//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 – A Shift in Time // Story: Crystals of Rosewood // by Jamming //------------------------------// Trixie Lulamoon sat atop the balcony of Twilight’s castle, staring into the night’s sky at the celebrations and festivities. It was close to midnight on New Year's Eve and fireworks and disco lights and confetti filled the air above Ponyville. Squashed up next to her on a sofa was her best friend in the whole of Equestria, Starlight Glimmer, who was snoring loudly with her head resting on Trixie’s shoulder. Trixie had searched the castle from top to bottom to try and find a comfortable seat for the two of them to sit on. Most of the castle’s chairs were made of crystal and Trixie couldn’t think of anything less comfortable, so she located a small sofa which she’d dragged up to the balcony. Unfortunately, the sofa was a bit too small, and she’d spent the whole night with Starlight squeezed up against her side. Originally, Trixie was thinking she would be spending the new year alone, but Starlight had insisted that she stayed up so that they could spend it together. Trixie was not surprised that she had fallen asleep so quickly; Starlight’s weeks were packed full of commitments that she needed to attend to. Since Twilight’s coronation, Starlight had been working as head-mare at the friendship school and had helped creatures from all over Equestria get settled into Ponyville. Yet somehow, she also managed to schedule in time for Trixie. Although she knew she would never be as good as Starlight, Trixie was slowly improving her great and powerful magical abilities. By practicing different skills with Starlight and working on them in her own time too, she could now perform more advanced spells such as short-distance teleportation and summoning a strong shield. After having spent so much time with her over the past few weeks, Starlight had grown even closer to Trixie. They’d been sharing the castle between them, as Twilight had moved to Canterlot shortly after the coronation. Trixie had never had a better friend in all of her life, and she was sure Starlight felt the same way too. Affection bubbled in Trixie’s stomach when she looked at Starlight sleeping peacefully at her side and a blush spread across her cheeks as she thought about what was to come in the new year: more time to spend together, perhaps Trixie could offer to work extra time at the school – Starlight would be pleased – then maybe Trixie could put on a magic show just for her. That would impress her! Then, possibly Trixie could finally tell her— Starlight stirred in her sleep which snapped Trixie out of her fantasising. Her eyes blinked open groggily and she lifted her head up slowly before glancing over at Trixie who was watching her expectantly. Her eyes widened when she realised that she’d been sleeping. “Oh! Trixie, I’m so sorry,” she exclaimed. “I said I’d spend the night with you, how long was I asleep? What time is it?” “It’s almost midnight,” Trixie replied. “You’ve been asleep for the best part of an hour. Trixie was going to wake you, but it looks like you’ve done that yourself.” “I’m so sorry, I was just so tired and—” Trixie held a hoof up to Starlight’s mouth. “It’s fine, Starlight. The great and understanding Trixie realises you’ve been very busy lately. Honestly, Trixie is just surprised you find her shoulder so comfy.” Starlight glanced down at Trixie’s slightly matted fur where her head had just been lying. She blushed and looked away, but she couldn’t supress a giggle; Trixie had been stuck in her seat with Starlight sleeping on her for almost an hour. Trixie smirked, then glanced behind her at the clock on the wall inside. Just twenty seconds until midnight! She squeezed out of her seat on the sofa, stretched her hooves out and trotted over to the edge of the balcony. Ponyville was famous for its incredible new year’s firework display and Trixie had always made sure she was around to see it every year. And every year it always got better and better. She stood there and waited for twenty seconds to pass. And then thirty. Nothing had happened. “Well, it looks like they went and messed up the firework display. What a great and powerful start to the year.” She turned round to face Starlight, but found her staring into the sky, a vacant expression on her face. Trixie trotted over to her, and when her focus remained on the sky, Trixie’s heart skipped a beat. “Are you okay?” Starlight remained motionless. “Starlight?” No reply. Trixie waved a hoof in front of her face, but her expression remained blank, her eyes misty and devoid of emotion. Trixie started to panic and rushed over to the balcony, peering over the edge. The ponies below were all unmoving, just like Starlight. Even a group of pegasi who had gathered to watch the display appeared frozen in mid-air above the roofs of Ponyville. It was as if time had suddenly stopped – as if someone had just pressed pause on the world. But why was she still moving? Sure, she was great and powerful, but this didn’t make any sense. Trixie turned and looked at the clock inside. It sat there, frozen at midnight. Trixie felt her blood run cold. Her first