//------------------------------// // 13 - Power Ponies, Baby Dragons, and Chaotic Drums // Story: Drummer Out of Time // by MrPip42 //------------------------------// “If he does not know, then we must warn him. The energy surrounding him is too potent to ignore. Any spell pointed towards him could-“ “I understand, Luna, and I agree.” Celestia and Luna were given a brief moment of alone time. Before Luna went to bed and Celestia to her first meeting of the day. Today promised to be a busy one for the sun princess. “I do not, however, wish to bring attention to him. We cannot send royal guards to Ponyville to deliver a message and act as if it will not be gossiped about for the next month. We have to wait until our scheduled trip.” “The stallion is a delicate bomb of chaos magic. It amazes us that nothing has set it off yet! We cannot wait any longer. Your student’s assistant, Spike, can deliver the message.”  “I would trust young Spike with any message, except for one that I do not wish to meet Twilight’s eyes. Their bond is too close for him to not mention it to her, and I would not ask him to go behind her back.”    Luna paced back and forth in the empty hallway the two princesses stood in. She had already been awake for far longer than she normally would be. “We are able to deliver it tonight.” “Luna…” “We understand that it will reveal that we have been within their dreams, but our other choice is to allow the risk to continue. We would send our Night Guard to bring him to the castle, but there is no guarantee that he would come willingly. This is the safest option, that does not risk igniting the chaos that has built up within him.”    Celestia already knew that she had asked too much of Luna these past few months. The concert was only the first step in repaying her for it. She could hardly deny her this, it was her dream realm after all. “What will you say?” “Only what is necessary. Anything further may be discussed when we visit personally.”  “Alright.” Celestia let out a long breath, and used it to move on from the stress this situation has built up over two months. “Be careful, Lulu.” “Always.” Luna smiled at her older sister, she knew this was the right thing to do. Fatigue soon caught up to her, and that smile fell into a loud yawn. “…I shall leave you to your duties, sister.” “Of course, sleep well!”     As Luna departed for her chambers, Celestia had only a moment to herself before a new voice echoed through the hallway.  “Auntie? Are you here?” A mare’s voice called out. An alicorn turned the corner from behind Celestia. Far younger than herself and Luna, the alicorn had not even grown into her mane yet. Her regal attire however spoke of her position, royalty, a princess just like Celestia.     Princess Cadance, Celestia’s adopted niece and the Princess of Love, looked towards her. “There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you.”  “Is everything alright, Cadance?” She asked, and Cadance scowled in return. Her niece has had that look on her face for a while now. Celestia hoped it was because of the wedding planning stress and nothing else.  “No, it is not. I thought that the marriage was going to be this week. Why am I hearing that it’s next week now?” “The engagement caught the attention of a hoof full of important diplomats that needed more time to make the trip. As well, there are still multiple parts to the wedding we have to plan.” “And you said you would take care of it, Celestia.” Cadance responded curtly.    That was another new thing about Cadance, her use of the name Celestia. She almost never called her that before, only Auntie or Celly, even momma on accident. It felt weird to hear her niece call her that, and only made her want to lighten her mood to fix it. “I am sorry, Cadance. I am going to have the perfect group of ponies invited to help plan the rest of the wedding later this week. I promise you, it will be perfect.”    An uncharacteristic ‘humph!’ sounded from the Princess of Love. Turning away from Celestia. “The sooner the better. I don’t want to wait any longer.” “Of course, it will be perfect, dear. You have my word.”    Cadance’s horseshoe covered hooves were all that could be heard as she turned the corner away from Celestia. The older princess let out her own uncharacteristic sigh. She hoped in her heart that things would settle after this time traveling mess and the wedding were concluded. The stress hasn’t been good for her health, and her strained relationship with her niece was worse than anything else. She promised to make her happy, and she would.    Today’s National Dessert Competition couldn’t start sooner for Celestia, she needed some sweets.    