> Angels and Demons 2: Timelock
>  by lunabrony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Torn Apart
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Six months. Had it really been six short months, since he was plunged into a colorful world of talkng horses, dragons and magic? A world which several short months ago, he would have chosen his own insanity instead of admitting it was real? On Earth, Norman Bach had become a reclusive hermit, rarely ever seen. Here, Silver Key was thriving, with a lovely wife-to-be, an apartment, a horn. Everything was perfect. At least... it had been. He was running towards Angel, who was trapped in the fiery flow of a volcano, magma closing in on her from all directions. If only she'd fly away, she'd be safe, but she refused to fly. He called her name, over and over again, but she never seemed to hear him. The ground in front of him exploded as a rocky cage lifted up from the terrain, leaving him helpless as she was consumed by the magma, screaming his name. He woke up. That's always where he woke up, drenched in sweat. The other half of the bed he shared with Angel was empty, although it was barely sunrise. She had not been her charming, innocent self as of late. In fact, she'd been rather distant with him.

His headache sang in her absence. Perhaps it was the headache that called up these terrible nightmares. She couldn't be around him twenty four seven, however close they might strive to be. Gathering up his legs he brushed off some of his sweat, looking over to the spot where she usually slept. Testing, he brushed an arm across it, seeing if there was any warmth in it. How long had she been gone? His ears twitched to see if she was still in their apartment. Sighing a little, he buried his nostrils in her pillow and breathed deeply to remind himself of her scent. He'd tried getting her to talk about what was bothering her, his only idea was her insecurity about her wings and his clumsy attempts at making her comfortable with them.

Her scent came from the balcony. Winter Wrap Up had been a few days before, a glorious Equestria-wide event that he had not had a chance to participate in this time around, but had been very curious to see. Almost overnight, the snow had been swept away and replaced with fields of green. The temperature was cold, but just warm enough for her to be outside. The bed was cold as well, had she ever even slept at all last night?

Cold, either she had gotten out of bed very early, or she had never gotten into bed. The sheets were smooth enough that he suspected the latter. This had gone along far enough, she was his fiancee, they were going to get married in a not too distant future and if something was bothering her then he wanted to be there to support her. He rolled out of the bed onto his hooves and shook himself. He didn't feel odd not putting on clothes, he felt odd that it wasn't bothering him and on the whole he counted it as a plus. He walked out to the balcony. "Angel?"  He yawned. "You're up early."

She didn't turn as he approached her. He sensed her sadness, her anger, in just her body language. Her wings drooped,  her ears were laid back, her shoulders sunken. When she did at last turn, he could see the tears glimmering in her eyes. She spoke to him, and her words stabbed him just as effectively as if she'd been holding a blade. "I want you to leave." She said quietly, then hesitated a moment. "Not forever... I just want time alone first. Until I can decide if I want you back." Part of him suspected Novaria was involved with this, part of him suspected something worse.

He was surprised, shocked. His heart wasn't even processing the emotions he ought to feel, he felt a little stunned, his mind switching into gears trying to figure out what had happened. "Angel... what... why?" What had he done? Had he been too insensitive to her regarding her insecurities, perhaps he shouldn't have pushed her. "I don't understand Angel, what happened?" He wanted to step closer, come over, nuzzle her, but the way she carried herself made him hold back. She really wanted to be alone. Novaria? She liked him for his talents, but she had never liked that he was her daughters fiancee. However he suspected that it wasn't Novaria all the same, she wouldn't have gone behind his back. Unless he had misjudged her.

If looks could kill, he'd have been dead by now. Tears spilled over her eyes, her emotions conflicted, as if she didn't believe the words coming out of her mouth, but at the same time just couldn't bear to look at him anymore. Her tone was dry and hardened, a little spark of innocence had been lost. "You know why, Silver." She said calmly. "I've been reading."

He didn't have to ask what she had read. But he had wished it would never be. They'd stopped going to the library for a long time. Had she gone anyway? Of course she had... she had always asked him about it, and he had always kept her from knowing it. His ears folded and his tail hung, and he lowered his head in shame.  "Angel…" He didn't know what she had seen, or whether she thought he had been in any of the wars or things she'd read. How much had she understood. Too much, he decided, but the damage was done. "Angel, we can talk about it, I'll answer any question… I'm sorry you had to see all that." Had Novaria penned down what he had told her, and what had she penned down?

"No." She said, shaking her head. "You lied to me, and I don't understand why." Ponies still lied in Equestria, but not to the extent they did on Earth. "I don't know how to believe you anymore. You put me in danger, all those times I went to Earth by myself, I could've been... could've been..." Could've been what? Attacked? Raped? Kidnapped? Killed? She backed away from him. "Just go, please. I'll find you when I'm ready."

He wanted to reassure her that she had been safe when she had been with him, but he remembered the incident in the library. If it hadn't been for Alicia he wouldn't have known what had been about to happen. "I'm sorry." Silver said, his heart was breaking. "I really am Angel, I'll go…" He said and… he teleported. Didn't even bother to specify a direction except that it was ground level, somewhere a few hundred feet away. Probably over a pond by his luck, thankfully not inside a wall, the new teleport spells were good at preventing that mishap from happening. He poofed out at some random spot, always feeling drained from the exertion required.

Just his luck, he landed in a fountain. Angel had always been so kind to him, and she looked absolutely destroyed. It was impossible to know exactly what she'd read or how much,  but it had been enough. The dull throbbing began in the back of his head, he may very well have to call upon Alicia at some point. The sun was barely risen, just after sunrise. He was considering going back to Earth, when a bright light appeared before him. At first it was just a glowing sphere, but slowly began to take a shape. The shape of a pony. As if that wasn't enough, it spoke to him. "Silver Key!"

Climbing out of the fountain, drenched, shaking himself off, probably taken either for a cider-laden unicorn who had tried for a quick trip home, or for a teleportation beginner still out of practice. A nice big jug of cider would be just the right thing right about now. The sight of a pony materializing out of nowhere blinded him a little and he shielded his eyes with a hoof. Interesting, he'd sent himself to a random spot and someone showed up. Coincidence was unlikely. Someone was watching him. It wasn't Novaria though. "Yes... I'm Silver, who are you?"

The large sphere seemed to be made of light and fire itself, and his brain slowly processed this. It wasn't just a random appearance, it was an ethereal projection. And only a couple ponies were powerful enough to do that. As the form took shape, within the glittering fires he could make out not just the shape of a horn, but large majestic wings as well. "I need your help, Silver Key. You must get to Canterlot Castle, as quickly as you can!"

There was only one pony this could possibly be. "Yes Princess Celestia, I'll get right there!" He smiled weakly,though there was always the off chance that this was Luna. The voice commanded respect and dignity, ergo it wasn't the new princess Twilight who from the few friendship speeches he'd seen her give, though confident was young. This was the voice of a majesty. Luna was unlikely, she was rarely seen in the morning. Also her magic tended to be shadowy and dark. He genuflected. Something to get his mind off things. How had Angel come to read... and what had she read? Who had given her something to read? Puzzle solving. No answers presented themselves at the moment, the pieces weren't all there. He wondered whether the trainyard left for Canterlot this early, although the Castle was merely on the other side of the city. Teleport? His headache mingled with a throbbing sensation in his horn, better not. But his only alternative was to run. He'd have to suck it up. Teleporting would be faster.

The Princess sounded urgent. Scared, almost. "Luna has spoken of your abilities most highly. I have a conundrum for you to solve, Silver Key. The fate of Equestria may depend on it. Please hurry! I will do what I can here to hold it back." The pony of light burst into fragments, and sizzed into smoke as the fragments hit the ground. Something was wrong.

He looked up through the spires of Canterlot, to where castle straddled the mountain. A unicorn, he'd break wind soon enough and it wasn't good for his headache. Deciding that there would be medical assistance up on the castle, but that there was an even faster way to get up there he rushed up to nearest royal guards with wings patrolling the city streets. "Silver Key, Princess Celestia contacted me urgently I need a quick trip to the castle pronto." He held a shard of the ethereal projecting that had been left, hoping it was proof enough. If not, he had a gem that might be good bribe. Then again the royal Canterlot guards were moral to a fault, a bribe might send him to a jail cell... but since that was in the castle, that would still work to his advantage.

If it was or was not enough, he was not told. If the guards did or did not believe him, he was not told. However, between something he did and something Princess Celestia had told was enough. The guard nodded, and touched his horn to Silvers own. There was a brief flash and a moment of disorientation, and he found himself outside the Castle gates. He was ushered inside, the gates swinging open to accommodate him. "Princess Celestia is expecting you in her throne room immediately." One of the guards said politely.

Silver's headache was singing an aria about how much agony was in his skull. He rushed through the gaudy corridors and up the wide stairs, bursting into the throne room. Being friends with Angel, he had been through here without it being a tour, though he'd never had an audience with the regal princesses, except his short brush with Luna where he had asked her for her blessings.

Something was wrong. The throne room was empty. But he'd been told to come here, where was Princess Celestia? Or at the very least, Princess Luna, if Celestia was going to be late? His head hurt and his eyes needed a moment to adjust. Something was moving at the far back of the expensive room, something large and bright purple. But it wasn't an organic being, what WAS that?

Alarm clocks started ringing. He was a unicorn but he didn't know any form of defensive or offensive, firstly because magic like that was deemed dangerous enough that it was taught to very few unicorns, and secondly he doubted his meager horn could punch a hole into anything if he wanted. He decided against giving away his position just yet by announcing himself. The princesses would know he was there, and if they weren't here when he arrived… the Celestial figure had said something about holding something back. Keeping close to the door he tried studying the purple spectacle.

It was a light, no, that wasn't right. A bubble. It started at the back of the room, encapsulating everything it touched. Wall to wall, ceiling to floor. And it was moving towards him at an alarming speed. From a side hallway barreled a brown earth stallion, with an hourglass on his flank. He took only one look at Silver, an expression of urgency and fear on his face. "Run!"
Something had definitely gone wrong. He didn't know the earth pony next to him, but he judged his assessment of the situation was as good as any and ran back out of the large set of doors, holding them open for that pony, in case he wanted to follow. The castle doors were fairly sturdy. He had no idea whether they resisted magic, but seeing as Luna and Celestia were magical users, them not reinforcing the doors with magic would seem odd. Then again ponies weren't always known for the strategic forethought.

The bubble was fast, too fast. In the moment he stopped to hold open the door, they caught up with him. The earth pony was gone, which was absolutely strange seeing as he hadn't come through the doors, he'd only been there a moment ago, and there was no other way out. But either way, he was overtaken by whatever it was that had consumed the throne room. It hurt for only a moment, and then he found himself completely blind.

No, not blind. Everything was still in its place. The door in front of him, the throne room behind him. It took him several minutes to regain his bearings, and finally become able to see the chaos behind him as his eyes adjusted to the overwhelming darkness. The beautiful, decorated throne room he had been in only moments before was completely destroyed. The thrones for both Princesses had been torn apart and broken, and lay useless, overturned. Rats scurried among the debris. The chandeliers hanging from the ceiling had long since fallen to the ground, their crystals deformed and irreplaceable. But perhaps the most heart wrenching sight was the stained glass lining the windows. Somepony had once spent hundreds of hours on the half dozen or so works of art, and every window was now smashed, thousands of pieces of multicolored glass lined the hallway. Not even a puzzle solver could put them back together.

An explosion? He checked himself, except for a headache that was its constant irritating self, he was fine. Magics could do strange things, but if it had been any of the energetic explosions he would have been affected. Something was off about the surroundings. Not just broken apart by an explosion, it seemed... old, decrepit. Not a teleport spell. Time travel? He looked out of the door he had come through, was it as bad out there as in here?

The door was still there, everything was still there, yet different. The pedestals which had moments ago held pots of dirt with sprouts just beginning to peek out were now empty and covered in dust. Windows were cracked, only a few remained completely intact.

Seemed time travel was the explanation. He'd seen a pony with the cutie mark in the shape of an hourglass. Though he was training to be an advisor to Novaria in time, he had never come across anything resembling time travel like this. The little he had heard about it was something fairly unstable spells. This world kept throwing him for a loop. Everything was possible. A pang of pain in his head made him shut his eyes for a little while, waiting for it to go away. Okay think logically Silver… he had been sent into the future how far. Could he get back? A stab in the heart.. if he had gone very far into the future, Angel would only have known that he had suddenly vanished. The castle was in shambles… the princesses weren't around. Things were off. Time to investigate. He crept through the castle, going out to one of the balconies to take a look at the city, was it any different?

Was it any different. Was anything the same? The ponies, so rich and fabulous and uppity in their Canterlot lifestyles, had been reduced to wearing burlap sacks. Some did, some didn't, but that seemed to the only fashion that existed now. The sky was dark, he'd apparently been hurtled several hours off, but there was at least the courtesy of streetlamps lining what had once been roads. Where there had once been houses there now appeared to be large fortresses of mud and clay instead. 

This wasn't the Canterlot he knew by a long shot. He'd be able to recognize it. Had he been sent into the past or the future. There were streetlamps.. this was the future, he remembered those being there in his own time. Things had decayed, something had gone very wrong, but where? The princess had been fighting something, holding it off… then he'd arrived in time to see a sphere engulf the throne room, had it taken the princesses? Then why had they arrived here. Far out possibilities existed if time travel was involved, though he ruled out the idea that someone had gone back in time and removed the princesses before they became princesses, because if that was the case then he couldn't have known about it either. His head swam with agony. He hoped they had the equivalent of aspirin where he was. The situation looked rather bleak. With a deep breath he steeled himself, time to get out of the castle and figure out what had happened.

If the Princesses were still around, though he could remember them, he couldn't sense them. Then again, they'd always been very private, and only communicated when they wanted to. He couldn't sense Angel or Alicia, efforts to reach them went unanswered. His best hope laid with the Canterlot ponies trotting about their daily lives.

Hi I'm from the past, what year is this? First order of business a disguise of anykind, he had a particularly recognizable cutie mark, but burlap sacks was what most of these ponies wore. Get a similar one and dress for the occasion, he looked for newspapers, signs, anything that would tell him indirectly when he was and what had happened.

The streets, as they always were, were busy with ponies going about their day to day activities. A food stand here, a clothing stand there. The streets were dirty, and finding a disguise was not particularly difficult. He could go to the clothing stand, or he could just as easily go to one of the food carts and request one of the bags that were piled up behind the table from the days earlier deliveries.

Opting for the latter he chose and opportune time to ask one of the grocers if he could have one of their large spare bags. A little modification and he'd have himself a hooded cloak that would cover his cutie mark and make if not invisible, then at least not as easily recognizable. It would not hide him from someone really determined to spot him, but it would make it harder.

The grocers were kind, and a bag was handed over to him, free of charge. They were most likely just going to get thrown out anyway. A young voice called to him, and a colt manning the nearby fruit stand waved to him. "Oi, mistah!" He called, most likely looking to strike a deal. Most vendors were.

Fruit, no thanks kid. If you happen to have industrial strength painkillers I'd take it by the pound. That's what I really want, thought Silver to himself. It was Angel he wanted more than that, suddenly she had been seen something he'd wanted her to remain innocently ignorant of. In his own selfishness. Wanting her to be innocent and perfect, yet still able to have a relationship with her. "I'm not particularly hungry kid." He excused himself, trying to find out what had happened would be difficult. Were the princesses still here in this world? If they were, how was the castle in such a ruined state? Either something had changed in the past... and Silver had gone unaffected, or this was the future after which the princesses had been removed from power somehow. The headlines of a newspaper would tell him the answer.

The town square was bustling, a typical weekend. If the ponies were distraught at living in mud huts. they didn't seem to be complaining. And at the very least, if a newspaper didn't give him answers, surely a carefully worded question would. The newspaper vendor, a shivering green unicorn, locked eyes with him as he approached. "Y-yes? C-can I help you?" She turned her head to sneeze, before giving him her attention again.

The headlines of the newspaper. "Considering purchasing a paper, but I'm a little short on bits." He decided against creative questions right at that moment.. and then of course he got an idea worth using. "Any scandals worth reading about?" Scandals always involved the rulers, whether the regal sisters or any others in the hierarchy down to town mayors and the movers and shakers. However the question would avoid showing his ignorance.

The unicorn, who presumably had a cold, shook her head. "Oh, you poor thing. Here, take a paper for yourself, no charge." She said kindly. "There really isn't anything worth mentioning. And if there was, I doubt the Princess would do anything about it. You know how she is, I don't think she's ever made a single public appearance."

The princess, not the princesses, not plural. This was different. Which princess was it? Well he had established himself now as someone interested in scandals. "I don't think they'll catch her with her... wings down" He had almost slipped into a human expression. "Er... exposed, doing something embarrassing. Town mayor on the other hoof, now that's different." He had a strange suspicion. First figure out whether the date had changed. Had he time travelled at all? Then see if he could find out the name of the princess.

The unicorn smiled. "I'm sure she's just very private, there's nothing wrong with that. She runs the town alright, anyway. Since we don't have houses anymore, we don't have to pay taxes anymore, and everypony is thrilled about that." She seemed oddly charismatic about not having a home, but perhaps it was just his imagination.

Same point in time… it made absolutely no sense. He folded the newspaper and handed it back. A reclusive princess who mismanaged the town. It didn't explain why ponies seemed as happy as they did. A new level of asceticism, no, in that case the castle would have been torn down. "Do you know if anyone has ever taken a picture of her? Ever?" This was pushing it a little, but he was in the curious cat role. Someone interested in scandals in secrets exposed.

It was not an entirely unheard of question, many wondered who she was. The unicorn shook her head, sneezing again. "I'm afraid not, nobody knows her name, what she looks like, or where she comes from." She shrugged.  "But we shouldn't be talking about her. Can I get you anything else?"

"No thank you." The newspaper was handed back. A stab of worry in his heart. He tried to think. Assume time travel, someone had gone back and done... something. Celestia and Luna had found out and summoned him, but when he had gotten there they were gone. And that sphere… and some pony with an hour glass cutie mark. Time had been altered and he had been caught in its wake and somehow escaped its effects? However he didn't want to wonder anymore, he wanted to know, he rushed back to where his and Angel's apartment had been.

For some reason, although the houses were reduced to mud, the apartments were still there. They were worn down and looked as if they hadn't been used in months, but still there. His apartment, the one he had spent so many nights cuddled against his love, was empty, save for a desk and a table and a bed. Angel was gone.
> Timelock
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The smell that came from the apartments was foreign. It was old. It was abandonment. It wasn't enough that Angel simply wasn't here, she had NEVER been here. Her scent, her very presence, had been completely removed. There was nothing here except himself, dust, and memories that'd never happened. Silver hadn't seen any guards at the castle, which was strange. He could possibly find answers there, for a princess who was so reclusive, it didn't seem she had any need for protection.

There were things that didn't fit together properly in his head. The absence of the royal sisters was the most important. Likely the unicorns could still raise and lower the sun and moon by joining forces, but when had the princesses ceased to be? If someone really had tampered with the timelines, then when had the tampering been done? There were history books in the Canterlot library, which was inside in the castle. Now he had two reasons to go there. Making sure his disguise was close fitting, he stole away out of the window and teleported in a few jumps towards the castle. The headache made him instantly regret such an expenditure of magical energy. He'd yet to find anything resembling a painkiller, and despite patient tutoring from Angel, and no lack of motivation, he'd never been able to cure his own headaches.

The headache was beginning to become  barely tolerable. Alicia had been the only other creature who bothered to cure him whenever his headaches started up, and she was just as absent as Angel was. What if they were both dead? No, that was unlikely, Alicia had said she was a thousand years old, she wasn't about to just keel over now. The castle was a wreck, completely abandoned, every room he entered looked as if the Hulk had smashed through it. Someone really hated this place.

He had become moderately proficient at magic. A teleportation spell was not easy by any stretch of the imagination, and if Angel hadn't been instructed in the art in her early princess training, he wouldn't have picked it up. She had mercilessly drilled it into him. He could sense magical aura's, but he didn't feel any more able of unlocking them than someone who could solder things together as a hobby; he wasn't any more able to deactivate a complicated security system. Feeling the etheral magic with his horn, or its absence, and using all his mundane senses to full use he slowly entered the castle. To either bump into the princess or find an appropriate history of Equestria to read.

