Chapters Applejack had found herself becoming altogether far too used to being dragged in to insane situations by now. Whether it was fighting off Nightmare Moon or a Changeling invasion, or just having to deal with the daily madness that occurred when she was with her friends, her life was never really normal.
This was why, upon waking up at dawn, Applejack found herself praying to Celestia that she would be able to get through one day without nearly dying. Grabbing her stetson, she walked out of her room, and headed slowly down the stairs. Smiling, she greeted the old pony resting in her rocking chair.
"Mornin' Granny Smith! Anythin' interestin' fer brea...kfast?" Applejack cut herself off mid sentence, as Granny Smith was mysteriously absent, as was the breakfast.
Well, ain't that odd. Granny Smith's always there this time of the mornin'... and it seems like she ain't even made any breakfast! Maybe she jus' slept in. Yeah, that'll be it.
Applejack shrugged it off, and decided not to disturb the old pony. Breakfast could wait. What couldn't wait, however, were the apple trees. She could fight through the hunger until Granny Smith woke up, right?
...Right?
Her stomach rumbled to show it's displeasure at her decision. It seemed that she couldn't fight through the hunger. Sighing, Applejack walked in to the kitchen. She wasn't an expert on cooking Granny Smith's recipes, but she could probably produce a passable breakfast. Standing on her hind hooves, she pulled open the door to the cabinet. As she expected, it was filled with apples, precariously piled on top of one another. Wincing, she slowly inched one out from the bottom, waiting for the entire pile to come crashing down on her head. With a last pull, she wrenched the apple out, and ran to hide in the corner to escape the onslaught of fruit.
But there was nothing.
No loud 'crash', no flood of red and green, no falling apples. There was absolutely nothing. Glancing out from behind her hoof, Applejack looked back in to the cabinet, and saw the apples in the same position. One was at a standstill midair.
That was weird. Applejack had worked on an apple farm for much of her life, and as far as she recalled, apples didn't fly. Not even zap apples.
Mumbling curses under her breath that would have made a sailor proud, she grabbed the apple, ate it, and walked out of the house, preparing for the inevitable adventure that would ruin her otherwise normal day.
Maybe tomorrow would be more normal. Applejack doubted it.
Rainbow Dash had reacted rather differently to Applejack. She had woken up in the morning to find Tank floating in the air, without any aid. He was still, unmoving. Rainbow gently poked him with a hoof, but nothing happened.
"Huh. That's not normal," Rainbow shrugged. She assumed that Tank had probably just found a way to fly. It wouldn't have been abnormal for her, considering recent events. Preparing to fly out of the window, she wondered why she even had a door. It never got used.
Her wings extended to their full capacity, and with a small run-up and a few gentle flaps, she was off. Her destination was Sweet Apple Acres, where she was pretty sure she could get a quick breakfast, ensuring that she would have the maximum amount of flight time.
Glancing up at the sun, Rainbow deduced that it was early morning. It was far earlier than it normally was when she woke up. Today was just getting weirder and weirder. Perhaps she was still dreaming. That would explain a lot here.
As she neared Sweet Apple Acres, Rainbow heard somepony shouting loudly and - going by the rather colourful language being used - rather angrily. Diving in closer, she discovered that Applejack was the source of the commotion, and swooped in to greet her.
"Incoming!" Rainbow shouted down to Applejack, who paused her rant to look up, and promptly run out of the way. Rainbow crashed unceremoniously in to the ground; rolling a short distance and colliding with an apple tree. She groaned, waiting for the inevitable rain of apples to come crashing down on to her.
Of course, this didn't happen. Rainbow Dash coughed, as if attempting to bring the apples down through sheer willpower alone. But still, there was nothing. She opened her eyes tentatively, and saw Applejack standing a short distance away from her, smirking.
"Ya ain't gonna get attacked by mah apple trees today Rainbow," she put a hoof out towards Rainbow, who accepted it and was pulled up on to her hooves.
"Huh. That's odd. The apples gone from your trees or something?" Rainbow looked up, and saw that that particular apple tree was as full of apples as ever. Clearly there were greater forces at work here. She searched her mind for something that could be preventing the apples from falling, and could only think of one thing..
"AJ! Your apples have been replaced by changelings! Quick, help me get 'em down!" Rainbow lowered herself, preparing to take off and destroy the malicious apples. No foe was too great for Rainbow Dash, and she could be sure that no fruity changeling would defeat her.
Her resolve came crashing down as hard as she did when she crashed in to the apple tree for a second time, and found herself in another meeting with the floor.
"Drat! I have been defeated..." - she raised a hoof in to the air, and coughed loudly - "... Go on without me AJ! This enemy is clearly too powerful for me!" Rainbow Dash's eyes fluttered slowly, before closing. She let out a small groan of pain, twitched slightly, and was still.
Applejack stood over Rainbow Dash's 'body', her eyebrows raised. Sometimes she attempted to reproduce Rainbow's thought patterns, but this generally ended in confusion and a slight headache.
"Git up Rainbow! There ain't no changelin's, there ain't no enemies here, and there sure as hay ain't no villainous apples !" She pulled Rainbow in to a standing position, and lightly punched her on the shoulder.
"Honestly, sometimes ya can be so silly Rainbow," Applejack rolled her eyes, and walked off in the direction of the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres. She heard a soft groan behind her, followed by the flapping of wings.
"But...but... the apples!" - Rainbow leaned in close to Applejack, whispering in fear - "They didn't move! Explain that to me AJ! Explain it!" She grabbed Applejack by the shoulders, and shook her violently.
"Ah will, if y'all would give me a chance to!" Pushing Rainbow off of her, she stepped back, and cleared her throat.
"Now, ah ain't sure here, so take this with a grain o' salt. Basically... time's stopped. Ah can't put it more bluntly'n that. Ah know it sounds silly, but it's the only thing ah can come up with right now." She frowned, expecting Rainbow's inevitable laugh, and accusations of insanity.
Which is why she wasn't surprised when Rainbow shrugged and nodded. After all, today had defied many of her expectations.
"Yeah, I can believe that. Makes more sense than changeling apples now that I think about it... hehe," she ran a hoof through her mane, giggling slightly.
"So, we gonna kick some evil time-stopping flank or what?" Rainbow flew in front of Applejack, attempting to strike a pose while flying. It didn't work, and Applejack was left wondering if Rainbow was constipated or something.
"Well, first we gotta figure out who caused this darn mess in the first place," Applejack said, while thinking to herself. Anypony - or anything - who could do this would have to be pretty strong. They'd have to have ridiculous powers to be able to manipulate time itself, and they'd have to be evil. Nothing really came to mind when Applejack thought about it.
"Hey AJ, you think Discord could have done it? I mean, I know he's reformed and all, but you never know with him..." Rainbow stopped flying, and started walking alongside Applejack. Discord may have seemed reformed, but perhaps he had decided to get revenge. She was about to speak in agreement with Rainbow's point, when she was interrupted by a voice from up in a nearby tree.
"Why, I'm hurt at the accusation! I would never do such a thing!"
Oh, horseapples.
Applejack groaned, and prepared herself for one of two things.
Either she or Rainbow Dash would be engaged in a fight against Discord, or they would have to have a thoroughly infuriating conversation in an attempt to work out what had happened.
The first option didn't appeal to Applejack, as she would have to: Find her friends - assuming they weren't frozen as well - and convince them that time was frozen and that Discord was behind this, convince Fluttershy to use her element in order to encase the 'reformed' Discord in stone, go and get the Elements of Harmony from Twilight's Library, find Discord, and finally, defeat him again.
The second option appealed to Applejack even less. Conversations with Discord tended to be incredibly tedious, and they made no sense to her whatsoever.
Steeling herself for something ridiculous, Applejack spoke.
"What the hay are ya doin' in mah apple tree Discord? An' more importantly, why in the name of Celestia is time frozen? " Applejack attempted to make her voice sound calm, but it somehow came out as a yell of anger. The stress was getting to her more than she thought, it would seem. She turned around, reared her back hooves and attempted to buck Discord out of the tree.
"Dear me Applejack, I thought you'd have caught on by now that that just won't work!" He slid down the tree, a smug grin on his face. Standing in front of Applejack and Rainbow Dash, he coughed loudly before speaking.
"So, you want to blame me? Well, as much as I may have done such a thing before, you seem to be forgetting that I was reformed by the 'magic of friendship '," Discord's voice dripped heavily with sarcasm.
"Hah, like we're supposed to believe that! You totally just pretended to be reformed so you could do all your evil time stopping... stuff! I'm on to you!" She edged close to Discord, and poked a hoof in to his face, her eyes narrowed. He yawned, rolling his eyes.
"While I'm honoured that you think I could be so very chaotic as to stop time itself, you're missing three rather major points." Discord smiled sweetly, in an attempt to look innocent. Applejack wondered if he was constipated or something.
"And these three points are?" Applejack questioned.
"Why, what a good question Applejack!" Discord put on a more serious expression, preparing for his defense.
"Firstly, as I already mentioned, I'm reformed! As much as it may surprise you - and it surprises me more - I treasure my friendship with Fluttershy far too much to just throw it away like that! After all, friendship is magic!" He paused for a small breath before continuing.
"Secondly, while I may be the embodiment of chaotic power itself, I'm afraid that I'm not strong enough to stop time itself. Why, the oh so great Princess Celestia herself was unable to do such a thing! If I could freeze time at will, don't you think I would have just done that before you defeated me with your magical rainbow friendship beams?" Rainbow giggled slightly at 'magical rainbow friendship beams'.
"Thirdly, and most importantly, something about this little conundrum is cancelling out my powers of chaos! Just take look at this!" Discord snapped his fingers, and a nearby lampost wobble feebly, before falling over. Discord placed a paw to his forehead, before crashing to the ground.
"Oh, what is a draconequus to do!" Discord began rolling around on the ground, making faint crying sounds. Applejack thought nothing of it, which, she admitted to herself, was slightly worrying. Perhaps she was just growing used to this insanity by now, much like how she had built up a tolerance to physical pain from years of farmwork.
Rainbow walked next to Applejack, her body shaking from hysterical laughter.
"This is amazing! Just look at this guy!" She wiped her brow with a hoof, still giggling madly.
"The great and mighty Discord reduced to a crying baby! Hah! Embodiment of chaos, destroyer of Equestria, complete wuss!" Her laughter was infectious, and Applejack couldn't help but join in. Soon the two found themselves rolling on the floor, crying from laughter, while a disgruntled Discord picked himself up, brushed himself off, and stood in front of them, frowning.