Spike wasn’t having a very good day in Ponyville. Not that anything bad had happened to him. He was just a disappointed baby dragon. Twilight was invited to the National Dessert Competition in Canterlot by Pinkie Pie, but somepony had to stick around and watch the library while Twilight was gone. So here he was, alone in a tree house/library, sorting books and being bored.     It wasn’t even about missing the dessert competition that Spike was disappointed about. Twilight always brought back sweets for him. What was the problem, then? It was the second time in a row where Twilight had gone to Canterlot without him! First she went to that rock concert with that one colt he’s forgetting the name of, now to this competition with all her friends! It meant he was missing out on something he loved to do when in Canterlot, check out the comic book stores!    Ponyville is nice and all, but it doesn’t have a comic book store. The only place that sells comics at all is Vinyl’s shop, but they only sold the big publishing company issues, and none of the special prints. If Spike wanted to find an obscure comic series, or get a limited edition issue, he had to be in Canterlot, and he missed out on it twice already!    Even worse, he can’t check out the comic stand in front of Vinyl’s today. If he left, nopony would be around to watch the library. Sure, Spike doubted that there was anypony who would steal a book from the library in Ponyville, but as annoyed as he was he still was a follower of the rules. That didn’t stop him from grumbling about it.    So Spike expected a slow, boring day in an empty library. Put away some books, clean up, and maybe make a gem salad for dinner that night. Hardly the worst of days, but he wished for more to happen. He certainly didn’t expect that wish to be fulfilled by nine AM. “Spike?” The tall brown stallion asked him. His confused gaze pointed at the small dragon. The look he gave him felt… oddly judgy. Spike felt the sudden urge to cover himself up.  “Yeah, that’s me, Spike, the number one assistant. Could you stop lookin’ at me like that? Feels weird.”    The stallion eased off from the creepy stare, sheepishly scratching his head. “Sorry, I thought you were, uh… bigger?”    …Now he went and did it. “I’m not small! I’m just a baby dragon, I grow a lot bigger than this.”    Spike had to give him a piece of his mind! That’s the first thing he says to him?! How dare he! “Oh, I believe it. You’re gonna be larger than everypony one day.”    Normally, that sentence he just said would have set off another angry response from Spike. What stopped that from happening was the way in which the stallion said it. He didn’t say it to make him feel better, or to tease him and pass off his annoyance. It was a matter of fact, straightforward confirmation. He would be larger than everypony one day, and the stallion in front of him knew it.    That simple statement was enough to deflate the puffed cheeks Spike had formed. “Well, uh, yeah, thanks for agreeing I guess.”     Spike moved his cart out of the way, and faced the pony directly. He was tall, at least as tall as Big Macintosh. A dragon as small as him was used to craning his neck to look at ponies, but this was like looking up at Princess Celestia, no, Luna would be a better comparison. Except that this colt was somehow skinnier than Princess Luna. What Spike really was looking up at was a brown beanpole. “I’m Spike, but I guess you know that already. How did you know me, anyways?” He asked the beanpole. “Huh? Uuuh,” He stammered out a reply to Spike, “Twilight told me, you’re her assistant, she talks, you know.”    That was enough to convince him, it was Twilight after all. “Makes sense, what’s your name?” “High Rise.” Said with a big smile. Spike knew that name, he had heard it frequently over the past few months. Namely when Twilight thought he didn’t hear her muttering it. He’s the weird stallion. “Oh! You went with Twilight to that rock concert.” “Yup, almost got her to like rock music. If only for academic reasons.”    Spike let out a giggle-snort. He knew that Twilight would turn it into some study session. Her checklist that morning included ‘Study Rock Music with High Rise’. “Don’t worry, I'm sure you did your best. Twi’s just not much for that stuff. How can I help you today though? Lookin’ for a book? I can help you find what you need.” “I was looking for…” The words stopped midway, and High Rise changed his response. Clearly whatever he was about to say wasn’t right. “Actually, a bit of an odd question. Do you have any comic books?”    