//------------------------------// // Halloween Special part 2 // Story: MLP Time Loops // by Saphroneth //------------------------------// Clever Clover just gave a long sigh. “You do realise we have no idea what you're talking about?” “I just wish I could power a translation spell. I want to know what that... mummy, you called it... is saying. For that matter, the town itself doesn't make sense!” Smart Cookie nodded. “I noticed that too, it looks like an earth-pony settlement, but fancied up by unicorns! All the windows are glazed rather than shuttered, the houses have multiple stories and they even have fountains! It looks long established, but... nothing in Equestria is yet. We've been here less than a dozen years, but the roads here are all paved, the bridge is well crafted stone and there are all kinds of fancy decoration, even without those things for whatever festival they were having.” “I'm more interested in the ponies,” Pansy said. “The fact that even I don't know what half of the costumes are supposed to be, or the fact that there's unicorns, earth ponies and pegasi all mixed in?” Clover asked. “Both, Pansy replied. “Arrgh! I hate just sitting here and not being able to find out what's going on!” Clover fumed. “If only I had more power... Wait!” She turned back to Lauren, a dawning realisation in her eyes. “If we could find a safe way to regulate the power flow, you could lend us some of your power. You have the powers of all three races in you, and in such quantity that you could empower us and never miss the difference.” She started pacing again. “The problem is your control. It's getting better, but it wouldn't take much excess to burn us out. Of course, you'd have to agree in the first place. Let me see... applying Gutterhoof's fourth nume the parametric phase variance would modulate the power flow in phase... we'd need some yellow chalk... reversing the polarity of the thaumic flow... would that make it a Singlestone trapdoor function? T equals H F squared where H is the harmonic factor and friendship... Adjusting for the incident light level... we could omit the dribbly candles.” “What on earth is she going about?” Lauren asked. Pansy shook her head. “She gets like this when she's doing her magic stuff. Just let her be, she'll come up for air soon enough. But if you really can lend us your power, please do so! I don't know how much you've used those wings, but if you have, you must know what it's like for a pegasus to be grounded! I feel so... limited, unable to protect my friends!” “Likewise!” Smart Cookie added. “That giant creature seems to be coming closer, and it doesn't look friendly.” “... and a three eights Gripley!” Clover finished. “I've got it! We use a triune ritual diagram, but we reverse it! We create a set of linked stones at the nodes for Pansy and Smart Cookie and I stay at the third node to act as the control element. Since I won't be channelling the power directly, I can avoid being overloaded. I can even help you control your power.” She noticed the approaching genie. “Uh oh... No time for more lessons, I'll need help setting it up, and you need some spells of your own. I can copy some of my own knowledge into your mind, it'll only work for a half hour before they fade, but at least you'll be able to defend yourself. Drop the water in the river...” Lauren still wasn't sure about acting as a magical battery for these three, but learning spells was something she was right behind. She dropped the water. “Okay! What do I do?” “Just touch your horn to mine.” Clover stepped in front of her, and lowered her head slightly to point her horn directly at the alicorn. Lauren lowered her own head to touch horns, and Clover's horn glowed slightly. “Darn! I don't have enough power even for this... will the knowledge to come to you, apply your power, but gently, gently.” Lauren took a deep breath, and tried gently – ever so gently, to will a copy of Clover's knowledge of spells into her mind. There was a flash of light. She was nervous and it felt like there were butterflies in her tummy, all trying to escape. She had just been chosen by the great unicorn mage, Starswirl, to be his student after pleading to learn magic. She was determined, but still there was fear that she wouldn't be up to the task. She resolved to master as many aspects of magic as she could. Flash. Tomes, books, and figures all spread out on an old oaken desk. A single candle burning away as she took a deep breath and cast the first spell she had created all on her lonesome. Waking up bleary eyed from the resultant explosion and crawling over to a scorched scroll to mark down not only another failure, but another step closer to success. Spell formulas and magical diagrams raced through her mind. Flash. Making light of her teacher's new beard, calling it ridiculous. His reply was to laugh and something even more ridiculous to draw attention away from his facial hair, like putting silly bells in his hat. Flash. Standing at her teacher's side as he tended to King Platinum's growing illness. Overhearing the whispers of the unicorn nobles as they planned their power plays and schemes. She didn't really think any pony would really start blaming the pegasi for the growing number of gryphon incursions or the earth ponies for the rising cost of food. It was only logical that the blame should fall on the gryphon marauder raids which the pegasi were fighting off. Therefore they could not manage the weather as efficiently, and thus the harvest wasn't as great. Flash. Why weren't more ponies logical? At the gathering of the three tribes, she had met only two others who could see the truth – an earth pony and a pegasus. With a heavy heart, she watched her princess fall sway to the whispers of her noble advisers. The argument between her and the leaders of the other two tribes only got louder. Flash. They came in from the icy north. The gryphons united in their desire to flee. The ponies planned to stay through the winter. Flash. The winter should have ended months ago, but was only growing colder. She and her teacher spent every waking moment looking for an answer. Flash. The chill pierced her skin and seemed to permeate right down to her bones. She added another layer of enchantment on her cloak. They had a name now. Windigos. The current theory was that whatever spawned the horrid changelings, made their inverse. Beings who feed on hate and anger, rather than love and friendship. So far, there were no solid theories on how to defeat them. All spells and enchantments had failed, as had the strength of the