Twilight Velvet's last mission as a magus before retirement takes a turn for the worse. Being trapped out in the wilderness and having to survive on her own was somewhat expected in her line of work, being completely cut off from Equestria less so.
Active duty as a magus in Equestria is a life of travelling and dangerous situations. As much as Twilight Velvet enjoyed her work, she couldn't put it before family; not now when she has two foals to take care of. Someone higher up agreed, fast tracking her retirement; except, there's a catch: she has one last job to do, from the princess herself no less.
But one last job before she can be with her family should be no problem, right?
Twilight finds that she regrets ever thinking so when she finds herself completely cut off from the rest of Equestria. It doesn't help that she has to take care of more than just her own needs in order to survive.
"Relax, we'll be in and out in an hour or two, tops!"
Twilight blinked her eyes open, a yawn escaping her lips. She had dreamed of that fateful day once more. Glancing about, the shelter looked just the same as the day before; makeshift wooden constructions all around.
Twilight let out a deep sigh, wrapping her hooves around the bundle of heat that was snuggled against her stomach. The filly was breathing slowly, her eyes closed and sleeping soundly. At least she wasn't alone in this hell.
Twilight Velvet paced back and forth, this meeting would decide her future. The clock on the wall chimed twice, signalling the hour. Gathering her wits Twilight sighed and walked up to the door. Knocking twice she entered without waiting for a reply, it was her booked time after all.
Twilight had to suppress a groan seeing who was seated behind the desk, just her luck. There were plenty of ponies who got stuck with a desk job, but this was one she *really* didn't want to interact with; and there was no doubt as to their identity with that bold pink mane with white stripes.
The stallion in glasses looked up from the documents he was reading. "Magus Velvet, it's a pleasure."
Twilight nodded and stopped a comfortable distance from the desk, she opened her mouth but didn't get the chance.
"Let's skip the pleasantries, you didn't come here without a reason."
Twilight took a deep breath. "Yes, I'd like to resign from active duty. I know this might be sudden but, there are other things I'd like to spend my time on."
The blue stallion shuffled around a couple of papers on the desk, as if he wasn't even listening. "Don't worry about it."
Twilight blinked in surprise, she had expected this to be the hard part. They were already under staffed when it came to those on active duty to deal with mishaps or threats against the country's citizens.
The stallion smirked. "Don't be so surprised, we got orders handed down from her majesty herself. She expected you'd want to retire from the position so she preemptively signed off on it, in the event that you'd request it."
"That's..."
It was relieving, to put it mildly. She couldn't travel around doing this kind of work anymore, not when she had two foals to take care of.
"But."
Twilight snapped to attention. "But?"
"You have one last job I'm afraid," the stallion levitated over a folder. "Your retirement won't go into effect until it's done, my apologies."
"That's- what?" Twilight took hold of the folder in her own aura.
Twilight swallowed. "That doesn't make any sense, why can't somepony else handle it?"
The stallion shrugged. "I can't say, it's above my pay grade, and probably yours too. This is a direct order from the Princess herself, I barely know any of the details."
A direct order from the Princess? Why? She had talked to her a few times, which wasn't weird in her line of work, but she couldn't think of a reason why she'd be singled out.
Opening the folder, the details of the mission were equally sparse. Really, it was a lot of words saying nothing. A magic outbreak of some kind on the outskirts of Vanhoover? That could mean anything.
"All I know is that you're expected to meet up with a contact at the railroad station in two days."
Twilight's eyes widened. "Two days? I delivered my foal just a couple of days ago, I still need to recover!"
The stallion finally stopped shuffling around with his documents and meet her eyes. "That's right, congratulations."
"I... thank you."
The stallion smirked. "A filly I hear, you must be happy what with having a clear successor."
Twilight could feel her temper rising, this is why she hated this stallion so much.
"Yes, that's right. In fact, that's why I wanted to resign in the first place, so I can be there with her. Not to mention, who'll take care of her while I'm gone on... this, whatever this is?"
The stallion raised an eye. "I don't see the concern, I know you can very well afford a nursemaid. Honestly, I would have thought you had such affairs in order already."
Twilight growled, he just didn't get it. Being there for your foals as a mother... that wasn't something Twilight would ever trade away for anything.
"Well, no matter. You have a day or two to sort things out, really, it's out of my hooves regardless."
Twilight sighed, he was right in that regard. No matter how frustrating she found her coworker, soon to be ex-coworker, it really wasn't his mandate that put her here.
"Was there anything else?" She asked.
"No, that will be all. Enjoy your early retirement Magus Velvet."
Twilight took a polite bow with her head before turning about and trotting out. This was not how she had expected this meeting to go. She had expected needing to fight tooth and nail to be able to resign, but a special assignment? From the Princess herself? Absurd.
Twilight nudged the filly with her nose. "Wake up sleepyhead, it's morning."
Of course, under what definition it was really morning was debatable, but the pocket watch she had hung up inside their makeshift home said five past nine.
"Five more minutes?" the tired voice of the filly called out.
Twilight chuckled, brushing the filly's dark mane with her hoof. "I'm afraid not dear, we have another day of searching to do."
Twilight wiggled herself loose from the filly's grip and got up on her hooves. She slowly walked over to the table and lifted the metal canteen with her magic. She sighed as she drank the lukewarm water, they'd need to restock on water again today.
She made herself busy preparing a morning meal for the two of them, it would be composed of a few carrots each and the last of the apples. It wasn't much, but at least she could make it pretty. She briefly considered planting an apple tree from the seeds, as she had done several times before.
It would be nice and a closer source for something sweet, yet the thought of doing so made her incredibly uncomfortable. After all, to plant something that would take years to grow with the intent of taking advantage of the harvest? That would mean accepting that she'd remain here for years to come.
A yawn and the sound of light hooves coming closer brought her out of her thoughts.
"Finally managed to get up?" She chuckled at the filly as she pushed her long, almost black, mane out of the way for her face.
"Mmhmm," the filly spoke, her voice light and uncertain.
Twilight really needed to come up with something to call her, it had been almost a year. But the young pony did not know her own name, and Twilight didn't feel comfortable naming another's child. Besides, with only the two of them, there wasn't exactly any confusion as to whom was spoken to.
They got seated at the table--Twilight on the floor and the filly on a chair so she'd reach--and proceeded to eat their food. She was glad the young pony wasn't a picky eater, otherwise she wasn't sure what she'd do.
"Where are we going today?"
That was the question, wasn't it?
"We'll have to stop by the river... after that I plan to see if we can make any headway into the forest."
The filly pouted. "But there are so many thorn bushes and all of it is overgrown!"
Twilight couldn't help but to chuckle. "That's true, but if we can find a source for berries or wild apples, then that'd help quite a bit."
The unspoken part, of course, was the desire of finding a way out; Twilight didn't get her hopes up for that.
Twilight sat down and leaned against the wall of their makeshift home. The thing was not much more than a large shed, the timber that was used for the walls being rough and uneven. Twilight had never considered herself a craftspony; having lived through needing to cobble together a shelter hadn't changed that. What it did do was give her a newfound sense of respect for ponies who had it as their trade.
The garden, the means of which kept them alive, had done much the same for all the farmers around Equestria. Twilight couldn't do anything but smile as she watched the filly jump around in the garden, digging up any weeds where she found them. If it weren't for the tip of her horn sticking out of the dishevelled mane, then one could have been fooled into thinking she was an earth pony.
It was nice to just relax, the day had been busy; and not nearly as productive as she had hoped. The trip through the forest had only rewarded her with a few bushes of blueberries; and who knew how long they'd survive in this ecosystem. Still, it had been a happy find considering what she had already planned on doing today.
"Why don't you pack up the gardening tools and come inside?"
The filly's ears quickly turned in Twilight's direction, before the rest of her followed suit.
"We are packing up already?" She asked as she skipped up to Twilight.
Twilight nodded. "Yes, you have already done a very good job today," she reached out with her hoof and ruffled their mane. "Besides, we have something else more important that we need to do today."
The filly tilted her head. "More important than gardening?"
Twilight chuckled and got up, walking inside. She lifted the pan that had been sitting over the fireplace and placed it on the table; the fruity contents within still bubbling a bit from the heat.
The filly's eyes widened as the smell caught her nose. "Whoa, what is that?"
Twilight couldn't stop smiling. "Crumble, made from wild berries."
The filly quickly made her way over to her seat, eagerly sitting down and staring at the pie. Twilight grabbed one of the spoons and carefully carved a large eight onto the surface of it.
"Happy birthday."
Truthfully, she didn't know exactly how old the filly was, nor when her actual birthday was. Instead she counted the days since she had found her, it's not like the child had any better idea. It also helped keep her mind away from less happy thoughts related to having spent over a year inside the anomaly.
"That's today?" The filly let out, Twilight could hear the excitement in those words, but the tail wagging sealed it. That's what made it all worth it, that's why she could hold on.
Twilight nodded as she started serving the pie onto two uneven and scratched clay plates. She did her best to sing the filly a happy birthday, Twilight had never really fancied herself the best at singing.
It wasn't until much later, when the filly had soundly fallen asleep against her once more, that Twilight reached out with her magical grip to the hunting knife. She raised it against the wall and scratched on another tally mark.
Not for the first time she cried herself to sleep.
"What do you mean you have a job you need to leave for in two days?"
Twilight turned away, tears in her eyes. "Exactly what it sounds like Night Light."
"I can't believe this," he muttered under his breath. "I can't believe they are doing this to you. You're barely out of the hospital and they're throwing you halfway across the country," he gestured in the air with his hoof.
Twilight walked over and collapsed onto the coach, at least her daughter was sound asleep in her crib, and Shining Armor was busying himself in his room on the upper floor.
"I know, but it's orders from the Princess herself."
Night Light grumbled something before walking over and settling down on the floor by her side. A careful hoof slowly rubbed Twilight's back, the comfort did little to help her mood.
"She better compensate you for this, I swear, dragging a mo-"
"Night, please."
"...sorry."
Twilight sighed. The two just sat there, the sound of hoof steps on the upper floor being the only thing preventing the silence from settling.
"We'll... We'll need to find someone to help take care of Sparkle," she all but sobbed.
"I'll take care of it dear, I'll find someone. You should be with her as much as you can before you need to go."
All Twilight could do was nod.
The light pink glow sputtered out, causing the fork held within to clatter as it fell to the table.
