“Good morning, Twilight!”

Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes. “Where am I?” she asked, groggily.

“Don’t you remember?” asked Fluttershy.

“I remember…” A light, shining out of a blue door. Blue eyes, as deep and unfathomable as the sea, but also brimming with mad excitement. Like Pinkie Pie’s, the thought suddenly occurred to her. The Doctor. The TARDIS. A door through time.

She looked at Fluttershy. “We’re in Old Canterlot?”

Fluttershy nodded. “Um…yes.”

“Wait, what happened to me?” She couldn’t recall their arrival in the past.

“Oh,” said Fluttershy, turning a pale pink, “you…fainted. When we went inside the TARDIS…”

Twilight remembered. It was…overwhelming. So much science. An airy smile spread across her face just thinking about it. She started to feel a little dizzy.

“Um…Twilight…”

“Yes?”

“Are you…okay?”

“Of course!” Twilight snapped back to the present. Or…the past, she guessed. She was a long way from the present, wasn’t she. Suddenly she felt a wave of curiosity crash down on her. She had to get out of here! She had to gallop through the streets of Old Canterlot, taking in everything. She had to see if her history books were right about…well, everything. She had to meet the ponies that lived a thousand years ago, including…

“Starswirl the Bearded,” she breathed.

“He said to bring you to him when you were awake,” said Fluttershy.

“The Doctor? Where is he?”

Fluttershy looked away. “No…um…Starswirl was the one who said to bring you. The Doctor…um…left….kind of. He went back to his own time. I mean…to our time.”

Now Twilight was confused. “What do you mean he left? After all that stuff about saving the universe? After bringing us all the way here? How are we supposed to get back?”

Fluttershy inched backward. “S-Starswirl will explain everything…when you meet him.”

Twilight’s annoyance evaporated. She was going to meet Starswirl the Bearded! A giddy sort of excitement filled her up, until she felt like a fizzy drink somepony had shaken up, all light-headed and ready to burst.

“I’m up,” she announced. “Let’s go meet him!”

Fluttershy led her through Canterlot Castle. Twilight gawked like a tourist at everything around her. The castle had changed so much over the centuries, but it still retained the same character, the beauty and light.

But something wasn’t right. It took a few moments for her to pick up on it, but you could see it if you looked. It was in the shadow behind the eyes of the royal guards, the slowness with which everypony she met smiled. It was in the quiet. Canterlot Castle should not be quiet. Where was the laughter of colts and fillies that galloped through these halls?

“It’s so…solemn,” said Twilight.

Fluttershy nodded. “Everypony is worried about something.”

Twilight should have known what it was. She must have read a dozen ancient histories of Equestria. Princess Celestia herself had told her the story once, at least in part. But, when you travel backward through time, you sometimes forget that there are dark things waiting for you there. To Twilight, the past was a golden country. She thought she had arrived at the dawn of Princess Celestia’s rule, when in fact, they had landed in the darkness just before.

“Here we are,” said Fluttershy.

They stood before a weathered door. A sign burned on the door. It read: Canterlot Royal Library.

“He sure has good taste in meeting places,” said Twilight.

Fluttershy smiled. “It turns out, he lives here.”

“He lives in the library?”

“Uh huh.”

Twilight swelled with pride at this discovery. It was that peculiar joy of finding that you and your hero have something in common that you never realized before. It made her feel, more than ever, that she somehow knew him already…

The doors opened.

“Welcome, Twilight Sparkle.”

She exhaled, gooseflesh prickling across her body. There he was! Her face felt as if it were on fire. Her mind blanked as he walked over to her, and the only thing she could think of was the stupidest thing ever: even the bells are right.

Starswirl was grey unicorn with a flowing white beard. His cloak and hat were just as Twilight’s books described. He could have been dressed in her costume from last Nightmare Night and she wouldn’t have known the difference. He was old, his grey coat hadn’t always been that color, but his gaze was bright and childlike. And…familiar. Twilight looked away.

“Your friends tell me you are quite the magician,” he said warmly.

“Th-thank you…but not at all. Nothing like you.”

“Oh, I prefer to think of myself as a…er…scientist.”

Twilight looked at him. Invisible hearts bloomed over her head. Then she blinked and turned her attention to the library around her.

“I like your…place.”

“Thank you. I’m quite fond of libraries. I met one of my great loves in a library. But that was a long time ago. And far away.”

Twilight didn’t know what to say to that. “You know, I live in a library too.” Don’t tell him that, doofus! She chided herself. He’ll think you’re some kind of crazed fangirl.

Which, of course, she was.

“I know. Your friends mentioned that too.”

Twilight was suddenly embarrassed. Why did she have to pass out in the TARDIS? Now she felt a few steps behind everypony else.

Starswirl seemed to guess what she was thinking. “Your reaction was perfectly normal. The TARDIS does not do well around magic. The same thing happened to Princess Astra the first time she stepped inside.”

“It did?”

“Oh yes. The two of you are remarkably similar. Very much like Princess Stella used to be…when she was young.”

Their reason for coming to the past rose up in Twilight’s mind.

“Do you know…did anypony tell you about…”

“About how the Princess is going to betray her sisters and try to bring about the end of the world. Yes, they did.”

