Harmony Theory

by Sharaloth

Chapter 10: Prayer

To be a bearer of an Element a pony must meet certain requirements. Though a bearer need not be a pony at all, these requirements are universal across all potential bearers. The first and most obvious is that they must display the quality for which the Element is named. This must be an overt display in some form, merely possessing the quality is insufficient as almost every pony possesses all the traits of the Elements in some measure. This display must come within a certain period of time before they become a bearer, though the exact time period varies and cannot be explicitly pinned down. Suffice it to say that a display of honesty a year ago is not sufficiently proximate to take up the Element of Honesty now. There is no need to actually 'exemplify' the quality, merely display it. In fact, such a hypothetical exemplar may actually find themselves unable to wield the Element they supposedly embody.

Second. the pony must be in a spiritual accord with the other five potential bearers. This accord is similar to, but not precisely the same as, the bonds of friendship. Indeed there is no requirement that the bearers actually like each other at all. The accord must simply be enough to both create and sustain the resonance that initiates the Magic of Harmony. Detecting such an accord pre-Harmony Event is difficult, but not impossible. After an Event it is glaringly obvious. This accord is, however, a delicate thing before its first Harmony Event, and can be upset by any number of factors, making actively seeking such an accord a dangerous and counter-productive task.

Third, the pony must be willing to accept the Element. Becoming a bearer cannot be forced on anypony, which is fortunate. The willingness does not need to be an informed consent, however. A pony can take up an Element without fully understanding what they're doing, but there still must be a measure of intent behind the act. Wielding an Element is a choice, not an accident.

Finally, a pony must be accepted by the Element itself. What this means is a mystery to me still. I do not know if the Elements have a will of their own, or merely some kind of automatic method for detecting a proper bearer. Or perhaps it is something else altogether that I am simply incapable of seeing. Whatever it is, a pony cannot be forced to wield an Element, and an Element cannot be wielded by force.

There is one other requirement, but it pertains solely to the Element of Magic. The bearer of the Element of Magic must undergo a phenomenon that has been referred to as 'the Spark'. This Spark is experienced differently by various bearers: I experienced it as a moment of epiphany, Trixie described it as a sudden feeling of utter stillness, Celestia told me it felt to her like the first time the world had ever made sense. Whatever the internal sensation, the Spark gets its name from its external manifestation: a visible momentary flash of light from within the bearer's eyes. A bearer can experience multiple instances of the Spark, and each one invariably precedes a Harmony Event. In this way it can be likened to an early-warning, like the sound of distant thunder you hear before a storm from the Everfree Forest, or the way the animals all hide before an earthquake.

-From the fifth section of Harmony Theory by Twilight Sparkle

Chapter 10: Prayer

The three of them were able to fly directly from the university to the penthouse, which gave Dash another chance to stretch her wings and also get a good aerial look at the city. The sheer size of the place still astounded her, but as much as the tall buildings and endless fields of houses impressed her, it was the castle to which her eyes were always drawn. It looked so out of place, and yet so perfectly right. It was like a piece of the world she knew dropped into the future. She was almost disappointed when Star Fall and Astrid descended to the small balcony of the Shine estate.

"Dash, hold still," Star Fall said as she stepped up to the heavy double doors that led inside. "It'll take a moment before the wards will accept you."

"Wards. Like magic wards?" Dash asked.

Star Fall nodded and set her hoof firmly down. There was a flash of light and a design Dash hadn't even known was there suddenly glowed from the balcony floor. She felt a tingle of magic wash through her. It was similar to being grabbed by telekinesis, but not the same. Astrid shivered, her feathers ruffling before she used a claw to forcibly smooth them back into place.

"There," Star Fall said. "You're registered. You should be able to come and go, so long as I'm nearby. If you stay long enough I'll have to renew it every week, though."

"What happens if you're not registered?" Dash asked.

"Well, the wards are designed to immobilize an intruder and alert the authorities," Star Fall said, putting a hoof to her chin as she contemplated it. "They also can get pretty vicious when someone is able to resist that part. Against you? I don't know, you don't react to magic the same as the rest of us, and you're too strong for most of the effects to work on you. You'd get a nasty shock and a squad of Griffins on your tail at the very least."

"Heh, just checking," Dash said. "Griffins are serious business, right? Do they usually show up for break-ins?"

"If the place being broken into is Professor Shine's? Yeah," Astrid said. "She's chief advisor to the Crown, Dash. She gets special treatment."

"Oh. Wow, okay," Dash said as Star Fall opened the doors. "Hey, Star, can I talk to you about what just went on? With Gamma and the Professor and everything?"

"Sure, Dash, just let me show you around first, okay?" Star Fall replied. "I don't get a chance to show off much."

"Sure," Dash agreed, and followed the other pegasus inside.

Twinkle Shine's luxurious penthouse apartments were actually a little disappointing for Rainbow Dash. Her own home in Ponyville was typical of pegasus design, with open spaces, tall columns and the asymmetric grandeur that could only be achieved with cloud-based structures. Unicorns liked to build things that reminded them of their horns, tall and pointy. Even though the Shine estate was set at the top two floors of one of the immense skyscrapers of the Solar capital, the design aesthetic was more earth pony practicality than anything else. No grand halls, no lavish foyers, just a series of simple and functional rooms that each served a clear purpose. Not that it didn't look expensive. Everything in the penthouse was clearly top of the line, but it was a functional top of the line.

"So you can watch movies on this thing?" Dash was asking, watching the television screen in the guest room that was going to be hers while Star Fall explained how it worked. She could see the individual images as they flashed by, and while the illusion of motion was there it was probably going to give her a headache if she watched it for too long.

"Sure, but there's more than just movies available," Star Fall said, clearly excited to show off the gadget. Astrid had gone to cook a meal in the large and immaculately clean kitchen when Star Fall had finally brought Dash around to the bedrooms, and so it was just the two of them. "There's a dozen channels with their own programming. It's a luxury, but it's kind of a pastime in the Kingdom to watch TV. They don't have it in the Republics, you need special crystals to make the image, and the main source of them is in the north so they don't have the stockpile there that we do here."

"Neat," Dash said, poking at the button Star Fall had used to turn the device on and finding that it could also be used to turn it off. "This is the kind of cool future stuff I was talking about, Star."

"Yet you don't seem all that impressed," Star Fall observed. "You didn't have this in your time, did you?"

"Not this," Dash said, stepping over to her bed and jumping on it to test the springiness. "We had movies, but you needed projectors and screens and reels of film. Stuff like this was all unicorn magic and enchanted items that did one or two things. The whole 'dozen channels' thing is cool. Also I saw a bunch of these TV's in a store while we were on the way to Gamma's this morning. I don't know how expensive they are, but if you're selling them in a store window they gotta be affordable, right? Regular ponies having this kind of stuff is what's really cool."

"They're kind of affordable," Star Fall said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "A model like this one isn't, but the ones you'd see in a store window? Yes, they would be within the reach of the pony on the street." She let out a sigh. "I'm glad at least something is getting your attention. I was beginning to fear that we hadn't made any progress at all in over a thousand years."

"Apocalypse, remember?" Dash said, grinning.

"Still, apocalypse or not I was starting to share your disappointment in the future."

"Star? Am I really that unbelievable?" Dash asked, flopping down on the bed next to the white pegasus.

Star Fall paused at the change in topics, thinking it over. "You're talking about Gamma and the Professor?" Dash nodded. "I don't know. I can tell you that I still have my doubts, but most of it makes too much sense if you are who you say you are. I don't think Gamma cares who you are, so long as you do what she wants. The Professor? Well, I think she'll be a lot harder to convince than I was. Once she does, though, she'll be behind you all the way."

"All that stuff she said, all those questions she asked. Is that stuff supposed to happen in my future? If I was there, why don't I remember it?"

Star Fall shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe you were pulled into the future from a point before any of that happened, maybe all that stuff did happen to you, but time travelling has messed up your memories. Maybe something else. I hope the Professor can find out, but speculating won't get us anywhere."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Dash sighed and gave the white pegasus a grin as she rolled off the bed. "Your place is awesome, Star."

Star Fall smiled back. "Thanks."

It wasn't long before Twinkle Shine arrived and the testing began. One of the rooms was used for magical experimentation, and that's where they went. It had a bare stone floor on which the Professor drew a magic circle that she made Dash stand in while Star Fall sat in a comfy-looking chair and watched with rapt attention. Mostly the testing involved Dash having to hold still while the Professor ran a beam of magic over her. At least one point involved her hovering in place for twenty straight minutes. All of this while the Professor mumbled to herself and made notes. There was a break when Astrid brought out food, which was surprisingly good, but then it was back to standing in place and being so bored she could barely keep from falling asleep on her hooves.

Finally Twinkle Shine's horn went dark. "Well, that was interesting," she said.

"What? Do you believe me now?" Dash asked, stretching out her limbs and looking eagerly to the golden unicorn.

"No," the Professor said, "but you do have incredibly high amounts of magic in your body. Even for a classic pegasus you're abnormal."

"Well, I am the fastest pegasus in Equestria, that's gotta mean something," Dash said.

"I have no doubt that you're the fastest thing in the air now, but Rainbow Dash was supposedly a phenom in her own time, capable of feats that make breaking the sound barrier seem like crawling."

"Sonic Rainboom, yeah, that's me. I did that," Dash said.

