Even after I turned off the water I stood in the tub for a few minutes, stuck in my own head. Replaying everything that had happened since I came back. How had it fallen apart so quickly? And what could I do about it now?
My only solace is what I told Fluttershy. We should have years. Things might have been going differently, but years are years. Surely we’d find a solution in that time.
My gut told me I was being naive. I ignored it.
I used my magic to grab a towel from a cupboard and pull it over to myself. It felt good to dry off after so much wetness. I felt limber without mud caking my limbs. I wrapped the towel around myself like a warm blanket and stepped out onto the tile floor.
I walked, dripping, over to the mirror and finally allowed myself to look in. An old mare I barely recognized stared back at me. I’d started to wrinkle early thanks to the years spent in stressful solitude, studying and researching. There were dark bags under my eyes. The colors in my mane had started to fade together, no longer as cleanly segmented as when I was younger.
I looked nothing like the Twilight of this time. I acted nothing like her. What was the public going to think? This strange, other Twilight appears from the future and a day later their Twilight is nowhere to be seen. It didn’t look good for me.
Would they recognize the difference if I said nothing? Would I be allowed to quietly slip into the empty space left by Twilight? And should I? I knew it would be wrong, it would make things so much simpler.
I decided it was a discussion to bring up with the others later. A few minutes of drying later, I hung the towel up on a hook to dry and stepped back out into Twilight’s bedroom.
It was empty. No Spike, no Fluttershy. Curious, I stepped out into the hall.
I heard voices off in another room, what sounded like the conference room, and headed that way. My steps were heavy on the bare crystal of the floor. The light, airy clicks echoed through the halls before returning to me, unchanged.
The voices got clearer as I approached the doors leading into the room that held the huge, round table we used for meetings.
“—can’t just leave it.”
“Please, have some patience. We’ll talk once we’re all here.”
“We’re not all here. That’s the whole point! I’m sick of sitting around while—”
Shaking my head, I walked past the door. I wasn’t ready to go in there yet.
Instead, I made my way towards the front of the castle. There was one other loose end I wanted to tie up. Another piece of the puzzle.
That book. It didn’t make any sense to me, and hopefully reading it would—
I stopped short as I turned the corner into the front hall.
The shelf was empty.
I rushed over to it and confirmed my fears. Somepony had taken the book while I was in the shower. I checked every other shelf in the hall, just to be sure, but it wasn’t there.
Maybe the others were already looking at it?
I dashed back to the conference room and shoved my way through the doors. I immediately felt embarrassed as every pair of eyes in the room fell on me.
Not everypony had arrived yet. Rainbow Dash was leaning heavily on the table, and Rarity was sitting politely, an umbrella leaning against her chair. Fluttershy was hiding in her own chair, hugging herself tightly and still speckled with grime. Spike was reading a comic.
“Um… H-Hi, Everypony.” They all made some manner of acknowledgment of my greeting.
“Is everything alright, dear?” Rarity asked.
I nodded and made my way over to Twilight’s chair. “Sorry, I’m just… Worked up.”
“We all are,” Rarity told me.
“Twilight, what are we doing?” Rainbow Dash sounded frustrated and slightly accusatory. “This isn’t exactly a great time for a sleepover.”
“I don’t think any of us should be alone tonight,” I told her. “We don’t know who’s doing this, but they’re a lot closer than I expected.”
“So? Let ‘em come!” Rainbow Dash pounded a hoof on the table. “I’ll teach them what happens when you mess with my friends.”
Fluttershy squeaked. She looked like she wanted to say something, but held herself back.
“Rainbow, that recklessness is of no use to any of us,” Rarity told her. “Besides, do you really think that, were we all alone, they would target you?”
“I—” Rainbow Dash huffed and sat back. “Yeah, okay. I still don’t wanna just sit here, though.”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” I told her. “First, though, there was a book I left on a shelf in the front hall. Did any of you happen to pick it up?”
I looked around at them. They all shook their heads and glanced around at each other.
I pursed my lips. “That’s… Not good.”
“Why?” Rainbow Dash asked. “What’s this book?”
“I’m not sure,” I told her, “but if somepony’s taken it, that means they were in the castle. They could still be here.”
Fluttershy whimpered. Rarity reached out and stroked her shoulder. “Don’t fret, darling, we’ll keep you safe.”
