Starlight Glimmer stared at the purple alicorn before her, a sense of trepidation seizing her legs. “You cannot be serious.”

“...I am.” Twilight replied solemnly.

“Twilight Sparkle, you are not asking me to do that. I-I can’t!” Starlight pleaded. “I-I’m not qualified! I don’t have a license… W-what if I screwed you up..? I… I…”

Twilight held up a hoof for silence. “I’ve already made my decision on this, Starlight. It has to be you. You’re the only pony I trust with this.”

“You’re asking me to mess with your head, Twilight! I’ve never erased memories before… l-let alone from a Princess… what if you don’t remember asking me to do it? What if I get charged with treason? I-isn’t my track record bad enough already?” Starlight pleaded.

“It will be fine…” Twilight said softly. “After we solve Skyset’s problem… I want you to erase my memories of discovering that magic in her. And never speak of it to me again.”

“I heard you the first time you said it.” Starlight said flatly. “And it still doesn’t sound any less insane…”

“Look at it like this… I was never supposed to know about it to begin with… and it might influence my decisions in the future knowing about it… it’s better that I don’t know. Ask Fluttershy to keep it to herself too.” Twilight pleaded. “Y-you don’t know how much knowing this is already hurting me, Starlight…”

Starlight Glimmer took a deep breath. “How could you possibly trust me of all ponies to do something like this? There are professionals…”

“I don’t want a professional. I want a friend.” Twilight said firmly. “If you really don’t want to… you don’t have to… but I would really, really appreciate it, if it were you.”

“That still doesn’t change the fact that I don’t have a license to practice that kind of magic and am likely legally barred from ever acquiring one.” Starlight countered.

“You don’t need a license. You have my royal decree.” Twilight said with conviction.

“Oh Celestia please no…” Starlight said with a face hoof. “I really, really hope I’m not going to regret this… w-what do you want erased exactly?”

“Just the knowledge that I had something to do with it. Nothing else.” Twilight said. “Leave everything else intact.”

Starlight swallowed hard. “A-and you’d be asking me to remember and take that secret to my grave…”

“...I understand it’s a big undertaking…” Twilight trailed off.

“Y-ya think?” Starlight questioned.

“I would know you did it. I would know you erased something and that I asked you to. Just not what it was you took… I’ll trust you to tell me if it’s ever needed. But before then it cannot affect my decisions going forward… a-and I don’t think I can live with the guilt. I barely slept at all last night…”

“I could tell, Princess At-My-Door-At-Three-AM.” Starlight sighed. “I’m going to get some coffee… we should get Skyset up before we start doing any serious research. She has a right to be present.”

“...thank you, Starlight…” Twilight said sheepishly.

“Don’t thank me.” Starlight said with a scowl. “Not yet… maybe not ever for what you’re asking me to do.”

“Come on… a spell like that should be foal’s play to you…” Twilight pointed out.

“And if it’s not and I break something I potentially screw up my friend and a princess of Equestria forever. No pressure. Haha.” Starlight said sarcastically.

“You’re not going to screw up.” Twilight said with an eye roll. Starlight was more capable than she gave herself credit for. “And for the record, you have no criminal record related to mind altering magic.”

“Only because you prevented me from having one.” Starlight countered.

“If it helps I do.” Twilight noted.

“You what?” Starlight asked, looking at Twilight as if she’d grown a second head.

“I once sent Ponyville into a craze with a Want It Need It Spell.” Twilight explained awkwardly.

“...That’s… low level black magic…” Starlight said with disbelief. “How… why would…”

“Maybe not every book I’ve read is meant for the general public.” Twilight said, ruffling her feathers. “There were some books I don’t think Princess Celestia realized I had access to… things that maybe shouldn’t have been in my library back in Canterlot. I’ve picked up a couple of spells I’m not technically supposed to know…”

“You of all ponies. I would’ve figured you would panic and turn the books in.” Starlight chuckled. Starlight was admittedly knowledgeable of a few spells she shouldn’t technically legally know. She supposed that was something they had in common… just how many other things did the two of them share?

