A vague mist, in which stars were embedded. Meg had been here only once since her own ascension; ironically, that ascension was the second time she had been to this realm—chronologically speaking. The third time, of course, was when Celestia taught her and Twilight how to get here.
Unlike that time, she now shared that realm only with Celestia—a confused Celestia lacking wings. “Do not be afraid,” Meg assured her. “You did not die.”
The unicorn looked around. “You’re sure?”
The alicorn smiled. “I’m sure. But you are about to undergo a change, a change that will propel you to your destiny.”
“Huh?”
Nowhere to be seen was the poise or serenity for which the future ruler would be known. The mare had simply gone to bed and woke up here. She was barely as old as Meg herself was at her own ascension. Unlike Twilight or herself, Celestia had done no great or heroic deed. In hindsight, she was “chosen” because she would best help the completion of the time loops. It was all about probability amplitudes.
The ascension had begun, as it always did, on its own. Soon it would finish, and Meg would cast the spell that would give the first-ever alicorn the “visions” she was to experience over the coming millennia, the last of which would prepare for Meg’s own arrival in Equestria.
It was going to be… interesting explaining that to her.
It had all been a lie. Twilight stared at her human hands, the hands she had been born with, for never had she been a pony. How could she have been? Ponies did not exist, outside of that cartoon, never had and never would. The counter spell proved that. But why? Who would use that countered spell to cram the life of Twilight, the cartoon pony, into her skull?
Now that she was free and once again herself, she would find out who had violated her mind and bring them to justice.
The former Twilight Sparkle—her real name eluded her, but it should return to her in time—examined the room she was in. Apparently it was her bedroom. Not much to look at, really. No bookshelves in sight. She had books, right? Still, it was definitely a human’s bedroom.
There had to be books, somewhere. She searched the room again, checked every wall, every corner, every crevice, but found only Princess Luna, her mane flowing in an unfelt breeze.
Wait, what?
“Must be a residual of that spell,” she grumbled. But the impossible pony did not fade away.
Rolling her eyes, Luna activated her horn.
Oh. A dream.
Now that she was lucid, the absurdity of the situation struck her. How could there be any spells if ponies and magic did not exist outside of that cartoon? It must have all been inspired by the research she was doing—wait, she didn’t remember returning home.
Luna was still there, waiting. Why was she—
Palm to forehead. “I missed the meeting, didn’t I?”
“You did. Are you in trouble?”
“No… got so focused doing research in the library that I must’ve fallen asleep there. What did I miss?”
After providing that information, Luna turned the tables. “What is this research that has you so preoccupied?”
Twilight grimaced. Luna raised an eyebrow.
“It concerns how the humans’ cartoon about us came into being. I’m involved, somehow. Another time loop. It looks like I used magically enchanted objects. I should get possession of one of them soon, but I have an idea what sort of spell’s required and I took a deep dive into those types of spells…” A slight hesitation. “…and those scrolls are found only in the most restricted sections of the royal library.”
“I see. Hence why nopony was around to notice you had fallen asleep.”
“Yeah, you could say that.”
“I believe I just did. What is the nature of this magic, that necessitates its restricted nature?”
How would Luna react? True, her sensibilities were still of long ago, but then those scrolls almost certainly had been restricted even then. “They’re… mental spells. Suggestive rather than imperative, below conscious awareness actually.” No particular reaction. “The idea is that all the relevant factual data on Equestria would be made available to the minds of the humans who worked on the cartoon without them being aware of it. It even explains all the errors that are present, because the spell is only suggestive and they’re unaware they were being influenced.”
“It indeed sounds promising. Yet something is bothering you.”
And it doesn’t bother you? Twilight sat down on her dream human bed, wondering how Celestia would’ve reacted. “This type of magic is restricted, if not outright forbidden, for a reason.”
Luna nodded. “Forbidden by us, for the obvious reasons. As princesses, we may make exceptions as we see fit, even un-forbid it should we wish.” She met her eyes. “Do not forget you are now a princess too.”
“Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“Nor should you. But being a princess is doing what needs to be done.”
“Unless I’m mistaken, this latest time loop requires that it be done.” Twilight sighed. “I guess I’ll find out soon enough.”
“Then awaken and continue your research.”
