Atonement

I walked back out of the throne room, mask on my face and boy on my shoulder once more. “What did you talk about?” Twilight asked as soon as the doors closed behind me.

“I’ll tell you later. Now isn’t exactly the time or place, considering our current company.” I said, gesturing to the other elements of harmony.

“An’ jus why can’t we know?” Applejack asked. I shook my head.

“Because the princess told me not to tell any of you anything, Twilight’s the only exception because she already knows certain things.” I said, giving Twilight a look and a nod, which she returned.

“An’ so the rest’a us can’t know anythin’? Seems a might suspicious, but ah trust the princess.” Applejack said, sounding less suspicious than I thought she would. I sighed, heaving my past self a little bit.

“Now, if there are no further question”

“Actually, ah got one more.”

“For the love of god, what is it!?”

“Where’s Pinkie Pie?” that actually turned out to be a good question. We looked around for a moment, but found no sign of the hyper-active pink pony. I shrugged as well as I could.

“Well, I’m sure she’ll turn up eventually. For now, I suggest we get this kid strapped to something so he can’t run anywhere, and get Rarity to a bed. She must’ve either been taking something before the show, or hit her head really damn hard.” I said with a slight laugh. Nopony seemed to find it funny. “Let’s just go.” I said awkwardly as I walked away.

Twilight led us to a part of the castle that seemed highly familiar. There were bedrooms on either side, and a large table in the middle. I laid the boy down on the table before turning to Applejack, who had unceremoniously thrown Rarity onto a bed. “I don’t suppose you have any rope on hoof, do you?” I asked. She giggled a little bit before removing her hat and producing a rather large length of rope from within. Four hundred years, and I still don’t understand some of the rules of this world.

“Ah always keep some on me in case ah need ta tie somethin’ up.” she said, tossing the rope my way. I caught it, and proceeded to tie the boy to the table.

“Well that should keep him occupied for a while. When he wakes up he still won’t fully understand his own strength.” I said, my tone serious. I heard someone loudly clearing their throat from behind me, and turned to see Twilight.

“I think now would be a good time to explain everything.” was all she said. I gave Applejack a look and she took the hint, walking away. For further security, I jerked my head, motioning for Twilight to follow me. I lead into one of the bedrooms, which seemed larger than I remembered, and sat down at the foot of the bed.

“I guess I have a lot of explaining to do.” I said as she shut the door behind her.

“Yes you do!” she said, sounding upset. “you can start with how the hay you technically just tied yourself to a table!” I sighed, pulling off my cowl and placing it on a bedside table.

“Four hundred years, Twilight….. That’s how long I’ve been alive Twilight.” I said, hanging my head slightly. “I’ve ruled Equestria for as long as I care to remember. I’ve walked these very halls for centuries, the very mistakes that brought me here weighing heavily on my mind.” I said, looking up. Her face held a look of both confusion and horror.

“W-w-what?” she asked, obviously scared. I told her my story, from beginning to end, leaving out the four hundred years between my rise to power and now, and certain who’s, why’s, and how’s. She seemed shocked, appalled, horrified.

But mostly confused. “Why would you go through all that, do all those… unspeakable things, just to come back in time to stop them from happening?” she asked. I sighed.

“Part of that is what the princess and I talked about. Funny thing is, I didn’t actually come back in time. Apparently that’s impossible.”

“Then what are you doing here!?”

“You see Twilight, while time travel is impossible, inter-dimensional travel isn’t. For every decision you make, an alternate world is created for all the other options you could have chosen.” I said. She looked at me dumbly, making me sigh. “Here’s an example; let’s say your walking down a road, and you come to a fork. You choose to go right. An alternate world is created where you go left, and deal with the consequences. Do you understand?” I asked.

“Yes, I think so…. But what does that have to do with this?”

“Well, while it’s impossible to alter the past, it is possible to alter the future of a world that closely mirrors your own. Only real difference I see so far is a change in my funeral attire, and certain lines of dialogue.” I explained, to which she nodded her understanding.

“I see. So, what was your original plan?” she asked. I shrugged.

“Stop anypony from dieing, and if I failed that, kill him. At the time I figured that would, by default, erase me from time and undo the future I created.”

“What’s your plan now?”

“Stop anypony from dieing, and failing that, kill him before he can create the same future I did.”

“What if he doesn’t do that though? Like you said, for every choice made, an alternate world is created for the choices left behind.”

“Better safe than sorry.” It was that moment that someone knocked on the door.

“Hey you two, get your pants back on and get out here.” came an all too familiar voice. It was the voice that haunted my every dream and waking moment. It was the voice that I had done so many unspeakable things to hear again, only to be let down.

It was the voice of Rainbow Dash. And it made my blood run cold and my heart sink.

A/N: Hey everyone, sorry about this chapter being a lot shorter than most of the others, I wanted any interaction with Dash to be pretty much it's own chapter, or at least happen during the first half of a chapter. That and, as you probably noticed by now, I like leaving cliff hangers and/or ending on some kind of dramatic note. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it!