Time Vigilante: Butterfly Effect

Chapter 2: Gathering Information

I could tell right away that I was in Ponyville. After all, Ponyville had its own unique house structure. Hell, every town had its own structure. That and the sign on the hospital said "Ponyville Hospital". Doesn't get much more obvious than that. Quickly setting up my live compass add-on over my experience bar, I started looking for landmarks in town other than the Hospital. For convenience, I bookmarked the hospital's entrance as a waypoint, and opened a minimap in my vision. It gave me a sense of empowerment to finally be rid of my absurd lack of direction. After I applied my Default disguise to get some ponies to stop staring at me, I started trotting into town.

The first thing I need to do is find out what has already happened, and what hasn't happened. To find that out, I need to visit the homes of the Main 6.

First on the list, at least that I found, was Carousel Boutique. Just down the road from it was the Treebrary, which was still a tree right now. Okay, so I know it's pre-Tirek right now… I noticed the Boutique was currently sporting a number of woven sun banners. Curious, I stepped into the boutique. Inside, I saw Rarity hard at work making designs for more banners. She seemed intently focused, but the ringing of the shop bell took her out of concentration long enough to spot me.

"Oh, hello darling! I'll be right with you in a second. I just need to finish this initial design." Rarity assured me before returning to the banner. I could see how hard at work she was. She had several banners ready already, but every banner was a different design. I could see how much passion she put into this project. Literally; my ability actually showed me a haze of Mana lingering around them and identified it as Passion. I only just unlocked the Observe skill after observing everything in the room and starting to figure out these decorations were related to the Summer Sun Celebration, when Rarity finished up.

"Ah. There we go. Now then, how can I help you, darling?" Rarity asked as I dismissed the notification. I smiled politely to her.

"I'm afraid I was only exploring, ma'am. I'm new in town, so I'm taking a walk to get myself familiar with the landmarks." I told her. She smiled in understanding.

"Ah, I see how it is. That is perfectly acceptable, darling. But even if it is only a visit to my shop, do you mind if I take your measurements?" Rarity asked. I decided it would be nice to let her. After all, if I can pay her later, I'll be able to ask for a functional suit. And maybe ask if she has any good sewing methods that make blood easier to clean off of it.

"Sure thing. I was planning on making a commission after getting some income, actually." I told her. "But do you mind taking three sets of measurements?" I asked. She blinked, staring at me in confusion.

"Why do you ask?" She questioned. I broke my disguise, revealing myself to her.

"Because I'm a changeling with three Personas." I told her. I opened the character menu, showing her all three/five forms.

"Oh my… sweet… Celestia!" She gave an ultramassive grin. "You're a shapeshifter?! This is the. Most. WONDERFUL THING!" She cheered. I was… extremely taken aback by the sudden blast of Love and Inspiration I was directly receiving. A notification appeared before me, telling me of a newly discovered affinity for Inspiration. "Just think of the application of your magic! With your help, I could fit dresses and suits to ponies more accurately than Mandick!" I had to stare in surprise at the reference. She briefly put a cap on her excitement. "Um… If you agree to it, that is. I know it can take a lot of patience to stand still and model for delicate work such as my art."

"Yes… Perhaps in the future after I study up on a clone spell or the like, I can give you a copy of me that can stand in and follow orders. I don't think I have the ability to sit still for longer than five minutes without doing something." I told her. Her eyes lit up in joy.

"Oh, thank you! I'd suggest check the library. It's just down the road towards the center of town." Rarity advised excitedly. I smiled as I glanced at my Mana bar to see it filling up as I drank in that joy and excitement. I did actually change my settings to make my passive ui only visible to party members. But I left my active menu aka my inventory screens and stuff visible to all.

"Thanks! That was my next goal, actually. After I finish checking out the town." I told her with gratitude in my tone. Given permission, Rarity then started taking my measurements. All three of them. It took longer than I would have liked, but we got them done thanks to what patience I did have.

"Alright. I hope you choose to settle here. This really is a great town for one to make their beginnings." She says. I nod to her, and with that, I left her to get back to work. After changing back into my Pegasus form, I headed off in the direction of the library to at least get it marked on my map. Along the way, I noticed Fluttershy orchestrating birds, bonbon selling sun-shaped candies, and a decorative overhaul happening to the market district.

I got a blip on my quest menu after I realized it was the Summer Sun Celebration. I needed to prepare for Nightmare Moon. Knowing I wasn't an Element Bearer, I had to prepare my own way. Once I got to the library, I looked around to see if Twilight was here yet. She wasn't. But there were a couple stallions here setting up furniture. I didn't pay them any mind. I just knew it had to do with Twilight coming soon.

