Fluttershy didn't own an alarm clock, and had not since she acquired her cutie mark. Some of the first friends she'd made were the birds who lived at Cloudsdale - pigeons, eagles, crows and the like - and in exchange for grain and pretty things to decorate their nests with, they were more than willing to sing her awake (or in the case of the crows, caw loudly to ensure she makes her exams on time). The tradition had survived her move down to Ponyville. As a result of that, one of the few anxieties she never suffered from was being late.
This morning began conventionally. Mr and mrs Limefeather had stopped by her window during their morning flight, and they roused Fluttershy from slumber with a lovely combination of tenor and rhythmic glass-pecking.
"Oh, hello." Fluttershy cooed, and stretched her entire lithe body across the bed in one massive yawn. After being chastised by the missus for admiring the pony's fine yellow wings for a little too long, mr Limefeather flew off towards the horizon, leading their way back towards the rest of the flock. Fluttershy made her bed, and then sauntered down the stairs in good spirits. The living room was warm and inviting. Flames danced and crackled in the fireplace. The mice playfully chased one another. Outside, the chickens let out satisfied clucks, for their bellies were full. On the carpet in the middle of the room, Skinny and Angel Bunny were engrossed in the chess battle of the century, playing on the ornate set gifted to the former by Princess Celestia. The pair had decided to indulge in the vice of gambling, with an entire bottle of vintage apple cider standing between them as the ultimate prize. Fluttershy floated over to her colts - they weren't really, of course, but given their personalities, she found it easy to think of them as such - and kissed them on their heads. Skinny and Angel, still hyper-focused on their game, acknowledged her presence with typical stallion-like grunts and nods.
"Somepony woke up early today." She teased Skinny. The alien had been somewhat nocturnal in his habits when he'd arrived, but quickly adapted to the rest of the household's schedule. And now he'd woken up even earlier and done the morning chores. If this was a glimpse of days to come, the pegasus would not complain. She left the dynamic duo with their game and went into the kitchen to fix herself some breakfast. A light bowl of buckwheat, with a few sugarcubes for dessert. Fluttershy knew she was spoiling herself with the latter, but decided she did not care.
"Future Spike can always use a friend."
Afterwards, she went out to buy more produce, visited Harry the bear's cave for his daily check-up, collected leftover honey from the friendliest bee colonies and answered the requests left in her mailbox from ponies who were concerned over their pets (some for legitimate reasons, others needed to be convinced that their cat was not terminally ill, but simply too proud of his heritage to urinate on the funny pages of a newspaper).
Fluttershy's final errand of the day was to return an old golfing book to Twilight's library. Not that she had any personal interest in the sport, but it was an impeccable instruction manual on how to increase the strength and speed of one's swing, which came very useful indeed for dealing with puppies. Being somewhat less than athletic, Fluttershy was quickly worn out from playing catch. She was keen to learn ways to last longer as it made the pups ever so happy, and taught them to hunt of course.
When the pegasus stepped inside, she quickly realised she had made a grievous error. Twilight was in twelve different places at once, rushing from shelf to shelf, book to book, machine to machine. She was clad in her signature leather science coat, which she only wore for the most manic and dangerous of experiments.
"Oh! I see you're busy..." Fluttershy whispered. "I'll come back..."
Too late. Twilight came to a halt inches away from her, with a terrifying grin splitting her muzzle from ear to ear. "Fluttershy! JUST the person I was hoping to see! Spike's out of town, and I could really use someone to help me with my latest project. You wouldn't mind, would you?"
"I-I guess not..."
Within seconds, she found herself squeezed into a matching outfit, and holding vials and glowsticks in her hooves.
"Great!!" Twilight shouted gleefully. "I've been trying to wrap my head around this mystery for months now! What IS this?!" She pointed at a grimy blue saddlebag perched on her desk. It was surrounded by magnifying glasses, lights and buzzing electronic devices.
Fluttershy frowned.
"Um, that's your saddlebag, Twilight."
"YES! It's my saddlebag! It is EXACTLY my saddlebag. It is 100% my saddlebag." Twilight ranted in a sweaty frenzy. "But how!? My saddlebag's here!"
She rushed off and returned with a clean pair, the same ones Fluttershy knew she wore every day. "How can my saddlebag be both here... and there on my table?!"