thought was to protect Starlight, so, with some difficulty, Trixie managed to heave the sofa – with Starlight still on top of it – into Starlight’s bedroom and close the balcony doors. Trixie ran down the castle stairs, through the map room and onto the plaza situated just outside the castle entrance to take another look around the town. At first glance, she couldn’t see any movement whatsoever. She tried shouting out, but her voice was meaningless in the still night air. Her next idea was to use magic to attract the attention of anypony else who remained unfrozen. That was if there was anypony else unfrozen. Trixie shuddered. Luckily, Starlight had recently taught her a spell perfect for the situation and, despite the growing sense of foreboding, Trixie was delighted that she had managed to find the perfect scenario in which to utilise it. Her horn lit up and she fired a beacon of light into the night’s sky. It lit up with a flash, but the beam died down after only a few seconds; Trixie was still trying to get the hang of that one. Once the beam had dissipated fully, to Trixie’s delight, she spotted movement in the sky. A yellow and blue pegasus mare flew down towards her. As the mare got closer, Trixie immediately recognised her to be Spitfire, leader of the Wonderbolts, wearing her trademark blue Wonderbolts uniform. Although Trixie and Spitfire had met at events before, they had never really spoken to each other, but at least this was another pony who was actually moving. Spitfire landed just a few metres from Trixie and hastily trotted over. “Oh, thank Celestia I’m not the only one still moving,” she panted exhaustedly. “I was prepping the team for our big new-year fly over, when suddenly everypony in the room around me froze. It was like nothin’ I’ve ever seen before. And now I come down here to find everypony in the entire town frozen too!” “I don’t know what happened!” exclaimed Trixie, pacing around uneasily. “I was just sitting, waiting for the display. I went over to the balcony to see the fireworks, and when there were none, I turned around to find Starlight staring into space, not moving at all! I looked at the clock on the wall. It’s frozen at midnight.” Trixie recounted the whole situation with a shaking voice. Tears welled up in her eyes and threatened to come loose, so she turned away from Spitfire, not wanting to embarrass herself. Spitfire wrapped a forehoof around her back. “C’mon, don’t worry yourself too hard. I know you’ve had more than your fair share of this sorta stuff in the past. And I’ve seen your magic shows.” “Y- you what?” “I’ve seen your shows. They’re awesome. The stuff you come up with and pull off is impressive. It’s that sort of intellect that we could use now.” Trixie turned back around, wiping her eyes, and smiled determinedly at Spitfire. She took a deep breath in and slowly let it out before formulating a plan. “Okay. I hate to say it, but Twilight’s castle is probably the first place to look if we want any information on what this could be. She has tons of books, and I mean tons.” They started back towards the castle, trotting briskly. “You’re Spitfire, right? Leader of the Wonderbolts?” Spitfire nodded. “I’ve heard Rainbow Dash talking about you. Several Times. In a lot of detail.” Spitfire grinned as they trotted into the castle. “That sure sounds like her. I already know that you’re Trixie, as I—" “I prefer the grrreat and powerful Trixie, best magician in all of Equestria! But, eh, that works too.” Spitfire laughed as they stepped through the castle’s large doors. As Trixie led the way through the castle, it dawned on her just how big the task ahead would be, and when she rounded the corner into the library, Spitfire’s aghast expression made it clear that she too had underestimated the extent of their undertaking. There were rows upon rows of bookshelves towering high up into the room, much further than Trixie could reach with her hooves. The shelves spanned the entire library, stretching around so that not an inch of wall was left in view. Clearly, Twilight had run out of space on her shelves as there were more books placed in piles or on desks around the room. Trixie watched as Spitfire took it all in, her mouth still agape. Finally, she regained her senses. “That… that’s a lot of books.” “Told ya so. Well, let’s be strategic about this. I’ve been through some of this with Starlight before.” Spitfire looked over at Trixie. “Starlight? Is she…” “Frozen? Yeah,” replied Trixie solemnly, though the thought of Starlight just made her more eager to get started. Trixie moved over to one side of the room. “Over here are books about magic. Over there are books about history.” She pointed a hoof at a shelf on the opposite wall. “I’ll start here, you start there. Just pile any books you’ve looked through in the middle, it’s not like anypony is here to do anything about it.” Spitfire nodded and peeled off her uniform before getting to work. After a while of painstaking research (neither of them could tell how long as all the castle’s clocks were stuck at midnight), the castle lights suddenly switched off, plunging the room into immediate darkness. Trixie lit up her horn and peered upwards