Sycamore Trees

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.