There was a veiled agony in his voice. Twilight immediately regretted bringing up the subject. She realized what an outsider she was. To her, Princess Stella was a name, one she had only just learned, a mere word that meant betrayal and pain. To Starswirl, she was a person…and one he seemed to care for.

“I’m…sorry.”

He gave her a pained smile. “Just this morning, I was remarking to myself, ‘Why, it would be difficult for things in Canterlot to get any worse.’ That’ll teach me, huh?”

Twilight remembered the gloom she felt hanging over the castle. “What is going on here? Why is everypony so unhappy?”

Starswirl exchanged a glance with Fluttershy. “But you already know. For you, it is ancient history. For us…he is a constant misery.”

Realization dawned on Twilight. “You mean Discord…don’t you?”

“He rules all of Equestria with his mad chaos. Canterlot is the last bastion of sanity in the world. And our power to defend it is weakening. Stella, Astra, and myself have put up a barrier around the city, but every day he pushes against it, and we lose a little more ground to him.”

“But…Princess Celestia and Luna are going to defeat him with the Elements of Harmony,” said Twilight.

“I know. But…their time is not yet. And that is something you and I must talk about.”

“What? Why?”

“It seems we both have a pressing need. You need to know what happened with Princess Stella to save your era, and I need two young princesses trained in magic to save mine. What do you say we trade?”

Twilight stared at him blankly. “What do you mean?”

“Your friends and I will investigate the Princess and her plot, while you take over my duties and teach magic to Princesses Celestia and Luna in Magic Kindergarten.”

Twilight was unprepared for the sudden intensity of the feelings at war within her. On one hoof, she needed to know what was going on with Stella to save Equestria…to save her Princess Celestia. On the other, the chance to see the Princess, even as a filly--no, especially as a filly--captured her heart. Next to that, even meeting Starswirl the Bearded seemed to grey out, like a pony losing its colors.

She needed to save the Princess.

The Princess was already here. And this Celestia needed her too.

Could she trust Starswirl to investigate Stella properly? He might love her too much to realize how destructive she could be.

But she could trust Fluttershy and Applejack.

“I…”

A grey shape flew in through the library window and landed next to them. It was Princess Astra.

“Doctor, she is on her way. Has Twilight decided?”

Twilight tilted her head to the side. What?

She had spoken to Starswirl.

“D-Doctor?” Twilight’s voice was unsteady.

“Oh,” said Astra, blushing. “Did I do it again?”

Starswirl the Bearded actually facehoofed.

“You’re the Doctor?” an incredulous Twilight asked.

“You didn’t tell her already?” said Astra.

“I was getting to it,” said Starswirl.

“You can’t be the Doctor,” said Twilight. “You don’t look anything like him.”

“I can. I am. Just not the one you’ve met.” A shadow passed over his ancient face. “Not yet.”

“But…the Doctor said he knew you…he said you were…”

…the noblest, most handsome pony I have ever met.

It was Twilight’s turn to slap her forehead with her hoof.

There was one way to be sure. She faced Starswirl and looked into his eyes. Ancient…yet somehow as bright and thirsty as a newborn’s. They were the same as the Doctor’s. As if that weren’t enough, he lifted the train of his cloak, revealing his hourglass cutie mark.

“This is…this is…”

“Twilight…” Fluttershy’s soft voice was filled with concern. Hearing her murmur her name steadied her.

“I’m…okay. It’s just…” she blushed, “you were…are…one of my heroes. I even made a costume once to dress up as you for…” She couldn’t say the occasion. They didn’t have Nightmare Night in this time. Nightmare Moon was still far away…

“I know,” said Starswirl. The Doctor. No, thought Twilight. He’s still Starswirl to me, no matter what else he might be.

“You do?”

He smiled. “Where do you think I got my cloak and hat? You gave them to Future Doctor…who gave them to me, since the fashion is more suitable to this era.”

Even Twilight’s admirable brain started to hurt a little bit. In spite of this, she found herself embarrassed. She still dressed in that style of clothes, sometimes.

“Doctor…” Astra said gently. “She’ll be here any moment.”

“Ah…I’m sorry, Twilight, but I have to go. The Princess needs to think I’m gone so she will let you teach my class. I’ve already given her a glowing recommendation. If you like, we’ll talk again after you get to meet the little ones. Remember…” his tone grew grave, “this era needs to be saved, too.”

With that, he ran and jumped out the window.

Fluttershy squeaked.

Astra rolled her eyes. “Keeps forgetting he’s not a pegasus anymore,” she said, and flew after him. Twilight had no idea what she meant by that.

“I’ll see you later, Twilight,” said Fluttershy.

“You’re not staying?” Twilight asked.

“No…I can’t do magic. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna need you, not me. But I might be able to help find out something that will help our time…maybe.”

Twilight nodded. Fluttershy gave her one last worried glance and flew after Astra and Starswirl.

Twilight was alone.

Not for long.

“Starswirl!” a voice boomed from outside. The library doors were flung open, and Twilight got her first look at Stella, the Princess of the Stars.

Even more beautiful than Celestia, was the traitorous thought that flashed upon Twilight’s mind. Stella was a gleaming pearl alicorn. Her mane and tail were flowing quicksilver. Tiny specks of light glittered in them, like stars. Her eyes were burning silver. She seemed to glow, even in daylight. Her horn was an ivory spire. There was something…Twilight couldn’t put her hoof on it…sharp about it.

