Killing Time

Twilight stood and looked up at Carousel Boutique.

The other visits had gone well. Or, as well as could be expected. Perhaps better than she’d had any right to expect. Her glamour had held true, and she’d managed to keep herself under control well enough.

But she hesitated here. For the first time since setting out on this journey, she stopped and took stock of things, considered if it was safe to continue. If she was up for what came next.

She thought she was, so she continued.

The bell above the door jangled when she entered, and as she stepped forward and turned to take in the room, her gaze traveled over the dress forms and clothes hung neatly on racks and the central fitting platform.

Not quite home, but close.

She heard hoofsteps above her, delicate but firm. A brisk canter that reached the top of the staircase behind her and started coming down.

“Just a moment! I’ll be right there!”

Twilight smiled and turned to the staircase and when her eyes met Rarity’s her heart stopped.

She froze.

In a flash, a lone thought filled her mind, crystal clear:

I should never have come here.

She faltered.

But worse, her glamour, which had been humming along quietly, the spell matrix perfectly stable and steady, powered by her magical reserves with barely a conscious thought afforded to them, faltered too.

For a moment, just for a moment, the spell stuttered, and Rarity’s eyes widened in shock.

“What—what was that?” She took an involuntary step backward, staring at Twilight. “That—you—” She stopped, and stared.

Twilight found her voice, or at least the voice she was using today. “Hello!” she said. “I’m just passing through town and I heard you were the best fashion designer in the area—”

“Who are you?” Rarity said. Twilight blinked, and summoned up a placating smile. Rarity would never interrupt a potential customer. Not a good sign.

“My name is Wheatgerm,” Twilight said. “I’m—”

“No,” Rarity said. “Who are you?”

“As I said, my name is Wheatgerm. I’m—” But Rarity refused to let her get out her carefully constructed cover story.

“Perhaps I misspoke,” Rarity said crisply. “I will try again. What are you?”

“I—what?” Twilight floundered.

“What,” Rarity enunciated clearly, “are you. I saw that. Do not insult my intelligence or observational skills. When you entered my boutique you were a beige earth pony with brown eyes and brown mane, and then for a moment you were not. You were—” She blinked, and frowned, and shook her head. “You were something else. And then you were as you appear now once more.”

“Rarity, I—”

“You presume to call me by name?” Rarity drew herself up. “I have not given you my name, and you would do well to remember that, you fey creature. Why are you here? What are you doing?”

Twilight stared back at her in utter panic and said nothing.

Rarity nodded. “If you do not explain yourself,” she said calmly, “I shall scream. I can assure you that it will be heard as far as the town hall, and the amount of attention that you receive next will be most unwelcome.” She raised her chin. “So, I say again: who are you and what are you doing here?”

Twilight swallowed. Her mind rang hollow. She had made so many contingency plans, so many decision trees for this journey. All of them worthless, none of them relevant here.

“Okay. Please just—please just let me explain.”

Rarity lit her horn. “By all means. I am eager to hear it.”

Twilight nodded and licked her lips. Her mouth was dry as a Saddle Arabian desert. “I mean no harm to you or anypony else. I came here to—observe. I am a visitor to this time from what you… would consider the future.”

Rarity stared at her. “Excuse me?”

“I have traveled back in time to your era to—to see certain ponies and places. I disguised myself so as to not cause any ponies in the local timeframe alarm.” Twilight was sweating. Maybe she didn’t have to reveal everything. Maybe Rarity would see reason. Maybe she could—

Rarity barked a hard, sharp laugh, keeping her eyes locked on Twilight and her horn alight. “That is absolutely ridiculous. I do not—forgive me—believe a single word you have said. I have given you a chance, never let it be said I am not generous, and you have wasted it. I am going to scream now, and you are—”

“Wait!” Twilight said. “Wait,” she pleaded. Rarity paused. “I can… I can prove it to you.”

“You have five seconds,” Rarity said crisply.

“I’m going to remove my cloak,” Twilight said. She didn’t want the movement to spook a hex out of her challenger.

“Three seconds,” Rarity replied.

Twilight shrugged off her cloak, letting it puddle around her hooves. She concentrated, and as she unwove the glamour spell and her body resumed its natural shape and size in a blaze of light, she kneeled on the floor.

Rarity blinked. Her hornlight went out. “Twilight?”

Twilight looked at her, their eyes still level. “Yes.”

Rarity half laughed, a confused sound, and some of the tension drained out of her frame. “Darling, why did you—what a strange thing to do. Are Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie trying to teach you how to pull pranks? Because I must tell you, this one needed some work.”

“No,” Twilight said. “It’s not a prank. I told you I’m from the future, and I can prove it, and you don’t need to scream.”

“Twilight, really,” Rarity said, “what are you—”

Twilight stood up to her full height, her eyes never leaving Rarity’s face. Rarity blanched and stared up at her, and she looked down at the unicorn.

“Twi— Twilight,” Rarity whispered. “What are… what are you… are you…?”

Twilight spread her wings, and Rarity’s eyes rolled back in her head and she fainted dead away.

