//------------------------------//
// Down the Road to the Chemist 
// Story: The Persistence of Destiny 
// by Cold Bolt 
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Starlight stepped out onto a familiar station platform.

Thankfully, she didn't end up having to travel the entire way by hoofcar. It only needed to take her to the first actual train station, from which she was able to ride a proper train the rest of the way thanks to what few bits she had been saving, just in case.

So it was that she found herself in Ponyville the morning after her departure.

Starlight descended the platform steps and glanced around as she entered the town proper. It looked more or less just as she remembered it, though she couldn't help feeling like the place was a little quieter than she was used to, even by small town standards. There also seemed to be something missing - something that had always dominated the town skyline, tall enough to be visible almost regardless of where you stood.

The Castle of Friendship was nowhere to be seen.

Starlight felt her heart lurch, and she took a moment to calm herself again. That told her at least a little more about how far back in time she was, even if it was technically bad news. It was something to work with.

If the castle wasn't around yet, there had to be someplace else she could go. Twilight had talked about the town before Starlight's arrival a few times, but she hadn't exactly committed the information to memory. All that really stuck out in her mind was the old library, the one whose roots hung in the main chamber of the castle.

It was worth a shot. She didn't actually know where to find it, of course, but she did know who would.

A few minutes later, Starlight found herself on the front steps of town hall, giving the door a nudge as she stepped inside. A distinctly familiar beige earth pony stood nearby, in conversation with a gray pegasus that didn't quite ring a bell right away.

"Mayor?"

Both ponies glanced in her direction for a moment, after which the pegasus gave a quick wave before fluttering off toward the back of the room. Mayor Mare, for her part, approached Starlight with a warm smile.

"Welcome! Are you new in town?"

Starlight paused for a moment before responding, rubbing the back of her head with a forehoof. "Yeah, I... guess you could say that." She cleared her throat as she straightened up. "Hey, do you know where I could find a pony named Twilight Sparkle?"

The mayor raised a hoof to her chin, her eyes tracing along the ceiling for a moment. "I don't think I know a pony by that name. Can you tell me anything else about them?"

Starlight felt a bead of sweat roll down her neck. "Um... the library," she said. "Who works at the library?"

The mayor's ears drooped. "Why, nopony at the moment. Dusty Scrolls passed away a few weeks ago, and nopony stepped in to take his place."

That was... less than ideal. Twilight was originally from Canterlot, which meant she was another train ride away, and the meager budget Starlight had started with had been stretched thin already by the trip to Ponyville. She would never be able to afford a place to stay in a city like Canterlot after all that, even temporarily, and there was nopony there she could reliably ask for help.

She sighed. Her old mentor wouldn't be helping her out of this one, it seemed.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she said finally.

The mayor craned her neck a bit, clearly taking a look at Starlight's cutie mark. "Say, that gives me an idea... Were you looking to stay in town for a while?"

Starlight sighed and looked away, speaking without thinking. "Honestly, I'm not really sure what to do at this point..."

"I think we may be able to help one another out." The mayor trotted over to a nearby filing cabinet and withdrew a blank form, carrying it back over to Starlight.

"This looks like..." Starlight took the form in her magic for a closer look. "...a job application?"

The mayor nodded. "You're a magic specialist, aren't you? You must be very studious. How would you like to be our new librarian?"

Starlight blinked. "Uh."

"There's an apartment on the second floor you can stay in," the mayor explained, "and you'll have unrestricted access to all the resources Golden Oak has to offer. All you have to do is help us keep track of the books!"

Wait. Unrestricted access to library resources? That sounded like exactly what she needed.

"Actually, you know what?" Starlight's expression brightened. "Sure, I'd be happy to."

"Splendid!" The mayor once again trotted off for a moment, this time returning with a quill and inkwell. Starlight took them as well, her eyes scanning the form carefully as she filled it out.

The mayor's smile broadened as she looked it over. "Everything looks to be in order then, Miss... Glimmer."

Starlight waved a hoof. "Just 'Starlight' is fine."

The mayor nodded. "Very well then, Starlight. It'll be a little dusty, but you can move in right away. The Golden Oak Library is down the road to your left, over the bridge." She pointed a hoof in the direction she had described. "I'll send somepony in a bit to help you get settled in."

"That's very kind of you," said Starlight. "Thank you, mayor."

"Thank you, Starlight," the mayor insisted. "You're doing us all a great favor, and I hope you come to like our little Ponyville as much as we do."

With that, Starlight waved goodbye as she stepped back out the door.

Making her way down the road to the library, Starlight returned to her thoughts. Now that the conversation was over, the whole thing seemed... strangely convenient. She knew that Twilight had spent quite some time staying in the library before its untimely destruction, and by the sound of it, this Dusty Scrolls had probably been there even longer than that. They wouldn't leave the library derelict for long, would they? What were the chances she would manage to land in what was likely a comparatively short window between the two? Not to mention Mayor Mare's eagerness to offer the job to a pony she had literally just met...

She shook her head. She was just being paranoid, now; as far as she knew, she wasn't dealing with a villain or some other malicious entity that might be manipulating events in some way. Just a spell that went haywire, that's all. There was no reason yet to be so suspicious.

Before long, she stood in front of an enormous tree. A large sign sat next to the front door.

"Welcome to the Golden Oak - Ponyville Public Library," Starlight read aloud. "Well, this must be the place."

Craning her neck, she took another look at the place. To her surprise, despite ostensibly containing a library, the tree itself was alive and healthy! Were her librarian duties to include helping to care for the thing? She hoped whoever was being sent to help get her oriented was prepared to explain.

The door opened with a pull of her magic, and she stepped inside.

