"?........ (Again?)"
It couldn't have been any ordinary coincidence. There just couldn't be. The evidence was all there, laid out upon every photograph, tome, painting, and clipped newspaper articles that was messily strewn across a crystalline table within the castle home of Equestria's Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle.
Pouring over papers by candlelight in the dead of night, during the hour when the crickets could be heard playing their simple symphony, Twilight spent her precious time fervently scanning every photo and painted image she had with a magnifying glass. Circling portions of them with her quill and scribbling down notes whenever she spotted the jarring revelations that slowly drove her closer and closer to the edge of paranoia with each one discovered.
With her mind running at a million miles an hour, she could only utter a single word in response as she pulled herself away from the disturbing findings.
"I-impossible..."
She fell backwards onto her haunches, grasping her shaky self all the while trying to comprehend the nature of her discovery. Half of her cursed the sheer astronomical odds of it all for her to somehow stumble upon this phenomena, while the other half was actually thankful to have found this out. Whether not that she knew what these strange occurrences meant at the moment was up in the air. But being the princess that she was, she was determined to find out.
The air was hot and heavy within the usually cool chamber where the Cutie Map resided, its atmosphere one of anxiety and intrigue. A screen and a slide projector had been set up nearby, along with several stacks of folders and files that had been painstakingly organized in alphabetical order. Nearly every individual of importance were gathered around the map, some seated among the many chairs in the chamber, others standing in place, eager to hear what Princess Twilight had to say about her startling discovery.
Among those who were present included the remaining two of Equestria's triarchy; Princess Celestia and her sister Princess Luna.
To the left of them were the current rulers of the Crystal Empire; Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and her husband Prince Shining Armor, Twilight's sister-in-law and brother respectively, and their Royal Crystaller, Sunburst.
To the right, all of Twilight's friends; Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, along with her own student, Starlight Glimmer.
And of course, who could forget about Spike? The young drake stood by Twilight steadfastly, a slide projector switch held in his claws.
When Twilight Sparkle finally took to her makeshift stage the quiet murmurs that saturated the chamber eased into a pregnant silence. Exhaling one last breath, she mentally steeled herself and addressed her audience.
"Hello, everypony. First off, I would like to say that I am glad you were all able to take the time out of your busy schedule to meet up with me this day. As you may already know this emergency gathering had come completely out of left field, and for that, I thank each and every one of you for showing up," she began.
"Aw, shoot. Tweren't nothing, Twilight," said Applejack, tipping her stetson. "Y'all said it was important, so there'd be no excuse for any of us to skip out on it. And land sakes girl, drop the formalities, we're all friends here. No need to act like we're all a bunch of stuffy nobles." Twilight blushed at Applejack's straightforwardness.
"Alright, if you insist," she replied. "Let us get to the heart of the issue, does anypony know why I called you all here?"
"According to your haphazardly written letter spattered in ink and loose feathers, you mentioned something of a conspiracy, correct?" said Princess Celestia, levitating Twilight's less than professional letter. Twilight blushed again at the sight of her messiness but shook it off.
"Well, I was sleep deprived when I wrote that letter, but yes, I have discovered a conspiracy of sorts." As Twilight concluded the chamber broke out into soft murmurs again. As everyone chattered amongst themselves, Twilight nodded over to Spike, who in turn began to start up the slide projector. While the machine was warming up, Starlight rose from her seat and addressed Twilight.
"What kind of conspiracy are we talking about here? Ancient doomsday cults, a secret society comprised of affluent individuals, eldritch beings from beyond the fourth plane watching us for entertainment?"
"An excellent question, Starlight. However, what I have discovered are none of those," Twilight replied as her horn lit up, causing the room began to dim.
With another nod to Spike, the dragon clicked on his projector switch, bringing up a set of images that everyone was more of less familiar with; tapestries, paintings, and various other mediums of art depicting the days before and after the unification of the three pony tribes and the founding of Equestria.
Each image was more varied than the last, but they all had one thing in common; Twilight had circled in bright red several key points of interest throughout each one. Everypony squinted to better see what it was Twilight had discovered that put her in such a tizzy. Try as they might however, they couldn't make out any of the blurry visuals.
"Alright, you got me. What the hay am I suppose to be looking at?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Spike," Twilight nodded.
"Gotcha covered, Twilight." Spike clicked on the projector switch several times, zooming in on one the circled images.
"Erm, Twiley. Couldn't you have done that first?" said Shining, tilting his head in confusion.
