Dusk Dawns

by AlphatheGriffin17

It's About Time

Night had fallen over Equestria. Celestia's sun had dipped below the horizon, allowing Luna's stars to rise and rule the skies, bathing the land in their pale glow. All of Ponyville was sound asleep in their beds, the shadows cast by their homes lengthened by the ever rising moon above. Only those of nocturnal nature roamed the streets now, bats fluttering through the air, foxes scurrying out of their holes in search of meals. Nothing that dwelled during the day stirred.

Until a shadow detached from another, the occupant almost dissolving from the darkness. The shape darted its head up and down the street before galloping full pelt to another and diving into it, vanishing from view. Seconds later, another shadow passed over the street. It scanned the length of it before flying away again. After another ten seconds, the first form emerged once more and ran down another street.

To any other pair of eyes, it would appear to be some predator of the night on a relentless search for its prey. In a way, that was true, but this wasn't for the purpose of survival. Merely training.

Dusk hastily glanced over his shoulder, glancing up at the sky and pressing his back to the wall of the alley. He knew that she could sense his presence if he remained out of the darkness for too long. He needed to give himself some time to rest, however, before using the shadows to conceal himself like she'd taught him. He was still getting used to it.

He snapped his head up at the sound of wings beating gently against the wind. She was coming. Thinking quickly, he retreated into the shadow of an alley, using his magic to conceal himself. At the same time, he created a puppet of himself and commanded it to gallop in the opposite direction. It was a long shot, but she might just take the bait long enough for him to escape...

Success! The direction of her wing beat changed and it went after his proxy. Allowing a minute of satisfaction, he vaulted over a nearby wall, stumbling a little and almost knocking something over. He steadied it, listened for a moment and set off for the town square. He had to make it there without her catching him to claim victory. He'd had a few close calls, but he was almost there.

He rounded the next alleyway, recognised the fountain up ahead. His heart leaped and he could feel his triumph mounting. Just a little bit further and he would make it. This was only his first night learning this magic and he had nearly succeeded!

Suddenly, he saw something land ahead, blocking the exit. She stood up and spread her wings, her shadow almost touching him, like it was reaching out for her. Panicking, he hid in the nearest patch of shadow, silently hoping she hadn't seen him. She stood there, silent and motionless. Would she move on?

Hooves on stone, moving closer reached his ears. She was coming. There was nowhere he could go, not without revealing his presence and this close she would catch him in seconds. His strength was waning, soon he'd be visible. There was only one chance he had. Transport from one patch of shadow to another.

Calling on his last magic reserves, he reached deep into the shadows, searching for an escape. His body felt cold when he started to sink in further. Darkness clouded his vision completely, filling his lungs. He couldn't breathe, couldn't see. This wasn't going to work… needed to breathe!

He gasped and coughed, collapsing out of his hiding place, gulping down air. Only after his eyes became adjusted to the light again and he stopped behaving like one who had just survived being drowned, did he look up and see the disapproving eyes of his teacher boring into him.

"You attempted to travel between shadows, didn't you?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"I… I thought…" He took down a few more breaths of air and tried again. "I panicked… thought it would work…"

"As I told you before, if you do not control the shadows, they will consume you," she repeated sternly. "You're not ready yet to attempt that."

"I'm… I'm sorry, Luna," he apologized solemnly. "But I had to try something, even if it was that."

She raised an eyebrow. "And why, pray tell, do you say that?"

"You were going to catch me," he stated simply. "Forgive me, but you can be quite… smug when you win."

"Are you accusing your princess of being egocentric?" she demanded.

"Considering that you tried to have a whole night just for yourself, is that so unreasonable?"

At first, he feared he might have overstepped his boundaries, until Luna gave him a dry sort of smile.

"Since when did you become so defiant, my student?"

"I suppose I've learned a few things," he responded. "I'm sorry if I offended you."

She waved a hoof dismissively. "'Tis no trouble, I know you meant nothing by it. What is past is past now. Just think a little more clearly next time. You're usually a little more sensible than that."

"Only a little, princess?" he asked, letting her hear the smile in his voice.

"Well, it was quite a foolish decision," she argued. "'Oh, my ever wise and powerful teacher told me about a spell that I shouldn't attempt yet until I am ready. I know, I shall attempt it right now, that sounds like an excellent idea.'"

"Yes, you've made your point," he said hastily. "I won't try that again until you think I'm ready."

"That's all I needed to hear." They walked out of the alley and into the street. "On the other hoof, that wasn't such a bad start for the use of shadow magic. You can at least conceal yourself well enough."

"Thank you, Luna, though it puts a bit of a strain on me currently," he noted.

"That's something that will come with practice and time," she said. "We'll keep working and refining the use of these spells, so that you're at your full peak if you should have need of them."

"I hope I won't." He recalled the strange sensation he had when doing it. "Manipulating shadows is a lot different than creating light."

"But we are fortunate in some respects. It would have taken a lot longer under normal circumstances, but thanks to…" She trailed off at the end of that.

"Thanks to Doom unlocking them for me," finished Dusk.

Her tone became contrite. "Dusk, I did not mean to…"

"I understand, Luna," he said grimly. "I'd rather not have found these powers the way I did, but if I have them, I'll use them for my purposes, not his."

"I'm glad to hear that." She smiled fondly at him. "You truly are stronger than he could have ever hoped to be."

"Good to know somepony has faith in me," he remarked. "Can I ask, how are you coming along with your investigation?"

"Well, we…" She stopped as her eyes fell on something. "Curious, the lights in Twilight Sparkle's home are still on at this hour."

Dusk looked to see that she was right. He could also now and again see her silhouette passing by the windows, pacing back and forth.

"She must be staying up late for something." He glanced at Luna, who smirked when she appeared to read his mind.

"Our lesson had concluded for the evening," she said in an understanding tone. "Go, help her if you must."

"Thank you." He paused in his progress. "Can I ask you something? About the investigation?"

She considered the question, as she seemed reluctant to tell him. "Very well."

"If you do find who's responsible and you go to apprehend them… can I come with you?"

"For what reason?" she asked suspiciously.

"I just want to know who it was… and why they did it," he answered truthfully.

He made it sound simple, but it wasn't like he wanted to hurt whoever it was. He wanted to see them face-to-face, to meet the coward that hid in the shadows to wait for his darker side to do whatever they'd intended and let them know the pain and suffering that their actions had wrought. Not just to him, but to his home and his friends.

The old Dusk might have been content to simply wait and let others handle it, but new Dusk felt he had some kind of responsibility to confront this pony, to understand how and why. Remind them of what happened when they crossed him or his friends. Not in any violent sense, but enough to show he wouldn't tolerate it.

