Sycamore Trees

Chapters

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three

Chapter One

“We open on a barren wasteland. Everything in dark green and brown tones, no sharp lines-- only the thick and stifling haze of smog hiding dangers unknown. In the distance, a--”

“What are you doing?” I squinted at the strange zebra. “I thought you were here to analyze my dreams, not describe them to me.”

His eyes snapped open to look at me. His sunglasses slipped down over his eyes, which made him jump. “This is just how I work, Princess. No disrespect, but I'm the expert, here, and I'd appreciate if--”

I cleared my throat. Hector pushed his sunglasses back up into his coifed mane.

The meeting hall was huge with only the two of us sitting here. Every word, sound, and movement echoed profusely. It was not the most welcoming space, that’s for sure.

Hector leaned forward, his elbow on the table between us. “Look, I studied to be a playwright. This is how I see things. I’m gonna describe your dream to you, you tell me how the stuff made you feel,” he said. His voice was very low, like he was sharing a secret.

“What if you’re wrong about something? Wouldn’t it be easier if I just told you?” I matched his volume in an attempt to be respectful.

Hector laughed, and all the respect went out the window. He had heard this before, very clearly. “Look, your majesty: ponies lie about their dreams, even to therapists. They’re personal, they’re probing. If I tell you, we cut the shit and get straight to the point.”

I arched an eyebrow.

“Pardon my Prench. I don’t mean no disrespect.”

Of course.

Call me crazy, but there was something about his demeanor that made me wonder how professional Hector was. Sunglasses, coif, a distinctly NON-Zebracan accent… was this guy for real, or were those stripes painted on?

“Hey!” He glared at me knowingly. “I’m the real deal, Princess!”

So he was slightly psychic. I guess that meant he was telling the truth about something.

“My family’s been here for a long time, that’s all.” He leaned back in his chair. His rear hooves up on the table. “Nearly pure-blooded zebra. Got one Pony ancestor, though; nice fella. A little weird, but sweet, you know? Funny story, actually: he almost married--”

“We’re paying you by the hour, aren’t we?”

His hooves slid off the table and hit the marble with a hollow thud. The chair fell forward as well. It was hard not to think about what kind of damage this unwanted guest was doing to our showiest room.

He gulped. “Uh, where was I?”

“The distance?”

“Right. In the distance… a spire. You can’t tell if it’s natural or ponymade… but it is tall and threatening. How did that make you feel?”

“Threatened?” I guessed, casting a condescending glance at Hector. A tiny smirk broke through my deadpan exterior.

“My mistake. Moving on… you look behind you, realizing for the first time that you carry a torch with your magic. It is now obvious that it is night. The moon hangs above you, missing Luna’s silhouette. Behind you, a forest. How do you feel about the forest?”

I sighed and closed my eyes to focus on the latent image. “It’s… unfamiliar. I’m glad to be out of it, but I’m more afraid of what’s ahead of me.”

“Good, good. Do you recognize what’s ahead of you?”

“No…” I snuck an eye open to peek at Hector. He was sitting pretzel-legged on the chair across from me. What a turd.

“That’s fine.” He nodded slowly. “You refocus on the path ahead. The haze surrounds you, not smothering you, but obscuring everything except the spire. There is a sound in the distance… it’s hard to make out because of the echoes. Some sort of instrument? One minute, I’ll get it…”

“It’s a voice, not an instrument.” I corrected. “Just making melodic vocalizations.”

“And how do you know that?” A hint of superiority. It’s my dream, Hector… Please keep that in mind.

I shrugged. “Again, it feels familiar, but I can’t remember hearing anything like it. It sounds a little like that Countess RaRa song that came out last year, I suppose.”

Hector opened his eyes to beam at me. “I love that song! Is that what that is?” He started to hum the chorus of Sweet Romance.

“I don’t know, Hector!” I spat at him. “I’m guessing! Keep going. The song isn’t what’s bothering me.”

“Okay, whatever you say, Princess.” He wriggled a bit, settling back into his yogi position on the chair. “Um… you were thinking something here. What were you thinking?”

I rolled my neck back to look up at the ceiling, struggling to remember my exact thoughts. “Something about crows?”

“Crows?” Hector repeated. “What do crows mean to you? Anything?”

I shook my head. “I’m… looking for one, I believe.”

“Mm-hm…” Hector nodded slowly, studying me. “Alright, after you think about the crow, you start to walk. The smog is clearing as you move forward, and you see a shape at the top of the spire. You think you recognize it, and then…” He squirmed in his seat a bit.

I hung my head. “And then someone asks me why I’m not doing anything. I say ‘it’s because I’m scared,' and then they tell me to stop being a baby and 'kill it.' That’s the end of the dream.”

Hector struggled to find a response. I was certain he had heard stranger and more disturbing dreams in the past. He must have been shocked to hear the phrase “stop being a baby” from royalty. I guess “kill it” was probably fairly distressing, as well.

“Um…” He shifted in his seat. “Why did you want me to analyze this dream, exactly?”

I released a huge breath, falling back into the chair like it was an old friend. My neck flopped over the back a bit, and I stared at the ceiling in disgust with myself. “Because I’ve had it every night for a week. I was worried it could be an omen of some kind, but I must be losing my touch. I can’t, for the life of me, figure out what it’s supposed to mean.”

“Why not talk to ponies you know? Friends?” he asked. “Why call a shrink?”

I straightened my neck to look at Hector. “I figured a zebra would know better than I, or any of the ponies I know. Am I wrong?”

Hector, suddenly back in therapist mode, sat away from me. “Well, pardon me for interfering, but isn't your sister kinda... good with this stuff? Why not talk to her?”

My eyes flicked to the floor. "That's, erm... complicated."

"Do you feel any animosity towards your sister?"

I shook my head with undue force.

“Is there anypony else in your past that might stir up anger or resentment? Peer-pressuring college roommate, for example?” he suggested.

“No.”

“Um… smothering parents?”

“I promise, all of my relationships are healthy and well-kept.”

Hector rubbed the back of his head with a hoof. “Well… fog could represent a question you have, or a secret you’re keeping.”

I gave a dry chuckle. “I don’t have any skeletons in my closet, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“Of course not, Princess.”

There was a long silence as Hector tried to think of something to say. I wouldn’t even be speaking with him had Luna not paid for him to come here. She was sick of my insomnia. Hooves on marble floors made quite a bit of racket. My sleepless nights were hers.

Large meeting rooms such as this one were marvelous for summits and the like. With only two of us here, though… The vaulted ceilings, uncomfortable chairs, and life-sized stained glass portraits did not make for a therapeutic environment. Cold and clinical did not make me want to spill my feelings.

Hector leaned back in his chair. “I’m sorry, your majesty. In my professional opinion, you’ve got something other than dreams running through that head. You need a zebra better than me to crack that code.”

I was silent.

“I mean… you can still talk to me if you wanna finish out the hour. I’m happy to listen.” A flash of genuine kindness.

“That’s very sweet.”

