Time Capsule
TIME CAPSULE
For the first time in far, far too long everything finally seems to be going my way. I wince even as I think that and look up from my work at the empty library. Everything stays quiet and still. Usually when I tempt fate by thinking that kind of thing it means something awful is about to happen, but not this time. Just me and a few shafts of late afternoon light coming in through the upstairs windows. A few strains of birdsong drift in as well and all is right with the world.
I’m trying to put the last couple of touches on the ritual we’ll be using to patch up the time stream but my mind keeps drifting back to last night on the lake. I still can’t quite believe I did that, or that it worked. Everything that came after that was, what’s the best word for it? Amazing? Phenomenal? If this keeps up I’m gonna need a bigger thesaurus.
There’s a knock on the door. I wonder when ponies will catch on to the fact that during the day they don’t actually have to knock, I live in a public building. It’s an interesting phenomenon; I can always tell when ponies are here to see me rather than come check out books by whether or not they knock on the door before they come in. While I’m pondering whether or not the pony mind is capable of fully grasping that the same building exists as both my home and a book repository simultaneously, I call out for whoever’s there to come in.
The door opens and it’s the very mare who was on my mind already. Azalea walks in and comes over to give me a peck on the cheek. “Hey you,” she says.
“I was just thinking about you,” I say feeling my mouth stretch into an involuntary goofy grin. “Good things, I promise.”
“I wanted to come see what you were up to. Don’t let me distract you from what you’re working on, I’ll just grab a book and cuddle up in a corner to read until you’re finished,” she says.
“Anything in particular in mind?” I ask.
“Hmm...” she looks over the shelves of books along the wall, stocked with a wealth of options. “What do you think I’d like?” she asks.
My heart leaps. I love it when ponies ask me to recommend a new book to them. Not only do I get to share something I’ve enjoyed and talk about it with them later, it’s a great way to prove how well I know somepony. Picking out the right book for my marefriend should be a breeze, right? Let’s see, she must have told me what her favorite genre or author is, right?
...Huh, you know I don’t think she ever did. We haven’t really had any normal chats about books since that first date. I was always so wrapped up in this work, then with everything that happened in the other timeline and our fight I never got the chance to ask. But I must know enough about her to guess. I know that she... I know she...
I mean I know she’s important to me, and that I really like her, and it feels good to be with her. But now I’m looking into her patient eyes and I realize that I really don’t know all that much about what’s going on behind them. “A mystery,” I say, half to myself.
“Ooh, I haven’t read a good mystery in a while. Which one?” she asks with a grin of her own and turns towards the shelves. I watch her look, and while that’s one question answered about what she likes it’s replaced by a few dozen new ones. I gather enough of my senses to levitate a compilation of stories from a nearby shelf, a safe choice.
“How about some Shetland Holmes? I really liked The Speckled Harness myself,” I say and pass the book over to her. She takes it from me and, true to her word, curls right up in a sunbeam and flips it open, leaving me with my equations and my thoughts. I know she doesn’t mean to be a distraction, but as I try to get my mind back to the spell I find my attention keeps slipping back to Azalea. I look over at her, trying to deduce what I can from what I do know.
You sure weren’t this lost for words when you told me you loved me. You love me? You don’t even know me.
My own words, that hurtful little barb that I flung at her the other day when I was so angry at her. Was that really just a few days back? It feels like it was at least two weeks ago. The reason I knew it would hurt, though, is that there was a little bit of truth under there. Did I go and make exactly the same mistake?
“Take a picture Twilight, it’ll last longer. I’ll even pose for it if you’d like,” says Azalea with a playful little grin. I realize that I’ve just been caught staring at her while I was thinking.
I sigh and push my papers across the table. “Can we talk for a minute?” I ask. Her smile falls away. I know that I’m going to have to be very careful with what I say next. “It’s nothing bad, I just realized that I don’t know that much about you. I feel like I’m doing this whole relationship thing completely out of order,” I say.
Azalea raises a wing, an unspoken invitation that I accept. I trot over to her and lay down, letting her drape it over me. “What do you want to know?” she asks.
“Umm... Can we just start with ‘everything’ and kind of build from there?” I ask. Where to begin?
Azalea laughs. “Sure. First off, I’m not a Ponyville native either. I grew up in Trottingham,” she says.
“What was your family like?” I ask.
She smiles again. “Well, I didn’t have a Princess for a foalsitter, I can tell you that,” she says. It dawns on me just how much of my life is in the public record for any pony who’s curious to see. I know Azalea meant well, but little comments like that really drive home just how exposed my past is. Lucky I have this soft and downy wing to hide under here in the present, and hopefully the future too. “I’m actually the only pegasus in my family. My parents and my little brother are all earth ponies. Flower growing sort of runs in our blood. I started working in the greenhouse and in their shop as soon as I was old enough,” she says.
I nod. Makes sense, plant growing talents usually run in earth pony families. No wonder she gets along so well with Applejack. “How’d you end up in Ponyville then?” I ask.
“I came here after I graduated from school. Growing flowers isn’t exactly lucrative, although we’ve always made enough to get by pretty comfortably. My parents insisted that even if I was just going to take over the family business I needed to get an education too. Still, if it weren’t for the baseball scholarship I’m not sure they could have afforded to send me. For sure the loans would have been worse,” she says.
“I didn’t know you play baseball,” I say looking over at her. I make a mental note to show her Home Run later on.
“Well, played anyway,” she says. “Shortstop. Nothing like a pair of wings when you need to make a diving catch. I majored in Floriculture, with an Economics minor. Mom and Dad were nowhere near ready to retire and hand over the shop when I finished so I thought I’d strike out on my own, maybe open up my own shop someday. Selling flowers from my garden out of a cart might pay the bills but I’d like to have something a little more lasting, you know?” she asks. She gets a bit of a faraway look in her eyes. “It’s harder than I thought it would be. Sometimes it seems like I’m never going to get there.”
“You will,” I say without a bit of doubt in my voice and give her a supportive little nuzzle.
“Thanks Twilight,” she says and returns it. “Oh, and I’m allergic to peanuts.”
I giggle. “Duly noted. I’ll make sure to tell Pinkie Pie no peanut butter cookies at your ‘Congratulations On Opening Up Your Own Store’ party.”
Azalea’s wing pulls me in a little closer. “That might not be for a while,” she says.
“I’m patient,” I say as I wrap my hooves around her. I have a ton of questions I still want to ask her, but I’m willing to take it slow. Going too fast is what put me in this position in the first place. “My favorite color is red, by the way,” I say.
“I like blue, but I’m sure somehow we can overcome our differences,” she replies.
I smile. It’s hard enough to focus through the haze of infatuation when I’m around her, and the way she’s caressing my back with her wing isn’t helping. “I’m sure we will. Hey, I just want to say that I’m sorry about the things I said to you the other day. I was really mad, but you didn’t deserve how I took it out on you like I did.”
“I deserved at least some of it. Plus if you hadn’t then we would have missed out on the best part of the fight,” she says.
“What part was that?” I ask.
She clutches me and rolls over suddenly, pinning me to the floor. “The part where we made up,” she says. I lean in expecting a kiss but she seems content to just lay her head down on my chest and close her eyes. I follow suit, revelling in the moment.
“You would not believe how terrible my other date was. The worst part is that I knew she was bad news and I only even agreed to it because I was so angry. Then she tried to get me drunk and take me back to her apartment,” I say.
At that particular revelation Azalea jerks her head up and looks at me. “She tried to what? Twilight, that’s not OK,” she says.
“That’s what I told her. I warned her that if ever found out she tried that on any other mare I’d have her head,” I say.
Azalea doesn’t seem satisfied by that. “By the time you find out who knows how many other ponies she’ll have done that to? We should get the word out that there’s a pony who might try that. At least make sure other mares know what to look out for,” she says.
I frown. While I agree with the sentiment, I’m not going to start spreading rumors and bad mouthing Algae Bloom to every mare I know. “What are you proposing?” I ask.
“We should tell somepony who has a hoof in that scene, so she can spread the word around. We can even leave her name out of it if you want. It’s good advice to be careful no matter who’s offering the drinks,” she suggests.
“You have a pony in mind?” I ask.
