Chapter 1: The Time Portal
Chasing Sunlight
Chapter 1:
Ponyville Castle:
Twilight yarned as she turned another page of the book she’d been engrossed in from the collection of Celestia’s private library
“It must be getting late, I should probably head to bed.”
Just then the light in the room began to change slowly. Confused, she looked up at the candle she had lit, it was running down, so she’d have to get a fresh one for tomorrow night. But that wasn’t it.
The light began to get steadily brighter. Then she noticed that it was coming from the window, she puzzled. Why would it be getting lighter outside? It was the middle of the night. She bookmarked her page and gingerly giving off another tired yawn lazily wandered to the window to look outside.
“What? Is the Moon going down? And that is the sun? Wait? What time is it?”
She hurriedly looked at the clock on the wall. “No, that can’t be right, have I been up all night?”
A few minutes later Spike knocked on the door and opened it. “Good Morning Twilight.”
*thud*
A book slammed into the wall beside him while a frantic-looking Twilight was scrambling through piles and piles of books.
“Where is it? Where is it? No, Noo, NOO! I can’t find that spell.”
“Have you been up all night again Twilight?” Spike asked with some concern carefully putting down the cup of coffee he’s made on a table in the corner from experience carefully placed outside of the book splash zone.
“Yes Spike, But there is a spell I saw which can fix that, I just can’t remember which book I read it in.”
Spike picked up the book which had been thrown at the wall next to him and read the title. “Tales of the Time Traveller” by SSTB. “Funny name, Sstubs? Oh wait, are they Initials?
It took a few more moments for Twilight to register what spike had said. It took a few more moments for her to suddenly freeze in place before looking to Spike.
Both calmly but also frenzied at the same time she stopped hovering a bunch of books which crashed on the floor around her before moving towards Spike.
“That’s the one, Spike, Please I’m in a hurry.”
“It’s just a spellbook Twilight? What’s the hurry?”
“The Spell,” Twilight explained. “can only be cast while the sun is still rising, but before it’s too late. So I need to cast it right now.”
She glanced out of the window making sure it was not still too late.
“Well ok,” Spike grumbled. “But it could have waited for tomorrow though”
Twilight grabbed the book with her magic and skimmed through the book until she found the right page and quickly cast the spell.
There was a bright flash of light from her horn which flooded the room and then nothing.
“Damn, Well I guess either it’s a dud or I was just too late. Oh well. Now I need some coffee.”
“Got you covered,” Spike said while gesturing to the table. He was already in the process of collecting up the books.
Canterlot Twin Royal Balconies:
Luna’s Balcony:
Luna gave a tired yawn as she lowered the moon with the rising sun on its way up, She’d glanced across to Celestia’s Balcony to see her a few moments earlier before closing her eyes as she began lowering the moon.
She could do blindfolded standing on one hoof once. She’d done it once to win a bet, and now it was almost child's play to do it almost without looking. It had been a long night and it was actually easier to do it without looking sometimes.
Celestia’s Balcony:
Celestia had risen a little while earlier, having been woken with the smell of her morning coffee placed on the table beside her bed. It always made the mornings start a little easier when someone kindly left a whole pot of coffee for her to wake up to, although she never did find out who it was.
Now standing on the Balcony she looked across all of Equestria that she could see from the lights of Ponyville to the city lights of Manehattan on the horizon. She’d looked at Luna, waved her good morning, although Luna was obviously too tired to wave back and she joined Luna in moving her Celestial body through the sky.
It was when she had only half raised the sun that there was a sharp light that caught her eye coming from the direction of Ponyville. She looked at it but it was gone as quickly as it had come. She thought nothing of it for a few moments before she suddenly felt unwell.
Her whole body was shaking uncontrollably like some magic in her body wanted to escape from every direction.
“Luna!” She cried out.
Luna opened her eyes to see what had pulled her out of her tired daze to look at Celestia.
“Luna, I don’t feel well.”
Luna saw that Celestia was glowing, her skin color was changing from its usual white to pitch black, it only took a few seconds while Luna just stared as her tired mind was coming to terms with what she was seeing.
Suddenly Celestia was gone and in her place was a bright portal and a Golden watch on a blue band was hovering in front of it and gently lowered itself down.
It was just then half a dozen guards barged into both of their quarters concerned with why the Sun had stopped with only half of it peaking out of the horizon and the Moon with it. Two semi-circles of light fixed on the far distant horizon.
Luna gestured to the guards in her quarters that she was alright and fluttered her wings to make the distance across the balconies.
As the guards in Celestia’s room reached the balcony the leading one asked seeing the shimmering lines of light in mid-air.
“W-what happened Princess?”