"Maybe someone made another one?" Fluttershy suggested aimlessly, trying to be helpful.
Twilight furiously shook her head. "No! No! I mean, maybe? No! Nopony could possibly make another saddlebag."
"I'm sure Rarity knows somepony who specialises in bags."
"What??" The purple unicorn's voice cracked. Her long ears were twitching. "No! You're misinterpreting the data! We're talking science here! Not fashion! SCIENCE! With an S! THINK S! BE AN S!!"
"I'm not good at donkey impressions, Twilight."
"Alright, alright! We'll talk basics." Twilight reached into a cupboard and rolled out a blackboard. She drew a circle, a cube and a pyramid on it. "What do you see here?"
"Um. I see shapes."
"Right, and how many shapes are there in the world?"
Fluttershy shrugged. "A million?"
"... sure, let's go with that. There's a million shapes and a million saddlebags. What are the chances that two identical ones would exist near one another?"
The yellow pegasus frowned. "That's a false premise, Twilight. For one, you're assuming that this copy of one of your saddlebags was created by natural circumstance. For two, there are a number of identical shapes that exist near one another."
"It's an allegory, not a premise." Twilight growled through her teeth. "You are AGAIN misinterpreting the data."
"Perhaps I would not misinterpret it, if your method of conveying data was less fallible. It's only a suggestion..."
The purple unicorn facehoofed, and finally decided to simply show her two diagrams of saddlebags, which broke down their molecular structure, magical aura, design and history. "Now, there are some minor variations. The one Anon discovered from the Everfree Forest is four months older than my pair, and covered in a layer of filth. But that aside, it is not a reproduction of my saddlebag. It's the exact same one as this." She tapped her own. "The left bag, to be exact. It's got the anti-ink charm I devised, Spike's ketchup stains, the same physical makeup. For a while, I thought maybe this was some by-product of one of my projects gone wrong, like maybe I accidentally duplicated my bag without noticing. But I don't think I'm that clumsy. Do you?"
"Oh, uh... no? No, of course not." Fluttershy mumbled.
"Right! So all that's left to do is to twist the time-space continuum and throw it into a temporal orbit! Here, hold this." She gave Fluttershy something that resembled a big laser gun from one of the Power Ponies. "Don't drop it, or you might turn us three-dimensional!"
Fluttershy froze, not daring to move whilst Twilight casually rearranged the room, moving previous equipment out of the way. "Um... Twilight... w-why do we need to twist the time-space continuum?"
Twilight cackled. "To discombobulate the polarity, of course! Here, have some goggles. They won't help, but it's not a proper project without one!"
"R-right..."
The unicorn finally took the laser gun back from her and trained its sights onto the saddlebag. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!!"
She screamed. Fluttershy jumped and assumed a fetal position on the floor. Twilight smiled to herself, not noticing. "Always wanted to say that. Ok, here goes..."
A white beam of energy emitted from the barrel of the gun. It hit the saddlebag, and encased it in a glowing field. Fluttershy peeked out from underneath her hooves just in time to notice the bag start sparking green. "I-is it working? Or are we three-dimensional?"
"Not in our lifetime, no. But this... this is incredible!" Twilight gasped. "I hoped it would..."
"Emit green energy? That's very considerate of you, Twilight."
The purple unicorn used her magic to levitate a number of quills and journals over to her, and began to record everything she saw. "I was right all along! This bag IS my bag. It's just in another quantum field."
Fluttershy blinked in confusion.
"The bag time-travelled. Just like I did, when I tried to convince myself not to worry about my future self time-travelling back to warn me not to worry about my future self time-travelling back to warn me not to..."
"Yes, Pinkie told me. But she also said that everything temporal is temporary, and it made you lose your temper?"
"Right!" Twilight exclaimed. "Which is why this is so important. I could only spend less than a minute in another time zone. But I never tried bringing anything with me. Perhaps this is proof that only living things, powerful sources of magic have to go back. Maybe simple objects can be brought to another time and left there? Oh, this is SO exciting!" She reared up and clapped with her front hooves in an ecstatic glee. Then she gasped again, and fell onto her rump. "I must have sent the bag back myself as evidence!"
Fluttershy did not seem so happy. "Twilight, I don't think that is true."
