Predictions & Prophecies

by Kinrah

18 - The Search

Ditzy glowered at Twilight, which was an impressive thing for her to do while one eye was pointing the wrong way. “You did it again.”

She hadn’t meant to bring the pegasi with her. Or the table. But she’d let the Iris commandeer her magic, willingly this time, and it had teleported all three of them plus the furniture. Unfortunately, it seemed that this time, time traveling had come at a cost. The muffins did not survive. They would be missed.

The resident muffin connoisseur was only marginally more upset about the time traveling than the ruined confections. Reeds Melody, on the other hoof, looked a little dazed. She hadn’t been conscious for her first journey through time, and had conked out immediately after the second. This was her first trip where she’d been awake on both ends.

Much like with the trip to 611, they were in an alleyway, though there was no convenient newsroll this time to tell them exactly when it was. Mainly, the difference was the smell, which had a definitive 7th century poor hygiene city smell on the borderline between breathable and choking. As long as they’d hit the target of 651, that was all Twilight cared about. All that was required then was finding Sweeping Stroke, and convincing him to come back with them. As to the general time and place, it looked more built up than Colton had, but it still wasn’t Canterlot. Probably Manehattan, as Twilight remembered that the artist was based here for the last years of his life.

Unlike last time, Twilight’s magic didn’t feel burned out by the journey. Maybe it was because this time she’d done it on purpose? Whatever the case, the Iris was still humming pleasantly in her grip, waiting for the instruction to return them to the place where they came from. At the very least, they had an escape plan. That, and the period clothes. 651 fashion wasn’t too far removed from 611 fashion, and though she hadn’t been expecting to conjure them for three ponies, it wasn’t as taxing as she had expected it to be. She had a sneaking suspicion that the Iris was bolstering her magic reserves.

“It’s okay,” she tried to reassure the pegasi, who weren’t happy. “We’re not going to be here for very long. We’ve just got to find somepony, then we’re going to go back. We won’t have to wait like last time, we can just go when we want to.”

Still managing her impressive staredown, Ditzy spoke again. “Prove it.”

“I shouldn’t—”

The pegasus was in her face. “Prove it.”

Twilight sighed. “Hopping about through time like this is probably a bad idea—”

“So why did you do it in the first place?!”

“Because I want to fix a mistake I made, okay!” Twilight snapped. “I’m responsible for something happening, and I want to make it right.”

“You’d better.” Ditzy had never sounded so angry.

“Hey, guys,” Reeds Melody put in, adjusting her clothing into a way that the 7th century citizens certainly wouldn’t have worn it. “Are we gonna stay in this alley the whole time or are we gonna get moving? Also, it smells real bad down here.”

Twilight and Ditzy stared at each other for a moment longer before the pegasus relented. “Fine,” she said, fluffing her wings. “I’m antsy ‘cause I’m separated from Dinky. As long as you get me back to her, you’re okay.”

Thank goodness for that. Twilight released a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding, then headed for the end of the alleyway.

“Okay,” she said, stopping them at the end. There weren’t any ponies obvious in the street outside, but unlike last time, it was broad daylight. “Using our real names is going to cause havoc, so while we’re here, I’m Starshine, Reeds is Wind Song, and Ditzy is… uh…” Princess Luna was much better at coming up with fake names…

The grey pegasus sighed. “Bubble Dew.”

“Bubble Dew, right. Now, we need to find a news stand or a town crier or something, confirm the exact date, then we need to find Stalleonardo’s studio or wherever it is he works from.” It was a good plan. It should work. “You guys ready?”

“I guess.”

“No, but go anyway.”

Come on, they could at least show some more enthusiasm. “Right then. Let’s go play a trick on time.”

Ten minutes later they found a Manehattan news stand.

Reeds elbowed Twilight in the ribs. “Looks like time played a trick on you.”

No, this couldn’t be right… it just… Time. She needed the time. What was the time? Where was that clock tower? With unsure footing, Twilight ran down the street, the pegasi following closely behind her. On either side, the wooden buildings were pressing in on her, making the passage seem narrower than it actually was. How could it have… why were they… she said… she…

She skidded to a halt on the flagstones of Exchange Square, and stared up towards the clocktower on the city hall.

“Twi— Starshine!” the others came to a halt behind her, panting. “What’s wrong?”

6:14PM.

“It’s quarter past six,” Twilight whispered to herself. “Quarter past six in the afternoon.”

