//------------------------------// // It's About Time // Story: A New Hero // by Alex The Lone Wolf //------------------------------// Episode 46 – It's About Time I was there. I was with her. I was with Fluttershy. I could see her sweet, soft, and delicate smile piercing through the magnificent and blinding rays which the sun that Princess Celestia brought up shone. I was by Fluttershy's side… in the sky. I looked at my sides. I had wings. I smiled brightly and looked back at Fluttershy who could only return another soft smile. We flew over Cloudsdale and then soon, we landed back on the ground. I felt so exhilarated. She continued to look at me and smile. "I'll be back, sweetie." She told me and kissed me on the cheek. I could only continue to smile and nod. "Alright." As soon as she left, I waited in silence for a moment until I began noticing something strange… Darkness was starting to surround me. Then… I saw her… she came out of the darkness…proceeding as her name ironically entitled her to. I could only stare in shock. "Well, hey there, little brother." She smiled almost wickedly at me. I shook my head. "You can't hurt me anymore, I have real friends who care about me…who treat me like family unlike you…" She continued to keep that same smile. "Oh really?" She slowly walked over to me and looked at my wings, mischievously. She then placed her hooves on them and eerily glided her hooves on them. "You seem to enjoy these very much…" I could only remain silent. "Hm…I'm sure you won't like it if I do…" She tightened her grip on them. "…this." She literally tore them off as if they were some parts of a plastic doll. I could only stare in horror as she took away the freedom of flight. "Not so happy, are you, little brother?" She looked over to her side. "Why don't you come and meet your…well…former mom and dad?" "No…" She smirked evilly and grabbed my hoof to begin to take me towards them. "No!" I almost shouted when I awoke. I looked at my sides, but remembered I never had wings. I lowered my head and sighed. I looked out the window and noticed the darkness that stirred up the night. Something caught my eye. There was a home that was lit. It was the only one. I rubbed my eyes a bit and noticed it was Twilight's house. What is she doing up this late? Maybe I better go check up on her… Yawning a bit, but figuring I could go out for a nice walk to try to be rid of the nightmare that occurred, I walked downstairs and out the door. It only took a few minutes to arrive at Twilight's home. I knocked on the door with tired eyes and waited. The door was almost immediately opened. "Oh, hi, Alex." She greeted in an almost worried and nervous tone. "What are you doing here? It's late." "Well…I was about to ask you the same question…" She moved to the side to let me in, so I accepted it as she closed the door behind me. "I saw your house was the only one lit up and I wanted to check up on you…" "Well that's nice of you…" She responded as she began pacing around in a circle. It looked as if she had been doing that for a while… "But unfortunately, I'm not doing okay." "Why? What's wrong?" I asked, concerned. "What's wrong is that I just finished planning my schedule for the month, but I forgot to leave time to plan for next month! Don't you see? There's no time in my schedule to put together another schedule! I could move my meeting with the Ponyville Hay Board to the following Tuesday, but then I have to reschedule my lunch with Pinkie Pie, and you know what a nightmare she is with scheduling. This is an absolute disaster. My whole year could be thrown off!" "And that's the reason why you can't sleep…?" "Yes!" She answered as she continued to pace around the table. "Well then… instead of pacing around, worrying about what to do, why don't you just start putting another schedule right now while you can't sleep?" She suddenly stopped and widened her eyes. "It's better to start right now and feel better when you know you're doing some work, and it's a better use of the time if you can't sleep." "Alex! You're a genius!" She hugged me and quickly began using a quill to plan out her schedule on a nearby table. "Hm…" She brought up as she continued to look at her planner. "What about you?" She asked me. "What do you mean?" "Well, what are you doing up so late?" I frowned a little as I remembered that horrid depiction of my sister and her usual crushing of dreams… "I…uh…" I sighed. "I had a nightmare…" This caused her to turn from her work and face me in a concerned way. "What? What was it about?" I slightly looked away and then shook my head. "It was just a little nightmare. You should get back to your work. I don't want you to feel pressured or stressed about whatever it is you need to do." "Oh… Alright…um…" She faced her paper again. "Just come talk to me whenever you want…" I nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. I guess I'll go try to get some sleep again. Goodnight, Twilight." "Goodnight, Alex." Afterwards, I left back towards my home. Inside, I lay myself back down and closed my eyes, trying to get some sleep again…but it was pretty hard after that nightmare continued to lurk around and plague my mind… I heard the rooster sound its alarm, waking me up. I groaned and mumbled a bit, but I managed to lift myself up a bit and begin to crawl out of bed. After, I remembered about Twilight's problem last night. I'm pretty sure she didn't get any rest…but I wonder how she's doing… I decided to go see and visit her. Once again, I walked downstairs and out the door. Just before I was about to walk towards her door to knock, I noticed something strange. There was this bright light that flashed beyond Twilight's window. Is she practicing her magic…? I walked toward the window and looked around to see something very odd. There were…two Twilight's in there? One Twilight looked the same, another looked almost completely opposite. Her mane stuck up, as if a sudden and powerful wind blew it. She wore a bandage on her head, along with a skin tight black suit that was ripped and scratched up in different places. There was also an eye patch on her eye and little scar on the left side of her cheek. Twilight yelped as I rubbed my eyes to see if I was seeing correctly… The other Twilight shook her head and ran up to her. "Twilight, you've got to listen to me!" I could hear her voice from the building. It was the exact same as Twilight's. "Who are you? I mean, you're me, but I'm me too. How can there be two 'me's? It's not scientifically possible. You are not scientifically possible!" The original Twilight pointed out, placing her hoof on…herself…? "Twilight, please! I have a very important message for you from the future!" She responded, trying to reach her point. Future…? "You're from the future?" Twilight asked, beginning to show excitement. "That's right, now listen— "What