//------------------------------// // You've gotta go back in time. // Story: To understand the future... // by Sigmacipher //------------------------------// Celestia knew... Celestia had always known... It finally all made sense, these papers, Equestrian military intelligence reports dating back to the creation of the sonic rainboom, every small detail that twilight thought about in her life that seemed insignificant, every inch of every contradiction of her life right up to the this point, except Pinkie Pie, had suddenly been laid out before her... It wasn't her fault though, seeing these reports of a third princess would have been shocking...when the sonic rainboom came out, Cloudsdale's sudden acceptance of Luna when she returned made much more sense all of the sudden. But Starlight Glimmer had, quite ironically been responsible for her own town's failure, as even she realized it was simple hers...calling "Our Town" had just been for PR and she knew it...suddenly she understood why Starswirl's spell had to be kept off limits and why Twilight was never allowed to visit the wing where the infamous spell was kept. Starlight Glimmer had unintentionally created the Princess that would take her down. One could almost call the justice poetic, if justice had been served...yet. Oh Twilight had forgiven her, but there where cases that a conventional court of law would not be able to comprehend the nature of Starlight's crime...so secretly began to consider what would the Princess do...or rather what would she do? Celestia did say after all that they were equals when twilight snuck off from her coronation all that time ago... "Twilight?" A motherly voice called out. Well speak of the Devil... Twilight turned around managing a small smile, one that she could manage without seeming too insincere, since through her rank she had learned to be able to bluff a little better, and she had deposited the papers back way they were before she had called out, so there was no way Princess Celestia could call her out on the papers being out. "While it's good to see you my faithful student, I wonder what brought you here to my office?" Well it's a good thing I already had business to attend to begin with... although this changes things "I actually have a bit of a legal conundrum on my hooves." This got an eyebrow raise, courtesy of the Solar Monarch herself, "you see I had witnessed a rather problematic crime, committed by a chronomancer..." "Oh dear, and right after you had dealt with Starlight Glimmer...how did it go..." "Well I had managed to stop her...the mare had in it to try and reset the timeline so that her village was never destroyed thus it prevented an important event in history..." Twilight stopped and let out a steady breath, "And the worst part about it is that unlike Starlight...someone else actually noticed...and that someone else would lead the events causing the events that would lead to her time traveling in the first place....simply to preserve the so called time stream" "She ultimately encouraged the events that destroyed her village...well not only did she do that but she forced a normally good pony to maintain the timestream by being secretive and deceive other ponies...what is it your asking about?" "Who should I have arrested, on what charges, and what kind of court of law should be used..." "I thought you would have some advice on the subject since I don't think any of my books could honestly help me." The older mare paused, a thoughtful pout stretched across her lips... "The Chronomancer should be charged with the events of the instigation of the incident that lead to the destruction of said village, the other mare should be held accountable for any crimes that she committed to preserve the timeline, all other parties involved can be charged normally..." "Princess, I never said the good pony was a mare..." however what came out of the mouth of the Solar Diarch next would be the catalyst of one of the hugest of hugs, words that could cross dimensions, and into the minds of authors who would translate these words in their minds to be interpreted into a indescribable wave of sympathy from even those who worship the moon of the moon. What are these words which cause the sins of entire raving shamans who dress in the false furs of horses, simply to ward off the vengeful sun, to be washed away by the river of tears whose source was the current face of a pony who felt her most powerful secret being relieved from the recesses of her mind. "Twilight..." Celestia said in the here and now saying the words that she felt would be her death march...the very end of Celestia Sol Epona, Daughter of Queen Faust Epona and King Slepnir Lokison, The Unconquerable Sun herself digging her own grave here and now, "I never said the mare was good..." It was obvious to all who watched, even possible interstellar viewers from beyond the multidimensional barrier, The Great Wall of Four. A wave of pain surged as said wall forced the recording of this story to cause immense pain to the one who would dare record it as he was forced to record the event in it entirety due to the limitations of the medium that he would record it with, mainly in the sides and the behind, as Celestia wept, for all knew when the jig was up. And then the hug of hugs happened, a hug that could be felt through an entire multiverse, one capable of causing an entire hate groups to die out because of reasons that apparently related to their sense of touch due to the words the Princess that embodies the very basic aspect of the concept of Harmony, the very driving force of magic in Equestria. "I think you are Celestia...you just need to make some friends." A small smile appeared on Celestia's lips, an entity that saw countless of days wondering if her most faithful student would forgive her for a betrayal of her trust, committed from the moment the reports first crossed her desk. "I think I've just made one."