The Library was his first stop, a room which had seen many times on his tour of the Castle with Angel. Of course several sections of the Library were under lock, key and guard, but the majority was open to the public. As he rounded the corner and got his first glimpse of the regal room, his heart stopped. Perhaps some part of him had expected, hoped, it would be the one room left alone, but it had been  hit hardest of all. Everything had been burned. The walls and shelves were scorched and blackened, useless scraps of barely readable yellowed parchment littered the floor, some had floated out into the hallway.

That this place was hit so hard indicated that someone had intended it to be hit like this. It hadn't simply been the result of whatever explosion he had seen at the beginning of this. Someone had meant to erase all traces of the past. He spent a little time hoofing through the burned remnants of reading material, but judged that it was a hopeless task, there would be nothing here to read. Closing this possibility, he tried to think of where to go next. First in search of the reclusive princess, who seemed to need no guards, and if that failed he'd have to find some way of figuring out where and when things had gone wrong. And what had changed.

As he rummaged, a voice filled the air. A voice that was masked by very simple magic, one designed to ensure anonymity. He couldn't tell if it was male or female, only that it was directed at him. His first encounter with, presumably, whoever had done this. "Looking for something, Silver Key?" It came from all directions at once, any unicorn with an affinity for magic could do basic auditory projection.

Someone who knew his name, obviously not a pony from this timeline. "You should know, shouldn't you?" He said defiantly standing tall, he didn't have much in the way of power, but there was no need to cater to magically powered antagonists. It was a guess that the voice belonged to someone involved with had happened, he'd find out soon if he was right.

The voice didn't seem to have any plan on showing itself, and continued. "Your wannabe-detective demeanor was cute at first, Silver Key. But it's really beginning to annoy me. And if there's anything you don't want to do, it's annoy me. So I'm going to tell you once, and one time only. Leave, and do not come back."

"I would love to." He stood up on his hind legs and held out his arms invitingly. "Send me back to where I was, back in the real Canterlot, not this facsimile or whatever it is you or whoever you work for has turned it into." Tactically this wasn't the best thing to do, but if the pony or whatever creature it was would show itself he would have more information. Then again, he might also find himself trapped or worse. It was a gamble.

The voice just laughed. "You're bold, I like that. But you don't seem to understand, Silver. You're in a Timelock, and there's nothing you can do about it. You want so badly to put things back the way they were, but you're wasting your time. I've already won. Goodbye, Silver Key." With that, he felt his hooves lift off the floor, and he was thrown through one of the broken windows at what felt like a thousand miles an hour. Wind rushed around his body, and his head exploded. Unable to take any more pain, he quickly entered a world of darkness.
...
He wasn't sure what had happened, or where he'd ended up. His eyes slowly fluttered to life. He was in some sort of small room, lying on a grass cot. A soothing aroma filled the room, one which could only be described as a mix between herbs and medicine. Oh good, presumably someone had found him and brought him to a hospital. Even in this unstable reality, he could still rely on the kindness of ponies.

The pain of his head wasn't singing Ode to Agony, he could think again, and take in the world around him. First simply by scent, taking in the exotic and herbal smells through his nostrils. There was a healthy atmosphere here, it made him feel good and at home. Though no scent of Angel. He missed her. How had it ended on the note it had? It couldn't end there. He wouldn't let it. Opening his eyes he looked for his benefactor.

There was no one in his room, but he caught a watchful eye observing him from outside the door. As he struggled to sit up, a black and white equine entered, pushing in front of her a bowl filled with various soups and herbs. His head didn't hurt in the slightest. She cast him a look of amusement.
"You should really stay out of the sky, 
when you lack the wings with which to fly." 
She looked him over, astonishingly, aside from a few bandages around his middle, nothing seemed to be broken.

"I..." He ground a little as he sat up. "A run in with someone who had decided to be against me." The voice was unfamiliar to him, and the rhyme was humorous. It was a good spirited pony, he decided. Whoever had thrown him out of the castle had been powerful and cruel. And for some reason considered Silver Key a significant threat. That counted as the ego boost for the day, but why? He hadn't done anything... yet. His head span from considering how the temporal mechanics might work. "Thank you… where am I?"

The zebra, for that was the only thing she could possibly be, left the cart by his bed. She was kind, at least, if somewhat eccentric. 
"If you seek to find where you may be, 
you'd find yourself in Everfree." 
She replied, gesturing to the cart, for him to eat and drink what she had brought. It didn't seem she spoke without reason to.

He helped himself generously, it seemed the food situation would be a bit shaky now that he didn't have stable income. This, zebra, weren't zebra's ponies as well he wondered, had a good disposition. He was good at mysteries, but not always a sound judgement of character, but he wanted to stake a bet here and he had little else to go on. Finishing some large roots he decided to take the chance. "Have you ever heard of the regal sisters, Celestia and Luna?"

Sadness. That was the look that overcame her features. A look of pained nostalgia, as she paused in her movement of opening the curtains. 
"It's been a long time since I heard their names, 
but I know them both, all the same." 
She said simply.

"If you can, tell me as much as you know, why aren't they ruling Equestria? Why aren't they in Canterlot? Do they even raise and lower the sun and moon?" He was giving things away with what he said, and he wasn't sure what she'd take him for. Someone who had woken from a coma, or had been frozen as a statue until the spell had finally released him? Someone with amnesia?

As she opened the curtains, he feared he had half of his answer. Instead of sunlight, darkness poured through the window. It was just light enough to see extremely creepy looking masks and decorations lining the walls of the cottage. He realized it had been dark ever since he arrived here. The zebra seemed equally surprised by his questions.
"My spells and wards are not just for show."
You mean to tell me, you do not know?"

His thoughts swirled. I've been a statue for a couple of decades, my fiance broke up with me, left me in a garden staring into a wall. It only broke when she left this world... Or I'm a coma patient, I've been sleeping for about as long, or longer. Or I bumped my head worse in the fall than you thought. Or time itself has been altered, some pony traveled in time, messed things up and I seem to be only one who remembers anything. These were all arguably silly excuses. He trusted her, but he had to be careful how much information he divulged. "I don't know, the world wasn't like this yesterday from my perspective, and now it is. One minute Celestia and Luna are the rulers of Equestria, and the next Canterlot has been reduced to a dung heap, my fiancee has never even been to our apartment. I don't even know if she exists." Check Evodia, in a timeline without him she would either have continued her healing arts there, or if need be, ascended to the throne despite her disposition against it. "The royal castle is trashed, the library burned down… Timelock." He remembered the words. "That's what she called it. You're in a timelock, Silver.'"

"A Timelock? That's a very good start.
For it is a forbidden art." 
The zebra suddenly sounded worried.
"A Timelock is as reliable as a dull knife,
for it can only be used once per pony, per life."
She explained. She seemed to have bought his statue story, for now.

He had briefly heard about Starswirl the Bearded's time travel spell, mostly since he was considering all sorts of ideas to help Evodia get an edge up against magical threats. A fairly useless spell. Except someone had obviously abused it to its theoretical potential.  Its main use was to find out what had occurred in the past, but it was hard to find specific moments where it could be applied. Hence it was locked up, to prevent exact things like this from happening in the first place. "I haven't heard about Timelocks… and what happened to Celestia and Luna? I notice that the sun and moon haven't been raised." Only nighttime. Only darkness. The spells for doing that were surely in the library which had been burned down. And no one had figured out how to do it since? The world locked in a permanent twilight? How could plants even grow?

The zebra sighed. 
"There is no need for light anymore. Nightmare Moon has seen to that.
It's dark and cold, and we live like rats. 
Much of Equestria is barren, we grow our own food,
despite the extremely depressing mood."
She looked out the window, clearly upset by the way things had turned out.
"Nopony has seen Celestia in a long while,
not since the day she was forcibly exiled."

This was enough to give him hints, but it was still not much to go off. He tried to recall and address that princess Twilight Sparkle had given, she had been the bearer of the element of magic, which was one of a set of strange elements that embodied harmony. They were deeply tied to a powerful source of magic, which she together with her friends had mastered. They had stopped some fairly powerful foes, and had returned Luna to what she had been prior to having become this Nightmare Moon. In this world this hadn't happened for some reason. He had read some reports on the princesses, to see who they were and where they had come from. Twilight had been a gifted student of Celestia prior to moving to a village some ways away from Canterlot… the other bearers of the elements had been living there. Nightmare Moon had kicked her out? This was possible of course. "Do you have something that can soothe a powerful headache? I think I'll risk telling you the whole story." He wondered if she'd be able to tell that he was telling the truth.;. or if she could, whether she would believe in it.

His host nodded.
"I have many soups that will quench your pain, 
but eventually it will start up again." 
She called to someone outside the door, had someone been listening in on him this whole time?
"Dear, fetch the herbs for his headache, 
while I listen to his tale of whats at stake." 
She commanded gently. He saw nopony outside the door, only a faint rustle and faint clop of hooves.

He was a bit suspicious about who was listening in, though it was something he'd have to trust the zebra on, not wanting to wait until he was absolutely sure that no one was around to listen to him. When she was ready he told her all his story, coming from another world, ending up in Equestria and proposing to the love of his life. That part he skipped through a bit. He told her of Equestria as he remembered it, as much as he knew of it, and how that had changed. "…and I woke up here, knowing not much more other than a Timelock spell is at the heart of it."

The zebra began to pace, thinking. 
"Then I'm afraid you must set your sights 
on restoring what you know is right." 
She looked thoughtful. 
"If what you say is true, 
the only one who can stop it... is you." 
She shook her head. 
"Your story explains a thing or two.. First, you say you do not come from this world. 
You were born in that world, and came here, as events unfurled?"

"Yes, born as a human." He wondered how to express it, and stood up effortlessly on his hind legs. "Standing on two legs, no hoofs, we have hands... think dragon claws, only without claws, we call them fingers. Flat head, small ears, no fur, no tail, very short mane?" A rough idea. Too bad that any of the few pictures he had of Angel as a human was in another timeline now. He sat back down. "And because I was from another world, originated there, this world changing wouldn't change me?"

"Something like that, I think you'll see.
You would be the only one who remembered how things used to be."
Unaffected by the Timelock. Perhaps whoever has done this didn't count on him being a threat, or if they did, assumed he'd fail in all his attempts. She looked up as the door opened, a small squeak coming from the yellow Pegasus who opened it. She carried with her a small bowl, filled with steaming broth. On her flank was a series of herbal leaves. "I... um... here." She said quietly. The zebra brightened.
"Thank you, Fluttershy. Let it sit.
I'm sure our guest will appreciate it."

He recognized her, his eyes widening, from a report compiled on the bearers of the elements of harmony. It was an early report he had supervised to demonstrate his skills to Novaria. Basically in case the elements of harmony got disconnected from their current bearers, would Evodia be able to quickly ready six champions of their own? He had found a likely list of candidates for each element without being able to guarantee success, and had made various political proposals for how Evodia could negotiate for the elements to be tried out there in case of an emergency. Then Evodia could supply their newly formed champions to save Equestria. Fluttershy, representing kindness… and with a similar but different cutie mark. Destinies had been altered. Shy, he remembered that, or had been. And in this timeline she still was. "Did you pick these by yourself, Fluttershy?" He asked very gently.

The pegasus squeaked, her eyes widening at the thought. "Oh no, I only help Zecora here." Zecora, at long last he had a name for his host. "It's much too scary outside. There's carnivorous plants and timberwolves and..." She got herself all worked up, and bolted from the room in tears. She was even worse than he remembered. Zecora frowned. 
"Three of our main cities have been taken over by villainous kind, 
Is that the same as the world you left behind?"

Figuring out pony politics had been interesting. They had managed to get a lot things right, as long as there weren't any villains around. In principle Celestia was the unquestioned ruler, whose word was law, with her sister as co-ruler. In practice she didn't micromanage anything, but was simply there to be the highest court of appeal, advisor on magical issues, implementer of laws and to move ponies in special occasions such as war. Power was granted downwards mostly to mayors and local courts. Most ponies were self-employed. Except in Manehatten. There were no profiteering corporations. No pony worked in a business were they didn't own their own tools. There were guilds, but no unions. In principle there were elections, but ponies seemed to rise to power in a natural progression. He tried to explain all this to Zecora as best he could Despotic rulers were a bad sign. "When was Celestia exiled?"

Zecora shook her head. "I don't remember. 
There's a lot of things I don't remember, sad to say. 
Every city ruler has a different way.
Nightmare Moon uses memory spells, to make it seem as if all is well.. 
In Canterlot, the Princess I hear,
rules in silence and never appears.
If they're always cheerful, they won't realize how bad things are.
Ignorance is bliss, and they refrain from war.
And in Manehattan... it's even more terribly so.
Believe me, you don't want to know." 
She shuddered, as if it was awful to think about.

Considering that Fluttershy's cutie mark was switched it would have to be significantly far into the past. There were a specific set of interconnected events that had united the six already back then. Which he had also mentioned in his report as something to potentially watch out for, if a new group was to sought out. The appearance of the first sonic rainboom in centuries had marked that occasion. "Zecora?" He asked. "Do you remember a Rainbow Dash?"

Zecora's answer was wordless, but to the point. She shook her head.

The sonic rainboom had been much talked about. Perhaps not on all ponies tongues, and he would not have faulted Zecora for not knowing about it, but the weight of odds indicated that there hadn't been one. Someone had prevented these ponies from finding their natural destines, or had made them discover alternate ones. "The Fluttershy I remember had a different cutie mark." He said, pondering things, taking some of her headache soothing mixture.

Zecora looked out the window into the darkness. 
"This is exactly why the Timelock is disallowed. 
To prevent things from changing to the way they are now." 
She said solemnly.

They never rose to fame, so it was unlikely that she would know anything about them, but he asked leading questions about each of them. Where had she found Fluttershy? The information was probably not worth much, if he was right, someone had stopped Rainbow Dash, permanently handicapping her or worse. "I have a suspicion about where and when now, but not much more, and I don't have any means of travelling back in time, or who I'd face or what I should stop... and if I can do it only once, I need more than that." It was hopelessly difficult, and he was in pain, but it was something to engage himself fully in. Otherwise he'd sink into a dark pit of despair thinking about Angel. He sighed, was she here in this timeline? She wouldn't recognize him, but would she be able to fall in love with him again? No he couldn't think like that.

Zecora tolerated his questions, she was learning as much about his ignorance as he was about how this new realm functioned. She told a fascinating story about how she'd found the terrified Pegasus in the Forest, cornered by wolves, and had taken her in as an apprentice. As for the other five, she had absolutely no idea who they were. When she finished, she added a final bit of information. 
"I tell you what, I'll offer more help too,
Go see a friend of mine at Ponyville U. 
He should be able to help you, if nopony else can,
but be warned, he's a very odd man." 
She scribbled a number on a piece of parchment, and stuck it in his saddlebag. 
"Go to Room 112, you may find more answers there,
If you need to find anything, he can tell you where."

Silver suspected as much about the five, though placed her note in his saddlebag. "Thank you for your hospitality, try to stay low and quiet about this." He filled his saddle bag with provisions and a good helping of the soothing herbs. It would all be needed before long. "Zecora, I might need your help again before the end of this, can I count on you? This mistake has to be fixed." Not just this one, he decided. How would he fix the one with Angel? There was one way of course, depending on how the Timelock spell worked, but could he do that?

Zecora spoke calmly, framed in her doorway. Silvers head was starting to pound again, and all this talk about time travel mechanics wasn't helping. 
"I will be here if its help you need, 
now off you go, be safe, godspeed!" 
She said, and her door closed.
> Assistants Required
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Note: Yes, Assistants is supposed to be spelled like that. Its intentional wordplay.)

Arriving in the darkened Ponyville, Silver found this town had swollen and grown in this time. He wasn't aware they had something as prestigious as a university and suspected that this was another strange result of this alternative Equestria. He kept his disguise, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, feeling miserable on all sorts of levels. For the first time since coming to Equestria he realized just how little and how rarely him and Angel had really been apart. Hours at most, often meeting at lunch breaks. Now he'd gone a whole day by without her. If he fixed this he didn't care if she would be angry, but he vowed that even if she wasn't ready to see him he'd stay nearby. There was a pony in this universe who might know something of what this Timelock specifically was, perhaps how to cast it. 

All spells, well done ones at least, operated within specific rules. They might be esoteric at times, but they all had an internal logic without which they'd fall apart and little if any effect. This efficacious time travel was something else, twisting the fabric of the worlds history. Except for a little foreign splinter that never really been part of the yarn though entangled in its weave, him, it fell on his shoulders to restore this world. He sighed, thinking to himself. And after that I'll just move in with you, Angel, be a quiet adviser to Novaria… but first I'll make it up to you, somehow, once I've put all the pieces together again.

Room 112. That was the room he'd been given. As he approached the end of a long hallway, the door was closed, a class was in session. He'd have to wait. A strong leading voice came from within. "... And when every point in space is measured from its origin along the axis you're using, it'll be equal the distance to the..." A bell overhead chimed, cutting him off. "Time already? Damn. Alright, off you go, don't forget to work on your dioramas, they're due in two weeks and worth half your grade!" The voice commanded, as the door opened and many colored ponies filtered out through it.

Sounds like geometry, sometimes useful for certain spell. Magical theory was dense and hard to get into, there was a whole vocabulary for all the eldritch powers the horns could connect with. He was moderately proficient, his only real pride being an ability to occasionally teleport. His training for advisory took the time away that could have been spent pouring over books, but then again, magic itself wasn't his cutie mark. He stood to the side for a moment, letting the students clop past him and worked his way inside the small auditorium. Time to test how quick and smart the person inside was. "Zecora sent me." He said wasting, no time.

The pony at the blackboard turned. A brown colored earth pony, hourglass on his flank. He had an arguably silly looking pair of red and blue glasses on his nose. "A friend of Zecora's eh, well, come in, come in!" He said cheerfully. "Welcome to the University's Time Department, how can I help you?"

With a deft levitation spell, he made the door shut behind him. He stood up and weighed the pony in front of him. Recognizing him easily, suspicious, but he wasn't sure in what way. If he was antagonistic, then he didn't have any other leads to follow.. but whether friend or enemy, he would likely know enough that revealing anything would not cause harm. "Timelock." Silver said. "A Historical causality shift has happened, this world is different; But I'm still the same, born in another realm so I escaped the effects. Explain the spell, what it does, how it works". He left out how to cast it. "Someone has already used to affect this world, I must undo it." He minced no words and wasted no time. Headaches didn't help with having a friendly attitude.

As if recognizing him wasn't enough, the stallion brightened up immediately. "Whoa, slow down, slow down. A Timelock, you say? Fantastic!" He exclaimed. "Of course, I recognize you now! You're the one who was running from that giant bubble, weren't you?" He winked in amusement. "Found yourself in a bit of a time distortment, have we? Wish I could help you there, but alas, time is a bit wonky, in that respect." He approached, and shook one of Silvers front legs. "In that regard, a friend of Zecora's is a friend of mine, of course. Whooves and Hooves, at your service." He frowned. "Sounds a bit like a Firm, when you put it that way." He called to the back, to a grey pegasus wiping down the desks. "Miss Hooves, come meet this nice young lad!" The pegasus stopped what she was doing and trotted down the steps of the auditorium, stopping in front of the pair. Her unbalanced eyes, a bright and friendly gold, fixated on Silver.

Friendly, yeah, we'll get along just fine, Silver thought to himself ironically. It was hard taking someone serious who was speaking so flippantly about the state of the world. However getting angry now and biting off his head wouldn't do anything to furthering the goal of getting the world back. "Yes." He said to answer all the empty questions he'd been given. "Greetings." He nodded to the pegasus. "As much as I like pleasantries what the…" His mouth stopped, and his tongue seemed to be caught in his throat. He wondered for a moment what was wrong with him. Oh right. "...hay, happened, you were there. The princesses summoned me, and the next moment I enter the throne room, with that temporal distortion and you as the only witness."

For a moment, the grey pegasus cast reminders of the one he'd bumped into before in Canterlot, however briefly. Same blonde mane, same cutie mark, same unbreakable spirit. But if she recognized him, she made no mention of it. The stallion simply shrugged casually at the assessment. "Yes, I was. Don't you worry, I have a habit of being in the right place at the right time. The question is, how do we go about fixing it?"

