Chapter 3
A Time and Place
Twilight quickly move through the train, apparently her contact had reserved a private train cabin for the two of them. She still wasn't sure exactly what the job would entailed, so she had packed her normal work supplies. She double checked the cabin number before sliding the door open, grabbing the attention of the lone pony inside.
The mare's coat was a shade close to cyan, her mane a split between dark blue and a very washed out--almost white--blue. A light smile graced the mare's lips as she studied Twilight.
"Magus Velvet? I didn't think they'd send one of the top field agents."
Twilight lightly shrugged and trotted in, closing the door with her magic. "You must be my contact then?"
She quickly put down her saddlebags on side of the cabin that was free, before taking a seat opposite to the other unicorn.
"That's right, name's Minuette," she spoke, her voice having a light hearted twang to it.
Twilight let out a sigh as she could feel the train start moving. She hadn't been late onboard, but finding the cabin cart had taken longer than she'd hoped, especially with how crowded the morning train to Vanhoover got.
"Perhaps you could clue me in on the details of the job? The report I got was very scarce," she tried to not let her frustration seep through, it wasn't Minuette's fault.
The unicorn smirked. "Straight to the point, eh? I like that," the unicorn turned to her own saddlebags and started shuffling through them, retrieving a letter with a familiar seal on it.
"I got a delivery to you from the Princess, which you might want to read."
Twilight nodded and took the letter in her hold, she was about to tear open the envelope when the unicorn continued.
"But basically I work for something called the Temporal Investigation Association, or TIA for short!"
Twilight frowned. "So you, what, chase down rogue unicorns messing with time magic?"
Minuette giggled. "No, that's for the royal guard or the likes of you. We're more akin to a..." she put her hoof to her mouth, tapping. "A clean up squad I guess."
Twilight couldn't remember the last time any rogue unicorns tried to mess with time magic. The field was incredibly complex and few, if any, unicorns could even scratch the surface of what could be done.
Twilight licked her lips. "So, what exactly are we doing?"
Minuette shrugged and smiled. "I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?"
Minuette just chuckled and shook her head. "I have a co-worker down by Vanhoover investigating the situation, really, she's the expert at tracking em down."
Twilight let out a deep sigh. "Then what do you need me for?"
Minuette's smile flattened. "Backup," the mirth in her voice gone.
"Backup?"
Minuette gave a curt nod. "This stuff might be my special talent, but sometimes we need more fire power or the expertise of a magus. That's why for complicated issues like this we send in a request for one to join us."
"I see..."
Minuette let out a sigh, a small smile returning to her. "Hopefully it's nothing and you don't need to do anything, and all of this will just be a boring trip back and forth to Vanhoover."
Twilight nodded. "That'd be nice, I'd rather spend the time with my foal."
Minuette lit up. "Oh? Congratulations. How old is she?"
"A week," Twilight replied flatly.
Minuette's eyes widened. "What? They seriously sent someone who should be home with their child?"
Twilight grunted. "Apparently."
"Ugh," Minuette's expression turned apologetic. "I'm so sorry for this Velvet, if I had known then I'd have walked right up to Princess Celestia and demanded somepony else."
Twilight sighed. "Thanks..." She tried putting on a smile. "Hopefully you're right and this will just be a short trip and I'll be back to taking care of Sparkle in a day or two."
Minuette nodded before lowering her gaze.
Twilight took the opportunity to unseal the letter and read it.
Dear Twilight Velvet.
I hope this letter finds you well. I must take the opportunity to apologise to you, I know very well your current situation and it is my not my intent to tear you away from your family. I write this knowing that I did this very thing, and for that I hope you can forgive me.
My hoof in the matter was in some regards forced, the TIA is a very specific organisation that operate directly under the crown. I'm sure Minuette can fill you in on the details, if she hasn't already. Most of what they deal with are things I'd rather not my ponies know about, including the Council of Magi.
