“Hello once again, Apple Bloom.” A feminine voice said, and I opened my eyes. I was where Naqril resided.

“Am Ah dead?” I asked, honestly curious, and terrified if the answer was in the affirmative.

“No, no. You will be fine, but you are currently unconscious.” Naqril informed me calmly. My eyes widened as I thought of something.

“Is Rabil dead?” I inquired, and Naqril smiled.

“He is forever gone from your world, however, you still have not finished your journey.” She told me, and I was confused.

“Ah thought Ah was supposed tuh kill Rabil.” I said.

“You were and did, but you now need to perform one last task in order for this all to occur.” Naqril replied, and looked down. “But one of your friends will most likely explain it to you.”

“That’s it?” I asked, some not complicated task was an oddity to me now.

“Indeed. But Apple Bloom, I just want to thank you, if you hadn’t stopped him, it would have caused a lot more problems than you witnessed.” She told me.

“He said he did it because he wanted to maintain peace.” I said, wondering if he was actually telling the truth.

“I understand that, but sometimes, we can’t meddle in other’s affairs. Some decisions need to be left to those whom they affect.” She replied, then looked at me. “Goodbye, Apple Bloom, I won’t be seeing you again, though I must say you are an amazing pony, and after you finish the final task, live your life as you see fit.”

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        I felt like I was someplace soft, and my body was covered with something. I opened my eyes and I was in a room somewhere, lying in a bed. “Oh, thank goodness you’re okay, Apple Bloom.” I heard Phalanx’s voice say, and he walked into my vision. “I thought you were going to die.”

I looked around, and asked, “Where am Ah?”

“Some room in the Doctor’s TARDIS, according to him, he called the TARDIS as soon as they got out of the castle, and then he arrived just after you killed Rabil.” Phalanx told me, “And there’s some weird thing that’s in the throne room the Doctor’s been obsessing over.” That caught my attention, and I tried to get up. “Woah, Harthan said you ought to stay in bed, you’ve been cut up a good bit.” Phalanx said, and I presumed that was one of the guard’s medics.

“If there’s something weird goin’ on, Ah would like tuh see it.” I said as I got myself up. It was a bit difficult, a lot of my body ached. I started walking slowly, wincing occasionally. Phalanx sighed as he gestured towards the way out.

“Look, Apple Bloom, I’m sorry for what happened out there.” He apologized, and I looked at him.

“Ya don’t have anythin’ to be sorry for. Rabil just went and corrupted ya.” I told him, and he frowned a bit.

“Yes, but that was from deep parts of me, I mean, it was just being brought to the front of my mind!” He said, and I shook my head slightly.

“Phalanx, Ah think Ah would’ve done somethin’ extremely similar if Rabil corrupted me. Ah think everypony has thoughts like that.” I replied as we entered the main control room. I walked towards the door and surprisingly it was day out when I opened up the door. My eyes took a moment to adjust but when they did, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were there.

“Apple Bloom, it’s good to see you’re awake!” Scootaloo said, and Sweetie Belle seemed to share the sentiment.

I thought of the armored colts, and asked, “What happened to Rabil’s army?”

“They vanished as soon as you killed him, I think, nopony from Manehattan saw one since roughly when you did it.” Babs said, walking over.

“Hey, Phalanx, I thought I told you to make sure she didn’t get out of bed!” One of the guards said.

“She wouldn’t take no for an answer.” Phalanx replied, and the guard seemed to scowl a little.

I looked around, trying to find the weird thing in the throne room when I realized the seemingly odd tear that seemed to be in front of the throne. It was completely devoid of color, and the Doctor was pacing around it, seeming to ask the thing questions. “He’s been like that for hours,” Ditzy said from behind me, making me jump. “He keeps going on about it doesn’t seem like a tear in reality, yet somehow it does.” She explained, and I decided to walk over. I saw Applejack fast asleep, and Big Macintosh seemed to be deep in conversation with my father, but they smiled at me when I passed by, glad to see I was okay.

