IN GOOD TIMES AND BAD
I spend the rest of the evening doing background research on Star Swirl’s life, sticking to the earlier years that he’s already lived through. The information is pretty sparse beyond that he was taken as the Princesses’ protege when he was young, although not as young as I had been at the time I was accepted. If they had a major falling out at some point nopony wrote about it, or the records didn’t survive. What I saw back there was not the kind of student-mentor relationship that I’d always enjoyed with Celestia.
I give up on making progress into this tonight. I have breakfast with Rarity tomorrow morning before she heads back to Ponyville. Rainbow Dash left yesterday, so now it’ll just be me in the library. Or I wish it would just be me, since I’ve been assigned a new study buddy. I probably won’t see him until at least noon, he’s sure to be tired after he and Luna are up all night...
…let’s go with ‘water skiing’ as the euphemism of the day.
I call it a night and try not to think about weather vanes as I fall asleep.
-------------------
I’m woken by a knock on my door around sunrise, a half an hour before my alarm is scheduled to wake me. I stumble over to the door bleary eyed and open it.
Can you guess who’s standing there? I bet you can.
“Hello Star Swirl. What do you want? Why are you up so early, anyway?”
Not only is he not asleep, he looks completely rested. I hate him just a little bit more than I did when I went to bed.
“Technically, I’m up late. Polyphasic sleep. It’s very useful when you have commitments to keep at midnight as often as at noon. I just thought you might have wanted to get started on some research before breakfast. I took the liberty of sifting through your notes and I’m actually a little impressed. There were a few things in there that were almost half right,” he says.
“Forgive me if I don’t leap up clapping my hooves after such a wonderful compliment. I have breakfast plans already with a friend of mine,” I say.
“Rarity, wasn’t it? Luna suggested that I meet her as well,” he says.
Oh, fewmets. So much for my last meal in pleasant company. “Well, if... the Princess... thinks so...” I say.
“Do you hear something grinding?” asks Star Swirl.
I do. It’s my teeth. “No, you must just be going insane,” is what I say instead. We make plans to meet up in an hour and walk down into Canterlot together to where Rarity and I arranged to meet for hay cakes and omelets. By ourselves. Not that my plans have such a great track record these days. I abandon all hope of getting back to sleep and instead hop into the shower to start getting ready for what will undoubtedly be a very long day. Still, I have an assignment from the Princess, not just to work with him but to... ugh... be his friend. Then it hits me. Celestia said there were things she knew about this loop we were in that she couldn’t tell us right now. Maybe something I do or say has to be carried back into the past to make sure the time loop stays stable? She must just be trying to make sure whatever happens is organic and unforced.
So ditching him isn’t an option. While it’s true you never get a second chance to make a first impression maybe I can establish a few ground rules to mitigate his rampant jerkiness. If I lay down the law maybe we can at least build up a foundation of professional courtesy. It’s better than nothing.
I throw on a simple sundress for the walk into town. I know for sure that Rarity will be showing off something of her own creation and I don’t want to feel underdressed by virtue of, well, not being dressed. Star Swirl and I meet in the lobby of the castle. Oh Princesses he’s actually wearing the robe covered in stars and moons. No bells, though, I guess those came later.
“Hey Twilight, ready to go?” he asks.
“Nice robe,” I say trying so very hard to keep the amusement out of my voice.
“Thanks, Luna had it laying around, I guess she thought I’d look good in it,” he says. My brain tries as hard as it can not to connect the fact that Luna ‘just happened’ to have a period-accurate Starswirl the Bearded robe in her closet to what I’ve learned about their relationship over the last day. It fails.
“Come on, let’s go get this over with,” I say and head out the palace’s front door. It’s about a fifteen minute walk down to the restaurant, and I don’t want to be late. We walk through the streets for a few minutes without speaking.
“So this is future Canterlot, huh?” says Star Swirl breaking the ice.
“Sure is. Why, what was past Canterlot like?” I ask. I’m actually curious about that. I’m not supposed to tell him about the future, but that’s no reason I can’t learn more about the past from somepony who was actually there. I may never have an opportunity like this again.
“It was... livelier. More vibrant, not quite this buttoned down. This used to be a place ponies came to wander the streets, see art and listen to music,” he says.
“It still is. Canterlot is still the major cultural hub of Equestria,” I say.
“Let me guess, in galleries and performance halls at neatly scheduled times?” he asks.
I’m a bit puzzled at why he sounds so accusing when he says that. “Well, sure. Where else would you have it?”
