Shadow of Twilight

Chapters

The Twilight Hour
Defying Fate
Blazing Saddles
Don't Be Such a Square
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
Day Trip
Trust
Meant to Be
A Sign of Her Passage
Research
Progress
Sparks
Based Off a True Experience
Time Travel Heals All Wounds
Crashing Down
Taking the Fall
Reunion
The Experiment
The Killer
Twists
One Trick(y) Pony
Epilogue
Alternate Ending 1
Alternate Ending 2

The Twilight Hour

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes slowly opened as she stirred, feeling very dizzy at the moment. She groaned and shook her head, trying to make the dizzy feeling go away as she pressed her front hooves against the ground to push herself up. As she stood up, she looked around and realized that she had no idea where she was. “What in Equestria…?” she muttered as she looked around.

She was standing on a wooden stage that appeared to be square-shaped. Beyond it, all she could see was blackness. Scattered around her on the floor was the large head of a pony statue, a broken stone column, a set of shelves that were taller than she was with an equally tall umbrella leaning against it, some strange-looking books, and an enormous grandfather clock. Looking around a little more, she noticed a pair of doors that appeared to have vines growing on the stone frame around it and a large window that was seemingly being held up by nothing. Looking out the window, she could see Celestia’s sun curtained by a cloud covering. It appeared to be setting, so she guessed it was early evening. Close to twilight, to be exact.

“What’s going on…? What happened…?” she wondered to herself as she continued looking around. Forcing herself to stand still for a minute, she took a deep breath and thought to herself, “Okay, just calm down. How did I end up here, wherever here is? Let’s see… Today was the third day of our visit to Canterlot. My friends, parents, and I stopped at a café for breakfast.” She raised a hoof to her head and rubbed it, remembering that she was hit by something and thinking about it made her feel the slight pain again. She then continued, “Then we decided to split up for a little while before going to visit Mr. Brum like we planned. I was just about to meet up with my friends when…”

She froze in mid-thought as she remembered what happened next. She whirled her head around to look at her back. “It doesn’t look like I was stabbed… But I could swear…” She then slowly looked forward as realization began to set in. “Am I… dead?” she asked.

An unfamiliar voice that sounded like it belonged to a male answered her, “Bingo.”

At the sound of the voice, she whirled around and asked, “W-who’s there?!” Her eyes scanned everything she could see, but there didn’t appear to be anyone else besides her in this strange location.

“How does it feel to be dead, Twilight Sparkle…?” the owner of the voice asked.

Twilight began to grow anxious; the way the voice sounded like it was right beside her yet it seemed to echo at the same time made it impossible to discern where its owner was or what he was implying. “That’s enough, who is this? Is this a joke to you?” she demanded.

The voice gave what sounded like a dry chuckle before replying, “Not at all. I beg your pardon if I’ve offended you, Miss Sparkle. It’s just that you are strongly fated today. You see, you are destined to die…”

Twilight’s eyes went wide; even though she had figured out that she was dead, hearing that was an utter shock to her. “What?” she asked.

The voice spoke again, “But if you have the will to somehow reverse that fate yourself, I can lend you some measure of strength to help… How about it? Will you deal with me?”

Twilight thought about it for a moment before replying, “Thanks, but… I don’t know…”

The voice inquired, “Why? Can’t you trust me?”

Twilight answered, “That’s the thing. This seems a lot like the games Discord played on me and my friends. We played along thinking he was telling the truth, but it was all trick for his own amusement.”

The voice asked, “Discord? Oh please… You would compare me to that overgrown child? Well, if I did have something in mind, it’s that you survive and remain with your friends. Who knows? Discord could be breaking free of his stone prison right now because the bearer of the Element of Magic is dead. You are the crux of the Elements of Harmony, after all; Princess Celestia would surely need to find a replacement for you if he does get free. Does that sound like something you or anypony you know would want?”

Twilight sighed; whoever she was talking to was quite persuasive. “Can I have a minute to think about all this?” she asked, bowing her head.

The voice answered, “Of course, of course. Go ahead. But don’t think about it too hard. I don’t much like to be left hanging.” When Twilight offered no response, he pressed, “Well? What reason is there to procrastinate? You either die here and now, or you try to prevent it. It’s that simple. What have you got to lose?”

Twilight, while sitting on her haunches with her back pressed against the statue head, looked up and said, “…All right. I’m sorry about accusing you of being a trickster like Discord. I… I don’t want to leave my friends. Or die. Can you help me, please?”

The voice answered, “Of course I can my little pony.” She stood up at that and trotted a few steps away from the statue head. The voice continued, “However, I want you to be aware of something: you have to understand that the destiny that awaits you is a potent one. Which means just because you managed to avoid death once doesn’t mean you’re free of the threat. Unless you tear out its very root, destiny can’t be cheated.”

Twilight thought about this before saying, “So coming back to life isn’t the hard part, huh. Wow… Well, I guess that makes sense, in a way.”

The voice replied, “You’re right, but that’s also where your own strengths come into play. Are you ready? I’m going to give you some of my time-shifting powers.” Twilight tensed up at that, wondering what was going to happen.

Suddenly, there was a loud clatter behind her and she turned to see something lying on the floor in front of the grandfather clock. “I’m going to give you this Z-pad. Please, use it well,” the voice said.

Twilight walked over to the device and picked it up with her right hoof. It was small, not being much bigger than her hoof, and it was a reflective silver-blue color. Except for its reflective surface, it didn’t seem like the kind of thing somepony would think of when thinking of a time machine. “This will allow me to travel through time?” she asked as she looked it over.

The voice answered, “Exactly. But it’s not as though you can use it anywhere or anytime you want. This will respond to some phenomena that have some relevance to you as its user. As soon as it begins to respond, it’s usable and you can use it with your magic. The energy contained within the Z-pad will react to your magic and send you to the specified destination time. Did you get all that?”

Twilight levitated the device out of her hoof and looked up, saying, “I think so. I can only travel to time periods that are relevant to me and only after it starts to respond, is that what you’re saying?”

The voice answered, “Yes, exactly. You can’t solve the real problem by just using it when you’re about to die. It’s better to make use of it to remove the underlying cause of your death. Oh, and one more thing.”

Twilight asked, “There’s something else?”

The voice replied, “Yes, and it’s very important. If you begin to receive a response in the time period you’ve traveled out to, please come back immediately. Other ponies and objects can be just left in another time and stay intact, but that doesn’t apply to you as the user. If it starts to respond, you need to come back quickly or you won’t be able to get back at all. Just be careful of that. It looks like time is something even more serious than I know. Good luck… Twilight…” As he said those last words, the doors behind Twilight gave a metallic clang as they swung open.

Twilight stared at the doors for a moment before making her way around the statue head, the Z-pad floating right beside her, surrounded by her magic’s bright magenta glow. When she reached the doors, she looked between them, seeing more blackness beyond them. Remembering the words of her friends, she took a step forward, ready to make a leap of faith. As soon as her hoof touched the blackness beyond the doors, it rushed her, causing her to lose consciousness…

________________________________________

Twilight groaned as she swam back to consciousness, feeling somepony’s hoof pressing against her shoulder and shaking her. She heard a male pony say, “Miss, please wake up. Are you all right?” Aside from the pony shaking her, she could also hear two upper-class ponies complaining about something and Rarity fuming at another pony. She felt another shake, “Miss?” Twilight let out another groan as she began to stir, pressing a hoof to her head as she felt a dull pain there. She sat up a bit, rubbing her hoof against her head as the pony shaking her backed off.

Twilight suddenly shot to her hooves, looking around frantically as she remembered what just happened. After a moment, she noticed the pony that had been shaking her: a slightly dark red unicorn stallion about her height and build with a light yellow mane and tail and dark blue eyes. His mane and tail appeared to be brushed, although there were a few points where the hairs appeared to be sticking out near the back, and his outfit told her he was a waiter. He also had a blank flank. He was looking back at her curiously; a quick sweep with her eyes revealed that her parents, friends, and some of the patrons at the outdoor café were doing the same. Looking back to the unicorn, she stuttered, “Oh, sorry. Yeah, I’m okay.”

The colt looked at her for a moment before bringing a hoof up to his mouth as he tried to muffle his laughter. He couldn’t help it; he thought the mare looked cute when she was flustered like that. Spike, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie did the same thing when they noticed that Twilight was blushing with embarrassment. The owner of the café, an older unicorn with a white coat and gray mane and a cutie mark that consisted of a red heart surrounding a restaurant, soon came over to their table and spoke sternly to the red earth pony, “Dante. That will do.”

The red unicorn stopped snickering and turned to the owner, muttering, “Okay.” Dante then followed the older unicorn as he headed back inside, looking back at Twilight over his shoulder before he took his place next to the door that led inside the café.

Back at the table, Twilight took her seat next to her mother and Applejack, noticing two familiar aristocrat ponies leaving the restaurant soaking wet. She also noticed Rarity coming back to the table after having a talk with Hayseed Turnip Truck. Twilight then noticed a cup of tea sitting on the table in front of her. Using her magic, she raised it up to her face and gave it a sniff. “Why do I feel like I just had a cup of tea here earlier?” she thought to herself before shrugging and drinking it, not wanting to seem rude. As she set the cup back down, she noticed Pinkie Pie grinning across the table at her. “What?” she asked.

Pinkie Pie continued to grin, “Oh nothing! You’re just such a silly filly, Twilight!” She giggled while the unicorn gave a half-hearted sigh at that.

A few minutes passed and everypony finished what was left of their breakfast. As they stood up, Twilight’s father looked over at the waiter from before and said, “I’ll just leave what we owe for the meal here, okay?” Dante gave him a nod, trying to act the way his boss expected him to act. Twilight’s father levitated the exact number of bits owed for the meal out of his saddlebags and left them on the table. He then led everypony out of the café after Twilight gathered up and put her saddlebags on, Spike hopping up on her back as she started walking.

As they walked down the street away from the café, Twilight’s mother turned to look at her daughter’s friends and asked, “So what do you girls say? Are you all ready to go to the art museum?”

Rarity spoke, “Oh yes, most certainly, Mrs. Sparkle. However, may I ask that we not head for the museum just yet? I have a little shopping I need to do today. It shouldn’t take long.”

Everypony came to a stop at that, Applejack asking, “Shopping? Ah thought ya did all yer shopping yesterday, before we went to see Hoity Toity’s fashion show.”

Rarity replied, “Yes, but yesterday was light shopping. This is the real shopping. I simply must get it done as soon as possible! I cannot go back to Ponyville without taking care of this!”

Twilight looked a little nervous at that; even though she had called it ‘light shopping’, she still returned to her castle suite holding up many shopping bags with her magic. Sure, she didn’t have the same bellpony that she had had before, even though she was staying in the same suite in the castle, but how much more shopping was she planning to do? “What are you going shopping for?” she asked the white unicorn.

“Oh, just for materials, darling. Fabric, feathers, ribbons, maybe a gem or two. The usual,” Rarity answered.

Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight could see Spike perk up at Rarity’s mention of gems. She turned back to her mother, who said, “Well, I suppose we can wait for you to take care of that then, dear. Just so long as we don’t lose track of the time; we promised Eckart we would come over today. Would you like us to help you with your shopping?”

Rarity waved a hoof, “That’s very nice of you to offer, but there’s no need. I’m sure I can find everything I’m looking for and get it back to my suite just fine.”

Twilight glanced back at Spike and suggested, “Well, maybe you could take Spike with you. He can probably give you a helping hoof, er, claw.”

Almost immediately afterwards, Spike exclaimed, “Really?! I can go?!”

Rarity said, “I suppose it would go a little faster if I had somepony with me. Are you sure it’s all right, Twilight?”

The lavender unicorn nodded, “Sure. I don’t mind.”

Rarity smiled, “Well, thank you then, Twilight. Come along, Spike.” Spike jumped off of Twilight’s back and ran over next to her, little hearts popping out of his head as he stood by her side.

Applejack chuckled under her breath, “Lil’ varmint…”

Twilight’s father spoke, “So, what should the rest of us do in the meantime?”

Pinkie Pie perked up, “Ooh! I know! Let’s go look around Canterlot a little! Maybe we can find something fun to do!”

Rainbow Dash replied, “Good idea, Pinkie Pie. Maybe we can brighten up the day for some of these ponies, Ponyville style! What do you guys think?”

Fluttershy murmured, “Oh, um, I like the idea of looking around, but I don’t know about having fun like that… I don’t want to accidentally anger somepony…”

Applejack came up beside the yellow pegasus pony and placed a hoof on her back, saying, “Ah, don’t worry ‘bout it none, Fluttershy. If ya want ta look around, you can stick with me. Ah’ll make sure nothin’ happens to ya, especially after that whole rodeo thing.” Fluttershy smiled at the orange earth pony at that.

Twilight’s mother turned to her daughter and asked, “What do you want to do, Twilight?”

Twilight replied, “I was hoping I could go with you and dad, mom. Is that okay?”

Her father smiled, “Of course it is, honey.” He then turned to her friends and said, “Since we all want to do something different, let’s meet up in the Canterlot square in about half an hour. Does that sound okay?” Spike and the girls nodded in agreement and everyone went in different directions, Twilight going with her parents, Spike skipping after Rarity, Rainbow Dash flying alongside the bouncing Pinkie Pie, and Applejack staying close to Fluttershy.

As she walked with her parents, Twilight’s thoughts turned to what just happened to her, or what she thought happened to her anyway. “First the tea, now this splitting up… Why does all this feel like déjà vu? It feels like I’ve experienced all this already. And that… place I was in. Did I just dream that? I must have. I had to be shaken awake after all. I must’ve just dreamed the whole thing. Yeah, that’s probably what it was.”

As if challenging her thoughts, she suddenly felt something shift in her right saddlebag. Obviously, she was carrying a few things in both of her saddlebags: a Sweet Apple Acres apple, an emergency quill and inkpot, a few blank scrolls, a postcard with a view of Canterlot, but this didn’t feel like something she had packed. Glancing down at her saddlebag as she came to a stop, she used her magic to lift the flap and to feel around for the object. When she felt her magic grip it, she lifted it up and her eyes widened. It was the Z-pad! She was so shocked that her magic let go of it, causing it to fall back into her saddlebag before anypony else could see it.

Twilight’s parents stopped when they noticed she had stopped in the middle of the road. “Twilight, is everything okay?” her mother ventured.

Twilight looked up at her parents and walked up to them, saying, “Uh, I’m not sure. It’s just… Maybe I… I don’t know…” She knew she didn’t have anything with her that looked remotely like the Z-pad she had been given. That had to mean she had in fact been killed and, now that she had the device, she had been sent back to a point in time prior to her death. Of course, how was she supposed to explain that to anypony and expect them to believe her? Even her parents and friends would probably think she was crazy and say as much, or worse…

Twilight’s father spoke, snapping her out of her thoughts, “Dear, if something’s troubling you, you know you can talk about it with us, even if you aren’t comfortable talking about it with your friends. We’ll understand and do anything to help you, because you’re our precious little star.”

Twilight smiled and blushed softly, “Dad… you’re embarrassing me.” She then said, “I think I need to clear my head for a bit. Is it okay if I go for a walk?”

Twilight’s mother nodded, “Of course, Twilight. If we don’t see you before then, remember that we’re meeting up in the square in half an hour. And be sure to come and find us if anything comes up, and I mean anything.”

Twilight nodded, “Okay, mom.” She then took a right turn at the next street while her parents went the other way, both of them glancing back at her for a moment and worrying about what could be bothering her.

As she walked, Twilight stopped paying attention to the road as she got lost in her thoughts. “Is this really something I should bring up with my parents? Forget whether they’d believe me or not. Talking about how you died, asked a mysterious voice for help, received the power to travel through time, and are now alive because of it probably isn’t what my parents were thinking of when they said to talk to them.” She audibly sighed to herself. “I’ve gotten better at keeping secrets when I’m asked to keep them, but I don’t think I can keep this all to myself. But who can I talk to about something like this anyway?”

She came to a stop as she looked up and realized she was just about to walk into a building. Taking another look at the building in question, she noticed a sign hanging next to the door. “Hm…? ‘Fortunes told’? I didn’t know there was a place like this in Canterlot.” Taking a quick look around, she realized she had wandered into one of the city’s back alleys. “Of course, I usually never went into the alleys when I lived here,” she admitted to herself. It seemed like she was the only pony in the alley.

Taking another look at the building, she mused to herself, “I’ve never really thought much about fortunetellers. I don’t know; even with everything that’s happened in Ponyville, it just seems so unusual to me.” She then sighed, “But then again, what just happened to me isn’t exactly normal, no matter how I look at it. I guess I could give it a try. It would be nice to talk to somepony about this. Just have to remember to keep an open mind…” She walked up to the door and raised a hoof, pushing against it. It opened and, after a moment, she stepped inside.

Defying Fate

The thick scent of incense and the feel of a plush carpet underneath her hooves greeted Twilight as she stepped into the fortuneteller’s residence and closed the door behind her. Ever the curious pony, she looked around. Candles lined all the walls, either sitting on little pedestals attached to the walls, stands, or on top of small tables or cabinets. There were also shelves that contained a variety of books, though Twilight couldn’t make out any titles from where she was standing. The walls themselves were lined with designs, depicting foreign objects and tales of countless events that occurred in the past. Despite the obvious differences, she couldn’t help but be reminded of Zecora’s home.

She tore her gaze away from the walls and looked towards the other end of the room. Sitting on a cushion behind a simple wooden table underneath a tent was a pony she presumed was the fortuneteller. The pony in question’s body was completely covered: a black shawl covered most of the pony’s body from view, red hosiery stretched up the legs, and a red hood and a black veil completely covered the pony’s head, save for a few strands of its yellow mane that were sticking out from underneath the hood. “Welcome. I’ve been expecting you,” the fortuneteller spoke in a mysterious, female voice.

A gasp caught in Twilight’s throat at that, but then she regained her composure and said, “Actually, I just happened to come across your home and I was wondering if you could tell me my fortune. Am… Am I going to die soon?”

As Twilight walked towards her, the fortuneteller answered, “For you, I will do it for free.”

Twilight asked, “Really? Thank you so much. Please, don’t just give me the usual niceties. This is a very serious matter for me.”

The fortuneteller responded, “Do not worry.”

Twilight approached the table and sat down on her haunches on the cushion opposite the fortuneteller. She started, “So, uh, how does…?”

The fortuneteller cut her off, “The fated hour is 9:30.”

Any irritation Twilight might have had at being interrupted was crushed by the fortuneteller’s words. “What?!” she almost screamed.

The fortuneteller spoke calmly, “Whatever I foresee, you can change. If you take no action, the fate I see will befall you for certain. But I seem to see in you the strength to defy fate itself.”

Twilight asked, “The power to defy fate? Me?”

The fortuneteller continued, “If, for instance, and this is only an example, your fate is to be stabbed while taking a walk after you leave this place… And this would happen if you were far away from other ponies at the fated hour. But if you know what awaits you, you would find other ponies to be with so that you would not be by yourself, unprotected.”

Twilight thought to herself, “That’s exactly what happened. I trailed behind my parents while we were walking around and I lost sight of them for a moment. And then I got stabbed in the back.” She asked, “And if I were to be around other ponies like you said?”

The fortuneteller replied, “If you are among others at the fated hour, the assassin must give up his quarry. And fate would have been defied. But a single change will affect all else that follows it. How it changes, no one can tell… there are too many threads, too many tangles… I cannot help you with what lies so far ahead, and your actions could bring even greater danger…” At Twilight’s worried look, the fortuneteller added, “But if fate can be changed, you should fight as hard as you can. If you can return here, even after the appointed hour has passed, then I will tell you the next fortune.”

Twilight slowly nodded, “…all right. I think I can trust your words.”

The fortune teller said, “Then I suggest you hurry. The hour approaches.” Twilight nodded and stood up, giving a quick bow before turning and walking towards the door.

Twilight stepped outside onto the stone pavement, using her magic to close the door. As she stood outside, she began to voice her thoughts to herself, “The best way to avoid being stabbed again would be to be around other ponies at 9:30… That’s what the fortuneteller suggested. I know my parents and friends will be meeting in the Canterlot square at that time, so that would be a good place to be. But I was attacked before I even saw the square last time… Maybe if I could get some other ponies to be there in case nopony else is there at that exact time?”

A small pulsing sound from Twilight’s saddlebags caught her attention and she turned to look at her right saddlebag. Opening it, she used her magic to levitate everything inside of it out. She quickly found the source: the Z-pad was responding! Dropping everything else back into her bag, she brought the machine closer to her face and examined it.

As she did, it suddenly displayed new information to her: time, date, and, near the top, two squares, one dark blue and one black. The black square seemed to be for the time she was currently in and the dark blue was for another point in time she could travel out to, in this case half an hour ago. “If I go to the past, maybe I can gather a group of ponies…” she mused. Nodding to herself, she pressed her horn up against the Z-pad and whispered, “Take me to that point in time.” A green light briefly flashed between her horn and the machine and, seconds later, she was lifted up off the ground and surrounded by a green bubble. As she floated in place, a white light enveloped her and she vanished.

________________________________________

Twilight reappeared between two buildings a fair distance away from the fortuneteller’s house, landing awkwardly on her rump due to the sudden release from her time travel bubble. Climbing to her hooves after making sure she hadn’t twisted or broken anything, she walked out from between the buildings and found herself in the Canterlot square. Looking up in the general direction of Celestia’s sun, she confirmed that it was in roughly the same position it had been in half an hour ago.

“Okay, so clearly the Z-pad does allow me to travel through time. That’s good. But now that I’m here, what should I do?” Taking a quick look around, she saw that the only other ponies in the square were two other mares, one a pink unicorn and another that she could only guess as to what kind of pony she was since she was wearing a coat and hat. She began to walk away from the square, saying, “I need to gather some other ponies here to make sure I’ve got others to be with, but how? How can I convince any of Canterlot’s elite, as… cultured as they are, to come and hang out in the square?”

As she was trotting down the street, she suddenly heard two refined voices talking. She immediately knew that they were part of the upper class, but what caught her interest was what they were talking about. “Really? In the square?” asked a mare.

Twilight moved closer to the source of the voices and stayed hidden behind the side of a nearby building as the other pony, a stallion, answered, “Yes, yes. I’ve never seen one before, but there are apparently street performers in the square at times.”

The mare said, “How interesting! How come you’ve never seen them before?”

The stallion replied, “I simply have no time to indulge in such mundane pleasures. I’m trying to remain on Fancypants’ good side, you know.”

Twilight stopped listening to the conversation as it drifted off to the unicorn in question (although Twilight genuinely did think he was a real prince among the upper class after meeting him at her birthday party) and various events such as gallery openings and fancy parties. What she had heard had given her an idea. Perhaps she could find some ponies and get them to come to the square to watch a street performance. “If there’s going to be one there today, that is. I think as long as ponies don’t make too much noise, they don’t need a permit. I guess I’m going to have to hope that there’s a performer in the square today; I’m not sure I want to go see Princess Celestia about this, especially since she knows what we’re doing today,” she muttered. She then trotted away in the direction she had come from, leaving the two ponies to talk in peace.

Twilight spent the next twenty minutes walking through the streets of Canterlot, talking to any pony that would lend her an ear and asking if they could come to the square at 9:30. Most of them just brushed her off or didn’t listen to what she had to say, but she managed to convince a burgundy unicorn with a brown mane and tail, who claimed she didn’t have anything else to do, a dark green unicorn with a light red mane and tail, who was looking for her daughter, and the daughter of that unicorn, who was gray and had a red mane and tail, to come to the square.

She had just finished speaking with the daughter in question and was about to make a right turn at the corner, but when she glanced down the street, she let out a gasp and quickly ducked back behind the side of the building. With her front hooves pressed against the wall of the building, she slowly peeked out from behind the side of the building. As she took in the sight before her, she thought, “I don’t believe it! It… That… That’s me!”

Indeed it was her. Twilight realized she was back at the café where she had had breakfast with her friends and family. And sitting there at the table between her mother and Applejack was her past self! Just as she remembered, the Twilight of the past was eating grass pancakes, finishing up on the last one.

Although nopony had seen her, time traveling Twilight could hear the conversation going on at the table from where she was. “I simply CANNOT thank you enough for inviting us all to breakfast, Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle. But are you really sure you want to pay for this meal?” Rarity asked.

Twilight’s father answered, “Of course we’re sure, Ms. Rarity. After all, you are my daughter’s friends, the ones we’ve heard so much about.”

Rainbow Dash, who was sitting between Applejack and Pinkie Pie, was quick to speak up, “Ha, of course you’ve heard about us! Twilight couldn’t get a better circle of friends if she tried! Of course she’s going to talk about us!” Both past and time traveling Twilight rolled their eyes; although they both knew that the rainbow maned pegasus spoke the truth, she still had to tell it in her own boisterous way.

Twilight’s mother spoke up, “Er, yes, of course, Rainbow Dash. And since you all happened to find time to come and visit Canterlot together, it’s the least we could do.”

Fluttershy, who was sitting with Pinkie Pie on her right and Rarity on her left, said, “That’s very kind of you, Mrs. Sparkle.”

Twilight’s mother replied, “It’s really okay, Fluttershy. We’ve always wanted the best for Twilight; that’s why we were so pleased when she passed the entrance exam to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Of course, that means we also wanted her to have friends she could turn to.”

Twilight’s father looked to his right and ran a hoof over Spike’s head as he added, “In addition to Spike, of course.”

Twilight’s mother continued, “She never really got close to any of the other students at school, but maybe it’s better that way. After all, that’s how she met all of you.”

Past Twilight smiled, “And of course, I’m glad I did.” Her friends smiled back at her at that.

A familiar voice suddenly said, “Oh look, dear, it’s Rarity and her friends.”

The white unicorn turned to see Jet Set and Upper Crust standing on the street a short distance from the group’s table. “Well, hello darling. Come up from Ponyville for a visit to Canterlot?” Upper Crust asked.

Rarity replied, “Oh yes, most definitely. I simply couldn’t miss a chance like this to pay another visit to Canterlot. After all…”

She was cut off by a familiar voice calling down to her, “Hey, Rarity!” Everypony turned their attention up towards the pony who called to the white unicorn. Unsurprisingly, for Rarity at least, it was Hayseed Turnip Truck. He was once again cleaning windows, but now he was standing on a window cleaner’s lift, a pair of buckets next to his back legs. He moved to a corner of the lift and called again, “I didn’t know you were here! How are you doing?”

Rarity replied, a bit embarrassed, “Oh, um, good, I suppose. How are you?”

Hayseed answered, “Good! I’m doing good!”

Applejack called up, “Hey pardner? Ya might want to move back a little. Ah don’t like the way that thing’s leaning.”

Hayseed said, “No, don’t worry about it. It’s all good.” As if on cue, one of the ropes holding the lift up snapped and Hayseed fell off of it, hitting the ground. At the same time, one of the buckets slid down and tipped over at the edge of the lift, the water falling on Jet Set and Upper Crust while the bucket fell harmlessly on the ground below.

Time traveling Twilight was carefully watching the events unfold from her hiding place. “I should be able to see it from here. Any second now…” she thought to herself.

Suddenly, as Twilight expected, Pinkie Pie felt her Pinkie Sense go off. “Ooh! Twitchy tail!” she exclaimed.

Past Twilight had been looking at Hayseed Turnip Truck at the time, as were most of her friends, and didn’t hear what Pinkie Pie had said. She turned to the pink earth pony and asked, “What?” Immediately afterwards, the other bucket fell off the lift and hit her on the head, causing her to wobble for a second before collapsing on her front on the ground.

Time traveling Twilight winced when the bucket hit her past self and quickly ducked back behind the side of the café. She didn’t need to look to know what was happening at that moment: Jet Set and Upper Crust were gripping about getting soaked, Rarity started talking to Hayseed Turnip Truck, and Dante moved from his position by the door in Twilight’s direction to check on her. “Okay, I think the ponies I’ve convinced will be enough in case my friends haven’t arrived at the square yet. And I know what knocked me out. I should probably go before somepony starts asking if I’m my own twin,” she thought to herself. With that thought in mind, she quickly ducked into a nearby alleyway and summoned the Z-pad from her saddlebag. “Take me back to my proper time,” she whispered as she pressed it against her horn. A green flash appeared, she was lifted off the ground, and a green bubble surrounded her before a white light enveloped her.

________________________________________

Twilight reappeared between the two buildings she had appeared between when she traveled to the past, though now she was in her own time, just a few minutes until 9:30. She made a much more composed landing, managing to land hooves down, and walked out into the Canterlot square. As she did, she noticed, just past the tree in the center of the square, a pony covered by a white sheet and wearing a mask sitting on its haunches doing a juggling act. And standing in front of the pony were the same ponies she had convinced to come to the square.

As she started walking over to watch, she heard her father call, “Twilight! There you are!” The lavender unicorn turned to see her parents at the edge of the square and trotted over to them.

“We were starting to worry about you. Where did you go?” Mrs. Sparkle asked.

“Sorry, mom. After I got done clearing my head, I had something I needed to take care of. I’m just glad I made it to the square on time,” Twilight replied. She then looked over towards the other side of the square and said, “Hey, look at that. I didn’t know there was going to be a street performer here today.”

Twilight’s father looked over and said, “Huh, you’re right. I heard from somepony that the street performer wasn’t going to show up today. Whoever that is must’ve heard the news and volunteered to take the regular performer’s place.”

Twilight asked, “Can we go over and watch while we wait for my friends?”

Twilight’s mother smiled, “Of course, dear.” All three of them trotted over, joining the group of ponies watching the juggling act.

Soon afterwards, Twilight’s friends started to show up. Applejack and Fluttershy were the first ponies to arrive, both of them standing between Twilight and her parents. “Hey, now that there’s a pony with no worries,” Applejack commented. Twilight and Fluttershy nodded in agreement.

Not long afterwards, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Spike showed up as well. “Huh, that pony’s pretty handy with her hooves,” Spike noted.

“Oh yes, she certainly is talented,” Fluttershy nodded.

“Talented? I could do that no problem, Fluttershy. Heck, you or even Twilight could probably do it,” Rainbow said.

As everypony continued talking and watching, the shadow of another pony began to move towards Twilight from behind. The pony in question came to a stop before it got too close, however, and seemed to consider the ponies around the lavender unicorn. After a moment, the pony turned and started walking away before anypony could see it.

It wasn’t Pinkie Sense, but Twilight’s experience with a knife to her backside seemed to have made her feel more aware of what was behind her. She quickly turned her head to glance back over her shoulder, something in her head screaming at her to watch out, but there was no one there. “There was somepony back there! But it looks like the crowd scared him off,” she thought to herself. As she turned to look back at the juggler, who was secretly watching her, she thought, “That fortuneteller… She told me to come back. I should go talk to her again.”

Blazing Saddles

In a flash of purple magic, Twilight Sparkle appeared in front of the fortuneteller’s house. A minute ago, she had excused herself from her family and friends, saying she needed to go see a pony in Canterlot before they could go to the art museum. She left out the fact that she was going to see the fortuneteller, sure that her friends would either wonder why she believed in fortunetelling or want to come with, or worse get her to tell them what was wrong. They bought her not entirely false excuse and she left the square, coming to a stop as she realized she didn’t know how to get back to the fortuneteller’s place on hoof. But she could visualize the house in her mind, so she used her magic to teleport there.

Looking up at the fortuneteller’s house, she murmured to herself, “Did my fate change? Am I still in danger? Did anything happen…?” After a moment, she walked forward and used a hoof to push the door open, stepping inside.

As soon as the door closed behind her, the fortuneteller greeted her, “Welcome… Oh? You have been defying fate, haven’t you?”

Twilight approached the table and took a seat on the cushion in front of it before saying, “Yes. I’m really grateful for your advice earlier. It saved my life.”

The fortuneteller replied, “So I see. But you did not catch the one trying to kill you, did you?”

Twilight looked confused as she replied, “Well, no. But I changed my fate, didn’t I? That’s what you meant by ‘defying fate’, right?”

The fortuneteller answered her, “Yes and no, my little pony. I am beginning to see a new thread, but I can also see that you are still in danger. 10:00 is now the fated hour…”

Twilight asked, “What? You mean I still haven’t gotten to the root of the problem? I’m… still going to die?”

The fortuneteller replied, “Listen carefully. What I tell you is nothing more than one possible future. The shape of your destiny can change depending on what actions you take. If you can return here, even after the appointed hour has passed, then I will tell for you the next fortune.”

Twilight nodded, “Okay. I understand.” She stood up, gave a quick bow, and left the fortuneteller’s house. Rather than teleport herself back to the square, she decided to make her way back to the streets on hoof so that she would know where the house was located for future reference. As she made her way through the alleys, she began to hear the sound of ponies screaming and picked up her pace. She soon found her way back onto the streets of Canterlot. The first thing she noticed was that she wasn’t far from the Canterlot square. The second thing she noticed was all the ponies on the street.

Twilight’s eyes moved left and right as she looked at all the ponies in front of her. They were all screaming and panicking about something. A few were running to her left, but most of them were running to her right. “What’s going on?” she wondered absently.

Suddenly she heard Spike call over the screams, “Twilight! Over here!” The lavender unicorn turned to her right and saw the baby dragon making his way towards her while trying to avoid being stepped on. Narrowing her eyes, she focused on him as her horn lit up. Seconds later, a magenta aura surrounded Spike and lifted him off the ground, causing him to panic for a moment before he realized it was Twilight using her magic. She pulled him over to her and ducked back into the alleyway before setting him down. “Thanks,” he breathed.

Twilight immediately got down to business, “Spike, what’s happening? Why is everypony panicking like this?”

Spike replied, “I don’t know! I was just leaving the square with the others when that stampede suddenly came barreling down the street! I got separated from the others, but I heard Applejack say that she and the others were going to go check it out, so I started looking for you!”

Twilight nodded, “Okay, let’s go meet up with them then. Climb on!” She bent her knees, allowing Spike to grab onto her side and climb up onto her back. She then moved towards the entrance to the alley and, upon seeing that the charging herd of ponies had lightened up somewhat, ran out, going left. After a minute of running, she came to a ‘T’ junction and turned left. She and Spike quickly saw her friends and parents with a group of ponies down the street, as well as what everypony had been screaming about.

Near the end of the street, standing all on its own, was a large indoor restaurant, and it was on fire. The fire must’ve started recently, but it was already well on its way to devouring the building. Twilight ran over to her friends; Pinkie Pie heard her coming and turned her head to look, saying, “Twilight! You made it!”

Fluttershy looked over at the lavender mare as she came to a stop and said, “Oh Twilight, this is terrible. What are we going to do?”

Twilight looked up at the burning building. She might be able to put the fire out herself with one of her spells, but she hadn’t exactly studied and spells involving water or dirt. And from the look of this fire, that was what she was going to need. As they all continued to look up at the building, Rainbow Dash noticed a young unicorn stallion sitting on his haunches, a hoof covering his face while he cried. He had a green-blue coat and a yellow mane and tail, both of which were about short-medium length. From where she was, she couldn’t see his cutie mark. She flew over to him and asked, “What’s wrong?”

The stallion looked up as the others came over, Twilight noticing he had light blue eyes during the half second she saw them. “My grandpa’s still in there! Please, somepony help him! Please!” the pony pleaded. Everypony took another look up at the building at that; was there really a pony somewhere inside that inferno?

Applejack looked around as she said, “Dang it, doesn’t Canterlot have a fire department? What the hay is taking them so long ta get here?!”

Rarity spoke up, “Well, we can’t just stand here! This poor stallion’s grandfather is in trouble! We have to help him!”

Applejack turned to her and said, “I know, but we can’t just go charging in there! Look at those flames! Sure they’re bad now, but what if they get worse?! We could all get trapped in there and suffocate before the fire fighters arrive!”

Pinkie Pie chimed in, “Ooh! What if we had some water of our own! That way if we went in, we could put out the fire as we went!”

Twilight said, “I like that idea, Pinkie, but I think we’re going to have do something a little different.” She looked up at Rainbow Dash and asked, “Rainbow, do you think you could go to Cloudsdale and fetch some storm clouds to drop some rain on that fire?”

Rainbow saluted, “I’m on it!” She then turned to Fluttershy and said, “Fluttershy, come with me! You can grab some clouds too!” Despite her apprehensions, the shy pegasus nodded and extended her wings, flapping them and flying after Rainbow Dash as the rainbow maned pegasus flew out of Canterlot and towards their old home.

Applejack turned to Twilight and asked, “Why Cloudsdale, Twilight? It’s a lot further away than Ponyville is!”

Twilight turned to her and said, “I know, Applejack, but Rainbow Dash said the weather team didn’t have any storms planned while we were here, remember? Cloudsdale is probably our best bet!”

Applejack looked down and murmured, “Oh yeah, she did mention that.” She then looked back up at Twilight and said, “Even so, I’m not waiting for them to get back! If we’re gonna help his grandfather, we need ta do it now!”

Pinkie Pie immediately began to make steps towards the burning building, saying, “Come on, sillies! Let’s hurry!”

Twilight’s father stepped in front of her and said, “Absolutely not! The heat of the fire’s too great. It’s too dangerous to go in there!”

Rarity spoke, “Perhaps, but I daresay that we’re rather used to this sort of thing.”

Applejack nodded, “We sure are! Besides, if things start looking bad, Twilight oughta be able to get us all out no sweat!”

Twilight’s mother looked at her and asked, “Twilight, are you really planning to go in there too?” Her daughter’s only response was a no-nonsense nod.

Spike asked, “Can I come too?”

Twilight turned her head to look at him and sternly said, “No, you’re staying with my parents, Spike. And don’t try to argue with me.” She then leaned to the side, forcing Spike to get off of her back.

Applejack spoke, “Come on, y'all!” After saying that, she, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity ran past Twilight’s father towards the doors of the restaurant.

Twilight walked up to the doors and gave them a push. They moved a bit, but didn’t open all the way. When she took her hoof off the door, they moved back into the closed position. “They’re not stuck, but I think there’s something keeping them closed,” she said. She turned to Applejack and asked, “Care to do the honors, Applejack?”

The orange earth pony replied, “With pleasure, Sugarcube.” She trotted up to the doors, turned around, and then bucked her back legs as hard as she could. She hit the doors so hard that they flew off their hinges, landing noisily on the floor inside. Applejack shrugged and ran inside, Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie following her in.

Twilight’s mother whispered, “Please be careful, Twilight.” Her husband sidled next to her and placed the crook of his neck on hers, nuzzling her softly.

Spike, on the other hand, was less worried about the girls’ safety at the moment. “Oh sure, they can go charging into a burning building, but the dragon that can breathe fire can’t. Isn’t that always how it is?” he grumbled, turning to look at the stallion as he said the last sentence. But his agitated face quickly became one of confusion as he started looking around quickly. “Hey, where’d he go?” he asked.

Inside the restaurant, the four ponies looked around the interior from where they were standing. The tables, chairs, booths, the nearby counter, and parts of the floor were all on fire. As they looked around, though, they realized that it seemed they were the only ones in the restaurant. “Hey, what gives?! Where’s that feller’s grandpa?!” Applejack asked.

“Maybe we’re not seeing the whole restaurant. Can anypony see some stairs or anything?” Twilight asked.

“I do, I do! There are some stairs going up over there and some more going down right there!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. She pointed with a hoof as she spoke, first towards the stairs going up that were nestled into a corner of the wall and then towards a more noticeable set of stairs going down that had a railing next to them.

“Good eye, Pinkie Pie. He must be either up or down,” Twilight said.

Applejack nodded, “Makes sense ta me.” She then coughed into her hoof before continuing, “Let’s get done in here quickly. Ah can’t stand all this smoke.”

Twilight replied, “Right. Applejack, you should check upstairs with Pinkie Pie. That way, if you get stuck up there and Rarity and I can’t reach you, you two should be able to jump out of one of the windows.”

Rarity asked, “And I suppose we’re tackling the downstairs because we can use our magic in case we get trapped?”

Twilight nodded, “That’s what I was thinking, yes.”

Applejack said, “Well, let’s go then!” She and Pinkie Pie immediately headed for the stairs in the corner, being careful not to touch any of the flames as they went. Twilight and Rarity, meanwhile, did the same as they made their way over to the stairs leading to the underground section of the restaurant.

When they got to the bottom of the stairs, they looked around in confusion. “What is this?! It appears there’s nopony here!” Rarity exclaimed.

Twilight noticed the bar across from them and ran behind it, checking. She soon called to Rarity, “You’re right, there’s nopony down here except us!”

Suddenly, a fixture on the ceiling came loose and fell, breaking when it landed on a burning table. “Oh my *cough*, the fire is starting to get worse! Let’s go make sure Applejack and Pinkie Pie are all right!” Rarity said, turning and starting to head back up the stairs.

Twilight came out from behind the bar and moved towards the stairs, saying, “I’m right behind you, Rarity!” Just as she was about to set her hoof on the bottom step, a chunk of the ceiling suddenly came loose! Twilight quickly retracted her hoof and leapt back, the chunk of the ceiling landing rather noisily on the steps. For a second, she could’ve sworn she saw a green aura surrounding the rubble as it came down.

Rarity immediately turned around at the sound and ran back down, yelling, “Twilight?! Twilight, speak to me!”

She was relieved to hear the lavender unicorn respond, “I’m fine, Rarity! I just need to move this out of the way.”

Rarity called back, “Don’t worry, darling. I’ll do it for you.” Her horn lit up blue as she began to focus on the rubble. However, as she focused her magic on it, a green aura surrounded it, repelling her magic. “What is this?! What’s going on here?!” she exclaimed.

Twilight examined the rubble with her own magic before calling back, “It’s being protected by a ward, Rarity! But it’s okay, I can remove it!”

Rarity called to Twilight, “All the same, I’m going to get Pinkie Pie and Applejack! Just sit tight, darling!” She then turned and ran up the stairs to the ground level.

Twilight focused her magic on the ward surrounding the rubble, working to do undo the runes that made up the spell for several moments before the green aura around the rubble vanished. She smiled, “Got it! Now…” She stopped as she realized her mistake. What she hadn’t noticed when she was bringing the ward down was that it had a failsafe worked into it. As soon as the aura around the rubble disappeared, a blanket of smoke suddenly came rushing from it, engulfing her. Twilight began to cough uncontrollably, pressing a hoof to her mouth and nose to try to keep the smoke out. “Just… need to lift it up… Get out of… no…” She coughed several more times before her legs gave out, falling forward and collapsing on her side.

As she began to black out, Rarity returned with Applejack and Pinkie Pie. This time when Rarity used her magic on the rubble she was able to lift it up and moved it up to the ground floor. Pinkie Pie darted in front of her as soon as it was out of the way and looked down. “TWILIGHT!” she screamed, seeing the mare lying on the floor. She ran down the stairs to Twilight’s side, Rarity and Applejack following her. They quickly picked her up and began to hurry up the stairs towards the exit, towards fresh air. But they were already too late…

________________________________________

When Twilight opened her eyes next, she found herself back in the strange location she had woken up in the first time she died. She pushed herself off the ground and onto her haunches, realizing what this meant. “Oh…” she audibly groaned.

Her ears perked up as she heard the mysterious voice speak, “It is difficult after all, isn’t it? To change one’s very destiny…” Twilight looked around for the owner of the voice, but she didn’t get long to look before all went dark around her.

________________________________________

“All the same, I’m going to get Pinkie Pie and Applejack! Just sit tight, darling!” Twilight heard Rarity call to her. She blinked; she realized she had been warped back to the moment shortly before she died. Once again, she was in the underground part of the restaurant, the fire burning uncontrollably around her.

She looked at the rubble on the stairs and thought to herself, “If I break the ward on that, the smoke is going to come rushing at me again. I could try teleporting, but what if this fire was caused by the killer? He might have prepared for that as well.” As she considered her options, she noticed a glow coming from her right saddlebag and levitated the Z-pad out of it. “Oh no! This isn’t a good time for this!” she said. As she thought about it, though, she realized that using it could probably save not only herself, but also her friends and that stallion’s grandfather.

She brought the Z-pad close to her face and examined it. It seemed to be saying that she could now travel back to 9:00. “The fire hadn’t started yet at that time. Maybe I’ll find something if I travel back to that time,” she murmured to herself. Letting out a small squeak as one of the flames came close to touching one of her hooves, she quickly pressed her horn against the Z-pad. She saw the green flash out of the corner of her eye and then she was lifted up off the ground, a time travel bubble surrounding her. A white light soon appeared, causing her to disappear.

________________________________________

Twilight reappeared on the street outside the restaurant, landing on her hooves after she was released from the green bubble. As she expected, the restaurant was not on fire when she looked up at it and, when she walked closer to the doors, she could hear the sounds of ponies talking inside. She was about to push the doors open, but stopped herself as she realized something, “Surely the pony responsible wouldn’t be inside with all those other ponies when the fire started. They'd need to be inconspicuous about it.” Nodding to herself, she decided to check outside before going inside and making a foal of herself.

As she began to walk past the doors, something suddenly tickled her nose hairs. It smelled like smoke! Moving around to the side of the building, she poked her head out around the corner and looked. At the other side of the building, she saw a cigar butt wrapped up in an old newspaper fall to the ground behind an empty rain barrel, having been held up by a green aura a second ago. She also saw a brief flash of a green-blue flank and yellow tail as a pony spotted her and ran away before she could get a good luck at him.

“Hey, stop!” Twilight yelled, galloping out from where she was standing and heading towards the other side of the restaurant. When she reached the other side, however, she saw no trace of the pony she had just seen. “Shoot!” she groaned before turning around and running over to the empty rain barrel, bringing her hoof down on the burning piece of newspaper. Thankfully, she had read a book on how to deal with small fires once, so she knew she could put this one out by smothering it. She lifted her hoof a second later, the paper no longer burning. She sighed as she looked up, “That should take care of it. But who was that pony responsible for the fire?”

She walked around to the front of the restaurant, hoping to maybe find some kind of clue that the pony might have dropped in their haste, but found nothing. Knowing it was pointless to keep searching with nothing to go on, she summoned the Z-pad from her saddlebag and set it to take her back to her proper time, hoping Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were okay.

________________________________________

Twilight could see the burning restaurant and the ponies gathered around it as she began to reappear in the present, but like an illusion, it faded away as she faded in. Once she was sure she was back all the way, she looked around and noticed she was standing on an empty street. Looking up at the restaurant, she saw that it was standing tall, filled with ponies looking to satisfy their stomachs.

While she was looking up, she suddenly heard Applejack call, “Twilight! There ya are!” The lavender unicorn turned to see the orange earth pony cantering over to her. Once they were standing in front of each other, Applejack asked, “What’cha doin’ over here? Did ya take care of yer errand or whatever it was?”

Twilight nodded a moment later, “Oh, uh, yeah! Sorry, I guess I got a little sidetracked on the way back. I was just looking at this restaurant.”

Applejack glanced up at the building and said, “Looks like a nice, cozy place. Not too fancy, the kinda place I like. Might be a little early to be thinking ‘bout lunch, though, don’t ya think?”

Twilight replied, “Yeah, I guess you’re right, Applejack.”

The orange pony placed a hoof on Twilight’s back and said, “Come on, let’s get back to the others.” Twilight nodded and allowed Applejack to take her hoof back, both of them walking back towards the square.

