//------------------------------// // Somewhere Only We Know // Story: Scootaloo & The Cabinet of Seers // by HMXTaylorLee //------------------------------// Twilight wasn't sure exactly what she was expecting when she entered the room, but it definitely wasn't this. The door that once lead to an old, dusty broom closet now led to what seemed to be the outside of the castle. All from a turn of a lock. Looking up, Twilight saw a bright blue sky, complete with wisps of cloud lazily drifting with the wind. The breeze, faint though it was, was a warm and comfortable one. Twilight stepped forward again onto springy green grass, and she heard a soft click behind her. She turned to look over her shoulder, the shabby brown door of the broom closet connected by it's silver hinges to a decidedly un-shabby white marble wall. Engraved above the door were the words Equestria - Canterlot Castle South Wing in a font style that Twilight couldn't place. The alicorn's eyes followed along the marble structure, determined to calculate the logistics of how there could be a hallway in Canterlot on the other side of the door. Celestia's mention of the word "portals" would have to suffice, as the structure was nothing more than a thin obelisk that was jutting out of the ground. Contented, for lack of a better word, Twilight turned her attention from where she had come from to where she was. She had emerged on the top of a small hill, she and the obelisk overlooking a quaint village that wasn't unlike her Ponyville, with the exception of a tall crystalline building at its center. Beyond the village was a large lake, the sun above her making it positively glisten. She felt the breeze pick up again, and she closed her eyes as it gently tickled her with its warmth. Then Twilight realized something - the Canterlot she had just left was experiencing a zesty autumn morning, and a breeze would have been anything but enjoyable. This place, wherever it was, seemed to be experiencing a delightful spring afternoon. All around her, the vivid green leaves on the trees confirmed her suspicions. But, more than anything else, there was this bizarre tingling sensation that enveloped her. Twilight noted, with growing fascination, that the last time she had felt something like it was when she had been walking alongside Princess Celestia in some ethereal plane before she became an alicorn. Abnormally pleasant weather aside, Twilight suspected this place was far more magical than the fairly normal trappings implied. But all of her observations did little to identify where in Equestria she was - if at all she was still in Equestria! In the excitement of discovering her surroundings, Twilight almost forgot why she was here to begin with; to meet with the Cabinet of Seers. She had half expected a conference room with a bunch of elderly ponies when she imagined what the meeting would have been like. Well, she wasn't in a conference room, and there were no elderly ponies. In fact, she seemed to be alone. With no other feasible options, she began to descend the hill along an ivory colored stone path towards the village to find somepony to talk with. As two ponies emerged from the village onto the path walking towards her, she wondered if perhaps they appeared because of her arrival. She broke out into an excited gallop, and hurried along to meet them. "Hello?" She called out as she approached, wondering if being so forward was a good idea. To her relief, they waved back to her in a most neighborly fashion. "Welcome!" one of their voices cried, a unicorn stallion's. Twilight slowed to a canter as they drew nearer and smiled at the two ponies. "It's so nice to meet you!" the young stallion said to her. His coat, like much of the coloration here, was white, and complimented the practically bleach-blonde spiky mane on his head. "We... are just meeting you, right?" Twilight giggled at the question. "Yes, my name is Twilight Sparkle and-" Twilight stopped speaking. Out of nowhere, her mind had conjured such strange images. Strange, but not unfamiliar, and not at all unpleasant. She saw... Smarty Pants? Her old doll? Flashes of her mother and father looking at her, beaming. Her brother flying a kite. The recollections, however brief, made her feel a strange sense of elation. "Princess Twilight Sparkle's coronation!" The stallion exclaimed suddenly, pulling Twilight from her trance. "Dated February 13, in the year of 10CE13, celebrating her creation of new magic, she was welcomed among Equestrian royalty. There were over 800 thousand ponies from around Equestria in attendance. Her acceptance speech - 'A little while ago-'" "Dad!" The other pony, a unicorn mare that shared his same coat and mane coloration, interrupted him. "Hm?" her father seemed to snap out of a trance of his own, looking embarrassed. "Oh, I did the thing again, didn't I?" His daughter nodded gently. "Was I reciting? I'm awfully sorry about