“We’ll all be safe,” I said, “as long as we’re careful. Nopony goes anywhere alone.”
“Oh, come on,” Rainbow Dash protested.
“Unless you’ve developed a sudden immunity to magic, you’re just as vulnerable as the rest of us,” I told her. “We can’t take any chances.”
“Ugh.” She rolled her eyes. “Fine.”
It was at that moment the doors opened once again, revealing our final two guests for the night.
Pinkie was soaked, but it was nothing compared to Applejack. Her legs seemed like more mud than pony, and her ponytail had come undone and left her with a frizzy, tangled mane. Her eyes were bloodshot, her knees wobbled, and overall she just looked utterly exhausted.
I frowned and got up to head over to them. “Applejack, are you alright? You look awful.”
“‘M fine,” she grumbled. It wasn’t a grumpy grumble, just a tired one. “Can I use your bath?”
“Of course,” I told her. “Although, um, I’m really not sure any of us should be alone. Whoever’s after us might be—”
“Twilight.” She looked me hard in the eyes. “I ain’t takin a bath with somepony else in the room, and I ain’t makin somepony wait in the hallway for me.”
I sighed. “Yeah, okay. I can’t really force that. Just… Be careful, okay? And come straight back here once you’re done.”
“Of course. I’ll wash up quick and be right back.” Without waiting for any more conversation, she turned and walked out into the hall.
“Pinkie?” I looked over to her next. “Would you like a towel to dry off, or—”
“Mm-mm.” Pinkie shook her head, then shook the rest of herself and sprayed water all over the room. I flinched back as I was splattered, and when I looked back she seemed almost completely dry. Even her mane had puffed back up to its normal volume.
“Um… Okay, then.” I wiped some water from my face and made my way back to my seat. Pinkie went and pushed her own chair closer to Fluttershy’s, so she could comfort her friend, and hopped into it.
“Okay,” I said once she was situated, “now that you’re all in, I should go over what happened.”
“What about Applejack?” Pinkie asked.
“Applejack was there,” I said, “she already knows. Now’s a good time.”
I waited a moment for objections. They all waited for me to go on.
I cleared my throat. “So, after we got back to Ponyville, Applejack and I went to check on Fluttershy and found her house empty.”
There were gasps around the table. Fluttershy recoiled in on herself.
“Somepony had scared her off,” I explained. “So, Applejack and I followed some hoofprints into the forest, and eventually we came to the Castle of the Two Sisters.”
“Why there?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I-It was the first place I thought of,” Fluttershy said. “I was scared, I wasn’t thinking straight.”
I nodded. “So, we searched the castle, and at one point we got split up. Applejack found Fluttershy first and scared her, so she screamed, which let me find them. She was in the library.”
“Um,” Fluttershy started up, “once I was inside, I calmed down a lot and decided to go look in the library for ways to maybe fix things.”
“And?” Rarity asked.
Fluttershy shook her head sadly.
“There was one book,” I said. “Something Fluttershy found that I know wasn’t there in my timeline. So, I brought it back.”
“And now it’s gone,” Rainbow Dash said.
I nodded.
“Well, let’s go find it!” Rainbow Dash looked ready to stand up and jump onto the table. “It’s gotta be important, right?”
“We should wait for Applejack,” I told her. “Then, we can split into teams of two and go search the castle. If, uh…” I glanced at Fluttershy. “If you’re all up for that.”
Fluttershy swallowed hard. “I-I can do it,” she stammered. “Don’t… Don’t worry about me.”
I tapped my hoof on the table, then nodded. “Alright. All we have to do now is wait for Applejack, then.”
The room fell quiet, and we waited.
Off in another room, a clock rang out and announced the hour. It was getting late.
“We’ll probably have to all sleep in here tonight,” I said absentmindedly.
I didn’t get a response.
Fluttershy coughed. Waved off our concern. Pinkie rubbed her back.
Rainbow Dash got up and started pacing. Back and forth, up and down the room, long, even strides like the slow swing of a pendulum.
Seconds seemed to stretch on to match her rhythm.
Left. Tick.
Right. Tock.
Back. Tick.
Forth. Tock.
The minutes went on and on and on as we waited.
Another chime from the far-off clock, announcing the half-hour mark. Had it really been that long? That didn’t seem right.
Now we were all restless. We couldn’t pretend we were just being impatient anymore. Applejack definitely should have been back already.
Something was wrong.