//------------------------------// // 9: Back to the Future Again // Story: The Journeymare Project: Turbo Pegasus // by MadHighlander //------------------------------// Rainbow looked at the map as she descended. The huge walls that had blocked off the three segments were gone, although the evidence of their former existence – massive lines of crumbling rock, swaths of younger trees through the Everfree Forest, and the altered locations of familiar cities. Strangely, even the cloud cities were still clustered together in the west, although their porcupine-like icicle spikes were gone. “Altered timeline presence detected. Activating shield countermeasures.” Let me guess. Me again? Rainbow’s guess was confirmed as the shield was activated, prompting a thud and an exclamation of “Ow!” from behind her. Turning around revealed another version of herself sitting on her throne, rubbing the back of her head. “Hi, sorry about that,” said Original Rainbow. What do I call you? she wondered. Second Other Dash? Rainbow Number Three? “Is Twilight around? Her advice came in handy last time.” The new Rainbow – much more like the original than Other Dash had been – stared for a moment. Then she threw her hooves up in the air. “Sure, she’s upstairs I think. I’ll go get her, saves me from having to deal with this.” She lifted off and flew out the door, mumbling to herself about something. “Thanks!” shouted Rainbow after her. While she waited, Rainbow activated the scanning spellstone and pulled out the device she’d removed from the shield crystal, running the scanning spell over all three different kinds of spellstone making it up. The four peripheral stones, it identified as ‘clinging’ stones, which – according to the scanner’s voice – were designed to attach firmly to any surface. The stone in the center was a coring spellstone, which could extract a perfect cylindrical core from any substance, with a range of up to fifteen feet. Finally, the loose-hanging spellstone was a charge stone, designed to deliver a magical charge capable of stunning small organic life forms or – in this case – activating spellstones. So basically I can stick it to something and it’ll cut a tiny hole. I’m sure that’ll come in handy. She replaced the device in her saddlebag, and scanned the single new spellstone she had obtained from the second construct. This one, the scanner informed her, would generate a small, relatively weak bubble shield capable of deflecting a single blow of varying strength. She was just extracting the second construct’s recording crystal when this timeline’s Twilight pushed open the doors to the map room. Rainbow looked up from the crystal. “Hi,” said Twilight. She was accompanied by Spike, who like in the original timeline had long since outgrown riding on her back – although he was still nowhere near as tall as an adult dragon, coming up to Princess Celestia’s shoulder at the most – and was walking along next to her. On her other side was Starlight Glimmer. “I guess you’re a time traveller? From the future? Have you come to warn us about some horrible event that we need to-” “Twilight,” said Spike, “Calm down.” “Right, sorry.” Twilight took a deep breath. The three newcomers sat themselves down around the map table, Starlight conjuring up a wooden chair with magic. “So,” continued Twilight, “Where have you come from? Or, when?” “Well, now. That’s a story. Buckle up, ‘cause this makes three times I’ve had to recap this and it’s getting longer every time.” Rainbow recounted the events leading up to her arrival once again. There was, as there had been the last time, a brief moment of silence. “Cool,” commented Spike. “’Cool’? Is that it? I mean, ponies keep on underreacting to the fact that I have travelled back in time and now destroyed two unstoppable magical constructs Tartarus-bent on destroying time as we know it.” Spike shrugged. “I mean, yeah, we’ve faced a lot of weird crap over the last fifteen-” Twilight burst out of her reverie with the force of a cannon. “YOU HAVE A WITCHWOOD TOTEM?” she shouted with enough force that Rainbow could have sworn it damaged the shield. “Can I see it? Please?” “Hold on, have you been zoned out since I mentioned the witchwood?” “Erm…” Twilight grinned sheepishly. “Maybe?” Rainbow sighed. Spike, fortunately, responded before she could launch into yet another recap. “Long story short, she killed another construct, saved Princess Celestia, retrieved one more spellstone and another recording crystal.” “Right. I’m sure Princess Celestia will want to thank you for that in person – I sent her a letter immediately when our Rainbow came to me with the news. Until then, let’s hear what’s on that recording crystal.” “Good idea,” said Rainbow Dash, inserting the crystal into the audio retrieval spellstone and activating it. As it had been before, the voice was distorted and impossible to identify. “Hyperion,” it said, naming the second construct, “Your mission is twofold. You’re going