"If you two are quite done, I believe we have business to attend to. I, for one, would like to sort this mess out, and regain my beautiful chaotic powers!" Applejack smirked and chuckled quietly, but stopped laughing. Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, was paralysed with laughter, completely unable to get up.
"We could be here fer a while... ah suppose y'all should tell me what happened to ya," Applejack gestured for Discord to speak.
"Well, it all started this morning..."
As you might expect, I started the day by waking up. Incandescent rays of sunlight beamed in through the hazy glass panes of the window to my nature-filled room, streaming in to my shining golden orbs!
"What the hay was that?" Applejack's jaw was wide open.
"Why, it was my glorious storytelling! Do you find it to be too loquacious for your liking?" Discord smirked.
"Fine, I shall speak in a manner that even you can understand..."
Me wake up in Fluttershy's house. Big yellow ball in sky bright. Me go downstairs. No see Fluttershy or Angel bunny rabbit. Me confused.
Discord was quickly cut off when he was punched in the face by an orange hoof.
"Fine, fine, message recieved. I'll switch to a different method of storytelling."
You wake up one morning in Fluttershy's cottage, and go downstairs. Looking around, you notice that both Fluttershy and her rabbit friend, Angel, are missing. This is rather odd, considering the fact that they are always awake this time of the morning, and you can't remember a time when this wasn't the case. You decide that you have one of two options; either you can go upstairs and check on your friends (In which case, go to page 63), or you can wait for them (In which case, go to page 42)
This didn't go down well with Applejack either, and she glared at Discord.
"Can y'all just speak in a way that ah can understand fer once, and stop being so darn stupid?" Discord nodded.
"Why, most certainly..."
Ah woke up one darn-tootin' cotton-pickin' mornin' in mah friend Fluttershah's cottage. Ah went down the stairs, and was plum surprised when she weren't there. Mah simple farmin' mind couldn't cope with this, as all ah know 'bout is apples, so ah cried in a corner for 3 hours, which was okay 'cause it were dawn. After mah little sobbin' session, ah went to check on mah farmin' buddy Fluttershah, 'cause ah was a good friend like that.
A strong kick to the stomach saw Discord being thrown to the floor, shouting in pain.
"Ah swear, if y'all don't speak normally, yer head'll be shoved so far up your tail that the only adventures y'all are gonna have'll be in yer intestines! Ya understand me?"
Discord let out a sigh of exasperation, and nodded glumly.
"Very well, let's try this again..."
I woke up one morning in Fluttershy's cottage. I went downstairs and she wasn't there. You know this, don't you? Anyway, I went upstairs, and crept in to her room, being careful not to disturb her, as it appeared she was sleeping. However, being such a good friend, I noticed that it was past the time she normally woke up, and took it upon myself to wake her up, by violently grabbing and shaking her. This didn't work. I attempted to cure her with my marvellous powers of chaos. This didn't work either. Remaining calm and rational, I deduced the best plan of action, and reacted like any normal citizen.
I ignored the plan and ran out of the cottage shouting at the top of my lungs for help. The first place that I thought to visit was your dear friend Twilight Sparkle's library, as she always seems to have some sort of sensible solution. Kicking down the door, I walked in to see her standing in the centre of the room, horn alight, apparently midway through a spell. Yes, it seemed as if she, alongside her assistant Spike, was similarly frozen. I dashed all around Ponyville, but it appeared everypony had suffered a similar fate.
All hope was lost, I thought to myself, when out of the blue comes a polychromatic burst in the sky, heading towards Sweet Apple Acres! I ran towards it, and arrived here. Then we had a conversation in which you accused me of causing this fiasco. I then explained to you why I couldn't have done this, which made your friend laugh hysterically. Then you asked me to tell you this story, a request which I happily obliged to. And thus, we're here, in the present.
Discord bowed, smiling broadly. Rainbow and Applejack just laughed loudly.
"Y'all ain't too good at storytellin', are ya?" Applejack giggled, and Rainbow nodded. Discord groaned, wondering why he even bothered putting up with this.
"Oh for the love of... that doesn't matter, you foals! Time has frozen, and I've lost my powers! Your other elements of harmony are stuck, and somehow you two aren't! This is serious business!" Discord raised his arms in to the air angrily.
"Well, don't worry. We got all the time in the world." Applejack smirked. Discord muttered something under his breath, and turned to leave.
"Well, I intend to sort this mess out, whether you're coming with me or not." He walked along the path towards the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres purposefully.
Applejack looked over at Rainbow Dash, who merely shrugged.
"We might as well follow him... we haven't got any better options." Applejack nodded, and so the two set off to follow the Draconequus, in an attempt to restore the flow of time.
Octavia had somehow found herself in a rather strange position, merely an hour after waking up. She was clinging on to her cello for dear life as it hung in midair, refusing to move from a spot above her chair. This annoyed her immensely. All she wanted to do was practice a song, was that too much to ask?
Apparently so.
Her attempts at making breakfast had been similarly disastrous, leaving her kitchen a mess with ingredients floating everywhere. Octavia knew this wasn't normal, not even in a place such as Ponyville, where disaster is always around the corner. Sighing, she steeled herself and let go of the infuriating instrument, landing on the floor with a loud 'thud'.
Her mood wasn't improved when her door was opened by the embodiment of chaos himself, who proceeded to collapse in to fits of laughter for around five minutes, with no signs of stopping.
Sometimes you just know when it's going to be one of those days.
"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.
Applejack was rather confused. Merely a few hours ago she had awoken with her biggest concern being whether or not she would be able to buck all of the apples in the south orchard. Now she was on a journey to Canterlot with Discord in order to restore the flow of time. If she had a choice, she wouldn't have been alone with him, but Rainbow Dash and Octavia had decided to go round to the other side of Canterlot to check if the princesses were there. This meant they had to diverge quite early on, leaving Applejack alone with Discord.
It would have been fine if he didn't insist on making conversation with Applejack.
"So then, how are things with your marefriend?" Discord smiled sweetly.
"W...what? Ah don't have a marefriend!" Applejack leapt back, confused.
"Oh, really? Not even your little polychromatic friend? You could cut the romantic tension between you two with a blunt knife! Or is it perhaps little Rarity? Imagine the fun you two could have together! She could put you in her fashion shows, and you could drag her around the farm!" Discord laughed loudly at the expression on Applejack's face, which was a cross between fury and horror.
"Hold on, even if ah did have a crush on somepony, which ah don't , why the hay does it gotta be a mare?" Applejack thought about shaking a hoof at Discord angrily, but this would have made walking difficult, so she settled with an angry glare.
"Why, isn't it obvious? The only stallion I've seen in ponyville thus far is that brother of yours, and while I understand you and your family are close, I find it difficult to believe that you could be that close!" He sniggered as Applejack blushed strongly.
"Who ah'm interested in don't matter! Why'd ya even ask?"
"Oh, just taking a general interest. Romance appears to be some sort of popular subject amongst you ponies. Can't say it's ever appealed to me, being the last of my kind and all, bla bla bla," Discord waved his paw in the air nonchalantly. "Most ponies don't seem to have this strong of a reaction. Hmm, what could it possibly be?" He scratched his chin with a claw, pretending to think deeply. "Oh ho ho, I think I've got it! Why, the only pony you could possibly have a crush on, the only one dashingly handsome, intelligent and suave enough to garner your attentions!" Applejack stared at him bluntly.
"Who in the hay are ya talkin' bout?"
"Well, when I say pony..." Discord put an arm around Applejack, grinning smugly. "... I really mean draconequus !" Applejack nearly fainted. She turned a pale shade of orange, and stammered, attempting to speak.
"Oh, but I'm sorry, dear Applejack, for this bachelor is off limits! You just aren't my type, you're far too... normal. I can't say I blame you for experiencing these feelings, as even I can't resist myself sometimes!" Discord giggled madly as Applejack's mouth dropped open, and a faint 'squeaking' sound came out.
After a few moments, she regained her composure, and snapped her jaw back in to it's rightful place. If anypony had been in the fields that the pair were travelling in, they would probably have heard a shout of pure hatred.
"Discord, ah'm gonna buck you so hard!"
"Ooh, but we haven't even had our first date!"
"So, what do you propose we do about it?"
"I dunno... I wasn't expecting this. Not a normal thing, is it?"
"No, it's not like anything I've encountered. You don't tend to see them when you're playing classical music in Canterlot."
"Nothing I've seen in Wonderbolts training..."
The two mares stared at the obstacle preventing them from reaching their goal. Canterlot Castle was right there, barely 100 metres in front of them, but they couldn't reach it. All had seemed okay at a glance, but when Rainbow Dash had attempted to fly the short distance, she found herself crashing to the ground, for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. Her immediate idea was to attempt to buck it down, but Octavia refused to let her do that.
So Rainbow Dash and Octavia tried to work through a few plans in their head. Rainbow Dash's first idea went along the lines of this:
Explosions
"Explosions?" Octavi asked, attempting not to punch Rainbow. Rainbow nodded, grinning widely.
"That's it? Nothing else? Just.. 'explosions'?" Octavia was praying to Celestia that this was some form of joke.
"Yup, great plan right?" Rainbow pumped her hoof, shouting something about awesomeness. Octavia wasn't paying any attention to it, being too busy with her utter fury at Rainbow Dash's stupidity and lack of planning skills. Some ponies might have said that she was going a bit overboard, but Octavia firmly believed that there were times when planning was necessary, and this was one of them.
"Oh, so you don't think it might be missing something?" Rainbow looked at her quizzically.
"Like what?" She shrugged, smiling sheepishly. It was at this point that something inside of Octavia snapped, sending her in to a fit of rage.
"Oh, I don't know? How about EVERYTHING? Where do you intend to get these explosions from? Do we know if the explosions will even work on this barrier? Why me? What to do you know of explosives anyway? How do you think they'll work when time is frozen ? How will we activate them remotely? Will they cause any damage to the surrounding area? What would the princess think? Are you insane? What makes you think explosives are the best solution? Where will we get the safety gear to protect ourselves? What the buck is wrong with you? Why explosives anyway? How big will the explosions be exactly? Is that your natural hair colour? Who was phone? What am I fighting for? C4 or TNT? Dynamite or Grenades? Incendiary or non-incendiary? To be or not to be? Did you think about ANYTHING?" Octavia screamed, unsure if half of the things she just asked were even valid questions. Rainbow backed off slowly, running a hoof through her mane.
"Um, I guess I could come up with another idea..." She scratched her chin with a hoof thoughtfully.
Magic
"...You have five seconds to run away." Octavia growled. Rainbow just giggled, assuming this was a joke.
"Five."
"Four."
"Three."
"Two.
"One."