that, sometimes I just can't help myself. My name is Archive, and - oh, you don't look so well." Twilight shook her head vigorously. "I'm - I'm fine. I just kinda got lost in thought." She blinked, and in that split-second, she saw the text of a book that she recognized. "Flashbacks?" the mare asked her knowingly, "pleasant ones, it seems." "How did you know?" "That's likely my fault, I'm afraid," Archive answered, shaking his head sadly as pawed the ground with his hoof. "I just kind of give off this energy and..." He stopped speaking, and his eyes widened as he looked at Twilight, then to his daughter. "Record, is this your new friend? You have to introduce us!" His daughter, Record, just smiled at him warmly and nodded her head. Twilight was reminded fleetingly of Fluttershy's composure. "Oh... we've met already, haven't we?" he finished. "Yes. Her name is Twilight, and she's here to meet with the Cabinet of Seers," Record turned to Twilight with a raised eyebrow. "You are here to meet the Seers, right?" "Um, yes..." Twilight answered, looking at Archive with trepidation. "Are you alright?" Archive frowned for the first time since they met. "My memory is a bit iffy, as I'm sure you've noticed." "But, my coronation? How did you-" "His short-term memory is a bit iffy," Record corrected him. "His recollection of everything else is virtually photographic. It just takes some time to... process it, so to speak." "I see," Twilight said with fascination. "That's rather-" "Ironic?" Archive interrupted again. "That's what Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, well more Princess Luna really, said when we first met. 'How ironic it is to remember-'" "Dad..." Record's voice dripped with patience. "The thing?" "Mm-hm." Twilight giggled at the exchange between the two. It was like a strange version of what one might experience with an elderly pony in a retirement home. Twilight noticed with some curiosity however, that despite their seemingly paternal relationship, Archive and Record looked to be roughly the same age. "Well, Princess Twilight, allow me to introduce you to one of the cabinet members," Record gestured to Archive with her hoof. Archive waved jovially at the princess, who returned the gesture with some semblance of surprise. "You're one of the Seers?" "Archive, at your service," the stallion bowed down gracefully. "It's an honor to meet you, Princess Twilight." "The honor is mine," Twilight returned the bow. "I apologize if I seem out of it, this whole thing just isn't what I was expecting." "On that note," Record said. "We should get going to the Vestibule. The others are waiting for us." "Did you know that I was coming?" "Sort of," Record shrugged as she walked towards the village. "I'll explain on the way." She raised an eyebrow at Archive, who had begun to walk the path towards the obelisk that Twilight had arrived from. Record chuckled softly and called out to his back. "Come on, dad. We've got to get back to the others." "Record, somepony just came through the portal. Axiom told us to go and meet them," he turned around to look at his daughter, his look of annoyance giving way to a sheepish grin. "We... already met them didn't we? You're..." he analyzed Twilight with squinting eyes. "You're Twilight Sparkle, right?" "That's right," Twilight answered with a grin of her own. "Well, let's get back to the Vestibule. Just follow Record - you've met my daughter, yes?" Archive sauntered past Twilight, whereupon she noticed the large black book emblazoned upon his flank. Her mind was populated once again with another bizarrely pleasant image - a cake with two candles on it. Record stood by and allowed her father in front of her. "We're going to the others, remember?" "Of course, thank you. Record, would you make sure Princess Twilight comes with us?" "I will," Record said as the mare motioned with her head at Twilight to walk alongside her. Twilight obliged happily, only too eager to learn more about what in the world she had gotten herself into. Twilight slowed her excited walk to keep pace with Record, who glanced at her for a moment before returning focus on the stallion in front of her. "From what Alumni has told me, you are quite the studious pony," Record mentioned to Twilight, "so I imagine you probably have a lot of questions." "That's an understatement," Twilight replied as the trio ambled past a set of marble pillars marking the official entrance to the village. Despite the motif of marble that Twilight noted thus far, the homes inside of the village were made from a comparably rustic deep brown wood. "First, who is Alumni, and second-" "-How does he know who you are?" Record finished her sentence for her. "...Right." Twilight answered slowly. This was the second time that Record had seemingly known what she was thinking. And, as if she knew that Twilight suspected it, the mare was quick to answer for it. "Oh! Please don't