Hopefully, that didn't sound too much like Fluttershy during her assertiveness run. Even if a small part of him did want to cause him some pain in kind for what he did.

"I can understand that." She nodded slowly. "Very well, Dusk. When we track down the culprit, you may accompany me to their apprehension. But when you do, you will do exactly as I say and nothing else. Am I clear?"

"As crystal, Luna," he promised. "Have a good night and good luck."

"The same to you, my student." She smiled knowingly. "Don't be up all night."

Waiting until she had flown back into the night, Dusk watched her go, turned and approached the library, gently opening the door. As he had seen, there was Twilight, pacing around with a worried look on her face.

"Usually, on a late night stroll, one tends to go outside," he said lightly.

She jumped and whirled around. "Dusk?! What are you doing here?"

"I was having my lesson with Luna and saw the light was on." He walked up to her. "Now, what are you doing up this late?"

"It's um… look, don't feel you need to check up on me," she said, calming down a little bit. "This is my problem, I can deal with it."

"Now, you're starting to sound like me and that's never a good thing," he countered. "Whatever it is, Twi, I want to help you. You'd do the same for me. You have done the same for me."

Twilight shifted her gaze around nervously, bit her lip and almost immediately descended back into her panicked state.

"Oh, Dusk! It's awful, it's horrible, it's tragic!" she wailed.

"Calm down," he urged. "Tell me what's wrong." Knowing Twilight, she was probably making a big deal of a small problem again, but he was willing to hear her out.

"Here." She levitated her calendar over, showing the April 4th on it. "Now do you see what's wrong?"

"Um… we're three days late for April Fool's Day?"

"No, the problem is I just finished planning my schedule for the month, but I forgot to leave time to plan for next month!" And there it was. "Don't you see? There's no time in my schedule to put together another schedule! I could move my meeting with the Ponyville Hay Board to the following Tuesday, but then I have to-"

"Twilight, you're freaking out again," he said, gripping her shoulders. "Look, if you're so worried about your schedule, I'll help you fix it."

"Oh no, I couldn't ask you to do that," she insisted. "I mean, this is pretty big and I don't know how long it might take. We could be up all night trying to find space to plan a new schedule."

"Then so be it," he shrugged. "Besides, you're not asking me to, I'm putting myself forward to do it. My choice, not yours."

She stared at him for a few moments before throwing her hooves around him in a hug. "Dusk, you're the best! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Heh… my pleasure," he replied. "Now, let's get this sorted."

By his standards, he wouldn't consider a schedule mix-up to be that big of a worry. Not everything in life could be scheduled and organised and he accepted the ones that were given to him because they were necessary. He didn't have to plan out every month of every day of his life, he just took it as they came. Or he would take them according if he was in Twilight's schedule or not.

But, this was Twilight he was talking about and she did like to be organised. Plus, he'd volunteered for this, not that it would be too bad. As the student of Luna, he was used to staying up later than most. That and from nightmares, but he preferred not to go into that. Might as well try and get this done.

He tried his best to offer his advice, but Twilight would usually dismiss a suggestion of skipping even one thing she had in her schedule or find some problem with trying to reschedule another one. Even with his help, it took them until dawn the next morning to finally find a solution.

"Are you sure you don't want to miss out one of our dates to fix this?" he repeated. "I really don't mind."

"No, don't be silly. Spending recreational time together is part of being in a long and successful relationship," she quoted word-for-word from a book on the subject, before adding more softly, "Besides, I like spending time with you on our dates. They're always fun."

"Okay then." It was then he noticed something. "What about these two books you have scheduled to read here."

She looked where he pointed. "What about them? You're not suggesting I don't, I've been meaning to read these for a while."

"Not at all," he said quickly. "But what if you could read them both and finish them sooner?"

Her eyes darted back and forth and widened with happiness. "Yes, yes, I think that's it! If I can find a way to read The Art of Invisibility Spells and Thornhoof's Brief History of Canterlot at the same time, that could leave me a half-hour scheduling window! Dusk, you're amazing!"

"I'm... sure you would have the same idea as me in the end," he mumbled.

"Perhaps, but you still…" She trailed off and turned around. "What is that?"

He realised that a series of sparks were landing close beside them, a gathering wind blowing papers and book pages. They looked to see some kind of magical energy gathering near the fire place, the apparent source of this wind and sparks. Not only that, but the bright purple orb was growing bigger and brighter with every passing second.

Whilst trying to figure out exactly what it was, Dusk also pushed Twilight back defensively and prepared a shield spell, on the off-chance that it was dangerous. This definitely wasn't some kind of natural phenomenon. It was being caused by something. It looked like it was about to reach its peak and he was going to cry out a warning…

Then it shrank and expanded again, in a blinding flash of light before receding completely. Only when it was gone, they had added company that made Dusk stop and stare. Her mane was a mess, she wore a tight, torn black suit, an eye patch, a bandage and a scar across her cheek, but there was no other pony it could be other than the one who was beside him… now in front of him too.

The other Twilight shook her head and hurried over when she saw them. "Twilight, Dusk, you've got to listen to me!"

"Who are you?" asked his Twilight. "I mean, you're me, but I'm me too. How can there be two 'me's? It's not scientifically possible. You are not-"

"DON'T!" Dusk pushed her hoof down when it moved to touch her. "Sorry, but if I'm right, you shouldn't touch her."

She looked at him, confused. "Why? What do you think?"

He directed his question to the other. "Are you… from the future?"

"Yes, yes I am," she said quickly. "And I have an important message for you!"

"You're from the future?!" she asked in disbelief. "That's amazing! How did you figure that out, Dusk?"

"I've read plenty of science fiction novels in my time," he answered. "That and a bit of a lucky guess."

"Yes, but you've got to-"

"Why wouldn't you let me touch her?" she went on. "I mean, not that touching myself wouldn't be um, strange, but why not?"

"It might cause a time paradox and my knowledge tells me those are never good." He glanced over at Future Twilight. "I'm sure that this is already quite a paradox and we don't want to make things more complicated by touching two different versions of yourself at the same time."

"Right, I see…" She looked a little puzzled, but she turned attention back to her future self. "What happened to you? The future must be awful."

"Please! I don't have much time!" insisted her future self.

"Is there some sort of epic pony war in the distant future or something? Is Dusk okay?" she added urgently.

"Actually, I'm from next Tuesday morning and yes, he's fine, but that's not important right now!"

"I can't believe time travel is really possible! How did you, I mean, I figure it out?"

"The time spells are in the Canterlot archives. But that's not-"

"Really? Where? I've never seen them."