"Zero." Rainbow was about to burst in to laughter, when she found herself being kicked in the side. Normally she would have been able to balance herself midair and gently fly back down, but she was caught off guard, and so flew straight in to the magical barrier.
And straight through it, to her surprise. It broke apart like a giant pane of glass, and the magical particles gently floated to the ground, before they faded out of existence, leaving Rainbow on the floor of a Canterlot road, her side bruised and her pride damaged.
"Well, that was easier than I expected. All we needed was an Element of Harmony." Octavia giggled.
"Urgh... if I weren't the Element of Loyalty I would be gone ! Stupid element..." Rainbow hit the ground with a hoof angrily.
"Such a shame you are, isn't it? Now hurry up, we need to get to the castle," said Octavia.
"I hate you, y'know that?" Rainbow glared at Octavia.
"Don't worry, the feelings mutual," Octavia smiled smugly, and walked down the street, humming 'Beethoofen's fifth' as she did so.
"Stupid loyalty..."
The shadows had converged again, and were gazing intently - well, as intently as something without eyes can gaze anyway - at the hourglass. It appeared that it wouldn't even need to do anything, and that these creatures would kill themselves before it did, and that was unacceptable. Still, it appeared that the shadow had nothing to worry about, as at the rate they were going time would be stopped permanently, which suited the shadow fine.
However, them dying before it destroyed them was not good, and so the shadow felt a little intervention was in order. Two smaller dark blobs split from the main shadow, and flew through the library in the direction of the door, heading for Canterlot. The main shadow remained in place, preparing itself.
He looked forward to seeing how the 'heroes' would deal with this. Perhaps they would pull through. Perhaps, underneath all of the fighting and stupidity, there were truly worthy foes who could perhaps challenge the shadow.
But, then and again, there might not be, thought the shadow as the two pairs of allies argued amongst themselves, and it saw the rainbow maned pegasus go flying through the air after a dazzling display of strength from the grey earth pony.
After a long and arduous journey - for Applejack, at least - she and Discord had reached Canterlot. Well, a small river outside of Canterlot anyway. The normally flowing water was completely still, and a fish was floating above the top of it. On both sides of the river were a few wooden planks, which protruded from the ground. These were the remains of the bridge which allowed ponies to reach Canterlot.
"Ain't that a surprise. The bridge's out," Applejack was fighting an increasingly strong urge to just jump in to the water. A two hour walk with Discord was enough to make anypony go insane. "So, what do we do 'bout it?" She asked.
"I don't know about you, but I have a very simple solution. You know how I said something had removed my powers?" Applejack nodded. "Well, what I didn't mention is that short range teleportation is a type of magic inherent in every magical being. So, have fun trying to cross!" He snapped his claws, and appeared on the other side of the river in a flash of yellow light. He placed his arms behind his head and laid down on the ground, a smug grin on his face.
Applejack sighed, beyond caring by this point. She would have sworn vengeance on Discord, but doing it for the twenty-fifth time she felt that it had lost it's meaning. Cursing under her breath, she set out to find a way to cross the river. Looking over at Discord, she heard him humming something to himself happily.
"My, my Applejack, having a little trouble finding a way to cross are we?" A mocking voice echoed in Applejack's ears, causing her to glare at Discord.
"Ah ain't in the mood fer teasin'. Just lemme find the stupid bridge, and shut up!" She shouted across the river, being sure to inject as much venom in to her voice as possible. Discord merely looked at her, confused.
"While I approve of any and all insults directed as you, I haven't said anything. Perhaps you're going insane, in which case, let me be the first to congratulate you and welcome you to the club!" He pulled out a small card from somewhere and threw it at Applejack. She caught it and glanced at it.
'Discord's Insanity Club!' , read a large, golden font on the front, while on the back was a picture of Discord grinning, and the words ''Chaos is supreme!' .
"Don't mess with me Discord!" Applejack shouted. He sighed, and snapped his claws. A 'bang' behind her and a sudden flash of light nearly gave Applejack a heart attack.
"There, now you can prove that I'm not messing with you. Happy?" He huffed.
"Oh, so very happy," Discord looked at Applejack, who in turn looked at Discord.
"Was that you?" They both asked in unison, before shaking their heads simultaneously.
"No, it was me," A voice echoed from the river, causing the pair to look ahead in shock, just in time to see a shadow rising from it. Well, not so much one shadow as a huge cluster of dark particles, which converged just above the broken bridge. The blob of darkness hung in the air menacingly, before letting out a deep laugh.
"Two points for presentation. Honestly, you made little to no effort! Where are the fireworks, the explosions? Where's the chaos ?" The shadow was cut off mid evil-laugh by a Discord who had pulled a clipboard from somewhere, and was writing notes furiously. "I mean, I assume your evil power is time control, as it's safe to assume that you're the one behind the mess, so you could have done something with that. Perhaps shadowy clocks? Honestly, villains these days just make no effort," Discord sighed, before placing the clipboard on the floor. "Please, continue. I can't wait for your villainous rant," He smiled, and motioned for the shadow to continue.
"Thank you. Now, as you have already figured out, I'm the villain in this little fairytale of yours. The one who froze time itself, and removed your powers of chaos." The shadows started seperating, dissapating in to the air, leaving the rough shape of a stallion who was slightly larger than Princess Celestia. "I'm a creature of shadow, a being born from time itself!" A flash of purple light surrounded the dark stallion, and when the light subsided Applejack could see a pair of piercing red eyes set in to the creatures head, with a menacing grin adorning it's face. Intricate patterns covered his body, and he was armoured around his legs and flank with a metal a few shades darker than his body.
"My name is Chronus, and I will bring your demise!" A large group of storm clouds converged over Chronus, before releasing a flurry of purple lightning bolts. Applejack was slightly anxious, until she heard a sigh from beside her.
"Well now this is just ridiculous! Honestly, while the underwhelming display of your entrance was weak, now it just feels like your compensating for something! It's like you have no experience with villainy at all!" He tutted, before writing a few more notes down on the clipboard he seemed to be able to summon at will. Applejack wondered if he kept it merely to comment on the failures of other villains. It wouldn't surprise her.
Chronus glared at Discord before continuing. "Are you quite done?" Discord nodded. "Good. So, as I have already mentioned, my name is Chronus, and I am the reason you are here on your little adventure. You and your two friends are the only four in the entirety of Equestria and beyond that have survived this, and that was by my will alone. Should you wish to continue your existence, then you will complete tasks set forth by me. Upon their completion, you will have earned the right to challenge me to a duel, and perhaps you will then be able to restore the flow of time. I doubt that you will win, however. Have I made myself perfectly clear?" Chronus looked at the two with an air of superiority, thinking that he had finally gained the upper hand. This smugness was cut short by a long and exasperated yawn from Discord.
"Oh, what now ? I didn't go too over the top, I wasn't too underwhelming, or overly loquacious! What could I possibly have done wrong?" He threw his hooves in to the air, causing a cluster of lightning to appear behind him, illuminating the black creature in a purple light.
"Well... I hate to be rude, but you've just gone and announced your attentions. You could have played around with it, kept us guessing, built up the tension! But no, you just went and spoiled the surprise. I didn't just go and tell the Elements of Harmony that I was going to turn their lives upside down, did I? No, I allowed them a tiny glimmer of hope, which made their crushing defeat all the sweeter." Discord covered Applejack's muzzle with a paw to stop the inevitable counter-argument. Chronus' eye twitched, and he growled in frustration.
"SILENCE!" He coughed loudly, and glared at Discord. "I have had enough of your nonsense! You aren't even a villain, you're just another mindless sheep converted by the 'magic of friendship'! Begone!" He waved his hoof, and with a purple flash and a sound of confusion, Discord was gone.
"Well, Miss Applejack... I guess it's just us, isn't it?"
Discord sighed, and glanced at his claws. He was quite used to banishment by now, so being stuck alone in a dark and unfamiliar place wasn't particularly perturbing to him. However, he was a little surprised when he saw a small patch of light in front of him, and was greeted by a familiar shape.
"Fluttershy? How did you of all ponies get here?" Discord was tempted to run forwards and hug her in joy, but he decided that would be too sappy and friendship-y, so he settled with a small smile.
"I am not the Fluttershy you know. I am merely a manifestation of your thoughts and morals." A soft voice came from the light and echoed through the darkness.
"Oh, you're just my conscience. How lovely, I get to talk to myself. Well, I suppose I am the most interesting thing I know," Discord said, with a bored frown on his face. He'd become far too used to talking to himself over the years of his imprisonment, and he knew the conscience like the back of his paw, so he was quite surprised when his 'conscience' started expanding and changing form in to a giant tentacled beast.
"Huh. That's new," was the last thing Discord said before he was knocked unconscious by a blow to the head.
In the corner of the darkness, Chronus sat and watched, a grin on his face. Oh, how much fun he was going to have messing with these ponies. He looked forward to seeing what he could achieve with Discord's friends.
Until then, he was happy to watch Discord fighting with himself. If Discord was conscious, Chronus was sure he would have approved of the chaos.
Applejack was worried. She wasn't worried because she had just seen a ghostly figure of Fluttershy turn in to an eldritch abomination and knock Discord unconscious.
No, Applejack was worried because that didn't seem to bother her in the slightest. Most ponies would have run away crying and screaming with their tail between their legs before you could say 'stop', and yet Applejack just stood there with a slightly puzzled expression on her face.
"You know, for all intensive purposes you should be in the fetal position right now." Applejack glanced over her shoulder to glimpse a pair of red eyes staring at her. She should have been more scared of Chronus, but recent events had shown that Applejack was apparently fearless.
"Yeah, Ah reckon Ah should be." Applejack expected to sound more angry, but the voice that came out was calm with just a hint of venom in the words.
"So then, why aren't you? I'm almost insulted. Am I not evil enough for your tastes?" Chronus dissapeared in front of her eyes, and rematerialized beside her, facing 'Flutterbeast' and the unconscious Discord. He sounded slightly hurt, although Applejack imagined that he was just playing it up, much like Discord.
"Ah don't know. Ah really wish Ah did, 'cause then Ah'd be sure whether Ah'm goin' insane or not, but right now Ah just think Ah've built a resistance t'this madness," Applejack said.
"Hm. How sad. You're no fun, you know that? There's nothing I can do with you... for now," Chronus spoke softly, which did little to put Applejack at ease.
"Y'know... if y'all're so darn powerful, how come Ah ain't never heard of ya before?" This was a question that had been bugging Applejack for some time now, as she figured that she would have heard of this all-powerful time controlling god beforehand if he were so great.
