The bubble that took Twilight and Spike from the present they were back to the before Rainbow Dash performed the sonic rainboom when she was nine opened. Before they fell Twilight took to flight as Spike took hold of her back to so that he wouldn’t fall. Twilight began to search for Starlight, “All we have to do now is find Starlight and—” Twilight was stopped as she and Spike were struck with turquoise magic and were encased in a large purple ice-like substance. The two could move their eyes but little else.
“Well, finding her will be easy!” came Starlight’s voice as she emerged from a cloud surrounded by turquoise magic. She floated over to the two as the purple ice thing that held Spike and Twilight dropped to a cloud, “But stopping her's gonna be harder than you think.” She floated around her trapped foes, stopped her high sky levitation and landed on the block. “Sorry to disappoint you,” She continued, she tapped on the block and caused what she wrote, beyond the translation into modern Mystican of Star Swirl’s time travel spell, “ but I bound those spells together to send myself back in time.” She noticed Twilight’s eyes widened and her pupils constrict at that reveal. “So even when you cast it, I still get sent back here.” She leaned down, sitting on the block, “It wasn't all that difficult to change Star Swirl's spell. He'd already done the hard part.” This statement caused Twilight to almost faint as if the idea that anyone could approve upon Star Swirl’s work was an abomination. But Starlight knew better, Star Swirl’s understanding of magic was two thousand years out of date, yet now wasn’t the time to give Twilight a crash course in the changes in magic, well beyond what already in play. However, Starlight had to acknowledge a few thing, “But figuring out I could use the map to go to any time or place and pull you along with me?” Starlight paused as she gave a short laugh in triumphant, “I even impressed myself with that one.” She even went so far to literally pat herself on the back. “Of course, those notes from that chronomancer really did help,” She paused as she tried to remember the name of the chronomancer, “What was his name? He wore that stupid long green necktie and his trenchcoat front looked an hourglass when buttoned. And there was the ridiculous looking screwdriver...”
‘’Who.” Twilight was able to mouth.
“What?” Starlight asked as she allowed enough of the trap to give so that Twilight could speak and she (Starlight) could understand.
“Who,” Twilight repeated after a breath.
Starlight raised an eyebrow not able to follow, “Who what?”
“The chronomancer,” Twilight answered after a sign.
“You know what his name is?” Starlight asked she did not fully believe Twilight.
“Who,” Twilight answered.
“The chronomancer.” Starlight stated as she thought Twilight was asking her.
“Who,” Twilight answered.
“I am asking you, YOU!” She shouted the ‘you’ before she gave a sigh of frustration. “Now what’s the chronomancer’s name?”
“WHO!” Twilight shouted back.
“I DON’T KNOW!!!” Starlight shouted very much like she did when she shouted for Twilight to be quite as she assumed Twilight was asking her.
“Third base.” Spike quipped under his breath as he rolled his eyes.
With her question not answered or she assumed it wasn’t, Starlight growled before she resealed Twilight and Spike, She took a breath to calm down, once she collected herself, “Anyway, while I don’t know who the chronomancer was, I knew you'd try to stop me. You're so predictable. Why else would I leave the scroll behind?” She asked rhetorically, “Touching it triggered the map to whisk you here and watch me erase the one thing that linked you to your friends!” She then leaned down on the block with her trapped opponents, “My village was a sanctuary of equality, where no one's aura mark allowed them to feel superior!” She then looked at the sky as she reminisced about her romanticized view of her village, “It was a special place, and you and your friends took it away!” Starlight paused as she noticed that the top of the block had shank down into the cloud. She gave a deadpan scowl as she cast her high flying levitation spell and floated around the cloud to its bottom and was once again face to face with Twilight. “Now it's my turn to take something special from you!” Starlight could not help but grin, but while it was off in a sinister way, it seemed to unhinge. “Without the rainboom, you and your friends will never form your special aura mark bonds!” Starlight then brought her hands and rubbed them together while her grin grew, “To paraphrase the Teachings, ‘Aura marks for aura marks!’ Sounds like a fair trade to me!” She then punched the encased Twilight and Spike and hovered away as she left it to fall.