Twinkle Shine snorted. "In any case, you do fit most of the criteria for a strong pre-Schism pegasus. Your Glyph is real, and it matches the descriptions of Rainbow Dash's, and under that dye you are the correct natural coloration. However there are some things that don't add up with your story. For instance there is no evidence of temporal disturbance."

"Which means?"

"Which means that you didn't travel through time," Star Fall said from her seat. "Not more so than usual, anyway."

"No, I totally did," Dash protested, a sudden fear welling up in her faster than she could force it down. "I was going to sleep in Ponyville one minute, then I wake up in the future the next! That's totally time-travel!"

"Calm down, it could mean anything," Twinkle Shine admonished. "It's something that doesn't add up with what I was expecting from your story, so it needs to be looked into. I don't have the equipment here to do a proper analysis. I can book lab time at the university tomorrow and we can do a proper examination."

"Uh, about that," Star Fall said, shooting to her hooves. "There's this thing, you see. We, uh, we aren't going to be around tomorrow."

"What?" Twinkle Shine asked, voice flat and hard as she lowered her head to stare at her student through the part in her mane.

"Gamma wants us out in the field again. We're leaving in the morning," Star Fall said, smiling nervously.

Professor Shine closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "You just got back from a mission to the Republics. It's too soon to send you out again. Doesn't that mare have any sense?"

"It's important, Professor," Star Fall pleaded. "It won't take too long. A week at most."

Twinkle Shine's face twisted in anger, but she quickly composed herself. "Dash, Astrid, could you leave me with my student, please?"

"Yes, ma'am," Astrid said, and started for the door.

Dash flashed a worried look at Star Fall, but the other pegasus just shook her head. "It's okay, Dash, I need to talk to her anyway."

Dash didn't have anything to say to that, so she followed Astrid out. The door slammed shut behind them and was surrounded with the golden glow of the Professor's magic, sealing the room against intrusion and eavesdropping.

"Wow," Dash said to Astrid. "Are they about to have a fight?"

"Probably," Astrid said, shrugging. "It happens. Let's hit the balcony, I want to watch the sun go down."

They wandered out to the balcony and sat at the edge of it, looking out over the vista of the city. The sun was falling behind the buildings, and as their shadows stretched across the city lights were coming on creating constellations on the ground to match the ones that would soon dot the sky. The castle was clearly visible from where they were, and Dash's keen eyes could make out dozens of forms flying in and out of its high towers, a changing of the guard.

"Astrid," Dash said. "You believe me, right?"

The Griffin snorted. "Dash, the first thing you said to me, through Fall, was a Griffin greeting. After that I'm not going to question who you say you are until I have reason to. Fall, the Professor, Gamma, they're good ponies, but they overthink everything all the time. They can't believe something until they've confirmed it ten different ways because they're all too clever for their own good. They think about how they could fake something, or lie to work an angle, and then they start thinking about how they would fake it so that someone like them would believe it. It goes 'round in circles in their heads until they're not sure of anything anymore. Someone like you comes around, with a story that's too crazy not to be true, and they'll tie themselves in knots trying to work out how it has to be fake before they ever admit that it's true."

"Star believes me."

"Well, Fall has a good influence in her life," Astrid said, beak opening in a raptor's grin. "A big, Griffin-shaped good influence."

Dash laughed at that. "How long have you been with her?"

"I was assigned to Fall when she was adopted ten years or so ago, we’ve been together off and on since then," Astrid said. "I'm older than her, but not by much so they figured we'd have plenty in common."

"Is that normal? Getting a Griffin protector like that?"

Astrid shook her head. "No. Griffins are beholden to the Crown. We work for the King and the Royal family, not the nobles. The Professor's important, and if she weren't the most powerful unicorn in the world she might get an escort, but an adopted pegasus daughter? No, it's not normal."

"Huh. I knew some Griffins in my time," Dash said. "My best friend at one point was a Griffin named Gilda. I thought she was pretty awesome at the time, but we kinda drifted apart later."

"She the one who taught you the greeting?"

Dash nodded. "And a lot of other stuff too. I stayed with her family one summer. I got to see their aerie and watch them hunt and everything. I learned all about the clan markings and what they meant. I actually thought they were like cutie marks at first, but that got knocked out of me pretty quick."

"Dash, you do realize I have no idea what those words you just used mean," Astrid said.

"Oh, right. Uh, Talent Glyphs. I thought they were like Talent Glyphs."

Astrid snorted. "If only. The world would be a lot better for Griffins if we just had some equivalent to Glyphs."

"Why?" Dash asked. "I mean, you guys seem to have a pretty sweet deal, working for the King and all. From what I've seen, you're all still, like scary-awesome warriors and everything. What's so bad about it?"

"Dash, we don't have it good at all," Astrid said, turning pensive and staring down towards the castle. "We don't work for the King because we want to, we do it because we have to, because we owe our lives to the Royals. Actually owe them, like a debt."

Dash frowned, the very idea of it repulsing her. "Why? How can that even work?"

"It's hard for a Griffin to be hatched," Astrid said. "Only one out of every ten eggs quicken, and even then the hatchling is sickly and more often than not dies before they learn to use their wings. You want better odds than that? It takes a lot of careful breeding and magic. Magic only the Royals can do. My species isn't extinct because a long time ago we swore to serve the Crown. All of us, forever. It's not a job, Dash, it's our entire culture."

"Whoa," Dash said, absorbing that. "Okay, yeah, that sucks. Why is it so hard to have children?"

"Same reason all the donkeys died out, and the buffalo, and why the Dragons have to be babied until they're a hundred years old. Magic, Dash. Too little fucking magic to go around. And yet ponies still have their Glyphs, proving they're just better than the rest of us all the time."

"How do Glyphs prove that?"

"Dash, it's a truth that all of us non-ponies have to come to terms with that no matter how tough, how strong, how fast, how skilled or how smart we are we will never, never be as good as a pony with a Talent. We can't compete. The only ones who can are Dragons, and they've got so many problems that it's just not worth it."

They sat in silence for a while, Dash thinking over what she had learned and Astrid tracking the sun as it fell below the horizon. The Griffin closed her eyes as the last rays of light vanished and muttered something. "What was that?" Dash asked.

"A prayer. 'Celestia, bearer of light, warm my dreams and bring me safely to your dawn'." Astrid said. "You knew Her, right? When She was a living, breathing person?"

"Yeah, a little," Dash said. "Twilight was really the one who knew her best."

"But you met Her, you talked to Her."

"Yeah."

"What was She like?"

"You really want to know?" Dash asked.

"Yeah. You knew a Goddess in the flesh. We may not look it, but we Griffins are pretty religious," Astrid replied. "The Royals are descended from the Goddesses, after all, and since we owe our lives to them, well..."

"They are? Cool," Dash said, then tapped her chin as she thought about it. "Okay, the first thing you need to know is that Princess Celestia is big. Like, more than twice my height big..."

***

The door slammed shut, locked with the glow of Twinkle Shine's magic. She turned to Star Fall, who stood with her wings fluttering slightly and her eyes downcast. "When were you going to tell me?"

"I was planning to do it right away, but with you meeting Dash it just slipped my mind," Star Fall said. "Professor, I swear, this is important."

"It always is," Twinkle Shine growled. "Always something that has to be done, and that no one else can do except you. That's the reason she sends you through the Everstorm, that's the reason she has you investigating Cash." Star Fall's eyes widened in surprise at that. "What? You thought I didn't know? I'm the closest advisor to the King, if I want to know where my student is and what she's doing, I will know it."

"He's dangerous," Star Fall began, but Twinkle Shine silenced her with a glare.

"Of course he's dangerous," the Professor scoffed. "Gamma wouldn't be so damned interested in him if he wasn't. I don't fault her for that, but I do find it reprehensible that she sends you into danger to investigate a pony for digging holes."

"He's searching for something," Star Fall said. "Something that might be the key to knowing why Dash is here."

Twinkle Shine paused, lowering her head to hide her eyes from her student. "How is he connected to Rainbow Dash?"

Star Fall told the whole story as she had heard it earlier that day. Twinkle Shine listened without comment, but her body was becoming more rigid and her horn sparked with flashes of emotion-charged magic as she learned of the connections between Dash's awakening and Cash's mysterious dig. The voice was back, whispering rage into her mind while she tried to force it down and work through the implications logically. When Star Fall finished her story the golden unicorn let out a breath and shook her head. "And now Gamma is sending both you and Rainbow Dash back to Cash to find out more. No. I can't allow this."

"Professor, this is my job," Star Fall said, trying not to stamp her hoof and shout. "I'm not a little filly anymore, I can handle danger."

"You're not... Star Fall, you don't know what I've done to protect you, what I'm still doing!" Twinkle Shine snapped out, shaking her head in frustration. She turned to the wall and took a few steadying breaths before looking back to her student. There was a look in her eye that the pegasus didn't recognize. "Please, let's sit down. It's time I told you something."

Star Fall obliged her mentor, taking a seat while Twinkle Shine did the same. "Star Fall, when I adopted you, what did I say my reasons were?"

Star Fall frowned at this question, but answered without hesitation. "You said that I needed a proper education for a Magic Talent, and that the only way to get that was to be able to take the unicorn classes that I would be barred from if I wasn't a noble. You didn't want my Talent to be wasted, and you didn't think another unicorn noble would be able to give me all the support I needed, so you were doing it yourself."

