They returned to the Castle of Friendship, ponies quickly clearing the streets and reporting back to their hotels as the day concluded. Twilight noticed a gathering of ponies in front of the Castle of Friendship, and quickly hurried over to get them situated for the night, while the rest snuck in via teleportation. They retired to their respective rooms, where Miracle and Luna shared a laugh as Clockwork was forced to allow Celestia to brush his teeth for him.
“Don’t worry, levitation’s easy, I got the hang of it in a few hours,” Miracle called over.
If Clockwork could have replied, the look he was shooting Miracle implied quite a bit of profanity.
Finally, they snuggled up in their beds. “Hey, how much longer does the Festival last?” Miracle asked, looking over at Luna, his temporary roommate.
“I believe there is just one more day,” Luna answered.
“And then… we go back to Canterlot,” Miracle trailed off, sighing.
“Is there something wrong?” Luna asked.
“I dunno… it’s just… this festival has been a really nice break from having to think about being a prince,” Miracle admitted. “I’m worried that as soon as we get back to ‘regular’ life around here… I’ll fail to meet everyone’s expectations.”
Luna smiled over at him. “You have already far exceeded mine,” she replied quietly.
There was a moment of silence, as Miracle didn’t know what to say to that.
“Miracle? May I tell you a secret?” Luna asked, after a moment.
“…Sure,” Miracle responded, rolling over to face her fully instead of staring up at the ceiling.
“I… I hope you will not take this the wrong way… but… When you were younger, you were… very headstrong,” Luna began, swallowing nervously.
“Sounds about right,” Miracle agreed, surprising her.
“And… you were quite violent. But now, you’re so laid-back, so… cool… I am proud to say that you have much improved since we last were together.”
Miracle smiled. “Oh, come on, you’re just saying that because you’re my mom,” he dismissed.
Luna pouted. “I am not!” she retorted indignantly. “I meant what I said in the castle a few days ago – I am proud to call you my son, and I would be just as proud to call you my friend!”
Miracle sighed. “I… I know. I just… it’s hard to believe.” Luna fell silent.
“Then I shall have to provide indisputable evidence,” she responded after a moment, and Miracle grinned at the joke.
As he drifted off to sleep, his grin faded, however. “Good luck with that,” he whispered.
The four of them got up, and readied themselves for another day at the festival. As Miracle watched Luna put on her shoes and peytral, a thought occurred to him.
“Hey, what colors are our jewelry going to be?” he wondered.
Luna raised an eyebrow. “Whatever colors you wish,” she answered.
“Okay… so, Celestia and Cadence have gold and pink, Twilight has purple, you have light blue…” Miracle trailed off in thought.
“Perhaps this discussion is best saved for when we get back home – for now, let us enjoy ourselves!” Luna encouraged, practically dragging him out the door.
The crowd had lessened considerably since yesterday, though the streets were still more crowded than they had any right to be. “Since today’s the end of the festival, most of the attractions are closing down,” Twilight informed them. “But, there are still a few that are open!”
She led them to what looked to Miracle like a miniature House of Mirrors, with a sign saying “Mirrors of Time” written overhead.
“These depict what you’d look like if you were older or younger,” Twilight explained.
Curious, Miracle tried one, saying “1 Year Ago.” To his shock, he saw his human self in the mirror, looking back at him with the same confused expression. Fortunately, it seems his human counterpart was wearing clothes.
“Whoa, check it out!” Clockwork noted, stepping into the frame. At the same time, Ben stepped into the frame on the other side, staring at Josh just as Clockwork was staring at Miracle.
“Huh. So, it somehow knows what we looked like?” Miracle noted.
He moved to another, which said “At Birth.” Miracle smiled as he gazed down upon his infant pony self, looking pudgy and adorable. His baby blue eyes had not yet dulled to grey, and the fuzz of red-orange hair on his pudgy, younger face gleamed a brilliant copper.
Finally, he moved to the next, which simply stated “Adjustable.” There was a knob set into the mirror, and Miracle curiously turned it. He saw his human self, getting younger and younger… then nothing. Miracle turned the knob more quickly, and still nothing showed on the mirror. Just the blank canvas tent behind him… He gave the knob a full clockwise turn, wondering how far back he’d have to go to reach his foalhood self. A thousand years, right? To his surprise, his younger self suddenly appeared, though… he could have sworn… but no, he very clearly was a regular alicorn foal. Miracle turned the knob the other way, and there it was again! Just for the tiniest fraction of a second, his frame had turned darker – not much more he could make out.
