It was over… she’d finally found out just what Rainbow wanted from her… so why did she feel so sour?
Twilight rolled over in her bed and opened an eye to look at the clock.
It wasn’t because she was drunk… she wasn’t; her tolerance and metabolism made it so it was almost impossible for her to get drunk. Nor was it because of her omnipresent headache again.
No… it probably had something to do with the fact that she’d used her friend… she’d gotten her drunk and abused her position to find out information which she would have been hard-pressed to find out otherwise.
That was probably why.
There was a quick knock and Spike walked into the room carrying the tray of breakfast as per normal. “Morning, Twilight,” he greeted, “How’re you feeling?”
Twilight tried to cover her regretful expression and replaced it with a flickering smile as she propped herself up: “I’m fine, Spike. How about yourself?”
“I’m good,” he answered, looking at her uncertainly, “Are you sure you’re fine… you don’t look it. Is this something to do with why you were collapsed on the doorstep yesterday?”
Twilight sighed to herself, apparently her skills at lying were not as up-to-scratch as she’d hoped. “Probably,” she conceded, “It shouldn’t be anything to worry about,” she continued, “With any luck, I’ll be back to normal in a few hours. Is that breakfast?” she asked, changing the subject entirely.
Spike looked down at the tray he was holding in surprise, almost as if he’d forgotten that he was carrying it. “Uh… yeah,” he said after a moment, looking up and proffering it to Twilight, “I take it you’re hungry then?”
“Very,” Twilight replied, reaching over the bed and taking the tray in her hooves, “I don’t think I managed to have anything to eat yesterday…”
“Speaking of which…” Spike said, watching Twilight as she started digging in to the breakfast with gusto, “Where were you yesterday? You said you were going out, but you never said where.”
“Mmm?” Twilight wondered aloud, chewing on half-a-slice of toast as she registered the question and swallowed. “I was out for a drink with a friend,” she answered truthfully for once.
Spike just looked at her blankly. “Since when did you drink?”
The look that Twilight gave Spike was not impressed. “Seriously?” she asked aloud, “Is anyone not going to be incredulous when I say that I drink?”
Unsure of whether she was addressing him or not, Spike shrugged his shoulders unhelpfully. “I’ll just go and re-shelve the travel section shall I?” he asked, edging away from Twilight as she started to knead her head.
“Fine,” she muttered, more to herself than to him, “I’m not in today, alright?” she said after a moment, letting her bad mood speak for her, “If anyone- and I mean anyone- comes calling for me… tell them that I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Whatever you say,” Spike said, edging out the door and shutting it quietly behind him.
She glanced at the clock again. It was ten-forty-five. She briefly considered rushing over to the train station again before deciding against it. She needed a break… a day where she wasn’t rushing around everywhere and a day where she could sit back and contemplate her situation properly.
It occurred to her that she’d been taking the whole stuck-in-the-same-day incident surprisingly well. She hadn’t freaked out yet… not properly anyway. She’d kept herself rational, working through each day as it came and delaying her death just that bit longer.
She wondered whether there was even a way out of this loop or if she’d be stuck in the same day forever. It wasn’t an exciting prospect.
On second thoughts… perhaps another visit to Canterlot would help ease her mind and pre-empt any such mental disasters.
She glanced at the clock again; it had barely ticked onwards since she’d last checked.
Deciding to get the book read sooner rather than later, she quickly finished what was left of her breakfast and slid out of her bed, leaving the tray on her bedside table.
At least this time, she wouldn’t have to rush to the train station. Remembering what had happened yesterday, she opened the drawers beside her bed and retrieved a small pouch of coins.
She left her house at a brisk trot, leaving a note for Spike if he went looking for her.
It wasn’t long until she could see the station, the train waiting patiently inside as it had been doing yesterday.
She strolled inside the station, approaching the pale-grey mare behind the ticket desk. “Good morning,” she greeted, “I’d like a ticket to Canterlot, please.”