Twinkle Shine nodded. "That is all true, but it's not the whole truth. It's like the lecture I gave in class today, there were actions going on at levels you couldn't perceive for reasons you couldn't understand that were shaping your reality. You're old enough now to learn about them. One of the main reasons I adopted you myself wasn't because you needed an education, but to pre-empt the King from doing it."

Star Fall sat wide-eyed and rigid as those words hit her. "What? The King?"

Twinkle Shine nodded. "When he heard about you, a pegasus with a Magic Talent, he started the process of adopting you into the Royal family immediately. I was only barely able to get my claim in first, and then only with the help of Gamma. It's why I've allowed you to work for her for so long, I owed her for going against the will of the Crown for me."

Star Fall shook her head, barely able to comprehend what she was hearing. "But why? Why would the King want to adopt me?"

"Think about it, Star Fall," Twinkle Shine said, sighing. "The Royals are unicorns with pegasus magic. You're a pegasus with unicorn magic. Is it so strange, once you consider it from that angle?"

If Star Fall hadn't already been white she would have paled at that. "But my family... I'm not..."

"Not related to them, no," the Professor said. "You don't have a drop of the Divine blood in your veins, but that hardly matters. In fact, that's the point. The Royal line has never been strong."

"They want me to..."

"Yes," Twinkle Shine said, and Star Fall slumped in her chair, mouth moving, but no sound coming out. "I can't stop that from happening. The King has yet to decide which of his sons, cousins or nephews that he prefers, but once he does you will be betrothed, then married into the Royal family. If you had been adopted by him it would have happened already."

"But, he's always been so kind to me." Star Fall shook her head. "Of course he has. Astrid. Oh Celestia, I should have seen it."

"I worked hard to keep it from you," the Professor said, leaning over and laying a gentle hoof on her student's shoulder. "Please don't hate me for that."

"But why let me work for Gamma? Why let me go into danger so much if I'm that important?" Star Fall asked, pulling herself up and looking her mentor in the eyes. To Twinkle Shine's surprise there was no anger or animosity there. The news had stunned her, but she had caught herself and was even now thinking it through, just like the Professor had taught her. It brought a moment of pride to the golden unicorn to have her student take this revelation and keep going.

"Gamma convinced him it was necessary, and I didn't say anything to contradict her," Twinkle Shine answered. "I created the Everstorm spells for you so that when the time came you had a way to escape if you wanted it. I don't know how Gamma got wind of them, but that mare is never one to turn down an advantage, and she definitely saw an advantage in what I had given you. No unicorn can use those spells, and since you're the only non-unicorn spellcaster, well, she had enough leverage to be very persuasive."

"Magic levels," Star Fall said, shaking her head. "It's all about magic levels, isn't it?" Twinkle Shine quirked an eyebrow at her. "Dash said that in her time the pony species could interbreed safely. I didn't think it was possible now, but it is, isn't it? If both parents have enough magic, they can still produce viable offspring. I don't have as much magic in me as Dash does, but with my Talent I can focus it in ways she can't. If I focused that magic into bearing a foal... could I? Could I have a Royal child?"

Twinkle Shine nodded. "Yes. You could. But that's not what the King wants. He's convinced himself that you would not only be the mother of a Royal foal, but of a true Alicorn."

"That's not possible," Star Fall said, immediately and without a hint of doubt.

"Agreed," the Professor said. "He won't be dissuaded, though. He's sure that you are the way to a true Goddess re-entering the world. I've tried to convince him otherwise, multiple times. So has every other advisor he's spoken of this to, including Gamma. Even the Queen doesn't believe it's possible, but he does, and that's all he can see. That's what I've been protecting you from. The King's impossible dream, and his disappointment when you inevitably fail to live up to it."

"I... Thank you, professor. I never even imagined." Star Fall shook her head. "Why? Why is he so focused on something that is clearly never going to happen?"

"That is a secret I cannot share," Twinkle Shine said. "The King has fears, and they are grounded in reality, but he's allowed those fears to lead him into flights of fancy to find his hope. Star Fall, I've stalled him, made him consider who his most worthy option to marry you to is. I've been encouraging those stallions to jockey for position and outdo each other to muddy the waters further, but there will be a winner, and all signs point to that winner being made clear soon. There’s war on the horizon, Star Fall, and the King will want his dream secured before it comes." Twinkle Shine ran a hoof over Star Fall's mane the motion as much to comfort herself as her student. "You have your life, your duties, your work, but all of it is going to come crashing down. I didn't want to tell you so soon, to have you worry about it, but the arrival of this Rainbow Dash has thrown everything into uncertainty. Gamma will not keep her existence secret from the King, and he is going to latch onto the appearance of a possible hero from the past like a drowning pony to driftwood. You are going to have to decide, and very soon, what you want your future to be."

Star Fall leaned over and hugged her mentor. Twinkle Shine wrapped her forehooves around her student and fervently returned the embrace. "What am I going to do?" the pegasus asked, her voice as small as a frightened child’s.

"I don't know, but whatever you do I will support you. In any way I can," Twinkle Shine promised. "You may not be my true daughter, but I still love you like one. Just as your parents love you. No one, not even the King, is going to force you to do something like that against your will. Not if I have anything to say about it, and I do."

They held each other for a time. Finally, when they parted there were tears in their eyes, but smiles on their faces. "I'm sorry, professor," Star Fall said. "I still have to go on this mission tomorrow."

"I wish you wouldn't," Twinkle Shine said, rubbing the tears away from her face.

"I know, but I think this is important enough that I want to do it myself. It will also give me time to think about what you've told me. Time to decide what I'm going to do. Afterwards, I'm going to go see Spike."

Twinkle Shine's eyes lit up. "Oh, that would be wonderful. He's always so alone out there in his lair, and you can talk about this with him. There's a lot of wisdom under his goofy purple hide."

"Actually, Gamma wants to bring him here," Star Fall said. "Max Cash marked out his lair on a map, and we think he might go after something Spike has."

"That's terrible," Twinkle Shine said, frowning. "I don't think he'll be willing to leave, though."

"Well, as you said, Gamma is persuasive."

"And Dragons are stubborn. I wouldn't expect to have him convinced to leave his cave for at least a month."

Star Fall chuckled. "I guess you’re right. I also want him to take a look at Dash. If there's anyone who can really, truly tell if it's the real her, it will be him."

Twinkle Shine nodded slowly. "Yes, I might agree with that. He may not remember her at all, though. He was a baby for most of her life, and a juvenile still when she died. Even a Dragon's memories of their youth get lost after a thousand years."

"I know that, but he's the only living being around who might remember her. I think it'll be worth it."

"I understand," Twinkle Shine sighed. "Be careful, and don't stick your neck out where you don't need to."

"I won't," Star Fall said, standing. Twinkle Shine's magic left the door, allowing it to be opened again. Star Fall was about to trot over to it when she turned back to the Professor. "I just remembered. An Alicorn, like Nightmare Umbra?"

"Well, hopefully not like the Shadowed Alicorn, but a Goddess, yes, that is his delusion."

"Dash was saying something this morning, and it had gone completely out of my head until you mentioned Alicorns. Do you know what the Elements of Harmony are?"

Twinkle Shine's blood went cold. She knew her face had frozen in its expression, but she was helpless to do anything as her entire being shuddered with one word spoken with the voice of a god: IMPOSSIBLE.

"Professor?" Star Fall asked, stepping closer.

It was enough to return a measure of control to the golden unicorn. She shook her head. "Sorry, I think I've exhausted myself a bit today. What were you saying?"

"Dash said that Nightmare Moon, the evil spirit of the night, was actually an Alicorn Goddess, like Nightmare Umbra is," Star Fall said. Twinkle Shine felt the words like a blow, and had to still her shuddering. "She said they defeated her by using these items called the Elements of Harmony. I've never heard of them before. Do they mean anything to you?"

NO. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE.

"I can't say that they do," the Professor struggled out. "Perhaps they were some sort of artefact from their time. Like the legendary Crystal Heart or the Tartarus Keys."

"I was thinking that, but for some reason they're not mentioned in any of the texts I remember reading. Still, I feel like I've seen the term before, connected with Twilight Sparkle. Can I borrow your copy of The Magic Of Friendship? It's a first edition, so if anything is going to mention the heroes using them, that's going to be it."

"Sure," Twinkle Shine said. "You can read it tonight, but don't take it with you, I don't want it getting more damaged than it already is."

"Okay, thanks," Star Fall frowned and peered closer at her mentor. "Are you sure you're alright? You look like you're in pain."

"I am, a bit," the Professor admitted. "My head's killing me. I must have been using more magic than I thought when I was scanning Rainbow Dash."

"It didn't seem like you were overcasting," Star Fall said, helping the golden unicorn to her hooves.

"Thank you. Well, I might be catching a bug then. I should see a doctor about it, but I expect I'll just be told to keep quiet and not get so emotional about things."

"Huh?"

"Avoid stress," the Professor said, hoping that the inner voice was listening. "If you could help me to my room, you can grab the book and I can get some rest."

Star Fall did help her into her room, and after she had left Twinkle Shine locked the door magically and sat herself in front of her dressing mirror. "Enough shouting," she hissed at her reflection as its eyes began to glow. "I don't want to have a popped blood vessel in front of my student."

"I Destroyed All Traces Of The Elements," her reflection raged, her anger tainted with the frantic edge of panic. "Those Who Know Of Their Existence Were Bound To Secrecy. This Is Impossible!"

"Obviously not!" Twinkle Shine snapped back. "Whoever made this Rainbow Dash facsimile knows about them, and about Nightmare Moon!"

