//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Birds of a Feather // Story: Flight of the Valkyrie // by Underwood //------------------------------// Morning dawned over Canterlot once again, waking Shooting Star to the increasingly familiar surroundings of Canterlot Castle's infirmary. Unlike previous days in this alternate Equestria, today felt different, as though the walls around her were no longer iron bars. More eager to greet the day than she had felt in months, Star decided to leave the ward—this time taking the door, rather than her usual route out of the window—and seek out the nearest garden. Wandering the cavernous white and gold halls while rejecting offers of help from various guardsponies, it didn’t take too long for her to become completely lost within the opulent, indistinguishable, and labyrinthine corridors. Finally allowing frustration to overpower her pride, she accepted the help of the next guard to offer, who pointed to the door just opposite his station. Swallowing her chagrin, she nudged the rustic, wooden door open to reveal a small enclosed rose garden. It was perhaps two or three times the size of the infirmary, with looming castle windows on three sides, and a high, spiked wall blocking sight to one of myriad public areas surrounding the building. With a flustered nod to the guard, she entered the secluded, homely hideaway and began to peruse the flowers. After a short time alone in the garden, having found a relaxing and sweet-scented spot to sit in the lush, manicured grass, a frustratingly familiar voice from the doorway broke the serene silence. “Good morning, Shooting Star.” Princess Twilight approached the rainbow-maned mare from behind, for once not suddenly teleporting into her face. She was as peppy and alert as ever, like an over-eager student addressing her teacher in the morning; a personality-type that Star found exceedingly draining. “Hey,” she exhaled, feeling what little calm the flowers had brought her slip away. “I’m happy to see you up and about. Did you sleep well?” “Sorry, I’m not much for small talk. Let’s get to the point, shall we?” Star attempted to busy herself with the colours and smells of the expertly sculptured garden, though her investment in the atmosphere was already broken. “Right... Well-” She cleared her throat, trying hard to remain positive in the face of her guest’s abrasiveness. “For the time being I’d like you to remain in the care of Rainbow Dash. As a fellow pegasus, she’s the most likely to-” “No way.” “I’m sorry?” “That hot-head from yesterday? No way. Can’t stand her.” “The feeling’s mutual,” Twilight mumbled. “Look, I’m working as hard as I can to understand what happened to you, but time-travel is a poorly understood subject; not even Starswirl the Bearded—the only pony ever known to write a time-travel spell—actually understood how it worked.” “'Starswirl?'You’re joking, right? I'm completely forgotten about, but you know about that bookworm?” She wanted to be bitter, as would anypony in the face of being less than a hoofnote in history, but really she knew that her simple role as an officer of the guard was nothing compared to Starswirl's war-winning spells, even if she considered him a stuck-up egg-head. “Oh, I more than just know about him. Starswirl has been considered the utmost authority on magic since the Pre-Classical Era! We have an archive dedicated to his recovered book collection here in the castle, and relics of his life go on a bi-annual tour around Equestria and beyond! He remains the golden standard toward which all studious unicorns aspire—at least I know I did.” She giggle-snorted—something that was quite unbecoming of a princess, but veryTwilight. “Things did get a little weirder after we met, though. There’s a good reason why ponies say you should never meet your heroes.” Shooting Star faced the alicorn for the first time since she had arrived. “I thought you said this was two-thousand years in the future, how could you have met him? Did he give himself eternal life? Or perhaps you are a time-traveller too,” she asked with dry sarcasm, tired of the word games these ponies like to play. For just once she wished somepony would be clear and direct with her—one thing she sorely missed from the barracks. The Princess looked away awkwardly, rubbing her neck. “Well, technically, but-” She sighed. “It’s a long story, and I shouldn’t really have mentioned any of that to begin with.” Twilight's eyes drifted as she briefly reminisced about her adventures with the Pillars so many years ago, and Starswirl's more recent funeral. It had been hard to accept at the time, especially since he had passed while on one of his many travels outside of Equestria; but even now she felt that loss of her life-long idol, and perhaps even a strange sense of guilt for not being there in his final moments, not that they shared much of a personal relationship. It was a feelingthat she had bottled up from everycreature, even Spike, and despite all the years that had passed since then, it was still something that she didn't really know how to express, even if she wanted to. Suddenly remembering where she was, she shook her head back into the present and focused on her guest. “Anyway, Rainbow will be here in about an hour to escort you to the Wonderbolt Academy, okay? Please try to get on.” Star growled as she turned back to the nearby rose bush, frustrated that her questions had gone unanswered yet again, muttering to herself Twilight turned to leave, feeling that she had failed yet another chance to endear herself to the mysterious arrival, before hesitating and looking back at the pegasus. “By the way, I don’t suppose you’ve ever heard of something called a ‘sonic rainboom’, have you?” “A sonic what?” “Hm. Never mind. Thank you.” The Princess resumed her exit before yet again coming to a stop. “Oh, and I’ll speak to Starlight Glimmer about getting you a room in the Castle of Friendship, now that you've been discharged from the infirmary. You’ll like it there-” She lowered her voice as she left the garden, “-it’s very cold.” The pegasus bit the inside of her cheek as she heard the door to the hallway creak shut. What was that all about? 'Starlight'? 'Castle of Friendship’? She had to be joking. Why is everything here 'friendship-this' and 'friendship-that'? It was sickening. Weak. There had never been time to make friends in her Canterlot. All she'd ever cared about was flying away, and then the war happened, and for the first time in her life she knew what her purpose was. She had worked her flank off as a Valkyrie ever since that day, and yet it felt like there wasn't an inch of personal space to have in this colossal, immaculate castle without somepony imposing their unrequited concern or flaunting their 'special relationships'. This was supposed to be a place of leadership—of propriety—not some holiday resort! She snorted angrily, causing the nearby rose petals to quiver in fear. True to the Princess' word, Shooting Star's brief respite was interrupted yet again by a distant twinkle in the sky and a streaking rainbow trail toward the castle's hidden garden. Indeed, that same pony from yesterday came to an elegant mid-air stop, hovering just over the castle wall as she raised her sunglasses to look down at her new ward with a raised