The conductor pressed a few buttons on the machine behind her desk before she spoke, “That’ll be seventeen bits, Princess.”
Twilight quickly handed over the bits in exchange for the ticket, marvelling at how different the exchange had gone this time. “Thanks,” she offered, moving towards the waiting train.
Once again, the carriage was all-but empty and she settled herself onto one of the many unoccupied seats as she contemplated just how dissimilar the two conversations had been.
The first conversation had been when she had rushed into the station, perhaps catching the conductor off-guard for the subsequent chat. She wondered what would have happened if she’d forgotten her bits this time around; whether the conductor would have still given her a ticket regardless.
The train juddered to life as Twilight kept thinking it over. Maybe the fact that she was stuck in this loop was a blessing in another way… She’d be able to see how others would react to what she did and how she did it.
It would just be like one of her experiments… a social experiment to see what everypony reacted to; what caught them off-guard, etcetera.
It took her a few moments before she realised what she’d been thinking. She mentally slapped herself, trying to rid her brain of any of those ideas.
She would never play with another pony’s emotions and their feelings… Why those thoughts had even crossed her mind was a mystery to her.
Another stray thought presented itself for her inspection. You’ve already done it once… or were you so quick to forget?
“Shut up, shut up, shut up,” she whispered to herself, shutting her eyes and willing that particular thought to go away. Just because she’d already done it with Rainbow Dash didn’t mean that she had to be proud of it.
Another thought poked her, Isn’t she going to be looking for you again?
Twilight bit her lip. She’d left a note to Spike telling him that she’d gone to Canterlot. Assuming that he found that note before Rainbow came calling, she was willing to bet that he’d share the information with her.
She didn’t want to run into her today; she needed some time to reconcile with herself, to convince herself that her manipulation had been necessary. Only then would she feel like she could face Rainbow again.
In the meantime…
Well… she was fairly sure that she knew some spots in Canterlot that she could hide in safely.
She glanced outside, watching the countryside speed past as she grew closer and closer to Canterlot.
She decided that she’d read through the rest of the book first, analyse it after some lunch as prepared in the palace, then go back home for the night.
She wondered about that last point…
As proven yesterday and the day before that, it didn’t matter where she slept, she’d always end up back in her own bed the next morning.
She supposed it was just one more habit that didn’t seem to matter in this loop.
She had time now… there was no reason why she couldn’t consolidate the previous days now as she’d planned to do earlier.
The first and second day of the loop, she’d let her friends know that she was going to die. That was basically that for them. She knew what their reactions would be and that was something at the very least.
The third day was where she’d attempted to make the starting steps in fixing her body, attempting to diagnose herself and apparently putting herself into a short coma in the meantime. She was in no rush to put herself in that same situation, but it would be a necessary evil at some point in the future.
And then there was the fourth day – yesterday – where she’d travelled to Canterlot to research the time loop that she was in… and when she’d found out what Rainbow wanted to talk to her about.
The time loop was what she was going there today for, so she could focus on that at a later date… Rainbow on the other hand…
Twilight really couldn’t have guessed that was what she’d wanted to talk to her about, and it certainly accounted for Rainbow’s prevalent nerves over the previous encounters. What struck her about it though, was Rainbow’s reasoning. Twilight could focus on whether she shared Rainbow’s feelings or not later, it was the why that made her wonder.
“It’s lonely at the top.”
Her whisper came as a surprise as she echoed Rainbow’s words. She could lie and say that she had no idea what Rainbow was talking about… but she’d had a point.
There were very few ponies that could match Twilight’s raw power and that made socialising odd.
She had friends, yes. She had Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Rarity. Otherwise… she knew a lot of ponies that knew her and knew how powerful she was. No matter how much she insisted that she wasn’t special, they always treated her with reverence.
The fact that she was an alicorn now hadn’t helped matters.
She wondered if that was what Rainbow referred to; whether she suffered from the same admiration that separated her from ponies.
