Chapter One: I Beseech Thee

"Where are we?...The future. Or rather, the present."

Time.

It’s a tricky concept. There are no certain theories or laws concerning it because, truthfully, we can’t possibly understand how it functions. Only Starswirl the Bearded, the greatest scholar in pony history, has come close to analyzing and defining its nature. I mean, he created a time travel spell for Celestia’s sake! That’s incredible!

But even then, it was like a power tool in the hands of a child.

He may not have fully understood its power, but he had a lot to say on the subject. Later in his life, his notes became more cynical and…verbose; nothing like the mechanical and concise scribblings of his earlier career. My guess is that living in such close quarters with Celestia and Luna – two immortal and all-powerful beings – constantly faced him with his own deteriorating mortality.

He wrote this passage in the margins of his notes (splotched in tea stains), and I find it to be the most profound thing he ever said…or maybe the saddest:

“…we are inside it, moving through it, like a river. It is like a painting: we can see its brushstrokes, ponder our perception of it, yet we are too close; without the full picture, we can only guess at its meaning. Time…yes, it’s like a river. Unyielding, constant, it blazes a path through the unknown and flows regardless of any attempts to stop it. It pays no heed to those trapped within its swelling.

And we are trapped within it. Make no mistake, Time does not care about our feelings. It moves regardless. We are, in many ways, drowning in its depths. Those of us who fight against it, who meddle with its great power – who try to divert it, slow it, reverse it, change it – we are drawn kicking and screaming further into its mighty torrent. Time does not care about our feelings.

Some forces are simply not to be meddled with.”

That was actually the first thing I learned from Twilight Sparkle: that when messing with things we don’t know a whole lot about, bad things can happen. It’s better to just let sleeping dogs lie, as it were.

You could say it was my first “friendship lesson”.

I remember that day vividly. It’s a day of little consequence in Equestria’s history; truly, only a hoofful of ponies in the whole world know of its importance. The day when fate decided to wrap its strings around six incredible ponies – and one lovable dragon – cinching their individual destinies into one. I remember because I tried to stop it from happening.

But Time had other plans.

Really, I had thought (foolishly), what could possibly be so important about a single group of friends? Out of all the friendships in Equestria – in the WORLD for that matter, maybe in the universe – what made this one so special? I guess it doesn’t really matter if I understand it or not. Time doesn’t care about my feelings.

That’s what I learned that day, the day that became the most important one in my life, as well as the lives of the ponies who have become my friends.

If I’m going to tell you my story, then there’s something you need to understand right off the bat: I didn’t want to change Time or mess with it.

I wanted to learn from it. Watch it from afar. Every version of it.

I always preferred endings, anyway.

***

“Starlight Glimmer!”

EEEEEEEE!

“Snk-AAH! Huh?” I slurred in a half-woken babble. I lifted my head up, cheek wet from the pool of drool that had formed on the desk in front of me.

Twilight’s disappointed face leered at me from her position in front of the chalkboard across the room. In her magic grasp, she held a length of chalk against the board. Sunlight fell through the castle windows as the sweet singsong melody of a bird flitted by on a light breeze.

“Are we awake now?” Twilight asked.

“I dunno, I was having a dream sort of like this,” I retorted.

The chalk moved with gusto. EEEEEEE!

“Aagh!” I screamed, protecting my ears. The bird was gone from the windowsill now. “Stop that!”

“When are you going to stop falling asleep in my class, Starlight?” said Twilight, pointing the chalk like an accusatory hoof. “It’s only been three weeks since you made up with Sunburst, and you’ve barely made any progress in your other studies.” She set the chalkboard down on the sill with a sad clunk.

Sunburst. I hadn’t stopped thinking about him in those three weeks. Back when we were foals, I had never really appreciated his friendship; he had been a constant in my life, an element that I never imagined I could live without. Until I lost him.

Now, having met him again, it felt so…freeing? Nostalgic? It was hard to put into words. I was just glad…because I’d made a friend. For someone like me…after what I’d done…I just didn’t think I deserved something like that. Sure, I’d made other friends since then: Trixie, the girls, Spike. But none of them knew me like Sunburst. I wanted to see him again and talk about old times, new times, everything in between.

I wiped the drool off my cheek, soaking my hoof in the process. “I’m sorry, Twilight. I guess I’ve just been kind of stressed out lately.” I slumped in my seat, eyes downcast, the way I did every time I felt a “Twi-lecture” coming on. “You must think I don’t really care about becoming a better pony.” Wait for it…

With a flutter of her wings, Twilight was at my side, wrapping me in one of her feathery appendages. “Not at all, Starlight!” Easy. All it took with Twilight was a little self-pity and the tension diffused itself. “After what you’ve been through, I know you’re trying your best to make things right. You’re my brightest student after all.”

“Not a very tough position to hol-“

She retracted her wing. “But sleep is for nighttime. Try going to bed earlier, okay?”

“Sure thing, Twilight.” Off the hook! Now she’ll give me a break for lunch or something.

“Oh, hey!” Twilight chimed. “Speaking of Sunburst, he’s coming here later today, isn’t he?”

“Yup!” I sat up in my seat. “He managed to get some time off from babysitting…um, Shining and Cadence’s daughter—”

“Flurry Heart.”

“Yeah, her! And he’s coming to Ponyville.” My heart fluttered in excitement.

“That’s great! You can finally spend some time getting to know each other.”

My smile faltered. “Get…to know each other? But I already know him.”

Twilight tilted her head ever so slightly to the left and pursed her lips. I had come to recognize that as her “confused” look. “Yes,” she started, “but you haven’t seen each other in years. A lot has changed in that time. I mean, you certainly aren’t the same pony you were when you saw him last, are you?”

Well, obviously not, so much had happened…oh. “No, I guess I’m not.” Oh, Goddesses, she was right! What was I even thinking? I didn't know anything about Sunburst! His interests, his ambitions, his fears…and he didn’t know about me.
Well, except that I was evil, once. Would he judge me for something like that? Everypony else usually did.

Twilight seemed to read my thoughts. “Hey, don’t think about that. You’ve come a long way since you enslaved your village and tried to destroy Equestria.”

“I wasn’t trying to destroy Equestria!”

“See? You’re not a bad pony, Starlight. Misguided, sure. Evil? Come on. We’ve all done things we regret. Sunburst wouldn’t hold it against you! Especially when he sees the amazing pony you’ve become.”

I wasn’t convinced. “I’ll bet you’ve never done anything like that.”

“I have regrets too, Starlight. Even Celestia and Luna regret fighting each other all those years ago. Everypony makes mistakes; nopony is perfect.”

I was pretty sure ghosting a friend was not on the same level as rewriting history and bringing about the apocalypse, but I just nodded and smiled. Besides, there was another reason for inviting Sunburst to Ponyville other than polite conversation.

A project I had been working on, keeping me up at night…only he could help me finish it.

Twilight nodded, satisfied. “Trust me, there’s nothing to worry about. You two will be the best of friends.” With that, she glided back over to the chalkboard. “So, now that you are awake, let’s get back to discussing Equestria’s first and second Discord conflicts!”

