Time Ticks on

by Golden Script

Rating: teen
Tags: Other, Romance, Princess Luna, Comedy, Princess Celestia, Sex, Discord, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Colgate, Alternate Universe, Human
Length: 60938

Our hero was in for a surprise after attending a Steampunk convention. A new time piece will bring him into a conflict that will decide the fate of a country: Equestria, a land full of magical ponies, hidden dangers, and immensely powerful rulers.

Time, the ever-flowing measure of action. It is not a physical thing that one can touch or feel, but an abstract thought of the difference between now, then, and later; it is the indefinite continued progress of existence. What happens when one has the ability to control time? He is deemed one of the most powerful beings on the planet, for he can stop you in your tracks without any effort at all.

I am this being.

I control Time.

If you're wondering why this story is canceled, check my blogs. I am rewriting it, and will post the new version under a new title. Do not worry.

Featured on 7/6/14 thank you all!!

And featured again on 3/3/15, after it was canceled!!! What has this world come to?!?!

If you're too lazy to read it yourself, (I don't blame you, I do this myself, sometimes) listen to my good friend, The Naive Narrator, read it on his video, Time Ticks on Chapter one! Give him some love!

This is my first LoHAV/LoHAH story. I know how hated the genera is, because it's so overused, but I like the idea of being taken from your home only to be shoved into a world where you don't belong.

Also, some credit is due in the department of the idea. The steampunk theme was inspired by the story Son of Invention, a great story to read if you like this one. The character of Mike goes to this image. I looked for a long time and the closest I could get to the artist was this page.

Thank you for reading and please tell me what you think in the comments.

PS. Any and all chapters in this story are subject to change without notice. I will periodically go back into past chapters and rewrite something that doesn't mach with what is currently going on, so if something seems off, that would be why. Do not PM me telling me how "you didn't tell us that you changed that" or "but it was like this" or any of that stuff. As mentioned before, I will probably not tell anyone about it.

Published 2014-06-10 01:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-03-28 06:13:00 UTC

2. Piece of the Past: The Malicious Merchant

Only a few feet in front of me stood a pair of doors I never thought I’d walk through. They were the doors leading into the local Convention Center. Today was the first day of the Steampunk Settlement convention. Now, I never was one for open and crowded places, and I probably never would have come if it weren’t for one thing.

“Let’s go in already!” My companion complained as she pushed her way past me. “I can’t wait to see all the vintage looking clothes I can buy!” She squealed as she practically ran up to the counter.

“Wait!” I yelled with my arm outstretched, jogging to catch up. “Don’t you think you should be a little more reserved about spending the money you have? It’s not like you’ve got bottomless pockets, or anything.”

“Of course not!” she stopped to scoff at me. “That’s why you’re here!” she grinned like the maniac she was and walked up to the front desk.

I just facepalmed and walked after her, hoping that she didn’t embarrass me too much.

“I’d like two all-day passes, please!” she practically yelled at the poor teen behind the booth.

“S-sure, m-m-m-miss.” He said with more than a little fear in his eye as he handed her the two tickets. “That’ll be forty dollars, please.” He just about ducked under the waist-high wall that separated the overzealous girl from the horror-stricken boy.

She expectantly looked at me.

“What?” I asked.

“I’m not paying for them!” She burst out, making my eardrums ring.

I considered pursuing this argument further, then realized who I was arguing with and that it’d be a bad idea, and not only for the sake of my hearing.

“Fine.” I mumbled as I pulled out my wallet from my smooth black slacks.

My attire for tonight was not completely my choice. Most of it was put together by my companion, Christina Rossetti. But when your girlfriend is that deeply interested in fashion, there’s not much you can do but suck it up.

I was wearing a nice white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to keep them out of the way of things I may be doing; over that I had a black vest with three pockets, one on the left breast, and two lower down, on the stomach, with a sleek black tie under it. Just past my simple black slacks was a pair of black dress shoes and on my head I wore a pair of welding goggles; they were painted to look old and rusted, while having magnifying lenses attached to the right side.

Next to me stood Christy, with her fancy white shirt tucked under a brown corset. Her small clip-on top hat was tilted on her head, threatening to fall off if she spun around too much. She had long, cloth gloves, ending just past her elbows. The skirt she had on was much too small for my taste, seeing as we would be spending the next few hours in a place with hundreds of people roaming around, but she said that there would be others like her there, too. I’ll let you guess how I reacted to that news. Anyway, her high-heels gave her a few more inches, but she was still half a head shorter than me, and her long black socks reached up to the hem of her skirt.

As we walked through the door leading to the main area, I realized exactly how popular this convention was. There were hundreds upon hundreds of people, and they were all wearing things from skirts and corsets to full suits and jackets. I don’t think there was a single person that wasn’t dressed up!

“This is going to be great!” Christy squeed next to me. “Oh, look at that!” she ran over to a stand that was selling men’s clothing. “You should totally buy this! It would look great on you!”

I took one look at the long rustic trench coat she held up for me, and promptly fell in love.

Of course, I couldn’t show this externally, so I kept a straight face while staring at her. I walked up to her with the same stoic expression and felt the jacket. I checked the pockets for holes, tried it on, felt how comfortable the lining was on both my bare skin and my clothed areas. It lead down just a little past my ankles. I then hooked my thumbs in my pockets and looked off into the distance, making what I hoped to be a thoughtful visage.

“Hmm… maybe…” I looked to her as the puppy dog eyes shattered my façade. “Oh, fine.” I started digging through my pocket for my wallet.

“Yay!!” she screamed out with her arms in the air.

I swear, I don’t know how I handle her sometimes.

“Ok, off to find some cute accessories!” She skipped off to probably find some overpriced earrings I couldn’t buy, but “looked pretty”.

I followed her, but not before glancing at a stand with a scraggly man behind it. When I did, I got this feeling. Something was pulling me towards it. Not in a physical sense, but nevertheless there.

The man noticed me staring and promptly gave me the creepiest smirk I’d ever seen.

I walked away, in the direction Christy went. There was something about the stand that made me want to turn around, but there was something else about it that caused me to keep walking.

When I did eventually find her she was looking at some earrings in the shape of gears. When I looked at the price tag I thought ‘Called it,’ as it was way too expensive.

“Wouldn’t these look so cute!” She turned to me. “It’d be a shame if they went to some rich snob that wears them once and never looks at them again.” She pouted

“But that’s exactly what you’ll do.” I deadpanned.

“I know, but when it’s me, it’s different!” Her pout turned angry.

I chuckled as I checked my wallet. I didn’t have much left, but I could buy her the jewelry and maybe another cheap prop, leaving enough for a meal for her.

“Fine, fine. Here you go.” I handed the cash to the vendor. She smiled and took the bills, placing them behind the small makeshift counter.

“Yay! You’re the best!” She hugged me around the neck.

“Anything for you,” I gave her a peck on the cheek and hugged her back.

“Whatever. C’mon, there’s more stuff this way!” She broke out of my grip, blushing, and galloped off in the direction she pointed only moments before.

I watched her dancing from stand to stand, looking at the different steam-related machines and pieces of brown colored clothing. I slowly turned my head the direction we came from earlier, seeing the vendor from before off in the distance. That same, strange feeling, deep inside me, wafted through my body, but this time it was stronger. It was all I could do just to turn away and walk after Christy.

When she finally stopped she was staring at something. This something had obviously caught her eye, seeing as her jaw was practically on the floor.

“Christy? You alright?” I asked as I got to her.

“I spy, with my little eye,” she said as she started walking slowly towards a stand. “Something I know you’ll want to buy.” She rhymed.

“What would I buy that your little eye’s spied?” I asked, also in rhyme.

She looked at me with a face that showed disappointment. “Don’t do that… ever… like, ever, ever.”

“Sorry.” I said staring at my shoes like a five-year-old.

We both chuckled and I walked to the stand as she picked up a gleaming bronze pistol. It looked like an old version of the Contender. It was stunning, with intricate swirls tracing along the barrel all the way down to the flintlock style mechanism. The wood surrounding the gun had an old, used look to it, making the gun seem more authentic. There was even a holster that went with it! It was a truly handsome gun, no pun intended, but I doubted I had enough to get it.

“This is a great gun, Christy, but I don’t think I have enough.” I voiced my fears.

“Oh, that’s fine.” she reached into her pocket and pulled out a few twenties.

“Where you been hidin’ that?!” I asked in a small rage.

“I ain’t been hidin’ anythin’,” she mocked my crappy southern accent. “I was saving it for a special occasion, or when you ran out of money; which you did.”

“Geez. Whatever.” I said as she handed the money to the man behind the table.

“Think of it as payment for the earrings.” She said as she felt the small gears dangling from her earlobes.

“Thanks, but I’m not sure they were the same price.” I said, thinking some cheap jewelry was less important than a—very realistic and well crafted—handgun.

“You’re right, that gun was only forty bucks. My gears were a good seventy… I’ll have to find something else to get you.” she thought aloud.

I was a bit stunned. ‘My gun was less than some gears on metal wiring? What? That made no sense!

Well, no use crying over spilled milk. Either way, it was definitely a steal, which is always good.

“You don’t have to do that. The gun was underpriced. And it’s the thought that counts, right?” I told her as we started walking around some more.

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t feel right if you wanted to get something that was too much because you bought my earrings.” That pout’s going to kill me someday. I just know it.

“Look, if there’s anything I really need, I’ll come to you if I don’t have the cash, ok?” I asked, looking into her eyes.

“Ok.” She said sadly.

I pulled her chin up and gave her a smile. She gave one back and we kept walking.

Most of the day went by just fine. We had fun at the different events. I entered a virtual airship battle and won. The prize was a necklace in the shape of a heart. The heart was made of bronze with pink paint that looked as if it were peeling off. When I gave it to her she put her hands over her chest and gasped, saying “oh, I love it.”

When the day was almost over we left the way we came. But there was still that stand with the scraggly old man sitting behind it. It looked as if nothing had changed, and when he saw me pass by he stared at me with that same smirk. It was bothering me beyond belief, this feeling in my gut. I didn’t understand it!

“Hey, Christy? Would you mind going to warm up the car? I’ve got something I need to do real fast.” I told her with a stern face that said not to argue.

“Uh, ok. Here, take some cash. Just in case.” She told me as she slipped a twenty into my pocket and walked off, glancing back at me before walking out the door.

Once she was gone I walked over to the stand, right up to the man’s face, and asked in a borderline-angry tone “Ok, what’s your problem? Every time I walk by, you’re staring at me with this look on your face like I'm some sort of joke.”

“Oh, it is nothing,” he said in a, clearly Russian, accent. “I just thought you would like pocket watch.” He gestured to the table in front of him. On it were many assorted watches of all shapes and sizes. There was one made of pure crystal, one of bronze, and even one made to resemble a candy cane.

“I don’t need one, thank you.” I told him, trying to ignore that feeling I kept having as I stood up again.

“Are you sure?” he asked, his smirk evolving into a grin. “Your face says different.” He reached under the table and pulled out a small box. “Maybe this one is better.” He slid the box over to me and motioned for me to take it.

When I picked it up a lurch deep down in my stomach nearly made me drop it. There was something about this box that I liked and disliked, all in one.

“You may have it, free of charge.” He said in a more-than-suspicious tone.

“Thanks.” I started walking away in a daze, not realizing that I had already pulled the boxes contents out.

It was made of smooth silver that was freshly waxed and polished, gleaming in the florescent light like the moon. It had a simple Lemniscate on the front made of a crystal that pulsed white and gold every second.

When I opened the watch I studied the interior. The face of the watch had holes in it, allowing me to look into the interior of the watch and the mechanics—what made the clock tick. On the inside of the lid was an image. It looked like it was an old photograph, with a brown tinge to it. That’s not what was weird about it, though. It was an image of me and Christy, I had my arms around her, and she had her arms around me, but we weren’t looking at each other, we were looking at the camera. We were smiling.

I suddenly realized three things.

One: The sudden and strong smell of springtime grass came to my nose, which shouldn’t be possible inside a building filled to the brim with people.

Two: There was a sudden silence around me, when the air had been filled with the buzzing of hundreds of voices from visitors in the convention building only moments before.

Three: The lighting around seemed to grow brighter each passing second to the point I began to squint to keep my eyes from hurting.

Just as my eyes adjusted to the increased light I found myself awestruck at the site before me. My heart began racing out of control as my eyes widen in fear and wonder.

"Where am I?"

Author's Note

Chapter two! This is the story, from beginning to end, of how our hero arrived in the magical land of Equestria!

Next chapter we'll be seeing what the princesses are doing, not to mention what chaos Discord is up to! :pinkiecrazy:

3. Piece of the Past: Guns and Roses

3. Piece of the Past: Guns and Roses

As I looked around my eyes grew wider and wider until they felt like they’d pop out of my head. I was no longer in the convention center, I was in a field.

The grass blew around, forming waves of green. The smell assaulted my nostrils, bringing nothing but the thought of spring and freshness; the sound of the grass a constant and fluctuating "whoosh". It rolled for as far as the eye could see in all directions.

…

Well, not all directions. After a minute of actively searching the horizon I found I could see some trees off in the distance. I began to think about exactly what happened to me, but found the sun bearing down on me relentlessly. When I looked up I saw something odd, but not impossible.

The sky was blue.

Yeah, yeah, I know. “But the sky is supposed to be blue.” That’s not what I mean. It was a pure blue, like it hadn’t been touched by human hands…. Well, I should say “sentient limbs” looking back on it.

I’d have thought that it was a perfect day, if I weren’t wearing a heavy coat. Realizing this, I took the coat off and folded it over my arm. This allowed me out of my stupor to go into survival mode. I went through the typical steps one should take.

One: don’t panic.

Check.

Two: check current location; look for landmarks or anything else to indicate where one is.

Check. No major indicators other than the forest in the distance.

Three: check what is on one's person at the time of awakening.

Check. I have my clothing, my wallet, my phone—which, conveniently enough, has no signal—, the trench coat I was wearing moments before, the goggles on my forehead, the pocket watch, and the gun I’d bought at the convention.

I’d checked the gun at the convention, but it had a distinct lack of ammo back then. Now there was a live round in the chamber. I dismissed it as one of the least strange things that had happened today, holstering the weapon once more.

“Well, great. I’m Stuck in the middle of nowhere with a live handgun, a watch, and a busted cellphone. Sounds like a bad book.” I said to myself, just to hear something other than the whistle of the wind over the grass.

So imagine my surprise when I got a response.

ELSEWHERE MINUTES BEFORE

“Greetings! What chaos can I do for you today?” Asked a cheery Draconequus. This creature looks like a mishmash of many different creatures. The particular Draconequus speaking has an eagle’s claw and a lion’s paw, a snake tail and the head of a horse. It has the wings of a Pegasus and a bat and its horns resembled that of a goat and a deer.

“How about the chaos of disappearing, Discord?” The younger sister responded. Her soft wings and a hard horn were colored, the same as her coat, navy blue. Her mane was an ethereal blue trail that sparkled as if the stars themselves were woven in. she adorned silver plated hooves and the crest on her chest showed a white crescent over a black background.

“And I would do this… why, Luna?” Discord waved his paw around, conjuring a banana that split open to explode like a party popper, as he asked this.

“Look around, Discord. You cause nothing but misery in these lands. All who reside here, only wish you gone!” the older one stomped a hoof. She had a pure white coat, which also matched the colors of her wings and horn. Her mane was a plethora of colors, ranging from green to pink to blue. Her hooves had golden plating and the crest hanging from her neck was gold with a simple purple jewel embedded in it.

“Well, Celestia, you know I can’t just up and go! There are still so many goodbyes I need to say.” He put his talon over his forehead as he said this. The mares before him were not impressed.

“Oh, fine.” he continued after a moment. “I’ll leave,” There was a look of shock on the two liberators-to-be. Discord finished. “On one condition.” He held a digit up, indicating his one and only requirement before he left.

“And… what would that be?” Celestia exchanged a glance with Luna before asking this.

“You must defeat me in a duel.” He said with a devious sneer.

The two mares quickly crouched into a fighting stance, lighting their horns and flaring their wings.

“Oh, not right now!” the chimera cried out in laughter. “And it wouldn’t be fair, two on one! You ponies are so barbaric.” He mumbled the last part to himself.

Celestia slowly relaxed with Luna right behind, even if the blue mare kept her wings slightly extended.

“Ok, Discord. What are the details of our duel?” asked Celestia.

“Well, it’s not our duel. You see, there’s no way that either of you would be able to beat me, we all know I'm the embodiment of Chaos, so how do we level the playing field?” he waited, and when no suggestions were given, he finished. “We have others fight for us.”

The sisters were surprised and disgusted by the thought of this, having others fight their battles. What if they got injured! What if it were fatal! They’d carry the knowledge with them for the rest of their lives, that they'd been responsible for a creatures death.

“I’ve already chosen my champion. All you have to do is find someone willing to fight for you.” said the draconequus. “I’ll leave you to it!” he jeered as he flew off.

“Sister, what are we to do?” asked Luna. She had a face that showed her concern for the challenge Discord had issued.

Her sisters’ visage, however, did not mirror hers. It was a mask of determination. “You will follow him, spy on him, try to find out what his champions strengths and weaknesses are. You will stall them and give me time to find the Elements of Harmony. With those we will be able to trap Discord in stone whether he likes it or not. Now go!” Luna hesitated only a second before adopting a face similar to her sisters’ and flew off in the direction Discord was heading.

“We’ve been looking for months, but we just can’t find them! The Elements of Harmony are nowhere in Equestria!” Celestia thought aloud. “Unless…” she checked her map again, looking to an area they hadn’t searched, but didn’t dare for fear of what lurked within. “Unless Discord moved them to the Everfree.” Celestia finished her previously unfinished statement. The Alicorn looked towards the forest, mere willpower keeping her from walking away and trying again in another village.

She began her long journey into the forest.

IN THE SKY

‘Where could he be going?’ Thought Luna as she followed Discord. ‘There’s nothing out here!’

As soon as she took off after the Draconequus she found him flying over in the direction of the Pony Plains. there wasn't much in that direction other than a faraway town that was only just budding. the chances of a fine champion in the small assortment of houses was extremely small.

The sky was clear, the sun was shining, and the air over her wings was cool. It was the perfect day to go flying… which is why she nearly flew right over the clearing that Discord had stopped at.

When she did realize that she was no longer following him she was still a good few hundred feet from the clearing, giving her just enough time to stop and hide in some trees. She used a spell to increase her sight and hearing. This increased her vision threefold and her hearing intensified.

What she saw standing next to Discord stunned her.

IN THE CLEARING

“Well, great. I’m Stuck in the middle of nowhere with a live handgun, a watch, and a busted cellphone. Sounds like a bad book.” I’d just finished saying.

“It would be, if I weren’t in it!” Came a cheery voice from behind me. I whipped around and stared at the creature before me. “Hello, Champion! My name is Discord!” it reached out a paw that resembled a lion.

“Umm… hello?” I attentively reached out and grasped the paw. It took a firm hold on my hand and violently pulled the limb up and down, shaking the rest of me.

When the onslaught of vibrations finally stopped I just about fell over. When I finally did catch my balance I looked Discord over, taking in his appearance to see if he was a friend or a foe.

“Oh, you have nothing to fear from me! I’m one of the good guys!” he told me before putting his eagle clawed arm around my body, effectively stopping me from using my own arms. He made a grand waving motion in front of us and said “we have so much to talk about.”

*gulp*

Author's Note

Oh, it's you again. If you continued straight away from the last chapter, good for you. if you left to read something else, then came back three months later without the foggiest idea of what's happened... well, if you did that, then here's a lollipop. No, don't leave, those who did not leave. I've written down your names and you will not receive lollipops after your three month period.

Some of you may be thinking why they got lollipops and not you, some of you may be thinking when the next chapter will be posted, some of you may even be thinking why you're still reading this after so much nonsense... well, and I’m here to tell you that all of your questions will be answered in the next paragraph. THAT DOES NOT GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO SKIP TO THE NEXT CHAPTER, SOLDIER!! Now, on with what I was saying: You’ve been recruited because you are the best, the brightest, and the most all around booksmartiest people on Fimficion and I’m here to give you you're mission.

Suck it up. :rainbowwild:

P.S. I just finished watching Edge of Tomorrow. The soldier movie where he restarts the day every time he dies. I've still got the "drill sergeant" thing in my system. Give it a day to thin out, I’ll be fine.

P.P.S. It’s 1A.M. and I’m tired as all hell. Please do ignore any and all misspells or random words in this A/N, for they are not my usual writing style. Thank you.

P.P.P.S. I will hopefully get the next chapter out a few days after this one is posted. This is relevant to the chapters posting, not the story’s, so it may be sooner than you think.

Thanks for reading, and please post comments voicing your thoughts! I love reading comments!

4. Piece of the Past: Complicated Changes

He held me in his eagle arm for a few seconds. I became uncomfortable and squirmed my way out.

“Look, it’s great to meet you, Discord, but I just want to get back to that convention.” I told him, racking my brain for what may have caused this apparition in front of me. Did someone drug me when I was preoccupied? Or maybe I fell down and hit my head. It might have been that weird vendor, he didn’t exactly look trustworthy.

“What convention?” Asked Discord with one eyebrow raised. “I summoned a great hero that would be able to help me in a righteous task!” His paw was thrust into the air, making an epic pose.

“Well, I think you used the wrong summons, I’m no hero.” I dismissively told him.

“Oh, but you are! I summoned a bipedal creature with lenses and a long coat!” He yelled as he pointed out the coat still folded over my arm and the goggles on my head. “And you even have the vest and shirt that the picture depicted! Look at you, you’re definitely the Lord of Time!” He gestured towards all of me with a disbelieving look on his face.

“I’m no Time Lord. I can’t regenerate, I’m not a thousand years old, and I don’t have a TARDIS.” The tone my voice took on was more sarcastic than anything, but I think I still put him off a little bit.

“That’s not what I summoned at all! I attempted to bring forth a being that can control the flow of time, and you have that power.” He explained to me.

“What? How can I control time?” I asked incredulously.

“With your watch.” His paw pointed to the chain leading to my pocket.

“This thing can’t control time!” I pulled the timepiece out of the aforementioned pocket as I laughed. “It can’t even tell time reliably!” When I looked at the watch it said that it was two fifteen in the morning when, according to the sun, it’s closer to noon

“But it can manipulate time.” he pointed out like it was a well-known fact.

“How?!” I was just about done with this… thing talking to me. The fact that I was taking it seriously was only proving my lack of sanity.

“Like this.” He snatched the watch from me and pressed down on the crown. The reaction was surprising, to say the least.

The first thing I noticed was the cold. As soon as he pushed the crown down the temperature dropped to, in contrast to the sweltering heat only moments before, below zero! I rushed to put my coat back on and fold my arms to try and maintain what little heat I had left.

Then I looked around.

The grass, which was a writhing mass of green, flowing like the ocean, is now only a picture taken from an instant in time. Not even the sound of movement reached my ears, I no longer smelled the springtime air, and I felt no breeze on my skin. Everything was frozen.

When I looked back at Discord even he wasn't moving, the watch still in his paw. I went over to him, walking right up to his face. I looked right into his eyes, which were still focused on where I was before.

‘I wonder’ I thought as I looked into his unresponsive eyes.

I pried the watch from him rather easily and pressed the crown again, my face still inches from his.

Everything came rushing back, the sounds, the feels, and the sights. What had been a little over a minute for me was literally no time at all for him, which is probably why he jumped a good ten feet backward in surprise.

“I-I-I see you’ve gotten the hang of it.” there was a moment of silence and a “hick!” came from his mouth.

I promptly laughed my ass off.

“It’s not funny!” He yelled with a “hick!” to punctuate his statement.

I wiped a tear from my eye as I attempted to stop the chuckling still in my system. “Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting such a reaction from you.” I took a deep breath and looked at him, a ghost of a smile still present on my lips. “So I can do that, now.” I mumbled more to myself, but he seemed to hear it nonetheless.

“Yes, you can also speed time up, but I’ll get to that later. For now I’ll tell you why I’ve summoned you to my world.” He hiccupped again, but snapped his fingers and gave a swift nod before looking at me for a response.

“That would be good to know. What’s so bad that you need a ‘Lord of Time’ to help you fix it?” I asked, adopting the title he’d given me mere minutes ago.

“Firstly, I don’t think we’ve had proper introductions. I am the humble ruler of this land, King Discord.” He stated with a simple nod of the head, eyes closed.

This was the first time I realized I was in the presence of royalty. I racked my brain, the second time today, for the proper etiquette for meeting royalty before I realized it was a simple kneel and a “your majesty”, which is exactly what I did.

“Stand up; I’m not that kind of king.” As I slowly stood, he reconsidered his statement. “Well, I am that kind of king, but I don’t like the formalities very much. When we’re alone, please just call me Discord.”

“As you wish, King Discord.” I said, still not wanting to offend him, but not sure how friendly he wants me to get.

He deadpanned at me for a second, shook his head and said “that’ll just have to do for now.” Suddenly, his face became a visage of dead seriousness. “Back to the matter at hand: I am the king of these lands, at the moment, but there are two beings that wish to over throw me. They came to me earlier today, asking me to leave, but as you can probably guess, this isn’t exactly what I want to do, seeing as it would cause tyranny and militaristic regimentation. This is not desirable for anyone, other than the tyrant, so I gave them a proposal… a challenge, if you will. I told them to find a champion, someone that would fight for them. And I would find myself a champion. We would pit these fighters against each other and whoever’s champion is victorious would keep the kingdom.” He paused for a minute, thinking over his words carefully. “This is why I’ve summoned you.”

He kneeled in front of me, putting his arm across his chest, the other a fist in to the ground, and his head bowed. “Would you be my champion, oh mighty Lord of Time?”

Author's Note

The "crown" of a pocket watch is the thing at the top of a pocket watch, under the loop. It’s usual function is to adjust the time. To keep the crown from spinning, therefore adjusting the time further, on accident it must be pulled to the "open" setting. This allows the crown to turn, turning the minute hand. In this case the crown may be pressed down, much like a clicky pen, to manipulate times flow.

Comment if you have any other questions about pocket watches or the story.

And comment even if you don't!!

5. Tricks with Time

PRESENT DAY

A moment passed as I tried to comprehend exactly what had just happened.

I’d slumped my shoulders.

‘Yes, I know this, but was it mental or physical?’ I asked myself, too scared to try and move again.

Suddenly my hand twitched. My eyes shot to the limb in front of me. Now that I think about it, that also felt a bit weird, like I was actually moving my eyes.

I stared at the offending hand until another sensation faded into my body.

My chest really hurt.

‘What’s going on now?!’ I called out to nobody in particular.

When the feeling seemed like it would kill me, my body reacted on instinct and I let out a gasp of air, only to pull as much of the stuff back into my lungs as I could.

‘That settles it. I’m back.’ my subconscious confirmed.

My hands shot to my neck as it tried to transport the large amount of air. In the process of doing this I fell to one knee, proving once and for all that I could really move again.

After a few minutes of breathing, I began to think about what might have caused this. I went ahead and assumed that Discord had let me out. The only reason of concern would be if he had struck a deal, but he hadn’t asked anything of me, so that meant I was truly free.

The first thing I did was look around, just to make sure that nobody had seen my… uncouth display of weakness. I had assured myself that I was alone, so I stood up, my posture never better, and patted myself down. I made sure that none of my pockets were folded in on themselves, my shirt was straight and flat, my tie was tight, and finally, what time it was.

I opened my pocket watch, looking at the face of the timepiece. It visually read 4:37, though I knew it was 9:20 in the morning. “Hmm… just over a thousand years.” I mused. “Looks like I was off by a few centuries. I wonder why.” I snapped the watch shut with a quick flick of the wrist and started walking in the direction of the exit.

I walked down the path with a swagger that only a refined chap such as myself could have. When I finally did reach the exit there were two guards standing in gold-plated armor. I walked past and gave the stallions a quick nod and an offhand “Good day”. I didn’t look back to see their faces, I was sure that they were masks of shock and confusion. It took them a good ten seconds to decide to attack me.

I heard the rapid clopping of hooves behind me steadily get closer. At the last second I spun around, whipping my coattail into the air. They were surprised and hesitated during the final step that would take their spear point directly into my chest, which was all I needed.

I whipped my watch out and clicked the crown with my thumb. As the stallions froze in their running positions, one with a hoof on the ground the other seemingly suspended in the air, I cracked a smile. This was going to be fun.

I placed my goggles over my eyes to protect them from anything airborne, or the air itself for that matter, and quickly walked behind the two stallions. I studied their positions, seeing what I might be able to accomplish with their bodies. Suddenly, inspiration struck!

I pulled the helmet off of both their heads, placing one on the ground in front of the hovering stallion and the other on my own head. I walked behind the Flamingo Guard and poked the hoof that would come down next. A small indent formed where my finger was, showing the amount of force that would be applied as soon as I continued time. I walked around the two, wondering what other tricks I could pull.

I didn’t want to hurt them… much, I’m not a monster!

Well, I am to the ponies, but you know what I mean!

I took a good look at the two stallions, making last moment observations of their poses. I decided that there wasn’t enough funny here, so I took a stroll through the palace.

‘If I’m not mistaken, the kitchen should be right around… here!’ I thought as I turned a corner to see two wide open doors. Just beyond were a dozen ponies working in what we humans would call a gourmet bakery. I took a quick look around and found the delicacies I was looking for. I quickly snatched them up and walked back to the small clearing I was in moments before.

IN THE ROYAL KITCHEN

Rosemary Butter is a mare of sophisticated taste. She knows how to cook a soup that would send your taste buds to nirvana; her bread had the slightest hint of butter that perfectly balanced the crisp and the cream; and the one thing that made her stand out, if anything else, was her pies. Often times she’d find them missing when one of her line cooks got hungry, which is why she wasn’t surprised that two of her delicious morsels were slipped right out from under her muzzle.

Literally.

She’d just finished baking two pies, one a simple apple while the other was a sweet cherry. She only pulled them out of the oven a minute ago, when she took a big whiff of the circles of crust and filling. Once she came down from her euphoria and opened her eyes the pies were gone.

“Ok, who did it?” she called to the rest the staff. “Who took my pies?”

The room became fairly silent, only the ponies doing something important that warranted their full attention didn’t stop and stare at the mare. But as all this happened, nopony took responsibility for the stolen snacks.

“I know somepony did! Now who was it?” she called again. Still, none of the ponies took the blame.

“Fine! I’ll just make new ones.” She said more to herself than those around her.

She didn’t hate having to make more; it was her special talent, after all, and she loved baking things, especially sweet things, for others and herself! It was one of the only things she took joy in, which is why the extra work didn’t dampen her mood in the slightest.

BACK IN THE FIELD

There they stood, exactly where I left them only a minute before. I judged the trajectory and placed the pies on the ground in just the right place. I took a moment to admire my handiwork. I’d finished this in a relatively short amount of time… well, from my point of view, anyway. As I took in the last of the prank I’d just put into place I pulled out my watch.

‘Here we go!’ I thought as I thumbed the crown once more.

6. Piece of the Past: Time to Learn

“Um…” I said dumbly. I’d never been bowed to before, and I never thought I’d receive a bow in the first place, but now that I was standing before this being showing his apparent respect for me I was a bit stunned.

“It would be my immense honor if you would fight by my side.” Discord tensed at the thought of my possible refusal to be his champion. “Please. If not for me, for my subjects!” he practically begged.

“Ok, ok, I will! Just stand up, you’re embarrassing me.” I said hurriedly.

“Oh, thank you, Lord of Time! You don’t know what this means to me!” he said as he visibly relaxed at my agreement. He took a deep breath and stood, looking me in the eyes seriously as he said “next we train you. You’ve shown that you don’t know how to harness your powers, and you’ll lose without them.” He turned around and started walking towards the forest in the distance.

“Wax on wax off, Mr. Miyagi.” I mumbled to myself as I followed him.

“I will not be teaching you Karate, Daniel-san. I’ll be teaching you how to control time.” He said, not turning around.

I was stunned. I hadn’t said it that loud. In fact, the wind should have covered it up. But he heard it nonetheless.