It made sense, Twilight supposed. If she believed the stories, Rainbow was leagues above other pegasi in terms of velocity, agility, and simple creativity. It took a certain kind of pony to invent their own tricks apparently.
Just like it took a certain kind of pony to invent their own spells.
Looking at it that way, Twilight supposed she could see where Rainbow had drawn the lines and how she’d connected the dots. That she’d supposed that they, both being lonely, could be together and not be lonely anymore.
Was she lonely?
That was a question that Rainbow’s whole thought process seemed to revolve on: was Twilight lonely?
No answers presented themselves to Twilight.
The sound of brakes broke her from her thoughts and she glanced out the window again as the train rolled into Canterlot.
She left the train silently, not calling attention to herself this time as she left the station. She glanced at the clock, now showing ten-thirty, and smiled to herself. If her memory served her correctly, there was less than half of the book left to go.
She set off towards the castle briskly, simply nodding at the two guards on duty this time, far-from eager to get involved in another inane conversation.
The library welcomed her into its silent embrace and she immediately sought out ‘A Stitch in Time’ once again. Soon enough, she had the book and the familiar Mobius strip cover was placed on one of the reading tables dotted around the library.
Smiling to herself, she opened the book to the last page she’d reached yesterday and started reading.
Epilogue
Once I was finally free of the loop, I immediately wrote what was the first draft of this book, believing that by doing so, I would be somehow closer to understanding just why I was ever caught inside such a loop, or indeed, how I was freed.
After such an assignment, I am sad to report that I reached no such conclusion. There was no apparent reason to why I ever stumbled into the time loop, nor such a reason for why it ended. It simply happened on the thirty-fourth day of the time loop.
My account was met with doubt by my peers, yet I know that, someday, you and I will know the truth of the matter.
That was it.
One of the cleverest unicorns of an age hadn’t been able to puzzle out why she’d been caught, nor why she’d been freed. Twilight didn’t have much hope for herself in that case then.
She turned over the last few pages, hoping against hope that there’d be another paragraph, a footnote, something that meant she was further from freeing herself from the loop than four days ago.
She had no such luck, finally shutting the book with a sigh as she contemplated her next move.
It seemed that there’d be very little effective analysis that she could do of the book, and that frustrated her. She’d try to glean what she could, but she doubted that’d be much more than a few pages and loose notes, none of which would be crucial.
“It’s probably just as well that they’re not going to last then,” she muttered to herself quietly, sliding the book away from her and resting her head on the table sadly.
All her life, the library had given her answers on everything she’d ever wanted to know; whether it was the capital of Griphonia and the royal bloodline thereof, or the maximum velocity of an unladen swallow. The library had always provided her with an answer…
Now, it seemed that it could help her no more.
She wondered if there was an advanced medical book in here somewhere, something that could aid her in her other quest; the one that would heal her and ensure that she’d still be alive on leaving the loop.
She had no doubt that there’d be such a book somewhere in the library, but she doubted that it’d yield any more useful information than her own book had done; simply stating that the patient could not use their magic in any regular fashion and that death would follow soon after.
She rolled her head upwards, angling it towards the clock and noting the time again – a habit which was becoming unhealthier and unhealthier for her. It was a little past noon and she was a loss for something else to do.
She decided to settle with some lunch first of all, getting to her hooves and leaving the book out again, resolving to return to it with a full stomach and a clear head.
She didn’t see the librarian on the way out this time, yet it didn’t surprise her. He was probably shelving some of the returned books or something similar, she reasoned to herself.
Thankfully, she remembered her days in the palace well enough to navigate it with ease, heading north as soon as she left the library and towards the palace kitchens.
She wondered where Celestia would be at this hour. Certainly, she’d be up and about, it was just a matter of specifically where she was. She was still trying to decide whether or not she wanted to run into her mentor at the current time.
Maybe she’d even give you a few more ideas on getting out of the time loop? some small part of her reasoned.