I groaned internally. Twilight Sparkle was the only pony in the world who would ever get excited to discuss the times her friends and Equestria were in imminent danger. She had spent nearly an entire week drilling me on the details of Nightmare Moon’s return. All in the name of something as silly as history. Really, why dwell on the past?

Twilight began writing on the chalkboard. “In the early days of Celestia’s reign, there was one who sought to bring about total chaos: Discord.”

I felt my eyelids getting heavier by the second.

***

“I mean, I thought I would learn about friendship, but so far all I’ve learned is how to point six of the most powerful relics in Equestria at big bad villains and shoot beams of love at them.”

“Yeah-huh,” Trixie droned. She was levitating ten balls around in a circle above her head, straining from the effort.

“Like, I get it! You’re the greatest group of friends in Equestria! Not everyone can be the Elements of Harmony.”

“Mm-hmm,” Trixie said, now pulling a length of scarves tied together out of her hoof.

“Why can’t we move on to the more important stuff, like how to compromise? Or what to do when your friend is annoying you, but you don’t want to tell them because you’ll hurt their feelings—"

“Starlight!” Trixie screamed, dropping the balls. They bounced off the stage and into the grass outside her wagon. A few ponies walking through the park looked our way in concern, then quickly trotted along. I winced and put my hoof on one of the balls to keep it from rolling away.

“Sorry,” I said. “I just needed to vent, is all.”

Trixie’s eyes narrowed. “Well, do you need to do it while I’m PRACTICING?”

“Heh…maybe not.”

“I can’t concentrate when you’re going on like that, Starlight.”

Trixie fired up her magic again, picking up the balls one by one and grumbling to herself. Her light pink magical field sputtered slightly at the exertion. Sometimes, I felt a little bad for my best friend. She loved magic more than anyone I had ever met (well, except for Twilight); she adored its power to amaze and bewilder, to entertain and capture the hearts of her audience. And yet she was never quite able to achieve more than telekinesis and simple illusions. It didn’t help that I had much higher magical potential, either.

I picked up all ten balls at once and set them carefully on the stage, stacked in a pyramid. “Gee, thanks,” mumbled Trixie. She hopped down from the stage and sat down next to me in the soft grass. “So, you want to tell me about your problems?”

I sighed. “I dunno. I just...I think sometimes when I hear all about her friends and how great and perfect they are for each other, it reminds me how bad I am at making friends.”

“We seem to get along pretty well,” Trixie chided with a smirk. “That Twilight thinks she’s an expert when it comes to friendship. Sure, she’s had some practice in the past few years, but she used to be just like us: a loner. It’s a wonder she didn’t turn into a nutjob, honestly.”

“What, like us too?”

“Well, maybe you,” Trixie snidely remarked.

I shoved her hat down over her eyes.

“Ow, Ow, OW! Okay, I’m sorry!”

I let go. She threw the hat off.

“Ok, I’ll admit,” Trixie said, brushing her mane back, “I was a little crazy too.”

We laughed, sitting there in the park filled with the warmth of the sun, the song of chirping birds, and scores of ponies enjoying the day. At that moment, I felt something I hadn’t felt since I was a filly, playing board games with Sunburst. It was a warm, fuzzy feeling that made me smile bigger, laugh brighter. I was glad to have friends again.

“I wish…no, never mind.”

“Oh come one, now you have to say it,” Trixie teased.

“It’s silly,” I sighed. She nudged me. “Fine. I wish I could see the trajectory of my life.”

“Uhh, what does that mean?”

I mulled my thoughts over in my head. Finding the words, I spoke: “My life. I don’t know what to do with it. I had thought I knew my destiny, thought I could just reach out and grasp it. But now my world is so different. I’m being taught like I’m back in school. I’m not at all where I thought I would be in life…I made some pretty bad mistakes, and I’m…worried.”

“About what?” Trixie asked.

“That I might do it again! I feel like I’ve changed, but what if I haven’t?”

Trixie put her hoof on my shoulder in a surprisingly gentle gesture, coming from her. “It’s okay, Starlight. I know how you feel. Twilight has that effect on people. You’ll always have your good pal Trixie to show you the way.”

“Thanks, Trixie,” I said, wiping my cheek. “Everything would just be so much easier if you could see your whole life spread out for you, y’know? All the choices you’ll make and paths you’ll walk. Then things wouldn’t be so…vague all the time.”

“But where’s the fun in that?” Trixie asked, brushing her mane out of her eyes as she swept her hat back onto her head. “I enjoy the mystery of life.” She threw a ball of smoke on the ground, reappearing on the stage when it cleared. “It’s what gets me out of bed every morning: the thrill of not knowing what’s in store.” She waved a wand in the air, and from the end, a bouquet of flowers shot out. I clapped my hooves together.

“Anyway,” Trixie cooed, winding down, “when’s your friend coming from the Crystal Empire?”

“Sunburst? I think the train isn’t supposed to arrive for another few hours.” Thankfully, I added silently. All week, I had been looking forward to seeing Sunburst again, but now, I wasn’t so sure. All kinds of questions and doubts ran through my mind. What if we don’t have anything in common? What if I’m boring, or he doesn’t like Ponyville? What if he finds out what I did?

Will he hate me?

“As much as I want to meet this guy, I’ve got a show to get to in Appleloosa. Gotta leave soon if I want to make it in time.”

Probably better that way. Trixie could be…a lot. “I really want you to meet him, but I understand. Maybe some other time?”

“Of course. Just say when.”

“Oh!” I said, hitting on a new topic. “You said you had a new spell you wanted to show off, didn’t you?”

“Oh, how could I forget? Yes, it’s true, the Great and Powerful Trixie has added yet another spell to her already impressive repertoire!” She posed with her hoof held up like she was holding something. “You are about to witness its debut.”

“Go, Trixie!” I cheered, pounding the ground.

“You’ve seen card tricks, cup tricks, and rope tricks: illusions all. You’ve seen unicorns teleport, levitate and transmute objects, clothing, and even themselves.” She waved those all away with a hoof, pulling her cape in front of her face so just her eyes peeked out. “Pshaw. Child’s play. The Great and Powerful Trixie will now demonstrate the magic of…invisibility!”

She threw away the cape just as…she continued standing there on stage with a massive gloating smirk on her face.

“…um, Trixie?”

“Ha! You can’t see me, but I assure you, I’m still standing right here onstage!”

“I can see that.”

“You can—” Trixie looked down at herself. “What? But why isn’t it working?” She drew the cape in front of her face again, then threw it away. “Invisibility!” Then again, with a slightly more desperate, “Invisibility!”

“Mayyybe you should focus more on doing the spell rather than shouting it.”

“I did it earlier! Why can’t I do it? Invisibility!”

“Is it…performance anxiety?”

“Ugh, do you really think the Great and Powerful Trixie gets anxious to perform?” Now she was screwing up her face in concentration, pink light shooting out the tip of her horn. “Turn. In. VISIBLE.” Her horn popped and fizzled, the pink light going out as she slumped, gasping.

“It’s okay, Trixie. Invisibility is one of the hardest spells a unicorn can master. It’s a little more advanced than your party tricks.”

