Trixie’s reaction was hard to gauge. She was weirdly balanced between understanding and about to go out of her mind. Her reactions to my explanation were a bit… well, flip-flopped.
I told her about my past as Sapphire Knight:
“I guess that seems plausible,” Trixie said. “It would explain your abilities.”
I went on about my past before that as a human:
“I… That just doesn’t seem… huh?”
The Multiverse Theory:
“Makes sense.”
My Little Pony:
Trixie winced. “A little creepy if you ask me.”
“Told you!” Smith said from the table of food.
Tia’s disguise:
“Oh! Your highness!” and she bowed.
Her biggest issue, however, was when I told her about Tia and me.
After I had finished, she just sat there rubbing her temples. “…Why?” she asked Tia for the third time. “I mean,” she motioned to me, “him? He’s not even that cute!” She quickly turned to me. “No offense.”
I waved her off. “None taken. I get that more often then I like,” I laughed.
Tia, having dropped her disguise a while ago, pulled me closer to her with a hoof. “No you don’t,” she smiled as she hugged me. She looked back at Trixie. “I don’t really care what he looks like. Zack has selflessly done so much for my sister and I, and I’ve grown to really care for him.” Tia nuzzled me and I could see Dash to left, gagging.
I chuckled, but stopped as I sensed something… I don’t know how to describe it. My best attempt would be evil. Tia and I looked at each other in confusion, confirming that it wasn’t just me that felt it.
I stood up to check outside. The rain and winds sounded much worse out there. I looked over at the table and saw it devoid of food. Smith was half-asleep on the floor nearby with a full belly and Pinkie, even though she clearly ate more than Smith, was bouncing around, ranting about something to Smith and anypony close enough to listen.
I had just raised a hoof to the door when Twilight stopped me. “Wait!” she called. I turned and saw her trotting up to me from where the rest of us were sitting. Trixie, Tia, and Rarity were all discussing something. “Won’t the storm just tear the doors in again?” Twilight asked. The roof of the barn creaked. “It sounds really bad out there.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. I pointed at my head. “I’ve got a spell to help with that.” I turned back to the door and gently placed my hoof on it. They both began to glow for a moment before about a square meter of red wood in front of me vanished, revealing the chaos that was reigning outside.
“Nice,” Twilight commented.
I searched the area outside. “Yep. One-way invisibility,” I explained. “Great for espionage.” The view outside was almost entirely obscured by a thick fog and heavy downpour. Things have only gotten worse. I continued searching outside before I saw something that caused me to raise a brow. “Hey, Trixie?” I called.
“Yes?” She turned her head toward me.
“Where did you park your wagon?”
“I hitched it right outside the farm’s main entrance. Why?”
Twilight was confused about my line of questioning until she noticed what I was looking at and gasped.
“So, you didn’t crash it into the top of an apple tree then?” I asked.
“WHAT?!” I heard two voices yell. I could hear running towards me and stepped out of the way in time for Trixie and Applejack to stop right where I was standing. They looked outside in horror.
“My house!”
“My little Blossomworth!”
Everypony looked at Applejack in confusion. She retreated a little when she noticed Trixie’s angry glare. “U-uhh, Ah mean, ‘Oh no! Yer home!’” AJ’s mouth scrunched up from an obvious lie. Smith was just now sitting up in interest.
Rarity groaned. “Is there an apple tree you haven’t named?”
“'Course there is!” Applejack shot back. “All the trees in the eastern field. Big Mac named those.”
Rarity facehoofed as Dash flew to look out the makeshift window as well. “This doesn’t make any sense. We didn’t even have a strong breeze scheduled! Much less this!”
“Something isn’t right. I think there’s something else affecting the storm.” I looked back at everypony. “We should stop it before it ends up destroying the town.” Everypony nodded, except an upset AJ and Trixie and a bouncing Pinkie.
Smith stood up. “Finally! Something fun to do!”
I rolled my eyes. “Alright, we’re splitting up into teams. Tia, I want you, Twilight, and Trixie with me, and keep us shielded.” She nodded as the four of us grouped together under a golden bubble. “Smith, Dash, and Fluttershy, you three are in charge of gaining control of the clouds.” Smith and Dash saluted, while Fluttershy nervously nodded. “Twilight, you’re in charge of keeping them shielded.” She nodded.
I looked at the remaining unicorn and two earth ponies. “The rest of you are to protect anything that isn’t nailed to the ground. The last thing we want are flying plows and carts in our way. Trixie is in charge of shielding you.” I turned to Trixie and Twilight. “Forget the weak stability thread I taught you two. It’s not strong enough for a storm like this. Just sustain it like normal.”
