//------------------------------// // 82. It's About Time - Part 3 // Story: Blaze the Pony Tale // by Wolven5 //------------------------------// By the time the train had dropped them off at the Canterlot station, night had long fallen, and the four of them hurried. Each of them was in a skin-tight black suit. “Okay, the Canterlot Archives are right over there, let’s move!” Twilight whisper-shouted to the others. While Twilight snuck from hiding place to hiding place, the others just followed a their own leisure. “Uh, I don’t think we need to sneak around, Twilight,” Spike suggested. “Yeah, it’s not exactly a crime to walk around Canterlot, even if it’s late,” added Midnight. “Guard!” Twilight hopped onto a pedestal, posing next to a statue. “Come on you guys!” Pinkie and Spike posed as statues while Midnight sighed and chanted, “Like new moon glow unseen at night, Conceal me from unwanted sight "Invisibilis Sto” He was enveloped in a brief silver glow before he was rendered invisible. A Lunar Guard walked past them, not noticing a thing although he did nearly bump into the invisible Midnight. “That was close,” Twilight sighed as Midnight shimmered into view after releasing his invisibility spell. “I don’t know why we have to wear these things either!” Spike pulled his suit out of a very uncomfortable place. “Aren’t we wearing them for fun?” Pinkie asked. “Are you kidding?” Midnight was getting snippy. “There’s nothing fun about any of this!” “Are you sure?” Pinkie asked but Twilight butted in. “Focus guys! The only way to prevent this disaster is to stop time! Time spells are kept locked up in the Star Swirl the Bearded Wing, the most secure section of the archives, that’s why we’re sneaking around!” “I take it back,” Midnight cracked, “This is kinda fun!” “No it’s not!” Twilight hissed as she zipped past a bush, not noticing a tear a stray branch made in her suit. “I still don’t know how sneaking into the archives is gonna help her find out about her birthday present,” Pinkie brought up. “Pinkie? You are so random,” sighed Midnight in dry response. Opening a window, Twilight peered through. “Okay, the coast is clear. Now slowly lift me up through-” *THWACK/“OH!”* Twilight groaned from having been pushed a little too hard and then dropping down to the floor, as Pinkie, Midnight, and Spike passed her by, Spike saying, “Let’s get this over with!” As they snuck about, they avoided the illumination of a guard’s horn as he made his rounds, snuck past a couple sentries, hid on some banners to avoid detection… “Okay, if my calculations are correct,” Twilight whispered, “the Star Swirl the Bearded wing should be right… here!” “Uh, Twilight?” “What?!” “Isn’t this where we came in?” Midnight asked, gesturing to the window, Pinkie popping in through it. “Cool! Can we climb through the window again? That was super fun!” “I don’t understand, it was supposed to be right here! How’re we supposed to find it now?” Twilight worried. “Maybe we should ask somepony in the Star Swirl the Bearded Wing?” Pinkie suggested while pointing it out. It had been right across the hall from the window they came in. “Huh, how’d I miss that?” Twilight wondered aloud. “Only when one steps back instead of scrutinizing every little detail,” Midnight said rather dramatically, “can one see the bigger picture.” They all gave him a look and he shrugged. “Yeah.” “O…kay,” Twilight peered through the door. “Look at all those priceless magic scrolls, there are more than I ever imagined!” “Uh Twilight?” Midnight said in a causal voice as he pointed down the hall. “The guard.” “Whadoo we do, whadoo we do?!” Twilight worried as she hunkered down. A pair of hooves stopped right in front of her and she looked up at the guard. “Hey Twilight! Haven’t seen you in a while,” he said, real nice and friendly. “Lemme open that for you.” The guard cast an unlocking spell upon the door, causing it to swing open, Pinkie and Spike merrily entering while Midnight was giving Twilight a look. She chuckled sheepishly, and said, “Thanks!” to the guard. When she went in, Midnight spoke with the guard, “Thank you, sir. Your name?” “Oh, Sergeant Midnight Shift,” the guard introduced himself. “Element of Faith and Guardian of Harmony, Midnight Blaze,” Midnight responded, causing both stallions to chuckle. “I’ll put in a good word for you, friend. Later!” When they were inside the wing… “Oh no!” Twilight hurried over to a mirror, “I look just like Future Twilight! The last sign has come true!” “And that’s bad, right?” Pinkie asked Midnight. “Depends on how you look at it,” he responded. “Come on! It’s almost Tuesday morning, the disaster could happen at any moment!” Twilight worried. “But how do we find a time-stopping spell?!” Spike began to panic. “There must be a million scrolls and spell books here!” Midnight looked around, uncertain of where to even begin. “I… don’t… know!” Twilight got to browsing, as did Pinkie, as did Spike. But Midnight wasn’t really helping. He’d had enough. He simply watched them scramble, deciding he’d take whatever was coming and just deal with it, when he noticed a scroll unroll at his hooves. “Twilight, it’s over!” They all looked to Spike who was at the window, “It’s officially Tuesday morning!” “No!” Twilight groaned as she saw the break of dawn. “The disaster… is COMI-I-I-I-I-ING!” She hunkered down and prepared for the worst. … … … “Twilight?” She looked up to Midnight who was peering