"Why did we even have to do an ad-lib in the first place? Holy Celestia, Clear Sight, you can be the densest pony I've ever met," said Res.

The three of them were sprinting down corridors, stopping to unlock private personnel gates, and navigating their way toward the Technology Center.

Clear Sight spared him a glare in the midst of entering a sixteen-digit code on a door."Hey, I thought it would be fun, I never thought the same exact thing would happen like last time, and besides, you seemed pretty up for it at the time too."

"That's because I went against my better judgement and listened to you when you said not to cancel the interview!" Res yelled as they skidded around a corner. "If we had just canceled it, none of this would have needed to happen!"

Illesio nearly ran into Clear Sight, who had stopped dead in his tracks and sunk into a state of intense concentration.

"Actually," he said after a while, "my best guess is that...canceling would have achieved the same result...Everyone Equestria Round has been waiting for ages for this to happen, and we all have seen what they can do. They're more maniacal than those guys that take Saturday morning cartoons way too seriously. This is worse, much worse."

He reflected again. "A single cliffhanger was enough to send them all into a frenzied anticipation that quickly grew too much to be contained. Somehow, either we two have become the most interesting ponies in Equestria to the point of extremely illogical obsession and violence, or something else, something different has happened."

Res saw it too. "You're right, it seems...unnatural. Like a, a 'Want It, Need It' spell in a sense, but this seems different."

Illesio thought back to the previous day, the one that nobody else remembered but the three of them, and recalled the terrible look each of the advancing ponies had worn...there's no way that could be natural, why didn't I see that before?

But then Clear Sight's watch beeped off another five minutes, and snapping back to the reality of the situation, they immediately resumed their dash to the Technology Center.

When they arrived there, the room was just as they left it, empty save for the object leaning against the far wall, but before they could move towards it, they were accosted by a brown stallion.

"YOU THERE!" he bellowed in a reedy voice. "DID YOU SERIOUSLY THINK I WOULDN'T NOTICE YOUR ATTEMPT?"

Clear Sight placed his head in his hooves, and calmly said, "No, Doc, I didn't. I was hoping you would stay home."

"STAY HOME?? AFTER YOU MESS WITH THE FABRIC OF SPACE AND TIME?!??" He was getting more and more hysterical.

"YOU COULD HAVE *cough* *cough* ...excuse me, chaps, you COULD HAVE DESTABILIZED THE UNIVERSE IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD!!!"

He finally seemed to have calmed down after this last tirade, and Clear Sight took this opportunity to explain the situation in full detail. He explained the first run through the interview, the actions of Everypony Equestria Round, the memory wipe, the second run, and their suspicions on something sinister behind it all.

"Oh, well in that case," Doc said cheerfully, "there's no time to lose. What's your name, my lady?"

"Oh, um, Illesio," replied Illesio, who was getting used to being part of the background.

"Such a wonderful name you have! You're part of this too, now, I see." Doc nodded. "Interesting choice by Clear Sight. Absolutely smashing to meet you, Miss Illesio. Right this way, please."

Res asked Doc how he knew something was up, Clear Sight already knew the answer, and Doc was more than happy to explain. "Well, I woke up and it was Sunday instead of Saturday, and everyone knows I was the first to research time magic since Starswirl himself. Simple matter, I called foul, and after the play was reviewed, I was right."

He turned back to Illesio. "But here's something I don't understand, Miss Illesio, if this mentality affecting Everypony Equestria Round is a spell or other magic, how are you not affected by it?"

That's a good question...I don't know.

"Well," she said after a moment's consideration, "I've never been one to let emotions get in the way of my work."

Clear Sight burst out laughing, and Res stared at him incredulously.

Doc ignored them, and frowned, saying, "That might be it, but I have a feeling some other factor as well is keeping you unaffected...No time to speculate right now, we have to get the RIT running."

As they walked over, Doc explained what the RIT did. "Aside from the new craze to acronymize any and all project names, the Reality Instance Tripod does about exactly what it says it does: it chooses three of the most stable alternate timelines in close proximity, and links ours to theirs, creating an environment four times as resistant to reality warping and wefting."

Res added, "This technology is so far ahead of its time, I think Clear Sight actually came back from the future to give himself the idea, but I can't remember..."