“What about you and the princess?” Trixie asked. “I mean, she could do a lot more than hold a single bubble.”
“We’re gonna find the cause of this.”
--------------------
As soon as we made our way out the door, I saw the strain of sustaining the bubbles on Trixie’s and Twilight’s faces. The Pegasi immediately flew up to the clouds and AJ led Pinkie and Rarity to the various supplies and equipment that needed protecting.
Once the four of us were standing in the middle of the field in front of the barn, I turned to Tia. She nodded and rested her horn on my forehead.
After a few moments and a bright flash of magic, everything around us faded, from the sound of the storm, to the dampness of the ground beneath our hooves. Even light eventually faded from our senses.
We both separated and stepped away. The entire world around me was black except for Tia and the various colors of glowing magic. I looked at where we were just sitting to see gold and cyan auras resembling our body shapes sitting there with their heads together. Next to our ‘bodies’ were two more purple glows. The darker one had three lines of the same color connecting it to three rapidly moving spheres in the ‘sky’. The lighter one had three as well pointing at the three spheres running around on the ground.
It’s always fascinating to explore the magical spectrum, I thought.
That it is, Tia thought. I heard her as clear as my own thoughts.
The telepathy is cool as well. Tia rolled her eyes and mentally giggled. Casting this spell together temporarily combines our minds and lets our consciousness roam around, free of our physical form. Normally, we would be invisible and share one single viewpoint. Adding our appearance and separating us was my own personal touch.
I have to say, it’s been ages since I’ve seen you like that. Tia thought.
Huh? I looked down at myself and saw a dark blue coat. I quickly glanced up and noticed my old horn and black hair. Oh, I never adjusted the spell to reflect my current look.
Tia smirked. Keep it. I like it.
I smiled and raised a brow at her. Well, as long as we’re going for nostalgic looks… My horn lit up as a cyan line connected it to my aura, and after a few moments, I released it and saw the old Tia in front of me. Her jewelry was gone, but she still had her wings and a horn protruded out of her pink hair. She looked 3207 years younger.
Come on, Tia giggled. We should head up to search for the magic behind this. We can be nostalgic later. I nodded and got on her back. Not really necessary since consciousness doesn’t need wings to fly, but I wanted to anyways. I could tell Tia enjoyed it as well.
We left the gold bubble and rose to where the clouds would normally be to see the three spheres flying around up close. Inside one was a prismatic glow, bucking invisible clouds. Another had a silver body dive-bombing through multiple clouds at once. The last one in the distance contained a faint aqua-colored glow, surprising me. I had half expected pink. Tia, remind me later to do some research on the connection between the color of one’s magic with the color of their eyes.
Tia mentally sighed. Noted, but don’t forget what we’re up here for, she reminded and I quickly nodded.
Flying around the area, I kept noticing something out of the corner of my vision. After the sixth double take, I started to get angry. I see it too, Tia thought, confirming my suspicions. It’s like it becomes invisible once you try to look at it.
Something about this seemed eerily familiar. Maybe it doesn’t, I thought. Maybe it’s an aura too dark to see straight on in this black void.
If that’s the case, then whose aura is dark and powerful enough to coat the entire sky? Tia asked.
Hmm. I may have an idea, but first let’s clear the area.
Tia nodded and we both charged our horns, a beam of cyan and gold connecting us to our bodies on the ground. We fired into the darkness and hit the invisible aura less than a meter from our faces.
Our magic connected and a strange feeling washed over me…
…
“A pathetic gnat…”
…
“-ou out of my way… -an’t stop me!”
…
“Goodbye, Knight!”
I suddenly came back to reality.
What… What the hay was that?!
Zack, are you okay? Tia asked. Your mind sort of vanished for a moment there.
I nodded. Yeah, I’m fine. I turned my attention back to the nearly invisible magic in front of us and we continued the onslaught, sweeping the area around us, until the darkness retaliated. A very dark and nearly invisible red beam shot out at us from behind, striking me and knocking me off Tia’s back. My cyan glow flickered, but I regained the power as I hovered in midair and fired back at what hit me.
As Tia and I cleared whatever this was away, it became a more and more visible red color. It tried multiple times to hit us, but we managed to avoid it. Once only a small area was left to hit, we both heard an evil laugh. I’m not kidding; it gave off one of those deep, cheesy villainous laughs as it vanished. “Muahahahaha…”
After we searched the sky for any remnant of the dark aura, we noticed the six violet spheres slowly converge on the gold one. The storm must’ve stopped, I thought.
