//------------------------------// // Time is the Coin of Your Life // Story: A Stitch in Time // by Eakin //------------------------------// TIME IS THE COIN OF YOUR LIFE I look across the library, from Star Swirl who’s reviewing the letter to Pinkie who’s mumbling something about ‘renegotiating her contract,’ whatever that’s supposed to mean. I wonder what goes on inside her head sometimes, but I think it’s probably a pretty strange place. In the background Spike is reshelving books that came in this morning while I was sleeping off those shots. “You ordered a watch?” I ask. “Yeah, I collect them,” says Star Swirl. “Why?” I ask. “What, a stallion isn’t allowed to have a hobby? I like watches,” he says. a bit defensive. “I just mean, is it a special watch? Or is the watch store run by somepony who could help us with the time spell, like that pony who owed you money back in Canterlot?” I ask. “What do you think watchmaking has to do with theoretical thaumatology?” he asks, genuinely confused. “I just thought, you know, it would be thematically appropriate and...” I trail off as I realize how dumb that sounds now that I say it out loud. “Hey! Wait a minute, you can’t bring back a watch! What if it falls into the wrong hooves?” I say, rather transparently changing the subject. “That’s sixteen hundred years of metallurgical developments and all sorts of fine machinery they couldn’t make back then.” Yeah, I’m reaching. Pinkie gasps and rejoins the conversation. “Oh my gosh! There could be another new timeline, with super advanced machines and stuff,” she says. “Pinkie, that’s probably not what would-” Pinkie is unstoppable. “Instead of fighting changelings in the time loop, maybe it’d be robots instead! And like how you were cursed to become a changeling queen in this loop you’d turn into a monster in that one too, you’d be recursed to become a half mare half machine cyborg!” I moan. My hangover is coming back. “Pinkie, do you want me to show you in the dictionary where they actually define that word?” “Not now Twilight, you have to solve this time thingy before the robot uprising comes. I’ll help!” My blood runs cold at the idea of Pinkie ‘helping’ with advanced math and delicate experimental magic. “Tell you what Pinkie, if you really want to help go talk to all our friends and tell them to come here and we’ll give you a recap on where we are now, OK?” “Woo hoo! I’m helping!” shouts Pinkie, and she’s out the door in a blur to gather up the rest of our friends. “Was that really such a good idea, Twilight?” asks Spike, coming over to the table I’m seated at. “I thought you said you didn’t want any distractions while you were doing the really hard math stuff.” “It’s fine, Spike. Maybe describing the problem to them will help Star Swirl and I. Right now the equations just aren’t adding up. Besides, Pinkie’s heart is in the right place. Speaking of which...” I lean down and hug him “...so is yours. Exactly the right place.” “Does that mean something?” he asks. He can’t see it but I smile as I let him go. “Nothing you need to worry about. Would you mind making up some snacks for when the girls get here?” “Sure,” he says and scampers off for the kitchen. I look up and catch Star Swirl looking at me. “What?” I ask, probably a bit more accusingly than I should. “Just thinking about Philomena, sorry,” he says. “Come on, let’s get back to work.” The girls arrive at lunchtime to eat with me. Rainbow Dash is the first to arrive, which might be unprecedented for her. “Hey Twilight, you got a second before the others get here?” she asks. “Sure Dash, what’s going on?” “Some pony is asking you out,” she says. I blink. This is coming completely out of nowhere and it leaves me feeling a bit blindsided. “Oh wow, Rainbow, I didn’t think the rumors were true. I really have to figure out how I feel about Azalea first, but if things don’t work out with her I would love to try going out with you,” I say. Rather than happy or upset Rainbow Dash just looks puzzled. “Wait, you know I’m not talking about me, right?” she asks. “What was that bit about rumors?” “Hey, I really want to hear about this other pony right now!” I say. “Oh right, her,” says Rainbow Dash and her mercurial attention span is successfully diverted. “She said that she heard you had broken up with Azalea and asked me to see if you would go out with her tomorrow. Do you know Algae Bloom? White coat? Earth pony? Two fish for a cutie mark?” she asks. I try to think through any ponies I know who fit that description, but nothing pops to mind. “I don’t think so. Who’s telling ponies that I broke up with Azalea? Other than, uh, drunk me. I don’t know what our status is right now.” “I guess Azalea had a really big fight with some stallion in the marketplace about it earlier this morning. Everypony’s talking about it,” says Rainbow Dash. I suddenly notice how conspicuous Star Swirl’s absence is. Ponyville does love its gossip. Nothing for it now. “What did you think of her?” I ask. “Ehh... she’s cute I guess, but to tell you the truth