“Where is Starswirl?” the Princess demanded. She demanded it of Twilight; there was nopony else there. Don’t talk so loud, Twilight thought insanely, can’t you see we’re in a library? “He hath avoided his instruction of our sisters for nigh unto a fortnight, and they grow restless.”

“I…”

Her metallic eyes narrowed. “Art thou Twilight? The magician? Starswirl hath spoken well of thee.”

Twilight Fluttershied beneath that gaze.

“Um…Thank you…Princess,” she said, her voice almost a whisper.

“We see nothing special in thee,” the Princess declared, turning her back on Twilight. “But if Starswirl the Unconstant shall not deign to instruct our sisters and the other unicorns, we suppose thou shalt have to do.”

And with that, and nothing more, Princess Stella left.

Twilight was alone again. She was also dazed. I don’t even know how to get to Magic Kindergarten from here, she thought.

The young unicorns sat at their desks, waiting for their teacher to arrive. The atmosphere in the classroom was one of subdued tension. There was not much talking, and no laughter.

Their teacher burst through the door, panting apologies and dripping sweat. She had obviously been running around.

“Who are you?” asked a pink unicorn colt. “Where’s Mister Starswirl?”

“Hi, class!” their new teacher said cheerfully, her mouth stretched in a fake grin that looked positively painful. “I’m going to be your…substitute teacher while Starswirl is out. My name is Twilight Sp…er…T-Twinkle. Twilight Twinkle.”

The whole class seemed to yawn.

Of course it was Twilight Sparkle. She thought the fake name was a good idea, just in case she didn’t want Princess Celestia and Luna to remember that she had showed up when they were fillies. Where were they? Her eyes scanned the room.

She found Luna with ease. She was the darkest, bluest creature in the room. She was sitting at a corner desk, magicking her quill across a paper, doodling. Nopony sat next to her.

Odd, thought Twilight.

She couldn’t see Princess Celestia anywhere.

An orange unicorn filly with a golden mane put her hoof up.

“Yes?” asked Twilight.

“What kind of magic are you going to teach us today?”

“Is it something awesome?” asked a colt.

“Something that will help us defend Canterlot when Discord comes for us?”

“Yes,” she told them. “I am going to teach you about a kind of magic that even Discord will fear one day.”

All of the little ponies that had not been paying attention looked at her. Even Princess Luna stopped her doodling. It was something about the way she said it, with perfect confidence. They had heard adults talk about how Discord would be defeated and Canterlot would be saved and how none of them had anything to worry about. But the young have a way of knowing when adults are just saying something, forcing out words that they themselves don’t believe. They had gotten a lot of this lately. Deep down, every foal and filly knew that Discord feared nothing.

But their substitute teacher said otherwise, and said it as if she had seen the draconequus cower with her own eyes.

Young eyes glued themselves to her, young ears perked up.

“What magic is this?”

“The magic of friendship,” said Twilight.

You could feel the excitement of the class deflate like an untied balloon. For a second there, it had almost seemed like there was a reason to hope. But their substitute teacher was obviously a little crazy, if she believed that something like friendship was going to stop Discord.

“Friendship?” snorted a white unicorn filly with a pink mane. “That is so lame! And it’s not even real magic!” Something about her reminded Twilight of little Diamond Tiara back in Ponyville.

“Just because it can’t make you walk on clouds or give you a fake mustache doesn’t mean it’s not real magic. Friendship is the spark that ignites all magic.”

There was weak laughter at this. It’s not as if Twilight had expected the entire class to go, ‘Gee, I never thought of it that way before,’ but it still stung to have the thing closest to her heart laughed at. Her Element. She tried to remember what she was like at that age. She had had no friends at all. If somepony had told her how important it was, she would have just shrugged and gone back to reading a book or playing a video game.

She glanced over at Princess Luna and was surprised. The princess was not laughing, not even a little. She stared at Twilight with the same intensity as she had when Twilight had told them she was going to teach them a magic that Discord would fear.

“What about you?” Twilight asked her. “Do you think friendship can be magic?”

The blue princess shrugged, eyes darting to her classmates. “I…don’t…”

“She doesn’t have any friends!” the pink maned unicorn said savagely. Twilight shot the brat a stern look, the kind she reserved for fillies who didn’t return books on time.

A few little unicorns laughed.

“That’s not true,” said Twilight. A sudden surge of loyalty prompted her to add, “I know her big sister Princess Celestia loves her and wants to be her friend.”

The classroom grew dreadfully quiet.

Luna shrank down behind her desk. The pink maned unicorn’s eyes widened with shock, then narrowed to blazing slits.

“What did you say?” she asked.

“I said Princess Celestia is her friend,” said Twilight.

The little unicorn filly hopped up onto her desk and growled at Twilight. That was when Twilight noticed that she also had wings. “I am not her friend! I am the Princess of the Sun! I don’t need friends!”

Twilight stared, eyes wide, mouth hanging open. Princess Celestia? This brat? No, it couldn’t be. It was not possible. There had to be some mistake.

“I’m out of here,” said the little alicorn. She flew over to the door and gave one last proud glance over her shoulder. “Friendship is not magic!” Then she was gone, slamming the door shut behind her.