“What about Cloud Kicker?” she asks. I groan and roll my eyes at the suggestion. “What?”
“Cloud Kicker’s just as bad. She’d probably take it as a challenge to see which of them can bed more ponies,” I say.
“Twilight! Cloud Kicker has standards and a conscience. I admit she’s a bit on the wild side, but she has a good heart,” says Azalea.
Maybe Azalea has a point. I know Cloud Kicker has her own little code, but that whole lifestyle just rubs me the wrong way. I mean she just uses ponies for physical pleasure and then walks away from them without a second thought. Even if it’s consensual I just can’t wrap my head around that. I try not to be judgemental, but the way she’s just so in your face with the flirting at every single opportunity brings the worst out of me. “Hmph. Maybe. I just don’t like the way she’ll jump into bed with anypony with a pulse,” I say.
“What, do you think only sleazy and desperate ponies would be interested in that kind of thing?” she asks. She’s gotten up from our comfy little embrace and now she’s downright glaring at me. Wow, she’s getting really mad about this. What gives?
“That’s not what I said,” I say. Why would she be so angry at me over Cloud Kicker unless she... and Cloud Kicker... had....
Oh, I’m an idiot.
“Wait, were you and Cloud Kicker...” I start to ask. The way she looks away is answer enough.
“We dated for a couple of weeks. Nothing serious. I had just moved here and I met a ton of new ponies through her. We had fun, but it wasn’t a big deal,” she says. I try to picture Azalea and Cloud Kicker together and then immediately regret it when I find it’s all too easy.
“I thought that that earth pony at the restaurant was your ex,” I say.
Azalea looks at me, a little befuddled. “Twilight, you do know that most ponies have more than one ex, right? Corn Row was my last marefriend before you but she wasn’t my first,” she says. “You’re one to talk, you said the last pony you dated was Princess Luna.”
I shift uncomfortably on my hooves. “Date might be too strong a word. It was more of a one night thing. How many marefriends have you had?” I ask. I’m not sure I want to know the answer.
Azalea thinks about if for a second. “If you count school and everything... I guess you’re my seventh,” she says. I go a little pale. Azalea was with a half-dozen other mares before I met her? I look up and realize I missed a question from her.
“What was that?” I ask.
“I asked how many you’ve had, if you’re not counting Luna,” she says. I’m suddenly incredibly self-conscious and very aware of my own inexperience in this particular area.
“Umm... including you?” I ask, stalling.
“Sure,” she says.
“...One,” I say and hang my head, grimacing and waiting to see how she’ll react.
“Wait, are you saying this is the first romantic relationship you’ve ever been in?” she asks, incredulous.
I nod. “Sorry,” I say. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be apologizing for but it feels right in the moment.
She takes a moment to process that. “Does the fact that I’ve been with other ponies before you and you haven’t make you uncomfortable?” she asks.
The awful thing is that it does. It’s petty and jealous and ugly and irrational for me to imagine she just sprung into existence from nothing the night I met her. I’m the weird one for neglecting something so important for so long, even if there were certain things it took me longer than it should have to accept about myself. “Azalea, I don’t know how to answer that question without making you hate me,” I say as the first tear drops start to hit the floor. She’s going to walk away again, I just know it. She’s going to figure out that I don’t really know what I’m doing or she’ll start comparing me to those other ponies and I won’t be good enough and she’ll leave again and-
Instead she just wraps me up in a hug. “Twilight, I’m not going to hate you for being honest with me. I really care about you, and I want us to work. You don’t want to break up just because I’ve had other marefriends, right?” she asks. I shake my head. “I didn’t think so. We’ll muddle through somehow. Now come on, cheer up. Fight’s over,” she says.
I tilt my head. “That was a fight?” I ask with a sniffle.
She smiles and pushes my mane out of my face with a gentle touch. “Well, maybe a little one. Not every disagreement has to end with a big blow up and one of us storming away. Did you think everything was always going to swing between perfect and terrible all the time?”
“Sort of. I mean, that’s how it usually happens in stories and stuff,” I say. I feel like a naive little foal even as I say it.
“Well, welcome to real life. It’s a lot messier and a lot more confusing,” she says with a little squeeze.
“So I’m noticing,” I grumble. We hold one another for moment until we’re interrupted when a burst of fire and red sparks erupts above our head. By the time we can pull apart it’s gone as quickly as it came and there’s a letter hanging in the air for a moment before it falls to the table. So that’s how it feels to receive a letter sent by phoenix fire. I open up the note to see what Star Swirl has to say.
Twilight,
Hope everything’s going well on your end and you’re making progress on the ritual
I frown and look over at the pages of half-completed notes that I’ve been neglecting.
I’ve been working on my part but the real reason I’m writing is that I’ve been getting sidetracked by the Element of Magic. I could spend years trying to figure this thing out, and I suspect that I probably will if I’m bringing it back to the past with me when I leave. Back then, the Elements only existed in a more abstract sense. We knew they were there and permeated the entirety of Equestria, and in a pinch the Princesses could call them up but to actually hold their physical representation or vessel or whatever this crown is in my hooves is a little overwhelming.
I was reading one of your old friendship reports, the one about the sonic rainboom that connected the six of you when you got your cutie marks. It certainly seems like an unlikely coincidence. Given what I know about the Elements and how they rewrite the destinies of their users and their targets, I’m inclined to wonder if it was a coincidence at all. Maybe using the Elements against Nightmare Moon retroactively ensured that the bond would be created all those years before? That sounds like a pretty crazy theory, but I can just tell that there’s something more going on. You’ve gone on at length about the connections between friendship and magic (kudos on that, by the way. Brilliant stuff in some of those reports) and if the rainboom wasn’t a coincidence than it would suggest a similar connection between destiny and friendship. It doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch to believe magic and destiny are intertwined somehow as well.
Anyway, the upshot of all this is that it’ll be a few more days before I’m ready for you girls to come to Canterlot and put this thing to rest. Just let me know when you’re done with your part and send me your final draft so I can start putting them together and make sure everything’s in order.
Your friend,
Star Swirl
“What does all that stuff about destiny mean?” asks Azalea who’s been reading over my shoulder.
I shrug. “Probably nothing. Star Swirl never published anything about the Elements of Harmony that I know of, so it’s likely just a dead end. I’m not going to risk telling him that, though.”
“So do you need to get back to work?”
“Sounds like I have longer than I thought. A couple more hours and I’ll be all done here, I can probably knock the rest of this out later tonight if you want to go do something for the rest of the afternoon,” I say. I make up my mind; it’s time to rip off the bandage. “Let’s go see Cloud Kicker.”
Azalea looks a bit surprised by the suggestion. “Are you sure? You don’t have to prove anything to me if you’d rather not,” she says.
“No, I want to. Besides, she’s obviously still somepony that you trust and care about, and a friend of yours is a friend of mine. I should at least give her a chance,” I say and lean over to give Azalea a peck on her cheek. We head out the door together and make the long late afternoon walk across town to where Cloud Kicker lives, chatting away. Azalea suggests that after we’re done at Cloud Kicker’s we swing by a particular deli for a quick dinner together. My stomach rumbles in agreement and I realize that I forgot to eat lunch earlier so I’m certainly game.
Azalea knocks on Cloud Kicker’s door. Last I heard both the original Cloud Kicker and her doppelganger who used to be a changeling were living under the same roof. The Elements of Harmony were pretty thorough when they transformed the invading changeling army into the ponies they had been duplicating. While the changelings still have all the memories of their former life, they also seem to have taken on the personalities and even some of the memories of the ponies they became. Given Cloud Kicker’s... proclivities I’m sure the arrangement is suiting both of them just fine.
Cloud Kicker opens the door and confusion turns to delighted surprise as she looks back and forth between Azalea and me. “Azalea, Twilight, hi. I didn’t know you were coming by,” she says. Azalea gives her a small hug and if Cloud Kicker notices that I’m glaring daggers at her she doesn’t say so.
“Hi Cloudy. We were just hoping to talk to you and Kicky if you have a minute. Is she home?” asks Azalea. Cloudy and Kicky?
“Yeah, come on in,” says Cloud Kicker stepping inside to let us pass. We follow her to the living room where the other Cloud Kicker is sprawled out on the couch reading a newspaper. She looks up as the three of us enter, eyes darting from one to the other. After a moment she gets a playful look in her eyes.