eyebrow. “Hey,” she called out flatly, apparently as annoyed to be there as she was to be received. “Hey,” Star groaned in response. “So, look-” the sky-blue pegasus began, lowering herself to the grass beside Star. “I know we might not have got off on the best hoof yesterday, but Twilight's my friend—and more importantly, a Princess—so I kinda gotta do what she says.” The Valkyrie looked up sceptically, unimpressed by this introduction so far. “Element of Loyalty and all that,” Rainbow continued. “Aaanyway, I'll escort you back to the Academy since I've still got one more class to run, then after that we can head over to Cloudsdale to grab some lunch, since it's nearby for the graduation.” Shooting Star rolled her eyes but nevertheless rose to her hoofs and wiped the loose blades of grass and dirt from her legs. “‘Cloudsdale’, huh? Better than sitting around here all day, I guess.” “I guess.” With a mutual disregard for one another, the two set off toward the mesa-bound Academy and its neighbouring city-in-the-clouds, with Rainbow Dash flying a little faster than she might normally do, knowing that Star could keep up. It didn't take long for the two aerial aces to reach their hometown of Cloudsdale—though only one of them knew it was such—floating just north of Rambling Rock Ridge. As the glistening white cloud city came into view, Shooting Star couldn't help but slow in shock at what she saw. This was Cloudsdale? It was shocking enough that pegasi had built a second floating city, but this was nothing like Pegasopolis. Gone were almost all of the characteristic columns, arches, and cloud-formed huts that she remembered from her foalhood home; instead, this was a place of lavish sculptures, foreign machinery, glass walls, and more pegasi than she had ever seen in one spot before. As she glided closer, ignoring the impatient looks from Rainbow Dash, she began to spot more than just pegasi: unicorns, terrans, dragons, griffons, and other creatures she didn’t even recognise. This was nothing like her home. Part of her hoped that this future’s Pegasopolis remained as pure and familiar as her memories, though that was not something she dared to confirm. If any singular moment in this bizarre reflection of her Equestria could convince her that this was indeed her future, this was it. “Hey, you coming, hotshot?” Rainbow Dash called back, forelegs folded in what was becoming her signature look. “Uh- Y-Yeah.” Struggling to pull her eyes away from the vast city that dwarfed the memories of her hometown, Shooting Star shook out her thoughts and reluctantly followed her escort. The two pegasi glided around the outskirts and highest towers, apparently taking the scenic route before swooping down toward a cloud-piercing mesa. Unlike the mobile city nearby, this was a separate, static piece of unfathomably high and sheer-faced land, featuring a large runway down its centre and a few large buildings around it. As they came in to land, the colourful dots she had seen from a distance revealed themselves to be yet more creatures, all in matching blue-and-yellow jumpsuits. As the two rainbow-maned pegasi landed gracefully on the grass, it became clear that this was no regular military academy like her own. Not only was there a mix of species here, but their training seemed more like cheerleading than actual flight drills, especially for those without wings. “I thought you said this was an academy?” “Sure is! Wonderbolt Academy: finest fliers in all of Equestria,” Dash announced proudly, nodding to some passing cadets that saluted her. “We've come a long way since your time.” Shooting Star scowled, not fully understanding the implication, yet feeling insulted nonetheless. “And the wingless ones?” “Well, after Starlight became the Headmare of the School of Friendship, we started getting more requests from non-pony races to join the Wonderbolts. Once we started letting dragons and griffons join, soon non-flying creatures were applying too, wanting to join with their friends or having something to prove...” She chuckled, lifting her sunglasses from her head and sliding them into her jacket pocket. “My whole life I dreamed of becoming a Wonderbolt—to soar through the skies side-by-side with my heroes—but I never imagined I would hear that same story from an abyssinian.” “A cat that wanted to fly?” “It seemed crazy to me too, but he was so passionate, growing up collecting newspaper clippings, with a Wonderbolts poster over his bed... That's when I realised that our differences are only skin deep. Now Jasper is the coach of our flightless team.” She released a content sigh and began to walk forward, followed by Star. “I expect 110% from my Wonderbolts, so as long as everycreature gives whatever they're doing their all, that's good enough for me.” “'Every creature', huh?” Shooting Star continued to follow Rainbow Dash toward the bleachers ahead, looking at the groups of assorted creatures in a slightly different light now. Regardless of whether they served a purpose in her eyes, they did seem to be happy... It wasn't often you saw a smile in her barracks. In fact, it was usually her arrival that removed them. “Must be pretty different from the Equestria you know, huh? It's still pretty new for us too, but I wouldn't change this 'golden age of friendship'—as Twilight called it—for anything. And you're just in time to see it at its peak, too.” Arriving at the bleachers, Dash turned to her ward and pointed towards the massive floating city nearby. “Like I mentioned, Cloudsdale is so close right now because the graduation ceremony is in a few days; everycreature and their parents are going to be here for it, so it's pretty packed right now. Between the massive gleaming towers to her left and the interracial unity to her right, this whole scene was quite overwhelming. Is this what they called 'culture shock'? The last time she had seen a griffon, it was with their tail between their legs, fleeing the overwhelming might of the King and Equestria's finest, the Valkyries, after securing victory in the Great Griffon War. This Equestria made hers seem like a nightmare she had too recently woken from... Should she feel consolation that this utopia was the future of her land—one that she would never see naturally for herself—or was this all some sick illusion to undermine her opinion of the real Equestria? Well, it would take more than this to sway her. Life might be hard in her world, but it was hers, and she worked every day to ensure it would become a better place for all of ponykind. Now standing in front of the bleachers, Shooting Star noticed a large golden statue a little further down the runway that had been obscured by them. It looked suspiciously like a young Rainbow Dash posing triumphantly over a geometric lightning bolt, though its plaque was too far away to read. “Subtle.” Dash looked over her shoulder and turned back with a smug grin. “Oh, that old thing? They practically begged me to put it up when I got my sergeant stripes. Guess you gain some clout after saving Equestria a dozen or so times. Pretty good likeness, don't you think?” “Uh-huh,” she grunted dryly. This pony's ego was beginning to leave a bad taste in her mouth. Dash's grin widened. “Bet there aren't any solid gold statues of you back in your time, huh?” Star scowled in return. “We