Twilight was too busy being stunned to notice how restless the class was becoming. Princess Celestia…but she’s nothing like her! It just can’t be true…

[Time traveling readers will note that experiences like this are not at all uncommon. If at all possible, it is best to avoid meeting one’s heroes at all.]

Twilight sat down on the floor, unable to process this turn of events. The little unicorn colts and fillies tried to rouse her from her stupor. When this failed, they shrugged and filed out of the classroom one by one, supposing that this meant class was over for the day.

Poor Twilight! If it had been anypony but Princess Celestia, she would have taken it in stride. She had been shocked to find out that Starswirl the Bearded wasn’t who she thought he was, but he was only a hero to her. Princess Celestia was…well, there wasn’t even a word for what the Princess meant to Twilight Sparkle.

Years ago, the Princess had raised the sun during the Summer Sun Celebration before a crowd of awestruck ponies. In the heart of a young purple unicorn, the sun hadn’t set since.

A small blue hoof rested on Twilight’s shoulder.

“Are…are you okay, Miss Twinkle?” asked Luna.

Twilight blinked.

No, she thought. “Oh…um, yes, Princess,” she said. “I’m fine. Sorry for that, I was…”

What was she doing? She was supposed to be teaching the princesses magic so that they could stand up to Discord. But, how would they ever harness the power of the Elements of Harmony without the magic of friendship?

Look at her, thought Twilight, getting to her hooves. She really doesn’t have any friends.

“It’s okay,” said Luna. “My sister…she’s always like that.”

“But…why?” A desperate yearning filled the word. Why would the Princess…

“I don’t know,” said Luna.

There was a moment, a breath of silence between them. Then Luna looked away. She walked to the middle of the classroom, where she stood among the empty desks, all alone. Then she began to sing:

Twilight listened. She had never heard Luna sing, even in her time. The princess’s voice was even softer and sweeter than Fluttershy’s, something that she would have sworn was impossible before hearing it. It cracked with emotion at the end of her song.

“Princess…” said Twilight.

Luna shook her head. “It’s okay. Maybe she really doesn’t want friends.”

“Don’t give up. It can’t hurt to try to reach out one more time…”

The blue alicorn sighed. “I’ll try…”

As her last student walked slowly out of the class, Twilight reached up and touched the crown thingy on her head with her hoof. The Element of Magic. It felt cold and hard. No power coursed through it. The most powerful Element of all…but also the most fragile. Magic could not exist on its own. Without her friends, Twilight was nothing.

How could Princess Celestia be so…

“…mean, cruel, selfish, proud…ugh! She was just awful!”

Starswirl listened to Twilight rant about the princess, nodding sympathetically. “And you only had her in your class for a couple of minutes. Let me tell you, she does not get sweeter the more time you spend with her.”

“But…she’s Princess Celestia! She…just…” Words failed Twilight.

“She is young.”

“I can’t teach somepony like her about friendship!”

“Why not? It seems to me that she needs a friend as much as Princess Luna…if not more so.”

“She’s a brat!”

Starswirl smiled sadly. “Children are what we adults make them.”

“She’s terrible to her sister.”

“Princess Celestia has been growing up under a shadow. She knows that she is meant to one day rule Canterlot with her sisters, but all the children see that Discord’s chaos is going to engulf the city long before that happens. Her eldest sister has taken on the burden of rule and so has little time for her, entrusting her education to me. And I am often needed…elsewhere. Princess Astra is…amazing, but as she gives more of herself to the universe, she is failing her little sisters. That is mostly my fault. Princess Luna looks up to her sister. Princess Celestia realizes this, and ends up treating her the way she feels that the ones she looks up to treat her.”

“So…what do I do?”

“I’m not sure. To be honest, you know far more about friendship than I do. But I do know a bit about children…” His voice trailed off into a wistful quiet. His eyes seemed almost to lose their color for a moment. Then he recovered, his tone reverting back to one of wise cheerfulness. “Every child needs somepony to look up to.”

“She lives in an observatory?” asked Fluttershy.

“Well, she is the Princess of the Stars,” said Astra, as she picked the magical lock to her elder sister’s chambers using her own magic.

They entered together, as silent as thieves.

“Do you…um…know what we might be looking for?”

“Anything that shows my sister is up to something horrible.”

Princess Stella’s observatory was a cozy place, completely at odds with the cold regality of its owner. There was a huge brass telescope in the center of the chamber. Around it were shelves and desks stacked with books and papers and maps and star charts. There were magical devices that neither Fluttershy nor Astra knew what were for. The observatory looked lived in, like a place where things got done, science and magic and flights of fancy.

“Twilight would love this place,” giggled Fluttershy.

“So would the Doctor,” said Astra, spinning a globe with her hoof.

They began to pick through the books and papers, searching for some evidence of Princess Stella’s plot.

“So, this very special somepony of yours…” said Astra, just to fill up the quiet.

“Oh, we’re not that close,” said Fluttershy, coloring. “He just asked me on a d-d-date is all.”

“Ha! That’s farther than I’ve gotten with…” She coughed.

“You really love him,” said Fluttershy.

“He has this…gravity. You just get caught by it.”

“Does he…know how you feel?”

“Who knows? He might be totally aware and just not want to hurt me by turning me down, or he could be genuinely clueless. That’s the way he is.”

“Why would he turn you down? I mean…you’re a princess.”