"What? Why not?! I would definitely do that. Well, maybe not now, but when I've learned enough to go that far back in time. Future Twilight for da WIN!"
"Future Twilight left this bag here four months ago. That's how old you said this bag is, four months. Wouldn't that be right around when Skinny arrived?"
"I... I guess?" Twilight said slowly, rubbing her lower lip with her hoof.
Fluttershy's tone became harder. "And didn't Anon say he found it near the area where he first arrived to Equestria?"
"That's true..."
"And YOU are the Element of Magic, Twilight. If someone could find a way to open a gateway to another world, it would be you. Anon would have put up a fight. He might have torn it off your shoulder. Your future self would have no motivation to do that, and she probably would have left a note if she left it behind deliberately."
Twilight looked horrified as the implication sunk in. "It can't be...! I wouldn't... I would NEVER do that to him, not ever! Besides, if I was the person who brought him here, he'd have recognised me! He'd remember."
Fluttershy frowned. "Unless you performed a memory charm." However, then she slumped and sighed, the fight in her dissipating away. "I'm so sorry, Twilight, I didn't mean to accuse you. But the thought of us being responsible for his being trapped here is just so horrible."
"It's okay. I'd probably have had the same reaction. In fact, I am." Twilight switched off the laser device, grabbed the saddlebag in her magic and pointedly tossed it into the trashcan. She then did the same to her own bags. "Tomorrow, I'm gonna go to Rarity's and get a new set. I know she's dying to give them a makeover. If I don't have the bags, then I can't be the one responsible." It was a petulant, childish response and Twilight knew it. But she suddenly felt afraid, very afraid and it was the only logical thing she could do other than talking to Princess Celestia, which she intended to as soon as possible.
"That's a start, I suppose." Fluttershy shrugged. She flew over to Twilight and gave her a tight, reassuring hug. "Maybe we should keep this between ourselves for now."
Twilight nodded, shivering slightly.
By the time Fluttershy returned home, the match between Skinny and Angel Bunny had finished. The hyoo-man was chewing on carrots and muttering to himself. The bunny was drunkenly staggering around the place, clutching the cider bottle. Her arrival seemed to cheer them both up. Angel whooped and then fell asleep on the rug, his strength depleted (the remainder of the cider was swiftly collected by the mice).
Skinny picked the yellow pegasus up from the floor so fast that she squeaked, and began to dance around with her.
"Skinneeeeeeee-!"
The alien laughed hysterically and took her outside into the garden. He was not as strong as Harry the bear, but she liked that. There was no fear of being crushed, and she knew for a fact that he was holding her with all of his strength, rather than having to hold back. The big alien thing settled down underneath a cherry tree with her, letting the pony curl up into a messy pile on his chest. Fluttershy gazed up at his tiny eyes. They were drawn towards the sky and filled with an expression of absolute astonishment. She turned to look in the same direction, and saw a group of young pegasus fillies daring each other to perform flight tricks. They were too far away to hear, but it was obvious from their movements that they were trying to pull off the Rainbow Star. Well, of course they were. Every little winged pony with even the slightest bit of social life was drawn into trying it sooner or later. Even Fluttershy herself had been a part of three. The Rainbow Star involved dousing oneself in a pool of liquid rainbow, and then moving fast enough along with your four compatriots to compose a five-point star in the air. If the shape was geometrically correct enough, the latent magic of the pegasi would activate and combine, and a new rainbow would shoot out from the center of the star.
In short, it was a foals' game, no different from hopscotch or Simule Says. But for Skinny, who had been deprived of magic his entire life, it was the experience of a lifetime. His visible excitement (there may have been cheerleading involved) eventually caught the attention of the prideful fillies, who redoubled their efforts. Soon enough, they got it right, and the powerful beam of light shot through the sky. Of course, because of the lack of rain, it immediately dissipated. But Skinny was in such intense awe that he began to tear up.
As Fluttershy watched him weep, she felt somewhat embarrassed. Not of him of course. But of herself. Confident in her skill as an animal caretaker, the kind pegasus had not hesitated to accept him as yet another ward. She had not realized then that Skinny was no ordinary pet, not even an abused one. He was someone who had been deprived, not of food or water or dignity, but magic itself. The very soul of Equestria, which she and everypony else took for granted on a daily basis, was unknown to him. Watching him be so overwhelmed with emotion over living in this world was like watching a newborn foal. A self-aware child, who understood and could appreciate the very fact that he was allowed to be there.