"Hm, good question. The simple answer is that I was just created a few hours ago. Or was it a few days? I always get those mixed up. The complicated, needlessly elongated answer is that I am an immortal creature of time itself and I have been around for aeons but my mortal form has only just been created in your timeline," He said absentmindedly, his thoughts apparently somewhere else. Looking in the same direction as Chronus, she saw that Discord appeared to be moving slightly, his eyelids fluttering open.
"Hush now, the draconequus wakes. Perhaps something interesting will happen with him," Chronus laughed quietly, clearly looking forward to future events. Applejack sighed, and considered attempting to attack him, but common sense told her that that was a bad idea. He would just dissipate before any damage could be done, and she'd be in a worse position than ever. The only thing she could do was grit her teeth and wait for the right time.
Well, on the bright side, it seemed that Applejack would have all the time in the world.
Discord yawned heavily, and raised a paw to his eyes, wiping them roughly. He looked around the room he had awoken in, confused. But after a few minutes of puzzled headscratching and defeated sighs, he remembered how he had gotten there.
"Oh yes. What was the name I thought of for that thing? Ah, 'Fluttercthulu', of course," Discord muttered to himself, before glancing around nervously. He had no desire to be attacked again. especially not by that thing.
"You're awake, I see," A voice echoed behind Discord, causing him to turn around and be greeted by a familiar pair of red pupils.
"Ah Chronus, I was just wondering when the great villain would arrive. It seems you turned up instead!" Discord laughed hysterically as Chronus' eyes narrowed in anger.
"Aren't we hilarious? You really shouldn't be laughing considering your current position," He waved a hoof towards the giant beast who had mysteriously reappeared during their conversation. "Perhaps you two should become better acquainted? I hear you know the pony I based that particular design on quite well." He laughed quietly, before disappearing in to the darkness.
"I'm starting to see how infuriating that is..." Discord said to no one in particular, before turning to face the current problem. He coughed to make himself known, and whimpered quietly when the giant creature started moving. This... thing had a mass of tentacles coming from every visible orifice, with yellow slime dripping off of them. Atop that mass of tentacles stood a small pile of goo with a few hundred spheres sitting inside of it, which Discord assumed were the creatures eyes - or perhaps brains.
I guess not every villain can be as incredibly handsome as me, thought Discord, as the creature shuffled to a stop, apparently facing him. He couldn't really tell which way was which with this thing.
He steeled himself for a fight that he probably wouldn't win, the calm expression on his face completely at odds with his urge to run away crying and screaming like a little filly.
"Bring it on!" He shouted, before running at Fluttercthulu, screaming like a madman.
He stopped immediately when the creature flew twenty feet in to the air, making a loud gurgling sound; but resumed his escape when he saw it was going towards him.
"Oh no, no no nononononono!" The creature crashed in to the floor repeatedly, and every time it did so it bounced back up, steadily gaining on Discord.
"How the hay can you FLY? I can't fly!" Discord looked to his wings, and let out a small sigh before bringing a claw to his face. "Ignore that, I can fly!" He began flapping his wings as quickly as he could, achieving liftoff mere seconds before the creature crushed him.
"Ha! Can't catch me now, can you? Who's the best villain - oh, right - it's me!" He put on his best smug grin and hovered in place just outside of the reach of the creature, who had skidded to a halt. The smug grin was immediately wiped off of his face when the laser beam narrowly avoided him. He turned around and flew away frantically, shouting angrily.
"Now you can fire LASERS? LASERS? Why in Equestria can you fire LASERS AND JUMP TWENTY FEET IN TO THE AIR? FLUTTERSHY CAN'T DO THAT... I think." Of course, Fluttershy was neither a giant tentacled monster or a villain, so the other inaccuracies were forgivable.
"I hate you so much, you know that?" Discord shouted over his shoulder while he fled. He had a feeling it was going to be a long day.
"It can shoot lasers? Are ye kiddin' me?" Applejack looked at Chronus incredulously. She'd seen some ridiculous villains, but this was just silly.
"I thought I'd give it something more interesting than tentacles. Lasers seemed like the obvious solution. Your friend Twilight Sparkle can shoot lasers, can she not?"
"Well, yeah... but she's all kinds'a powerful, 'specially when it comes te magic. That thing, on the other hoof... ah ain't even sure what that thing is!" She motioned towards the creature, who was bouncing after Discord, sending laser beams everywhere. It was almost comical.
"Well, if you had listened to Discord, or anything I said, you'd know that I took the form of that thing from his mind, so the ridiculous laser shooting lovecraftian horror is merely a reflection of his psyche. There's a certain comical irony to it, isn't there?"
"Ah suppose that's why it took the image o' Fluttershy. But why not just make somethin' evil te take him down, rather'n go te the trouble o' diggin' round in that messed up head o' his?" Applejack would never understand the minds of villains, and that was perfectly fine with her. If she started to think like those ponies then she'd know that she'd gone insane.
"Oh, I just felt that it was poetic justice. He nearly destroyed Equestria with his madness, and now that's the very thing that will destroy him. I'm sure you find it strange that I'm bringing justice to a former villain, no? Especially considering I'm something of an antagonist, at least by your standards. Well, nopony shall escape the wrath of Chronus, or to be more specific, nodraconequus." He sounded perfectly calm as he spoke, even while saying that nopony would escape his wrath, which disconcerted Applejack greatly.
"But anyway, while it was fun talking to you, I believe a little chat with your friends is in order. I'll be sure to say hello to them from you. Good luck with the creature, by the way," He let a short laugh, before dissapearing, leaving a few particles of shadow in his wake. Applejack didn't have much time to procrastinate, however, as the invisible walls protecting her from the beast sputtered out of existence, with a small 'poof'.
"Ah, horseapples."
Discord was beginning to wonder how much longer he could keep flying for. He winced in pain with every flap of his wings, and let out a small scream of terror with every narrow dodge of a laser beam. He had to find someplace safe to land, and fast. However, just as suddenly as it had started, the barrage of lasers stopped. Glancing over his shoulder nervously, he saw the creature change direction, clearly having found a new target. He hovered above the ground, before coming to a stop.
However, as soon as he found his balance on the floor, he was knocked over by a blur of orange. It stopped beside him, and dragged him to his feet.
"C'mon now, this ain't a time te rest!" Applejack shouted, before turning to face the creature, bending her back legs, and leaping on to it's head with some form of battlecry. She narrowly avoided a burst of lasers, before crashing down on top of Fluttercthulu.
"Oh, what the hay," Discord shrugged, before shrugging and running towards the beast.
Applejack turned around and bucked the creature in the face before it had the time to react, sending a large blob of glue flying through the air with a satisfying 'smack'. The spheres that had been contained in the slime flew on to the creatures back, colliding with it and exploding in a burst of energy. It screamed, and waved it's tentacles wildly, it's laser ammunition depleted. Lacking it's goo and main method of attack, the creature gurgled, and slowly but surely it's appendages began to stop moving, before the creature itself was still. Applejack jumped off, and pulled Discord away from Fluttercthulu as it collapsed to the ground.
The pair stood there, panting and covered in slime. They looked to each other, and back to the creature, before bursting in to raucous laughter at the whole ridiculousness of the situation. After a good few minutes of mad giggling, they picked themselves off of the floor, smiling.
"Ah still hate you, y'know that? Yer the reason we got dragged in to this mess in the first place," Applejack attempted to look stern as she spoke, but she found it difficult to keep the smirk off of her face.
"Oh, I wouldn't have it any other way. Now, perhaps we should find a way out of here?" Discord said, before walking towards a small beam of light a few feet in front of him. He stepped in to it, and disappeared, with Applejack following swiftly behind. When they reappeared, they found that they were on the other side of that river that they had been unable to cross earlier.
Of course, it seemed a little inconsequential after fighting a giant lovecraftian monster.
Rainbow Dash was enjoying her day less and less by the second. It was fine when she had awoken to see that time had stopped, and had gone along with Applejack to find the source of the problem. It was slightly worse when Discord had arrived, but still tolerable. Octavia tagging along wasn't great, but it was still okay. But being kicked through a magical force field in to the streets of Canterlot and having to walk behind the smug mare who kicked her? That was unacceptable! And now she was being dragged by her rear hooves towards Canterlot Castle by some evil shadow thing, as was Octavia.
"I hate you, Rainbow Dash." Octavia sighed, a frown on her face.
"What? How the hay is it my fault? You're the one that threw me through the stupid shield in the first place!" Rainbow cried, and she would have waved her hooved angrily if they weren't currently being held by Chronus.
"Yes, but you and your friends woke me this morning and dragged me along on your ridiculous adventure! If it weren't for you I'd still be at home, nice and relaxed with no idea that all of this nonsense ever happened!"
"You were hanging on to that stupid instrument of yours! If it weren't for us your hooves probably would've fallen off!"
"That can't even happen! At worst I would fall and mildly bruise myself!"
"It so can happen!"
"No, it can't! Science has proven that it can't, and you can't argue with science!"
"Who are you, Twilight?"
"I wish I was, so I could blast your stupid face off with magic!"
While the two engaged in a heated argument, Chronus merely frowned and continued on, his dark tendrils trailing behind him, the two ponies in their grasps. He didn't sign up for this. They were meant to be fighting him, not each other! He was finding it quite difficult not to take this personally. Applejack wasn't scared of him, Discord made fun of his techniques, and these two were just flat out ignoring him! Was he not evil enough for them? Well, they would fear him when they reached his destination, he was sure of that.
"Your mum's a stupid magic!"
"That makes no sense whatsoever!"
"You make no sense whatsoever!"
He hoped to Celestia that they would fear him, and stop the stupid insults!
"Your mum's a stupid insult!"
Rainbow Dash's eyes fluttered open slowly, and she attempted to bring a hoof up to them to rub them, only to find that her hooves were being held together by something.
Oh right, evil dark monster thingie, Rainbow Dash thought to herself, before groaning and looking around for Octavia. The grey earth pony snored softly in her sleep, and muttered something about bees and cellos. Rainbow didn't want to know what she was dreaming about.
Rainbow nearly jumped out of her fur when she heard someone shouting. "Wake up, you foal! I shall not be bested by sleep ! If I am to destroy you then you shall be awake!" A quick glance around the room showed Rainbow that their captor was the one shouting.
She yawned loudly and glared at the offender. "Dude, what's with the shouting? C'mon, I'm tired, at least let me wake up first..."
Chronus sighed, and released his grasp on the two ponies. Octavia was still asleep, and fell to the floor with a thud. Rainbow managed to right herself in time and stood looking angrily at Chronus.
Rainbow pointed a hoof at Chronus accusingly. "You!"