don't need statues, we're too busy doing our job. Another day of peace is thanks enough for a Valkyrie.” “Whatever, you're just jealous.” Dash turned away from the bleachers as a number of Wonderbolt trainees began to congregate around them. This group was mainly pegasi, but a couple of other winged creatures dotted the ranks too. Apparently this meeting had been organised prior to their arrival, as the rainbow-maned drill sergeant suddenly assumed a serious demeanour that her ward had yet to witness. “Alright newbies, we've got a guest watching us today,” she shouted, exuding a far different confidence than moments before. “So let's put on a good show and show her what it means to be a Wonderbolt!” “YES, SIR!” the group shouted back in unison, triggering memories of Star's own drills back home. Maybe things here weren't as different as they had first seemed? “Give me three laps around the course; the first one back gets an autographed picture of yours truly!” Star rolled her eyes, immediately rescinding her second thought. However, for whatever reason, these recruits seemed to respond to her inflated ego, taking off one after another like a highly trained detachment of her own ponies. The blue-and-yellow clad fliers banked and swooped through the various hoops and around the sculpted clouds like the best she had seen, which was surprising enough from such young cadets, let alone other races. She found herself lost in the mesmerising display of skill, perhaps because for once she wasn't in command of the group, and took a few steps to Rainbow's side. If these were the recruits, just how good were the full members? “I've got to give it to you, they're good fliers.” “Of course they are, they learned from the best!” she chuckled as the head of the pack banked around and shot past them, kicking up dust and blowing their manes about. Shooting Star looked at Rainbow Dash's profile beside her, seriously wondering if she was as good as she bragged to be. That kind of ego has to come from somewhere, right? It takes a lot to instil the passion of high speed, precision flying into others, and Star had to admit that she wasn't the best teacher herself, often giving in to her own frustration and demanding trainees' respect through fear. Seeing the devotion that these fliers had for their sergeant and their craft said more than any gold statue ever could. As if sensing the tiny speck of respect that had manifested itself silently in her mind, Dash turned to her guest and smugly waggled her eyebrows, immediately putting Star back on edge. That ego! “If only Starswirl were still here to help us with this,” Princess Twilight mumbled, holding up her own head as she wearily leaned into a book. “Come on Twilight, don't be like that.” Spike looked up from his own book as the two worked their way through the Starswirl wing of the castle library. “Starswirl had complete confidence in you, so I'm sure he'd tell you that you can manage this your own way. Besides, you used to love combing through your books to solve the problem of the week.” “I know, and I do, but there's only so many times you can read the same books, looking for that one sentence that makes it all worth it.” She sighed, straightening her back and rubbing her long, aching neck. “And it's not that simple, Spike. Any puzzle can be solved when you have all the pieces, but there is so much we don't know about ancient Equestrian history, and he was there. He lived it! Can you even imagine living in that golden era of scientific and magical discovery beside the first alicorn king and queen? I can't believe I never asked him about that period of history when I had the chance.” “You can't beat yourself up over something like that, Twilight; you didn't know you'd ever need that kind of information until Shooting Star arrived a few days ago. You had no reason to ask.” “But that's the problem, I didn't know! I should have asked him more about the Pre-Classical Era purely for the sake of historical preservation! All we have are legends and headlines prior to the journals Princess Luna and Princess Celestia kept in the Castle of the Two Sisters. As their mentor, imagine the stories he could have told!” She closed the dusty tome with a deep thump and cradled her head over it with both hooves. “Why did he never bring it up or write it down?” “Twilight, you can't be expected to know everything,” Spike sighed, all too well knowing this spiralling pattern of hers. He gently laid down his own book and walked to her side, placing an empathetic hand on her shoulder. “You've got to stop holding yourself to such impossibly high standards. Nocreature is perfect, but you're the smartest pony I've ever known. If there's something you don't know, I can guarantee that most other creatures don't know it either. I think we all have things we want to remain in the past, and I'm sure Starswirl had his reasons for not sharing his.” She looked up with a grateful, yet pained smile. “Thanks, Spike. After all these years, with all the books I've read and lessons I've learned, I thought I knew everything I needed to know... Yet no matter how much I think I know, there always seems to be something important just out of reach, that if I had only tried a little harder...” She sighed again, lowering her hooves to the sides of the tome in front of her. “I just don't understand how so much history can just disappear like this.” “Disappear? What do you mean?” He took a few steps back, sitting on the nearest chair beside the Princess. “Are you saying that there used to be more?” “Absolutely. You don't just go a thousand years with ponies not feeling like writing things down; it was lost, for one reason or another. As you know, we're currently living in the Fifth Age, which began with my coronation, but there are almost no surviving documents from the Third Age, before Celestia and Luna's rule. One of the few surviving written relics was Clover the Clever's journal, but even that reads like a collection of fairytales... It had never occurred to me before just how little information we have on early moments in history that affect us even now, like the Princesses' births, Discord's early life, and the founding of Canterlot. Sure, we have legends like Hearth's Warming, and clues like Mistmane's blueprints for Canterlot Castle, but nowhere near enough pieces of the puzzle to even guess the pattern.” Twilight turned to look beyond the gated archives and through the far corridor's window to the sculptured garden beyond. “There are huge periods of time missing from all official records, and more than can be explained by just the tyranny of the Dark Ages... It's as if decades were simply erased from history, and... and...” She looked back to Spike with tears welling in her eyes. “And I'm afraid it will all happen again. All these great moments, all these great and powerful ponies, barely remembered by future generations... What if everything we have learned—everything that we have taught—gets lost to time too?” Spike exhaled, massaging his forehead. “That's a lot to unpack... Uh, well, there had to be a reason that those records were lost, right? Maybe things weren't as good as we'd like to imagine they were, so they chose to only pass on the important stuff? There's no way everything we've done for Equestria could just