“Party tricks!?”

“Ok, look at the time! I really need to meet Sunburst at the station. Gotta go bye!”

I activated my magic and disappeared from reality, turning my body completely transparent.

“Starlight, you get back here right now and say that to my face! Starlight!”

***

The streets of Ponyville: I knew I would never get used to them. Bright multi-colored and at times gawdy ponies walked the streets in pairs and groups, smiling and laughing. Everypony just seemed to pop out of their surroundings. In Ponyville, the sun was always shining, the grass growing, the bees buzzing, the weather relaxing. It stressed me out.

A place this perfect shouldn’t exist. It just didn’t make any sense. How could ponies be so happy here all the time? Weren’t there ever fights? Dangers? Did the crops never die, the sky never shade? I had only been living here for three weeks, and yet there always seemed to be some constant level of happiness among the citizens of this little town. Why was that?

The answer to my question came speeding past me in a pink blur. “Hi, Starlight!” she screamed as she passed.

“Pinkie?” I said, looking in the direction the party pony had sped off in. Just as quickly as she had gone, she was coming back around. Right towards me.

I braced for impact. She skidded to a halt inches from my muzzle, the dirt screaming under her hooves.

“Hey! I heard your friend is coming to Ponyville. Does he like vanilla or chocolate?”

“For what?” I asked.

“Cake flavors, duh! I’m throwing him a welcome party.”

Uh-oh. A party might ruin my chances to get Sunburst to help with my…project. “Um, I don’t think that’s necessary, Pinkie.”

“Nonsense, Starlight! I already bought streamers for the décor, paint for the banner, fruit for the punch, confetti for my cannons—”

“Actually, Pinkie,” I interrupted before she could continue (and she would, believe me), “what I mean is that it’s probably better if you don’t. Sunburst is a quiet type. Kind of a shut-in. He hates being the center of attention. If you threw him a party, I think it would just make him nervous.”

Pinkie Pie stopped jumping up and down. “Oh, well that’s okay! I won’t invite the town then. We can just throw a small little get-together, just him and the rest of our friends. I’ll even invite Trixie; she can put on her show for us! I’m sure Twilight is over it by now--”

“No, really Pinkie, we just want some time to sit down and—”

“Did ah jus’ hear somepony turnin’ down a good ol’ fashioned Pinkie Party?”

There was only one pony I knew with a strong southern drawl like that. Turning around, I beheld Applejack leaning against a nearby fencepost in her signature pose of smug confidence: hooves crossed, head down, hat covering her face. She looked up slowly, peeking out from under her hat; one eyebrow was raised intimidatingly, a heavy smirk weighing on her muzzle.

“Come on, now, Starlight,” Applejack drawled. “It’s not every day a new pony comes to Ponyville. Pinkie’s welcome parties are always the best! Why not introduce us to yer friend over some punch and cookies?”

“Oh, I don’t know Applejack.”

“Come on, Sugarcube! It’ll be fun.”

“I know, but he’s only here for a few days, and—”

“Did the phrase ‘Pinkie Party’ just emanate from this general vicinity?” An elegant and composed accent interluded from behind Applejack.

Rarity trotted up, levitating a couple of rolls of fabric beside her, her coiffed mane bouncing happily. “I could really use a night to let my hair down, so to speak!”

Okay, this was getting out of hand. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Rarity,” I warned. “I was just telling Applejack that Sunburst and I want a stress-free evening to catch up on things.”

“But darling, parties are meant to relieve stress, not induce it. Are you feeling quite alright, Starlight? You don’t strike me as the kind of mare to turn down a good hoot…erm, hooootenaaaannyyyyy!” That last word she spoke slowly, with a concerned and questioning tone, as if testing it out. Applejack nodded in approval.

“Leave the poor filly alone, girls, she doesn’t wanna party!” came a raspy voice from above. I had barely looked up when I saw the cyan blur of Rainbow Dash flash out of the sky and end up next to Rarity. She flipped her hair back casually. “She may not, but I certainly do! Pinkie, let’s do it over at Twilight’s place. As much as I love Sugarcube Corner, it’s a little cramped for a flier like me. And you know how I start doing laps every time you bring out your Spike Punch—”

“Ssshh! Rainbow, there are children around,” said Pinkie in a hushed tone. “Don’t let Fluttershy hear you talking about that either; she freaked out when she drank the wrong punch last time.”

“I freaked out when what happened?” came the sweet and quiet voice of the yellow pegasus behind Pinkie Pie.

“You wouldn’t remember,” Pinkie countered.

“Where did you all even come from?” I cried.

“Pinkie told me about a party,” said Fluttershy. “So I had my birds send messages to all the girls to pick up some supplies.”

“So how did you know about Sunburst, Pinkie?” I asked, confused. “Was it your Pinkie Sense?” I had pretty much the same reaction to Pinkie’s prophetic abilities as Twilight when she first found out. After weeks of studying her, I came to one conclusion: never try to define Pinkie’s abilities.

“Duh, Twilight told me!” shouted Pinkie in her signature ear-splitting pitch. Oh. That makes sense. “She said you could use some cheering up.”

“What? Me? Cheering up? I’m so cheery though! You could call me…Cheer…ilee?”

“Riiight,” said Applejack. “Listen, Starlight, let me give you some advice about makin’ friends: jus’ be yourself. I know it sounds like a…platypus—”

“Platitude,” I offered.

“—comin’ from me, but it’s the honest-to-gosh truth. Truth is a better foundation for a healthy relationship than lies. It’s like buildin’ a barn—”

“Darling, I think she gets it,” said Rarity politely. “That’s excellent advice, Applejack, however crude.” Rarity turned to me and smiled sweetly. “Be…unwavering, darling!”

“That’s a beautiful way to put it, Rarity,” breathed Fluttershy. They all nodded in agreement.

“Thanks, guys,” I said. “I’ll keep that in mind. And we don’t need a party.”

“Too bad! You’re getting one anyway!” Pinkie shouted back before racing off between the market stalls.

“Just face it, Glim-Glam!” laughed Rainbow Dash. I hated when she called me that. “When Pinkie Pie sets her mind to throwing a party, she’s like a natural disaster: it’s gonna happen one way or another. Ya just gotta prepare for it.”

***

I think a bit of context is in order, and it may as well go here.

Starswirl the Bearded was known as Equestria’s greatest sorcerer. His studies in the field of magical phenomena pioneered entire systems for magical research, education, and engineering. He dug into the heart of our universe, excavating its secrets, panning for knowledge in a muddy stream. He developed new lines of magical theory, crafted unique and complex spells from arcane essence, and invented technology that fast-tracked the development of ponykind by thousands of years.

He was a scholar, a friend to the princesses, and a truly virtuous pony. He was also incredibly irresponsible.

Some spells he abandoned haphazardly, never to be finished or even understood by ponies half his intelligence (believe me, I’ve tried). Projects dropped, theories half-baked, like the Creator of All setting down his quill, leaving behind his tools of creation.