Astra smiled bitterly. “That makes me about a special as a grain of sand on the beach next to him. He’s known scores of princesses. Heh, hundreds for all I know.”

Fluttershy dropped the book she had been holding, a dusty tome written by somepony named Alhazred, without looking at it. She was looking at Astra, whose ears had drooped and who wasn’t even paying attention to the maps she was looking over.

“You are special to him,” said Fluttershy with absolute confidence.

Astra gave her a cocky smile. “Of course I am.”

Fluttershy had spent enough time with Rainbow Dash to tell when somepony was hiding behind a mask of bravado. “No,” she said. “You really are special, and not just because you are a princess. There’s nopony else like you.”

“Um…thanks, but you don’t really know me, so how can you say that?”

“Because there’s nopony else like anypony. Everypony is special.”

“So I’m special…just like everypony else?”

“Oh yes.”

“That’s kind of the same as not being special at all, ‘Shy.”

“No it isn’t!” insisted Fluttershy. She was very serious. Their surroundings, their mission, all of it was forgotten as she locked eyes with Princess Astra. “My friend Rarity has a special talent for finding precious gems. Sometimes, she has so many just lying around her place, ponies come by and think ‘these must be fakes, because there is no way she’d leave real jewels just lying around.’ But…they are real. Just because there are a lot of them, doesn’t mean they are any less valuable. And every one is so different. But the point of the story is this…” She bent her head down so that Astra could see the butterfly clip in her mane. “She gave this to me…to wear on my first date. It’s made of pink sapphire. That’s the stone she chose for me. I happened to notice that there were hundreds of stones like it lying around her boutique. She didn’t choose it because it was different. It didn’t have to be different to be special. It’s special all on its own. And so are you.”

“I’m…not as special as him.”

“Of course you are! Isn’t that why he travels with you and none of those other hundreds of princesses you mentioned?”

“I…don’t know.”

“He sure seems to. Maybe you should trust him…he is a Doctor, after all.” Fluttershy smiled at her.

Astra coughed and turned away, wiping something out of her eyes. “We should probably…uh…keep looking.”

They went back to it.

“Oh, and Fluttershy?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

They talked while they searched. Fluttershy told Astra all about her animal friends. The princess listened with fascination. Fluttershy had been worried at first that she would get bored of talking about butterflies and bunnies, like Rainbow Dash would. It did not occur to her that the princess, who had only ever known the threat of Discord and the danger of traveling with the Doctor, would find the idea of a simple life in Ponyville as captivating as any grand adventure.

Princess Astra talked about some of her travels with the Doctor. She told Fluttershy about that time they had to face down the cyberponies created by North Central Ponytronics. And how they went into the future, even farther than Fluttershy’s time, but she couldn’t tell her much about that.

“Does that mean we win?” asked Fluttershy, hope springing up within her. “I mean, if you’ve been to the future…and it’s okay…we have to win, right?”

Astra shook her head sadly. “It doesn’t work like that. If we don’t stop whatever is trying to break the Star Seal, then the future I saw…won’t even exist. The same goes for this time: unless my baby sisters fulfill their destiny and stop Discord, your future won’t exist either.”

Fluttershy felt a chill at that. The idea that her own time was liquid, something that could be changed…ruined even…had not occurred to her. Suddenly what they were doing seemed more important than ever.

“Look at these,” said Fluttershy, pointing with her hoof to what she had found.

They were two jeweled circlets lying on a stack of notes. As soon as Fluttershy laid eyes on them, she felt something. It was like seeing a couple of old toys of yours in the window of a toyshop. There was a sense of familiarity, but also the thought that this is not where those are supposed to be. They were obviously magical trinkets, but something seemed wrong about them. They were colorless. Even the jewels set in them were grey.

“What are they?” asked Astra in a whisper.

“The Elements of Harmony,” said a voice from behind them.

They gulped and turned around. There was Princess Stella. Fluttershy had expected her to be furious, catching the two of them in her private chambers, but the expression on the princess’s face was not angry at all.

She was sad.

“S-Sister…” said Astra. “We were only…”

“Snooping around our observatory. We are aware.”

She did not shout in the Royal Canterlot Voice as she did with Twilight Sparkle. Here in the privacy of her own chambers, with her own sister, she spoke softly.

“Did you say these were the…Elements of Harmony?” asked Fluttershy.

“Indeed. Hast thou ever heard the legend?”

“Maybe once,” Fluttershy squeaked.

“They hold the power to bring peace to Equestria…” Princess Stella’s horn glowed and the grey circlets began to hover in the air over the desk. “They have the power to end Discord’s reign of madness forever…” She magicked open a window, letting sunlight in. “They have the power to save the world…”

She threw the Elements out the window.

“Why?” demanded Astra.

“Because they do not work,” said Princess Stella. “Because after searching and searching for them, heeding the prophecies, leaving aside our duties to go adventuring until we found them…They. Do. Not. Work.”

Fluttershy had only seen absolute hopelessness once before. She remembered it as if it were a dream, something she had seen with a backward glance as she flew away. It was a purple pony hanging her head and letting all the colors wash out of her until she was the color of ash.

Now, looking into the silver eyes of the Princess of the Stars, Fluttershy recognized that same emptiness. It pulled at her heart like nothing she had ever seen. She had been under Discord’s spell the day Twilight lost her colors, but this time she was herself. She was Kindness Incarnate. Before she could help herself, her arms were wrapped around the princess’s neck.