Way to rub salt in the wound, even if High Rise didn’t know it. Spike sighed and shook his head. “None to borrow, we don’t get any comic books for the library.” “Not even graphic novels.” “Nope! I’m still trying to get Twilight to order the Watchcolts volume!” “What about you, do you have any comics yourself?” High Rise asked him directly. “Well, yeah. A few for myself. Some Spider-Mare and some indie comics. Whatever I can get from the comic shop anytime we go by Canterlot.” “Really? You don’t get any from Vinyl’s stand?”    High Rise looked surprised to see Spike react so disinterested towards the comic stand. “All of that stuff’s just Marvelous or PC series. I only like Spider-Mare from them. The rest I'm not too interested in.”    Not that he could go see what was at the stand, today… “Really? You don’t even like the Power Ponies?” “…The Power Ponies? What’s that?” Spike asked.    He doesn’t know.    The Spike that sat in front of High Rise, right now, didn’t know what the Power Ponies was. He still remembered vividly the collection his future self had. One of the largest comic franchises of all time(in the next century), and Spike didn’t know it yet.     Maybe this should have been a warning for High Rise. If there ever was a moment that screamed Break in the Timeline!… this was it. Spike hasn’t discovered his favorite comic book series yet, and his meddling would influence how he discovered it. The Butterfly Effect rang through his head again, maybe this small change would turn Spike into a Batmare superfan instead! Or he could become interested in those black and white comics from Neighpon! He shouldn’t get involved, he was not ignorant of that. What he did, he did willfully, and without a single thought towards the consequences of his actions.    High Rise pulled out the Power Ponies comic from his bag, and held it out to Spike. Despite his claws, he was incredibly delicate taking the paper book from him. Years of working and helping Twilight in libraries helped to prevent unnecessary tears in pages. He turned the comic over and read the synopsis that was laid out on the back. “Join Maretropolis’ greatest heroes as they team up to protect the city from the dastardly villain, Mane-iac! Can they band together to become unstoppable, or will their differences tear them apart?… I dunno about that one.” Spike’s disinterested gaze looked back up at High Rise and held the comic back up to him.  “I knew you would lik- wait what?” High Rise was left fumbling. “H-How could you not like the Power Ponies?”    All those bad thoughts he threw to the wayside came rushing back. He was too excited at the idea of hanging out with somepony he knew, he never realized he could influence them so badly. “I’m sure they’re fun and all, man, but it seems a bit, I dunno… generic?” Spike shrugged, “I mean, isn’t Maretropolis the city Superstallion is in? Not very original I think”    High Rise couldn’t even argue with that. What was he supposed to say? ‘You’re destined to become its number one superfan!’ As if that would make any sense for the baby dragon. He came in here wholly unprepared, expecting a single comic book to set off a fun day of comics with Spike. Without realizing how different he would be when he was a century younger. “Well… uh, I guess.” His nervousness took any confidence he had left. Taking the comic from Spike’s outstretched claws. “I-I think you’d still like it if you, uh, tried. I’ll get out of your way, sorry about that.”    Before High Rise could turn tail and run, Spike called out to him. “Hey, wait! Was that really all you needed? Not looking for a book or anything?”    High Rise looked incredibly disappointed after Spike called his comic book uninteresting. He felt bad, very bad. Clearly this guy wanted to share something he liked with him, and Spike stomped it in the ground. There weren’t a lot of ponies in Ponyville who liked comic books, none that Spike actually knew about. Vinyl sold them but didn’t care for them. The Crusaders weren’t really interested when he tried to tell them about comics. This was the first stallion he met that actually wanted to talk comics, and now he was running away! “Uh, no. Sorry, I just, um, was asking about comics is all.” For some reason, he was tapping on the ground nervously while he talked. The tapping somehow sounded like the batmare theme.    Don’t lose this chance, Spike! Get him talking, or else you’ll be alone in this library all day! “Were you looking for any comics in particular?” He asked, desperately hoping it was enough to catch High Rise’s attention again.    Spike had fortune on his side today, as High Rise pondered the question presented to him. “…None in particular, has Paper Fillies come out yet?” “Paper whadda?” “Actually, nevermind, that one’s a bit too much for a baby. Oh! Teenage Mutant Ninja Tortoises?”    