Meg watched as Twilight gathered up the dozens of spell casting machines and associated magic generators in her magic and teleported out of the cavern. The princess was to spend most of the day doing practice runs with the chosen Royal Guard pegasi.
Which left Meg to handle Twilight’s big announcement.
Diana couldn’t wait, the other humans being somewhat less impatient. “We’re actually going to Ponyville!”
“It’ll take me a half hour or so to get to Ponyville myself, don’t forget.” No chariots this time; only Twilight could’ve teleported them all to the mine entrance. The alternative was quicker anyway. She looked to Sunset and Moondancer by her workstation. “Use that time to get anything you need from them.” They were still working on the simulations, to see if that time dilation spell on the anomaly needed to be removed.
“Will do,” Sunset acknowledged.
And with that, Meg departed. One of the guards let her out—she really needed to master that locking spell so she could exit unaided—and she made her way through the tunnels. At least now she didn’t need a helmet light to illuminate the way. Upon reaching daylight, she took to the air.
The flight to Ponyville was uneventful—almost. A minute away from landing, Rainbow Dash came up alongside her. “Hey, Meg, so it’s on?”
“It’s on.” Twilight had mentioned there would be chaperones—just in case. “Why don’t you grab a cloud and bring it inside? Impress them.”
A big smile emerged. “Awesome!” The pegasus vanished into the sky leaving behind a rainbow trail.
The rest of the flight truly was uneventful. She landed in front of Sugarcube Corner and went inside. Only a few customers present, she noted. Good. The fewer, the better.
“In the back,” Mrs. Cake informed her.
As to be expected. “Thanks.”
The first she spotted, upon entering the party room in the back, was Pinkie and Smooze, the latter wearing a party hat in addition to the harness with the voice synthesizer. Pinkie was wearing a party hat too, naturally, and so were Rarity and Rainbow Dash, the latter standing on a cloud. Already? She could move a cloud that fast, to beat her here? And get it through the door?
A party hat appeared on her head almost as if by magic. Pinkie stepped back. “There! Time for the guests of honor to arrive!”
Food and drinks were present, over on a table besides a wall. The party canon seemed ready to do what it did. “Sure looks like it,” Meg commented as she detached her phone from her foreleg with her magic. “I’m ready to pick you up,” she said after dialing. “Delta? Be there shortly.”
The phone went back into its holder, then her saddlebags drifted over to the nearest wall and settled onto the floor. A plaid pill floated out and into her mouth. She swallowed.
Conference room Delta appeared around her. Five humans were present?
Her manager, Jake, answered her unspoken question. “Lauren arrived shortly after you departed. She has something for Twilight.”
Faust pointed at an unopened box on the table. “It’s one of the figurines ‘Nora’ gave me.”
The box would fit—barely—in a saddlebag, which she had left behind due to the plaid pills still within it. For now she simply levitated it over to herself. Faust intently watched her use of magic to do so. That done, she looked up at Faust and considered her options. Why not? What’s one more human?
“Would you care to visit Ponyville? Properly this time?”
That caught her off guard. “Seriously? Like, right this second?”
Meg nodded. “Yep. You won’t be alone; they’ll be coming too. Twilight had a change of mind. If you don’t have time right now—”
“Yes!”
Meg remembered that their boss, Jake, was in the room; that was a bit unexpected. “You’re coming too, Jake?”
He shrugged. “Someone’s gotta keep you all out of trouble. We don’t want an inter-dimensional incident on our hands. Uh, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”
Meg shrugged too. “Suit yourself. Be aware, though, there’ll be some ponies present with the same goal in mind.” She walked over to them, box still floating beside her, and grabbed them in her magic. “Also Pinkie Pie.”
Before any could react to that name, she invoked the return spell.
“Welcome to Equestria!”
Every pony blew a party favor. Pinkie fired her party canon, which somehow landed a party hat on every human’s head. Smooze presented his immutable smile.
“You really do exist.” Dianna gawked at the purple blob.
“Yes I do,” came the emotionless voice.
“You can talk?” Faust asked.
“I can now, thanks to Meg.”
Martin ignored the blob and the bouncing pink pony, focusing his attention on the cloud in the room. “There are so many reasons that cloud can’t exist in this room.”
Dash rolled her eyes. “Well obviously they’re wrong.”