Tia nodded and we both closed our eyes. Our senses slowly returned to us and our minds separated once again.
------------------
“And I was all like ‘Boom’, ‘Kick’, ‘POW’! And Smith was next to me swooping through and pumbling those clouds almost as fast as me.”
Tia and I separated from each other and she dropped her shield around us. The sky, although still mostly grey, was clearing and the rain had stopped. Dash and Smith were excitedly explaining to everypony how they, and I quote, ‘Showed those clouds who’s boss.’ Trixie, Rarity, and Fluttershy were all clearly exhausted. The others barely looked winded, except for the sweat Twilight had worked up.
The fields were a mess, with scattered branches and apples everywhere. Most of the farm equipment was missing, either stored in the barn or in a tree like Trixie’s wagon.
Twilight noticed us and trotted over. “What happened?”
“We found the magic that was causing the storm to go nuts and got rid of it,” I told her.
“So somepony was responsible?” she asked.
Tia nodded. “Yes, Twilight. Before we could finish it off, however, it vanished without a trace.”
Twilight looked worried. “Well what do we do? What if it comes back and you two aren’t here to stop it again? Ponyville could be destroyed or-” A white hoof cut her off.
“Relax, my faithful student,” Tia calmed her down. “I don’t think it will bother Ponyville again after we leave. I believe it was targeting Zack and Smith.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked.
She looked me in the eye. By this point everypony else had gathered around and was listening. “Because it was the same magic that brought you here.” I gulped. That only proves who I suspected to be the real culprit. This won’t be fun.
“So,” Smith spoke up, “you’re saying that who- or whatever made me and Knigh- sorry, Blast, travel to the future is here right now?” Tia nodded. Everypony looked at each other in worry and confusion.
“I pretty sure I know who’s behind this,” I said, “but I’ll explain when we’re with Luna.” I looked at Tia and Smith. “We need to get back to Canterlot as soon as possible.” They both nodded.
“Hold yer horses,” AJ said, getting a quick laugh out of me. “At least wait till mornin’. It’s nearly midnight. Ah have a guest room and two extra cots if’n you’d like to stay the night,” she offered.
“That would be wonderful, Applejack,” Tia said with her signature smile. “Thank you.”
“Aw, shucks, it’s the least Ah could do for helpin’ save my farm.”
I smiled and looked around to see Trixie sitting near Blossomworth, staring at her house. “Hey, Twilight? Don’t you have an extra bed?” I looked at her.
“Yeah, why?” she asked. I motioned my head toward Trixie. She looked over at her and gasped in remembrance. Twilight quickly trotted over to her and sat down, facing away from us. After a few moments I saw Trixie sigh and nod her head. Twilight hugged her, comforting her. They really have become good friends. I really hope this timeline is devoid of the Magic Duel. I’d hate to see that friendship go sour.
Everypony said farewell and went their separate ways. Tia, AJ, Smith, and I walked toward the house, which was also coated in apples and leaves. We walked in the front door and noticed Big Mac and Applebloom appear from under the stairs. I looked down there and saw another staircase leading down.
AJ hugged Applebloom. “Ah’m so glad you two are alright.”
Applebloom giggled at the attention. “We’re fine, sis!” Oh my Goddess, dat accent! “When the storm got real bad, Big Macintosh got me and took shelter in the cellar.”
Applejack released Applebloom and looked at Big Mac. “Thanks, Big Mac. You always know what to do.”
“Eeyup.”
I was confused. “Wait, where’s Granny Smith?”
AJ smiled. “Luckily, she’s away visitin’ aunt and uncle Orange.” Oh, okay then. “Oh, Big Mac, Applebloom, these are Blast Shield, Silver Smith, and, uh, Sunny Skies.” I turned and looked at Tia who was indeed in disguise. “They helped clear the storm and’ll be stayin’ the night.”
Big Mac nodded in greating.
“Howdy!” Applebloom yelled. Hnng!
“Well come on,” AJ motioned all of us toward the stairs. “Time to get in the bed.” She looked at Applebloom. “You’ve got school tomorrow.” She groaned as AJ looked at us. “I’ll show you where you’ll be sleepin’.”
--------------------
I woke up to a strange shifting noise. Before I even opened my eyes, I noticed that I was in a bed so much more comfortable than the cots Smith and I were using. Three guesses on why. I peeked out into the dark room and noticed that I was indeed on the full bed with Tia. My back was to her and both her wing and hoof were around me. The bed was against the back wall and the two cots were on the floor between the bed and the door. I was in the first one and Smith was in the closest one. Either I sleepwalk, or Tia pulled me up here. Why don’t we find out?
