All in all, the party went great. Everyone congratulated us, and the evening almost flew by as we celebrated up until late at night, singing, dancing, and drinking. The first two who left were Aura and Twilight, both saying they had to do something. Worked fine by me – I didn’t really have the time to care about the problem anyways. I had forgotten the world around me and enjoyed this moment in time, but inevitably, Shining Armor approached me.

“Light, we have to go soon. We’ll leave tomorrow early in the morning. The chariot to pick us up will be here soon.” I had really forgotten that over the course of the last few hours. I would have to go to Canterlot tonight and march out against the changelings with him and his men tomorrow, however that would look like. I expected the worse – why else would they have given me so much combat training? Still, I also hoped for the best, namely because after their attack on Canterlot, there were only a few scattered changelings left that were wandering around, separated from their swarm. That could be easily handled. I nodded at Armor and first of all went towards AJ, who was speaking with Cheerilee and Caramel. The conversation was interrupted as I cleared my throat.

“Sorry, but I have to say goodbye.” AJ gave me a quick nod.

“Ah’ll be right back, Cheerilee, Caramel.” She turned towards me, and we left the barn together. It was a chilly night, exactly what I needed since the barn felt more like a sauna. Pinkie knew what she was doing, just like Luna.

“Sugarcube, Ah only ask you for one thing: come back.” I gave her a kiss, knowing that it would be our last one for a while.

“Don’t worry, I will get this over with, then deal with the Nightmares, and then it will be all over. I used to dream about adventures all the time, but now I know that dreaming and experiencing them are two completely different things.” She gave me a smile. “Also there’s so much going on in Ponyville that you could call that an adventure already.” We both laughed at that. I would have to make sure that I would come back. This had become my home, my life. Our conversation was interrupted by the sound of wings that were flapping through the otherwise quiet night. “That’s my cue.”

“Correct. Come, you need to sleep.” Shining Armor, who had been waiting by a tree, signalled the pegasi with his glowing horn where they needed to land and waved me over to him. I left AJ and went over to him and waited for the chariot. They took a small turn before they landed vertically in front of us, probably because the farm was too uneven. The door swung open in Armor’s aura, and he was the first to take a seat in the small chariot. I looked back at AJ again, who still stood in front of the barn. Her face said a lot of things. One part of it said ‘don’t go’, another said that she wanted to join. I put on my best fake smile and sat down next to Armor, who closed the door behind me.

“It’ll be alright, my men are the best.” I nodded at him but wasn’t completely convinced. I had no idea what was awaiting me. These things could suck out love? Would I no longer like AJ then, or anyone? Would I just be a loveless hull, or would it kill me? And in the worst case, which would be the lesser evil? No, I couldn’t allow these thoughts to control me. This was Equestria, for Celestia’s sake. Here the good guys always won, but that was just in the eye of the beholder. For the rest of the flight, I kept myself busy with singing random songs in my head. Anything was better than to get nervous now. Shining Armor didn’t seem to mind that I was quiet, and so the rush of the wind was the only sound around us.

After a while, we landed in the hangar of the castle where I bade him goodbye for now as well. I knew the way to my quarters after all this time, and I just wanted to drift into an unsure semi-conscious state, otherwise known as sleep, and not waste any more thoughts about tomorrow.

I ran down the path to Ponyville, like a hundred times in my life before, but never before had I been so terrified. Twilight, directly in front of me, had noticed that I had gotten here by a spell, and also that it had been hers. She had tried to ask me about it during the party over and over again, but the applause and the general sound level had saved me from having to give an answer.

“I’m giving you one last chance.” Twilight suddenly stopped and turned around to me. She was a good amount taller than me and looked me directly in the eyes from above. “Either you speak, or I’m going to run a diagnosis. Either way, I will find out what’s going on here.” I could imagine very well that this wasn’t an empty threat. She was Princess Celestia’s student, and in my time, she ran a school for gifted unicorns. Her magical powers were mentioned in the same breath as those of Star Swirl. For a moment, I considered running, but Twilight was good in teleportation and could probably catch me within seconds. At least my father wasn’t sloppy when dealing with prisoners. Handing someone to Twilight was worse than the Royal Guard.