“What could cause this?” I heard the Doctor ask to no one, “The last time a tear like this happened, it was because the TARDIS exploded.”

“Uh, hey Doc.” I said, and he seemed to momentarily snap out of it, looking over at me and seeming to grin like an excited foal.

“Apple Bloom, go to see you’re alright! I wasn’t honestly that sure if you would make it, but the guard doctor seemed to have complete confidence!” He said, turning back to the tear. “This appeared after you killed Rabil, right?” He asked.

“Ah saw somethin’ before Ah passed out, it probably was this.” I answered, and he nodded, and started chattering on once again. I decided to go and sit down, and I sat on the throne, not caring right now if it was appropriate. I didn’t want to be in charge anymore, but I still wanted to at least be out here. As I sat down, my hooves felt something, and I looked to see it was the fateful book that had started out my journey. I opened it up, and there didn’t seem to be anything new, except for more complete information on me. But something was striking me about the book, it seemed more familiar than I had known it to be. Almost like I had my hooves on it when I didn’t... I looked at the binding, and it was a standard hardcover, but it seemed bound oddly. I took a look at the inside cover, and I noticed something. In the bottom right-hoof corner, there was tiny print that said: “Lux Aeterna”. “Anypony know what ‘Lux Aeterna’ is?” I asked, and I noticed Shining Armor look up from a conversation with Twilight at me.

“That’s a very old phrase, it was the original motto of the Royal Guard, it is Old Equestrian for ‘Eternal Light’. Why do you ask? Also, why aren’t you... Never mind.” He replied, and I was a little appreciative that he didn’t seem to ask why I was out. But why would that be inscribed on here, some random old book? Unless a guard wrote it, but wouldn’t make much sense, after all, wouldn’t they just warn Celestia? I thought of something, and got up, walking over to Phalanx.

“Ya know where Claymore’s journal is?” I asked, and Phalanx looked at me for a moment.

“Your journal? It’s in the TARDIS right where you left it last time.” He replied, looking at me knowing I was onto something. I went in and grabbed it from where I had left it, coming back out, and comparing it to the book. I looked inside, and sure enough, the journal had the same inscription as the book. I noticed that some pages, four at that, had been torn from the book, and looked at how many pages, and there were four pages I had written down notes in. I took a closer look at the book’s cover and it seemed that instead of being printed on the book, the title had actually been engraved, then filled with ink. I knew in the back of my head exactly who had written it, and how.

“Doc, Ah think Ah know what that tear is.” I said, and he looked over, curiosity clear in his eyes.

“What do you think it is?” He asked.

“Ah think it’s someway to get into the past, and to certain points in time.” I answered, and he looked skeptical for a moment. “That’s because Ah think Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Ah wrote this book.” Everypony stopped and looked, and the Doctor dashed over to look at the journal I had, and the book. His eyes widened, and he remained silent for a moment.

“Of course! How couldn’t have I seen that!” He said out loud, and everypony looked at him funny, with the exception of Ditzy, who grinned slightly and shook her head. “It’s a paradox, I should have seen the signs beforehand!”

“A paradox?” Twilight asked, “How would that even be applicable?”

“It’s simple, imagine time-space as rather than a singular line, a whole bowl of timey-wimey stuff. But don’t actually, because it’s nothing really like that, at least in simple terms.” He started, “What happens is that at some point, Apple Bloom kills Rabil, and her friends are with her. Now they find this tear, and go through it, and start creating everything that would help them eventually, like the dragon tale.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense, that would mean that it’s been occurring forever!” Twilight argued, and the Doctor just smiled.

“That’s exactly how a paradox works, that’s why I never interfere with personal timelines!” The Doctor said, “Just makes your whole life simpler! Though in this case it sounds necessary.”

“So what happens if we don’ go in?” I asked.

“I suppose that after a certain date, if you don’t go in, the tear will expand, and start erasing reality.” The Doctor said, “Because with the paradox that means you would have to be in a certain state when you start.”