“You should learn to use your mind. It’s the only place I can’t listen in without actually attempting to.”

“Got it.” I said as I thought ‘So, basically, wax on wax off.’

“Good. And yes, wax on wax off.” He said with a smirk.

IN WHITETAIL WOODS

Luna was watching the two beings in the field talk. There was a moment when the creature that Discord had summoned teleported in front of the draconequus’ face, scaring him a bit. At this point Luna made a note to tell her sister of these powers. When they began walking towards the tree line that the lunar princess was hiding in she momentarily panicked, thinking they’d spotted her. She had forgotten that she was still using her magic and canceled the spell.

Using her wings, Luna fled deeper into the forest dodging trees as her mind raced. ‘What kind of creature can use teleportation magic without using magic? I didn’t feel any disturbance in the magical field when it did that, did I? And what did he mean "Lord of Time"? Either way, Discord is planning to use this creature against us. I need to learn more about it and inform my sister so we may plan a counter strategy.’

‘First thing’s first’ she decided. ‘Acquire as much information regarding Discord’s champion as possible.

IN THE EVERFREE FOREST

Celestia had been wandering aimlessly through the Everfree for an hour with nothing to show for it. The forest she was in had chaos magic laced through the trees, in the grass, and even floating on the breeze. There was no way to tell where you were, unless you were well acquainted with the forest. If something magical, like the Elements of Harmony, wanted to be found they would guide you there. You would have to trust the magic of the artifact to lead you in the right direction, which was exactly what Celestia was doing.

“Another fork.” She mumbled to herself. “Exactly how many twists and turns can there be in one forest?” the exasperation in her voice was palpable. This was the sixty-third fork, several of which had multiple paths to choose from—she’d been counting.

She sighed at the choice before her and chose right. As she started walking down the path she looked skyward, wondering if Luna was any more successful at her own task. This is why she almost fell into a giant ravine.

“Whew, that was close.” She breathed as the adrenaline left her system. “One more step and I’d be flying back up.” She chuckled. Just because the princesses had wings doesn’t mean that they enjoyed using them. They were the embodiments of all three races; pegasi, unicorn, and earth pony. This made flying possible but a fairly extraneous task, seeing as they were quite large.

“Is there a way across?” her head swiveled around, looking for a bridge of some kind as she mumbled this. When her search yielded no results she slumped her head, downtrodden by the fact that she’d be flying across.

“I hate flying.” She said as she flapped her wings and glided across the fissure. When her hooves touched the other side she folded her wings back against her side and began walking again.

There was a five minute period where the trail didn’t diverge, change direction, stop, or alter in any way. Celestia saw this as an improvement. Her spirits were momentarily lifted as she continued walking along.

The alicorn felt a chill run up her spine as a roar tore through the dark forest.

IN THE FIELD JUST OUTSIDE WHITETAIL WOODS

“What do you know so far?” Discord asked me. We’d been walking for no more than thirty seconds, in which time I’d loosened my tie, unbuttoned two buttons of my shirt, and taken my coat off.

“Only what you’ve shown me.” I said as I fished the watch out of my pocket.

“Well, then we don’t have much more to go over. It may take some time to master, though. Let’s begin.” He put a claw to his chin. “Ah! I know. We’ll have us a race!” he stated gleefully.

“How will that train me?” I asked.

“You’ll have to be quick on your feet to beat me. I may look old, and I might be old, but don’t think for a second that makes me slow.” He playfully winked at me.

“Ok, what’s the rules?” we’d stopped walking, making it easier to adjust my coat over my arm as I asked this.

“No rules, but we’ll race again every time you lose.” He stated simply. “Readysetgo!” and there was a flash of light. I blinked the spots from my eyes as I tried to find Discord, who had disappeared. When I did find him he was leaning against a tree at the edge of the forest.

“Wait! That’s not fair!” I called to the cheating king.

“No rules, remember?” he called back. There was another flash and he was next to me.

“Roundtworeadysetgo!” There was another flash. This time it didn’t take as much time for me to find him, seeing as he wasn’t in the same place, but still at the forests edge.

“Ok, that’s just not fair.” I said as I crossed my arms. He teleported back to me with a sly grin.

“If you don’t even try, there’s no way you can win.” He told me simply.

“Fine.” I huffed. “Readysetgo!” and I started running towards the forest.

There was a bright light behind me and, yet again, I lost. He was already at the tree line, yawning into his paw.

“You suck, you know that?” I asked after he teleported us back to the starting area.

“Yep! Readyse-” I clicked my watch, stopping him in his tracks. I immediately felt the effects wrack my body. I quickly tidied myself up, buttoning my shirt and putting my jacket on. He was still standing there, his mouth open in a short “e” shape. There I took a minute to just fume at him, yelling in my mind at how stupid that Cheater-McCheaterson was.

When I had finished I looked at him once more, thinking about ways to get him back. A few ideas sped through my mind before I thought about something I hadn’t tried yet.

What would happen if I touched him?

I decided to explore this question, wondering what the result would be. Walking up to his face I started searching for a good place to poke. There wasn’t a spot that really stood out, so I went with the simplest.

I poked his nose.

The result was a little anticlimactic, seeing as the only difference was a small indent in his snout. I shrugged, thinking the only thing I’d done was leave a mark. I walked to the forest, picked a tree, leaned against it, and thumbed my watch once more.

8. Piece of the Past: Reactions

As I thumbed my watch once more I felt my senses come back. There was the dewy smell of the grass, the whoosh of the breeze as it passed through the trees, the bright light of the sun and the swaying shade the trees provided, the sound of Discord flying through the air, the cool breeze on my face, blowing my hair-

‘Wait, what?’

It was true. Discord sped towards the forest with the grace of a brick. I was first concerned that he’d smash into me and kill us both, but that was disproven when he demolished a tree not ten feet away. He kept going for a good hundred feet before he was stopped by a massive tree, the trunk being three times as big as a normal tree.

In the minute that my brain took to comprehend what had just happened, the Chimera had finished his aeronautical journey and settled at the base of the aforementioned tree. I looked through the newly made path at the king. Discord was laying, legs over his head, against the tree, obviously unconscious.

“Please tell me that wasn’t my fault.” I requested from anyone who was listening, which was nobody.

IN THE WHITETAIL WOODS ONLY MOMENTS BEFORE

Luna thought herself to be a mare of stature, poise, and could keep her composure under most circumstances. This would be one time that she would have wished she did not. As Discord, the embodiment of chaos, was flying directly towards her like a comet flying through her night sky. Luna remained completely composed, but this feeling was only skin deep. In her mind she had a completely different mindset.

'HOLY MOTHER OF MINE! THIS IS GOING TO-'

Her thought was interrupted by the sudden crushing impact of Discord's body colliding with hers, followed by the impact of a very solid type of tree. The tree in question was named that day by the princess, and would be forever know as a Lunar Chaos tree. It was the name she had given it as the last moments of consciousness left her.

‘This tree shall be known as Lunar Chaos! Thee and thy kin shall be struck down throughout our lands for thine action!' She thought, momentarily receding back into the way she was trained to speak in political situations.

AT STARSWIRL THE BEARDED’S HOUSE

“Ok, teacher, the letter’s sent!” Minuette called to her mentor from the desk of the study.

“Good.” The mage was still in slight shock, but knew enough to praise her student when she did something with a positive outcome.

There was two seconds of silence and a bright light. A popping sound rung through the room as the light disappeared. In the center of the space, like a massive centerpiece, stood the solar alicorn in all of her celestial glory.

If her celestial glory was sweat, mud and a small wet patch on her leg that looked like saliva. Celestia was absolutely filthy, and she knew it.

This did not impair Starswirls ability to acknowledge his senior. “Princess Celestia, it is good to see you.” His tone did not waver or break, as if he hadn’t even noticed the state his princess was in.

“Now, Starswirl, you know that I’m not a princess yet.” She told him. “Also, I may need to use your cleaning facility.” She said, looking at her tarnished alabaster coat in contempt.

“Of course, second door on the left down that hallway.” He said, indicating said passage.

"Thank you." She said, truly thankful to be able to bathe and have her coat clean once more.

For the entire conversation, since the alicorn had teleported in, Minuette had been staring at the soon-to-be co-ruler of Equestria. Now that the object of her gawking was no longer in sight she was forced back to reality. Minuette turned to Starswirl and gave him an inquisitive look.

“Celestia has been out looking for the Elements of Harmony. Sadly, this is not the worst state I’ve seen her in. I’m just glad she came back uninjured.” There was a hint of relief in his voice.

“I just didn’t know that she could get dirty. She was always perfect and pristine when I saw her.” Minuette tried to remember the last time she saw Celestia with a spot of dirt on her coat, and she couldn’t.

“Unlike what the vast majority of her subjects think, she’s a pony too, just like us. She can get dirty, she can get hurt, and she has feelings, so keep your quips to yourself.” He said with a stern look to the young mare.

Minuette held back a snicker, she did have a few jokes about the alicorn and dirt, but she would keep them to herself anyway. Celestia was a pony that Minuette respected deeply, and not only because she was a nearly godlike being that was about to attempt seizing control of a nation, but because Minuette had grown to know her on a more personal level than the average pony. She hadn’t gotten into Celestia’s emotions or her thought patterns, but she’d know what choices she’d make in certain political situations.

“Fine, I won’t say anything.” She calmed down with a hoof over her muzzle.

“Oh, that was exquisite.” Said a relaxed Celestia as she walked back into the main room with a towel drying her ethereal mane. “I was told that you had a new spell to show me, and I’d much like to get back to my search.” Celestia said in an eager tone.

“Yes. Minuette here has discovered a new spell that may be of use to us in the future. She can successfully stop time.” The stallion explained to Celestia. “I believe that this may be of use to the kingdom in the future.”

“What is the spell and how does one use it?” Asked Celestia as she thought about the implications of such a spell.

“Well, we haven’t exactly explored the specifics. It may take a few months to work out any kinks and understand the spell before it could be used recreationally.” Starswirl clarified.

“We may not have that much time.” Celestia thought aloud, more to herself than to the other ponies in the room.

“Princess?” Asked the stallion, concerned for what may be troubling his ruler.

“There is something that I may need Minuette to do.” Celestia had a look of determination on her muzzle, showing how serious the matter was.

“What is it you need me to do?” Minuette bowed, ready to serve her duty to her country.

“Discord has issued a challenge to me and my sister.” There was a look of shock on Minuette and Starswirls faces. “The challenge is that we would put two beings against each other. Whoever’s champion wins the duel will be the new ruler of the kingdom.”

Suddenly Minuette’s visage was a mask of realization. Celestia was not only entrusting the fate of a duel, she was now responsible for the future of the nation.

She smiled brightly with a mischievous twinkle in her eye as one thought came forth.

‘Oh, this is going to be fun.’

Author's Note

hello, readers, nice to see you once again! this is chapter 8 and i know it's been a while, but i'll try to get them out faster. my life's been throwing me curve-ball after curve-ball and i've been trying my best to balance work, fun, and writing, which isn't as easy as i first thought it would be.

please tell me what you thought in the comments, ask any questions, and if you disliked and for some reason kept reading to this point, please tell me why. i have 13 dislikes right now and only 1 of them has actually told me what they didn't like.

until next time!
GS

9. Nobody Ever Asks for My Name

The pies were in place, the momentum was right, I was definitely in the mood to laugh, all that was left was to click the watch and view the feedback. I took the shortest of moments to admire my work as I pressed the button and let the prank unfold.

The first thing that happened was the flamingo guard’s hoof went flying backward, not allowing him to use it. While this was happening the hovering guard tripped over his own helmet. They both flailed their hooves, trying to use said limbs to stay upright, but it was all for naught, seeing as they both landed face first in the pies I’d placed beneath them.

There was exactly 2.76835 seconds before I burst out laughing. Trust me, I’d know.

I laughed and laughed and laughed. It’d been over a thousand years since I’d seen anything even remotely funny, so you can’t exactly blame me.

After a minute or two of laughing I stopped abruptly, going from full-on laughter to a straight face faster than you could say “what the what?”

“Now that that’s taken care of, off to see where the king has gone.” I said to myself, looking around for anything that might indicate where the draconequus had run off to. When I happened to turn my head the right direction I saw a small village. There was something weird about this village though. Maybe it was the fact that it was the buildings were made of pink beams and yellow plaster, maybe it was the roofing—hay wasn’t exactly the best type of material to put on a house. Then again, it could always be the several floating islands, purple checkerboard ground, green sky, and pink clouds that were raining brown liquid.

…

It’s definitely the second one. The only time you put hay on the roof is to figure out which way the wind is blowing, and even then it’s better to use your finger and some saliva.

‘Anyway’ I thought, ‘May as well start there! It’s as good a place as any.’ And so, I began my journey, only stopping to take a deep breath and smile.

I was free.

PONYVILLE

The town I found myself in was a simple settlement. The housing was a bit funny, what with their roofing mistakes, but I spotted a few modern facilities—barber shops, fast food places, grocery stores and the like—this made me wonder why they still had such lousy technology. I dismissed it as being ‘because ponies’ and moved on.

I walked through the streets without resistance, seeing as nobody was moving thanks to my watch, and I found the draconequus fairly easily. He was sitting on a small hill with a throne and six ponies standing in front of him, weird jewelry on their persons… ponies… ponsons? Whatever. Point is they were armed to the teeth with shiny necklaces.

I didn’t see any threat here, so I walked up behind them and recommenced time.

“I'll tell you what we've learned Discord. We've learned that friendship isn't always easy. But there's no doubt it's worth fighting for.” The purple unicorn in the front yelled at him. This is when he noticed me behind them. He gave a slight smirk, only visible to those who were looking.

The draconequus returned his attention to the six in front of him, rolling his eyes as the six mares looked proud. “Ugh, gag. Fine, go ahead, try and use your little Elements, "frenemies". Just make it quick. I've got a kingdom to reclaim.” He gave me a little nod, giving me the signal to do something I always loved to do.

I paused time, did my thing, then un-paused it, watching the events unfold once more.

“All right, ladies, let's show him what friendship can do!” Said the purple one again, she seemed to be the leader.

Suddenly there was an interruption. A pink mare with fizzy hair called out to her comrades. “Wait-wait-wait!” She took a few quick gulps of the brown liquid coming from a pink cloud, jumped back into position and growled like a tiger.

The six mares all closed their eyes and focused, but to me it looked like they were constipated. I chuckled inwardly at that, making sure not to be noticed only a few feet behind the group.

“What did I tell you? It didn’t work. Now leave me before I’m forced to make you.” Discord told them mockingly. It was then that I decided to make a hasty retreat. And by hasty I mean while time was stopped.

When I was ready and in my hidey hole I clicked my watch and saw the six mares look around expectantly.

“But… it should have worked! What hap-” That’s when she looked at her friends. “Girls, where are the elements?!” I think shock was the most prominent reaction, though there was a bit of fear and anger in there, too.

“What do you mean, they’re on our-” The blue one took a look at the others, noticing that they didn’t have their shiny things. She felt her own neck only to find it bare. “Discord! What did you do with the elements?!” She flew towards him faster than I could keep up with.

“I have done nothing with them.” He told them simply as he caught the rainbow-maned mare, tossing her in the air and catching her again like a ball he was about to throw. “One moment they were there, and the next they were not.” He held her like a paper airplane, fingers around her barrel, and threw her at her friends. The mare quickly regained control and hovered above the group.

“Lies!” The purple one yelled at him. “We played your game, solved your riddle, and we did it fairly. You’ve lost, Discord. Give them back.” She demanded.

He gave them a deadpan look. “I told you, I don’t have them. If you want, you can check my pockets.” He said as his arms roamed around his body, pulling out the inside of pockets at random intervals. “Or do you want to pat me down?” He asked as all of the pockets disappeared and he summoned a wall, putting his forelimbs on said wall, his hind legs spread in the typical pat-down pose. “Truly, they’re not on my draconequine.” He said truthfully.

When I’d paused time and did my “thing” I’d stolen all of their jewelry. I was now hidden in an alleyway trying not to laugh my ass off, but I was losing the fight quickly. I decided to interrupt before I burst out laughing, breaking my cover for good.

I walked out, no longer trying to hide from them, and called out “if I may interrupt, your majesty.” I called, bowing my head as everyone looked over at me.

“Of course. What have you to say?” He asked jovially.

“Well, I would just like to know what it is these six young mares are asking for. I hear they are looking for elements?” I asked with my accent thick in my voice.

“Quite right, they are looking for the Elements of Harmony. Currently they are in the form of golden jewelry. They should not be too hard to find.” He waved dismissively. “Would you be as kind as to help them look for these objects?” He asked me.

“It would be my honor.” I put my right hand over my heart and bowed at the waste, my head facing downward. When I came up the six mares looked fairly confused and surprised. “Come now, it is getting late and I do wish to find them by nightfall.” I called to them, walking down the street away from the throne.

The six of them warily followed me, assuming I was some other trap that Discord had set up. Of course, I was no sort of trick; I was simply helping them find something they’d lost.

Once we’d rounded a corner I turned to the mares with a quick spin and addressed them. “If I may know who I’m travelling with, what are your names?” Even though they were trying to seal Discord in stone again, it’s good to show manners.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle, these are my friends: Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity.” Said the purple unicorn. As she said their names she indicated an orange earth pony with a blond mane, her Stetson leaning back on her head, the blue mare from before, who was a Pegasus if you didn’t get that from earlier, a bouncing pink mare with a love for Discords brown rain, a yellow mare that hid behind her pink mane and fluffy wings when I looked at her, and finally an alabaster mare with a violet mane that seemed to shine in the sunlight, she had a glamorous horn to complement it.

“May I say that it is a privilege to meet you all?” I said as I reached down and pulled Twilights hoof up, kissing the front of it as I would a woman’s hand. I moved to Rarity, who happened to be standing next to Twilight, kissing her hoof in the same fashion. While Twilight had blushed in surprise, Rarity smiled proudly and stood straighter, as if she adored the attention.

I moved to Pinkie next. The mare eyed me as I reached down for her hoof, but before I could grab it she lunged at me. For a split second I thought I was being attacked and reached for my watch, but when no pain came—other than my back when it hit the ground—I realized what was happening.

She was hugging me.

The mares reacted only once I understood my predicament. “Pinkie!” They called as one. They stopped when they heard my laughter.

“You have an affectionate friend, Twilight Sparkle.” I hugged her back with glee.

“You’re so nice and I need to plan your welcome party as soon as-” That’s as far as she got. I pealed her off my torso and placed her back on the ground.

“But before that, we need to find your lost belongings.” I said, patting her on the head.

The yellow one mumbled something that I barely caught. I’ve had the past thousand years to hone my hearing, what do you expect?

“I was hoping for a kiss.” She muttered quietly. None of the others seemed to hear her, so I walked over and continued my hoof-kissing.

“My lady.” I said as I kneeled and held her hoof to my lips for a good three seconds longer than the others. When I came up she was as red as a tomato and scared as a cat. I looked to the last two and they each voiced their displeasure with being formally introduced.

“Ah don’t need none of yer fancy shmancy smooches.” Said the orange mare, Applejack, as she turned away, blushing a hint.

“I’m not into that either.” Said the blue mare, Rainbow Dash, hovering near her friend.

“If you insist.” I said as I started walking down the street once more. The group behind me followed almost without hesitation. It seems I’ve shown that I’m fairly trustworthy, or, at least, not malicious at the moment.

“So, what’s your affiliation with Discord?” Asked Twilight.

“Well, what are you talking about? If we’re friends or enemies? If we’re working together? If he’s paying me?” I asked back.

“All of those, actually.” She was a nosy one. I’ll be careful to watch my mouth around her.

“Hmm… well, a long time ago we were comrades in battle. I fought for him as his champion. While he’s a fun creature to be around, his antics can become annoying after a while. I wouldn’t call him a friend, but at the same time I wouldn’t call him an enemy. We’re simply… acquaintances who’ve seen too much for their own good. All in all, he’s not the worst godlike being I’ve come across.” I explained to the mare.

“What about you two working together?” She looked up at me suspiciously.

“I would not do something to benefit him specifically.” My frown showed that I was serious, my eyes punctuated that notion.

“You seemed to know each other pretty well, back there. You even bowed to him and called him ‘your majesty’.” She kept the look on her face, seems I hadn’t convinced her completely.

“He was the first thing I met in this world. The bow and ‘majesty’ things were just me showing respect. He is a nearly omnipotent creature that could obliterate you with a snap of the fingers.” I explained.

“I see.” She was silent for a moment; I was just about to ask where the Elements might be hidden when she spoke again. “What’s your name? We’ve told you ours, and, in the confusion, forgot to ask yours.”

‘Nobody ever asks my name, even in this time period, it seems’ I thought with a chuckle. “Ok, but when you’ve been around as long as I have, you gain a couple.”

I whipped myself around, sending my coattail into the air. My left hand was hung in my pocket by the thumb and my right hand was holding its corresponding goggle lenses. I smiled as I looked at their slightly surprised faces and said something I’ve wanted to say out loud for a long while now.

“I am the Temporal Guardian, Protector of Freedom, and former Champion of Discord; I have achieved interdimensional travel and I’m the only Homo sapien on the planet. I am the Lord of Time.”

‘Pause for effect!’ I mentally squeed.

“I am… Michael Faraday.”

Author's Note

Yeah, yeah. I know. The "I am" thing is cliché, but at least I didn't pull the "last name... first name last name" thing. Be happy you get that much.

And yes, I do know that’s also called the James Bond thing, I’m not a complete noob. :derpytongue2:

Also, longer chapter. Tell me what you think in the comments!! I may keep this way, being around 2k to 3k chapters, or I may increase it. I might also go back to my original 1k chapters if too many people don't like it. Make your voice heard, or I may end up making you unhappy. I don't want to make people unhappy.

11. Piece of the Past: The Night Sky is Lovely Tonight

After a while of Michael scratching behind my ear I fell asleep. There’s no telling when I actually dozed off, but I’d say it didn’t take too long. When I woke up he was nowhere to be seen and my moon was high in the sky.

There was a moment of me looking around, thinking he was somewhere close by. He wasn’t here. Either he went further into the forest or he went out into the field. Deciding that this was my only chance to get out, I started walking out towards the meadow. If he was gone, there was more chance he’d be in the forest than the flat grass. I snuck past the tree line, hoping I’d chosen right.

“It’s not right.” I heard his voice, but it was a mere mumble. My head silently whipped around, facing the direction I thought he was.

When I did spot him he wasn’t looking at me, he was looking straight up. Two seconds later I realized he had been talking about my night sky. I looked up, seeing that it was the same as it was last night, when I painted the stars across the sky.

“That’s not where they go.” He muttered angrily to himself.

“Excuse me?” I yelled, angrier than him. My voice seemed to startle him, but only for a moment. Seeing that it was me, he visibly relaxed.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Luna, I was just commenting on the stars.” He told me with a smile. “If I somehow offended you, I apologize.”

“Of course I take offense to that! You’re slandering my most precious work!” Rage clear in my voice as I motioned to the sky.

“You mean you splatter the night with its stars?” He seemed dumbfounded by the notion.

“Who else would do it?” The sarcasm was thick in my voice.

“Well, in my experience, nobody would make it the way it is. It’s just natural.” He said this as if he knew what he was talking about.

“What? That makes no sense! I have to put the stars in the sky or there’s nothing there, just an empty void!” One of his eyebrows rose slowly.

“Well then I shall show you where to put them!” He walked into the clearing, far enough so he could see most, if not all, of the sky above him. I soon followed after.

“What do you mean ‘show me where to put them’?” I asked as I sat down next to him.

“I’m going to show you where to put the stars.” He lay on his back, patting the area next to him. I rolled onto my back, coming a little close before I readjusted to a more comfortable distance. He was not fazed by this at all, of course. He just looked towards the sky in wonder.

“There is one problem.” I told him once I was settled. “I can’t change the sky without my magic.”

“That’s a simple fix.” He pulled the limiter off of my horn without any hesitation. I was surprised from his obvious neglect of my possible escape. “The first constellations are the Big and Little Dippers, or Ursa Major and Minor. It seems you’ve got those in the right general area, but they’re a little close. Move Ursa Minor a little to the right and it should be perfect.” He said before I could react.

“Um… ok.” The stars were moved as he instructed and I looked back to him for approval.

“Perfect! Moving on to Orion.” He said quickly.

‘I don’t remember the last time someone was this interested in my sky.’ I thought to myself. I subtly scooted back against his side, snuggling up close to conserve warmth, thinking ‘this is going to be a long night.’

AT STARSWIRL THE BEARDED’S HOUSE

The hardest part was getting Celestia into the dress. You’d be surprised how difficult it is to put another being into a froofy outfit without any cooperation from her at all, not to mention she was twice as big as me. Starswirl was much easier, considering he was smaller and his new clothes could unbutton, allowing the tuxedo to slide on much easier. I looked upon my work, the two of them dressed up as if they were the mare and stallion of a wedding. I decided this was enough, moving back into the position I was in when I paused time, charging my magic to cancel the effect of the spell.

There was a moment of relative silence as I stayed crouched before the two.

“Any time now, Minuette.” Said Starswirl, almost impatiently.

“I did, teacher. I'm finished.” I said as I stood once more “you may kiss the bride.” It took all of my willpower to hold back the howling laughter that was threatening to burst from my mouth.

This is when they realized their costume change. They looked at each other, blushing profusely, before they looked away, Starswirl at me, Celestia anywhere but.

“Minuette, what is the meaning of this?” He yelled at me.

“You asked me to demonstrate the new spell.” I said calmly. “I found the best way to do this was change something about you that wouldn’t otherwise be possible with magic.”

“Was it necessary to choose such… embarrassing outfits?” He asked quietly, obviously trying to spare Celestia any more embarrassment.

“They were what I had on hoof.” I said with a shrug.

“You just happen to have an alicorn sized dress ‘on hoof’?” Celestia’s eyebrow rose in disbelief.

“Well, a friend of mine was making one; he was planning on showing you the next time you visited. Oh, by the way Celestia, it would mean the world to me if you acted surprised when Mantua shows you this in the future.” I nearly pleaded to the princess.

“This is for me? I never thought of getting married!” She said in surprise, now looking at the dress in a nearby mirror more closely, admiring the handiwork put into the garment.

“Yeah, and like I said, he’ll be unveiling it to you next time you publicly visit.” I told her once again. She nodded in understanding. “I’ll return them now.” I said as I used the spell once again and put the dresses back where I got them.

“Thank you, Minuette. I’m sorry Celestia, that wasn’t supposed to be so awkward.” Starswirl said when he noticed the suit was gone.

“Nonsense. I rather enjoyed a sneak peak at my future wedding dress.” She said, wiping the little bit of makeup I’d missed off of her face.

CELESTIA’S POINT OF VIEW

“Tsk, tsk, Celestia, I’m gone a mere day and you’re already willing to marry another stallion?” Said a voice that seemingly came from all around us. “You wound me, Celestia. I thought you wanted to rule by my side, but I guess that your love for me was merely imaginary.”

“Discord! What are you doing here?” I called, angry that the enemy had been listening to the conversation.

“Oh, I was just in the neighborhood when I heard that my favorite alicorn was at my favorite magician’s house!” Discord said as he dripped from the ceiling, collecting into his normal shape as he fell from above. “And as soon as I arrive, it’s to hear that you don’t love me.” He pulled his heart from his chest, splitting it in half as he began to cry.

“Discord, I could never love a villain such as you.” I took a fighting stance, lighting my horn in case he attacked. “You cause misery and don’t care. All that you want is to create chaos.” He shoved the two pieces back into his chest, not reacting to my obvious hostility.

“That is true. The part about making chaos, that is. But I don’t want to spread this so called ‘misery’ to my subjects, they just don’t understand fun like I do!” He explained like he simply played a prank that went south. “Anyway, that’s not why I’m here. I actually came to tell you about a couple things, one item of interest being the details of our little fight. The other being that I found your little spy.” Discord cleaned his fingers as he said this, as if he held no interest in the matter.

“You captured Luna?” I was stunned, stunned enough to drop my defensive posture completely.

“Yes, but don’t worry, she’s being treated well. I’ve left her in the hands of my champion. I suspect they are having a friendly chat right now.” He said calmly.

I reached out to Luna, searching for her life signs and emotions at the least. What I found scared me to no end. Her heart was beating much faster than normal, she was sweating, and she was afraid for her life. That was all I could tell, meaning they had a magical Limiter on her.

“Discord! Release my sister now!” I retook my stance, aiming my charged horn at his chest, dead center.

“Oh, Celly, I wouldn’t worry too much about her, she’s perfectly fine… for now.” He had a predatory look in his eye. “When we fight it will be in the clearing just outside Whitetail Woods. I’ll have an arena set up and any and all that want to watch will have the ability. It will be an open show!” He yelled jovially, laughing as he threw his arms into the air in a “ta-da!” manner. His arms went flying, exploding into small fireworks.

“Agreed.” I growled at him, still watching my sister’s vitals and emotions as they slowly lowered.

“Good. I’ll summon you when it is time for the battle. Until then, ciao!” And he vaporized into the air.

I didn’t want to take the chance of Discord hearing me so I projected my voice into Starswirl and Minuette’s minds. ‘I need to go and find the Elements of Harmony, I’ll be back before too long. While I’m gone, Minuette, I need you to train yourself in this spell as much as possible. Starswirl, teach her some simple fighting skills. I will be back.’ I quickly teleported back to where I left off in my search, leaving them no chance to question my request.

IN THE CLEARING OUTSIDE WHITETAIL WOODS

“Ok, we’re almost done.” Michael said as I rested my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. “There’s only one more thing to do, then we’re finished.”

“What is it?” I looked up at his face; his eyes sparkled with curiosity and excitement as he helped create my night sky.

“Admire your work.” He said as he relaxed, his left arm supporting my head.

“My work? You designed this sky.” I told him.

“Nobody designed the sky, it just happened, much like every beautiful thing in the world, but you’ve done a wonderful job recreating it.” He recited.

“Then where did these constellations come from?” I asked, genuinely curious. “If nobody made it, that is.”

“This is the sky from my world, where I come from the sky that is shown during the night is beautiful and natural. They are the result of the creation of the universe, by whichever means you believe in.” He smiled as I looked to him in awe.

There was a moment of silence, which was broken by a long yawn escaping from his mouth. I realized that he’d had a long day and was probably exhausted.

“You are tired, go to sleep, I promise I won’t run away.” I told him. “Most creatures sleep through my night anyway.” My voice took a sad tone when I said this. It was true. My night was shunned because it was dark. Even when the moon was at its fullest, it was dwarfed by the light of the sun that would come in the morning.

“Why would I want to sleep when I could watch the stars with you?” He asked, making my heart skip a beat. A thousand questions rushed through my head, but I didn’t have time to focus on them when he spoke again. “And even though you promised not to run away, what would happen if some predator came by wanting a midnight snack? If we were both asleep we wouldn’t stand a chance.” His voice was quiet, soothing and caring; the flutter in my chest increased threefold.

His voice broke me out of my thoughts once more. “No, you go to sleep, I know how long you’ve been awake and what you’ve been through. I won’t let anything happen to you.” He placed his hand on my head and started stroking my mane. His strokes made me realize exactly how tired I was. My eyelids became heavy as I started dozing off.

“Ok… I’ll just… take a quick… nap.” I said as I slipped into the realm of sleep.

The last thing I heard before falling unconscious was his voice.

He said “goodnight, Lulu.”

12. Piece of the Past: Lesson One

I was laying in the field with Luna as something occurred to me.

This wasn’t a hallucination, it wasn’t a dream, and I wasn’t dead. If that was the case, then where was I? More importantly, how do I get back? What does Christy think? My parents might call the authorities. The guys would probably wonder where I was, too, when I didn’t go to Jimmy’s on Friday.

Not to mention, in this world, the main species was apparently Equine. I was the only human. I was alone.

Alone.

I cried myself to sleep that night.

IN THE EVERFREE FOREST

I’d been searching through the forest for the better half of the day, but there was no time to rest. Luna was in the enemy’s custody and the Elements were still no closer to being found. I had been walking around aimlessly since I’d left Starswirl’s house. I stumbled upon the gorge I kept running into—several times in the past few hours, actually—and flew across the gap, once again.