“Listen to me, Twilight. I know that you want to know everything, but that’s not possible! It could end horribly. No one should know too much about—” I held a hoof in front of my mouth. To my dismay, she immediately caught the hint, and it didn’t take her long to be wrapped up in her thoughts, just like it wouldn’t take long until she put one and one together. This was my best chance to run away. The distracted Twilight made no signs of stopping me as I jumped over the fence and disappeared between the bushes of the eastern field. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, and thanks to daily workload that my mother had always given me, that was far. I ran down the entire field and disappeared behind a few hills, roughly five kilometres away from Ponyville and the farm. Exhausted, I dropped to the ground and gasped for air.

“You’ll have to do better than that.” An angrily glaring Twilight Sparkle stood behind me, staring down at me again. “Would you please explain to me why you are in the past and why I have sent you here?” Damn, but I wasn’t really surprised.

“How did you catch me?” I had to distract her again.

“Following my own signature is easy, but that’s not the point. Explanation, now.” I couldn’t tell her, for her own sake.

“No, Twilight, no one is allowed to find out about their own future. That’s your own rule!” Mentally, I prayed to Celestia that she would listen to herself.

“I don’t want to know anything about my future, but why you are here. If I endanger the space-time-continuum again, it has to have a good reason.” Again? Right, Pinkie had said something about Twilight having travelled through time already. I had to think about what to do now, but I had reached an impasse. “Then let me start you off, Aura, if that even is your real name. Right now, I believe this: you are obviously the daughter of Light and AJ. It’s a wonder that they both haven’t noticed the similarities, and for some reason that has to do with the library or this picture, I have sent you into this time. If I would have to take a guess, I would say around twelve years, am I right?” I could only nod.

“My name is Auralia, but my friends just call me Aura. And yes, Applejack is my mother, but I have never met my father.” She knew it all, so I had already blown it. “You told me that I should stop an accident, and for that, I should alter a formula in your library. If everything goes well, you said that I could meet my father.” This was also the only reason why I was here.

“I take that the formula was in the drawer at my desk, right?” I just nodded. “Then I think I got it. Light will, as soon as the changeling problem is dealt with, travel to his own world to go against the nightmares. For that, we need this formula so that the spell will work correctly. I believe that, if everything what you say is true, the formula is incorrect and he landed Celestia knows where, or worse. That’s why he wasn’t there in the future, and I can imagine very well that AJ will blame me for it. She has never been a fan of magic.” The way she put it made sense, but why hadn’t future Twilight not told me this?

“But what’s the deal with the picture and this other world you were speaking about? And how did my father get together with my mother if she doesn’t like magic?” Twilight put on an even more serious face, if that was possible.

“Your father, Blue Light, originally came from a different world, and he hasn’t always been a pony. I know this sounds strange, but he wasn’t given a choice in the matter but still accepted it. When he went to say goodbye to his family, his world had been overrun by creatures we call Nightmares. The princesses would like to help, but since the changelings are threatening us, we can’t spare anypony.” So that was his family on this picture, parents and brothers, my grandparents.

“How did he become a Prince then, and why does he call Princess Celestia his mother?”

“I was just getting there.” She told me about her accidental travel to the world where Light had come from, how she had taken him with her to Equestria, and his breakdown when he had realized that he was no longer alive in his world. About how she had found out that he used to be a human and how the princess had searched his memories afterwards. She had then given him what he needed: a family. Since he couldn’t use magic, he had gotten used to working with his hooves, and so even my mother liked him.

“So he’s now fighting against changelings so that the Princess can start an offense against the Nightmares?” Twilight nodded as I summarized the current situation.

“There’s still one question. How should you get back? You aren’t a unicorn.” I wasn’t really sure about that either.

“You told me that once the future changed, I would return automatically.” Again she was in her thoughts.

“Of course!” she suddenly shouted. “When the future changes, a time travel will no longer be necessary, and you would have never come here. That way, it will resolve automatically.”

“Huh? So I will never take this journey?” Needless to say, I was confused.

“Something like that. Since the accident never happened, I will never send you back. You will have a normal life with both your parents.” Excitedly I wondered what my life would be like then.

“So I can go talk with my mother, right? I mean, what harm could there be in that?” I so wanted to speak with my young mother since I had wondered who she was before I knew her.

