Sparkler, Spike, and Flurry walked through the door into Canterlogic HQ’s lobby. Inside, they saw a pony scan their badge, probably a security checkpoint. As they approached the desk, they could hear the stallion talking. “Hey, Marcy, Sparkling Medley is going to be coming in today. When she gets here, please direct her to my lab.” He said. “We have an appointment.”
The receptionist nodded, and saw the pony she recognized as Sparkler from last time. She smiled. “Oh, hey Sparkler, Night Shade’s expecting you.” She said with a chuckle.
Night Shade jumped a bit when Marcy said that, he whirled around, and saw a pony he immediately recognized as Sparkler. “Sparkler, hi.” He said. He cleared his throat. “Nice to see you’re punctual.” He commented.
“We had nothing else to do today and we’re very eager to get started.” Sparkler responded.
Flurry flapped her wings and flew off Sparkler’s back and started giggling as she flew around the lobby. Night Shade chuckled. “Yeah. We probably should do that. Hey Marcy? Mind giving them visitor badges?” He asked.
Marcy nodded and quickly signed Sparkler, Spike, and Flurry in as visitors. After they had their badges, Night Shade took the trio to his lab. “So, Ms. Phyllis sent a memo to me and my team detailing our task and the details you told her, but if you would, can you tell me in your own words what happened that landed the lot of you 1,019 years in the future?” He asked.
“We went to visit the observatory in Detrot, where my Significant Other’s twin sister works. She had been experimenting with Alicorn Magic trying to find a connection to the cosmos.” Sparkler said.
“Well, turns out the magical signatures all gathering together isn’t good. Because the magical orbs broke out of their jars and came together to make a time portal, which stayed open long enough for us to get sucked in.” Spike continued.
“You say Alicorn Magic caused it?” Night Shade asked.
“That’s right.” Sparkler responded. “She had collected a sample from all the Alicorns that existed in 1003.” Sparkler responded.
“And who was the twin sister if I may ask?” Night Shade asked. Something strange in his tone.
Sparkler raised an eyebrow, but answered. “It was Night-Mare Sparkle. Twin sister of Twilight Sparkle.” She said.
At that, Night Shade smiled. His suspicions were confirmed. “Just as I thought.” He said. “Then we’re in luck.”
“We are?” Spike asked.
Night Shade just smiled as they entered his lab. “You see. Dr Night-Mare was meticulous in note taking. She’d fill up whole notebooks with one or two experiments regularly.” He explained.
“Yeah?” Sparkler responded. “We already knew that. What does that have to do with anything?”
Night Shade said nothing as he opened his drawer and pulled out a stack of notebooks. He placed them on his desk and showed the cover of one to Sparkler, Spike, and Flurry.
Sparkler and Spike took a good look at the journal, and gasped. The author of the journal was. “NIGHT-MARE?!” They exclaimed.
“You have her research?!” Sparkler asked. Unbelieving what she was seeing.
Night Shade chuckled. “These notes have been in my family for generations. Direct descendant of Night-Mare herself.” He said simply.
Sparkler’s and Spike’s jaws dropped. Night Shade was a descendant of Night Mare?! Night Shade chuckled as he continued. “When I heard the news in the memo, I knew that it was time to put these old books to good use. I figured the best way to start is to try and recreate the accident. In a controlled environment of course.” He explained.
Sparkler and Spike looked at each other. It was almost too good to be true that they ran into the one pony that was a direct descendant of the mare that indirectly caused the accident. “I feel like I’m living in a pure fantasy.” Spike said. “We’re never this lucky back home!”
Sparkler shook her head clear of her shock. “How would you suggest we recreate the accident?” She asked Night Shade.
Night Shade smiled as he pulled out a rolled up paper from his bag. “I like to call it a Timegate. A portal running across the fabric of time to any point in the timeline.” He explained. “The physical mechanism should be easy enough, as well as power. But the main problem that I see is control.” He said.
“That’s not the only problem. We’re short a couple magic signature sources if you want to recreate the accident.” Spike pointed out as they all looked over the plans for the machine.
