Chapter 13: A New Day
The conference with Celestia continued for another couple of hours, Celestia explaining principles and applications of temporal physics undreamt-of by current Equestrian science, and Luna outlining their employment in temporal combat. The concepts were advanced, and rapidly presented, sometimes in the form of powerful and elegant equations, which Twilight examined with eager fascination, frantically jotting-down notes.
By the time that Celestia excused herself for a moment, and the reddish light of dawn began to spill into Celestia's chambers, though, Twilight Sparkle was displaying distinct signs of physical exhaustion, including frequent blinking, slurred speech, and uncontrollable yawning. After Twilight actually nodded off at one point, Celestia declared the conference at an end, despite Twilight's protests that she could "last a little longer."
"It is much more important, Twilight, that you understand these concepts than that I race you rapidly through them," said Celestia. "You have obviously had little sleep for days. While, as an Alicorn, you do not need as much sleep as you did before, you still need some sleep for your brain to function at full efficiency."
"Indeed," chimed in Luna. "Thy life -- and many more -- may depend on thee learning right this lore. Thou art weary, dear friend -- get thee to thy bed!"
Twilight could not argue, in the face of such logic and love. She yielded, admitting her fatigue to the Sisters.
Celestia sent her on her way, setting an appointment to meet with her again in three days and continue their studies, and giving her a warmly-affectionate wing hug.
Luna offered to take Twilight home.
Twilight gratefully-accepted the offer.
So it was in a swirl of wind and darkness that Twilight returned to Friendship Castle, borne on the power of Luna's teleportation spell. In but a measureless instant of time, Celestia's chambers vanished and were replaced by the shelves of Twilight's library.
Twlight thanked Luna, and started to walk to her bedchamber, only to find herself staggering on her hooves. I'm more tired than I thought, Twilight realized. It's a good thing Princess Celestia sent me home!
Luna escorted her up the stairs, helping to support her when she seemed about to stumble.
Twilight was glad of her assistance. Right now, the simple act of climbing two flights of stairs seemed a major obstacle; the very concept of flight seemed impossible, and Twilight chuckled briefly to herself at the absurd image of herself flitting about clumsily like some giant mindless moth, repeatedly battering herself against the sides of the stairwell. In her current mental state, she found the notion hilarious.
Twilight finally reached her room and flopped into bed, burying her head happily into her pillows. The fabric felt impossibly soft and incredibly welcoming. It was such a relief not to have to worry about anything, at least for a while.
Almost immediately, she started drifting off to sleep. She was dimly aware of a blanket being pulled over her body, the comforting scent of somepony familiar bending over her, and a brief brush of lips against her cheek in a gentle kiss.
Twilight giggled slightly at the tickling sensation of that kiss. She knew, even in her drowsy confusion, that it was Princess Luna who tucked her in and kissed her, and she minded neither in the least.
It's nice being loved, she thought, especially by Luna. I'm safe now ...
On that pleasant thought, she fell asleep.
"Hey, Twilight, I made pancakes!" came a cheerful and very familiar voice.
Twilight groaned, rolled over in bed, and opened bleary eyes to regard her adoptive baby brother and Number One Assistant. Spike was usually a welcome sight, but right now no sight was truly welcome. "Sight" meant that her eyes were open, which in turn implied that she was no longer sleeping. It was a neat logical conclusion -- though a sad one to reach right now, when she was still so very tired.
Spike was standing by Twilight's bedside, holding a covered silver tray. Setting it down on an adjacent table, he removed the cover to reveal plates heaped high with fluffy golden pancakes and freshy made scrambled eggs upon a substrate of hay country fritters. On the side were a small pitcher of maple syrup, a stick of butter, and a bottle of ketchup. Hard on the hooves of this visual information came olfactory stimulation: a melange of delicious odors, tickling her delicate nostrils.
Abruptly, tiredness fled as Twilight's stomach forcibly reminded her that it had been over a day since she'd eaten a real meal. Twilight's mouth watered, her ears went up, and she practically snatched the tray of food right out of Spike's hands with her powerful telekinesis.
Proper regard for the dignity of a Princess of Equestria should induce me to report that Twilight Sparkle ate that breakfast in a delicate and ladylike manner, displaying all the grace and manners one would expect of a well-brought-up young mare of the ancient and honorable Light Clan. Alas, an even deeper regard for historical accuracy requires me to relate that Twilight instead tucked into that meal almost with the alacrity that one might have expected of a Primal Pony, one eye on her food and the other on the circling carnivores.
Almost. Even just awoken and almost starving hungry, Twilight still retained enough of the civilized Canterlot scholar-gentlemare that she in truth was that she did not simply plunge her muzzle deeply into her food and splatter much of it around the bed in the process of its consumption. That would have been quite unmannerly -- and, besides, would have wasted some of the food. Twilight Sparkle was much too intelligent to do that. She even applied the condiments properly. Though she did wind up getting some of those on the bedclothes, in her haste.
Her hunger appeased, Twilight washed down the meal with cup after cup of strong coffee from a pot Spike had also fetched, which both assuaged her thirst and helped her come fully awake. She then wiped her mouth, nose, and other messy parts of her face with a large napkin Spike handed her. Emitting a great sigh of contentment, she regarded Spike gratefully.
"Thank you," she told her Number One Assistant. "I really needed that. Especially the coffee. Without that, I think I just might have dropped off again after I ate all that delicious food. Which would have been very irresponsible of me, given that I asked the others to meet me here this morning." She looked at the clock. "Yikes!" cried Twilight. "It's almost noon! Are any of them here yet?"
