They found Moondancer by a lengthy process of elimination. She wasn't in the Observatory's telescope dome. She wasn't in the Astronomy room of the Canterlot Archives. She wasn't at the Canterlot public library, or the School's library. By splitting up, Twilight and Cheese quartered every reading spot and nook in and around the Archives and the School that Twilight knew of. No dice.
Twilight eventually found her in a place she hadn't expected at all: a rundown, nail-house cottage in a shadowy half lot between two larger shops on Emporium Avenue. And Twilight had only heard about it by bumping into Minuette, who mentioned it was where Moondancer spent most of her time these days.
Twilight hesitantly rapped on the purple door, with its inset crescent-moon window. There was no answer. She rapped a little louder. And without meaning to, put a hoof straight through the cheap painted plywood. Worried, she leaned down to peer through the hole into the dimness beyond.
And gasped in shock. There was an eye, looking back at her.
The door creaked open. A beige, top-knotted mare, wearing thick-lensed glasses with tape on the bridge and an old cardigan sweater, glared at her furiously and myopically. "Yes? What is it?" She demanded. "I'm trying to study."
"Moondancer?" Twilight said. "It's me, Twilight!"
"Twilight?" Moondancer lifted her glasses, stared at her in shock.
And then suddenly she wrapped her forehooves around Twilight, hugging her and sobbing.
"Twilight, it is you! I thought I'd finally gone round the bend here!"
"What happened?" Twilight asked. "Why are you living here? What about the School? The Observatory?"
"Oh... the Observatory." Moondancer rolled her eyes. "Come on in, Twilight. It's... kind of a long story."
They sat down together, in the candle-lit gloom at Moondancer's desk, piled high with books and scrolls. Moondancer explained... and Twilight's eyes went wide.
"So," Moondancer finished, "I eventually realized what every young academic realizes. That you're not special, no matter what they tell you. That you don't have friends. Just... colleagues. Who don't do friendships, just networking. They may not dislike you personally, but they won't hesitate to use any advantage they have to get ahead of you."
"But what about the star-charts?" Twilight asked. "And working with Princess Luna?"
"Princess Luna?" Moondancer laughed humorlessly. "That's another thing to watch out for. Senior researchers will tell you anything you want to hear, promise you anything you want to have -- until they've gotten the work they need out of you. And then it's the gate, or worse, and thanks so much for playing!"
Twilight winced at the bitterness in her friend's voice.
"In the end," Moondancer said, "I discovered the one solace I had was reading, studying. Just like we used to do at the School. I found this place, which was cheap and out of the way. And I guess I just stopped bothering with anything else, with anypony else. Because it just wasn't worth it to me anymore."
"I'm sorry, Moondancer." Twilight said. "This is all my fault. I should have been more thorough. I should have made sure you'd be happy. But, I'm here now. And I'm going to make up for all that."
"Uh... how?"
"By bringing you back with me. Back through the portal. We're putting the Advanced Projects team back together."
"How are you gonna manage that? I don't see that Discord character around here anywhere."
"I brought the next best thing," Twilight said. "I brought a party-pony!"
She gestured to Cheese, who rattled off a quick march on his accordion.
So pack your books,
And make your bed!
We're goin' somewhere
else, instead!
Where there's sunshine
all the while,
'Cause all we want is to
make... you... smiiiile!
Moondancer stared at him. "I have gone round the bend." Then she shrugged. "But if it gets me out of this rat's nest, I don't mind. Let's go!"
------------------------------
They stepped out of the portal into the Golden Oak Library, and Moondancer discovered she was back to her old student self. The top-knot, taped glasses and cardigan had been left behind on the other side.
"Wow..." she breathed. "I still remember it all... or some of it, anyways. Bits and pieces. It's all fading away, sort of, like it was just a big long dream..." She shivered. "Or a nightmare!"
Then she looked at the other ponies, gathered around smiling at her. "Hey, you know, I really missed this? Being part of the Advanced Projects group? Being one of the Heroes of Equestria? Being able to do stuff that matters, without having to ask anypony's permission? This is what I've wanted to do with my life!"
"Don't worry, Moondancer," Twilight told her. "We'll be a team again. We're going to find them all, bring them all back."
"Don't count your chickens, dearest!" Rarity warned. "We've only found the one pony so far."
Unfazed, Cheese clapped a deerstalker on his head, and held up a magnifying glass.
"So," he growled, "who shall we look for next?"
Beside him, Pinkie was suddenly wearing a bowler and mustache, and smoking a bubble-pipe.
"Because...," she added sternly, "... the game's ahoof!"
------------------------------
"Excuse me?"
The shout was loud, and cross, and echoed up and down the length of the palace corridor. Twilight glanced worriedly at Cheese and Moondancer. Then the three of them leaned around a marble pillar to peer at the source.
Sunset Shimmer was standing foresquare in the middle of the corridor, with a group of Palace staff ponies cowering before her. "What did you say?" she demanded. Hearing no reply, she nodded. "Yeah. That's what I thought. And the answer is no." She ground her teeth and stamped a forehoof. "We've been planning this thing for weeks, and we're not pushing the date just because somepony's supermodel girlfriend feels like getting a hooficure that morning!"