happened to you?" The original Twilight questioned as she walked around future Twilight. "The future must be awful." "Please! I don't have much time!" "Is there some sort of epic pony war in the distant future or something?" "Actually, I'm from next Tuesday morning, but that's not important right now!" "I can't believe time travel is really possible!" Twilight continued to remain off topic. "How did you, I mean, I figure it out?" "The time spells are in the Canterlot archives. But that's not— "Really? Where? I've never seen them." "They're in the Star Swirl the Bearded wing. Now, you have to listen to— "Is time travel fun, or does it hurt? I have so many questions— Future Twilight placed a hoof to her mouth to get her to listen to her. "I have something extremely important to tell you about the future, and I only have a few seconds, so you've got to listen! Whatever you do, don't— Future Twilight disappeared. After that, I turned away from the window with my eyes widened. "Maybe that nightmare is making me hallucinate…" I told myself. "C'mon, Fluttershy! The party can't start until the party supplies get there!" I heard Pinkie's voice nearby. I turned my head to see Pinkie floating in the air by several balloons that were wrapped around her, yet she looked as if she was walking in mid-air. I also saw Fluttershy grunting as she crawled on the floor, holding many bags full of party things. "Happy to... help... but... can I carry... the balloons next time?" Fluttershy managed to stand up, but I quickly rushed over to her. "Fluttershy!" I began placing my hooves on some of the bags. "Let me help you with those…" She smiled lightly, but still strained from the amount of weight on her back. "Oh…thank you, Alex…" Just as I began to remove some of the bags from her back, something suddenly knocked us to the ground. I opened my eyes from the impact to see that it was Twilight. One of those joke masks with the glasses, big nose, and mustache landed on her, looking as if she was actually wearing it. She quickly recovered and dashed over to the pillar near the bridge. "Listen, everypony! I've got something really important to say!" She began announcing, still wearing those joke glasses. Ponies stared at her for a moment and then began to laugh, causing Twilight to notice and brush them off her face. "This is no laughing matter! We have a crisis on our hooves!" Her sentence now caused them to gasp and us to exchange looks with each other. "I've just been visited by myself from the future!" Applejack and Rarity joined the crowd. …so I wasn't hallucinating…? However, the crowd began laughing again. "This isn't a joke!" She exclaimed, jumping off the pillar. "My future self tried to warn me about a horrible disaster that's going to occur sometime before next Tuesday morning!" "What kind of disaster?" Applejack asked, worriedly. "I don't know! I got sucked back into the future before I could explain!" "Run for your liiiiiiiives!" Pinkie cried out as she galloped rapidly but still moved very slowly due to the balloons. "What ever should we do, Twilight?" Rarity questioned. "How do we stop the disaster if we don't know what it is?" "We'll just have to work together to make sure we're safe." She responded and then faced Rainbow. "Rainbow Dash, you and the other pegasi spread out over Equestria, and look for any kind of problem that could lead to a disaster, and I mean anything." "You got it!" She replied and flew off. "Everypony else— Her sentence was interrupted by Pinkie's screaming. She screamed, flailing her legs around as she tried run away, but was limited from her balloons. She stopped screaming when she reached the crowd of ponies staring at her. "Anypony else wanna panic with me?" She asked cheerfully. "No?" Afterwards of not receiving an answer, she continued to scream out loud while galloping in the air. "Everypony else, time to disaster-proof Equestria!" Twilight announced after Pinkie's…scene… She faced Applejack and Rarity. "Applejack and Rarity, you two fix any cracks in the dam!" "Yes ma'am." Applejack saluted and began walking with Rarity towards the dam. Twilight nodded and then faced Pinkie. "Pinkie, do you think you can find Big Macintosh to secure the bridges?" Pinkie, who seemed to have stopped screaming a while ago, nodded brightly. "Okie dokie lokie!" She sped off. Twilight then faced Fluttershy and me. "Alex and Fluttershy, can you make sure all the animals are safe and sound?" "Sure." I answered as Fluttershy nodded. We began walking away. I thought for a moment, looking up. "How are we going to make sure all the animals are safe?" "Oh…" Fluttershy responded. "We just need to make sure that there are no dangers near them. Don't worry." She smiled brightly at me. "I can take care of most of that. Then we can go to my cottage and make sure the animals are safe there." I smiled lightly. "Alright. Let's do it then." We scouted around the park and any other place that an animal took shelter in. We made sure that their homes weren't too fragile and in good shape. Hm… I wonder if we're doing this to make sure the animals don't invade other ponies' homes… We also made sure that there were no dangers lurking around, such as sharp or poisonous objects. Next, we walked to Fluttershy's cottage, where a lot of critters lived. We made sure the chicken coop was nice and sturdy, also making sure that there we no sharp wooden pieces or cracks. We placed enough nourishment, such as food and water for every animal, looking out for anything that might catch our eyes. Finally, after some time, we finished and began heading to town. "I wonder if everypony is done with their tasks…" I expressed out loud. "I hope so…" Fluttershy frowned a little. "I sure hope that disaster Twilight is talking about is prevented or really small…" "Don't worry…" I sent her a reassuring smile. "I'm sure we'll be fine." We saw Twilight holding the end of a long checklist with her magic when we arrived at town. She was checking off on a lot of things. "Done, and done, and done." She announced as we approached her. She turned her head to see us. "Hey, you two. Everything alright with the animals?" "Yup." I answered. She smiled and nodded. Then, we noticed Applejack and Rarity walk towards us. Rarity was removing the leaves that were in Applejack's mane. "Applejack, what about the Everfree Forest?" "The perimeter's clear." She replied. "Great." Twilight checked off on that. "And my team gave the all clear from Fillydelphia to Las Pegasus." Rainbow Dash announced from the sky. That town name still bothered me… "Excellent." Twilight checked off on it again. "Well, we've done everything on the list, but still... future Twilight looked like she'd been through a horrible ordeal." Twilight rolled up the list and put it away, beginning to walk off. "I just have this nagging feeling we should be looking for