//------------------------------// // The Secret // Story: To a Time Long Gone // by Ironskull //------------------------------// Rainbow awoke early in the morning. She stretched on the random cloud she had chosen for the night, and then stopped to lament the fact that she didn't have her toothbrush. Or even a brush. She tossed her hair in a practiced motion and combed through it with her hooves as best as she could. Yesterday one of her students (Rainbow Dash was still getting used to having 'students') had invited her to breakfast, and she had accepted. Since her usual morning routine was going to be cut short, the next step for the day would be to make an appearance. She flew to the location that she had been told to be at. It was a recreational park. Something seemed to be off about the ponies currently occupying it though. Why is those two hiding behind that cloud hedge? she wondered to herself. "Hey, Rainbow!" Rainbow suddenly saw red. SPLASH "YEARGH!" Rainbow cried, trying to keep from cringing at the sensation of cold water running through her coat. "Are you crazy?!" cried one of the ponies behind the cloud hedge. "Do you know what she could do to you?" "What in the-" shouted Rainbow Dash. "Wait. What? Water balloons?" she swooped down and landed next to the two ponies. "Where did you guys even get these?" "Somepony brought box loads of them here," said the stallion who had thrown the water balloon at Rainbow. He indicated a large box next to him that was filled with water balloons. "Who?" asked Rainbow, confused. "Um, I don't know," admitted the pony. "But, we figured, may as well have some fun, right? You want to help us pelt those guys behind the fountain?" "Um, maybe in a minute. I'll be right back." "Be careful not to get hit!" shouted the pony as Rainbow took off into the air. "Alright, where are you?" Rainbow asked into the air. A water balloon exploded on the back of her head. She turned around and rocketed toward the location it had come from. She found herself flying into an alley. "There you are!" she shouted. Another water balloon exploded in her face. "Dis- argh, Angel!" she shouted. "It seemed like a shame to waste it," said the jackalope. "What do you mean 'waste it'?" demanded Rainbow. "You can make these things from nothing!" "Oh, well, you know," responded Discord with a sly grin. "What did you even do this for?" asked Rainbow Dash. "Just because?" "Well, as fun as this is, no. I do actually have a valid reason for distracting everypony so I can have a word with you." "You do?" asked Rainbow in surprise. "Oh, do I ever," answered Discord. "I discovered a little something. I tried tracing Twilight's magical signature last night. I couldn't find it." "What does that mean?" asked Rainbow. "I thought you could track down anyone's magic." "I can," said Discord. "Which means that Twilight is no longer in Equestria." "What?" asked Rainbow, surprised. "She left Equestria?" "In a manner of speaking." "What do you mean? "Don't you see what this means?" "No?" "It's so obvious!" "It is?" "Yes!" exclaimed Discord. The only reason Twilight wouldn't be in Equestria would be because she fixed the time machine!" "Huh?" asked Rainbow. "I bet you I know exactly what happened," continued Discord. "She went to ask Starswirl the Bearded for help and he said to her, "I have a solution!" And then Twilight got to realize how much she and Mr. Magic have in common and they suddenly started getting sweet on one another! And then-" "Whoa, hang-" "And then," continued Discord, ignoring Rainbow Dash, she and Starswirl decided to take the time machine and have some time all to themselves and they forgot all about us!" "That might be the dumbest thing I have ever heard you say!" cried Rainbow Dash. "First of all, Starswirl is way older than Twilight is." "That doesn't stop some ponies," Discord argued. "Second of all," continued Rainbow Dash, "Even if Twlight did fall for him, which is by the way super unlikely, they wouldn't just take off without us. I know Twilight better than that!" "Well, what do you think happened?" asked Discord. "I don't think that anything happened," answered Rainbow Dash. "I bet you that if you go find Star Swirl's place, you'll find Twilight, Starswirl, and the time machine are all just fine." "And the fact that I can't sense Twilight's magic?" Discord pointed out. "Maybe it's being overpowered by whatever magical power source Starswirl whipped up for the time machine?" suggested Rainbow. "I doubt that." "Don't you know where Starswirl's tower is?" asked Rainbow. "No. I can find it though, although it might take some time." "Well, then go check there first. If you find that something is wrong, I'll help you look for Twilight as much as I can. But I can't leave Cloudsdale right now." "Very well then," said Discord. "But if Twilight isn't there, don't say I didn't tell you so." "Twilight!" shouted Starswirl. "Yeagh!" cried Twilight, awakening in an instant. "What's wrong?" asked Twilight. "Berry is