"Uh... me? I mean... Yes, it is I, the great destroyer of time itself, Chronus! I have come from the darkness to destroy you and all of Equestria, and I shall not be stopped! Fear me, for I shall be your demise!" He began to laugh, but he was interrupted by a long and tired yawn from Octavia.
"What did I miss? Did you summon any more evil shadow monsters, Rainbow Dash?"
"Seriously? You just woke up and the first thing you ask is 'did you summon any more evil shadow monsters'? No, I didn't, and also the current one is standing right in front of you! Why do you hate me so much?"
"Ahem," Chronus coughed as politely as he could to get the two ponies attention.
"Yeah yeah, gimme a minute here. Why are you so stuck up, Octavia? Why don't you get that stick out of your flank and come join us regular ponies here in Equestria?"
"You're a pegasus! How about you get your head out of the clouds long enough to think one rational thought?"
As the two mares argued, Chronus brought a hoof to his face slowly, and sighed. He was finding it quite difficult to be villainous when his victims were more afraid of each other than they were of him. With a small groan, he decided that the best course of action would be to wait the argument out.
"You wouldn't know intelligent if it jumped up and hit you in the face with your stupid cello!" Rainbow shouted, prompting Octavia to let out a small gasp.
"Oh no she didn't!" Chronus blurted out before he could stop himself. Rainbow and Octavia turned to face him, a look of confusion on Octavia's face, and a small smirk on Rainbow's. "Um... I mean... fear me?"
"When did you get here?" Octavia asked.
"Oh c'mon, I just told you that he was here, but you didn't freakin' listen! You're impossible!"
And just as soon as Chronus' moment of peace from the constant bickering had started, it ended again as the two mares resumed the arguing. Chronus decided to resort to more simple tactics. With a stomp of his hoof, and a flash of purple light, Rainbow and Octavia were frozen in time, and Chronus let out a sigh of relief.
"Time to get to my destination. I'm going to enjoy this!" Chronus smiled, before grabbing the two mares and teleporting away.
Canterlot Royal Throne Room
"Oh Princess Luna, whatever am I, the stupid, ugly and incredibly fat Princess Celestia, to do about this problem?"
"Oh Princess Celestia, I, the monumentally idiotic Princess Luna, doth not... knoweth-eth, for thou ameth to stupideth,"
"If only the incredibly handsome and brilliantly charming Discord were here to save us!"
"DISCORD! STOP PLAYIN' DOLLS WITH THE PRINCESSES!" Applejack shouted, before grabbing Discord and dragging him away from Celestia and Luna.
Discord frowned and attempted to escape from Applejack's grip. "But...but they're frozen! And you can't tell me you weren't considering doing it!"
Applejack and Discord had arrived in Canterlot after a short walk, and had gone straight towards Canterlot Castle. Now they were in the throne room, and any hope of getting the princesses to help was dashed when they saw that they, too, had been frozen. Discord had found this wildly entertaining, Applejack not so much.
"Where exactly are you dragging me off to anyway? Are you just going to leave the poor princesses alone and helpless?" Discord asked, attempting to look sympathetic. This attempt was completely runed by his mad giggling and broad smile.
"We're goin' te the Library. If there's anywhere that we can find a book te help us, it'll sure as hay be there. They gotta have somethin' on this 'Chronus' guy," Applejack explained, while Discord pretended he cared.
"Well, be sure to wake me up when you get there. I think I'll take a nice nap," Discord pretended to yawn loudly, before going in to a fit of exaggerated snoring.
"We're here," Applejack said, with a small laugh. She pushed Discord out of her hooves, sending him tumbling in to the centre of the library with a loud 'thud'.
Discord groaned and picked himself up from the floor, before dusting himself off with his paw. He knew this library quite well, much like he knew the entirety of Canterlot Castle. It consisted of two floors, the bottom floor being a lounge area filled with chairs and tables, and the first floor being filled with rows upon rows of bookshelves which towered to the glass ceiling. In the centre of the first floor stood a small golden hourglass which was held up by an ornately decorated golden stand.
"We'll head on up to the first floor and look fer a book on this Chronus guy. Gimme a holler if ya find anythin', okay?" Applejack said, before walking off with Discord trailing closely behind her.
When they reached the top of the staircase, they both walked towards the hourglass, Applejack having moved instinctively towards the centre of the room in awe of the amount of books, and Discord out of boredom.
"You stupid fat-faced jerk! Go back to Canterlot where you belong!" Discord and Applejack turned to face each other, and simultaneously shook their heads to indicate that they had no idea what was going on.
"We're in Canterlot, you plebian pegasus!" The shouts of the two ponies echoed throughout the library, and it didn't take too much of a guess to figure out who they came from. As the argument escalated, Discord and Applejack heard the shouts getting closer and closer, until they were at the top of the stairs.
"At least I can do something important. 'Ooh look at me, I'm Octavia and I can put a stick on some strings, la-de-da!'" A familiar polychromatic mane appeared, followed by a dark grey mane, and then a cyan pegasus and a grey earth pony.
Rainbow Dash let out a shout of frustration, before running ahead of Octavia. A frown marred her face, and her right eye was twitching slightly. Applejack ran forward and enveloped her in a hug before Rainbow noticed her, causing her to jump backwards.
"Argh, I'm being attacked, help me!" Rainbow screamed, before she noticed who her 'attacker' was.
"Rainbow! Y'aint bein' attacked! Ah'm just checkin' yer real!"
"By hugging me?"
"...Ah missed ya. Ah was stuck with... him!" She pointed a hoof at Discord, who was next to Octavia by the hourglass.
"You think you had it bad? Try being stuck with Octavia!" Rainbow shuddered slightly.
"Heh, Ah heard ya and her goin' at it like a pair o' little fillies. Honestly, what did she do ta make ya so mad?"
Rainbow went in to a long rant about Octavia while the mare in question spoke with Discord.
"So, you were attacked by a lovecraftian beast, you say?" Octavia asked, and Discord nodded. "Well, I must say I loved Lovecraft's works. A little on the unique side, but still very interesting reads.
"Seriously? That's what you took from this? You aren't bothered by the fact that I was attacked by a bouncing, laser shooting, tentacled beast, but you care about the fact that it's similar to a writer?" Discord put on a look of mock hurt, before laughing. "You really are the kind of mare I can understand!"
"For the lord of chaos, you're not so bad yourself. At least you're not as bad as that Rainbow Dash. That mare is impossible!" Octavia groaned, a grimace on her face. Discord went to speak, but stopped when he heard a small tapping sound.
"Do you hear that?" He asked Octavia, who shook her head.
"Hear what?" She asked, before pausing. "You mean that tapping?" Discord nodded while looking for the source of the noise.
"Either of you hear that?" He shouted over to Applejack and Rainbow, who turned to face him before walking towards him.
Rainbow listened intently for a few seconds before responding. "The 'tap tap tap'?"
"Hold on, Ah think Ah've found it. Come over te the hourglass fer a second," Applejack said, pointing towards the small golden hourglass. The rest of the group moved next to Applejack, and looked inside the glass. Two red dots hung mencaingly in the air, before they disappeared in a purple flash. The sound of laughter echoed through the library, and the three ponies and the draconequus looked up to see a familiar stallion hovering in the air, tendrils of shadow hanging behind him.
"It's so nice to see you all here," Chronus said with a devilish grin, "and now the fun can begin. Prepare for your demise!" He shouted, before shooting a barrage of darkness at the group.
Rainbow Dash's immediate reaction to this sudden attack was to grab Applejack and fly her out of the room in the quickest way possible. Unfortunately, this plan had two major flaws. Firstly, Applejack was an Earth pony, and thus did not take kindly to being picked up and carried in to the air.
Secondly, the quickest way out of the room was through the glass ceiling.
"Rainbow, Ah am not lettin' you drag me through that window! Put me down, fer the love'a Celestia!" Applejack screamed, closing her eyes and preparing for the inevitable crash.
"Sorry AJ, but there's no stopping on the Dash Express! Prepare for impact in 3..."
"No, no, nononono! Ah will buckin' kill ye Dash!"
"2.."
"When Ah'm done with ye yer wings'll be in yer flank!"
"1..."
"Oh sweet Celestia!" Applejack shouted, letting out a loud scream when Dash impacted with the glass ceiling, shattering it completely. None of the shards fell out of place, and the only way anypony could tell that the ceiling had been broken were the audible sounds of glass breaking, and the large Rainbow Dash shaped hole in the ceiling.
"Whoah, we survived! Awesome!" Rainbow let out a small shout of glee, and did a small loop in the air, prompting an angry shout from Applejack.
"Ya mean ya didn't know if we'd survive? And ya just went ahead and dragged me through that thing anyway? Ah hate you Dash!"
"Heh, I've been hearing that a lot today. Besides, I was like, seventy-five percent sure that we'd survive!" Rainbow smirked, looking down at Applejack with a smug grin on her face. She promptly stopped grinning when a bolt of shadow grazed her right flank, forcing her in to a sharp dive.
"You think you can escape just like that? Hah! Nothing escapes Chronus!" Applejack looked behind her to see Chronus charging through the air towards them on a carpet of shadow, firing beams of darkness at Rainbow Dash.
"Why the hay is Chronus talkin' bout himself in the third pony? Applejack thinks that's pretty darn stupid and obno... arrog... cocky!"
"Yeah, like 'the great and stupid Trixie!'"
"Well Chronus thinks Rainbow Dash and Applejack should just! Shut! Up!" Chronus punctuated the last three words with attacks, the third of which hit Rainbow's right wing, causing her to lose control and veer off course slightly.
"Whoah there Rainbow, Applejack's gettin' a bit sick! If Rainbow wouldn't mind puttin' Applejack on the ground, that'd be great!"
"Would Applejack stop talking about herself in the third pony as well? Rainbow Dash finds it a bit distracting!"
"Well now Rainbow Dash is doin' it, so why shouldn't Applejack?" Applejack shouted, her voice breaking slightly mid-sentence as Rainbow Dash banked up sharply to dodge a bolt of shadow.
"WOULD BOTH OF YOU JUST STOP IT? CHRONUS IS TRYING TO BE EVIL HERE!" Chronus roared, launching a barrage of dark magic, clipping both of Rainbow's wings, sending her tumbling to the ground. He laughed loudly, and chased after her, a devious smile on his face.
Discord's immediate reaction to this sudden attack had been to stare up at Chronus, and indulge in the chaos. He smiled at Chronus as he split in to two smaller forms (Chronus? Chronuses? Chronii? he thought), and as one of them turned and flew after Applejack and Rainbow Dash. The grin disappeared from his face when a blast of purple fire came rushing towards him. He let out a small 'meep' - while he had a higher resistance to things like this than normal ponies, the idea of being burned alive by dark magic did not appeal to him - and ran away, grabbing a startled Octavia and holding her above his head as he did so.
