"Time travel is scientifically impossible..."
"... I got sucked back into the future!"
"Is there some kind of epic pony war in the distant future?"
Darkness surrounded me. My voice echoed all about, repeating parts of life I'd already lived. The voices stopped when they asked this question.
"I'm sorry, Twilight. But... yeah."
I sat forward, shivering but drenched in sweat. Spike barely stirred.
I trotted quietly to the bathroom, getting a look at myself in the mirror. Deep circles sagged below my eyes, and my mane was a frazzled mass of blue and pink.
How many times? How many times had I had that dream? Too many, if you ask me.
But it was all perfectly scientific. Dreams were made of fragmented parts of memories, mushed together in whatever way your brain found acceptable. Even though that voice at the end sent chills through me, it seemed familiar. I was certain I'd heard that voice before, though I couldn't place it.
It was male, but only just, at a higher pitch than most stallions I knew. It had an accent as well, Bittish-- but I didn't know anypony like that.
I sighed, snatching a brush off the bathroom counter a lazily tugging it through my matted mane. Only an hour before sunrise, may as well do a bit of early morning research.
The library, although familiar, was a creepy place to wander about in at night, and I resolved to bring a few books back up to my bed. It sounds silly, but I couldn't feel safe unless I had my back pressed up against something solid-- otherwise, somepony could sneak up behind me and scare the crap out of me.
Safely nestled back under the covers, I cracked a book on theoretical economic future. The book explained where certain businesses and countries were expected to go over the period of the next twenty years. It was dry reading, but I was excellent at sapping information from even the most boring of texts. Maybe there was a recession on the horizon. That could cause a war.
Plus, who didn't love a good mystery? One involving myself just added a new level of excitement.
After I had read about credit and durables for a while, the sunlight crept over the windowsill, causing me to squint in the sudden harsh light.
Surprise, surprise. You can't get through more than a few pages without being interrupted by somepony pounding on your door in this town.
"Who is it?" I called.
"Uh... Derpy the Mailmare... y-you need to sign for this package, Miss Sparkle... "
"Oh, Celestia... " I muttered. I stuck a tissue into my page and came to the door as quickly as I could manage. There stood Derpy, happy as a clam, looking at both me and my awning at the same time.
"Hello! Just sign here, please." She passed me a clip board and a quill.
"Thanks, Derpy. Who's the package from?" I asked, signing quickly and giving them back.
"I dunno," she said. "It's just this little thing... Not enough space for a return address? Then, they could've just put it on the back. Maybe it's inside? But then how could the Post Office read it?" She rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
"Tell you what? How about you come inside and we can open it together? I'm sure you're as curious as I am," I offered.
Derpy's face brightened. "Yeah? Oh, that'd be really cool, thanks!"
"Sure thing." I smiled, leading her inside. "let me just get a pair of scissors..."
"Mm-kay..." Derpy swayed back and forth happily, glad to be a part of something.
I dug through a junk drawer in my desk. "Got them!"
"Great!"
Spike snored loudly. I rolled my eyes.
The package was about the size of a coaster, so that only the very tips of the corners poked outside the reaches of my hoof. I cautiously slid the scissor blade under the tape, snipping it open evenly and unfolding the cardboard. "Huh."
"Wow! That looks cool!" Derpy smiled.
An antique watch lay on a small bed of faded yellow tissue paper. It was very plain, just silver with a matching chain. "That's kinda weird... this looks old... who would send something like this through the mail? Stuff gets lost all the time, why not hoof-deliver?"
"Do you recognize it? It's pretty neat."
I shook my head. "Guess it got sent to the wrong place. That's too bad... I can't send it back."
"My grandmother always told me not to look judge a gift by it's mouth. Wait a minute..." She looked deep in thought. "Yeah, that wasn't it..."
"I'll keep it around. Maybe somepony we know lost it. I'll post an ad in town hall." I folded the box back together, placing it on a shelf out of Spike's destructive reach.
"Thanks for inviting me in, Twilight!" Derpy beamed. "But I should finish my route. Oops..." She had backed into a small table with a vase on it near the door. I caught it all with my magic before it could drop.
"No problem. Always like to make a friend or two."
"Heh.. bye..."
I waved as Derpy awkwardly exited the building, closing the door behind her and spiraling through the sky to her next destination.
"Whew..." I breathed a sigh of relief. No damage done.
I stole one last glance at the box, then climbed the stairs and began to poke Spike awake. "Spike! Come on, it's shopping day!"
Spike heaved a fantastic sigh, rolling about in his bed.
"Spike, no time for this! We've lost a few hours as it is!" I continued shaking and poking his shoulder.
"Hours? What were you doing this morning? You never lose track of time!" he whined.
The last word echoed in my head, growing louder and louder until I had to cover my ears. It then left as quickly as it had begun. "Huh..."
" 'Huh,' what? Just... lemme go back to sleep, please..." He waved a claw in my face, tugging the blanket back over his head.
"A-alright..." I muttered absent-mindedly. I wandered back to the door, pulling it slowly open to check for any signs of my friends.
The coast was clear. I grabbed the package back off the shelf and lifted the watch. "What are you..." I wondered.
The whispers weren't in my head. They were coming from this watch. I could feel it!
It wasn't an ordinary watch. It meant something. It had some kind of spell on it. I had trouble looking directly at it for more than a few seconds. What kind of spell would do that? Why make it like this when you could make it invisible?
I pressed hard on the latch, trying to get it to open. It was stuck tight. Even magic couldn't open it.
I held it up to the light by its chain, letting it spin slowly, revealing its strangely decorated backside. Odd symbols, mostly circles, intertwined on the back.
What could it be?
A mystery...
Did I mention I love mysteries?
~~~~~
"What's that, Twilight?" Mayor Mare peeked over my shoulder to look at the flyer I was putting up. "Ooh! That's a pretty trinket!"
I chuckled. "It got sent to me by mistake. I was hoping I'd get lucky and somepony here in town would recognize it."
"Good luck, then!" She trotted off.
Wow. Some ponies just weren't curious at all, were they?
"You just couldn't give a crap, could you?" I asked.
"I don't know. Doesn't bother me." The Professor raised a hoof to his forehead. "Follow orders!" he mocked.
I punched him in the shoulder. "Stop it. Something's up..."
"Twilight? Anypony home?" Applejack waved a hoof before my eyes.
"Hm? Yeah?" I snapped back to reality as though from a deep sleep.
"You alright? In one of your worlds again?" Applejack gave me a concerned look. "You're startin' to worry me, Twilight. Ever since that time you thought your future self--"
"I know, I know. But it really happened!" I insisted.
Applejack looked a little sad. "I wanna believe you, Twilight, but..."
I hung my head. "I'm fine. Really. I just... drift off sometimes. What are you doing here, anyway?"
"Oh! Just... pickin' up an order form from the Mayor. Birthday's comin' up... wanted some apple pies. Listen, though: I think you should think about seein' somepony."
"W-what? Applejack, we're best friends! You know me well enough to know that this has never bothered me before!"
"I don't know... just think about it, okay? I'm only sayin' so 'cause I'm a bit worried about you. This kinda thing is usually caused by somethin', you know," she said.
"Okay. Maybe..." I left. Nothing more to say. Applejack was so down-to-earth. She doesn't over-react, she just knows what's best.
I would've taken her advice and considered some kind of therapy, but... that watch. That watch was something real, something that seemed to be connected to this.
And I would solve this mystery. No matter the cost. This was my mind we were talking about.
And who knows what else...