“Um, Luna?” he asked, calling her over.
“Yes?” she answered, looking curiously at his younger self.
“When I… disappeared… I wasn’t burnt alive, was I?” Miracle hesitantly asked.
“Goodness, no!” Luna exclaimed. “Whatever made you think that?!”
Miracle scuffed a hoof awkwardly. “Well, it’s just… if I turn the knob like this…” he demonstrated, and he could see Luna catch the flicker of darkness pass over his younger self as well.
She studied it intently, turning the knob this way and that, trying to focus on the image. Finally, she gave up. “Perhaps this mirror was not calibrated properly for a thousand years of age,” she wondered. “Pay it no mind, Miracle, it was likely just a magical error.”
She led him over to the exit of the tent, and Miracle reluctantly followed, glancing one last time at the mirror with the knob on it. There had been something about it… something important… though he wasn’t quite sure what.
As soon as they exited the tent, a secretary pony Miracle vaguely recognized came trotting up, a few papers in mouth. “Princess Twilight? Mayor Mare sent me to find you, there are some important ordinances about the festival cleanup-“ the secretary began as Twilight stiffened.
“Oh, no, I completely forgot about the cleanup effort! I’m so sorry, everypony, I’ve got to go organize!” she excused herself, rushing off.
Clockwork watched her go with a grin. “That mare…” he trailed off, trying not to laugh.
Celestia watched her go as well, a motherly smile on her face. “She’s quite the hoofful sometimes… but she does know how to organize. Anyway, we still have the schedule. Shall we look around for some more exhibits?” she offered. Everyone grunted in general agreement, and the four of them set off once more.
As they traveled through the town, looking for leftover exhibits to do, Miracle spotted Coxa and Chelicerae seemingly relaxing in the park, Chelicerae running around with a stick in her mouth and swishing it at leaves, seemingly pretending it was a sword.
“Hi, Coxa!” Miracle called out.
Coxa looked over curiously, and smiled as she spotted the pair of them. “Friend Miracle! How are you?” she asked, carefully pronouncing her last three words.
“I’m well, thank you. And you?” he asked.
“I am well,” Coxa answered. She then turned to Princess Celestia and Luna, and bowed low. “Greetings, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna,” she intoned.
“Greetings… Coxa,” Celestia reluctantly returned, surprised by something.
“Have you been feeding well?” Clockwork asked, taking a seat beside Coxa as he watched Chelicerae play around.
Coxa nodded. “Princess Twilight insist on break yesterday. Tell me I am ‘overworked.’ Chelicerae no have school… so I bring her here. This what ‘parents’ do, yes?” she asked, looking at Miracle uncertainly.
Miracle nodded. “This is what parents do,” he agreed, and Coxa smiled in relief.
“Good. Chelicerae is getting plenty of love off of her school friends. I have been feeling well ever since you stopped by,” Coxa added.
“Glad to hear it,” Miracle returned.
“Friends!” Chelicerae shouted, having finally spotted them, and leapt into Miracle’s legs for a hug.
“Good to see you too, kiddo. I see you have a stick!” Miracle announced dramatically.
Chelicerae nodded, waving the stick all around. “Someday I become big Guard!” she explained.
Miracle grinned and nodded. “You will be the best Guard, ever,” he proclaimed, and Chelicerae beamed at him, the stick still held between her teeth as she joyously showed off her fangs.
“Coxa!” a changeling called, flying above them before crash-landing into the grass. “You supposed to be on books!” Coxa snarled, immediately losing her motherly smile as she raised her hackles.
“Orders from Princess Twilight, ‘take day off!’” she retorted.
“Princess Twilight too nice to you! Just because you have a grub…” the changeling grumbled.
“What did you say?” Coxa demanded, getting into a fighting stance.
Chelicerae watched between the two in dismay, sad that her playtime had become so serious. Miracle, upon noticing her expression, cleared his throat, causing the two changelings to glance over and notice the four alicorns looking at them with stern expressions. The other changeling paled as they noticed the Princesses, and dropped low to a bow.
“My apologies, Princesses, I… I…” it stammered, as the full weight of its defiance hit it.
Miracle stood, and raised an eyebrow. “New orders from Prince Miracle Matter,” he intoned imperiously. The changeling awaited its punishment, unwilling to look at him as it trembled. Miracle placed a gentle hoof on its withers. “Come relax with us for a moment. You’re clearly stressed,” he softly finished.
