Night had fallen before Day heard the sound of wings descend from above. For nearly five hours, he’d absorbed the book in his mind. He barely noticed the time as he’d done so. It was a fascinating book; the panels could serve as so much more than tools to direct his magic. They were a perfect medical tool, a powerful combination of diagnostic equipment and repair magics. They served as a direct link to his mind - the runic language that flowed across its surface was the purest representation of his subconscious - information dense and concise. WIth his newly enhanced mind, he could use them to examine his memories with perfect accuracy and extract anything he had experienced before.
Four light thuds behind him in the grass announced Luna’s landing, “I’m sorry for abandoning you here. My sister called for me and I could not delay.” Day turned around and smiled at Luna’s apologetic expression.
“It’s fine. I got some time to think and I really needed that. Plus, I’m not the most polite person sometimes so I’m fine with the occasional rude gestures from friends.” Day stood up and patted the Princess on the shoulder. “Where to now? And what did your sister need? I’d like to meet her sometime, she was so... ancient... when I met her before,” his brow furrowed, “meet her later... whatever... She was so detached, like she was only giving me passing attention.”
Luna laughed quietly, “You can refer to everything in the past tense. You will eventually explain to me your scientists’ concept of relativity theory - so I also know of it now - you can consider your current time and place as your reference frame and speak of everything that will occur to you from your perspective in the future as the future and what has occurred to you in the past.”
Day was unsure if her explanation was supposed to confuse him more or genuinely clear away his confusion. He decided to just deal with the problem as it came.
“Alright, I guess.” He replied.
“We will return to Ponyville. The Elements will be curious and worried about you by now, provided dear Fluttershy has done as I requested. You need to be careful around them, especially Twilight Sparkle. She is Celestia’s personal student and she has earned that position many times over. If she even suspects anything of my plans, she could derail everything. She is a great asset to have, but for what we must do, she is ill-suited.” Luna looked toward the hills, “Ponyville is many miles beyond those hills if you follow the forest’s edge. I had to carry you away from the town so that nopony would come for you. You were very... loud...” She cringed at her last statement.
Day nodded, “Let’s hope I don’t have a repeat then. That was unpleasant.”
Day started walking toward the hills, “You know... it’s only been two days since I got here... three at most since I’m not really keeping count. Is every day as exciting as these?”
Luna followed him, “Well, no. Life here is much like yours was on Earth.”
Day raised an eyebrow and she spoke before he could, “You tell me all this eventually. Which means I know of it now. Which means you will not tell me later, but since the information exists already in my mind in this moment, the information is not lost.”
Day blinked stupidly, “That pretty much breaks every rule of time travel ever. So... no paradox?”
“I am a goddess. What did you expect? Also, timeline continuity and self-repair.” Luna smiled widely and Day knew that she knew that he was trying to understand how that could possibly work. And since she knew the outcome of his thoughts because he would voice them, she knew now. Which meant he wouldn’t tell her...
Day groaned, “I thought Pinkie Pie was bad. This is worse. So much worse.”
Luna nodded and laughed, “Yes, but I’m used to it and that’s all that matters.”
When they reached the top of the first hill, they stopped to admire the view. Before them, hills and valleys extended as far as they could see. The forest’s edge wrapped around the base of the hills and occasionally crept up and over a few and dipped into the depressions and valleys formed between. The cloudless night ensured that the moon was unobscured and bright above them. It was so much closer than the moon that belonged to Earth and had he not already seen a star so close to the planet without any effect, he would have questioned how the world could exist so peacefully without tectonic activity.
“The trip to Ponyville will take a long time if we merely walk, would you like to run instead? This time you can chase me while I guide you.” Luna spread her wings and adopted a haughty expression and dared him to accept. Day laughed.
“Fine, just how far are we?” Day asked.
“About thirty miles, so twenty minutes at your sprint.” Luna replied. She bounced on her hooves energetically before taking off without another word. Day followed a moment later.
~!~
The moon was almost directly overhead when they arrived at the outskirts of Ponyville. Most of the houses were still lit from within, the ponies inside clearly awake. The streets themselves were quiet and only a few ponies were out so late. Those that were turned to stare at the town’s new arrivals curiously. All were familiar with their Night Princess, not many ponies but those that stayed up late knew that she frequently visited the town while her subjects slept. She made it a point to speak with the few night ponies she came across.
The tall being beside her was a mystery. His height and bipedal stance was intimidating to anypony who saw him. His skin seemed to reflect the light of the moon perfectly while simultaneously fading into the night-blue sky.
Luna and Day quickly made their way down Ponyville’s main boulevard toward the tall oak tree at the other end of town. Day ignored the eyes that followed him as they went. He was sure that if their positions were reversed, he would have stared at them as well. He tried to not let it bother him.
Luna spoke quietly, “When we arrive at the library, I am going to speak and act a bit differently than now. I am not usually so... demonstrative around my subjects. Don’t worry if I seem cold or formal.”
Day nodded but remained silent. After a few minutes, the library tree came into view and Luna quickly ushered him to the door and knocked. They waited for a few moments before the clopping of hooves grew louder and stopped at the door before opening. Twilight Sparkle’s face broke into a relieved grin and she immediately yanked Day into the treehouse.