be forgotten; just look at how the School of Friendship brought everycreature together, not to mention all the times we've saved Equestria with our own hooves—uh, claws—uh, ourselves.” “Historical revisionism is no joke, Spike,” she sniffed, wiping her eyes. “If that's really what happened, then a serious inquiry needs to be made into why history as we know it was altered. Everycreature should be held accountable for what they have done, no matter what side of history they were on.” “Yikes, this is getting a bit heavy, don't you think? All we were doing was looking for references to Shooting Star and time-travel spells.” Twilight sighed, reaching for a much thinner ledger that had been pushed further onto the table, while her current book was moved aside to make room for it. “This is the last Canterlot census taken that includes Shooting Star, taken just after the Great Griffon War to measure their losses. This is the first and last one that her name appears in, listing her as on active duty with the Valkyries, despite her not being in the regular census taken earlier the same year, which ties in with her story. There's no way she could have seen these documents beforehoof, as they're not available to the public, so she didn't just make her story up.” “So does that mean that she really does know Discord, then? Why wouldn't he remember?” he asked, switching to a mumble. “She seems kinda hard to forget.” “I don't know, Spike... I'm concerned it might have something to do with Discord's past being a mystery, though.” “Concerned? Why, do you think he did something?” “He wasn't always as docile as he is now, Spike. I shouldn't have to remind you the number of times he's endangered Equestria.” “Yeah, but-” He huffed, wanting to defend his friend, yet knowing all too well his disreputable past. “So what, you're saying that Discord made Equestrian history disappear? Why would he do that?” “I don't know, Spike, I don't know. But I feel like we have an obligation to find out how deep this rabbit hole goes.” “I know Discord used to be a bit of a menace, but erasing history seems extreme, even for him.” “There are some things I haven't been able to explain, but the more I think about it, the more signs point to Discord's unique brand of chaos magic. Just look.” Twilight pushed away the ledger, bringing back a different history book than before, opening it to an earmarked page and pointing to a passage. “Look here. This isn't simply a book going missing or—Celestia forbid—a page being torn out; these words are missing. Words or entire sentences simply gone from these paragraphs.” “So you think he was so ashamed of something he did, that he literally wrote himself out of these books? Surely anycreature with magic could have done that.” “Technically, yes, but any creature with magic would have had to cast the spell on every single copy of the book. I requested a second copy of this book from Princess Cadence in the Crystal Empire, and it's missing exactly the same passages, despite being trapped in limbo by King Sombra's curse for a thousand moons, making tampering after the fact near impossible. “Impossible for anything but chaos magic?” “It's a possibility. Look, I know you get on well with Discord now, we all do, more or less, and I take no pleasure in pointing a hoof, but if he really is involved in this, we need to find out why, at the very least for Shooting Star's sake.” Spike sighed, sliding the book over to give himself a better view of the omitted text. “This is crazy... I mean, I know it's not beyond what he's capable of, but... I don't know, it just seems so sloppy compared to the other stuff he's done. We've seen him flip gravity, change the seasons, multiply himself, and he regularly turns our Ogres and Oubliettes games into reality, all with a snap of his fingers, so for him to just leave these blank spaces... I don't know. It just feels like if he really wanted to hide something, I don't think we'd ever know about it.” “You're not wrong, and that's why we need to look into this further, to find out what really happened to Shooting Star back then, and if Discord—our Discord—truly was involved.” Twilight stood from her stool and began to slowly return books to their original slots on the shelves, taking a moment to look over at the large hourglass looming menacingly in the centre of the room, like a constant reminder that time is forever ticking onward without relent. “While we no longer have access to the vast stores of knowledge and personal experience that Starswirl the Bearded possessed, we do have a new source of information, fresh out of the Pre-Classical Era. The problem is that I think she's told us everything that she knows already, and I didn't get the impression that Discord was lying when they met...” Returning the last of the local books, Princess Twilight turned back to Spike, who was clearly still coming to terms with the accusations levied against his friend. She'd probably said more than she should have given their close friendship these days, but if she couldn't talk about these things with Spike, then who could she? A small part of her worried if she was enjoying this return to the 'good old days' of solving problems as a close-knit team a little too much when real lives and relationships were on the line. She trotted to his side, now the one to place her hoof on his shoulder. “The most important thing is getting Shooting Star back home. As always, I'll rely on you, one of my closest and life-long friends, to keep me in check. I know how I can be,” she smiled apologetically. He smiled back, placing his hand on her hoof. “It's okay, I know Discord has done some really bad things in his time. That's why it's so hard to look back at who he used to be before reforming. He would never do those things now, and I think he would tell us if he really did know anything about their past together.” “Yeah.” “So, now what?” “Well-” She lowered her hoof and slowly walked towards the nearest window, which looked out upon the colonised expanses of Central Equestria. “There's only one pony I know that has more experience with time-travel than myself.” “Isn't she kinda busy these days?” “Too busy for the Princess of Friendship? Besides, I should be way more busy than she is.” “You can say that again,” he mumbled back. “Knock-knock,” Twilight called out as she entered the School of Friendship's headmare's office, failing to actually knock on the closed doors. “Oh, Twilight, what an unexpected surprise.” Starlight Glimmer looked up from her syllabus review, calmly placing her hooves together on the desk and adopting the 'mediator's smile' she had learned through years of dealing with difficult creatures. “How can I help you? If this is about your new friend staying at my castle, I already replied to your scroll; assuming Smolder sent it as I requested.” “Oh you did? That's great! I've been so busy that I haven't had time to read my mail, which is ironic really—but that's not why I'm here. This might seem a little out-of-the-blue, but remember how you almost destroyed life as we know it with Starswirl's time-travel spell?” Starlight raised an unimpressed eyebrow as the Princess approached her desk with Spike in tow. “As if anycreature will let me forget. Your point?” “Sorry, let me explain. Recently we made contact with a particular mare—the 'friend' I mentioned in the scroll—who has found herself somewhat... 