Stopping the Future That the past Creates

by Yoshi1990

Chapter 10: The Future is Here

Lightwing realised that she and Lyra would work alone when she did not see her two guests in her new home the next day.

Lightwing watched for the return of the ice dragon by taking a three day trip to the Crystal Mountains once every three weeks. She got to know some of the ponies in the mountain range pretty well. Bon Bon and Lyra came on her trips sometimes too.

On weekdays, Lightwing ran her restaurant. On weekends, Lightwing worked with Princess Twilight and Spike to make an enchanted sword and armor. She had every princess and Discord enchant the items. It took two years for the items to be complete.

Lightwing and Twilight began teaching Lyra advanced magic. Lyra and Lightwing also began practicing sword fighting.

After thirty years, Lightwing realised she would not find the ice dragon. She chose to stop looking for it but she still took trips to the Crystal Mountains and the Crystal Empire.

An anonymous letter arrived telling Lyra to embed Stone of Orichalcos into the sword. They chose to embed Stone of Orichalcos into their enchanted sword.

Lightwing had a great time living in Ponyville. Lyra was such a good friend to Lightwing. At some points Lightwing would forget about the dark future she had come from, but then she would remember having fun with her friend Vivian.

After fifty years, Lightwing began to realise that her time in this light world was slowly coming to an end and slowly grew less happy over the next month. Lightwing went into a small depression for two months. Lyra and Twilight were able to make her happy again and helped her realise that she had to make the best out of the time she had left.

Lightwing had no trouble staying happy for the next fifty years. She chose to to enjoy the time she had left.

Now Lightwing and Lyra are preparing for the return of the ice dragon. Lyra is in Ponyville while Lightwing is now at the Crystal Mountains with a unicorn from the mountain range that she knows well.

The sun was beginning to appear over the mountain tops as it got later in the morning. Lightwing was beginning to wake up. The smell of freshly cooked eggs caught her attention. “Breakfast smells nice,” said Lightwing as she exited the igloo. “Your white fur blends in with the snow quite well.”

Lightwing’s stallion friend smiled. “I’m glad you like breakfast and thanks for the compliment.”

Lightwing sat down at the small table with her breakfast. “Jaden, Why did you make me breakfast? You have never made me breakfast on any of my nine trips here with you.”

“It’s...kind of a sympathy gift.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

Jaden smiled. “I am about to tell you a secret, but you might not believe it. I know where that ice dragon that you are looking for is.”

This caught Lightwing’s attention. She stared at Jaden with disbelief. “I think your light-blue mane is making you light headed.”

Jaden kept a straight face. “I told you that you would have trouble believing me but it is all true. Here is the best part. I am the dragon you have been looking for. I have just been disguised as a unicorn to prepare for my return.”

Lightwing still had a look of disbelief as she ate her food. “I’m following your story so far but I am not convinced yet. If you are what you claim to be, then why am I not dead?”

“That is simple,” replied Jaden. “I have no reason to kill you. I convinced my master of a better way for revenge.”

“So your master wants me dead?” asked a confused Lightwing. “Why? I have not done anything wrong.”

Jaden shook his head. “That is what you think. The truth is that you killed his family in a flying accident and now he is out to kill you.”

“Oh...I see. That is tragic but it was an accident and I’m truly sorry. Is there anything I could do to help your master?”

Jaden shook his head as he stood up. “My master is consumed by anger and hate. There is nothing you can do or say to change his mind. Sympathy breakfast is now over. Are you ready to begin the longest nightmare of your life?”

“Not just yet. You don’t seem to be consumed by anger and hate. You seem quite calm. So why help your master? You have free will.”

Jaden teleported next to Lightwing. “Excellent question. The simple answer is I was created specifically to kill you. It is in my blood. Now you wonder why I have not killed you when I have had so many opportunities.” Lightwing nodded her head in agreement. “That answer is simple too. I was told I can’t kill you for reasons I will not say. This makes my master even more angry. He knows that you can’t die yet too. So we came up with a different revenge plan. One where you stay alive but still suffer. Any more questions before the nightmare begins?”

“Just one,” replied Lightwing. “How did you survive the attack from the Elements of Harmony one hundred years ago?”