Meg sighed. “Magic, remember?”
He had walked over to the cloud; it was hovering at human waist level. His hand passed through it, as one would expect. He stared at the pegasus impossibly standing on that cloud. “Right. Magic.” He looked back to Meg. “Can Twilight explain how this works?”
“Maybe? She does know the cloud-walking spell.” She hurriedly added, “No, I don’t know it.”
“Neither do I,” Rarity herself added.
“So, uh, Smooze,” Jake began, holding a cupcake. “Can you ‘eat’ like… anything? Even stuff highly poisonous to flesh-and-bone creatures such as ourselves?”
Smooze rotated in place to face him. “Yes. Anything.”
“You sound pretty sure of yourself.”
“What I consume cannot harm me.”
Meg wandered over, a cake slice bearing plate floating in front of her. “We think he’s sort of a force of nature, literally destroying mass and energy.”
Jake took that in. “We might have work for you, then, though it’d be a lot easier if you could do your consuming on our world. But if you literally destroy mass and energy…”
“No. I do not believe I can exist in your realm.”
“Well, we’ll work something out. I can’t pretend it’d taste good, but at least it’d be something different?”
“Something different would be nice.”
“You know,” Jerry said, pointing at the cloud, “this is the perfect opportunity to see if you have pegasus magic when you’re human.”
Meg fixed her gaze on that cloud. It certainly was a viable test. “Move the cloud close to the floor, Dash. Just in case.” She set the box down next to her saddlebags.
“No prob’.” Dash lifted off the cloud and pushed it down with her front hooves, the humans in the room watching intently.
Meg exhaled. Here goes nothing. She went airborne herself, flew over to the cloud, and landed.
“How do clouds feel to your hooves?” Faust asked.
“A lot firmer than you’d expect?” That sounded stupid, but it was the best she could do. Her pendant was hanging from her neck. She gave it a squeeze with her magic, ready to fall the two feet or so through the cloud to the floor.
She didn’t.
“Awesome!”
“Huh.” Meg stepped off the cloud onto the floor. She got onto her knees, inserted her hands beneath the cloud, and pushed it up.
It took some effort, what with Dash standing on it, but up the cloud went.
Dash had walked over to the cloud’s edge next to Meg. “Now make it rain!”
“You know how to do that?” Diana asked.
“Taught her myself!”
Meg stood up. “I… I think we proved the point.”
Thankfully no one suggested she try to fly. She still lacked wings. Maybe she could fall slowly, even float? Later. After she brought this to Twilight’s attention.
One by one the pegasi guards took off from the Sweet Apple Acres homestead. Applejack was already replenishing the refreshments. The guards flew into position above the orchard, forming a dome centered around the Crusaders’ treehouse, a dome large enough to fit the anomaly within. It took only a few minutes to get into position; this was the fifth practice run.
Twilight herself was hovering above the treehouse. She prepared the Royal Canterlot Voice spell so they could all hear her. “Now zap me!”
Sixty switches were bit down on by sixty pegasi. Sixty beams of light almost illuminated her. Errant beams quickly honed in on her. They were to hold their positions and keep zapping until told to stop.
The beams themselves were harmless, just light. Twilight had swapped out the spell crystals with new ones suitable for these practice runs.
Five minutes passed. The earlier practice runs had been terminated at this point. This time she’d go for ten minutes. It wasn’t clear yet just how many minutes it would take to eliminate the anomaly; pessimism was safer than optimism. The next run, assuming they all could hold position for the full ten minutes, would be for fifteen minutes.
Dianna’s arm was almost wrapped around Smooze. “It’s perfectly safe to touch you, right?”
“Yes,” came the monotone, synthesized voice. “I do not consume sentient beings without good cause.”
She eyed the harness holding the synthesizer, obviously noting that it hadn’t been consumed. “That’s, uh, good to know.” Finishing the wrap-around, she held out her phone with her other arm and took the selfie.
Now that that was out of the way, Smooze was finally free to take care of the water on the floor from the former cloud. Dash just had to demonstrate her cloud wrangling skills.
Meg put the box into her saddlebags—not quite as tight a fit as she feared—and squeezed her pendant, returning to her equine form. It would make what was to come somewhat easier to manage. Now or never. “Ready to go outside and experience Ponyville?” Her saddlebags drifted onto her back.