"They're in the Star Swirl the Bearded wing. Now, you have to listen to-"

"Is time travel fun, or does it hurt? I have so many questions-"

"Twilight? My Twilight," he added to avoid confusion and to silence her. "I'm sure she has something important to tell us, if she's here."

She nodded, magical energy starting to build around her. "Yes, I do have something extremely important to tell you about the future, and I only have a few seconds so you've got to listen! Whatever you do, don't-"

There was another flash and she was gone. No doubt returning back to the future time she came from.

"Oh no! What was she trying to warn us about?" Twilight examined the sooty spot she'd left. "Her clothes, her mane, that scar... oh, what a mess she is!"

"Or you will be."

"Good point…" She looked back at him. "What do you think, Dusk?"

"I'm of the same mind, Miss Sparkle," he answered. "From the state she's in, whatever has happened in the future can't be anything good and she must have come back here to try to prevent it."

Twilight gasped in realisation. "She must want us to prevent whatever horrible thing happens in the future! We've got to warn everypony!"

"I agree, but how do we do this?" he asked. "Going out there and announcing that we've been visited by you from the future to warn about a disaster we don't even know about isn't exactly going to be taken down well."

"We have to try though," she insisted. "You were here with me and the rest of our friends might believe us. Why would we make something like this up?"

"I suppose…" In the end, he bowed in compliance. "Lead the way then."

While he was still having reservations about just announcing the idea without any proof, he followed regardless. His stories had taught him that at any point somepony came from the future to warn you about something, it was never a good thing and was worth listening to. Even if they didn't get the message fully. It was worth a try anyway.

They galloped as fast as they could out into the street, Twilight crashing into Fluttershy who was carrying some party supplies for Pinkie with the help of Ray. Dusk only paused for a moment to apologise to them both before catching up with Twilight, who stood on a bridge to make her announcement.

"Listen, everypony! I've got something really-"

"Um, Twi?" He levitated a pair of fake glasses and moustache off her face. "Carry on."

"Thank you. Anyway," she continued, "we have a crisis on our hooves!" The crowd murmured in worry. "I've just been visited by myself from the future!" Then they burst out laughing.

"She's telling the truth," defended Dusk. "I was there too."

"Exactly! This isn't a joke! My future self tried to warn us about a horrible disaster that's going to occur sometime before next Tuesday morning!"

"What kind-a disaster?" Applejack asked urgently.

"I don't know! I got sucked back into the future before I could explain!"

"Run for your liiiiiiiife!" screamed Pinkie, suspended by balloons and floating in the air. Nopony remarked on this.

"What ever should we do, Twilight?" asked Rarity. "How do we stop the disaster if we don't know what it is?"

Twilight then proceeded to show her excellent skills of organisation. She had the Pegasus ponies, led by Rainbow Dash, to scout out other settlements for anything that might cause a disaster. After drawing up a list of possible disasters, from the dam breaking to a shortage of water, she had everypony else in town disaster-proofing Ponyville against them. Amazingly, she was questioned by very few considering this.

While they all did this, Dusk confined himself to the library for his part, with some fantasy and sci-fi books opened on one side of him and some scientific research journals and history books on the other, whilst also using Ophelia and Owlwoliscious to keep in touch with some facilities in his fields. Twilight had everything that she could think of on her list, but not everything he could think of and he had some knowledge of this.

He read through journal findings, from the hypothetical genetic research of Professor Beaker to the controversial experiments and research of Doctor Test Tube. It was rather dull, but he found out what he needed. He wrote letters to the facilities in close vicinity, asking on the detail of their findings and checked their current levels of technology to some fictional apocalypses he knew of, drawn up on a list of his own.

After working tirelessly through most of the day with everypony else, he had crossed off every possible one on his list and met up with Twilight and the others to report their findings.

"Done, and done, and done," she said, ticking them off. "Applejack, what about the Everfree Forest?"

"The perimeter's clear," she reported, pulling leaves out of her mane.

"And my team gave the all clear from Fillydelphia to Las Pegasus," added Rainbow.

"Excellent. What about you?" she asked Dusk.

"Negative on everything I can think of." He showed her his list. "There's no bioweapons research, so that rules out zombies or the like, observatories report no major meteor activity or UFOs, we don't have the mechanical level necessary for a rise of robots and no nuclear advancements for a possible fallout."

"Wow, that's pretty thorough."

"I learn from the best."

She smiled fondly and held up her parchment. "Well, we've done everything on my list to, but still... future Twilight looked like she'd been through a horrible ordeal. I just have this nagging feeling we should be looking for something bigger than loose bolts and leaky pipes."

As if on cue, there was a huge rumbling and a loud roar, followed by a huge form bounding over the houses. Dusk backed up when he recognised what it was. A huge bulldog, but with jet black fur and three heads, all of them roaring loud enough to make the ground and houses shake.

"What is that thing?" yelled Spike, while everypony started to panic.

"That's Cerberus!" informed Twilight. "He's supposed to be guarding the gates of Tartarus, but if he's here, then all of the evil creatures that have been imprisoned there could escape and destroy Equestria!"

He felt a chill in his bones from those words, even as Twilight appeared excited now they had found the source of the disaster. Though it was also part of the land of the dead, Tartarus housed a number of living creatures and beings deemed to evil to be contained anywhere else. If they got out, no power in Equestria would be able to stand up to them.

It was this that motivated him to join Twilight at her side in an attempt to use magic to subdue him… until Fluttershy used her exceptional skill with animals to calm him, treating him just like a normal dog. After getting a stashed ball from Pinkie Pie, Twilight used it to lead Cerberus away from Ponyville and lead him back to where the gates of Tartarus were located.

"You're coming along then?" she asked, when Dusk galloped alongside her.

"Do you even need to ask?"

"Probably not, but it's good to make sure." They traded smiles and picked up the pace. "Come on, before anything does manage to get out."

Thanks to Twilight's education and Dusk's own studying, they both knew where the gates were located and it wasn't exactly a place Dusk was looking forward to seeing. It had some great historical significance and was a well-known monument, but it was from a more grim time in Equestria's history regardless. Still, they didn't have much of a choice.

They only stopped to rest at very brief intervals, galloping almost the whole way. Since Cerberus guarded Tartarus, they had to get him back as quickly as possible before any of those he guarded escaped. They who resided there would be able to keep them in order for some time, but they needed their guard dog at the entrance to have full force. The sun was already dipping below the horizon when they finally arrived.

Even though they knew the urgency of the situation, they couldn't help but pause for a moment at the sight that stretched out before them. How could they not? Three acres of land, dedicated for one purpose.