Twilight Sparkle nearly suffered at the hands of his reckless abandon. The half-baked spell of an over-burdened sorcerer had made playthings of her friends’ destinies. The future of Equestria, held hostage by a flimsy, under-developed poem. What might have happened had Twilight been unable to reverse the damage? What might have become of Equestria without its Elements of Harmony?

I’ll admit…even I have been led astray by Starswirl’s work; his spells are too good to be true, it seems. I thought that if I could actually change the past, I could have the life I always wanted. The life that was taken from me by the power of cutie marks; by destiny itself. You already know what I’m going to say: Time doesn’t work like that.

Starswirl was intelligent. He was reckless, certainly, but he knew what he was talking about.

Before he disappeared, I believe he discovered something. The beginnings – nay, the very inklings of an idea regarding travel through Time.

His final notes read as follows:

5/12

Fact: A pony who travels through time can change its events.

Based on this logic, we know the past is refutable, that it can be changed. Destiny is not chiseled in stone.

Hypothesis: Changes in the past, no matter how minor, will lead to different outcomes in the future, resulting in a present unlike our current one.

Only a fool would attempt to change the past. Irrevocable damage could be caused, paradoxes abound, chaos unleashed…no, it’s much too dangerous. Therefore, this theory will forever remain a theory.

Thought: If the above theory were indeed correct, then what would happen to the previous future? If the pony who went back and changed the past could remember the events of their own present, then that present did indeed exist. But if the present changed, then what happened to the previous present? Did it disappear, never to have existed at all? This is a perplexing paradox. I must mull this over.

5/13

Hypothesis: There exists an infinite number of possible timelines, the creation of which are the result of every single choice, probability, and chance event. Entire universes, unique in one or infinite ways. Therefore, changes made in the past do not eradicate the previous timeline; rather, they facilitate the creation of a new one.

Question: By what means would a pony be capable of traveling to a new timeline at will?

The notes end there; likely he planned to come back to his line of questioning later. But he hit on something marvelous. His theory was sound: changing the past did change the present. Seeing as Twilight was aware that it had changed every time, that means that his paradox about the non-existent “previous timeline” was also true. And there’s only one way that paradox can be solved.

His second theory – the “Theory of Multiple Universes”, as I plan on calling it – must also be true.

***

As the oversized pastry-shaped train emerged from a swirling cloud of steam into the station, Time…seemed to slow.

I was excited to see Sunburst again…wasn’t I? Why did I feel so anxious then?

We had spent a brief amount of time together back in the Crystal Empire: sipping on tea and politely pondering each other’s lives, sizing them up, comparing them. But we hadn’t really connected on any level deeper than sub-surface. We were pen pals at best, and at worst…complete strangers.

Now I was inviting him to my new home with friends I’d barely known for a couple of weeks and whose relationships I had tried to destroy. Nothing awkward about that, right?

Shaking my head, I tried to clear my thoughts; I had to get Sunburst in Twilight’s library. If he just saw my notes, he might believe me…might help me achieve my dream.

The train came to a stop, reminding me that Time doesn’t slow for anyone’s feelings. With my heart hammering in my chest, I waited on the platform for the passengers to disembark. The smell of charcoal and oil came wafting downwind from the engine, which did little to relieve my nerves.

The doors opened. Out stepped…a mint green pony with white stripes in her mane. I’d seen her around many times, but I still didn’t know her name. Some of the ponies in Ponyville tended to sort of fade into the background. She hugged a beige pony with purple and pink mane waiting on the platform and they walked off together.

More ponies exited the train. With each one, my anticipation grew. Was that him there? No. There? Nope.

“Hiya, Starlight!”

“Gah!” I nearly jumped right out of my skin. Sunburst smiled at me, a couple of feet away to my left. “Where did you come from?” I screamed.

“The Crystal Empire, silly,” he replied with a goofy laugh as he pushed his glasses further up his muzzle.

“I know that” I growled. “Just…never mind. It’s great to see you again.”

“Yeah, same here.” He raised his hoof for a hoofshake, but I completely misread the intention and went in for a hug. “O-oh,” he said as he hooked his hoof around me.

Pat. Pat.

We pulled away quickly before it could get any weirder, and I got a better look at him. He was wearing the same ridiculous cloak as the first time I met him (I had thought they were some kind of pajamas, but I guess not). Poking out the bottom of his cloak were his cream-colored hooves, contrasting the sunset shade of the rest of his coat. His bedraggled hair and beard were the same unwieldy nests as before. I’d better keep him away from Rarity, she’d have a field day with him.

“Sooo,” I crooned, walking down the platform. “Welcome to Ponyville!”

“Heh, thanks!” he said, following behind with his suitcase in tow. “I’m so glad to finally be visiting this place.” As we rounded the corner of the train station and the streets of the town came into view, he plopped down on his haunches and waved his arms, gesturing to take it all in. “This place has such rich history! Nestled in every corner of every alley, every wooden beam, haybale, molded plaster, and cobbled stone there lies the beating heart of Equestria! Evidence of times past and present, and I can’t wait to see it all!”

How in Tartarus was I supposed to respond to that? “Um, yeah! I know what you mean. Twilight has this chandelier in her throne room made from the dead roots of her first home here in Ponyville. It’s kinda creepy, but you get used to it.”

Sunburst stood up and levitated his suitcase onto his back. “Where to first?”

I fumbled to a halt, suddenly realizing something very important: I had nothing planned! “Er, I guess I just kinda figured we could do whatever you wanted to do. There’s a bowling alley, a movie theater…Sugarcube Corner has the best cupcakes in town!”

Sunburst blurted, “What about the pawnshop, Pawnyville? I did some research before I came, and they seem to have a lot of cool antiques!”

“Uh, sure! Why not?” I guessed window shopping wasn’t completely boring; better than listening o Twilight lecture me about history, that’s for sure…

***

“Sunburst, this is all very interesting, but I’m getting kind of hungry. Why don’t we pop on over to Pony Express—”

“Just one more, okay? I promise.” Sunburst levitated a vase painted with pony-like figures depicted in a state of worship in front of my face. The sixth one in the last hour. “This one, here. Look closely at the shape of the figure in the center. What do you notice about her?”

I sighed and did as I was told. The picture showed the single-colored silhouette of a large pony in the center, surrounded by smaller ponies kneeling in the large one’s presence, heads lowered, but their eyes were cast upwards to the figure. I ventured a guess,”…wings…a pegasus?”

“Mmhmm. And not just that. There’s something else, similar to another vase that I showed you.” Sunburst was nearly bursting at the seams.

I sighed and looked closely at the figure’s face. The figure was painted in only one color, so the silhouette wasn’t easy to make out…except—

“She’s blindfolded?” I realized. “Is that…Sombra?”

“Close, but very good!” Sunburst said, nodding enthusiastically. I rolled my eyes. “Somnambula, the fierce and hopeful protector of her people. I told you about her earlier: about her bravery in facing the evil Sphinx, and her daring leap of faith to save the pharaoh's son—”

“Yeah, you did already tell me that,” I groaned.

“Somnambula existed during a dark time in Equestria’s history," he continued, unfazed. "Notice on this vase how she stands over the people, simultaneously a guardian, a protector, and also a symbol of worship. Some called her the “Lightbringer”, the bringer of hope.”