Could she really take care of him? Was she worthy of being responsible for such an unfathomable innocence? She wasn't sure. All she knew then was that she wanted to preserve that feeling, that powerful love for Equestria coursing through him for as long as she was able. It was the first time she ever thought of having true foals of her own. That feeling of protectorship, of having a purpose to defend something that pure... it was addictive, exhilarating. She felt as strong as an alicorn.
"I'm moving out."
Fluttershy froze, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks. The rest of the crowd, eager to push inside the hall to begin the feast, did not notice. Anon was pushed along and lost track of her, but he knew that he may have permanently severed his relationship with the yellow pony.
Her walk back home was slow and empty and laborious. She felt like an utter failure. Anon was not to blame. Fluttershy remembered the effect of the Alicorn Amulet on Trixie very well... the great and powerful magician had terrified her to the point where all she wanted was to be hidden in her closet with her teddy. That the Amulet was able to warp Anon's innately curious nature into a disturbing nihilism was no surprise. But it was she who had ignored the signs. She believed his promise that the Amulet could not affect him, because it was the easy, less frightening way out. It meant that the hyoo-man was merely going through a phase, a slight and curable depression. It meant not having to deal with him as an enemy.
"Element of Kindness..." she said scornfully under her breath. "I'm the Element of Weakness!"
Even now, when she knew what she would have to do to try and get him back, she was scared. A woolly, stifling voice in her head told her that Anon was gone. No longer her responsibility. He could not hide his madness for much longer and when the truth came out, more powerful and capable ponies would take care of it. Nopony would blame her. Nopony but one.
Fluttershy took a deep breath of icy winter air. It was Hearth's Warming Eve. Was she really about to throw everything she'd learned about friendship over the shoulder, on this day of all days? That wouldn't make a very good story, would it? No.
As she thought these things, she wandered into the park. Another pony was sitting on a bench. An old earth pony, hunched over, and as blue as the weather. "Care Taker? Is that you?" Fluttershy asked.
The old pony took a moment to recognise her from their short meeting at the Castle of the Two Sisters.
"Hm? What are you doing out here? Isn't there a chimera or something you could be saving?"
His words, though intended as a mere jest, hurt her. Yes, I could be saving someone. She thought.
"Look, you'll catch your death of cold if you're just gonna stand there." Care Taker said.
Fluttershy sat down next to the old pony, which caught him by surprise. However, he did not argue.
"Can I ask you a question?" She whispered.
"I suppose so."
"Why were you guarding the Alicorn Amulet? Of all the ponies in the world, why did Zecora choose you?"
Care Taker frowned. There was a visible pain behind his eyes that surprised Fluttershy. His answer was carefully worded. "Well, she and I go back. She used to work for me. So, I worked for her."
"By watching over an evil amulet?" The yellow pegasus asked, shaking her head. "I can't believe Zecora would risk you like that."
The old pony smirked bitterly. "She knew I'd be the best qualified. I suppose she thought she was doing me a favor... I'm at the end of my wick anyway."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I'm old!"
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow.
Care Taker groaned, unable to contain himself from the sweet young mare.
"Oh, alright! I used to run a circus, it's gone. That's how I knew our mutual zebra friend. She used to look into a glass ball and read the customers' hooves. Clever filly, Zecora. Could've quit with the rhyming though... anyway, where was I? Ah yes, the circus. Well, when it went, the respect my family had for me went with it. You see, we come from a long line of entertainers, my family. My father used to say 'magic comes from the horn, the dazzle from the blood'. When I lost mine, I became persona non grata in the eyes of those I'd raised to believe the same."
"That's horrible!" The pegasus exclaimed in shock.
"No, it's a punchline." Care Taker said. "I didn't mind. They were successful, and I was not. I shamed my lineage, so I contented myself with the knowledge that I'd made great and powerful foals, and that they had done the same. And then lo and behold! Trixie, my granddaughter... a villain. A monster. That Alicorn Amulet nearly crippled the fame and fortune that was hers by right!" He became red in the face. Fluttershy hadn't realised the depth of the old earth pony's pride. But now that she knew who he was related to, the source of Trixie's boundless ambition and self-image became far too clear.