“I don’t think that will be a problem. I’ll also talk to her myself. Anyways, let us go to the library. We will deal with everything tomorrow.” I didn’t have the power to disagree.

The next morning came much too fast for my liking. My room pointed towards the west so that the first sunrays would lighten up my room. My brain was idling, so the shower and breakfast just went past me. Now I sat in my room and waited for Shining Armor to pick me up for the briefing.

“Sir? You are expected outside.” That was the voice of the guard who stood in front of my door. Slowly, I rose from my bed and left the room. The guard went ahead and led me to the exit of the castle. I was still more a spectator of my actions than a participant. The large double door opened, and from there on, I went down the staircase that led the castle yard on my own. Below, I could already see Shining Armor waiting with a few other ponies.

“Morning, Light, hurry up!” he shouted as he saw me, and I went over with a light gallop. As I came closer, I could take a better look at the quite motley group. To my right stood Shining Armor, with plate armour on his back and spear between his hooves that he stabilized with his magic. Directly in front of me stood a white pegasus with short blond mane, also wearing a spear. Unlike Armor, he didn’t seem to need magic to balance his weapon. According to his armour, he was part of the Royal Guard. Next to him stood a purple unicorn mare, completely wrapped in some kind of leathery armour. That it couldn’t actually be leather was clear to me. She wore a few bags filled with maps and levitated a crossbow with her magic. Noticeable was Celestia’s cutie mark was engraved on the chest of her armour. Behind Armor stood another mare, a pegasus. Her coat was of a dark grey and her mane dirty blue. She wore a dark armour that belonged to Luna’s Night Guard. She looked over at me, and only then did I noticed that her eyes were that of a dragon, just like her wings. Behind her stood a blue unicorn that grimly looked at me. She wore a helm of the Royal Guard, but her cloak covered the rest of her armour.

“Trixie?” I could recognize that cloak anywhere. Her eyes lighted up, but she couldn’t say anything as Shining Armor had already taken command.

“Now that we are all here, let me introduce you to the group, Light. This here next to me is Night Hawk.” He pointed at the dark pegasus next to him.

“A pleasure, kiddo.” She grinned with a hint of smugness and bowed quickly.

“Our friend here is Shooting Star.” He pointed at the pegasus opposite to him.

“…”

Shining Armor leaned over to me and whispered, “He isn’t very talkative.” He took a step back again and continued the introduction. “Next to me is Glimmer. She’s our navigator.”

“Do we really have to carry along the newbie?” I liked her already.

“Pleased to meet you as well.” She snorted and looked away. I could imagine how keen she was on going into a possible battle with a new recruit.

“And you know Trixie already. She is here on request of Princess Luna.” I shot her a questioning look, but again Armor spoke first. “I don’t think I need to introduce Prince Blue Light to you. Very well then, let’s go to the hangar. We will start the briefing once we’ve left the harbour.” Shooting Star was the first to get moving and led our little group along the path that ran around the mountain. I was curious as with what kind of vehicle we would be travelling, but I didn’t have much time to think about that since Trixie came over to me.

“I hope you have used the time as well as I did.” I looked at her and couldn’t hold back a grin. Her white mane had been pulled through the helmet, forming a Mohawk like the other guards.

“I have, don’t worry. But I have to say, that helmet is to die for.” I put special emphasis on the last part to make it clear that I was joking. Trixie looked into the window of a house as we walked by and inspected her mirror image.

“I knew that she was fooling me.” She took the helmet off with her magic and threw it into one of the many alleys of the town.

“Who?” If I would have to blame someone for a prank, it would have been Pinkie or Rainbow.

“Night Hawk, she said it would be good to wear armour.” She snorted and angrily glared at the back of the pegasus hovering in front of us.

“Are you sure that you want to come along? I mean, it could be dangerous.” I had been happy that I wasn’t endangering anyone but myself with this mission. Shining Armour and his group would have left anyways.

“I asked Luna to join. I owe you something and I want to help, okay?” I was touched a bit, but we were talking about Trixie here. There had to be more to it.

The further we went around the mountain, the fewer houses were to our sides and soon it was just a wide path over the naked rock as we marched further down the mountain. After around ten minutes, without anyone really talking, Night Hawk suddenly split from the group, and with insane speed, disappeared out of our field of view.

