“I guess that’s it.” It’s where Rainbow Dash had sent them. Meg started walking toward the middle of a strip mall, where an ironically bucolic sign proclaimed the presence of a petting zoo.
“A petting zoo,” Twilight said as she followed her. “But I guess it makes sense we’d find Fluttershy here.”
“It makes perfect sense.” Meg reached the door. “Not so sure about the indoors part, but maybe farms or zoos don’t exist in this place.” She paused before opening it. “Or maybe it’s Discord being Discord.” She thought it over. “Nah, not chaotic enough.”
Inside, the decor resembled the interior of a barn. The straw-covered floor bore numerous randomly scattered pens. Most held smallish animals like rabbits or hamsters. The biggest creatures were goats—no, wait, were those Shetland ponies?
Never mind that, over there was this realm’s version of Fluttershy, who was combing down one of the perfectly plain ponies. Meg couldn’t decide if that was ironic or not. The pink-haired girl turned to look at the new arrivals and gasped. “Princess Twilight! It’s been so long. What brings you here?” Concern crossed her face. “Nothing bad I hope.”
Andy sneered. “This is no throne room.”
It looked heavily restored to Twilight. The walls were painted red, with yellowish depictions of flowering plants and strange animals—they vaguely reminded her of griffons. The throne itself was a smallish block of stone, carved with simple shapes, and on top a thin stone seat-back against the wall. The seat-back had an odd wavy outline. It seemed… undersized for a monarch.
“You wouldn’t know of this,” Samantha said. “It was made by the Mycenaeans after they took over, and of course it had been heavily restored by Evans.”
“But this is where the minotaur was kept?” Yearling asked.
Andy wandered about the room. “Yes. Not in some labyrinth. And we certainly didn’t demand tribute from Athens to feed him. You know as well as I do that a minotaur, no more than a pony, would eat a human.”
“So how was the minotaur treated?” Twilight pointedly asked.
“He was well-fed and looked after, of course, like any animal in a zoo. We were aware he was an intelligent creature, but that mattered little.” Twilight opened her mouth but Andy speared her with his eyes. “I know what you’re going to say, so don’t bother. Humans were enslaved back then too.”
Twilight glanced at the camera and decided this wasn’t the time or the place.
“Could you talk to him?” Yearling asked.
“Poorly. By the time I’d left, he had learned no more than a few dozen words.”
By the time I’d left. The implication was obvious. “You don’t know what ultimately happened to him.”
“How could I? All I can know for sure is that he never returned through the portal.”
And history did not record the minotaur’s fate. Oh sure, there was that myth, but if he hadn’t been kept in a labyrinth and fed with tributes, then the rest of it wasn’t true either. Like it or not, unless some Linear A tablet was found that revealed all, they may never know.
Unless…
Time travel that far back was not possible—but what if it became possible? Then they could observe what truly happened. No. Better. They could rescue him! You can’t alter history when no history had survived. The only question was whether to return him to his own time and place, or bring him to the present. Undoubtably the former would be best, and they could do it too because that part of Equestrian history had also been lost. Probably. Hopefully.
But first things first. Like Meg’s upcoming Senate testimony. Fortunately, that would take place during the night here so she could hop back and watch it.
“Are we done here?” Kyle asked. “The Grand Staircase is next.”
“Where did you get that dress!” “What do you think about Andy’s trip to Greece!” “Why are you a pony!” “Is Celestia behind the anomaly!” “How do you feel about the leash!” “Is Serrell conspiring with Celestia!” “Why are you wearing anything!”
Meg steadfastly ignored the media mob as she was led by leash to the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. If her FBI entourage had any saving grace, it was that they prevented the media from mobbing her.
Shouldn’t there have been more questions about the anomaly? Meg saw the pictures taken at dawn. The old permitter was gone, and so were bits of the surrounding buildings, not having been designed to withstand hurricane force winds. By nightfall, at this rate, those buildings will be partially inside the anomaly, and by tomorrow morning they’d be completely engulfed.