Jaden giggled. “Silly, Lightwing. You should know the answer to that. Remember the future pendant that you had destroyed? It is kind of the same as that but instead of my life energy being connected to that, It was connected to a specially made unicorn body. Just another way to cheat death.”

Lightwing shook her head. “Time to prove that you're a dragon. Transform into a dragon and I will believe you.”

Jaden was surrounded by a large magical light for a few seconds. As the light began to fade Lightwing could see a very familiar looking dragon.

Lightwing turned around and ran full speed into the igloo. She looked around frantically. “Where is my saddle bag?!” The igloo shattered into many smaller bits in a sof bang. Lightwing looked up to see a large dragon staring directly at her. This is not good. She thought to herself.

A light-blue shield appeared around Lightwing. She and the shield floated up into the dragon’s claw. The dragon looked at the pegasus prisoner. “I destroyed your temporary magic-giving supplies before you woke up, but I think you figured that out. Now you have no magic to fight back. You’re just a helpless pony now.”

Lightwing let out a sigh of defeat. “So this is how it ends. Defeated by a dragon who is scared to fight a pegasus. Before you defeat me like a coward, answer me this. What is this nightmare you told me of?”

“I am going to merge all of your life energy with mine. By this event you will be able to see, hear, and feel everything I do. You get to see me kill ponies. You get to hear them scream in terror. You can feel me crush them with my claws or eat them. It will be like you are killing them, and there is nothing you can do to stop me. It is a nightmare you are forced to see and can not wake up from. I will have complete access to your whole mind, while you are trapped in a small dark corner of mine.”

Lightwing quietly watched as the magic shield began closing in on her. The shield touched her wings first, and they began disintegrating. Surprisingly being magically disintegrated did not hurt like she expected. In a matter of seconds the shield had collapsed into nothingness taking Lightwing with it. A lone cloak floated down onto the snow.

The ice dragon smiled victoriously. “Time to destroy some defenseless towns. The Crystal Empire can wait until tomorrow.

========== The next morning ==========

Lyra was eating her breakfast while sitting on her couch when she heard a knock on her door. She opened it with her magic. One of her Changeling friends was at the door. “Good morning, Devon.”

Her friend barged into the house. “Lyra! You need to come outside right now.”

“Ok,” said Lyra as she got off the couch. “What’s so important that you had to interrupt my breakfast?”

“There is going to be an attack on Canterlot,” replied Devon with slight worry.

Deven bolted back outside followed by Lyra. Lyra saw lots of ponies outside already. Devon grabbed Lyra’s head and pointed it towards the North. Every pony was watching a dragon fly towards Canterlot.

Lyra went wide eyed. “That’s the ice dragon Lightwing was talking about...this is bad.” Lyra dashed back into her home, almost hitting the wall as she turned to go up the stairs.

Ten seconds later, Devon was upstairs in Lyra’s room too. “Lyra, what are you doing? Don’t you want to watch the battle?”

“No,” she replied as she frantically threw armor out of a closet. “I need to get to Canterlot. My friend needs me.” The armor began hovering around her and was attaching itself to her. “Go get me a scroll!” demanded Lyra.

“On it,” replied Devon as he zoomed downstairs. A few seconds later he returned with a scroll.

The scroll floated towards Lyra and she began writing on it. Devon took this time to notice how nice the full body armor looked on his friend. The green colors matched her fur. It was like her fur had became a metal shield. There were many small white diamonds embedded into the armor, giving it a mysterious shine. Yellow diamonds made up the picture of her cutie mark. There was also a sword strapped to her back.

The scroll vanished in a flash of green light. “Who did you send that to?”

Lyra smiled even though her helmet hid it. “Princess Twilight,” she replied. “I need her to teleport me to Canterlot because a train or balloon ride would take too long.” Twilight appeared in a flash of purple light and vanished with Lyra in half a second.

Devon stood in shock at the speed that Twilight had come and gone. “I guess I should get out of Lyra’s home now.” With that, he left.

====================

Twilight and Lyra appeared in Canterlot next to the ponies barring the Elements of Harmony. Twilight looked toward her friends. “I brought our friend Lyra. “

Rarity trotted over. “I hope you know where Lightwing is.”