"But, Miss Shimmer..." The white-haired official in front swallowed, then went on. "Mr. Fancy Pants only suggested moving the event to the Royal Gardens in the afternoon. That's doable, if we..."
"Do I look like Fancy Pants' social coordinator?" Sunset growled. "I don't think so! I work for Princess Cadance. Does the word 'Princess' ring a bell at all? And if we move the time for even one pony... just one single pony... urghh! There'll be no end to it!"
She dropped into an arch, over-entitled tone. "Oh, my dear Miss Shimmer, we simply cahn't do one o'clock, can we do one-thirty instead? Oh, we cahn't possibly do one-thirty, can we do two-fourty-five? Grrr! Are you freaking kidding me? If they want to be seen sneering at bidding lots at Princess Cadance's charity auction, they can be seen there at the time and place that we scheduled it! Period! End of discussion!"
"But..."
"No! No changes! You heard me! Look, why are you even still here? Go!"
The staff ponies jumped, scattering like panicked chickens. They ran in all directions, bumping into each other in their haste to depart. In mere seconds, the corridor was empty, save for a single flame-maned pony who pressed a hoof to her forehead, muttering to herself under her breath.
"ARGHHHH!" Sunset suddenly yelled. "What do you want from me, huh? Tell me what you NEED!"
"Sunset?"
"WHAT!" Sunset swung round, her eyes wide with rage.
And then the anger vanished, leaving only scared shock behind. "Twilight?" she said. "Moondancer? Cheese?" She edged closer, prodding Twilight with a forehoof. "Phew... you're actually there. Thought I was losing it there for a minute."
"What's going on here?" Twilight asked.
"Um..." Sunset scuffed at her mane with a hoof. "How much of that did you hear?"
"More than I wanted," Twilight replied. "How long's it been like this, Sunset?"
"A while." Sunset sighed. "Come on up to my office. I'll explain."
They all trotted up the corridor together, then past the guard ponies stationed at the doorway leading into the Royal Wing. At the top of the stairs beyond Sunset turned left, and pushed through a pair of doors into a grand-looking office, with a marvelous vista of the western plains below.
"Nice, huh?" Sunset grinned. "Princess Cadance insisted on it. She said only the best, for her Princess of Empathy. She's been totally wonderful, really she has..."
Sunset's shoulders sank. "And then I find out the job is less about empathy, and more about baby-sitting." She trotted around behind the room's desk and thunked down in the chair. Twilight and the others followed and sat down in the guest chairs in front of it. "I mean, seriously, Twilight? A lot of these students come from noble families. They think they can just slide through school on their family's reputation. I keep trying to encourage them to explore a bit, reach a bit, take a chance on learning something they didn't already know. And all they wanna know is, will this be on the test? What's the minimum I need to do in order to pass?"
Sunset shook her head.
"One thing I loved about our group, Twilight, is we were all there, together, to learn. We were at Celestia's School because we wanted to learn stuff. I could get up in the morning, have breakfast with all of you, and have no idea what would happen that day. But I'd be certain that we'd tackle it together. Everypony works, nopony shirks!"
"I liked that too." Twilight nodded. "I just didn't realize how much, until I found myself missing it."
Sunset growled. "And then, on top of that, I find the charities and other social events Princess Cadance wants to hold are being constantly sabotaged by the three I's: indifference, incompetence, and entitlement -- and if you try to tell me 'entitlement' doesn't start with an 'I', you haven't met some of the ponies to whom the word applies!"
She tossed her forehooves.
"So, I find that to do my job, I need to do the job of like six other ponies, just to be sure it doesn't all fall to pieces when my back is turned. You know the old saying, Twilight, about how if you want something done, give it to the mare who's already tearing her mane out? Totally true! Take my advice. Don't ever do a good job at something you'd rather not be doing. Because the only reward they'll ever give you is to ask you to do more of the same -- because, hey, you've got experience now!"
Twilight nodded. "I see why you're so cross."
"Cross? This is not cross, Twilight!" Sunset objected. "This is just mildly stressed out. You don't want to see me when I get cross! I leave scorchmarks on the walls!"
Her head thunked down on the desk. Then she sighed, and lifted her head, looking ashamed. "I don't mean to be like this," she said. "It's just... I think it's my old competitive spirit coming out. I just can't stand seeing others fail. Because that makes me feel like I've failed. So, I kinda lose it a bit, and lash out. I really don't mean to be like this..."
"I know you don't," Twilight nodded sympathetically. "Maybe you just need to take a break. What about your music? You were going to write some songs, play some gigs..."
"Who has time for that?" Sunset shook her head. "Really! I've never had time to focus, really focus, and build up my chops. And you know what else I learned, Twilight? In this town, it's not how well you play, it's who you know. Ponies who can whisper in the right ears, open doors for you. And Princess Cadance? Don't ever tell her I said this, Twilight, but she is not a tour promoter. She's the Princess of Love, and she's really good at it. But greasing the skids? Not something she does very well at all. She's just too... nice."
"So you feel you have to be... not nice, on her behalf?"
Sunset sighed. "Does it show?"