“Where is she going?” I asked Armour, who was now in front of me.

“She’s gone to tell the crew that we’re coming so that they can prepare the gangplank.” The path took another turn, and then I saw the horror. A ship, an airship, was hovering next to a long wooden landing stage where a ramp was lowered down on it. The hulk was out of dark wood and the balloon coloured dark blue. Various, rather thin ropes hooked it to the hull so that the vehicle would overcome gravity.

“That’s our ship, the Lunar. Built in honour of the liberation of Princess Luna,” Shining Armor announced and went down the stage with Glimmer and Shooting Star. Without batting an eye, Trixie followed the three so that only I stood there at the start of the stage that hung a few hundred metres above the ground.

“Are you coming?” Trixie had noticed that I had stopped and that my eyes were locked onto the abyss below us. Glimmer seemed to notice it now as well.

“What’s the matter, Prince?” Never seen an airship before?” I had seen multiple ones, but so far only in video games. The only real one I had seen was on pictures and was named ‘Hindenburg’. Aside from the fact that I was scared to enter the ship, I also had to fight with my vertigo. I gulped hard and ran over the stage, past Trixie, Glimmer, and Shining Armor, directly onto the ship and clung to the ground. Confused, the group looked over to me.

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of heights.” Night Hawk came out from below the deck and grinned at me. I just nodded quickly, and immediately she burst out into laughter, stomping her hooves on the wooden floor. “Oh man, a fine soldier you are. If you wet yourself, I won’t clean up behind you.” Glimmer joined the laughter and went past me towards a door, which seemed to lead into the Captain’s cabin.

“Are you alright?” Shining Armor stood in front of me. “I’m sorry, but we don’t have any alternatives right now. Our destination is near the Badlands, and we don’t have railroads down there yet, but I’ll explain the rest to you downstairs in a minute.” He went past me and disappeared below the deck. Shooting Star loaded the small boarding blank that joined the ship with the mainland aboard again and followed Shining Armor. Trixie just rolled her eyes and carried me with her magic downstairs. It was roomier than it looked from the outside. It was a large room with multiple hammocks, six for us and three more, possibly for the crew. In front of us were a few cushions that formed a circle, and Trixie put me down on one of them before sitting down next to me. Night Hawk and Shooting Star also already sat in their spots, while Armor stood in front of us, ready to give a short speech.

“Everything ready, sir.” Now Glimmer joined us as well, followed by two earth ponies and a pegasus whose wing hung down his sides in a strange angle. He had a light brown coat and black mane, something that I had rather expected from an earth pony. His cutie mark was a compass with four needles pointing in every direction at once.

“Ahoy, Captain Armor sir. Captain Finder, at your service.” He saluted quickly, and his two comrades did the same.

“Sailor Arbor at your service, sir,” the grey one reported. His cutie mark was a knot.

“Sailor Paddle as well, sir!” The light blue stallion lived up to his name, as his cutie mark was a paddle. Shining Armor nodded at the four, and now the crew seemed to be complete.

“Everypony, listen up!” he shouted through the room. “Our mission is simple, so I don’t want to repeat myself. One week ago, we received a report that changelings had been sighted near Fillyburg. A vanguard arrived there a few days ago, but so far we haven’t heard back from them. Unfortunately, the vanguard is not trained to deal with changelings, let alone detect them. And that’s where we come in.” He marched up and down in front of us while he spoke. “These creatures tend to disguise themselves as ponies to infiltrate us. We will stop them. As we speak, the railroads that Fillyburg requested is being laid, and the first train will test the track in five days. We have to get rid of all changelings by then and resolve the danger. Estimated time until arrival is two days. Everypony knows what their mission is?” He put special emphasis on the last sentence.

“Yes, sir!” everyone but me and Trixie shouted back.

“Good. Glimmer, you know the area the best. Mark all locations that may serve as a camp for the changelings on the map.

“Yes, sir!” She saluted quickly.

“Night Hawk, Shooting Star, you two will alternately fly low next to the ship and keep an eye out for any clues. If you find any sign of changelings, I want an immediate report.

“Yes, sir!” said Night Hawk, while Shooting Star only saluted and nodded.