something bigger than loose bolts and leaky pipes." Suddenly, a loud roar sounded throughout town, surprising us and even causing Fluttershy to jump a little. A three-headed huge black dog appeared out of a nowhere in the middle of town, roaring again. "Okay everypony," Pinkie Pie stood in front of all of them, looking confident. "Follow my lead." Immediately, she began screaming and running away, causing everypony to panic with her. Ponies shut their windows and found anywhere else to hide. "What is that thing?" Spike asked worriedly, running out. "That's Cerberus!" Twilight answered. "He's supposed to be guarding the gates of Tartarus, but if he's here, then all of the ancient evil creatures that have been imprisoned there could escape and destroy Equestria!" "Destroy Equestria?" "Yeah, isn't it great?" Twilight walked towards the monster. "Hey, Cerberus! You look like you could use some obedience training! Magic obedience training!" Cerberus responded with a loud roar. I looked towards Fluttershy. "We have to do something." She smiled. "I've got this." She began flying towards it, surprising Twilight when she immediately had Cerberus under her control. Fluttershy began rubbing its torso, speaking as if she was speaking to one of her pets. "Who's the cute widdle three-headed dog?" She asked playfully as the giant monster really…acted like a dog… "Wow, I knew you were good with animals, but this is amazing." Twilight commented. "Heheh." I chuckled lightly. "That's one reason why she's so amazing." She blushed lightly and continued to rub its belly. "Aww, he's just a big furry guy who got out of his yard, that's all. Right, Cerberus? Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?" Pinkie startled us when she came galloping by us, continuing to scream out loudly. "Pinkie." Twilight called, causing Pinkie to instantly stop screaming and go over to her. "Yes, Twilight?" She asked. "Do you have a ball I can borrow?" She rushed over to a nearby tree with a huge hole and began reaching inside. "I have balls stashed all over Ponyville," She brought out a yellow ball with a blue stripe. " …in case of ball emergency." "…you don't have them stashed in my home, do you…?" I asked Pinkie. She giggled. "That's a surprise for you to find out." I shrugged and Twilight grabbed the ball with Pinkie walking over to her. "Hey, Cerberus!" She called in a sing song voice. "Look what I have!" She waved the ball around in front of the three heads, causing them to grow excited. "I'll be back as soon as I've returned him to the gates of Tartarus." Twilight stated as she began leading him with the ball. "Once he's back at home, there'll be no disaster." "Alright…be safe…" I commented, even though she was too far to hear me. That night, I curiously searched my home for Pinkie's "stash". I didn't do a very detailed and thorough search…but just a quick look around. After spending a few minutes, I narrowed my eyes and placed a hoof to my chin. Hm… "Not sure if Pinkie was telling the truth or just joking…" I told myself. The next morning, I rose up a bit early to see if Twilight had made it back in town safely. Just as I began heading towards her home, I saw her walking, looking very dirty with her mane messed up a bit. "Twilight!" I called, rushing towards her. "Did everything go well?" "Oh. Yeah, he's back where he belongs." She giggled a little as I walked by her side. "Oh, alright. So you're barely just coming back to town now?" "Mm-hm." "Well…at least you're back in one piece. I was a little worried knowing that you were out there the whole night…" Twilight sent me a caring smile. "Thanks, Alex. But don't worry. I'm fine." I smiled lightly. "Alright…" I followed her into her home where she was confronted by Spike. "Hey Twilight. How'd it go with Cerberus?" "Great. I got him back before any of the evil creatures could escape." She responded. "Hurrh... hu— Spike belched, throwing out a scroll from his mouth and hitting Twilight with it. Twilight returned a yelp. "Oh no." She rushed over to the mirror, staring at it afterwards. "What? What's wrong, Twilight?" I asked, walking over to her and beginning to become concerned. "What's the big deal, it's just a 'lost dog' flyer." Spike explained the letter. "I guess the Princess hasn't heard we found Cerberus yet." "It's not that, it's this!" She pointed towards a cut on her left cheek. "...A paper cut...?" Spike asked with an unconcerned expression. "Come on, Twilight, you really need to toughen up. Just clean it out and you'll be fine." He advised as he walked away. "The cut's in the exact same spot as the scar on future Twilight's cheek!" She exclaimed as she continued observing herself in the mirror. "We haven't changed the future at all! The disaster is still coming!" "Paper cut or not…" I added as I looked closely at Twilight's cut. "It's still pretty big…" "It doesn't matter, Alex! What matters is about the disaster!" "Alright…alright… I understand. Right now, let's just worry about that cut. Where do you keep your bandages and whatnot?" "In the drawer upstairs…" I nodded and walked upstairs, searching through the drawer. I found a bandage, some cotton balls, and something to clean out the cut. I walked back downstairs with the items. "Alright. Sit down." Twilight returned a worried expression. "Alex, do we really need to be worrying about this right now?" "It'll only take a few seconds… You don't want it to become infected, do you?" I asked. She sighed. "No…" I grabbed a cotton ball with my hoof and poured some of the cleaning liquid on it. Afterwards, I carefully pressed the cotton ball on her cut, causing her to flinch a bit. "Are you alright?" I asked. She nodded lightly. I continued to clean the cut. After a moment, I placed the cotton ball back down, and placed the bandage on her check. When I was done, she seemed to be staring at me for a while. "Is something wrong…?" I asked, still a little concerned. She shook her head and looked away. "N…no…" "Alright… Well," I stood up. "You should go take a shower. Then, you can start thinking about this again." "Okay… Thanks, Alex." I nodded. "I'll check up on you in a bit." I waved and began walking out from the home, heading towards Fluttershy's. On the road, only a moment away from her cottage, I actually met up with her and Rainbow Dash. They surprised me a bit when I saw them flying in the opposite direction. "Oh, hey girls…" I greeted with slightly widened eyes. "Hey, Alex." Rainbow Dash replied. "I just got some news back from Baltimare and we were just about to head to Twilight's. Wanna come?" I lightly chuckled. "Actually… I just came back from there, but alright." I turned around and began walking by Fluttershy, who offered a kiss on the cheek for her greeting. I smiled at her and then looked at Rainbow Dash. "So I'm assuming that everything is alright?" "Yup. Just gotta