"I'm so sorry, Sunset," Twilight said. "I should have stuck around, should have made sure it would work out before I left you here."
"It's not your fault." Sunset shook her head. "I walked into this with my eyes wide open. I thought it was going to be great, too."
"Well," Twilight went on, "at least I can do something about that."
"Like what?"
"Like bringing you back with us." Twilight gestured to Cheese and Moondancer. "Back through the portal. We're putting the team back together." She smiled mischievously. "Unless you're determined to stay here and try to make this all work?"
Sunset gave her a flat look.
"That's a joke, right? Seriously, Twi. Show me the doorway out of this. I'll probably beat you through it."
------------------------------
Once they'd returned to the Golden Oak Library, Sunset found herself back to her old student self again. She exchanged hugs with the other ponies, including the five from Ponyville.
"Wow! I never thought I'd be so glad to get back here from anyplace. And I say that having done it before." She grinned. "Okay, so it looks like we've got three of us back so far. Let's split up for the next two, Twilight. We can cover more ground that way. We have two party ponies, let's use 'em. You take Cheese, and I'll take Pinkie."
"Ooh," Fluttershy said. "Are you sure you know what to do, Pinkie?"
"No problemo!" Pinkie waved a hoof. "Just go through a magical portal to someplace I've never been, looking for a pony I barely know, when I don't even know where they are anyway?" She shrugged. "How hard could that be?"
"That's the spirit!" Cheese said. Suddenly he was wearing his flat-brimmed hat and patterned poncho. His eyes narrowed, scowling determinedly. A faint sound could be heard in the distance, like somepony whistling...
"Just... follow my lead, little pony..." he growled.
Pinkie slapped a cowpuncher's hat on her head, and blew on a noisemaker.
"Lead on, mi fiesta poni compadre!"
------------------------------
On the bank of a river, in the darkness of late evening, the Great and Powerful Trixie sat huddled, staring down at the water.
She was minus her magician's cloak and hat, minus her wagon, minus everything. And all thanks to...
"That no good, miserable Twilight Sparkle!" she yelled. "It's all her fault!" She scuffed the ground with a hoof angrily. "Why? Why does she always do this to me! Why does she have to be so... so perfect! So good at everything. Especially magic!"
She stared up wistfully, at the light-purple night sky overhead.
"Couldn't Trixie have that one thing? Adoring crowds hanging on her every performance? In awe of her skill and prowess in the arts of prestidigitation? Without oh-so-perfect Twilight Sparkle coming along to mess it all up? With better tricks... stronger power... a more captivating performance..."
She stared down into the river, at her sad, scared reflection.
"A better show..."
She felt her heart sink. She sighed hopelessly. "So much for the Great and Powerful Trixie..." she murmured sadly. "Maybe Dad was right. It's hard to make a living out here... all alone..."
Then her face suddenly set, in an angry, determined scowl.
"No! Trixie may be down, but she is not out! She just needs a bigger trick, a better trick! Something that will really prove to those insufferable, easily-duped, narrow-minded Ponyvillians that Trixie is the greatest, most powerful unicorn in all Equestria! Yes! A force to be reckoned with! A show beyond shows!"
She lept up onto her hind-hooves. "Behold, cowering ponies! I give you the triumphant return... of the Grrreat... and Powerful... Trrrixie!"
She flung her hooves wide, sending fireworks blasting into the sky, in a glorious, prismatic display.
And then she looked down...
... and saw a pony staring at her, across the river. It was her nemesis. Twilight Sparkle, herself.
"Hah!" She pointed a hoof. "Have you come to finish the job? To tell me off yourself? To make certain poor, miserable, downtrodden Trixie never blackens your provincial hayseed doorstep again?"
"Trixie, I..."
"Well, guess again! Trixie will return! And when she returns, you'll wish you'd never tangled with the greatest, most powerful, most puissant of all magic wielders in the land! And I... I... uh..."
Trixie came to a halt, looking at Twilight, finally registering the look of utter confusion on her face. And then Trixie noticed the other ponies standing behind her: Moondancer and Cheese Sandwich.
"Wait..." Blinking, Trixie stared narrowly at Twilight. "You're not her, are you? I mean, you're not the Twilight from Ponyville?" Trixie waved a hoof vaguely at the forest track behind her. "I mean that Ponyville. Whatever!" She rolled her eyes. "You know, messing around with alternate dimensions is totally murder on being able to say things clearly? I mean you... you're... uh..."
She abruptly sat down hard, looking very sheepish.
"How much of that did you hear?"
Twilight smiled sympathetically. With a flash of her horn, she teleported herself and her friends across the river. Then she sat down next to the showpony. Cheese and Moondancer sat down with her, being company but otherwise remaining quiet.
Twilight smiled. "You know, Trixie, I never realized how much I'd gotten used to that?"
"To what?" Trixie asked cautiously.
"Having a friend who never gives up, no matter what happens. Who has enough ego to bounce back from pretty much anything. I never realized how much I'd come to rely on that. Until I had it taken away from me." Twilight nodded. "And then I knew I wanted it back."
"Huh," Trixie said, dryly. "Now you tell me..."