'out of time'. I was hoping you might have some insight into the spell you modified, as a means to send her back to her own time period. It's a long story.” The headmare sighed and pushed her padded chair out from the desk, taking a few steps away from it to face the nearby window. “That was a long time ago, Princess. As I've said before, I only changed a line or two here and there. I'm hardly an expert on time-travel.” There was a brief pause before she turned her head toward the alicorn. “Besides, didn't you use the same exact spell yourself?” Twilight giggled awkwardly, placing a hoof behind her neck. “Well, yes, but the original only sent me back a week, and only lasted one minute. I'm more interested in what you did to extend its scope and duration.” “I wish I could help, Twilight, I really do, but my priorities have changed over the years.” She returned to her desk, propping herself up on it with her forelegs. “I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm kind of busy running this school—that you left me—to keep up on my 'theoretical chronomancy'. I would think that if anycreature understood that level responsibility, it would be the Princess of Equestria.” She sighed, lowering herself from the table and shaking her head as she sat back on her impressive oak chair. Clearly it had not been a good day for her. “Don't you have better things to be doing? This seems more like a student problem than a me problem.” “Luster Dawn? Pfff.” She swatted the air with her hoof. “She's not ready for something like this! Time-travel is serious—business.” She accentuated each word with a stamp of her hoof, though Starlight remained unimpressed by the Princess' shenanigans. “You're just bored, aren't you?” Twilight's eyes widened before darting side-to-side. “Ka! Pff! Tch! No! I'm busy too! I have plenty of... Princessy things I should be doing, but this is time-travel! This needs to be taken seriously, right, Spike?” She looked back at the dragon, who simply shrugged. These days he spent more time outside Canterlot as the dragon ambassador than inside the castle, so he didn't actually know what Twilight was supposed to be doing instead of this. “Time-travel is serious business, but she kinda has a point, this does seem like it would be a good learning experience for Luster, just like it was for you back in the day.” The princess pouted impetuously, though she was clearly reluctant to defend her own actions. “Luster Dawn has her own lessons to learn and her own adventures to have. Shooting Star landed outside my castle, and I'll be the one to help her return home.” Spike sighed hopelessly, exaggerating a second shrug. “Now you're really starting to sound like old Twilight.” Indeed, this behaviour seemed more reminiscent of the younger, more emotional and impulsive Twilight, than the calm leader they had come to know. A disconcerting sight from such an imposing and majestic alicorn figure. “Old Twilight?! What's that supposed to-” The Princess stopped herself, grunting before taking a deep breath to exhale her frustration. This is exactly what she had asked him to keep in check for her. There was something about being around old friends that brought out this younger version of herself. She knew this whole endeavour was a selfish pursuit, but the nostalgia was just so intoxicating... Should she have delegated this disaster to Luster Dawn, just like the many disasters delegated to her by Princess Celestia? Starlight Glimmer giggled from behind her hoof. “You two haven't changed after all this time, have you?” The two smiled awkwardly, not used to these spats being in front of other creatures. “I wish I could help, I really do, but I know just as much as both of you do. I made those changes over many sleepless, revenge-fuelled nights, and when the spell ended and the scroll disappeared, I wasn't the one that did that. I don't have a clue what happened to it, and honestly, I wouldn't trust myself around time-travel again. The power to go back in time and undo the mistakes you've made... It's pretty alluring, even now.” She sighed, placing a hoof on the official documents on her wide oak desk. “Control over the curriculum is the most power I should have, and to this day I'm amazed that I'm allowed this much. If it weren't for you-” “Starlight, I was just looking over these reports, and-” His head buried in a cycling stack of floating papers, the bearded unicorn, Sunburst, walked half-way into the room before realising it was occupied by more than just the headmare. “P-P-Princess?! What an unexpected surprise! Oh, um, I'm terribly sorry, I didn't mean to-” “It's quite alright, Sunburst, we were just leaving,” Twilight smiled warmly, grateful to know that she wasn't the only one reminiscing about the past. “Thank you for your time, Starlight. I'm sorry for keeping you from your duties; you're doing a fantastic job.” Twilight nodded to Spike, who gave a little wave as the pair turned and left the room, leaving the two unicorns alone. “What was that about?” Sunburst asked, nudging his spectacles up his muzzle. Starlight shook her head with a blank expression. “I... actually have no idea.” “So, that was a bust,” Spike stated as the two exited the school, garnering plenty of shocked and excited looks from the locals as they casually strolled towards Ponyville centre. “What exactly were you hoping to learn?” “To be honest, I'm not sure,” she sighed, knowing that Starlight remembering any of the details on that scroll after so many decades was slim at best. “In a way, I think I was looking for moral support from somepony that had dealt with time-travel before; just to hear her say that it was hard, and I'm not struggling over nothing.” “I thought you were over this kind of self-doubt.” “I thought I was too... Do you know what it's like to be the best at something? To have nocreature to look up to or ask for answers? Knowing that if you can't do something, nocreature can?” “Not really, no.” “I cast Starswirl's time-travel spell myself, but Starlight did so much more by altering it the way she did and merging the spell with the cutie mark map—something I never would have dreamed of doing, let alone pulled off.” “I think there's a good reason for that, though. She was kind of a villain, remember?” “She had her reasons, though. Good or bad, we all have our reasons... It was too much to hope that she would remember what she did so long ago, though. If only we still had that scroll.” “What happened to that thing, anyway?” “You saw it, it got sucked back up into its own time portal... Who knows if or when it reappeared...” “What do we do now?” “I don't know. Without the original scroll or Starlight's memory of its contents, we've got no point of reference on how to write a time-travel spell. There are papers on theoretical chronomancy, like Starlight mentioned, but since it was publicly banned by Celestia after that little incident, nocreature has ever practically tested those theories, and I'm not sure we have the time to pioneer an entire branch of magical studies.” “So... Is she stuck here for good?” “I hope not, for her sake... One way or another, we're going to get to the bottom of this mystery, Spike, you mark my words.” “Consider