“Yeah, that’s kinda obvious,” Reeds said, looking up at the tower. “So what?”

“You’ve gone kind of pale,” added Ditzy. “Are you alright?”

No. No, she wasn’t. This was a catastrophic error.

“It’s quarter past six in the afternoon on September 1st, CE 656,” she said quietly.

“So?”

She turned to look at the pair of them. They genuinely didn’t know.

“We’re less than eight hours away from the Great Fire of Manehattan.”

Given that a lot of Manehattan’s records had been destroyed in the Fire, its cause was well-documented - a careless baker had left his oven door open and within minutes, his store had become an inferno. Bad winds and flammable houses built too close to each other contributed to a city-wide blaze within two hours of the fire’s inception. And here they were, less than eight hours before it was due to start, in the very early hours of the following morning. Fast forward 24 hours, and most if not all of the wooden structures surrounding them would be burning.

“We’re not…” Ditzy suddenly looked very afraid to touch anything. “We’re not gonna start the fire, are we?”

Twilight shook her head emphatically. “No. There were several witnesses to the start of the fire, and the initial sparks are entirely due to the bakery. But, uh, just to play it on the safe side, if you see a street named Pudding Lane, turn around and walk in the opposite direction.” On the one hoof, it was comforting that they were coming up to a big event which they definitely weren’t going to cause. On the other… the fire had raged for three days and destroyed over half the city. Manehattan had been set back a century in terms of building. Would be set back a century. In less than eight hours.

This was very problematic. It meant they now had a time limit. Call it until midnight to find the artist, convince him to come with them, and leave. After that, they ran the risk of being caught up in history.

Five years late. Today would be the last time anypony ever saw Stalleonardo da Colton. It was now or never.

Reaching a decision, Twilight hailed a nearby pony. “Hello there!” she said, in what she was sure was mangled Middle Equestrian. With any luck, the locals would just think she was a foreigner. “Can you tell me where I can find Stalleonardo da Colton?”

The other pony stared at her.

“(Maybe she didn’t understand you,)” Reeds whispered. “(What sort of language was that?)”

Hopefully Twilight was going to understand the reply, or the mare would point, or offer to take them there. If not, they were going to have ask somepony—

The mare laughed.

“(I know that laugh…)” Ditzy muttered with disdain. “(She’s mocking him.)”

Then the reply came, and given that Twilight was translating on the fly, she thought she did pretty well. The actual content of the response, though, left a lot to be desired and the mare’s opinion of the artist was very obvious. “That old fool? Good luck finding him. Better luck understanding him!”

Oh… darn! Twilight now recalled the last parts of the museum pamphlet. “In the later years of his life, he complained of hearing voices, and seeing hallucinations which he claimed as real. His works were slipping into a realm of fantasy.” Gone was the time of the groundbreaking paintings and the respect of the whole kingdom. In 656, Stalleonardo da Colton was no longer a great artist.

He was a joke.

This was strange. How had the Princess’s personal student - the first pony she’d ever taken into that role - come to earn this label? Surely Princess Celestia wouldn’t allow such things to be said about her protege. Yet she was now seeing the real reaction to his name. A sad end for such a great pony… it wasn’t your fault, Twilight. Keep it together.

“Could you at least tell me where I could start looking?”

The mare said something that even to Ditzy and Reeds’ untrained ears sounded rather rude and left, laughing to herself, Twilight staring after her in disgust.

“What did she say?” Reeds asked.

“She said…” it wasn’t quite the right word, but it was close enough. “…try the asylum.”

All three of them pulled the same face. What disgusting behavior.

The worst part was that the next few ponies Twilight asked exhibited a similar behavior and gave similar responses. Why in Equestria would anypony be looking for that lunatic? Why look for him? You’ll find better artists elsewhere. And if you want to buy one of his paintings, it’ll cost three bits from a pawn shop! Nopony seemed willing to even dignify them with a polite response.

This was getting them nowhere.

Where had Stalleonardo been seen during the fire? Not anywhere near Pudding Lane, certainly. And as for his studio, it was certainly in the city, but after the fire nopony had been concerned about it and the replacement buildings had been erected on top of the destroyed ones. Somewhere, underneath some part of present-day Manehattan, waited the remains of the great artist’s workshop.

That was a thought. If they discovered it here, and then went to the same location in 1001…

Focus. They needed to find it first.