"It Is Aimed At Me Then," the reflection snarled. "They Will Find They Chose The Wrong Opponent."

Twinkle Shine felt the wrench in her being that signified the beginning of the change that would make her reflection a reality. She clamped down on it, halting the transformation in its tracks. "No! Star Fall! I will not endanger her!"

"The Elements Must Not Be Returned To The Minds Of Ponies!" the reflection raged.

"And they won't be!" Twinkle Shine said, forcing herself to calm. "They won't be. I will keep that from happening. Nothing has changed."

"The False Rainbow Dash Must Be Eliminated Immediately."

"Nothing has changed! Think! Don't reveal everything now. Yes, Dash has to go, but not right this instant. Not in the middle of my home. There will be an opportunity soon. Very soon. "

"Yes,” the reflection said, the pressure of transformation easing away. “I Am Still Gathering My Power. To Appear Before The World Now At The Center Of The Kingdom Would Be Folly."

"Exactly. Exactly. To act without thought will only lead to disaster. This situation is too uncontrolled for anything less. I know what to do."

"The Student Will Be In Danger."

"Not so much. Not from this. I will protect her. Listen to me, I have a plan."

"And If This Plan Does Not Work?"

"Then I have a backup plan. And if that doesn't work I've got one more beyond it."

Her reflection stared at her with eyes that had white draconic pupils surrounded by burning golden irises against black sclera. The eyes of a Nightmare. "So Long As I Fulfill My Purpose, I Will Heed These Plans."

Twinkle Shine smiled at the mirror, which reflected only patient rage and endless power, and began to talk.

***

Calumn leaned seductively against Conrad as they walked down the street towards the Drake hotel. He grinned, making sure to rub against her a bit more than was necessary. She’d drunk quite a bit, but even in another’s body she could hold her liquor better than most hardened alcoholics. Conrad had actually kept his drinking light, focusing more on telling tall tales and buying her ever greater amounts of alcohol.

She had been plying him for information since she started, but he was frustratingly slippery. Every time she thought she had him pinned down, he would wriggle in a new direction and throw her off completely. So she had been forced to keep playing the game, all the way to his bedroom if necessary. She was not prepared to go all the way for information that might not even be useful, though, so that would be where she cut it off.

No one had found the real Janice in the washroom, and the sleep spell wasn’t going to expire for a while yet, but when he had finally suggested that they head back to his place she had been more than happy to oblige. She hadn’t been able to spare more than a few glances for Blaze as they were leaving, but the earth pony seemed to be doing his job with a certain level of professionalism that she hadn’t expected. He hadn't started chatting up the thugs he was meant to watch, at least, and that had been a real worry.

"Here we are, babe," Conrad said as they came up to the Drake. "Nice, huh? I practically own the place."

"Really?" She giggled, stumbling artfully so she could catch a glimpse behind them. "That's so cool!" The two thugs were keeping pace, but also keeping their distance. They regarded Conrad and her with the bored dispassion of violent ponies killing time between hoof-fights. Neither of them were going to be an issue if she handled this right. Blaze trailed further back, slinking along walls and darting from shadow to shadow, eyes darting exaggeratedly back and forth. It was a bizarre sight, one that should by all rights have drawn more attention than it did.

"Come on, babe, don't you want to see my private suite?" Conrad asked, waggling his eyebrows. She nodded vigorously and let him help her into the hotel.

The Drake was one of the best hotels in the town, and it showed. It boasted a large, well-lit foyer full of red carpeting and leather couches. The counter that a smiling attendant sat behind was so polished it might as well have been a mirror. Signs pointed the way to the pool, sauna and workout room, while another advertised their attached restaurant. Calumn noted them as potential escape routes, hiding places and ambush points in case this all went sour.

Conrad ignored everything in the lobby, leading her directly to the bank of elevators and hitting the call button. There was an elevator there already and Calumn stumbled in. She leaned up against the wall as seductively as only a fully-trained Changeling could be and watched as the two thugs rushed to get into the elevator before the door closed. They didn't make it.

The ride up was spent ferociously making out with Conrad. She was careful not to be too forceful, but there were many ways of subtle prodding that could get a stallion to make the first move. The physical intimacy opened an emotional connection between them, and while it was too shallow a bond to allow her to feed from him, it did let her get a read of his feelings. She used this to gauge how worried he was about his shadows. As it turned out he was incredibly nervous, but it wasn't the nervousness of a stallion spending time with a beautiful mare, or of a pony in danger who had lost his protection. Instead it was more like the fear of a colt who had done wrong and was certain he'd be caught at any moment.

Calumn didn’t know what to make of that, but she filed it away in case she found a way to use it later. They came to 502, Calumn noting that 503 had a good view of Conrad’s door. Depending on how alert they were, she figured it would take a few seconds for anyone in that room to respond to any call of alarm. Not enough time to get out of Conrad’s room and down the hallway, but enough time to set up a means of escape.

“Come on in,” Conrad said, opening the door to his room and letting her inside.

“What a great place,” she said, taking the room in. It was fairly nice, with a windowed wall showing the town. It had no balcony, though, which limited options of egress. The room boasted a large sitting room with a separate bedroom. It even had a small kitchen, though from the looks of things Conrad hadn’t been using it. The air smelled of the usual mixture of disinfectant, dust and mold that hotels inevitably gained, but there was also the faint hint of perfume, evidence of the previous mares he had brought up.

Conrad’s dark red magic glowed around his horn as he hastily swept about the room, hiding trash under the couch and flicking some of the lights off. He flipped on a stereo as she made her way to the couch and lay down, soft jazz floating through the hidden speakers. He pulled out a bottle of wine, and Calumn had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. He had already given her enough drinks to drown a Griffin, what did he hope to accomplish with more? Still, Calumn accepted the glass she was given, and decided that now would be a good time to get to the important questions.

“Hey, Conrad, you know you remind me of someone,” she began.

“Well, I’ve got one of those faces, I’m unforgettable,” he said with a grin. “You’ve probably seen pictures of me in the paper.”

“No, not that,” she said with a drunken wave of her hoof. “I mean all the stuff you’ve done... done in your life. It’s crazy! All the things you did. I hearda, heard of someone else like that once. What was his name? Mar... Murr... Max! Max Cash!”

Calumn watched carefully as Conrad went through a series of emotions. Recognition. Surprise. Confusion. Suspicion. Fear. “Never heard of him,” Conrad lied.

Calumn shrugged. “Meh, s’okay. I thought a stallion like you mighta crossed his path. ‘Cause you’re both big shots and all.” More fear from Conrad, though none of it showed on his face. “I heard he’s interested in this area.” Less fear. “No, wait, not here. Somewhere north. Out... out in the... country.” Bingo.

“Sorry,” Conrad laughed. “I’ve got no clue who this guy is. He can’t be that big, though, if I haven’t heard of him.”

“Didn’t you... Didn’t you tell the bartender you were into mining? You said mining, right? Well, you should probably look this guy up, I hear he’s into diggin’ holes. Might have some competition.” Nothing. New line of questioning. “Or, okay, I guess I don’t know, but he’s got his hooves in everything, right? So you gotta have met him.” Another hit. “But if you haven’t, I guess that’s a good thing. ‘Cause you don’t get to be a big shot like him without doing something criminal.” Huge hit, enough that it even showed in the widening of his eyes and the sudden hitch in his breathing. Conrad was in bed with Cash somehow, and definitely involved in his criminal businesses.

“As much as I love talking about ponies I’ve never met,” Conrad said, sliding closer. “Why don’t we focus on you and me?”

"Yeah, why don't we talk about you," Calumn said, laying one hoof suggestively on his flank and giving him a sultry smirk. She was just about to start leading him to answering more questions when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. A dark shape was coming towards the window, and fast.

She dove out of the way as the large window smashed inward, shards of glass raining down throughout the room. Conrad yelped in surprise and was bowled over as Blaze came hurtling into the room. He was wearing a harness that trailed ropes out the window and up the side of the building. He came to a rest sitting on top of Conrad's prone form, yellow eyes searching until he found Calumn, who had crouched beside the couch to protect herself from the flying glass.

"Buddy, we gotta leave," Blaze said.

"What the hell, Blaze?" Calumn gasped out, staring at her friend. "Why did you do that? What are you wearing?"

"No time for questions!" Blaze cried, hopping off Conrad. "Grab on! If we're lucky and the antenna I tied the ropes to holds, we can be on the ground and out of here in a minute. If we're not lucky then we can do it even faster, and man am I hoping lady luck still hates me for hitting on her sister."

"What?"

Blaze poked her with a hoof. "Nope! No questions! Wingman to Calumn, red alert! We are in trouble! Now grab on and we might get out of here before she shows up."

Calumn grabbed hold of Blaze. "Before who shows up?"

As if in answer the door to the room crashed open, the frame splintering as the lock was almost kicked completely off. The pair of bruisers stood outside, one of them with his back to the door and his legs coming down from the kick. Between them stood a tall, lithe pegasus mare who stepped past the shattered doorframe and into the room. Her coat was the light pink of cake frosting, her mane a swirl of purple, blue and red. Dark rose eyes surveyed the scene and she clucked her tongue in disapproval, even though her mouth was twisted into a cruel smile. A trio of crimson teardrops adorned her flank, an Abstract Glyph whose meaning was still very clear. Calumn knew exactly who she was, and exactly how badly screwed they were. This was Charisma, Max Cash's chief enforcer and closest companion now that James Bay was dead.