They finally reached room 226. Fortunately, that media didn’t follow inside; they didn’t have to, for others were already there. Who knew how many dozens of photos were taken of her as she followed her leash to a seat up front. The twenty-two members of the committee were already present. Senate Routledge waited for her to be seated, like a mythological minotaur eyeing its next meal.
Meg sat as best she could, careful not to wrinkle her dress. The other end of her chain-link leash was tied to a massive block of metal that had been placed next to the chair. She took comfort in that it could not stop her from returning to Equestria.
Her entrance had caused a bit of a stir. Virtually no one, apparently—not the privileged attendees in the galley, those in the media pool, or the members of the committee itself—had ever seen a pony in the flesh. She wondered how many of them hadn’t really believed in the existence of ponies, how many had expected her to show up as a human.
Senator Routledge, of course, was one of the exceptions. “State your full name for the record.”
Meg adjusted the microphone with a hoof. “Meg Coleman.”
“Your testimony is under oath, Ms. Coleman. Please stand and raise your… just raise your right hoof.”
Meg did so.
“Do you swear that your testimony provided here today will be the whole truth and nothing but the truth?”
“I do.”
“Thank you. You may lower your hoof. Let the record reflect that the witness has been sworn. Ms. Coleman, if you have an opening statement, now is the time.”
“I object to being chained like a dangerous animal. That is all.”
“You chose to appear before us as an animal; you can’t very well be handcuffed. And—need I remind you?—once your testimony here is concluded, you shall be handed over to the FBI.”
Surely he couldn’t believe that, could he? Even if he was just saying it for the cameras, how would it look when she simply disappeared? I’ll play along for now. If he actually did believe it, better to let him think he had the upper hand.
“Why are you here as a pony? Did you have a choice?”
“Of course I had a choice.”
“Could you choose to be a human right this second?”
“Not right this second, because the conservation laws of this universe prevent that sort of magic from working here. I’d have to return to Equestria first.”
A thin smile. “I don’t think so.”
She shrugged. “Then you’ll just have to take my word for it.”
“So why are you here as a pony?”
So you can’t capture me. Naturally she wasn’t going to say that. Instead she said, “I’m species-fluid; I don’t identify as a specific species.”
“I don’t find that amusing.”
“It wasn’t a joke.”
“I, for one,” spoke up a different senator, “don’t have a problem with that. And I assume that stunning dress would not fit you as a human.” This senator was one of the friendly ones, an ally of Serrell.
“It’s a Rarity original, and no it would not.”
Routledge recovered quickly from his initial annoyance at the interruption. “Yes, let’s talk about your attire. I imagine a—what did you call it?—a ‘Rarity original’ would not come cheap.”
Maybe wearing that dress hadn’t been the best idea. “I would imagine not.”
“How much did you pay for it?”
Definitely did not like where this was going. “It was a gift.”
“A gift. Nothing of value expected in return?”
“No.”
“Not even, say, putting her creations on display in front of our world, here and now, to potentially expand her business to humans?”
“This dress was made for me nearly a year ago, so—no.”
“Surely there must have been some reason for this dress to be made. Ponies are not big fans of clothing, I hear.”
“Rarity wouldn’t have much of a business if that were true.”
“Touché,” he said. “I’m still waiting for that reason.”
“I needed proper attire to attend the Grand Galloping Gala, if you must know.”
A smile of victory. “Oh, we do, I can assure you. You must have met many rich and powerful ponies at this gala, correct?”
“Among other things.”
“Other ‘things?’”
“Discord was an invitee. He brought his own… plus one. Do I need to say more?”
“On that subject, no,” he said, waving it away. “I’m more interested in the ponies in attendance. Were the princesses present?”
Meg saw an opportunity to get a jab in of her own. “There were important griffons and minotaurs present too, one of whom later visited the White House. They may get hold of a transcript of this hearing.”
“We’ll get to the White House in due time. For now, answer the question: were the princesses present?”
“All the princesses were present.”
“Did you meet them?”