"Not yet," said Spike. "Though Rarity should be getting here soon. She said that she'd be here before noon. And you can always count on Applejack. As for Pinkie --"
"Hi!" said Pinkie, popping out from under the cover of the tray, which was of course far too small to conceal even a little filly, let alone a strapping full-grown mare with the sturdy, muscular body of a rock farmer, overlain by the plumpness of a baker entirely too fond of her own wares. Nevertheless, there she was: as always twice as large as life, big and pink and friendly, with seemingly-innocent blue eyes, behind which were the secrets of a whole lost world; grinning in her usual manic glee. A few uneaten scraps of Twilight's breakfast were caught in her bright raspberry pink mane and tail, or smeared on her only slightly less brilliantly-pink coat.
Twilight tried hard not to shy at Pinkie's sudden appearance. Twiilght was mostly successful. Pinkie was often incomprehensible, and the things she did should have been impossible, but she was a true and loyal and utterly wonderful friend, and that was more important than anything else: the essence of the greatest lesson Twilight Sparkle had learned regarding the Universe in general over the last half-decade of her life. She did flinch a little, but that was almost unavoidable, given that even as an Alicorn, Twilight had a mostly-normal equine nervous system.
"Good morning, Pinkie," replied Twilight, smiling at her very pink, very strange friend. "How are you doing?"
"Super keen!" answered Pinkie. "I got to mix fertilizer with AJ and Dashie and it was lots of fun only it's messy when you have a fertilizer fight and the special ingredient tastes awful! Yuck!" She giggled. "Oh, and AJ and Dashie'll be here, in ten minutes. I took the shortcut, they didn't wanna."
Twilight processed that statement. She noted the important information.
"I'd better take a quick shower," Twilight said. "Thanks, Pinkie, for letting me know they're on their way."
"No problem!" Pinkie rapidly ran her impossibly-long tongue over her whole body, slurping up the remnants of Twiilght's breakfast. "Mmm!" she declared. "Spike, you're a good cook!"
"Thanks!" replied Spike, beaming at her. "Would you like me to make you some?" he asked.
"Sure!" said Pinkie enthusiastically, and she bounced off after Spike toward the kitchen.
Twilight Sparkle rushed into her bathroom and started a hot shower. She suddenly realized that she had not had a proper full-body cleaning, with soap and hot water, since the morning of the day that she had left on the quest for Our Town, a whole week ago. She stepped into the shower and let the warm water cascade upon her face and back, streaming through her mane as she closed her eyes and gasped in delight at the wonderful wet sensation.
She groaned as she remembered that, last night, she had attended informal audiences with both the Two Royal Pony Sisters, without having done more than wash her face. I must have reeked. Celestia hugged me, Luna hugged and kissed me -- what must they have thought of me?
In that moment of mortifcation, it did not occur to her that Celestia and Luna had both known that she had been laboring long and hard in the defense of the Realm, and had taken wounds to her psyche in its defense. The Sisters, who had more than once themselves spent hard weeks on the road, during the long centuries they fought Discord and forged the Realm out of the cultural wrack the Draconequus had left in the wake; they would have forgiven far more than some honest mare-sweat on one who had likewise struggled in the service of that Realm: even had that one not been Twilight Sparkle, whom they each loved greatly, after her own fashion. What they truly thought of Twilight would have indeed embarrassed her, but not for the reasons she imagined.
Twilight completed her hasty ablutions and stepped out of the shower, vigorously toweling herself dry. She padded down toward her main dining room, from which she heard the voices of Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie already raised in conversation.
"Oh, just let that Starlight Glimmer come back!" Rainbow Dash was saying. "I'd give her a kick with my forehooves -- another kick with my rear hooves --- then I'd circle around and finish her off with a Sonic Rainboom! Blam!"
Something clattered to the floor as Dashie demonstrated her aggressive capabilities on an inanimate object -- a chair, from the sound of it. Twilight deemed it unlikely that the chair had fought back very effectively, and she walked a bit faster, hoping to intervene before Rainbow Dash destroyed the Castle's dining room.
"Whoa there, Dashie," commented Applejack. "Ah'm sure if Starlight Glimmer were here you'd kick her flank from here to the Crystal Mountains. But that pore chair didn't do anything to you."
"Darn right I'd kick her flank!" Rainbow Dash replied. "No way no how am I ever letting her slow me down again!"
"Ah doubt anything could slow you down for too long," said Applejack, an affectionate tone in her voice.
As Twilight walked into the room, she saw Rainbow Dash settle back down into a chair -- she wasn't sure if it was the same one who had been her recent antagonist -- a mollified expression on her face. "Yeah," said Rainbow Dash. "Cause I'm just too amazing to keep up with!"
"Mornin, Twah," said Applejack, smiling warmly at her friend. "Hope you had a nice night."
Twilight yawned. "I stayed up most of the night working on my report to the Royal Sisters," she told them. "It was worth it, though," she said proudly. "Celestia said it was informative and interesting, when we had a meeting later, at the Palace in Canterlot."
"Huh," commented Rainbow Dash. "Did she say anything about how we can catch Starlight Glimmer? Or what she's likely to do next?" Her tone was casual -- perhaps a bit too much so.
"Yes," said Twilight. "But I want to wait until we're all here."
"Wal," said Applejack, "Pinkie Pie's in the kitchen with Spike, making us breakfast. Ah don't know where Fluttershy or Rarity are."
"Hel-lo," said Rarity as she stepped through the door, Fluttershy by her side. Rarity looked a bit tired, but happy, in distinct contrast to the extreme tension she had displayed last night at the train station. Her face bore a bright smile and her posture was relaxed.