"Zecora and I had kept in touch, as I said. She came to me. Told me what had happened. Showed me that infernal Amulet. She gave me a purpose, to protect everypony from its terrible effects, to ensure that what happened to my Trixie never happened again. It was the best reason to live I'd had in a while... I just hadn't counted on aliens from outer space." He snorted.
Fluttershy drew in a sharp breath. "Skinny only wanted the Amulet to be able to talk to us. I don't think he realised the sheer evil of it."
Care Taker turned to look at her. "You're using past tense, why?" When Fluttershy didn't answer, he began to laugh out loud. It was a boisterous, theatrical laugh that he no doubt once employed on stage. "He's turned rotten, hasn't he, your precious stranger?"
She nodded mournfully.
"Thought as much. And that moron Pinkie Pie organized a party for him! Oh, that's just perfect. Heh."
"I'm willing to do whatever it takes to remove the Amulet. I just wish I knew how." Fluttershy said.
Care Taker did not reply. He merely stood up, and dusted snow off of his frizzy blue coat.
"Do you plan to do something?" She asked.
He glared at her. "Yeah. I'll go home and take a bath. And then, I'll see what I can do about this stone in our shoe."
"Tell me what!" Fluttershy commanded. Her sudden authority surprised him, and somehow compelled the old pony to speak the truth. He sat down again.
"I have some contacts in Canterlot. Amongst the Shadow Party. For a while now, it's been known to me that somepony else has her eye on the Amulet."
Fluttershy's eyes widened. She knew the name, though she'd never had much to do with them. "The Shadow Party? You mean that batmare, Crystal Star?"
He nodded. "Crystal's son happens to be the royal guard attached to Avon, or whatever his name is. I don't believe much in coincidences, especially not of that degree. If she wants the Amulet, it's not unreasonable to think that she may have a way of removing it from an unwilling owner. All one has to do is tag along, find out what it is and then get to it before she does."
"And that's what you're going to do?"
Care Taker frowned. "No. I'm going to go home, order a hayburger and take a bath. But tomorrow at a reasonable time, yes. And I think I know how you might be able to help..."
Spike shivered and hid his claws under his arms as he forced his way through the thick layer of snow that had landed on Ponyville. "Ohh! Rainbow, why can't you be lazy at this time of year?" He muttered to himself.
The journey to Manehattan had been entertaining, to say the least. Spike had stayed with Babs Seed's family for a month, during which they had enjoyed a joint trip to a con celebrating the success of the Power Ponies' spinoff "The Mare DeLorean", climbed the Statue of Liberty and earned their associate status in the Manehattan mob. But that's another story.
Despite his many adventures, Spike was glad to be home. He missed the ordered schedule in the library, missed the cheap fast food (he was promised diamond-encrusted pancakes upon his return) and above all, missed his big sister. But before he could step in through the front door, he noticed a pile of trash that had accumulated into the backyard. Twilight, as might be expected, had become engrossed in some work again and had forgotten to wheel it away to waste disposal.
"What's this?" Spike spoke aloud, noticing a perfectly fine pair of saddlebags on top. "Twilight must have treated herself to new bags. Could have kept these for me... ah well." He stuffed the bags into his traveller's sack for closer examination later, and hurried inside for dinner.
The purple unicorn was lying on a couch in front of the fireplace, covered in towels. Cold droplets of water covered her body, and dripped onto the floor. Spike quickly realised she'd fallen asleep. He sat down next to her, waking her up.
"Spike!"
Ignoring how drenched she was, Twilight threw everything off and pulled him into a tight hug.
"Ahhh!" Spike squeaked, and tried to wriggle away to no avail. "Cold, cold, COOOOOLD!"
Twilight giggled. "I'm sorry, Spike." She rubbed her cheek against his. "But it's just tooooo nice to have you back."
"What have you been doing, rolling in the snow?!"
She smiled sheepishly. "Yup. I set the kitchen on fire. So I picked out the diamonds and squeezed them into storebought pancakes. That okay?"
Spike laughed out loud. "Yeah. I figured something like that would happen. Can I eat them all now?"
"Weeeeell..." They booped noses together. "... Go for it! Happy Hearth's Warming!"
"Happy Hearth's Warming, Twilight!"