think me rude, your highness," Record looked at Twilight, her normally demure tone awash with flecks of desperation. "I kinda have this, I don't want to call it an ability, because I can't really control it, but I can sort of... see what you're going to say and do, before you say and do it, kind of. Not just with you, but like...everypony." "Oh my, um..." Twilight's didn't quite know what to say, or do, to reply to that. "Not me!" Archive stopped and called over his shoulder, "Um, what were we doing again?" "The Seers!" Record cried up to him, eliciting an excited nod from Archive. Turning to Twilight, Record nodded in agreement. "He's right. Not him, or anypony else that lives here. Just like normal ponies in Equestria. Sometimes I have a hard time reminding myself that it's not polite to finish other pony's sentences. I'm not used to it here." "Another question then; where are we?" Twilight fired off as quickly as she could so as to not give leeway for another interruption. "We call it Eres," Record told her, "home of the Cabinet of Seers. Alumni is another Seer, just like my father is." "And you?" "Oh no," she shook her head. "I'm just family." "Family..." Twilight looked around at the plethora of wooden houses surrounding them. "Do you live here?" "Sure do. There are only seven Seers, the rest of these homes belong to their families." "Families live here?" Twilight could hardly fathom the thought that entire communities could fit neatly into a broom closet. Record must have 'seen' Twilight ask the question before Twilight could ask it. "We don't see it as 'living in a broom closet'," she said. "In reality, Eres is every bit as big, rich, and beautiful as Equestria is. It just operates a little differently." "What do you mean?" "Well, for one thing, this world mostly takes care of itself. Like, weather-wise and such. The moon and sun rise and set on their own too." This whole world operated like the Everfree Forest, Twilight thought to herself with an involuntary shudder. "But then... how do you-" "We've adapted. It's mostly us reacting to the world, instead of the world reacting to us. It keeps things here unpredictable, which has served to keep us sane," Record added as the three ponies stepped into what could best be described as the town square, located at the base of the large crystalline chapel that served as their destination. "Why do you say that?" Record walked alongside a patch of dark purple flowers below a fountain statue bearing a young bearded unicorn's likeness. Water spouted forth from the unicorn's horn, spilling into the basin below. Surrounding the statue was a stone ring that held the water, and there were four identical devices placed along the top of the ring. She approached one of the devices and pointed to it. "Time," she answered. "Do you recognize what this is?" Twilight looked closer at it. It looked to be a wooden pyramid, truncated at the top. On the front was a silver rod with what appeared to be a weighted end, extending from the base and sticking out to the far right. "It's a metronome? But it's stuck... mid swing? How is that possible?" Twilight looked at the other three metronomes around the fountain, and the pendulum was in the same spot for all of them. "Time doesn't really move here for us. The day and night cycle, the flora, they all operate on a different timeline than ponies do. One that existed before we arrived, thanks to Starswirl the Bearded," Record followed Twilight's gaze to the unicorn depicted on the statue. Twilight didn't recognize him at first - she hadn't seen many depictions of him as a younger pony, but the golden bell at the tip of his wizard's hat was as telltale a sign as any. "Ponies that come here from Equestria, and the things that they bring... time stops for them." Twilight's mind was running at a million miles an hour, trying to fathom the implications of what Record was saying. During all of the research Twilight had done on the Cabinet of Seers, she had just assumed they were a bunch of ponies that filled a position as an advisor, retired, then got replaced. But, the books never mentioned when the Cabinet of Seers was formed. If what Record was saying about time in Eres was true, and that the Cabinet of Seers lived here... then could that mean- "Record, how old is your father?" Twilight blurted, "how old are you?" Archive looked at Twilight with an almost melancholic expression, his lips pursed. "That's a very difficult question to answer," he said. Record wore a similarly unsure look upon her face. "We've been around for a while... a very long while." Twilight didn't know what to make of what she was being told. She had even more questions than before, if such a thing were possible. She looked down at the ground, muttering to herself quietly. Then, as she witnessed her own purple hoof bouncing in anticipation, she jumped to another conclusion. "Since I'm here, does that mean that