“Spike?” Twilight cautiously looked about the library, Sour following close behind as they sought out the young drake. They finally found him slumped in a corner, sulking and looking miserable. “Spike, no one’s mad at you over what happened with the breezies.”
“Have you asked the breezies that?”
Twilight sat down and wrapped a wing around him. “It was an accident. It could’ve happened to anypony.”
“It happened to me though. Now a bunch of them are stuck here and they might not be able to get home and…”
“Spike, Princess Twilight and her friends will figure out a way of getting them home.” Sour gave him an encouraging look. “And the three of us are gonna make sure of it, and you’re gonna get the credit.” He looked at her in surprise as she grinned, “You’re the Number One Assistant, remember?”
He gave a half-smile at that. “Yeah, I am.” He got to his feet and went to a nearby shelf. “Okay, so let’s get started on getting those breezies home.”
“And the first thing we need is information on breezies and how their magic works. Fluttershy pointed me towards a book about them, and it should…”
“I think this is what you’re looking for.” A book rose up from a nearby desk in a light yellow aura of magic, and the three turned towards their newcomer as she offered a smile. “I hope you don’t mind me speeding things up a little.”
Twilight gasped in shock as she looked upon the taller alicorn before her. Slender like Cadance and Luna, with a long flowing mane of cerise, violet and arctic blue, the pony looked upon her with a pleased smile and a twinkle in her weary opal eyes, made clearer by the scar over one of them. “Oh my gosh, Crystal Faire! What are you doing here?!” She caught herself and continued, “I mean, thank you, obviously, but why are you here?! What’s going on?! Is there some kind of crisis or danger or…?!”
The young princess soon found a hoof pressed against her lips as Crystal Faire smiled. “Twilight, calm down. There’s no crisis, no danger, no impending disaster. I’m here for other reasons, so you can relax.”
Twilight sighed as the hoof was removed from her mouth. “Good. Sorry, but the last time you were here, it wasn’t a social call.” She claimed the book in her magic as her bodyguard approached. “Oh, sorry Sour. This is…”
“Crystal Faire, multiversal traveler and the counterpart to your yet-to-be-born niece.” The unicorn looked up at her with a polite smile. “I’ve been briefed. I assume you know who I am.”
The alicorn nodded. “First Lieutenant Sour Sweet. You’re Twilight’s new bodyguard.” She smiled and added, “I’m glad that she has you. It’s the rare world I see where she has any sort of official security, for whatever reason, and there’s plenty where she could have used it. And this visit is less of a social call, and more like unfinished business.” She turned back to her fellow alicorn and asked, “Twilight, could you send a message to Sunset Shimmer for me? I need to talk with her about a few things.”
“Of course, but it could be a wait. Can we get you anything to eat?”
Crystal Faire smiled. “Well, if you’re offering…”
Spike scurried off to fetch food and the message journal as Twilight beamed. “Well, since you’re here, maybe you could take a minute to explain a few things? I’d love to know more about how the multiverse works. I mean, I’ve developed some theories based on Star Swirl’s research, but…”
The taller alicorn laughed as she unfolded one wing to reveal a pannier strapped about her middle. “One thing that’s constant, you never stop wanting to learn.”
-
Sunset stepped into the bridge realm and quickly laid eyes upon its only other occupant. “Crystal Faire.”
“Hello Sunset. I hope that this isn’t a bad time for you.” The alicorn was seated upon a cushion at one side of a small table, a tray of baked goods sitting before her with every sign of having been sampled. The most obvious being the chunk of baked good floating in the air near Crystal’s head. “Donut?”
The girl shrugged, sat down in the chair waiting beside her host and accepted one of the treats as Crystal finished her own. “It’s a free period, but something tells me you tried to time it that way. And that you’re probably not referring to my school schedule.”
“No, but I’m glad it isn’t poor timing in one aspect at least.” She wiped her face with a napkin and tried to make herself look a little more presentable. “And I’m glad that you decided to talk with me, or at least listen, so I’ll stop wasting your time and mine and just bring up the elephant in the room. You’ve been giving what happened around our last meeting a lot of thought.”
Sunset’s gaze went from Crystal Faire to the donut in her hand as she considered her next words, until she finally nodded. “I have.” She raised her free hand in apology. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that you were there. I’m glad that you came and helped, but…”
“But you feel as though I robbed you of a victory.”