"You seem to be having issues concentrating," Twilight noted.
Twilight always wanted to be there to teach the basics of magic to her children. She hadn't expected to need to take up that role for a stranger's child.
"Sorry, it's just..." the filly got quiet. "I guess I'm just excited for tomorrow?"
Twilight snickered at just how bashful the filly looked. "And why might that be?" She held up a hoof to cover the smile slowly spreading across her lips.
The young unicorn huffed. "You know why!" She held up both her front hooves in the air.
She just kept snickering. "Alright, you got me. Still, your birthday isn't until tomorrow, we still have some practice to get through."
"Will you make crumble though? We haven't had any for months," the filly whined.
"We'll see."
Her reply was a pouting face. In truth, Twilight had saved berries for a few days to use for the occasion. It was a good thing the survival kit had come with a few minor enchanted items, one being a cooling spell that could be recharged. The makeshift icebox Twilight had made wasn't big, but it let them refrigerate a few things at a time.
"Besides, once you get a better hold of your magic, I'll teach you how to write."
The filly perked. "You mean those scribblings you do from time to time?"
Twilight nodded. "It's a shame I didn't bring any books, perhaps then I could better show you the use," a smile graced her lips. "Good thing I'm a decent writer myself, I have been working on a new novel in my spare time, hopefully you'll enjoy it."
The filly just tilted her head in confusion, Twilight couldn't blame her. After all, they had not experienced much of the outside world. At least she'd not run out of ink or scrolls any time soon. Her colleagues always thought it weird that she had enchanted a pocket space just to bring writing material with her wherever she went.
But her job involved a lot of travel, and one never knew when inspiration would hit. She'd rather be prepared for the occasion than have the idea sit in her head itching to be let out.
Now though? Her audience was but a single filly. Still, even just a single pony enjoying her work was enough purpose. She'd taken the time to write when she had the opportunity in between all the hard labour of keeping their needs meet.
Twilight glanced to the spare saddlebag filled with finished scrolls sitting in a corner; fiction wasn't the only thing she wrote. She'd do her best to document what had happened, what was happening. Just... just in case she never made it out of here; she wanted her family to know.
Twilight rubbed her front hoof against the bracelet sitting on the other, it was itching more than she'd like. She'd have to grow used to it, the letter of instructions said it might be a while before help would arrive. Still, plan for the worst pray for the best, right?
That's why she was trudging through the brush, she needed to locate a source of water. She had set up 'camp' at the edge of the forest, which seemed like the best place at the time. But given that she couldn't see a single lake or river across the grasslands, she'd have to search elsewhere.
Geography wasn't her strongest suit, but Twilight was certain there were plenty of rivers south of Vanhoover, she just needed to find one... assuming one even was inside the perimeter; she didn't want to even consider the possibility of that not being the case.
Her ears twitched, she could just barely hear something ahead. Maybe she was lucky and she'd finally found one of her two compatriots. Twilight hurried her pace towards the sound, yet the closer she got the more her hopes fell.
As she breach the forest into a clearing her growing fears were realised, sitting in the middle of it crying was a filly that couldn't be older than seven, at most. Twilight's heart got caught in her chest as she took in the rest of the scene.
In the center of the clearing was a circle of stone that made up a fireplace, next to it was the beginnings of a tent being constructed. The opposite side of the clearing had what she'd come to expect, having seen it across the plains near her own camp: the white wall that made up the dome she was trapped inside.
But these things all paled in comparison to what was lying on the ground next to the filly. Two ponies, completely crumbled with their long mane and tails sprawling across the ground. The filly wasn't much better herself, her almost black mane and tail trailed down onto the ground.
"Mommy, please," the filly snivelled.
Twilight swallowed and took a few careful steps into the clearing. These were obviously the missing campers that had been in the region, she didn't need to guess their fate; the instructions were very clear as to what could happen to ponies that didn't have protection. Twilight quickly glanced at the hollow gem attached to her bracelet, it was still glowing slightly and filled with liquid.
The fillies ears swirled and she turned the head towards the sound of Twilight. "Mommy?"
Twilight grimaced and shook her head. "I'm sorry dear," she said as she walked over and sat down next to the filly.
She was trembling, but she didn't shy away. Instead the filly just looked her over several times before eventually just throwing herself against Twilight, wrapping her legs around Twilight and burring her head in her coat.
Twilight slowly and awkwardly lifted one of her hooves... why was she hesitating? This child had lost everything, and for all Twilight knew she might be the only living pony around. With conviction she slowly started rubbing her hoof against the filly's back. It would strain her resources; but she couldn't just leave a filly to fend for themselves.
Besides, if her assumptions of what happened here were true, then the filly was much younger than she looked. Her eyes slowly glanced towards the parents, the mare's coat was a bright yellow, her cutiemark a compass. The stallion had a white coat, similar to the foal but maybe a few shades darker. Both of their manes were indiscernible, having grown gray from exposure.
Both wore large filled saddlebags, likely camping supplies; and if Twilight was lucky: unspoiled food. It would be a pain to drag all the extra weight with her back, but she didn't dare leave it there.
A growling interrupted her thoughts, forcing her to look down on the filly still clinging to her.
Twilight licked her lips to remove the dryness. "Dear, when was the last time you ate something?"
It took a minute before a muffled 'don't know' was heard. Twilight levitated one of the survival bars from her pack and removed the packaging.
"This won't taste very good, but you need to eat it, okay?" She tried her very best to smile as she floated it next to the filly's face.
The filly slowly turned and glanced at the bar for but a few moments, before vigorously chomping down on it. Feeding two mouths was going to be hard, but what else could she do? She started to seriously consider the garden idea mentioned in the letter; she couldn't afford to play fast and loose and rely on scavenging, not when she had a child at her side.
"Mom?"
Twilight flinched as she was taken out of her reverie. She turned back to face the filly, the fork was wiggling but holding steady in her aura, the filly herself had her tongue out in concentration.
Twilight smiled. "You're doing great sweetie," she complimented, even if her smile was not as wide as she wished.
She had stopped correcting the child a long time ago; it was better if she didn't remember what had happened to her real mother.
Twilight quickly move through the train, apparently her contact had reserved a private train cabin for the two of them. She still wasn't sure exactly what the job would entailed, so she had packed her normal work supplies. She double checked the cabin number before sliding the door open, grabbing the attention of the lone pony inside.
The mare's coat was a shade close to cyan, her mane a split between dark blue and a very washed out--almost white--blue. A light smile graced the mare's lips as she studied Twilight.
"Magus Velvet? I didn't think they'd send one of the top field agents."
Twilight lightly shrugged and trotted in, closing the door with her magic. "You must be my contact then?"
She quickly put down her saddlebags on side of the cabin that was free, before taking a seat opposite to the other unicorn.
"That's right, name's Minuette," she spoke, her voice having a light hearted twang to it.
Twilight let out a sigh as she could feel the train start moving. She hadn't been late onboard, but finding the cabin cart had taken longer than she'd hoped, especially with how crowded the morning train to Vanhoover got.
"Perhaps you could clue me in on the details of the job? The report I got was very scarce," she tried to not let her frustration seep through, it wasn't Minuette's fault.
The unicorn smirked. "Straight to the point, eh? I like that," the unicorn turned to her own saddlebags and started shuffling through them, retrieving a letter with a familiar seal on it.
"I got a delivery to you from the Princess, which you might want to read."
Twilight nodded and took the letter in her hold, she was about to tear open the envelope when the unicorn continued.
"But basically I work for something called the Temporal Investigation Association, or TIA for short!"
Twilight frowned. "So you, what, chase down rogue unicorns messing with time magic?"
Minuette giggled. "No, that's for the royal guard or the likes of you. We're more akin to a..." she put her hoof to her mouth, tapping. "A clean up squad I guess."
Twilight couldn't remember the last time any rogue unicorns tried to mess with time magic. The field was incredibly complex and few, if any, unicorns could even scratch the surface of what could be done.
Twilight licked her lips. "So, what exactly are we doing?"
Minuette shrugged and smiled. "I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?"
Minuette just chuckled and shook her head. "I have a co-worker down by Vanhoover investigating the situation, really, she's the expert at tracking em down."
Twilight let out a deep sigh. "Then what do you need me for?"
Minuette's smile flattened. "Backup," the mirth in her voice gone.
"Backup?"
Minuette gave a curt nod. "This stuff might be my special talent, but sometimes we need more fire power or the expertise of a magus. That's why for complicated issues like this we send in a request for one to join us."
"I see..."
Minuette let out a sigh, a small smile returning to her. "Hopefully it's nothing and you don't need to do anything, and all of this will just be a boring trip back and forth to Vanhoover."
Twilight nodded. "That'd be nice, I'd rather spend the time with my foal."
Minuette lit up. "Oh? Congratulations. How old is she?"
"A week," Twilight replied flatly.
Minuette's eyes widened. "What? They seriously sent someone who should be home with their child?"
Twilight grunted. "Apparently."
"Ugh," Minuette's expression turned apologetic. "I'm so sorry for this Velvet, if I had known then I'd have walked right up to Princess Celestia and demanded somepony else."
Twilight sighed. "Thanks..." She tried putting on a smile. "Hopefully you're right and this will just be a short trip and I'll be back to taking care of Sparkle in a day or two."
Minuette nodded before lowering her gaze.
Twilight took the opportunity to unseal the letter and read it.
Dear Twilight Velvet.
I hope this letter finds you well. I must take the opportunity to apologise to you, I know very well your current situation and it is my not my intent to tear you away from your family. I write this knowing that I did this very thing, and for that I hope you can forgive me.
My hoof in the matter was in some regards forced, the TIA is a very specific organisation that operate directly under the crown. I'm sure Minuette can fill you in on the details, if she hasn't already. Most of what they deal with are things I'd rather not my ponies know about, including the Council of Magi.
When the TIA requests assistance with a task, I only send ponies I know and trust; among the current magi that number is lower than I'd like. My first pick for the job also happens to be away at this time dealing with the possible cultists problem in Manehattan.
Because of the nature of temporal complications, there is often little, if any, warning before they crop up. If it's not clear, most of the occurrences aren't actually caused by ponies, but range from natural phenomenon to ancient spells flaring up.
I don't expect your services will be needed for much, but you still deserve my apologise. I will attempt to make this up to you upon your return to Canterlot.
Regards Princess Celestia.
