, I think, forgive me in the end.”

Author's Note

I'M NOT SORRY

19 - The Eyes

“…!”

Ohhhh, sweet Celestia… Why did they always sort the heavy books onto the top shelves?

Use the dolly, she said. That’s what it’s there for, she said. Twilight had brushed the librarian of the castle off barely even dignifying her presence, her single-track mind already working on the books she would be studying. Said librarian had been rather miffed at that, and had that exchange not occurred, she probably would have gotten to Twilight faster when the extremely thick copy of Spell Safety Switches had been too heavy to carry in her magic and dropped on top of her head. Presently she felt like she’d just done it again. She didn’t think there were any books in Ponyville that were that heavy.

“…?” “…!” Dimly she became aware of some ponies speaking. Well, that was always a plus, it meant she wouldn’t be lying on the floor crushed under a huge tome for too long. Spike wouldn’t let her down. He’d just gone and found help.

At roughly the same time, she felt something cold and hard wrapping around both of her fetlocks and both of her ankles. Huh. Whatever they were, they were robbing her legs of all movement and… wait, she was standing up. Chances of remaining standing after such an impact with her head were practically 0%. That was… weird.

In fact, she could go so far as to…

Yeaaaaaargh!

Her headache momentarily intensified as consciousness returned to her brain quicker than Pinkie Pie to a party and with about as much force, too. All of the events so far that evening returned to her immediately, and she forced her eyes open with a startled gasp.

Obviously, she had not just had a book dropped on top of her. Sweeping Stroke, he… he’d dosed the muffins with snoozeberries, and whatever other flavoring had been put in them had been enough to drown out their taste. Diligently, they’d waited for him to arrive, giving plenty of time for the berries to hit their systems. Not even Reeds’ coffee had been enough to stall the effects. But just how long had she been out, and where was she anyway?

Theater was the word that came to mind. She was stood at the back of a large auditorium, on some kind of raised dais, upon which she was chained. Torches flickered along the walls, between anonymous pieces of decidedly posh artwork. Sound carried well, which was how she was able to hear the argument that was going on, between Reeds Melody on her left and their trapper on the stage at the far end of the room. Between she and the stallion, looking up at the stage were… it had to be hundreds of ponies, their eyes rapt with attention on the pony on the stage.

“Four hundred and ninety seven, I think you’ll find.” Sweeping Stroke’s voice broke away from the casual comments with which he had been dismissing Reeds’ accusations, and turned to Twilight, who had just turned her eyes to the chains with the aim of unlocking them with her magic. “Welcome to the Theater Royal. Do not mistake my intentions, Twilight Sparkle, for I am if anything a gracious host, but I’m afraid I can’t permit you to move.”

Why would he think then that chains— Twilight blinked, and suddenly became aware of the mass that had been tied to her horn. Whatever it was, it was completely blocking her ability to use magic! But magic nullifying technology hadn’t been invented until 919! In vain, she pulled at the chains, and tried to shake the foreign object loose, to no avail.

“A stone with most intriguing properties, I know,” Sweeping Stroke continued, without waiting for her to ask the question. “Its presence alone is enough to stop any magic from being cast. Some of your ‘Changelings’ will have a throne made out of it later.” He threw out the last fact so casually, stating a fact from the future as if it were yesterday’s news. “I apologize for the intrusion upon your person, but as I said, I cannot let you leave.”

Twilight struggled a little more, but it quickly became clear that the artist was right. No way in Tartarus was she going to get out of there without outside assistance. To her left and to her right, Reeds (struggling) and Ditzy (still asleep) respectively were both similarly anchored to the dais, with their wings bound to their barrels with rope tied in a very tight looking knot. They’d be able to pull the ends with their teeth as much as they liked and not be able to loosen it.

They had no choice but to watch and listen to their captor.

“What happened, Sweeping Stroke?” Twilight called out. “We can help you!”

He seemed to find this amusing. “Help me? I don’t need your help. In fact, I should be thanking you for the opportunity you gave me.” His bow was so low his face almost scraped the floor, an act of chivalry that seemed totally at odds with the rest of his behavior. “I saw so much after you left me, though I thought it but a dream at first. I dined with kings, danced with queens, I have been to the end of the world and back again and become an invaluable friend to an alicorn.” A rhythmic tapping noise came from his hoof as he clicked it against the stage to fill the pauses. “And I would appreciate it if you called me by my real name. There is no Sweeping Stroke here.”

The words were like ice in Twilight’s soul. Far, far too late. Sweeping Stroke was gone.

“Well in that case you won’t mind if I knock you into next week!” shouted Reeds Melody, resorting to gnawing at the ropes. She was summarily ignored.

“I believe I do owe you an explanation, though.” Stalleonardo da Colton dropped down off the stage. None of the audience even glanced in his direction; their combined gaze was fixed on the front of the auditorium. What had he done to them? “As I’ve no doubt you’ve surmised from your own time’s accounts of my life, biased as they may be, I built upon the spell you left me.”

“Left you?” Twilight echoed, her own eyes locked onto the stallion. “You watched me cast it and copied it down!”

“Indeed. That is a good question, one which I pose to you now: Who wrote Prophetia?”

That was easy, it was— uh. Twilight’s ears fell flat. Who had written Prophetia? The problem had come up while she’d been searching the archives, but she hadn’t bothered taking the time to answer it. Truth be told, there was no answer. She had learned it from da Colton’s notes, which he had written down after watching her cast it having previously learned it in the notes which he wrote down…

A paradox.

“Funny, isn’t it, how time seems to be made out of circles, rather than straight lines?” Without waiting for a response, da Colton jumped up onto the dais. “But I digress. One day, I cast the spell, and do you know what I saw? I saw you, and I saw… nothing.” To illustrate his point, he moved something that was just outside Twilight’s range of vision; she turned her head, and saw what she should have expected, a painting, one that had no record in the future.

On it, she saw herself, Spike, another unicorn she didn’t know, and… nothing else. The land they stood upon was barren, lifeless, desolate, everything that Equestria wasn’t. Was it… surely it couldn’t be the future! But that was unmistakably Canterlot mountain in the background, where the three of them were standing should have been in Ponyville… Equestria couldn’t… she returned looking to da Colton, her expression pleading for more answers. “That’s…”

“It is the end of everything.” He carefully lay the painting down. “Clearly not one that Equestria should suffer.” The great stallion paused, sighed, then suddenly frowned and turned around. “That’s not why the prophecy calls her that!” he spat at thin air. Uh… Okay, now he was showing the stallion who ponies mocked for his delusions. “Excuse me. So what I intend to do is simple, Twilight Sparkle, and you’re going to help me do it.” His stare met hers. “You’re going to help me help Equestria avoid this fate.”

Before Twilight could raise an objection, he continued. “Yes, you tried to change the past by coming here. The difference between you and I, though, is that I am willing to change the future. Here in the past, we will accomplish what the future cannot. Time will change. And here, I know of only one creature capable of causing such destruction.”

“What’s that, then?” asked Reeds, determined not to let the stallion continue to refuse her existence. “What could possibly be so powerful?”

Discord? King Sombra? Queen Chrysalis? Nightmare Moon? No, it couldn’t possibly be them. Twilight didn’t even know if Chrysalis was around at this point in time, Discord was a statue, King Sombra was locked in time until the Crystal Empire reappeared and the Mare in the Moon was only an old mare’s tale. Something from Tartarus? Or…

After she’d eliminated the impossibilities, it took only a moment to work it out. After all, she was the most powerful pony at this point in time… “Princess Celestia,” she breathed. Then she repeated it in disbelief. “Princess Celestia?! Princess Celestia wouldn’t do that to Equestria!”

Reeds was equally as surprised. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

On her other side, Ditzy still hadn’t woken up. The lavender unicorn would have been slightly suspicious if all her brain processes weren’t entirely focused on what da Colton had implied. Princess Celestia was the benevolent ruler of Equestria! Sure, she had admitted times of weakness during her thousand year solitary reign, but she’d never express any desire to… to… to destroy everything! That would go against everything she stood for!

“Then you do not know her as well as I do. Regardless, if ridding Equestria of her is what it takes to rid Equestria of that future, then it is a step that must be taken. And it is inevitable. The day will break.”

“Th- No, it’s not!” Twilight glanced to her left, and was met by a very exaggerated eye roll from Reeds. Mad or not, he’d definitely got the monologue down pat. “What’ll happen to Equestria without her?”

Sighing, da Colton hopped back down off the dais and started making his way back to the stage. “Unicorns were raising the sun and the moon long before Princess Celestia was even an idea. We’ll make do.”

“That’s insanity!”

“So I’ve been told.”

Frustrated, angry, Twilight tried fruitlessly to free herself from the chains and from the stupid thing tied around her horn. “I thought you were her student, Sw— Stalleonardo!” The name felt wrong in her mouth now. A week ago she’d been looking up to him, but now? Now he was just… “Her first! She trusts you!”

In the middle of his journey back to the stage, Stalleonardo paused, and turned to look at her, an expression of amusement across his face. “Is that what the history books say about me? Charming, certainly, but untrue, I’m afraid.” He flicked an imaginary spot of dust off an unmoving earth pony to his side. “And in any case, a situation entirely relegated to my younger years. Those years are gone, never to return.”

As he turned back to finish his walk to the front of the auditorium, Twilight heard a hissing noise coming from her left. She looked at Reeds, who was sniffing and looking very concerned. “(Hey, Twilight?)” she whispered, quickly looking around. “(You smell that?)”

Twilight inhaled too. Yeah. She smelled it. There were no clocks of any sort in the room, so the exact time was hazy, but nopony could mistake that smell. She nodded grimly. “(Smoke.)” Outside, the Great Fire of Manehattan was in its infancy. It wasn’t particularly hot in the building they were in, so it probably wasn’t that close, but in less than an hour the building would probably be an inferno. They had to get free, and break whatever spell he’d put over the… four hundred and ninety seven other ponies in the room.

Including them, that meant five hundred.

By now Stalleonardo had reached the stage again, still clicking his hooves, and with a start Twilight realized that for the last few seconds her heart had been pumping to the same beat, and there was the faint sound of drums in her ears. Were they really going to— yes, they were really going to. Of all the times for a song, this had to be most unhelpful one yet!

It was all wrong, too. In a moment like this she expected some sort of ballad, but… really, a rock song? In 656?! How in Equestria did they have amplified guitars back here?!

Then he began, gesturing to the crowd.

“You never see it coming
No build-up and no warning
You try to keep things running
But you can’t hold on

The world afire
All for the praise of liars
But we can change the outcome
Make that future wrong

Alone we can’t do much, but together we’re strong
I’ve seen the way to start
Let the past rise up!”

For her part, Twilight was to sing backup counterpoints in the chorus, that was where the spellsong was guiding her. But all that emerged was a sort of strangled gasp as Stalleonardo started the chorus of a completely different song. You didn’t do that! You just didn’t!

“Witness the spell! The one that made me
Saved me, from all the future’s certain sorrow
One thousand eyes, behold Prophetia
Saving us from the daybreak!”

Her mind was still reeling when he did it again, switching to a third song!

“Now what I’ve seen I will show to you!”

Stalleonardo’s Share invaded her head without permission, assaulting her with images of the future. Worse, they weren’t all confined to that terrible future; if she had to guess he’d lost control of the spell and it was just showing anything it could find.

“See the earth queen fall and the sky prince call!
The incoming tide as it swallows the world!
All the magic gone, leaving only dust
The sun won’t protect us, set as it must
This future has been right in front of you all along!”

He pointed accusingly at Twilight, who couldn’t say anything. What could she say? All these things… Princess Celestia couldn’t be the cause of all of them! She was pretty sure she’d seen a glimpse of Nightmare Moon in there, but she’d already been dealt with! Hadn’t Spike told him about that?!

(“Prophetia, prophetia, prophetia, save us now,” chanted the crowd.)

That begged the question: How much of the future couldn’t he see?

Okay, now she had to sing, no matter what, and as the spellsong switched back to a verse of song #2, she got her chance.

“The future is not clear as you think
It’s not just swim or sink
What you see could just be a little glimpse!

You can’t act on sight alone—”

“You can stop the future shown!” countered Stalleonardo, and he continued on into the second chorus, which this time actually matched the verse.

“Witness the spell! The one that made me
Saved me, from all the future’s certain sorrow
One thousand eyes, behold Prophetia
Saving us from the daybreak!
Witness the spell! The one that made me
Saved me, from all the future’s tears and horror
One thousand eyes, behold Prophetia
Saving us from the daybreak!”

“They say,” he continued normally, as the music launched into the bridge of a fourth completely different song, “that the eyes are the windows to the soul. Rubbish, really, but to everything there must be an element of truth. Fillies, gentlecolts,” he addressed an inattentive yet rapt crowd, who probably didn’t even realize what was going on. After all, the great stallion and this mysterious mare were singing and talking in a language barely recognizable from their own. “All eyes to me, please. The great Stalleonardo da Colton is going to produce one final work of art. The past rises for Equestria’s future.”

The color drained from Twilight’s face. Five hundred ponies. One thousand eyes, behold Prophetia… the past will rise with a thousand eyes…

As if sensing it was the most inopportune time, Ditzy chose that moment to raise her head groggily. “Izzit mornin yet,” she mumbled. Twilight was about to reply when her eyes were suddenly drawn against their will to the stallion on the stage, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t look away. Grunting from both pegasi confirmed that the same thing was happening to her companions.

How could she have been so… blindly trusting! He was using them to… A lance of pain shot through her head as she felt magic streaming out of her horn. It was a novel idea, using attention as a magical conduit to siphon magic from even earth ponies and pegasi, but it would have been better as an observer, not a participant, and certainly not for something as… crazy as dethroning Princess Celestia!

“Sweeping Stroke!” she called out, trying to resist. “Don’t do this!”

“I’m sorry, Twilight,” was the response from the other unicorn, who had begun levitating in a growing ball of pure magic. “We both know this is the only way.”

“No we don’t!”

She fought against the magic flowing out of her with all of her strength, but it was futile. Was that it? Was this the event where the future changed, and all of her life up until that point was just overwritten? There had to be a way to break the spell! Something distracting! If she was reading the situation right, all they needed was one pony to look away, one pony, and the siphons would fail! One pony…

Next to her, Ditzy snorted. She couldn’t seriously be laughing, at a time like this?! Was she falling into hysterics already?

Then it hit her.

Oh.

Oh.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, she too found herself breaking into laughter, tears forming at the corners of her eyes, though whether that was the hysteria or the inability to blink away the particles of soot that were now entering the building it was difficult to tell.

“Okay, what gives?” asked Reeds, who clearly didn’t remember their earlier conversation. “What’s so funny?”

“I’m trying to be serious, Twilight Sparkle.” The magic ball was almost completely obscuring Stalleonardo from view, but his voice was uninterrupted. “Please, enlighten me. I too would like to know.”

“How much… do you know about my friend here?!” Twilight called out.

“A pony from the background, simply here because—”

Twilight cut him off. “Not good enough!” It was all down to Ditzy now.

“Sometimes,” Ditzy sang, and Twilight could already feel the magic straining. It was happening. “The future’s really hard to see.”

And she did it with a blind joke. Ouch.

When the snap happened, as Ditzy’s eye rolled away uncontrollably, breaking the spell, it came instantaneously and almost without warning, just as the spellsong abruptly transitioned back into the bridge of the song they’d started on. With only nine hundred and ninety nine eyes available the spell lost its power, and all of the magic that had been coiling around da Colton surged back in the opposite direction. While the magic-nullifying rock strapped to her horn made it feel like a bucket of ice had been thrown in her face, Twilight was still glad to have her magic back.

The restoration of their magic seemed to have broken the spell over the rest of the audience, too, who were looking around in confusion, suddenly aware of where they were, as if they were awaking from a deep sleep. Those of them who saw the three ponies chained up at the back of the room were very surprised, those who looked forward to the bewildered great artist on the stage even more so. Nopony looked up at the ceiling, just below which a layer of black smoke was building rapidly.

But everypony looked up when the first embers fell.

Instantly there was a panic, and hundreds of hooves thundering for the exits. On their way, a few of the stallions clambered up onto the dais and started hammering at the chains, working them loose from the boards, and biting through the knots tying the two pegasi’s wings down.

“Get this thing off my horn!” Twilight shouted, and although they didn’t understand a word she was saying, they got the picture and started working that knot too. Even though her eyes were free from having to stare at da Colton, they wanted to look nowhere else. It had to end. Now.

Release!

No sooner had the mysterious stone been untied from her horn and stomped into the ground she had teleported out of the chains and halfway across the room, galloping for the stage and the stallion now frantically leafing through his workbook. Maybe it was too late to save the stallion from the spell. But now she had to save the future from him.

Stalleonardo looked up just in time to see a lavender missile hurtling towards him as Twilight leapt onto the stage and tackled him, winding him and sending the workbook flying off into the wings. Almost as suddenly, the Return charm kicked in, and it scythed back in past Twilight’s left ear straight into her magical grip; but the stallion was already on his hooves and was trying to pull it away with his own magic. Twilight had more power behind the pull, but he had the experience that came with age. Stalemate.

“The morning sun won’t last forever!” he shouted over the noise of ponies trying to escape, straining to try and abscond with the book. “It’s the truth, why can’t you see?!”

Seeing an opportunity, Twilight let go, and da Colton yanked the book back and smacked himself in the face with it, breaking his concentration. As he staggered back, the book’s abused binding flew open, and several pages tore out, scattering into the air around them. “All that’s there is a mind of madness!” she retorted, again grabbing the book. She had to get it away from him. Prophetia for her was easy to memorize, it was complete, but for a version of the spell that was inherently flawed, he had to have the matrix available to work from. All of it was right there—

Something rushed at her from the back of the room and she had to throw herself flat as the painting from before missed her by inches and smashed against the back wall. Now her own concentration was lost, and, panting, Stalleonardo held the book above him.

No. He hadn’t won. Summoning the full magic available to her, she saw the book as it was, and the charm surrounding it. Return. Revision four. Fixed identifier. “It’s time to see a new prophecy!” She focused all of her might on the charm, and punched an Interruption spell right through the middle of it. Without the identifier, how would the book know who it belonged to? The stallion’s grip faltered, and once again the book flew through the air, landing with a solid thud on the stage. And just like that, the song was done.

Huh. So that’s how that happened.

His eyes wild, Stalleonardo repeatedly looked between her and it in disbelief. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to go…” he murmured in awe, his hindquarters sinking to the stage and his ears flattening against his head. “But I thought… I thought…”

Whatever he was about to say was interrupted by a flaming timber falling from the ceiling, which landed in the thankfully now-empty auditorium, the wooden benches quickly catching alight themselves. In her haste to get the book, Twilight hadn’t even noticed how hot it was getting, or that, in fact, the whole roof was ablaze.

She caught sight of Reeds and Ditzy hovering anxiously at one of the exits, and she waved rapidly for them to move. “Go!” she shouted, looking up again, making sure she wasn’t about to get squashed. “I’ll find you! I’ve still got something to take care of!”

With everything that was happening, the Iris had almost slipped her mind. It had been in the bag at her side when she’d fallen asleep, but missing when she’d woken up. Da Colton had to have taken it, but where? Only he knew that answer.

“Sweeping Stroke!” she yelled, over the roaring flames. “Stalleonardo! You need to tell me where you put the Iris! Otherwise we can’t get home!”

The stallion didn’t respond. His own irises were pinpricks, staring at nothing, his mouth moving, but no words coming out. Perhaps the truth of his actions were finally catching up to him. Here was a great stallion, on the last day he was ever seen, and he was broken.

So too was his workbook. Twilight had noticed the number of missing pages when she’d examined it in the future, but it still pained her to see them scattered across the stage, a couple of the furthest ones already starting to smolder. It wasn’t right. The book was a problem, but all that knowledge…

She acknowledged it was a stupid idea even as she was halfway through gathering as much of them in her magic as she could. Notes, sketches, designs. A rhetoric on the Elements of Harmony here, an analysis of the Breezies there, even if they never made it to the future, they didn’t deserve to burn.

No, wait, what? One of the pages flicking into the pile she was accumulating caught her attention, and she pulled it back to stare at it. But that was—

Her discovery was suddenly interrupted as Stalleonardo tackled her. At first she reacted with force, fearing he was back to fighting for the book, but then she realized that he’d knocked her out of the way of another beam which had come down right where she’d been standing.

The page she’d been holding fluttered free, rose in the heat, then caught a stray spark and burned almost in an instant.

“But that was—” she started to shout. Stalleonardo shook his head.

“You have no time for this, Twilight Sparkle! You must leave!”

But—

“Now!”

Okay, but she had some serious re-examination of the book to do when she got back to the present! Pausing only to grab the book itself and stuff the pages she’d gathered into it, she looked around. Most of the exits had been blocked while she’d been dilly-dallying collecting pages, but there was a backstage door that looked clear.

“This way!” she called, pulling the stallion along behind her. Even after all of that, she wasn’t going to leave him in here. Backstage. Corridor. Dressing room. Open window!

Opening it was a snap; she looked out of it, saw the suspicious but convenient pile of hay in the street below, as yet untouched by fire, and, satisfied, defenestrated Stalleonardo da Colton. The sound of the roof collapsing behind her was all the impetus she needed to jump out herself.

The question remained.

On that page that burned… was the spell matrix for Prophetia.

Author's Note

The recipe for one "Witness the Spell" song is as follows:
Take the opening sequence from "Sail On" by Masterplan, up to the beginning of the first chorus.
Substitute the first chorus from "Amaranth" by Nightwish.
Follow with the first chorus from "Nowhere", the insert song from the anime Madlax, including the line immediately before and the chanting immediately after.
Return to the third verse and second and third choruses from "Amaranth".
Divert out to the bridge from "Cadence of Her Last Breath", also by Nightwish.
Finally, resume the bridge and post-bridge verse from "Sail On."

20 - The Fireball

Million bit question: How could Twilight have learned a spell from a page that burned four hundred years before she read the book in the first place?

Nothing felt different, there weren’t any magical entities appearing out of nowhere to let her know that she’d done something that didn’t happen originally, and, well, she still knew Prophetia, so there wasn’t any indication that she had changed time. Of course there’d be no way of knowing until she returned to the present, but it was an even bigger paradox if she never learned the spell that brought her here in the first place. Comparatively, herself and Sweeping Stroke learning the spell from each other again and again in an infinite loop was peanuts.

Just another thing she’d have to put on the… actually, ‘backburner’ was a bad phrase, considering.

The moment Twilight hit the hay she was already up on her hooves and dragging a reluctant stallion down the street. Sweat was sticking her fur down, and the smell of smoke was everywhere, the scraps of cloth she’d stolen from the dressing room at the last minute doing the bare minimum to prevent her from inhaling too much. She had no idea where she was going, but away from the fire was a good enough start. It would have been a bizarre sight if anypony were concentrating on them; her pulling a great artist along while also carrying a battered book full of loose pages.

When they’d been in 611, Sweeping Stroke had seen first-hoof the power of the Iris. He knew that it was not a force to be trifled with, and, to be more precise, not something to leave lying around where anypony could steal it. He would have hidden it someplace safe, someplace where he knew nopony would be snooping around and—

“My workshop…!” he coughed behind her, and she stopped, turning around. “It’s… in my workshop. I…” he refused to look her in the eyes. “I had… planned to allow you to return to your own time when we were finished.”

Twilight opened her mouth to argue when a burning ember dropped worryingly close to her face. She didn’t have the time. Instead she lifted his head and made him look at her. “Where?”

“Just… keep going. I’ll remember when we get close.”

“You don’t remember?!” How could he not remember?! How could he not know where his own workshop was?!

“I—” and for the first time, Twilight noticed just how frazzled he looked. His eyes were unfocused, his mane was a mess… Sparks were even running up and down his horn. “I spend so much time looking into the future I… forget my present,” he admitted. “And any moment I may be whisked away again.”

“But the workbook—”

“I still know the spell, and sometimes, there is just so much magic…”

They had to keep moving. Shaking her head, Twilight turned back and continued at a canter.

Hopefully Reeds and Ditzy were safe. She’d never forgive herself if they weren’t. But they were pegasi, they could fly, they’d probably get roped into searching for the rainclouds that weren’t there. She had to trust that they were safe, and she hoped that they trusted her to find them and take them back to where they belonged.

In the middle of the Great Fire of Manehattan, trust and hope were the only things ponies had—

Behind her, Stalleonardo spasmed, and she stopped again. “Are you—”

When she finished her sentence, she was in Canterlot.

Except no, she wasn’t. Around her, the castle walls shimmered, and bits of a burning city were flickering in and out of view. Next to her, Stalleonardo was leaning to one side, his horn alight, his eyes the pure white of magic overload.

So this was what he meant…

Still moving! They weren’t out of danger yet! They might seem to be in Canterlot but if they stopped the fire would—

Oh no. Oh no. Twilight recognized the room. She recognized the time. She recognized little herself, standing over a book with her eyes shut in concentration—

Stalleonardo brought himself back to reality just in time to see the wall of water coming towards him as the music room flooded. Instinctively he flinched, and even though she knew it was a prophetic illusion, Twilight did too. Then it was gone, and they were back in Manehattan, and they were running again.

“That… is the sort of future I hoped to avoid!” the stallion shouted to her. “That is what the future holds for Eq—”

“Stalleonardo, I did that!”

He stopped, and she had to drag him into motion again. “Wait, you did?”

“Yes! Five years ago from my perspective!” Gee, Rainmaker would really have come in useful right about now! Erasure was really useful too but also really annoying when it had to be! “That’s not the apocalypse, it’s a student making a mistake!”

He looked away again. “Haven’t we all.”

The fire was spreading quickly, but this street, at least for now, was still mostly intact. A heavy cloud of smoke obscured the night sky above, when it was visible at all through the narrow gaps between the building overhangs on both sides of the street. This must have been a purely residential district. Without any modern landmarks… there was no chance of ever finding this place again in the present.

“Wait, I—” Stalleonardo stopped yet again, but this time it looked like he was remembering something. “This way!” He took off down an alleyway, and Twilight let him take the lead. Hopefully now he knew where he was going. Trust and hope. She certainly didn’t want to get lost now. There was too much at stake.

Eventually, he stopped in front of a plain wooden door with a viewing shutter in, and retrieved a key from a flower bush next to it. Under any other circumstances, Twilight would have been squeeing with glee at the thought of entering the workshop of the great Stalleonardo da Colton, but now her tapping hooves were betraying her impatience and fear rather than sheer unbridled joy. She was only going to be in and out of it, of course, just long enough to grab the Iris. The workshop would be lost, eventually, along with everything it contained. There was no changing that. Any works left within were to be left to time and the flames.

So when the door creaked open, revealing an unlit, inky blackness, in spite of herself she was the first to enter. “Okay, where did you put the-”

Slam. Click.

Suddenly afraid again, she whirled around and tugged on the door, confirming that those sounds had indeed been the indications of Stalleonardo locking her in.

After a moment of fumbling, she found the handle for the viewing shutter, and slid it open. “What are you doing?!”

“I’m sorry, Twilight. For everything.” Stalleonardo stood back and looked up and down the alley. “The workshop walls are lined with the magic-proof rock, so you cannot teleport and follow me. The front door is unlocked and unbarred, you aren’t trapped, but… I cannot come with you. I’ve… done too much, here. My whole life… up in flames, you might say, as will be my work, shortly. It has been a privilege to know you.”

“No! Don’t—” This couldn’t be his final—

“I am aware that your history says I vanish here, never to be seen again. But…” he winked. “We both know that the history books don’t mention everything, don’t we?”

Twilight was breathing heavily. What she was about to witness… she never imagined that when she’d traveled back to save him that she’d be doing it like this. “But Princess Celestia—”

“Understands. I told her that I would eventually resort to something drastic, and specifically requested that she did not interfere.” Somewhere nearby, a house collapsed, and a wave of heat surged past them. “You’ll find the Iris on the bench near the back of the room and remember: What has been started must be finished. The Vault will be opened, and the power within laid bare for anypony to see.”

Trixie. The vault. Suddenly, Twilight remembered all of it, facts she’d been compartmentalizing while she’d concentrated on what was going on with Stalleonardo. She glanced down at the workbook. “But I don’t know where it is!”

Stalleonardo smiled, and this time, it was warm, but weak. “You do. You prophesized its opening, after all. Now hurry! Seek the first and last, in the last and first! And…” he paused, as if he was unsure whether to say something, then nodded to himself. “…ask Celestia what happened in 617!”

Then he was gone, his hoofsteps barely audible above the encroaching roar of the fire.

“Sweeping Stroke!” Twilight pounded against the door, but it wouldn’t budge. As he said, she could see a thin line of the material that had prevented her from using magic molded along the middle of the wall; any teleport spells she tried to fire through them dissolved harmlessly. She’d lost him again.

When did she prophesize the vault opening? That had been on the sandstone slab, hadn’t it? First and last in the last and first? 617? What about 617? That was the year Princess Celestia had purchased the Mona Luna from him, but… she shook her head, pushing aside all the questions. She had no time. First and foremost she had to get the Iris, second was finding her friends, and third… she looked at the workbook. It still had hundreds of years to go before it became what Spike had found in the secret compartment in the library. It may no longer contain Prophetia, but it should still hold the information about the mirror pool that they had needed.

The interior of the workshop was still pitch black. Her eyes had adjusted slightly, she could see the bare outline of some nearby tables, but if she was going to find the Iris quickly, she needed light. That was easy enough.

Her horn flared, and the following sound of her jaw hitting the floor could probably have been heard above the roaring flames outside.

Black had been washed away by vibrant color, reds, blues, purples, even some colors that against all common sense seemed to be changing depending on the angle of the reflecting light. Some easels were covered in dust sheets, but there still had to be dozens, scores of previously unknown da Colton paintings! There had to be several years worth of his life in the room! For a moment, but only for a moment, she forgot the situation outside, and the fact that the stallion who painted the masterpieces before her had not an hour before been attempting to overthrow Princess Celestia.

She had to make notes! She didn’t have time! The temperature was already rising! Agh! Nervously trotting on the spot, Twilight did a 360, trying in vain to memorize everything, to note everything down in her thought-journal, from the paintings, to the loose pieces of paper upon which were sketches, to the loft space and balcony above… Right now she was definitely standing below ground level, which meant that at least some of this should survive and subsequently be built over. Not all of it would remain in the future. But hopefully some would.

Bench at the back of the room. Right. Over there between the half-finished portrait of… of Stalleonardo tackling Twilight out of the way of that burning beam earlier (so that’s how he knew), and some bizarre sculpture which wouldn’t have looked out of place in a posh restaurant. On top of a few more loose sheets sat the Iris, completely innocuous, just a beautiful crystal to anypony who didn’t know its true power, her bag sitting next to it. At last, it was back in her magical grasp, and the rejuvenating sensation caressed her, relieving her stress.

Step one. Now on to step t—

Hang on a moment. What was written on those sheets the Iris had been resting on?

On top of the pile was a series of sketches, of a round device, and some patterns for… Princess Luna’s telescope! Translating on the fly, Twilight worked out that he’d modified it to point through the Bearers of Harmony windows that he’d designed. Why, probably he only knew, but that wasn’t as big of a deal. Second sheet held some notes about the anti-magic stone, she was having that. Underneath…

She blinked.

“On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal,” she read aloud, making sure her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her. “But that was in…” a chill ran up her spine, and she looked about at the paintings, at the glimpses of the future. “Of course you did!” she exclaimed to the empty room. “You wrote Predictions and Prophecies!” All its critics had said that its writer was a loony, and that most of its contents that claimed to be myth and folklore was just made up on the spot. That fit his method, all right…

Predictions and Prophecies had been published in 651, right before Stalleonardo’s five-year disappearance, his last public work.

He’d been responsible for alerting her to the Elements of Harmony in the first place!

No wonder it had appeared in his workbook! He’d written them down there before putting them in his own book about prophecies! Twilight couldn’t help but snort. In a roundabout way, he had found a way to tell the ponies of the 7th century about the future. Nopony had believed him.

A crash and sudden blast of heat interrupted her moment of epiphany, and Twilight turned to realize in horror that a burning timber from another building had just crashed down into the roof. She’d stalled.

Bag. Carefully Twilight put the Iris into it, then followed up with the workbook— darn. She hadn’t been expecting to carry anything big when she’d picked the bag up, there was no way she’d fit both of them in. Making a quick executive decision, she took as many of the loose pages as she could back out of the book and stuffed them into the bag alongside the Iris. She’d just have to carry the book. Now it was time to get out of there! Where was that front door?

There, upstairs on the balcony. Could she get there before the fire reached it? Maybe? There was really only one way to find out. Slinging the bag on and making sure the couple sheets left in the workbook wouldn’t fall out, she ran for the stairs. Time to get out of—

Slamming the brakes on, she skidded to a halt again. What were the chances of…

Under the stairs, half-hidden by a dust sheet, still on its easel, was the painting of the sonic rainboom over Canterlot.

“Funny, isn’t it, how time seems to be made out of circles, rather than straight lines?” da Colton’s words echoed in her head. There was no doubt about it. This was the exact same painting which had been mailed to Rainbow Dash in 1001, and… she was sure she’d seen it somewhere else in the interim. Royal Portrait Gallery, her brain said, pulling the answer from nowhere. Princess Celestia. Princess Celestia owned this painting. And with the fire as it was, there was no way it could just be carried out of here. How had it survived?!

Thoughts occurred, conflicted, fought for attention and resolved. Twilight couldn’t carry everything, but maybe she didn’t have to. Here she had a painting that disappeared in 656 and reappeared in 1001. Here she had a workbook that disappeared in 656 and reappeared in 1001. Excepting the ways in which they were found, the fate of the two were almost identical. If she were to…

The timber that had crashed into the roof now fell to the floor, smashing, scattering embers everywhere. Now or never. Twilight lifted the painting off the easel, spun it around, and jammed the workbook into the back of the frame. Call it a hunch, but she suspected Princess Celestia would know what to do with it, assuming she got it, that is. The question of how to get the painting out of the workshop remained unanswered, but she had a feeling that a solution would present itself—

Almost immediately she was proven right, as one of the paint containers on the bench nearest to the burning beam exploded. Of course, 7th century paints were very flammable, and given the right sort of spark, they’d combust. Put enough of them in one place, and they’d make one heck of a bang.

Good enough. Twilight grabbed as many containers as she could, that weren’t empty or already sizzling, and some blank paper to use as a fuse. One shot, that was all she had. While she was doing so, she repeatedly ran over in her head the matrix for her brother’s signature shield spell. Where Shining Armor could, admittedly with effort, shield an entire city for several days, when Twilight cast the spell the shields tended to be smaller, lasted for a very short amount of time, but compensated for in strength. For its duration she essentially became a living pinball. With a strong enough kick, it’d knock through just about anything.

Moments before she allowed the fuse to light, she looked around, wincing at the sight of the priceless works of art burning in front of her. She couldn’t save everything… wait, why was the floor… sticky?

Out of curiosity, she looked down, to see… paint. There was a painting on the floor, and from the part she could see, from where she was standing over to where it disappeared out under the burning beam, it was huge. Judging from the wear on the part she could see, it was also very old, but the heat was still making the paint run. Maybe she could have seen what it was from the balcony, but given that the stairs were now on fire too, it was just another work lost to time.

Okay. Here goes nothing… Twilight lit the fuse, held the painting and her bag close against her, and cast the shield spell, screwing up her eyes. One, two, thr— BANG. Before she could even start screaming, she was flying upwards towards the ceiling.

In her last look at Stalleonardo’s workshop, the last pony to ever see it, her eyes dropped to the floor just in time to see the message in the painting before the burning wooden ceiling splintered around the shield and she shot upwards into the smoky sky.

SAVE HER

At heart, Twilight was a student. That was where she belonged. Switching careers to become a professional living firework was not on her agenda and she didn’t plan to quit her day job anytime soon.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—”

As expected, the shield spell had disintegrated, though thankfully it had lasted long enough both to take her through the roof and the thick cloud of smoke that hung above it. Now she, the painting with book, and the Iris-and-pages-in-bag were still hurtling upwards into the sky, above the city, above the heat, up to where the Mare in the Moon stared down disapprovingly. From its position - there wasn’t much else to do but think as she was screaming her way up to the heavens - she guessed it was sometime around 5AM. Below her, panicking pegasi were dots against the smoke, too occupied with trying to fight the fire with what little cloud they had to notice either the explosion or the cannonball rocketing into the sky.

The other thing she had to try and think of on the way up was what to do when she reached her zenith and started heading back down again. In hindsight, she should have tried to find something she could have used as a parachute before detonating the paint. Also, she had probably just obliterated what was left of Stalleonardo da Colton’s last works. Probably shouldn’t be thinking about that.

Gravity would suddenly catch up to her soon. Cushioning spell? For a short fall, yes. Terminal velocity, probably not. Teleport? Unless she found a way to scrub her momentum she’d just be going splat against a wall rather than the floor. The river? Again, terminal velocity. At that speed the water would just be as solid as stone. Shield spell? Could work, but she might just as easily end up buried underground.

Hmmm. How did Rainbow Dash go about course corrections while traveling at the speed of sound? Twilight didn’t have wings, but she had magic. If she reshaped the flow of the magic out of her horn to emulate the flapping of a pegasus’s wings—

Then she hit the zenith, remained suspended in the air for a moment, then submitted herself to gravity.

Being in freefall above the Great Fire of Manehattan really wasn’t what she’d expected to be doing in the past!

Immediately the wind whipping in her face broke her concentration, and while the bag remained secure around her barrel, the painting wasn’t so lucky, and it started spiraling away from her. “No!” Twilight grabbed for it, but both she and it were moving too fast, far too fast, and already it was several yards away and gaining distance. She’d lost it. What were the chances of it landing safely? Stupid question, really, they were rapidly falling towards a burning city. If by some fluke it overshot the city chances were it would just land in the river and then both painting and book would be ruined.

Wait, what was she even thinking? She had bigger concerns than the fate of the painting and the workbook right now! Before anything else she had to be concerned with her own—

A familiar feeling was emanating from the Iris, apparently resonating with her panicked urgency. Could it slow her down? If it had enough magic to temporally displace three ponies and a dragon, enough to completely hide their magical signatures for half an hour, and - the thought sprang into her mind completely unbidden - enough to sustain a construct in the dream realm while it was masking their magic, then it should be able to slow her down, right? Hay, she could even use it to time travel back to 1001 with it! If only Reeds and Ditzy were with her… of course, if they were with her, she wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with.

She didn’t really have enough time to second-guess it. If she experimented, she was just going to land back in the city again before she could work on the third hypothesis. Iris it was.

Screwing her eyes shut even tighter against the wind, she concentrated on the charm and felt the bag pressing it into her side. Come on, Iris, she thought, feeling the relaxing magic flow through her, battling the fear of the fall. Show me what you can do.

What are you doing up here?

Ah! The sudden voice in her head nearly broke her concentration, but she managed to hang onto it. Tall mare, her mind said, from the dream. The sword wielding unicorn. If anything could tell her what the Iris was capable of, she could. A telepathic interface with the construct, saving her from having her words lost to the air above them. What an amazing charm.

That fits my general description, yes.

Is the Iris capable of safely slowing a pony traveling at terminal velocity?

The answer came without hesitation. Yes.

Oh, happy days! Twilight would be crying in relief if the wind wasn’t whipping up tears in her eyes anyway. Do— Suddenly she stopped mid-thought. How would it do it?

By converting the accumulated gravitational energy into magical energy, allowing the pony’s fall to be cushioned.

What happens to the magical energy afterwards?

Buildup cleared through detonation.

That sounded… How big of a detonation?

It told her.

HOW MUCH?! A figure that high— that would level the entire city! No way in Tartarus was that an option! Nonononononono! Don’t do that! Twilight could hear the fire now. Sixty seconds to the smoke layer, less. Rapid fire question time. Can the magic be vented any other way?

Only if you provide a spell conjunction.

Conjunc— oh, of course! If Twilight was casting a big enough spell at the same time, all the magic would get used safely! And call her crazy, but Twilight was starting to get an idea… okay, she was starting to get desperate, but it was an idea, and at this point any idea had to be a good one. Can you assist me with a teleportation?

Yes.

Can the Iris seek out specific ponies?

Given an accurate approximation of their magical signature, yes. Where are you going with this?

It was ludicrous just how much this charm was capable of, but there was no time to quiz it on everything. Twilight tried to picture Reeds Melody and Ditzy Doo in her mind. The two ponies I came back here with, I need to teleport them to me and then time travel back to 1001, as quickly as possible. Will that scrub enough magic?

Even the Iris’s construct seemed taken aback and it took her a moment to respond. Even with the gravitational buildup there is not that much magic. It is possible, but the Iris will need to assist. This particular conjunction will cause a significant power drain. To be more accurate, 98.72 per cent. Twilight, this construct ceases to function with less than 5 per cent power remaining.

Ceases to function? Twilight already knew what it meant, of course. But that means you’ll—

Be dormant, nothing less.

There was… something about the voice, the tall mare from the dream, that Twilight found hauntingly familiar. Maybe it was that that caused her to balk at the idea. I can’t tell you to do that!

You can. Returning was that motherly tone, of a parent reminding her child exactly what they’re capable of. I will tell you again, Twilight, I am not a real pony, only a memory. You know that. I will merely be… ‘sleeping’ until the Iris has regained sufficient power.

It was now or never. Here comes the smoke… Do it!

At her side the Iris was suddenly red hot, before the bag erupted in a white magical light that would have blinded her were her eyes not shut already. From the ground, if anypony could see through the thick smoke, it would have looked like a star was falling to the earth. For the briefest of moments, Twilight was the Iris, seeing invisible tendrils of life magic moving impossibly fast, seeking out her friends. The window of opportunity was closing.

There! Two zaps of magic and suddenly where there had been one unicorn in a ball of light there was one unicorn and two very, very confused pegasi. That was step two. Step three… the time travel spell drew itself around them. Just a few more seconds—

With her last glimpse at the world of 656, Twilight looked up to see a silvery arrow racing across the sky, and could just make out the glow of Princess Celestia’s magic as it caught the painting. Then the Princess banked towards them, and…

The destination time is obstructed, Twilight. The voice of the tall mare came through once more as the outside world finally faded into white. There will still be considerable magical discharge. Returning to the moment you left will not be possible. Unless the spell safeties are disabled, the time elapsed in the past must equal the time elapsed in the future.

“What was that?!” yelled Ditzy, and with a start Twilight realized the others could hear the construct too. “What does that mean?!”

“It means that every minute that we spent here is a minute we have to be gone from the future!” Twilight returned, doing the math again. “Almost twelve hours!”

“Not so bad, when you think about it!” Reeds said, adding her five bits. “What’s twelve hours in the scheme of things?!”

Your friend is correct.

“Oh, yeah, sure!” Bits of white were starting to be flecked with the streaking magic of the ether. “I want compensation for those muffins!”

Twilight, the Iris still needs a location. To minimize impact it should preferably be an uninhabited—

Twilight shouted the first thing that came to mind. “Ponyville lake!” Twelve hours from when they’d left would put them in the evening, at which point the town’s park was usually deserted. Nowhere in Canterlot was ever that empty at night. “Aim for Ponyville lake!”

“Oh great!” both of the pegasi behind her said at the same time. “In the water again!”

This is a very stupid idea, Twilight.

I know.

I approve. Twilight shut her eyes again as finally the white gave way to the ether. Rest calm, and remember me.

SPLASH!

Thought journal, bookmarked entry; April 20 CE 1001, 11:39PM

…

…

Things are going by so quickly now, I…

I just need some sleep.