"Hi," said Fluttershy. She seemed as if she'd enjoyed a good night's sleep: her eyes were alert and gait as high-stepping as hers ever got. She smiled affectionately at everypony.
Spike poked his head out of the kitchen door. "Hi, Rarity!" he said, giving her a big smile. "Pinkie and I are making some really great pancakes and scrambled eggs with hay fritters for everypony!"
"So nice to see you this morning, Spikey," said Rarity casually, but Twilight noticed that she winked at him. "I look forward to your culinary creations."
"Great!" replied Spike. "You're gonna love what I'm making!"
"Breakfast's on!" said Spike, pushing in a wheeled serving cart considerably larger than his whole body, handling the huge cart without any apparent difficulty.
"Technically, 'brunch' or even 'lunch,' darling," Rarity commented. "given the lateness of the hour." She smiled warmly at the small Dragon, and subtly leaned toward him, as if she wanted to touch him but was shy of doing so in public.
As Rarity was normally not at all shy of displaying affection to Spike in public, Twilight briefly wondered what was up. Twilight also noticed that Spike's affect was unusual -- somewhere between happy and nervously excited. Spike's gaze frequently shifted to Rarity, who returned his looks with smiling glances of her own, sometimes flushing slightly.
I know exactly what that looks like, thought Twilight especially coupled -- combined! she frantically amended -- with where he went after we finished that report. But I have to trust Spike and Rarity -- and I have more important issues on my mind, right now. I mustn't interfere, especially not in company. Spike's growing up.
She felt a strange emotion, somewhere between pride and panic. He's growing up fast. Will I feel like this one day when I have children? Rarity, please don't hurt him!
Twilight's friends tucked into the food. It was the same eggs, pancakes and hay fritters that Spike had made for Twilight, but it most definitely was good. Rarity was particularly-complimentary toward the food, which may have been in consequence of her increased affection toward Spike -- or simply a manifestation of her genuine appreciation for Spike's skills. It looked a bit suspicious.
It did not at all help that the others had plainly noticed as well. Pinkie Pie was beaming at Spike and Rarity, a broad grin spread across her face. Rainbow Dash was smirking, and making what she probably imagined to be subtly congratulatory gestures to Spike. Applejack was maintaining her dignity, but seemed happy about something; her face bore a rathe sweet smile. Even Fluttershy, of all Ponies, looked happy -- a shy smile, directed at Rarity through a thin screen of pink hair.
It was almost as if this was some sort of sports meet -- and everypony had been rooting for Spike and Rarity to score.
Oh no, thought Twilight. That was a bad choice of metaphor. That's an image I didn't really want.
Of course, she understood why they wanted Spike to succeed in his romantic ambition. They all like Spike, she knew. They're his friends, just as they're mine. The thought cheered her. Still, she reminded herself severely, the love of others should not be made into some sort of a show. This is private.
She had a brief mental image of herself, very small and very energetic, as she had been fifteen years ago. Very much liking her new babysitter -- and, for that reason, helping to set up Cadance with her big brother Shining Armor, long before Twilight had any but the vaguest possible notions of what Love entailed. That had ultimately led to their marriage. I love Cadance, Twilight thought happily. I couldn't have found Shiny anypony better.
Maybe this will all turn out as well for Spike, Twilight admitted to herself. Maybe I should just stop worrying about it.
It was just that ... He's my little brother!
No logic seemed to be wholly able to address that.
The meal was nearly over, and Twilight composed her thoughts regarding the more public business before them. She had not had time to ready a stack of note cards, nor even write a list, so this time she'd just wing it. Which I am nowadays equipped to do, she thought, waggling one of her wings. She grinned to herself. I really don't have that much to complain about.
Her good mood restored, she began the meeting.
"All right, girls," she said in what she hoped was a brisk but calm manner. "I've met with the Sisters about Starlight Glimmer, and we were able to reach some tentative conclusions about her motives and the threat she still poses."
She immediately had everypony's attention. Rarity in particular was rivetted to Twilight's every word, Rarity's expression visibly strained. Spike stepped to Rarity's side, placing a protective hand on her shoulder. Fluttershy shrank a little into her mane. Rainbow Dash scowled and looked pugnacious. Pinkie Pie seemed unwontedly serious. Applejack alone seemed unworried, simply firming her jaw slightly with determination.
"Starlight Glimmer is a former student of Princess Celestia's, gone warlock; she was at the Academy two decades before me," Twilight began.
"Another one?" asked Rainbow Dash with disgust. "This is, what, the second or third time this has happened?"
"Third," said Twilight. "And it's not that often -- this is over decades." She felt a little uncomfortable, because she was skirting a lie-by-omission -- it was, in fact, pretty often, given that Starlight Glimmer, Sunset Shimmer and Dawn Starfall were all not merely former students of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, but Princess Celestia's former personal students -- making the rate of madness even worse than it seemed.
"Oh well," allowed Rainbow Dash. "At least you turned out with your head screwed-on mostly-okay."
"Thank you," replied Twilight. "I think."
"Just a moment, sugarcube," said Applejack, a slightly grim tone in her voice belying her term of endearment. "Ah'm guessin' Starlight was one of Celestia's special students -- like you."
Twilight nodded. "Which is part of why she's so dangerous," she said. "Starlight Glimmer has considerable magical talent -- comparable to my own -- and she's had a similar education. She learned some very advanced magic from Celestia, and she's had two more decades than me to study and practice it. It would be a very bad idea to underestimate her.
"Good Heavens," gasped Rarity. "She's an evil you."
"More like a very badly misguided Twilight," commented Fluttershy, speaking up unexpectedly.
Everypony looked at her in astonishment, partly because she had spoken and partly because of what she had said, but Fluttershy stood her ground.