tell Twilight the news and maybe this whole disaster thing will be over." "Hm…" I thought about how Twilight received that same cut as her future self did. "…maybe…" When we arrived back at the house, Rainbow Dash knocked on the door and walked in. "Hey, Twilight, another pegasus just got back from Baltimare with an all-clear and— She suddenly stopped talking when we walked in with her to see Spike chugging away on an ice cream bucket while Twilight stood motionless. She flew closer to him to observe his action and laughed. "What's going on? Aren't you gonna stop him?" "She sure isn't!" Spike responded, pointing at a sweaty Twilight, who just wanted to do something about it but couldn't. "In fact, she's not gonna move 'til next Tuesday! She thinks it's gonna prevent the disaster from happening!" Rainbow laughed. "Oh, this is too rich." Then, she suddenly gasped. "Hey Twilight! There's a mouse right behind you!" This caused Twilight to bite her lower lip and widen her eyes in shock, but of course, this led to Rainbow Dash and Spike laughing out loud when she fell for her joke. "Wait, waitwait, let me try!" Spike grabbed a feather off from the table and began tickling Twilight's cheek with it. I sighed and walked towards him, wanting to stop him. "Spike, that's enough." I placed a hoof on him and slowly pushed him away. He looked at me and slowly edged the feather towards Twilight, but I placed a hoof on his claw and brought it down. Nonetheless, he edged it towards her again, leading me to push it back down. This kept going on several times, seeming as if I was trying to prevent a baby from reaching something. Finally, after a moment, he slowly began walking away. "Okay… I guess I'll just go over here and— Immediately, he rushed over to Twilight and furiously tickled her again, causing her to feel helpless and grab him with her magic, throwing him across the room and against the wall. "Whoaoa— He belched when he hit the wall, sending a burst fire that headed straight for Twilight, almost touching me. Although… I was too busy with Spike's shenanigans that I wasn't expecting him to throw out a flame like that…so I couldn't remove Twilight out of the way… After flinching from the sight, I quickly looked back at Twilight. "Twilight, are you ok— I widened my eyes at the sight of her as Fluttershy placed her hooves to her mouth. Rainbow Dash and Spike returned widened eyes as well. "Oh no!" Rainbow announced. "What happened?" Twilight asked in an irritating tone. At least she was okay… "I'm so sorry!" Spike apologized. "I didn't mean to! It was a total accident!" "Show me." Twilight demanded. "Uhhh... I'm not so sure that's a— "Show me!" Twilight ordered, cutting off Rainbow's sentence. Spike hesitantly grabbed a nearby mirror and held it up, facing towards Twilight's face, revealing the same styled mane cut that her future self had. "Oh no! This is the same mane cut as future Twilight!" "Y'know... it really doesn't look too bad..." Rainbow offered. "I don't care how it looks! It's just another sign that the future hasn't changed! Not doing anything didn't work either! Oh, I wish there was a way to know what was going to happen so I could stop it!" "You wanna see the future? I might know somepony who can help!" Spike claimed. "Alright, well come on Fluttershy. We need to go check and see what the other Pegasi have found!" Rainbow Dash suggested to her. "Oh…alright…" She responded and looked to me. "Well, I guess I should go… I'll see you later." "Okay. See you later." I placed a gentle kiss on her lips before she left with Rainbow. "Well, come on! Follow me!" Spike began walking out the front door. Twilight sighed and followed him anyway, causing me to walk by her side, a little worried about her. As Spike led us through town, I looked at Twilight. "Twilight...maybe…maybe you can't really change the future? I mean…whatever you're doing is just making the signs appear anyway." She sighed. "I don't know Alex…what else can I do? What if whatever happens destroys everything? I mean… I don't know…" "Well… if it makes you feel any better… I'll help you with this." She managed to smile lightly at me. "Thanks, Alex…" "Here we are!" Spike announced, causing us to look around and notice that we were right next to the sweet shop. "What's this?" Twilight asked, noticing the strange tent ahead of us, containing many…weird artifacts and such… "It's Madame Pinkie's place." "Madame Pinkie?" She questioned. Spike answered her question by walking us in, hearing Pinkie's voice speak in a spooky tone. "Come... enter the chamber of Madame Pinkie Pie... For the answers you seek, let us consult the mystical orb of fate's destiny..." When we took a seat across the table from Pinkie Pie, she smiled and spoke in her normal voice. "Do you like my mystical orb of fate's destiny? I just got it. Cool, huh?" "Yeah, uh... best one I've seen." Twilight responded. Only one I've seen… Pinkie then resumed her spooky tone. "Look deep into the crystal ball... for soon it will reveal all! Ah yes, I see something... It is a vision of the future... I see... you, Twilight." Twilight then widened her eyes in suspense. "You will get a really cool birthday present next year..." "Yes, and?" "That's it." "Are you sure?" Pinkie placed her hooves around the back of her head. "Yep. Cool birthday present." "Pinkie, I need your Pinkie Sense to tell me what the impending disaster is that future Twilight was trying to warn me about!" She announced a little angrily as she placed her hooves on the table with the crystal ball. "Oh, my fortune telling has nothing to do with my Pinkie Sense, silly. It's only good for vague and immediate events." She replied and then her tail suddenly began shaking, surprising us. A flower pot unexpectedly fell and landed on Twilight's head. "Like that, see? Where did that even come from?" "I have the same question…" I commented as I threw the flower pot off her head. "Are you alright?" I asked, giving her a concerned look. She rubbed her head with her hoof. "Yeah…ouch…" "Come on." I offered, grabbing her hoof to lead her outside. "Let's go take care of that." I faced Pinkie. "See you later, Pinkie." "Wait!" She lifted her hoof, stopping me and causing me to look back at her. "Want your fortune, Alex?" She asked, smiling brightly. I slightly flinched and responded. "No thanks…" "Okay!" Afterwards, I took Twilight home while Spike trailed behind us. Arriving at the tree, I grabbed another bandage and wrapped it around Twilight head. Almost immediately after, she gasped and ran towards the mirror. "There's another sign!" I looked at her, confused for a moment, but then I thought about it and remembered how Future Twilight also had a bandage at the exact same spot. "Oh…yeah…" She placed her hooves on her face, leading me to walk towards her and pat her back. "It's been a long day, Twilight. Just