“I like where this is going,” she says with a grin. I bite back a snippy retort.
Azalea chuckles. “Not a social call, Kicky, at least not like that. Twilight has something important to talk to you about.”
I look back and forth between the two Cloud Kickers. They seem identical to me. “So one of you goes by Cloudy and the other one’s Kicky? How’d you guys decide to start doing that?” I ask.
Cloudy speaks up from behind me. “Well, it turns out that Kicky has this one spot where if you put a hoof on her inner thigh her back leg starts to-”
I hold up a hoof to silence her. “Please stop explaining now,” I say. Cloudy complies.
“Twilight, tell them about your date with Algae Bloom last night,” prompts Azalea. I wonder if this was a good idea. The first part is hard to get through, and I skip over some of the meaner things I said during our fight. Each time I think I can’t keep going Azalea gives me a supportive little smile and a nod. It’s easier once I get to describing the date itself though, remembering how Algae treated me. Both Cloud Kickers look as serious as I’ve ever seen them by the time I’m finished.
“So I was wondering if you could let your regulars know that she’s out there. It would mean a lot to me,” says Azalea summing up the reason we came over.
Cloudy and Kicky look at each other and exchange a small nod. “Yeah, we’ll take care of it. In fact I think we’ll have a very frank discussion with Ms. Bloom about respect and consent. Besides, if Twilight wanted a drunken rebound fling I have dibs,” says Cloudy.
If Cloud Kicker had said something like that to me about Azalea I’d be really upset, but Azalea just laughs it off. I guess she’s just used to it in a way I’m not sure I’ll ever be. “Thanks, Cloudy,” she says and extends a hoof for Cloud Kicker to tap. Cloudy bumps it and extends a foreleg to give Azalea a chaste little hug.
I jump up from where I’ve been sitting, my head spinning. I want to protest but I’m not sure what to say. Coming here was my idea, and it’s not like Azalea’s actually said or done anything wrong. The other three mares are all looking at me, curious. “Would you mind if I went and grabbed a glass of water from your kitchen?” I ask, lacking any better excuse. Azalea frowns.
“Go ahead Twilight, it’s just through there,” says Kicky. I turn to go as quick as I dare. I get into the kitchen and let out a long and ragged breath. My heart is beating a lot faster than it should be. I run the water from the faucet and splash a little on my face to calm myself down, then pour a glass of it and take a long sip.
“Pour me one too, would you?” asks Cloud Kicker’s voice from behind me. One of them must have followed me from the living room. I take down a second glass and fill it before using my magic to pass it to where Cloud Kicker is waiting. She takes a sip of her own. “So you and Azalea, huh?” she asks sitting at the kitchen table and motioning for me to do the same.
“Yeah, me and Azalea,” I say, trying to sound casual about it.
“I was still a part of the hive back when those two dated the first time, but I do have a few memories of it. Those were a fun couple of weeks, but they were both ready to move on by the end of it. So stop stabbing yourself in the hoof by acting so jealous,” she says.
“I’m not jealous,” I say. Not sure who I think I’m fooling with that particular claim.
Kicky smiles. “Twilight, Azalea’s not the kind of mare where you need to worry about that sort of thing. Besides, I saw how she was looking at you back there. She certainly didn’t ever look at Cloud Kicker that way.”
“How do you mean?” I ask. I didn’t notice anything like that.
“Let me put it this way; if I were still a changeling I’d be trying to figure out the best way to wrap you up in cocoon and stick you down in a basement somewhere while I fed off that look for the next three months,” she says.
“...Thanks? I guess?”
“You’re very welcome,” says Kicky and takes another sip of water. “Azalea mentioned that you two were going to Reuben’s deli for dinner this evening, right?”
“Yeah, why?” I ask.
“Here’s a free piece of Azalea advice. When you get your sandwiches, give her your pickle,” says Cloud Kicker.
“I don’t know what that means, but it doesn’t sound like something I’d be comfortable doing in public,” I say as I try to puzzle out the innuendo.
Cloud Kicker snorts and a bit of water goes up her nose. She coughs a few times and wipes it away. “That wasn’t a euphemism, Twilight. Azalea loves pickles. Offer her yours and you’ll score major marefriend points,” she says. She reaches out a hoof across the table and pats mine. “I know how you think of me, but if you and Azalea make each other happy then I really want to see it work out for you two.”
She actually sounds heartfelt. I try to look at her with fresh eyes, try to see what Azalea does. I realize that this must be just a little bit awkward for her too. “Thanks Kicky. I really appreciate that,” I say. What the hay. I open up my forelegs for a friendly hug and she moves over to accept it.
“You know if you and Azalea are ever feeling really appreciative...” she begins. I pull back from the hug and give her a flat look. She grins. “Aww, I’m just teasing Twilight, relax.”
Turnabout is fair play. “Just teasing? Oh, that’s too bad. I was going to say maybe,” I say, teasing back. Her wings snapping open knocks her glass of water off the table and it shatters when it hits the floor.
“Everything alright in there?” asks the other Cloud Kicker’s voice from the living room.
“We’re fine,” I call back. “Your double here just doesn’t have any self control.”
“I know, isn’t she great?” asks Cloudy.
Kicky has recovered enough to speak again. “That was a joke right?” she asks.
I grin. “Probably,” I say and walk away. You know, I’m starting to see why she does that all the time. I head back to the living room with Kicky following me a moment later.
We leave Cloud Kicker’s place and head for the deli. Sure enough, the pickle thing works like a charm.
-----------------
Finally! The ritual is done. Every fact and figure I needed to decipher is obliterated in one last caffeine-fueled marathon of a study session. The sun is just peeking over the horizon as I dot the last square root of negative one and cross the final label on the time axis of a graph. I let out a sigh and my quill falls to one side as I massage my temples and reach for the coffee pot I’ve been drinking straight from for the last four hours, only to find it’s somehow already empty. That would explain the double vision.
I think a walk through town to clear my head a little is in order. I still need to double check these numbers before I send them off, and if I swapped a sine for a cosine somewhere in there Star Swirl won’t ever let me hear the end of it. Besides, I’m rarely awake to see the town this early, I might see a side of it I don’t know very well. I walk out the door and wander the empty streets of Ponyville, letting my hooves take me where they may. There’s no sign of activity on the misty streets. That’ll burn off soon enough, tomorrow’s supposed to be a scorcher but for now the air is damp and cool. I pass by Sugarcube Corner, which hasn’t opened yet but there’s already smoke rising from the chimney. I’ve never thought about how early they must get up to have fresh bread ready by the middle of morning. See? I already learned something new today and it’s barely five in the morning.
I stop and breathe deeply, just taking in the smell of a new day full of promise and potential. I glance over to the park and I bet there’s a great view of the sunrise from that nearby hillside. I track through the dew-laden grass and settle down on the eastward facing slope. I don’t even care about the chilly water soaking into my coat. Watching the sun rise as the world around me starts to come to life gives me this sense of... something. Renewal, I guess you might call it. With the ritual finished, if not actually cast yet, I feel like I can look back at the last couple months and how completely consumed they were with all this time loop nonsense. Relaxing here though, with the first rays of sunlight washing over me, I feel like I’m getting a new start too. Like I’m on the cusp of something bigger and more important than all that, and I can’t wait to move on to that next chapter of my life.
Wow, sleep deprivation makes my inner poet awfully loquacious. My eyelids sink to half mast. I can’t sleep now because... because...
How long has it been since there was no compelling answer to that question?
‘I don’t even care,’ is the last thing I think before I drift off right there on the hillside, a smile on my face.
------------------
“I’ll miss you,” I say. I’m getting a few embarrassing looks from passers by and the other ponies on the train platform. When I’m with her I take them as a compliment, rather than something I should be humiliated by. “It’s not too late to change your mind, you know. Come with us to Canterlot.”
Azalea laughs. “How many times do I have to say ‘maybe next time’ before you stop asking?” she asks.
"You could meet the Princesses though! You'd really like them and I bet they'd like you too. You don't have to worry about it," I say.