21 - The Vault

When Spike awoke in the morning, his usual routine would be to check on the library, get some breakfast, make Twilight some breakfast, and then fall asleep again. Sometimes it was interrupted by a letter from the Princess, but what could he do about that? The fact that his fire-breath was magical and transported most things burned by it to Princess Celestia was - or so he had been told - the fault of his hatchling self who’d eaten something he wasn’t supposed to. Clearly the castle staff had never known any dragons before because they should really have known to keep an eye on a baby dragon who was teething.

He’d curled up in his bed in the library after the return trip from Canterlot without Twilight, who according to Joe, had stolen one of his tables. Princess Celestia had taken him to the scene of the disappearance when he woke up, and though no words were exchanged, both of them at least understood that something magical had happened. Magic like that in the air left a sort of tangy taste on his tongue. Neither of them knew exactly what, but the Princess had faith that her student would return, and Spike knew deep down that Twilight would never willingly abandon him. His friend would come back.

All of this considered, waking up to find Twilight sitting pensively in the middle of the library floor had first been surprising before he’d launched into a joyful hug. After a moment, Twilight returned it, before returning to what Spike recognized as the ‘thought-journal zombie stupor’. Most of the time, while she was doing this thing that she did, she was completely unresponsive to a lot of things happening around her. So Spike did what he always did: made breakfast then went back to bed again.

I’ve sent requests for each of my friends to meet me here this morning. I’ve got a bad feeling that whatever it is that Trixie’s going to find in that vault, wherever it is, is going to need the six of us. We’ll bring Spike, so after that, if we need the Elements of Harmony, he can send a letter to Princess Celestia and request them.

While I’m thinking about it, I should probably note down the current condition of those pages I had in my bag. It suddenly occurred to me after pulling myself from the lake last night that they wouldn’t survive a dunking, but to my surprise this morning I found that they were all intact save for the slight charring some of them received in the fire. I had a quick flick through them. Hooves are crossed but it didn’t look like there was anything on par with Prophetia in them. Mostly they were sketches of paintings I’ve already seen, and some notes on more artefacts, some of which I knew about - Flash Magnus’ shield, for example - and some, like the Firespeaker’s Staff in the book itself, which are completely new to me.

…

I’m having a hard time believing that the Princess doesn’t know anything about any of this. In 611, she sensed the presence of her sister only to find nothing. In 656, I saw her take the rainboom painting with the workbook in the back. It can only have been her who hid the book in the library and sent the painting to Rainbow Dash, but why? Why didn’t she tell me anything about this? It would have helped!

I keep telling myself that, but, actually, I’m not sure I really believe it. I only got here because of my drive to answer the questions myself, and if Princess Celestia flat out told me that I was going to be traveling to the past… well, I wouldn’t believe her, actually. Just as I didn’t believe that the future of Equestria depended on me making friends.

So I’ve called a summit, a round table if you will. We are going to sit around this table and brainstorm. Where is the vault, what is Trixie looking for in it. She already has the means to opening it, and if Stalleonardo was right when he said I prophesized it, I think he meant the prophecy I made when I left 611 but I don’t remember. At all. He would have written it down, though, in the workbook which Trixie has. It’s probably another silly riddle, as all of my prophecies have been, but she’ll figure it out.

Augh, if only I’d looked through the book more closely!

“We can prob’ly rule out Ponyville,” Applejack said. “Th’ whole town knows Trixie, and she’d stick out like a sore hoof.”

Twilight nodded, and sipped her tea. Of course, there were such things as disguise charms, handy in a pinch if you didn’t want anypony to recognize you, but this was Trixie they were talking about. Never in a thousand years would she willingly do that by herself. “True. And if it was in Canterlot, the Princess would probably know about it and have it guarded.”

“What if it’s out in the middle of nowhere, though?” Rainbow Dash was so far unamused by the morning’s proceedings. Apparently there had been some more arguing amongst the weather patrol yesterday. “How’re we supposed to find it then? It’s a vault, so it’s gotta be secret, right?”

Rarity, who had been occupied with a dress design for the few minutes they’d been going, looked up. “What if it doesn’t mean that kind of vault?” she put in. “I quite like the effect given by vaulted ceilings, for instance.”

“Or it could mean jumping over things!” Pinkie Pie added, having foregone the offered tea for a carton of Phruit Phizz, which to Twilight’s disappointment hadn’t stopped being a thing yet. “Speaking of which, I’ve got loads of things for jumping over at this evening’s Equus Day party! It’s gonna be amazing!”

“But those kind of vaults can’t really open, can they?” Fluttershy murmured, looking between each of the others. “If it can be unlocked…”

Everypony nodded in agreement. While arguably word-based prophecies should be open to creative interpretation, given all the clues Twilight had gotten about it there seemed to be no other possibility other than it being a literal vault to store things in. On the table sat a few pieces of paper, upon one of which was written Twilight’s first prophecy. Another was the transcription Spike had taken of the sandstone slab in the Meditation Chamber. The third was the envelope which Dinky had drawn the Iris on. They were the clues. They weren’t really enough. They needed the prophecy Twilight had made in 611, but… neither Twilight nor Spike could remember it, Reeds had still been half asleep, Princess Luna was likely asleep herself now, and da Colton’s workbook was with Trixie.

“If I wanted to keep something secret,” mused Rarity, sitting back, “I would hide it somewhere private, a place only I knew about.”

“Ooh! Like your diary that you keep in th-mmmph!” Rainbow had shoved a hoof into Pinkie’s mouth, but it was too late, and the white unicorn was glowering at the pair of them.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Nothing!” Rainbow said, far too quickly, and she laughed nervously. “Just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie! Personally,” she continued, in a desperate attempt to change the subject, somewhat derailed by her attempt to act super-nonchalant about what Pinkie had been about to blurt out, “I’d hide it right under everypony’s noses, just right out there where they can all see it but they don’t know it’s there.”

“Well, Ah agree with Rarity.” Applejack glanced at her, then at the nervously giggling earth pony and pegasus, before reaching across the table and sliding over the paper about the sandstone prophecy. “Do we know anythin’ about this ‘Life-bearer’?”

Only that she’s a tall unicorn mare who uses four swords, Twilight said to herself. That was, of course, assuming that the Iris had been previously owned by said life-bearer, and that the dream manifestation had been a direct copy of its master’s image, so she didn’t say it out loud. None of that really helped, anyway. History was full of swordsponies.

“Not really anything,” she admitted out loud. “I’ve never come across anypony in my studies who was titled ‘Life-bearer’, in which case it’s likely she - and therefore the vault - pre-date the banishment of Nightmare Moon.” The legend of Mistmane came close, but all the stories there were bearing her name were fairly consistent in her appearance and behavior, neither of which the construct had exhibited. If anything Mistmane was a paragon of common sense as opposed to the apparent stupidity that Princess Luna seemed to think the Life-bearer was fond of.

“So this vault may not even still exist.” Rarity did raise a good point there, actually. If the vault was over a thousand years old, what guarantee was there that anything beyond the door was still there? Well…

Twilight tapped the table, and lifted out the Iris, which, rather suspiciously, was at about the same power level as it had been when she’d plucked it out of the Meditation Chamber in the first place. “Considering that the Life-bearer probably once owned the Iris, which I’d say has, or should say had, a magical potential level on par with the princesses, with that amount of power it would have been trivial to cast a spell to sustain anything for a thousand years.”

“Are we sure it isn’t one of the Princesses?” Surprisingly, and everypony turned to look at her in disbelief, that suggestion had come from Fluttershy, who looked up from her tea, noticed that everypony was staring at her, and blushed intensely. “Oh! Um, I mean…” In a fluster, she tried to stammer out a justification. “…if it was b-before Nightmare Moon, then maybe… it was one of the Princesses back then…?”

All eyes now turned to Twilight, and the unicorn was forced to rack her brain. Could it have been Princess Celestia or Princess Luna who set all of this up? Was this… she examined the Iris more closely. True to the manifestation’s word, she’d been unable to call up the interface at all after they’d pulled themselves from Ponyville lake, and that was a shame, since she really could have used the answers right about now. Well, the Iris had been a part of Princess Luna’s telescope…

No. She rejected that idea almost as soon as she had it. Considering what she’d seen in the workshop, it was likely that the Iris’ inclusion to its design was part of Stalleonardo’s refurbishment. Besides Princess Luna actually knowing what the charm was called, and her familiarity with its construct, her connection to it was tenuous at best.

As for Princess Celestia…

She shook her head. “No. It wasn’t either of them.” It wasn’t just her knowledge of Princess Celestia that led her to that conclusion. While it was only a memory of a half-forgotten dream, Twilight could still remember the look on Princess Luna’s face when she’d been talking to the tall mare. That kind of sadness… nopony could fake that. “It’s talking about a completely different pony.” Had there been more ponies with that level of magical ability once? Star Swirl the Bearded, sure, but all of his works that Twilight had come across were… mechanical, for want of a better word. They did what they were supposed to and nothing more, whereas the Iris evoked feelings, you could talk to it and it would give its own opinions. Not his style of work.

…Which meant they were back to square one. She thumped her head face down onto the table and groaned. She didn’t even have the enthusiasm to push away the carton of Phruit Phizz that was slyly pushed her way. This was hopeless.

“Twilight~?”

“Pinkie Pie if you say the word ‘glums’ one more time, I swear to Celestia…”

“I wasn’t gonna say that. Why would I say something like that?” Twilight lifted her head and sent a sort of withered look in Pinkie’s direction. “I was gonna say, you still know that spell, right? Just prophesesize us finding it! Prophesize. Prophesesize. That’s a hard word.”

“I hardly think it’s that simple, Pinkie Pie,” said Rarity. “If it were, I’m sure Twilight would have cast it already.”

“Yeah,” snarked Rainbow, leaning back. “She’s already gonna have enough to write her own book of dumb riddles.”

“Excuse me, there are over a hundred entries in Predictions and Prophecies! Stalleonardo da Colton had 45 years to fill just one book, and—” she stopped, her irises shrinking, finally realizing something that her brain had been screaming at her. Of course! Why didn’t she think of that before?! “Rainbow Dash, you’re a genius!”

“Wait, I am?”

In the blink of an eye, Twilight had shot up and over to the mythology shelf. “Stalleonardo da Colton wrote Predictions and Prophecies! It was his last work! It’s been right next to us the whole time! My first prophecy even said it, remember?!” She didn’t know whose note it was at the time, but… Out came the blue book. “Importance lies in his last note!”

There was no time to even pause as her friends gasped, perhaps a little too dramatically in Pinkie’s case. Twilight set the book down on the table, and started flicking through it, carefully setting aside the rest of Dinky’s envelopes. V, V, V… “Vault of the Lifebearer!” She must have passed over this page, read it, several dozen times! How could she not have seen it sooner?!

Written upon the page were four lines, and the instant that Twilight read them, they fell neatly into place within the gaps in her memory.

“The Lords and the Ladies came out to play
To celebrate their lifebearer’s birth
But one lone Royal was absent that day
Still she guarded her vault in the earth.”

Stalleonardo da Colton, thank you very much.

“Like I said,” Rainbow Dash commented, once the dramatic silence had ended. “More dumb riddles.”

But it wasn’t dumb, and Twilight pointed each thing out. It gave them a time, it gave them a place. To celebrate their lifebearer’s birth. In her own thought-journal after Hoofington with Trixie she’d suggested that an alternate meaning for ‘lifebearer’ was ‘the planet’. Equus. Pinkie had said it herself, it was Equus Day. The vault was opening today. Vault in the earth. The vault, or at least the majority of it, was underground.

“Where underground?” Applejack cut straight to the chase as always. “This don’t really help much in terms of where.”

Well, if Trixie was going to figure it out from the version in the workbook, then they had to be able to work it out for themselves now. Time to break it down! Twilight left the others to speculate while she dived into one of the hastiest thought-journal entries she’d ever made.

[Lords and the Ladies] Term used to refer to nobility, ponies with official titles.
[came out to play] Not typically something nobles are seen doing. Titles, then.
[To celebrate their lifebearer’s birth] Equus Day.
[one lone Royal] Royalty? One of the Princesses or the higher level duchy?
[was absent that day] A royal who wasn’t there?
[Still she guarded] Female royal, or the image of such?
[vault in the earth] Underground.

A member of the royalty guarding something… sounded an awful lot like some places where statues of Princess Celestia were used to ward off would-be thieves. That was frighteningly nonspecific, though. It would take weeks to search all the places like that—

“Why is ‘Royal’ capitalized?”

Hmm. Again, Fluttershy raised a valid question. Was it just a mistake? No. In Twilight’s mind, the word was distinctly capitalized, like a name.

Exactly like a name, in fact.

A Royal who wasn’t there…

Her jaw dropped. No way. No way in Tartarus. There?! But that had been an accident! But… Trixie had been the only other pony there…

Something waved in front of her face. “Um, hello,” Rainbow Dash said, hovering a few inches in front of her. “Equus to Twilight Sparkle, come in Twilight Sparkle! Did’ja work something out?”

For a few seconds, she couldn’t articulate the word. It was so unbelievable, and yet… that had to be it!

“Hoofington,” she breathed. When the others just stared at her, she continued. “In the courtyard in front of the museum! Remember all those statues?!” Already she was grabbing a saddlebag to put the Iris in. Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Spike all nodded. “Most of them were statues of the nobility! But, remember? Only Sweet Royal was missing! The Ursa destroyed it when Trixie and I were in the town in the past!”

“Whoa.” Pinkie Pie suddenly disappeared from view, and leaning around the table, Twilight could see that she was flat on the floor, dumbstruck. “That. Is. Coool.”

“Come on!” Now everypony was moving. “Get what you need to, and meet me at the train station! Spike, send a letter to Princess Celestia! We need to get to the vault before Trixie does!”

For the whole duration of the train journey, Twilight was giddy both with anticipation and nerves. She still didn’t know what was inside the vault that was so bad, but the hints were certainly making it seem that way. A secret unleashed. Power within. The last thing Equestria needed was some more thousand-year-old magic on the loose. It’d had enough of that with Nightmare Moon and Discord. Imagine if he was what was inside there. Fortunately, the actual chance of that happening was zero, as Twilight had seen where Princess Celestia had been keeping his statue after his escape in November, in the bowels of Canterlot castle.

Her concern wasn’t shared by her friends. Pinkie Pie, as usual, was exuberantly enthusiastic; Rainbow Dash was convinced that nothing was going to happen; Fluttershy was performing the same action from the last trip of staring out of the window quietly, and Rarity again had her crossword; Applejack had pulled down her hat and was catching some more sleep; Spike had won his argument about the baby seat but too had fallen asleep. Train journeys just did that to ponies, apparently.

Honestly, Twilight really wished she’d brought a book with her. But even then she wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on it. She had the awful feeling that a lot was at stake, and Equestria’s future - maybe even the bad future that Stalleonardo had predicted - hung in the balance.

Initially, she had hoped that Princess Celestia would meet them there, but an immediate form letter response via Spike had downed that. She should have expected as much. Princess Celestia always, without exception, presided over Canterlot’s Equus Day celebrations, and this time she would have to introduce her sister to the proceedings too. No doubt Princess Cadance would be struggling to explain the concept to her own subjects as well. Equus Day had only really started being a holiday in around the 800s or so.

They would have to go it alone. At least, until the speeches in Canterlot were finished.

In her head, she ran through the parts of the prophecies that hadn’t yet happened. Maybe she could… ahem, predict how things were going to go down.

Where her own prophecy was concerned, only a few lines of it remained unsaid. Rainbow band, done. Final pillar, done. Shock, done. Deep, done. Shatter, done. Power… eh, kinda done. That line hadn’t forced itself out of her mouth yet but now it was fairly obvious what it referred to. Last signs float, done. Last note, done. Seventh hourglass, done.

That left Rainbow Dash helping whoever ‘flee their fate’, the Iris opening up the gate which was coming up soon, Princess Celestia seeing some kind of truth? Maybe she’d reach the vault and confront something. Applejack and Pinkie Pie in the balloon. As far as she was aware, both balloons were still being fixed… but with the introduction of time travel, that could be done before they’d even been damaged. Hurricane’s call…

Okay. Turn back to answer Hurricane’s call was the odd one out. It was the only line of the prophecy for which the image had been entirely ambiguous, and still had two options. One, it was a seismometer, and there was going to be an earthquake at some point. Two, it was a thaumometer, and again it referred to the moment of Twilight’s magical explosion. That was the thing, though; Hurricane had only completed construction in CE 996. In that case it would have to refer to something, or somepony else. Who? Who would the prophecy describe as a ‘Hurricane’?

Her first prophecy had been very disjointed, pinging around the future and the past. But looking back at it, a few of the lines had actually clustered together, and in chronological order, to boot. Did that mean the rest would work the same way?

Time for Trixie’s prophecy. Fluttershy+hat, done. Iris from mailbag, done. Both caped ponies, both her, both done. Crusaders, done. Lightning, done. Trixie looking smug, done. Nearly done there, Twilight just needed to lock a door and drop a book. Comparatively easy.

Number three, the prophecy from the sandstone slab. This one was a little more vague in places, and unlike the others, less than half of it had come to pass; only the bell and the past rising. She still had to doubt trusting the revealing light of a star, Trixie hadn’t - or at least, Twilight hoped she hadn’t - opened the vault yet, and its contents remained sealed, no magic circle, no time travel for the bearers of Harmony to 990 again.

Yet.

At the very least, the loops regarding the workbook and the painting had more or less closed, she didn’t have to fret about how they’d gotten where they had and from where. The instance of the Iris she held, taking everything else into consideration, had to go back in time with them and take its place in the Meditation Chamber for her past-future self to find. One by one, the loose ends were being tied together, and the circles were unraveling into straight lines.

But… if that straight line led to that wasteland da Colton had painted…

No. That was what they were trying to prevent. And if they didn’t know what was in the vault, chances were Trixie didn’t know either, and was just trying to find something with which to one-up Twilight again. When they’d been in Hoofington - the first time, in the present, before this had all gotten horribly complicated - she had been going on about proving who was the better magician once and for all. She still didn’t get that Twilight’s intentions weren’t the same as her own.

Best case scenario, they’d get there first. If Trixie beat them to it, that was okay as long as she hadn’t touched anything. After that they really had to worry. Twilight didn’t fancy dealing with more old world magic. Prophetia was quite enough, thank you very much.

As would be the case in most settled places in Equestria, Hoofington’s Equus Day celebrations were in full swing by the time the train slowly crawled into the railway station, and even if they wanted to they couldn’t run through the throngs. Ponies from some of the smaller surrounding villages had packed into the town to join in the festivities. Whatever Trixie was planning, she certainly had an audience for it, probably her reason for doing it today.

The Great and Powerful Trixie presents magic the likes of which has never been before seen! Behold, the most powerful unicorn in Equestria! And ponies would stop and listen, because they were all inquisitive by nature, and whatever happened next… well, that would be up to whatever magic Trixie thought she was casting.

It took what felt like an age to reach the museum plaza, though in reality it was probably only about ten minutes. Everywhere you looked, there were ponies chatting, participating in games… Rarity had to keep a tight grip on Pinkie’s mane to stop her from bouncing away and joining in. Together, the seven of them cut an arrow directly to the empty base where Sweet Royal’s statue had been demolished eleven years ago. Here, right here, had to be the entrance to the vault.

“Alright, we’re here,” announced Applejack, quite happy to state the obvious where she felt it was necessary. “Now how is this gonna work?”

The base for Sweet Royal’s statue was identical to all of the other bases in the courtyard, which formed an arc, its centre at the museum. Clearly the museum wasn’t over a thousand years old, but for this one out of many to hide such a secret, did the statues’ bases outdate the main building? There was no sign of any indentation which the Iris might slot into, and the charm itself felt no different than it had five minutes ago. Was this really the entrance to—

“Oh, Pinkie Pie and her friends!” Hey, wait a minute…! “Didn’t expect to be seeing you here!”

A grin spread across Pinkie’s face even before she turned. “Hoofington Mrs. Cake!”

Really, Twilight should have expected to see Fairy Cake somewhere amongst the crowd, but for her to be selling confections from a stall near to Sweet Royal’s statue base wasn’t quite what she’d had in mind. Naturally, this meant the proceedings were delayed for a couple of minutes as Pinkie insisted on introducing the baker to Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and for the whole group to acquaint themselves with Eccles Cake, who looked bored out of his mind.

When she finally managed to get a word in edgeways, Twilight took the opportunity. “Sorry if this seems a little out of the blue,” she started, “but have you seen Trixie anywhere today? We’re - ah - looking for her.”

Fairy Cake hummed. “It’s funny you should ask that, you know,” she said after a moment’s consideration, batting away a pink hoof that was sneaking its way towards the merchandise. “I thought I saw her a while ago, poking around that base there, but she must have left.”

“No, uh, grinding noises?” If Fairy Cake hadn’t heard anything opening, then maybe Trixie hadn’t been able to figure out how to get inside either. “Or any weird noises, at all?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Looks like we’ve got nothing to worry about, like I said,” Rainbow Dash repeated, flopping backwards onto the platform. “We’ve come all of the way out here just t-whoa!” Suddenly, the pegasus’s eyes went wide, and she… disappeared from view, downwards into the stone.

“Rainbow Dash!” Everypony else clustered around the stone disc, all chattering at once. What? How?! Where had she gone?! There hadn’t been any teleports, or… or…

A chill ran up Twilight’s spine as she felt something grip around her foreleg, and pull—

Straight down through the base and into a small cylindrical room below, a few heads taller than Twilight was, in which the cyan pegasus was doing her best not to laugh at the expression on the unicorn’s face. “Gotcha!”

Without getting up, Twilight stared at her. “How did— what— you—”

“Relax, Twi. It’s not solid from this side!” To demonstrate her point, Rainbow reached up through the stone again, felt around, and grabbed something else, now pulling a petrified Fluttershy down. “Oops, sorry Fluttershy. Meant to grab Rarity.”

Twilight shook her head. “We don’t have time for this. Give me a leg up, would you?” The pegasus’s reluctance was obvious, but after a few seconds she relented and allowed Twilight to climb up on her back. Raising her head through the stone felt kind of like swimming up through a layer of water, and she didn’t want to risk exhaling and trying to breathe in. Whatever spell was holding this together, she wasn’t quite willing to blindly trust it like she had certain other spells recently.

The ponies remaining on the surface gasped when they saw her head emerge. Fortunately, it seemed that nopony else was paying attention to what the group were doing, caught up in the town’s own events, for if somepony else had seen a unicorn head rising out of the floor like a ghost there would certainly have been a panic.

“Guys,” she said, in a voice low enough to be heard by them, but not calling too much attention to herself, “the stone isn’t corporeal. It’s safe to step into it, but watch out for the drop.” Automatically, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Spike stepped towards the stone. “Not you, Spike,” she added. “I want you to stay with Fairy Cake. If Princess Celestia comes, you need to tell her where we’ve gone.”

“(Twilight!)” she heard Rainbow Dash’s voice, muffled by the stone, below her, as Spike fought off the disappointment and saluted. “(You’re heavy! I’m gonna— whoa!)” Abruptly, the support beneath her hooves faltered, and Twilight found herself falling into a pony pile. It wouldn’t have been so bad if Pinkie didn’t dive in and land on top of them.

Now that she had a chance to examine it properly, Twilight found the cylindrical chamber beneath the statue base to be dimly lit, with bare walls and a ramp leading somewhat steeply away downwards in the direction of the museum. This was strictly utilitarian, the design of a place only ever meant to be used as a means of ingress. Nopony who found themselves here would be here for very long.

The ramp was narrow; maybe it would fit one of the Princesses, but certainly nopony walking alongside them. The group of six were still forced to walk in single file, with Twilight leading the way, lighting the darkness ahead with an illumination spell. Behind her, she could sense both pegasi getting antsy. But at least this wasn’t as deep as the marble mine. All they had to do was say, and they could be outside again whenever they wanted. Not her, though. She needed to see this through.

Eventually, though it couldn’t have been too far, the passage dead-ended in a large, empty chamber, dominated by a metal door of monumental proportions. It had to be at least four times their height! Yeah, if Twilight had harbored any minor suspicions that it still could have been Mistmane, this put a rest to them. Nothing about her said that she was this… dramatic.

“I’d say that qualifies as a vault door,” Rarity murmured, as the group filed into the room. “Imagine the secrets you could hide behind it!”

“I’d rather not know, if it’s all the same to you…” was Fluttershy’s comment. “What if something really bad was locked up, and we’re about to set it loose?”

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. Look.” She pointed at the floor, where their hooves were making tracks in the dust. None of them had yet gone anywhere near the door, yet there was a set of hoofprints that disappeared over the threshold. Somepony had been here recently, probably Trixie. “If there was something like that in there, it’s already out.”

Perhaps that wasn’t the best way to put it, Twilight mused, as Fluttershy whimpered and tried to hide behind Pinkie’s tail. If something alive had been in there and left they’d see its footprints, or there’d be a magic trail, or something. But it was the truth, no matter which way they looked at it; the vault had already been opened once recently. They could do nothing but follow.

“So if Trixie’s already in there, and she’s got the key—” Applejack began, but Twilight shushed her, pulling out their instance of the Iris.

“We’ve got our own.” The unicorn turned to the door, and to the very prominent octagonal impression in its centre. Was there some special way to put it in, or did it just go in at any angle? “The Iris opens up the gate.”

Technically, if this instance was going to go back in time and eventually become the one that Trixie had, this was the first time it was being used to open the vault in over a thousand years. That was a little daunting.

It was also not working.

Confused, Twilight pulled the Iris out and put it back in a few times, spinning it to different angles for good measure. Nothing appeared to be happening. “Huh… I don’t…”

“Give it here!” shouted Rainbow Dash, growing impatient. “You’re not doing it right! You’ve just got to give it a good old—” she snatched the Iris out of Twilight’s grip and rammed it home into the slot “—whack!”

“Be gentle with it, Rainbow Dash, it’s…” Twilight trailed off.

The Iris’s familiar glow had returned, and now trails of light were snaking out from it, radiating towards the edges of the door, filling the room with a blue-green aura. As one, the ponies stepped back. This was it! What was behind the door? With a familiar whine of abused magic, the huge portal groaned open…

Revealing a smaller, pony-sized door behind it.

Again, unanimously, all six ponies slowly facehoofed.

“Well then…” Twilight stepped towards the small door. “This is it, girls. Be ready for anything.” Compared to the huge door, this was pretty anticlimactic. Oop, can’t forget the Iris… she plucked it back out from the keyhole and stored it back in the saddlebag. Couldn’t lose it now. Cautiously, she reached a hoof out to the door, and pushed it open.

As they stepped across the threshold into the vast open space beyond, magic began flowing around the room, lights flickering on, more of the same blue-green that the Iris had produced. The vault was huge! It had to extend under the whole plaza, maybe even under the museum, too! How had nopony ever discovered this before?

She completed a quick sweep of the area with her magic, and as she’d predicted, there was a Protection spell - though not one she’d ever come across before - preventing the room from deteriorating. Everything in the vault was exactly as it had been when the last pony had left over a thousand years ago. Honestly? She didn’t know what she was expecting. Some kind of library, maybe, or piles of treasure.

What she hadn’t expected was… nothing.

Trixie was nowhere to be seen, there were a few antechambers she could be hiding in, but besides them, and the lights, and a few indentations where things clearly had been once, the vault was completely empty. Twilight had to cast an analysis spell to be sure, but the place was so big she wouldn’t get the results back for a while.

“Oh, come on!” Rainbow Dash protested, before any of the others could quieten her. “All that fanfare for nothing?!”

Nothing… nothing… nothing… nothing… her cry echoed around the cavernous space.

Then, in one of the antechambers, there was the sound of something shattering on the floor.

There! Twilight was running before her brain caught up, and the others were right behind her. Please, Trixie, don’t do anything rash… Don’t have broken anything magical… Don’t…

They rounded the corner, and sure enough, there was the blue unicorn, wearing her signature cape and hat, the Iris fastening it together. Next to her on a bench were a variety of potted plants, a conspicuous gap where one of them had been knocked to the floor, da Colton’s workbook, another book which Twilight had never seen before, and a variety of magical construction frames in various states of disrepair. Behind her, though… wow.

Twilight would be one of the first to admit she didn’t know much about botany and Equestria’s flora. She’d made an effort to learn more after the poison joke incident of last year, but Zecora had remained infuriatingly stubborn on some of the rarer species which she was cultivating in her hut, and it was all well and good knowing the germination period of calla lilies, but that hadn’t really helped when the pony-eating flowers had attacked them on their way to rescue the Cutie Mark Crusaders from Queen Chrysalis. It… didn’t really help now, either.

The… plant (it had to be a plant, right?) was bigger than two ponies side by side, growing up the wall of the vault and spreading out vines across the ceiling, its roots disappearing through cracks in the stone floor. Atop it was one of the biggest flowers Twilight had ever seen in her life, and certainly not anything from a genus she’d seen before. And it was magic, too - visible pulses of magic ran up and down its roots and shoots, some of which transitioned directly off the vines into the vault’s light sources. This was… living magic!

Unfortunately, Trixie had worked that out too.

“How did you—” she began, but she shook her head. “This is Trixie’s discovery! She will prove once and for all that she is—”

“—the most powerful unicorn in Equestria, we get it.” Rainbow Dash had just about had it. She still hadn’t forgiven the showmare for trussing her up when she’d been in Ponyville the first time. “Do you ever think of anything besides trying to show ponies up?”

Trixie bristled. “Do you think of anything besides trying to go fast?” she countered. “Pot calling kettle!” She turned back to the flower. “Alas, Trixie hasn’t yet figured out how this works, so she’ll just have to take it with her, somewhere more private.”

Finally, the results of the analysis spell came back, and— “Trixie, stop!” Twilight leapt forwards, but it was too late; the blue unicorn had summoned all of her magic and pulled the flower’s largest root free of the stone.

For one tense moment, nothing happened. Then all three unicorns winced as their horns lit up in an onrush of magic, both earth ponies found themselves unable to stand still, and both pegasi were practically blown across the room. The explosion was reminiscent of Twilight’s first, only wilder; this wasn’t a young unicorn venting all of her magic reserves, this was wild magic, pure and untamed, spilling out into the world at a titanic rate.

To her credit, Trixie looked ashamed for a moment, even as she turned and fled in terror. There was no question she knew what she’d just done. Twilight called after her, but to no effect. She was gone again.

“Twi, what’d she do?!” Applejack had grabbed hold of Pinkie Pie to try and keep still, which perhaps wasn’t the best move she’d ever made. “What’s goin’ on?!”

“This also makes my voice sound silly!” added Pinkie, her inability to grip the floor not bothering her at all.

What Trixie had done…? Unless the six of them acted and acted now, she’d just triggered the end of the world as they knew it. “Girls!” Twilight shouted, once she’d managed to dull the pain in her horn down to a persistent ache. “We need to get that root back in! That’s world magic she’s just unleashed!”

The voice of Rainbow Dash from the other side of the vault was only just audible over the magical windrush. “What gives?! How much of this magic is in there?!”

“ALL OF IT!”

The analysis spell had revealed something that shouldn’t have been shocking for a place such as this, that it was built on top of a ley line, specifically the one that ran between Tartarus and the Everfree Forest. Somehow, the Lifebearer had managed to get this flower to plant its roots directly into the line, feeding off its magic, which needless to say was unprecedented and would revolutionize the field of magic-flora relations. With the root removed, the line was now bleeding - and even a small hole would purge the entire ley line network! If they didn’t stop it… all of Equestria’s magic would vent through the hole until there was nothing left. Da Colton’s bad future would arrive.

Even though it was painful, Twilight had to use her magic to levitate Applejack and Pinkie closer, their earth pony stamina was going to be necessary. Rarity… she could sort anything that got hooked on the stone or caught elsewhere. As for the pegasi, hopefully when everypony else had stemmed the tide they’d be able to fly over and lend a helping hoof. Right now, the magic rush was just catching their wings and knocking them away before they could even get close.

She set both earth ponies down next to the discarded root, and they immediately began shoving, hooves desperately trying to find purchase on the stone floor on which friction seemed to have stopped working. On the other side, Rarity began pulling as hard as she dared. Breaking it at this point would be unthinkable, but it seemed to be fairly solid. When Trixie lifted it it had looked so easy… but she’d had her full magic available to her.

“Oh, come on!” Applejack turned around, tried to buck the root, and slipped over. “Ah can’t get any purchase on this darn floor!”

Because her earth pony boosted grip thanks to the magic in her hooves was being disrupted, but Twilight didn’t say that out loud, it would just discourage her. “Keep trying! We have to fix this! Otherwise…”

“Otherwise what?” Rarity asked from next to her.

Otherwise…

Twilight roared and pushed even harder. “Otherwise everything ends!”

Magic was still thundering out of the hole in the stone floor. It would probably take hours for the whole network to drain, but this amount already would be causing serious problems. She imagined that above them, the plaza’s festivities were being disrupted, the ponies clueless as to what was happening beneath their hooves.

“It’s moving!” Pinkie shouted, her hind legs a blur of motion. “It’s moving! It’s moving!”

It was moving, slowly but surely. Just getting it into the hole would be a good start. That should free up Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, and then together they could all push it right the way in, and then… hopefully the Lifebearer knew what they’d been doing and prepared for this eventuality. Doing something of this caliber and not having a backup plan would be extraordinarily stupid.

The word echoed through her head.

Stupid… stupid… stupid…

How had Princess Luna described what the manifestation of the Iris had always done?

Something catastrophically stupid.

But surely even something of this magnitude…! How could anypony look at this and think it was perfectly safe?!

Probably the kind of pony who would take on an army of Changelings, even imaginary ones, armed with only swords, and who approved of a crazy plan involving burning off magic whilst falling at terminal velocity towards a burning city…

Okay. No backup plan. It was all up to them. Six ponies standing between Equestria and its sure decimation. Again. When Twilight had left Canterlot a couple months shy of a year ago now, she had not expected to be making a habit of this! Nightmare Moon. Discord. Queen Chrysalis. King Sombra. Did the Flim Flam brothers count as an Equestria-threatening evil? The six of them were attracting Equestria Weird Things almost on a daily basis. How had her life become so… interesting?!

For a moment, the root shifted a little faster than it had been, and Twilight suddenly found herself scrabbling both to retain purchase on it and to stay balanced. Come on… Of course, they also had to make sure that none of them fell into the hole. It wasn’t recorded what would happen if a pony were to suddenly plug the leylines and it would be an incredibly ill-advised idea to find out. All of the world’s magic being routed through a single pony… There was just no telling what it would do to them.

Then—

“Gah!” Applejack slipped, but her fall knocked the root in the opposite direction, to the edge of the hole in the floor. This was it! This was their chance to— Another shove, and gravity joined in, the end of the root slithering in and half of what remained above following it. Already the blast of magic past them was growing weaker, and that should allow the pegasi to… even as Twilight was thinking it a pair of blue hooves appeared to her right and a yellow pair to her left. Now all six of them were working on it.

“This is not what I had in mind for doing today!” Rarity shouted.

“What did you have in mind?!” Rainbow Dash called back.

“Oh, I don’t know! Not trying to push a dirty plant root back into the ground!” Banter was good. Banter was great, actually, it meant that things were going well.

With six ponies, and the traction of the two earth ponies among them improving by the second, more and more of the root slipped into the hole. Not much more. All the way back in, and it should plug the leyline and then—

Oh, nuts, Twilight realized as Applejack rammed into the last loop and let gravity take care of the rest. All the magic had come out… and if she knew her leylines, it was about to…

For a moment, there was blissful silence.

“Whoo!” Pinkie cheered, hoofbumping Fluttershy. “That was great!” Then she noticed Twilight, who had gone pale. “Uh, Twilight, what’s—” and then the blowback hit.

Later she’d form a hypothesis that the mere existence of the plant acted as an anchor for the world magic, and that when they’d reconnected it, it had straight up sucked it all back in again. Where the source of the magic was nopony knew, but now, it was replenishing itself using every single thaum it had just lost. It had to be later that she came up with it, because at the time half of the magic was also getting passed through her own magic reserves first and boy did it hurt.

All of the magic was deafening. She needed… she needed to not be there, and at the same time to get rid of all this magic somehow— even as the vague possibility of it crossed the corner of her mind, the Iris in her bag decided to join in, and it started pumping its magic in too, although it wasn’t going into her reserves. It was going straight into the spell matrix she was forming, which wasn’t Prophetia…

Circle be writ. Of course. It wasn’t a magic circle, it was a time circle.

The time traveling spell exploded out of her horn and wrapped around each of her friends, much to their surprise. It wasn’t like Twilight had a choice, the spell was basically running on autopilot now. “Guys!” she shouted above the din. “We’re about to travel back in time to 990 again!”

“Say what?!” Applejack shouted back.

“It’s okay! Just stick together! I know what to do now!” And for the first time that whole adventure, she actually did. “There’s something I need to do at the castle!” She wasn’t sure how much of that made it to their ears, because now the stressed Iris-fueled time travel spell was whining in her own ears, making her deaf to everything else. Applejack’s mouth was moving, but no words were coming out of it. Rarity was clutching her head. Fluttershy was curled up into a ball, Rainbow Dash was making a grab for her, Pinkie Pie was vibrating with excitement—

and then they were gone.

22 - The Fall

So many strange things happened on May 21st, in the 990th year of the Celestial Era. It was said in the aftermath that the magic of the world had anticipated its events, that the weird and wonderful had been drawn to Canterlot on that day specifically. Indeed, ponies that would never normally have come to Canterlot could be found everywhere in the city at the time of the explosions, explosions that changed so many lives. In fact, Princess Celestia had been heard to say afterwards, such was the variety of character in the city on the day that some ponies were practically invisible. While her odd choice of words left questions on her subjects’ minds, it was true that some of the stranger individuals were part of the crowd.

This was probably why nopony blinked when one of the ornamental bushes outside the train station suddenly sprouted a pair of binoculars.

“(Any sign of ‘em?)”

“(That’s a negative, Agent Jack.)”

Applejack glared at her companion. “(Ah thought Ah told you not to call me that.)”

It was a quarter to ten in the morning. Around about now, the Applejack that was supposed to be there was sitting in an apartment in Manehattan feeling very, very homesick. There was also another Applejack somewhere down in Earthen Forest, as well as this Applejack, who was sitting in a bush in Canterlot with Pinkie Pie still trying to wrap her head around this whole time travel thing. She was just an apple farmer, and if she walked around all day with all of this magic stuff in her head she’d never get anything done. She got why Twilight was concerned about it, though. If somepony had time traveled and distracted her from seeing the rainbow, she’d probably never have left Manehattan.

Hmm… nah. Sure, the rainbow had helped, but she was sure she’d have made the decision eventually. She’d have just gotten home a lot later.

Pinkie, on the other hoof… Said pink pony was scanning the crowds for any sign of their friends, and not having much luck. Rainbow Dash’s rainboom had knocked the light of friendship right into her. If she hadn’t had that, she would’ve remained on the rock farm. Applejack had read between the lines while Pinkie had been gushing about it, and gathered that before the rainboom she’d actually been quite miserable. Herself, she couldn’t imagine farming rocks rather than apples, but it was a family thing, and if there was one thing she knew, it was family things.

Darn good job neither of them were anywhere near their younger selves, then. Canterlot, capital of Equestria. The only one of their friends who had been here was Twilight, and by now she was probably in the castle on the other side of the city, plenty of ponies between her and them.

Unfortunately, that meant that their friends who they’d been with minutes before in the vault were nigh on impossible to find.

The sensible thing, of course, was to have sorted out a meeting spot beforehoof. However, Applejack got the feeling that her attempt to negotiate one had been drowned out. Landing next to Pinkie was sheer coincidence, one she was happy for nonetheless, but it still meant having to track down Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy in a city full of ponies, a city which in just 45 minutes would be pandemonium.

Truth was, none of them, not even Twilight, knew exactly what had happened in the city after the rainboom, aside from the more significant events which they’d all heard second-hoof. Applejack’s own knowledge of the events were third-hoof, since nopony she associated with at the time was present, and what she knew she’d heard from Twilight who’d heard it from the Princess who was in the castle at the time, so she guessed it was actually fourth-hoof? Anyway. If they stayed calm, thought things through, everything would be fine. They just had to stay out of the way while at the same time finding a way to contact their friends. Without Twilight, they wouldn’t be getting home.

“(How ‘bout now?)”

“(Nope!)”

At least Pinkie appreciated the gravity of the situation, at least partially. On arrival she’d tried to go off and join the party, only to be reminded by Applejack that as far as Canterlot knew this was an ordinary day and there was no party. She’d deflated a little, but immediately put that energy to work scanning the crowd for familiar faces.

“(Ooh! Look!)” Applejack’s head snapped round. “(There’s Cheerilee!)” Another false alarm. “(And she’s totally with Mayor Mare!)”

“(Pinkie, we need to look for Twilight an’ the others, not everypony we know.)” Applejack snatched the binoculars to look for herself. Yep, that was definitely Cheerilee, chatting away with a very embarrassed and very pink Mayor Mare, who… actually wouldn’t have been mayor of Ponyville at this point. What even was her name before she was mayor? Whatever the case, her mane was practically glowing, and was certainly attracting her own share of curious stares.

Next to her, Pinkie tutted. “(Wrong hair dye, Mrs. Mayor. Like the color, though!)”

Okay, by this point it was very plain to Applejack that just sitting in a bush at one end of the city wasn’t going to get them anywhere, and unless all of the others somehow decided that they should leave by train, the station wasn’t the best place to camp out anyway. If she were Twilight, what would she do? Ask a stupid question, she’d go to the castle. Rarity would probably get distracted by the shops, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t stay still, and Fluttershy would only stay still. But even given that the two of them would never get in the castle. Sure, in the present the Royal Guard knew their faces and gave them pretty much unfettered access, but in the past they were just anonymous tourists.

Summoning all of her (admittedly lacking) knowledge of Canterlot, she prodded Pinkie in the shoulder. “(We should move to the park. ‘s a lot more open there.)”

“(Ooh, good idea!)”

She had to grab Pinkie’s tail before she shot out of the bush. “(Careful, Pinkie. Don’t want to attract too much attention.)”

“(Oh, don’t worry.)” The face Pinkie was making was extremely worrying. “(I am all over this.)”

All over this turned out to be wearing what Applejack swore was the most conspicuous trench coat and fedora she’d ever seen in her life, pulled from Celestia-knows-where in the time it took her to blink. Before she could stop her friend, Pinkie jumped out of the bush, startling some nearby ponies, and started whistling the Crystal Empire anthem in what was probably supposed to be the most innocent fashion possible.

With a sigh and a facehoof, Applejack got up and followed, giving the startled ponies some very apologetic looks and getting a surprising number of pitying expressions in return. Evidently Pinkie’s behavior was not the strangest thing they’d seen today, and it was only mid-morning. If all she was going to end up doing was reining in Pinkie Pie, then… that, she could do. She had practice dealing with Pinkie Pie.

“Pinks?”

“Yahuh?” Pinkie suddenly stopped stock still. “No, wait. I’m not Pinkie Pie. I am…” she paused for dramatic effect “…phooey. I forgot to come up with a cool investigatory-type name. No, I got it! Detective P.I. You know, because P.I., Pie, get it?”

“Ah got it, Pinkie.” There was a very easy trick to getting where you needed to with Pinkie, and that was to just go along with what she said for the most part. “You know you’re the only pony dressed like that and others are starin’, right?”

“Of course!” Of course, Pinkie was Pinkie. “If I’m super-duper obvious, nopony will suspect me of trying to do anything sneaky!”

