Violet Lace

by DemonAngel13

Ticking Time Bomb

Violet's senses caught up with her too early, as in, they made it just in time so that she could feel the impact of her face against her floor. Her back arched, and she felt her spine pop as her legs slowly reached over her head to catch up. With a grunt, she flipped over to sit upright, her now flexible back pressed against the cold iron of her bed frame. Hot, bright morning light streamed through her curtains.

"Uhhggg..." She moaned, rubbing her eyes. What the hell happened? Did she sneak a few sips of cider at the celebration? Did one of her characters suddenly go haywire? Did a meteorite burn into the size of a large pebble and decide that she was the one to make contact with as it descended to earth? Those would be the only things that could explain the pain in her head, and the strange lightness in her body. She let her body unfold and slide to lay on the cool carpet.

"Wha..." She left her words go unsaid. The vile flavor of morning breath and the process of speaking making the effort not worth it. She focused on breathing, letting her lungs capture the cool air of the room. She closed her eyes and let her body relax. Her mind drifted, but she couldn't remember anything from the night. She... remembered smoke, and flowers... but no nightmares. All and all, the night was peaceful. A prince perhaps made an appearance, along with her parents... it was all blurry beyond reason. But nothing was bad.

There was the sound of rustling paper and soft thuds. Violet felt her neck tense up again. With another sigh, she realized she must have nocked into her bookshelf when she was making her not-so-graceful descent down to the ground.

"Cloudy..." She whined, not wanting to get up. She regretfully opened one of her eyes to see her sister's empty bed, still made and clearly vacant. She realized how bright the room really was. Before, her eyes were protected by the shadow of her bed, but now faced the bright sunlight full force as it streamed through her drawn curtains like golden daggers and beams.

"What the...?" Violet, though still not fully capable of completing sentences, was more than capable of completing thoughts. Where in the world was everypony? She twitched her ears and listened carefully. Not a single sound was heard throughout the house. Not the clanking of silverware from her mother's cooking, not the rustling of old paper from her father's work, and most certainly not her sister's happy voice. There was nothing. Just... the gentle sound of chirping birds from outside, and the lazy drawl of cicadas as they sang in a nearby tree.

Violet peered out the window. There was nopony there either. She could say her family went to the market. They would sometimes leave her there alone to finish some training or get a few more chapters in. But the entire street being empty? That didn't happen. There was always a bustle of ponies, whether it be maids and nannies doing chores, delivery ponies lugging large amounts of clothes, or snobs trying their best not to wince in their new horseshoes... there was always somepony there.

Violet kept looking around her room, starting to expect her walls to grow faces and start speaking to her. Her gaze wandered to her bed, which was now the resting place for a mess. Parchment papers, quills and other treasures littered her sheets. She must have kicked the shelf that held her special things. It was right above her headboard.

"Maybe I'm still dreaming." Violet mumbled as she saw that the shelf was still firmly coated in dust. It didn't look like it was touched by a fly, much less kicked by a nearly fully grown mare. But still, her stuff was completely covering her bed. Rolls of parchment that held poems that she and Cloudy had written (one had trailed to the ground and rolled to the other side of the room), a luxury pen that was plated with silver and had special ink made from dragon scales, vintage quills her father had given her, a tiny teddy bear that Cloudy had given her when they fought a few months ago... and a blue envelope.

She quickly levitated everything else back in place. The parchments and quills in their special jars. Her teddy bear in the corner, and her quill on her stand. But the blue envelope- that was new, and didn't have a place.

"Magically transported mail?" It wasn't unheard of. Many unicorns can use mail magic. She couldn't, but on occasion she would see a unicorn in school make a piece of paper disappear. Whether it was a love letter, or the answers to their next test, depended on the pony. But still, she had never received mail like this. It shimmered and shined with magic residue. Pretty silver ink adorned the back, and it was stamped with a strange wax seal, depicting a tiny... thing. It looked as though it was stamped in haste, for the body of the animal was smudged and distorted. It's antlers were exquisite, however, and showed tiny flowers growing on them. I little crescent moon was behind it, showing between the left and right antler.

She flipped it around and levitated it towards the bright light of the window. It had something inside. On the back, in the pretty silver ink, were the words 'to the owner of this mark'. Below the words, was a picture of a crescent moon. Violet immediately looked down at her flank. It was identical to hers.

