Twilight blinked. After hearing about all of the other extraordinary events in his life, time travel seemed like the next logical (or illogical) step.

"Time travel," she echoed as Spike hopped up into his chair at the table, his fork brandished and ready for feasting. At the mention of the words, he paused.

"What's this about time travel?" He set the fork down, looking at the black alicorn curiously. "Oh, I didn't mean to be rude - my name is-"

"Spike. I know who you are," Reveille interrupted calmly.

Rather than the confusion that Twilight had expressed when Reveille had claimed knowledge of her, Spike just smiled broadly.

"Oh, I bet Twilight's told you all about me, huh? Number one assistant and all that," the dragon said casually, throwing his fork in the air and catching it several times.

"Twilight only mentioned you but once, and never by name," Reveille corrected him. "Though, she very kindly did refer to you as her number one assistant." Twilight tried to remember everything she said during those conversations to find that she didn't actually say Spike's name. But of course...

"I can read your thoughts," Reveille announced before Spike could even ask.

Spike met the notion with much less cynicism than Twilight had. "Really? Then what am I thinking?"

"You're thinking 'He can't read my mind.' Now, 'how did he know that?' and 'I better think of-'"

"Wow! You really can read minds!" Spike exclaimed, standing up in his chair. Standing back and observing the exchange, Twilight thought it was pretty obvious that those were the first thing to come to anypony's mind when confronted with a supposed mind reader.

"You're also thinking," Reveille added cryptically, "that you wish your Power Ponies comic had arrived today."

Even Twilight didn't see that one coming.

"No way! How did you do that, mister... eh, what's your name?" Spike inquired.

"Spike, this is Reveille," Twilight introduced for the alicorn, the faintest sound of a dying parade audible somewhere outside the castle.

"Nice to meet you, Reveille!" Spike offered his claw in greeting, but Reveille was reluctant to accept it.

"In my experience, dragons can be quite crafty and wicked. I've faced death against more than a few, so you'll have to forgive me." Reveille brushed away his mane to show Spike the scar upon his face.

Spike sat back into his chair, looking slightly hurt, but he shook it off like the stalwart dragon he was. "I understand," he said. "So, what brings you to Ponyville? Coming to study with Twilight?"

Twilight's eyes shot open at the thought. After all of the regaling and drama, Twilight still didn't know exactly why Reveille had come to her castle. The only inkling he gave was that 'destiny had brought him there,' whatever that meant. And, as much as Twilight would love to get a chance to study some of the advanced magic that Reveille demonstrated in his tales, she didn't know if she could put up with his rather self-centered attitude. Then again, maybe he just needed to get his story off of his chest before he could show his true colors.

"I did not come to Ponyville by chance, young drake," Reveille whispered.

"Chance?" Spike leaned just a hair closer, his chin accidentally rubbing against his noodle dish.

"Chance," the alicorn repeated solemnly. "My journey to Ponyville is one that was full of hardship, loss, and finding the light in a world shrouded in darkness. The story started twenty years ago, in a small mining community..."

For the second time that day, Twilight found herself listening to Reveille's life story. To Reveille's credit, not one iota had changed, and Spike was less scientific about the whole thing - he didn't interrupt nearly as often as Twilight did. But everything else, from the pauses in his speech patterns at specific "climactic" intervals, to the long sighs after a "rough patch", the story was identical.

"...Seasons and I teleported from the smoldering wreck of the Secret Guardians' cave, to begin the journey of protecting the Element of Infinity," Reveille finished with a heavy sigh. "I hope that wasn't too boring, Twilight. I know you just heard it, but Spike was so insistent..."

"Nope." Twilight poked at her cold noodles absentmindedly. "Just as riveting the second time around," she said with heavy sarcasm that she reserved for Rainbow Dash at her most thickheaded.

Reveille smiled at her, the first genuine smile he'd ever shown that wasn't making light of a horrible situation. "You're such a good listener, thank you."

"So where did you go next?" Spike asked enthusiastically, "and how did you keep the Element secret?"

"Not where, Spike," Reveille answered quietly. "But when. When Seasons and I warped from the cavern, it was not to go find a place to hide from the others seeking the Element's power, but to remove the Element from their memories entirely. We leapt through time, citing references in each of the eras we arrived in concerning the Element of Infinity. When we found out the when and the where, we simply continued to jump backwards, tracing documentation of the Element to it's source."

Twilight hated to admit it, but this would explain why she hadn't seen any reference to the Element of Infinity in any of her texts. If Reveille had taken the effort to remove it's mention from all historical texts, then it stood to reason that nopony would know about it and come to pursue them.

"For nearly the next ten years," Reveille continued, "we jumped from past, present, and future. Not only did we focus on the Element of Infinity, but we assisted in helping to resolve wars and other tragedies before they occurred. One such instance was to keep a deranged unicorn king from conquering all of Equestria with his dark magic, Seasons and I locked him and his crystalline empire away in a fold in time so that his evil would not spread."

"King Sombra?" Twilight awoke from her waking sleep. "Spike basically defeated him, almost a year ago! Your banishment wasn't entirely successful if he was able to return."