“It’s okay…” she started to say.

“R-Release us!” said Princess Stella, shaking Fluttershy off.

“Oh…um…I-I’m sorry…”

She looked at Fluttershy as if she were deciding whether or not to fling her out the window as well. Had her eyes seemed silver before? Now Fluttershy recognized the color for what it was: not silver, just a shiny grey.

“Leave us,” she said softly.

“But, Sister…” Astra began.

“Leave us!” Princess Stella shouted.

What else could they do?

Princess Celestia stomped her way across the castle courtyard on her way to Starswirl’s library. She was seething. Who did that stupid mare think she was? All that talk about the magic of friendship, when they should have been studying real magic. Stella would not be happy when she found out how their new substitute teacher was wasting their time.

A giggle caught her attention. It was her sister’s voice. What was she so happy about? She followed the sound until, peeking around a hedge, she saw Luna. She was playing by herself with a stuffed pony doll.

There was something…familiar about the stuffed pony. It was white, or had been before she had started playing with it. It had a mane and tail of tangled pink string, and button eyes. It also had both stuffed wings and a horn. It’s mouth had been drawn as a perpetual frown.

Luna faced the stuffed pony. Her expression was serious, almost regal.

“Princess Cosmica,” she said. “Your attempts to banish me have failed. Now I can defeat you before you are able to take over all of Equestria!”

Luna ran over to the stuffed pony and moved it’s head, talking for it in a high-pitched wail of a voice. “You, defeat me? Not this night, Luna. After I take my place on the throne, the day shall last forever!” Then she cackled with insane-sounding laughter.

Luna returned to her place in front of the stuffed pony. “Not if I have anything to say about it!” she declared.

Celestia could take no more of this. “What are you doing?” she demanded, trotting into her sister’s view.

Luna blushed a deep navy. “N-Nothing…” she said.

Celestia opened her mouth to say something more, to siphon off some of her anger and resentment into her little sister. That was when two grey trinkets landed in the grass between the two sisters. Puzzlement crossed both of their faces. They looked up to see where the objects could have fallen from.

Above them loomed the towers of Canterlot. High atop one of these was Princess Stella’s observatory. But to the sisters, it seemed that they had fallen right out of the open sky.

Celestia magicked one into the air in front of her, dispelled the dirt and grass that was caked on it, and peered closely at it. Luna did the same with the other.

“What are they?” asked Luna.

“They are magical,” said Celestia. “I can tell that much.”

“Are they for us?”

Celestia considered it for a moment. “I don’t see why not. We can ask Starswirl about them when he next decides to grace us with his presence.” She spoke those last words bitterly.

“Um…can’t we just ask Miss Twilight about them?”

Suddenly Celestia remembered why her sister was a stupid little foal who would never understand anything about her. Her eyes narrowed and her frown deepened.

“You do what you want,” she said. She spelled the grey circlet onto her head and went off to find a mirror.

She needn’t have. Luna could have told her she was beautiful.

Luna was left alone, except for her stuffed pony doll. She looked over at Princess Cosmica, that pathetic imitation of the friend she really wanted and could never have. Luna didn’t feel like playing anymore.

Princess Celestia sat atop a castle wall, watching the sun fall slowly into the horizon. She stared out with a kind of bored hatred, too tired to work herself up into a fury, yet still too angry to let herself just slip into numbness. She used her magic to break off a chip of glistening white stone from the castle wall and threw it as far as her spell would carry it.

It passed through the Barrier and promptly turned into a very confused fish.

Something inside the princess snapped. She stood to her hooves and opened her wings, fixing her defiant young eyes on the horizon. She took a breath and screamed until her throat felt like it would tear.

“P-Princess?” a voice called from behind her.

The last voice she wanted to hear in the world.

It was Twilight. Princess Celestia rounded on her. How had she even gotten up here in the first place? She didn’t have wings. She was just an ordinary unicorn, nothing special about her at all.

“What do you want?”

“I just…wanted to see if you were all right,” said Twilight.

She was looking at Celestia in a way that unnerved the princess. If the young winged unicorn had detected the slightest bit of pity in that gaze, she would have flown away. But no, Twilight did not look at her with pity, nor with respect to her royal station. If she had known Twilight longer, she would have recognized her look as one of wonder.

Twilight remembered what the Doctor had told her. This was her Celestia. This little filly was going to grow up to be the most amazing pony Twilight ever knew. She and her sister would wield the Elements of Harmony to defeat Discord. She would save Equestria from Nightmare Moon’s eternal darkness. And, one day, a unicorn filly who was being swallowed from the inside out by her own magic would feel a gentle hoof touch her shoulder, and she would look up into her eyes…

…those eyes, the ones that were looking at Twilight Sparkle right now…

…and everything…everything would be…

“It’s all going to be okay, you know,” said Twilight.

“What are you talking about?”

“The future.”

Princess Celestia bristled. “There is no future. Not for any of us. Everypony knows that. Except you. You just keep lying to us, pretending that there is a reason to hope. And every day the Barrier around the city gets a little smaller. Chaos gets a little closer. And we all know he’s going to win. Canterlot is going to fall, and it’s going to happen soon. And when it does, there is nothing anypony can do about it. The magic of friendship won’t help us!”