So I began searching the alphabetically organized bookshelves for what I needed. "Cryomancy for Beginners", and "Applications of Aeromancy", "Elements of Harmony: a Reference Guide" was left on the desk where Twilight would see it when she gets here. I couldn't find anything on the blood magic or the cloning spell, but I thought I could potentially learn something from Twilight. After packing those books into my inventory, I headed out to see if I could try meeting the Apple family.

Upon stepping out of the library, however, I immediately saw Twilight and Spike in the carriage coming in for a landing. Welp… time to get started. Approaching them, I just heard the tail end of Spike telling Twilight to give ponies a chance… and because I was approaching, he instead pointed at me when he looked for a pony to give a chance to. I paused in surprise at the break in timeline, but composed myself anyway, briefly changing myself into a unicorn after thinking about the topics at hand. Twilight approached me while I was caught in surprise.

"Uh… Ahem, Hi! My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I'm here to…" she sighed. "Make some friends." I chuckled after she got to finish.

"Oh, really? So Celestia does have a plan." I said with a big smile. This caught both Spike and Twilight off guard.

"What?" They both asked.

"You two have read the legend of the mare on the moon, right? And the prophecy about her coming back?" I asked for clarification. They nodded.

"But I thought it was just an old pony tale?" Spike asked.

"Legends have to come from somewhere, right?" I told them. That got Spike to doubt everything. "Nightmare moon, Tirek, Grogar, the Crystal Empire and King Sombra? None of these legends were born from mere imagination. Every legend has some measure of truth. I've already gone ahead and read up on the Elements of Harmony, but… I doubt they will be as powerful now as they were one thousand years ago."

"What? You have? Then… what are you planning on doing about all this then?" Twilight asked. Turning my charisma up to 20, I grinned.

"I was planning on learning combat magic. Something to help weaken nightmare moon while some ponies here in town get to charge up the Elements. I've been scoping this town out, and so far I've found a few ponies that could embody the Elements, but I'll need a second opinion on that." I told her.

"Whoa, slow down. What even are the Elements of Harmony?" Twilight asked.

"To put it simply, they are the spirits of Friendship manifested into pure harmonic magical artifacts. They are Honesty, Generosity, Kindness, Laughter, and Loyalty. The one that binds them all together is unknown, but… I think whoever wields that is the pony that can unite the ponies who embody the rest of the elements." I told her. At that, she understood. She proceeded to facehoof.

"So in other words, saving the world really does rely on making friends. This is going to be exhausting." She groaned. "So… Who have you identified so far?"

"As best as I can tell, Rarity is the spirit of Generosity, and Fluttershy is the spirit of Kindness. Though I think the entirety of the Apple Family make good candidates for Honesty." I roughly "estimated" based on who I had seen and what is common knowledge for an outsider to town.

"So all that's left is Loyalty, Laughter, and Unity?" She asked. "Seems simple enough. I'll go through my checklist to see if anypony on it could be a Bearer."

"Alright. I myself am going to study these combat magic books and keep trying to find something on Blood Magic." I said.

"Oh, you're interested in Dark Magic? Have you been to one of the licensing agencies yet?" She asked. Licenses for dark magic? Huh. I think I read that idea somewhere.

"Oh! They have the material? I hadn't been to one yet, but I'll go ahead and visit it." I said.

"Alright. I think I saw one over there." She said, pointing down one of the many streets. I looked down it, and saw the sign of a curved red horn on a building.

"Thanks!" I said happily. I briefly wondered why I hadn't seen Pinkie Pie yet. Then I shrugged it off. My best guess is, she saw the both of us and dashed off to plan a surprise party. I let Twilight start her list with serious consideration. I headed to the Dark Magic place.

When I stepped in, I saw a vampire behind the desk wearing sunglasses. She greeted me warmly. "Hey, welcome to the "Shrouded Night" dark magic licencing guild. How can I help you?"

"Ah. I was hoping to get a license actually. I wanted to study blood magic." I said. The Vampire's eyes lit up with joy.

"Sweet! Always love a customer who comes to learn that. Alright, let me book you for an examination, and then we'll see you then. What's your name, Sugar?"

"Switchlock. And for race, put down Changeling." I told her. At that, she froze. She looked up at me.

"Changeling? I heard tales about them being heartless parasites." She said carefully.

"Ah. Then you've heard of the Black type. Those of us corrupted by Dark Magic used against us unwillingly or exposed to too much negative emotion turn into Black type, which are heartless feral beasts." I told her. Really I was just reading off a secret lore note that popped up in front of me when she mentioned that. Thank whatever deity ponies worship for the saving note. "I'm just a green type."

"Oh. That's good to know. Alright, I've got you booked for next Monday. Is that alright?" She asked me.

"Sounds good to me." I said, knowing I'll have an open schedule after Luna is restored...and if I survived helping restore her. Knowing I was going to have to wait on Blood magic, I departed the store to go find a place to sit down, read, and practice magic. I had until the next sunrise, so I needed all the time I could get to prepare.