The Trouble With Time Travel

by Mike the Red

12. The Breakdown

Amethyst and Galaxy trotted down to the Royal Archives in yet another attempt for the dark purple mare to locate the specific spell needed for her to get home. The librarian asked her mother about previous attempts which had proven fruitless, though she was so preoccupied with angry thoughts that she tried to tune her out despite repeated attempts to get her attention. Galaxy expressed exasperation at her mother's attitude.

"Mama, I need you to talk to me! You can't keep ignoring me -- I know you're probably quite angry with what happened earlier, but this is for your own good! Princess Celestia wouldn't force you to do anything unless there was a definite purpose behind her commands. You don't wanna make her angrier with you now, you know?" Several seconds of silence ensued. "Mama! Please talk to me!"

"It's not fair!" she shouted, though not directly at her daughter. "It's just not fair! This sucks!"

"Maybe you should have stayed in my timeline," the librarian mused.

"Ugh! As bad as this situation is ..." Amethyst saw her daughter give her a rather hurt looking expression. "Sorry, Galaxy. I know your timeline is what it is, but ... look, I'm sorry, I can't go there or stay there, as much as you want me to. Why'd you come back anyway? You want me to return to that timeline? I told you already, I have to go on my own. When I do, I'll be waiting for you in your timeline."

"I know you might find this hard to believe, mama, but I have decided to stay here in this timeline with you. Being reunited with you has made me happy for the first time in many years. According to the itinerary, we're supposed to meet with Luna later on! I can hardly wait to meet her -- Celestia told you a little bit about a war we had about six years ago in my timeline, a war that claimed Luna's life. You have no idea what it will mean to me to meet her again!" the librarian exclaimed almost excitedly. "I can't believe she's been assigned as your tutor! She was my tutor for more than ten years -- you are so lucky!"

"I can't study very well on an empty stomach, Galaxy --"

"Mama, we'll figure something out. You should have obeyed the Princess, now you see what it's gotten you," she chided.

"Right Face told me he likes mares with a little extra weight on them," Amethyst said, offering a slight chuckle. "Yet the Princess seems to think my weight is a health hazard. Her counterpart in the other timeline had no issue with my weight."

"Then you must have traveled across a dimensional barrier and into another universe. The spell you need is complicated enough without having to travel to an alternate universe as well," Galaxy mused.

"So how did you make it back here?" A look of incredulity crept across the mare's face.

"I tracked your magic signature, mama! Yours is unique, I must say!" she giggled.

"Twilight taught me how to track the magic signatures of magic users, be they unicorn or otherwise. That means I could travel to your universe should I desire to do so, just as you have returned to this one. If I had been thinking clearly, I could have traced my Twilight's signature and returned to my original timeline that way, though I wasn't thinking clearly when I cast the original time travel spell," Amethyst explained.

"I would like to meet your Twilight," Galaxy mused, expressing wistfulness.

"She should be the same as your Twilight, just twenty years younger. I'm curious to know what she did for those twenty years -- I suppose she was a surrogate mother to you most of that time. Again, I am so sorry for leaving you behind the way I did."

"Twilight did her best, but there were so many others to help her -- but when Luna first met me, she took a quick liking to me and showed me how she arranged the constellations in the sky. I found it so fascinating, wondering if she might allow me to craft special designs for those constellations. She took my suggestions into consideration -- and for my twelfth birthday, she placed my designs in the night sky! I was so thrilled, I could barely contain my excitement!"

"I suppose that's how you got your spiral galaxy cutie mark?"

"Luna had been my mentor since I was five years old, mama! She taught me so much, as did Twilight. I would spend many nights watching the stars with Twilight, many other nights practicing magic with Luna, reading the books in the library -- but when I was about seven, Luna informed me that there were galaxies full of stars -- that her stellar arrangements took those into account. I marveled at this concept, contemplating the possibility of other life out there in the universe. My fascination with galaxies full of stars led to me using magic to create images of galaxies with displays of light. There were many ponies who were impressed by my displays, a miniature form of Luna's arrangement of constellations. It was during one of those displays that I received my cutie mark upon having magically created perhaps the most amazing light display up to that point, one which so impressed the gathered ponies that I was given a trophy by the mayor. I was honored, but felt the trophy was unnecessary. Even so, I still kept it and displayed it in the library."

"I was always wanting to know about that, Galaxy. I suppose that's how you got your pony name as well? Is that why you don't want to be called Stephanie, even though I gave you that name?"

"You wouldn't believe the teasing I got in school for that name! I was always asked why I didn't have a pony name and never had an answer -- if anything, mama, that's what I would have asked you! Why didn't you give me a pony name?"

Amethyst hung her head in shame. "Galaxy -- I never considered the possibility of abandoning you like that, and trust me, I would have eventually given you a pony name -- but when I left you, I hadn't thought of a good pony name for you, figuring that there was enough time for me to do so. Please forgive me, I am so sorry!"

"I forgive you, mama. Let's look for that spell, we've wasted enough time as it is!"

"You've spent a lot of time in the Archives, haven't you? I suppose you'd be able to find the needed book or scroll?" Amethyst asked as she selected a book at random from a shelf and opened it. She skimmed through the book, but this one did not have the spell she needed. She continued to look through more books as her daughter did the same.