I looked around us at the narrow space we inhabited. Wedged in between shelves of dusty vases, artifacts, and other such trinkets, the stuffy air and smell of dust combined to give me a dueling sense of vertigo and nausea. Sunburst’s lectures – all of the names, dates, locations of ponies I didn’t know or care about – were making me dizzy.

“Are you going to buy anything?” I asked in as polite a tone as I could muster.

“Hmm, maybe not this time. I’ll have to bring more suitable containers for transporting these back to the Crystal Empire as safely as possible.”

“Great!” I said, marching to the front door. “Let’s get a move on, then. I decide where we go next!”

“Ok!” Sunburst said, trotting closely behind me as we exited into the refreshing breath of the wind and rejuvenating sunshine. “Is it another historically important landmark?”

“Hmm, sometimes.”

“Sometimes?”

***

“How is…storically…ortant?” Sunburst asked.

“What?” I shouted over the thumping music. I was thrashing my arms around, dancing in time with the rhythm.

“I said!” Sunburst yelled, “How! Is this place! Historically important?”

Even though everyone around us, myself included, was dancing and thriving to DJ-Pon3’s hypnotic tracks – a genre of music she called “Wubstep” – Sunburst stood stiff as a board on the color-changing squares of the dance floor. I paused my movements to get close enough for him to hear me over the din.

“It’s historically important to my relaxation! Trust me, you don’t want to see me when I’m stressed out.” I laughed and punched his arm.

“Ow! Ok, but what am I supposed to be doing?”

“Unwind! For one, you can take your cape off.”

“It’s a cloak. And I think I’ll leave it on, actually.”

“Ok, fine. Just watch me and do as I do.” I swayed my hips back and forth, bobbing my head up and down with the music. As the melody swelled, I got more into it, lightly stepping my hooves around in complicated motions: criss-cross, grapevine, running pony. I opened my eyes to watch Sunburst.

His movements were robotic. He was watching me closely and copying verbatim, completely out of time with the music. He took an experimental step backward and caught his hoof on his cape.

“Wo-aahhh!” He went crashing to the ground. I giggled.

Shooting a momentary glare at me, he picked himself up and stormed off the dance floor, red in the face. “Crap,” I said under my breath. Way to go, Starlight, you’re really showing him a good time. “Hey, Sunburst, wait,” I called after him, following him off the floor.

“I’m sorry, Starlight,” Sunburst said once I’d caught up to him. It was easier to hear him now that we were off the dance floor; I wondered if he even had an “outside voice”. “I guess this just isn’t really my kind of scene.”

“Okay, that’s fine,” I said. “We can do something a little more your speed.” Then I added, “Sorry, I’m new to this whole friendship thing.”

“Well, I don’t want to bore you, or anything,” Sunburst mumbled.

“No, not at all! Besides, DJ-Pon3’s music all kinda sounds the same. Gets a little boring after a while.”

Sunburst offered a small smile before pushing his glasses further up his muzzle. My heart fluttered in my chest. No, stop it, I thought to myself. You barely know the guy!

“Ok, I have an idea,” he said as he stood up straighter. “You mentioned Twilight’s castle, right? Are we…allowed inside?”

“Pssh!” I scoffed, my heart beating. Yes! My plan was working. “Allowed inside? I live there.”

***

“Wow!” Sunburst exclaimed as we stepped into the library. Stuffed shelves set into the walls rose up toward the high-set ceiling, looming over us. Windows at the top helped to brighten the interior, making it feel open and airy. His voice was carried up, echoing into the vast empty space of the chamber. “I knew Twilight must have a big library, but this is incredible!”

My voice added to the rising cacophony, “When Lord Tirek attacked, he destroyed her last one. I don’t think she minds all that much, this one’s waaaay bigger,” I offered, glad that Twilight wasn’t around to hear. “You won’t find a more complete collection of magical journals and spell catalogs in all of Equestria.”

Sunburst levitated tomes off the shelves, revolving them around his head in a very similar fashion to Twilight. It struck me how similar the two were when he began speaking without breaking his attention from the books, “Where did she get them all from? Heh, the bookstore?”

“Actually,” I laughed. “When the Tree of Harmony created this castle for Twilight, it was kind enough to fill her library for her. These books were all a gift from the Tree.”

“Incredible,” Sunburst answered, levitating even more books close enough to read their titles. “I already exhausted the Crystal Empire’s stores of knowledge years ago during my studies. I’ve been sending letters to Princess Celestia to grant me access to the Royal Archives in Canterlot.” He looked away, and I noticed a slight slump in his shoulders. “I guess a dropout like me doesn’t have much weight to throw around.” His magic blinked precariously.

“What about Princess Cadence?” I asked, stepping closer. “Can’t she put in a good word for you?” I placed my hoof on his shoulder. “And you saved the Crystal Empire! Even Celestia and Luna couldn’t have done that. I think you’ve proven yourself to them.”

“Yeah…” he said, facing me with a hopeful tilt in his smile. “Thanks, Starlight.” I could tell he wasn’t convinced.

I nodded as he put the tomes back in their places (I checked to make sure they were put back correctly, or else Twilight would have another lecture in store for me). That’s when it happened. Turning, his eye caught my work desk on one side of the room, a work lamp illuminating the piles of notes littering its surface. Placed squarely in the middle of the desk was a dark red leather-bound journal with swirling inscriptions of runes on the cover. He trotted over, looking back at me. “What’s over here? I can barely read these scribbles.”

I approached his side, barely able to contain my excitement. Running through the script in my head, I said, “Just Starswirl’s notes. I’ve been studying them with Twilight’s help.”

Sunburst edged forward, a look of awe and reverence plain on his face. “Starswirl the Bearded?”

“Mmhmm. His mind was truly incredible.”

“I can’t imagine…” He bit his lip. “Can…can I read them?”

I waved a hoof over the notes and backed away. Sunburst carefully levitated the cover open on the leather journal and swept his eyes over the pages, taking in the scribbled sketches, the hastily scrawled notes, even the stains of spilled tea on the parchment.

“This is truly marvelous, Starlight. You should have brought me here sooner!”

Here we go: “Actually, now that I think of it, there is something else I’ve been meaning to show you.”

Sunburst whipped his head around, sparkles in his eyes. “What is it?”

“A project I’ve been working on, regarding one of Starswirl’s last theories: under-developed, barely researched. I think he disappeared soon after brainstorming it. Could you take a look at it, see what you think about it?”

Sunburst took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “If it has to do with Starswirl the Bearded, then count me in.”

Hook, line, and sinker. “Follow me.”

The throne room was yet another large, cavernous space in the castle with a tree’s roots hanging down, adorned with sparkling gems. Despite how creepy it seemed, the inclusion of the rustic, wooden tree roots actually did a lot to help with the cold emptiness of the room.

Below the tree sat six thrones fashioned out of the same crystal that made up the structure of Twilights castle, surrounding a large circular table. I placed my hoof on its strangely warm surface. It hummed in response to my touch, spreading a light across its surface which revealed a map of the entire land of Equestria. I was struck with the impression that this room suddenly looked like a war room.