Starlight and Twilight eventually made their way to the guest room Skyset was staying in and Twilight knocked. “Skyset? Are you awake?”

Skyset had been awake for a while. Sleep seemed to escape her. Despite their seemingly well intentions, she couldn’t help but think that one might backstab her while she slept. She wanted to sleep. She had tossed and turned all night. But it didn’t matter what she wanted, her fear kept her awake. Even now, they were knocking on her door, and if that didn’t tell her they were helping her, she didn’t know what would, but at the same time, her mind wasn’t willing to let her continue those kind of thoughts. Finally, with a groan, and bags under her eyes, she called out. “Yessss…”

“We were going to prepare breakfast and start researching… do you want to join us?” Twilight asked without opening the door.

“What else am I gonna do?” she droned, sliding herself off the bed and making her way to the door. She could care less how frazzled her mane might have looked.

As Skyset opened the door, Starlight winced. It looked like Skyset’s sleep had been about as restful as Twilight’s… that was to say, not at all. “Am I the only pony that got any sleep last night?” Starlight questioned with concern. Sure she’d been woken up prematurely by a guilt-ridden purple alicorn, but she’d at least gotten four hours in.

“Unless you define tossing and turning all night as sleep, then no.” Skyset deadpanned.

“Right… nothing a little caffeine can’t solve.” Starlight noted. “Or a lot of it… unless you’d rather sleep in, of course. That’s up to you.”

“I’m not gonna be able to sleep until my body forces me to.” Skyset said with a sigh.

“Well, in that case, how about pancakes?” Twilight asked warmly. She felt compelled to make Skyset’s time in this time period as pleasant as it could be. “Or do you have something else you might like?”

“Pancakes it is.” Skyset said tiredly. “Been a while.”

As the trio of ponies made their way through the hall, a panicked purple and green dragon rounded the corner and slammed into Twilight’s forelegs before falling back on his hindquarters. “Oogh… T-Twilight! We have a problem!”

Twilight stared at the panicked dragon and her ears folded back. “What do you mean ‘we have a problem’? Spike… what’s wrong..?”

“The… artifact… window… broken!” Spike gasped, out of breath from his run here.

That was all Twilight needed to hear. Her horn blazed and she vanished in a magenta flash.

“Window broken?” Starlight questioned.

“Uh huh… the… thing is g-”

“AAAAAAAAHhhh!” Twilight’s voice echoed through the halls.

“Would anything else like to go wrong today?” Starlight questioned the universe. “Something tells me I’m going to want to make it extra strong coffee…”

“Y-you’re kidding, right???” Skyset questioned, falling to her haunches. “That… maybe my only way to get home?!?”

“We’d better go check this out…” Starlight said, heading for where Twilight had placed the artifact Skyset had presented them with the night before. Twilight had explicitly placed it on a pedestal in a room with a couple of other artifacts she’d had on loan from Canterlot’s Museum of Arcane History for research purposes.

When the two ponies and dragon had arrived, Twilight sat staring at room that had been absolutely ransacked. Books laid strewn all over the floor, a nearby window shattered, allowing the morning sun to stream in, glinting off several of the shards. All three of the artifacts Twilight had been housing in the room, including the one Skyset had brought, were missing. “I don’t believe this…”

Starlight’s horn lit as she cast a series of spells to hunt for clues as to the perpetrator for the chaos before her. She walked along one of the walls, being careful to avoid any broken glass before she frowned. “Not a trace… whoever was here knew we’d be looking. They’ve covered their trail.”

“Not even a loose tail hair… anything?” Twilight demanded, doing her own set of searches. When she too came up empty hooved she nearly screamed. “Who would do this? Who would steal from this castle? From me of all ponies?”

“Twilight, I highly doubt anypony willing to steal from here of all places cares that it’s you.” Starlight deadpanned. “No matter how nice you are… although, the fact that you’re royalty makes this a particularly severe offense…”

“H-how will I get home now…?” Skyset almost demanded. The fact that it was possibly the only way terrified her to no end.