"Shoot her, not me! I'm too chaotic and handsome to die!" Octavia let out a small yelp of indignation as Discord continued to run through the halls of Canterlot Castle.
She sighed, this was what she got for remaining behind with the Lord of Chaos, she supposed. "Oh, and here I thought you were going to rescue me or something kind and considerate like that. How silly of me to trust one of my allies, right?"
Discord ran gracefully through the halls of Canterlot Castle, or as gracefully as a creature with two mismatched legs could. He switly dodged the incoming attacks from Chronus, moving Octavia around from arm to arm in order to keep his balance. They came to a set of stairs, and rather than being weighed down by her, Discord decided to throw Octavia up the stairs and catch her at the top. She shouted indignantly, obviously unable to appreciate the pure genius of Discord's idea.
"Oh, stop crying. It was a brilliant idea and you know it!" Discord ducked round a corner suddenly to dodge a sudden blast of shadow from behind. Octavia let out a small yelp when Discord threw her in to his claw while turning.
Discord giggled maniacally at Octavia's outburst. "What in Equestria is so funny?" Octavia asked, shouting to be heard over the sound of explosions of dark magic fired out by Chronus.
"This!" Discord shouted, before turning around and throwing Octavia at their pursuer. She spun gracefully in the air, before crashing in to Chronus with a 'thud', and sending the two of them to the ground. He looked like he was about to disappear, but Discord ran over and grabbed him by his armour, in an attempt to prevent him from teleporting away. Octavia covered the rest of his body with hers, as she was unable to get up.
"I didn't sign up for this! I did not want to be dragged on an adventure to restore time! I didn't want to be forced to spend time with that stupid rainbow-maned pegasus! And I most certainly did not want to be thrown at the lord of time by the embodiment of chaos!" Octavia was far past her breaking point by now, and she was most certainly not going to put up with this anymore. She raised a hoof, and punched Chronus as hard as she could in the face.
"You seriously thought you could hurt a being of shadow covered in armour by punching him? Well, you really aren't hero material, are you?" Chronus smirked after he moved his head back in to position. Octavia growled, and hit him again. And again, and again, and - surprisingly enough - again. After a few hundred or so punches, her flurry of attacks slowed as she panted for breath.
"My my, you are a feisty one, aren't you?" Discord smirked - having discretely stood up during the attack, fearing for his life - standing over the furious mare.
Octavia glared at Discord lightly, before a small smile crept on to her lips, her anger having been vented and replaced by a strange sense of calm. The smile vanished when Chronus coughed gently, bringing Octavia's attention to him. "...That almost hurt. But I've tired of letting you have your fun, so I suppose I'll finish this up now,"
"Wait, wait. Are you saying that you can just teleport away at any time?"
"But of course. What, you really thought that you could pin down a creature made of time itself by grabbing him by the armour? You're more stupid than you look, if that's even possible," He laughed maniacally. Octavia jumped up and attempted to run away, but before she could Chronus teleported away, taking her with him.
"Discord!" She screamed before dissipating in a puff of grey and purple smoke.
"Well... serves her right for being stupid enough not to get up, I suppose," Discord attempted to look nonchalant by standing with his arms behind his head while humming a small tune to himself. After a few seconds he paused, sighed, and started walking forwards slowly.
I'm going to rescue her, aren't I? Fantastic, this is Fluttershy all over again! Stupid friendship magic...
"Incoming!"
Funny, I don't recall thinking that,,, Discord looked around, confused, before he saw a blur of cyan and orange crashing down towards him, followed by a familiar purple haze. He threw himself to the ground just in time, narrowly dodging the three of them, who crashed unceremoniously on the ground in small pile, with Chronus sitting smugly on top.
"Ouch,... my wings..."
"Ah'm gonna kill ye Rainbow..."
"Chronus... um, I was victorious! Haha, you cannot escape my grasp now!"
"If ye wanted te win so badly, couldn't ye just freeze us and blast us with some of yer magics?"
"That would be boring. Villains live for smug gloating, and you can't really brag to somepony who's frozen in time. Honestly, you;d make a frankly awful villain," Chronus stepped off the two disgruntled ponies, and smirked at Discord. "And speaking of awful villains, it appears that Discord's here. But of course, I already knew that, considering I'm the one you were running from. Your friend is fine, by the way. She's just in another time, nothing special. A thousand or so years ago, to be precise."
Applejack stood up with a small groan, followed by Rainbow Dash. The two stood facing Chronus; Applejack panting tiredly, and Rainbow rubbing her sore wing with a hoof.
"Oh, I suppose all of you want to fight me now? Fine, I suppose I shall stick around and engage in a little combat with you. You won't win, I'm sure of that,"
He stood on his hind hooves, a cluster of dark magic behind him, ready to fire. Discord frowned and curled up his claw in to a makeshift fist, Applejack pushed down on her forehooves, ready to leap in to action, and Rainbow Dash put her hooves up, preparing to punch Chronus. He laughed quietly, and then shouted as he leapt in to action.
"Allons-y!"
He paused mid-attack. Funny, he wasn't expecting to say that.
He also wasn't expecting a blue police box to come crashing through the ceiling.
The Doctor was becoming increasingly worried with every passing second. The TARDIS was throwing something akin to a tantrum, and was completely refusing to work. Of course, it would have been helpful if he knew what was actually going on, but as it was he was forced to guess. There was some sort of temporal anomaly that was doing some considerable damage to time and space, and it had come out of absolutely nowhere.
The hooves weren't helping either. Throughout his life - all 1000 or so years of it - The Doctor had taken a decidedly human shape. There were some key differences, like the two hearts and the time machine shaped like a blue police box, but he still walked on two legs and had hands. But something went wrong, and now, for whatever reason, he was a pony. He'd adapted well enough, he'd even found a land full of talking ponies that needed saving so he could blend in, but there was no way of getting round the fact that the TARDIS wasn't designed for quadrepeds, let alone talking ponies.
Still, he coped. But now he was trying to press tiny buttons and move levers at very precise intervals with hooves, and that just wasn't working. There were a few hundred warning lights flashing on the console and throughout the entire TARDIS, and a siren was blaring far too loudly to inform the Doctor of the incoming danger, whatever it was.
"Oh for goodness sake! Will you just stop already? Nobody...uh, nopony deserves this!" He narrowly avoided a large volume of water crashing down from the swimming pool when the TARDIS rolled sideways. Crashing unceremoniously on the doors, he let out a small sigh, which became a scream when the doors were flung open, throwing him out and sending him tumbling to the ground.
Luckily, the TARDIS was inside a small room, and so the ground was barely a few feet away. The Doctor groaned, and pushed himself up on to four hooves, just in time to see the TARDIS dematerializing, and eventually fading away.
He ran towards where the TARDIS was, on the off chance that he could catch it, but it disappeared before he could reach it. "Oh no! Oh no, no no no! Don't go now!" Collapsing to the ground, he shouted in annoyance. He was stuck here - wherever here was - until the TARDIS returned, and who knew how long that would be?
"Do you intend to stay there for much longer?" He looked up to see a grey earth pony standing over him. She wore a pink bow around her neck, and her mane was styled neatly - well, neater than most manes The Doctor had seen. He stood up and faced her. Now that he could see her properly, she looked quite familiar. He eyed her up and down, and gasped lightly when he realized who she was. She raised an eyebrow quizzically, and raised the other one when The Doctor threw his hooves round her. He'd seen her face on the TARDIS' console when it went in to meltdown, alongside two other ponies and some other creature that he ecognised as Discord. He'd been there when he was imprisoned in stone, after all.
"Is there something wrong? And, more importantly, why did a blue box just teleport in to my room and drop you out of it? Are you perhaps connected to this time nonsense? Also, what in Equestria is your name? My name is Octavia, thank you for asking. Are you an assassin? Normal ponies don't just drop in like that, you know. I'm assuming you're not a normal pony?" The Doctor put a hoof to her lips to silence her, and she narrowed her eyes.
"No there's nothing wrong, I just recognized you from somewhere, the blue box is a time machine, and you were on it's console. It threw me in to your room because it was throwing a tantrum. What time nonsense are you talking about? I've seen a lot of time nonsense. My name is the Doctor - Doctor Whooves, as some ponies call me, nice to meet you Octavia. No, I'm not an assaassin, and before you ask, no I'm not a doctor - that's just my name. And no, I'm not a normal pony, I'm a Time Lord, a race of beings who can travel through time. Does that answer your questions?" Normally the Doctor lied to avoid having the awkward questions that tended to come with the truth, but he wasn't in the mood to make anything up. Besides, he was interested in what 'time nonsense' she was talking about.
"Hm. You know most ponies would be laughing at you right now in disbelief. But I suppose I'm not most ponies. Well then, Doctor, you say you're a time traveller?" He nodded his head. "But your time machine is gone for an indeterminate amount of time?" He nodded again. "Well, if you're going to be here for a while, I suppose I should inform you of this time nonsense. It's quite a long story, so you may want to sit down. The Doctor smiled and walked over to a cushion, sitting down on it. He was used to long stories, and it seemed that this mare was quite well versed with time nonsense, so he was sure that this would be an interesting story.
Octavia told him about the morning that she awoke to find her cello floating in the air, and the madness that led to her being dragged through time with Chronus. A few hours later she awoke to find herself here; which just so happened to be about a thousand years in her past. She'd managed to convince the Princess of her predicament, and had been granted a room in Canterlot Castle to stay in while the Princess and her current protégé - or former, to Octavia - Star Swirl, who hadn't grown his eponymous beard yet, figured out a spell to send her back to her time. Octavia had been stuck in the past for almost two years, and there was still no progress on the time travel spell, which she supposed made sense. After all, if it had been made, she would have known about it in the future. Octavia hated the laws of time travel.
Still, she supposed, it could have been worse. The ponies here had been nice enough to her, and she didn't have to deal with Chronus or Rainbow Dash while she was here. But she couldn't deny that she missed her own time, even with all the insanity it seemed to bring her.
When she had finished telling her story, the Doctor frowned. "Chronus? Can't say I recognise the name, but there have been some disturbances in the flow of time lately. Guess I know what caused the TARDIS to throw a tantrum. She can't have liked this Chronus guy freezing time on an entire planet and then throwing you backwards by a thousand years. Hopefully she'll return soon. You might want to pack your things,"
"Why?"