earth ponies and the speed and agility of the pegasi. Flash. When the going gets tough, the ponies leave. The paradise state was no longer. The survivors made their decision. Taking only what could be carried or hauled in wagons, the ragged freezing members of each pony tribe started off in their own direction. The long exodus had begun. Flash. Cold. So many lost to the cold. And the windigoes seemed to be following them, gaining on the caravan. This meant the volunteers who stayed behind to distract them were no more. Her tears froze before they hit the ground. Flash. The leaders should protect their people. Starswirl stayed behind to research and coordinate the last effort – a mass teleportation spell that would require every remaining capable unicorn to cast. It would have the power to send only the foals and the surviving elderly to someplace safe. Someplace far away. Clover volunteered to go with her princess to draw off the windigos. She did not expect to see her two friends and their respective leaders attempting the same thing. Flash. A touch of harmony. That is what Starswirl called the harmonic resonance created by the three pony tribes. The earth ponies channelled their stamina, the pegasus ponies channelled their atmospheric control, and the unicorn spell tied them all together as each wished for the same thing with all their might. With all their hearts and with all their souls. And the windigoes were no more. Flash. Lauren's horn slowly pulled away from Clover, who was staring at her in wide-eyed horror. What she had done was a crime of the gravest nature. A pony's mind was their own, a sacred refuge that should never be invaded; and that alicorn... she... she... she was hugging her. The alicorn cried as she tightly hugged the smaller filly. A barely audible whisper sounded in Clover's ear, "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." Clover's shock melted away like snow under dragonflame, replaced by pity as she realised just what the other pony had experienced. She raised her fore-hoof and hugged back. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't think, if my own magic wasn't powerful enough to push the memories I wanted to give you, it wouldn't be powerful enough to limit what you'd receive when you drew on them. "Maybe I wanted you to understand, and that makes it even worse. I wouldn't consciously forced any-pony to endure the memories of the hardships we went through, especially some-pony who clearly comes from a gentler place. But we must go ahead from what is, can you forgive me for any hurt I caused you? At least you should now have my spells, and the memories of my own training, which should make your control better." Genie Spike now towered over the square, his eyes lighting on the vampony who was still duking it out with the werewolf (a were-pony would imply that someone turned into a pony under the full moon... actually, sign me up!). He bowed his head. "My Mistress Rarity, I am here to serve you. What is your command?" Pansy winced. "Oh frozen waste! This can't be good! I think the stalemate just turned into a checkmate!" Rainbow Dash didn't know exactly how long she'd kept Rarity and AJ from tearing each other apart, but she figured it was more then long enough for an amnesiac alicorn to fly to Sweet Apple Acres, learn magic, and return with the Cutie Mark Crusaders in tow. This was primarily based on her observation of a Fausticorn having a conversation with three foals while levitating a sphere of water; admittedly that wasn't a very accurate measurement of time, but the fact remained that whoever the Fausticorn actually was – definitely a looper, anyway – she wasn't acting as a creator of worlds but more like a very confused fangirl. Which kind of made sense in a way. "هيا لكم اثنين، مجرد التوقف عن هذا. نحن جميعا أصدقاء هنا. كنت ما زلت لا أفهم كلمة وأنا أقول هل." Come on you two, just stop this. We're all friends here. You still don't understand a word I'm saying do you. "Wretched cur! Kneel before my glory!" "AWOOOOOOO!" "هذه هي سابع معظم قصة رعب مبتذلة لقد سبق إختطف في," Rainbow muttered to herself. "الفروع، واسمحوا يكون هناك نوعا من تطور مؤامرة ..." This is the seventh most cliche horror story I've ever been shanghaied into. Branches, PLEASE let there be some sort of plot twist... "My Mistress Rarity," boomed a voice, "I am here to serve you. What is your command?" Oh. Well that was probably bad. Mummy Dash, lady Belle, and Applewolf, all turned to see the dragon genie towering over the small town of Ponyville. Rarity and Applejack were slightly stunned, having apparently not remembered this among all the other things that their costumes had made them forget. Rainbow Dash, however, was working her mind furiously. What did she know about genies? Wishes, untold power, Twilight said they were Saddle-Arabian in origin-- Wait. Wasn't Saddle Arabia near the old Sphinx Empire? Well, at least she remembered it being there in the loops where she raced around the world... And mummies were a Sphinx Empire thing. So maybe, just maybe-- "Ah, I..." Rarity composed herself. "...am most happy to see you--" Rainbow Dash suddenly shouted, her strange words flying through the air. The dragon genie blinked. "She wants to... truly?" "نعم!" Rainbow nodded quickly, emphasizing her words with a strange gesture. Yes! "You can understand this mare?" Rarity looked from the mummy to the genie. "What is she saying?" "She... claims you wish to..." Spike blushed a bit, trailing off. The vampire blinked. She looked at the genie. There was a quiet moment. "Well... you do seem to have some talent in the arts of shapeshifting..." she mused. "And I do rather need some relaxation after dealing with this disgusting beast. Come then! We shall away to my castle!" With a flash, genie and vampire disappeared. Rainbow Dash gave a musty breath of relief. After a moment, Apple Bloom or whoever she thought she was coughed. "Well... that was... disturbing." She gave the mummy a look. "Did you really...?" Dash shrugged, shuffling a hoof and glancing away. "مهلا، ما اذا كان يعمل يعمل." She hadn't been sure that the genie would even understand her; it was really a massive stroke of luck. Hey, if it works it works. After a moment, Applejack started rolling on the ground with a whuffling laugh. Ignoring the happy wolf-pony for a moment, Lauren turned towards Smart Cookie, "Wait, you could understand that mummy pony?" Cookie notched her head to one side, "Not exactly. From the way they reacted I could get the general gist. Figuring out what the other pony's not saying is pretty much a