"I spent time with her," Fluttershy said. "And I don't think she meant to do evil. I think she thought she was doing good. She really believes that Cutie Marks are bad. She thought she was helping."
Rainbow Dash frowned at her friend. "'Shy," she pointed out, "she took my speed. How lame is that?"
"Pretty lame," agreed Fluttershy. "And she took my ability to talk to animals, which made me very sad. But I don't think she really understood what she was doing. Not really."
"That may be," allowed Applejack, "but from where we're standing, she might as well be evil. She hurt us, and probably wants to hurt us more. Ah don't think we've seen the last of her."
"She has done a lot of damage in the pursuit of her obsession," pointed out Rarity. "And not only to us. She has caused much more harm to the unfortuate Ponies who followed her at Our Town."
"She's just no fun, agreed Pinkie.
"Starlight Glimmer attempted to achieve what she imagined were good ends," said Twilight Sparkle, "but her ends were misguided and her means evil. Ponies are not happier with their Talents suppressed; we've all experienced personally how miserable that makes us. Ponies should not be identical; we are individuals and have different capabilities and needs. And the mere possession of power does not make it moral for its possessor to dictate to others: Ponies must control their own lives and make their own decisions. Even Princesses must respect equine freedom and dignity."
Applejack nodded; there was general agreement from the others.
"It is important to remember," Twilight continued, "that Starlight Glimmer was neither captured nor reformed. She is still out there; she still believes that she was right, and she is probably very angry at us for having defeated her and unseated her from her control over Our Town. She is extremely likely to do something violent or otherwise dangerous or immoral in pursuit of her revenge. And she is very powerful."
"Do you suppose she'll attempt to take our Cutie Marks again?" Rarity asked, her tone casual enough, but her expression anything but calm.
"Possibly," replied Twilight. "Having witnessed that magic, I understand it: I know how to shield against and reverse it. If she ambushes me, of course, she may take my power before I can use it. However, the other Princesses now know about her, and she can't take us all at the same time. She will have little chance of victory in a direct frontal assault."
"What if she just takes our Marks and hides them somewhere, then runs off?" Rarity persisted, stress in her voice.
"I've thought of that," said Twilight. "I'm working on a Cutie Mark tracking spell for just such a situation. Both Contagion and Similarity are immensely strong between a Pony and her Cutie Mark, so it should be easy enough to accomplish. And many other Pony mages could do the same thing, if anything happened to me first."
Rarity nodded -- she'd studied enough magical theory to understand what Twilight had just said -- and visibly relaxed.
"Now, as to how Starlight Glimmer is likely to seek her revenge," continued Twilight. "First of all, I think that I am probably her primary target."
Her friends looked at her in alarm.
"She better not mess with you," Rainbow Dash said belligerently. "I'll kick her flat if she tries that!"
The others variously affirmed their loyalty to her.
"Thank you," said Twilight, smiling at her friends. "If she attacks, I suspect she will try to catch me alone, precisely because she won't want to have to deal with all of you as well and at the same time. Starlight -- unfortunately -- is highly intelligent; we have to assume that she will be tactically-competent.
"She is not likely to attack very soon. When we defeated her, we robbed her of allies and resources. She will want to recover, both emotionally and logistically, and she will probably conduct research into us and our capabilities, just as I am conducting research into her. Though it's not impossible for her to orgagnize an immediate attack, because of some of the spells she knows. It's significantly more difficult, though."
"What sort of spells do you mean?" asked Applejack. "Any kind of high-powered hoo-doo we should be watching out fer, in particular?"
"Well, aside from the usual offensive and defensive magic of an elite Unicorn mage -- the things you've seen me do, basic energy bolts, shields, telekinesis and teleportation -- she has the Spell of Sameness, as I've mentioned. The good news there is that I don't think she can do more with that than weaken you, and your Mark and Talent will come back almost immediately unless actively contained, as we saw.
"She may know some number of other special spells, such as polymorphs, mind control magic and such. Many of these are of course highly-illegal to use on another Pony without their consent, but she is a warlock: magical assault is the essential definition of that crime. Realistically, we have to assume that she'll fight dirty, rather than challenge us to formal duels.
"Now, as to the main problem. Starlight Glimmer once had prolonged access to some of the most powerful and secret spellbooks of Starswirl the Bearded ..."
"Oh, crap," said Spike, his crest flaring as he took a quick indrawn breath, as if instinctively-readying himself to spout fire at a foe. There being no actual foe at hand, he relaxed slightly, but still did not seem fully calmed.
"Oh, my ..." said Rarity, gaping in dismay. "You're talking some fairly serious magic here, I would imagine." She looked uncertainly between Twilight and Spike.
"Oh yeah," replied Spike. "Starswirl messed around with the fundamental structure of spacetime. Gravitational singularities, time travel, portals to other dimensions ... there's stuff Celestia still keeps secret, because in the wrong hooves it could be end-of-the-world. Things Ponies Were Not Meant To Know, that sort of thing."
"Spike's correct," affirmed Twilight. "The Spell of Sameness is a modification of Starswirl's Unifinished Spell -- the one I accidentally cast on all of you a year and a half ago. It's ontomantic in nature -- time-based reality warping, sort of like what Pinkie does but much more rigid and limited in its applications ..."
"... I bet I bake better cupcakes than that meanie Starlight Glimmer does, too!" Pinkie announced, nodding proudly.
"Better even than Sugar Belle's," Twilight agreed. "Basically, it alters the quantum probabilty weightings of your pastline, weakening the causal linkages between your own astral pattern and your destiny as manifest in the Mark ..."
Everyone, including Spike, stared at her blankly.
