Non-Linear Ball

by DaeCat

Conclusion

"Why did you come back to the ball, Twilight?"

Twilight stood there grimly, shifting stone with her levitation. She moved the larger pieces first, and in the space of a minute's silence had moved away most of the rubble. The two largest portions of the wall would be hardest to move, as they had collapsed while conjoined at the top, effectively doubling the weight Twilight would have to lift with her magic. Breaking the two slabs apart wasn't even worth considering; they would simply become smaller fragments and fall all over again. She still hadn't answered White Iron's question.

"Why?"

Unable to bear the silence any longer, Twilight responded.

"I have a solution."

There wasn't any reply, so Twilight continued with her exposition, calming herself and hopefully also White Iron.

"We need to send our letters to ourselves, with the second invitation. If we send them to ourselves, that means we will always have gone to the ball, and the act of us going to the ball makes us go to the ball. It's a paradox, and hopefully one large enough to halt the singularity. It was even written in the letters: The second ticket is not for a guest of your choice, rather, you must send the letter to yourself, and the second invitation is merely the version we made, and then sent to you, so that you could send it to yourself. So that you could send it to yourself. Do you see?"

White Iron seemed hesitant.

"What of those who do not send their invitations to themselves? What of those who have already died?"

"You and I have seen every pony present here. If we save ourselves, the paradox should extend to everything we have experienced tonight. Everything that happened caused itself to happen, so nothing can un-cause anything that happened here tonight. An immovable object."

Twilight grimaced.

"Unfortunately, that means those who died, will always die. And if I'm wrong, then we all die anyway, perhaps even faster."

Still White Iron continued speaking, warming to the conversation as her suit began to shut down.

"If you're right, it's still no use. You are already fixed in time, but Twilight, I can't be.

"What?"

"I never got a second invitation with my letter."

---

“Twilight, just leave me here,” whispered White Iron, her metal frame wedged firmly between the two huge concrete slabs. Her actuators whined in exasperation, and the diesel engine roared like a tiger, but to no avail. Encrusted deep within her metal shell, White Iron gave Twilight a look of total despair.

All around her, dancers swirled and twisted, some passing mere whiskers away from the traumatic scene playing out right before them. Dressed elegantly, and stepping in perfect key with unheard music, the partners leapt and graced across the floor of the castle forecourt. Fixations froze on their cold faces, happiness, delight, ecstasy and adoration for the silent tune and their partners. They gave the impression of hopeful ghosts.

“I will not leave you here to die,” Twilight firmly spoke, drawing out a small, thin smile from the pony within the battlesuit.

“You don’t get a choice, Twi. I’m not fixed in time like you are.”

“No, you don’t get a choice. I will save you.”

Twilight extended a hoof into her dusty saddlebag, debris shaking loose from the folds in the fabric. She pulled out her pristine envelope, and withdrew her own second ticket. Then, careful not to disturb the wreckage around her, she took White Iron’s envelope from the floor beside her, and placed the second ticket next to the lonely one inside the crumpled paper wrapping. The mare wearing the armoured battlesuit cried in helpless desperation as her body began to slowly disappear in sharp segments, hallmarked by crackles of grey.

“Twilight, don’t! Just save yourself.”

“How can I when you have so much to look forward to in your life? Your rotation is almost over, Claus is waiting for you.”

Tears welled up in White Iron’s eyes as Twilight’s words sunk in. They were true, all of them, but Twilight would be sending her life into infinite oblivion by making that sacrifice.

“No, no.” The memory of Claus, the forethought of Claus was too much. She refused to think at all. This was the end for her, White Iron could feel it, even as her heart became lost to time forever, disappearing in a carapace of grey, scaly abyss. Before she could say another word, Twilight released a wave of magic, causing White Iron’s invitation to vanish in a ball of eldritch flame and ethereal fire. A wave of red, yellow and orange leapt for the from the scroll, towering high above Twilight’s kneeling body, and illuminating the trapped frame of White Iron in brilliant colour.

Suddenly, their roles were reversed, not physically but magically. Twilight clutched at her chest as the deep feeling of endless emptiness welled in her, pooling in ponds of nothingness. As the magic began to engulf her body, as she lost sensation to her ankles, then to her knees, the dancers turned slowly, all at once. They faced her now, but still they said nothing, even as swirls of orange flame continued to lick at the sky above Twilight.

---

The orange flame was in the form of a heart, and as the dancing ponies finally broke from their trances, it grew to surround all of them. Now the entire castle was engulfed in a giant fireball that kept growing until all anypony could see was the flame leaping and swirling. Inside the inferno, Twilight sought out the stage. The magical bubble was gone, and it was relatively easy to move, the harmless flame seemed to guide her. It touched all of her, but didn't hurt, merely warmed her in the same way she expected Hearth's Warming Eve did to the founders of Equestria. By the time she had found the stage, ascended the stairs, and got into position, she had also found the right words to say.

Above the crackle of the flame and the din of the confusion, Twilight spoke with a magically louder voice.

"At the conclusion of the fireworks, please feel free to return home! Thank you for attending the inaugural Non-Linear Ball. Have a good night."

"Twilight, you genius," said White Iron, who had managed to stand in her mangled suit and limp over, as the crowd cheered. Twilight had done it, it was over now. There was just the cleanup, but that would be the work of a moment. Or, if she chose, less than a moment.

"Let's get you out of that wreck of a suit," Twilight offered, and White Iron didn't resist. After she had been freed from the destroyed mechanical suit, Twilight realised the time had come for goodbyes. Maybe not forever. Maybe Twilight was still alive in White Iron's timeline. Maybe they would meet again.

"Keep in touch," she joked. White Iron stepped forward, a little uncouth due to prolonged encasement in the suit. She leant over Twilight's shoulder and whispered something quietly into her ear.

"Your theory is right."

Twilight gasped.

"Really?"

Author's Note:

Now, I don't often do this, but now might as well be the time to start. I'm afraid to say that things don't always turn out the way you expect, so if you want to leave the story here, feel free to. Somethings are best left untouched.

That said, if you want to read the final segment of the story, then please do read the epilogue. It answers a few questions, and was great fun to write.