Two days.
It had been TWO DAYS!
Did no one ever come here? Did no one understand how to read the strange rectangles? Was the door too much of a barrier? Did all the creators already know everything, and had no need for them? Was the recipe that the Alpha taught the Swarm actually 'divine', and what did this mean? All these questions were starting to take their toll on the Swarm.
Did that old gray creator from earlier manage to figure out where the Swarm was, and quarantine it? Did it do something wrong, and not blend in well enough? Where did that table in the center of the room come from, and why didn't the Swarm notice it when it first entered? Was that why no one was coming in here? Was the table the ghost?! If the Swarm defeated it, would the creators come and show the Swarm how to read the rectangles?
Just as the Swarm had decided to vanquish the dreaded ghost table that had been plaguing the town, it heard the door click. Making sure its disguise held, the Swarm remained as it was and watched the door slowly open to reveal a creator. Depressingly, the creator seemed to have scared off the ghost table, as it was no longer in its usual spot in the center of the room.
The Swarm watched as the creator walked in, closing the door behind her, all the while wondering how she got the guardian door to let her pass. The creator seemed to look around the library for a while, as though she were searching for something. After a few minutes of searching, she stood where the ghost table normally was, and took a breath.
"Twilight!" called the creator, batting a lock of her blue and pink hair out of her face. "It's me, Bon-bon! I need to talk to you!"
Unsurprisingly, no one answered. The Swarm had seen no one for the past two days, so it was unlikely that this 'Bon-bon' would find anything, let alone another creator.
"Twilight!" called the creator again, moving towards the stairs.
The Swarm watched as Bon-bon called out a few more times, before heading up the stairs. The Swarm waited, to see what Bon-bon would do next. After a while, and a few more calls to this 'Twilight' entity, Bon-bon finally returned to the center of the library.
'Finally,' the Swarm thought to itself. 'Now this 'Bon-bon' will be forced to read the rectangles herself, allowing me to see-'
Before the Swarm could finish that thought, Bon-bon was engulfed in green flames. Once the flames disappeared, Bon-bon looked like a bug-creator hybrid, with holes in her hooves, wings, and horn. She quickly stretched out her wings, before she resumed looking around the library.
'Well, that answers the question of if the creators can change their appearance or not,' the Swarm thought. 'Now, to see what she does next...'
After walking around a bit more, Bon-bon walked up to one of the walls, and was once again engulfed in green flames. When they disappeared, Bon-bon now looked like a wooden piece of furniture, with a large reflective surface out of some shiny material. And then waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
The Swarm was getting frustrated. It was almost as if this creator didn't know how to read the rectangles either! And worse yet, she was copying the Swarm's plan! Granted, it's a perfect plan, but can't the creators come up with their own perfect plans?
As if sensing the Swarm's annoyance, the creator once again was surrounded with flames, and returned to her bug-creator form. She looked around wildly before her eyes settled on the Swarm. As she stared at the Swarm, her eyes narrowed in what the Swarm assumed was confusion.
'And she seems to somehow know where I am,' the Swarm thought to itself. 'This day cannot get any worse.'
-(◊)-
Double Repeat had been given a simple mission. He was to find and capture the Element of Magic, named Twilight Sparkle. He was then to take her to the Queen, and then he would be able to rest and relax. Possibly even be given a promotion!
At least, that's what he thought he was suppose to do. It was hard to understand the Queen while she was in mid flight. Every other word over the hive mind had seemed to be a scream.
It was suppose to be a simple mission, and nothing was supposed to go wrong. No, nothing could go wrong! He had been resting with the invasion reserves, after all, and had managed to avoid the purge of Canterlot. The only thing that had the opportunity to fatigue him was the trip to Ponyville (which had taken considerably longer then he expected).
It was when he got to Ponyville that things started to get weird.
