Books and Branches Library

Darkness. Nothing but darkness all around her. There's a chill in the air and bare stone under her belly. Twilight casts a light spell, but the glow from her horn barely penetrates the gloom.

"Hello?"

Her voice echoes for quite a long time. Wherever she is, it's both enclosed and absolutely massive.

"Is anyone there?" Hesitantly, she stands and trots forward, only to bump face-first into the smooth surface of a giant cave crystal. Her own reflection, fragmented and multiplied in the crystal's many facets, stares back at her.

She could swear she hears mocking laughter echoing from somewhere in the far distance. "Where am I?" Twilight murmurs to the empty air.

The trip to Canterlot isn't a hardship, at least; Princess Celestia was thoughtful enough to reserve a private train car for the seven of them. The six ponies and one dragon are free to talk back and forth without disturbing anypony else.

"A sonic rainboom? At a wedding?" Rainbow Dash beams. "Can you say 'best wedding ever'?"

"Best wedding ever!" whoops Pinkie Pie.

Spike looks smug. "So you all get to help with the big fancy wedding, but I'm the one who gets to host the bachelor party!" A beat. "I have just one question. What's a bachelor party?"

One pony, however, isn't participating in the discussion. Twilight Sparkle is sitting at the far end of the car, looking mournfully at the landscape as it passes by.

Eventually, Apple Jack breaks off from the rest of the group to go see her. "Why the long face, sugarcube?"

"I'm just thinking about Shining Armor," Twilight replies, not looking away from the window. "Ever since I moved to Ponyville, we've been seeing each other less and less. And now that he's starting a new family with this Princess Mi Amore Cal-whatshername, we'll probably never see each other."

"Come on, now. You're his sister," reassures Apple Jack. "He'll always make time for you."

Twilight sulks harder. "Couldn't seem to make time to tell me he was getting married."

---

"We're here, we're here!" Pinkie Pie bounces up and down in her seat as the train approaches the outskirts of Canterlot. Twilight doesn't even acknowledge her.

What she does acknowledge, however, is the ripple of magical energy that passes over the whole train and everyone in it. Looking out the window, she realizes it's a protection spell, one that covers the entire city. What in the world would they need a force field like that for? And why did it feel so familiar as it passed over?

The train pulls up to the platform, which is flanked by a dozen armored stallions. "Whoa, what's with all the guards?" remarks Rainbow Dash as she pokes her head out the door.

"I'm sure they're just taking the necessary precautions," says Rarity with a dismissive wave of her hoof. "Royal weddings do bring out the strangest ponies." (As if to drive the point home, Pinkie sneezes confetti onto the platform.) "Now let's get going, we've got work to do!"

"And you've got a big brother to go congratulate," says Apple Jack with a knowing nod toward Twilight.

"Yeah, 'congratulate,'" Twilight mutters sourly. "And then give him a piece of my mind."

The evening express train from Ponyville to Canterlot arrives precisely on schedule. Tonight, there are only three passengers getting off at the platform: two ponies and one dragon hatchling, all dressed in form-fitting black jumpsuits. They move away from the station and into the almost-deserted streets of Canterlot quickly and stealthily, for they are Ponies (and a Dragon) On A Mission.

...well, one of them is. The dragonlet is more interested in his ice cream cone than anything else.

Just over twenty-four hours since Future Twilight's visit, current Twilight trots back into the Books and Branches Library, tired and weatherbeaten but triumphant. Spike is there to greet her at the door. "Hey, Twilight. How'd it go with Cerberus?"

"Great!" says Twilight proudly. "I got him back and dealt with all the evil creatures that escaped."

Spike looks like he's about to reply, but instead he doubles over, looking nauseous. Twilight leans forward, concerned, only to take a scroll to the face as Spike belches up a letter. She feels a stinging pain in her cheek as the parchment hits.

On a particular spot on her cheek, at that.

"Oh no..." She dashes off to the nearest mirror, hoping and praying that her hunch is wrong.

"What's the big deal?" asks Spike as he peers at the newly arrived letter. "It's just a 'Lost Dog' flyer. I guess the Princess hasn't heard we found Cerberus yet."

"It's not that... it's this!" She turns back to Spike and points out the fresh cut on her cheek.

"A paper cut?" Spike is unimpressed. "Come on, Twilight, you really need to toughen up. Just clean it out and you'll be fine."

"The cut's in the exact same spot as the scar on Future Twilight's cheek," explains Twilight with growing alarm. "We haven't changed the future at all! The disaster is still coming!"