There was little point in denying it; fortunately, her defense team had prepared her on how to handle this. “Yes, I met them. I also met Discord and… survived the experience.”
“Survived?”
“He took me to the Everfree Forest next to a pack of timberwolves so we could have a private conversation. Yeah, I know how that sounds, but I was never in any danger. It’s just how he works. You get used to it.”
“I don’t see why you should have to, why anyone should have to.”
Meg shrugged. “Then stay out of Equestria.”
“No argument from me. You mentioned having a private conversation. What could you possibly have to discuss with the Spirit of Chaos?”
Of course he would take that bait. “Something concerning The Smooze—that was his plus one.” And now the magic words: “I don’t recollect anything more.” Didn’t matter if it was a total lie. It was the one lie that did not count as perjury.
“Did you meet Smooze too?”
So predictable. “Oh, yes. Not a bad guy. Not evil, just misunderstood.”
“Can he exist in our world? I most certainly hope not, for all our sakes.”
And now for the payoff. “I don’t believe so, which is a shame if you ask me. He’d happily devour all our toxic wastes.” Not that anything stopped those wastes from being transported to Equestria for his consumption.
“Yes, I’m sure—along with everything else.”
“No. He wouldn’t. He’d only consume what we ask him to consume. I can say that because I know Smooze personally.”
“Let’s get back to the princesses. That would include Princess Celestia, correct?”
“Yes.”
“And what did you discuss with her.”
The magic words never wore out. “I don’t recall.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“There was a long line waiting to pay their respects. What do you imagine I’d discuss under those conditions? Certainly nothing rememberable.” The truth was that she hadn’t discussed anything with Celestia at the Gala, but better to imply that she had than to invite questions as to what other opportunities she might have had.
“What about Princess Twilight Sparkle? You’ve had frequent contact with her, have you not?”
She could hardly deny that! “Yes.”
“And Twilight has the ear of Princess Celestia, does she not?”
“If by that you are asking whether I use Twilight to influence Celestia, the answer is no.” Because as a Royal Advisor to the Court, of course, Meg already had direct access to Celestia—but she would avoid mentioning that at all costs!
“What do you know about the kidnapping of five Americans, including a co-worker of yours.”
Going down that road now, eh? “I wasn’t present.”
“The ones kidnapped say otherwise. You had a role in that.”
“I’m aware of that. Doesn’t make it true. There are plenty of witnesses who can vouch for my presence in Las Pegasus at that time.”
“Would these witnesses all happen to be ponies?”
“The five in question also saw me in Equestria.”
“Which means you saw them while you were in Equestria.”
“That is correct.”
“Why don’t you inform us of the circumstances of this meeting.”
Meg was half-tempted to reply “I don’t recall,” but decided it was more helpful to Serrell to give an actual answer. “I was on vacation, staying at the Planet Do hotel/casino in Las Pegasus, when suddenly, thanks to Discord, I found myself in Celestia’s throne room—though I must add he was acting at Celestia’s request.
“The five prisoners were present. They had my key card, which granted access to restricted parts of my workplace. That’s why I was summoned, to verify that it was my key card. I was told they claimed to have taken it from me when they’d kidnapped me from my office. They were rather insistent about it, actually. Anyway, in the throne room they claimed that I must have been a changeling or something because the ‘real me’ was in their captivity.
“They proclaimed that the me they had supposedly kidnapped would not be released unless and until they themselves were returned home. After that, Discord sent me back to my hotel room.”
Routledge digested that for a second. “That’s quite a tale you spin. The five tell a different story.”
“They forgot to mention the ‘kidnapping me’ bit, I bet. Will they be testifying here under oath?”
He pointedly ignored the question. “So who do you think they supposedly kidnapped instead of you? A changeling?”
“Funny enough, Discord suggested that very possibility to them. They refused to believe it.”
“Did you see the prisoners again?”
“I saw Eric Tanner during his stay in Tartarus.”
“In the same cell block as Tirek?”
Andy had already stated that publicly. “Yes.”