missing," said Starswirl sternly. "What??" cried Twilight. "She left," said Starswirl. "I took a peek outside. You can see her hoof prints leading away." "But why would she leave?" asked Twilight. "I don't know," said Starswirl. "Maybe it's because she's unpredictable. Maybe it's because she got mad at me. Maybe she's just crazy. I would believe it. It doesn't matter, we have to go find her." "Well, we are on the moon," said Twilight. "How much trouble can she get into? And she can't go anywhere without leaving hoof prints." "Yes," agreed Starswirl. "And the sooner we go after her, the sooner we can focus on getting back to Equestria." Starswirl moved over toward the corner wall and threw back the fabric covering the door out. Twilight stepped through. After Twilight pulled all of her legs through, she stood back and looked at the hat. It was definitely smaller than she was. She watched Starswirl emerge. "As you can see," indicated Starswirl, "She actually set out in the correct direction. I don't know what she hopes to achieve though. She knows that she is not capable of returning on her own." He seized his hat in his magic and placed it back on his head. "Let's go," said Twilight, and she began to follow the tracks at a slow gallop. Twilight turned back to make sure that she wasn't going too fast for the elder stallion. She wasn't. In fact, he was having no difficulty with keeping up with her at all. "How do you do it?" asked Twilight as they ran. "Do what?" asked Starswirl. "Stay in such great shape!" said Twilight. "You must be at least a hundred years old. You said so yourself that you've known for at least a century!" "Why do you care? You don't have to worry about it. You're an alicorn!" "But I'm curious!" "Alright then, first, reach one hundred years old." Twilight gave him a confused look. "And then, be very careful." "It doesn't seem like we are being very careful lately," pointed out Twilight. "Having Berry for an apprentice has probabily taken a decade or two off of my life," agreed Starswirl. "Do you think we can have this conversation later? As 'good a shape' I am in, I would still prefer to save my breath." "Do you feel something?" asked Twilight. "... No." "Stop," said Twilight, coming to a halt. Starswirl slowed to a trot and looked back to Twilight. "Stop?" "I feel a breeze!" "There shouldn't be any wind," said Star Swirl, stopping completely to confirm Twilight's statement. "We're on the moon." "There shouldn't be any air either," Twilight pointed out. "Well, listen to your senses. It's here." "But if there is a breeze, then that must mean that something is blowing it, right? After all, the winds of Equestria are directed by pegasus magic, but there are no pegasi on the moon." "There is an Alicorn on the moon though, as it happens," said Starswirl. "Are you sure this isn't your fault!" "No! Of course not! ... I don't think so..." "Actually, you're right," said Starswirl. "The breeze is blowing past us. Where is it coming from?" "That's what I've been saying!" said Twilight. "It's getting stronger too," said Starswirl. "It's... coming from where Berry ran toward." "Wind doesn't blow by itself," repeated Twilight. Starswirl began galloping off again. Twilight chased after him. Discord was currently confused. Ordinarily, in the event that he couldn't understand something, his policy was to ignore it. But this situation was too important to ignore. Rainbow Dash had partly been right. The time machine was still at Starswirls tower. It was parked just outside the door. But neither Twilight or Starswirl were anywhere to be found. After searching throughout the tower and around it, he had only stumbled across two possible clues as to what might have happened. Both clues, however, were utterly baffling. There was a large slab of earth that appeared to be missing a short distance away from the tower. And the hole appeared to be quite fresh. The second possible clue was a busted bottle on the ground near the hole. It was unlabeled, but it smelled like wine. Of course, Discord knew that Twilight didn't drink, but the bottle might have something to do with her disappearance regardless. Eventually, he decided that he should at least find a safer spot for the time machine. "What is this? asked Starswirl in astonishment. "If I know just one thing, it is that that is not natural." Twilight silently stared in shock. Berry's trail had led them to pole with a device of some sort at the top. There was a large wire that led out of it and into the ground. "Berry couldn't possibly be responsible for this!" cried Starswirl. He approached the device. "This line leads into a massive hole in the ground! But what purpose does it serve?" "Starswirl, look" whispered Twilight. He looked over at her. "A sign? What's it say?" "Look!" Starswirl moved toward Twilight so that he wasn't seeing the wooden sign at a ninety degree angle. He froze. The sign had a colored illustration of Discord's upper half with his paw and claw outstretched. There