back to the Castle of the Two Sisters, back when Celestia and Luna ruled from there. The first part of your mission is to destroy the castle, in a cataclysmic fashion The death toll will be catastrophic, and if there were any other way..." The voice paused. There was a loud, shaky sigh, although Rainbow couldn't tell how much of the tremor was actually part of the voice's inflection and how much was due to the damage to the recording crystal. "A message needs to be sent," resumed the voice. "A message that will be burned into the collective consciousness of ponykind for a millennium. Nothing else is sufficient." Another pause, this time accompanied by a clattering noise. "Use the delayed-action coring device provided to rupture the shield crystal. The reason for this is the assassination of Princess Celestia specifically – though I’ll get to the necessity of such a large display presently. With Celestia gone, odds are good that the surviving government – whatever shape that takes – will be much less inclined to make trusting overtures towards the aliens. But, they may not be entirely averse to it, especially if Anteros or Khonsu fail in their missions.” Khonsu, thought Rainbow. That must be the last construct. “Hence the second part of your mission,” continued the recording, “and another part of the reason you’ll need to make such a flashy display. Ponykind will have been split apart if Khonsu succeeds, and we need to give them a reason to reunite against the aliens when the time comes. To that end, I’ve given you your particular shape; it closely resembles the outline of the aliens’ ships. You are to use your self-levitation and luminescence spells to rise high into the sky in the wake of the explosion. It will have drawn the attention of astronomers across Equestria, and you will cement in their minds the certainty of alien involvement in the event. There is no way ponies will fail to defend themselves against this subtle invasion then. Go now, and good luck.” Once the recording had finished, Twilight spoke up. “Hyperion, Anteros, Khonsu. I’m sure that’s an allusion to something, I just can’t put my hoof on it.” Spike rested his head on his fist thoughtfully. “I remember learning from Ember that Hyperion is an old Draconic sun god, but I’ve never heard of the other two.” “Khonsu is a Camelonian deity,” supplied Starlight. “I think it has something to do with Nightmare Moon. And Anteros, I think, is a Tauren deity. More importantly, though, have you really taken a moment to think about this pony’s disagreement with the aliens?” “I would use the term paranoia, more than disagreement – the latter would imply prior meeting,” said Twilight. Starlight waved her hoof dismissively. “Sure. My point is, how can we be sure they’re actually in the wrong?” Rainbow furrowed her eyebrows. “You’re the first one so far to disagree with me changing the timeline back.” Starlight shook her head, putting up both forehooves defensively. “No, no. That’s not what I meant at all. From what you’ve told us, the entire timeline has gone to Tartarus because of this pony’s actions. I’m just talking about their reasons. Have you ever considered the fact that they might be right about the aliens’ intentions?” Rainbow nodded. “I mean, sure. When the aliens first showed up ten years ago, my first thought was that they were trying to soften us up for an invasion. Twilight convinced me to give them the benefit of the doubt.” Starlight frowned. “That’s all very well for us ponies, who are more or less predisposed towards friendship and harmony, especially in your timeline. But we have no idea what these aliens want – giving them the benefit of the doubt could prove fatal to any one of us.” “Starlight,” said Twilight, “you know the potential scientific benefits-” “The scientific benefits outweigh the risk, yeah. But that depends on what the risk is and we have no way of knowing that until we incur the consequences.” Twilight sighed. “You know my opinions on this, I know yours, let’s not get into it right now. Rainbow, exactly what have you found out about the last time zone?” Rainbow thought back to her two trips back to the ancient forest. “Well, I know the construct shot down Commander Hurricane somehow, and I know it stole food from the Unicorns and blamed it on the Pegasi. I’m pretty sure something happened to Smart Cookie as well, but I’m not sure what. Oh, and I found where the construct hid the stolen food supplies, so I can retrieve that.” “You’ll need to do it fast,” said Twilight. “I did a whole bunch of research on the last of the Windigoes a few years ago, and that entailed reading through the journals of the six Founders. Smart Cookie was put out of commission for several hours with a sleeping spell, which he blamed on the Unicorns. I’ll bet Khonsu had an auto-spell stone for that, and based on the timeline I reconstructed you’ll have a few minutes at most to get from the Unicorns’ camp to the gorge where it attacked