"There seems to be a recursive problem, but until you explain more of the temporal mechanics all the pieces of the puzzle won't be there." It became a lateral thinking puzzle, rather than one where you knew you could work it out if all the pieces were there. "If its all one timeline, then if we simply go back and undo what was done, then we'd also undo the reason we had for going back in time in the first place, so that wouldn't work because it wouldn't be possible. We'd have to stop the Timelock from ever occurring in the first place instead." And the timeline would shift... this alternative Silver who he was would fade and he'd be returned to a previous state. Though that was unlikely to occur for him as he wasn't part of the time stream. He'd remember things, nopony else would.

The stallion thought for a moment. "Well you can't go back in time and stop it from happening, if you did, then that would have happened already, and we wouldn't be here now." He said simply. "So since it's already done, what you need to do is find a way to undo what's been done from here. There's always a way, trust me."

"Undo what's been done, but not being able to undo it either?" Silver got out his thermos and slugged a little of the potion down his throat. "You're not making much sense, if the past could be modified once, creating an alternate timeline, then this can be done again." He went over to the black board, levitating a piece of chalk drawing a line. "Lets call this the original timeline of Equestria… someone at some point went back in the past, at least fifteen years." He picked a point and drew a line back. "Here this person instigated some actions that led eventually to this alternate timeline." He drew a line down representing the new one. "Which is where we currently are… if what you said was correct, then if the pony went back in time and altered something they'd alter their own future, preventing them from going back in the first place.. why go back if the world is already the way you want it to be? Also, if what you said about inevitability preventing us from doing it was correct, then that would also have been true for whoever did the original time travelling... they would already have been living in the world they set out to create. Hence since that pony could change time, so can we."

The Doctors energetic attitude carried over to the pegasus who was with him, as he raced out for his next class.  If the world was ending, he didn't seem particularly concerned by it, or his prioriites were elsewhere. "Hurry up now, Miss Hooves! Allons-y!" The grey pegasus politely exclaimed a "Nice to meet you, Silver." And rushed after him. The unicorn, meanwhile, hidden behind stacks of books, was mostly hidden. "Of course! Come this way, please. I have to return these to the library, you can accompany me."

The Earth pony had begun to pack up his things, but he listened, and nodded in agreement. "You're right. As long as you're a unicorn, chances are you can change time, given the right tutorage. But it's an extremely powerful spell, and time is... for lack of a better word... wobbly." He said. He was about to say more, but a voice came from the top of the auditorium stairs. The voice was familiar, but Silver couldn't see anything other than purple legs behind an enormous stack of books floating in the air. "Excuse me, Doctor! Did you still want that scientific journal on black holes?" The Earth pony looked up, momentarily distracted. "Oh! Thank you, Miss Sparkle. Yes, just leave it on my desk. I'll fetch it momentarily." He returned his attention back to Silver, handing over a card. "I must get ready for my next class, here's my office hours, feel free to stop in any time."

This wasn't due diligence, if the world was at stake, then classes didn't matter much. In fact training anyone in a timeline that might be altered soon seemed a waste. Then again Silver wasn't one to make managing decisions yet. He was a unicorn, of some ability, but he didn't know if he would be able to use such a powerful spell. If he trained hard for the next couple of years... maybe... but then again, whoever had been intent on changing the world in the first place, would also seek to put a more permanent stop to him changing it. Miss Sparkle? His ears perked and he turned his head to the fairly recognizable unicorn. Not a princess, not here, without the necessary lessons that had fostered her growth in character and her discovery of friendship as a source of great magic. If she was unable to do the spell, Silver would never have a chance, and as it was she stood a much greater chance than he would on his own. "Miss Twilight Sparkle,, a word with you on temporal mechanics?" He payed as close attention to her as he could, body motion, cutie mark, see how much of a story she could inadvertently tell him.

The Doctors energetic attitude carried over to the pegasus who was with him, as he raced out for his next class.  If the world was ending, he didn't seem particularly concerned by it, or his priorities were elsewhere. "Hurry up now, Miss Hooves! Allons-y!" The grey pegasus politely exclaimed a "Nice to meet you, Silver." And rushed after him. The unicorn, meanwhile, was hidden behind a stacks of books, masking the majority of her body and her cutie mark. "Of course! Come this way, please. I have to return these to the library, you can accompany me."

He paid as close attention to her as he could, body motion, cutie mark, see how much of a story she could inadvertently tell him. With courtesy he levitated a couple of the books. Following her "A pleasure to meet you, are you familiar with the works of Starswirld The Bearded on time travel?" A small test to see how much of a difference she was here. Presumably she had all her talents intact.

The library was not particularly far away, they walked down the hallway a few doors and the unicorn dumped one book at a time into a slot in the wall. Physically, she was relatively unchanged, save for the lack of wings. She trotted at a cheerful pace, greeting most of the ponies she passed, most of whom greeted her back. As she turned to face him at last, he could see an open scroll and feather on her flank. Fitting. "Oh, gosh, do I? He's only my favorite scientific publisher. I have all his journals!" She said. "Well, all except the time travel ones." She looked a bit downcast at the mention of it. "It was kept in the Canterlot Archives, and some horrible pony..." She trailed off. "So much knowledge lost..."

He got the picture, they had gotten to her as well. "I had a sister with a similar cutie mark, a quill and an ink house. She became a writer." It was a good way to open a story about cutie marks to get another pony to talk about theirs. He didn't want to reveal anything yet. Fluttershy, he had judged to be so timid that getting the full story out of her would be a pain, though the implication was that she discovered it by living with Zecora. No probing questions, he wanted Twilight to tell the story of her own. However it figured that that if Rainbow Dash had been taken out of commission she would not have passed her entrance exam.

Twilight fell right into his leading, and brightened up again. "A quill and- oh!" She laughed. "I wish I could say I was a good writer. While a few of my articles have been published in Canterlot Weekly, I'm just the librarian at the University. I always wanted to work at Canterlot Library, but sadly, that's not an option anymore."

"I got mine fairly late, my fiancee helped." He suddenly got a bit more emotional than he intended, but decided to play into it. "Sorry, its a sad story, but I had been ill for quite a while and so she got me a stack of puzzles. Figuring out the last one was the hardest. I'm a dunce at magic, but this was a puzzle.. figured it out and voila." Still a proud moment in this mind, weren't all ponies proud of their cutie mark? Some had marks that seemed odd but signified the world to that one pony. "How did yours come about?"

She gazed at him with only a moment of curiosity. That was an oddly personal question to be asking a pony he'd only just met, but fortunately, she didn't seem to mind. "I got mine shortly after I was hired at the University, surrounded by books and ponies who love reading, what's not to love?" He said brightly. "It doesn't leave me a whole lot of time to practice magic, but there's a whole section just on research journals! Can you believe that? It'll take me years to get through them all!"

Suspicious answer aside, it seemed to fit, but it seemed too straightforward. Her real talent was magic, sure she was a lover of reading and was organized but that was incidental, even if she had been a klutz her real talent would still have been magical. "I'm sorry for the question." She was also a smart pony, if he was too direct she'd figure out she was being lead on. "I find cutie marks a puzzle to be worked out see, sometimes what the symbol means but also how it came about. I guess getting mine as late as I did, last year in fact, has left me with an bit of a fixation on them. No cutie marks in cutie marks though." He smirked, time for some other tests. "I'm in need of a magical sparring partner.. can you assist with teleportation?" Assist being key meaning either that she could show it was done, how to improve, or that she'd be there to help the spell along even if she couldn't cast it herself, vague enough that she could offer herself in any role. How much have you been allowed to know about magic here, Twilight?, he wondered.

Twilight nodded with enthusiasm. "Of course, I'd love to help." She motioned for him to follow her, leading him out towards the courtyard, where while it was cold, at least it had stopped snowing. "What sort of assistance do you need? I'm not extremely talented, but I can do all sorts of tricks." She said said cheerfully. "I'll help how I can. Do you want to learn how to teleport, how to defend yourself, something else?"

Too much like Angel back when she had put him through the paces of teleportation magic. He half emptied the headache concoction, and made apologies in advance to his horn. Horn, don't crack on me now. "Long distance jumping." There were spells reaching greater and greater distances, but the amount of effort needed to go increasing distances grew with hefty power. Your accuracy dropped proportionally with distance. A few hundred feet you could do within remarkable accuracy, a few thousand less so. "Last time I did it I ended in a field from quite a distance. A pegasi was quick on its wings, but I almost broke my hind leg that day." Close enough, it had been Angel who had strictly forbidden him from long jumping, or even teaching him how to do it safely. Hadn't allowed him to levitate as much as a napkin for three days before she had been satisfied that his horn was unscathed. He eyed something fairly distant. "That tower over there as the target." He suggested.

Twilight looked in the direction he was gazing, and nodded. "That's easy. The most important thing to remember is that you must always focus on both the ground and the object you're trying to appear at. It's a bit harder to focus on two things at once, but it's a lot easier if you're teleporting somewhere you've been already. I want you to aim your attention on the base of the tower, and jump."  She did just that herself, and with a brief burst of purple smoke, disappeared from his sight. 

It was a fairly impressive distance, and quite a flash as she had gone off. She went off in less time than Angel would have.. He suddenly felt as if a spotlight was on him, and the distance seemed a lot further all of the sudden. Taking a few deep breaths he went through the motions, fixing the target in his mind and charging up the alicorn of his horn, carefully building the energy needed... aim your attention at the base of the tower. He let the spell slide in place and the magic spill out through him. I'll have to thank Zecora once the timeline is restored, even if she'll never have made this brew. With that thought, he teleported off.

Teleporting short distances, he was used to the feeling of disorientation. He expected it to be harder than it was, but having done just as Twilight had instructed, he found himself standing next to her at the base of the tower. "Very good!" She exclaimed. His feeling of success was short lived, however, as the expenditure of energy he'd given off caught up with him, and it caused a fairly discomforting throbbing to start up in his head again.

"Yeah.. thanks, your advice worked." Okay, can you feel any eddies of current draining out. Cracks in the horn would bleed of magic straight into the air, visible to anyone as a thin flat shaft of light following the contour of the crack. Just one would mean he'd be unable to cast spells for weeks. Hopefully there was one. His headache disagreed with him something powerfully. "That was quite a jump you were capable of there.. any other unicorns here as good at teleporting as you?" He drank a little more of the headache killer, it wouldn't do to interview her if he was talking through a wince half the time.

No cracks, no fractures, nothing that wouldn't go away in a short time. He needed to build up a magical tolerance, and having focused mainly on small spells, bigger spells had a larger impact on him. Twilight thought for a moment. "There is one, she used to be Princess Celestia's student until the Princess disappeared. She might be able to teach you even more magic than I can." She said casually.

Another pupil? Interesting... that gave quite a few clues actually. Time to drop the horsing around. "Miss Twilight I'm afraid I haven't been honest with you.. except the bit about my teleportation spell and my cutie mark. My name is Silver Key. I'm here because I believe that you and a few other ponies past have been tampered with, which has resulted in the world you inhabit currently. It used to be different, but someone has used a time travel spell to alter things for their benefit." That was quite a lot of exposition to believe in. "If you know any truth sayer spells I'm willing to repeat this whole thing under the influence of one."

Twilight shook her head. "I believe you, as I have no reason not to, but I'm afraid I can't help you. I'm mediocre at magic, at beast, and I'm just a Librarian. Heck, even Rarity is better at magic than I am." She forced a laugh. "Doesn't mean I don't try, of course, but it's just not my talent."

"You just teleported a rather impressive distance... are you really sure?" Something very fishy was up here. "Tell me about your friend Rarity, her cutie mark. Its important, Twilight." Seeing this pony, insecure as she had always been, now pushed to being self-deprecatory. This world was a sick joke of its original. "And do you know anything of this pupil of Celestia?" Could just be that this pupil was someone else picked in Twilight's stead.

Twilight smiled a bit. "Well I wouldn't say we were very close friends, but we're acquaintances. She's one of the leading designers in Canterlot, the only one I know of who can make a potato sack a leading fashion. She's very busy, however, you'd have to make an appointment if you want to talk to her. As for Princess Celestia's student, she lives just outside of Ponyville. Her name is Trixie."
> A Great and Powerful Encounter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Trixie. Silver couldn't say he was absolutely familiar with the name, although in his world he'd seen advertisements, they were not explanatory past informing him of a travelling show. Twilight had taken the day off at the University, and cheerfully gone with him, making idle conversation as they walked to the outskirts of town. A signpost directed him at a crossroads. WEST - ROCK FARM.. EAST - APPLE FARM. "Come on, slowpoke, we're almost there." She said, trotting down the left road. "I warn you, we might have to wait a while."

It was hard to read this Twilight, of course he'd only known about the princess in a fairly indirect way through the friendship lessons that circulated in the newspapers, from having assessed the extent of her magical abilities and how reliant she was on her friends. Novaria wanted something that could up the advantage Celestia had for political reasons. He had ideas, eventually he hoped to see if they could be made to work here in this world. This Twilight seemed more carefree and unburdened. Rock farm.. that meant this Pinkie Pie, and here if the pattern was consistent she'd be working there outside of her capacity to plow for rocks, but what if anything had happened to Applejack? He tested Twilight as she lead him to either of the two, if she stopped at the sign it meant she knew neither and even their mutual friendship or knowledge of each other had been prevented. Also he asked her questions. "How much magical training have you recieved? Ever done transmutation spells?"

Twilight didn't even look at the sign, she walked right past it heading for the rock farm, although she made no mention of either mare. "I went to magic kindergarten,and I studied as a filly for quite a bit. I once had a chance to really learn magic, but I'm afraid I wasn't quite cut out for it." She shrugged. "And I can't say I have, those are extremely difficult." As they reached the top of the hill, he saw two things. One, in the distance, the infamous rock farm, a few houses and trailers surrounded by boulders of various sizes. Secondly, a wagon had been set up at the base of a hill. In front of it was an enormous queue bordered by rope, looping left right left right leading around the back of the caravan. The queue was filled with ponies, patiently waiting.

"Do you know Pinkie Pie?" Another small test. Rocks could be fairly valuable, depending on what was in them or simple for the plain granite they were made of. All farms when they tilled the soil get up a bunch of rocks, this place was similar only to a strange excess, rocks literally seemed to grow out of the ground here. And some family had realized, though it was back breaking work, that a life could be squeezed out tilling them. In this world Twilight Sparkle had failed her magical exam, though being a rock farmer seemed unlikely. You didn't have to demonstrate the awe inspiring powers she had demonstrated to be accepted to that school, but then again with her life's ambitions crushed, would she have tried again. When she had been little, other than magic, it had been Celestia she had been dying to meet.

Twilight shook her head. In a perfect world, EVERYONE knew Pinkie Pie. "I can't say I do, is she a friend of yours?" She asked. The two of them approached the wagon, all the ponies in line were muttering amongst them selves, some had small foals, others had items like shovels or sacks of wheat.

He didn't know if this Trixie was the one who had bent space and time, or whether she had simply been made to fill the place Twilight ought to have filled. "How long has she been Celestia's student? Was it before you started studying magic?" The creature in the castle, who he had ominous suspicions about that he tried to quelm, was the probable cause.

Twilight thought a moment. "The thing you have to understand is that Trixie is extremely full of herself. She auditioned for the open role of Celestia's student shortly after I did, and I suppose the Princess saw something in her. At the very least, a personal project. She's talented, even if she's a jerk." She sighed. "I practice magic now and then, but my motivation just isn't there anymore." This timelines Twilight seemed a bit more easily broken than he knew, especially since she didn't have five friends to support her.

He considered her with no small amount of sympathy, another pony of this world that had become undone by whatever temporal effects had occurred. Hopefully it could be undone, and all of this, himself as he was now included, unless he was truly immune.. would be returned to way it ought to be. "Don't let your failures get you down Twilight, I happen to have seen you do a difficult long teleport without taking a breath. I think you're being more hard on yourself than you should be." Equestria lacked an internet, and handheld computers and decent radio, and a lot of other things the desires for which was returning to him now that he needed it. She wouldn't know advanced magic… but he wondered if maybe she had perfected other day to day spells. "Say… would you be able to summon books from the library even out here? Teleported?" It was a suggestion, if she could, then he'd ask her to look up in the registry for registered fliers under Rainbow Dash.

"Oh, of course, that's an easy temporal search and relocation spell, just tell me what you need, and if it exists, I can find it!" She exclaimed brightly. Although she had nearly given up on improving her magic, it clearly made her happy to show it off now and again.

"Find the register for all registered fliers." Any flighted pony who had passed the flight school was there, from when it had been started, the first one registered was Celestia as she had also been the one to start it. Luna was a notable exception. "Look for a Rainbow Dash, check her wing power.. I'm guessing it should be around seventeen or nineteen" Assuming something had happened to her it might be a lot lower, of course there was an even crueler possibility. "If you don't find anyone there, then look under..." He had to think for a bit. "The Cloudsdale wing trauma centers admission list, her name might be there." Though without permission he might not be able to get a diagnosis. He tried to see where the queue was leading.

Twilight concentrated, and closed her eyes, her horn glowing. No material appeared, but she seemed to be going through it mentally, searching through loads of information. "Rainbow Dash. Former Resident of Ponyille. Graduated with Honors at Cloudsdale Flight Academy. Wing Power 16.5. Current location... unknown." She broke off her spell, looking fairly drained. "Does that help you at all?"

He was sometimes surprised by how little cruelty was shown in this world. She was alive, that was good, and her abilities weren't handicapped. Current location unknown, hmm… "It does a little, you're fairly smart, do you know if any pegasus has managed to pull off a sonic rainboom in recent history?" That was the event that had been the nexus of their original friendship, the one that had been all six ponies on a collision course with each other. There was also another realization about Twilight here. They way she asked him... it wasn't that she was inquisitive, but she trusted him. She wasn't a leader here. Without Celestia as a mentor it almost figured, but it hurt his heart. "You're not going to ask me what I need all this information for?" He smirked. And promised himself that he'd help all six of them if he could.

A snort of laughter. Twilight covered her mouth with her hoof. "I'm sorry,  you just surprised me. A sonic rainboom? That's impossible." She said firmly. "As for your questions, your reasons are your own, I'm not going to pry into your business." She said kindly. At that moment, a small purple and green dragon approached them, scroll in hand. "Excuse me, are you two going to get in line or not? The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't allow loitering." He warned.

He considered it for a moment, looking at the length of the queue, wondering if they'd manage to get through it before sunset. Bribery was always a possibility. There was something odd about this. Celestia's student acting as a showpony? He wondered. "Does the great and powerful Trixie accept a challenge? I have one for her that she'll find impossible." He removed his large gem, sizable and pure, even with an ethereal inner glow. Exchangable for a quite a few bits. You could buy a small home with it. "I'll put this gem up for the challenge if she can do it, it'll be hers, if she fails, then I get to ask her a couple of questions that she'll have to answer truthfully."

The dragons eyes sparked with greed, and he salivated slightly. "Wait here." He said, and disappeared into the back of the wagon. Twilight was staring at him  as if she recognized something, but shook her head as she dismissed the idea. After a few moments, the dragon returned. "The Great and Powerful Trixie will see you now." There was a groan from the line, and the dragon snapped at them. "Oh, shut up!"

He had never meet the princesses major domo, so he couldn't judge if that behavior was normal. The dragon looked aggressive in a way that didn't quite seem to fit with what little he knew. A picture was starting to form of this Trixie. "Twilight, walk with me." It would be a simple challenge, he'd ask her if she figure out where any pony was born. Simple spell, only with him it would fail, because he wasn't born a pony, but a human. He became a pony when he got here, and it became his true nature when he discovered his cutie mark, but his origin was in another place. Of course, it might not work, in which case he had lost a precious gem. Though of course, he'd easily be able to get it back, but not in a way he'd want to ever do.

The door the dragon led him to was closed, and he could hear a voice from inside. "It is not Trixies fault that your family is going hungry. Work harder, and stop being lazy. Get out of Trixies sight. she is done with you." "You'll regret this, loser!" The door flung open with a bang, and an enormous creature pushed him out of the way. Half lion, half eagle. The first he'd seen anything like that. This one glared at him through shadowed eyes. "Out of my way, dweeb." She snarled, and took off into the air.

Gryphons, always so aggressive, but that one had been irate. He raised his eyebrows and looked at Twilight. "I think these negotiations are going to be tough.. Twilight, could you enlighten me on spells to tell another pony's origins? Is there a spell that would seek out where a pony was born?" He had gotten the idea when he had seen her do the library searches. "I'm not talking about looking up in a registry, though that's permissible.. do these spells have limitations?" If Trixie did it by looking up all registries in Equestria she'd come up empty as well, but a more generalized spell might fail since he hadn't been born a pony, and not even on Equestria, in fact he was from a magic-less world. And if it succeeded, perhaps she'd think the answer so far out that she'd second guess the result and assume that her spell had failed and given nonsense as a response.