Twilight shook her head, sighing and clearing all thoughts from her mind. She could think about that if she ran into her. For the time being, she’d just focus on something to eat.
Instead of continuing onwards towards the banquet hall, she took a right into a small passage, almost hidden from view due to how discreetly it was placed. The passage was cosy and led straight to a single wooden door; the kitchens.
She knocked twice and waited patiently outside the door.
Soon enough, the door swung open to reveal a slightly-plump mare with laughter lines etched permanently into her cream coat and a trace of her previous laugh still caught on her lips.
“Afternoon, Apple Pie,” Twilight greeted warmly and it was barely a moment before the unicorn in front of her followed suit.
“Miss Twilight,” the chef – Apple Pie – replied, smiling widely, “Well this is a surprise; we haven’t seen you here for at least a year.”
“I thought I’d come and say hello again,” Twilight said, “I don’t suppose you have any spare portions for lunch that are still in the kitchen?”
Apple Pie nodded, stepping back from the doorway with a bound. “Of course,” she answered, “Silly old me for not seeing it sooner; you’re looking downright peaky. Come on in, come on in. I’m sure Ginger is as eager to say hello again as I am.”
Twilight stepped through the door quickly and into the cavernous kitchen beyond, the narrow passage and lone door doing nothing to approximate the sheer size of the room beyond.
Rows and rows of surfaces were packed into the room, each of which was being taken up by an assortment of pots, pans, ingredients, a sink, or, in some cases, all four. Along the far wall, there was a collection of fridges and another pair of doors that presumably led to the freezer and the pantry. Every now and again, Twilight had to remind herself that this was all being run by two ponies at any one time.
It beggared belief sometimes that Apple Pie and Ginger Pudding could keep this whole kitchen moving like a well-oiled machine. The latter of the two – a lilac mare with teal curls – was currently stood at one of the workstations, slicing something in front of her.
“Ginger,” Apple announced, “We have a guest.”
Ginger looked up from what she was doing and over towards Twilight. Once she recognised who it was, she offered a brief smile towards Twilight before turning back to her chopping. “Twilight Sparkle,” she called over her shoulder as the sound of a knife hitting a board started up again, “It’s been too long.”
Apple rolled her eyes, “She’s been working since six this morning, the poor dear, I don’t think she could stop if she tried at the moment.”
Twilight just smiled again. “Hello, Ginger,” she called, “it’s nice to see you’re doing well.”
“I’ll be doing well once I’ve finished this meal and I can have a break,” Ginger muttered to herself, her words carrying across the echoing room.
Apple shook her head slightly, “No matter,” she said to Twilight, “I’m sure we have something here that would do nicely for lunch.” She paused, looking around the kitchen and sighing. “Ginger?” she eventually called, “Where did you put the leftover lasagne?”
“It’s in fridge fifteen-b, along with all the other leftovers from today,” Ginger called back, not looking up once.
“Ah, of course it is,” Apple said to herself, setting off down the room at a trot, Twilight following close behind. “I’ve never managed to figure out how she remembers where everything goes,” Apple commented jovially, “Thank Celestia for me that she’s here though – and you for that matter. Here we go.”
They’d stopped in front of one of the many fridges and Apple opened it, searching inside it for a moment before she emerged with a plate, a few portions of lasagne still left on it.
“Just give me a few moments to warm this up for you,” Apple said, closing the fridge behind her and heading towards one of the counters. Using a knife, she split the leftovers and moved a reasonably large portion onto another plate. “Be a dear and put this back in the fridge, would you?” Apple asked, indicating towards the remaining leftovers.
Twilight nodded and picked it up carefully, making sure she had a firm grip on the plate with her teeth before she set off moving, leaving Apple humming quietly to herself behind her.
Thankfully, she remembered which fridge it had belonged to and slid the plate into place quickly, shutting the door of the fridge again once she was sure that it was secure.