"Because when the TARDIS returns we have to go back to the future. Well, your future. Someone elses past. You know the time travel drill," The Doctor smiled, before getting up from the cushion and wandering around Octavia's room.
"We can really return to my time? You're not lying?" Octavia was tempted to burst in to tears of joy right then and there, but her previous experiences with time travel had made her rather cynical. The Doctor nodded while looking around the bedroom. Octavia was hesitant to believe him, but the fact that he had burst in to her room from a teleporting blue box and his knowledge of time travel gave some credence to his story, so she grabbed a suitcase from underneath her bed and began furiously packing, taking everything she thought she'd need. She didn't take any clothes or essentials, as she had enough of those in her house in the future - or was it present? Instead she took her large collection of mementos that she had accrued during her two years of living in Canterlot Castle. Perhaps she would return some day, but she doubted it. Though considering her previous experiences, she wasn't saying that it would be impossible.
"Aha!" Octavia looked over and saw The Doctor grinning widely, before she heard a 'whirring sound', and saw patches of blue begin to materialize in the corner.
"You ready Octavia?" He gestured to the box that had appeared. She took a last look around her room. One day she would return to say her goodbyes, but right now she had a future... present to save. She nodded, and stepped in to the box after The Doctor, not even flinching when she realized that it was larger on the inside.
She had time to kill - literally. Chronus was not going to be surviving when she was done with him.
When the TARDIS crashed through the ceiling, quite a few things happened simultaneously. Everypony reacted differently, and there were varying levels of confusion on everyponies faces.
Chronus didn't have much time to do anything, as he found himself crushed underneath the blue box, which seemed to be radiating a large amount of time energy.
Applejack promptly ran up to the box and kicked it as hard as she could; not wanting to take any chances with mysterious objects by this point. All she got from this was a slightly more injured leg and a confused glance from Chronus, who looked up at her from underneath the box.
Rainbow Dash attempted to fly away, but then she remembered that her wing was slightly injured, so she settled with a slightly cool pose and hover instead.
Discord smirked in glee at all the chaos. A mysterious blue box coming out of nowhere and crushing the villain was certainly one of the more unique things he'd seen, and he had to applaud whoever came up with the idea.
The Doctor and Octavia burst out of the doors of the TARDIS, and The Doctor ran to the back of the blue box to find Chronus crushed underneath it, while Octavia stood with a small smile on her face, only just realising how much she'd missed all this insanity, despite all the silliness and danger.
Then all of them realised what had just happened. They looked at Octavia and The Doctor in confusion, and Octavia couldn't blame them for it. Even with all the madness of that day, this still wasn't a normal thing to happen. She quickly rushed over to them, grinning, and began excitedly telling them her story. She wasn't even bothered by Rainbow Dash, which surprised her. Perhaps two years in the past had changed her more than she thought.
The Doctor, meanwhile, strolled over to Chronus, and looked down at him.
"Go ahead, gloat. I know who you are, I've felt you messing around in the timestreams. What are you going to do, destroy me? You can't destroy a creature made of time, genius. Can't lock me up either, I'll just escape. I almost pity your incapability," Chronus glared at The Doctor, who grinned and called over the small group who were talking excitedly on the other side of the hall.
"Oh, but I can defeat you, quite easily in fact," he laughed, ushering Octavia and her friends in to the TARDIS.
"And how do you intend to do that exactly?" Chronus asked.
"You'll find out in the future. Or will it be the past?" The Doctor waved one last time, and stepped in to the TARDIS, a plan in his mind.
He was going to cause a time paradox.
"Bigger on the inside? Goodness, you seem to have as much of a grasp on chaos as I do!" Discord sniggered as he walked around the interior of the TARDIS, gently poking all of the buttons that he came across, causing The Doctor to run over and push him away from the console.
"Don't touch those! They're very... timey... wimey... okay, I don't know what they do, but it could be serious!" He shouted, frowning as Discord giggled madly. Octavia glared at him, and he put on a look of mock hurt.
"Why, I obviously know what I'm doing, I'm saddened that you think I , Discord, would break anything!" He smiled innocently, but Octavia and The Doctor just stared blankly in return. "Nopony appreciates my humour here I guess. Everyponies a critic!" He raised his arms in to the air and walked off.
The Doctor shrugged and returned to the console, preparing to pilot the TARDIS. Octavia, not willing to sit there and watch The Doctor pretend he knew what he was doing, walked after Discord. It was either talking to him, or joining in on Applejack and Rainbow Dash's conversation, and although her disdain for Rainbow had subsided recently, she would still rather not talk to her if at all possible.
Discord sat at the top of the stairs leading to the second floor of the TARDIS, humming a small tune to himself. Octavia went and sat next to him, smiling when she recognised the song.
"Beethoofen's fifth. Not a bad choice, although I must say it wasn't my favourite of his works. You know, during those two years I met Beethoofen. I even helped him write that particular song." She smiled sadly as she remembered those meetings. She remembered how she nearly fainted when she first met Beethoofen in the past, being unable to believe that she'd met one of her idols.
"Oh, don't tell me you're going to get all sappy on me now!" Discord laughed gently, but stopped when he saw the look on Octavia's face. "...You miss them, don't you?" Octavia close her eyes, then nodded slowly. Discord paused for a few seconds, unsure of how to handle the situation. "Okay, I'm going to be a little boring here for a few seconds, so I apologize in advance. Listen Octavia, I'm immortal, so you might think I can help you deal with things like this, but I can't. I didn't have any friends until I met Fluttershy, and even now I have trouble with this. But you're the only likeable pony I've met since Fluttershy, so let me make you a deal. I'll help you get back there for however long you need; whether through magic or by tracking down this Doctor guy. But in exchange, I want you to promise me that you'll either say goodbye forever to all your friends there, or you'll stay there forever." He stood up and turned to walk back down the stairs, but stopped when Octavia asked him a question.
"...I'll think about the deal. But what in Equestria brought this on? I never had you pinned down as the sappy type," Discord turned and rubbed the back of his head with a paw.
"I suppose all this time being frozen nonsense has made me appreciate the magic of friendship . Urgh," He said, before walking off, leaving Octavia with her thoughts.
The Doctor stood atop the stairs, and looked down at the collection of ponies - and the draconequus - standing before him. In his mouth he held four red scarves, which he threw down to the group.
"I need you to put these on before we do anything else," They looked at him, confused, but shrugged and wrapped the scarves around their necks. "Good. Right, this plan is a little bit complicated, but just bear with me for a second. Okay, so, Chronus is a creature of time itself, and so nothing we can do will hurt him right? Wrong! The only way we can defeat him is by messing with time itself, and that means a time paradox, or something along those lines. We need to make time so angry that it weakens Chronus, letting us capture, or - if worst comes to worst - kill him," Discord giggled with glee, approving of any form of chaos. The other three glared at him, and he put on a sheepish grin.
"When the TARDIS lands, we need to jump out pretty much immediately, we can't afford to waste any time. When you get out, go to your counterpart from that time and whisper to them something only you would know, to gain their trust. Then we need to split up - preferably with your past counterpart in tow - and lead Chronus to the Canterlot Throne Room, where we should be able to defeat him. Then, if everything goes well, we should be returned to our own timeline,"
"And if it doesn't?" Discord asked.
"Then we'll probably explode in a giant ball of painful time energy," The group looked at each other, and shrugged simultaneously. "Everypony ready?" The Doctor asked, and the three ponies and the draconequus nodded. "Good, because the TARDIS is going to land in a few seconds. Get to the doors, and jump out on my command!" He and the others ran to the doors of the TARDIS and prepared themseves to leap out.
"Hold on, Ah think Ah've found it. Come over te the hourglass fer a second," Applejack said, pointing towards the small golden hourglass. The rest of the group moved next to Applejack, and looked inside the glass. Two red dots hung mencaingly in the air, before they disappeared in a purple flash. The sound of laughter echoed through the library, and the three ponies and the draconequus looked up to see a familiar stallion hovering in the air, tendrils of shadow hanging behind him.
"It's so nice to see you all here," Chronus said with a devilish grin, "and now the fun can begin. Prepare for your demise!" He shouted, before preparing to shoot a barrage of darkness at the group. He stopped, however, and looked around curiously.
"What in Equestria is that noise?" He askd, looking at the group assembled before him, who began listening intently.
"Ya mean the whirrin' sound?" Chronus nodded, looking around for the source of the noise. He managed to pinpoint it as coming from outside the ceiling of the library, and he flew up there to investigate. "Hmph, it stopped. Okay, demise time. Bla bla bla, I'm going to kill you, etcetera." He said, before shouting "Allons-y!"
"Wait... that wasn't me," He looked around for the source of the shout, only to be thrown to the floor by a blue box flying in through the ceiling of the library. It landed, and four ponies and a draconequus jumped out, red scarves wrapped around their necks. They jumped out and ran towards the current group who were watching in a mix of confusion and entertainment. They found themselves becoming even more confused when they realised that their mysterious saviours were in fact, them.
Rainbow Dash was the first to reach her counterpart from this timeline, and she promptly whispered something in the other Rainbow Dash's ear which caused her to blush furiously before smiling. "So you're me huh?" Past-Rainbow asked, a lot of ideas running through her head about the possibilities that arose from having two Rainbow Dashes.
"The one and...uh, well, not one and only, but you get the idea..." She hovered in the air and bumped Past-Rainbow's hoof against hers, grinning widely.
Applejack was the second one to reach her other version, and she mumbled something to her counterpart, which made the other Applejack nod, before eyeing up her doppelganger. "Guess we gotta figure out some sorta namin' system huh? How 'bout ah'm Present-Applejack and yer Future-Applejack?" She suggested, and Future-Applejack nodded in response.
"Guess we could shorten it to P-Applejack and F-Applejack if we need te," F-Applejack said, frowning when she heard both Rainbow Dashes laughing hysterically.
"Oh Celestia, Papplejack and Fapplejack? That's priceless!" The two Rainbows nearly dropped to the ground in laughter, and recieved two furious glares from two furious Applejacks.
Octavia then reached her past version. She muttered something, and P-Octavia's eyes widened, before she nodded. "Nice to meet you... uh, me. I suppose it's a little pointless introducing myself, isn't it?" P-Octavia laughed quietly.
"Yes, I suppose it is. I must say, it's nice to meet someone who isn't insane, even if it is me," F-Octavia said, before giggling. P-Octavia soon joined in, having a very similar sense of humour for obvious reasons, and before long the two were grinning widely.
Discord, after a long and casual stroll through Canterlot Library, sauntered up to his counterpart, a devious smile on his face. He shook P-Discord's claw, before calmly explaining that he was from an alternate timeline.