“No,” replied Lyra. “Last time I saw her, she was going to the Crystal Mountains. I don’t think we'll be seeing Lightwing any time soon. We are on our own. Is there anything you need me to help with?”

Twilight pointed a hoof to her left. “Go to to the library, find Trixie Lulamoon and bring her back here.”

Lyra turned and galloped at full speed toward the library. The streets were completely empty due to the city having been evacuated. A minute later, a large shattering sound caught her attention. She looked to see what it was. She saw the magic shield protecting the city was now collapsing. Lyra could feel the ground shaking and the air crackling with magic from the battle that was now beginning. Several pieces of ice were now zooming through the city, hitting many things. A piece of ice crashed into a tower near Lyra. She watched the building implode as she galoped past it. She ran for three more minutes as destruction surrounded her. She could now see the library ahead. She was getting tired because of the heavy armor she had on, but was determined to not slow down. Lyra jumped up past the stairs leading up to the door into the library. The doors to the building flew open as Trixie came running out and collided with Lyra. Both ponies tumbled down the stairs.

Trixie quickly jumped onto her hooves. “Out of my way!” she snapped. Using her magic, she picked up the book that was with her and galloped off, followed closely by Lyra as buildings around them continued collapsing from bolts of magic. “Why are you following me?” asked Trixie.

“To help,” replied Lyra. “Twilight told me to find you.”

Buildings were still collapsing and imploding from the damage the magic over sized hail had caused. A tower fell over and crushed a small corner of the library. After three minutes of loud destruction, there was a strange silence. Both ponies saw and heard the ice dragon crash through the roof of Canterlot Castle. They continued toward their target, paying little attention toward the dragon. A minute later, Trixie turned a corner and came to a complete stop.

Lyra stopped next to Trixie. “Why did we-” She stopped mid sentence as she saw a horrible sight in front of her.

Twilight and the Elements of Harmony had been turned into stone and were now shattered into many pieces. Twilight’s crown was the only thing that was not a fragmented piece of rock.

Trixie threw the book down and crushed it with a hoof. “Trixie is mad! If only Trixie had got here sooner! Then...Twilight would be alive.”

“What was the book for?” asked Lyra.

“It had a spell that Twilight and I were working on.” Trixie crushed the book again with more force. “It was going to help make the Elements of Harmony stronger.” Trixie’s horn lit up and the book burst into flames. “What’s your name?” asked Trixie.

“Lyra Heartstrings.”

Trixie glanced over toward Lyra. “Did Luna give you immortality too?”

“No, Lightwing did that.”

“Ah, it was Future pegasus,” replied Trixie. Twilight’s crown floated over to Trixie. “Trixie must keep this for safe keeping. Luna has told me to do so. You shall not see Trixie until the sun rises again. The sun sets for good tonight.” Trixie trotted away.

Lyra looked around for any sign of the dragon. “I must stop this monster for my friends.” Lyra shot a few bolts of magic into the air, trying to get the dragon’s attention.

A large shadow flew over Lyra, and the dragon landed in front of her. “I have been expecting you. Do you really think a simple unicorn like you can beat me?”

Lyra was ready to fight as she held her sword with magic. “I don’t think I could beat you with just my magic. As you said, I’m just a simple unicorn. Thats why I have a magically enhanced sword and armor. I’m sure my sword will destroy you. I don’t know what you did to my friend Lightwing but I will make you regret it. So prepare to fight.”

The dragon sat down. “Do you really think your toys will help you?”

“Yes!” snapped Lyra. Wasting no time she flung her sword at the dragon. The dragon vanished before the sword hit.

“You missed,” said a voice from behind Lyra.

“Fight me!” growled Lyra. Her sword turned around and zoomed toward its target, but the results were the same.

Large pieces of hail began to fall. Lyra jumped to her left avoiding a blast of magic. Lyra looked up to see another blast of magic flying straight at her. Thinking fast, she stood on her hind hooves and watched the magic impact the ground in front of her.

