If she, Lemon Drops, or Twinkleshine had had the slightest inkling of how much Twilight's presence had meant to their friend, they would have made more of an effort convincing the lavender unicorn to come with them.

But they hadn't and Moondancer's confidence had taken the hit for it. Minuette could only hope Twilight's study habits hadn't set their friend further into her shell. Groaning, Minuette rolled over so she was facing the ceiling.

If only there was more time in the day. That way, Twilight could both study to her heart's content and still make it to Moondancer's Party. Minuette shot up. Time! That was the answer! She thought she remembered Twilight saying something about the Star Swirl Wing having a section on time travel spells. One of them was bound to do the trick!

Grinning from ear to ear, Minuette leapt off the couch and levitated her saddlebags onto her back. By the time she'd packed everything she might need and left her house, the first signs of nightfall were stretching across the sky.

Gripping a flashlight in the golden glow of her magic's aura, Minuette held back a growl from pouring over tome after tome of useless spells. Star Swirl must not have been that great of a mage if he couldn't come up with a time spell that lasted longer than five seconds.

Frustrated at her latest selection's lack of anything useful, Minuette rather forcefully shoved the book back onto the shelf.

Taking a moment to crack her spine from sitting hunched over so long, Minuette glanced out a nearby window and frowned. It felt like she'd been reading for hours but the sky was no lighter than when she first snuck in. Shrugging, Minuette turned back to the task at hoof.

Spotting a tome that looked promising; Minuette wrapped her aura around it and opened the volume to its index:

~Blue Belle the XV's Magical Theories and Spells~

Study of the Three Magics.........................................1
Keeping Cold Items Cool in Hot Weather..................50
Keeping Hot Items Warm in Cool Weather.................60
Time Backwards.........................................................70
Time Forwards............................................................75
So You've Created a Time Anomaly. Now What?........................80

Minuette's gaze stopped at the words 'Time Backwards.' It couldn't possibly be the type of spell she was looking for, could it? Feeling as if her heart was in her throat, Minuette's magic turned the book's pages to the designated page and read what this Blue Belle had written.

'I have found in my studies that time is not as linear as first thought.
While the first Great Mage of the New Equestrian Era,
Star Swirl the Bearded
was indeed on the right track in regards to his studies
of time magic, he was not daring enough nor did he look
at time as one would a string. Instead, he seems to have
viewed it as one might a ruler. Straight, unyielding and far too
stiff to work around with.
In comparison I have found time to be exceedingly easy to work
around; Below I have recorded a spell that will allow the
user to skip backwards in time roughly twenty-four hours max and
will allow the caster to remain in that timeframe as the hours would
normally run for them or any other pony.
However. I would strongly advise the caster to be wary to how many times
they cast it or else they may run into a time loop of sorts or worse,
expand all their magic/lifeforce into the spell.

Only use this spell in the most dire of needs.'

Skimming over the foreword for the spell, Minuette found herself nodding. This seemed to be exactly what she was looking for. A whole day back in time? No other self to worry about? No stupid time limit for how long she could be in the past? This was the absolute best spell!

Raising the book closer to eye level, Minuette carefully read the framework for the spell. Feeling confident, she began to weave the required magic around her horn and concentrated on the exact moment in time she wanted to go back to.

Just as she could feel the energy needed for the spell hit its peak, Minuette could see the first rays of dawn stretch across the horizon.

By the time the sun's rays were reaching across the floors and shelves of the Canterlot Archives, the light blue unicorn who moments ago and been pouring over it books was gone.

Blinking from the sudden teleportation, Minuette looked around at her surroundings. No dusty books in a dark, seldom used section could be found. Instead, Minuette found herself outside on a sidewalk with artfully placed trees lining the path.

Minuette grinned and gave a leap of joy. It worked! It really really worked! Thank you Blue Belle!

The light blue unicorn's jumping ceased as she looked back towards the source of the voice. Standing a little ways behind her, were Lemon Drops and Twinkleshine. Both of whom where gazing at her with confused expressions.

Heheh yeah! Couldn't be better! Just uber excited to see the look on Moondancer's face when she sees her present!"

"You mean this one that fell off your back as you were leaping around like a rabbit?"

Minuette's magic took the gift from Twinkleshine's as she placed it back onto her back.

"Remind us to keep you away from the sugar there if just thinking about the party has you bouncing around." Lemon Drops teased.

Heh. Yeah right.'' Remembering why she was repeating this day to begin with, Minuette broke into a trot.

Sorry girls! Gotta remind Twi what day it is today! You know how she gets, see ya in a bit!"

"C'mon Twi! It's Moondancer's birthday! There'll be cake, ice cream, and who knows how many books!"

"I'm really sorry Minuette, but I have some really important studying to do. I'm sure Moondancer'll understand."

"You can study any other day; Moondancer's birthday only comes around once a year!"

The bright flash of teleportation temporarily blinded her. By the time the dots were clearing from her eyes, Twilight was already halfway to her tower.

"You can study any other day; Moondancer's birthday only comes around once a year!"