"And you think I'm just going to believe that?" P-Discord asked, his eyebrow raised.
"Oh no, I know so. After all, I am you," F-Discord said, before chuckling lightly.
"Hah, I suppose you know me too well. " P-Discord said, falling in to step beside his future version.
As the two groups met and talked amongst themselves, Chronus got up on to his hooves, clutching his chest in pain. He shouted loudly, and the seven ponies and two draconeeqi stopped talking and stared at him.
"That is it. Playtime is over. I'm done. I'm not letting you win... never. I'm sorry to see it all end, but this is it. This is the day it all ends for you," He panted angrily, before stomping his hooves on the ground, causing a large flash of purple light to fill the library. He smiled as the light subsided, taking in the sight of his nine nemeses.
The nine creatures that had the chance to stop him... frozen in time.
Applejack had found herself becoming altogether far too used to being dragged in to insane situations by now. Whether it was fighting off Nightmare Moon or a Changeling invasion, or just having to deal with the daily madness that occurred when she was with her friends, her life was never really normal.
But she was quite surprised to be stuck in the middle of Canterlot Library, frozen in time. She awoke this morning to find that time had stopped flowing, and now she'd be stuck here forever. It looks like her prayer to Celestia to have just one normal day had fallon upon deaf ears, which was understandable since said ears had been frozen alongside the rest of Equestria.
At least Applejack could still think. She'd have an eternity to do so, so she figured that she should probably get used to the idea. Across from her, similarly frozen was the Applejack that she'd gone back in time to rescue. They'd come so close, only to fall at the last hurdle. Perhaps there were some problems that the magic of friendship couldn't fix? Applejack found such a thought hard to believe, but it seemed it was true.
She wondered if the Applejack from this timeline was thinking the same things as her. It seemed likely, considering that for all intensive purposes they were the same pony. She wanted to look around at Octavia, Rainbow Dash or Discord, but that was out of the question too. Still, she thought, she'd have an eternity to look at itself. There were worse views to have for a lifetime, Applejack supposed. Rarity would probably spend the eternity driving herself insane over a missing hair in her mane.
Rarity. That was a thought that hurt. She'd never see Rarity again. Or any of her friends, for that matter. Or her family... or anyone. Applejack might have burst in to tears if that were possible, but it most definitely wasn't. She wanted to punch Chronus when he came up in front of her to gloat, but she couldn't. She was forced to sit there and listen as he ranted on about his plans and his victory over her. This annoyed Applejack immensely, even if she couldn't show it.
"Hah... I was going to die soon if you had just attacked me a little more, you know? But as it is, I can probably just drain the time energy you're exerting. Not like you're going anywhere, is it?" He laughed quietly, but stopped when he started coughing wildly. "Urgh... it will be a while before I'm back to normal because of you. I'm trying so hard to hate you; so very hard, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I don't like you enough to free you of course, but still..." He trailed off, and looked around the library. "You tried valiantly, I'll give you that. You did better than I thought you would, not that it means much. A farmer from Ponyville, an apples salesmare. But also an Element of Harmony, a saviour of the world. How do you do it? How do you put up with all the silliness of your life? I guess I'll never know, but I'll have an eternity to think about it. Hehe... as will you."
He smiled and circled around both Applejacks, clearly thinking about something. "You know, I didn't just pick you four randomly. Oh no, I had my reasons. For instance, your 'friend', the draconequus. He said he was a reformed villain, a hero of society. I thought that it would be prudent to give him a chance to prove the fact, and I suppose he did. He also wanted another friend, you know? I suppose not, you're an unobservant idiot. But anyway, I'm sure he and Octavia will be keeping in touch after this adventure..." He grinned slyly, and chuckled. "Oh wait, there is no 'after this adventure'. So easy to forget, isn't it? Much like your friend Rainbow Dash was starting to forget how fun adventures were. She missed all this, surprisingly. Just wanted to go on the adventure of her lifetime. Well, this adventure certainly will take up the rest of her lifetime." He coughed loudly, clearly in some pain.
"As for Octavia, she wanted something interesting to happen in her dull, boring life. I gave her something interesting, that's for sure. I even gave her the opportunity to live a life in the past, to avoid all of this. If she'd stayed there, she would still be happy... such a shame she didn't. And then there's you... growing sick and tired of all this, weren't we? I honestly just dragged you along to annoy you. That draconequus joining you was just a happy little coincidence, which only served to make you even angrier." He grinned smugly, and looked Applejack straight in the eyes.
"You're becoming annoyed with my little monologue, aren't you? You can't tell me if you are, of course, but I'm a creature of time, I've been around forever, I know you. You probably wondered why I was created, you asked as much beforehand during that little 'Fluttercthulu' incident. Well, you know those little Elements of Harmony you seem so proud of? Every time you used those, whether it was to banish Nightmare Moon, or your disharmonious friend over there, they used up rather a lot of energy. So much, in fact, that it had to be deposited somewhere. Most of it was used in defeating the villain of the week, of course, but the rest didn't just disappear. Instead it flowed in to the timestream, the only place it could go to avoid doing damage to Equestria. It didn't do damage to Equestria, but it did hurt the timestream. And as the spare energy came from a mixture of the power of the Elements and the hatred in the soul of the villain, such as the jealousy in Nightmare's heart, I was created with rather villanous intentions. It was a slow process of course, and even after Discord's defeat when I was at full power it wasn't easy to escape, but I managed it this morning. Hilariously enough, it was your friend Twilight Sparkle that did it," Applejack would have gasped in shock if she could. Instead she settled for thinking a string of curses that a sailor pony would have been proud of.
"You don't believe me, do you? Well, you can't exactly ask her, can you? She was trying to finish Star Swirls time control spell, and she came so close, so very close! But it backfired before she could complete it, and the resulting burst of time energy destroyed the walls of the timestream that were imprisoning me, allowing me to take control of this pitiful land you call Equestria." He sighed wistfully, before resuming his pacing around the two Applejacks.
"You probably don't care. I just felt that it would be a good idea to get all this out there. It gelt good. I would say tell your friends, but..." He laughed smugly before walking off and sitting in front of the hourglass.
Applejack had seen a lot of insane things happen on that day, all of them completely ridiculous and unbelievable. But she wasn't expecting to be saved from this. She wasn't expecting a blue box to come crashing through the ceiling again and injure Chronus badly, freeing them from this timelock.
Which is why she wasn't surprised when it did happen. Another TARDIS flew in to Canterlot Library, and before it landed, another Doctor - this time wearing a blue scarf - jumped out and landed on Chronus. He shouted in pain, before collapsing to the ground. The moment this happened, Applejack found herself pulled out of the timelock, as did her friends, and Discord. They looked to one another in disbelief, before running over to Chronus.
They all crowded around Chronus, a smug grin on some of their faces, a look of hatred on others. "So...hehe... this is how it ends? Just like that? I almost win and you just come out of nowhere with your stupid time machine and defeat me? Urgh... I probably should have seen this coming." He started coughing madly, and as he did so, more and more of the shadow around his edges disappeared, eventually leaving a pale shadow of a stallion, his once piercing red eyes faded and dark. "I still don't hate you though, even if you hate me." He laughed quietly, before dissipating for the last time in a burst of white light, knocking Applejack and the others unconscious.
Princess Celestia had always considered herself able to deal with anything. Millenia of ruling alongside her sister, and a thousand years without her, had given the Princess more strength than many ponies knew. She was able to keep a calm composed attitude despite the many things that life threw at her, a fact that she prided herself on.
This was why when she walked to the first floor of the Canterlot Library to find the ceiling broken and glass all over the floor, with three ponies and a familiar draconequus lying in it next to a broken hourglass with purple sand spilling out of it, the only sound she made was a small 'oh'.
"An interesting story, I must say. Most ponies would be recommended a psychiatrist if they told me something like thiat. And yet... you're the Element of Honesty, so I find myself believing you," Applejack breathed a sigh of relief as Celestia smiled at her. She had been expecting to be called completely insane when she recounted her story, but she should have known that the princess would be so understanding. "Besides," she continued, "how else am I supposed to explain the fact that one minute eveyrthing is perfectly normal and, quite literally, the next second the halls are full of broken pottery and hoof marks, and half of the Royal Canterlot Library is in ruins, with you four at the centre of it all?" The three ponies grinned sheepishly, while Discord shrugged nonchanantly.
Celestia smiled warmly, walking alongside the group towards the Canterlot train station. Applejack's tale had been a long one, and so the Princess had recommended she tell it on the way back to Ponyville, an idea that made a lot of sense to Applejack.
"I shall talk to Twilight Sparkle and Luna about this. You will probably be called in to discuss a reward, as I know you don't want anything particularly fancy, or any sort of medal giving ceremony," Applejack grinned, glad to be able to avoid any unnecessary hassle, even if she had saved the world - again.
The Princess waved to them as they stepped on the train back to Ponyville, and the three ponies waved back. Discord, meanwhile, walked smugly on to the train, unable to think of much else besides one thing.
Now that time was fixed, and Chronus was gone, his powers were back. A reign of chaos and terror would begin again, a world under his rule! Well, in the designated sectors that Celestia had given him to keep his powers sharp and relieve the itch that came with being unable to cause chaos at will. Until he could get to such a point, he amused himself by making a cup walk around the table.
The other three sat around a table, talking about the adventure that had passed. For Rainbow and Applejack this was a normal thing, but it was slightly newer to Octavia. Well, completely new. Her life had been rather boring until that point, apart from the two years spent in the past. The group spent the entirety of the train ride in their respective positions, only stopping when the train reached Ponyville. rainbow Dash and Octavia, alongside Discord headed to the library to talk to Twilight Sparkle about the events of that day, but Applejack made her excuses and returned to the farm, saying that she was tired. She was incredibly worn out from the adventure, but mostly she just wanted a moment to herself.
She smiled when she thought of Octavia and Discord. She was sure the two would stay in touch, and perhaps another friend was all Discord needed to become a proper member of Equestrian society. Rainbow Dash had acquired a new rival, and Applejack looked forward to seeing the competitions between the two. Their previous arguments had been interesting, to say the least, and they would probably only get better. Applejack chuckled gently to herself, before her thoughts eventually turned back to her, and her life in general.
When she'd awoken that morning she was sick of adventures, and wanted nothing more than a day to herself. That was still true, but now she'd realised something about those annoying adventures. They made those days where nothing happened all the sweeter, and without them she'd never have met her closest group of friends. Sure her life was in danger consistently, and sure she had to do some insane things just to stay alive, but she would always have her friends beside her, ready to help her.
And perhaps Octavia and Discord would be there too sometimes, if the others were missing.