A cold object impacted Lyra’s back. “Cold! Cold!” she said as she felt her armor freezing over. A second later she was under a piece of ice. Fly this way ,dragon. Into my trap. With a smile, Lyra used a teleportation spell with a smoke spell to cover her escape. With sword in hoof, Lyra smiled as she was falling through the air toward her unsuspecting target.

Lyra’s fall came to an abrupt stop as an icy tail pierced through her and her armor. Lyra coughed as her sword fell to the ground.

The dragon looked at Lyra with an unimpressed face. “Did you really think your simple trick would work? I’m impressed with that armor. Too bad it doesn’t stop physical attacks.”

With a weak voice Lyra said, “Kill me already. I...I can’t escape.” Lyra coughed again. “I don’t know a strong enough healing spell to save me.”

“I can and will save you,” replied the dragon. Lyra stared at the dragon in confusion but said nothing. “I bet you wonder why I would save you. It’s simple. I am Lightwing.”

Lyra coughed as she tried to hold back a laugh.

“It will make you happy to know that your magic sword is capable of defeating me, but you should know one thing. If you seal me away with that sword, you do the same to your friend too.”

Lyra rolled her eyes. “Liar...your mind games won’t work on me. You're just afraid.”

The dragon smiled. “I have you right where I want you. You will die soon. I have nothing to fear. Why would I offer to save you when you’re dying if I was not Lightwing?”

Lyra’s eye twitched as she felt herself losing energy. “What’s stopping you?”

“Your magic blocking armor. You have to take it off.”

Lyra’s horn shimmered as she reluctantly took off her armor. After the last piece fell to the ground, she felt a magic energy surround her. Lyra was put on the ground.

The dragon looked down to Lyra. “Are you going to thank me for saving you?”

Lyra chuckled as her armor connected itself to her. “I’m going to continue fighting you now.”

No you won’t,” replied the dragon. “I did more than just heal you. I put another spell on you that will freeze you when you think of attacking me. You can use the sword for other stuff.”

A green aura surrounded the sword and Lyra was turned into an ice sculpture wearing armor. Ten seconds later, Lyra turned back to normal. The sword strapped itself onto Lyra’s back. “So...what now?” she asked.

The dragon lowered his head down to Lyra’s level. “Just go back to Ponyville. You will see your friend in about twelve thousand years. If you choose to live that long.”

“What’s so special about that number? Why not one year or right now?”

“In about twelve thousand years, I’ll die.”

“Won’t that kill my friend too?” asked Lyra. “You said my friend will die if you die.”

“That’s not what I said,” replied the dragon. “I said your sword would seal both of us away. That sword was made to seal evil away, not to kill. The item that kills me in the future--technically the past--was directly connected to me before I absorbed your friend's life energy and soul. Although the item from the future is also connected to your friend because it was created by future me.”

“Wait one moment.” Lyra took a deep breath. “My head hurts. This is like a Twilight Sparkle-level conversation. How can the item be in the future and the past? How is Lightwing not going to die if she is supposed to?"

“Ok, sit down and listen,” stated the dragon. “Lets start with my first defeat. Lightwing traveled to the past with a pendant. She called it the Dragon Pendant. It gave her nightmares because it was technically part of her. She knew the item was connected to the future dragon’s life energy, but she did not know that she is the future dragon in a way. So she is going to kill her future self. She came back in time and used the item’s own magic to connect it to the past dragon’s life energy. The Elements of Harmony destroyed the pendant, thus killing my body in the past but not my spirit. I possesed Lightwing in an attempt to kill the Elements of Harmony but then they killed my spirit. Because I had possessed Lightwing, our spirits and life energy were merged together. Since I was now dead, Lightwing began to die too. The Elements of Harmony saved Lightwing’s life by enchanting a necklace of hers. Creating...a pegasus pendant. It does the same thing as the pendant that was used to kill me but it’s connected to Lightwing. So she will die when that is destroyed.

Lyra shook her head. “How are you alive if you were killed physically and spiritually?”

“My master resurrected me. He knows some nice ways to cheat death. Soon I’ll create the Dragon Pendant. In about twelve thousand years, the Dragon Pendant will be taken into the past and destroyed. Once the pendant vanishes from the future, it’s like it has been destroyed at that point, since the past has already happened. So then I’ll die. Sadly, Lightwing has her magic necklace from the past to keep her future self alive.”