After about thirty seconds Twilight was able to focus her magic and chatter the trap. Once free she grabbed Spike. “Come on, Spike. I know what we have to do!” Then cast a teleportation spell to reappear in one of the clouds. She then started to look around, searching for Starlight to stop her from interfering with the race. “Keep your eyes peeled.” She ordered Spike. Spike nodded in silent as he began to scan his draconic eyes not needing anything to assist his search. As Spike searched, Twilight continued to speak, “We have to stop Starlight as soon as Rainbow Dash and those bullies race by!” all the while she was not actually looking. Spike then spotted something, tapped Twilight on the shoulder as the demigoddess continued to talk, “So we must be ready.”
Twilight didn’t seem to get the message as she continued to look for Starlight in a different direction, “I know, but—”
Twilight, however, interrupted Spike as she continued to search in the sky, “Because she could pop up anywhere!”
Spike then grabbed Twilight's face via her chin with his left claw and pointed her to what he saw, “Like over there?” As Twilight registered what Spike showed her, her eyes shot open in a very cartoonish style that would normally fit Pinkie. Twilight then gasped as she grabbed Spike and bolted to what she saw.
On one of the paved areas, Starlight was sitting down with the eleven-year-old Fluttershy and the ten-year-old Hoops and Dumb-Bell. As she to be in the middle of a lecture she was giving to the two boys, “Just remember how you'd feel if someone said those things to you.”
“What's going on here?” Twilight asked as she flew up to the small group, Spike doing his best to hide behind Twilight. She knew she had to stop whatever Starlight was doing.
Starlight smiled as she got up and stood behind Hoops and Dumb-Bell, very much like a school-teacher conveying a message to a parent, “Oh, I was just reminding these two boys how hurtful teasing can be.”
Twilight scolded as she knew the motives, behind Starlight’s action, this wasn’t for Fluttershy’s benefit, this was to stop the Rainboom. “Well, don't!” Twilight shouted not fully thinking through what she said, namely concerning the others present.
Dumb-Bell, Hoops, and Fluttershy went “Huh?” confused about what the much older Twilight said and how vastly different it was from what Starlight had told them.
Too late recognized that she and Starlight were not alone, and that fact that the three younger humans didn’t have the life experience to appreciate the nuance of the matter, “I mean... you were?” she stumbled back on her words.
“Of course!” Starlight answered as she stepped to be behind Fluttershy, “In a world where everybody is unique, some are bound to feel more special than others.” She then started to affectionately rub Fluttershy’s head as a means to comfort her, “But that isn't a license to be cruel, is it?”
“No, of course not…” Twilight replied as she tried to find a means to counter Starlight’s argument which it was a gross simplification, almost a dumbing down of the situation, but Twilight couldn’t form a counterpoint which didn’t make it sound like she didn’t care in front of the three children.
“Oh, isn't it a shame we don't live in a world where everybody is equal?” Starlight asked rhetorically as she looked to the sky as if to plead to some divine force located in the sky. She then turned back to Twilight with an evil smirk, before she looked down at the three, “No one would ever tease anyone there! Wouldn't that be nice?” She asked them. As the three agreed with a ‘Mm-hmm’ Starlight looked back up to Twilight, her smirk was small but it was clearly sinister and smug as if she knew she won.
“No, it wouldn't!” Twilight started but she pulled back as she saw the confused faces of the three children, “I mean, it'd be nice not to be teased, of course, but that's not the same thing!” Twilight tried to explain, but she wasn’t skilled enough with children to convey what she wanted to children in a way that they would understand and not lose anything.
“Come on, Fluttershy.” Hoops said as he held out his right hand offering it to Fluttershy, “Maybe I can help you get through the course this time.”
“Well, I-I” Fluttershy stuttered as she began to reach out to Hoops accepting his offer, “sure could use the practice…” She took Hoops hand and the three flew off.
As soon as the three were gone, Twilight got extremely close to Starlight, scowling as she laid her accusation to bear, “I know you only convinced those bullies to not tease Fluttershy to stop the rainboom!”
“Oh, that's not true.” Starlight dismissed right off the bat, “I convinced them not to be bullies, because everybody should be equal.” She then slightly closed her eyes as she smiled evilly, “Stopping the rainboom is just a bonus.” The triumphant smirk was unmistakable.
