“Time slowed down inside the Wall,” Luster whispered.
“Yes, it did,” Sweetie Belle confirmed, “and not just a little.”
Luster held her mouth shut, mulling over this revelation. The Wall had been a form of time twister. She didn’t know for sure, but what Sweetie Belle had said painted that picture. A sort of time compression the closer one got to the center of it. That lab. Months passed on the outside, while minutes did on the inside.
“Twilight and Starlight never communicated–”
“Because they didn’t have the time to.”
Luster nodded. The thought stupefied her. Something much grimmer crawled its way to the forefront of her mind. If the Wall swallowed matter like a snack over months, while inside only minutes were passing...
“Wait, wait, a minute.” Luster waved her hoof, a contrite expression on her face. “Mare mentioned that the Wall had cut over the river, that it was going inside! What about rain, or wind, or snow!? You can’t shove months worth of elements into a time-bending vortex without consequences.”
“It was wild,” Cheerilee said.
The trio of mares had walked back up the slope during Sweetie Belle’s tale. They sat down in the grass.
“Wait,” Luster repeated. “You went in too!?” Everypony but Luster laughed. “That’s not funny! Yo– You could have died or worse, been stuck there! Only reckless unicorns or… or fools would mess with time!” She pinched her lips. Was she calling Teacher Twilight a fool as well? Yes… Yes, she did. “Or dared enter such a… paradoxical abomination...”
At a loss for better words, Luster pouted, and looked in turn at each pony in her audience. They all had smiles on their faces.
“You’re crazy,” Luster breathed.
“Were!” Pinkie Pie bubbled. “And also we were very much desperate at that point, if I recall.”
“You could have asked Twi–” Luster clapped her forehead. “Stupid.”
“There wasn’t anypony available at the time,” Mare said. “We were, quite literally, the last ponies in town. We had to do something.”
“And I’m sure you realize as we did then,” Cheerilee added, “we didn’t have much time.”
“It clicked, right?” Luster asked. “The time shenanigan thing, I mean.”
“Oh, yeah,” Pinkie confirmed. “Especially when we recalled Timeturner’s shop. And really, all the clocks in town were broken somewhat.”
“How did the Wall affect clocks on the outside?” Luster asked, curious.
“I don’t really understand still,” Mare said, offering a shrug. “Back then, Twilight told us it hadn’t much to do with time, but with space. The Wall interfered a lot with its surroundings at a level our pony eyes couldn’t see, and that translated in breaking small mechanisms. Id est clocks.”
Luster sighed; she would have to ask Twilight herself. “So you went?” she said.
“We jumped!” Pinkie said.
“It was scary,” Mare added.
Cheerilee shrugged. “We had to do it.”
“You could have waited for help! Ditzy must’ve stopped en route,” Luster groaned. “Just… why?”
“For my friends!”
“For my student.”
“For my town.”
“I– I mean, with all due respect,” Luster stuttered, “none of you were unicorns. You weren’t prepared. Or aware of what to expect.”
“Would you have?” Sweetie Belle asked, a wide smirk on her cheeks as she parted a warm, thankful hug with Cheerilee.
Luster rolled her eyes. “At least, I wouldn’t have been drunk.”
Sweetie Belle erupted in laughter, reaching out to grab Pinkie who laughed along. Both threw a glance at Cheerilee and Mare. One that said Luster had a point, and the young student repressed a smirk.
“But you did go in in the end.” Luster took a deep breath. “How long did it take to make that decision?”
“Minutes, maybe?” Cheerilee said, rubbing her chin. “It’s been a long time.”
“Not much,” Mare corroborated.
Eyes turned to Pinkie, who threw her hooves up. “Don’t look at me, I was drunk as hell.”
Luster shook her head and let out a sigh. “So you went inside?”
“Yeah.” Unanimous.
“How was it?”
“Crazy,” Pinkie cackled.
“How did it feel?”
Pinkie and Cheerilee turned to Mare.
“What?”
“Well, you’re the pony who’s been telling the most of this story today.” Cheerilee grinned. “You can keep going.”
“Alright, alright.” Mare sighed and scratched her forehead, struggling for words at first, until a light shone in her eyes. “It was crazy.”