Twilight stared from the pedestals to the broken window. To Skyset, then back to the broken window. She needed this fixed and she needed it fixed yesterday. “Spike! Take a letter!”

“...I don’t have any paper on me, Twilight.” Spike said, dumbfounded. “I just got up.”

“Magnum Opus!” Twilight called.

A tiny metal pony poked its head from the alicorn’s mane. “Yes, Twilight? What might I do for you?”

“...Send a message to Team 77. I want them in Ponyville, immediately. Something urgent has come up, I’ll fill them in on the details when they arrive.” Twilight said flatly.

“Message sent, Princess.” The tiny metal pony said with a nod.

“You… didn’t hear my conversation from earlier with Starlight… did you?” Twilight asked suddenly.

“Negative, Princess. I’ve been hibernating until now, I was not recording anything.” the tiny pony replied.

“W-what is that thing?!?” Skyset demanded.

“Oh that’s just Magnum Opus.” Spike answered. “He’s Twilight’s PONET.”

“A… PO.. N… Uh… I don’t think I wanna know.” Skyset winced.

Starlight smirked. “Wouldn’t be the first pony to make that joke…” she muttered. “He’s a Personal Ornithoptic Navigator, Entertainer, and Telecommunicator. They’re like… little assistant robots.”

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, miss Skyset.” Magnum Opus greeted.

“It’s… like a bug… but a pony. What?” Skyset said, confused.

At this, the little robot took to the air and hovered, a faint ringing buzz, emanating from its wings. “Actually, we’re modeled primarily on breezies.”

“Bree... zies… I’ve heard of those!” Skyset cheered. “I’ve never seen one before though… uh… I’m getting off topic.”

There was a knock from the door at the entrance to the castle. The door had a special enchantment on it that allowed knocking to be heard from nearly anywhere in the castle. There were exceptions of course, but Twilight always wanted to know if there were visitors. “Why don’t you get it? I’ll clean up this mess.” Starlight suggested.

“No! Don’t touch any of it… not until somepony’s had time to investigate.” Twilight snapped. “This is a crime scene! Nothing must be disturbed.”

“I… right…” Starlight said with a sigh. She didn’t think anypony was going to find anything that she or Twilight hadn’t already, but she’d seen Twilight low on sleep and in a panic enough times since moving in with her that she knew the purple alicorn wasn’t to be argued with.

“Great.” Skyset sighed. “Just a wonderful day.”

Silver Dreams, an alicorn with a coat, black like the night sky, and a deep red mane stood at the entrance to the Castle of Friendship pondering just what Twilight’s message had been about. His cutie mark of a light blue crescent moon with a four pointed star at each tip stood out against the black fur of his flank. The same tone of blue could be seen in his eyes, as well as the spiral of his horn; the mark of a dream mage. “Called by Twilight specifically… I hope that doesn’t mean the world’s going to implode or something.”

“Knowing Twilight, she probably just misscheduled something.” Crimson Tail, a deep red pegasus pony, with black mane and tail, spoke next. “I was just working on something fun too, hadn’t done worked on any gadgets or anything in a while.” he almost said in a pout, as his own sky blue eyes looked at his own cutie mark, two gears, one larger than the other, the larger being closer to the rear than the smaller.

“I doubt Princess Twilight would call in an elite guard team over a little scheduling mistake.” Midnight Sonnet noted, reaching up to fix the metal band that held her ponytail in place. She was a bat pony with a gray-ish blue coat. Her mane and tail were an inky black, fading to white at the tip of each hair. A pair of red rimmed glasses sat on her nose in front of her slitted purple eyes, helping her both with the fact she was nearsighted, and thanks to their ability to darken in direct sunlight, the fact that she was a bat pony out during the day.

“I’m sure he was just joking.” said an ivory unicorn, Fire Dancer, his orange tipped brown mane falling over his face. His fiery orange eyes showed concern as he thought aloud.