“What do you have in mind?” Jake asked.
“Quite honestly? Not to send everypony into a panic. Stay close to one of us ponies, and remember: you have no idea who any of those other ponies are.”
Meg walked over to the door and opened it. The hallway beckoned.
“Follow me.”
Dash ignored her, of course, flying on ahead of her and disappearing around the bend. I’ll assume she’s taking point, or whatever. Rarity, of course, did no such thing, and not from a lack of wings, taking position beside her. Pinkie was staying behind, to clean up the room—with Smooze’s help, of course.
“Shall we?” Rarity asked.
“We shall,” Meg replied, and began walking. The first test would be the patrons in the dining area.
Not until they almost reached the end of the hallway could she see any. Just one table occupied by a family of three earth ponies, none familiar to her. One of them, the mother presumably, looked their way and froze.
Rarity sprung into action. “Don’t mind us, Berry Frost. Just giving our new friends a tour of the town.”
“Hi,” Dianna said, giving a small wave.
A smile managed to appear on Frost’s face. “Welcome to Ponyville?” Her spouse nodded in agreement. Their foal seemed more interested in the pie slice in front of him.
Rarity smiled in return. “That’s the spirit!”
One crisis averted. There was still the matter of the missing pegasus.
Mrs. Cake was behind the counter. Meg asked her, “Did you happen to see where Rainbow Dash went?”
“Outside?”
Should have seen that coming. Well, they were going in that direction anyway. Meg noted the humans were all gazing about the establishment. She took her time getting to the entrance.
The bell jingled as Meg opened the door with her magic. After stepping outside she kept it open until the others all passed through.
Few ponies were out and about; it was another two hours or so until lunchtime. Those that were passing by seemed to have too much on their minds to notice the strange creatures standing there, said creatures taking in the ambiance.
Rainbow Dash came to a hover in front of them. “Hey, guys.”
“Finally decided to rejoin us?” Rarity asked.
The pegasus rubbed the back of her neck. “Well, you see…”
Three sets of small hooves stampeded towards them and practically screeched to a halt.
Apple Bloom cleared her throat. “Allow us to introduce ourselves! We’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders Human Tour Guides. What better way to see Ponyville than with the guidance of us fillies who know it like the back of our hooves!”
The eyes. They’re doing the eyes thing.
Rarity looked up at Dash. “Was this your idea?” The unicorn’s eyes turned to her little sister. “Or did they put you up to it?”
The pegasus grimaced. “Hard to say?”
“I have no objections,” Faust said.
The others look amongst each other, but none spoke up.
Meg addressed the trio. “I guess you have your first clients,” she declared. “Do a good enough job, and maybe you’ll get your cutie marks.” Not that I’m holding my breath. At least Dash and especially Rarity will keep things under control. “So what’s our first stop?”
The three fillies went into a huddle. Some heated whispering later, Apple Bloom again addressed their clients. “The Ponyville library, where Twilight once lived.” She started walking.
No one followed, because Martin was pointing at something in the distant sky. “What’s that?”
Meg looked that way herself and saw beams of light.
Apple Bloom, annoyed at the lack of following, curtly said, “Twilight’s doing something with the Royal Guard at the homestead.” She resumed walking. “Now the library can be seen just around that corner.”
That was the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, now that Meg thought about it. So that’s where she’s holding the training session? Faust’s figurine was in her saddlebag. Twilight would probably want to give it a quick look sooner rather than later.
Everyone was finally following the Crusaders, though plenty of glances were thrown to the light show in the sky. Meg took to the air. “I’ll be back soon. I want to touch bases with Twilight about your figurine.”
Faust nodded. “Let me know what she says about it.”
Another two minutes to go. All beams remained focused on her. All guards remained in position. No, wait. Somepony was out of position, and moving. And not beaming at her? The pegasus was too far away to make out.
And approaching fast, low to the ground, and from the direction of Ponyville. It couldn’t be a guard, Twilight decided. “We’re ending this one early,” she said with her amplified voice. “Take a break.”
The beams all switched off, and the guards headed back to the homestead. The mystery pegasus did not alter course.