"It rips loose the part of your soul that makes the Talent," said Twilight. "It does so by retroactive magic -- it goes back into the past and makes it so that in a sense you never had the Talent. But it's very limited -- the ontological inertia of our shared worldline resists the change and renders it unstable ..."
More blank stares.
Twilight sighed. "The Universe wants you to have the Talent, because if you didn't then there would be contradictory consequences, so ..."
"Oh!" squealed Pinkie. "Too much Paradox! Starlight doesn't know how to tie up the ends right so it's going to burn but before that happens the Langoliers just rip it up and eat it, munch munch munch, and once it's loose it snaps back! I get it!"
Twlight and everyone looked at Pinkie Pie, the others in confusion, Twilight in astonishment.
"You're talking about sub-sapient chronovoric entities, Pinkie," Twilight said. "How do you know about ..."
"Well, duh," said Pinkie. "If I didn't know about them and how to work around them, they might eat me, and I'd rather bake yummy food than be yummy food. Wouldn't you?" She looked around the group.
There was general agreement.
"Now that I think about it," said Twilight, "I suppose you run into these sort of issues frequently." An idea struck her. "Could you tell if Starlight was about to attack?"
"Well ..." said Pinkie, thinking a moment. "That kinda depends."
"Depends?" asked Rainbow Dash. "On what?"
"On what was going to happen if she attacked," Pinkie explained. "See if she was going to really truly hurt any of you I'd know, cause it'd be really sad and scary and it would make me sad and probably all quivery and my mane would get weird and you know what that's like. So I'd warn you so the bad things wouldn't happen cause you're my friends and I love you tons! But if you're gonna all come out of it okey-dokey even if I didn't say anything then I might not feel it at all, or I might not say anything if I did cause what if something bad happened cause I warned you? And if was going to come out really good, like maybe Starlight was going to just have a big party and hug us and be friends, then I might not want to say anything cause if I said something then maybe things would come out really bad and the cake would all be like turnip pie or something or even worse like there'd be no cake at all!" She took a long breath. "So I might just bake a big cake for the party but then I might eat it all cause I was really really hungry, so I'd bake more. See?"
Twilight worked over what Pinkie had just said, subtracted the cake equally from both sides of the Boolean equation, and got the gist of it. "Are you saying that if you know something is going to happen, sometimes if you warn us, you could make matters worse? And you know in advance if this is true, so that you don't warn us if the warning would mean a worse future?"
"Yeppers!" replied Pinkie, "Sometimes something a little bad or scary will happen that turns out right in the end, like when Discord messed with us and it was really sad but now he's mostly nice to us and he's a lot of fun to be with, so if we'd put him back in stone forever we'd be missing out on the nice and fun stuff he does, plus the whole scene where he saves the Skylark from the Shadows and wakes his ... oopsie, forget I said any of that last part, should fix that, there." She did something, and Twilight could not clearly remember some of what Pinkie had said. "And then you want to let the little bad stuff happen cause you won't get the better good stuff if you stopped the little bad stuff. See?"
Twilight did see, and she also saw why Pinkie usually couldn't talk about it. "And even if you told us why you were doing it, you could create Paradox?"
"Yep!" said Pinkie. "I really like the way you're so smart this time, cause you get things like this! You're amazing!"
"Heh ... thank you, Pinkie," replied Twilight, smiling and blushing a little bit. "Okay, well," she said, "can you warn us if Starlight's going to attack and it's going to go badly if you don't warn us?"
"Sure thing!" agreed Pinkie cheerfully.
"All right," continued Twilight, feeling a little relieved already. She did not entirely understand how Pinkie's powers worked, and indeed feared that it might be impossible to fully-understand them within the limitations of her own intellect and psychology, but she knew that Pinkie was a very good Pony, a loyal friend -- and much more capable than she seemed at first glance.
"So," she said to her friends, "I've basically given you the bad news. The good news is this. If Starlight Glimmer does try to do any of the really dangerous things she might attempt to accomplish through time travel: such as reversing her defeat at Our Town, changing our destinies en masse, or altering large-scale history ... well, it won't be as easy as she may imagine. The Universe doesn't want the timeline changed, and unless she's very careful about how she does it, the changes will be unstable, just as is the Spell of Sameness. Setting things right should still be possible."
"So what you're sayin, Twah," Applejack asked, "is that even if it looks hopeless at some point, it might not be?"
"Essentially, yes," replied Twilight.
"Ah can work with that," said Applejack. "Do mah level best to fight and win, if'n it comes to it."
"Yeah, I'm not gonna give up just cause some jerk wants to push me around," added Rainbow Dash.
"I'm with you," said Fluttershy softly.
"If she comes back, we're gonna win -- and all celebrate afterward!" Pinkie declared.
"I shall continue to hold my head up high, no matter what happens," promised Rarity, essaying a smile.
Spike gazed at her adoringly. "I'm not going to let her hurt you," he said to Rarity. He turned to Twilight, then looked at the others. "Any of you."
Twilight felt a deep pride in Spike, and in all of her friends. Whatever happened, they would remain faithful to their friendship and their fellowship. Starlight Glimmer might have temporal magics of unknown power and scope; she might have a deep rage and burning desire for revenge.
But she did not have friends -- and friendship was magic.
Pinkie Pie may be the most fun character to write in the history of fiction. 
Plus, she does her own Spoiler marking! 
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A new scheme of Glimmer's, given the ponies' reaction here, would be to expose them to ponies acting like extreme exaggeration and flanderized versions of themselves, and SCARE ponies equal.
I think Twilight got through to Glimmer, because she was the first one ever to take her pain seriously instead of telling her 'get over it.'