Twilight let out a sigh as she turned away from the worn letter hanging on the wall. The only reason she hadn't thrown it away was because she could always use the backside for writing. She turned and walked outside, hoping to once again put the past behind her.
"Are you heading out now?" A cheerful voice asked from the garden.
Twilight turned and nodded. "I was hoping to see if I could find a way further into the southern parts of the forest today."
The filly frowned. "Ugh, then I'm glad I'm not coming with you. That place is so overgrown you can barely get through!"
Twilight smiled. "You're right, it is. But we have been mostly everywhere to the east, and there isn't much in the west, nor to the north," Twilight finished, pointing out towards the plains with her hoof. If she focused her eyes then she could see the white wall in the distance.
"Just be sure you're back before bed time, I don't want to sleep alone."
Twilight chuckled. "Aren't you getting a bit too big for snuggling against my chest?"
The filly just stuck out her tongue at Twilight. "It helps me sleep, okay? Last time you weren't home in time I just laid there turning for hours."
Twilight flashed the filly another smile before turning towards the forest. "I'll do my best."
Twilight swore, another thorn bush cutting through her coat. She didn't like this part of the forest anymore than her companion. Yet she felt the need to explore it, taking care of the crops took up most of their time and effort, sure; but most of the space inside of the anomaly was still unexplored.
If she could find anything else to help make things easier for the two of them, then she'd take it. But most importantly, she might not be an expert on temporal magic sent from the Temporal Investigation Association, but if she could find the cause of this entire thing and dispel it; then she would do so without hesitation.
Twilight floated a peach out from her bag, eating it as she walked. She had given up on help coming a long time ago. Now her only solution was somehow fixing all of this... or spend the rest of her life here.
Twilight came to a halt and swore, ahead of her was a steep cliff drop. Getting down would be easy, getting back up less so; she had never been good at self levitation. With a sigh she threw the peach core on the ground nearby and levitated her small axe out of her bag.
She picked the most suitable tree and started hacking out a chunk of it near the base as to make sure it would fall in the right direction. The tree was thick and alive, so the entire process of hacking her way through it likely took hours; she couldn't say for sure on account of the only timepiece being back at the house.
With the tree crackling before toppling over, Twilight sat down on the ground and caught her breath. The tree that would serve as her ladder toppled over the edge, making a loud crack as it landed and timber bent. Twilight hoped it hadn't all fallen away from the cliff side, she didn't fancy having to come up with another plan.
Still, the area was marked now, the stump if nothing else should help her find the way back. This would have to do for the day, she still had a return trip to make. She was interrupted from her thoughts by the sound of flapping wings, looking up her eyes caught the sight of something she never thought she'd see again: A pegasus.
She just stood there blinking for a few seconds, before getting up and wildly flaying her hooves. "Hey!"
Her yelling seemed to have gotten their attention, as they gestured with their hoof before coming in for a landing.
"I thought I heard something," the pegasus spoke, a smug smirk hung on their face.
Their coat was a light red, with long flowing yellow mane that was partially braided. In the braids were three large red pearls. Twilight wasn't sure if she wanted to hug or punch the stranger, they were the first other pony she had seen in years.
The pegasus took a step forwards and waved her hoof in front of Twilight's face. "You okay there?"
Twilight jumped back a little. "I, uh... I haven't seen another pony in ages. You have no idea how glad I am to run into you."
The pegasus chuckled. "I figured as much Magus Velvet."
Twilight frowned. "You know me?"
The pegasus shrugged. "It would be weird if I didn't. Let's see... Minuette briefed you, right?"
Twilight nodded.
The pegasus sighed. "Okay, that's good. Basically I'm with the TIA, name's..." they frowned. "Wing Spark."
Twilight couldn't hold back any longer, she slowly took a few steps forwards and embraced the mare in a hug, tears forming in her eyes.
"Whoa," Spark let out before awkwardly returning the hug with her wings.
"You have... no idea," Twilight sobbed.
"Are you alright?"
Twilight let go and took a step back, nodding. "I will be now that I found you."
Spark awkwardly shuffled about. "I assume you've set up camp somewhere at this point?"
Twilight nodded.
"That's... that's good. My camp is near the center of this thing," she gestured with one of her hoof in the direction of the cliff. "Actually, I could probably go and fetch you some things that could help you out real quick."
Before Twilight had a chance to object the pegasus threw herself over the cliff edge.
"Wait, but, I have so many questions," Twilight pleaded.
"I'll be back in just a min!" The pegasus shouted back as she flew up to higher elevation.
Twilight just held up her hoof in exasperation. She couldn't quite believe it still, it was hard to not think that she had just imagined the entire exchange. It had been years since she had meet anypony beside her charge.
At last she could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Running into someone from the TIA meant that she had somepony she could formulate a plan with as to fix this entire situation. And after that? She could finally go home.
Twilight could feel her body relax in relief when she spotted the pegasus up in the air and on their way back, it meant she hadn't imagined the entire thing. She could feel herself tearing up again, but did her best to hold it in.
"Here we are," Spark said as she landed. "I brought some stuff I don't really need which may or may not help you," she gestured to her saddlebags.
"Before that," Twilight started. "Maybe you could tell me what you know about... all of this," she gestured up in the air with her hoof. Despite the sunlight, all that existed beyond the cloud layer was more of the white wall.
Spark licked her lips. "I could tell you some, but it's all a bit complicated."
Twilight shook her head. "I'm mostly interested about finally making my way out of here."
Spark froze. "Ah, well, that is... a bit more complicated?"
Twilight gestured for her to go on.
Spark sighed. "Truth of the matter is that I'm mostly here to research how this thing works, what makes it tick. I need Minuette here in order to collapse it."
In just one moment Twilight could feel her newfound hope dying.
"So, um. If you happen to run into her or know where she is, direct her my way? I actually expected her to be with you."
Twilight sighed. "I guess it was too much to get my hopes up."
She sat down to take a moment to breath and gather her thoughts. This was still a step forwards, plus having somepony else around would definitively help. A pegasus could cover so much more ground, they just needed to do a quick sweep and they'd probably find wherever Minuette ended up, right?
Though, now that she was finally calming down again, she could sense that something was... off with the pegasus. Twilight's horn had always been somewhat sensitive to nearby magic. Often times she ignored it as it only got in the way of her day to day life, but when she was out on a job? It had saved her from the unexpected more times than she could count.
"I wouldn't worry too much, I mean, you have survived this long, right?"
Spark began dumping the contents of her bag on the ground, most of it was various metal tools but also the occasional gemstone.
"Some of this stuff is enchanted but, well, I kinda lost the instructions so you'll have to make sense of it yourself. I know I haven't really needed or used these things very much, so hey, I might as well give them to someone that does, right?"
Twilight nodded and lifted one of the gems with her magic. She'd seen enchanted items before, though these ones looked incredibly sloppy; probably made in haste. She'd have to look at them closer later, both to figure out what they did but also to make sure that they were safe to use.
But no, her focus currently was casting a second spell: A subtle scanning spell. They were a pegasus and not a unicorn, so Twilight doubted they would have noticed even if she did something more complex, but better safe than sorry. Her hunch was correct, the pegasus was absolutely ablaze in illusionary spells.
It was at this juncture that Twilight was very glad that she hadn't mention where her camp was, as well as the fact that she wasn't alone.
"Let me know if you see my coworker, she should be waiting for us here."
Twilight glanced at Minuette as the two of them walked off the train and onto the busy platform. Vanhoover was one of the busier trade hubs in Equestria, so it was not strange to see so many ponies up and about at the central train station.
"What do they look like?"
"Oh trust me," Minuette rolled her eyes. "You'll know her when you see her."
Twilight turned her gaze forwards and glanced about as they walked along the platform. There were so many ponies all around, including those waiting for friends or relatives; how could Minuette possibly expect her to single out a pony she didn't have a single clue to as how they looked?
They were almost off the platform entirely when Twilight had to do a double take, off on the side stood a mare in the most gaudy and oversized pink and frilly dress she had ever seen. What's even worse was that it did not compliment the mare's yellow coat or deep green mane in the slightest.
Twilight nudged Minuette and gestured with her hoof. "Is that her?"
Minuette did a light nod. "Oh yeah, that's her alright."
She could hear Minuette let out a deep sigh as they changed their trajectory and walked over. The earth pony mare lit up with a smile as she noticed them approach; she even started waving with one of her hooves.
"You know, you could have worn something a bit more conspicuous," Minuette exclaimed as they neared.
"What, and miss out on all the mares eyeing me up?" They let out with a happy gait, embracing Minuette in a hug.
"Oh they'd be looking you up alright, to figure out how to stay well clear."
The Earth Pony mare let go and blew Minuette a raspberry. "Spoilsport."
Minuette just rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she gestured to Twilight. "This is Magus Velvet, she'll be helping us. Velvet, this is Lemon Chrome, my annoying coworker."
"You know you don't have to introduce me like that," Lemon reached out with her hoof towards Twilight for a shake, something which Twilight returned.
"It's a... pleasure?"
Twilight wasn't a stranger to fancy wear, she saw nobles in Canterlot nearly every day. She had even attended a few formal events herself, and she had certainly seen ponies that were what she'd consider overdressed. All of that paled in comparison to what this mare wore.
"Let's just get on with why we are here," Minuette said.
"Sure, sure. I set up a room for us at a hotel near the southern edge of town," Lemon set off at a trot, forcing Twilight and Minuette to catch up.
Minuette blinked as she walked. "I'd rather get on with the job as soon as possible. I thought you said your analysis would be done by now?"
Lemon frowned. "It is, but we should be prepared... things aren't lining up as I expected them."
"How's that different from usual? We'll just get to it, disrupt it, and then get on with it."
"I'll... well I'll fill you in when we get to the hotel, but safe to say, it won't be as simple as that here."
Minuette just grumbled as the three proceeded down the busy streets. Twilight had been in Vanhoover a few times before, mostly on jobs though, so she rarely stayed for very long. Most of the buildings near the city center were several stories tall, nearly all being constructed with brick.
Of course, the true city center from when it was just a town and not a city was the docks, the building there being much older and lacking many of the more modern building techniques.
"So, Velvet was it?" Lemon turned her head and asked.
"Just Twilight is fine."
"Twilight it is!" She let out, turning her gaze forwards again. "I'm a bit surprised they sent a magus rather than just a guard or one of the boring suits."