“Who else was with you?”
“I don’t recall.”
“Perhaps this will jog your memory. Were you accompanied by two Secret Service Agents?”
It wasn’t hard to guess from whom he’d learned that. Meg noted that Eric’s sister had not been mentioned. “I can’t rule that out.”
“Was Serrell aware these citizens had been thrown into Tartarus?”
“I can’t read his mind.”
“You have met the president, correct?”
“That is correct.”
“You do seem to have the knack for meeting powerful people—and ponies.”
“I even met you once, outside the Gates of Tartarus.”
“Indeed. You do seem to get around. While in the president’s presence, has the topic of these five ever come up?”
“Not that I recall.”
His eyes bored into hers. “Did you help Serrell form his smear campaign against me?”
That came out of left field. Meg’s eyes bored back. “I am not aware of any ‘smear’ campaign.”
“Must I stir you memory? I’m referring, of course, to the debunked kidnapping of your niece that I’m supposedly a part of.”
“The video evidence—”
“Fakes, sophisticated fakes to be sure, but fakes, as conclusively proven. You’re good with computers, are you not? Did you create them?”
“I took all the video myself with my phone, yes.”
Murmurs from the gallery.
The senator threw her a patronizing smile. “So you expect us to believe you witnessed all that using a drone, and not one of the alleged culprits noticed the drone following them? They’re quite noisy, you know.”
Meg extended her wings for a few seconds. “I don’t need a drone.”
Conversations erupted in the galley. Routledge glared at its occupants. “Quiet please!” Silence fell. Focusing again on the pegasus, he continued. “You’re hardly helping your case. You’d have us believe you witnessed the kidnapping of your niece—that you just happened to be present for—and you did nothing to stop it?”
Serrell had made it absolutely clear: there was to be no mention of time travel.
“I remind you that you are under oath.”
After a few more seconds, Meg admitted, “It wasn’t possible to stop it.”
“I find that hard to believe. All you had to do, if that video is to be believed, which it isn’t of course, was to keep your niece home from school that day.”
It was beginning to sink in: He was going to get away with this. “That wasn’t an option,” she forced out.
Almost mocking, he added, “Perhaps you could have asked Twilight to help you. No doubt a powerful alicorn like her could have taken care of those evil kidnappers without breaking a sweat.”
That’s how we got Susie back! Those were the words Meg so wanted to say, but Twilight’s involvement had been and was to remain out of the public record. All she could say was, “That wasn’t an option to prevent the kidnapping either.”
“No, I suppose it wouldn’t be. It would get in the way of orchestrating the kidnapping of your own niece.” He stared at her, daring her to contradict him.
Doing so would get her nowhere, she realized. All of the people caught red-handed by the video she took had denied any involvement, claimed the video was fake. An excellent fake, to be sure, but within the means of the Serrell Administration. The only flaw in that narrative was the absence of leaks from the alleged perpetrators of the fake. It was an easily overlooked flaw. That her brother and his family had been hiding away in Equestria, inaccessible to the media, may in hindsight had been a mistake.
He’s really going to get away with this. The only reason she wasn’t going to rot in a jail cell for the rest of her life was because she could return to Equestria at any time.
There was nothing she could say that he couldn’t counter; it was her word against his, and that was a losing game. She might as well get it over with and leave now. At least that would cause some chaos.
Chaos.
Maybe Discord was right. Say something so unexpected that Routledge wouldn’t know how to respond. But what could she say that she wasn’t forbidden from saying?
But what could Serrell do about it? He could no more touch her in Equestria than could Routledge. She had no life in the human world anyway unless Routledge went down.
And Routledge had to be ultimately responsible for the anomaly—not that she could prove it.
And Serrell always did talk about “shaking the box.”
Well, Discord would approve.
“There was no option because the past cannot be changed.”
The senator blinked a few times. “Excuse me?”