"What happened?" Twilight asked. "I thought you and your father were doing sold-out shows in Las Pegasus."
"Oh, we were!" Trixie snorted. "Jack Pot the Magnificent and his darling little daughter!" She put her hooves beneath her chin, fluttering her eyes endearingly. "Little Trixie... so cute, so adorable, so bright-eyed --"
She snarled.
"And always the assistant! Always second billing! Always off to the side, working the audience -- never center stage! Trixie was never permitted to present an act, never allowed to work a trick on her own. Oh, the audience wouldn't like it, Trixie! The polling and focus-groups say they love the father-daughter thing, Trixie! Don't mess with success, Trixie!"
She huffed, angrily.
"Trixie was fed up! She'd had enough. So one day she drew a line in the sand. She demanded equal billing, her own acts in the show. Demanded the respect and recognition her skill as a magician ought to have earned her! Trixie said if she was not treated as an equal, she'd leave the show, set out on her own. She'd create her own competing performance, make a name for herself!"
She pounded the bank with a hoof. "Trixie laid down the law!"
"And?"
Trixie's shoulders fell. "Dad called my bluff. He refused. So, I left. I took my share of the earnings from the show, bought a wagon, a costume, some props. And I set out to present my own travelling performance, somewhere other than Las Pegasus. Because obviously, there was no way I was going to be able to compete on the Strip, not without the connections Dad has."
She sighed. "And it all seemed to be going so well. Town by town, hamlet by hamlet, building up word of mouth, a reputation. And then I made the mistake of coming here... to Ponyville..."
She gestured around her. At everything that was not there.
"And, well... Trixie blew it. Trixie overdid it, and it all came apart at the seams. Trixie ended up a laughing-stock, driven out of town. Without her wagon, her props, her hat, everything..." She shook her head. "And all I wanted..."
She looked up at Twilight.
"All I ever wanted was to be respected for who I am, Twilight! For what I can do. That's all I've ever really wanted!"
Twilight hugged her with a forehoof. "I know, Trixie. And I'm sorry I put you through all this. I should have paid closer attention, should have talked to you. Should have made sure this was right for you."
Trixie crossed her forehooves. "Well of course you should have, Twilight. You expect the Great and Powerful Trixie to have to explain everything?"
Twilight laughed. "It does help, sometimes. Now come on, Trixie. We're putting the Advanced Projects team back together. And we can't do that without our showpony and Element of Honesty."
"Well! Trixie can't do it without her hat. And her cloak. And her wagon, and..."
"It'll be there."
"Not finished. And her friends... especially Starlight!"
"We'll get them back, Trixie. I promise." Twilight smiled at her. "Are you going to want top billing in the team, too?"
Trixie sniffed. "Of course not! The Great and Powerful Trixie hardly needs to advertise her skill, not in such good company. After all, Trixie is one of the Heroes of Equestria, is she not?"
Twilight just eyed her, amused.
Trixie worriedly nudged her with an elbow.
"Come on, Twilight..." she muttered. "Let me have this? I'm feeling a little downtrodden right now..."
------------------------------
"So..." Applejack asked. "Where are we, exactly? You sure this is the right place, Pinkie?"
"Absolutely! The Pinkie-sense never lies!" The party pony stared around. "But as for where we are..." She shrugged. "Eh, beats the heck outta me!"
"What's a village doing, way out here in the middle of a desert?" Sunset Shimmer asked. "Just two rows of houses, and nothing else for miles?"
"And... why is everypony smilin' like that?" Applejack asked, uneasily.
"Yeah..." Pinkie looked around suspiciously, at the townsponies passing by. "I know smiles. And these smiles? They're just not right."
"And something else, have you noticed?" Sunset whispered. "They all have the same cutie-mark..."
"Woah. Don't that beat all!" Applejack said quietly.
"Welcome!" A white-coated, wavy-maned stallion trotted up to them. "Welcome to our village! I'm Double Diamond."
"Double Diamond?" Sunset stared at him. The drab, off-white stallion had only a passing resemblance to Starlight's old home-town friend.
Applejack touched her hat. "Well howdy, Double Diamond! I'm Applejack, and this here's Pinkie Pie and Sunset Shimmer. We all just arrived."
"A pleasure to meet you all. And you all still have your own individual cutie-marks, I see."
"Um, yeah..." Sunset said, uneasily. "We're... not from around here."
"Well, all are welcome in our little village. What brings you our way?"
"We're looking for a friend," Sunset replied. "We... think she might be here somewhere."
"Oh, we're all friends here. So you've come to just the right place!"
There was an awkward pause, while Sunset tried to come up with a careful, subtle way to find out where Starlight might be. But then Double Diamond, misreading her hesitation, went on.
"Perhaps you'd care to speak to our founder, Starlight Glimmer?"
Sunset blinked. And then nodded. "Yeah... that would probably be a really good place to start..."
Double Diamond willingly turned about and led the way along the town's main street, to a larger house at the end of the dual rows of dwellings. He knocked politely on its door.
"Starlight! We have some new visitors!"
"Ah, just one minute." After a pause, the door opened, and Starlight Glimmer looked out. "Welcome! We're so pleased to have you here. And I... uh..."