Looking through the gap in the branches, I realized what time it was. In a few minutes I’d need to lower the sun and raise the moon. I decided I’d attempt flying when this time came.

Unfortunately, the time I spent on the ground was short-lived after that. I raised the moon and set the sun on time, saddened that Luna couldn’t do it herself.

I was never an artist. Don’t get me wrong, I could draw something, or paint a simple painting; but when it came to the night sky I had nowhere near the level of artistic talent that Luna did. Because of this, I decided to leave her sky the same as the night before.

Once the moon was on its course through the sky, I took flight, hoping that high above the treetops I’d be able to get a better location from the Elements.

Halfway through the night something interesting caught my eye. Bad news was it was from above, not below. Good news was it signified Luna’s safety.

The stars were rearranging themselves.

It seems that Discord and his associate were nice enough to let Luna change the sky. I smiled as blinks of light flew through the darkness, making shapes as they finished their travel. As I was looking up I didn’t realize that I had lost altitude. My change in height brought me close to the treetops, but before I could pull up the trees below me ended, leaving me to fly over the gorge I had stumbled upon no less than a dozen times.

Thinking that I might as well check it out, I lowered into the void of the crack in the land.

IN THE CLEARING OUTSIDE WHITETAIL WOODS THE NEXT MORNING

I awoke next to Michael. He laid there peacefully, slowly breathing in and out. Considering just closing my eyes and falling back to sleep against his chest I repositioned my hoof and felt something under his jacket, reminding me of the power he held. Whoever he fought would be in danger if he used his… gun in battle.

I silently moved his coat out of the way, revealing the weapon to me. It was in a skin that covered everything up to a loop at the bottom. I remembered how he held it, noting the loop was probably the activation lever; or what he called a “trigger”.

Pulling it out of the skin I levitated it over to me as I walked towards the forest.

“Luna?” I heard groggily from behind me. Acting fast I hid the gun behind me as I turned to look at him.

“Y-yes?” I asked, the anxiety clear in my voice.

“You weren’t trying to run away, were you?” He asked as he sat up, rubbing his eye with a closed fist.

“No! I was just… um… I was going to look for some breakfast!” I thought quickly, still shaking slightly.

“Oh… ok, then. I’ll eat anything but grass, assuming that equines here eat the stuff.” He mumbled the last part to himself, probably thinking I couldn’t hear him, but my alicorn senses allowed such a feat.

“Ok… I’ll be back in a few minutes.” I said as I walked towards the forest, the gun still hidden.

Once I was far enough away I hid behind a tree and started looking the weapon over once more, thoroughly, this time. ‘The crafting that must have gone into this thing must have been incredible!’ I thought to myself as I looked down the tube at the, I assumed, front end of the thing.

Suddenly the gun wasn’t in my magical grip any more, but it was now pointing to the sky with a fist around the tube.

“Luna! What are you doing?” Michael yelled as he checked it over, putting it back into its skin moments later.

“I- but you- I mean- I’m sorry!” I was utterly surprised and, honestly, more than a bit scared. I hadn’t heard him approach, not even the slightest rustle of grass. I’d never been snuck up on before, only the one time when I was trying to escape from the ropes.

I realized that there was more than one secret to this being known as Michael, if he could sneak up on me, the Mistress of the Night.

“This is a dangerous weapon that could easily hurt you, or worse!” He said as if he were a mother scolding her child for playing with knives. “I don’t want you getting hurt because of my lack of attention.” He said, calmer than before.

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to know.” I said, like the ashamed child of the metaphor.

“It’s fine, I know. I just don’t want you to get hurt.” He kneeled next to me, giving me a tight hug. After a few seconds of embracing me he moved away, holding me at arm’s length. I looked to the ground in shame, but he’d have none of it. He pulled my chin up to look me in the eyes. “I can show you.” The small smile accentuated his forgiveness.

“You would?” I asked, a little more surprised that he was going to show me one of his secrets.

“Of course, if only to show you how to use it in case you must protect yourself with it.” Standing up, he walking towards the fields once again. “Now, where did I put those targets?” He mumbled to himself.

I got up and walked after him, following him to some wooden circles that had red paint on them. He lifted two and I lifted the other two. He told me that he could make round trips, but I insisted that it would be faster this way.

“Faster, really?” He asked, almost like I’d issued a challenge.

“Well, in the time that you made your round trips, we could have just walked there together.” I told him.

“Are you saying that I can’t make it there, back here, and to the fields again before you made it to said fields?” The smirk on his face indicated he knew something I didn’t.

“Well, yeah. I mean, I have wings, I could just fly over there and you’d have to walk.” I briefly thought of how he kept sneaking up on me, but dismissed it seeing as it had nothing to do with the current conversation.

“Ok. Set the targets down. When I say ‘go’ you start flying out to the middle of the field as fast as you can. I’m going to get all four targets there before you touch down. Deal?” There was a bit of humor in his voice as he untied my wings, like he was tricking a child.

“That sounds unfair, but if you think you’re up to it.” I said, taking my position and stretching my wings, working out the kinks and soreness.

“Ready set go!” He said in an even pattern. I rushed off, galloping as fast as I could, flapping my wings hard. I took this seriously, as anyone would, and flew straight through the treetops to fly above the forest. What I saw ahead dumbfounded me.

He was already there... with all four targets… waving at me.

As I landed, I took a few breaths to try and lower my heart rate. “How… did you do that?” I asked as I cantered over to him.

“I didn’t tell you before? I’m fast. Faster than anyone.” The pride in his voice was unmistakable.

“But you got here before I even cleared the forest! How’s that even possible? Did you use magic?” I looked him over for any magic radiating off of him. There was nothing. When I looked at him, checking for magic, I saw that he was a void. Even the air around him had ambient magical traces, but he had none. Not even the slightest sign.

“No, I did not.” Before he could elaborate his face suddenly became a mask of surprise.

MICHAEL’S POINT OF VIEW

There was a sudden urge to take my watch out of my pocket. I wasn’t sure what was going on, so I did what I thought needed to be done. Pulling my watch from my pocket, I found that it was slowly getting heavier, not unbearably so, but enough to be noticeable. I tilted the piece of clockwork on its side, just over my hand, getting that same feeling that it was the thing to do. What happened next surprised me.

Glimmering gold sand fell forth, until it slowly took the shape of a simple crystal hourglass. The small quartz hourglass was no larger than four inches, but as I held it upside-down the sand never fell from its position. I began speaking as the words came from deep within my mind.

“Time is an unalienable right. All creatures receive theirs. Freedom is another unalienable right, given to creatures upon their creation. No being, mortal or immortal, has the ability to take these two indefeasible entitlements.” I looked into the sand that was still stuck to the inverted hourglasses ceiling “Those who find themselves striped of either, may this time piece find you in your plight; for I will heed that call to assist you in retaking that which was taken. Just say ‘tempus attinet, Libertas aeternam’ and I shall come to your aid.” Suddenly the sand began to fall, making its hissing sound as it fell through the funnel, slowly gathering at the base once more.

I felt the urge to place the hourglass into my coat pocket. Once I removed my hand the pocket was once again empty. I knew it had gone somewhere, but I didn’t know where.

“Um… what was that about?” Asked Luna once my little display was over.

“I’m not sure. There’s no need to dwell on it, though.” I said as I set the targets upright. “You wanted to know how my gun worked, and I was going to teach you how to use it.” I unholstered the weapon and showed it to her once more.

“I know the basics already. That is the activation lever and when it’s pulled it creates the… bullet you were talking about.” She pointed at the trigger with a hoof.

“Good, now take it and shoot the target.” I told her as she levitated it out of my hands.

She slowly moved the barrel to point at the circle. I saw a faint glow surround the trigger, gradually applying pressure to it. There were a few seconds of silence… a few more… she looked at it like it was broken.

“Lesson one, gun safety.” I told her, taking the gun back. “This is the safety.” I pointed at the small lever that was still in the “safe” position. “It’s the only thing keeping the weapon from going off when it’s not supposed to.” I clicked the safety off and held it out to her. “Don’t worry; I did the exact same thing when I first started.” I gave a friendly smile as she took it once more.

The gun levitated from my grip and immediately went off, causing her magic to falter and the gun to drop to the ground.

“I did that too. I’m starting to see a pattern.”

Author's Note

"The worst thing a human can be is alone."

-Golden Script

Michael is ready for crossovers, if you'd like to meet him, PM me!

13. A Murderous Betrayal

I continued walking down the road, the six mares following after.

“Mr. Faraday, may I say that I’ve never seen an outfit such as yours? Where did you find such clothing?” Asked the one called Rarity.

“Well, I was wearing these articles when I arrived at Equestria.” I told her as I kept walking at a brisk pace, but a simple trot for my pony companions. “I haven’t had time to change my clothing, nor have I ever had the want to.” I looked over the pristine cloth covering my body. “They are all I have of my previous world, other than a few trinkets and some memories.” I gave a smile, but the alabaster mare must have seen the pain of remembering my past life behind my facade, for she stopped asking questions, slowly moving back to join her friends as we took a turn.

“Enough sadness, my associates, I wish not to dampen the mood with my personal demons. So Rarity, I see that you are much like me, a creature of stature. Please, tell me of your societal adventures.” Her eyes lit up at the opportunity to talk about her contacts with the many ponies of the nobles and others of importance, but she visibly pushed the feeling down.

“Oh, there’s nothing that I could say that would come anywhere near what you might be able to tell us.” She said, pushing the same question upon me. ‘well played, Mrs. Rarity. Well played.’

“And you think that I’ve spent much time in the city of Canterlot? I’ve spent the past thousand years trapped in stone. Any story that I could tell would be a history lesson more than entertainment.” I laughed inwardly when I saw that Twilight’s eyes had lit up. We turned again.

“That’s right. You were imprisoned with Discord, weren’t you?” Asked the violet mare.

“Yes, I was imprisoned when Celestia misunderstood my intentions.” My laughter died instantly, turning to a stoic expression of seriousness. This scared several of the mares, putting more than a couple in defensive postures. “But I hold no grudges; she has shown sorrow for her rash decisions, and that is enough for me.” They relaxed after that.

“Well, it’s good you don’t hate the princesses.” Twilight said as she trotted up next to me as we turned once more.

“You, Twilight, seem to be well read. You’ve been storing the information that I give you away in your mind neatly. I can tell, just from your neutral visage.” I observed as she looked to surprise.

“Well, it’s true that I’m well read, and I may remember what you tell me, but only because I feel that your story is worth remembering.” She said this with a pleasant smile. There was something about it that told me that she wasn’t lying.

“You are an interesting creature, Twilight Sparkle. I believe that we will be great friends.” I smiled, too.

“That’s good, but I have a question.” Twilight trotted up next to me, looking up at my face as it was still directed at the road before us.

“What would that be?” I asked, looking down at her.

“Where are we going?” She said.

I stopped in my tracks and looked at her, now a few feet in front of me.

“I thought you were leading.”

CANTERLOT GARDENS

My sister had the Elements of Harmony taking care of Discord, but I felt that I should check the gardens once more, in case there was something that the guard had missed. Discord was a master of hiding things from ponies, and even with sufficient power it was extremely difficult to find something that he’d hidden.

When I arrived at the gardens I felt something was off. I wasn’t sure exactly what was different right away, but it was unsettling how different the area felt. After some examining Discord’s pedestal, finding nothing, I decided I’d check the surrounding statues.

Of course, the few that were in this section were doodled on like paintings in a mutilated museum. Some had mustaches drawn on by a marker, others were dressed up like clowns, and a couple had random word bubbles above them, saying things that didn’t make any sense. Looking through the statues, one by one, to see if the god of chaos had left any clues as to his plans I came upon a pedestal that, much like Discord’s, didn’t have a statue on it. Fear ran through my body as I imagined what villain Discord had released to help him in his chaos.

I quickly trotted around the stone slab, looking for the plaque that would inform me who had been released.

When I found it I froze. I didn’t blink, in fear that it would change once I did; I didn’t breathe, imagining the stone to fly away, leaving me with nothing but crushed dreams; and I didn’t dare move. Not in the slightest.

Moments passed as I tried to comprehend what I was seeing.

‘he’s out’

This was my only thought before I unfurled my wings and burst into the sky as fast as I could.

PONYVILLE

“I thought you were leading.”

We stared at each other, wondering where to go from here. There were several seconds of silence before the most unexpected thing happened.

“Um, what’s that?” Asked a voice that boomed in the silence. Actually, it was really quiet, but compared to the dead stillness of the preceding moments, Fluttershy might as well have been screaming at the top of her lungs. I turned to the butter yellow mare, seeing her hoof pointing up.

I looked in the indicated direction just before the object she was designating crashed into me with the force of a freight train.

When the impact was over and I was finished sliding across the ground I found myself being pinned to the ground by magic as a pony stood over me.

I was about to inquire who had tackled me out of the blue when something hard came up and hit me right across the cheek. When I looked to said object I found it to be a navy blue hoof. My eyes then shot forward again, right into the brilliant turquois orbs that were hovering right above mine.

They rushed forward, mashing our lips together. Suddenly, the magic restraining me dispersed, along with myself. I slowly fell to the back of my own mind, allowing… other urges to take over.

TWILIGHT SPARKLE’S POINT OF VIEW

When the dust cleared the sight that greeted me and my friends was less believable than being told that Celestia hated cake.

Princess Luna was on top of Michael and they were making out. It seemed to be getting kinda heated, so I turned away, if only in respect for the princess. I decided to check my friends for their reactions instead of gawking at the blatant affection before me.

What I saw surprised me.

Applejack had her hat over her eyes, but there was a visible blush on her cheeks. Rainbow Dash was staring unashamedly, a mix of surprise and disbelief on her face. Rarity was covering her mouth, but her eyes were wide enough to show her shock. Fluttershy was hiding behind her mane, but her eyes, too, were as wide as Rarity’s; her face resembled a tomato. And, finally, Pinkie was being Pinkie; bouncing and smiling like nothing was happening.

I coughed to get everypony’s attention, but only received that of my friends. “Maybe we should leave the Princess for a few minutes. It would seem she has an appointment with our escort.” I said as I walked away, around a corner, to give the couple a bit of privacy.

MICHAEL’S POINT OF VIEW

The kiss lasted much longer than I thought possible, and when we did part we gasped for air.

“You bastard!” She gasped out as she hugged me tightly. “Why didn’t you come to me? Why didn’t you tell her to wait? I visited you every day until Nightmare Moon took over, and I would have continued if the Nightmare hadn’t taken me!” She yelled at me.

“I know, I saw.” I told her in a whisper.

“What?” She looked into my eyes once more.

“I was conscious every second of my imprisonment. I saw every visit, and it caused me so much pain to see you deteriorate so much each day. It nearly killed me seeing you like that, and every second I knew it was my fault.” She looked like she wanted to interrupt, but I didn’t allow her to. “All that matters now is that we’re together. The past is in the past.” I hugged her close, pulling her head to my chest and resting my chin in her ethereal mane. The semi-familiar tingling it left on my face made me smile, the wet spot that was leaking through my vest and shirt tugged on my heartstrings.

We were once again together but that wouldn’t be the case for long.

I had to work fast.

TWILIGHT SPARKLE’S POINT OF VIEW

It had been a few minutes since Luna had arrived, and I thought I’d figured it out.

Michael had her under some spell.

“What could cause the princess to be so… forward?” I asked myself as I paced in the street with my friends watching me. “Maybe it’s a variation of a mind control spell. Or maybe it’s the love potion that the Crusaders used on Big Mac. But what if it’s something we haven’t seen before? How would we combat that?”

“Twi.” Applejack put her hoof around my shoulder, stopping my motion. “You need ta calm down. What if’n it’s exactly what it looks like?” She asked.

“Then that means that Princess Luna is in love with a being that is not equine. How likely is that?” I asked her.

“Well, he did seem dreamy.” Said Rarity with a far-off look in her eye.

I ignored her, knowing that it could be Blueblood all over again, I turned back to Applejack. “Anyway, we have to be ready for anything. I’ll prepare a scanning spell to see if he has her under any control spells.”

“Ah want yall ta prepare yerself if the Princess really does like Michael.” Applejack retorted.

“I will. And if that’s the case, I’ll respect her decision.” I charged the spell as I heard the two walk down the street towards us.

When Luna rounded the corner I blasted her with the spell, scanning her for any magic that would augment her personality, and what I came up with surprised me.

There was nothing controlling her. She was doing this of her own free will.

Luna was in love with Michael.

“Twilight, what was that?” She asked once the spell had dissipated completely.

“Well, it was a scanning spell, to see if you were under control of Michael. It came up negative.” I told her quickly, not wanting to draw the fury of the night. “We don’t want a repeat of Nightmare Moon, do we?” I asked nervously.

She seemed to consider this for a moment, cringing at the all-too-recent memory of the night obsessed entity, nodding in agreement once she’d made her decision. “You’re right. Well done. I will be sure to inform Celestia about your quick thinking and caution.” Her smile showed that she meant it in a good way.

“Thank you, Princess.” I bowed.

“Now, Twilight, why are you out here? If Discord is free, which I believe he still is, then should you not be fighting him?” Luna asked as we gathered in our group.

“Well, right when we were going to turn Discord to stone again he took the Elements from us. He claimed that he didn’t take them and that he didn’t know where they were, but there’s no other explanation.” I told her. “Then Michael came out of nowhere and offered to help us find them. We’ve been wandering aimlessly ever since.”

“Well then I think I have something that could help.” Luna lit her horn before explaining. “It’s been much shorter since I was connected to the Elements. I should be able to pinpoint their locations.”

MICHAEL’S POINT OF VIEW

‘What?’

My mind raced for what to do. Then I just about facepalmed as I realized I could just stop time and hide the Elements all over town.

So that’s what I did.

In my time stop I spread the elements all over the town and returned to the group. Luckily, nopony was looking at me. I clicked the watch and resumed the conversation.

“It should tell me their locations in a second here.” Luna said as she closed her eyes and focused.

A few moments of concentration later Luna opened her eyes. “Well?” Asked the six mares to the princess.

“I know where they are. The Elements of Harmony are scattered throughout Ponyville. I’ll give you all your respective elements location, when you’ve found it, meet at the library.” She said as she projected the locations into the six mares’ heads. “Good luck.” The group dispersed, all heading towards the hiding places I’d found.

This was not a solution; it would only delay the inevitable.

TWILIGHT SPARKLE’S POINT OF VIEW

My Element was hidden in a place I wouldn’t expect, but was completely possible.

Town Hall.

I teleported into the building that was floating upside down above Ponyville. I found myself on the ceiling of the main room.

“Oh, come on! This was the hardest one to hide! You can’t just cheat and use magic. Go back and do it again.” Came a voice from behind me. I whipped my head around, looking behind me.

There was nopony there.

“Don’t even think about it.” He was now right next to me, whispering in my ear. My immediate reaction was to jump away and look at where I thought he was.

Again, there wasn’t anything.

“Who are you? Where are you?” I called, searching the room for something out of place, or somepony hiding in the shadows.

“My name is not important, and as for where I am…” The voice echoed around the room before something covered my eyes. “I’m right here.” He said, once again whispering in my ear. “Don’t be afraid, I’m not here to hurt you. In fact, in a few minutes here I’m going to have to leave.” He said as he uncovered my eyes and backed up. When I whipped around I found something that surprised me.

It was Michael.

Michael was here, and acting different.

“Michael?” I asked to confirm my suspicions.

“Do you know any other humans?” His eyebrow rose.

“What are you doing? Shouldn’t you be with Luna?” This was confusing, he was no longer acting nice like before, and he wasn’t with Luna, who actually loves him.

“Well, Luna is being taken care of, and what I’m doing is attempting to stop you from retrieving the Element of Magic.” He said.

“Why?” The simple question that would answer almost everything.

“Because I work under the King Discord. He has promised me power, and I want more.” He said with an insane grin now on his face. “Now, this can be settled the easy way or the hard way. Personally I’d prefer the hard way, but either way I can almost guarantee you will lose.”

To this, I assumed a defensive stance, lighting my horn.

“So we do this the fun way, good choice.” And suddenly he was gone.

RARITY’S POINT OF VIEW

The Element of Generosity was hidden in the nearby Whitetail Woods. I have nothing against nature, and the wildlife in the Whitetail is quite beautiful and inspirational, but I would have preferred to be back in my boutique, making a dress of some kind.

“Rarity!” Came a voice from behind me.

When I turned around there was Michael, sprinting to me with his arm stretched out.

“Darling, what’s wrong?” I asked when he stopped in front of me, leaning over and breathing hard.

“The other… Elements… they’ve been defeated.” He gasped out.

“What?!” He caught his breath, taking one last deep breath.

“Discord sent one of his lackeys after them, they’re all captured and you’re all that’s left. You’re their only hope.” He looked down at me with sorrow.

“Well, how were they captured? What do we know about this lackey?” I asked quickly.

“Every time they were just about to get their Elements, he came out of nowhere and just… got them. He had them within moments.” He looked up into a tree. “Rarity, isn’t that your necklace?” He asked, pointing into a tree.

There, hanging on a branch, was the Element of Generosity.

“Yes, that’s it.” I levitated it down over my neck. “Now we must keep an eye out for this ‘lackey’ you speak of. Do we know what it looks like?”

“Let me think… he’s just over six foot, has short brown hair, and is wearing a trench coat.” Michael said, but his voice was different. It sounded more menacing and amused.

“Michael?” I turned to look at him, but his face was contorted into the creepiest smile I’d ever seen.

“You know, I arrived just before you found your Element. I guess that makes me the lackey, doesn’t it?” He asked, the look never leaving his face.

“Michael, what’s going on? I don’t want to hurt you.” I backed up. As I did he walked towards me. I soon bumped into a tree, halting my backpedaling, but not his forward momentum.

“Give me the Element, Rarity, and nopony gets hurt.” In his eyes, there was nothing left of the Michael I once admired. He was gone, and all that was left was this monster.

“You’re scaring me.” I whimpered as he crept closer.

APPLEJACK’S POINT OF VIEW

My Element, the Element of Honesty, had been hidden in the apple orchard. When I was in the middle of the field I heard a voice from above.

“Hey, Applejack, what’s up?” Asked Michael from a tree branch. He was eating one of the red orbs from the trees as he lounged against the trunk.

“Apparently you, Sugarcube.” I said in confusion. “Why ain’t ya with the Princess? Did you want to help me find mah element?”

“Well, yes and no. I guess that the truth is I’m here to stop you.” He said, nonchalantly.

“What’s that supposed ta mean?” I asked, crouching low, ready for one of Discord’s tricks.

“You’re looking for this, right?” He held up the golden necklace with the apple gem in the middle.

“Yeah, ah am.” I growled through clenched teeth.

“That’s too bad.” He took another bite of his morsel. “That means that I’ll have to defeat you like the others.”

“What do ya mean ‘the others’?” I asked, now fearing for my friends.

“To cut a long story short, your friends were also looking for their elements, so I stopped them. Now tell me, Applejack, do you want the cold, hard truth or shall I sugarcoat it, Sugarcube?” He said “Sugarcube” like I would, emphasizing the u’s.

“Tell me what ya did with mah friends!” I shouted at him, saving my anger for when I can finally buck his face in.

“Very well.” He said menacingly as he jumped down, landing with a thud and looking right into my eyes with the insanity of a tortured soul.

“They’re dead.” He said simply, he grabbed my head and whispered in my ear “just like you.”

RAINBOW DASH’S POINT OF VIEW

Cloudsdale is a beautiful flying city made of, you guessed it, clouds. My family—my sister and parents—lives there now. When I learned that my element was hidden there I flew as fast as I could to get there so I might have some time to visit before I went back.

About halfway through the flight I heard something over the rush of the wind.

“You wanna race?” Someone called over the gale.

I flapped hard to stop my forward motion, looking around for the being to challenge me, Rainbow Dash, to a race. What I found seemed unlikely and impossible.

“Michael? What are you doing here?” I found the biped clinging to the top of a tree.

“Well, I saw how fast you flew off and I thought ‘hey, maybe she’d want to test her speed.’ So I came to find you.” He said, still at the tree’s top.

“Don’t like heights?” I asked with a smirk.

He shook his head fearfully, trying not to look down, but stealing a glance anyway.

“Ok, we can continue this conversation on the ground. You need help getting down?” I asked him, hovering next to him in case he fell.

Relieve washed over his face when I said this. “No, I can get down. Thank you, though.”

“Ok.” I stopped flapping, falling to the ground and only opening my wings once more when I was a pony-length from the ground. To my surprise he was already on the ground. I assumed he’d just jumped.

“So, about that race.” He said. “Do you accept?”

“Well, I would, but you wouldn’t stand a chance. You don’t even have wings, and from what I’ve seen, you struggle to keep up with a simple trot.” I trotted around him to emphasize my point.

“I think that you’ll eat those words in a moment here.” He smirked as this left his lips.

“It’s obvious who’d win! So what’s the point in racing?” I think he took it the wrong way when I said this.

“How about this, to make it fair, I won’t use my full power.” He started stretching his muscles, seemingly getting ready for a race that he’d obviously lose.

“Um, ok. I guess I won’t go all out either.” This was weird. ‘How could he think that he’d beat a Pegasus in a race? Even Fluttershy could beat him!’ “Where are we racing to?”

“Oh, no, I couldn’t ask that of you. Please, go all out. It’ll make this slightly interesting. And I think that there’s a clearing right up ahead, maybe a few hundred feet.” He took a racing stance on all fours. I did the same, eyeing him as he started counting down. He yelled “Three, two, one, go!” And he started sprinting. I hung back a few seconds before shrugging and running just ahead of him, trying to stay only a little ahead of him.

Suddenly, there was a rushing sound of wind, like something had rushed past me all of a sudden. I glanced behind me, seeing that he wasn’t there anymore.

“What are you looking at? I’m up here!” My head whipped around to find him several pony-lengths ahead of me. He then continued sprinting off.

‘How… it doesn’t matter. I just have to win this race.’ I then unfurled my wings and flapped hard, zooming past him once again. ‘Eat my words, my flank!’ I thought as I burst into the clearing he indicated…

… To find him sitting there, legs crossed, eyes closed, and breathing evenly.

“You… but that… back there…” I stuttered out, still wondering how he got ahead of me again.

“Well, that wasn’t much of a challenge, but you are fast. Good job. Now to take the reward for beating you.” He stood up, wiping anything that might have gotten on his nice pants.

“Hey! You cheated! That’s not fair.” I stomped a hoof in defiance.

“I said I wouldn’t use my full power. I didn’t.” He said simply.

“Well… but… how’d you do that?” He smirked at my question.

“A magician never reveals his secrets. But moving on, it’s time I take my prize.” The look in his eye became demented.

I unconsciously took a step back. “What would that be?” Fear laced my voice.

The next thing I knew he was an inch from my face.

“Your life.”

MICHAEL’S POINT OF VIEW

I looked to the sky, noticing what time it was. I didn’t have time to play with the next one, so I paused time and walked to the last elements hidden location.

There was Fluttershy. She was holding the Element of Kindness in my stasis. The smile on her face showed that she was happy that she’d finally found what she was looking for.

FLUTTERSHY’S POINT OF VIEW

I’m a shy pony. It’s just been a fact of life. I was an introvert, only being able to talk freely to animals, and my friends, sometimes. That’s why I was ecstatic when I learned that my element was at my house.

By the time I had arrived home it was getting a little late. I decided I’d fly back, but first I had to find the necklace itself.

I searched around the house, finding nothing in my room, the guest room, or the living room. The kitchen was also empty. The only other place I could think of was the garden, which is exactly where I looked next.

After a few minutes of searching something caught my eye. It was a tiny glint in the flowers. Something metal. When I pulled it out of the soil I found that it was my necklace.

“Here you are!” I smiled.

MICHAEL’S POINT OF VIEW

It’s too bad I didn’t have time to have any fun, but it doesn’t matter. I’d still be able to do something that I’d been craving ever since I met the butter yellow Pegasus.

I punched her in the face, as hard as I could.

I then took the Element of Kindness and started back towards town.

AT DISCORD’S THRONE

Michael had been out all day. I wondered where he’d been all this time.

‘speak of me.’ I thought as he appeared in front of me with the six necklaces in hand. His kneeling posture showed his devotion toward me.

“Good, my pet. Now we can begin.” I grinned ominously.

“I am no one’s pet. You promised me power. Give it to me!” He yelled at me.

“Hmm… I think not.” I said as I took the Elements from him.

“What?” The anger in his voice was palpable.

“I have what I want, why should I give you anything?” I asked, snapping to summon a cage around him.

“Because I did all of your dirty work! Just so that you wouldn’t get your claw dirty!” He yelled at me, gripping two of the bars like the prisoner he was.

“Well, I don’t care. Would you really think that an incarnate of Chaos would keep a deal? How preposterous.” The sarcasm was thick in my voice.

“I will get my revenge on you and Celestia. All who have wronged me will pay.” The threat was a pointless one.

“Yeah, and how’s that gonna work? You’re trapped.” I pointed out.

All he did was growl at the fact. We had a short stare down, that was only broken when I smirked with a satisfied “hmph”.

“That’s what I thought.” I said as I moved the cage next to my thrown. “Now, come watch some chaos with me.”

IN CELESTIA’S BEDROOM

It had been way too long since Discord had been released. I had just sent the final Friendship Report and was starting to get worried. I decided to write a new message.

Dear Twilight,

Have you understood what I’m trying to tell you? If you have and there is something else that is stopping you from imprisoning Discord once again, I will come and help. Please, Twilight, tell me if there is something wrong.

If you don’t respond to this message in five minutes then I will come to Ponyville to help anyway.

Your fearful Mentor,

Celestia

As I sent the letter to Spike I sighed and looked towards the small village, hoping that she wasn’t in any danger.

SPIKE’S POINT OF VIEW

I had been shooting out these letters for the better part of an hour when they stopped.

“Finally.” I clutched my stomach in agony when I felt something else coming up. “Oh, Celestia, no!” I felt the fire come out my throat.

One more scroll materialized from the flames, rolling across the floor and running into a silver clad hoof.

“What’s this?” asked Princess Luna.

Author's Note

Minor changes to some scenes.

14. Piece of the Past: Trust

It had been a few hours since Luna had dropped the gun. She was becoming quite good at hitting several targets in quick succession.

“Ok, hit all four!” I yelled as I tossed four chunks of wood into the air. A second later all four were splinters on the ground.

“I did it!” She jumped up and down, the gun floating just above her, pointing to the sky. She’d learned that the hard way when she nearly hit me on accident.

“Yes you did. Good job.” I smiled as I walked over, taking the gun from her. “But I believe that it’s time to take a break. That’s enough training for now.” There was a bit of disappointment in her eyes, but it was quickly wiped away by content. We sat down, just enjoying each other’s company.

Or so I thought.

“Why are you doing this?” She asked suddenly.

“Doing what? Teaching you how to wield my pistol?” I asked.

“No, why are you helping Discord?” When I looked at her I saw the look on her face. It was one of neutrality, much like the calm before a storm.

“He… Discord was the first being I met in this world. He showed me hospitality and taught me how to use what I had.” I told her solemnly.

“But that’s not enough to follow him blindly!” She faced me with distress on her face. “What did he promise you if you helped him win, because whatever power he’s said you’ll earn is a trick!”

“He didn’t promise me power!” I shouted, making her pause in her rant. “He promised me freedom; freedom for those of this country. He has told me what you planned for the beings of this world. You want to enslave everyone on this planet and put yourselves at the top!” I stood, towering over the prone mare. “I implore you; join us in our fight for freedom.”

“You don’t know… do you?” She asked, more to herself than me, but I heard nonetheless.

“Know what? That you came here trying to overthrow Discord and take the position of queen? That you’re going to banish him from his own kingdom? That your true intent is to gain power in any way possible?” I ended up yelling at her in anger.

“Michael, come here. I want to show you something.” She said this in a calm tone that enraged me beyond belief.