“Everywhere! In my time there were acts or musicians on every street corner. You could spend an entire day just walking and every time you turned down a new street there would be something novel and exciting. I’m not saying there’s a right or a wrong way, just that it’s different. It’s very... Celestia,” he says.
I feel myself getting defensive. “What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.
“It’s just all very rigid and predictable and orderly, and that’s Celestia to a T. She was a good, no, a great teacher but I can’t say she was ever my favorite Princess. She and Luna are opposites in more ways than just being the day and the night,” he says before he trails off. “The way Celestia looked at me last night... what happened to us? No, don’t tell me even if you know. It’s better if I find out for myself. Look, Twilight, speaking of last night I probably came across as a little critical. You actually seem like a really smart mare, almost as smart as I am,” he says.
Wow, that was very nearly something resembling an apology. Maybe I can meet him halfway here. “Well, I’m glad that you’ll at least admit that. I really am looking forward to working with you on this. I think that as long as we can both agree to treat the other with the dignified respect our knowledge and abilities deserve-”
“Oh, shut up for one second. Hey! Hey you!” says Star Swirl, shouting at some brown earth pony stallion with a rugged manecut and an hourglass for a cutie mark. So much for that idea.
Star Swirl marches over to the other pony. “Thought I’d forgotten, didn’t you? You still owe me fifty bits from the thing with the volcano and the eggplants,” he says. The brown stallion grumbles something I can’t make out, but reaches into his saddlebags and pulls out a small bag of bits, which he hoofs over to Star Swirl. “Now we’re even then. See you earlier.”
“What was that about?” I ask as Star Swirl trots back over to me.
“Don’t worry about it. That one’s a hard pony to track down. Anyway, were you saying something?”
I’m tempted to just let it go, but that was just too strange. “How could you know him? Is he from the past too? Can he help us with what’s going on?” I ask.
“He’s from... around,” says Star Swirl, annoyingly vague. “If he decides to get involved I’m sure we’ll stumble across him again, but don’t worry. We’ve got me.”
“Gee, I feel so much better now,” I say.
“As well you should,” he says. His supposedly boundless talents obviously don’t include sarcasm detection. Thank harmony we’re within sight of the restaurant. Rarity’s beaten us there and gotten a table already. The fact that she’s sitting in one of the two chairs at the table is just another reminder of the worthless load shackled to me here.
“Hi Rarity, hope you weren’t waiting long. Would you mind if my new...” a wicked thought crosses my mind, “...assistant here joins us for breakfast? He’ll be helping me with this time problem I’ve been working on. Star Swirl, meet Rarity. She’s one of my closest friends from Ponyville.” I step back and wait, the trap laid. I give Star Swirl three, maybe five words before he manages to say something so monumentally arrogant that he earns himself a slap across the face or, in my wildest dreams, an immensely satisfying verbal beatdown from my friend.
Star Swirl bows down and takes Rarity’s front hoof, lightly kissing the back of it. “The pleasure and honor are all mine, milady Rarity. The Princess told me how beautiful you were but her words barely did your stunning visage proper justice. And that dress! One of your own designs, I presume? It complements your mane just perfectly.”
Oh, come on!
Rarity blushes at the compliments. “Oh my, that’s very kind of you to say, sir. The Princess you say? Yes, you absolutely must join Twilight and myself for breakfast,” she says. Her magic pulls up a chair for him from a vacant table, noticeably closer to hers than it is to mine. He sits in the chair next to Rarity and I take my place across from them.
“Please send my best to the others when you get home, would you Rarity? I’m not sure when I’ll get back there again,” I say. I wave over the waiter and we place our order.
“Why, of course, Twilight. But you’ll be back there before your date on Saturday, I would imagine. ” says Rarity trying to hide her smile behind the cup of tea she’s sipping from.
“I don’t know if-”
“Oh, you aren’t wriggling out of this just because the world is ending. If we wait for a period of quiet to launch you kicking and screaming out onto the dating scene, we’d be waiting a very long time indeed. You have hundreds of years to figure this out, but you’re going to enjoy your youth whether you want to or not. Unless...” Rarity raises an eyebrow and leans in. “You and Star Swirl here haven’t struck up a little something on the side have you?” asks Rarity.
“NO! NonononononononoNONONONONO!” I say. Rarity smiles. I’m sure that was exactly the reaction she was trying to provoke. You don’t stay friends with Rarity without learning to let her have a little fun at your expense every once in awhile. The horseshoes been on the other hoof more than a few times.