them marked,” he chuckled as the two continued on their way, followed by a slowly increasing group of admirers. “I only hope that Rainbow Dash is having better luck than we are right now.” The pair walked in silence for a few seconds before Spike turned to his companion with a jolt, hit by the lightning of a memory. “By the way, you never told me what Pegasopolis is,” he asked with surprising intensity. “Pegasopolis? I know you know this, Spike, it must have just slipped your mind with everything else going on. Think of the Hearth’s Warming Eve play—it was the name Commander Hurricane wanted to originally name Equestria, before the Fire of Friendship united everycreature. You have narrated it almost every year now. Honestly, you really should let a younger creature have a go.” “But why would Shooting Star bring that up? I know she’s old, but she’s not that old… is she? Wouldn’t she have been in the play if she was?” Twilight laughed warmly at his childlike naiveté. “Not everycreature is named in that play, you know—there were more than six ponies around during the Tribal Age. But no, Shooting Star isn’t that old. While Pegasopolis’ name was originally abandoned in favour of Equestria, following the end of the First Dark Age, many pegasi fled Canterlot to create their own safe haven in the clouds. What we know as Cloudsdale today was originally named Pegasopolis, in memory of Hurricane, who fell during the Dark Age.” “If that name had so much meaning, why was it changed?” “Well, you would have to ask an early Fourth Age pegasus that to know for sure, but I expect it had something to do with Celestia and Luna’s defeat of Discord—when they turned him to stone for the first time—and the re-unification of Equestria under their wings. It makes sense that the pegasi would choose to rename their capital to something a little more… broad-minded, considering that Commander Hurricane was claiming the unnamed Equestria for them and them alone.” “Wow, I had no idea. I guess I figured that Cloudsdale had just… always been there.” “I think we all prefer to not look back on our less inclusive pasts; even Ponyville has had its fair share. The important thing here is that Shooting Star doesn’t learn that Cloudsdale and Pegasopolis are one and the same place. It goes without saying that we should limit her exposure to as many cultural and scientific advancements as possible, but understanding those advancements is infinitely worse. Assuming an intimate familiarity with her hometown, knowledge of those changes could be devastating to the timeline if she returns.” “‘If’?” “If. When. At this point I just don’t know, Spike. The faster I figure this out the less damage her exposure might cause, so I’m well aware of the ticking clock. From this point on it’s muzzle-to-the-grindstone time, and I’ll just have to trust the others know what they’re doing. It was a risk allowing Rainbow to take Shooting Star to the Academy, but we need their specialist measuring equipment to see if she really is capable of a sonic rainboom in a safe environment. As long as she doesn’t leave the Academy, we’ll be fine.” Shooting Star had spent the last few hours watching Drill Sergeant Dash instruct her recruits through various manoeuvres and wingpony trust exercises as she watched silently from the bleachers. Shockingly, the experience wasn't half as miserable as she had expected it to be, and as the session came to a close, with the worn-out trainees retreating inside from the summer sun, the pastel-blue pegasus floated down to Star's eye-level, pulling her flight goggles up onto her forehead. “Well, I've got an hour or so for lunch now if you want to check out Cloudsdale, just as long as we stop somewhere for a hay burger first.” “‘Hay burger’?” Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped. “You don't know what a hay burger is?” The pale-yellow pegasus shook her head, mainly knowing hay as a long-life ration. “That's it! It's time to show you what it really means to be a modern pony. Come on!” The sergeant shot up into the air, waiting for her ward to join her before zooming towards the nearby pegasus metropolis. It wasn't long before Rainbow Dash had ravenously consumed her meal, burping loudly at its conclusion, much to the disgust of the other patrons, before absent-mindedly poking at her teeth with the leftover toothpick. “So. Good.” She leaned back on her stool with a hoof on her stomach, seeming quite content. “You weren't wrong, these are pretty good,” Shooting Star admitted, licking the remaining salt and tomato sauce off her hoof, unaware of a large smudge across her cheek. The Wonderbolts Captain leaned forward, offering a napkin with her wing while pointing towards her own cheek, which was blushingly accepted and dealt with accordingly. “So what do you think of the new-and-improved Cloudsdale?” “What do you mean, ‘new-and-improved’? How would I know?” She finished with the napkin by wiping down her hooves and looked out the nearby glass wall, beyond which lay an alien cityscape of cloud, glass, neo-classical columns, and buildings that were uncomfortably futuristic to her eye. “You've got lots of fancy stuff here—some stuff I don't even understand what I’m looking at—but it's just not…” “Home?” “Yeah.” “Yeah, I get that.” Rainbow sighed, resting her hooves on the table as she hunched forward. “Back when I left Cloudsdale for Ponyville, it always felt strange coming back, like I was living in a memory that nopony else could see.” Star looked back to the pegasus across from her, surprised by the sudden candour. “Yeah?” “'There's no place like home', huh?” She mused, turning to the radiant vista. “I loved my parents—still do—but it never felt like home to me. I always knew my destiny was waiting for me beyond these clouds, so I flew the coop as soon as I could; learned to look after myself, built my own place, moved into a cloudominium when it collapsed, and never looked back. Can't imagine living anywhere but Ponyville now. Guess that's how you feel about your version of Cloudsdale, huh.” “You mean my home? Something like that.” Rainbow waited for an elaboration before looking back, biting on her toothpick. “Not much of a talker, are you?” Star merely glared in reply, unappreciative of the pressure put on her to speak. What even was there to say anymore? She just wanted to go home. “What about you?” Dash continued, never one to bow to uncomfortable moments. “Being in the Valkyries puts you in Canterlot, right—why'd you move?” The cream-hued pegasus sighed, looking down at her empty tray, staring at a single, loose, rainbow hair on it. There was a lot that could be said; about her parents, her foalhood, about needing to get away and prove that she was somepony different than those who had raised her. There was a lot she had never said aloud, not that she had ever been asked. She had lied her way through the Valkyrie exam, wanting to let her wings do the talking, and even then she was laughed out of the training program. Nothing in her life had ever come easy, but she'd fought against destiny tooth and hoof to get where she was, and now look at her: a Lieutenant in the Valkyries, stuck in some alternate-universe-time thing as her fellow ponies suffered back home... Her life was a joke, so why not let somepony else in on it? “I wanted to prove