//------------------------------// // One More Time Loop // Story: A Stitch in Time // by Eakin //------------------------------// ONE MORE TIME LOOP It takes Spike about forty five minutes to round up the other five and bring them to the library. I try to put the time to good use, pulling every reference book I can think of that might be the least bit helpful. The texts in Canterlot will be more useful, but I could use a quick refresher on six-dimensional calculus before I try to crack this. Spike and the girls arrive as I’m skimming it as quickly as I dare. “Thanks for coming, girls. We’ve got a big problem. I just got a letter from Celestia and Luna with some awful news. That time loop spell seems to have had some kind of weird side effect. Try not to panic when I tell you this, but it looks like the aether is decoupling itself from the underlying quantum framework of the universe,” I say. I look into six blank faces. “That’s bad.” “Dumb it down for us, Twi. How bad are we talking?” asks Rainbow Dash. “If the decoupling... if the thingie happens all the way, time will literally stop. The universe will freeze and all of us will just be suspended in it forever. We’ll basically cease to exist.” “Are you kidding me? Has it already started? Are there going to be, like, weird fast time places and slow time places everywhere?” she asks. “The superstrings are completely entangled,” I say. Fluttershy gasps. “They are? Oh no... I think?” “Actually that’s good. It means that until the moment the thingie happens we won’t even notice it in our day-to-day lives.” Rarity looks like she’s on the edge of tears. She takes a deep breath and tries to put forth a stiff upper lip. “It’s... it’s been an honor to know you all, girls. Twilight, don’t pull any punches. I want to know; how long do we have left? Will I... Will I have time to see my family again? To say goodbye?” “It’s hard to say exactly how long. The rate of decay seems to be increasing. The Princesses ran some projections and worst case scenario, Equestria may only have three or four centuries left,” I say. The room falls silent. “Did you just say centuries, Twi? As in a hundred years each?” asked Applejack. “That’s only the worst case. It could be longer,” I say. “Geez Twilight, you really had us worried there for a second. When Spike woke me up from my nap I thought it was for something important,” says Rainbow Dash. “How is this not important? It’s the end of the world.” I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “Yeah but not for a really really long time,” says Rainbow Dash. “It does lack a certain degree of urgency, you must admit,” says Rarity. “Oh, as long as I’m here tell me how it went with Applejack. Did you pick out who you want to be your special somepony?” “Nah, we talked about it and ah got a couple of ideas but ah wanna see how she does on a blind date. What do you think of her with Lily?” asks Applejack “Hmm...” Rarity turns to look at me and I feel like I might be losing control of this conversation. “Lily’s fun, but she’s not much of a reader. I don’t know how much they would really have to talk about. What about Lyra? She’s a little eccentric, but she’s sharp.” “Ah heard she and Bon Bon got back together a few days ago,” says Applejack. “What? Oh, Carrot Top will be just devastated. She really thought this might be her chance with Bon Bon. Tell me more, I need details!” “Girls! Can we maybe spend a little less time discussing my love life and a little more discussing how we’re going to avert the coming apocalypse?” Honestly, some ponies need to seriously reexamine their priorities. “Don’t you think the Princesses will just find a way to make it all better? What do you want us to do until then? Are we gonna get to use the Elements and be all ‘pull yourself together, time!’ and then make the Elements go pew pew, pew pew pew and somehow that magically makes everything normal again? Cause that’s what we usually do,” says Pinkie. “I’m not sure yet,” I admit. “Since I’m the one who cast the spell in the first place I’ll probably be involved, maybe even as the focus. I don’t know if we’ll need the Elements at all. I’m going to go to Canterlot to help them figure this out, but I guess it would be alright for you to stay here in Ponyville and we can just call you if we need to use the Elements.” “Um... do you think you’ll be alright with using time magic again? After what happened last time I mean,” says Fluttershy. I stop. I didn’t even think about that. Despite my best efforts the prospect sends a little shiver through my body. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry about me,” I say, my voice a little bit higher than it usually is. My friends look at one another as I turn back to packing books into my saddlebags for the trip. Rarity clears her throat, “You know, I’m running low on a few different fabrics that take forever to order. I could use a trip to Canterlot to restock.” “We gotta shipment of apples to deliver there, wouldn’t hurt to make sure they get there just fine. Plus ah could try to find some new restaurants to sell to, meant to do that last time we were there but didn’t get the chance what with all the craziness that ended up happenin’,” says Applejack. “There’s a mouse living in your parents’ wall. I negotiated a settlement between your family and him last time but it would be a good idea to make sure everypony is still getting along OK. I’ll come too,” says Fluttershy. “Maybe I can get some last minute Wonderbolt tickets. I hear they’re performing in Canterlot this month,” says Rainbow Dash. Pinkie looks at the four of them, confused. “Wow, that’s a crazy coincidence that you all have reasons you already wanted to go to Canterlot anyway! I’m only going because Twilight is super obviously scared about using time magic again but too proud to admit that she wants us to come with her for moral support.” “Pinkie, remind me when we get back to explain the concept of ‘subtext’ to you,” says Rarity through a forced grin. “What’s a subtext? Is it text that’s written in recursive?” “Thank you girls. You’re right, I guess I am a little scared, and I would like it if you’d come to Canterlot with me,” I say. “I just feel like since this is my fault I need to fix it. Even if it isn’t going to happen for a long while, I can’t live with the idea that I might have broken the entire universe,” I say. I guess that’s settled then. All six of us catch a train for Canterlot, and our ride there is pleasantly forgettable. I cherish every moment of casual chatter but I know that once we get to the Canterlot archives I’ll probably fixate on something that, while it takes me a few hours of studying, will turn out to be the solution to this problem. ----------------- Holy horseapples, I have absolutely no idea what the solution to this problem is. I’m terrified. I’m studying an unfamiliar problem, which isn’t so bad or unfamiliar in and of itself, but what’s terrifying is that it isn’t working. I’ve read numerous books about this sort of thing and yet I still don’t know how to actually fix the mystery they should pertain to. It’s almost as if... Ok, this will sound ridiculous, but I might have found a problem that can’t be solved with studying or friendship! Yes, I hate to admit it but it’s true. I’ve been picking at the edges of this problem for nearly a week now, but I’m not making any progress. Every time I feel like I might be on the verge of a breakthrough, like I’m about to discover brand new time magic, I enter a state of altered consciousness. That’s really just a nice way of saying that I freak the buck out. This is so not fair. This is what I should be good at. By Tartarus this is practically all I’m good at! If I can’t help the girls research new magic in response to a world ending threat what’s even the point of keeping me around? The girls are patient with me, and they haven’t said anything, but I can tell they’re getting restless. After a few days in Canterlot their already transparent excuses grew even thinner. Applejack and Fluttershy were the first two to leave, claiming their duties to the farm and the animals respectively. Pinkie left next, something about needling her vacation days for parties. I can’t really blame them. Providing moral support is an important part of being a friend, but the dirty secret is that it can also be really boring. I make an important decision; I can’t solve this problem on my own. Maybe I have sort of a block about time magic. I can’t imagine why. I mean, the last time I used it... well, I died several hundred times. But the time before that I... oh, right. Spent a week freaking out before learning that time magic couldn’t actually change the past. In most cases magic could only create stable loops. Otherwise you got, well, exactly what I was dealing with right now. The not-really-all-that-imminent end of the world. At least the Princesses took it seriously. I guess being tens of thousands of years old meant that you don’t procrastinate over armageddon just because it was a century or two off. Who can I ask for help, though? The Princesses are both busy, not to mention they’ve made it clear they’re counting on me to fix this and I don’t want to let them down. There are probably only a few unicorns in the entire world who know enough about math and magic to even understand the nature of the problem. I don’t know who those unicorns are. But you know what? I know seven... wait... thirteen... no... let’s just say I know lots of ways to find out who they are and bring them here. A summoning spell. It’ll be perfect. Not only will the spell be able to evaluate ponies on the criteria that I feed it but if the pony I get objects or won’t help me I can just send him right back again. Still it can’t hurt to take a few extra precautions. “Spike, take a note for the Princess please. Spike?” I look for him and find that he’s drifted off for a nap in the corner, with a pile of books for a blanket. I hate to wake him, but I’d like to get this spell up and running as soon as I can. I write the letter out myself, asking Celestia to meet me right after she’s lowered the sun for the day. That should give me enough time to get everything set up. I shake Spike until he wakes up a bit. “Sorry, Spike. Could