“You and I both know those are both lies. You want equality of outcome, which cannot be done. What is needed is equality of opurt…” Twilight started but was cut short as Rainbow Dash whooshed past them. Twilight got to the air and grabbed Spike with her magic, “This isn't over yet!” Twilight shouted and flew to catch up with the nine-year-old Rainbow Dash.
As Twilight flew off, Starlight smiled as she felt secure in her victory, “If you say so!” she called back.
A couple of seconds later as Rainbow Dash was flying around minding her own business when someone much older than her said “Hi!”. Rainbow turned to see a woman about twenty years old with metallic wings flying next to her.
“Um... hi?” Rainbow asked confused about what she was to do. She knew her dad told her to say ‘hello’ to people who say ‘hi’ to her, but to be cautious around those she doesn’t know.
“You think you can stop for a minute?” The woman asked.
Rainbow shrugged her shoulders as she stopped on a dime, “Sure.” The woman didn’t stop as quickly and collided with a cloud with a thump.
After a second the woman flew back and was hovering like Rainbow Dash, “Thanks, Rainbow Dash. I am Twilight Sparkle and I hear you're pretty fast!” Twilight introduced herself to Rainbow.
“Pretty fast?” Rainbow Dash asked with a hump as if the term subpar to describe her. “Please! I'm even faster than that!” Rainbow boasted it was clear that she has high on her own ego, even then. Spike mentally noted that Rainbow didn’t question how Twilight knew the girl’s name or the fact that Spike was there, yeah Rainbow was clearly not the most intelligent of the group.
“Okay, so, um, hey, you want to race?” Twilight asked very flimsily, it was clear she had not thought this far ahead of her plan.
Rainbow hovered back a little as the idea of racing an adult didn’t seem to be a good one, “Um, that wouldn't really be fair. I mean, you're a grown-up, and…” Rainbow stopped as she began to register the wings that Twilight had, “Wait.” She then flew around Twilight and connected the dotes as she returned to be in front of Twilight, again she failed to notice Spike (even though he was three feet in front of her!) “Are you a Demigod?” Rainbow asked as she was frightened that a demigod would want to race her.
Twilight flew next to her in attempt to edge the young elementalist-to-be to race her, “Come on, I thought you were fast!”
“Ummm” Rainbow tried to slowly back away.
Twilight turned to show Rainbow Dash her back with Spike holding on for his very life, “Look, I have a dragon my back to slow me down as a handicap.” She then turned to face Rainbow Dash and tried to pitch the race, “Come on, it will be fun.
“Uh, actually, I just remembered I have somewhere I need to be.” Rainbow lied as she turned to fly away. She knew she had to get away, as far away as soon as possible, from this crazy demigod.
Before Rainbow could get too far, Twilight was again by her side, “Okay, listen.” Twilight started as she tried to find a way to convey what she actually wanted, “ You don’t have to race me..” Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief as she knew she could not outrun an adult demigod, sure she was the fastest of her age, and faster than several a year or two older, but as proud as she there were things that she knew she cannot do at this point. Then Twilight continued, “I just need you to fly fast enough for a sonic rainboom!”
“What?!” Rainbow questioned, she wasn’t sure if she heard that correctly, ‘a sonic rainboom’, no one she heard of has ever performed the sonic boom required for it, not the founders of the Wonderbolts, not Wind Ryder, and not even Nightshade, “I can't do that! Nobody can! It's not even a real thing! It's just an old wives tale!” Rainbow countered as she tried to fathom what was asked of her.
“But it's not! I know it's not! I've seen you do it!” Twilight countered, she knew that Rainbow could do and that she had to, all she needed to do was be willing to. To that end, Twilight didn’t let up, so much depended on Rainbow Dash’s first sonic rainboom, not so much the rainboom per se, but everything built from and on it, but like any structure, all the cornerstones need to be in place for it stand, Rainbow Dash’s first sonic rainboom, just happens to be the best known. “In the future!” Twilight pressed. This caused Rainbow to look at her and saw Twilight bat, of all things, bedroom eyes in an attempt to convince Rainbow to try.
Rainbow was shocked at this and realized she had to get out of there, “Ooookay…” She said as turned away, this was getting to close to one of the warning stories her father told her, “I'm gonna go now.” And with that Rainbow was out of sight in a matter of seconds.