I thought about it for a moment, and looked over at Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, and told them, “Well, looks like we need to get ready then, why don’ we just go and start writing down what we need to do?”

They smiled, and they walked over, and the Doctor said before we went back into the TARDIS, “You better hurry, the sooner you get in, the lesser the chance of the erasing of reality.”

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        It was kind of interesting really, here we were, full grown mares, and we seemed to be the same as we were not too long ago, although that was in the sense of us as friends. We were currently writing down a list of what was probably part of the paradox, and Sweetie Belle was attempting to fully replicate the spells I had encountered with the book, along with writing in it. “What about the fireworks at Manehattan?” I asked, and Scootaloo nodded, writing it down. Currently we had just two tasks, the book and the fireworks, we had after all spent the first time in months actually laughing at some blunder I had made. It felt foreign to me, and although that fact slightly disturbed me, I was nonetheless glad to feel it.

Scootaloo walked out for a moment, and came back in with fireworks. “What else is there?” Scootaloo asked, and I wasn’t surprised she was able to find that in the TARDIS. I remembered what my father had told me, and I somehow realized who the unicorn was. It sickened me a little, but I realized that it was either that or reality.

“Sweetie Belle stopped mah father from comin’ back tuh Ponyville.” I said, and Scootaloo stopped, looking at me. Sweetie Belle did the same, and I explained myself. “When mah father was threatened by the unicorn they had really powerful magic, and Ah wouldn’t be surprised if your magic could be that.” Sweetie Belle seemed to think for a minute and turned back to the book, resuming her quiet humming. Scootaloo sighed a little and wrote down “Sweetie Belle threatens Golden Apple”.

Scootaloo’s eyes widened as she said a bit eagerly, “That must mean Sweetie Belle was the one who was the really powerful pony who told Chrysalis about us!”

“But that doesn’t explain there bein’ eleven ponies like Cocoon said.” I pointed out, but Sweetie Belle once again looked up from the book.

“Actually, it does. While you were out, I was just experimenting around when I found out I could do this.” She said, and hummed something, then there were two Sweetie Belles. “The other can’t talk, but it can impersonate somepony pretty good.” She hummed again and the other Sweetie Belle disappeared.

“Also there was the whole ‘Ancient Tale’, along with the Chamber and the text.” I noted.

Scootaloo jotted it down, and said “I remember the text, don’t worry.”

“Also Ah have a feelin’ we’re behind the whole crypt thing.” I said, and Scootaloo wrote it down.

“Yeah, but how do we know who to talk to in order to get it built even?” Scootaloo asked, and I thought for a moment.

“We’ll probably find out, Ah mean, it sounds like this paradox thing will be teleportin’ us all over the place. At least that’s what Ah’d think.” I replied.

“Done!” Sweetie Belle said as she gave the book to us, it was the exact same as the other one.

“Just wondering, how do you know the difference between the two?” Scootaloo asked, and Sweetie Belle smiled.

“I kept the original on my left side.” She replied, “No magical differentiation.”

“Well, Ah think that’s about everythin’.” I said, and gestured for the door. “Come on, the world ain’t gonna do this itself.”

Scootaloo laughed, and Sweetie Belle shook her head. As we walked out, I realized we had taken longer than we had realized, only the guards, the Doctor, Ditzy, Dinky, Applejack, my father, Big Mac, Rarity, and Phalanx were there. “I presume you’re ready to go?” Phalanx asked quietly, I noticed most of them were asleep. Only the Doctor seemed to be up, seeming to be in a staring contest with the tear.

“Yeah.” I replied, just as quietly.

“Well, you best be going, I only think they’ll delay you, and as much as I don’t want to see you do this, I know it has to be done.” Phalanx said, and he gestured to the tear.

“Ah’m sure we’ll be back.” I said as I walked up.

“Well, in case you don’t, I love you.” He said, and hugged me, and I turned back after a moment, continuing to go towards the tear.

As we got near the tear, Scootaloo said, “Well, let’s do it.”

We walked into the tear, and for a moment, everything became white.