"Twilight, if you put me in the room with the Princesses I'd be meeting your mentor, your last marefriend, and the two rulers of Equestria all at the same moment. I'd be an idiot not to be a little worried at that prospect," she says. "Go and be amazing with your friends, I'll be waiting right here for you when you get back."
"C'mon Twi, train'll be leaving any second," says Applejack. I guess I've stalled long enough.
"Try not to miss me too much, my little grounding wire," I say as lean in for one last hug.
"You neither, my little water walker," she says and returns it. "Now get going!"
I jump on the train right as it starts to pull away from the station and wave goodbye to her until she's out of sight. I turn around to see five grinning faces watching me from further inside the car. "What?" I ask even as their grin spreads to me.
"Nothing, nothing," insists Rarity although her grin doesn't fade. "We're just happy that you're happy. Now come, we saved you a seat."
We trot further into the empty train car and settle in for the ride. Pinkie slides into the seat next to me. "Sooooooooo," she says, suggestive, "start talking. Tell us all about you and Azalea. I wanna hear about the hugging and the smooching and what you two talk about and what she had for breakfast yesterday and-"
"NOOOOOO!" cries Rainbow Dash. The five of us look at her. I guess that's one way to bring a conversation to a screeching halt. "Three days, Twilight. These four have wanted to talk about you and Azalea and nothing else for three. Freaking. Days. I can't take it for the entire train ride too. She's cool, right? And you two are happy together? ‘Cause that's all we actually need to know."
"Yes Dash, everything's great. I guess I have been a little sidetracked the last couple of days. I'll try to make more time for you girls when we get back," I say. I hope I haven't been neglecting them. I certainly didn't mean to.
"It's fine, dear. It's perfectly natural for a new couple to spend a lot of time together, even more so because she's your first. Some ponies just don't appreciate romance," says Rarity with a glare at Rainbow Dash before she turns back to me. "But you do! That scene on the lake sounds like was absolutely divine. I wish I'd seen it myself."
I frown. "Did Azalea tell you about that?" I ask. I know I didn't.
"Oh, um, a little bird told me and I didn't know you didn't want me to say anything. A blue jay, actually," says Fluttershy. "Did it really happen that way? Not that I'm calling my little friend a liar, of course, but I did wonder if he was exaggerating just an eensy bit. He was saying some things about a weather vane that I don't think are physically possi-"
"You know, Rainbow Dash is right," I say. "Dash, what did you want to talk about?"
"How awesome it's going to be to save the world again. Do you think the Princess will let us design the stained glass window? Or do you think we'll just get another medal?" she asks. I roll my eyes and look out the window at the passing countryside.
"Ah don't think it's really that kinda world savin' Dash,” says Applejack. “Besides Twilight did all the work, why would they put us on there?”
“Hey, I helped! I was there for, like, moral support and stuff. Besides, I’m too awesome not to be on the window. What else are you going to put on there, a bunch of math problems? We gotta punch it up a little so if ponies ask us about it we don’t just say ‘oh, Twilight did her homework really hard and saved all of time,’ I mean who’s going to be impressed by that?”
“Don’t jinx it, Rainbow. I want to cast the spell and be done with this before we start celebrating,” I say. I’m completely confident that the spell will work just fine, but I’ve been wrong about that kind of thing before. “Besides, what about Star Swirl? He can’t even tell anypony back in the past what he did to help or it might create a paradox.” I know he told Celestia a few things, I remind myself to ask her about that once the summoning spell’s been dismissed and the loop is closed.
“Wow, that is rough,” says Pinkie, “we’ll just have to remember how much he helped even better to make up for it.”
“About Star Swirl, he does seem like a gentlecolt and I stand by what I said about being his friend, but if I’m being honest I don’t think of him the way I think of all of you,” says Rarity as she runs a hoof absentmindedly over he mane, smoothing a few hairs jostled out of place by the vibrations of the train under us. “I hope it’s enough to, well, count.”
I nod. I thought about that too. “We don’t need the full power of the Elements for the spell, in fact it’s safer not to use them at their maximum capacity. It should be enough.”
“Is that how they work?” asks Fluttershy. “I mean, if we become even better friends than we are now will they get better somehow?”
I shrug. “I don’t really know. The Elements are... strange. I’ve never been able to figure them out exactly, and Celestia says that it’s not worth worrying over. It's not like I can take them apart to see how they work, either. They're too important to risk any sort of experiment that could damage them. They work, and that's good enough," I say. It's something that annoys me more than I let on to tell the truth, but I've made my peace with the idea that this particular mystery isn't one I'm going to solve, barring some new development or insight.
Rainbow Dash launches into a suggestion that her Element 'runs on awesomeness' but I'm only half paying attention. I think back to Star Swirl's letter from the other day. He really sounded like he was going to put some effort into figuring out the Elements. Why wouldn't he have recorded any of his results? It's a shame I can't risk a paradox by asking him to write a book he never wrote.
Unless... What if I asked him to hide the book, or even just his notes, somewhere nopony would find them? Then after I send him back I could go retrieve them and see what he found out, and there would be no chance of the information leaking back into the past.
"Twilight?" asks Pinkie. "Why are you wearing your 'I just had a super smart idea' face?"
"I'll tell you later. Right now I want to hear all about what I missed over the last few days when I didn't see you."
The girls all start to talk at once about what they've been up to. I have a lot to catch up on, and the rest of the train ride is spent sharing the news of their lives with me.
-------------------
There’s a chariot waiting for us at the train station to take us straight up to the palace. “Well, I could certainly get used to this sort of treatment,” says Rarity. “All of our adventures should be this refined and debonaire.” The guards pulling the chariot drop us off and tell us we’re expected in one of the labs in the East wing. We trot through the halls and I spot Princess Celestia down one of the side corridors speaking with several other ponies who are scribbling down notes about whatever the conversation is about. I catch her eye and we wave to one another but then she turns back to her discussion. I guess she trusts me to handle this ritual myself.
We reach the labs, a shielded and isolated area of the palace where all sorts of experimental magic research is performed. Luna had them built for her own personal use when she got back from the moon, and while the facilities aren’t quite as big as the labs at the Academy all the resources and equipment are top of the line. I knock on the door and hear Star Swirl call out from the other side. “Come in!”
I open the door and the six of us step inside. The lab is completely turned upside down since I last saw it, with open books scattered everywhere and pages of notes stuck to every available surface. There even look to be some stuck up on the ceiling. The only exception is the absolutely pristine ring in the center of the room that’s inscribed with all sorts of intricate little details and runes. It’s clearly expert level work, and I trace over it with my eyes trying to make out which parts I worked on and where his work begins. Star Swirl pops out from behind some shelves, levitating a small inkwell and looking a little manic. “Oh, girls, it’s you. Is it Sunday already? Here, let me walk you through the ritual and you can help me with the last few bits,” he says. Star Swirl begins to explain the finer points of the spell we’ve designed, although by the end of the second sentence I’m pretty sure he and I are the only ponies who are following the explanation.
“Uh, that’s great and all ah suppose. Think it might be better if you just tell us where to stand and when to use the Elements though,” says Applejack.
“Oh, right. Well I still want Twilight to look over everything with a fresh set of eyes and then we can get going. And I, uh, need to find your Element again actually,” says Star Swirl.
“What do you mean you need to find it? The chest is right over there, what happened to it?” I ask.
Star Swirl suddenly seems eager to look anywhere except at me. “Well, I had taken Honesty out to check a theory I had about some of the engravings on its inner surface, but while I was looking it up I came across something else that gave me an idea, and I needed a bookmark...” I bury my face in my hooves. “I reshelved a bunch of books after that and I’m not exactly a hundred percent sure which one I left the Element in. Don’t worry, I’ve narrowed it down to a couple dozen.”
“Girls, why don’t you all go take a walk through the palace. If you give me an hour to examine this and for Star Swirl to find the artifact of incredible power that he thought would make a good bookmark, then we’ll get started,” I say.
Rainbow Dash nods and the others turn to go explore for a little while. There’s no reason for them to stick around here, plus I have an ulterior motive too. “You want help looking through all the books or can I get started?” I ask.
“Nah, go ahead. Just let me know if you have any questions,” he says and disappears back into the shelves.
I start to look over Star Swirl’s work but a part of my mind is on formulating a question that’ll sound casual. “So find anything interesting about the Elements? Your letter was kind of vague about them,” I say.