Twilight looked back over her shoulder at the restaurant one last time and thought to herself, “So, this is what it means to change the past.”

Don't Be Such a Square

The red unicorn known as Dante walked into the Canterlot square, his eyes scanning every pony he could see. Eventually, he saw who he was looking for: the lavender unicorn known as Twilight Sparkle and her group. They were near the far corner of the square, past the tree in the center, talking to a white unicorn stallion with a turquoise mane and a unicorn mare with a white coat and pink mane who was perching herself upon the former.

Even a pony like Dante knew that the unicorn stallion’s name was Fancypants. Despite not wanting to butt in on a conversation involving a pony of Fancypants’ standing, he had an errand to complete and somewhere else to go, so he resolved to spend as little time as necessary completing it. He trotted in the direction of the group, calling, “Excuse me!” Twilight’s parents were the first ones to turn and look, followed by their daughter and her friends. Even Fancypants and Fleur de Lis looked over as the red unicorn came closer. “Excuse me for interrupting. I just need a minute of your time,” he explained.

Twilight’s father looked at the red unicorn for a moment before he remembered him and asked, “You’re that waiter, Dante, right? What’s the matter? Didn’t I leave enough bits for the breakfast earlier?”

Dante shook his head, “Oh no, you definitely left enough, sir. No problems there.” He turned his head to look at the left pocket of his black vest, his horn glowing yellow as he pulled something out of it. It was a small red stone that seemed to glow under Celestia’s sun, the kind of stone Rarity would use to help fill in the gaps on her more fancy ensembles. “Here, one of you forgot this. It belongs to one of you, right?”

At the sight of the stone, Spike licked his lips and Rarity cooed, “Ooh, what a gorgeous gemstone!”

Dante said, “You think so? Well, I suppose it does look kind of like a jewel… It gives me a funny feeling to look at it, though.”

Twilight’s father spoke, “Well, uh, it’s not mine.” He looked over at his wife and asked, “Is it yours, honey?”

She shook her head, “No, I’ve never seen it before.” She looked at Twilight and asked, “How about you, dear?”

Twilight replied, “Uh, no.”

Without being asked, Applejack said, “Nope!”

Rainbow Dash added, “Don’t look at me.”

Pinkie Pie chimed, “Nuh-uh!”

Fluttershy squeaked, “Oh, um, no.”

Rarity sighed, “Such exquisite beauty…” She snapped back to reality when she realized everypony was looking at her, waiting for her answer. “Oh! I’m sorry, but as beautiful as it is, it doesn’t belong to me either.”

Dante looked confused, saying, “That’s odd. I already checked with all the other customers that came in today… Hm… Whose is it then?”

Spike spoke, “Ooh, I know! It’s such a delicious-looking gem, so you can just-” He was unable to finish his sentence due to Twilight using her magic to make a zipper appear on his mouth and zipping it up, the unicorn knowing what the baby dragon was going to say. Spike mumbled in annoyance before unzipping his mouth and crossing his arms, his chances of getting a free gem squashed.

Twilight’s mother asked, “Anyway, you came looking for us just to return that?”

Dante replied, “Yes, ma’am. My shift’s over anyway and I have a little free time. I thought maybe I’d look around, see if I could give it back.”

Fancypants commented, “I say, you really are a hard worker, old boy. Coming all this way to return a missing object, even if the pony you’re looking for isn’t the proper owner… quite commendable!”

Dante replied, “Uh, thank you, Fancypants, sir. That’s very kind of you.” As he returned the stone to his pocket, he muttered, “At least somepony notices that I’m working hard.” After returning the stone to his pocket, he felt something else in there and said, “Oh right, I almost forgot. What about this?” He levitated an old lighter out of his pocket, asking, “Did I strike out on this one too?”

Twilight’s father smiled, “No, that lighter’s mine. It’s an old memento from my colt days. Thank you.”

Dante sighed in relief and levitated the lighter over to Twilight’s father, who took it with his own magic. He then said, “You’re welcome, sir. I’m sorry for interrupting.”

Fancypants replied, “Oh, it’s no trouble at all, dear boy. In fact, it’s refreshing to see somepony like yourself work hard. Tell me where you work; I’ll be sure to let your employer know that Dante is a very dedicated pony.”

Dante stuttered, “Oh, t-that’s very kind of you, Fancypants, sir, but that’s not necessary.” He looked down as he said, “I don’t mind you praising me for working hard, but it’s not going to change anything.” Before Fancypants could protest, Dante turned and started walking away, his steps more subdued now.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, “Geez, he could’ve at least said goodbye.”

Applejack cast a concerned eye on the red unicorn, “Ah wonder what’s eatin’ him?”

Twilight nodded, “Yeah…” After a moment’s hesitation, she started after the red unicorn, calling, “Dante, wait!”

Fluttershy asked, “Should we go with her?”

Fancypants said, “I don’t think that will be necessary, my dear. If Ms. Sparkle feels she can talk to him, we should let her. Perhaps she can help him, and maybe they’ll discover something together.”

Pinkie Pie piped up, “Ooh! …Discover what?”

Rainbow Dash caught on and nudged Applejack, laughing, “An egghead like Twilight and him? Somehow I doubt that.” Applejack didn’t laugh, but she did smile at what Rainbow Dash was saying.

Fancypants said, “Er, yes. Now, where were we?”

Rarity immediately turned back to him and said, “Oh yes! I was just saying…”

On the other side of the tree in the center of the square, out of the view of her friends, Twilight caught up to Dante, saying, “Dante, wait a minute!”

The red unicorn came to a stop and looked back at her, asking, “What? What is it?”

Twilight asked, “Is something wrong? Are you upset because you couldn’t return that stone? If you’d like, I can take it and ask around for you.”

Dante closed his eyes and sighed, then open them and looked at Twilight, saying, “It’s not that. It’s just… I always get stuck running these kinds of errands. I don’t mind the work, but there’s always so much of it, and not just at the café either.”

Twilight asked, “What do you mean?”

Dante explained, “I only work part-time at that café; all the full-time positions have been filled up for months. And I have to pay for my house and all the essentials in it and all the groceries and stuff… So to compensate for not having a full-time job, I have other part-time jobs at some other places around Canterlot. In fact, I have another job in an hour that I have to go home and get changed for. And all those jobs pile a lot of work on me too, and nopony ever notices what I do. It’s not easy… But it at least gets me three squares a day and a roof over my head.”

Twilight looked at him, surprised. “You have to do all that work just to take care of your… necessities?” she asked. At Dante’s nod, she said, “That sounds really tough. Have you ever considered moving to a place like Ponyville?”

Dante sighed, “I have. More than once. But then I’d have to move out of my house and find a place to live wherever I went. And what if I couldn’t find any work?” He looked back at his flank as he said, “I’ve been a blank flank all my life. I have no idea what my special talent is. I assume it has something to do with working hard, but that doesn’t help much!”

Twilight said, “You know, I used to live here in Canterlot until Princess Celestia sent me to Ponyville and I decided to stay there.”

Dante looked back at her, surprised, and asked, “You know Princess Celestia?”

Twilight smiled sheepishly, “Well, I don’t like to brag, but I am her personal student. Oh, I never told you my name, did I?” When Dante shook his head, she said, “I’m Twilight Sparkle. Anyway, she made arrangements so I could stay in the Ponyville Library. And I do have a guest bed that’s only been used once or twice. If you did decide to move to Ponyville, I could let you stay there until you got settled in. I-if you wanted to, that is.”

Dante smiled, “That’s very kind of you, Twilight. You know, I was just thinking… That red stone I showed you? I think it would look good if it were made into a necklace. How about it? Would you want a necklace that displayed a red stone like that?”

Twilight stuttered, “W-well, I suppose. Why?”

Dante explained, “Well, I may not look it, but I’m pretty good with my hooves. I could make you a necklace no problem.”

Twilight asked, “Really?”

Dante answered, “Sure. How does tomorrow sound? I can make it for you tomorrow.”

Twilight replied, “Uh, I guess so. Yeah, that would be great! Should I meet you at the café?”

Dante nodded, “Yeah. I’m going to have a longer shift there tomorrow, but that’s okay.”

Twilight said, “Okay. Then I’ll make sure to stop by tomorrow.”

The two unicorns continued talking, both of them unaware that Twilight’s killer had decided to take advantage of this opportunity. Up in the branches of the tree in the center of the square, a pony wearing a black cloak spied on them, his focus on Twilight. While remaining perfectly still, the pony levitated a small blowpipe up to his mouth, a small dart sliding inside the tube. After confirming that Twilight wasn’t going to make a move, he put his lips around the pipe and blew into it.

Fancypants, Fleur de Lis, and Twilight’s friends and family all reared back in shock when they heard a sudden shout from the other side of the tree. Fluttershy was the first to react, turning and flying around to the other side of the tree while the other ponies were still processing what just happened. She raised her front hooves to her mouth at what she saw: Twilight was falling forward onto the ground, a dart noticeably buried in the back of her head. Dante, who had shouted, rushed to grab her and caught her in his forelegs, using his magic to pull the dart out of her head as he turned her over and lowered her to the ground. Twilight gave a few twitches, but then her body went still.

“Oh my goodness… TWILIGHT!” Fluttershy screamed in a way that anypony who knew her would say was uncharacteristic of her. She flew towards the two unicorns as everypony else came running over, all of them shocked and worried upon hearing the yellow pegasus’ scream.

________________________________________

Twilight awoke to the feeling of wooden floorboards under her back. Opening her eyes, she found herself back in the strange location. She jerked her head back and then forward, pushing herself up into a sitting position. As she rubbed the back of her head, she heard the voice say, “It looks like there’s somepony hiding in that tree… And that pony is out to get you. Now, how do you suppose you can prevent that?” Twilight realized she was going to have to think about that. Short of causing a spectacle in the square, how could she deal with a pony that was attacking her from a distance?

________________________________________

Twilight turned her gaze back to the road, following Applejack along the road back to the Canterlot square. It wasn’t long before they reached the square, where they saw everypony else waiting for them. They also saw Twilight’s father examining the ground carefully while Spike and the other mares watched him. Twilight and Applejack exchanged a look before trotting over to see what was up. They walked up to Twilight’s mother and Twilight asked, “Mom, what’s going on? What’s dad doing?”

Her mother looked back at her and said, “Oh, it’s really nothing to worry about, Twilight. It seems your father lost his old lighter earlier today. He thought maybe he dropped it here in the square.”

Applejack asked, “A lighter? Ya mean like a lighter fer them smokin’ sticks?” Twilight’s mother nodded.

Twilight said, “I didn’t know dad smoked.”

Her mother replied, “He doesn’t. As far as I know, he never was a smoker. I think it was something he either bought or was given when he was younger. I think he likes to carry it around as a reminder of those days.” Twilight hummed, thinking.

Twilight’s father soon stood up tall and turned to look at everypony, saying, “It’s not here. I don’t know where I dropped it. Maybe at the café, maybe on the streets… Well, it’s not such a big deal anyway. I hardly ever used it anyway; I’m sure I can get by without it.”

Twilight’s mother spoke, “Well, in that case, unless anypony else has anything they need to take care of…”

Suddenly, Rarity noticed a familiar unicorn stallion on the other side of the square with an equally familiar unicorn mare clinging to him. “Ooh!” she exclaimed, trotting in their direction. As she got closer, she called, “Fancypants!”

The sophisticated unicorn turned at the sound of his name and smiled upon seeing the pony who had called him. “Ah, Rarity! Jolly good to see you again!” he said. He then noticed the other ponies coming over and added, “And I see your friends from Ponyville have come as well.”

As the pony gang talked with Fancypants, they were eventually approached by Dante, the red unicorn running an errand. Twilight didn’t say anything, but what followed happened just as she remembered it. Dante asked about the stone and the lighter, her father took the lighter back, and she shared a nice, close conversation with the stallion. The one thing that was different was, before they could get wrapped up in their conversation, she noticed a glow coming from her saddlebag and immediately recognized it as the Z-pad responding to some relevant phenomena.

Twilight looked around with her eyes without turning her head. It seemed that there were relatively few ponies in the square at the moment and her friends currently couldn’t see her. The only one that would notice her sudden disappearance, aside from the killer, would be Dante. Speaking of the red unicorn, he noticed the way her eyes were moving and asked, “What’s the matter? Are you going somewhere?”

Twilight looked back at him, realizing that he’d been watching her, and said, “Uh, not exactly.” She then chanced a look back at the tree behind her and thought, “Is there really somepony after me? Hiding in that tree?” Deciding she didn’t want to risk provoking an attack out of the killer, her horn lit up, trying to tell the Z-pad to take her to whatever time period it was responding to. It responded and she briefly saw the date flash through her head. “What connection is there to me in that time…?” she thought to herself as she was lifted off the ground. When she looked over at Dante, she realized with horror that he was being lifted up too! But there was nothing she could do; the white light enveloped them both, both of them vanishing without a trace.

________________________________________

“Well, you have a nerve, my boy,” said a unicorn mare who looked like the exact twin of the unicorn that told Twilight she didn’t have anything to do. She was directing her words at a young unicorn stallion who looked to be four years younger than Twilight. He had light red eyes, a light brown coat, a dark brown mane and tail, both of which were short and well-groomed, no cutie mark, and he wore a fancy-looking blue vest. They were standing in the Canterlot square under the cover of night, the moon having been raised into the sky not too long ago.

“Really! What with that mare being punished yesterday too. What is it that you foals don’t understand? What’s so difficult about being more quiet-like?” asked a mare that looked like the mother Twilight had talked to in the past. She even had a daughter that looked like the daughter in Twilight’s time.

The burgundy unicorn gestured to a cage behind her and said, “Dressing above one’s station is an offense, you know. Do you want to be punished like that mare?”

The unicorn stallion asked, “What’s the problem with wearing what one likes? And this vest is one of my nicer, quieter ones. Really, good ladies, you’d like it if your stallions wore something this nice, wouldn’t you?” He then turned slightly profile, showing off his vest with a small smile.

The burgundy unicorn had taken a step back at the stallion’s words, but then regained her composure and said, “Well, I never! A little neighborly advice and he sasses me! All right, we’ll have the law down here!”

The dark green unicorn’s daughter said, “That’s right, you tell him!”

The unicorn stallion looked back in surprise and asked, “Hey, that’s not very pleasant, is it? Listen, can’t we just let this go?”

The burgundy unicorn walked towards the stallion as she answered, “Well then, in exchange for us not telling the law, you’ll make us ensembles for free.”

The dark green unicorn said, “Right that is! You know how to thread the needle, it seems.”

The gray foal added, “That’s right, you tell him. You’ll make me one too.”

The unicorn stallion stepped away from the three, his backside facing them, and said, “I… I don’t see how I could do something like that…”

The burgundy unicorn replied, “We’re doing this just to be obliging now.” She would’ve said more, but a lavender unicorn suddenly appeared out of thin air, landing on her back between the mares and the stallion! The three mares let out squeaks of fear as Twilight looked up at them, the burgundy unicorn exclaiming, “W-what are…! Where d-did…!”

The light brown unicorn turned around and, upon seeing Twilight on the ground, asked, “Who are you?” Twilight tilted her head upwards at that question, looking at the stallion behind her. She felt an unusual sensation inside of her as she took in his appearance.

The voice of a young male stallion came from the edge of the square seconds later, asking, “Lucian, what’s going here? Shouldn’t you be at home by now?”

The burgundy unicorn noticed a gray pegasus pony with a slightly wild red mane and tail flying towards them. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t be happy to see this particular pony, but this was anything but normal, so she said, “You! Fetch one of the royal guards! This mare just suddenly…” She then looked back at Twilight as she stood up, standing next to the light brown unicorn now identified as Lucian, and an idea took root in her head. She spoke, “I see now! It was you! Your little friend here called for help. Sneaky little foal!”

The dark green unicorn said, “Why, the little…! He must be arrested at once!”

Lucian asked, “What?! What the buck are you talking about?!” He looked over at the gray pegasus as he came to a landing next to the gathering and said, “Red Shield, they don’t know what they’re talking about!”

Twilight turned to look at the pegasus as well. Now that he was closer, she could see his cutie mark. As one might expect from his name, his flank displayed a shield. The pegasus looked back at her and asked, “Who are you? I’ve never seen you before.”

Twilight was about to say something, but the burgundy unicorn beat her to the punch, “She just suddenly appeared out of nowhere! Clearly, your little friend didn’t like being outnumbered, so he decided to call for help!”

Lucian said, “I did no such thing! I’ve never seen this mare before!”

The dark green unicorn asked, “Is that right? Then why did she suddenly appear while your back was turned? You must’ve done something!”

Red Shield spoke up, “Are you actually accusing him of doing something or are you just trying to raise a ruckus like you three nags are known to do? Because it seems like you’re trying to do the latter!”

The burgundy unicorn said, “Watch your tone, pegasus! Or I’ll put an end to those dreams you cling so tightly to!”

The arguing continued to go back and forth, quickly degrading into one big incoherent mass of noise. Twilight tried to remain calm as she kept looking back and forth between the two opposing sides, but eventually she couldn’t take it anymore. Rearing up onto her hind legs, her eyes and horn lit up a bright magenta as she screamed, “QUIET!” While not nearly as deafening as Luna’s Royal Canterlot Voice, it was certainly louder than she normally screamed.

And it certainly did the trick too. The talking immediately came to a stop, Lucian and Red Shield looking at her in shock while the three female unicorns backed away at the sight of her glowing horn and eyes. The burgundy unicorn demanded, fearfully, “W-what do you think you’re doing?!”

Twilight glared at them, “Listen carefully! Stop bothering this stallion and go home! Do as I say and no harm will come to you – this time.” She then turned to look at Red Shield and Lucian as she continued, “And you will all keep what happened here a secret. Understand?”

Red Shield recovered enough to speak and nodded, “Y-yes.” He looked over at the other unicorns and said, “Well, you heard the lady. Give your word!”

The burgundy unicorn nodded, “I p-promise. Forgive us, please.”

The unicorn foal begged, “Please.”

Red Shield looked back at Twilight and asked, “Uh, will that be all, miss? If it is, you could perhaps stop that now.” He then looked over at the three unicorns and said, “And all of you, go home already. Go on, get!” The three unicorns quickly ran out of the square at that. Twilight stopped channeling her magic into her horn after they disappeared from her sight, her eyes returning to normal.

Silence ruled the square until Lucian spoke up, “Hey, uh, thank you, miss. You really helped me out. But who are you…?”

Twilight turned to him and said, “Uh, I’m nopony you need to be afraid of. Sorry about that display just now. I guess I kind of lost it there.”

Red Shield shook his head, “Ah, don’t worry about it. Those three like to start things whenever they get the chance, especially for my friend here.”

Twilight replied, “I see.” She then remembered Dante and asked, “Oh shoot! Hey, did either of you see another unicorn stallion? He’s about your age…?” She gestured to Lucian as she said the last sentence. Both Lucian and Red Shield looked at each other before turning back to her and shaking their heads. Twilight looked down and murmured, “Oh… that’s not good.”

Lucian spoke, causing Twilight to look up at him, “Listen, why don’t you stop by my house? It’s not far from here. Princess Celestia has just raised the moon, so we can’t stay out here. We can continue this inside.”

As Lucian and Red Shield walked past her, Twilight asked, “Princess Celestia? But she…” She stopped herself, remembering that she was about 400 years in the past. Therefore, Princess Luna was still imprisoned in the moon. Casting her gaze up at the moon, she could swear she could see the image of the younger princess on its face like she did at the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration when she first came to Ponyville.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when Red Shield called, “Hey! Come on, it’s this way!” She turned around and saw the pegasus and Lucian waiting for her, so she quickly trotted over.

When she reached them, Lucian spoke, “I don’t think we ever properly introduced ourselves. I’m Lucian.”

The pegasus next to him nodded, “And I’m Red Shield.”

Twilight smiled at them, “Well, I’m Twilight Sparkle.”

Lucian nodded, “It’s very nice to meet you, Twilight Sparkle. Shall we?” Twilight nodded and followed the two ponies as they started walking, all the while noting to herself the similarities between her Canterlot and the Canterlot of the past.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

After a few minutes of walking, the three ponies arrived at the front door of Lucian’s home. The light brown unicorn pushed the door open with his magic and walked in, Red Shield and Twilight following him inside. Lucian immediately headed for a set of stairs leading up in the foyer of his house. At the top of the stairs, he headed for a door and pulled it open while saying, “Grandma, Hugo, I’m home.”

Stepping through the door, he saw his older brother, a dark blue unicorn with a short light brown mane and tail and a cube cutie mark, sitting next to a bed housing a pale yellow unicorn mare with a black mane and tail, though both appeared to be going gray. Her eyes were mostly closed, so it was hard to tell what color her eyes were. Lucian walked over to the older unicorn and asked, “Grandma, how are you feeling?”

She looked at him and replied, “I am all right today. There hasn’t been a great deal of pain.” At the sound of hoofsteps, she asked, “Is that Red Shield with you?”

The gray pegasus stepped through the door and moved to Lucian’s right side. He then said, “Yes it is, ma’am. And another guest.” He then gestured towards the door as Twilight stepped through it, the lavender unicorn moving to Lucian’s left side but staying back.

The dark blue unicorn, Hugo, looked at her and said, “Wow, I’ve never seen her before.”

Lucian replied, “We met her in the square. She’s looking for somepony.” He then looked back at Twilight and asked, “That’s what you said, right?”

Twilight nodded, “Mm-hmm. That sounds about right.”

The older mare in the bed said, “My, your friend’s voice reminds me of how your mother sounded when she was a young mare.”

Lucian turned to look at her, his expression showing a bit of intrigue, and asked, “You really think so? Where is mother anyway?”

Hugo gestured to the floor as he said, “Closed up down there again. She won’t come up, even with grandma like this…”

He turned to look at his grandmother as she said, “It’s all right, Hugo. One of the reasons I love my daughter so much is because she does what she believes in.”

Hugo murmured, “Is that how it is…?”

The elderly mare asked, “Hugo, you’ll carry on after your mother someday, won’t you?”

Hugo muttered, “I… I don’t know yet.” He then looked away, looking between the wall and the floor.

After a moment of silence, Lucian said, “I think I’ll go down and check on her.” He then turned and headed for the door, murmuring, “I hope mother didn’t forget to eat dinner again.”

After he left, Twilight let her eyes wander around the room. The basic appearance of the room reminded her of her time. It all looked a little simpler, not quite as fancy as her Canterlot, but otherwise very similar. “I guess some things never change,” she thought.

She was brought out of her thoughts when Red Shield said, “You can take your saddlebags off if you want, Twilight. It’s going to be at least a minute before Lucian comes back.”

Twilight replied, “That’s okay, Red. I don’t mind leaving them on.”

Red moved to her side, saying, “Ah, don’t be like that. Here, I’ll help you.” He lowered his muzzle and brought it up under her right saddlebag.

Twilight immediately began to fidget at this, saying, “Really, that’s not necessary.” But Red remained insistent and she continued to squirm. Suddenly, something fell out of her saddlebag and clattered noisily on the floor. She looked down and gasped, “Oh!” It was the Z-pad; she quickly moved to where it had fallen, going down to the floor and grabbing it between her forelegs. While she was down, she examined the device. Its sudden trip to the ground didn’t seem to have damaged it. At the very least, it didn’t appear to be scratched, so she let out a sigh of relief at that.

She then realized everypony was staring at her, so she quickly stood up, holding the Z-pad with her magic, and smiled sheepishly. Hugo was the first to break the silence, “What is that?”

Twilight shakily replied, “Ah, it’s, uh… a machine. A really… complicated machine. It… well, it’s kind of hard to explain what it does.”

Hugo stood up, saying, “Let me guess.” He walked over to Twilight and examined the device floating in the air for a moment before starting, “It… it… makes whatever dish you want appear?”

Twilight held back a smile as she said, “No.”

Red Shield grinned, “That’s a silly idea, Hugo.”

The blue unicorn shrugged, “Well, that was just wishful thinking anyway…” He then gave it a little more thought before asking, “Does it map the skies?”

Twilight used her magic to place the Z-pad back inside her bag as she said, “No, doesn’t do that.”

Hugo turned around and took a few steps away from Twilight as he said, “All right then, it…” He then whirled around as he said, “I know! It lets you travel through time! And you’re from the future, am I right?”

Red Shield was all set to comment on Hugo’s idea, but Twilight’s response silenced him. “Um, actually… well, uh…” she stammered out as she fidgeted nervously. She could feel a light sweat on her forehead as she thought, “How did he come to that conclusion so quickly?!”

Hugo gasped, “What? I’m right? How can that be…? How is that possible?” He approached her as he asked, “Is that what your cutie mark represents? Flashing in and out of different times?”

Twilight stammered, “N-no, t-that’s not… My talent is magic. I…” She trailed off at that point.

Hugo’s grandmother started, “Hugo… Hugo…” Her sentence was interrupted by a short series of coughs.

Hugo immediately went to her side, “Grandma! Are you all right?”

The mare soon stopped coughing and sat up before saying, “Hugo, you shouldn’t bother our guest so.” She then looked over at Twilight and said, “I am sorry. He’s very curious about everything, just like his mother. I’m sure he’ll become a scientist as well someday. It does seem like something a pony with a cutie mark like his would become.”

Hugo’s eyes moved in the direction of his flank and then back to his grandma before he said, “I’m not interested in alchemy, grandma. At least, not right now. How can I be when it can’t even produce a medicine to make you well again?”

His grandmother replied, “Perhaps not yet, but with time and effort, one never knows… I’m sure that’s what your mother believes, dear.”

Twilight asked, “So, your mother’s an alchemist, huh?”

Hugo turned to her and said, “Well, something like that. She makes medicine for ponies, and does stuff like mixing and grinding strange stones and metals. She’s always doing that sort of thing. And I mean always, like all the time.”

His grandmother started, “Hugo, dear…” She was interrupted by another series of coughs, Hugo immediately turning to her and looking worried.

Red Shield looked over at Twilight and said, “Well, it does seem like his mother is down there all the time. I think in all the time I’ve known Hugo and Lucian, I’ve only met her once. I don’t know what she does down there, but…” He trailed off as Lucian opened the door and entered the room.

He sighed, “Mother’s completely wrapped up in her experiments or whatever it is she’s doing right now. I couldn’t get even get her to look at me.”

Hugo turned to him and said, “That’s no surprise. She’s always staring at the kiln. After father left, it’s like she stopped paying attention to any world but her own.”

Lucian gave him a slightly irritated look, “Hugo, you know that’s not true.” He then looked over at Twilight, his red eyes locking with her violet eyes. For a minute, nothing was said; the two ponies remained fixated on each other and both Hugo and Red Shield noticed this. Lucian finally broke the silence, “You were looking for somepony, weren’t you? Tell me, what does he look like?”

Red Shield stepped closer to Twilight, the unicorn taking a few steps back at how close he got, and asked, “Is this other stallion your… you know?” Twilight merely blinked, confused, so he clarified, “Is he your coltfriend?”

Twilight replied, “What? N-no, I just met him today. He’s not anything like that.” As she spoke, Twilight failed to notice Lucian look at her carefully for a moment before casting his gaze down at the floor. “I’m pretty sure he had a yellow mane and tail and a red coat. And I think he was wearing a black vest…”

Lucian murmured, “A red unicorn, huh? Doesn’t sound familiar.” Hugo, Red Shield, and Twilight looked over at him at that, all of them noticing a slight edge to his voice.

Twilight spoke, “I see. Well, I guess I’ll go look around then, see if I can find him. Thank you for everything, everypony.” She turned and headed for the door, using her magic to open and then close it behind her.

As she was about to start down the stairs, the door opened again and Red Shield walked out. He said, “Hey, hold on. If you’re going to go looking anyway, I’ll come with you. I might not be able to see very far in the dark, but I’m sure having an eye in the sky will help.”

Twilight looked at him and said, “Oh, well… I suppose it would, Red, but I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

The pegasus replied, “You don’t have to because I’m offering. After all, I’m going to the academy here in Canterlot to join the ranks of Princess Celestia’s royal guards. Helping you search could help me out later on.”

Twilight could tell by the look in his eyes that he wasn’t going to take ‘no’ for an answer, so she relented, “Okay.” The pegasus trotted over to her, a small smile on his face.

Lucian poked his head out of the room and said, “Be careful, you two. Let me know if you guys find him. I’ll keep an eye out too.”

Before either of them could respond, Hugo poked his head out as well and said to his younger brother, “Tough luck, bro. I guess you’re just not her type.”

Lucian’s face flushed with embarrassment, “What are you talking about?!”

Missing what the older unicorn was implying completely, Twilight said, “Well… good-bye. Thanks for your help.” She then started down the stairs, Red Shield following her after a moment.

Lucian called after her, “Oh no, I’m sorry I couldn’t help much. Come back and visit soon, all right?”

Twilight called back, “I’ll try to.” As she stepped outside, she thought to herself, “He seemed like a nice stallion. I wonder why my heart started beating faster around him.” She then turned to look at Red Shield as he used his tail to pull the door shut behind them and asked, “Where do you think we should look?”

Red Shield looked back at her and replied, “We should probably start back at the square. If your friend was with you earlier, somepony there might’ve seen him.” Twilight nodded and followed him into a nearby alley that led straight to the Canterlot square. When they got there, they noticed a yellow earth pony mare with a pink mane and tail that had flowers for a cutie mark doing something in the middle of the square. The pony’s appearance caused Twilight to think of Fluttershy. When they reached the mare, Red Shield said, “Hey there.”

The earth pony looked up, visibly startled but relaxed at the sight of the pegasus. “Oh, hello Red Shield. How are things going at the academy?”

Red replied, “Fine. Listen, can you help out my new friend here?” He gestured to Twilight as he spoke.

The yellow pony murmured, “Um, okay. W-what does she need?”

Twilight spoke, “I was just wondering if you’ve seen a red unicorn stallion with a yellow mane and tail. Have you seen anypony like that?”

The yellow pony shook her head, “Oh no, I haven’t. I’m sorry, but I’ve been a little busy with my little baby here.” She gestured down at the ground, where she was planting a seedling.

Red Shield asked, “You’re planting a tree? Here?”

The yellow pony nodded, “Yes. You see, the squire purchased this seedling and asked me to plant it for him. I thought maybe I could plant it here. I mean, if I can’t, that’s okay. I’ll just find another place to plant it. I don’t want to make the squire upset.”

Red Shield nodded, “I see. Well, thanks anyway.” He then trotted out of the square, Twilight following a moment later. As they walked, Twilight looked back at the seedling the earth pony was planting, realizing it had to be the fully grown tree that her killer was hiding in back in her time. She needed to find a way to keep the pony from planting it, and to do that she was going to need something relating to either Princess Celestia or the squire, like a seal.

Red Shield noticed that Twilight was thinking and came to a stop, asking, “What’s on your mind, Twilight?”

The lavender mare came to a stop and turned to look at him. She spoke, “The squire… I’ve read about the Canterlot squire. Isn’t he a part of Princess Celestia’s court?”

Red Shield shrugged, “Something like that. His manor is near the outskirts of the city, but it’s closer than the castle is if you’ve got something urgent to bring up. I’ve heard he can send scrolls directly to the princess. Why?”

Twilight replied, “Just making sure I’ve got my facts straight. Anyway, maybe we could search a lot faster if we split up.”

Red Shield replied, “Sounds okay to me. You sure you’re going to be okay?”

Twilight nodded, “I think I’ll be fine. I don’t think I’ll need to cause another spectacle to protect myself, anyway.”

Red Shield grinned, “Heh, it would be pretty cool if you did do that. Meet you back in the square in ten minutes?” Twilight nodded and he extended his wings, taking off into the night sky while Twilight began to walk through the city.

Eventually, after several minutes of walking around and looking at an old map of the city, she found what she was looking for. It was one of the old city gates, which had been taken down at some point in the past when Canterlot grew. When she reached it, she found a white pegasus with a brown mane and tail standing nearby. She asked him, “Excuse me, can you tell me what’s past this point?”

The pegasus looked at her and replied, “Beyond here? The squire’s manor house. What, are you new here?”

Twilight said, “Sort of. I just got here earlier and I was hoping I could get a look at the squire’s crest.” Truth be told, she did want to see what the crest looked like, to see if it looked like the prop they used in the Hearth’s Warming Eve pageant for Equestria’s flag. “Too bad this opportunity had to appear under circumstances such as this,” she thought to herself.

The pegasus replied, “The crest, eh? Now that you mention it, the seal on the manor house looks like it’s going to fall off. Everypony’s been saying that it should be repaired.”

Twilight asked, “You’ve been on the manor grounds before?” At the pegasus’ nod, she asked, “Do you suppose I could get a look inside?”

The pony held a hoof up to his face in contemplation. A moment later, he said, “Well, I do have the key for the entrance gate… Of course, I can’t just give it to you. Do you have anything you’d be willing to trade for it?”

Twilight levitated her saddlebags off and began to root through them after setting them on the ground. “Uh, hang on a second…” she murmured as she examined everything she had. She eventually pulled out the postcard she had picked up of Canterlot, the picture on it displaying a view of the city. She floated it over to the pegasus, asking, “How about this?”

The white pony examined it for a moment before nodding, “Hm… Okay, seems fair.” He held out a foreleg, his hoof wrapped around the key, and said, “Just follow the path on the other side of the gate. It’ll take you straight to the manor. Just remember, the squire has an anti-magic ward up around the house, so you won’t be able to use your magic past the gate.”

Twilight took the key in her hoof and said, “Thank you.” She then put her saddlebags back on and pushed open the city gate, galloping down the path. As she ran, she tried to look for Dante in the darkness, but she didn’t see anypony as she ran. “I hope Dante reappeared somewhere in Canterlot. There’s no telling where he could’ve ended up if he didn’t.”

After a few minutes of running, Twilight arrived at the gates in front of the manor house and inserted the key she was given. The doors unlocked and she used a hoof to pull one open. Stepping inside, she looked up at the manor house. There, hanging high above the front doors was a medallion displaying the seal that the pegasus had mentioned. “Now, how am I going to get it without wings or magic?” the unicorn wondered. She walked back and forth a few times as she thought, looking up at the medallion all the while.

“Maybe I can find something that could help me back in the city,” she sighed, walking back towards the gate. Outside, rather than walk the whole way back, she used her magic to teleport herself to the front of Lucian’s house. She then began walking along the streets and through the alleyways, searching for both something she could use and Dante. Eventually, she found a ladder leaning against a shop and examined it. “Looks tall enough,” she murmured. She then glanced up at the sky, remembering what she was supposed to be doing, and muttered, “You’ve got time, there’s time to do this. Just get it done quickly!”

Taking the ladder in both of her hooves, she used her magic to teleport back to the gates of the manor house and pushed the unlocked gate open. Dragging the ladder inside, she held it up and began adjusting it until it rested against the front of the manor house, right next to the medallion. After taking a quick look around to make sure there was no one around, she climbed up the ladder until she was next to the medallion, raising her left hoof and grabbing it. She then pulled it several times before it came loose, coming off the manor house. The sudden release caused her to lean back suddenly, almost causing her to fall off the ladder! She managed to regain a sense of balance after flailing her hooves for several moments, clutching the ladder with her forelegs.

Once she was sure she had stopped moving, she climbed down the ladder and slid the medallion into her saddlebag. She then murmured, “Okay, first I’ll put the ladder back. Then I’ll see if I can convince that gardener to plant the tree somewhere else. And then I’ll leave the seal here on the front step so it can be put back on the manor house. Yes, I can do all that before I have to meet up with Red. It’s perfect!” Nodding in satisfaction, she grabbed the ladder and pulled it down, accidentally bumping it against the ground and making a noise. She squeaked and grabbed it with both of her front hooves, quickly backing up towards the gate. As soon as she was outside, she teleported back outside the Canterlot square and walked away, dragging the ladder behind her.

A few minutes later, she returned with one less ladder and walked up to the yellow earth pony, the medallion floating in front of her. The mare looked up at it, noticing it displayed the sun and the moon and the royal pony sisters. She gasped, “Oh my! This is the squire’s.” She looked up at Twilight and asked, “What’s this now?”

The unicorn answered, “I have a message for you. The squire doesn’t want you to plant this tree here.” At the pony’s confused look, she explained, “He still wants you to plant it, just not here. Instead, he would like…” She stopped for a moment, thinking of what would look good in a town square. Glancing at the earth pony’s flank, she nodded to herself and said, “The squire would like you to plant flowers here.”

The earth pony smiled, “Flowers? Oh, I like that idea better. I have some nice flower seeds at home that will look nice when they’re fully grown.” She reached down with a hoof and pulled the tree seedling out of the hole before standing up and looking at Twilight and said, “I’ll take this little one home with me. Please tell the squire that for me, okay?” Twilight nodded, so the earth pony nodded back and trotted out of the square, heading home.

Once she was out of sight, Twilight dropped the medallion back in her bag and used her magic to teleport to the front gates of the squire’s manor house. Before walking through the front gates, she summoned a blank scroll, an inkpot, and a writing quill and quickly wrote a note to the squire, delivering the earth pony’s message. She then went through the front gates and left the scroll and the medallion on the front step. She then left and used her magic to once again teleport back to outside the city gate, where she returned the key to the manor house gates to the white pegasus, telling him he could keep the picture.

She then hurried back to the square to find Red Shield waiting for her. As soon as he saw her, he spoke, “There you are! Did you find him?”

Twilight shook her head, “No, I didn’t have any luck.”

Red clicked his tongue, “Tch! I didn’t either, and I flew through Canterlot several times. And since most ponies are already indoors, I doubt anypony has seen him.” He then looked back at Twilight and said, “I don’t think there’s much else we can do tonight. We’ll have to wait until morning to resume the search.”

Twilight sighed, “I’m really worried, but I guess you’re right. I thought I might have a chance of finding him, considering I’ve read several pieces on finding missing ponies.”

Red Shield laughed and said, “You’re going to have to do better than read about it, you know. I hope you know you need more than book smarts for… well, a lot of things.”

Twilight shot him an annoyed look and said, “I know that, and I’ve been learning that. I just feel better if I’ve read up on the subject beforehand.”

Red Shield cocked an eye and smirked, “Is that right?”

Twilight replied, “Yes, that’s-” She was cut off by a sudden pulsing in her bag and turned to look at it. She knew it was the Z-pad, but it sounded different, like it was trying to warn her of something. She recalled what she was told when she received the device and realized it was telling her to return to her time immediately!

Red Shield noticed Twilight had been staring at her saddlebag for longer than he would think was necessary and asked, “Is something wrong?”

Twilight looked back up at him, having almost forgotten about him, and said, “Uh, no. I mean… Oh, never mind! I’ve got to go!” She then ran past him before he could react, disappearing down a nearby alley. Red saw her tail disappear into the darkness as he turned around and flew after her, but when he looked down the alley, she was gone.

________________________________________

Twilight reappeared in the Canterlot square of her time, landing in the same spot where she had been standing when she and Dante disappeared. Her thoughts turned to the red unicorn, “So Dante is… somewhere back there, in the past… What have I done? Why did I get him involved?” She murmured to herself, “I promise I’ll find you. Please hang in there until then…”

She then remembered what was supposed to happen to her and spun around to look at the tree, uttering, “I… I don’t want to die…” But instead of a tree, she saw an arrangement of flowers where the tree was supposed to be. In her mind, she silently thanked the yellow mare she had met, both for saving her life and for planting the beautiful flowers she was now looking at.

Day Trip

“Oh, it certainly is a quaint little museum, darling! Not quite as popular as the art galleries that I’ve seen here in Canterlot, but certainly a lot less crowded and noisy,” Rarity said to Twilight as they stepped out onto the front step of the art museum, Spike riding on Twilight’s back and the rest of their friends, both princesses, and Twilight’s parents behind them.

“I’m glad you think so, Rarity. I liked to come here a lot with my parents when I was a little filly. I always liked seeing the paintings and Mr. Brum,” was the purple unicorn’s response.

“I must agree, Twilight Sparkle. The paintings are quite vibrant even after so many years and Eckart Brum is truly as nice as my sister has said,” Princess Luna said.

Princess Celestia looked over at her younger sister and said, “I told you everything would be fine, Luna. I’ve known Eckart’s family for a very long time. One of his ancestors was a member of the royal court, serving as a squire and living in this building, which used to be a manor house. I believe that was about 400 years ago.”

Luna looked up at Celestia and asked, “So how did it go from being a squire’s manor to being an art museum?”

Celestia replied, “Things changed, Luna. Not all of his descendents wanted to be involved in what was going on in Equestria and I respected their wishes. I believe it was Eckart’s great grandfather who came up with the idea of turning it into an art museum. Said it was an idea from some mare he met or something to that effect.” Luna nodded, thinking.

Twilight’s parents soon ushered everypony out of the museum, her father saying, “We should probably get out before Eckart closes up. I hope you all enjoyed this little visit.”

Fluttershy smiled, “Oh yes, it was wonderful. The pictures were so pretty and vibrant. I really enjoyed looking at them.”

Rainbow Dash nodded, “Yeah, I had fun too. Not exactly something I would do on a regular basis, but it was pretty cool.”

Applejack grinned, “Heh, Ah hope that this doesn’t become a new hobby for ya like that time you were laid up in the hospital.”

Rainbow quickly responded, “That was a little different, Applejack.”

The orange earth pony continued to grin, “Sure Rainbow, whatever ya say.”

Twilight’s mother spoke, “Well, I guess we should be on our way then.”

Princess Celestia nodded, “I agree. Luna and I have to get back to the castle soon. The royal guards won’t be very happy if we’re even a minute late getting back.” With that, everypony walked down the steps and began to walk along the stone pavement.

Pinkie Pie suddenly came to a stop, her Pinkie Sense going off again. “Twitchy tail! Again!” she exclaimed.

Everypony came to a stop at that, Spike jumping off of Twilight’s back and asking, “That means something’s going to fall, right?” His eyes immediately began to scan the blue sky above, watching for anything that could come crashing down.

Suddenly, they all heard a thump from inside the museum, coming from one of the rooms near the front doors. Although it wasn’t a loud noise, Fluttershy still hid behind her mane and squeaked, “W-what was that?”

Twilight’s father turned towards the still open doors to the museum and said, “It sounded like one of the paintings fell down. Must’ve come loose and fallen off the wall.”

His wife said, “I’m sure Eckart would appreciate it if we put it back up for him.” The blue unicorn nodded and they both went back inside, disappearing into the room where they had heard the sound from.

Applejack glanced over at Pinkie Pie and said, “Guess that was what your Pinkie Sense was warning us about this time, huh?”

The pink pony shook her head and said, “No, that can’t be it. My Pinkie Sense wouldn’t go off for something like that.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged, “Well, what else could fall down, huh?” As if on cue, there was the sound of a loud crash behind her. She rolled her eyes, “Oh yeah, that’s real funny, Twilight.” She started to turn around as she said, “You know, you need to…” She trailed off as she turned around completely, everypony else also turning to look.

Twilight was standing stock still, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open slightly. Scattered on the ground around her were the shards of a broken vase. “Uh, Twilight…?” Spike asked, worried. A second later, Twilight’s eyes rolled back in her head and she fell over onto her side without a sound. “TWILIGHT!” Spike exclaimed as everypony rushed over to her, gathering around her.

________________________________________

Twilight blinked. Everything had happened so fast that it was just now starting to register in her head. She pushed herself off of her side, lying on the ground with her hind legs tucked under her and her forelegs stretched out. She then raised her left hoof to her head and rubbed it, groaning, “Ow… That really hurt. What hit me?”

Her mysterious helper spoke up, in a patronizing tone, “Excuse me… just what do you think you’re doing?”

Twilight raised an eye and pushed herself up slightly, asking, “What do you mean?”

The voice spoke as if she hadn’t said anything at all, “Do you want this to keep happening? Is that why you were enjoying yourself earlier rather than doing something more important? That’s not going to get you any closer to solving the problem.”

Twilight sat back on her haunches and looked up, asking, “What do you think I should be doing? You want me to tell everypony I know I’m being killed and they don’t remember anything because I’m changing the things that lead to my death?”

The voice replied, “No. Try doing something useful. You know, like gathering information… I’d deeply appreciate it if you wouldn’t disappoint me.” Twilight looked down at the floorboards at that, all the fight in her draining out at that moment. Once again, the voice had presented a very good point. Aside from changing things to prevent her death, she hadn’t really bothered to do any research. But that presented another question: what sort of information should she be looking for right now?

________________________________________

Twilight was sitting at a table in a humble restaurant with her friends and family, enjoying a nice daisy sandwich for lunch. At least, she was trying to. Almost immediately after they had arrived at the restaurant, her friends felt the need to inquire about what happened with Dante. Back when they left the square, Rainbow Dash, of course, tried to tease her friend about her going to comfort the red unicorn, but Twilight, who was upset with herself for dragging Dante into her problems and not being able to get him back out, hardly responded to it and mentioned that she didn’t know where he went. They’d let it go at the time, but now they were starting to pry.

“Ah just don’t get it, Twilight! That pony clearly wasn’t as snooty as some o’ the upper class here, why would he just up and disappear on ya like that?” Applejack asked, keeping Twilight from taking another bite out of her sandwich.

Sighing, Twilight set it back down and said, “I don’t know, Applejack. Maybe he had more… interesting ponies to talk to.”

Rainbow Dash grinned, “Yeah, probably! I know now that books aren’t as dull as I used to think they were, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re an egghead, Twilight! He was probably upset that I didn’t come over to talk to him!” She was immediately answered with several ponies at the table shooting glares in her direction, though Twilight wasn’t one of them. She merely levitated her sandwich up and took a bite out of it, hoping to at least temporarily escape some of the guilt she was feeling.

Fluttershy noticed the look on Twilight’s face and quickly said, “Oh, please don’t be sad about what Rainbow Dash said, Twilight. It wasn’t very nice, but she was just having fun.”

Twilight sighed a little irritably and said, “I know, Fluttershy. But really, would it be much of a surprise if she turned out to be right?”

Rarity spoke, “Oh, I should think so, darling! I mean, really! What pony in Canterlot could possibly be more important than our dear Twilight?”

Applejack ‘mumbled’ loudly, “Ah’m sure ya could name quite a few off the top o’ yer head.”

Rarity turned and glared at the orange earth pony, saying, “The ponies I know are all considered very important ponies, I’ll have you know. Ponies a waiter like that red unicorn has only heard about! I thought that was quite clear by the way he talked to Fancypants earlier!”

Fluttershy meekly said, “Um, Rarity? Ponies are starting to stare.”

But the white unicorn went on, leaning across the table towards Twilight and saying, “Mark my words, Twilight, if I ever see that red unicorn again and it turns out he left without a good reason, I’D GIVE HIM A REASON TO FEAR THE NAME RARITY!” Everypony at the table leaned back slightly at the force in the white unicorn’s words and all the chatter in the restaurant came to a complete halt. It was at that point that Rarity realized what she had been doing and sat back down, her cheeks noticeably red.

Once the ponies in the background started to pick up their conversations again, Twilight said, “Uh, that’s… very nice of you, Rarity. But there was a good reason for his disappearance, I’m sure.”