"I asked for someone competent with magic based on the information I had," Minuette chipped in.
"You don't usually work with magi?"
Lemon shrugged. "Not really, we do most of the work ourselves. We only requests backup when we think there is a threat or something out of our capabilities."
Twilight blinked in surprise. "I'm surprised you can just do that, rather than getting bogged down with bureaucracy."
Minuette huffed. "Yeah, I can see that. I have heard nightmare stories about the Council of Magi."
Twilight nodded.
"Well," Lemon started. "We'd simply not get anything done if we were set up like that. It's why we report directly to the crown. Besides, the criminal charges for messing with temporal magic in ways you shouldn't are quite harsh."
"I have been wondering about that, actually. I assume both of you know some advanced stuff in the field if this is your job?"
Minuette snickered. "Something like that."
Twilight glanced at the unicorn, their face unreadable.
"Don't worry about Minuette, she's just grumpy about the subject."
Twilight nodded.
"Basically, the TIA snags up anypony that gets a special talent related to temporal magic," Lemon continued.
"Just like that?"
"Just like that," Minuette nodded.
"What if the pony wanted a different career?" Twilight asked.
"Then they are shit out of luck. Look, can we talk about something else?" Minuette scoffed.
Twilight nodded.
"I don't see why you need to be so grumpy about it. It pays well and is a constant paycheck, we don't actually need to do anything unless an issue pops up."
Twilight could hear Minuette grumble beside her as Lemon continued to lead the way through the city.
Twilight glanced at the worn saddlebag filled with yet another batch of peaches. The harvest had been better this year, she reasoned. She was about to sit down and relax when a familiar voice called for her.
"Mom?"
Twilight smiled and set off from the garden towards what had been her house for years. She lifted her bags off her back and placed them near the entrance; she could put the peaches in the icebox later.
"Yes dear?"
The unicorn teen was standing still, her eyes fixated on the old letter from Celestia that was still stuck to the wall.
"Your name is Twilight, right?" They turned their head and glanced at Twilight.
Twilight nodded. "That's right dear."
"How come I don't have a name? We have names for everything else, shouldn't I have one too?"
Twilight sighed, she knew this might come up at some point. She was honestly surprised it had taken this many years. She walked over and sat down next to the younger unicorn, giving them a brief nuzzle.
"Do you want one?"
The teen sat down and leaned against Twilight. "Yeah."
Twilight smiled. "Then you'll have to come up with one."
The unicorn remained there quiet for half a minute or so before they spoke again. "Can't you just give me one?"
Twilight was no stranger to the idea, she had asked herself the very same thing before. Yet it felt like stepping over some undefined line, something sacred that she shouldn't intrude upon.
"I could... But I think it's better if you come up with one yourself; it will matter more to you that way."
"Did you do that too?"
"I... no, I suppose I didn't."
Twilight gently put her hoof through the teen's long unkempt mane and started stroking.
"Then where did yours came from?"
For a brief moment Twilight considered just lying, or maybe deflecting. But she knew she couldn't do that, they deserved the truth.
"As I recall," she let out a sigh. "My mother named me. Twilight has been a family name for quite some time. The second half of my name she gave me just because of how soft and smooth she found me to be as a foal," Twilight couldn't help but smile at the memory. Her mother had insisted on telling the story to her once she was old enough to comprehend; then repeat it at every opportunity to embarrass her.
"So... I can also be Twilight?"
Twilight shook her head. "I already named my previous daughter Twilight," she could feel the tears coming. She tried suppressing the memories of her family as much as possible, but today there would be no fortification strong enough to hold them back it seemed.
The unicorn's ears became alert and she turned her head to face Twilight. "I have a sibling?"
"Two, actually."
The teen's eyes blinked in confusion. "Then how come I haven't ever met them?"
"Because," Twilight sighed as she felt the tears start to roll down her face. "They are outside of the wall."
Her companion's ears immediately fell. "Oh."
Twilight leaned over and nuzzled them.
"You must miss them," they whispered.
"Terribly."
"But... we'll meet them one day, right?"
"...I hope so."
"You said you had something to show me?" Twilight asked as she walked.
Wing Spark nodded. "I have set up enough safety contingencies so it should be safe to approach even for someone who does not have a talent for temporal magic."
Twilight glanced at the pegasus' cutiemark: A lightning bolt covered partially by a wing. For not the first time she wondered how that represented anything related to temporal magic.
"You know, you don't have to check me out, I'm already quite taken," Spark chuckled.
Twilight sighed and glanced the other way. "Likewise, I'm quite happily married I'll have you know."
"Good, I would have cause for concern if you weren't," the pegasus smirked.
The two came to a clearing, it didn't take Twilight more then a moment to discern its use. Spark's camp looked quite similar to her own but smaller, there was a shelter built from local wood and a small garden was planted in the center of the clearing. It did have one benefit Twilight's didn't: near the edge of it ran a small stream.
"This is nice," she complimented.
"Eh, it's serviceable. Between you and me I'm really sick of fruit and root vegetables, I can't wait to get out of this place so I can get my hands on some proper cooked meals."
Twilight nodded. "I do have some oat seeds I could spare if you want."
Spark shrugged with her wings. "Keep them, I don't really have the space for something like that here anyway."
Twilight hummed as the two walked through the clearing, clear past the farm and into the forest again. The rest of the trip was on a small trail, suggesting that wherever it lead was some place Spark had gone often enough.
"I'll warn you in advance, you can't go too close to epicentre. Not even I could survive direct contact with... well, you'll see."
"It's that dangerous?" Twilight pondered out loud.
"Yeah," Spark shuffled her wings. "Frankly I fear it's capabilities."
The walk through the forest took the two of them some ten to twenty minutes. Twilight wasn't entirely sure, she had lost most of her perception of time. The new clearing was quite a bit larger than the previous. Just a few short meters from the tree line a was the start of a circle that encompassed the entirety of it, one which was composed of what looked like obsidian chunks half buried in the ground.
Twilight could feel the hum of magic in the air, frankly any unicorn likely would considering the sheer amount swirling about. But the real thing that grabbed her attention was what rested inside the circle.
"Don't step over the circle, that's the safety ward."
Twilight nodded and came to a stop, she could feel a headache coming on already.
"Let me know what you see."
Twilight had to squint her eyes, it was hard to put it into words. "It's like... a lamp or the sun, except it's producing shade instead of light?"
The entire orb, if one could call it that when it wasn't round in the slightest, was larger than the tree line; and that was with the bottom of the thing being partially embedded in the ground.
"That's an interesting way to see it," Spark mused.
"What... what is it?"
"Now that's the big question. It's sort of a creature, yet it's kind of not."
Twilight turned and stared at Spark. "That thing is alive?"
"Eeeh, not really? At least not in the conventional ways we think of living things."
"That's... Well what can you tell me about it?"
Spark sat down with a sigh and rubbed her forehead. "We call it the Time Eater, it's a creature that lives outside of time."
Twilight frowned. "Outside of time?"
"Oh, right, hmm.," Spark glanced between Twilight and the supposed Time Eater. "I guess a better way to put it for the non-initiated is that it's a creature that lives outside of space. Normally we'd never be able to observe or see this creature, nor would we be able to interact with it from Equestria; the reverse is also true."
"But there is more to it than that, right? Otherwise you'd not consider it dangerous."
Spark nodded. "Sometimes it eats time, we don't really have a better way to describe it."
"So, what, weeks just lost to the aether?"
Spark sighed. "No, not like that... what is happening right now is a good example. It 'eats', and then as a result it causes a time anomaly; one that we have to go around cleaning up. That's why I'm here researching it."
Twilight nodded, it made some degree of sense.
Twilight dropped off the two buckets of water outside of the house, wiping some sweat from her forehead with her hoof. The more they expanded their field the more trips they had to take to the river for water. Still, having an abundance of food helped a lot, not to mention the variety was nice; she considered it all well worth the extra work.
It wasn't like she had much else to spend her time on.
"I'm back," Twilight walked inside, finding her charge absorbed in reading.
A few years ago Twilight had constructed two shelves, one to host any stories she wrote; the other with notes on the lay of the land inside the anomaly as well as any other relevant insights she had.
Twilight walked over and lightly nuzzled the seated unicorn. "Enjoying the tale?" She smiled.
That caused them to jolt. "Mom? Don't sneak up on me," they turned their head and returned the nuzzle.
"I did announce my return," Twilight chuckled as she sat down next to them.
Their ears folded back slightly. "I didn't hear you."
"It's alright dear. So, what's the occasion? Normally you insist on me reading these for you."
The teen grinned. "I like that more. But I finished all my garden chores a while back so I got bored."
Twilight smiled. "You could have practised magic, I know you're still struggling lighting a flame."
She turned to Twilight, her mouth scrunched. "But that's not fun!"
Twilight could only chuckled and shake her head. "Well it's alright, we all need to relax and unwind," she leaned over and nuzzled the unicorn lightly.
"Right!" The teen exclaimed before turning back to the tale she was reading.
It didn't take long for them to reposition themselves as to lean against Twilight. The contact of another pony was probably one of the only things that kept Twilight sane. She could barely feel what it was like being with Night Light anymore, she couldn't remember what it felt like to hug Shining Armor. If someone asked her to tell them what eye colour little Sparkle had, then she couldn't answer.
She grabbed and floated over her old hand mirror, letting it rest in the air in front of herself. She could of course recognise her own face staring back, the dishevelled mane from trudging through the forest multiple times in one day had become a reoccurring sight; she'd have to brush it all again.
If she squinted hard enough, then she could pretend that Night Light sat behind her, giving her a comforting smile; urging her to push onwards. She knew that he'd not want her to give up, not do something stupid. She was not a stranger to stupid thoughts, she'd had some less than a year into this mess.
Twilight glanced at the teen, engrossed in her reading. She couldn't just leave them to fend for themselves. It wasn't relevant anymore anyway, having meet up with Wing Spark at least suggested a light at the end of the tunnel. The pegasus had promised to take a few trips by air when she could to try and find Minuette.
Twilight re-angled the mirror so she could see both herself and the smaller unicorn. No one would likely object to the notion if she presented them as her own child; both of their coats were a similar shade of white, though Twilight's was a bit darker.
The main contrast between the two were their manes, Twilight's being a two tone purple and white, where as theirs was a very dark brown that could easily be confused for black at a distance.
"I... I think I have an idea," the teen spoke up.
