Hold Your Horses: A My Little Pony Story

“Starswirl the Bearded?” Savoir questioned. “Like, the most famous and powerful pony wizard that ever lived? That Starswirl the Bearded?”

Prose nodded her head up and down. “That one,” she confirmed

Starswirl’s ears perked up as he began to hear snippets of Prose and Savoir’s conversation. He inquisitively turned his head in their direction.

“Who’s out there? Show yourself! Stygian, is that you?” he called out.

Prose looked at Savoir, hoping he’d know whether or not they should show themselves. He gave an unprepared shrug, and a worried look crossed his face. Prose peeked back out from behind the pillar, watching Starswirl stand up and walk closer to their location. Prose made the executive decision to reveal herself and Savoir. She stepped out into the daylight, exposing herself to the greatest pony wizard that ever lived.

Starswirl looked confusedly at this completely unfamiliar pony that stood in front of him, and even more confusedly at the second pony that followed her out of the darkness.

“Who are you ponies? Why are you here?” Starswirl interrogated.

Prose cleared her throat, nervous to speak to such a historical icon. “Well… to answer your first question, I’m Prose, and this is my friend Savoir Fare. And to answer your second question, I don’t… really know… why we’re here.”

Starswirl raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know why you're here?” His voice was deep, almost gravelly.

“Well, yes,” Prose reassured. “We kind of just landed here from… well, I don’t really know where from. This might sound a little out there, but we’re… from the future.”

Prose held her breath awaiting Starswirl’s response.

“You two… are from… the future…” Starswirl said each word with vague hints of cynicism.

Prose and Savoir looked at each other, then back to Starswirl.

“... Interesting,” Starswirl spoke. “Tell me more.”

Prose smiled, happy to explain their predicament.

“Well, it all ties back to this one unicorn named Effie…”

Prose spent a while educating Starswirl on their current situation, Savoir chiming in when he could. Starswirl absorbed all of this backstory with a critical lens, analyzing every aspect of Prose’s story. When Prose finally finished, she was practically out of breath.

“And then we arrived here, and met you,” she concluded.

Starswirl ran a hoof through his long, white beard, contemplating.

“So, this ‘Effie’ has been messing with the timeline for quite some time, correct?” he asked.

“It would appear that way, yes,” Prose replied.

“I’m shocked we’re still standing here now,” said Starswirl.

Savoir’s eyes narrowed with confusion and worry. “What do you mean?”

Starswirl looked off in the distance, piecing together the complexity of the problem at hand.

“Well, fiddling with the timeline that much and for that long can only result in the destruction of everything as we know it. Nopony can hold that much power over the universe and not face consequences at some point. I imagine the only reason the timeline hasn’t completely collapsed is due to some ingenious calculations and intensive damage control. The problem is, those calculations and damage control may be the reason Effie can’t seem to change the future. Every time she mends the timeline, every time she saves it from collapse, she must be setting her fated future back into place. It seems to me like a futile endeavor.”

“So it’s kind of like a kitchen,” Prose compared, winking at Savoir. “If you lose a cook, everything starts to fall apart. But she keeps replacing the cooks, so the kitchen never really changes.”

Starswirl stared at prose. “Um, sure,” he agreed.

Prose and Savoir stared at Starswirl, amazed by his wisdom. They felt lucky to have been sent back in time to somepony so useful.

“So, you make it sound like she’s basically a genius. If she’s so smart, how can she not see the flaws in the design of her plan?” Prose asked.

Starswirl stroked his beard once more.

“I imagine she is aware of it. All of it. Nopony that intelligent could overlook such an obvious mistake. My best guess is that there’s some motive, something we’re unaware of, pushing her to a place of desperation. The flaws in her plan make me think this unicorn is acting from a place of need, not a place of want. But, I think it’s only a matter of time before she starts abandoning her safety measures–before she lets the timeline begin to crumble. I would suggest you put a stop to her soon,” Starswirl monologued.

Prose winced at the suggestion. “We don’t exactly know… how to stop her. I mean, we don’t even know how to get out of the past. We’re stuck here.”

“Oh, I’m sure I could conjure a spell that could help you ponies,” Starswirl offered.

“Really? You could send us back?” Savoir exclaimed with hope.

Starswirl looked back at him pitifully.

“Judging from what you’ve told me, it sounds like your friends are most likely scattered across time as well. To reunite all six of you, and to send you all back to the same place… it would take quite an immense amount of magical energy. An amount of magical energy not even I possess. I’ve dipped my toes in the waters of time magic, but it’s a frontier I’ve not quite mastered yet. But, given the specifics of everything you’ve told me, I think the most I can do is compose a theorem, a hypothetical magic solution.”

Prose and Savoir looked down defeatedly. Of course, the ponies who were sent back to the wizard with the perfect spell were the ponies without magic. Prose almost succumbed to defeat, but a spark of an idea lit itself inside of her smarty pants brain.

“What if we sent the spell to the future?” Prose suggested, a smile of hope spreading across her face.

“I’m not sure what you’re suggesting,” Starswirl admitted.

“If there’s anypony who can figure out a clever magical solution to your spell problem, it’s my friends. At least one of Twilight, Chorus, or Sombra, our unicorns, have to have ended up ahead of us in time. If we leave the spell somewhere now, somewhere they’ll be looking for it, they’ll find it in the future. They can figure out how to find the amount of power needed to perform the spell!” Prose illuminated.

Savoir clapped his hooves together in admiration of Prose’s brilliant idea. Starswirl put a hoof to his chin, pondering the viability of Prose’s plan.

“You have a lot of faith in your friends, Prose,” he spoke. “Are you sure they can handle this task?

“Positive,” Prose confirmed.

Starswirl paused for another moment, considering her plan once again.

“How can you be certain at least one of your magic-using friends is in the future?” he asked.

“I can’t,” Prose admitted.

Savoir Fare chimed in. “We are currently in some ancient history, no offense.”

“None… taken?” Starswirl responded, confused.

“Savoir is right,” Prose affirmed. “Statistically speaking, if we’re this far in the past, it would make sense for at least one of our magic friends to be at least somewhat ahead of us on the timeline.”

“And if they aren’t?” Starswirl contested.

“Then we’ll figure something else out,” Prose concluded.

Starswirl looked between the two ponies in front of him.

“So, where would you leave the spell, then?” he solicited.

Prose smiled at Starswirl’s acceptance of her idea.

“I think I might actually know a perfect place,” she beamed.