The changeling looked up, looking as though it hardly dared to believe its luck. “N… no punishment?” it asked disbelievingly.
Miracle nodded. “We are all friends here.” He smiled as the new changeling slowly, uncertainly got to its hooves, cautiously moving over to take a seat beside him. “What is your name?” Miracle inquired.
“I am Pharynx,” she introduced, sounding as though she too had memorized this greeting.
“Nice to meet you, Pharynx. Is your job going well?” Miracle asked. He could feel Celestia’s and Luna’s eyes on him, though whether in approval or another emotion he couldn’t tell.
“The job is… going slow. We try to finish at least two hours before Twilight gets back from errands, but somepony took all the pillows and placed them in one room. Took us hours to replace them,” Pharynx explained.
Miracle stiffened. “That was our fault,” he admitted. “We were having a slumber party. I believe, if you explain this to Twilight, she will say much the same, and you will be exonerated for falling behind schedule.”
Pharynx nodded uncertainly. “And if not…?” she wondered.
“Then tell Princess Twilight to take it up with me,” Miracle answered.
Pharynx tilted her head. “You would speak… on behalf of us?” she wondered.
“He is Friend,” Coxa spoke up quietly. “He and his brother fed us when we asked.”
Luna stiffened beside Miracle. “You fed a changeling?” she asked him.
Miracle nodded uncertainly.
Luna seemed smug for some reason, but said nothing more, to Miracle’s consternation.
“…Anyway, I want to be your friend as well, Pharynx,” he continued after a moment.
Pharynx looked at him suspiciously. “You… are not afraid of us,” she observed.
Miracle raised an eyebrow. “Why should I be?” he rebutted.
Pharnyx seemed at a loss for words.
They rested there for a moment more, Pharynx seemingly wanting to say something but stopping herself. Chelicerae elected to rest as well, stick still in mouth as she curled up beneath Coxa, who nuzzled the nape of her neck proudly. Clockwork looked over the schedule, whereas Celestia and Luna simply opted to look pretty, smiling at passersby and giving nervous looks to Coxa, Pharynx and even Chelicerae when they thought nopony was looking. Finally, after a few minutes, Miracle stood up, stretching.
“Welp. I guess we’d better finish off the day, huh?” he remarked to the others.
“Of course,” Celestia readily agreed. “It has been nice meeting you two. Good luck with your duties!” she dismissed Coxa and Pharynx, who nodded and saluted once before flying off somewhere else, Chelicerae reluctantly dropping the stick as she protested leaving the park.
“Alright, uh… there’s not much left, around this time, but this thing Discord set up looks kind of cool,” Clockwork announced.
“Discord set up an attraction?” Celestia wondered, looking at the schedule again.
“Apparently it’s some kind of… house tour? Except the house is all weird, and defies the laws of spacetime and physics. A lot of ponies were talking about that one earlier,” Clockwork explained.
“Well, now I am interested in what he has wrought,” Luna mused.
“Where is it?” Miracle asked.
“Location is… ‘anywhere,’” Clockwork noted. “How does that even-“ he stopped, bumping into a wall, and looked up in confusion. There, suspended improbably in midair, were a set of stairs, leading to a single door, simply floating in the sky.
“Cool,” Miracle noted, and began to make his way up the stairs.
He opened the door, Celestia, Luna and Clockwork behind him in apprehension, and stepped into a grassy meadow. A door was on the other side of the meadow, and a sign next to the door. The sign said “Welcome to Discord’s Wacky Spacetime Emporium! Don’t forget to sign the guestbook.” Miracle looked around, not seeing a guestbook anywhere. Perhaps it was at the end of the tour?
“’Discord’s Wacky Spacetime Emporium?’ Is that really the name?” Clockwork questioned.
Miracle snorted. “I get the feeling it’s going to be accurate. So, are we ready to start?” he asked.
Celestia and Luna looked at each other, then nodded. They opened the next door.
Immediately, they were greeted with what appeared to be a solid, gelatinous mass of blue, the meadow instantly shifting to dunes of sand below the strange liquid substance. Miracle stepped through it, able to breathe and move around freely despite seemingly being underwater.
“I think… we’re at the bottom of the ocean?” Miracle remarked, the others looking around in wonder and confusion.