key skill in my job. And at least one word sounded similar to something I heard from a camel trader who came up past the Southern mountains. He wasn't my type though." "It's just... Clover seemed so knowledgeable," the alicorn said. Clover sighed and rolled her eyes, "Because you were talking about magical spells. You have my memories, you should know while I've studied many things, languages aren't one of them." "Speaking of which, Lauren, do you think you can manage a translation spell?" Pansy asked. "It should prevent any other confusion." Lauren thought through her new memories for a moment before recalling Clover learning, practising, and managing one such spell, "I think so. Hold on." Gathering in her horn what to her felt like a tiny iota of her power, the alicorn imprinted the spell matrix of what she wanted the magic to do; linking concepts with spoken and written words. And in one pulse, she let the magic out. A wave of pale blue engulfed the nearby ponies, then the nearby buildings, then the nearby country side; then everything was pale blue for a moment. "That, may have been a little too much power," Lauren stated. "You don't say, you strange pony-bird," said the small blue jay that was sitting on a nearby tree, "Oh, I smell food over that way. Maybe the nice yellow pony-bird left some out again." "Nuts, nuts, nuts. I got to find the tasty nuts and hide them before the cold comes," sang a nearby squirrel as it raced along the ground. "Hey!" happily greeted Winona the dog as she raced along. She spotted the wolf pony whose scent was almost the same as her old friend/master/alpha female, except she was a wolf pony now – which made her even better! "Hey! Hey!" "Hey!" yipped Applejack, "Play?" "Yay!" barked Winona as the two raced off together. Somewhere, a strange winged wasp/crab/mushroom creature suddenly understood the odd beings around it. It also seemed to possess a strange desire to compile all the recipes and desserts from its culture, for some reason. 'To serve Mi-go', that it was a cookbook should be inherently understandable, right? it thought. "Can you understand me now?" Mummy Dash asked. "Yep", "Yes", "We can." came from Lauren and the three former cutie mark crusaders. "Great! Finally!" exclaimed the mummy, "So... er... any ideas what's going on?" "We were hoping you could tell us," Smart Cookie asked. "This entire town seems to have gone insane! As witness I'm talking to a dead person wrapped in bandages." "Uh, this is just a costume, remember?" Dash looked quizzically at them. Pansy shook her head. "Uh huh, I've seen too many dead pegasi not to know one when I see one. Look at your wings, you can see the bones through the feathers." Dash grimaced, not bothering to look at her wing. "I suppose Private Pansy would be an expert?" "The name is Lieutenant Pansy." The younger pegasus looked up at the older one, surprised by the lack of recognition. "You know, second in command to Commander Hurricane? For that matter, who and what are you, and why are you still moving around? Some weird magic?" "Aw great! The same thing's happened to you three hasn't it?" Rainbow Dash facehooved. "You guys think you're really the three founders!" "And who do you think we are? For that matter, who do you think you are?" Clover asked. "Well I'm Rainbow Dash, most awesome flyer in Equestria, and I dressed up as a mummy for Nightmare Night, from 'Daring Do and the Pyramid of the Ancients'. I was going to do Daring Do but the pith helmet I ordered didn't come in time. So I did the mummy instead. Pretty quick fix, just wrapped some layers of TP around myself. "Rarity and Applejack had just gotten into their costumes when the world went wobbly for a second, and then they really got into their costumes. Rarity was doing the whole 'Queen of the Night' thing, and Applejack went to the dogs. I haven't seen them fight like that since... well, I wasn't actually around for Twilight's sleepover, but I heard the screams. "And I ended up like this..." She finally did examine her wing, and looked ill at the moth-eaten condition. "It's like we've all been changed into our costumes, only they changed inside as well as out, though maybe not completely if Spike and Rarity are still into each other." "You're making no sense!" Clover said in an exasperated voice. "For that matter neither does this town, or this festival, 'Nightmare Night' as you call it. It has been a scant dozen years since the Exodus, how could this town be so well developed? And you speak as if we should know those ponies. We woke up here only hours ago, having been snatched away and somehow de-aged and stripped of our emblems – our cutie marks. "We must contact Chancellor Puddinghead, or my mentor Starswirl, as this must be some ploy by the old guard to try and split the three tribes by depriving them of the focus around which the Alliance is built. They tried to take our memories too, but our friendship must have protected them. They must have believed that bringing us up as unaware friends would maintain the Fire of Friendship while removing us as political figures." Dash shook her head, dislodging some dust which made her sneeze. "Celestia, you three have it bad. Still, you three spent enough time studying at Twilight's to get your costumes just right. I guess some of it rubbed off." "What in the frozen wastes do you mean?" Pansy exclaimed, "Are you claiming we are some sort of magical copies, created by some spell?" "All I know is that the three of you still look like Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo under those costumes, and that the three of you were going to dress as Smart Cookie, Clover the Clever and Private Pansy for Nightmare Night. You do the maths." Celly pondered what she'd been told, and the disturbing shift in Nightmare Moon's... Nimmy's personality. It wasn't that the other personality was abhorrent. By Ash and Elder, the sweet thing is not abhorrent at all. It was the moments of struggle and the changeover that disturbed her most. Her own spike of curiosity and dry cataloguing of the symptoms, and the fact that her tiara was gently pulsing magic, letting her see a trio of spectral butterflies flitting across Nimmy's cutie mark. Celly felt the ache in her heart of not only fighting to save the "Lulu" at the heart of "Nimmy" but trying to save the pegasus inside as well. She also worried about the fact she wasn't as worried about the lost soul potentially within herself. What she was really worried about was that sudden surge of alicorn magic across town. Oh, and the apparent dragon genie. 