Twilight sat at the foot of Rarity’s bed. The memory of the last time she had been in this room intruded, and she pushed it away. She looked down at Rarity’s sleeping form.

After Rarity had passed out from shock, Twilight had locked the front door and flipped the sign in the window from “open” to “closed.” She had carefully carried Rarity upstairs and put her to bed, then done a quick pass of the boutique to ensure they were alone. No other pony was there. Opalescence was lounging on one of the upstairs windowsills, and she eyed Twilight briefly before going back to sleep.

Twilight had returned to the bedroom, and sat at the foot of Rarity’s bed, and thought. Motionless, for hours, as Rarity’s chest rose and fell and Twilight considered her situation.

It was hardly ideal, but all things considered it could be worse. She was confident she could convince Rarity to keep the events of the afternoon a secret. She’d had many long years of experience persuading Rarity to see things her way, and felt sure that preventing the destruction of the space-time continuum would form a compelling foundation for her arguments.

There was no reason that Rarity should ever learn anything more that might threaten anything.

Rarity stirred. Twilight’s focus snapped to her. She stretched, and in the process made an intensely cute squeaking noise; Twilight gritted her teeth and vowed to ignore it.

Her eyes opened, and she blinked slowly a few times, and her head turned and she looked up at Twilight.

Twilight forced a smile onto her face as she looked down.

“Twilight,” Rarity said.

“Rarity,” Twilight said.

After a moment, Rarity said, “You’re very tall.”

“I am,” Twilight allowed.

“That wasn’t a dream I had,” Rarity said.

“It wasn’t,” Twilight agreed.

“You are an alicorn,” Rarity said.

Twilight wordlessly spread her wings again. Rarity regarded them expressionlessly for a moment, and then Twilight folded them away.

“And you really are… Twilight,” Rarity said, with a touch of wonder in her voice.

“I really am,” Twilight said.

Rarity pushed herself up. “I need a drink.”

They sat in Rarity’s kitchen while she brewed tea. Rarity perched on a chair, and summoned up a floor cushion for Twilight.

She stared at Twilight long enough to make her uncomfortable. “What?”

“It really is you,” Rarity said, the wonder completely suffusing her voice. “I can tell. You really are Twilight Sparkle.” She blinked. “But… she’s still here too?”

“Yes,” Twilight said. “I’m from the future. The unicorn you know is in the library right now. I actually spoke with her earlier, before I came to see you.”

“You what?” Rarity sat upright, shocked. “You spoke to—yourself? She didn’t recognize you?”

“None of our friends did.”

“You visited everyone?”

“Well, just the Elements. It wasn’t meant to be a world tour or anything.”

Rarity considered this, and the kettle’s whistle gave her more time to collect her thoughts.

As she busied herself at the counter, Twilight watched. The brief scene of domesticity tugged at her heart, and she managed to tamp down the longing in her expression as Rarity turned around, levitating two teacups with their saucers.

“Still one lump?”

“Yes, thank you.”

They sipped.

Rarity set her teacup down. “I really don’t even know where to begin. This is so… strange. You’ve time traveled, like something out of a story! You’re an alicorn, like the princesses! Are you a princess?”

Twilight grimaced. “I’m not sure I should answer that.”

“Excuse me?”

“Rarity…” Twilight gave her a beseeching look. “Nopony should know too much about their own future. I’ve already horribly contaminated the timeline by revealing myself to you—by screwing this up. It’s bad enough that you know I’m here at all, and that at some point in the future I become an alicorn. I don’t want to make things even worse by giving you even more information about the future.”

“Well!” Rarity harrumphed and sat back in her chair, crossing her forelegs. “I never. My good friend Twilight Sparkle comes back from the future and then refuses to tell me anything about it. What am I supposed to do about this, hmm?”

Twilight grimaced. “Never tell anyone and take it to your grave?”

Rarity gave her a sharp look. “My grave, you say.”

Uh oh.

“Twilight, dear, exactly how old are you?”

Oh. Twilight weighed the question. Rarity already knew she was an alicorn, and was no fool. Alicorns had long lifespans. Surely putting a number on it wouldn’t really tell her anything she didn’t already know?

“I’m six hundred and thirty-seven.”

Rarity’s eyebrows went up. “Goodness. Really? I suppose, why not.”

“Six hundred and thirty-eight next month.”

“But your birthday isn’t until—oh. Yes. Of course. Well. In that case—you’ve attended my funeral?”

Oh. Back to that. Twilight had hoped she’d dodged this. She again considered the question. Rarity already knew she was mortal, so confirming she died sometime in the next few centuries again shouldn’t really constitute protected information. “Yes, I did. But not—well, yes. I attended your funeral.”

“It was fabulous, I trust?”

Twilight gave her a wry grin. “I think you’d be content with it.”

“Mmm. You know, I’ve always thought it was a shame I would never get to see it.”

“I know.”

Rarity narrowed her eyes at Twilight. “Yes, I suppose you would know, wouldn’t you. And the others?”

“I buried all our friends, yes.”

“And you came back to see us all again even though it’s been over five hundred years for you since we all passed away.”

“I—” Twilight swallowed. “Yes.”

