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Prologue2,495 words
Chapter 1 - Unassuming2,055 words
Chapter 2 - But not unimportant3,266 words
Chapter 3 - A Link2,316 words
Chapter 4 - Research and Solutions850 words
Chapter 5 - Floodgate2,334 words
Chapter 6 - Fate5,186 words
Epilogue - Past and Present3,414 words

Chapter 5 - Floodgate

In… out… in… out… in… out.

Twilight’s steady breathing was the only thing she focused on. The subtle flexing of the muscles in her chest allowed her lungs to expand and draw in air. The same muscles forced her lungs to compact again, pushing out the air in a steady stream through her lips. A breeze whispered through the trees, playing with her mane and tail but not otherwise bothering the unicorn.

In… out…

Peace. That was what she felt. She was at peace with herself. Everything was quiet, save the chirping of birds and the waves lapping gently at the small lake’s shore. A lazy smile found its way to her lips without her even noticing. The sun warming her body, the breeze blowing gently through her hair, a gentle breathing nearby that was not her own. Hardly any of it was registered; the only important thing was her own breathing: In and out.

She felt like she was close. She could almost see the white expanse in front of her, but not quite. It was out of reach. She didn’t even know if it really was white, she just imagined it was. Knitting her eyebrows in concentration she attempted to dig deeper. Deeper, closer… Deepe-

“Woah!” Twilight fell to the ground with a thud and, as if to add insult to injury, the pole she had been standing on tipped as well and fell on her head with a ‘thunk’. “Oow,” she moaned, rubbing her head with a hoof.

“Close you were indeed, Twilight, but you have not reached your memories’ light.”

“I told you before, Zecora,” Twilight mumbled as she stood up on all fours. “They’re not my memories, but Clover’s.”

Zecora smiled and hopped down from her own pole, landing gracefully on the ground beside Twilight. “Very well that may be,” she replied as her pole twirled itself around her leg before the butt of it hit the ground. “But it is still a hall for your memory.” She turned towards her hut, waiting a few moments for Twilight.

“True,” Twilight conceded as she picked her pole up in her magic and started towards the zebra’s hut. “Still, I feel like I’m so close to finally getting it right. It feels like it’s just at the tip of her hoof.”

Zecora nodded but said nothing. For the past week she had been been training Twilight in the arts of zebrecan meditation. She had been a fast learner, having managed to pick up what normally took a month in only a week. But then again, it was to be expected when her temporary student was the one and only Twilight Sparkle. If there was anyone that could learn how to meditate like a Zebra without growing up with it, it was her.

She had been given a quick summary of Twilight’s reason for wanting to learn meditation, and while she wasn’t entirely convinced that it would work as well as the unicorn hoped, she did what she felt was right and helped a friend in need. She could, after all, not simply deny somepony that wished to learn the zebra ways; not many ordinary ponies were interested in anything outside the borders of Equestria.
She couldn’t help but wonder though. Would it even be possible for Twilight to establish a link between herself and Clover the Clever? Even in her own distant country there were tales of her; the most powerful unicorn in history until Twilight came along. What stories she had heard of Clover told her that she was a curious filly that had visited here and there after the unification of the three pony tribes. She’d even visited Zebreca, if the limited records of her life was any indication. A hopeful smile spread across her lips - it was a selfish thought, but perhaps she could get a few answers to a question or two of her own. Finding out how it was to live back then from somepony with firsthand experience would be nice. Perhaps she might even remember some recipes for old and forgotten herbal remedies and mixtures. The first was most out of curiosity. The second, however, was actually somewhat useful.

Letting out a sigh, she focused back on the real world and saw that they had reached her hut. She pushed open the door and invited Twilight inside, putting her pole up against the wall beside the door.

“Twilight, friend, do you want some tea? You can stay if some of your time is free.”

“I’m sorry, Zecora, but I gotta get back to Canterlot.” She put the pole she had borrowed up beside Zecora’s. “I’m very grateful for your help, by the way. I don’t think I would’ve been able to come this far this quickly without you. Thanks, Zecora.”

The zebra chuckled. “Your thanks, Twilight, are not needed. Consider it repayment for changing how I was treated.” She smiled and made a shooing motion with her hoof. “Now go, Canterlot awaits. Let’s see your cards in the hooves of the Fates. And remember - train hard, and you’ll draw the right card.”

“Alright, I’ll see you soon, Zecora!” Twilight went over and gave her a brief hug. She then turned around and went out the door, closing it behind her with her magic, but not before giving Zecora a friendly smile across her shoulder. Once she was a few steps and on the path towards Ponyville for one last visit to her friends.

The visit with her friends had been a brief but wonderful affair, though not the most extravagant or busy get-together. She had gone back to Canterlot the same night, but the majority of the day had otherwise been spent at Sweet Apple Acres where she and the rest of her friends were invited to stay for dinner by the Apple matriarch. Though, it wasn’t so much an invitation as a demand by Granny Smith. She’d all but been dragged into the house by the tail with the explanation that she was going nowhere until she had some meat back on her bones.

She got queasy just thinking about how much she had stuffed in her face. She had eaten a lot the first time she met the Apple family, but even that was nothing compared to this evening. This time she had to wait half an hour just to be able to move, not to mention that she found herself almost getting sick by the low rumble and occasional bumping of the train as it chucked onwards to Canterlot.