out the window with a smile and lowered his suit's hood to let his mane out. “How can there be a disaster on such a pretty nice day?” “Good morning, Twilight!” They all looked to see Princess Celestia walking by. “Love the new hairstyle. Well, Happy Tuesday!” “Oh, Princess? Just so you know, Midnight Shift does a great job,” Midnight called after her. “You know what, Midnight? You’re right,” Celestia yelled back. “I think the sergeant’s due for a promotion.” “Why isn’t anypony surprised to see me sneaking around in here?!” Twilight spazzed. Then, like the morning, it began to dawn on her. “Is it possible there never was a disaster to begin with? That I’d been driving myself up the wall over nothing?!” “I don’t get it,” Spike said, “If Future Twilight wasn’t trying to warn you about a disaster, then what was she trying to warn you about?” Twilight gave herself a look and giggled, “I don’t know, but I do know one thing-” “You look ridiculous?” Midnight asked with a raised brow, spurring a chuckle out of all of them. “She does!” agreed Spike. “And all because I couldn’t stop worrying and let the future handle itself!” Twilight realized. “Well not anymore. From now on, I’m gonna solve problems as they come and stop worrying about every little thing!” “That’s the Twilight I know and love,” Midnight gave her a one-armed hug but then cracked, “And ‘every little thing’? I wonder how long that vow will last.” “Oh you…!” she giggled as she punched him in the shoulder, Midngiht laughing but subtly rubbing his shoulder when Twilight wasn't looking. “If only I’d learned this lesson a week ago, we’d never have had to go through all of this.” “Twilight, Twilight, I found something!” Pinkie Pie zipped up, holding up a parchment to Twilight as she explained, “It doesn’t stop time but it lets you go back in time. It says you can only use it once and it only last for a few moments.” In his mind, Midnight had a revelation – This spell! He was about to say something but something in his mind stopped him and he had a shameless chuckle to himself as Twilight said, “Pinkie you’re a genius! Now I can go back in time and tell Past Twilight that she doesn’t need to go berserk with worry about a disaster that’s never gonna come!” “Yeah, you do that,” Midnight said with a smug smirk, and Twilight began the spell. They watched in marvel as she was surrounded by rings of energy before she was gone in a flash of blinding light. Midnight chuckled wickedly, much to Pinkie and Spike’s confusion, as he said, “And the cycle continues.” “Huh?” Spike said. “You’ll see in a few moments,” Midnight assured him and there was a flash of light as Twilight returned. “…waste your time… worrying.” she sat down in a groaning sigh. “Couldn’t get a word in edge-wise to your past self, could you?” Midnight gave her a cheeky smirk. “No! I can’t believe I just did that!” Twilight facehooved. “It’s your own fault for ensuring the timeline,” Midnight said with a smarmy voice, all eyes turned to him. “Twilight, you said that future Twilight had a message for you, but, given what you said to us before, she didn’t get to explain before she was whisked back into the future. I didn’t get it until Pinkie brought you that spell, and I realized… you just created a temporal paradox!” Twilight felt her brain snap with the sort of realization that made her want to kick herself in the rump while Pinkie asked, “Twilight created a temporary pair of ducks?” “No, Pinkie,” Midnight chuckled, “A temporal paradox! It’s an anomalous event that occurs because of time-travel, somepony goes back in time to stop an event from happening or change an event before it actually happens but instead of preventing the event they accidentally cause it instead or even unintentionally ensure it happened in the first place!” “Huh?!” Pinkie and Spike didn’t get it. “Remember last week when Future Twilight came to warn me about something?” Twilight explained. “That was me trying to warn myself not to worry so much!” “And now, your past self is gonna spend the rest of her week going crazy about a disaster that doesn’t even exist, AH-HAH-HA!” Midnight keeled over in laughter. “Ugh!” Twilight felt like such an idiot, having not realized that beforehoof. “Aw, don’t sweat it,” Pinkie assured her, “It’s Past Twilight’s problem now!” Twilight giggled as Midnight calmed down, and she said, “I guess you’re right, Pinkie.” “Ahem,” Midnight cleared his throat not-so-subtly. “And you were right, Midnight,” Twilight conceded. “I obsessed over what might have been I blinded myself to the here and now. If I’d just taken a moment to look at the facts more carefully instead of worrying about the future, I might have realized the spell would throw me into a paradox.” “Ohhh...!” They looked to Spike, clutching his belly, “My stomach! Ugh, I think it was all that ice cream… I thought the stomachache would be Future Spike’s problem… but now I am Future Spike, ohhh!” The ponies couldn’t help but laugh as Midnight levitated Spike onto his back, “And I bet you’re thinking Past Spike is a real douche.” “Hurk, ya got that right…” Spike whined. “Come on then, Future Spike, everypony,” Twilight said, “let’s go home!” But as they made their way out of the wing, Midnight subtly stowed a scroll into his suit, making sure the others didn’t notice. But somepony did notice. A cloaked somepony who melted out of the shadow of a bookcase, peering from his hood after the blue unicorn.