"I… never thought I'd actually see this place," murmured Dusk. "I know about it but… I never thought…"

"I know, I feel it too." Twilight took in a deep breath. "Well, best get this over with."

Remaining silent and following her lead, Dusk stepped lightly upon the ground, like his steps would awaken those that dwelled beneath.

This place was one of a kind. Back in the early days, before the unification of the sects, it was known that many ponies from all sides had died. When they actually came to total the dead after whatever had done had been stopped, it was rumoured that the end result had so horrified the leaders that they had the cause for it stricken from the pages of history. Some said it was a sickness, some say a battle, some that it was some horrific beast that had caused the slaughter.

Historians speculated, but nopony knew. What mattered was what it had left behind. Hundreds, if not thousands of fading, crumbling stones emerging from the ground, each marking the place of a pony who had passed from this world to the next. Some were named, some weren't. Earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi, all dead from the same, horrible cause and spanning on now as far as the eye could see, surrounded by mountains that were like giant tombstones themselves, marking for all where they lay.

They continued on in silence, out of respect for those who lay here… and through fear. Graveyards existed, of course, but none as big as this one, none that had left such an impact and yet was easily missed. Probably because very few came looking for it. Desolate, silent and empty of life. That was why it was called the Gates of Tartarus, because they lay at the very centre of it.

A reminder of what hatred and lack of friendship brought.

Cerberus padding behind them, still watching the floating ball, they reached the middle. Here, one stone was different from the rest. A giant obelisk, laden with the names of all who were buried here, with the emblem of Equestria set before it. Though silence still pressed down on them, Dusk could feel the chill of something that wasn't the wind. Like they were being watched.

He turned to Twilight and asked in a deathly whisper, "Now what?"

"They'll know we're here. We just have to wait."

So, they did. That chill on Dusk's neck only grew with every passing moment, silence broken only by the panting of their canine entourage and the wailing of the wind. Like the cries of the damned, calling from where they lay. He looked around, blinked and almost jumped when he saw they were no longer alone.

They stood either side of the obelisk. At least, he thought they did. He could barely make them out, shimmering like mirages. They were definitely ponies, or they looked like ponies. They were with them… yet, at the same time, they weren't. Like they were lingering on the border between two different places. Fitting, as they probably were.

"Um… hi!" Twilight was the one who addressed them. "We're um… returning Cerberus to you. He managed… to escape, but we found him. So… you want him back?"

The figures did nothing for a moment. They seemed to nod, but he honestly couldn't tell. They approached, but it was more like the wind was carrying them than their hooves. Cerberus followed them with all of his eyes and growled low in his throat before traipsing after them, towards the obelisk.

One of them appeared to stop. It glanced back, tilting its head first to Twilight, then to Dusk. He wondered if they appeared the same to them where they were. He felt its gaze on him, piercing his very core and chilling his blood. The form held the gaze. Dusk blinked. It was gone.

They were alone again. He knew he should have felt pride that they'd accomplished their mission, but after running all that way and considering where they were now, Dusk just felt tired and willing to leave this place as quickly as possible.

"Great, now the disaster won't happen," said Twilight brightly. "Let's get going."

"Of course…" A thought suddenly occurred to him while they were leaving. "How did Cerberus get out?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he guards the entrance to the underworld. It's not like he jumped over a fence when they him out in the backyard for a play. What could have caused him to leave? Why?"

"Hm… I'm not sure…" She looked pensive for a moment. "Oh well, it doesn't matter now anyway. It's not like we can go down there and find out."

"Indeed." There were strict rules regarding Tartarus, namely that no non-inhabitants were allowed in and likewise for those that dwelled there. "Like you said, we got him back and that's the end of it."

"We did and now the disaster is averted," she said proudly. "I think I saw a town not far from here. Let's go there and rest for a while before we head back."

Dusk smiled at almost the instant they left the graveyard. "Sounds like an excellent idea."

Though he kept it to himself, he wanted to be away from here as quickly as they could. They waited until they were sat down inside a café at the town before they resumed their conversation.

"So… we just saw inhabitants of the underworld," he remarked. "Not something one normally sees."

"Not really, no," she agreed. "It's a shame they wouldn't speak to us. It might have been interesting to learn more about their world."

"Maybe it was more that they couldn't," noted Dusk. "You saw them. It was like they didn't really belong here and they were only just able to come through."

She nodded sombrely. "Then again, that is part of the rules. They can't come into our world, including spirits and those that were born there and we can't go into theirs. Until of course…"

"Hm…" Dusk nodded, knowing what she was getting at. "Do you think we managed to get Cerberus back in time?"

"If anything had managed to escape from Tartarus, I think we'd know," she said with surety. "We stopped the disaster and now we can go home."

"Good, because I was worried that…" He stopped himself, but before Twilight caught it.

"Worried that something might have gotten out?"

"In a manner of speaking, but not from Tartarus. More of a… home-grown source."

Twilight frowned when she figured out what he was getting at. "Dusk, I'm confident that Doom wouldn't have been the cause of the disaster. Even if he would be, he's not in your head anymore. You have nothing to worry about, so stop."

"I know, I know but… it's hard to remember that at times," he murmured. "Like at times like this…"

"That's what I'm here for," she said gently. "Can I ask, do you know how Luna's investigation is coming along now?"

"I would think she's already found the brothers, if not then soon." He looked at her. "When she does find whoever did it, she's going to let me come to see them apprehended."

"What?" Incredulousness took over. "Why would she allow that?"

"Because I asked her to."

"But why would you want to? Dusk, this is somepony who bought out Doom to hurt you, or worse. What if they try something like that again, with you right there?"

"I'll be with Luna and her guards and I can take care of myself," he replied, a little more harshly than intended. "I'll be fine."

"But you don't need to be there," she pressed on. "Why do you think you have to go?"

"Because I do. I want to find out why he did what he did, to understand a little better before he's thrown away." He looked at her urgently. "I need to know and he, or she, is the only one who can tell me."

"I can understand that but are you sure that's the only reason?" There was more of a statement than a question in that. How well she knew him…

"It… it hurt, Twilight," he struggled to say. "When Doom came back, I felt a lot of pain, both from what he did to me and to you. They were responsible for that and… part of me… wants to return the favour…"

A long time ago, he would never have even considered saying a thing like that. But a lot had changed since those days, including himself. Twilight seemed to recognise that, though there was a brief glimmer of fear in her face before she continued.

"I… I can understand that too… I thought that perhaps… you might."

"Does that make me a monster?" he asked, his tone almost pleading.

That fear vanished completely now, replaced by a comforting determination.