"Conrad, Conrad, Conrad," she said, sauntering into the room. Her voice was rich and vibrant, like a professional singer's might be, but that same vibrancy also conveyed her utter contempt for the unicorn with absolute clarity. "Do you remember what I said about taking spies to bed with you?"

"I knew she was a spy all along," Conrad said, pulling himself up from the ground. Little shards of glass were embedded in him, drawing blood from a dozen different wounds, but he ignored whatever pain he was feeling and focused entirely on the new mare. "I was just going to lull her into thinking she had me, then I was going to turn her over to you. I swear."

"Of course you were," she said. Calumn felt Blaze tense up in preparation to leap out the window, but Charisma shot a murderous glare at him, freezing him in place. "One more step to that window and I will break two of your legs before I let you pass out." Her glare vanished to be replaced by another vicious smile. "Besides, it's rude to leave before you can catch up with an old friend. You don't want to be rude, do you, Trail Blazer?"

Blaze swallowed and let out a nervous chuckle. "Of course not, Charisma. I was just, um, well, I was going to jump out the window to escape you. Just like old times, huh?"

"Just like old times," she repeated, grin widening and eyes going bright. With a jerk of her head the goons were on them. Calumn didn't struggle, and in moments the two of them were being bound securely. "I don't know what you're doing hanging out with the Secret Service, Blaze," Charisma said, stepping over to the green pony. "But if it brought you back to me I'm glad for it."

"What should we do with 'em?" one of the thugs asked.

Charisma contemplated this for a moment, then shrugged. "Take them with us. Max will want to talk to the girl, and I want some time with my dear, sweet, funny little Blaze. Just. Like. Old. Times." She punctuated each of these words with a slap to Blaze's face that got stronger with every hit until he was bleeding under one eye from where the edge of her hoof had caught him.

Calumn wanted to lash out at her, to do something to get them away, but he didn't have the energy for magic and Charisma could easily take both him and Blaze in a fight. He had hope, though. She thought he was Janice, and that would buy him time to think of a way to escape. So he kept quiet when they pulled a hood over his head, and when they picked him up and unceremoniously carried him down to a waiting car, dumping him and Blaze in the trunk.

Once they were moving he poked the earth pony. "Blaze."

"I'm here," Blaze responded, "and I am so sorry. If I'd known she was watching this guy I would never have let you go after him. If I had only spotted her sooner!"

"Don't worry about that. We'll talk about it later," Calumn said. "I'm going to think of a way out of this, okay? We'll make it, but I'm weak right now. I'm going to need to feed on your friendship directly, it's going to feel weird."

"Will that get you back up to full power?"

"Not even close, but it will give me a little more to work with."

"Well, it's a little cramped in here with the two of us being adult-sized," Blaze pointed out. "Why don't you go all kid-sister so you can eat well and we can ride in comfort?"

Calumn paused at that. It was a good idea, but it still left a bad taste in his mouth. "No," he decided. "It's wrong."

"Calumn, you said 'not unless absolutely necessary'. Now, I'm not known for my keen judgement of social situations, but I figure being tied up by a psycho ex and locked in the trunk of a car which is probably heading towards her evil boss counts as 'absolutely necessary'."

Calumn thought about that, and couldn't find any fault in the logic. "It still feels wrong."

"Yeah, buddy, I hear ya," Blaze sighed. "But, seriously? A powered-up Changeling is way better for us right now than a near-starving Changeling. Also? You are so completely cute when you're my little sister and you get all wobbly on love."

"Blaze. You can't even see me."

"Mind's eye, buddy. Who needs eyes when you have the power of imagination!"

Calumn laughed. "Alright, but just this once," and with a flash of green he once more became Holly, the love Blaze felt for his sister flowing in and filling the Changeling with new strength. The ropes that had bound him weren't holding anymore but he didn't pull free in case he had to revert to Janice suddenly.

Once Blaze found himself with extra room he stretched out and heaved a sigh. "Wow, you know I've never been thrown in a trunk with my little sister before? Big guys, usually, and there was that clown once, but no little sisters. I like it. It's different."

Calumn snorted back another laugh. "Just rest, okay? Conserve your strength. We don't know how long this ride is going to be, but at the end of it is Max Cash. I don't know how you know him, but if you do then you know it's going to take all we've got to get out of this alive."

"I know, buddy," Blaze whispered, his voice sad and serious. "Believe me. I know."

***

"I’m betraying you"

***

Dash woke with a start. She was gasping for breath and sweating like she had done the Running of the Leaves twice over with a saddlebag full of lead. She didn’t understand why, she couldn’t remember any bad dreams, but whatever had woken her she was pretty sure she wasn’t getting back to sleep any time soon. With an annoyed grunt she pulled herself from the tangled covers and slipped out of her room.

Astrid had gone to bed not long after Dash had finished describing Celestia to her. The Griffin had seemed uncharacteristically contemplative, and Dash wasn’t the kind of pony who would pry into another person’s thoughts. Star Fall had been busy reading through some old book and the Professor had apparently gone to bed with a headache. That left going to bed herself as the only real option. She’d tried to watch TV for a bit, but the flickering images had quickly strained her eyes, and she had shut it off and just lay quietly until sleep took her. For someone used to taking naps several times a day, simply falling asleep had been strangely difficult. Now she was up again, but despite the lack of sleep she felt like she was fully rested and ready for the day ahead.

Dash made her way to the dining room, and found Star Fall still awake, still studying the book. “Hey,” Dash called to her, making her look up with tired eyes. “What time is it?”

Star Fall checked the clock. “Four AM.”

“Have you been to bed at all?” Star Fall silently shook her head. “Star, we’re leaving in, like, five hours. You need to get some sleep.”

“I know, I just need to get as much of this book in my mind first,” Star Fall said, but sighed. “It would be easier if I wasn’t so tired I’ve been re-reading the same page for fifteen minutes.”

Dash snickered at that and stepped up to the other pegasus. “What’s so important about this book anyway?”

“It’s The Magic Of Friendship,” Star Fall said, turning the book so that Dash could see it.

“Hey! I can read this!” Dash said, surprised at the familiar Old Equestrian text.

“It’s a first edition. Over a thousand years old.”

“’By Twilight Sparkle’,” Dash read aloud, and a warm smile spread on her face. “Wow, something she wrote survived this long? This is what the Professor was talking about yesterday, right?”

“Yeah. The Magic Of Friendship is Twilight Sparkle’s most famous work. It’s practically the foundation of modern advanced magical theory.”

“And it’s about perceptions and stuff?”

“It has sections on perceptions and their influence on our reality. It also has important passages on practically every major magical field. If there’s a subject in magic, The Magic Of Friendship is the book that started all modern thought on it.”

“Whoa.”

Star Fall yawned again. “It’s also hard to get through. It’s written in a style that was common at the time, but really hard for us to work with now. Long, rambling personal anecdotes about her life and friends interspersed with some of the most advanced and intense magical theory ever put to paper. It’s actually one of the main sources of information we have on you and your friends, too.”

“So there’s stuff about me in there?”

Star Fall nodded. “And about Applejack and Fluttershy and Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Life in Ponyville must have been pretty exciting, all the things that happened to you six.”

Dash shrugged. “Sure, it could be. Mostly it was just life, you know? We had our jobs, our dreams, our hobbies. We just lived like normal and sometimes stuff would happen and we’d save the world.”

Star Fall shook her head with a laugh. “’Stuff would happen’. You were heroes, Dash, fighting against the greatest evils of your time, and you just say ‘stuff would happen’?”

“That’s how it went, Star. I am a hero, but not because I saved the world. I’m a hero because of all the stuff I did in Ponyville for the people who lived there. Because I followed my dream and dedicated myself to being the very best. So long as I don’t let it go to my head, I even act like a hero. The others? They do almost as much as I do and they don’t think of themselves as any different from any other pony. They way you guys talk about us, all you know are the times we had to fight something. That wasn’t us. That wasn’t our life. Saving the world isn’t what’s important, being the pony who would save the world is.”

“That’s... pretty deep, I guess,” Star Fall said, yawning loudly. “I thought you’d be a little less modest about it all.”

Dash laughed. “Star, I’m not being modest about anything. I’m awesome. I helped save the world a few times, but that’s not what makes me awesome. I could have had nothing to do with that stuff and I’d still be the fastest pegasus in Equestria, and the one and only Rainbow Dash. Once you’re that good, the world-saving stuff is just kind of expected.” Star Fall lapsed into giggles that were interrupted by another yawn. Dash grinned at her, but pulled the book away. “You gotta get sleep. I don’t know what you were looking for in here, but it can’t be worth exhausting yourself when you’re about to go out on a dangerous mission.”

“I’m looking for the Elements of Harmony,” Star Fall mumbled, head drooping.

“Find anything?”

She shook her head. “No. Not a mention. I’m sure I’ve seen those words before, though, and that it had something to do with Twilight Sparkle. I just can’t remember where.”

“You’re not going to find it drooling all over your really old book,” Dash pointed out. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

Star Fall wasn’t in any state to argue, and so Dash helped her to her room and under her covers. The white pegasus was asleep and muttering magical formulae in moments, and it was adorable enough that Dash allowed herself a moment bask in the cuteness of it before backing out of the room.

