//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: False Paths and Urgent Moves // Story: Editor Required // by stupidhand14 //------------------------------//         Sunset got to the cafeteria before the bell had rung. Given that she had a TA period before it, she was almost always the first one there and sat waiting for her friends. The lunch bell rang, and Sunset was lost in deep thought as she her clouded eyes watched the doors. She shook herself from her thoughts upon recognizing one of the first students to arrive: Rainbow Dash. Sunset watched, waiting to see with which group Rainbow would sit down with. However, instead of sitting, she made her way towards the exit and left while most other students were filing their way in.         Sunset all but jumped from her seat as she picked up her speed to follow Rainbow, who was doing her best to get away from the cafeteria and head upstairs. Sunset’s training in following other students kicked in, and she slowed her pace so as not to possibly alarm Rainbow.         After reaching the third floor, Rainbow walked over and entered room 124. Sunset, not wanting to look suspicious, moved to the side of the stairwell and decided to wait a few minutes. Pulling out her phone, she sent a quick text to Twilight explaining that she was going to be late for lunch.         After waiting long enough to avoid suspicion, Sunset moved to the room and put an ear to it. She could hear explosions, slashes, and people talking, though it all sounded like gibberish. Taking a deep breath, Sunset strode inside to find a darkened room.         There were about a dozen students in their own little groups. A projector was showing some type of cartoon. Some of the students were watching it, their food slowly disappearing as they watched. Others were simply standing in the back talking. In the furthest part of the room were two people playing some sort of card game.         “Hello!” a girl all but shouted as she walked over to Sunset. “You’re new here, right?”         “Yes.” Sunset forced a smile onto her face.         “Great! Are you interested in joining anime club?” The girl held out a small club form. “We are always interested in new members. If you have any questions, I’m the president, so you can just ask me.”         “Uh, sure. Great, thanks.” Sunset took the form and stored it away into her backpack, though she only roughly knew what an anime was. Giving the other girl a smile, she made her way over to her currently amnesiac friend. “Hey, Rainbow.”         Rainbow turned for just long enough to shoosh her before turning back to watching the cartoon on the screen.         “Whatcha watching?” Sunset asked, trying a different angle. This provided more of a response.         “Season 14 episode 1 of Ninja Y.” Rainbow hesitated before looking at Sunset, giving her a grin that could only be described as adorkable. “It just came out today.”        “Oh. I see.” Sunset’s mind thought about the show for a moment longer than it should have. 14 seasons for a cartoon? “I haven’t seen this show before. Is it any good?”         “Any good?!” Rainbow’s eyes screamed incredulity at her ignorance. “It’s only one of the best animes ever made!”         “That’s not true, and you know it,” another one of the students chimed in. “Single Segment is a far better anime, with more relatable characters and a better branching story.”         “Oh, please, that pirate show isn’t that great,” Rainbow scoffed. “You just like it because of that story you’re writing about how far certain limbs can stretch.” Unknown to Rainbow and her contrarian, the episode was paused as the president walked over.         “Rainbow Dash!” the president called out, her eyes narrowed slightly. “You broke one of the only rules in this club. You know the punishment.” The president’s mouth began to grow into a smile.         Rainbow Dash’s eyes opened wide, her mouth opening slightly. “Wait, I didn’t—”         “You have to do it, Rainbow.” The president moved to the computer and turned off the projector. “You can do this the easy way or the hard way. Your choice.”         Rainbow looked around, her eyes begging for help from any of her other club members. She was met only with clear anticipation instead. She buried her face into her hands as she got up and walked to the front of the classroom. With a resigned sigh, Rainbow nodded to the president.         After a few seconds, Rainbow cupped her hands and put them out to her left side, close together. The president gave her a nod. Taking a deep breath, she began to sing and dance, despite there not being any noticeable music at first.          