"It showed up in my room," She nervously fiddled with it in her hooves. "Mail spells hardly make mistakes like this..." She started ripping at the corners of the envelope. "It can't be a coincidence. It can't be..." She tore a single stripe off the top, revealing a black colored paper inside. It was stiff, and very formal looking. "Everything I'm doing is fine- I can't get in trouble for this, it seems totally reasonable for me to feel as though it belongs to me."

But that was it. She did feel as though it belonged to her. Something in her chest told her so.

She unfolded the black paper. At first, she thought it was blank. But after trying to throw it away in anti-climactic induced anger, she saw that it was simply magic. The ink slowly started to appear, in the same silver ink as what was on the back of the envelope.

Dear Violet Charmant Gaspilleur Lilac Lace,
It has come to our attention that you are under some rather interesting circumstances. Though we are sure that you are unaware of said circumstances, we are sure that you would like to know about them and why they have come to pass. We have a lot to teach you, and we are sure that you are more than eager to learn.

Due to some situations that we are unable to truly understand as of yet, we have come to the conclusion that you need to meet up with us as soon as possible in order to get some things sorted out and problems solved. We understand that this must be very sudden, but please understand when we say that this is an urgent situation and needs your compliance and acceptance.

Please meet us and at the moonstone garden as soon as possible.

We will be eagerly waiting your company.
- L

'L'? Who the hell is 'L'? Violet tried to remember a pony with a name starting with 'L', but couldn't come up with anypony. Not anypony that could know her full name anyway. For the love of Celestia, Cloudy didn't even know her middle name until it was needed for black mail. Silky Petals even had to look it up when she had to sign the transfer papers. Who in the wide world of Equestia, would know her middle name, but still be so anonymous to the point where Violet couldn't remember them? And apparently, there was more than one pony too! The letter was written as though it was a group.

Maybe my parents know them... maybe something happened to them... Violet's thoughts went wild with thoughts of them in danger. Her slightly crazed, still dream-buzzed mind was irrational and unreasonable. She began thinking of the craziest of options and conclusions.

"Stop!" She shouted at herself. "You need to calm down!" She looked towards the letter, which she threw back on her bed in panic.

"Okay..." She started pacing her room and talking to nopony in particular. "The... letter wasn't hostile... if anything, it seemed slightly urgent and pleading..." She looked back outside, seeing the frighteningly empty streets and quiet air. Clearly something unnatural was happening. Whether some unicorn cast a spell on every pony in Canterlot, or some ferocious dragon stole every pony for its loot, it didn't matter. Her mind instantly connected the two. The strange letter that seemed to cause a special feeling in her chest, the empty sidewalks and streets, the odd sense that she was forgetting something... heartbreakingly important...

The moonstone garden... She thought of the old garden hideout that she and Cloudy went to all the time as fillies. It was part of the Moonstone garden, which had statues and décor made specifically out of moonstone that was mined from the cliff-face. She had missed that place, but eventually the two of them had grown to big to go there anymore.

She looked back towards the letter. Suddenly, she started thinking of connections. The moonstone garden, her moon cutie mark, the moon in the wax seal, and the letter itself.

Violet was never a believer of 'fate', necessarily. She wrote about ponies who's lives were changed by fate, whether it be a bite from fanged pursuer, or a surprise recruitment into a spy school for young fillies. Now, a tiny prickle in her brain was hoping that maybe this was her moment. Her part of the her story that would change her life forever... for better or for worse.

It was strange. She hadn't had thought like these for years. She was content with sitting in her room all day, following her routine and training and writing. But now those plans seemed to mock her. Laughing at her, smirking smugly in the corners of her room, confident that she would not take the chance to leave and break out of her bubble.

Suddenly, Violet was in motion. She quickly, without speaking, walked down her stairs and into her living room. Grabbing an apple off the bar, she headed out the front door. She was going to burst out of her bubble. She was going to do it! How in the world did she let herself get this bad? She saw her reflection in one of the fancy coy ponds that littered the lawns of the elite. For once, it was a trend that she was grateful for. For when she saw her reflection, she saw her bony face, and gangly legs and ribcage. Her dazed eyes from too much meditation. Her long silver mane, tangled and hardly managed.

She ran after that. She ran and ran and ran. She didn't even stop to take a few bites of her apple, and instead dropped it and left it on the sidewalk, bruised and beaten.

She burst through slightly overgrown weeds and grass. She was about to keep running, but she heard voices.

"We are very disappointed in the state of our royal garden!" A voice bellowed. It was female, and held a sense of charge and power. "These weeds, these statues! We shall remind our sister to make repairs as soon as possible!"

