They caught a cab that took them to the train station, where they bought tickets for the first train of the morning. They boarded it amid the first signs of grey dawn, and ended up sleeping in their seats through most of the day-long trip to Ponyville.
Dusk was thick upon the town as the pair stepped off the train. Even so, and despite being on the opposite end of town, they could clearly see the Castle of Friendship sparkling in the fading light.
Nova froze as he caught sight of it. “Vinyl… what is that?”
She followed where he was pointing. “Oh yeah, that’s Twilight’s castle. ‘Sparkalon,’ or whatever. Thing grew right up out of the ground a year or so back.”
He fixed her with a stare. “Can you get me inside?”
“Maybe. Why?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know exactly, but I’m telling you… I have the strongest feeling yet about that place.”
Vinyl nodded. “Tell ya what, I’ve got an old friend who could probably hook us up. Used to call at odd hours and book gigs at the last minute. Paid in candy about half the time. I figure she owes me one.”
“Thank you.” He paused. “I take it that isn’t… Octy?”
“No,” Vinyl said quickly. “We’re taking this one pony’s damage at a time, and you're up first.”
Vinyl knew a good inn with a second-floor overlook that gave a view of the Castle of Friendship, and she left Nova staring out at it as she made a brief trip over to Sugarcube Corner. It took some persuading to keep Pinkie Pie from throwing her a “welcome-back-a-versary” party on the spot, but Vinyl eventually got through to her.
Nova was still there when she returned, just sitting on his haunches, staring over the inn’s wooden railing railing at the darkened yet somehow still shimmering castle.
“Look how it twinkles in the starlight,” he said as she approached.
“Uh… what now?”
He kept his gaze fixed on the castle. “I don’t know why, but I’ve found myself quite taken by the way it…” He shook his head. “I’m sorry. It’s probably nothing. How did it go with your friend?”
“It was good.” She sat down at his side and draped a hoof around him. “But don’t try to tell me it’s nothing. You had some memories come back.”
“I did.”
She followed his gaze out at the castle, unsure what he was really looking at. “So, does that mean you remember what you’re looking for?”
“Not exactly.”
She frowned. “Okay then… do you remember how you got here?”
He took a deep breath. “I can make an educated guess.”
Vinyl raised her other forehoof to his muzzle and turned him toward her gently. “No more twenty-questions, Nova. If it’s that big, why don’t—”
“My name.”
Vinyl’s heart thumped harder than a bass drop. She let go of his muzzle. “Yeah?”
He shook his head.
She huffed, then slugged him in the chest. “You jagweed! After all this, you just roll in and drop something like that, but you still won’t even level with me?”
“It would change things,” he said, rubbing the spot where she hit him.
She sighed, then groaned, and took her sunglasses off. “Look, ‘Nova,’ I don’t care. Whatever it is, whoever you really are… I already see somepony I like. You’re intense. Life doesn’t just happen to you; you go happen to it. And I dig that about you.”
She touched a hoof to his goatee. He looked at her with a wan smile. “I would never want you to stop wearing the glasses entirely,” he said. “But you have lovely eyes. They’re warm, and clever, just like you. And they twinkle when you’re thinking about doing something mad.” He laughed. “Which does seem to be most of the time.”
Heat rose in Vinyl’s cheeks. “Are they doing it now?”
Nova smiled.
Her eyes searched his. “Tell me your name,” she said, tightening her grip on his goatee. “Because I wanna do something right now, but I don’t wanna do it if you won’t even give me that. Know what I mean?”
“It’s not that simple—”
She pushed him away. “Yes it is! It means you’re either gonna make me ride this feeling that you’re giving me on faith—blind faith—or it means you’re gonna make me stop here, where I am. And I don’t like stopping!”
“I’m not making you do anything,” he said quietly.
“Not true. You’ve dangled this whole big, mysterious, sexy… thing all out in front of me, and now you’re asking whether I really want to know where it’s going? Pssh, like that’s some kind of choice.”
His eyebrows climbed above a smile. “You think I’m sexy?”
Vinyl pointed a hoof at him. “Don’t change the subject. You’re maybe a five out here in the lamplight. Or a four when you’re being a pain in the flank. Which is most of the time!”
Nova’s features softened. “Vinyl, do you trust me?”
She threw her forelegs out wide. “I came with you to Ponyville, didn’t I? I went and got you your stupid tour of Twiggy’s castle, right?” She shook her head. “And yeah, I didn’t kill you when you opened Octy’s bottle. I mean, that would’ve been the time to do it.”
He placed his forehooves on her shoulders. “You’ve been far better to me than I deserve, for what I’ve offered in return. But even so, I’d ask you to believe me when I say—”
Vinyl swatted his forehooves away and headed for the door. “Definitely a four,” she called back toward him. “Maybe even a two or a three!”