"You're not a monster for thinking that, Dusk," she said firmly. "Anypony would want some kind of payback for harm done to them, but what's important is that you don't give in to that. You never have and I know you don't want to start now. Because otherwise, how does that make you any better than they are?"

"Yes… you're right…" Of course she would remind him of his ideals when it seemed he would forget them. "What would I be without you, Twilight?"

"I dread to think." There was a partially joking tone in her voice, partially serious. "But I don't want to think about what you might be, just focus on who you are. The pony I love."

"I love you too." While he gazed at her, another question occurred to him, one that would help lighten the atmosphere a little. "If you hadn't met me, would you have still been interested in finding romance?"

"Honestly? Probably not," she answered. "I mean, I'd probably be open to it, but I wouldn't be actively seeking it. At least, not for a while. Until I met you, I didn't think I needed a stallion to be happy. Now… my view has changed somewhat."

"I'm happy that it has," he replied, blushing a bit. "So, you don't think you would have gone for another stallion?"

"Not anytime soon, no and I don't think many more would be interested in a bookworm like me," she said dismissively. "I'd probably have to go to another world to find a guy interested in me."

"I wouldn't go that far."

"Good thing I'm doing just fine in this one then." She giggled at his blush. "What about you? Would you have found somepony else?"

"I doubt I'd even have friends, let alone a marefriend, if I'd never met you." He placed a hoof on hers. "I owe you everything, Twilight."

"Technically, you owe Princess Celestia, since she's the one who introduced us in the first place, but thank you anyway." She smiled sweetly at him. "You're a good-looking stallion, Dusk. I'm sure you would have found somepony in the end."

"I know. I found you."

---

They only rested for a small amount of time before heading back. It wasn't as urgent as it had been on the way here, but they still wanted to get home quickly, alternating between Twilight teleporting them and Dusk using his colour clouds. The sun was just starting to rise over the treetops by the time they returned, only realising how dirty they were when they actually stepped back into the library.

The light-hearted atmosphere was short-lived, for it was broken when Spike belched up a lost dog flyer from the princess that cut Twilight on the cheek. While Spike was flippant about it, both he and Twilight were concerned because it was where the scar on future Twilight's cheek had been, which meant only one thing: the disaster was still coming.

"If the disaster wasn't caused by Cerberus getting loose, then what could it possibly be?" pondered Twilight aloud.

"I dunno, but maybe you ought to give the pacing a rest. You've worn a groove into the floor!" pointed out Spike with a laugh.

"I don't have time for another one of your lectures, Spike! This is serious!"

Spike looked incredulous. "My lectures?"

"Spike, not now," muttered Dusk. "So, what are you thinking, Twi?"

"I'm not sure. I did everything I could think of to change the future. But it didn't work. So maybe it's not what I do... maybe it's what I don't do!" She teleported out of the groove and next to a bookshelf. "If I stand right here and don't move a muscle until next Tuesday, I can't possibly do whatever it is that future Twilight wanted to warn me not to do!"

"Twilight, while I do see your reasoning, you can't seriously just do nothing until next Tuesday," reasoned Dusk.

"Watch me." Her eyes faced forward, her body going rigid. She really was doing it.

"Really?" Dusk could hear the mischief in Spike's voice. "So... no matter what happens, you're not gonna move a muscle, huh? Then maybe you won't mind if I... eat an entire tub of ice cream!"

Dusk could see her eyes darting to Spike at his words, but she did nothing while scooped a spoon into the tub and gulped down some strawberry ice cream. He even did it in front of her, making exaggerated sounds of enjoyment.

"Spike, stop! Think of the stomach ache!" she begged through gritted teeth.

He only chuckled dismissively. "Stomach ache, huh? That's future Spike's problem."

"Dusk, stop him!"

"Spike, is that really necessary?" he asked reasonably. "You really won't do yourself any favours with that."

"Yeah, like you're gonna stop me."

"Doing nothing until next week applies only to Twilight." His horn glowed and surrounded the tub. "It doesn't apply to me."

"AGH!" He gripped onto it desperately. "Come on, Dusk, be a bro!"

"I am. I'm preventing future discomfort for you."

"Come on, Dusk!" he begged. "I never get to do stuff like this. Just lemme have till next Tuesday!"

Before he could answer to that, a knock at the door announced the arrival of Rainbow Dash. The break in concentration made Dusk drop Spike to the floor.

"Hey, Twilight, another pegasus just got back from Baltimare with an all-clear and-" She laughed when she saw Spike wolfing down the ice cream. "What's going on? Aren't you gonna stop him?"

The dragon wiped his mouth before talking. "She sure isn't! In fact, she's not gonna move 'til next Tuesday! She thinks it's gonna prevent the disaster from happening!"

"Oh yeah?" She laughed again and looked to Dusk. "Aren't you gonna stop him then?"

"Believe me, I'm trying to." He moved forward when he suddenly felt something lock him in place. "What in the…?"

"And now, you can't," teased Rainbow from behind, having locked him in place.

"Rainbow, this isn't funny," he said sternly. "Let me go."

"No way, this is too rich." She affected a dramatic gasp. "Hey Twilight! There's a mouse right behind you!"

Dusk saw her eyes widen and dart to where she pointed, but she didn't move apart from that. He couldn't either and he didn't want to do anything to hurt Rainbow. Likewise though, he wanted to help Twilight.

"Wait, waitwait, let me try!" Spike picked up a quill and started tickling under her chin with it.

"Both of you, that's enough!" he ordered. "Please stop and leave her alone!"

"Not much you can do about it though," chuckled Rainbow. "I mean, what else can you do other than yell?"

"This." He jammed a leg back at her, enough to make her let go and placed a magical aura around Spike.

Unfortunately, he applied too much force in the speed of his actions and flung him off into the wall, making him belch out another fireball. He only had time to shout and watch while the fireball shot towards Twilight and hit her.

The good news was that dragon fire didn't burn with much heat when they were young and her natural magic protected her from the worst of it. The bad news was what the force of the flame had resulted in, which made Dusk's fear settle in. When they showed her reflection, she too became frightened by what she saw.

"Oh no! This is the same mane cut as future Twilight!"

"Y'know... it really doesn't look too bad…" Rainbow said, obviously holding back a snigger.

"I don't care how it looks!" she snapped. "It's just another sign that the future hasn't changed! Not doing anything didn't work either! Oh, I wish there was a way to know what was going to happen so I could stop it!"

"You wanna see the future?" asked Spike. "I might know somepony who can help!"

It turned out that Spike's help was in the form of Pinkie Pie, who had set up her own mystic fortune teller establishment. Dusk was unaware that she had both the ability of foresight and that she even had such an establishment to begin with. He didn't question it either, applying the usual rule with Pinkie: don't ask. She did have Pinkie sense, after all. Who was to say that she couldn't see the future, as unlikely as that sounded?