get some sleep and rest. Then, you can think about this tomorrow. I'm sure a good sleep will remove all that stress and pressure you're feeling." She sighed. "Maybe you're right… I'm just going to stay up for a little while, thinking of what to do." "Just for a little while." I emphasized. "I don't think Fluttershy is back yet…Hm…" I thought for a moment and wondered if I could stay over, just in case Twilight needed anything and I could watch her. "Mind if I sleepover?" I asked. "Yeah…sure…" She responded, still seeming to worry about the future. "Alright…well I'll be downstairs. Call me if you need anything, okay?" "Okay…" After observing her for a moment, I retired to first floor, still feeling a little worried about her… Using a few pillows, I created a sort of bed on the floor. I made myself comfortable and closed my eyes. Still beats sleeping outside in the rain. I chuckled a little at my own comment and finally fell asleep after some time. When I awoke, I heard some small beeping noises from upstairs as I slowly opened my eyes. I looked out the window to see that it was early in the morning; sunrise. I yawned and rubbed my eyes a bit. I hope Twilight got some sleep last night… As I stood up, the door opened and in hopped Pinkie. She spotted me. "Oh, hi, Alex! Did you sleep over?" "Yeah… I was a little worried about Twilight, so I thought I could spend the night here." "Well, I hope she isn't still mad from the flower pot incident." "She shouldn't be… I was just about to go check up on her." "I'll come with!" She hopped by my side up the stairs. When we arrived, we were surprised to see many scientific machines set up everywhere. Twilight was frantically rushing to each one of them…using them… "Uhhhh..." Pinkie commented on the sight. "'Off by point zero two from yesterday." Twilight said as she looked through the huge telescope. "Carry the fifteen..." She analyzed a graph. "Negative azimuth on the fourteenth moon..." "Hey Pinkie. Hey Alex." Spike greeted as he continued to swallow large amounts of ice cream with a spoon. I slightly narrowed my eyes in almost an irritating manner. "Wow, Spike. You're still eating that freaking ice cream?" "Man, Spike! You keep eating all that ice cream, you're gonna get a wicked bad tummy-ache!" Pinkie Pie added. "Who cares?" He responded, holding up another spoonful of ice cream. "As long as I can keep eating ice cream. Sorry, future Spike." "Spike, you do know that "future Spike" will be you, right?" I stated. "I'm sorry, what was that?" He asked, holding a claw to his ear. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. I walked over to Twilight, who was writing in her book. "Twilight? What's up with all this…" I looked around. "…machinery in your room?" "Ah, Pinkie, Alex, I'm glad you're here." She ignored my comment. "Can you help me recalibrate the apertures on the nine and quarter catadioptric telescopes?" She asked as she led us to a telescope. I returned a puzzled look. "…what…?" Pinkie, on the other hoof, replied cheerfully. "Sure!" But she didn't really do anything besides look around and smile. I couldn't blame her… I didn't know what Twilight was talking about either… "So I was thinking, after I came to see Madame Pinkie and the flowerpot landed on my head, see the bandage, just like the bandage from the future..." Twilight began as she analyzed something through another telescope. "Nice!" Pinkie commented. "I had an epiphany after that flowerpot. Doing things didn't work, not doing things didn't work, and I couldn't predict the future either, so I only had one other choice." Twilight then pressed her nose against mine, her face directly in front of my vision. "Monitor everything." She emphasized as she revealed her eyes, which almost looked as if they were bloodshot. This actually scared me a bit. "Makes sense to me!" Pinkie added. I ignored her comment and looked at Twilight's eyes. "Uh…Twilight… Are you sure you're okay? I mean… I think you're letting this get out of hoof too much…" She pulled away. "Oh! I'm better than okay! I feel like I'm finally getting somewhere! That way no matter what happens in the future, I'll be ready! I thought I saw something last night in the Horsehead nebula, but after staring at it for three straight hours I realized, I was wrong!" "Three hours?" I inquired. "So when did you sleep?" "Oh I didn't sleep. I haven't slept since future Twilight was here." She replied as she continued to write notes and do other things to "monitor everything". "There are only three days left until next Tuesday, I can sleep all I want after that!" Three days? It's tomorrow… "You've been awake too long, Twilight." Spike included in the conversation, now opening another bucket of ice cream and munching, even having an empty bucket on his head. I looked at him, a bit annoyed, but returned my attention Twilight. "Twilight… Tuesday is not in three days. It's tomorrow…" Twilight gasped. "What?" She teleported towards the telescope Pinkie was originally nearby and looked through it. "Pinkie, did you finish recalibrating the apertures on the nine and quarter inch catadioptric telescopes?" "I have no idea!" She responded, cheerfully once again. Nonetheless, Twilight continued to observe through the telescope, moving it a bit upwards when she suddenly pulled away, placing a hoof on her right eye. "Ah! My eye!" "Twilight!" I called out, rushing to her. "Don't worry, Twilight," Pinkie stated from the bottom of the stairs, scuffling her hoof through the fireplace. "I have eye patches stashed all over Ponyville, in case of eye patch emergency." She placed it on her right eye. "There!" She began bringing over a mirror. "Now you look like a pirate! A sleepy pirate, with a really weird mane cut." Twilight was surprised to notice another sign when observing the mirror. "The eye patch...! Another sign!" She rushed over across the room to look at a piece of paper, which I assumed to be the list of signs. "Nearly all the signs have come true! I haven't done a thing to prevent the catastrophe!" She waved her hooves in desperation and then rushed over to the chalkboard that contained a long equation. Yeah...I'm not even smart enough to figure that out… "If Tuesday's tomorrow, and the disaster happens by Tuesday morning, then there's only one solution. I'll just have to... stop time." "…what…?" I asked again in a confused expression. She pressed her face against mine again. "Stop time! I can't let Ponyville fall when I can prevent the disaster that's coming! I need to stop time, that way I have enough time to figure out and prevent this disaster!" "But…" I slightly stuttered. "That's crazy! You can't just stop time to prevent this! Is it even possible?" She pulled away. "Future Twilight was able to go back in time to try to warn me, but she didn't have enough time to! She told me the spell was in the Canterlot