myself. With Pegasopolis being the way it was, there wasn’t much to aspire to besides flying fast and joining the Nephophytes. I was too young to join them before they were conscripted into the Canterlot Royal Guard, so I ditched my hometown and made my own way there to join the newly formed Valkyrie squadron directly. I knew I was squadron material even if they didn't, so I lied about my age and trained with them officially until they kicked me out for breaking their stupid safety rules, then I carried on anyway. War is about winning, no matter what; there's no such thing as ‘endangering yourself’ on the front lines. When the war began, I was on those front lines, day and night, whether Command liked it or not. What were they going to do? I wasn’t technically a recruit, and more importantly, they needed me.” “You've got drive, I can appreciate that. Rules are all well and good until they need to be broken—not that I would ever condone that as Captain of the Wonderbolts, of course.” She smirked, relocating her toothpick to the other corner of her mouth. “Y’know, I’d totally forgotten that Cloudsdale used to be called Pegasopolis. I should put that on the next test.” Shooting Star’s blood ran cold. “What?” Rainbow Dash flinched, snapping the toothpick between her teeth. Twilight had been very clear about not divulging any future events, lest Shooting Star's knowledge disrupt the timeline upon her return, and one errant thought had just put them all in jeopardy. In her defence, it had been a long time since she’d taken the Wonderbolts entry exam, so her pegasus history was a little rusty. Honestly, who would remember that Cloudsdale used to be called Pegasopolis? Wait, come to think of it, wasn't bringing her to Cloudsdale an issue in the first place? Why did she suggest having a hay burger with her?! Maybe Shooting Star hadn’t noticed. Maybe she really didn’t hear what she’d said? “Ha-ha, alright, let's hurry up back to the academy, now,” Dash awkwardly fake-laughed, almost falling off her stool as she hurriedly dismounted. Star narrowed her eyes, but acquiesced. She followed the blue pegasus out of the diner as she appeared to attempt to block Star’s view of multiple different things with a single plastic serving tray, unsuccessfully, obviously. “Weren’t you going to show me around?” She faked another loud laugh. “Yeah, well, I just remembered that I have- uh- papers to grade before the next drill. You know how it is, work, work, work, ha-ha-ha. Better get back.” “Do you mind if I take a few laps of the city before I head back, then?” “Uhhh…” The colour seemed to drain from Dash's face as her eyes shot about, looking for the physical manifestation of an answer that wasn't there. They had already circled the city on their way to the Academy, so the damage was already done, right? It couldn’t get any worse? No harm in letting her look from a distance, surely, they’re just buildings! “S-Sure, just, uh, don't go flying off, okay?” the anxious Captain continued. “Twilight would have my wings.” As awkwardly light-hearted as her tone has been before now, that last line was delivered with a cold seriousness. Star smirked, feeling as though she had just won her first mental battle here. With a strong flap of her wings, she shot into the sky, followed uncharacteristically meekly by Rainbow Dash. As the Valkyrie took off to the east at speed, the Wonderbolt hesitantly floated westerly, biting her lip. Not actually having any papers to grade back at the Academy—or at least not ones she was willing to do—Rainbow Dash tapped her hoof-tips together as she counted her options. Realistically speaking, she was already in for a reaming by Twilight, so perhaps it would behoove her to do some damage control. It was too late to stop Star now, but the least she could do is tail her—make sure she doesn’t do anything that might compromise her or their timeline. She might not seem like it, but she was a master of disguise and sneakery when she needed to be—the clouds should be enough cover to hide her pursuit. She’d have to hurry though, as not to lose the already long-gone pegasus. Shooting Star soared high above the intricate and gleaming city below, not quite as high as the tallest towers, but far enough from the bustle of the future world below to make the nightmare feel like a dream. Had Rainbow Dash really meant what she had said? Could this surgical behemoth of a city really be Pegasopolis? It had been two-thousand years, after all. Things were bound to look different… But there was one way to be sure. Towers and businesses shrunk away as she cleared the urban forest of the city centre and gently banked around the outskirts. Showing no interest in the wonders of tomorrow, she soared towards the much smaller suburban housing districts, which became increasingly sparse and ‘rural’ as they stretched from the city, dappling the skies with their own personal altocumuli. The scope of what Pegasopolis had become was quite bewildering, if true, and even more so given how long it had been since she’d seen the town with her own eyes. However, as a floating city made of clouds, real-estate wasn't constrained to the same physical laws as terrestrial towns, meaning that it could expand indefinitely, non-linearly and non-destructively, pushing older buildings out as new ones were formed nearer the centre. With this in mind, her target would be further away than she remembered, but short of the building being purposefully dismantled, it should still be there, somewhere. It was hard to pin-point exactly where she was from memory alone, but she had spent so much time in this sky as a child, surely there was something—something that stood out as familiar… Wait, that, down there- Like a hawk spying its prey, Lieutenant Star shot downwards, ripping the lighter altostratus apart as she dove. The rainbow-maned pegasus hooked up and maintained her position a few metres above the nearest house, just outside their front 'garden'. The architecture was totally different, and there was—obviously—a different name on the letterbox, but this cloud... this relative position… that gnarled, stump-shaped cloud… This had to be it, right? Her foalhood home, or at least what it is now. She looked around from her hovering position, trying to picture herself playing in the wisps outside, building that small diving board to practise her mid-air recoveries, what used to be a full tree-like cloud that she would hide behind when- … It wasn't the same, but this had to be it. Nowhere else... felt like this. But why did she come in the first place? What was she hoping to see? Why would she choose to do this to herself so single-mindedly? If this really was the future, of course there would be nothing left of it… Nothing left of- … So why- Why were her eyes burning? She sniffed, using the back of her hoof to wipe her eyes. This was stupid. She was an adult. She didn't need to think about her foalhood home or her parents any more, let alone do… this. “Can I help you, miss?” a concerned voice called up from below, startling her through the blindness of her tears. As she blinked them away, she saw an aquamarine griffon was looking up at her, having just exited the house she was loitering over, clearly disturbing the new residents with her presence. “No- No, I'm sorry. I was