“Yeah, but why us?” Silver questioned. “She could have any group of guards come for whatever it… is…” he trailed off as the door opened to reveal a very disheveled looking Twilight Sparkle. “Uh… are you okay?”

“Not really, no.” Twilight replied. “Please come in, I’ll explain everything.”

“You look like a mess.” Crimson said with a smile, entering.

“I appreciate your honesty.” Twilight replied sarcastically. She sighed. “I know, I’ve barely slept…”

Twilight proceeded to explain to the four guardsponies the situation involving Skyset and her artifact. She deliberately left out her potential future link to the loss of Skyset’s and other pony magic. She explained her plan to study the artifact in hopes of finding a way to get Skyset home, as well as what they’d woken up to that morning, showing the four the room in question.

“So we’re dealing with time travel stuff again…” Silver commented. He took a look around the room and frowned. “It looks like a drunk pegasus made a storm of the place.”

“You aren’t kidding.” Fire said, looking around. “Who would be bold enough to break into this place?”

Skyset just stared at the four others, bewildered. Two more horns, and three more sets of wings. One of them even had membraned wings, very similar to the ghost pony that helped her when she first arrived.

“Well to be fair, Twilight doesn’t exactly keep a contingent of guards about at all times.” Starlight pointed out. “Realistically it was only a matter of time before somepony thought they could cash in robbing vulnerable royalty.”

“Starlight…” Twilight groaned. “I am not stationing guards around my castle.”

“Twilight you’ve literally been robbed.” Starlight stated flatly. “Don’t you think maybe you should? Why don’tyou?”

“I just don’t feel comfortable with it, okay? I don’t want all the fuss…” Twilight sighed.

Skyset turned to look at Twilight for a moment. “You really aren’t like royalty at home. They have a posse everywhere they go.”

“I wasn’t always royalty.” Twilight said, looking to Skyset. “Until a few years ago I was just another pony…”

“Just another pony who was Princess Celestia’s personal student, defeated Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, and King Sombra.” Starlight pointed out.

“I had help with Nightmare Moon. I had help with Discord. Technically Cadance and Shining Armor got rid of Queen Chrysalis, and Spike dealt with Sombra.” Twilight corrected.

“...Wow, you really don’t like taking credit for anything, do you?” Starlight asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Call me humble.” Twilight said with an eye roll. “That’s not what this is about. What’s important right now is that artifact and wherever it’s been taken to. There’s the matter of the other two artifacts I had on loan from Canterlot’s museum, but I honestly couldn’t care less about them.”

“Okay, what? Since when would you not care about a priceless, irreplaceable artifact?” Midnight questioned.

“Since the other two don’t depend on getting Skyset home.” Twilight said flatly. “I’ll happily take the fallout for losing the museum’s artifacts… but I won’t see Skyset stranded in a time that is not her own cut off from everypony she knows and loves.”

Skyset was very torn, just as she seemingly had been the entire time. Now royalty would potentially get in trouble with other rulers of the nation… all in the name of making sure she was taken care of? None of it added up to her. It went against everything she’d ever been taught.

“We did a few magical checks, but it seems like whoever did this was pretty thorough when it came to scrubbing the evidence.” Starlight suggested. “I’d guess they have a horn at the very least, but that’s about all I could tell you. They left not a hoof chipping nor hair of their presence… they were clearly accounting for the fact that Twilight and I are pretty good when it comes to that sort of thing…”

“And here I was hoping they’d just be some dum dum.” Crimson sighed.

“They can’t all be that easy.” Fire responded.

While they were talking, the grayish blue bat pony had made her way over to a wall and seemingly started a conversation with it. She glanced to the window and then back to the wall before nodding.

Skyset seemed confused, continuing to stare at the scene before her. The pony talking to the window confused her the most. She wondered if the pony was a bit crazy, but clearly this Princess, who seemed to care a lot more than she could have expected, trusted them. Who was she to question it? Maybe it was a flesh-wing pony thing?

“Any idea when this might have happened? Any kind of time frame?” Crimson asked.