I was used to the light show by now, but Sunburst oohed and aahed at the spectacle.

“So, this is the map that sends the Elements of Harmony on their quests?” he asked in earnest, waving his hands through the holographic mountains.

“Yeah, I still don’t really know how it works. This castle, it sort of…responds to them. It was made for Twilight, but I get the feeling it belongs to all of them. It sent them to my village; that’s how we first met.”

“Your village?” Sunburst asked. “Where is that?”

Oh no, I said too much! “Don’t worry about it, it’s kind of in the middle of nowhere.”

“Hmm,” he said, idly twirling his beard in his hoof. Thankfully, he moved on to another topic. “It’s a brilliant artifact of magical proportions. It probably contains a complex array of magical spells. It would need to be able to constantly survey all of Equestria, sense the emotions and turmoils of ponies and other creatures, decide on its own – is it intelligent? Never mind – decide whether the Elements can help, then choose the ones best suited for the job. This was created from the Tree of Harmony, correct? I can’t even imagine how this all came to be. And don’t even get me started on how it makes their cutie marks glow! Cutie mark magic is woefully misunderstood, and the magic to manipulate them is far from the reach of unicorns like ourselves.”

“You have no idea,” I mumbled.

“What was that?”

“Uhh…nothing! Did I say something? I didn’t say anything.” Was it getting warm in here?

Sunburst continued, “The Elements of Harmony are truly some wonderful ponies, aren’t they? You have some really great friends there, Starlight.”

I smiled back. “Yeah, they really are, aren’t they?” Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash…Twilight Sparkle…they’d all shown me a better way to live my life. I couldn’t think of any other ponies in my entire life who had inspired me to change like that. Maybe I didn’t thank them enough. I’d have to remember to give Twilight a big hug to show her grateful I was.

Sunburst tore his gaze from the table. “So, what did you need help with?”

“Right!” I sat on my haunches, clearing my head of all those warm, fuzzy feelings. I gestured for him to sit too. “Before Starswirl disappeared, he made one final contribution to the study of arcane sciences. It has to do with the theory of time travel.”

“What? Time travel?” Sunburst breathed, listening closer. “You mean the process of traveling back and forth through time?”

“Exactly. Starswirl was pioneering a technique for traveling through time.”

“Why have I never heard of this before?” Sunburst asked, shaking his head. “I practically know everything about Starswirl.”

“It was never published,” I answered. “Barely even developed. I only know about it because of his notes. I don’t think Twilight’s read them yet; she tends to linger on the past, starts with the beginning and works her way up. I prefer the endings.”

“Okay, so what were his notes about? Did he…succeed?”

“Oh yeah, I should probably start with that,” I said, pulling out a scroll of parchment paper. “Starswirl created a spell, written on a piece of parchment, which allowed the spell’s caster to travel backward in time. And it worked.”

Sunburst stared at the scroll, working his mouth, but no sound came out. The best he manage was: “Whaaa—”

“This isn’t the original, of course. That one was lost, got sucked back up into the portal.”

“Portal?”

“Nevermind. Before I lost—Er, before it was lost, though, I spent months studying its inscriptions.” I opened the scroll and held it up for Sunburst to read it. “Starswirl really was a genius. This spell alone contains almost one hundred individual spells, intertwined like a brilliant tapestry – well, not even as organized as any weave or stitch, it’s more like a magical spaghetti, each strand of text depending upon and supporting the others. I managed to create this copy entirely from memory. But there’s a problem.”

I waited for Sunburst to stop drooling over the scroll. Catching up to the conversation, he asked “Well, if it’s an exact copy, what’s the problem?”

“The problem is that it isn’t exact. As I said, it was made from memory. I can’t tell if I made a mistake somewhere, inscribed the wrong rune, painted in the wrong location. There’s too much going on in this spell, and I barely understand any of the theory behind it. But I know someone with enough knowledge of spells and magical theory to rival even Starswirl.” I smiled at Sunburst, nodding.

“Twilight?” he said.

“No, goofball! You”

Sunburst shook his head and took a hesitant step back. “What?”

“You know all about magical spells, don’t you? I mean, you went to school for it and everything. You’re a wizard!”

“A failed one! I dropped out, remember? I’m no magic scholar, Starlight. I…I couldn’t possibly help you with something as huge as this. I’m useless…”

I couldn’t believe my ears. “What about the Crystalling? You saved the Crystal Empire with your magical knowledge alone! Knowledge that no one else had even considered or counted upon! How could you think you’re useless?”

“Can’t you just ask Twilight?”

“Come on. At least look at the thing for more than a minute.”

Sunburst looked as though he was about to say something, then took the scroll in his hooves, holding it gingerly. He skimmed the document up and down. I felt my carefully laid plan to get his help crumbling in my hooves. He was supposed to be flattered! Motivated to work on it with me! Instead, he was shutting down, refusing to try. As I stood there, silent and hopeful, I studied my options to see if I could reel him back in. Maybe we could take a break, come back to it later? Talk about it over tea and cupcakes at Sugarcube Corner? I could try flattery again, that seemed to boost his ego. But his ego was so fragile! What could I do?

His eyes narrowed on one line. At some point, he had begun stroking his scraggly beard.

“Sweet Celestia,” he mumbled to himself. “It’s like a tangled ball of yarn. Where do I even start?” He pointed halfway down the sheet. “This line here, it’s reminiscent of Scry Tail’s Opulent Opalescence, but it’s missing a subject.” He glanced further down the page. “Wait, but then Mage Meadowbrook’s Oracle Orb spell needs a pointer…maybe if I…yeah, that could work.” Without looking up from the spell, he said, “Starlight, could you find me a quill?”

“Gladly,” I beamed.

***

“…And placing this one here…that would give Pronto Portal the necessary parameters—”

“Well yeah,” I said, shaking my head. After hours of scrutinizing the scroll, making edits and adjustments, searching through magical journals…the fatigue was setting in. “But now it needs a time and location. How would you—”

“Wait, I remember seeing something for that!” Sunburst shouted excitedly, ruffling through the sheets of paper and books that now littered the Cutie Map’s surface. “Aha! Right here, in Advanced Spells and Incantations! You can modify Heartfelt’s Telltale Time to provide an output in the exact format that would work with Pronto Portal! Oh Celestia, it’s genius! If we just write that in…” He scribbled the quill across the parchment, adding in lines where I knew the spaces looked too big but hadn’t remembered what to fill them with. “Then we writer here…Done!”

I sat back in Twilight’s chair as he held up the parchment, the light of the gems from Twilight’s tree chandelier falling across it in shifting shades. “Oh my Goddesses, Starlight,” he said breathlessly. “I think we did it.”

“Well, I only helped,” I shrugged. “I knew you could do it!” I snagged the parchment from his hooves and began clearing the table of books with my levitation.

Sunburst pranced in place. “Ooh, I can’t believe it! We just finished reconstructing one of Starswirl’s most important works! His magnum opus! I can’t wait to show it to Twilight.”

“We can’t show this to anypony,” I said, still clearing the table.