Hector smiled softly, blushing as he looked at the floor. “Yeah, well…”

“What do I owe you?”

He stood up. “It’s on me, Princess. If you’re not completely satisfied, yada, yada, yada…”

“Well, at least let me cover your travel expenses. You came a long way for a ten minute conversation, and I just--”

“No, no.” He grabbed a baseball cap off the table where he had left it, pulling it down over his head very tightly. “Don’t worry, I’ll be home in no time. It’s no problem.”

“At least stay the night,” I suggested. Hector was already standing in front of the double doors.

“I’d really better get back. Catch you on the flipside, Princess.”

I frowned and watched him leave. An odd little character… I wonder where Luna had dug him up.

Just as I was about to leave myself, Hector’s head appeared once again between the double doors. “If I could just give one free piece of advice?”

I bit my lip and nodded curtly.

“Not everything is the end of the world. A lot of weird stuff helps in ways you don’t even realize.” He shook his head. “What I mean is… maybe being up all night worrying about your dream stopped something else from happening, and you don’t even know it yet. Maybe somepony was fixing to rob the place, but the guard was alert watching you and they didn’t. Maybe--”

“Thank you, Hector. I’ll keep that in mind.”

He smiled down at the floor. “I don’t know much, but I know that beating yourself up over something like this isn’t gonna make it better.”

“Yes, thank you, Hector,” I said a little more forcefully.

He got the message. “Right. I’ll just, uh…”

Hector struggled to close the heavy door behind him. With a thud, he was gone.

My eyelids were heavy with the hours of sleep I had missed. Maybe the little zebra was right. If I could only find a way to get past my fear that I was missing some sort of important message…

Luna was waiting anxiously right outside the door at the opposite end of the hall. “Well? That was very fast. Should I be concerned that it was so fast?”

I shrugged and passed her without a word. She trotted back to my side.

“Sister, I’m sure you’ll stop having this strange dream soon enough. Maybe even tonight!” She flashed a forced grin.

“Please don’t lie to me,” I muttered. “You said yourself: it’s not even a dream. You can’t see it, you can’t interact with it, you can’t fix it… things like this don’t just fix themselves. That would be like… it would be like the moon coming up all on its own. Like the seasons turning over without the help of the ponies. Like--”

Luna stopped me with a gentle hoof on my shoulder. She said nothing, but looked me right in the eyes, a mixture of worry and sorrow filling her own. “If it were truly important, don’t you think I would be having the dreams as well? Or Twilight, or Cadence?”

I drew in a harsh breath. “Maybe this is something I have to face on my own.”

Luna chuckled. “In the interest of fairness, I would say you’ve had enough alone time. I’m not sure what the universe has in mind, but spending a thousand years ruling Equestria solo seems plenty.”

I yawned.

“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”

I squinted at her. “Did you just quote A.K. Yearling at me?”

“Damn, I was hoping you wouldn’t notice…”

I laughed. “You underestimate my memory.”

“I think we all underestimate you, sister.”

Luna drew the shades gently closed. “Just try to sleep for an hour. If you have the nightmare again, come get me in the library.”

“What if I can’t fall asleep?” I asked, my voice as innocent as a sleepy foal.

Luna glanced at me, shying away from the question. “All due respect, sister, but those dark circles could be team spirit paint by now. I don’t think you’ll have any trouble getting to sleep.”

I growled softly and rubbed my cheeks, as though that would wipe away the marks of sleep deprivation.

“And don’t try to stay awake just to spite me.”

My covers lit up blue as Luna tucked me in tight. She left the room without another word, closing the door softly behind her.

It wasn’t hard for me to find a comfortable position. I think I could have fallen asleep in the mosh pit at a death metal concert.

Of course, the dream came again.

A feeling of dread washed over me before the scene even registered. I had been trudging through thick and foul-smelling green-brown smog. Everything was green-brown, in fact. It was a dichrome hell.

My brain was working hard to process both my personal thoughts and my in-dream thoughts. Personally, I was just scared and disgusted. My dream-self, however, was confused and disturbed. Something about this repressed and repulsive landscape was bothering me in a different way… it wasn't unlike the creeping dread of realizing you are lost and alone.

I looked behind me. The flame of the torch, the soft glow of the ancient moon. Brambles and bushes receding from my thoughts, disappearing into the distance.

My focus returned to the wasteland ahead of me. I have to find the crow.

Stupid crow. That stupid, mysterious crow was on my mind at all times. I have to find the crow.

Out of the darkness, then, came the angelic voice. It was so far away and soft that it was impossible to tell who was singing, or what the piece was. But it was so beautiful… I just knew it was a voice. And it was the voice of somepony I cared for, deeply.

Logic said that the voice came from the shape on the spire, but that was the one gut feeling I didn’t seem to have.

Just as a flicker of familiarity came to me, just as I thought I knew what the shape was, another voice interrupted.

“Why aren’t you doing anything?” she shouted in distress.

“I’m scared…” I whispered.

She scoffed. “You big baby! Kill it already!”

It was all very familiar. Except--

“Sis! Crush it!” Luna shrieked. “It’s your turn!”

“What?”

“I’ll tell!” she threatened. Her face was so much… younger. So sweet and gentle. “Okay, I won’t tell… but, dammit, this is the deal!”

Of course. That’s the deal. We hate killing spiders.

I smashed the spider with my hoof and wiped it off on the carpet.

Luna shivered a little. “Gross. I hate spiders.”

“I must have sleep-walked down here…” I murmured. “Was I acting weird at all?”

Luna gave me an odd look, then laughed goofily. “Yeah, right. You sleep-ran down here and sleep-told-me-off for sleep-being-a-wimp.”

I ignored her mistake. “I had the dream again. I’ll have to kill time until sundown. Unless, of course, you’re willing to bring the moon up right now.” I laughed.

Another exaggeratedly confused look. “What in the hell are you talking about? And, by the way, I don’t appreciate you making jokes just because I can’t move the moon yet. Dad says I’ll get it soon enough.”

There was a far-off chime of a clock tower.

“Speaking of!” Luna brushed past me. “It’s time for my lesson with him.”

Had the dream finally changed? My heart leapt with delight. I would surely wake up soon… I would surely find Luna here in the library, back to her usual, subdued self.

But there was something about the way her pale-blue mane bounced that told me this was real.

Was this the warning the dream was trying to give me? Had Luna… regressed? I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time. She had had a very difficult couple of weeks trying to return to normal after the latest Nightmare Moon incident. That moon phase magic had a very strange effect on her… If she had crawled back into her shell, though, what was it that had set her off this time?

I was in my own little world as I trotted through the castle halls and back to my bedroom. It was a dream. Luna was fine. She was very strong now, very responsible. There was nothing that could shake her, certainly.

A guard snapped to attention as I moved past him. “Princess Celestia!”

I paused. That voice… it did not belong to any of my current staff, and yet it sounded familiar.

“You don’t have to do that. Did the other guards tell you that you had to do that?”