Now that one Spike knew about! “Oh! Yeah I got a bunch of those. Both the newer publisher and Lunarwave Studios issues. Did you wanna see them?”    High Rise came in with high expectations, full speed ahead towards a day of fun with a dragon. Immediately, his journey crashed into a wall and made him crumble… and then somehow succeed?    Here he was, laying down on the floor next to Spike, as he showed off his small collection of comic books. The word “small” should be better defined here, as Spike’s collection was small compared to what High Rise had seen in the future. Spike still had upward of fifty comics stashed into a box for his current collection. A number no comic enthusiast would scoff at.     The thought of possibly destroying Spike’s interest in the Power Ponies still weighed on him, but for the moment, he put that to the side. Here he was, spending time with Spike. Admittedly, a very different, tiny version of him, but still him. He was just as enthusiastic when you talked comics in front of him. That was enough to work with, this whole situation was salvageable! “This one scene where Rafa Yell and Dona Cello are fighting Slicer is some of the coolest art i’ve ever seen!” Spike exclaimed, showing the fight scene in question to High Rise. It seemed to him that the baby dragon had forgotten all about his library duties. The more peculiar part for him was seeing the comics themselves. All of the comics in Spike’s collection were considered classic, rare finds in his time, and here they were in pristine condition! Available for a bit each at any comic store. If High Rise really could bring things back with him when he returned, he’d be rich if he just brought a handful of these rare comics back with him.     Most of Spike’s showings were of the cooler fight scenes that happened in each issue he shared. High Rise would skim through the pages and when he was done they would pull out the next one and do it all over again. Again, and again, and again. Until no comics were left to showcase. “You have a really nice collection, Spike!” High Rise exclaimed after they closed the last comic. “Honestly, my collection’s only a bit bigger than yours. Mostly Spider-Mare issues.” “Hey, Spider-Mare ain’t too bad. I still read that series, I just don’t keep a lot of the issues. I think Vinyl has the newest one at her stand.”    He tilted his head at Spike. “I thought you didn’t like the two big publishers?”  “We all have a few we like! Mine just happens to be Spider-Mare.”    And the Power Ponies. High Rise thought to himself. Then an idea sprung into his head. He still had a hoof full of bits he could spend, and it wasn’t like he was going to need them when he got back home. Why not have a bit of fun? “Tell you what, Spike,” High Rise said with a mischievous grin pointed at him. “I’ll go to the stand right now, and get us every unique comic on there. Then we’ll see how many you really dislike.”     Clearly something he said caught Spike’s interest. His eyes went wide for a few short moments, until his eyes squinted at High Rise. “Don’t you have better things to do than stick around with me, though? Unless you’re a reader, there ain’t much to do here in a library.”    High Rise shook his head. “Why wouldn’t I want to hang out with you? I can’t think of anything better to do today than check out some new comics with a fellow comic fan.”     He smiled brightly down at Spike, who looked back at him hesitantly. Slowly, but surely, Spike formed a smile onto his face, and nodded back towards High Rise. “Okay, let’s do it!”     With newfound energy, Spike shot his claw out towards High Rise in a fist, and High Rise returned it with a hoof. Their fist/hoof bump was the final confirmation he needed. “Alright! On one condition though.” “What’s that?”    High Rise pulled back out the Power Ponies issue, and held it towards Spike. “You have to read this in full before I get back!”    Spike huffed at the idea at first. Did he really have to read this thing? It looked so generic and girly. What could possibly be so interesting about it? Oh how wrong he was.    Within minutes of High Rise leaving the library, Spike was engrossed. He tried to scoff it off as nothing special, but the artwork, the characters, and fights! They were unlike any other comic he had ever read! A fact he inevitably gave to High Rise when he returned with a new stack of comics, and he looked incredibly smug about it. “-this last panel, where Saddle Rager shows off her enraged form, i’ve never seen anything as cool as that! Are you sure this is a PC comic?” “Yup.” That smugness he felt oozed out of him. Spike could practically smell it! “And the Radiance reveal?” “She’s definitely the favorite! I mean, look at her!” Spike was already imagining a certain fashion designer in Ponyville wearing that exact same superhero outfit as Radiance. “Radiance is awesome.” “I dunno, Mistress Mare-velous is pretty cool. With her psychic powers and strength.” “But Radiance can create literally anything! That’s so much cooler, think of all the gems!”    