'Here we go again, Celestia,' she thought as the elder diarchs swung their own heads to search for the source of the disturbance. Celly frowned at the sarcastic bent of the thought. "So..." Faust said slowly. "One of my creations who I haven't created yet dressed up like, and became a copy of, myself. So, I'm probably writing this right now and threw in a self-insert as an in-joke." She groaned. "I hate me." Rainbow Dash sighed. "Actually... how do I put this. Let me think.... You're kind of a metajoke. See, Celestia and Luna's mother was named Faust, and there's this recent sort of comedy series where..." The mummy waved a bandaged hoof vaguely at the alicorn, well aware that mentioning the loops and a hub universe would probably make her lose all credibility. "So... yeah, heh. Twilight could tell you more, she's the egghead." Smart Cookie looked back and forth between the alicorn and the mummy incredulously. "You can't possibly believe this load of horseapples! I'm myself, not some ghost or shadow puppet created by some-pony's imagination! Clover, tell her..." But Clover was standing very still, mumbling to herself. "Emblems... memory... illusion... but that would mean..." Her eyes widened and she swayed on her hooves. Then she turned to the other two and they were shocked to see tears in her eyes. "Oh, by the Source! It makes sense, it's the only thing that makes sense! Look around you, this isn't our Equestria! You know I wondered why our emblems didn't restore themselves with our memories. Our memories and souls are intact, and an Emblem is an expression of our souls, our destinies. Magic capable of affecting that is beyond any-pony I know, and if some-pony had that much power, they wouldn't need to trick us, they could just rewrite the world to order. But if these bodies aren't our own, our souls and destinies can't affect them. That would explain why our emblems didn't appear." Her gaze grew distant, then focussed on something far away. "Oh no, there was that, the whole time! Pansy, look up in the mountains!" Pansy and Smart Cookie followed her gaze, where Canterlot blazed on the mountain above in it's own festival colours. "But, there's no city like that anywhere!" Pansy gasped. "It's huge!" "You lead most of the surveys, do you recognise the distinctive shape of that peak?" "No... yes, Mount Canter, where the unicorns have that new mining camp! But there was nothing like that there, I swear it! And that would mean this is somewhere on the Everfree plains." Clover turned to Dash, eyes dark. "Two more questions. What's the name of that city, and how long is it since the exodus, since... us?" Dash didn't look happy about the way her comments had been received, and hesitated, but Clover's gaze held on her until she gave a sigh. "Canterlot, the capital of Equestria. As to how long, I don't know, egg-head stuff isn't my thing, but more than a thousand years, a lot more." Smart Cookie shook her head violently. "No, I'm not buying it! This has to be a trick, some kind of illusion to make us lose hope, this can't be the truth!" Clover shook her head. "I thought of that first, but it won't wash. There are too many unfamiliar things, too much change. Did you recognise even a tithe of those costumes, the styles of the housing? An illusion works by drawing you in, making your own mind do the hard work. Adding that many new elements would make it crack like cheap wattle, no matter how much raw power you threw at it. No, only reality hurts this much." "And what about her, why does she remember what happened?" Smart Cookie pointed at Dash. "From what she said, that 'mummy' costume was a last minute thing, whereas our costumes were a labour of love. Maybe the more effort some-pony put into the costume, the deeper the change goes." She sniffled back her tears and asked Dash. "If they made costumes of us, ponies still remember us, even after all this time?" Dash was feeling as rotten as she looked for how she'd hurt them, and saw a way to make up for it a bit. "Are you kidding? You're the Founders, the ponies who started it all! You saved every-pony, founded Equestria, we even have a holiday just to celebrate it, Hearth's warming Eve! You're the most famous ponies in the history of... history!" "Then we succeeded?" Clover asked hopefully. "The three tribes learned to live together?" "Just look at the three of you." Dash pointed at them. "Scoots, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom are the best of friends. They may fight occasionally, but I've never heard them fight because they're not the same race. Just the idea that ponies could do that freaks most ponies out, it'd be like ponies fighting because they had different coat colours or mane styles. Doesn't mean we don't have some problems, but yeah, you guys did it, big time!" "That's something, at least." Clover sighed. She tried to hold it in. She really did. But at the highly emotional moment when the three fillies-turned-historical-legends were wrapped up in the joy of knowing that their mission was a success, that the three pony tribes not only managed to live together in peace, but thrive; it just came out. Lauren spoke out, "Buffy did it!" All eyes turned towards the alicorn who now had her front hooves covering her mouth. She slowly lowered her hooves and took a deep breath, "I'm sorry. It just came to me. People turning into their costumes. I remembered something similar happening in a show I saw, but it was years ago." "What caused such an event?" Smart Cookie asked. Pansy chimed in, "And how was it ended?" "Let me think. There was a statue to a chaos god or something." "Discord," Rainbow Dash almost growled. It had been many, many relative years since before the loops started... but she still hadn't completely forgiven him for taking away her wings, "He's the big-wig spirit of chaos around here." Lauren nodded, "Okay, and there was a chaos mage who kicked off the whole thing. Is there a pony around here that likes or worships chaos?" Mummy Rainbow Dash gave off a long, dust-filled sigh, "Pinkie Pie." There was a pause as the pegasus collected her thoughts. "Imagine the living embodiment of a sugar high who likes to party, dance, sing, do completely impossible things, and then party even more and you'll pretty much know what she's like." Lauren smiled, fondly remembering one of her old pony dolls. "Great. Now we just need to find where she has the statue and smash it. Then everyone will be back to normal." "And what happened to the assumed personas on this show?" Clever Clover asked. "I don't really know," the alicorn said, "The