Lyra nodded her head. “I think I got it. You make magic item with knowledge from the future. Item gets taken to the past by Lightwing. You absorb Lightwing in revenge and that’s how you got the knowledge. Lightwing goes back in time to defeat you and technically herself. You try to kill her but then her friends save her and that same thing will save her again.”

“Sounds right.”

Lyra sighed in relief. “My head still hurts. Come get me in twelve thousand years. Then I can watch you die!”

“You're a feisty little unicorn. Would you like to stay and watch the sun set?”

Lyra turned around. No, not with you. I’m leaving now. I have a restaurant to run and it’s called Heartstrings Diner.” Lyra saw a shadow start to cover the ruined city. She looked up to see the sun being eclipsed by the moon. “I guess the dark world that Lightwing tried to stop is now here.”

========== 12,000 years later ==========

The ground shook as something big landed behind Vivian. She slowly turned her head to look behind her and began shaking in fear at the sight of a large ice dragon.

The dragon lowered his head to Vivian’s eye level. “Hi, Vivian. That Sonic-rainboom was an amazing sight.” Vivian continued shaking in fear with no reply. “Vivian, you are coming to my castle. Grab your friend’s time travel supplies and bring them with you.”

Vivian nodded her head slowly as her horn glowed. “Yes… master.” A saddlebag was teleported onto Vivian. “What now, master?”

“I congratulate your friend for traveling through time. We have much to discuss once we return to my castle.”

Both disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared in the main hall of the Crystal Castle at the crystal Empire. One green unicorn and one dark-blue pegasus were waiting in the center of the hall.

The dragon flew over to the two ponies and landed next to them. “Come over here, Vivian,” he commanded.

Vivian began trotting over to the center of the hall while thinking to herself. Just do what he says and all will be fine.

Once Vivian reached the middle, she was greeted by the dark-blue pegasus. “Hi, Vivian. My name is Luminara Unduli. Just call me Luminara. I am the dragon’s lifelong servant.”

Vivian stared and said nothing. The green unicorn walked up to Vivian and greeted her. “My name is Lyra Heartstrings and I’m not a servant for this dragon.” Lyra smiled. “I was invited to this event just like you. Nothing bad is going to happen to you, so relax.”

“If you say so,” replied Vivian.

Lyra sat down on her hind legs. “So should I tell her the good news or are you going to do that, dragon brain?”

“I’ll tell her,” said an annoyed dragon. “Here is the good news. I’ll die soon and my control of this world will end.”

“Really?” asked Vivian.

The ice dragon began glowing. The ponies covered their eyes from the blinding light. As the light began to fade, Vivian saw a shadow appearing. A familiar pegasus now replaced the once evil dragon.

Lightwing looked up from the ground. “Is it over?” she asked.

Vivian ran over to her friend and hugged her. “I can’t imagine what you have been through. I hope you’re ok now. You have only been gone for a few minutes in my time but I’m sure its been a life time for you. That new necklace of yours is amazing.”

“You have no idea,” replied Lightwing as she began to cry softly. “I...I killed innocent ponies. I killed the princess of the sun and enslaved the princess of the moon.”

“Don’t lie,” stated Lyra. “You did no such thing. It was all because of that dragon. You were just an observer.” Lightwing smacked Lyra in the face. “Ouch! What was that for?”

“For not saving the world when you had the chance.” She hit Lyra again. “You should have killed the dragon when you had the chance. I was trying to stop this dark future and you just let it happen...please forgive me for what I’m about to say. You're a horrible friend. This is why I don’t make a lot of friends. Something always goes wrong! You made my whole life's work totally useless, and I hate you for that.”

“I forgive you. I know you're mad, and I’m sorry. I hope you will forgive me some day. I did try to save you, Lightwing.”

“Lyra is right,” replied Vivian. “Don’t blame yourself for what the dragon did. And don’t blame Lyra for doing something wrong.”