Twilight felt a chill at the sneering way she said those words, magic of friendship. It was the same way Discord spoke of friendship, with faithless sarcasm.

The last rays of the setting sun beamed at them. They sparkled on Princess Celestia’s magic circlet. Twilight looked closely at the grey trinket. She had the same feeling of familiarity that Fluttershy had earlier. She recognized the shapes of the grey jewels. They were the same emblems that were carved on stone artifacts in the castle where she fought Nightmare Moon.

Twilight smiled. “Have you ever heard of the Elements of Harmony?” she asked.

Princess Celestia snorted. “A story for babies.”

“No.”

There it was again, that perfect confidence. Part of Celestia wanted to drag the unicorn to the Barrier and throw her across it just to see that calm surety of hers get wiped away by madness.

“There are six Elements,” continued Twilight. “Honesty, laughter, kindness, generosity, loyalty…and the last, the most powerful of them all…”

“Magic,” said Celetia flatly. “Stella told me once.”

“Magic.” Twilight said the word the same way a pony says the name of her best friend. All her love was condensed into two syllables. She said it the same way Rainbow Dash would say the word ‘sky.’ “It can be so powerful. It can be like wildfire, blazing white light that washes over everything. It can repair the world Discord has broken. It can rip him right off his throne. But a fire begins with a spark. This is the power behind the Elements of Harmony. Without friendship, they would just be…well, trinkets. Or pieces of stone.”

Celestia almost seemed to be listening, until Twilight brought up friendship again, then she scowled and stamped her hooves. “Friendship! Friendship! Is that all you can talk about? I don’t want that kind of magic. I want to be alone!”

Twilight’s heart was breaking. She was losing her. What could she say to reach her? “But Princess Luna doesn’t. She wants to be your friend. And if you let her, the two of you could be so great. I promise you, Princess…you would find the power to stop Discord. Together.”

“I don’t want to be friends with her. I don’t want to be responsible for anypony else! I don’t want a friend!”

Then Twilight knew her. This really was her Princess Celestia. It was in those words, I don’t want to be responsible for anypony. That was the key. Because they were a lie. Twilight knew they were a lie as soon as she heard them, knew it the way she would know it if Applejack lied. It was the lie that the princess hid behind because she was frightened. So that when Canterlot finally fell to Discord, it would not hurt. She could not lose friends if she did not have them. The truth was that she really did want to be responsible for somepony else. No, she wanted to be responsible for everypony else. It was the thing she was born for, the way the sun is born to shine on the whole world.

“Well, too late,” said Twilight, voice thick with emotion. “You’ve already got one.”

“What?”

“I am your friend, Princess. And I am going to be…faithful…to you. Forever.”

Celestia’s eyes widened. She started to tremble. No! Don’t say that!

She leapt from the castle wall before Twilight could say anything else. Her white wings opened and she caught the air desperately. It lifted her up, away, far away from the unicorn and her promise of friendship. She fled.

The sun dipped all the way below the horizon.

Under the shadow of night, a cloaked figure made its way from Canterlot castle. If you looked closely, you could see something like starlight glowing from under the figure’s hood. It avoided the city guards with ease, and found its way to a single winding road that nopony used. This road led outside of the city.

This mysterious pony was being followed. The figure that was following it wore nothing but an old hat. It was Applejack.

The Doctor had told her to follow Princess Stella, which is exactly what she had done. All day. The princess, for her part, had not done anything suspicious the entire time. After hours and hours of stalking and spying, Applejack was starting to think the whole day was a waste.

Then the cloak. And the nighttime journey. Where could the Princess of the Stars, the ruler of Canterlot, be going that she didn’t want anypony else to know about?

She passed a sign. The sign said: To Everfree Garden.

Ahead was the Barrier. The princess threw back her hood. Her horn shone silver. A bubble of light surrounded her. Protected, she ventured into the territory of chaos.

Applejack followed all the way to the Barrier. It was easy to see where it was. On her side was grass and the dirt of the road, trees and bushes. On the other, a field of…was that paper? It was. There were words scrawled on it, made-up words that made no sense. It looked like the page of a giant book.

Then the page flipped, and Discord’s domain was ice. A frozen waste stretched ahead, a road of snow winding through it. Then the road of snow became a road of flowing cider, winding through a field of carrots growing upside down. Some were floating.

“Crazy, isn’t it?” said a voice beside her. Applejack started.

It was the Doctor. Well, it was Starswirl the Bearded. But unlike Twilight, Applejack still thought of him as the Doctor. She didn’t understand how the Doctor could be two different ponies, but as soon as she had set hoof inside his TARDIS, she had given herself up to the madness of it all. All the Doctor’s madness, however, paled compared to what she was looking at now.

But then, she’d seen it before.

“Yeah. Ain’t no other word for it.”

“Don’t cross that line,” said the Doctor. “I will put a barrier up around us.”

“I wasn’t goin’ ta,” said Applejack. She remembered having her colors washed out by Discord’s lie. It was not an experience she cared to repeat.

The Doctor’s horn glowed green. A sphere of emerald surrounded them. They were safely bubbled.

They put tentative hooves across the barrier. The power of chaos pushed back from the magic. The road, which was now ice cream flowing through a field of worms, became dirt under their hooves. Side by side they walked down it.