She froze, eyes wide, staring at Sunset and the others.
"... I just know you're going to love it here!" she went on hurriedly. "Double Diamond, would you go find Party Favor? I think our new friends might want a tour of the village later. I'll take it from here."
"Sure thing, Starlight! Be seeing all of you!" Turning, the white stallion trotted away.
Starlight glanced around, then waved urgently.
"Come inside, quick!"
The three ponies did, and Starlight shut the door. Then she collapsed against it, hyperventilating. "Tell me I'm not just dreaming this? Or am I having a panic attack? I'm having a panic attack aren't I? Is it really you, Sunset? From... the other side of the portal?"
"It's us, all right," Applejack confirmed.
"What's been happening here?" Sunset asked, shocked.
Starlight put a hoof to her forehead, shaking her head. "Oh, nothing much. I just founded a cult of equality and replaced everypony's cutie-marks with equal signs! Sunset, am I cursed? This is exactly what happened in that alternate timeline Nightmare Moon showed us! Well... more or less."
"I was going to ask. Twilight said that she left you and Sunburst as students at Celestia's School."
"Oh, she did! And that was just going great. Until... suddenly it wasn't..."
"What happened?"
"This." She pointed at her cutie-mark... then remembered it was an equal sign like everypony else's. She scrubbed it furiously with a hoof, rubbing off the makeup and revealing her own mark: the purple lozenge with trails of blue fire.
"I assumed that like Sunburst's mark, it meant some kind of general skill with magic. But even with Sunburst helping me, I still was getting nowhere in my studies. You know me, Sunset, how I work: I go with my gut, throw stuff at the wall, mash abstractions together until it blows up from sheer complexity. Rote learning drives me bananas. But that's all the instructors at the School wanted us to do!"
She sighed. "It's not like it was in the Advanced Projects group. As Celestia's personal students, we were allowed to follow our noses, study what appealed to us, learn from each other. But as a regular student at the School, with standard classwork, by-the-book lessons... I just couldn't stay focused enough."
"And Sunburst?" Sunset asked.
"For him, it was no better," Starlight replied. "You know how easily he gets distracted, runs off on tangents. Between that and trying to help me, he was falling behind too. And it was killing him! He felt he wasn't measuring up. Eventually it got to be too much, and he... left. Rather suddenly, actually. He went back home to Sire's Hollow."
She frowned. "And that was pretty much the last straw for me, too. Without Sunburst to keep me focused, I started falling way behind. And that made me feel like an outsider all over again, even with my cutie-mark! Everypony else seemed to know what their cutie-mark meant. Who they were, what they needed to do to succeed. But me? I had no freaking idea! I felt like a total fraud, Sunset. Like I was making it all up as I went along. And I was terrified that one day somepony would call me on it."
"Imposter syndrome." Sunset nodded. "You're not the only one, Starlight. I've been there myself."
"You? Really? When?"
"Like, always!" Sunset laughed. "Isn't it obvious? It's the curse of every pony who's smart enough to make up her own mind. Realizing there's no obvious plan, no simple rules to follow... and nopony can tell you what to do, because they don't know either. We're all making it up as we go. Especially those of us with real skill. It just feels like you're the only one, because we're too scared to let it show. But go on... what happened next?"
"I, uh... kinda went off the rails." Starlight winced. "I locked myself in my dorm room, started writing, and came up with this." Moving to a nearby table, she picked up a thick volume in her magic and held it out. "It's... kind of a manifesto. A three-hundred and sixty point plan for making the world a better place. Starting with eliminating what I saw as the problem: cutie-marks! The differences between ponies that meant everypony else was perfectly suited to their lives, while I still couldn't figure out my cutie-mark even if it came with a diagram!"
Sunset took the book in her magic, paged through it. "Wow," she finally said. "And I thought Twilight was detail-oriented..."
Starlight grinned sheepishly. "Working it out was, well, kind of theraputic. But then I put it into practice. I found that my friends from Sire's Hollow -- Double Diamond, Party Favor, the rest of them -- had all come to Canterlot seeking their fortunes. So I roped them into my plan. Along with some other ponies that they'd met on the way, we all came out here and founded this place: Our Town."
She moved to peer out through the window, shivering.
"And until I opened that door, and found you three on my doorstep..." She grimaced. "I was totally lost in it all. I was totally convinced it was the right thing to do. Sunset, what have I done? This is all my fault!"
"No. It's not." Sunset slapped the manifesto shut, let it drop to the floor. "This is our fault, all of us, for not following through. You're not the one to blame here, Starlight. You never would have done this, not with all of us around to help. And we weren't there for you. We should never have let this happen. We should have double-checked, made sure you were really happy before we left you here. But at least we're here now, to fix that. We're going to set things right."
"But, Sunset..."
"But nothing!" Sunset replied. "Starlight, we're here to bring you back with us, back through the portal! Isn't that enough?"
Starlight stared at her, miserably.
"Well... even if we go back, Sunset... I'm still not sure what my cutie-mark means. I've never known! Never been able to figure it out, ever since it appeared. What if Discord was right, about me at least? What if I am just a fraud, a replacement for the real Element of Magic? I mean, a pony who doesn't have a clue what her mark represents, who she's really supposed to be? What kind of Element of Harmony does that make me? What does my cutie-mark mean, anyway?"