“No! Wait!” Twilight shouted in a desperate attempt to call Rainbow Dash back.
“Gee, Twilight,” came Starlight’s voice as she hovered to Twilight and Spike, using her high sky levitation spell, a mocking grin on her face, “what's the matter? Couldn't convince her to do the impossible?” She asked with clearly fake pain. “That's too bad.” She finished as she patted Twilight on the head as one would comfort a child, rubbing in the patronizing.
Twilight forced Starlight back and inhaled as she was about to speak. However, she was denied the chance as the bubble that opened to bring her to the past once again opened to pull her back to the present, along with Spike and the scroll.
The bubble open and the two for the second time, fell upon the table with a thud. As they began to recover, they noticed that they were right where/when they were when Twilight willingly used the spell. Spike was the first to get onto his feet and spoke his piece, “You tried to use bedroom eyes on a nine-year-old girl! The kind of eyes Rarity used to use on me! The kind of eyes that Cadance uses on Shining! Need I go on? Bedroom eyes, on a nine-year-old girl! What is wrong with you! I am thirteen and even I know that’s messed up!” Before Twilight could comment, “It’s no wonder she bolted like that. Who told you it was a good idea to try that on a child?” Twilight started to answer by was cut off when Spike faceclawed himself, “That was rhetorical!”
“Well, shouting at me is not going to help matters!” Twilight countered as the two stared at each other, not unlike squabbling siblings.
“Like not shouting at you got us a good plan.” Spike countered as he stood his ground. He might be younger than her and she did hatch his egg, but Twilight was not his mother, he was not her son and she had to stop treating him like that, and if she wasn’t going to do so of her own accord, he was going to stand his ground.
Twilight, however, didn’t need this, if Spike was not going to be part of the solution, then she was going to make sure he couldn’t be part of the problem, “That’s it young drake! Go to…” Twilight stopped as recalled the surroundings. “Well buck.”
Before the two could continue to bicker, they were stopped when they heard what sounded like some sort of engine attempt to start and rev-up. They turned to see the large blue phone-booth-like box that belongs to Dr. Time Turner Who appeared to phase in and out until it became solid right next to the table. The box then opened from the inside by Time Turner. “Great Whimpering Stallions, We made it just in time, Quickly, Twilight, Spike, step inside.” Silently the two complied. Once they were inside, they were rushed to the table. “May I see the scroll?” he asked. Spike got the scroll out and handed it to Time Turner. After a second or two of looking it over. “It’s what I feared.”
“Care to bring us into the loop,” Spike asked after he rolled his eyes.
Time Turner placed the scroll on the table, “As you can see, well Princess Twilight can at least,” this resulted in Spike groaning, but the chronomancer carried one, “the base spell is Star Swirl’s time travel spell, but there is a fair amount added to it, most of which are empowerment spells, that allows for one to travel to any point in the past. It’s really fairly straightforward.” As Time Turner spoke he used his bizarre screwdriver to point out some of the spells that were bound to the main spell, Twilight couldn’t make most of it out, the handwriting was deplorable, but she did make out the Mystican character for ‘enpower’ or ‘aid’ in the text of magic. Time Turner then pointed to a cluster of other spells bound to the main spell, most of them were empowerment spells, but there was one that stood out, “And if she was able to go to Cumula, she needed to use a teleportation spell. That being said, not even a demigod has the power to cast a spell like this, she needed something that was linked to not only great power but to every location and every time.”
“THE AURA MAP!” Twilight shouted, “It depicts the entirety of Mystica and is connected to both the Tree of Harmony and the Rainbow of Light.”
“Well given that the Tree of Harmony bore the Elements of Harmony, the only things that can override Discord’s reality wrapping power and such, along with restore Princess Luna’s internal harmony, and in the case of The Rainbow of Light, it can pull from Tirek all the inhernet magic he stole and return it to their rightful owners, while empowering you and your friends to overpower him when he had the combined power of all of Mystica’s human population, Discord and the four demigods, even if the, um, Aura Map has a near inconquestial fraction of the combined power, then it certainly be able to send anyone to anytime anywhere in Mystica and it’s history.”
“Kind of like this,” Brighteyes said as she called attention to the box they were in.