“Oh, yeah. Tons. Like I said though, it’ll take years before I can draw any conclusions that aren’t just wild guesses. I’m glad to be taking Magic back with me,” says his voice from somewhere out of sight.
“Would you do me a favor? Once you’ve studied them for a while, could you put a copy of your notes somewhere I’d be able to find them after you leave?” I ask.
Star Swirl leans out to look at me, frowning. “I figured if I found anything really important I’d publish it,” he says.
“Oh, well, it’s not the same as having the original notes, you know?” I say, hoping he’ll buy it. “If you’d rather not that’s fine.”
He narrows his eyes and looks at me for a long moment but finally he shrugs. “Sure. I know just the spot where nopony will find them. Where are your quarters here in the palace? Any chance they’re in the loft of the north tower?” he asks.
“Yeah, how’d you know?”
“I thought that Celestia might have put you up in my old room, both of us being her student and all. Did you ever find the hidden cubby in the southwest corner I put in?”
“There’s a hidden cubby?” I ask.
“Ha! I knew that illusion spell would hold. It’s the third row of stone up from the floor, about four steps from the column towards the door. I used to hide stuff in there all the time. Poke around and now that you know it’s there it shouldn’t be hard for you to spot. I’ll make sure there’s a decent stasis spell over it, too, so the pages don’t crumble to dust the instant you touch them,” he says. He sits on the floor and sighs. “Time travel gets so frustrating sometimes. Now I know that decades worth of work are sitting in that cubby right now and I can’t just go up and read them. Twilight, will you promise me that you’ll put them to good use? I know there’s something you aren’t telling me about my research and I know you probably have a good reason, but this stuff is important. I can just feel it. If there’s anypony who I’d trust to continue whatever I start, it’s you.” Star Swirl looks at me with a completely earnest smile, which after a moment morphs into a more puckish grin. “Unless I meet somepony smarter than you in the past, then I’ll just give my notes to them.” The book I chuck at him in response barely misses his head, just as planned. It does, however, knock down another book from the shelf it hits which falls open and drops the Element of Honesty onto the floor.
“Hey, there it is,” I say and levitate it over to join the others in the chest. “And yes, I promise. Whatever’s in those notes, I’ll look into it.”
“Thanks,” he says. The moment passes and he walks over to the circle to talk shop again and go over his work. I poke and probe at every possible objection or flaw I can think of with the spell until I’m absolutely certain that it’s sound and the others have returned from wherever they wandered off to.
“Alright! Let’s get this timey-fixie-magic-thingamajigger started,” says Pinkie, digging out the Element of Laughter and fastening it around her neck. The others did the same and Star Swirl takes out the crown that’s attuned to him while I move into position on the other side of the circle. I cast a few quick little protection spells and even a good luck spell on myself, a spell that I’ve never been able to empirically verify as having any actual effect on probability. It’s just a little charm that Celestia used to tell me brought good luck to little fillies who were worried about upcoming tests, but it always makes me feel a bit more competent and at this moment I’ll take whatever edge I can get. Star Swirl is explaining to the others what he’ll need them to do, but I’m running through the steps of the ritual that I prepared and memorized over and over again. I know this spell like the back of my hoof.
Soon it’s time to finally start. I’m so ready to get this over with at last. I nod to Star Swirl and the Element of Magic on his head begins to glow. The other Elements begin to glow themselves in reaction. I don’t see much of what happens after that, because as the first trickle of power from Star Swirl enters the spell I’m caught up in it and nothing happening over there matters to me any more. Even though I prepared myself for it as best I could the sensation is incredibly overwhelming as I suddenly feel myself in each of those time loops again, but like I’m a detached observer rather than actually reliving it. I furrow my brow and try to tease out an individual one, and as I get a firm grip of it there’s a pulling sensation.
I blink and suddenly I’m in the streets of Canterlot, watching another me dressed up in a cocktail dress and wielding a chainsaw against a pack of changelings to devastating effect. I think I remember this loop. If I’m right there’s going to be a changeling coming out from... yep. Ooh, right in my neck. I remember how much that hurt, although only momentarily. I find it a little odd that watching myself being brutally murdered doesn’t really phase me, either as a side effect of the spell or because I’ve gotten just that cynical. I’m hoping it’s the former.
Now for the tricky part. I envision myself finding the thread of this timeline’s existence and fastening it to my tail. It’s not a literal string of course, but boiling down an incredibly complicated feat of magic into the proper metaphor is a huge part of being a successful mage. On the other hoof, choosing the wrong one can cause the spell to go catastrophically wrong in all sorts of fascinating ways. I step back out of the loop and once more I’m a part of every one of the loops I lived through simultaneously. The pressure on my mind has lessened just slightly with the one loop I just came from no longer diverting my attention. In theory the hardest part’s over and the pressure will only diminish from here, but fatigue will eventually start to become a concern so no excuse for dawdling.
I jump to the next loop and I see myself standing in the middle of a street, watching the Wall of Horrible Shiny Death rushing towards me. This could be any one of the dozens of times the clock ran out and the Elements went haywire. Even though I’m intangible I still take a step back from it. It burns the other me up in an instant and still keeps coming. I wince as it washes over me and even though I don’t, strictly speaking, exist here I can still feel a tingle as it passes through me. Then I’m somewhere I never expected to find myself; the other side of the wall.
I don’t know if there’s simply no gravity here or if that has something to do with the spell I’m using, but I find myself floating in a bright white void. All I can sense is the power of the wall, most intense directly behind me but its presence is omnidirectional. I’m right by the edge of an ever-expanding sphere of light and fire. It hadn’t occurred to me that the explosion would cut down into the earth as easily as it cut through everything else, but I suppose it makes sense. So this is what was left all those times that I failed. A whole universe just... gone. All the more reason to study the Elements of Harmony, I suppose, and figure out a way to keep this from ever happening again.
I take up this timeline and attach it to myself before jumping to the next one. And then the one after that. And then the one after that. I get a good rhythm going, and before long I’m scooping up timelines left and right. Most are pretty mundane, insofar as seeing yourself repeatedly dismembered can ever really be considered ‘mundane,’ but some of the timelines do stick out. Some are hard to take for reasons that have nothing to do with the violence (seeing Celestia return to a besieged Canterlot right after losing Luna to the changelings and discovering my broken body at the base of a tower is... probably going to haunt me for a while) and some are actually a little uplifting, if embarassing, to watch (that’s the face I was making while I was banging Luna?). Dragging myself from one to another is starting to take its toll, though, and I don’t have time to linger in many of them. I can’t tell if I’ve been inside the spell for seconds or hours, but eventually I have all the possibilities rounded up and attached to me.
Now for the last step. I picture myself pulling and twisting all the different threads into one, and tracing them all back to their common origin point; the library where I cast the loop spell in the first place. I shudder a little in anticipation of what’s going to come next. I take a deep breath, briefly wondering what I’m breathing, exactly, and with a single cut sever every one of the strands from the timeline I’m in now.
The backlash hurts. A lot. It also breaks my concentration and the spell ends as my eyes snap open. I’m back in the library with six pony-shaped fuzzy blobs hovering over me. “How ya feelin’ Twi?” asks the orange one.
“Tired,” I say. It’s true, I feel absolutely and completely drained. “How long was I...”
“Only like five or ten minutes,” says the light blue one, although there a few hints of a bunch of other colors around the edges.
“Gonna take a nap now, ‘kay?” I ask. I’m unconscious before any of them can answer.
-----------------------
I bolt upright in the bed somepony must have moved me to, drenched in sweat and gasping for breath. “Twilight! Don’t worry, everything’s fine. You’re safe,” says Fluttershy, who’s sitting in a chair at the foot of the bed. I look at her for a second before I close my eyes and nod, and when I open my eyes again I can identify the room as one of the guest rooms. Fluttershy and I are the only ones awake; the other four are napping on sofas and other furniture around the room. I glance at the window and it’s dark outside. I must have been under for hours. I think I was dreaming about... something. I can’t remember what though. Jumping between all those different realities has given me a splitting headache. “Just lie down. Princess Celestia says you pushed yourself much too hard with that spell, and you’ve been unconscious all afternoon and evening. You need to rest now.”