“Do ya know what this here Everfree Garden is?” asked Applejack. “We only got the Everfree Forest in our time.”

“I know,” said the Doctor. “I’ve been to your time.”

“Yeah…I guess you’ve been ’bout everywhere, huh?”

“Oh no. I’ve been many places. And many times. I’ve seen things…that would take your breath away. I once watched as the universe was being born. I have seen it suffer through its growing pains, watched an army of empty beings try to stop it. I have fought. I have seen the first words ever written…and they were written to me. Heh. I traveled coach once, it was at the Crossings of Rirhath B. Never again…”

“Wow…” breathed Applejack. “If I could travel the stars, I think I’d just go off forever…”

“Really?” asked the Doctor. He looked at her with interest.

Applejack blushed. “Nah. Maybe a visit would be good, but I’d need a place that’s home, if ya know what I mean.”

The Doctor smiled sadly. “I think I do.”

Applejack wondered if she’s said the wrong thing. “Uh…what else have ya seen?”

The Doctor continued, “I have stood on the threshold of Time itself and looked beyond. I have seen the stars go out across a thousand skies…watched as beings so…frail…yet so glorious tried to keep the lights on in a universe that was dying…”

“Dying…” repeated Applejack.

She glanced sideways at the Doctor.

“Well…what I meant was…”

“You’re not part of our universe, are you? You’re from…wha’ did Princess Luna call it? The Outside. Where Death comes from.”

The Doctor chuckled. “It’s odd, but I really didn’t intend to tell you that much. Must have something to do with your Element, I guess.”

Applejack sighed. She thought of Death, racing toward her and her friends. Coming to take one of them away forever. “I…wish it weren’t my Element right about now…”

They walked in silence for awhile.

“We’re here,” said the Doctor. “Everfree Garden.”

The first thing that struck Applejack was that Everfree Garden did not look much different than the Everfree Forest. It was smaller, was all. Wild plants still grew in a dark and tangled mess of lush trees and creeping vines. But then she realized something else about it. Chaos had not touched it.

All around the Garden, the scenery shifted and twisted according to Discord’s insane moods, but the Garden remained the same.

“Is there a magical barrier around it?” asked Applejack.

The Doctor frowned. “No. I would sense that. This is…something else. I am not sure. The Princess sometimes keeps secrets from me, especially if it has to do with the Royal Secret.”

“You mean the Star Seal?”

The Doctor nodded. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, then reached a decision. “Let’s go,” he said. As they ventured into the Garden, he allowed his shield to fall, hiding them in the shadows. The bells of his clothes jingled loudly in the quiet. He silenced them with a spell.

They crept through the small jungle, making as little noise as they could. The darkness surrounded them. It was…suffocating. Applejack imagined Death as she appeared to her in her dreams, blending in with the darkness between the trees. Every movement of the leaves could have been the rustle of her dark feathers. She was getting spooked. This wasn’t good. Where was Pinkie Pie when you needed her? What she needed was one good thought to banish the darkness.

“Doctor,” Applejack whispered.

“What is it?”

“What’s the most amazin’ thing you’ve ever seen? I mean, out of everythin’?”

The Doctor slowed down. “Shh…I think we’re close.”

Applejack focused on what they came for. But part of her wondered if he hadn’t just avoided answering her.

Sneaking ahead, they came to a clearing in the Garden. In the middle of the clearing was a raised circle of stone. Princess Stella knelt in its center. She had cast aside her cloak. Her light, the same silvery light of the stars, illuminated the stone circle. Applejack and the Doctor watched her from the shadows of the tree line.

“We have come,” she said. Her voice was anguished, as if the words had to be torn from her.

A voice answered her. Applejack could not see anypony, it seemed to come from out of the air. It sounded faint, like it was coming from far away. She couldn’t tell if it was male or female. It sounded like words formed out of a cold wind. It had a tone of dangerous amusement.

It said, “Welcome, Princess of the Stars.”

Princess Stella’s light dimmed as she shuddered. “Thou knowest why we have come here.”

“Harmony,” it practically spat the word, “has failed you. Now you come to me to save Equestria from chaos.”

“We beseech thee,” Princess Stella said quietly. She lifted her face. Glowing tears streamed down her cheeks. “Save our world. We shall pay whatsoever thou askest. Name thy price…”

“A life,” the voice said. “To defeat Discord will cost you a life.”

The princess exhaled slowly and wiped the tears from her eyes with her hoof. Then she drew herself up, proudly. “Then take ours.”

Applejack’s muscles tightened. She nearly leaped out to stop her, but the Doctor put one hoof in front of her. She looked at him. He shook his head. Why? How could he just stand by and let this happen?

The princess closed her eyes. A halo of silver light surrounded her. For a moment, she shone too bright to look upon, like a real star. Then the light went out completely.

Applejack was holding her breath.

The Princess of the Stars opened her eyes, looking up to the heavens. “I will end the chaos in your world, Princess,” she said. Her voice was different. Colder. “Your life will serve me nicely, but it is not the life I demand. I will slay a noble soul, bring Death into your world. And when I do, the Star Seal will break and the shadow will fall across all Equestria. Entire universes will shudder as the light at the center of all things goes out, and I…” A cruel smile touched her lips. “…the darkness behind the stars, shall fill all creation, forever.”

Above her, the stars shuddered and began to go dark.