High Rise chuckled. “They’re just constructs she creates. I don’t think you can eat them.” “Aw come on, have a bit of imagination, man!”    He chuckled again at Spike’s huff, and soon Spike himself joined in on the laughter. The day between them was spent just like the Power Ponies talk. They would pick a comic, share it between them, and talk about it. From the artwork to the characters. As well as debate certain aspects of the comic book. It wouldn’t be a proper comic book discussion without a debate on power levels or theoretical matchups. Spike picked the bigger, more explosive characters to win in most matchups. High Rise liked the smarter ones, and claimed that Batmare could beat any character with enough prep time.     They had spent so much time doing this back and forth, that it took them a while to see the sun had begun to set. Spike looked up from the most recent comic they had been talking about to watch the orange skyline.  “I should probably start getting things ready before Twilight gets back.” He said with a sigh, disappointed that it was going to end.     High Rise seemed disappointed too. He clicked his tongue as he rose to his hooves. “That’s too bad, but I had a lot of fun today with you Spike. Thanks for indulging me!”  “No, thank you!” Spike exclaimed, tapping his claws together. “I honestly don’t have a lot of friends to hang out with in Ponyville. Most of my friends are Twilight’s friends, and none of them are interested in the same things I am… It was awesome that I got to share it with somepony! Do you think that we could do it again sometime?”   Spike had hope, and that hope was quickly squashed when High Rise’s face scrunched up. “I had a ton of fun too… but I don’t think I'll be able to come by again. At least for a while.” “…Man, okay,” He said, Spike didn’t try to hide his disappointment. “I get it.” “It’s nothing like what you are thinking, Spike.” High Rise reached up and patted the baby dragon on the head. “I’m not going to be in Ponyville much longer.” “Huh? You aren’t?”    High Rise shook his head in response. “Where are you going, then?” Spike asked. “I’m going home in a few days, can’t stay in doc’s house forever now can’t I?”  “Are you gonna come back?” Spike’s words were simple, but made High Rise’s face scrunch up again. “I’m not sure, Spike. I don’t think so, at least not for a long time.”    All the energy that had filled the loft of the Golden Oak Library had been drained. They had all sorts of fun today, and it would never happen again. Spike may have been mature for his age, but he was still a baby dragon, and the knowledge that his first comic book friend was unreachable hurt him.  “Hey, hey.” High Rise spoke gently, and reached a hoof up to wipe a tear away from Spike’s eyes. He didn’t realize he had gotten so emotional. “That doesn’t mean it won’t ever happen. Not for a while, but the next time we see each other, I want to see every comic you’ve collected, alright?” “But what if we don’t see each other?” “We will, I know it. Just like how I know you’ll be as big as this tree one day!”     His smile was genuine, and more confident than High Rise had any right to be, but it was enough to convince Spike. The baby dragon smiled up at him, and nodded.  “I’ll just have to get a ton of cool comics to show you next time!” He exclaimed, “Here, let me get all of your comics togeth-“    Riiip…    In his excitement, Spike had forgotten an important part of his comic enthusiast rules. The number one rule on the list… be careful with your claws. Spike had quickly grabbed the stack of comics that sat between them, and in his rush pressed a little too tightly on one of them. His claw dug into it, and as he pulled away, it created a clean cut through the first few pages.    A clean rip straight through the middle of Power Ponies! #1. High Rise’s eyes went wide in shock, and Spike quickly dropped the comics in his claws. “O-Oh no, i’m so sorry! I didn’t mean- I'll get you a new one! Vinyl’s shop should have more. I’ll get you one first thing tomorr-“ “Spike, it’s alright.” High Rise was smiling at Spike, smiling. He just ripped his comic book and he was smiling at him! What he said next was even more baffling than that grin on his face. “I… actually want you to keep these, all of them.”  “What?! I can’t do that, they’re yours!” “Don’t worry, I don’t think I can bring them with me anyways.” Why was High Rise so happy?! He looked positively overjoyed while looking at that ripped up comic. Like it was the best thing that ever happened to him. Spike felt awful, and now he was being rewarded for doing that awful thing.  “But I ripped your comic!” “Honestly? I can’t think of anypony better to rip that comic.”    High Rise had gotten to his hooves, not a single one of his comics was back in his possession. Before Spike could try and give them back to him, High Rise was heading to the door. “It was really nice meeting you, Spike!” He exclaimed with a giddy excitement the baby dragon could not understand.  “Hey, w-wait!” Spike called out to the excited stallion, but he was too late to stop him before High Rise was out the door. Now he was left with more comics than he knew what to do with, and one partially ripped Power Ponies comic…    Maybe just one more read of it.    The rip! The rip! The rip!    The rip!    It was the exact same one from the future. That comic book Spike ripped up was the same one future Spike told High Rise about. It was the first Power Ponies comic he ever read, and he kept it for an entire century! High Rise gave him that comic!!     A billion thoughts ran through his mind as he galloped away from the Golden Oak Library. A billion more questions followed every thought he made, and his mind had become an excited, jumbled mess of words and images that none of it made sense. If somepony were to peer into his mind, they would see a party more chaotic than the reign of Discord. With a thousand different High Rises all falling into two different emotions. Pure, unchecked excitement and happiness, or nervous, barely contained panic. The excitement group currently outnumbered the panic group, but the balance between them teetered back and forth like a violent seesaw.     He didn’t know what to make of what just happened, how it happened, what it meant. High Rise needed somepony to make it clear to him. To find a clear answer among the questions and confusion that filled his head. There was only one pony for the job, the premier expert on time! “Doc!” High Rise called as he burst into the basement. He didn’t wait for a response. “Something crazy just happened! I hung out with Spike today, but I actually hung out with Spike before so this is the second time, but the first time was in the future, and in the future there was this comic book he showed me and he said it was super important, but he didn’t have that comic book today because he hadn’t gotten it, but I gave it to him! He has that comic book because of me but that doesn’t make sense because I'm not supposed to be here and me giving it to him implies I was supposed to be here, but that makes even less sense and my mind is so confused! Can you help me out… Doc?”    The Doctor was currently at a desk in the basement, his head laid out against it with his mouth wide open. Snoring openly and very loudly. Not a single thing High Rise had done was able to wake Time Turner from his slumber. High Rise’s rant was only heard by himself.     The sight of a peacefully resting Time Turner was enough to calm the chaotic thoughts filling his head. Whatever just happened to him, it could wait until tomorrow. A clearer head would help the both of them. High Rise smiled, and gathered a blanket to cover his friend in. The blanket wrapping around his body made Time Turner snort, and curl into the soft fabric. After he was sufficiently snuggled into the blanket, High Rise went upstairs to his own bedroom. Snuggled into the guest room bed, and found peaceful slumber waiting for him as well. “Spike, did you buy all of these?” Twilight asked as she stared at the new stack of comic books sitting inside of their library home. She wasn’t alone, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had joined her to eat a meal before the night ended. Spike was in the middle of cooking a late night dinner, and called out from the kitchen.  “No! High Rise came by and left them for me!” He replied. “Oh, are you friends with High Rise, Spike?” Fluttershy asked. The baby dragon came out of the kitchen with a steaming pot of Vegetable Medley. The three mares and dragon sat around the table while the conversation continued. “We are now! He stayed almost all day and we chatted about all the comic books we had here. He even gave me those before he left!” “That was nice of him,” Twilight said, magically handing out bowls of the vegetables to her friends. “Is he a comic book fan too?” “Yeah, it was awesome to have another comic guy around.” Spike’s tone quickly grew somber after that sentence. “Too bad we can’t do it again for a while.” “Why is that, Spike?” The question came from Fluttershy, who tilted her head towards him.  “He’s leaving town soon, said he won’t be back for a long time.”  “He’s WHAT?!” Pinkie, who had been silent up until this moment, jumped up from the table. “Oh nuh uh! He won’t get away from me this time!” “Wait, Pinkie.” Twilight held a hoof up, and miraculously, it worked. Pinkie Pie froze in place, perfectly solid. “High Rise said he was leaving?”    Spike nodded, and both Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle shared a surprise look. “In a few days, he said.”  “He never mentioned that to me.” Fluttershy replied. “Me neither.”    The frozen spell on Pinkie ceased to contain her, bursting forth in bouncy chaos. “Which MEANS we have to throw him a goodbye party! There is no way I'm gonna let him get away this time! Pinkie Pie doesn’t miss a party twice in a row! I gotta get started already!” “Pinkie Pie, we just got back from the Dessert Competition, and you ate nearly the entire cake everypony worked on! You need to rest for a bit.” “Rest is for the wicked, Twilight! And not wicked too, nopony is wicked, but it sounded neat!” Pinkie scooped up her vegetable medley and gobbled it down in one quick gulp. “ThankyouforthemealSpike! I’llseeyoualltomorrowattheparty!”    She was gone, in a blink, Pinkie Pie no longer existed. The girls knew that nothing could stop Pinkie Pie from party planning, and there was no doubt that missing three days on High Rise’s first party was still a sore spot for the party mare.  “I’ll have to ask him tomorrow when he visits,” Fluttershy said, notably not gobbling down her meal. Instead she took gentle nibbles of the broccoli. “I don’t know why he wouldn’t have mentioned that he was leaving…” “I agree,” Twilight replied, “Hopefully everything is alright.”    The mystery stallion was leaving town, before Twilight Sparkle could even begin her full questioning! Even if she ignored the curiosity she had about High Rise, Twilight didn’t like that one of her friends was going to leave town without telling her. She wanted to know why, and thanks to Pinkie Pie, she would have the chance to tomorrow.      High Rise expected another memory to appear in his dreams that night. He didn’t remember the last time he had a normal dream, where nothing made sense and it was all forgotten in the morning. Every night, he relived a moment in his past. Some good, some bad, all just as vividly real as real life. Sometimes, he had to convince himself that he wasn’t awake, that it was a dream. It was more confusing when he felt that way when he was actually awake.    He was asleep, he knew that, he could clearly tell he wasn’t awake this time. The constant sound of clocks ticking wasn’t present, in fact, nothing was present. An empty, peaceful void, waiting to be filled with whatever memory decided to appear today. High Rise hoped it was a better one this time. The last few haven’t been bad, he just doesn’t want another reminder of his band right now, not when he’s been feeling so good.    The void began to form the scene for his dream, he could see the tall bookshelves and giant telescopes come into view, the forms of Crescent Sun and Princess Cadance inside the room with him. He was about to relive this moment. If he wasn’t currently a formless consciousness waiting for his body to form, he would shudder.    When his body did form, and he found himself within it, the world around him crumbled to dust. Before any words could be said from any of the actors on the stage, High Rise now found himself in a limitless starscape. An endless night sky reflected on a shallow, crystal clear pool that extended across the horizon. High Rise’s hooves created small ripples in the water, which continued on for eternity. He had control of his body, and quickly realized he was no longer in his own dream. “Stay calm, you are not in danger.” A mare’s voice came to his ears. High Rise turned his head to see an indigo alicorn. Her mane and tail endlessly flowing in an endless breeze, the night sky blending into the stars in her own hair. Royal regalia accented her form, silver horseshoes and a black chestplate with the image of a crescent moon upon it. A mark that matched the cutie mark on her flank. Turquoise eyes regarded him with a neutral expression.    It didn’t take a genius to figure out who this was. High Rise stood before Princess Luna, bearer of the Moon and current co-ruler of Equestria. A chill ran up his spine, and his hoof began tapping the pool below. Ripples constantly forming underneath it.     He was about to speak to a Princess. Three days remaining.