Chasing Sunlight

by Aswad Zeev

Chapter 2: Rule One Don't Change the Past

Chapter 2:

Twilight took a deep breath and held it as she leaped through the shimmering portal and she found herself landing in a sort of tunnel. Glancing quickly at the portal behind her, it was darker than when she had leaped through, maybe because she was looking at it from the other side.

Looking ahead of her, she could see another portal like the one she had just jumped through still glowing brightly but starting to dim a little. Looking around in the tunnel corridor it gave her a headache as she saw snapshots photos’ taken in the past.

As she stepped forward the images began to swirl counterclockwise like the watch. After a few seconds, she found herself almost galloping towards the new portal if only so that she didn’t feel sick looking at the pictures moved with her.

They must be moving with time like she was, going backward in time. The few images she did still glimpse as they seemed to be older and older photos although all still really recent. It actually only took Twilight a couple of strides before she burst through the other portal and onto the same Balcony she had left.

She had to suddenly turn her blind gallop into a leap and fly lest she run into the railing, She found herself flying over Canterlot on what looked like a pleasantly cool night. As she flew over the buildings, she noticed the moon was beginning to set and that it would soon be dusk but not yet.

It was then she noticed lights were on in the Royal Archive. That was strange, the Archive lights shouldn’t be on this late, or rather this early. She also knew there were time spells there, maybe she could find some answers there, like she had before with Pinky and Spike that time she tried to warn her earlier herself not to worry.

As she came down towards the archive, she noticed a window open at the side, just like the last time she was here. That same window they opened that night when she, Pinky, and Spike had snuck in to find the time spell.

Looking in the window she heard some noise in the Star Swirls the Bearded wing on the other side of the corridor. Curious, she found herself sneaking in and hiding behind some shelves as she realized she was watching her previous self panic looking for that same spell.

Just then there was a tap on her shoulder and she turned around surprised to see Pinky in her black sneaking suit who gave her a knowing wink.

Pinky whispered, “Hi Future Twilight, Do you know where the spell you need is?”

Almost without missing a beat Twilight nodded and pointed to the shelf where Pinky had originally found the spell Twilight had used to send herself back one week.

After a few more moments of watching, Twilight suddenly realized she had to move otherwise she would have been seen by her past self or Spike or Pinky. Maybe not so much Pinky.

Having moved behind another set of bookcases, It was just then Twilight heard herself cast the spell and jump through time and back again.

It was then she heard Princess Celestia walk into the room and said “Good morning, Twilight, love the new hairstyle. Well, happy Tuesday!”

Shaking her head and reminding herself why she was even here, she waited for the ponies and dragon to depart for quickly trying to follow where Celestia had gone, having not seen where the Princess had gone either first time, or the second time while standing behind a bookcase.

A few minutes later, Twilight found Celestia pondering through another bookcase further into the wing of the archive

“Twilight? Can I help you with something?” Celestia asked. “And I thought you were taking Spike home?”

“Well yes, and no. Or rather I did already.”

Celestia turned to Twilight “That was incredibly fast then, And your hair and clothes? I am still your mentor Twilight, now don’t lie to me. Look me in the eyes and tell me what’s really going on.”

Twilight gulped. “Well, urr you see, that was me, My past me just now. I went back to warn myself of a disaster and it turned out my warning was its own disaster. You’ll get a report all about it in a couple of hours.”

“I see. And what about now? That was your past you, did you come back in time to fix something else?”

“Well yes, I cast a spell, a different kind of time spell, and then something happened to you and there is this watch and you disappeared and…”

Celestia stopped Twilight by raising her hoof. Before her horn lit up. “That’s quite enough Twilight.”

Celestia finished casting a spell of silence around them before continuing.

“Time traveling is dangerous and there are rules. The first rule, which I thought you should have realized from what you just said the last time you traveled, was to not talk about future events. That is what got you in trouble last time.”

After waiting a moment for that to sink in, Celestia continued. “That being said, Without affecting my future events, can you tell me anything about this time spell? I may still be able to help.”

Twilight paused reflectively before replying. “There was a book, a book about a time traveler. I thought it contained a useful spell to slow time down for me so I could finish studying another book in time.”

Celestia shook her head. “Twilight, how many more all-nighters are you going to keep pulling? It is not good for you. Now you said something about a book and a watch?”

“You know how hard it is to put a good book down sometimes. But this is the watch, I don’t have the book though, I left that with Luna.”

“A wise decision” Celestia nodding approvingly before looking at the Watch and seeing it tick backward.

“Oh dear.” As Celestia touched the watch she felt a wave of sickness overcome her as she fell to her knee’s

Twilight bent down to help her bot Celestia brushed her off. “The spell, I can’t tell you about it,” she hissed through gritted teeth, “but” she continued “your journey is not yet done. I don’t know where you will end up, but Twilight, there was not always a time when other Princesses were so appreciated in Equestria throughout my reign.”

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked as she reached out to comfort Celestia only to find hoofs passed through thin air as Celestia melted and morphed into another portal as she looked on.”

“What have I done?” Twilight covered her mouth with a hoof not quite believing that whatever her spell had done, it had taken Celestia away from her again. Glancing towards the window, the sky was already beginning to darken. Except she knew this didn’t happen. It was at that moment she began to feel sick-herself.

Knowing that she didn’t have the time to feel unwell, Twilight scooped up the Watch, took another deep breath and dived through the portal.

Author's Note:

I'm sorry this took so long, I originally planned to get this up last Sunday, but lockdown depression and time have taken their toll.

I admit I am not totally happy with this chapter yet, but I'm not sure exactly what is wrong with it. I need a couple more days to recharge and then I'll tackle chapter 3.

Additional: A day or so after I posted chapter 2 up (posted 21st March 2021), I had news that a friend I really care about's dad died due to covid. That really put a downer on my inspiration to write. It's going to take me a bit longer before I'm ready to write chapter 3, but I have not forgotten about it and hope to put proverbial pen to paper soon. It's just that after my mum died late last year due to Parkinson's plus and now this, it feels very personal after the week I spent with my friend in 2019 and sat down and enjoyed dinner with her dad and his wife 5 nights that week.

Comments

[Aswad Zeev]

As a more recent follow-up. I honestly don't know if I can pick this up again. But I want to try. Over the next few days, I hope to seriously pick up chapter 3 and write it.

I already wrote a draft for the final chapter so I think I know where I'm going with the story.

The woman who was so important to my life has now made it abundantly clear she is in no way hurt but refuses to talk to me because in her eyes I didn't talk to her for 5 months. I did so last year out of respect for her to give her space to think after she told me about what is apparently now her ex. I don't think I will ever stop loving her, but knowing for now she is safe is some comfort and I just have to try and rebuild my life without her.

It all seems oddly appropriate because Twilight has a long way to go to make things right and to rebuild time after her spell spectacularly did whatever it did to Celestia. You are not sure what the spell did and right now neither am I. So hopefully we get to find out together and soon.