Luna leaned down and picked up the watch with her hoof and examined it.
“I do not know, But send word to Twilight at once! Also. Send a messenger to Star swirl. I fear that powerful magic has taken my sister and only he knows how to remedy the sky.”
It was a few minutes later Luna saw a flying chariot being dispatched to send word to Ponyville and another towards Las Pegasus where Star Swirl currently resided.
Luna barely moved except to adjust her weight on her hoofs occasionally as she watched the swirling portal until Twilight finally arrived.
She was clutching the book in her hoof ready to give a really deep and sincere apology with Spike at her side until she was surprisingly ushered with some speed into Celestia’s bedroom and Luna standing on the Balcony starring at something Twilight couldn’t see behind the curtain.
Twilight stepped closer calling out “Luna? “Is that you? What is wrong? Where is Princess Celestia?”
Without turning her head Luna beckoned Twilight forward.
“Twilight. You need to see this.”
As the Pony and Dragon moved forward Twilight uttered out in surprise “What is that?”
Spike said, “Wow, that looks cool.”
“That,” Luna said with a deadpan tone. “Appears to be a time portal and it looks like it is closing.”
“Is, Is that what happened to Celestia?” Twilight asked.
“Yes, I believe so, I cannot explain it But I believe my sister was sucked backward's in time. ”
Luna passed Twilight the watch still without taking her eyes off the portal.
“I have summoned Star swirl but I fear he may not get here before the Portal closes. Twilight. I am entrusting you with going back in time and returning my sister.”
“You can’t be serious?” Spike said.
Luna finally dragged her eyes from the portal. “I have never been more serious. Have you not seen the whole sky darken? History has been changed somehow. I cannot go. I must consult with Star Swirl when he arrives and someone must enter the time portal before it closes.”
Glancing between the stunned pair Luna continued “Twilight. Take this watch, It may help you locate my sister and return her to the present and fix whatever has been changed.”
“The Spell!” Twilight half-shouted. “The spell I cast this morning from the book. That must have been the cause of this.” Luna take this book. Star Swirl will know the spell that caused this from this book.”
Luna looked grim. “One more thing Twilight. My sister was overcome with an illness before she vanished. I feel the same illness although it is much slower. You must hurry, save both of us and save Equestria.”
“Let’s go!” Spike said speaking up.”
“No, you have to stay Twilight said. “I’m going back in time Spike, and it will be dangerous, Equestria was not always friendly to dragons and I can’t risk you getting hurt. Stay with Luna. Look after her until Star Swirl gets here. And with any luck, I will be right back.”
Twilight nodded to Luna before making sure she had a firm hold of the watch which she noticed was ticking backward's before leaping into the portal with the light of Equestria fading behind her and the light emanating from the portal also starting to dim ever so slightly.
Author's Note
I wrote this in about 1 1/2 hours. It has not been proofread.
I also don't know how much more of this story is going to be written. If anyone wants to suggest any time periods Twilight should visit on her trip to the past, I will happily consider them to be featured in future chapters.
This is not a comparative story to the Cutie Re-Mark. It is Twilight traveling back through Celestia's history to find out what she accidentally changed in Celestia's past.
Chapter 2: Rule One Don't Change the Past
Chapter 2:
Twilight took a deep breath and held it as she leaped through the shimmering portal and she found herself landing in a sort of tunnel. Glancing quickly at the portal behind her, it was darker than when she had leaped through, maybe because she was looking at it from the other side.
Looking ahead of her, she could see another portal like the one she had just jumped through still glowing brightly but starting to dim a little. Looking around in the tunnel corridor it gave her a headache as she saw snapshots photos’ taken in the past.
As she stepped forward the images began to swirl counterclockwise like the watch. After a few seconds, she found herself almost galloping towards the new portal if only so that she didn’t feel sick looking at the pictures moved with her.
They must be moving with time like she was, going backward in time. The few images she did still glimpse as they seemed to be older and older photos although all still really recent. It actually only took Twilight a couple of strides before she burst through the other portal and onto the same Balcony she had left.
She had to suddenly turn her blind gallop into a leap and fly lest she run into the railing, She found herself flying over Canterlot on what looked like a pleasantly cool night. As she flew over the buildings, she noticed the moon was beginning to set and that it would soon be dusk but not yet.
It was then she noticed lights were on in the Royal Archive. That was strange, the Archive lights shouldn’t be on this late, or rather this early. She also knew there were time spells there, maybe she could find some answers there, like she had before with Pinky and Spike that time she tried to warn her earlier herself not to worry.
As she came down towards the archive, she noticed a window open at the side, just like the last time she was here. That same window they opened that night when she, Pinky, and Spike had snuck in to find the time spell.