at the lights. Spitfire trotted her way towards Trixie, cautiously glancing at the floor as to not trip over any books. “Power must be bust. Nopony's gonna be working the power generator, so I don't think it's gonna come back on.” She yawned loudly. “I could probably do with some shuteye anyway, we can start again in the morning when it’s light outside.” Despite her tiredness, Trixie’s eyes widened at Spitfire’s words. “There won’t be any light in the morning! If it is the whole of Equestria that’s frozen, Celestia won’t be there to raise the sun!” “Oh, hay,” Spitfire cursed. “What’re we gonna do?” “Well, I could probably do with some sleep too,” Trixie replied, stifling a yawn. “You can sleep here if you’d like. I think there’s a spare room already made up just upstairs next to mine.” Spitfire nodded and they made their way out of the library and up the stairs. On their way across the upstairs corridor, Spitfire glanced at her left foreleg on which Trixie spotted a stopwatch. Spitfire noticed Trixie glancing and held it out for her to look at. “Since the clocks have stopped working, I’ll try to set a timer. I can set it for eight hours, and if it does go off in the morning then I’ll come and wake you.” Trixie nodded, and after making sure Spitfire’s room was fit for sleeping, she said goodnight and headed over to her room. However, before she entered, she made her way down to the castle’s kitchen and opened up the freezer. It was still cold inside, but Trixie knew it wouldn’t be for much longer. She took out a large tub of vanilla ice cream, found a spoon and took it back upstairs. Ice cream always helped Trixie get her emotions in check, and she really needed it after the day’s events. But before going into her room, Trixie went into Starlight’s, just to check on her. She sat there, frozen, in the middle of the room where Trixie had left her on the sofa. Trixie trotted over to her and sat down in front. “Oh, Starlight,” Trixie murmured. She sat there for a few moments in silence, then moved her hoof up to touch Starlight’s cheek. “I promise I’ll find a way to get you out of here.” She lowered her hoof, wrapped Starlight up in a blanket then made her way back to the door. But she couldn’t leave, not without… Oh, Celestia. She trotted back up to Starlight and planted a light kiss on her cheek. “I love you, Starlight.” Trixie truly meant it. She’d been holding onto those words for a while, but saying them without being able to receive a response crushed her heart. Tears shining in her eyes, she turned away and left the room. Trixie walked over to her own bedroom, shut the door and sat on her bed, all whilst levitating big scoops of ice cream into her mouth. After she was contentedly stuffed, she lay down in bed and closed her eyes. Thoughts and emotions buzzed about in her head, but she eventually drifted off to sleep. ‒‒ ●★● ‒‒ Trixie awoke suddenly to Spitfire’s voice calling through her bedroom door. She sat up in her bed, but upon remembering the situation she was in, slumped back down with a groan. “Trixie! Wake up!” Spitfire yelled, banging on the door even harder. Reluctantly, Trixie removed herself from under the covers and trotted towards the door. Her memories of the previous day were all tangled, not unlike her morning mane. She opened the door just a crack so as not to subject Spitfire to her mane and the bags under her eyes. Spitfire looked disgruntled and her eyes were half closed. “If it’s all good with you, I’m gonna head home to Cloudsdale to put away my uniform… and I should probably take a shower.” When Trixie didn’t say anything, she added, “We have cloud-powered showers back home.” Trixie nodded in understanding. “Trixie’s gonna” – she yawned loudly – “go back to bed now.” Spitfire glared at her sternly. “Fine,” she grumbled, “Trixie will look for breakfast.” After that, Spitfire looked somewhat content and briskly flew off out the window. Instead of doing exactly what she’d just said she was going to do, Trixie jumped back on her bed and buried her face in her pillow. Realising that she definitely was not going to be able to get back to sleep, she dragged herself out of bed for the second time that morning. Trixie moved over to her bathroom and turned on the tap to get some water to rinse her face, but nothing came out. Trixie groaned and rolled her eyes. “Ugh, why does it have to be this waaay?” she whined, stamping her hoof on the floor. She made her way outside, lighting the way by illuminating her horn. The stream by the Friendship school would have to do. Despite the bitter cold, Trixie took some solace in seeing the beauty of the cloudless night reflected in the stream; the ripples sparkled in the moonlight which helped to calm her anxiety. Once her face was properly clean and her mane at least slightly presentable, she made her way into the kitchen and quickly located some packs of cookies. This’ll do, she thought to herself as she opened a packet and levitated a cookie into her mouth. Trixie was halfway through the first pack when Spitfire flew back in. Despite her flight, Spitfire’s expression was tranquil and her breathing still. Trixie furrowed her brow. “You’re looking pretty zen,” she