"Not until I had made a point of just how many of these I had discovered," Twilight stated. "But as you can all see, this is what I wanted to show all of you." She motioned her hoof to the screen and beheld the vivid image of an iron masked biped.
"...Alright, you got me. What the hay am I suppose to be looking at?" Rainbow Dash repeated, much to Twilight's chagrin.
"Ugh," Twilight facehoofed herself. "What you are looking at is a constant variable that has somehow implanted itself throughout all of Equestrian history, and perhaps even beyond that!"
"...A what now?" Pinkie looked bemused.
"Twilight, dear. You know Pinkie doesn't understand most of your technical terms," Rarity added. "Try to sum it up in a way the average pony can understand."
"Fine..." Twilight grumbled beneath her breath. She pointed up to the screen. "This mysterious masked bipedal creature, or for Pinkie's sake, alien, has been present throughout every major event in our history. You got that?"
"Photobombing alien, got it." Pinkie nodded along with a knowing smirk.
"No, that's not how I woul-" Twilight paused when she noticed Cadence signalling her from behind the map. She made a gesture with her forelegs, prompting Twilight mirror the action. With a great big sigh, she resumed her sentence. "Yes, Pinkie. It's a photobombing alien."
"Apropos of nothing, what is this peculiar creature?" Princess Luna inquired.
The creature in question had part of its body out of focus, but from what there was available, it was clear that it was not of this earth. The creature was bipedal in nature, and stood at the estimated height of three average ponies, or two thirds of a minotaur. It wore a thick beige trench coat, gray slacks, white gloves, brown dress shoes, matching beige fedora, and an eerie expressionless iron mask that either concealed, or is, its head. Other than those articles of clothing, it had no true discernible features to scrutinize.
"Wait a minute..." Starlight squinted at the image. "Isn't that a human, like the ones from beyond the mirror portal?"
"An astute observation, Starlight." Twilight nodded again, prompting another image to flicker onto the screen. This time, the picture in question was an exquisite painted portrait of Princess Platinum and Clover the Clever. Another few clicks centered the image to the treeline in the background where another red circle resided. More clicks, and the image zoomed in on it.
The mysterious creature was once again present, this time in full view. Even with the creature being little more than a minor detail in a painting dedicated to Princess Platinum and Clover the Clever, the creature itself maintained an astounding level of clarity when zoomed in. Whether this was through the skill of the artist or some bizarre coincidence remained unanswered.
"The creature itself is indeed humanoid in shape, and share similar characteristics to that of Homo Sapien, or Humans. However, I would like to remind everypony that this painting is centuries old. From my time spent with Sunset Shimmer in the human world, I know that the average life span of a human ranges from seventy to a hundreds years of age." She nodded, throwing up another image.
This time, the image was something much more recent: it was a class photo taken at the School of Friendship. Partially hidden behind a bush in the background was the very same creature from before, seemingly fleeing from the scene.
"Goodness, such a long lived creature," said Fluttershy as she slowly sank into her seat. "And... creepy."
"It was in Ponyville..." Applejack whispered fearfully, her face frozen in shock. "It was right next to us."
"As you can see," Twilight nodded over to Spike, who swapped the image back to the portrait. "This creature is ancient, having been around since the time of the founding, perhaps even before that, and up until I established the school. Therefore, I have concluded that this creature cannot be a human, but rather some facsimile of it. It's not like those Starlight and I have encountered beyond the portal. For all we know, it could be something else entirely."
"Maybe you're thinking too hard about this?" Sunburst spoke up. "What if this is all just some elaborate prank by Discord? After all, he's known to mess around with everypony. Whose to say this isn't just another way to get you all riled up? Desecrating old paintings and photographs seems like his modus operandi."
"You know, that was actually one of the first things that came into my mind when I stumbled across all this. But when I approached him with my findings, he was as shocked as I was to discover another timeless being skulking about in the corner of our eyes. That alone cleared him of any suspicions."
"Going back to the human theory," Celestia joined in. "Maybe that is the case, and we're looking at it all wrong."
"What do you mean, princess?" Twilight tilted her head.
"Look at it, Twilight. It wears a mask and a concealing ensemble. Perhaps it isn't one long lived creature, but rather a long line of humans that take up its appearance."
"Like a superhero!" Spike exclaimed. "Yeah. Every now and then, the Power Ponies have a successor that takes over the mantle of the hero, continuing their legacy." Celestia chuckled at Spike's excitement.