By the time she returned to Apple, steam was rising steadily from the plate and Apple was rummaging around in a few more drawers. “Aha!” she said after another moment, returning with a knife and fork clasped in her magic. “Bon Appétit,” she said grandly, laying down the utensils beside the plate and letting Twilight step forwards to examine her work.
“This smells really good,” Twilight aptly commented, trying to figure out how she was going to go about eating the food in front of her with no magic, especially with present company.
“It’s nothing compared to how it tastes, I assure you,” Apple said, busying herself at the closest sink with some of the washing up. “You’re welcome to stay here and chat a while if you want to.”
“Thanks,” Twilight replied, silently thankful that Apple had her back to her now as she considered how she was going to go about doing this. She paused for a moment. “Do you have any chairs or something?” she asked.
“There’s one under the worktop, my dear.”
“Ah,” Twilight murmured to herself, reaching down and pulling it out quickly, trying to ignore the grating screech as she dragged it across the floor, sitting down on it once it was far enough away from the table.
She quickly glanced towards Apple, making sure that she wasn’t looking as she picked up the knife and fork in her hooves, balancing them carefully as she started to cut into her meal.
She had to hand it to Apple as always; it was absolutely delicious, and, soon enough, there was nothing left on the plate. She let out a satisfied burp as she put down the utensils. “Pardon,” she muttered quietly to herself before speaking to Apple, who was now drying the washed pots, “That was fantastic, thanks.”
“Think nothing of it,” Apple replied lightly, smiling over at Twilight, “You’re always welcome here; remember that.”
“Thank you,” Twilight repeated, her smile dying slightly as she thought about what Apple had just said.
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” she continued nonchalantly, “Everyone gets sick now and again. Neither you nor I can help it; we may as well live with it. Can you pass me your plate, dear?”
Twilight did so silently, watching Apple as she washed it up with a jaunty tune kept under her breath. “Thank you,” she said eventually.
“It’s no problem,” Apple replied insistently, “Now, don’t be a stranger.”
Twilight smiled and pushed the chair back in before she headed towards the exit again. She offered a quiet goodbye to Ginger as she passed her and smiled again as she heard the busy chef’s quiet undertones.
Waving goodbye to Apple one last time from across the room, she left, emerging into the narrow corridor again, her stomach now filled and satisfied. She let out another quiet belch as she shut the door behind her.
Once she was sure her stomach had settled again, she headed back towards the library. By her estimate, she’d been gone for a little over half an hour, leaving her with plenty of time to perform what little analysis she could on the book and its contents.
The librarian was back behind his desk and Twilight nodded to him in greeting as she entered the library.
She paused in front of the stationary cupboard and took a few materials from inside, balancing a few sheets of paper, a bottle of ink, and a quill carefully on her back before continuing on towards her working table.
The book was still as she left it and she deposited the items on the desk with precision, uncorking the inkwell in the process, before sitting down in front of them.
She opened the book again and picked up the quill in her mouth, making sure it was poised and ready before she began.
Thankfully for her, she had a vague memory of the pages that were going to be of most use to her and she quickly flicked through the book, landing several pages in.
The first night that the loop happened was like any other. It was remarkable in the fact that it was unremarkable and seemed to bear no influence on the forthcoming days. I went to my rooms the previous evening after a filling meal and slept until dawn the same day.
And that was how the loops started. I would always waken at eight in the morning with the same duties I had possessed that day for all times that the same day was lived. I attempted to move the time of my awakening each morning via altering my sleeping pattern to no avail. All that I did to try and influence the next iteration remained pointless.
Twilight hummed to herself, scratching out a note or two from those two simple paragraphs. It was fairly simple to gather that these loops were independent of one another except for the single aspect that was her, or whoever was looping anyway. Anything she tried to do to change the base aspects of the next loop wouldn’t matter.
She sighed to herself, flipping over the next few pages as she reminisced about that fact. She wouldn’t be able to stop Spike from bringing her a breakfast of marmalade-on-toast and an orange juice. She wouldn’t be able to change the fact that she still couldn’t do any form of basic magic. She wouldn’t be able to stop Rainbow from looking for her.