Nyan-nyan, nyan-nyan Nīhao nyan Gǒjasu derishasu, dekaruchã         Sunset watched in some combination of horror, shock, and amusement at seeing Rainbow Dash perform for the club. Her brain couldn’t process what was happening in the beginning. After the music started, she understood even less. It was no surprise to see a few of the students had their phones out, probably recording Rainbow. Nyan-nyan           Rainbow’s cupped hands opened and closed as she leaned first left then flipped her arms to the right as she sang. Nyan-nyan Nīhao nyan         Rainbow was back into the first position, her face bright red. Her hands closed along with her eyes as she leaned forward. Gǒjasu derishasu, dekaruchã         Throwing out one arm then the other, corresponding each of them to the first two words she sang proudly. After both of her arms were out, she performed a quick spin, only to hold them out to the audience who were watching her to finish off the chorus.         Sunset was a touch surprised to find her own phone out and recording Rainbow’s performance. Before she could stop herself, her eyes were once again drawn to the dance routine Rainbow had apparently memorized. Nyan-nyan, nyan-nyan Nīhao nyan Gǒjasu derishasu, dekaruchã         And with that, the music drew to a close and a now bright red Rainbow Dash rushed from the makeshift stage. Sunset, finally snapped from her daze, put her phone away before walking over to Rainbow Dash.         “Hey, can I ta—” she started before being drowned out by the show. Before she could say anything more, Rainbow lived up to her name and dashed out of the room in a light sprint. Sunset tried to follow, but by the time she had turned the corner, she was out of sight.         Sighing, Sunset made her way to her own class. She still needed to talk to Rainbow, but she had all the time in the world to fix the timeline.         “Alright everyone, time’s up!” Sunset’s seventh period teacher intoned to the class. “Start packing up, unless you’re staying after class to finish the DBQ because you spent half the period texting your boyfriend or girlfriends. Notes and summaries are due Monday.”         Sunset put away her notebook, noticing a despairing lack of notes on the sources dotted around the room. Pulling out her phone, she turned on her camera, only to notice that the video she had recorded of Rainbow was front and center. Pursing her lips, she quickly finished her task of taking photos of the remaining documents to complete the notes over the weekend.         As soon as she was done, the bell rang signalling freedom for most of the students. Twilight was already standing to the side, waiting for Sunset to catch up. Sunset finished packing up before following Twilight out the door.         “So, did you figure anything out during lunch?” Twilight asked, keeping a slightly slower pace in their walk. “Pinkie was really bummed you weren’t there. She said she had something for you, an envelope I think.”         “No.” Sunset sighed and closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I didn’t learn anything. I think I’ll try catching her next week to talk to her.”         “You coming to Sugarcube Corner today, or are you just not in the mood?” Twilight gave Sunset a small smile. “I can probably try to explain why you weren’t there, if you’d like.”         “You know what? That sounds nice.” Sunset began to walk faster. “I really need to do something relaxing, even if it’s just for a few minutes.”         Before long, the duo found themselves walking into Sugarcube Corner, with all of its sweetness bombarding them from every angle. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy were already there. Waving, Sunset sat down in her normal spot, painfully aware of the missing chair.         “There you are!” Rarity pulled Sunset into a quick hug. “Where were you during lunch, dear? Were you looking into a new club?” Despite Rarity’s calm face and schooled demeanor, Sunset knew she was bursting full of curiosity.         “No, nothing like that, I was just a bit busy doing some stuff.” Sunset waved her hand dismissively. “I just had to take care of something real quick, and probably on Monday as well.”         “By the way,” Fluttershy chimed in, “did you get a picture of the sources for history? I was going to, but Angel wouldn’t let go of my phone.”         “Yeah, I’ll send them to you.” Sunset pulled out her phone, beginning to send a message to Fluttershy before she felt a presence over her shoulder.         “What’s that one?” Pinkie asked loudly into her ear.         “Which one?” Sunset reflexively pulled away, massaging on ear slightly. In her moment of carelessness, Pinkie took the phone from her hand and, without a moment’s hesitation, played the video that was recorded earlier at full volume. Upon the first couple of notes being heard, Sunset began to fight Pinkie over her own phone. Nyan-nyan, nyan-nyan Nīhao—         Sunset turned off her phone completely, shoving it violently into her pocket. The rest of the group simply stared at Sunset with varying degrees of confusion, shock, and embarrassment. After several seconds of awkwardness reigning, Rarity broke the silence.         “Darling, if I may ask… what was that?” She was trying very hard not to laugh or look at her friend.         “That certainly was somethin’.” Applejack lacked any subtlety with her wide grin and almost laugh. “Mind tellin’ us what that was about?”         “It, um, sounds like she was doing the Nyan Nyan dance,” a timid voice said. All eyes turned to Fluttershy who was trying to hide her face behind pink hair. “It’s a popular dance, usually in the anime community.”         Everyone sat staring at Fluttershy, each one wondering the same question: How does she know that? However, no one was willing to voice their curiosity.         “Oh!” Pinkie bounced out of her chair, rummaging through her backpack. “I just remembered, I have something for you, Sunset!” Finding the item, she pulled it out and thrust it onto the now thoroughly curious Sunset. It was a small card, simply saying: We need to talk. -Hast Sunset’s eyes widened in surprise. It didn’t seem possible, but Hast had sent her a message.         “So, who’s the lucky guy?” Pinkie was once again looking over Sunset’s shoulder. This was what it took to tear Sunset out of her stunned stupor.         “Oh, uh, just an acquaintance.” Sunset shoved the paper into her pocket, trying her best to forget about it. Fortunately for her, conversation had picked up again with the group. The hour passed quickly as the group slowly dwindled until it was just Twilight, Fluttershy, and Sunset remaining.         “By the way, Sunset, when are you going back there?” Twilight asked once Fluttershy was away.         “Probably going to be sometime Tuesday.” Sunset watched for Fluttershy as they talked over the plan. “I need more information before heading in, and I don’t know how to reach Rainbow over the weekend.”         “Alright, I’ll tell my mom.” The conversation was cut there as Fluttershy returned to her seat. “Well, I have to start heading home. Don’t want to miss the bus, though I honestly doubt that’ll happen if they’re on schedule.”         Sunset and Fluttershy waved goodbye before also packing up their stuff and getting ready to leave. Fortunately, Fluttershy’s house was on Sunset’s way home, so the two girls often walked together. As the two were walking by the park, Fluttershy motioned for Sunset to stop so Angel could get a moment of fresh air and to walk around. The two teenagers sat on a bench while watching the bunny hop around the park.         “Sunset…” Fluttershy gulped, mustering her courage. “Can you show me that video from earlier?” Sunset took a long moment to blink, somewhat surprised at the request. “Uh… why do you want to see it?”         Fluttershy looked to the side, as if thinking it over. When she turned back, she had an unexpected hardness in her features. Her eyes demanded obedience even as her lower lip trembled slightly.         “I thought I recognized the voice, and I just want to be sure. So, please, show it to me.”         Sunset’s hands moved by themselves to pull out her phone and hand it over to her friend, who watched the video intently. Neither girl moved until the video was over.         “She looks happy,” Fluttershy commented to herself. Hearing this peaked Sunset’s interest: a memory still existed between them.         “Wait, you know Rainbow Dash?!” Sunset lunged at Fluttershy, grabbing her shoulders. “How do you know her?”         “S-Sunset?” Fluttershy was completely trembling, this time in fear. “W-what are you d-doing?”         Sunset’s brain finally regained control over her body and she forced herself to sit back down, slightly away from Fluttershy. “Sorry, I was just… how do you know Rainbow Dash?”         “She was my closest friend since summer camp when we were little.” Fluttershy smiled at the memories. “She was always there for me, always confident… until middle-school. After something happened, we just… drifted apart.”         “What happened?” Sunset’s eagerness for answers were once again forcing themselves to the forefront of her thoughts and actions. “What made her change?”         “I don’t know. She never talked about it.” Fluttershy closed her eyes, trying to create a memory but couldn’t. “You could ask Ms. Spitfire what happened. I know they were close, and she might know something more.”         “Alright, thanks.” Sunset internally cursed at still having no answers. But… if Fluttershy remembered a little bit, she might remember more. “Are you sure you don’t know anything else about Rainbow Dash, don’t have any other feelings or memories about her?”         “Um…  well…” Fluttershy looked around, trying to see if anyone was close enough to hear her. In a hushed tone, she continued. “I’ve never told anyone else this, but she was my first kiss.” Sunset sat in stunned silence, not knowing where this conversation was heading. Fluttershy noticed this and started waving her hands in front of her. “It wasn’t like that! She was dared to kiss me and I knew how much she wanted to be a part of the sportsy group, so I let her.”         “O-of course…” Sunset’s mind began to work through everything she had just been told as Fluttershy chased after Angel, who was dragging out the game of chase. After several minutes the three of them were on their way back home.         After getting home, Sunset went through her usual Friday ritual of eat, clean, TV, computer, sleep. She went to bed thinking over all the facts she learned over the day. What she didn’t realize was, in her skirt’s pocket, a small card was slowly crumbling into itself, burning away as she drifted off into sleep.         Sunset’s eyes opened to find herself outside of what appeared to be an office. To her left and right stretched long empty hallways, but there was some sort of invisible wall preventing her from going down said hallway. The office’s door had large letters spelling out “Hast Soprofic” on the glass. Sighing, Sunset used her hand to open the door.         The room was very cluttered, with bags of ramen and fruits strewing the floor, alongside miracle water and soda. There was a small, upturned fishbowl in the corner, but the water wasn’t flowing out and the fish seemed fine. Finally, dominating the room, was a desk, also unorganized. Hast Soporific sat behind the desk, reading a book titled, How To Avoid Shipping Fuel.         “Oh, there you are. Please, sit.” Hast motioned with his hand and a chair forced its way through the ceiling to land in front of the desk. “You got my card, yes?”         “Yes, I did.” Sunset took her seat across from him. “What is it you wanted to talk about?”         “Why, I wanted to know why you were taking so long? You already wasted half your time and haven’t made a dent of progress with the errors.” Hast’s sickening grin was already in place, as if awaiting her answer so he could make fun of her.         “Wait, wasted half my time?” Sunset’s heart rate spiked dramatically. “What do you mean?”         “What do you mean?” Hast paused to think, realization lighting up in his eyes. “I never told you! My apologies, I should have told you sooner.” Hast clapped and a calendar appeared next to him. It showed the current month and year. “See, the change was made Tuesday night, and, per the rules and backup files, after a week and the edit hasn’t been made or the change hasn’t been touched, it’ll be copied and become the truth, for all of time.”         “What?!” Sunset launched herself at Hast, grabbing him by his shirt. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? This seems pretty important to know!”         “Slipped my mind.” Hast shrugged, a devious smile still playing at his limbs. Snapping, he teleported to the other side of the room. “I thought you had read the contract.”         “I did!” Sunset glared at the creature who was now holding the contract, reading it over. “There was nothing about that in there!”         “Did you read the fine print?” Hast pulled out a microscope and placed it on his desk, putting the contract under it. Sunset moved over to look into the microscope. It was too blurry to make out, but Hast adjusted the settings so she was able to see it. Right in the contract, in the fine print, it was clearly laid out.         One week will be allowed for the editing of any singular mistakes. Any massive, wide sweeping changes will be checked over with M…         The rest of the statement was out of the scope of the microscope.         “Son of a gun, there it is!” Sunset said, feeling an almost compulsion to say it. Shaking her head, she glared at Hast. “How was I supposed to know that was there?! I didn’t look over it with a microscope, nor was it mentioned!”         “Well, I suppose only in your own paltry, limited way, you really couldn’t.” Hast rolled up the contract, which disappeared after completing itself. “I sometimes forget how unknowing non-immortal beings are.” Sunset tried to speak, but Hast put up a hand to stop her. “If you’re going to complain, I’d suggest you look at your contract again. Unfortunately, we can’t stay here for much longer, so I’ll allow you to ask me one last question.”         Sunset mulled the idea over for all of three seconds. “Who is messing with the past?”         Hast shook his head slowly, eyes closed. “I don’t remember who they were or what they looked like.” Hast thought for a few moments before opening his eyes. “You have enough time for one more question. Make this one count.”         Sunset thought about what she could ask. She had so many questions… but the most pressing was the time limit. “Where will I be able to talk to Ms. Spitfire tomorrow?”         