“We ain’t tryin’ to do anythin’ sneaky. We’re tryin’ to find our friends.” Applejack raised her voice for the last part, in the hope that some of the ponies who were staring would get the picture. While Pinkie Pie was utterly unique, her brand of logic was far from being hers alone.

“Ah! A case for Detective P.I.!” The pink pony suddenly took off at a gallop, forcing Applejack to gallop after her. The streets weren’t so crowded that they were constantly bumping into others, but two adult ponies running at top speed - especially while one of them is wearing an outfit disguising her features - are not two ponies you want to stand in the way of.

On the shortest route between the station and the park was the market square. Today had been a Sunday, Applejack recalled - just in time to grab Pinkie’s tail in her teeth and slam on the anchors before they collided with the less-fancy residents of Canterlot as they went about their grocery shopping. In true Pinkie fashion, the moment she stopped, her hooves went sproing and the fedora and trenchcoat went catapulting into the crowd, where they promptly vanished.

“Whoa! That was a close one!”

Applejack sighed, and took the lead before Pinkie could start running off again. Neither of them wanted to end up in the hospital, the big red H of Canterlot General just visible over the buildings on the far side of the square. Their path took them vaguely in its direction, around stalls and hawkers and a funfair ride, the owner of which seemed fairly bewildered to be in the middle of the city, and which Pinkie had to be dragged away from. No time for games. It wasn’t really the time for eating, either, but Applejack was more surprised than exasperated when she turned around to see her companion’s face obscured by a large ball of cotton candy.

“Where’d you get the bits for that, Pinkie?” she asked, as she slowed down her pace in the likely event that Pinkie started veering off into a completely different direction. She was more curious than anything else now.

“Oh, I always carry some change around!” Pinkie paused to wag her tail, which jingled with the sound of loose bits. “You know, in case of snack emergencies. And party emergencies. Emergencies in general, really.” She gave Applejack a Look, which was impressive given the cotton candy. “You mean you don’t?”

Actually, Applejack did, but she wasn’t about to tell Pinkie that. The few bits she kept tied up in the end of her mane really were for genuine emergencies, and while she didn’t think Pinkie would try to spend them on party equipment, she didn’t want to run that risk. Certainly she wasn’t going to let it be spent on snacks. This was train-home-in-case-you-get-stuck-very-far-away emergency money.

“Er, Ah mean, on occasion.” She rubbed the back of her neck. Occasions such as now. “Ah just don’t think we need the distraction.”

The pink pony seemed to consider this, and finding it a satisfactory statement, she swallowed the entire pink cloud in one gulp. Yeesh. “Yeah, I guess you have a point. To the park!”

Once they were finally free from the grip of the market square, the streets to the park were clearly signposted, something Applejack was thankful for, as while she remembered its general location, she’d been on the verge of being lost. If only Rarity were with them; she always seemed like she knew Canterlot’s layout like the back of her hoof. Admittedly, she tended to gravitate towards the posher parts of the city, but Applejack always gravitated towards the more down-to-earth parts of the other places they went to, so it was fair play.

All the while, she’d been keeping an eye out for familiar faces, faces from her present. So far, it’d been Canterlot pony after Canterlot pony, ponies who maybe Twilight would know, vaguely, but none from Ponyville. Maybe a couple had been a little more familiar - she had been present in the city for things like the Grand Galloping Gala and Cadance’s wedding, after all - but certainly not any that she’d interacted with, nopony that would come up to her and say ‘Hey, weren’t you in Canterlot when…’ and force some awkward answers. Not that that had ever happened anyway? Tch, magic, threatening to give her a headache like that.

Finally, Canterlot’s streets opened up into the park, and it was busy. Why wouldn’t it be? It was a very pleasant spring Sunday morning. On days like this in the present, Applejack would be… okay, she’d probably be working, until somepony arrived to drag her into something else. Looking at all the ponies of all ages, having fun, relaxing, it reminded her that it had been a long time since she’d seriously taken some time off. A holiday. Yes, that sounded right. Camping. Her, Apple Bloom if she wanted, Big Mac? Might be hard pressed to convince him. Just to get back to enjoying life for a bit.

Okay, distraction over. She put a hoof above her eyes and scanned both the crowd and the skies for that distinctive rainbow mane. There was no way Rainbow Dash was going to stay on the ground the whole time. Plus, there was also no way she wasn’t going to get herself a front-row seat for her own rainboom in twenty minutes, and even she got that, because come on, wouldn’t you like to see something that only you can do from a different perspective?

Pinkie, being Pinkie, had already resumed her activity with the binoculars from a nearby box hedge. This time, though, Applejack decided not to join her. If they needed to run to catch up to their friends, there was no point in having to untangle yourself from a bush first.

“Anythin’, Pinkie?”

The binoculars darted around a little more before she got her response. “Nope! No Twilight Sparkle, no Rarity, no Rainbow Dash, and no Fluttershy. I can see Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, though!”

The orange mare snatched the binoculars again and trained them on the castle. There was indeed a pink speck and a white speck which if you squinted might just be the future rulers of the Crystal Empire on a balcony in the castle grounds. Nice, but not important right now. She retrained the view on the pegasi in the sky. Nope. Still no sign of Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy. Applejack had hoped that they would at least have a little sense and head for someplace where it’d be easier to find each other, but noooo. Rainbow Dash wouldn’t know sense if it came up and bit her.

Reluctantly, she passed the binoculars back. This was impossible. It had been hard enough coordinating the Apple family reunion, and that had required so much planning ahead it’d been ridiculous. Granted, she’d planned too far ahead, but at least she knew where ponies were going to be at what time, more or less. Trying to meet up with friends when you’ve got no way to contact each other to arrange a meeting point was bad enough without it being in the past as well.

She relayed her frustration to Pinkie Pie.

“Yeah, I know.” Inside the bush, she could see Pinkie’s ears droop. “There’s never a random coincidence when you need one, is there?”

“What are you talkin’ about, Pinkie?”

With a little difficulty, Pinkie extricated herself from the hedge. “Well, remember when we all came to look for you in Dodge Junction? We found you with hardly any effort at all!”

Applejack flushed red. She didn’t like to remember that. “Well—”

“And that time in Appleloosa when Rainbow Dash and I went after Bloomberg and you came to find us and we met halfway?”

“That’s not quite the—”

“And you weren’t there, but there was this time when Twilight Spike and I broke into the Canterlot Archives looking for the Star Swirl the Bearded Wing, and it turned out to be right next to where we entered! I’m just saying, random coincidences have always been there when we needed them! (That’s the way the stories work,)” she added conspiratorially.

Trying not to shift the topic onto how freaky Pinkie’s memory was, Applejack cleared her throat. “That may be true, but—”

“It just means we’ve gotta do what comes naturally!” Don’t break out into a song, don’t break out into a song… “C’mon, Applejack! Time’s a-wasting!” And with that, she immediately started bouncing further into the park. After a short pause, in which she sighed and adjusted her hat, Applejack followed, keeping one eye on the pink pony in front of her and another eye on the skies. She was right, of course. In the absence of planning all that was left was improvisation.

Just as suddenly as she’d started, Pinkie stopped again, and Applejack managed to divert around her to avoid smacking into her. “What is it now, Pinkie?” But Pinkie’s eyes had gone as wide as dinner plates, which was a bad sign. “Uh, Pinkie?”

“Ohhhhhh,” Pinkie eventually managed, in the tone of voice that signified sudden realization. “I get it.”

“Get wh—” Applejack followed her gaze. Oh, she was joking. “Well, I’ll be. Pinkie Pie, is that what I think it is?”

“I dunno, Applejack, what do you think it is?”

She couldn’t stop the grin spreading across her face. It was infectious. “What was it you were sayin’ about random coincidences?”

“Million-to-one chances always crop up nine times out of ten?”

Eh, close enough. “She’s all yours, Pinkie.”

“Yippeee!” In a puff of smoke, Pinkie disappeared. Applejack, meanwhile, could only sit down and stare in amusement. What were the odds of that?

With a roar, the hot air balloon ascended into the skies of Canterlot.

It was, according to Pinkie, the answer to a mystery she never even bothered to think about. When she’d come to Canterlot for a massive party supply run, in about seven years from their present moment, obtaining a means of air transportation wasn’t even on the list. However, she’d walked into the Canterlot Aeronautical Society - by accident, she was looking for helium balloons - and some stallion had approached her, describing her as ‘his best-behaved customer’ and had sold the balloon to her on the spot. She’d been confused, but it wasn’t every day that you got to buy a hot air balloon for a relatively cheap price, and it had excellent applications as a means to move the party supplies, so why not? After that she’d just sort of forgotten it, thinking it was probably a case of mistaken identity and while it might be mean to take advantage of that, the other pony hadn’t been back in seven years and probably wouldn’t be back at all.

Said stallion, introducing himself to Applejack at the hot air balloon hire station as the president of the C.A.S. while Pinkie was hurriedly performing all the pre-flight checks, had apparently never been approached by anypony who took ballooning so seriously, and frequently had to ward off unicorns who were under the impression that hot air balloons flew entirely under the power of magic. Applejack had to share a laugh about that. The number of nobles she’d encountered at the Grand Galloping Gala who’d been entirely ignorant as to the way apples grew was very surprising. Even the richer ponies among her aunt and uncle’s friends in Manehattan knew next to nothing about where their food came from.

(“But where do you get your lettuce?” “The shop.” “And where does the shop get it from?” “…other shops?” Twilight hadn’t been pleased by that level of ignorance either.)

Applejack was a very down-to-earth pony. She didn’t particularly like flying. After that time when they’d all visited Cloudsdale, she got a lot of vertigo. But it gave her more reassurance than she’d care to admit that it was Pinkie, another earth pony, in charge of the controls. Despite being entirely self-taught, she flew the balloon almost as if it was her special talent, and, well, her cutie mark was balloons, even if they were only the kind that could be commonly found stuck on the ceiling or in her apple trees. Hay, even Cherry Berry was a good balloon flyer, and her cutie mark had nothing to do with balloons at all.

What would Pinkie Pie be like with wings? (Probably an even bigger lovable nuisance than she already was.)

Before boarding, and while the president of the C.A.S. hadn’t been listening, Pinkie had come over all serious. “Applejack,” she had said, “You gotta Pinkie Promise me you’re not gonna fall out.”

To be honest, Applejack had almost forgotten about the prophecy, and Twilight’s insistence that she was going to fall out of a balloon’s basket. Load of hooey, if her opinion was heard. She’d been up in a balloon plenty of times before, so why should now be any different? It wasn’t as if the time travel made much difference. She’d been on board a balloon when Rainbow Dash had done a sonic rainboom before, and sure, it was very uncomfortable, but she’d never been in any danger of falling out. Still, Pinkie was sufficiently worried, and she was the pilot, so she’d elected to limit their height and keep the balloon as much as possible over the park’s river. It wasn’t a very deep river, but anyway.

“Isn’t it funny?”

“Hm?” Applejack looked back at Pinkie from where she’d been scanning over the rooftops for any sign of a rainbow. “What’s up?”

Pinkie sat back on her haunches. “I learned to fly in this balloon, which I only got for cheap ‘cause I’m so good at it now.” She started gesturing with her hooves, gestures that didn’t entirely match what she was saying. “So I guess coming back in time and borrowing it now is something that’s always happened.”

One of Applejack’s eyebrows tried to escape. “Say what?”

“Time travel, AJ.” Pinkie mimed her head exploding, and fell over onto her back. “Just. Time travel. Wow.” She paused for a couple of seconds, trying to decide whether to drop her jaw or grin madly. “Stuff just keeps happening.”

Heh. Applejack couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “Sometimes I’d swear you’re a member of the Apple family, Pinkie. Granny always says things like that. ‘Stuff happens.’” Then she caught a glimpse of something over the edge of the city wall, and tensed. “Buck up, though, I think things are about to kick off.”

“More things keep happening!” Pinkie flailed, then she popped back up and grabbed hold of one of the balloon’s ropes. “What’d you see?”

“The race’s started.”

“Ooh! Where?!”

From their vantage point, they couldn’t see the entire thing, mostly because the wall was in the way. However, there was no way Applejack would mistake that little ball of blue and rainbow zipping around. Rainbow Dash was racing for Fluttershy’s honor, for her cutie mark and the cutie marks of her soon-to-be friends. This was it. Applejack tightened her grip on the rope, even as Pinkie scrambled to try and get a better view. How long had the race lasted? Long enough for Fluttershy to fall all the way to the forest below and sing a little song, which was probably going on right now. Little Applejack in Manehattan would be staring out of a window. Little Pinkie Pie would be at her family’s rock farm.

There was a shiver in the air. Then—

BANG.

“Sonic rainb—” Pinkie started screaming, before the colors and the windrush hit, battering the balloon further into the city, shaking the basket this way and that. Both earth ponies could only hold on for dear life. It was more jarring than the previous times Applejack had been flying during a sonic rainboom, but Twilight’s fear that she’d fall out was entirely unfounded. At this rate, the worst that would happen would be her breakfast deciding to make a surprise return visit. It didn’t even last that long. Mere seconds passed before the balloon stopped shaking, and the sound of the wind was replaced by the sound of chattering ponies from the park, those who witnessed the rainboom and those who just heard the sound.

See, that wasn’t so bad. Not ideal, but they’d have to be a darn sight closer than they had been to get it any worse.

Then Pinkie looked around, and did a double-take, pointing. “Hey, there’s Rainbow Dash! Our Rainbow Dash!”

“Where?” Applejack spun round to follow where Pinkie’s outstretched hoof was pointing, back towards the park, and squinted. “I don’t see—”

FLASH.

The noise was indescribable, but the best Applejack could do afterwards was comparing it to when she’d been in the kitchen at Sweet Apple Acres and the stove exploded. A roar in her ears, the sound of hundreds of windows shattering at the same time, panicked yells, and a force so powerful it lifted her off her hooves.

She’d forgotten about Twilight’s outburst, she realized, as the balloon’s basket swung out from underneath her almost in slow motion, and she tipped over its edge. Well, I’ll be. Two will rise, one will fall. She screwed her eyes shut.

And opened them again, just in time to grab her hat before it flew away. “Oh no you don’t!”

“Applejack!” came Pinkie’s voice from above her, after a moment. “You still falling?”

“No, Ah’m good!” Her leg hurt from the rope tied around it, but that was appleseeds compared to the alternative. “Pull me up!”

With a few tugs, Pinkie hauled Applejack back up and into the basket of the balloon, which had lost a couple of ballast bags but was otherwise still in pretty good shape. That was a little too close for comfort. Still, it made her glad she’d tied the rope around her leg when they’d set off, just in case. “The thing said ‘Two will rise, one will fall’,” she’d reminded Pinkie. “Never said anythin’ about one landin’, did it?” Pinkie had been suitably impressed. See, Twilight? Nothing to worry about.

Applejack didn’t like to gloat. But she was so going to gloat.

Below them, Canterlot was in an absolute mess, but the ponies in the streets weren’t running about too much, probably on account of the broken glass. Most of the unicorns they could see were just sitting still, completely stunned. Not being unicorns, neither of the two ponies in the balloon could hazard a guess as to what they were feeling, but Twilight had been convinced that the city would return to normal operation pretty much by the end of the day. The pegasi were hurriedly flying back and forth, trying to work out what was going on between carrying messages between ponies who were otherwise unable to reach each other. Pinkie’s glimpse of Rainbow Dash had been for nought, though. Just as quickly as she’d appeared she’d disappeared again.

It had absolutely been her, Pinkie had affirmed. She knew her friends.

Speaking of friends, said pink pony pointed towards the castle and giggled. Applejack looked over, and couldn’t help but smile at the distant sight of a dragon’s head sticking through one of the castle tower roofs. Happy birthday, Spike. Fortunately everypony else was concentrating on the city to see the dragon in the castle and panic even more. Pretty soon, as Pinkie piloted the balloon back towards where she’d seen Rainbow, the dragon disappeared in a flash of magic. Princess Celestia was with little Twilight now, as Twilight had related to her friends over a dozen times. Everything was going as it should be, as it had done.

Why would it go any differently?

“Y’think we should set ‘er down, Pinkie?” With this much air traffic, they’d be hard pressed to spot Rainbow flying now, plus the balloon was starting to get in the way of all the other pegasi. “Ah reckon we’re not gonna get much more good out of this.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Pinkie tugged on the ropes, and fiddled with the burner. “I’m just gonna try and swing outside the city for a sec. Rainbow Dash might be in the clear air!”

“Good thinkin’.” If Rainbow Dash preferred one space over all others, it was an empty sky. Applejack resumed her watch. There hadn’t been this many pegasi before, had there? Where had they all come from? And… she squinted. What was that heap of timbers doing there up against the park’s wall? Was that there before?

When Pinkie eventually cleared the wall itself, and Applejack got a good look at the other side of it, she whistled. Now she remembered being told about that weather building that collapsed. It certainly didn’t look like a building any more; some bits of the floors and walls were still sticking out but the rest of it was lying in a heap on a large outcrop a long way down. “Sure hope nopony was in that when it went down,” she commented. No casualties, she remembered Twilight saying. How many ponies had been in there?

Then she saw something else. Or, to be more precise, somepony else saw her.

Oh boy. This was gonna get interesting, Applejack thought, as Pinkie piloted the balloon closer to the pegasus pair carrying the stretcher who were flagging them down. So this was the filly that got knocked into the lake and who Fluttershy revived. How could she forget that story? Even though, from her perspective, she’d been told it half a week ago; for these pegasi it had only been ten, fifteen minutes since it happened. Argh, time magic. Why’d it have to be so complicated.

It didn’t take a brainbox to work out that the pegasi wanted them to carry the unconscious pony to Canterlot General, and of course they accepted. What kind of ponies would they be if they didn’t? The two stallions were visibly worn out just from the ascent, which they must have made pretty quickly. They must have been flapping like the clappers the whole way up. Kudos to them for doing it, though. Canterlot was a very long way out of their way.

Carefully, they lowered the sleeping pegasus into the basket, and Pinkie set a new course straight for the hospital. Her flying ability really was phenomenal, and she was taking it so seriously, too. Sure, she was in high spirits, she hadn’t completely stopped being Pinkie Pie, but she had determination behind her eyes. That, noted Applejack, was the expression on the face of a pony who come hay or high water was going to throw you that party even if you totally forgot about it.

It didn’t stop her from pulling a blue flashing light from Celestia-knew-where and sticking it to the front of the basket and mimicking an ambulance siren the whole way to clear the skies ahead.

Canterlot General Hospital had a big pad on the roof with a big letter H on it. Nopony knew why it was an H, because it was pretty obvious it was a hospital. P would have been a better choice for a pegasus landing pad, or B at a stretch for balloons. Z had also been mooted, in case a zeppelin crashed into it. But no. The ponies who built it had painted an H for no properly explained reason, and it had stuck.

Given her exemplary flying so far, Pinkie could be excused the way she overexuberantly stuck the landing, bouncing a couple times before the balloon came to a complete halt. A couple of the nurses had seen them coming and hurriedly wheeled a stretcher out, and Applejack clambered out of the basket before helping Pinkie gently lift the pegasus out and onto it. There. She was in good hooves now, whoever she was.

Though… Applejack couldn’t quite put her hoof on it, but she seemed somewhat familiar. Was she a Ponyville pony? That combination of purple mane and faded plum coat didn’t ring a bell, and she was young, she didn’t have a cutie mark yet…

A roar from behind her distracted her, and she turned around to see the balloon taking off without her. “Darnit, Pinkie, where are you goin’?!” she called after it.

“I gotta take the balloon back!” Pinkie yelled back. “I’ll come find you there! I’ll come find you!” She was almost howling that last part. Applejack sighed. Pinkie had a point, as usual. That stallion’s best behaved customer wouldn’t have left the balloon at the hospital. At least Pinkie knew where she was going, and where Applejack was going to be. The farmer had no intention of leaving just yet, anyway. She turned and galloped after the nurses who were already wheeling the pegasus away.

Through the double doors, Applejack grimaced. She didn’t like hospitals. Too many painful memories. All of the clinical smells and sounds were already giving her unpleasant reminders. Those were things she wouldn’t mind changing with time travel. But they’d all come together to form part of who she was, and without them… she wouldn’t be the Element of Honesty. Without this day, she wouldn’t be the Element of Honesty either. Earlier, she’d considered that even if she hadn’t seen the rainbow leading to Ponyville, she’d have gone home eventually. But now, she realized that pony wouldn’t be her. She wouldn’t be Applejack. Applejack had gone home, not just because she was homesick, but because that’s where her family was.

Inadvertently, Rainbow Dash had helped her remember that.

“What happened to this filly?” one of the nurses asked her, snapping her out of her reverie.

“Fell in Skyview Lake,” Applejack responded tersely, hurriedly trying to remember how it had gone. “Got knocked under by a pillar or somethin’. Don’t know who she is.”

“Bruising consistent with blunt force trauma and application of CPR,” the other nurse agreed. “Seeing signs of an active charm too. How long was she under?”

“Not a clue.”

The corridor they were in opened out into the main part of the hospital, which was steadily filling up with unicorns all moaning about headaches. For her part, Applejack slowed down and let the nurses take the pegasus into one of the wards. They didn’t need her in their way. They were professionals. She moved to one side, allowing more of the staff through, and gently waving one off when they tried to take her temperature. All she could do now was leave them to their work, and wait for Pinkie Pie to catch up.

She almost missed them as they went past, and she did a double-take. “Twilight? Rarity?”

Both unicorns slammed their anchors on as they tried to look and respond at the same time. “Applejack?”

Another stretcher, one they’d been following, continued with a doctor’s supervision and disappeared into the depths of the hospital. Applejack couldn’t see who was on it, but it definitely wasn’t another of her friends. “Boy, am I glad to see you two.”

Twilight and Rarity glanced at each other, then grinned weakly. “The same,” Twilight affirmed. Both of them were out of breath, and Twilight especially looked like she’d been put through the wringer twice. Applejack could hardly blame her; given all the stress she’d been through over the time travel thing today must have just been more fuel for the fire. “Do you know where the others are?”

Quickly as she could, Applejack explained Pinkie’s mission to return the balloon, and that she’d rejoin them as soon as possible. “Thank goodness,” Rarity sighed, even as her eyes darted around to look for a bench to collapse upon. “I don’t know about you two, but I am seriously ready for a spa treatment.”

Together they walked back down the corridor towards the main lobby. The worst was over. With four of them, especially with Twilight’s magic, they’d soon locate the two pegasi, and they could finally head back home.

“We, uh, are heading home when we’re all together, right?”

To Applejack’s immense relief, Twilight nodded. “I don’t have the Iris any more, but I figured out how to cancel the time travel spell. Once we’re all in one place, we should be able to snap back to the moment we left.”

“Wait a second.” Applejack held up a hoof. “Why don’t you have the Iris any more?”

The unicorns glanced at each other again. “It’s a long story,” Twilight eventually admitted, more than a little sheepishly. “I can tell you when we’re back in the present. For now let’s just say that we’re not causing any paradoxes anytime soon.”

“Para-what?”

“I said exactly the same thing,” Rarity chipped in, having finally found an empty spot between two complaining unicorns. She didn’t look any worse for the wear, but she’d been with Twilight; they’d probably escaped the worst of it. That said, she and Twilight were pretty much the only unicorns in the waiting room they found themselves in who weren’t clutching their heads in discomfort. “But enough about that. You said you and Pinkie were in a balloon…?”

A waiting expression was on Twilight’s face for about four seconds before her eyes widened. Looked like she’d forgotten clean about her prophecy in all the hullabaloo. “Wait, you were?”

Applejack held up a hoof to stave off the inevitable question barrage that was to follow. “Yeah, we went up in a balloon, yeah, I fell out, that’s also a long story.” She stepped to the side to allow some more staff members to go charging through, and had to quickly turn her head to avoid making eye contact with Nurse Redheart who was among their number. “Can we, uh, move someplace a little less crowded?” She liked to think that she was calm under pressure, but the hospital environment was already uncomfortable without half of Canterlot’s population being crammed into it.

Glancing around, Twilight took only a couple of seconds to come to a decision, much to the annoyance of Rarity, who had to get up again. “Yes, let’s move to the lobby. Pinkie Pie will have to come through there to find us anyway.”

And they were walking again. Now, more than ever, Applejack wanted to get back home, to Sweet Apple Acres, to her family. Funny, she thought - at about this moment, she’d been trying to convince Aunt and Uncle Orange to take her back to the train station for much the same reason. That holiday she’d been thinking about, she was definitely going to have it, especially after this. And no more getting dragged into time travel stuff either.

Unless it involved setting up something that had already happened like with Pinkie’s balloon? Because that meant she’d already traveled back in time?

Argh.

“Rarity?” she muttered under her breath, so Twilight couldn’t hear her.

“Yes, darling?”

“Ah hate time travel.”

The fashionista nodded grimly. “I agree with you one hundred per cent.”

Author's Note

http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=003151

23 - The Hurricane

So many strange things happened on May 21st, in the 990th year of the Celestial Era. It was said in the aftermath that the magic of the world had anticipated its events, that the weird and wonderful had been drawn to Canterlot on that day specifically. Indeed, ponies that would never normally have come to Canterlot could be found everywhere in the city at the time of the explosions, explosions that changed so many lives. In fact, Princess Celestia had been heard to say afterwards, such was the variety of character in the city on the day that some ponies were practically invisible. While her odd choice of words left questions on her subjects’ minds, it was true that some of the stranger individuals were part of the crowd.

Of course, it’s very hard to be inconspicuous when your mane is a freaking rainbow.

Rainbow Dash had been half asleep when her mom had explained it, but the rainbow mane ran in their family since Dash’s great-great-great-great grandmother (or something to that effect, there might have been some more greats in there) whose own mane, which lacked purple, married a stallion whose mane was exclusively purple. The whole talk had been long and boring and Rainbow herself had been more surprised that nopony had yet taken advantage of the awesomeness of having a rainbow for a mane. Come on, a rainbow mane! How cool was that?!

In the past, though, it was somewhat of a double-edged sword. Sure, it was still awesome - but it was also very noticeable, especially since soon-ish the Rainbow Dash that was supposed to be there was going to be blowing everything up. Really, she would relish the chance to test her skills against little herself, but despite barely having a clue what Twilight was so worried about with time travel, even she knew doing that was a stupid idea. If she suddenly showed up and put herself off her game, there’d be no sonic rainboom at all! She’d never get her cutie mark! She’d never be as cool as she was now!

But those bullies… Tempting. Very tempting. Also silly.

That, and her number one priority had to be finding Fluttershy, who had disappeared.

She had to give credit to Twilight for her accuracy. Even though this whole thing had been accidental, she’d still landed smack-bang in the middle of the communications tower, which thankfully had been devoid of tourists to be shocked at her sudden appearance. Fluttershy hadn’t been so lucky, and had appeared suspended in the air over the edge. By the time Rainbow had gotten her bearings and realized that her friend had fallen, the yellow pegasus was nowhere to be found. Knowing Fluttershy as she did - and she’d known her a long time - it wasn’t too much of a stretch to think that she’d panicked and shot off in search of something familiar.

Whether she was likely to find anything familiar in Canterlot ten years too early was another matter entirely.

Also, there was the matter of the rest of her friends. Twilight had said some things, but Rainbow hadn’t been able to hear her; all of that magic had been blowing a gale directly past her ears, and even now her hearing was still a little bit fuzzy. For the third time since landing, she lightly tapped the side of her head with her hoof, trying to clear it. Blech. If she remembered right, though, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were all in the city somewhere too, hopefully still together. All she’d need to do then would be find Fluttershy and just ride out the storm, with a front-row seat if possible. No way was she going to miss her own rainboom, her own impossible thing.

Well, it looked like there was no avoiding it. Rainbow Dash would have to think like Fluttershy. Moments like these cropped up surprisingly often, mostly when she had to drag her friend out of hiding spots when there was something serious needed doing. Like that time when they’d watched the dragon migration; Rainbow didn’t get why Fluttershy was so scared of dragons, but after the migration had passed, before Spike had decided to follow it, she’d had to track Fluttershy down. She was worried, okay? Eventually it turned out that she’d actually gone all the way to Zecora’s place in the Everfree Forest. Only Fluttershy would go into the crazy forest full of arguably nastier creatures than dragons to get away from dragons.

There probably wasn’t any place in Canterlot full of nasty critters, though, or if there was, Rainbow didn’t know about it and wanted to know about it pronto. The capital seemed like a bit too much of a snobbish place for some place like a dangerous bird of prey house or something like the one they had up in Cloudsdale. Fluttershy loved that place, and once she’d cottoned on to just how awesome they were, Rainbow had loved it too. Today, Fluttershy was very unlikely to have flown all the way back to Cloudsdale. She wasn’t that much of a scaredy-pony.

Rainbow racked her brain for what she knew about places in Canterlot where Fluttershy liked going. First guess would be the royal gardens, but then she remembered that the guards would never let her in. Joe’s? Nah, she wasn’t that enthusiastic about food. The park? Park was a good guess. Lots of open space, probably some critters, clear skies, she could see it from where she was now, yeah, park was sounding better and better.

With a quick check to make sure that the time travel hadn’t messed with her wings (not that it had last time), she took off and soared down the street, resisting the urge to call for her friend. Ponies would remember a rainbow-maned mare calling out for a pony named Fluttershy.

Canterlot park was bigger than Rainbow remembered it, though probably because she’d always been looking at it from a distance. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too hard to find Fluttershy, and the sooner she found Fluttershy, the sooner she could find a seat with a good vantage point for the race later. At least she had her priorities sorted.

Alighting on the gazebo in the middle of the lake island, Rainbow put a hoof above her eyes and did a 360, looking for any hint of her friend. A conglomeration of critters might be a good place to start, Fluttershy couldn’t resist that. Any little dogs, cats, bunnies? A couple of dogs, to be sure, but not in the volume that attracted the pegasus. Birds? There was a flock of some bird or another wheeling around above, but even as she watched they disappeared over the wall.

“Come on, Fluttershy,” she muttered under her breath. “Where are—” she interrupted herself with a gasp, which morphed into a grin. That over there was a pink tail sticking out of that tree, and a familiar pink tail at that. “Gotcha.”

Now, she had to be careful about this. While it was fun to prank Fluttershy, now wasn’t the best time for it. So instead of bombing into the tree from above, she landed beneath it, looked up, and cleared her throat loudly.

At least she didn’t fall out. “Oh, Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy looked immensely relieved, for a pegasus carefully propped in the branches of a tree. “I’m so glad to see you. I’m so sorry for running off like that.”

Rainbow flapped a hoof. “Eh, don’t worry about it. You okay up there?”

“Oh, yes. I was just having a conversation with Mr. Ringwood—” at this she motioned towards a squirrel sitting next to her, which chirruped “—about what a nice tree he’s got here.”

Small talk with squirrels. O-kay. “Okay good. You ready to come down?”

“Ah, um, I’d rather not.”

Sitting down, Rainbow sighed dramatically. “Fluttershy, it’s fine. Nothing’s gonna happen.” Apart from, you know, a sonic rainboom.

But Fluttershy shook her head. “Oh, I’m not worried about that.” She squinted out through the leaves, then looked down again and pointed. “I’m just hiding because—”

Fluttershy was pointing at a wooden structure up against the city wall. Rainbow blinked a few times. She didn’t remember— oh. Oh. “Oh, nuts.”

Nuts, because that was the weather station, which she’d read about collapsing in her first few days at the weather factory. Nuts, because that happened today. And nuts, because a pegasus stallion wearing a very official-looking weather forecast hat was trotting straight towards them. This couldn’t go wrong at all.

“Hoi!” the pegasus shouted, once he was within shouting range, which in Rainbow’s opinion was far too close to be shouting. “What are you two doing slacking over there, hmmm? Yeah, I’m talking to you in the tree, too!” With a yelp, Fluttershy fell out. “Come on, back to work, chop chop!”

It took Rainbow Dash a moment to work out that this guy actually thought they were weather patrol ponies. Well, one of them actually was, but that was besides the point. “Uh, we don’t work for you, dude,” she pointed out, helping Fluttershy back to her hooves. “We’re just visitors.”

“Likely story!” Something about this guy seemed familiar. Did Rainbow know him from— oh no. Not him. Anypony but him. “I know weatherponies when I see them!”

“Well then maybe you need glasses, Doc!”

Oh, horseapples. The name had just slipped out, and now it was too late. Doc Stratosphere, bane of all weatherponies everywhere who just wanted to get things done, squinted at her. Rainbow had never actually encountered him during her time in the weather factory, and then again working for Ponyville, but his reputation far preceded him, and the effects of his ‘research’, as he called it, always took forever to even out. And yes, he needed glasses, and no, he had never worn glasses in his life.

Why him? Why now?

“And just how do you know who I am, hmmm? Do I know you?” Stratosphere was the kind of guy who’d get very bewildered if anything unexpected happened, and immediately start looking for somepony else to blame, even if the thing happening was entirely his own fault, which it usually was. His official title was ‘Weather Researcher’ - and now that he was getting closer Rainbow could see it written in marker pen on his hat - and his role was basically to find ways to improve the performance of all of Equestria’s weatherponies. Normally that would be fine, except he tended to do his experiments without telling the appropriate weather teams first and then when things inevitably went pear-shaped he’d blame it on them and then run away.

Ponyville had thus far resisted his attempts to pay them a visit. This was mostly because of the Everfree Forest, which all weatherponies knew was a source of trouble, whether they actually acknowledged it or not. Stratosphere, in a rare move that had annoyed everypony in the Weather Forecast Centre, had gone on record saying that he didn’t believe the forest existed.

“Uhh, nope!” It was far too late to backpedal, but Rainbow was gonna try and do it anyway. “I call everypony doc! Don’t I?” she added, nudging Fluttershy while trying not to let her face be too overcome with her lying-to-superiors face, and failing miserably. Fluttershy, ever helpful, only squeaked in response. “That’s totally a thing I do.”

She didn’t expect it to work, and it didn’t. “Unlikely, hmmm. I don’t know why you thought you could get away with it, but come on, hup! You’re busted.” He paused. “Whoever you are. Names?”

“Uh, I’m Rainbow Flash, and this is, uh, Flutterby.” It took all of Rainbow’s willpower not to wince at her own lame attempts at false names. Come on! Rainbow Flash? Flutterby?! Okay, it was official: She was never naming anything herself ever again. Ever. Applejack might have that weird compulsion to tell the truth, but Rainbow was just as bad at improvising. This guy would never remember them anyway. He never remembered anypony. One more try… “But seriously, doc, we don’t work here.” She pointed at the building. “Just ask literally anypony in there. We don’t know any of them.”

But Stratosphere was having none of it. “You kids’ll say anything to cover each other,” he said, waving a hoof, obliviously. “Come on then, hmmm, hop to it!” And then he started physically pushing them.

“Geez, okay, okay, I get it!” Rainbow so wanted to whip that hat off his head. There was no escaping this. They’d just have to do some quick thinking once they were in there. “Come on, Flutter— er, Flutterby.” Quickly, she looked around for a clock, but couldn’t see one. Half-past ten, that was about when she did her sonic rainboom. There couldn’t be that much time in it at all.

Then she stepped through the door, walked through the passage to the building on the other side of the wall, and her jaw just about hit the floor.

The source of her shock was twofold. One was the state of the building. Rainbow was no architect, but the last time she’d seen a building in this state Applejack had asked her to demolish it. Sure, she’d heard that it was badly built, but that didn’t convey just how rickety the whole thing seemed. Everywhere, there were signs where bits of the wooden walls had fallen off, and had just been patched over rather than actually being repaired. Cloud houses genuinely were repaired like that, but this was wood. Actually, Rainbow wouldn’t be surprised if she found out that Stratosphere was in charge of maintaining it.

Second was the sheer number of pegasi crammed into the building.

It was a veritable sea of ponies, scarce few of which were actually working. It looked like, and Rainbow got further confirmation from the scowls that were thrown in the direction of a completely oblivious Stratosphere, that he’d been going outside and assuming every single pegasus he saw was a weatherpony slacking off and herded them in here. Wow. He didn’t even seem to be aware that there was no way the building would even support half this number of ponies. Every now and then there was a very loud creak of stressed floorboards.

The clock on the stone wall, the outside of the city wall, told everything. Canterlot’s weather station was a disaster waiting to happen.

In fifteen minutes.

No casualties. That’s what Rainbow remembered about the collapse. It had been in the Cloudsdale papers the next day, and there were always a couple copies of that issue hanging about in the weather factory. In the wake of ‘unexplained magical phenomena’, which she never connected with her rainboom at the time, the Canterlot weather station had collapsed, but there were no casualties. On top of that, there’d been some cookie-cutter quote from Stratosphere about how he was shocked such a thing could happen. Yet the building was packed with pegasi, and Stratosphere was completely ignoring everypony when they tried to tell him they didn’t work there.

Okay, Rainbow decided. No casualties? She’d give ‘em no casualties. Fifteen minutes to clear a building of ponies. Bring it on.

Three-step plan. First step: Ditch the Doc. Stratosphere had to go or nopony’d be leaving. Second step: Non-working ponies, out. That’d take care of itself. Third step: Ponies that were supposed to be there. A little harder, but that would only look to be a few. Then she and Fluttershy could leave. Fluttershy probably wouldn’t want to get swamped in the crowd of step two, so she’d have to wait.

Absolutely foolproof. Said fool being Stratosphere.

Muttering a quick “I’ll be back” to Fluttershy, who nodded but otherwise remained silent, Rainbow ducked into the crowd. She’d need some things. It was time for some epic Dashingenuity.

“Hey, buddy, can I borrow your glasses real quick? I’m getting us out of here.”

“Listen, you want out? Can I borrow that hairband?”

“Sorry, I need your bowtie real quick.”

“Hey, got a spare stick of gum?”

Pausing to grab a sheaf of blank papers from a desk, Rainbow Dash, now decked out in glasses, bowtie, and with her hair tied back and chewing on some frankly horrible gum, weaved through the crowd towards the stupid hat. If she was right, and she had no reason to think she wasn’t, Stratosphere wouldn’t even recognize her. Good. This hinged on him being the absent-minded idiot that he was.

Reaching him, she tapped him on the shoulder to draw his attention, and drew one of the blank sheets of paper. “Doc?” she said, in an attempt at at a secretary-type nasal drawl. “Doctor Stratosphere?”

For a moment, Stratosphere seemed startled. “Oh! Hmmm? What’s this?”

“I’ve come down from Cloudsdale,” Rainbow plunged on, pretending to read the paper and at the same time not look particularly bothered. “The chief wants you back ASAP.”

“The chief?” Stratosphere was nonplussed for a moment, then his eyes widened. “The chief! Good grief, is that the time, hmmm? They’ll be expecting my report!”

“Yeah, probably.” Don’t roll your eyes.

“Sorry, everypony!” Stratosphere shouted out above the rumble of voices, which quickly dimmed. “I’m afraid I must fly. Keep up the good work!” With that, he saluted, knocked his hat off, picked it back up, and disappeared out of the building. Rainbow had to lift her hoof to keep the crowd from instantly rushing out. Give him time to fly away… Three, two, one…

And go. “Okay, go, go, go!”

The station didn’t empty as quickly as she’d imagined it would, but then again a lot of ponies were being very cautious where they were treading. As they went past, Rainbow made sure to return the articles she’d borrowed, to a very thankful series of pegasi. Just another day’s Dashingenuity. Pretty soon the non-weatherponies had cleared, and the building was left with her, Fluttershy, and four weatherponies who were also very thankful. Rainbow herself was also very thankful, because the lack of ponies occupying the room had cleared her line of sight to the trash can, and she could spit out that horrible gum. Blech. The things she did for other ponies.

But look at that. Room almost cleared, three minutes to spare, who’s the greatest? Rainbow Dash, that’s who.

“That was pretty good, Rainbow Dash,” said Fluttershy, once Rainbow had returned from the trash can. “How did you know that would work?”

“Eh, Doc’s an idiot. I figured he wouldn’t recognize me again even if I wasn’t disguised.” And she had ammunition to use against him if he ever decided to come to Ponyville in the future! Win-win!

Now that the building was almost empty, she could get a better look at what would pretty soon just be a pile of timbers. It was even worse than it had looked when it was full of ponies, and that took some achievement. Even without an imminent sonic rainboom, it probably wouldn’t last another year. There wasn’t really any modern tools in there, either, nothing that the Cloudsdale centre would have at this time. Arguably the most advanced things in the room were the clock and the pair of earthquake-measuring-thingies, one of which was still showing the aftermath of a ton of hooves trotting past it, and all of those were on the stone wall so they’d probably survive.

Rainbow frowned. Hadn’t one of Twilight’s future things included one of those?

Then she glanced up at the clock. Two minutes, ish— wait, the race! She’d almost forgotten about the race! With a gasp, she shot over to a pair of binoculars mounted at the window. She didn’t want to miss the race! Where was it? What angle? Wait, no, that was part of the course. Follow it back, and…

She grinned at the sight of a little rainbow-maned filly speeding away from the starting line, and grimaced a little at the sight of a little ball of yellow plummeting behind her. If she’d known that she’d knocked Fluttershy to her potential doom she would have diverted immediately, no matter the reaction of the bullies. But it was too late to change anything. It was on. It was so on. It was so on that she was hard pressed to keep up, especially since in some places there were spectators in the way, a—

No. Wait. Hold on. She looked around the binoculars, blinked, and looked through them again. “Uh…”

“What’s the matter, Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked, coming up behind her. “What can you see?”

“I see… I see Twilight. And Spike.”

“But Spike didn’t come back in time with us…”

He didn’t. Twilight’s back was towards them, but there was no mistaking that tail, or that baby dragon atop her. What was she doing all the way out there? It looked like there was somepony she was talking to, but Rainbow couldn’t see who it was. Didn’t look like it was Rarity. Anyway, wouldn’t Twilight be throwing a fit about standing in the middle of a very important event? What were they doing out there?!

There was something else on Twilight’s back, too. Rainbow squinted. Was that…

BANG.

Oh.

The colors of the rainboom washed across the sky, and with it came the rush. Gale-force winds slammed into the building, forces it was never meant to withstand even in good condition. Even inside, it felt like a hurricane was smashing its way through. All around there were creaks followed by the sound of snapping wood as the abused timbers gave way.

“Out, out out!” Rainbow found herself shouting, even as she flew up to the ceiling to stop a beam coming down on top of the fleeing weather ponies. One, two, three, four, that’s it! Dropping the beam, she too fled, following them back through the corridor and out into the park. The rest of the pegasi had dispersed, although some of them remained, staring in awe at the now-fading rainboom.

No casualties. Not a single—

Behind her, a familiar scream.

Her head whipped round. “Fluttershy!” How could she forget Fluttershy?! She’d counted the weatherponies out but forgot about her best friend!

A normal pony might have shouted back in, or called for help. Sod that. Rainbow Dash never leaves her friends hanging, and for that reason, she dove straight back in to the collapsing building.

Weaving left and right to avoid falling timbers, she quickly located her friend, who she guessed had acted on instinct and had dived beneath a desk—

FLASH.

The visual effect of the second explosion was somewhat muted by all the obstacles between the weather station and the epicenter, but stars still popped in Rainbow’s vision even as she dived to sweep Fluttershy away from being a pony pancake. She remembered what it had been like the last time Twilight had dragged her back in time, to that place in the castle, and when this thing had happened that time around, but being in a collapsing building just made it worse.