6865620
You think I overdid them?
6865623
That's insightful -- I think you may be right. Even if the loss of Sunburst as a friend wasn't the only thing driving Starlight Glimmer's Start of Darkness, it certainly really hurt her.
Given how many times I've alienated someone, and lost a friend DUE to differences that couldn't be reconciled, I can't say Glimmer's dream is a completely awful one.
"And the mere possession of power does not make it moral for its possessor to dictate to others: Ponies must control their own lives and make their own decisions. Even Princesses must respect equine freedom and dignity.""
The joke is, Glimmer likely 100% agrees with that statement totally and utterly, and want to annihilate the existence of the Haves and Have-Nots. Those who hold power and those that don't. In her mind she IS fighting for freedom, since for her cutie marks are just collars Fate uses to control ponies, and spare ponies the indignity of being lorded over by those who are faster and stronger than them.
6865626
No. I'm saying that's the idea that popped into my head reading how the mane six suffered for a VERY brief time going closer to the opposite extreme.
I can't help but worry that Starlight is going to find Twilight's notes on temporal combat. Hopefully, she won't, but it seems all too possible.
To be fair, Pinkie, they probably couldn't even comprehend the shortcut. Most ponies just aren't comfortable with ana-kata motion.
Poor Twilight. She's never had to experience this part of being an older sibling before.
Though apparently not their past deeds. Of course, from Starlight's perspective, they're just six random ponies, who shouldn't have performed any greater feats than anypony else. And, by the tortuous Gordian knot that she called a logical thought process at the time, that obviously means they hadn't performed any greater feats.
Yeah, as far as I'm concerned, Pinkie's logic has nothing on Starlight's. Though Starlight can't retroactively censor her own speech, so point in Pinkie's favor.
I do love a Pinkie Pie with a firm grasp on the underpinnings of reality. Given how she hasn't yet vanished in a puff of logic, she must have some understanding of what not to do.
A very nice chapter indeed. Looking forward to whatever's left of this story.
Now I wonder what happens to a poor pony who uses black magic to protect a friends from a pack of timber wolves or robbers. We've seen Twilight is such an insane stickler for the rules that she let a gang of known criminal beat up a friend of hers rather than use magic on them to disable them.
Glimmer, "YOU SEE?! THAT'S MY POINT!"
And this is Fate uses The Wolf instead of those things.
"plus the whole scene where he saves the Skylark from the Shadows and wakes his ... "
Hmm?
She finds out right where to strike. I'm still disgusted at how the mares had THE SAME MARKS across timelines, it kinda proves Glimmer RIGHT. (I know I'm a broken record.).
6865704
ana-kata motion
???
6865704
I think Twilight (and her friends) just embodies what Glimmer hates about everything. Of some ponies being "more important" than other ponies.
6865716
Ana and kata are directional terms for the fourth dimension coined by Charles Howard Hinton, the same guy who came up with the word "tesseract." Left-right, forward-back, up-down, ana-kata.
And yeah, the existence of protagonists is really going to stick in Starlight's craw.
6865760
Too bad the show forgot their own lesson in slice of life. And if evil gets free replacements, shouldn't good too?
So... are Applejack and Rainbow Dash essentially making promises about what they'll do in the Sombra Wars timeline?
(And nice prophecy there, Pinkie!)
6865663
Was it a religous thing?
The problem is that she's approaching it from the wrong direction. instead of friends learning to appreciate and tolerate complementary and harmless differences, Starlight tolerates no real differences and tries to cut everypony down to the same size.
6865666
Ah, i see. i'm glad you thought this was an okay chapter, then. I thought i rushed the last scene a little bit, because i wanted to reach the first main denouement and be left with only one chapter to go. i was worried that i'd written the Mane Six too stereotypical as in:
"Intellectual thing," pointed out Twilight, lecturing a bit.
"Practical implication, sugarcube," said Applejack, adjusting her hat. Did I mention she's wearing her hat?
"Fashion problems, darling," pointed out Rarity, tossing her mane.
"Wow, Rarity, you're beautiful!" gushed Soike, emitting pink hearts from his eyes.
"Yes, darling, well I can't really help it. Darling," added Rarity, posing.
"Woo-hoo! We sholuld throw a party about this!" said Pinkie, tossing some confetti around.
"Eh, I just want to kick 'em hard!" said Rainbow Dash.
"Eep," commented Fluttershy, hiding shyly behind her mane.
That sort of thing.
6866387
That was not funny.
6866439
I wasn't even remotely joking. I've noticed that a lot of serious ruptures of friendships come from religious differences. I apologize for offending you.
6865704
What makes this worse is that she's torn between emotions. She loves Spike and wants him to be happy, she knows that if she simply drives off everyone who loves him she'll be doing him no favor; she even knows that Rarity is probably less likely to be cruel to him and definitely more likely to really love him than would many other Ponies who might be drawn to his status. Twilight has already seen the irrationality of rejecting Rarity just because her personality is different in some crucial ways to Twilight's herself; that was part of her Masking-as-Starlight epiphany earlier. Twilight mostly approves of Rarity.
Evidence in Show is very strong that Twilight is very protective of her siblings. She only gets along well with Cadance because Cadance is also one of Twilight's best friends and because Cadance's love for and protectiveness toward Shining is exceedingly strong and obvious.
When it seemed to Twilight as if Rarity was only going to break Spike's heart by not returning his affections, Twilight could handle that; she doesn't see her own role as being forcing other Ponies to fall in love with him. However, what she fears now is that Rarity may break Spike's heart by returning his love but not enough to marry a non-Pony; alternately, that she will prove fickle (an opinion she doesn't dare state because she reasonably would fear losing Rarity's friendship for doing so given the situation); most darkly and selfishly, she just doesn't want competition for Spike's attention (not her main attitude, but even Twilight Sparkle has her selfish side).