Starlight's gaze swept across the room. Sure enough, a coating of dust covered everything from the floor to the books on the shelves.

"Well, that should be easy enough to fix."

With a glow of her horn, a small whirlwind of spinning air kicked up. It was a gentle thing, barely stronger than a breeze, not enough to disturb the books on the shelves - but plenty to gather up the dust. Whistling merrily as she went, Starlight guided the little twister around the room. It swept across the floor, along the shelves, over tables and chairs... In minutes, she had gathered up all the dust in the room into the tiniest, filthiest tornado she had ever seen.

"Blech."

Wrinkling her nose, she sent the dust devil speeding toward the front door and turned to unpack her saddlebags.

"Um, hi there! Mayor Mare asked me to - "

Starlight looked up to see somepony step into the library just in time to take a tornado full of dust directly in the face. The wind dissolved on impact, leaving behind a thick cloud that obscured the pony completely. Her greeting was replaced with violent coughing.

"Oh no I'm so sorry here let me help!" Starlight rushed over, summoning her whirlwind spell once again to blow the dust off the poor mare and properly out the door. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

"I'm - cough - I'm okay, I - cough - promise!" The mare flapped her wings a few times to shed any remaining dust. "It's okay, you just - cough - surprised me, is all."

Starlight briefly looked her over, noting a pair of bulging saddlebags at her sides, the strangely familiar bubble cloud on her flank... and the severely distinct misaligned eyes. "Wait, aren't you...?"

"Oh, you remember me?" The mare smiled. "I was talking to Mayor Mare when you came in before. She sent me to, um, help you get comfy in your new home. My name's Derpy Hooves!"

"Derpy... Hooves...?" Starlight echoed.

That definitely didn't sound right. How could a pony wind up with a deliberately insulting name? Not to mention, Starlight realized, she did in fact remember this mare, and was... at least sixty percent certain her name wasn't 'Derpy' when last she checked. She couldn't quite recall what it had been before, though, so that certainty did her little good.

"Aren't you a courier though?"

Derpy tilted her head. "Um, I mean... yeah, I am, but the mayor sometimes asks me to run errands for her when she's busy. I'm happy to help, really." She glanced over her shoulder briefly. "But, um... how did you know that?"

Starlight winced. She hadn't actually meant to ask. "Uh... lucky guess?"

Derpy quirked an eyebrow. Clearly she wasn't convinced.

Starlight sighed, closing her eyes and resting a hoof on the bridge of her muzzle. "Fine. I'm from the future. I messed up a time spell and wound up in the past, and I'm here to see if I can fix what went wrong and get back to my own time before I splinter the timeline with my presence, assuming I haven't done that already. Happy?"

To her surprise, she didn't get a look of incredulity in response.

"Ohhh..." Derpy raised a hoof to her chin. "I... guess that would explain it."

Starlight blinked. "Wait, you... believe me?"

"Of course I do!" Derpy giggled. "My best buddy is super smart, and he knows lots about time and stuff! He's an inventor, you see." There was a note of pride in her voice. "He says time magic is super tricky, and most unicorns smart enough to study it are smart enough to know better than to use it 'cause of how dangerous it is. Like, messing with the timeline and stuff."

Starlight's eyes narrowed. "Is that what he says?"

Derpy flinched. "Oh, um... I, I didn't mean, um... I'm sure he, uh..."

"Don't worry about it," interrupted Starlight, waving a hoof dismissively. "He's not... necessarily wrong, anyway."

Derpy fidgeted a bit, shifting her saddlebags on her back for a moment before emitting a quiet gasp. "Oh, I almost forgot!" She quickly slid out of the straps, dropping her bags to the floor and opening one of the flaps. "Um, here, I brought these for you! I don't think they got any dust on them or anything."

Starlight peered into the saddlebags, which were stuffed to the brim with -

"Muffins?"

"Mhm!" Derpy beamed. "I made them myself! They, um, cleared out all the food in here when Dusty died, so... I wanted to make sure you had something to eat until you started getting paid."

Starlight's heart skipped a beat as she realized that hadn't occurred to her. She still had some of the food and bits that had survived her train ride, but she didn't know how long that would last.

"Oh, wow... thank you!"

Having barely eaten that day, Starlight couldn't resist plucking a muffin and taking a big bite out of what turned out to be lemon poppyseed. It was moist but not too rich, with just the right amount of lemon. "Wow, this is really good~"

"Thanks!" Derpy closed the saddlebags and carried them over to sit beside the ones Starlight had brought. "Baking's a hobby of mine, but muffins are... kinda the only thing that comes out right, so..." She cleared her throat. "So, um... did you want me to ask my friend if he'll help you? He's really nice, I promise!"

Starlight swallowed the last bite of her muffin. "Even if he wasn't, I'll take whatever I can get. Thanks for all your help, Derpy."

Derpy trotted over to the door, pausing for a moment. "You're welcome, Starlight! I'll see you later." With a wave, she disappeared through it, closing it behind her as she went.

Starlight sighed. Meeting a new friend was a nice distraction, but she needed to get to the bottom of this whole thing as soon as possible, and that meant getting to work.

An old writing desk sat nearby. Rummaging through it, she managed to dig up some parchment, a couple of quills, and a single half-full bottle of ink. It would have to do for now - her first order of business needed to be transcribing as much of the spell as she could remember, to give herself a starting point.

WHAM

The sound of the door slamming open nearly caused Starlight to spill what little ink she had procured.

"Starlight, there you are! I've been looking everywhere for you," declared a familiar unicorn, her red and gold mane shining in the sunlight.

Starlight's eyes widened. "Sunset Shimmer?!"