Star Swirl chuckles. “I’m in a committed relationship with Princess Luna, milady. Not that Twilight is unattractive but I’m afraid my heart is spoken for,” he says.
Rarity coughs on her tea. “You and Luna? When... How...” She also shoots me a meaningful look at the mention of Luna’s name.
Star Swirl laughs aloud. “It’s a rather long story, I think. I’m from another time in her life. Ms. Sparkle’s magic pulled me here from the past to help her out of the predicament the timeline finds itself in.”
That gives Rarity pause. “Is that why you’re wearing what looks like Twilight’s old Nightmare Night costume? You’re that Star Swirl?”
It’s my turn to cough into my tea, nearly sending some of it up my nose in the process. I’d completely forgotten that, I’ll never hear the end of it Star Swirl if knows I dressed up as him.
“What’s Nightmare Night?” asks Star Swirl.
“NOTHING IMPORTANT SO LET’S ALL TALK ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE INSTEAD!” I say. Maybe slightly more emphatically than I meant to.
The conversation, along with the conversations at several nearby tables, screeches to a halt. I sink down in my chair. “Hey, who wants to hear about the math behind this time problem?” I say. Half the restaurant groans and turns away. At least they’re predictable. I’ll never get that reaction though. Math is awesome!
“Twilight, honestly, you’ve tried to explain this to us seven or eight times now and I’m no closer to understanding it than I was before. Don’t bother with round nine,” says Rarity.
“If I may? Perhaps I could try to elaborate on the nature of the problem?” suggests Star Swirl. You know what? Fine. Let him try to stumble through the graph theory and the fuzzy borderline between Coltonian physics and quantum mechanics.
“I suppose I can listen to it one more time,” says Rarity.
“You’re a designer and a seamstress Ms. Rarity, could I trouble you for a small length of yarn?” asks Star Swirl. What? Where is he going with this?
“Yarn? Well, I have some I could part with in my saddlebags.”
“Just a few inches will do, I only need it for demonstrative purposes,” says Star Swirl.
Rarity brings up a foot or so of cheap-looking yarn from her side, and Star Swirl takes it from her.
“Imagine that this yarn represents time,” he says. “See how it’s made up of many strands twisted together?”
“I suppose...” says Rarity, furrowing her brow.
“Imagine that time is the same way. It’s not one unbroken line like you might think but rather many different possible paths twisted together, all bubbling up through each other and rolling around. Have you ever lost something and later found it somewhere you could have sworn you never put it?” asks Star Swirl.
“Who hasn’t?” asks Rarity. I have to admit that I’m getting engaged in his little demonstration too. This is something he’s passionate about, and his excitement is infectious.
“Nopony. It’s universal. Time is shifting around us all the time. Misremembered moments, deja vu, it’s all time making little changes and tweaks to account for discrepancies. Most ponies never even realize it’s happening,” he says. He pulls both ends of the yarn with his magic. “See? Usually this sort of pressure just pulls the different threads tighter together. With me so far?” he asks.
“I think so,” says Rarity.
“Now, Twilight’s time loop spell...”
“Which was actually your time loop spell, I’d remind you,” I say.
“Either way, the spell messed up the way things usually work by sending new timelines flying off in every direction which if it’s allowed to go unchecked...” he grips the different strands individually and pulls them in different directions. The yarn frays and splits apart. If you can get past the part where everything he just said is, technically speaking, utterly incorrect in every meaningful way it’s a pretty good explanation.
“So you two are trying to... twist it back together again?” asks Rarity.
“Can’t be done, I’m afraid,” he says. He pauses for a moment to let that sink in while our food arrives. He takes a bite of hay cakes while I tuck into my blueberry waffle. “We have to cut off the other timelines from this one. Any one you died in should be fine, but if there are other possible futures where you survived that are significantly different from this outcome we’ll have to go through and snip them off before they pull us apart.”
“Won’t we still be on the one fiber of yarn though? Either way?” asks Rarity.
“If we do it correctly the, uh, fiber will... grow more yarn... and I think it’s time to put the yarn metaphor to bed at this point,” says Star Swirl. “Twilight, tell me everything about how you got out of the loop. I saw in your notes that Celestia used the Elements, or something similar?”
“Celestia didn’t use them, my friends and I did.” I say.
“Ha! Mortals using the Elements, ridiculous. Really though, what happened?” he asks.