"Ah yes, I remember that Seasons was in charge of that one. He means well, but he does not possess the same gifts and talents that I do," Reveille admitted. "We brought the vaccine to polo back to before the disease could wipe out or cripple millions, and The Great Bare Hoof war between Equestria and the Horseshoe Republic was won by us just minutes after Metal 'Iron Hoof' Marks had declared it."

"There's no such thing as The Bare Hoof War or The Horseshoe Republic!" Twilight interrupted. Reveille didn't seem too perturbed by it.

"History is written by the victors," Reveille told her, "and Seasons forgot to bring the quill."

"So what about the future?" Spike inquired politely. "What about that?"

"The future is... far more futuristic than ponies predicting the future originally predicted," Reveille replied vaguely.

Spike gave a loud yawn, his lips smacking together at it's conclusion. Two hours had certainly flown by, and it was nearing bedtime for the young dragon. All that, and he hadn't touched his food - but neither had the other two.

"I got so distracted... forgot to even eat! Want me to heat your plates up?" He offered, both of alicorns gratefully accepting. Spike jogged into the kitchen, leaving Twilight and Reveille alone in the dining room.

The alicorn looked outside at the blackness of night that had fallen. He walked over to the window, and rapped against the glass softly. "It certainly has gotten late, hasn't it?"

Twilight fidgeted at the table. Her stomach was growling and her eyes were drooping, and she couldn't wait to turn in for the night. "Yes, it certainly has."

"I don't suppose that you would be willing to allow me to stay in your castle for the evening? It's been many a year since I've slept in a warm bed with permission, taking shelter from the deluge of rain outside," he asked, looking away from the window back at Twilight.

"But it's not raining." No sooner than Twilight had said that, a downpour started outside, contrary to everything the weekly weather report had told her. She simply sighed. Truthfully? Twilight had endured enough of Reveille to last a very, very long time. As much as Twilight wanted to learn more about the events in his story (not necessarily Reveille himself), she didn't want to have to involve herself with more of his long winded, stagy mannerisms. Worse yet, he seemed to have a complete lack of humility, and didn't seem to care who knew about it. Still, it was raining, and the castle had more than enough spare bedrooms.

"Why not?" she relented, and Reveille gave her another genuine smile.

"Thank you, your highness," he said. "So many would shun me away, but you... you're so kind. I wish I could express it more accurately, but... thank you."

Twilight just nodded, glancing back at the kitchen door as the scent of their meal began to permeate the air once again.

"I wrote a song for you," Reveille announced, moving away from the rain-soaked windows and back to the table.

"Really?" Twilight looked at him in amusement, curious but cautious.

Reveille nodded. "Yes... because sometimes words aren't enough." He cleared his throat.

"Once more, with feel- oh, whoa..." Spike walked in from the kitchen, balancing two plates in his claws, and one on his tail. "I'm not interrupting, am I?"

A furiously blushing Twilight looked down at the seat of her chair, shaking her head profusely. "Nope, nope, nope! We were just waiting for you to get back!"

"Oh, well, wish granted!" Spike exclaimed, handing his plates to the two ponies and keeping the one on his tail for himself. He set his plate on his seat, and made his way to the main hallway. "I'm going to go check for the mail, okay?" Twilight didn't even answer as she heard the door open and close again.

"I hope you liked it," Reveille said quietly.

"It was... it was... really nice of you to write a song for me," Twilight answered honestly, despite how embarrassed she actually felt about it.

"Thanks." Reveille nodded. "I'll sing the rest sometime, you're sure to love it."

Twilight gulped and laughed nervously, shoveling food in her mouth and thanking Celestia that Spike had come back inside as a distraction.

"No mail." He pouted, drying himself with a towel. "Guess they must not have updated our library address all of the way. I'll check the post office in the morning." He hopped back up on his seat, rolled a slew of noodles onto his fork, and joined Twilight in her feasting.

Twilight looked up at Reveille occasionally, quickly glancing back down when he saw that his eyes were fixed upon her. She couldn't wait to finish her meal, to go upstairs to her cozy bed, and to go to sleep. In record time, she slurped the last of her noodles. Twilight had barely set the fork down before she scrambled out of her seat and made her way to the hallway, one step closer to her bedroom.

"Uhh... Twi?" Spike asked from behind her.

"What is it, Spike?" Twilight replied hastily, looking back at the dragon, her eyes trying as hard as they could to avoid the flaming red orbs of the black alicorn. "Oh yes, thank you for the meal, it was delicious. Reveille is sta-" Over the pouring rain, Twilight could make out the faintest hint of a bugle playing. "He's staying the night in one of our guest rooms. If you could set him up, that would be great - I've got to get some sleep, I'm just exhausted! See you both in the morning, have a good night!"

No sooner than Twilight had cleared the corner, she disappeared from the hallway, teleporting to her bedroom in a bright purple flash.

Author's Notes:

Despite his claims to the contrary, Reveille didn't write the lyrics included in this chapter.

Song credits are as follow -

More Than Words by Extreme