“Come on!” she shouted, almost dragging Fluttershy behind her, but it was too late. The exit was blocked. Spinning round, her eyes locked on the earthquake recorders - no, one of them was a magic recorder, she now realized. One of the needles had jumped the track, and the other was recording a solid black bar. This was how powerful Twilight was as a filly?! More loud snaps and crunches announced the failure of the floor beneath them. Nope. No other choice. With a wordless yell, and with Fluttershy clinging tightly to her, Rainbow shot out of what remained of the nearest window.

On the whole, it could have been much worse. But hey, considering the building they’d just been in was now just a pile of wood and settling dust - no casualties. Just, you know, the destruction of private property. If anypony asked - and nopony was going to ask, but if anypony asked - it was Twilight’s fault. And Doc Stratosphere’s, but it was always his fault.

“You… okay?” she asked Fluttershy, out of breath, once the two of them had landed on a mountain ledge, out of sight of the wreckage. Neither of them wanted to look at it. Rainbow would probably get over it faster, but wow. Too close for comfort. Time travel was cool and all, but getting caught up in major events most definitely was not. Unless they were cool events. Just the sonic rainboom would have been cool.

“I… I think so.”

Too many things were running through Rainbow’s head. One of them was trying to remember what she’d done immediately after actually doing the sonic rainboom today. Actually, if she remembered right, she crashed into Ponyville library because she’d been too caught up over her cutie mark to pay attention to anything else. Then she fainted— er, passed out in an awesome fashion, and had to be airlifted back to Cloudsdale. Mrs Flight Camp Counselor had been alternating between worry for some missing foals and rage that her, ahem, problem student had gone and done something rash again.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy had been off in her own little world surrounded by all the animals in the forest, or at least those startled by the rainboom, and probably would have been content enough to just stay there forever until a couple of other pegasi who’d actually noticed her fall came down to find her. When Rainbow had reunited with her back at camp, they’d both congratulated each other on their cutie marks, completely oblivious to the fact that Rainbow was responsible for both of them.

Another of Rainbow’s thought processes was occupied with what she’d seen immediately before the rainboom. Twilight Sparkle, and Spike, standing on a cloud at the edge of Cloudsdale. What had she been doing over there? On her back… eh, not much worth worrying about that. They were probably saddlebag straps. But, here was a thing: Rainbow was pretty sure that Twilight had said something about needing to do something at the castle. Rainbow could make the distance from here to there in a matter of a minute, but, well, Twilight had a bad record when it came to teleporting long distances onto clouds.

She’d asked her once to set up some clouds above Ponyville lake so she could practice. Rainbow had never seen another pony get so drenched, and she was a weatherpony.

Point being, Twilight shouldn’t have been there. Spike shouldn’t have been there either, and he counted double, since he’d never come back in time with them. Right now, if she remembered the story, newborn Spike was in the castle under supervision by Princess Celestia, and didn’t look like he did in the present.

Great, it was going to be more time travel, wasn’t it? Dibs on not being part of that again, ever.

Rainbow slumped over backwards and stared up into the sky. More parts of her brain, specifically the parts that were going ‘that was dangerous!’ and ‘that was awesome!’ were having an argument. One part, the part that tended to take control and freeze up whenever she was afraid of underperforming, was quietly going ‘I want to go home’, and every now and then the arguing parts would stop, agree with her, and then start fighting again. And she did want to go home. But she needed to hold herself together to do that. More importantly, she needed to find Twilight to do that.

“Did you see those whatsit-graphs?” she asked out loud, in an effort to at least engage Fluttershy in smalltalk. “They were going insane! I knew Twi was good at magic, but wow!”

“I did. It certainly was exciting. And, well, pretty scary too,” Fluttershy murmured, staring out across Equestria. “Um, Rainbow Dash?”

“Yeah, Fluttershy?”

“I, um… I wasn’t hiding up in that tree from that stallion.”

“Wait, you weren’t?” Rainbow sat back up to look at her. “I mean, I wouldn’t blame you for doing it. Doc Stratosphere’s a bit of a cuckoo.”

Fluttershy continued. “I was hiding because I thought I saw my uncle.”

Oh. Yeah, that would’ve been bad. Rainbow had met Fluttershy’s uncle, and while he was genuinely a fun guy to talk to, and had done his fair share of awesome stuff, his line of work was so opposite to everything she thought she knew about her friend’s family. (And it was weird to think that Fluttershy had the option of being so incredibly awesome but didn’t take it. If she were in that position, she’d flaunt it.) He would absolutely recognize what his niece would look like in ten years’ time. “Oh, right. Do you think he saw you?”

Her friend shook her head. “I don’t think so. I saw him, went up in the tree and then got distracted talking to Mr. Ringwood.”

Right, the squirrel. “Anyway,” Rainbow said, standing up, and offering a hoof to Fluttershy. “We should probably try and find Twilight and the others.”

“I don’t even know where we’d begin.”

But Rainbow Dash did. “If you want to stay here, I kinda want to fly out to the clouds over there where I saw her,” she explained, pointing. “I’m only going to be a few minutes. Unless you want to look for them somewhere else,” she added.

“Oh, no. I’m fine with waiting here for you if you promise to come straight back.”

“Pinkie promise.”

They both paused, possibly expecting to hear Pinkie’s voice from somewhere re-iterating how important it was not to break Pinkie promises. They didn’t, which was a little disappointing.

As Rainbow had guessed, it only took her about a minute at not-quite-sonic-rainboom-speed to reach the clouds where the race had taken place from where she and Fluttershy had taken shelter. (If she hadn’t been trying to avoid it, she could have easily done another sonic rainboom right then and there, and who knew what kind of things that would mess up?) Annoyingly, there was no sign of purple smart, so she’d have to do something risky: ask a local.

Quickly she picked out some prime candidates: a couple of fillies who were jabbering away about the bright rainbow lights. Witnesses, check. Did she remember them? Would they have known her? They might have seen little her in the race, but come on, they were foals. As long as she didn’t do anything to suggest otherwise, they’d probably think she was her own big sister or something. Hopefully they’d seen Twilight, and more importantly, seen where she went.

“Hey guys!” she announced, alighting on their cloud. “Got a minute?” It was very easy talking to foals, she found, and she had lots of practice with the Crusaders.

Both of the fillies turned to eye her critically, and for a moment she found herself wishing very hard that she hadn’t randomly picked ponies with built-in Applejack-level lie detectors. “What?” asked one of them. By Celestia, she was adorable.

“Mom says I shouldn’t talk to strangers,” said the other, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, cool. I just want to ask a quick question.” Another key part was not giving them too long to think about it. “Did you guys see a unicorn up here, just before the s— the cool lightshow?” Rainbow had to be very careful not to mention the name of the sonic rainboom. Nopony had told her what it was; she’d stumbled across the term in a book during an otherwise extremely boring school trip to the Canterlot Public Library, realized that was what she did, and then went about telling everypony that that was what it was. Of course, nopony but Fluttershy believed her until she did it at the Young Flyers Competition, but so what? It was still awesome.

The foals took a moment to consider the question. “I saw a unicorn,” the first filly eventually responded. “They were talking to a pony with wings.”

Number two smacked number one upside the head with a wing. “Don’t be silly, unicorns can’t stand on clouds!”

“Yeah, they can!” Number one retorted, before Rainbow could interject. “Magic!”

“Oh. Magic’s stupid.”

Brightly, number one turned back to Rainbow Dash. “So you saw the lights too? Weren’t they amazing?!”

“I know, right?!” Okay, Rainbow allowed herself to become giddy for that one. So, Twilight was up here talking to a pegasus. Duh. Funny they didn’t mention Spike, but she wasn’t going to push that. “Uh, you didn’t see where that unicorn went, did you?”

“Nope.”

“Nuh-uh,” added number two, now deciding to be helpful. “We were too busy looking at the lights. Looked back and there was nopony there.”

“Magic!” repeated number one. Magic, the easy solution to everything. Internally, Rainbow sighed. So Twilight teleported away. Fat load of good that did, then.

Thanking them for their time, she booked it back towards Canterlot. Fluttershy was waiting for her, and then they could go and find Twilight for real. When they did find her, Rainbow would ask her about Cloudsdale. Maybe there was another answer besides more fricking time travel, like she went to the mirror pool or something. Could Twilight teleport from Canterlot to Ponyville and back? If she could blow up with that much magic, probably!

(By the time she would eventually meet up with Twilight, her appearance in Cloudsdale would have completely skipped her mind. She would only remember after it became apparent what the things on her friend’s back really were.)

Sensibly, Fluttershy had stayed put while Rainbow had been gone, though she didn’t expect anything different. She did however report something unexpected; Applejack and Pinkie Pie. In the few minutes where Rainbow had been chatting to the fillies, they’d come over the city wall in a hot air balloon.

“I wanted to call out to them,” Fluttershy explained, “but then I saw something else.” The pony she’d saved from Skyview Lake, she continued, had been brought up and loaded into the balloon, after which the balloon had departed at speed along with some weird noises from Pinkie Pie. She hadn’t wanted to come out of hiding in front of the pegasi who’d done the lifting, as they’d remember her from the bottom of the mountain. Oh yeah; Rainbow had totally forgotten about the little adventure she’d had with the Crusaders, which Applejack had told her about. That would be a bad thing.

It’d also ruin Rainbow’s reputation for being one of the fastest flyers in Equestria. Those stallions would probably remember a pegasus who was completely out of breath at the bottom of a mountain but still beat them to the top, and seemed perfectly fine to boot. Not that she had that reputation yet. But she was working on it.

At the very least, they had a direction. Applejack and Pinkie would be somewhere along a straight line from where they were to the hospital, unless Pinkie did a Pinkie and got distracted. “I don’t think she will,” Fluttershy pointed out when Rainbow brought up the possibility. “Applejack’s with her.” Eh, true. Applejack rarely got distracted. Rainbow knew that from bitter experience when trying to sneak into the line during cider season. “Anyway, they’d know that poor pegasus needs to get the hospital.”

Still, it came as a huge relief to Rainbow that when they crested over the wall, the hot air balloon was still visible over the city - and, in fact, coming back towards them.

“Do you think they saw you?” she asked Fluttershy, as the two of them landed again in the park, trying not to look at what remained of the entrance to the weather station. Rainbow’s wings hurt a little now; served her right for doing a sprint out to the edge of Cloudsdale without warming up first. “Why else would they come back?”

“I don’t know.”

It was only when the balloon landed next to a very relieved stallion did they see that the balloon only had one occupant. One occupant who clambered out of the balloon, shook the hoof of the stallion, turned around, saw them, opened her mouth and went “Rai—”

Before Pinkie Pie could even complete the next syllable, Rainbow shot across to her and rammed her hoof into the party pony’s mouth, forcing the latter to mumble the rest of their names around it. Whew, that was a close one. After all that, they really didn’t need Pinkie yelling out their names at the top of her lungs. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Fluttershy hurrying to catch up.

“Shh!” she whispered hurriedly, then gave the stallion a weak grin. “Sorry about that. She’s loud.”

“Loud?” the stallion parroted, looking between the two of them and the balloon. “Miss, she is the best behaved customer I’ve ever had!”

Best behaved? Pinkie Pie?! Rainbow was about to retort when the stallion continued, this time directed towards Pinkie. “Miss, I’d be more than happy to let you fly her any time. Say…” he looked back at the balloon again “…have you ever considered owning a hot-air balloon?”

Pinkie pulled Rainbow’s hoof out of her mouth and smiled the smuggest smile Rainbow had ever seen her smile. Ouch. Pinkie Pie had no right to be that smug. That was the sort of smugness reserved for the payoff of a monumental prank. No, not even that; it was I-know-something-you-don’t-there’s-nothing-you-can-do-to-stop-me-and-I-love-it-when-a-plan-comes-together advanced smug.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she said, and even her voice was smug. Darn, this girl was good. “I’m not gonna be in the city for a while. I’ll think about it.”

Again, the stallion shook her hoof. “Well, if you reach a decision, come find me at the Aeronautical Society in Sunstone Street. I don’t think I could have kept a balloon intact through all… that.” Now he waved his hoof towards the sky. “Don’t think I’ll be forgetting that for the rest of my life.”

“It sure was something,” said Fluttershy from behind Rainbow. “I know I won’t forget it.” Now Fluttershy was getting in on it?! What was happening to Equestria today?! Smug Pinkie, sassy Fluttershy, what next, was Applejack going to start using sarcasm?!

“Undeniably, unequivocally awesome,” was Rainbow’s own contribution, even if the sudden sass from behind her was putting her off her game. “Hey, uh, can we go?”

“Sure!” Now Pinkie was back to her bouncy bubbly self. “We’ve got some friends we need to meet! I won’t forget that offer,” she added, instantly switching back into Smug Pie, and just as instantly switching out of it. “But we’ve gotta go!”

They bid the stallion farewell, and Rainbow waited until they were out of his earshot before asking the obvious question. “Okay, Pinkie. What gives?”

“Huh?”

“What was all… that about?” Rainbow waved her hoof back in the direction of the balloon. “What…” she blinked. “What did you do?”

“Oh, nothing.” There it was again! “Just, you know, setting things up so I can buy the balloon from him in seven years. The usual.”

“Wow, Pinkie,” said Fluttershy. “I had no idea.”

“Me neither! Applejack and I were just walking through the park, and then bam! Random coincidence, right between the eyes! That sure was a mystery that nopony thought was a mystery and didn’t even really need solving, but we just solved the hay out of it anyway!”

“Heh. Okay, that is pretty cool.” Twilight was so going to throw a fit when she found out, and that was going to be a pretty epic freak out. Rainbow almost wanted to divert for popcorn. That was pretty much wiped off the cards as soon as she saw the state of the streets. Which were covered in broken glass. Right. Twilight did that too. Phew, she was worried there for a second. She’d been worried enough as it was having found out that her sonic rainboom this day had put a pony in hospital; it would be much worse if she’d broken every window in Canterlot as well. She did that enough with the Ponyville library windows.

All around them as they walked, ponies, mostly earth ponies, were sweeping up the glass into the gutters. It’d be much easier if they had unicorns do it, but as it was unicorns were few and far between; most of them had gone to the hospital with headaches. Twilight’s fault again. That said, right now little Rainbow Dash was unconscious, so she wasn’t much better. At least they didn’t have to do the broken glass dance. Well, Rainbow and Fluttershy didn’t have to, anyway; Pinkie didn’t need to but she was doing it anyway, drawing various stares as she tip-hooved across the cobblestones which had already been cleared.

Applejack had stayed at the hospital, Pinkie said, and they were going to meet her there. As long as she didn’t have to go inside, Rainbow was fine. A couple of months had passed since then, but that whole time when she’d been stuck in Ponyville hospital going up the wall in boredom was still on the edge of her mind. Sure, Daring Do had alleviated that - and gone far beyond the call of duty in the meantime - but being stuck with a damaged wing in a bed for three days wasn’t the sort of thing she could just take lightly.

Hospitals were so boring. The charity drive had been okay, but that was outside. Inside it was boredom city.

At this point the only thing that was going to liven things up would be Twilight’s reaction when Applejack inevitably told her about Pinkie’s balloon.

As it turned out, she didn’t have to worry about going inside; the street outside the main entrance was clogged with groaning unicorns queuing to get inside themselves. Then after that, it turned out they didn’t have to worry about finding Applejack at all, as pretty soon a familiar orange head exited through the doors, followed by two more familiar purple and white heads.

“Pinkie!” called Applejack, shouldering her way through the throng. “Y’found them!”

“Absotootley!” Pinkie beamed. “Well, they kinda found me, but it works the same! We’re all together again, yippee!”

Rarity looked tired, but determined. Twilight looked like she did when Rainbow woke her up in the mornings. That was some serious stress mane she had going on. By contrast, Applejack looked perfectly fine, like today was just a walk in the park for her. Well, actually… if you thought about it, those times they’d faced Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis and Sombra were all way more stressful than today had been. Swooping out of a collapsing building took less effort than it had taken to fight all those Changelings.

So really it wasn’t the most epic adventure they’d ever had. It just ranked up there somewhere.

“Let’s get somewhere private,” Twilight was saying. “I can cancel the time travel any time I want now, but I’d rather do it where nopony can see us. I know somewhere that’ll be empty.”

“And when we get there, I can tell you all about how I completed a stable time loop!” said Pinkie, grinning from ear to ear. Fluttershy put a hoof over her mouth, Applejack put one of hers over her face, and Rainbow got ready to plug her ears. Here it comes…

Twilight looked at Rarity, looked back at Pinkie Pie, and smiled sweetly.

“You did what?!”

24 - The Switch

So many strange things happened on May 21st, in the 990th year of the Celestial Era. It was said in the aftermath that the magic of the world had anticipated its events, that the weird and wonderful had been drawn to Canterlot on that day specifically. Indeed, ponies that would never normally have come to Canterlot could be found everywhere in the city at the time of the explosions, explosions that changed so many lives. In fact, Princess Celestia had been heard to say afterwards, such was the variety of character in the city on the day that some ponies were practically invisible. While her odd choice of words left questions on her subjects’ minds, it was true that some of the stranger individuals were part of the crowd.

Invisible was good. Invisible was preferable. Because here, in the castle, if they weren’t invisible, Twilight and Rarity were going to be thrown in the dungeon forever.

It was about quarter to ten, if the clock in the parlor where they’d landed was accurate. Fourty-eight minutes, give or take, to complete a tight schedule before the sonic rainboom and subsequent magic explosion. Poor Rarity was lost right from the get-go, but for once, for the first time since this whole mess with the workbook, the prophecies and the time travel began, Twilight knew exactly what she needed to do. And she had a mental checklist for it. In the absence of an easily accessible scroll and Spike to follow her around with it, the mental one would have to do.

First, she needed to get to the Meditation Chamber. In her possession was the Iris that had spent eleven years with Reeds Melody, and in that room was the Iris that had just spent the last who-knows-how-many years suspended above the telescope. It didn’t take a genius to work out what needed to happen, and once she’d explained it to Rarity, she got it immediately.

“You have to swap out the one you have for the one that’s there,” she worked out. “Yes, I suppose that makes sense.”

It made perfect sense, because the second part of the plan was taking that version of the Iris and taking it with them to Reeds Melody, who they’d somehow convince to hold on to it for eleven years, completing the loop, and thus another circle was unraveled into a straight line.

Meditation Chamber - Twilight Sparkle - Reeds Melody - Twilight Sparkle - Meditation Chamber - Twilight Sparkle - Trixie.

After the first part, dealing with Reeds would actually be quite easy. Comparatively, anyway. It felt like cheating a little, but Twilight could now remember the shared dream she’d had with Spike, Princess Luna and Sweeping Stroke, and that meant that all she and Rarity had to do was assume the roles of the ponies who’d come to help Reeds with her experiment. Since she already knew what Reeds was going to say and do, at least up to the explosions, it was only a matter of formulating a correct set of responses - the original set of responses. When explaining it to her companion, Twilight had likened it to reading from the transcript of a conversation that you were still having.

Then both of them had realized that made absolutely no sense whatsoever and Twilight had ditched that analogy in shame. She might know what she was doing, but it was taking a toll on her sanity. After that, Rarity swore that no matter the outcome of these events, as soon as they were settled back in Ponyville she was going to drag Twilight to the spa whether she liked it or not. At this point… Twilight wouldn’t fight her. After all of this, she wanted at least a week without a Crazy Friendship Adventure.

That was planning too far ahead though.

Both stages of the schedule had some microstages. For example, the first microstage for stage 1 was to actually get to the Meditation Chamber in the first place. Fortunately, Twilight’s sudden recollection of the dream in CE611 had come with a bonus: remembering the secret passage they’d used to get from the Meditation Chamber out to where Reeds had been, via the Round Table and the Royal Portrait Gallery. This time there would be no dodging areas of unbuilt dream world. Just dodging royal guards. Her own memory of the layout of the castle was proving invaluable, though, and it had taken only a quick examination of the room to determine the quickest route through the castle to the Gallery.

Their window was limited, and every time they had to hide from a guard, it would be closing on them. No time to waste, then.

Mostly the two unicorns kept quiet as they snuck through the halls. Occasionally they’d pass a maid, or hide from a guard. Eventually they figured out that each of them had a method that actually worked: Twilight would studiously ignore passing ponies, like she’d done when she was studying here, while Rarity would trot with impunity as if she owned the place. So long as they looked like they belonged there, they were treated as such. One major thing they had going for them was Twilight’s knowledge of the day’s events around the castle, knowledge that she’d gathered when she’d started as Celestia’s student, and Twilight herself was very relieved to work out that by now Princess Celestia would be in the gardens, and wouldn’t enter the castle again until she had to deal with a certain, er… problem.

Other major players would be Shining Armor and Cadance, who hadn’t hooked up yet but he was still assigned to be her personal guard anyway, they were in the gardens too; Prince Blueblood, who Twilight was pretty sure was still asleep in his quarters; Raven, in her first month on the job as Celestia’s scribe, probably in her office; Summer Tornado, the current captain of the guard, who was out somewhere on patrol; and Mayfleet, the royal messenger, who at this point could be just about anywhere.

“Oh, her,” Rarity said, when Twilight related this. “Yes, I remember. She came to Ponyville when we had that whole Wednesday debacle.”

Twilight nodded. “That’s right. She never mentioned seeing an adult me in the castle today, but I wouldn’t put it past her to be lost somewhere around here.”

“Do you mean to say her sense of direction is…”

“Just as bad now as it is the present.” Mayfleet had quickly built up a reputation in the castle for being the only pegasus to get lost in the foyer. While she still got all her messages delivered on time - probably through that strange magic that kept the Ponyville post office afloat - it was unbelievable just how bad her sense of direction was. “This way. We can take a shortcut through the— oh, right.”

Rarity looked up at the door for which Twilight had grabbed the handle with her magic, then looked back at Twilight, who had gone very, very red. “Whatever is the matter, darling?”

“It’s the… music room.”

The last time Twilight had seen the interior of the music room, she’d been swimming in it. Of course, it had been in her mind that the room had been intact in 990, that was why she’d plotted a shortcut through it - but it was just so embarrassing. Clearly she hadn’t learned from her mistakes either, because just as with this whole thing involving Prophetia, that incident had involved just casting Rainmaker without a proper understanding of what the spell did.

Even now, though, it seemed the room didn’t get much traffic anyway. There were scant few instruments, a couple pianos here, a harp there, most of which were covered with dust sheets. Everypony, even the Princess, just attended classical concerts in the city now. Much as she was loathe to admit it, by flooding the room Twilight had given it a new lease of life. Princess Celestia actually seemed quite taken by the notion of a swimming bath in the castle, and after casting Erasure and chastising Twilight for not reading the whole book before skipping straight to the spell she had overseen the renovations herself. What Princess Luna must think of it, Twilight couldn’t even hazard a guess.

“It’s a bit…” Rarity searched around the room for a word “…dull. Could use some cleaning up.” She winced at the sound of her own voice echoing off the walls in all the wrong ways. “And the acoustics are frankly dreadful. How do you remember this room?” Instantly Twilight went bright red again. “Oh dear. Sore subject?”

“Yes, um…” Twilight stopped for a moment to rub the back of her head. “Do you recall what Spike was saying on the trip to Hoofington last week?”

Rarity too stopped, magic already on the exit door handle. “Last week…” her eyes widened. “You didn’t.”

“I did.”

“Words will be had, Twilight Sparkle,” said the other unicorn grimly, opening the door.

From the music room it was only a couple of halls to the Portrait Gallery. It was guarded, of course, why wouldn’t it be? But they found a storage closet nearby, and from there Twilight could easily teleport them, now that she had a more-or-less clear picture of what the inside of the Gallery looked like. Between now and Spike waddling around it looking for food there shouldn’t be too much that changed.

Inside, though, there was a very obvious difference; the painting of the sonic rainboom. While the other paintings in the gallery were lit and clean, the sonic rainboom painting was half-covered by a cloth sheet, almost forgotten about. Frowning, Twilight strode over and pulled the cloth off. Why? Why was this painting in particular covered? Sure, it wasn’t a portrait, but there were a few non-portraits among the many pony faces in the gallery. Why wouldn’t the Princess want to look at this?

Then she looked down at the cloth, realized something else, and her eyes widened. She hadn’t noticed when it had been hung over the frame, but now that she got a proper look at it, there was no denying what it actually was: a cloak. The same cloak, in fact, that the mystery pony had been wearing in the Meditation Chamber the last time she was there, and had subsequently been given to Trixie. Slowly, she facehoofed.

“That seems… suspicious,” Rarity said, when Twilight explained the source of her exasperation. “I mean, for one, who’d cover such a lovely painting with a cloak? And why is there suddenly a cloak when you actually need one?” Then she continued with what Twilight had actually expected her to mention. “That, and it’s an awfully drab cloak.”

It was indeed very suspicious, but they didn’t have time to go around making accusations. Twilight threw the cloak on hurriedly and headed for where the passage to the Round Table emerged; in the memory, it had been a door, but now it was behind what turned out to be a painting of a tree in one of the castle courtyards. Strange, but again, no time for speculation. Taking only a matter of seconds to locate the catch, she carefully swung the painting open, ushered Rarity in, then closed it behind them.

Taking the steps down two at a time, and nearly paying for it when she tripped on the cloak at the bottom, Twilight hurried forwards. Funny thing, with all this time travel; now they didn’t have enough of it. Ahead, the sun/moon doors were firmly shut, but moved easily under the power of two unicorns’ magic.

Rarity’s gasp drew Twilight’s attention away from the door and to the state of the room, which… wow. Her jaw hit the floor.

In the memory, the room had been pristine, aside from the empty painting frames. Today, it was a room which hadn’t been entered for a very, very long time. Above them, the domed ceiling had been penetrated by a tree’s roots, which hung down limply in the centre and crawled down the walls. Dust and dirt and grime was everywhere. Where the middle of the room had been empty was now a heap of decaying stonework. The other four doors were in varying states of disrepair, too, and one set was completely missing.

Yet it still gave off that air of Importance. Despite its age, Twilight still felt like the room was the most important one in the castle. Now that it wasn’t a dream, she could feel magic thrumming through it. If she didn’t know any better, she’d suspect the room was alive.

But as much as she wished to scratch the exploration itch, she still had no time. Oh! She wanted to explore this room so badly! What lay behind the other doors? Why was the room so Important?! The researcher inside her was going nuts. When she got back to the present… ah. Princess Luna had forbidden her from telling anypony else about them. Would Princess Celestia even let her back in here?

Too many questions, not enough time! Agh!

“Twilight, darling, I think you need to calm down. You’re hyperventilating.”

Okay, she had to get out of the room now. If she stayed any longer she was just going to stay forever. Twilight took a moment to work out where the painting to the secret passage was, unsurprisingly the frame was empty, but it made her jump a little when the frame fell off the wall as she opened it.

Rarity peered into the tunnel beyond. “Twilight, I’m afraid I must insist that I borrow that cloak of yours. Otherwise, I’m going to get filthy.”

Sighing, Twilight disrobed and passed the cloak to her companion. No time to argue.

Compared to the secret passage, the colorful glow of the Meditation Chamber was an extremely welcome relief. They couldn’t stay long, there was a clock in there and it told them they only had about twenty minutes, and they still needed to reach the school towers, but for a moment at least they could breathe out.

“You know, it’s a shame,” said Rarity.

“Hmm?” Twilight looked over from where she was trying to figure out how to perform the switch without completely shutting off the stream of magic that was holding the Iris in place.

“These windows,” her friend continued, gesturing to all of the stained glass. “In twenty minutes, these are all going to get broken, and nopony will ever see them again.” She sighed. “I know I’ve made my stance on the stained glass windows of us in the throne room quite clear, but these just have an air of… je ne sais quoi.

“I know my stained glass windows. It may be one thing to design them, but to actually construct them is a very delicate process. I can’t tell you how many times I saw designers in art school have their projects ruined completely by a tiny mistake.”

To be honest, at this point Twilight had tuned her out. Considering the strength of the Iris she had in her possession, that had spent eleven years with Reeds Melody and had fueled several time travels already, she couldn’t even begin to guess how powerful it really was. And the construct… was she actually a magical representation of the lifebearer?

She exhaled. This would require the utmost of precision. If she screwed up and let the stream dissipate, then she’d have no hope of ever getting it going again. If she screwed up and didn’t get the first Iris released in time, then both of them might get stuck. If she screwed up and… Okay. You won’t screw up, Twilight. In fact, you can’t.

You’ve already done this.

“I’ve always been meaning to look at stained glass as an inspirat—”

FLASH!

What had she done?! What was— Twilight risked opening her eyes. She hadn’t blown up, so that was a plus. Nothing in the room was damaged either. Telescope, fine, windows, fine, Rarity…

Rarity was frozen mid-sentence.

So Twilight did the sensible thing, which was panic. “Rarity?!” She waved a hoof in front of her friend’s face. No response. Didn’t even flex a muscle. This was bad. This was really… wait. Now that she looked closer, there was an almost imperceptible magic aura hanging around Rarity, and once her eyes attuned to it, everything became tinted slightly purple, a certain sign that it was also surrounding her. She pinged it. Time magic, of course, they didn’t belong here, so they’d brought back magic from the future, and… oh, that was genius. Whatever she’d done with the Iris, she’d disrupted the time travel spell, and actually stopped time completely for everypony but herself!

This time magic was drawing on her own, true, but it was so minimal, probably had something to do with Prophetia’s influence. As it were, the combination of spells were indefinitely extending what was supposed to be a temporary time travel spell, and the Iris had probably just kicked the time travel spell into remembering that it was supposed to be temporary… for want of a better metaphor.

Which meant that if she were to just fiddle with it a bit more…

Something very, very quietly went shing.

“I would suggest thinking very carefully about your next move.”

Twilight gulped. That voice meant that the construct in the fully-powered Iris had activated. That noise meant that at least one sword was pointing at the back of her head. “I…”

“You carry a copy of the Iris and you carry timeshifted magic. Explain.”

“MynameisTwilightSparkleandI’vecomebackintimeandI’mtryingtocompletealoop!” Twilight rushed out, not daring to try turning around. This instance of the construct hadn’t met her yet, didn’t know her…

The voice came right down to her ear. “Prove it.”

Know that you have not met me yet… Your future and my past are still intertwined…

She didn’t know why she said the words.

“Rest calm and remember me!”

The atmosphere in the room shifted, and very carefully Twilight risked turning her head so she could see the unicorn, who in turn had gone very still. There was a sword in the air, but it was no longer pointed at Twilight; instead it was off to one side, betraying its wielder’s uncertainty. Seeing her in person - well, in the real world, as opposed to the dream realm - the green of her mane and her cloak almost seemed to jump off into the room, they were so vibrant.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight repeated, feeling slightly more confident that she had the construct’s attention. “I’m the personal student of Princess Celestia, and the Iris I have is the same one but eleven years into the future.”

“You wield Star Swirl’s magic like it was your own,” the other unicorn said, slowly. “And you speak the absolute truth. I do not know how this can be, but you have at least confirmed you have no ill intentions.” Silently, the sword finally withdrew, rejoining its brothers in the scabbard.

Thank you! On the outside, Twilight was visibly relieved. Inside, she was bouncing off the walls. This could be the perfect opportunity to ask some questions! Oh! She had so many! And time was paused, so, figuratively speaking of course, they had all the time in the world for it!

So she was slightly disappointed when the construct asked the first question. “What year is it?”

It almost knocked Twilight for a loop, but of course, the Iris was a self-sustaining charm - it had no way to know what year it was. “The year is 990 in the Celestial Era—” she began.

“Celestial Era?” the construct repeated. “Celestia’s head must be bigger than I remember it.”

“Uh— I’m sorry?”

“Naming a period in history after herself. That’s so stupid it sounds like something I would do. What year is it in Equestrian Royal?”

Equestrian Royal?? Okay, now Twilight was completely baffled. “Uh, she didn’t name the time period, we did. And I’ve never heard of the Equestrian Royal Calendar.” And now she was thinking about things she didn’t know, she couldn’t keep calling the unicorn ‘the unicorn’ or ‘the construct’. “Um, I’m sorry if it’s much to ask, but is there something I can call you…?”

For a moment, the unicorn stared at her, then glanced around the room. “If it has really been that long… perhaps it is best if I do not tell you my real name…” she appeared to consider this a little longer. Then she looked back at Twilight. “You may call me Anthem.”

Anthem. Even if it wasn’t her real one, the name had power. “Okay. Anthem it is. Were you the Lifebringer?”

Anthem blinked back. “Were?” Then “Yes, I suppose… I was called that. Or at least, the real me was.” She gestured to herself. “I am sure you already know that this body is only a construct manifested by the Iris.”

“Yes, of course.” So she was right, Anthem was the Lifebringer, and this construct was essentially a copy made of her at the time the Iris was created. This was all very, very cool. And informative! There was so much they could learn, especially if she was also right in thinking that the Iris pre-dated Nightmare Moon! “So… how old is the Iris?”

“Are you sure you have enough time to ask all the questions you want?” Anthem countered. “I can see that you seek knowledge, but you might need to prioritize.”

“Enough time?” Twilight looked again at Rarity, who was still frozen. “Time’s stopped.”

“Has it?”

“Yes.”

“Has it?”

But Twilight was sure! Nothing was moving! Rarity’s jaw was open, clearly she was in the middle of saying something, and all ambient noise had ceased, so it had to… it had to be…

It was a detail so minute she missed it the first few times she looked. It was slow, ever so slow, but Rarity’s eyelashes were quivering.

“Hasn’t time stopped?”

“It is merely been slowed down to a fraction,” Anthem responded, as if she’d been waiting for her to ask that specific question. “And as it is so slow, the time magic is winding up. It cannot do so forever.”

…because then it would have to unwind and oh that would actually be bad. Rarity would be fine, but if Twilight’s time magic suddenly snapped back and catapulted her into the future without them… so there wasn’t infinite time. Now that she’d seen the magic, it would only be a work of a couple seconds to set time going again - and then actually it’d be pretty simple to dispel the time travel spell on all six of them to return them to the present - and that also removed the problem of how they were going to get back if they had to leave the Iris here.

Okay. She had to think of questions, quickly. Oh, this was nerve-wracking! She could be about to finally get some answers! But she had something more important to do first! Argh! “Right. I need the Iris to follow some instructions. Can it fuel the time traveling spell with enough magic to send the caster(s) to specific points in time?”

Considering this for a moment, Anthem looked up at the original Iris, still suspended in the magic stream. “Yes, it can.” She looked back. “But I must repeat myself, I do not know when ‘now’ is. If you were to tell me a destination, I would not know to what time you would be referring.”

“That’s okay, I’ve got that covered.” Thank goodness for all the time she put into those thought journals. “Minus three hundred and ninety years, plus three hundred ninety, minus three hundred forty-five, plus three hundred forty-five, minus eleven, that’s where we are now, then plus eleven years and minus one month at the same time…” with each number she rattled off, Anthem’s eyebrows climbed higher and higher. “Then plus eleven but the Iris stays where it is.”

“That’s… that is a lot of time traveling.” There was concern in her voice, and Twilight understood it perfectly; after all, after the first four the construct would stop functioning, and by the time it was finished pretty much all the magic would be gone. It would take a very long time to build up to what it had been, if it ever would. The real Anthem must have been an exceptional spellcaster. “It doesn’t sound very sensible.” Then she grinned, and now Twilight was somewhat unnerved, because for a split-second it was about half an inch away from becoming the smile that Pinkie Pie put on when she completely lost it. “Sounds exactly like the sort of thing I would do.”

Then again, given her blatantly reckless disregard for spell safety, as she’d witnessed first-hoof in the vault… Star Swirl wasn’t going to be surpassed as her idol any time soon. If Anthem were a pegasus, though, Rainbow Dash would be all over this.

That covered that base. Next part. “Okay. Can the Iris detect certain spells being cast?”

“Only if they’re powerful enough.”

“Prophetia?”

“If not controlled properly, yes.”

Good, because Twilight certainly didn’t control it properly when she first cast it. “When the Iris detects that in eleven years, just…” how would she describe the way it had reacted during Reeds’ visit to the hospital? “Pulse. Waiting signal, something like that. Then…” can’t forget this “…instruct the pony who’s carrying the Iris to send a letter to me so I can find her.”

The other unicorn smiled, and this time it wasn’t that crazy grin, it was a genuine, warm smile that for some reason made Twilight feel very relaxed. Princess Celestia did it all the time. “Yes, the Iris can do that.”

“Of course, probably best to warn you, when the loop finally evens out most of the magic in the Iris will be dry.” Oh, fiddlesticks. She’d just blurted that out.

Fortunately, Anthem merely sighed. “Yes, I suspected as much. Thank you for being honest about it. Still, it will not be the first time. It has survived this long; it will survive you.”

She said it as if Twilight was the ultimate destructive force. Now Twilight had to ask. “Just how old is the Iris?”

“How long ago was it formed? Aeons.”

Twilight blinked, then shook her head. “Not what I meant.” How could she rephrase it? “When were you - I mean you as in the construct - put into the Iris?”

“You see me as I appeared in real life in the four-hundred-and-sixty-eighth year of the Equestrian Royal Calendar.” Anthem rubbed her chin. “Though I suppose you have no frame of reference for that. I suspect you are about to ask how long exactly have I been in the Iris; the truth is that while it is an immensely powerful artifact, it does have its limits. Your requests for enough magic to time travel are easy enough to calculate, but after a significant amount of time, the, well, timekeeping does degrade somewhat.” She shrugged. “I can ask it how long it’s been, but it won’t give an answer greater than around five hundred years.” She paused. “Four hundred and ninety seven years, five months, seven days. And twelve minutes.”

And since it probably pre-dated Nightmare Moon, that was over a thousand years… it could be just about any time. Darnit. Twilight added a note to her thought journal to ask Princess Celestia how to convert to the Equestrian Royal Calendar. Actually, make that to ask Princess Celestia about the Lifebearer in general. Maybe she knew her real name. Oh, and she still had to follow da Colton’s request and ask about what happened in 617 too. And the painting, and the book as well now that she thought about it…

Suddenly she was startled by Anthem putting a hoof on her shoulder. Her body was only a construct, but it felt so real, and… and… Twilight almost sagged. Anthem’s touch was exactly what she’d felt when the Iris had washed that relaxing feeling over her. In a spa, those hooves would be miracle workers. It was almost as if she were focusing her unicorn magic down into her hooves like earth ponies did.

“Twilight,” she said soothingly, and it was all Twilight could do to resist melting. “Our time is just about up. If you do not release the time magic within the next few minutes, you will lose the rest of your opportunities.”

“But…”

“No buts. You must do this. Haven’t you already?”

Well, she had, but… An idea came to her. “Wait a second. You’ve been unaware of everything going on in Equestria for the past who knows how long?”

“Yes…?”

Twilight lit up her horn. If there was one last thing she could do… “Are you willing to accept my Share?”

“Twilight, I’m not a real pony. You don’t need my permission.”

Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra, and everything in between. That was what she showed the Iris. The past meeting the future, meeting the past. Was it a good idea sharing the knowledge of such threats to Equestria to such a powerful magical charm, especially as it was going to be around when those things happened? Twilight didn’t know, but she couldn’t help but treat the construct as if she were a real pony, because she was, once. Like Princess Luna, she had lost a thousand years of history, probably much more. Even if the first time she saw Twilight was the last time Twilight would see her… Just a little something for Anthem to remember her by.

When the process finished, Anthem sat back quietly. Then she spoke. “…I see. It seems both you and Equestria have been through much difficulty.” She looked up, meeting Twilight’s gaze. “You have suffered so much… At least it is good to know that I did not fail, in the end.”

“Fail what, Anthem?”

Just as it seemed she was finally about to get a new avenue of exploration, something twinged in her horn. Oh no. The time magic was reaching a critical level… the conversation was at an end.

“Good luck, Starshine,” said Anthem, standing again, and gently removing the original Iris from the magic stream, replacing it with the future version. “Every little memory.”

“…that rests calm in me,” Twilight automatically repeated Luna’s half of the phrase she’d heard in the dream. “But… my name’s Twilight Sparkle, not Starshine.”

Anthem smiled. “They are the same word.”

Oh.

OH!

FLASH!

“—n for some sort of- Twilight? Are you alright?”

No, no she was not alright, her horn was on fire, but she knew how to fix it. “Rarity,” Twilight said, through gritted teeth. All of that time magic still had to unwind still, without throwing her back into the future, that meant she had a whole lot of magic that needed burning off… “Take the Iris, go out that door to the left, and keep running until you reach the stairs. I’ll be right behind you.”

“I’m not sure I understand—”

Twilight threw the Iris at her. Not the best day to deal with an extremely powerful magic charm, but unless she burned it off now, she was going to cause an explosion ahead of schedule. “Just go, Rarity!” Then she grimaced, and turned to the sandstone slab. She hadn’t looked at it when they’d entered the room, but now she already knew it was going to be blank.

And she didn’t shout. She whispered, and the spell cast on her command. “Prophetia.”

No chisel. She didn’t need one. She had magic, and in that instant, her brain was working with how the spell was meant to be cast: old Equestrian. So when the day dawns on the great spark’s morn, the past will rise with a thousand eyes. When the chime is heard, fourth before third, do not put all of your faith in the star-shine that shows you everything. Though the mage opens the life-bearer’s vault, the magic unleashed will not be her fault. The circle be writ, six into three split, Cross the city of nine hundred and ninety.

When she’d been in the room… when she would be in the room in a few minutes, she’d mistranslate the last number. What she’d failed to notice was that she’d also mistranslated ‘star-shine’. It was a valid translation, but the more proper one was ‘twilight sparkle’.

It wasn’t a message for her. But she knew who it was for.

“Sweeping Stroke?” she said, softly, as the spell released its hold on her. There was no way to know if he was watching from the past, of course. “If you can hear me… I’m sorry.” Do not trust the twilight sparkle that shows you everything. Another message that was far, far too late.

From her right, the sound of hoofsteps. Go time. She pulled up the hood of her cloak, loosened the pin, and started using her magic to tidy up some of the places where the script hadn’t properly carved in. This needed to be executed perfectly.

“…where that pony is?” came Ditzy’s voice. Ten seconds. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Surreptitiously, she grabbed hold of the edge of the cloak in her magic. Five. Four. Three.

“Excuse me!”

Two. One. Go.

Rainbow Dash would have been jealous of how smoothly she pulled the move off. In a single motion, she swept the cloak off, hurled it at her past self, and used the two seconds where she was completely obscured to gallop to the exit door and slam it. Textbook. And for the final play, she threw the bolt home.

She had to keep herself from going ‘oh’ out loud as she realized that this was the action that Trixie had prophesized her doing. Instead, she ran off down the corridor in search of Rarity. So, back in the dream, she had been right, the pony who’d locked them in the Meditation Chamber had been her all along. Maybe subconsciously at least she had recognized herself. But back then, she hadn’t known time travel was involved. Boy, wasn’t Past Twilight in for a shock soon. How soon? Uhh…

Crud.

Hopefully neither Professor Stormy Eye nor Reeds would notice that the two unicorns who showed up to assist in the experiment were slightly out of breath, or comment on the fact that one of them was carrying a makeshift saddlebag with an extremely powerful magical charm inside. Best not to ask Rarity what she made it from, mainly because it had come from the castle and therefore was likely to be expensive. But she did have a point. Even though they were going to get Reeds to hold on to it, it wasn’t like they could go through the grounds to get to where the experiment was taking place just holding it out where anypony could see it.

Just as well, because they stepped out of the castle, Twilight saw a familiar face and hissed “(Princess!)” before scooting the pair of them into a bush.