His attention faltered slightly. “Erm… you don’t want to be saluted anymore?”

I gave a dry chuckle. “I haven’t wanted a salute for a long time now. Don’t worry, it’s no trouble.”

The guard breathed a sigh of relief. “Apologies, your majesty.”

As he relaxed (somewhat dramatically), the visor on his armor slipped down over his eyes. With a harsh clang, the polished metal caught my warped reflection. A short snout. A diminutive horn. A bobbed, bright-pink mane which lay against my face, perfectly still.

The guard chuckled in embarrassment and pushed the visor back up.

“No, no, wait!” Without thinking, without caring, I slammed the visor back down over his eyes and stared right into the soul of my own reflection.

“Your majesty?” he whispered. “This visor is just for show. I can’t see through it.”

“Holy shit…” I muttered.

He pretended not to hear.

“I’m…” I pressed on my face with one hoof, watching the reflection carefully. “I’m so young!”

“Y-yes. Yes, you are…” he agreed hesitantly.

“What year is this?” I demanded. “What year?”

“It’s 1523, Princess!” he responded. “1523, AUC!”

AUC. Ab urbe condita. 1523 years since the kingdom was established. I was--

“Eighteen!” I shrieked.

The guard slid his visor up. “Um… that’s right, Princess. You just turned eighteen last week, didn’t you? Did it just hit you or something?”

I wanted to just sit down right there. Just sit and not move until this whole thing passed. It had to be a spell, or a vision, or a really, really intense dream. Just sit down. Pull a couple of hairs out of your mane. Put on a band-aid and rip it off. Do something. Wake up, for Tartarus’ sake!

“Princess?” The guard stepped forward. “Do you want me to get your parents? Do you need some… water?”

And then came the strongest impulse I had had in a very long time; stronger than all of my past visions combined.

“I need to find the crow.”

For the next hour or so, I was like a mare possessed. Possessed by what, though? That was the question. I wandered through the streets, pushing past ponies begging to speak with me, entirely absorbed with finding the crow. Of all things to obsess about today, finding a bird should have been lowest on the list. I knew that, somewhere. I think. And yet…

I kept telling myself that this wasn’t real. I just had to get to the crow and it would probably fly at my face and I would wake up. I would wake up, and I would have a new story to tell my sister and my therapist. And then the dreams would stop, and I would be back to helping Twilight and her friends solve their mundane issues.

There was nothing I wanted more than Spike to send me a letter at just this moment. A letter that would fall on my head and bring me back to the real world, to the present.

But this was the present, now. And the event which brought me back was a more-familiar voice shouting a less-familiar word.

“Salamander!” she cried. “Salamander, wait!”

It was Crow. She was right behind me.

I whirled around to see a dark-colored, but brightly-expressed face. It was so very close to being familiar: bright blue eyes and a matching mane which curled around her features, round glasses which sat low on her snout... even her height and frame seemed to stir up dim memories.

As she took in the sight before her, the mare's face fell. It fell past disappointment, past frustration, past even healthy anger and right into full-blown rage. "You?" she whispered, almost huskily. For some reason, my feelings of familiarity tripled.

I looked down my front, somehow expecting to find the reason for her sudden unholy wrath stapled to my chest. "A-are you... crow?"

"I wish to Tartarus I wasn't, but lucky me!" The mare reared up and pounded the pavement with both of her front hooves. "Lucky FUCKIN' me!"

At this, the ponies around us seemed to jump back, now giving our confrontation a wide berth. I could have sworn I heard whispers which included the word "princess," but didn't have the time to give them thought.

"I'm sorry, I think I missed something," I murmured.

"Don't even get me started on what you've missed, Sunny," she snapped. "I can't believe I've been traipsing around with all these damn ponies looking for you. You're not even worth the time of day."

I took a step back, searching for a way out.

"It's me, you idiot!" The mare's left eye shifted slightly, seemed to fade away like a mirage. Beneath the bright and welcoming blue was a sickly green. It flashed with violence and anger.

Realization gripped my chest and tightened on my throat. I tried to run backwards but my hoof slipped out from under me, and the mare was upon me once again.

"You finally fear me?" she asked. "You're right to. I nearly defeated you last time, but in this form you are truly powerless."

I scrambled to get further away. "Changeling..."

"Say my name."

My breath hitched in my throat.

"Say it, Celestia."

"Chrysalis."

A smug grin warmed her face. "That's right, pony," she spat. "And you're getting me back to the present if it kills you."

Chapter Two

The dark hair on Chrysalis' chest rose and fell with her slow but shaking breaths. Her eyes shone with malice and desperation, her grin showing suspiciously sharp teeth.

"You're not going to kill me?" I asked softly.

Chrysalis chuckled. "Believe me, I will not hesitate should you test my patience."

My gaze drifted over her body, noting the lack of a horn, the dark, feathered wings fluttering against her sides. She had a cutie mark, I was certain-- but no matter how hard I focused on it, I could not figure out what it was. Had you asked me, I would not have even been able to name a color.

"Now," Chrysalis said, "tell me what you did to bring me here."

I froze. "Hm?"

"The spell!" Chrysalis stepped closer to me, leaning in to speak in a lower voice. "Reverse the spell you cast and put me back where we belong!"

It occurred to me that, had this powerful creature intended to murder me, a busy street might not be the best place to do it. Had she wished to threaten me with violence in a loud voice, she might have rather pulled me into an alley and given me a taste of her magic. She kept me here, in the middle of town, but not to protect me.

The glint in her eyes was not a thinly veiled desire for murder. It was fear.

"The spell," I said.

Chrysalis blinked. "Don't try to lie to me. I know you brought me here to negotiate. Well, I shall not stand for negotiation. You will return me to the present day and cease magical intervention in our cold war."

I cleared my throat. "Yes, of course."

The smirk returned. Chrysalis took a step back, satisfied. "Good."

"But..." I got to my hooves. "I cannot reverse it yet."

"You will!" Chrysalis slammed her hooves on the ground again. The crowd looked nervous, watching the confrontation but not daring to interfere.

"I will, of course," I said, keeping my voice as steady as I could. "B-but... the spell is active for seventy-two hours."

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

I swallowed hard. My heart was pounding in my throat. "It will be three days before I can reverse the spell."

I could hear Chrysalis' breathing quicken, her jaw clenching as she stared into my very soul. My lies seemed to be printed across my forehead, sweat dripping down my face, breath caught in my throat.

Lucky for me, Chrysalis is gullible.

"Ugh." She rolled her eyes. "Power is wasted on you ponies."

I let out a long breath.

"Pathetic."

The crowd had surged back in, no longer aware of what had transpired at all. I was brushed on both sides by busy commuters who had only seen me from a balcony, didn't realize (to their credit, quite politely) that I was in possession of both a horn and a set of wings. Just as Chrysalis hadn't noticed my obfuscation.

The beast in disguise turned as if to leave, then snapped her head back to face me. "Just so that we're clear, if you do anything that I do not agree with I really will kill you."

I nodded. "I understand."