“Vinyl, please—”
She hesitated for a moment, but then continued stomping off.
They met outside the inn early the next morning. A chill wind raised the hairs on the back of Vinyl’s neck as she waited for him. It was nearly as chilly as the look that she gave “Nova” as he approached.
“Good morning,” he said.
“Is it?”
He looked at the ground. The expression on his face seemed uncertain—maybe a little bit sad. “Did you sleep well?”
She fixed him with a glare. “If you think small talk’s gonna help make up for last night, maybe I should save us both time and just head for the train station now.”
“Vinyl…” He hesitated before meeting her eyes. “I… took some time to think last night. About what you said when I mentioned… changing things.”
Vinyl shook her head. “You missed your moment, dingus.”
“I… I know. But Vinyl, when I journeyed here, the absolute last possibility on my mind was… finding someone I might… care about.”
She rolled her eyes. “So is this all just gonna be about you?”
“No. No, of course not.” He walked over to her and raised a forehoof to touch her shoulder, but she jerked away from him.
He sighed again. “All right. For all the kindness that you’ve shown me, and… I just… I thought I could live with not telling you, but I can’t.” He swallowed. “Vinyl, my real name is Star Swirl the Bearded.”
Vinyl blinked. Her jaw opened in silence.
They stared into each other’s eyes for a long, tense moment. Vinyl was motionless, save for her continued blinking. Nova—Star Swirl—began to sweat.
Finally, Vinyl cocked her head and took a long look at his flank. “Huh. A swirl of stars, and not a nova. Dang.”
He furrowed his brow. “Well, yes… but I just said I am—”
“The Bearded?” she said, studying his chin. “Is that, like, seriously part of your name?”
Star Swirl hung his head. Eventually, with a quiet voice, he asked: “Have my deeds truly faded into history by your time?”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, history, of course; now I recognize you. There was a whole chapter on you in my history book when I was a filly. I used to read it every night, to help me fall asleep.”
Star Swirl made a small choking sound, which Vinyl followed with a huge laugh. “Oh, dude, the look on your face…”
He narrowed his eyes at her, but smiled. “Vinyl. Please. I’m… being truthful.”
She let her smile fade. “I know.”
He stared at her, dumbstruck. “But… how? I mean, the whole thing should be preposterous! One hardly expects a walking, talking historical figure to just… show up on one’s doorstep.”
“I think you mean an alley,” Vinyl said, giving him a faint hint of a smile again. She shrugged. “I dunno, I guess… I figure you’ve been honest with me this whole time, with what you knew, and when you knew it. I mean…” She paused, looking away. “Usually there’s a moment, if somepony’s lying, where they… say things differently. Like… not at the big moment, where they want you to buy the big lie. But somewhere before then, with something smaller. Kind of like they’re working themselves up for the big lie. And you… you never had that moment with me.”
She continued looking away. After a moment, Star Swirl reached out and touched her shoulder again. “Is that what Octy did to you?”
Vinyl closed her eyes, and shook her head. “No, dude. It’s what I did to her.”
He pulled her into a gentle hug, which she returned with much greater force. Eventually she pounded a forehoof on his back and spoke into his shoulder: “Why didn’t you just tell me last night?”
Star Swirl tried to shrug. “Because it does change things. You know it does.”
“Yeah.” She pulled out of the hug enough to look at him through tear-streaked eyes. “It means you came through in time to do something important. In Ponyville. Inside that stupid castle.”
He nodded. “The more I think upon the fragments of my memory, the more I think that castle is at the epicenter of a great threat to reality. Something that endangers time itself, if left unchecked.”
Vinyl set her jaw. “All right, then… we go in there, we find it, and we kick its butt. Right?”
Star Swirl shook his head. “Once I’m in the castle, you should run. Run far, and fast… just get away from here. I’ll try to find it, take it by surprise, and stop whatever scheme it’s planning, but if I should fail…”
“No way. If this thing’s half as bad as you say it is, you’re gonna need somepony watching your flank.” She cracked a smile that showed teeth. “And fortunately, I don’t mind keepin’ an eye on that tight lil’ seven you’re workin’ there.”
“Wha… Vinyl, you are incorrigible! We’re talking about a life-and-death battle with a phenomenally destructive foe! Much as I find your assessment flattering, it’s essential that I know what magic arts you’ve been trained in if you’re to join me.”
“Uh… y’know. Good stuff. Like… Trance, or maybe Darkwave? I’m also workin’ on a mix of Acid House and Trap that I call Acid Trap. That’s totally a thing!”
Star Swirl narrowed his eyes. “What kind of trap was that again?”