“Well, yes and no. Star Swirl’s spell only goes backward in time and the Aura Map only renders Mystica, and maybe a few of the neighboring nations. In this old girl, I can go forward in time and to solar systems and other places most haven't even imagine and is powered by the flow of time." Time Turner elected to clarify the distinctions. He pointed back to the scroll, "This spell needs the Aura Map to work, but even then it still takes magic from the caster and, given the sheer number of spells bound together, the binder that made this.”
“Hold on a minute, what’s a binder?” Brighteyes asked, not familiar with the term.
Twilight elected to answer that question, “They are magic users not unlike sorcerers, wizards, etc,” that was an oversimplification, even Brighteyes could tell, but it was accurate enough to help convey the point Twilight needed, “but the main thing about Binders is that they cannot cast the more powerful, longer and complex spells, you known like meteor shower, but they are able to combine multiple simple and small spells, like acid orbs, together to make their own powerful spells, through a process known as binding.”
“Oh, like a fasces,” Brighteyes replied innocently with a closed eyes smile, initially Twilight and Spike were shocked by the fact that Brighteyes knew what that symbol was, but they instantly recalled that Brighteyes was a Skyborn, and despite the number of Earthborn and Magicborn sisters she had, she did, in fact, grew up in Cumula and as such she would know about the pre-founding of Mystica Skyborn tribe’s symbols.
“But how do you know what Starlight wrote?” Spike asked as he noted Time Turner was so quick to understand what was on the scroll.
Time Turner gave a nervous laugh as he rubbed the back of his head and neck, with his left hand, “Well, um, you see, I was in Chantalot not long after the Grand Gala and the Grand Sumit, I think it was after the near disaster that was the hosting of Yakyakistan's Prince Rutherford." He stopped as he saw Twilight scowl at the reminder of her first real attempt at international diplomacy. "Sorry, too soon." He apologized with a weak laugh. "Well, I was supposed to compare some chronomancy notes about target use of it in a health-related field of some kind…”
“You were going to meet with Twilight’s and Lyra’s friend Minuette about the potential abuse of chronomancy if one was to use it to continuously revert something like teeth and gums to a state they wouldn’t need beyond basic brushing and flossing,” Brighteyes informed as she reading from what looked like an appointment book.
“Right, well, Minuette didn't show up at the restaurant for our meeting, it was only after I called her up on the matter that I learned it was because she was with you and the rest of your formerly closest Magicborn classmates from your time in Celestia’s School for the Gifted, in your attempt to reach out to Moondancer. Well, after thinking I was stood up and went over to the bar to get a drink. After one cider I was joined by this Starlight. She was studying Star Swirl’s time travel spell and chronomancy overall, but she seemed to be stuck on Star Swirl’s limited and antiquated understanding of traveling through time.” Twilight was slightly taken back at the thought that Star Swirl knowledge’s on any topic of magic was limited in any way, (to be just Star Swirl was one of the if not the most powerful beings who was not a demigod and he was ahead of his time). Time Turner continued either not seeing Twilight’s shock or caring, “So we chatted and it seemed that I dictated suggestions on how to involve this spell, at least given what Star Swirl wrote down and Starlight used these notes to bind together this spell.”
“I have to go back in time and stop Starlight. No matter the cost, even if I have to keep trying until the end of time.” Twilight declared as she reached for the scroll.
Time Turner pulled the scroll back, “I wouldn’t use this spell. As you can see here, “ Time Turner pointed to a few sentences on the scroll near the bottom of the scroll, past what enabled Starlight to travel anywhere that the Aura Map showed and any time after both the Tree of Harmony and the Rainbow of Light first came into being. Twilight began to read the words, “She’s bound the spells to enables her to be sent back an equivalent amount of time ahead of you as she was when you first used the spell.” Twilight then recalled what Starlight said, that the spell was designed to also send Starlight back to watch as she failed to make sure the rainboom happened. “You’ll need to employ another means,” Time said almost grimly before he got up and walked over to the control panels as a big smile formed on his face and started to, “Fortunately for you. I have just the thing.” Twilight and Spike could only reply with a ‘Huh’ as they didn’t follow, “I am a chronomancer!” Time Turner answered as he continued to press buttons, flip switches, turn knobs, etc. “WELL COME ON, ALLONS-Y!!!” he shouted.