She returned to the dining room and looked at the book on the table. She flipped it closed, and found an ancient, faded picture on the cover below the title. The figures in the picture were unrecognizable as anything other than vaguely equine shapes, but Dash was able to pick them out anyways. She had seen the picture before, she had a copy of it in her bedroom in Ponyville. It was a photo taken during the celebration after Nightmare Moon’s defeat, six new friends gathered together and flush with their victory and the discovery of kindred souls. It was the first of what would be many pictures to come, and while to Dash it had been just another memento, to Twilight it had obviously held a deeper meaning.

Tempted as she was to read the book that lay behind that picture, Dash had a fairly solid feeling that anything Star Fall called ‘intense magical theory’ would be way beyond her. She set the book aside and stepped away from the table, making her way instead towards the balcony she had shared with Astrid earlier. Outside the air was crisp, but not cold, and the breeze gusting through the feathers of her wings was a pleasant tug without being intrusive. She breathed deeply and sat on the edge of the balcony. Her eyes stung, seeing that picture had left her feeling more homesick than she could ever remember being.

Dash watched the sky alone, her gaze fixed on the waning moon as it made its slow way across the night. The lights of the city obscured the stars, but not enough to keep her sharp eyes from picking them out. They were the same stars and moon she remembered from her childhood, Mare in the Moon and all.

“What happened to you?” she asked, directing the question at the moon, but meaning it more for herself.

She wasn’t as smart as Twilight. That was a fact so solid she could build an earth pony house on it. She wasn’t as widely-read as Rarity, and she didn’t have the down-to-earth common-sense of Applejack. Fluttershy, for all her timidity, had a motherly wisdom that Dash didn’t think she could understand if she tried. Pinkie was Pinkie and who knew what went on in her head. For all that she didn’t have the mental gifts of her friends, she wasn’t devoid of intelligence, common sense or wisdom herself. She knew that her situation wasn’t normal, and she was beginning to come to some unhappy conclusions about it.

Despite how she had been treating it so far, this wasn’t like Daring Do and the Scarab of Chronus. For one, there was no clear reason for Dash to be sent forward in time. For another, the way the Professor had questioned her made it obvious that there were things she was supposed to do after she had come to the future, and in the book the whole future was different because Daring Do wasn’t there to prevent it in the past. Dash was starting to think that when she made it back home she might not be able to change this future at all. She was worried that she might not even want to.

Sure Nightmare Umbra was bad, and the Princesses going away was bad, and Equestria being divided into two warring nations was extra bad. But if she changed the past so none of that happened, what would happen to the friends she had made? Would Star Fall or Astrid even have been born? She didn’t understand enough about time travel and fate and all that stuff to figure it out on her own. She wished she could just fly to Ponyville’s library and ask Twilight. She would know.

Instead she stared at the moon and the Princess it contained. "Why'd you have to leave?" she asked the night. "You could have stopped all of this if you'd stuck around. Sure, Nightmare Umbra had to be stopped, but you had to have other bearers for the Elements by then. You had to have some other way, something better than sticking yourselves in the sky and hoping for the best. If you'd stayed, then at least I'd have somepony who remembered me."

Dash felt tears burning at her eyes but she scrubbed them away before they could start to fall. "Hey, it's no problem," she continued. "I'm making friends, and I've got cranky future Twilight Sparkle working on getting me home. This will just be one crazy story I tell the girls, right? Right?" The night gave no reply. "Come on, Princess, give me something here. I don't know how it works for you guys, but I was listening to the Professor, you've got ways of seeing things that 'do not resemble our limited understanding', right? Well, use some of that and give me a bucking clue!"

She was on her hooves now, snarling at the distant shadowed image of a mare's head. "Come on! You owe me! You got them all thinking you're a god now, why don't you do something godly? Send me a vision! Give me a sign! Anything! Anything! Please... please just let me know that I'm going to make it home. You have to let me know because... because I'm starting to think I might not."

She hung her head. "You probably can't hear me. Maybe you can, I don't know. You guys were never gods to us, Princess. Not really. It's kinda funny that you only got to be gods after you had left, but I can see how it happened. Anyway, I don't know if you can hear me, and I don't know if this counts as praying if I don't believe you're a god, but I'll give it a go anyway. If it doesn't, you know, sound right, I'm sorry. I've never done this before."

She sat down, stretching her wings to the breeze and her head to the sky. "Luna, Princess of the Night, please listen. I don't know why I'm here. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I'm just kind of stumbling along and I don't know if it's getting me anywhere. I'm in the dark here, and I guess that's your thing. So please, Luna, help me. Help me figure this out and get back home. Help me see my friends again. I just... I just want to see them again. So, uh, yeah. That's my prayer to you. I'm not playing favourites or anything, I'm going to ask your sister the same thing next time I see her. But you seriously do owe me, so any help at all would totally be appreciated. Uh, thanks for listening, your Goddessness."

With that Dash lay down and folded her wings, watching the lights of the ever-wakeful city below as she waited for the coming of dawn.

***

HB leaned over the map, carefully lining up a ruler to connect the marks he had been making. His eyes blurred as he made one more line between two distant places and he sat back, sighing as he let his Telekinesis lapse. The basement of the college library was a dark place this early in the morning, the aisles were dim, shadowy paths between looming black stacks, with islands of light that picked out study tables few and hidden. HB sat at one of those tables, deliberately picked so that it would be in the least accessible part of the labyrinthine library. He didn’t want to be disturbed while he pored over the dozens of books and papers he had gathered from his long days of mind-numbing research.

He probably wouldn’t have been as far along in that research as he was if it wasn’t for the fact that he could barely sleep. The pain pills the doctor had prescribed him allowed him to fall asleep, but only for a couple hours. After that his horn began to ache and he couldn’t stay unconscious. He couldn’t take any more of the pills for fear of an overdose, so he spent his insomniac time on the line of research into Max Cash that Barry had twigged him to.

His horn ached now, a pulsing, stabbing pain that felt like someone taking a hammer and chisel to his skull. He reached up and gingerly touched his horn with a hoof. He cringed at the sharp increase in pain as his sensitive horn protested, but pushed through it and gently probed at the sharp appendage. He felt for that little bit of give, that spongy springiness that he still had nightmares about, but to his relief the horn was as solid as it should be. It just hurt like a bastard.

One of the problems that were keeping the pain up was that he was running his magic almost non-stop. He couldn’t afford to get side-tracked too much with books and reports that exaggerated or outright lied, so he was using his magic to pick up on the tells that would show where he was reading accurate information and where the author was just making stuff up. The latter happened surprisingly often. HB had combed the library, and the stack of materials next to his map was the result of all that effort, and it was about to pay off.

He had tracked all of Cash’s known dig sites since he had started archaeological expeditions fifteen years ago. The first few were in all the usual places: battle sites from the Schism, the Badlands, the Las Pegasus ruins. It wasn’t until five years ago that he’d started branching out into weird sites that made no sense. Strange excavations in the Aplusian region, expeditions into the southern jungles, and the dig site outside of Orion city were just a few of his endeavors. Cash had definitely been looking for something, but no one knew anything about what it could possibly be. Until now.

With Barry’s discovery of the fallen cloud city right where Cash had been digging, HB had caught the edge of a hidden truth. He had dove into the records, gone as obscure and old as he could, and he’d come up with paydirt. More than half of Cash’s strange expeditions were to supposed crash sites of cloud cities. The pattern wasn’t obvious because cloud cities left no ruins, thus nothing to dig for. If, however, they left behind items that weren’t so vaporous, that would be worth something. Maybe even worth all the effort he had made to find it.

HB's eyes unfocused as he slumped in his seat, exhausted but so close to finishing he begrudged every moment of rest his body demanded. It was because his eyes weren't focused that he was able to spot the thin wire as it slipped over his head.

He threw a hoof up and managed to catch the wire just as it pulled tight. It cut into the sides of his neck and part of his hoof, but he had stopped it from choking him. There was a snarl of frustration by his ear and he threw his head back, slamming into whoever was trying to kill him. His assailant swore and jerked the wire, trying to pull it free of HB's hoof. "Max Cash wants you to know you shouldn't go poking your horn into things that don't concern you," his assailant hissed, the voice feminine under the strain and anger.

The detective fell to the side, dropping off the chair and trying to drag his attacker with him. It didn't work, the assailant allowing him to sink to the floor while holding the wire taut. It did loosen some of the pressure as the new angle didn't favor the attacker as much, and HB took advantage of that, getting his hooves under him and kicking back.

He caught a piece of the other pony, whose breath was knocked from her by the force of the blow. HB heaved, curling forward and kicking out his rear legs to throw the attacker over his shoulder. The other pony, lighter than HB, went flying into the table, letting go of the wire. HB tore the garrotte from around his neck, heedless of the way it cut deeper gashes in his neck as he did so, and took a good look at his would-be murderer.

It was a pegasus mare with a light brown coat and a short-cut blonde mane. She wore glasses and a pair of fringed saddlebags that hid her Glyph. She looked like a student in her first year at the college, and her eyes burned with rage as she flipped upright and launched herself at him with the graceful speed that only a pegasus could have.

He moved to block the strike, but she was faster than he was, hitting him in the chest and knocking him back. He stumbled, managing to stay on his hooves, but it gave her the space to reach into her saddlebag and come out with a knife in her teeth. She lunged at him again, slashing and kicking.

He dodged to the side, but got a kick to the leg and a shallow slash across his side. He struck out at her, and she was too close to completely evade. She stumbled back, not really hurt, and quickly recovered. He tried to capitalize on that moment of advantage, but it was gone too soon. She slashed another cut in his flank and bucked him into a shelf as he tried to charge her.