“No, you’re probably going to try and brainwash me!” The accusation was not unwarranted, but it was irrational. She’d been so nice to me, and never once shown the control-freak personality I’d think a dictator would have.

“Please. Do this one thing for me. That’s all I ask. After that I’ll leave you to do what you wish with me.” Her face was a mask of sorrow.

I didn’t respond, but I didn’t move away either. Something told me to do this, and I didn’t like it very much, but if it would get her off my back, I thought it might be worth it.

A trail of magic snaked out of her horn, flowing towards me. I tensed, but once it touched my forehead my eyes widened in realization.

IN MICHAEL’S MINDSCAPE

I couldn’t see anything. There was just blackness. Nothing anywhere. I heard a voice. Her voice.

“Michael, I want to give you a view of our land.” She said.

“Luna, where are you? I can't see anything!” Panic was my first reaction, my second was confusion.

She laughed. She laughed at me like I was some child! It made me slightly angry, seeing as I had somehow lost my sight in this process.

“This is no laughing matter! I’m blind and it’s all your fault!” I yelled at her.

“Open your eyes.” She got out between chuckles.

That’s when I did just that, realizing I had my eyes closed the whole time.

“Oh…” I said as I looked at myself. Hands, check; arms, check; torso, check; legs, check; and feet, check. Looks like I’m all here. So where is here?’ I thought to myself as I looked around.

We were in a white room, but it was more like a void, seeing as there was no ceiling, visible walls or floor. I spotted Luna, but something was off.

‘Was it her mane? No, that couldn’t be it. Her hair was always a pitch black, wasn’t it? Maybe her light blue eyes… but those were always like that. I know it. Hmm… ah! I got it! It’s her complexion! She is much paler than she should be. She’s also much taller, though. I wonder why.’

“Hmm, it seems that I’ve taken a new form. Well, that is to be expected when I enter the dreams of another creature. You see, I take the form most familiar to them. In your case, it would be your species, which is why I’m now a… human, it seems, instead of the pony that you’re familiar with. Thankfully, I won’t have to learn how to walk, for I believe the transfer between quadruped and biped would be quite difficult.” She jokingly said to herself.

There was a moment of silence before I realized something.

She was stark naked.

No clothes at all.

Right in front of me.

It was at this point in time that I realized my own nudity and attempted to cover my rising… issue.

“It would seem that your species has a habit of wearing clothes. I guess I could arrange something. One moment, please.” She closed her eyes and focused. I blinked wondering what exactly she was doing, but when I opened my eyes once more I found both of us fully clothed. She was in a flowing blue sundress with a moon on her hip. It looked oddly fitting for her. I looked down at myself once more, expecting to find myself in my Birthday Suit, but instead found the trench coat and vest I’d worn to the Convention. “Now that’s been taken care of, let me show you what shape our land is in.” She said as she motioned to the space behind her. The white of the void shimmered and a town materialized out of the alabaster background.

“This is the town of Manehattan. It is a small village of no more than a few hundred, but growing by the month. This is what it would look like if my sister and I ruled.” It zoomed in, showing me several small horses—smaller than Luna, anyway— going about their lives with smiles and cheer. “This is what it looks like now, under the rule of Discord.” The image changed, morphing into an image of what I imagine the apocalypse would look like…

If it were done by a clown.

Buildings were flying in the air, ponies—as I have come to know them—were inflated and floating through the air like lost balloons, banana peels were all over the place, causing those that could run around to slip and fall every few seconds, the ground was a weird zigzag pattern and the sky was the most unnatural color of green I’d ever seen. The chaos that was ensuing was downright stupid.

“As you can see, Discord is not just exercising freedom, but he’s using said freedom to do whatever he wishes to the world we live in today. My sister and I were going to stop this monster from playing with our little ponies lives like they were simple toys.” She said with determination.

There was a moment of me trying to absorb all of this, trying to understand it all. I found that I had known Discord a relatively short time and he had given me no reason to trust him. I also found that Luna had spent an even shorter time with me but in that period she had shown her trustworthiness several times over. I decided then and there that I was on the wrong side.

“Luna, get us out of here.” I said quietly to the mare.

“Ok, Michael.” Her forehead glowed, presumably, where her horn would be.

OUTSIDE MICHAEL’S MINDSCAPE

When I opened my eyes, in the real world, anyway, I found Luna hovering over me with a worried look on her face.

“Hello, Luna.” I said as I sat up. My voice was a cold neutral, I didn’t show any anger and I didn’t show any happiness.

“Michael, there is nothing else I can do to show you the truth, short of taking you to the towns that I speak of, but as soon as we left this area Discord would most likely be notified. We would never be able to get to any of said towns fast enough, not even with your speed ability.” She said sorrowfully.

“If I could do it, would you show me?” My head was down, hiding my eyes from view.

“What do you mean?” The question hung in the air.

“If I could get to this town before Discord realized it.” I clarified.

“Well, yes. But like I said, even with your augmented speed, we’d never get to the closest one before he knew we’d moved. He’d probably revert the town into something resembling ‘order’ before we were halfway there.” She looked down, much like me.

“You doubt my abilities; that hurts, Luna.” I said with pseudo-tears in my eyes.

“But, I don’t understand. Nothing is fast enough to do the feat you’re implying.” She was surprised by my confidence.

“I can guarantee we make it there and back before he even knows we left.” I said, matter-of-factly.

“He has magic, that I’m sure is instantaneous, and he can teleport back here as soon as he knows. Are you saying you’re faster than that?” Confusion was evident on her face, shown in her raised brow and wide eyes.

“Yep!” I said, more than a little proud. “Of course, I can’t say that he won’t notice once we get back.”

There was a moment of silence as she stared at me with “skeptic” written all over her.

“Prove it.” She said simply.

“A bit childish, don’t you think?” I asked as I stood up.

“Yes, but the point still stands: I don’t believe you, so prove it.” She stood with me.

“Ok, give me your hoof.” I said as I reached down for the indicated limb.

She reached up and I gripped the soft fur of her neatly cut fetlocks. I pulled my watch out, and gave a silent request to the time piece.

‘please, let this to work!’ I thought to it as I clicked the crown.

LUNA’S POINT OF VIEW

I saw him click the top of the thing he took out of his pocket. Suddenly I felt power flood into me. There was a few seconds, from my point of view, where time slowed down before it stopped! As soon as this happened I realized how much colder it had gotten. I pulled the hoof in his hand away to attempt to keep myself warm.

I tried to yell out, wondering how it became so cold so fast, and found I had become mute. I frantically shouted to try and get my voice back when I saw Michael with a finger to his lips. He took off his long coat and draped it over my head. It trailed all the way down my neck, over my back and halfway to the ground; that’s just how long it was. He gave me a comforting smile and stood back up.

There was a moment for me to enjoy the warmth in his jacket, the only thing there was in this vacuum. Once that moment was over I looked around for the first time, realizing that nothing was moving anymore. The trees had frozen in the breeze, the grass no longer waved, and the clouds in the sky were stuck in their places.

I looked to Michael questioningly, but he just shrugged it off. He made a motion to the area around us, which only received another look from me.

He made an exasperated sigh motion. After this a game of charades started. There was a motion to me then him, followed by an over exaggerated walking gesture, and finally some funny faces. I pieced this together as he wanted us to go to the town, to show him of the insanity of Discord’s world.

I nodded, and started walking towards the nearest town, which was Las Pegasus. It wasn’t the city I’d shown him, but it was closer and probably in a similar state.

A WHILE LATER (BUT TECHNICALLY NO TIME AT ALL)

The first five minutes I was worried that Discord had noticed we were gone, ten minutes after that I thought he was just leading us on, but after that I felt safe just walking beside Michael.

…

The silence was driving me crazy, though.

Author's Note

So, Michael can pull living things into his Stases. That's useful.

16. Piece of the Past: The Enchanted Pancakes

Author's Note

To remind everyone, Christina was his girlfriend back on Earth.

crossover... ish with I Will Hunt You Down.

16. Piece of the Past: The Enchanted Pancakes

Back in my old world, I was a curious creature. My body was always very slim. People usually amounted this to the fact that I never ate. Or, at least, I never seemed to. When I woke in the morning I would go downstairs and begin my day with, not a bowl of cereal, but the television. When Christy would wake up, I might go and eat something with her, but it would be nothing larger than a protein bar, or something of the like. When I focused on something, like one of my infamous projects, I could go the whole day without a bite of food or sip of water. Because of this, many of my friends would joke about my weight, saying that I would curl up and die if I kept fasting myself, or, on the rare occasion that I did eat something substantial, that I might get fat; playing on the thought that the reason I didn’t eat was because I was worried about gaining pounds.

Of course, none of this was true, but when I have something better to do, I often forget about food.

This is why when Discord appeared with a plate of pancakes I nearly fell to my knees in hunger.

“Michael, are you ok?” Asked Luna worriedly.

“Perfectly fine!” I said as I stood once again. “Just a bit hungry, is all.”

“Then it’s good that I brought something for you to chew on!” Discord chirped. “Here, have some breakfast!” he held the plate out to me, and I’m ashamed to say that I was on the brink of tackling that plate and feasting on its contents.

At the last moment I pulled myself away. “I’m sorry, Discord, but I can no longer fight as your champion.” I said, making sure to keep the plate out of my line of sight.

“What? You're backing out on me? And after everything I’ve done for you!” he shouted melodramatically.

“Yes. You have lied to me, Discord. You said that you are fighting to keep freedom, but you are fighting for your own form of slavery.” I said, anger entering my voice, if dulled by the pain in my stomach.

“Oh, that really is a shame. I would have given you power beyond all belief if you’d helped me win. Enough to get you home.” He said, looking to me hopefully.

I considered it for a moment, decided that it wasn’t worth getting home if I left this world in shambles, and subsequently told him so.

“Sorry, I don’t think that I want your food.” I tried to put as much anger as I could into the word “your” but it sort of fell apart around “want”.

“ENOUGH!” Luna yelled out, loud enough to blow the plate out of his hand. “Discord, stop enchanting Michael with your confectionaries.” She said as she stood between us.

“Ok, I will, but have the pancakes.” He snapped and a new plate appeared in his hand. “It’s the least I can do to apologize.” The plate was held out towards us.

“Luna, I’m kinda hungry. What’s the worst that can happen?” I whispered to her.

“Fine, take your cakes of the pan.” She said as she walked back to her place beside me. “But you’ll end up like Celestia.” She mumbled to herself.

I ignored her, seeing as I face similar comments all the time and I was very hungry at the time. I grabbed the plate, quickly cutting a piece of the cooked dough and stuffing it in my mouth. The moan that followed was one of ecstasy. The next few slices were slower and dipped in syrup, but just as good.

When I’d finished the entire plate, leaving only small splotches of syrup and a fork, I stood up and handed the plate back to the Draconequus.

“Thank you for the food, now we should get go-” I wasn’t able to finish the sentence as I crumpled to the ground, clutching my stomach.

LUNA’S POINT OF VIEW

Michael had just finished his pancakes. He handed the plate back to Discord and returned to my side.

“Thank you for the food, now we should get go-” he was interrupted by himself falling to the ground, groaning in pain in the fetal position.

“What did you do to him, Discord? Reverse the effects!” I yelled angrily at him as he simply floated there, smug expression and all.

“Oh, I did nothing, though his pancakes don’t seem to be agreeing with him.” Discord stopped floating, walking over to Michael with a newly donned lab coat and stethoscope. “Open your mouth and say ‘ah’.” He held a small wooden stick out towards Michael’s face.

I scanned him for magic, but unlike before, where he had no magic at all, he now had a steady flow of arcane energy streaming in his veins. I attempted to pull this energy out of him, but that only caused him to scream a bloodcurdling cry of agony, which halted my attempts.

Moments later Michael stopped writhing on the ground, instead becoming eerily still. I took a tentative step forward. But I had no need to move any closer because his head whipped up, suddenly looking around as if he were a scared animal.

“Michael, are yo-” before I could finish he was at my throat, holding me down against the ground.

“HOW COULD YOU!” he yelled in my face, spittle flying all over. “You lied to me, just like he did! Only you… your lie was much worse. How could you do that to a little filly? What would possess anyone—anything—to do something so horrible? What is wrong with you?” he whispered the last question with tears in his eyes.

“What?” I choked out, not understanding what he was saying.

“You administered your tests and you play dumb afterward.” He took a moment to think. The pressure on my neck decreased, followed by Michael standing up and walking over to Discord.

“What’s wrong? I don’t understand.” I coughed, trying to clear my throat.

“I’m going to stay with Discord. The lesser of two evils, as they say.” He turned his back to me. “Tie her up, and I’d appreciate it if you gagged her, too.” the words were hurtful, but the way he said them showed just how much pain he was in just saying them.

And my bindings were instantly replaced, along with some cloth in my mouth to discourage speech.

MICHAEL’S POINT OF VIEW MOMENTS BEFORE

“Thank you for the food, now we should get go-” the world turned black as I was saying “going”. I took a moment to blanch at what had just happened.

“Well, now that you’re fed, I can show you the truth and what I mean when I say ‘freedom’.” Discord appeared in front of me out of the darkness. His face was that of dead seriousness.

“Discord, I know what you do to the ponies. If you are here to trick me again-” he cut me off.

“Of course not. I’m just here to show you the information that the Celestial Sisters have hidden from you. My secrets have been revealed, why not theirs?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“What secrets?” was the only thing I said before he motioned behind him.

I promptly vomited in the void.

Or I would have, if I were able to.

“What is that?” I gagged out.

“That is what the sisters have been doing to their subjects for over a thousand years. This pony has been exposed to a virus, one that mutates the host. If this is what you want to fight for, then be my guest, but know that if they win this battle they will continue this ‘research’ for the ‘better’ of pony-kind.” He did air quotes, but his face remained stern.

“How do I know that you’re not lying to me?” I asked, still not comfortable looking at the… thing before me.

The image changed, thankfully, this time to a normal stallion. “This is Inkwell.” Discord gestured to the pony. “He is the leader of Ellura, the company that conducts these experiments.” I watched as Inkwell walked down a hall, looking through panes of glass that held subjects in similar shape to the one shown before. It took all of my willpower not to gag once more. The image changed to show the same stallion walking down a hall that was much better furnished. He walked through a large set of doors that had a large sun symbol carved into it. “And this… is Celestia, Luna’s sister.” Discord said as a pair of guards opened the doors to uncover a normal sized horse with a pure white coat, wings, and a horn.

“No… this can’t be true!” I barked as I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the cold, hard facts that have been disclosed to me.

“It is true. And if you need more incentive…” he trailed off as I opened my eyes once more, only this time I couldn’t close them again.

It was madness. Pure, unaltered madness. Hundreds of ponies were strapped to tables or chairs and injected with several needles, their bodies thrashing around violently shortly afterwards. Some died on the spot, others kept thrashing for minutes, and others stopped. The ones that didn’t survived were… disposed of; the ones that did were hauled off. From there they were put in cells—like the ones I’d seen Inkwell walking past—and observed. When only a little time had passed their fur began to fall out, showing the rotten flesh beneath. Very few didn’t have some form of decay by the time they were next interacted with. After days, weeks, months, even, the subjects became brain dead or were shipped off to a facility where they’re put in combat situations. From there they’re deemed useful or disposable. The useful ones are dubbed B.O.Ws. You can guess what happened to the “disposable” category.

The view in front of me flashed pictures of ponies. But they weren’t ponies, they couldn’t be. How could something as beautiful as life ever be distorted into something so grueling? The pictures I had seen were enough to nearly make me go mad, for they were all dead, dying, or somewhere in-between.

Finally, it zoomed in on one image. This image was one of a little filly, no more than eight or nine years old, sitting in a white room. She didn’t move for a while, her head facing down so I couldn’t see her face, which made me think that the madness was finally over. That’s when I looked at the image more closely. There, at the very edge of the “screen” was a lump- no, two lumps. They were motionless, but fairly large—about the size of two fully-grown ponies.

Realization struck.

They were her parents.

She’d killed her own parents because of this thing.

And it was all the royal sisters’ faults.

The madness continued. For several hours, the madness continued. It never stopped, and the images were burned into my brain. The thousands of screams of agony, the hundreds of deaths, the willingness of the team that did this to the poor beings all bounced in my head like a sick rubber ball.

I cried. I cried for these ponies that had died for no reason.

The vision returned to the little filly in the cell. Suddenly a pony in a hazmat suit burst in, put a metal collar on her neck, and pulled her out of the room forcefully. She struggled the whole way, screaming incoherently. Somewhere in the garble of her shouts I swear I heard “mommy” and “daddy”, but I’ll never be sure.

A voice tickled my ear, but the sound it emanated was not humorous in the slightest.

“Her name was Christina.”

17. Expositional Explanations

“Come on Everypony, smile, smile, smile! Fill my heart up with sunshine, sunshine!” Came a cheery voice as it echoed down the street. Said voice belonged to a mare with a fluffy pink mane and baby blue eyes, though her grin was so large it hid the latter fact.

The being bounced on the ground, springing from spot to spot, only staying in one place for a moment, making the necklace around her neck bounce. This being’s name was Pinkie Pie and she was on her way to the local library, where she was going to meet her other five friends, the princess of the night and Pinkie’s newest friend, a human named Michael. From there she’d help defeat Discord.

Speaking of the big meany meanerson, Pinkie rounded a corner and saw him sitting on his throne playing with some nearby ponies when he suddenly began to speak.

“Good, my pet. Now we can begin.” The pink mare decided that this was enough incentive to listen in on his conversation, if only for a minute.

“I am no one’s pet. You promised me power. Give it to me!” Yelled a voice she knew from only minutes before.

“Michael?” She whispered to herself, her face showing confusion and her hair showing her deteriorating mood.

“Hmm… I think not.” Discord took something from Michael, something shiny… something… gold.

The Elements of Harmony.

“What?” The anger in Michael’s voice was palpable.

“I have what I want, why should I give you anything?” Discord snapped to summon a cage around the human.

“Because I did all of your dirty work! Just so that you wouldn’t get your claw dirty!” He yelled, gripping two of the bars like the prisoner he was.

‘Wait, how did he have the Elements, unless…’ and suddenly Pinkie Pie’s hair fell strait, symbolizing her loss of control. This was only emphasized by her eyes, which promptly became hollow and dead.

Pinkamena was out for blood!

“Well, I don’t care. Would you really think that an incarnate of Chaos would keep a deal? How preposterous.” The sarcasm was thick in Discord’s voice, and it only fueled the rage growing in the mare’s chest.

“I will get my revenge on you and Celestia. All who have wronged me will pay.” Michael’s rage, if his voice was any indication, rivaled her own… though for very different reasons.

“Yeah, and how’s that gonna work? You’re trapped.” Discord gestured to the cage Michael was currently in.

All he did was growl at the fact. There was a short silence that was only broken by a satisfied “hmph” from Discord.

“That’s what I thought.” He said as the cage was moved next to the throne. “Now, come watch some chaos with me.”

This was the time that Pinkamena left. She slowly avoided the clearing that the two bipedal beings were currently residing, still keeping true to her destination: the library.

When she opened the door, her heart was only smashed even further.

She was the only one to return.

“Greetings, Pinkie Pie. You are the first one back.” Said a navy blue mare as she sat in the library’s lobby. “You can just wait for everyone else… why is your mane like that?” She asked as she finally looked up at the normally excited mare.

“They aren’t coming.” She said in a near whisper.

“Pardon?” The princess’s ears swiveled towards the doorway, where the pink party pony was standing. “Say that once more.”

“They aren’t coming!” She yelled, tears falling from her face. “Michael killed them!” Pinkie rushed into the kitchen to retrieve a weapon; namely, a chef’s knife.

Returning from the kitchen, blade in mouth, she sprinted out the door. “Sho nah ah’m go’a keeuw heum!” She muffled around the handle.

“Wait! Pinkie! What do you mean ‘Michael killed them’?” The sound didn’t even register to her. She was dead set on repaying this man for ending her closest friends.

Once she rounded the corner, rushing the cage the human was in, the beings in the clearing noticed her. Discord sat on his throne, smiling evilly as Michael tried to push himself as far back in the cage as possible, the mere sight of her obviously scaring him out of his wits.

Pinkie flung the knife, spinning the handle so it would collide directly with Michaels chest, blade first.

Her smile became demonic as the knife nearly finished its journey, but at the last second the blade stopped, finding itself in the man’s hand.

The mare’s heart stopped.

She’d failed.

MICHAEL’S POINT OF VIEW

‘The bitch threw a knife at me! What the hell is wrong with these ponies?’ I thought to myself as I looked at the knife in my hand. My eyes wandered from the blade to the Draconequus that was reflected in it. He had a sadistic smile on his face and gave a nod, telling me what to do without using words.

I looked back at the pink quadruped that was now kneeling in the middle of the clearing. I took the knife by the blade, holding it upside down, and threw it at her head.

Time seemed to slow down, and this time it wasn’t my fault. The sun glinted off of the metal of the blade, blinking as it flew through the air. There was a brief moment when I actually comprehended what I’d done. ‘I’ve killed the Elements of Harmony.’ After this thought I noticed the blade getting extremely close to the mare, and my eyes widened slightly at what happened next.

The blade sunk into flesh, breaking past bone, with a satisfying “crunch!”

‘The crazy bitch had it coming.’ I thought to myself as the body slumped the rest of the way to the ground.

“Well, that wasn’t very knife.” Discord’s pun didn’t go unnoticed by me, but it only fueled my rage for him.

PINKIE PIE’S POINT OF VIEW

She’d lost her friends, and the bastard that had done it was still breathing. At this realization the world became icy cold around Pinkie, but she didn’t care. The world could freeze over and she would still be here, mourning her friends and regretting her failure.

A few moments passed, after which she felt something. It was a hoof… a hoof on her shoulder. When she looked up she found something that lifted her heart ten times over.

Twilight was looking down at her with a concerned visage. Pinkie tried to gasp in surprise, but no sound reached her ears. It was odd, but didn’t halt her attempt to rant about how she thought she’d never see her friends again.

The purple unicorn rolled her eyes and waved her over, leading her to a back alley which concealed her other four friends. When Pinkie was far enough back in the alley Twilight leaned out, cast a spell, and came back in fairly quick succession.

There was a group hug, followed by the cold fading away as the sound began returning.

“Girls! What happened?” Pinkie yelled. “I thought that you were all... dead.” A tear trailed down her face as Fluttershy came up next to Pinkie.

“Oh, its ok, Pinkie. We’re all ok.” She said reassuringly rubbing her back.

When Pinkie looked at her friend she noticed something that was… wrong. There’s no other word for it, she decided. It was just wrong.

Flutters had a bruise on her face, implying a form of blunt force trauma. Who, or what, would have the heart to strike the shy Pegasus?

“Oh, it’s really nothing. Please don’t worry about it.” Fluttershy hid her face, and the bruise, behind her mane. “If that’s ok with you.” She finished.

“Listen, Pinkie, this is important.” Twilight stole the mare’s attention before she could start gushing over Fluttershy, making the Pegasus curl up and cry. “I’m going to tell you the plan.”

“But wait, what happened? Michael said that he...” Her voice faltered at this, but the rest knew what she meant.

“Well…” Twilight started.

EARLIER THAT DAY

“So we do this the fun way, good choice.” Michael had just finished before disappearing.

“Wha-” I was about to ask, but was interrupted.

“Don’t move.” He said, now behind me with something pressing against my head. It was cold and circular. “I’m about to dump a bunch of information on you and you need to listen to all of it.” I gave a short nod before he continued. “Good. My name is Nicholas. Michael was a disguise I came up with over a thousand years ago. In that time, I was working for Discord. He told me that I was fighting for freedom, but in reality he was using his powers to play with his subjects. Luna was captured by me and him, and when she warmed up to me she showed me the truth. After that I joined Luna in fighting Discord. The Draconequus poisoned me, showing me things that weren’t true in our universe and slipped his magic into my mind, causing me to fight for evil. Later I found out what he’d shown me was a lie, putting me back in control of myself… mostly. Discord’s magic had an unexpected effect, causing my psyche to split into two. From that point forward me, Nicholas, and him, Michael, were two different beings, mentally, but not physically. You’ve been helping Michael in his quest to help Discord bring this world to the ground. The only way I can help you is if you play along, for now.” He finished his rant of information.

“Play along, how?” The question was simple, but the answer was not.

“You need to make a three dimensional copy of yourself, but lying on the ground. It needs to be dead.” He said. “You also need to give me your Element.”

“What?” I shouted. “Why would I give you the Element of Magic?”

“Do you enjoy having friends; Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and the others… alive?” He asked, implying something that I’d never thought about dealing with, and hoped I’d never have to.

“You wouldn’t!” I retook my defensive position.

“You’re right. I wouldn’t.” He waited a moment to think, letting me drop my posture slightly. “But Michael would.” When I looked back into his eyes I saw dead seriousness. He was not joking, kidding, or lying. Michael would kill my friends if I didn’t help.

I took a moment to imagine myself lying on the ground, facing away from Michael and used a simple illusion spell to make the image reality.

“Good. Now, the Element.” He said, holding his hand out.

“Why should I?” I moved a step back, keeping a fair distance between him and me.

“Because Michael would know something was up if he found a dead body and no Element.” He said, still holding his hand out.

I took a moment to think about it. I had a few tricks up my sleeve, including making a duplicate of the tiara and giving him that. I decided that this was the best course of action. I floated the tiara off of my head, levitating it over to the human, but on the way used a pulse of magic to replace it with the useless duplicate.

“Twilight, I think that Discord would know if I approached him with a fake Element.” He tossed the fake away, as if it were garbage, which it kind of was.

I was disappointed that he’d seen through my illusion so easily, but I found his words to be true. If he arrived with a fake Element or two, Discord would know right away. I gave him the Element of Magic, seeing as he could just take it if he wanted to, I might as well not anger him.

“Good, now I need you to hide.” He said simply as he stood over my fake dead body.

I heeded his words, crouching behind a large desk that had fallen from the floor, which was currently the ceiling, seeing as the building was floating upside down. There were a few moments of him staring at the dead body, holding the tiara, before he put the headwear into a pocket—somehow—and began his journey out of the levitating building.

When he reached the edge of the roof he looked out over Ponyville, taking a deep breath.

“One down, five to go.” He said as he fished something out from under his coat.

Suddenly the world froze, physically and temporally. Firstly the temperature dropped to below zero, followed almost instantly by the world coming to a halt. The breeze in the trees stopped and the ponies down below didn’t move. I also noticed there was no sound in this unusual stasis.

Something tickled at the back of my memory; a spell I’d learned a long time ago that was deemed too dangerous to use on a daily basis, let alone whenever one wants. A spell first created by a pony named… what was it again? Minuette, I think. Yeah, that’s right.

I was snapped out of my thoughts as Michael—or Nicholas, whoever he is—jumped off the roof… only to stop mere feet away, as if he’d hopped to a platform. He continued this pattern until he was safely on the ground.

I decided I’d take the safer way down and teleported behind him. Of course, he didn’t hear me, so there was no reason to turn around. He walked away, towards the Whitetail Woods. After a few minutes of walking we came upon some trees, and off in the distance I saw a white pony with purple hair. I recognized this mare as Rarity.

Michael walked towards her, me following close behind. When he stopped and sought the object in his pocket once more I hid behind a tree, predicting what was to come.

Finding my prediction to be correct, the world came rushing back, including sound. I could no longer walk freely, from there on I had to walk silently.

A MINUTE LATER

Michael was creeping closer to Rarity. She whimpered something and he seemed to snap out of it, explained to Rarity what he’d told me, and motioned me over.

“Twilight, you did a good job of hiding, but try and keep a bit more distance from him. It’s for your own safety.” He said, holding a hand up to stop me when I was about to respond. “Now, do the same thing, only this time for Rarity.” I made the image of Rarity lying with her back on the ground, blood pooling around her head. I took Rarity’s Element, which elicited resistance, but after a quick glance she gave it away willingly. I gave it to Nicholas and made Rarity follow me until we were a “safe” distance from him.

PRESENT TIME

“We repeated this for everyone but you, Pinkie. He told me that Michael had completely forgotten about you. Nicholas told me that it was because, and I quote, ‘Pinkie Pie just wasn’t memorable for him.’ Nicholas went on to say something about changing Michael’s memories to killing us instead of Nicholas saving us and how he took the little that Michael actually remembered of you and erased you from his memories completely.”

Everypony looked at the violet unicorn in confusion, even Pinkie, though for different reasons.

“I wasn’t memorable?” She asked while the rest of the group went “huh?”

“Point is, you were kept from his grasp and didn’t have to see what Michael was really like.” Twilight summed up. “Trust me; you’re better off this way.”

“So, what’s the plan? Ya mentioned one earlier.” Applejack asked with a serious visage.

“Oh, right. Sorry, got sidetracked.” The purple mare’s cheeks had a tinge of pink before she took a deep breath. “Nicholas is going to, somehow, get out of the cage. After that he’s going to swipe the Elements and give them back to us. Then we’ll use the Elements on Discord.” She finished.

“That’s a pretty simple plan, is that really all there is?” The cyan mare hovering beside Twilight asked as her rainbow mane ruffled in the breeze created by her wings.

“Well, the tough part is doing it in a timely manner. Nicholas will only have a limited amount of time before Michael will be free again. If that happens we’ve lost. Does everyone understand what’s going to happen?” None of them made any move to ask a question. “Good, because here it comes.” She redirected their attention to the throne.

NICHOLAS/MICHAEL’S POINT OF VIEW

‘I can get us out of this cage.’ I thought to Michael.

‘Prove it.’ He thought back.

‘How do I do that? I’m just a voice in your head… or my head, this is technically my body.’ I reminded, not only him, but myself.

‘Fine, it’s not like I have anything to lose. I was thrust back into control.

‘Thanks.’ I thought to him as I flexed my fingers to make sure I was in total control.

‘Just get us out of here. Was the only response he gave before going quiet.

“Discord, is there really any reason to keep me locked up? If you really are an all-powerful god, then what am I but a measly human?” I asked him.

“That’s true, but I think you’d work against me if I did.” A pony ran by, tripping over a rock and falling face first into a pie. When she came back up her face was covered in crust and cream.

“What if I promise to not go against you?” I asked, implying something that definitely caught his interest. “I could even cause some chaos of my own.”

“You’d help me with chaos?” There was a moment where his eyes glinted with the possibilities. He then shook his head hard. “I still don’t believe you.” He looked forward once more, but still glanced at me as if he wanted me on his side.

“I, Michael Faraday, will help Discord spread chaos throughout the land of Equestria.” I said after I kneeled in my cage.

There were a few tense moments where Discord was weighing his options, then I heard a snap and the cage was gone.

The fight for control began not a moment later. I felt Michael attempting to pull control back to himself, probably so he could do exactly what I’d promised.

“King, I have a question.” I struggled out, straining slightly just to get the words out correctly. “What is chaos?”

“Well, being the incarnate of chaos, are you asking what I am, or what the word means?” He questioned. “In the case of what I am, I’m a draconequus. In the case of what the word means, it is an equivalent to randomness. Why are you asking?”

“I’m just wondering, I promised to cause chaos or randomness, like you said. So what would be the most random thing I could do…?” I paused time, took the Elements from him and gave them to the six mares hiding in the alley. We walked out to the middle of the clearing and I restarted time.

“Other than to betray you?”

Author's Note

EXPOSITION... ACTIVAAAAAAAAAAATE!!!!!!!!

18. Piece of the Past: Nemesis' Vindication

Author's Note

This chapter includes crossover material from I Will Hunt You Down by the amazing -TGM-. Go read his story, it's pretty good!

18. Piece of the Past: Nemesis' Vindication

Luna was tied up, Discord was off in the field doing something to prepare for the impending battle, and I was sitting around wondering when my life went to shit. I decided that it was when I sent Christy to the car before I heard a rustle over by Luna. She was struggling against her binds, which caused me to think about what she’d done, which lead back to the virus. Not enjoying where this was going, I walked out towards the field.

“Discord! I’m going to take a walk!” I called to the Draconequus.

“Yeah, sure.” He mumbled to himself, still focusing on his structure, which I couldn’t quite identify at the moment.