Twilight thought for a  moment. "I don't think so, at least not to my knowledge. Whatever you're planning, there comes time a moment when you simply have to sail into the wind and hope for the best." She smiled. "I'm sure you'll do wonderfully." An angry voice yelled from behind the door. "Trixie will not wait forever! Get in or get out!"

And a dreamer too. He entered at a comfortable pace, unthreatened by her, respective but dignified. Who was this pony that Celestia had been training up until her disappearance? "I'm coming in humble, I'm a travelling mystic and seeing as you had been trained by Celestia herself, I was wondering if you could answer a conundrum that I'm wondering whether anypony can solve. I want to know the name of where I'm born. Where did I come from? Is there any spell that you can use to find that answer?" He genuflected in respect, catering to the ego she had in full measure of. The gem was levitated out. "All that remains of my former treasure, yours if you can answer that question. If you fail, I should like to ask you some other questions. This is a challenge and a request, quid pro quo, yes or no?"

The blue mare sitting behind an ornamental desk rolled her eyes.  "Trixie is confused by your request, but it is so  laughably simple that she will oblige. Your challenge is accepted." She said. "You shall be witness to the power of Celestia's chosen one!" She announced. Twilight was right, she was quite full of herself. Her horn glowed blue, and the unicorn smiled confidently. After a few minutes, her smile had faded halfway. "Just a minute. Trixie is experiencing technical difficulties."

"I have nearly given up hope, I'll accept it if you can't, but I'll still want answers to other questions" A humbled head, looking a little downcast, as if he had already anticipated this. If she failed she see this, and come to believe that the fault was not with her, because he didn't want to enrage her. He gave Twilight a wink. She was smart, he hoped she would start to think about how spells like that could fail.

Trixie became more frustrated by the minute, yet refused to concede defeat. "The planets are out of alignment, Trixie's magic is weakened. Trixie will reschedule you. Come back next week." She sounded irritated.

"I'm afraid I don't have that long, you have three witnesses to the challenge, if I go now I'll tell of your failure." He stood up again, erect. "Will you answer a few simple questions of mine in return? They won't be long or complicated, or tricky, they'll be things you probably won't think much about, or you've already told a dozen times to other ponies."

Trixie's eye twitched, and she snorted so hard a toonish plume of smoke shot from her nose. "You dare challenge the Great and Powerful Trixie?! Fine! Trixie accepts your questions!"

"I know you applied to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, was this of your own free will or did someone suggest you to go there? Secondly, tell me exactly what happened in the examination room.. I know you were given an egg to hatch, and I suspect you struggled for a little while in hatching it. What made it hatch? Answer truthfully, don't lie or I'll know." He turned to Twilight and whispered to her. "How could a spell like the one she tried to cast fail? Its a puzzle." He had to give a her a subtle hint. "You need to think outside the box, the answer is extraordinary."

Trixie looked annoyed. "Trixie is amazing, what dragon wouldn't hatch for her? Trixie simply displayed some of her powerful magic, and was rewarded with Spike." She looked proud of herself. Twilight was deep in thought, gears turning, and didn't respond.

He took a step towards her. "You're not outright lying, but you're not telling the truth either. This is the story you're telling everyone and yourself. I don't want to hear general terms, I want specifically what you did." Silver wasn't a magical fighter, but he could look imposing when he wanted to. However much he wanted to think of himself as a pony, he wasn't one entirely, and he knew his eyes could look frightening. It helped that he wanted to bash her head in. "You will answer, or I have a means of making you look embarrassed and outdone. After you've answer these two questions properly, I have one last question and then you'll likely never see me again."

The unicorn frowned deeper. "Trixie was presented with the egg, and tasked with hatching it.No matter what Trixie did, the egg would not open until Trixie admitted to herself that what she wanted was not power, but a friend. Disgusting, right? But the egg hatched at the last minute, Celestia saw potential in Trixie and tried to change her. But of course, as soon as she disappeared, Trixie went back to her original plans for using the dragon for her own advantage. Happy now?"

It seemed the truth, however thin it was. The bit about friendship fit as well, in the original timeline Twilight had become the one to discover the magic of friendship. He wondered.. and looked at Trixie's cutie mark. Twilight's had been rare, if not completely unique. Most magical users had celestial bodies, hers had been an abstract symbol of the magic of friendship. "That was one question, the second was how did you get admitted to the entrance exam in the first place? Once you've answered that... what can you tell me about Celestia, how she vanished, anything?"

Trixies mark did not seem to have changed, it was a half moon and scepter, as it had been before. She was her usual annoying self. "Celestia suffered many hardships. She became reclusive and depressive after Nightmare Moon took over Ponyville. Then when the Crystal Empire was destroyed, she took it really hard. Manehattan was the last straw, and she disappeared. Even Trixie does not know where she went."

"One down, Trixie, and you won't see again." About what he had already been told, he supposed that she knew nothing more to it than that. It confirmed the other information he had, and closed down some possibilities as to Trixie's own involvement in it. "I have reasons to believe that your actual magical skills, though I'm sure Celestia has taught you a lot, are fairly feeble. How did you come to be admitted to an entrance exam in that school?" He had no reasons to suppose that in the original timeline she hadn't done so on her own and simply failed, but it was worth checking. It was also the question she had been hiding from. Then again it might simple be a mundane answer. He felt a small amount of frustration, none of her answers had taught him anything he didn't already know.

Trixie looked a bit proud. "That is simple. Trixie's parents bribed the Royal Guard. They did not guarantee Trixie would win, but promised a chance even though the auditions were full. Trixie always knew she was meant for Greatness, was there ever any doubt?"

Fffff... he thought, realizing that he couldn't even think that word... whatever it had been, which had been so appropriate in situations like this. "Thank you for your time Trixie. You've been given a lot of privileges you couldn't live up to, this wasn't prope. It wasn't you who was supposed to have cracked that egg." He turned and walked out, leaving Trixie angered.

"Nopony walks out on the GREAT AND POWERFUL TRI-"

The door slammed.
> Stars That Sparkle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Outside, Silver looked at Twilight. "Made any progress on the puzzle?"

Twilight scratched her head. "I have always had the strangest feeling like I was meant to hatch that egg. I know I could've done it, I just know it!" She stamped her hoof in the grass. 

He couldn't help feeling a little fatherly to her. She seemed so unfulfilled and broken compared to what he had seen her as. "Twilight, forget about that part. Focus on the puzzle. How could search spells like that fail to work?" She might not succeed, destinies had been altered, but could they be pushed back on track? Perhaps not without the others. She was the only pony with any chance of pulling off the time travelling spell. "Forget the caravan. Forget the ground." An idea presented itself to him, and he put the gem on the ground in front of her placed himself behind. A stopwatch was pulled out. "I'm your examiner now Twilight, you've got an hour starting now. Figure out why her spells failed.. and use the correct one."

Twilight set about it logically. "The most likely reason a search spell would fail would be because the place you're trying to find does not exist." She said aloud. "That's on the right track, isn't it?"

He blinked, smirked and got out a pad and scribbled into it, looking at her like he imagined a censor would. The stopwatch on the ground was ticking away. Perhaps not without the others, the rainboom had been a monumental event that had connected them all... somehow that had been undone, but their natural destinies would still be the same, the world had been forced into its present configuration it wasn't its natural home. He looked around for Pinkie, trying to look the part of a bored censor who didn't expect any success.

Twilight began to pace, back and forth. Minutes passed. Ten, twenty. She stopped in her tracks. Her horn glowed. "You're not from here.

"Am I not?  Yes I suppose I'm not, interesting." He wrote the word interesting down on the pad, looking at her expectingly. "You're on the right track, this would explain why a spell searching for where I am would fail… if it only works in Equestria. You have twenty minutes left, miss Twilight." She had been unchallenged for quite a while. Being a librarian was a lot of work, but it might not have been a complete challenge to her. He cheered her on in his heart. This isn't a huge power burst like the one that got you as Celestia's protege... you can do this Twilight!

The gears turned faster now. "You're not from here. Not just not from Equestria, but from somewhere else entirely." Her search expanded and expanded, and her eyes suddenly widened. "You know Angel! At least... you did...there's fragments... not all put together."

She smiled "You're correct, but be careful to contain yourself ONLY to the name of the place I'm from, otherwise I fear there might be too much of a power drain from you." He didn't know if that was true, Twilight had nearly limitless magical potential, though her greatest power came from her friends. It was a bit awe inspiring seeing her worm through spells in minutes that would take him a day or two to figure out.

The unicorns spell had reached its limit, she had expanded her search range as far as she possibly could. He could see her struggling, and with seconds to go on the stopwatch, her magic sizzled and turned off. She looked up at him, clearly disappointed. "I found a name. Earth. But I couldn't get anything more than that." She had an excited underlayer to her voice, however. "I haven't had this much fun using magic since...  I don't think since the night before the exam!"

He smiled, proudly. Wondering what kind of surprises his own kids would give him. Sure they might not be as gifted as Twilight, but the kind of pride he was feeling in his chest... god he missed Angel. What had happened that night he still didn't understand. Twilight had unleashed a torrent of power, but that had required her friends being united even before they had known each other. "You did well Twilight, I'm not an examiner but I'd have let you into any school you'd wanted to get into." He levitated the precious gem that glowed with an inner light to her. "A meager reward, hold on to it, I have a feeling we might need it at some point." The world was running on a different set of tracks and wouldn't come off it now, at least not like this. "I feel I owe you a long and complicated explanation Twilight, you're probably wondering how I know so much about your past and I why I was interested in Trixie's admission into the school?" He didn't touch on Earth, she understood that he hadn't always been a pony and that he came from somewhere not Equestria, he'd let her wonder about that unless she asked him directly.

The unicorn tilted her head. "Yes, I must say I'm quite curious as to your particular line of questioning, but I am courteous enough to realize that it'd be impolite to question your methods." She said, taking the gem. "Thank you, Silver. I know exactly what I'll do with it too. I'm re-enrolling in magic studies!"

"Can I hire you for a project on that note? Either as a favor, or I'll try to find more funding for you. There's a way of travelling through time mentioned to me called Timelock. I want to know that spell, what it does, its limitations, everything. And I want it to be performed at some point. Apparently it can send a pony back in time to a given point in history, once there changes can be done to the timeline which remain in effect. Somepony did that, Twilight. You were right, you were supposed to hatch that egg that day… in fact…" Time to give her some righteous indignation, though he wouldn't tell her about all the other things she had accomplished. Things like that could quickly go to your head. He told her about the sonic rainboom that Rainbow Dash had made, and how she and five other ponies had been united.

He watched her eyes widen. "A sonic rainboom... but that's not..." The gears were actively turning in her head now. "I don't know any of those ponies other than Rarity, and getting an appointment with Rarity these days is nearly impossible." She shook her head. "A Timelock is a simple round trip time travel spell. It lasts only for ten minutes, takes you back to a designated moment outlined in the spell itself. Whatever happens during those ten minutes, as you claim to be experiencing, directly affects the future if its something significant." Twilight's answer was simple, a little bit too simple. What she had described, as he had come to know it, was not a Timelock, but a mere time travel spell. To the past, then return. If she knew the more specific details, she wasn't telling him, although he'd gotten more of the idea from Zecora. Twilight was understandably hesitant in divulging dangerous information.

Novaria's training in reading expressions was bearing fruit. Of course it was a matter of whether she trusted him. To her he was a strange pony which had given her a sudden realization about herself, and then started to ask her about dangerous magic. "Do you think its possible for you to create a spell that can track the location of Celestia, Rainbow Dash and of Nightmare Moon? Letting me know where they are?" It would be an extension of what she had done.. then again something might have prevented spells like that from finding those targets. "And I have a feeling we need to reunite all six of you again. Without going back in time I don't think we'll be able to restore your destinies.. but they're your friends, Twilight. and together you've always had a powerful ability to overcome the impossible." The power of the six was needed in this world, even though Silver ironically was working to undo this place. Uniting them was also the only way of gaining her trust that he could imagine. Finding Celestia... she was wise and fast, he had a feeling she'd believe him, but finding her might prove impossible. If anyone could make a dent in the usurpers plans it was her, and since the world had remained like this she was bound to be out of commission one way or another. Time travel, however... could the real spell send him back but not bring him back.. maybe.. he imagined going back seventeen years, fixing the trouble.. and hiding in the background so that he could prevent Angel one day from ever reading what she'd seen. He'd do it in a heart beat if he got the chance.

She sighed. "Nightmare Moon I can tell you right now, she remains holed up in a castle in Ponyville, surrounded by her guards. You won't get anywhere near her without a fight. Celestia is in hiding, nopony has seen her in years. And Rainbow Dash, I'll try, but I can't promise anything. I need a little while to recover though, that search spell took everything I had."

He nodded, it was understandable that it wouldn't work with Celestia. The geography had changed quite a bit for reasons he wasn't quite sure of. "I understand Twilight, I will see if I can convince the five others to meet you in the Ponyville University.

Twilight nodded. "Celestia once mentioned something to Trixie about the Elements of Harmony that I overheard, they sounded important. Although I don't think they will be of use now, they'e been locked up since Trixie tried to sell them to upgrade her wagon." She shook her head again. "I will help you however I can, Silver. I promise you that. Do you need anything else from me?"

"That time travelling spell, research it, and find out if you can cast it. I'll gather your friends. Find out about Rainbow Dash if its possible." He repeated the battle plan to her. His mind trying to worry about how long they'd be free to do this before someone was discovering that something was off. All of the former bearers of the the elements of harmony, would probably be watched. If all six left at once, he worried that someone watching them would be suspicious.

Twilight saluted him. "Yessir!" She said playfully. With that instruction, she teleported off. All the rest so far had been easy to find, but something about Rainbow Dash proved harder than usual. She wasn't showing up anywhere. Regardless, with Twilight gone, he was left with many options to explore, standing not all that far from Ponyville, the Apple farm, and the rock farm, to name a few.

'You need to be paranoid.' He told himself. If I was planning on keeping this world as it was, then even though all the six had been given new destinies I'd still keep an eye on them. Now if someone had watched and heard everything he said to Twilight his cover was already blown. If they had seen and not heard, then he had simple been a cheaply dressed student who had taken Twilight out for a trip to see Trixie and then given her a jewel. Lover boy? Friendly mentor. They'd suspect nothing. If his cover was blown he couldn't do anything about it, so he assumed that his cover wasn't blown. However approaching the next target he'd need to change his disguise. Transmutation spells he knew none of, but there was an easy way to change your fur coat. He'd need to find a good bush of red berries. Didn't have to be edible ones. But first.. "I'm sorry my horn." He'd teleport, not far away, but far enough that any onlooker would suspect that he had gone back to Ponyville as well.

Having directed his horn to take him to the nearest source of berries, a relatively vague location, he wasn't even entirely sure if the spell would even work. But the teleport was flawless, giving him a proud realization that his magic skills were getting stronger. He arrived in front of a familiar wooden door, which opened shortly after his arrival. The yellow pegasus who'd opened it quickly apologized. "Oh! Um... hi... " she squeaked.

"Goodevening, Fluttershy." He said with paternal warmth, his horn and headache positively murdering him. "If.. it is not too much to ask for, do you have anymore of those healing herbs?" She was the shyest of them all, and had proven to be the most illusive to interviews and investigations for the same reason. There her destiny had been kindness in general, here it had taken the form of herbalism.

Fluttershy seemed a bit more confident than before, perhaps only because she had met him once already. "Uh huh." She nodded. "I um... I have all sorts of things. Come inside. That is, if that's okay with you..." She disappeared inside with a flash of pink. The mare could move when she wanted to.

He went inside, he was exhausted. Quite a bit more teleportation than he wanted to do, even if he was growing proficient. Clue hunting that was going nowhere. The success with Twilight had peppered him up. His body seemed to move his legs for him and he found a sofa, rested his head on a pillow for a while. Just a little while thought. It didn't smell of Angel. No place did. What had she read? How could it have happened? Would she ever want him back? He was crying silently, feeling all levels of miserable. Today he had considered putting pain and misery on another pony to get his will. This place was too good for him. Angel was too good for him. Could he ever really give her anything back? Without a sound the tears streamed down his snout. He didn't just want her he realized he needed her. Just lying down to take a nap, he associated that with her smell and the warm presence of her body. "Angel..." He whimpered, having forgotten where he was. I'll just rest here a little while he repeated to himself as his eyelids grew heavy.

He thought he heard Fluttershy squeak. "Angel? I know him! I-oh..." But her voice was distant and echoed, and exhaustion overtook him. He may very well have imagined it, but either way, nothing was as simple as all that. There was always a catch. It was dark outside, he must've... oh, right, it was always dark now.

He woke slowly, watching the twilight outside. Realized what he'd done and felt ashamed, it was embarrassing. "Fluttershy?" He asked into the hut, getting up on four legs. "Sorry you had to see that… I'm not usually like this." A moment of weakness, he felt exposed and unprotected.

Fluttershy appeared in the doorway, ears pinned back. "Yes?" She asked quietly. "Don't worry, I'm scared all the time. There's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Its.. my fiancee, I've been separated from her. Something happened.. and she wanted to be alone, and now I can't get back to her." He explained. If he couldn't fix this world, he'd go all the way to Evodia if he had to and meet her as a princess, at least he presumed she was a princess here. He'd try. "Do you have the headache herbs? And… some berries that can color fur?" How would he persuade this timid pony to go to Ponyville?

"Sure! Zecora made more of your headache stuff, she anticipated you'd be back eventually." A large thermos was handed to him, and she took the empty one back. "And you want a disguise, is that right?"

He nodded, timid but smart. Not much was known about her. "And.. I was wondering if you want to come see a friend of mine in Ponyville at the university. Nothing big, its not a test, but I would love it to see you there." That might be a bit too easy. The thermos he accepted and gulped down a good mouthful, feeling relieved. "The disguise, I was thinking colorful berries... unless Zecorah left some potion?" Mixology, alchemy and potion crafting was several orders out of his league.

Fluttershy squeaked again. "Oh! You mean... go... outside? I'd love making friends.. but I never go outside... I can't leave my teddy behind by himself!" She smiled, making a 'squee' sound. "Zecora left something for you, but wouldn't tell me what it was, only that I wasn't supposed to go near it. It's in that covered bowl, by the shelf there."

Too shy, and worse frightened by something, but she wasn't sure what it was. He wanted to see what Zecora had left him. "Any notes on what it is?" He levitated the bowl down and looked at its contents.

The bowl was filled with bright blue leaves that gave off a very sweet aroma. "No, only that I wasn't supposed to go near it." She said again. "She's strange like that, almost like she can see the future sometimes. She knows when you need something before you even need it."

Am I supposed to eat them or rub them across myself? He wondered as he gazed into the bowl. Fluttershy would not be coming so easily, she might have to be kidnapped, though he wasn't sure he could do that on his own. "Thank you Fluttershy." He levitated out a small handful of bits for her. "Thanks for the effort. I might be back at some point for some more herbs. See you." He exited through the door and looked at the leaves. Was it a coloring agent? He lifted up one of them and stroked it against his fur.

Fluttershy sighed. "I'm sorry I can't help you, I'm not as confident as Rainbow Dash was." She said quietly. "I'm just the worlds biggest scaredy pony. I'm no use to anyone." She got herself all worked up again, and disappeared into her room in tears.

He noted behind his ear to further interview her, he didn't suspect that she had known anything. However that had been a mistake, she had been at the same flight school as Rainbow Dash. Those leaves definitely weren't a coloring agent, but he stuffed them in his travel bag. Then he realized he had forgotten something to change his fur color with and went back in.. looking for some bright and reddish berries. something he knew wasn't deadly. It was a guessing game since Fluttershy had only delivered headache killing herbs.

There was nothing indicating that the leaves would do anything, no pain, no unusual feeling. But while he definitely felt different, he couldn't put his hoof on it. It wasn't until he just happened to pass the large reflective gates at the edge of Everfree that he caught his reflection in the metal. Or rather... her reflection. 

The pony that stared back at him was a mare. This day was just getting weirder and weirder.
> Boulder and Wiser
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It felt funny walking back into Ponyville with a mane that graced his neck. A voice that was completely unrecognizable. How was it that no one had told him about this plant? Fluttershy had been on hand to provide some explanations of its properties, but had bolted before any could be given. If it could directed to be more specific, the possibilities were endless! In the meantime, time to make this disguise work. First order of business, find Rarity.