mused. “It’s pretty peaceful having the sky all to yourself, I’ve never felt anything quite like it.” Spitfire eyed the cookies In Trixie’s hooves. “Is that all there is to eat? Cookies?” “What? Trixie really likes cookies and- and Trixie couldn’t find anything else, so…” Spitfire opened up a drawer and immediately found a selection of fruit. She frowned and glared at Trixie. “D’you mean you couldn’t find anything else, or you couldn’t be bothered to.” Trixie shrugged. “Hmm. Both?” “Well, I’m gonna eat these,” she said, picking up a couple of apples in her wings. “I’ve gotta keep up my physique for the Wonder—” Spitfire cut herself off and frowned discontentedly when a cookie levitated its way towards her. “Trixie, I don’t— fine, have it your way.” She took a bite of the cookie and immediately brightened up at the delicious chocolatey taste. “Oh, what the hay. Hoof over some more.” Trixie complied and between them they ate through most of the cookies, although Trixie found some more packs in another cabinet to save for later. Regretting having eaten quite so many cookies, Trixie and Spitfire got back to work searching through the library. The shelves were looking emptier and emptier – and the floor messier and messier – and Trixie started to lose hope, but her ears perked up when Spitfire called out, gesturing with a hoof to usher her over. In her hooves, Spitfire held a dusty, ancient-looking, red tome titled ‘Crystals of Rosewood’. She opened it to a page with a diagram depicting a large yellow stone with a mysterious glyph engraved on the front. Spitfire pointed a hoof towards the elegant cursive text beside it: Crystals of Rosewood – The Time Crystal This artifact was taken from the Witch of Time, Shift Rosewood, under the first full moon of the year 1000 when Princess Luna banished the three witches to Tartarus for their sins. It possesses the ability to manipulate the temporal stability of objects and send them back through time. The stone can alter vast quantities of objects at an unlimited distance, essentially giving it the ability to pause time completely, which can have cataclysmic repercussions. The Time Crystal was damaged during the witches’ battle with Princess Luna, although the extent of the damage and the effect on the stone’s magic is unknown. According to the Princesses of Equestria, few have been able to conjure the stone’s magic and nopony has done it to anywhere near the extent that Shift herself managed. The stone has now been locked away somewhere around the city of Canterlot, the Princesses alone know of its location. Trixie looked away from the page and stared at the wall, lifting a hoof to her chin and stroking it in thought. Witches and crystals rang vague bells in her head, although she’d assumed it was just an old mares’ tale. Trixie looked back down at the book and leafed through the surrounding pages, but there didn’t seem to be any useful information on the stone’s whereabouts. She looked up and realised that Spitfire was eyeing her expectantly, so she verbalised her thoughts. “Well, if by some miracle this stone is what’s causing this annoying time pause, either this Witch of Time is free from Tartarus and has managed to find the stone and use its ability again, or somepony else has found the crystal and figured out how to use it.” Spitfire took a deep breath and nodded. “So, how in Equestria are we gonna find it? This book is less helpful than a pony in a full-body wing-and-hoof cast drinking through a straw.” Despite the dire situation, Trixie chuckled at the ridiculous comparison. “Hmm, the grrreat and powerful Trixie has one idea in mind of where we could go!” ‒‒ ●★● ‒‒ Trixie grew more and more apprehensive the closer they got to Maud’s cave. Sure, out of all ponies in Ponyville – or in all of Equestria for that matter – Maud knew the most about rocks, so she might be able to provide some information on where to find this magical time crystal. But, deep down, Trixie knew that the chances of Maud not being frozen in time were incredibly slim. Still, maybe she had some books or something that could help. Trixie had also made sure to pack the book they found into her saddlebag so that she could show Maud, provided she was in a state where she could actually read. The more she thought about it, the more unlikely it felt they’d get anything out of the trip. Not wanting to let the nerves make her change her mind, she decided to focus on the world around her. The only sign of movement – other than Spitfire trotting along in front of her – was the slow blowing of the leaves in the wind. As she looked closer at the trees, Trixie saw a dove tending to its chicks nested in the branches. She paused for a moment to stare at it, glad that nature seemed to be doing fine despite the time pause. It seemed that it was just pony life that had frozen. After a short while the two mares rounded a corner and got a first look into the cave. Trixie quickly rushed over towards Maud’s gazebo. As she trotted up the stairs, she saw not just Maud, but Marble and Mud Briar too, all frozen in place. Trixie sighed and looked at the ground, tears welling up in her eyes. But then Spitfire called out to her and