archives. If she can go back in time then that means it's possible to stop time." "But… don't you think that's a little overboard on the solution?" "Better safe than sorry, right? Now get ready. We're going to have to sneak in the archives if we want to do this." "Sneak into the archives… what?" I questioned, now feeling that Twilight really needs her rest. "Yes! Please come with us, Alex! You said you'd help me with this problem, didn't you?" "I…" I tried to respond but Twilight sent me pleading eyes with her hooves together, practically begging before me. I sighed and basically had no other choice. "Fine…" Her face brightened and she threw us each a black skin tight suit. "Ooh!" Pinkie held it up to her face and gazed at it. Spike continued to pig out with the ice cream. I just looked at it… "Get ready everypony. We leave… at night." When night fell, we caught a train to Canterlot. I had ended up placing on the suit she gave me, though I didn't stretch the hoodie part over my head. As I looked out the window towards the night sky by myself, I could only think of Fluttershy. I hope she's doing okay… maybe she's even back home? I sighed. I hope she's not worried about me. I haven't seen her since the last time she left. I shook my head. After we're finished with this mess, I'm going to rush over to her cottage as quick as I can. The train arrived a moment after, cueing us to leave. Steam hissed as the train began to leave the station. Twilight then began galloping out of the area. Pinkie bounced happily behind her with Spike following as well, eating an ice cream cone. I mentally shook my head. If you want that stomach-ache, then go right ahead… We ended up in town. "Okay, the Canterlot archives are right over there." She directed us in a hushed tone. "Let's move!" She began sneaking through the town. However, Pinkie, Spike, and I casually maneuvered through town behind her. Traveling through the park, I noticed Twilight seriously taking this a little too…much… She was sneaking and rolling around by trees and fountains. "Uhh... I don't think we need to sneak around, Twilight. It's not illegal to walk around Canterlot." He added a chomp of his ice cream after his sentence. "He has a point…" I included. "Guard!" She exclaimed and struck a pose near a statue. She looked at us and spoke in a hushed tone. "C'mon, you guys!" Not really seeing a point on why we have to do this, I narrowed my eyes and sat down as Pinkie and Spike struck a pose as well. For Pinkie, it was more for fun and laughter, but for Spike, it was more like he had to. Nonetheless, the guard walked past us, smiling, looking as if he didn't even notice or care that we were there. Twilight exhaled. "That was close." "I dunno why we have to wear these things, either." Spike stretched part of the suit he was wearing. "Aren't we wearing them for fun?" Pinkie questioned. "No, there's nothing fun about this!" Twilight continued to speak in a hushed tone. "Oh... Are you sure?" "Focus, guys! The only way to prevent this disaster is to stop time! Time spells are kept in the Star Swirl the Bearded wing, the most secure section of the archives. That's why we're sneaking around!" "Awesome! That sounds fun!" Pinkie exclaimed. "No, it's not fun!" "Aww." Twilight sneaked towards a bush and out of it, ripping a part of her suit that was left behind in the bush. We continued to casually walk towards the location. "I still don't understand how sneaking into the archives is gonna help her find out about her birthday present." Pinkie commented as we walked and Spike licked his ice cream. "Pinkie…" I tried to explain. "We're not "sneaking into the archives" so Twilight can find out about her birthday present. She wants to stop time so we can prevent the disaster that is supposedly going to happen. "Oh! So that disaster is her birthday present?" I sighed. "Never mind Pinkie…" Afterwards, Twilight had us climbing up to the floor with the archives. She opened the window and looked inside. "The coast is clear. Now slowly lift me into the window so we can- AH!" Pinkie pushed her inside, allowing herself to hop inside while I used my strength to climb through, especially while Spike sat on my shoulders, eating ice cream. Once we were all in, Pinkie trotted ahead while Spike jumped off my shoulders and continued to slurp his ice cream. He sighed. "Let's get this over with." I walked towards Twilight and helped her up. I looked around and noticed the archives directly in front of us. "Let's go, Alex!" Twilight exclaimed in a hushed tone. "Wait, Twilight. Hold on!" I responded, but she had already run off with the others. I sighed and narrowed my eyes. Then, I leaned against the wall and patiently, but while being a little annoyed as well, waited for those ponies, just to go around in a complete circle to discover that they had done it all for nothing. After a few minutes, I heard Twilight's hushed voice. "Okay, if my calculations are correct, the Star Swirl the Bearded wing should be right... here." She stopped, right beside me, but not noticing me at all. I purposely cleared my throat in order for her to hear me. Her ears perked up and she turned her head to see me. "Alex? How did you get here so quick?" "Me?" I placed a hoof on my chest. "I didn't move at all." "What do you mean…?" "This is the same exact spot where we first began…" "Hi, Alex!" Pinkie waved her hoof at me from the window nearby. "Then…" She looked around. "I don't understand. It's supposed to be right here... How are we supposed to find it now?" "Why don't you look in front of you…?" I suggested, pointing my hoof directly towards the room. She turned her head to see a room with a locked gate. "Huh. How'd I miss that?" She walked towards the room to get a closer look, placing her hooves on the bars. "Look at all those priceless magic scrolls. There are more than I ever imagined!" "Twilight," Pinkie tapped her on the shoulder. "The guard!" We looked to see a shadow of a guard proceeding towards us. Twilight gasped. "What do we do, what do we do?" She dug her head in her hooves and trembled in fear as we stood there with the guard walking towards us. He stopped in front of Twilight, causing her to look up. The guard released a smile and spoke. "Hey, Twilight, haven't seen you in a while. Let me open that for ya." The guard used his magic to open the gate, allowing us to walk in. Twilight chuckled nervously. "Thanks!" She walked in as well, leading us around the archive as we tried to find these "stop time" scrolls. "Oh no!" She expressed, causing us to bump into each other when we stopped. She rushed over to a nearby mirror and observed herself. "Look! I look just like future Twilight... the last sign has come true!" "And that's bad, right?" Pinkie questioned. "Come on!" She exclaimed. However, I couldn't help but place a hoof on my chin. "…is it just me or does