“Twilight, it doesn’t make any sense…” Applejack repeated. Twilight was beginning to lose count of how many times that phrase had been used. “Everything you’ve said goes against what we all know about your… magic. Now, granted, I may not be a fancy shmancy unicorn, but even I know that time travel don’t work that way.”

“Yes, she is right, darling. We all remember your first brush with time travel. You learned way back then what was possible and what wasn’t in regards to such things,” Rarity added, nodding her head in agreement with Applejack.

“Yes, you’re both correct. But, like I said, this is different,” Twilight replied, not even looking at either of her friends while they were walking down one of the many hallways within the palace. “I may have traveled through time in the past, but it is not the same mechanic as what I accomplished today.”

At this, Pinkie spoke up, her normally cheerful demeanor finally beginning to return. “Yeah, that’s right! I remember when you did that spell. You said you were in your library with yourself. Time travel put new you back in time with old you, and you were both talking to the other you. That isn’t happening here, because if it did, there’d be another me hopping around somewhere nearby!”

“Pinkie, there has been multiple yous bouncing around in the same area before, but… that’s beside the point. You’re right, when I cast that original time spell, it physically put me in the past, standing with my old self,” Twilight explained, glancing back towards her friends briefly before she looked forwards once more. “Instead of taking each of us and putting the five of us physically in the past, my spell merely took us out of our bodies and then pushed us into our earlier ones.”

“So wait, what you’re saying is, you took my soul out of my body... and then you put it right back in, but… in the past?” Applejack said, hazarding an attempt at understanding Twilight's explanation.

“Well, I don’t know anything about your soul, but that is essentially what happened, yes.”

“That’s not possible, Twi. I can remember those minutes between when you first walked in that room and when you started your… time travel spell. Those happened. We went through them. Now, it’s like they didn’t happen, but we still remember them. I mean, gosh darn it Twilight, you were stabbing a table which is now… unstabbed!” Applejack’s voice was on the verge of yelling, her words slightly echoing back to the five ponies as they walked through the empty hallway.

Twilight’s eyes tracked a stained glass window as they passed it before she responded, the mural in the window representing some great deed that Celestia had accomplished many years before. “You’re not looking at this fourth dimensionally, Applejack. The table has now never been stabbed.”

“No, it was. I saw you do it, I remember it. Don’t tell me it didn’t happen.” Applejack glared at the back of Twilight’s head, her jaw set determinedly in her frustration.

Twilight quietly sighed before she stopped walking. Turning around, she fixed her eyes directly on her friends, taking stock of how each was taking the news. Surprisingly, the pony who had been the most somber before was now the one giving a small, genuine smile: Pinkie Pie. The rest of them were mixed between incredible skepticism and, in Applejack’s case, flat out vexation.

“I realize this is hard to accept, Applejack. Time travel is-”

“Dammit Twilight! It’s not about the time travel!” Applejack yelled, rubbing her face with her hooves.

Twilight was a bit taken aback, though she recovered quickly. “But you were saying that it’s not possible…”

Applejack flared her nostrils momentarily, letting out a loud snort. “It’s not. Or, it shouldn’t be. You’re right, the table was stabbed, yet it also wasn’t. That guard didn’t remember it. But Twilight, just because that table is now in a world where it hasn’t been stabbed, that don’t mean it never was.”

Twilight looked down, her eyebrows knit in confusion. “I don’t know what you mean. The table has now not been stabbed, it-”

“The table is just a buckin’ metaphor! Rainbow Dash is dead Twilight! You can’t undo that! All the magic in the world can’t change the fact that she died, and we all know it!”

Ahh, that’s why she’s upset, Twilight realized. I understand how she feels, but…

“Applejack, let me change the wording. I didn’t unstab the table so much as I reset it,” Twilight said softly, hoping to help calm her hurting friend.

“It don’t matter what you call it, Twilight. Rainbow Dash died,” Applejack spat, her voice quivering. “Don’t try and cheapen it by thinking you can just fix it. Ain’t nopony can bring back the dead. We all suffered after her passing, we mourned. We went through it, dammit, and now you’re making it hurt again! We can’t bring her back, so stop saying you can!”