she immediately turned around after hearing the excitement in the pegasus’s voice. Spitfire was pointing a hoof out towards the small pier that stretched out into the cave’s large aquifer, and sitting on the pier was a lone grey mare who turned her head to look at them. Trixie’s eyes lit up as she called out her name. “Limestone!” Limestone stood up and trotted slowly towards them. “Trixie. What the hay is going on? Why are you moving? And more importantly why are they not moving?” She gestured a hoof over to her frozen sisters. Her tone was accusatory, and her voice trembling. Spitfire moved forward. “Relax, filly. We’re just as confu—” “Don’t ‘relax, filly’ me!” Limestone practically yelled, eyes narrowing. She stomped her hoof forward, causing Spitfire to take a cautionary step back. “I’ve been sitting here in this cave for Celestia knows how long with no explanation to why my sisters and the whole of Ponyville have just stopped moving.” Limestone stomped her hoof again and turned away from them both, but Trixie saw tears forming in her eyes. This strong love for her family was the main thing Trixie remembered about Limestone from when they had worked at the rock farm together, and it’s what really allowed them to get along in the first place. Trixie wrapped a hoof around Limestone’s back and moved to stand alongside her. “Limestone. We don’t know what’s happening either, but we have a theory and we need your help.” Spitfire nodded as Trixie turned back around to face her. “You see, we found a book in Twilight’s library. It said that somewhere in Equestria there is a crystal that can basically pause time, and we were wondering if you knew anything of it.” Trixie levitated the book from her saddlebag and opened it to the bookmarked page with the diagram of the stone. After skimming her eyes down the page and staring curiously at the image, Limestone looked up at them. “I think I’ve seen something like this before. It’s a huge cut topaz crystal. Carved gemstones like this get an engraved glyph if they’re imbued with magic. But the glyph; it looks like one I’ve seen cut into the walls of the Rosewood caves in the side of Canterlot mountain.” Trixie grinned. “That must be it!” she exclaimed, pointing a hoof to the writing next to the crystal. “It says there that the witch’s name was Shift Rosewood.” Spitfire’s eyes sparkled. “That’s our best lead yet! Let’s check it out!” She started making her way back towards the cave’s entrance, but turned round when she realised Trixie and Limestone weren’t following. Trixie sighed. “How are we going to get to Canterlot? We’ll have to walk the whole way there.” “You can just teleport us there, right?” Spitfire opened her mouth as if she was about to continue, but no more words came out. “I may be great and powerful beyond your comprehension,” Trixie started, “but I can’t teleport us the whole way there because I haven’t learned advanced teleportation yet. We’d need Starlight for that, and she’s uh…” Trixie trailed off, and looked down at her hoof which she was drifting through the dirt. Spitfire exhaled deeply. “Hey come on. I didn’t mean to upset anypony, I just wanna fix this as soon as we can.” Limestone made her way towards Spitfire before turning around to address Trixie who was staring at the ground muttering to herself. “Cheer up Trixie. We can take your wagon.” Trixie brightened at that and she looked up. “But first we have to fill it up with supplies, and I’ve run out of supplies down here.” She turned back around and continued towards the exit, glowering at Spitfire as she passed. Spitfire threw a worried glance at Trixie which she returned and then they quickly followed Limestone out of the cave. Over the next couple of hours, the three spent their time going back and forth between the castle and Trixie’s wagon, packing as many supplies as they could think of to last them for the next few days. Limestone had insisted that they empty it completely of all the ‘magic junk’ as she had put it, and after some deliberation, Trixie obliged, but she made sure to pack it all neatly into the castle for when they got back. “Canterlot is like fifty miles away, right?” Spitfire asked. Trixie nodded and Limestone mumbled in agreement. “We could make that in a day at a decent pace.” Trixie furrowed her brow and glanced back at the wagon which was packed full of enough food and water for at least three days of hiking as well as several headtorches and lanterns and a two-pony tent. Trixie had also packed some spare saddle bags in case they needed to leave the wagon somewhere. “Hmm, Trixie disagrees. We’ve packed so much into my wagon that it’ll be super hard to pull, especially since most of the journey is uphill.” Limestone shifted her gaze between them. “Well let’s get going then.” Without waiting for a response, she pulled herself under the backband at the front of the wagon. “I’ll go until I’m tired, then one of you can take over.” The three mares set off after Trixie strapped a lantern to the front of the wagon so that they could actually see the path ahead. During the walk, they idly chatted about random things that had been happening in their lives before the time pause. Limestone