I-" "No," Record cut her off. "You haven't stopped aging, not yet. I'm sure you felt that 'tingling' when you first came here, and are probably still feeling it now, right?" The alicorn took a deep breath, trying to separate her own excitement from this discovery to the magical sensation that enveloped her. It was still there, less potent than when she had first arrived through the portal, but still there. She nodded shakily. "It happens when I go to Equestria too. That tingling is your body adapting to the 'time difference,' so to speak. It takes a while for ponies to assimilate, for lack of a better word." Record paused and ran her hoof slowly along the edge of the metronome's base. "Not so for these though." "I don't understand," Twilight replied, hoping that her utterance of the phrase wouldn't get annoying in light of her many questions. "Whenever the door to Equestria is opened, its..." Record bit her lip, unsure of how to continue. "The way that time flows in Equestria comes through the portal too. As soon as you opened the door, the metronomes started clicking again. When it closed, they stopped." "So that's how-" "We knew that you were coming, yes," Record said. "Record!" Archive called to her. "You're doing the thing again! And we've got to... what do we have to do again?" Record blushed and rubbed her temple with a hoof. "Do I keep interrupting you? I don't mean to, honest! For me, it's like you've already said it!" Twilight waved her hoof dismissively. Being interrupted seemed like a small price to pay for what she was learning here. "It's fine. Why is it just me though?" "Your 'time line' hasn't adjusted yet, and it's still moving forward," Archive answered. "That's why my daughter's foresight is still working on you." Twilight looked back at Archive, and then to his daughter. Again, she noted how similar they looked in age. She noticed Record's cutie mark, an hour glass with all of the sand at the bottom half, and she thought of another question. "If you don't-" "I don't mind you asking at all, Twilight," Record told her. "Shortly before my father came here, he and my mother had me in Equestria. I spent probably... twenty five years or so growing up there. I'm sure you understand why that was." Twilight could hazard a guess. If time and aging stopped in Eres, it would be impossible for a filly to mature or grow here. "I was about thirty, your time, when I first came here," Archive explained. "I felt just terrible leaving my family back in Equestria, but for their sake, it was the best thing I could have done," he stepped over to his daughter and rubbed her shoulder tenderly with his muzzle. "We're still making up for lost time." When Archive spoke, Twilight glimpsed, for just a moment, another flash of, this time of her parents waving to her. She couldn't place at first where she had seen it before, but then she remembered - her first day of kindergarten! She didn't know why, but she suddenly felt a sense of dread as a result. "My foresight started kicking in when I was twenty," Record continued, "It was cool at first. Helped me become a fairly successful author in Equestria, using the name P.F. Visions, and I even wrote a book about what my experience was like dealing with seeing into the future like that. But, as I grew older, I started seeing further and further into the future actions of other ponies, and my life started falling apart." Twilight looked puzzlingly at her. Surely seeing into the future would have been a good thing? "But-" "No, it wasn't," the unicorn mare shook her head sadly. "I felt like I was stuck in some horrible loop, reacting to things that hadn't happened, and nopony else could understand what I was going through. I lost all of my friends, and shut myself away so that I wouldn't have to deal with the sheer inevitability of everything. That's when Princess Celestia approached me and offered for me to come here." "All of it my fault, I fear," Archive sighed, his gaze having pointed downward. "It's likely that she inherited her abilities from me." "It's not your fault, dad," Record said comfortingly, "and I certainly don't hold it against you. Look at all of the time we've had to spend together because of it!" Twilight was didn't know what, if anything, she should say. Behind the two other ponies, and beyond the fountain, she saw the crystal chapel, what Record and Archive referred to as "the Vestibule," and remembered that she was expected by the rest of the Cabinet. She didn't feel comfortable interrupting, but- "Twilight's right," Record announced. "We should get going. Axiom and the others are waiting for us." "I had a feeling that's what we were supposed to be doing! Let's get to it," Archive agreed, pivoting in place and making his way past the flower patch to the Vestibule. Twilight chuckled in disbelief, and followed suit, taking just a moment to eye the frozen metronomes with wonder as they trotted past.