"You do that." Another voice chipped in. It was oddly familiar, with a quick, southern coast accent. "Trust me, honey. It'll look glorious!"

There was a pause. Violet tried to move, looking through the large weeds, trying to find the mare's faces.

"When is she going to be here?" The loud voice shouted. "We don't have much time, and we need to start making preparations!"

"She'll be here soon enough." There was a rustling of paper. "Just a few more seconds here and there. No biggie!"

"There is so much we need to tell her... so many things have changed now. W-We are not sure we are prepared for such a scenario. Perhaps we frightened her..."

"She'll be here." The other voice said again. "You sent the letter on time, and she shall be here momentarily. Everything shall follow the path."

"We are debating whether or not this was a good idea. Perhaps we should have waited a little longer...?"

"No!" The coastal accent shouted. "No... this is good. This path is much better than the path that was going to come, especially in the long run."

There were a few more moments of silence. Violet kept trying to get closer, eager to see their faces.

"How much longer must we wait?!" The loud voice screamed. Violet found herself leaning forward. "How much longer?"

"She should be here on time." The voice chipped. "Right about-"

Violet slipped. Her hooves swung out from under her, and no shifts in the world were fast enough to save her from making an impact on the hard ground of the clearing below. Her body slid on loose dirt, all the way down to the bottom.

"Now."

Violet opened her eyes to find herself staring at two sets of hooves. One of them, bright orange and covered in watches and bangles, contrasted against the others, which were navy blue and sporting silver shoes. She dared her eyes to look up, seeing the navy pony dressed in a solid black coat, and another mare, smiling broadly and carrying a pocket watch in one hoof.

"Good morning, Violet." The orange mare said. She had a bright white mane and an even brighter smile. Her neck was completely covered in gold chains and watches and amulets. "You sure have changed in the short minutes I was gone."

"Ah...wha?" Was the only thing that Violet could muster. The navy pony was silent, standing there, looking at Violet with eyes that bored through the darkness of her hood. Violet quickly scrambled up to her hooves, seeing that she was taller than the mare, but virtually minuscule under the height of the cloaked pony.

"Don't worry!" The watch pony winked. "It's all going according to plan." She motioned toward her mane, as though that could provide an answer to what was happening.

"Are you Violet Lace?" The navy pony asked. Violet tried to find her face in her hood, but it was completely cast in shadow.

"Um... yes?" Violet answered, unsure if she could trust a pony she couldn't see.

Suddenly, the mare flicked her hood back in one smooth motion. She was a unicorn. A very large unicorn. Her mane was peculiar though, for it was light blue at it's roots, and a few locks towards the base of her skull, but faded out in some sort of magical, wavy black and blue. Violet shook her head, for she could have sworn she saw stars dotting her mane like paint splatters. Only brighter, and gently flickering in and out like stares normally would on cloudy nights.

She reached out a large, silver clad hoof towards Violet in greeting. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Her voice was still loud, even though Violet and the other mare were standing right beside her. "We are positively charmed to finally meet you. We hope that your invitation wasn't entirely jarring."

"Um... uh... no. It- it was alright." Violet stuttered. She felt a fluttering in her chest. It was like her soul was licking at the outer surface of her body. Tiny wisps of cold and energy gently flitting in and out of her chest and head. "A little...cryptic. But... fine."

The unicorn nodded. There was a ringing noise. One of the watch pony's numerous watches went off, beeping and rattling like some sort of sputtering engine.

"Sorry!" She said quickly, digging into her bundle of necklaces. "I never know when these blasted things will go off. To much hopping messes with their syncing, you know how it is." She pulled out a bronze watch and pressed the side of her hoof to a button along the outer rim. The noise stopped.

"Well, then." She pulled a piece of paper out of her mane. An action that Violet was expecting... for some odd reason. "I suppose now is as good a time as any."

The unicorn looked shocked. "N-Now? Are you sure... We are not positive we should preform the spell as of yet."

"Oh, nopony ever progressed in time by being a cowardly chicken." The mare pulled out a startlingly familiar silver pocket watch. Upon seeing it, Violet found herself unable to move. Her legs were frozen. "Besides, the path is supposed to go this way. It's now or never." The mare fiddled with the pocket watch until she held it facing Violet. She could see her lavender colored coat in the reflective surface of its lid.

"Wait! What if... What if we take off the one spell... and wait a few nights for the other. Give Ms. Lace time to adjust..."