Sunset nodded, thinking about it. And then she grinned. "Maybe that's it."
"Maybe what's it?"
"Maybe," Sunset suggested, thinking aloud, "you're the only pony in Equestria with total freedom. The only pony whose cutie-mark means exactly what she wants it to mean. A pony who has to invent a meaning for it, every single day of her life. Because that's how you operate, Starlight. I've seen you, when you're studying and working magic. You toss spell components together to see what happens, invent new spells like it's nothing at all. You throw stuff at the wall to see what sticks. You're so creative, so inventive, so spontaneous! You scare me sometimes." She shrugged. "So... maybe your cutie-mark is like that, too. Maybe you get to decide what it means."
"How?"
"By choosing something, anything, and saying that's what your mark is for. Seeing if it works." Sunset grinned. "What do you like to do, Starlight? I mean, assume we're not trying to save Equestria or anything like that. If you had an entire afternoon, and your choice of what to do with it, what do you really like to do?"
"Well..." Starlight considered it. And then looked sheepish. "I like... kites?"
"Okay! So maybe your mark means you like kites," Sunset said. "But it's more than that," she said, nodding. "Celestia's the Princess of the Sun, and Cadance the Princess of Love. Each of them pretty much defines who they are and what their role is every single day of their lives."
"So?"
"So, maybe your mark means that you're the Princess of Kites. So you get to define what that means. And no one in Equestria can contradict you -- because you're the only authority there can be."
"Really?"
"Eh, it'll do for today." Sunset shrugged. "You can come up with a better idea tomorrow."
Starlight stared at her cutie mark, the purple lozenge trailing blue swirls... just like the tails of a kite.
"Princess of Kites..." She whispered. Then she smiled and nodded. "That works for me!"
"Great!" Sunset said. "Now, let's get out of here and back to the portal. We're putting the team back together, and we need you, Starlight."
"Thought you'd never ask," Starlight peered out through the window. "But first, we have to get past all my loyal followers. They might not understand me suddenly wanting to give up on our quiet little village here..."
Then she tilted her head, looking thoughtful. Grabbing up a piece of paper and a quill with her magic, she jotted a short note, then left it on the table near the door.
"Just letting them know I've had a change of heart. They're free to go get their cutie marks from the vault in the cave, and make up their own minds what they want to do from now on."
Then, crossing the room, she cast a levitation spell on the bed, hefting it aside with ease. And revealed a hidden trap door. Below it was a flight of stairs leading to a tunnel underground. "Step three hundred and fifty-six!" she said proudly. "Always make sure you have an escape route. Come on!"
Casting a luminance spell, she charged down into the darkness.
Applejack exchanged a look with Pinkie and Sunset.
"I'm just glad she's on our side. Know what I mean?"
------------------------------
In the Golden Oak Library, Sunset stepped out of the portal, with Starlight and the others right beside her. She glanced around, smiling. "It's getting a little crowded in here, isn't it?"
Between the ponies from Ponyville, the group from Canterlot, and Spike as well, it felt like more than enough for a party, more than enough to justify the party streamers and balloons still decorating the library's main room.
Sunset also saw that the Advanced Projects ponies, herself included, were wearing their Field gems again. "Nice to see these back again," she said, tapping hers.
"They came back," Twilight explained, "when we brought Trixie back through the portal. I'm not sure why we're not all back in the tower in Canterlot yet. But maybe we need all of the Canterlot group here for that."
"We drafted Cheese for the moment," Moondancer explained. "So we'd have enough ponies for the six-gem solution."
Cheese tapped the gem he was wearing proudly. "Glad to help, gals! Just tell me where to stand, and what button to press."
"You shouldn't need to do anything," Starlight said efficiently, as if she'd never left. "With the adjustments I made to the spell, it should self-balance based on the magic sources available... earth ponies included." Then she looked sheepish. "Well, I say it should. Obviously, we haven't had a chance to test it."
"You're the Element of Magic, Starlight," Sunset Shimmer told her. "If you say it'll work, it'll work."
"Well, what are we waiting for!" Rainbow said, flapping her wings impatiently. "Let's go get our last pony!"
"Hold up, Rainbow." Applejack said. "What do you think, Twi? Do you want us with you? Or should we stay here and hold the fort, while you go find Tempest? Fluttershy's off somewhere, prob'ly keepin' an eye out for Discord. Maybe we should do the same, just to be safe?"
"That does makes sense," Twilight replied. "If you four wouldn't mind?"
"Nary a bit!" Applejack replied readily. The others nodded agreement.
"Then all right, everypony," Sunset called. "We know what to do. Let's move out!"
"Hold it! Hold it right there, everypony!"
It was the last voice they wanted to hear ringing out through the room. The group turned to look at the portal. Discord was standing in front of it, Fluttershy standing right beside him.
Applejack face-hoofed. "Aw, for the love of... ya had one job, Fluttershy! One job! Keep Discord away from here! Don't ya 'member?"
