//------------------------------//
// Rivers and Streams 
// Story: A War 
// by Comma Typer 
//------------------------------//

A pony sat by some rivers and streams in an open field. The waters moved by, moved on. In some, there were rocks; in others, there were branches. These would get wet as was the case of all things that happened to be in a body of water, and in all of these cases, the one thing that remained unchanged was the water, forever flowing in one direction until something would utterly and drastically alter its course.
One day, the pony did just that by pushing a large boulder into a river to see what would happen.
As is to be expected, the river was no longer the same. Though the water still did flow and though the rocks and the branches have not moved, the river changed. It was still a river, to be sure, but it was a different river, a river with a different path—a different course.
The next day, the pony's family gathered at the river. They had a picnic there as was their usual activity every Friday morning or whenever they felt like it if it was not a Friday morning. Throughout the picnic, everypony made comments and notes about the river, that it was now different. However, nopony was surprised that such a huge object could do such 
a thing as steering a river into an entirely new road.
It was, for all intents and purposes, nothing out of the ordinary. The river ended nearby anyway, one of them said, so there was no need to worry about its state or condition. It was a sad shame that somepony did it, but it was not a serious event to think about.
Time passed.
By then, it was a month after the river was changed. The pony went back to the spot where he had pushed that large boulder. True enough, the boulder was still there, and the rocks and branches that had felt no water for a month still resided in their old places.
He fixed his gaze, then, on a stream (for one must not forget that there were both rivers and streams in this particular field). The pony walked over to it. This one had water that was stronger and more lively; there was more white foam to it than the peaceful river, which is one observation anypony could make in his position.
Wanting to feel the chill of the stream, he brought his hoof to it.
And it changed direction.
The pony was surprised, shocked even. How could this be? A boulder could explain a river changing its route, and a stream is smaller than a river (under standard definitions) so, perhaps, it should not have been much of a surprise to him. However, the fact was that his hoof, for how small it was compared to the size of the stream, completely altered its path.
A.K. Yearling put the book down on the table, fully under the reading lamp.
A knock on the door.
She walked over a few rugs, past some bookshelves and a treasure chest, and opened the door.
A happy unicorn mare with shiny teeth, an energizing scent of coffee about her.
"Morning Roast?" the writer asked, biting her lip as she looked past her shoulders. "I don't remember calling you here."
"I was checking on you," she said, touching her scruffy striped mane. "Also, I still can't believe the Daring Do author asked me to do her a favor!"
"Yeah, good for you." She rolled her eyes, closing the door a bit. "I'm fine."
Yearling raised an eyebrow.
"Wait a minute. I know that you're not here to just check on me."
"Uh..." It was Morning Roast's turn to bite her lip, shifting her eyes left and right.
"Tell it," she said, "unless you're here to take up my precious time."
The visitor gulped. "I w-wanted to ask you one question, Miss Yearling."
She poked her head out of the door and looked everywhere.
And yanked her inside, locked the door, closed the windows and their curtains, and pushed the treasure chest away from view. With all of that done, she pointed to a comfy chair in the center of the room. "Sit down."
The unicorn walked to the chair and sat down.
Yearling paced the room. "What is it? Did you find out anything about the mysterious cloaked pony?"
"That's what I was gonna ask." A tilted head. "Why did you ask me to disguise myself as that cloaked pony? Wouldn't it be easier to just ask upfront?"
"I'm not taking any chances," she said. "An infiltrator might be among us. It can't be a changeling because a cloak is too conspicious for them. It's either a Crystal pony spy or some other criminal."
Morning Roast gasped, her smile growing. "Wow! You take after your very own creation, Miss Yearling! Daring Do stops villains from stealing ancient treasures, and you stop villains from comitting crimes wherever you go!"
"Not wherever," she said, letting out a little laugh. She looked down on the clean mat on the chair. "Although, it's undeniable that Daring Do is a lot like me. I do wish I could be her, though."
The unicorn sat up. "Is that true?"
"Heh. She gets to do all these crazy adventures, saving Equestria a dozen times. Me, poor A.K. Yearling?" She motioned a hoof at herself, stopping her pace. "I'm scared to get anywhere near the Crystal Empire, I only show my strength when I have to, and the best I can do is chase down lawbreakers and nothing more."
"But, you at least try to be like Daring Do, right?"
Her eyes rested on a closed window. "All the time." Then, a glower. "But, that's not the point. Did you find anything that could be connected to the mysterious pony?"
She nodded. "Actually, I went to some of the other libraries today. I could figure out some of the pony's steps."
Yearling went closer to her, stepping on to the mat. "Really? What did you discover?"
Morning Roast gulped. "She really likes books."
"Well, what kind of books?"
"It's a strange combo of magic and watercourses."
"Magic and...watercourses?"
"You heard it right, Miss."
"Hmm." Yearling raised a hoof to her chin, half-closing her eyes. "Interesting. It's only now that I tried reading the book you bought the other day."
"Did you find anything there?"
Yearling made a confused face. "Not sure. It looks like an ordinary story to me about somepony, a rock, and rivers."
"Aww. That's too bad. But, you haven't, uh, skimmed through the book?"
The writer turned to the open book on the table. She picked it up and flipped through the pages.
Stopped.
"Wait. This isn't a story. This isn't even fiction at all!"
Morning Roast stood up from her chair, keeping her eye on the frantic Yearling.
She looked up from the pages. "It's a book about time."
The unicorn gasped, plopping herself back on the chair, breathing slowly and heavily. "Magic and watercourses and time?"
"It adds up to a terrifying conclusion," Yearling said, shivering, the book about to fall from her grip. "I d-don't think even Daring encountered such a foe if this is true."
"Magic spells related to time!" Morning Roast guessed.
The writer lowered her hat a bit. "And, you know what happens when ponies try to learn those spells."
"They...they...I don't know."
"Me, too," she said. "But, as much as I don't want to jump to conclusions...we need to continue watching her when she appears again. It doesn't matter what her intentions are; it's not worth the risk, whatever she wants to accomplish."
"But, what if she's just a writer like you and she's into science fiction and likes to use time travel as a thing in her novels?"
Yearling raised her eyebrow again. "While wearing a cloak?"
"Maybe she's a secretive pony," Morning Roast suggested. "I mean, aren't you secretive sometimes? Having to hide with your own set of cloaks when you want to have a regular day?"
She giggled again. "You're right. I'm probably used to thinking up bigger threats for Daring Do that I got wary myself. Too wary, perhaps?"