“So bright,” I say even though I’m only vaguely aware of why. “So bright behind the wall. Even when I closed my eyes, it just kept coming through. So much nothing.”
“Shh... it was just a bad dream. Just close your eyes now, Luna says she’ll make sure she’s watching over you tonight and we’re all taking turns staying up in case you need anything,” she says. I lower my head back down to the pillow, and even though I’m still exhausted sleep proves elusive. Too many awful memories dredged up by that spell.
I must have drifted off at some point though, because I wrinkle my nose when I find that there’s suddenly sunlight hitting my face and sit up again, feeling more like a living pony than I did a little while ago. “Yay, you’re awake!” says Pinkie. I look around and it seems that I’m the last one up. “If you hurry we can still get breakfast.”
I roll out of bed and stretch. We head down to the dining room, and even though it’s mid morning, late enough that we have to hurry to snatch up a plate full of food before the serving trays are cleared away, Luna is still awake and chatting with Star Swirl and the others. “Hiya Princess!” shouts Pinkie, entirely too cheerful. I’m not that awake yet. “You’re up late, or maybe you’re up early, or maybe you’re up both.”
“It is unnecessary for me to sleep every day. I thought I’d pull an all-dayer and spend a little time with you all to congratulate you for solving this issue,” she says. And by ‘you all’ she really means Star Swirl. It suddenly occurs to me that if the timeline is fixed there’s nothing keeping me from sending him back to the past. In fact the longer he’s here the more likely it is he’ll accidentally learn something he shouldn’t. But then I see the way Luna is looking, no, staring at him any time he looks at anypony else, like she wants nothing more than to commit to memory every single moment she has left in his presence.
One more day won’t hurt.
It doesn’t. The eight of us actually have a really good time together. We even manage to drag Luna out of the castle that afternoon for some sightseeing and shopping around Canterlot. Of course she’s the center of attention wherever we go, but eventually the other ponies get used to her presence and stop the constant grovelling. The day absolutely flies by, and by early evening we reach a consensus that it's time to go back to the castle.
Star Swirl gives our friends a goodbye hug as each of them wish him well and at his request he and I go to Celestia's private office. The Princess is at her desk filling out some paperwork, but puts her quill down when we enter. "Star Swirl, Twilight, what a pleasant surprise. Thank you both for all your hard work these last couple of weeks. I know it's been disruptive for both of you, but it was wonderful to see you again after so long. I'll cherish the time we got to spend together, and I know Luna will as well," she says.
"Thank you Princess. It's been... interesting. I'm sorry I won't be able to tell you very much about it when I get back to the past," says Star Swirl. He bows his head for a moment. "Something happens between us, doesn't it." It isn't really a question.
Celestia looks away. "You know I can't answer that."
Star Swirl nods. "I do, and I don't know what it will be, but..." he walks over to Celestia and gives her a hug. "You're a great mentor. Whatever I end up saying to you or doing, I just want you to know that I'll always be grateful for what you gave me."
"Star Swirl, that's..." says Celestia. She looks like there are about fifty different things she wants to say, but can't. Instead she just hugs him back. "You're welcome. And... I was proud of you. Even after what happened, I was always proud to have been your teacher."
"Twilight and I talked about it and she's going to send me back tonight, but before I go I want to be with Luna one more time when she raises the moon," he says.
"Then you better not dawdle here much longer. I hate long goodbyes anyway."
"Goodbye, Celestia. Try not to screw up Twilight however it is you screwed up me," he says.
Celestia laughs. "Oh, I doubt I could even if I tried. I'm sure when I mess up with her it will be in new and exciting ways," she says as she looks over at me with a wink. She glances at the clock on her desk. "Now go. Luna should be getting ready to raise the moon out in the usual spot any minute."
Star Swirl reluctantly backs away from her and walks out of the office. I turn to go with him but Celestia's voice stops me. "Twilight?"
"Yes Princess?"
"I know he wasn't who you meant to summon, and he probably wasn't the easiest to work with, but thank you for giving me this chance," she says.
"You're welcome Princess. I should-"
"Of course, go ahead."
I trot out after Star Swirl, catching up to him before he reaches the balcony Luna uses to set the night sky. When we walk out onto it she's already there and looks surprised to see us.
"I half expected that you would have gone already, Star Swirl. It might have been easier in some ways," she says.
"And miss seeing the best show in Canterlot one more time? You've learned a few new tricks these last sixteen centuries, I hoped you'd indulge me once more," says Star Swirl.
Luna smiles. "Of course, my love." She takes a deep breath and her horn flares to life just as the sun dips below the horizon. The first stars start to appear in the heavens as the moon gradually makes it's way up to join them. Maybe it's my imagination but it seems larger and brighter than I remember. Luna pours absolutely everything she has into her night. Rippling bands of aurora and an improbable number of shooting stars dance through the sky as the constellations move into place. Finally, her light fades and she gasps for air.
"Beautiful," says Star Swirl looking right at her.
"Stay longer, Star Swirl. Another week, or even a day. Don't go back tonight," Luna begs.
"Do you think this will be any easier tomorrow night? Or next week? Every day I stay here is a day I can't be with you back then. Some of us get older, after all. You know there are other risks too," says Star Swirl.
"These last few weeks though, I can't... I..." Luna runs out of words and instead darts forward, grabbing Star Swirl and pulling him into a long and desperate kiss. It seems to go on longer than should be possible. Maybe it does; alicorns can go a surprisingly long time without breathing when they choose to. I sort of feel awkward just standing here by the third or fourth minute. Luna's tears start to flow in the final few seconds of the kiss, and it ends in a small sob. "I never forgot you. Sixteen hundred years and I never forgot what we had together. I don't want to say goodbye again. The first time wasn't-"
"Hey, no spoilers remember? I haven't gotten to live it yet," says Star Swirl as he nuzzles her wet cheek.
"I'm sorry I'm not the way you remember me."
"You're still perfect. I was just too thick to see it at first. Maybe this is how it has to be. Who knows, maybe you'll change again into something else entirely a few centuries from now," says Star Swirl. Luna looks doubtful of that for some reason. "I love you, Lunatic."
Luna bursts into tears again, squeezing Star Swirl against her like she can keep me from sending him back if she holds on tightly enough. Finally her grasp lessens and Star Swirl steps away. "Goodbye," she says with a sniffle.
"Goodbye Luna. I'll, uh, see you in the past I guess," says Star Swirl. "Twilight, I need to grab a few things. Notes I took on what I have to do to make sure the loop stays stable and my Element. Just give me a few minutes and I'll be ready."
I nod and he walks back inside. When I'm positive he's out of earshot I turn to Luna who hasn't moved. "You know he has to go back. Celestia told me about your daughter. Turns out I'm descended from her actually," I say.
"Is that right?" asks Luna. "I confess I stopped keeping track of that sort of thing after the great grandfoals. After he disappeared and Shooting Star died I found that my interest in the rest of my line was rather diminished."
"Disappeared? If you don't mind me asking, how exactly did Star Swirl... pass on?"
"I don't know. He simply left one day on another of his travels and never returned," she says.
"Oh, I didn't know that. I'm sorry," I say. Come to think of it that would explain why I've never read a credible account of his death.
"You needn't apologize. I'm much too calm and collected to get upset about that. Didn't you hear me say how I've changed for the better since those days?" she asks. There's an undercurrent of bitter sarcasm to the words.
"Well if you don't like it you can always change back, right? Just start acting the way you did then and if you feel like you might be losing yourself come talk to Celestia, or even one of our friends."
"It is not that simple. There are external factors involved. My sister and I have discussed this at length and decided that the perfect mustn't be the enemy of the good."
"But what if you just-"
"Twilight," she says cutting me off with a tone that suggests the matter isn’t open for discussion, "do you remember our conversation back in the infirmary? Some things are best left in the dark, and this is one of them. Now if you don't mind I would rather be alone with my thoughts right now." She walks back inside the palace without waiting for me to respond.
I stay out there for a few moments to give her a head start out of respect for her privacy before I head inside as well and turn towards the lab, as that’s where Star Swirl had been keeping most of his things while he worked on the spell. As I walk in he’s gathering up a small sheaf of papers, and his Element of Magic is sitting on the table nearby. “Is that everything? Anypony else you want to say goodbye to before you go?” I ask.