fillies you all are possessing may retain some of your memories and skills. The show I saw never showed what happened to the ones who possessed the costumed people." Clover nodded in understanding, "A pity our real selves will never know of this. It would be a comfort knowing we will succeed beyond our expectations. Still, we can help, agreed?" She looked at the other two. Pansy just nodded, but Smart Cookie gave a deep sigh and said, "It's not given to a pony how long they live, but we can control how we use that time, even if it's only a single night. Freeing this town would be a good use of it." "So where would this Pinkie Pie have the chaos statue?" Pansy questioned. "Sugarcube Corner." Rainbow Dash motioned to the others to follow her, "The bakery that looks like a giant gingerbread cookie house. It makes that unicorn who wants to be a dentist growl every time she has to walk past it. It's this-a-way." As the group turned a corner, they came upon the assorted Celestias, Lunas, and Nightmare Moons. They all turned towards the new alicorn, eyes widening in recognition. A chorus of voices called out in hopeful amazement, "Mother?!" "Mother, is that... is that truly you?" "No, sister, it is not her," Nightmare Moon snapped. "Lest ye forget, this is the night of costumes, of which We and thou art also." Her face softened considerably. "There's no reason to be rude, Nightmare." Lauren took a breath. "I... um... Listen, dear... I'm not exactly your mother. I... don't even have memories of you..." The younger Celestia wilted. "...I see..." "But, um... hugs?" 'Celly' stepped forward, almost teary eyed, and took the proffered embrace. Nightmare moon scoffed, then slapped herself. "Ow! That was not necessary! Yes it was and you know it." Rainbow Dash gave Nightmare Moon an odd look. "What's up with you?" "We're not exactly sure how, but Fluttershy managed to somewhat break through the ensorcellment." Luna stepped forward and nodded to the founders. "It is an honour to be in your presence once more, even if you are not truly... well. The fact remains, we do require some assistance in organizing a reaction to... are you aware of what is happening?" "According to the Metajoke Faust over there," Rainbow Dash pointed at the red maned alicorn giving 'Celly' an awkward smile, "some servant of chaos made a chaos statue and now everyone's become their costumes. Kind of. I'm still Rainbow Dash, I'm just a mummy now, but the crusaders have... they're the founders, mind and soul." "A statue?" Luna tilted her head. "That's an... interesting idea-" Rainbow leaned in close and whispered quickly. Luna's eyes widened. "Oh. Right. That makes sense." 'Tia' shook her head. "So, from all that, I assume... Pinkie Pie?" "It would make sense," Rainbow replied. "Let's just head over to Sugarcube Corner and..." She blinked. "Is... is that a fire over there?" "NO! You are not going in there, Dinky, and that's FINAL!" "Look, miss, I have to make sure that nopony's trapped in there! It's my job!" "YOU ARE NOT A FIREPONY!" Derpy yelled, tears streaming down her face. "YOU ARE MY DAUGHTER! I'M NOT GOING TO LOSE YOU!" "Maybe I am!" the filly snapped. "Maybe I'm your daughter and I'm transformed and I don't remember anything about it! That doesn't change the fact that there is a building on fire! Even if nopony is in there, I have to stop it! Who else can?! Who else here has the knowledge, ability, and let's face it sanity to handle this?!" The pegasus looked up at the blazing sugarcube corner. "I... I..." She sniffled. "Just.... please. Try not to..." "...I promise I'll come back." The firepony hugged her gently. "Don't worry. I promise that I'll come back." And neither of them noticed the pink form flying away from the blaze, an odd little statue gripped in its claws as it glided toward the Everfree. As soon as she started to get close to the burning building, Lieutenant Quick Deployment felt the heat of the burning blaze that was consuming the building and weakening its structural integrity. Her oxygen tank was almost empty and the backup from the station hadn't arrived yet, leaving her without much time to think. She needed to act fast and look for anyone still trapped in Sugarcube Corner. She touched the front door handle with her hoof and found it burning hot. Her fire axe swung telekinetically through the air, making some holes for the flames start to burst through and equalizing the oxygen inside. Quick Deployment steadied herself, taking a few steps back. Then she charged the door, bursting through with a single swing of her axe. "PONYVILLE FIRE DEPARTMENT!" she shouted through her oxygen mask. "IS ANYONE HERE? PLEASE ANSWER OR MAKE SOME NOISE SO I CAN GET TO WHERE YOU ARE!" Her experienced eyes scanned the front of the business, quickly determining that the fire had started in the kitchens. The flames and her small body made said room inaccessible, but the stairs seemed to be safe. She rushed up, pressing her hoof against the first door she found. The heat forced her to recoil; with a sad glance, she moved on. The next room, thankfully, wasn't hot enough to be consumed by flames. She announced herself with a quick shout--""PONYVILLE FIRE DEPARTAMENT! SOMEONE PLEASE RESPOND!"--and quickly entered. It turned out to be a basic bathroom, and a quick search found nopony hiding in the tub or the cabinets. The room after that, the master bedroom, had a minor blaze already; fortunately, it was unoccupied. As Quick Deployment headed to the final room, she spared a glance at the stairs; tongues of fire were already licking up. Time was running out. Quick Deployment approached the final door, pressing against it. "PONYVILLE FIRE DEPARTAMENT! IS ANYONE THERE?" Unlike the other doors, there was actually some kind of noise! But it wasn't just any kind of noise; it was the one kind of noise she didn't want to hear in this situation. It was the crying of an infant foal. Without thinking twice she opened the door as fast as she could, noticing that it was filled with plush animals and other didactic toys; in the centre of the room was a cradle with a small yellow earth pony foal. The baby was wailing with all his little lungs could give him; Quick Deployment could sense the flames getting closer as she carefully lifted the small bundle of joy out of the crib. But the flames were already covering the hallway and getting inside the room, she could even hear the sound of the roof collapsing in the other places of the house; the structural integrity of the building wouldn't last much longer. Quick Deployment's mind raced as she placed the oxygen mask to the foal's face, looking around quickly – there! A window! Clutching the foal tightly to her chest, she steeled herself and ran toward it, leaping out just before a burst of fire destroyed the room! BOOOOOOOOM!!! The force sent her further then she expected, but already she was curled around the infant and rolling on the ground... into a set of bushes. She sputtered, spitting out leaves as she clambered out. "I'm not doing this ever again if I can help it!" Her eyes drifted toward the foal, and she sighed in relief as she saw him look back with wide eyes. Moment later she was wrapped up in a tight hug. "DINKY! ARE YOU ALRIGHT MUFFIN?" Derpy couldn't hold back the tears as she brough both the foals close. "DOES SOMETHING HURT? PLEASE SAY SOMETHING!" "Ms. Hooves-" "DID YOU GET BURNED? DID ANY PIECE OF DEBRIS HIT YOU?!" "Ms. hooves, I'm fi-" "PLEASE DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE DYING! I CAN'T LOOSE YOU THE SAME WAY I LOST YOUR FATHER! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME AND YOUR SISTER ALONE!..." "MS. HOOVES! I WAS TRYING TO TELL YOU THAT I AM FINE! FINE!" The firepony broke out of the hug with an exasperated sigh. "Geeze, it was just a few scrapes... and the temporal pain of hitting my back with the oxygen tank when I landed, nothing out of routine." Derpy sniffed, giving her a worried look. "...Are you sure?" Quick Deployment took a breath, calming herself. "Yeah I'm sure of it. This is not my first fire, Ms. Hooves, and I don't think it will be my last." She looked toward the burning building. "What it worries me right now is how to extinguish the fire before it propagates to the nearby houses, calm down this little tyke, find his parents, get some water to drink, and get to the hospital for a checkup after this mess. That is in order from the top priority to the least one Ms. Hooves." "...Ok, I guess I can help you with the first one," Derpy finally replied. "I may not be Rainbow Dash, but if there's one thing I can handle a little better than her it's storm clouds. That will put out the fire and keep the other houses humid enough to not catching fire." She gave Sugarcube Corner a glance. "Or, knowing my luck, set half the other houses on fire..." "Excuse me, what was the last part?" "NOTHING! NOTHING AT ALL! Don’t worry about it, just leave it to me!" "... I trust your judgement Ms. Hooves. Please be quick in gathering the storm cloud, I don't think my buddies of the station will arrive in time." Derpy saluted. "Don't worry muffin, Mom is on the case." She gave a little nuzzle to the infant – before backing off with an odd expression. "Wait... is that Carrot Cake? No, never mind, I don't want to know." Shaking her head, she took to the air. Having another alicorn bow to you was a disconcerting thing for the three Founders, especially as there were four more besides, though two were clearly copies of two others. However the fire distracted every-pony. "We should go there with all speed, see if we can render aid." Pansy said, trying to lift-off to see better. "In our present state I'm not sure..." Clover's eyes alighted on a spilled bag that had once been part of a pirate costume. The candy gems inside had been transmuted into real ones, likewise the chocolate gold pieces, and her eyes brightened up. "Or maybe we can!" She forked through them with a hoof, and levitated three of the biggest and finest, a diamond, a sapphire and an emerald, as well as some other odds and ends. "We can work on the move." Smart Cookie had gone over by Princess Luna as they moved off. "You seem to know us personally, but I for one have never met you. Our memories seem to extend until a dozen years after the Alliance. But from what we've been told that was well over a thousand years ago. Also, from Rainbow's reaction you are native to this time and place. Who are you, and how can this be, if you don't mind me asking?" "I am Princess Luna, Ruler of Night and Guardian of Dreams, and my sister is Princess Celestia, Ruler of the Day and Protector of Ponykind. We now raise the sun and moon, rather than a team of unicorn nobles." Smart Cookie's eyes widened. "But that would deprive the unicorn nobility of the largest portion of their power! That would be... it would change everything!" "Indeed it did... but that is not what you asked. You were very old when we met you, only alive because of Clover's spells, but even then you were an inspiration. We alicorns on the other hoof are immortal, or rather unaging." "You mean, you have lived that entire time from then to now? Then it is the two of you who are truly responsible for this world, not we... your highness." Luna shook her head. "Only because we had your example to guide us. You, of all ponies need not use our titles. Indeed, the Elements of Harmony were a development of Clover's elaboration of Starswirl's original research into the nature of magic and it's connection to the minds and emotions of all three pony races." "Elements of Harmony?" Smart Cookie asked. Fausticorn and Clover had been talking, and casting spells on the floating gems. Finally, Clover came back to the other two carrying two chokers. The third, containing a diamond, was around her neck. "Lauren agreed to lend us some of her power, and I transfered my design for a way to relay it along with my other memories. She helped craft these, and it should give all three of us at least a measure of our adult powers. She even suggested an improvement. I was too wedded to the idea of a physical ritual diagram, drawn on the ground. These form a ritual triune, but the links between the vertices use our friendship as the conduit. It's a fascinating idea, I only wish my real self could benefit from it." Her expression saddened for a second, but she quickly recovered, and she put the chokers around the other two's necks, the sapphire for Pansy and the emerald for Cookie. Pansy started flapping her wings like a hummingbrd, but this time she took off like a Harrier jump-jet. "Now this is more the business!" Princess Celestia overheard the comment Clover made and asked, "Why do you say that? You are as real as any-pony." "No we're not, we're simply far better copies than most. The enchantment on the costumes made us unusually detailed, but we will vanish along with the spell." Celestia's eyes widened in surprise. "So that's what you meant! You told me once, that if I ever found you doubting you existed, to tell you the following phrase. 