"Yes, Spike," Celestia smiled, "that is exactly what I am referring to."
"Hmm... An interesting theory," Twilight rubbed her chin. "But that just leads to more questions. We don't even know why it's here in the first place, let alone ascertain its motives to multiple individuals. Adding onto that, I've yet to see any humans cross over into our world..."
"If I might add," Cadance spoke up. "The Crystal Mirror itself, to the best of my knowledge, does not predate the Unification of Equestria. If any of these humans did pass through and began parading about the land, it contradicts the presence of the creature in the portrait. Sorry auntie, but your legacy theory does not hold any water."
"Daw, I wanted it to be a superhero for the ages." Spike looked dejected.
"Then maybe Sunburst is correct about this all being some sort of prank?" said Luna. "It may not be Discord, but it could be another practical jokester whose work goes beyond whoopee cushions and joy buzzers." She gestured to the portrait. "The painted creature in the portrait appears far too crisp and refined to be a part of the original painting. Perhaps it was painted on after the fact, and everything afterwards is just a part of the joke."
"Another interesting theory, Princess Luna, but easily debunked." Twilight levitated a folder onto the map and pulled out an old document.
"According to this, by order of Princess Platinum, Clover the Clever had the portrait preserved with illusion magic, and a powerful one at that. The spell that enchanted the painting ensured that it would appear in pristine condition even when tampered with, to endure the hijinks of a certain Chancellor Puddinghead. Any retouches would be concealed by the illusion."
"Oh, phooey," Luna frowned. "But what of the painted creature's fidelity?"
"I dunno." Twilight casually shrugged. "Guess we'll just have to chalk it up to the fact that Princess Platinum hired a really, really great artist to paint the portrait."
"Well, that's two theories thrown out the window," Sunburst mumbled.
"Okay, so if it's not a human, and it isn't a part of the greatest joke of all time, could it be a some sort of monster?" said Rainbow Dash. "This thing looks like it would fit in just fine in a Daring Do novel. Hey! Maybe she would know something about it? A.K. Yearling, I mean."
"It's possible. I'll have to keep A.K. Yearling in mind when I do more research on it. But remember, we don't know what its motive are, or why it's presence keeps being captured by history's greatest artisans and present day photographers," said Twilight. "We have to understand that first before we go into any more theories about what it is."
"Okay, so the theory of a secretive cabal of artists working together to make this prank work is out of the question then?" said Pinkie.
"Not unless Photo Finish has some shadowy connections that we weren't aware of, I'm afraid," quipped Rarity. "Artists may call to artists, but I know from experience that a sense of community doesn't automatically make us all friends.
"Humoring the idea, Rarity's right," said Twilight. "I don't see how reclusive artisans would mingle with socialites sculptors and form an cabal of generational artists bent on perpetuating some asinine in joke."
"Tch, spoilsport," Pinkie huffed, crossing her forelegs.
"Ahem!" Shining Armor cleared his throat, snapping everyone's attention towards him. "Getting back on track, let's talk motive. Now, I may not be Captain of the Royal Guard anymore, but my instincts telling me it's up to no good."
"How so, honey?" asked Cadence.
"As Princess Celestia pointed out earlier, it wears a mask." Shining Armor pointed at the creature. "It's hiding something. And judging from Twilight's slides, it's been just about everywhere as well, throughout all of history. Waiting. Watching. Biding its time. Maybe it planned all this out, maybe it purposely let itself be captured in history's finest moments, maybe it wanted Twilight to find out about it. A grand scheme, thousands of years in the making."
"But why?" Twilight emphasized, her expression shifted to that of worry. "I stumbled upon all of this by accident. There's no way it could've predicted any of this and orchestrate an elaborate, if somewhat convoluted, plot for me to uncover its existence."
"Who's saying it can't." Shining tapped his temple. "We've been so preoccupied on what it shouldn't do, pondering the origins of how it came to be, that we've completely overlook what it possibly could do. Equestria has faced numerous evils; Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, Tirek, The Storm King, The Pony of Shadows. What's stopping that thing from being another one of them? Another for the Pantheon of foes that threatened the safety of our fair land, and beyond?"
"Ah agree," said Applejack, swallowing the lump that she didn't even know had formed in her throat. "Now, the only evidence we've got are all yer fancy pictures, Twilight, but without anything else, I'm gonna hafta assume it ain't up to anything good."