“Just one,” he says. He walks over to me and lays a hoof on my shoulder. “You. Thank you for everything, Twilight. It’s certainly been interesting getting to know you. I know that there’s all sorts of information you have to keep from me, but can you just tell me one thing?”
“What?”
“Do I really have to grow a beard?” he asks with a fake frown and his best attempt at giving me puppy-dog eyes.
I laugh and hug him. “Afraid so. Starswirl the Clean Shaven just doesn’t have the same ring to it. I’ll miss you too, though.”
“Who knows? Maybe we’ll both meet up again sometime in our relative futures,” he says.
“After what happened with the loop, I don’t think I’ll be messing around with any more of your time spells,” I say.
“About that. It actually wouldn’t be that hard to fix. I’ve already thought of a couple ways you could build in an escape clause. Plus a way to resolve individual loops so you wouldn’t have to go through that whole ritual we just did every time,” he says.
“...what did you say?” I ask. My hug gets tighter. Any resemblance to a choke hold is purely coincidental. “Are you telling me that the version you left for me to find is intentionally incomplete?”
“Twilight... air...” he gasps. I reluctantly let go of him and he inhales. “I’m sorry Twilight, but what choice do I have? If you never cast the version that almost breaks the universe-”
“Then I never summon you and you never get the idea for it in the first place. I bucking hate time travel,” I say. “So what was the point of any of this?”
“Maybe there wasn’t one,” he says as he levitates the Element of Magic from the nearby table and puts it on. “I’ll put a copy with a fixed version in that cubby with the rest of my notes. I know you’re going to run right up there as soon as we’re done here and see what I wrote anyway.”
I blush. I didn’t think I was quite that transparent.
“It’s what I would do, too,” he says. “I won’t keep you. Goodbye Twilight. Have a good life.”
“I’d wish you the same, but I don’t have to. One spoiler, Star Swirl. The rest of yours is going to be fantastic,” I say. Before he can respond I focus and release the summoning spell that’s been keeping him here. I wish I could say that there’s some dramatic flash or puff of smoke but it’s a disappointingly anticlimactic *pop* and then he’s just not there anymore.
I pause for a moment while it sinks in that he’s really gone, and then in a flash I teleport back up to my quarters. They’re empty, and I have at least an hour before I need to rendezvous with the others for dinner. Plenty of time to investigate that cubby. I examine the area of the wall Star Swirl told me about, and sure enough there are just a few hints of magic. No wonder I missed them until now; they’d blend seamlessly into the background if I didn’t know what I was looking for. With a quick dispel the illusion is removed and sure enough there’s a tiny latch. Pressing a hoof against it causes the stone to slide open, and a cloud of dust billows out into my face. Waving a hoof to clear it I reach into the recessed cubby I can feel a thick notebook, with an envelope on top of it. I pull out the envelope, which has my name written on it in florid cursive. I tear it open and begin to read.
Dear Twilight,
You’re probably reading this about a minute after you send me back, but for me it’s been a bit longer. Twenty years longer, give or take. A lot of what happened back then makes a little more sense to me now. I guess it’s easier if I just start at the beginning.
When I got back to the past I found myself right where I’d been the moment that I left, sitting with Celestia in the library. I told her as little as I could, but one thing I did have to explain was the fancy new crown I’d brought back. Both Princesses found the idea of a physical artifact that could exist as a focus for the Elements as intriguing as I did. A few weeks later Luna took the crown and disappeared without a word to anypony, not even Celestia or me. She didn’t return for nearly a year. When she did reappear, she had five necklaces she said she had created based on the design of the crown. I’m pretty sure they’re the same necklaces your friends use in your time, although the gemstones are differently shaped. They’re probably capable of altering their own physical form to match their Bearers.
Celestia and Luna got into a huge fight over the Elements, one that raged on and off for months. Celestia felt that even the existence of such powerful tools that could be wielded by mortals rather than just the two of them was a gigantic threat to the stability of Equestria, and wanted them sealed away. Luna thought that a counter to Celestia’s power was necessary in case she were ever removed or incapacitated and Celestia unchecked became a tyrant.
I have spent the last two decades appreciating the irony.
Luna is the most important pony in my life. We have a daughter, about fifteen now and quite the magical prodigy herself. I almost named her Twilight Sparkle, but Luna knows that name from the nightmares I’ve had about the other timeline. Instead I picked Shooting Star, the alias you made up for me when you were trying to hide who I was from the changeling queen. It reminds me how different the same pony can be when they’re at their best versus their worst, and to try to be a bit better myself. I hope you don’t mind.
I have to know what the Elements are going to do to her, how they changed her between now and your present. I studied the Elements obsessively, and that’s what led to my falling out with Celestia. She didn’t even want them to exist at all, and of course I couldn’t tell her why it was so important to me. I’m glad that you’re getting this copy of my research, because I’m pretty sure that once I’m gone she’s going to have it suppressed. I bet you’ve never seen it in your time, have you? That’s what you didn’t want to tell me. I’ll keep looking into it, and I’ll try to keep these notes as up to date as I can but it’s more important they aren’t found until your time.
Despite all that, you were right. My life has been fantastic. I’ve seen and done things that nopony else ever has, and helped ponies overcome what should have been insurmountable odds and dangers. Still, I never quite managed to find the kinds of friends that you have. I guess I just don’t have the knack for it the way you do. Cherish them.
Thank you again, for everything.
Your friend,
Starswirl the Bearde Star Swirl
I put the letter down, thinking about what I’ve just learned. It explains a lot. Not everything; I feel like there are still a few loose ends and details that I can’t quite put my hoof on but maybe that’s just how it’ll have to be. Maybe not everything in life has a satisfactory answer, or at least not one we ever get to learn. The important thing is that this is over and both of us, sixteen hundred years apart, got our own happy ending. That feels like enough of a conclusion all by itself
The dust cloud has settled and I send a little light into the dark cubby.
...That’s odd. It looks like there’s another envelope in there.
I pull the other envelope out and I’m assailed by the smell of decay and rot. The paper’s in good condition, but it’s covered in some sticky red-brown splotches. Some of it comes off on my hoof and I give it an experimental sniff before immediately pulling my face away. That’s where the smell is coming from, all right.
Is that drying blood? If the cubby was airtight and the stasis spell worked...
I rip open the new envelope. It’s another letter, this one scrawled in much shakier writing.
Twilight,
Star Swirl again. Don’t have long before I have to get out of this timeline.
We were wrong about the Elements. They aren’t tools. They’re the users, and we’re the instruments. They’re intelligent and they have an agenda, and I don’t think it’s one that’s good for ponykind. That alternate timeline with you as a changeling queen isn’t the only one they’ve created, the interference of the time loop spell just kept them from separating cleanly and it’s the first one we could detect. There are so many others, if we can get to them before they’re destroyed too.
Tried to leave a few hints, but probably wasn’t subtle enough because they’re on to me. Remember ‘madness and death?’ Check page 247. And don’t share this letter with anypony.
There are coordinates on the back of this letter with where I’m going next. When you think you’re ready come meet me there. Again don’t show this to anypony, ESPECIALLY not the Princesses.
If you get this and take it seriously you’ll meet me ten minutes from now my time. If you don’t I’ll be dead in fifteen.
Hope to see you soon.
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Happy tax day!
Man I have been so psyched to drop the reveal that I've been setting up for another sequel. I think I spoiled some of you to it before now in my excitement. Before I jump into the epic finale part of the overarching story Hard Reset turned into, I'm going to go back and clean up some of my other incomplete stories. Some of them haven't been touched since January! Plus if I could get a few chapters into the story before I start posting it I could deliver a steadier update schedule.
Haha, and just when I'm thinking that Twilight is going to be done with all this and live happily ever after...you drop THIS bomb on us. And now we have to wait til summer to see what happens next? Noooooo....
Great cliffhanger though, and I will be looking forward to the final part of this outstanding trilogy.
Well buck. That's a cliffhanger. Can't wait for the next!
I thought that this was going to be the end of the series created by Hard Reset. I am glad I was wrong.
This is a satisfying ending to an incredible story. Please don't take too long on starting the sequel.