He rolled to get out of the way of the falling books, but his exhausted body betrayed him. He cried out as several heavy volumes crashed down onto him, one hitting his horn and making his vision blur and double with pain. She leapt on him, bringing her knife down at his eye. He twisted and slammed a hoof under her chin, holding her knife off a few bare centimeters from his face. She slammed a hoof into his side, but the books covering him dulled the blow.

HB's horn lit with copper light, and he grabbed the knife with his telekinesis. Her eyes went wide and she clamped down on it. HB's telekinesis was stronger than most unicorns', but still not strong enough to just rip the knife out of her grip. Instead he twisted it, wiggling the blade so that it began to slide from her mouth in little hitching jerks. She tried to pull back, but he kicked her leg out. She caught herself with her wings, but lost her grip on the knife. It flew away from her, embedding itself in a book.

She hissed at the loss of the weapon, and HB used that moment to grab a book from the highest shelf with his magic and drop it on her. The heavy volume struck her in the leg at an awkward angle, snapping bone. She screamed out in pain and lashed out at him, catching his horn with her hoof.

HB's world went white with agony and he lost track of time. When he could see again, he was alone. The scream of the emergency exit alarm was sounding and there would be campus security all over the place in moments. He scrambled to his hooves, nearly heaving at the vertigo the movement caused. He was still in agony, but he pushed through it, stumbling over to his table and grabbing his map. He took a moment to look it over again, noting especially the circled place where several lines intersected. His neck and sides hurt, his stomach was roiling and his horn was a blazing spike of pain right into his brain, but he felt a triumphant grin spread across his face as he looked at that mark.

"Got you now, you bastard."

Comments

[warpd]

Wow, the future keeps getting bleaker the more Dash learns things.

[Treilacl]

Ga!
Well, I'm looking forward to the next update! Please keep up the good work!

[musicluvr1974]

1703906 Mmmm... maybe. I get the feeling that maybe not all is as it seems in this Bad Future. (That or Nightmare Umbra is truly insane.)

[source1]

Argh so many questions.

[GreenStarlight]

Whoo, they're all heading In The Same Direction!
And I did NOT see the forced marriage thing coming.

[Pilate]

Fall: Magic
Astrid: Loyalty
Cal: Kindness
Blaze: Laughter
HB: Honesty

Congrats, Spike, you're the new Rarity!

A return of the betrayal, as well. I have several thoughts on the matter but would rather hold out for more info before a deep analysis. Great chapter as always, except for that Trixie thing, that's just over the contrived line.

[Keratin]

1705957

"This is going to work out exactly like last time."

"What?"

"Nothing!"

[edgelesspigeon]

Important Things to Remember and Consider (Wall-of-Text Ahoy):

Mysteries
* The nature of Rainbow Dash. Is she a time-displaced Rainbow Dash, or a fascimile?
a) Option A: She's the genuine Rainbow Dash, and has been displaced through time. Star Fall had two hypotheses in this chapter as
for why Rainbow does not remember the events that occurred after her presumed dislocation through time (i.e. the changeling
invasion, Tirek, the Tartarus Dragons, Celestia Nova, the removal of the parasprites, the salvation of the Crystal Kingdom): either she
was taken from a point in time before these events, or time travel damaged her memory. There is also the question of the manner
in which she travelled through time: was it a point-to-point travel, or was it a Rip Van Wrinkle?
b) Option B: She's an engineered being. What kind of engineered being? Is she a clone? A magically-created duplicate? A normal
pony that was crafted into Rainbow Dash through magical processes?
* The discrepancy between the accounts of Rainbow Dash's death. According to Star Fall, Twilight Sparkle records Rainbow Dash dying of old age, but Nightmare Umbra said that, "I Watched Her Burn And Her Ashes Scattered To The Wind". What's going on?
a) Option A: The account Twilight Sparkle left is a deliberate deception on Twilight's part, or another entity subsequently altered the
accounts. With the revelation that Nightmare Umbra erased all records and memory of the Elements of Harmony, its possible that a
similar phenomenon happened to the true account of Dash's death. However, this proposal is weakened by the fact that, contrary to
what Nightmare Umbra's statement might imply, Dash could not have died in battle against Nightmare Umbra, because the Schism
took place 200-300 years after the time of the show (PM with Sharaloth), and Nightmare Umbra appeared forty years after the Schism
(Chapter 4: Learning Curve).
b) Option B: There is no discrepancy. Dash was cremated. This is a fairly weak proposal, but it also has a unnerving implication to it:
both options make it clear that Nightmare Umbra personally knew Dash before her apotheosis 240-340 years after the show, but
Option B implies that Nightmare Umbra was close to Rainbow Dash. Nightmare Umbra's reaction to Dash's appearance was to
take as a personal offense (Chapter 9: Perceptions), perhaps suggesting that she is enraged that someone would profane Dash's
image ("How Dare They? Rainbow Dash? They Would Use Rainbow Dash Against Me?"). Regardless, it is clear that Nightmare Umbra
had some form of existence prior to the Schism.
* If Rainbow Dash is genuinely Rainbow Dash displaced in time, will she return to her own time and change the past?
a) Option A: The future is fixed. Dash can change the "future present" (the time she's currently in, Star Fall's time), but not the past.
b) Option B: Rainbow can change the past, and some or all of the events succeeding her displacement may be rendered null-and-void
(i.e., the manner of her death, her other adventures as detailed in Chapter 9, the Schism). Alternatively, by changing the past she
creates two timelines. The Schism timeline continues to exist, but by changing the past the future of Dash's "native" timeline is
changed. In short, Schism future becomes alternate future.
* Nopony remembers Discord. Not only do they not remember him, but they appear fundamentally incapable of understanding him as a concept (Chapter 7: Translation Problems). How did this happen? How did the most powerful being in existence disappear from memory (PM with Sharaloth confirmed that the simple answer is that Discord is more powerful than Nighmare Umbra, though there is a more complicated answer that has yet to be revealed)?
* The nature of the Elements of Harmony. In this chapter, Twilight reveals that friendship is not necessarily required to allow the Elements to work. There is something inherently dangerous about the traits the Elements embody (Chapter 1: Wake Up Call). The Magic of Harmony may not have a connection to genuine Harmony (Chapter 2: An Impossible Mare). Discord is the only known being powerful enough to have crafted the Elements, but would have no desire to do so (Chapter 3: Native Inflection). The Elements are likely responsible for causing the danger that they themselves defeat (Chapter 4: Learning Curve). The precise and careful configuration that is required to unlock the Elements of Harmony's power may not being trying to keep the power of the Elements safe from exploitation, but trying to keep the world safe from the power of the Elements. The consequences of the power are far-reaching (Chapter 9: Perceptions). Do the Elements have a will in choosing their bearers, or is there just elaborate programming (Chapter 10: Prayer)? Nightmare Umbra took careful pains to erase all memory of the Elements of Harmony from the ponies and other sentient beings of Equestria (Chapter 10: Prayer).
* Rainbow's connection to Max Cash. James Bay winds up dead in the excavation Dash awakens in (Chapter 2: An Impossible Mare). These excavations are specifically targeting pre-Schism cloud cities (Chapter 6: Lies and Camouflage and this chapter). While Rainbow may not be connected to Max Cash, the fact that she appeared in the ruin of a cloud city impact suggests that whatever Cash is looking for may be connected to Rainbow.
* Is there a connection between Nightmare Umbra and Nightmare Moon? Word of God has said that an outside force facilitated Luna's transformation into Nightmare Moon. Whether this was impersonal dark magic that exploited Luna's latent bitterness and jealousy to take hold, or some form of demon (the Nightmare) that exploited said bitterness and jealousy to possess her, is unknown, and both interpretations can be found in various fanfics. According to Star Fall (Chapter 4: Learning Curve), Nightmare Moon and Nightmare Umbra have no connection, but in Chapter 9: Perceptions it is revealed that post-Schism knowledge of Nightmare Moon is faulty. They did not know she was an alicorn, or that she was Princess Luna, which opens the door for Nightmare Umbra having some connection to Nightmare Moon.
* Why is Twinkle Shine helping Nightmare Umbra?
* How did James Bay die, and why?
* What is Conrad's connection to Max Cash?
* The current status of the unicorns, Pegasi, Earth ponies, dragons, changelings, and griffons are known. The fate of the donkeys is revealed in this chapter. What about the other sentient species of Equestria (i.e., minotaurs, goats, cattle, sea serpents)? This is a minor mystery, and may not be important enough to warrant an answer.

[silvadel]

I think there was no actual time travel -- Rainbow Dash was a statue or similar through the time period and only recently released.

"Time travel" forward is a lot easier than time travel backwards -- it merely requires suspended animation.

If we put an actual time travel event going backwards, Dash could do the events from history and die in the past.

Thing is Max Cash might actually have had some kind of information that RD was a statue in a cloud city and hence was looking for where cloud cities had fallen. Depending upon the circumstances of how RD was turned to stone, I could see her (in the darkness) killing her "attacker" and then shock forgetting.

[Pilate]

1706307
All excellent points.

No sense in me addressing them more other than to say that at this point the Elements are involved in Dash's travel, with the likely conclusion thus far being that she's an artifact of them. Perhaps that the actual Element of Loyalty was with Dash or Dash's statue in Cloudsdale similar to how Twilight has a statue in Ponyville. I anticipate a return to the everstorm. In fact, I bet you Cash ends up as Generosity; he becomes an "anti-hero," an enemy of the states but not an antagonist.

