//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Across Time and Space // Story: Under the Northern Skies // by Prolet //------------------------------// I woke up with no recollection of the time that had passed. The floor was the same, but the roof could now be seen – it was about fifty feet high. I rose up. Rarity was still lying on the floor, unconscious. I turned my head and saw tall shelves, crammed full of books, lining the walls in all directions. We were in a small room, seemingly connected with similar ones by short passages. Numerous oil lamps hanging from the ceiling were keeping the place lit.   Though I knew I should wake Rarity up, I hesitated. What will she think? What will she say to me? My heart racing, I nudged her lightly. She awoke with a flinch.   “And again, we’re elsewhere…” said Rarity, standing up. She looked startled.   “Well…” I replied, unable to keep heat from rising onto my cheeks. “This sure looks like a library.”   Rarity nodded, her cheeks getting red too. “Twilight, darling… I must say I was surprised.”   “Heh… Uhm…” My stomach turned. “So was I, to be honest. I’m sorry, Rares. Please don’t hate me,” I pleaded, cringing.   “Twilight…” Rarity let out a giggle, planting a peck on my cheek. I felt flushed, almost falling over. “You’re such a silly pony. I thought I saw signs of your affectation earlier, but couldn’t be sure. Then, the book told me your thoughts…”   I looked deep into Rarity’s beautiful, azure eyes – behind them, I noticed relief and joy. “Of course. So, that’s what it told you.”   “Yes. But when you… denied my advances, I was under the impression that it had purposefully misled me to cause pain for both of us.”   “Rarity,” I said, still surprised by her response. “Why? Why are you affectionated to me? It doesn’t make much sense. We’re both mares, and frankly, quite different. I know we’re friends, but it’s still odd.” The same could be said about you. Rarity saved your life, but that shouldn’t have triggered a response that big.   Rarity gave me a smile. “Why wouldn’t I be? You have your quirks, of course, but in reality, you’re a quite extraordinary pony. You really care about me, just like all of our friends, Twi. But somehow, our relationship’s always been different.”   I was puzzled. “How so?”   “It’s hard to say, really. But when you came to help me get over the disaster at the Gala the night after, things started to change. It felt like you were paying more attention to me than the others. Even though it’s perfectly natural – that one friend matters more than the others – something had changed.”   “Oh.”    I’d never seen it quite the way Rarity had, but it did make sense. When I started to think about my sudden crush on my friend, many memories resurfaced. Rarity had been by my side for a long time. Especially after my ‘test’ in the Crystal Empire; she had sung a song to assure that I had, in fact, passed the test. Despite the Empire being saved, I felt like having failed the mission. I hadn’t been the one to banish King Sombra. No, Spike, along with my friends, had done that, while I was busy being imprisoned by magical stalagmites.   But that day, Rarity had lifted me back up. She’d held my hoof during the train ride back to Ponyville, talking about nice things.   “I suppose this makes a bit more sense now, thinking about it,” I agreed. “Though I have to say this could’ve happened… at a more appropriate time.”   “Not really,” commented Rarity. “It doesn’t matter any longer, darling. What’s important is now and here. Let’s not dwell in the past. We still have to get out of this place.”   We proceeded to examine the books. Most were mundane ones; large printings of education material, popular novels, science books, and diaries of noteworthy ponies. Skimming through the pages revealed that parts of many books were blank, the text gradually fading away until it vanished entirely, while some were blank from start to finish.   “Weird,” commented Rarity, levitating a copy of Canterlot: Then and Now back to the shelf. “Twi, I think it’s pretty obvious what we have to search for.”   Yup. “That one book?”   “That one book.” Rarity shook her head. “A shame that I decided to get rid of it. It was telling the truth, after all.”   The next hour was spent systematically checking the cover of grey books. There were a lot, and our progress was slow. None seemed to match. Happy emotions built up by Rarity’s presence soon made way for anxiousness and fear; we were still in danger of dehydration, and my thirst hadn’t eased at all.   Unfortunately, the first wall didn’t yield results. Instead of searching the opposite row of shelves, we moved into another room through a passage. A surprise was waiting for us: the room was very different from the one we’d come from. It was much larger, holding fewer books and multiple large paintings. A white fountain sprinkled water in the middle of the circular room.   As I understood what our discovery meant, I stomped the ground in relief. “Water!”   Rarity looked at me, then at the fountain. There was a small pool at its base. “Last one in the water is a rotten egg!” she exclaimed, taking off towards the fountain.   I sprinted after her. “You’re on!”   We reached the pool simultaneously, leaping in. Water splashed everywhere. For a moment, I was completely submerged – a tinge of panic was already hitting me, but my head soon penetrated the surface. I inhaled furiously, causing me to cough. Rarity giggled like a filly.   “Just what’s so funny, Rares?” I scowled.   Rarity continued giggling. “Oh, nothing, Twi.”   “I could have drowned!”   “Not really. I know it would require much more to take you down. It’s not like you’re Fluttershy. Or me. You’re quite adamant and courageous.”   “Courageous? Me?” I rolled my eyes. “I even managed to ruin our ‘romantic first kiss’. I don’t think that was very courageous.”   “Oh, don’t be ridiculous. You hadn’t prepared for anything like that. I would probably have reacted in a same manner. No – your courage is something else. Even though you knew that something like this would happen to us, you pressed on.”   “Yeah. And now we’re trapped in here.”   “ – which is obviously because there’s something we have to do here.” Rarity kept smiling.   “Like what? Make out?”   Rarity splashed water at me, letting out another giggle. “Twi, stop being silly.”   I soon climbed out of the pool. Its deepness was surprising; the bottom wasn’t even visible. The dark water looked almost menacing, even if it was our saving grace.   Something I hadn’t noticed when we entered the room now caught my eye. One of the paintings – the largest, hanging from the wall in the back of the room – was very familiar. Snow-topped mountains. A forest, a blue sky. I shivered.   “I think we’ve halfway there,” I said as my friend climbed out of the pool, making my heart jump. Rarity looked stunning, her wet mane gently flowing down.   “Hm?” Rarity looked at the direction of my gaze. “Oh. Twi, that’s quite something. I think we should take a closer look.”   “Sure,” I agreed. We walked across the room, dripping water onto the floor. From closer, the painting looked very realistic – the green of the forest seemed even more vivid than the real color. I reached my hoof up and touched the canvas, hoping on some level that I could just step through it. Of course, it didn’t work.   The painting seemed to be a good sign. Even though we didn’t dare to levitate it off the wall, it was now apparent that our assumptions about the burned book being involved in our escape had been right. Thus, we continued to search for it, this time from smaller shelves. It was a shame that I hadn’t recovered enough to levitate large amounts of objects at once – if I had, our work would have taken much less time. But soon, my thoughts started getting lost in the monotonous working process.   --   “Is that the last one, Twi?” asked Rarity, exhaustion evident from her voice.   I levitated books back into their shelves. “Yes, I think so. We’ve gone through every book in this section.”   Rarity let out a frustrated sigh. “Now what? We’ll just go find more?”   “I think we both need a little rest. Let’s think this over before continuing. Wasting our effort would be stupid.”   And so we lay down on the wooden floor. It appeared that the oil lamps hanging from the walls were in no danger burning out. At least we wouldn’t be enshrouded in darkness when we woke up, if we fell asleep. I cursed the loss of our bags in my mind; the cold and hard floor wasn’t a very comfortable surface to rest on. Rarity and I couldn’t reach any consensus about what we’d do after resting – we just didn’t have many ideas.   Like I had predicted, sleep didn’t come easy. A constant feeling of being watched kept me on high alert. No ward spells would be of any use here. If something would sneak up on us in our sleep, in a small enclosed space like this, there wouldn’t be much we could do.   Then, I saw something in the corner of my eye. I turned, and it was still there: light fog was slithering out of the pool we’d just swum in.   “Rarity…” I uttered, my heart pounding.   “Fog.” Rarity stared at the pool. I could see her shaking slightly. “That pool… it’s deep. I… we need to get out, Twi. Right now.”   I gave my friend a desperate look. “Get out? Where? Back to the previous room?”   “No idea, but we need to go,” demanded Rarity adamantly, keeping her eyes trained at the pool. The fog continued to rise from it, slowly crawling on the floor towards us.   “Let me try something first, Rares.” I channeled magical energy into my horn. It was already tingling. Trying wouldn’t hurt – I’d just have to take some care to not burn myself out again.  Focusing on the fountain, I unleashed a surge of energy. A purple bubble appeared around the fountain, containing the fog   “That’d better work,” said Rarity, shivering.   “I can only hold the fog back for some time.” My horn was already hurting from the effort, and I knew keeping the bubble up would eventually make the pain much worse. This isn’t going to work.   Rarity turned to look at me, and at that moment, I felt the spell faltering. Fog started seeping through the bubble, and a blink of an eye later, it shattered. Rarity’s eyes rolled back. Before I could do anything, she collapsed onto the floor, a monotonous grey color and a damp feeling engulfing the world around me. Rarity vanished from my view, along with everything else. The floor shifted into something else – I was now clearly standing on wet soil.   No, not again…   The fog faded away in an instant, revealing a scarce forest of pines and birches, me standing in the middle of a small clearing. Rarity was nowhere to be seen. Familiar mountains loomed in the distance, almost piercing the empty skies.   “Rarity!” I shouted, frantically pacing around and examining my surroundings. But she just wasn’t there anymore. Why did this have to happen?   Suddenly, clouds sprung into existence above me. The sun was blocked out, dimming the light significantly. Before I managed to do anything, the sky turned into a dark grey veil. A black circle, still smoking, appeared on the ground around me. I saw a dark figure moving at the edge of the clearing.   “Hey, you!” The figure stopped moving, starting to take a form. I froze and held my breath, as the dark mass transformed into a large pony; one with both a horn and flared wings. Her coat was dark grey, but in sharp contrast, the alicorn’s mane glowed brilliantly in shades of crimson and yellow. Her cutie mark was a single, purple star, surrounded by a spot of red. She just stood there, staring at me. I was speechless.   The alicorn didn’t say anything. For a while, our eyes were locked at each other, but eventually, she walked into the woods, swiftly vanishing from my sight. Only then did I recover from my paralysis. You can’t let her go after all this, I assured myself. Can’t. Go. Run, if you have to.   Convincing myself to move was hard, but I finally managed to break free of my trance and run after the alicorn. Fortunately, I hadn’t lost her; the forest was so scarce that there wasn’t anywhere to hide in. Besides, she apparently wasn’t even trying to get away from me. The alicorn took a look behind her shoulder, at me, and continued onwards. I followed her, but stayed a safe ten feet away.   Eventually, the alicorn stopped. “Twilight, I’m pleased that you came,” she told with a voice much resembling mine, not turning around. “Please don’t fear me. Summoning you wasn’t simple at all.”   “Who are you, and what did you do to Rarity?”   “Isn’t it obvious? I’m a princess. Princess Twilight. The Element of Magic – well, the former one – and the ruler of the Northern Coalition.”   I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “What? You’re… me?”   “Of course I’m not you. I’m an alicorn. You’re not.”   “Uhm... yes. You’re... an alicorn.”   The other Twilight let out a dry laugh. “Sure. Of course I am. Actually, I’m quite surprised that you aren’t one; a lot must have changed in two millennia.”   “And why would I be an alicorn?” I sternly asked. “That would make no sense. There are only three, and I’m nowhere near as powerful as them.”   “Oh…” muttered the alicorn. “You’re the Element of Magic, correct?”   “Yes, but-“   “Ah. You see – at this time, all of the Elements are alicorns. From your point of view, we’re almost two thousand years in the past. Undoubtly something big must have happened to end this tradition. The Bearers are supposed to be powerful, after all.”   I stomped the ground furiously. “You still haven’t answered my question about Rarity!”   “Don’t worry. She’ll join us soon, after the second summoning. Now, I’d appreciate if you let me explain why you’re here, Twilight.”   “Well?” I cocked my head.   “I need you. I no longer hold the power I once did; that was taken away from me, for reasons I don’t care to talk about. The Elements of Harmony are needed to protect the Northern Coalition. The armies of the Crystal Empire, along with the State of Canterlot, are already on the move. If the Elements can’t be used, my nation will crumble.”   I raised an eyebrow. “You need me to power the Element of Magic?”   The alicorn nodded. “Exactly. Your friend is also needed. I’m sorry for having to banish you two into that prison, but I assure it had to be done. It was risky, yes, but you did manage to find a way out of there – and that was the only way I could transport you here.”   “Hold on a second…” I interrupted. “You talked about two millennia earlier. I thought that the dialect back then was much different. We should hardly understand each other.”   “Bleh,” snorted the alicorn. “I spent more time than necessary in your world. Years, I think, just watching. It caught on.”   “This still doesn’t make much sense at all. If you were planning this all along, why did only the excavation of the… door bring you back to haunt me?”   “Not everything makes sense, Twilight. Especially this. In any case, please follow me. We have much to do.” The alicorn continued walking, but stopped as soon as she noticed I hadn’t done the same.   “Why should I help you, Princess? You pretty much kidnapped me.”   “I assume you wish to eventually return home. Oh, and see your friend again. Now, come; we don’t have an endless amount of time to waste.”   I resumed following the alicorn, albeit grumblingly. I felt anger building up inside me. How did she dare to threaten Rarity? Who is she, a real princess?  Even though I knew a lot about history, the time before Celestia’s and Luna’s rule had always been hazy. The books didn’t tell much about those times, and Celestia had been secretive when I had asked.   We walked for a while, until reaching the edge of the forest. In front of us loomed the same mountain Rarity and I had climbed only days ago. It didn’t look exactly the same, but the mountain’s profile was clearly recognizable. Where the excavation site had been, high up the mountain, a tiny building stood. I couldn’t see the details from this far down, but it resembled a cabin.   “Prepare for a long hike, Twilight. We should arrive by nightfall.”   “But…” I cringed. “It took two full days for me and Rarity to reach the site! If we’re going all the way up there-“   The alicorn shook her head. “There’s no need to go that high up. As long as we get halfway there, we’ll be good. A cave, carved into the mountain, is where we need to get to.”   A cave? “I think I’ve been there already.”   “Really?” asked the alicorn, visibly shuddering. “What… what was it like in your time?”   “It had caved in. I could sense your presence there, though – my dreams were haunted by your calls when Rarity and I slept there.”   “Well, that won’t happen in this timeline,” stated the alicorn with a bit of nervousness in her voice. “After its successful use, I will destroy the ritual circle there and collapse the cave. It will soon serve its only purpose.”   “Which is…?”   “To channel the energy of the Elements to repel the incoming armies. The army of my Coalition wouldn’t stand a chance against them, especially now that I’ve mostly been stripped of my powers-“   “Princess, pray tell, what have you done? And don’t you need the other Elements, too?” I was starting to get fed up with my namesake, but knew that if I attacked her, I would potentially be stranded here for a long time.   “The other Elements will be there.” The alicorn turned to face me. I could see a fire behind her emerald eyes – a fire of determination. “You don’t need to know, Twilight. But for my sin, I was imprisoned in your world for a long time. Imprisoned without even a real form, left to haunt ponies hundreds of miles away, with slim hopes of ever getting out. Trapped in a timeline where I was defeated. It was no accident that I was freed; I called those ponies who dug me up through their dreams, just like I did with you. If you’d now excuse me, we have a long day ahead. You may see your friend in the evening.”   “Alright,” I grumbled. The whole situation was bizarre, but I didn’t really have any other choice than obeying. Sweat built up very soon, and after every hour I felt weaker and weaker, occasionally stumbling dangerously. Our surroundings were as monotonous grey rocks as ever; it was like the whole world, save for the other Twilight’s mane, has lost its colors. Every now and then, a light drizzle fell on us.   As we got closer to the cave, I began seeing the Bottomless Lake when glancing behind. The place looked much different here: a small city was standing at its shore, numerous boats sailing on the huge lake. Many forms, probably ponies, had gathered in front of one building.   “Isn’t it beautiful?” asked the alicorn, making me jump. “I know Bluerod isn’t the wealthiest or largest of cities, but in my opinion, it’s still quite a capital. The palace is in need of some improvements, though.”   “Yeah, sure,” I replied, unable to hide my amazement. The city down below was indeed quite beautiful with its white spires and colorful buildings. “But no match for Canterlot. If Princess Celestia was here, you’d be very sorry for kidnapping me.”   The alicorn gave me an odd look. “Princess Celestia. I see… I see. The sisters of Canterlot. I shouldn’t be wondering that they survived all those years.”   Frightened and puzzled by the alicorn’s talk, I kept my mouth shut for the rest of our hike. I had ideas of stopping her with my magic and forcing her to transport me back, but quickly dismissed them. There was just too much at stake. Eventually, we reached a stone marked with a crimson cross. I didn’t recognize the scenery, but the cave was likely nearby. After all, erosion had done its job in two millennia, assuming I really was that far in the past.   I was led to the entrance of the cave – not much more visible that it had been when I found it, but more spacious. Torchlight flickered in the cave.   “Why don’t you go first, Twilight?”   “I don’t think so. I have to ask you something: are we really two millennia in the past from my point in time? If so, how does this make any sense? You were imprisoned in the future, so when you came back, nothing should have changed.”   “Oh, but everything changed,” said the alicorn, pawing the ground as if she was frustrated. “I was bound with very powerful spells. The Council of the Nine Nations declared my sentence. And enforced me. Alicorn magic is nothing to laugh at – as much time as I spent away has gone by here. Oh, and for the third time, not everything makes sense, no matter how much you insist it should.”   I followed in the alicorn’s hoofsteps as she walked inside. But as I entered the cave, my head spun. The walls swiftly blurred into a colorless mass, and twisted weirdly. A sudden pain wracked my head, and I keeled over.   --   An empty, featureless, eerie field surrounded me from all directions. The sky was blue, yet empty. Not a single cloud could be seen. The sun wasn’t there. I felt a pang of loneliness in my heart.   “Twilight?” echoed an unrecognizable voice from somewhere far away.   “Yes?” I shouted back.   The sky shifted to black, light leaving the world. I was now floating in a void, my heart racing due to the sudden change. Then, a brilliantly shining white form came to being in front of me. I was blinded by its light.   Something warm wrapped around me. “Twi! I’m glad you’re fine,” said Rarity’s sweet voice into my ear.   “I am?” I didn’t feel like I was fine yet. ”Where have you been, Rares?”   Rarity grabbed me, flipping me in the weightless void. She was now facing me. I noticed that behind her smile, she seemed very tense. Then, Rarity drew me closer to her, and everything turned white in a flash.