"Yes," Fluttershy said, uncomfortably. "And I didn't think it was right. If we want Discord to trust us and change his ways, we need to show that we trust him too. So... I talked with him about it."
"Aw, geez!" Rainbow glared at her. "Seriously, Fluttershy?"
"And a good thing she did," Discord said. "Or I might not have been able to warn you --"
"Warn us? Of what!" Starlight interrupted. "That you sent each of us into an alternate life where everything we ever wanted falls to pieces, and we each turn into the worst possible version of ourselves we could imagine? Hate to break this to you, Discord, but we kind of figured that one out already."
"Oh, that?" Discord looked surprised. "That was just a bonus! Uhm... sorry, that came out wrong. I mean, you don't think I planned for that to happen, do you?"
"In a hot second!" Rainbow snarled.
"You trying to tell us you didn't?" Trixie growled.
"Truthfully!" Discord held up his claw. "When Fluttershy told me, I was devastated! Had I known, I would have helped set things right at once. I assumed I was giving each of you a new life on this timeline. That's how it initially appeared. But from the sound of it, I was actually letting the timeline itself snap back to the same set of fixed points it had before... though by a slightly different route..."
Twilight stormed up to him. She was beyond livid.
"You mean we were meddling with our timeline, all along? And you didn't bother to tell us? That is it, Discord! Give me one good reason why we don't turn you back to stone, right now!"
The other five gem-bearing ponies moved to stand with her. Discord suddenly found himself the target of a roomful of intensely vindictive pony eyes. Tapping his fingertips together, he looked back and forth nervously, from pony to pony, as if seeking some way out... any way out...
... and then he sighed, his shoulders slumping.
"I'm... I'm sorry..." he whispered.
"What?" Twilight asked, staring at him. "I can't hear you."
"I said, I'm SORRY! All right?" Discord shouted angrily. Then he sat down and put his chin in his hands, mournfully. "And I was so sure I could make it work this time..."
"Make what work?"
"Well, the lesson, of course!" Discord stared at Twilight, sheepishly. "And I was so certain I had it right this time. So certain I could offer each of you a real learning experience without it going all pear-shaped on me. But alas, it seems I'm just as much a prisoner of who I am as all of you."
He looked up and around at all of them.
"You mean you didn't notice?" he asked. "Well, no reason you should have. I suppose I'd better come clean with you all. This isn't my first time on this merry-go-round. And do you know why?"
He sighed, and waved his claw grandly. "There are countless worlds, countless possibilities in reality -- even, it turns out, multiple streams of time to explore...
"... but only one me."
Twilight was astonished, despite herself. "Really?"
"Really, Twilight!" He nodded. "I'm the Lord of Chaos! I mean, how could you have two embodiments of pure chaos? They'd be indistinguishable! So in all the possible, rational flows of time, arising out of the sea of chaos, there's but one Discord. I was here from before the beginning. I'll be here until after the end... and then some!" He gazed around at them, sadly. "And that other timeline? The one Nightmare Moon showed you?"
He sighed.
"It's where I came from."
Moondancer stared at him. "So that is the real timeline? Not ours?"
"Oh, who's to say which is the real timeline," Discord scoffed. "To me, they're all pretty much the same. Well, with certain exceptions... which is why I'm here. I lived through that entire stream of events, Twilight. I saw you find your friends, learn your lessons, defend Equestria, take your place as its Princess. Very fetching you were, by the way, in your crown and all. Anyway, I followed that timeline all the way to its end. And then, before I knew it... it was over."
He waved paw and claw, miserably. "It all just... ended. So what was I to do? Go back to my own chaotic dimension, and hope another enchanting little reality would pop up, where I could spend time with friends even half as welcoming and understanding as you ponies?" He shook his head. "I had little hope of that happening any time soon. But then, just as I was about to go back to bed for a kalpa or three and wait it out, I chanced to glance around at the neighboring timelines. And noticed that Nightmare Moon had somehow managed to create a stable spur timeline, with its own set of fixed points and no self-destroying paradoxes. One that held the possibility of some new adventures with all my old friends."
"So..." Starlight asked, intrigued. "You went back in time, and took a different path?" She looked around at the others, who were staring at her. "What? I'm just curious."
Discord snorted. "If it were that simple, any of you girls could have managed it. Loathe though I am to admit it, despite my many talents I don't actually have the ability to travel in time. I don't even like walking from place to place, because it takes time! All I can ever do is change things in the present -- my present, wherever I happen to be -- and let the timeline adjust itself to suit whatever local distortion I've conjured up. As you can see," he added morosely, "I don't have much control over the results."
"Ain't that the understatement of the millennium..." Applejack muttered.
"But!" Discord went on, striking a brave pose. "I was determined! And there was a way: one far more challenging and risky, something I'd never attempted before. I had to alter myself, down to my very essence. I had to remake myself to suit the point in time I wanted to exist in. And hope non-chaotic reality took the hint and played along. In a sense, a very real sense, I unwound myself back to the branch point, and then forwards a bit. I'll spare you the technical details, they'd only give your tiny pony brains a headache. But in the end, it worked. I found myself in this timeline, just before you girls shattered the statue. Which is why I wasn't in it, you see. Because the me that had been frozen in stone had already gone the other way."