Twilight sighed and floated the mirror away to an empty spot on the shelf. "About what?"
"For a name."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, after the hero of this story."
Twilight glanced over and read from the parchment. She only needed to read a few sentences to figure out which of her tales it was. It was one of the first few she had written, one that had proven to be a favourite. The tale told the story of a bird flying freely in the sky, before eventually being captured by a pony. The climax of the story had the bird mount an escape and make it's way home.
"They're a bird dear."
The teen turn head to face Twilight a bit better. "Is that bad?"
Twilight shook her head. "Of course not, though a bit unconventional for a unicorn."
They turned back to text. "I like the story, because they manage to escape from the cage the mean pony put them in. And-and they get to soar freely in the sky as far as they can go!"
Twilight wasn't certain if she had picked up on the subtext of the tale, but then again; her companion wasn't stupid. Many of her earlier tales she had written while here had similar themes; she had used them as a way to vent her frustration.
"Are you absolutely certain that you want this? Most ponies don't change their names, so make sure it's one you like."
The pony leaning against her nodded. "I'm sure," they put down the story and turned to Twilight fully. "I want my name to be Raven."
Twilight smiled and wrapped her hooves around her. "Then that's your name from now on, Raven."
The room Lemon had gotten them was far from modest, even if the establishment itself might fit that label. It was quite spacious and had three beds as well as plenty of space to move about. In one of the corners there was a sizeable table with four chairs surrounding it, three of which were occupied.
"Right, now spill."
Apparently Minuette had no patience for beating around the bush when it came to her job, Twilight reasoned.
Lemon shrugged. "Alright, alright," she let out a sigh before her smile faded, replace by a flat look. "The anomaly is much larger than we were expecting, it contains itself with no breeches."
"How large are we talking here?" Minuette asked.
Lemon's mouth scrunched. "Something like... seven to eight kilometres across, but it's a dome so the total area is much larger."
Lemon paused before eventually shaking her head. "No, it shouldn't. But there are other complications."
Twilight just tilted her head slightly, without additional context she wasn't sure if there was anything worthwhile she could chip in with.
"And those are?" Minuette asked.
Lemon sighed. "For one," she picked up a map from her bag and unrolled on the table. "The entire place is mostly forests with heavy underbrush. Ponies rarely go here and I'm unsure what the situation is with the local fauna. So finding the source once we get inside," Lemon tapped a hoof inside the large red circle she had drawn onto the map. "Will be quite tricky, since getting around will be hard."
Minuette waved her hoof. "We've done worse, plus we have a magus that can just blast away the underbrush if needed."
Twilight frowned. "I'm not sure how feasible that is, blasting away living plants with direct force will tire anyone out quickly."
Minuette sighed. "We'll figure something out, if we want to be certain we can bring gardening tools or whatever."
"Right," Lemon nodded. "That's not the part that has me the most worried though."
"Oh?" Twilight chimed in.
"Local reports suggests that a couple might have decided to go camping in the area. So we might need to provide aid to civilians too."
"Ugh, great," Minuette grumbled.
"If they are campers then they should be able to manage for a while, right? I mean, the two of you seemed certain that this wouldn't take too long."
Lemon and Minuette glanced at each other before turning their gaze to Twilight.
"What?"
"It's a bit more complicated than that..." Lemon started.
"Time does not move naturally inside things like this," Minuette continued. "This means that we might have to make it a priority to find these ponies first, before they end up walking into an early grave."
"That's..."
"This is especially complicated because the zone is so large, and we can't afford to split up. It might not be feasible to find them," Lemon frowned. "Celestia is not gonna be happy with this if they end up dead."
"It's not much we can do about it now, other than to go in as prepared as possible," Minuette shrugged.
Twilight shot Minuette a glare, she might be correct but these were lives they were talking about.
Lemon nodded. "Except that's not even the biggest issue."
Minuette frowned. "There's more?"
"The entire structure of this is unlike anything I have seen before. It has the signs of... well offender number one if you're catching my drift."
"Of course it does," Minuette grumbled, Twilight wasn't sure if her expression could be more sour.
"But even beyond that, there is something off about the entire thing, but I can't figure out what... I'd need to study it on the inside to be certain why it's so different from previous ones."
Minuette slumped against the table while Lemon turned her gaze down to stare at the map.
"So... You research this stuff then?" Twilight asked.
Twilight might be more for active duty than sitting around writing research papers on magic, but that did not mean she hadn't written a few back before she took her current position.
Lemon's ears perked. "Well, only some times. My special talent is time anomalies, so I'm really good at finding them, it's almost like a seventh sense. Of course, I'm also good at figuring out what they are and how they tick," she snickered. "But normally all that just comes to me, Minuette is the expert at actually resolving issues."
"Are you gonna share all our organisation's secrets while you're at it?" Minuette grumbled from her position against table.
"Eh, only some," Lemon waved dismissively.
Twilight licked her lips. "Admittedly all of this feels a bit out of my expertises. Before today I thought advanced temporal magic was mostly just a myth or a thing that masters of the craft like Star Swirl dabbled into."
"I wouldn't worry about it too much, you're mostly here in case we need extra firepower," Lemon shrugged.
"I'm not sure how much confidence that fills me with..."
"Anyway, that's about everything. We'll head off in the morning and hopefully resolve things quickly," Lemon flashed her a smile.
Twilight nodded, there were many questions that were floating about in her head but she was unsure if she would even get a direct answer to any of them. Sure, Lemon had seemed forthcoming, but the Temporal Investigation Association clearly had its secrets.
"Now, more importantly," Lemon smirked and turned to her coworker. "Will you join me for a dance downstairs Minuette?"
Minuette just groaned.
Twilight kicked as hard as she could with her hind hooves, striking solid against the tree trunk. Her reward was two apples falling down on the ground besides the tree. She suppressed a groan and sighed, she was no earth pony, that was for sure. If it was one thing she had picked up during her time inside the anomaly then it was just how much the other two tribes contributed to Equestria; it was a humbling experience.
Twilight had never really been a tribist like some of the other snobby unicorns in Canterlot were, but that didn't mean she hadn't picked up some bad assumptions over her years of growing up and living there. If she was a pegasus she could have skipped out on so many trips retrieving water from the river, and if she had the endurance and green hoof of an earth pony then all the farming would come easier. But no, both her and Raven were unicorns, generalised magic was useful, but Twilight had never learned any spells related to agriculture; and Raven certainly didn't seem to have a special talent for it.
She glanced over to the young mare pulling up carrots just a few paces over. Most ponies her age would have long since found their talent. Of course, most ponies her age also didn't skip several years of their foalhood nor had to spend their life stuck in a miniature bubble world with only one other pony for company.
Twilight sighed and reared up for another solid kick, this time she managed to get three apples to fall off from the branches. She knew earth ponies swore by this method, but she half considered just picking the apples with her magic instead. Of course, one of the reasons for this method was that only ripe fruit would fall, and Twilight wasn't entirely certain which ones she could pluck otherwise.
She heard snickering and hoof steps coming closer. "Not having much luck?"
Twilight turn her head towards Raven and sighed. "Not really, I'm not sure how the earth ponies manage."
"I'd like to meet one some day..." Raven shook her head. "I thought you'd gotten pretty good at it since we've had the peaches for a while now," she gestured with her hoof at the three peach trees on the other side of the garden.
"Somehow that was easier than this, I couldn't tell you why."
Raven grabbed an apple in her magic hold and floated it to herself, taking a bite. Her eyes widened. "Wow, these are good. I wasn't sure if they would be worth it considering how long it took."
Twilight shook her head. "These are much smaller and likely less tasty than most cultivated apples. But it's the best we could manage with just the two of us."
Twilight floated up one from the ground herself, taking a large bite.
It was the best tasting apple she had ever had.
Raven parted her overgrown mane with her magic and glared at the scroll on the table, eventually letting out a groan.
"Do I have to do this?"
Twilight rolled her eyes and sipped on her tea. "Yes dear. I'm not sure why you're grumbling so much over this, you have done mathematics for years."
"But that was easy, and this is hard," Raven whined.
Twilight could only snicker. She had tried keeping up with education for Raven, but a big issue was that she wasn't equipped to teach most subjects. As such the education she provided had leaned heavily into mathematics, writing, and magic. Even so, the young mare was likely behind others of her perceived age; Twilight had needed her help with the farming as soon as she was old enough to do so.
Things were more stable now, so she could dedicate more time towards teaching her. She had definitively taken after Twilight in some regards, vastly preferring writing to mathematics. Twilight glanced over to the corner shelf where they stored stories, Twilight wasn't the only one adding to it anymore. Granted, Raven's stories were not really that complex nor would they win any awards, but it did mean they had more things to cycle through for Twilight to read aloud. She giggled, Raven had never really grown out of hearing her tell stories, and in some ways she found that really endearing.
"It's not funny."
Twilight just giggled even more as she saw Raven's expression. "It absolutely is, especially when you're pouting."
Raven parted her mane with her magic again. "I'm not pouting," the definitively pouting mare exclaimed.
"Oh? Should I go grab the mirror?" Twilight held her hoof in front of her mouth, suppressing even more laughter.
Raven rested her head on the table and grumbled.
Twilight placed her metal mug on the table and got up, crossing their living space in just a few short steps. Things had improved a bit since she met Wing Spark, and while Twilight didn't exactly trust the mare, the gifts had been nice. The enchanted stones--while rudimentary--provided some much needed utility. All of them drew magic from the air on their own and produced various effects, even if they were a bit limited.
One was enchanted to collect latent magic till it was full, after that one could activate it and it would provide intense heat for a few minutes. It was great for cooking and helped the two of them avoid burning so much wood, which also reduced how many times they'd need to take trips collecting firewood. More useful than that though was the gem that continuously kept itself and the air around it cold. It had massively upgraded their icebox, and no longer did rely on the simple trinket she had gotten from the TIA.
The last two were less useful, one of them simply produced the same type of light spell that any unicorn above the age of ten would know. The last one was hollow and collected up moisture in the air, effectively functioning as a small source of water. The issue was that it simply wasn't a fast enough process to be very useful; they still had to make quite a few trips to the river.
Twilight came to a stop in front of the chest of drawers, it had been a new addition that she finished just a year ago. While she had no notions towards them getting any clothes, there were plenty of other items that could use a more organised home. She opened the first drawer and picked out one of the brushes she had made out of wood, before making her way back towards the table. Twilight couldn't help smiling at Raven having picked up the math problem again with renewed vigour. While the young mare might not see much benefit in it, she was stubborn enough to see a task through.
