Timeless

"So you, Discord, the very being that terrorised Ponyvile and very nearly destroyed Equestria itself, are telling me that time has frozen?" Octavia was right when she thought it would be one of those days. Sometimes things don't go right, and sometimes time itself freezes and you end up talking to an ex-tyrant. That was just how things worked in Equestria, and Ponyville especially, so it seemed. Octavia smiled and, as politely as she possibly could, slammed the door in Discord's face.

"Well, that didn't go as well as I'd hoped. Such a shame that the only pony in Ponyville to survive this catastrophe is a giant stuck up..." Discord was interrupted by an orange hoof being slammed in to his mouth. He hoped that this wouldn't become a reguar occurence.

After a few moments, he heard a faint slamming sound coming from behind the door, alongside some muffled shouting.

"Why...me...stupid...cello...Ponyville...Discord...Celestia...timey wimey..." This rant continued for a while, slowly degenerating in to an incoherent flurry of words and phrases, ranging from 'Does Celestia hate me or something?' to 'Arghrgrhgrghghgrgh'. Discord turned to Applejack, and shrugged nonchalantly. She responded with a small smirk.

"Let me handle this one. Ah think ah'm a bit better with ponies'n you. After all, ah ain't the one who tried to ruin Ponyville." Applejack said, and walked over to the door, behind which Octavia was slowly going insane.

"Howdy there sugarcube," - the muffled banging stopped - "ah know this must be a lot to take in right now..." Applejack spoke gently.

"No, really. I never noticed." Octavia's voice was dripping with sarcasm. Applejack frowned, breathed in, and continued.

"Believe me, y'aint the only one gettin' sick o' all this. But we need all o' the help we can get with this. So either y'all're gonna come with us, or ah'm gonna buck that door down and drag yer flank all the way to Canterlot, whether you like it or not! Y'understand me?" Applejack shouted. Unsurprisingly, after a few moments of procrastination, Octavia pulled the door open and glared at Applejack. She walked outside, stomping her hooves as she did so.

"I can't have just one day of relaxation, can I? Not one single day where nothing of note happens? I was hoping that things would calm down when I moved from Canterlot, but no! Lo and behold, time itself has conspired to make me miserable! And then, to top it all off, after I fall off of my cello, which is refusing to move, who should pay a visit but the embodiment of chaos himself?" Octavia wasn't shouting. Her voice was more of a resigned groan.

"Well, sounds like someponies got pent up anger issues! Why don't you have a sit down with Doctor Discord and discuss them?" Discord said, attempting to pull a pair of glasses out of nowhere to emphasise his point. Sadly, this didn't work, and he frowned, cursing the loss of his powers.

After Octavia had calmed down somewhat, Rainbow Dash stepped forwards. She put a hoof forward, which Octavia grudgingly accepted.

"So then Tavi - um, can I call you Tavi?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"No," Octavia said bluntly.

"Octy?" Rainbow smiled hopefully

"Never."

"Tavia?"

"Not in a million years."

"Tavster?"

"Not even when I'm dead."

"Umm... Octyni?"

"Now you're not even trying."

"Fine, Octavia." Rainbow sighed, defeated. "Look, I've checked everywhere else in Ponyville, and you're the only survivor of... whatever the hay's going on. So we're going to Canterlot to speak to the princesses and get this sorted out. I'm sure nothing could possibly go wrong!" Rainbow was quickly cut off when Octavia tackled her to the ground.

"Don't say that! Don't ever say that nothing could go wrong! You've basically cursed us! We're all going to die!" Octavia shouted, while Rainbow stared at her, confused.

"What else shouldn't I say? Ooh, I know, 'everything will be fine'! How about 'I'm sure this black thing won't violently explode'?" Rainbow Dash started giggling madly.

Octavia's eyes twitched slightly, and she raised her hoof in the air, preparing to shut Rainbow up.

No Octavia, you mustn't. Ponies like yourself are above that; lesser ponies use force. Octavia thought to herself. Sighing, she got off Rainbow, but not before giving her a passing glare.

Discord coughed loudly, before placing himself in front of the assembled group of ponies. They weren't exactly the group he would have chosen for an adventure. Sure, he had two of the Elements of Harmony, but only two. The Element of Honesty was looking rather disgruntled, and was apparently becoming sick of adventures. The Element of Loyalty was smirking at Octavia, who responded with an angry frown.

"Listen up ponies!" They all turned and looked at him quizzically. He nodded before continuing. "Time has frozen, and while I approve of the chaos, we need to put a stop to it! Of course, you don't like me, and I can't say I'm particularly fond of you either. However, we need each other, as your precious little Elements are gone, as are my powers. Octavia, meanwhile..." She smiled at him hopefully. "... you're just here. Perhaps you'll be helpful, I doubt it." Her face returned to it's normal scowl. "Either way, this is going to be one heck of a journey, so put aside whatever petty squabbles you may have for now!"

"But ye ruined Ponyville and nearly flooded Sweet Apple Acres!" Applejack shouted.

"Oh, psh. I nearly ruined your livelihood, you did some bad things; it's all in the past! I'm willing to forgive your transgressions, so why don't you get over your petty little hatred for me?" Discord put his arms round the group, and pulled them together.

"Ah don't have a choice do I?" Applejack asked. Discord shook his head.

"No chance I could fly away?" Rainbow enquired.

"Of course not," Discord replied, smiling.

"I'm not even going to bother asking if I can just return to my bed." Octavia sighed.

"That's a sensible decision. Nice to see somepony with an IQ higher than one digit." Discord said.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked around for a few moments, before they simultaneously turned to Discord, and shouted at him.

"Hey!" This sent Discord in to fits of laughter, with Octavia swiftly following. It was reassuring for Discord to know that he could still mess with ponies even without his powers.

After he stopped giggling madly, Discord checked that everypony was ready to get going. Once he was convinced that they had everything, he arranged them in to some sort of formation, and began walking down the path towards Ponyville's entrance. It was going to be a long walk, and the fact that everypony seemed to have some sort of argument going on only served to make the journey seem longer.

And so it was that the Element of Loyalty, the Element of Harmony, an earth pony musician, and the embodiment of chaos itself set out to restore the flow of time.

The Canterlot Library

If anypony had been unaffected by the freezing of time in Canterlot, they might have noticed something odd in its library. While most of it was normal, there was something just slightly off. Something you would see out of the corner of your eye, and ignore. This something was a group of shadows which were converging in the centre of the room. They didn't make any particular form or shape, but a mass, or a blob, of darkness.

It stared intently at the hourglass in front of it. If it had a mouth, it might have grinned, or made a sarcastic comment. But it didn't, so the shadows just moved a little more smugly than usual.

There was a group coming to Canterlot, and when they arrived, the shadow would be ready, as it had been for aeons. What did they think they could do to stop time itself? The shadows collapsed, and moved back in to the corners of the library, occupying everything and nothing.

The flow of time would not be restored. Not on the shadow's watch.