Applejack gritted her teeth and began shaking her head, eyes squeezing shut to try and keep herself from sobbing. Twilight knew this was hard, she had expected this to be a difficult acceptance for her friends, but she had never intended for them to have to grieve again. She quickly stepped forwards and, in an embrace that she realized was probably months overdue, wrapped Applejack in a tight hug. The earth pony gasped, her eyes shooting open in surprise as she and Twilight both softly fell to their haunches.

“Applejack, I’m sorry…” Twilight began, her own voice revealing a tremor of sorrow that she, despite her confidence, couldn’t squash completely. “I know how it feels. Believe me. I want her back, and that’s why I will succeed. You see, I…”

Twilight’s voice stuck in her throat due to it having gone very dry. She wanted to tell Applejack the truth about what had happened, about the past, but she couldn’t. She tried again but once more found herself too afraid to say the words.

Why can’t I say it…? Why can’t I tell her the truth? She deserves to know… They all do. I just need to say it.

Twilight squeezed Applejack tighter, fighting desperately against her own voice to try and force the words out. Eventually, her own teeth began to grit together. The words, written plain as day across her heart, just wouldn’t come. Painfully, she resigned herself to the hug, thinking what she should have said long ago: it was my fault.

Somewhere deep down, Twilight realized that it probably didn’t matter regardless. Had she been able to say it, Applejack would have merely taken it as Twilight trying to take the weight of everything on her shoulders. She wouldn’t have understood the implications of Twilight’s statement, just how much the words rang true. Twilight had never managed to tell anypony the truth about that day, and even in the final records there remained a half truth in regards to Rainbow’s death.

She knew, the same now as she did then, that had she claimed responsibility for the disaster, nopony would have listened. Nopony would have believed her. But it was her fault. She knew that, and nothing she ever could do would wipe the blood from her hooves. Mourning would not have worked, for it never would have healed the wound in her heart that she herself had put there.

Twilight started as she felt two hooves wrap around her, lightly pinning her wings to her back. She leaned her head against Applejack’s, realizing just how much she had missed being held by a close friend.

“Twilight, I’m sorry… I know you must have blamed yourself… I never meant to imply that you didn’t care. It’s just… we all hurt, together. And you weren’t there. We wanted to help you move on, but at the same time, we needed you as well.” Applejack’s voice had shifted to a soft, soothing tone which flowed through Twilight, causing her to relax in her friend’s hooves.

“Applejack…” Twilight’s voice felt weak, so she stopped talking and took a deep breath, silently willing strength into her tired mind. “Applejack, I can do this. Rainbow Dash died, you’re right, but I can fix it. This will work, I promise.”

“... How do you know for sure…?” Applejack’s voice shook slightly as she lightly pushed away from Twilight. She kept her hooves on the alicorn’s shoulders and looked right into her eyes.

Twilight looked back, pleased to see her friend was showing the signs of a small smile about to appear. She took a moment to marshal her thoughts before she responded, her voice soft, yet strong and full of an authority that made Applejack gasp softly.

“Because I refuse to live in a world without her.”

Twilight looked away from Applejack for a moment, looking at each of her other friends who had remained fairly quiet. Each one of them had apparently been listening intently, and Twilight saw that they all had smiles on their faces. Apparently they had believed her, because while they had each shown doubts before, now there was a fire burning in their souls that Twilight had not seen since before Rainbow Dash had perished.

“Girls,” Twilight began as she stood up and stepped backwards a little bit. “I will be activating my spell to travel into the past an hour after the sun has set tonight. You are all welcome to come with me, but know that it will be a one way trip, and while we will be gaining one of our friends back, we will have to relive the last few years of our lives.