you send this to the Princess really quick? I asked her not to reply unless she has any objections so you can go right back to sleep after that, I promise.” He wordlessly grabs the letter and with a concentrated burst of dragonfire sends it off on it’s way before turning over and pulling an open volume of an encyclopedia onto himself and drifting off again. That’s fine, I have plenty to do. I start double checking references and drawing out the magic circle I’ll be using to cast it. I’ll need a unicorn with powerful magic. One who knows all about time spells and the effects of unfinished magic spells. There may be some all nighters, so preferably somepony on the younger side too... I spend the next couple hours covering as many different criteria as I can think of. The sun sets and the Princess walks in as I’m wrapping up the finishing touches, her pet phoenix Philomena perched on her back. “Perfect timing, Princess. Thank you for coming, I just wanted to make sure that you were here so that nothing could possibly go wrong.” Celestia smiles. “It’s the least I could do, Twilight. You’ve attacked this problem with your usual diligence, and I’m proud that you’ve learned when to ask for help when you need it,” she says. It’s a fresh reminder that I never sent her the friendship report about the night the others held my little intervention, though of course she knows the details of the night itself. “What exactly are you planning to do here?” I guess my letter had been light on details. “Well Princess, like you said I need somepony who can help me here but I don’t know what pony that should be. So I mixed a Silver Slate’s Searching with a Crystal Chalice’s Calling to find the kind of pony I’m looking for and bring them here straight away. Assuming he or she agrees to help, would it be alright for them to stay here at the palace in one of the guest rooms?” “That would be just fine. This is an ingenious bit of spellcraft, Twilight. Well done,” says Celestia. My heart swells with pride (and maybe my head too, a little bit) as I bask in the praise. “Thank you, Princess. Mind if I begin now?” I ask. Celestia nods and steps back from the magic circle. I move to just outside the perimeter and begin to push my magic into it, letting my will flow around all the different parts I’m about to put into motion. Once I’m confident I have a solid grip on it the real work begins and I throw the spell into gear. The world around me falls away and there’s nothing but me and the circle that I’m hoping will shortly contain the solution to my problem. The searching spell goes to work. Every pony in Equestria is connected to others, it’s just the nature of how the world works. The spell follows those connections and checks each pony I’m connected to for what I’ve told it I’m looking for, then every pony they’re connected to and then every pony they’re connected to and so on. The first hit I get, almost immediately, can only be Celestia with Luna following shortly after. I don’t perceive them as ponies but rather as lists of information regarding how well they fit the description I gave the spell to work with. Of course they’re both excellent candidates to help me, but I reject them. I’m specifically looking for somepony besides them after all. A minute passes. Then five. Then ten. I have no idea how long has gone by out there in the real world. Casting magic tends to muck with my perception of time. The spell throws dozens of candidates that fit some but not all of the criteria I gave it, listing the pros and cons of each one. I probably should have thought to ask for names, but it’s not important enough that I’m going to risk modifying the spell on the fly. I’m starting to grow frustrated. Surely there has to be some pony out there who’s the answer to my problem. Just when I’m ready to give up hope and declare the spell a failure, a match comes up. In almost every category this pony is ideal, far and away better than anypony I’ve seen up to this point. I feel hope start to rise in my chest. Time for the second part of the spell, the easier part. I just need to reach along the connection and sort of pull this pony to myself. I focus my mind and give a mental yank. Nothing happens. That’s weird. Really weird, actually. I give another experimental yank but with the same result. Still nothing. I go to examine the connection that led the spell to this pony. I’m surprised to discover that he’s connected to the ponies that I thought were the Princesses, and strongly. There’s a connection to me too, and not through the link to the Princesses. Something independent. The spell should have reached this pony sooner than it did. There does seem to be something a little off about the connections though. Like it’s too long, I guess? It’s hard to put the sensation into words. Celestia just praised me for coming up with this idea. I’m not going to fail, not when she’s standing right there watching over me as I cast it. I’ll just have to pull harder. I pour everything that I’ve got into the calling spell. It’s surprisingly difficult, but I feel the stubborn pony at the other end