My hoof lit up and the whole room got a faint cyan haze to it. I looked over at the cots on the floor to see the ghostly images of me and Smith. I should really come up with a name for this spell and trademark it. I can’t call it the ‘view-the-past’ spell forever. I fast forwarded and noticed Smith tossing and turning the whole night. I finally saw my body rise in a magical glow and rest down where I currently was. Yep, Tia. We’re together for just one day, and she already wants me in bed with her. I released my spell.
…Wait, not like that!
I tried to go back to sleep, difficult as it was with that image now in my mind. Once I was about to doze off, I heard the shifting noise again and looked around to see Smith tossing and turning like a madpony. He sounded like he was mumbling something.
“Tia,” I nudged her behind me. “Hey, Tia. Wake up.”
“Hmm?” she said, squinting an eye open at me. I pointed down to Smith, who was getting louder. She raised her head to look over me.
“No… Don’t you dare…” Smith mumbled. “Don’t you dare touch her… S-stop lying!” He flipped over onto his back. “Luna, don’t listen to him. He’s… he’s not real…”
Tia and I looked at each other in confusion. Smith’s shifting just kept getting worse. I was about to wake him up when he suddenly sat up and yelled.
“NOOO!”
Smith panted and looked around the room, eventually noticing our concerned looks.
“Smith, are you alright?” I asked, really concerned for my friend.
He cleared his throat. “Y-yeah. Just a nightmare,” Smith waved us off.
“Do you wish to talk about it?” Tia offered.
“No, I’m fine,” he said. “Really.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “You had the same nightmare last night, too.” Smith looked surprised. I chuckled. “You mumble really loud in your sleep.”
He rolled his eyes and fell back on his cot. “Yeah, I’m sure.” He rubbed his head with a hoof. “Let’s just go back to sleep.”
“Alright then. Good night.”
“Night.” We all laid back down.
A few moments later, just when I was about to fall asleep, Smith shot up again and looked at us. “Why are you two in bed together?” he smirked.
------------------------
Ditzy gave me a hug farewell. We were all at the train station, either leaving, or saying goodbye.
“Oh, I hope you visit again soon,” Ditzy said.
“Don’t worry, I will,” I told her. “I still want to meet little Dinky.”
“Sure thing!” she happily exclaimed. “See you later!” She waved as she flew off.
“Ditzy! Pole!” I pointed. I decided to get straight to the point this time to warn her. She quickly turned and stopped, her nose barely touching the support column she almost hit.
I smiled as she properly flew off and turned to see Dash awkwardly saying bye to Smith. I looked at Twilight. “So why couldn’t Trixie come?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Twilight said. “She just told me she had something to do.”
“Well, tell her I said goodbye, and that I hope she gets her home fixed soon.”
Twilight nodded and I looked at Sunny. She was talking with Rarity about the suitcase she had just recieved.
“Remember, this dress is for any social event ‘Sunny’ may find herself attending,” Rarity said.
“Yeah, you would blow them away,” I said as I approached them. “They’d pay so much attention to you, that nopony’ll even remember what the event was for!” Sunny blushed. Wait… “On second thought, don’t wear it. I don’t want every stallion staring at you.”
Sunny and Rarity giggled. “I’m sure you needn’t worry about that,” Rarity said as Sunny nuzzled me. “You two seem perfect for each other.”
My cheeks heated up a little. That would normally bother me, but right now… I like that feeling. “There’s one thing that I’ve been worrying about, though,” I said.
“Hmm? What’s that, dear?” Rarity asked.
“Officially and publicly, am I dating Princess Celestia or Sunny Skies?”
“Oh dear, I see what you mean,” Rarity said.
Sunny just looked confused. “What do you mean?”
“Well, darling, in the public’s eye, if the Princess, the real you, is dating Blast, chances for private moments and dates outside the castle would be next to impossible,” Rarity explained. “However, if Sunny is dating him, you would be able to go out more often, but within the castle while you’re still the Princess, you two can’t really be seen together. Otherwise we may get a royal scandal, and that’s the last thing we want on your reputation as a great ruler, Celestia.”
Sunny seemed to understand and looked worried. “Oh my. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“And that’s why you’ve got me, the over-thinker!” I said and hugged her. “Don’t worry about it right now. I’m sure we’ll come up with something.”
“Until then, however,” Rarity cut in, “You two should try to avoid public displays of affection.” Sunny and I quickly separated and smiled. “Good.” She turned to leave. “Ta ta for now!” We waved goodbye.
“Out of my way!” I heard somepony say over the crowd.