Clear Sight choked, and began coughing again. He waved his arms and tried to communicate something across.

"Doc," he said in between fits, "You, you said that Starswirl was the last to research time magic?"

Doc looked suprised. "Y-yes, but he was a lot further along than even me, what does this have to..."

Res had turned very pale.

Clear Sight nodded.

"Because," he continued, "I just had a conversation yesterday about just that subject."

Illesio's mind flicked into high gear. One thing could be said about her with absolute certainty, that she was good at connecting events together. Starswirl the Bearded, a master of time magic, and the original Bearers, the protectors of Equestria, were back, and if Doc had figured it out so quickly, then it was quite clear that Starswirl would know as well.

She saw where this was going from a couple thousand miles away.

"No, really?" she said, just before a loud bashing could be heard from the wall far away on the other end of the room.

The bashing got louder, and along with it, a voice tinged with Viking tones.

"GRAAHH! How is this harder than solid stone? It's so thin!"

The wall finally dented in, and a vast grey stallion with fiery hair leapt through the hole, accompanied soon after by a old greenish mare, a young Southern Equestrian mare, a pegasus stallion dressed in Romare armor, a bluish mare with a strange hairdo, and...well, of course, who else would it be after all this buildup, but Starlight Gli---sorry, wrong page---Starswirl the Bearded.

These were apparently the original Bearers of the Elements of Harmony with him, and all of them looked at the four ponies inside with determination in their eyes.

"YOU FOUR!" Starswirl quickly came to the front of his group and yelled across the divide. "WE HAVE COME TO STOP YOU AND YOUR ATTEMPTS TO MAKE THE POWER OF TIME YOUR OWN! I ONCE WAS ALLURED BY THE SAME GOAL AS YOU, BUT NOTHING BUT TRAGEDY EVER CAME FROM IT! I THEREBY ASK YOU ALL TO CEASE THIS MEDDLING IN THE CAREFULLY WOVEN FABRIC OF SPACE AND TIME!"

"WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" called Clear Sight.

"WHAT WAS THAT, VILLAIN?" called Starswirl.

"THE REVERB IN HERE IS KINDA BAD," called Clear Sight, "I CAN'T MAKE OUT A WORD YOU'RE SAYING!"

Starswirl gave up and teleported directly into Clear Sight's face, staring him down, which was difficult, as he was wearing sunglasses. "I said, that we have come to stop your attempts to make the power of time your own, and that we thereby ask that you cease this meddling in the fabric of space and time lest we banish you all to another world."

Clear Sight tilted his head. "Ohhhhh, see you got it all wrong, I just made a mistake, I'm actually actively trying to fix it, also, for a legend from a musty old book," he added, "you pretty much smell like one."

Starswirl stared him down with even more menace in his eyes than before, but asked, "...Explain..."

"What, the smell? Or the fixing it part?" Clear Sight said, then threw up his hooves, "alright, alright, the fixing it part. Celestia, haven't you heard of a joke?"

He went on to explain everything, and by the time he had finished, the rest of the Bearers had joined them and were listening intently.

"I see," said Starswirl. "There lies power in this stone that you do not understand. Do you know what it is?"

Clear Sight said "Well--"

"It is nothing less than the Memory Stone of Clover the Cl--"

"No, no, wait, not that one," Clear Sight interrupted. "I know all about that one, some scrolls on it are in the Canterlot Library Restricted Section, and it's not in this world anymore. This one is a Memory Fragment, much different."

Starswirl looked blankly at him.

"Well, that complicates things." he said. "But you are right, if we hope to stop those seemingly controlled ponies from destroying much, we must activate your machine. To use the Memory Fragment again without support would be unwise, I think."

The Romare stallion raised a gauntleted hoof. "Will you keep our memories with us? I don't think we want another repeat of this same encounter."

"No problem," Clear Sight replied, "just let's get the RIT running first." His watch beeped. "We don't have much time."

--<>-------Whoo hoo hoo hoo this is so bad-------<>--/

Author's Note

man, remember the E meme? that was when the final vestiges of the modern art phase were transmuted into reality. Memes are now avant-garde

Starswirl. Why not? It's simply a logical conclusion.
This is pretty stupid right now, but don't worry it gets better in the worst way

2 hrs 15 min

Cheers from a man with no funny ideas left or at all,
Betless