Quickly closing her eyes, Minuette teleported just a few steps away from where Twilight teleported last time.

"Lucky guess." Minuette took a step closer to her friend, who in response took a couple of steps back.

Minuette slammed her head into the table. She really should have known better than to
trust Twilight would have come by after....whatever it was she was studying. Letting out another heavy sigh, Minuette snuck away from another failed birthday party and headed for the Archives. Again.

"So uh, what are you studying Twilight? It's got to be pretty important to miss Moondancer's party."

Twilight's ears were pinned to the back of her head as she continued to stare stiffly ahead. Minuette had been pressuring her to talk for at least half an hour now and no matter how hard she tried to lose her, the light blue unicorn had an uncanny knack of knowing exactly where Twilight was going to go.

"Come oooooooon Twi." Minuette whined. "I promise I won't laugh or anything. Anything you'd say couldn't possibly top Lyra's theories. Sides, it's gotta be big for you to miss your best's friend's birthday."

Fine. I'm trying to find our more about Nightmare Moon and the Elements of Harmony. Happy?!"

Minuette snickered. "Nightmare Moon? Twilight. You know that's just an old foal's tale right?"

Twilight's eye twitched and one blast of magic later, Minuette was on her way to the Castle's Gardens. Satisfied that there was no way the blue unicorn could possibly surprise her again, Twilight continued on her way to her tower.

"Elements of Harmony, Elements of Harmony.....I swear to Celestia Twilight, I am getting you a joke book for your next birthday."

Minuette paced in front of the tower's door, glancing down the path for a certain purple unicorn to show up.

"Just had a feeling you'd end up here. Didja hear today's Moondancer's birthday?"

"Uh, yeeaaah. Lemon Drops and Twinkleshine might have said something...but I've really got a lot of studying to do. Tell Moondancer I said 'hi'".

Twilight made to step around her only to find the blue unicorn blocking her path.

"What do you know? Did you find it in a book? I was thinking about where I heard Nightmare Moon and the Elements of Harmony before and I think I read it in my prophecies book. Now I'm not sure but I think-"

"Enough. Now before you get too worked up over this, I'm sure Princess Celestia already knows about Nightmare Moon possibly coming back and has set up plans for it already. Plus, she already beat Nightmare Moon once already right? I bet she can do it again."

"No buts. Celestia probably has everything under control. No need to work yourself up over nothing and miss a friend's party right?"

"That's the spirit! Now come on, if we leave now, we'll be just in time for cake!"

Sipping a cup of punch, Minuette watched as Twilight and Moondancer argued over a author and laughed. A job well done.

Moondancer's grin at seeing Twilight coming down the path was heartwarming to say the least and it was nice to see the two bookworms having fun.

Minuette couldn't be prouder of herself than if she'd grown a pair of wings and named a princess. A job well done indeed.

The next day, it was already noon and the sun was still not up. Minuette was pushing herself to run harder and faster than any other pony near her was. She could feel flecks of cold sweat forming on her flanks but she had to get to the palace first.

To the Archives. And see if there was anything she could do to fix this mess. It had to be her fault. She'd seen the dawn that first time hadn't she?

By the time she reached the palace, it was full of ponies trying to push past the wall of guards who were trying to keep them back.

Weaving and shoving through them, Minuette pushed her way to a guard. "I need...to...speak to Princess....Celestia..." she gasped. Dear Celestia, she needed to work out more.

"I'm afraid you can't. The Princess is missing and Blueblood has decreed that no one is to enter the castle."

Minuette could feel herself pale. "Missing? Oh my gosh. This is all my fault...too many time spells....oh my...."

Before she could say anything, he turned to the guard next to him, pointed to her and left.

The second guard eyed her as they waited for the first to return. When he did, Minuette was beginning to regret coming here in the first place and not break into the Archives first.

Gulping, Minuette had no choice but to follow the guard. Blueblood. She was going to see Blueblood. Possibly the worst stallion in Canterlot; she could only imagine what she was going to have to put up with.

"-And I want all of Canterlot evacuated. Celestia knows what that fanged monstrosity has planned for its citizens, considering what's she's done to half the guard. Silver Shield how many do we have left?"

Minuette's jaw just about dropped at the stallion who had previously been speaking to three other guard ponies.

This was Blueblood? The egotistical, whiny playcolt who humiliated every mare who dared to attempt to date him?

That couldn't possibly be the same stallion in front of her. This pony was wearing armor and was watching her as if she would leap up and attack him.

"So...you claim to be the pony responsible for all of this? Tell me. Where is Celestia?"

Blueblood snorted and turned away. "I thought so. Swift Sword, if you would so kindly escort her out, I have more important matters to discuss."

The guard who had escorted her in gave a small bow to Blueblood. "Yes Sir." As he turned to push her outside again, Minuette sidesteped him and called out to the Prince.

"But I did use a time travel spell. Multiple times. It was by some pony named Blue Belle!"

Swift Sword was roughly shoving her out the doors, but at the mention of Blue Belle, Blueblood froze. "Swift Sword, Silver Shield. You and the others are dismissed. Evacuate the city and collect as much food as you can. I'd like to speak to this mare alone."