wasn’t talking much, but Trixie tried her best to fit her into the conversation when she could. Eventually, the trio stopped by the edge of a small wooden building with a pickaxe hanging decoratively above the door. Limestone slid out of the metal ring and stretched out her hooves. Spitfire glanced at her stopwatch. “Wow, Limestone, you’ve been going for three hours. That’s gotta be some sorta record…” Limestone stared at her curiously, surprised at receiving such a compliment. She nodded her head, then made her way towards the hut. After knocking on the door loudly and hearing no reply, she let herself in, but halted at Spitfire’s shout. “Uh, Limestone, I don’t think we should really just be barging into other pony’s houses, even if they are frozen.” “Relax, filly. I just want to have a look around.” she said, ignoring Spitfire’s advice and trotting inside anyway. Spitfire recoiled at her previous words being thrown back in her face. She looked – mouth hanging open – towards Trixie who gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about her, Spitfire. She was exactly the same with me when I first met her. She’s just going through a hard time at the moment.” Spitfire sighed and nodded. After a short moment of silence, Limestone’s head poked back around the door. She closed it behind her and trotted back down the path. Spitfire immediately volunteered to take the wagon and slid into the ring, wincing slightly as the metal ruffled her feathers. After she was comfortable, they set off again. For a while, they walked in silence. Trixie got bored quickly and tried to start a conversation to involve all three of them, but Limestone didn’t seem intent on talking. Spitfire was happy to comply though, and they talked about what they’d done since the coronation. Spitfire talked a bit about her Wonderbolts shows, whereas Trixie’s mind immediately went to her magic lessons with Starlight. Since they really did have all day, Trixie went into a lot of – probably slightly too much – detail, and to her delight, Spitfire listened along without interrupting. After another hour or so, Trixie eagerly offered to take the wagon from Spitfire, who smiled cheerfully at her enthusiasm. “Wow, how’re you still so pumped up about walking? We’ve been going for hours!” “Because I’m so great and powerful!” she replied, exaggerating her dwindling energy levels. “I… think it’s just nervous energy,” she admitted, smiling meekly. “The first thing I want to do after we restart time is go back to see Starlight and make sure she’s okay, and I want that to happen as soon as possible.” A frown creased her features as she thought about Starlight again for the millionth time that day. How would she feel waking up on a sofa indoors with no great and powerful best friend beside her? Spitfire nodded. “She must be really special to you, huh?” “Yeah…” Trixie’s cheeks tinted purple and she tilted her head downwards to look at the floor. She smiled to herself, thinking about what they could do when they got back and Starlight was safe. “Trixie.” Limestone spoke for the first time in a while. Her voice was still gravelly but had a lighter tone to it. “Are you sure she’s just your friend?” “What do you mean?” Trixie looked up to see the corners of Limestone’s mouth turned up in a grin. Flustered, Trixie spoke quickly. “Well, she’s my best friend. She enjoys spending time with me and I enjoy spending time with her. She’s loyal and smart and funny and cute and—” Spitfire laughed. “And cute!?” “That’s what I thought,” Limestone teased, chuckling at Trixie’s horrified expression and cheeks which turned straight from purple to a burning crimson. “I- I… Trixie didn’t mean to say that.” “So, d’you like her?” Spitfire giggled, raising her eyebrows. “O- of course I like her!” Trixie stammered, trying to make sense of how this conversation had gone so wrong so quickly. “I mean do you like like her?” Trixie said nothing as she concentrated on removing the rosiness in her cheeks which she definitely hadn’t asked for. A smirk grew on Limestone’s face. “Relax, Trix. If you like her, you tell her that when we get back.” “Trixie never admitted to any of that!” Trixie exclaimed, bewildered. Limestone furrowed her brow. “Really? Because I distinctly remember you saying just now that you thought she was cu—" “Stop! Starlight can be cute without- without me being in love with her!” “Uh, that’s not exactly what I said,” Limestone chuckled. Trixie stopped talking at that point and Spitfire burst out laughing but stopped abruptly when Trixie jabbed her in the side with her magic. “Well at least you have somepony,” reassured Spitfire. “I feel like I’ll never find a special somepony.” Trixie looked back up. “Sure you will. You’re one of the most popular pegasi out there!” “But that doesn’t make it any easier to find somepony! If anything, it just makes it harder. I wanna find a pony I can spend the rest of my life with, not someone who just likes me because I’m famous.” Spitfire frowned, but Trixie flashed her a reassuring smile, then turned around. “What about you, Limestone?” Limestone looked down, a faint blush spreading across her face. “I… I don’t want to talk about my feelings,” she