Her colors weren't the same, upon closer look, they were inverted. Instead of light blue fur with blonde mane, she had yellow fur with a dark blue mane. Interesting. Ponyille looked, more or less, the same as it always had, only bigger. Much bigger. Nightmare Moon had expanded it from a small town into what could arguably almost be a city. Carousel Boutique was where it had always been, in comparison to the other buildings which had existed before, and looked to be open.

He had never played a mare before, he hoped he wasn't overdoing it. First he checked his supply of bits. Alright, I'm in the need of something to fit this season but I haven't found anything that worked well with my colors? With a deep childish excitement making this fairly fun, he entered the Carousel.

The Boutique.. while on the outside, similar, inside, had been completely redecorated. The main waiting area had been turned into a lobby with sofas and old magazines. A mare at the counter smiled politely. "Welcome to Colgate's Dentistry! Do you have an appointment?"

That's what presumptions bought you, he thought. Okay you just act like a ditz. A wide beaming smile, she strode a little clumsily over to the counter. "Yes, I'm lost! I don't know how it could happen, I followed what he said to the letter. Do you know if a miss Rarity Belle, is anywhere near? She dug into the saddlebag, looking for her map, getting out but dropping it. "Whoops sorry, such a klutz!"

The receptionist smiled. "Oh, believe me darling, you're not the first to make that mistake. Right place, wrong time. Rarity used to work here, but as I understand got an enormous offer in Canterlot last year, and has since moved there and opened up her own high-profile clothing line. I hear it's doing well."

She sighed and snorted. "Figures, just my luck, well thank you." Picking up the map she struck her off the list until she'd found a way to maneuver her way through the waiting list. Exiting the boutique, she wasted no time and set a course for the rock farm. Something told her that he needed to go all the way to Manehatten to find Apple Jack.

Exploring a new identity would have to wait for now, she had a mission to complete. The Rock Farm looked more or less the way it always had, two adults standing near the house, bickering about what to do with a large boulder in the field, and could they afford to remove it and expand the crops this year? Three smaller mares of extremely dull color and straight manes were out in the field, chipping away at a large rock with pickaxes. 
"Hurry up! Get the top of it!" 
"I got the top of it last time!" 
"That's because Inkie wasn't here, so it falls to you by default." 
"Since when?" 
"Since now!"

It was strange to be a mare, though how deep the changes went he wasn't sure. Except for an alarming lightness between his legs, he hadn't really found out yet. Would this herb have this effect consistently? Was it one time use or did he need to go back for more. It made him positively invisible unless some pony happened to notice the change. So he had worked up a quick new identity, she was Ageta Rubiks. It was the only name he could think of for some reason. "Oh, excuse me, are you the Pie family who's running this rock farm?" He asked, looking a little shy. Trying to think of how Fluttershy had acted, only not doing to such an excess.

If any of them was excited about getting a new visitor, they didn't show it. In fact they looked up at him with just about the most uncaring expression of boredom imagineable. "Yeah." The grey one nodded. "You need rocks delivered?" The other grey one spoke up. "Or broken down?" The dull pink one chimed in. "Or are you looking for something else?"

Okay, how would Fluttershy react? Whimper and run away, but she was her best bet for acting convincingly feminine without being ditzy. "Oh! Um, no... I mean kinda... the Canterlot University sent me, there's  a pony there, her name is Twilight." She explained not keeping eye contact and scratching on foreleg with a hoof. He reached way inside to find the scared little kid he had once been. "And um, she had to be a little special! She... I have a test... that's... if that's okay." She shied away and whimpered a little. Feeling embarrassed and having a blast at the same time. Poor Fluttershy, it was even harder for her, more severe, and she wasn't acting.

He had the trio's attention now, and they had all stopped what they were doing. "Test? What kind of test?" The grey one asked. "Oh, I'm Inkie." 
"And I'm Blinkie." 
"And I'm Pinkie!" Yeah, that wouldn't be confusing at all. The stallion who was presumably their father called from the house. "Girls! What's the holdup?" None of them registered any knowledge of Twilights name.

First test done, it was just a consistency check to see whether they had known Twilight. She already knew but it was worth checking to be sure. The new voice required him to flinch in mild shock, it was hard to overdo Fluttershy's timidness. She hadn't thought of a test yet, Pinkie Pie would still be Pinkie Pie whether this world had allowed her to express her destiny or not. "Yes... its not a hard test, but Twilight wanted me to use it to find the right pony for the job." One of them had called herself Pinkie, he looked at that pony, watching for her cutie mark and her appearance. Wasn't that pony a little too young to be Pinkie Pie?

All three of them had similar cutie marks. A pickaxe, a shovel, and a rock. Pure blooded sisters, no doubt about that. She looked similar to how he remembered Pinkie had looked in the newspaper, but greyscaled, and her hair as flat and stiff as a board. Inkie looked confused. "The right what? Are you looking for a rock? We can help with that."

"No, Twilight says somepony here would be good, she didn't say why. I'm just here to give you a test and then she has a job at the University." Downcast, eyes almost retreating. Okay they were buying her behavior, even if they probably thought it was a bit weird. Too late to change it without seeming insane or not genuine. "Oh! And bits, she offered bits for it." She stuck her head into his bag and fished up the small leather bag, letting the coins clink before putting it back. "Um... the test isn't obligatory... I mean, and you were working so maybe I should just go..." She was inching away, looking about ready to bolt.

At the offer of bits, their eyes seemed to brighten up. Their father came over from the house, looking slightly annoyed. "Girls, what's the holdup? We have a schedule to-" He paused, noticing the new mare. His daughters looked up. "This nice girl is offering to pay us to take a test for her," Blinkie said. The stallion frowned "Is that right?"

No, that would require money to be exchanged now. "What! No!" She exclaimed in surprise, indicating that misunderstanding had been made. "I said Twilight Sparkle would pay for a job in Ponyville University. I... I have money, but its down payment only, and I need to do the test first." She couldn't fake tears, Fluttershy would be positively crying at this stage, but she really felt sympathy, if she had wings she'd be hiding his face behind them, instead she tried making it go under her cloak hood.

Pinkie Pie stepped forward, some part of her obviously seemed moved by the  mares plight. "I will help her, father. I have some vacation days." Her father looked unsure. "I don't know." Pinkie shook her head. "No, I want to. I don't know why, but I need to help her." The stallion nodded after a moment. "Alright."

"Sorry, I just get so worked up at times." Hopefully the fates of this world wouldn't make her the new Fluttershy. She considered whether she should drop the act, but decided against it until she had reminded Pinkie Pie of who she was. Unfortunately of all the ponies, she was the one with the fewest consistent results. All she really had been able to figure about her, was that she was unpredictable and liked parties. Ageta doubted she could get her to spontaneously arrange something like that. "Thank you, um... we can do the tests, but I need some time to set them up... and they're not hard, so I don't expect you to fail, so... if its alright we can go to Ponyville now?"

Excusing herself from the rest of her family, Pinkie left for the road with Ageta, exchanging confused glances. "Ponyville is just a short walk away, what kind of tests are we talking about?"

"I can't tell you because then Twilight says it'll affect the results, d-don't worry its not a written test or an oral exam." Good thing she had always been terrified of exams, she could work with that. What kind of a puzzle could she give Pinkie Pie that would remind her of who she was? It was mildly frustrating, Twilight it had been a magically oriented puzzle, because that was her talent. They walked, she stayed silent, acting as if she was just shy. Pinkie's was laughter, but she wasn't exactly a humorous sort.. and she'd seen her gags on rare occasions when she had visited Canterlot castle and caught sight of Twilight in company with the pony, they were cute, but it didn't make me laugh. That wasn't the same case with Angel, she had laughed, her laughter was the most beautiful laugh he had ever heard. Completely natural and without a single bad streak to it. Genuine through and through. Her head hurt, but this was just as bad. She'd trade away any chance of curing her headache or even alleviating it from time to time, just to hear her laugh. Tears were starting to flow down her cheeks, crud, she'd see, it'd break her cover too early.

Pinkie cracked a weak smile, and something encouraging happened. "Is it a surprise? I like surprises!" With that bit of admission, a single small bright pink curl sproinged up from her mane. She did try to hide the tears, but of course she noticed, she was the most observant of the six. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, you didn't." She wiped away the tears, they were really flowing now. "I'm sorry." I'm so sorry Angel, I didn't handle you right, and now look at me, I'm barely able to put things together here. Ageta sat her rump down on a stump not able to hide the tears. "I'm really trying Pinkie... I said something wrong..." She had to shut his eyes for a moment, it hurt and tears rolled off from her eyes. "Someone... my fiancee, and now I don't know if I'll see he... him again. I'm sorry, I'll be okay.." All thoughts of a test was out of her mind, she felt ashamed and exposed.

Pinkie frowned. "Oooooh, I get it. You broke a promise didn't you?" She tsked in disapproval. "I'm not surprised, that's the quickest way to lose a friend you know." She stopped with Ageta outside Ponyville. "You sure you'll be okay? You look awful."

She felt awful, worse than awful. "I am awful." It was true, even if she was a pony, she was still a human. The fur, the hooves, the horn, it was all skin deep. Like it or not she came from a race that had darkness in them. Angel had finally come to see that. "I don't know what I'm going to do." She didn't fix this... yes... could she undo what had happened to Angel? If somehow she was able to arrive at the right moment to stop her from reading that book... would she then have been able to go off and change time? No she'd just have created a paradox.

She had really only one option. If she had done something in the past to cause all this, it would have happened already, and she wouldn't be here now. If she was going to stop this, it would have to be here. She'd have to find out who it was, and stop them from going back in the first place. If it was a unicorn, for example, she might have to break a horn, although that was an exceptionally crude scenario. Pinkie hugged the mare, and looked sympathetic. "What can I do?"

Pinkie's hug was welcome, it feel genuinely comforting. "I think my floodgates are slowing down a bit. I don't know if you can help me with my fiancee, I really, really wish you could, but its all my fault," She said, sniffing a little bit more, digging for a tissue. Was it because she was a mare now, she thought that was just appearances. Where had she put the hoofkerchief?

Pinkie was slowly beginning to be more like Pinkie, made even more evident by her reaching into a hole of a nearby tree and pulling out a hoofkerchief. "I have these stashed all over Equestria in case of tragedy, here!" She offered.

All over Equestria, hopefully she was exaggeration to make a point, he sincerely hoped that was the case. Ageta dried her eyes, dapping the moisture away, although the tears kept coming. "Thanks," She said, feeling a little weak. The tears had finally come, leaving poor Ageta crying on the side of the road. Pinkie, who other than her cutie mark and a fairly dull coat was more or less the way she was supposed to be, had slowly been slipping more into character. Frowning. "Hey! Don't be sad, there's no time for that! Your smile is lost... where'd it go?" She stood on her head, looking at her upside down. "Oh! Oh! I found it!"

She shouldn't have smiled, but her affectionate cheeriness was hard to dismiss. It didn't make her forget Angel, that part still hurt. Such a mare at the moment, she really needed to wash off these herbs, but the disguise was too important to lose. The element of laughter. In her human world she would have been a comedian, or a hospital clown, and she'd have made a lot of people down in the dumps feel better. "I'm not myself these days... you're good at cheering ponies up." She wondered if this was having an intended effect on her. "Did you know that Pinkie?"

Pinkie shrugged as if it wasn't all that big a deal. "I've been told that before, but it isn't really my thing. But I'm glad you're feeling better." She stopped, and pulled a map out from under a rock. "Is there somewhere we need to be going?"

She paused, considering that. Perhaps there wouldn't be any restoration of their destinies from here. If Twilight could do the timelock spell, then she had one and only one shot to go back and stop it from occuring at all. "Yes, Ponyville Library, and hurry!" She hoped Twilight hadn't spent the humongous gem, she might have need of it as well, but funding things wouldn't necessarily be a problem. That was a puzzle she had already solved.

"Oki doki loki, meet you there!" Pinkie dashed down the road. Yup, she was well on her way to being her old self again. As for Twilight, if luck was with her, she'd still be at the library as well.

She wasted no time, and she would not interfere with them finding each other. If she understood them right enough, that could only really be achieved by them. The Library was open, but nowhere near as vibrant as it once had been. Following the opening of the library in the University and the burning down of Canterlot Library, Ponyville library had been all but abandoned. She did a quick search in the library, to find Twilight, and the others, wherever they might be.

Twilight was in what, in another Timeline, would have been her bedroom, as was Pinkie. The room was completely empty and covered in dust. And, to his great surprise, so was Rarity. The mare was as beautiful as ever, with a needle and thread on her flank, however looked absolutely bored as if she'd rather be anywhere else. Twilight and Rarity looked puzzled, as they had not yet been privvy to the disguse spell yet. "Can we help you, darling?" The latter asked, though it sounded rather forced.

Ageta rolled her eyes. How was she going to dispense with that quickly? "Twilight if you look under herbs, you'll find one that grows in the Everfree Forest that has strange properties. It can among other things change your size, fur, appearance and..." He he shifted his hindlegs again. Odd feeling. "Gender. We met before, Silver Key, Took you to Trixie, made you discover your magical talent, told you about Timelock spells, asked you to research them, that the timeline had been altered." She decided to present them. "Rarity, meet Twilight Sparkle, one of your closest friends in an alternate timeline, along with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Apple Jack." She turned to Twilight, "Have you briefed them on this yet?"

Twilight took all this with seriousness and rolled her eyes. "Rarity has been my best friend since magic school, we don't talk as much as we used to, but when you questioned me before I sensed you might be interested in her, and sent for her at once." She explained. "I have not told her anything you told me, information is at your discretion." Pinkie, however had burst into giggles. "You're a STALLION? Oh, that's too much." She fell upon her back, legs kicking in the air with laughter. Her eyes glowed white, and she suddenly gasped as three balloons blazed themselves upon her flank. Twilight stared in amazement. Pinkie looked disoriented. Rarity backed away as if it was contagious.

It was working. "Pinkie Pie... your cutie mark! It turned back!" It was going to be a lot of information for Rarity, but he didn't want to waste time. "Rarity, have you ever heard of a cutie mark changing? In the timeline I came from Pinkie lived in Ponyville, and her talent was spreading laughter and cheering ponies. You weren't childhood friends with Twilight, but all six of you came together what would have been three years ago around now. Together with Twilight you became the bearers of the elements of harmony, and you saved Nightmare Moon, restoring her to who she had originally been!" She regarded Rarity, her cutie mark. She was an accomplished designer here instead of gems, a sense of preciousness and aesthetics as well as her natural ability to find them.

"Defeated Nightmare Moon? That's blasphemy,  you could be imprisoned for such talk." She said in a hushed tone. "As for changing cutie marks, if I recall correctly there was one case of a young filly in Manehattan having something like that a while ago, covered in cutie marks, poor thing had to be institutionalized." She shook her head. "Some days I just don't know what the world is coming to. But judging from what I have just seen, I believe you're not completely crazy."

Twilight would have to fill her in. How on Earth these ponies had been able to accomplish anything was a mystery to her. No wonder Novaria was baffled with it half the time. "Twilight, you're free to fill in Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Have you found out anything about the Timelock spell, can you cast it? And what about Rainbow Dash, any luck there?"

"Yes, I'll fill them in. As for Rainbow Dash, nothing important. I found a record of her birth in the Cloudsdale Archives, but it's nothing we don't already know. Name, place of birth, weight. After that, it's like she doesn't exist." She sighed. "As for the Timelock, I will keep trying, but I don't know yet if even I-" Rarity chimed in. "That's great. I'm happy for you and Imma let you finish, but I have work to do if I'm going to get my order finished by Wednesday." She headed for the door.

Ageta quickly bucked the door, stopping her from leaving and turned to her. She sounded a bit ridiculous talking the way he did but with a mare's voice. "Rarity, did you even hear a word I said? The timeline is out of order, the world has been upturned, a villain that was defeated has been allowed to run out of check." Ponies didn't get this angry.. well they did, but it looked silly. "And.. you're worried about your dresses not getting delivered?" Too much to prove in one paragraph. "You're not leaving until you understand!"

Canterlot had done a number on Rarity. She seemed unphased. "Of course I heard you. But it's not my problem. I have a business to run, you however are more than welcome to run around doing your detective work." Twilight stomped her hoof down. "Rarity, this is more important than fashion! Lives may be at stake!" The fashionista looked annoyed. "Nothing is more important than fashion, now allow me to leave before I have you all arrested for ponynapping."

Ageta was convinced to make her understand. "Rarity, I have to know strongly that you're only with all six of you present will the magic be strongest. Its not something I understand well, its something you discover together. How much would it cost you to delay the shipment for a day?"

Rarity sighed with defeat and stomped her front hooves in tantrum. "Oh, fine! I'll delay my order, but if I get heat from Miss Novaria, YOU'RE going to be the one explaining why." She warned, obviously unimpressed. She was clearly used to getting her way on things. "I will help you. But I'm not happy about it."

Novaria, Rarity knew Novaria! Of course she did, shipments came in from all over Equestria. As for convincing Novaria, that was easy, she knew far too many secrets now having been her advisor. Though of course she might just take her for a spy and lock her up. "Stay with Twilight, get to know her and Pinkie, and Fluttershy and the others." He was quickly scribing a letter to Zecora. The part of Rainbow Dash just disappearing, but not turning up dead was odd... "Did you find out anything about Rainbow Dash's parents?"

"Yes, they live in Cloudsdale, but unless you know a spell for making a unicorn pony sprout wings you're not getting up there." She said apologetically. Rarity looked at her incredulously. "What are the chances of that?" The three mares saluted Ageta, and although Rarity was annoyed, she joined the others at a table, going over what information they had already found. Twilight sounded hopeful about the idea of pulling off a time travel spell of her own, though she was by no means prepared to do it.
> An Apology To My Readers - Lunabrony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was fun while it lasted.

What started out as a fairly fun and original ideas has diluted into something almost unrecognizable. My co-writer and I agreed on the harsh, yet inescapable truth. 

Timelock is a terrible story.

It had potential, yes, but not every idea works, and Timelock is one of them.

I wish to apologize to those that feel this was less than quality material, which, at this point, includes myself. My co-writer and I agreed that this story needs to be wrapped up, and quickly. This means abandoning resolution to early plot threads that were introduced, and dissolving the story down to its basics, essentially half-assing the last 20% of the story.

There's just no way around it. He has grown tired of the story morphing into a dull clone of Magical Mystery Cure, and I have to say I have as well. That's not what I wanted when I started this story. That's not what he wanted either.

The last few chapters will be uploaded over the next week or so, and this story will be left behind. Angels and Demons 3 will enter production, the final installment in the trilogy,and hopefully have a better reception than this one did.

Following that, this universe, as far as FIMFICTION goes, will be left behind in favor of new, more exciting stories.

So, to my followers and supports, thank you, and I'm sorry if I wasted your time. It takes a good writer to recognize mistakes, a great writer to learn from them.

So go read The Day the Darkness Died instead. It's much better.

May the Odds be ever in your favor.
Lunabrony
> City in the Sky
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Silver was tasked with finding his own way to Manehattan, and eventually found himself approaching the ticket pony doing a crossword puzzle. In the time it had taken to arrive there, the gender-switching properties of the blue plant had worn off. "Five letter word for clumsy... hmmm... oh!" He looked up. "Can I help you?"

"Inept... weedy... splay... crude... gawky..." Silver thought "I think you need more information, but try any of them, see if anything else fits. "Bulky might work as well. "How much is a ticket to Manehatten?" He had bits, but they weren't good currency here, and while he didn't mind making money, or doing trickery to get it, he'd rather avoid that as much as possible. There wasn't a law he couldn't break, if the timeline was restored all would be well again.

The ticket pony gave him a very odd look. He started laughing, then cut off in mid chuckle. "You're serious." He regained his composure. "Where've you  been? Access to Manehattan is completely cut off, nopony goes in or out. Under quarantine until further notice."  He explained calmly. "Can't let you go, not this way."

"Well, I spent quite a bit of time being a statue at the back of garden. My wife got very angry with me.. she was a powerful unicorn. Turned me into a statue, then Nightmare Moon came back... for some reason she didn't get to turn me back. Spell evaporated recently, which means she's dead. Is there any way to Manehatten at all?" Petrification was one of his nightmares.