First, a dog wouldn't stop barking at him. Then, he had to get a new disguise, as the disguise he was supposed to use to get close to Twilight had apparently stayed in town the entire time (some stallion named Big Mac), rather then attend the wedding. Once he found a new disguise by breaking into a house (some mare named Bon-bon), ponies had started pestering him about what it was like at the wedding! And then, to make matters worse, that dog from before had gotten out of the house Double had locked it in!
So, after locking the dog back up again, he had made it about halfway across town when some crazy gray pegasus had tackled him! This crazy mare, who had apparently been AT the wedding, ALSO wanted to know how the wedding had went! And then after Double gave her an (admittedly false) answer, she ran into him while taking off! And then the door to the library had been locked, so he had to use magic to get in. And then the Element of Magic was nowhere to be found! It was enough to make anyling crazy!
And now the bookshelf was angry at him.
But not only was the bookshelf was angry at him, it was able to FEEL ANGER! What, in the name of the Queen herself, is WRONG with this town! Its as if-...
'No... No, that's not possible,' Double thought to himself. 'There's no way the Queen would send someling else. She assigned me to this task personally.'
Double was about to sigh in relief, when he remembered the bookcase being angry with him.
'Maybe,' He thought, 'someling else intercepted the orders, and came here to claim the glory for themselves! That would explain all the trouble I've been having!'
Double felt his eyes narrow in anger. It was but a moment before he had made his decision. He charged his horn, preparing the strongest offensive spell he knew, taking careful aim at the bookshelf.
And then he released it.
-(◊)-
Twilight and Spike were walking back to the library from the train station. It had been a long trip back, and an even longer day yesterday. The wedding had been a success, mostly thanks to Twilight, and the mare in question only wanted to get some sleep.
As they approached the library, though, Twilight felt as though something was wrong. She was quick to shake it off, however, as just exhaustion speaking. Its not like anything else could go wrong, so soon after an invasion by changelings. After all, Karma owed her, and the laws of probability said that something horrible happening right now was 14,623 to one. With odds like those, what could possibly-
KA-BOOM!
As Twilight and Spike were nearing the library, a massive explosion from inside blew out the windows, and the front door landed a few feet in front of them. Twilight, understandably frozen due to the shock, could only look on as a single changeling, looking worse for wear, stumbled out from the now ruined library. After staggering around for a moment, it shook it's head and flew off, eventually disappearing into the distance.
Spike took this moment to sum up his thoughts on the matter quite nicely.
"Usually my dreams involve a lot more kissing..."
-(◊)-
Meanwhile, in the past...
Princess Celestia sat where she had landed. Tears were streaming down her muzzle as she stared up at the moon. Beside her, the Elements of Harmony were in a small pile, glinting softly in the moonlight.
She had done something that she would have previously thought impossible. Something that she had hoped would never happen, that she would never have to think about. Hoped that the prophesy she had been told was false. And yet, she had done it all the same.
She had banished her sister, Princess Luna, to the moon.
"If only you had listened," she said. "If only there had been another way."
As Princess Celestia sat, staring at the new pattern of shadows inscribed upon the moon, she could only feel remorse for not having taken the warning more seriously. She should have paid more attention to her sister. She should have seen this coming, and put a stop to it.
This was her fault.
As new wave of tears hit her, she found she couldn't look at the mare in the moon anymore. She looked away from the moon, and her vision focused instead on the Elements of Harmony. They sat, almost as if taunting her, reminding her of what she had done.
They were to blame! They had enabled her to banish her sister! If they hadn't existed, then Luna would still be here! Maybe she would have been able to save her, instead of having to resort to them!
Just as Celestia stood up, power gathering in her horn, she heard a familiar noise. She turned around, just in time to see the Tardis land nearby. Almost immediately, the doors opened, and out came the Doctor and his unwanted companion.
Celestia was shocked. She had not been expecting a visit from the Doctor, of all ponies. Had he come to fix this?
Or had he come to gloat?