“I didn’t stumble upon the kidnapping in progress. After it happened, I went back in time to observe and record it.” There was no need to mention Twilight or Rainbow Dash. “Believe me, I would have prevented it if I could, but the past is immutable. Even so, having observed the boat my niece was transferred to, it was simple enough to return to the present and have the Coast Guard intercept it.” Meg smiled. “Which they did.” And because of Twilight’s involvement, that had been kept out of the news.
Routledge almost lost his composure right there. “You expect me to believe this load of garbage? I remind you you are under oath.”
“And I remind you of season two, episode twenty: It’s About Time. Oh yes, time travel is quite real—and that’s with Star Swirl the Bearded not having a clue about relativity and quantum mechanics.” Meg paused for effect. ”Twilight has more than a clue.”
The senator fumed for perhaps a little too long before replying. “An interesting story. Care to offer proof?”
Meg gave it a moment’s thought. “Have my future self pop in here?” Maybe she could pop in from the future, but she didn’t know it would work. And it probably wouldn’t matter anyway. “No, you’d just claim the me-from-the-future was really a changeling or something. And in any case,” she concluded with a smile, “if I’m going straight to jail after this, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to take another trip through time.”
“I can assure you that is precisely where you are going. You shall pay for your involvement in the conspiracy to kidnap those five individuals. Not even magic will save you.”
That was an odd claim. Meg checked the status of her magic bubble. It was active. Nothing stopped her from invoking the return spell, or even just going invisible—though that wouldn’t free her from the leash. Well, it shouldn’t free her. “Senator, I personally know the foremost experts in magic. You are no expert, even if your goons—excuse me, those individuals—did ransack my office at the Department of Energy.”
“That will be quite enough—”
“Wait. They didn’t just ransack my office. They also claimed to have kidnapped me. I-I understand now.” She remembered what her future self had told her. For some reason Routledge was letting her speak; Meg could only assume he was more interested in her newfound understanding. “They kidnapped my future self,” she continued, and smiled at him. “They couldn’t keep her—that is, me—in captivity, could they?”
Half the people in the room stared at her as if she were an escapee from an asylum. “If you’re aiming for the insanity defense, Ms. Coleman, you’re making an excellent start.”
A thought came to her. She wondered why it hadn’t occurred to her before, hadn’t occurred to anyone. “Maybe I should take another trip into the past, find out how the anomaly in Tracy got started. Can’t prevent it, unfortunately, but it would sure help Twilight if she knew precisely which spell was involved and how its casting was botched.” She calmly looked at the senator. “You wouldn’t be concerned about what might be discovered, would you?”
A forced smile. “As you yourself said, being in jail deprives you of the opportunity to time travel.”
Meg smiled right back at him. “I said ‘if.’”
She invoked the return spell.
Twilight’s private residence appeared around her. There was the screen, showing a live feed of the room she had just left. Pandemonium had erupted. Twilight and Celestia gaped disbelieving at what they had just witnessed; Meg had little doubt certain humans were doing likewise.
Discord appeared before her, clapping. “Masterful, just masterful! I don’t think I could’ve done a better job myself. Just look at them!”
The two alicorns turned back to look at them. “I do not believe you followed the plan,” Celestia said, “based on what Luna had told me.”
Twilight was more blunt. “Serrell won’t like this. I’m not sure I do.”
Meg doubted all of Twilight’s grumpiness was due to sleep deprivation. “I know. I just couldn’t help it, once it became clear Routledge was going to get away with it.” Meg looked at Discord’s approving smile. “So some advice I received suddenly seemed like a very good idea. Besides, he was so damn smug about me not having any means of escape.”
“I see,” Celestia said.
Her mentor’s nonchalance caught Twilight off guard. “I’m not sure I do.”
“Look, I can go back, I’ve made my point. Let’s just settle one thing, right now, before I do: Shall we time travel to witness the creation of the anomaly?”
Twilight sighed. “It certainly couldn’t hurt.”
Meg turned to Discord. “A plaid pill would be convenient right now.”
The draconequus snapped his talons and one appeared in front of her—and a bowl of popcorn in front of himself. “I can’t wait to see what happens next!”