They found Pinkie waiting for them at the entrance to the Castle of Friendship. She turned a long, appraising glance at Star Swirl. “Oooooo! Hey there, Scratchie; who’s your friend?”
Vinyl and Star Swirl exchanged glances. “Uh, nopony,” she said. “He’s just my, uh… travelling… friend. Who wanted to see the castle.”
“Well hi there, ‘travelling friend who wanted to see the castle!’” She leaned in and gave Vinyl a cartoonish eyebrow-waggle. “So I guess you’re finally over things with you-know-who, eh?”
Vinyl clenched her jaw. “Pinkie… if you tell her that I’m here, I swear I’m suddenly not gonna have an open spot on my gig schedule for the next year.”
Pinkie gave her a narrow-eyed look, then raised a hoof to her eyes and pointed back at Vinyl. “Well played Scratchie. Well played.” A smile subsumed Pinkie’s face again. “Come on along then, totally-platonic friends!”
Pinkie led them through the Castle of Friendship’s gates and down its great central corridor. Every surface glinted in the light of the still-rising sun. Vinyl kept her eyes fixed on Star Swirl, whose face bore a slack-jawed expression.
“Pretty cool, eh?” Vinyl asked as they ascended a staircase.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said. “Outside of the Elements themselves, the amount of latent magical energy flowing through this place is unprecedented. I mean, this surface looks like crystal, but if you cast a spell to take a closer look at its refractive index…”
She rolled her eyes. He quieted for a moment. “Vinyl, this place… it’s a magical amplifier of unspeakable proportions. I don’t know why I didn’t feel it until I got inside, but… forget what we talked about. The danger is even greater than I realized.”
She stamped a hoof. “No! We agreed, we’re in this together.”
“Yes, but if I can feel it, then whatever we’re looking for can, too. And could likely draw upon its power.”
“Yeah, but you’re Star Swirl the Bearded. Can’t you use its power, too?”
“Perhaps, given some time to study it…”
They came out to another large corridor, then passed through a heavy door into a sprawling library. Long shelves stretched across the massive space, and stacks upon stacks of unshelved books littered the room, suggesting either disorganization or very heavy use.
There was a rustling sound from behind a nearby stack. Pinkie hopped over it, shouting: “Boo! Hee hee, did I scare you?”
“Not really,” a mare said in an annoyed tone.
“Well hey, come out and say hi to some visitors! You remember Scratchie, don’tcha? And this is her definitely-totally-not-coltfriend who just wanted to come see the castle with her!”
“Oh, of course I remember Vinyl.” The mare stepped out into sight, and Vinyl smiled as she laid eyes on an old acquaintance. “How have things been in Manehattan?”
“Eh, not bad, Starlight.” Vinyl gave her a hoof bump, then turned and looked at Star Swirl. “Hey Nova, say hello to Starlight Glimmer.”
Faint sparks danced upon Star Swirl’s horn as he locked eyes with Starlight. “You’re… Starlight Glimmer…”
Starlight drew back a few steps, and looked at Pinkie and Vinyl in turn. “Um… yes, and you are…?”
His horn-glow grew more intense, and he looked back at Vinyl with glowing eyes. “I know you won’t run, though you should. I will do everything I can to protect you.”
Pinkie bit her lip. “Uh, Scratchie? I think your friend is freaking me and Starlight out a teensy little… huge bit…”
A breeze stirred the room as he turned his focus on Starlight, declaring in magically-amplified tones: “Starlight Glimmer, through the powers of my time-scrying I have witnessed your attempt to destabilize all of space-time. Know that I will not allow this!”
Starlight recoiled. “But wait, I… who are you?!”
His horn surged with power, and the breeze rose suddenly to gale-force. “My name is Star Swirl the Bearded, and I have come to stop you!”
A wall of force slammed into place around Vinyl. Though it was invisible, it hit her like a hammer, and it threw her from her hooves. She hit her head hard on the floor when she landed, leaving everything that happened afterward as mere impressions in her concussed mind.
Massive bolts of power shot back and forth across the library. After a time, Princess Twilight descended on the fray, increasing the battle’s intensity manyfold. Ponies shouted so loudly that Vinyl felt unsure why she couldn’t make out their words.
But then, after a while, Nova—Star Swirl—stopped firing, and started listening.
Vinyl’s mind wandered as she lay there watching him talk with Princess Twilight, and she found herself trying to process everything that had happened over the previous few days. Taking Star Swirl the Bearded, an ancient wizard, into her apartment. Sharing a train car—and maybe a connection—with him. Helping him assault Starlight Glimmer. Not killing him after he opened Octy’s bottle. Now watching him surrender to the Princess and be arrested by muscular and angry-looking guards.
She cracked a dull smile and considered that she’d been a little harsh. Old dude or not, he was more like an eight, really—or maybe even a nine.