Twilight also has some genuine and reasonable problems with Rarity. She knows that Rarity is an incorrigable flirt and addicted to the spotlight, sometimes to the point of forgetting her main objectives. Rarity can be fickle and hare off in the pursuit of strange obsessions. Rarity is far from perfect. Even Rarity knows Rarity isn't perfect. Spike actually knows this too, he just doesn't like to dwell on it.
But the absolutely worst thing Twilight can do in this situation is try to pull them apart. If she does this, and their love doesn't work out, it becomes Twilight's fault. If she does, and their love works out anyway, she'll alienate both of them. To her credit, Twilight gets this, and seems to have grasped this from the beginning (based on "Green Isn't Your Color"). So she probably won't wind up making matters worse.
what's the last bit?
Of course, there was always the simplest option possible: the physical destruction of the obstacle calling itself Starlight Glimmer. She can't menace them if she changes from entity to object.
6868376
Indeed. There are two problems with this, though -- one short-term and one long-term.
The short-term problem is that it's not easy to find Starlight Glimmer. She's cunning and sneaky.
The long-term problem is that Starlight Glimmer is more valuable alive and reformed than she is dead. So it's a better objective to try at least to capture rather than kill her, if possible.
There's of course a matter of personal preferences, on the part of Celestia and any she influences. Celestia really does not like to kill, and she has exerted an influence on Luna (who is naturally more pragmatic in situations of violence, but wants to make her Sister happy) and even more on Twilight (who is even more peaceful than is Celestia in many ways) to try to find non-lethal solutions to problems. Twilight also -- maybe without realizing it -- influences Luna to avoid killing, because Luna wants Twilight to admire her.
6865712
While your point isn't completely wrong, you have to ask yourself two things: what kind of Black Magic do they use, and why did they know how to do it? Dark Magic can be anything from fire powered by hate and fear, to Soul Eating Mind Piranhas. Even if this pony is using the Dark Arts in the defense of others, they're still using the Dark Arts, and while this doesn't make them a bad person, it should always be treated as the morally grey action it is. Whether a sapient is a Warlock or not is most likely a decision made case by case, and though I can't remember where, I believe Jordan said something along those same lines.
Actually, it implies the exact opposite. Starlight Glimmer stopped the Sonic Rainboom, literally changing fate, but everyone still have the same Cutie Mark. This is because a pony's Cutie Mark isn't some “shackle of destiny”, it's a representation of something they're good at, something they're connected to, something they love. In spite of the differing circumstances, the ponies still had the same Special Talents, and there's nothing wrong with that. And despite what she thought, Starlight Glimmer wasn't making ponies equal, what she was really doing was sealing away an important part of their hearts, and replacing it with a mark of conformity. That isn't the path to Freedom, and that definitely isn't the path to Friendship.
6868481
It implies who are you is already decided for you. Sorry. That's how I feel on the subject. Can we PLEASE agree to disagree?
6868457 We are also dealing with a culture that Orwell would approve of owing to the absence of the belief in the Necessary Murder Syndrome. Simply killing somepony you don't agree with is not a thing they'd approve of; beating them into submission, maybe but killing? No.
6868457 The Mane Six is a rather optimist group, so I very much doubt that they'd go for the kill like that.
Something that really disappointed me about the season finale was that Twilight and Starlight never actually resolved their ‘Friendship Through Individuality vs. Friendship Through Equality’ debate, mostly because it took a backseat to the time loop revenge plot. Will they ever have a true ideological clash in the Shadow Wars Story Verse?
6868519
Interestingly -- and this makes me both think of her role as a G-rated Love Goddess and the way in which such were frequently also War Goddesses; and the fact that she started out as a Pegasus and the Pegasi are the most warlike of the Three Kinds -- Cadance has much less of a Code Against Killing. It can't have also helped the two major villains she fought that one (Chrysalis) raped her fiance, and the other (Sombra) committed horrible atrocities against the people whom Cadance was about to rule. This made it personal, and meant that Cadance could let loose all the stops.
6868501 I don't really understand what do you mean by that (I mean, their basic natures are the same in the altered timelines), but I'll drop the subject. However, there is something I need to ask you about; do you think that Starlight was right about her views of equality?
6868552 Which means that it's a damned good thing that Twilight got there first. If Cadence had been present, somepony might have ended up wrecked up real bad.
6865712
I'm guessing that, since Equestria is mostly classical-liberal in terms of civil liberties, the right of self-defense or the defense of innocent others is normally rather strong. The laws against warlockry probably distinguish between the aggressive use of of magic and the defensive use of magic; also between magics which are illegal to use offensively and those which are so dangerous that their mere use without explicit authorization is illegal.
For instance, a simple magical energy bolt, of the sort many Unicorns can cast, would be illegal or legal based on the same criteria as -- say -- using a mace or a crossbow or any other potentially-lethal weapons. For instant it would be perfectly legal to defend oneself or one's comrades from robbers with such magic. (The illegality of what the Cupcake Bakers were doing in His Recipe For Love lay in their making captive the bandits and then lynching them by slow torture, not in defending themselves from attack on the roads, even though they were using alchemy to defend themselves).