Spike asked, “Would that be Rainbow Dash’s reason or some other reason?” Twilight simply raised an eyebrow at him, projecting the words ‘drop it’ to him quite clearly. The baby dragon, for his part, rolled his eyes and returned to his hay fries. Conversation for the rest of the meal was kept light.

After a short while, everypony finished their meal and left the restaurant after the payment was picked up, Pinkie Pie being the first to step outside. She turned and called back to the others, “Come on, sillies! We’re supposed to go to the art museum!”

Rainbow Dash trotted out and said, “All right, Pinkie Pie, we’re coming! Sheesh, why are you so excited about going to the museum anyway? Museums are usually like hospitals, you know; they hate it when you make a lot of noise.”

The pink pony started bouncing up and down, saying, “I know that, Dashie! But I’ve never been to a museum before! I want to see what it’s like!”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, “Right… Just don’t expect it to be too exciting, okay?”

Pinkie Pie grinned, “Okie dokie lokie!”

Everypony else soon came out, Twilight’s father saying, “Come on, we should get going. Eckart sometimes closes up early when nopony stops by the museum and he might do the same today even though we told him we’d be coming.” Everypony nodded and began walking down the street, Spike riding on Twilight’s back as they made their way to the art museum.

As they walked, Twilight noticed the fact that the path they were taking was a lot like the path she had taken to reach the squire’s manor house. “That would make sense, though. The art museum was the squire’s manor house back then. I remember reading that once,” she realized.

Not long afterwards, they turned a corner and there it was: the art museum sitting at the top of a hill. Before they could walk up the hill, Pinkie Pie noticed a dark yellow earth pony wearing glasses looking at something on the wall of a building. He had a sepia mane and tail and a movie camera on a tripod for a cutie mark. She wandered over to him and said, “Hi! How are you doing?”

Her words attracted the attention of the others and they came over, noticing that the earth pony was looking over at Pinkie Pie strangely. Twilight’s mother asked, “Is anything wrong, sir?”

After a moment of looking at the group, the earth pony asked, “What do you all think of this?” At the questioning looks he received, he gestured towards the wall and said, “This… What do you think of this?” He looked back at the wall and continued, “The movie this poster’s for… It’s pretty popular, isn’t it…?”

Applejack looked over at the posters that were stuck to the wall, not really seeing which one the pony was talking about, and said, “Uh, yeah, Ah guess so…”

The earth pony looked back at the group and asked, “What is the secret to making a hit film, anyway?” Everypony looked at each other before shrugging. The pony looked back at the poster and said, “Maybe it’s the method thing. The filmmaker’s – or the director’s – life experience.” He looked down and sighed, “I should have tried more things when I was young.”

Rainbow Dash spoke up, “Yeah, uh, that’s great and all, but we kind of have to get going. Nice meeting you, though!” She then turned and flew off in the direction of the museum. One by one, the others began to follow her, none of them quite sure how to respond to the pony or his reminder to live each day as though it was their first and last.

Rainbow Dash was waiting for everypony about halfway up the hill. Once they were all there, they all went up the rest of the way. When they reached the top, everypony’s eyes widened in surprise at what they saw. There, standing in front of the front doors, were the royal pony sisters, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They were talking to Eckart Brum, a dark brown unicorn stallion that had a black-gray mane and tail and a framed painting for a cutie mark. Celestia soon noticed the group of ponies and smiled, “Hello, my little ponies!”

Everypony immediately dropped into a bow as the princesses approached; standing back up, Rainbow Dash asked, “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, what are you doing here?”

Celestia explained, “I heard from Twilight Sparkle what you were doing today and told Luna. She has been expressing a desire to see you all again and hasn’t met Mr. Brum before. I thought perhaps this would be a perfect opportunity to do both.”

Twilight’s father spoke, “Sorry we’re so late, your highness. It hasn’t been an overly interesting day, but we’ve certainly arrived much later than we intended to.”

Twilight thought to herself, “Oh, it’s been an interesting day, all right. At least for me it has.”

Eckart spoke, “That’s okay. The princesses only got here a short while ago. They haven’t exactly been kept waiting.”

Luna nodded, “Indeed we haven’t. Until we met with Sir Brum, my sister and I thought we might have missed you.”

Eckart said, “But now that you’re here, come in, please.” He then ushered them all towards the front doors of the museum, reminding everypony as they entered that the old anti-magic ward on the museum was still present. The only ones it didn’t have any effect on were the princesses. Twilight noticed that it wasn’t nearly as omnipresent as it had been in the past. It wasn’t until she stepped through the doors that she felt her magic being suppressed.

As everypony started to look around the museum, Princess Celestia stole Twilight away to have a little chat with her, having not seen her personal student in quite a while. So they walked up to the second floor of the museum with Eckart and Luna, the two sisters and Eckart listening to Twilight talk about some of the specifics of some of the friendship reports that her mentor had received.

Eventually, Luna spoke up, “Your friendship studies are quite impressive, Twilight Sparkle. Tell me, aside from friendship, are you doing any other research?”

The lavender unicorn thought about the lunar princess’ question for a moment. It brought her back to what her mystery helper had told her after her most recent death about gathering information. Thinking about her brief visit to 400 years ago, she realized she didn’t know much about alchemy. She knew her basic sciences, of course. She’d studied those extensively in school and occasionally did experiments, like the time when Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash pulled a prank on her with disappearing ink. But as far as alchemy was concerned, she couldn’t draw up any particular readings from memory on the subject.

She responded to the princess’ question, “Well, I’ve been thinking about learning more about alchemy.”

Princess Luna looked intrigued, “Alchemy? Pray tell, what purpose dost thou wish to study alchemy for?”

Twilight replied a little uncertainly, “Well, you know me. I seem to study things no other pony has the time for. I like learning things.”

Princess Celestia nodded, “Indeed you do, my faithful student.”

Eckart asked, “Correct me if I’m wrong, your highness, but wasn’t there a notable unicorn that lived in this city? A mare named Dr. Wagner?”

Princess Celestia replied, “That is correct. Her name was Dr. Lenore Wagner. She was a student at my school when she was a little filly. My, did she have potential, almost as much potential as you, Twilight.” She looked over at her faithful student as she spoke, the lavender unicorn giving a light blush at her teacher’s praise. The sun princess soon sighed, “Alas, magic was not her interest. But she did discover her true calling for alchemy while she was at my school. I only wish I knew what happened to her…”

Twilight looked down and said, “I’m sorry, princess…”

The princess of the sun shook her head, “No, it’s quite all right, Twilight. Actually, it feels kind of nice to talk about it with somepony. I mean that.”

Luna smiled, “I know the feeling, sister.” She looked over at Twilight and said, “I know I certainly felt quite a bit better after coming to Ponyville for Nightmare Night.”

Twilight smiled back at the lunar princess and then mused, “I suppose if I get a chance to in the next few days, I could see if I can find some literature on the subject.”

Eckart spoke, “You may not have to, Twilight. Come with me; I think I have something that might help you.” He led the three mares to his office and walked over to a bookcase, looking at the spines of the books on its shelves. He soon pulled a small black book off of one of the shelves, murmuring, “Was this the one?” He blew the dust off of it and brought it over to Twilight, saying, “Here, I’ll lend this to you.”

Twilight took the book in her hoof and examined it. Both the front and the back cover had a pentagram design in the center, the book’s title printed above the design on the front cover. “‘The Magician of Our City,’” she mused.

Eckart nodded, “It’s a fairly old book. It might be the oldest one here. I think it includes things like stories about real alchemists that worked in this city, recipes for the elixir of youth, even copies of documents from the era.” At Twilight’s wide eyes, he smiled and added, “Of course, you need to take it with a pinch of salt or more. If there really was such an elixir, I’d want it myself.” He then bent down and nuzzled a baby kitten on the floor while saying, “I’ll send you a scroll when I need it back.”

Twilight nodded, “Thank you, Mr. Brum.”

The brown stallion stood up and said, “Of course, Twilight. By the way, do you like cats? Mine had a litter the other day, as you can see…”

Twilight smiled, “Thanks, but no thanks. I wouldn’t want Owlowiscious and Spike to get jealous. Not to mention it might be hard to get Opalescence to warm up to another cat.”

Eckart replied, “Okay. But if you have a friend or anypony else who wants a kitten, let me know.” Twilight nodded and slid the book into her left saddlebag.

Princess Celestia smiled down at her student, “Run along and join your friends, Twilight. I want to talk with Eckart some more, but don’t let me hold you up from spending time with your friends. This is your trip, after all.”

Twilight smiled back, “I will, Princess. See you both soon?”

Princess Luna nodded, “You will, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight nodded back and left the office, leaving the princesses alone to talk with Eckart.

As she left the room, Twilight noticed Fluttershy coming up the stairs and walked over to her. “Hey Fluttershy.” she said.

The shy pegasus replied, “Oh, hello Twilight. I was just looking at the painting downstairs of Canterlot and I got a bit absorbed in it. Pinkie Pie had to give me a shake to snap me out of it.” She gave a light giggle after saying that.

Twilight giggled too and said, “Well, seeing as it’s been a while since I’ve last seen it, I’ll go take a look and then come back up to join you and the other girls in a minute, okay?”

Fluttershy smiled, “Okay Twilight.” She then turned to her right and trotted in that direction, heading for one of the rooms that the paintings were hanging in. Twilight smiled and walked down the stairs. This museum really did hold a lot of childhood memories for her. She was glad her friends had agreed to come visit it during their trip to Canterlot.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs and started walking towards the room housing the painting Fluttershy had mentioned, she heard a familiar voice ask, “How are things?”

The lavender unicorn came to a stop and, upon seeing nopony around, asked, “Hello?”

As she continued to look around, a figure began to materialize out of thin air behind a pillar in the room, appearing from a red light. Soon, the figure had materialized completely and Twilight could tell what it was. It was a black earth pony stallion with a brown mane and tail, both of which were short-medium length and slightly spiky. He had a cutie mark depicting a red dragon/serpent swallowing its own tail.

The pony opened his red eyes and shifted them back in Twilight’s direction, smiling and giving a dark, mysterious chuckle.

Trust

Twilight looked on in shock as the black pony stepped out from behind the pillar, surprised by both his sudden appearance and the fact that he sounded very familiar. “Wait, I know you. You… aren’t you the one who…” she started before trailing off.

The black pony turned to face her and smiled, “Aw, you remembered me, Twilight. I’m touched. Yes, I’m the one who saved you. I certainly hope that you appreciate what I’m doing for you.”

Twilight looked down and then back up at the pony, trying to sort out her thoughts and saying, “What… How did… Why… W-who are you?”

The black pony simply said, “You’re stuttering, Twilight. Isn’t that sort of thing supposed to be beneath you? I am Homunculus – not that there’s much in a name. I’ve been waiting a long time to see you again. I’ve looked for you everywhere…” He then stepped towards Twilight, the lavender unicorn taking several careful steps back when he started getting closer than she was comfortable with. “By the way, are you using the Z-pad?” Homunculus asked.

Twilight looked at the earth pony carefully, the name Homunculus somehow sounding familiar to her. “Have you come here to kill me?” she asked slowly.

The expression on Homunculus’ face did not change, but he sounded bemused as he said, “Hm? I don’t think you quite understand, Twilight. I’m only trying to help you, certainly not murder you. It’s just that I don’t know how to give you any direct help, and I know I’m no Element of Honesty, but that’s the truth.”

Twilight looked at him while shivering slightly and then slumped down to the floor, placing her hooves on top of her head and saying, “I think I’m going out of my mind for real this time…”

Homunculus looked down at her through half-lidded eyes and said, “I can’t seem to convince you, can I? This is really very difficult.”

Twilight remained where she was on the floor, closing her eyes as she struggled to wrap her mind around what was happening. Half of her was screaming at her to walk away from this awkward situation and regard the pony as crazy while the other half was telling her to listen and give the pony a chance and keep an open mind like she promised to do after accepting that Pinkie Pie’s Pinkie Sense didn’t need to be explained to be real. After a minute, the rational part of her mind won out, as she didn’t want to risk getting killed again, and she looked up at him and asked, “Well, can you give me any proof? Anything at all?”

Homunculus answered, “If in some small measure.” Twilight looked up at him, confused, as he raised his right front leg, his hoof beginning to glow yellow. All of a sudden, she was lifted off the ground by an invisible force and a green time bubble surrounded her. A second later, she disappeared without a trace.

________________________________________

Twilight landed awkwardly on her hooves as she was released from her time bubble, managing to stay upright despite the sudden contact with the ground. She then looked around and found that she was outside, in front of the art museum, although something was different. She then realized that it was early morning; Celestia’s sun was only just beginning to peek out over the horizon. How far back in time had she traveled now?

Unnoticed by Twilight, the dark yellow earth pony the group had encountered earlier was standing partway up the hill to the art museum, although he looked much younger. He looked at her intently, as if trying to make sure she was actually standing there. “What the…? Did that mare just…?” he asked himself aloud.

Suddenly, the front doors of the museum burst open and a dark brown unicorn stallion with a black-gray mane and tail trotted out, exclaiming, “Hooray!” He then walked down the front steps and did a short little dance as Twilight watched him. He soon noticed her and said, “Oh, gosh, didn’t realize anypony was out here. Sorry about yelling and everything.”

Twilight shook her head, “It’s okay, don’t worry about it. But why were you…?”

The stallion replied, “Oh yes! You see, my wife finally had our baby, so you can imagine…! And it’s a boy too! I just got word from the hospital!”

Twilight smiled warmly, “Wow, really? That’s great! Congratulations!” She then looked up at the museum and then back at the stallion and asked, “Do you work at this museum?” Although she knew she was in the past and should be careful about making acquaintances, Twilight’s curiosity had a luster that couldn’t easily be taken away.

The stallion replied, “Oh, I’m sorry. My name is Eckart. I’ve just taken over from my father as the director of this museum.”

It was just taken away. The smile on Twilight’s face slid off like water on plastic as she processed this new information. “What?! You’re Eckart Brum?” she asked.

The dark brown unicorn gave her an odd look as he replied, “Yes… Is there anything I can do for you?”

Twilight nervously replied, “N-no, nothing. Uh, I didn’t mean to…” She trailed off, looking back at the other unicorn nervously.

Eckart soon said, “Wait, what am I doing. I have to think about what we’re going to call him.” He then turned and hurried back inside the museum, calling back, “Great to meet you, bye!”

The doors soon closed behind him, but Twilight continued to look at them, lost in thought. “Mr. Brum has a son? I had no idea! He never mentioned ever having one to me and my parents certainly never mentioned anything, especially not when they were sending me the names of every available stallion in Canterlot they knew.” She blushed lightly at that, remembering they were trying to talk her into dating without actually coming out and saying it. She shook her head to get the blush out and continued thinking, “Is there a reason why he never said anything? Or is his son just much older than I am? Mr. Brum certainly looks a lot younger in this time. I guess I’ll have to go back and ask him myself.”

As if responding to her thoughts, the Z-pad gave off a brief glow, but then it stopped. Glancing back at her saddlebag, she pulled the device out and examined it, finding that she had traveled to about ten years ago, before pressing it against her horn, trying to initiate the time travel sequence. To her surprise, it didn’t respond! She tried touching her proper time with her hoof, but that didn’t have any effect either. Realization slowly set in, “The Z-pad… It’s not working!”

She suddenly heard Homunculus’ voice and looked around as he spoke, “Well, how about that? Just a small example of what I can do. How WILL you get home now? You’d better solve that on your own. You should be able to handle a little thing like that, Twilight.”

Twilight looked up and asked, “What… what am I supposed to do?” She looked down at the Z-pad and murmured, “He said there was some kind of energy in this thing. That energy would react to my magic and allow me to travel through time. If I could restore the energy…?” She slid the Z-pad back inside her bag and looked down the hill, saying, “I guess the only thing I can do is look around and see what I can find.” She then ran down the hill, heading into the main part of Canterlot.

Twilight soon slowed her pace to a walk as she made her way through the streets of Canterlot, not wanting to overexert herself unless she had to. It helped that nopony was up at this hour, so she was able to keep a relatively fast walking pace without needing to worry about bumping into anypony or drawing any looks. Eventually, she spotted a small green ball of energy next to the door of a shop and trotted over to it, examining it for a moment before touching it with her horn. It gave off a small whooshing sound as she touched it and then it vanished.

Seconds later, the Z-pad started to respond again and she pulled it out and examined it. She was relieved to see that the little ball of light had restored the energy in the Z-pad and it was telling her she could time travel again. “Now I can get back…” she sighed. Before doing so, she walked around the city a little more, looking around and managing to find another ball of energy. After finding it, she decided she didn’t want to push her luck anymore and brought out the Z-pad, pressing her horn up against it and telling it to take her back to her proper time.

________________________________________

Twilight reappeared in the art museum, managing to land on her hooves in the same spot she had been standing not too long ago. She pressed a hoof to her head as she looked up, lowering it and taking a step back as she saw that Homunculus had seemingly been waiting for her. “Well, what do you think? Are you a little more convinced?” he asked. Twilight looked at him with wide eyes for a moment and then she turned and bolted up the stairs to the second floor of the museum. “Oh dear…” Homunculus sighed while shaking his head.

Twilight headed straight for Eckart’s office, her steps light and her breathing rapid. As she reached the door to his office and raised her hoof to knock, she instead placed it on her chest and forced herself to take a deep breath, exhaling slowly. She then raised it up and knocked on the door. She soon heard the brown unicorn’s voice, “Come in. The door’s open.” She pulled it open and stepped inside, turning around when she was inside and pulling it closed. She then turned to look at Eckart, noticing that he was looking over at her while standing next to a table by the window, a black vase sitting atop it. “Ah, Twilight, what can I do for you?” he asked.

Twilight thought about her words for a moment before asking, “Can I ask you kind of an odd question?”

Eckart nodded, “Sure, what?”

Twilight carefully asked, “Mr. Brum, do you… have a son?”

Eckart gave a surprised gasp as he turned his body towards her completely, his horn catching on the side of the vase and knocking it off the table! It made a loud crash as soon as it hit the ground, breaking into pieces and scaring all the kittens in the room. Twilight was just as shocked as they were and ran over to the table, bending down and starting to gather the smaller pieces in one of the larger pieces. “I-it’s all right. I’ll take care of it later…” Eckart said.

“I’m sorry,” Twilight said lamely as she reached for one of the pieces.

Eckart looked up for a moment and then back down at Twilight and said, “I don’t think I ever mentioned my son to you.”

Twilight paused and then started, “Well, no…” She noticed that the cats seemed to be interested in hearing what Eckart had to say, but she had a feeling she had just brought up a touchy subject for the older unicorn, so she said, “I shouldn’t have asked, should I?”

Eckart quickly replied, “No no, its okay, Twilight. I’m not mad at you for asking, it’s just…” He stopped and then started again, slowly, “I do have a son. Or rather, I did. He was taken by some… madman shortly after he was born…” He turned to look out the window and finished, “My wife was killed in the same attack. Does that answer your question?”

Twilight stood up and set all the pieces she had gathered on top of the table. She then said, “I’m sorry. I-I had no idea.”

Eckart looked back at her and said, “It’s all right. Don’t worry about it.”

Twilight’s ears drooped and she hung her head as she quietly and sadly said, “I’m so sorry…” She turned and slowly walked towards the door and pushed it open, leaving the room while still hanging her head.

As soon as she exited the room and shut the door behind her with a back hoof, Eckart looked down at the floor and murmured, “For the love of… why?” The unicorn continued to look down at the floor, his right hoof scraping across the floor.

Twilight didn’t pay attention to where she was going; it wasn’t until she was standing at the top of the stairs that she noticed she had been walking in a straight line. Clearly, she was that… conflicted about bringing up such a sensitive subject with one of her parents’ friends. What if he secretly hated her now? What if he never wanted to see her face again? With these thoughts weighing heavily on her mind, she slowly walked down the stairs to the first floor.

As she reached the first floor, her ears perked up somewhat as she saw Homunculus sitting with his back against the pillar he had appeared behind earlier. He turned his head to look at her and then stood up, turning around to face her completely and asked, “Any luck? Well?”

Twilight sighed and carefully said, “Okay, I give up. I’m convinced, I think. And… I’m grateful that you’re giving me another chance at life.”

Homunculus regarded her for a moment and then said, somewhat excitedly, “Now we’re talking, Twilight. I’m counting on you, you see. If you die, I’ll be in trouble too, you know.”

Twilight looked at him quizzically and then said, “I don’t really get it, but are you sure about this? I mean, all I’ve done so far is take care of myself.”

Homunculus replied, “But that’s all right. Sometimes that’s just the way things are supposed to be.” He then turned away and said, “As you can see, my body is very fragile and won’t let me do much.” He looked back at her over his shoulder and explained, “I picked up a baby the other day and it was really quite terrible. Absolutely exhausted me… I won’t ever do that again. So, because of all that, I can only provide you with some backup aid.” Twilight nodded, uncertainly, and then Homunculus said, “Oh, one more thing. I almost forgot. Do you remember that red stone you saw earlier?”

Twilight racked her brain for a moment before she realized what he was talking about and asked, “You mean that stone that was found at the café?”

Homunculus nodded, “That’s the one. I have a feeling you will see it again sometime. When you do, could you acquire it somehow? I would like you to give it to a pony named Dr. Wagner.” They were both silent for a moment and then Homunculus said, “That’s all for now. I’ll be seeing you.” He then stepped back behind the pillar and Twilight noticed a red light begin to creep up his legs. She quickly ran over to the pillar, but by the time she reached it, he had already disappeared. She looked around frantically, but there was no trace of him anywhere.

She was pulled back to reality when she heard Princess Celestia ask, “Twilight?” The lavender unicorn turned to see the sun princess standing at the top of the stairs. As she came down the rest of the way, Twilight dropped into a bow, but the princess said, “Rise, my faithful student. You bowed to me once already.” Twilight quickly climbed to her hooves as her mentor stood over her and asked, “Is everything all right? I heard a loud crash from Eckart’s office and then Spike told me he saw you come down here.”

Twilight carefully replied, “Well, um… That crash was from a falling vase. Mr. Brum accidentally knocked it over when I, uh…”

Celestia tilted her head to the side and asked, “When you what?”

Twilight said nothing for a moment before deciding that there was no point in trying to sugarcoat it and she looked down, quietly saying, “I asked him about his son.”

Princess Celestia was silent for a moment and then she slowly said, “I see.”

Twilight slumped to the floor and spoke in a sullen tone, “I don’t know what I was thinking. I should’ve known there was a reason for him not talking about his family much. I’m sure he hates me now…”

Princess Celestia placed a hoof on her student’s head and rubbed her softly, saying, “I’m sure he doesn’t hate you, Twilight. I’ve known Eckart for a long time and he has always been clear about how he feels about somepony whether he is talking to them or about them. If he didn’t say anything about how he felt, then nothing has changed between the two of you.”

Twilight looked up at her mentor and asked, “Really?”

Princess Celestia nodded, “Really. If I might be honest for a moment, Twilight, I’ve secretly been doing everything I can to help Eckart find his son since the day he went missing. Eckart believes he’s still alive and so do I. Unfortunately, I’ve had no luck in finding out who killed his wife or who took his son, even after all these years. But I haven’t given up yet; his son is out there somewhere, and I’m going to help him find him.”

Twilight stood up, Celestia taking her hoof back as she did, and said, “I understand, Princess. And thank you for talking to me.”

Celestia gave a small, warm smile as she said, “Of course, my faithful student.” She then extended a wing and turned, placing it on Twilight’s back as she said, “Come. Let’s go talk to Eckart, just to show you that he doesn’t hate you.”

Twilight nodded and walked next to her, both going back up to the second floor. Halfway up the stairs, though, she looked back at the spot where Homunculus had been standing and thought to herself, “What in Celestia’s name is going on around here?”

Meant to Be

Twilight and her friends and family walked out of an auction house, stepping out onto Canterlot’s streets as the mare who owned the house called, “Thank you for joining us today, Ms. Rarity! Come back soon!”

Rarity called back, “I’ll certainly try to, miss!” It had been a short while since they left the art museum, Twilight’s friends having enjoyed the trip and Twilight feeling better after talking to Eckart with Princess Celestia. Speaking of the princess, she left along with Princess Luna when everypony had looked around enough, needing to get back to the castle before their guards came looking for them. Before they left, Luna suggested that they should try to get together for dinner later, which everypony agreed to. Both princesses then took to the skies, flying back to the castle.

As visiting the art museum was the main thing they had wanted to get today, they were left with a couple of hours until it would be time to start thinking about dinner. So Rarity suggested they go to an auction to kill time. Although not everypony was particularly excited about this idea, nopony had a better idea, so they all agreed to it, walking around the city until they found a house where an auction was being held.

“Well, that was pretty pointless. Even without all that bidding, they didn’t really have anything that would be worth the prices they were asking for,” Rainbow Dash complained as she flapped her wings.

“True, but it was nice to see what they had, right? Some of the stuff they were auctioning is pretty hard to find,” Twilight shrugged.

“That’s one of the beauties of coming to this sort of thing, darling. There’s something quite uplifting about being a part of the crowd of ponies in an auction and seeing what’s being sold,” Rarity replied.

“Iffin’ ya say so, Sugarcube,” Applejack said.

They all began to walk down the street, heading away from the auction house. As they walked, Fluttershy looked up at the sky and noticed the gray clouds in the sky. “Oh my, it looks like it might start raining soon,” she pointed out to everypony.

Spike, who was walking next to Twilight, asked, “Guess we should’ve picked up the weather report for today, huh?”

Pinkie Pie giggled, “Aw, come on, Spikey! There’s nothing wrong with rain, especially not chocolate milk rain! I LOVED that! It’s too bad Discord was such a mean meanie pants because I would love having chocolate milk rain every now and then!”

Everypony looked at her for a moment before Rainbow Dash said, “Yeah, uh, I think we all kind of knew that already, Pinkie Pie. We should probably get going before it starts raining and we get soaked. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I don’t particularly want to get wet right now.”

Applejack mumbled, “This comin’ from the pony who ain’t got a problem dropping rain on anypony else, whether they want it or not.”

Twilight’s father spoke, “Okay girls, just follow us. You can all stay at our house until the rain lets up.”

Rainbow said, “Eh, I don’t think we’ll need the shelter. Those clouds don’t look like they’re going to open up anytime soon. I’m sure we can get back to our suites before it even thinks about…” As if on cue, a raindrop suddenly fell on the end of her muzzle. Then another landed on Applejack’s hat. Seconds later, a downpour had started. Everypony looked at Rainbow Dash with different expressions on their faces, who sheepishly said, “You know, your offer sounds pretty good right about now, Mr. Twilight.”

Twilight’s father shook his head at the name Dash had come to address him by and said, “Come on. We’re not too far.” With that, he turned and started running, his wife, Twilight, Spike, and the other ponies running after him (or in Rainbow’s case, flying after him).

As they continued running through the streets of Canterlot, Twilight started to get closer to the back of the group. Rarity was obviously running faster than normal to keep her mane from getting ruined, Pinkie Pie kept pace with the others just by hopping, both Fluttershy and Spike wanted to get out of the rain before it got worse, and Rainbow Dash and Applejack were just naturally suited to moving fast. She guessed she just didn’t have as good a reason for getting out of the rain as the others.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. If she had looked behind her, she might have noticed a pair of eyes watching her. She might have noticed a green glow that was steadily moving towards her while floating through the air. And she certainly would have noticed what was underneath the glow if she had been looking, especially when it came shooting at her, aiming for her back…

As she ran, Applejack glanced back to check on everypony and noticed they were short one pony. She skidded to a stop and turned around, doubling back and calling, “We lost track of Twilight! Ah’m gonna go find ‘er!” She then ran back up the street, following the path they had taken while looking for the lavender unicorn. She soon found the mare and her eyes went wide at what she saw.

Twilight was lying on her front on the street, not moving. In the center of her back was a knife, its blade firmly embedded in her skin. Applejack could already see red tears beginning to leak around the blade, staining Twilight’s saddlebags as they flowed freely. “TWILIGHT!” Applejack screamed, running towards her friend and praying to Celestia that this wasn’t actually happening.

________________________________________

Twilight sat with her back up against the head of the pony statue, looking down at the wooden floorboards with a downcast expression. Homunculus was watching her, looking down at her from up on top of the door frame. “Are you all right?” he queried.

Twilight sighed, “Not really. I got stabbed in the back once already. I can’t believe it happened again, even though I was with my friends and family…”

Homunculus said, “You know, being around other ponies isn’t the only way to avoid being stabbed to death.”

Twilight tore her gaze from the floor, looking around for a moment before looking up at the black pony sitting on top of the door frame and asking, “There are other ways?”

Homunculus nodded, “Sure. What about putting something like an iron plate under your saddlebags? And if you make good use of that, perhaps… Please, don’t get discouraged so easily. Remember, I’m counting on you.”

________________________________________

“Ah! Do you hear that? It sounds like an auction is going on in there right now! I knew we would find one!” Rarity exclaimed, gesturing to a house.

“I must say, Rarity, you really do know your way around here in Canterlot,” Twilight’s mother commented.

“Are you sure it’s safe in there, Rarity?” Fluttershy asked.

Rarity replied, “I’m positive, Fluttershy. And don’t worry; auctions can actually be quite exciting. I only wish I had time to go back to my suite and put on something a little more appropriate.”

Applejack sighed, “Look Rarity, y'all suggested this as a way to kill time, and that’s what we’re here ta do. Ah’m sure they won’t mind if ya don’t look yer fanciest. Ah doubt anything’s gonna show up that any o’ us will want, but even if somethin’ does, I’m sure nopony’s gonna mind.”

Dash said, “Yeah, Applejack’s right. Let’s just go in and see what all the fuss is about.” She then turned to look at Pinkie Pie and added, “Hopefully without causing an ACTUAL fuss.” The pink pony merely smiled back at the cyan pegasus, seemingly oblivious to what she was implying. With that, they walked up to the doors of the house and Rarity knocked. They were greeted by a butler, who, upon recognizing Rarity, allowed them to enter.

Inside the house, they stayed near the back at Rarity’s insistence, as the white unicorn didn’t want to make her presence known just yet. As they all settled in, the auctioneer introduced the next item for sale: a small sculpture depicting a unicorn mare displaying a powerful burst of magic (Twilight could swear that the sculpture looked a bit like her). The ponies in the audience talked amongst themselves for a bit before they all started to place their bids, the group watching as the offers began to pile up.

As the auction continued, everypony but Rarity began to lose interest in watching the upper class ponies bid for items. Even Fluttershy (who was letting Spike lean against her leg while he took a nap) and Pinkie Pie looked a little bored. They might have joined in, of course, but nothing was really grabbing anypony’s attention.

Eventually, Twilight glanced back at her left saddlebag, remembering the book Eckart had lent her. “Maybe nopony will mind if I give it a quick little peek,” she thought to herself, levitating it out and bringing it up to her face. As she flipped it open, something fell out between the pages, Twilight noticing it as it landed on the floor. She used her magic to pick it up and examined it, finding it to be a black-and-white photo. “The pony in this picture looks like Mr. Brum. And those two must be his children,” she thought to herself. She then slid it back between the pages of the book, closing it and putting the book back in her saddlebag.

Almost as soon as she slid the book back inside her bag, she noticed a now-familiar glow coming from her other saddlebag: the Z-pad. She glanced around and noticed that most of her friends were currently paying only minimal attention to the auction and probably wouldn’t notice if she disappeared for a little while. She leaned over to Rarity and whispered, “It’s a little stuffy in here. I’m going to step outside for a bit, okay?”

Rarity replied, without taking her eyes off the auction, “Sure, sure. If they don’t let you back in, just wait there. We’ll come find you when the auction is over.” Twilight nodded and then whispered the same thing to her parents, both of them telling her not to go too far if she couldn’t get back in.

As she stepped into the adjacent room, Twilight absently wondered if time traveling would count as ‘going too far’. She then glanced around, noticing that the room was empty. The butler was probably near the front door, just in case anypony else came knocking. “I can probably get away with performing a time travel in here,” she thought, taking one last look around just to be sure. Seeing nopony else around, she summoned the Z-pad from her bag and examined it, finding that she could now visit a time she had not been to before. “This is about a hundred years ago… What will I find here?” she wondered with a slight excitement as she pressed her horn up against the Z-pad, lifting off the ground a moment later and disappearing after a green time travel bubble surrounded her.

________________________________________

Twilight’s bubble faded and her hooves touched solid ground, her knees bending for a moment before she stood up straight again. She looked around; she was standing outside of the auction house, but she could clearly tell she had arrived at her destination: there was snow on the ground, although there were no Hearth’s Warming decorations up anywhere she looked. In her time, Ponyville’s Winter Wrap Up had already come and gone.

“I only looked at the year I was traveling out to. I guess I landed in the middle of winter in this time,” she murmured to herself. She then shivered and added, “Make that a cold winter.” Holding back a sneeze, she thought, “I guess I’ll look around and see what’s different before I decide what to do next.” She then started walking through the city, noting that the walk would help warm her up a little.

As she walked around the city, she noticed that Canterlot was still developing into the Canterlot it would eventually be in her time. It was definitely bigger than that of Lucian’s time, but it still had a ways to go. She saw a lot of tents pitched while she walked, something she didn’t see a lot of in her time. She also noticed, at one point, a sign dangling from a pole in front of a photo shop. “That sign looks pretty thick. Maybe the owner of that shop should opt for something a little less thick if they decide to replace it,” she thought as she passed by.

Her wanderings eventually brought her to the former squire’s manor house, which she figured was an art museum now. Standing on the path leading up to it was a light blue unicorn stallion with a black-gray mane and tail. She couldn’t see his cutie mark because he was wearing a suit top, but she was sure she knew who he was. She couldn’t see his face, due to his back being turned to her, but she guessed that he was the pony she had seen in the picture. She trotted up to his side and, when he didn’t notice her, gave a small cough. That seemed to snap the stallion back to reality, for he turned his head to look at her and spoke, “O-oh… Yes?” At this point, she could see he had a mustache much like the one she had grown on Spike’s face when she had been testing her magic.

Twilight said, “Hi. Do you work at this museum?”

The stallion turned to face her and asked, “Museum?”

Twilight blinked, “What? This building is…?”

The stallion turned to look up at the building, saying, “This? This is my home. We’ve been here for generations, as the descendents of the Princess’ former squire, but now…” His voice then took on a mournful tone as he continued, “First it was my parents, now my wife, all in such short time. That leaves just myself and the two children in this castle of a house. You’re right; it’s too large for just the three of us. Perhaps it ought to be a museum, just as you say.”

Twilight lowered her head and murmured, “I’m sorry…”

The stallion turned to look at her again and said, “No, no, I didn’t mean that as sarcasm. Don’t be offended.” Twilight raised her head to look up at him as he went on, “Actually, I’m grateful for the advice.” He then turned his head to look at the building again and continued, “To tell you the truth, I’d been thinking that I should just get rid of this house – too many memories of my wife to bring me sorrow.” He looked back at Twilight and then up at the sky before saying, “But a museum… that’s something I hadn’t thought of.” He then looked down and added, “Maybe a good thing, a museum. Perhaps this is meant to be.”

Twilight asked, “You really think so?”

The stallion looked back at her and said, “It’s certainly a good idea. There are enough pictures in that collection of my forbearers. It seems he had an artist he favored.”

Twilight tilted her head to the side, “An artist? You mean Horn Kraft?”

The stallion looked at her in surprise, “Yes, how did you know that?” He then looked at her funny and asked, “Are you checking into this house? I don’t remember telling anypony that it was for sale yet.”

Twilight took a step back and said, “No, no, that’s not... Please don’t misunderstand. It’s just that I happen to like Horn Kraft’s paintings, and it’s not like – you know…”

The stallion seemed to relax at her words. He then said, “Well, all right then. I’ve made up my mind. I’ll…” He turned to look back up at the building and said, “I’ll turn a part of this building into a private museum, put up that old anti-magic ward, and open the collection of paintings to the public. That way, I can take care of the children while I work…” He then glanced over at Twilight and added, “Besides, I know there’s at least one admirer of Horn Kraft’s work. All right, that’s what I’ll do! I owe you many thanks.” He then took a step closer to Twilight and said, “By the way, allow me to introduce myself, if somewhat belatedly. My name is Alfred.”

Twilight smiled, “Nice to meet you. I’m Twilight.”

Alfred nodded, “I’m grateful to you, Twilight. Princess Celestia will surely be pleased to hear about this.” Twilight gave a nervous chuckle at that, remembering what her mentor had mentioned about the museum. Alfred gestured to the building, saying, “Come inside, we’ll have tea or something.”

Twilight nodded, “Okay.” She then followed him up the slope and into his house.

When they stepped inside, Alfred pointed to a door on the right wall and said, “You can wait in there. I need to fetch my daughter, Sibylla.” Twilight nodded and walked over to the door, opening it and stepping inside the room. Alfred then walked over to the door on the opposite wall, pulling it open and stepping inside.

Almost immediately after he stepped through the door, his daughter, a young unicorn filly with a red-black coat and brown mane and tail, held up a hoof and whispered, “Shh!”

Alfred looked next to her and noticed that her baby brother was asleep, his chest moving up and down softly. “Oh, sorry!” he whispered.

Sibylla spoke softly, “He’s just gone to sleep, finally.”

Alfred replied, in an equally soft tone of voice, “All right, then. Come out by yourself, Sibylla. Will you please make tea for our guest?”

Sibylla rolled her eyes and stood up, murmuring, “…If I must.” She then followed her father out of the room and then headed for the kitchen to start boiling the water for the tea.

A Sign of Her Passage

Sibylla stepped out of the kitchen while carrying a tray with a teapot and a cup on it in her mouth and walked over to an adjacent door, turning around and backing up to get it open. She turned around when it was open far enough and walked into the family room, walking over to the coffee table that both Alfred and Twilight were sitting at, Alfred sitting on a couch next to the table and Twilight sitting across from where Sibylla set the tray down. “Here you go,” she said as soon as she took her mouth off the tray, her front hooves up on the table so she could reach it.

Alfred nodded, “Ah, thank you for the tea, dear. Oh yes, I should tell my sweet Sibylla. I’ve decided to turn this house into a museum. What do you think?”

Sibylla looked over the table at Twilight, who looked back at her quietly, and then back at her father and said, “Whatever you decide is always good enough for me.”

Alfred replied, “Thank you. I was a little afraid that you would object.”

Sibylla shook her head, “Oh, it’s much, much better than selling this house.”

Alfred chuckled, “I see. I’m sorry I made you worry that much.” He then sat up straight as he said, “I know! Let’s have a photograph taken.” At Sibylla’s confused look, he explained, “If we’re going to start a museum, we’ll need to renovate. We’ll all get a picture taken with the house before then.”

Twilight glanced down at her saddlebags as Alfred stood up, which were sitting on the floor next to her. “A photo of them with the house before it was renovated? That must be the picture that Eckart left in that book,” she realized.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when Alfred addressed her, “Please join us, Twilight. There’s no time like the present.”

Twilight refrained from making any kind of reaction towards that last bit and replied, “Uh, okay.”

Alfred nodded and looked over at Sibylla, saying, “I’ll fetch the photographer this instant.”

Sibylla asked, “You’re going to get Mr. Shoot? Isn’t it too early for him to be open?”

Twilight tilted her head to the side, “Mr. Shoot?”

Alfred looked back at her and said, “Photo Shoot, the local photographer. He’s descended from the painter Horn Kraft. Maybe that’s why he became a photographer. He’s a good friend of mine. I can count on him to come if I need him. Just wait a little while; he’ll be here in no time.” He then walked over to Sibylla and said, “Sibylla, you hold the fort. And watch the baby, please?”

Sibylla gave him a quick peck on the cheek and replied, “Of course.” Alfred nuzzled her back and then stood up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. After a few seconds, Sibylla turned and jumped on the couch and looked at Twilight, asking, “Did you persuade father? Not to sell the house?”

Twilight answered, “No, I didn’t do anything like that. This is something your father decided himself.”

Sibylla replied, “Oh, I see. I’m just awfully glad that the house won’t be sold.” Her horn then lit up a light blue as she used a weak telekinesis to move the tray over to Twilight. The lavender unicorn nodded in thanks and used her own magic to lift the cup to her lips, taking a slow sip. While she was doing that, Sibylla looked down at Twilight’s saddlebags and noticed a seam loose on one of them. “Oh? It’s coming undone here,” she said, gesturing to her right saddlebag.

Twilight looked at the filly, then down at her saddlebags and levitated them up, examining them. “Oh, you’re right, Sibylla,” she said.

Sibylla walked to the edge of the couch and said, “Here, let me! I’ll mend that for you.”

Twilight replied, a little shakily, “Uh, thanks, but that’s okay. It doesn’t look too bad.”

Sibylla hopped off the couch and walked up to Twilight, pressing her front hooves against the lavender unicorn’s side and saying, “Don’t worry! I may look little, but I can do anything.” When Twilight looked down at her with a raised eyebrow, she admitted, “Well, anything except cooking, that is.”

Twilight asked, “Have you sewed before?”

Sibylla nodded, “Uh-huh!” She then got down on all fours and gestured to the other side of the room, saying, “See that? That’s for father to wear in the festival coming up.” Twilight looked where she was indicating. Draped over the back of a chair was a white sheet; it didn’t exactly look like Rarity herself had done the work, but from where she was sitting, Twilight could tell that it was put together rather well. Sibylla noticed Twilight’s examining look and said, “I sewed that, so don’t be shy.”

Twilight thought for a moment before saying, “Well… okay. Just let me empty everything out first.” Setting her cup of tea back down, she walked over to the other side of the room with her saddlebags and emptied everything in them out onto the couch, making sure to cover the Z-pad and the book. She then levitated them back over to Sibylla, who took them with her own magic.

After she let go, Twilight’s nose twitched and she sneezed, managing to cover her mouth with a hoof before she did. Sibylla asked, “Are you cold? If you are, you can put that costume over you. I’ll be done soon.” Twilight nodded and, after making sure none of her bag’s contents were going anywhere, walked over to the sheet and levitated it up.

A couple minutes later, Sibylla bit down on the thread she was using, snapping it and finishing her sewing. “There, finished,” she said. She hopped down off the couch and walked over to the other side of the room with Twilight’s saddlebags floating next to her. When she saw Twilight with the white sheet over her and the mask that went with it on, she giggled, “You sure look funny with that on.”

Twilight, her voice a bit muffled by the mask, replied, “I had a feeling you’d say that.”

Sibylla said, “I think it suits you. You should wear it for the picture!”

Twilight brought up a hoof and pulled the mask off and said, “You know, that’s not a bad idea. All right, I will wear it.” She then remembered what she was supposed to be doing and looked at her saddlebags, asking, “You said you were done?”

The young filly nodded, “Mm-hmm! What do you think?” She levitated the bags over to Twilight, who took them with her own magic.

The lavender unicorn looked over the spot where the seam had come undone carefully for a minute before looking back at Sibylla and smiling, “Wow, you did a great job here, Sibylla!”

Sibylla smiled back, “Thank you!”

Twilight then asked, “Say, do you think your father will be back soon?”

Sibylla replied, “I don’t know. Why?”

Twilight said, “Well, I just remembered that I have something I need to do in Canterlot. It shouldn’t take long, but I don’t want to keep your father waiting.”

Sibylla replied, “Oh, I’m sure he won’t mind.”

Twilight asked, “Really?” Sibylla nodded, so Twilight said, “Okay, if you’re sure.” She then levitated the sheet off of her and put her saddlebags back on. She then levitated everything she had off the couch and took several minutes to organize and put everything back where it used to be. She then headed towards the door, calling, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.” She then walked outside, heading back into the city.

After walking around and retracing her steps for a few minutes, Twilight eventually found herself back in front of the photo shop she had passed earlier. She looked up at the sign that was dangling from the pole. From where she was standing, she could probably leap up and grab it with her mouth. As she looked up at it, she overheard Alfred talking with Photo Shoot, “That sign of yours looks like it could fall off at any time, Shoot. You really should get it fixed.”

She heard Photo Shoot reply, “I know, Alfred. Don’t worry; I’m already planning to replace it with something a little less heavy. That’s part of the reason I’ve been having so much trouble with it. It’s a good sign, but it’s just not cutting it anymore. If it falls and somepony wants it, they can have it.”

Twilight looked back up at the sign and thought, “Well, if that’s the case, it should be okay for me to take it.” After a moment, she bent her knees and leapt up, grabbing the sign with her teeth. She almost slipped when she landed, but she managed to stay up. She then levitated the sign out of her mouth and examined it. “This certainly looks like an iron plate. It could work,” she thought. She then placed it in her right saddlebag and trotted away from the photo shop, going back to Alfred’s house.

A few minutes later, she crested the hill in front of the house and walked up to the front doors, using her magic to pull them open. She then pulled them closed after she walked inside and headed straight for the family room. Sibylla looked up as she walked in and asked, “Oh, finished with your errand already?”

Twilight nodded, “Yeah, I took care of it. Sorry about that.”

Sibylla spoke, “Ooh! Will you put that costume back on for the picture? Please, please!”

Twilight glanced over at the sheet, then back at Sibylla and nodded, “Okay.” She levitated her saddlebags off, placing them behind the chair, and levitated the sheet back on, letting the hood hang back for the moment.

Not long afterwards, they both heard Photo Shoot call, “It’s all set! Everypony, come out to the front! We’re ready!”

Sibylla slid off the couch, saying, “Come on!” Twilight grabbed the mask for the costume with her magic and headed for the door, where Sibylla was waiting for her. The young filly said, “You go on ahead. I have to go get my baby brother.” Twilight nodded and headed for the front doors while Sibylla went across the hall.

Several minutes later…

“All right – hold still please!” Photo Shoot said as he held up the flash-lamp. At his words, Alfred made sure his suit was straight, Sibylla secured her hoof around her brother, and Twilight moved closer to Sibylla. Seconds later, the camera sent an electrical current to the flash-lamp, producing the flash as the camera took the picture.

Alfred stepped towards Photo Shoot a second later, saying, “Thank you very much. Sorry I dragged you out of bed.”

Sibylla looked up at Twilight and said, “Thank you to you too. You can change back now.” She then walked inside the house, taking her baby brother inside.

Twilight watched her for a moment, then took the mask off and said, “That’s right. I should go get my bags.” She was distracted by Alfred calling her over for a minute, but she soon headed back inside to go take the costume off.

Sibylla was sitting in the family room when she walked in, the little filly looking up at the sound of her hoofsteps. When she saw it was Twilight, she asked, “Oh? I thought you took the costume off already?”

Twilight blinked, “What? Oh, no, not yet; your father wanted to talk for a minute.” She then levitated the costume off and put the mask back where she found it. She then picked up her saddlebags; as she was levitating them over, the sign she had picked up earlier fell out.

Sibylla looked down at it and then back up at Twilight and asked, “That sign… do you always carry it around?”

Twilight picked it up with her magic and said, “Oh, that. It’s a long story…” Instead of putting it away, she levitated it next to her as she headed for the door. Before she walked out, she stopped and looked back at Sibylla, saying, “I’m sorry, but I have something I need to do. So – see you soon.”

As she turned to go, Sibylla said, “Come again soon. Oh, and uh, you can use that key as much as you want.”