“Mmyes…” The librarian’s scratchy voice whispered its way towards Twilight, who tuned it out automatically. “I think I saw her head down the sixth aisle on the right; there’s a desk down there that she’s fond of.”
“Thanks.”
Twilight snapped to attention, recognising that other voice, and, more specifically, who it belonged to. She briefly weighed up her own misgivings about talking to Rainbow Dash again today, yesterday’s incident still fresh in her mind, and discounted the idea almost immediately.
She glanced down the aisle which Rainbow would come from any second now and cursed quietly to herself, jumping up and fleeing into the next aisle-but-one along.
Thankfully, this aisle was also empty and she peered through the books, watching as Rainbow approached the table she’d been sat at not ten seconds earlier.
The shape of her friend paused next to the table, and Twilight could just hear her muttering over the quiet library, “All loops are independent of one-another, base aspects remain the same…”
Twilight groaned internally to herself; all her work was still left out on the table… it probably looked as if she’d just left for a moment or two, she doubted that Rainbow would leave here anytime soon now.
There was a quiet ‘thump’ and Rainbow spoke again, “A Stitch in Time, by Clover Ironshield. Huh.” Yet even in the silence of the library, she wasn’t able to hear Twilight slowly leaving the library, trying to put as much distance between the two of them as she could.
She left the library quickly, breaking into a run once she was out the door and out of Rainbow’s range of hearing.
She really should have been surprised that Rainbow would have looked there for her… she already lived in a library in Ponyville, the only reason she came to Canterlot these days was to either see her parents or to take a few books from this library.
It didn’t stop her from cursing quietly to herself again, trying to think of what to do now that an encounter with Rainbow seemed to stand between her and the ongoing analysis that was still sitting on that table.
She slowed down. She was far away from the library now and Rainbow was unlikely to come looking for her here.
Then again… it wasn’t like there was much analysing to be done in the first place. Anything that could have been gleaned would have been done so on her first read-through, and what she’d gleaned had been precious little; the book simply reinforcing her knowledge that she’d be unable to do anything actively to break herself out of it.
She shook her head sadly; there was nothing more that could be done here… The clock still hadn’t struck one yet, so there was still a lot of day left to kill and not much there to kill it with.
Time loop research was a dead-end and, in all likelihood, she’d gotten everything she’d ever get from here now. Aside from that… she was going to make a proper attempt at solving her… situation tomorrow, when she was home with her books and Spike to drag her into the hospital if need-be.
There really was nothing else that she could think to be occupying her time with. They were the most pressing concerns to her at the moment.
“What is there to do in Canterlot for a few hours?” she wondered aloud, asking an empty suit of armour as she passed it by. “I could go and visit my parents… or Celestia… or Luna…” She pondered the question for a little more time.
“I could go and give Joe some company like he asked…” she thought aloud, mulling the option over in her head. It was better than the other options, namely because we was actually a friend to her; one that she could talk to easily.
And the prospect of going to Princess Celestia in order to wait for night to fall seemed a little prone to investigation…
Twilight stopped dead in the middle of the corridor, eye twitching.
That was exactly what she wanted… she wanted a bit of investigation and Celestia must have heard about other cases where ponies had been stuck in time loops.
She spun around, mapping out a route to the banquet hall – where Celestia would be at this time (a little past 1 PM) – and setting off at a trot, trying to mentally pick through the questions which wouldn’t make her seem as mad as others.
Thankfully, the banquet hall was not very far away from her, relatively speaking. It took a five-minute trot down the embellished passages before she was in front of the open door to the hall. She could see Celestia sitting by herself inside, picking at something on a plate in front of her.
Taking a deep breath, Twilight stepped inside the hall, immediately noticing that it was just the two of them in the hall with a complete lack of any other serving staff or guards.