“I realize this is a very difficult decision, but I have already made up my mind. You’re all free to choose, but know this; whether you go or not, I will be. I can no longer remain in a world where Rainbow Dash is not. I know this is fairly sudden, and you may feel a desire to say goodbye to ponies, but in truth, you don’t need to. They will be there when we go to the past, just like they were when it was not the past, but the present. To them there will have been no change, and life will feel the same as it did before.

“So... I guess I will ask now. Will the four of you accompany me on one more adventure? This one… to save our friend, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight fidgeted slightly on her hooves as she finished, her mouth once again feeling very dry. She tensed the muscles in her legs to help her from falling as she felt her anxiety building. How many of her friends would say no?

Rarity and Fluttershy shared a glance, and each one seemed to have already decided. They each looked back at Twilight and then simultaneously gave her a firm nod. Pinkie Pie trotted up to Twilight and pulled her into a tight hug but said nothing, letting the embrace speak more words than she ever could have.

Gingerly, Twilight hugged her back with one hoof and turned her head towards her last friend who was still sitting on the ground and had not yet looked up. A few moments passed as Applejack seemed to be thinking to herself, her brow knit in deep concentration. After what felt like a while, but in actuality had only been about fifteen seconds, Applejack rubbed her temple, slightly pushing her stetson a bit further up her head. She stood up and dusted herself off before she turned and fixed Twilight with a strong stare.

“... Rainbow Dash is worth it. While I may not think it’s… the best solution… it certainly seems to be possible. And besides, you’re not the only one who blames herself. I’d give anything to have her back, and well… Here you are, telling me there’s something I can give to achieve just that. That phrase ‘I’d give anything’ always seemed silly if’n you actually wouldn’t follow through with it when given the chance.”

Twilight couldn’t believe it. Her eyes watered slightly as she looked deep into Applejack’s own, seeing nothing but solid determination within. Applejack’s face had been set in a strong smirk and her body was tensed, almost as if she expected to have to fight somepony to get Dash back. Twilight’s lips turned up in a tentative smile and she felt her heart flutter suddenly with joy.

She glanced at Pinkie, seeing an equally happy smile on her friend’s face. Suddenly, this two pony hug felt very empty. Twilight’s face split into a wide grin as she activated her magic. Some surprised yelps were all that signified her friends suddenly being pulled within her magical grasp, all moving straight to her.

She had misjudged her levitation spell, and when they collided with her and Pinkie, they were all knocked into a big pony pile on the floor. However, none of them were upset. Instead, they all began to laugh with strong, genuine mirth, which caused Twilight’s chest to burn with joy the likes of which she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Her whole body twisted as she rolled around in her laughter, her voice mixing with her friend’s own and creating a wild cacophony of joy and exhilaration which felt incredibly infectious. Her mind was clearing and her heart was beating, all the while her problems slowly melted into a single ball which suddenly felt very insignificant. With some effort, she pushed herself up onto her hooves and breathed deeply a few times, slowing the rate of her raucous laughter.

A deep smile on her face, she looked at each of her friends in turn and found them all reflecting the same expression right back at her. Her heart felt stronger and she knew without a doubt that she never should have let her friendships falter. With these four ponies behind her, she felt powerful, strong enough to take on any challenge.

With her friendships renewed, Twilight realized that despite the sheer audacity of what they were going to do that night, it was all going to work.

Twilight watched as the clock struck a few minutes past nine, signifying that one hour had passed from when the sun had finished it’s descent. She sucked in a breath and turned to look at her friends who had all gathered in the middle of her science lab. Tables were filling the room, as well as many different apparatuses which all served to assist Twilight in her research. Every table had piles of notes and books placed haphazardly upon them, and indeed in some places the chaos had even fallen to the floor.

There were no windows in the laboratory, so the only source of light came from some dull glowing lanterns which had been magically enchanted to float near the corners of the ceiling, casting flickering lights which cascaded about the area. The whole room itself was amidst some of the basement floors in Canterlot Castle, gifting it with a feeling of strangeness that did not extend to the more-travelled upper levels.

Twilight walked away from the clock she had been watching and went to stand before her friends. When she had positioned herself so that she could see all four of them at the same time, she began to speak.