Rarity gave her a piercing look. “I’ve never heard of anypony traveling through time like this. Not in real life. Is this some classified spell? Are ponies secretly traveling through time all the, well, time?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, not to my knowledge. I mean, there are classified time-travel spells, but they’re not well known and can only jump you back for about a minute. I wanted a proper visit.”

“I am supposed to believe that you invented a new class of time-travel spell for the purposes of this visit?”

“Well, I… Not from scratch. I built on those other ones…”

“Alone?”

“I mean… yes…”

“Twilight, darling, dearest. Are you… were we…” Rarity’s eyes filled with pity. “Did you go to all this trouble because…”

“Because you were my first, best friends and I’ve never met anypony since who could fill your shoes,” Twilight said bitterly. “The ‘Princess of Friendship’ and I don’t have any friends anymore.”

Rarity’s lips quirked. “So you are a princess, then?”

Twilight stared at her for a moment before bursting to her feet and shouting, “Oh, horseapples!” She began pacing back and forth, up and down the kitchen. “This all really was a mistake! What in Equestria was I thinking? This didn’t fix anything, it just made things worse! I really had to risk the safety of the entire space-time continuum just to see the only real friends I’ve ever made again? How patheti—”

“Twilight, Twilight!” Rarity had jumped up too but seemed reluctant to try to physically intercede. Twilight froze in place and stared at her. “I solemnly swear that I will never reveal any of this ever happened to anypony. Not even you, later. I will take this secret to my grave, I swear to you on our friendship.”

Twilight stood there, panting, slightly wild-eyed.

“These events all seem to be a surprise to you, yes? Which means I never told you they happened, yes? So you know I am a mare of my word.”

Twilight squinted as her breathing slowed. “I’m not sure that’s how time works.”

Rarity laughed. “Says the mare who risked killing time itself just to see us again.”

“I wouldn’t necessarily put it like that,” Twilight grumbled. “But you’re not necessarily wrong, either. I can’t believe I convinced myself this was a good idea.”

“Perhaps not your best idea, no, but we’re still here, and I promise you it will be okay.”

“Yes.” Twilight sighed and nodded. “Of course. I do trust you, Rarity.”

“Then try to relax a bit, will you? At least your secret’s out with me. No need for the cloak and dagger like with the others.”

Twilight considered this. “That’s… true. That’s something. I still have to be careful about what I say about the future, but at least I don’t have to worry about giving away who I am.”

“Indeed. Quite lucky for you that I saw through your disguise,” Rarity said with a smugness Twilight remembered fondly.

“You only saw through my disguise because my spell dropped out. Anyone would have seen through it. Literally!”

“Yes, and why was that? You managed to go the whole day seeing all our other friends. I suppose it was wearing out, running for too long?” Rarity mused.

“I suppose,” Twilight lied. “At any rate, as you say, at least I don’t have to keep it up any longer.”

Rarity beamed and returned to her chair at the kitchen table, Twilight following and standing across from her.

They each took a sip of their cooling tea, Rarity keeping hers floating before her, Twilight setting hers back down.

“Well,” Twilight said. “I think this has been sufficiently humiliating. Thank you for the tea, and for agreeing to protect the sanctity of the space-time continuum by never telling anyone else for the rest of your life about the time you had tea with me.” She smiled tightly. “I should be going.”

“Oh!” Rarity looked surprised, and stood back up herself. “Really? We’ve barely spoken! Wouldn’t you like to stay even just a bit longer?”

“I’ve already been in this time much longer than I planned. Than I ever should have been. I think I’ve done enough damage.” Twilight walked to the door and retrieved her satchel and cloak, stuffing the cloak back inside and fastening the satchel about herself. She turned back to Rarity to say her final goodbye.

Rarity was watching her from the kitchen with a hesitant look.

“What?” said Twilight.

“I was just wondering…” Rarity bit her lip. “What if you risked a bit more damage?”

Twilight blinked. “What?”

“Forgive my forwardness, but you seem very… lonely. As you say, you are the Princess of Friendship, but you have no friends in your time?” Twilight’s face flushed with shame. “I was thinking that you might… well, we’ve already been friends once. Would you like to be again?”

“I—what?” Twilight’s mouth was suddenly dry. She couldn’t possibly mean…

“I am already keeping the secret of this visit. I don’t see much difference in keeping the secret of one visit or… or many. Would you like to visit again? Would you like to be my friend?”

“Rarity, that would be… profoundly weird for you. Being friends with two of me at once? Never being able to reveal a friendship to anyone else? I can’t ask that of you.”

“It would be profoundly weird, yes,” Rarity agreed. “But you are not asking it of me—I am offering it. I have enjoyed being friends with Twilight Sparkle the unicorn. I believe I would also enjoy being friends with Princess Twilight Sparkle the alicorn, if you’ll have me.”

“I… I don’t… that’s…” Twilight swallowed and drew herself up to her full height. “I can’t, I’m sorry. Goodbye. Thank you.”

Before Rarity could say a word, Twilight lit her horn and split the fabric of the universe and was gone.

Six hundred and fourteen years later, she collapsed sobbing on the floor of her chambers.