something about this seem very familiar…?" They seemed to ignore my comment, especially Spike as he walked past me, dropping another scoop of ice cream from who knows where. "It's almost Tuesday morning! The disaster could happen at any moment!" She announced as we noticed the sun begin to slowly rise. "But how do we find the time-stopping spell? There must be a million scrolls here!" Spike responded. "I. Don't. Know!" She exclaimed dramatically. She grabbed my hoof and sent me pleading eyes. "Come on, Alex! We have to find the scrolls before it's too late!" "Twilight… you really expect to find the spell in such a short period amount of time?" I replied. "Please Alex!" She almost looked as if she wanted to cry, so I gave in and sighed. "Alright…" For whatever time we had left, we began searching through the shelves for the spell. I wasn't the type of pony to be negative about everything…but I did feel that it was a lost cause in finding this spell… We don't even know if it even exists! I was surprised to see a light shine on my side of the shelf. I looked out the window to see the sun had risen. "Twilight, it's over! It's officially Tuesday morning." Spike pointed out as Twilight panicked around the room. "Nnngh, no!" She rushed over to the window. "Tuesday morning, the disaster! Incoming!" She yelled out, pushing Spike away and covering herself with her hooves. I remained there, standing up and looking around with my eyes. There was just silence as Twilight continued to tremble. I walked over to Twilight and held out my hoof. "Twilight, it's alright. I don't notice anything wrong, nor do I feel anything bad…" "Good morning, Twilight, love the new hairstyle." Princess Celestia announced out of nowhere, surprising us. "Morning, Alex! Looking as great as ever!" She complimented. "Well, happy Tuesday!" I couldn't help but smile and wave back at her. Twilight grabbed my hoof and pulled herself up. "Why isn't anypony surprised to see me sneaking around in here?" She placed her hooves on the windowsill and looked out. "Is it possible there never was a disaster? That I've just been making myself frantic over nothing?" "Maybe…" I responded, placing my hooves near her and looking out as well. "I don't get it." Spike added as we began to walk away. "If future Twilight wasn't warning you about a disaster, then what was she trying to tell you?" Twilight looked at herself and returned a giggle. "I don't know. But I do know one thing. I look ridiculous." Twilight and Spike then shared a laugh while I smiled warmly. "Yeah, you do!" Spike agreed. "And it's all because I couldn't stop worrying and let the future handle itself! Well, not anymore. From now on, I'm gonna solve problems as they come, and stop worrying about every little thing!" "That's great! Does that mean there won't be any more late night pacing?" Spike asked. "No more late night pacing. If only I had learned this lesson a week ago, we wouldn't have had to go through all this." That seemed to spark something sudden in my mind. "Um…there's one thing that's bothering me though…" I announced. "What is it, Alex?" Twilight asked. "Well... You said all the signs had come true, so you're supposed to look like Future Twilight. If there's no disaster… then what's the relation with your appearance to Future Twilight's? Perhaps, Future Twilight was actually— "Twilight, Twilight, I found something!" Pinkie Pie suddenly presented a scroll from a shelf nearby. Twilight grabbed it with her magic and read it. "It doesn't stop time, but it lets you go back in time. It says you can go back once, and it only lasts for a few moments. Does that help?" I remained silent as Twilight answered her question. Is it just me… or did I just solve this problem in my brain…? "Pinkie, you're a genius!" "Woohoo!" Pinkie cheered. "Now I can go back and tell past Twilight that she doesn't need to go berserk with worry about a disaster that's never gonna come!" Before she could get started, I stopped her. "Twilight, wait!" "What? What is it?" She asked, looking towards me as I walked towards her. "Let me come with you." "What? Why?" "Just trust me on this." "Alright…" She read the scroll. "Well… I'm not sure if I'll be able to take you with me…but it's worth a shot." I nodded and she began concentrating on her horn. The papers in the room began to fly as Pinkie and Spike stared at us. I could feel a rush of wind blow through my mane. Finally, an explosion of light formed and blinded me. When I was able to see, I was in Twilight's home. "Twilight, you've got to listen to me!" I heard Twilight now say to Past Twilight. "Alex?" Past Twilight widened her eyes to see me. "What are you doing here?" She looked at Twilight. "And who are you? I mean, you're me, but I'm me too. How can there be two 'me's? It's not scientifically possible. You are not scientifically possible!" "Twilight, please! I have a very important message for you from the future!" As Twilight spoke, I then got the idea that I might actually be able to see myself from the past. I looked at the window I was supposed to be looking in…but for some reason… I didn't see myself…which really intrigued me… "You're from the future?" "That's right, now listen— "What happened to you? The future must be awful." As these two continued to speak to each other in a highly odd conversation, I remembered that there was a specific reason why I came here… "Please! I don't have much time!" "Is there some sort of epic pony war in the distant future or something?" "Actually, I'm from next Tuesday morning, but that's not important right now!" These two ponies created the exact nonverbal movements as the last time when I saw them. That's the reason why I came here… I knew this would happen… "I can't believe time travel is really possible! How did you, I mean, I figure it out?" "The time spells are in the Canterlot archives. But that's not— "Really? Where? I've never seen them." "They're in the Star Swirl the Bearded wing. Now, you have to listen to— "Is time travel fun, or does it hurt? I have so many questions— Before Twilight could place her hoof on Past Twilight's mouth, I quickly confronted Past Twilight, placing my hooves on her while I heard static crack behind me. "Listen, Twilight! Do not waste your time worrying about the— I heard a loud explosion of light and looked back to see Twilight gone. "Um…" This created the largest awkward silence I've ever been in. Twilight could only look behind her and back at me in confusion as I looked around. The entire suspense was taken out, so I looked at Twilight calmly and finished what I had to say. "…Anyway…don't worry about the future. Let the future handle itself." I sighed. "I know this is all confusing. How I'm here and these many other things. To be honest, I'm completely confused about all this myself, but I'm just trying to do whatever I can to help. Just