Making it to the tower was vital, but they had to be sure they weren’t seen on the way there either. If Princess Celestia saw the two of them there, especially Twilight, then the whole thing was ruined. Fortunately it looked like the Princess was occupied; she was facing the other way, and talking to another pony, and typically as mysterious ponies did they were wearing a dark hooded cloak that obscured most of their features. Please say it wasn’t… phew. Every now and then past the Princess Twilight could see a flash of a scarlet red tail, so it wasn’t her come back in time yet again. Not that she’d risk talking to the Princess in the past so brazenly.

Then she noticed another problem, which was that Mayfleet was between them and where they needed to go, with her eyes on the Princess and staying at ‘I’ve been told to give somepony some privacy but stick around’ distance. Okay. This could get ugly. No teleporting, the Princess would detect that. But there was no time to do anything clever! They needed to get to the school tower right—

“(I’ve got this),” whispered Rarity, starting to move. “(You go while I’ve got her distracted!)”

“(But Rarity—!)”

But Rarity was already up and on the move, heading directly for the monochrome messenger. Fumbling, Twilight tumbled out of the other side of the bush. Well, Mayfleet seeing Rarity was less of a problem than her seeing Twilight, at least… she grimaced. Mayfleet was a good friend of hers, but the road to that friendship had been pretty rocky. Much of the next ten years young Twilight would spend studiously ignoring her olive branches of friendship, at least up until the Princess stopped using her to communicate with her student and started using Spike instead. After that, well, she’d stay firm friends with Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, and with Twilight’s parents, too, until Twilight herself saw the error of her ways.

She could have treated Mayfleet better.

From where she was, she couldn’t hear what Rarity was saying to her, but it was giving her the opportunity she needed to sneak around the pair of them. The problem was, Mayfleet’s memory, despite her sense of direction, was phenomenal. If Twilight were to ask her about it, not only would she be able to tell her that she’d talked to Rarity in the castle today, but also exactly what had been said and that Rarity had been carrying a hastily constructed saddlebag, which she had to admit was impressive for a pegasus who could turn ninety degrees to the left and finish pointing straight downwards. At one point, she thought she’d been spotted, and froze; but whatever Rarity said managed to draw back Mayfleet’s attention before she could turn around.

“(What did you say to her?)” she whispered, as Rarity finally rejoined her around a corner, and the two set off at a brisk trot towards the school tower.

“(I simply asked her where I might find the throne room.)”

They both looked to their left, where two distant guards guarded the very obvious entrance into the throne room antechamber.

“(Did she have any idea?)”

Rarity giggled. “(Not in the slightest.)”

Twilight had never visited this particular tower, not in real life, anyway, only in the dream. It was more of a communal space, and by the time she was old enough to be using it, she had shunned contact with her fellow students altogether. Only her knowledge of the castle grounds saved her from not being able to find it at all. Like the Maids’ Lodge, she’d just never had any reason to go inside it.

Here goes, then… she pushed open the door, and stepped into the memory.

The interior of the room was littered with weather surveying equipment, and judging from some of the furniture, it was supposed to be a student lounge. Students had certainly had their way with it, to Rarity’s disgust. There were discarded books and papers everywhere, and now that Twilight was actually there, she had to fight the urge to tidy it all up. If she was honest, this was partially why she’d withdrawn from studying with the other students of her age in the first place, some of them were just so messy.

Exactly as Twilight remembered, Professor Eye was startled to see them. “Oh! I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware there were any students in today,” he said, looking between the two of them in slight confusion. “It’s the induction today, you see. Lots of little’uns running about. Can I help you with anything?”

No hesitations. “Yes, professor,” said Twilight, instantly slipping back into Student Mode. “I’m Starshine and this,” she waved at Rarity “is Moonshine. We’re alumni. I heard that Reeds Melody is here? Could we speak to her?”

“Oh, that should be easy enough. Reeds!” The professor turned around, calling out to the tower in general. “Reeds! Where is that filly? Reeds!” Listening to music in the next room. “I think she’s around somewhere. We’re preparing for an experiment, you see. If you’d care to follow me…”

Maybe following the script of a conversation you’re still having was inaccurate, after all. It was more like acting in a play where everypony else has a script but all you’ve got is improvisation, and you still had to make sure that after you said your line, the next line made sense in context. This was all very, very weird, like deja vu in reverse. First, Twilight had lived through the memory of the event, and now she was acting in the original event. All of this was of course lost on Rarity, who was encountering the situation for the first time just like Reeds Melody would be. Darn you, temporal causality!

Turning the corner into the next room, yup, there was Reeds, head bouncing away to whatever music she was listening to, completely oblivious to both the impending event and the impending professor. Reeds Melody, impossible dream pony and coffee addict, was about to enter the story for the first time. It was nerve-wracking.

But, really, was getting it wrong even possible?

Professor Eye tutted, and rolled his eyes, as Twilight knew he would. (It would later occur to her that Reeds was paying attention to none of this - she was facing the other way, and listening to loud music besides. Was her subconscious just picking up on what was going on behind her?) “I should have known.” He tapped her on the shoulder. “REEDS!”

Reeds Melody took off in fright and— and crashed into the ceiling. “Ah!” she exclaimed, whipping the headphones off and rubbing her head. “Ouch! Don’t do that, you scared me!”

If Reeds thought she was scared, Twilight was nearly catatonic. She didn’t do that in the memory. “You’ll ruin your ears listening to it at that volume!” the professor was saying, actually taking the headphones from her and setting them on the desk. “And you have visitors!”

It took all of Twilight’s willpower to get her facial expression under control as Reeds looked between her and Rarity. No, she distinctly remembered this, Sweeping Stroke had been next to her, looking at the headphones on the floor. But they weren’t on the floor. “Are you supposed to be here?” Reeds said, coming up into Twilight’s face, before turning back to the professor. “Are they supposed to be here?”

REEDS: Is she supposed to be here?

“They’re alumni,” Professor Eye said patiently, with that practiced tone that all teachers got after enough problem students.

“Yes,” added Rarity, taking charge in the absence of any input from Twilight, who was still wondering what in Equestria was going on. “I am Moonshine,” she rattled off the pseudonym flawlessly, “and this is Starshine.”

“Oh, really?” Reeds didn’t seem entirely convinced, but she got out of their personal space anyway. “Welcome back.”

Here was a tricky part, and fortunately Twilight recovered herself enough to launch into her pre-prepared bit of the script. Rarity wouldn’t know enough about the school in general to be able to come up for a plausible excuse as to why they were there to help. This was where Twilight’s experience came in useful. “We got a letter from Professor Yorsets,” she said, hoping they’d buy it. It wasn’t like they’d be able to confirm it with him - he was about to be giving younger herself her entrance examination. Plus, he sometimes helped out with Pegasus Studies, more so than the other teachers, anyway. Personally Twilight had never met Professor Stormy Eye, not until today anyway, but he should accept that. “He asked us to come in and assist you with… some kind of weather experiment? He wasn’t specific.”

Professor Eye nodded along with her as she spoke. Good. If he accepted it, Reeds probably would. “Something like that, yeah,” the pegasus mare said, suggesting further to her later statement that she also had no idea what she was doing. Then she addressed the professor. “Look, are we going to get started, or—”

“Professor!”

Right, this was the part when, in the dream, Daffodil came in. Obviously it wasn’t Daffodil. No, it was Mayfleet again, which made things worse.

At least she didn’t come all the way into the building, and the professor went to her rather than the other way around. That would have been hard to explain, now for both of them, since Rarity had asked her for directions to the throne room. And this wasn’t the throne room. Couldn’t get much further removed from it, really. Both unicorns just settled for freezing and not daring to turn around in case they got spotted.

For her part, Reeds blew Twilight’s mind again. “Fifth time in twenty minutes he’s gotten distracted,” she muttered, rolling her eyes. “We’re never gonna get this done.”

How? How was this possible? Twilight had lived through this moment already, so why was it different?! Why were they off-script?! It didn’t make any sense! She thought she had this all figured out!

The professor interrupted her inevitable mental breakdown. “I’m sorry, ladies,” he said, poking his head back into the room, “but I’m afraid I’m needed elsewhere. I’m the only pegasus staff professor on the campus and somepony’s let their little darling play hide and seek in the gymnasium. Reeds, we’ll have to do this another time.”

Nope, you’re doing it now. “Well, Professor Yorsets did ask us to come and help,” repeated Twilight, voice a little strained, possibly overacting a little. “I’m sure nothing can go that wrong if the three of us are working on it…”

The glare that Reeds shot her would have rivaled Fluttershy’s stare, but it quickly faded into a resigned nod. Come on, Reeds, the sooner you get this done, the sooner you can get your coffee. Just, you know, after you fall in a fountain and go to the hospital. Not a big deal.

“Well, you’ve got some volunteers, Reeds,” said Professor Eye jovially. “Glad to know somepony pays attention to my lectures.” He jokingly elbowed Rarity in the side as he said so, an action with which she was not best pleased. “Are you comfortable with that?”

Wait, no, hang on. In the memory, Reeds’ expression in the next part had suggested she was disappointed that the experiment might be canceled, but now she felt the opposite?

“If you feel you don’t want to, darling—” Rarity started.

“O-kay,” interrupted Reeds, in the familiar tone of voice of surrender. “I can work with that. Both of you, follow me.” She paused. “Good luck, Prof.”

“Parents,” replied the professor, shrugging. “Come find me if anything unexpected happens.”

With that, he was gone, the door to the outside shutting behind him. Yeah, it had been a little odd in the memory that Reeds hadn’t properly acknowledged his departure… It was only as they were climbing the stairs behind Reeds that Twilight finally got it, and she had to resist the urge to whack her head on the wall a few times. She was so stupid. It was a memory. It wasn’t infallible. Even if there was going to be a big event in a few minutes, that didn’t mean Reeds was guaranteed to remember every single detail. Why would she want to remember that she hit her head on the ceiling? Maybe deep down, she did want the experiment to go ahead, and that’s how she remembered behaving?

As if mocking her, Reeds then said exactly what she was supposed to say, and it felt like an affront on her sudden realization, and that somehow made it worse. “I hope you know what you’re doing. I’m new to this too, you know.”

“Oh, it can’t be that hard,” Rarity said flippantly, completely underestimating how hard it was actually going to be. Twilight wished she’d been able to do a little research on the equipment in use, but seeing as she’d only realized that they’d be doing this in the instant that she started casting the time travel spell, there had just been no time.

So, yeah. No, they didn’t know what they were doing either.

Upstairs, there were more little changes. Not so much of the equipment was covered with dust sheets, though the machine they were using remained the only one switched on, and there were more little things that Twilight recognized. That anemometer - could it possibly be the same one she’d used just in February to measure the wingpower of the pegasi in Ponyville? It had been among the items she’d had brought down from Canterlot when she moved to the town… that, and she’d made the embarrassing habit of hoarding the magical things that she was given to work with, while all of her studies were in the library tower.

A lot of it would still be there, actually, unless anypony had gone in to find it, and even then they probably wouldn’t. Princess Celestia had marveled at her ability to get things lost amongst the shelves, some of which Twilight was sure went on for longer than the building was wide. Her mentor had joked that maybe, if she kept going, she’d end up in another library altogether; naturally, Twilight had taken the jest completely seriously and laboriously avoided the deep sections for a year.

One rather glaring addition was a table with Reeds’ bag on it, along with several empty and one full coffee cup, the latter of which Reeds swiped on her way past. It was only about half ten. Once more, Twilight found herself wondering how this mare even slept normally.

“Sit yourself over there,” Reeds said between gulps of coffee, gesturing with the coffee cup. “Let’s get this show on the road. Sooner we get in, sooner we get done.”

“What exactly are you hoping to measure?” Rarity asked, throwing Twilight completely off-script again. On the machine, the information was readable now, though not very useful, as all the sensors for it were inside.

“Eh, I dunno.” Reeds tossed the coffee cup and started untangling the balloon’s cords. “Like I said, I’m just the assistant. Well, all else fails, we can just write down what we see and the prof’ll make some sense of it. There we go.” Then she looked up, saw Rarity fiddling with the dials on the machine, and rolled her eyes. “Come on, Moonshine, if you keep doing that you’re gonna break it.”

No, that wasn’t right. That hadn’t been part of the memory, but… hadn’t Reeds said that in her sleep? So she did remember it?

Before she could even begin puzzling it out, Reeds had ducked outside with the balloon, and was holding it out some distance from herself. “It should be coming through! What do you see?”

Silently, Rarity threw Twilight a plea for help. The fashionista had gotten swept up in it and carried away, and now she needed assistance. Twilight trotted up behind her to peer at the display, which wasn’t doing a lot. “It’s still searching for the data!” she called out, looking back towards the window over her shoulder. Rainbow Dash was in the race right now. They were really doing this. They were making it happen.

“Are you sure? That can’t be right. I zeroed that thing myself.”

“(How are we supposed to know if it’s working or not?)” Rarity hissed, a little too loudly.

“You’ll know when it’s working!”

And in ten… nine… eight… seven…

“Agh!” Rarity leapt backwards as the machine roared into life with a loud buzz, and a stream of numbers poured across the display. Even though she was only paying half attention to them, Twilight suppressed a chuckle. It was giving them weather information, sure - but it was also recording a dramatic change in the ambient magic levels. If Professor Eye had been here, he would have called Reeds in immediately, and just as suddenly shot off to get the Princess. You couldn’t ignore numbers that high.

Before the storm, the world had taken a deep breath.

“It’s working,” was all Twilight said.

“At last! Now, hurry up and let’s get on with this so we can—”

BANG.

“—the hay?”

Twilight and Rarity tripped over each other trying to get to the window to watch the rainboom. Sure, it wasn’t such a rare event now that Rainbow Dash had been practicing them, but how often did you get to watch the colors in the sky that had set you on the path to your cutie mark? Well, Twilight had now watched this one three times, and Rarity twice, but that was besides the point. Somewhere far away, Rarity was about to discover that her magic had dragged her straight to a motherlode; somewhere up and to their left, Twilight was about to explode, and Spike was about to be born. Time travel… she’d thought it before, but she thought it again. Time travel was weirdly wonderful.

Unlike the dream, the windrush didn’t affect the two unicorns, which made sense, they were inside. Outside was a different story, as Reeds struggled to maintain her position while the balloon slipped out of her grasp and disappeared. “I lost the balloon!” she shouted, pointing after it but trying to watch the rainboom at the same time. “We could have gotten something from that!”

Now Twilight had to think of something to do. She’d been putting it off, hoping that a solution would present itself. Pulling Reeds back inside the window would be easy, but that wouldn’t do any good if her own magic triggered a fourth explosion.

“I had to make that balloon from scratch!” Reeds complained petulantly. She was flying closer, just as she had in the memory, but still she was too far away. Come on, come on… “We’re gonna have to do this again when the weather’s better.”

“Reeds!”

“You know, I really think—”

It was a move so stupid it would no doubt have received more praise from the Iris… from Anthem. But Twilight was out of ideas. Concentrating on the time magic that surrounded her, she nudged it, looking for the same thing she’d done in the Meditation Chamber. They were out of time… so it was time to make some more.

FLA—

Author's Note

"And if you go really deep into the shelves, you might see an adult male orang-utan. He's supposed to be there."

25 - The Moment

10:32:14
10:32:15
10:32:16—

Time magic was a tricky thing. It had eluded Twilight Sparkle on all of the previous occasions of her casting it, intentionally or otherwise. Doing the wrong thing at the wrong moment, Anthem had intimated, could result in a backlash that would unravel the magic like a coiled spring, firing the target of the magic back into the future before they knew what was going on. Now that she knew about it, it was how she planned to get herself and her friends back to 1001; simply disrupt all of the time magic at the same time and force it to complete.

Getting here had been relatively easy, compared to this.

Consider your next move very carefully.

A wall of magic stretched up into the sky outside the tower. Less than a second had passed since the explosion in the other school tower, and right at this very moment little Twilight Sparkle was venting magic out into the world at a very unhealthy rate. Princess Celestia would be present in less than a minute to stop the flow, and after about an hour of elation over her newfound mentor and her newly-gained cutie mark, Twilight herself would be taken to hospital as a precaution for magic exhaustion. Shining Armor would too, actually. He’d done his duty and used his shield spell to protect Princess Cadance from the overload, and it left him a little frazzled. Both of their parents, who’d spent about twenty seconds as potted plants, were deemed to have been spared the brunt of it, as had the teachers in the room, whose only damage came in the form of gravity-inflicted bruises.

Right now, though, that was yet to happen, because the explosion was still happening.

Once she’d regained her senses, Twilight set about disrupting the same part of the spell matrix for Rarity, then while her friend recovered, she could set about figuring out what to do with Reeds. Reeds was native to this time period, she had no time magic surrounding her. Short of introducing time magic to her, and thus running the risk of having it stick around for a long time, there wasn’t much choice.

“Twilight…?” Rarity managed, rubbing her head. “What did you—”

“Stopped time. Can’t keep it that way for long.”

Well. Might as well get her inside, anyway. It was surprisingly easy to grab the frozen pegasus, halted mid-recognition, with their magic and haul her inside. It was even more surprising when they were just settling her on the floor and her wings suddenly started flapping to keep her stable in a wind that was no longer there. With a shout, the two unicorns let go, and Reeds tumbled head-over-hooves to land in a pile against the far wall.

It was very frustrating when magical things just happened and she had no time to examine them. Twilight didn’t know enough about time magic to know why that worked, but right now she was just going to roll with it.

“Okay,” said Reeds, upside down. “Somepony gonna tell me what just happened? Moonshine? Starshine?”

I don’t know, Twilight opened her mouth to say. It would be easier if they kept Reeds in the dark about this. What she said instead was, “Time stopped.”

“Nice. Any chance you could un-stop it?”

Before Twilight could come up with an excuse, Rarity fortunately did it for her. “Doing so right now would probably be a bad idea,” she suggested, pointing out of the window towards the explosion-in-progress. “I don’t know about you but I would rather not get caught up in that.”

“Me neither.” Twilight had extra incentive: If she got caught in that wave unprepared, her magic was going to resonate with… well, her magic, and if it didn’t knock her out entirely it would definitely give her a much more serious headache than the rest of the unicorns in the city were going to get. Back in the Meditation Chamber, it hadn’t been that bad, but then she had almost immediately activated the Iris, which had wiped away all her physical troubles, and then she vented it through casting the teleport/time travel spell. Unless Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were going to turn up, say, now, that wasn’t something she could do this time.

With some difficulty, Reeds flopped sideways ungracefully onto the floor, then flapped over to the window to take a look for herself. She whistled. “Wow, you weren’t kidding. What is that?”

No idea. “Magic explosion.” Okay what was going on? Twilight was ready to deny any knowledge of what was going on so she didn’t have to explain it, but then she just said the truth instead—

It was only for a moment, but the Iris pulsed through the sides of Rarity’s saddlebag, and Twilight was sure she caught a glimpse of Anthem’s construct glaring at her disapprovingly. Really, it should have meant nothing. But the message that got through to Twilight was lying will make things harder later. Was the Iris forcing her to answer Reeds’ questions honestly? If that were true, then if she figured out that Starshine wasn’t her real name, then their cover would be blown!

Oh wait. Her name was Star-shine, in Old Equestrian.

Reeds whistled. “Thanks for the save. I may be a pegasus but that doesn’t mean I don’t run for cover every time something blows up.” She paused. “Uh, look, are we going to stay time-stopped forever?” Then she turned around and gestured to the empty coffee cups. “‘Cause I’m almost out of coffee.”

At the same time, Twilight and Rarity facehoofed. Somepony had their priorities set.

So how was Twilight going to approach this? If she were to just hide the Iris in Reeds’ bag, she’d probably drop it off at Lost Property (and the School for Gifted Unicorns’ Lost Property department was rarely staffed, infrequently checked and nopony could ever find it anyway). Or she might end up selling it, which was worse. An extremely powerful magical charm just for sale in a shop… Twilight mentally shuddered. That would be a disaster waiting to happen. On the other hoof, she could just lie go with the direct approach, with some creative editing.

What made it a little worse was that she could tell that the Iris wasn’t directly affecting her thought process; it was just nudging her in a different direction, and it worked every time. Standing here next to it she felt compelled to at least tell a partial truth rather than lie outright. But it couldn’t work like that all the time, right? When she’d been trapped in 611, she and Princess Luna had been able to bluff past Daffodil, and initially to Sweeping Stroke, and even in the present there should be enough magic remaining to cause something like that. Trixie hadn’t been at all truthful with her boasting during her visit to Ponyville.

…Ooh. Except, she’d claimed to have vanquished the Ursa Major, and from the Iris’s point of view, she had helped…

“I can probably get it going again,” Twilight admitted, “but Reeds. I need to ask you a favor, a really big one.”

A couple of the coffee cups went tunk on the floor as Reeds turned around and knocked them off the table with her wing. “Huh? I barely know you.”

“I know, but it’s very important.” Carefully, Twilight drew the Iris from Rarity’s bag. It had stopped glowing, so for all intents and purposes it looked like what it had when they’d first seen it around Trixie’s neck - a simple crystal. Boy, were they wrong about that. “I need you to look after this for me.”

If anything other than completing a time loop were riding on this, she would never just hoof over a crystal charm as powerful as this one. It needed studying. It needed a thorough examination. Giving it to a coffee-addicted teaching assistant to-be was just unthinkable, there were just so many things that could happen to it, especially in eleven years. But again, Twilight remembered Anthem’s words: ‘It has survived this long; it will survive you’. Even if Reeds used it as a coffee coaster for eleven years - she couldn’t, the coffee cups were bigger than that, and Twilight hated that that was where her mind went - she wouldn’t be able to break it.

Hey - it had survived eleven years being the clasp for Trixie’s cloak.

With a little trepidation, Reeds approached the crystal that was being offered to her in Twilight’s magic, and examined it. “I dunno, this seems a little fishy to me.” Her gaze turned to Rarity, and then to Twilight. “You sure you’ve got the right pony?”

“Positive. Nopony else can do it.”

Whoops. One of Reeds’ eyebrows went up slightly. “And why’s that?”

Okay, Anthem, truth or— truth it is. “Because it’s a magical charm, and I can’t keep it safe.”

“Magical charm? What does it do?” Even as she asked the question, Reeds reached out to touch it, at which point she sighed deeply and went slightly limp. “O-okay. Wow. It does that. Feels like I’ve just taken a really long bath,” she added, as if Twilight didn’t know. At this, Rarity’s head snapped around to meet Twilight’s gaze, and she pouted. Whoops again. Should have known better than to parade that out in front of Rarity.

Then Rarity reached out to touch it anyway. “Oh my. You really should have told me about this, Starshine,” she purred, almost condescendingly. “Are you sure we can’t keep it? I can think of a few places to hide it…” Yes, and she would put it on a dress and parade it in front of everypony. Sorry, Rarity. Maybe next time.

Now Reeds touched it again. This needed to stop. Even a harmless magical charm was addictive. Oh, but now Twilight wanted to touch it again too…

The Iris is not a toy. Anthem’s voice almost echoed around the room. Stop playing with it.

Both orange pegasus and white unicorn stepped back, blushing, ears flat against their heads. Neither of them knew who was talking, but you couldn’t disobey that tone of voice. That was the tone of a mother scolding their foal for doing something wrong, and they were all familiar with that.

“So it does that too, huh?” Reeds forced a chuckle. “Well…”

“You don’t have to take it if you don’t want to.” Rarity!

After another pause, Reeds shook her head. “No, it’s okay, I’ll look after it for you. You’re not… you’re not just leaving a dangerous thing with me and then running off, are you?”

Whatever gave her that impression? “No, of course not. But I need you to promise me.” Twilight set the Iris down on the table next to Reeds’ bag, and walked up to her. “Promise me that you won’t tell anypony about this, and I mean anypony. There’s a unicorn - Twilight Sparkle.” Don’t give the game away, Rarity, this is critical. “She knows about the Iris, but you can’t let her know that I gave it to you.” Wait, then she’d never open up in the future. “Unless she invites you to Ponyville for tea.”

“That sounds oddly specific. You sure she won’t invite me for coffee?”

Twilight chuckled. “Trust me, she’s a tea pony.” All she had to do in the future then was invite Reeds for tea and hopefully that would signal her that the game was over. And now she was calling it a game… What was this day coming to? “So, you promise?”

The pegasus moved until her eyes were right in front of Twilight’s. “One condition.”

“Name it.”

She was going to ask for coffee, wasn’t she. “Buy me a coffee.” However did she guess?

“Done.” Of course, neither of the two unicorns had bits on them, and Reeds was going out via the fountain.

“Then a promise is a promise.” Reeds held out her hoof, and Twilight shook it, before the former walked back over to her bag and stuffed the Iris inside it. She swung it over her back. “Now, we getting out of here?”

Twilight couldn’t keep them in the time stop for much longer. Still, it was a consensus amongst all three of them that they should try and get as far as possible away from the event horizon of the explosion before it restarted and there was pain. The further the better, though given how complicated it would be to get from the tower where they were to the city it was pretty much guaranteed they wouldn’t even make it as far as the castle gates. She was still working on a solution for when time eventually caught up to them. Shining Armor’s shield spell had protected himself and Princess Cadance, and she wasn’t bad at it, but she was fairly certain that since it was her own explosion it would just bypass any protective spells she cast anyway. After the royal wedding, Rarity had asked Twilight if she minded teaching it to her; as it turned out protective magic was to Rarity as healing magic was to Twilight.

The route involved taking a circuitous path through the castle gardens, making it even longer, because the shortest path was already cut off by the wall of magic. This meant that they passed some familiar figures; the aforementioned brother and future sister-in-law and Princess Celestia, all of whom were looking up towards the explosion with a mixture of surprise and fear. Shining Armor’s spell was already being cast, probably on reflex, but the Princess wasn’t doing anything… just staring.

They couldn’t stay and look, but Twilight was confident that that was another of the scenes she’d seen in her first prophecy. In teacher’s eyes, past truth. Not that it explained exactly what truth. Just another thing she’d have to ask the Princess about when all of this blew over. It suddenly occurred to her that if this was this moment, she hadn’t blurted out the line like she had all the other times they’d passed. Did that mean she had control of Prophetia now, finally?

“How long until time gets going again?” Reeds asked, adjusting the strap of her bag, and stretching her wings.

Twilight took a moment to examine the time magic, and really wished she hadn’t. “Oh no. I have to cancel it in less than a minute! Run!”

Time was stopped, but it just wasn’t stopped enough. The unicorns ran and the pegasus flew, through the grounds, past some guards, past the fountain, and—

Time slipped.

10:32:17
—S—

Only for a second, Twilight’s modification to the time magic faltered, but a second was all it needed. The rush of wind that precluded the wave of magic jolted the pegasus above them, and with a cry, Reeds’ saddlebag slipped from her back.

Time almost seemed to go slower, and with a start the lavender unicorn realized that this was exactly how she’d felt when they’d been in the Meditation Chamber and the windows blew in. Was that her fault, now? Magic crackled around the three of them, magic that in any moment was going to hurl Twilight and Rarity back to 1001 unless she canceled the time stop. Above them, the Iris fell out of the bag, glinting, reflecting the magic both within and without, and without thinking, Twilight leapt for it.

She could hear music, and the voice was familiar… was Anthem singing?

—H!

SPLASH!

10:32:18
10:32:19
10:32:20

A moment of silence followed the sound of breaking glass, the weaker wave of magic coming from the other direction as the previous excursion to 990 left the Meditation Chamber, and the distant sound of magic crackling around the epicenter of the explosion.

“Well done, Twilight,” said Rarity, patting her on the back and making her flinch. “You could have perhaps timed that shield a little better, but…”

Twilight, who had been belly-down on the floor and squeezing her eyes shut in anticipation, risked cracking one open, then the other. It… it was over? “I… I didn’t do anything.”

The other unicorn was confused, and rightly so. “But… I thought you put up a shield. Something protected us from your blast.”

Something, or—

Rest calm, and remember me. The Iris glowed in Twilight’s outstretched hooves. I expect great things await you, Twilight Sparkle. Go. Find your friends. Did… did Anthem save them? Did the Iris put up a shield of its own? What wasn’t it capable of? One thing was for sure - unless Trixie changed anytime soon they were going to need to relieve her of it somehow. She was not the sort of pony who could be trusted running around with a powerful magical artefact.

Rarity gave her a look, and she knew exactly what it meant. “No, Rarity, we can’t keep it. Otherwise we’d never be here in the first place. The Iris stays here with Reeds— uh. Where’s Reeds?”

Neither in the air above them nor on the ground next to them was there any sign of an orange pegasus. But she’d been right there! Just above them, when… when time restarted and she’d been out of range of the shield spell… so the windrush… they both looked behind them, at the fountain, and the unconscious form of Reeds Melody partially submerged in it. So that was how she ended up in there. Whoops. Now she was out of the story again for eleven years, until Twilight and Princess Luna went to visit her in the Magic Grounding Ward. What a long, strange trip she’d have. What a long, strange trip it had been.

Now they just had to tie up the loose ends. Starting, of course, with Reeds again. Her next port of call was the hospital; so that’s where they were going. Twilight carefully lifted the slumbering pegasus onto her back, Rarity secured the bag with the Iris, and with the sympathetic looks of the guards they had to hurriedly explain to, left the castle.

It shouldn’t have been as easy as it was. But between the guards trying to work out exactly what had happened and trying to calm the citizens, their journey down the Broadway to the hospital went completely unchallenged. It helped that they weren’t the only ones carrying a pony to the hospital, although they were generally carrying moaning unicorns, not sopping wet pegasi. Hopefully the hospital had some spare towels.

“Now all we have to do is find the others!” Rarity shouted, above the sound of their galloping hooves. “Do you have any ideas?”

“One step at a time, Rarity! One step at a time!” And that was perhaps the biggest lesson Twilight had learned from all this. Sure, she wasn’t going to stop with her schedules, but she was going to leave at least a little room in for things that were unexpected. Looking into the future only heaped more and more stress on her as she tried to predict what was going to happen based on her prophecy, and avoid anything undesirable. Taking things as they come was how they got through this. Finding their friends? They’d find them.

The entrance to the hospital was already busy by the time they got there, but the crowd parted to admit the stricken, and the two unicorns and pegasus entered with a minimum of hassle. Reeds was lifted onto a stretcher, her situation was explained to the nurses, and her bag was taken to be stored in a locker. Goodbye, Iris. See you in eleven years. After all of that, it seemed a little anti-climatic, seeing one of the doctors taking it away and stuffing it unceremoniously in a locker.

There were far too many ponies in the building to even hope of getting as far as the ward with the nurse who was pushing Reeds’ stretcher, but it gave Twilight some comfort to know that she was there and she was being seen to—

“Twilight? Rarity?”

“Applejack?”

In the end, they had to abandon the lobby; it was just far too packed to even think in there. On the plus side, they went outside, and found Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. On the negative, side, well…

“You did what?!”

It wasn’t a scream. Twilight would have described it more as a screech. It came dangerously close to attracting some unwanted attention.

“Time isn’t a game, Pinkie!” she chastised her friend as the group walked along the street, though the pink pony was clearly paying the barest minimum of attention to her. “If you do something wrong, it could have consequences!”

“Yeah,” Pinkie countered, “but what if I hadn’t, huh?”

“That— I— that’s not the point!” It was the point, and that was the most frustrating thing about arguing with Pinkie Pie, most of the time she was absolutely right. “You’ve got to be careful with time travel! What if you’d interrupted something that was vitally important?”

“But I didn’t!”

“She’s right,” commented Applejack, over Twilight’s right shoulder. “‘Sides that balloon pony, and the pegasus we took to the hospital, we didn’t interact with nopony.”

“And I saved a building full of ponies!” added Rainbow Dash. The whole weather station thing had already been explained, hurriedly, and Twilight wasn’t happy about that either, though marginally less so considering that she could hardly be blamed for doing it. Hay, Twilight herself would have done something similar. She felt like such a hypocrite, but you couldn’t ignore something like that. “That’s two awesome things I did today!”

“I feel our morning was somewhat more… confusing,” Rarity admitted. “To be honest I’m still not sure I understand everything. But the past is the past, is it not?”

“It is now!”

And soon, they could leave the past to the past, and get back to the present. They needed a private place, and now that she was mostly calmed down again, Twilight knew exactly where they were going.

Home.

Or to be more specific, her home.

The Sparkle family house wasn’t anything fancy. It sat where Canterlot met the mountain, below the ridge where all of the more noble families had their mansions, not in the most opulent district of the city, but in perhaps one of the nicest. A modest building, detached, not any more fancy than the ones on either side, just unique in its own way. Of course nopony would be there, her entire family was still inside the castle grounds at this point. A perfectly private place. Still a shame that all of the windows were broken.

“Um, won’t your parents mind us being here?” Fluttershy asked, as Twilight retrieved the front door key from underneath a flowerpot.

“I don’t see why they would. They are my family, after all.” Her parents were understanding enough. They’d be perfectly willing to host their daughter from the future, if a little disconcerted. “But we’re not staying long. A few minutes and I can dispel the time magic and send us back to where we belong.”

“And about time, too!” said Applejack. “Heck, I don’t even mind if we end up back in Hoofington rather than Ponyville, s’long as we’re where we’re supposed to be.”

All six of them trooped into the house, and Twilight made sure to put the key back underneath the flowerpot before shutting the door. She didn’t know what the state of the house had been when her parents had returned, but unless they made a real mess of things, like leaving the key in the wrong place, it was likely they’d never know anypony had been there.

Except for one thing…

Annoyingly it still took her a moment to remember the matrix for Reconstitution so she could fix the windows.

(Later, she’d ask her parents about it. They’d been very surprised to find out that their house was the only one in the neighborhood with intact windows, but otherwise indicated no knowledge of any unexpected visitors.)

Before starting, it was probably a good idea to get an indication of what had actually happened on the other sides of things. Personally Twilight had seen two of the remaining prophecies, the one from hers concerning Princess Celestia and the one from Trixie’s regarding the locked door, and she guessed at a stretch she could include the line from hers about the explosion. Applejack had mentioned falling out of a balloon, so that was done… After Applejack explained exactly what had happened, Twilight facehooved. It was such a simple answer it was ridiculous.

In teacher’s eyes, past truth: Check, though the truth was still ambiguous. The city by power be battered, check. Two will rise, one will fall, check.

“Oh yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, when Twilight mentioned her propping up a beam. “Yeah, I did that. I saw that picture that Dinky drew of me but I wasn’t really thinking about it at the time.”

Help them as they flee their fate: Check.

Twelve down, one to go, and of course it was the most difficult one to figure out of them all. “Don’t suppose anypony saw a hurricane or anything?” she ventured. “Or somepony called Hurricane? Near a thaumometer?”

There was a very awkward pause. Then Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy looked at each other, and very slowly raised a hoof each.

“You did? Where? Who?”

Rainbow pointed at Fluttershy, who blushed, and grinned sheepishly.

Uh… was she pointing past her, or… no, she was definitely pointing at the other pegasus. “I— but— what?”

“Aheheh…” Rainbow rubbed the back of her head. “Y’see, after that whole thing with the the waterspout up to Cloudsdale, some of the patrol started calling her Hurricane Fluttershy…”

“It’s not really a nickname I’m proud of,” added Fluttershy, watching in concern as Twilight tried to comprehend the bomb that just got dropped. “I mean, I don’t mind it, but…”

“I forgot her when I was saving the other ponies in the weather building,” Rainbow continued, drawing gasps from the others. “She screamed, so I went back in there, and got her out, and the graphs were going berserk. You should’ve seen it.”

Deep breaths, Twilight. So the Hurricane she’d been worrying about was Fluttershy. What was that in the face of everything, right? Right…?

Turn back to answer Hurricane’s call: check.

That was it. That was all of it. Her first prophecy, the one she’d made in 611, the one she’d just done in the Meditation Chamber, all of it had passed. Only one thing remained, and that was Trixie’s vision of a book falling to the floor, but was that really so unusual? Twilight dropped books all the time by accident, Spike even more so. Now that she wasn’t voicing the prophecy lines out loud, it could pass when she wasn’t looking and she’d never know. Was there any point in waiting for it? No. None whatsoever.

“Okay, gather around, everypony.” Carefully setting some of the furniture to one side, Twilight did some quick mental arithmetic. Good, that all checked out. Unlike the return to the present from 656, where time elapsed in the past equaled time elapsed in the present, they ought to arrive at exactly the moment they left, and some change. They couldn’t arrive before they’d left, that’d just be a paradox, but so far the time travel spell had been pretty good at avoiding those. “Now—”

“How exactly are you gonna get us back to where we came from?” asked Rainbow Dash, glancing at the others as they all stepped up. “I thought that crystal did it last time.”

“It did,” Twilight confirmed. “Well, actually, it turns out that it took us back to this moment because I programmed it to, but—”

“You what?”

“Look, I’ll explain it all when we get back to 1001, okay?” Doubtless the explanation would sail over all of their heads anyway. “I discovered that the six of us all have time magic surrounding us, from the time travel spell which is supposed to be temporary.”

“Well clearly it ain’t,” said Applejack, stating the obvious once again.

“Yes. Using the Iris’s power, the spell was slightly disrupted so…” how could she explain this to them without a two hour lecture… “…essentially the spell has ‘forgotten’ that it’s supposed to be temporary. I’m just going to tweak it so it does remember, and that’ll send us back to the present in a snap.”

Rarity sat down, then stood up again when she realized nopony else was doing it. “Well, I for one have had just about enough of today,” she commented, to general nods from the others. “Are you absolutely certain about this?”

“Positive.” And it wasn’t a brave face, she really was convinced that this was how they’d do it. “Is everypony ready?”

“Mm-hm.”

“Yup!”

“Go for it, Twi!”

Twilight closed her eyes, focusing on the time magic, then opened them again, her eyes attuned, to a solid haze of purple around all six of them. In close proximity, it would just be a matter of finding the right thread, following it to its source, and tweaking it just… about… there!

Given everything else, she was expecting nothing to happen for a moment before they were suddenly back in 1001, so the abrupt forwards thrust transition into the ether was particularly surprising.

No, something was wrong. It wasn’t supposed to work like this; the end of the time travel spell when she’d cast it and it was working properly had just been a magic flash, similar to a normal teleport. Canceling the spell wasn’t supposed to do that! Unless… unless those two timestops she’d done had messed with it, somehow…

Panic ran through Twilight’s mind as she hurriedly confirmed what she already knew. They were going too fast, much too fast, at this rate they’d overshoot 1001 and end up in the future! No! They were going back to the present! They need to slow down! But how did you slow a destabilizing spell? You couldn’t, you just had to let it off and hope it smacked into something harmless, like a tree or a pond or a cloud—

Oh. Really? Was it really going to be that simple?

Unconsciously she’d started repeating a mantra like last time, in the hope that it would get them to where they wanted to be. Now she just had to change it a little. If they started slowing down too early they’d land, well, too early, so they needed to get close, and then hit the brakes… would it be enough? There was only one way to find out.

They’d left April the 22nd. But if she aimed just a little earlier, say nearly two weeks…

On April 10, 1001, there was scheduled to be a light rainstorm over Ponyville. A lot of traders had prepared for it, the pegasi in charge of it were all pumped up, and the town was generally ready. However, by the time the morning had rolled around, it became quite evident that something somewhere along the line had Gone Wrong, leaving everypony with patchy cloud coverage and a soft westerly wind. More than anypony else, it confused the weather patrol, as they swore blind that they’d set up the storm that was now missing.

The weather front had been parked about half a mile north of Ponyville’s outskirts, ready to catch the early morning wind. At about 4AM, the weather patrol finished packing it together, congratulated themselves on a job well done, then went home to have breakfast. None of them were looking in the other direction, so nopony saw the brief flash of magic as six ponies hurtled into the cloudline and disappeared, taking the clouds with them.

Almost home, Twilight reminded herself. Just a few more seconds, and they’d be back in the vault, right after they left, and everything would be fine again.

Uh. Hang on. Hadn’t the vault been full of—

The Lifebearer’s vault snapped into focus around her in a flash, and there was magic everywhere.

Author's Note

Home straight. (Also, whipped up a quick book graphic to replace the standard Fimfiction horizontal rules. I'll work on rolling them out to all previous chapters.)

26 - The Truth

It’s not the sort of thing you should forget, standing in a room while magic pours back into a wound that even as it fills up is being healed over. But the fact of the matter was that over the time she’d been in 990, Twilight had forgotten, and the magic rush surrounding her was giving her a rude reminder. How could she have been so blind to the fact that the rush had been nowhere near dying down when they’d left?

Thankfully, it wasn’t anywhere near as severe as it had been when the magic was flowing out, so the others weren’t affected, mostly anyway. Rarity was clutching her head in pain, but what she was feeling was probably peanuts compared to what was going through Twilight’s head, which was lots and lots and lots of magic. It seemed to find a vacuum in her magic reserves and pour into every space it could until… until…

The magic needed burning off, and the usual method wouldn't cut it.

She knew a spell for that now…

Part of her was screaming at herself, trying to stop doing what she knew she was going to do anyway. Was this what da Colton felt, as he gained what he thought was mastery over the spell that made him and the spell that would eventually break him? But the other part… she had all this magic, and it shouldn’t go to waste, and she wanted to know…

The spell formed around her in an instant, and it obeyed her command. “Prophetia.”

It wasn’t like the first time; but the first time, she hadn’t been ready for it. She hadn’t become used to it. Instead of a rush of meaningless words and images, Twilight found herself simply stood there, in a courtyard in Canterlot. Ponies surrounded her, but they weren’t important. Some sort of procession was coming down the Broadway, heralds for—

She stood in the Crystal Empire. The Crystal Heart lay in shards at her hooves, as stormclouds rolled in. Princess Cadance was saying something, but it was lost on her ears. She was too busy watching.

She stood amid the burning remains of the Ponyville library. Pages fluttered to the ground. Her home was gone.

She stood at the heart of the pandemonium of the Grand Galloping Gala, watching the calamity play out before she’d even entered the room.

She stood in a house with another purple unicorn, who turned around and saw her—

She stood in a Manehattan theater in the 7th century. She saw herself and two pegasi, and Stalleonardo da Colton. The stallion sighed towards her past self, and turned to her now. “That’s not why the prophecy calls her that!” he shouted at her.

She stood at the edge of a cliff. In front of her a wall of fire was engulfing the world—

She stood in a dark cave, and she was very, very alone. She collapsed onto the ground. How could this be?

Somepony stepped in front of her. A black, chitinous leg, full of holes. Even though she knew she shouldn’t, she grabbed for it, something to hold onto.

She looked up.

Anthem smiled down at her. Then the tall unicorn spread her wings and bent down to Twilight’s ear—

“Twilight,” said Princess Celestia.

Twilight gasped. Prophetia was still whirling around her, threatening to drag her back into the future or the past with no notice, but for the moment she was back on the floor of the vault and she had her forelegs wrapped around one of the Princess’s. She couldn’t… she…

“Princess!” It was her own voice, but she spoke alongside the Twilights of the past and the Twilights of the future. “Please!” There was only one way out of this. “You need to cast Erasure!”

Princess Celestia nodded, and lowered herself down to Twilight’s level. “You only needed to ask,” she said softly. Then her horn lit up, and everything went white.

“No, that’s not how it works,” Twilight repeated to a horrified Rarity. “Erasure doesn’t mess with my memory. It simply detects when I’m in the process of starting to cast a spell that’s forbidden, and… stops me. Only the Princess can cast it and it requires the target’s explicit permission,” she added, hoping that would help. “I know that I know Prophetia, and the time travel spell, but when I go to find them they’re just… not there.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” said Rarity dubiously. “I hope I never have to find out for myself.”