Twilight stopped in mid-step and looked back at her, asking, “Huh?”

Sibylla replied, “I saw you.”

Twilight looked even more confused at that. “What are you talking about?” she asked.

Sibylla asked, “What’s the matter? You have to go somewhere, right? You shouldn’t be late.”

Twilight blinked and then said, “Oh, that’s right. It wouldn’t be good if… anyway, see you.” She then turned her head back around and walked out of the family room. She then headed for the front doors, but stopped before she opened them. “No, I should go back to the present from here where other ponies can’t see me,” she murmured. After making sure Sibylla wasn’t looking, she placed the sign underneath the strap on her back. She then summoned the Z-pad and set it to take her back to the present.

________________________________________

Twilight landed on solid ground and she immediately looked around. She was back in the auction house, back in the same spot she had time traveled from. Thankfully, there was no one else in the room at the moment, so she didn’t have to explain how she appeared out of nowhere. She then heard the auctioneer call out the last item of the auction and, after making sure that the sign was still on her back and wouldn’t fall off easily, she walked back inside and joined her family and friends. All of them seemed to perk up when she returned, except for Rarity who was still focused on the auction.

As the bidding started, Applejack leaned over to Twilight and whispered, “Where were you, Sugarcube? Ya just about missed the whole auction.”

Twilight whispered back, “Sorry Applejack. I thought it was kind of stuffy in here, so I went outside for a bit.”

Applejack replied, “Well, Ah can’t argue with that, what with all the fancy perfumes drifting ‘round the room. Shoulda taken me with ya, though; Ah’ve been tryin’ not to fall asleep here!”

Twilight shrugged, “Sorry…”

Applejack whispered, “Aw, don’t worry about it none, Twilight. Ah ain’t mad at you.” The two of them then turned back to the auction, realizing that the auctioneer was finalizing the bid for the picture being displayed. Not long afterwards, it was sold to the lucky pony that was willing to pay such a handsome price for it.

Not long afterwards, the owner of the house ushered everypony out of her house, telling Rarity to visit again sometime as she and the others left. Once again (for Twilight at least), it started to rain as they walked away from the house and they all broke out into a run, heading for Twilight’s parents’ house. Twilight stayed near the back of the group, partly due to her not running very fast to make sure she didn’t accidentally drop the sign.

Suddenly, she heard a *THUNK* behind her and, on reflex, lowered her head. Good thing she did, too; seconds later, a knife went flying over her head, just narrowly missing hitting her elsewhere and disappearing into the shadows. She looked back over her shoulder, but there was nopony there; a quick glance forward revealed that her friends seemingly didn’t hear the sound. “I guess they wouldn’t. I mean, the only reason I heard it was because it was right behind me,” she thought as she kept running.

Soon enough, everypony reached Twilight’s parents’ house and hurried inside. The rain had gotten worse while they were running and they were all soaked. “Oh, my hair is ruined!” Rarity moaned as she looked at her mane, dripping wet and hanging down along the sides of her head.

Dash groaned, “Oh great, here she goes again.”

Twilight’s mother spoke, “Rarity, why don’t you go upstairs and fix your hair in our bathroom? It’s just up the stairs and down the hall to the left.”

Rarity squeaked, “Oh, thank you so much, Mrs. Sparkle! I simply must correct this disaster as soon as possible!” With that, she raced up to the second floor of the house and, seconds later, they all heard the sound of a door slamming.

Applejack sighed, “Well, that’s fine fer her and all, but the rest o’ us are still wet.”

Twilight suggested, “I could go get some towels from the linen closet upstairs.”

Her father said, “That would be nice, dear. Be sure to drop your saddlebags off in your room so they can dry off.” Twilight nodded and then went up the same stairs Rarity used to get to the second floor.

Before heading for the linen closet, Twilight walked into her room and dropped her saddlebags off by her desk. As she took them off, the sign fell off of her back and she looked down at it as it hit the floor. She then looked back at her saddlebags and noticed a small tear where the knife had hit. She looked back down at the sign and picked it up with her magic and looked at it, saying, “This sign… it saved me.”

As she put it back in her saddlebag, her eyes fell on the book Eckart had given her and she pulled it out, opening it and examining the picture inside. As she suspected, the picture had changed; now there was a pony dressed in a familiar looking costume standing next to Sibylla. “That’s me, right? I look just like that pony that was in the square earlier,” she murmured.

She suddenly heard a familiar voice behind her, “That pony IS you.” She whirled around to see Homunculus standing in her room. He continued, “Well, not you exactly. That Twilight Sparkle was from a different time.”

Any sort of anger the lavender unicorn felt at the black pony’s sudden appearance in her room was replaced by confusion. “What do you mean? How was that me?” she asked.

Homunculus explained, “I mean that you were stabbed to death because you didn’t have that sign, and decided to find something that you could use to protect yourself before the appointed time of death. Then you decided to travel back in time to an earlier point in time to tell yourself about the danger you would eventually be in.”

Twilight blinked slowly as she considered the pony’s words, thinking about what he was telling her. She then asked, “So you’re saying that…” she held a hoof up to her chest, “I was trying to warn… me?”

Homunculus nodded, “Something like that, Twilight. But it didn’t work out as planned. You didn’t get the message, but you escaped your death by finding that sign. If you hadn’t had it, you would have tried to alert your past self, or perhaps you would have found something else like that sign to use. That’s all there is to it. So…” Before Twilight could say anything, he disappeared in a flash of red light.

Not that Twilight had much to say at the moment. The black pony had told her a lot and she wasn’t sure that she could ever possibly understand it. She lowered her hoof and looked down, murmuring, “Wow…”

She was broken out of her stupor when she heard Spike yell, “Hey Twilight! Where are those towels?!”

Twilight squeaked and quickly stuck the picture back between the pages of the book before sliding it back inside her saddlebag. She then left her room, calling down, “Sorry! I’ll be right down!” She then headed for the linen closet, passing the bathroom on her way. She could hear Rarity humming some sort of tune as she passed by. She pulled the closet door open and, after several seconds of looking, pulled out several towels. She then glanced down the hall and called, “Rarity! Do you need a towel too?”

The white unicorn called back, “If you can spare one, then that would be lovely, darling!” Twilight nodded and looked back inside the closet, pulling out a nice looking towel for Rarity. As she walked past the bathroom, she knocked on the door and held the towel out in front of it. A second later, the door opened a crack and a white hoof reached out and snatched the towel out of the air, Rarity saying, “Thank you” as she pulled the door closed.

Twilight shook her head as she started heading back downstairs. “I need to be a little more careful. I don’t want my friends and parents to find out and get attacked too. I think it would be best if I could figure this out by myself,” she thought as she started down the stairs with her stack of towels.

Research

Twilight’s father looked out the window in the kitchen and smiled at the fact that it had stopped raining. He then turned to his wife and said, “Looks like we won’t have to worry about getting wet again on the way to the castle. I’m sure Twilight and her friends will like that, especially after being cooped up inside for so long.”

Twilight’s mother nodded, “It seems about the right time to start thinking about dinner too. I’ll go round up the girls.” She walked into the living room and looked around.

Applejack was leaning back in a chair, her hat tilted down over her face as she closed her eyes. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were both using the coffee table, Pinkie Pie writing something (most likely either plans for a big ‘going back to Ponyville’ party or a list of pranks) in a notebook she pulled out of thin air while Rarity was having tea, Spike standing nearby with a teapot ready to refill her cup at any time. Fluttershy was flying around the room with an adorable feather duster in her mouth, dusting all the nooks and crannies that would normally be overlooked.

Twilight’s mother spoke, getting the attention of everypony in the room, “How is everypony doing? Starting to get hungry?”

Applejack tilted her hat up and said, “Ah sure am!”

Pinkie Pie grinned, “Me too! My stomach’s started making all these grumbly noises! It wants to be fed!”

Fluttershy smiled, “Dinner sounds like a wonderful idea, Mrs. Sparkle.”

Rarity nodded, “Oh, I most certainly agree!”

Twilight’s mother looked around the room again and asked, “Where’s Rainbow Dash?”

Spike said, “Upstairs with Twilight. She got bored quickly, so I think she went to go bother Twilight for fun.”

Rarity turned to him and asked, “Spike, would you be a dear and go ask them if they’re hungry? We most certainly do not want to keep the princesses waiting after they made such a generous offer!”

Spike stood up straight and said, “Absolutely, Rarity!” He then ran towards the stairs leading to the second floor of the house, heading for Twilight’s room.

As Spike had said, Rainbow Dash was with Twilight in her room, but she wasn’t teasing the lavender unicorn. Instead, she was lying on Twilight’s bed, reading one of the many books that Twilight had in her old library. She was rather focused on what she was reading, only occasionally looking up and/or talking to Twilight. The aforementioned lavender unicorn was over by her desk, Eckart’s book resting on the desk in front of her. Her eyes skimmed over the pages, taking in all the information the book had to offer.

“The science of Alchemy has two central projects of great importance. One is the synthesis of the ‘elixir of life’, that which would free ponykind from all ills of the body. The other is an amalgam purely scientific in nature – the creation of a ‘Homunculus’ – an Artificial Life. Both require as their central ingredient a red stone known as the Philosopher’s Stone…”

Twilight looked up from the book for a moment, remembering Dante and the last time she had seen him. She remembered the red stone he had been trying to return, a stone that didn’t belong to anypony who had been at the café during his shift. Twilight muttered to herself, “The Philosopher’s Stone? That couldn’t be… could it? But I always thought…” She shook her head and looked back down at the book, taking a moment to find her place before continuing.

“…Here we shall briefly examine the life of Lenore Wagner, whose alchemical prowess was known throughout Equestria. Though born in impoverished conditions, she became the ward of wealthy kin after her prodigious intellect was recognized, and eventually pursued studies in Medicine and Theology at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Following this period, she is said to have turned down an offer to study under the Princess herself and instead made her living as an apothecary while pursuing the science of Alchemy.”

“However, what secured her lasting fame was no doubt the manner in which she met her end. Amid rumors of her engagement in an experiment of great magnitude and duration, Dr. Wagner’s house was shaken by a thunderous explosion, and the alchemist herself was never seen again. It is often said that a no more fitting end could have been imagined for a magus such as she.”

Twilight looked up from the book and murmured, “Hmm… That sounds kind of suspicious.”

Suddenly she heard a knock on her door, followed by Spike calling, “Twilight! Rainbow Dash!”

Both Twilight and Rainbow looked over at the door, Rainbow flying over to open it while Twilight closed her book. She then walked over to Rainbow Dash’s side as she said, “Hey Spike! What’s up?”

The baby dragon replied, “Twilight’s mom sent me to check up on you two. Are either of you starting to get hungry?”

Rainbow Dash grinned, “You bet! I’m starved!”

Twilight glanced back over her shoulder, looking out the window to see that the sun would be setting in an hour or two, then back at Spike and said, “I could use a little food myself.” She then smiled to herself, “I guess that’s a good sign.”

Rainbow Dash, having overheard what Twilight said, looked over at the unicorn funny and asked, “What’s a good sign?”

Twilight looked back at her in surprise, not realizing that she had said that loud enough for the pegasus to hear, and then down at Spike, who was raising an eyebrow at her. She stuttered, “Oh, uh, you know, being hungry. That’s a sign that I didn’t… get lost in my studying like I usually do. That’s good, right?”

The two of them continued to look at her oddly for a moment, Spike eventually saying, “Uh, okay then. Maybe you can try to do that more often?”

Twilight giggled, “I’ll try, Spike.” Seemingly satisfied with that response, Spike and Rainbow Dash dropped the issue and headed for the stairs, Twilight following them after returning the book to her saddlebags and putting them on. As she went down the stairs, she sighed to herself.

Twilight soon caught up with Rainbow Dash and Spike, everypony meeting in the living room. Twilight’s mother noticed her daughter’s saddlebags and asked, “Twilight, do you really need to bring your saddlebags with you? We’re just going to have dinner with the princesses, after all.”

Twilight replied, “I know, mom. I just… want to be ready in case I need anything.”

Her father said, “All right, if you say so, dear. Let’s get going, then. We’re a ways away from the castle, so we’d better get going.”

Before anypony could move, there was a knock at the front door. Twilight said, “I’ll get it.” She walked to the front door and used her magic to open it. As soon as it swung open, she gasped, “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!” She immediately stepped back far enough for the royal sisters to enter before dropping into a bow, everypony else doing the same as they entered.

Princess Celestia spoke, “Rise, my little ponies. There is no need for such formalities.”

As she rose, Fluttershy meekly asked, “Why are you and Luna here, Princess? Are we having dinner here?”

Celestia replied, “Not unless you want to. Luna was actually hoping we could eat at one of the local restaurants for a change of pace. How does that sound?”

Pinkie Pie cheered, “That sounds super, Princess! I bet Lunie will TOTALLY love the food they offer around Canterlot!”

Princess Luna smiled, “Is that so? We… I certainly look forward to finding out for myself.”

Princess Celestia looked back towards the front door and said, “Guards, you may return to your posts now.” The pegasus guards outside the door protested a bit, but they eventually agreed to the sun princess’ order and returned to the castle. Everypony stepped out of Twilight’s parents’ house afterwards, beginning to walk through the streets of Canterlot.

After walking around for a short while, they decided to go to the restaurant that had been on fire earlier in the day at Applejack’s suggestion. Of course, the waitress got a bit panicky when the princesses and their entourage walked in, but managed to calm down and show them to a table big enough for all of them, giving them their menus before walking away. After looking over their menus for a minute, everypony decided what they were getting. Twilight decided to try the special while everypony else got something else. Several minutes after the waitress took their order, she came back with a large tray holding their food. Everypony immediately began to dig in while talking to each other, none of them aware that something extra had been sprinkled onto Twilight’s food…

As the meal and conversation continued, Pinkie Pie accidentally spilled a drink on Rarity, the fashionable pony complaining about getting her mane and coat wet before walking out of the restaurant, heading for the little filly’s room to wash up. She returned some time later and rejoined the conversation. Later, as they were finishing up with their meal, Twilight excused herself so she could use the bathroom herself.

She stepped out of the bathroom a few minutes later and started walking for the front doors of the restaurant to rejoin everypony. Just as she was about to round the corner, she heard a voice coming from her right, “Hello Twilight, how are things going? Have you found anything out?” She turned to see Homunculus sitting with his back up against the side of the restaurant. He stood up and turned to face her, saying, “That’s an interesting book you have there.”

Twilight glanced back at her saddlebag and levitated the black book out. After looking at it for a moment, she looked at Homunculus and said, “It certainly is. Do you want to look at it?”

The black earth pony took a step back while saying, “Ugh, no! Please keep it away from me. I… I don’t like that symbol on the cover.”

Twilight brought the book down in front of her and examined it, asking, “What, this? You don’t like this pentagram design?” She looked back at him and said, “You’re kind of strange.”

Homunculus replied, “Well, of course I am. In any case, I’m familiar with the contents of that book. Dr. Wagner, who is mentioned in the book, had two children, and the younger of the two is a very significant figure to you.”

Twilight tilted her head to the side, asking, “Significant figure? You mean like an ancestor or something?”

Homunculus gave a short chuckle and said, “But you see, the Z-pad is drawn to that age because of the link, whatever it is.” He then turned around and glanced back at her over his shoulder as he said, “Please, don’t forget the red stone. I’m looking for it too, but I believe you are the one who is fated to acquire it. Getting your hooves on it will be a step towards avoiding your own death as well.” Twilight looked down at the ground at that, and Homunculus took the opportunity to disappear, adding, “Remember that, Twilight…”

The mysterious pony was already gone by the time Twilight looked up again. She looked around in confusion before muttering, “Great, he gives me another hint and then he’s gone. He’s really making this a one-sided kind of relationship.” She then looked back at the book as she murmured, “Me, and the age this book talks about… what’s the connection?”

Before she could ponder this further, her magic suddenly cut off and the book fell to the ground as her knees buckled under her. She remained standing, but she couldn’t seem to muster up enough strength to stand up straight, feeling unusually weak at the moment. She raised her right front hoof and pressed it to her forehead as she murmured, “What the…? Ooh, am I… tired or something…?” She lowered her hoof to the ground a moment later as she tried to get her bearings, but it was like the world was out of focus for her. All of her senses seemed to be going numb.

As Twilight began to wobble, Rarity walked out of the restaurant and spotted her friend. “Twilight, what are you doing? Were you talking to somepony just now?” she asked. Twilight heard the white unicorn and turned to face her. Rarity immediately looked concerned at the way Twilight’s body was swaying and her half-closed eyes. “Twilight…?” she ventured. Twilight tried to take a step towards her, but her knees gave out and she fell forward. “TWILIGHT!” Rarity screamed, rushing forward and catching her friend in her forelegs, the unicorn twitching slightly before going still as the others rushed out at the sound of Rarity’s scream.

________________________________________

Twilight once again sat with her back up against the pony statue head, looking down at the floorboards with a melancholy expression. All this dying was really depressing, and she didn’t even know what killed her this time. Homunculus, who was sitting on top of the door frame, seemed to sense her thoughts and asked, “Do you know what you died of?”

Twilight seemed to perk up somewhat at the sound of his voice and turned her head to look up at him, asking, “No, what?”

Homunculus replied, “It was poison. Probably from the sea hare. It uses the female of a type of sea slug as the basic raw material… you can control the rapidity of the effect and the intensity of symptoms by how you blend it. I’d say that was the culprit, but you‘ll need to look into the details yourself. Celestia’s guards would likely get suspicious if came anywhere near the castle without her; why don’t you try the local library? Oops, I guess it’s the art museum now…” He then disappeared as he said, “See you around.”

Twilight looked down at the floor again as she murmured, “‘I guess it’s the art museum now’? What does that mean?”

________________________________________

“OH! Pinkie Pie!” Rarity screamed after the party pony lost her grip on her drink and it got into her coat and mane. Twilight looked over at her friend and then down at her plate, realizing she had eaten more than half of her food and most likely ingested the poison as well.

“Oops! Sorry, Rarity!” Pinkie Pie said while trying to put on an innocent smile.

“Oh, for crying out loud in the morning…” Rarity muttered under her breath as she excused herself, walking out of the restaurant to get to the bathroom.

Princess Luna said, “My, I didn’t know Lady Rarity could get so upset.”

Applejack turned to her and grinned, “Oh, that’s nothin’, yer highness. Y’all shoulda seen her when her hair got wet earlier!”

Twilight stood up from the table and said, “Now that you mention it, Applejack, I think I’ll go see if she needs any help. You remember how long it took her to dry and restyle her hair after getting it wet.”

Pinkie Pie nodded, “Oh yeah, I thought she’d NEVER leave the bathroom! I was hopping up and down on two hooves waiting for her to get done!”

As Twilight grabbed her saddlebags with her magic, Rainbow Dash turned to Pinkie and said, “Uh, Pinkie Pie, you hop up and down on two hooves, like, all the time. What’s the big deal?” Twilight quickly left the table before the pink earth pony could start babbling about what she normally did and didn’t do. Spike watched her as she left the restaurant, wondering about earlier.

When Twilight reached the bathroom, she found Rarity standing over the sink, trying to get the hairs in her mane to go back to the way she liked them. From the look of things, she’d already dried both her coat and her mane. Twilight glanced back at her saddlebags, knowing that the Z-pad was flashing at her, before turning back to Rarity and asking, “Uh, Rarity? Do you need any help?”

Rarity finally seemed to notice her fellow unicorn when she spoke and placed her hooves on her head, groaning, “Oh, Twilight! Do you have a brush I could borrow?! I’ve dried it, but my hair simply will not cooperate with me! Of all the things that could happen…!”

Twilight held up a hoof, saying, “Hey, calm down, Rarity! I remembered to pack my brush. You can use it if you want.” She then glanced back at her right saddlebag and opened it, quickly feeling around and grabbing the brush with her magic, closing it before Rarity could notice the glowing coming from inside. She then held the brush out towards the white unicorn.

Rarity graciously took the brush with her own magic and said, “Oh, thank you so much, Twilight! This should only take a moment.” She then turned back to the sink and started running the brush through her mane. A minute passed before Rarity finally moved the brush away from her mane, now back to its normal, fashionable look. “Much better,” Rarity nodded in satisfaction. She then floated the brush back over to Twilight, who took it and put it back in her saddlebag. Twilight then stepped to the side as Rarity walked over to the door; before stepping out, she turned to Twilight and asked, “Coming?”

Twilight replied a moment later, “Uh, in a little bit. I have to, uh…” She trailed off, not quite sure how to finish that sentence.

Rarity seemed to guess what her friend was getting at, though, for she said, “Of course, darling. I’ll leave you to your business.” She then stepped out, leaving Twilight alone in the bathroom.

After she left, Twilight pulled the Z-pad out of her saddlebag and looked at it. It seemed to be directing her to the time period she most recently visited. Deciding to listen to it, she pressed it up against her horn, thinking, “I’m going to go see Alfred and the others again.” Seconds later, she was lifted off the ground and disappeared after her time travel bubble formed.

________________________________________

Twilight appeared at the base of the hill leading up to Alfred’s house, landing hooves down on the pavement. She then turned and trotted up the hill towards the house, finding Alfred and Photo Shoot standing along the path leading to the tower, looking up at the house. Curious, Twilight walked over to them and asked, “What’s going on?”

Alfred looked over at her and said, “I’m still not sure, you see.”

Twilight tilted her head to the side, “What, you don’t want to turn it into a museum after all?”

Alfred looked down at the ground as she said, “Well, I thought about that, but I’ve got a lot of books too.” He then looked back up at the house and then back at Twilight as he continued, “A library wouldn’t be a bad idea either. What do you think?”

As Twilight listened to him, she realized this was what Homunculus had been talking about. An art museum is what the house became in her time, but evidently Alfred had put some thought into making it into a library as well. If he really did have a lot of books, perhaps she could find one in the present about sea hares. Deciding to go with it, she said, “I guess a library is better.”

Alfred nodded, “Okay, you’ve helped me make up my mind. A library it is!” Twilight nodded back and, after Alfred looked away, decided to visit Sibylla before returning to her time, walking up the front steps and going inside.

As Twilight stepped into the family room, Sibylla looked up from where she was sitting on the couch and, upon seeing it was Twilight, asked, “What is it?”

The lavender unicorn replied, “Oh, nothing. Just came to talk, that’s all.”

Sibylla said, “Oh… you can go anywhere you like. That’s nice.” She looked down as she said, “I always have to mind the baby, so I can’t go outside to play. Besides, Father will be busy changing the house around from now on.”

Twilight asked, “Is it pretty boring for you here, Sibylla?”

The younger filly replied, “Yeah, just a little.” She then looked up at Twilight and said, “Oh, don’t tell Father. He’ll worry, you see.”

Twilight nodded, “It’s okay. I won’t tell.” She then had a thought and looked back at Sibylla, asking, “Hey Sibylla, do you like cats? Kittens?”

Sibylla nodded, “Yeah! I love kittens! Oh, are you going to get me one?!”

Twilight replied, “I know somepony who might happen to have one. I can ask him, if you’d like.”

Sibylla gasped, “Really? A kitty?”

Twilight nodded, “Okay, I’ll bring you one soon.” She smiled and then left the room, exiting the house and going partway down the hill outside. She then summoned the Z-pad and set it to take her back to the present.

________________________________________

Twilight reappeared outside the restaurant’s bathroom. She looked around upon landing, sighing in relief when she didn’t see any other ponies around. Not willing to risk being spotted by either of the princesses, her friends, or family, she lit her horn up and vanished in a flash of purple light, reappearing underneath the arch in front of the Brum Museum, now the Brum Library. As she stepped inside, she noticed that the anti-magic ward was still at its reduced strength. Outside, probably even at the top of the tower, magic could be used, but no magic could be used inside.

Twilight walked into the room near the front doors and found shelves full of books inside. She nearly squealed in delight; the museum really had become a library! So many tomes she may not have read before, so much recorded knowledge waiting for somepony to learn it, so… She forced herself to take a deep breath. She came here for information on sea hares and she was going to find it. With her excitement barely restrained, she walked over to one of the shelves and began to pull books off the shelves, reading their titles before putting them back.

Without Spike around and being not the least bit familiar with the Brum Library, Twilight found herself trotting back and forth between the various rooms looking for some kind of clue. It was starting to frustrate her, but she resolved not to mess up Eckart’s library. If she really wanted to mess up a library, she could do it at home. At last, she found a book on poisons in the room she started out in. She levitated it off the shelf and, after checking the table of contents, flipped to the section on sea hares.

“Sea Hare Poison: The female sea hare is very poisonous. The only way to survive poisoning is by taking the antidote. The pony poisoned can only survive the number of days that the sea hare from where the poison was extracted from had survived. After that time period has elapsed, the pony poisoned will die instantaneously.”

“Among the various antidotes, the best one is that derived from the male sea hare. If this is used when one starts feeling the effects of the poison, he will soon start feeling the curing effects.”

“However, this poison no longer exists in our time. It is unfortunate that we can no longer feel the effects of this antidote…”

Twilight closed the book and put it back on the shelf. She had something to go off of now, and it seemed as though the Z-pad knew that as well, for it was once again glowing. Before using it, Twilight headed for Eckart’s office, remembering her promise to Sibylla. She knocked on the door and the brown unicorn soon called, “Come in.” When Twilight stepped in, he spoke, “Hi Twilight. What can I do for you?”

Twilight replied, “Well, I need a kitten.”

Eckart smiled, “You can take one? Great! Oh, that’s just wonderful.” He then gestured to a black and white kitten sleeping in a basket next to the table by the window, saying, “There, take the one sleeping in that basket. She’s a nice cat.”

Twilight nodded, “I appreciate it.” She walked over to the basket and ever so carefully picked the kitten up in her hooves, Fluttershy having given her some tips on how to handle cats one time when she came over while the yellow pegasus had been tending to Opal. She thanked Eckart again and walked out of his office, going outside before summoning the Z-pad from her saddlebag and using it to travel to 100 years ago.

________________________________________

Sibylla looked up as Twilight stepped into the room, something resting on the crook of her leg. She gasped, “Oh! You’ve got a kitten, haven’t you?!” She leapt off the couch and said, “Show me! Please?” Twilight nodded and slowly lowered herself closer to the ground, letting the kitten resting on top of her leg walk down to the floor and over to Sibylla. The young filly nuzzled the kitten, saying, “She’s so soft…! Can I really have her?”

Twilight smiled, “I promised, didn’t I? Make sure you give her lots of love.”

Sibylla replied, “Oh, I will! Thank you!” She then nuzzled the kitten again as Twilight smiled. She decided to let the two of them get to know each other better and stepped out of the house.

As she stood on the front step of the house, she looked over at Alfred, remembering what she had changed about the future. As much as she had been excited at the sight of there being a library in place of an art museum, something about it didn’t feel right. She didn’t have any memories of the library; she still had all of her foalhood memories of the art museum. Sooner or later, that was going to catch up to her, and she knew all too well that her friends wouldn’t want to visit a library, no matter how big, since they already had one in Ponyville.

So, with some reluctance, she told Alfred that she thought the art museum idea was better. Thankfully, he still seemed to be unsure about his decision, so he easily listened to her. She then walked back down the hill and consulted the Z-pad. It was showing her a new time period that she could visit. It was familiar, but probably the most likely time period that she could find out more about the sea hare antidote in. So she set it to take her to that time, vanishing soon afterwards

Her research was done; now it was time to see what she could find with what she knew.

Progress

Twilight stood in the Canterlot square of the past, the afternoon sun shining down upon her. She took a moment to look around, remembering this was the same area she had landed in the last time she came to this time period, remembering everything that followed that unexpected arrival. “It’s been four years since that night. It doesn’t look like much has changed, at least not here in the square,” she thought to herself.

She shook her head, getting her thoughts in order. She thought about the only ponies she knew in this time: Red Shield, Hugo, Lucian… She looked up as those last two names entered her mind, saying, “Come to think of it, they said their mother made medicine and did research. She might be this Dr. Wagner. They may have some sort of a link to me after all…” Turning, she made her way out of the square and followed the path Lucian and Red had shown her, heading for the former’s house. As she turned the corner, she caught sight of the house and gasped.

The house looked like it had collapsed. Parts of the roof and some of its beams looked like they had been blown off completely, as did parts of the outside walls. She could also see smoke rising out from inside. And that was just the outside of the house; she could only imagine what the inside must look like. After looking at it for a moment more, Twilight began making steps towards the front door of the house, which she noticed was still standing.

Before she could reach it, a familiar mare called to her, “No, no it’s too dangerous. Don’t get too near that house.” Twilight stopped and looked back over at the mare, noticing her daughter was with her. The mare went on, “There was an explosion just now. What with her dabbling in all that science, it’s no wonder.” She looked at her daughter and they both nodded. The mare looked back at Twilight and said, “This is what she gets for turning down an offer from the Princess. She probably used enough of her magic to send her to the moon!” Both she and her daughter laughed at that.

Twilight looked back at them blankly, then glanced over her shoulder at the house and then back at the two of them and asked, “Um, is this Dr. Wagner’s house?”

The mother mare shrugged, “Oh, so you knew her, did you? Well, anyway, you’d best not stick your muzzle in, or you’ll be cursed too. See if you aren’t.” She then nudged her daughter and they both walked away, heading down the alley.

Twilight watched them go with a slightly angry look on her face. Her features softened after they left and she looked away from the alley they went down, murmuring, “So, this was Dr. Wagner’s house…” She looked back at the front door and walked over to it, giving it an experimental push. Thankfully, it moved a bit, so she gave a harder push and forced it all the way open. She then stepped inside, using a hoof to close the door behind her.

Looking around the interior of the house, she could see more smoke rising out of the floor and noticed that bits of the ceiling blocked off the stairs leading to the second floor of the house. She stopped looking when she gave a cough, the smoke not being very friendly to her lungs. As she coughed, she heard somepony sigh, “Aah…”

Twilight looked in the direction she had heard the sigh from and spotted a familiar black pony sitting near the stairs, rising to his hooves as she looked at him. “Homunculus? What are you doing here?” she asked, loud enough for him to hear.

The black pony’s eyes shot open at the sound of her voice and he looked back at her. Almost as soon as he saw her, he disappeared in a flash of red, uttering, “Who are… you?” Twilight stared at the spot where he had been standing in confusion. What just happened? How did he not recognize her?

Deciding not to think about it too much right now, Twilight began to check all the doors in the house. The two doors on her right wouldn’t open, and she suspected it was because they were being blocked by rubble. The door across from the front door also wouldn’t open, however it felt like it was locked rather than blocked. Stepping back from it, she eyed the keyhole and murmured to herself, “Could I use my magic to pick this lock?” She shook her head a moment later, saying, “Probably not. Maybe I can find the key. If not, I’ll probably have to blow the door off of its hinges.”

She looked around the entrance of the house for a minute before her eyes came to rest on something sticking out from underneath a fallen set of shelves. Moving closer to investigate, she identified the object as a key, possibly the one she was looking for. Using her magic to lift the shelves up an inch, she used a hoof to pull it towards her before releasing the shelves. She then picked it up with her mouth and carried it over to the locked door, sliding it into the keyhole. She gave a mental cheer as she found she was able to turn it in the lock and dropped it in her saddlebag after unlocking the door. She then pushed the door open and went down the stairs to the basement.

The basement hadn’t fared any better than the rest of the house. Everything in the room had been thrown around and, aside from a weak fire coming from under a piece of rubble on the kiln, it didn’t look like anypony had been in there. As she surveyed the scene before her, Twilight couldn’t help but wonder what had happened here. “How did this happen…?” she wondered to herself. She looked down at her saddlebags and realized the Z-pad was glowing. Bringing it out, she found that it was telling her she could travel back two years. “There’s nothing I can do here now. I’ve got to find an antidote, and Lucian’s mother might know about it,” she said. She pressed her horn up against the Z-pad and initiated the time travel.

________________________________________

As Twilight appeared in her destination, she realized that she was standing along the side of Lucian’s house. Her time bubble dissipated and she landed on the ground, which she realized was wet from the light drizzle falling around her. She walked up to the front of the house and knocked on the door.

When no one came to answer the door, she knocked again and called, “Hello? Anypony home?” She stood there for a minute longer before raising a hoof and pressing it up against the door. She was surprised when it opened for her, yet there didn’t appear to be anypony inside. Deciding she couldn’t wait, she walked inside and closed the door behind her, heading straight for the basement door. Giving it a push, she found it wasn’t locked either and stepped through it, closing it behind her as she stood on the top step.

As she walked down the stairs, she looked around the basement. It definitely looked like an alchemist’s laboratory. She could see a table with scrolls open on top of it (most likely containing research data), cabinets that held various ingredients for experiments, and various tools and containers. And standing over the kiln was an older unicorn mare wearing a kind of robe that covered up her cutie mark. She looked to be about as old as Twilight’s parents, maybe older. There wasn’t much light in the basement, but she could swear the mare’s coat was a white-gray color and her mane and tail were both black. Her horn was lit up a bright red color, a similar aura surrounding a stirrer in a pot on the kiln.

As Twilight reached the bottom of the stairs, the mare wearily asked, “Is that you, Hugo?”

Twilight turned to look at her and said, “No, I’m…”

At the sound of the lavender unicorn’s voice, the mare released the stirrer from her magic and looked over her shoulder at Twilight. She then turned to face her, Twilight seeing she had dark purple eyes, and sternly said, “Whoever you are, I want you out. How did you get in here?!”

Unsure of how to answer the white-gray mare, Twilight spoke, “Listen, I’m sorry to bother you, but are you Dr. Wagner?”

The mare looked back at her for a moment before answering, “…Yes, that is correct.”

Twilight noticed a capsule near the table filled with bubbling water and asked, “Wow, say, is that for your research into the Homunculus?”

Dr. Wagner looked at her angrily and then looked away for a moment before looking back at her, saying, “Somepony has been telling you things you ought not to know. Was it Hugo? No, of course not; I know I haven’t told him anything…”

Twilight hastily said, “N-no, it wasn’t. Call it… call it a hunch.”

Dr. Wagner replied, “A hunch… well, if you say so. Excuse me, but I must ask you to leave now. And if you can, forget about what you saw in this room. Please.” She then turned back to the kiln, her horn lighting up red again as she focused on the stirrer again.

Twilight asked, “Uh, are you by any chance looking for the Philosopher’s Stone?”

Dr. Wagner froze in shock and then turned around to look at Twilight, asking, “What did you say?! You mean that you have it?!”

Twilight answered, “Well… no. I don’t know if it’s the one, but I have seen a stone… a red stone.”

Dr. Wagner gasped, “Ah! Well, should you gain possession of it, allow me a small amount, I beg of you. Please…”

Twilight replied, “If I do, you’ll be the first pony to know. I… Have you been searching for it for a long time?”

Dr. Wagner sighed and looked down, saying, “Yes. I wanted to use it to make a medicine powerful enough to save my mother after she fell ill, but I never found it. I failed her… Now all I have left are my children and my research.” She looked back up at Twilight and said, “If you feel any pity for this old mare, please, find the stone…” She then turned back to the kiln, going back to her stirring. Twilight figured it would be best to leave her alone and went up the stairs.

As she stepped out of the basement, she noticed Lucian standing by a set of shelves, levitating something off of them, his horn and the objects surrounded by an orange aura. He turned towards the basement door as Twilight closed it, asking, “Huh? Who’s there?”

Twilight took a few steps towards him, saying, “Hi… Lucian. Sorry if I startled you.”

The light brown unicorn looked at the mare for a moment, saying, “Aren’t you the pony from… Your name’s Twilight, right?” At Twilight’s nod, he said, “That’s right; you were looking for another stallion, right? That was quite a while ago; did you find him?”

Twilight shook her head, “No, not yet.”

Lucian said, “You’re still looking? That’s kind of surprising. Hasn’t it been at least two years? I tried to help Red Shield look for him too, afterwards, but we didn’t have any luck. Sorry.” He set what he was holding up down on a nearby stool, saying, “But a lot happened to us after you came. Grandma passed away, you know…”

Twilight murmured, “Oh…” She realized that must’ve been what Dr. Wagner had been talking about. She looked down at the floor for a moment, then back up at Lucian and asked, “Hey, how’s your brother doing?”

Lucian asked, “Oh, Hugo?” He gestured towards the window and said, “He’s at school right now. He started this year and has gotten serious about learning. I think he might be considering following in mother’s hoofsteps. Oh, but you’re not here to listen to me talk. Sorry about that.” He gave a small chuckle as he looked down at the floor, his cheeks turning a bit red. He then looked back up at Twilight and asked, “So… What brings you here today?”

Twilight replied, “Uh, I’m looking for something. Have you ever heard of something called a sea hare antidote?”

Lucian raised an eye at that, asking, “What? What’s wrong? Why are you looking for something like that?”

Twilight stuttered, “Uh, well…” Her eyes shifted down to look at the floor.

Lucian looked at her for a moment and then over at the shelves. He spoke, “There’s some here on the shelf. You can take it.” His horn lit up orange and a bottle surrounded by the same colored aura floated off of one of the shelves, floating over towards Twilight.

When it was right in front of her, she looked at it for a moment before asking, “Are you sure?”

Lucian nodded, “Yeah. Mother said she found the recipe for it in an old book and wanted to try making it. She said it was just a test and didn’t expect anypony to actually need it. It should be okay if you take it. If it’s not, she doesn’t need to know.”

Feeling a bit more reassured, Twilight took it with her own magic and then put it inside her saddlebags before looking back over at Lucian and saying, “Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

Lucian nodded, “You’re welcome.”

The two of them looked at each other for a minute longer, although Twilight was looking because she had something on her mind. “Is he… my ancestor?” she wondered.

Lucian began to get nervous at her gaze and asked, “W-what? What is it?” He looked down, the red returning to his face much stronger now.

Twilight snapped out of her thoughts at that and blushed, realizing she had been staring at him. She stuttered, “Oh, uh, sorry… I was just… I mean, I didn’t mean… I guess I’ll get out of your hair now.”

Lucian looked back up at her, asking, “Huh? You’re leaving already?”

Twilight murmured, “Uh, yeah, I guess.” She then started to slowly walk towards the door.

Lucian stammered, “Well, you don’t have to. You can stay a while if you want. You can tell me about the future and stuff. Come on…”

Twilight stopped dead in her tacks when Lucian mentioned talking about the future. She looked back at him over her shoulder and asked, “So everypony thinks I’m from the future? Is that what you’re saying?”

Lucian replied, “Well… Hugo’s the only one who says so, and nopony else believes him. Except me and Red, that is. It’s probably better that way, don’t you think? Anyway, what’s Canterlot like in your time?”

Twilight looked down for a moment, thinking, then looked back up at Lucian and said, “Okay, we can talk.”

Lucian nodded, “Good. Oh, I have some deliveries to make. Do you mind talking while walking?” Twilight shook her head, so Lucian levitated up the things he had set down earlier and set them down on his back. Twilight opened the door for him and followed him out, the light drizzle still coming down.

A little later…

Twilight and Lucian continued on their walk through Canterlot, Twilight entertaining the stallion with stories about her Canterlot, stopping whenever he had to make a delivery. They talked, joked, and even laughed at the stories as they went on. The light rain was still falling and they were both rather wet, but neither of them minded too much.

“There’s somepony, a friend of my parents, called Eckart Brum. In my time, he’s the director of an art museum…” Twilight was saying.

Lucian tilted his head, “Yeah, and?”

Twilight continued, “Well recently, I met his great-grandfather, about 100 years in the past. And you won’t believe how alike they look! The face and the hair! They’re both pretty young, but the hair…”

Lucian snickered, “Starting to go thin, eh? Sounds kind of like the squire’s!”

Twilight nodded, “And I mean in the same way. You know, on the top.” She held a hoof up over her own hair to emphasize her point.

Lucian laughed and said, “Must run in the family.”

Twilight replied, “Yeah, maybe. Come to think of it, they both… oh…” She stopped herself in mid-sentence, remembering what Eckart had told her.

Lucian looked over at her, asking, “What’s the matter?”

Twilight explained, “Well, Mr. Brum had a son, but… he said that… he’s gone…”

Lucian asked, “You mean something happened to him?”

Twilight replied, “Yeah, a crime of some sort. But like ten years ago. It’s interesting; it seems like he’s still waiting for him to come back…”

Lucian said, “I see… I guess that happens. That’s like Hugo not being able to forget Grandma. Family ties are strong, aren’t they?” Twilight nodded silently in response.

She then looked up and noticed that the sky seemed to be getting darker. Giving Lucian a sheepish smile, she said, “It’s getting late. Sorry for holding you up.”

Lucian shook his head, “No, don’t worry about it. I enjoyed the company and the conversation.” He then looked down the road at a house and said, “Ah, that’s the last stop.” He turned back to Twilight and asked, “Can you wait here a second while I take care of this?” Twilight nodded and he turned, trotting off towards the house, a slight spring in his step.

Twilight watched him walk for a moment before turning her eyes away, her cheeks slightly red. As she turned her head, she noticed another pony walking further down the street to her left. She wouldn’t have thought that unusual, but she noticed that the pony was a stallion and he had a red coat and a yellow mane and tail. She gasped, “Dante?!” She galloped after him, the red stallion beginning to round a corner. She reached it soon after he disappeared from her sight, but when she looked down and around the street, he was gone.

Shaking her head, Twilight turned around and ran back to Lucian, who was looking around anxiously for her. When she came to a stop in front of him, he asked, “What happened?”

Twilight gasped, “It’s just… I thought it was him.”

Lucian slowly asked, “That stallion you’ve been looking for?”

Twilight turned to look back down the street, saying, “Yeah, but I lost sight of him. I’m not even sure it was him.”

Lucian said, “Well, I need to go home now. Is that all right?”

Twilight looked back at him and said, “Of course. Sorry about that.”

Lucian replied, “It’s okay. But…” He then started to walk, Twilight walking alongside him as he continued, “You really are from a different Equestria altogether, aren’t you?”

Twilight mumbled, “Uh, well, I…”

Lucian looked back at her and said, “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anypony about the things you’ve told me. Not that anypony would believe me, even if they weren’t shunning me.”

Twilight replied, “Oh, uh, thank you. I think it would be better if you didn’t.” She stopped and said, “I don’t think I should be leaving anything behind in this age. Not just actual things, but talking about stuff too, like I just did.”

Lucian had stopped when she did and was looking back at her. Confused, he asked, “Huh? What do you mean?”

Twilight sighed, “I don’t know. Like…” She and Lucian started to walk again as she went on, “What if I interfere with somepony in this age’s life? What if something I did ended up changing their fate? That could change a lot of things in my time. That’s probably a bit general, but does that make any sense?”

Lucian nodded slowly, “Yes. I think so.”

As they approached his house, Twilight said, “So the more I interfere with the past, the more the future will change. It could be minor, it could be serious, but anything I do here could affect the future.”

Lucian used his magic to push open the front door and stepped inside, Twilight following him in. Both of their manes dripped a bit, getting the floor wet. The light brown stallion spoke, “I don’t think I understand completely, but I’ll sleep on it. Your time sounds very interesting to me. I wish I could see it…”

Twilight pushed the door closed with her hoof and then walked closer to Lucian and said, “Well, I guess it is kind of exciting. If you like putting out fires every now and then, I mean. Other than that, it’s not too different.”

Lucian turned to her, saying, “But I still want to see what it’s like. I don’t know why, but I feel such a strong pull towards it.” He stepped towards her and said, “Please, won’t you take me to your time!”

Twilight stepped back and hesitantly said, “N-no, I… can’t do that. That would… The future will change if I did that. After all, you’re my…”

Lucian tilted his head and asked, “Huh? Your what…?”

Sparks

“Ugh…” Twilight groaned as a sudden, brief pain shot through her head, the lavender mare holding a hoof up to her forehead. She’d had this sensation before, just moments before she died because of the sea hare poison, but that couldn’t be what it was. When the effects of the poison began to kick in, it had been a constant feeling; this was fleeting. Even so, she was grateful for it; it kept her from blurting out her thoughts to Lucian. “Do I really want to tell him what I think?” she thought to herself.

The light brown unicorn looked at her in concern, “What’s wrong, Twilight? Are you okay?”

Twilight set her hoof back down on the floor and looked back at him, saying, “Yeah, I think so.”

Lucian replied, “Okay, so what were you about to say? Why will the future change?”

Twilight stuttered, “Uh… I wasn’t going to… I mean, I don’t know for sure about what I was going to say.”

Lucian said, “Well, tell me what you were going to say, then! I can’t know what to think until you tell me what you have on your mind.”

Twilight started, “Well, you see… I heard something from somepony and…”

Lucian nodded, “And?”

Twilight looked down and whispered, “I think you’re my ancestor.”

Lucian leaned closer to her and asked, “What? I couldn’t hear you.”

Twilight said, a little louder, “You’re probably my ancestor.”

Lucian said, “Twilight, you’re mumbling. You need to speak up or I’m not…”

Twilight, unable to keep it to herself any longer, interrupted him by shouting, “I THINK YOU’RE MY ANCESTOR!” She immediately clamped her hooves over her mouth after saying that. She did not intend to say that, at least not as loud as she did.

Lucian reeled back, more than a little surprised by Twilight’s outburst. It actually took him a moment to process what Twilight had said. “I’m… your ancestor?” he asked, hesitantly.

Twilight looked back up at him, taking her hooves off of her mouth and saying, “I… It’s not as though I’ve looked up whether I’m descended from you or not. But that shouldn’t matter; you should forget about me and live a regular life here in this world.”

Lucian was silent for a moment, but then he said, “I see. An ancestor, huh… That’s what I am to you. I thought…” He shook his head and said, “Well, never mind. I guess it doesn’t matter.”

Twilight realized how that must’ve sounded and said, “Oh Lucian, I didn’t mean…”

Lucian stopped her, “I’m sorry if I’ve been a bother. I guess I was out of line.” He turned around and took a few steps away from Twilight, his ears drooping.

Twilight murmured, “Lucian…”

The light brown stallion stopped and leaned against the wall. He sighed, “No matter how out of place I am, this is where I was born. And someday, I’ll meet a mare, fall in love with her, give her my children, grow old, and die… It’s all been decided already, hasn’t it? And then my child will have a child, then that child too… and all the way at the end of that repetition is you. That’s what you mean. And if I were to break away from my time right now, you would never be born.”

Twilight replied after a moment, “…Something like that, maybe. I honestly don’t know. I’ve never really thought about looking up my family tree, so…”

Lucian, with his back pressed up against the wall, said, “I understand. Don’t worry about me. I’m all right.” He looked over at her and asked, “But you’ll still visit from time to time, won’t you? To tell me more about your Canterlot and what you do in this ‘Ponyville’. That’s allowed, isn’t it?”

Twilight smiled, “Of course. As long as it’s just between us, I don’t see a problem.”

Suddenly, the front door opened and a familiar dark blue unicorn wearing a green vest with a small pouch around his neck and a gray pegasus wearing a yellow vest stepped through inside. Both Twilight and Lucian turned to look at the door, Lucian standing up straight and saying, “Oh – hey Hugo and Red. Did you two just get out of class?”

Red Shield was the first to reply, “Nope. We heard everything.”