Hurricane and Cookie. And that’s saying nothing of how you’ll actually stop it from attacking them, much less get rid of Khonsu itself afterwards.” “I’m sure I can figure something out.” As Rainbow finished speaking, a loud bell-like tone sounded throughout the castle. “What was that?” “Oh, you don’t have that in your timeline? The whole castle is locked up at all times. I’ve warded every opening against skeleton key spells and put a teleblock on a good kilometer’s radius around it. There’s even a minor magic-damping field. The noise means Princess Celestia is here.” Spike got up and left the room. “Even she needs us to let her in from the inside.” “Why all the security?” It was Starlight who answered. “It was Celestia’s suggestion, actually. She said the pegasi and earth ponies might take offense to a Unicorn putting up a castle in an Earth Pony town. I personally think she’s being a little paranoid, but in the end, the security measures aren’t hurting anypony. And besides, I can understand why – she did live during the pre-unification period, after all.” “You should talk to her before you leave,” said Twilight. “I’m sure she’ll want to talk to you.” At that moment, Spike walked into the map room, closely followed by none other than Princess Celestia. “Is this the time-travelling doppelganger of Rainbow Dash?” she asked. Twilight smiled and nodded vigorously. “She’s just saved your life in the past and she’s about to go back to make the last change to restore the timeline.” Celestia smiled. “Well. She’s quite the hero, then, isn’t she?” She looked around to Spike, Starlight, and Twilight. “Would you three mind leaving us? I have some things that I must say to her and her alone.” A confused expression passed over Twilight’s face. “If you say so, Princess.” The three left the room, and Celestia closed the door behind them with a shimmer of magic. “So, Rainbow Dash. Spike has filled me in on your deeds over the past thousand years, and it seems I must thank you for saving not only my own life, but an uncounted number of my subjects and even my most faithful student.” Rainbow grinned with pride. Even after all she’d done over the last decade and a half of her life, direct personal praise from Princess Celestia herself was a rare thing. “It was nothing, Princess. I was just doing what needed to be done.” There was a click from the door. “Unfortunately, I cannot allow you to continue on your current path.” Rainbow’s smile dropped. “What?” Celestia raised her horn to the air, and a trio of glowing, fiery orange spheres launched from it with sounds like fireworks launching. The spheres orbited the bubble shield, occasionally probing it with sparks. “What you, Twilight, and all her other friends fail to understand is the mechanics of time travel. Indeed, I am not sure I understand them either. But, I believe that if the past is changed, it will destroy the future. Everything that would have gone on to exist after my death has now been permanently erased.” “That’s not true. Twilight still exists-” “But your Twilight, my Twilight, and any other Twilights you may have encountered are not the same entity. Just as I am not the same entity as your Celestia, and if you bring her back, I will be destroyed forever. I cannot allow that to happen.” The spheres stopped orbiting the shield, falling still. “Do not worry, I have no intention of killing you. I will simply imprison you far away from this map for the rest of your natural life. I’ve muted all the sound in this room, so even if she is listening in – as I suspect she is - as far as Twilight is concerned, you will have gone back and been killed by the construct, Khonsu.” She paused, looking to the spheres of light. “Perhaps one day I’ll even arrange for an expedition to excavate your fossilised remains.” Rainbow reached surreptitiously toward her map stone. “Do you know what it’s like, Miss Dash, to be immortal, unkillable, for multiple millennia, and suddenly confronted with your own finality? It wasn’t an event I had expected for many thousands of years, much less now, so I was utterly unprepared. I had no idea what I would do, were I confronted with the possibility of my death. If I am honest, I am afraid. Nonetheless, I believe I’ve made the right choice.” With a thunderous noise, beams emanated from the spheres in sequence, smashing into the bubble shield. At the first two, the shield flexed, and at the third strike, cracks began to spread out over the surface. “Danger. Shield integrity compromised; avoid considering tubes,” announced the map voice. “I only hope that one day you come to understand this,” continued Celestia, “and maybe even forgive me for my actions.” Rainbow activated the map control stone, selecting the last remaining date. Just as she selected ‘jump’, the shield shattered, the beams passing immediately underneath her as she rose into the time-spell. “NO!” shouted the alternate Celestia. But Rainbow was already falling back into the past.