Twilight patted her on the back. “As long as you don’t do what I did and go casting a spell that you’ve never seen before that turns out to be something that causes a lot of trouble for other ponies.” Her friend gave her an even more dubious look. Not that she could blame her. Twilight was no stranger to Erasure, but somepony just finding out about it probably would leap to the wrong conclusions, and a spell that actually edited your memory would of course be horrific. Good thing a spell like that would be something she wouldn’t touch with a barge pole.

Just as an extra precaution, Princess Celestia had delicately removed the page concerning Prophetia from da Colton’s workbook, and was just finishing up flicking through the rest of the pages that hadn’t fallen out in case there was something else in there that Twilight hadn’t even found. With any luck, if there was, Trixie hadn’t found it either. The Princess (along with Princess Luna and Spike) had entered the vault as soon as the magic rush calmed down enough to permit them, but there had been no sign of the magician on the surface. Given how persistent she'd been, though, there was little doubt she'd keep trying. At least there wasn't much need to worry too much about the Iris; at this point it was basically a paperweight, and, as the construct had said, it would survive.

As Twilight had guessed, Hoofington’s Equus Day celebrations were rather disrupted by the world magic going in both directions, but now that everything was approaching normal, they were more likely to blame the out of control magic on something mundane. Just like they were blaming the rainclouds that were suddenly over the square on the town’s weather patrol, who would no doubt be summoned up by Wind Chime for allowing something like this to happen. There was no pleasing that mare.

Sitting there, she realized that with everything that had been going on before - which in real time had only been about twenty minutes ago, but thanks to time travel, had actually been more like an hour and a half - she hadn’t really gotten a proper look at the vault, besides a cursory examination spell and the first impression. Above, the ceiling seemed far higher than it ought to be, with distant vaulted arches supporting… what was probably the courtyard, actually. Perhaps some of the smaller side areas ran under the museum, but there was no way the building could just sit on top without falling in. Then the blackness faded down into the blue-green lights that the Iris had activated, and which were now apparently powered by the magic plant. It was a vast space. She could only imagine what it looked like when the Lifebearer was still using it for… whatever she was using it for. The construct, Anthem, hadn’t looked like the sort of pony who’d hoard treasure.

If somepony were to ask Twilight, she’d say the pony had been more of a student or a researcher than anything. Takes one to know one.

Said magic plant was being heavily scrutinized by Princess Luna, who every now and then would make tutting noises, and mutter the word “stupid” under her breath. Planting a living organism directly into the leylines wasn’t stupid, Twilight thought. Inspired, maybe. A little reckless, sure, especially with the lack of safeguards, but imagine the benefits!

Or would the benefits already be out there? Would the Lifebearer have put the results from this into action before moving out of the vault in the first place? Gah, so many questions to which she’d probably never get the answers.

At this point her friends were all over the place. Rainbow Dash had retired to another of the siderooms for a nap; Pinkie Pie was regaling Spike with a heavily embellished account of their adventure; Fluttershy was with Princess Luna at the plant, occasionally offering insight; Rarity had wandered off in search of ‘any fabric’ to get inspiration from; Applejack was doing her own measurements of the main chamber, walking from one side of the room to the other then shaking her head, apparently dissatisfied with the results, and then repeating the action. They were way past due for a break. And now Twilight had the chance for one too.

“Breathtaking, isn’t it?”

Twilight nearly jumped at the sound of Princess Celestia’s voice as the alicorn walked up behind her. “Princess!”

“Here.” The workbook levitated down, and Twilight carefully took it in her own magic. “It should not be much of a problem any more.”

Flicking through it, Twilight noticed, with a little relief, that some of the pages on artefacts which she’d skimmed over and expected to be removed were still there. It sort of made sense. Some of them included sketches of said artefacts, and it would be helpful to know if somepony picked something up and it turned out to be a doomy evil thing of doom. While she was thinking about it, she made a note in her thought journal to cast another return charm on it, but this time to bind it to the library itself. That way it couldn’t go walkabouts. Oh, and she needed to ask the Princess to visit the library too just to make sure none of those loose pages had anything dangerous on them as well—

Then an implication of the Princess’s first sentence hit her. “Princess?” she ventured.

“Yes, Twilight?”

“Have you been here before?”

Princess Celestia sat down beside her, and closed her eyes. “Once, a very long time ago. It is a place I never thought I’d see again.”

“You mean you knew the Lifebearer?”

A nod. “She was a very talented pony named Anthem.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. Wasn’t that the… “But I spoke to a construct in the Iris that resembled the Lifebearer, and she said that Anthem wasn’t her real name…!”

The Princess smiled at her knowingly. “Did she?”

She did… Twilight was about to say. But, now that the Princess was drawing attention to it, she didn’t.

“Perhaps it is best if I do not tell you my real name… You may call me Anthem.” Nowhere had the construct said that Anthem wasn’t actually her name. Twilight had thought she implied that, but… Another thought occurred. In the tower with Reeds, the Iris had actively prevented her from lying. She’d thought that was just a quirk of the magic, a little sage advice. But maybe that was how the Life-bearer… how Anthem acted. She’d never told any untruths, just phrased things in such a way that you misconstrued her meaning.

Just like she’d made Twilight act towards Reeds, actually.

“Anthem was an incredibly talented botanist,” the Princess continued. “It may not look like it now, but this was once similar to a greenhouse.” Twilight looked up, and imagined open air above them, natural light shining down onto their faces. “Some of today’s more unique plant life was cultivated within these walls, several species rescued from the brink of extinction. It was that skill for which she was given her title. I do not know why she abandoned this place, however, or what she would have been working on last.”

Incredibly talented was an understatement, if she was able to pull off something like that magic plant. Now Twilight was imagining a jungle surrounding them, and Anthem walking between rows of colorful flowers and trees. She almost wished she could time travel back again just to see it.

Thinking of time travel… Twilight set her expression. Now was the time for some answers. “Princess, how long have you known?”

“Known about what?”

“The time travel.” After everything, there was no way she didn’t know. Sensing Princess Luna in 611, collecting the painting in 656, sending the painting to Rainbow Dash, the letter which Twilight had sent her about the column…

Princess Celestia chuckled. “Not as long as you might think. I had my suspicions, of course. The letter you sent me about the lake was a little confusing, I admit, but once I had time to work it out, everything fell into place.”

“But the painting—”

“Ah. I thought you might bring that up.” The alicorn hummed to herself for a moment. “Let me tell you a little story. Three and a half centuries ago, I was asked by a good friend to visit his city.” She sighed. “It was burning.”

“The Great Fire…” Twilight murmured.

“Yes. But more specifically, he asked me to catch a falling star, and when I got to the city, there was indeed a falling star, and something else falling as well.”

That something else would be the painting, and… oh. The falling star was her. Twilight blushed.

“While I never found where the star landed, I caught a painting, with a book jammed into its frame. Tucked inside the book, on the back of a sheet of paper detailing some magic-nullifying stone—” oh, Twilight had forgotten about that! “I found another letter, that gave me instructions on what to do with them. I was to hide the book in the library in a town called Ponyville, and to store the painting, covered by a cloak, until I knew who to send it to.

“He also gave me one more instruction. One of the pages in the middle of the book was blank, and I was to copy a spell into it.”

She was trying not to let it show, but the unicorn’s mind was reeling. So da Colton had written that letter on the back of that paper about the stone, knowing she’d pick it up, and knowing it would make its way into the Princess’s possession? And— so the Princess put Prophetia in that book? To be honest in the rush to get to Hoofington she’d forgotten clean about the page burning up. So it wasn’t a closed loop! “So who did write Prophetia?”

“Who do you think?”

“Star Swirl the Bearded.” Who else could it have been? It was his time travel spell, and Prophetia had used elements from it. The actual solution was the obvious one, it just wasn’t one she had considered.

Something still wasn’t right. Twilight frowned at her mentor. “I can’t believe you’d just let your student do something like that.”

“Ah,” said the Princess again. “A little embellishment of the history books, I’m afraid. Stalleonardo da Colton was not, in truth, my first student.” Twilight’s jaw dropped. “I offered it to him,” she clarified. “But he refused. I believe he was already aware where his true destiny lay. I began calling him my student out of respect afterwards, perhaps in a little wishful thinking, and began the School for Gifted Unicorns to help guide bright young fillies and colts in his honor. Do you know what became of him, in the end?”

Twilight remembered. How could she forget? “He told me the history books don’t mention everything, and ran off.” A rather inglorious end to such a great stallion, really, even given that in the end he tried to overthrow the Princess. “He asked me to ask you what happened in 617.”

It was only for a fraction of a second, but Twilight knew her mentor, and she was sure that for a moment the Princess was scared. But it was too late to retract the question, it was out there, and whether she got a response or not, she knew that something happened then.

There was a resigned sigh. “In 617, I… I made a mistake, one I paid a heavy price for.” Princess Celestia looked up at her sister, who was now watching them from a distance but clearly listening to everything. “I lost hope. I was convinced that there was only one way my rule would end, and…” she swallowed. Nopony should ever see her like this, Twilight realized. Then the Princess sighed again. “But da Colton saved me, and taught me a very valuable lesson. He showed me that no matter how impossible the situation may be, I should never lose hope. That was why I respected his wishes; I trusted him to do the right thing. And look; now I have my sister back.”

Princess Luna wasn’t crying. She very definitely wasn’t crying, because she was clearly making an effort not to. To be honest, Twilight felt like crying a little too. She had no idea how hard it had been for her teacher to be essentially alone for a thousand years. Why would da Colton want her to ask about this, if it only brought Celestia pain to think about it?

Past truth… “There’s something else, Princess.”

“Hmm?”

“When I cast Prophetia the first time, I saw you, and there was a line about you seeing a ‘past truth’.” Really hoping it wasn’t another painful thing, Twilight plunged on. “Then I saw you in the gardens on the day of the sonic rainboom in 990, and you had that same expression on. What was the truth you saw? Um, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“It’s quite alright, Twilight.” The Princess’s bright mood from earlier had returned, thankfully. “Da Colton built me a water clock to count down to my sister’s return.” Princess Luna raised an eyebrow. “Despite his assurances, I think deep down I was not entirely convinced it would happen. Then I saw the sonic rainboom, and the build-up to your explosion, and for the first time I truly believed I’d see Luna again.”

For her part, Princess Luna seemed unwilling to meet her sister’s gaze. It seemed both of the royal sisters had things they’d rather not tell each other.

Deciding she’d better leave them alone for a while, Twilight got up and headed back into the room with the plant, as she’d remembered something else she’d seen in there. It was still there; amongst the magical construction frames was the other book. Unlike the workbook, it was covered in dust, and it didn’t look like Trixie had even touched it. Was it another thing that had been left in here?

Cautiously, Twilight lifted and opened the book. One thing was for sure - if it contained any spells, any spells at all, she was taking it directly to Princess Celestia. The first few pages were covered with atrociously bad horn-writing, which she could barely read. A few words she could pick out and translate, like ‘species’ and ‘food’, but as soon as she thought she was getting somewhere with a sentence it ran directly into another one, and the meaning was immediately lost. A couple of the pages even looked like they had no punctuation at all. If this was a book from before the vault was abandoned, one that belonged to Anthem, was this her writing?

Then after six pages the rest of the book was completely blank.

Not a thing. No hidden magical words, nothing that would suggest some sort of invisible ink, or even any hints that the writing had just faded. It was as if Anthem had gotten six pages into the book, and then packed up and left. Frowning, she flicked back to the last page that had been used, and tried to read it.

There is no [something something something] ready for at least [something] see [’air furnace’, doesn’t translate, maybe a name] [something] LORDS [something] finally understanding eternal… she blinked. What? No. She had to be mistranslating that. Eternal life?

“…Princess?” she said aloud, not taking her eyes off the book for a second in case she was reading it wrong. “Can you come and take a look at this?”

She’d addressed the question to Princess Celestia, but instead Twilight got both alicorns. Well, they did both know Anthem, if Luna’s reaction to the dream had been any indication. They would be the ponies to ask if she had been looking to achieve… gulp… “I think,” Twilight said, her voice wavering slightly, and lifting up the book to show them, “Anthem was looking into eternal life.”

Both Princesses shared a glance, then the elder sister lifted the book out of Twilight’s magic and stared at the page intently for a while. Hopefully she’d have a better chance of deciphering what was written there, and could tell Twilight that she’d just made a simple mistake. Right? They would tell her that’s not what she actually wrote, right?

Oh dear.

“Oh dear,” muttered Princess Luna, once she’d been shown the relevant passages. “Such a stupid pony.”

Princess Celestia glared at her sister, then returned her attention to Twilight. “Your translation is close enough. It seems she was indeed in pursuit of the secrets of eternal life.” Now it was Princess Luna’s turn to glare, and the unicorn got the feeling that there was a bigger picture she wasn’t being told about. “As I said, Anthem was unmatched for her botany skills, but she did spend most of her life quite ill. Eternal life would certainly cure that problem.”

A possibility had occurred to Twilight, one that was both exciting and very concerning. “Do… do you think she succeeded?”

“I would like to think that she’s hiding just out of sight,” chuckled the Princess. “And given that we woke up one morning and she was gone, I wouldn’t put it past her to have achieved it. Wishful thinking, perhaps.”

Twilight’s brain was working at full capacity. Another thing that the construct had said in the Meditation Chamber had just gone click. She’d asked Anthem if she was called the Lifebearer, and her first response was ‘Was?’… past tense. At the time Twilight had thought it was just a momentary misinterpretation of the question, but if Anthem had managed to attain eternal life prior to the construct’s creation in 468 ERC (whenever that was), then the construct would have no reason to believe that the real Anthem wasn’t still around…

Still, the more she thought about it, the more far-fetched it seemed. Anthem seemed to have been Princess Celestia’s friend; if she had been alive during Princess Luna’s exile on the moon, wouldn’t she have supported her? There would surely be tales about such a talented botanist, and from what she’d seen, the legend of Mistmane was referring to somepony completely different, and it was also too old. If she were still around, there would be more recent stories, but there were none.

Gahhh, too many questions that would have to go on the backburner.

“I am sure if she were still with us she would have made herself known by now,” Princess Luna put words to Twilight’s thoughts, though she still didn’t seem too happy. Maybe, despite being friends, she and Anthem didn’t get on too well. “It is no use dwelling on the past, sister.”

“And I completely agree with you, Luna. Let’s leave the past to the past, shall we?” The elder sister smiled at Twilight, the warm smile that Anthem had also worn. “I think I shall find that scroll in the Canterlot Archives and secure it properly.”

She wasn’t sure what made her ask the question. Maybe the stupidity was infectious, or maybe it was just because she couldn’t leave well enough alone. So Twilight blurted out “Princess, did you ever use the time travel spell?”

Between the two alicorns, the silence was so thick you could have cut it with a cake knife. Ooh. Bad question.

“Sorry, I—”

“Of course I did.”

“What?!”

“WHAT.”

Twilight wasn’t sure who was more surprised, herself or Princess Luna. Either way both of them were staring at Princess Celestia with their jaws almost on the floor. But— wait— she did?! When?!

With a furtive glance to make sure none of Twilight’s friends were listening, Princess Celestia beckoned them closer. “In the days following Nightmare Moon’s banishment, I was distraught,” she said quietly. “I found the spell and I used it, hoping to change something. But the more I tried to change, the more things stayed the same. Did you notice, Twilight, that every action you performed in the past always contributed to the way the present has always been?”

“Well, yes…”

“I examined the spell after my attempts failed. Star Swirl was far too smart to write such magic without creating safeties.” The Princess shook her head. “Those safeties make it impossible to cast the spell if it would lead to a paradox. Essentially, unless you already appeared in the past, you cannot travel there.”

That did make some degree of sense… If Twilight were writing it, that would be the way she’d do it, like her concept of viewing the past rather than interacting with it, only, well, with more interaction. If you went into the past, you were as much a part of events the way they originally were as when you were there living it. Still, to hear that Princess Celestia tried to change time like she had… unnerving as it was it made her feel a little better about casting the spell herself. Both of them had cast the spell to fix a mistake they had each made, and…

“Do you mean to say,” said Princess Luna slowly, struggling to maintain a level of skepticism, “that your time traveling caused—”

“No, no.” Princess Celestia held up a hoof to cut her off. “In the end, I was never able to get close enough to make a difference.” She made eye contact with her sister. “Rest assured that you had no contact with my future self. I tried to be subtle. Too subtle, as it turned out.” A sigh. “I think I was possibly too afraid to risk changing anything bigger.”

Yeah… Twilight knew how that felt. She still maintained that it was dangerous to go into the past under the mindset that nothing you did would ever make any changes to the timeline you left, but once she’d discovered that time travel was involved this time, until she’d got it into her head that she could somehow rescue Stalleonardo da Colton, especially during the detour to 611, she’d been terrified that she’d say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing and… Was it any more relieving to know that there were no mistakes with time travel? No, not really.

This was probably going to have to be the end of any questions. She’d been pushing it with that last one, and really the last thing she wanted to do was dredge up more unpleasant memories, again. Besides, she still had an appointment to make.

“Well,” said Princess Celestia brightly, standing up straight again. “This has I think been an enlightening day for all of us.” She spoke louder this time, to attract the attention of the others. “But, I think, it is time to leave. We wouldn’t want to miss the rest of Equus Day, after all.”

At the mention of the day’s event, Pinkie Pie’s ears went to full alert, and she gasped much louder than was necessary. “I totally forgot! Guys!” She grabbed Rarity bodily. “We gotta get back to Ponyville so we don’t miss the rest of the party!”

“And I—” Rarity strained trying to free herself from the earth pony’s grip, and failed. “I need to— Pinkie, will you put me down? I need to schedule an appointment at the spa as soon as possible.” She sniffed, then wrinkled her nose. “Or, failing that, just a bath.”

“I need to make sure all my animal friends are okay,” added Fluttershy. “Angel’s been feeling unwell lately.”

One of them was already on the move. “I must return to Canterlot immediately,” said Princess Luna, clearly keen to put some distance between herself and the vault. Those were some awfully purposeful strides she was making. “There is a… pressing issue within the Night Guard that I need to resolve. Again.”

As the rest of them began moving towards the exit, and she tuned out the conversations of the others, Twilight realized that they weren’t going to be able to get back in when the door sealed behind them, they didn’t have the Iris any more. That meant that the magic plant would be trapped down here again for… well, until Trixie decided she was going to play ball, and nopony would get a chance to study it. Very disappointing. On the other hoof, given what had happened when said magician had tried to do something with it, maybe it was for the best that it was left alone. You really didn’t want anypony with ill intentions to enter the vault and try doing something with the plant, or worse, the world magic. Telegraphing the position of what was essentially a plugged hole in the leyline network would be a really bad idea.

It seemed a real shame that nopony knew what had happened to Anthem. Did she really reach her goal of eternal life, and was she out there, somewhere? Try as she might, there was something in the back of Twilight’s brain that just refused to process something. Anthem’s voice… now that the possibility at least partially existed that she was still around, she was more sure she’d heard it somewhere before. It wasn’t amongst her group of friends, no; each of them had a distinct place in her mind, and she would definitely know if one of them was an immortal botany expert. Neither was it either of the Princesses, though there had been some similar tones in there, like Princess Celestia’s mothering voice.

In fact, she wasn’t even sure she’d heard her before on this adventure.

Argh, it was right there! Come on, what was she trying to remember, it was right in front of her—

Something caught her attention, and she looked up. Next to the entrance of the vault, where some of the lines of light ran down to clearly mark the exit, was a sort of pentagonal diagram with six circles, one at each point, and one in the centre. Some of the circles had differently-colored lights in. A fancy light fixture, some sort of pictogram - but then Princess Luna left the room, and one of the lights, the central blue one, went out. So, what, was it a pony detector? Lights on, somepony’s in the vault, that kind of thing? But there were only three lights left on now, and there were seven ponies and a dragon in the room still.

Pink in the bottom left, cyan in the upper left, and green at the top. Plus the blue one in the middle that had been on when Princess Luna had been in—

Twilight’s gaze shot left to Princess Celestia’s mane. Multicolored, but still predominantly pink. That blue one, she couldn’t un-see the color of Princess Luna’s star-filled mane. Green, at the top… that was a dead ringer for Anthem’s. Why was it on?

Why was the green light on?!

Suddenly scared, Twilight stopped and turned around to stare at the empty vault. Nopony was with them, and yet… was she in the room anyway?

“Twilight?”

Shaking her head, she turned back. Princess Celestia was waiting for her just inside the threshold, looking at her questioningly, there was the sound of the others’ chatter disappearing up into that corridor outside, and the lights— only the pink one was left on, and the rest of the lights in the vault were dimming down. What?

“Princess?” she asked cautiously, looking left and right, suddenly afraid that for some reason she might get tackled by Anthem even though that made no sense whatsoever. “Have you got the feeling that you’re being… watched?”

The Princess’s brow went up. “Not at all. Is something the matter?”

“…No, it’s nothing.” Twilight didn’t want to get her hopes up in case it turned out to be nothing. Not to say she wasn’t going to investigate it, of course. It was over a thousand years old; maybe the spell was on the fritz and it was just, oh, picking up the presence of Spike or something. Yeah. That was probably it. That was much more likely than either one of her friends secretly being an ancient sword-wielding botanist or said ancient sword-wielding botanist being invisible and sneaking around behind them. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Of course, the Princess knew that meant she was going to investigate something, but thankfully she seemed content to let it go. “Do not take too long.” Then she was gone, and as she crossed the threshold, the last light winked out.

Immediately Twilight shot over to the diagram and cast an analysis spell on it. Unlike the one she’d cast before to analyze the whole vault, this cast was much more localized, so she got the results back almost instantly. Then she cast the analysis spell on it again, because there was no way that could be right.

It detected ponies, yes, but… ponies with… alicorn magic?

Yes, that would explain the Princesses, but Anthem? She was just a unicorn! She didn’t have wings! All she had was that green cloak that… actually… would have covered anything that would have been on her back, so… uh… No. A fourth alicorn was so far-fetched she didn’t even know where to begin. Furrowing her brow, she tried to go deeper into the detection spell that turned the lights on in the first place, looking for some sign that she was wrong. She had to be. Magical signatures. But then that— Five of the six lights, all except the bottom right, which didn’t appear to be tied to anything, were tied to recognizably alicorn signatures. Five?

Screwing up was bound to happen at some point along the line, and this time, it happened when Twilight tried to pry a little deeper into those signatures.

A cloudless night below a full moon—

Agh! Startled, she jumped back. Nothing had changed, but… she’d just gotten some sort of sensation out of the darker blue light, which made no sense. Well, yes, Princess Luna was the sovereign who raised the moon, but… She tried Princess Celestia’s. The heat of the afternoon sun. Cyan. A cool breeze on a summer’s day. The top right one, which had never turned on, but she could now somehow tell that it was purple. The sound of the tide rolling on the beach.

Then Anthem’s at the top. Soothing relaxation, the same sensation the Iris had given off.

…Five doors around the round table. Sun/Moon. Lightning bolt bisecting a cloud. Wave. Spoked wheel. Flower.

Did that really mean—

“Twilight?”

Snapping back to reality, Twilight shook her head. She’d been going at that longer than anticipated and the lights in the vault were brightening and why were the green and cyan lights back on—

“Anthem?! Is that you?!” she called out, spinning around.

Rainbow Dash blinked back. “Uh, who’s Anthem?”

Twilight stared at her friend, who had obviously come back in to find her, and for whom the lights had now switched on again. No. Rainbow Dash was Rainbow Dash, she wasn’t— there was no way that— Come on! She practically got a face full of the pegasus’s magical signature every time she did a sonic rainboom, and there was no alicorn magic there, let alone the magic of two alicorns! So why did she activate both lights?!

“Uh, Twi? Are you okay?” Rainbow waved a hoof in front of her eyes, which were rapidly unfocusing as she tried to work out just what in Tartarus was going on. “Hello? Equus to Twilight!”

No, it was okay. The spell was just broken, that’s all. It was looking for alicorn magic but it was finding Rainbow Dash instead. No problem at all. Oh but now all Twilight could concentrate on was that shade of green which if she thought about it was pretty much the same green in her friend’s mane and did that mean that— hey! She swiped Rainbow’s hoof away from her nose. “What was that for?”

“You were kinda zoned out, Twilight, like super zoned out. You sure you’re okay?”

“…Yeah, I’m okay.” Except she wasn’t. “Hey, uh, Rainbow Dash?”

“Yeah?”

“Do the words ‘rest calm and remember me’ mean anything to you?”

Rainbow appeared to consider this for a moment, though she was thoroughly confused while she did so. “Uh, should it? Don’t think so…”

For a moment, Twilight wondered if she was lying. Then… no. She’d known Rainbow for long enough to know when she was having to come up with a lie on the spot, and she was completely baffled by the question. She had no idea what it meant. But what did that mean?

“Come on, everypony’s waiting for us.” The pegasus walked around beside her and started guiding her towards the exit. “You can hang around in creepy old vaults as long as you want after we get some lunch or something.”

“But—”

“Aw Twilight, come on! Give it a rest already!”

As the two of them stepped over the exit, Twilight felt a slight shiver, and she looked back over her shoulder to see once again the lights of the vault fading. A few steps further, beyond the larger gate, and there was a slight rumbling as the large portal swung shut with a sense of finality, the only illumination being the slot for the Iris, which now seemed very empty. She’d said it enough about the recent events, but it felt like it had been years since she used the Iris to open it.

Or, thinking about it, since Rainbow Dash used the Iris to open it… And on top of that, she found the way in, and she guessed it’d be hiding in plain sight…

No. She needed to stop thinking about this. Maybe the rainboom had something to do with alicorn magic and Rainbow Dash just got a bit of it, just like Spike did when he ate that magical gemstone that gave him the ability to send stuff to the Princess. Or hay, maybe Rainbow once ate a magical gemstone by accident, you never knew. There was a perfectly logical explanation somewhere.

By the time the two of them reached the small chamber under the statue base, Applejack was just jumping back down in to find them. “There y’all are,” she said, adjusting her hat. “What took you so long?”

“Twilight zoned out,” Rainbow explained, brushing past her and spreading her wings to prepare for takeoff. “Too much new magic stuff she wanted to look at.” Then she disappeared up through the stone— and just as immediately came down again, covered in water. “AJ! You could’ve told me it was raining!”

“Y’didn’t give me the chance,” Applejack deadpanned, obviously soaked through. Score +1 for Rainbow Dash’s attentiveness. “Everypony else’s taken shelter at the museum— she’s gone again.” A single blue feather spun in the dust that Rainbow’s second exit had kicked up. “Ready, Twilight?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Goodbye, vault of the lifebearer. Your secrets will remain for another time. There was no point in staying now. Twilight levitated Applejack back up out of the pit (how was she planning to get out if something had happened to them?) then teleported herself straight up and a few feet over to the right and into the rain.

In the rain, the museum plaza looked a lot like it had when Trixie had somehow cleared it. In places there were still ponies hurriedly trying to disassemble stalls, and every now and again a panicked pegasus appeared in the skies desperately trying to keep the clouds under control. Everypony else was sensible and had abandoned the open air for shelter.

It occurred to her after the run over to the museum’s steps that she could have teleported to save from getting too wet. +1 for Twilight’s attentiveness.

“And I thought it was supposed to be clear across Equestria on Equus Day!” Rainbow was complaining as she arrived, hot on Applejack’s heels. “Whose bright idea was this, huh?”

“The clouds appeared as my sister and I approached,” explained Princess Celestia. There was no sign of said sister; Princess Luna had obviously foregone the pleasantries and teleported straight back to the capital. “There were clear skies until then.”

Whoops. The color drained from Twilight’s face.

Spike noticed. “Twilight? Is something wrong?”

Twilight raised a hoof and opened her mouth to explain, took a moment to wonder how Rainbow would react, then went ahead with it anyway. “Uh, Rainbow Dash?”

“Yeah?”

“You know that rainstorm that went missing two weeks ago?”

“…yeah?”

The unicorn gestured upwards. “Found it,” she said weakly.

“What?!” Rainbow did a double take, then shot out into the rain and up through the cloud layer. Moments later she skidded to a halt beside them again. “Twilight! What did you do?!”

Sighing, Twilight tried to explain the cloud braking method she’d employed on the journey back from 990, as simply as she could without launching into all of the magical details. Bringing the clouds along with them had just sort of happened, and, considering that they’d still disappeared before, it was yet more evidence to the Princess’s conclusions about the time traveling spell. Another mystery, another solution.

“Aw, hayfeathers.” Rainbow tried to shake herself off, much to the annoyance of everypony else, and looked back up to where the Hoofington weather patrol was wrestling with the black clouds. “First Wind Chime’s on our case ‘cause of them going missing, and now she’ll be on at these guys for letting this happen even though it wasn’t their fault!”

“Leave Wind Chime to me,” said Princess Celestia, and about half of them jumped on account of having forgotten she was there, like it was easy to miss a pink-white alicorn who was half as tall again as they were. “I will meet with her on Monday. I’m sure I will be able to convince her to change her mind.”

“Thank you, Princess.” Even though she’d known that the Princess was going to deal with it already, Rainbow still sounded incredibly relieved. “The rest of the team are gonna be so happy when I tell them. (And then maybe they’ll stop stalking me,)” she added under her breath, earning her a reassuring pat on the shoulder from Fluttershy. “I’m gonna go help these guys out. I’ll catch up!” And with that she disappeared out into the rain again. Less than a minute had passed before the plaza was significantly brighter, and the rain was noticeably lighter. That pegasus worked fast even without her own team.

“Well then.” Princess Celestia stepped forwards. “A brief detour, but I at least need to return to Canterlot now. My sister’s issue was more pressing than my own, but I am not unexpected. The Equus Day celebrations won’t close themselves this evening.”

What time was it? With the trip out to the morning of May 21st, 990, Twilight had forgotten what time it was on April 22nd, 1001. There was no sun visible to tell the hour by, but a glance in through the museum doors to see a clock in the main hall revealed it was almost two o’clock in the afternoon. Wow, that had gone by. They’d missed lunch.

As if it was on cue, there was a loud growling noise, and Pinkie Pie clutched at her stomach in panic. “(Guys!)” she hissed. “We missed lunch!” Then her usual infectious smile spread across her face. “Last one to the Confectionery’s a wet blanket!” In a puff of Pinkie Pie-shaped smoke, the earth pony vanished.

Everypony else looked at each other.

“I’ve done enough running for one day, thank you,” huffed Rarity, leaning out from under the shelter. Wow, the rain above them had nearly stopped. “I will be walking.”

“Me too,” agreed Fluttershy. “Besides, I’d rather stick with one of you. I don’t remember the way.”

“Hay, if you’re both walkin’, Ah might as well walk too.” Applejack took a moment to wring some more water out of her hat. “Comin’, Twi, Spike?”

“You bet!”

“Absolutely.” Yes, she agreed with all of them. No more running today. Twilight turned, and bowed to the Princess. “Goodbye, Princess.”

Princess Celestia smiled. “Farewell, my faithful student, and all of you. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

Oh, Twilight planned to.

Enough with the prophecies, and trying to predict the future. Now, as the alicorn disappeared in a zap of magic, and four ponies and a dragon walked down the steps and into Hoofington’s main plaza, they were in the present. It was time to enjoy the moment, Twilight thought, as she told Spike her version of the day’s events eleven years ago, and ‘Hurricane’ Fluttershy tried not to blush as her nickname got mentioned. What a nickname to have. Pretty clever of Prophetia to know that nickname enough to call her that—

That’s not why the prophecy calls her that!

Stalleonardo’s voice leapt out of the past almost directly into her ear. But if that wasn’t why the prophecy called Fluttershy ‘Hurricane’, then why…

No. It was a mystery for another day. Prophetia was barred to her… they’d have to find Trixie at some point and hope that she didn’t overuse it. No way would she agree to have Erasure cast on her, not unless something drastic happened to change her personality. The Iris? It'd be nice to get that too, though given it had been part of Trixie's reality for eleven years, she might try holding onto it a lot harder. At the very least, Twilight had the workbook back, free from anything dangerous and vetted by the Princess herself. She really needed to have a proper read through it when they returned to Ponyville. What other kinds of fascinating artefacts did Stalleonardo foresee? Were they likely to appear in their time? Ooh, just the thought was making her excited again!

Her own stomach grumbled. Ah. But first, lunch. They all deserved it. Then, back to Ponyville. She had an appointment to make.

Author's Note

Bonus quiz time! The answers to these three questions can all be found in the story, if you put together the pieces of the puzzle. Answers in spoiler tags if you choose to have a go.

1) Why does Rainbow Dash think Fluttershy's uncle is awesome?
2) Who was the filly who got knocked into Skyview lake?
3) What caused Reeds' insomnia?

The latter two will be answered in the epilogue, but it'll be interesting to see your theories on the first.

While I would like to include an epic showdown with Trixie to conclude her part of the story, the truth is that it was already written - six years ago, by M.A. Larson. It's called "Magic Duel".

Epilogue

“Nice place you got here, ‘Starshine’.” Reeds let her eyes wander around the library while she sipped her coffee. “Never met anypony who lived in a tree before.”

It was surprising how things had quickly settled back into the normal routine after a couple of days. Now it was the following Tuesday, three days after the Lifebearer’s Vault, Princess Celestia had gotten Wind Chime to reverse her decision on the Ponyville weather patrol, no more freak storm disappearances, no more vague predictions of the future, and Twilight had already dealt with a Ponyville Weird Thing involving Apple Bloom and the Cutie Pox. Exactly the sort of normal she’d become accustomed to. Princess Celestia had been and gone to the library, too; though Twilight hadn’t had a chance to go through those loose pages, she was informed that they were for the most part harmless.

She had remembered Reeds Melody’s address from the letter she’d told the Iris to tell Reeds to send, and had simply invited her to tea, as had been the, er, ‘arrangement’ back in 990. Taking precautions, though, she prepared by going out to the store and buying some instant coffee, for which her guest was grateful.

“How long did you know?” Twilight prodded, drinking from her own tea. “It can’t have been that hard to work it out.”

“I saw you around the castle afterwards and figured you had an older sister or something.” Reeds set her cup down and stretched her wings. “Then the Iris started talking to me, you showed up in the hospital, and I put two and two together. Was I a good actor?”

“You fooled me.” And she’d done it all without directly lying to them. Anthem’s influence strikes again. “How did you fool the doctors?”

Reeds blinked at her, then realization dawned. “Oh. No, that was unintentional. Genuinely couldn’t sleep. Wasn’t a coffee overdose either,” she picked her cup up again just to gesture with it. “Hadn’t had any for days before you showed up.”

Then… “It wasn’t the Iris?”

“Don’t think so. I tried asking it but it just kept saying ‘they’re not supposed to do that’ over and over again.”

Twilight’s brow furrowed. “What did it mean by they?”

Reeds glugged some more coffee. “Just before the whole not sleeping thing, I was helping with a weather thing west of Manehattan, things went south and I crashed into a forest, swallowed some berries or something. Best I can work out it was something about them. Actually that was pretty much its reaction to anything I asked it about. Coffee, poison joke, chang—”

Wait… she couldn’t be… no! “Were they little round maroon berries in clusters of three or four?”

“Yeah! Those’re the ones!”

But… no… augh. Twilight slammed her face down onto the table. Of course Reeds would manage to crash into the energy-boosting snoozeberries that weren’t supposed to exist. Why not?! “And you didn’t mention this to the doctors?” she mumbled flatly, still face-down.

“Well, no. They had some too and were giving them to me to try and help me sleep so I figured it wasn’t relevant.”

When she next saw her, Twilight was going to give Nurse Redheart a hug, she decided.

Upon discovering that future-telling magic had been involved, Reeds had been suitably impressed. Then she had been a bit less impressed when Twilight refused to demonstrate the spell for her. No, she actually couldn’t cast the spell now. No more time travel, no more prophecies, no more stress about the future or the past. Just two new friends having a drink. Nothing wrong with that.

“It’s still weird, though.” Reeds lifted the cup again and was a little disappointed to find it empty. “That until now the first time I met you was the last time you met me.”

Yeah, it was weird. Twilight had thought that about meeting the construct of Anthem, too. Twilight’s first, Anthem’s last (technically, if you didn’t count getting glared at for thinking of lying). First and last, at the same time.

Something in her thought journal went ‘ping’.

The First and Last. That had been the title of Stalleonardo’s supposedly most famous painting which she’d never heard of. Loaded phrase, then. But… ‘seek the first and last, in the last and first’… His last note, and the book that had sent her to Ponyville in the first place…

With a funny look on her face, Twilight got up and navigated to where she’d shelved Predictions and Prophecies, now placed next to the workbook, which as she’d vowed to do was now bound to the library. Dinky’s art envelopes had been returned to the foal, she didn’t know if Dinky planned to do anything with them, it wasn’t right to throw away things like that, but the book still had everything in it like it was supposed to, including her own prophecies, she’d discovered.

Reeds hovered over her shoulder. “Something up?”

“I don’t know…” Very cautiously, Twilight opened the book up to the first page, one she normally never bothered with. In most books it was blank, or had a dedication that tended not to be very relevant. And she gasped.

Written very neatly across the page was the phrase ‘If you alone can keep your head whilst others around are losing theirs, you really need to lighten up.’

Oh boy. Twilight was sure she’d at least glanced over this page before; how could she not have recognized a Pinkie Pieism? That didn’t bode well for the last page…

The last page was blank.

That was a letdown.

Except, if she looked closely, there was something that wasn’t supposed to be there in the binding on the inside of the back cover… Augh. There was something in there and the only way to get it out was going to be to vandalize the book, wasn’t it. No, wait, she could reconstitute it! She had a spell for that!

“Uh oh, I saw that face in Canterlot,” Reeds commented. “Should I be standing back?”

“No…” Twilight muttered absent-mindedly, using her magic to slice the binding open. You wouldn’t notice it if you weren’t looking for it, but there was a small card pressed between the inside of the binding and the back cover. A message from Stalleonardo; what else could it be? Who else could hide a message she’d been given hints at to find, especially in a three-hundred-ish years old book?

Carefully, she extracted the card, which was covered with small, very delicate writing.

Twilight Sparkle,
By the time you find this, the adventure in which you met me will be over. It is very important that you know this: No matter what I may have said to you in our final encounter, I do not hold you to blame. Rather, I can only blame myself. Casting such a spell was incredibly foolish, and I paid the price for it. Addiction is a powerful thing, and without Prophetia, I am nothing now. I do not know what road will lead me to the two of us in a burning theater, but I am absolutely certain about one thing: the future is safe in your hooves. Your friendship can do anything, and your next stories will be even greater.

I hope Princess Celestia can forgive me for my machinations. I had her perform a number of seemingly strange actions in the course of setting up our encounter, ultimately to reach this point where you read this card. I also hope her sister forgives my alterations to her telescope.

I must also ask for your forgiveness. Through fate and magic, we each drew each other into this tale, but yours, I think was the harder path. I drove you to worry repeatedly through my own actions, and for that, I am truly sorry.

On June 3rd, go for a walk in the morning.
Sweeping Stroke

On the back of this card I have drawn a sketch of my most recent work, The First And Last

Reflexively, Twilight turned the card over.

The book hit the floor with a thud, pages flicking open until they landed on the pages for the Elements of Harmony. Moments later, the card settled on them, the magical grip that had been holding it lost.

The six ponies were posing, as though standing for a portrait. Though they were much younger, it wasn’t difficult to recognize Princesses Celestia and Luna, nor the distinctive hat and bells of a very disgruntled Star Swirl the Bearded. On the far left was clearly Anthem, her wing hugging the stallion next to her close, his own wings and horn clearly visible. Far right, another alicorn, her mane cut short, eyes closed.

One unicorn. Five alicorns.

What.

…

In Canterlot Castle, a Princess beholds a portrait, a reproduction of one that was lost centuries previously. It was the first time they were painted together.

It was the last time.

In Ponyville Hospital, a pegasus meets with a nurse. The nurse is checking up on her. They met when the pegasus was admitted to Canterlot General eleven years ago after being resuscitated. The pegasus’s daughter draws in the waiting room.

She draws a crystal castle shaped like a tree.

In Hoofington, a unicorn looks over the page she copied. Thanks to a spell, she knows where to start looking. Around her neck, a magical crystal with no magic waits patiently.

She will have her revenge.

At her home, another pegasus finishes writing about her latest adventure, and as per family tradition, she ties it into a scroll and throws it into a pool of rainbow outside. She doesn’t know why.

She tried looking for the scrolls to get rid of them, once. They were all gone.

And elsewhere, across the seas, over the hills and far away, a griffon snaps his claws…

And fire blossoms in his palm.

The Grandeur Sequence will return with
FIRESPEAKER

What was stolen must be returned

Author's Note

It's over. It's finally over.
I won't say a whole lot in this author's note, there's an afterword for that, but I will say thank you for sticking with this story through to its conclusion. This has been a story six years in the making; with any luck, the next story won't take nearly as long. Firespeaker isn't a sequel, not really, just set in the same world that Predictions and Prophecies has built up.

Check out Twilight's Followup for a quick timeline of the story, and the afterword where I go on for a bit on how the story developed and where it could have gone.

Afterword

Well, there we are, the first story in what I’ve unofficially dubbed the Grandeur Sequence. Prologue, 26.5 chapters, Epilogue, six years, and what a long, strange trip it’s been. I hope you enjoyed the ride.

I’m just going to say a few things about the directions the story could have gone, and why some things went the way they did - and for some of them at least it’s an improvement. Feel free to skip this if you’re not interested in the details.

Predictions and Prophecies began life in 2012, in the middle of Season 2, as a sort of sequel to Boast Busters. Back then, the ideas were much looser than they would be eventually. I knew I wanted to start at Twilight’s library, Rainbow Dash’s incidents kicked the whole story off, time travel would be involved, they’d end up at a vault underneath Hoofington; but the in-between bit was where the story sort of fell apart. I was trying to get from Point A to Point C without going through Point B first.

Remember that bit in Chapter Three, where Flutter Doo thought that Rainbow Dash was the source of Ditzy’s pain? That was a holdover from the original version of the first chapter. In it, after Fluttershy arrived, Twilight received first a visit from Rarity, horribly sleep-deprived, and then Rainbow Dash would arrive accidentally towing Ditzy behind her. The end result was a hurt Ditzy, Rainbow would point out Rarity’s stress-mane which would make her faint, and then Twilight and Fluttershy would leave Rainbow to the books and go and take Ditzy and Rarity home. This got taken out when I realized I was just putting the actual plot off for too long.

Fortunately, the contents of Chapter 21 are not what I had originally envisioned. Originally - and I hope you appreciate the change! - the Mane 6 and Trixie (having convinced her to join their side somehow) would open the vault… and inside would be Doctor Hooves.

Yeah.

Having just time-locked 1000 years ago, the paradoxical opening of the vault would trigger the TARDIS to land inside, and the Doctor would then help the Mane 6 tie up the loose ends back in Canterlot 990.

What a cop-out. Really it was Magic Duel that put rest to this, as I couldn’t have Trixie take their side and then show up in a later episode swearing revenge. If you couldn’t tell, I’m really too focused in making sure things fit perfectly into canon.

Where Doctor Hooves’ presence was removed from the story entirely, other characters turned up without me expecting them to. Snow Veil had come about as a minor character in a short story, and that short story will appear soon as a way of properly introducing you to Wind Chime and Mayfleet. Princess Luna’s role outside of the prologue was entirely unscripted. Anthem in particular wasn’t due to turn up until another even longer story. But pieces fell into place nicely, and the story slots nicely into its new intended place between Boast Busters and Magic Duel. If you couldn’t tell from the timeline, I’ve pieced together the first three seasons to fit into a single year, not necessarily with all the episodes in the right order. Interested? Well, the timeline can actually be found here, at my blog on the MLP wiki.