"It was in Ponyville, Twilight. It was at the school," Fluttershy breathed, shuddering at the thought. "Aren't you the least bit afraid? It could be in this very room, spying on us, and none of us would be the wiser."
Fluttershy immediately regretted saying that, because when she did everyone in the room, herself included, instinctively peered over their shoulder, as if to find the very same creature they've been reviewing. A wave of paranoia flooded the room, putting its occupants on edge.
"O-oh," Spike gulped, struggling to control his shaky knees. "Now I really wish it was a superhero for the ages..."
"But-but what if it is!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "What if this creature is good? We've made mistakes before, judging somepony cause of how they looked or act. What if this creature is actually a hero?"
"Barring that, what if it just enjoys taking a good photo?" Rarity suggested. "For all we know, this seemingly immortal creature could be little more than a wandering drifter. Trekking from location to location, finding itself in one major event after another, for no other reason than being in the right place at the right time. To it, the journey is what matters, not the destination."
The entire chamber soon descended into arguments about the morality of the creature. It started off civil, but tensions began to rise with each passing second.
Pinkie Pie held to her beliefs, insisting that the creature could be good, in spite of there being no evidence pertaining to such notions. In a similar vein, Applejack and Shining Armor deemed the creature's lack of intent to be confirmation that it had a heinous plan in mind.
In between the morality spectrum was everypony else. Fluttershy was far to frazzled to think properly, having since curled into a ball in her seat when the arguing began. Starlight, Rarity, Princess Celestia, and Princess Cadence believed the creature to be little more than a mysterious wanderer. It had had multiple chances to act on any machinations it may have had, but didn't. Rainbow Dash, Sunburst, and Princess Luna believed the creature to be a beast, but one that minded its own business if left undisturbed.
Everypony had valid points, everypony made valid arguments, but among all else, everypony was loud.
The noise that echoed throughout the chamber felt like screws slowly being drilled into Twilight's skull. Feeling a looming migraine coming on, she approached the map and put her hoof down. The forceful stamp shook the map, startling those around it and bringing about silence once again.
"Everypony!" Twilight commanded. "While I appreciate your enthusiasm, that can all wait until after we put together a formal investigation. But until then, please, use your inside voice."
Everypony humbly apologized to Twilight, clambering down from the fervor of their heated discussion. She accepted their apologies and decided that it was time to end the meeting.
"Look, we've been here for a while now, and the room's getting a bit stuffy for my taste. I think it's high time we wrapped this up." Twilight signaled for Spike to shut off the slide projector as she levitated all of the folders and files up to the the edge of the map. With another flash from her horn, the room brightened, causing many to reel in response to the light.
"Let's recap. The creature in question is some sort of long lived humanoid who has appeared countless times in art mediums throughout recorded history. And though you've all provided several great points about its possible motive, ultimately I cannot say in good faith whether or not the creature is indeed good or evil. However, that does not mean we can be lax in our endeavors. Even if we were to never encounter it in our lifetime, we must treat it with utmost caution."
"I've proposed opening up an investigation to gather information about this creature. It will take some time to garner support and resources, and I will probably have to jump through a hoop or two, but I promise you, we will get to the bottom of this. For our peace of mind, and peace for Equestria."
"But before we leave, I feel obligated to show you all I've discovered so far. I'll try to make it quick." Twilight's horn lit up, and the files by the table began resonating with the Cutie Map. Weaving together an unusual experimental spell, she channeled information from the files into the map, using it as a conduit of sorts.
Flickering to life, the Cutie Map glowed and formed the whole of Equestria with its light, albeit the Equestria of old. One by one, several holographic images flashed across the map, corresponding with its area of origin with a red circle.
The group watched in awe and with horror as it all came together.
The days of the three pony tribes and Unification of Equestria, it was there.
The story of the Ancient Alicorn Sisters, it was there.
The first battle with Discord, it was there.
The Summer Sun Celebration.
The defeat of Nightmare Moon and return of Princess Luna.
The Grand Galloping Gala, it was there.
The second battle with Discord.
The Royal Wedding.
The Defeat of Queen Chrysalis.
The Return of the Crystal Empire.
Spike's Triumph over King Sombra.
Twilight's ascension to alicornhood.
The defeat of Tirek.
Princess Ember's success at the Dragon Trials and subsequent rise as the Dragon Lord.
Starlight's redemption and subsequent tutelage under Princess Twilight.
