Scales of Time

by The Psychopath

Making my way uptown

"What is this?!" Twilight asked.

"That's a silk cover," Sparkles answered.

"Oooo. It's so soft. Is that how silk is?"

"Yes, Twilight."

Sparkles and the three guards were leaning against the store's walls. They were inside of a fancy tailor's store that rose to three different floors, each with their own style and 'setting'. The first floor was cut into an 'Ocean-Spring' setting and had its walls painted to represent the rising and crashing of the waves accompanied by flowers of various colors and types. There were clothes, blankets, rugs, and tapestries with every color imaginable as far as the eye could see, and considering this store was big enough to hold sixty ponies in a straight line, that was reasonably far for the naked eye.

The ponies meant to guard Twilight were completely exhausted. The mare acted like a hyper-active filly in a candy store since they entered Canterlot. Now that she was more comfortable with her surroundings and had managed to settle into what she was unfamiliar with, the lavender unicorn had started to scan and analyze every crevice and crack that the city possessed, much to the displeasure of her 'guardians'.

"Can I help you...soldiers?" a haughty unicorn asked. "Have I violated a degree of some sorts?"

His coat was candy-red and his mane was a pale pink bordering on white with a single fuchsia stripe going diagonally from the bottom-left to the top-right -when facing him- through his mane and tail. His eyes were also a pale pink and he kept a rather higher-than-thou expression on his face despite not wearing anything, unlike most Canterlot ponies and griffons.

"Oh no, nothing like that," Sparkles reassured.

"Then why are you dirtying my wall with your filthy bodies?"

Sparkles' kind expression turned to an irritated-yet-calm one that screamed 'Oh really?' on its own. One of the guards spoke before she could say anything and pointed towards Twilight who was spinning around with blankets and scarfs.

"We're guarding her!"

"You mean the one ruining all of my clothing?"

The lavender unicorn boosted towards the five, terrifying the store owner. "I want all of these! They would make a great battle banner if I found an appropriate war sower."

"...What?" The store owner recomposed himself and adjusted an inexistant bow-tie. "You want ALL of these?"

"Yes! What task do you mean to perform in exchange?"

"T-task? I just need bits."

"Dragon bits?" Twilight rubbed the back of her neck. "I don't know. I just got them, and dragon bits, even if they're juvenile, are extremely difficult to come by, let alone acquire. I'm not sure that would be a fair trade."

There was a long pause between the two, with both Sparkles and the guards getting crushed by the guilt of forgetting to tell her to not talk about that stuff.

"N-no. You have dragon bits? I thought they didn't use money."

Twilight blinked a few times. "What's 'money'?"

The store owner twitched uncontrollably for an entire minute. "Where have you been? Under a lake or something?!" he roared.

"No. I've been--"

Sparkles put her hoof over Twilight's mouth and smile sheepishly at the stallion. "How much are all of these worth?" she asked.

"Ah. Someone who isn't crazy. Well." The unicorn ripped the garments out of Twilight's grip, and she started thrashing in rage about the 'magic'. "Most of these come from the east, particularly these tangerine-orange blankets and scarfs, but these ones come a more recent cultural acquisition from the south-east. If I must be honest, I don't believe you would be able to afford them. They're quite expensive."

"Try me," Sparkles taunted.

The unicorn raised an eyebrow and bluntly answered. "They're one million five hundred thousand bits, rounded up."

The mare's jaw nearly caused an earthquake when it dropped onto the floor.

"Is that a lot?" Twilight asked.

The tailor looked at her then walked around the mare and nodded. "If you want to buy something from my store, I have more basic dresses for about a hundred bits."

"Really?" a guard asked.

"Yes. I have to appeal to all classes to make money, but there are limits to the social standing. Money is money, after all, but I still have some reputation to uphold."

"That's still pretty costly."

"Take it or leave it."

Sparkles pondered on the subject then went to Twilight. "Twilight, would you like a dress, at least?"

"What is a...dress? Some kind of armor?"

"No, Twilight, it's something you wear. You know, to look good."

"I have my armor for that."

Sparkles drove her hoof across her face. "No. It's to look nice for a special occasion or for somepony."