“We’ll just have to try with what we have.” Night Shade responded. “You are willing to provide yes?” He asked.
“Whatever you need from us we’ll let you have. Anything to get home.” Sparkler said, confident the kids would agree.
Night Shade nodded. “Good. My team and I will construct the physical Timegate, and when we’re ready for the magic signatures we will request them.” He said.
“How long do you think it will take?” Sparkler asked.
“Hard to say. But I will send regular updates on progress. Could be anywhere from a week to a month if I had to guess.” Night Shade explained.
Sparkler and Spike nodded. They figured it would take a bit. “Thanks for your help Night Shade.” Sparkler said.
“Yeah. You’re really saving our tails here.” Spike said.
“Anything to help the marefriend of the Twin Sister of Night Mare.” Night Shade said with a smile.
Back at the house, Pipp glanced around frantically, looking for a place to hide in the game of hide and seek she and Sunny had gotten into with the kids. She spied a closet door and smiled. “Perfect.” She said as she hurriedly rushed into the closet and closed the door. She giggled. “Heeheehee. Nopony’ll find me in here.” She said.
Or so she thought. Because a voice spoke up behind her. “Pipp? What are you doing? I’m hiding here!” Sunny said in a hushed voice.
Pipp whirled around and though it was dark, she could clearly see Sunny hiding in the closet. “Sunny! Rats. This was the perfect hiding spot.”
“Ready or not! Here I come!” They both heard Crystal call out. Pipp and Sunny froze. Knowing full well now that they were trapped in there, lest they wanted to be found. Seeing no other option, Pipp dived in and squeezed in next to Sunny. Glad it was dark to prevent Sunny from seeing her blushing.
After they got settled. It was quiet, then Sunny spoke up after a sec. “So. First time playing hide and seek eh?” She asked Pipp, going off what Pipp said earlier.
“Yep. Never quite had the experience before.” Pipp responded, trying to keep her cool.
“Cool.” Sunny responded. It wasn’t lost on her how awkward the situation currently was. And she could definitely feel her cheeks burning up.
“So. Izzy’s off to her cottage for the day. Did she say what she was getting?” Pipp asked.
“Arts and crafts supplies, some personal items, and something she called Mr. Fluffy Rabbit.” Sunny responded.
“Hehe. Maybe we can all make something with the kids sometime.” Pipp responded.
“That would be fun.“ Sunny responded. Her mind racing. Why is my heart beating as fast as it does whenever Izzy’s around? Sunny thought.
At that moment, they saw a faint shadow of hooves at the door, they made no sound. After a second, the hooves walked away. Sunny and Pipp breathed a sigh of relief. Pipp nodded. “Think it’s safe to try to go somewhere else?” She asked.
“If one of us is very quiet.” Sunny responded.
They carefully maneuvered so one of them could leave, but unfortunately luck was not on their side because Sunny tripped over something and she, Pipp, and a bunch of things came crashing down. Sunny landed on top of Pipp with a grunt from both of them.
Not ten seconds later, the door swung open and Crystal smiled triumphantly. “Aha! Found—“ Crystal stopped when she saw the scene. Sunny was laying on top of Pipp. She immediately blushed as her mind raced. “Ahem, I’ll just leave you two alone.” She said as she closed the door and walked off.
At first, Pipp and Sunny were confused as to what Crystal had been talking about, before it dawned on them what Crystal must have thought. They both blushed like mad and scrambled to their hooves, and rushed out of the closet. “Well that coulda gone better.” Sunny said as she lit her horn and cleaned up the mess, blushing like mad.
“Ahem. Yeah, it could’ve.” Pipp responded, reeling from what just happened. “Not that it was intentional or anything I mean…”
“Yeah. Ehehe. We weren’t doing anything.” Sunny responded. Closing the cleaned closet door. “Agree to never speak of this again?” She asked Pipp.
“Agreed.” Pipp responded.
Both of them finally stopped blushing and decided to go about their business and their new duty in helping Crystal locate the others. Both embarrassed by what happened, and for Sunny, it caused her mind to whirl around. What is this I’m feeling?
To be continued…