The look on his face was as complex a mixture as the spell we just finished: shock, confusion, disappointment, and betrayal all ran across his features. “What?? What are you talking about, Starlight? Some scholars go their whole lives without ever taking part in something as incredible as this! How could we just…NOT tell anypony?”

“Just…trust me on this, okay?” I had done this before; I knew I could do it again. I lit up my horn and lifted the parchment above the Cuite Map, now clear of journals and papers. The parchment began glowing.

Sunburst approached the table. “What are you doing, Starlight?”

“Look, Sunburst: I…I did some bad things. Terrible things. And I feel…SO much shame for them.” My cheeks felt wet, my vision blurry from the sudden tears.

“I don’t understand, Starlight. You told me already, didn't you?”

“It doesn’t really matter, okay? I don’t want to get into it now, but know this: I want to be a better pony. And I know just how I’m going to do that.” The table lit up in response just as a portal grew overhead. A dark, endless tunnel appeared through the portal, swirling with raw magical energy. Lights flashed as I was lifted into the air.

Hovering there, I held out a hoof to Sunburst. “Come with me. I’ll explain later, just please trust me.”

Sunburst appeared, understandably, gobsmacked. “Come with…where? Why are you doing all of this?”

Just then, the doors to the throne room burst open. Pinkie wheeled a cart full of streamers and party favors behind her while Rarity followed, decked out in a magnificent dress far outclassing the occasion. Next came Rainbow Dash, carefully pushing a cart with a tall, multi-layered cake swaying side-to-side while Fluttershy hovered beside it, keeping it from falling.

“Careful with the cake, Dashie!” Pinkie cried over her shoulder.

“I got it, Pinkie!”

“’Cos when Big Mac gets a couple o' barrels o’ cider in ‘im,” Applejack was telling Twilight, “ya’ll know yer in for one heck of a party—”

They all froze in their tracks when they saw me mid-spell.

"What the—" Rainbow Dash started.

“What is this?” Twilight asked, barely a whisper.

“Wait!” I shouted. “I can explain!”

“I…I trusted you Starlight Glimmer!” Twilight screamed. “I thought you wanted to be a better pony!” She balked when she saw the pony I was with. “Sunburst, you too?”

“Sunburst!” I screamed. “Come with me! Now!”

Sunburst took one look at Twilight and the others and jumped onto the table with me. He began floating alongside me, his mane flicking in the nonexistent breeze as Twilight thrust her wings out, taking to the air.

“Starlight!” Twilight shouted, racing across the room. “Stop!”

She wasn’t fast enough.

The portal sucked me and Sunburst up, closing behind us.

We raced down the tunnel at an incalculable speed. Sunburst had his eyes clenched shut, but I had already seen this before. Well, a different version of it. Lights swirled around us, pulsating, like stars. They formed into being as we passed, dense balls of undulating mass that burned hot and bright, and winked out in an explosion of color and passion.

I watched as images raced by, but instead of seeing events that had already happened, they depicted things that had not yet passed. The spell was working! Exactly how I had modified it.

We weren’t racing backward. We were travelling forward.

It felt…different than before. The images, which had before appeared solid and specific, were now becoming jumbled and blurred. They seemed to glitch: where one pony stood a moment before, the image changed, and a different pony now occupied the same space. The further we traveled, the more confusing the images became until they stopped entirely, instead showing a mess of white noise. I felt my pulse quicken as, for the first time, I contemplated the possible consequences of my actions.

Traveling to the past was a sure thing: the past existed, after all. But the more I thought about it, the more I wondered: how could one travel forward to something that doesn’t yet exist?

As we raced unceasing down the tunnel of bending light towards an uncertain and possibly nonexistent point in space and time, the gravity of our situation slammed into me like a brick wall. What had I done?

Time waits for nopony; farther and farther we traveled into unknown territory, unable to stop until the spell allowed it. The images were no longer just blurry, they were entirely black, like an empty film reel. They wrapped around the tunnel, blotting out the lights and colors. We were traveling through a black void.

From the void ahead, bars of colorful light like rainbows spread from above and below so it looked like we were squeezing between them. Just as I had that thought, I felt a pressure pushing from all sides like a vacuum sucking at my skin, like we were being pushed through a tube that was growing smaller and smaller. The pressure in my ears grew until I could barely hear the rushing noise around me; only a high ringing noise filled my world now. I wasn’t even sure if I was screaming or not. Sweet Celestia, we were going to be crushed!

I reached out in the void and took hold of Sunburst’s hoof. He squeezed back.

As quickly as it had started, it stopped. Wit ha pop, we stopped moving, the pressure was gone, and we were left floating in the black space. I could see Sunburst clearly outlined next to me, although no light source seemed to exist with us. Tears were streaming down his face, and his breathing was rapid. I couldn’t blame him; I was also close to panicking.

“What…” he started. “What is HAPPENING, Starlight?” He took in gulping breaths.

“D-don’t worry Sunburst, it’ll be fine,” I said, trying to keep myself from trembling. “Please, just…just calm down.”

He squeezed his eyes shut. “This isn’t happening, this isn’t happening, this isn’t…” he repeated over and over between shallow, shaky breaths.

“Snap out of it!” I screamed as I slapped his face. His eyes shot wide open and stared at me with fearful indignation. I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him closer until my face was only inches away from his. “I’m going to get us out of this, alright? But I can’t think when you’re going on like that. Just take some deep breaths, okay?”

Eyes still wide in fear, he nodded. A second later, he began sucking in air in long, shaking breaths, and carefully blowing it out. Doing the same to calm my erratic heartbeat, I looked around us. We were surrounded by the most total, all-consuming blackness I’d ever experienced. Nothing for miles but inky, still darkness. It was thick, tangible; I felt like I could reach out and touch it.

Kicking and waving my arms, I tried to move within the empty space. No luck. At least I knew we wouldn’t accidentally float apart from each other.

Wait, what was that? I squinted. Below our hooves, like the slow-crawling light of dawn, a surface began to materialize out of the surrounding darkness. So slow I could barely see it transitioning, but in a matter of minutes, it had become completely opaque. Solid. We were no longer floating in space—we were standing in the middle of a road. The pavement stretched out in two directions towards an unseen horizon.

No, I was wrong! There was a third road branching out from our position. How did I not see that before? No, a fourth! We were standing in the middle of a four-way intersection now. I turned around and around, a new road appearing each time I looked away and back. By now, countless paths had now sprouted from our intersection, overlapping one another and seeming to flicker in and out of existence at the edges of my vision. They all reached out towards that same black horizon in every direction, a complete 360-view of possibilities.

Before I could wrap my mind around our surroundings, a noise began that was unlike any I’d ever heard in my life. Sunburst covered his ears, and I mine. It didn’t help at all. The noise surrounded us, seemed to move through us. I felt it moving through my body, filling my thoughts until I could barely think anymore. It was an indescribable noise that sounded like nothing, yet…it was familiar. Yes, it was! I had heard this noise once before in my life…a memory surfaced in my mind which I had thought impossible to recall. The moment of my creation; my birth from this very same darkness, where this noise encompassed every facet of life, and the point when I was brought into the world, the point when the noise stopped—I had always known this sound, and yet I hadn’t.