The Doctor. Now she remembered. HE had been the one to give her the prophesy in the first place! HE had the power to stop it! And here he was, to gloat over her folly for not listening to him in the first place.
"Pinkie, any idea why you told us to come he-"
"YOU."
The Doctor, hearing the venom in Celestia's voice, turned to look at her. He quickly flinched away, as she started walking towards him, her mane and tail catching fire from the sheer intensity of her hatred. Pinkie, sensing that now might not be the best time for her antics, decided to hide behind the Tardis as Celestia drew near to the Doctor.
"YOU ARE TO BLAME FOR THIS! YOU COULD HAVE STOPPED THIS, AND YOU DIDN'T! YOU-"
"Told you," the Doctor interrupted. "I told you what would happen. I even went against my better judgment to do so, telling you of the future, just because you were a friend."
"YOU DARE," Celestia yelled out, using the royal canterlot voice. "YOU DARE TO PUT THE BLAME FOR THIS ON ME?! HOW DARE YOU! HOW-"
"How dare I?" The Doctor interrupted again. "How dare YOU! I went against my better judgment to tell you what would happen, so you could prepare yourself for it! Oh, you begged and pleaded to know the future. You even laughed at me when I told you what would happen! But now that you have to confront it, you blame me for warning you?!"
"YOU COULD HAVE STOPPED THIS! YOU COULD HAVE SAVED MY SISTER! YOU-"
"Could do nothing! It was a fixed point in time! IS a fixed point in time. This was going to happen, and not even I could stop it."
Celestia stared at the Doctor in shock, her mane and tail returned to their normal states (albeit a bit singed). After a moment, she collapsed to the ground, once again in tears. The Doctor sighed, and walked over to her, as Pinkie came out from behind the Tardis.
"Guess we know what we were suppose to do here," Pinkie commented as she walked over to inspect the elements.
"So it seems," said the Doctor with a sigh. "Look, 'Tia, I'm sorry. There really was nothing I could do. Don't you think I wanted to save her? That I wanted to prevent all this?"
Celestia's only response was to sob loudly as the once proud princess turned into something akin to a wet white throw pillow. The Doctor walked up, and put a foreleg across her (or at least as far as he could reach). As she sobbed, the Doctor muttered soothing words, trying to calm the princess.
After a while, the princess calmed down enough to look at the Doctor.
"T-thank you, Doctor. I should have heeded your advice."
"Your welcome, Princess," the Doctor said soothingly.
"Cheer up, Princess!" Pinkie said, hopping up next to Celestia with the Elements on her back. "Besides, its not like she'll be there forever! After all, its only a tho-MPH!"
"Pinkie!" the Doctor said, his hoof in her mouth. "Spoilers is what put her into this mess to begin with! I don't th-MMPH!"
"She does?!" Celestia asked, one hoof in the Doctor's mouth, and the other removing the one from Pinkie's. "She comes back?! Truly?!"
"Well yea! How else would we meet her in the future?"
Celestia smiled at Pinkie, before directing a glare at the Doctor.
"WHY am I only learning about this NOW?!"
As the Doctor removed the hoof from his mouth he rubbed the back of his neck with a forleg, a weak smile on his muzzle.
"Umm, oops?"
Celestia glared at the Doctor a moment longer, before directing her attention back to Pinkie.
"Thank you, pink one, for your kind words," she said. "You have FAR more empathy then HIM!"
After directing yet another glare at the Doctor, her attention fell upon the Elements of Harmony.
"Uch. Take those with you," Celestia said, while pointing a hoof at the elements. "I cannot stand to see them right now."
"Okey dokey lokey, Princess!" Pinkie said with a grin. "I'll be sure that they get back to you when you can stand them, OK?"
"Just-... Just take them away."
After a few more moments of consoling the princess, the Doctor announced that they should probably go. With much reluctance, the Princess agreed, and sent them on their way. Celestia watched them go, and when the Tardis had finally gone, broke down once again into sobs.