Scarlet (Darty - Hazel)
Scarlet Spectrum saw that only the mystery stallion requested another card. The others were content to stick with what they had.
Misty - Maple (Flair)
It took a bit but Misty Monsson eventually found the place on the map that corresponded to where the casino was she then noticed there were a few branching paths but these were even harder to read.
Static - Night Cap (Square - Keen)
Skimming through the tome on wands, Night Cap found that while Grape Vine had one half of the Wand of Doubled Doubling, the other half was complimentary but not the same. The one in Petrichor Falls had a head of prasiolite and had the ability to give numerous ponies temporary duplicates of themselves but didn't work on the wielder. The missing half had a head of red beryl and allowed the wielder to duplicate themselves. But even more than that, the wielder could jump through a dupicate to evade enemies. It was unknown just what capacity could be wielded if both wands were combined.
Meanwhile, Static Signal began reading through the journal entries:
Dear Diary,
Hello! I guess this is where we first meet. I didn't expect anything for my birthday but Curled Page got me this. I hope to make the most of it.
Dear Diary,
All these tests we've had recently have been hard. I've been doing well. That trick I learned for reading while asleep is helping a lot. Guess I shouldn't complain. If I do well enough, I might be able to get into a really good college. My parents can't afford it so it's gotta be grades.
After a few more entries complaining about schoolwork, Static Signal then found:
Dear Diary,
I'm so mad right now. Mister Silver was giving mom a hard time at work again and I couldn't do anything about it. When I last tried to prank that jerk, it was mom who got in trouble. I just wish I could do something about those stuck up rich snobs.
Dear Diary,
Mom and dad have been really sick lately. But they won't take days off from work. Repairs to the house have left us broke so they gotta keep working.
Dear Diary,
They keep getting worse. I wish I could rewind time for a month or maybe a year to see if we could do everything better. But...no. My magic isn't that strong and I bet those rich ponies have time traveling friends that would just undo everything. I'll figure something out...eventually.
Dear Diary,
I found it! I was looking through this book on wands and the final entry boosts time magic. Forget about time travel, I will become time. Then nopony could stop me. I could reward all those who have been good to me and my family and punish those who haven't. It doesn't have a map but I'll find it someday. No matter what it takes. Even if it takes my whole life.
Misty shares her insight with Flairvoyant. "So, what do you think?"
As Static started to read, at first there was a wince, then his eyes started to get shiny, then undeniable tears.
"Ponyfeathers! She...she has my sympathies. And that's something I never thought I'd say about the mare who walked into my home and threatened me to my face...but...she does. She has my sympathies. But..." Static shows Curled Page the journal and points to the last two entries, "...here and here, you know we have to stop her. We just got finished doing a patchwork job on the town clock tower yesterday that is proof enough that messing around with the fabric of time is not a good idea. Not just for the sakes of the jerks who made her life miserable. Buck 'em! But for her own sake, and for the sake of anypony who may be unintentionally affected by what she does.
"Do you know what happens if you change one single event? The one event that I always wished I could go back and change, you know what would happen? My father never disowns me, I never feel the need to leave Manehatten, I never meet Dazzling Midnight, I never join this team I'm on, a mayor dies in a cuckarocka attack, a defector from COIN never gets a second chance and who knows where she goes from there and a radio operator dies while falling from a helicopter. And what about all the lives they've affected since those events? What happens to them? All because I change one little thing in the past.
"And if Dazzling changes her past so that everything is perfectly happy for her...same ponies die for the same reasons! She's playing a very...very...dangerous game here. There's consequences if she succeeds that she has absolutely no idea of.
"And this whole thing of becoming time...it's like she wants to throw away everything that makes her a pony. For her sake, as well as the entire fabric of time...we have to stop her. Better would be if you, her best friend since high school, could convince her to stop herself."
Static turns to Night Cap. "Night Cap, very important. The final entry in that book on wands should be about a wand that boosts time magic. We need to know everything it says about it."
Spoiler
Static - Night Cap (Square - Keen)
"Dazzling...what are you doing?" Curled Page muttered under his breath as he read the two entries. The worry in his face was accented by the wrinkles of his age. Trembling slightly, he tried to regain composure. "When her mood improved over time, I thought she had found what she was looking for in life--not that she was still looking for it.
And not this.
I remember when I was younger, that fateful day I found that older teenager who would chat with me about what she was reading. My father owned the library back then but he was lenient about us talking in the library as long as we weren't loud. Always felt sorry for her. Her dad worked at the hotel and her mom worked as a waitress with neither making much. So I just tried to be a friend. She couldn't lie to me directly so...
...so that tome confirms something. One year when she returned to town, she paid my father a large sum of money. Said she misplaced some books and wanted to make sure all fees were paid in full. Dazzling Midnight does not misplace library books. And she'd never say which books they were. I guess part of her felt guilty for hiding that thing. I wonder just how many half truths she's struggled to tell me. I've always wondered if she's the reason the town clock needs fixing. She tends to break nearby clocks when she uses her magic and I know she hates that. And if she's become some sort of criminal, it would explain why she would sometimes be so happy to tell me when one of her coworkers would get arrested. Most of it felt like unhealthy gossip except for a recent one she said reminded her of Mister Silver. When she mentioned that, I hoped it at least brought her a little peace of mind."
"I can handle that." She says and looks over to Scarlet, and beings to whisper. He can feel his ear twitch as the projected whisper hits his senses. "Um... That Red guy... He's dangerous... or at least that cape is... is like... um... very extremely powerfully bad..."