was jagged text below that read 'Have a chaos day!' Twilight wordlessly moved behind the sign. This opposite side was nearly identical. Well, Twilight thought. The next time I see Discord, he's going to have some explaining to do. Eventually, Twilight spoke. "I think I know what this thing is." "If it has anything to do with him," said Starswirl uneasily, "I don't want anything to do with it! I can't sense any chaos magic at work, but I still don't trust this one bit! But," he continued, sounding defeated, "Berry's hoof prints clearly lead here! What is it?" "It's... um... "I think this is a zip line." "A what now?" asked Starswirl. "It's a device for transportation," explained Twilight. "Do you see this handle? You're supposed to hold on to it with your hooves and gravity will take you where you want to go." "Made by that fiend?" "...That would appear to be the case." "What do we do?" demanded Starswirl in despair. "Berry obviously used the accursed thing! What could have possessed her to do such a thing? Any normal pony would have run far far away from this thing! This may as well be a boat to tartarus!" "All the same, shouldn't we follow Berry?" offered Twilight. "This is obviously a trap. There must be another way!" "This isn't a trap," said Twilght. "Think about it. Ponies don't exist on the moon. Or, at least, not usually. The only creature that this thing is intended for is Discord himself!" "That does not mean that it is safe!" insisted Starswirl. "I know, but if there is something dangerous down there, we need to reach Berry as soon as possible!" "Yes, yes!" agreed Starswirl reluctantly. "Very well then, if we must, we must. How do we operate the zip line?" "Well..." Twilight hesitated. "Well what?" asked Starswirl. "Time is wasting!" "These thing's are supposed to transport one pony at a time. And there is only one handle here." "Then we cannot both go down together?" asked Starswirl. "I think we can. If you grab on first... and then I get behind you and grab the outer portion of the handle..." "That's what we're doing then!" said Starswirl urgently. "Hurry!" Riding the zipline into the pitch black darkness was not the most terrifying thing Twilight had ever done. Twilight felt herself coming to a stop at once. The moment she actually did so, she released the handle and fell into the dirt. A moment later, she felt Starswirl's body fall on top of her own. There was a rattling noise and Twilight looked up and saw that the handle was somehow being drawn back up the line, leaving no apparent way to return the way they had come. "I thought it would never end," groaned Twilight. "I am never doing that again. If I can help it. Any idea why we were facing backwards by the end of it?" "No," answered Starswirl quickly. "Twilight," he continued. "Huh?" "I do believe I have lost my mind." "You too?" "It would appear as though we are in Equestria." "In the forest?" "Yeah." "I guess we're both having the same hallucinations then." Neither pony spoke for a moment. "No. Wait a minute," said Starswirl. Twilight felt his weight lift off of her body. "No, we're not insane," declared Starswirl. "I don't think, anyway. There must have been some chaos magic at work in that tunnel. That must be it!" "Chaos magic?" asked Twilight. "Of course," said Starswirl. "Discord must have used his magic to create a portal between Equestria and the moon! And nopony had any idea!" "But where are we?" asked Twilight. "How should I know?" asked Starswirl. "The important thing is that, by sheer dumb luck, we're back! I just can't decide whether it was worth the trip, or if we should have stuck with the original plan." "Wait," said Twilight, now looking up. "What?" "Something's wrong." Starswirl looked up. "I don't see anything wrong." "Look at the sky." Starswirl tried. "I'm sorry, Twilight, I can't see it through this canopy." "Something's wrong," repeated Twilight. "Wait here for a moment." Twilight took off into the air and fought through the branches of the trees until she had risen above them. She stopped to gape at the view. The sky was non-existent. The forest around her continued going up and over her head in an enormous arc in all directions, converging at a point way over her head. Any two points that were opposite from eachother were miles apart. And green. Green everywhere, no matter which way she looked. It was as though she was viewing the inside of a tremendous ball from the inside. And, in a very literal sense, she in fact was. If she had a good telescope, she could probably see a pony on the opposite side of the vast expanse wave to her. But only if that pony was not exactly opposite of her. Because there would a giant ball of light in the way. And also the giant stone shell that enveloped the light. It had a large section sliced away, revealing the glowing orb within to the world below. We're not on Equestria, Twilight realized. We never even left the moon. Twilight felt faint. Is it possible that Luna DOESN'T know about this?