“It’s time. I am going to begin my spell, but first I just want to double check. Do any of you-”

“No way, Twi. We’re all doin’ this,” Applejack said, cutting Twilight off before she could even begin to ask her question. “I can safely speak for all of us when I say that we all ain’t changin’ our minds.”

Twilight smiled, happy that her friends were still willing to help her, but she laughed softly in amusement as well. “I appreciate it, truly, but that’s not what I was going to ask.”

Applejack lost some of her confident smirk for a moment as she began to rub her cheeks with a hoof, slightly embarassed. “I-I see, uh, right. Well then, uh, get on with it, what were you gonna say?” She coughed slightly into her hoof as Twilight let out one last small laugh.

“Well, I was going to ask if there were any last questions you wanted to ask?”

Her question garnered a “No” from Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, but Rarity nodded her head.

“How does it work?”

Twilight blinked at the surprising simplicity of the question. She had been expecting something a bit more… substantial, considering it was coming from Rarity. Not exactly sure what Rarity meant due to the vague nature of the question, she asked, “How does what work?”

“The spell. I may not be as talented with magic as you are, but I do understand basic magical theory. Per the rules that all unicorns learn, a spell such as this just… shouldn’t be possible.”

“Oh, alright then. Let me try to explain. Basically, this spell is an expansion of the principles behind a standard teleport,” Twilight said, slipping quite easily into her teaching voice. With a slight shiver, she realized that she had missed the idea of teaching other ponies about subjects. She’d have to get back to doing that once this whole mess was fixed.

“Teleportation?” Rarity asked with a confused expression. “But that would require a target destination. How can you make a moment in time fit that role?”

“The spell I cast when I first entered the dining hall is the answer. It is the key to how this spell works.” Twilight could tell that each of her friends, not just Rarity, was thinking back to that moment and trying to recall everything about what had happened. “That spell was not made with normal unicorn magic, nor was it alicorn magic. That was a spell which I cast using the Element of Magic itself, kind of like an implement.”

Everypony’s eyes turned to look at Twilight’s crown which currently was resting with the other elements on a cushion in the direct center of the room, just a few hoof lengths away from where Twilight was standing.

Fluttershy was the first to look back to Twilight and respond. “It was an… implement?”

Twilight nodded. “Kind of. I cast that spell through the Element itself. I’m going to simplify the details, but basically I forced the Element to record the exact state of being that our world was in at the time.”

“How is that possible?” Applejack said, her jaw having dropped slightly in shock. “The Elements recorded the whole world?”

“It’s a spell that only I will ever be able to cast, and it’s only because I am the Bearer of Magic. It probably also helps that I have access to alicorn magic, but that’s fairly inconsequential when you hold it against what the Elements of Harmony are capable of. I merely activated the magic within the Element and guided it to record what it did. I did not control it directly, nor would I ever be able to, not without all six Bearers using the Elements simultaneously.

“The recording was then kept inside the Element itself, which allowed me to be able to access it when I needed it. The second spell is where this gets a lot more difficult.”

“More difficult than recording the entire world?” Rarity stated, obvious doubt etched into her facial features.

“Oh yes,” Twilight responded, once again looking in Rarity’s direction. “You see, the second spell was alicorn magic. It just requires more magic than any alicorn will ever have. Neither Celestia or Luna could cast that spell as they are now. Not even combined would the three of us have enough to form that spell. I needed to harness something else in order to do so.”

Each of her friends stood there thinking for a moment before Pinkie Pie spoke up. “The Elements?” The rest of them all looked at her and then glanced to Twilight to see if Pinkie had been correct.

“Yes. I used the power of the Elements, all six of them.”

“But Twilight, you told us that was dangerous!” Applejack said, looking at Twilight with an appraising eye. “The Elements of Harmony are too powerful for one pony to handle. Even Celestia was barely able to use them to seal Nightmare Moon a thousand years ago! How could you possibly do it yourself?”