'He should have been called Levelhead.'" Clover giggled. "Oh that old chestnut. Smart Cookie always said her boss should be... Wait, how could we know that if we're just gestalts created by magic! That was a private thing between the three of us, we swore never to reveal it..." Celestia's horn glowed slightly. "I think the spell did something different in your case, brought your souls forward in time. I can sense the difference between you and Fluttershy or Twilight." "Does that mean when the spell ends we will return to our real bodies?" Hope dawned in Smart Cookie's eyes. Celestia nodded. "It would make sense. I don't know how much you will remember, but enough to tell me that phrase to use." They'd reached the burning building, which had half collapsed, and Rainbow Dash yelled out "Sugar Cube Corner!" Quick Deployment gave an exasperated sigh. "Great, more civili–Your Majesties!" She bowed quickly, careful not to let her magical grip drop the infant she was carrying. "I can personally reassure you that the building is vacated, I went through and got everypony out. One of the local pegasi is... why are there seven of you?" "Costume curse," Clover explained simply. "As far as we can tell, everypony became their.... Nightmare Night, was it? Nightmare Night costumes..." Cadance picked the infant up gently, rocking him to sleep and giving a reassuring wing hug to the shivering alicorn filly she had been tending to. "Don't worry, Erroria, this brave firepony managed to save everyone in the blaze." "I don't like fire," the filly sniffled, unaware of her glowing horn. "I want it gone!" The entire area was suddenly subjected to a three second deluge. Founder, alicorn, mummy, and firepony all stood, blinking the water out of their eyes. "Well..." Quick Deployment said slowly. "I... guess that's one way to put out a fire." Derpy glided down, mussing up the firepony's mane. "Did I do that? I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" "Aaaaaand now I'm disintegrating," Dash deadpanned. "Great." Rainbow Dash's voice trailed off in a gurgle as she collapsed in a heap of sodden linen and bones before every-pony's horrified gaze. The pile rippled, and suddenly it was a regular blue pegasus swathed in soaking toilet paper. She spat out a mouthful. "Ugh! The toilet paper should be on the houses, not me! Never doing that again." "Of course!" Clover exclaimed. "The curse changes you into your costume, so damage done to your assumed form is damage done to the costume! So even if your costume form is killed or destroyed, all that happens is you revert to normal with a wrecked costume. Ingenious!" "Miss," Smart Cookie asked the fire-pony, "Did you see some sort of statue or bust in there?" She turned to the group. "What does this Discord creature look like anyway?" Pansy was up in the air, converting the steam rising off the smouldering wreckage into clouds and chilling them to suck the last remnants of heat out of the destroyed building. "It must have been pretty durable to survive this, and it must have. We're still here." Princess Celestia was casting about with her horn, looking like a giant white bloodhound. "It's possible it didn't need to. The aura of Chaos magic is strong, but it's not centred inside the building. It seems to lead off towards the Everfree Forest." "Yep, that about figures!" grumbled Rainbow Dash. "Sister, thou do believe some villain absconded with it and set the place afire the place to cover his tracks?" Luna asked. "Then we must give chase with all haste!" Rainbow Dash looked at the wrapped up foal Cadance was currently holding which had been saved from the fire, and raised an eyebrow. Carrot Cake should be a full-grown stallion, baker, and warden... er... employer of Pinkie Pie; and yet there he was as an infant. She chalked it down to more weirdness from the spell. All the now dry alicorns and founders were setting up a spell to better locate the perpetrator of the fire. All the alicorns except the small filly which Rainbow had never seen before. "Hello. So, who might you be?" The newly demummified pegasus asked. "I'm Erroria," said the filly alicorn, "Do you know where my mother is?" "Who is your mother, little one?" Quick Deployment asked after looking sadly at the wet remains of the bakery. She was used to working with a full team of mixed ponies to put out fires before they got this bad. Ideally, there would also be a few fully-laden rainclouds on hoof at the station. Erroria thought for a little while before remembering, "My mother is Princess Skyla!" Rainbow Dash spoke up, "And do you know your grandmother's name?" The little alicorn filly thought for a moment. Then she pointed at the alicorn who was holding the foal, "Grandma Candy!" Princess Cadance stopped rocking the foal as her eyes shrunk down to pinpricks. Rainbow's wings fluttered as comprehension hit her, "Right. Princess Cadence's granddaughter. From the future. With everything else crazy around here, why not?" "Any luck with tracing the statue?" the actual Celestia asked. Luna turned around with a smile, "Yes." It had finished the cookbook it had been compelled to write, and cast the appropriate protection spells on the tome. Fluttering out of the window, the fungal creature had skittered around the chaos outside, casually pulling information of the local language from the minds of several of the afflicted. That was when it overheard what was happening. There was a chance it could simply stop existing once the aetherial conflagration was through; and that was unacceptable. Once it was back at the bakery, the focal point statue was easy to locate. Snatching it up in its claws, the Mi-go fluttered out the window. A brief burst of personal power later, and everything in the room, except the cookbook, was on fire. Half-flying, half scuttling in the wild magic forest with the statue, distracted by deflecting scrying spells; it never noticed that something was watching it. Right up until a small furry foot impacted it in the back of its head. Its last thought before losing consciousness was that of confusion. How was it possible that it was hit with far more force that a bandana and war-paint wearing white rabbit had any right to wield? "Quick, this way!" Luna took off in the Everfree Forest's direction, and her companions quickly followed suit. The group of ponies, increasingly consisting of alicorns, soon reached the forest's outskirts, where a... creature, part fungus, part shrimp and part... something, was rising from the dirt, hissing and swinging its tail at- "Angel Bunny!" Nightmare Moon's gaze shifted mid-sentence. "Well, done, master ra- No! Bad bunny! I mean, no! Well done, Angel! I mean- Oh, wilst thou