[Arkenai]

Yay, Harmony Theory update!
I read all of Twinkle's lines with narrowed eyes. :distrust:

[CDRW]

Star Fall yawned again. “It’s also hard to get through. It’s written in a style that was common at the time, but really hard for us to work with now. Long, rambling personal anecdotes about her life and friends interspersed with some of the most advanced and intense magical theory ever put to paper. It’s actually one of the main sources of information we have on you and your friends, too.”

There's just something about this paragraph that I love. It rings true on so many levels. That's exactly how I would imagine Twilight writing something on the magic of friendship. I can't get the mental image of Twilight lulling you into a false sense of security with the stories, and then beaning you upside the head with a book full of all the stuff she's trying to teach you. Not only that, I've seen stuff written the style you describe, so it adds an extra touch of realism.

[edgelesspigeon]

Additional Mysteries
* Dash's nightmare: "I'm betraying you". Who is saying this? Is Rainbow saying this to somebody? Is someone saying this to Rainbow?
* Did Twilight reject the Element of Magic? According to this chapter, the Element bearer has to accept the Element. We also learn that Trixie bore the Element of Magic at one point, and it had to have been after Twilight, which means that Twilight did lose her connection to the Element. Considering her increasingly negative views of the Elements, did she undo her connection to the Element of Magic?

[Sharaloth]

1706307

I love it. I can answer the one about the other species, it's not really a mystery. The simple answer: they're all dead or nonsentient. As Astrid said in the story 'too little magic to go around', Dragons, Griffins, Changelings and Diamond Dogs need magical help just to maintain a stable population (Dogs need less than the others, and the Dragons need a LOT more). Donkeys, Buffalo, Minotaurs, Sea Serpents and a few others all died out completely (though there might be a few left... somewhere). Goats, Cows, most common animals, etc, all lost their sapience and reverted to a purely animal state.

1705957
Contrived, you say? Well... okay. Maybe a little, but there's a whole background that you'll never hear in-story built up around it and it sets up a rather important plot point, so it's at least not needlessly contrived.

[Pilate]

1716608
No, you're not one to drop info into a story willy-nilly, the Trixie bit is what leads me to the aforementioned elements conclusion.

[edgelesspigeon]

1716608
Cool, that's interesting to know.

[MellowMabari]

Another wonderful chapter! I'm starting to think that Dash might not be the real Dash after all. Maybe. Possibly. The whole statue idea someone had actually makes quite a bit of sense, although that would either mean she wasn't cremated and was frozen in stone, or there's Harry Potter portrait magic at work, except in statue form. Her being some sort of Element of Loyalty incarnation from her necklace seems like a good guess as well.

1705957

Huh. That whole Elements thing actually makes a lot of sense. How the crap are you so good at speculation on like, every story?

Oh, and Dash's prayer to Luna was adorable. And slightly heartbreaking. I really hope she makes it back home, if she's even originally from the past at all, but its hard to say which direction this might go. Until proven otherwise, I shall hold out for a happy ending regardless. Oh and Twinkle lady needs to get the Nightmare kicked out of her, before her assassination attempt goes sour. I'm predicting a major dilemma between her and Star Fall once the latter finds out her mentor has a hitchhiker intent on murdering Dash. I'm assuming Star will side with Dash, but how angsty it gets before then remains to be seen.

Anywho, still loving this and looking forward to whatever you crank out next.

[Pilate]

1737529

How the crap are you so good at speculation on like, every story?

cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/31272331.jpg

[Sereg]

That information on Star Fall's connection to Royalty and a possible arranged marraige is interesting and makes sense.

And as has been pointed out, a lot of mysteries involved here.

[Csquared08]

I have the strangest feeling that Discord is heavily involved in all this. It's crazy, I know, but hear me out.
- Discord knows Dash and the Elements.
- Discord has the power to appear as he chooses. Thus, he appeared as an Alicorn.
- The Princesses have lost their connection to the Elements. Therefore, they could not actually trap Discord in stone. Instead, they could only weaken him.
- The only thing that can defeat Discord is the Elements. Therefore, he'd very much like to hide away all mention of them.
Unfortunately, this still leaves a lot of questions, and there are lots of holes in this theory. For one, the voice doesn't seem like Discord at all. Additionally, the continued use of an Alicorn form doesn't seem too much like Discord.

So, on to theory #2: Nightmare Umbra is a corrupted Twilight Sparkle. Her studies on the Elements of Harmony led her to discover whatever dark forces they were hiding. These dark forces corrupted her and she became the Nightmare.

I have strong suspicions I'm wrong on both counts, but conjecture is always fun.

[Lurks-no-More]

My personal addition to all the speculation: Nightmare Umbra is someone we all know, and her motivation can be found between the lines of the excerpts from Harmony Theory. No Harmony, no Discord.

[ponybrony]

"So you can watch movies on this thing?" Dash was asking...

Yay!

Now Dash can watch My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic!

But wait till she finds the waterbed!

[iloveportalz0r]

>Second. the pony must be
I think that the period should be a comma

[djthomp]

This Spark is experienced differently by various bearers: I experienced it as a moment of epiphany, Trixie described it as a sudden feeling of utter stillness, Celestia told me it felt to her like the first time the world had ever made sense.

Well now. I was somewhat wondering if Trixie was ever going to make an appearance in the story, but I can't say that I was expecting that.

Crystals mined in the north, possibly in the former location of the Crystal Empire?

"Which means that you didn't travel through time," Star Fall said from her seat. "Not more so than usual, anyway."

I suppose that's support for my current theory that Dash time traveled the long way around and is currently inhabiting her reanimated corpse.

"Think about it, Star Fall," Twinkle Shine said, sighing. "The Royals are unicorns with pegasus magic. You're a pegasus with unicorn magic. Is it so strange, once you consider it from that angle?"

Hah! I bet that's the answer to my question a few chapters back about which ponies the Royal Family is descended from. It's gotta be Cadance and Shining, or at least Cadance. That does raise the further question of whether they are actually winged unicorns, or just unicorns who know that they have the blood of one.

Spike! I had a feeling that he was the dragon mentioned earlier.

"Actually, Gamma wants to bring him here," Star Fall said. "Max Cash marked out his lair on a map, and we think he might go after something Spike has."

And now I can't help but wonder if Spike might have Rarity's tomb in his horde. Slightly creepy, but I could buy him eventually building his lair over her grave.

A Purpose for the Nightmare, eh? And that makes me wonder if Twilight had a specific plan in mind when she went to the dark side. Assuming it's actually the dark side at all.

I've got cranky future Twilight Sparkle working on getting me home.

Heh. If my current theory about Twilight is right, Dash could be more correct in that assessment than she probably expects.

[MariusIoannesP]

Afterwards, I'm going to go see Spike.

I knew it! That Dragon Star Fall mentioned is Spike!

We see Max Cash's right hoof pony the pegasus Charisma, who somehow knows Blaze, but still no Max Cash. When he finally shows up, it will be epic!

[corona320]

2978128 actually It seems that blaze dated charisma at one point. He mentions his psycho ex in the trunk while summing up the dire situation.

[Sparx EmberFlame]

Spike. Things are about to get interesting

[Zoomwar]

I have an idea on how dash can be died in the past and living in the future. Her element felt that this was the time to act. because nopony could use her element at the time. The element brought it's last bearer to help and use it.

[Dark_Night]

3066097
Hmm, i'll agree to that, but a thousand years? That seemed to me like it would be enough time for a potential bearer to present itself, for bucks sake! A thousand years is atleast ten generations! Thats alot of ponies that may have had a chance to bear the element of loyalty. Im not hating on your theory, it just has a flaw that i wanted to point out.

[Scarheart]

I'm going to take a stab and suggest RD is the living embodiment of Loyalty in the future...

[Yoktes]

If you were to write a story based around the emoticon it would be this story...

[TimidClef]

Just wanted to say (late to the game here) that Dash confronting homesickness there actually brought a tear to my eye. I've been reading nearly non-stop all day; this is a great story.

[Swan Song]

4179152 Same and same. I can't get enough of this right now.

[Bones_]

Twilight's messages just keep getting more and more ominous.

[ShadowLDrago]

Well, this is getting interesting.

[MLai]

*Reads about Trixie bearing the Element of Magic...*
Oh puh-leeze... I really thought you're a better writer than that. Classic case of preference overriding logic.
I dont care if ppl like Trixie but please leave her in the proper context.

1706307
Word Of God (Faust) is Luna was NOT taken over by an external intelligence to become NMM. IDW Comics (Blegh) isn't WOG.

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

I'm going to go see Spike."

Yeah this Nightmare has to be Twilight. what the buck happened to her?

Also How can the elements not be forced and Celestia still banishes Nightmare Moon. She only represented 3 of the Elements.

[Norad2]

Trixie described it as a sudden feeling of utter stillness

Trixie: Redeemed future hero or hapless pawn in the game?

[cheesinator]

Trixie??!!!
TRIXIE??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[The Great Derpsby]

If magic levels are a consideration... then it's likely the king will consider having one of his sons marry Rainbow Dash too.

Might as well hedge his bets, you know.

[Skittlebug]

a visible momentary flash of light from within the bearer's eyes

A flash you say? Like whenever Discord actively snaps his whatevers?