just… lost.” Without another word, Star quickly beat her wings to escape as fast as she could, feeling a shiver run down her spine as she relived the first time she ran away from her home all those years ago. Of all things- The Great Griffon War was still a fresh wound on all of Equestria, at least in her time, and yet here they roamed freely; friends and neighbours, and in her foalhood home, no less! … No, ‘house’, it had never been her home. She had abandoned that building long ago, so what reason did she have to get upset now? It wasn't even the same house anymore, just a patch of familiar cloud and a stump. With an angry grunt she wiped her streaming eyes once more as she flew back towards the Wonderbolts Academy, unaware of Rainbow Dash’s presence behind her. Surreptitiously landing behind a building to appear as though she had been here all along, the Wonderbolt Captain officially reconvened with Shooting Star on the airfield, directing her toward a second set of bleachers past where they had originally landed. As luck would have it, Lieutenant Vapor Trail had planned a stretch class for wing injuries that afternoon, which Star was invited to participate in while Rainbow Dash and Commander Lightning Dust taught another platoon some more advanced two-creature manoeuvres. Feeling less tense after the exercises, Star returned to the nearest bleachers to observe the remainder of the advanced drills. “They're really impressive, huh?” The rainbow-maned pegasus looked away from the sky to see Vapor Trail take a seat next to her, seemingly free now that her class was over. It was hard to imagine how a pony with such natural beauty could also be a top flier in this organisation, but it wasn't the strangest thing she had seen today. Utilitarianism, it seems, was not necessary in a world without war or conflict. “Yeah.” Star returned her gaze to the acrobatics display raging above them, genuinely impressed by their speed and agility, though unable to muster much emotion to convey it. Besides, for every feat of speed and agility she observed, there was an equal amount of showboating and fanciful special effects, ruining the purity of their skill for her. “I've never seen recruits pushed so hard before. Where I'm from, you either fall or fly, but there isn't much of what I would call 'natural talent', not like these pon- uh, creatures have.” She giggled, watching the flashes and swoops with wide-eyed pride. “Yeah, Captain Dash and Commander Dust's classes are the most intense we offer here. A lot of newbies can't even make it through their first session, so the ones up there really are the best of the best.” “The fully-fledged members must be really something when they get serious.” “Even Istill try to watch our displays, when I'm not in them. The problem is that there are so many new applicants these days, it feels like we're teaching more than we're flying.” Star glanced back to the mare beside her. Between her pale-blue coat, pale-green mane and modest nature, she was almost the perfect opposite of Rainbow Dash's bold looks and brash personality. “So how did you end up here? You don't seem the type.” “Oh, me?” Vapor looked down as she pushed her fringe aside. “That's a long story, from a long time ago. I guess some ponies just end up in the place they were meant to be, even before they know it. For me, flying is like love; always being pulled towards something you don't necessarily understand. Fearing it, but still wanting it. Captain Dash helped me realise what I wanted for myself, and that's something I want to pass on to the next generation of recruits.” She chuckled wistfully, looking back up to the fliers. “I'm so lucky to have met the Captain—and Princess Twilight—or I wouldn't still be here today.” Star snorted quietly, wondering if this pony was a planted agent, or if the universe was simply conspiring against her stubbornness with all these coincidences. At the very least it was nice to feel like she wasn't being interrogated or babied throughout a conversation for once. “It's easy to forget that I'm working alongside a real Equestrian hero,” she continued, sighing dreamily. “Back then it felt like we were a danger magnet, always attracting some kind of monster or disaster to ruin our week. Those six were like superheroes, swooping in to save the day every time, and not for thanks, fame, or bits, but because they loved this land so much... If I could be that kind of hero, just once, or train another creature to be, then this was all worth it, every second.” It was Shooting Star's turn to sigh as her mind turned back to the disaster befalling her Equestria as they spoke, or perhaps it was already too late? She couldn't begin to imagine what that monster must have achieved after days of terror, considering what he managed in a matter of minutes. Then again, if this really was the future, everything turned out alright, didn't it? Ponies still existed... They had peace... But what of her squadron? Her... 'friends'? What if being here changed things—changed the destiny of her own time so it wouldn't turn out this way? Her head hurt trying to understand this alternate-time nonsense; she was a warrior, not a scientist! “I've not seen you around here before, where are you from?” Vapor asked, seeming to notice her distress. “Far away. Far away where there's still war, and pain, and-” She clenched her teeth, hoofing herself in the temple in helpless frustration over the situation. Why did it have to be her? She was willing to give her life to defeat Discord and save the castle, so why is she trapped in this purgatory, left with nothing but regret and spite? Vapor Trail reached her hooves out, wanting to help, but also not wanting to take liberties. “I'm sorry, I didn't know! I didn't mean to bring it up.” This was ridiculous. She was a Lieutenant, hated by her trainees for being a hard-flank, so why was she breaking down like this in front of somepony she had never met before? “Discord,” she spat, lowering her shaking hooves from her head. “Do you know Discord?” “Discord?” Vapor asked in confusion, not understanding these tangents at all. She had no idea where Captain Dash found this mare, but it must have been an awful place. “Not personally. I know of him. If you want to talk to somecreature about Discord, your best bet is Fluttershy, they've been friends for-” “Fluttershy. Where is she?” “'Where is-'? Um, well, she has a cottage just outside of Ponyville, near the Everfree Forest, though she's probably still at her sanctuary at this hour, tending to the animals—if she's there at all, I don't-” “Which direction?” None of those names meant anything to her, but she would get directions from passing ponies if she needed them. The pale-green pony rubbed her hooves together nervously, extremely uncomfortable with what had been a quite pleasant conversation only a moment ago. “Uh, south-west from here.” “Thanks.” Star spread her wings almost violently as she stood from the white bench. “Wait! Shouldn't you tell the Captain where you're going?” “No need. She led me here, but I was going back on my own anyway,” she lied, not that anypony would be able to stop her if they tried. With a bend of her knees, Star shot off the bleachers and turned sharply towards Ponyville. One way or another, she was going to get some answers today.