Looking in the window she heard some noise in the Star Swirls the Bearded wing on the other side of the corridor. Curious, she found herself sneaking in and hiding behind some shelves as she realized she was watching her previous self panic looking for that same spell.
Just then there was a tap on her shoulder and she turned around surprised to see Pinky in her black sneaking suit who gave her a knowing wink.
Pinky whispered, “Hi Future Twilight, Do you know where the spell you need is?”
Almost without missing a beat Twilight nodded and pointed to the shelf where Pinky had originally found the spell Twilight had used to send herself back one week.
After a few more moments of watching, Twilight suddenly realized she had to move otherwise she would have been seen by her past self or Spike or Pinky. Maybe not so much Pinky.
Having moved behind another set of bookcases, It was just then Twilight heard herself cast the spell and jump through time and back again.
It was then she heard Princess Celestia walk into the room and said “Good morning, Twilight, love the new hairstyle. Well, happy Tuesday!”
Shaking her head and reminding herself why she was even here, she waited for the ponies and dragon to depart for quickly trying to follow where Celestia had gone, having not seen where the Princess had gone either first time, or the second time while standing behind a bookcase.
A few minutes later, Twilight found Celestia pondering through another bookcase further into the wing of the archive
“Twilight? Can I help you with something?” Celestia asked. “And I thought you were taking Spike home?”
“Well yes, and no. Or rather I did already.”
Celestia turned to Twilight “That was incredibly fast then, And your hair and clothes? I am still your mentor Twilight, now don’t lie to me. Look me in the eyes and tell me what’s really going on.”
Twilight gulped. “Well, urr you see, that was me, My past me just now. I went back to warn myself of a disaster and it turned out my warning was its own disaster. You’ll get a report all about it in a couple of hours.”
“I see. And what about now? That was your past you, did you come back in time to fix something else?”
“Well yes, I cast a spell, a different kind of time spell, and then something happened to you and there is this watch and you disappeared and…”
Celestia stopped Twilight by raising her hoof. Before her horn lit up. “That’s quite enough Twilight.”
Celestia finished casting a spell of silence around them before continuing.
“Time traveling is dangerous and there are rules. The first rule, which I thought you should have realized from what you just said the last time you traveled, was to not talk about future events. That is what got you in trouble last time.”
After waiting a moment for that to sink in, Celestia continued. “That being said, Without affecting my future events, can you tell me anything about this time spell? I may still be able to help.”
Twilight paused reflectively before replying. “There was a book, a book about a time traveler. I thought it contained a useful spell to slow time down for me so I could finish studying another book in time.”
Celestia shook her head. “Twilight, how many more all-nighters are you going to keep pulling? It is not good for you. Now you said something about a book and a watch?”
“You know how hard it is to put a good book down sometimes. But this is the watch, I don’t have the book though, I left that with Luna.”
“A wise decision” Celestia nodding approvingly before looking at the Watch and seeing it tick backward.
“Oh dear.” As Celestia touched the watch she felt a wave of sickness overcome her as she fell to her knee’s
Twilight bent down to help her bot Celestia brushed her off. “The spell, I can’t tell you about it,” she hissed through gritted teeth, “but” she continued “your journey is not yet done. I don’t know where you will end up, but Twilight, there was not always a time when other Princesses were so appreciated in Equestria throughout my reign.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked as she reached out to comfort Celestia only to find hoofs passed through thin air as Celestia melted and morphed into another portal as she looked on.”
“What have I done?” Twilight covered her mouth with a hoof not quite believing that whatever her spell had done, it had taken Celestia away from her again. Glancing towards the window, the sky was already beginning to darken. Except she knew this didn’t happen. It was at that moment she began to feel sick-herself.
Knowing that she didn’t have the time to feel unwell, Twilight scooped up the Watch, took another deep breath and dived through the portal.
Author's Note
I'm sorry this took so long, I originally planned to get this up last Sunday, but lockdown depression and time have taken their toll.
I admit I am not totally happy with this chapter yet, but I'm not sure exactly what is wrong with it. I need a couple more days to recharge and then I'll tackle chapter 3.
Additional: A day or so after I posted chapter 2 up (posted 21st March 2021), I had news that a friend I really care about's dad died due to covid. That really put a downer on my inspiration to write. It's going to take me a bit longer before I'm ready to write chapter 3, but I have not forgotten about it and hope to put proverbial pen to paper soon. It's just that after my mum died late last year due to Parkinson's plus and now this, it feels very personal after the week I spent with my friend in 2019 and sat down and enjoyed dinner with her dad and his wife 5 nights that week.