Rarity and I look at one another, not sure what to say. “It’s just as Twilight said. I should know, I’m the Bearer of Generosity myself,” says Rarity.
He stares at us blankly for a few moments while that registers with him. I try not to smile. He didn’t even know it was possible. He’ll have to be impressed now.
“Are you two insane?” he hisses. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? What the long term consequences could be? How did you even figure out you could use those?”
“It wasn’t the first time. My friends and I used them at least twice before this against Nightmare Moon and Discord. You don’t have to tell me they can be dangerous. I watched them blow up Canterlot about a hundred times over,” I say.
“Does Celestia know all this?” he asks.
“Of course. If it hadn’t been for her the six of us never would have found one another in time to use them,” says Rarity.
“Yeah, that does sound like her. Pieces on her chessboard,” says Star Swirl bitterly. “I’m sure she had a plan for you all along, and probably still does.”
“Hey! The Princess loves me, she wouldn’t ever just use me like that. Sure, sometimes she has me help her with things but she always makes sure I have what I need and I usually get something out of it too, like all my friends in Ponyville,” I say.
“I’m not saying she’s evil, Twilight, or that she doesn’t love you, but that’s just what she is. She could no more stop planning and organizing than you or I could stop breathing. If she put you in danger I’m sure it was only because she had to. Used the Elements... Stars and stones Twilight I hope you know what you’re doing. The destinies of your little gang are going to be tied together for the rest of your lives, for better or worse. That’s how they work, you know. They can’t create or destroy anything. Only rewrite the fate of their hosts and targets to bring them into line with the underlying harmony of Equestria, at least that’s the best I’ve been able to figure.” he says and shakes his head. Half of his hay cakes sit uneaten. Seems he’s lost his appetite.
“Well I for one don’t care if it’s part of a scheme or plan of some sort. I’ve never been happier than I have been these last few years. If it wasn’t originally my destiny to meet Twilight and my other friends, then phooey to destiny!” says Rarity as she drops more than enough bits to cover her share of the bill on the table and dabs the corner of her mouth with her napkin. “On that note, I really must be going if I’m going to catch my train. Twilight? Best of luck with saving the universe but you’d better not miss our appointment with the mane dresser Friday afternoon, understood?”
“Friday afternoon, then. Give my love to the others, would you?”
“Of course, dear,” she says and after gathering up the three suitcases and trunk she has for luggage she hails a carriage and leaves. I turn back to Star Swirl, who’s poking at his hay cakes, listless.
“What is it with you and Princess Celestia, exactly? Did Luna try to turn you against her back then or something?” I ask.
“Of course not, Luna would never do that. I learned from both of them, equally. Your problem is that you only ever got half an education. Without Luna, I’d probably have turned out as some hyper-anal bookworm obsessed with planning and scheduling every minute of my life, totally unable to see the bigger picture and terrified of ever deviating from whatever grand plan Celestia had set out for me,” he says.
“Humor me, then, what exactly was so important that she taught you that I haven’t learned?” I ask.
Star Swirl leans back in his chair and grins at the memories. “Spontaneity. The value in taking chances, and letting things you’re unsure of play out and the chips fall where they may. Creative destruction. Even just living passionately and embracing the highest of the highs with the lowest of the lows. Celestia taught me that moderation was key in all things, but Luna taught me that that was especially true in the case of moderation itself.”
I blink a few times. “That... doesn’t really sound like the Luna I know. I mean she has her quirks but she’s been supportive of Celestia’s philosophy since she got back from the moon,” I say.
Star Swirl shifts uncomfortably in his seat. “She’s... not like I remember her, this modern her I mean,” he says and we descend into quiet contemplation. My waffle’s gotten cold and I poke at it just a few more times before I abandon it for good. “Did you know that she invented music?” asks Star Swirl.
“She did?” I drop enough bits on our table to cover our check plus a generous tip and we begin to walk back to the palace.
“A very, very long time ago. Celestia tried first to arrange chords into music by choosing only the most pleasing combinations of sounds. Only chords that displayed consonance, a perfect resolution in and of themselves, were even considered. Celestia believed that there would be one ideal song, a perfect arrangement of resolved chords, but after years of searching she never found it. Meanwhile, Luna was the one to take the abandoned and rejected dissonant chords Celestia felt unworthy of her attention. She took the imperfect parts she had at her disposal and arranged them in assorted combinations, but could never find the right notes to end her work, it was always open and incomplete. Finally the sisters thought to compare notes, if you’ll pardon the pun. When they brought their respective strengths to bear on the question, the solution became obvious. Both consonant and dissonant chords were combined, and the very first song was brought before ponies, with thousands of voices rising up to sing it,” says Star Swirl.