Hast pulled a book book out of thin air and read through it briefly. “You will find her at the park near your house on her weekend jog, at 12:30.” He closed the book with a loud thump. “Unfortunately, your time is up.”         The last thing Sunset saw before waking up was Hast’s smile, waving goodbye.         Sunset woke up with an abnormal lethargy. Forcing her eyes, she forced herself to get up. She felt drained; her arms were slow to move and her leg was asleep. Forcing herself up, she found a card by her bedside. 12:30, park. Time’s ticking. -Hast         Reading the card jogged Sunset’s memory and she lunged for her phone that was on the charger. Dialing a number, she sent up a silent prayer that the person would pick it up.         “Hello?” Twilight asked, sounding like she was wide awake.         “Twilight, it’s Sunset. I need you over here tonight so I can go to the past and fix it.” Sunset looked at the clock. It was only 10:24, so she had plenty of time.         “Sunset? What’s wrong? Did something happen?”         “I’ll explain everything once you’re over.” Sunset looked at the card again, rereading it. “Please, hurry.” Sunset hung up the phone and rushed through her morning requirements.         At 11:43, a knock came on her door. Standing outside was a very anxious looking Twilight.         Sunset opened the door. “Thank you for coming so fast.” She ushered Twilight in, and hurried her to sit down on the couch.         “Sunset, why are you acting so…” Twilight’s expansive vocabulary lacked any tactful word to use. “Deranged?”         “I don’t have much time to explain.” Sunset looked at the clock again, seeing only a minute had passed. “I’ll tell you on the way to the park.”         Sunset all but dragged Twilight out of her house, though she did make sure to lock it. Sunset set a grueling pace, one which Twilight struggled to keep up with.         “What is all of this about?” Twilight asked again. “Where are we going?”         “We’re going to the park to learn a bit more of the past, so that I can fix it.” Sunset paused, and added, almost as an afterthought, “Today.”         “Why are we fixing it today and not when we scheduled in?” Twilight pulled out her phone. “‘Tuesday, 3:30-6:30, fix the past.’ Why aren’t we doing it then?”         “Last night I found out there’s a time limit: one week.” Sunset let out an agitated sigh. “Apparently, I was supposed to know that despite not being physically capable of reading microscopic print.”         “Wait, what happens after that week?” Twilight looked around for her backpack, only to finally note its absence. “I forgot my backpack, mind if we go back to get it?”         “Not enough time, we need to be at the park by 12:30, and it’s a 15 minute walk.” Sunset waited just long enough for Twilight to catch up before continuing her speed walk. “I’ll tell you more when you have your notebook, as I’m sure you’d prefer.”         “Yes, that would be helpful.”         Ten minutes later, the two were at the park and sitting on a bench, waiting. Slowly each minute ticked by while the two sat, waiting. Sunset spent this time looking up information on their soon to be informant, while Twilight read.         “We could have grabbed my notes,” Twilight murmured after some time had passed. Sunset deigned not to reply, knowing that her studious friend was probably right.         Finally, before Sunset checked her phone for the thousandth time, Twilight pointed at an approaching jogger. “She’s here.”         Sunset all but jumped out of her seat and set off after the jogger, who was taking a quick break for some water.         “Excuse me,” Sunset said, trying to get the person’s attention. “Are you Ms. Spitfire?”         “Yup, who wants to know?” Ms. Spitfire turned to Sunset, her smile not losing any of its warmth. “You’re Sunset, right?         “Y-yes…” Sunset tilted her head slightly. “How did you know that?”         “Look, you’re kind of a local legend, kid.” Spitfire’s smile turned into a smirk. “Besides, how could I forget the person that saved my mind from some brainwashing? Thanks for that, by the way.”         “N-no problem.” Sunset hadn’t expected to be thanked for her efforts. In Equestria, heroes were rarely mentioned, much less appreciated after the fact.         “So, what’d you want to talk to me for?” Spitfire asked, beginning to do some stretches. “I know you didn’t stake out in the park for me just to ask my name.”         “Do you know someone named Rainbow Dash?” Sunset asked bluntly.         Spitfire paused in her stretches, her smile fading. Taking a deep breath, she brought herself out of her stretches and looked at Sunset. “Yes, I used to have a prodige with that name… before an accident occurred.” Spitfire’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Why do you want to know?”         “I’m a friend of her’s, and I just wanted to ask what caused that… accident.” Sunset could tell Spitfire still didn’t fully trust her. “I didn’t know about the accident until a few days ago, and I need to know what happened. For Rainbow Dash’s sake.”         Spitfire’s eyes gave Sunset a full examination before they finally softened. “It was a couple of years ago. It was the semi-final against the Everfree’s Wolves. During the second half, right after the break, Rainbow did a slide tackle… right into a teammate’s knee, fracturing it.” Spitfire closed her eyes, as if reliving that day. “Rainbow… she couldn’t forgive herself for what she had done. I saw her confidence completely drain away in one instant. I tried helping her, we all did… but it didn’t help. She stopped coming to practice, and hasn’t touched a soccer ball since.”         Spitfire’s eyes opened, this time they were hard as iron and piercing as a spear. “If you do anything with this information that makes me regret it, I will know about it. I will make sure you get what you deserve.”         Sunset gulped, trying to rid a lump from her throat. “Understood.”         Spitfire pulled out her phone and looked at it. “Dang it, I’m late.” Putting it away, she began to jog away. “Hope this helped!” Without another word, she was off, a dozen yards away  before Sunset could even voice a response, sufficing for a wave.         Only after Spitfire was out of sight did Twilight return to her side. “Did you find out what you had to?”         “Yeah… I think so.” Sunset told Twilight everything as the two walked back to her house, though they did stop by the store to pick up some ice. Within the hour, the two were back at her house, preparing for the next trip into the past.         “So, same plan as last time?” Twilight asked as she filled up the bucket with ice.         “Close to the same.” Sunset opened the book to the appropriate pages and pulled out a timer. “I’m probably going to need a few more hours to fix this, so give me… 5 hours before you begin to try and pull me back.”         Twilight gave her a thumbs up before writing down all the notes she could into her notebook. Sunset couldn’t help a small smile from showing on her face at seeing Twilight trying to learn magic when her other-self was the princess of it.         Sunset steeled herself against procrastinating any longer and closed her eyes. The moment she reached out with her mind, the book’s current pulled at her. Allowing herself to follow the currents, she was pulled into the Akashic Records.         Sunset opened her eyes to find herself in front of a fountain with dark purple water. Sunset saw that she was once again in her equine form. Sunset looked around in a faint hope of having the book she needed to fix still with her, to no avail. Sunset was about to go off in search of it when she heard a voice coming from the front desk         “Well, that didn’t take you long at all.” Hast waved her over, a book in his hand. “I believe you left this in the Time Displacer last time you were here. Very unprofessional, I must say.”         Sunset made her way over and took the book from his hands. “Thanks.” She was about to leave when Hast touched her back         “Do you have everything you need?” He looked up, as if checking for someone or something that was watching him. “I’d really like to see your first attempt at editing happen with flying colors.”         “I have everything I need… I think.” Sunset gave Hast a wide grin. “Don’t you have any faith in me? You were the one to offer me the position.”         “Yes… I suppose that’s true.” Hast snapped his fingers and a small TV appeared in front of him. “I’ll just… stay here and watch.”         “Alright, wish me luck!” Sunset walked to the door and swiped her ID card through the scanner. Immediately, the door opened. Sunset continued her walk to the Displacer. Nothing appeared to have changed since her last visit.         Sunset trotted over to the lectern while flipping through the book. As soon as she had found the correct page, apparently page 215, she placed it onto the lectern. The Time Displacer’s vortex showed the same scene as it had last time: Rainbow Dash sliding into another player’s knee, one she knew was her teammate.         Sunset put on the suit, which were conveniently tailored to her pony form, while going through the instructions one more time. She needed to get in there and fix the past by stopping Rainbow from injuring a teammate. She had the suit to prevent any time paradoxes or problems, and the page was on the correct one. Taking a deep breath, Sunset jumped into the portal.         