"If there is, you have to find your own way. It's exceedingly dangerous. Ponies who come back from there... they aren't the same. One mare, absolutely nothing wrong with her in the slightest, wouldn't stop screaming that she was turning into slime. Horrible." He shook his head. "Sorry kid, if you can teleport, do so at your own risk, where I can't see you, I'm obliged to tell the authorities if I see you trying."

A long jump from here to Manehatten? He was crazy... just the thought of it was giving him a headache. "Okay, this was fun, but hypothetically speaking, do you have a hypothetical map showing Manehatten, in case a pony would hypothetically consider going there? Hypothetically?"

"Trust me, maps are completely useless. You.... really don't know what happened, do you? A pair of draconequui took over, completely demolished all ability to live down there. Nothing stays the same long enough for a map to be of any use. Anypony who goes down there is lucky to emerge with their own head, let alone less than two."

"There must be a general direction. I'll walk there if I have to. Look.. its important, I can't pay you but it is. Can you point me in the general direction" Discord and Alice.. joy. In his timeline she had been friendly, for a member of exclusive species she had been restrained, a little sorry.. with Discord free, he hated to think about it. Even the friendly version he'd known had often given him spontaneous changes when she'd come by.

The stallion shook his head,and offered a sly wink. "Sorry, can't do it, it's for your own protection. I certainly couldn't tell you to follow the tracks north, and I certainly couldn't advise teleportation, considering Manehattan is over a hundred miles away." He said sternly. 'Nope, can't do it."


"Thanks, you've talked sense into me. I'll return to where I came from. I just needed someone to talk to I guess." He looked down at the crossword. "Upper row starts with a B in the corner, and somewhere you'll need to fill in cornucopia." He turned, walked away from the train station, doubled back in a long away and started following the tracks north. At some point, when he felt he was close enough, he'd drain some more headache killer and do a jump as good as he could.

But perhaps he wouldn't need to. Although a seemingly lengthy journey was ahead of him, he was suddenly joined out of nowhere by the earth pony from the University. For somepony without magic, he appeared more efficiently than experienced unicorns. "'Allo!" He said cheerfully. "In a bit of a spot, are we?"

Silver blinked, it was getting on his nerves. "You're part of this, you're not working on the side of the ponies messing it up; You let me know of the timelock spell; Had Twilight nearby so that we would bump into each other. You've helped, now you're following me. Interesting conclusion, you want to help fix this mess even if not directly; Postulation, you're doing so because you were part of starting this mess in the first place?"

"A fantastic deduction, but alas, completely wrong. I don't take sides, I'm afraid." Another voice from behind him. "Doctor!" it called, and Derpy ran towards him. She looked annoyed. "You were going to leave me behind again, weren't you?" "This is not the time nor the place, my dear." He said patiently. "I was just about to offer our young friend here some assistance, but I'm not sure he's completely willing to accept it."

Silver approached, eyes narrowing "Strawman fallacy.. doctor.. I never said anything about you taking sides. You're interfering, but you pushed things my way, and now you're offering assistance." He turned to the googly eyed pony. "Do you know what kind of help he's offering me?" He turned back to the doctor. "Motivation? What's your teleology, doctor? You offer assistance, yet you act in such a way that I shouldn't trust you. Any intelligent being does things for some end, what's yours in this?" He may or may not be something he'd have to warn Novaria about.

The Doctor pulled Silver aside. "I'm going to help you, although I tend to try to avoid meddling in others affairs. If I take you where you need to go, you WILL promise to keep our encounter to yourself?" He asked. Derpy frowned. "You sure about this?" "Of course I'm sure, he just wants Angel back, nothing wrong with that." He seemed to march to his own drum, a very large uncoordinated drum that annoyed all the neighbors.

Silver took as much information in from this as he could; The doctor was intelligent and impressively capable; He knew much about Silver. Most of it he could learn from observing him here.. though it was likely he knew more, ergo he had the means for doing this; Time travel capabilities seemed likely, he was unaffected by the time change; He was intelligent, arrogant.. neutrally oriented. Dangerous, but capable. "If you involve yourself in the business of Evodia, my family, or Equestria, then you'll be involved doctor, otherwise I won't have any conflict with you."

"Oh, I have no intention of interfering unless I have to." He grinned. "Or unless it's just really really fun. Come on then, off we go, Allons-y!" He announced, and raced off, with Derpy following. The next half hour or so was a blur for Silver. Running, a strange blue box, nausea, lots of lights. The Doctor clapped his hoof on Silvers shoulder. "Here we are, Manehattan!" He announced.

A room that was bigger on the inside than the outside. Not magical; He was not from Equestria, and not from Earth. He stepped out of the box. "Thank you doctor." He said, it was a good favor, but the doctors involvement with this wasn't clear. "I don't trust you yet. A pony who doesn't take sides, doesn't fight the good fight. I don't know your ends doctor, but I'm thankful for your help."

There was no answer, and no indication of being heart. When he spun around, the box was gone, and he was completely alone. That was the first shock. The second... he was standing on the sky. Large fluffy clouds passed harmlessly through him, being taken wherever the wind decided they should go. Straight up, a hundred miles overhead, he stared at distant grass, green and fuzzy. It was absolutely sickening to look at, even more so to try to comprehend.

There was nothing he could do about the doctor. He seemed a wildcard, if he figured into any of this, it was neither as instigator or as remedy. A passerby. Testing he checked to see whether he was falling, he decided to walk for a bit, see if he was just floating or whether the sky had somehow become solid.

Falling no, the ground, if it could be called that, was solid. Yet he could see clouds far below him, beyond his reach. It was an instability  better left unthought about. There was no path or sense of direction, but a strange shimmering glimmer caught his attention a few feet away.

Upon entering the strange shimmering rip in space, Silver found himself in the abandoned citadel that had once been the thriving city of Manehattan. Now, it was as ghostly as its surroundings. What buildings that hadn't been turned to slime or flipped upside down had been  turned two dimensional, a flat unusuable wall on a three dimensional surface. The air was thick with purple fog, leaving the city completely uninhabited. How many lives had been uprooted for a game like this?

Colossal and vulgar displays of cosmic forces, the impossible made real. It could only be Discord and Alicia, without theFluttershy part of the six, there would have been no reforming him, worse without all six of them there would be no stopping him the first time around. Alicia thought not as excessive as her husband, might have stepped back into that role when his power had been unchallenged. Silver sighed, and slugged some more of the painkilling swill. Those two entities were unreasonably powerful, his only defense was that they seemed to delight in the absurd rather than merely dominating. Slowly he made his way into the remains of the city, trying to blend into a world where the normal stood out.

Applejack was here somewhere, at least, she had been. As he rounded a corner, he saw a grotesque sight. A mare trapped in a wall. Her back half had been fused into a chalk drawing, nothing more than colored powder on the bricks, where her front half fused out of the wall as if coming to life, and dangled downward. Her ears twitched, as her head hung between her front legs. She'd been there, who knew how long?

This was bad. Checking his surroundings idly, trying to just look like the jittery type, he checked to see that he was mostly alone. He couldn't be sure. Alice had once surprised him by disguising herself as an avant garde colored new sofa in the apartment he shared with Angel. It had given him quite a shock, but in that world she was safe. At least he had come to trust that. Here he could take nothing for granted, even that he was alone. He approached Apple Jack.. awake, aware? That she should even be able to be alive in any semblance of life was a testament to Discord's grotesque powers. Was this prank more something Alicia would have done? It seemed too mean and aggressive to be her. But then he had no idea how cruel she could really be. "H-hello?" He called to the pony.

The mare, a regular brown color, slowly looked up at him. Her eyes were full of sadness and defeat. "You shouldn't be here." She said weakly. "Go. Go while you can."

Silver really wished that he had that as a legitimate option. He needed all six to complete the elements of harmony, and get the full picture of what had happened, to give strength to Twilight and perhaps even to help stop what had been set into motion. "Blond mane, orange coat, possibly an apple cutie mark, earth pony; Seen her?" He asked quietly.

The mare scratched her head with a hoof. "Maybe. That sounds a lot like the crazy mare on the outskirts of town, except for the apple bit. But then, I've been stuck here for almost six months, anything could have happened. I can at the very least direct you towards it." She offered.

He'd offer her something to drink, or a pain relieving spell if he was able to complete one. Unfortunately he couldn't relieve this pony's suffering in any way. Food might work in a bad way in her now, and he couldn't risk being found out for Discord noticing that she suddenly had acquired an apple. "I'll take any directions you can give, the cutie mark bit might be wrong… it might be her." It was worth trying at least.

It was unlikely she could eat or drink anymore, her back half was stuck in the wall. She pointed a hoof back down the way he'd come. "Just go to the border of the city and you'll see a path branching right, follow that to-" She suddenly looked scared. "No... no! I'm sorry! I'll be quiet! I'm sorry!" There was a blinding flash, and her words were cut off completely, as Silver was confronted now with nothing more than a drawing on the wall, a drawing of a terrified pony. Looking around, he'd find himself still alone.

Someone was watching him, powerful enough to this and remain hidden. Few, if any at all, unicorns or alicorns could have pulled off something like that; Discord or Alicia. And as cruel as it was, he feared that he was bound for a similar joke. Dispensing then with the need for hiding himself, though playing the frightened part he hurried away from the crayon drawing version of the pony he had talked to. Speeding, not in the direction she had pointed but in another, seeking to double back eventually. Hopefully whoever was watching him would take him for a frightened visitor and would leave him be. However he didn't want to take too long in doubling back, in case whoever it was didn't want to let up the chase, and decided that it was time to have fun. Making his way to Apple Jack in another form was not his plan.

If anyone was following him, watching him, they didn't show themselves. But he was in a great amount of danger just being here. For now, although he was left alone, he would not be left alone forever. Upon reaching the eventual path that the mare had spoken of, he found a trail that led off down a hill and into an oddly placed forest of blue and red trees.

If he was followed now there was nothing that he could do about it. Either of the two tricksters could appear and cause mayhem for him to their amusement. Getting Apple Jack away from here was paramount.. if he failed he might not have the opportunity to get back again safely. The others of the six might be moved to help him, but could they in their present form? He moved on to the forest. Time was against him in more ways than one.

The path led into the forest, flanked by signs of warning on either side. STAY BACK. Read one. TRESPASSERS WILL BE SHOT. Said another one. Cheery. He approached a small ranch house set fairly deep in the forest, it was as promising a lead as he'd had yet.

He was thankful that Apple Jack hadn't been turned into something that couldn't write a sign anymore. The fact that he hadn't run into too many ponies in the parts of the Manehatten that had been left three dimensional spoke eerie things about their fates. Now how would he approach the forest without unleashing Apple Jack's anger? He decided to wait it out a little, watching the forest from behind the signs. Not for too long though, eventually he would have to approach.

The weather here was odd, the sky wasn't quite night or day. It had been blue, but it was hard to tell how it worked exactly. It hadn't a steady rhythm, it was as chaotic as anything Discord had been told to have made. It hadn't rained though. Not yet at least. She was home.. if he knocked on her door he might be unwelcome. If he stayed here, then there were two possibilities. Discord/Alicia were following him and will eventually get bored and do something amusing to him. Or they weren't following him, but finds a suspicious pony out here and realize what he's up to. He decided that the best course of action was to approach the building and yell to Apple Jack as loudly as he could.

The front door cracked open. His approach had not gone unrewarded. The orange mare he had sought so hard for stood framed in the doorway, ragged and dirty. "Whatcha want?!" She snapped. "Din' y'all see the signs?"

Again, time to convey as much information in as short amount a time as possible. Discord or Alicia following him he couldn't do anything about. "Apple Jack? Of the Apple family? Raised by Granny Smith? Little sister of.." He wished he could recall all those names. Despite the research he had done into her and her achievements, and her history. "Large red stallion?" Had he ever seen him in any occasion. He had bumped into him, accompanying her sister.. some gala involving Twilight. He lowered his voice as much as possible. "Ee'yup?"

The mare seemed stunned by his questions, and her eyes teared up as he spoke. She could only nod in dumb acknowledgement. Whatever the case, they didn't seem to be around anymore. "Apple family ain't much anymore." She said quietly, and disappeared into the ranch. "Come inside, ask yer questions, then get out."

"Thanks." He said and went inside, he didn't know what had happened to the Apple farm and kicked himself for not having asked Twilight to research that. She had already been heavily taxed with the task of figuring out what had happened to Rainbow Dash and to figure out the timelock spell, but this bit of information would have been invaluable, here. "What happened to the Apple family?" He went straight to business, as much he wanted to be kind he couldn't waste much more time. "And beyond that I don't have a request except to escape this place with me. You're more important than you realize, Apple Jack. This place isn't where you belong."

Applejack didn't seem to enjoy answering his questions, but he was her first visitor in who knew how long. "Carnies happened." She said sadly. "Ah lost th'farm to a couple of fast talkin' stallions." She sounded angry. "We din' have enough money to fight it, we'd spent every bit we had tryin' tah fix mah little sister, an' they took all we had." She stomped in anger, and began spewing a wide range of obscenities directed about the pair of  stallions that even Silver was shocked to hear.

"I'm not here to rob you Apple Jack, I'm about as poor as you and you're probably stronger than me. I want to get you out of this place. The world isn't right.." He held up a hoof "And I'm not just talking about Manehatten, I'm talking about all of Equestria. Its constantly moonlit night, Discord is on the loose, Canterlot's ponies are walking around in a daze.. I'm sure you've always felt that there's something fundamentally off." He really wished for a simple puzzle to solve. Playing street preacher, moral coach, organizer… the only real puzzle was where Rainbow Dash was. Not in Cloudsdale, and not dead was about all he knew currently. The other was what had gone wrong exactly, and he was pretty sure only Rainbow Dash would be able to tell that. How would he gain Apple Jack's trust? It was wrong to have come alone.

"Yeah, Yer right, there is somethin' wrong. Yer trespassin'." Applejack said bluntly. "Y'all obviously didn' see the signs, so ah'll jes assume yer either blind or stupid." A second figure arrived at Applejacks side, much smaller in side. She was a deeper orange than Applejack, and frequently had to blow her shaggy mane out of her face. "Who's this loser, Aunt Jack?" She gave Silver a cold eye. "Whatcha want?" Applejack shushed her. "Quiet now. This young stallion was just finishin' his story, and then he was leavin' Wasn't that right?"

Twilight would have been better here, even in this timeline it was easier for her to connect with these ponies. How would he reach Apple Jack? "What are you doing here? In Manehatten? Its barely a walk away from two of the most chaotic and destructive beings in Equestria. Is that really where.." He tried to recall her gigantic family tree "Apple Bloom here should be raised? You know very well that should wake up an apple tree any moment. What about the rest of your family? Do you even care about them?" Sweet talking would get him nowhere, it was time for her to get angry with him. "You wanna be stuck here until Discord and Alicia decides to play a jokes with your life?"

Surprisingly, he seemed to have gotten through to her. Her aggressive attitude saddened, and her eyes lowered to the floor. "Apple Bloom ain't right. She caught some sorta Cutie Mark disease, and it drove her near crazy. Ah sent her to Coltifornia, some doctors there who said they could help. But payin' them bills took everythin' ah had, and when Macintosh got sick, ah couldn't afford no help." Her voice filled with regret. "Ah love mah family more'n anythin', but most of em are sick or ain't with with us no more. Ah don't got much left."

"So why on Ea.. cough, Equestria's solid ground do you spend your time here? You've got a filly with you, and this place is about as dangerous as it gets. For crying out loud, how do you even plan on earning bits here? I've got an offer, if you're willing to listen to it. A friend of mind Twilight Sparkle is searching for five other remarkable ponies. She works at the Ponyville university, and I happen to know that you fit her profile. She can help you.. financially as well. I'll help you get out of here free of charge, she'll help you financially. All you have to do is meet her and talk to her. Easy peacy, and if you really want to live underneath Discord's shadow until he turns you into that for laughs, then by all means I'll help you back. Now get up on all fours Apple Jack, you've got work to do and you know it" Silver hoped his drill instructor from royal trainings would be proud of him. If this didn't convince Apple Jack then there were rougher means.

Applejack looked down at the filly that was with her. The latter seemed to agree. "It... WOULD be nice, to get outta here, Aunt Jack..." She offered hesitantly. Applejack agreed. "Alright. Ah'm with ya. But y'all better hold tah yer promise, ah hate broken promises. How d'we get back tah Ponyville? Trains out, and its a long walk." She said sarcastically.

He hated to think about it, and preemptively got out his flask. Teleporting here had been possible, it had been a terrifying jump and it had hurt. Teleporting with passengers was far more difficult. He was sure that he could make the jump intact, but it might be a rough ride for his passengers. "Either we gather up some supplies, I can summon water so you'll only need food, and we walk.. or I try teleporting us all. We walk if I can't" If the alicorn of his horn fractured he could only hope that the restored timeline would have it whole again. "When you're ready stand on either side of me.. close.." He went over the checklist of all the things you needed to keep in mind with teleporting with passengers. Presence, distance, destination, sizes, warm up, intonation, incantation, sublimation, quarklication... 

Applejack slowly emerged from the house, the younger filly at her side. "If you're sure you know what you're doing, go for it." She said hesitantly. "You're a unicorn, so as long as you get the spell right, there shouldn't be any problem."

It was a little more complicated than that. Though most ponies were born with an aptitude for a particular line of magic that tended to coincide with their talents, given training it was possible to pick up spells outside that talent. Few ponies had cutie marks that indicated an aptitude for magic itself, usually celestial bodies or abstract symbols. Puzzle solving was fairly general, and so Silver was a jack of all trades but master of none when it came to magic. And Angel had put him through the same teleportation drills that she had gone through.. but carrying passengers was something they had only done sparingly, as it was usually only useful in emergencies. He charged up the spell matrix, intoning the words and meanings of the incantation. Arcane energies welled up in his horn. Electric discomfort turned into a burning sensation, which became a sharp painful pressure. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, pushing the spell forward and then...

Silver wasn't entirely sure what happened after that. He'd pushed for Ponyville, had he even made it there? It was impossible to tell at this point.  Voices faded in and out of existance, and six mares were standing over him, watching. Fluttershy, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie.  United again, although some of their cutie marks were wrong. Applejacks had been restored to three apples, leading to further confusion as to what exactly had transpired. "You alright, Sugarcube?" She asked. But her voice seemed a million miles away. The sixth mare leaning over him... the sixth mare was Angel. If Fluttershy and Rarity didnt still have the wrong marks, it could easily be a dream.

> Answers at Last
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The moment he saw Angel in the blurry vision, he instinctively reached out towards her with his hooves. "Angel… Angel?!!" Had she come here as well, fallen through the same timelock spell.. or had she come looking for him. All considerations about how this could logically be the case was thrown out of the window. It was her, and she was with him. "I've missed you so much, I.." Sharp pang of pain again, but she could heal that, she always had been able to. "What happened where am I.. how did you get here?"

Angel looked confused, and though he reached for her, she did not reach back. He noticed the beautifully decorative dress she wore, her hair styled in such an elaborate way it must have taken at least two hours. Twilight slowly approached, and took his hoof in hers. "We're at the Evodian hospital, Silver." She said gently. "You've been out for two weeks, and all you could say was Angel, where's Angel? So we did some digging, and brought you... well, I don't know if its the right one, but, Silver, meet the Princess of Evodia."  He continued to hurt, his fiancee did not jump in to heal hiim as she always had. "It's nice to meet you, Silver. I understand you're a fairly big fan of mine."

Not Angel, or it was, but it wasn't his Angel. The bitter reality washed away the dreamy illusion, he closed his eyes and fought down a tear. She didn't know him, didn't respond to him. This was worse than not being able to meet her. He wasn't sure what to say or do around her. "Princess…" He tasted the word. On occasion he'd tried to get a feel for Angel's disposition towards that duty. In this world, either she never gave up the crown.. he looked to see her cutie mark. "Its an honor to meet you. We've meet before, but its hard to describe in a short amount of time and I don't know if I have the heart for it. Evodia.. and Equestria are in danger your highness" Had whoever who had done this gone back much further than simple Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom.. how far back had it been when Angel had discovered her knack of medicine?

He knew that this was when she had decided that she wouldn't be a princess. However in a world without Celestia there might have been a severe need for another princess in Evodia.. she didn't like the weight of the crown, but she would fill in those golden horse shoes if she had to.