“Thank Celestia, you’re still here. Fluttershy wouldn’t say where you went and we all thought you’d run back into the forest. No one wanted to help me look for you.”
Day looked at Luna uncomfortably and she interjected herself into Twilight’s monologue, “Twilight Sparkle, We required his assistance for the day, We apologize for the inconvenience. Our sister knew of the circumstances.”
“Oh,” Twilight paused for a moment, “wait, so Princess Celestia knew that he was in the forest?”
“No, but the energies she felt could only have been a few possible circumstances,” Luna replied slowly, “the Everfree is not a place that will tolerate her magic often.”
Day filed the conversation away for later. Luna’s wording was too specific to be anything other than intentional. Her magic worked just fine and Celestia lived in the forest of the future - something didn’t make sense.
Day sat on a cushion at a nearby library table and looked around. The room was round and large, unnaturally so. From the outside, the room should have been much smaller. Day guessed magic was probably used to expand the space within the tree. Like Fluttershy’s furniture, tables were low to the ground and were surrounded by blue and lavender cushions. Bookshelves were half the height he was familiar with at his public library.
The language on the books spines was completely alien to him. It almost reminded him of Braille or Morse code. It was a series of dashes, slashes, dots, and smudges. Frequently, the symbols overlapped or even occluded others behind them. He got up and pulled a random book from the shelves and sat back down. He opened it to a random page. He wasn’t completely sure but it almost looked like the script was written diagonally from left to right and top to bottom on the left page and then flipped to read bottom to top left to right on the right page. At least, something that resembled an arrow at each corner of the page directed him to think so.
He shut the book, closed his eyes, and muttered, “Either that’s the most efficient or most annoying way to write I’ve ever seen.”
A dull clang of metal accompanied the hoof that smacked the back of his head, “We believe you just insulted the form of writing We invented. Perhaps you can explain why?”
Luna’s expression looked foreboding and insulted, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Day could see a carefully hidden amusement just barely shining out. Twilight was staring at the Princess in shock at her casual and childish action.
“Hey! I didn’t know! But you have to admit, changing directions in the middle of writing is annoying.” Day defended.
“Princess! You can’t just go around hitting anypony!” Twilight recovered from her shock and finally spoke up.
Day looked at Twilight quizzically, “What do you mean she can’t? She’s a goddess. She can do whatever she wants. And don’t refer to me as a pony. I’m not a pony.”
Luna spoke before Twilight, “Twilight Sparkle helped Us adjust after Our return from banishment. She makes it a point to remind me of modern pony etiquette whenever We visit.”
“You were banished?” Day asked Luna. She didn’t seem the type to break laws.
Luna looked out a window uncomfortably, “Yes. For one thousand years, we were chained to the moon.” She looked back at him and their eyes met. For a moment, Day could see triple. He saw the void he survived and felt the loneliness and emptiness within, he saw Luna chained down in the cold, hard vacuum of space staring down at the planet she called home, and he saw Luna’s eyes - tired, ancient, and possessing hard earned wisdom and depth.
Their eyes remained locked on the other for an unknown amount of time before a cough reminded them of where they were and their gazes broke away. Twilight Sparkle looked at both of them with a curious but extremely uncomfortable look on her face.
“We almost killed everypony on this planet. It was a fitting punishment.” Luna said quietly. A small spike of anger rose up in Day’s chest and he wanted to disagree. No one should have to endure something like that, even if they had almost committed genocide.
Luna apparently noticed his expression and spoke, “We know. Believe Us... We know what you are going to say. It changes nothing.”
Day caught the emphasis in her words and remained silent. He was speaking to a goddess that would know what he said before he said it, nothing he could say would change her mind. He had more difficulty pushing away his anger. While he was occupied, Twilight Sparkle spoke.
“What are you two talking about?” She was looking between the two of them nervously. Day’s anger had manifested for a moment between the two as a heavy feeling of dread. Even she, awkward as she was, couldn’t help but notice the undercurrent and double meaning of their conversation.
“It does not matter, Twilight Sparkle, simply a difference of opinion.” Luna replied. Day shook his head sadly but let the matter drop.
“So, no offense to Twilight, but why are we here Luna?” He remembered her opinion from earlier that Twilight was the last person that they needed interfering with her plans.
“We needed to deliver her something. And she needed to know that you were still alive and well.” Her horn flashed once and a scroll faded into existence. She magicked it in front of Twilight and opened it for her to read.
Twilight’s eyes widened as she read, diagonally down the page, her expression darkened then saddened.
“We are sorry, Twilight, Our sister does not wish for his existence to become common knowledge.” Luna looked at Day significantly and said, “Our sister has decided that she is not to study you. Nor is she to accompany us while you work for me. We are going to Wyrmhold, the dragon sanctuary far south of us.”
Day frowned but nodded slowly. It didn’t seem wise to outright ban her from studying him. It was like telling her not to think of elephants. It would focus her attention on them rather than remove it.
Twilight rolled the scroll up and nodded, “I understand. When do you leave? Do you have everything you need?”