Sunset opened her eyes as sensation started to return, only to get them impaled on stalks of grass. Immediately, her eyes closed as her hands moved to shield them from any further harm. Sunset forced herself to her knees, unable to stand as dizziness overwhelmed her. She scratched at her eyes, trying to cajole them into opening. After several seconds, they finally obeyed. To her left and right stretching far away were soccer fields, though only two seemed to be in use. Around each soccer field were parents, many of whom were screaming at the top of their lungs towards their child. Children ran behind the parents, playing in their own mock battles and games.         With the dizziness passing, Sunset pushed herself up and found, to her surprise, that she was no longer a pony. She was once again in the body of a human, her suit having changed to fit her shape. Shaking her head, Sunset looked around, finally spotting Spitfire at one of the edges shouting encouragements louder than anyone else.         A whistle blew to signal the halfway point, and both teams left the field to regroup and plan for the second half. Sunset made her way over to the Wondercolt’s tent to listen in.         “We’re doing great out there!” Spitfire said with a smile. “You’re all playing at the top of your game and it’s showing. We just need to keep up the energy.” She looked down at her notes. “Their number 14 seems to be their best player. Rainbow, I want you to switch to defense and cover him.”         “Yes, coach!” young Rainbow replied, with a mock salute. “Should be a breeze.”         “Don’t get cocky, kid. This game is still ours to win or lose.” Spitfire continued passing out orders, but both Sunset and Rainbow tuned her out.        Without warning, a familiar voice entered Sunset’s skull.         “I forgot to ask, did you read the handbook on how to control the Time Displacer?” Hast asked.         “What handbook?” Sunset thought back to him. There was a pause, though she heard pages being flipped through.         “Now I know that I gave you the handbook for controlling the Time Displacer. I put it in your locker at school.”         “I don’t use my locker!” Sunset tried to yell think back at him.         “Well, looks like I’m going to have to give you the basic commands then.” The rest of the world continued on, despite Sunset’s distraction and the players were once again heading out to finish their game.         “Hurry up then!”         “Alright, alright, I’m hurrying.” Sunset could hear the sounds of flipping pages again. “You would not believe how long it’s been since I looked these up. They usually just come so naturally.”         “For Celestia’s sake...” Sunset sighed before returning her main attention to the game.         “Alright, you can use the ‘stop’ and ‘resume’ commands to stop time and resume it after making some changes.” A few more pages were flipped through. “Remember, you can only change things to a point before you will be stopped, so as not to create even more questions.”         Sunset nodded, which Hast saw through his tiny Television.         “You can also say ‘rewind (seconds)’ and ‘forward (seconds)’ to make time shift ahead and back.”         Sunset nodded again, making mental notes for all of the commands and a private note to punch Hast later.         “Those are the real basics. I’ll tell you when something else comes up that you should know.” Without a moment more, Hast’s presence in Sunset’s mind disappeared, allowing Sunset to focus completely on the game.         It was about five minutes in when she saw Rainbow running next to the other team’s number 14. Sunset saw as Rainbow began to move into her slide.         “STOP!” Sunset shouted, and the world obeyed her. Everything stilled, even the dirt flying into the air and the sweat dripping off athlete’s faces. Sunset approached the game, and fully examined the scene.         Rainbow Dash was going into a slide right in front of the other team’s player. On the other side was her teammate, who was tripping. Her shoelaces were tied together, as if to make sure she would fall.         Acting on a hunch, Sunset said, “Rewind five seconds.” The world pulled itself back around her and everyone was where they had been five seconds prior. Sure enough, her hunch had paid off. The teammate’s shoelaces were not tied together.         They had definitely been tampered with.         “Forward 5 seconds.”         Everything was back to its original state. Sunset considered how to fix the problem.         The easiest and most straightforward solution was to simply untie the shoelaces, which would fix everything… probably. The girl wouldn’t trip, she wouldn’t be injured, and the whole problem would be solved.         Sunset nodded to herself. That plan would probably work, and, even if it didn’t, she could fix it some other way.         “Rewind 2 seconds.”         