I began my walk deeper into Whitetail Woods, giving Luna a wide girth.

SEVERAL MINUTES LATER

I was just walking through the forest with my hands in my pant pockets, sulking about Luna and her betrayal.

‘How could she do that? It just doesn’t seem like something that she’d do.’ I thought to myself as I pulled my hands out of my pants. ‘I guess you don’t really know a man until you hold him over a volcano. I never should have doubted you, Shan Yu.’ I had a quick little laugh at that, but quickly got back to thinking. ‘I just wish I had someone to talk about this with.’ I sighed, resting my hands at my sides. When I did so, I notice a lump in my coat’s pocket. ‘What’s this?’

I reached into my coats pocket and pulled out a vial. Not remembering putting anything in said pocket, let alone the vial, so I briefly wondered how it’d gotten there. My wondering was interrupted when a voice rang out in my head.

‘I am Nemesis. The Hunter. The Pursuer. Those who would seek to harm others for their own benefit are my prey. If you need my help, simply take this vial in your hand, and call upon me. I will aid you in kind. Your enemies will flee before my wrath, but there will be nowhere they can run, nowhere they can hide that I will not find them. I will hunt them down.’

When the voice rang out I dropped the vial, more from surprise than anything, but quickly realized I was in no danger and picked it back up again.

My mind was abuzz with questions about the vial, but I didn’t know how to get the answers.

I decided that my best course of action would be to ask for this “Nemesis’s” help.

“Nemesis, the Hunter, the Pursuer. I call on you; come to me!” I held the vial up, hoping to get better reception or something.

Far above me, a swirling vortex of colors appeared in the sky. I blinked in surprise; I hadn’t expected anything to actually happen! From the vortex fell a large figure. It took a few moments for me to realize he was falling straight towards me, and I moved out of the way just as a massive crash sounded from behind me.

...Ow. I definitely don’t remember that hurting last time. When the smoke cleared I took a good look at the strange being, deciding to ignore the voice in my head for the moment.

To my surprise, he looked human! Well, almost. He was big, very big; his skin looked discolored and mangled, but most of him was covered by a large black trench coat; and as he stood up, I noticed that he held a long, black cylindrical object in his right hand and his single eye was glowing red. He looked around the area, and I heard the voice in my head again.

The woods this time, doesn’t quite look like the Everfree though. Now I wonder where my summoner is... I decided that I should be cautious, but it wasn’t a crime to have fun, was it?

Using my watch I moved directly in front of him, and resumed time with my face only an inch or two from his.

The reaction was exactly what I’d hoped for; his eye widened and he jumped a good two feet in the air as he stumbled backwards. Gah! What the fuck?! He raised his weapon at me, but after a moment he lowered it again. And you must be my summoner, then? That was...a good one.

“Why, yes, I do believe I called upon a Nemesis, though I was expecting something more… quadruped.” I said, taking a moment to look him up and down once more.

Expecting a pony, were you? Nemesis latched his weapon onto his back and crossed his arms. Sorry to disappoint, but ordinarily when you summon someone, it’s most likely going to be another human… He hesitated at the end of the sentence, and added onto the end, ...mostly.

“Duly noted.” I said with a simple nod. “I can only assume you are wondering who I am. My name is Michael Faraday, the champion of Discord, and the Lord of Time.” I bowed with my arm crossed over my chest, showing as much respect for the creature with the rocket launcher on his back.

Nemesis nodded, and did a similar bow. During which he responded with You may call me Nemesis, though my human name is Nicholas Fringe. He stood up, cocking his head to the side as he stared down at me. Lord of Time? That’s a hefty title. And Champion of Discord? If I might ask, how’d you earn that title?

I was a bit stunned when he said his name was Nicholas, for that was my Family given name, though I had the mind not to voice this thought quite yet. “Well, the Lord of Time only refers to my complete control of the flow of time. I could bring it to a standstill, slow it to a snail’s pace, or speed it so Millennia are mere seconds.” I pulled my watch out and fiddled with the lid as I said this. “As for being the champion of Discord… well, Discord has challenged the Celestial Sisters to a duel. Seeing as they are all extremely powerful beings, a fight between them would decimate the land. To avoid the destruction of the land they wish to have, the three of them have agreed to pit two beings of roughly similar strength against each other. I am fighting for the King Discord, and will fight for him until my dying breath.” I concluded.

Time control huh? What I wouldn’t give to be able to do that in MY universe… He grumbled a bit, then listened to the rest of my tale. KING Discord? So we’re at that point in time, are we? Nemesis turned away for a second as if in thought and turned to face me again. I’m curious, what made you want to side with Discord? He helped me out a lot in the past to be certain, but for every good deed he does, there is ALWAYS something he seeks to gain from it.

“Discord is the lesser of two evils. He may torment his subjects, but he doesn’t use them as science experiments.” I growled at the thought of what the Sisters did to their ponies.

Science experiments? Nemesis shifted his stance and his eye glowed white. What do you mean?

I felt the bile rise in my throat just remembering what they’d done to that poor little filly. “The Celestial Sisters, Luna and Celestia, use their ponies to try and create weapons. Living weapons. They call them B.O.W.s. To create them, they inject a virus in their bloodstream and watch as flesh becomes rotten and minds descend into madness. I bore witness to the horrid act and was powerless to help. There was no sense of remorse or mercy. The scientists even used children! I had seen a small filly who had killed her parents because of this virus. It was sickening.” I crossed my arms, trying to comfort myself.

Nemesis’ eye widened and went from white, to blue. He went eerily quiet as I finished telling him what I saw, but when I was finished his stance had visibly slackened. His ‘voice’ was barely above a whisper. ...Michael, I don’t want to be the one to tell you this, but if I won’t, no one will. Discord is manipulating you again. He paused for a moment, going on a moment later. All of what you saw is very true. It has happened, and will continue to happen, just… He paused again. ...not in THIS universe.

“What do you mean ‘not in this universe’? There’s only one universe.”

Have you ever heard of the theory of the multiverse? Nemesis stretched his hand out and panned it over the sky. Well, in short, it’s not a theory. There are millions of other universes, all where alternate scenarios happen. I come from one where all that you saw is true. A company called Ellura takes ponies no one would miss off the streets and tests their virus with them. He sighed, turning away from me again. A virus that they acquired from me.

“You mean… he lied… again?” It was a mere whimper, but enough to be heard. While my body stayed still, there was a war in my mind. The side that said that this… Nemesis was lying, and the side that said he was telling the truth.

No, he told you the truth, but only partially. It’s not a truth that you should know about, or have to deal with. I saw Nemesis eye turn to red again as his fist clenched. But...it is very true. They turn ponies, griffons, minotaurs, manticores, anything that they can mutate into biological weapons, mutated monsters built for war. He shook his head and turned to face me again. Discord is using you. He showed you that so you would side with him.

My head was racing, back and forth from Luna to Discord to the filly and back to Luna. ‘Who should I trust? Should I take a risk and listen to this guy? Should I crawl back to Luna on my hands and knees? What do I do?’

Suddenly, my mind reminded me of something that he had said earlier. “You said that it was your fault they had the virus… how did that come to be?” I asked, desperate for anything to distract me from the battle raging in my head.

Nemesis blinked, but began to explain. I wasn’t always like this… a monster. he said the word monster with such hatred in his voice that it caused me to stagger a bit. I was a regular human. Not unlike you, minus the powers over time. He did his impression of a grin at me. I even had a normal human life. Till my friend and I decided to go to comic con. I decided to go as the antagonist from Resident Evil 3, Nemesis. He was a biological weapon built by the Umbrella Corporation using the t-virus. While I was there, I met an old man who had a perfect replica of Nemesis signature Rocket Launcher. He tapped the weapon on his back as he said this. Oddly enough, he let me have it for free. But when I took it… well, I woke up in the Everfree. And I wasn’t in a costume anymore, I had actually become Nemesis. I took a trip into a nearby town. Imagine my surprise when it was filled with Ponies. Talking ponies, at that. He laughed dryly, still remembering what had happened his first day. I tried to talk to them, but all they did was run around and panic at the sight of me. Wasn’t long before Princess Luna and Princess Celestia came, and seeing me as a threat, they attacked me. The battle was long, but I got away. What I didn’t know, is that along with becoming Nemesis, I also got the virus that was used to make him running through my bloodstream. Sighing at the Destruction he caused, the being before me continued, A sickness swept through the town where we had fought, and Princess Luna and Princess Celestia hired some doctors to find the source. They used the blood samples left over from my battle with the Royal Sisters and formed a company known as Ellura. And well… He paused, frowning. I think you can guess what happened from there. Power leads to corruption. Always.

As I listened to his life story, I realized something. “Tell me, did you mean to leave the virus behind to infect the town?”

No. He slumped. It’s one of my greatest regrets, actually.

“When you realized what you’d done, did you try to help?” Was my next question, as simple as it was.

Of course I did! A bit of rage tainted his voice. The next time I saw them, they already had doctors working on it! Every time I showed up I was attacked! I tried to reason with them, but they wouldn’t LISTEN! As he shouted the word listen he roared, turning to punch a nearby tree, sending it falling to the ground. He took a moment to catch his breath before he looked over at me again. ... Sorry. I lose my temper sometimes.

“It’s fine; only a few more.” I assured him. “Once you noticed that Ellura had started making bioweapons, did you try to stop it?”

It was before they even started making bioweapons. he sat down on the tree stump he’d created. Once I learned that they had gotten the virus in the first place, I tried to stop them. I destroyed the shipment they were using to get the virus to another town, but there were several others that I wasn’t aware of. Of course, the royal sisters took this as me trying to destroy the only cure they had for my disease. He air quoted the word disease.

“And after all of that failure, are you still trying to do good?” I sat down in front of him and looked up at the behemoth of a man with a small smile.

He raised his head to look down at me. Yes. I am. I was turned to stone for a thousand years, so Ellura had a lot of time to become rooted in Equestria. He sighed. That’s what makes it so difficult. I WANT to do good, but… He looked down at his hands. I can FEEL him. The real Nemesis that is. The one who doesn’t have a conscience, the one who is willing to kill everyone in his way to accomplish his mission. And in a universe where his mission doesn’t exist… His fists clenched. I can only imagine the damage I would do, if I ever lose control.

I stood up and put my hand on his shoulder. “Then you’re a friend in my book. Call me any time you need help, including battle, to show the sisters exactly what was happening, or even just to talk like we have here. I’m always willing to help.” My smile grew genuine as I patted him on the back.

Nemesis nodded, and grabbed my shoulder, patting it back. Thank you. I needed someone to talk to, about this. He stood again. What about you though? What are you going to do now? The battle raging in my head came to the forefront of my mind once again, and it nearly knocked me to my knees. I caught myself on his shoulder, though he didn’t seem to notice the weight shift.

“I… think I have a lot to think over. Thank you for bringing those facts to light.” I struggled to say as I stood under my own power once again.

He nodded, taking a step back to give me space. In that case, unless there’s any more help you need I should get back to my universe. I’m sure Twilight’s already freaking out and wondering where I went. I sort of fell into a portal that appeared under my feet, while I was walking with her.

“That’ll be a conversation to have.” I said with a chuckle. “Well, I’ll see you around!” I waved as he took another step back. “I declare that our contract has been completed.” I said, feeling that it was the right thing to be said in the moment.

The same portal from before appeared behind him and he simply walked through.

19. Piece of the Past: Slapping the Moon

Nemesis was gone; back to his own universe, supposedly. Rethinking existence to include a multiverse wasn’t so hard; I just had to think of my world like a grain of sand on a beach that went on forever. Remembering how big the universe was, comparing it to an infinite amount of reality, and further comparing all of that to myself, made me feel insignificant. But, then again, who wouldn’t feel small compared to infinity?

While I was in my mind, I’d been wandering deeper into the forest, unknowingly coming to a thicker area of trees. Only when I could barely see five feet in front of me did I realize where I’d gone.

Well, more I realized I didn’t know where I’d gone.

The trees all had thick canopies, not allowing the slightest bit of sunlight through; there were no birds’ songs in the air, which was weird considering I swore I heard tons of wildlife mere minutes ago; and I had the strangest feeling of being watched.

“H-hello?” I called to the bushes around me, hoping for them not to respond.

My head whipped around to stare at a bush that had rustled. There was something behind the greenery, but my legs had locked, forcing me to stand there, just staring at the offending foliage. My heart beat a million miles a minute, my eyes were wider than ever, and I was hyperventilating.

Then a bunny jumped out of the bush.

“… What?” I asked myself before realizing what had just happened.

Irony.

“Well, that’s just-” This next part confused me a bit. As you can see, I was just talking, about to say “great”, but something stopped me. It wasn’t an outside force, though. I stopped myself. But it wasn’t me.

Like I said, even I was confused.

Anyway, I didn’t just stop myself from talking, I turned around. While I was turning I pulled my pistol out and pointed it at a bush. It still wasn’t me controlling my body, though; which scared the crap out of me, by the way.

“Come out.” I hadn’t said that… well, my body did, but I didn’t. I think you get the point; I was no longer under control of my physical actions.

To my surprise, a lion came out to greet… me, but it wasn’t a lion. This was given away by the bat wings and scorpion tail it sported. It growled, probably seeing me as its next meal.

“You have no profit here; depart, or face the consequences.” Was “my” response to its immergence.

It charged, ignoring my warning… or not understanding it; but either way.

“Your funeral.” I smirked. Suddenly, time stopped, allowing “me” to walk around the beast, placing gunshots in vulnerable and important places: the base of the tail, wing and leg joints, paws, so on and so forth.

I walked back to my spot, clicking my watch and letting my smirk grow into a grin as the creatures body slid, face first, towards me limply.

“You see what happens when you attack me?” “I” asked. My body moved over beside it, kicked it so it was now on its back, and pointed the gun at its forehead. The grin became insane.

“You die.”

A gunshot rang through the forest.

WHITETAIL WOODS

Michael was angry with me, for some reason, and it broke my heart. What could I have done that would cause him to help Discord? He even called me evil, less evil than Discord. Where was this unwarranted aggression coming from?

“Discord.” I said aloud… or, tried to say aloud. With the gag it sounded more like “Ishcore”, but that wasn’t important.

What had the Draconequus done to him? What was in those pancakes? Where was he now?

The thoughts yielded no answer, for they were merely thoughts, but when Michael came walking out of the forest, heading towards the fields, I attempted to get his attention.

Sadly, I succeeded.

“Michael” I enunciated around the gag.

“You… you shut up. I don’t need any of your bullshit right now. I was just attacked by a Manticore and I’m in no mood to deal with you, bitch.” The snarl that appeared on his face made my heart break all the more; but the one thing that demolished me completely was the way he spoke.

Like he believed every word.

In the brief moment of pause after his short rant I noticed something that was different about him.

His eyes… they were… duller would be the word for it, I think. The blue wasn’t as vibrant as it used to be.

“Michael, what-”

I wasn’t able to finish my question before he yelled “shut up!” and his hand came down across my face.

The shock didn’t last very long, while my head slumped down, eyes closed tight, and my teeth bit the cloth until they hurt. I felt something warm and wet drip from where his hand made contact, but this only drove in the following fact: There was officially nothing I could do for Michael; he was gone.

As the man walked away, probably to tell Discord of his run-in with the beast, I redoubled my attempts to free myself; rubbing my horn against the frayed rope in an attempt to remove the limiter or cut the bindings.

THE CLEARING OUTSIDE WHITETAIL WOODS

“Discord, how long until the battle?” Michael approached me from the forest; obviously, today was not one of his best.

“Very soon, actually. I’ve almost finished the arena. You like?” He looked up at the monumental building I’d recreated.

“It looks like the Roman Coliseum.” He remarked.

“It is the Roman Coliseum.” I told him.

“You took the Roman Coliseum, one of the oldest and largest structures that stood on earth, from a different dimension?” His eyes widened in surprise and shock.

“Well, more like I made an exact copy and placed it here.” I clarified.

“Ah.” Understanding washed over his face. After a moment of silence from the both of us, in which he marveled at the structure and I simply waited, he asked a question. “Can we go inside?”

“No, we must wait until the final battle. If we don’t, the war gods will be angry with us!” The sarcasm was thick in my voice. I put my paw over my heart and my claw was thrust into the air in a dramatic pose.

“If the war gods will be enraged, then how can we? It would slander the Faraday name!” He yelled melodramatically, mimicking my pose.

We shared a short laugh before walking through the main entrance.

Author's Note

How many people hate me for the atrocities I've made Michael commit? Please, raise your hands so I can get a proper count.

I mean, seriously; first (chronological, not chapter based) he yells at Luna, kills a manticore, b**** slaps her, then punches FLUTTERSHY.

If these treacheries are not punishable by death, I don't know what is.

Counter: 7

20. Piece of the Past: Love Story of the Millennium

Author's Note

It's been forever since I've posted, and the reason was simple.

I've been on vacation.

Well, I was on vacation. I wrote last chapter before we left and didn't get to post it until we got back, so I've been busting my back trying to pull this one together. I hope you all like the 5000 word chapter!

It won't be happening again.

Ever.

Maybe. but probably not.

...

Enjoy!

20. Piece of the Past: Love Story of the Millennium

Minuette was a normal mare. She wasn’t a muscle junkie and she wasn’t the most powerful unicorn around; which is what confused her when Celestia chose her to be the one to fight Discord’s champion.

“Why am I doing this, again?” She asked her good friend Twinkleshine.

“Firstly, because Celestia asked you to; secondly, because it’ll help with your physique; and thirdly, because, while we’re there, we’ll literally be surrounded by stallions.” She whipped her curly pink mane around while she said this. Her off-white coat was washed and brushed like crazy this morning, which is what woke Minuette up so early. Minuette hated waking up early. It was the bane of her existence.

“Is all you ever think of stallions?” she asked her well groomed companion.

“No, I often wonder what the moon is made of. Why do you ask?” her tone was innocent, but the words held a hint of sarcasm.

“Not what I meant, and you know it.” The mint blue mare deadpanned.

“Oh, stop being a Debbie Downer! That’s Debbie’s job!” The laughter that followed was an equivalent of claws on a chalkboard to Minuette, and she was seconds away from shoving her hoof into Twinkle’s mouth just to shut her up, when they wandered upon a gate. Looking past said gate they saw what looked like a budding military base. From where they stood, they could see several facilities, scattered among them would presumably be the barracks, an armory, and a large field that a few dozen ponies were currently using to spar.

“Halt! State your name, intention, and affiliation!” Barked a guard that was standing by the entrance.

“Minuette, to train for an upcoming battle, and I’m the apprentice of Starswirl the Bearded, current student under Celestia.” There was a strange urge to salute at that moment, but the mare resisted.

“Twinkleshine, to watch my friend here sweat her flank off, and I’m one of the top astrologists in our nation.” There was more than a touch of pride, but that was ignored by both the guard and the mare’s friend.

“Right this way, please.” He said before he nodded to his companion and walked into the base.

There was a moment of silence as Minuette and Twinkle followed him. This moment was, sadly, broken by the more perverse mare.

“He’s kinda cute.”

“Twinkle!” Minuette whisper-shouted.

“What? You know I’m right.” Twinkleshine’s eyebrows moved up and down in rapid succession.

“That is not something you need to think about, especially not here!” The whisper-shouting continued, though a little more aggressive than surprised, this time.

“Oh, come on, Minnie! Live a little!” She then trotted up next to the guard and struck up a conversation. “Hello, there. What’s your name, soldier?”

“My name is Covered Breach.” He stated, obviously not interested in her blatant advances.

“Well, Mr. Breach, how would you like to go to dinner with me, this afternoon?” she asked, rubbing against his side.

“This afternoon I’m going to be visiting my wife and two fillies for the first time in three months; so thank you for the invitation, miss, but I am busy.” He stated flatly, still walking at a constant pace while Twinkleshine fell back next to Minuette.

“You were saying?” asked the latter mare.

“There are still plenty of single stallions here, I’m sure that we could find some cute twins, or something.” She stated confidently.

“Whatever you say.”

Not long after this conversation the two mares found themselves outside an office, the plaque on the wall saying it belonged to a “General Fabian Strategy”. Covered Breach walked in, holding the door for the mares, before saluting to a stallion that was sitting at a desk in the back of the room.

“At ease.” The anonymous stallion stated.

“Mr. Strategy-” Minuette was cut off.

“Please, call me Fabian. Mr. Strategy was my father.” The stallion’s voice was kind and soft, his face conveyed these same attributes, and the way he leaned on the desk showed interest in what the mare was about to say.

“Fabian…” Minuette started again, “my name is Minuette; you may have heard from Celestia that I would be arriving for combat training.”

“Yes, Celestia told me all about you; how you’re a city filly, how you’re the apprentice to the renowned Starswirl the Bearded, how you have the ability to ‘stop time’.” He finished with air quotes. “I’m looking forward to observing this unnatural speed you supposedly have.”

“Thank you, sir. But I would like you to treat me like any other trainee. I’m nothing special, so I wish to be treated as such.” She stated quickly.

“And humble, too. She didn’t say anything about that.” An eyebrow raised itself from its previous position.

“Thank you, again. But I’m serious.” Her face hadn’t changed from its stoic form since she walked in, though it did soften a little when the General was complimenting her.

“Then I’ll leave you in the care of Noquarter Given.” He said, motioning for Covered to take them to the Drill Sargent. “He’ll have you trained within a week.” Fabian finished with a kind smile that accentuated the wrinkles in his fur, showing his true age.

He saluted before opening the door for the mares once more. They left the room and paused to wait for their guide to exit.

“Right this way.” He said as he began his short journey to wherever Noquarter Given was.

“So, what do you think that this Noquarter guy’s going to be like? He’s probably got huge muscles and a handsome face like no other.” Twinkle said dreamily as she walked beside Minuette.

“I’m sure he does.” Though her words agreed with the pale mare, her tone displayed disinterest.

There was chuckling from in front of them.

“What are you laughing at?” Asked Twinkleshine. She was truly curious, thinking there’s been some form of joke in her and Minuette’s short dialogue.

The laughter was stifled as soon as she spoke up, though. “Oh, nothing, Ms. Twinkleshine.” he said as he held a door open that lead to the field in front of the building.

“If you insist.” She said, walking out the door with curiosity still painted across her face.

He lead the two towards a group of stallions sparring and one looking over them quietly, showing them different ways to counter attack from the front, sides and even from behind.

Minuette thought that this was Mr. Given and walked out in front of Covered to meet him.

“Mr. Given? Mr. Noquarter Given?” she asked as she approached the stallion, stopping a few feet from him.

“No, I’m Overwatch. Noquarter is over there.” he motioned to a stallion that was standing over a younger stallion, yelling in his ear to do more pushups and things about his mother.

“Oh my.” Stated Minuette simply.

“Yeah, he’s the best of the best, but he’s kinda harsh. Did the General tell you that he’d train you?” Minuette nodded, still staring at Noquarter, who was now standing on the other stallion’s back, shouting about his genital size. “Well, I could probably ask Fabian to transfer you to my regime.”

“You’d do that?” she asked, whipping her head around to stare, slack jawed, at the stallion.

“Sure, but I’ve got my hooves full with my troops, so I’ll not be able to baby you.” he said with a stern tone. “Do you think you can keep up?”

“Yes, sir.” She said with a determined nod.

THAT DAY

“I can't do it!” Screamed Minuette as she nearly collapsed on her stomach. “It’s too much!” Her limbs were about to give out when a hoof came out and caught her, holding her up effortlessly.

“You’ve done twenty pushups.” Said Overwatch as he helped her into a sitting position.

“That’s my personal record!” She slumped down, tired from the small exercise.

“My weakest colt can do fifty.” He deadpanned.

“Well, I’m now your weakest colt, so you should lower that number a bit.” She said as she caught her second wind.

“Fine. I’ll pair you two up, since you’re so alike. Both smartflanks that’ll get kicked out if they keep it up.” He said before calling out “Private Sentry, get over here!”

“Sir!” an orange stallion Pegasus with a blue mane barked as he saluted to Overwatch.

“From this day forward, you are to help Ms. Minuette in her training. If she falls behind in our morning jog, you will help her move on, even if it involves carrying her to the end. Are we clear?”

“Sir, yes sir!” the salute didn’t falter.

“Good. I expect this to help, not only her, but you, too. It’ll teach you the importance of teamwork and the motto ‘nopony left behind’.” He walked off to continue instructing the rest of the group on counter attacks from behind.

“Oh, good; he’s gone.” Minuette sighed as she finally fell onto her face in front of the stallion and mare.

“You’ll never get anything done on the ground.” When she looked up the stallion’s hoof was held out to her, prompting her to take it.

“I’ll accomplish rest.” She said as her face once again impacted the dirt.

“Come on, there’s time to rest when you’re dead!” Twinkleshine laughed as she pushed her friend up, accidentally throwing her onto the stallion that was previously holding his hoof out.

“Twinkle!” Minuette shouted from her new position atop the stallion. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Sentry, Twinkleshine can be a bit… eccentric at times.” She said before looking down at him.

He was lying on his back, legs splayed apart, and face as red as a cherry.

“It’s fine, just, um… can I… get up?” he asked hesitantly. It was at this point that Minuette realized exactly where she was sitting and she blushed just as much, if not more.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Sentry.” She yelped as she jumped off of the stallion, careful not to hit any… sensitive parts.

“It’s ok, though I don’t think I’ll ever live it down.” He looked over to the other soldiers who were trying to hold back their laughter.

“Well, um… as awkward as this is, let’s just forget about it and start again. Hi, my name is Minuette; I’m from Manehattan, the apprentice of Starswirl the Bearded, and the appointed Champion of the Celestial Sisters in the upcoming battle against Discord.” She thrust her hoof out towards the stallion with a happy smile.

“I’m Flash Sentry; I’m the weakest in my squadron and have nothing to distinguish myself from the other guards.” He said jokingly, shaking her hoof with a similar smile.

“I think we’ll get along great.”

LATER THAT DAY

“Now, when I come at you, you need to do this.” Flash showed Minuette where to put her hooves and how to take him down when he rushed her.

“Ok, I’m ready.” She said a little unsteadily.

He ran at her and she did exactly as instructed. The product of these two facts was Flash on the ground and Minuette standing on top of him.

“Good.” He wheezed out.

“I did it!” She yelped excitedly.

“Yes you did.” He began regaining his breath.

“Did you see that? You were running at me like ‘aaaarg!’ and I was all like ‘NOPE!’ and now you’re on the ground and- and- and… are you ok?” She asked; only now noticing his pained expression.

“Perfectly fine.” Though his voice betrayed his words.

“Are you sure?” She stood over the stallion, snout to snout with him.

“Yep. Can I get up now?” He had a red tinge on his cheeks, which went unnoticed by the mare.

“Not until you tell me what’s wrong.” The mare’s smirk said ‘I’ll get it one way or another.’

There was a moment of silence, in which Flash Sentry considered his options, Minuette wondered what was wrong, and Twinkleshine held back a laughing fit that would put Pinkie to shame.

“You’re… um… well…” He glanced down towards their stomachs, which seemed to be enough for the azure mare.

“Oh my Celestia.” She proceeded to scramble off of him as fast as she could, which caused her to trip and fall on top of him once more. There were several laughs, which then incited more laughs from those that were previously unaware of the shenanigans.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.” There was still a raging blush across her face and her voice was as shameful as ever.

“It’s fine… I’m going to hit the showers.” He began walking to a building that would soon be identified as the barracks.

EVEN LATER THAT DAY

“Um, is this Flash Sentry’s room?” Minuette asked a stallion that was passing by.

“I think so.” He looked inside, seeing the orange Pegasus sitting on a top bunk facing away from the door. “Yeah, he’s in there.” the stallion, having previously answered the mare’s question, walked away, going back to the task he was previously doing.

Once Flash had gone into the stallion’s locker room, he didn’t come out for an hour. When he did, he went straight to his bunk. Minuette continued her training, seeing as the battle was rapidly approaching and she had no time to waste. But once Overwatch had let her leave, the first place she went was to the formerly mentioned locker room. When the stallions leaving said that he wasn’t in fact in there, she went on a search for his room.

And now, here she was, standing outside his room, just… waiting… for something to push her past the door.

“Are you just gonna stand there, or do you want me to go in there and flirt with him?” Asked Twinkleshine, as she was standing next to Minuette, waiting for her to make a move.

“Your version of flirting would probably be bedding him… forcefully.” Minuette joked back.

“Yeah, it probably would…. So, are you gonna go in there, or will I?” Twinkle began creeping towards the door.

“Just move.” Twinkleshine was pushed out of the way with a playful yelp.

As the door closed behind Minuette, Flash glanced over his shoulder, expecting one of his bunkmates.

“Hi.” She said awkwardly.

“Oh… hey.” He said back.

Awkward silence.

“So… about earlier…” she began.

“Don’t worry about it! It was just a big accident.” He assured her, though he didn’t seem all that sure, himself.

Awkward silence.

“I was just wondering, since I embarrassed you in front of your peers, maybe I could…” She began inching towards the bed.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! I know that it was a bit awkward, and I know that I’ll be teased for it for the rest of my time in The Guard, but you don’t need to do that! I mean, if we were to do that then we really shouldn’t do it here. I mean, we shouldn’t do it at all! The guard has a rule about ‘no infatuation between guards’ and stuff, and we’d totally be kicked out! Or, at least, I would. Not so sure about you, seeing as Celestia sent you here. And even then, you don’t have to!” He finished his rant.

“… Buy you dinner…” She finished.

“What?”

“I was offering to buy you dinner. What did you think I was offering?”

“Nothing!” He made a very bad lying face.

“Are you sure?” She asked.

“Yes!” The face only got worse.

“Do you want me to pin you until you tell me the truth… again?” She asked, moving forward threateningly.

“No!” He fell off his bunk, landing on his face. “Ow.”

“Ready to talk?” She asked.

“Let’s go get dinner.” He popped up, back on his hooves.

“So we can talk there?” She persisted, which earned her a groan.

EVEN LATER THAT DAY

We walked in silence. You’d think that would be weird, but think about it. We were put through awkward situations all day long. I don’t know anyone that would be comfortable with somepony after something like that. But, hey, that’s just me.

Anyway, we were almost to the restaurant when it started raining. I’m not even kidding; we were walking along, bright and sunny, when, all of a sudden, boom. It just started pouring.

We looked up and saw some Pegasus stallions pushing clouds over the city. It wasn’t a prank, or anything; we just didn’t know that it was going to rain today.

Or, at least, I didn’t.

…

Yeah, I’d prefer not to think about that right now.

Besides, we were almost there. Just a few more blocks, aaaand…

“Hey, my apartment is around here; I could treat you to dinner, instead.”

Sonofadonkey.

“Oh, that’s really okay, the place is just around the corner-” I tried to tell him.

“We’re literally right here.” he motioned to the building we were currently standing next to.

There was a moment of silence, which was contained with me weighing my options.

On one hoof, I could just say “hey, it’s right there!” and run off, forcing him to follow me; and on the other, I could take him up on his offer, possibly leading to more awkward situations.

Of course, we would be alone, so there would be nopony to-

I cut off that line of thought before it could mature and infest my mind with little dirty worms that would crawl through my head and whisper in my ears all night.

My next thought was ‘Oh, buck it!’ as I finally responded with “thanks, you’re so nice.” As I walked past the doors and into the lobby, I swear I saw him hoof pump in the reflection of a window.

Minutes later we were up in a fairly nice room, on a guard’s pay, anyway. He was cooking something that smelled devine in the kitchen.

“Are you sure I can’t help?” I asked, though I only wanted to get a taste of that delicious lasagna.

“Please, you’re my guest; having you help would make me a bad host!” He gave a short chuckle, but I was silently cursing the food gods for putting me through this torture. “Dinner is served.” He said as he came up behind me and placed the dish on the table.

“Oh, it smells great!” I said, ripping the lid off of the plate. “You didn’t tell me you were a cook!” I hastily scooped a generous portion onto a plate and began chewing the morsel.

“You really think so? My parents always told me that I had to get better if I were going to get into the culinary arts. Guess they were right.” There was a hint of sadness that kind of killed the mood.

“You… tried to be a chef?” I asked hesitantly.