replied in a half-whisper, speeding up slightly to walk in front of the other mares. Trixie and Spitfire shared a concerned look but didn’t push any further. The three walked in silence for a while longer before stopping by a large river. Trixie gazed out at the flowing water. There was a small island in the middle of the river that cut it off into two separate streams which re-joined at the end before travelling off into a small waterfall. The sight was alluring and was enough to finally distract Trixie from her thoughts and worries. After their short rest at the river bank, the three moved back closer to the path and sat on the grass to eat some of their food, chatting amongst themselves. Limestone actually joined in on some of the conversation, which delighted Trixie, although she tried not to show it. When Spitfire flew off to stretch her wings, Trixie seized the opportunity to talk to Limestone about their earlier conversation. “So, have you ever had a special somepony?” Limestone hesitated for a moment before nodding her head. “Yes, but as I said earlier I don’t want to talk about it. It’s complicated.” Despite her fervid curiosity, Trixie thought it best to stop pressing. “Well, if you’re sure. Y’know, back home they call me the great and understanding Trixie, so if you want to talk to somepony, I’d be happy to help. And I’m sure Spitfire could help out too.” A fierce blush crept onto Limestone’s cheeks, but before Trixie could say anything, Spitfire landed back down next to them. Limestone immediately headed back for the wagon. “Let’s go. We’ve still got a lot of walking to do.” Realising that that was definitely the end of their conversation, Trixie headed over and joined her as she stepped back under the backband. The three mares walked for another few hours before stopping at the edge of a forest to set up camp. Limestone and Spitfire went off to look for firewood and Trixie was left to assemble the tent. Before she did so, she admired her surroundings. Although it was incredibly dark, as it had been all day, the forest felt warm and cosy. A twig snapping echoed out from behind her. She turned around swiftly, but could not see the source of the noise. An uneasy shiver crept down her spine; perhaps the forest wasn’t quite as calming as she’d first thought. Another crack sounded to her side and she let out a slight yelp before realising it was just Spitfire coming back with some sticks. “Woah there, filly. I’m not that scary.” Trixie rolled her eyes and said nothing. After Limestone came back, they set to work lighting the fire. Once they’d made sure it was burning properly and that it wasn’t going to go out, they all sat around it and Trixie levitated a deck of cards out of her wagon for them to play with. Trixie shuffled the cards with her magic and dealt seven cards out to each of them. “So, what are we going to do when we reach Canterlot?” Limestone picked up her cards in her hooves. “Probably head straight to the cave. There’s no point going into Canterlot,” she said, tapping her chin with a hoof. “Spitfire, any fours?” “Two,” Spitfire said, hoofing the cards over. “Yeah, I agree. There’ll be nothing to do in Canterlot anyways, what with everypony being frozen. Trixie, any aces?” “Go Fish.” She levitated their map over from the wagon, and briefly scanned her eyes over it. “Okay, I think it’ll be another couple of hours of walking tomorrow before we make it there. I hope whatever we find is actually helpful, for Starlight’s sake. Limestone, any fours?” Trixie smiled slyly. Limestone groaned, hoofing over three cards. “Okay, where are we all sleeping tonight? Trixie, any threes?” “Haha! Go Fish!” Trixie exclaimed, punching the air overenthusiastically. Spitfire grinned. “Well, the tent sleeps two ponies, right? Whoever wins the game gets to sleep in the wagon. Limestone, you got any threes?” Limestone grumbled and chucked a card over. Trixie frowned. “Trixie doesn’t think that seems very fair, it’s Trixie’s wagon.” She hesitated for a moment before smiling smugly. “Then again, Trixie’s probably going to win anyway so… Spitfire, any tens?” This time it was Spitfire’s turn to frown. “How do you do that!?” she exclaimed, hoofing over three cards to Trixie’s glee. When Trixie inevitably won the first game, they decided to make it a best of three. When Trixie won the second, they made it a best of five and when she was on track to winning the third game, Limestone and Spitfire stopped trying. Trixie beamed at her cards fanned out in front of her. “Limestone, any twos?” Limestone chucked her cards into the air. “This is ridiculous, I’m going to bed.” Spitfire nodded her head in agreement as Limestone made her way into the tent. “The grrreat and powerful Trixie has bested you! I shall enjoy a comfortable sleep in my wagon!” Spitfire rolled her eyes, said goodnight and made her way to the tent as Trixie tended to her cards which had been unceremoniously thrown all over the ground. As soon as it was all put away, she made for her wagon, but before she opened the door, she heard muffled voices coming from the tent. “Spitfire. I didn’t mean to get angry with you earlier today.” Trixie’s ears perked up at the