“That doesn’t sound like Luna invented music. It sounds like the two of them were equally important in its creation for different reasons,” I say. I bring a hoof up to my face as what I’ve just said hits me. “That was exactly your point all along, wasn’t it?”
Star Swirl just grins. “Two Princesses. Two very different personalities and types of magic. Two halves of a whole. That’s been missing from this kingdom for a long time. Maybe Celestia tried to encourage some of the same things that Luna did while she was ruling alone, but it’s not her strength.”
“Celestia ruled for a millenium by herself, and I’d say we’re doing just fine,” I say.
“Yeah I bet you would. How was your last Full Moon Feast?”
“Our what now?”
“Exactly. How about your last Supernova Supreme Celebration?”
I just stare blankly. I’ve never even heard of one of those.
“That’s what I thought. Luna never came back from the moon, not all the way,” he says. He turns and starts trotting back towards the palace without me.
“Hey! At least explain what’s going on!” I trot after him and catch up. “How did you two even end up involved, anyway?” I ask.
“She was explaining the effects of the moon on the tides,” says Star Swirl with a grin. “I decided I was sick of waiting for her to notice me, so I tackled her in the middle of one of our private lessons and kissed her.”
“That’s it?”
“Didn’t I say a few minutes ago that she taught me spontaneity? Most effective lesson I ever had,” he says. “What can I say? You only live once.”
That phrase makes me want to smack him for a number of reasons but I refrain. I just want to get this research over with. The longer we go without speaking, the more agitated he seems to be getting. Finally we reach the palace gates and I can’t take it any more.
“Star Swirl, hold on,” I say. “Before we go in there can we talk about what’s bothering you, please?”
“You wouldn’t understand, Twilight. Just leave me alone and let me work this out on my own. You need my help but I’m not interested in yours,” he says and walks into the palace ahead of me.
The tension doesn’t really ebb as we reach the library but I’m pretty sure that we’re both eager to throw ourselves into the work to avoid the other things we could be talking about. Spike is there and to my surprise so is Philomena, eager to play the role of assistant again. We ask our respective helpers to fetch us some books and they both go for the same one first. Inwardly I groan as I watch them start to squabble over who gets to bring it back to us. I’m sure before the end of the day I’ll be glad they’re both fireproof.
As we get to work I’m able to forget how unpleasant he is and we slip into swapping thoughts and ideas about time spells. I’m not used to being the pony in the discussion who has to work to keep up with a peer intellectually, but I’m holding my own and even manage to correct Star Swirl once or twice. After half an hour it’s almost pleasant.
Then Luna walks in and I know immediately it’s all about to go straight to Tartarus.
“Just wanted to pop in and say hello to my two favorite geniuses,” she says. A rather transparent lie but it’s not like I’m going to call her on it. She walks in and sidles up to Star Swirl, lowering her head until they’re ear to ear. “What are you reading?”
Oh, get a bedchamber you two.
Star Swirl smiles and leans against her cheek in response. She blushes. “You know, you should really cross reference this passage here on probability decay with Wild Card’s work on thaumaturgical cross-interference. The book I’m thinking of is way back in the deeper parts of the stacks. I can’t remember the title off hoof but I know just where it is. Would you like to come back there with me to fetch it?” Luna asks.
This is not happening. I am not watching this happen right in front of me. Maybe if I keep telling myself that I’ll eventually will myself to believe it.
“Actually, can we just talk for a bit Looney?” he asks. I sigh in relief a bit too loudly and they both look over at me. I bury myself even further into the book I’m pretending to read and don’t glance up until they’ve turned back to one another.
“What did you want to talk about?” Luna asks.
“Why you aren’t acting like the mare I fell in love with,” says Star Swirl. Can I retract my sigh of relief? Is that a thing you can do?
Luna seems taken aback. “What are you talking about? I’m acting like I always do, aren’t I? Perhaps I’ve been over eager to see you, but it was just such a surprise when you appeared-”
“No, Princess, that’s just about the only way you’ve been yourself. I went into Canterlot today for breakfast with Twilight, and there’s no you there anymore. What happened to all the street music? You loved that, we both did,” he says.
Luna shifts uncomfortably under the question. “It died out while I was... away. The best of it still lives on, I’ve heard a few symphonies that bear a trace of that influence even after so long. Star Swirl, understand that this is a different time now. It’s a safe time, prosperous, not as wild as it used to be,” she says.