“Attention!” exclaimed Luminara. “I have an important announcement to make that all of you need to hear.” Everypony turned their attention toward Luminara. “First, is that I am not actually a pegasus and my name is not Luminara. Lightwing knows this. I am actually an alicorn named Luna.” In a small flash of light, Luna revealed her true form.

Lyra stared in shock at the princess of the night.

Luna smiled. “Lyra, I bet you are wondering how this is possible. It’s actually simple. The dragon never killed me. It only enslaved me. I was told to hide my true form and change my name in order to stop anypony from believing there was any hope of being saved. The next bit of news is going to surprise Lightwing too.” Lightwing looked up at Luna with an angry face but curiosity too. “My second announcement is that my sister is not dead either.”

Lightwing stared in disbelief and Lyra asked, “How?”

Luna continued smiling. “My sister, Discord, and I made a plan after we were told about the dark future that was to come. In order to save my sister, we moved a part of her spirit into an enchanted object so I could free it later and technically revive her. In order to save me if I died, we moved a part of my spirit into another unicorn. Lyra, you know her as Trixie. By doing this, Trixie became immortal like me. If I died, I would then share control of Trixie’s body until Discord would come and create a new body for me using his magic. We put some of Discord’s spirit into the Element of Magic, so if he died, Trixie could revive him. I told Trixie that if Twilight died, she had to hold onto Element of Magic until the sun rises once again. ”

“What about Twilight and her friends?” asked Lyra.

Luna shook her head. “Twilight and her friends chose not to accept this. They felt that their lives had been long enough and if they could not stop the dragon, they would die with no regrets.”

“Nice plan,” said Vivian. “But I don’t know who any of those ponies are. I feel so left out of this story. When are you going to revive your sister?”

“Right now. Lets go outside and bring light back to this world.”

The three ponies exited the the Crystal Castle and sat down in the courtyard.

Luna teleported a small card with a picture of Celestia next to her. Luna’s eyes and horn lit up with magic and the card began to glow. “I call on the power of the moon and stars. Help me release my sister. I summon Celestia, goddess of the sun!”

The card continued glowing and got brighter. A portal appeared in front of the card. A white alicorn stepped out of the portal, and then it closed.

Luna hugged her sister. “I am so happy to have you back.”

“Me too, my sister,” replied Celestia.

“Is there any food here?” asked Lyra.

“Yes!” exclaimed Lightwing. “I’m starved. I have not eaten at all today. Lets go eat...I want ham.”

Lyra and Vivian giggled as Luna and Celestia stared blankly at Lightwing.

“I need to move the moon before we eat.” Luna closed her eyes and began focusing her magic. Every pony looked up to the moon and watched it start to move. A bright light could be seen from behind the moon as it moved. Light covered the Crystal Castle. The rays of light continued to spread across the ground until it covered the land as far as the ponies could see.

Vivian stared off into the distance, watching the snow sparkle. Lightwing patted her friend on the back. “Lets go, Vivian. You can admire the light all you want after some lunch.” Lightwing and Vivian walked toward the Crystal Castle followed by the others.

Lightwing and Vivian stopped right at the entrance to the main hall.

“Why did you stop?” asked Lyra. The two ponies in Lyra’s way moved and Lyra saw what had caught their attention. A large ring with eight symbols evenly spread around it had appeared on the floor in the center of the hall. “That was not there when we left. Why is one of the symbols glowing blue?”

The symbol on the opposite side of the circle lit up with a blue glow. The ponies watched as all eight symbols lit up one at a time. Once all the symbols were glowing, they all shot a beam of magic into the center of the circle that they surrounded. The center of the circle began to rotate as a blue portal appeared. The two alicorn princesses used their magic to try to close the portal but had no effect on it.

Lightwing started floating forward as a magic energy slowly pulled on her. A green aura surrounded Lighting as Lyra used her own magic to hold her friend in place. “Why is the portal trying to get you?” asked Lyra as she grabbed Lightwing with her hooves.

“I don’t know,” replied Lightwing. A wave of magic shot out of the portal and Lightwing felt the pull on her get stronger. “Vivian, help Lyra.” Lyra felt the magic trying to push her away.