Three hours later and she collapsed on the bed in her old tower room, not even bothering to shower or brush her teeth first. She was content to just flop onto the bed and fall asleep, hoping that whatever nightmares of pies Luna could conjure would stay away from her dreams.

“Alright, Twilight, breathe in deeply, then let it out.” Twilight closed her eyes and breathed in, following her own instructions to the letter. She let it out and felt her entire body relaxing, somehow finding it much easier to do the exercises when she was sitting below the eerie blue flames that lit the hidden library.

Or perhaps because I’m sitting on a cushion instead of balancing on a bamboo stick.

Mentally kicking herself for losing focus so quickly, she redoubled her efforts to clear her mind and think of nothing. She thought of nothing, saw nothing, and heard nothing. The room was as soundproof as it got; not a single hoof step or distant shout made it through the layers upon layers of enchantment surrounding her.

An urge to put herself in a more comfortable position tried to force its way to the forefront of her mind but was squashed by her concentration. Nothing but emptiness would be allowed in her mind.

She saw nothing.

She felt nothing.

She was nothing.

She saw lights flicker.

...What?

Remembering Zecora’s instructions, she slowly let herself steer back to consciousness, careful not to return too quickly. The amount of times that piece of information had been knocked into her head were more than she cared to count.

“Rouse from meditation too fast, long will your disorientation last.”

She let out a deep breath and felt her consciousness and body merge fully once again, and let her eyes flutter open.

What she saw wasn’t the small heptagonal library she had been in before, but a massive expansive of light blue, large white orbs that seemed to shimmer, and something resembling a walkway, composed by hundreds of those shimmering orbs.

“Where… am I?” She almost jumped at how loud her voice sounded and how much it echoed. As far as she could see there was nothing but this... emptiness.

She stood wondering just where she was when, suddenly, it struck her. Her hoof found its way to her forehead almost immediately, smacking against it with an audible thud that only sounded louder thanks to the massive room.

The Hall of Memories, she thought as she began walking along the path.

She didn’t make it far before her mind jumped back to her research, but just as it did she caught a glimmer of something in her peripheral. She turned around and saw that there were several large screens behind her, on either side of the ‘road’, and each played a small clip over and over again. She could already see that these small clips were her memories in a visible form, but that wasn’t what surprised her. What surprised her wasn’t that she saw it from a third person perspective, but rather that she felt like she saw it as both an observer and through her own eyes

She watched herself pick up a large amount of books and scrolls, and then put them on the small table in the hidden library. The next screen showed her holding Clover’s diary in her magic, frowning thoughtfully before putting it on the table as well.

A third screen showed her opening a large book before starting to read it. She watched this one a little more intensely than the others, knowing that she had fallen asleep while reading it. She hadn’t really bothered with that book since then. She had casually skimmed through it, though, just to make sure that she didn’t miss anything important.

The image of herself stiffening as her past-self read brought her out of her reverie. Nothing out of the ordinary happened then, aside from her past-self slumping over the book, comically slamming her head onto the age-old pages. A tiny smile found its way to her lips despite her best efforts not to find her own awkwardness entertaining.

She walked for what felt like hours, watching memories from near and distant past. A few of them even made her chuckle sheepishly, especially ones where she had accidentally knocked down a vase with a sudden burst of magic as a baby. Shining Armor had tried to catch it but failed, resulting in him getting scolded for trying to blame his baby sister. Even if it wasn’t something she could actively remember outside of the place she was in now, it still made her cringe knowing the fury she had unwittingly unleashed upon her poor, elder brother.

I should apologise for that when I get the chance.

She continued walking, and it wasn’t long before Twilight found herself near some similar to an edge - a gap. It wasn’t something physical, the road just stopped. Glancing to her side she saw a small mote of light flickering beside the road. It didn’t suddenly expand into a large screen like the others. In fact, it felt weak. She couldn’t rightly determine what it felt like, but thing that came closest was a sort of ‘weakness’ that seemed the emanate from the mote.

Despite her better judgement she leaned in closer, inspecting the light. If she looked closely she could see a small thread of something that flowed around in a non-existent wind, not unlike Celestia and Luna’s manes.

She leaned even closer and squinted at the thread, already forming ideas as to what it was. She knew that one didn’t form memories before the age of three - at least according to psychology - so was it possible that these could be pseudo-memories from that time? ‘Forgotten’ memories, so to speak.

She snorted and brushed the thought aside. No, that was unlikely. If it was anything, then it was the link she had with Clover. There was nothing else here that seemed out of the ordinary save this one little thing.

It has to be it… and if it is these ‘forgotten memories’? Then I guess I’ll remember how it feels to grow teeth. She leaned the last bit closer, bringing herself within reach of it. She bowed her head and let the tip of her horn touch it, and it “opened” itself to her.

Memories flashed by, sounds, smells and pictures; the ghostly feeling of long-past lips meeting her own. There was so much. Images of earth ponies tending to crops, followed by a feeling of helplessness. There were those of powerful spells being cast, parts of even more difficult ones being tested.

As more and more flashed past, she forced herself to step back away from the mote, but they kept coming. The thread was attached firmly to her horn, pouring every memory it held into her mind. The dam had broken and the flood had been unleashed, washing over her mind until it was too much.

She screamed and felt herself slip into unconsciousness, watching the last memory play by her inner eye. She was lying on cobblestone, and the last thing she saw was a pair of ponies walked towards her.

Author's Note:

We're nearing the end guys