“Well, yeah. My parents were two of the top chefs in the country. They always said that once the princesses took the kingdom they’d sign up to be her royal cooks. They were killed in an accident not long ago, but it’s ok. I try not to dwell on that stuff.” He waved a hoof like it wasn’t important.

“Flash… I’m so sorry.” A short silence later I continued, trying to retrieve the happiness that was once there. “So how’d you get to cooking stuff like this heavenly dish?”

“My parents signed me up for the top school in all of Equestria, and I studied hard! They always said how they were so proud, and that only motivated me even more. It got to the point I was closing myself in my room to learn about the different types of basil.”

“But isn’t there only one type of basil?” I regretted asking that question.

“Christmas Basil, Cinnamon Basil, Dark Opal Basil, Holy Basil, Lemon and Lime Basil-”

“Ok, I get it.” I cut him off.

“Anyway, when they died, it motivated me even more. I became top in my class, and eventually, top in the city. My dream was to be the chef that my parents would have been.”

“So why aren’t you there now? Cooking for Celestia and Luna?” He chuckled at this, which confused me greatly.

“I would have made it… if I hadn’t run out of sugar.”

FLASHBACK
(You see what I did there?)

Flash Sentry. He was a good stallion, and a better cook.

*needle scratch*

Wait, you mean to tell me you know how he’s a cook? And you know that his parents died in an accident? And you know how he was going to be Equestrias next top chef?

Ok, then, know-it-all; you tell the story!

…

…

…

That’s what I thought. Now shut up and listen.

As I was saying, he was a good stallion and a better cook. He would always try to find improvements to his recipes, so he was constantly in the kitchen. One day, he decided he’d make a new kind of cake; one that had much more sugar than a normal cake.

This cake was made, and the recipe was misplaced, only to be found a thousand-or-so years later by a mare named Pinkamena Diane Pie. Said cake recipe gave her the infamous “Pinkie Sense”, among other mysterious powers, that nopony can understand…

But that’s another story entirely; back to Flash.

“Hey, Flash!” came the sound of one of Flash’s best friends, Graceful Garnish.

“Hey, Grace, what’s up?” Flash asked, turning away from his creation.

“I got this letter in the mail. It has your name all over it, but it ended up in my box, for some reason.” She hooved over said document.

“You sure you’re not just stealing my mail to see if I have a mare in my life?” he teased her. Grace seemed to constantly be around Flash, and while it was, in fact, always a coincidence.

“I’m not stealing your mail! Look, do you want it, or not?” She held it out to him.

“Fine.” he “begrudgingly” took the scroll from the mare and unfurled it.

He read aloud “Dear, Flash Sentry, you are hereby selected to participate in a test to see if you will be the Royal Sisters next new chef. Please report to their majesties in a week’s time to receive additional information. Thank you for your consideration. Yours, Lukewarm Lassi.”

When he looked back up to Grace she looked like she was about to scream with excitement.

Which she proceeded to do.

Much to the stallion’s discomfort.

“You’re gonna be the next Royal Chef!” she squeed while jumping around the stunned Flash.

“Now, now; it didn’t say that I was accepted, it just said to report to Celestia and Luna for more information.” He tried to calm her, which would never work.

“But you’re so good that they have to let you in!” Her excitement seemed like it would rip the roof off of the building they were in and toss it to the other side of the nation.

“That has yet to be decided. Now, what do you think of this?” He cut a piece of his cake out and set it before her.

“What is it?” She asked as she levitated a forkful to her lips.

“A new sugar cake I’m planning on unveiling later this week.” He replied smugly.

She took one, very small, bite from off of her fork and passed out. Her comatose body slumped to the table and fell to the floor.

“Grace?!” He rushed to her side, checking her vitals.

That day ended with a trip to the emergency room and an apology meal. Graceful Garnish never ate another cake again.

PRESENT

“And that’s how I lost my first marefriend.” He had a look on his face that said “thought” as he looked off into the distance.

It was weird.

“That’s… sad. But I still don’t know why you weren’t accepted into the Kitchens for Royalty.” I pointed out.

“Oh! That’s what I was talking about? Hmm… ok, then; let me start again.”

ANOTHER FLASHBACK
(Eh? Eh? Ok, I’ll stop)

When Flash arrived at the Princesses Residence, he found himself being escorted to the Royal Kitchens, which were what they were actually called… I’m not making this-

You know what? I’m done. You people don’t appreciate us narrators, and I’m not even getting paid for this! In fact, why am I here? The writer just pulled me off the street and- is that a gun?

Flashwasdroppedoffatthekitchensand-

What do you mean nobody understood that?

What do you mean you could do better?

What do you mean say “what do you mean” one more time?

What do you- that’s a gun- someone help! This bi-

*BANG*

Back to the story! Yes, I’m not the normal Narrator, but you’re just gonna have to deal with it.

Anyhow, Flash was dropped at the doors and told to wait until Lukewarm arrived.

He didn’t have to wait very long.

“Hello, I presume you are Flash Sentry?” asked a blue mare as she rounded a corner, flipping her sunset purple mane out of her dark green eyes.

“And you’re Lukewarm Lassi. Thank you for the letter; this has always been my dream… even since my parents…” that sentence did not need to be finished.

“I know. They talked highly of you before they left us, and afterwards I watched your grades skyrocket.” She put her hoof around his withers, guiding him through the doors before them. “Now, it’s lead you here.” She gestured to the room they were still standing in, which was the Royal Kitchen…

Yes, the other narrator wasn’t lying; it really is called the Royal Kitchen.

“Whoa!” yelled Flash as he roamed the room aimlessly. “Is that an automatic thermal generator? And a Bifrostial coil strongbox! Oh, my, Celestia; A Blender!!”

The squee was audible in Las Pegasus.

PRESENT

“That was the most beautiful kitchen I’ve ever seen.” Now Flash was looking off into the distance with a dreamy look, like if he’d seen a pretty mare.

“You still have yet to answer my question. Why were you still rejected from the Royal Eatery?”

“I was getting to that!” he shushed her, to which she harrumphed and listened.

GUESS WHAT! THERE’S ONE MORE FLASHBACK BEFORE THE END!!
(You know when I said I’d stop? Well, I lied.)

“Flash Sentry, you have been tasked to make a dish for the princesses. What that dish will be is up to you, but know that their judgment will decide your future in the culinary arts.” Lukewarm suddenly became stern when she said this. “Good luck.” And the friendliness returned.

“Thank you.” Flash Sentry returned to his room that night thinking about the many dishes he could make for the princesses to impress them. He stayed up late into the night thinking upon this subject.

Completely forgetting to get the groceries.

The next day Flash woke with a start.

“Oh, it was only a dream. Good.” He’d dreamt that Lukewarm was in a latex corset and… I believe that the specifics can be left out. *stashes description in bag for later… activities*

“Another day, another buffet.” He joked as he got out of bed, glancing at the clock.

It read 11:37 and, after a moment of staring, Flash realized what that meant.

“It’s almost noon.” Well, no duh; but what else?

After a moment more of thinking Flash came to the conclusion that he needed breakfast as the narrator facepalmed.

He walked downstairs with something tickling at the back of his mind, but he didn’t know what it was…

Something about… a white… powder?

He wasn’t sure, and decided it was his tired mind screwing with him. He came to a stop in his kitchen, looking around for the bowls and the cereal. As he poured Derpy-O’s into his cup and his coffee into a bowl, he realized that his test was today.

“Horseapples!” he yelled as he dropped the milk carton he was currently holding upside down over his newspaper.

He rushed into his kitchen once more and began cooking.

LATER THAT DAY

Flash Sentry threw the cake—carefully—into a cake box and rushed out the door. He flew at a fast but steady pace, making sure the cake came first in all situations. When he did finally make it to the Princesses’ residence he was panting.

“Mr. Flash Sentry. Right this way.” Said a guard as he led him towards the dining room.

Minutes later they arrived; Flash had set the box down and made sure that the cake was fine, and backed away. He bowed when the Celestial Sisters walked into the door and waited with bated breath as they both took a slice.

The next few minutes were a blur in Flash’s mind, though he does remember a distinct choking sound coming from the royalty.

He awoke in a cell, with a rope binding his wings and chains to restrict his movement.

“Hello?” he called out to the room.

“Hello.” Came a gruff male voice from the corner of the cell.

“Um… hi… I’m Flash Sentry and I’m supposed to be one of the royal chefs. Who are you?” He asked, expecting a name, but getting nothing of the sort.

“You can call me Master.” Said the stallion perversely.

Flashes screams would be heard throughout the jail for the rest of the night.

PRESENT

“Turns out I’d used salt instead of sugar when making the cakes and when the princesses tried it they nearly vomited. The guards took this as an attempt on their lives and that I was the culprit. They knocked me out and threw me in the dungeons. From there I decided the only way to truly serve Celestia and Luna left was to be part of the guard, and I’d be damned if I didn’t repay them for accidentally salting them.” Flash finished his story.

“Wow. That’s… interesting.” Minuette responded, trying to hide her furious blush, but failing miserably; though Flash didn’t seem to notice.

“So, what about you? What did you do to make Celestia send you to boot camp?” he asked in a joking fashion.

“I invented a way to stop time.” She said simply.

Flash took a double take…

Then a triple take…

Then he looked at her skeptically…

“Show me.” Was all he had to say.

Author's Note:

Sorry for all of the terrible comedy in this chapter. I wrote the last fourth of it when I was high (or the equivalence of such a state for me, which is just staying up so late that I don't remember what I wrote).

21. Warrior, Come Out to Play-i-ay~!

Author's Note:
This chapter contains the character from The Mighty Warrior of Epicness. It was an honor to work with Shinigamisparda on this chapter, he was an amazing co-author. Go give him some love!

LATER THAT DAY

“So, let me get this straight. Nicholas is the man that helped you defeat Discord, but Michael is standing in front of me, too.” Celestia had arrived shortly after Luna sent her a message saying that the Elements were still fighting Discord. The princess of the sun, not knowing what was actually happening, trusted her student to accomplish the task given to her, and stayed in the library awaiting the six mare’s return.

“Sort of; I’m Nicholas, Michael is currently hiding in the back of my mind. The worst he could do is talk, which wouldn’t benefit him in any way. He fears you more than most,” I told her stoically.

“Alright. Is there anything that I should worry about? Is he a threat to anypony?” She asked simply.

“He is not a threat to anyone as of now. As long as you are around me he will not attempt to escape. He knows that you would incinerate him before he could pull out the watch. He believes he’s murdered the Elements of Harmony, and I don’t think my mental fortitude is strong enough to contain him if he were to see them. His mind works in ways that not even I understand, and he’s done the same for… her. To Michael, they are dead, and if anything were to prove him wrong, he’d flood my system with adrenaline and remove me from power. In short, he’d have the ability to kill the Elements. I wish to seek the mental strength to hold him back and if you could help me find such strength I would be immensely grateful,” I finished my rant with an apologetic bow of my head and a sad smile.

“There is a zebra in the Everfree that once helped me focus my magical abilities. Most of the things she had me do were mental exercises. Maybe she could help,” Twilight said from off to the side. I was currently isolating my sense of hearing and not looking at any of the ponies’ faces, and minding myself towards Twilight. To Michael I was simply sitting in a room with Celestia.

“Yes, I think that should work. Can you have someone show me to this zebra’s place of residence?” I asked, eager to begin.

“I would be willing to take you to her.” Celestia said from her seated position before me.

“Thank you, Princess. How soon would you be willing to depart?” I looked up towards her, keeping her mouth out of my point of view.

“Right now, if you’re ready,” She stood and I looked back down as I replied.

“Twilight, go get your friends, I need them to all be accounted for before I leave. Don’t want them to bump into me on the way over, do we?” The words alone might seem a bit threatening, but there was a sense of jest in the tone, showing that I was simply covering all of my bases.

“Good. I’ll go and get them now,” She walked out of the room and I let my guard down a little, allowing Michael to start talking from my mouth.

“Celestia, it’s been too long,” He said in a half angry, half menacing tone.

When I noticed Celestia lighting her horn I quickly scribbled on a piece of paper that he only had control over my mouth, not my body, and that there was no reason to be concerned.

“No, actually, I believe that a thousand years is a much shorter time period than I would have preferred,” Celestia seemed irritated more than hostile, but still on guard. That was good.

“Oh, you wound me so, my dear princess!” He said in a pained tone, as if he’d been physically wounded. “Why such unfriendliness is thrust upon me, I don’t know!”

“You know exactly why I’m being so ‘unfriendly’, Michael. My sister befrended you, then you betrayed her in the worst possible way; and on top of that, when you had clearly won the fight, you nearly murdered two of our subjects!” She growled at him.

“Oh, that’s ancient history, literally! You should really lighten up and live a little!” Michael was losing control over my body at this point, so I slipped back in.

“I will lighten up when my successor is ready to take the throne and rule the kingdom in my stead, and until that day comes, I will be as heavy as I want!” More than a little rage showed through here, but I quickly doused the flames.

“And that’s a good thing. Keep it up princess. Nicholas is back, just so you know.” I said, holding my hands up in the “calm down” position, palms facing her.

“Ok.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Now, all we have to do is wait until Twilight comes back with her friends.”

As if on cue, there was a knocking at the door. I had a moment to lock Michael out before Twilight came through the aforementioned portal.

“they’re here.” She said simply. As I got up and walked towards the mare I had a thought.

“For future reference, Twilight, never open a door that I am behind without my express permission, please. We would hate for Michael to realize what I’ve done.” I smiled and patted the mare on the head, ruffling her mane a little.

“O-of course, Mr. Faraday.” She responded.

“Not Faraday, remember that.” I told her.

“Oh. Yeah, right.” She had the cutest look on her face of embarrassment. I had to hold myself back from just scooping her up in a hug!

“If I ever identify myself as Faraday, I want you to knock me out. No hesitation, ok?” I said to the purple mare, but looked at Celestia, too, signifying that this went for, not only Twilight, but the princess, also.

“Got it. If you call yourself Michael, knock you out.” She said like she was trying to remember it.

I then walked past the door, still holding Michael out, and greeted the mares on the other side.

“Hello, girls.” I said as I walked through the doors.

Six beings were instantly on guard, five mares and a baby dragon, that is.

“Michael, don’ pull nothin’ funny.” Applejack, if I remember correctly, said.

“I’m not Michael. He’s currently hiding from her in the back of my mind.” I motioned to Celestia as I said this.

“Then who are you?” Rainbow Dash flew up to me, coming inches from my face. “Are you a spy?” she barked in my face.

Despite the abuse, I didn’t flinch.

“I am not, in fact, a spy; I’m just a soul in this world, trying to make my way.” I said dramatically, one hand on my chest, the other raised in the air, in a theatrical pose.

“There’s no need to be sarcastic.” Said Twilight, but Rainbow didn’t let up.

“Are you sure? One minute you’re trying to kill us, the next you’re giving us our elements and pointing us at Discord! If you ask me, that’s more than a little twofaced, and definitely not loyalty!” as she said this, she flapped her wings, moving her forward. I moved myself back, if only so we didn’t end up mashing our faces together.

“It was twofaced, yes, but against Discord. We had similar goals and the only way I could get close was to surprise him. What’s more surprising than a longtime friend suddenly turning on you?” I asked the mare, pushing her face away from mine. When my two fingers left her face she was back on me—or she would be, if I hadn’t held my hand out to catch her whole face in my palm.

“Rainbow, calm down. I believe he’s shown that he’s on our side.” Twilight said, pulling the mare into a sitting position with her magic.

“But he betrayed Discord!” She yelled.

“Because he was our enemy!” I yelled back. “Now stop being childish and listen!”

She sat quiet, stunned as I continued. “Thank you. Now, my name is Nicholas. I am the original owner of this body. Michael is the psyche that is squatting in my brain. He was put there by Discord and he would not hesitate to murder all of you. The only things keeping him from doing that is my years of practice, holding him back and blocking the senses. The second is Princess Celestia.” I looked to the princess, who had recovered from my outburst fairly quickly. “I am going to see a zebra in the Everfree to train my mind to hold him back permanently. Until then, you are not allowed to venture into the forest for any reason, if you see me—ever—you are to move yourselves as far away from me as fast as possible. If I have seen you, then you’re already dead.” The mares, including Celestia, were quite shocked at this revelation. I have the power to stop time, why are they so surprised? I finished with “do not hesitate, because I can assure you, I will not.” I began walking towards the door to leave, but the Princess of the Sun stopped me with a slight tug on my coat.

She turned to the other six mares. “That being said, me and Nicholas, here, are going to be leaving, do not exit the library until we are safely out of Ponyville. I’ll send a letter when we reach the forest,” Celestia finished for me.

There were several moments of silence before I coughed.

“We will be leaving now.” I said as I walked out the door, Celestia close behind.

My coat whipped in a sudden wind as I exited the establishment.

EDGE OF THE EVERFREE FOREST

We had just arrived at the edge of the forest. I looked around, finding a hut off in the distance that was surrounded with animals of all kinds. If I look a bit further I could see the green of another forest… or was that a farm? I couldn’t quite tell. Either way, we weren’t heading that direction, so it didn’t matter much.

“Let me tell the Elements where we are,” Celestia said, stopping to write a short letter.

‘Let me OUT!’

I nearly fell to a knee. The mental pressure Michael was putting on me was tremendous.

“We need to keep moving,” I said simply, beginning my walk once again.

“it’ll only take a moment.” She continued her letter, but I didn’t have time for a letter.

“I don’t have a moment!” I nearly yelled, which was distracting enough for him to slip out.

“Celestia, I see that you’re just as pathetic as ever,” he said, but I was busy trying to restrict his movements. He was already reaching for the pocket of the vest that was under my coat.

She was stunned for a moment before looking up, the parchment forgotten. “Michael?” she asked, fear lacing her voice.

“And now you can add two and two,” He tried to rush her, but my limitation only gave him the ability to take a single step.

“Michael, release your control over Nicholas!” the mare demanded. Michael’s grin only grew.

“Why would I give my body to a wimp like him?” his words mean nothing to me, but Celestia was a different story.

“Nicholas is stronger and more courageous than you could-” she never finished, though, because it was then that she found a cold circle pressing against her forehead.

“Insolence.”

The sound of a gunshot rang through the forest.

GOLDEN OAK’S LIBRARY

“They should be there by now,” said a purple unicorn as she paced around the center of learning.

“Don’ worry none, the princess’s probably jus’ gettin’ Nicholas to Zecora’s place,” Applejack assured her.

“But she should have sent a letter to tell us when they got to the forest! That was the plan!” she passed faster as the other five mares exchanged glances.

“Listen, dear, they must be fine. Remember, this is Celestia, Princess of the Sun, we’re talking about,” Rarity pointed out.

“But there must be something wrong!” Twilight barked hysterically.

“Why don’t you just go after them?” asked a young drakes voice from the stairs. Turns out, Spike had walked down the stairs only moments before; hearing the tail end of the conversation, he thought he’d throw in his two cents.

“Spike, you’re a Genious!” Twilight yelled cheerily as he was lofted into the air by the mare’s purple aura. “We’ll just head out and see what’s wrong ourselves!”

“But, um, Nicholas said to stay put,” Fluttershy pointed out, causing Twilight to droop a bit.

But, before any of the other beings in the room could speak, she steeled herself once again. “We must. For Celestia, we must! What if she’s in trouble and we’re the only ones who can help? What if Nicholas released Michael? Or, worse yet, what if they’re both in danger? They might both be on the edge of life and death and we’re the only ones who know where they’re going!” Twilight was becoming hysterical again, her voice slowly rising as she convinced herself that this was the right thing to do.

“Twi! Calm down!” Applejack put a hoof over her withers. “This’s crazy talk! If’n any trouble rustles up, the princess’ll handle it, no problem.”

“Applejack…” Twilight trailed off, lost for words.

“Have confidence in Celestia, dear. She was your mentor, after all; you must know something about how much power Celestia has,” Rarity’s hoof joined Applejacks, and, pretty soon, it turned into a group hug.

“I’m sorry, girls, but this is something I have to do.” Twilight put Spike down, only now realizing that he’s been suspended in the air since she lifted him, and started towards the door.

Rarity went to stop her, but Applejack lifted a hoof to stop her. “She ain’t lyin’,” The Farm mare said, simply allowing Twilight to leave.

EDGE OF THE EVERFREE

“MY FUCKING FOOT!!” I shouted out, screaming in pain.

“Nicholas? Is that you?” Celestia asked, obviously confused.

“Of course it’s me! If it were anyone else, you’d be dead right now!!” I writhed on the ground, holding my foot as gingerly as one could while a crumpled heap.

“Oh, my- Let me help,” the tall mare rushed over, using her magic to seal the hole in my foot, sock and shoe, in that order.

TWILIGHT

“Did… he just shoot himself in the foot?” I asked myself.

I watched as Celestia healed his foot, helped him up, and conversed with him for a short time before walking into the woods.

Staying behind for nearly a minute, questioning what I’d just watched, I realized they were getting away. ‘Just because nothing’s happened yet, that doesn’t mean that nothing will happen soon. He nearly lost control right in front of me!’

I followed the two deeper into the forest, following the path to Zecora’s hut not a mile into the forest.

All of us were walking in silence, albeit, I needed to, to stay off of Nicholas’—or, rather, Michael’s—radar.

Celestia broke that silence, giving me something to focus on, other than staying quiet.

“Explain Michael to me,” she requested.

“That’s very general. Do you want me to tell you what he’s like, because I’m pretty sure you already know; or maybe you want me to tell you what he looks like… oh, wait-” Nicholas gestured to himself.

“I need not the sarcasm, Nicholas. Tell me how you switch between one and the other; how he can take control, and you likewise.” She elaborated.

“I… I never understood it myself, really. I think of it as air pressure. When I spend too much time in control, he can build up power. Once he gets enough power, he can force me out, but it usually requires some sort of trigger, like seeing someone he thinks is dead. Imagine the shock of seeing a long-dead pony coming back. He utilizes the adrenaline pumped into my system to switch our psyches out.”

As Nicholas was saying this, I was frantically searching myself for a parchment and quill. Sadly, I didn’t have any on me. I resolved to memorize the explanation for later, which took my concentration off of being sneaky—which wasn’t exactly my strong suit to begin with.

All I heard was a “snap” and suddenly Nicholas was on top of me.

I felt a small, cold circle pressed against my forehead.

A voice reached my ears.

It angrily said…

“Die.”

CELESTIA

*THUD!*

“Ow… God freakin’ dammit, how can the same thing happen twice?”

Michael, Twilight and I turned to see a figure that had seemingly fallen onto the ground from nowhere. He groaned as he stood up to a massive height of at least eight feet.

“Ugh, at least, I don’t feel like I drank the entire world’s supply of alcohol this time.”

“W-What? W-Who are you?” I stuttered, looking at the individual. He was apparently the same species as Nicholas but considerably more muscular, clad in the armor of a warrior. A red scarf flowed from around his neck, ending with a golden insignia and a spear was held in his hand.

“Huh? Oh hey, Celly! Or, that is, ‘Other Celly.’ Or, rather, uh… hi.”

“Shut up!” Yelled Michael from his position above Twilight. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave now!”

“Huh?”

The warrior turned and saw the situation, taking merely a second to process it, before his eyes hardened. In a flash he dashed towards Michael, about to swing his weapon at his head.

“Too slow,” and Michael disappeared. I knew exactly what had happened, and looked around for the biped, finding him over to the left and behind the armor-clad giant. He raised his arm, which I saw had his pistol in it, and took aim at the newcomer’s head.

“Watch out!” I yelled, rushing towards the armored being with speed I didn’t even know I had anymore.

But I was too late.

A gunshot rang out through the forest and there was the being lying on the ground, motionless. I didn’t know what to say or do, but soon I didn’t need to.

“Ow! Mother piss bucket, that hurts!”

I was stunned to see the being get up, barely a scuff mark on his helmet. Our enchanted armor never stood a chance against his weapon!

“Huh, I guess I really haven’t gone against firearms before. Still, with all the lighting bolts I’ve deflected, this is just embarrassing.”

“How… you’re alive?!” I yelled, rushing over to the fallen aggressor. Anyone was better than Michael, and if this new human had a sliver of a chance to contain him, then I was going to take that chance.

“Wow, I’ve never had a Celestia be concerned about me before. This is… weird, actually. Nice, but weird.”

“H-Huh?”

“Meh, nevermind. I’ll explain later,” he answered before standing up to face Michael. “And as for you, Mr. Shitpunk Mc’Asshole, you want to hurt the ponies? You’re gonna have to go through me!”

“Go through you? Shouldn’t be too hard. Of course, that armor could be a bit of trouble,” Michael got a creepy grin before he said “let’s fix that.”

I looked back to the biped standing next to me to warn him to be careful, but was surprised at what I found.

What was once a respectable knight, was now only a man wearing a loincloth and a simple white kimono-like undergarment. It took me a moment to understand what I was seeing, and even when I understood it, I was still confused.

“Dang, your armor’s heavy! You know that?” asked Michael from where he had been standing, only now he had a pile of armor the exact same shape, size, color and style as the other human had been wearing, literally, moments before.

“What in the hell?” the warrior thought aloud, looking at himself. “Huh. Oh well, not sure how this happened, but EARTHQUAKE!” As he shouted this, he slammed a foot onto the ground and, just as he said, an earthquake suddenly came to be. Oddly enough, it seemed to be directed and managed to catch Michael off guard, sending him flying into the air backwards. The warrior jumped and was instantly above him, only a few feet between them.

”GOTCHA, BITCH!” he shouted in an accent that was not his own, before firing beams of energy from his eyes.

When the smoke cleared there was nothing left of Michael. He was just not there.

“Did you… just defeat him?” Twilight asked hesitantly, not getting her hopes up.

“Wait, did I really just… kill him?” he muttered, seemingly shocked. “But… I’ve never come close to killing another Displaced before. Was he just a regular-?” he cut himself off and spun his weapon, deflecting a series of bullets that seemingly appeared from nowhere. The projectiles exploded the earth and wood they struck.

Before anypony--or human--had time to react, there was some soft clapping in the opposite direction of the bullets.

“You’re good! Really good, in fact. Maybe even too good,” said Michael from right next to me.

Naturally, I jumped as far away as my wings would carry me; and, luckily, I wasn’t his target.

Michael ran towards the warrior with speed that would put sound to shame, indicated by the small sonic boom that surrounded him.

As he approached the other human, the warrior readied a swing, releasing the tension in his arms when Michael was within reach. The warrior ended with his staff pointed straight up, but Michael had not been harmed. In fact, he seemed to be invigorated, more than anything.

“I would like to retract my previous statement, you’re not ‘really good’,” he jumped, just as the warrior brought his weapon down, only to bring it back up again, but Michael wasn’t there anymore. He was now several pony-lengths above him, Michael’s hands in his pockets.

“You’re perfect.” Michael then disappeared, repairing right next to the warrior, who was still trying to slash at where Michael previously was.

What happened next was too fast for me to comprehend, but by the way the warrior’s body was being smashed around, I could assume that Michael was beating him badly.

I decided I had stayed on the sidelines long enough. I pulled my magic reserves through my horn, picturing a forcefield around the warrior. I opened my eyes to find Michael standing next to a golden bubble, slightly confused before he looked over at me.

“Stay out of this, Celestia. You shouldn’t interfere with a fight between gentlemen,” he said before he was in front of me, grabbing me by the horn and throwing me against a tree.

“Princess Celestia!” Twilight called. I looked at her just in time to hear the loud sound of flesh-against-flesh nearby. I turned and saw Michael in the air again, and the warrior looking like he bucked him in the head. He then quickly leaped at his armor and spun rapidly. In seconds, every piece was back in its proper place… somehow.

“Gentlemen don’t strip their opponents,” he said as he took a battle-ready stance. ”Even when they really want to.”

“What?” I asked.

“What?” he replied, the kind of answer one gave when trying to pretend they didn’t say anything. He then spun quickly and within a moment was completely surrounded by a barrier of… bubbles?

“Now, where are you?” he muttered. Looking around.

It took me a moment to realize his plan, to make it so that Michael would have to pop the bubbles to approach him, thus giving away his location. I knew that Michael was gone, though.

I also knew it wouldn’t work. Even if this was some fool-proof plan of the warrior’s, Michael would find a way.

“You’re an inventive one,” echoed a voice from the forest, seemingly all around us at different points in time. One word would be said from one direction, and another from a different direction. “but, really? A barrier of bubbles? What kind of protection does that provide?”

“They make a nice and noisy pop,” he replied.

“Really?” Suddenly, Michael was in front of the bubble-encased warrior, a short stick in his grasp. “So, if I just-” he was cut off as he poked a bubble with his stick, causing an explosion equal to that of a hoof-thrown bomb, pushing him back into the air.

I was just about ready to throw common sense to the wind. First, this new human appears out of nowhere; then, he faces Michael in a fight--kind of--and actually provides a challenge; and now explosive bubbles? This day has just turned out… I don’t even know.

The warrior dashed forwards, the bubbles seeming to move of their own accord to grant him passage, and grabbed Michael by the head. He raised him up and proceeded to slam him down, only for him to suddenly disappear before he made contact with the ground.

“What the hell?” the being muttered.

“You know that’s not going to work,” Michael said from a tree, sitting as if he had simply woken up from a nap. “You’ve done it several times, and each time I’ve recovered easily. Just give up already!”

“H-How-? How did-? But, that’s not possible! I should’ve at least seen some movement! You could only do this if you-!”

Suddenly, the warrior’s eyes shot open. For the first time I saw something that I hadn’t seen the entire bout: fear.

“Stop time,” he said, barely above a whisper.

“What was your first hint?” Michael asked, standing from his seated position.

I saw the warrior shaking, his armor clattering as he shivered. He quickly cast magic that caused him to glow certain colors for a moment, likely some kind of beneficial enchantment.

“S-Stay away from me,” he said, taking a step back.

“What, you finally realizing how-” and, for only a moment, Michael was right in front of him, “SCREWED you are?!” and he was gone before the warrior swung his weapon, which was somehow considerably faster than before. Not that it was enough.

”GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!” he shouted, and that’s when all Tartarus broke loose.

Earthquakes, eye lasers, exploding bubbles, hurricane force winds, lightning bolts, blades of air, even some strange gloves and what appeared to be giant versions of bullets fired in every direction as the warrior screamed in terror. He had lost all composure and was simply shooting off his power madly.

I barely had enough time to teleport myself to Canterlot.

MICHAEL/NICHOLAS

‘Wow, that’s a lot of power. If I’d stayed even a moment longer, I probably would have been obliterated.’ Michael thought from his Time Stasis.

‘Stop fighting this guy! He’s obviously versed in combat!’ Yelled Nicholas from inside his own head.

‘Oh, please. As long as I have my watch, I can dodge anything he throws at me!’

‘But not everybody else can!’

‘Celestia made it out fine, see?’ Michael walked over to where Celestia was standing only milliseconds before, the flash of magic and afterimage of her form still there.

‘I guess you’re right,’ Nicholas thought before Michael happened to look in the wrong direction.

What they saw froze them in place.

Twilight was standing in the direct path of a missile.

‘TWILIGHT!’ Nicholas burst out, sprinting towards the terrified unicorn, completely forgetting that he wasn’t supposed to be in control of his own body.

‘No! How is this possible! You’re still so weak from trying to keep me at bay!’ thought Michael, as that was all he could do.

But it didn’t matter; Nicholas was dead set on keeping the lavender Unicorn safe, if that meant his life.

TWILIGHT

My heart was pounding in my head. Everything seemed to slow down. For a moment I thought I was in time freeze again, until I noticed I couldn’t move. All I could see was that strange conal object heading right towards me. I saw one of them strike a tree and explode in fire, blasting the poor plant to splinters before setting those aflame. And right now, one of those things was heading right towards my face.

‘I’m going to die.’

It was the only thought in my head. I thought when you were faced with death your life was supposed to flash before your eyes. Maybe it did for some. For me, all I could see was that object heading towards me at a seemingly crawling pace.

‘I’m going to die!’

Then, it all changed.