“Well, I didn’t use the Elements' full power. Within them is some natural defensive magics, ready to be employed when the Elements themselves are in danger. Right now, one of the Bearers is dead, so the defensive magic of the Elements is accessible, even by a single pony. I used that instead, which is a fraction of what the Elements are capable of when all six Bearers are present. It was still more than enough for me to cast the spell that allowed me to access time through the Elements themselves.”

“Okay, so this spell uses a targeting that is accessed via magic that must be done in advance…” Rarity stated, sorting through the data in her head. “How does the original time travel spell work?”

Twilight cocked her head to the side. “You mean the one Starswirl came up with?”

At a nod from Rarity, Twilight turned around and walked to one of the tables in the room, levitating a few of her notes from the table as she did so. Once she was able to look at them, she continued.

“Starswirl’s time travel is different because it works with a target that’s predetermined. It always takes the caster to their home, despite wherever he or she might have been before. It also goes back exactly one week. I know because… I used it again.” Twilight’s voice caught in her throat towards the end of her explanation, and she did her best to hide it. However, she was unable to prevent her tone from sinking into a lower state.

Each of her four friends looked at one another, instinctively knowing what the sudden somberness in Twilight’s voice implied.

“Twilight, I’m noticing a problem with your plan,” Applejack said quickly, anxious to get Twilight back into her ‘lecture’ mode. Whatever history Twilight seemed to have with Starswirl’s spell, it seemed to her that it’d just be best to move past it, considering everything they were about to do that night.

“Oh?” Twilight replied, turning around as she put her notes back on the table. “What’s that?”

“Well, it seems you need this first spell to ‘record the world’ or some such, right? I’m pretty sure you never cast that spell before Dash… died. How do you intend to go to the past without a... ‘recording’ of the past you want to go to?”

“Oh, that’s the easy part,” Twilight stated, briefly shuffling her wings. “You see, only the Elements of Harmony are strong enough to do something as powerful as recording the entire world. On top of this, they have done it before.”

“Before?” Fluttershy asked, tilting her head slightly as she posed her question.

“Yes, before. In my studies of the Elements, I discovered some new facts and datums about them that nopony knew before. This recording mechanism is one of them, and it apparently happens every time the Elements are bonded to a new set of Bearers.” Twilight did not even try to hold back the smile that crossed her face as she brought this new knowledge to light.

“So… you mean when we confronted Nightmare Moon and you discovered that we were representin’ the Elements or some such?” Applejack hazarded, taking a stab at sorting through Twilight’s response.

“Precisely! From what I learned, the Elements recorded the world as soon as we were bonded to them. If I cast my new and Element-aided time travel spell, all I should have to do is look back far enough to find that moment recorded within the Elements. Then, I just drag us into it, and… we get Rainbow back.”

“This is gonna work!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, her hair returning to it’s poofy shape that it used to be in. She began bouncing in place, her excitement oozing off of her body and threatening to infect the others; not to say they weren’t excited, but comparing their energy to Pinkie Pie’s is like holding a piano next to the grand pipe organ within the Canterlot Cathedral.

“Yes, it… I don’t believe it Twi. This is… actually gonna work, ain’t it?” Applejack said, her own smile beginning to grow as mirth began shaking it’s way through her body.

“We’re really going to get Rainbow Dash back…” Fluttershy’s shyness, for the moment, was nowhere to be found, as only pure joy was revealing itself upon her features. “This is amazing… Not even in my dreams did I ever think this would be possible. ”

“This must be too good to be true, Twilight. I mean, how could an alicorn spell do something as paramount as reset the entire world?” Rarity questioned, still unconvinced that this really was about to happen.

“Well, it’s not actually that hard to believe. Remember, all the alicorn’s spell is doing is taking me and whoever I bring along and placing us into the Elements recording. The Elements then do all the hard work. Remember, they already recorded everything.”

“Yes, and that too…! What purpose would they have in recording the moment we bonded to them?”