“How curious… I did not detect any magic allowing us to breathe or walk,” Luna noted.
“Maybe this is an alternate reality, and we are actually just superimposed onto it?” Celestia theorized. They walked through the ocean, staring around as fish swam right through them.
“Fascinating,” Luna commented as a shark lazily drifted past. “Discord has truly created an artful work.”
They found the next door, leading them to step out into an expanse of blackness. All around them were little twinkling lights, and it took them a moment to realize they were stars.
“We’re in space!” Clockwork cheered, whirling this way and that to gaze at everything he could. Josh looked at the ‘floor,’ which appeared to be an invisible platform.
“How strange…” he muttered as he tapped a hoof against it, trying to determine what material it might be made of. It wasn’t metal, or wood, or stone, as near as he could tell. Giving up, he followed the others, following their gaze to stare off at a distant, familiar planet.
“So that’s Anima, huh?” Miracle inquired as he looked at it.
“Indeed,” Celestia agreed. “But to see it from this distance… it is so beautiful,” she choked, suppressing a tear.
Miracle tried to see what she was seeing, to spy some profound beauty in the planet he now called home. It was very different than Earth, with the Sun and Moon clearly visible and noticeably smaller than the planet they orbited around. But try as he might, his gaze was pulled away every time by the stars. They were vast, numerous and unmoving, looking for all the world like the stars back home.
“Luna?” he asked after a moment.
“Yes?” Luna replied curiously.
“When you move the stars in the night sky… do you actually… move all of them?” he wondered.
“Nay,” Luna denied.
“I merely shift the light coming from them so they appear moved. I may also scatter the light to produce images like comets, nebulae, or galaxies, if I so desire,” she explained.
“Fascinating…” Miracle Matter murmured.
They lingered in the space room for a lot longer than they did in the others, gazing about them in naked wonder at the majesty of the stars.
“This is so cool,” Clockwork commented for the fourth time, peering at a group of stars below the floor.
Miracle quietly agreed. Up here, nopony cared about princes and ponies, about the daily struggle of mortal life. The stars were eternal, quiescent, unyielding as they continued shining their light into the darkness, unhindered by such petty concepts as ‘love’ or ‘good’ or ‘evil.’ Miracle made a mental note to be more like these stars someday.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, they managed to gather enough wits about them to realize how long they had been dawdling. They made their way forward, to where the next door was waiting, floating seemingly unanchored in space. Miracle opened it with his magic, curiously stepping forward into the next area.
To his surprise, it was nothing more than an ordinary lobby room, a few ponies milling about and excitedly discussing the rooms they’d seen. Listening in on some of the conversations, Miracle deduced to his surprise that each group had received a different set of rooms, unique to them. There was a guestbook in the center of the lobby, on a table, and Miracle trotted over to this slowly. He picked up the quill in his magic, and in his usual sloppy writing, wrote:
“Princes Miracle Matter and Clockwork Chronology, and Princesses Celestia and Luna.”
To the right of this, there was a section for comments. Miracle thought for a while, before simply writing:
“Thank you.”
That done, he rejoined the group, and they stepped through one final door.
They reappeared in the exact same location they had left, ponies stopping to stare at the four royals arriving out of a door to nowhere before realizing where they had come from.
“Well, that was certainly something,” Celestia commented. “I shall have to commend Discord on his excellent exhibit.”
Luna nudged Miracle Matter, smiling. “It seems you liked it too, judging by your expression,” Luna teased.
Clockwork looked over and snorted. “I think he liked it a little too much. He’s going to be silent like that for a while.”
Miracle, in his head, was still lost in that expanse of stars, staring out at the endless pinpricks of light. He didn’t know why, but the feeling he was currently experiencing… it felt so… familiar. Like those stars were old friends of his, come to visit after years of silence. Maybe someday he’d understand this feeling. But for now… he was content to even feel it at all.
As they walked through town, Luna gasped and pointed at what appeared to be the Mirrors of Time exhibit.
“What has happened?” she asked, rushing over to it.
Miracle followed, still too dazed to realize what was going on. As Celestia and Clockwork caught up, they too stared openmouthed.
The entire exhibit had been wrecked, mirrors smashed, and the tent ripped in multiple places. The adjustable mirror in particular had been completely destroyed – the knob was missing, the glass had been shattered instead of merely cracked, and the frame had been broken into multiple places.