I smiled at Sunny. “Ah! Trixie made it!” I turned to see Trixie appear with a small suitcase in tow.
“Trixie wishes to accompany you!” she said.
Huh? “Why?” I asked her.
“Seeing as how Trixie has no home at the moment and Twilight says it will take weeks to repair, Trixie has nothing better to do,” she explained. “Trixie might as well do a little sightseeing in Canterlot.”
Sunny looked skeptical. “Is that the only reason?”
“Yes.” Trixie’s face remained stoic, but her shifting on her hooves gave away the lie.
“Now Beatrix,” I said in the most disappointed voice I could manage. She flinched at the name. “We have a rule. No lies, and no secrets. Are you absolutely sure that that is the only reason?”
Trixie shifted a bit more before caving in. “N-no. Trixie actually wanted to learn…” she trailed off
“What?” Smith asked.
She sighed and looked away, embarrassed. “I said I was hoping to become Blast’s apprentice as well.”
I laughed. “I’m sorry. It sounded like you said you wanted to be this Pegasus’ apprentice?”
Trixie glanced at me and lightly nodded, rubbing her foreleg with the other. “It’s just, after I saw what you could do, both in the barn and in dealing with the storm, I may have possibly thought that you were a better magician than me.”
I smiled as Twilight ran up and hugged Trixie. “Oh, I’m so proud of you!” Twilight said. “Admitting that somepony is better than you just shows how much you’ve changed, Trixie.” Trixie blushed. Dash and AJ both looked impressed, while Fluttershy just smiled. Pinkie was- Hey, where’d Pinkie go?
Ignoring the missing pink enigma, I turned my focus back to Trixie. “You can come on two conditions,” I told her. She nodded. “One, please stop with the third-pony thing,” Hehe, see what I did there? “It not only makes you sound like one of those stuck-up jerks, who I hate by the way, it also gets annoying after a while. Leave it for the stage.”
“Trix- er, I will try my best,” she said. “What’s the second condition?”
“How are you at pranks?” I asked mischievously. Trixie looked confused.
“Alright! Everypony on the train,” Sunny said annoyed, as she pulled my ear toward the nearest car.
“Ow, ow! I was only kidding!” I said, hoping she’d let go. Smith hopped on in front of us and Sunny let me go in front of the door. I looked back at Trixie. “Come on then!” I motioned to the train. “We’ve got a long ride ahead of us!”
Trixie brightened up considerably. She excitedly hugged Twilight goodbye and ran over to us.
“I’ll be coming to visit next Sunday!” Twilight called. Trixie nodded.
“Don’t forget, someday this week, I’ll be visiting you!” I called back as we all got on the train.
She, along with everypony else, waved goodbye as the train pulled out of the station. We returned it from our window until the Ponyville station was out of view. We were in a train cabin, which had a bench on either wall, a door to the hallway to one side, and a window looking out on the other. Sort of reminds me of the Hogwarts Express for some reason. Tia and I shared one seat, while Smith and Trixie occupied the other.
“Why couldn’t you have just taken a chariot?” Trixie asked Tia, who had dropped her disguise.
“When I sent a message for the guards to deploy one, they sent me a reply saying that they were dealing with an intruder at the moment,” Tia said.
“Yeah, apparently when one Pegasus sneaks into the castle, everypony in the guard suddenly gets too busy to even pick up their Princess,” I said sarcastically.
Smith laughed. “Sounds just like that one time we both-”
“Haha, yeah, that was funny,” I laughed, pointing at him.
“It sure was.” Smith said.
“I honestly didn’t think you had that in you!”
“What?” Trixie said.
“Oh, I’m full of surprises.” He motioned toward me. “Just like you, Mr. Hothoof. I had no clue you could dance like that.”
“Well, when you’ve spent most of your life bipedal, you learn a few fancy tricks.”
“That explains why most of it was on your hind legs.”
“Oh! Are you two talking about the Peppermint Incident?” Tia interjected. We nodded and she smiled. “As funny as it was, to this day, peppermint tea is still forbidden within the castle.” She giggled.
Trixie looked confused as all get-out. “What are you talking about? You know what, nevermind. I don’t want to know.” She put her hooves up in surrender and we laughed. “Anyways, Blast, you said you know who pulled you here and caused the storm?”
I nodded then crossed my forelegs and closed my eyes in thought. “I’m almost 100% certain on who it is.”
The cabin went silent for a few moments.
“Well don’t leave us hanging!” Smith exclaimed. “Who was it?”
I took a deep breath and opened my eyes to look at everypony.
“Sombra.”