DECIDE, ALREADY!!" Angel Bunny gave the mare a confused look, but then puffed out his chest and adjusted his bandanna, after which he turned around to face the Mi-Go again – who was in the middle of trying to sneak away. For its trouble, it received a bunny kick to the shin – or... whatever that was – and doubled over backwards. While Nightmare Moon was still bickering with herself, Lauren stepped forward and looked the strange creature over. "Nah, Lovecraftian horrors don't really fit a setting intended for young audiences." Ignoring their creator's avatar's shadow's comment, Tia stepped forward and took a telekinetic hold of the statuette of Discord in the Mi-Go's claws – or better tried to, as suddenly the creature leapt up and whipped around, its wings buzzing for take-off. Smart Cookie took a far more direct approach. "Clover, give me a boost!" She jumped, and a burst of magic flung her at the creature, dropping her on its back and bearing it to the ground. Lieutenant Pansy helped to pony-pile the thing, and a glow of magic pressed it against the floor, binding it to the ground as Clover added her efforts to restraining the thing. "It's... still fighting!" She said. "Someone needs to destroy that statue now! Lauren, it's been a privilege and a pleasure. I hope the story you write brings joy to many fillies and colts. Princesses, I speak for us all when I say, thank you for continuing our work." There was a chorus of agreement from the other two. Lauren picked up the statue in her magic. She giggled for a moment as it hovered and glowed. "Hee hee, I'm Jean Grey! Alright, alright, don't give me that look. Time for serious--" "You would kill children?" Lauren froze. "I do not claim to find anything wrong in it," Chrksxcin continued calmly. "But I know by your morality it is... odd. Destroying that statue would eliminate the personae that they have taken. The spawn, in particular, must concern you." It nodded toward Cadance, who was shielding her potential granddaughter and the regressed Carrot Cake with her wings. "And that is only amongst those you are aware of. Certainly, it would be far less... disturbing to leave it untouched?" Rainbow snorted. "Hey, I turned back to normal easy peasy. It's not going to kill anypony if she--" "You were still who you were," the Mi-Go countered, "if different in form. And perhaps it could be argued that these three will return, so all the replicas of truth will be sent back with only confusion. But what of you and I?" It turned back to Lauren. "We have no home. We are constructs. And how many in that town are constructs themselves? We will melt away. Do you truly want that much of reality to cease?" The alicorn looked at the statue in her magical grip. "...If I had a choice," she murmured, "I would take the constructed identities and make them separate bodies. But... I don't know how to do that. And if I could I would go out and ask every one of them if they would accept this. But... right here, right now... you and I are dangerous. In very different ways, yeah, but I don't..." She shivered. "I... I can't--" Unexpectedly the statue sighed and snapped its fingers, metamorphosing into a multicoloured chimera with a grumpy frown. "Let me just cut off all the drama here: The spell only lasts until sunlight hits the costume. The statue never had anything to do with ending it. Oh, and the constructed personae are actually facets of the costume makers and will rejoin with their mind when they disappear. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go see what chaos is happening in Ponyville. Ta-ta!" He walked off from the stunned onlookers. Eventually Celestia facehooved. "Of course Discord would pull something like that. Gruuugh..." "The solution is clear," Chrksxcin said calmly. "You and I merely need to avoid sunlight." "Yeah, sure, you know what?" The red maned alicorn snorted. "You do that. I've just been put through an emotional wringer and then told it didn't even matter." She stomped off, muttering curses under her breath. After a moment, Smart Cookie cleared her throat. "Does this mean we should let this thing go?" "So it was true, after all," the false day alicorn said as she tested her wings after they started to brighten, realizing they had lost some sensibility and were much more difficult to move. "I'm just an illusion or an echo of a memory, am I not?" Luna and Celestia stopped and looked to the fake alicorn but she was looking at the moon in the sky, her eyes with unshed tears. "Please, there's no need to hide it for me. I may recognize we are near the Everfree forest but there are so many things I don't understand about tonight, starting with both of you and this Ponyville. And since I'm just an illusion then it means it won't matter if I do this." Then the fake Celestia threw herself to Luna, crying and hugging her fiercely. "Lulu! I thought I'd never see you again, sister. I'm so happy to see you like this, so grown up!" Luna just hugged and petted back. Letting go slightly of Luna, the ensorcelled Celestia looked to the real one. "And you, real me, I don't know how much what's worth the opinion of your echo but thank you. I envy you so much but now I can disappear with no regrets." Celestia just shook her head. "Don't thank me, I didn't do anything. It took a new set of Element bearers to help Luna." "Then please give my thanks to them." Luna contained her giggle into a lopsided smile, mimicking Celestia's own expression "Will do Celly, we promise." “Well that was certainly interesting,” Twilight muttered to herself. “It’s definitely going in my... hmm.. top fifty weirdest loops. Well, at least it’s over now.” There was a knock on the library door. She stood up and walked over, opening it to find the worried faces of three cutie mark crusaders. “Hey there girls! What’s going on?” Apple Bloom shifted a hoof, giving her an awkward glance. “You know how we... well, the founders made necklaces to boost their power?” Twilight nodded. “Yeah... they didn’t transform back to candy, did they?” “...No,” Scootaloo confirmed. “They didn’t. But it gets weirder.” “Really? How?” Sweetie Belle pulled the necklaces out of her saddlebags. “Well... when we wear them, we can hear... voices.” Raising an eyebrow, Twilight took the necklaces and ran a quick check over them for dangerous magic before slipping one on. As far as I can tell, Cookie, that spell I had the alicorn cast that night dragged our souls forward after we died. No, Pansy, I don’t think it’s reversible! Oh, wait, I’m being worn. Hello there! I’m Clover, yes, that Clover, it’s a long story...