Splitting up to cover more ground was too risky to even think of, let alone suggest. She could manage on her own, sure, she had intended to, but Ditzy and Reeds couldn’t speak a word of Middle Equestrian and were totally ignorant of any of the social customs or eccentricities of the time period. If either of them ran into a situation they couldn’t handle…

“Why don’t we split up?” Reeds suggested. Twilight facehooved.

“Do you know Middle Equestrian?” she countered. “If you can’t speak any of the language, what will you do if something happens?”

The assistant pointed at her wings. “Fly away.”

Oh, right. They were pegasi. They could fly over the buildings. Twilight sat down so she could use both of her forehooves to cover her eyes. Even now her brain was frazzled.

“Okay… fine. Ditzy, are you okay with that?”

Ditzy folded her forelegs. “As long as it’ll get us done quicker.”

“Got it.” Twilight sighed. She really didn’t want to do this, but it seemed they have no choice. “We’re looking for a silver stallion with a blue-ish black mane and an ink brush for a cutie mark. Meet back here in one hour, okay?” She pointed up at the clocktower, which now read 6:31. It was a big enough landmark for them to be able to see from the sky, and if she got lost, she could ask directions. “We’ll try to find you if you don’t turn up, but be careful.”

“Gotcha.”

“Okay.”

With that, both pegasi took off, and climbed up over the city.

“Good luck.”

For a moment, Twilight was left alone with her thoughts. She was making everything up as she went along, she had nothing but the bare bones of a plan, and on top of everything, she’d dragged friends into it too. At least Spike would still be comfortable in the castle, and she wouldn’t have to try and explain him if he got discovered. One less complication. They didn’t have an alicorn princess with them either, both a positive and a negative. Princess Celestia wasn’t a risk this time, unless they were still hanging around the city when she arrived around 5AM.

Although, they did have a mother with them. When it came down to it, an enraged mother was just as dangerous as an enraged alicorn. She certainly didn’t want Ditzy’s wrath upon her either. Reeds… Twilight still didn’t know her that well, but she seemed like she’d understand if anything. That pegasus seemed to have adopted the Pinkie Pie school of take-it-as-it-comes philosophy.

When you alone can keep your head while others around are losing theirs, you really need to lighten up. …Yeah.

Being in the past this time felt different to the last time. Maybe it was just the knowledge that unlike all the previous times, she had a guaranteed escape plan. Every single other time she’d returned to the present from the past it had been by accident, and it felt nice to have control back again. Hidden in the bag at her side, the Iris was patiently waiting for its instructions.

A memory floated up from somewhere. The Iris still has instructions it must follow…

Where to begin, then, if she couldn’t rely on asking around? She was just going to have to patrol the nearby streets and hope she got lucky. Admittedly, this part of the plan could use some work.

Just to be on the safe side, she followed the sound of a bell being rung to a town crier, waited for him to shut up about the latest decree from Canterlot, and tried asking discretely about certain artists. This idea, she decided, when she finished cringing from the combined mocking laughter of all ponies within earshot, was not a very good one. It was all going to be down to some good old-fashioned detective work.

Given that 656 was at the end of Stalleonardo’s creative era, he wouldn’t really start being considered as great until several years later, and the cultural golden age he’d set into motion was going to be crashing and burning in less than 8 hours, where would one go to find some of his artwork? Pawn shops had been suggested, but if Twilight found an art dealer, there was a good chance she’d find something there. It wouldn’t do her any good, since she didn’t have any money on her, but it would be a start, at least.

For a moment, she tried to use her present-day memories of Manehattan to form a mental map of the area, then groaned silently. The fire, duh. Only the biggest streets in this part of the city were the same. Post-fire all of the damage had allowed the city to restructure itself without having to move ponies elsewhere while they were doing it. It was cruel, but a fact of 7th century life.

With nothing better to try, she picked a street at random.

The buildings along this street seemed to be mostly residential. She was getting a few stares here and there, but most ponies were ignoring her, because this was Manehattan, and the city was always full of Foreigners with a capital F. It was the northeast coast’s trade hub. They’d see griffons, minotaurs, maybe the occasional zebra. They wouldn’t trust them as far as they could throw them, of course, but that was diplomacy for you.

…No, this wasn’t doing any good. She wasn’t going to find anything back here.

A change of tack was in order. “Excuse me,” she asked of a passing stallion who looked like he knew where he was going, “Can you direct me to any art dealers?”