“Trixie, Light. You both have learned the exposure spell. As soon as we reach the settlement, every citizen will be checked. Until then, you will be ready on call.”

“Understood,” I said and Trixie nodded.

“Dismissed!” The others stood up and began to tend after their duties. Shooting Star went back on deck while Night Hawk lay down in one of the hammocks. Glimmer and the Captain went to a short table in the corner and pulled out a map from her saddlebag. Trixie did the same as Night Hawk and took a hammock as well.

“Light, come over here.” Armor waved me over to him. He stood by a few boxes that were probably filled with supplies and other things. As I came closer, he opened a small box and armour came out. To be precise, it was the same one that Shooting Star wore, minus the holes for the wings. “Princess Luna had it made for you. I suggest that you should wear it. It may make the difference between life and death.” I couldn’t say anything against that.

“Thanks.” I took a look inside the box. Next to the chest, or rather the back part which Armor held in his grip, were four boots. They were made out of thin metal, like the rest of the armour, and would probably reach up to my knees in the front and my ankle in the back. I had finally found the time to finish that book about pony anatomy. The boot in the right foreleg was different from the others, by having a large white crystal embedded into it. “What’s that?” I asked as I pointed at it.

“A sun crystal. It is called that because it reflects the sunlight and magic.” So I could deflect magic missiles if I manage to hit them with the crystal.

“Neat.” He put the golden armour on me and pulled the straps tight. I put on one boot after another, simply by stepping into them and pulling the straps as well, just like a belt around the legs.

“I will go on deck now and enjoy the flight. Maybe you should get used to the thought of being in the air. Our enemies can fly as well, remember that.” With that, Shining Armor left me more or less on my own. It was unfamiliar to walk in these boots, but it was also my first time as pony to wear anything on my hooves. I thought about what Armor just told me. If there was one time to man, or stallion up, it was now.

“Here goes nothing.” And with that, I followed him back onto the deck as well but immediately regretted that decision. How many metres was it going down again?

Twilight had set me up a guest bed in the basement of the library after piling up all the books there in one corner. It was a bit dank, but as a foal, I used to sleep in the barn a lot, so I didn’t mind. She wanted to go back to farm with me today to explain the whole situation to my mother since keeping something secret from her wasn’t possible for too long with her being an Element of Harmony. Twilight had told me about them yesterday evening for the first time and described them as extremely powerful magical items. I wasn’t even surprised anymore about how much I didn’t know. My mother was allegedly the Element of Honesty, and as such, able to see lies rather well. Not like that would be a big news to me, but now I knew that she could have also had that as a cutie mark. Maybe I would take after my mother and it would be apple related. It wasn’t that I didn’t like apples, they were basically part of my life, but I didn’t love them like the rest of my family. Since my father was a unicorn, I might have another special talent, but what? I couldn’t use magic, so it couldn’t be anything in that field.

“Aura, breakfast is ready.” Twilight stood at the hatch that led into the first floor and looked down at me as I was lying with a messy mane on the folding bed.

“Coming…,” I said with a yawn and shook myself to loosen my coat a bit. For the last few days, I had slept in an old, abandoned building near the village’s border. The ground had been hard, but it was still better than outside. Compared to the ground, this bed had been heaven. I went upstairs into the kitchen, where Twilight Sparkle sat next to a pegasus who looked a bit younger than me.

“Oh right,” Twilight said. “This is Rising Dawn, my son. He went to bed early last night.” I stared at the colt calmly munching on his breakfast.

“Sup?” he said with full mouth and raised a hoof in greeting.

“Dawn, what have I told you about table manners?” she scolded him in a sharp voice. He gulped down his bite and wiped his mouth clean with a hoof.

“Sorry. Hi, I’m Dawn. Nice to meet you.” I sat down on the free seat, and a plate with a sandwich was levitated over to me.

“Hi, I’m Auralia, or just Aura.” And with that, he turned back to his sandwich.

“Spike makes the best sandwiches. Dig in!” And with that, I took a large bite and grinned while chewing. I didn’t want to start this stressful day on an empty stomach, so I gladly took his advice.

Author's Notes:

So, lets hunt us some changeling.

Thanks to Gron for translating this chapter.
Special thanks to JBL for proofreading and editing.

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