“Sometime between the hours of around ten last night and seven this morning.” Twilight replied before glancing to where Midnight had sat on her haunches. Twilight rubbed the side of her head for a moment as a vague wispy blur phased in and out of her vision. A spirit. She did her best to concentrate, but whatever it was refused to take on any sort of shape for her. “...a spirit… of course, I should’ve thought of that…”

“According to this lovely little garden bunny here…” Midnight said, patting the spectral rabbit the majority of the room likely couldn’t see. “Our perpetrator went north. They didn’t see much else… also they want you to garden more, Twilight.”

“Garden?” Twilight asked, tilting her head.

“Outside the castle, yes.” Midnight answered with a nod.

“What is she talking about? What bunny?” Skyset questioned, tilting her head.

“A nature spirit.” Midnight said with a smile. “They feel Twilight’s castle could use more plants is all. Thankfully that gets us a lead… thank you very much, you’ve been very helpful.”

“Nature spirit?” Skyset questioned.

“Midnight Sonnet is a spirit harmonist. She interacts with the natural spirits of the world and the spirits of the deceased in order to keep things running smoothly.” Twilight explained. “...can I trust you all to handle this from here? I unfortunately have a lot on my plate and I need to be here to take care of it…”

“I… think we can take it from here.” Fire said.

“Starlight, perhaps you should go with them…?” Twilight suggested, looking to the unicorn.

“Me? What can I do that they’d need me for?” Starlight questioned.

“...it could be a good opportunity to make friends… plus your magical expertise may prove useful.” Twilight pointed out.

“....whatever you say, Twilight.” Starlight sighed. Three in the morning was way too early for a start to a day like this. “I’ll go pack my saddlebags.” she said as she made her way out of the room.

“Is that… I mean… nevermind.” Crimson said, not liking taking a non-guard with them. But Twilight probably had her reasons.

Twilight seemed to get what Crimson was thinking and smiled. “You don’t need to worry about Starlight, she can hold her own…” she said reassuringly. “Trust me. I’ve tried.”

“She did smash that first Tezogar drone pretty bad…” Silver pointed out. He could still vividly recall that day as well as the crater the unicorn had left in the Everfree somewhere. “Twilight’s right, it’ll probably be fine.”

“That she did. We’ll be fine.” Fire said with a smile.

Author's Note

More explainy stuff because I'm not sure it is clear in this chapter, a couple of things.

Twilight calls upon "Team 77". Team 77 is just one of 100 elite guard teams that have been put together, referred to as "Independent Operations". They're comprised of guards who are or have proven to be exceptional, willing to risk everything. They have the leisure of taking on special requests, or focusing on harder to crack cases, as they desire, so long as they continue to work diligently. Teams 1 through 50 are Royal Guard, or rather, just guards that typically work under Princess Celestia's sun, though they are not limited to that. The same goes for teams 51 - 100, these are Lunar Guard, though they also are not limited to just working nights.

I feel like I should also address Alicorns in general. You might have seen one if you read through this chapter (one that isn't Twilight Sparkle). There are two types of Alicorn in this universe, the natural born Alicorns, and Ascended Alicorns. Twilight Sparkle, or Princess Cadence would be examples of Ascended Alicorns, whereas the other Alicorn that appeared is a natural-born Alicorn. Natural born Alicorns are no stronger than the average pony, however. They're just ponies like every other pony around. In fact, they might even have some disadvantages. One example of this would be Pegasus flight. An Alicorn can do this as well, of course, but the Alicorn has to expend more magic to fly than a Pegasus would, because they have the body weight of an Earth Pony, whereas Pegasi in this universe are a tad bit lighter naturally than other pony types to aid in their flight.

And the last thing, there was mention of "Tezogar". Tezogar were an interdimensional species that wanted to claim all universes for resources. They basically acted as a hive, with one big central brain having them go out and destroy worlds and plow them for everything they had to offer. They were incredibly formidable, and usually just facing one had to have a group of individuals take it out.

I think that's everything, but please feel free to ask questions! I'll try to clarify anything I might have missed if it needs it.