"I want you to know that I would rather live these past one thousand years over again than lose a chance at victory over you."

I clenched my jaw.

Chrysalis glared at me, trying to fix my image in her mind like a bounty hunter. "Don't even think about running away."

She spread her wings and, with one mighty downstroke, took to the sky.

"So long, Crow," I murmured. She streaked across the sky and to the North, where she promptly disappeared behind a spire.

Already forgetting what had transpired here, the crowd closed around the hole where Chrysalis had stood only moments before. A monster -- a threat to this city and everypony in it -- had been allowed to threaten royalty and leave without consequence. The crowd mentality was truly despicable at times.

The lie would only keep me safe for so long. Three days at the most, less if Chrysalis got impatient or testy. There was little time to waste in finding a way to return to the present. Or to wake up from the nightmare I was in.

Even as I relished in the relief of Chrysalis being gone from my sight, the remained a yearning in my chest to find her once again, to remain glued to her side and cuffed at the hoof to the demon which had nearly killed all of those I loved so dearly. In my mind, no matter how hard I tried, Chrysalis was Crow. I was supposed to hunt the Crow, to stay by its side and defend it, somehow.

The thought did not poison me the way I would have expected.

I let the crowd take me away. I wandered with the flow of ponies as one might float through currents without care of destination, the mind consumed by imagination. My imagination was stalled, however, with thoughts of an enemy freely roaming the country.

There were many things she could do to disrupt the peace, to change the future, or to give herself the victory she believed she deserved. She held the same power that I did: knowledge of the past, present, and future (at least from where we stood). She, like me, also had an army at her disposal.

Perhaps I could hunt her down myself. Yes, yes! I could gather my family and the royal guard and march on the Changeling Empire! Defeat the queen before she had even had the chance to rise to power. Crush those devils like the bugs they are.

As if by magic, the crowd had deposited me at the gates of the castle. The guards behind it snapped to attention, opening the gates without even needing to be asked.

I stepped inside, the gates clanging shut behind me and latching with magic.

"Tia!" a tiny voice shouted from across the cobblestone expanse.

I stopped short and turned to look. Luna, still but a foal, galloped towards me in pure glee.

"Tia!" she shouted again. "I did it! I moved the Moonstone!"

There was glee in her voice, pride in what she had done. I remembered this moment (although last time around it had happened in the library). Luna had lifted the stone that father had infused with moon magic, been in tune with that energy for the first time in her very young life.

To know what that would do to her. The heartbreak I would feel in only a few short years.

Last time, I had lifted her up and swung her around in a great arc. She had squealed in joy, I had given her a sisterly embrace and told her how proud I was.

This time, I smiled a sobered smile.

Luna skidded to a halt in front of me, beaming from ear to ear. "Dad says he'll let me try the real thing tonight! Can you believe it?"

"I can," I said.

She smiled even wider.

I put a hoof on her shoulder, looking into her wide and young eyes. "Sister, all of Equestria will be ever so grateful for your beautiful nights."

Luna's face blushed and she concealed a giggle. "Sis..."

I bowed my head. "I mean it! No matter how it may seem, you and I are equals in every way. It is under both of us that Equestria will thrive."

"Stop talking like that!" Luna swatted my hoof playfully away. "Mom's rubbing off on you, you goof."

I chuckled. "Sorry."

"Speaking of mom," Luna said, her faced softening, "she's been looking for you. She said one of the royal guard saw you acting kooky? I think it was Summer Zephyr."

"Summer!" I cursed. "That's right, that new guy..."

Luna laughed. "Yeah, you freaked him out real bad. You should probably check in with mom. She's in the tea room."

I nodded with conviction. "Perfect timing."

The tea room was one of my favorite places in this ever-extravagant building. Even in my fillyhood I had hated the size of the thing. I wouldn't have minded so much had it been bustling with other ponies, but something about being able to wander for hours without seeing another soul just seemed wrong. The tea room was the coziest room in the building which I had not decorated myself.

It was small, and composed largely of windows. It should have been piping hot, like a greenhouse, but by some magic (most certainly my mother's), it remained a pleasantly warm temperature at all hours. There were cushions nearly everywhere but the center where a small, low table was set just a few inches above the floor. Just big enough for a tea tray. It always smelled of rain and vanilla. I loved it there. I grew up there.

My mother was there, waiting for me, slurping from the edge of a steaming mug. This was a trick she would only resort to in an otherwise empty tea room, as the impoliteness of slurping somehow managed to override her impatience. I could hardly ever be that patient.

"Celestia!" she said. It was not in relief, though-- more like a greeting. A greeting of a pony she had not seen in a long time.

Indeed, she hadn't seen me in a long time. She and my father had passed before I lost Luna. It had been over one thousand years since I had seen my mother.

"Hello, mother," I said.

She placed her mug back on the tea tray. "It certainly is good to see you. You gave Summer Zephyr quite the scare this morning."

My mother was nothing like me. My calm was a mask, but her calm went to her very core. Her entire being was composed of light so heavenly it should have been blinding, and yet it only succeeded in utterly transfixing those who looked upon it. One day. after she had passed, I would adopt her shifting visage into my mane. My mother's entire form waved, shimmered, pulsed.

"I'm sorry, mother," I said. "I had a bit of a... tricky morning."

She chuckled. The sound was like a teaspoon of warm honey on your tongue. "That's for sure. Come sit down, darling, you're awfully tense."

I realized that I had been hovering on the threshold, distancing myself from my own mother as though she were a scene to watch, not a dear loved one. I hurried in, snuggling into a nook across from my mother which I had often napped in back in those days.

"Something's on your mind, isn't it?"

I struggled not to laugh. What isn't?

"I suppose you could say that," I said.

"Suppose?" My mother began pouring me a cup of tea. "Is it not so obvious?"

I sighed. "Mother, what do we know about Changelings?"

She paused, setting the teapot back on the tray with practiced care. As she stirred in a spoonful of honey, she looked up at the ceiling. "That doesn't sound familiar to me. Is that some new kind of slang?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Have you not heard of Changelings?"

She shook her head. "I don't think so. Oh, is that a book character? I'm sorry, dear, I meant to get to those--"

"Are you pulling my leg?" I asked.

"Why, no, honey," mother said. "I would never."

I sat back in my pillows, memories bubbling to the surface. The discovery of the Changeling Empire hadn't been until at least the third millennium. We hadn't known about them until long after this day.

"Are you alright, Tia?"

I bit my lip. "Yes. I guess I just got confused."

My mother smiled. "That's understandable, dear. Lots happening for you right now, isn't there?"

I shrugged. "I suppose so."

"Oh, stop supposing!" she scolded playfully. "You shouldn't be this unsure of yourself until you're my age, young lady! Be confident. Even if you're wrong, you're big enough to admit it, aren't you?"

I shrugged again.

"You teenagers and your shrugging," she said. This was the most like a mom she ever sounded; complaining about teenagers. "It's okay to say that you don't know things. That's another important lesson for a future leader to start learning early. It's okay to be wrong, but it's even better to just admit you don't know right at the beginning."

