The roaring waterfall thundered deep into the apex of a horseshoe-shaped ocean bay, sending its salty spray drifting back up to the top of the plateau. Here, the scent of sea salt mingled with strong odors from the local flora. This place seemed oddly familiar, but Twilight Sparkle was certain she'd never been here. The waterfall blended rainbowfalls from above into fresh water in much the same way as Winsome Falls in the Everfree did, and the bay below bore a remarkable resemblance to a miniature version of Horseshoe Bay from the Eastern shores of Equestria. But those two features were normally separated by more than a thousand kilometers.
It couldn't be Winsome Falls no matter how far into the past she'd traveled. Twilight could see the ocean vista stretching out into infinity from here, and Winsome Falls was so far from the ocean you couldn't see it, not even from this height. As much as this land resembled Equestria, this place was nowhere on the map.
"Am I in... that place?" mumbled Twilight, as she struggled in vain to remember the name. If this land were somehow related to Quifons, it didn't look anything like the sparkling misty visage she'd seen before. There was nothing more magical here than your run-of-the-mill rainbowfalls pouring out of clouds and down to the ground below.
However, there was one remarkably unusual thing, far above her: the Sun was larger. Around twice its normal size in the Heavens, Twilight estimated. But it was no warmer here than a typical day in early Summer, and the sky was otherwise unremarkable.
Twilight stared for a long moment over the edge of the cliff before focusing her attention on the cosmopolitan array of busy ponies working all across the plateau. A vast clearing had been constructed here on the falls-side of the tall mesa. Gaping holes in the earth were still being leveled out, and the enormous trees which had probably occupied them were being carved into buildings and other structures by a team of unicorn artisans. In the distance, trees of less unusual size swallowed the landscape. The Sun above failed to penetrate the dense woods, which looked to Twilight like an identical copy of the Everfree Forest.
An even larger hole resembling a strip mine covered most of the open area. The walls of the pit were being reinforced by masonry. The structure was so gigantic it could only have been a pre-planned city sewer, or possibly an underground keep much larger than the Castle of Friendship. From out of the forest, gryphons and earth ponies dragged large, chiseled stones over to the walls of the pits where zebra laid them in place and secured them together with something resembling a white, glowing cement. Small, colorful dragons breathed fire onto the cement, hardening it instantly into stone. Overhead, pegasi kept the skies clear and carefully directed bursts of air down to the plateau in a pattern Twilight didn't understand.
But the most unusual part of all was the children. Foals of all races ran around underhoof, laughing and playing in the middle of all the complex and focused construction. Adults grumbled, but walked carefully around them without speaking a word of reproach.
Several tents dotted the area, most of them constructed from unusually large, shiny leaves sewn together with what looked like hemp rope. One tent was twice the size of the others. It was decorated with symbols of the Sun and Moon. As Twilight tried to take in her surroundings, a worker accidentally walked through her apparition, briefly surprising her.
"Okay, that tent has to belong to Celestia and Luna," Twilight decided out loud, then walked up to the large tent and phased her body through the closed flap.
Inside the tent, the Sisters sat on an expensive-looking carpet adjacent to a short, wide wooden table.
"...happened since my leave, dear Sister?" Luna finished asking. Twilight Sparkle sat herself down next to Princess (or Queen?) Celestia, briefly stirring up fond memories.
"We've lost another ten grownups over the past week alone," said Celestia. "Work is slowing to a halt. There's too much to do, and grownups cannot focus with children about. They want to join them."
"Lost ten grownups? To the Saddeth?" said Luna.
"Right off the cliff," said Celestia, motioning with a diving hoof. "It's a convenient method. It takes a split second to do, they rarely survive once they hit the ground, and the destruction is far enough away to avoid sending foal witnesses into the Change."
"We need more grownups who are dedicated to managing the children, so we can keep them away from the workers. Some grownups can care for the citizens' needs during the day, while others work," said Luna. "If the work must slow... that is acceptable, if unfortunate. Eventually, the City of Everfree shall stand like a beacon to all of Equestria."