Twilight settled down behind Raven and carefully put the brush against her dark brown--and very messy--mane. Something which immediately resulted in a yelp from the mare.
"You don't have to do that," came the timid voice of Raven.
"Oh? So you'll do it yourself?"
Twilight could only chuckle as silence was her answer, she began brushing and immediately hit a snag; which resulted in a cry of pain.
"I don't know how you can stand doing it every day, it hurts so much."
Twilight shook her head, despite knowing that Raven couldn't see her. "It only hurts because you never do it dear," she continued brushing.
Raven just grumbled something under her breath in reply.
"You know, I have said it before: I can just cut your hair short, then you don't need to worry about it."
"No!" Raven exclaimed, turning slightly so she could see Twilight.
Twilight shrugged lightly. "Keeping a long mane does involve a lot of work; I'm not entirely sure why you insist on keeping it so long if you don't want to take care of it."
"I..." Raven turned back, facing forwards. "I have always had it long, and I like that?"
Twilight lot out a small sigh. "Well it's your choice. I do wish you at least picked a more practical mane style than just an unkempt mess, however."
It had been a nice day, Twilight thought to herself.
Indeed, in front of herself was what looked like any other forest trail, nothing indicated that just a few paces forwards was some invisible barrier.
Lemon smirked. "That's the deceptive part."
The earth pony had opted to wear something a bit more practical for the outing. Instead of a large dress she wore a scout get-up.
Minuette just sighed. "Let's get on with this so we can be done," she glanced to her coworker. "Are you certain this is the path the campers took?"
Lemon shrugged. "As sure as I can be, this trail should loop around to a campsite to the east. Meaning that if they went there, we'll find them on the trail or at the location."
Minuette grunted and opened up her saddlebag, retrieving a large package from within. "This is for you Twilight."
Twilight grabbed it in her own magic and looked it over: It was a decently large box wrapped in brown packaging paper and then tied together with thin rope.
"What is it?" She asked as she stuck the entire thing in her bag as best as she could.
"Emergency supplies. If we somehow end up separated, or if something goes wrong, then the first thing you should do is open that thing," Minuette explained.
Twilight frowned. "Why?"
"The types of dangers you'll find in there are rarely visible to the naked eye, as the temporal magic can run havoc. If neither of the two us are close by then we can't protect you."
Twilight gulped and nodded.
Minuette took a step forward. "We have delayed long enough, let's go."
Lemon placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder and flashed her a smile. "Relax, we'll be in and out in an hour or two, tops!"
Twilight gave a nod and joined Minuette. In unison the three of them stepped through the invisible barrier. The experience was weird, like a cold shiver progressively ran across her entire body.
Lemon let out a sigh of relief. "Well that wasn't so bad..."
Twilight glanced behind her, where once there was a trail that exited the forest, now there was only a flat white wall stretching up through the overhang.
"I don't recommend touching that," Minuette voiced.
Twilight turned to Minuette. "What is it-"
"Wait, don't move!" Lemon glanced from side to side with worry. "Something is wrong."
Minuette turned to the earth pony. "What do you mean?"
"Can't you feel it? The flow is completely asunde-"
Twilight's vision blurred, a cold shiver overtook her entire body as forest scenery flashed before her eyes. When things finally settled down she was standing in an open field. She barely managed to take a few steps in confusion before dizziness took over.
She could feel a massive headache coming on as she slumped over and emptied her breakfast in front of herself. Twilight could feel her dizziness increasing, and had the foresight to lean to her side as to not fall face first into the pool of stomach acid; the world slowly turning dark as her eyes closed.
Twilight wasn't sure how much time had passed when she awoke, but her throat was very dry. With a sigh she hefted herself up to a sitting position. After a quick experiment of channelling a light spell into her horn to make sure it was fine, she retrieved her water canteen and drank.
Taking in the sight around her revealed her to be in a large fielded area. There was no doubt that she was inside the anomaly, the white wall stretched up and onwards in the distance, reaching all the way up above the clouds in a curve. Another thing was also evident: she was alone.
'What happened?' Looking back at what she could remember, Twilight was certain they had reached and entered the anomaly... and then Lemon got really anxious about something?
Twilight blinked in realisation, the box! She quickly retrieved it from her bag and started unwrapping it. Once she got the paper off and opened the box itself, the first thing that greeted her was a letter.
If you're reading this, then that means that the very first thing you need to do is retrieve the included bracelet, I REPEAT: PUT ON THE INCLUDED BRACELET. It is more critical than reading this letter.
Twilight frowned, indeed, right under where the letter was rested a metal bracelet; in the center of it rested a hollow green gem filled with some kind of liquid. She picked it up and attached it to her left forehoof, it made a quiet humming sound for a few seconds before turning quiet.
Do you have the bracelet on? If no, do so now.
Twilight rolled her eyes and skipped forwards past all the similar warnings of danger.
With the most important thing out of the way, the first thing I must express is my apologies; this letter was never meant to be read. The things we at the TIA do are anything if predictable however, as such we have constructed a safety kit for those we bring in to help but don't have our expertise.
The bracelet you just put on is the most critical part, if you're working with us that means you're working with temporal magic. I will not bore you with complicated details, but safe to say that if it goes out of control or is done wrong with purpose, then the consequences could be very dire.
The bracelet will regulate a field of magic around you as well as expand and cover any living thing you directly touch. It will anchor yourself to what we call Equestrian Time, that is to say the way time flows in Equestria. If a spell is flung at you that is meant to displace you in time or manipulate time around you, it will have no effect.
Conversely, if you're in an anomaly, then despite your perception of time inside, your body will age at the rate time passes in Equestria. This is not perfect, it only regulates how inaccurate temporal spaces affects you. Meaning you won't simply fall over and age fifty years in but a moment, something which is a risk if you come in contact with an unpredictable flow.
Regardless, if you're reading this then you're on your own. The TIA agents you were working with will likely attempt to find you, and if they are unable we'll send somepony else to help you as soon as feasible.
If you're inside of an anomaly, then this might not be a quick process. You must therefore plan ahead, you're unlikely to have an infinite supply of food and water. Depending on how time is affects, whether or not it's day or night, as well as the terrain, your options may be limited.
But your very first focus should be finding a suitable place for potential farming, or a source of water. Included in this package should some useful tools as well as high quality seeds, some of which should be enchanted to grow faster.
Twilight dropped the letter, there was more to it, of course: it was closer to a small booklet than a paper. But Twilight wasn't sure she could believe it, planting seeds? That suggested she could be here for months. She glanced about with her eyes, the field, the wall, the forest in the distance. She could feel a panic attack coming on, she hadn't had one since her first job.
The places wasn't that big, Minuette would surely find her before the week was up, right?
Twilight trudged through the underbrush, using the machete she had gotten from Wing Spark when needed. Breaking through the last of it into a new clearing, she could hear the scribbling start up behind her again.
"You know, you didn't have to come. I'm more than capable to take these notes myself."
The scribbling stopped for a few moments, before it recommenced.
"Yes, but this is fun."
Twilight shook her head with a smile. She quickly walked over to the center of the clearing and settled down. Most of it was large boulders, so it was hardly the most comfortable place.
"Beats farming any day," Raven walked over and glance about the small clearing as she continued taking notes.
Twilight glanced up and compared their current location to her mental map, they were getting quite close to the edge of the south eastern quadrant. Any further trips to the unknown and Twilight practically had to cut through the middle; something she was not very keen on, least of all if Raven was tagging along.
The mare had all but insisted on coming along on her trips and help take notes. Twilight wasn't entirely sure what her companion found so interesting about it all, she had only started taking notes herself out of convenience. It was a good thing Raven's actual parents had brought a map, she herself had lacked that foresight.
"Mom? There's something here."
Twilight got up and walked over to where Raven was studying one of the many thorn bushes that ran alongside the edge of the clearing. At first she wasn't sure what she was looking for, not until Raven lifted the offending branch with her magic.
Attached to thorn was something brown and moldy, maybe only as large as her hoof. Twilight narrow her eyes and looked closer... it seemed like a piece of cloth?
"That's strange..."
She picked it up in her magic and pulled it off of the bush.
"It looks like the stuff our bags are made out of... cloth, right?"
Twilight nodded. "Yeah, but it's been sitting out here in the elements for quite some time."
Twilight wasn't quite sure what to make of it, especially since there weren't any other signs of anypony having been there. She frowned, this had to mean something, Wing Spark certainly didn't seem to bring her saddlebags around much. Plus, the pegasus would just fly, it didn't make sense for them to come down here. She'd have to ask her about it the next time she took a trip to the center.
"You got that look..."
Twilight blinked and turn to see Raven looking at her intently with a frown on her face.
"What do you mean?"
Raven tapped the top of her ink pen against the cloth. "This is important, right?"
"...yeah," Twilight managed.
"I'll be sure to take note of it then."
"Mooom, we don't have to, it's not a big deal. You know how bad the oat harvest was."
"Shush, I will not hear it," Twilight turned back to where she was preparing the crumble pie. "This is a big deal."
"I'm not a filly anymore."
Twilight chuckled. "I'm not so sure what with how you act sometimes."
She could hear the grumbling from the table as she finished the final touches of the pie. She lifted the metal pan and inserted it into the makeshift oven, nudging the gemstone just right with her magic to start it up.
"It's going to get burnt if you use that thing again."
"Hush," Twilight walked over and sat down at the table with Raven. "I know better how to manage it after last time."
Raven frowned, which in turn made Twilight frown.
"You shouldn't feel down Raven, this is meant to be a happy occasion."
"It's hard not to when we're wasting all of the apples and oats we had left on something frivolous."
Twilight didn't regret imparting the need for being conservative with their food to Raven. In fact, should anything happen to herself then she wanted to be sure the filly--now mare--could take care of herself.
But in return they sometimes had issues doing anything beyond what was strictly speaking necessary. They hadn't had to go hungry for years now though, taking the time for a treat every now and then wasn't the worst. Besides, worst come to wear then Twilight knew where they could scavenge for berries.
"It's not frivolous though, this is something to celebrate," she put on a smile, but Raven only glanced the other way.
Twilight got up and walked over, sitting down next to the mare and wrapping her hooves around her in a hug.