"That's very wise of you," I said.

She laughed one, loud laugh. "Could I get that in writing?"

I forced a smile.

"There's my beautiful little girl." She smiled, beamed at me. "I'm not going to pry where I'm not wanted, but I want you to know that I'm always here for you if you need me. Poor Summer Zephyr didn't exactly sign up to be your father, did he?"

I chuckled. "No, I suppose he didn't."

"No suppose!" she scolded again.

"Sorry," I said, hiding a smile.

"Well, it's something to work on," mother said. "Are you going to drink your tea, or should I?"

"You go ahead." I stood up. "I have things to do. Thank you, mother."

I left the room promptly, my mother's light receding behind me as I trotted away. Tears began to roll more and more freely the further I was from her. I missed her so much. The things I might have done, might not have done, if she was still with us. Somewhere, I hoped that I might be able to save my mother. Somewhere deeper, I prayed only that I would not have to watch her leave a second time.

It goes without saying that convincing a kingdom to wage war is a difficult task. Far more difficult, however, would be convincing a kingdom to wage war on a race which they were so far unaware of.

There was no time to waste on fruitless ventures. Seventy-two hours, and I had already wasted at least one.

The next best thing to stopping Chrysalis was stopping the spell, of course. I would study and work and send myself or both of us back to the present before the seventy-two hours were up. Preferably the both of us. It was difficult to imagine what kinds of schemes Chrysalis might dream up in the time between then and now.

In my youth, the largest magical library in all the land rested right here in the castle, a title which would eventually be stolen by a certain purple somepony.

I kept up my trot, navigating the not-yet well-worn halls with expertise, leading myself to my destination without much thought.

The library was not as large as I remembered, though that would make it easier to narrow down what might help.

My parents, ever the innovators, had their shelves organized in all sorts of experimental manners. There was no alphabetizing, there was no decimal system-- there was simply a shelf labelled "magic," and you had to just be lucky enough to figure out where to start. Conveniently enough for me, the "magic" shelf was arranged by complexity of the spells contained, starting with A Foal's Guide to Magic on the left, and ending with Starswirl the Bearded's Magickal Compendium: A Study of Ley Lines and Theoretical Spellwork on the right.

I cleared the right half of the shelf with vigor, paused, then grabbed the Foal's Guide just for kicks.

Following my gut, I scanned the Foal's Guide first, the book slipping from my grasp on a disturbingly relevant entry:

WAKING UP FROM A NIGHTMARE

This simple spell can be performed in any frightening situation, and is best practiced when fully awake. The spell creates the falling sensation which so commonly wakes us from sleep. Once adequate results are obtained while awake, the spell can be used to wake oneself from nightmares while completely asleep.

I looked carefully around the room, searching for any unwelcome watchers or listeners. Once satisfied, I recited the spell in a rushed whisper and clenched my eyes shut.

It did, indeed, create a very strong sensation of falling. My stomach was in my throat, my heart pounding in my temples; With my eyes closed, I could have sworn I was plummeting from the top of the tallest tower in the castle.

But I wasn't. I snuck a peek at my surroundings, knowing full-well that they would not have changed.

As I suspected, I was still in the library.

That confirmed it. Not a dream.

I put the book back on the shelf where it belonged, embarrassed for having looked through it in the first place. That left a stack of very dense, theoretical reading for me to do. I didn't even know what I was looking for.

Oh, how I longed to have Twilight here to help me. She had a knack for shrinking these tasks merely by being present. There was no avoiding it, though. This was the thing to do, the place to be. I had to get to work.

After many hours of fruitless browsing, I found myself starting to drift lazily into daydreams and too-long blinks. The light outside the window was very slowly shifting colors, no doubt as Luna tried to move the moon for the very first time. It would have brought a tear to my eye, had I not been absolutely exhausted at that point.

The books had turned up no mentions of time at all, if you can believe that. It seemed that time was one of those forbidden realms which nopony dared wander in. How unfortunate that I would be thrown into the one place where these daredevils feared to tread... just my luck, really.

"Princess?" a soft voice drifted in from the doorway.

I jerked my head up and whipped around. "Yes? Oh, Summer."

The guard from earlier stood at the entrance to the library, his helmet tucked under one leg. Although it was a strange thought considering my current predicament, he was oh so young-- his face having seen so strife, his eyes no loss of innocence. Such a young soul in that colt.

"Hello, Princess," he said, his eyes on the floor. "I know I'm not really supposed to talk to you, but... I don't know."

I watched him curiously as he took a few hesitant steps forward. "You can talk to me."

He looked up at me, meeting my eyes very briefly. He must not have been much older than eighteen, himself.

I slid over a bit and patted the space on the bench beside me. "Come sit. I don't mind."

"It's just that I'm a little worried about you, Princess," he said. He shuffled his hooves. "I know your mother seems to think you're fine, but... well, I don't know."

I chuckled. "It seems like you didn't think this through, Summer."

His cheeks grew pink. "I just thought maybe you'd like somepony to talk to, that's all. You seem like you need it."

"Gee, do I..." I muttered. "I'm sorry, Summer, that's awfully sweet of you but I just don't think--"

"I can promise you absolute confidentiality," he said, straightening up quite suddenly. "I'm a member of the royal guard, Princess. I can keep secrets. I've been trained."

"That's not what that means," I said.

"It means whatever it has to mean," he countered. He came another few steps towards me. "I am sworn to serve the royal family. It seems to me like you could use something right now. I'm not quite sure what that is, but I'd like to make myself of service if I could."

I smirked. "That wasn't so hard, now, was it?"

Summer let out one very long breath, relief washing over him.

"Come sit, Summer. What I could use is another set of eyes."

He hurried to the bench, clambering onto it and sitting as properly as he could muster. I didn't bother trying to get him to relax.

"What are we looking for, Princess?" he asked.

I sighed, the brief distraction over and my task looming before me once again. "Any spell that has to do with time. Any at all will do."

"What for?" Summer asked.

I froze. "It's... it's an argument I have with my sister."

Summer shifted in his seat. He seemed to think that this might be a waste of time, after all, but was much too polite to say so.

"It's more important than it sounds," I added. Curse my compulsive need to be liked.

"I am here to serve you in whatever task you need, Princess," Summer said.

I looked back down, embarrassed, and continued to scan the pages for any mention of the word "time" at all. The gears of my mind ground along at a slow but steady pace as I went, doing their best to keep up with the words and think of new plans, plans B, C, D, E... I feared that I wouldn't be able to do anything but try to duel Chrysalis when the time came. She was absolutely right: her powers far outweighed mine.

Most of my power had come from mother.

There was still a chance I could save her, too. A slim chance, sure, but there was no chance I'd be sending her in to fight Chrysalis for me.

But what of the kingdom? If I lost, what then? Perhaps they would slaughter my whole family, or, worse, kill all but tiny Luna.

The thought made my skin crawl. I refocused on the text.