She suddenly felt apprehensions… while she’d planned for what she’d liked to ask, she’d forgotten that it had been years since they’d spoken to each other properly and she wasn’t completely sure what her reaction would be to seeing her, here and now.
Nervously, she coughed.
Celestia lifted an eye and glanced over to where the cough had come from. It took a few seconds before that eye focussed on Twilight, and another few still before Celestia became animated.
“Twilight Sparkle;” she almost whispered, seeming to taste the words before she spoke them, “My Faithful Student. What’s the matter, child?”
Twilight opened her mouth, trying to think of what to say; all her questions flying out of her head now that Celestia was in front of her.
As if sensing her hesitance, her mentor shifted on the bench slightly, lifting a wing. “Come,” she said softly, “Take a seat; it’s been so long since we’ve talked.”
Hesitantly, Twilight stepped forwards, unsure of what to say. She sat down next to Celestia and her wing wrapped Twilight up, closing her off from the outside world so that it was just Twilight and Celestia.
“What’s the matter, Twilight?” she asked again, looking down at her student as she’d done many times before.
Twilight was lost… she didn’t know what to say, what to ask, what to do… she’d forgotten how Celestia had treated her… she’d forgotten how nice it had been to just sit next to her mentor. And now the memories were assaulting her, reminding her of every evening in the castle where she’d crept past the guards to Celestia’s rooms, where she’d dropped in to Canterlot for the odd weekend to say hello, where she’d sat next to her mentor and talked for hours.
She looked at the table. “It has been a while…” she murmured under her breath, her voice wavering slightly.
“At least two years, my faithful student,” Celestia answered for her, “I believe you owe me an explanation, or at least a recount of what you’ve been doing for all this time.”
Twilight looked up at Celestia’s words, only to see a half-smile on her face. She smiled back at Celestia, actually happy for the first time that day. “But… what about court?” she asked.
Celestia’s smile turned mischievous, “I’m sure Luna will be happy to step in…” Celestia said, “She needs to start waking up earlier so this will be an excellent opportunity for her to do so.”
Her horn glowed for a moment and then Luna was in front of them, snoring on the table top and curled around a stuffed one-eyed teddy.
Twilight’s smile grew as Celestia spoke, “Luna… Wake up, Luna.”
Luna just mumbled quietly to herself, still fast asleep as Celestia sighed to herself. She lit her magic and a jug of water appeared in front of her. Without further ado, she tipped it upside down and let the water come pouring out.
The effect was immediate as Luna woke up, spluttering as she tried to get away from what she’d been woken with, falling off the table in the process.
Twilight laughed out loud and Celestia started chuckling to herself as Luna righted herself, throwing the soaked teddy onto the table before she climbed onto the bench opposite them, her mane plastered to her head.
“Very funny,” she said sourly, glaring at Celestia. “How much have I overslept by this time, sister?”
Celestia just smiled again, “You didn’t oversleep, Luna,” she explained, “I wanted to have a talk with my student and I needed someone to fill in for me during the day court. Would you mind doing the honours?”
Luna glanced down at Twilight and smiled briefly before sighing. “Alright,” she said, lighting her horn as a series of pops dried her mane and made the teddy on the table disappear, “Just this once,” she continued, “And did you have to use ice-cold water?”
“It worked, didn’t it?”
“I’ll get you back for that,” Luna muttered darkly.
“I’m sure you will,” Celestia replied jovially, “Now, you have a court to attend to.”
“Correction,” Luna said, “I have breakfast to eat first. I’ll deal with your stupid court when I don’t feel like collapsing from hunger.”
“Thank you, Luna,” Celestia said, getting up from the table, “Come on, Twilight,” she said to her, “Let’s chat; I think my rooms are still sufficient.”
Twilight nodded, still smiling slightly as Luna pressed her head into the table top, groaning to herself slightly. She followed princess Celestia as she left the hall, remembering the path they were taking towards her mentor’s rooms.