"Mama, this Archive is arranged far differently from the one I'm familiar with -- it seems to me -- mama, there's a book missing here! Where is it? I know enough about this section that there's supposed to be a particular book in this space!"

"Yeah, I noticed that as well, Galaxy. I have no idea who might have removed it -- and the ponies I know who might have it would be Celestia, Luna, or Twilight. I seriously doubt Blueblood would want that book."

The librarian chuckled loudly at that concept. "Hah! Blueblood wanting a Starswirl tome? Perhaps only to pull a prank, but definitely NOT to read! Perhaps we should ask Twilight if she has it at the Ponyville library. I wonder what she'd think of meeting me," she mused.

"The Twilight in this universe is just nineteen years old, Galaxy. That makes you a few years older than her," her mother replied.

"I think we'd get along very well then! Can we meet up with her sometime, tomorrow perhaps?"

"I think Princess Celestia would let you meet her, but because you are from a future timeline, she might not. She seems to have a more favorable opinion of you than me, so maybe she will," Amethyst opined.

They continued to search for a couple more hours before being called to the dining hall for dinner. Amethyst was once again given a very sparse portion of food as the Solar Princess observed them.

"Princess Celestia, I'd be interested in meeting Twilight," Galaxy mused. She had been given a decent sized vegetable salad.

"I shall see about facilitating a meeting between you both upon her next visit to my Castle. She is due to visit in two days' time for her private lessons with me. Amethyst, you are not permitted to meet with her, so don't bother asking me."

"Yes, your Majesty," the dark purple mare stated sullenly, refusing to make eye contact with the Alicorn as she nibbled at her half of a sandwich. "I suppose I couldn't ask for a whole sandwich either," she uttered, just barely above a mumble.

"You should be thankful you're getting any food at all, Amethyst," she said almost icily. The mare continued to eat in silence, sulking in her anger but refusing to openly express her contempt for fear of further angering the Alicorn. "I didn't hear you, Amethyst," Celestia said impatiently.

"Yes, your Majesty," the mare responded quite glumly. She'd better be careful not to make me much angrier, she thought darkly. But how am I supposed to defeat an Alicorn? I'm nowhere near THAT powerful!

"You shouldn't think so loudly, Amethyst," the Alicorn mused, chuckling softly. "You should try a little harder to conceal your anger. I find you amusing, in an odd sort of way."

"Princess Celestia, please be a little kinder to my mama -- that exercise instructor dared her to use her magic against him. I know it was wrong of her to do that, but -- think about her past! She told you her history, didn't she?"

"Yes she did, Galaxy, and I'm also fully aware of what she did while she was on her home world. She has much to atone for and she should be extremely grateful I'm even allowing her to remain here! Have you any idea of how much blood she has on her hooves?" the Alicorn asked, eliciting a look of surprise from the librarian.

"Mama, what were you telling me and EJ about your past? You were working on behalf of Discord? But what you did --"

"AAAUUGH! Enough! Please stop reminding me of that!" the dark purple mare wailed in anguish. "I didn't have a choice! It was either do that or die! Do you know how much pain I endured for that year I was running around Memphis without the use of my magic? Do you know what it's like to scrounge for food and water, not knowing whether or not you'd survive another day? Can you imagine what would happen if you lost your cutie mark like I did? Have you any idea of just what was going through my mind when I was standing on that bridge, staring at the river a hundred feet below? Do you have any idea of just how close I was to dying?" she asked, her voice cracking as she sobbed openly, the flood of emotion unleashed like a dam bursting as her tears flowed freely down her cheeks. More words momentarily failed her as her sobbing and wailing reverberated through the dining hall.

"I'm a bad pony! I killed five billion people! I don't deserve to live!" she wailed, her sobs wracking her body, her chest heaving with her sorrow. "I still have nightmares about jumping off that bridge! The screams of those souls crying out for justice! Justice I denied them! Maybe I should have jumped! Those people would still be alive!" she exclaimed through her sobbing. She pounded her head on the table several times as she continued to wallow in despair and self-pity.

"Mama! Please don't say such things! If you had jumped, I wouldn't even be here!" Galaxy exclaimed as tears started to well up in her eyes.

"Galaxy -- I'm sorry for saying that -- but -- but --" Amethyst began in an attempt to comfort her daughter. The attempt failed as her sobs renewed with fresh vigor, the memories still so painful as they played out in her mind again. A very uncomfortable silence ensued as the dark purple mare wept, trying to silence her sobs as best she could.

Celestia shifted uncomfortably in her chair and frowned, her expression changing from one of anger to one of concern as she rose to her hooves and trotted the few steps to Amethyst's side and wrapped a wing around her.

"Amethyst, I am so sorry. I remember you telling me and Twilight about your story, but I had no idea the pain was so extensive. I must apologize for my harsh treatment of you and I shall make amends for that. In return, I request you treat my staff with as much respect as you treat me. I shall assign a new exercise instructor for you and provide you with a more lenient schedule of exercises as well as restore a more normal portion size for your nutritional needs." She then called on the serving pony to fetch more food for the dark purple mare.

"Thank you very much, your Majesty. I am sorry for acting the way I did, and I promise I will do my best to behave properly for you," she said in appreciation as she dried her eyes. She sniffled a few times as she tried to push aside her sadness, though the painful memories of those dark days continued to linger, a few more tears trickling down her cheeks.

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