“Well… I can’t say for sure as their recordings have never needed to be used before, but… I think it’s for this very reason.” Twilight looked away from Rarity and glanced towards her own hooves, shuffling around on them for a brief moment.

“... Come again?” Rarity said, nonplussed.

Twilight bit her lip before responding. “Well… the way I see it… what other purpose would there ever be in a recording of the world? The Elements of Harmony are there to defend us, to protect us from powerful foes that we can’t handle alone. They know this, and in response to this they created defensive energies inside of themselves that could be used in case something were to happen to them…

“Like I said earlier, right now we’re down one Bearer… The Elements won’t work anymore; it’s simply not possible. What if they recorded everything, us included, so that in this very situation somepony could use them to go back and change history? Prevent a Bearer from dying, or a great evil from rising? I mean, the magic for me to even cast this spell came from one of their own stores of defensively designated magic.”

Rarity looked away and glanced at the Elements. “... I think I get it, Twilight… It’s just so…”

“Unbelievable?” Applejack said softly.

“Yes…”

Twilight looked at each of her friends one last time, seeing that they were all now ready to continue. She let out a cough, signalling for everypony’s attention once more.

“Well, I think that’s about it. You’re all up to speed so… I think it’s time.”

Applejack looked at Twilight and grinned, somehow revealing all of her teeth in the process with an expression that said ‘Let’s do this!’

Fluttershy nodded at Twilight with a small smile on her face before turning to joyfully watch Pinkie Pie bounce in place.

The pink pony herself was letting out small whoops of laughter and happiness each time she reached the tallest height of her jumps, not loud enough to distract everypony, but with enough volume to display just how happy she really was.

Rarity activated her horn and gently moved the cushion with the six Elements on it to be placed in front of Twilight. After she had finished, she gave Twilight a look which told the alicorn that she trusted her completely.

Thank you girls… Thank you… Twilight thought to herself, slight trickles of tears beginning to slide down her cheeks. I really hope you all know that I would go through all of this to save each of you as well. As much as I miss Rainbow Dash, I… never would have been able to do any of this alone. Had you all said no, I... I don't know what I'd have done,

Wiping her eyes dry with her right hoof, she began to cast her spell for the second time that day. She dug deep into the Elements again and quite easily located their defensive energies this time. With a pull that was just as difficult as she remembered it being, she retrieved the magic and put it straight into her own.

Once again, her senses dropped out right as the Elements magic mixed with hers. She could have sworn that she had heard something right as it happened, but it didn’t matter. In this state, the five senses in present time were pointless. She had the entirety of time to look at and concern herself with.

She filled the room she knew her present time body was located in with her magic and grabbed everypony she found within it. Curiously, she discovered she could also feel the Elements themselves in her grasp this time. Had she felt that before when she had done the spell as a demonstration? She couldn’t recall.

Well, it didn’t matter. The result would be the same in the end anyways, right? With a mere glance to the left, she threw her attention to the entirety of the past, seeing thousands of years stretch out before her. It was almost enough to cause her pause; she was seeing multiple times when the Elements had recorded history. Had there possibly been previous bearers throughout the entirety of time?

For the smallest of moments, Twilight briefly entertained the notion of going to the one that was the farthest back. However, her mind instantly reminded her that she hadn’t been born yet, and if she reset that far then she would stop existing.

Wait, how would that even work…?

Oh well. It would be something to research later. She attempted to focus back on her original task, marveling at how easy it was to get sidetracked in this state.

With a mere glance downwards, she found it. The only time the Elements performed a recording within the last four hundred and thirty years. She wasn’t able to look at it too easily, so she couldn’t see for herself that it was when she and her friends were taking on Nightmare Moon, but simple logic determined that it had to be. There was no other recordings in the recent past for her to use, not counting the one she herself had forced the Elements to make. With a simple thought, she pulled on herself and everything that her magic had grabbed, causing them all to flow through into the previous memory.

The time stream filtered away as Twilight’s state of being returned to normal. With a slight hesitation, she opened her eyes, hoping that when she did, her vision would be filled with the one pony she longed to see more than any other.