One moment, my world was one of chaos and insanity; large explosions everywhere, winds whipping my mane in my eyes, lasers cutting trees, rocks and earth as easy as a warm knife through butter… and then…

All I knew was brown.

But it wasn’t the dirt. No, I figured that out when I found it to be soft and smooth. I found it comforting, and another thought entered my mind.

‘This wouldn’t be such a bad way to go, would it?’

Time seemed to speed up as I heard a blast. For a moment I felt and heard nothing, even my vision just turned to white. Then I felt wind ripping past my mane and tail, heat somewhere nearby, and my ears were ringing. Soon it was over, but it still took me a moment to realize the truth.

‘I’m… alive?’

As my hearing returned, the only thing that registered was some soft muttering.

“Twilight… Twilight, are you alright…? Please be alright… I just ask that…”

This muttering continued for several minutes before I looked up to find the most confusing thing to happen yet.

Michael was cradling me, crouched over my own form.

“Michael?” I asked, realizing exactly how hoarse my voice sounded… no pun intended.

He jerked his head away from my shoulder, looking deep into my eyes. “You’re ok?” He asked, fear predominant in his eyes, but a sliver of hope around the edges.

“Y-yeah, I am…” I said, scooching back and away from him. “But, why are you… protecting me?”

“What?” He asked, then looked down at his hands, grasping and ungrasping them slowly. “I’m back in control, somehow…” he said slowly.

“Michael…” I said, just as slow.

“No, it’s Nicholas now,” he said, happiness obvious in his voice. “I’m back…” he looked down at his hands again just before realization struck him. “But, are you sure you’re ok? I could run you back to Ponyville if you need it,” he said, checking me over quickly for any damage. I did the same.

“I’m fine, Nicholas. But, how did you stop that… thing?”

“I blocked it with… wait… how did I-?”

Nicholas turned round and I followed his gaze, shocked to see the warrior had somehow moved in front of the path of his own attack. He panted and seemed to be in some pain, though not nearly as much as I would expect, and smoke rose from his back.

“I’m so sorry,” he wheezed. “I… almost killed you. I’ve never lost control like that before.” He looked up and met my gaze. “Please forgive me, Twi-” He cut himself off as his gaze changed to Nicholas. I saw both fear and rage in his eyes.

It took me a moment too long to realize what he was thinking. “Wai-!”

“GET OFF HER!” he shouted before smacking Nicholas to the side with the back of his hand, enough force to make him smash through a tree.

I was stunned for a good three seconds.

This three seconds were enough for the warrior to jump after Nicholas and land on top of him, pointing his spear directly at his chest.

“STOP!” I yelled, rushing over to halt the execution.

The warrior stopped and looked to me, stunned that I was now standing between his weapon and Nicholas.

“What are you doing!?”

“This human is my friend! If you want to hurt him, you’ll have to go through me!” I repeated his words from before.

“W-What!? Your friend had a gun to your head!”

“That was not my friend… this is…” I trailed off, the adrenaline slowly leaking from my system. “There’s a lot of explaining for us to do, and I want you to not try to stab anyone until we’ve finished,” I said, putting extra emphasis on “not”.

Nicholas groaned in pain as he struggled to open his eyes. I saw blood staining his teeth. A flash of movement came next and the warrior’s blade was at his throat.

”NO! I SAID NOT TO-!”

“Start talking,” the warrior ordered, his eyes still on Nicholas. I realized that he had stopped his spear just short of piercing Nicholas’ neck. “Now.”

“Um… where do I start?” I asked innocently.

“From the beginning!" he yelled.

“O-ok! This is Nicholas. You were fighting Michael. Nicholas is a peaceful person, doing what he can to avoid combat; but Michael… well, I think you know enough about him. Michael is much more violent than Nicholas. Nicholas has no quarrel with you.” I said worriedly, taking a tentative step towards him.

“So you’re saying he could turn back into that killer at any second?”

“Well… theoretically, yes. But, he seems to be fairly stable now. He says it’s like air pressure. When he holds Michael in for too long, he builds up power until he can take over Nicholas’ body. In this case, Michael would have no control, whatsoever, seeing as he just fought you for a good few minutes.” I explained hastily, slowing down when he moved the spear a bit further from Nicholas’ neck.

The warrior hesitated a moment more, extending his hand to Nicholas. A green light shone over his body and nearly all his injuries were healed, like he had already spent weeks recovering. The armored individual then turned and somehow cut a hole in the air itself before jumping inside. It closed behind him and, before I could even comprehend what happened, I saw the blade of his spear puncture a hole in the air, retreating not a moment later.

“I believe you, but I still don’t trust him,” his voice came from the hole. “This is the only way I can think to counter that ability he has.”

“Did anyone catch the number on that semi?” asked Nicholas from the ground.

“Nick, are you alright?” I asked gently.

“I think so, but the last thing I remember was being thrown through a tree. How am I not dead?” he looked at his arms and torso, inspecting his undamaged body.

“I healed you. But you should thank Twilight for convincing me not to decapitate you instead,” the warrior answered.

Nicholas seemed to gulp at this, his eyes growing a few sizes. “Did you really…” the unasked question hung, pregnant in the air, for a while before a simple nod answered it. “Thanks, I guess.”

“So, just what are you doing right now?” I asked. “Just how is… this supposed to keep you safe?” Honestly, I was starting to feel a little weird talking to a hole in the air.

“HALT, BY ORDER OF THE PRINCESS OF EQUESTRIA!” came a booming voice from the sky. We all looked up--even the hole in the air pointed itself towards the sound. Above was what looked like nearly half the Royal Guard, pegasi carrying chariots for unicorns and earth ponies, and Princess Celestia at the front.

“Princess Celestia!” I shouted, glad that she had made it out safe, and happy to see her once again.

“TWILIGHT, MOVE AWAY FROM MICHAEL!” Celestia yelled in the Royal Canterlot Voice.

“Nicholas is back, it’s no longer Michael!” I said as she landed.

Celestia paused for a moment, about to reply before she turned to observe her surroundings. “Where is the warrior?” she asked.

“Right here.”

Celestia jumped, as did the several guards who had landed, turning this way and that, unable to find the voice’s source.

“Can you see me now?”

All the ponies jumped again as they saw fingers extending out the hole, twiddling in mid-air.

“What magic is this?” asked Celestia as she approached and examined the small hole.

“Ah good, I was just getting to that. Basically, my naginata can cut holes in time and space, in reality itself. With it I can effectively teleport, but that’s not why I’m using it like this.”

“Then, why are you… ‘using it like this’?” I asked the question on everyone’s mind.

“Because, before I travel using this method, I pass through a great Emptiness, the space between all universes. It has been given many names, like ‘The Void Eternal’, ‘The Emptiness and That Which Fills It’, and so on. I call it ‘The Rift’. For my purposes, here, the most important attribute of this location, or lack thereof, is that time itself essentially does not exist.”

“So… what how does that have to do with anything?” I asked.

“He’s saying that I have no power over him while he’s in there.” Nicholas explained.

There was a resounding “oh” from the gathered ponies, though Celestia had connected the dots.

“Must you truly go to such an extreme?” she asked.

“He has the ability to stop time. That means I am essentially off guard all the time. To a warrior like myself, this is both the most disgraceful, and the most terrifying, thing I can imagine.”

Celestia seemed to understand, knowing what it was like to fight a being who could hit you at any time, litterally.

“Um, I’m sorry that’s such a big deal for you, but you can come out of there now. I promise I won’t use my powers,” Nicholas stated politely, getting to his feet.

“Not a chance. That fact that you even could do something to me is too much of a risk, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Well… in that case… Warrior, can I talk to you for a moment… in private?” Nicholas asked, walking deeper into the forest.

There was no response for a moment before the warrior’s blade barely stuck through the hole. We all watched in fascination as it slowly cut a path towards Nicholas, any spot it cut immediately resealing itself, like the fin of a shark through water.

THIRD PERSON

Nicholas walked deeper and deeper into the forest, followed by the shark fin blade. When they both felt that they were out of earshot and sight, they stopped and faced each other. Well, Nicholas faced the blade; it was hard to tell where the blade was facing. Nicholas seemed like he wanted to say something, but was unwilling to initiate the conversation.

“So, what did you wish to speak about?” he asked.

There was another moment of hesitation before Nicholas looked directly at the floating hole.

“You must promise to never tell anyone, pony, thing, ever, without my express permission,” Nicholas said, giving the hole a stern stare.

“... Very well.”

Nicholas seemed to relax slightly, but kept his eyes on the hole.

“I’m about to reveal the secret of my power to you,” he explained.

“Ah, I see. The secret to your abilities is surely something you would wish to guard closely. I will keep it to myself… unless I decide I need to tell others to put down that ‘other you.’”

Nicholas gritted his teeth for a moment before growling out “That is the only exception. The ONLY exception. And you must know that it is him and not me.”

“I understand. I’ve met another who has had others inside his mind that would perform acts he never would.”

Nicholas seemed to relax completely, the tension melting from his shoulders. He steeled himself once more before doing something unexpected by the warrior.

He dug around in his pocket and fished out his watch, showing it to the hole, making his point quite clear.

“Ah, a powered object. That truly is a weakness. Without it you are nothing, and if others were to take it, your power would be theirs.”

“Well… nobody but me’s ever used it, so I’m not completely sure how it works. All I do know is that I stop time whenever I click the crown,” he indicated the small, button-like thing on the top.

“And your speed?” he asked.

Nicholas flinched. “H-How did you-?”

“Your blows dealt much more damage than they should’ve. Considering you can’t increase your strength, the only other option is speed. After all, speed is weight, and I have no idea how much weight you can accumulate.”

“Not nearly as much as you, I can assure you.” Nicholas felt his back, remembering flying through the tree only minutes before.

“Well? How does that work?”

“‘How’? I have no clue. But, there is one way to find out…” Nicholas trailed off, looking intently at the watch. “I always wondered what made this thing-” he pulled the back off of the watch, exposing the inner workings, “- tick.”

He heard the warrior chuckle. “Heh, I needed a stupid pun to help me loosen up.”

“Oh, come on; it wasn’t that bad, was it?” Nicholas said as he studied the internal springs and gears.

“No no, I’ve done worse. In fact I’ve practically made it an obligation to make stupid puns wherever I go. In fact, the only reason I haven’t been spouting references since I got here was due to the fact of being scared shitless of ‘Michael.’”

“Well, I’m sorry he... scares you so much.” Nicholas grunted as he pulled a small gear, no bigger than the last joint on one’s pinky finger. “Here. How do I get this to you?”

“You… want me to come out?” he asked hesitantly. Nicholas could hear the fear creeping back into his voice.

“Oh, right!” Nicholas placed the watch on the ground and lightly kicked it a few feet away. “Just don’t go after it, is all I ask.”

“... Ok. I see you’re going to some considerable lengths. I’ll trust you for now.”

The blade came out again and cut a hole large enough for him to exit out of.

As the warrior exited the hole in the air, Nicholas extended his hand towards the warrior, who was still hesitant to take the small gear.

“So, what do you intend to do?” he asked, observing the item.

“I’m not sure… there seems to be a slight pull… like a magnet…” Nicholas said as he moved his hand closer to the warrior’s chest.

Suddenly, the gear flew out of his hand, attaching to the small diamond on the warrior’s chest, slipping through the stone as if it were goo.

“W-What hap-!?” he asked, alarmed, only for him to suddenly be behind Nicholas.

“-an he really not-?”

“Gah!” Nicholas yelped. “Don’t do that! It’s my thing!”

“Oh, so there’s a time limit. That was about… thirty seconds. I doubt you have that much a limitation.”

“No… I can stop time for as long as I want… I did only give you a bit of the watch, so you couldn’t have gotten that much power from it…” Nicholas summed up.

“I guess so. I wonder how I trigger it though?” He started to press the gem on his armor only for nothing to happen. “Huh. Is there a recharge time?”

“Maybe. You did only get a bit… huh, you seem a lot more relaxed now,” Nicholas noted.

“It helps that I finally have a counter.”

“Well, in that case…” Nicholas walked over and picked up his watch, brushing the dirt off the back before reconnecting it to his vest and placing it in his pocket. He clicked the crown, and everything stopped.

‘I wonder if he can see me?’ Nicholas thought to himself. As he walked towards the warrior he noticed that the large man in armor was shaking. With one final lurched he returned to fluid motion. He tried to talk only for no sound to come. He tried again, only to have the same effect.

Nicholas tried to motion that there was no sound in the Time Stasis, demonstrating by clapping several times very hard. The warrior seemed to get the idea and nodded and Nicholas clicked the crown again, bringing them both back to normal time.

“I… I entered your time stasis?” he asked.

“Apparently so. Congratulations, sir; you now have time-stopping powers!” Nicholas put his hand out to shake the warriors own, then a thought crossed his mind. “What is your name, anyway? I don’t think we ever asked.”

“Ah, that’s right. I think this may be one of the few times I’ve never introduced myself in an acceptably hammy manner. However, I believe you deserve a simple handshake,” he said as he firmly grasped Nicholas’ hand. “It’s Gilgamesh.”

Nicholas flinched and winced as his hand was tightly grasped by the warrior. “Nice to meet you,” he gasped out. As Gilgamesh released Nicholas’ hand, he shook it to try and return the feeling to it. “As you probably have figured out, I’m Nicholas, and this-” he pointed at his head, “-is Michael. Michael say ‘hi’,” there was a moment of silence as Nicholas listened to Michaels response. “No, I’m not going to repeat that to Gilgamesh.”

“I can hazard a guess,” Gilgamesh said. “Nicholas, it is very nice to meet you. And Michael, fuck you too, you psychopathic shit stain.” There was a calm smile on his face the whole time, making the words and tone clash.

“Um… you too. Anyway, the others are probably waiting for us. We should go back before they think we killed each other.” Nicholas joked, but the fear was a legitimate one.

“Good thinking. I’d like to hear your story, and I most certainly don’t mind giving a few peeks at Celestia’s flank. Though honestly, Luna’s more my type.”

Nicholas couldn’t help but give Gilgamesh a funny look. “Where did that come from?”

“Me wanting to lighten the mood… and also get a reaction out of you.”

A moment of silence followed this simple confession. Then, like a switch flipped, Nicholas burst out laughing.

“Oh, man… ya’ll really had me goin’ there! Yer funny.” Nicholas traded his “Proper English Accent” out for a “Hic Accent”, failing miserably.

“Glad you think so. Also, just because it was a joke doesn’t mean I wasn’t being serious. Let’s go,” he said as he walked back towards the group, smiling as he caught Nicholas making another befuddled expression.

After a moment of peaceful walking, Gilgamesh heard footsteps running from behind him. He turned just in time to receive a boot to the head.

“IF YOU TOUCH LUNA, I’LL KICK YOUR ASS!” yelled Nicholas in his face, having climbed on top of the warrior after he tumbled to the ground.

Gilgamesh stared for a moment before laughing. “Good to know we have the same tastes! And don’t worry, I’m more for trying to woo my own Luna. You can have her here. I’m sure you’ve earned it.”

Nicholas slowly got off Gilgamesh, eyeing him the whole time. “Fine. That’s fine. Just fine.”

As the two walked towards the group, Nicholas mumbled something to Gilgamesh.

“Just don’t touch her.”

LUNA

I was simply flying back to Canterlot, having had a long day. I merely got a few hours of sleep before Discord escaped and I awoke again, and I was beginning to feel it.

Halfway through the leisurely “glide, flap, glide” routine I remembered from foalhood, I heard a familiar sound.

Nicholas’ signature gunshot.

There were two available reasons for this to happen. one, Nicholas was showing a pony how to fire his weapon, like he did for me all those years ago. two, Michael had been released and was shooting something or somepony. three, Nicholas had found an opponent that threatened him or somepony else and was trying to defend them.

‘Please, please let it be the first one, or at least the last one!’ I thought to myself as I searched for the direction of the noise.

After several minutes of loud noises and strange happenings, I believe I’d found the area the battle was taking place. I had also decided it was a battle because there were explosions. Michael couldn’t make explosions, as far as I knew.

Also, the fight had been happening on the other side of the forest, closer to Ponyville, while I was almost to Canterlot. This forced me to take much more time than I wanted to spend simply getting there, even at full speed--which was not at it’s full potential, since I’d been flying this whole time.

When I did get there, I found something peculiar.

Half the Royal Guard was on a small path leading through the Everfree, Celestia and Twilight were with them, but Nicholas--or Michael--were nowhere to be found. This scared me and relieved me at the same time. If they were just standing there, Michael couldn’t be causing too much trouble. But at the same time, where was Nicholas?

“Sister!” I shouted from my elevated position, “I heard fighting and hurried as fast as I could!” as I touched down, Celestia’s face didn’t change from its surprised expression.

“Luna, what are you doing here? You must be exhausted!” I noted my breathing was deep and labored, but pushed on anyway; for Nick.

“I am fine, sister. Where is Nicholas?” I took a quick scan of the area around us, searching for the cloaked biped in the foliage, or any indication of which way he might have gone.

“He is talking to the warrior, right now,” Celestia answered simply, looking in the direction they supposedly went.

I began walking in the aforementioned direction, only to be stopped by a small purple hoof.

“Nicholas wanted to be in private,” Twilight explained.

“-fter that he introduced me to his daughter, Skyrender. She was pretty cool, though a bit shy. To be honest, I think he wanted me to be her mate so we’d have an even more powerful descendant, but neither of us were the other’s type and we decided to just be friends. I don’t think human and dragon DNA would’ve mixed anyway.”

“Dude! You should have gone for her! She seems like a pretty sweet drake.” Nicholas responded to what I would later find out was the epic tale that was Gilgamesh and the Daughter of the Dragon King Crimsonwing (patent pending).

“I’ll be honest, she was pretty cute, and is probably a bombshell now, but I’ve only really had eyes for- oh hi, Luna!”

Nicholas fell silent at this, glaring at the warrior as they approached the small army and it’s leaders… and Twilight.

“Nicholas!” I exclaimed, cantering up to the human, giving him a slight hug before looking him in the eye. “Are you alright? Is Michael under control? What were those explosions?” I asked rapidfire, not giving him time to answer.

“Luna!” he shouted, stopping my onslaught with a squeak. “I’m fine and Michael is locked away… for now.”

“Whoa,” the tall human began, catching my attention. “You weren’t kidding. I’ve never seen my version of Luna be so affectionate with anyone but her sister. You really lucked out in the marefriend department.”

I stared at the warrior, a horrified expression replacing my worried one.

“Excuse me!? The what department!?” Celestia asked, both anger and surprise evident in her tone.

I looked to the warrior, who simply switched between looking at me, my sister, and Nicholas.

“You mean you didn’t know?” he finally asked Celestia. Before anypony could respond he sprinted to the edge of the clearing, grabbed and lifted up a downed tree, and set it down near the rest of the Royal Guard. “Oh, this is going to be deliciously awkward,” he said in a foalish tone as he sat down. He then removed his face guard, showing off his smile, and pulled a bucket of popcorn from… somewhere. “Take a seat everypony and enjoy the show!” he exclaimed as he stuffed the first handful into his mouth.

‘I’m going to kill him.’ I thought bitterly.

“Celestia, calm down; it’s not what you think!” Nicholas tried to head off the storm, failing as my sister’s mane caught fire and burst into an inferno of rage.

Celestia, the mistress of The Visage, kept a calm face through her following rant, intensifying the fear plastered on my and Nicholas’ faces.

“Nicholas, you have been our enemy from the beginning, destroying lives with Discord, turning Sombra into a psychopath, unleashing several horrors on our world that we were obviously not ready for; and you have somehow courted my sister.”

There were several moments of silence before Nicholas held a finger up.

“Actually, that was Michael.”

Then everything went to Tartarus… for a second time that day, as I am told.

“I WILL KILL YOU!!” Celestia yelled.

“Woohoo! True love versus overprotective family members, these never get old! Taking all bets, everypony!” the warrior shouted as he stuffed more popcorn into his mouth.

Sadly, some of the guards gave the warrior bits, telling him which side they expect to prevail.

“COME HERE, YOU LITTLE SHIT!!” Celestia barked, blasting my eardrums in--and I spent several centuries using the Royal Canterlot Voice.

“Celestia.” I said in a near whisper, compared to my sister’s shout. “Calm down.”

“Come on, Luna! Defend your beloved!”

I growled at him for a moment before realizing he was right and quickly teleported in front of my sister.

“MOVE, LUNA! I’LL NOT LET YOU BE STOLEN AWAY BY THIS CRIMINAL!”

“HE IS NOT A CRIMINAL, SISTER, HE IS A VICTIM! MICHAEL IS THE MONSTER, NOT NICHOLAS!”

“STAND ASIDE!”

Before I could plead with her more I found my flank encased in her golden aura and nudged to the side. It wasn’t rough, but it did move me, and unfortunately I tripped on something and began to fall. Instead of striking the ground I fell on something much softer.

“Ow… you ok Luna?”

I turned and saw Nicholas had put himself in the way and I landed on him. I found my face heating up despite myself. “Y-Yes. Nicholas, you didn’t have to do that. I would have barely been bruised by that fall.”

“One bruise is one bruise too many.” He put his head against mine before helping me up again and facing Celestia, eye to eye.

“Hey, come on, Celly; give them a chance to explain themselves!” the warrior called. “Besides, I want to hear how this happened, too!”

Celestia studied Nicholas’ face, looking for deceit or cowardice. Finding none, she relented.

“You may explain yourselves.” All parties sighed in relief, “But, if I find it unsatisfactory, Nicholas will be banished to the sun for all eternity and Luna will get a century time-out on the moon,” Celestia finished, causing both of us to gulp with fear.

“Well… it started when I was captured by Discord and Nicholas,” I started to say, being stopped by Celestia.

“So it’s some sort of Stockhoof syndrome?” She asked.

“Oh! That’s a perfect way to start a romance!” the warrior commented, receiving a glare from Nicholas.

“Oh will you just shut up!?” he shouted.

“Absolutely not, I’m milking this for all it’s worth.”

“Dick,” Nicholas muttered under his breath.

There was a moment of silence as I waited for the armored humans retort, but he gave none, so I responded to Celestia. “No, he was the only one who appreciated my night; and, a night or two later, he showed me how to place the stars properly, allowing current day astrology and astronavigation. Without him, we would have never found the Gryphon Kingdom before they attacked our own lands!” I informed her. She seemed surprised by this, probably assuming I’d thought up the current night sky on my own.

“Ah, love born under the stars. Now that is romantic.”

I turned to glare at the warrior again only to be surprised that his expression seemed completely sincere. He even sighed in a manner that wouldn’t have sounded out of place from a filly with a crush.

“Oh please continue, don’t mind me.”

“It had been a couple nights since I’d arrived in Equestria, and Luna was my only friend, besides Discord, who I know now was not my friend at all,” Nicholas explained. “One night I had a dream about a town. Luna was the one that showed me this town. The next day I brought us to that town, seeing that Discord was only using me to cause chaos and not help freedom. He told me that you two would use your subjects as guinea pigs for a strand of virus, and I look around now with relief that you didn’t.”

“‘G-Guinea pigs’? ‘Virus’? Where would you possibly get an idea like that from?” Celestia asked, completely aghast at the mere mention of such a thing.

“He showed me a vision of an Equestria where that was actually happening, though I had no idea it was a different dimension then. I had no idea different dimensions even existed, and I felt like… Luna had lied to me.” He looked to me with shame in his eyes before turning away.

“Oh, Nicholas,” I said, placing a hoof on his shoulder to comfort him.

“It was only later that I met a being from that universe who explained the situation to me. His name was-”

“Nemesis.”

Everypony turned to face the warrior, who had stopped eating and now simply sat with an ,almost terrifyingly serious, look on his face.

“You know him?” Nicholas asked.

“He’s a close friend of mine. We’ve helped each other out. So you mean to tell me that Discord showed you visions of what Ellura did to convince you to fight against the Princesses here?”

“Um… yes?” Nicholas answered nervously.

The bucket of popcorn practically exploded as it collapsed under his grip. For a moment there was no noise.

“Twilight?”

“Um… y-yes, sir?”

“Can you go and get your friends? I need to have a… chat with a certain draconequus.”

“S-sure,” Twilight said, scared out of her mind, before she teleported to Ponyville to round up her friends.

For a good few minutes, nopony moved, giving time for Twilight to reappear with her friends, the Elements, in tow.

“Oh… my…” Fluttershy stuttered, looking at the intimidating armored figure.

The warrior took a deep breath and closed his eyes. I think I heard him mutter “Be Like water” under his breath. When he opened his eyes his expression had softened, though not to the point it had been before.

“I apologize for scaring you. And for forcing this on you. However, I have to know how Discord was able to know of other dimensions, especially one he could use against Nicholas. So I’m afraid I’m going to need you to use the Elements of Harmony to temporarily release him from his imprisonment so I can question him.”

“WHAT?!” Twilight shouted, surprise clear in her voice.

“You heard me.” The warrior glared at Twilight, silencing her instantly. “I understand it’s not something you want to do. It’s not something I want to do either, but I have to know. As far as I can tell, no being has had knowledge of any events outside their own universe, without traveling to others or being told by other travelers. I need answers.”

“B-But, this is Discord you’re talking about!”

“Indeed! I refuse to allow this!” Celestia joined in.

“As do I!” I added.

He seemed to falter for a moment before standing up at his full massive height.

Gracious, he’s large!

“Well… there is one possible alternative. Nicholas, I don’t suppose you or Michael know how he came across this information?”

“Sorry, but I have no idea. And neither does Michael; though, to be honest, if he did know, he probably wouldn’t care.”

“Then I’m afraid there is only one option open to me.”

“Absolutely no-!” Celestia began, only for the warrior to cut her off.

“I promise you he will not escape. I stake my life and my very freedom on it. Should he somehow manage to flee I will track him down relentlessly until he is imprisoned once again.”

Everypony looked surprised at that response, not only because of the words but also because he seemed completely genuine.

Celestia stopped for a moment before regaining her composure. “And just who are you to promise such a thing? Any being can make such a claim, so who are you to make me believe it?”

“Well, his name is-” Nicholas began.

“Ah ah ah, leave the introductions to the professionals, please.”

“‘Professionals?’” I muttered.

He unclipped his weapon from his back, spinning it for a moment before holding it in front of him. Inexplicably, music starting playing.

“BEHOLD MY GLORY!” he began and quickly struck the log he was sitting on, sending it high into the air. “I AM COMBAT INCARNATE! STURDIER THAN THE MOUNTAINS!” The log came down and with a single punch cleanly split it in half. “MORE GRACEFUL THAN THE OCEAN!” Before the pieces had even touched ground he used his weapon to carve them into the shape of the cutie marks of myself, my sister, and all the Elements. “MORE INTENSE THAN AN INFERNO!” He quickly threw out a flurry of punches and smashed the sculptures to pieces, again before they touched ground. “SWIFTER THAN THE WINDS!” With a nearly imperceptible swing the pieces were sent away, scattered far beyond where we would ever find them. He spun his weapon again before dramatically jutting it into the ground. “THOSE THAT WORSHIP EVIL GAZE UPON THIS RED SCARF AND TREMBLE! FOR I AM THE ONE! THE ONLY!” He spun his weapon again before holding it behind him and striking a dramatic pose. “THE MIGHTY GILGAMESH!”

Again, without explanation, a series of bright neon arrows appeared and pointed at him. Above them, again in neon colors, was the message “This guy is totally awesome!” The words and arrows disappeared only for them to be replaced with an explosion of fire from behind him. The flames soon arranged themselves to spell “AWWWWW YEAAAAAH, BABY!”

We all stared in utter shock. I couldn’t even form a single thought in response to it all.

“So.... awesome,” Rainbow Dash muttered.

“Huh. Never had that happen before,” he said as the fiery lettering disappeared. “Usually I only get a tumbleweed.”

“You… you mean to say you didn’t actually expect something to-?” Twilight began.

“Oh, there it is!” he interrupted. Sure enough, a tumbleweed rolled by, only to disappear behind the foliage.

“Where would a tumbleweed even come from?” Twilight asked, questioning things she shouldn’t once again.

“I have trained in many arts,” Gilgamesh began, taking a more reserved, but no less dramatic, pose. “Recently I have begun to study one that is extremely difficult to master, but the results are exceedingly rewarding. It is called… Pinkie Pie.”

Pinkie giggled, now walking out from behind the warrior, even though several ponies, most of them being behind the warrior, had been watching him, not allowing her a chance to get behind him, without them noticing. “That’s my name!” she said.

“Indeed. And the name of several identical pink party-mares across the multiverse, all equipped with a smile that challenges Celestia’s sun in terms of radiance.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you had a thing for Pinkie,” Nicholas whispered to Gilgamesh, a sly smirk on his face.

“Well, you obviously don’t know better. I was just referring to her ability to brighten anyone’s day.”

Nicholas made a face of realization, slowly moving away from Gilgamesh. “I see.”

“Well then, as fun as that was, it’s time we get the interrogation ready. Where is Discord right now?”

“He’s currently on his way to Canterlot. What do you plan on doing to him?” Celestia told him.

“Take him somewhere where’s there nopony to panic about his release. Somewhere out in the wilderness. Any suggestions?”

The Elements of Harmony and the two of us princesses got into a huddle. There were loud whispering noises and some random words muttered by Pinkie. The eight of us came out of the huddle to look at the warrior.

“We have decided on the Badlands, southwest of our current position.” Celestia, apparently the spokespony of our group, said to Gilgamesh.

“Good enough for me. And Nicholas, you will of course be coming along.”

“What?” the time manipulator asked with a surprised face.

“Someone with your abilities should be able to keep him from trying anything. Discord may be a goofball, but he’s not an idiot, he’ll know he doesn’t have a chance against your powers.”

“I… guess you’re right. I’m in,” Nicholas said, now more neutral than anything.

“Wait a moment, why are you even in front of us now? Weren’t you terrified of him before?” Twilight asked.

“Nicholas shared with me a few things, including something I could use to destroy him should he try to do the same to me. It was enough to earn my trust,” Gilgamesh explained.

“You know, I just realized that you have a way to destroy me, but I don’t know how to defeat you!” Nicholas exclaimed, taking a few steps away from the warrior.

“Don’t trust me?”

“Have you given me a reason to, other than throwing me through a tree?”

“That’s ‘punching you through a tree because I thought you might try to kill Twilight.’ But, I suppose you have a point. Help me with this errand, and I’ll lend you a bit of power.”

A moment of thought came across Nicholas’ face before he stuck his hand out to Giglamesh. “You’ve got yourself a de-” which was subsequently removed from the air by a navy blue hoof.

“Nicholas has enough power with his time stopping ability, he doesn’t need any more, or it might go to his head,” I told him in a “this is final” tone.

Once Nicholas had recovered from the hoof to the head, he mouthed to Gilgamesh “meet me after the battle.” I smacked him again, causing him to rub the spot once again and give me a pleading look. To be honest, I almost caved, but I didn’t let him know that.

“We’ll discuss the matter afterwards. For now, let’s move that statue.”

THE BADLANDS

Hours later, the imprisoned Discord sat on top of a mountain in the hot and arid Badlands. Gilgamesh stood in front, facing him, with the six Elements surrounding the statue. Nicholas stood next to the warrior and the princesses flanked them both (with Luna on the side Nicholas was, of course).

“I don’t know if you can see me, but I know you can hear me, so let me lay this out for you: You’re surrounded by the Elements of Harmony, both the Princesses, and your former ‘Champion’, so don’t try anything. I’ve got some questions for you, namely in how you were able to find out about the version of Equestria with Ellura in it. You’re going to give me an honest answer or else things are going to get nasty.”

There of course was no response. He looked to the six mares.

“Do it.”

The six mares began focusing on their specific element, funneling their power into the Element of Magic, Twilight Sparkle. Twilight then used the accumulated magic to form a spell that would un-trap the currently trapped Discord. Once the spell was matured in Twilight’s mind, she released it upon the statue that was currently Discord.

And, of course, it was a rainbow.

The statue began to crack and crumble until the Spirit of Chaos was revealed, unleashing a loud groan as he cracked in body in ways that shouldn’t be possible (like turning his head a full 360 degrees).