After kicking the door closed with a hoof, Hugo added, “We didn’t mean to act like stalkers, but it didn’t seem like either of us could just walk in.” He then glanced over at Twilight and said, “It’s okay. We won’t tell anypony.”

Lucian sighed, “For Celestia’s sake… You know, Hugo, if you guys wanted to listen, there was no problem with joining us.”

Hugo looked back at his younger brother, regarding him for a moment before saying, “Yeah, well, we were just trying to be tactful. After all, bro…”

Lucian, his cheeks a bit flushed, said, “That’s quite all right!” After a moment, he looked directly at his older brother and asked, “Um, Hugo…?” He began to fidget nervously after saying that.

“What?” Hugo asked, confused about his brother’s movements.

“Are you still, you know, that lock from Grandma’s mane?” Lucian carefully asked.

Almost reflexively, Hugo held a hoof up to the pouch around his neck, asking, “What?!”

Lucian soon said, “I know how much you miss Grandma; I miss her too. But you’re not going to carry that thing around forever, are you?”

Hugo’s eyes, which had been looking down towards the pouch, widened in shock for a second before narrowing in anger. He looked up at Lucian and yelled, “S-shut up! What do you mean, ‘that thing’! How could you say something like that! It’s not as though I’m doing anything wrong!” His horn suddenly lit up green and a green aura surrounded a nearby stool, picking it up and throwing it across the room. It hit the ground harmlessly, making a loud noise.

Red leaned over to Twilight and whispered, “Uh-oh. He had to spark that fire again…”

Lucian looked up from the stool and back over at Hugo, saying, “I’m sorry; that didn’t come out how I meant it to. But don’t you think it’s just a little weird?”

Hugo looked at him for a moment before saying, “You’re the one who’s being weird! Changing the subject as soon as it gets a little thorny.”

Lucian looked at him worriedly as he stormed past, desperately saying, “Hugo…”

The dark blue unicorn stopped in front of the basement door and looked back at Lucian over his shoulder. He then said, “It’s your fault. You ought to know that.” He then pushed the basement door open and walked through it, closing it with a hoof.

Lucian called, “Hugo! Mother can’t be disturbed!”

Hugo called back through the door, “I know.”

Twilight nervously said, “I, uh… I should get going.”

Lucian turned back to her and said, “Yes, see you soon. I’m sorry it got a bit hectic around here.” He shot a look at the basement door before looking back at Twilight and saying, “He’s always like this. I just can’t do a thing with him when he gets upset. So I just leave him alone when gets this way…”

Hugo suddenly called through the door, “Hey bro? Are you sure you just want to let her go like this…?”

Lucian, his cheeks turning noticeably red, said, “Oh! Cut it out, Hugo!” Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight noticed that Red was smirking at Lucian’s back. Regaining his composure, the light brown unicorn used his magic to reach into a pocket on his vest and pulled something out. He then turned and walked over to Twilight, ignoring the look from Red, and held the object in front of her, saying, “I have something for you. Will you take it? Think of it as a token of appreciation – for all the stories you told me.”

Twilight reached up and took the object in her hoof, Lucian’s orange aura fading as she gripped it. “A comb?” she asked as she looked at it.

Lucian nodded, “Yeah. I’ve had it ever since I was little.” Leaning closer to Twilight, he whispered in her ear, “It’s strange. Sometimes when I touch it, I see a picture of this stallion in my head. He’s not anypony I’ve met. He’s much, much older – like my mother’s age. I have this sensation like he’s running a hoof over my head, but it doesn’t feel weird at all.” He then leaned back and, upon seeing Twilight’s surprised face, said, “Maybe I shouldn’t have told you that. You probably think I’m weird now.”

Red grinned, “Ooh, talking about private things, eh?”

Ignoring him, Twilight said, “No, of course not. That… actually doesn’t sound all that weird to me.”

Lucian sheepishly smiled, “I’ve never told anypony about this, not even Hugo or Red. Well, anyway, take it.”

Twilight looked down at the comb in her hoof for a moment before looking back up at Lucian and asking, “Are you sure? I mean…”

Lucian nodded, “Yes. It’ll be something to remember today by.”

Hugo called, “Good job, bro!”

Lucian, his face bright red, turned around and yelled, “Hugo, will you stop that?!”

Twilight placed the comb in her left saddlebag and said, “Thank you, Lucian.” She then looked over at Red Shield and said, “It was nice to see you and Hugo again too, Red.”

Red replied, “Yeah, well, I’m just glad you’re okay, Twilight. I was worried when you disappeared like that down that alley. Try not to do that again; it’s a filthy habit, you know.”

Twilight blushed, “Okay, I won’t.” She then addressed both him and Lucian as she said, “I have to go now, but I’ll try to visit again soon.”

Lucian nodded, “Okay. See you, Twilight.” The lavender unicorn nodded and used her magic to open the door. She then stepped out into the rain, her hooves touching the wet ground. She then pulled the door closed and summoned the Z-pad from her saddlebag. Her search complete, she set it to take her back to the present and pressed it up against her horn. She was soon lifted off the ground and disappeared a moment later.

________________________________________

Twilight once again appeared outside the restaurant’s bathroom. As soon as she touched down, she turned and ran inside. Her mane and coat were still damp and her natural look was ruined, but she didn’t care about that right now. Once inside the bathroom, she went over to the sinks and levitated her saddlebags off, setting them down on the counter and placing her front hooves on the counter.

Seconds later, she suddenly felt the pain from earlier come back, much stronger than before. She groaned and tried to fight through the haze that was beginning to cloud her mind, pressing her left hoof against her forehead. She then reached her hoof over towards her saddlebags, not trusting her magic at the moment to not drop the antidote on the floor, and pulled it out of the right saddlebag. Panting, she used her right hoof to pull the top off and then held the bottle up to her lips, chugging the whole thing down. She sighed as she took it away from her lips and put it back in her saddlebag. She then stood there with her hooves still on the counter, waiting as the haze in her head began to clear.

Suddenly, the bathroom door opened and Rarity walked in. “Twilight? Are you in here?” she asked, somewhat irritably. Her eyes soon fell on the lavender unicorn and she immediately noticed how Twilight’s hair was drooping, the same way it was when she brought her home and tried to get her to give her the other Grand Galloping Gala ticket. At that moment, all of her irritation vanished and she looked concerned for her friend. “Twilight! Are you all right?” she exclaimed, instantly walking over to her friend’s side.

Twilight snapped back to reality at the sound of Rarity’s voice and realized how she must look right now. She looked to her side at Rarity (since her hair was dangling down in front of her eyes) and said, “Oh, yes Rarity. I’m okay… now.”

Rarity examined her anxiously, saying, “Are you sure? Look at your hair! Were you splashing water on your face? Did you get sick? You were gone for so long, I was getting worried.”

Twilight looked away and murmured, “I… guess I was kind of feeling under the weather just now…”

Rarity walked over to Twilight’s saddlebags and reached into the left bag, saying, “Here, let me fix your mane for you. You let me use your brush, now I’ll return the favor.” She soon felt her hoof touch something and she grabbed it, curious. When she pulled it out, she gasped, “Oh my! What a beautiful comb! Is this yours, Twilight?”

Twilight looked nervous at the sight of the comb and slowly said, “Uh, sort of. It’s a gift from another pony.” Her horn lit up, her right saddlebag opening as she said, “Here, I’ll get the brush. Don’t use that; I don’t want to get any of my hair in it just yet.” She then held her left hoof out towards Rarity, silently asking her to give her the comb.

The white unicorn complied and set the comb down in her hoof, saying, “As you wish, darling.” She then took the brush in her own hoof and began to run it across Twilight’s hair, straightening it out and getting it back to the way she liked it. As she brushed, Rarity spoke, “So why were you feeling sick earlier, Twilight? Was it because of the food here? I could swear somepony went a little overboard on that salad; it wouldn’t surprise me.” After a moment without a response, she looked towards Twilight’s face and asked, “Twilight?”

Twilight, with her hooves still up on the counter, was looking at Lucian’s comb, thinking about the day she just spent with him. “He really seemed interested in my time… and in me, it seemed. He seems like a good pony; what did he mean by everypony shunning him and feeling out of place? Is that part of the reason he wanted to see my time, to get away from that for a little bit? Would that have been a good idea, even if he wasn’t my ancestor? Oh, why do I have to have such a nice… handsome stallion for an ancestor? Wait, where did that come from?” she wondered.

Rarity looked at Twilight intently as she continued brushing, noticing she was fixated on the comb. An idea entered her mind and she nudged her fellow unicorn, asking, “Twilight?” When the lavender mare looked back at her, she asked, “That comb… Is it from somepony special?”

Twilight blinked and said, “Uh, yeah, I guess so.”

Rarity smirked, “Do you have… feelings for this special pony?”

Twilight blushed, almost falling from the counter and messing up Rarity’s work. “W-w-what?! N-no, I don’t… I mean, I… that’s not…” She stopped talking, realizing she couldn’t form a good reply to Rarity’s question.

Rarity smiled triumphantly, “I thought so! It’s not the food that’s making you feel sick; it’s the butterflies in your stomach!” Twilight blushed even harder at that statement. Rarity leaned closer and asked, “So who’s the lucky stallion?”

Twilight looked back at her and asked, “Lucky? Why would anypony be lucky?”

Rarity softly chided, “Twilight, you sell yourself short. Who wouldn’t be lucky to have you as a marefriend?”

Twilight replied, “Rarity, I don’t have a coltfriend. I don’t think it would even work between us.”

Rarity continued brushing as she said, “Oh, don’t say that. Just be yourself around him. And if you ever need help or suggestions, you can always ask me, you know. Oh, I’m sure you have books on the subject of dating, but I’m also sure that I would be more helpful in coming up with ideas than some silly old book.”

Twilight couldn’t deny that a part of her wanted to know what kinds of things Rarity had in mind, despite the fact that the stallion they were talking about was her ancestor. She finally said, “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind, Rarity.”

The white unicorn nodded, “Very good.” A moment later, she stepped back and said, “There, good as new.”

Twilight looked at her reflection in the mirror. True to her word, Rarity had done her usual picture-perfect job with her hair. She turned and finally smiled at the unicorn, “Thanks, Rarity.”

Rarity nodded, “Of course, Twilight. Here’s your brush back.” She held it out towards Twilight, who took it with her magic and put it back in her right saddlebag while she put the comb back in the left saddlebag. Rarity then trotted towards the door and called back, “Are you coming this time? I think everypony’s just about done eating.”

Twilight nodded, “Yeah. Let’s go.” She grabbed her saddlebags and followed the white unicorn out of the restaurant bathroom.

As they came around to the front of the restaurant, Twilight’s parents, her friends, and the princesses stepped out, having finished and paid for their meal. As soon as she saw Twilight and Rarity, Rainbow Dash zoomed over to them and said, “There you are, Twilight! Where were you?!”

Rarity spoke for her friend, “She was in the bathroom, Rainbow Dash.”

Dash raised an eyebrow as Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie came over, “Doing what?”

Rarity smirked and glanced at Twilight out of the corner of her eye, “What indeed?” Twilight felt her cheeks get a little warmer at that.

Applejack raised an eyebrow as well and asked, “What the hay does that mean?”

Rarity simply said, “It means a lot of things, Applejack.” She then glanced over at Twilight and winked, “Right, Twilight?”

Twilight replied, “That’s right, Rarity. I didn’t mean to make everypony worry, but… well, yeah.”

Pinkie Pie gave the lavender unicorn a long hard look, like when she had been trying to stare Applejack down. Twilight nervously smiled and tried to keep her composure under Pinkie’s own version of ‘the Stare’. Eventually, the party pony smiled, “Okie dokie lokie!”

They all walked over to Spike, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Twilight’s parents after that. Celestia briefly looked concerned for Twilight, but one look at the faces of her friends cleared that right up. If they didn’t think anything was wrong, perhaps there was no reason to worry.

Luna spoke, “We are terribly sorry, everypony, but we have to go now. Night is upon us and I must raise the moon.”

Fluttershy asked, “Oh, could we come and watch, Luna?”

The lunar princess replied, “Well, I don’t know…”

Celestia nudged her younger sister, “Come on, Luna. Now that Equestria knows that you’re no longer Nightmare Moon, everypony wants to see a celebration of your beautiful moon. It will be good practice for the Winter Moon Celebration next year.”

Luna smiled, “Oh, very well, sister. But let’s do it in that nice park we passed on the way here.” Celestia nodded and led the way, Luna and their entourage following behind.

They soon found themselves in the park Luna had mentioned. Everypony was sitting on the benches as Luna stood up and walked forward. They all watched as she raised her head to the heavens, closing her eyes and channeling her magic into her horn. As they watched, the lavender sky slowly made way for the dark blue of night, Luna’s moon appearing on the horizon and rising into view.

Luna could hear their gasps and their praise, but there was only one pony whose opinion really mattered to her at the moment. She turned and walked over to Twilight, sitting down next to her. She then whispered, “What do you think, Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight looked at her and whispered back, “I think it’s very beautiful, Luna. You truly are an artist.” Luna smiled at that. It was true; even though her sister had done a fine job in her absence, there was something about the night that wasn’t complete without her. And now, between traveling back to 400 years ago and witnessing the moon rising in front of her, Twilight knew what it was. “You would’ve loved this, Lucian,” she thought to herself.

Based Off a True Experience

The three unicorn mares that asked Twilight if she wanted to go to a party Moon Dancer was holding the day she was sent to Ponyville were walking along the street near the Brum Museum. The blue unicorn, who was walking a little ahead of the white unicorn and yellow unicorn, noticed something stuck to the side of the building they were walking next to. “Hey look, it’s a poster for that new movie,” she called back to her friends.

Her friends trotted up alongside her, the white unicorn asking, “What’s it about?”

The blue unicorn shook her head, “Seriously, I do not get this guy’s movies.”

The other two unicorns looked at the poster and, after seeing it, agreed with her. The yellow unicorn looked to her side and noticed Twilight walking towards them, a small box perched atop her saddlebags. She called, “Twilight! Is that you?”

Twilight looked up in surprise as the other two unicorns looked in her direction. She had seen them, obviously, but she figured they wouldn’t want to talk to her after brushing them off the last time she had seen them, so she had planned to just walk past them without saying anything. “Oh! Hey girls. What, uh, what’s going on?” she asked.

The white unicorn replied, “Oh, not much. We were just looking at this poster for a new movie opening this week.”

Twilight said, “Oh. Does it look good?”

The blue unicorn replied, “No. The guy who did this movie? His movies always leave you going ‘Huh?’ We would know.”

The white unicorn nodded, “Yeah. You know, maybe there is something good about your constant studying. At least you don’t have to worry about seeing terrible movies like this. Even you wouldn’t watch this kind of stuff, if you actually watch movies, anyway.” She then turned and started walking again, the other two unicorns following after her.

Twilight watched them go with an odd look on her face until they left her sight, walking around the corner at the end of the street. After they left, Twilight walked up to the building and looked at the poster herself.

Most of the poster was black except for the middle of the poster and the white writing above and below the middle. The middle of the poster had a gray picture of a pony wearing an outfit that reminded her of the Mysterious Mare Do Well’s costume. She looked at the title, “‘The Meditating Mare’… Okay, that does sound kind of dull.” She then continued walking, unaware of a pony wearing a black cloak watching her from behind the corner of a nearby building, a green aura surrounding its horn.

Up ahead, the three unicorns were walking down the street, talking about Twilight. “Where do you think she’s been all this time? I haven’t seen her around school at all since that day,” the yellow unicorn was saying.

The blue unicorn shrugged, “Who knows? She probably still doesn’t do much besides study, anyway.”

Suddenly they heard a familiar voice call, “Hey!” They looked up to see Spike and the rest of Twilight’s friends walking towards them.

The white unicorn said, “Oh, hello Spike. How’s it going?”

The baby dragon replied, “Pretty good, actually. Have any of you seen Twilight?”

The yellow unicorn spoke, “Yeah, a minute ago. Why? And who are… they?” She gestured to the girls as she said the last sentence.

Pinkie Pie giggled and then said, “Well, duh! We’re Twilight’s friends!”

The three unicorns looked back at her in surprise, the yellow one saying, “Twilight? Friends? How? All that mare does is study all day; she never wants to do anything else!”

Applejack chuckled before she said, “Well, excuse me fer sayin’ so, but maybe y’all weren’t persistent enough ta git her outta her shell. She’s a good gal to be around.”

Fluttershy smiled, “Oh yes. She even offered to go pick up some treats for a party we’re having later.”

The blue unicorn asked, “A party? You can’t be serious!”

Rarity spoke, “We’re quite serious. Maybe Twilight could have been a little more open when she lived here, but perhaps that’s not such a bad thing. After all, that’s how we got to meet her.”

Rainbow Dash added, “And we’re always there for her, no matter what!”

As if on cue, they all heard Twilight let out a shrill scream, causing them all to jump, followed by the sound of something heavy crashing. “What in tarnation?!” Applejack exclaimed.

Rainbow Dash immediately flew down the street, heading for where she heard Twilight’s scream. “What the hay happened?” she murmured as she neared the corner. Flying around it, she called, “Twilight…?” She quickly scanned the area, soon locking onto the only thing present on the road at the moment. And her face paled in horror.

A carriage much like the taxi carriage that Rarity and Sweetie Belle’s parents rode in had smashed into the side of one of the buildings, looking as though the reins had snapped while the one pulling it had tried to go too fast while making a sharp turn. But that wasn’t what scared Rainbow right now. What scared her was the lavender foreleg and hind leg sticking out between the crashed carriage and the building. They were completely still and blood was running down Twilight’s flank, the carriage having no doubt crushed her against the wall. Her saddlebags and the box she was carrying were on the ground nearby, their contents having spilled out on the ground. Some of the cupcakes that had fallen out had been splattered with her blood.

“TWILIGHT!” Rainbow Dash screamed as she flew towards the wreckage, the sound of the other girls’ hoofsteps beginning to fill the air.

________________________________________

Twilight hesitantly cracked an eye open, the memory of her latest death fresh in her mind. She realized she was lying on her front on the floorboards and slowly started to move. She was, at least, glad she didn’t have to wake up in a similar position to how she died. How creepy would it have been to wake up standing up and leaning against something?

As she stood up, Homunculus spoke, “Don’t give up, Twilight. It’s dangerous to be alone. Do something, or else you’ll never break free from this.”

________________________________________

Twilight was walking along the road near the art museum after picking up the cupcakes from a bakery when she saw the girls she knew from her days at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. She immediately ducked her head, remembering brushing off their invitation last time she had seen them. She tried to sneak around them so as to avoid any possible hostile confrontation, but the yellow unicorn saw her and called, “Twilight! Is that you?” Having been spotted, Twilight figured she might as well see if she could make amends.

The whole encounter played out exactly as it did before, though Twilight did try to interject at several points to try to keep the conversation going longer. It failed in the end and the girls walked away, still as disinterested in sticking around after seeing the movie poster. As she looked at the poster again, Twilight thought, “What is it about this director that seems to be unpopular? This movie doesn’t look very exciting, but from the sound of things, neither is anything else he’s directed. Maybe what he needed was some help coming up with ideas?”

As if in response to her thoughts, she saw the Z-pad’s familiar glow coming from her saddlebag. Taking a look at the date, she saw it was telling her to travel to ten years ago during the middle of winter. “It’s going to be cold there,” she murmured to herself. Taking a glance down the street, she reminded herself, “But that’s not nearly as bad as getting crushed by a runaway carriage.” Nodding, she pressed it up against her horn and lifted off the ground a moment later, disappearing before her killer could try to crush her against the wall again.

________________________________________

Twilight began to shiver as she appeared in her destination time, her hooves sinking into the snow as she landed. She looked around; snow was falling around her and there was a slight mist in the air, making it hard to see very far. The snow around her went up just past her hooves, which she suspected would make it hard to run very fast. It definitely looked like the middle of winter in Canterlot.

As she looked, she noticed the younger version of the dark yellow earth pony the group had met earlier outside the art museum standing a short distance away, a green saddlebag on his back. His head was tilted up towards the sky but his eyes were closed, as if he was trying to remember something. He soon hung his head and sighed, “…Failed again.” He then opened his eyes and looked in Twilight’s direction. Upon seeing her, he exclaimed, “It’s happened!!”

Twilight glanced around nervously and muttered, “Oops…”

The dark yellow pony ran up to her and placed his forelegs on her shoulders, saying, “You’ve come! You answered my call, didn’t you?”

Twilight backed away, allowing the earth pony to drop to his hooves, and said, “What? No, I didn’t answer anypony! What are you talking about?” She then turned to walk away from this awkward meeting.

The earth pony pleaded, “No, no, no! Wait!”

Twilight stopped and looked back at him over her shoulder, asking, “What do you want from me?”

The pony looked at her for a moment before starting, “L-let me introduce myself! My name is Oleg, and I am a filmmaker! Just a novice at this point, but… Anyway, ever since I saw you a year ago, I’ve been meditating every chance I can get, channeling all my energy towards seeing you again. And finally, you answered! To think I had such power… I will never forget this moment! Maybe I should base a movie on this!!”

Twilight uttered, “Uh…”

Oleg went on, “But what kind of film should it be? A bold and moving drama about a stallion that has miraculous powers? Or a science fiction blockbuster featuring a psychokinetic hero?!”

Twilight muttered, “Um…” In her head, she was thinking, “That last thing he said… Did I give him the inspiration for that movie, ‘The Meditating Mare’?”

Oleg seemed to interpret her silence differently, for he said, “I can see that you’re the type of mare who prefers not to betray her excitement. But let me ask you something…” He walked a few steps closer to her and asked, “If you were making a film, what kind of movie would it be?”

Twilight looked back at him in surprise; she wasn’t sure what to say to that. She’d seen movies since she and Spike moved to Ponyville, yes, but while she had her favorites, she couldn’t think of anything she liked. All she could think about was the hectic day she had been having. “Wait, that’s a good movie element, isn’t it?” she thought to herself. Looking back at Oleg, she asked, “Something about time travel?”

Oleg backed off and looked up, saying, “Ah-ha, that’s a pretty good angle.” His expression then became one of deep thought and he looked down, asking, “But what about the motivation? Why would somepony want to wander through time?”

Twilight watched as he took a few steps past her before stopping, still thinking. Twilight’s own thoughts were telling her to keep going. The only other thing she could think of involved conquering the world, and she certainly didn’t like movies revolving around that. So instead she asked, “Because the pony wants to find out the cause of their own death?”

Oleg replied, “Cause of death, huh? It… needs something else – any ideas?”

Twilight thought for a moment before asking, “Well, how about a love story?”

Oleg looked up for a moment before turning back to Twilight and saying, “Oh wow, I’m impressed. You’ve really got me…” He then got up close to Twilight and said, “Listen, please don’t tell anypony about this project. Once I’m a little higher on the food chain, I can film this.” He then backed off, murmuring, “But it needs something more – a soul, if you will.” He then shook his head, “Well, that’ll come later. Watch for it in the theaters, though, all right?”

Twilight nodded unsurely, “Uh, okay.”

Oleg looked at her and asked, “You’re not happy? I am, really I am. Most sincerely. I don’t want to call this a token of that feeling, but here.” He reached his muzzle into his saddlebag and came back out dangling an egg-shaped watch on a chain in his mouth. He dropped it into his hoof and said, “Please accept this as a gift, in the name of this encounter.”

Twilight looked at it and asked, “Uh, are you sure? It looks kind of expensive…”

Oleg replied, “Oh, that’s all right. It may look fancy, but it’s just a replica.” He then held it out towards Twilight, who hesitantly took it with her own hoof. Looking away, Oleg explained, “My family has the arts and crafts gene, so to speak. Our special talents revolve around making things, and this is the kind of thing my father likes to make. So there are cameras and pocket watches all over his house, and what I like to do is give them to friends.”

Twilight smiled, “Oh, well, thank you then.” She then placed the watch in her right saddlebag.

Oleg replied, “No, thank you. I consider you one of my greatest benefactors, you know. Just talking to you like this gives me something immeasurably valuable.”

Twilight asked, “Really? It does?”

Oleg nodded, “Yes, it does, absolutely.” He then gave her a curious stare, asking, “By the way, how did you acquire the power to do what you do? Is Princess Celestia capable of that?” He then pleaded, “Please, please, tell me about your powers. They dwarf those of any unicorn I’ve ever met!”

Every alarm in Twilight’s head began to go off, telling her she needed to walk away from Oleg immediately. She quickly said, “You can’t ask me to do that… I mean, I can’t. Try to forget about all of this, please. Goodbye.” She then walked around Oleg and started walking away from him.

The dark yellow earth pony called, “No, wait! You can’t just go!” But Twilight didn’t stop; instead she increased her pace to a run, disappearing into the mist.

After running for several minutes, Twilight slowed down to a trot, looking back over her shoulder. Thankfully, it seemed that Oleg had not tried to chase after her. He was a nice pony, obviously, but there was no way she was going to tell him about her time traveling device. Looking forward again, she realized she was walking along the road leading in the direction of the art museum. “Is there anything else I need to do here? I’m not sure… Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to look around a little. I mean…”

*THWACK*

Twilight came to a stop, jerked out of her thoughts as the loud sound cut through the silence. It sounded familiar to her. Having spent a lot of time in the castle growing up, she had come to know many of the sounds that could be heard on the castle grounds; including the ones made by the royal guards during their training (she had even made a list of the sounds once so she could identify what was disrupting her studying). The answer soon hit her.

“Was that a crossbow?” she asked herself, looking around worriedly. To her, it sounded like it came from up ahead, although she wasn’t sure how far she was from the source, considering sound carried farther in cold weather. She started running again, heading for the museum.

As she ran, she saw a figure appear up ahead and came to a stop. Leaning forward, she took a closer look. She quickly realized it was Homunculus, and he was carrying something wrapped in a blanket on the crook of his hoof. She couldn’t exactly make it out from where she was standing, but it almost looked like a baby pony. Homunculus looked back over his shoulder at her for a moment before turning and walking away.

“Hey!” exclaimed Twilight before she started running again, trying to catch up to him. But she didn’t get very far before he disappeared into the mist. Realizing that it was too late to catch up with him, she continued on in the direction he had walked. He may be gone, but it sounded like the sound of the crossbow had come from that direction.

Twilight soon came across a dark orange unicorn mare with an auburn mane and tail wearing a white fur coat lying in the snow, a crossbow bolt sticking out of the back of her head. A green unicorn stallion that had a dark gray mane and tail was kneeling next to her, using his magic to extract the bolt while shaking her, saying, “Sweet Celestia! Lady, are you okay?!”

The mare looked up at him and then forward, moaning, “Where… my baby… he…” She then rolled over onto her side, not moving.

“Baby…?” Twilight murmured.

The green unicorn shook the mare, saying, “Come on, lady, hold on!”

A light blue earth pony stallion with a red mane came up from behind Twilight and, upon seeing the mare on the ground, asked her, “What’s going on? Somepony hurt?”

Twilight looked back at him and said, “I don’t know. Can you get a doctor?”

The earth pony nodded, “You got it!” He then turned and ran, heading for the nearest doctor’s office.

As Twilight turned back to look at the mare, she noticed a dark blue unicorn with a violet mane and tail had arrived on the scene. He asked, “What’s going on here?! A mugging?”

The green unicorn asked, “Hey wait, isn’t this Eckart’s wife?”

Twilight looked up as she heard young Eckart shout, “Miriam!” The dark brown unicorn soon reached the scene and pushed the green unicorn aside. He then shook and picked up the mare in his forelegs, saying, “Miriam! Stay with me, hold on! Oh no, where’s Dante, wasn’t he with you?!” He then looked at the ponies gathered around and asked, “Did anypony see a baby?!”

Twilight gave a short gasp, remembering Homunculus. He had been carrying a baby, and it was suspiciously close to this scene… Eckart noticed Twilight’s reaction and asked, “Did you see him?!” When Twilight stuttered, Eckart pressed, “Did you?!”

Twilight shook her head, “I… I don’t know.”

The dark blue unicorn looked over at the green unicorn and asked, “Did anypony see who did this?” The green unicorn shook his head.

“Oh no, this is not happening…” Eckart moaned, clutching his wife close to his chest.

From around the corner of a nearby building, Oleg was observing the scene of the crime. “Oh man, this is terrible,” he breathed. He pulled his head back around the corner and leaned his back against the wall of the building, looking down.

Suddenly, inspiration struck, “A major case! That’s it! Murder mystery and time travel! That’s the concept.” He took a few steps forward, saying, “This is going to be one hot project! But, hmm… if this relates to that and… It needs a little more work; actually, it’s going to need a lot of work. But, I must make this my masterpiece.” Taking one last look around the side of the building at the crime scene, Oleg snuck away to start working on his new project.

Time Travel Heals All Wounds

Twilight hurried down the street to the art museum, her hooves sinking into the snow and slowing her down. A few minutes ago (for her at least), she managed to sneak away from the crime scene after having an idea. Clearly she had arrived shortly before the ‘shooting’ had occurred, so she thought she might be able to prevent it if she went back a few minutes in time. She only hoped she wasn’t too late already.

The lavender mare soon breathed a sigh of relief as she slowed her pace. Miriam was walking down the street a short ways ahead of her, her horn surrounded by a light blue aura as she levitated her baby close to her. Twilight approached her from behind, saying, “Hi, excuse me.”

Miriam came to a stop and turned to look at Twilight, asking, “Yes?”

Twilight hesitated for a moment; she could be blunt and tell the mare she was walking into danger, or she could say something else in order to show the dark orange unicorn she was friendly before warning her. She decided on the latter when she noticed Miriam’s baby, a little bit of the light brown foal poking out of the blanket he was wrapped in. She smiled, “Your baby is really cute.”

Miriam replied, “Oh, thank you.” She then smiled down at her son and rocked him back and forth.

Twilight asked, “Listen, if it’s not too much trouble, could you take a different way?”

Miriam looked up at her and asked, “What?”

Twilight spoke, “It’s dangerous ahead. Please.”

Miriam replied, “O-oh, I see. All right, thank you.” She turned and started walking again, tending to her baby as she went.

Twilight called, “Please, be careful.” She sighed when Miriam turned and started to walk down a side street, listening to her advice. With that, she turned and started walking away. As she walked, she thought to herself, “That was easy enough. She should be fine as long as she stays off of that street. I wonder why Mr. Brum isn’t with her, though. And who tried to kill her before I intervened? Well, they won’t have a chance now…”

*THWACK*

Twilight immediately came to a stop at that sound, her eyes going wide and her blood chilling. She whirled around and exclaimed, “What?!” She quickly ran back down the street, hoping this didn’t mean what she thought it meant.

Unfortunately, it did. When she arrived on the scene, she found Miriam lying on the ground, the crossbow bolt once again sticking out of the back of her head. The green unicorn stallion she’d seen before walked over to her and kneeled next to her. He used his magic to extract the bolt from her and shook her, saying, “Sweet Celestia! Lady, are you okay?!”

Miriam once again looked up at him and then around, moaning, “Where… my baby… he…” She then rolled over onto her side, becoming still.

Twilight whispered, “No… she’s gone again…”

The green unicorn shook Miriam, saying, “Come on, lady, hold on!”

The light blue earth pony stallion came up behind Twilight and, upon seeing Miriam on the ground, asked her, “What’s going on? Somepony hurt?”

Twilight looked back at him and said, “I don’t know. But please, can you get a doctor?”

The light blue pony nodded, “You got it!” He then turned and ran, heading for the nearest doctor’s office.

As Twilight turned back to look at Miriam, she noticed the dark blue unicorn had shown up. He asked, “Is she all right?! What happened?”

The green unicorn asked, “Hey wait, isn’t this Eckart’s wife?”

Once again, Eckart came running moments after the unicorn had asked that, exclaiming, “Miriam!” Once again, he pushed the green unicorn aside and shook his wife before picking her up in his forelegs, saying, “Miriam! Stay with me, hold on! Oh no, where’s Dante, wasn’t he with you?!” He then looked at the ponies gathered around and asked, “Did anypony see a baby?!”

Twilight absently said, “I don’t know…”

The dark blue unicorn raised an eyebrow at her and asked, “Hey, you were just talking to this lady, weren’t you?”

Twilight looked back at him, startled, and started, “Well, yes, but…” Suddenly, she noticed a sudden pulsing coming from her saddlebag and inwardly gasped. It was the same thing the Z-pad had done the first time she traveled back to 400 years ago. It was the warning glow; she needed to leave soon or she wouldn’t be able to leave at all. Slowly, she began to back away from the ponies who were staring at her.

“Hey!” the green unicorn exclaimed.

“That mare…” Eckart said.

The dark blue unicorn looked at the green unicorn and said, “I’d say she’s acting suspicious.” The green unicorn nodded and they both approached Twilight.

The green unicorn reached Twilight first and put a hoof on her shoulder, saying, “Hey! Where do you think you’re going?!”

The dark blue unicorn asked, “You trying to make a quick getaway?”

Twilight looked at him and asked, “A getaway?! I haven’t done anything!” The green unicorn took his hoof off of her shoulder, but he didn’t back away. Once again, the Z-pad gave off that pulsing glow and she looked down at her saddlebag, muttering in her head, “I know, I know. But I can’t let them see me time travel. Especially not right now…”

The green unicorn spoke, causing Twilight to look up, “Then stay here until the Princess’ royal guards get here!”

The dark blue unicorn nodded, “We’re talking murder here! You’d better not do anything irresponsible.”

Twilight looked down and thought to herself, “I can’t stay here that long. I need to get back to my time before it’s too late.” Looking back up at the two unicorns, she sighed to herself, “I guess I’m just going to have to play the guilty card…” In one swift second, her horn lit up and released a bright purple flash, blinding the two unicorns for a moment. While they were unable to see her, she quickly summoned the Z-pad and activated it. By the time they could see again, she was gone.

________________________________________

Twilight looked down as her time bubble carried her through the passage of time, her failure weighing heavily on her mind. “I can’t believe it happened again… She must’ve acted like she was going down that side street to get me to leave. I should’ve kept watch from afar,” she thought to herself, her ears drooping.

They stood up straight again when she heard a familiar voice ask, “Now really, what are you up to this time? Are you trying to win the Prized Pony Award?” Twilight whirled around to see Homunculus floating there, giving her a disapproving look. Before she could reply, he shook his head, “Didn’t I tell you? Fate makes a powerful opponent. It’s tough enough changing your own fate… you can’t do much to another pony’s. Doing it over again doesn’t mean you’re going to get it right anytime soon… You may put yourself through the pain, the tears again and again.”

Twilight looked down as he floated upside down and went on, “You should focus on changing your fate as quickly as possible. I’m saying this for your own sake. Goodbye for now…” Twilight looked up and realized he was already gone.

________________________________________

Twilight appeared on the road near the art museum, dropping to the ground after being released from her time bubble. Looking forward, she noticed the three unicorn mares were approaching the spot on the building where the movie poster was plastered. In a few seconds, she was going to have to go talk to them or risk being run down again. But she wasn’t worried about that right now.

Twilight brought the Z-pad out of her saddlebag and looked at it. She could still travel back in time to ten years ago, so she could probably travel back and try again before it started pulsing at her again. But did she really want to try and risk failing again? “Can that mare be saved?” she asked herself. She looked back up at the other unicorns for a second before looking back down at the Z-pad. She nodded to herself, “I have to try!” She then levitated it up and pressed her horn against it. Once again, she disappeared.

________________________________________

Miriam was walking along the street with her baby when she heard Twilight call, “Excuse me, ma’am.”

Miriam stopped and turned to look at the lavender unicorn coming towards her. “Yes?” she asked.

Coming to a stop in front of her, Twilight decided to be blunt with her, seeing as being nice with her hadn’t worked. So she said, “Don’t go that way. It’s not safe. Please, will you take a different route?”

Miriam looked back at her and asked, “Excuse me…?” Turning around, she levitated her baby closer to her chest and shot Twilight a look over her shoulder before she started walking again.

“W-wait!” Twilight exclaimed, stepping towards the dark orange unicorn. At the sound of her voice, the older unicorn looked back at her before breaking out into a run, heading down the nearby side street. Twilight immediately started running after her, not caring what anypony who saw her would think. “I’m not letting her out of my sight,” Twilight said to herself as she ran.

The mist made it hard to see very far and the snow slowed her down, but Twilight was able to keep up with Miriam as she ran. Twilight kept an eye on her, the bookworm’s gallops fiery and fierce. She was determined to get it right this time and wasn’t about to let anything derail her. Miriam led her around the block once before returning to the street they had been on, still running as she headed for the art museum.

As she approached the spot where Twilight knew she would be shot, she saw a glint out of the corner of her eye and slowed down slightly. It was coming from the side street they had run down earlier and Twilight could make out something holding what was no doubt the crossbow. Upon seeing this, Twilight ran as fast she could towards Miriam, who had come to a stop a little further up. As she neared the older mare, she yelled, “Watch out!” She then dove forward, her front legs outstretched in front of her. Her hooves met Miriam’s backside and she pushed forward, causing the aura surrounding the unicorn’s horn to vanish as a loud *THWACK* filled the air. They both landed face first in the snow.

The green unicorn and light blue earth pony appeared on the scene as Twilight pushed herself up off the ground. Thankfully, she hadn’t been hit by the bolt herself, but she didn’t know if Miriam was okay. Standing over her, Twilight asked, “Are you all right?!” Miriam groaned as she pulled her head out of the snow. She was initially angry at the purple unicorn, but she felt all that anger leave her system as she looked up and gasped. Twilight looked where she was looking. There was the bolt, sticking out of the side of a building rather than Miriam’s head.

Miriam pushed herself up with her hooves as Twilight walked around to her front and looked at her in concern. The dark orange unicorn looked at Twilight and breathed, “You – you saved me…”

Twilight was still worried even though Miriam had said that. She spoke, “Maybe… Are you hurt anywhere?”

Miriam looked down at her forelegs and then back up at Twilight, saying, “I… I scraped my legs, but otherwise I’m fine. You really were trying to help, weren’t you? I’m sorry…”

Twilight replied, “That’s all right. Are you sure you’re okay?”

Miriam nodded, but then she looked around in a panic. “W-wait, where is he? My baby?” she asked.

Twilight’s eyes widened at that. She stood up straight and looked around. She then gasped, “Oh no! The baby!” She couldn’t see the little foal anywhere. “Did Homunculus already get him? What does he want with her baby anyway? I thought he said he wasn’t going to pick up a baby again anyway,” she thought to herself.

The green unicorn spoke, “I don’t see a kid anywhere around here. Are you okay, lady?”

Eckart soon came running through the mist towards the scene. As soon as he saw his wife on the ground, he gasped, “Miriam!! Are you all right?”

The dark orange unicorn replied, “I’m all right, but…” She then looked down at her hooves.

Eckart gasped when he saw the red near her hooves, “You’re bleeding!” He quickly rushed to her side.

As he dropped down next to her, Miriam said, “That doesn’t matter! I’m all right!” She then looked at Eckart and exclaimed, “Where is he – where is our son?!” Eckart immediately began to look from left to right around the street at that.

Twilight noticed a familiar glow coming from her saddlebags and, after checking to see if anypony was looking at her, turned and started to walk away. The light blue earth pony noticed her leaving and asked, “Hey, where are you going?”

Twilight stopped and looked back at him. She then said, “Oh, um… It sounded like that shot came from over here. I thought I’d see if anypony around here saw anything.”

The earth pony nodded, “Okay, then I’ll go get a doctor to make sure she’s all right.” Twilight nodded back as the pony left.

Going back to the side street where she had seen the glint from, Twilight looked around a little as she walked down it. There was nobody there, as she expected. The archer probably took off immediately after firing the bolt. She sighed to herself, “There’s nothing more I can do here.” She summoned the Z-pad from her saddlebag and pressed it up against her horn, muttering, “I saved her here. I guess it’s all up to fate now.” She was lifted off the ground a moment later and disappeared almost immediately afterwards.

________________________________________

Her friends trotted up alongside her, the white unicorn asking, “What’s it about?”

The blue unicorn looked at the poster for a moment before saying, “Looks like it has something to do with time travel. I like stuff like that, don’t you?”

The white unicorn replied, “Come over here and check out this movie poster.”

Twilight trotted over and stood between the yellow unicorn and the white unicorn. She looked up at the poster and read it aloud, “‘Trip for Two: A mare with the power to defy time itself uncovers the truth behind a grisly serial murder’. Huh, that sounds pretty cool, actually.”

The blue unicorn nodded, “I know, right? Hey, I didn’t know you watched movies, Twilight.”

The white unicorn added, “Yeah, I thought all you did was study.”

Twilight replied, “Well, sometimes I do other things, especially nowadays.”

Before any of them could ask her what she meant, they all heard Applejack call, “Hey Twilight! What’s going on?”

They all turned to see the orange earth pony and the rest of Twilight’s friends coming around the corner. Twilight smiled, “Spike, girls, come look at this!”

They all came over to the group and looked at the poster themselves. As soon as Rarity saw Oleg’s name on it, she squealed, “Oh, this director? I am such a big fan of his movies!”

Pinkie Pie gasped, “Oh wow, you too, Rarity? That’s so amazing!”

Fluttershy smiled, “A love story? I don’t know about the part about the serial murder, but I’d like to see it if it has a happy ending.”

Applejack nodded, “Fer sure!”

Rainbow Dash said, “I’d definitely go see it for the plot!” Spike nodded at that, agreeing with her.

As the group’s conversation continued, Oleg was peeking out from behind a building, looking at the gathering around his movie’s poster. He nodded in satisfaction, “All right! I’ve got a good feeling about this one too.” Pulling his head back around the corner, he leaned back against the building and said, “Another major hit, no doubt about that! Really!” He looked up suddenly when a pony wearing a black cloak suddenly galloped past him, using its magic to make a nearby abandoned carriage make a sharp turn, the kind they weren’t supposed to make. He called after the retreating carriage and pony, “Hey! Watch what you’re doing!!”

A couple of minutes later, the three unicorns departed after having a long, enjoyable conversation with Twilight and her friends. It went from talking about the new movie to talking about what Twilight was up to with her friends in Ponyville. As they left, the white unicorn called back, “Sorry we have to leave like this, but we already had plans for tonight. But we should totally hang out next time you’re in Canterlot, Twilight!”

After they left, Pinkie Pie walked over to Twilight and said, “Ooh! You got the cupcakes, Twilight!” She then used her forelegs to grab the box off of Twilight’s back. “Hey, the box is kind of wet!” the pink pony exclaimed.

Twilight gulped at that; she had completely forgotten about it the whole time she was in the past. “Oh shoot, really? I didn’t even notice. I hope the cupcakes aren’t ruined,” she said.

Pinkie Pie smiled, “Oh, I’m sure they’re fine! Water doesn’t get into these boxes easily!”

Applejack asked, “What were ya doin’ that ya didn’t even notice that the box was wet, Sugarcube?”

Rainbow Dash spoke, “Aw, who cares, Applejack? Come on, we’ve got everything else! Let’s get back to the castle; we don’t want to leave the princesses waiting for the party to start, do we?”

Applejack replied, “Well, Ah reckon not, Rainbow. Ah guess it doesn’t matter anyway, so long as the cupcakes are fine.”

Pinkie Pie spoke, “No worries there, Applejack!” She then turned to Spike and said, “Here, Spike. You can carry these!”

The baby dragon replied, “Uh, okay.” Before he could reach up and take the box from her, he suddenly felt the familiar sensation of his stomach tensing up. A second later, he let out a stream of flames that Pinkie Pie hopped back from, the flames floating up and a scroll appearing with a pop.

As the scroll dropped down, Rarity noted, “That doesn’t look like Princess Celestia’s seal.” Indeed, the seal holding the scroll closed looked rather plain compared to the seal everypony was used to seeing.

Twilight levitated the scroll up and unfurled it, using the light from her horn to read it. Her friends watched as she raised an eyebrow in confusion. Rainbow Dash soon asked, “What does it say, Twilight?”

The lavender unicorn looked up and said, “It’s from Mr. Brum. It says he needs the book he lent me back.”

Applejack raised her own eyebrow, “Already? Ya ain’t even had it a whole day. What’s so important that he needs it now?”

Looking back down at the scroll, Twilight said, “I don’t know. All it says is that something’s come up and he’ll be waiting at the museum tower.” Glancing back, she said, “As long as I’m right here, I might as well return it now.”

Fluttershy asked, “Do you want us to come with you?”

Rainbow Dash said, “Don’t be silly, Fluttershy. All Twilight needs is go to the tower and return the book. That’s simple; she doesn’t need help doing something like that. She can run this errand and we can head back to set everything up for the party.”

Pinkie Pie cheered, “Yay! We’re gonna party with the princesses!” She then dropped the box on the ground and started hopping away, the other ponies beginning to follow after her.

Picking the box up off the ground, Spike looked up at Twilight and said, “I’m gonna go with them and help them set up. You can take care of this, right?” He then turned and started to follow after the girls.

Twilight reached a hoof out towards him and exclaimed, “WAIT!” Spike immediately came to a stop and turned around to look at her, confused. Rarity and Fluttershy, who were just about to turn the corner, also turned and looked at her. Gathering herself, Twilight lowered her hoof to the ground and said, “I mean… Yeah, you’re right, Spike. I… I can take care of this. It’s not like anything’s going to happen, right?”

Spike raised an eye at her for a second before saying, “Oooookay then. I’m just gonna go, I guess. Unless there’s a reason you don’t want to go alone?”

Twilight giggled, “Who, me? No, no, it’s fine. You can go ahead, Spike, and I’ll be along in a bit.” Spike, with his eye still raised, turned and followed after Fluttershy and Rarity, none of them sure what to make of Twilight’s outburst. The lavender mare sighed to herself and started walking towards the hill leading up to the museum. As she walked, she thought to herself, “I have to keep it together! I can solve this myself and not put them in danger or anything else unpleasant that could come with telling them. Besides, I’m just going to return a book to a friend. Nothing is going to happen… right?”

Crashing Down

Twilight walked up the hill leading to the art museum and then under the arch at the top. Instead of heading for the front doors, she took the path to the right, which led straight to the tower. The lavender mare stopped and looked up at it for a second. Since her parents were good friends with Eckart, they had sometimes taken her to the top when she was a little filly and she still lived with them, walking up the spiraling staircase inside and then looking out over Canterlot from the top.

Shaking her head, she walked up to the door of the tower and raised a hoof, giving it an experimental push. The door opened, moving inwards at her push. She then poked her head inside and asked, “Hello? Mr. Brum?” Walking inside, she maneuvered her way around the door and looked at the winding stairs in front of her. Was Eckart waiting to meet her at the top?

Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind her! Whirling around, Twilight ran over to it and put one of her hooves around the door handle, pulling it. The door jiggled, but it wouldn’t open. “Oh great! I’m locked in!” she groaned. Left with no choice, Twilight turned away from the door and started walking up the staircase. Partway up, she noticed the door leading to Eckart’s office and tried knocking, but there was no answer. So she continued on her way, climbing the ladder on the circle-shaped floor at the top of the stairs to get to the top of the tower.