I got kind of a sleazy vibe. I think I’ve seen her around the bar scene too. I don’t know, I just figured I’d pass the message along,” says Rainbow Dash. “Well, I’ll trust your judgement and as long as everything with Azalea is in flux I should probably keep myself off the market.” It’s nice to know some other ponies are interested in me, but everything about that date sounds like a bad idea. The others arrive and after they’ve all been served from the big bowl of salad Spike made the seven of us get down to business. “Basically, assuming we...” I sigh wistfully but Star Swirl insisted, “...skip all the math, it boils down to the way Star Swirl and I have to split our efforts. I was the one who was in the time loop so I’m the one who has to, well I guess ‘steer it’ would be the best way to think of it. That’s going to take pretty much all of my focus so the other part of the spell, consider that the support and driving force behind making it work, falls to Star Swirl. With me so far?” I look around the table at five nodding heads, as well as Star Swirl who already knows all of this. “Great, so the problem we keep running into is that Star Swirl just doesn’t have enough power all by himself to run the spell even with his Element of Magic. We’ve been trying to change the spell around so it takes less power but we keep running into brick walls.” “Well, perhaps another unicorn could help reinforce the spell with their power? I thought that was commonplace in ritual magic like this,” says Rarity. “It is,” I agree. “Unfortunately with a spell this complex, finding an archmage that can understand it well enough to contribute is a problem. Star Swirl and I barely understand it as it is, and we’re the ones developing it.” “Well maybe Star Swirl can use both Elements of Magic, and I’m not just saying that because I still want to see the zeppelin sword fight thing,” says Pinkie. “No,” I say flatly. “I even thought about unearthing the mirror pond and making a clone to use my Element for support, but that’s... ethically dubious.” Also the Princess said no. “Well what about the other Elements then?” asks Rainbow Dash. “That would certainly give us enough power, but I already said I’m not going to be able to use my Element, I’ll be busy,” I say. I’ve been through all these options in my head. There has to be something I’m missing. “Any reason ours wouldn’t work with Star Swirl and his Element?” asks Applejack. “Only if you were all to become friends,” I say. The other five look between one another. “Um... but Twilight, we are his friends.” What? “Huh?” asks Star Swirl. “You didn’t know that? I thought that’s why we were here,” says Pinkie. “When did this happen?” he asks. “Well I for one very much enjoyed the breakfast the three of us had together, and that example you gave me with the yarn is the only reason I can follow any of this at all,” says Rarity. “You gave me that awesome idea for a new prank. You still have to come try that with me,” says Rainbow Dash. “When you helped me figure out the antivenom for Twilight even though you were hurt too well, um, I thought that was very selfless of you,” says Fluttershy. “You came to my party! Although if there’s pranks going down I want in on Rainbow’s thing too,” says Pinkie. “You protect the ponies who’re close to you when they’re hurtin’. Just gotta work on your methods a little bit,” says Applejack. “I wasn’t trying to be your friend when I did those things, though,” says Star Swirl. “Tends to work better that way anyhow, sugarcube,” says Applejack. Star Swirl looks stunned, but then breaks into a big grin. “Alright, why not? The way Twilight keeps going on and on about it maybe there is something to this friendship thing,” he says. “Group hug!” says Pinkie and the others gather around Star Swirl. He actually look really happy. “Twilight, are you going to make me put up with these five all by myself or are you coming too?” he asks.  I roll my eyes, but maybe he’s not quite as bad as I thought he was. I guess he’s earned this. “Alright, one hug. Then I think that there’s an old teacher of yours who’s been waiting a very long time for the report you’re going to be writing her,” I say ------------------------------------ With a plan in place for dealing with the time spell once and for all I’m feeling a lot better. There’s still a lot to do both here and in Canterlot so eventually Star Swirl has to bid us goodbye. The girls head back to what they were doing and he goes to catch the next train to Canterlot. I’m writing a letter to Princess Celestia explaining our idea when there’s a knock on the door and I open it. The mare who I can’t decide if I wanted to see again is standing there. “Hello, Azalea,” I say and those fleeting moments of good cheer are gone. “Hi Twilight, how are you?” she asks. I say nothing and she looks down and kicks at the dust with her hoof. “Could I come in? I’d really like to talk to you. Maybe I could finally get that library card,” she says with a hopeful little smile. Celestia help me, I still get