When the TIA requests assistance with a task, I only send ponies I know and trust; among the current magi that number is lower than I'd like. My first pick for the job also happens to be away at this time dealing with the possible cultists problem in Manehattan.
Because of the nature of temporal complications, there is often little, if any, warning before they crop up. If it's not clear, most of the occurrences aren't actually caused by ponies, but range from natural phenomenon to ancient spells flaring up.
I don't expect your services will be needed for much, but you still deserve my apologise. I will attempt to make this up to you upon your return to Canterlot.
Regards
Princess Celestia.
Twilight let out a sigh as she turned away from the worn letter hanging on the wall. The only reason she hadn't thrown it away was because she could always use the backside for writing. She turned and walked outside, hoping to once again put the past behind her.
"Are you heading out now?" A cheerful voice asked from the garden.
Twilight turned and nodded. "I was hoping to see if I could find a way further into the southern parts of the forest today."
The filly frowned. "Ugh, then I'm glad I'm not coming with you. That place is so overgrown you can barely get through!"
Twilight smiled. "You're right, it is. But we have been mostly everywhere to the east, and there isn't much in the west, nor to the north," Twilight finished, pointing out towards the plains with her hoof. If she focused her eyes then she could see the white wall in the distance.
"Just be sure you're back before bed time, I don't want to sleep alone."
Twilight chuckled. "Aren't you getting a bit too big for snuggling against my chest?"
The filly just stuck out her tongue at Twilight. "It helps me sleep, okay? Last time you weren't home in time I just laid there turning for hours."
Twilight flashed the filly another smile before turning towards the forest. "I'll do my best."
Twilight swore, another thorn bush cutting through her coat. She didn't like this part of the forest anymore than her companion. Yet she felt the need to explore it, taking care of the crops took up most of their time and effort, sure; but most of the space inside of the anomaly was still unexplored.
If she could find anything else to help make things easier for the two of them, then she'd take it. But most importantly, she might not be an expert on temporal magic sent from the Temporal Investigation Association, but if she could find the cause of this entire thing and dispel it; then she would do so without hesitation.
Twilight floated a peach out from her bag, eating it as she walked. She had given up on help coming a long time ago. Now her only solution was somehow fixing all of this... or spend the rest of her life here.
Twilight came to a halt and swore, ahead of her was a steep cliff drop. Getting down would be easy, getting back up less so; she had never been good at self levitation. With a sigh she threw the peach core on the ground nearby and levitated her small axe out of her bag.
She picked the most suitable tree and started hacking out a chunk of it near the base as to make sure it would fall in the right direction. The tree was thick and alive, so the entire process of hacking her way through it likely took hours; she couldn't say for sure on account of the only timepiece being back at the house.
With the tree crackling before toppling over, Twilight sat down on the ground and caught her breath. The tree that would serve as her ladder toppled over the edge, making a loud crack as it landed and timber bent. Twilight hoped it hadn't all fallen away from the cliff side, she didn't fancy having to come up with another plan.
Still, the area was marked now, the stump if nothing else should help her find the way back. This would have to do for the day, she still had a return trip to make. She was interrupted from her thoughts by the sound of flapping wings, looking up her eyes caught the sight of something she never thought she'd see again: A pegasus.
She just stood there blinking for a few seconds, before getting up and wildly flaying her hooves. "Hey!"
Her yelling seemed to have gotten their attention, as they gestured with their hoof before coming in for a landing.
"I thought I heard something," the pegasus spoke, a smug smirk hung on their face.
Their coat was a light red, with long flowing yellow mane that was partially braided. In the braids were three large red pearls. Twilight wasn't sure if she wanted to hug or punch the stranger, they were the first other pony she had seen in years.
The pegasus took a step forwards and waved her hoof in front of Twilight's face. "You okay there?"
Twilight jumped back a little. "I, uh... I haven't seen another pony in ages. You have no idea how glad I am to run into you."
The pegasus chuckled. "I figured as much Magus Velvet."
Twilight frowned. "You know me?"