A few seconds later, the mystery was solved: an orchid alicorn, not a pegasus. “Must be important,” she muttered to herself. Patiently she held position until Meg reached her.
“Faust brought something for you,” Meg said once she was hovering by her side. She retrieved a box from her saddlebag. “A figurine. Figured you’d want to give it a quick inspection sooner rather than later.”
Twilight took it in her magic. It was securely taped. A few cutting spells took care of that, and the figurine was lifted from the padding-filled box. It looked like herself, back when she was a unicorn, right down to coloration.
Meg was staring at it too. “So?” she asked. “Any enchantment?”
Right. Enchantment. Another spell answered that question. “There sure is, and it’s pretty much what I expected.” She cast a different spell. “And there is a magic generator inside, run down after all these years but still operating—barely.” A thought came to her, and she cast yet another spell. “And there’s a variant of the spell I used on your Pinkie Pie doll, so that magic generator wouldn’t bring attention to itself.”
“You expected something?”
Twilight returned the figurine to the box. “I’ve been doing research into certain forbidden magics. That’s all I want to say for now.”
“Forbidden? Like ‘black’ magic?”
“No, nothing that bad, but it’s forbidden for a reason.”
“So what do I tell Faust?”
They ought to have been at the tree library and that is where Meg found them, browsing book-laden shelves. She spotted Faust and walked over to her. “Twilight took a quick look at your figurine. It’s enchanted, no question about it, and it had a magic generator inside.”
The human’s eyes glanced at Meg’s saddlebags, noting the absence of a bulge. “Enchanted how?”
“She needs to study it further.” That was the agreed upon response. “I left it with her, as you probably noticed. But it almost certainly had something to do with the genesis of the cartoon.”
She seems to be taking that rather well. Perhaps she’d already made peace with it?
“You think I could have it back when she’s done with it?”
“Possibly? I’ll mention that you want it back.”
“No. Way.”
All eyes turned to Dianna.
“Daring Do books actually exist?” She held one in her hands, opened to the first page.
Meg remembered having a similar reaction, once upon a time. It seemed a lifetime ago. “They’re real, alright.”
Sweetie Belle pointed at the rightmost Daring Do book. “That one’s autographed. A. K. Yearling had a book signing event here in Ponyville when her latest book came out.”
“That was awesome!” squeed a certain pegasus.
Even that seemed ages ago. Martin pulled the aforementioned autographed book off the shelf and read its title. “Daring Do and the Calamitous Catacombs.” He opened it. “Yep, autographed.”
Faust held out her hand, and Martin gave her the book. As she skimmed it, she asked Meg, “Did you meet her?”
“A. K.? Sure did. I have my own autographed copy.”
“And...?”
Rarity gave Rainbow Dash a warning look while Meg considered feigning ignorance of the question being asked. She decided against that. “Sorry, I can’t answer that.” It still wasn’t her secret to spill. “But Yearling does have a Daring Do themed casino in Las Pegasus.”
“Dash told me all about that!”
“That was awesome too.”
Of course Dash told Scootaloo about that trip.
Meg headed for the stairs. “Why don’t we go upstairs. This is where Twilight used to live, you know.”
The Cutie Mark Crusaders’ flanks remained blank, despite having done—Meg had to admit—a respectable job as tour guides. After the Golden Oak Library, they went to the Town Hall, where Mayor Mare greeted the first ever human tourists. They went to Carousel Boutique; surprisingly enough, Sweetie had done most of the talking even though Rarity was right there. And they ended with a visit to the outdoor market—where the lack of bits in the humans’ possession presented a problem. Rarity generously provided some of her own, naturally.
There was even a Derpy sighting. The mailmare had shown up at the Boutique to deliver mail. No one had said her name—apart from Rarity, obviously—and Derpy, already well aware of the existence of humans, paid them little attention—though she did wink at Meg. Afterwards, Faust had muttered, “It was an animation error.” Meg could only assume that error had been magically induced; she would have it added to Twilight’s list.
The tour ended back where it started, at Sugarcube Corner. The party room had been restored to pristine condition. Even the party canon had been put away. Of Pinkie and Smooze there was no sign; of the other ponies, none had accompanied them back here.
“Guess it’s time to leave,” Meg said. But first she decided to check her phone for any messages.
And there was one, from Andrew. Her big interview had been scheduled.