of the spell slowly start to give. Then there’s a snap and the spell takes. My concentration shatters as I fall back and hit the floor of the library at the sudden release. When I get back up to my hooves there’s a unicorn stallion lying in the circle, which is still glowing with a fading light. He’s purple, though a darker shade than I am. If I had to guess I’d say he’s about my age. His cutie mark is a circle of three stars with trails that interlock, like the image was captured as the three of them were chasing one another through the sky. There’s a sharp screech and I look over to where Celestia is standing. Something’s driving Philomena positively nuts. Before I can even get back up she darts over to the pony in the circle and start to peck at his head. He groans in response. “Not right now, Philomena. I’ll feed you in a minute,” he says. He rises and looks over to Celestia, who’s staring at him. “Princess, what happened? Last thing I remember we were going over some conjuration formulas, and then there was this pulling...” Celestia seems to recover a bit of her composure. “I always wondered when this day would come,” she says more to herself than anypony in the room. “Why don’t you tell me what you think happened?” The new pony seems to take this as a challenge. He looks down at the runes around the circle and focuses on a couple of them. “Well this looks like part of a summoning spell, so that explains the pulling. Not sure what this over here is, though.” “It’s a searching spell,” I say. The pony looks up at me for the first time. “You’re the one who summoned me, I take it?” he asked. “Um, yes. I was looking for somepony to help me with some time magic.” “Well you came to the right pony. Time spells are my specialty,” he says and looks down again. “Now I see it. You didn’t limit the search spell to only search through the present time, did you?” he asked. I guess I didn’t. “I just didn’t think-” I begin. “Yeah, that’s pretty clear,” he says cutting me off. “I’m in the future, right?” “You seem awfully calm about that,” I say. The pony shrugs. “I always sort of figured it would happen eventually, I just thought I’d be the one to do it to myself. Still, you’re dealing with time magic and didn’t specify time as a parameter in your search spell? Not the brightest candle on the chandelier, are you?” “Excuse me?” “My faithful student, that is quite enough,” says Celestia. “Sorry Princess,” both the new pony and I say in unison. We turn to one another. “She was talking to-” “I’m the one she was-” “Enough! Both of you!” says Celestia. We both cower a little, but we stop talking. “I see that introductions are in order. Twilight Sparkle, this is Star Swirl. He’s a former student of mine.” “A former student of... Wait, Star Swirl? As in Starswirl the Bearded?” “I’m famous in the future? Oh this is too cool,” says Star Swirl. “Not another word, Twilight!” commands Celestia. “You have no idea how precarious this situation could be! I remember the day Star Swirl disappeared from one of our lessons. You will send him back, and he will tell me that he helped you solve a serious problem, as well as a few details of how it happened, which I am not at liberty to share with either of you. Star Swirl, it is critical that you never, ever tell anypony, including me, what you learn of here. This must remain a stable time loop. The spell itself will do most of the work, but if you intentionally deviate from what you would have done the strain to the timeline will become greater. It is already in a fragile enough state, any further changes could be catastrophic. If you learn that you did something in the past, you must make sure that it happens the same way when you return home.” “But he doesn’t even have a beard!” I say. “Relax Princess, I know the deal,” he says. He holds out a hoof and gives Philomena a friendly rub on the head and she nuzzles him with affection. “You two seem close,” I say. “Why wouldn’t I be close with the Best Assistant Ever?” asks Star Swirl. He holds his muzzle out to her and the phoenix boops it with the tip of her beak. “Phoenix fire can be enchanted to send letters, much like dragon fire can,” says Celestia. Her eyes get a little wider. I’ve known her long enough to recognize when she has mischief on her mind. “Actually, I think a demonstration would be edifying. Philomena, I believe that there’s somepony else we need to tell of this, isn’t there?” Philomena seems puzzled for a moment, but then something passes between them and she perks up. She gives an excited coo. Celestia writes a quick note on a piece of nearby parchment and rolls it up in her magic before placing it on the ground. Philomena raises a wing and grips one of her loose feathers in her beak before gently pulling it out. She hops over to the letter and touches the feather to the parchment’s edge. The feather turns to ash and the parchment catches flame, sending up bright red sparks of magic. The sparks fly out the library’s open door and off towards whoever the recipient of the letter is. “How far in the future are we exactly, anyway?” asks Star Swirl. “Sixteen centuries,” says