"We have a hard time getting enough grownups just to do the work," said Celestia. "There must be a way to make them want to be grownups, or this will keep happening. If We have grownups controlling foals, then our citizens will resent grownups and avoid the Change."
"It would also make the freedom of foals an ironic casualty. Grownups are intended to provide our citizens with more freedom, not less," said Luna.
"Perhaps a small restriction on freedom upon Theia would not limit the enjoyment of foals," said Celestia. "Foals are free to enjoy Quifons no matter where they are connected on Theia. Giving grownups some measure of control over Theia would go a long way toward making the Change a positive experience."
Quifons! That's what it's called! thought Twilight. How did I forget the name, again? Was it something I did?
"Hrm. If we make it too much fun to be a grownup, then citizens may be lured out of Quifons too quickly. That premature loss of citizenship will lead to resentment, which will make the fun comparatively worthless," said Luna. "There is no fun equal to Quifons, Celie. Being a grownup needs to be a chore. It is a service to a former citizen's brothers and sisters." Luna lowered her head into a reproachful gaze.
Celestia paused in thought. "Lulu, We have an idea. Perhaps We could entice them with treats that only grownups will like," said Celestia. "Give them some kind of fun that is naturally repulsive, but pleasurable only to grownups. Then citizens would not look forward to the Change, but once the Change has transformed them, they will enjoy the experience."
"Foals will want to participate in any fun-seeming behavior, at least to try it once," said Luna, her brow tightly knitted.
"Then make it truly repugnant, and keep it away from foals altogether," said Celestia.
Luna shook her head. "This sounds unreasonable. The whole point of grownups is that they are more rational than citizens. They are supposed to be mature. It makes little sense to instill repugnant behavior in them. Besides, foals are more likely to enjoy disgusting things, particularly the ones of Male," she said. "However, the idea is intriguing. We suppose all options must remain on the table."
"It may be years before We discover a method to fully resolve this, Lulu. For the time being, We should attempt to segregate the grownups into groups: one to watch the foals, and the other to work," said Celestia.
"Reasonable enough for experiment," acquiesced Luna. "Perhaps We could try adding pleasure to physical consumption? The process of eating this 'food' may extend pleasure beyond sweets, and perhaps grownups could have a broader palate—"
Luna stopped talking as the tent flap opened. In drifted a draconequus. He resembled Discord except that his appearance was more cartoonish in nature. For one detail, Twilight noticed he had no visible genitalia. Twilight wasn't trying to look for his genitalia, but it was a part of her chaotic acquaintance that was difficult to miss.
The draconequus raised a brow and looked directly at Twilight Sparkle. He then took a seat. "Well, well. Three Queens, now, are We?"
"You are not a Queen," said Queen Celestia. "You are a King. We have gone over the distinction previously, King Chaos."
"It is Demon, not King; Discord, not Chaos; and I wasn't talking about myself, but I do appreciate all this delicious confusion," he said, licking his lips. "I overheard you discussing further remedies to The Decision, and was curious about how you might decide to ruin your citizens this time around."
"You do not get to rename yourself at will!" huffed Queen Luna.
"If you have ideas, O Demon Discord of Chaos, We would love to hear them," said Queen Celestia, briefly glaring in Luna's direction.
"I have one, yes. I call it Fear," said Discord.
"What is this Fear?" asked Luna.
"It is like Pain, but not nearly as severe. It is like the shock of a foal punched directly into the Change, but not nearly as shocking. It is a quiet, hidden mouse within the mind of a pony, cautioning them about what not to do," said Discord. "Instead of reliance on pleasure to guide them, Fear forms a stronger boundary. It is like the hazy memory of Pain which has not yet been inflicted."
"Why would We ever agree to burden our citizens further?" asked Celestia, frowning.
"Not citizens," said Discord. "The grownups. Make them fear the Saddeth, and they will avoid it. Perhaps a touch of Fear in the foals will help to keep them safe as well."
