1. Look
1: Look
“So you see; my faithful student, magic comes at a cost. Even a seemingly harmless spell can have terrible repercussions if it is misused or not fully understood,” Princess Twilight told Shooting Star with regret clearly evident in her voice. Twilight readied herself for the barrage of questions and critical commentary she had come to expect from the young unicorn Though young was a matter of perspective, Twilight mused. Shooting Star was nineteen and therefore older than Twilight had been when Princess Celestia had first sent her to Ponyville. It was not that her student was any less gifted at Magic but that where Twilight had always concerned herself with the ‘how’, Star wanted to know the ‘why’ This had proven frustrating for several of her teachers at Celestia’s School and was perhaps one of the reasons why Celestia had chosen Shooting Star to be Twilight’s personal student. Perhaps her cherished mentor still had lessons for Twilight to learn.
Surprisingly, her pupil only nodded in mute acceptance of what Twilight had told her. In hindsight, this should have told Twilight that something was brewing in her student’s thoughts. Instead, Twilight mentally breathed a sigh of relief that Star had not found a million different points to question her on. Finally, Star asked but a single question.
“How old were you when you first teleported?”
Twilight considered the odd question. She remembered how excited she had been to learn how to teleport. The little filly with no way to know the awful consequences of a seemingly benign bit of magic She must have teleported at least six or seven times that day before wearing herself out.
“I was all of six years old.” Twilight answered wistfully.
It was all Shooting Star could manage to nod numbly at this as her mind followed the ugly implications. The story her teacher had told her had been horrifying: Finding herself, literally, and finding that they were trapped in an unknown space and surrounded by the remains of other versions of themselves and their closest friends. Having to feed upon their flesh to sustain life for one more awful day. It was the stuff of nightmares, guaranteed to turn the stomach of almost anypony.
But what she now envisioned was far worse. Her teacher had been of a responsible age at the time she described, but how much worse for the first Twilights? The bright eyed eager and innocent fillies who had found themselves trapped in a hell that would make the denizens of Tartarus shudder.
Some said that the universe did not concern itself with the lives of the mortals that inhabited it. The universe was not unfair, they claimed. It just didn’t care one way or the other. Shooting Star now saw that was a lie. For such a thing to have been permitted, the universe or whatever force guided it had to truly be sadistic and cruel indeed.
Buck the universe! Shooting Star thought as Twilight declared their lesson ended for the day. Even as she gathered up her books, her mind was already applying itself to her self-appointed task.
Step One: Define the equation.
Shooting Star frowned as she sat in her room considering the matter. There were too many variables. She would need to understand how Twilight’s original teleportation spell was flawed if she was going to fix this at the source. She was also going to have to find a way around the known rules of temporal mechanics. On top of that, she was going to have to do this without neglecting her normal studies or tipping off Twilight as to what she was thinking.
I KNOW from Twilight’s lessons that time travel spells exist but she’s never taught me any of them. Professor Starlight knows time travel better than anypony alive. I’m going to have to ask her to teach me without her going and telling Twilight. I suppose I could tell her it’s part of a thesis project?
“Time travel and its relation to parallel and alternate realities.” The copper maned silver coated unicorn mused aloud. It sounded an impressive enough title and should be enough for Professor Starlight as to not arouse suspicion or excessive curiosity.
Alright. Let’s suppose that she agrees to teach me about time travel. I need to know exactly when I’m going and what to do when I get there or in this case, ‘then’. I need to learn exactly the spell Twilight learned as a filly. The only problem with that is that it is a forbidden spell and there is no way anypony is going to teach it to me. THEN I have to teach her how to do it right! I can’t just go popping in out of nowhere and say ‘Hey kiddo! That teleportation spell is wrong! Do it this way! I try that and not only will she probably NOT listen to me, but Princess Celestia will have the weird crazy pony locked in irons and let’s not forget setting up a giant TIME PARADOX! Oh no! Can’t forget about that. Shooting Star told herself in exasperation And that was the other tiny matter: Even if she pulled this all off, she would change history and set up a time paradox that could possibly erase everything from existence.
Or with my luck, I’ll just erase myself! 'It’s a wonderful change you made Star! It's just too bad you don’t exist to see it!'
Add that to the list of problems.
How do I cheat the fundamental laws of the universe and at the same time trick the universe into acting as if nothing had changed? Shooting Star paused in thought and looked around the room she shared with Sun Flash, a rather showy unicorn who had a flare for the dramatic but not so much the drive. On the wall above her roommate's bed was an announcement flyer for her favorite showpony…
“Come see the ‘Great and Powerful Trixie’ at the Pearl auditorium.” Shooting Star read. A bit of sleight of hoof. Looks like a show I can’t afford to miss!
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Hmmm... Well, I did like Eyes Open. Color me interested. Tracking.
This is just as bad as Blinked and Eyes Open. For shame.
another thing no one thinks about, what about Celestias and Lunas
7973918 Now that is an interesting concept, they are theoretically immortal. IS THERE JUST A ROOM FULL OF INFINITE SUNBUTT, INFINITE MOONBUTT. I wonder if the author will address this.
Shooting Star, thou art traversing a most dangerous path. I shalt not cease mine endeavors to dissuade you from this mistake. Know that I shall be watching, and I shall be waiting.
.......this story won't have angels, will it?
7973918
That's something I've been thinking about that I'd love to see. Though, do Celestia and Luna ever use that sort of teleportation?
7974520
Luna survived on her own without any sustenance for a thousand years, I mean, I guess you could argue that she was 'sealed away', but the very fact that she was even able to be sealed away suggests that she isn't entirely corporeal.
Honestly, I see two outcomes. Either there's just a giant Luna/Celestia-filled fishbowl of a pocket dimension filled with crazed, but still very much alive alicorns, or the lack of magic instantly kills them and their bodies just fall over like a puppet with the strings cut. Then again, they were capable of giving up their magic to Twilight without dying, so maybe they went through the same thing Twilight did and just never made it out. Or maybe they found a way to leave but couldn't make it back home for some reason. I mean, Unicorns violate the laws of space and time all the freakin' time in canon. The reason the main Blink story robbed Twilight of her magic is because it answered the question 'Why doesn't she just use her magic and leave?'
Also I find the idea behind this story to be very interesting. A young pony attempting to return to the past to right a senseless wrong... you definitely have my attention.
Hey, sugar! Just came over from your partner's profile, and I can't hold to see what you've got for us! Your writing's almost grammatically flawless, least as far as I see. Have a watch 'n a favourite!
7973804 Welp, if you find it beneath you, no one said you had to stay, sugar. You can yet right back on your high horse and ride back to wherever you came from with your fancy 'for shame's.
7976168 Apologies that you got so sour over my opinion on this piece.
7976538 Sorry, I get overprotective sometimes, and I like to think of Foals Errand and FoalsHalf as my friends, so I just get even more protective
7973804 So you're saying it's just as bad as good?
I'm interested to see where you go with this fic.
7977412
And don't forget the fact that it states on the tin that this is a continuation of Foal's Errand's triquel to the story Blink. So he should have known exactly what he was getting himself/herself into.