goosebumps from that smile. “Sure,” I say and move to let her pass. She steps inside and I close the door behind her with a thud. “Twilight, I’m really sorry for the way I treated you back there in the hospital," she says. She glances up and tries to make eye contact but then looks away after a moment. I wonder what she’s seeing in my eyes. “Why did you leave?” I ask and my voice breaks a little on the last word. I can already feel my chest tightening up, and I know my self-control isn’t going to last. “I was scared, and I was weak when you needed me most. I didn’t know you'd been injected with changeling queen venom, I just knew whatever it was had made you so sick. Then you started talking about what you had done... No, not you exactly. I understand that much. This you, the pony in front of me, isn’t responsible for what the changeling queen did. I didn’t think that for even a second.” She squeezes her eyes shut and she’s remembering it again. “But I imagined you, doing that and even you doing that to me and it made me so scared.” “Then you should have talked to somepony about it! Like me!” I shout. She flinches and I remember the way she did that the last time I touched her. “I tried! I wanted you to tell me that of course you never would, but that’s not what you said,” she says. “Oh, right, you could never do that no matter how many years you spent being tortured and killed and pushed over the brink of sanity. I forgot how much better than me you are,” I spit the word ‘better’ out at her and hate the way it tastes in my mouth. I may be somewhat angrier at her than I realized. Azalea stares at me for a moment. “You think... that I think... that I’m better than you?” she asks. “Twilight, it’s true that I can’t imagine myself doing that but I can’t imagine the same kind of things you can. I just don’t have the context to wrap my head around it. Maybe you’re right that I would break eventually, probably sooner than you would have. You’re the strongest pony I know. You’re Twilight Sparkle! You’re a special pony who lives in a special world the rest of us only ever get to look in on.” I don’t say anything, because I know that’s true. My life certainly has been an interesting one. “Applejack came up to me, me, and asked if I wanted to date you. Just out of nowhere like you were any other mare. You know I only even said yes because I was curious? I did have a crush on you but I figured I’d just get a little peek into your world and then fade back into the background, and you’d barely even notice I was there. You almost didn’t and that hurt more than I thought it would,” she says. “I came after you though, it was a good date after that,” I say, gently as I can. Even though she’s tearing up she does smile at that. “It was perfect,” she says. “I almost thought I had dreamt the whole thing the next day it was so impossibly wonderful. You were impossibly wonderful. It’s like there are two Twilight Sparkles, the special one who practically walks on water and does all the things ordinary ponies like me can’t do, and the normal, approachable one who I fell for that night. Then when I saw you in the hospital I got the first one when I was expecting the second one, and it reminded me I’d never understand that world. I just grow flowers. If you’ll let me I’d still like to be with that second Twilight, though. If I haven’t blown my chance already. I stop to think about that for a moment. “Wow, you really do not understand me at all,” I say. “Twilight, what do you-” “You’re right. I’m special. I’m the Element of Magic. My teacher is Princess Celestia. My last marefriend was Princess Luna, for goodness sake,” she winces at that. It might have been a bit of a cheap shot but I am far too angry at her to care. “You think it’s just something I turn on and off like a switch? Like I schedule all the crazy things that keep happening to me and mark them down on my calendar? There’s one, and only one, Twilight Sparkle and she’s the mare you met that first night. I want somepony... I need somepony who can handle both of those things. And it sounds like you’re saying you can’t.” “Twilight, I want to. I want to be a better pony, a pony who can be that for you and I promise I will try so, so hard if you just give me another chance to be,” says Azalea, pleading. “So what, we get back together and I let you even deeper into my heart than you already are and maybe the next time I need you you’ll be there? What kind of relationship is that? Where you decide ‘sorry Twilight you’re just too special today,’ and take off on a whim?” I ask rhetorically. Now we’re both crying, and it pains me to see her this way. Even though I want her to feel how much she hurt me I also want to just rush over to her and tell her everything’s going to be OK. “What do you want me to say? Just tell me what I have to say and I’ll say it. Anything in my power. Please Twilight, I’ll do my best.” “You sure weren’t this lost for words when you told me you loved me. You love me? You don’t even know me,” I say. “I want to know