The shoelaces still weren’t tied, and Sunset wanted to find at the exact moment the shoelaces were changed. This took several attempts and a bit of patience, but she eventually forced it to the right point. Carefully, Sunset untied the shoelaces. For a few seconds, she could see another person wearing a robe next to her. The only difference was they had been tying the shoes together, whereas she was doing the opposite.         Sunset immediately jumped into action, kicking at the phantom, only for it to pass through thin air as the robed figure disappeared. Sunset, her adrenaline racing, sat still for several moments, taking deep breaths. When she felt her heart rate return to typical levels, she returned to tying the shoelaces the right way. Making sure the problem was fixed, Sunset stepped out of the field.         “Resume!” she commanded, and the world obeyed once again.         The players fell back into motion, and Rainbow’s slide passed through grass and hitting the ball away from the player’s feet, right into her teammate’s. Sunset felt a tug behind her, and looked back in time to see the vortex there again, this time forcibly pulling her away.         Sunset turned and jumped through the portal.         Sunset felt the cold marble beneath her before she could open her eyes to see it. She was back in front of the Time Displacer, which was now inactive. On the lectern, the book was still opened to the page.         Sunset forced herself up, despite feeling a slight cramp in her foreleg, and walked up to the lectern. The book was completely clear of any red ink requesting an editor. However, the portion with the event hadn’t gotten the whiteout and false information removed. Instead, it was changed again. This time, the story was written out in her own handwriting.         Sunset grabbed the book in her magic and walked back outside of the hallway, back to the main desk, where Hast was waiting.        “Congratulations, Sunset!” he shouted, before throwing confetti in the air. “You made your first edit in the annals of history.” He took the book from her grasp, placing it on his desk. “Don’t you worry, I’ll take care of this and make sure everything’s nice and fixed.”         “I can do it.” Sunset took the book off the table and levitated it over to her. “I have time to kill, since Twilight won’t wake me up for a couple more hours… probably.”         “Why wait on her?” Hast forcibly took the book back. “You can leave whenever you want. Just use your keycard.”         “Use my keycard?” Sunset held up her keycard to get a better look at it. “Use it how?”         “You mean I didn’t tell you?” Hast made a note for himself and placed it to the side. “My apologies, I have been a complete scatterbrain lately.” Hast pointed to a device at the front of his desk. “Slide your keycard through there and you’ll be taken out and put back into your body.”         “And you didn’t tell me this yesterday because…?” Sunset glared at Hast, who simply shrugged.         “I assure you, it slipped my mind. I promise to make sure it never happens again.” Hast snapped, now wearing a sweatshirt with a hand on it before holding up his own hand. “Scout’s honor!”         Sunset continued to glare at him as she walked over and slid her keycard through the reader on the desk. As soon as it was through, the world turned black.         Sunset’s eyes shot open. She was still in her living room, and Twilight was idly reading on the couch. Sunset tried to move, only to find her entire body was lethargic and slow. However, she had moved enough that it caught Twilight’s eye.         “Sunset!” Twilight bounded from the couch to her side in just a few seconds. “How are you back? You look in pain. What happened?”         “Twilight, do you remember someone named Rainbow Dash?” Sunset asked, cutting off any further questions. Twilight’s pause caused Sunset’s heart to leap into her throat, as did the words that came after.         “No, I don’t remember anything more about her.” Twilight pursed her lips. “Does this mean it didn’t work?”         “I guess not…” Sunset sighed, trying to move again, and finding she was able to. “Twilight, do you want to just spend the night here so I can go there again tomorrow morning to check what’s up?”         “You mean… like a sleepover?” Twilight asked, her eyes getting bigger, somehow.         “I guess if you want to call it that, sure.” Sunset immediately regretted her decision to call it a slumber party as Twilight began to squeal.         “I know the perfect book to make this the best slumber party ever. I just need to find a PDF of it real quick!” Twilight pulled out her phone and began to dig through the internet to find her apparently fantastic source for slumber parties.         Sunset massaged her forehead, regretting the decision more and more.         “Be right back,” she told Twilight as she walked to the bathroom. “I need some aspirin.”