NaNoWriMo 2014 was the first turning point. 50,000 words, 7 chapters plus the prologue, that got me through the introduction, through Hoofington, an unexpected visit to a marble mine (before proper planning, the telescope had just been in ‘a cave’) and a trip back in time to Skyview Lake. After a year of nothing, NaNoWriMo 2015 came around, bringing with it a character from a side story, a storm, more jumps through time, an Ursa Major, and finally the introduction to Reeds Melody. Another year of stalling, then the time travelling to the 600s and the opening of the vault finally came around. Then I published the prologue on Fimfiction! Then I lost another year, and Nanowrimo 2017 was officially the point where the story finished, with the trip to 990, and a re-write of the Great Fire climax.

So where do we go from here? Well, that epilogue sure gave us a few story hooks. Five alicorns? Where’s Anthem now, and for that matter, those other two alicorns? What did happen in 617? Why did Rainbow Dash trigger an alicorn magic detector? What about those ‘Wednesday incidents’ Twilight mentioned in the timeline?

In the future, I hope you'll read We Are Harmony: The Delusions of Grandeur, Where Did Wednesday Go?, and Chronologically Impaired - and in the interim, I have a couple chapters from Euphoria that are basically ready - but for now, prepare for the arrival of the Firespeaker.

Prologue

Princess Celestia, the co-ruler of Equestria, the bringer of the sun, and the sovereign of pony kind, was deep in thought.

This session of deep thinking had come about because she was - there was no other word for it - bored.

Day Court was over, thankfully. Most of the time, she enjoyed nothing more than to converse with her subjects, even if a lot of the issues that were raised were somewhat petty; it reminded her what normal pony lives involved. Over a thousand years as a princess would undoubtedly skew her vision were it not for her little ponies, ponies she had come to view as equals rather than living ‘below’ her. Today, however, had been little more than a farce. She had kept an interested face, barely, as she had been given a detailed account of her nephew Blueblood’s latest indulgences, mediated an argument between two other nobles who had no idea what topic the discussion had started on, and endured a rather long-winded speech from a rather odd stallion who it turned out was trying to sell paper towels, but the moment it had ended, she had let out the sigh to end all sighs. And nothing further had come up to alleviate her boredom.

Normally, in this sort of situation where she found herself to be bored, she would leave the throne room and go somewhere else. The gardens were a favorite; she would lie down on the sun-soaked grass, and look out across Equestria, the perfect place to illustrate how beautiful it was. Failing that, one of the castle’s balconies with some comfortable cushions afforded much the same views but less of the ambience. Neither of these were an option; Equestria was less than a month into the spring rainy season, the grass was soaked with water rather than sunlight, and there was nothing to shield the balconies from the weather. Checking on the School for Gifted Unicorns was also enjoyable, paying surprise visits to the teachers, finding out from the students how their studies were going. It was also something she’d already done, as a matter involving one of the students teaching themselves a spell they really shouldn’t have had arisen before the court had started. As a result, the School had been evacuated, an exhaustive protection spell had been cast to prevent the said student from using the Rainmaker spell matrix again, and as she’d left, the divers were preparing to enter the gymnasium.

She had carefully kept quiet about the fact that her personal student had done exactly the same thing some years ago and that was why the castle had a swimming bath.

Her eyes wandered up and down the throne room. Rainmaker. Written during the Great Drought of the 300’s. For emergency use only. Do not cast indoors. Cast only in presence of certified pegasus from the Cloudsdale Weather Forecast. (The guard standing below and to her left, Sure Strike, was asleep.) Not intended as a substitute for drinking water. (The other one, Silent Watch, was subtly doing some knitting behind his back.) The city of Manehattan is not responsible for any damage caused by unauthorised casting of this spell. (Kink in the carpet. Slightly tattered curtain. Broken stained-glass window.)

Hm.

It was Celestia’s fault it was broken - there was no denying that. She’d actually hurled a vase through it when she’d heard of Discord’s release, in a sudden fit of out-of-character rage. She’d calmed down immediately, of course, but far too late to save the window. Such a shame, it had been one of her favorites, a genuine work by Stalleonardo da Colton. She sighed upon recalling the name. She still remembered the day he’d walked into the castle, eyes shining in anticipation to begin his latest masterpiece, such a brilliant and inspired young stallion… completely oblivious to the future that lay ahead of both him and his window. A number of modern-day artists had tried to restore it, but ultimately the window had remained empty, save for a curtain that was enchanted to keep the heat inside and the rain outside. But that was art for you. A vision only the original artist could fulfill, a mystery to everypony else. Perhaps… it was for the best that its original image was not restored.

She needed to think some more.

“Gentlecolts,” she said. Sure Strike woke with a start, and Silent Watch dropped his needles. “I am going for a short walk.”

Walking was not how her sister Princess Luna found her five minutes later; instead she was standing in the castle courtyard, soaking wet and looking somewhat dejected.

“Sister, it is raining.”

Princess Luna, raiser of the moon, ruler of the night, and ultimate master of the obvious. “I am fully aware of the weather situation, Luna.”

“Thou art-” Luna coughed, and started again. “You are going to stand outside and catch ill?” She glanced back towards the castle doors, where more guards stood, passively flanking the entrance. “Again?”

“It’s not cold. It’s actually pleasantly warm.”

“That was what you said last time.”

Celestia looked upwards, reflexively casting a miniature shield spell to keep the rain from falling into her eyes. Yes, she had said that. She had also unintentionally fallen asleep, so she’d had to spend a few hours wringing her fur dry, and then the sneezing set in. Luna hadn’t been impressed then either. She looked over at her sister for a few moments, then smiled. “I suppose I did.”

Her sister beckoned for her to follow back inside, and she did so, a slight tingle running through her as Luna’s magic washed over her, effortlessly drying her. Luna had always been more adept at that sort of thing. “We- I wish to speak with you. Walk with Us.”

Smiling, Celestia chose not to correct Luna’s habit to slip back into Old Equestrian. It had been quite a while since her return, and she had made remarkable progress on catching up with the thousand years of history she had missed. She could be allowed to make a few mistakes here and there. A previous incident involving a visit to Ponyville on Nightmare Night had been a boost to reintegrating herself with the Equestrian public, but she still noticeably shied away where and when her alter-ego was brought up. Prince Blueblood, as usual, had not helped in the slightest, and on their first meeting had insulted Luna straight to her face. Since then, Luna had been actively avoiding the prince, and when they did meet, everypony in Canterlot knew it. While her time as Nightmare Moon had changed some things about her, it had not lowered the volume of her voice; if it was possible, she was even louder.

“I admit that in since our- my return, I have been… ‘restricting’ myself to certain areas of the castle,” Luna explained, as they walked one of the halls. “Earlier this day, I decided to rectify this, despite what may have happened in the past.” Celestia was well acquainted with the feeling; there some places in the castle where even she hadn’t been for years. There were memories in those places, memories that would overwhelm her if she were not careful. “I have noticed some… changes.”

“Do tell.”

“As a start-” Luna turned, and walked into a wall. “Ouch. We are sure there was a door here.”

“Really? I don’t recall one.” (There had been. The room beyond was now the lower level of the swimming bath.)

Luna looked skeptical, but decided to drop the issue, much to Celestia’s relief. It seemed that the younger alicorn didn’t remember the old music room, not that there was much to remember about it besides the terrible acoustics. When Twilight Sparkle had unleashed a storm inside it, nopony mourned, and the event had been the impetus to finish renovation of the Upper Canterlot Music Hall. With no need for the doors, they had been removed and replaced with walls matching those on either side. All that remained of its existence were the murals around the balcony, and they had been left in because they actually looked quite nice.

The tour went on for a while. Celestia had to admit that even she hadn’t noticed some of the smaller changes, ones that had to have been at least a hundred years old. Repurposed rooms, replaced columns, differently spaced windows… It just went to show that Luna’s memory was more infallible than hers. Celestia had once, privately, suspected that Nightmare Moon had been a positive event for her sister’s psyche, but Luna’s mind was Luna’s business, and Luna’s business strictly did not involve Nightmare Moon.

It also did not involve looking where she was going, when she tried to walk into a tower that had been destroyed centuries previously.

“…and then there is the matter of this.”

For a moment, Celestia was lost, and mentally slapped herself for zoning out. Luna had been doing a lot of talking. Then she realized where she was, and sighed. “Oh, yes. The Meditation Chamber.”

The Meditation Chamber was so called for its tranquility, an effect compounded by the magnificent views it afforded over Equestria below. Time ago, the room would have been private, for use of the royals only; today, it was more commonly used by students seeking quiet study. The large, arched windows, the circular strip skylight, the whispering pool on the central raised dais… all of those plus its distance from the busier areas of the city only added to its reputation as a place of relaxation and silence. Celestia had been here many times while tutoring Twilight, and had no doubt this place held special memories for the unicorn too.

“This room has changed more than most others in the castle in the last thousand years. We- I remember it being more… colorful.” Luna paused, her eyes taking in the room, noting all the little details. “And Our telescope is gone. Sister, it was hoof-crafted by the smiths of the far north, and was one of a kind.”

And it had been a beautiful thing, a perfect piece of Crystal Empire engineering. It had once sat where the pool now was, a spherical device of infinite apparent complexity. Celestia remembered it well, and remembered having it religiously maintained and cleaned after the Incident. It had been a thread to cling on to, to remember Luna by, and it had lasted so long… but not long enough to see its mistress return.

She gestured for her sister to sit on one of the cushions that had been placed around the back edge of the room. “You will remember that I informed you of a magical Interruption that occurred near here, eleven years ago?” Luna nodded. “It was responsible for a great many immediate problems, one of which was major damage to this chamber. By the time I was able to attend to it, your telescope was gone.”

They sat in silence for a while, save for the rain on the skylight, the birds, and the little clicking noises that indicated Silent Watch was standing guard outside. Celestia savored the moment; few and far between were the times she could share such moments with her sister. There had been times when it was always possible, but like most, those times had gone.

Luna eventually spoke. “There was one other matter.”

“Hm?”

She pointed across the room, at the broken tablet beneath the windows. “That was not there the last time We were in this room.”

Both alicorns beheld the cracked sandstone, rather out of keeping with the marble much of the rest of the room was constructed of. Words danced across it, faded with age, clearly only a remaining part of a whole. “I did not place the prophecy there. It…” Celestia wasn’t sure when exactly it had appeared. From the moment she had first noticed it, it seemed as if it had always been present, a hole in her mind. It unnerved her. “I do not know of its origins.”

One of Luna’s eyebrows raised, a habit that she’d copied from watching Celestia in the Day Courts. “It is a prophecy?”

“So when the day dawns on the great spark’s morn, the past will rise with a thousand eyes,” Celestia repeated. She’d memorised it back to front in an effort to understand it, but nothing had come of the endeavor; either it wouldn’t come to pass, or she was not the one meant to interpret it. “When the chime is heard, fourth before third, do not put all of your faith in the star-shine that shows you everything. I believe it is also a passage in Predictions and Prophecies, though the missing fragment is not in the book either.”

Luna turned to look at her slowly. “There is such a book? Prediction magic is very, well, unpredictable, sister. It is unsafe, even for we.”

“It is a collection of folklore and cultural mysticisms, many of which are considered old mares’ tales.”

Her sister’s expression went blank.

“Myths.”

“We… I see. And pray who has the book now?”

Celestia did not answer, but instead rose, and walked to the window. The rain was starting to show signs of lightening. It would be a pleasantly refreshing though somewhat damp evening. From there, she could see much of the land below, and if she just squinted hard enough, she would be able to pick out the buildings of the town of Ponyville in the distance. While there were various abridged copies of the book around the kingdom, there was only one full copy of Predictions and Prophecies in existence. It had proved instrumental to her student once before. Maybe it would again.

Author's Note

Here it is, folks. This story has existed in one form or another on my computer since the middle of Season 2. That's right, this story pre-dates alicorn Twilight. After four years and around 150,000 words, it's finally being told. Buckle up.

4 - The Museum

THREE DAYS LATER

The train rattled its way southwards.

Twilight could remember going to Hoofington exactly once, and that had been several years ago as a very young filly with her parents to visit her aunt and uncle, who had since moved to Canterlot. It hadn’t been very memorable, mostly because it had been involuntary and she really didn’t see the merits of spending time away from her precious reading. (New Twilight had recently become horrified of Old Twilight’s priorities.) Visiting the museum had not been on the agenda. It might have been at one point, but since she’d basically spent most of the whole trip kicking and screaming, the rest of the time partially placated in her uncle’s guest bedroom with a large pile of books she’d already read, the schedule had to be changed substantially. She’d been the happiest filly in the world when she was back in the city with her unread learning.

Her father had once joked that they had gone to the museum, and that they’d been kicked out because of her behavior. …At least, she hoped he’d been joking.

Despite a frantic search, a letter to Princess Celestia, and a subsequent second search with Lieutenant Double Edge of the Royal Guard - the Princess had been very serious about its potential danger - no sign had been uncovered of Da Colton’s workbook or the nocturnal thief. On closer inspection, something she should have noticed immediately on its reception, Twilight had discovered a subtle Locate charm buried in the blank card, which was probably what led the thief there in the first place. Locate, for when you don’t want as much security that Return provides, could allow the pony it was bound to to home in on the enchanted object without fail. It was only a coincidence that Twilight had put it on top of the book, but… coincidence was all that the thief needed.

Still, Twilight had memorized her own prophecy (how couldn’t she?), and Dinky’s drawings had been neatly hidden inside Predictions and Prophecies (where else?), which itself was more or less anonymous on the mythology shelf. Nopony had ever asked about it. Then again, maybe that was to be expected; the few sources she could find that referred to the book were unanimous in saying that its writer had been losing his or her mind, and that most of its contents were not, as the book claimed, folklore, but completely made up. But the Elements of Harmony were real enough. Maybe its own source material had simply decayed, or maybe the ponies referring to it had something against the author.

Rarity and Fluttershy had joined her and Spike on the train for the visit. The Apple family, as expected, was up to their barrels in their reunion, and while Applejack appreciated the offer, she was determined to make the event the best her family had ever had; Rainbow Dash Twilight never got a chance to ask, because she and her second-in-command Icy Rain had been summoned up to Cloudsdale to answer for Monday’s missing storm, and she was staying in her home city for a few days. Twilight wished them luck. Southern Chief Wind Chime could be an unpleasant mare to deal with at the best of times.

“Ten down: ‘Guesswork’, ten letters, second letter O.”

“Conjecture.”

Fortunately, Rarity seemed no worse for the wear after the dress order. She’d finished early morning on Wednesday, spent the entire day sleeping at the spa, and then by the time Thursday rolled around she was right as rain, though a little narked at whoever had made the order so last-minute. Twilight had told her that she should refuse offers like that which stressed her out so much, but the dressmaker was having none of it. Apparently, the stress was worth it for the eventual gain. Somehow. She had the Equestria Mirror crossword open in front of her, and Twilight had to resist the urge to tell her all the answers and not just the ones she asked for help with.

“Hm.” Rarity chewed the end of her pencil. “Thank you, Twilight. Anypony would think you’d completed it already.”

“She did,” put in Spike, who was rather annoyed at his current predicament. For reasons known only to themselves, the train conductor and guard had insisted he use a baby seat, apparently not listening when they were told he never needed one before. “She always does the paper puzzles on Friday mornings.”

“It’s a valid method of exercising your brain,” Twilight said. She glanced over at Fluttershy, who was gazing out at the terrain rushing past. “It refreshes your vocabulary and spelling ability.” It was pretty much the only excuse to buy the Mirror; the newspaper she normally got was an exclusive delivery of the Canterlot Star which provided much less bias but no puzzles section at all. “What do you think Fluttershy?”

“Hmm? Oh, I do them sometimes. Angel helps me.”

How exactly her pet bunny was able to help her with a crossword was anypony’s guess, but where Angel was concerned it was better not to ask.

A change of subject was in order. “Have either of you ever been to Hoofington before?”

The paper lowered slightly and Rarity frowned over the top of it. “Father used to play for their hoofball team. Mother and I used to travel there to watch his matches.” She spoke of it in a tone that suggested that they weren’t fond memories. “You have never truly suffered until you’ve attended a hoofball game.” She gave an involuntary shudder. “The smell was horrendous, and don’t even get me started on what passes for fashion amongst the fans. Present company excepted of course,” she added, with a nod to Spike, who wasn’t the most enthusiastic hoofball fan in the world but still enjoyed watching it.

“No problem at all, Rarity…” even the baby seat wasn’t going to put the dragon off his crush.

Outside the window, the world went dark as the train entered a tunnel. “I’ve been to the museum once or twice,” said Fluttershy. “I think my uncle helped put together one of the exhibits. It was a long time ago, so I don’t really remember it.”

That was news to Twilight. “Really, Fluttershy? Did your uncle work for the museum?”

“No, he… just… helped…” Everything became bright for a moment, the train leaving the tunnel, and Fluttershy resumed staring out of the window. “I don’t really remember it.”

“Oh.” Twilight was yet to make acquaintances with somepony who actually worked in any museums. The last curator she’d met, that had been before the Nightmare Moon incident, and she’d brushed him off in favor of the antique books on his bookshelf. That’d gone down well. “Okay. I don’t really remember when I went to Hoofington either.”

“Didn’t…” Spike was trying to recall something. “Didn’t you go there after you flooded the—”

“That was Trottingham! And please stop bringing that up!”

“(Flooded the—)”

“Please don’t ask, Rarity. It’s very embarrassing.”

“My apologies, Twilight.” Rarity raised the paper again. “Now, seventeen across…”

Twilight had to bite her lip to avoid shouting out the word ‘acquisition’ and desperately looked around for something else to take her mind off the crossword answers. Not really worth talking about the train compartment… Craggy Canyon was coming up in a minute, but she doubted the others would be interested in the geological processes that created it… Spike’s baby seat had an interesting design, but he might get annoyed if she reminded him of his embarrassing situation… Hm.

Wait, that was it. “Does anypony know where in Hoofington Pinkie’s staying?”

“Um… no.”

“Afraid not.”

“I do have this…” Fluttershy produced a tourism pamphlet. “I thought it might help.”

With much rustling and effort, Twilight managed, eventually, to unfold it. Okay, so the station was there, the museum was there, not too far away from it… no sign of the Cakes Confectionary though, and though Hoofington was a town, it was significantly larger than Ponyville. Looking for Pinkie without knowing where she was would be like searching for a needle in a haystack… without knowing where the haystack was. And knowing Pinkie, the needle would be moving. And— perhaps that wasn’t the best simile to have used there… “Thanks anyway, Fluttershy. I’m sure we’ll find her eventually.” She wasn’t going to try folding it up again, that was tempting fate.

“Twilight,” Rarity pointed out, “This is Pinkie Pie. I’m sure if we wait at the station, she’ll find us.”

She had them waiting for ten minutes before she admitted that it had been a bad plan.

It was an oddity, Twilight observed, that nopony seemed to recognize them as they headed down one of the main streets to try and find the Confectionary. Three of them were bearers of the Elements of Harmony and had defeated Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra, Twilight and Spike had appeared beside the Princess in so many tabloid articles it was embarrassing, and yet none of the ponies they passed batted an eyelid. It hadn’t even been that long since the fracas at the Crystal Empire, for pony’s sake! They’d been on the front page of every newspaper in Equestria!

Maybe it was like an Equestria Weird Thing as opposed to a Ponyville Weird Thing.

She didn’t like interrupting strangers in their business to ask for directions, she was still uncomfortable with it, but when there was no other choice, she would. Spotting a unicorn mare who didn’t look busy, she tapped them on the shoulder. “Excuse me, could you tell me where the Cakes Confectionary is?”

For a moment, the unicorn stared at her as if she’d grown a second head, then silently pointed towards a signpost, which indicated a marketplace further down the road.

“Thank you.”

“(What a strange pony,)” Rarity muttered when they were out of earshot. “(She could have said at least how far it was.)”

Twilight glanced back; the mare was staring after them. “(I’m sure she’s just uncomfortable talking to strangers,)” she whispered back, trying to angle her head so it didn’t look like anything conspiratorial was going on. “(Right, Fluttershy?)”

Fluttershy squeaked. Spike was unimpressed.

In a few minutes, they reached the edge of the town’s marketplace. Well, here was the haystack, time to find the pink needle. Of laughter. Wrong, wrong— “The shop’s got to be around here somewhere. Maybe if we split up and all look for it at once—”

She suddenly found a yellow hoof in front of her mouth. What was Fluttershy…? “Shh,” she said, her ears twitching. “Listen.”

Ponies peddling their wares. Birds. Normal conversations. An accordion. An accordion? “Is that…”

“Yes, Twilight, I believe we can all hear that,” confirmed Rarity.

“If we follow the music…” started Spike.

Nod. “It’s likely we’ll find Pinkie at its source.” If Pinkie was part of a musical number, the whole of Ponyville normally knew about it, whether they wanted to or not. Hoofington was bigger, but the sound carried more. “This way!”

Even galloping, they weren’t as conspicuous as they ought to have been, and nopony accosted them or asked them to slow down, apart from Spike who paused to salivate at a gemstone stall before Twilight levitated him onto her back. By the time they reached a street lined with cafes and restaurants, the music was dying down, and the synchronized dancing by the nearby ponies was coming to an end. A short ways away, there was a storefront that looked remarkably familiar, and an even more familiar pink pony practically drowning herself in a soda on its steps. The pony glanced towards them, did a wildly exaggerated double take, and sprayed soda all over their faces.

“Guys!” Pinkie Pie practically screamed at them. “You missed it!”

“Missed what?” Twilight asked, while trying to wring the soda out of her mane. Rarity was twitching; Twilight made an effort to dry her mane too before it went all sticky and dropped her into Crisis Mode.

“You missed the big musical number! Aww, and you would’ve loved it!”

Without waiting for a reply, she somehow grabbed all four of them and dragged them into the building. “Welcome to the Cakes Confectionary candyland! Come on! Let’s meet Mr Cake’s sister and nephew!”

“Actually, Pinkie,” Twilight started, hoping to finish before Pinkie started again, “We’re just here to—”

“Twilight Fluttershy Rarity Spike, meet Mrs Fairy Cake and her son Eccles Cake,” Pinkie continued, apparently oblivious to what Twilight was trying to say. “Mrs Fairy Cake and Eccles Cake, meet my friends Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity and Spike!”

They were given an embarrassed grin by the yellow-green mare behind the counter, garbed in an apron that was liberally covered in dried pink icing. (Also the only other pony in the room.) “Good morning, Misses,” said the mare, Fairy Cake. “Pinkie was telling us about you before she started singing.”

“What were you singing about?” Twilight asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

“Green chocolate,” Pinkie proclaimed. “I didn’t really get it either, but it was fun anyway.” She suddenly seemed to notice the lack of a stallion in the room. “Hey, where’d Eccles go?”

Fairy Cake blinked at her. “He went out with Bluebottle a few moments ago. Didn’t you see him?”

“Uhhhhhhh…” Pinkie dragged the noise on for longer than it should have been necessary. “Nope! Must’ve been during the chorus when I was on the roof. By the way, unrelated, but you’re missing a few roof tiles, like, a bunch.”

For a moment, Twilight caught a glance from Fairy Cake, one that silently asked ‘Does she do this all the time with you?’ She returned one that said ‘Yes’. “Don’t worry about the roof, Pinkie Pie. We know about it.” Everypony looked upwards. “I keep telling Sponge we ought to get it fixed, but he insists that lots of ponies in this town have damaged roofs, and it’d be bad luck to fix them.”

This was new. Twilight had never heard of any Hoofington superstitions to do with rooftops. Her curiosity got the better of her. “Do you know what caused them?”

“Personally, I think it was just a bunch of pegasi playing pranks. But ask a Hoofingtonite and they’ll tell you that it was the…” Fairy Cake glanced around conspiratorially, then lowered her voice. “The Ursa Major.”

Beat. Twilight then started laughing, and quickly trailed off when she realized that nopony had joined in, not even Pinkie, who was giving her a disapproving look. “Uh, sorry, but I thought I heard you say ‘Ursa Major’. Ursa haven’t been recorded this far south for hundreds of years.”

“That’s what I told Sponge. But the story goes that an Ursa rampaged through the town one night ten or so years ago and then up and vanished.” Fairy Cake rummaged around in the pockets of her apron and retrieved a soda. “I know, doesn’t make sense. But that’s what the town believes.”

“Spooooky,” Pinkie put in. “Maybe it was a ghost Ursa Major!”

“I’m having a peculiar sense of deja vu,” added Rarity.

“Deja who?”

“Do be quiet, Pinkie.”

Ursa Major. Hoofington. Not the first time Twilight had heard those words used in conjunction with each other. Well, they did say that all lies were grounded in truth somewhere… To think that the town actually had a fresh superstition about it. Was this where that story started? Here, with that tale?

After bidding goodbye to Fairy Cake, and purchasing some small nibbles to take with them on their way to the museum, Twilight craned her neck back to look at the roof. No denying that something had hit that hard. Could it have really been an Ursa Major, though? They’d been recently recorded in the Everfree Forest, and in the forests on the eastern continents, but neither was anywhere near Hoofington. Why would one come all the way down here, trash some rooftops, and then leave? Sure, they were huge, and they’d go through anything to protect their young, but… And why was it only a superstition? Surely somepony would have noticed?

She’d barely been in the town an hour, two at the most, and already she had more questions than answers for things that had nothing to do with the intended purpose of the visit.

Spike was navigating for them using the tourism map, having insisted that he wouldn’t get them lost (despite saying, out loud, that they needed to turn left at a particular intersection and immediately turning right). Both she and her assistant knew Canterlot like the backs of their hooves (well, backs of Spike’s hands, anyway), but in a strange place they tended to get lost fairly quickly. Ponyville was tiny, it was impossible to lose your way there, and still they’d managed to enter the Whitetail Woods while trying to get to the library. Granted, they knew it well now, but back when they’d only just arrived…

“This way!”

“Um…”

“Spike, darling, that’s somepony’s house.”

“It should be right… here.”

“Spike, that’s the station.”

“No, I’m right this time, and it’s over this way.”

“Isn’t this where we started?”

“Ooh, are we playing the maze game on the back of the leaflet? I love those!”

Unamused, Twilight turned the map around so Spike was actually looking at it.

“Oh, it’s over there!” Spike pointed down the wide street they were on, towards a large archway. “Through that arch!”

As they headed for it, Rarity leaned in towards Twilight. “(Didn’t we cross this street half a dozen times?)”

“(Yes.)”

“Ohhh, you’re looking for the museum!” Pinkie said. “Why didn’t you say so? You can totally see it from the Confectionary! That was a total waste of a montage! Well, not a total waste, I got some ice cream out of it, but you get what I mean, right?”

It had to be said, the pictures Twilight had seen of the museum didn’t really do it justice. Its facade was imposing, but still impressive, in what looked like a combination of earth, unicorn and pegasus architecture. One look at that and you knew immediately what was in the building, if you didn’t already. Everything about it just screamed ‘museum’ at you, or at least it did to Twilight, who’d visited all of the museums in Canterlot several times. On this occasion, she would have to show self-restraint, and not make any formal complaints at any minor details they happened to get wrong. She would grin, bear it, and move on before the lack of historical accuracy aggravated her too much.

Beyond the archway was a large courtyard, easily twice the size of Ponyville’s town square, thronged with ponies, natives and tourists alike. It reminded Twilight much of Canterlot; even as Fluttershy shrank behind her, she was making the connections with the capital city’s festival square. These sort of crowds she was used to, even if they tended to be bowing to the Princess walking beside her. Flashing cameras, excited foals, pegasi flitting to and fro above, town residents putting on brave faces as they dealt with ponies who hadn’t done the research… part of her had missed it. Granted, she hadn’t been interested in any of it before, since she’d always been concentrating on her current or upcoming studying, but on some level she supposed she’d been paying attention.

“Wow, it’s big,” said Spike, who always did have trouble being verbose about his descriptions. “Much bigger than Ponyville’s museum.”

“Technically that’s not a museum.” Ponet might call it a museum, but one room full of your own art does not an exhibition make. Especially if the only variety is putting a small knockoff statuette of the Princess on the mantelpiece. Speaking of which… there were a number of statues and sculptures in the courtyard too, serving as the background for lots of the photos being taken. One of them was of the Princess, unsurprisingly; Twilight also recognized the flag-carrying High Standard and the bow-wielding Swift String, common sights in the Canterlot sculpture garden, though unusually the third of their trio, the staff-holding Sweet Royal was missing. Perhaps her statue belonged on the empty plinth, undergoing work or something.

“Hey, Twilight!” As per usual for the pink mare, Pinkie had darted off to something that looked interesting to her. “Isn’t this the same as that one back in Canterlot when we broke in?”

Twilight cringed and quickly glanced around to see if anypony had heard that. It didn’t seem like it, or if anypony had, they weren’t paying attention. Thank goodness for that. “Yes, Pinkie, it’s a big hourglass sculpture. It’s one of Chiselgrip’s Ten.”

“Um… what’s Chiselgrip’s Ten?” Fluttershy asked, from somewhere now behind Rarity.

Here comes Lecture Mode… “Chiselgrip was a sculptor who was commissioned for a set of ten large hourglass sculptures for a rich noble in the 700s, each framed using a different material. Eventually, the noble ran out of money and auctioned them off to various places. The one we saw in the Canterlot Archives (um, you won’t know this, Rarity and Fluttershy, I’ll tell you later) was the first one, fashioned from Lunite, which glows in the moonlight.”

Pinkie tapped her chin. “I don’t remember it glowing. I remember it sort of being greeny-grey.”

“It probably hadn’t been cleaned for a while. And Spike, it should look doubly familiar to you because number four, the golden hourglass, is in the Canterlot library.”

“That’s what it was,” Spike agreed, snapping his claws. “Which one’s this?”

The lavender unicorn turned her eyes back to examine it. “It looks like it’s made of bronze, which means this was the seventh hourglass.”

This was the seventh hourglass. Everything her mind had been working on ground to a halt. The last line of her prophecy… and that was it. It came true. Here. Now, and she’d spoken it again with the same voice. She’d come here on the Princess’s advice which had come after the spell. Could that be a coincidence, or had the Princess recognized the meaning behind the last line? Either way, that part of the prophecy had seen her here. What else? Could the whole thing happen here, at this museum, today? Could the book’s thief draw the same conclusion?

“Such a thing would go perfectly with the theme of your library, darling,” Rarity said, apparently thinking with her fashion brain and not her logic brain and not having noticed the change of voice. “Replace that horrid little bust in the middle… perhaps if it was made of copper to match the wood…” Answering that probably wasn’t a good idea, seeing as the copper hourglass, number three, was in Prince Blueblood’s private study and he used it as a hatstand.

As they headed for the museum doors, Twilight’s thoughts were consumed by the prophecy once more. What further parts of it could come true here, in Hoofington? She eyed the columns flanking the entrance, which looked nothing like the ones in Dinky’s drawing. Was there any chance of them collapsing? Unlikely. They had the same design as most cloud structure columns, which meant that combined with earth pony building know-how they’d be practically indestructible. Stop thinking about it. Or the balloon - she was sure there was an aviation science exhibit. Would that be the truth behind that line? It’d certainly shift danger away from— Stop. Thinking. About it.

The group of four ponies and dragon were pleasantly surprised when they entered; Princess Celestia had sent a message ahead and gotten them all VIP tickets, which included entry to all of the special exhibits, covered the cost of lunch, and, if he so wished, allowed Spike free time in the ball pond if he decided he was bored. (Given that option, he wouldn’t. Dragons and plastic ball ponds didn’t mix well. He was still banned from that one furniture store.) With that already taken care of for them, they were able to enter the museum proper.

Barely a hoofstep in Twilight wished she’d behaved better as a filly. To a foal, the hallways would be astoundingly big, the flying machine hung above would be awesomely amazing, the presence of so much history would be intoxicating (at least to Twilight). As an adult, the effect was somewhat… muted. In that way, her experience was rather ruined. But still, she had the opportunity to learn things first-hoof here. Reading about them in books was a perfectly acceptable way of digesting the information, but reading about a particular process lacked a little… ‘oomph’ when compared to a working model or actual evidence.

She’d snagged a few maps from the reception desk, and distributed them amongst her friends. “Anypony see anything in particular they want to go see?” Yes, she wanted to go straight to the da Colton exhibition, but right now the prophecy was still weighing on her mind and she wanted to try and clear her spirit a bit. “Anything at all?”

Spike’s face almost touched the glass, and his breath was visibly fogging it up. “Wow. You really discovered all this stuff?”

Of all the things she’d expected the museum to have, Twilight had not expected an area devoted to artefacts retrieved from the Castle of the Royal Sisters in the Everfree Forest, but here it was, a window to life a thousand years ago. Apparently, or at least according to the signboard at its entrance, the objects within were there by special permission of Their Royal Highnesses Princesses Celestia and Luna. That made a degree of sense. It had been their castle, after all, and technically, anything found there belonged to them. But all of this had been possible because of the bearers of Harmony, and she felt just a little pride at that, that their journey into the Everfree had not only prevented Nightmare Moon from bringing eternal night, but that it had also allowed history to continue.

Even at this point, months since that event, Spike had never been to the castle, nor had Twilight or her other friends ever returned. There just hadn’t been any need, and with the danger the Forest presented, it was a hazard just to get to Zecora’s hut, let alone five times further. You couldn’t just go there whenever you wanted to.

Following some discussion, the ponies had split up. Fluttershy, predictably, had wanted to visit the garden and the natural history wing; Rarity had joined her after learning that adjoining the wing was another special exhibition on pre-Nightmare fashion. Twilight and Spike had opted for a more-or-less straight but meandering route to the da Colton exhibition via the Royal Hall and Engineering Floor. Meanwhile, Pinkie had immediately disappeared to the foal’s play area, and returned a few minutes later to somewhat disappointedly relate that the supervising pony had stopped her from having fun in it.

“You totally should have seen us, Spike! We were all like ‘oh no!’ and Twilight was all scared like this and Nightmare Moon was all ‘raaar!’ but then Twilight figured everything out and we were all glowy and it was Nightmare Moon’s turn to go ‘oh no!’ and we got some shiny necklaces and Nightmare Moon turned back into Princess Luna and she was all crying and Princess Celestia gave her a great big hug!” Pinkie wrapped her front legs around herself - twice - to simulate the hug. “Then we were all ‘wahoo!’ and I threw a party and it was super-duper fun and Twilight you fell asleep before it finished.”

“Pinkie, you’ve told Spike this story already,” Twilight pointed out. “And I already told you, by that point I hadn’t slept for over a day.”

“Oh, I never let sleep get in the way of a party. (Unless it’s a slumber party, where sleeping’s the whole point, otherwise it wouldn’t be a slumber party, would it?) If I feel I’m getting tired I just drink some of my patented Pinkie Pie’s Phruit Phizz and then I’m ready to keep on partying!”

“Your… ‘Pinkie Pie’s Phruit Phizz’…” Twilight could feel her sense of spelling deteriorating even as she said it. “…is three percent water, two percent fruit juice and ninety-five percent sugar.”

“Isn’t it great?!”

With the amount of sugar the pink earth pony had ingested over the course of that Summer Sun Celebration, Twilight was surprised she was able to remember any of it. Then again, this was Pinkie Pie, who defied the laws of every science known to pony kind. As for the drink itself, Twilight stayed well away from it. She’d been bouncing off the walls with just one cup of coffee (which she discovered she now intensely disliked), and coffee had a minuscule amount of energy compared to Phruit Phizz. She dreaded to think what her reaction to that much sugar would be…

“Sure is!” Spike, on the other hoof, had drank several cups of Phruit Phizz and still crashed out at what qualified as a regular time for him. Dragon biology, still not something fully understood by ponies.

The Royal Hall wasn’t as long as Twilight had first assumed, but then it sort of made sense, considering that a lot of displays it could have held were still in situ in places like the Royal Gallery in the castle or the Royal Canterlot Museum in, well, Canterlot. It was no big loss for her; as the Princess’s student she had unfettered access to both places, not that she ever really needed it. Perhaps she should, though. Maybe some new works involving Princess Luna were now on display. Despite her best efforts, Twilight had only caught glimpses of the Night Princess since the Nightmare Night Incident, and from what she’d heard Princess Luna had barely left the castle since then. She’d come out for Shining Armor’s after-wedding party, but only for about ten minutes before she disappeared inside again. Surely she couldn’t still—

“Ooooooh!” Whoosh.

Uh oh, that was Pinkie’s ‘interested’ noise, the one she made whenever she was about to go hooves-on with something that fascinated her. What was it? Oh, a scale locomotive at the entrance to the Engineering Floor that foals could pretend to drive, in particular the one that held the record for the fastest steam engine in Equestria, Hurricane, named for the Commander in the Hearth’s Warming tale. (They had his actual armor in the Royal Hall they’d just left, too. Spike had been very excited to see that.) Turn back to answer Hurricane’s call. A train whistle? That would fit, but where would a seismometer come into the oh ponyfeathers. She just wasn’t getting away from it, was she? Whatever path she took to avoid thinking about it, they all led back to the prophecy. Was that the way the spell worked? Get her to write a new prophecy and then bully her into finding out what it meant?

Diversion ruined, there was really only one thing to do: go straight to the Fine Arts Hall. As soon as Pinkie could be removed from the cabin of the locomotive.

“Choo choo!”

“Is that… him?”

“That’s him, Spike.”

“He looks sorta like Mr Cake did when the taffy machine exploded.”

Self Portrait of the Artist, painted in CE620. Twilight had seen pictures of it in books before, but never the actual thing. All those prints, all those black-and-white reproduction sketches, they didn’t have the same feel that the portrait itself gave. Upon it, a silver unicorn stallion, staring off into the distance, presented with an incredibly messy black (or possibly deep blue) mane and beard, and a coat speckled in splotches of paint. Stalleonardo da Colton, the writer of the workbook that had been uncovered in her library, the greatest artist in known history. Not big on art, Twilight couldn’t say anything about the painting’s composition, but it gave her the chills. He’d been responsible for revolutionizing Equestrian culture, giving other ponies new ideas, new knowledge about themselves… the modern world definitely started with him.

And he looked so ordinary. Tidied up, he could just have been another pony on the street, a face in the crowd, yet this very pony had gone on to such heights. Princess Celestia’s first student. His legacy was hers now. What did he have to teach her?

There was a pamphlet on a stand next to it, and she procured one. “Stalleonardo was born to an ordinary family in Colton, in around CE593,” she read out loud. “This would not have been his original name, but none of his works from before the adoption of the name ‘Stalleonardo’ in 611 survive, due to the accidental fire that brought the town to the ground two years later. At this point, he added the suffix ‘da Colton’ meaning ‘of or from Colton’ as a mark of respect for his place of birth. Prior to being discovered, his works were considered unremarkable, until Her Royal Highness Princess Celestia bought a painting from him for a thousand bits in 617, at that point the largest sum paid for a single piece of art.”

Pinkie’s eyes had grown to the size of dinnerplates, and it was very unnerving. “One… thousand… bits…?”

She was probably imagining how much candy that could get her. “And that’s not even counting the rate of inflation.”

“Wait, what do balloons have to do with it?”

“Never mind.”

Inside the Hall, the atmosphere was… Twilight didn’t quite know how to describe it. Everywhere she looked, there were Da Colton’s works, paintings, sculptures. How many of these were the result of the prophecy spell? Each one of them was masterful, events captured in perfect detail. A foal learning how to walk. A green mountainside. A busy street of seventh century Manehattan. They were like slices of time, preserved for eternity. Who were these ponies, shown from the past? Just ponies, and that was what had set Da Colton apart from the other well-remembered artists from his era, whose only public works were those commissioned by the wealthy.

“Within the first part of the exhibition are some of his earlier works, dated from CE611 to about 624. Here you can see Stalleonardo developing his artistic identity in a variety of mediums.” Pinkie and Spike were intently listening, though how much they were understanding was anypony’s guess. “Around the corner you will see a reproduction of the painting purchased by Princess Celestia, a…” They turned the corner, and all three of them nearly jumped out of their skins. “…a portrait titled the Mona Luna.”

It was unquestionably the Princess of the Night, looking resplendent in dress. “…Now known to be of Her Royal Highness Princess Luna, the painting’s original is currently installed in the Canterlot Royal Gallery.” Well. Twilight shivered. “At least we know why Princess Celestia bought it…” Celestial Era 617, six hundred and seventeen years after she would have last seen her sister. Twilight knew her teacher well, well enough to know that after that long she’d have paid any price to see Luna again. This had to be a prophecy painting. How couldn’t it be? It was almost as if she’d been there in the room as he’d painted her. To the seventh century, Nightmare Moon was a story to scare little foals; to Da Colton, Princess Luna had been real.

Indeed, as they proceeded through the next part of the exhibition, several of the paintings continued the prophetic theme. Immediately recognizable was Sea Serpent, the serpent Rarity had donated her tail to, and next to it, Mare Under Apple Tree, which if you looked at it right was definitely Applejack. Elsewhere, stormclouds in the desert, Rarity in the rain, an upside-down mountain… were these the future, or the past?

“Another of his most famous pieces takes pride of place in the back of the next room,” Twilight continued to read, even as they emerged into it. “Painted in CE639, and titled Harmony Reborn, it depicts the mythical defeat of the chaos spirit—” her eyes widened, and she joined the other two in staring up at it.

“Discord,” they all said at the same time.

An explosion of color could be used to describe it, at the center of which was the twin figures of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and below them, writhing on the ground, the figure distorted but recognizable, the draconequus himself. Surrounding the Princesses were six orbs of light - the Elements of Harmony, if Twilight had to guess - and framing the scene were six faceless but armed ponies. Who were they? Princess Celestia hadn’t mentioned them before…

Spike was trembling. “It’s him, Twilight.”

It had started off as a perfectly normal day, and then Discord had turned up and ruined their lives. First, he’d taken control of the weather, making it rain chocolate from cotton candy clouds. Then he’d tricked Twilight and each of her friends into losing their connection with the Element they represented, turning them into mere shadows of their former selves, before going on to terrorize the rest of Equestria. It had taken an emergency plan from Princess Celestia, and a great deal of illness on Spike’s part, to turn the situation on its head and seal the spirit of chaos back into his stone prison.

This, then, must have been the first time.

Had Discord appeared as suddenly then as he had this time around? Twilight had asked Princess Celestia, in private after the award ceremony, and she had remained tight-lipped, though from her expression it could probably be assumed that she hadn’t gotten through the encounter unscathed. She’d also intended to ask Princess Luna, but the night alicorn hadn’t been present for the ceremony and didn’t turn up until after she’d left. But Twilight didn’t want to press them too hard. After all, they were much older and wiser than she, royalty on the side, it wasn’t her place to interrogate them. The last thing she wanted to do was drag up unpleasant memories.

“Let’s, let’s move on before we get that dread feeling, shall we?” Twilight said brightly in an attempt to ignore the situation. Discord was imprisoned in stone again, and safely hidden somewhere in the depths of the castle. He would not be coming back. “Let’s see here, Vit’hoovian Stallion, Turtle Tank, magical theory books… Further work for the Princess… In the later years of his life, Stalleonardo da Colton complained of hearing voices, and seeing hallucinations which he claimed as real.” Uh oh. She hadn’t known this before, but that fit the bill of the prophecy spell. Is that what would happen if she kept using it too? “He continued to paint, but as is evidenced by the works on display, his works were slipping into a realm of fantasy…”

Gone were the normal street scenes, the portraits, the landscapes, replaced by increasingly confused and distorted layouts that could only have been possible with the spell. At this point, then… he’d been painting exclusively prophecies and nothing else. What had happened? Or, to be slightly more precise, what had the spell done to him? Thinking back to the book, the matrix within it had been ever so slightly damaged, and she’d made repairs to it without even thinking about it. In its incomplete form, had the spell caused a change in the wrong place? Any of today’s unicorns would have seen the instability, and either have the sense not to cast it or at the very least patch the tiny bits that were missing, but those techniques wouldn’t be perfected for at least another hundred years after Da Colton’s time. Had he thought it right the whole time?