Yearling waved goodbye to her as she closed the door.
She hurried to the table, pulled up her chair, turned on the reading lamp, looked around her, no one watching her.
Back to the book; specifically, somewhere within the first few chapters.
Butterflies and snowballs have one thing in common: their consistent usage in time travel conversations.
What's commonly known as "The Butterfly Effect" can be shown this way: Say, one takes up the hobby of catching butterflies. Flying over some random plain, are some butterflies. You catch one butterfly with your net—sad that you were so bad at catching butterflies that you only caught one. But, one is enough. Why? I could argue with some stretching of logic that, since butterflies generate wind, then removing one butterfly from a pack of butterflies decreases the wind generated as a whole. This wind is required to keep up the normal flow of wind all throughout Equestria. With this wind at lower levels than normal, another wind could dominate and an unexpected hurricane appears all the way at the coast.
What to learn? One tiny adjustment can lead to a whole change of pace down the road.



Morning Roast opened the door.
"Hi! I would like to tell you that I had a wonderful time with A.K. Yearling and—"
She closed her mouth at the sight of the three unicorns sitting on a couch and some chairs, eating snacks. "If you're looking for your sister," Minuette said, pointing upstairs, "she's busy with her research on the Crystal Empire. I don't think you should disturb her." She ate some crispy chips.
"Oh. Is that so? May I, uh, stay with you girls?"
"Yeah," Twinkleshine said in a bored voice, levitating a cup of soda.
Morning Roast entered and closed the door behind her. "So, what are you doing?"
"Eating," Lemon Hearts replied.
"OK!" A pause as she took in full view of the room once again, breathing in the scents of the flowers in their vases placed about. "Are you waiting for something?"
"Your sister," Mineutte repeated. "If you're willing to wait here, you better bring your bed."
"It's that time, isn't it?"
Lemon Hearts nodded. "Mm-hmm."
"What are you doing?" Twinkleshine asked. "I'm not doing anything, Minuette has her list of personal items, and Lemon Hearts is waiting for her jar to freeze."
"Huh?"
"It's a work in progress," Lemon Hearts commented, standing up from the couch and stepping toward the kitchen. "What happens if we get trapped inside this house by a pegasus attack? That's why I'm experimenting with some ways to extend food shelf life."
"May I see?" Morning Roast asked, heading toward the kitchen, too; now she was beside her.
Lemon Hearts groaned. "If you insist."
The two walked into the kitchen, leaving Minuette and Twinkleshine to eat their snacks and to mind their own business.