The other five ponies slowly encircled him. Fluttershy and Twilight gently took hold of his left hoof, while Rarity and Applejack took his right. He got the feeling that they were comforting him for extremely unpleasant news. Angel slowly approached him, the silver scepter on her flank glittering. "It is with great regret that I must impart upon you some unfortunate news, Silver." She said as gently as if she was talking to a foal. "The danger can wait, momentarily." Her focus was on him.

His head swam, he tried to recall when Angel had discovered medicine. It had been.. he couldn't remember. The sudden attention of the ponies, their desire to comfort him made him far more anxious. Why was he in a hospital again? His head hurt.. no.. not just his head. A dread started filling him... "No..." He whimpered and tried feeling his horn, sensing the conduit of mystical energies within his reach.

The mares on either side of him tightened their grip on his forelegs. His hoof, despite its explorations, found only gauze and bandages. He moved it up, down, far beyond the radius of usual, searching for something he knew he wouldn't find. His horn was gone. The magical energy he sensed was extremely diluted, that feeling of not being able to find an object that was set down only moments earlier.

It had been a very long time since he had a last felt this absence. For three years magic had been a mundane part of his life. Ever present... now he wouldn't even be able to move a leaf. Sense mystical auras. Nothing. "No..." He shook his head. Powerless. Emasculated. This was a hard mission and now his big weapon had been removed. Deep breaths.. he took them and to calm himself. A certain word he couldn't remember invited itself to be yelled. Could this even be restored if he restored the timeline? Hopefully, it was his only hope. This alternate-hornless-Silver would fade and he'd be back in the castle, invited by Celestia and Luna. He needed to focus on the mission, sitting up he gritted his teeth. "Princess Angel, your kingdom is in danger." His hoof pawed a little more at the absence. "Has... stop fidgeting with me!" He told the ponies at either side and fixed his gaze on Angel. "Has Twilight filled you in?"

Angel nodded. "Yes, I have been filled in. The safety of Equestria is in danger, and, by extension, so is Evodia. Of course upon hearing this, I demanded to know all the details." She said gently. "I even pulled some strings to see if I could be any help in your quest, would you be aided by this?" Her horn levitated a large packet from the table. It was about the size of a small novel, but the large lettering on the front caught his attention more than anything. "FILE: DASH, R."

Instinctively he tried levitating it towards him. Whatever means he had felt before gripping onto what he had directed his attention to now felt like a vague gas and the file instead of lifting felt infinitely heavy. For the first time in three years he reached out with his hooves to carry something. "Yes.. thanks, this will be helpful. She's the missing piece of the puzzle" He took the file into his lap. "If this works, the timeline will shift and a lot of things will be different. For the better." He considered his words. She had another cutie mark, perhaps things had worked out differently here. "Princess... is your crown heavy?" Angel wasn't dumb, she'd get a metaphorical question.

Angel smiled, and approached to sit next to the side of his bed. "My mother once told me something I carry with me even today, early in my ruling days when I was unsure of my effectiveness upon taking the role of Princess, She told me, "Angel, the crown of a ruler is only as heavy as the heart of the one who wears it." She explained. 

He considered that "Might I ask when you got your cutie mark?" It was important here. If they had gone back much further he would need to go every bit as far back as well. "This is important to figure out how we'll put Equestria's timeline back on track" She seemed at ease with being a princess in this world. Had she really let herself be held down in his, or maybe she was just saying nice things at the moment. "Did you ever work in a hospital?"

"I double in medicine when I'm not on the throne." Angel spoke very softly, not wishing to upset him. "May I ask what you did to your horn, Silver? When you were brought to  me, it was almost completely broken in half. I've never had to remove a horn before." She asked. "I've seen fractures before, those heal with time, but..." She trailed off, obviously concerned. 

"I wanted to get Apple Jack over there out of Manehatten. Its located inside a pocket dimension of sorts. No road really leads to it and for the same reason.. no road probably leads out of it. Teleportation was the only way in or out. We would have tried walking if I couldn't muster the energy of a group teleport.. apparently I could just barely… but I guess my horn couldn't take it" He shivered a little. He was magic less. Less than an earth pony who was in tune with the ground and the plant life and were naturally strong, weaker than a pegasus without wings.. "Its going to make this mission a lot more difficult, but I have a backup solution" He said and eyed Twilight. She'd have to carry the brunt of the spell work now.

Twilight caught his attention, and stood up straighter. "I will help you, Silver. We all will." Rarity coughed. "Excuse me, but SOME of us have more important things to - OW!" She pulled her hoof up sharply, from where it presumably had been kicked. "Fine. I'll help. But you're costing me valuable time." She said snobbishy. Fluttershy spoke up. "Read the file! Oh.. um... that is... if thats okay."

They reminded him of the eagerness of his undercover team back at Canterlot. What a poor excuse for Celestia he was. "Twilight, do you mind reading reading it for me? I would, but turning pages with hooves is a little difficult." He wasn't powerless, he decided. If he returned to the right timeline, then he hoped he got his horn back. If not, then he'd go on the transgrafting list as all other hornless unicorns. But all that magic didn't matter as long as he would be with Angel again.. the one that knew him. "A.." He corrected himself. "Princess Angel... would you mind casting a headache relief? I have terrible migraines."

"Of course." She said, and her horn glowed. His headache rapidly dissolved. Twilight flipped through the pages, trying to find something interested. "Birth date, family history, known colleagues, education... Rainbow Dash graduated from the Flight Academy with top honors." Fluttershy squeed. "Oh, I remember that day. There were a whole bunch of lovely little ducks swimming in the lake, they were so nice." Her cutie mark shimmered, but did not change from its current herbal alignment.

Note to self: Get Fluttershy to play with animals, in a safe environment. It would be doable now that she was relatively comfortable in the presence of her friends. Otherwise she seemed to have a maternal and sympathetic streak and he didn't mind playing weak and ask her to company him for a walk in nature. "Where did she go? Current occupation? Places she stayed at? Anything at all about what happened to her? She was supposed to have made a sonic rainboom, at.." He forgot the name of the event. It had been a particular race. He filled Twilight in on as many of the details as possible. "It was around the the time she earned her cutie mark."

"What do you remember of it Fluttershy? The day you noticed those ducks?"

Fluttershy squeaked. "Oh, um, Rainbow wanted to do this really special move at the conclusion of the ceremony, but she didn't tell anypony what it was. We waited and waited, but nothing ever happened. She didn't show up to the reception afterward, and I haven't seen her since." Twilight was flipping through pages, looking more interested by the minute. "It's no wonder, either. It says her most common colleague is a gryphon named Gilda, who lives in the Ponyville Observatory. Nopony has seen Rainbow Dash in years. This file includes records for a name change, dated not too long after her graduation." She flipped another page, and her eyes grew even larger. "Oh my."

"What?" Silver asked Twilight, wanting to know what had happened. Pieces were starting to slide into place. In this timeline Rainbow Dash hadn't accidentally performed a sonic rainboom, at that race. The event that had connected all six of them. By the academy days surely she would have discovered either a new cutie mark, or the same one and perhaps even figured out that she could do a sonic rainboom… and then she had gone missing. "I just need to know where she is currently. She's the only one of you who might know where things went wrong."

Twilight looked up slowly, obviously not too pleased with what she found. "Well, the good news is, we know where she is now. The bad news... it's not going to be easy getting to her." She lay down the opened file, and slid it across to Silver. A very aggressive looking Rainbow Dash stood posing for a photograph in a full body suit, even then looking as if she was ready to smack the photographer out of her way. "She's... she's a Shadowbolt."

He groaned inwardly. He couldn't fly. Now he couldn't do magic, he was ill at the moment and recuperating from his dash through the topsy turvy land of Manehatten. Meeting Angel here had demoralized him. And now he had to trek through another gigantic journey, to hunt down someone who had forgotten who she was, who were members of a set of ponies who had existed only vaguely as fliers controlled by Nightmare Moon. He couldn't do it, he just couldn't do it. Sitting up he eyed Twilight "Take Fluttershy, Apple Jack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity with you. Make Fluttershy remember her kindness and love of animals, make Rarity remember her generosity.." He looked at the purple maned mare. Good luck. "Send me letters informing me of your progress." He didn't have the energy to look down Rainbow Dash and bark the same tedious orders at her.

"You need to find Rainbow Dash and make her remember who she is. Once you're done you'll…" He gritted his teeth through another pang of headaches. "Make your way to this castle in the Everfree forests. There you'll discover the elements of harmony. When all that is done... come back here, and perhaps we can solve the final riddle together."

Angel still had her magic, and offered to teleport the five mares to Fluttershys cottage. They accepted, and after giving him a few hugs and final promises that everything would turn out alright, were sent off. Angel slowly looked at him, once they were alone. "I have one final piece of information that may be able to help you. But I tell you at risk of my own safety, divulging this information could cost my title." She said quietly. "I need you to promise, absolutely promise, to keep it to yourself. I give it to you only in the hope that it will guide you in your quest."

"Princess Angel, I've been taught how to keep state secrets. There are things I've kept secret even from my own wife." The worst aspects and cruelty of the human race. Some nefarious projects he was doing for Novaria such putting agents into the Canterlot castle. Some outrageous weaponizations and defense strategies that Evodia could utilize in emergencies if the elements of harmony should fail or be unavailable. "My lips are sealed."

"If it will help you, while I cannot tell you her exact location, I can give you your best chance to find Celestia, if she's around anymore at all." She summoned a scroll with her horn, and laid it out in front of him.

The scroll was a simple map, one of Canterlot. Several long lines stretched out from the castle, burrowing deep into the edge of the Canterlot boundary of Everfree Forest. "These are an old network of Diamond Dog tunnels, used as a bunker by royals and dignitaries in times of crisis. They're knowledge is absolutely top secret, but I think what you describe qualifies as a state of emergency, and I want you to return home to your fiancee. Twilight didn't tell me who she was, but I'm sure she's very lucky to have a stallion like you."

"Is it possible that you could escort me?" He asked. If not he'd go on his own hoofs, despite doctors orders to stay in bed. Finding Celestia wasn't paramount, but she could be a powerful ally. It wouldn't be long before whoever had done had realized that the six was gathered again. "That reminds me that I need to warn them about Celestia and Luna's castle where the elements are stored. It might be booby trapped."




> Abandoned Plot Threads - Lunabrony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is where everything fell apart, and the only reason I'm uploading this at this point is for my own records. The following were planned story lines that just never happened, or were dropped entirely to get the ending over with.

-Restoring Rarity
-Restoring Rainbow Dash
-Restoring Fluttershy
-The Diamond Dog Tunnels
-Recruiting Princess Celestia
-Return to Manehattan
-Recruiting Discord and Alicia
-Silver not getting his horn back
-Finding the Elements of Harmony
-A trip to Evodia
-A meeting with Novaria
> A Long Overdue Reunion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Through no small amount of effort and adventure, Silver Key stood with the Six, Celestia, and Angel outside the heavy double doors of Canterlot Castle he'd been thrown away from so long ago. The others formed two straight lines next to either side of the door. Celestia still looked ragged from being rescued from the tunnels, and was in no condition for a confrontation. "This is your mission, Silver." Twilight said. "Your final challenge lies right behind that door. Are you up for it?"

It was horrible seeing what had been Equestria's strongest ponies reduced this, all looking up to him for everything. Even Celestia the former ruler was reduced to a simpering wreck. Twilight, a natural leader, even now that her cutie mark was restored a weak and diminished shadow of herself. They wore the elements of harmony as per his instructions, they each had their proper cutie mark restored. "Will you all just cut it out now? In the timeline I'm from you stopped worse things than what lies inside this castle! You can follow along if you want, but I'm just a unicorn with a broken horn. I can't do anything but bark orders at you. If you're not up for this, then you might as well jump into the lake of despair you've all be wallowing all in this time. Twilight, you're the best magic user up front with you, shield us if you can. You other five stand ready. Celestia, back up Twilight from a distance, Angel assist Twilight at her side. Are you all ready?" He didn't wait for their response. He bucked the gates.

The room was filled with shadowy smoke, and laughter filled the air. The ponies filed in after him, Twilights horn glowing and creating a purple shield around the group. Nightmare Moon rose from her throne, snickering with anticipation. "Oh, isn't this adorable. The group of rebels finally arrives." The Six only looked all the more determined to fight, but it was Silvers first encounter with her. "Back for another beating, girls?" Of course.

Even Nightmare Moon had been reduced to a fool minded version of herself, or had she always been like this? The power had gone to her head. Silver groaned. He had about had it with this timeline's stupidity. The fact that his horn had burnt out, his desire for Angel. "Nightmare! You simpering fool. You moron." He strode boldly towards the transformed alicorn. "Of all the places you could have modified events in the timeline you chose this one. I guess it makes sense from your perspective. Stop the six girls before had a chance from stopping you... but you underestimated me didn't you? Do you have any idea what you could have done if you simply took possession? You've got magic enough inherent in you to turn even a broken unicorn magical. I'm smart, faster than anyone here. Why are you wasting time with Celestia's broken sister?" He appealed to its ego, and sent a silent telepathic message to Twilight. 'If I change then hit me with the elements of harmony'.

Nightmare Moon flared with anger, and a battle began. Harmful words were spouted, challenges were issued, and magic flew in all directions. Nightmare Moon was  knocked unconscious by an intense blast from Twilight Sparkle. A glittering purple vortex opened in the wall. "Don't waste time, Silver Key! We have things on this end, go and restore your timeline!"

It was time to go back to the point in history where it had all gone wrong and prevent Nightmare Moon from going there. It was as simple as going directly to the library of Canterlot and removing a single scroll, and placing it in a more secure location, if not outright destroy it. [Just a suggestion] Nightmare Moon didn't know of the spell otherwise she would have used it before, it must lie hidden in the Canterlot Library.

Through another series of long events, the scroll was found, and standing alongside Angel, she lit the tip of her horn on fire via magic. "Burn it, Silver. Burn it and undo this whole awful mess." She urged. "I will be fine here, you go home to the mare who loves you."

"This timeline will cease to exist." He told her and as it lit into flames. "All of this nonsense will be over with. It'll never have happened at all. I know.. Angel, don't be scared. You're not disappearing, you're just entering the right history… you won't even know this conversation has taken place." He didn't care for anything but making this Angel comfortable through these last moments until reality had reset itself and he appeared.. wherever history dictated he should appear as soon as the timelock was broken. He wondered if he would remember anything. "I know you don't love me in this timeline... but do you mind sitting together, until its over?"

The ripple began almost immediately, the edges of objects starting to blur together, the light starting to brighten to the point that it hurt his eyes. "Silver, look." Angel said gently, and directed his attention to his attention in a glass bookcase, where he could see his horn as whole and powerful as ever.

Restored, it the beginning of the unraveling was happening. Nightmare Whatever would never get hold of the scroll, and so could never have undone the elements of harmony. The event where his horn had shattered never taken place had never happened. He stood close to Angel. "Forgive me.. I don't know that you'll be able to remember this once the timeline has reset, but please forgive me Angel. I love you" He kissed her nose tip, royal princess or not. He longed to be home.

Angel smiled gently, and looked him in the eyes. She had caught on. "Did the other me ever tell you her middle name?" She asked, the ground starting to deteriorate, blackness overwhelming things more and more quickly.

"There's a lot she never tells me, a lot I had to learn on my own. I think she hides as much from me as I do from her." His heart started beating, the longing would soon be over, and he wanted to know what this Angel had to say before she reverted to the old one. Before he had to face her as the one who had finally found out what humans were really like when they were bad.

Angel smiled, and blackness claimed her, her voice fading. "It's Gabrielle." She said distantly, and with a jolt like a car screeching to a stop far too quickly, he found himself in his old apartment, face to face with a very angry Angel. She was turning her back on him. "I don't understand how you could have lied to me. Just go, Silver. I'll call you when I'm ready."

And he still remembered that awful journey. Nothing had changed, everything was the same. A purposeless circle had been completed, leaving him a tired version of himself. He needed her, he had been months without her and he couldn't stand it any longer. Yet he still wanted to respect what had happened to her. "Angel… please…" He took a step towards her. "Ga.. Gabrielle." He didn't want to put on a sob story, but she needed to know what had happened no matter how 'convenient' it would look like from her perspective.

No summon came from Celestia, no call for help reached his ears. Her anger faltered for only a minute, and her ears pinned. "Nopony  but  my mother calls me that. How did you..."

His health had returned to the vigor he had had when he left her, but his spirit was transformed. He probably looked the part, exhausted internally, hungry for her. "We had this conversation before.. after you sending me away Celestia and Luna called me. Then some sort of spell happened, knocking me back in time. It was called a timelock spell. Somepony had used it to alter Equestria's history… it was two months of living without you and when I finally found you there.. it was a timeline where I never knew you." He explained quickly, approaching her like a pony that had walked through a desert and found an oasis. "We unraveled what had happened… before things returned I told you to forgive me if it was possible. And your other self decided to give me that name as proof… I know this a lot to take in. Believe me Angel, it wasn't a good experience, and I wish I had arrived later than now so that you'd have had the time you wanted… but... don't send me away. Lets talk about this together."

Angel didn't come toward him, but she had stopped backing away. "How, Silver? You lied to me, kept things from me. How can I trust you? When you come from a world of sinners and... and killers?"

"I never lied!" He almost shouted. "I kept quiet, I avoided the subject, like you avoid all my questions about your past, why you stepped down and what happened between you and your mother." He had never told her anything but the truthes he had decided to reveal. "And ponies kill to, you've had wars and I've read about them. You have graves too, and ponies lie in them, and not always because they got sick, or old, or had an accident. We have had it a lot worse than you. We didn't have the elements of harmony. We didn't have a good hearted ruler who lived for thousands of years to keep us together and be a wise council." No hiding anything from her now. "I don't even know if we have destinies like you do. We had ourselves. But we weren't always bad. All those wars Angel, they put only a small dent in our population. Its harder in that world, its not as easy. Evil gets to run for a lot longer, and the good doesn't always win."

[Cancelled after this - We started on Angels and Demons 3, wanting to get the final installment in production]

If you made it this far, thank you. Thank you for supporting me. I hope to write much better stories than this one in the future.
-Lunabrony

> A Day for a Glorious Wedding (Bonus 1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Trumpets were sounding all over Evodia. Novaria, true to character, was making an exceptionally large deal over the wedding that was to take place in only an hours time. Celebrations were being held in homes all over the province, and the streets had been cleared for a procession. Princess or not, she was still royal heritage. It was Silvers first trip to Evodia, an enormous island (obviously) surrounded by water. His only regret was that he could not have shared the trip with Angel, whom he had not seen since yesterday afternoon. She had an entire novel of preparations to make, and didn't want him to see her until her arrival during the ceremony. Silver stood in a reserved room of the castle which had been set aside just for him, while Novaria fussed over him. Her eyes were red from tears. "Oh, look at you, such a fine young stallion. I can't believe you're- stop FIDGETING, Silver- finally getting married!"

He was wearing a appropriate tux. Which meant it had been tailor made for him, and would probably only be used for this wedding. It almost made him awkward to see such a motherly side from the usually adamant Novaria. "We haven't always seen eye to eye," Their second meeting had left her with orders for him to leave Equestria permanently. "I promise you I won't leave your daughter unfulfilled, I'll do my best to keep her on her toes, so to speak." He was nervous. They had been engaged, but after this ceremony it would be official. The excitement was putting him on edge. He couldn't wait to get it over with. Realizing that once he was married there would be no more questions about their relationship. There would be arguments, there would be disagreements about what's and whiches, but not about whether they were married. 

Novaria had indeed once despised him, but he had grown on her and earned her trust. Nowhere had that been more evident than by his promotion to her personal advisor. A position which, upon entering, would allow him to see much more of Evodia. "I'm not worried about that, you're good to her." She said.  "From what you tell me, you've already saved her life once, even if it was in an alternate dimension." She rolled her eyes, he was never quite fully clear on if she believed him or not about that. "Do you know you're all she ever talks about?. How handsome you are, and how good you are with puzzles, and how much she enjoys being with you. I've never seen her so happy."

"Reward me with wings and I'll keep her that for a thousand years." He joked, looking at himself in the mirror, standing in her shadow. The nightmare of the timelock was behind him, he didn't want to think too much about it anymore. It hadn't happened in some sense. And though he hadn't been rewarded for it, thankfully no scars had followed him. His horn was whole again, and his relationship to Angel had been restored. "Angel is capable of happiness on her own. I'm just there to increase it. your highness."