In the end though, their visit came to nothing, other than knowing that Twilight would get a really cool birthday present next year and another sign that whatever was going to happen was still going to happen. A flowerpot had, somehow, dropped on Twilight's head and the bandage they used looked like the one future Twilight had worn on her head.

"Oh no, what are we going to do?!" distressed Twilight, holding an ice bag on her head. "Trying to see the future hasn't worked either!"

"I'm not sure there's anything we can do," admitted Dusk. "If we don't know what exactly is going to happen, perhaps we should just wait and see what it is, then deal with it?"

"Dusk, are you crazy?!" she snapped. "What if it's something really, really big that we don't have time to prepare for and we wouldn't be able to stop when it did happen? We'd be responsible for some horrible disaster when we could have stopped it and it would be all our fault!"

"Very well, fine," he said quickly, not willing to argue with her. "But, outside of monitoring everything for the possibility of finding the cause of the disaster, I don't think there's a whole lot we can do."

"Hm…" She nodded absently, paused and her head shot up, her eyes widening. "Yes, yes that's it! Why didn't I think of that?"

"Think of what?"

"What you just said. That's exactly what we'll do. If we monitor everything up to the time of the disaster, we might see what causes it and be able to stop it!" She planted a kiss on his forehead and beamed. "Dusk, you're a genius!"

"What?! Twilight, there's no way that we can-"

"Oh come on, have a little faith," she said, with a near insane giggle. "There's some other instruments in the basement. We'll bring them up, get them all going and we can get started, right now. Come on!"

"Twilight, just stop and think… and you're gone," he deadpanned, when she teleported away.

"You know, you should probably stop giving her ideas," remarked Spike, wandering off upstairs with more ice cream to feast on.

"Indeed." Dusk sighed and started to walk down to the basement, continuing to think out loud. "You know, one of these days, I don't know when, I'm going to learn to keep my mouth shut when I need to around her."

After setting up three different high-power telescopes, along with various other observation and measuring instruments, they set about on Twilight's new scheme. Or rather, he and Twilight did, Spike just staying out of the way and eating his way through more tubs of ice cream. He would have stopped him, but considering Twilight didn't seem to care anymore, Dusk decided to let it be on his own head.

Besides, it wasn't like he had time to stop him. Though he was willing to help her, he was starting regret it a little bit from how much she was putting him through. She had him monitoring the variety of different instruments he wasn't even completely sure what they measured, recording data he barely understood, staring for hours on end through telescope lenses and all of this with little rest or sleep. In fact, none at all.

And it wasn't like he didn't try.

"Dusk? Dusk! DUSK!"

He jerked awake again. "Wha… I was just resting my eyes, it's nothing…" Then started to drift off again.

"Dusk, stay awake!" She slapped him across the face. "Come on, I need you with me on this! I need your help!"

"I know, I know… I'm just… tired..." he yawned. "Can't I just…?"

"I'm sorry, no. If we stop observing for even a minute, we might miss something and be unable to prevent the disaster." She stared at him intensly, her eyes wide. "Please, it's just until Tuesday, then we can rest. Okay?"

"Hmmm… okay…"

"Great! Go make yourself some coffee and bring me a cup too, please." She hurried back to another telescope. "Hm, off by point seven…"

"Okay, coffee… I don't even like coffee…" he muttered, heading to the kitchen and managing to catch a few minutes of sleep before Twilight emptied a bucket of cold water on his head.

He knew there wasn't much he could do though. He'd tried to convince Twilight to get some rest, but she was irrefutably adamant about remaining up and observing, as she was with him. Since he was in no mood to argue and because he was worried about the disaster himself, he complied with her wishes, even if that meant taking it turns to stare at the Horsehead Nebula for three hours.

"Three hours? But when did you sleep?" asked Pinkie when she visited the third day of their omniscient monitoring.

"Oh I didn't sleep. I haven't slept since future Twilight was here. There are only three days left until next Tuesday, I can sleep all I want after that!" she replied manically.

"Believe me, it's true…" said Dusk, in answer to Pinkie's questioning look.

"You've been awake too long, Twilight," remarked Spike. "I kinda feel sorry for Dusk too."

"Thanks for the sympathy…"

"Yeah. Tuesday's not three days from now, Tuesday's tomorrow!" informed Pinkie.

With a gasp, she teleported to another telescope. "Pinkie, did you finish recalibrating the apertures on the nine and quarter inch catadioptric telescopes?"

"I have no idea!"

"Twilight, be careful where you point that, you might-"

"Ah! My eye!" she screamed, clutching at it and actually jerking Dusk awake. Even if he did try to tell her.

"Don't worry, Twilight, I have eye patches stashed all over Ponyville, in case of eye patch emergency." Pinkie fished around in the fireplace and pulled one out, placing it on her and wheeling over a mirror. "There! Now you look like a pirate! A sleepy pirate, with a really weird mane cut."

Twilight stared in horror. "The eye patch...! Another sign! Nearly all the signs have come true! I haven't done a thing to prevent the catastrophe! If Tuesday's tomorrow, and the disaster happens by Tuesday morning, then there's only one solution. I'll just have to... stop time."

"Okay, I know I'm just as worried about the disaster, but this has gone too far," Dusk said finally. "Twilight, you're putting too much weight on something that hasn't even happened yet."

"What do you mean? We're trying to prevent some horrible disaster from happening, there's no such thing as too much weight," she argued.

"But we don't even know what it is and how can you suggest that we stop time?" he demanded. "I know I believe in the impossible, but that really is impossible!"

"No, it isn't!" she retorted. "The time spells are in the Canterlot archives, like future Twilight said. If we can get in there, there might be one we can use to stop time."

"'A disaster that might happen', 'if we get in', 'a spell that might be there', there's too many things that aren't definite, Twilight, that aren't even fixed."

"That doesn't mean they can't or won't happen. There's every chance they can and this disaster is coming. You know, you were there."

"I don't even know what I saw anymore." He sighed in defeat. "I'm sorry, Twilight, but I can't go along with this anymore."

"What?!" Now, she looked scared. "You can't give up now! The disaster is tomorrow!"

"And we'll deal with it as we have done, but I can't take any more of this. I've barely had any rest or sleep and neither have you. We can't carry on like this, Twilight."

"And we won't have to after tomorrow!" She placed her hooves on his shoulders. "Come on, Dusk. I need you for this, I can't do this without you, not if we need to get into the Star Swirl the Bearded wing."

"Why is that?"