Luna sighed. "This... is not altogether a bad idea, Celie," said Luna. "Provided this Fear is nothing like Pain."
Discord's lips turned up into a cruel-looking smile. "Oh, it is very different," he said. Twilight winced.
"We may test your theory, Demon of Chaos," said Queen Celestia. "But why else are you here, if not to torment our citizens? We told you to stay clear of the creation of the Castle and City. It was not a conditional order."
"I haven't intruded in anything, you spoilsports." Discord rolled his eyes 360-degrees around in his head. "Now then. Aren't you going to introduce me?"
"Introduce you...?" said Luna, her eyes narrowed skeptically.
"Who is this lovely creature? Clearly she is one of the Twelve, but I do not recognize her aura at a glance. Is it Venus reborn, perhaps? No... she resembles Star more than anything, yet she is certainly not he," said Discord, as he leaned in to stare directly at Twilight.
Twilight's eyes widened. "You... you can see me?" she whispered.
"Chaos, what are you talking about?" said Celestia. "I am glancing into Quifons as we speak, and I see no imaginary link to Soul before us."
"Sister! I see a slight, ephemeral outline," said Luna, squinting at Twilight. "It is a unicorn—no, a pegacorn! It is a Queen! She is barely visible before my eyes." Celestia and Luna both quickly scrambled away from Twilight as Discord cackled.
"I'm...um, I'm just an observer," said Twilight, faking a smile. "Please, don't mind me."
"I see nothing, Sister," said Celestia. "I am trying, but there is nothing there."
"Of course you see nothing," said Discord. "We are in your memories, after all."
"That makes no sense," said Luna. "I am certain I am not in my Sister's memories, Brother."
"You aren't now, but you shall be. At another time, in another place, all of this shall come together into one Mind: hers," he said, pointing directly at the spot where Twilight sat. "Just not today, from your point of view." He swiftly reached out and grasped Twilight Sparkle by the throat. "So rude not to provide your name to us, little one."
"T-Twilight S-sp..." she gasped, holding Discord's taloned arm with both hooves in an attempt to loosen his grip. She pulled at his claws with her magic, but his strength was much stronger than her telekinesis.
"What a curious name for a Queen," he said, and dug a claw into her chest. Twilight felt a stab of pain, and a trickle of blood down her hide. "Oh look! It bleeds like a mortal. Perhaps it is not a Queen after all?"
"Discord, do not injure it until we know what it is!" said Luna. "If it speaks, surely Friendship can reach it."
"And it already knows Fear! Oh, this one knows Fear very well. Excellent..."
Twilight Sparkle teleported right out of Discord's grasp and over the side of the plateau, then let gravity pull her swiftly toward the ground below.
The pain was very real, but she was inside Princess Celestia's memories. She always assumed seeing this was like a watching a dream. How could she possibly interact with the past? Could she actually be injured here? Could she die in another pony's memories?
Quickly, Twilight spread her wings wide and pulled up, focusing on all of the lessons she had taken with Rainbow Dash. She'd been falling too quickly, and she struggled to keep her wings from being thrashed by the upward rush of humid, salty air. Twilight angled her wings downward somewhat to keep them intact, but this made it slower to pull up.
"Have to pull it off... just right...!" she said, aiming for a hyperbolic arc up against the horizon. Her wings ached as her descent finally curved into an level direction mere hooves from the surface of the choppy ocean water.
Exhausted, Twilight quickly folded her wings to her side, then realized this was a remarkably stupid idea. She was still traveling at a rate of many kilometers per hour, only horizontally. Twilight yelped as her body slammed into the water and skipped upward several times in a row. She tried to spread her wings again, but they were wet and she began spinning from her collisions with the surface of the water.
"I apologize for the poke," said Discord's voice from somewhere nearby, though Twilight could barely see anything through the water and mist and spinning sky. "I was just so curious! You really should learn proper manners, you know. Also, I suspect you won't like what will happen if you travel much further along your present heading, but I have a feeling we shall meet again."