Starlight and friends' triumph over Queen Chrysalis' return and the rebirth of the changelings.
The return of the Pillars and redemption of the Pony of Shadows.
The defeat of the Storm King.
The opening of Twilight's School for Friendship.
And many, many, many other notable events dotted the map, sprouting about like deranged weeds threatening to overtake the map.
And yet, someway, somehow, it was there.
"By the stars above..." Princess Celestia whispered.
"Sweet mother of mercy..." Applejack's jaw hit the floor.
"Boy, it really gets around, doesn't it?" Pinkie Pie blinked.
It was absolutely astonishing, watching early Equestria transform into its present day self, and knowing that the mysterious creature had traveled across its plains, its hills, its valleys, and its oceans, a thousand times a thousand times over. Wandering about from one major event to the next with seemingly no rhyme or reason, as though carried by the four winds themselves.
And at its peak, the map flickered sporadically, violently contorting and stretching before fading to inactivity. Twilight was taken aback by the sudden crash, she did not expect that to happen.
"Um, t-that wasn't me." Twilight bit her lower lip.
Then, as quickly as it had stopped, the map sprang to life once more. This time, it had a new location marked on it, centered upon Ponyville. There was no cutie mark to indicate a friendship problem, only a bizarre floating 'Q' lazily orbiting the sleepy town.
"Whoa, never seen it do that before," said Spike.
"Uh, 'Q'?" Sunburst adjusted his glasses to make sure he was seeing it right. "What's that suppose to mean?"
"Is it a cutie mark?" Fluttershy questioned.
"No... No! Don't you get it, this is great!" Twilight exclaimed, scrambling about the map. Realization hit her like a bolt of lightning as she scrutinized the floating Q orbiting around little Ponyville. "It's here, it's really here!"
"What's here?" Princess Luna asked.
"The creature!" replied Twilight.
"Q? That's its name?" Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "I was expecting something more, you know, grand."
"Maybe it's a balloon, like my cutie mark," suggested Pinkie.
"Q, Balloon, regardless of what it wants to be called we're catching it in the act, one way or another," Shining Armor stated, a resolute look in his eyes. "I just can't believe it came back to Ponyville."
"More like it never left," said Applejack. "Seems like it was waiting around for us, just like you said."
"But why now?" Princess Celestia looked bemused. "I thought it only showed up during major events? Today has been quite average so far, even for Ponyville standards."
"...The discovery," Twilight whispered. She turned to face all her friends and family. "My discovery of its existence must be the major event!" She scrambled over to her equipment, nearly tripping over herself as she retrieved an old timey camera, several sets of film rolls, and an ungodly number of scrolls and quills.
"Come on, let's hurry! It must be somewhere around town, waiting to be caught on film, or maybe more. This is history in the making folks! Let's go go go! We might not get another chance!" Without missing missing a beat, Twilight bolted for the door, carrying Spike along with her on her back as he hung on for dear life, with several equipment trailing right behind her held in a purple glow.
The rest immediately followed suit, darting after Twilight, pouring out of the room in rapid succession and in a mad sprint towards what may be the chance encounter of a lifetime.
As the last pony left, the door behind them slammed shut, sundering the chamber with a tremor. All was quiet for what felt like an eternity. The air was still, undisturbed. Nopony was around. Nopony, being the operative word.
The faint clatter of rubber soles upon polished crystalline flooring broke the fragile silence that lingered in the air, accompanied by the occasional squeaks of shoes. A pair of burning yellow eyes pierced the veil of darkness that cloaked one end of the chamber, moving ever so closer to its center. From beyond the shadow of mystery, hidden behind one of the room's many pillars, a tall humanoid biped, wearing a detective's ensemble stepped into view, it's face covered in an eerie iron mask.
The only sounds it made as it approached the map was the subtle clatters of its shoes, and the low guttural grunts it elicited with each step taken. It stopped before the map, reaching out into one of the folders and pulling out a single photo. It scrutinized the photo in its hand, tilting its head to the side ever so slightly, like that of a curious puppy when it encounters something strange.
Thumbing the photo, it casually pockets it into its coat's inner pocket without so much as a second thought. Satisfied, the humanoid smooths out its coat and casually made its way to the door, one hand held against its fedora.
It left the room as quickly and as mysterious as it had shown up, politely closing the door behind it. Like a ghost, or the wayward breeze, it left no trace that it had ever been there at all...
Q