Dark Alleys, Bright Hearts

I smile, cleaning the blood off my knife with the cleaning potion I picked up.

The unfortunate stallion from last night sits within a potato bag. I quickly pour the cleaning potion all over the alley, cleansing it of blood.

With the alley properly cleaned, I slip the potion and my knife back into their proper places. I pick up the bag, and dump it into a nearby dumpster.

I smile, and walk out into the street, as the morning sun shines upon the decadent ponies.

They trot down the streets, freely bleeding their emotions out, not caring an ounce for those who might need those emotions.

I shake my head, and move towards the nearby archives.

I reach it, and trot inside the royal building. The inside is the exact same as always. A bored librarian sitting behind her desk, aspiring mages and scientists studying, with everything being quiet.

I trot up to my usual table, and float over my usual book.

I read through the book for about an hour, most of it being useless to me, as it relies upon a unicorn’s magic and not mine.

As I flip a page, though, I hear a mare speak from behind me, “Excuse me, ma’am.”

I suppress a sigh and feel said mare move to the other side of the table, her emotions moving with her.

I look up, and smile at the armored orange mare, “So sorry, but we really shouldn’t talk. Other ponies are attempting to study, after all.”

The mare takes a seat across from me, “Don’t worry about them. A field of silence has been placed over us.”

I nod, “Silence field, huh? Must be quite important if it couldn’t wait for me to finish reading.”

The mare nods, “Miss Love, I am Agent Orange. I was sent by the Princesses to talk to you about your actions for the last week.”

I raise an eyebrow, “Actions this past week?”

She nods again, “Yes. Namely, your late night conversations with the creature known as Mark.”

I nod slowly, “Okay. What about that interests the Princesses?”

She takes out a letter, and slides it over to me, “The letter should explain it all, as it was penned by Princess Luna herself.”

I take the letter, flipping it over and reading it.

‘Our most loyal subject, Love, we come to you with a humble request.

You know the human, the one known as Mark, and it seems you are fostering quite the friendship with him. However, our other loyal subjects couldn’t help but overhear your conversations before. We are aware that Mark speaks ill of us and our sister, under the false notion that we are attempting to pry into his privacy. Understand, our subject, that we merely wish to know the past of Mark, and what he could do to help Equestria, and ponykind in general.

We come to you with this humble request. We request that you clear up these misconceptions from Mark’s mind, and try to steer him towards a more Princess-friendly path. If you cannot do such, we understand, and we thus give you a second request. We request that you befriend Mark, in order to show him that ponykind is not bad. If you could befriend him, he might not believe that ponies are ‘xenophobic assholes’ as he claims. Befriend him by any means necessary, even if it means saying ill of us Princesses.

Hear out our request, and you shall be rewarded.

—Princess Luna.’

I look it over again, and then look up at the mare, “So, they want me to befriend Mark?”

The mare nods, “Yes, the Princesses do request you befriend him. As mentioned, there shall be a reward.”

I nod back, “Well, I don’t want to be seen as greedy, but what is this reward?”

She smiles, “We have kept track of what books you’ve been reading, Miss Love. ‘Twist’s Time Turns’, ‘Turner’s Time Twists’, ‘Clock’s Your Timeline and You’, and ‘Peridot’s Paradox’ being standout titles. You seem rather interested in time magic, and time travel, Miss Love. Have you done something you regretted? Something you want to change?”

I sigh, “Regret would be underselling it, Agent Orange.”

Orange leans forward, “Sadly, Miss Love, ponies don’t get to change the past with their hindsight. Time travel is an imperfect art, one no normal mare could use. However, Miss Love, you are no normal mare. There is a book in the restricted section, one you might be interested in.”

I raise an eyebrow, “Go on.”

She grins, “Tempus’s ‘Art of Paradox’.”

I pause, “Tempus? Isn’t that a changeling name?”

She nods, “It is. Tempus was a changeling author who cracked the true secrets to time travel. Of course, that sort of information can’t fall into the wrong hooves, so we keep it in the restricted section. But, helping the Princesses has it’s rewards.”

I look down, “It would allow me to go back?”

She smiles, “It would. You need only befriend Mark, and the Princesses shall bestow the book upon you. Thus, they’d bestow the chance to go back upon you.”

After a minute’s pause, she stands up.

She nods to me, “Of course, we’ll give you time to decide, Miss Love. All you need to do to agree is to come to the Palace with Mark, and we’ll accept that as you agreeing.”

She walks off, leaving me in silence to look over the letter once more.