you, though. I ran away last time because it was just... too much too fast and I wasn’t ready for it. Tell you what, how about tomorrow night we sit up with one another and talk about anything or nothing or whatever you feel like? There are so many things I want to share with you. We'll just take it a little slower this time,” she suggests. “Sorry, I have a date tomorrow night. It turns out my life just kept right on going even after you left,” I say. Oh, look at that, I just spontaneously decided to take Algae Bloom up on her offer after all. Being spontaneous has served me well in relationships so far, right? Azalea stares at me and her shoulders slump. Her mouth is open, her lips are trembling and she doesn’t say anything for a long moment. “You... I didn’t know you’d decided that...” suddenly she perks up her ears and tries to smile. It’s a pretty noble effort all things considered, although nopony would believe it to be genuine for even a moment. “That’s great Twilight, I’m really glad for you. You deserve to be with somepony special, not me. I’m sure you’ll make her just as happy as I was.” Azalea starts to breath harder. “I’ll just... I should just...” she doesn’t even bother to finish the sentence, she just walks out the door. That didn’t feel as good as I thought it would, but what’s done is done. My last date went really well, and sure maybe this other mare doesn’t come Applejack-approved but look how well that turned out this time. I feel very alone there in that empty library all of a sudden. There’s equations to finish balancing and dishes to clean up and books to reshelf, but I can’t bring myself to care about any of it. I don’t think I even have all that much to do before the date I’m apparently going on tomorrow. The one I agreed to because I guess just stabbing Azalea in the chest with a dull knife didn't seem like it would have caused enough pain. Plenty of time on my hooves. I think I’ll spend most of it curled up into a ball and crying. ------------------------- I’ve managed to mostly cry myself out by the middle of the following day, and clean myself up a little bit. I wrote a quick note to Algae Bloom since I was in absolutely no condition to meet her face to face saying I was accepting her offer, and she wrote back to let me know that we’d be going somewhere casual, and not to worry about getting dressed up. I’m happy to comply seeing as I have no desire to spend hours with Rarity fancying me up. I just know that she’ll want to talk about Azalea and right now I just can’t. Still, I’m not completely hopeless at doing my own makeup and mane style. I can at least hide the puffiness around my eyes and make myself presentable. Spike’s been shipped off to another Crusader’s sleepover, this time at Applejack’s. Whatever develops, I’ll be ready. She’s late, at first just a minute or two and I think that the clock is running fast. When it hits ten after, I start to pace and go recheck the letter to confirm that, yes, she said she’d meet you here when you thought and no, it hasn’t changed since the last three times you looked. It’s almost quarter past when there’s finally a knock on the door. I’m so high strung I completely forget myself and bolt for it immediately. I’ve opened it before the knocks have even finished echoing. The mare who must be Algae Bloom is standing there. She wasn’t kidding about being casual, her blue mane is disheveled like she just rolled out of bed. Neither of us are wearing anything and yet I still feel overdressed. “Hi, you must be Algae Bloom, nice to meet you. I’m Twilight Sparkle. I hope you didn’t have any trouble finding the place?” I ask. “Hi. No, how could I? It’s a giant tree in the middle of the street,” she says. I guess she’s not going to explain why it took her an extra fifteen minutes to get here then. Or apologize. Fine, moving on. “So, Algae, what did you feel like doing tonight? Dinner, or maybe some sort of a show?” I ask. “Oh, there’s a great bar back by my apartment where they know me, we can get some cheap drinks,” she says. Well, OK, mingling over a cocktail isn’t the worst way to start a date. “Sounds like fun! Then what?” She looks at me blankly. “I guess we’ll see what we feel like from there,” she says. Remember Twilight, you’re being open minded. Your date with Azalea started badly too. Do not start thinking about Azalea again. Tonight is about a fresh start for you. “Well, are you ready to get going?” I ask. She nods so I step out and close up the library. Algae Bloom leads the way along the dark streets. “So your cutie mark is something to do with fish? That must be interesting. Ichthyology is a really fascinating field of study,” I say to try to get a conversation going. She laughs. “What kind of nerd uses words like ‘ichthyology?’ I work at the pet store, keeping the tanks clean mostly. All sorts of slimy plants build up on top of the water and in the filters,” she says. Technically, what she’s referring to aren’t plants but I don’t think I want to contradict her, it seems like a silly thing to risk starting a fight over. “My cutie mark is for being good at magic although I work at the library and study day to day,” I say once it becomes apparent that any conversation that happens is going to be initiated by me. “Do you have any books you’ve been reading? Favorite authors?” I ask. “I don’t really read much,” she says. Somehow I’m not surprised. “Oh, I read all the time!” I say. Algae Bloom stops. “What’s that supposed to mean?” she asks. Huh? “Just... I mean I live in a library so I guess it’s obvious,” I say. “I don’t think I like your tone. You read more than I do and you’re smart, so you think you’re better than me or something?” she asks. I’m taken aback. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything like that,” I say. Did... did I just apologize for reading and being smart? Why did I do that? Azalea loved that about me. I love that about me. “Whatever, we’re here. Head in and I’ll get us a round of drinks,” says Algae Bloom “Soda for me,” I say. The memory of those Changeling Venom shots Pinkie made for her party have turned me off of the idea of alcohol for a while. I walk into the main area of the bar. This place isn’t a total dive, but it’s close. It’s dark, there’s only three or four other ponies standing around, or maybe ‘lurking’ would be a better word. The cement floor feels gross and sticky under my hooves. The furniture and wallpaper are at least trying to be bright and cheerful, but they’re fighting a losing battle against the low lighting. I pick a booth that’s reasonably well lit and sit down. Luckily I’m only there for a minute or so before Algae Bloom returns with a tray supporting three glasses. She places the mug of cider down on her side of the table and the cocktail glass full of something green and fruity smelling in front on me along with the soda. “Have you had the appletinis here? You didn’t say if you wanted anything other than the soda.” I didn’t. “Algae, why did you ask me out?” I ask. The mare hasn’t asked me a single question about myself, or said much of anything. And everything she does say tells me she’s all wrong for me. She shrugs. “I heard you just broke up, and thought you might be in the mood for some sort of casual rebound thing. Forget about Azalea. I've dumped mares before, and been dumped too. Believe me, something like this hurts a lot less. You don't care about me and I don't care about you, we're just using each other to get what we both want. It's practically a business transaction,” she says as she reaches over and takes a sip of the appletini for herself. “These are really good, wanna try?” I sigh and take a sip, just to humor her. My face twists up as I taste it. “A little strong,” I say as I lower it back down.   "Look, if you don't want to hang around here let's just skip ahead to going back to my place. I know lots of ways to make you forget all about her for the rest of the night." say Algae. "I don't want to forget her," I say, quiet. I look up again. "You can finish the appletini, I don't think I want anything else to drink right now. Which way is the restroom?" I ask. "Back there," she says and gestures. I trot on over as quickly as I dare and push open the door. Inside the dank and mildewed bathroom I head straight for the sink and mirror. I run the tap and splash some water on my face as I try to figure out what the right thing to do next is. I can't deny that Algae's offer makes a certain kind of jaded sense. I deserve a night of raw, emotionless, bitterness-driven release don't I? You deserve to be with somepony special. Azalea's words come back to me in full force. I had a pony who was special, and I threw her away. But I had a good reason, didn't I? She didn't know how special she was. If I told her she wouldn't have believed me, and as long as she doesn't really think she deserves to be with me there's the chance she'll leave again, right when I'm counting on her most. She hurt me so badly when she left, I can't go through that again. I guess I can struggle through the rest of this evening and then start picking up the shattered pieces of my love life tomorrow morning. I wash my hooves just out of force of habit and head back out to our booth. There’s a second appletini waiting for me on the table when I get back. Some moments just throw everything into sharp relief. Unfortunately they never seem to reveal anything you want to see when they do, at least they never have for me. In this case, it shows me exactly what I’ve been so willing to put up with instead of thinking about Azalea, and the difference couldn’t make things any clearer. “Cyanobacteria,” I say. “What? Is that some kind of nerd code word?” asks Algae Bloom. “What you scoop out of the fish tanks. They aren’t plants, they’re cyanobacteria. You know, pond scum,” I say. “Oh,” Algae Bloom says. “So what? What’s the difference?” “Proper classification is important, and those are two completely different things. Just because you don’t appreciate them doesn’t mean they aren’t good and important things. They provide something