The stallion gave her a funny look. “If you’re looking for art, you’re a long way out of your way,” he said, or Twilight hoped he said. When all of this was settled, she was going to look up translation spells and learn them before doing anything else. “You want the traders’ district.”

Twilight rubbed her head and laughed sheepishly. “Uh, I’m new to the city. I don’t know where that is.”

She received an even funnier look. “You walk through it to get into the city.”

Oh. Uh. Um… “I… came in by boat?”

“By what?”

It took a moment, but Twilight flushed red with embarrassment. That wasn’t the word for boat. “Um, I mean boat.” She had not come in by seasonal cloud inversion. Why were those words so similar to each other?!

“Go back to the Broadway, turn right, and go all the way to the end.” The stallion turned, and Twilight could have sworn she heard him mutter “Blasted foreigners” under his breath. Okay, so this whole diversion had been entirely pointless. How long had it taken? Re-entering the Broadway, she could see the time on the clock was 6:48. She’d wasted quarter of an hour on that. She had to allot travel time as well as investigation time.

At any rate, she could start heading down towards the trade district regardless. It was still ground covered, which the pegasi would be doing more of. It was these very rare times where she wished she had wings too. They were incredibly useful for this sort of thing.

It was ten minutes down the Broadway that something caught her eye, and she stopped in the middle of the street. An alleyway, like the one they’d landed in, branched away from the main street and disappeared behind some houses. Something about it was… enticing was the wrong word. Intuition she didn’t understand was drawing her towards it. With some furtive glances to make sure that nopony would concern themselves with a pony slipping into such a place, Twilight sidled towards it and entered. On the wooden wall of the building to her left, there was… something, it was too dark to tell what. She was going to have to use an illumination spell.

She did so. The cat who’d been sleeping on a windowsill nearby objected with a loud hiss that made her jump almost a foot in the air.

Great. Now she was upsetting the wildlife too. That had distracted her. Now, what was—

Scrawled on the wall was an image of herself being startled by a hissing cat.

Now if that wasn’t a sign of Sweeping Stroke’s presence, nothing was. He’d been here, and recently too, the paint was barely dry and still stank horribly, almost as bad as the smell coming from the alley itself.

He knew she was there.

“Sweeping Stroke…?” she cautiously questioned into the darkness. “Are you here…?”

No response. The artist hadn’t stuck around.

Oh, good, she thought bitterly. This has just become a chase.

As if looking for one pony who hadn’t been seen in public for five years in a huge city wasn’t enough, that specific pony knew they were there, and… she looked at the graffiti again. It almost seemed like a taunt. Come and find me. Catch me if you can. Not behavior she’d expected from him at all, even if everything that had happened to him had driven him a bit loopy. Stalleonardo da Colton, reduced to drawing on walls in alleyways? Just how bad had things gotten for him to stoop so low?

Another short hop down the Broadway, another alley, a similar situation. Twilight had spotted the artwork from a distance, and had had to apologize profusely to the ironmonger whose pots she’d knocked over; and lo and behold, depicted was a lavender unicorn crashing through the ironmonger’s display. This painting, too, was fresh. The pony she was seeking was just out of reach, and…

She didn’t want to risk heading any further down the Broadway now in case she couldn’t make it back to Exchange Square in time to meet the others. Unless they timed it perfectly, which was unlikely, one of them was going to turn up late, and she was determined it wasn’t going to be her, even if that meant getting there far too early.

Besides, she had the ticket home. Without her, Reeds and Ditzy would be stuck three and a half centuries in the past.

At 7:31 and 1 second, Ditzy alighted on the cobblestones to meet with a scowling unicorn.

“What’f up, Twlght?” she spoke around her mouthful of what in all likelihood was a muffin. There was a paper bag held in her hooves. “Wnt mffn?”

Muffins were hardly what Twilight was concerned about right now, but she took one anyway, without breaking her scowl.

Ditzy swallowed. “Oh dear, somepony’s got the frowny face. What’s up?”

Things were getting ridiculous now. Twilight was trying to find Stalleonardo for a serious thing, darnit! She was going to put things right! But this… this! This was stupid!

She responded to the pegasus’s question by pointing at the wall to the right of the City Hall entrance, and the graffiti on it, of a grey pegasus holding out a baked good. She had come back to Exchange Square and found it immediately. The paint had still been running. He was toying with them now.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh,” Twilight fumed. “He’s playing games with us. If we go out there to look for him again he’ll just be running rings around us.” She looked down at the muffin in her magical grip. “Where’d you get these? You didn’t—”

“Aw, relax.” Ditzy waved the bag at her, and winked. “Hoof on heart, I can’t ‘cause I’m holding the muffins, I didn’t go to any bakeries.”

