Twilight walked up the hill leading to the art museum and then under the arch at the top. Instead of heading for the front doors, she took the path to the right, which led straight to the tower. The lavender mare stopped and looked up at it for a second. Since her parents were good friends with Eckart, they had sometimes taken her to the top when she was a little filly and she still lived with them, walking up the spiraling staircase inside and then looking out over Canterlot from the top.
Shaking her head, she walked up to the door of the tower and raised a hoof, giving it an experimental push. The door opened, moving inwards at her push. She then poked her head inside and asked, “Hello? Mr. Brum?” Walking inside, she maneuvered her way around the door and looked at the winding stairs in front of her. Was Eckart waiting to meet her at the top?
Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind her! Whirling around, Twilight ran over to it and put one of her hooves around the door handle, pulling it. The door jiggled, but it wouldn’t open. “Oh great! I’m locked in!” she groaned. Left with no choice, Twilight turned away from the door and started walking up the staircase. Partway up, she noticed the door leading to Eckart’s office and tried knocking, but there was no answer. So she continued on her way, climbing the ladder on the circle-shaped floor at the top of the stairs to get to the top of the tower.
Reaching the top of the ladder, she stepped outside onto the turret, her hooves clacking softly on the stone. She looked around, wondering where Eckart was. There wasn’t much to see on top of the tower; just the gazebo and the railing running around the perimeter. A pony really couldn’t hide up here if they wanted to. Walking over to the other side of the turret, she placed her forelegs on top of the railing, deciding to wait for Eckart to show up. While she waited, she looked out across Canterlot. Luna’s moon provided an excellent source of light. She could see quite far from the tower; she could swear she could even see all the way to Ponyville, various lights shining in the distance.
Suddenly, Twilight felt hooves touch her backside. She didn’t get a lot of time to act as she was suddenly given a hard shove forward, going over the railing! Gravity immediately began to act on her, pulling her down and making her hind legs follow the rest of her over! She was so shocked that all she could do was scream at the top of her lungs as the ground rushed up to meet her. She soon hit the ground, landing with a sickening thud.
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“Oh…” Twilight groaned painfully as she raised her head. She was dead again, this time from going splat against the pavement.
As she began to pick herself up, she heard Homunculus speak, “Oh dear… But this may be the chance we’ve been looking for.”
Twilight pushed her front hooves against the ground, extending her forelegs as she asked, “What are you talking about?”
Homunculus replied, “Think about it. How did you die this time?”
Twilight sighed, “I was pushed off the tower from behind.” She sat on her haunches and thought about this before saying, “But the door was locked and the only other way into the tower is through Mr. Brum’s office. That means the killer is in there somewhere.”
Homunculus said, “Bingo. So if you can somehow fool the killer, you may be able to catch him. Can’t you do something to make sure you don’t fall off, something that won’t alert the killer to what you’re doing? You’ve got a bit of time to think about it. Good luck.”
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Twilight glared at the door in front of her for a moment before giving a sharp pull with her hoof. Just like before, though, it refused to budge. “No good,” she muttered. Setting her hoof back down on the ground, she murmured, “I don’t really want to think about it, but… The pony who’s trying to kill me… Could it be Mr. Brum? Is that possible? And why would he be trying to kill me? Is it because I stopped coming all those years ago? Is he mad at me for that? What… I don’t know what to think.”
She looked back as she noticed a familiar glow coming from her saddlebags. Remembering that she couldn’t use her magic in the tower, she reached her head back and dug inside the right saddlebag. Her muzzle soon touched the Z-pad and she gripped it with her teeth, pulling it out. She then took it in her right hoof and examined it. “This is last night,” she murmured as she looked at what time the device was telling her to travel to. “That would probably be the best time to check out the tower without the risk of being pushed off,” she thought to herself. Raising her left hoof, she touched the Z-pad and disappeared soon afterwards.
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Twilight appeared just outside the museum tower, her hooves coming into contact with the pavement below. She brought the Z-pad out again and examined it, checking what time it was. “Good, we’re at Hoity Toity’s fashion show right now. That means there’s practically no chance of seeing myself if I need to go into the city for anything,” she thought to herself. While it might’ve been a good idea to warn her past self of what awaited her the following day, she didn’t think it would go over so well. Celestia knows she’d probably drive herself crazy with worry… again.
Shaking her head to get that thought out, she turned and walked over to the door leading to the inside of the tower. Standing in front of it, she murmured, “This would probably be the easiest way to get inside without Mr. Brum knowing I’m here…” She tried pushing against the door, but as one might expect, it was locked. She shook her head and then examined the keyhole near the door handle. “This is an old lock. Maybe I can get a hold of the key,” she mused. She disappeared soon after saying that, the Z-pad agreeing with her and showing her the way.
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Twilight found herself standing in the entrance to Alfred’s house, the Z-pad having deposited her right in front of the double doors. She nodded, “I can probably find the tower key that I need in this era. All the keys have to be somewhere in this house.”
Suddenly, she heard Photo Shoot’s voice through the front doors, “All right – hold still please!”
Twilight whirled around at the sound of that, realizing what it meant. She gasped, “Uh-oh! I’m outside right now! I can’t see myself here!” She quickly turned and ran into the family room, pressing her back up against the wall next to the door. As she looked forward, she noticed her saddlebags lying on the floor, further proving she had arrived during her first visit to this time period and was currently having her picture taken.