Twilight immediately spread her legs and wings, flailing in a very non-aerodynamic fashion. She slipped beneath the surface of the water and quickly slowed to a halt. Thankfully, this included an abrupt reduction in angular momentum. Finding what felt like 'up', she swam to the surface and gasped for breath.
Something was wrong. This far from land it was much darker out, and everything looked and felt hazy and insubstantial. It almost felt like the water was flowing through her body. She tried to swim toward the distant shore, but she could no longer kick against the fluid which blended with her body.
"This can't be part of Celestia's memories," she gasped, feeling tired and dizzy. "Please, wake up..."
Twilight Sparkle gasped and kicked against the bathroom floor, suddenly awake. The flask had been knocked over, but fortunately it hadn't been damaged. A small amount of goo was spilled on the floor. Upon regaining her bearings, she sat up and used telekinesis to right the flask and clean up the spill with tissues. It looked like there were two, or perhaps three doses of the potion still remaining in the flask.
"Discord," she whispered. "Horseshit. He's the last pony I wanted to see."
Just then, right in front of her eyes, a gout of red-and-cyan flame burst into a wadded-up cocktail napkin, which then launched itself at her face. She reflexively blinked as it bounced off of her nose.
Twilight opened the napkin to find writing on it, spiralling out from the center to the outer rim in a colorful mixture of chromatic blacks. It read:
Princess Twilight Sparkle! I suppose you weren't a Queen after all, and certainly not one of the Twelve, whatever that means (ha ha). How naughty of you to visit from the future without proper introductions! I am truly sorry about the claw, but you're young (very, very young compared to the rest of Us), so I'm sure you'll heal up good as new in no time at all. It was a marvelous bit of chaos you caused on that day! I'm so proud of you. Oh—
"Oh?" said Twilight, shortly before a wad of newsprint bapped her in the side of the head. She grumbled and uncrumpled the second paper, on which was printed a portion of an article from a clearly fictitious newspaper:
Review: Discord Live Gets Six Stars! (from page 3)
—I suppose you have many time-consuming questions for me. I'm afraid I don't have answers to the most interesting ones, such as whether or how you're going to destroy Quifons. I honestly hope you won't. Without Quifons, I might have a more difficult time existing, and that would be inconvenient. But unlike what 'Queen' Celestia will try to convince you, nothing lasts forever. Except for everything, that is, but everything is always something.
I'm sure Fluttershy will convince me to talk to you eventually, so I'm opting to stay at home for now. Info dumps are boring and make for spectacularly poor writing, don't you think? Mysteries are much more interesting when you have to piece them together for yourself. I will offer you a single clue, however...
History isn't what it used to be.
Twilight Sparkle stared at the paper for a moment.
"Is that all?" she said, looking left, right, and up for the next wad of who knows what to smack into her face, but nothing appeared. The reverse side of the newsprint looked to be part of a large crossword puzzle with all the clues and numbers missing, and the reverse side of the napkin had nothing but a kiss-smear of yellow lipstick.
Twilight tried her best not to think about Discord wearing yellow lipstick and other horrendously gaudy cosmetics, and failed miserably.
She took a deep, cleansing breath, then slowly exhaled. "Okay. This is probably good news, Twilight," she said to herself. "He'll talk eventually, and in the meantime, we can keep our research simple and risk-averse."
Somepony was knocking on her bedroom door. "Twilight?" called a familiar voice.
"Come in, Spike," she said. It was only just now occurring to her how exhausted she was from the ordeal. Twilight realized she could still smell the ocean, and her coat felt a bit damp.
"Twilight!" Spike gasped, running up to her. "Are you okay?"
"I think so. I'm just really tired," she said as Spike helped her to her hooves.
"Um..."
"Yes?"
"You're bleeding, Twi," said Spike, pointing at her chest.
Twilight looked down at the small gash in her chest. It didn't hurt much, but she felt a twinge of sympathetic pain hit her in the gut.
"Go get the first aid kit, Spike. I'll head to Ponyville General, just in case."
Spike nodded and raced out the door.