Phew. Internally, Twilight relaxed a little. “So…”

“Eh, I think some guy thought I looked hungry or something. What language are they talking in again?”

“Middle Equestrian.”

“Did you know the Middle Equestrian for muffin is muffin?”

“…I do now.”

Anxiety about their missing friend grew with each minute that went by, but just before Twilight was about to suggest going to look for her, Reeds Melody, uh… buzzed into the Square. She was practically vibrating. Oh no, what had she done?

“Done? Nothing. Nothing at all. I deny everything. Why are you looking at me like that? It’s not that bad, right? Right? C’mon, guys, why are you judging me so hard? Hey, Twilight, did you know that they already have coffee here?”

Slowly, Twilight slipped her face into her hooves.

“It’s real good stuff, you know. Phwooar, what a kick! That’ll get you out of bed in the morning! Just one cup and I was like voom! I tried to make this girl teach me how to make coffee that strong, but I couldn’t understand a word she was saying. Not a thing. Zip. Zilch. Darn shame. Can’t get coffee like that at home. I tried another cup, but I couldn’t work out how she did it. They work miracles with coffee here, Twilight! Why don’t ponies time travel more often?”

The unicorn risked removing a hoof. “How many did you have?”

“Seven. Eight— wait no that one doesn’t count. No, tell a lie, it does count. I had just the nine cups. Might have been ten. Can’t remember. Did I ever tell you that I’m a coffee connoisseur? Love coffee. Must have coffee. Teacher’s special. This’ll get you through sommmmmmmphl!” Reeds’ caffeinated ramblings were cut short as Ditzy shoved another muffin into her mouth. Oh, what blissful silence. Had the doctors in Canterlot been 100% sure that she wasn’t just suffering from a caffeine overdose?

“Did… either of you two even look for Stalleonardo?” Twilight risked asking while she had the chance.

To her credit, Ditzy looked offended. “I did! I couldn’t see any ponies like that anywhere!” The other pegasus probably meant to add the same, but instead choked on the confection in her throat. Well, if he’d been evading Twilight for the whole hour, they probably wouldn’t have been looking in the right place.

So they were back to square one. Or square minus one, even, if Sweeping Stroke was determined to stay a step ahead of them the whole time. He had Prophetia on his side, and 45 years of experience with it. He knew exactly where they were going to be, probably not exactly when, but that was enough to predict their movement. And on top of that he probably knew the layout of the city like the back of his own hoof. Their quarry had the home field advantage and he knew what the plays were going to be even before the ball was pitched. This… yeah, she hadn’t banked on this being so hard.

What had she been thinking?! Going back in time intentionally to remove someone from their home timeframe? Trying to trick time into going the way she wanted it to?

With a start she realized that was what Trixie had been trying to do back in Hoofington. Here in the past, all of the future was still just a prophecy of its own, and Twilight was trying to cause the events she’d read about to result in her favor, just as Trixie had taken the words of her own prophecy and tried to manipulate the outcome for her desires. She’d seen herself standing over Twilight, and thought her ‘nemesis’ defeated. Twilight saw the final disappearance of a single pony, and thought it because of her own actions.

What if… what if Stalleonardo would disappear without their intervention?

Something nudged her in the side. “Twilight,” suggested Ditzy, in a tone somewhere between the frustration at being separated from her daughter and the authority she’d scolded Dinky with, “eat your muffin.”

Ugh. Fine. Sighing, Twilight bit down into it— wow. By Celestia, that tasted - and smelled - good! Even if it was only for a moment, her immediate worries about the future were replaced with pure bliss dancing across her tongue and down into her stomach as she swallowed. What flavor was that?! That… she wanted more of those!

I mean, she added in a quick footnote to her most recent thought journal entry, knowing my luck there’s pretty much no way these muffins didn’t come from the bakery in Pudding Lane. But compared to how they taste… yowza. Baked to perfection and given a phenomenal finish. I don’t even know that much about baking, really, but… Pinkie Pie would beg to be able to cook such a delight.