Reaching the top of the ladder, she stepped outside onto the turret, her hooves clacking softly on the stone. She looked around, wondering where Eckart was. There wasn’t much to see on top of the tower; just the gazebo and the railing running around the perimeter. A pony really couldn’t hide up here if they wanted to. Walking over to the other side of the turret, she placed her forelegs on top of the railing, deciding to wait for Eckart to show up. While she waited, she looked out across Canterlot. Luna’s moon provided an excellent source of light. She could see quite far from the tower; she could swear she could even see all the way to Ponyville, various lights shining in the distance.

Suddenly, Twilight felt hooves touch her backside. She didn’t get a lot of time to act as she was suddenly given a hard shove forward, going over the railing! Gravity immediately began to act on her, pulling her down and making her hind legs follow the rest of her over! She was so shocked that all she could do was scream at the top of her lungs as the ground rushed up to meet her. She soon hit the ground, landing with a sickening thud.

________________________________________

“Oh…” Twilight groaned painfully as she raised her head. She was dead again, this time from going splat against the pavement.

As she began to pick herself up, she heard Homunculus speak, “Oh dear… But this may be the chance we’ve been looking for.”

Twilight pushed her front hooves against the ground, extending her forelegs as she asked, “What are you talking about?”

Homunculus replied, “Think about it. How did you die this time?”

Twilight sighed, “I was pushed off the tower from behind.” She sat on her haunches and thought about this before saying, “But the door was locked and the only other way into the tower is through Mr. Brum’s office. That means the killer is in there somewhere.”

Homunculus said, “Bingo. So if you can somehow fool the killer, you may be able to catch him. Can’t you do something to make sure you don’t fall off, something that won’t alert the killer to what you’re doing? You’ve got a bit of time to think about it. Good luck.”

________________________________________

Twilight glared at the door in front of her for a moment before giving a sharp pull with her hoof. Just like before, though, it refused to budge. “No good,” she muttered. Setting her hoof back down on the ground, she murmured, “I don’t really want to think about it, but… The pony who’s trying to kill me… Could it be Mr. Brum? Is that possible? And why would he be trying to kill me? Is it because I stopped coming all those years ago? Is he mad at me for that? What… I don’t know what to think.”

She looked back as she noticed a familiar glow coming from her saddlebags. Remembering that she couldn’t use her magic in the tower, she reached her head back and dug inside the right saddlebag. Her muzzle soon touched the Z-pad and she gripped it with her teeth, pulling it out. She then took it in her right hoof and examined it. “This is last night,” she murmured as she looked at what time the device was telling her to travel to. “That would probably be the best time to check out the tower without the risk of being pushed off,” she thought to herself. Raising her left hoof, she touched the Z-pad and disappeared soon afterwards.

________________________________________

Twilight appeared just outside the museum tower, her hooves coming into contact with the pavement below. She brought the Z-pad out again and examined it, checking what time it was. “Good, we’re at Hoity Toity’s fashion show right now. That means there’s practically no chance of seeing myself if I need to go into the city for anything,” she thought to herself. While it might’ve been a good idea to warn her past self of what awaited her the following day, she didn’t think it would go over so well. Celestia knows she’d probably drive herself crazy with worry… again.

Shaking her head to get that thought out, she turned and walked over to the door leading to the inside of the tower. Standing in front of it, she murmured, “This would probably be the easiest way to get inside without Mr. Brum knowing I’m here…” She tried pushing against the door, but as one might expect, it was locked. She shook her head and then examined the keyhole near the door handle. “This is an old lock. Maybe I can get a hold of the key,” she mused. She disappeared soon after saying that, the Z-pad agreeing with her and showing her the way.

________________________________________

Twilight found herself standing in the entrance to Alfred’s house, the Z-pad having deposited her right in front of the double doors. She nodded, “I can probably find the tower key that I need in this era. All the keys have to be somewhere in this house.”

Suddenly, she heard Photo Shoot’s voice through the front doors, “All right – hold still please!”

Twilight whirled around at the sound of that, realizing what it meant. She gasped, “Uh-oh! I’m outside right now! I can’t see myself here!” She quickly turned and ran into the family room, pressing her back up against the wall next to the door. As she looked forward, she noticed her saddlebags lying on the floor, further proving she had arrived during her first visit to this time period and was currently having her picture taken.

A minute later, she held her breath as she heard the front doors open. She exhaled when she heard the other door open; it was just Sibylla putting her baby brother back. But she would be sure to follow soon. As Twilight’s eyes scanned the room, they came to rest on a key rack on the wall she hadn’t noticed before. Stepping away from the wall, she walked around the furniture and stood in front of it, examining it. She soon found what she was looking for. “The tower key… There are two of them; one must be a duplicate. It should be okay if I take one,” she said.

Nodding to herself, Twilight used her magic to levitate the key off the rack and placed it inside her left saddlebag, unaware that Sibylla was watching her from the other room. The young filly ducked back inside the room as Twilight turned around, having felt like somepony was looking at her. She then remembered her ‘other’ self and muttered, “Uh-oh, I’m going to run into myself.” Glancing around, she noticed the double doors Sibylla had come from when she brought the tea into the family room and ran over to them, using her magic to pull one open and then close it after she went through.

Twilight turned and looked at the doors for a minute. She soon heard the sound of Sibylla and herself talking to each other. She smiled to herself, “Now I know what Sibylla meant when she said I could use the key as much as I want. She really did see me.” After another minute, the sound of talking stopped and Twilight knew that her ‘past’ self had returned to her present. She said, “Right, I’ve got what I came for. I should be able to get into the tower and start working on a plan to avoid falling to my death.” She summoned the Z-pad from her saddlebag and set it to take her to the night before. She was lifted off the ground a moment later, the time travel bubble forming around her and taking her to her destination.

________________________________________

Twilight once again appeared in front of the tower, her hooves clacking against the ground as she landed. Turning to look at the door, she used her magic to pull the key out of her left saddlebag and maneuvered it into the keyhole. It easily turned and she pushed the door open slowly. Poking her head inside, she glanced from left to right before going around the door and quietly closing it. She then slowly crept up the stairs, taking every precaution like when she and the others were trying to set up Pinkie Pie’s birthday party without her knowing.

When she reached the top of the stairs, she climbed up the ladder out onto the turret, once again trying to make as little noise as possible. Outside, she walked underneath the gazebo as she went over to the other side of the tower. Carefully raising her forelegs while looking back over her shoulder, she placed them on top of the railing and looked down. She could almost see herself getting pushed off again, could almost see herself falling with no way of saving herself and landing on the ground in a terrible mess…

She shook her head to clear it and looked back down at the ground below. She had to be at least two stories off the ground. She put a hoof on her chin as she murmured, “Would I have enough time to teleport while falling? No, I don’t think so; I really need to concentrate to do that, plus it takes a few seconds to teleport. Not to mention Mr. Brum might anticipate me doing that. And I’m still going to be falling if I teleport back up here. I’d end up killing myself anyway.”

She looked up at the sky for a moment before looking back down. “Maybe if I put something between here and the ground, I could keep myself from falling. But if I did anything with magic, either Mr. Brum or the princesses might detect it. But what else can I do?” Looking back down at the railing, she murmured, “Maybe if I had a rope… There was a rope by the ladder!” She turned and walked back over to the hatch, going back down the ladder.

At the bottom of the ladder, she walked over to the rope lying on the floor and sat down next to it, picking it up with a hoof. It appeared to be firm, but it also looked rather old. The fibers in it had started to show signs of aging and it was a dull brown color. “Hm… I don’t know if this is going to work. Applejack wouldn’t use an old rope like this for a rodeo. After all, it wouldn’t be good if her rope were to snap on her while she was trying to lasso something. I don’t think this will be able to hold me,” she murmured. Looking at the rope again, she had an idea. She set it back down and pulled the Z-pad out of her saddlebag, traveling back to 100 years ago.

She soon returned to the top of the tower the night before, carrying a much newer looking rope in her mouth. She smiled to herself, “I knew it! That rope’s been there for at least a hundred years. In Alfred’s time, it’s almost brand new. This is an Applejack kind of rope.” Trotting over to the other side of the tower, she looked out over the railing again before looking back down at the rope and starting, “Since I’m going to be shoved off here…” She held up one end of the rope and used her magic to tie it in a knot around the railing, murmuring, “I can tie one end of this rope to the railing and grab the other end tomorrow before I get pushed off. That way, I shouldn’t fall…”

She picked up the rest of the rope and threw it over the railing. Just as a test, she lit up her horn and touched the rope with it. Looking down, she saw the rope beginning to move like a snake, similar to what Trixie did during her performance. If nothing else, she could enchant the rope to grab her while falling if she didn’t grab it before getting pushed off. She muttered, “One way or the other, I hope this works…”

After a minute, Twilight turned and went back over to the hatch, climbing down the ladder. She was about to pull the Z-pad out of her saddlebag when she heard Eckart’s voice, “…You’re sure about that? …He’s alive?” Curious, Twilight crept down the stairs to Eckart’s office, hearing him say, “…All right…” As she stood in front of the door, she heard him say, “…Yes, I talked to her parents earlier. They’re coming over tomorrow with her and her friends, to look at paintings. Yes, I’m sure. …No, it won’t be a problem. They told me about her friends; one of them might be a problem, but I think I can confuse her. …Yes, yes, I know… I won’t tell anypony.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at the door. Eckart was obviously talking to somepony about her, seeing as her parents had gone over to the museum earlier that day to tell Eckart that they would be stopping by the next day. The one he had mentioned might be a problem was obviously Pinkie Pie; no doubt her Pinkie Sense would’ve gotten in the way somehow. This proved that Eckart had made at least one attempt on her life, but it also further raised the question of why he was doing this. “Who’s he talking to?” she murmured.

Taking the Fall

Twilight returned to her proper time after sneaking back down the stairs to the base of the tower and stepping outside, Eckart’s conversation with his mystery talker having finished. The Z-pad deposited her inside the tower, right in front of the door leading outside. Knowing there was no way around it, she hurried up the winding staircase to the top, hoping that her plan would work.

Reaching the top of the ladder, she stepped out onto the turret and quickly hurried over to the other side of the tower. Thankfully, the rope she had tied to the railing was still there. Silently thanking Alfred for not restoring the anti-magic ward to its full strength from the museum’s days as a squire house, she lit up her horn and sent some of her magic into the rope. The rope lit up the same magenta color for a moment before it faded; Twilight then looked at the rope and raised her forelegs over the railing, gripping the rope between them and pulling up. She then released it and put her forelegs back up on the railing, thinking, “It’s not going anywhere. It’s time to see if this works or not.”

Almost immediately afterwards, she felt the hooves touch her and give her a hard push, sending her over the railing! Eckart stood behind where she had been standing, hearing her scream before all went silent again. He sighed, “I-is it over? I’ve g-got to clean it up before anypony sees her…” He then turned and walked over to the hatch, climbing down the ladder.

Unbeknownst to him, Twilight was still alive. When she was falling, she allowed her horn to light up its magenta color, sending out her magic signal. The enchantment in the rope immediately responded to it and it lashed out, grabbing and tying around her back left leg. Thankfully, it went beyond just grabbing her and worked to cushion her fall by swinging her after grabbing her, saving her from dying by a sudden whiplash stop.

After the swinging stopped, Twilight hung there, suspended by the rope. She was panting heavily and sure she was going to die any second now, either from the rope snapping or because the rope hadn’t cushioned her fall enough and it hadn’t caught up to her yet. When neither happened, she calmed down enough to look behind her and up at her rope. It didn’t seem to be falling apart on her and it still had a firm grip on her. Not wanting to test her luck again, her horn quickly lit up and, after a few seconds, she disappeared in a flash of purple.

She reappeared in the air next to the gazebo on top of the tower, falling on her stomach between it and the railing. After landing, she immediately raised her head and looked around the turret. There was nopony there; she was all alone. Her ears drooped and she lowered her gaze to the ground as she crawled into the center of the gazebo, the loneliness complimenting how she felt quite well.

Once she was in the middle of the gazebo, she curled up on her side and started crying. She didn’t know what specifically she was crying about, but she couldn’t hold it in any longer. She just started outright sobbing, not caring who heard her. She wasn’t going crazy, she knew that much, but that wasn’t much of a comfort. “Whatever I did, whoever I hurt, I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m so tired of all this! I just want to know what I did! I want this to be over with, one way or the other!” she screamed in her head. After several minutes of crying, she managed to gather herself enough to rise to her hooves. She had some questions for Eckart.

Inside the tower, Twilight descended the stairs until she reached the door to Eckart’s office. It was slightly ajar, allowing her to see inside. She could see Eckart sitting at his desk, his head bowed low. He looked up when she pushed the door, causing it to creak, and noticed her red-rimmed eyes. “Oh, hi…” he murmured softly.

Twilight stepped into the room and turned to look at him. She meant to sound firm with him, but when she spoke, she sounded weary instead. “Mr. Brum, you…” she started.

Eckart interrupted her, “Is this… yours?” In his hoof was the antique comb from Lucian. It must’ve fallen out of her saddlebag when she was grabbed by the rope.

Twilight looked at it before looking back up at Eckart and saying, “Mr. Brum…”

Eckart said, “I asked you whether this was yours.”

Twilight nodded slowly, “Yes… somepony gave it to me. But we need to…”

Eckart stopped her by saying, “I see…” He then set the hoof holding the comb on his desk and looked away from the lavender unicorn.

Twilight spoke, “Mr. Brum, there’s something I need to ask you.”

Eckart raised his other hoof to his eyes and, while wiping his eyes, sighed, “…I’m sorry, Twilight. Truly, truly sorry…” Lowering his hoof, he explained, “I was… blackmailed. Our son… went missing ten years ago. It was Dante’s return for… for your life.”

Twilight looked at him in shock, then she narrowed her eyes and asked, “So were you the one who tried to stab me too?”

Eckart looked over at her and, a moment later, said, “No, I don’t know anything about that.” Looking down, he added, “You have no reason to believe me, but that’s the truth.”

Twilight’s lifted her eyes and asked, “What? So a lot of what’s happened today is because of another pony…? Who? Who’s doing all this?”

Eckart shook his head, “I honestly don’t know. It… it might be the pony who contacted me last night. I don’t know who he was, but he had to be a unicorn because he sent a long-distance communication spell to my window. He sounded like a young stallion. …He said he’d contact me again once you were dead…” Twilight took a nervous step back at that. Eckart looked up at her and said, “Don’t worry. After all, I told you all this, didn’t I? I won’t make any more attempts on your life and I plan to give myself up.” He looked down as he murmured, “I can’t ask for your forgiveness, but I am sorry…”

Twilight’s expression softened at Eckart’s confession and she looked down as she said, “No, it’s all right. I don’t even know why somepony wants me dead, but I might be a step closer to figuring that out now.” She looked back up at Eckart and pleaded, “Please don’t blame yourself, Mr. Brum.”

Eckart raised his head and looked at the comb he was still clutching in his hoof. He spoke, “This comb… it somehow made me sane again. When I look at it, I feel like he’s safe – when I hold it in my hoof, I can believe that the blackmail was nothing but a piece of fiction, and that my son is out there somewhere, happy and safe… It’s as though… I’m stroking his little head again, reassuring.” He shook his head, “I don’t know quite how to express it. I must be getting old…”

Twilight looked at Eckart in a new light as he said those words. She no longer saw a victim forced into doing something he didn’t want; she saw a father who cared deeply for his family, somepony who would do anything to prevent harm from coming to those he loved. She smiled softly, “No, I think I understand. That comb… I’d like you to have it.”

Eckart looked up at her in surprise, “Are you sure? Isn’t it a keepsake?”

Before Twilight could answer him, they both heard the sound of a door opening and turned to look. A dark orange unicorn mare with an auburn mane and tail stepped into the room. She spoke, “Sweetheart…”

Eckart set the comb down and stood up, walking around his desk as he said, “Miriam. I woke you.”

Twilight looked on in surprise. “Miriam? She’s…?” she thought.

Eckart walked over to the mare and said, “Everything’s all right. You should go back to bed.”

Miriam shook her head, “No.”

Eckart backed off, realizing what this meant. “My darling… you heard?”

Miriam nodded, “Yes. Your voice rather carries, you know. I didn’t mean to listen, but you sounded so agitated that I…”

Eckart looked away, saying, “Oh, Miriam… Miriam, I’m so sorry.”

The dark orange mare smiled, “Everything’s going to be all right. You have me, don’t you know that? I’ve always been on your side, always.”

Eckart looked back up at her and said, “Thank you, my dear. Thank you so much…”

Miriam replied, “Don’t be silly, dear. We’ve been together for ten years, you know, and…” She trailed off when she noticed Twilight standing next to Eckart’s desk. Taking a closer look at her, Miriam spoke, “Oh my… You’re… aren’t you…?”

Twilight looked back at her and stuttered, “Oh, um, hello?”

Eckart looked between the two mares for a second before looking back at Miriam and asking, “What’s the matter? This is Twilight Sparkle, remember? Her parents used to bring her here a lot when she was a little filly.”

Miriam replied, “I know, but… Looking at her now, she looks so much like somepony I knew a long time ago, that’s all.”

Twilight raised a hoof and ran it through the back of her mane as she muttered, “I, um…”

Miriam spoke, “It’s all right; you don’t have to say anything.” She looked away as she said, “Some memories are best left as they are, after all. The truth may only disappoint, and I’d rather not be told.”

Twilight nodded, “I understand.”

Eckart asked, “Hold on a minute, what is all this? You make it sound like you two went to school together or something. But that can’t be; Twilight hadn’t even been born the first time we met her parents. How come all this is coming up just now? It seems a little too strange for my-”

Miriam chuckled, cutting him off, and then said, “Now, don’t worry, dear. It’s just an unusual coincidence and that’s what it should be left as. And I am a one-stallion mare and you know very well that you are that stallion.” She then noticed the comb on Eckart’s desk and walked over to it. Looking down at the comb, she breathed, “It’s so… alike.”

Eckart walked over to her, asking, “Hm? What’s alike?”

Picking up the comb in her hoof and examining it, Miriam explained, “This comb and the one I gave the baby – Dante – to hold. I don’t remember exactly what it looked like anymore, but I think it looked like this. It had that sort of antique feel to it, you know…”

Eckart looked between her and the comb before saying, “That’s why – I see it now. That’s why I feel so peculiar about this thing. It makes sense…”

Miriam looked at him and asked, “You too? But I didn’t think you would have noticed something like a comb?”

Eckart looked back at her and said, “I didn’t think so either and that’s why it’s so odd.” He looked over at the lavender mare standing next to the desk and asked, “Twilight, is it… are you really sure it’s all right if I keep this?”

Twilight nodded, “Yes, it’s perfectly fine. You should have it. Uh, I should probably get going…”

Eckart asked, “Already?”

Twilight replied, “Sorry, but I have to find out who’s doing this. I think it would be easier to sleep tonight if I knew who’s behind all this and why they’re doing it.”

Eckart said, “Of course. And if there’s anything I can do to help, let me know. I’ll do everything in my power.” Twilight nodded and then nodded at Miriam, silently wishing her a good night. She then headed for the door to the museum, looking back at Eckart and his wife as she pushed it open.

As she stepped out into the museum, she used a hind leg to close the door behind her. She started heading for the stairs, but then she noticed something on the wall across from her. Turning to look at it, she saw that it was a painting. Her eyes widened at the sight of it. It was a painting of a young unicorn stallion holding a red stone up in the air with telekinesis.

Looking at the painting carefully, she muttered, “I don’t remember seeing this picture before…? …the red stone! And that’s…! Is that Dante?”

Reunion

Eckart sat behind his desk in his office, looking out through the window at Luna’s moon. Miriam had just gone back to sleep while he opted to stay up in case Twilight needed any help. He intended to make good on his promise of leaving the young mare alone, only helping if she needed it. He knew she was willing to forgive him for attempting to kill her, but he didn’t want to force himself on her in any way and risk pushing her further away.

He tore his gaze away from the window when the door to his office opened and Twilight stepped inside. Looking at her as she approached him, he asked, “What is it? Is there anything else you need?”

Moving over to the right side of the desk, Twilight replied, “No, nothing in particular. Just wanted to, well, see how you were doing.”

Eckart raised an eyebrow at her, “Oh… Are you watching out for me…? Afraid I might kill myself or something if I’m left alone?”

Twilight shook her head frantically, “N-no, of course not! You wouldn’t…” Looking back at him, she said, “Anyway, I wanted to return that book you lent me.” She then reached her muzzle into her right saddlebag, having put the book in there after reading it earlier.

Eckart asked, “Done already? Are you sure?”

As she rooted through her saddlebag, Twilight replied, “Mm-hmm. It really helped.” She soon gripped the top of the book with her mouth and began to pull it out. As she did, though, the bottom caught on the pocket watch Oleg had given her and pulled it out too. It then fell on the floor, landing next to Eckart. “Oops,” Twilight mumbled around the book.

Eckart looked down at the watch and picked it up with a hoof, saying, “…Oh? This watch…”

After setting the book down on Eckart’s desk, the black-and-white photo and tower key both tucked inside its pages, Twilight asked, “What’s the matter?”

While looking at the watch, Eckart said, “It’s nothing. It’s just that I’ve seen a watch a lot like it.” He then hoofed it back to Twilight as he continued, “This strange earth pony in one of my classes gave me one that looked just like it. He said it was a ‘symbol of our friendship’ or something like that.”

Twilight looked down at the watch for a moment and then back up at Eckart, asking, “Was he maybe… did he say his father made watches as a hobby?”

Eckart asked, “Oh, you know him too? I hear he’s a bit of celebrity these days. A film producer, I think.”

Twilight nodded as she put the watch away, “That’s what I’ve heard.”

Eckart chuckled, “Well, it’s a small world.”

Twilight asked, “So Mr. Brum, you went to school with him?”

Eckart nodded, “Yes. He seemed pretty weird at the time. Always mumbling what he said were incantations under his breath. Said he was channeling his psychic energy and all that stuff…” He shook his head, “Sorry, I’m rambling on, and you’re trying to find out who’s got it in for you. If there’s anything else I can do to help, just give me a yell, okay?”

Twilight replied, “Okay. I’ll come back when all this is over.”

Eckart nodded, “Please do. And don’t do anything too risky. Watch yourself out there.”

Twilight nodded and left the room again, closing the door behind her. She then went downstairs to the first floor and headed for the front doors, stepping out into the night. Now that she was out of the museum, she summoned the Z-pad from her saddlebags. It had started glowing after she had seen the picture, but she wanted to return the book to Eckart before she forgot. Now that she had a chance to look at it, she saw that it was directing her back to 400 years ago, four years after her first appearance. As she pressed it up against her horn, she thought, “Will I see the red stone… and Dante?”

________________________________________

Twilight once again found herself in the Canterlot square of old, landing softly on her hooves. Looking around, she saw that it was early afternoon and the only ponies in the square were too busy talking to each other to have witnessed her sudden appearance. Looking down, she thought about what to do next. She then looked up and muttered, “Oh yeah, I should ask about that picture.” Nodding to herself, she left the square and pulled her map out of her saddlebag, looking at it as she walked.

After wandering around for a little while, she located the local artist’s studio. After looking at the front door for a moment, she began to approach it. Before she could reach it, the door opened and a red unicorn stallion with a yellow mane and tail stepped out, stopping and looking at her when he noticed her. He was dressed in a traditional servant outfit and had the gong of Agyin for a cutie mark, but she knew who he was. Coming to a stop, she gasped, “Dante?!”

The stallion’s eyes widened and he breathed, “You’re the mare from… Twilight?”

Twilight spoke, “Dante, I was so worried about you.”

The red unicorn nodded, “Yeah… I was pretty shook up too, after I got separated from you.”

Twilight walked up to him and said, “I’m so glad to see you’re okay. I’m really sorry about getting you mixed up in all this.” She looked down in shame after saying that.

Dante replied, “It’s all right, Twilight. It wasn’t your fault, and you can see I managed to get by okay. I will admit I was pretty scared, though. It was so dark out… But it only took me a bit to figure out that I was still in Canterlot, so I started thinking that maybe I was just in a different time.” Glancing up, he continued, “It’s a lot more humble, but the buildings and streets are a lot like the Canterlot I know, so…”

Twilight asked, “Wow, you figured all that and didn’t freak out?” She smiled, “I would have for sure.”

Dante said, “Yeah, well, that’s the only thing that kept me from screaming like a lunatic and waking everypony up. It still took a while to get used to everything. Things only fell into place recently… I looked for you for a long time, you know.”

Twilight looked down as she sighed, “I’m sorry. I-I looked for you too, but I didn’t have any luck.”

Dante replied, “Well, there’s no point in worrying about what’s done. It’s been four years, after all.”

Twilight looked up at him in confusion before remembering what the Z-pad had told her and said, “Four years? Oh, yeah, I guess it really has been that long. You know, you do look more… mature, I guess, now that I think about it.”

Dante asked, “What do you mean?”

Twilight giggled, “Oh, it’s nothing. Maybe I could’ve worded that a little better.”

Dante smiled at her and said, “An off-duty guard helped me that first day, and since then I’ve done a lot of different things. I even worked in a mill for a while…” He then turned slightly profile to display his flank and continued, “But now, I’m a servant at the squire’s manor house.” He then looked back at Twilight and said, “I feel so relaxed these days. It feels like I should be thanking you for all of this.”

Twilight asked, “Why are you modeling for a picture?”

Dante explained, “The squire’s a patron of this painter, and that’s how I met him, originally. He said he really wanted to use me as a model, and frankly I couldn’t say no.”

Twilight nodded, “I see.”

Dante added, “Actually, the squire’s son was supposed to be the model, but he didn’t want to do it. So I ended up taking his place.”

Twilight said, “So the stallion in the picture is you…”

Dante cocked his head, “Huh? Oh, I don’t even start posing until tomorrow. I just came over today to work out the schedule and all that stuff.”

Twilight quickly replied, “Yes, but the picture will eventually be painted. I mean… you know what I mean.”

Dante asked, “Hey, why did you come here today? Are you… here to take me back? You can do that, right?”

Twilight replied, “Yes. Do you want to go back?”

Dante answered, “I did, you know. Of course I wanted to. But that’s not what I want anymore.”

Twilight carefully asked, “Not… anymore?”

Dante nodded softly and then said, “It’s okay. I have no one there – no parents, no family…” He turned and took a few steps away from Twilight before saying, “So I’ll be okay here. Nopony will worry about me.” Bowing his head, he said, “Besides, it’s like I said. Nopony expected anything of me back there… Nopony was watching, no matter how hard I worked. So… there really is nothing for me to go back to.”

Twilight looked at him with concern, “Dante…?”

The red unicorn turned to look at her and said, “Don’t worry about me, Twilight. I’m grateful to you, you know. This world, this age – it feels like I’ve come home after a really long trip. That’s how right it feels, and I mean that. So of course I’m grateful to know that you were worried about me all this time, but it’s okay now. You don’t have to worry about me anymore. This is where I’m going to spend my life; I’ve already decided.”

Twilight softly said, “Dante…”

Dante’s eye shot up for a second and he asked, “Hey, remember this…?” He used his magic to reach into a small pouch around his neck and pulled something out. He then walked up to Twilight, the object floating next to his head, and showed it to her. “It’s the red stone from that day,” he said.

Twilight looked at it carefully through the yellow aura of Dante’s magic. It was true; it really was the same stone he had been trying to return earlier that day. “That stone is…” she murmured. Looking back at Dante, she asked, “Dante, do you need that stone?”

Dante blinked and looked between her and the stone for a second before replying, “No, not really. Do you want it?” At Twilight’s nod, he smiled, “Then of course you can have it. If it weren’t for this stone, I never would’ve met you, never would have ended up right here right now, talking to you like this.”

Twilight asked, “Oh? Do you mean that it’s important to you, that you want to keep it?”

Dante shook his head, “No. Okay, I’ve always thought that there was something very special about this stone. Something important… That’s the reason I thought about having it included in my portrait. But that’s okay; after all, I got to see you again.” He then levitated it over to Twilight’s right saddlebag, saying, “Here you go. It’s all yours.”

Twilight used her magic to open the flap on her saddlebag, allowing Dante to drop the stone inside of it. She then looked back at him and said, “Thank you, Dante.” A moment of silence passed between them before she asked, “So what are you going to do now?”

Dante looked down at the ground as he murmured, “I… I, um…” He gave a short, nervous laugh, his cheeks turning redder than his coat. Turning and taking a few steps, he said, “Well, you see… There’s this chambermaid… At the manor house where I’m being looked after. She and I…” He paused, his cheeks getting a little redder, and then said, “Well, we’re planning to start a life together someday. So I’m kind of stuck here anyway.” He then looked back at Twilight and said, “I’m really sorry, Twilight. I mean, you’re a nice mare too, one that any stallion would be lucky to have. And like I said, I’m glad you were so worried about somepony you had only just met all this time. But…”

Twilight cut him off, “Don’t worry, Dante. I get it. And I’m fine with your decision to stay here, as long as you’re sure you won’t regret it.”

Dante replied, “No, I won’t. I’m sure of it.”

Twilight said, “Okay. Well, I hope you and your… partner have a happy life together. You take care, then.”

Dante nodded, “Thanks. You take care too, Twilight.” He then turned and walked away, heading back to the manor house. Before turning the corner, he took one last look over his shoulder at Twilight, knowing it would probably be the last time he would ever see the lavender unicorn again.

Twilight smiled at him as she watched him go. All through this conversation, her brain had been screaming at her to take him back to their proper time, to prevent any serious changes being made to the future. But for once, she decided to listen to her heart and not her brain.

Obviously, her brain had gotten her out of trouble before, but her time in Ponyville had taught her that it was also important to listen to her heart sometimes. It allowed her to accept Pinkie Pie’s Pinkie Sense for what it was, even though her brain refused to admit it meant something. It worked with her brain to help Luna become accepted when the lunar princess came to Ponyville on Nightmare Night. And it made her open up to the idea of having friends in the first place. It had been right almost as much as her brain usually was, so she decided to trust it again and let Dante live the life he wanted. If she helped him find a better life than the one he left behind, then that was another good thing that had come out of her efforts to prevent her death.

After the red unicorn left her sight, she turned and started making her way to Lucian’s house. She had kept her promise to find Dante, now she had a delivery to make.

The Experiment

Lucian, Hugo, and Red Shield (who was wearing a dark green vest) were talking in the foyer of the house when they all heard somepony knocking on the front door. They all turned to look at it, Red saying, “It’s open. Come in!”

Lucian and Hugo glared sideways at him for a moment, but it quickly faded when the door opened and Twilight stepped in. Lucian quickly approached her and said, “Hey Twilight! You sure like to show up unexpectedly, don’t you?”

The lavender mare giggled, “Yeah, I guess I do. Well, I do here anyway.”

Hugo spoke, “Mother’s down in the basement working.” He then smirked at Twilight, “You did come to see her, not Lucian, right?”

Both Twilight and Lucian blushed slightly at that, Lucian turning to look at Hugo and saying, “Ugh, will you cut it out?!”

Hugo took a step back, waving one his front hooves around in the air as he said, “Alright, okay…”

Twilight turned to look at Lucian and said, “I just need to talk to your mother for a few minutes, but I think I should be able to stick around for a while. I mean, as long as you don’t mind.”

Lucian looked back at her and said, “Of course not. That would be great.”

Red nodded, “For sure! It’s been two years since we last saw you, Twi’. It’ll be great to actually get to spend some time with you.”

Twilight nodded, “Okay, I won’t be long then.” She then headed for the basement door and pushed it open, Red using a hoof to pull it closed for her, seeing as he was the closest one to the door. She nodded at him before it closed completely and then walked down the stairs.

As she walked down, she looked at the lab. It didn’t look any different from the last time she had visited. Even Dr. Wagner didn’t look any different; she was still standing by the kiln, using her magic to stir something in a pot. When Twilight stepped off the bottom step, Dr. Wagner looked up from the pot and looked back over her shoulder at the lavender unicorn. She released her magic hold on the stirrer and turned to face her, asking, “You… You have, by chance, the Philosopher’s Stone?!”

Twilight replied, “Yes… Is this it?” She reached her muzzle into her right saddlebag and gripped the red stone with her teeth. She then walked over to the nearby table and set it down, backing away afterwards. “That’s the only stone I’ve seen that could possibly be it,” she said.

Dr. Wagner looked from her to the stone before approaching the table while saying, “Ah, by the pegasi of Cloudsdale!” She used her magic to pick up the stone and said, “I shall start the preparations for the experiment right now.” She then looked back at Twilight and said, “It’s all right… it doesn’t matter if this is not the true stone. I am grateful for your help regardless. But if it truly is the stone, the results should be wondrous.” Twilight couldn’t help but find the old mare’s excitement contagious. She was admittedly feeling a little excited about this experiment.

Dr. Wagner looked down for a moment, thinking, and then said, “Please, come back again in… let’s see, five… no, make it ten days.”

Twilight nodded, “Ten days, okay. That would be the… thirteenth…” She trailed off as she remembered that was when she started her search for the sea hare antidote. She remembered what the house looked like and what she had been told during that visit. “Oh!” she gasped.

Dr. Wagner asked, “What is it?”

Twilight carefully asked, “Um, i-isn’t that experiment going to be dangerous?”

Dr. Wagner replied, “That may be, but… this is something I want to do… Something I must do. Please, try to understand…” She then turned and walked back over to the kiln, murmuring, “Ten days from now – by then, the experiment should yield fruit.” She looked back at Twilight and said, “I will be able to show you the Homunculus. At last, science will prove itself capable of creating life.” She then looked down and softly said, “How I wish she could have been here… Mother…” She shook her head and then nodded, “That is my only regret. See you in ten days then.”

Twilight replied, “Okay then. If there’s anything else you need…”

Turning to look over at Twilight again, Dr. Wagner said, “Actually, there is one more thing. Could you keep this a secret from Hugo and Lucian?”

Twilight replied, “Sure. Why?”

Dr. Wagner explained, “I don’t know about Lucian, but knowing Hugo as I do, if he learns of this, he might do something like attempt to bring Helena back from the dead…” She shook her head, “We’ve all been deeply affected by her death, but Hugo just can’t seem to face it.” Glancing back at Twilight, who was looking at her worryingly, she said, “Should this experiment succeed – if I manage to find what answers I can in my quest for truth – I shall commit all records of my research to the fire. Now, take care…” She then turned to look back at the kiln. Twilight looked at her for a moment before turning and heading back upstairs.

Hugo looked up as Twilight stepped out of the basement and pulled the door closed. “Hey, did you manage to see Mother?” he asked.

Twilight replied, “Uh-huh. What is it?”

Looking away, Hugo said, “Man, what’s the matter with Mother anyway?! She hasn’t let me into her laboratory lately. When I went in there the other day, she got really angry with me, and ever since…! There’s some secret in there she can’t tell me about, I just know it.” Looking back at Twilight, he asked, “Hey, are you like Mother’s right-hoof mare? You know, with tools from the future and stuff?”

Twilight replied, “Of course not, nothing like that.” She then noticed Red Shield had draped a wing over her back and was gesturing her over towards Lucian, so she stepped towards the light brown unicorn while he stood next to Hugo.

While following Twilight with his eyes, Hugo spoke, “Really? I’d definitely ask for your help if I were Mother. Then I could make a machine to move through time, like the one you showed me before.” Twilight froze at that, but Hugo went on, seemingly oblivious, “I sort of understand how it works, anyway.”

Turning to look at him, Twilight asked, “Wow, really? I’m impressed.”

Hugo sheepishly said, “Well… I said ‘sort of’.” He glanced back at the basement door with his eyes for a moment before looking back at Twilight and saying, “Anyway, I’m more interested in what Mother is working on right now.”

Red Shield shrugged, “Haven’t you always been kind of interested in what your mother’s doing down there?”

Hugo looked at him and said, “Well yeah, but not like this. I’m really interested in whatever this is.”

Lucian spoke, “Hugo, I’m sure Mother will tell us one of these days.”

Hugo looked down as he said, “I don’t know about that…”

Suddenly, the basement door opened and everypony’s eyes focused on Dr. Wagner as she stepped out. She began, “Children, I have something to tell you.” Once she was sure she had everypony’s attention, she explained, “I’m going to start another experiment, but this one will be very dangerous. So Hugo, Lucian, I want you both to leave the house for a while.”

Hugo looked at his mother suspiciously while Lucian asked, “Right away?”

Dr. Wagner nodded, “The sooner the better. I’ll send word in about ten days. Go to our relatives’ homes, or anywhere else you like. That is all.”

Hugo asked, “Can I help with the experiment?”

Dr. Wagner sternly shook her head, “No. Both of you have to leave this house.” She then backed up through the basement door, using her magic to close and lock it before going back down to the laboratory.

Upstairs, Hugo kicked at the ground as he said, “Oh, for Pete’s sake! What does she think she’s doing, huh?”

Lucian sighed, “Come on. Where should we go?”

Both Hugo and Red looked over at him, Red asking, “You’re just going to go along with this, Lucian?”

The light brown unicorn replied, “Mother has always been concerned about our safety. Whenever the chance of something bad happening came up, she’d always let us know. The fact that she’d tell us to leave the house must mean that it’s as dangerous as she’s suggesting. Besides, what other choice do we have?”

Hugo started, “B-but bro…”

Lucian spoke calmly, “It’s only going to be for a little while. Come on, Hugo, we have to get ready.”

Twilight spoke up awkwardly, “I guess I’ll be going now.”

Lucian looked over at her and said, “Of course. Sorry; it seems like we’re always in the middle of something when you come to visit.”

Red spoke, “I’ll get out of your hair too, okay?”

Hugo nodded, “Yeah. See you both soon, okay?” Both Twilight and Red Shield nodded and then headed for the door.

Outside, Red turned to Twilight and said, “I’m gonna head home now. I assume you have other plans?”

Twilight nodded, “Pretty much, yeah. I wouldn’t want to be a burden anyway.”

Red snickered and then said, “Okay, see you in ten days, probably.” He then extended his wings, flapping them and lifting up off the ground. He then waved to Twilight and she waved back before he flew away.

After he left her sight, Twilight brought the glowing Z-pad out of her saddlebag and looked at it. As she suspected, it was allowing her to travel to ten days after the start of the experiment. She pressed it up against her horn and vanished soon after.

________________________________________

Twilight once again appeared in the Canterlot square, but this time it was in the early evening on the thirteenth. There was plenty of time for the Twilight that had first traveled out to this particular point in time to have come and gone. Shaking the thought from her head, she left the square and quickly made her way to Lucian’s house.

As she thought, the house had once again been destroyed. Before she could go inside, however, she heard a familiar voice call to her from above, “Twilight! Up here!”

She looked up to see Red Shield swooping down, coming to a stop and landing in front of her. She spoke, “Red Shield! Did you just get here?”

Panting, the gray pegasus replied, “Yeah. I was held up by my classes. That’s what I get for being a senior. But I heard the news from my classmates. They all said the alchemist house had exploded! I thought they were just making it up, but now I see they weren’t…”

Twilight said, “I kind of just got here too. I was just about to take a look inside.”

Red nodded, “Lead on, then! I’m right behind you.” Twilight nodded and used a hoof to push the front door open, Red following her in.

Inside, they both looked around at the state of disarray the house was in. Twilight called, “Hello! Is anypony here? Anypony…?”

Red also called, “Dr. Wagner! Lucian, Hugo! Is anypony here?”

Suddenly, they both heard Lucian exclaim, “Hugo!!”

They both turned towards the source of the exclamation, Red asking, “The basement?!” Wasting no time, Twilight’s horn lit up and she used her magic to force the door open, almost ripping it off of its hinges as she did. She then dashed down to the laboratory, followed closely by Red Shield. As they descended the stairs and the lab came into view, they stopped on the stairs and Red called, “Lucian?! Hugo?! Where are you guys?!”

Twilight looked confused. There was no sign of either stallion, but that wasn’t what had grabbed her attention at the moment. Sitting on a small stand in the middle of the ruined lab was some kind of device she knew hadn’t been there during her first visit. Going down the rest of the stairs, she walked up to the stand and reared up on her hind legs, placing her front hooves on the stand to steady herself. She could see a meter and what appeared to be a clock on the device. The meter itself seemed to be split into years, months, and days. And it was set for the previous day in her time. “This meter here… Is this a… time machine?!” she breathed.

Red Shield heard her and came down the rest of the stairs, walking over to her asking, “Time machine?! That’s a time machine?!”

Twilight replied, “I don’t know… But that might explain why we heard Lucian a minute ago and now he’s not here.” Looking back at the meter, she said, “But if this is a working time machine, it’s set for my time. Why would they travel out to that time?”

Red Shield looked at her gravely, “You think they went that far into the future?”

Twilight slowly said, “That’s the only thing I can come up with right now. But this doesn’t make sense. I know Hugo talked about making a time machine, but he said he only sort of understood how the one I have works. How could he have built one in ten days?”

Red turned away, muttering to himself, “Sweet Celestia… Lucian is… oh no, what if something happens to him…? What if he got separated from Hugo…?”

Twilight could hear his ramblings and decided to intervene. “Red, calm down!” she yelled.

Red turned to look at her and asked, “Calm down? I can’t calm down! If Lucian was here and now he’s in another time, who knows what’s going to happen to him?”

Twilight looked at him for a moment before carefully asking, “You’re really that worried about him?”

Red nodded slowly, “…Yes. I… He told you, right? How he’s shunned by everypony? He was right, of course, and that’s what confuses me. Nopony wants to talk to him; nopony wants to spend time with him… except me. I like Lucian as a friend; I can’t understand why nopony outside of his family doesn’t like him that way. That’s why I spend a lot of time with him; I want to be there for him when he needs me, just like any true friend. I know Hugo can take care of himself, but Lucian… I guess all that time we’ve spent together has made me a bit protective of him…”

Twilight looked at Red for a moment before saying, “I understand, Red. Come on; if he is in my time, we’ll find him together.”

Red looked up at her and asked, “What? You mean… travel out to your time?” When Twilight nodded, he shook his head, “I’m sorry, Twilight. I-I can’t do that.”

Twilight asked, bewildered, “Why not?”

Red replied, “I don’t know. I just… For some reason, the thought of traveling to the future makes me nervous. I don’t know how to explain it…”

Twilight replied, “Well, all right then. I-I’ll go back then. I’ll find them and figure out what they’re doing and help them get home, okay?”

Red nodded, “Okay. But Twilight, I’ve got a favor to ask you.” When she looked at him, he reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a small shield patch that had two snakes curled around a staff in the center. He carried it over to her and allowed her to take it with her magic.

After looking at it for a moment, she asked, “What’s this?”

Red replied, “Lucian made that for me. He made it for the day I would become a royal guard.” At her confused expression, he explained, “Look, I don’t know what you’re going to find in your time, but that’s not the point. You think Lucian’s your ancestor and want him to come back because of that, that’s fine. He’s grown to accept that he may be your ancestor. But things change; he may have changed his mind about staying in this time. If that’s the case, you should listen to him. Let him decide what he wants to do. As for that patch, he made more than one for me. If he decides to stay in your time, give it to him. It’ll be something for him to remember me by.”

Twilight looked at the patch again before looking back at Red and nodding, “Okay Red. I’ll find him and I’ll listen to him before I decide to do anything. I promise.”

Red said, “Thank you, Twilight. If I don’t see you again, I just want to say… you’re an awesome mare and a great friend. We didn’t spend a lot of time together, but you’re cool, okay? And if Lucian decides to stay in your time, you’ll take care of him, right?” Twilight nodded in response, so he said, “Good. I’m going to go ask around, see if anypony saw either them or their mother. Good luck, Twilight.” He then turned and ran up the steps, heading back outside.

Twilight watched him go, finding how he felt about Lucian to be nothing short of remarkable. It showed her just how deep friendship could really go. Nodding to herself, she placed the patch inside of her left saddlebag and summoned the Z-pad from her right saddlebag, setting it to take her back to her proper time.

The Killer

Twilight’s time bubble deposited her in front of the art museum, the lavender mare landing just under the arch in front of the building. She looked around as she contemplated what to do next. Obviously, she wanted to find both Lucian and Hugo, but where was she supposed to start looking for them? Her Canterlot was far bigger than theirs’ was; she was sure that finding them in the city was going to be anything but easy.

It seemed as though somepony didn’t agree with her, though, as she suddenly noticed a green wisp of light floating down towards her. It came to a stop in front of her face and then circled her several times, Twilight’s eyes following it the whole time. She recognized it as being a long-distance communication spell, but nopony, not even Princess Celestia, had ever used one to talk to her before. Who was trying to reach her?

The green wisp soon came to a stop in front of Twilight’s face, seemingly satisfied after its ‘examination’. She then heard a voice speaking through it, “Hey, long time no see… Actually, didn’t we see each other earlier today?”

Twilight’s eyes widened at the sound of the voice. She asked, “Hugo? Is that you?”

The wisp replied, “Uh-huh. I really like all this new magic of the future. Being able to be in one place and communicate with somepony far away, that’s really something.”

Twilight shook her head and asked, “How did you know how to reach me?!”

Hugo replied, “Oh, that? I asked somepony called Eckart. You know, you mentioned him once.”

Twilight looked at the green wisp in disbelief. She stuttered, “H-how did you get here…? And why did you come here?” She then had a thought and asked, “You weren’t the one threatening Mr. Brum, were you?”

Hugo spoke, “Come on, ‘threaten’ sounds so serious. All I did was propose a deal. Can I help it if he jumped at the chance when I told him what he wanted to hear about his son? …Oh, and about how I got here, it’s pretty simple really. Remember that tool you showed me? I just made one of my own, you see.”

Twilight’s eyes widened again, “What?!”

Hugo said, “Well, actually, I didn’t make it, not exactly. The Hugo of the future completed it and gave it to me. ‘A Transport Mechanism to Timespace Marked by Phenomena of Relevance’… You like it? Just like yours. Actually, I think the other stuff may be different, but – who cares, right? In any case, I can track and follow your machine.”

Twilight asked, “What happened to Lucian?”

Hugo said, “Will you look at that, I’m forgetting the point of the whole thing. Listen, can you drop by? I’ll be waiting at the square. Bring Homunculus – we have a few things to discuss.” His voice took on a slight edge as he continued, “Oh, and by the way, do as I tell you, okay? Otherwise, somepony you care about is gonna die. I don’t have to tell you what I mean by that, right? See you soon, then.”

Suddenly, Twilight heard Lucian exclaimed, “Hugo!!”

Twilight flinched at that, saying, “Hey!” But she couldn’t get another word in; the green wisp disappeared in front of her. She stared at where it had been for a moment before dropping her gaze to the ground. The only thought she had at the moment was, “Hugo… why?” She looked up a moment later and shook her head. She then said, “Whatever the reason, I’d better get to the square.” She then dashed down the hill and ran into the city, heading for the square.

Meanwhile, in the Canterlot castle garden…

“Okay, this is getting ridiculous! Seriously, what the hay is taking Twilight so long?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed over the music, causing the record on the phonograph to scratch as the music came to a stop and everypony looked at her.

Fluttershy flew over to the irritated pegasus and said, “Rainbow Dash, please calm down. It’s okay…”

Rainbow replied, “No, it’s not okay, Fluttershy! Do you know how long it’s been since she left to return that book?! Too long! Even if she walked, she should’ve gotten here by now!”