“Who would do such a thing?” Celestia wondered in quiet fury. “These were timeless artifacts – indeed, the knowledge of making them has been lost! Why would anypony treat them like – like this?!”
She realized she was shouting, the resident ponies of Ponyville glancing at her fearfully, and Celestia made a visible effort to calm herself down.
“Alright. I shall talk to Princess Twilight, and we shall see if she has any information on who could have done this,” Celestia decided.
“Wow, an exhibit got sabotaged,” Clockwork remarked, bumping Miracle in the shoulder. “This is getting pretty exciting, huh?”
Miracle continued to stare off into space, muttering “Yeah” as his only response.
Clockwork rolled his eyes. “I’ll… tell you about it later. Come on, Josh, we’ve got stuff to do,” he decided, dragging Miracle along.
As they arrived at the castle, they immediately noticed Twilight, Luna and Celestia having a hushed discussion around the Cutie Map.
“…And you’re sure it was one of them?” Luna was asking.
“The magical signature matched one of theirs within a very good tolerance,” Twilight assured. “Though, I’ve no idea why they would decide to betray us in such an openly callous manner.”
As they spotted Miracle Matter and Clockwork Chronology, Luna and Celestia hastily adopted less serious expressions. “Are you two ready to leave?” Luna asked, without preamble.
“Leave? Now? That’s rather sudden,” Clockwork noted.
“Well, it’s just… we have worked out that the sabotage of the exhibit was caused by… a certain group… that we wish to avoid,” Celestia carefully explained.
“It’s the changelings, isn’t it,” Miracle spoke up, surprising them.
Luna swallowed nervously. “…Yes,” she admitted. “Specifically, the ones in this town. It seems one of them is still loyal to the Queen, after all,” she added.
Miracle shrugged. “I figured as much,” was all he said.
“…So… do we really have to go?” Clockwork asked reluctantly.
Celestia sighed. “I am afraid we have no other choice. I cannot afford losing you two again to… well, you’ll be much safer in Canterlot.”
Clockwork sighed back, but agreed, and Miracle agreed to leave as well, though his mind was still on other subjects. Most notably, that he had been being watched by changelings for… quite a while now. Why? What could they want with him? It couldn’t just be that he was being friendly to their kind – Thorax had already hopped on that bandwagon far before he could. Was it because he was an important political figure, who had suddenly appeared? No, that wasn’t sufficient justification to spy on him like this. So, then, why…? Miracle looked up, and realized they had somehow walked to the train station in the time he had been thinking. He elected to shelve this train of thought for now, and concentrate on not acting like an antisocial zombie.
The five of them, Princess Twilight included, politely waited in the busy line, slowly moving forward as the train in front of them filled up.
“Four tickets to Canterlot, please,” Twilight asked.
“That’ll be 16 bits,” a hoarse voice answered them.
“Ticket Ride?! Wow, you look… tired,” Twilight noted as she winced at the sight of him.
Ticket Ride looked as though he hadn’t slept for days, the bags under his eyes enough to send lesser ponies away screaming.
“Yeah… it’s okay, though, the boss told me I could take a week-long break after this…” Ticket Ride explained, accepting Twilight’s money and pushing four tickets through the slot.
Twilight winced again as she led the four of them over to the train. “I didn’t realize he’d be handling most of the traffic through Ponyville,” she sadly noted. “I’ll have to send him a gift as some sort of thank-you.”
Celestia nodded. “After what I saw of that young stallion’s face… that would be most wise. Goodbye, my fellow princess! May luck and fortune smile upon you,” Celestia stated, bringing her faithful student in for one last nuzzle.
“Goodbye, Princess Celestia, and you as well!” Twilight returned.
“May the stars watch over you,” Luna formally intoned as she stepped onto the train, Twilight nodding.
“Hey. Take care of yourself out there,” Clockwork added as he too stepped onto the train.
“You too, Clockwork!” Twilight warmly agreed.
Finally, all that was left was Miracle Matter, who gave Twilight a look. He didn’t know what he was doing, but he felt compelled to say this:
“Spare them. There is more to this story than you think.”
Twilight appeared unsure how to react to this, and after a moment, Miracle seemed to come to himself, stepping onto the train.
As Miracle slowly came out of his daze once more, he realized he was sitting on a comfy, wide train seat. Indeed, it was the exact same spot he had been in on his first trip to Canterlot, though it had been too small and not well padded back then. Sighing, Miracle drifted off.