"But I have my armor," Twilight repeated.

"It's this," the tailor showed.

He levitated a dress made from converging shades of night time blues and purples. The darkest shades of blue started as a ring around the next and gradually went down in rings to a bright purple at the skirt line. Twilight leaned closer to it and acted like she was thinking but immediately turned tail and left the shop.

"Not one for dresses, I see," the tailor commented.

"I guess not."

"Normally, I would be appalled at such behavior, but today has been rather slow and I welcome the small bit of distraction she gave me. Thank you very much for that."

"You're welcome," Sparkles hissed.

"And do tell her that her armor looks very...ahead of its time, if not a bit bleak."

The guards found Twilight looking at books and studying their contents and construction, intrigued with how they were made. She was standing in front of a large, wooden stall where a griffon was selling books that came in all shapes, sizes, and color.

"Yes! Do come closer. I have books from all over the world which I and dome friends have helped translate," the griffon shouted when he saw the ponies exit the store.

"I can't believe these are used for writing in."

"Why yes. These 'books'," he grabbed one and showcased it next to his beak. "Are a recent invention and will facilitate lecture and might inspire the creation of stories and facilitation of documentation."

"I'm so used to scrolls. Do you think this might catch on?"

"I certainly do young...veteran miss."

Twilight lifted an eyebrow at the slurred 'compliment' of the salesgriffon. He seemed uncomfortable with her appearance, if only that.

"Riiiiiight. Well, I have more to discover," Twilight said.

"Okay. I hope to see you another day. My books are always here!" he shouted.

Twilight pondered as she walked down the white streets of Canterlot. The buildings flanking the streets of Canterlot were all white, with quite a few of them being worked on by earth ponies and pegasi to give them more color and uniqueness. Several roofs were also seeing their straw replaced by roof tiles. Various sweet aromas were filling the mares nostrils, but being a stranger to such odors, she ignored them, unlike her contingent who drooled at the mouths as soon as the smells reached them.

"I thought they were supposed to be more primitive," Twilight thought to herself. "Well, technologically, we ARE still more advanced. Perhaps it's just the little things like 'books' that we lost over time...Then again," Twilight looked up to see ponies building a tall, brick house and laying its foundations. "Perhaps..."

"Twilight!" Sparkles called out. "I'm a medic, not a tour guide! You need to stay near me so you don't get lost and cause a ruckus again. I think the tailor recognized you."

"And?"

"And?! You shouldn't do things like that."

Twilight shrugged in response and looked over to the three exhausted guards and approached one, lifting his head up to hers with the hilt of her spear. "Say, you're a bat pony, aren't you?"

"Y-yes. What's it to you?"

"Huh. Bat ponies died out in my time."

"What?! Why?! How?!"

"We kept telling you that trying to escape during the night was pointless as some species of dragon and ejge could see in the dark and would fight even then, but you would never listen." Twilight a put a hoof onto his shoulder. "Do your kind a favor and try to prevent that from happening."

"How?!"

"I don't know. They're your people. I'm here to prevent the whole thing from happening, but if I fail, you'll get to warn your people not to try and do something so--"

A deafeningly loud roar attracted everyone's attention skyward where a royal-blue ejge, the size of a dragon, was flying through the sky accompanied by a group of normal ejge. The ponies in the streets stopped to look at that, with many a pony, be it a young child or aged senior, wondering what they were, but Twilight knew.

"The Royal Ejge? Here?! Now?! But I still have a few weeks! This isn't normal!"

"Twilight?" one of the guards called. When Twilight burst off, the guard called to her again. "Twilight!"

"It's headed towards the castle. What's there that interests it so much?!"

Fifteen minutes later, the mare galloped into the castle grounds and continued circling the premises to see if anything had happened, but what she saw didn't really seem all that better than seeing that the royal ejge had done nothing anywhere. Right in front of her was a vexed Celestia and a more-than-happy 'kirin'. The guards were hot on Twilight's trail this time and managed to follow her, but not without becoming completely out of breath.

"Princess?" Sparkles asked between gasps. "Who is your new guest?"

"Hi, Twilight!" the kirin waved cheerfully.

"YOU!" the unicorn exploded.