"Nope." The watch mare said in a no-nonsense manner. She applied pressure to the button on top. "You do that, and she'll be a as noticeable as a screaming hamster in the empty void of space." She looked towards the mare. "Well, hurry up now! Prepare the spell!"

"We- uh... are still not sure about this..."

"Three." The watch mare started counting down. The navy mare had a brief expression of panic. Her horn started to glow, and she tried to spend the rest of the time left explaining to Violet what was going to happen. All the while, Violet stood there, unable to move.

"We are going to perform an information spell on you. It will give you a brief explanation of what's been happening, how you and I connect, and everything of that sort."

"Two." The watch started to generate a bright light.

"It wont hurt, we promise." The unicorn's horn started to glow brighter as the spell was preparing to exit. "You'll just be... dazed for a little while. But an afternoon of leisure should have you waking up tomorrow night as good as new." The unicorn swallowed. "You look... so much like her... It's almost frightening."

"One." The watch in the watch pony's hooves popped open. Violet was blinded by a white light.

The first thought Violet was able to think was: Yes. Clearly I'm still dreaming. Strange, how I haven't woken up yet. But, after that thought, she wasn't capable of thinking or creating thoughts anymore. She could only receive information.

She saw the navy pony. Brief snapshots of her life, almost like a slideshow at her school. Tiny pieces of memories and information. Little split-seconds of pictures and scenes. There were no names or words, but instead an implied story. She saw ponies, both mares and stallions, baring a crescent moon as their cutie mark. Throughout history, these ponies stood by the navy mare's side, whether as secretaries, generals, accountants, servants, doctors, or just simply members of her court. Over and over again, with only a year of separation between one death and another's birth.

Tiny pieces were blocked out. It looked as though they were burned, or ink spilled on them. Black splotches and holes prevented Violet from seeing everything. She saw that the information spell was well practiced, however, due to the numerous ponies in the memories receiving the spells themselves. It was easier this way. Magic somehow made the information easier to digest, preventing the pony effected from denying the information. Everything that Violet saw was real. Very real. And it all stopped a thousand years ago.

Suddenly, the information just... ended. The last pictures completely burned or painted over with harsh black ink and soot. Completely unrecognizable except for one picture. A translator from the jungle. Beads adorned her mane and tail, and eyes that screamed of flora and wilderness were prominent against her historical attire. She was the last one before... something.

But Violet, even with the sudden abrupt end of information, was still floating in a white void. There was a strange sensation in her fur and on her skin. A tightness. Like thousands of grains of sand were just floating above her body, and were now pressing into her self lightly, like a shell. It wasn't uncomfortable... just... encasing.

And then, it was over. She was back at the moonstone garden, with the navy mare and the watch pony. They were looking at her, one of them with eager, ecstatic eyes, and the other with her brow creased with worry and a seemingly permanent, serious expression. Violet suddenly got an onslaught of images of that expression throughout history. One tricky thing about information spells is that, if they held enough information, it took a while to learn everything.

"See?" The watch pony said with a smug smile. "I told you it wasn't that bad!" She gave Violet a hoof, and helped Violet off the ground. Violet was jumpy, and sprang up as though a snake bit her backside. She kept swearing that she could hear something in the weeds. She was nervous, and had a horrendous, frightening feeling of vulnerability.

"Wh.. w-what did you do?" She asked. Her pupils were the size of pinpoints, and her voice cracked out of panic.

"Hmmm..." The watch pony hummed. "'Tis harsh times, Violet. And harsh measures had to be taken." The mare almost seemed serious, if it weren't for the smile and mischief in her eyes, Violet would have probably calmed down. The watch pony quickly looked toward the navy mare. "I'd never done that before. That was fun." The navy mare quickly looked taken aback.

"Are you sure you are alright?" The navy mare asked Violet. She jumped at the loudness of her voice, and the familiarity of it caused her stomach to coil with a small amount of fear.

"You... I know your voice... but I've never met you before..." Violet felt very cold. Her body was shivering.

The navy mare nodded. "Yes, but I assure you, you will get used to it. You, for now, may call me Luna."

"L-Luna..." The name felt familiar on her tongue. It was awful. "Who is that?" She pointed a wobbly hoof at the other mare, who stared down her leg as though it was something strange.

"I thought the information spell would have told you that." The watch pony said, looking at Luna. She shook her head in denial.