Edit: and by 'too long' I mean middle of summer. early summer is good
i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/353/279/e31.jpg
shit just got real
Oh dear. Oh me oh my. As if fighting yourself wasn't bad enough, Twilight, now you have to fight against the Elements themselves! Will our Twiley ever catch a break?
AHHHH! FUCKING CLIFF HANGERS!
We'll be waiting for it.
hoooooooly shit.
So it's gonna continue.
Bring.
It.
On.
Good Lord, what a cliffhanger! My body is so ready for the next one!
Well, horseapples.
Sentient, evil Elements? (Even though I don't get that. Kindness? Laughter? Honesty? I can't see a magic representing such concepts be manipulative and scheming, unless the intelligence controlling them has good intentions and it's a case of Road to Tartarus.)
Regardless, I can't wait to see how this plays out.
*eye twitch* That ending...You are evil. Look what you did to Fluttershy:
poor Twilight, she just can't get a break, can she? I'm looking forward to the next part of the tale!
OMG cliff hanger! I need to know!
Is it bad I kind of saw this coming? I mean I have no idea how much you hinted at it, but I haven't been been to get it out of my system that this story wasn't ending. Then halfway through this chapter you reveal that Starswirl simply vanished and that pretty much confirmed it for me.
Not sure if I have been delusional about a sequel up until this point, or did you actually put in any foreshadowing to it?
Dun dun duuun! With that twist, suddenly a whole lot of stuff now makes sense. I'm very eagerly anticipating the threequel.
2431341
I've been building in things to call back to since chapter three, with Star Swirl saying that Luna came back differently. The most obvious one is probably in chapter four just because it's a reveal that clearly doesn't impact the plot of SiT at all but gets a bunch of attention
Starswirl the Bearde Star Swirl
Was that meant to be a strike out? I dunno XD
HOLY BUCK THERE IS GOING TO BE ANOTHER ONE! You sir....wow....
Great chapter, I loved the dynamics between the characters, how everything rounded up nicely. Totally worth the wait. Can't wait for the next story ^.^
Hoooooly crap...
I literally felt a chill up my spine with that second letter.
Damn.
Good job, take a deep breath, and get to writing the next one
But seriously now, you did a great job with this fic. I'll probably won't see the last part before my next ship, but once I'm back on the good old dry land in a couple of months, I know I'll have at least one damn amazing story to read
Stay awesome
2431394
It didn't make the jump over at first, fixed it a few minutes ago but probably after you opened the chapter
2431377 So it wasn't just me being paranoid about nothing then. Other than that, I always felt Celestia was hiding much more than she had to when she spoke to Twilight. There were so many things she could've said that would help but apparently left out just because.
Not sure if you intended for Celestia to come off as manipulative but she did to me. Guess I finally know why.
So wait, the Elements are sentient and want to make fucked up time lines?
Maybe they make the terrible alternate realities to remove them from the main timeline so that the terrible thing that happens doesn't actually happen in the main timeline, thus protecting it and its inhabitants...
My brain hurts
That sequel hook...
So the elements are actually malicious? I think this is the first time I've read a fic that takes that outlook on them.
You think that's air you're breathing now?
i.stack.imgur.com/bj1ev.jpg
I spent the first two-thirds of this waiting for the other show to drop. Something bad is goin to happen. Something bad has to happen. Something's going to happen to Azalea. Something's going to happen to Starswirl. The spell is going to go wrong. The spell is absolutely going to go wrong somehow.
But nothing did, so I guess the story is going to have a neat, calm endiOH WHAT IS THIS?
And then there was another sequel. Bravo.
Well, poop.
2431465 Sooo... Discord was a good guy?
-kinda makes sense since in an earlier chapter Twi considered asking him for advice
YES.
That is all.
i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa96/blackmoliver/moliver/KanesWrath_Redeemer_1900x12.jpg
Redeemer dissaproves of nail-biting cliffhangers.
From a steam voice conversation C(I)DR and i are having now.
CreeperDaReeper: That motherfucker.
ultra(1437) cheeky dickwaffle: I know right? Can't wait for the third story.
CreeperDaReeper: No, that cheeky bastard... no. That cheeky dickwaffle.
ultra(1437) cheeky dickwaffle: Hey, that's my name, you can't use that!
CreeperDaReeper: Too bad, he's being a cheeky dickwaffle.
But seriously, we both enjoyed the story, and CIDR might be replying to this, if he deigns to.
Absolute Perfection
I was hoping that Star Swirl disappearance would mean we would be seeing him again.
Well now, I was expecting a nice happy ending, not a mysterious cliffhanger. Given the quality of the stories so far I am looking forward to what comes next. Discord might be a good guy.
Whoa. I knew it couldn't have ended there, but Jeez, you really have an awesome thing going on. I can't wait for the next bit!
24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3919aMYxo1r9x0sdo1_400.gif
2431540
ITS !C! !D! !R! YOU CHEEKY DICKWAFFLE!!!
And the story is just about ov- well that's not good.
2431148
Wow, Tax Day. I almost forgot that's what today is.
So, does this mean we actually get to learn just what it is that makes Starswirl the Bearded no longer exist?
... what? I'm not a psychopath.
Quoth the Neo, "Whoa."
That comes out a bit flat, but other than this little complaint? Just great. I especially liked dotting the square root of -1, it gave me a chuckle.
You know, I'm not really sure I like seeing math in made up worlds. On one hand, it follows that were they remotely similar to ours, there would be mathematics, but at the same time, I feel it robs them of mystique and other-worldliness. The worst thing is, we can't even conceive of a universe where there would be no math, so at best we can pretend not to notice it.
Oh man. Oh MAN! You are now my new favorite author. I read both stories back to back, at first not at all expecting something good like this, and look how pleasant of a surprise these stories turned out to be. Some people might lament the wait till summer, but not me - this means freaking summer reading material!
Heh, just suddenly disappeared did he? That is totally not foreshadowing.
Well played sir, well played indeed.
I usually hate cliffhangers, but you did it in such an awesome way that i can't hold it against you.
fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/128/0/6/twilight_face_desk_by_proudpastry-d4z00zx.gif
Just can't get a break.
Thank goodness the next one won't come out until summer! I was afraid for a second I was going to continue reading and my eyes were going to explode from sheer magnificence.
Seriously … I wish I had something constructive to say, but I just want to luxuriate in this for a while. You are a good writer and you should feel good.
"I feel like there are still a few loose ends and details that I can’t quite put my finger on"
And then the fic gained an HiE tag.
2431725
Oh Celestia, if I do that kill me. I'll change it to hoof
No, I think we're going back to the Dark/Adventure tags for the sequel although probably with some gallows humor too. Plus Azalea will still be around, I mean I wouldn't have said she went to school on a baseball scholarship if she wasn't ever going to get the chance to smack something with Home Run
""Sooooooooo," she says, suggestive, "s"
Suggestively maybe?
" Luna had then built for"
had them built
" says. “I won’t keep you."
It'd be a bit weird if he kept her...maybe kept her waiting?
That ending...well, at least I have something else to look forward to this summer! but until then I'll be dying from the suspense...or maybe I'll be saved by my terrible memory...
Maybe using the Elements against Nightmare Moon retroactively ensured that the bond would be created all those years before?
...I was going to write a fanfic with that premise. Maybe I still will. Or did someone already, 'cause I'd like to read it.
The Terminator: Pony Edtion
Dat story. Dat ending. Dat cliffhanger. Dat everything. Dat author
Twilight stands in the empty library, having just sent Star Swirl back to the past. Out from behind a book case runs Star Swirl.
"Twilght...Twilight....you gotta listen to me, we have a problem!" he yells as he runs towards her.
Twilight turns around confused, and gasps as she sees him, "Star Swirl!? What are you doing here? I just sent you back to the past!" She stutters out, her face full of confusion.
"I know," he says, breathing hard "I'm back from the past."
Twilight just stares dumbfounded, her mouth open in a look of shock. " Great Scott", she says before passing out.
Well now, that escalated quickly, and here I was thinking to myself "self, he probably disappears to slip his way back into the current timeline without a paradox. Happy ending : D" Didn't take long for that to get squashed down.
Looking forward to where this trilogy goes next