don't worry about the future, alright? Trust me, there's no disaster coming." "…okay…" Twilight released, still shocked about what was going on. I chuckled a little and heard static cracking on me. I looked at myself to notice the signs that I was going back. "Well… looks like I'm out of time." I looked back at Twilight to still see her shocked. "It was nice running into you in the past. I'm sure this is a day I'll never forget." I chuckled again and waved. Then, an explosion of light occurred and I was finally back. "Alex!" Twilight exclaimed and rushed over to me. "Where were you?" "Um… I'm not sure how… but I managed to stay in Twilight's house a little while longer after you left." "Did you tell her what I needed to tell her about?" Twilight almost quickly asked me. "Don't worry." I gave her an assuring smile. "I did." She sighed in relief. "How did you know, Alex?" "You see… I had actually managed to witness the whole thing when Future Twilight came to warn you. When Pinkie found the spell to go back in time, that's when it hit me. You looked exactly like Future Twilight, and I knew you were going back in time to try to stop yourself. And that's exactly what Future Twilight did last week. Even though I'm still very much confused about this time traveling mess, that was basically you trying to warn yourself not to worry so much. So I had to go with you to make sure Twilight got the message, otherwise you'd make the same mistake again and it'd be a technically unending loop of the same mistake!" They returned widened eyes, looking as if they were confused. "Wow… Alex… That's… that's so smart… I… I can't believe I didn't notice it before…" I gave a shrug. Twilight smiled and hugged me. "Thanks." However, we heard a stomach growl near us. "Ohhh... my stomach..." Spike announced, falling back towards the floor. "I, I think it's all that ice cream... I thought the stomach ache would be future Spike's problem... but now I am future Spike. Ohh..." I chuckled a bit. "That's what I was trying to warn you about there, buddy." Pinkie Pie and Twilight giggled. "Come on, future Spike." Twilight walked over to him and placed him on her back. "Let's get you home." Afterwards, we finally left the area and headed back to the train station… As we began taking the train ride home, we ditched the black skin tight costumes. I sat by near a window and began thinking about the situation once more. After a moment of critical thinking… that's when I discovered something that was still completely off about this… "Um…girls…" I announced, turning my vision towards them. "Yes, Alex?" Twilight asked. "There's still something else that's bothering me…" "Like what?" Pinkie questioned. "Well…" I walked over to the both of them. "Remember how Future Twilight was really Twilight trying to warn herself about a disaster that actually never really existed?" "Yes?" They inquired, leaning in with their heads. "Well… if it was Twilight trying to warn herself about the disaster… then how did this whole loop even begin?" "Huh?" The returned highly confused looks. "Look, it's like this." I faced Twilight. "Say you were the first Twilight in the beginning of this loop of time. How in Equestria did Future Twilight start worrying about the disaster if there was not another Twilight to warn her in the first place? The very first Twilight would have not been able to know how to time travel if that Twilight didn't have another Twilight come to warn her so the same events would proceed after…" They returned widened eyes, looking highly surprised as their brains seemed to not be able to decode the information I sent them. I sighed and tried to think of a simpler way to say this. "Alright… let me see if I can say it in a simpler way… If Twilight needed to tell her past self how to time travel and she didn't know it before, then there would not be a reason to time travel in the original timeline, creating a situation in which the original, unmodified timeline could not exist. It's a paradox." Their eyes still remained widened. They looked at each other briefly and back at me. I returned silence as I wanted to hear a response from them. "Um…" Twilight managed to say, but I didn't think she had anything to say about it. I sighed and released a small smile. "You know what? Let's just leave this mystery unsolved…" I turned around and looked out the window. "As stated before, just leave the future to worry about its self…" After a while, we finally arrived back at Ponyville. Pinkie bounced back to her home, hoping to remove the thought of the paradox by stuffing her stomach with sweets while Twilight and I walked back to her home with Spike on her back. "Hm…" I expressed. "I still don't know how time travel works…but since I was successful in warning Twilight, were you supposed to change as well? As if none of this ever actually happened? Or is it only in that Twilight's timeline?" Twilight thought about it for a moment and then shook her head, giggling warmly. "I don't know Alex. I absolutely don't know. But we should just let this go; otherwise this is all we're going to be wondering throughout our entire lives." I chuckled. "You're right. Sorry." We entered the home, and Twilight placed Spike to bed. After, she walked towards me and faced me. "But you know Alex…" She began. "Hm?" "You are really smart… I may be a brainiac with equations and such, but you really know how to think outside the box." I chuckled lightly and almost blushed in embarrassment. "I guess that's the benefit of spending most of your life thinking about everything, huh?" She giggled lightly. "Whatever it is, you're amazing and really intelligent." "Thanks Twilight…" She nodded and smiled. "Well, I better get to bed. I'm pooped for not being able to sleep for such a long time!" I smiled as well and nodded. "Right, Twilight. Have a nice sleep. I'll be glad when I can put this all away." She continued to send me a smile and began walking to her room. She waved and allowed me to leave the home. Of course, I kept my word and rushed over to Fluttershy's as fast as I could. I knocked on her door and began feeling very sleepy. She opened the door to see me. "Oh hi, Alex! I was starting to wonder where you were…" "Sorry, Fluttershy…" I answered, very tiredly. "Um…I would tell you everything that happened…but…" I yawned. "I am very sleepy right now." "Oh…" She giggled adorably. "Okay." She hugged me firmly but softly. "I'll talk to you later then." She whispered into my ear. Then, she planted a kiss on my lips, making me feel like I wanted to sleep right there. I smiled lightly and waved. "I'll see you…when I…wake up." She nodded and waved, excusing me to return back home. I quickly planted myself on the bed after being near it. This was just like Winter Wrap up… I closed my eyes and immediately fell asleep, not giving me time to think about my day.