like twenty or thirty percent of Equestria’s oxygen, and they’re essential to the nitrogen cycle too. None of us would even exist without them,” I say. “Well to me they’re just squicky, worthless ooze,” says Algae. “They survive almost anywhere, you know,” I say, “from salty ocean water to rocky desert soil. You can try to kill them over and over again but they just always seem to bounce back. I just wanted you to know so that if some other mare in the future thinks it’s clever to tell you that you’re pond scum because you’ve treated her the way you’re treating me, it’s not as much of an insult as you think. If anything, it’s an insult to the cyanobacteria. Frankly, you aren’t worth cyanobacteria’s attention,” I say. Algae Bloom just doesn't care at all. "It's a good thing you're hot piece of flank, because I don't know how anypony could put up with how weird you are if you weren't. Seriously, you should just shut up and have a few more drinks." "Yes, I'm weird. I say and do crazy things sometimes. Things nopony understands, not even me. But some ponies, not horrible little stupid ones like you, mind, some ponies try. They don't know me, but they want to and they see that all those weird things are actually pretty wonderful. They look past how messed up I am. I thought I had to push one of them away because she doesn't see what I'm really like, but I was wrong." I get up from the table. "Where are you going now?" asks Algae Bloom. "To get her back," I say. I could just walk away now, but there's one more thing. "Oh, and by the way? It's not as if it ever would have been fine, exactly, but you picked the worst possible time to try to get me liquored up so you could take me to bed. I happen to just have adopted a zero tolerance policy for mares who try to warp others' minds for their own pleasure, and if I ever hear from anypony that you've been getting fillies drunk and taking advantage of them they will never find your body." Algae Bloom scoffs, but she looks a bit nervous behind the show of bravado. "Wow, I didn't realize you were going to turn into such a psycho bitch over a drink." "Don't worry, it takes more than that to bring out my worst. A lot more. You don't even meet the detection threshold to register as something bad happening to me. If you ever do, you'll know. Briefly." With that I turn around and walk out of the bar. On an impulse I grab the appletini from the table as I’m walking away and splash it into Algae Bloom’s face. She’s yelling something at me, but she isn’t worth the time it would take to slow down and listen. I have somewhere so much more important I need to be. ----------------------- Twenty minutes later I'm pounding on a front door and hoping to Celestia I remembered this address correctly. Just when I'm about to give up hope, Azalea opens it. "Twilight? What are you doing here? Didn't you have a date tonight?" she asks. "We're even now," I say. "Huh?" "On second chances. Last time we went out you gave me a second chance to prove myself, it's only fair that I return the favor. Please say you’ll consider it," I say. "That's sweet, Twilight, I just don't know what I can do that's going to change your mind. I want to, but-" "Put this on." I hoof her the wing restraints I grabbed on the way over, an old pair Rainbow Dash left at my library way back when and never bothered to reclaim. "Why?" asks Azalea. "Please? Just trust me." Azalea looks at the harness and slides it on. It's designed so that the tension forces pegasus wings against their sides for muscle building exercises, and I fiddled with it to turn the resistance all the way up. She tries to move her wings, but can't. "Come with me, I want to show you something," I say. Azalea follows me, puzzled, but neither of us say anything as we walk through the night. I glance up at the new moon and offer up a quick prayer to Luna in my head. It's not long before we reach the wide, dark, and deep lake that serves as the Ponyville reservoir. "It's on the other side," I say. I take a deep breath and I channel my magic. I step out onto the surface of the water, and it holds. I take a few more steps and then turn back to where Azalea is standing on the shore gaping. "I'm special, Azalea. You said that you thought of me as a mare who walks on water? Well you were right. But I don't want to walk alone," I say. "I can't fly in this harness, just give me one second and I'll-" "No," I say. "You're missing the point. I want you to walk with me. If for some reason you don't think you're worthy or you don't believe it's possible, fine. I'll find somepony who can. But I think you can be that pony, Azalea. I believe in you." Azalea dips the tip of her hoof into the water. She doesn't realize the spell won't work without her putting more of her weight on it, but I'm not going to explain that to her. "Twilight, this isn't fair. You're a unicorn and I'm not. How am I supposed to follow you?" I shrug. "I'm walking to the other side, and I'm not coming back this time. You can either stay here, or you can