"Luna's been teaching you shadow magic. We can use that to get inside and get what we need. It might be our only chance."

"Twi… I…"

"Please, just one more try. Just this and then we can rest. Please, for me?"

He wanted to hold his ground, wanted to say no and back out of this. But he'd helped her this far and it was only for one more day, even if this plan was essentially complete madness. Plus, he couldn't say no to those eyes, despite one of them being covered.

He nodded silently and she beamed, kissing his cheek. "Thank you, you're doing the right thing. I know it's hard, but you can do this. We can do this."

"Great! You need help from me?" asked Pinkie brightly.

"Thanks Pinkie, but this is something that me, Dusk and Spike can handle by ourselves," she said. "Now, I need to go and get us some appropriate attire for sneaking in to Canterlot."

When she was gone, Dusk was approached by Spike.

"So, you know when you were watching across the library back in Canterlot, wishing for the day you'd be Twilight's friend?"

"Yes?" he responded in a drowsy tone.

"Well, considering all the stuff that's been going on, both today and before all this, I just thought of something."

"Please, enlighten me."

"If you knew what was going to happen as a result of that, would you still do it?"

Dusk sighed and started off home. "I think I'll let future Dusk answer that question, when present Dusk's headache goes away."

---

They waited until they had the cover of darkness before getting a late train to Canterlot from Ponyville, all dressed in their tight-fitting black spandex. All except for Dusk, who was sitting as he normally was with a bag under his leg, having said that he already had appropriate attire for stealth and would change in the bathroom before they left.

While he sat in silence, catching up on a bit of sleep, Twilight started to feel some guilt in the wake of his objection to her idea. She really had been putting him through his paces with this whole disaster prevention business and he'd been doing his best to keep up with her. Even though he was still opposed to the idea, he was willing to go along with it regardless. She'd have to find a way to make it up to him somehow.

Just until tomorrow morning, she told herself. Then, the disaster will either be prevented or they would succumb to it. He understood that and she was grateful for his help. Even if this whole thing was really getting to her as well and not just because Spike wouldn't stop stuffing his face with ice cream.

She went over a quick plan in her mind. Because of time constraint, they didn't really have the time to come up with a fully detailed one. Both she and Dusk had been to the archives before and the latter had been by the Star Swirl section. They were mainly relying on that and a little bit of luck to see them through this.

She woke him up gently when they were a few minutes from Canterlot, but he hadn't emerged from the bathroom by the time the train pulled into the station. It was only just as the train was pulling away that he made himself known.

"Where's Dusk?" Spike asked, licking at his treat. "Why's he taking this long to change?"

"Sorry about the delay, I hope I didn't keep you both waiting long." She jumped at the well-spoken voice and turned to see a stallion dressed in black, wearing a trench coat and fedora.

"What the… isn't that the Shadow Spectre?" Spike stared in amazement. "What's he doing here?"

Twilight only responded with a smile. "Nice to see you back in action, Dusk."

"I thought so too, my dear." He looked himself over. "Thankfully, the suit's energy feeding enchantment has made me feel much more invigorated that previously."

"Wait, you're the Shadow Spectre?" Spike beamed and gave a thumbs-up. "Cool!"

"Thank you, though perhaps you could be a little more discreet about it," he asked politely. "That is the point if the mask, after all."

"Oh yeah, right. Sorry," he whispered.

"Right, the archives are right over there." She looked to Dusk. "You sure that suit will do the trick?"

"With this and my powers, I shall become like the shadows I'm named for. I shall be fine." He cocked his head to one side. "If I may say, Twilight, you cut quite a fine figure in that suit."

"Oh um… thank you." She blushed from the unexpected compliment. "You're not so bad yourself."

"My dear, if only you knew how much I was blushing under this mask. Then again, perhaps you would," he returned.

"Hm, you're certainly a lot more charismatic when you don the Spectre's mask," she noted, in an alluring voice.

"I honestly hadn't noticed. Do you find that appealing?"

"Oh yes, very much so."

"Perhaps I should wear it more often then."

"I think you might be doing us both a few favours there."

"When you two are done ogling each other, don't we still have something important to do?"

"Yes, yes, of course!" She'd been willing to allow Dusk a bit of fun after all the greif she'd given him, but she'd gotten a bit lost in it. She liked flirting with him. "Come on, the archives are this way. Let's move out!"

She moved quickly and lightly on her hooves, staying low in the undergrowth and avoiding the streets as much as possible. They had to move in quickly and quietly. They didn't have time to tell the princesses what was happening and she wasn't sure if either of them would have access to this place. So, they had to resort to sneaking in.

Every now and again, she'd see Dusk as the Spectre with Spike tailing behind dive out of a shadow before vanishing into the next. It was a little eerie how he could just disappear like that, but it only made her more thankful that he'd come along to this. They were almost spotted once, but Dusk pulled both her and Spike into a patch of darkness until he passed. She smiled her thanks and carried on, ignoring the fact the twigs were ripping her suit.

They stayed hidden when they reached their destination, with Dusk telling her the structure of the place. The windows were too high to climb through and locked down. Every entrance in was also locked and watched by two guards, an example being the main entrance they were looking at.

"So, how do we get in past those two?" she whispered.

"Ah, where you see obstacles, I see opportunities. Observe." He created a colour puppet of a random pony and whispered something to it.

After this, he sent it out, picked up a nearby rock and threw it at one of the guards. He reacted with a yell, just as the puppet ran out from their spot, taunting him in a recorded voice. Glaring, the guard gave chase, leaving the other watching the gate.

"Perhaps I should have a look inside," whispered Dusk into another wisp of colour and sent it towards the guard.

He blinked when it hit him, muttered something and turned around to open the gate. In the same instant he was about to turn around, Dusk hurried up, pressed his horn against his head and the guard fell over onto the floor.

"What did you do?" Spike asked, hurrying over with Twilight.

"I suggested that he go to sleep and he did. He will awaken with a small gap in his memory and his compatriot chastising him for sleeping on the job, but be none the wiser to our break-in," he explained simply.

"Dusk, that was brilliant!" She beamed at him and hurried inside, shutting the door so they wouldn't get suspicious. "Come on, let's find the wing."

There were guards here too, but plenty more places for them to hide than there were outside and shadows to conceal themselves in. Dusk also used his colour puppets and mind tricks to divert guards away from their path, allowing them to avoid detection.

There were only some very small slip-ups, such as almost being caught in a guard's search beam or almost falling out of a hiding place. One time, Spike was glimpsed and a guard came to investigate. Just in time though, Spike jumped into a cardboard box that was stacked nearby and hid in it until he had passed on.