"Memory spell..." I found myself whispering aloud.

"What's that, Princess?" Summer responded.

I looked at him, at first not certain what he had said. "Hm? Oh, nothing..."

Not nothing. Plan B.

SPELL OF MEMORY ERASURE (TIME-BASED)

Whereas the Spell of Memory Erasure (Subject-Based) erases memories by subject or idea, this spell erases memories in accordance with a time frame selected by the caster. This is widely considered to be a simpler spell, as it is "less picky" than related spells. Though any time frame of erasure can be achieved, it is recommended that memories erased be within one week.

There it was. Not a spell to fix things just yet, but the next best thing: a spell which would give me unlimited time to find a solution. With this, I could let Chrysalis think that she was living the same three days over and over. Three days during which I could do nothing but wait for a made-up spell to time out. Simple, elegant. All the time I needed to fix this mess without bending to the Queen's demands.

I smiled to myself. Perhaps things were going to be alright, after all.

Chapter Three

Keep your head down.

Keep researching.

Keep Chrysalis in the dark.

The moon was high in the sky now, oddly plain without the menacing silhouette of my sister painted across its surface. Summer Zephyr had long since fallen into a deep sleep beside me, his rusty brown mane sprawled across the pages of a particularly large tome. I could feel my own eyelids growing heavy with sleep and words.

I found myself catching winks of sleep between paragraphs, barely able to enjoy the respite before jolting awake. The cool night air was just so soothing, so comforting, rocking me to sleep...

My eyes closed for the millionth time, and somehow, without opening them, I was met with a new sight.

Not new, exactly.

The green wasteland. The cloying brown smog, now all the more real with a horrid stench. Had there been smell in this world before? I couldn't remember it.

I looked over my shoulder. The torch floated there, crackling and throwing off sparks. I could smell the burning wood now.

The singing lilted through the darkness once again. It was so, so familiar! As I searched my mind so desperately for a connection, the voice cut in, like every time:

"What are you waiting for?" Chrysalis shouted in ardent desperation.

I closed my eyes and winced away from her voice. "I'm scared..."

"Stop being a baby and kill it!" she screamed. "Kill the weasel!"

I opened my eyes. The singing, the crackling, the howling winds all stopped. I was back in the library.

The need to find the crow, I noticed, was gone. Even in the context of this strange dream, this vision, I knew that the crow had been found. A new feeling, a new creature, had taken its place.

"The weasel..." I murmured.

Summer Zephyr startled awake beside me with a snort. His mane was considerably less dignified after his unplanned nap, and now stuck out at odd angles. His eyes were still glazed with sleep.

I shook my head and started closing books. The night's research was done-- the next round could wait until morning.

In the corner of my eye I could see Summer stretching, yawning, looking around all dazed and sleepy. He seemed to remember where he was and shot up into a sort of attention, then very slowly turned his head to look at me.

"Salamander."

I froze. "Did you say something?"

Summer blinked his globe-like eyes. "Salamander. You're The Salamander, from my dream!" He said it with such authority, as though this animal was a title of mine and not just an element of these odd visions.

My tongue traced over my lips. I continued to stare at the book in front of me, fearing what sort of realizations I might have if I met his eyes.

"I'm... looking for you," he said. "I've been looking for you for a long time, I think."

I swallowed.

"Princess?" he whispered. "Are you The Salamander?"

I couldn't help it anymore. My eyes flicked over and met his, and in that fraction of a second my world was shattered for a second time.

"Weasel," I breathed.

He put a hoof on his chest. "I-I'm weasel?"

Chrysalis' words echoed in my mind. "Stop being a baby and kill it!"

I winced away from Summer's gaze, occupying myself quite poorly by stacking the books strewn across the table. To his credit, he did not press the issue. He waited, frozen, watching as I tidied up and waiting patiently for an explanation. Unfortunately for him, I had none.

Once all the books were stacked with obsessive neatness, I ran out of occupying tasks. Summer was still sitting there, so still, his mind working slowly and carefully to put together the pieces of a puzzle which I had not yet solved myself.

"Kill the weasel!"

I looked back to Summer. His eyes were just so young, not yet clouded with knowledge of the evil which he would surely find one day. I couldn't bear to be the one to show it to him, and yet I was certain that it was my destiny.

"Princess?"

"I don't know what it means," I said. Admittedly, I blurted it out like a lie.

Summer blinked. He was silent for a long time. Then, "If I am The Weasel, and you are The Salamander, than who is The Crow?"

I bit my lip.

"Do you know that much?"

"I don't think I can say."

Summer looked away, turning his head to instead gaze out the window. "I understand. I have to find them myself, don't I?"

That's a poetic way of looking at it. Probably for the best. he couldn't exactly leave the castle while he was on duty.

Although... if previous experiences were any indicator, this meant that Chrysalis would be looking for Summer, too. It was a bit of a toss-up: would Chrysalis risk coming back and running into me before the three days were up, or would her need to find Summer take over?

"Perhaps Luna is The Crow?" Summer asked, leaning back over to properly re-enter my line of sight.

I turned away.

Summer cleared his throat. "Apologies."

"It's alright," I said.

The Crow is coming.

"We should leave. Your shift is more than up," I said. I stood up and started scooping books off the table in hurried sweeps. "I will be continuing this in the morning."

"Is that an invitation?" Summer asked.

"No!" I said, albeit with a little too much gusto. "No. Come if you wish, but nopony is forcing you to attend."

Summer shuffled his hooves. "Then you don't want me there?"

I brushed past him with a messy stack of books. "I don't want you getting the idea that you need to accompany on every little mission I undertake. You are of the royal guard, not my personal assistant."

The books slid one by one back onto their dusty shelf. Summer did not respond. There was just a flare of fear in my chest; I couldn't even figure out exactly what I was afraid of. Afraid of killing? Afraid of why I would have to kill him? Afraid of him?

Just a dream, Celestia.

The Crow wasn't a dream.

"I suppose I'll leave you, then."

"Goodnight, Summer," I said.

His hoofsteps departed at a steady clip. I was very aware of how exposed and alone I was in this library, in the dark of night.

Nothing to fear, Celestia. Just a dream, Celestia.

But The Weasel wasn't a dream.

Such formal titles. Such boldness. Why were such simple titles so bold and powerful? Nothing more than animals. And yet the power, the meaning behind those animals seemed to run much deeper than the words or even their forms. I couldn't quite find it just yet. I would soon.

Just a dream, Celestia.

"Kill The Weasel!"

The Crow was close.

I dropped the books without a second thought. The Crow was close. She had come back, I could sense it. Stupid, stupid Chrysalis. What was that spell again? What was the plan?

The wingbeats of The Crow, surely very far away and through solid glass or stone, rippled through the library.

I steeled myself. "Show yourself, Chrysalis!"

The fluttering wingbeats echoed through the darkness again. It took all of my strength not to shiver, to quake, to whirl about and dash out of the room at the greatest speed I could muster.