Pinkie hadn’t spoken in a while, so Twilight glanced in her direction to make sure she was still there. She was, but her face reflected some sort of sadness that the unicorn wasn’t willing to admit to. This one pony… the spell had brought him success, and then it destroyed him.

“It is widely believed that Da Colton was working on one final book in the closing years of his life, but if he was, it was never published, and nothing of it survives. Then, at the age of sixty three, his work was brought to a close by the Great Fire of Manehattan in CE656, during which he and his workshop were among the casualties. By his last will, those pieces that survived and remained unsold were distributed by Princess Celestia to various educational institutions, and it is by their generosity that we bring them before you today. In the coming months, archaeologists hope to locate and uncover…” she trailed off. Closing the exhibition was another self-portrait, in which the stallion looked far older than he could have been for his age. Time had not been kind to him.

“…That started off all happy and fun and then it got really sad,” observed Pinkie, sitting down on one of the benches in the corridor outside. Twilight could do little but silently agree. In story, Princess Celestia had told her of her first student, of his amazing feats, but she had never mentioned his end, and now she could see why. Had he been as fearful as her, on the topic of admitting the existence of the spell? Was it and the workbook the secret he took with him, wherever he went? The Princess’s letter, a few days ago, it had said… ‘Do not let it define you’. Was that his mistake? Had he allowed his prophecies to consume him?

Well, she would make a resolution, right here and now. She would not let the same happen to her. She would not lose herself in the prophecy! She would not—

“Twilight!”

The exclamation of her name snapped her out of her epiphany. “Fluttershy?”

Out of breath, the pegasus came galloping around a corner towards them, tripped, and slid along the floor. “…Twilight, thank goodness…”

“Oh gosh, Fluttershy, are you alri—”

“Twilight, you… have to come with me!” Before Twilight even had a chance to offer her help up, Fluttershy was up herself and tugging at one of her legs. “Quickly!”

“What is it? I—”

“You heard the mare! Double time! Move like you gotta purpose!” shouted Pinkie, suddenly over the whole sadness of the exhibition, and adopting a marching pose. When Twilight didn’t do the same, she rolled her eyes, and—

“Hey, Pinkie?! Put me down!”

“Orders are orders, Private Twilight! Lead on, Commander Fluttershy!”

“I’m not—”

Pinkie dropped her. “We’re here!”

‘Here’, when Twilight got her bearings and got over the fact that Pinkie moved so fast they didn’t even seem to move, turned out to be one of the balconies overlooking the courtyard, next to Rarity and a few other ponies. It was mid-afternoon now, and for the briefest of moments Twilight thought about lunch before her eyes caught up to her brain and kicked it into listening to them. Courtyard. Statues. Sculptures.

Otherwise, completely empty.

“What the hay…?” she murmured under her breath, all thoughts of chiding Pinkie banished to the ether. Where were all the tourists, the Hoofingtonites? Surely they couldn’t all be having a late lunch, could they? Surely there’d be somepony left…

“Twilight Sparkle!”

Oh no. She knew that voice. It belonged to… Down below, a pony stepped out from the shadow of the Clover the Clever statue on the north side of the courtyard. Garbed in a cloak that billowed in the wind, and a pointy hat that could have been Star Swirl’s (except for the color and lack of bells)… The mare who called herself great and powerful.

“Trixie.”

16 - The Loop (Part 1)

Spike darted in through the door moments before the arrow went thunk into the wood, and Sweeping Stroke slammed it shut. He sank down against it and wiped his brow.

“Are dreams… always like this?” he managed.

There was a window, and Princess Luna stepped up to look through it at the danger they’d only just evaded. “I confess I usually deal with nightmares,” she said, studying the window’s structure. She seemed to have shaken off that last encounter, but Twilight suspected she was just hiding it well. “Reeds Melody’s dreamscape has destabilized more than I initially suspected. I did not think the reverse bleed would be so serious with only two previous encounters.”

“Either that, or she’s got a really active imagination,” Twilight supplied. “But that would explain how everything got so bad out there.”

“I never thought I’d have to run so far again…” moaned Spike. “My legs hurt…”

For all that, though, Spike was doing well. Sweeping Stroke was doing better, considering that most of this was going over his head. It was surprising that he hadn’t had a breakdown yet.

The stallion picked himself up, took a few steps and started hyperventilating. Whoops, she’d spoken… er, thought too soon.

“This is… this is lunacy!” he all but shouted. “Going into dreams, and time travel, and, and, what did you say those things were? Changelings? I…” With a flumph, he collapsed to the floor again. “I just… I don’t…”

Princess Luna flared her wings, and stepped up to him. “Sweeping Stroke, let me make one thing clear.” He looked up, and Twilight was surprised to see that despite his breakdown, he had lost none of the determination his eyes had shown before. “I am not forcing you to do this. You need only ask, and I will return you to the waking world. I understand being exposed to this is overwhelming.”

“Trust me,” she muttered to herself. “I do.”

If Twilight was honest, she had expected him to abandon ship at the first sign of danger. Here he was, a stallion from the uncomplicated year of 611, thrust into an experience that abandoned all logic and mashed together several of Twilight’s own most complicated moments. She had expected a few things from Reeds Melody’s dream, but not… that. She had underestimated just how dangerous dream bleeding was, not considering for even a moment that dreams could go both ways.

Sweeping Stroke’s mouth opened and closed a few times, but then he tightened his jaw. “No. Let us continue. Even if I must keep this all a secret as long as I live…” he turned to gaze all around them. There was a certain twinkle in his eye, something Twilight herself had seen many times in the mirror when something had caught her attention that demanded further study. It was like she was looking at an alternate version of herself. “…I want to see more.”

“Very well.” The Princess offered a hoof up, and he graciously took it. “Let us continue.”

Continue where? Where exactly were they? Finally, they had reached the castle, but this part was one Twilight had never visited. The direct way to the school had been blocked, so… Vaguely she remembered that the building they’d now entered had been called the maids’ lodge, where the castle cleaning staff had lived before Princess Celestia insisted they all move into the castle itself.

She had never been inside the main lodge itself. Its doors had been locked ever since some older students had tried to practice magic in the dining hall and destroyed some priceless antiques, and not even the cleaning staff were allowed back in. Every time she thought of it she thought of the corridors gathering dust. That certainly was the state of the entrance hall they were standing in, the only room Twilight had ever seen the interior of, briefly.

Ignoring Spike’s protest about walking some more, Twilight followed Princess Luna as she headed for the doors that continued into the lodge proper. If things ahead were as dire as they were behind, they needed all the advance warning they could get if they needed to abandon the attempt. Cautiously, the Princess pushed on the door, and Twilight tried not to think about what might lay beyond. If a pony like King Sombra was in there with them…

The door slid open with nary a creak, and Princess Luna exhaled.

Twilight leaned to look past her, and her eyes widened. “This is…”

“Yes.” The lunar diarch smiled and rested a hoof on the doorframe. “This is where the we begin the hard part.”

“Begin what?”

The Princess stood up. Nothing had changed. They stood on the floor of Sweeping Stroke’s cottage. Their water flagons were discarded. The fire was still burning. Its smell, and the smell of paper, were still strong.

Twilight was confused. She was sure that Princess Luna had been about to… had she changed her mind?

“Whoa!” Spike’s exclamation drew her attention. “Tw— Starshine, look!” She followed his pointing finger, and gave a startled whinny. At the Princess’s hooves there was… nothing. Reeds Melody had vanished. In a brief moment of panic, she looked around, and noted with alarm that the Iris was also nowhere to be found.

Their host was similarly startled. “What kind of magic is this…?” Sweeping Stroke muttered, his eyes darting around the room. “Where did she go?” Then his eyes fell on Princess Luna, standing at her full height with her wings outstretched, and they practically popped out of his skull. “An alicorn?!”

Okay, okay. Twilight’s brain was taking far too long to catch up to what her eyes were seeing. Things had changed. Reeds and the Iris were gone, Princess Luna’s disguise had been dropped, and something about the interior of the cottage seemed off, artificial. It was almost like…

Princess Luna nodded. “Yes. As you may surmise, my name is not Moonshine. Please call me Princess Luna.” She looked around. “And to answer your question, she has not gone anywhere. She is still sleeping soundly on the floor of your cottage. As are you.”

One of Twilight’s internal organs did a somersault as she processed what she’d already figured out.

“But I’m not…” the implication took just about as long for the stallion to process. “But that would mean…”

“That we are inside Reeds Melody’s dream,” Twilight finished. They were going to fix this now. “How is she aware of the cottage?”

“This is actually Sweeping Stroke’s dream,” the Princess explained, gesturing around. “A gateway, if you will. I thought it best to provide Sweeping Stroke with an environment he recognized before we transitioned to Reeds Melody. It would not do well to cause him too much immediate shock.”

They paused for a moment and watched the clerk as he tried to comprehend what he’d just been told. How would he react? In his position, she’d go into denial, then immediately start experimenting. Thanks to Princess Celestia’s lessons on lucid dreaming, she’d had no need to go through the denial phase, as she’d been in control of it from the very start (well, mostly). Sweeping Stroke…

As it turned out, he followed her example.

One of the books that had been on his desk exploded, its pages scattering out into mid-air around them. Ink seemed to flow off the pages to draw connections between them. A few sparks were emitted from the fire, which began glowing purple. Above them, the roof disappeared, replaced with a starry night sky, which to Twilight’s delight was completely accurate. Not only was Sweeping Stroke experimenting, but he was doing so masterfully. Even the Princess was impressed.

“This is amazing…” he breathed, reaching out to touch one of the floating pages with his hoof. “To be dreaming, yet completely in control… and you do this often?”

“Dreams are my domain,” Princess Luna confirmed, gently pushing aside some of the pages. “It is my charge to put a halt to the nightmares of Equestria.”

“I…” Sweeping Stroke turned around and around, trying to take it all in, then suddenly stopped and looked at the alicorn seriously. “I’m sure I would have heard of such a thing.”

Now was the time for Twilight to step in. “That’s the other thing that we really shouldn’t be telling you. You won’t have heard of Princess Luna, and nor will anypony else in Equestria.” Leaving out Princess Celestia, of course, and Stalleonardo da Colton, whose painting of her was still a few years away. “Not for another three hundred and eighty nine years.”

To his credit, Sweeping Stroke picked up on Twilight’s subtext almost immediately, and his eyebrows went up. “Do you mean to say you’re from the future?”

“Yes.”

“That’s…” Impossible? Crazy? “…just about as plausible, actually…”

“It’s tr—” Twilight started, then coughed on her words as she realized what he’d said. “Uh, right. Anyway, I’m obviously not Starshine, either. My name is Twilight Sparkle.”

“But my name really is Spike!” piped up the dragon from the ground. “I didn’t lie about that!”

Right, that was the introduction out of the way, and they had business to attend to. Twilight looked around; the front door was ajar, and through it she could see a glimpse of a dirt path in the sunlight. “We can explain more once we get started. Princess?”

“Very well. Let us proceed.”

The realm beyond the door of the Raven’s Town cottage was bathed in the daytime sun, a far cry from the torch-light night in the real world, and even though it was a dream and they weren’t physically there, Twilight’s eyes still took a minute or so to adjust to the brightness. Reeds Melody’s dream was nice and sunny, thank goodness. It was also set somewhere familiar - once she’d gotten a look around, Twilight immediately identified that they were in the Lower Canterlot Park, the reverse of the cottage door opening out into the pond island’s gazebo. Canterlot, as it should look in the present. They were back, even if it wasn’t permanently.

In fact, they were only a couple of blocks south of their departure point at the hospital. From where she was standing, she could just about see the emergency pegasus landing pad on its roof above the buildings at the edge of the park.

Though… there was at least one thing that didn’t belong. Over there, against the wall that stopped the citizens from falling out of the city, was an old, wooden construction, much out of keeping with the white marble of the wall itself. Oh, of course; it was the old weather patrol station, the one that had fallen apart after the sonic rainboom and subsequent magical explosion. Past the rather plain entryway, a door through the wall would take the patrol pegasi into a spherical building that gave the views of the surrounding area necessary to coordinate the weather. The present building was much more advanced, of course. This one had just served the forecast well enough for decades and there had been no reason to think it wouldn’t for decades more.

Nobody had— okay, well, maybe one pony had predicted the explosions.

On top of everything else, there were actually other ponies in the park with them. None of them seemed to notice the new arrivals, the student, the alicorn, the baby dragon, or the oddly dressed stallion whose jaw had hit the floor. They just went on with their imagined lives, playing, chatting, picnicking, occasionally vanishing into thin air.

With all the information available, it was pretty easy to guess exactly when Reeds Melody’s dream was taking place. CE 990, the moments before the sonic rainboom, the minutes that had bled from the pegasus into the unicorn. It made sense.

And only seconds later, Twilight’s theory was proven correct.

BANG.

Amongst the dreamed ponies, there was suddenly alarm and curiosity, pointing up towards the colors flashing across the sky. If she hadn’t been occupied with something else at the time, Twilight was sure that her past self would be awestruck and would already be searching for studies on the effect (not that there were any).

If Sweeping Stroke’s jaw dropped any further, it was going to make a hole in the floor. “What in the world was…” he began, stepping forward, but Princess Luna’s wing shot out and prevented him from advancing.

“Please wait a moment,” she cautioned, eyeing the distant castle with concern. “There is something further yet to occur.”

Twilight closed her eyes and tried to remember how long it had been between the sonic rainboom and the magic explosion. A minute, maybe? Less? Adrenaline had distorted the previous two times she’d been through the sequence, and the first time she’d really been preoccupied by the flood of magic to concentrate on how long things were taking. Everything there from the rainboom to her cutie mark was really blurring together.

Nineteen… twenty… twenty one… twenty t- FLASH. A bright light from the castle, followed by a rapidly approaching shockwave that blew out every window it reached, and it wasn’t long before the weather patrol building was being blown apart and there was a wall of purple bearing down on them-

“STOP.”

Everything stopped. The sphere of magic was paused at Princess Luna’s outstretched hoof. Around them, the ponies, the ones that hadn’t vanished again, were in various states of flinching and shielding others. The dream was… halted.

The Princess closed her eyes, and muttered to herself briefly. “As you may have surmised,” she said, without opening them, “we find ourselves in the memory that bled into your dream. The dreamer can be found where the memory began.”

Canterlot School for Gifted Unicorns. That was where Reeds Melody was, with a weather balloon. Shouldn’t be too hard to find, right? …Right?

Twilight made to move off, and like Sweeping Stroke had, found herself stopped by one of the Princess’s wings. “There is a… complication,” the diarch said, finally opening her eyes again. “I cannot keep this memory paused while we travel. I must release it before we can continue.”

“What happens when the magic reaches us?” Twilight asked. Somepony had to ask it, the concern was all over Spike and Sweeping Stroke’s faces. “It’s only a dream, but will it affect us?”

There was a pause. “I do not know.” Then Princess Luna grinned mischievously. “Let us find out. Spike, please close the door behind us.”

“Wait, wh—”

FLASH.

The daytime sun shone down on Lower Canterlot Park. All around, ponies were going about their imagined lives, playing, chatting, picnicking, occasionally vanishing into thin air. The weather patrol station building was a wooden blot against the marble city wall. Nopony noticed the new arrivals in the gazebo, who looked particularly concerned.

“What…” Twilight managed. “What just happened?”

“Everything’s back the way it was!” Spike said, looking all around the gazebo. “It’s like nothing happened!”

What Twilight expected was an explanation from Princess Luna. So when that explanation came from Sweeping Stroke instead, she could only stare in amazement. “I believe that is because it hasn’t happened yet,” he said slowly, his eyes scanning the edge of the park. “You said this was a memory? It is logical to think that it has simply returned to its start.”

“Very well done, Sweeping Stroke. Yes, it appears the memory has reset. The events we just witnessed will repeat until we reach the dreamer.”

“Then we’d better get moving.” Twilight set off again and this time wasn’t halted. “We need to reach Reeds as soon as possible.”

A quick agreement of route later, they were running out of the gazebo, across the bridge and making off across the park towards the castle. The sooner they reached Reeds and healed the bleed, the less time they’d spend asleep on the floor of Sweeping Stroke’s cottage. Yes, the Iris was full of magic, but she had no idea how long it could keep up its concealment. If Princess Celestia found them there… instant paradox.

One thing remained constant as they crossed the park, the bizarre flickering of the ponies, who seemed to thin out as they approached the buildings. Twilight voiced her concerns.

“Remember, this is a memory, Twilight Sparkle,” said Princess Luna from the front. “This area may be distant from the dreamer, but Miss Melody is populating it from her own experiences, and if she cannot see it, she cannot remember it.”

Right. Pegasi had good eyesight, and from a vantage point at the castle, Reeds would have been able to see most of Canterlot, that which wasn’t obscured by buildings. True, any ponies would still be specks from that distance, so the ponies they did see were probably random ponies that she was calling up from other memories. Even as she thought that, Twilight swore that she saw a few instances of herself among the crowd.

The most direct route to the castle would be to take Thunderbolt Street past the old communications tower to the Broadway at Equinox Square, and from there the Broadway itself would be the only street they needed. It should be simple. There were no complicated junctions to traverse, they didn’t need to worry about crashing into anypony, it was just a run from point A to point B.

Upon entering Thunderbolt Street the first complication arose, which came from within their own party, as Sweeping Stroke kept slowing down to stare in wonder at the storefronts, and Twilight had to keep stopping to go back and get him. This was probably doing the trick of erasing his skepticism over the whole time travel thing, but he was seeing so much that a pony from 611 really shouldn’t. Everything from clothing to magitek DJ equipment filled the windows of Thunderbolt Street, and though Twilight admitted she’d be doing the same thing, the less he got a good look at the better.

BANG. The sound of the sonic rainboom echoed across the city as they hit the small plaza around the communications tower. There, between the buildings, the ponies weren’t flickering; according to Princess Luna, these streets were now entirely populated based on Reeds’ past experiences, which explained the shopping arguments and the occasional screaming foal. Still they turned to look up at the sky as the intruders ran past. What pony wouldn’t look at this previously mythical event?

And then, twenty-one seconds later…

FLASH.

In the mid-morning sun, the old communications tower rose like a misplaced thimble in the tourist information centre’s model of Canterlot. It didn’t quite cast enough of a shadow to be used as a sundial, the spell that curved the light around the mountainside not hitting it at the right angle, but it still rose above the surrounding buildings. Of course, the wooden structure that used to sit upon its top was long gone, and had been for generations, but at least it retained its identity. It was a popular tourist spot, with plenty of good photo opportunities, and there certainly were plenty of tourists about.

Everything had reset.

And half of the ponies in the street had suddenly turned into Changelings.

Princess Luna skidded to a stop, and Twilight didn’t notice until she smacked into the back of her leg, Spike smacked into her leg and Sweeping Stroke tripped over Spike, both smaller ponies and dragon ending up in a heap.

“What…” Sweeping Stroke whispered, the embarrassment of the situation overwritten by the mix of curiosity and fear that could be expected when one suddenly encountered Changelings. “What are… those?”

“Changelings,” Princess Luna hissed, taking an active stance. “Interlopers! They are not native to this dreamscape!”

Things were just going to get worse from here, weren’t they? Twilight cautiously untangled herself and stood up, helping the stallion to his hooves also, and allowed Spike to climb onto her back. “(What are they doing here, Princess?)” she whispered. None of the Changelings had moved yet, and none of the remaining ponies seemed to have noticed their presence. “(Is the remembering the Invasion?)”

“(Invasion?)” Sweeping Stroke echoed in disbelief.

“No…” the Princess murmured, gaze flicking from one Changeling to the next, waiting to see what their first move would be. “They come from elsewhere…” she looked back at Twilight, and her eyes widened. “Oh.”

Oh what, was what Twilight would have said, had one of the bug creatures not launched itself at her. She threw herself flat onto the cobblestones to avoid it. Instead, she said “Ah!” and fired off a magic bolt towards her aggressor, who took the blast in the face and vanished. “Princess, what’s going on?!”

“Reverse bleed!” the alicorn shouted, shooting down a few more Changelings, who also stopped existing the moment they took a blow. “I failed to consider that when Miss Melody’s dream was bleeding into yours, that elements from your dreams would also be entering hers!”

Then… Twilight looked around, her own eyes wide. “These Changelings are from my dream?!”

“Yes!” With a cry, Princess Luna loosed a ball of magic that cleared the street in front of them. “We may have already left it too late! Run!”

More Changelings appeared on the street ahead as they ran, and the magic users of the four were hard pressed to run and defend themselves at the same time. Well, apart from Sweeping Stroke, who very quickly admitted that he knew no such spells and in a one-to-one fight he was going to end up on the floor almost immediately. He was a scholar, he wasn’t used to this!

It didn’t stop him from attempting to find out more about it, though. “You’ve encountered these creatures before?!” he yelled, as Thunderbolt Street opened up into the market being held in Equinox Square.

“Yes!” Twilight crashed through a watermelon stall and had to dislodge the upturned punch bowl from her head. She really shouldn’t be telling him this, but if he was anything like her, which in a lot of respects he was proving to be, he wasn’t going to let it go until he found out. “A month ago - that is, a month ago from my perspective—” BANG. “—Queen Chrysalis and her Changelings invaded Canterlot! But they were defeated!” Upon glancing back at the look in Sweeping Stroke’s face, she couldn’t help herself and elaborated. “They’re creatures that can disguise themselves as other ponies!”

“I should count myself fortunate that I won’t encounter them, then!”

“Guys, look!” Spike pointed up ahead, to where the Broadway’s exit, the Equinox Gate, was completely barricaded. The Changelings comprising it looked suitably baffled by the windrush from the sonic rainboom, but they weren’t getting through that without a—

FLASH.

Equinox Square was at Canterlot’s heart, physically if not culturally, on the outside of the Equinox Wall which bisected the city. It was usually more of a festival square than one for markets, though it did claim the fame of hosting the toned down but more centralized Canterlot version of the Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange. So far it had been a fairly promising day. Boy, that had gone south rather quickly.

Everything had reset, which included the barricade, which apparently hadn’t been built yet. Twilight did vaguely remember reading that during the invasion, a barricade had been constructed in the Equinox Gate, but surely this couldn’t be an element from her dream - she’d been nowhere near this area. Maybe Reeds had been here and seen it herself. She supposed it made sense. If the Changelings came from Twilight’s dream into Reeds Melody’s, then Reeds was merely repurposing them into her own memory.

The Changelings were still there. Only now there were also jet-black crystal shards sticking out of the cobbles and the walls.

They were still running towards the now clear Equinox Gate when Princess Luna diverted their momentum towards a door in the gate itself. “Things are escalating too quickly!” she shouted. “We must get inside!” As the one in front, she reached it first, and wrenched it open, allowing the two smaller ponies and dragon to enter before following and slamming it shut.

Once inside, they paused to catch their breath. No question, that had been Twilight’s memories of the Crystal Empire’s return at the beginning of the month. If it went so far as to duplicate King Sombra… she shared a glance with Princess Luna. The night after, despite the elation she’d felt at freeing the crystal ponies from the evil king’s tyranny, she had suffered a nightmare about the place behind his secret door, and if she’d read the Princess’s subtext at the time right, so had Spike. A door of dark magic which tapped into your biggest fear… it would be very hard to not have any lingering terrors about it.

The last thing they needed was for the bleeding dreams to turn into nightmares.

“I beg your pardon…” said Sweeping Stroke, who was facing the other way, “But where are we now?”

Twilight knew without even turning around. She could tell by the way she could see her face reflected in the backside of the door. “This is the Crystal Castle.”

Unless Reeds Melody had been to the Empire since it appeared three weeks ago, this was undoubtedly from Twilight’s own experiences. The interior was exactly as she remembered it, right down to the remnants of Sombra’s rule that hadn’t been tidied away by the time she left.

Sweeping Stroke looked as if he was going to faint, but if anything, the Princess looked even more disturbed by this revelation. “This is not a good sign,” she said, stepping forward, and casting her gaze about the antechamber. “We should do our best to minimize our interactions with the foreign elements of the dream.”

“Um…” Spike raised a hand. “Does that include… us?”

He had a good point. What were they to this dream?

“At the moment, we are but visitors, but if we allow it, it will ensnare us.” The alicorn was already moving. “Twilight Sparkle, how is your memory of this place?”

“I think I can get us through.”

“Do so then, and hurry. The Changelings were only character manifestations. The bleeding of an entire setting can be catastrophic. She does not know this environment, and it could separate from the main dream at any moment.”

Oh great. At Twilight’s best guess that was going to be the next pair of explosions, which were a few minutes away and rapidly closing. They needed to find a way out. Fast. The main entrance was behind them, so where would the exit be? One of the balconies? Or…

With a grimace, she realized that there was only going to be one door that would get them out of the castle. That meant… the throne room! She took off at a gallop, with the others close on her hooves. They needed to get to the very top, which meant re-using the trick she’d used last time. The gravity spell was still at the edge of her mind. They were going to need it if they were to exit before the flash.

One hall, two staircases, two halls, throne room! Right where it was supposed to be, the shadow of dark magic and the hidden well where Sombra had hidden the path to the Crystal Heart. This time they didn’t have time to take the stairs. Checking her magic was strong enough for a cushioning spell, Twilight formed the matrix and jumped, Spike and Sweeping Stroke behind screaming as they realized what exactly they were doing. If she judged this wrong, they’d be pancaked. But she had confidence born of necessity now. She couldn’t fail.

And they didn’t. The cushioning spell kicked in moments before they hit the floor, and two sets of hooves touched down lightly, followed closely by a third set as Princess Luna landed herself. That was step one.

Step two, the door. Twilight didn’t have time for fear-inducing shenanigans. The instant the door appeared she was shooting it with everything she could muster. The door was going to open, and it was going to open now.

She was a little surprised when it opened without any complaint.

Evidently the surprise was written all over her face, as the Princess responded. “Dreams have different rules to the real world. The dark magic has lost its effect.”

“Dark magic?”

“Eh, you open the door, you have to experience your worst fear,” Spike explained. “No biggie.”

“I… see,” Sweeping Stroke said, in a tone of voice that suggested he didn’t see, but realized that the urgency prevented any more in-depth questions from being answered. “Very well. What next?”

That was easy. Through the door, and then they were on the outside of the well, which went up far higher than the inside did. Last time, it had been distorted by dark magic, but this was probably going to be dream magic again making the space bigger.

Spike was complaining about having to climb the previous sets of stairs, but they just didn’t have time to climb this set, just like they hadn’t had the time to climb it in the real world. They needed the gravity spell, and to hope that friction would cause any—

BANG.

They only had twenty-one seconds left. No time! She hoped the Princess would forgive her for snatching her so roughly, but if any of them ended up trapped there… she didn’t even want to consider it. To have one’s mind lost in an infinite dream was something she didn’t want to experience. One quick cast of the gravity spell, and they were away!

Nine, ten, eleven…

Come on, come on… Twilight could only will that they were moving faster.

Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen…

She could see the top of the tower! They were so close! Just a couple more seconds!

Nineteen, twenty, twenty one, twenty t—

FLASH.

What Equinox Square was to the whole city, Shetland Yard was to Upper Canterlot, the richer district, home to the higher class shops and also the oldest buildings. Dominating the yard was one of the last remnants of the very first iteration of the city, the Shetland Gate, now just an isolated monumental archway, marking where Canterlot once ended and the wilds began. Most notably it was home to the Upper Canterlot Watch House, where those members of the Royal Guard not on duty at the castle would be tasked with protecting the city. Twilight’s own home wasn’t far away. This was familiar territory.

Groaning, Twilight carefully picked herself up off the cobblestones. Around her, Princess Luna, Spike Sweeping Stroke - good, they’d all made it out. They were lying at the foot of the stairs to the Watch House, which must have been the exit portal from the castle. At least they were closer to their destination now. They only had a quarter of the city left to cover.

Naturally, the reset had left the yard populated with Changelings. And this time, they weren’t alone.

“Run!” Princess Luna bellowed.

A hooffull of Changelings they could probably manage. Having to juggle running to the school, blasting Changelings whilst at the same time dodging whatever Queen Chrysalis was shooting at them was something they very really could not. There was no time to stop for a breather, or ask questions. It was all or nothing. Get to Reeds Melody, or… Twilight really didn’t want to consider the alternatives.

Last time she’d been running from Changelings through Canterlot she’d had her friends backing her up. Six of them together had been enough to beat the bugs back. Four, where one of them was a dragon and despite another being one of Equestria’s diarchs, wouldn’t be so lucky if they were cornered. She really wished her friends were with her. This was the sort of thing they had to do together. It didn’t seem right to be flirting with disaster without them present.

Two more loops passed as they ran for their lives up the Broadway, each time the streets were filled with more and more, and Twilight swore that she was living through the invasion again, only seeing it from a different perspective. It and the events of 990 were blurring into a single event. When they reached Castle Square she half expected to see herself running the other way to reach the Elements of Harmony.

Almost as if she were reading Twilight’s mind, Princess Luna shouted again. “Going after the Elements would not be wise! They have no power here!” That, and they were halfway back across the city in the direction they’d just come from. Reaching Reeds in the school now was their only chance.

BANG. Again, the wind rush and the tremors from the sonic rainboom. Twilight was getting sick of the noise. When she got out of this, she was going to find a rope and leash Rainbow Dash to a fence or something.

Castle Square was coming up. They’d make it to their destination before the end of the next loop… It seemed like it had been an eternity since they had been standing in the gazebo in the park without a clue what lay before them. She was glad it was only a dream - she couldn’t imagine how she’d cope if she got locked in an endless recursion of time in the real world. She would lose it.

FLASH.

The last milestone before Canterlot castle, Castle Square marked where the city ended and the castle grounds began. Residents, tourists, students, ponies and others from all walks of life could be found on just about every day. The gates would be flanked by the usual pair of implacable Royal Guards. Souvenir shops were predominant. This was where you came to see Princess Celestia. This was (at the time, at least) the most important part of Equestria that wasn’t on the inside of the gate.

Everything had reset.

And there was only one pony in the entire plaza.

Again, Princess Luna slammed to a halt, and again, everypony else crashed into her, except this time, instead of the anger she’d shown upon seeing the Changelings, Twilight would have sworn the Princess looked like she’d seen a ghost. Her eyes were locked on the pony ahead of them, a tall snow-white unicorn mare with a grass green mane and wearing a dull green cloak, and for the first time since they’d entered the dreamscape, the alicorn, the ruler of the night, the almighty moonraiser, was afraid.

Her voice was little more than a whisper. “You… how can you be here?”

The unicorn gave no response.

“Um, your, uh, highness…” stuttered Sweeping Stroke. “…those things are moving again…”

Twilight looked back herself. Though the Changelings had reset in the flash, they were already noticing them and moving to attack. One of them had a crossbow. She really didn’t want to interrupt Princess Luna, and anything she was afraid of they should probably be as well, but they couldn’t just stand there. “Princess…?”

It was as if the Princess had suddenly forgotten everything else that was happening. With trepidation she slowly stepped towards the figure, and as they got closer Twilight realized that, as she now had a comparison, the mysterious mare was taller than she’d realized. She could have matched Princess Celestia for height.

Still she did not react, despite Princess Luna’s cautious approach and the still impending threat of the Changelings now mustering behind them. Both she and the alicorn were in their own world. Now there were so many more questions and even less time to ask them! Twilight risked another glance behind them. The Changelings were getting too close for comfort, and she really didn’t want to give that one with the crossbow an opportunity to—

In one fluid motion, the tall mare withdrew a sword - a sword - from a scabbard on her back and pointed it past the four of them at the Changelings, who… stopped.

“Listen to your sister’s protege, Luna.” Her voice evoked Princess Celestia’s motherly tone, comforting yet forceful. It was hauntingly familiar from somewhere. “You have no time to be jumping at shadows. You must reach the dreamer before she loses control.”

Princess Luna shook her head. “Wh— I— That’s all you have to say?!” Now she seemed outraged more than anything. “You shouldn’t be here! You are not of either dream!”

“You say that with such certainty.” For the first time, the tall mare opened her eyes, and Twilight was startled to see that they were blank white. But this was no fault of magic overcharge. This was something… altogether more different. Her gaze never broke from the paused Changelings, the magic holding the sword was perfectly level, and for a moment, Twilight was reminded of…

Wait, that had to be it! There was no other explanation! “You’re a manifestation of the Iris!”

While the Princess looked surprised at Twilight’s outburst, the tall mare smiled, though without diverting her attention. “Close enough, Twilight Sparkle. But I must repeat that you have no time. The Iris cannot keep you hidden for much longer, and it still has instructions it must follow.” She nodded back towards the castle gates. “Hurry, all of you. The direct route is already closed to you, but there is still a path. I will hold the flood.”

Spike and Sweeping Stroke glanced at each other, the Changelings, and the mare, then took off as fast as they could. Twilight took a few steps, then realized that Princess Luna wasn’t following. When she looked back, she saw that the emotion on the alicorn’s face had changed. All of the fear, the rage, had vanished. Now she seemed… sad. It was the same face that Princess Celestia hid when Twilight caught her walking out of the private Portrait Gallery.

“I don’t know how you can be here…” Princess Luna murmured, either not noticing or not caring that Twilight was still in earshot. “But…” she sighed. “I wish we were meeting again under less pressing circumstances.”

“As do I. Now go. Your subject requires your aid. Every little memory, Luna.”

“That rests calm in me,” the Princess returned, and Twilight had the awkward feeling she’d just been witness to some sort of private trust password. “I will remember you to Celestia.”

“As you should. Twilight Sparkle!” Twilight jumped upon being mentioned.

“Uh, y-yes?!” She couldn’t help but stutter. Something about this pony…

The tall mare inclined her head. Back on the Broadway, the Changelings were starting to move again. “Know that you have not met me yet! Your future and my past are still intertwined! Rest calm, and remember me!” She turned back to the Changelings, and… drew three more swords. Yikes. Twilight wasn’t sure if she wanted to get to know this pony better. She turned to leave, but then turned back. She didn’t want to leave without Princess Luna. Without her, there was no chance of solving anything. The tall mare seemed to be of that opinion, too. “Luna, you must go. You cannot do anything here.”

The Princess sighed again. “Very well. What do you plan on doing?”

“What I have always done.”

“Something catastrophically stupid.”

“Astute as always, Luna. GO.”

Needing no further telling, but clearly not wanting to leave either, Princess Luna turned and, together with Twilight, ran to where Spike and Sweeping Stroke were waiting anxiously at the gate. As they ran, Twilight risked a glance back; the Changelings were charging once more, and the tall mare was still unmoving. She didn’t know what the other unicorn planned on doing, but she didn’t fancy her chances as one pony against the equivalent of a whole army, even if they were only dream projections.

Reunited with the others, they hurried into the castle grounds. So many questions… she had said that her past and Twilight’s future were intertwined, but… how could she know that? How did the Iris project into the dream? And what did she mean by ‘the Iris has instructions it must follow’? Argh! If only she had the time to note this down in her thought-journal!

And that of course was ignoring the biggest question of all: Who was she anyway?!

A thought occurred. “Princess…” BANG. “…who was that…?”

For twenty seconds that seemed like an eternity, the Princess didn’t answer.

“An old friend.”

FLASH.

Twilight wished she could have asked more, but at that moment an arrow whizzed past them. Of course. The tall mare could only hold them as long as the memory held. When it repeated…

“Inside!” she shouted. “We have to get inside!” They crossed the main bridge, and shot in through the gate. There was an open door over to the left, inviting them inside. “There!”

Sweeping Stroke was inside first. Then Princess Luna, then Twilight… Spike darted in through the door moments before the arrow went thunk into the wood, and Sweeping Stroke slammed it shut. He sank down against it and wiped his brow.

“Are dreams… always like this?”

Author's Note

The contents of this and the next chapter really shouldn't be two separate chapters, but there was just too much for it to be just one.

Twilight's Followup

Right, this is another thing I have to get in order. Preface: Most of my thought-journal notes got scattered when the, uh, the wing thing happened, so mostly what I’ve got is my memory, but I think I’ve got it down. If I’m going to be a princess, I should be organizing like one.

468, Equestrian Royal Calendar: Anthem puts her construct into the Iris. (I keep forgetting to ask Princess Celestia for a conversion between ERC and CE. Clearly the calendar was restarted after Nightmare Moon, but that doesn’t mean that the equivalent year in ERC was a nice round number.)

Sometime between now and 0 CE: Anthem disappears. Also, Discord happens, but given that he went unmentioned, it probably happened some time afterwards. Same goes for King Sombra.

0 CE: Nightmare Moon is banished. Princess Celestia traveled back in time to try and stop it but had no luck.

593 CE: Sweeping Stroke born in Colton.

611 CE: Princess Luna, Spike, Reeds Melody and I accidentally time travel here and provide Sweeping Stroke with Prophetia by mistake. He takes the name Stalleonardo shortly afterwards.

614 CE: Colton burns down and Stalleonardo adds his suffix.

617 CE: Princess Celestia ‘loses hope’ (or that’s how she described it). Stalleonardo saves her somehow, and he is discovered as a painter as a result? I remember a painting on the floor of his workshop with the words ‘save her’ - was that when he found out she needed saving? I’m not going to push for any more information on this. Unless Princess Celestia decides to volunteer the information this will just have to be a question mark.

At some point shortly after this, this makes the most sense, Princess Celestia invites Stalleonardo to be her student, and he declines. The histories I found attribute this to 618, but given this it could really be any time.

628 CE: Vit’hoovian Stallion.

632 CE: An explanation on the virtues of painting stars at dusk. Completely convinced this was just an attempt to communicate with me.

637 CE: Stalleonardo completes The First and Last, a painting of Star Swirl the Bearded and five alicorns. The history describes it as his ‘most famous painting’, but everywhere else I look nopony’s even heard of it. I’ve still got no idea whose private collection it rests in.

I guess at some point around here he writes the note I found in Predictions and Prophecies.

651 CE: Stalleonardo publishes Predictions and Prophecies. However there is only one full copy and several abridged copies (such as the one in Canterlot). The full copy somehow ended up in Ponyville.

651 - 656 CE: Stalleonardo disappears. Still no explanation for this.

656 CE, September 1: I travel back to Manehattan to try and get Prophetia away from Stalleonardo, missing my intended destination of 651 (because I’d programmed the Iris to bring me here), and I accidentally bring along Ditzy Doo and Reeds Melody. We spend the evening looking for Stalleonardo until he puts us out with snoozeberries.
September 2: Stalleonardo puts into motion a plan to try and overthrow Princess Celestia to avoid a bad future. It backfires, and at the same time the Great Fire of Manehattan starts. Afterwards, Stalleonardo vanishes, and I blow up his workshop. Princess Celestia comes into ownership of the workbook and the sonic rainboom painting.
September 5: Great Fire extinguished.

I don’t know when Golden Oaks was planted, nor when it actually became a library, but I guess shortly after it did Princess Celestia stored the workbook in a secret compartment here.

990 CE, February 24: Thanks to the Iris I ended up here with Trixie, and sort of saved the town from an Ursa Major overnight. The damage is never repaired.
May 21: Hoo boy. What doesn’t happen on this day? All our younger selves witnessed Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainboom, and there were a further three instances of me, two instances of my friends and one additional instance of each of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. That’s far too many versions of us in the same time period. Rainbow Dash seems to think that she saw me on the edge of Cloudsdale, with my wings - so I guess I go time traveling again at some point? I can no longer cast the spell, though.

End result, we all get cutie marks, Reeds Melody walks away with the Iris.

996 CE: I flood the castle music room. (Argh, so embarrassing.)

997 CE: Pinkie Pie picks up her balloon from Canterlot as orchestrated by herself in a stable time loop.

1000 CE, June 20: I go to Ponyville for the first time and meet my future friends.
July 10: Rainbow Dash performs her Sonic Rainboom for the first time since the actual first one eleven years prior.
September 8: The first time we all realize we owe Rainbow Dash our cutie marks.
September 28: Trixie rolls into Ponyville and after a night of Ursa Minor runs away.
November 5: Discord, the first time. Enough said.

1001 CE, January 4: I receive a visit from myself from the future.
Jan. 4 - Jan. 9: Panicking about the future.
January 10: I travel back to try and stop myself from worrying about the time travel. Argh, so stupid.
January 18: Wednesday incident happens, and I know now that actually time traveling messes up the local magic field something fierce.
February 17: Dawn of ‘Hurricane’ Fluttershy.
March 19: Wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance. Queen Chrysalis, enough said.
March 30: Secretariat Comet, Queen Chrysalis again, enough still said.
April 2: Crystal Empire returns.
April 3: Defeat of King Sombra.
April 8: Pinkie Pie mirror pool problem. Spike retrieves the workbook from the secret compartment.
April 10: On our way back from 990 we steal some clouds. Later, I properly discover Stalleonardo’s workbook and cast Prophetia for the first time.
April 11: I get Dinky Doo to do some drawing for me, and Trixie steals the workbook. (She’s admitted since that she just sent the card to find out where the library was; the book was just conveniently there.)
April 14: Hoofington Museum trip, and an encounter with Trixie.
April 18: Marble Mine trip, and an encounter with time travel. I’m still not sure how the residual magic triggered the spell here, but there’s no way to find out any more. Princess Celestia sends Rainbow Dash the sonic rainboom painting per request from Stalleonardo.
April 19: Ponyville weather team replaced, storm over Ponyville. Time traveling out to 990 again.
April 20: Charity drive at the hospital, and Princess Luna and I meet Reeds Melody. Immediately we travel back in time to 611.
April 21: Stalleonardo fact-finding mission in Canterlot followed by a trip back to 656.
April 22: Equus Day. Trixie opens the Lifebearer’s Vault but finds it bare. She pulls a plug out of the leyline anyway and we have to stop it before everything ends. What follows is magic rush, time travel out to 990 and back, more magic rush, and the end of Prophetia (at least from my horn).
April 25: Cutie Pox Event, and I catch up with Reeds Melody.
April 29: Trixie back in Ponyville with the Alicorn Amulet.
May 1: My friends read about the charm in the workbook; Alicorn Amulet situation sorted. After some persuading Trixie permits Princess Celestia to cast Erasure and wipe out Prophetia for good. I wanted to retrieve the Iris, too, she was absolutely resistant, but we eventually agreed that Trixie could keep it, under the conditions that A) she didn’t go around blabbing that it was a magical charm and B) the second it does something unexpected she is to contact myself or the Princess immediately. I’m not happy about the decision, but Princess Celestia did come up with the idea, and it was probably the only way to handle it. I did ask if the Princess could refuel the Iris, but apparently it has to be Anthem’s own magic. Her own alicorn magic, I stress, though I didn’t mention that I knew that. I'm still not happy with the way everything ended.
May 16: Reformed Discord. Who knew? Way to go, Fluttershy.
May 29: The Prophetia time travel instance of Wednesday incident happens. Gah, what a headache that was. If there is more time travel in the future, I’ll need to be prepared for the consequences.

June 3: I went for a morning walk. That night, I had wings.