“It was wild because you made it that way! You were always there to encourage the crazy, the irrational, the out-of-left-field but now you’re holding all that back. Do you think Celestia would ever have had the idea to build a city sticking out of a mountain on her own? Or she could ever come up with something like Project Everfree?” he asks.
“Project Everfree didn’t exactly turn out the way we expected,” says Luna.
“Exactly! You were the patron saint of ideas that didn’t turn out in predictable ways! You were the happy medium between stagnation and total chaos. You told me once you went on a six month bender where you threw yourself into art to the extent that it kicked off the entire Bitalian Reneighssance. Why would you want to deny that part of you?” he asks.
“Because it isn’t all good. Don’t idealize me this way. Last time I let myself go like that was a thousand years ago, and I told you how that turned out. A lot of ponies got hurt because of me, even...” Luna trails off and shakes her head as if that will clear away the memories. “It’s better this way. Stability is more important right now.”
“I can’t believe I’m hearing this from you of all ponies. Celestia didn’t stop you, she tamed you. She turned you into what she thinks you should be instead of who you are,” says Star Swirl.
Meanwhile on the other end of the table, I’m torn between competing desires. Half of me doesn’t want to tear myself away from watching this, and the other half is screaming at me to flee the blast radius right now.
“How dare you speak to me that way? You know nothing, and you presume to reappear sixteen hundred years after your time and dictate to me how I should behave?” Luna asks. Angry tears are beginning to stream down her cheeks, but Star Swirl seems unmoved.
“I know enough about you to know when you need to be reminded of how wonderful you are. Or were, at least,” he says.
For a moment I’m sure that Luna is going to strike him physically, but instead she just stands up and backs away. “Finish your work and go back to your own time, Star Swirl. I don’t ever want to see you again,” she says and turns away. She makes for the door at a quick walk, determined to maintain what’s left of her dignity. I’m not sure where Spike and Philomena are but I’m left alone with Star Swirl, who’s positively seething with anger but not speaking. It’s the mother of all awkward silences.
“Um... Do you want to take a break? Or talk about what just happened?” I ask.
Star Swirl slams a hoof down on the table. “Buck this. We’re getting nowhere on this time spell. I’m cheating,” he says and stands up.
“Cheating? How?” I ask.
“Did I ever write a book of prophecies?” he asks.
I bite my lip and wonder how much to say. It’s true that he did, or will from his perspective, write a book like that. It was a bit of an outlier compared to his other works, actually. Most of them never came true at all, and a bunch of the others were debatable at best. Still, I don’t want to give him too much information about his own future. “Yes, there’s a book like that,” I say.
“Go bring me a copy,” he says.
“No way. I’m not letting you read a book of prophecies you haven’t made yet,” I say.
He rolls his eyes. “I’m not going to read it. Now go get me a copy or I’ll go poking around all the other books I haven’t written yet and find it myself. Think Celestia would want that?”
“Fine,” I say. I can’t help but notice that I’ve apparently been demoted to ‘assistant’ in his mind.
It only takes me a minute to retrieve the book in question. “Not so fast,” I say as he moves to take it. “How are you planning to use this if you aren’t reading it?”
Star Swirl glares at me and I match his gaze for a moment before he gives in. “I can’t tell anypony in the past what I do here or what happens, but if I keep it vague I can send myself a message without anypony figuring out what I’m talking about. I’ll make sure I write one into that book during my future,” he says.
“If it’s so vague nopony knows what it is, how are we supposed to figure out which one of these it is without reading them?” I ask.
“Like this,” he says and grabs the book with his magic and flings it hard against a nearby wall. It falls to the ground, open to a random page.
“Careful! That’s a first edition!” I shout at him. He ignores me and walks over to the open book.
“Remember page three-zero-eight for me,” he says. He reads the words on the page and his face goes pale. He looks up at me and closes the book.
“What did it say?” I ask. I’m not liking that reaction.
“I don’t think I should tell you. Besides, it’s vague. It could mean a lot of different things other than the obvious so you really shouldn’t worry about it at all,” he says.
I’m way beyond asking his permission to read that kind of information at this point. The benefit of the doubt only gets you so far. I yank the book away from him with my magic and, over his protests, open it to the right page. There’s only a few lines written there and it takes just a second to read them.
When the mare of many lives
Seeks to close the final loop and restore harmony
She will travel to a place outside of our time
And give herself over to madness and death