“How about a bowl for each of us too?” Meg heard Celestia asked just before she swallowed the pill.
She returned to the chair she had left a minute ago. The leash remained on the floor. How long would it be before they noticed her return? She decided to get things moving. “I believe I’ve made my point!”
Security rushed back to her, of course. One of them picked up the leash.
“That stays off, or I’ll depart and this time I won’t come back.”
The officer paused for a second, then dropped it.
Senator Routledge had retaken his seat. “You will show this committee the respect it deserves.”
Meg was not about to let herself be intimidated, not now. “You claimed magic could not save me. I merely provided testimony that that was not the case. You wouldn’t wish me to commit perjury, would you?”
To his credit, he didn’t blather about how she would be taken into custody anyway. “Where did you go?” he demanded.
“I just had a quick chat with Twilight.” Countless photos were snapped. “Looks like we’ll be taking that little trip back in time to observe the creation of the anomaly. We will share our findings, of course.” Did the blood just drain from his face, or was it her imagination? “Oh, and I saw Discord too. He heartily approves of the chaos my, er, ‘testimony’ caused, for what it’s worth.”
“You didn’t answer the question. Where did you have this ‘quick chat’ with Twilight?”
Meg got the impression he was stalling. “Ponyville.”
“And that’s where you also saw Discord, who somehow is watching these proceedings?”
“He was watching C-SPAN with Twilight.” It felt best to leave out the other princess who was present.
In a voice dripping with disbelief, he said, “You can get C-SPAN in Ponyville.”
“Magic.”
“Right. Magic.” He folded his hands on the table. “Getting back to that ‘little trip back in time,’ I would insist on the participation of one or more individuals of this committee’s choosing.”
That’s what he was stalling for, to come up with that. She had to admit it was an excellent counter. Yet could he do that? It didn’t matter; she could hardly refuse with the whole country watching, possibly the entire world. Maybe Serrell would have something to say on the matter, but that was later, not now. Even passing the buck to Twilight was not the best idea, as she would have the same problem.
But was it even possible? Any humans who came along would not—could not—be invisible, for they couldn’t take a plaid pill. That made it difficult for them to be pure observers, and that was essential for avoiding paradoxes. It was quite possible that their very presence would prevent the time travel spell from working.
And should that happen, there was no way in hell they’d believe that explanation. And that’s assuming they intended to be pure observers. As whoever Routledge picked would presumably know how the anomaly originated, that seemed unlikely—though what intentions could they have?
“Is there a problem with my request?”
“No,” Meg blurted. “I mean, it’s not up to me.”
“Who is it up to?”
“Twilight.”
“Would she be concerned that ‘the findings’ would implicate the president?”
“You’d have to ask her that.”
“Would you be concerned?”
“I don’t see why I should be.”
“The president is on trial for conspiring with Equestria to our detriment. We have Celestia’s own words that a pony had likely caused the anomaly; it is undisputed that magic was involved, magic that Serrell welcomes with open arms.”
To Meg’s surprise, Celestia’s words were also her best defense. “Her own words also show she doesn’t know how it was caused. She is not responsible for it, nor does she know who is responsible. Yes, magic was involved, but the fault lies with the ones who used it, not magic itself. If magic must be banned because it could be misused, so must most human technologies.”
“She could be lying to protect herself.”
“None of us knew our conversation was being captured by the media.”
“Which doesn’t prove she wasn’t lying to you, possibly even to Twilight.”
“You have no proof that she was lying. Even if, for the sake of argument, you are right, what possible reason would Serrell have to conspire with Celestia to literally destroy our world?”
“None whatsoever. That is not what he’s on trial for. I remind you that the House passed the Articles of Impeachment prior to the existence of the anomaly. Nonetheless, his collusion with Equestria on other matters undoubtably made this situation possible.”
And in a twisted sort of way, he wasn’t wrong. If Serrell hadn’t been open to exploring the benefits of magic for humanity, none of this would be happening. But that just begged the question of who was at fault.
There was only one way to find out for sure.