"That's twisted, even for you..." Sunset said, in awe despite herself.
"Lord of Chaos." Discord smirked. "I've been around. But even though it worked, there was a cost: my memories, of the fun times I'd spent with all of you. Even though I've lived through that other timeline, and in a sense, still exist there as part of it, I only remember fragments of it: interesting moments, memorable experiences. The rest..." He gestured sadly. "Gone, like a dream!"
"Like when we stepped out of the portal," Moondancer said. "And came back here. We unwound back to the point where we'd entered it... and our memories faded away..."
"Crudely speaking," Discord sneered. "Though for you it was but a few brief months, or years. For me, it was eons! But the one thing I held onto, the one thing I did recall with crystal clarity, is how much fun I had, hanging out with Twilight Sparkle and her little pony friends... from Ponyville."
He gestured to Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow. "The ponies Celestia sent you to find, Twilight, to help you recover the Elements of Harmony and save Equestria. Together with my particular special friend, Fluttershy..." He smiled sheepishly at her. "The one pony amongst the lot of you who was able to get me to finally see how much I really appreciated friendship, even though it's not in my nature."
He sighed. "But... as you can see, even as much as I've learned about friendship, I can still get it wrong."
"I'll say!" Rainbow demanded. "You tried to change things? Make all of us be Twilight's friends again? Make us the bearers of these Elements? Just so you could have things back the way you remembered them?"
Discord nodded glumly. "As I said, I thought I could make it all work. I thought by giving each of Twilight's new friends from this timeline a better, pleasanter life, they wouldn't need to be her friends anymore. It seemed the perfect solution: no one gets hurt, everypony's better off. It seemed so perfect, so simple. But apparently, it's not so simple. Maybe it never was. As I said, there are some things even I can't do."
He slapped his lizard leg, determinedly. "But I'm going to make it up to all of you. I'm going to keep my word. We'll get everypony back, put things back as they were. And then... well... we'll decide what to do next, all right?"
"You're a bit late pitching in," Twilight pointed out. "We've pretty much got them all back already."
"So I noticed! And very resourceful of you, Twilight. You're learning already, see?" And then he hunched in shame. "Uh, no no no, that's not what I meant. I'm here to help. For realsies, this time. So let me just... just warn you, Twilight. From what Fluttershy tells me, the new lives I gave your friends from Canterlot have been reverting to something like the timeline that I came from. And the further back your connection to each of them goes, the more strongly they're hewing to the same outcome. So you might find this last one will be more than unusually difficult..."
"Why?" Twilight said. "We go there, we find Tempest, help her remember who she was, and bring her home, right?"
"Wellll... you remember that armor of hers? This timeline isn't the only one where she came across it. And you may find its effect on her in that other timeline was not nearly so pleasant."
Twilight nodded uneasily, recalling what little she'd seen of it. "Can't you come with us?" she asked. "Help us talk to her, persuade her to come back?"
Discord hunched fearfully, shuddering. "I don't think that would be a good idea, Twilight. Really, I don't. Just seeing me might set her off, turn her against you. As you've seen, there's little I can do to stop her. That mage armor of hers was crafted by Sacanas," Discord pointed out. "Which is why it's able to block and absorb my magic."
"And why Tempest was able to mop the floor with you," Sunset Shimmer added mischievously.
"Oh thanks, Sunset." Discord looked sour. "You know, I had almost put that out of my mind. So, Twilight, if you'll take my advice, you may want to take the rest of your Canterlot crew with you for this one. You may need this Field of Harmony you created, just to be on the safe side."
"Which..." Trixie pointed out, "conveniently puts all of us on the other side of the portal? So you can just shut it on us?"
"What!" Discord stared at her, outraged. "And trap Twilight on the other side, unable to get back?" He looked ready to explode in righteous indignation. Then his face fell. He nodded, unhappily. "You're right. That is the sort of thing the old me might have done. And I can't offer any proof I've changed for the better. I'm not sure I've changed, not even after all this time. I'm not sure I can change. How can chaos itself ever be distinctly different? All I can say is, I promised I wouldn't touch the portal until we were done with it. I intend to keep that promise. And I just hope that even after all I've done... you can still trust me, that's all."
The ponies all looked back at him, in every shade of doubt on the spectrum.
Except for Fluttershy. "I trust you, Discord," she said. "You're apologizing, and you're trying to do the right thing." She looked around at the others. "We should accept that, give him the benefit of the doubt. It's what ponies do, isn't it?"
After a moment, the rest of them nodded. Very reluctantly, but they did.
"I guess Twilight's not the only one who can school us on the right thing to do," Sunset said, grinning.
"All right," Twilight said. "My friends and I will go find Tempest. Applejack, I'm not sure what'll happen here as a result. Just... wait as long as you think is reasonable. And be ready for anything."
"Will do, Twi," Applejack said. "We're your backup here. You can count on us."
"And we're your backup, coming with you," Sunset added. She and Applejack exchanged an understanding nod with each other.
Twilight turned to Cheese. "Once more unto the breach?"
He grinned. "Let's get this party started!"