"I can only show her things that I understand myself. And I don't understand a lot in this world as of yet." She looked towards Violet. "She is... a 'time pony'. Do you know what this means? Do you mind explaining it to me?"

"T-time pony?" Violet felt her breathing quicken. She trusted Luna. The new information in her head forced her to trust her. Centuries of tiny pieces of memory told her brain that there was no reason not to deny Luna's existence or word. But a time pony? Clearly a lunatic.

"It's true though." The other mare said. Her voice made her sound as though she was reciting a script. "My name is Clock Mage, but you can call me Clocky for short." She flashed Violet a smile. Violet glanced over at Luna, who showed a face that depicted that she didn't want to believe a single thing that the mare said, but had to. Violet knew exactly how that felt.

"Okay..." Violet kept shivering. The sun that pierced through the tree branches was enough to shake off the cold feeling of uncertainty that now covered her mind.

'Clocky' didn't seem to notice Violet's discomfort. "It's a very simple concept, really- why I'm involved. You see, I was traditionally from another time-line, but... it... wasn't good." For the first time since meeting her, Violet saw darkness in her eyes. "So, I fixed it."

"'Fixed it'?" She quoted. She looked towards Luna, who held no answers in her stoic, cold expression.

"Mm Hm!" She held her silver pocket watch in her hoof. "In the alternate time-line, you died a few months after entering your first year of Celestia's school for gifted Unicorns. This caused a chain reaction that... in a sense... ended Equestria." Clock Mage was completely oblivious to Violet's face, as well as Luna's. Both of them had their ears drooping down in disbelief, and shocked expressions plastered all over their faces. "So, I simply... changed some things. I separated you from your timeline on the day of your test, making it so that you couldn't progress- so you wouldn't die. And caused my friend Luna here to leave behind some of her essence to help you along the way!"

"You never said that it ended Equestria!" Luna shouted, completely losing her composure. Violet stood there, her legs ram-rod straight. Her eyes staring off into nothing.

"A giant, underground, ultra-powerful, gem worshiping cult enslaves ninety percent of Equestria's citizens in order to make a 'perfect' world for their leader. What? Did you think that they would show mercy and let you two keep your castle?" Luna blushed at Clock Mage's matter-of-fact tone. "No. Equestria was just about dead in that timeline. The earth would have been dead too in a couple of nights..."

"But you said-" Both of the ponies jumped as Violet suddenly began walking towards the weeds where she fell.

"Wait-"

"Where are you going to, Violet Lace?" Luna's voice boomed.

"Home, obviously. I need to find my parents." She stared straight ahead. She was done with this.

"Wait-no!" Clock Mage pulled out the piece of paper from her mane. "It says you're suppose to be here for another five minutes!"

Violet kept walking. She was about to brush her hooves with the tall grass on the outside of the clearing, but an intimating and slightly all-consuming presence took over her senses. She saw Luna, walking up to her.

"We understand that this must be difficult for you to process, Ms. Lace." She raised her hoof to her chest. "It was hard for me to process as well, and given the circumstances of my arrival, it was more than I could handle in the moment."

"'Arrival'?" Violet quoted. She shook her head, her mind still full of questions and plot holes. "Look, you seem like a nice pony. And clearly..." She looked Luna up and down. "You... are important in many ways. And needed." A look of softness and slight embarrassment flashed across Luna's face. "So... I feel the need to tell you, that this isn't a good situation." She pointed at Clock Mage. "You see, things have changed since..." Violet furrowed her brow, not quite understanding what she was thinking. From what she could tell, this pony was from a thousand years in the past. But she was standing there, right in front of her. She must have been interpreting something from the spell incorrectly. "Since you left. That pony is clearly conning you, and trying to con me as well."

Luna stood there, her scowl never wavering. She glanced at Clock Mage, who was standing in the middle of the clearing, looking at her pocket watch. "She knows many things, Violet Lace. That is how she convinced me."

"How long have you've known her?" Violet asked.

"A day." Luna answered simply. "I... have only known my sister for longer. Things are very different here."

Sister? Something stirred in Violet's mind. She already knew that Luna had a sister. But who?

"We learned about time travel magic in school. It's considered one of the greatest magical achievements in the history of magic. Do you really think a pony in our time could have the ability to go back several years and change things?" She could see that Luna was wavering, her doubt showing through shifting eyes.

"She has told me things... about you... about my past." Luna was clinging to information she couldn't deny. And, if Violet were to be perfectly honest with herself, she was surprised by that response. Clock Mage was good. Who knows how long she's been forming her plan, and probably only to scam a few vulnerable unicorns out of a few bits.