Rarity took a sip from her punch and then said, “That may be true, Rainbow, but really, what are you worrying about? This is Twilight we’re talking about. She’s not exactly as responsive as the rest of us are to certain situations, but I like to think that she can defend herself when the need arises.”

The cyan pegasus said, “I’m not worried about her running into trouble, Rarity! The fact that we haven’t seen her since she went to the museum means she either got wrapped up in a long conversation with that Brum guy, or something else is going on that she never bothered to tell us about! And I’d bet my next Wonderbolts tickets that it’s not the first option, given how strange she’s been acting today!”

Princess Celestia looked down at Spike and asked, “What does she mean by that, Spike? How has Twilight been acting strange today?”

Spike shrugged, “Well, I wouldn’t say she’s been acting strange. She just did some stuff that seemed a little unusual. You know, like going to see somepony earlier this morning, ducking out of an auction Rarity suggested we go to, getting all nervous when Rainbow asked her a question, spending all that time in that restaurant bathroom, and having kind of an outburst before she headed to the museum… Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

Celestia and Luna looked at each other before all three of them looked back at the arguing group of ponies in front of them. “I can’t believe you would suggest that, Rainbow! Twilight would come to us if she needed our help!” Rarity was saying.

Dash replied, “I didn’t say she wouldn’t, Rarity! I said she’s been keeping something from us for some reason! Something she doesn’t want us to know!”

Pinkie Pie giggled and then said, “Of course, Dashie! You’re supposed to keep secrets, not blurt them out! Twilight’s gotten better at that, because she knows if she tells a secret again, she could lose us all… FOREVER!” Pinkie Pie reared up on her hind legs and acted all spooky as she said the last word.

Applejack said, “Well, Ah don’t know about the ‘forever’ part, Pinkie, but Ah will agree that it’s important ta keep secrets. Of course, ya do know that not all secrets can be kept, right? Some secrets are just too big ta stay hidden.”

Rainbow looked at the orange earth pony and said, “So you agree with me!”

Applejack turned to look at her friend and said, “Ah didn’t say that! Maybe Twilight’s keeping something to herself, maybe she ain’t! Ah’m more worried about whether or not she’s okay right now. She really shoulda gotten here by now, Ah’ll agree with ya on that.”

Luna started to walk towards the garden entrance as she said, “I agree with thou, fair Applejack. I am worried about Twilight Sparkle as well. So I shall go look for her.”

Princess Celestia followed after her, saying, “Luna, I do not think that will be necessary. Let’s give Twilight a little more time before we start looking for her.”

Luna stopped and turned back to her older sister and said, “Sister, art thou saying that thou dost not entrust the safety of thy student to me?”

Celestia stopped as well and said, “I did not say that, Luna. I have faith in you; I am asking that you put your faith in Twilight.”

Luna turned away and said, “I want to have fun at this party. Clearly, Twilight’s friends are getting too worried about her to want to have fun at the moment. I’m starting to worry now too. If I can find Twilight Sparkle and bring her here, then we can all have fun together.”

Celestia sighed, “Very well. Just don’t be gone so long that I start to worry about you too.”

Luna nodded, “As you wish, dear sister.” She then spread her wings and took to the air, flying out into Canterlot.

Soon…

Twilight arrived in the Canterlot square, noticing that it was completely deserted, like most of the streets she had run down had been. Many of the upper class ponies were either attending parties or shut in for the night. It was the perfect place for Hugo to set up a meeting. Walking past the arrangement of flowers in the center of the square, she noticed that she couldn’t see Hugo or Lucian anywhere. Taking another look around, she called, “Hugo! Where are you?!”

After a moment, Hugo stepped out of the shadows cast by one of the buildings around the square, his front left hoof on Lucian’s shoulder and something levitating next to him. As the two brothers came to stand opposite of Twilight, Hugo spoke, “Geez, could you be any noisier? I’m here, right here.” Standing a short distance across from Twilight, Hugo released the floating object from his magic and let it drop into his right front hoof. He then held it up to Lucian’s chest, at which point Twilight realized it was a knife. Lucian looked down at the knife and then up at Twilight, a fearful expression on his face.

Twilight was initially angered at the sight of this, but her anger began to dissipate as she looked over at Hugo. Unlike Lucian, his appearance had changed somewhat since the last time she had seen him. His coat was now a green-blue color instead of dark blue and his mane and tail were yellow instead of light brown. She looked at him carefully for a moment; hadn’t she seen a pony that looked just like him earlier that day? Then it dawned on her: he looked just like the pony who had been crying about his grandfather being trapped in the burning restaurant. He even had light blue eyes, just like…

All of a sudden, everything fell into place.

“…Hugo. You… You’re the one who’s been trying to kill me?” Twilight asked, shocked.

Hugo said, “Never mind that. Where is the Homunculus?”

Her anger reignited, Twilight took a step towards Hugo and growled, “You heard what I asked you! Why have you been trying to kill me?”

Hugo kept the knife in his right hoof between Lucian’s chest and neck, seemingly ready to stab him if Twilight tried anything. He spoke, “The Homunculus was completed because you showed up.” Pointing the knife at her, he went on, “You fooled Mother into creating the Homunculus. Isn’t that right? I read Mother’s research notes. It said that you brought her the last ingredient, the ‘Philosopher’s Stone’…”

Twilight looked at him in surprise. “Me – trick your Mother into creating Homunculus?” she asked. Placing her right hoof on her chest, she said, “All I’ve been doing is trying to stay alive…” She then looked down as she remembered delivering the stone to Dr. Wagner, letting her take it and not trying to stop the experiment that destroyed the house. Was that what she was supposed to do? Confused by her own thoughts, she stuttered, “But… I didn’t fool her into doing anything…”

She looked back up at Hugo as he said, “What I really wanted was to get here earlier and stop what you were doing, but all my machine could do was follow yours. So I targeted yesterday’s you, because I thought I could manage to get to you before you did the things you did today. I had so many chances, but I still didn’t manage to kill you off.”

Lucian looked over at him and murmured, fearfully, “Hugo…”

Hugo spoke, “It’s a shame, but… There’s no way for my machine to outrun yours, and I can’t stop the Homunculus from being completed.” Looking down, he said, “So I’m switching to another plan.” He looked back up at Twilight and gave her a determined look as he explained, “If I can’t prevent the Homunculus from being created in the first place, I’ll destroy it. That seems to be the only way to get a hold of the Philosopher’s Stone.”

Twilight tilted her head in confusion, “The Philosopher’s Stone…? What are you going to use that for?” She started to walk towards Hugo and his brother, starting to get fed up by her lack of information.

Before she could get too close, Hugo held his knife threateningly close to Lucian’s neck, the light brown unicorn squeaking, “H-Hugo…”

Hugo angrily said, “I’m out for revenge, get it? The Homunculus destroyed my family, and you’re the one who had it created!”

Lucian stammered, “No… Hugo… That can’t be right. Even if she did deliver this Philosopher’s Stone to Mother for the experiment, Twilight wouldn’t do something like fool Mother for her own gain. And there has to be a reason why she disappeared the way she did. Come on, Hugo; let’s give her a little more time. We’ll wait together…”

Looking at the light brown unicorn, Hugo angrily said, “Shut up! You can keep your wishful thinking to yourself.” Looking back over at Twilight, he added, “Now stop acting like you’re the older brother and you know better than I do, got it?”

Lucian murmured, “I-I’m sorry if I said things that hurt your feelings. But…”

Cutting him off, Hugo said, “I know that the Homunculus is made of the Philosopher’s Stone.” Looking down, he solemnly said, “If we got hold of it, we could save Grandma…!” Lucian looked over at him in surprise at that.

Twilight also looked surprised, asking, “‘Save’? What do you mean by that?”

Looking back up at her, Hugo explained, “I can save her life! That’s the reason I’m looking for that stone. I have to do this. We still need to be a family. This time, I will succeed, and she’ll be alive again… We’ll all go home together and start over. And that’s why I need that stone.” Pointing at Twilight, he asked, “You understand now? Come on! Go get the Homunculus!”

Lucian asked, “Alive again? Hugo, what are you talking about?”

Twilight had an idea of what he was suggesting and asked, “You want to raise the dead?”

Looking back at Twilight, Hugo explained, “The stone let Mother create the Homunculus. As long as I have the right materials, this should work too. It has to. I still have everything from last time; all I need is the stone. I can do this, I know…”

Lucian’s eyes went wide as he said, “Hugo, you don’t mean…!”

Hugo cut him off, “Never mind, just hurry up!”

Lucian asked, “You used that lock from Grandma’s mane? You tried this before?!”

Hugo urged, “Hurry up…” Lucian looked from Hugo to Twilight at that.

The lavender unicorn started, “Homunculus can’t be… He always… He just appears out of nowhere. It has nothing to do with what I want. Yes, he saved my life, but that’s all he’s done for me. I have no control over him; it just isn’t possible for me to call him up. You’ve got to understand.”

Hugo replied, “No excuses, Twilight. I told you to do what I tell you; if that’s too hard for you, I’m going to have to give you some extra persuasion.”

Lucian pleaded, “Hugo, please, you’ve done enough. We can get by on our own. Just stop this madness already.”

Looking back at Lucian, Hugo said, “Bro, if you won’t be quiet, I’ll have to hurt you. Don’t make me do that.”

Lucian gasped, “Hugo…!”

Getting closer to his face, he murmured, “You know I can’t stand blood.” Pulling back, he looked over at Twilight and said, “I’ll give you twenty minutes. If you don’t bring him to me in twenty minutes, I’m just going to disappear.” Looking back at Lucian, he addressed the light brown unicorn, “Sorry bro, but I’ll have to leave you behind in this age.”

Lucian asked, “Hugo… what do you think you’re doing?”

Hugo replied, “Don’t worry. Even if I do end up doing that, nothing is going to happen to you.” Shooting a glance back at Twilight, he said, “‘Leaving your ancestor in this time’. You know that’ll mean for you, right? And don’t even think you’ll be able to return him yourself or get help from your friends. I’ll know if you try anything. Now go on, hurry up.” Twilight reeled back at that. From the sound of things, it looked like Hugo had prepared for this possibility and had taken every precaution. What other choice did she have at this point?

In the shadows of a nearby building, a familiar figure had watched the whole exchange take place. She gasped to herself, “By my sister’s name… This is terrible! I… I have to…” She then turned and galloped away into the darkness before anypony could notice her.

Twists

Twilight appeared ten years in the past, her hooves sinking into the snow on the ground after her time bubble disappeared and she dropped down. She looked around; she had appeared in the middle of the square, near the edge of the now snow-covered flower arrangement. “It hasn’t been too long since the shooting occurred. Homunculus showed up right afterwards to grab the baby. He should still be here,” she murmured to herself. Hoping she was right, she ran out of the square and started making her way to the art museum.

After several minutes of running, Twilight reached the street where the crime had occurred. Looking around, she saw there was nopony on the street. Eckart had probably taken Miriam home after making sure she was okay, and she could only speculate about everypony else. Looking over at the building where the bolt had hit, she could see it had been removed, but the small indentation was still there. “Did I miss him already?” Twilight wondered as she walked towards the building.

Suddenly, she noticed something off to her left and turned to look. And there was Homunculus, lying down on his front under a tree with his forelegs tucked under his head. Twilight gave a sigh and walked over to him, her hooves crunching the snow underneath them. As she got closer, Homunculus opened his eyes halfway and turned his head in her direction. He smiled and opened his eyes all the way as he spoke, “Hi, how are things? I’m not doing too well, as you can see. This body can get a little tiresome sometimes. It must be nice to have a proper pony body.”

Twilight looked back at him for a moment and then asked, “Listen Homunculus, can you come with me for a second? Hugo’s looking for you, and I have a few questions I wanted to ask you.”

Looking down, Homunculus replied, “Hm, Hugo, huh? That means you know who the killer is, I guess.” Looking back up at Twilight, he said, “Let me guess what Hugo’s plan is. He’s going to leave Lucian in the present and wipe you, his descendent, out that way.”

Twilight’s eyes widened at his words. “You knew about this?” she asked.

Homunculus shrugged, “Since I was willing to give you time-traveling powers, you didn’t expect me to just sit around, did you? I tested out a few histories – that particular outcome is just a variation on a theme, so it was fairly easy to guess.” Looking back down, he added, “It’s the sort of thing Hugo would think of. So I – heh, please don’t thank me, I just wanted to help – switched kids.” Looking back up at Twilight, he explained, “I found a baby, just about the same age.” He then chuckled and asked, “The Lucian you know… does he have a red coat, yellow mane and tail, and dark blue eyes?”

None of those traits matched the ones that Lucian had, but Twilight was more confused about what Homunculus had said before that. She asked, “What are you saying? You switched babies? Isn’t Lucian an ancestor of mine?”

Homunculus replied, “Well, that’s what I think. There’s something uncanny about your involvement with that family, don’t you think? You happen to believe in Occam’s razor and all that, right? As for Lucian, if he isn’t a red unicorn, that means my plan worked. No matter what happens to Lucian, your existence is an assured fact.” Looking back up at Twilight, he said, “Don’t worry. I’ll switch things back to the way they were after all this is over.”

Twilight looked down at him for a moment, confused by what he was saying. Suddenly, she realized what he was telling her. That had to be why she had seen him earlier with Eckart and Miriam’s son. She asked, “You mean you switched Lucian with Mr. Brum’s son?!”

Homunculus shrugged, “So what, Twilight? No big deal, I say. His life was going to be in danger, even without you saving his mother, and I saved him from that. It’s harmless compared to Hugo trying to cancel your existence by abandoning Lucian in the future. Don’t you think? Master Hugo’s plans will fail thanks to me.”

Twilight turned away from the black pony and held her right hoof to her forehead for a second. She then muttered, “Oh Celestia… So that’s what really happened when Mr. Brum’s son disappeared… That’s why they never found him…” She then had a thought and her eyes widened at it. She turned to look back at Homunculus and said, “Wait a second… Were you the one who tried to murder his wife?!”

Homunculus glanced at her with half-lidded eyes and asked, “Who, me? You think I’d risk myself doing something like that? Do you have any idea how fragile my body is?” He pushed himself up off the ground and sat on his haunches before continuing, “I have to take good care of it so that it won’t break. I’m really not very strong. Just now, I had to rest a little here, and the next thing I know, there are ponies all over the crime scene. So I couldn’t complete the switch… But I did manage to bring the real Lucian to this time.” He then looked over at Twilight as he added, “Under the name ‘Dante’, of course. No need to worry.”

Twilight shook her head, “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. You’ve purposefully been messing with ponies’ lives, their fates, just because of all this?”

Homunculus replied, “Hm… you lost me there for a second, Twilight. Sorry, but I’m not a true pony, so I wouldn’t know anything about that.” Before she could protest, he stood up and said, “But I do believe in the power of fate, you know.” Turning away from her, he went on, “No matter how much you meddle, it always wants to go back to the way it was. It has a kind of homing instinct, if you catch my drift. That’s why we’re having so much trouble getting ‘Death Du Jour’ off the menu.”

Twilight looked down and closed her eyes as she said, “I know what I said about not wanting to die. I… I said it because of the chance that my death might mean bad things for Equestria. But…” She looked up at the black pony as she asked, “Do you really have to change other ponies’ destinies so… casually? I mean, why do you have to go that far?”

Homunculus spoke, “Well, if you’re that unhappy about it, Twilight, would you like me to change it back? Of course, it has to be after ten years have passed, after he’s been taken hostage by Hugo. Otherwise, there’s no point in switching them in the first place.”

Twilight glared at Homunculus, starting to get rather annoyed at the way he was treating all of this. “You…!” she growled before stopping herself. Taking a few steps towards the pony, she said, “Ten years isn’t something you can just erase from memory and relive…! You… I thought you knew how serious time is! You said it was serious the first time we spoke to each other!”

Homunculus turned his head to look back at Twilight, a bemused expression on his face, and asked, “Excuse me? Are you trying to lecture me, Twilight? After all I’ve done for you?” The lavender unicorn could only stare at him. Homunculus said, “Seems like the only thing you ponies are good for is causing headaches. Really. Well, see you later then.” He then started to walk away.

Twilight noticed he was beginning to disappear again and called, “Wait! Where do you think you’re going?!” It was too late; he had already disappeared in a red flash. She ran over to the spot where he had been standing and looked around, but she could find no trace of him anywhere.

Twilight murmured to herself, “He said something just now… Fate has a ‘homing instinct’…?” Her mind thought back to both Dante and Lucian, two unicorns from very different times. Both of them had talked about seeming different from other ponies in their times and both had had some kind of relevant contact with her. Dante’s life had recently turned around and Lucian had expressed a desire to see Twilight’s time for himself. She had thought that the two things had been coincidental at best, but this new information made her reconsider that. Adding onto that was the comb Lucian had given her and how Eckart and his wife recognized it. Suddenly, all the pieces seemed to fit together.

Looking down, Twilight muttered, “No… Is that what he meant…? That would mean… the Dante I know is my ancestor… And the Lucian I know is Mr. Brum’s missing son…” Looking up, she asked herself, “Is that the way things are supposed to be?” She pondered this for a minute before pulling the Z-pad out of her saddlebag and using it to travel back to the present.

________________________________________

Twilight appeared in the back alley near the fortuneteller’s house, not far from the Canterlot square. She thought about what to do next. Should she go confront Hugo and put an end to this? That seemed like the best course of action at this point. But then she looked back at the fortuneteller’s house, the same house Lucian and Hugo had lived in 400 years ago. What Hugo had said about attempting to bring his grandmother back… It was something she needed to clarify before going back to the square. So she walked up to the fortuneteller’s house and pushed against the front door, opening it when she found it wasn’t locked.

The fortuneteller greeted her as she stepped in, “Welcome.”

Twilight approached the fortuneteller’s table after closing the door, saying, “Uh… I had a question for you…”

The fortuneteller replied, “Yes…?”

Twilight asked, “You’re…? Who are you…?”

The fortuneteller asked in turn, “Would you really like to know?”

Twilight nodded, “If you really don’t mind telling me.”

The fortuneteller spoke, “Could it be that you are here because you have some idea of what the answer will be? I met you once… long, long ago. I could not have imagined then that we would meet again under such circumstances. I’d listen to Hugo talking, of course. But… how could I have believed these wild fantasies about time travel? That is, until I became what I was and saw you again… Yes, long ago, I was called Helena. I had a life of my own and a daughter named Lenore Wagner, and she later had two children named Lucian and Hugo. But after her husband left, I became very ill…”

Twilight sat down on the cushion in front of the table and carefully said, “Go on…”

The fortuneteller continued, “When we first met, I couldn’t even raise myself from the bed anymore. And soon afterwards, I died… All that was left of my existence was a lock of hair from my mane, as it should have been. But Hugo… my grandson Hugo found the Homunculus device that his mother had been experimenting with, and he used my hair in the machine. Hugo’s act brought back my spirit alone to this world, stripped of the protection of the body. And the disembodied spirit, kept forever from rest, has been wandering this earth through time, and I will for all eternity.”

Twilight asked, “Does he know? Have you told Hugo about this?”

The fortuneteller answered, “No. I have not told Hugo. He cannot see me, nor hear me.”

Twilight said, “Okay. But even so, why are you helping me?”

The fortuneteller replied, “You are very special; you can hear my voice. The only ones I can reach are those who have ended their stay in this world of the living and are on their way to the next.”

Twilight deadpanned, “Oh great. So even after all I’ve done, I’m still going to die today. Is that what you’re saying?”

The fortuneteller said, “Perhaps that was the case before. But you are trying to change your destiny, trying to deflect it away from immediate death. And the cause of your death rests with Hugo, my grandson. So, I suppose I was hoping you would be able to change your fate. Just like that creature, I know how powerful fate is, but I still hoped… Though of course, my reason is not the same as the creature’s reason.”

Twilight tilted her head to the side and asked, “The creature?”

The fortuneteller replied, “The Homunculus. My daughter did not create it, you know. Its true nature is far from that. It is a kind of genie, trapped in the Philosopher’s Stone. All my daughter did was free it.”

Twilight looked down and murmured, “A genie? But… that’s completely different from what I’ve read…”

She looked up as the fortuneteller said, “What I’ve told you, I pieced together from what other souls told me in my wanderings, ever since I became what I am now. Of course, not all of it may be true.” A moment of silence passed between the two, and then the fortuneteller spoke, “I sense a storm approaching; I’ve kept you long enough. You must go…”

Twilight slowly rose to her hooves. “Uh, okay. T-thank you for… for helping me,” she murmured. She then turned and slowly walked towards the door, her head hanging. In reality, it was actually spinning from everything she had just been told.

Before she reached the door, she stopped and her head rose up as the fortuneteller spoke, “Fate is something that belongs to you, and the only one who can change it is yourself. My work is near its end… There is only one thing… one thing I ask of you. Should you ever see Hugo again, tell him… Tell him, ‘He has done an unforgivable thing… But I forgive him, even if no one else can’.”

As she considered this message, Twilight realized that she held no hatred for Hugo for trying to kill her. She’d been working this whole day, trying to figure out who was trying to kill her and stop them, yet now, now that she knew who was doing it and why, she found she couldn’t bring herself to truly be angry at him. She closed her eyes and nodded, softly saying, “Okay.” She then opened them and turned to look back at the fortuneteller, but she looked around in shock instead. Everything in the house had disappeared. The carpet, the candles, the designs on the walls and even the fortuneteller herself had vanished. The floor, ceiling, and walls were all gray; it was like she was standing in a large gray box.

One Trick(y) Pony

Luna quickly came in for a landing near the entrance to the Canterlot castle garden, the sound of loud party music coming from the garden. She panted heavily as she finally stopped flapping her wings; she could not remember the last time she had pushed them so hard. “No. Now is not the time to be tired. I must tell Celestia and Twilight’s friends what is going on,” she thought to herself. Standing up straight, she ran straight into the garden.

Almost as soon as she stepped under the arch at the entrance, a certain pink pony popped up out of nowhere in front of her, exclaiming, “Hi, Lunie! You’re back! Where’s Twilight? You wanna dance?”

Luna stuttered, “N-no, Pinkie Pie. This really isn’t…” She didn’t get to say anymore due to Pinkie Pie snatching up her hooves and leading her into the garden, pushing her towards the center, where Applejack and Rainbow Dash were doing a dance-off, and joined her. As soon as Pinkie trotted past her, Luna looked around for her sister and saw her standing near the refreshment table with Spike, Rarity, and Fluttershy and hurried over to them.

Celestia spotted her younger sister as she ran over and called, over the music, “Luna! What’s going on? Where is Twilight?”

Luna stopped in front of Celestia and spoke, trying to be heard over the music, “I found her, but there’s something going on!”

Celestia couldn’t quite hear her sister’s regular voice over the music and asked, “What did you say, Luna?!”

Luna spoke in a louder tone, “Twilight is in serious trouble!”

Celestia still couldn’t make out what Luna was saying and asked, “What, Luna?!”

Luna started, “I said…” Finally, she couldn’t stand the blaring music any longer and turned, unleashing the Royal Canterlot Voice, “WOULD YOU PLEASE CEASE THAT INFERNAL MUSIC?! WE HAVE A SITUATION HERE!” Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie immediately stopped dancing at the sound of her magically-enhanced shout, the pink earth pony immediately zipping over to the record player and pulling the record off of it.

Celestia nodded, “That’s better. Now what exactly is this situation you’re talking about, Luna?”

Luna answered, “TWILIGHT SPARKLE IS-” Luna stopped herself midsentence and said, “…Sorry. As I was saying, Twilight Sparkle is in danger!”

Everypony gasped and moved closer to Luna, Rainbow asking, “What do you mean?! How is she in danger?!”

Luna explained, “She’s being forced by another pony to deliver somepony or risk being erased from existence!” A moment later, Pinkie Pie started to giggle. “What exactly is so funny?!” Luna demanded.

Pinkie Pie laughed, “That’s silly, Lunie! Twilight would never give into somepony’s demands, especially if they were saying something silly like erase her! I mean, how many erasers would it take to accomplish that?”

Luna sternly said, “I don’t mean like that, Pinkie Pie. And based on what I heard, it’s not unlikely if the pony making the demands has her ancestor held hostage.”

Applejack tilted her head, “Ah beg yer pardon, yer highness? How could somepony have Twilight’s ancestor? They ain’t even supposed to be alive!”

Luna admitted, “I don’t know, Applejack. But unless Twilight Sparkle delivers this ‘Homunculus’, her ancestor is…”

Celestia cut her off, getting right up in her younger sister’s face and asking, “Luna, did you say Homunculus?”

Luna looked back at her sister, surprised by her tone, as was everypony else. “Y-yes I did, sister. That’s what I heard, anyway.”

Fluttershy meekly asked, “Um, do you know what Luna is referring to, your highness?”

Celestia replied, “I had a student about 400 years ago named Dr. Lenore Wagner. During her time at my school, she showed genuine interest in such things as the Philosopher’s Stone and the Homunculus and eventually left to pursue alchemy. I’ve heard rumors that she reason she disappeared was because she attempted to create a Homunculus with the Philosopher’s Stone.”

Luna said, “There may be some truth to that, sister. The pony holding Twilight Sparkle’s ancestor hostage, a unicorn named Hugo, claims that Twilight gave his mother the Philosopher’s Stone to create the Homunculus.”

Celestia asked, “Hugo? I remember the elder of Lenore’s two children was a colt named Hugo. His appearance escapes me, but I seem to remember him having a cube for a cutie mark.”

Luna replied, “This Hugo has a cube for a cutie mark too. He could be the same pony.”

Celestia murmured, “I don’t like where this is going…” Leaning towards her sister, she asked, “What exactly did you hear, Luna? And where was this?”

The lunar princess answered, “It was in the Canterlot square. This Hugo pony accused Twilight Sparkle of tricking his mother into creating the Homunculus, although Twilight denied doing so. I also gathered that both he and Twilight are capable of traveling through time somehow.”

Spike asked, “What?! Twilight can’t travel through time! Okay, maybe there was that one thing that happened, but that was completely different!”

Luna said, “Well apparently, she can. Because Hugo said he’s been trying all day to kill her.”

Those words were like thunder in the ears of those gathered around the lunar princess. Celestia asked, her voice having a rather noticeable edge to it, “He has been trying to WHAT?!”

Luna repeated, “For whatever reason, he has been trying to kill Twilight Sparkle. Since his efforts have seemingly failed up to this point, he’s now threatening to leave her ancestor in this time and erase her from existence.”

Rarity wailed, “He’s been trying to get rid of our Twilight?! Of all the terrible things that could befall poor Twilight!”

Luna carefully asked, “Art thou saying that… nopony was aware of this?”

Applejack exclaimed, “No! She didn’t say anything about bein’ killed! And Ah think a certain earth pony contributed to her keepin’ silent.” She shot a look at Pinkie Pie at that.

Rainbow demanded, “Where is he?! Where did you say this jerk was?!”

Luna replied, “The Canterlot square. But…” She got no further; both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie took off, a cyan blur and a pink blur shooting out of the garden.

“Rainbow, Pinkie! We’re comin’ too!” Applejack called as she galloped after them, Rarity following behind her. That left only Spike, Fluttershy, and the princesses.

Fluttershy looked up at the two princesses and asked, “Um, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna? Should we go after them too?”

Celestia replied, her voice lacking much of its usual air of elegance, “Yes. We must go. Whether this is a misunderstanding or not, I will not allow another pony to harm another, especially not my personal student.” Spike climbed onto Fluttershy’s back after Celestia was finished, the shy pegasus flying after the rest of their friends. After a moment, both Celestia and Luna followed them out of the garden.

________________________________________

Hugo stood in front of the kiln in his mother’s laboratory, her notes surrounded by his green aura and floating next to him. In his right hoof was the lock from his grandmother’s mane, which he clutched protectively. After taking a look around, he glanced down at the research notes and read through them quickly. “…Okay. If I’m reading this right, then this should be all I have to do,” he thought after finishing.

Looking down at the pot on the kiln, he raised his right hoof over it and released the lock of hair, dropping it into the boiling water. After a moment, the pot began to shake and Hugo took a step back, dropping his mother’s notes on the floor. Suddenly, a column of white smoke shot out of the pot, screaming (although Hugo couldn’t hear it) and causing several glass containers to fall to the floor and shatter. “Grandma?!” he exclaimed.

A ghostly voice that Hugo was unable to hear spoke, “Hugo… what are you… please stop this… Hugo… send me back… Help me…” Hugo, unable to hear the voice, fell on his rump as he stared at the smoke coming out of the pot, unable to do more than gape. The smoke disappeared after a few seconds and he managed to climb to his hooves, still staring at the kiln.

Suddenly, Dr. Wagner came down the stairs, having heard the shattering of the containers, and fixed a hard stare on Hugo, saying, “Hugo! What are you doing here?!”

The dark blue unicorn turned around and stuttered, “Mother… I… I…”

Dr. Wagner walked over to him and placed her right hoof on his left shoulder, giving him a hard push as she said, “Never mind, just get out!”

Hugo turned to look back at her and said, “Mother! B-but, Mother…”

Dr. Wagner sternly said, “You are not to enter this room again!” Hugo turned his head away from her and looked down at the floor. He had read through the notes carefully. He hadn’t messed with anything; what had gone wrong?

________________________________________

Twilight stood outside of the fortuneteller’s house, contemplating what to do. If she went back to the square, she would have to confront Hugo and deliver Helena’s message. When she came back from ten years ago, she had been planning to confront him after stopping to visit the fortuneteller. But now that she knew who the fortuneteller really was, she wasn’t sure anymore. What was she supposed to say to him?

Suddenly, she heard the sound of hoofsteps behind her and whirled around, exclaiming, “Who’s there?!”

She relaxed slightly when she saw it was Homunculus coming around the corner of the fortuneteller’s house, the black pony saying, “No need to be surprised. You really are a nervous pony, aren’t you Twilight?” Gesturing to the fortuneteller’s house, he asked, “What did you want with this ruin?” He turned his head towards Twilight and moved his eyes to look at the building as he said, “Four hundred years ago, it was a laboratory… now it’s just a mess.”

Twilight gave him an odd look as she asked, “You didn’t see anything? You know, in there…?”

Homunculus regarded her for a moment before seemingly realizing what she was referring to. “Oh, you saw the spirit? So, you can see it, can’t you? I can see the living, and I can see the souls of the dead.” Looking at the house again, he took a step back as he said, “But I can’t see the thing that lives here. Gives me the creeps, really. I can sense something, but that’s it.”

Twilight suddenly had an idea of how to confront Hugo. Looking at Homunculus, she asked, “Hey, can you call up spirits?”

Homunculus raised an eyebrow, “Excuse me?”

Twilight explained, “Well, I was just thinking… if Dr. Wagner could have a talk with Hugo right now, and Hugo understands what his mother was really trying to do, maybe Hugo would change his mind about all of this… What do you think?”

Homunculus replied, “Well, well. I hadn’t thought of that. Dr. Wagner, of course… It couldn’t be simpler.”

Twilight asked, “Really?”

Homunculus nodded, “Really. Wait a moment, and I’ll fetch Dr. Wagner.” Twilight watched him walk back around the corner. After a second, he poked his head around the corner and said, “Come over here. I think you’ll want to see this.” Confused, yet intrigued, Twilight did as he said and followed him around the corner. He raised a hoof, signaling for her to stop, and said, “That’s close enough.” Twilight immediately obeyed.

Homunculus looked at her for a second and then raised his right hoof to his mouth and started chanting in a language Twilight had never heard of. As he continued chanting, a yellow orb formed around the tip of his hoof and Twilight took a tentative step back at the sight of it. Homunculus then opened his eyes and pointed his hoof down towards the ground, a circle of light forming where he pointed. He looked back up at Twilight and said, “You’d better keep your distance, Twilight. She’s almost ready.” Twilight took several steps back at that.

Soon, something began to poke out of the middle of the circle of light, and suddenly a column of smoke rose out of it. As Twilight watched, Dr. Wagner materialized in front of her, exactly the same as the last time she had seen her. Once again, Homunculus raised his hoof to his mouth, still with the yellow orb around it, and started chanting again. After a second, he held his hoof up between him and Dr. Wagner. He then lowered it to the ground, the orb vanishing, and said, “Now, she’s ready. Hello, Professor. How do you feel?” The old unicorn did not reply, her eyes moving from side to side.

Twilight walked up along the older mare’s right side and looked up at her, asking, “Dr. Wagner?”

After a moment, Dr. Wagner’s eyes shifted in Twilight’s direction and she started, “Aren’t you…” She then turned her head to face Twilight and asked, “Wasn’t it you who brought me the Philosopher’s Stone?”

Twilight nodded, “Yes. I’m Twilight Sparkle. Doctor, I have a favor I need to ask you.” Homunculus, seeing that Twilight was distracted, disappeared as she explained, “I don’t know how to say this, but… Your son, Hugo, is trying to kill me. He thinks that what happened to you, and his whole family, was Homunculus’s fault, and that none of it would have ever happened if I hadn’t helped you. He told me this himself. He also said that he was going to use the Philosopher’s Stone to bring his grandmother back to life…”

Dr. Wagner moaned, “Oh no… Where is Hugo right now?”

Twilight replied, “He isn’t far from here. But Dr. Wagner, I have to tell you something. It’s more than 400 years from your time.”

Dr. Wagner looked down and shook her head, “Ah… I must see him. I must speak with Hugo.” Looking back up at Twilight, she said, “He needs to know the truth. I see now that this is why you’ve brought me here.”

Twilight asked, “So will you speak to Hugo?”

Dr. Wagner replied, “Yes, it is my duty as his mother and a scientist. Will you take me to him?”

Twilight nodded, “Yes, of course I will.”

Soon, in the Canterlot square…

Hugo was looking down at Lucian, who was sitting on one of the benches in the square, when they both heard something and looked up. They saw a magenta glow approaching the square and they immediately knew it was Twilight. “Did you bring him?!” Hugo called.

He heard somepony call, “Hugo!”

Hugo, due to how dark it was, couldn’t see the pony that called to him and asked, “Who’s there?”

Twilight followed close behind Dr. Wagner while using her horn to provide some light, stopping when the older mare did. Dr. Wagner turned to her and said, “Twilight, please stay here. I will handle this.”

Twilight nodded unsurely, “Uh, okay.” Dr. Wagner looked at her for a moment, saying nothing.

Hugo called, “Did you bring the Homunculus?”

Dr. Wagner said, “Goodbye, Twilight.” Before the lavender unicorn could respond, she turned and walked towards the square, calling, “Hugo!”

Hugo had to narrow his eyes to see the pony that had called to him, but when he did, his eyes widened. “M-mother?!” he exclaimed.

Lucian stood up off the bench as Dr. Wagner approached and asked, “Mother?”

Hugo ran up to his mother while asking, “Mother, you’re alive? H-how did you get here?”

Dr. Wagner looked at her eldest son disapprovingly and asked, “Hugo, what do you think you are doing? Did your father and I give you life so that may take another’s?”

Hugo stuttered while trying to hide his knife, “N-no, that’s not it; there’s a reason…”

Dr. Wagner said, “Then stop your attempts on Twilight’s life. Do you understand? If you do that, I will tell you all about my research.”

Hugo dropped the knife into his right hoof and murmured, “Okay… I understand.”

Dr. Wagner said, “That’s my boy. Come with me.”

Hugo nodded, “Okay.”

He then walked up to his mother, who reared up on her hind legs and wrapped her forelegs around his neck, saying, “Let us go, then.” As soon as her legs were around Hugo’s neck, smoke started to rise out of the ground around them, both Twilight and Lucian looking on in shock.

Soon, the smoke went from rising out of the ground to erupting into a geyser. Both Twilight and Lucian ran over to Dr. Wagner and Hugo, Lucian exclaiming, “Mother?! W-where are you going?”

Twilight called, “Dr. Wagner, what’s happening?!”

Dr. Wagner looked up at Lucian and gave him a twisted smile. The light brown unicorn gasped, “That isn’t… my mother?!”

Twilight’s eyes widened, “What?!” After a second, both Hugo and Dr. Wagner disappeared, leaving Twilight and Lucian alone in the square.

As they both looked around in confusion, Lucian asked, “What… What was that? And where did they go?!”

Both of them stopped and looked when they heard Homunculus sigh. “How’s that? Good?” he asked as he stood outside of the square.

Lucian asked, “What the hay is going on?”

Twilight turned to him and demanded, “Where did you take them?!”

Homunculus nonchalantly shrugged, “I wouldn’t know.”

Twilight asked, “What are you talking about? Dr. Wagner…”

Homunculus spoke, cutting her off, “Oh yes, I forgot to mention… That wasn’t Dr. Wagner, Twilight.”

Twilight’s looked at him in confusion. “What?” she asked blankly.

Homunculus explained, “Wagner isn’t dead yet; at least she wasn’t the last time I checked. I can’t call up her spirit if she isn’t dead, can I? That was a fake, get it? A puppet that does exactly what I tell it to. Not bad, eh? Hugo certainly fell for it.”

Lucian looked away while Twilight lowered herself to the ground, covering her head with her hooves and muttering, “Oh no… That can’t… What have I…?”

Homunculus spoke, “Well, that just about takes care of those murder attempts.” Twilight looked up at the black pony from where she was on the ground, a look of fear on her face. Homunculus leaned towards Twilight and asked, “Wouldn’t you say?”

Epilogue

Twilight climbed to her hooves, standing up straight and looking at Homunculus with a worried expression. The black pony merely turned his head away from her and Lucian as he asked, “Well, looks like it’s over, doesn’t it?” Looking back at them, he added, “Good job, Twilight.”

The lavender unicorn hesitantly said, “I… I thought I was changing my destiny…”

Homunculus replied, “Mm-hmm. And you did.”

Twilight looked down and asked, “But… was it all for you?” Looking back up at him, she said, “You used me… To ensure you would exist, that nopony would rewrite the script… Is that the real reason you helped me…?”

Homunculus shook his head, “Now, now, let’s not have all this unpleasant talk about ‘using’, Twilight. I mean, who cares, really? You get to stay with your friends and Equestria is safe. And me? Yes, yes, you managed to preserve my destiny. If you had been killed, I would never have been born. Immortality has its perks, but you have to be given life first.”

Twilight said, “I see. So I was just being used… All your talk about an ancestor – was that just to get me to go back to that time?”

Homunculus looked away and nonchalantly replied, “Well… How should I know?” He then looked back at Twilight and said, “Oh, by the way, I need the Z-pad back…”

Twilight looked at him for a moment and then reached her head into her right saddlebag, grabbing the device with her mouth and pulling it out. Dropping it in her right hoof, she held it out towards him, saying, “Here, it’s yours.”

Homunculus merely said, “Oh…”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, “What?”

The black pony gestured to Lucian and asked, “Well, why don’t you take him back to his own time?”

Lucian, having stayed on the side during the whole conversation, was surprised by the subject shifting to him and could only ask, “Huh? Who…? Me?”

Twilight looked down, remembering what Red Shield had said and what she had realized about Lucian. Looking up at the light brown unicorn, she asked, “Lucian, what do you want to do? Do you want to go home, or would you rather stay in this time?”

Lucian asked, “Don’t I have to go home anyway? I mean, I am your ancestor, right?”

Twilight shook her head and said, “Lucian, I was completely wrong about that. I know that now.”

The light brown unicorn asked, “What? You mean…”

Twilight nodded, “You’re not my ancestor. In fact, I don’t think you’re anypony’s ancestor. So nothing is going to change if you decide to stay here. That being said, what would you rather do?”

Lucian looked down for a minute and then looked back up at her and said, “I… I’ll stay here. I want to stay in this time and make a new start here.”

Twilight asked, “Are you sure that’s want you to do? I mean, what about Red?”

Lucian looked down and sighed, “Red… Of course… He’s always been there for me, always holding my hoof when nopony else would… He must be somepony’s ancestor; he can’t come here. But…” Looking back up at Twilight, he said, “Lately, I’ve started to think that I’m relying on him too much. I’ve never seen him turn away when I needed help, but he can’t look after me forever. I need to learn how to stand on my own four hooves. Besides…” He looked down and said, “You know that… you know my mother’s not coming back, right?

Twilight replied, “That’s what I read in a book. So if that’s one thing I’ve read today that’s true…”

Lucian looked up and said, “Then I won’t go back. It’s too lonely by myself and I’m not going to turn myself into a charity case just because I’ve got nopony around all the time. Besides…” He looked up and around before looking back at Twilight and saying, “I feel good here… like I belong. I’m sure that sounds like a strange thing to feel… But I think I should go with it.”

Twilight regarded him for a moment and then said, “Okay. Then that settles that.” Looking back at Homunculus, she held the Z-pad out towards him and said, “Here, you can have it back. I don’t need it anymore, and I don’t think I’ll be feeling the urge to time travel again for a good long time.”

Homunculus began to walk over to her, saying, “Good. Then hoof it over.”

Before he could reach her, everypony in the square suddenly heard Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie scream, “TWILIGHT!!!”

Homunculus came to a stop and both Twilight and Lucian started to turn around, Twilight uttering, “What the…?” That’s as far as she got before a cyan blur slammed into her and a pink blur slammed into Lucian, sending them all down to the ground. As she fell, Twilight realized her grip had eased up and she couldn’t feel the Z-pad anymore. Grunting after she landed, she looked up to see the device sailing through the air, almost in slow-motion. “The Z-pad!” she exclaimed, Lucian, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie looking up as well.

Homunculus reached down with his mouth to catch it, but his eyes widened when he closed his mouth around nothing. The Z-pad hit the ground beneath him and exploded, forcing Homunculus to look away as several shards of it went flying. One of the shards cut across his neck and a gooey, steamy, red substance spilled out of the cut. Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike arrived on the scene and, upon seeing the red land on the ground, Applejack exclaimed, “What in tarnation?!”

More of the strange substance began to leak out of Homunculus’s neck, Twilight, Lucian, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie watching as he sat down and tried to cover his cut. It did nothing to stop the flow and the three mares and one stallion quickly picked themselves up off the ground and backed away in shock. “Oh no!” Homunculus moaned, his body’s strength beginning to waver.

The six mares, one stallion, and one baby dragon all watched wide-eyed and open-mouthed as Homunculus’s body fell forward, landing in his own… substance. He started to scream as his body began to shrivel up, getting thinner and thinner until he finally stopped screaming. “What the hay?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as Homunculus’s body melted into the same goo.

Lucian looked over at Twilight and asked, “Was that supposed to happen?”

Twilight looked back at him and said, “Uh, maybe?” Looking back at the red puddle, she thought, “Everything’s the way it’s supposed to be. Dante’s in the past, Lucian is in the present, and nopony’s out to get me anymore. Did fate decide that this would happen too…?”

She was jerked out of her thoughts when everypony heard Princess Celestia’s voice, “TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” Everypony flinched and turned to see the princesses of the sun and the moon standing a short distance away. “What is going on here?” Celestia demanded.

Pinkie Pie spoke up, “Ooh! There was this black pony here just now, but after Rainbow Dash and I crashed into Twilight and this guy, something blew up and he got cut or something and now he’s that puddle of goo!” For once, Twilight was glad for Pinkie’s ability to spout out things whenever she wanted. She knew she would’ve stumbled if she had to explain what had happened to her mentor.

Celestia and Luna walked past the gathering and stared down at the red, steaming puddle on the ground. Looking back at the group, Luna asked, “A black pony? I do not recall seeing a black pony here. Who was it?”

Twilight spoke, “H-Homunculus. I-it was Homunculus.”

Celestia looked down at the puddle for a moment before saying, “Well, it would appear he is no more. The same goes for the Philosopher’s Stone that created him.” She then stood up straight and said, “Now then…” She turned around and walked over to Twilight, the lavender unicorn beginning to shiver as everypony else backed away slightly. She then looked down at her student and asked, “I believe you have quite a report to give, don’t you, my faithful student?”

Twilight looked down and whimpered, “Yes I do, Princess…”

Celestia gestured back to Luna and then looked back down at Twilight, saying, “Then you will give us it back at the castle. And we are going to listen.”

Spike said, “Yeah, we want to know too!”

Celestia looked over at him and the other ponies and sternly said, “No. This will be a private report between me, my sister, and Twilight. Nopony else is allowed to be present.”

Rainbow Dash protested, “But Princess Celestia…” She was silenced when the Sun Princess raised an eyebrow questioningly. The cyan pegasus immediately shut her mouth.

Luna walked past Twilight and Celestia followed after her, saying, “Come. We’re going now.” Twilight turned and started to walk after them.

She stopped when she felt a hoof touch her back and looked back to see Lucian wearing a determined stare. He spoke, “Not without me.”

Celestia and Luna stopped and looked back at him, Luna asking, “You are the one called Lucian, correct? Twilight Sparkle’s ancestor?”

Lucian replied, “I’m not her ancestor. She said she made a mistake about that.”

Celestia asked, “And why do you wish to be present for Twilight’s report?”

Lucian answered, “Because my brother had the wrong idea about her. What he tried to do was unforgivable. And I know that Twilight wouldn’t try to trick my mother. That being said, I want to hear everything from her perspective, to know what she’s gone through and learned during her time traveling. I want to have a better idea of what to think, just as both of you do, and to contribute what I myself know.”

Everypony looked at him, Twilight and her friends with different expressions of surprise on their faces. Celestia eventually said, “As you wish. You may accompany us.” She then turned and started walking again, Luna soon doing the same. Twilight and Lucian looked at each other and Lucian nuzzled her before they both followed the royal pony sisters out of the square.

Back in the square, Spike said, “Great. So what, we’re just supposed to be left in the dark about what happened?”

Fluttershy asked, “Twilight wouldn’t do something so horrible that somepony would want to kill her, would she?”

Rainbow Dash said, “No way, Fluttershy! That Hugo jerk was wrong about her! He had to have been!”

Rarity wailed, “But the princesses won’t even let us come with to hear her out! Are they even going to listen to her?! Are they going to take her away anyway?! Of all the worst things that could happen!”

Pinkie Pie cried, “They can’t take her away! I don’t want Twilight to go away!”

Applejack spoke up loudly, getting everypony’s attention, “Now calm down, y’all. Just because we can’t be in the same room as them doesn’t mean we have ta be left in the dark. At the very least, maybe Rainbow and Fluttershy can fly up and listen in on ‘em. One way or the other, we’ll find out about all this.” Everypony nodded and ran out of the square, heading for the castle.

________________________________________

Dr. Wagner stood in front of the Homunculus device, staring at a black pony that had been growing inside for the past few days. “Today is the tenth day. The Homunculus should be ready soon, very soon,” she thought to herself. As she watched, the device began to shake and she took a step back. Suddenly, the glass burst and the liquid inside spilled out, Dr. Wagner covering her face as the liquid and glass shards flew.

When she looked backed at the machine, she found the black pony sitting calmly on his haunches atop it. “Well… how long has it been since I last saw the light of day?” he asked as he shook the liquid off of his coat. Looking down at Dr. Wagner, he asked, “Are you my so-called master this time around?”

Dr. Wagner muttered, “What the…?”

Homunculus snorted, “‘What’ yourself… you’re the one who broke the seal.” He then asked, “So… what do you desire most? Immortality…? Eternal youth? To be filthy rich? Name it and it’s yours.”

Dr. Wagner shook her head, “What is this…? This is insane…!”