“Oh yeah.” Her buzzing incessant and throat now cleared of its blockage, Reeds retrieved something she’d stashed in her dress. “Nearly forgot about this. Coffee does that to the memory sometimes. Need some more.” Half of her concentration was still worshiping the confection she was eating, but Twilight still grabbed the folded sheet of parchment that Reeds was waving around. It was a difficult thing to get hold of, mostly because the pegasus had forgotten to let go. “You really ought to see this place and try a bit, Twizy, Ditzter! You’ll love it!”

“I object to the nickname,” Ditzy said immediately. “One is bad enough, thanks.”

“Twzy sn’t—” Twilight swallowed “—Nopony has ever called me Twizy. Please don’t. Reeds, could you, uh…”

“Show the way? Sure! It’s right over—”

“…let go.”

Reeds looked at the parchment for a moment, bewildered. “Oh. Oh, right!” She relinquished it quickly. “The coffee lady gave it to me. Said some stuff I didn’t understand. I think it’s an advert or something. I think maybe if I bring you guys there we get some free coffee.”

Unlikely. This was Manehattan, after all. Nothing was going to be free. That aspect of the city was never going to change. Rolling her eyes, Twilight unfolded the parchment. Then she groaned loudly, and deflated. Come on. He wasn’t serious, right?

The grey pegasus was trying to look over her shoulder, so Twilight simply passed the parchment to her and lay down, trying to disappear on top of the flagstones. Of course he’d know that Reeds would be unable to resist coffee. It was one of the few words he’d actually heard her say in the real world. To him, the future was an open book by now, and he was plucking phrases from the story whenever he wanted to, the story he himself was now writing.

He had predicted that they would still be waiting there for him - or at least, Twilight would - at half past ten. In three hours’ time.

Ditzy’s eyes synchronized to examine the drawing. “So what? This is just a drawing. And that graffiti’s just graffiti, right? I don’t really get why you’re so upset, Twilight.”

Oh, that’s right, Ditzy didn’t know about that part… “He’s doing by himself what I had Dinky do for me,” Twilight explained from hoof level. “He draws pictures of the future.”

“This could mean anything, though. It’s you, some stallion, and a clock. Don’t mean it’s here, don’t mean it’s now.”

“I appreciate the gesture, Ditzy, but why else would he have some storekeeper give it to Reeds if it wasn’t a message?” The two observed said pegasus, who was attracting some unwanted attention with her bouncing and odd manner of dress. “‘Meet me here at half past ten.’ He doesn’t want us to find him, he wants to come to us when he’s ready. Reeds, please stop, you’re making a spectacle of yourself.”

“I want some more coffee,” Reeds complained, mercifully coming to a stop, and batting away the citizens who’d stopped to watch. “So was that thing important? Only I just realized that I didn’t ask Mrs Flat A to water my flowers before we went out. Gotta look after the flowers. Can’t let them wilt, you know? Mm-hm. Means we need to get back sharpish. So are we gonna find him, or give up, or what?” She lifted Twilight bodily. “We gotta go back, Twizy. Back to the fuchsias.”

For a moment, Twilight could have sworn she heard a whole audience of ponies groaning loudly. No, she was just getting a headache.

They had to choose between waiting or giving up, and she sure wasn’t giving up now. “We’re waiting here for three more hours,” she declared. “If, like Ditzy thinks, it turns out to be nothing, we go home, and I’m sure that we’ll arrive seconds after we left. Please, Ditzy?” She smiled awkwardly. “It’s only three hours.” Three hours closer to the fire, but that left them with one and a half hours before the self-set deadline of midnight, and a two hour buffer after that before the fire started. Plenty of time.

“‘S not like we’re gonna starve or anything,” Reeds added to try and convince the third member of their party. “You got muffins, I can go get coffee, I can see a well over there so we’ve got water, bip bam thank you ma’am we’re sorted.”

Finally, Ditzy sighed. “Fine. On one condition.”

Twilight nodded. “Name it.”

“Reeds gets no more coffee.”

“Deal.”

Reeds’ jaw dropped open, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Seriously?! Aww, c’mon, guys!”

Three hours was still a long time. Food, sure, okay. Coffee was a luxury and given the way Reeds was currently behaving if she had any more she was going to explode, not to mention the attention she was already attracting. She’d had far too much already. The muffins… yeah, Twilight was more than willing to help finish those. As for the water… CE 656, major city… it wouldn’t be clean clean but still far better than a town of Ponyville’s size would have. Proper water cleanliness scrubbing wouldn’t become widespread for a couple more centuries. It was probably a good idea not to risk their chances.