"She... has probably done her research." Violet said. She turned her body back towards the clearing. "Now come on. I'm expecting that you know where my family is?"

Luna opened her mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by a light. It shined and radiated from the center of the clearing like a star. When the light receded, there was nothing but singed grass in its place.

"What in the-"

Suddenly, without warning, the light was back. Just as bright as before, it caused Violet to instictivly protect Luna's sensitive eyes, along with her own.

"That little problem was solved!" Clock Mage's voice radiated from the center of the clearing. "Honestly, those ponies need to learn some manners!" Violet opened her eyes in shock to see Clock Mage in medieval unicorn regalia. Her mane and tail were covered in snow, and her bright white mane was tousled as though it was caught in a ferocious wind. She shook herself, sending chucks of snow and ice into Violet's face. She felt the real cold and harsh burn of the frost. It was real.

"Windigos..." Clock Mage sighed. "Not very good at diplomatic compromising."

"You... you just..." Violet stared at Clock Mage, no longer able to deny her claims. Not even the finest dress makers in Canterlot could make something that authentic looking. No pony, even the strongest of unicorns, could teleport far enough to reach snow. Not from Canterlot in the beginning of summer!

Clock Mage laughed. "I call it 'hopping'. I can only do it temporarily. But given the fact that I'm limited only to time-travel magic, I like to think it's very impressive." She shook the last few drops of snow from behind her ears.

Luna leaned close to Violet, speaking for the first time in what seemed like minutes. "Ms. Lace. With all due respect, we do not think that this mare is 'conning' us anymore."

Violet could only nod.

"Now, back to our problem." She pulled opened her watch again, and Violet found herself flinching a little harder than what was probably necessary. Clock Mage fiddled with it, pressing buttons and twisting nearly invisible nobs that protruded out of its side. Suddenly, an image of a landscape appeared, floating above the watch like some sort of projection. It was horrid. Black grass and blank skies. A giant castle glistened in the distance, seemingly made out of gemstones. Half starved ponies were walking down the streets in freakishly neat lines, their eyes glowing red and red gems hanging around their necks like shackles.

"This, is the alternate timeline that I came from earlier." She closed the watch. Violet breathed a sigh of relief as the image dissapeared. "Like I said, I temporarily altered our timeline by saving Violet's life."

"'Temporarily?" Luna and Violet chorused.

"Of course." She waved her hoof as though it was obvious. "Different path ways lead to the same location. In fact, it's almost horrific how easily we could steer towards that reality again."

"How do we prevent this... 'reality'?" Luna asked. Her stood up strong, and puffed out her chest like a leader.

"That's easy." Clock Mage looked towards Violet. "We need to protect Violet Lace at all cost, make sure she makes all the right decisions, and doesn't screw anything up in any way possible. Everything leans on her, and us. If we fail in any way, the fate of Equestria is doomed."

A cold silence filled the moonstone garden.

"Anypony got any ideas?"

Comments

[Akernis]

Finally got time to read.
'Hot bright light streaming through the curtains' - Ah come on! she slept through the entirety of Nightmare Moon's dark scheme? Damn, that is one heavy sleeper XD.
+Whistles+, damn, that is one long name that Violet has, that how you know she is nobility descended XD.
Oh, I am sure I don't know any pony whose name starts with an 'L' and might be associated with the moon, and speak in plural... ;)
This all has a slightly surrealistic edge to it, everyone gone, yet we know this is the point just following the Summer Sun Celebration, wonder what comes of it all.
I like the way that you make Violet think that maybe this is her 'moment of fate' that seems just like such a feeling one might get in such a strange situation.
And here we have Luna herself, and the strange time-pony. Hmm, apparently she is important enough to boss Luna around...
So we went from Violet is a relatively ordinary pony to Equestria itself is doomed if something happens to her? That's a little sudden change.
I am sorry, Demon, but I actually can't comment on the whole plot point. You will know why when you get there. Also, I might not be the best person to evaluate those particular points... I am not a fan of time-travel, so I might be a bit testy in that area ^^;
On the other hand, thank you very much for giving some clarity into what is happening the story. Much appreciated. And it was good to get to read one of your chapters again after a hard week of school-work :)

[Snow]

A small reminder: The seat of power for Equestria in Luna's time was the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, located in what's now the Everfree Forest. That means that the Everfree used to be the capital of Equestria, not Canterlot.