The stallion was twice as big as she was and as consequence, had a longer stride than she did. The fact that he was becoming gradually more agitated was not helping matters.

"You mean to tell me," he seethed. "That you used a powerful time travel spell multiple times just so that some pony could go to a birthday party?!"

"To be fair," she huffed," It meant a lot to Moondancer for Twilight to attend and I saw no reason that it would end up with Princess Celestia disappearin-mmpff! Hey! Why'd you sto-"

Blueblood had jammed a hoof in her mouth. Minuette's eyes narrowed. Why she had been surprised to see the prince take charge, she supposed it had been too much to hope he was actually a decent pony underneath the tabloids.

It was then that she noticed that he wasn't really looking at her. Instead, his attention was focused on the ceiling. Following his gaze, Minuette was thankful that his hoof was currently covering her mouth.

Staring back down at them had to be at least a dozen glowing narrowed yellow eyes. And just faintly....she could her hissing.

"When I give the word," Blueblood muttered, never looking away from the eyes, "Run. And for all things dear to you, stay by my side. Or Celestia help me I will make you wish those things got to you before I do. Understand?"

Slowly, Blueblood removed his hoof and shot a blast of gold magic at one of the eyes. There was a high pitched scream of pain as the creature fell from its' perch and landed a ways from them.

There was an angry screech from its still moving fellows as Blueblood and Minuette galloped across the hallway; Blueblood shooting beam after beam at the things as Minuette struggled to keep pace with him and offer what meager support she could with some rather flimsily shield spells.

It wasn't until one of the monsters landed in front of them that Minuette got a good look at what exactly they were fleeing from.

It looked like a pony. If ponies had bat-like wings, fangs, and silted yellow eyes.

Minuette scrambled her hooves in an attempt to stop as the thing leaned forward to bite her.

Without breaking stride beside her, Blueblood reared onto his back hooves and slammed his forehooves onto the thing's head; the only part where it wasn't armored.

Nodding numbly, Minuette pelted as fast as she could out of the hall and into the next room, noting in the back of her mind that Blueblood was keeping himself a little ways behind her as he finished off the last couple of the......things in the hallway.

As he slid into the room behind her, Minuette slammed the door behind him and laid across it as she worked to catch her breath.

"Royal Guards. Until that accursed alicorn showed up and turned them into her army."

Blueblood spat in disgust as he examined one of his hooves. "And now I have blood on my hoof. I hope you're happy. This'll take ages to clean."

Minuette stared at him. After what they'd just went through, he was concerned about how long it'd take to get some blood off of his hoof?

"And you're a fool. Considering you've been using Blue Belle's spells repeatedly and haven't managed to memorize them once to undo your mess..." Blueblood shook his head in disgust. "Let's get you to the archives."

"Blueblood....if I could ask, why aren't you doing the spell? Why does it have to be me?"

The white stallion had his back to her as he kept watch for any more of the transformed Royal Guard.

"Because if I did it, you'd still be trying to get your friend to attend your other friend's birthday party and it'd end up being a mess of time spells repeating the same day over and over again before we'd both wind up in loop we can't end. It's a miracle you didn't already get stuck in one."

Finding the page at last, Minuette lit up her horn to perform the spell one last time. It was a shame she couldn't have gotten Twilight to Moondancer's party without the world ending too.

The day after Moondancer's party, the Sun was late coming up and for a while, Minuette was afraid they'd failed and she would have to spend the rest of her life repeating the day the night lasted forever.

But the Sun had risen and there were rumors that there was a new Princess who had been gone for a thousand years, rescued only now by a mysterious group of objects known as the Elements of Harmony.

But Minuette didn't care about those rumors at the moment. Twilight had left town without even a good bye and while it did sting a little that Twi had done that, she was more worried about how this would affect Moondancer.

Lost in her thoughts, Minuette didn't notice the large white stallion sliding into her booth beside her.

Blueblood smirked. "Thanks in part to a fail safe Blue Belle placed in her spellwork. Any pony present to the casting of the spell, be they caster or witness, would remember the previous day's events. You did a good thing, setting things back to the way they were. And I hope you learned your lesson about time travel. If not...well I'm afraid there's some space on the moon now."

"Okaaaaay then. If you don't mind your highness I have to go. Check on my friend."

"You know...my aunt has a saying 'All things work out eventually'. And while I'm sure it's a shame things didn't go as you'd planned, I'm sure things will work out between your friends."

Minuette couldn't hold back a snort. "Oh I'm sure. One of them moved away and I doubt she'll be back anytime soon....thanks for the advice though."

Giving him a small smile, Minuette made to pay her bill, "Leave it. I'll add it to my tab. Consider it 'thanks for saving Equestria even though it's your fault it was in peril in the first place."

Shaking her head, Minuette turned to give Blueblood a wave before heading off to check on Moondancer.

"It's....a pleasure to meet you your highness and I was wondering if you'd like to go with me-"

50th Time's the Charm

by GhostWriterPunPony

Chapter 1