Raven eventually sighed and returned the hug. "I just don't get why it's such a big deal, why we had to rush back home."
"Every filly deserves a cute-ceañera, and honestly I have been expecting you to get your cutie mark for quite some time."
"Is it really that big of a deal?"
Twilight scoffed. "Of course it is: remember that moment when it came to you. The realisation, the euphoria of being so in tune with yourself? That's why it's important and why it's worth celebrating:"
Raven sighed before forcing a smile. "If you say so mom."
Twilight released Raven from her embrace. "Honestly," she scoffed. "I just wish I could do more to make this memorable. But I know you love crumble, so."
Raven licked her lips, and Twilight couldn't help but to chuckle.
"It tastes wonderful, and I can already smell it."
Twilight gave the other mare a light nuzzle before getting up. She did need to keep watch over the pie, as to properly make sure this one didn't burn too.
"Ah, you're here," Spark turned and flashed Twilight a smile.
Twilight gave a polite nod and walked up to the pegasus who was standing right up against the marked line, parchment with notes strewn all around her.
"I didn't see you at your camp so I figured you were here."
"Yeah, I have been focusing on getting as much done as possible," Spark bent down and started rolling up her notes, stuffing them in her bags.
Twilight eyed the Time Eater, how many of these monsters were there? How many pony lives had they ruined? As many times as she had seen it her feelings hadn't changed, she had no idea how Spark managed to be so calm and analytic about the demon.
"I wasn't expecting you yet for a few days, it's not been a month yet, has it?"
Twilight shook her head. "Not quite yet, no, but something came up."
"Ah, good, so I didn't lose track of the days again. It's kind of hard to keep up when they all blend into each other," Spark finished packing up her things and took a few steps closer to Twilight. "So, what's the occasion, did you finally find our two lost ponies?"
"I don't think so, but... maybe a lead?" Twilight picked up the piece of fabric from her saddlebag. "I found this two weeks ago in the south west. It might not mean anything but... well."
Spark's eyes widened. "That's cloth, right?" She glanced off to the side. "That means it's likely Lemon passed through that area..."
Twilight blinked. "Why Lemon? I would have come over sooner with it, but some other things came up and I wanted to scan it properly," she put the mundane piece of ripped cloth back inside her bag.
Spark returned her focus to Twilight. "You don't know? That mare is obsessed with wearing the unwearable. I'm not surprised some of it got torn... though," a smirk grew on her lips. "I'm gonna head back to my shelter for just a minute to deposit my notes."
Twilight didn't get a chance to answer before the pegasus launched herself into the sky, clearly being in a hurry. It wasn't too unusual, whenever they got an idea in their head they tended to act on it immediately.
It wasn't long till she heard the flapping of wings, signifying the return of Spark. Twilight's ears twitched, there was some other sound coming from the other side of the clearing.
"Sorry about that, I wanted to make sure that I had my notes in order," Spark smirked as she landed and took a step towards Twilight.
She didn't make it much further before a golden beam shot out from across the clearing, forcing the pegasus to jump backwards with a yelp in order to avoid being struck.
"I would take a step back from the pegasus, Magus," a voice called out from the direction the beam had come from.
Glancing over, Twilight's eyes widened. There was no doubt about it that the pony she was staring at was Minuette, though her mane was a complete mess, full of leaves and branches. She also had tiny wounds around her legs, likely from thorn bushes.
"Minuette?"
"Damn right," the cyan unicorn did not take her eyes off of the pegasus as she slowly stalked closer.
Twilight took a step backwards towards the trail and away from both of them, glancing at Spark revealed that the pegasus was smirking and focusing her attention at the unicorn.
"Aren't you two both from the TIA?" Twilight started.
Minuette huffed. "I don't care what sweet tales this filly has spun, she's not one of us," her eyes narrowed. "Which begs the question, just who are you?"
The pegasus shrugged with her wings. "Who's to say I'm not and you just don't know about me?"
"Hardly, now spill. I'd also like to know what you were planning to do with this abomination," Minuette gestured with her hoof towards the Time Eater.
"Oh, that? Psh, I'm simply studying the Time Eater, you know, something you've failed to do."
Minuette stopped her slow approach. "So you know of it and what we call it... and clearly you knew enough about us for a set-up. Who are you?"
Spark chuckled. "Does it really matter? Besides, it's not like I plan on sticking around. You can fix this and be a hero and we can all part ways happily."
Minuette narrowed her eyes. While Twilight took a few steps over to stand next to the unicorn, not letting her eyes leave the pegasus. She wasn't entirely sure what the situation was, but the pegasus had played their hand and outright admitting that they had lied about themselves.
"So all that stuff you said, it was all a lie?" Twilight shot, she could feel her temper rising.
Spark turned her eyes to Twilight and her smirk morphed into a more genuine smile. "A bit here and there, most of what I said was true though."
"Enough," Minuette barked. "If you're not going to be forthcoming, we'll simply bring you in the hard way."
"Oh?" Spark smiled and turned her eyes skywards. "I'd like to see you try."
Minuette smirked and lit up her horn. Twilight was about to ask what the plan was, but didn't get the opportunity. As soon as the unicorn's spell finished with a flash everything had changed. Twilight had to blink to make sure she wasn't seeing things.
On the ground in front of the pegasus lay Minuette, unconscious from the look of it. Behind them was another familiar earth pony in a similar position.
Spark huffed. "That takes a lot out of you," she shook her head as she caught her breath.
"W-what just happened?"
Spark sighed, looking more serious then she ever had. "What happened is that the two of them had the brilliant idea to try and fight me using their own speciality," Spark sat down. "Clearly they didn't have the mind to consider the facts they knew, the fact that I could do the same did not occur to them."
Twilight lit her horn, preparing several offensive spells in her mind. She was rusty, oh so very rusty. She'd never been the best, but she had been good. But had been over a decade since she last had to put her skills to use.
Spark seemed to notice it, as she focused her attention towards Twilight. "Look, I don't want to fight, especially not you."
Twilight huffed. "That's a bold claim to make after what just happened, not to mention outright lying to me."
Spark lowered her gaze. "That's fair... for what it's worth though, I didn't intend to drag anypony else into this."
Twilight fired off a powerful stunning bolt at the pegasus, she wasn't entirely sure what she was dealing with. But regardless, she had a job and she'd do it. She was expecting the pegasus to jump out of the way or to suddenly appear elsewhere, since that was apparently a thing these ponies could do.
What she didn't expect was for a yellow bubble shield to surround the unicorn, staving off the attack. Spark didn't even look up or meet her eyes, she only let out a sad chuckle.
"I came prepared, you know?"
Twilight took a few careful steps to the side. "How?" She narrow her eyes.
Spark grabbed her braided mane in her hooves and brought it forwards, flashing the pearls inserted within. "Enchantments, what else?"
Twilight considered her options, she had expected a pegasus opponent. But if they had the backing and preparation from a unicorn... who knew what spells they might access to?
"Look, I really don't want to fight. These two," Spark gestured to the unconscious ponies around her. "Are fine, maybe a bit worse for wear but nothing permanent."
Twilight huffed. "As far as I know you'd attack me as soon as I turn my back to you."
"Ugh, fine!" Spark snarled. "Look, clearly I can't say anything that'd make you trust me at this point. Not that you have much reason to, but I really don't want to see anyone come to harm."
Diplomacy had never been Twilight's strong suit, she licked her lips. Of course, by the point a magus was sent to deal with a pony it likely was well past the point for such things; she was expected to bring ponies to justice, not make friends.
"If you want to make things right, you could start by fixing this entire anomaly mess."
Twilight wasn't expecting much, but she needed to try and buy time to either come up with a better plan, or for buying enough time for the two TIA agent's to wake up.
Spark stared at Twilight, before eventually closing her eyes and sighing. "Fine, it's not like I'll be able to get anymore research done now."
Twilight glanced between the concentrating pegasus and the two unconscious ponies, seeming to have a clear shot she grabbed the two of them in her field and quickly floated them over to herself.
She'd barely sat them down before a chill overtook her entire body, it lasted but a moment before fading away. It was shortly followed by a large booming sound, making Twilight cringe and fold her ears; still she kept her horn a lit.
Something was missing though, the weird physical representation of the Time Eater was gone. She could see Spark slowly stand up, opening their eyes and facing her. A quick glance up revealed a clear blue sky, a sight she hadn't seen in years.
Twilight's eye twitched. "I thought you said you couldn't do it."
Spark shrugged her shoulders. "I lied," she slowly turned and started walking.
"That's it? You're just going to leave?"
"That was the plan, yes."
Twilight didn't let them take a single step further, firing off a scattershot of magic blasts in an effort to overwhelm the pegasus' enchantment. It worked too, the shield shattered after the majority of shots made contact, forcing the pegasus to jump to the side to avoid the last few.
Spark turn her head after a quick recovery, her eyes meeting Twilight's. "Look, just let me go, it will be easier that way."
"I don't think so, not after what you did here. Messing with temporal magic is a high level crime, even if I wasn't here specifically for it, it would be my duty to bring you in."
"Ugh, this is why I hate the magi," she turned around fully. "You might be the best magi I know Velvet, but that does not mean you stand a chance in a fight with me."
Twilight didn't wait for her opponent to act, she fire off another strong stunning spell before raising her own shield bubble; she cared not to wait to see if she had hit. It was a good thing too, because it was barely up before a sharp sound was heard and a metal ball made impact with her shield.
Twilight's eyes widened as she took in the pegasus, she was gripping what looked like a long barrelled flintlock. Twilight gritted her teeth, she hadn't expected southern weapons.
Knowing that her opponent would have to either spend quite some time to reload or switch over to something else, Twilight opted to teleport; appearing under the shade of the trees to the side of Spark.
The pegasus wasted no time in flinging her weapon into her bag and taking to the air. "At least you're tiring yourself out," she said as she flew upwards.
As much as she loath to admit it, she was tiring herself out. It didn't help that she'd spent the entire morning carrying water back to the farm. Nonetheless, she fired up a scatter shot of weaker stunning spells; she couldn't let the pegasus get further away or she'd struggle to do anything against them.
For a moment she thought her magic would hit, but right as they reached her there was a resounding pop of a teleportation spell. Twilight eye's widened and she glance about as to where they'd gone. No matter where her eyes scanned however, the pegasus was not to be seen.