"This is no time for games!" I shouted. "Show yourself, fiend!"

And there she was. Her round and unassuming face peered over the sill as though she were nothing but an innocent foal searching for her mother. I could see the very tips of her dark wings flashing in the moonlight with each beat as she hovered high above the streets of Canterlot.

Our eyes met, and she nearly balked at the sight of me, the drama queen.

I stormed to the glass and leaned in to face my enemy. "What are you doing here?"

Chrysalis seemed to babble something, but the glass muffled it.

I rolled my eyes and opened a single pane just wide enough for her to whisper to me.

"The Weasel is here."

"How is that any of your business?" I spat.

"It's very much my business, they're in my head," she said. "And I want very badly for them to be dead, don't I?"

"Your negotiation skills are abysmal," I said.

She scoffed. "I'm not going to kill somepony without knowing why!" she hissed. "I'm civilized. I'm not a contract killer."

"You aren't much better."

It was Chrysalis' turn to roll her eyes at me. I reached up to close the window.

"Wait!" Almost and order, but a hint of desperation there. "I need to find them. If I don't, I'll just go mad."

"What a tragedy."

She stuffed her hoof into the window, preventing me from closing it. "I need to see them, just from afar. Let me see them and I'll leave straight away."

"How did you get here so quickly?" I asked. "I only just found out about The Weasel a few minutes ago."

Chrysalis blinked. "Don't change the subject!"

"I'm not taking you to The Weasel," I said. "You must think me the fool."

"I think you are kind to a fault," Chrysalis said.

I pushed down on the window pane, and Chrysalis cried out from the pressure, her wings buckled. She now hung by one hoof, clutching the window sill precariously. I could hear her back hooves scrambling to find a notch in the stone walls.

"Leave," I ordered.

"I won't come in!" she said.

I let up on the window pane a bit. "You won't?"

Chrysalis shook her head. "I need to find them. Just tell me where to find them and I'll look through the window. I just need to find them."

A greater pony than I would have shut the window, locked it, and not given her a second thought. My sister could have. I'm sure my father could have. I, however, looked into the eyes of my sworn enemy and saw more new things. Where before I had seen a flash of fear, I could now discern a shred of need. Not the violent need to feed, but the same unnatural and all-consuming need to hunt down the being from her dream which had kept me awake for weeks at a time.

There was a similarity between her and I. As much as that scared me, I was willing to give her this.

She had asked for this without a please, without a thank you, without offering anything in return or even allowing me to lead the negotiations. And yet...

"He's a royal guard," I said. "His quarters are in the south corridor. I don't know which, but I'm sure you'll know when you find him."

Chrysalis' eyes widened almost imperceptibly.

"But if I hear you've--" my threat was interrupted by the massive downstroke of Chrysalis' falsely feathered wings, and she was gone.

Why had I told her the right place?

I was in power. I could have given her a false lead, lied about his occupation, given a wrong direction. What I really should have done was closed the window in her face and leave.

Why couldn't I?

Because Chrysalis wouldn't hurt him. She was meant to protect him.

I closed my eyes, resting one weary hoof between my eyebrows. The invasiveness of my own thoughts was a sign that I needed sleep, and lots of it. I could barely stand being awake.

My hooves carried me to my bedroom without much fuss. The logical part of my conscious mind, the one which screamed and panicked and scolded me for allowing Chrysalis to squeeze information from me so easily, had faded to a dull buzz in the very back of my mind. It was like the gentle lull of am electric fan. Like the quiet hum of cicadas.

I fell into a dreamless sleep. After so many restless nights of vivid prophecy, this was almost more frightening.

When I woke, the moon was still high in the sky.

"Kill The Weasel!"

I rolled to the edge of my mattress, rubbing my face with both hooves and wondering dimly why I couldn't bring myself to sleep through the night. It felt as though I had been awake into the wee small hours of the morning reading, slept long enough to be rested and satisfied... And yet, the moon still hung there, shining down blankly on the ponies below.

It was unnerving. Like an eye without a pupil.

There was a gentle knocking on my door.

"Princess?"

I turned to look at the door. "Summer?"

He must have had a fitful night of sleep as well. I stood, trotted to the door, and peered through the peephole. It was Summer, indeed, his horn barely visible through the mess of bedhead mane.

I unlatched the door and pulled it open a crack. "Is everything alright?"

Summer squinted at me. "I'm not sure... according to the clocks, it should be morning by now, shouldn't it?"

I shrugged. "The moon is still up."

"Yes, but it's been an awfully long night, hasn't it?" Summer asked.

I rubbed the back of my head with one hoof. "My father would not fall behind on his duties. I'm sure our internal clocks have been confused by the night of studying in the library."

"But the clocks--"

There was a tap on my window.

"Did you hear that?" Summer asked, trying to peer around me and into my room.

I looked over my shoulder. "I think that was..."

The face. The face in the window. The Crow!

"Excuse me one moment," I blurted, closing the door in Summer's face.

I bolted to the window and threw it open. "Chrysalis!" I hissed. "What in the hell are you doing back here?"

Chrysalis opened her mouth, but said nothing. She cocked her head, her mouth hanging open, and seemed to search for an explanation.

"I'm not waiting for an answer!" I scolded. "Leave!"

I slammed the window shut, and Chrysalis ducked out of sight.

"Er... Princess?" Summer rapped on the door again. "Is everything alright in there?"

"Fine!" I shouted back. I pulled the curtains closed over my window and returned to the door.

Summer seemed surprised to see me. "The clocks?"

I put my head in my hoof. A headache was brewing just behind my eyes, I could feel it. "Yes, yes, the clocks... Have you checked with your Commander? I don't have any answers for you just now."

"He seemed to think you would know..." Summer said.

"Ugh!" I cried. "I am a child! How could he think I would know anything about anything?"

Summer looked at me strangely.

"I just mean..." I shook my head. Don't try to defend yourself, Celestia. You'll only make things worse. "Please tell your Commander that, as far as I know, all is well, and he should proceed as he sees fit."

There was another tap at the window.

Summer peered over my shoulder again. "What did you say that was?"

I leaned over to block his view as best I could. "Just... my bird, pecking at the cage!"

Tap, tap, tap.

"Are you sure?" Summer asked. He was now stretching up as high as he could stand, looking straight over my head into the room beyond. "It sounds like it's coming from outside the window."

"I'm sure!" I insisted.

Tap, tap, tap.

"Perhaps you should consider giving your bird a larger cage."

"Could you go speak with your Commander, please?" I asked, though it was more of an order than a question.

Summer, who had quite clearly forgotten his place for the lure of The Crow, straightened up. "O-of course, Princess. Shall I report back to you?"

"I'd prefer it if you didn't," I said. My hoof was pressing on the door, but Summer stood like a boulder in its path.

Chrysalis pounded on the window, just twice. Summer's eyebrows knit together and he looked at me suspiciously.

"She's a large bird," I said.

Summer looked me right in the eyes. For such a nervous sweetheart, he sure had a frightening glare. I supposed they had taught him that in training. It worked like a charm, I hate to admit.

