While Rainbow Dash sobbed, Tarnish pulled out Twilight's journal with gentle care and reverence. Vinyl now stood beside him, examining Twilight’s corpse in a meticulous way. Daring Do, silent, her upper lip as stiff as ever, did her best to comfort Rainbow Dash. Of course Twilight kept a journal, and as Tarnish pulled it out, he saw something scribbled on the cover.

The script was jagged, loopy, and bore a painful familiarity, while also being different. Perhaps she was panicked, or in pain, or any number of factors might have affected her ability to write. One corner of the cover was smudged, smeared with something gritty and dark brown. Tarnish knew what it was, and with a gentle manifestation of steam, he cleaned the bloodstain. Though different, staining a book must have caused Twilight no end of distress.

Once cleaned, he read the warning aloud: “Beware the roamers! Always look up!”

Roamers? Though he had no way to know for certain, Tarnish suspected that Twilight meant the creature outside, though perhaps not the one they had found. That one was a bit too fresh. Pained in a way that could not be put into words, he opened the book and was immediately overcome by guilt. This was private—yet it was the only way to find answers.

There was no point in starting at the beginning, at least not now. Twilight would most certainly include a summary at the end, in an easy to find place. Sure enough, he found a tattered bit of ribbon acting as a bookmark and his eyes spotted the same jagged, loopy letters he had seen scrawled on the cover.

Twilight Sparkle; reliable and predictable, right up to the point of death.

“What’s it say?” Rainbow asked while sniffling, which caused an enormous snot bubble to burst.

Steeling himself, Tarnished Teapot began to read Twilight Sparkle’s final words.

“Sunset Shimmer was true to her name: because of her, the sun set on Equestria, and all of the world.” Pausing for a moment, he cleared his throat, blinked a few times to clear his vision of tears, and then, after summoning his courage, he continued: “I’m still not sure what happened. Everything is a jumble. I remember both timelines, and I can feel my mind slipping as various events begin to overlap. I fear I’m going mad, not that it matters.

“The Exile successfully stole the Element of Magic and then, following her devious plan, she immediately used it to travel back in time and stop the rainboom. Everything changed in an instant. Reality reset itself. Princess Celestia, my beloved teacher, vanished. I know not where. Perhaps the sun? Nightmare Moon took over Equestria, stabilised the fractured timeline, stopped the ripples, and rewarded Sunset Shimmer.

“She got her heart’s desire and became an alicorn, joining Nightmare Moon as Princess Celestia’s replacement. Things changed. Drastically. My wings withered, rotted, and fell off. Soon, it was as if they never existed. I tried to fix things, but I was just a unicorn again, and my friends, they betrayed me. Or maybe they didn’t. It’s so hard to say.

“Rainbow Dash was fiercely loyal to Nightmare Moon. She and Rarity captured me when I was trying to explain to them who I was and what I was doing. They didn’t know me. I escaped, of course I did. Rainbow Dash is loyal, but she’s not very bright. I distracted Rarity by turning a stone into a diamond with illusion and then casting a Want It, Need It spell on it. When the two of them began to fight one another, I made good on my escape.”

At this point, Rainbow Dash interjected, “She’s right, you know. Go Twilight.” The weak cheer came out as a pained groan and Rainbow, still weeping, clung to Daring Do.

“Pinkie Pie didn’t know me either. I found her on the Rock Farm. She didn’t know me, but for some reason, she believed me. She said her Pinkie Sense told her I was telling the truth. It’s odd, she still had her Pinkie Sense, even without the Rainboom. With Pinkie’s help, I snuck back into Canterlot, or started to, only to find that Canterlot was deserted. Everypony was gone, and the castle was in ruins, smashed to bits. How? Why? I don’t know. It happened after my escape. I wish I understood what had happened.”

Tarnish took a moment to clear his throat, he drank from his battered canteen, glanced over at Rainbow to see if his friend was okay, and immediately wished he hadn’t.

“Beneath the ruins of the castle, down in the caverns below, I found the mirror. I knew where Princess Celestia kept it before it was sent to the Crystal Empire to enhance its powers. Since the rainboom never happened, the mirror was right where it should be, in a hidden vault with a few other artifacts.

“I attempted to alter the mirror for time travel, with permanency. I had to undo everything. As an alicorn, it would have been so simple, but as a unicorn, everything felt so impossible. Another pony sensed the magical disturbances I caused. His name is Dim and he leads the resistance against Nightmare Moon. What dreadful changes the timequake caused. Dim is a terrible pony, the very worst sort of pony, but he is successful and he saves lives. I wish I knew what to make of him. At least he believed me. He listened to every word I said and offered help.”

At this point, Tarnish looked at each of his friends and asked, “Does anypony know a Dim?”

Three heads shook, almost in unison.

Sighing, Tarnish began again: “When Dim found me, I should have taken it as a warning sign, but I failed to grasp the danger I was in. Dim and his fellow resistance helped me and together, we made alterations to the mirror. Alas, this was not to be. We did not finish. Nightmare Moon also sensed the magical disturbances caused by my tinkering. Dim and Pinkie Pie worked together to make a distraction, and I don’t know how they did it, but somehow, the two of them held off Nightmare Moon.

“Pinkie died. I watched it happen and I was powerless to stop it. A part of me thinks she did it on purpose. Maybe I’m terrible. But when she died, Dim unleashed volcanic fury. His rage knew no bounds, no ends, and the destruction he wrought was awe-inspiring. Dim, a unicorn, stood hoof to hoof with an alicorn and he was her equal. Where others were obliterated, when everypony was dying, Dim held his ground.

“Until Sunset Shimmer arrived. At that point, I had made my final modifications, powered up the mirror, and slipped through. I don’t know what happened to Dim.”

Again, Tarnish paused for a rest. The journal felt strangely heavy in his telekinetic grasp, like a boat anchor or an anvil. This was a history that might have been, a warning of what could be. Here, in this world, Starlight Glimmer had stopped the rainboom from happening, and Twilight had somehow saved everything. Because that is what Twilight did.

Heart heavy, his throat dry and hot, he read aloud once more: “Something was wrong and I knew it right away, having traveled through the mirror on several occasions. I don’t know what happened. My last minute modifications were rushed and there had been no time to test everything. I came here, to this place. This awful, awful place. After much extensive testing, I have determined that I am in a different when, a different where. The magic of this place is different, it has an odd ebb and flow that I am not at all familiar with. I have failed in my mission. I did not travel back in time, as intended.

“There’s nothing left. I don’t have my friends. My magic doesn’t work right here and doing anything other than the most simple of telekinesis causes my nose to bleed. The roamer shattered my leg with one bite after he dropped on me. My leg has a nasty infection. I’m slowly going mad as more and more events overlap. At this point, I don’t see a point in prolonging my suffering. I have reached the end of my usefulness, save for writing these final words. Now that I have explained what has happened, my hopes rest upon some kind, responsible soul finding this, and perhaps, if I am lucky, giving it to the Twilight Sparkle of this world so that she might learn from my mistakes.

“Farewell.”

With a lump in his throat, Tarnish stared at Twilight’s final words and watched as they blurred. Turning away, he closed the journal, as he couldn’t possibly look any longer. His heart ached in a terrible way, and now, at this moment, more than ever, he missed Maud. Octavia too. He needed them, both of them, and even though it felt as though his heart was tearing in two, he was grateful for his friends, and for Vinyl.

At least he had them.

Author's Notes:

A second chapter, because I have a backlog of material.