In the weeks that followed, Twilight worked tirelessly to create only theories for the spells that she would need, if she were to even have an inkling of a chance to find out the truth behind Clover’s disappearance. She poured over books like Pinkie Pie in a candy shop, thinking up theory after theory and testing them thoroughly again and again.
The few that made it farther than her wastebin, that is. More times than she cared to count did she throw paper balls filled with notes over her shoulder, groaning in frustration at her inability to come up with a theory that seemed to work. She knew almost nothing of the link Celestia said she had with Clover. The theories she could find about magic flowing through time, as well as any tangible objects, did shed a little light on her problem, and brought her ever so slightly closer to the answer.
It was only during one of the rare breaks she allowed herself to take that she found one of the first hints. Twilight and her friends were having a picnic in one of Ponyville’s parks when an old acquaintance returned. Ponyville ended up as a large slave camp under the iron hoof of Trixie wearing the Alicorn Amulet. The amulet had made her powerful enough to defeat Twilight in a magical duel, and she was thrown out by Trixie shortly after. Only the help of Zecora and her friends enabled her to defeat Trixie and get the Alicorn Amulet off of her.
Neither the magic duel nor Trixie’s corruption were actually the important parts. What was important was a spell Trixie had used shortly before the duel to tell them about how miserable her life had been after her initial humiliation in Ponyville. The spell created a magical screen that showed them what had happened in the past. She had used what Twilight assumed were her own memories of things past and projected them onto the screens
Only a pair of puppy eyes from one pink pony and a talking to from Rainbow Dash had kept her in ponyville for the remainder of the time she had scheduled for her visit. They all understood how important this was for her, but that didn’t mean that she should just put her research before her friends. Especially not when she had actually made time in her schedule to be together with them.
The week in ponyville passed and she returned to Canterlot and her research, digging through her notes and whatever books she could find about the spell Trixie had used with more fervor than ever before. At one point she stumbled across something similar, yet much larger. It was a mix between a sort of meditation and spell. If cast correctly, it would send one into something called ‘Hall of Memories’. It was a place deep in one’s consciousness where all memories, big and small, were kept. She discovered little more about it, save a subtle reference that a few individuals could even enter another pony’s Hall and show the memories of the one whose hall they had entered. From the way the author phrased it she gathered that it was more guesswork than anything else, especially since there was no factual evidence for it.
If she could properly cast this spell, she might be able to explore the link she had with Clover. According to what Luna and Celestia said, the link she had with Clover was one that allowed access to her memories. Could it be possible that she, via the hall of memories, could bring forth whatever memory of Clover’s at will? Maybe, but she didn’t know. One thing she did know was that she wouldn’t give up. She had a way to find her answer, regardless of how small the chance of it being a success was.
But even though she had found a way to possibly draw forth Clover’s memories at will, she still did not know how to project them into the real world. She could possibly use the spell Trixie had to project memories into the present. The problem, however, was that they wouldn’t be her own memories. She couldn’t project them onto an arcane screen like she did with her own memories. The Hall of Memories spell and the one Trixie used were similar in many ways, so if she could bring forth Clover’s memories, then perhaps she could make it her own somehow. She couldn’t help but wonder if it was so simple as to just be a matter of watching it over and over again until it became a memory of her watching it.
She resolved to find out. She wasn’t quite done yet, but she was getting ever closer. Three months of reading, taking notes, and researching had passed. She had found a way to possibly unlock a millennia old secret, something that might unveil the mystery of the ages. But despite not being entirely done yet, she knew she was close.