Three hours. It was only three hours. Not much could go wrong in three hours, right?

What followed were three of the most boring hours she’d ever had in her entire life. Ever. Five hour lectures at the Royal Academy of Mathematicians, pshh, a breeze, she was learning. That one time she’d been forced to spend a day out in Canterlot, grouchy at being dragged away from her studies and having to be ‘escorted’, she’d discovered with glee the existence of the Lower Canterlot Lending Library. Even 24 hours locked in the castle dungeon study area when the caretaker didn’t notice she was there and then lost the key was more interesting than the three hours she spent waiting for Stalleonardo.

No books. No tea. No entertainment bar the antics of ponies some three hundred and fifty years her elder. Yep, Twilight could safely say that she had never before experienced boredom to match the level of three hours waiting for a single pony in a 7th century city.

Night had fallen, and the mare in the moon stared down at them once more, silent and cold. A perfectly clear night had settled over Manehattan. When the fire started, of course, that meant there were no rainclouds nearby to stop it from spreading. Slowly, but certainly, the ponies rushing through Exchange Square had decreased from a torrent to a trickle, and now only the occasional pony darted down the street. Some stores were braving the night and staying open, and that would include a certain bakery.

Despite that, though, an unusual silence prevailed. It was the sort of silence in which Ursa Major sniffed out their snoozeberries and icebergs drifted into shipping lanes. The world was taking a breath.

For reasons Twilight couldn’t quite place, the boring three hours were also very tiring. Predictable had been the crash that followed Reeds’ coffee high, with her continuing to protest right to the point where she keeled over and began snoring, but Ditzy had also drifted off to sleep, and were she not so determined that she was going to set things right, Twilight was sure she too would be dropping off. Really, she shouldn’t blame the others, the day had been very tiring, and it was entirely possible that Ditzy was simply catching up on sleep she’d missed during the night in Canterlot.

Time distortion was making it difficult to remember that the time they’d departed Canterlot and the time they’d arrived in Manehattan wasn’t the same. Far less than 24 hours had passed since she’d been sitting despondently in the grand foyer moping about what she’d just done to Sweeping Stroke. Maybe their bodies were just reacting to the veil of darkness that cloaked the city. Yeah. That had to be it.

Again, Twilight looked at the parchment with the drawing on it. It didn’t show 10:30 exactly, the minute hand was closer to 10:35, but it was close enough. And it was now.

Tick. 10:32.

And she became aware of a cloaked figure approaching them. Finally.

“(Ditzy!)” Twilight hissed, trying to nudge the pegasus awake. “(Reeds! He’s here!)”

“Jussa few more minuts…” muttered Ditzy, rolling over but showing no signs of waking.

“No mom I did the dishes already…” moaned Reeds, in a similar situation.

“They will not wake for a while.” Sweeping Stroke’s voice was advanced with age, the voice of a pony who’d seen everything and done more. Twilight blinked. And he was speaking in perfect Equuish. “I’m afraid I have to ask you to sleep too, Twilight.”

“Wha—” Twilight was suddenly swept under a sea of drowsiness. That… what had he done…? “Sweeping Stroke…!” she managed. “What did you…”

Tick. 10:33.

Golden sparkling eyes glinted in the shadow of the cloak, and Twilight’s heart fell. She’d seen that gleam before. It was the same twinkle that had repeatedly flashed across the face of the spirit of chaos. They betrayed what had been the Colton council clerk’s ultimate fate. Madness. “I think you already know, my old friend. Had I not predicted it, I would be surprised you’d fall for it so easily.”

What had all three of them done? Struggling to keep her eyes open, Twilight let them fall to the empty wrapper trapped underneath Ditzy’s forelegs. All three of them had eaten the muffins. The drawing had been planted at the coffee stall, there was no reason he wouldn’t have gotten to them too…

Clarity came too late. She could only ask… “Why…?”

Tick. 10:34.

In her last conscious moment she stared up at the stallion, still hidden in shadow. “I will explain when you awake,” she heard, as her eyes finally shut. “You will, I think, forgive me in the end.”

Author's Note:

I'M NOT SORRY

Comments

[RTStephens]

If Twilight weren't so frazzled by the experience, she'd be taking this time to check out authentic Manehattan sights. What better way to study than to study the originals?

So now we've got a pony that can see the future. Wonderful.

Till next time!