genuine apology from Limestone. “It’s all good, don’t worry about it,” Spitfire half-whispered, clearly also surprised. “I just get worried… about my sisters… I get angry—” “I forgive you.” After a short pause, Limestone was clearly content with that response and they both settled down, leaving Trixie with her thoughts. She smiled to herself, somewhat relieved that Limestone and Spitfire had at least started to settle their differences. With that, she made her way into her wagon, closed the door, turned out the lights and drifted off into a restful sleep in her hammock. ‒‒ ●★● ‒‒ When Trixie’s eyes opened, she immediately noticed something was off; she felt an unexplainable fear and a chill ran down her spine, but she didn’t understand why. She slowly pushed open the wagon door and found the entire area surrounded by a pale green ethereal glow that gave Trixie a great sense of unease. A rustle behind her made her turn sharply to find a shadowed figure trotting their way deeper into the forest, disappearing round a large boulder. Being too confused to think straight, she slowly crept towards it. She rounded the boulder and instantly recoiled after seeing a ghostly unicorn mare standing right in front of her, surrounded by a much thicker green glow. It was almost as if the glow around the forest was emanating from her. Her face and body were surrounded by a dark cloak so that all Trixie could see were her hooves and the end of her muzzle which both appeared to be a dark green, although the glow made it hard for Trixie to tell. A green symbol was stitched onto either side of the cloak, around where the unicorn’s cutie mark would be. “Don’t be afraid, Miss Lulamoon. I am not like my sisters.” Her voice was very rough, even more so than Limestone’s; it was so bad that to Trixie it almost sounded distorted. “Y- your sisters?” The mare didn’t answer and instead pointed a hoof towards a cave entrance just a few metres away that somehow Trixie hadn’t previously noticed. Another eerie glow seemed to be coming from an opening deeper within the cave, this time it seemed to be a mixture of colours. Apprehensively, Trixie trotted into and through the cave, the hooded mare following close behind. As the cave opened up, distinct mumbling could be heard in the distance. “W- what is this?” stammered Trixie, heart pounding in her chest. “Keep going.” Trixie did as she was told, trembling nervously, until a hoof reached out and lightly tapped her flank, causing her to flinch and turn around. The cloaked mare stepped slightly in front of her. “Listen closely.” Trixie strained her ears and heard another painfully raspy voice reverberate around the cave. “… and thanks to Rift’s retrieval of the space crystal, we now have all three crystals back in our possession, ready for the ascension. The only piece left is the magic source. Shift, I trust you are close to finding the pony we’re looking for.” Despite her ever-growing fear, Trixie stepped forward slightly more and poked her head around a corner. She was met with a large room with torches mounted along the walls in dark steel frames, burning dimly. The cave roof was filled with so many stalactites that it was almost impossible to see the top. But the thing that immediately caught her eye was the three dark figures standing around a large levitating stone slab which they appeared to be using as a table on the far side of the room. Each pony wore a similar cloak to that of the mare behind her and each was surrounded by a glow of different colours: red, blue and yellow. Trixie’s eyes widened when she looked at the yellow mare’s cloak and saw a very familiar symbol stitched into the cloak material; it was the same glyph as the one she’d seen in the diagram of the time crystal from the tome Spitfire had found. It was then that she knew, without a doubt, that she was looking at the witch of time, and presumably the other witches too. “I have the town name. It is called Ponyville.” Trixie cringed at the screeching voice coming from the yellow glowing unicorn which was somehow even worse than the ones she had already heard. Trixie’s mind was foggy, but she realised that if they were talking about Ponyville, she should probably listen in. The raspy voice, it turned out, was coming from the red witch. This time, the words exiting her mouth sounded frustrated. “I expected better of you, Shift. You must find the pony before the time pause desists.” At that, Trixie’s mind fog cleared and she immediately knew that what she was hearing was vital information. “I will do my best, sister.” “You are dismissed.” The blue and yellow witches vanished, leaving just the red one who turned to look directly at Trixie. Trixie let out a muted scream before the cave started to morph around her with a scarlet glow. She turned around to see the hooded mare she’d come in with was staring at her with glowing green eyes. “Miss Lulamoon, whatever you do, do not give them her name. You may endanger the whole of Equestria.” “The whole of Equestria!? What do you mean?” The mare turned away and Trixie felt the air cool as the cavern began to melt around her. Trixie found herself running away but glued to the spot. Then she woke up.