Novaria placed her hoof on his shoulder. "As far as I'm concerned, from this moment forward, you are my son. From the very moment she first saw you, as she tends to do, Angel saw the good in you, and has never let go of that. You may come from a terrible place, but you are far from a terrible pony." She said. "You are deserving of my daughter, and I give you my blessing. Just please, for the love of Celestia, be good to her. She may not be a princess now, but if something terrible should happen to me, the need for a ruler will promote you both by default. I hope you understand that."

"Shining Armor rose to the task, and I think I'll be ready if I continue in the capacity of being your advisor. Three years ago I said I would keep both ears open and both eyes ready. I've learned a lot. You don't have to rely on second hoof or Celestia's mouth to know about her movements anymore." It was a secure room, there was no need to bother about secrecy. "The weaponization is proceeding, and the secret project is nearing fruition. If I stick around when you make royal decisions I'll pick up on that as well." It was all puzzle solving on various scales.

Novaria frowned. "I must remind you, as I'm sure you already know, not to tell Angel about this. It is extremely important she doesn't find out. While I detest holding things from my daughter, she is small minded. Her exit from princess training means she doesn't quite see the picture, and I'm not sure she'd fully understand the importance of the project. She'd see it as betrayal, if not by me, then by you." She explained. "Do your best to keep it under wraps. In the meantime, I believe you have a mare to get married to." She cracked a smile.

They separated, she to get the bride and he to proceed to the only colleague he could find to be a best man. His ties to his families had been severed on pain of Luna's orders. He wouldn't try to contact them, and they wouldn't try to contact him. "Iron Jaw." He nodded to the stout earth pony. They'd known each other through the initials stretches of weapons testing. A no nonsense sergeant, but outside of the corp, a pal if you needed one. "They say you're supposed to get cold hooves right around now. I say they don't know what they're talking about." He had come a long way since moving to Equestria, moving in with Angel, and now they'd finally cement the bonds. She wouldn't simple be a mare he loved, she would be his wife, and he would be her husband. They would have claim on each other till the end of time.

He had been informed that pony weddings were short, but emotional. Iron Jaw saluted Silver, and cracked a grin. "Wouldn't miss it for the world." He said faithfully. A middle aged stallion by the name of Steel Beams approached them. 

"Silver, we're ready when you are." He said. "Just make your way to the altar when you can."


Silver took a deep breath. The moment of truth had arrived. And he didn't doubt his actions. There were many decisions he regretted in various way, and mistakes he had made. However walking up this aisle would never be something he considered a mistake. He entered between the rows of seated pews, looking ahead to the altar. Walking with the appropriate dignity he had been instructed in. His heart pounding quickly inside his chest.

Angel was not there yet, she'd be coming soon. Silver was under the impression that Princess Novaria would be presiding over the ceremony today, but he was shocked to see none other than Princess Luna standing in front of an enormous bouquet of flowers. She held her head up high, starry mane flowing even though there wasn't any wind. "You've come a long way, Silver. We're all very proud of you. Ready to get started?"

This felt like an affirmation of his decision, and that he was welcomed now to stay in Equestria. Not as someone suspect, but as a pony on the same level as anypony else. It was not appropriate to genuflect in this circumstances, so he did the graceful head nod as he was instructed. "Yes, Luna, I'm ready." He didn't know how much longer he could abide.

Luna raised her hoof, and the band began to play. There was no Fluttershy here, not in Evodia. A chorus of birds was exceptionally hard, if not impossible to find. The back doors opened, and Angel entered, her name had never been more fitting. She had elected not to wear the traditional white, although she had not told Silver this, because it clashed with her already white coat. No, her dress was completely silver. It wrapped around the base of her neck and forelegs, draped over her back and down her flank to trail on the floor. The majority of the garment was adorned with intricate patterns. Her mane was perfectly styled and pulled up out of her eyes, decorated with flowers of all colors. But most notable were her wings. Completely extended, her feathers had been giving the most severe treatment, cleaned and tended to with hours of preparation, and were now stretched out as far as they would go, with gold lace trickling down towards her shoulders.

She saw Silver's eyes widen in awe, as he took in her majestic form. Visible he swallowed a lump of spittle. She stood as regally as any princess, wings wide, making her seem larger than she was. His lips seemed to mouth some words, but he remembered formality again. It was almost making his slip up. His legs shuffled a little. Thankfully she wasn't giving off any scents that could be interpreted wrongly, he wasn't going to embarrass himself on the wedding floor. It had been quite a while since she had last extended them like this. It wasn't like the take off position, which was only held for a moment, this was constantly holding them out. If she hadn't had attendants hold her wing arms, she would have a cramp by now. As she approached he positively shivered. Silver was livid, he knew how difficult this must have been for her, but she did it for him! This is all I have, Silver, and I don't like doing this, but I'm showing you it all now. That's how much I love you.

She approached the altar on a path of flowers which had already been laid out. They had been unable to decide on flower fillies, and so had opted to save some bits and not use them, with the petals already waiting for her. Angel stopped at the altar, and it wasn't until she was stationary again that her wings folded. Oh, the things Silver could have done to her right there and then. Princess Luna coughed. "Mares and Gentlecolts, we are today gathered in this place of reverence to join together two hearts as one, Angel Wing and Silver Key. As we prepare to celebrate their life together, let anyone with an objections come forward, or forever be prepared to remain silent." Angel looked into Silvers eyes. Not a single pony moved.

I'm going to wake up next to you, excited, tired, sleep deprived, fresh, lazy, energy, argumentative or serene, and whatever it is good or bad I'll weather it with you. I'm officially yours soon, as you are mine. He promised her with his eyes if possible, barely paying attention to his surroundings. He would be liable to shoot a bolt of lightning at the first pony who'd dare suggest that they shouldn't get married. He waited for the vows he was supposed to speak to her. All the glitter around them were trivial. They could have done it in sackcloth and it would have been the same.

Princess Luna waited for a few seconds, before continuing. A baby dragon who Silver recognized immediately as Flint, the first dragon he'd ever seen whom Angel had brought to him in the human hospital, approached carrying the rings. Another surprise he hadn't expected, the first creature who had truly begun to convince him that Equestria wasn't a hallucination. "As we prepare the rings which shall bind these two together, let us hear the vows which each have prepared for the other. Silver Key, if you would grace us with your recital." She asked gently.

It was nice to see Flint again, unfortunately coming to Equestria had sent him and Angel to Canterlot where they had forged a new life together. Telekinetically he levitated the rings in the air between them. "Angel Wings. I've known you know for three years. I don't know what the future holds, but we've both walked through fire and worse to get here. I can't promise you that your lives will be smooth sailing to the end, but I'll weather it steadfast together with you."

One ring levitated in front of Silver as he spoke, the other in front of Angel. When they had both spoken, each would place the ring on each others horn. Angel looked nearly ready to cry and hug him right there on the altar. Luna smiled. "And Miss Wing, yours?" Angel looked at him. "Silver, when I first met you, how could I have known this would be where we'd end up? So much has changed since then. I knew when I first found you that you were special, but of all the things you changed, I never guessed that my life would be one of them. You're sweet, and kind, and truly a remarkable stallion. We have been through many things, some of them not so easy. Some of them I still debate even happened. But what I know for sure is I am yours, and I always will be." Luna sniffed. "You may place the rings, as so many couples before you have done, and will continue to do. A symbol of your union."

There wasn't much to say for his part. He felt completed. As he finished the ritual by gently slid the circular band down her horn. Married. It felt like a great calm coming down over him. It was the affirmation of their love for each other. That they were ready to pursue a life together, with foals as the end goal. Seeking each other's happiness.

There was cheering lots of cheering. Angel kissed him, and the cheering got even louder. Novaria was standing off to the side, tears running down her face and trying to wipe them away before anypony saw. A whole new life in Equestria was waiting for him.
	
> An Island Getaway (Bonus 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Angel cuddled against Silver in the back seat of the chariot, where they were being taken to a secluded spot to teleport to Earth. She had been absolutely against the idea from the beginning, preferring Equestria over most places. But Silvers gentle coaxing that they would be completely isolated had weakened her argument, and she'd gradually relented. "Are you absolutely sure it's safe?" She was asking, her head craning up to look at him. Out in front, the stallions pulling the chariot kicked up ground under their hooves, making quite impressive speed.

He smiled, they had talked together a lot about Earth. The shock of learning how dark human history must have been rough on her. Angel, he considered, was innocent even by Equestrian standards. He was going over a speech now he had planned a lot of times before. "Yes Angel, the island is surrounded by water for dozens of miles." Earth was far larger than Equestria, even this must have been a shock for her, he thought. Nazi Germany hadn't spanned more than a fraction of the globe, yet it was a bit bigger than all of Equestria put together, even with the Crystal Empire thrown in. "I spent weeks there to make sure no ships came close while I built the hut. There's no signs that anyone has been there. No poisonous animals, but if there were you'd know how to deal with it. You'll be safe. We can always teleport back to Equestria if something happens, we're just a blink away."

Angel still looked unsure, but her resolve was admirable. She wasn't about to back out now, especially not in front of Silver. And if she did for whatever reason change her mind, she'd likely have a damn good reason for doing so. "I trust you, Silver." She said in a tone that indicated her hesitation. She nuzzled him though. Alicia had promised to watch over them both, out of sight of course, just in case any ships did approach, she'd know about them. The chariots pulled to a halt, they would be safe here to come and go as they pleased. Angel had insisted on a secluded jumping point, not wanting Earth revealed to any other Equestrian. Including the stallions who pulled their carriage.

He stepped out of the chariot with her. To all intents and purposes the guards would probably think they they would be picked up by someone else and this was just a ruse to get rid of camera happy ponies. Which was true. The risk of there being someone present, magically inclined enough to tell that their teleportation was unusual and at the same time be able to tell where they had gone, was unusual. Silver waited for Angel's lead. This would go at her pace. He had brough things for their honeymoon, and she had as well he was sure. All packed into some saddle bags strapped to him. He enjoyed the sight of her against the twilight sky. His white wholesome princess, looking radiant in her dress. His wife.

Angel waved away the chariot. The guards gave pause, but she insisted that they'd be on their way momentarily. When the guards had left, Angel pressed her horn against the horn of her husband. Needing only the briefest encouragement, they jumped. From Equestria to Earth. The ground fell away beneath them, but both had teleported so frequently now that it was hardly noticeable. They stood now on the front porch of the small hidden cottage. Things looked different here. The colors were not as bright, subtle changes blended them into this world. Longer muzzles and necks, less pronounced coloration, Angels udder was a bit bigger. The mare pushed the door open with her nose, giving Silver a soft nudge. "Stallions first."

Playing the part of the loyal husband, who's wife was including her new hubby into her house hold he stepped ceremoniously across its threshold. It was very simple built, a little summer home. Levitation and magic had helped with its construction, though he couldn't say that he had designed it. Just followed some unicorn instructions. He stood in the middle of it, tables and beds in the same room. A porch overlooking a white sandy beach. Turning around he saw the subtly changes in her appearance. To say that she looked like a horse, was to say that a human looked like a chimp. She was still very much a pony, she had a short muzzle, and a face rich in expressions, large eyes and wings, she was recognizable albeit different. "Thank you for letting me in." He completed the ritual, expressing gratitude of being invited into the mare's household.

Angel was about as beautiful as they came, and she knew how to make an entrance. Her large feathered wings extended, the setting sun casting its rays across her feathers as she entered, and sealed their weekend getaway by planting a kiss upon his muzzle. She had run their finances since they moved in together, being more experienced in the exchange rate and tax policies of Equestria. She worked, Silver could have stayed at home if he liked, but Novaria kept him busy. "Why wouldn't I let you in?" She asked. "You're the most important thing I have, aside from these." She teased, flexing her wings. "Come, you said there's a beach nearby, can we run in the waves, can we?" She pleaded, almost like a filly again, already racing out the door, her dress being flung onto the sofa as quickly as she was able.

He watched her dress practically fall off her in its myriad of pieces that danced in the wind. Far less elegantly he undid his vice like suit. They were carefree here. No duties to be done, no ponies to ask questions, no quests, just the two of them. He trotted out of the door and went into a gallop, speeding across the ground down towards the beach. He was not a racer, and she was an alicorn, he was already beaten, but still he gave chase with a wicked grin. He had advantages of his own, and teleported ahead of her.

By the time they got back from the beach, the sun had set, without assistance from anyone. Though the colours were less vibrant in this world, there were so much greater fine-structure in the colours. As the night sky slowly and imperceptible changed through various blue transitions, to a deep orange glow and finally to the soft blues of the night sky, Angel realized that this world had beauty that could rival Equestria. The star sky beat theirs by a long shot. For reasons he wouldn't tell her yet, he had insisted on taking her to grass field. Trees must have once been here, but had been cleared away. There were two small shovels nearby, two baskets. It was illuminated solely by the moon and the glow of their horns. Silver went over to one basket and opened it. There were many small paper bags inside, looked up at her expectantly. "Angel, do you remember the first time you realized that I could see through your disguise and how I couldn't believe what I was seeing?" He asked. "Do you understand why it was so hard for me to believe it?"

Angel was quiet for a moment, and sat right nearby him. She understood now that this world didn't have ponies, at least not in the sense she was used to. One of the first times she encountered a real Earth horse, she'd spent almost ten minutes lecturing it on refusing to answer her, leading to Silver being in fits of laughter. "I still don't understand how a world can function without magic, it's depressing." She admitted. "Would it really be that bad if this world suddenly developed the ability to do such fantastic things?" The thought of using magic for evil here simply didn't occur to her, she didn't think that way. But bless her, she tried to understand. "You thought I was a hallucination for quite a while, I remember that."

"Don't look down on humans, Angel. They don't have magic, but they or rather we have built buildings taller than anything in Equestria. We've, well they, have traveled to the moon. There's plenty of things we've done that you would find very magical. In fact... half the time I'm not even sure what magic really is in Equestria. All I know is that its something different from what is on Earth." He opened a bag with a hoof and levitated it up. It was filled with tiny round seeds. "I went with you on a journey by your invitation, and ended up staying there. You plucked me from this world and planted me in Equestria." The moonlight seemed to give the seeds a dull blue glow. "I promised Luna that I wouldn't have humans be in Equestria, but I never promised her that something from Equestria couldn't be planted here... these are seeds. This is poison joke, but there's also nightshines, whistle berries and I've got a single sapient sage tree sapling that may one day grow up to be an ent. They're all magical so they have to be planted during a full moon. Would you like to give something back to this world?" The island was secluded, hardly anyone cam here. Obviously he had more than one reason for them to stay in this place.

Angel had been many places that mankind would never see, and many places still that mankind would never even know about. She came from a different world, a world that she wanted to remain secret. Angel gasped at his revelation, and if he'd asked her just a few months ago, she would have reported him for carrying dangerous substances across interdimensional borders. But now, now she had lightened up, and a soft giggle escaped her lips. "I'd sure like to see the look on the face of whoever discovers this place first." She said. "Are you sure its not dangerous?" She asked, then quickly answered her own question. "Heck with it, I don't need to ask permission for everything, let's do it!"

The levitated shovels dug the first few holes. "Who knows, you taught me that you can't know everything ahead of time. These plants might grow up to be typical mundane plants.. only not from this world. Or they might retain their powers. We can set up some spells to warn us if something very strange happens on this island.. but I don't think it will. Magic has many mysteries that even the regal sisters don't understand. I don't get it nearly half as good as you do." And Angel not nearly half as good as those two. The magic of these plants were silly as with poison joke, or benign as with night shade. The sapient sage tree would not have a desire to harm anyone. It was a good kind of magic. Angel had once been a beacon of light to the Evodians. The alicorn who had arrived out of nowhere. A shining light showing that the Evodians hadn't been forgotten and that extraordinary things could come from them. Standing in the background with the unicorn leader who had adopted her. A symbol of hope. Then eventually working with the healers. So many soldiers had wanted to reach out and touch her wings to get her blessings. Simple knowing that they weren't suffering for a country without a destiny. Perhaps these plants could be something like that for this world. The humans needed something to remind them that this world wasn't all there was to it. Carefully levitating the seeds Silver planted the poison joke. Occasionally some of the seeds would give off a blue aura, or catch sparks. The magic was still in them, working under the new conditions of this world.

Angel picked up  a shovel with her own horn, and began to emulate her predecessor. Magic COULD exist her, the whole reason of Silver being here at all was from Angels presence, if magic couldn't work, she would never have been here in the first place. "I wish we could test this under more controlled conditions, but this will have to do for now." She admitted. With the two of them working together, the holes were soon filled, and the roots of the poison joke stretched into the ground. Angel smiled, giving a knowing smile. "I love you, Silver. More than anything in both of our worlds combined." She flicked her tail. "I have two wedding presents for you Silver, would you like them?" She was practically glowing, not hard for a pony with white fur.

Leaning over he rubbed his horn affectionately against hers. The gesture seemed less than it was. They could feels each other's magic run through their beings, amplifying each other, like two bells vibrating next to each other. "I'd love too Angel. Its your feathers... and the wings they're attached to. In fact, when I have to be honest the wing arms as well, and the joint where they meet your back. Only to be overshadowed by the back itself, and the rest of the torso which completes the packages. And your legs.. and neck, and all of that is superseded by your head, and everything else." He kissed her.

Angel returned the kiss, and her horn glowed with excitement. Rubbing horns was a special gesture, normally it had no effect. But a mare and a stallion who stayed around each other long enough tuned into each others frequency, just as Angel and Silver had long since tuned into each other, and could feel each other vibrating. "Your first present is in the bedroom, I had it specially brought here just a little before we got here." This was presuming of course that Silver had told her where the cottage was, during his trying to convince her to return to Earth. "Go on and look."

"I wonder if my present has white fur and a golden mane?" He asked her in jest as he walked back to the cabin. For once he had no idea what would wait him. It could be anything from something simple but heartwarming, to fairly exotic. She was a capable unicorn, and could enchant things that usually weren't capable of doing anything on their own to do the extraordinary. The bedroom was just inside the cabin. He went in.

Angel always knew how to surprise him, and he could expect the unexpected with her. Angel followed him, and nudged the door open as he reached it. A tiny, sleeping baby dragon was curled up on the bed. Immediately recognizable, both from the hospital and the wedding. "You remember Flint, don't you Silver?" Angel asked sweetly. "We can't keep him, but I've made donations to the Hatchery in your name. We can visit him whenever you like."

Silver didn't say anything for a while. Slowly approaching the bed, careful not to make any noises that might disturb the little youngling. It had been so long for him before he had seen this dragon. Yet he remembered how much Flint had meant to him. "He's beautiful." Silver whispered finally. With a little levitation he picked up Flint ever so carefully and put him down on a pillow pulling a sheet up around him. "Thank you Angel."

Silver didn't say anything for a while. Slowly approaching the bed, careful not to make any noises that might disturb the little youngling. It had been so long for him before he had seen this dragon, at least prior to the wedding. Yet he remembered how much Flint had meant to him. "He's beautiful." Silver whispered finally. With a little levitation he picked up Flint ever so carefully and put him down on a pillow pulling a sheet up around him. "Thank you Angel."

Angel cracked an even bigger smile, she hadn't told him of the second present yet. It started out subtle, waiting for him to catch on. "He is beautiful." She agreed. "We can babysit him now and again back at our home, once the four of us get home from our honeymoon," she said casually.

"Four..." It didn't take Silver long to figure out this puzzle. A smile played on his lips and he looked up at Angel with a great pride. Walking slowly over to her, and pulled her into a big deep kiss. There were happy tears in his eyes. "How.. far along are you?" He asked, and stole a few glances towards her belly.

Angel wasn't showing, he'd never have been able to guess just by looking at her. She was as beautiful as ever, and pulled herself closer into the kiss, her wings springing into an outward, stiff position. "A few weeks."

Silver was no more than nineteen in human years. On Earth having children would have been something far ahead in the future. As an Equestrian, he was long since a full grown stallion. Yet he wasn't scared of being told this now. He knew he was ready for it. "I feel like I'm dreaming Angel... you've become a mother."	

"No." Angel shook her head. "Everything we do, we do together. I haven't become a mother, we've become parents. I don't know if its a colt or a filly yet, what if its a colt? We could name him... um... what's that film you like so much? Blade Runner? That sounds cool." She teased.

Silver just smiled.

"We'll think of something."