The four creatures watched as the image faded, once more leaving a story unresolved.
A quite nasty, and honestly, unfortunate story still left in the hooves of fate, being unwound as they sat, looking at each other warily.
“I-I think we’re done.” Twilight said simply. She stood up from her beanbag, extending her magic, and disconnecting the cables that hooked onto the table. There were a few sparks as the electricity suddenly snapped off, leaving the table to sputter in light, eventually dimming down to almost nothing, only a pale blue light left from somewhere deep. Some of the only light left was the golden glow above them from the memory tree.
“Let’s… not do that again.” Rarity said slowly, looking slightly mortified.
“I think I’ve been emotionally scarred from that one.” Starlight shivered. “I know Discord was evil and all, but that was… level ten. Seeing Princess Celestia so… unfiltered. Seeing Princess Luna scared like that… I didn’t like that one.”
“It makes me wonder how many stories were toned down.” Spike pondered from the floor. “I mean- passing down stories from generation to generation, I think you’d want to leave out the bit where Discord would ‘serve her a plate of you.’ That was… I’m a dragon, and that was tough.”
“Let’s just say it was interesting to see Discord in his prime.” Twilight had already begun wrapping up her project, levitating some of the thick wires and coiling them together, placing them neatly to the side. “I think it’s best if we leave this project on the back burner for now.”
“Hm.” Suddenly, Starlight felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Slowly, almost mechanically, she looked forwards, past Twilight, and at an indeterminate part of the room. She shivered again, frowning. “Do you girls ever wonder if… we’re being watched? Just like we’ve been watching other versions of ourselves?”
Twilight contemplated it for a second, halting her cleanup as she worked her jaw.
“Psh, are you kidding me?” Spike answered for her. “Obviously not. We’re just a group sitting around a table, talking. What’s interesting about that? We’ve been looking at humans with lost legs, Discord’s reign, Twilight’s date life- the table’s been skipping clear over the boring between. Right now, we are in the boring between.”
“I… guess that makes sense.” Starlight said warily. She stared at the spot in the room for a few more seconds, before shaking her head, and turning to Rarity. “What do you think, Rarity?”
“That anypony could be watching us?” Rarity pondered for a half-second. “I will admit, the idea does… scare me, slightly. But like Spike said, I think we would only be watched if the information is relevant to a story, like when you tried wiping us from the timeline.”
Starlight sucked air between her teeth, cringing. “I’m still sorry about that…”
“No, it’s quite alright dear. I apologize. That was a bad example.”
Slowly, all of the creatures in the room became more and more undefined. They became blurry, and almost hazy, like somepony was viewing them from the surface of murky water.
“Girls. You’re both Unicorns. Could one of you grab that pipe really quickly for me?” The staticy voice of Twilight said.
“Of course.” Rarity extended her magic.
The room was quite large, extending upwards a few stories. Huge windows adorned the walls that sat behind an evil looking throne, although the throne itself was completely empty. To the right, a huge wooden structure with a door in the middle and a staircase. Behind was a set of double doors, and surrounding the large pool were tall torches, igniting the area in a purple haze.
Laying on the ground, a laptop open to her side, and drool pooling on her hoof, was a white Pegasus. She stared down at the scene unfolding, her eyes half-closed as boredom threatened to tip her head down. Slowly, she extended her hoof, tapping the space bar on the laptop, and clearing her throat.
“Wednesday. Two in the morning. Twelfth attempt at using the magic pool.” She stifled a yawn, pinching her eyes closed tightly as she did so. “No luck so far. I can’t figure out how to make the pool show me a specific frame of time. The pool is almost completely random. Maybe I have to be a Unicorn to use it correctly. It’s a racist magic pool.” She sniffled, rubbing her eye warily. “I think I’m going to call it a night. Sunny will most definitely be interested in what I’ve recorded.” She looked over her shoulder at the tripod holding her phone, pointing down at the pool, and recording. “Turns out, Twilight Sparkle, the last great Princess, was a nerd. But the pool still doesn’t tell me when and what happened to old Equestria.” She sighed. “I’m going to get out of here before Opaline wakes up and locks me in a dungeon. I’ll pick back up tomorrow night.”
And then Zipp tapped the space bar again, ending the log.