A minute later, she held her breath as she heard the front doors open. She exhaled when she heard the other door open; it was just Sibylla putting her baby brother back. But she would be sure to follow soon. As Twilight’s eyes scanned the room, they came to rest on a key rack on the wall she hadn’t noticed before. Stepping away from the wall, she walked around the furniture and stood in front of it, examining it. She soon found what she was looking for. “The tower key… There are two of them; one must be a duplicate. It should be okay if I take one,” she said.
Nodding to herself, Twilight used her magic to levitate the key off the rack and placed it inside her left saddlebag, unaware that Sibylla was watching her from the other room. The young filly ducked back inside the room as Twilight turned around, having felt like somepony was looking at her. She then remembered her ‘other’ self and muttered, “Uh-oh, I’m going to run into myself.” Glancing around, she noticed the double doors Sibylla had come from when she brought the tea into the family room and ran over to them, using her magic to pull one open and then close it after she went through.
Twilight turned and looked at the doors for a minute. She soon heard the sound of Sibylla and herself talking to each other. She smiled to herself, “Now I know what Sibylla meant when she said I could use the key as much as I want. She really did see me.” After another minute, the sound of talking stopped and Twilight knew that her ‘past’ self had returned to her present. She said, “Right, I’ve got what I came for. I should be able to get into the tower and start working on a plan to avoid falling to my death.” She summoned the Z-pad from her saddlebag and set it to take her to the night before. She was lifted off the ground a moment later, the time travel bubble forming around her and taking her to her destination.
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Twilight once again appeared in front of the tower, her hooves clacking against the ground as she landed. Turning to look at the door, she used her magic to pull the key out of her left saddlebag and maneuvered it into the keyhole. It easily turned and she pushed the door open slowly. Poking her head inside, she glanced from left to right before going around the door and quietly closing it. She then slowly crept up the stairs, taking every precaution like when she and the others were trying to set up Pinkie Pie’s birthday party without her knowing.
When she reached the top of the stairs, she climbed up the ladder out onto the turret, once again trying to make as little noise as possible. Outside, she walked underneath the gazebo as she went over to the other side of the tower. Carefully raising her forelegs while looking back over her shoulder, she placed them on top of the railing and looked down. She could almost see herself getting pushed off again, could almost see herself falling with no way of saving herself and landing on the ground in a terrible mess…
She shook her head to clear it and looked back down at the ground below. She had to be at least two stories off the ground. She put a hoof on her chin as she murmured, “Would I have enough time to teleport while falling? No, I don’t think so; I really need to concentrate to do that, plus it takes a few seconds to teleport. Not to mention Mr. Brum might anticipate me doing that. And I’m still going to be falling if I teleport back up here. I’d end up killing myself anyway.”
She looked up at the sky for a moment before looking back down. “Maybe if I put something between here and the ground, I could keep myself from falling. But if I did anything with magic, either Mr. Brum or the princesses might detect it. But what else can I do?” Looking back down at the railing, she murmured, “Maybe if I had a rope… There was a rope by the ladder!” She turned and walked back over to the hatch, going back down the ladder.
At the bottom of the ladder, she walked over to the rope lying on the floor and sat down next to it, picking it up with a hoof. It appeared to be firm, but it also looked rather old. The fibers in it had started to show signs of aging and it was a dull brown color. “Hm… I don’t know if this is going to work. Applejack wouldn’t use an old rope like this for a rodeo. After all, it wouldn’t be good if her rope were to snap on her while she was trying to lasso something. I don’t think this will be able to hold me,” she murmured. Looking at the rope again, she had an idea. She set it back down and pulled the Z-pad out of her saddlebag, traveling back to 100 years ago.
She soon returned to the top of the tower the night before, carrying a much newer looking rope in her mouth. She smiled to herself, “I knew it! That rope’s been there for at least a hundred years. In Alfred’s time, it’s almost brand new. This is an Applejack kind of rope.” Trotting over to the other side of the tower, she looked out over the railing again before looking back down at the rope and starting, “Since I’m going to be shoved off here…” She held up one end of the rope and used her magic to tie it in a knot around the railing, murmuring, “I can tie one end of this rope to the railing and grab the other end tomorrow before I get pushed off. That way, I shouldn’t fall…”
She picked up the rest of the rope and threw it over the railing. Just as a test, she lit up her horn and touched the rope with it. Looking down, she saw the rope beginning to move like a snake, similar to what Trixie did during her performance. If nothing else, she could enchant the rope to grab her while falling if she didn’t grab it before getting pushed off. She muttered, “One way or the other, I hope this works…”
After a minute, Twilight turned and went back over to the hatch, climbing down the ladder. She was about to pull the Z-pad out of her saddlebag when she heard Eckart’s voice, “…You’re sure about that? …He’s alive?” Curious, Twilight crept down the stairs to Eckart’s office, hearing him say, “…All right…” As she stood in front of the door, she heard him say, “…Yes, I talked to her parents earlier. They’re coming over tomorrow with her and her friends, to look at paintings. Yes, I’m sure. …No, it won’t be a problem. They told me about her friends; one of them might be a problem, but I think I can confuse her. …Yes, yes, I know… I won’t tell anypony.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow at the door. Eckart was obviously talking to somepony about her, seeing as her parents had gone over to the museum earlier that day to tell Eckart that they would be stopping by the next day. The one he had mentioned might be a problem was obviously Pinkie Pie; no doubt her Pinkie Sense would’ve gotten in the way somehow. This proved that Eckart had made at least one attempt on her life, but it also further raised the question of why he was doing this. “Who’s he talking to?” she murmured.