Celestia. Now it’s Star Swirl’s turn to be surprised. “Sixteen centuries?” he asks. He turns towards me. “Wow, you’ve got some real power, don’t you? Pulling me across 1600 years can’t have been easy. What sort of time magic are you having trouble with, anyway?” “We’re basically looking at a complete decoupling of the aether from the quantum framework of the universe,” I say. Star Swirl’s jaw drops. “What? What could possibly have caused that?” he asks. “Well, I kind of cast a spell that-” “It was you? Wow, I was right before. You are an idiot. I don’t know how you got this kind of power but you obviously don’t know what you’re doing with it,” he says with a sneer. “It was your spell!” I spit back before I can think better of it. “Twilight! What did I just say?” says Celestia. “What?” asks Star Swirl. “My spell?” Celestia sighs. “I suppose you’ll have to find out the details in the course of investigating this. Twilight found some of your old notes and cast a spell that created a fixed point in time which she would return to after she died.” I watch Star Swirl’s face, and I know inspiration when I see it. “You couldn’t... You really could do that, couldn’t you? I mean you’d have to balance the, no, wait, the instability itself would be essential to the spell’s functioning. Oh. Oh my goodness now that’s an idea. Like organized chaos.” I’m literally watching the birth of the spell that will one day put me through the worst thing I’ve ever experienced. “Star Swirl, you will work with Twilight to fix this. Perhaps you’ll learn something from her in the process. After all...” she leans her face uncomfortably close to his “...she’s the best student I’ve ever had.” Whatever Star Swirl is about to say in reply is interrupted as a voice comes from out in the hallway outside the library. “Honestly sister, I was about to begin the Night Court. What is so important that you’d ask me to drop everything... and...” Luna enters the room and trails off. Her face is looking a little pale, like she’s just seen a ghost. I guess she sort of has. “Star Swirl?” Star Swirl grins. “Hey there, Lunatic.” Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen Luna move fast before. I’m pretty sure she clocked well over a hundred and eighty miles an hour when she was going to rescue my friends from a train that was about to be attacked by a swarm of changelings. I’ve never seen her move as fast as she does between that doorway and Star Swirl as she tackles him. At first I think she’s attacking him but... well actually ‘attacking’ isn’t the worst word to describe it, just not quite the way I thought at first. Luna comes up for air from their kiss first. “How?” she asks. “Don’t really know, I just got here. Apparently something Twilight did.” “For how long?” “Until we fix whatever brought me here in the first place. Some kind of time loop?” Luna smiles, predatory. “Oh, I know exactly what you’re referring to. It isn’t urgent. You can start first thing tomorrow morning. Sister? Please let my majordomo know that Night Court is cancelled tonight. I have other things to attend to.” Celestia rolls her eyes, but doesn’t stop them from getting up and leaving together. “So, sixteen hundred years? What have you been up to?” asks Star Swirl. “Well, I turned evil and spent a lot of it banished on the moon. Kind of a funny story actually...” “Don’t tell him that!” Celestia calls after them. She winces and sits back, massaging her temples. “Mother and Father preserve me.” So. That all just happened. “Princess? Can you explain any of that?” Celestia sighs. “I’m sorry about that Twilight. Star Swirl is a very powerful magic user, who did great things. The magnitude of his intellect was matched only by that of his ego, especially in his younger years. He could always be a bit... acerbic.” “That really is him? I can’t say I ever pictured him that way. Did he and Luna really-” “Yes on both counts. Don’t repeat this to Star Swirl, but he and Luna were together on and off throughout his entire life. They could bring out the best in one another, as well as the worst. It was a turbulent relationship. And of course they both came to me with their complaints about the other,” says Celestia with a sigh. She's doing that a lot tonight. “They seemed pretty happy just now. How bad could it get?” “Let me put it this way; did you hear his pet name for her?” “Lunatic? Seems a little mean for a pet name,” I say. “Sixteen centuries ago you wouldn’t have thought so. It didn’t enter widespread use as a word meaning ‘a crazy pony’ until after they started dating.” I let that sink in for a moment. Oh. Oh dear. “So they can be difficult?” “More like dysfunctional. By the way, Twilight? I meant what I said about you being the best student I’ve ever had, but you will need Star Swirl’s aid,” she walks over to me and spreads a wing over my shoulder. I barely feel it. Me! Best student! YESYESYESYESYESYESYES. I don’t think that there’s anything that can sink my spirits after that. Then Celestia’s next sentence proves me wrong. “From now until he returns to his own time, your assignment is to be Star Swirl’s friend.”