Mind control magic, being more dangerous, is probably under more restrictive rules, but if somepony cast Fear on a group of attacking bandits, this would probably not be prosecuted as a crime. Though depending on the time and place, they might face some sort of required review of their action. Twilight Sparkle's use of the the Desire spell on Smarty Pants was flat-out warlockry, which is one reason she was terrified when Celestia showed up looking wroth with her -- Twilight realized "Oh crap, I've committed a serious crime, she knows, I'm toast." Celestia of course reviewed and pardoned her deed on the spot in the denouement of "Lesson Zero," because she understood that Twilight had been driven temporarily insane by the stresses she had suffered fighting Discord.
Some magic is even more dangerous. Time travel is inherently very dangerous and to be engaged with only under very controlled circumstances; Equestrian civilization is centuries away, even with the boost afforded to technology by the Shadow Wars, from being mature enough to handle routine time travel. (Kleftoe and her friends, who annoy Wind Whistler in my projected "Vintage Reason," come from one of the first ages of the future in which time travel has been perfected -- they're irritating "chronotrash" disaster-tourists). Interestingly, a descendant of Barnyard Bargains is still in business and distributing Kleftoe's Euphori-Tea -- I guess Diamond Tiara turns out to be a really good business leader.
What Starlight Glimmer does in the Season Five finale is about the most dangerous and illegal warlockry imaginable -- she could have crashed the continuum (though, as Celestia and Luna explain to Twilight Sparkle, it's not that easy a thing to do). She's pardoned mostly because Celestia gives Twilight Sparkle a lot of discretion in handling the case, and after defeating her, Twilight wants to see if she can turn Starlight Glimmer into a friend. Reconciliation after genuine repentance is more Harmonious an outcome than punishment, to Equestrian sensibilities (which is one reason they are able to ultimately make peace with the Changelings). From a purely pragmatic point of view it also makes sense: better to recruit a powerful mage like Starlight Glimmer to their side than to destroy her Talent.
Do pardon but I feel I need to point this out.
Uhm... shifted.
6898357
LOL!!! I'd better fix that, before people think that my Spike has opto-scat powers and the he and Rarity are really kinky!
6869294 (Kleftoe and her friends, who annoy Wind Whistler in my projected "Vintage Reason," come from one of the first ages of the future in which time travel has been perfected -- they're irritating "chronotrash" disaster-tourists).
I'm guessing this one will be based on the classic C.L. More story? It certainly sounds a lot like it.
I hope you do write it, I'd love to see it. Makes me wonder if anything can be done with 'poni-fied' versions of other lesser-known Golden Age SF stories by, say, Ed "World-Wtecker" Hamilton or Leigh Brackett or Hank Kuttner.
6900224
Well ... Celestia did get Luna back. That counts for a lot, and for Equestria as well, given that Luna is a powerful Alicorn. That might not have happened if not for Twilight Sparkle, and Celestia might not have realized Twilight Sparkle's importance without the prophecy.
And Sunset Shimmer eventually recovers from her madness, thought not before loving and losing Flash Sentry, making herself miserable and of course causing a lot of chaos between friends at Canterlot High School, making a lot of Humanoids miserable too. But, then, Celestia is not entirely responsible for Sunset Shimmer's choices, now is she?
Even Starlight Glimmer and Dawn Starfall recover. Starlight seems to be developing into an ally, and the Ponies of Our Town may well have a bright future in the long run. A lot of all this -- and Sunset Shimmer's recovery -- are due to Twilight Sparkle, one of the maidens Celestia wound up teaching because of that prophecy. So I wouldn't totally knock it.
6900266
I mentioned this in Royal Business. Celestia was in one of her deep depressions over three centuries ago, despairing of ever being able to regain Luna. She felt incredibly lonely, and decided that she needed to become polyandrous. So she assembled dozens of the best and noblest stallions in the land, and built a huge seraglio and bath house behind the Palace at Canterlot to house them.
Come the day, she walked into the Seraglio, looked at all the adoring male eyes gazing at her -- and couldn't go through with it. She suddenly realized how absurdly lecherous was the whole concept, and she gave up her idea. She loaded honors and presents upon her abortive harem, found them useful occupations, and closed the Seraglio, deeply hoping that everypony would forget that she'd ever done this.
Of course, Luna found out about it within the first year she returned from the Moon. And finds the story very funny.
Heh. The Langoliers. Never thought Pinkie was the type to know about Stephen King. But on some demented level, that actually makes more sense than you think.
6902941 Ever thought of writing up that "Tale of Celestia and the Royal Seraglio"? It might make a fun comedy - as told by Luna with a wry grin, of course.
So thats why Twilight is so OOC in this story. Usually she is almost as naive as Fluttershy.
I hope there aren't Eddorians to deal with as well as Seaton's opponents! Chlorans are quite bad enough.
hm, is the Friendship Beam a 7th order effect?
10722515
The Eddorians were one of the inspirations for my Night Shadows. Remember, the origin of the Eddorians was from an alien universe, and they had a nihilistic anti-morality.
7494810
Neither Twlilight nor Fluttershy is particularly naive.
Twilight Sparkle was socially reclusive in her childhood and hence didn't do a lot of normal "friend" stuff until she met the rest of the Mane Six, but she grasps theoretical magic exceptionally well. While she made serious mistakes at the beginning with Pinkie's inherent magic, by this point she's known and studied Pinkie for years, and understands that her magic is a macroscopic quantum effect which harnesses Paradox controllably.
Twilight Sparkle is at this point a virgin with a developing attraction for Princess Luna, but she knows theoretically how Pony sex works, and she's observed plenty of courtship both in Ponyville and Canterlot. Being upper class and a bit prudish she's not vulgar about it, but she's not totally blind to it either. For instance, she knows about the romance between Spike and Rarity.
Fluttershy Wind isn't naive either. She's painfully shy, but she's both observed and experienced both love and sex. As a half-Changeling, she can sense it directly.