take a leap of faith and find out if you’re special or not. Maybe it ends well and maybe it doesn't, I can't see the future. It's your call." With that I turn and begin to walk away. "Twilight!" she calls after me. "Twilight!" I just keep walking. I hear a scream of frustration from behind me and just as I glance back, she leaps. Oh, thank Celestia, she leaps. She lands on the water's surface flat on her belly with all her legs outstretched, and the surface jiggles but supports her. Her eyes are squeezed shut, but when she opens them she sees me smiling back at her. She rises to her hooves in amazement. "I'm doing it!" She cries out with joy. "Twilight, I'm doing it! I can walk on water when I’m with you!" "I love you, too." Azalea rushes over and tackles me, laughing, and we bounce on the surface of the water. When we come to a stop, she looks into my eyes and I see a hunger there. We both go in for the kiss at the same time and it's better than anything I've ever felt because I'm sharing it with her. Her forehoof slides down my belly, low enough that her meaning is perfectly clear. "What, right now?" I ask. "Always wanted to try this on a water bed," she says without looking up at me, her hot breath against my neck. She presses herself against me. The harness is a bit awkward, so I release the buckles and her wings are free to snap open, fully erect. I hold her tight and run a hoof along her back. If I remember my pegasus anatomy right, there should be a cluster of nerves right... about.... When she gives out an ecstatic little gasp I know I found it. "I bet I can guess what you like, little miss magic," she says. She pulls herself further up and starts to plant kisses on my forehead, right at the base of my horn. My eyes go wide. "Azalea, wait! I'm going to lose it!" I try to warn her. "Already? I didn't know this felt that good," she says. She moves in again. "No, I mean I'm going to lose the-" Too late. With my magic otherwise occupied the universe notices that the surface tension of the lake should not, in fact, be able to bear the weight of two mares. We plunge into the icy water. We come up gasping for breath. "Ah! This is freezing!" says Azalea. Luckily we aren't too far from shore, and we paddle back as quickly as we can. We get out and shake off, but we're shivering. I look over to Azalea and she's grinning anyway. "Don't say it. Don't even think about saying it," I warn her. "Gee Twilight, you really know how to get a mare all wet." I groan. She just had to say it. I magic us up a blanket from back at the library, and Azalea flies up into the nearby trees to gather some branches. Soon we're snuggled up against each other for warmth in front of an impromptu campfire. "Twilight?" asks Azalea. It's a good thing she did, I was halfway to falling asleep in her arms. "Mmm hmm?" "You never actually finished telling me about the other timeline, you know." My eyes snap open. I'm wide awake now. "What do you mean?" I ask. "You'd just gotten to the part where you were in the vault when I couldn't take it anymore and stopped you. If you want to tell me the rest, you can. I won't run away again." I bite my lip. "I did something really bad," I say. "What the changeling queen you did doesn't mean anything, Twilight. I get that." "No, I mean I did something really bad. To her." "Oh," says Azalea. She goes quiet for a minute. "Well for what it's worth, I forgive you." "How can you? You don't even know what it was I did. It was really bad," I say, confused. "It doesn't matter to me. I trust you and if it's what you had to do to get back, it was the right thing," she says. "But what if there was a better way?" I ask. "Maybe there was. But you of all ponies should know that reliving something over and over and trying out all the 'what ifs' isn't good for you," she says. For a moment there's only the crackling of the fire in the night. "Are you happy? Right this second I mean. Because I am." I nuzzle her. "Yeah," I say. Understatement of the eon. "Is there anywhere else in the world you wish you were instead? Or anything about this moment you want to change?" she asks. "Not that I can think of." She smiles. "Then the rest of it doesn’t matter. You're one of us mere mortals too, remember. Just take the weight of the world off your shoulders and be here with me in it. Equestria will be there for you to save again tomorrow." I lay against her in silence, feeling her chest rise and fall with each breath. I think about what she just said. She has a point. It seems silly to spend so much time worrying about saving the world that I never take the chance to remind myself of everything about it that's worth saving. I cast a quick spell, a ridiculously specific tracking spell I researched a few weeks ago. "Hey Azalea? Actually, there is somewhere else I want to be. About a half mile away on an east by southeast heading," I say. Azalea looks over at me, confused. "Why? What's there?" she asks. "The nearest weather vane. Come on, I'm going to show you something that'll blow your mind."