“Yes, and I feel terrible about it!” Sunset took a breath to recover herself before she let her frustration take hold. “On the one hand, I’m grateful for the help, and I’m trying my best to not feel petty or spiteful over it because that’s what the old me would’ve done and I don’t want to go back to being that sort of person. On the other, I’m surprised something like that would even come to your attention. I mean, there’s so much that you probably haven’t stepped in for, so what made me tangling with the Nightmare worth your time? And finally…” Here Sunset looked guilty, like a child who’d gotten something wonderful but knew the circumstances for how were terrible. “…I wish we’d have gotten through that without your help.”
“Because?” It wasn’t a proper question, and both of them knew it, but it was nonetheless asked.
“Because someday I’m going to talk about that with someone who isn’t in on what happened, and they’re going to point out that the only reason we got through it all was because you came along and saved all our plots. It’s not going to matter to them that we won, only that we won because we had you supporting us.”
“Like two individuals playing a sporting match, and one winning because the other was somehow handicapped.”
“Exactly.” Sunset sighed and admitted, “Finally, I’m a little sick of going through these heart-to-heart talks. I’ve had three since you and I met, and as much as they were necessary, they’re starting to feel repetitive.” She finally chose this moment to bite down on the donut, slowly chewed it, and managed a smile despite herself. “Sugar Cube Corner?” At Crystal’s nod, the former unicorn sighed. “The day I became Princess Celestia’s personal student, I had my first donut. She and I would visit the shop that made them the first Sunday of every month, just the two of us. They were fantastic, and these? Just as good.” She frowned and added, “The human world donuts are just a little too sweet for me.”
“More artificial sugars and sweeteners.”
“Exactly.” Sunset sighed again and got back on topic. “Anyway, I’d just like to move on if I can, try to get that thought out of my head.”
“That’s fair.” Crystal Faire nodded as she gathered her thoughts and claimed another donut. “Sunset, I have a great deal to say. I can’t promise that you’ll be happy with all of it, or that you’ll be satisfied, but I will ask that you hear me out, and try to be patient with me.” At Sunset’s nod, the alicorn continued, “First, as you no doubt know, there are many instances where I can’t step in to save a particular timeline. And there are instances where I don’t intervene, because in those cases, the situation is well within the ability of those present to handle. Most individuals are more than capable of handling themselves, provided they have all the information and tools they need to deal with the situation before them.”
“And in the case we’re talking about?”
“Nine times out of ten, you don’t need my help at all. You’re very capable, Sunset, but failure happens sometimes. That’s the nature of probability. You can’t plan out everything to intricate detail because something always comes along to disrupt it.”
“Chaos theory.” Sunset had finished hers and claimed a second as she elaborated, “Man plans, God laughs.”
“Along those lines, yes.”
“But the trouble is that this time, from what I can tell, was that tenth time. And if you hadn’t intervened, then there’d be a lot of people dead and at least one person, likely me, playing host to the Nightmare and pretty much stuck in a fate worse than death. And that’s ignoring all the knock-on effects from there.”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not.” At Sunset’s disbelieving look, Crystal took a bite from her own, chewed, then swallowed before she continued. “Sunset, I’m able to read the timelines and see how they progress, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I always choose the right course of action. I’ve made mistakes in my time, and paid for them.” She pointed to the scar on one eye with one wingtip. “One mistake cost me this eye. Sure, I got it replaced with a new one just as good as the old, but my point remains. And on another occasion, I failed to make the right decisions, and a version of Twilight Sparkle was killed by a hydra.” She bowed her head and solemnly admitted, “That one hurt far more, for what I hope are obvious reasons. And most recently… well, you remember what happened to the timeline of the Twilight I was traveling with when we first met?”
“It collapsed. At least, that’s what you told the Twilight I know.”
“And it wasn’t the first or the last world to be threatened in such a way. Our travels led to us realizing a threat to all existence, or at least our corner of it, and the cause was far closer to home than I’d have liked. Ending it meant the end to what little existed from my original timeline, as well as the survivors trapped in timelines that had collapsed. Countless lives were lost because of the actions we took to save yet countless more, and it was still a narrow thing that we were able to stop any more timelines from collapsing.” She raised her head again, and Sunset could see the sadness and uncertainty in her eyes. “In theory, perhaps I could have handled it on my own, and I was prepared to. But it would have been infinitely more difficult, and looking back on it, I’ve realized how much I needed their help, and how much like the Twilights we both know, I neglected the most powerful magic we know.”
Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Their help?”
Crystal smiled. “A few others helped us along the way, though three in particular were of greater help than the rest. One of them was a version of you, who’s been through quite the adventure of her own. They became my friends, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with getting help from a friend sometimes.”
Sunset crossed her arms. “I never said there was, but that doesn’t change my concern.”
“Well, you remember what I said about making mistakes? Often the greatest mistake is not making a choice at all, and one thing I’ve learned is that there’s plenty of times where I couldn’t afford to stand by and do nothing, because if I did, so many would suffer as a result.” The smile faded as Crystal Faire explained, “Your case was one of those times. I came into your timeline knowing that things could go wrong, and I waited until the last possible moment before deciding whether or not to intervene. I still don’t know if my help was necessary or not, but if I’d left it to chance and stood by as the Nightmare consumed you, I would never have forgiven myself.”
Sunset’s earlier irritation faded as she reasoned, “So you made a judgment call? Over me?”
“I’d have done so for anyone, Sunset. Any life is worth saving, because every life matters in the end. Yours, mine, anyone’s life. And regardless, did anyone tell you to reject the Nightmare?”
“Well, no. I mean, it offered me everything I’d ever wanted, everything that I still hoped for, but then I heard all of them and…” Sunset put the pieces together and realized, “That wasn’t you.”
“Or Luna. It was all you, Sunset. You read their emotions, felt their regret and remorse, and despite how much they’d hurt you, you still chose to reach out to them. Because you knew how it felt to be in that much pain, and it hurt you to think of them feeling likewise, no matter how much they deserved it.”
Sunset smiled. “Because I’m not a monster.”
“You threw aside and let go of that guilt all on your own, and that was an important victory all by itself.” Crystal Faire smiled again. “That was the first nail in the Nightmare’s coffin. Luna’s presence, free of the guilt she’d carried over Nightmare Moon and the Nyx, bought you the time you needed to help your friends to resolve their guilt, and I mean all of them. As for me, well, I didn’t bring any guilt with me. One consequence of my life is that I’ve been able to deal with it and carry on, for better or worse. All I did in that mess was buy you a little extra time to resolve the deepest guilt of all.”
“Twilight’s.”
“Exactly. I’m not the hero of that story, Sunset. You are. Remember that.”
Sunset laughed. “I think I can do that.” A third donut was taken up as the former unicorn smiled, “And I was right. Twilight did make good on her promise. I just wish it hadn’t taken her almost five months.”
“Don’t be too hard on her. There were forces conspiring against Twilight, but even they could only hold out so long. You said it yourself, chaos theory. Man plans, God laughs.” The alicorn looked relieved as she studied Sunset’s face. “Better?”
“Yes, thanks.”
“Well I’m afraid I’m going to have to give you another apology. Before I came in here, I left a journal with the Twilight you know, detailing everything I’ve figured out about how the multiverse works. It’s going to give you a headache.”
Sunset rolled her eyes. “I guess I’m going to have to redo my Powerpoint.” She shrugged. “Small price to pay, I guess. Thank you at least, for coming and talking this all out.”
“Thank you for listening. And if it helps, I doubt you’ll be seeing me again for a while, and not for anything more serious than a social visit.”She wiped her face again and stood up from her seat, one of the last donuts grasped in her magic as she made her way to depart. “I’d say good luck, but I don’t think you need it. Whatever comes next, you can handle it. And not just because I say so.”
Sunset watched the alicorn leave the bridge realm, then took the last donut for herself and made her way back to Canterlot High. A tiny part of her wondered what else was different as a result of Crystal Faire’s intervention, but another part found itself thinking that perhaps it didn’t matter. What was done was done, and it was hardly worth fretting over it now, especially with everything she was involved with right now.
Crystal Faire was right. Sunset would handle it, whatever came down the road, because she had her friends and family beside her.
As she emerged into the teacher’s lounge, however, the loud sirens of a fire drill rang through her ears, and Sunset cringed, stuffed the last of the donut in her mouth and covered her ears with her hands. That was one thing she wouldn’t miss about Canterlot High when the time came, though it was still a long time in coming.