Scarlet Spectrum saw that only the mystery stallion requested another card. The others were content to stick with what they had.
Misty - Maple (Flair)
It took a bit but Misty Monsson eventually found the place on the map that corresponded to where the casino was she then noticed there were a few branching paths but these were even harder to read.
Static - Night Cap (Square - Keen)
Skimming through the tome on wands, Night Cap found that while Grape Vine had one half of the Wand of Doubled Doubling, the other half was complimentary but not the same. The one in Petrichor Falls had a head of prasiolite and had the ability to give numerous ponies temporary duplicates of themselves but didn't work on the wielder. The missing half had a head of red beryl and allowed the wielder to duplicate themselves. But even more than that, the wielder could jump through a dupicate to evade enemies. It was unknown just what capacity could be wielded if both wands were combined.
Meanwhile, Static Signal began reading through the journal entries:
Dear Diary,
Hello! I guess this is where we first meet. I didn't expect anything for my birthday but Curled Page got me this. I hope to make the most of it.
Dear Diary,
All these tests we've had recently have been hard. I've been doing well. That trick I learned for reading while asleep is helping a lot. Guess I shouldn't complain. If I do well enough, I might be able to get into a really good college. My parents can't afford it so it's gotta be grades.
After a few more entries complaining about schoolwork, Static Signal then found:
Dear Diary,
I'm so mad right now. Mister Silver was giving mom a hard time at work again and I couldn't do anything about it. When I last tried to prank that jerk, it was mom who got in trouble. I just wish I could do something about those stuck up rich snobs.
Dear Diary,
Mom and dad have been really sick lately. But they won't take days off from work. Repairs to the house have left us broke so they gotta keep working.
Dear Diary,
They keep getting worse. I wish I could rewind time for a month or maybe a year to see if we could do everything better. But...no. My magic isn't that strong and I bet those rich ponies have time traveling friends that would just undo everything. I'll figure something out...eventually.
Dear Diary,
I found it! I was looking through this book on wands and the final entry boosts time magic. Forget about time travel, I will become time. Then nopony could stop me. I could reward all those who have been good to me and my family and punish those who haven't. It doesn't have a map but I'll find it someday. No matter what it takes. Even if it takes my whole life.
Misty shares her insight with Flairvoyant. "So, what do you think?"
As Static started to read, at first there was a wince, then his eyes started to get shiny, then undeniable tears.
"Ponyfeathers! She...she has my sympathies. And that's something I never thought I'd say about the mare who walked into my home and threatened me to my face...but...she does. She has my sympathies. But..." Static shows Curled Page the journal and points to the last two entries, "...here and here, you know we have to stop her. We just got finished doing a patchwork job on the town clock tower yesterday that is proof enough that messing around with the fabric of time is not a good idea. Not just for the sakes of the jerks who made her life miserable. Buck 'em! But for her own sake, and for the sake of anypony who may be unintentionally affected by what she does.
"Do you know what happens if you change one single event? The one event that I always wished I could go back and change, you know what would happen? My father never disowns me, I never feel the need to leave Manehatten, I never meet Dazzling Midnight, I never join this team I'm on, a mayor dies in a cuckarocka attack, a defector from COIN never gets a second chance and who knows where she goes from there and a radio operator dies while falling from a helicopter. And what about all the lives they've affected since those events? What happens to them? All because I change one little thing in the past.
"And if Dazzling changes her past so that everything is perfectly happy for her...same ponies die for the same reasons! She's playing a very...very...dangerous game here. There's consequences if she succeeds that she has absolutely no idea of.
"And this whole thing of becoming time...it's like she wants to throw away everything that makes her a pony. For her sake, as well as the entire fabric of time...we have to stop her. Better would be if you, her best friend since high school, could convince her to stop herself."
Static turns to Night Cap. "Night Cap, very important. The final entry in that book on wands should be about a wand that boosts time magic. We need to know everything it says about it."
Spoiler
Static - Night Cap (Square - Keen)
"Dazzling...what are you doing?" Curled Page muttered under his breath as he read the two entries. The worry in his face was accented by the wrinkles of his age. Trembling slightly, he tried to regain composure. "When her mood improved over time, I thought she had found what she was looking for in life--not that she was still looking for it.
And not this.
I remember when I was younger, that fateful day I found that older teenager who would chat with me about what she was reading. My father owned the library back then but he was lenient about us talking in the library as long as we weren't loud. Always felt sorry for her. Her dad worked at the hotel and her mom worked as a waitress with neither making much. So I just tried to be a friend. She couldn't lie to me directly so...
...so that tome confirms something. One year when she returned to town, she paid my father a large sum of money. Said she misplaced some books and wanted to make sure all fees were paid in full. Dazzling Midnight does not misplace library books. And she'd never say which books they were. I guess part of her felt guilty for hiding that thing. I wonder just how many half truths she's struggled to tell me. I've always wondered if she's the reason the town clock needs fixing. She tends to break nearby clocks when she uses her magic and I know she hates that. And if she's become some sort of criminal, it would explain why she would sometimes be so happy to tell me when one of her coworkers would get arrested. Most of it felt like unhealthy gossip except for a recent one she said reminded her of Mister Silver. When she mentioned that, I hoped it at least brought her a little peace of mind."
"I can handle that." She says and looks over to Scarlet, and beings to whisper. He can feel his ear twitch as the projected whisper hits his senses. "Um... That Red guy... He's dangerous... or at least that cape is... is like... um... very extremely powerfully bad..."