"You won't mind if I just go take a look, will you?" he asked.

"Well, I--"

He ignored me, pushed past me and into my bedroom. On the one hoof, he was doing his job and investigating mysterious goings on. On the other, obeying royalty was meant to be his prime directive, and he was failing miserably at that aspect.

The Crow calls the Weasel.

The thought only echoed in my mind, but Summer shot up like a ramrod as if he had heard it, clear as day. He looked like a hunting dog as he surveyed the room with his piercing gaze.

His eyes landed on the curtain. Just a simple silk curtain which was gently fluttering in the breeze from the open door. Castles are quite drafty, after all. Its light fabric rippled and twirled in the softly moving air. Perhaps even Summer's movement in the room was enough to stir it into motion. Beyond the silken veil was--

"Crow!" Summer shouted. He ran to the window, nearly tearing the curtains off their mount with the speed and force of his magic.

"Summer, no!" I held a hoof out as if to stop him, but it was much too late.

There they stood, snout to snout, separated only by glass. Both snorted onto the pane, fogging its surface with their warm breath. I could feel my heart pounding across my entire body. The threat of death, from Chrysalis' own mouth, hung in the air. It occurred to me that Summer may have had a very different dream than I or even Chrysalis had; he may not even be aware of what danger he was in.

The stillness was interrupted when Chrysalis wound up and smashed her front hoof through the window pane.

Summer leapt back, already charging a magical blow. I stiffened like a board.

Chrysalis withdrew her hoof from the jagged hole and put her snout through it. "We need to leave this place immediately."

"Why should we listen to you?" I asked.

"The Crow is the messenger," Summer said. He bit down on his lip, as if to stop more words tumbling out. "I don't know why I said that."

My breaths were quickening. This was a trap, it had to be.

"Please!" Chrysalis was pounding her head on the sill. "I've tried so many times! This city is poison!"

"What does that mean?" I demanded. "How do we know you aren't luring us to our deaths?"

She growled in frustration, punched through the glass a second time. Her own breathing was quite ragged, as well; tortured, one might say. She moaned and snarled as if in pain.

"I can't..." She beat her head against the glass. "I can't remember!"

Summer's magic very quietly dissipated.

I looked to him. "You can't trust her, Summer."

Summer shook his head, not at anything in particular, just very slowly and with great concentration. "The Crow is the messenger."

"That doesn't mean anything!" I insisted. "We're all just-- just delirious! Having visions and waking nightmares, speaking in riddles. This is a curse! Do not trust her!"

Summer looked me in the eye. He had no reason to trust one of us over the other. He had only just met me, and I had done nothing to make him feel welcomed. Merely kept secrets. Chrysalis, on the other hoof...

The Crow is the messenger.

"Please!" Chrysalis screamed. She put her hoof right through the stone wall, spilling rubble onto the floor.

"Shit!" I moved to put a leg across Summer's chest in defense, afraid that Chrysalis was going to seize the opportunity to burst into the room and take us by force.

Instead, she disappeared, crawling back to wherever she came from, or perhaps assuming that we were only a few steps behind her.

Without a word, Summer turned and set off at a gallop down the hall.

"Where are you going?" I called after him.

He did not respond, just skidded about a corner at the end of the passage and vanished from my sight.

I considered my options. The hall, the window, the bed. Give chase, give in, give up.

I threw open the window.

I flew at the greatest speed I could manage over Canterlot. The now bitingly cold night air cut at my feathers as I rocketed towards the front gates. So many hunches and gut feelings... all foolishness. A leader must use logic and precision, only the occasional gut feeling in the most dire and time-sensitive of emergencies. I had been here for twenty-four hours and all I had done so far was listen to visions and a voice in my head.

I could see Chrysalis on the outside of the wall, barely a speck. She was waiting on the mountainside for us to arrive.

I touched down before her, my back to the stone wall.

Chrysalis honestly looked afraid.

"Summer Zephyr has done nothing to you," I said.

Chrysalis scoffed. "I never even once implied that he had."

"You are luring him out of my protection," I accused. "Trying to... to head off all of this vision nonsense and kill him ahead of time."

"Trying to change the course of time is a fool's errand," Chrysalis said. "And I am doing nothing of the sort."

"Well then what in the name of Equestria are you doing?" I demanded.

Chrysalis' eyes drifted away from mine and up to the walls behind me. She said nothing, only stared in a mix of fear and awe just over my shoulder.

I hesitated, but turned to look after only a moment.

My blood ran cold. Hundreds of thousands of papers were plastered to the stone walls of the city, coated every bit of stone and turned the once grey surface the sickly yellow of parchment. I took a few steps forward, looking to both sides and seeing the same sight stretching on in both directions.

"What..." I murmured, my voice getting lost along the way.

As I stared, the wind kicked up a great fuss and caused all of the papers to shiver against the stone. The sound was like waves on the sand.

A single page detached from the stone as the wind howled past us. The paper was carried on the wind almost right into my grasp.

The image of a foal. One large word: missing.

Looking at the paper was excruciating. It was like trying to focus on small print while intoxicated; I could barely make out the foal's face, let alone the details of where it had last been seen or who to contact.

I released the paper back into the wind.

"That city," Chrysalis said with great disdain, "wouldn't let me remember this while I was inside of its walls."

"That doesn't make sense," I said.

"It doesn't," Chrysalis agreed. "But I guarantee the moment you set hoof in it again you will have no memory of this."

I shook my head. The longer I looked at the wall, the more ill I could feel myself becoming. Some of it was a seasick swimming sensation as the letters and images scrambled themselves with no rhyme or reason, but the rest was my heart dropping straight through my hooves and into the earth below. So many missing foals...

"Are they all real?" I asked.

Chrysalis shrugged. "I'm just the messenger. I am the one who was coming and going. I was meant to find this and bring you to it."

"And you're so willing to just do as you are told?"

"Not as I was told." Chrysalis' tail flicked. "As I said, trying to change the course of time is a fool's errand. This would have happened eventually, I am simply helping along the natural course of events."

"It didn't happen last time," I said.

Hundreds of thousands. All missing. All from this city? I couldn't remember anything so devastating in my time at the throne, or even before.

Chrysalis looked at me out of the side of her eye. "You must not have been paying attention last time."

I looked to her in fury. "You dare suggest I overlooked thousands of missing foals?"

"If the shoe fits, Princess," she spat.

The front gates creaked open. Summer, out of breath and looking somewhat pale, cantered out from between the heavy doors and came to stand beside me.

He stared up at the wall in a subdued sort of shock.

The wind picked up again. This time, with barely any force at all, every single page was violently torn from the wall.

We ducked as the wind shrieked past us, carrying a library's worth of parchment in a veritable tornado of tragedy. The papers swirled up into the air, higher and higher, until they disappeared into the night sky.

The clock chimed noon.

With a stone-cold thud, I realized why I had been brought here to see this sight.

"Luna. Luna is missing."