---

The next half-hour is spent frantically pacing in a circle, trying to think. "If the disaster wasn't caused by Cerberus getting loose," says Twilight for the umpteenth time, "then what could it possibly be?"

Spike snickers. "I dunno, but maybe you ought to give the pacing a rest. You've worn a groove into the floor."

"I don't have time for another one of your lectures, Spike," says Twilight testily. "This is serious!"

"My lectures?" replies Spike, nonplussed, but Twilight barely noticies.

"I did everything I could think of to change the future, but it didn't work. So maybe it's not what I do... maybe it's what I don't do." POOF. Twilight teleports over to the far corner of the room. "If I stand right here and don't move a muscle until next Tuesday, I can't possibly do whatever it is that Future Twilight wanted to warn me not to do!" With that, she freezes dead on the spot.

"Really?" Spike walks in a circle around the stationary unicorn, looking impish. "So, no matter what happens, you're not gonna move a muscle, huh? Then, maybe you won't mind if I... eat an entire tub of ice cream!"

He dashes off to the kitchen and returns with a spoon and a half-gallon tub of Strawberry Fudge Ripple.

Twilight doesn't move.

He digs in with the spoon and holds the full scoop out in front of Twilight's nose, taunting her.

She still doesn't move.

He swallows the spoonful of ice cream in one gulp, not even bothering to chew. "Mmm... so good..."

Okay, she can't let this go on. "Spike, stop," she grunts between clenched teeth. "Think of the stomachache."

"Stomachache, huh? That's Future Spike's problem." Another spoonful down the hatch, and now he's dispensed with the utensils and is sticking his snout straight into the tub.

There's a knock at the door, and Rainbow Dash, as is her wont, bursts in without bothering to wait for an answer. "Hey, Twilight, another pegasus just got back from Baltimare with an all-clear and--" She stares in bewilderment, then bursts out laughing when she spots the tableau in front of her. "What's going on? Aren't you gonna stop him?"

"She sure isn't," says Spike, coming up for air. "In fact, she's not gonna move 'til next Tuesday! She thinks it'll prevent the disaster from happening!"

"Oh, this is too rich." Dash snickers, then mock-gasps. "Hey, Twilight! There's a mouse right behind you!"

Twilight starts in alarm, but still doesn't move from the spot. Spike and Rainbow Dash both burst out laughing again. Twilight just gives the pair of them a death glare.

"Wait wait wait, let me try!" Spike grabs a quill from the nearest desk and starts tickling Twilight with it. First under her chin, then her belly, then her nose... finally, Twilight can stand it no longer, and telekinetically flings the dragon against the far wall.

She realizes this was a bad idea when Spike reflexively burps up a fireball right back at her face.

When her vision clears, both the dragon and the pegasus are staring at her in alarm. "Oh no..." moans Rainbow Dash.

"What happened." It's not a question.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, it was a total accident..." Spike babbles nervously.

Twilight is not amused. "Show me."

Dash hesitates. "Uh... I'm not so sure that's a--"

"Show me."

Reluctantly, Spike picks up the mirror and holds it up for Twilight.

"Oh no..." breathes Twilight. While her skin and pelt survived intact, her mane has been singed several inches shorter and is sticking straight up in a ragged mohawk. "This is the same mane cut as future Twilight!"

"Y'know," offers Dash, "it really doesn't look too bad..."

"I don't care how it looks! It's just another sign that the future hasn't changed! Not doing anything didn't work either!" She starts pacing in a circle again. "Oh, I wish there was a way to know what was going to happen so I could stop it..."

"You want to see the future?" Spike rubs his scaly chin thoughtfully. "I might know somepony who can help..."

It's been a sleepless night in the Books and Branches Library... for 50% of the residents, at least. It was already nearly midnight when Twilight discovered something alarming: while she had the entire month's schedule sorted out down to the last minute, she had neglected to budget any time for putting together next month's schedule. The past six hours have been spent going over her calendar, looking for any possible edits she can make.

The sun's just beginning to rise when she hits a breakthrough. "Ohmygosh--I think I did it!" she shouts to the empty room. "If I can find a way to read The Art of Invisibility Spells and Thornhill's Brief History of Canterlot at the same time, that could leave me a half-hour scheduling window--"

A strange breeze across her flank makes her look up. "Huh?"

There's a whirlwind rising in the middle of the room, scattering papers and books everywhere. The source of the wind seems to be an orb of pale pink light, growing in size and brightness by the second.

"What's going on??" Twilight backs away, shielding her face from the whirling papers and the brilliant light.

The orb keeps growing until it almost fills the room, then shrinks into a single blindingly bright point--