When they reached the place, Twilight couldn't help but stop and stare at all of the priceless scrolls and books that were kept securely behind a locked gate. There were more than she'd ever imagined. If they weren't in such a hurry, she'd want to dedicate a whole day to reading every single one.

"Now, how do we get in here?" she pondered. "These gates can only be opened by specific magic from the guards. We can't just barge in there."

"Speak of the devil." Dusk pointed to where a shadow of a guard was coming round the corridor. "Wait a moment, will you."

She nodded when she knew what he was getting at and concealed herself and Spike. Dusk slid into a patch of shadow, remaining there until the guard reached the door and slipping out once he resumed his post.

But the guard turned his head, just as he approached. His expression became alert and, curiously, a red exclamation mark popped out of his horn and a high pitched tone sounded with its accompaniment. Before he could yell, Dusk reached him, put him to sleep and pulled him into the shadows.

"What the heck was that noise?" whispered Spike.

"I don't know, some kind of warning system? Dusk, there's another one!" she hissed from her hiding place.

"Hey, what's going on down there?" demanded the guard, approaching the door.

Before Twilight could think of another plan of action, the guard emerged from the shadows. Only she could tell from the slight twinkle that it was a very detailed colour puppet made by Dusk, hopefully just enough to fool the guard.

"I think I saw somepony in the Star Swirl the Bearded section," answered the puppet, in a deeper version of Dusk's voice. "Help me get this open, will you?"

The other frowned, but nodded, using his magic to open the door and peering inside. "Wait a minute, there's nopony in here. Help me look for him."

"Right behind you." Dusk sprang out of the puppet and put him to sleep too, stashing him away with his fellow. He stood by the door, swept off his hat and bowed her inside.

She couldn't keep the smile off her face at his quick thinking, but it was wiped off when she glimpsed her reflection in a mirror and terror set in.

"Look! I look just like future Twilight... the last sign has come true!"

"By Luna," gasped Dusk, taking off his mask.

"Come on! It's almost Tuesday morning! The disaster could happen at any moment!" she yelled urgently.

"But how do we find the time-stopping spell? There must be a million scrolls here!" wailed Spike.

"I. Don't. Know!"

They quickly set to work, desperately scanning as many scrolls and books as quickly as they could. There were a lot of spells in here, all of them to do with some aspect of time, but none of them giving any detail how to stop it. Even with all three of them working together, there were just too many scrolls to sort through.

While she frantically tossed aside scrolls, Twilight could hear the birds start to sing outside and the sun creeping in through the window, signalling their impending doom at any second. There wasn't enough time, they had to find it!

Then Spike's words sealed their fate. "Twilight, it's over! It's officially Tuesday morning."

"Tuesday morning, the disaster! Incoming!" She ducked down, pulling Dusk and Spike by her side, wanting to spend their last moments together before the end.

But nothing happened. No explosions, no magic, no monsters. Nothing.

"I dunno, Twilight." Spike stood up and pulled his hood down. "I don't see any disasters. Looks like a pretty nice day."

"Good morning, Twilight," greeted Celestia as she walked by, "love the new hairstyle. You too Spike, Dusk. Well, happy Tuesday!"

Why wasn't she surprised to see me sneaking around in here?!

"Is it possible there never was a disaster? That I've just been making myself frantic over nothing?!" she wondered out loud.

"I don't get it," shrugged Spike. "If future Twilight wasn't warning you about a disaster, then what was she trying to tell you?"

Now the panic had gone, Twilight could feel a laugh rising in her chest when she looked at herself. "I don't know. But I do know one thing. I look ridiculous."

They all laughed at the state of her, even Dusk a little bit, but he still kept it polite and reserved.

"And it's all because I couldn't stop worrying and let the future handle itself! Well, not anymore. From now on, I'm gonna solve problems as they come, and stop worrying about every little thing!" she vowed.

"That's great! Does that mean there won't be any more late night pacing?" asked Spike hopefully.

"No more late night pacing," she affirmed, turning to her coltfriend. "I'm sorry for putting you through all of this too, Dusk. All of this worrying affected us too and not in any good way."

"Apology accepted. What's past is past, let's just try to make sure it doesn't happen again." He cupped her cheek with his hoof. "I hate seeing you get worried."

She placed her hoof on his. "With or without that mask, you're still the sweetest pony I know." She nuzzled his cheek and sighed. "If only I had learned this lesson a week ago, we wouldn't have had to go through all this."

"Actually, now you mention it." He went down an asile and returned with another scroll. "I did find this. A spell that'll let you go back in time for a few seconds that can only be used once."

"Dusk, that's perfect!" She read it quickly and beamed. "Now I can go back and tell past Twilight that she doesn't need to go berserk with worry about a disaster that's never gonna come!"

She gathered up the energy needed to perform the spell, a lot of it and she knew she'd be a little weak afterwards. She thought she heard Dusk's voice over the din of the spell, but she didn't have the time to listen before she was zapped back into the past.

As soon as she recovered, she hurried straight over to tell her past self, but she was so inquisitive and had so many questions that she couldn't get the words out. Even when past Dusk silenced her for her, she could feel time starting to correct itself, pulling her back into her own place in time and space so that she only finished the warning when she got back.

Just like last time…

She groaned when she realised what that meant. "I can't believe I just did that."

"You realised it too? I tried to say before you could complete the spell." So, that was Dusk trying to talk over it. "By going into the past, you created the cycle of events that would bring us here and start it all over again. An endless cycle, with no beginning and no end."

"Now I'm gonna spend the next week freaking out about a disaster that doesn't even exist!" she finished.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it," said Dusk comfortingly. "It's past Twilight's problem now."

Grateful for his ability to make her feel better, they shared a laugh and a brief kiss, helped Spike along when he started to suffer from stomach ache due to too much ice cream and started to make tracks for home, glad this whole thing was in the past. Or rather the future for her other self.

Time travel was really confusing. Hopefully, they'd never have to deal with anything like it again.

"Dusk, I thought I sensed your presence here!" They turned to see Luna approach them, her expression becoming quizzical. "Why are you all here? What are you dressed like this for?"

They glanced at each other and Dusk answered for them. "You wouldn't believe us if we told you, Luna."

She considered this, shrugged and continued. "I had meant to find you, but it seems that now you're here, we can get started even sooner."

"Started with what?"

"With what I promised you." Her face darkened a little. "Let's get going, if you wish to witness the arrest of Hard Edge."

Comments

[Music-and-magic]

Hmmm, but Hard Edged wasn't alone.

Btw, was that an EQ reference Twi made earlier on?

[FaleYur]

Oh god the references!

[Stellar_]

Dusk? Dusk! DUUUSK!!