When they reached them, Celestia pushed open the doors to reveal the room beyond; the windows open to reveal a breath-taking view across the mountains as the air rolled in. Her apartment was split into a spacious parlour, which they were stood in now, along with a kitchen to the right and a bedroom with a large balcony to the left.
Twilight had been there often enough to know what Celestia always did when she appeared. She sat down in the middle of the room as her host went into the kitchen to boil a kettle. Twilight found herself looking out the window, imagining that she could see the ocean in the distance.
Celestia came back into the room, a tray with a teapot, two mugs, a bowl with a spoon, and a jug carried in front of her. “Let’s talk outside,” she said, moving past Twilight towards her bedroom and the balcony beyond.
Twilight followed her onto the balcony, sitting down next to her mentor as she poured the amber liquid into the two mugs in front of them.
“Milk and sugar?” she asked.
“Just milk,” Twilight replied, watching as Celestia poured some into both mugs before heaping some sugar into her own.
Once the tea had been laid out in front of them, Celestia spoke again, “Now… I believe the last time we spoke was when Miss Pinkie was in charge of planning the Grand Galloping Gala a few years ago.”
“They still haven’t called her back to do it again,” Twilight said, smiling as she remembered that particular event.
“I think the nobility prefers its events to be a little less… unpredictable,” Celestia said diplomatically, “But that was so long ago… what has been happening with you since then?”
And Twilight told her. She allowed herself to forget about her condition. She forgot all about time loops and advanced magical hyperactivity flux disorder as she spoke with her mentor again. The cups were forgotten, the tea inside growing cold in the darkening air.
When she reached a week ago, she faltered.
“Is there something wrong, Twilight?” Celestia queried, looking over at her.
Last week… Twilight thought to herself, Last week… when I started having problems with my magic, when I started thinking that something was wrong with me, when I was diagnosed… She bit her lip. Do I tell her? she wondered to herself.
Trying to stall for more time to think, she lifted the tea to her mouth and took a sip, retching as the stone-cold tea went down her throat.
“It’s ice-cold,” Celestia muttered, inspecting her own tea. She glanced upwards and chuckled to herself, “Goodness, is that the time? We’ve been out here all afternoon. It must be at least eight in the evening now.”
Twilight looked up to see that, yes, night had fallen and the two of them were left with a much different view than they had been before; this one of stars and planets that were oh-so far away in the nightscape.
“I suppose the last train will have gone by now,” Celestia continued, “Why don’t you stay the night in the castle; your room is still untouched and we can continue this chat in the morning. Court doesn’t start until ten so that should give us plenty of time.”
Twilight nodded, standing up as the weight of reality came crashing down on her again, “That would be useful; thanks, Celestia.”
Celestia smiled slightly, “They’re still your rooms, you know,” she said, almost sadly, “There’s nothing stopping you from coming to stay here for a little while.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Twilight said silently realising that this was a conversation that they’d never finish.
Twilight followed Celestia inside again as she kept talking, “It was nice of you to come and visit… it gets quite lonely in the castle without anyone to talk to.”
“I was in Canterlot and I had some time to spare,” Twilight replied truthfully, then, because she could finally remember what she had come to ask Celestia in the first place, she asked, “Celestia, have you ever heard of anypony who was stuck in a time loop?”
“Hmm?” Celestia paused in the doorway to the kitchen, thinking for a moment, “Sorry, I can’t say I have, Twilight.” There was a pause, then Celestia sighed again, “I take it that this means we won’t be continuing that conversation in the morning.”
“Probably not,” Twilight said, resigned to Celestia performing the brief jump of intuition required to see why she asked the question.
Celestia smiled at Twilight, “Well… try to get a good night’s rest anyway; the kitchen is always open if you want something to eat.”
Twilight thanked her mentor again and slipped through the front door after wishing her ‘good night’, her last hope for finding out anything of consequence about time loops now crushed.
She headed to her own rooms for some sleep.