It stopped as if it had never sounded in the first place. As soon as the noise had left us gasping in pain, grateful for the silence, I realized it had not been a noise, but a voice, and it had spoken these words:

You should not be here.

Shaken to my core, I looked to Sunburst; his eyes were wide, his face pale, his mouth a pencil-thin line. He looked on the edge of insanity, one step away from becoming a broken and screaming mass of flesh. I knew because I felt exactly the same. And if I started screaming, I knew I would never stop.

Reaching into the depths of my mind, I managed to string together what meager courage I had left to voice the thoughts currently pounding against my skull, “W-where…where are we?”

The noise started again, and it was all I could do to shut my mouth and eyes until it passed. I once again reached out for Sunburst’s hoof, and he thankfully grasped it, squeezing so tight I thought he would cut off my blood flow. When the noise stopped, I recalled what it had said.

You have tampered with forces far beyond your understanding. The very fabric of reality has been torn asunder by such mortal misgivings. For these crimes against the universe, Starlight Glimmer, you are to be—

The noise began again suddenly, only multiplied into a cacophony of horrible sound. Like a hellish chorus, it rose around us, reaching such a pitch that I felt I would go blind from the sheer pounding of it in my head. They stopped immediately, and their words swam to the surface in my mind: some kind of argument.

This is the one! I’m sure of it.

She has come, just like he said she would.

Watcher, you know what must be done.

Send her there, she is needed there…the Alpha timeline…

SILENCE!

Like a cannon going off, I felt the boom of the last voice like a shockwave through my body. I obeyed it rigidly, even though I hadn’t been speaking. Were they…talking about me??

Starlight Glimmer, it began again, it seems the Time to fulfill your destiny has come at last. Despite your blatant disregard for the laws of the universe, you are our only hope against its coming destruction.

Looking up, I finally made out the faintly glowing silhouette of a pony that looked to be as large as the moon. No, it wasn’t just a pony. It was an alicorn, adorned in a pillar of purple robes that flowed down, well beyond the ground we stood on. Its eyes glowed like giant white orbs.

I beseech thee, Starlight Glimmer, it said, splaying its hooves out to me. You must stop the spreading darkness threatening to consume the Multiverse, or else we are all of us doomed.

The infinite paths spreading out from our intersection began swirling up and down the paved road like a chainsaw, no longer a radial spreading outward from a single point but a conveyor belt of paths. One path stopped directly in front of us, and an invisible force tugged us down it. Picking up speed, we were once again racing down the road, which transformed into the tunnel of swirling lights and colors from before. The inky black returned to images racing past, images of green mushroom clouds, darkened and cloudy skies, and ponies screaming as the flesh is ripped from their charred skeletons. The wind rushing past served to carry my screams away from my ears as I clenched my eyes shut from the nightmarish images surrounding us.

Suddenly the wind in my hair ceased, as did its noise. The silence enveloped us, deafeningly quiet. I peeked out from behind my hooves, which were covering my face.

Sunburst and I were standing on the Cutie Map again, only Twilight’s castle was nowhere in sight. Instead, we were treated to a perfect view of Ponyville, stretched out before us.

It was in ruins.

The buildings that weren’t toppled over had gaping holes in the walls, missing roofs, and blown-out windows. Wagons lay in the streets, hastily emptied or pushed over. If there were any stars out tonight, I couldn’t see them; the sky was dull and dark, overcast by shifting clouds.

“Wh-what happened…?” Sunburst trembled, standing up and taking in the view. “What…what did you do, Starlight!?”

“I didn’t do this!” I screamed, struggling to stay calm. I knew the last thing we needed right now was to panic, but reason doesn’t really trump situations like this, does it? “How could I possibly have caused this? It was a time travel spell!”

“Did we change something in the past?” Sunburst cried out. “I-it posits that if something in the past were altered, logically it would result in a different future, right? What did we change?”

“Nothing,” I said weakly. “We didn’t go to the past. I sent us to the future.”

Sunburst stood gobsmacked for a moment. “The future…why, why why WHY did you want to go to the future?”

“I…I wanted to see the ending, okay? People say hindsight is twenty/twenty, right? I wanted to see my future and know what choices to make; is that so wrong?”

“Wrong?” Sunburst laughed. He was trembling. “Starlight, I could write an essay, a fucking THESIS about how wrong everything you just said is. I mean, first of all—”

“Wait,” I whispered.

“—The past is one thing; I mean, it’s already there, isn’t it? But the future, ohh boy now that’s a whole mess of probability—”

“Sunburst, wait—”

“—Maybe one could predict it all to a certain point if one calculated—”

“FUCKING WAIT ONE GODDESSES DAMNED MINUTE, SUNBURST!”

Sunburst clammed up, eyes wide at my outburst. “Did…did you just…cuss?”

I nodded. “You just did it a minute ago. That’s what I was trying to tell you. We can swear here.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Sunburst whispered, “Shit.” He covered his mouth in shock. “I’ve…never even considered the possibility of inappropriate language before. But somehow, it seems a whole catalog of vulgar words are appearing in my head.”

“I know, it’s like some sort of…censor has been removed,” I said, then eloquently followed it up with “Fuckity Fuck Fuck FUCK. How is that possible?”

“I’m not sure, but if it’s all the same to you, I think I’d prefer to avoid such language. It’s…coltish.”

“Says the stallion wearing a cape.”

“Hey, it’s a wizard’s cloak!” He said, blushing. I laughed, making him blush even brighter. He laughed too. All of the nervous, frightened tension leftover from our dissipating adrenaline loosened as we sat on the table, howling with laughter. No matter what happened from this point on, I knew only one thing: I was glad that I wasn’t alone.

Sunburst wiped a tear from his eye as we both settled down. “This doesn’t change anything, Starlight Glimmer,” he said sternly. “I’m still furious with you; what you did was reckless…selfish even! And now…” He waved his hooves around. “We’re stuck here. W-what if we can’t get back?”

Weakly, I argued, “Well we can just use the spell again, right?”

Sunburst opened his mouth to retort. Just then, a new voice came from the direction of town. “What the…”

Sunburst and I whipped our heads around, taking in the newcomer. Standing on the edge of town, about fifty yards away from us, was a small gray unicorn with brown hair and green eyes wearing...was that supposed to be armor? It was leather with spikes and bloodstains. Strapped on her right hoof, a device with dials and a large screen glowed softly, matching the shape of her cutie mark.

I hadn’t known it then, but this would be the first of many strange and confusing encounters that paved the pathway of the rest of my life: my first meeting with the mare who seemed to be right in the middle of it all, the center of this universe, at the beginning of her own journey.

She who would become the Hero of the Wasteland, the Lightbringer, the humble PipBuck technician of Stable Two, and occasional toaster repair-pony: LittlePip.

“Uhh,” she said. “Who the hell are you guys?”

Author's Note

Thanks to Kkat for writing Fallout: Equestria and inspiring hundreds of people like me to write their own tales within its world.

And thank you reader for joining me on this adventure. This is only the beginning...