The pegasus shrugged. "It would be weird if I didn't. Let's see... Minuette briefed you, right?"
Twilight nodded.
The pegasus sighed. "Okay, that's good. Basically I'm with the TIA, name's..." they frowned. "Wing Spark."
Twilight couldn't hold back any longer, she slowly took a few steps forwards and embraced the mare in a hug, tears forming in her eyes.
"Whoa," Spark let out before awkwardly returning the hug with her wings.
"You have... no idea," Twilight sobbed.
"Are you alright?"
Twilight let go and took a step back, nodding. "I will be now that I found you."
Spark awkwardly shuffled about. "I assume you've set up camp somewhere at this point?"
Twilight nodded.
"That's... that's good. My camp is near the center of this thing," she gestured with one of her hoof in the direction of the cliff. "Actually, I could probably go and fetch you some things that could help you out real quick."
Before Twilight had a chance to object the pegasus threw herself over the cliff edge.
"Wait, but, I have so many questions," Twilight pleaded.
"I'll be back in just a min!" The pegasus shouted back as she flew up to higher elevation.
Twilight just held up her hoof in exasperation. She couldn't quite believe it still, it was hard to not think that she had just imagined the entire exchange. It had been years since she had meet anypony beside her charge.
At last she could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Running into someone from the TIA meant that she had somepony she could formulate a plan with as to fix this entire situation. And after that? She could finally go home.
Twilight could feel her body relax in relief when she spotted the pegasus up in the air and on their way back, it meant she hadn't imagined the entire thing. She could feel herself tearing up again, but did her best to hold it in.
"Here we are," Spark said as she landed. "I brought some stuff I don't really need which may or may not help you," she gestured to her saddlebags.
"Before that," Twilight started. "Maybe you could tell me what you know about... all of this," she gestured up in the air with her hoof. Despite the sunlight, all that existed beyond the cloud layer was more of the white wall.
Spark licked her lips. "I could tell you some, but it's all a bit complicated."
Twilight shook her head. "I'm mostly interested about finally making my way out of here."
Spark froze. "Ah, well, that is... a bit more complicated?"
Twilight gestured for her to go on.
Spark sighed. "Truth of the matter is that I'm mostly here to research how this thing works, what makes it tick. I need Minuette here in order to collapse it."
In just one moment Twilight could feel her newfound hope dying.
"So, um. If you happen to run into her or know where she is, direct her my way? I actually expected her to be with you."
Twilight sighed. "I guess it was too much to get my hopes up."
She sat down to take a moment to breath and gather her thoughts. This was still a step forwards, plus having somepony else around would definitively help. A pegasus could cover so much more ground, they just needed to do a quick sweep and they'd probably find wherever Minuette ended up, right?
Though, now that she was finally calming down again, she could sense that something was... off with the pegasus. Twilight's horn had always been somewhat sensitive to nearby magic. Often times she ignored it as it only got in the way of her day to day life, but when she was out on a job? It had saved her from the unexpected more times than she could count.
"I wouldn't worry too much, I mean, you have survived this long, right?"
Spark began dumping the contents of her bag on the ground, most of it was various metal tools but also the occasional gemstone.
"Some of this stuff is enchanted but, well, I kinda lost the instructions so you'll have to make sense of it yourself. I know I haven't really needed or used these things very much, so hey, I might as well give them to someone that does, right?"
Twilight nodded and lifted one of the gems with her magic. She'd seen enchanted items before, though these ones looked incredibly sloppy; probably made in haste. She'd have to look at them closer later, both to figure out what they did but also to make sure that they were safe to use.
But no, her focus currently was casting a second spell: A subtle scanning spell. They were a pegasus and not a unicorn, so Twilight doubted they would have noticed even if she did something more complex, but better safe than sorry. Her hunch was correct, the pegasus was absolutely ablaze in illusionary spells.
It was at this juncture that Twilight was very glad that she hadn't mention where her camp was, as well as the fact that she wasn't alone.