After several minutes or so of quiet and no sight of the pegasus, Twilight started to relax. The entire thing felt strange, had they been honest in saying that they didn't want to fight? She couldn't imagine someone who pulled something like this to just sit idle; they'd be back, sooner or later.
Not to mention, getting someone to enchant a pearl for teleportation couldn't have been cheap, likely she had a partner then. Just what had Twilight gotten herself into?
"Mom!" Raven ran over, an excited grin on her face. "Look, the sky! It's finally..." she trailed off as she noticed that Twilight wasn't alone.
Twilight nodded. "I know, I finally ran into my associates and we solved the issue," she gestured with her hoof to the two ponies behind her. "Raven, meet Lemon Chrome and Minuette."
Raven's eyes slowly widened and she took uncertain steps backwards into the house.
"We'll, she's certainly shy," Lemon said with a light smile, the bags over her eyes telling how exhausted she actually was.
"I guess I should have seen that..." Twilight mumbled. "Can you two wait here for a bit and we'll pack our things?"
Getting two nods in return, Twilight slowly walked inside what had been her home for over a decade. Raven was hiding just behind the wall, clearly rattled by something.
"They are nice ponies Raven," Twilight walked over and nuzzled the unicorn.
"I... they are so different."
Twilight had to hold back a chuckle. "Of course they are dear, all ponies are different."
"I'm not sure what to do."
"Introducing yourself might have been a good start," she sighed. "You can do that later though. Grab your bag and pack what you want to keep, we're leaving."
Raven's eyes widened. "But this is our home."
Twilight sighed as she started emptying things she didn't need nor care to keep on the table. "You're right I suppose. But I have another home waiting for me in Canterlot."
Twilight turned when she heard snivelling, she could see the tears form in Raven's eyes. "W-what about me?"
Twilight blinked for a few moments before taking slow steps towards Raven, embracing her in a hug. "Of course you're welcome to join, for as long as you want. I'm not going to leave you now."
Raven squeezed Twilight tight.
"Besides, weren't you so excited about meeting Shining and Sparkle? You talked at length about how excited you were to meet them and show them your stories."
"I..." Raven nodded and broke the embrace, a small smile working it's way across her lips.
Twilight kissed the unicorns forehead. "Now, only pack the things you want to keep from here, don't worry about food or such."
With a light nod the younger mare was off, grabbing any and all things she had a connection to and stuffing it in her preferred pair of saddlebags.
As Twilight started to collect the things she wanted to keep, she had to constantly remind herself that she wouldn't need most of it, despite the memories made within these walls.
In the end, most of what filled her bags were the things she had written and some of the hand crafted tools she had made over the years. She packed only enough food that she thought the two of them would need on the trip back to Canterlot.
Raven was already done packing and by the door by the time Twilight finished trudging through their things and her memories.
"All set?" Twilight asked.
Raven nodded. "I think so."
Glancing back one more time to take in the sight, a thought struck her. "Just one moment," she said as she unpacked and levitated the old survival knife.
With finality she scratched one more tally mark against the wall.
"Okay," Twilight turned and nodded. "Let's go."
The two of them walked out side by side towards the future.
Celestia placed the final piece of parchment on the desk, closing her eyes. At first she didn't do anything, then slowly and surely she reached up and rubbed her forehead, letting out a deep sigh in the process.
The three of them were seated in a small meeting room in Canterlot Castle. At the head of the table sat the princess of Equestria, on the side Twilight and Raven were seated.
The dark maned unicorn was doing her best at looking anywhere but the princess.
"This is," Celestia finally said, opening her eyes and looking at Twilight. "Atrocious."
Celestia sagged, something Twilight had never see her do. "There's nothing I can say or do that would make things right for you... either of you."
Twilight took a deep breath. "This was hardly your fault, your highness."
"It might not be, but that does not mean I don't carry some burden of responsibility here."
Twilight nodded. "I'm happy just being back, it's going to be hard to pick up my life again... but I think little Sparkle will keep me busy," she smiled.
Celestia smiled. "I'm sure she will, foals can be a handful I hear."
"You never had any?" Raven blurted out.
Twilight had to resist the urge to bang her head against the table. She knew Raven didn't actually know how disrespectful she was being.
Celestia just chuckled and smiled at Raven. "I'm afraid not, duty has kept me from such things," she turned her gaze back towards Twilight. "I am serious though, if you ever need something, anything, let me know. There's nothing I can do to fully repay your sacrifice here, but I'll certainly try."
Twilight took a deep breath. "While I might not need anything, at least not right now," she turned and glanced at Raven. "Raven does. There's a lot about our society and Equestria that she does not know... as well as the details in one of my earlier reports."
Celestia's face hardened. "Yes, I'll make sure to make the proper inquiries. And worry not, I'll make sure she gets the help she needs to adapt, even if I have to do it myself."
"That's... probably not necessary your highness."
"Maybe not, but it's what a promising young pony like her deserves," Celestia smiled. "Am I wrong?"
Twilight shook her head. "Of course not," she turned and nuzzled Raven lightly.
Before the silence got too oppressive Celestia continued. "There's one thing I'm curious about though. There was nothing written about the return trip in your report."
"Well," Twilight glanced out the window. "It wasn't that exciting, I spent most of the time just writing up the final report."
Twilight shot Minuette a flat stare from the platform, Raven was practically glued to her side and anxiously glancing at all the ponies.
"So let me get this straight, you're not coming back to Canterlot and filling in a report?"
Minuette sighed before smiling. "Yeah. I know how it looks but, usually we don't want to bother the Princess directly. She'll get the report on her desk soon enough, and she'll get most of the important details from yours anyway."
"You know what, fine, I don't have the energy to argue this. What about Wing Spark though, aren't you worried about her causing more trouble?"
Minuette glanced to the sky. "I doubt it, besides, all we got is a fake name and from the sound of it a fake appearance. I'm sure me and Lemon will run into her in the future, she certainly knew a lot about us, but..." Minuette lower her gaze and meet Twilight's eyes. "That's our problem, not yours."
Twilight opened her mouth in shook. "Of course it's my problem."
"Is it? You were retiring last I heard. Based on what you told us I don't think this pegasus is going to be an immediate threat."
"But-"
"No, listen to me Twilight," Minuette sighed. "You're a good mare, you deserve to put this behind you. Sure, this is a problem for the TIA, one we'll have to resolve in the future," she chuckled. "But you're not part of the association, there's a limit to what you could even do. Heck, that pegasus managed to outmanoeuvre both me and Lemon in time manipulation."
Twilight closed her eyes before letting out a deep sigh. "Fine, but I don't exactly feel comfortable with the idea that someone like that is just... out there."
"Tell you what, we'll send you a postcard once we sack her," Minuette winked.
"That's-"
"Aaand there we go," the voice of Lemon butted in as she approached. "Two tickets to Canterlot."
"Thank you," Twilight grabbed the two tickets in her hold and gently put them in her bag.
She had to do a double take when she took in the earth pony, somehow in the ten minutes she was gone she had switched out to a long flowing red ballroom dress... which also really didn't compliment her colours.
"The train departs in ten minutes, so you should probably get going," Lemon said in her usual cheery tone.
Twilight's eyes widened and she glanced between the two TIA agents.
"Look, just... keep me in the loop, alright?" Twilight asked while nudging Raven and pulling her along towards the train.
"Will do!" Lemon cheered as she and Minuette waved goodbye.
Getting Raven through the city had been a nightmare, all the ponies moving about terrified her. Twilight sighed from her seat, at least the two of them had found a mostly empty carriage.
Twilight had made the unicorn take the inner seat next to the window, maybe that way she'd be less frightened if someone were to pass. She gently nuzzled her before returning her focus to her report, she'd rather write it while everything was fresh in her mind.
She was so caught up with it that she didn't notice the pony approach till they were right up in her face and clearing their throat.
"Well this is a surprise," came a scruffy voice.
Twilight lowered her parchment, eyes widening as she took in the pony in front of her.
"A.K? I didn't expect to see you here!"
A.K. Yearling smiled and took the opposite seat. "I was about to say the same thing to you. I was actually on my way to visit, I thought you'd be busy taking care of the foal."
Twilight's smile morphed into a frown. "I would have but..."
"But work came up, I can see as much. Who's the kid?" Yearling gestured with her head towards the spot next to Twilight.
"Oh, this is Raven," she lightly nudged the unicorn. "Raven, this is A.K. Yearling, a friend of mine."
"Oh I'd say we're more than friends, I'd never managed to publish my first book if it weren't for your editing," she smirked as she reached out a hoof towards Raven.
Raven just eyed the hoof with a weary expression. Twilight sighed and leaned over to whisper. "You shake it, it's a form of greeting."
"So, like a hug?" Raven said as she looked at Twilight, not at all minding her volume.
Yearling chuckled. "Something like that, except more formal."
Slowly Raven reached out her hoof till it made contact with Yearling's, who shook it very carefully.
"You're gonna have to tell me what trouble you got into this time Twilight."
Twilight just shook her head. "I probably can't, this stuff is classified."
Yearling narrowed her eyes. "That bad, huh?"
Twilight nodded. "Ever heard of the Temporal Investigation Association?"
Yearling pondered it for a moment before shaking her head. "Can't say I have, but based on the name it sounds like heavy stuff."
Twilight just nodded. "At least it's over with. From now on I'll spend the rest of my days writing adventure stories from the comfort of my home."
Yearling burst out laugh.
Twilight narrowed her eyes. "What's so funny?"
"What's so funny? I know you Twilight. You might think so now, but one day the itching for the thrill of adventure is going to return, I know it."
Twilight frowned. "After this, I'm not so sure..."
Yearling waved her hoof. "Eh, give it a few years and the kids are out of the picture, you're going to be back for it," a smirk firmly on her lips.
Twilight pushed the door open and slowly walked in, taking in the sights. She remembered, of course, but almost twelve years was a long time. Sitting in the living room reading was the pony she had missed the most: Night Light.
Slow steps turned into a trot, the unicorn behind her practically forgotten.
Night Light looked up. "Twilight?" A smile spreading on his lips.
Twilight threw herself and her hooves around him, she could not hold back her tears any longer, so she sobbed into his coat.
"Woah, are you alright dear?"
Twilight just nodded and cried, as her husband slowly wrapped his hooves around her back and rubbed her, she melted in his hooves. She could hear the hoof steps of what must be Shining Armor making his way downstairs; she could only smile.