Vivian wasted no time and grabbed her friend with her hooves and magic. Electricity began surging out and around the portal as another wave of magic bolted out from the center and the magic aura surrounding Lightwing vanished.

Lyra’s grip on her friend was getting weaker with every passing second. “Why aren't the Princesses closing the portal with their magic? Why has Vivian’s and my magic stopped working too?”

“We are trying!” said an annoyed Luna. “The magic used to open it is more powerful than our magic. The longer it stays open, the less effect our magic has on it. It appears that the portal is repelling all of our magic. There is nothing any of us can do!”

A burst of magic came from the portal and hit Vivian and Lyra. Vivian’s grip became weaker and Lyra’s weak grip was broken. Vivian gasped as she saw Lyra lose her grip and get thrown against a wall.

“Let me go,” said Lightwing.

“What!?” replied Vivian.

“You heard me. Let the portal take me. I’ll find a way back from wherever I go.”

With a heavy sigh, Vivian released her hold on Lightwing. Vivian watched as her friend flew straight into the portal and vanished. The portal evaporated and silence filled the air.

After a minute of silence, Celestia spoke up. “I’m sure your friend will return. She traveled across time. She is also the only pegasus to learn how to use magic and that takes determination. We need to focus on our next job, and that’s finding new users for the Elements of Harmony.”

“I agree,” stated Luna. “Trixie will be here in a few days with the element of magic and then we can begin our search.”

Lyra looked over to the princesses with a smile. “I have an idea. Since we are bringing up a new Equestria, we should have a few new princesses. One pony princess from each pony species. We can have the two alicorn princesses, a unicorn princess, an earth pony princess, a pegasus princess, a thestral princess, and a changeling princess. I think it will help show that we are trying to help everypony. What do you think about this, Princesses?”

“It’s a good idea,” Luna answered.

Lyra turned toward Vivian, who was sitting in the center of the room. “Vivian, how would you like to be the unicorn princess?”

Vivian’s voice had a hint of sadness as she answered, “It would be an honor. I have a lot on my mind right now. So I’m sorry if I don’t sound super excited.”

“Want to tell us?” asked Lyra.

“Sure. I’m wondering if I should be more upset that my best friend just got sucked into some unknown portal. First, I had no feelings of joy or happiness when Lightwing returned from her lifelong adventure. This is understandable since she had only been gone for five minutes for me. Time travel is weird like that. That makes me feel guilty that I could not show my friend true joy or happiness that she obviously needed when she came back from her nightmare. Next, I have almost no feelings of sadness or regret that my best friend just disappeared and might not come back. This comes back to the whole five minute thing. We prepared for the possibility that she would never come back from her time traveling trip. Thus, I was prepared to never see my friend again. Once again this makes me feel guilty for not having feelings for my friend.”

Lyra was now standing by Vivian. “You should have no feelings of guilt. You said that you and her prepared for this moment. It just came in a different way than you thought.” Lyra put a hoof around Vivian. “So get rid of those feelings of guilt and find some happiness. I know I can’t replace Lightwing but I’ll do my best to be your friend.” Lyra turned toward Luna. “Luna, I have a question. Is the portal to my second home still here?”

“No,” replied Luna.

A thought came to Lyra. I wonder if I could use my enchanted hoofheld mirror to open a portal to my previous home? I use it to send letters.

Celestia teleported over to Vivian. “As a new princess, you must say the oath of the princesses.” A scroll was teleported in front of Vivian. “Please read this aloud.”

Vivian began reading.

“A princess is the guardian of peace.
There is no war, there is peace.
A princess uses her powers to defend and protect, never to attack.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
A princess respects all forms of life.
There is no anger, there is serenity.
A princess is meant to serve others, rather than rule over them.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
A princess seeks to improve herself through knowledge and training.
There is no no trying, there is doing.”

Princess Celestia smiled. “We will have a proper coronation after the other princesses are found. One coronation for five princesses."

“That sounds great,” stated Vivian. “Lyra, why do need a portal to get home? Can’t you just take a train or balloon?”

Lyra hid her sadness with a smile. “My home is too far away to get to without a portal. I was brought here through the portal. I can only return home using the portal...but now it’s no more.”