“Two days hence, at the latest.” Luna replied, “We plan to ask dear Fluttershy to accompany us. Her actions with the dragon you and your friends met a few years ago were extraordinary. If she wishes to come, she has until then to decide.”
Twilight looked worried for a moment before nodding. “It’s getting late. We should get some rest.”
Luna nodded and looked at Day, “We know you are incapable of sleep. Perhaps you could spend this time learning Our language and writing.” Day could hear the undercurrent of amusement in her voice.
“You don’t sleep?!” Twilight asked incredulously before blushing and looking away, “Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that.”
Day looked at Luna for a moment and silently tilted his head in Twilight’s direction. She seemed to get his meaning, “Twilight... while formal research is forbidden, you can still ask questions. Our sister is not unreasonable.”
Day picked up where she left off, “I’m not really... alive... anymore...” He could feel the forest, which had been mostly silent focus on him and send him a feeling of displeasure. “Okay, maybe I am, sort of. The point is, this mind and this body don’t need to rest. They operate completely on magic - ambient magic. I don’t eat. I don’t sleep. I don’t breathe. I don’t do a lot of the things I used to do.” He finished lamely. He didn’t know how much more to give away.
Twilight nodded slowly with a faraway look on her face, “That’s... well not impossible seeing as you exist... but really hard to believe. Ambient magic was only theorized to exist last year. That you prove it simply by existing is far-fetched.”
Day shrugged, “I’m only telling you what I know. It’s up to you to believe it or not.”
~()~
Day stared at the primer in annoyance. After four hours of attempting to puzzle out the symbols that comprised the complicated system of glyphs and symbols, he was no closer to understanding it than before. It didn’t help that he had no one to help him. Luna had left as soon as Twilight had decided to go to bed. Twilight was presumably asleep. He looked up at the clock only to realize that the numbers were unreadable. The only reason he could even tell time was because they were arranged in the same way as the analog clock he was accustomed to on Earth.
Day quietly closed the frustrating book and closed his eyes to think. He idly noted that he’s done so a lot over the last fortnight. This time his thoughts drifted to the forest and its interest in the pegasus Fluttershy. He opened his eyes, brought a panel online, and slowly started connecting all the information in his head like a puzzle.
He murmured quietly to himself while he toyed with the glyphs, “She’s really something. She acts like the forest scares her but she lives on the border. The forest itself likes her, well, tolerates her at least. I never actually got to ask about their ass tattoos... maybe that has something to do with it?
“The amount of times that she’s come up in conversation is interesting. Let’s say there is some over-arching design to all this. Luna brings her up and she’s apparently coming with us wherever we’re going.” Day needed to start another panel because he’s run out of room on the first to hold information. “She’s drawn to the forest and its drawn to her. She hides from her friends. Luna seems like she has some kind of... relationship with her - calling her dear at the very least implies they’re close. But do the rest of her friends know that?”
His panels expanded and fragmented into full information nets that ran the entire circumference to the room. The glyphs pulsed and shifted and changed rapidly as the connections and possibilities he considered came to him more quickly. Soon, he’d lost himself in his thoughts and flitted from one topic to another. The blue light of the ever shifting web flared brightly every few moments.
“The orange pony, Applejack, she backed up the blue pegasus Rainbow Dash. On the walk back they remained a foot from one another. The white unicorn Rarity stuck near Twilight. Twilight followed me the closest beside Pinkie Pie. Rarity watched Pinkie Pie closely when she turned around and threatened me with rape. Applejack watched Rarity. Rainbow Dash looked at Fluttershy oddly. She might know something - or suspects it.”
Day had long since started speaking to himself at a normal volume and his web had brightened enough to light the room brightly. He didn’t notice Twilight behind him until she gasped. He ignored her and continued.
“Pinkie Pie isn’t what she looks like. Can’t be. Even with magic, she can’t know what she did - unless she was meant to know. Again, evidence of God or the Creator or something orchestrating this. Which makes me wonder if Celestia was too. Honestly, she could have committed suicide millions... billions... of years before s-
“What!?” Twilight’s shrill yell snapped him out of his thoughts. Around him, the carefully constructed web of information wavered and sparked. With a final flare of light, the web collapsed inward and condensed until it comprised a single rune on a single panel.
“Princess Celestia would never do that!” Twilight’s horn lit up and she lowered her head aggressively. Day watched incredulously as the unicorn burst into red flames that quickly changed to white and then finally a deep violet. Impossibly, the wood and other flammables around her were completely unharmed by the magical inferno. Day remained completely frozen on the spot. He could feel the magic coming from Twilight like waves crashing against him.
“What are you?! You show up in the forest, IN THE EVERFREE, and you claim a link to it. You have this impossible story about time travel, and the Princess, and Earth. You make art from light and magic and you lie about my friends. And on top of everything, you think the Princess should KILL HERSELF!?”
Her flames flared brighter for a moment before dying completely. As suddenly as her anger had come, it disappeared in the wake of something more disturbing - sadness. She looked at him pleadingly, “What’s going on...? You can’t be serious about the Princess... tell me you don’t really think that.”