Homunculus leapt down to the floor and turned back to face the mare and said, “But of course, your soul is mine when your futile existence ends… Until then, you can do whatever you like. Come on, name your wish.”

Dr. Wagner looked down and muttered, “For what… for this, I…”

Homunculus leaned over to her and asked, “Hm? What did you say? I didn’t catch that.”

Dr. Wagner looked up for a moment and then looked back down. “Was my research in vain? Was I wrong, after all these years devoted to my task…?” she murmured. Looking up, she spoke, “Mother… Forgive me…”

Homunculus rolled his eyes, “Oh great. Old ponies are always spacing out, I swear. Hello, snap out of it, granny.”

Looking back at Homunculus, Dr. Wagner said, “…Begone, then! Begone! Miserable, cursed creature! Begone from my sight, forever! You asked me my wish and here it is! I have much work to do to make up for all this lost time! I don’t need something like you interfering with my new research!”

Homunculus asked, “Oh, so you want to be remembered too, do you? Well, that’s a tricky combination, but I think I can manage for you. If that’s what you want, that’s what you’ll get!” He reared back and then thrust forward, his eyes glowing red as he said, “There!”

Dr. Wagner looked down and noticed smoke beginning to rise up from beneath her. “Aah! What… what is this?” she asked.

Homunculus replied, “Simple. I’m making it so you’ll be immortalized AND you’ll never have to see me again. Get it? Good.” He raised a hoof and waved, “Have fun, now.”

Dr. Wagner gasped as a layer of stone began to climb up her hind legs and her tail. “You…!” she growled, trying to move her petrifying parts, only to find that they wouldn’t respond. The stone began to creep up the rest of her body, her forelegs being encased in stone as her neck started to go solid as well. She groaned, “Mother… the children… Forgive me, Mother…” The stone finished creeping up over her head, her face frozen in an expression of terror.

Homunculus turned and used his tail to push her over, the stone-cold unicorn falling soundlessly onto her side. “Huh, amateur… Did you really think you could pull that on me? Not in a thousand years, you old coot,” he mocked. As she was, Dr. Wagner was in no position to do anything. She merely lay on the floor in her stone shell, unable to even blink as Homunculus destroyed her house, her body disappearing under all the objects thrown around the basement…

________________________________________

Twilight stood across the street from a school in Canterlot, patiently waiting. She smiled as ponies began to pour out of the front of the school; she’d timed it perfectly. After a few minutes, she saw a light brown unicorn stallion with a dark brown mane and tail, both of which were slightly long and ruffled, a green saddlebag with Red Shield’s patch on it, and an artist’s palette and brush for a cutie mark step out. Twilight called, “Lucian! Over here!”

The light brown stallion looked in her direction when he heard her and smiled, trotting over to her. He placed his head atop hers and nuzzled her softly, saying, “Twilight! You came!”

Twilight nuzzled him back, saying, “Of course I did. I told you I would, didn’t I?”

Lucian stepped back and smiled at her, “That you did.”

Twilight asked, “So are you busy with a project this afternoon or can we hang out for a while?” She knew he didn’t, but she intentionally acted like she wasn’t aware of his work schedule. She needed to distract him for a little while, after all.

Lucian replied, “Nah, I just finished and handed one into my teacher today. Besides, I can always find some time to spend with you.”

Twilight giggled, “Okay, if you say so. How does a walk sound?”

Lucian replied, “Sounds great. All I’ve got is my sketchpad and some charcoal, so I won’t need to stop by home and drop them off.” Twilight inwardly breathed a sigh of relief at that. If he had had too much with him and needed to drop it off, it would’ve complicated matters. She nodded and they started walking down the street.

As they walked, Twilight asked, “So how are your mom and dad doing?”

Lucian replied, “Oh, they’re doing great. Though it sounded like they were both going to be kind of busy today, so it’s a good thing you came up to visit.”

Twilight nodded, “I see.” She smiled to herself, remembering everything that happened that day and the more significant events in the last three months. Talking to the princesses about what happened had been nerve-wracking, but Lucian was there to help her the whole way. She was sure she was going to be banished or imprisoned or worse for what had happened, but both Celestia and Luna showed her understanding and forgiveness. They understood that the whole situation was not intentionally Twilight’s own doing and agreed that Hugo could have found a better way to resolve the situation. Her friends showed the same understanding and forgave her for not telling them.

Following the report, Twilight talked to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna alone and mentioned Homunculus’s plan to switch the babies in case Hugo tried to strand Lucian in the future, saying that was when she realized the Lucian she knew wasn’t her ancestor. She was afraid of mentioning this to the stallion, due to the fact that he had spent about ten years of his life growing up in the past and was afraid of what he would do if he knew. Both princesses understood and took Lucian over to the art museum the following day, asking Eckart and Miriam if they would like to adopt the stallion as their son. They both agreed, both of them noting how familiar he looked, and Lucian quickly settled in with his real family.

Lucian noticed the way Twilight was looking off in the distance and asked, “Are you okay?”

Twilight snapped out of her thoughts, “Huh?” She looked back at Lucian and giggled nervously, “Heh, sorry Lucian. I was kind of lost in my thoughts.”

Lucian smiled, “I should’ve guessed.” Twilight nudged him playfully and they continued walking. That was another thing that had happened over the last three months. Eckart and his family had come down to Ponyville to pay a visit for a few days one time. During their stay, Lucian took Twilight out to dinner. It was just for fun, of course, but it led to Twilight’s friends thinking that they were dating, caused in no small part by Rainbow Dash teasing them about it. Both Twilight and Lucian were quick to deny that it was a date, but lately, what with communicating often with scrolls, they were starting to consider dating for real.

As the two unicorns continued to walk and talk, they eventually arrived in the Canterlot square. “I had some time a few days ago, so I went looking for records on royal guards who have served Equestria over the years. It turns out Red Shield eventually rose to the status of captain of the guard. The records say he was one of the youngest captains ever and he diligently kept the peace,” Twilight was saying.

Lucian smiled, “Really? I’m glad he got to live his dream.”

Twilight nodded, “Yeah. But I’ll bet he never forgot you or all the times you spent together.”

Lucian said nothing; he merely smiled at her before turning his gaze forward. He soon came to an abrupt stop and Twilight did too, following his gaze. “That tree… Has it always been there?” Lucian asked.

The two of them walked towards the center of the square, where a fully grown tree now replaced the arrangement of flowers that Twilight had changed it to. She said, “I don’t think so… At least not… Could the stone have done this…?” She and Lucian looked at each other for a moment before looking back up at the tree. Twilight climbed onto the stone planter around the tree’s base a second later, moving over to its trunk while asking, “Is the tree here because the Philosopher’s Stone gave up its energy…?” Her horn lit up as she began to probe the tree with her magic. Suddenly, it came into contact with something inside a hole in the tree. “What’s this…?” she wondered while moving over to the hole.

Lucian climbed up onto the planter and came over to her. “What is it?” he asked. Twilight soon pulled the object out of the tree and they both looked at it in wonder. It was a small red stone.

“Is this the Philosopher’s Stone…?” Twilight wondered.

Lucian looked at her and asked, “Do you think the princesses should be informed?”

Twilight replied, “Yes. I’m sure they’d like to know about this before anything happens.”

Lucian said, “In that case, maybe we should head for your parents’ house.”

Twilight looked up at the sky and noted the position of the sun. “I should’ve given them more than enough time to set everything up,” she thought. Looking back at Lucian, she said, “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Shall we?” Lucian nodded and they climbed down off of the planter, walking down the street towards Twilight’s parents’ house.

A short while later, they turned a corner and started walking down the street to Twilight’s parents’ house. As they walked up to the front of it, Twilight looked at Lucian and asked, “Say Lucian, you haven’t forgotten anything, have you?”

Lucian looked back at her and said, “No…”

They reached the front door and Twilight asked again, “Are you sure you haven’t forgotten anything?”

Lucian replied, “Yes, I’m sure I haven’t forgotten anything. What’s with you?”

Twilight coyly replied, “Oh, nothing.” She used her magic to insert her key into the front door and unlocked it. After opening it, she said, “After you.”

Lucian eyed her suspiciously and then peered inside. Deciding to humor her, he stepped inside and…

“SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LUCIAN!”

The light brown stallion reeled back in shock for a second as Twilight’s friends, her parents, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and Eckart and Miriam all popped out of their hiding places and confetti and streamers rained down from the ceiling. He then smiled, “It’s my birthday? Really?”

Twilight walked alongside him and nudged him, saying, “You told us what day it was, remember?”

Pinkie Pie bounced up to Lucian and said, “Yeah, you totally did! Both Twilight and your dad saw that it was coming up, so Mr. Brum asked Twilight to ask me if we could have a party for you and of course I said yes! So we started planning for it last week and decided to set it up here because it would be faster than you coming to Ponyville and possibly finding out about it! Speaking of which, we asked Twilight to keep you busy after you got out of school so you wouldn’t go home and find nopony there or find out before we were all ready!”

Lucian looked back at Twilight and said, “So that’s why you wanted to go for a walk.”

Twilight looked off to the side and said, “Yeah…” She then proceeded to use her magic to close the front door.

Lucian walked over to Eckart and Miriam, both of them giving him a hug. While hugging him, Eckart said, “Sorry about piling all that work on you this week, Lucian. I was hoping that if the date slipped your mind, it would make the surprise that much better.”

Stepping back, Lucian replied, “That’s okay, dad. And you were right; you really got me.”

Miriam said, “We wanted your first birthday as part of this family to be really special, son. And we learned during our time in Ponyville that Pinkie Pie arranges the best parties in Equestria.”

The pink pony suddenly popped up between them and happily said, “I sure do!”

Although startled, Lucian said, “Well, I really appreciate this. I love it, in fact!” He then looked around the living room and asked, “What happened to all the furniture in here anyway?”

Twilight’s mother said, “Most of it is upstairs right now. That way there’s more room in here and it’ll be easier to clean up.”

Lucian asked, “How’d you get it all up there?”

Pinkie Pie giggled and said, “Oh, there are ways.” Lucian smiled weakly at that; just like Twilight, he had learned not to question Pinkie Pie’s ‘ways’ over the last three months.

Applejack spoke, “Come on, y’all. This here’s Lucian’s first Pinkie Pie birthday party. So what do ya say we get it rolling?” Everypony agreed, so she walked over to a phonograph and set the needle on the record. After some initial scratching, a New Age song, the kind of music Lucian enjoyed nowadays, began to drone out.

A short while later, Twilight walked over to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, who were both standing around one of the folding tables set up in the living room. Luna noticed her coming over and said, “Ah, hello Twilight Sparkle. Are you having fun? I for one am pleased to finally get to experience a Pinkie Pie party.”

Twilight smiled, “Oh yes, Princess Luna. Pinkie really knows how to plan a party.”

Celestia asked, “Is there anything on your mind, my faithful student?”

Twilight’s smiled eased off and she said, “Actually, there is.” She levitated up the red stone and set it down in the middle of the table. She explained, “Lucian and I found this before we came here. It looks just like the Philosopher’s Stone I gave Dr. Wagner.”

Celestia looked up at Twilight and asked, “Where did you find it?”

Twilight answered, “It was in the Canterlot square, in the tree in the center of the square.”

Luna raised an eyebrow, “A tree? I thought you changed it to a flower arrangement?”

Twilight nodded, “I did. But it’s not there anymore. Instead, there’s a fully grown tree. I was thinking maybe it had something to do with what happened to Homunculus. Like maybe the stone’s energy was released or something…”

Celestia looked back down at the stone, murmuring, “Interesting…” Looking back up at Twilight, she said, “Don’t worry about the tree or this stone, Twilight. I will hold onto it and have somepony look at it, somepony who specializes in this sort of thing.”

Twilight asked, “Like Zecora?”

Celestia replied, “Yes, but maybe we should wait to ask her. As an herbalist, I’m sure she’s very busy as it is. We’ll ask around before we consider disturbing her. But one way or another, we’ll figure out what the meaning for this is.”

Twilight nodded, “Okay, I understand, Princess.”

Celestia smiled, “Good. Now run along; it looks like Lucian wants to start a conga line.”

Twilight whirled around, “Really?!” Remembering her courtesies, she turned back around and bowed, “Thank you, princesses.” She then turned and walked away.

While they both watched Twilight join the line, Luna leaned over to her sister and asked, “Your personal student has changed so much, hasn’t she?”

Celestia nodded, “Indeed. I could name all the ways she has changed, but I’ll settle for simply saying that she’s grown so much since she decided to stay in Ponyville.”

Luna looked at her and said, “It seems more like the kind of place somepony like her would rather live in than in Canterlot. She seems like somepony who prefers the simpler things in life, dost she not?”

Celestia turned to her and said, “I would have to agree, Luna. Maybe that’s the reason she never opened up when she lived here, maybe it isn’t. But honestly, with her learning from her mistakes and putting her knowledge to good use, I’ve never been prouder of her.” They then turned and looked back at the line snaking around the room as the phonograph continued to play in the background.

It’s either this or that way

It’s one way or the other

It should be one direction

It could be on reflection

The turn I have just taken

The turn that I was making

I might be just beginning

I might be near the end

-Anywhere Is by Enya

Alternate Ending 1

Hey everybody. I’d like to extend a warm ‘thank you’ to everyone who read and enjoyed this story. It really means a lot to me.

Now, this chapter is not part of the storyline for ‘Shadow of Twilight’. As you probably already figured out from the title, it’s merely an alternate ending, exploring how a single decision can have such a big effect on things.

In this ending, it follows the story up until about the halfway point of Chapter 20 (Twists). Twilight has just returned to her time after finding Homunculus in the past and learning the truth about Dante and Lucian. Instead of visiting the fortuneteller’s house, she decides to return to the Canterlot square and confront Hugo. That will be the point where this ending begins.

Now, on with the story!

________________________________________

Twilight stood across from Hugo and Lucian, looking directly at Hugo with a stern look on her face. “Hugo…” she began.

The green-blue unicorn cut her off, asking, “Where’s the Homunculus? Come on! Get a move on, Twilight!”

Lucian pleaded, “Hugo, stop this…”

Hugo looked at him for a moment and then turned back to Twilight, growling, “Hurry up. Or would you rather I leave him here in this age?”

Twilight took a step towards him and challengingly asked, “Why don’t you?”

Hugo blinked, “Huh?!”

Twilight said, “He’s the only family you’ve got now. Do you really want to leave him behind, after all that talk about needing to be a family?”

Hugo yelled, “Shut up!” He tried to sound strong, but Twilight could already tell that his resolve to leave Lucian behind was beginning to waver as he looked down at the ground.

Suddenly, a blue aura surrounded Hugo and roughly pulled him back, away from Lucian! “What the-?!” Hugo exclaimed as the aura faded and a pair of dark brown legs wrapped around him.

Twilight looked and saw Princess Luna standing beside Hugo, who was being restrained by Eckart. “That will be quite enough of that,” the lunar princess sternly said.

“Princess Luna?! Mr. Brum?!” Twilight exclaimed.

Hugo struggled in the older stallion’s grip, saying, “You…!”

Eckart, while holding onto his struggling captive, said, “I was worried, so I followed you after you left.”

Hugo yelled, “Let go of me!”

Eckart tightened his grip, saying, “Fat chance.”

Lucian looked away and ran over to Twilight as she did the same. “Twilight,” he breathed as they came into contact and nuzzled each other.

“Are you okay, Lucian?” she asked, worried. The stallion gave her a small nuzzle to reassure her. Twilight looked up as Luna came over and asked, “Princess Luna, what are you and Mr. Brum doing here?”

Luna replied, “My sister, your friends, and I were becoming worried about you, Twilight Sparkle. So I offered to come looking for you and overheard what that colt was planning to do. I was going to return to the castle and tell everypony about this, but I ran into Eckart instead. As he has said, he was also worried about you.”

All three of them looked over at Eckart and Hugo as Hugo shouted, “Hey! Come on! Let go… let go of me!!” They continued struggling for a few moments before Hugo suddenly lurched forward, throwing Eckart over him and on the ground. The dark brown stallion grunted in pain as he rolled and hit his right foreleg against a bench in front of the flower arrangement.

Twilight gasped, “Mr. Brum!”

Lucian asked, “Are you all right?”

Luna said nothing; she merely glared at Hugo, who was beginning to stand up straight, and ran over to him, extending her wings. As soon as she got close enough, she slapped him right across the face with her right wing. “Thy behavior is most barbaric,” she angrily said.

Hugo held a hoof to his cheek, “What the-?!” While he was distracted, Eckart stood up and charged him, knocking him onto his back and pinning him down. “Hey! Stop it…!” Hugo cried while struggling.

Eckart, while holding the younger unicorn down, said, “No way… You won’t get away from me or Princess Luna as long as you’re after Twilight…”

Hugo looked to his left towards Lucian and called, “H-help… Bro…!”

Luna moved to the side and looked over at Twilight and Lucian as the latter said, “Hugo, that’s enough. Please, I’m begging you to stop this…”

Eckart glared down at Hugo, “See that? You’ve got family of your own, and you don’t treat family that way. And Twilight… she has ponies she cares about too, and they all care about her. Not just because she’s helped protect Equestria, but because she cares for them too. She doesn’t like hurting them, but they’re the ones who will really be hurt if you try to take her away from them.”

Hugo looked off to the side, but he was paying attention as Eckart went on, “Don’t you ever forget it. I feel the same way about my family. Do you think there’s a parent worth his salt out there who doesn’t care about his children? Do you understand what I’m saying? I’m somepony’s parent and you’re somepony’s child. So I’m telling you, end this right here, right now. Even if you keep trying, I won’t let you do it. Do you understand? Now promise me you’ll end this…”

Hugo looked up at him and nodded, “Okay…”

As they watched Eckart get up off of Hugo, both Twilight and Lucian muttered, “Hugo…”

Hugo rolled onto his side and propped himself up with his hooves. He looked down at the ground for a second before looking at Lucian and saying, “Bro… I’m sorry. Can we go home?” Turning to Twilight, he added, “I’m sorry about everything. Forget the Philosopher’s Stone… it’s okay now.” He then pressed his hooves against the ground and stood up.

Lucian sighed, “Hugo…” He then walked over to his older brother with Twilight a short distance behind.

Once they were standing in front of each other, Hugo looked at Lucian and said, “C’mon, bro, let’s go home. When we get there, I promise I’ll destroy the time traveling device.”

Lucian asked, “What?! But that seems a shame…”

Hugo replied, “It’s my way of making amends and turning over a new leaf. I left the machine outside of Canterlot. I’m ready to go.” He then turned and started to walk away.

Lucian looked at Luna and then at Eckart before turning to Twilight and saying, “Well, then, I guess… this is goodbye.”

Twilight nodded, “Yeah… Oh, hang on a second, Lucian.” She used her magic to reach into her left saddlebag and pulled out the patch Red Shield had given her. Holding it out towards Lucian, she said, “Here, Red wanted me to give this to you.”

Lucian looked at it for a second and then said, “No, you can keep it, Twilight. It’s not much, but…” He looked down as he trailed off.

Twilight caught on after a moment and said, “I see. Well, you and Hugo take care of yourselves, then.” Lucian nodded and then nodded to both Eckart and Luna before running to catch up with Hugo.

As the two unicorns disappeared down an alley, Eckart called, “Good luck.”

After they were out of sight, Luna turned to Twilight and Eckart and asked, “Are you both sure you just want to let them go?”

Eckart nodded, “Yes, your highness. I’ve done enough things I regret today. I’m grateful for you agreeing to help, of course. I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off on my own.” He then looked at Twilight and asked, “What did you think? How was my performance as the righteous parent?”

Twilight replied, “Don’t say that… It wasn’t a performance.”

Eckart said, “Really… You know, that colt just now… I guess my little colt, Dante, would have sort of looked like him if he’d had the chance to grow up.” Turning to look at the alley Lucian and Hugo went down, he added, “It’s funny; I got this strange feeling looking at him…”

Twilight quietly gasped, “Oh…?”

Luna turned to look at her and asked, “Hm? What is the matter, Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight shook her head and said, “Oh, uh… Well, Hugo’s lucky to have somepony that close to him. It should make getting over all this easier.” She then looked at Eckart and asked, “By the way, Mr. Brum, how‘s your leg?”

Eckart glanced down at it and said, “Ah, don’t worry about it. It’s nowhere near the punishment I deserve…” He looked back up at her and sighed, “I just hope you can forgive me for…”

Twilight replied, “Ah, look, I’m not mad at you. I…” Suddenly, she noticed a blue light being cast over the tops of some of the buildings and looked up. “Oh?” she asked, Eckart and Luna both turning to look as well. Blue rays of light were shooting up towards the sky from the outskirts of Canterlot, no doubt from Hugo’s time traveling device. They faded away after a minute, Hugo and Lucian returning to the past.

Eckart spoke, “Well, anyway… I don’t exactly know who they were, but I hope those two colts have a good life.”

Twilight nodded, “Yeah… I hope so too.”

Eckart turned to look at her and Luna, saying, “Well, I guess I’ll be going now. Will you two be all right?” When they both nodded, he said, “All right. If either of you ever get the time, feel free to drop by again. I’ll be looking forward to it. Take it easy until then, okay?”

Twilight said, “We will.” Both she and Luna then watched as Eckart left the square, returning to the art museum.

Twilight and Luna then looked at each other, Luna extending a wing and wrapping it around Twilight’s back. Both of their gazes went down to the ground, but they shot up again when a familiar voice asked, “Well, looks like it’s over, doesn’t it?” Both of them looked towards the other side of the square and saw Homunculus standing a short distance away. Luna retracted her wing as the black pony said, “Good job, Twilight.”

The lavender unicorn hesitantly said, “I… I thought I was changing my destiny…”

Homunculus replied, “Mm-hmm. And you did.”

Twilight asked, “But… was it all for you? You used me… To make sure that you would be created, that nopony would rewrite that part.”

Homunculus shook his head, “Now, now, let’s not have all this unpleasant talk about ‘using’, Twilight. I mean, who cares, really? You get to stay with your friends and Equestria is safe. And me? Yes, yes, you managed to preserve my destiny. If you’d been killed, I would never have been born. Immortality has its perks, but you have to be given life first.”

Twilight said, “I see. So I was just being used… All your talk about an ancestor – was that just to get me to go back to that time?”

Homunculus looked away and nonchalantly replied, “Well… How should I know?” He then looked back at Twilight and said, “Oh, by the way, I need the Z-pad back…” Twilight looked at him for a moment and then reached her head into her right saddlebag, grabbing the device with her mouth and pulling it out. Dropping it in her right hoof, she held it out towards him as he approached her. He took it with his own hoof and said, “Farewell, then… I’ve managed to preserve my own life. But…”

Twilight asked, “But what?”

Homunculus looked off to the side for a moment before saying, “Oh, well… I suppose it was your decision and all.” He looked back at her as he said, “And I suppose we won’t be seeing each other again. So I’m afraid your fate’s back to being in your own hooves, Twilight. …Goodbye.” He then placed the Z-pad in his mouth and started to walk away.

Both Luna and Twilight looked after him, Twilight calling, “Hey!” But the black pony didn’t stop. He kept walking and quickly disappeared in a flash of red light.

Luna turned to Twilight and asked, “Twilight Sparkle… what was that all about?”

Twilight turned to look at the lunar princess and then looked down as she said, “Oh Princess Luna… It’s a long story.”

Luna replied, “We are… I mean, I am willing to listen to thou, Twilight. Because… I am thy friend, am I not?”

Twilight looked up at her and nodded, “Yeah… you are.” She then looked around and asked, “But can we maybe talk about this somewhere else?”

Luna asked, “Dost thou know a better place?”

Twilight thought for a moment before saying, “Actually, I do. I just think it might be better to sit down and maybe grab something to eat. I mean, as long as that’s okay with you, princess.”

Luna replied, “Of course it is. And I’ve told you before, you of all ponies can call me Luna.” Twilight giggled nervously at that before she started to lead the way out of the square. Just before they started walking down the street, Luna stopped and said, “Oh, hold up, Twilight. I promised my sister I wouldn’t make her worry about me. I should really send her a note.”

Twilight’s horn lit up and she brought out a quill, an inkpot, and a scroll from her saddlebags. “Here, you can use these… Luna.” The lunar princess smiled at her and took the quill with her magic, dipping it in the inkpot as she unrolled the scroll. She then proceeded to write down her message and sent it off to her older sister with her magic. She then dried off the quill and gave it back to Twilight, who put it back in her saddlebags with her inkpot. They then started walking down the street.

A short while later…

Twilight and Luna sat at the front counter at Pony Joe’s, Twilight having just finished telling her tale. Finishing off her doughnut, Luna said, “That is quite a tale, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight nodded, “I know. But I swear, Luna, it’s the truth.”

Pony Joe said, “She never said she didn’t believe you, Twilight. Hay, even I believe your story, and I haven’t seen you all day.”

Twilight smiled, “Thank you, Pony Joe.” Her smile then eased off as she said, “I just hope Princess Celestia and my friends will be as understanding…”

Luna replied, “They will be, Twilight. And don’t worry; I will be there when you tell them.” She gave Twilight a friendly nuzzle and then said, “Come to think of it, we should probably get back to the castle.”

Twilight nodded, “Right.” She and Luna then stood up off of their stools.

Before they could make a step towards the doors, Pony Joe said, “Wait a second.” When both mares turned to look at him, he set a box down on the counter and told them, “Take these back with you. Princess Celestia and your friends sure seemed to like my doughnuts the last time you were all here, Twilight.”

The lavender mare took the box with her magic and said, “Thanks, Pony Joe. How much will this be?”

Pony Joe replied, “The usual price, plus the ‘regular customer’ discount I gave you when you still lived here.”

Twilight set the payment down on the counter and said, “Thanks again, Pony Joe. I’ll try to visit when I can.” The stallion nodded and then waved to her and Luna as they stepped outside.

As the two mares started to walk back to the castle, Twilight thought to herself, “Things will be fine… I hope. Hugo seemed to understand, even if it came a little quickly. Lucian doesn’t come from that time, but he’s pretty much family to Hugo and will be able to help him get past all this. Even Luna agreed with me on that. And my friends and Princess Celestia will hopefully understand as well. This experience is over; I know it is.”

“So why don’t I feel like it’s over?”

Alternate Ending 2

Welcome to another alternate ending to ‘Shadow of Twilight’. Like with the first alternate ending, this follows the regular storyline up until Chapter 20. Here, however, Twilight was unable to track down Homunculus in the past. Returning to the present, she goes to the fortuneteller’s house and learns who she really is. Deciding to pass on Helena’s message to her grandson, Twilight returns to the square to talk to Hugo.

Okay, you’re all caught up. Places, everypony! ACTION!

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“Hugo…” Twilight began, looking at the green-blue unicorn and Lucian with a mixture of sympathy and worry in her expression.

Hugo asked, “Well? Did you bring the Homunculus?”

Twilight decided not to answer that question and instead got to the point of the matter. “Have you taken a look at where your house used to be?” she asked.

Hugo lowered the knife away from Lucian’s neck and slowly said, “Yeah, I went over there. It looks like a gutted box. There’s nothing there; everything’s gone. No trace of the way we used to live, no happy memories…” Pointing the knife at Twilight, he asked, “How could I ever forgive you for that?”

Twilight said, “Your grandmother – she’s still there.”

Hugo’s eyes widened, but then they narrowed and he exclaimed, “No! That’s a lie! You think I’d fall for that trick?! Yeah, right! You can’t fool me that way!”

Twilight pleaded, “I’m not trying to fool you! Look, of course she isn’t there in the physical sense. But she says her spirit’s been around since you first tried to bring her back. And she said she forgives you… all this happened just now.”

Hugo shook his head and demanded, “You… are you trying to pull the wool over my eyes?”

Twilight answered, “I’m telling you the truth, Hugo, I swear.”

Lucian looked over at his older brother and muttered, “Hugo…”

Hugo looked up at her and said, “All right then… I’m going to go over there and take a quick look. And you’re coming with. If you try anything, I’ll know, so don’t even think about it. Now you stay right in front of me until we get there.” Twilight nodded and left the square, heading for the fortuneteller’s house with Hugo and Lucian right behind her.

After a few minutes, the three of them reached the fortuneteller’s house and came to a stop, standing across from it. Hugo looked up at it for a moment before looking at Twilight and said, “Stay right here. Don’t you dare move.” Twilight nodded and stood still as he and Lucian walked up to the front of the house. After a minute of examining it, Hugo muttered, “Ah… It’s just a ruin after all.” He then turned and walked right up to Twilight, getting right up in her face and saying, “I knew it! You were just trying to trick me, weren’t you? Well, now…”

He was cut off when both he and Twilight heard Helena whisper, “Hugo…”

Twilight’s eyes moved from left to right and she asked, “Did you hear her too?”

Hugo’s expression changed from anger to shock in a matter of seconds and he took a step back from Twilight. Looking up at her forehead, he saw that her horn wasn’t glowing like it would be if she was using magic. “Grandma?” he whispered.

Lucian looked at both of them and asked, “Twilight, Hugo? What’s wrong?!”

Unbeknownst to him, Helena whispered, softly, “Hugo… Hugo…”

Hugo muttered, “Oh wow, it’s Grandma…” Turning back to Lucian, he said, “It’s her voice!”

Lucian asked, “What are you talking about, Hugo? I don’t hear anything.”

Stumbling towards the front door, Hugo said, “You two… just wait out here, okay? I have to take a look around.” He used his magic to open the door stepped inside.

Lucian protested as he shut the door behind him, “But, Hugo…” Realizing it was pointless he took a step back and looked at Twilight, who gave him a shrug in confusion. She wasn’t sure why Hugo could hear Helena but Lucian couldn’t.

Inside the house, Hugo took several hesitant steps across the gray floor before stopping. Looking up and around, he called, “Grandma! You’re here, aren’t you? Grandma, it’s me, Hugo!”

All of a sudden, the house began to shake and Hugo looked around quickly in concern. Parts of the ceiling and wall began to crack as Helena whispered, “…Hugo… You have done something that can never be excused or forgiven… You should have understood the sanctity of life…” Bits of the ceiling broke off and fell to the floor, which began to split down the middle towards Hugo. The breaking floor went under the unicorn and threw him onto his side as he cried out in pain.

Attempting to stand up, Hugo saw a large chunk of the ceiling coming down and quickly got out of its way, backing up against the side wall. Helena then whispered, “It is only given once, to a single pony, and its weight is beyond measure…”

While huddling in the corner, Hugo whimpered, “But, but I…” He then lay down on his stomach and covered his face with his forelegs.

Helena whispered softly, “Oh, I understand how you feel… How could I not, even if nopony else can…? My little Hugo… Would you like to… come with me?”

Uncovering his face and looking up, Hugo rose to his hooves. He then walked towards the middle of the collapsing house, where he said, “I’ll go… I want to go with you, Grandma…” More of the ceiling began to break off as he fell to his knees, fully accepting what was to come.

Outside the house, both Twilight and Lucian looked on in horror as the house began to break apart in front of them. They both ran to the front door, Lucian exclaiming, “Hugo!!”

As they reached the door, they both could swear they heard Hugo say, “Grandma…”

Twilight yelled, “Hugo!!” Both she and Lucian tried to pull the door open with their magic or break it down, but it refused to open. Something was preventing either of them from getting inside the house. Twilight looked up and noticed that part of the house was about to break loose, right over their heads! She grabbed Lucian with her forelegs and pulled him back while shouting, “Lucian, look out!”

The light brown unicorn struggled in her grip, crying, “But Hugo, Hugo…” Twilight managed to pull him back far enough, just in time to avoid being crushed by the rubble. They both looked at the house as it continued to fall apart. There was no way either of them could get inside now.

Inside the house, Hugo sat on his knees while looking up at the ceiling. A smaller piece of the ceiling hit him on his back, but he hardly reacted to it. He simply rose up, raised his forelegs, and then lay down on the ground, resting the side of his head on a piece of rubble. He slowly closed his eyes, the only thing going through his head being the thought of being reunited with Grandma again. Moments later, the rest of the ceiling caved in…

Outside, Twilight and Lucian stared at what was left of the house, smoke beginning to rise out from within it. Lucian fell to his knees and moaned, “Hugo… My only… It was just the two of us, and now… Why… why…” Tears began to trail down the side of his face as he looked down at the ground.

Twilight crouched down next to him and nuzzled him softly, tears streaming down her face as well. “Lucian…” she murmured softly, knowing full well that there was nothing she could say to help this situation. All she could do was try to comfort and be there for him. She continued to nuzzle him while thinking, “Why did this have to happen…? I didn’t want this to happen…”

Lucian nuzzled back against her while sobbing, “Hugo… Hugo…”

Soon…

The smoke from the collapsed house continued to rise into the sky as the two grief-stricken unicorns walked side-by-side back towards the square. They were both going slowly, trying to silently comfort each other the whole way. As they stepped back into the square, a familiar voice caught their attention, “Well, looks like it’s over, doesn’t it?” They both raised their ears and turned to see Homunculus standing a short distance away. He spoke, “Good job, Twilight.”

The lavender unicorn hesitantly said, “I… I thought I was changing my destiny…”

Homunculus replied, “Mm-hmm. And you did.”

Twilight said, “I see. So I was just being used… All your talk about an ancestor – was that just to get me to go back to that time?”

Homunculus looked away and nonchalantly replied, “Well… How should I know?” He then looked back at Twilight and said, “Oh, by the way, I need the Z-pad back…”

Homunculus merely said, “Oh…”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, “What?”

The black pony gestured to Lucian and asked, “Well, why don’t you take him back to his own time?”

Lucian, having stayed on the side during the whole conversation, was surprised by the subject shifting to him and could only ask, “Huh? Who…? Me?”

Twilight looked down, remembering what Red Shield had said and thinking she definitely owed Lucian something after all of this. Looking up at the light brown unicorn, she asked, “Lucian, what do you want to do? Do you want to go home, or would you rather stay in this time?”

Lucian looked at her for a moment and then said, “I… I want to go home. Even if that means I’ll be alone.”

Homunculus walked up to Twilight and waved his left hoof over the Z-pad. He spoke, “There. Give him a ride home. I’ve set it for one last trip.” Stepping back, he added, “Try not to drag it out too long, Twilight.” The lavender mare offered no response to that, merely levitating the device up and pressing it against her horn as she set it for Lucian’s time. Both of them then lifted off the ground and vanished a moment later.

________________________________________

Red Shield paced around in front of the remains of Hugo and Lucian’s house worriedly. “Nopony’s seen them or their mother… I don’t know where else to look… I hope Twilight’s having better luck than I am…” he muttered. He suddenly heard a noise behind him and turned to see Lucian and Twilight appear out of thin air, landing hooves down. Red immediately ran over and hugged Lucian from behind, startling the light brown unicorn, and exclaimed, “Lucian! You’re okay!”

The unicorn stallion muttered, “Red, take it easy, man…”

Releasing Lucian, Red turned to Twilight and said, “You found him! Maybe you have a knack for finding ponies after all!” It was then that he noticed Twilight was looking down at the ground, the front of her mane obscuring her eyes from view, and looked around. He then asked, “Hey, where’s Hugo?”

Lucian softly spoke, “Hugo… isn’t coming back…”

Red gasped, “What? What happened?” Lucian took the next several minutes to explain what Hugo had attempted to do, both in the past and in Twilight’s time, and what had happened to him. At the end of it all, Red slowly nodded, “I see…” Looking over at Twilight, he asked, “Twilight, what’s the matter?”

Lucian turned to look at the lavender mare as she murmured, “I’m sorry… There’s nothing I can do to make up for this, but I am sorry…”

Lucian sighed, “Twilight, it wasn’t your fault. You were trying to make Hugo understand. He… I guess he just… accepted what was happening.”

Twilight looked up and said, “I… I have to get back to my time… I guess it’s goodbye. Take care, you two…”

Lucian nodded, “Yeah… you too, Twilight. And dry those eyes, okay? You’ve done nothing wrong.” Twilight didn’t respond to that; she merely turned around and used her magic to press the Z-pad up against her horn. After a moment, she disappeared in front of Lucian and Red.

Red noticed something had fallen to the ground where she had been standing and asked, “What’s that?”

Lucian saw what he was talking about and walked over to it. Picking it up with his magic, he looked at it. “Hey, this is that patch I made for you,” he said.

Red replied, “I gave it to her in case you decided to stay in her time. You know, just as something to remember me by.” Lucian looked back at him for a moment and then looked up at the remains of his house. Red noticed this and said, “Listen Lucian, why don’t you move in with me? At least until you can get back on your hooves. My house is your house whenever you need it and all that.”

Lucian smiled at him softly, “If you’re sure it’s okay, I’d like that.” Red nodded in response. Lucian looked back over at the spot where Twilight had been standing and muttered, “Twilight… Please don’t blame yourself…” With nothing else to do, he turned and nodded at Red Shield, who began leading the way to his house in Canterlot.

________________________________________

Twilight approached Homunculus after touching down, the Z-pad floating next to her. She then levitated it in front of her and quietly said, “Here, I’m returning this. He’s back home now.”

Homunculus took the Z-pad in his right hoof, Twilight’s magenta aura vanishing as he did, and said, “What a nice guy I am. All services guaranteed. Well, I suppose we won’t be seeing each other again, Twilight. In all likelihood…” He then placed the Z-pad in his mouth and started walking away. Twilight looked up from the ground to see him disappear in a flash of red light.

She then sighed as she looked back down at the ground and closed her eyes. Opening them, she said, “Hey… I wonder if Pony Joe’s shop is still open. Maybe I should go get some doughnuts.” Her ears drooped as she muttered, “It’ll be a small comfort… Might as well try to get what little comfort I can while I still have the chance… As soon as everypony finds out…” She couldn’t finish her sentence as tears began to well up in her eyes again. Trying to hold them back, she left the square, heading for Pony Joe’s.

Not long after Twilight left the square, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie came zooming into the square, both of them coming to a stop when they realized the square was empty. “Twilight! TWILIGHT!” Pinkie Pie screamed.

Rainbow Dash looked around before saying, “She’s not here! Nopony’s here!”

Applejack soon arrived, followed by Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike (who was still sitting on Fluttershy’s back). Upon seeing only the cyan pegasus and pink earth pony in the square, she demanded, “What’s going on here?! Where’s Twilight?!”

Rainbow Dash zoomed over to her and said, “I don’t know! The square was empty when we got here!”

At this, Fluttershy worriedly murmured, “You… you don’t think she’s already been…?”

Applejack shook her head, “Naw, there’s no way. Ah may not know as much as Twilight, but Ah think if she’d been erased because her ancestor was in this here time, none o’ us would be here talking about her. She has ta still exist!”

Spike said, “Okay, but then where is she? If she’s not here and neither is this Hugo pony, then they could be anywhere in Canterlot!”

Before anypony could respond, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna appeared in the square. Luna immediately asked, “Where is Twilight Sparkle?”

Pinkie Pie cried, “We don’t know!”

Rarity clarified, “Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash got here first, and they said it was empty when they got here! There’s no trace of Twilight or any other pony anywhere here! There’s no telling where they could be right now! What are we going to do?!”

Luna said, “We will have to separate and search the city for them.”

Spike asked, “You mean alone?”

Luna shook her head, “That will not be necessary. If anypony wishes to stick together, they may. But we must find them before anything happens. We shall meet back here in one hour, Twilight or no Twilight. Agreed?” Everypony agreed and then broke off, Spike going with Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flying over the city together, and Rarity and Pinkie Pie sticking together. After they all left, Luna turned to her sister and asked, “Shall we be off to search too, dear sister?”

Celestia replied, “Actually, we may not have to.” Looking off to the side, she said, “I think I know where Twilight is.”

Luna exclaimed, “You do?! Then why did you not say anything?!”

Celestia answered, “Because I wish to talk to Twilight before her friends do. Come, Luna. We will go together.” She then spread her wings and took off, Luna doing the same after a moment.

Soon…

Pony Joe looked up as the bell above the front doors rang. He smiled at the lavender mare that walked inside. He spoke, “Twilight Sparkle. How long has it been this time?”

Twilight smiled halfheartedly and said, “Good evening, Pony Joe.” She tried to keep him from seeing her face, seeing as she still had wet trails along her cheeks and the rims of her eyes were probably red again.

Pony Joe picked up on her distress almost as soon as she spoke, but chose to keep quiet about it for the moment. “Are you by yourself tonight? No Spike or anypony else?” he asked.

Twilight walked up to the front counter and sat down on one of the stools as she said, “No, it’s just me right now. Can, uh, can I get my usual? Extra sprinkles, please.”

Pony Joe nodded, “No problem.” He turned his back to her while he got everything for her. While he worked, Twilight rested her right foreleg on the counter and propped the left one up, letting her head rest atop her hoof. Pony Joe turned back to her a few minutes later, levitating a mug of hot chocolate and a vanilla doughnut with sprinkles in front of him. Setting them down in front of Twilight, he asked, “What’s the matter, Twilight? I never used to see you come in here looking upset like this.”

Twilight sighed, “Oh, I’ve had quite a day, Pony Joe. Hay, I’d even say it’s been the worst day of my life…”

Pony Joe immediately looked concerned at that. “That’s certainly unusual for you to say, Twilight. Want to talk about it?” he asked.

Twilight dropped her left foreleg onto the counter and lowered her face down onto the counter, her forehead touching both legs. “I really don’t want to… But I know I’m going to have to, sooner or later…” she said to the wood.

Before Pony Joe could say anything else, the bell above the front doors rang again and he looked up. “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!” he gasped.

“Pony Joe,” Princess Celestia said, remembering him from the girls’ first Grand Galloping Gala.

“Twilight Sparkle!” Princess Luna exclaimed upon seeing her sitting at the front counter. The lavender unicorn lifted her head up and looked back at the princesses at the sound of their voices. Luna looked up at Pony Joe and asked, “How long has she been here?”

Pony Joe replied, “Just a couple of minutes. Why, what’s going on?”

As the princesses walked up to the front counter, Celestia said, “We were hoping Twilight could tell us. If you don’t mind listening in, Pony Joe, we can find out right now.”

The tan unicorn replied, “I don’t mind. In fact, I want to know too. I’ve never seen Twilight like this; that worries me.” The princesses nodded and sat down at the front counter, Luna on Twilight’s left and Celestia on her right. The lavender mare mentally sighed to herself, wondering what fate had in store for her now, and started talking.

A while later…

Twilight laid her head down on the counter, having finished talking about her unusual day. Bits of doughnuts that the three mares had been eating littered the counter, but she didn’t care at the moment. Talking about everything just made her feel all the more depressed.

Luna ventured, “Is… that all that has happened, Twilight Sparkle? Everything you have said is true?”

Twilight nodded as best as she was able to, “Every word, princess.”

Pony Joe asked, “So… the spirit of Helena took Hugo with her?”

Twilight said, “I guess so.”

Celestia mused, “I thought I briefly saw smoke rising up, but it didn’t look like a fire. It must’ve been coming from the remains of that house.” Looking down at Twilight, she asked, “What’s the matter, Twilight?” Although she knew it probably made her seem rude, the lavender unicorn did not answer her mentor.

Pony Joe looked down at her for a moment and then asked, “You’re thinking about what happened to Hugo, aren’t you?” Twilight gave a nod; he said, “It’s not your fault, Twilight. You didn’t do any of the things he was accusing you of. Somehow, he misunderstood what really happened and didn’t want to listen to anypony from his time. He must’ve thought he knew better than they did.”

Luna nodded, “Misunderstanding or not, he did not have the right to take another pony’s life out of revenge. Clearly, he did not know better if he could not accept that his grandmother was gone. I miss all the ponies I used to know before my banishment, but I don’t fall to… how they say… pieces, when I think about them.”

Celestia added, “I am sorry for his loss, and I’m sure you are too, Twilight, but it does not excuse everything he tried to do. The ends do not justify the means.”

Unfortunately, their words did not make Twilight feel better. Actually, they made her feel worse, especially the last thing Princess Celestia said, as that was what had been running through Twilight’s head every time she thought about Hugo’s death. Unable to keep the tears held back any longer, she quickly rose from her seat and ran around the front counter, shutting herself in the bathroom.

Celestia and Luna immediately got up and followed her, stopping in front of the bathroom door. “Twilight Sparkle, come out of there at once!” Celestia said. Twilight’s only response involved sobbing and whimpering. Celestia sighed, “Twilight, you can’t blame yourself for what happened to Hugo. I know you were just trying to make him understand the truth, but leaving him alive could’ve been dangerous. And from the sound of things, his grandmother was more important to him than anypony else. And now he’s reunited with her. That seems to be all he really wanted.” There was no change in Twilight’s response.

Luna looked up at Celestia worriedly, “Sister…?”

Without turning to her, Celestia said, “Luna, go back to the square and wait for Twilight’s friends. When they arrive, tell them that Twilight’s been found and that they should go back to their suites. Also, take Spike back to Twilight’s parents’ house and tell them she likely won’t be coming home tonight.”

Luna asked, “What should I tell them if they ask about Twilight?”

Celestia replied, “Just tell them that, as far as you know, she’s okay. They’ll get the details later. Now go.” Luna hesitated for barely a moment before nodding. She then turned and headed for the front doors, spreading her wings as she exited Pony Joe’s and took to the air.

Celestia, meanwhile, remained standing in front of the bathroom, listening to her student let out her agony. As much as she wanted her to stop crying and understand, she could not. For once, she did not know what to say that would comfort Twilight. All she could do was stand there helplessly and wait.

Eventually, Twilight’s crying quieted, so Celestia asked, “Twilight? …Twilight?” She glanced down at the doorknob and used her magic to turn it. Finding it to be unlocked, she pushed the door open and stepped inside. Looking around, her eyes eventually fell on the back of the door and she sighed, “Oh, Twilight…” She used her magic to pick up the unicorn and put her on her back, the mare having cried herself to sleep. Stepping out of the bathroom, she closed the door and headed back towards the front. Before heading for the doors, she looked back at Pony Joe and said, “I’ll send the payment for the doughnuts and hot chocolate in the morning.”

Pony Joe replied, “Ah, that’s okay, princess. You don’t need to do that.”

Celestia spoke, “I do and I don’t. You didn’t give us all that on the house, so we should pay for it. Just write down how much I owe you and I’ll send a messenger around opening time.”

Pony Joe relented, “If you insist, your highness. Just… be sure to let me know how she’s doing.” Celestia nodded and stepped out onto the streets of Canterlot. After making sure Twilight was secure, she spread her wings and flew up, heading straight for the castle.

Upon arrival, Celestia went straight to one of the castle guest rooms. She then lifted Twilight off of her back and laid her down on the bed, tucking her in. She gave the lavender mare a soft nuzzle and a kiss on the cheek before exiting the room, turning around to face the door as she closed it. For several minutes, she just stood there, alone.

Luna soon walked up beside her and Celestia looked back at her. The lunar princess asked, “I take it her mood did not improve?” Celestia shook her head. Luna sighed, “I didn’t know she would take something like this so seriously. Is she really so sensitive?”

Celestia replied, “Deep down, yes. I suppose I always kind of knew that, but still…” She trailed off and instead looked back at the guest room door, as did Luna, neither of them knowing what to say.

They did know one thing: tomorrow was going to be a busy day.