“Ugh, I will never get used to that. I’d like to find the pony that said stone bedding is good for your back,” he muttered as he stretched out his arm. He snapped his claw and a fruit hat appeared on Gilgamesh’s head.

“Discord!” Celestia shouted. Gilgamesh simply took off his face guard, grabbed and apple, and started eating, his expression not changing a bit as he did.

“Oh, it’s you. Don’t you have a cake to eat, or something?” Discord said, obviously not happy to see the solar diarch.

“WHY YOU-!” Celestia began only for Gilgamesh to raise his hand and stop her.

“He’s just trying to get us to lose focus. Now then, Discord, how about that answer I want?”

“Why should I tell you? You’re just going to put me back in stone if I answer,” he replied, snapping his paw and causing sunflowers to sprout from out of Luna’s ears.

Nicholas reached over and pulled one of the seeds out of the flower, chewing on it for a moment, before spitting it out. “Too raw.” Luna gave him a glare.

“Oh look, you still haven’t lost your sense of humor! I was afraid you’d turned into a wet noodle when you switched sides.”

“I was never on your side, you just made me think I was,” he retorted angrily.

“I think Michael would disagree,” Discord taunted.

“Well he’s not here right now!”

“I can fix that.” the Draconequus said menacingly, putting his fingers in the position to snap, but Nicholas was faster on the draw, stopping time and rushing over to Discord, moving his fingers away from each other and holding them there. Nicholas then resumed time.

“H-how did you-” Discord questioned.

“I learned from the best,” Nicholas responded, “or the worst.”

“You! After all I did for you!”

“You mean all you did to me!”

“ENOUGH!” Gilgamesh shouted, catching everyone’s attention. “Discord, if you answer me, I promise you will be given a reward in return,” he said as he took a bite into an orange.

“WHAT!?” everyone else shouted.

“Oh? And what would that be?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“What kind of-?”

“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, now would it?”

“NOW HOLD ON A MIN-!” Luna began.

“Well, not much to tell. I just happened to get ahold of that little vial. It seemed so wonderfully chaotic, I just couldn’t leave it alone! And after I got that message from that walking science project I decided to take a little peek. And, lo and behold, another universe, another Equestria, one with some of the most disgusting things imaginable being conducted right under the snout of that version’s Celly, and even with her unknowing support! I knew it was too good not to use in case my Champion needed a little… persuasion.”

“You’re a sick fuck, you know that?!” Nicholas shouted in Discords face.

“So that’s it? Just chance?” Gilgamesh asked.

“I’m afraid so. Sorry if you were expecting more. Now then, about that reward?”

“Of course. I’ve got quite a few things to give you, actually, and I just want to explain why I’m giving them to you. You see, I happen to enjoy a well spun tale, and in my opinion, a good adventure usually requires a great villain to set things up. And, by my standards, you’re one of the best. You know why?”

“Oh please, go on. Flattery will get you everywhere.” Discord replied, batting his eyelashes at the warrior.

“You see, it’s not because you actually know how to have a good time. It’s not because you’re so great at manipulating others and making plans, although those things certainly contribute to it. For me, there’s one things that makes a good villain. They make you hate their rotting guts and make you want to see them lose.” he finished in an extremely dark and threatening tone.

“W-What?”

"TOKE WO TOMARE!"

As he shouted that phrase the gem on his armor lit up and the world suddenly stopped. Nicholas watched the warrior take a strange pose before he flashed in light. A moment later he was replaced with a large eight armed figure with different armor, but there was no mistaking that it was Gilgamesh.

Despite the lack of sound he unleashed a fearsome battle cry (or tried to at least) and after signaling Nicholas to move unleashed a flurry of lightning fast punches upon the frozen draconequus. The indications of force upon his body told Nicholas that Discord was going to be hurting badly when it stopped. The warrior halted his assault just before the gem ran out of energy.

The mares were both shocked and confused as they saw this new figure replacing Gilgamesh as well as Discord flying away from the mountain like he was shot out of a cannon. The warrior extended one of his many hands towards Discord and the gem in his armor radiated a different color, causing the draconequus to somehow get pulled back towards him. Just before he collided with him Gilgamesh pulled his arms back, ready for another strike.

”DORARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARA!” he shouted as he unleashed another flurry of punches upon his hapless victim. “DORA!” With one final shout he punched Discord down at the mountain, causing it to actually shake from the force and make a large crater. Gilgamesh then raised one of his hands before clenching into a fist, which then radiated with power. Nicholas stopped time just before Gilgamesh’s fist came in contact with Discord for the final blow. He then proceeded to carry each of the Elements of Harmony down the mountain, which took several hours from his point of view. When he came to the princesses, he pulled them into his stasis, motioning for them to teleport them to the base of the mountain, where the other six were. Once they were all at the base of the mountain, he resumed time.

Everyone was shocked to see that after the blow hit, as made evident by the massive “boom!” coming from the summit, the mountain split down the middle before crumbling to dust.

“W-What!?” Luna exclaimed as she tried to take in what was happening. “He had that much power!?”

Before anyone could respond a hole in reality opened in the ground behind them. Out flew Discord, high into the air, clearly looking worse for wear. As he reached the apex of his arc and began to fall Gilgamesh shot out and once again began to hammer him with punched, forcing him further upwards.

”ARIARIARIARIARIARIARIARIARIARIARIARIARIARI!” he shouted before stopping and pulling back one of his fists. “ARRIVEDERCI!” he cried as the blow struck, unleashing another blast of force as it connected. As the Spirit of Chaos flew out of sight, Gilgamesh landed, pausing a moment before cracking his neck and turning to face his stunned audience.

“And that is what you get when you use the plight of a friend of mine to hurt others,” he said simply. A moment later Discord came crashing down into the dirt behind him, kicking up a large cloud of sand. “Stone him.”

The Elements of Harmony stood stunned for a moment longer before comprehending what was requested of them. Then then focused their power again, albeit in a less steady fashion, and sent another rainbow after the draconequus to bring him back to a similar state as before.

“How… how did… You punched a mountain into nothing! How!?” Nicholas exclaimed.

“Oh that’s nothing. That’s probably about… ten, fifteen… definitely no more than twenty percent of my full power.”

There was silence, all ten of their jaws on the ground, granted Discord’s was on the ground because his whole face was there, but the point still stands.

“And you did that just because of what Discord did to Michael?” Celestia asked, still shocked.

“Well, mostly because he used someone else’s suffering to his benefit, but that too. I don’t tolerate that kind of thing, especially when it’s done to my friends.”

“Good to know you think of me as a friend,” Nicholas said, a ghost of a smile present beyond his shock and awe.

“Well, we need to get this idiot. And I need to fulfill a few promises before I leave. The first one being to Discord,” he said as he returned to his previous form with a flash.

“Huh?”

“Well, I did promise that he’d get something for his trouble. The beating I just handed him, I was going to do no matter what he said.”

Before anyone could question him he walked over to Celestia and whispered in her ear. Her face soon turned to surprise. “Really? Fluttershy?” she asked.

“It worked in my dimension. And several others,” he assured her.

“I see. Well for now, we should take Discord back to Canterlot. If you could, sir Gilgamesh?”

“It would be my pleasure, your Majesty,” he replied as he cut a large hole in the air before picking up the now imprisoned Discord. He jumped inside and the rest followed, Nicholas stopping to take one last look at the now missing mountain.

“And he was afraid of me?” he muttered. He then turned and jumped in along with everyone else.

ONLY FIFTY FEET AWAY, OVER A SMALL RISE IN THE BARREN DESERT

“This is a new development, we must inform the queen.”

“Right.”

Two shiny black bug-like equines flew away from the small hill, towards the aforementioned “queen”.

“She will be very pleased with us.”

“Very pleased.”

CANTERLOT

Gilgamesh, Luna, and Nicholas stood in the throne room of the Canterlot Palace, the Elements of Harmony and princess Celestia having gone to the garden to return the Discord statue to it’s rightful place. Nicholas turns to Gilgamesh and asks him a simple question.

“So, how about that power up you were going to give me?” Nicholas received another smack from Luna. “Luna, go home! You’re not you when you’re tired!”

“Believe me, Luna, I understand your concern over your coltfrie- er, boyfriend’s ego swelling to a size above Rainbow Dash’s, but when it comes to having powers and weapons to any amount others would consider ‘overkill’, there’s a saying I’ve subscribed to: ‘When you need it, and don’t have it, you’re singing a different tune,’” Gilgamesh explained.

Luna glared at Gilgamesh for a few seconds before relenting. “Fine, but when Nicholas becomes the next Sombra, I’m blaming you!”

“Point taken, but the fact is there is one thing that’s keeping me from just giving it to you now. It’s an item. And that means anyone who has it can use it. So, Nicholas, you got a way to keep in away from Michael?”

“I’d need to know what it is, first; but, probably.” Nicholas responded.

Gilgamesh sighed. “It’s one version of my token, the Genji Gloves. But they function as more than just a way to summon me. They’re gauntlets that give defense against weapons and magic and also render you immune to both Toad and Paralyse status ailments. And if anything of yours can be used by him, I may have to side with Luna on this one.”

“I… don’t think that he’d use them to the full extent. He focuses more on attack than defense, you see.” Nicholas explained.

“Hm… I’m sorry, but I just can’t risk it. It’s passive, so all he’d have to do is wear them. Instead, I’ll give you this, for the moment, at least.” He held his hand out and focused. A bright light radiated from his palm, which faded to be a medallion with the same insignia on his scarf and shield on it. “This just works to summon me, so it’s not totally useless.”

Nicholas reached out and took the amulet. “Either way, it is appreciated, good friend. I hope I don’t have to call on you in the future. Here…” Nicholas reached into his pocket, inexplicably finding a small hourglass, and held it out towards Gilgamesh. “This is my token.”

“Yeah, um… I already have that one. I kinda… fell on it and got warped here…”

“You… already have it?” Nicholas asked, his arm going slightly limp. “Well, I guess there’s no need for this.” He placed the hourglass back in his pocket and patted said pocket, finding it empty once again.

“Sorry, I kinda have a history of weird things happening to me… even by the standards of us Displaced. Oh, that reminds me, I think I’ve got something you can use,” he reached behind him and pulled out a folder. “This is from Auric Fulcrum, one of the best of us in my opinion. Read it at your leisure.”

Nicholas took the folder. “Thanks. I’ll get to it.”

“There is… one last thing I can offer you… It’s not something I can do now, but I hopefully will soon.”

“What is it?” Nicholas asked, a hint of curiosity in his eye.

“I… may, may being the key word here… have a way to deal with Michael.”

“WHAT?!” Michael suddenly took control, but Nicholas made a noticeable effort to push him back down, eventually succeeding after several moments of fighting for control.

“I… I want you to knock me out!” Nicholas yelled. “I can’t- can’t hold him back much longer!”

“YOU WILL NEVER BE RID OF ME!! THIS IS MY BODY AND-”

Nicholas, or Michael, depending on your point of view, then slumped to the ground, out cold, Gilgamesh’s head now where their head once was.

“You… headbutted him?” Luna asked.

“I find the unexpected methods work best,” he explained. “Can I tell you instead and you can pass it along?”

“Of course. What message do you want me to tell him when he wakes up?” Luna eyed the slumped body, subtly moving it to a more comfortable-looking position.

“I don’t have it yet, but I’m retrieving my weapons back in my world. One of them is blade called ‘Zantetsuken.’ It can cut anything, and I do mean anything. With the proper mastery, which I have, I can make it cut exactly what I want, and nothing else.”

“I still don’t see what this has to do with Michael.”

“When I said ‘it can cut anything’ I didn’t just mean materials. It can slice barriers in time and space, it can cut magic, it can cut ideas. What I’m saying is it might literally be able to cut Michael out of Nicholas’ body.”

“You… you mean…” Luna put a hoof to her mouth, processing everything she’d been told, and the outcome of such actions. “Mister Gilgamesh, I would personally be indebted to you if you would be kind enough to take it upon yourself to find your weapon and free Nicholas of the hell that is ‘Michael’.” Luna bowed to Gilgamesh as she said this, putting her head so low her horn nearly touched the ground.

“I understand, and I’d be more than happy to, but we must take a few things into account. First of all, I’ve never done this before. I have no idea what might happen. I can promise Nicholas won’t be damaged, but as to what will happen to Michael… it could destroy him completely, or it might give him his own body away from Nicholas. I have no idea, anything is possible.”

Luna paused to consider this. As much as she wanted her lover free of this curse, she couldn’t imagine the damage that Michael could do without Nicholas to reign him in.

“And second, is whether or not Nicholas wants him gone.”

“What are you saying?” Luna’s head whipped up, glaring at Gilgamesh. “That Nicholas wants this?”

“Look, I don’t know enough about what’s going on here. I know Michael is violent, and I know he’s done bad things in the past. What I don’t know is if he’s straight up evil. If he is, I’m sure Nicholas will want him gone, but if he’s just violent and a bit selfish… well, in my dimension, and in several others, even, Discord managed to turn over a new leaf, at least to some extent. The same could be possible for Michael and, to be honest, it might be beneficial to him to have someone in his head who can watch out for him.”

“You may be right… I will leave that decision up to Nicholas,” Luna told him. “I thank you for your help with everything, Gilgamesh.” Luna bowed once again, only this time, only her head bobbed a little.

“It was my pleasure. I promise you, Luna, if you need my help with Michael I will come running. Nothing would please me more than to see you and Nicholas have a happy ending.”

Luna blushed as she avoided eye contact. “Thank you.”

“And now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to return to my own dimension and retrieve my lost power. And also see if I can woo my own version of Luna.”

“What?” Luna asked, surprised.

“Hey, you’re a desirable mare. Don’t worry, it’s not like you’re cheating on him,” he explained with a wink. “Farewell, fair Mistress of the Night!”

He cut open a hole with his weapon and leaped inside, the portal closing behind him.

The only thought that went through Luna’s head after this was as follows:

‘Fair means pale...’

Author's Note

So... who hates me for posting a 14+ k chapter? Who loves me for it? Who doesn't care?

Also, what's this about Sombra? What? I didn't know that was part of his past! (it was something I came up with on the fly... yeah, smart move, GS, smart move)

Also also, who else feels like Gilgamesh shipped Nicholas and Michael at the end there, with his "look out for him" speech?

One more thing, I promise: "fair" means "pale" not "beautiful", but, back when fair was used in that way, pale was considered beautiful, so it's arguable.

Not many people know this.

Golden Script

22. Piece of the Past: Love Story of the Millennium Pt. 2

You know, I wasn’t even supposed to be a magic student. My Cutie Mark is an hourglass! My parents and I accepted that as helping father with his clock-repair shop, but when he let me help him work, I always sprung the coils too tight, making the clock tick way too fast; or I would forget a gear; one time I even jammed a clock up, causing it to burst in my face! My father decided I wasn’t suited for clockwork.

Now look at me, asleep in a soldier’s home, waiting for my pleasant dream about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to finish.

Who’d a thunk it?

“Minnie. Wake up, Minnie.” Flash nudged my side, rousing me from my slumber.

“Wha… what time is it?” I asked, only briefly breaching the waters of sleep.

“It’s almost five in the morning. If we stay much later we’ll be late for roll call.” The stallion stood up, walking over to his closet and pulling out a fresh uniform.

“Five is too early. I’m going back to sleep,” I said, rolling over to where Flash was laying moments ago, reveling in the warmth lingering there.

“C’mon. You’ve gotta get up! Do you want to clean the bathrooms…” he paused for effect, leaning in close to my ear, “with your toothbrush?”

My eyes shot open at this, causing me to panic for a moment. I then rolled out from under the sheets, which merely accomplished me getting tangled in the cloth and falling to the floor in a big heap.

“A little help, please?” I asked, looking to him from the ground.

“Of course.” He began to unwrap me, tossing edges of the blanket away with his wings.

With my sleep-addled mind, I then realized exactly where I’d woken up.

In a bed not my own… with another pony… that was not my gender.

“Oh my Celestia, did we-” he cut me off right there.

“No.” I sighed in relief. “I’m not the kind of stallion to take advantage of a mare because she’s drunk.”

“Wait, I got drunk?” This wouldn’t be the first time; it’s just, in past experiences, I was a fairly… irate drunk.

“Yeah. You were pretty mellow throughout the night, though. When I proposed we sleep it off, you took it the wrong way and…” he hesitated, the blush strangely obvious on his orange fur. “Well, you couldn’t get into bed fast enough. Once I explained to you I didn’t mean it like that, you dove into my chest and was out like a light.”

I blushed a bit; but, overall, I was happy that I didn’t try to force myself on him. That wouldn’t have ended well.

“Anyway, we should really get ready to go. If we’re late for roll call we’ll be put on bathroom duty; and Noquarter will probably give me the mare’s room and you the stallion’s, just to screw with us,” Flash said dejectedly.

“Really? That’s not against regulation, or something?” I asked, standing from my prone position on the ground.

“Well, we’re not supposed to go into the other gender’s bathroom, but, if we’re ordered to do something by a higher ranking officer, we have to do it or receive punishment,” he explained quickly, not making eye contact; though that was mostly from him being on the other side of the bathroom door, probably getting dressed.

Something I’ve found quite curious: we ponies usually walk around naked, unless one is of higher standards, such as being nobility; yet, it’s a taboo to watch another pony of the other gender get dressed or undressed, unless it’s in a romantic setting. It’s simply food for thought.

“Yeah, don’t want that.” I walked out of the bedroom, looking for Flash’s guest bathroom.

I found it a door down from his room. As I entered the small, enclosed space the full brunt of what had happened slammed into me like a freight train.

I’d just slept with a stallion.

Yeah, yeah, it wasn’t like that, but it was still sleeping with him!

‘He wasn’t that bad looking either, and he seemed nice enough. Maybe it wouldn’t be…’ I cut myself off there, not wanting to know where that line of thought was going. Even if he was cute, he was still a fellow soldier, and I’m sure there’s something about infatuation!

‘But, then again, if there was, he probably wouldn’t have come onto me like he did last night.’

“You almost done in there? I know mares take a long time to get ready for anything, but you’ve been in there for a while.”

“What?” I asked, not understanding what he meant, before I looked at the clock.

I’d been in the bathroom for a good half hour.

“Buck!” I then began preparing myself, like I should have been doing for the past hour.

Five minutes into my rush through cleaning myself I remembered something I should have minutes before. I could stop time, I was never in a rush! Taking a moment to face-hoof, I then activated my spell, locking everything besides myself in place.

Getting ready was no longer a problem.

FLASH SENTRY

Last night had been a dream. I met a mare that was drop-dead gorgeous, somehow got her into my apartment, had some alcohol, and slept with her. I’d almost call that my most successful date I’d ever had! Well, other than the fact that it wasn’t recognized as a date by Minuette, it was.

Now she was getting ready to go back to the camp in my bathroom. ‘How did I get so-’

“Ready!” came a shout from right next to me, making me jump a good pony-length in the air.

“DON’T DO THAT!!” I yelled, now hanging from the ceiling fixture.

“Do what?” she asked, the most innocent look on her face.

“Sneak up and yell in my ear.” I rubbed my ear with a hoof to try and stop the slight ringing I still heard.

“Oh, sorry.” The cute blush on her face was totally worth permanent hearing damage.

“It’s fine, let’s just get going.”

BASE

As Flash Sentry walked into the stallion’s locker room that morning, he was greeted by applause.

“What’s this all for?” asked the orange Pegasus.

“Dude, you totally got it last night!” came the sound of one of his best friends—or worst torturers, depending on how tease-able Flash’s actions are.

“W- What are you talking about, Gleaming?” Flash burst out, surprised and embarrassed that others knew what was going on.

“You didn’t exactly sneak away from the base last night,” was another guard’s response.

“We just happened to live in the same direction.” Flash began sweating, his eyes darting around the room to find something to stare at. They found nothing.

“Sure, that’s what they all say.”

“You have no proof!”

“You’re right! We don’t! But we know. When a guard gets it, the rest of us just get this feeling. So,” Gleaming Shield bumped his side, “if it isn’t the mare you left the station with, who was it?”

Flash sighed inwardly. His career in the Guard was safe, for now.

“She’s a mare from out of town. None of you would know her,” Flash waved a hoof, attempting to dismiss the question as he made his way to his locker.

“Oh, c’mon! We’ve got a few guys from out of town, you never know! It’s a small world, as they say.”

“Whoever ‘they’ are, they’re wrong. The world is very large, and for all you know, she’s a gryphon, so lay off.”

“Whoa, dude. You don’t need to be so snappy. Geez.”

Nopony bothered him about the night before for the rest of the day.

MINUETTE

The azure mare entered the mare’s locker room with no trouble at all. There weren’t very many mares on base in the first place, and the ones who were there were fairly professional.

All but one.

“Who’d you buck last night?”

“Leave her be, Surprise. It’s none of our business.”

“Yeah, I know, but I wanna know!”

“I said leave her be.”

“Fine.”

In conclusion, mares are more mature than stallions.

Author's Note

*cough* I do not endorse femenism, I just portray it in my stories.

*coughwomenaremorematurecough*

This is something I wrote a while ago. I know the quality of it isn't as great as I would hope, but this is all really filler to when we reach the good part. Crossover coming up, by the way!! (for those who like those, I mean)

Time and Time Again

The second version of Time Ticks on, titled Time and Time Again, has been released.
There will be no more updates on this story and the update chapters will be deleted in a few days.

Check it out.

Author's Note

Yet again, this is a pointless sentence; please skip it.

1. A Rather… Chaotic... Salvation.

How long’s it been? A few centuries…? Give or take a couple decades, I think. That’s how long I’ve been stuck in this pose, unmoving for the past eternity.

I believe I forgot introductions. These days I go by the name of Michael Faraday. I have blue eyes and long brown hair that people say is unnaturally soft, I’m a good 6’3” and was never the best looking guy... but I like to think I do pretty well.

As I thought about my physical characteristics, I remembered exactly what I looked like at the moment, seeing as I couldn’t turn my head to look.

My coat was frozen, flapping in an invisible wind, I had my goggles up on my forehead, my arm was raised so I could look at the watch it held; but that’s not where my eyes were directed. They were staring off into the distance, towards a horizon I would never reach.

At least, that’s how I imagined I looked. In actuality, I was probably just standing there with my arm raised, looking away. But, hey, a guy can’t dream?

Anyway, my day composed of mostly shrubs, shrubs, and—you guessed it!—more shrubs. But every once in a while a tour group comes up here, into the garden of stone, to look at me or one of my fellow stone-mates.

Oh, yeah. Did I mention I was currently a living statue? Well, not so much “living” as “was once alive”, but tomato tomauto, right?

Nevertheless, I was just sitting here, counting the leaves on Geoff, my favorite shrub, when a group of foals came by.

Another fact I don’t think I’ve gone over yet: this world is not inhabited by humans. No, its dominant race is equine. And not like “full grown horses”, but “small, rounded ponies”. The group that was visiting me now wasn’t full grown, so, from the shoulder, they reached about your knee.

“I want to start our field trip here, in the world-famous Canterlot sculpture garden. That one over there represents 'Friendship'. All right, my little ponies, this one represent 'Victory'.” I heard a matured feminine voice call in a tone that demonstrated authority. I could tell this was a school teacher, just from the way she talked to the foals.

“How cool would it be to have that for a cutie mark?” Came a scratchy little voice. ’This one's a tomboy for sure.’

“Cool, if you were actually victoryful at somethin'.” ’A country girl? Maybe from one of the nearby villages, but this is definitely a group from out of town.’

“That's not a word!” ‘Oh, that squeaking, make it stop!’ I thought in agony. Her voice cracked every other word and it made the most annoying sound I’d heard in a long time.

And that’s saying something.

“What are you, a dictionary?” ’You don’t have to be a dictionary to recognize bad grammar… just sayin’.’

“Girls! Now this is a really interesting statue. What do you notice about it?” ‘Hmm… half the statues in the garden are 'interesting', you’ll have to be more specific.’

“It's got an eagle claw!” ‘Griffon the Gryphon?’

“And a lion paw!” ‘Yeah, Griffon the Gryphon.’ I thought as I remembered the evil tyrant. He killed his subjects for fun. When they finally did overthrow him, I jumped for joy… well, in my prison, that is.

“And a snake tail!” ‘… well, that’s unexpected…’

‘Unless…’

‘No… they wouldn’t have…’

“This creature is called a draconequus. He has the head of a pony and a body made up of all sorts of things. What do you suppose that represents?” ‘They did! They moved him back! I thought I’d never talk to him again!’ I thought to myself in surprise and borderline cheer. I’d had the past seven hundred years of only myself to talk to.

‘Dissy!’ I called out to him.

‘Sh!’ was the response I got. ‘Trying to concentrate.’ I’d never known him to be so serious. If he wanted me to buzz off, he had good reason. So that’s exactly what I did.

“Confusion!” ‘Not quite.’

“Evil!” ‘Closer…’

“Chaos!” Almost there!’

“It's not chaos, you dodo!” ‘And there’s The Dictionary; correcting children all over the world!’ I thought sarcastically.

“Don't call me things I don't know the meaning of! And it is too chaos!” ‘You don’t know how close you are, Tomboy!’

“Is not!” ‘You might know your words, but you need to study up on history.’

“You're both wrong!” ‘Shut up, cowgirl! This is brain versus brawn! We don’t need you!’ I’d given up mocking the passersby a while ago, but sometimes—when the certain opportunity presents itself—I like to go back to the good ole days…

I heard some grunting and scuffing of dirt sounds. I presumed that the three fillies had gotten into a scuffle. I started making bets on who would win.

Betting against one’s-self isn’t as fun as it sounds.

And it doesn’t sound very fun, does it?

Right then I sensed something. I’d felt nothing like it for as long as I’ve been here, but there was only a pulse of it, and it was gone. Poof! ‘What was that?’ I thought.

The mare must have thought that the three fighting each other was crossing a line of some kind, so she broke the tussle up. “Actually, in a way, you're all right. This statue represents "Discord", which means a lack of harmony between ponies. In fact, you three have demonstrated discord so well that you're each going to write me an essay explaining it.”

I winced for the kids once I heard this. I was never one for essays. Even back on earth where we had computers!

Mrs. Evil-Teacher broke me out of my own thoughts of evil paperwork when she said “Now let's go, and I don't want any more fighting,” which I could agree with. That fight seemed intense!

Cue the Street Fighter music!

As the group started walking away they continued to argue, albeit quieter.

“It's confusion!”

“Evil!”

“Chaos!”

Suddenly, a new sound filled my ears.

“Teacher?” Came a young colt’s voice. “What’s this one?” he asked as he walked in front of me.

He had a light grey coat and a purple mane. His intelligent green eyes sparkled with wonder as he looked up at me. I haven’t had someone look at me like that for the past thousand years, at least!

“This one?” asked the teacher as she too walked into my line of sight. “This statue represents Time. You see how he stands ready while looking ahead? It shows how, no matter what happens to pony-kind, time ticks on, always looking to the future. A little saddening, I know, but it also represents how we should always look to the future if we’re having a bad time!” she gave a sad smile to the colt, who kept staring at me in wonder, and nudged him along. “But enough of that, it’s time to move on to the next area!” she chirped in excitement.

As they left I heard something. Not something from the outside world, but something in my head.

Was that… laughter?

‘Muahahaha!’ my old stoned companions chuckle turned to a sinister chortle.

‘Hey, Dissy, what ya up to?’ I called out to him in fear and excitement.

“Oh, nothing!” he called back, but this sound was no longer in my head. This one was coming from over to my left. “Just a bit of chaos!” he flew up to my statue, curling his snake-like body around it, coming face-to-face with me.

‘How did you get out?’ I asked, surprise lacing my voice… well, the one in my head, anyway.

“I’m just so… chaotic the stone crumbled around me.” His eyes pulsed a rainbow of colors at the word “chaotic”. “you know what else would be chaotic?" there was a pause for effect. "If I let you out. You could help me terrorize the ponies once again.” He put his paw over his chin in thought.

‘Well, then, what are you waiting for? Release me!’ I demanded of the Draconequus.

“Now, Mikey-“

‘NO ONE calls me Mikey!’ I snarled in my mind. He visibly flinched at this.

“Ok, ok. Geez, just chill man.” He said in a hippy-ish voice. Once I took a deep mental breath and let it out through my nose he put on a pseudo-sad face and said. “I was going to let you out, but now I’m not so sure.” He put a foreleg over his forehead and shouted: “oh, the emotional turmoil! Woe is me!”

‘Ok, I’m cool now. Can you just release me already?’ I asked him in a calm tone.

“What’s the magic word?” he grinned at me with an eyebrow raised.

‘Discord!’ I thought to him menacingly, more annoyed than anything.

“Hmm… while that is a very magical word, it's not The Magic Word.” He said sarcastically as he flew away with a laugh.

‘No! Wait! I’m sorry! Please! Discord, I’m begging you, please release me!’ I yelled in my mind as his wing beats grew further. Once they faded out completely, I quit calling out to him.

‘Damn you, discord. Damn you to hell.’ I thought as I slumped my shoulders.

…

…

…

‘Wait.’

Author's Note

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen, mares and stallions! Welcome to the first ever Convention-to-Equestria fic I've ever written! Now, a fun fact, I've spent more time on this than any of my other fics, ever! I've put my blood, sweat, and tears into this thing! If you want to mock me for it, go right ahead. And if you do down-vote it, please give me a reason you've done so. Nobody likes haters. :raritywink:

In my next chapter, we get to see how exactly our hero got to the magical lands of Equestria!

7. Piece of the Past: Cubs, Spells, Early Mornings - Oh, My!

I was never a morning person. It was entwined in my soul, my very essence. I hated waking up. Now, this never stopped me from getting up in the morning, seeing as my apprentice wouldn’t let me sleep past sunrise.

I heard some rapid knocking come from my quarter’s door. ‘That must be her now.’ I thought as the knocking persisted. “Let me sleep.” I called to her.

She barged in anyway.

“Teacher! You’ll never believe what happened!” She called as she came crashing through the door. Her speed and enthusiasm was admirable, but it didn’t help my sleepy visage.

“I bet I won’t, Minuette. What happened?” I asked tiredly as I rolled over in the bed.

“I froze time!” She squeed. This was a confusing notion.

“What do you mean you ‘froze time’?” I asked the excited mare.

“Well, you know how you always told me to try and apply the magic I learned here in my everyday life?” I nodded quickly. “Well, I took your time spell home and looked at it. I noticed that while it is a perfectly safe spell it could cause a paradox if you changed something that wouldn’t otherwise be that way, so instead of aiming to go back in time I focused on making it stop!” she smiled like the madmare she was.

“That… makes no sense at all.” I told her slowly.

“Well, it seemed to work when I did it.” She started charging her horn, supposedly for this time stopping spell. After a second of charging she suddenly disappeared. There were a few seconds of nothing, and she was back with a loaf of bread in her mouth.

“Shfee?” she asked, the loaf still lodged between her teeth.

“Minuette, this is amazing! We must show the princesses at once!” I exclaimed sarcastically, rolling over again.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” there was a little hurt in her voice, but I was in no mood to comfort her.

“No, I don’t. Anypony could use a teleport spell to pop to the bakery and back.” I waved my hoof at her as I put a pillow over my face.

My bed disappeared, right from underneath me, and I fell to the floor. I turned to look at Minuette and she had it behind her. If there was magic involved I would have felt it, but there was no change in the flow of magic other than a burst from where she was standing. This meant the bed was moved physically, not magically. With another light things were suddenly piled on top of the bed and she was standing somewhere else. I stood in awe as she gave me a smug look.

“Minuette, contact the princesses.” I said, still in awe at the new spell.

“I’ll write a letter.” She smiled and jumped off to summon the royal sisters.

IN THE EVERFREE FOREST

The roar made the hair on the back of Princess Celestias neck stand on end. There was something in it that unsettled the alicorn. Not many things in this world could scare her anymore, showing exactly how menacing this sound was.

“That’s not good, how about we try and avoid it.” there was another roar, closer this time, that sounded a lot like a predator on the hunt. “At all costs, that is!” she finished as she started sprinting away from the creature.

As she wove through the undergrowth of the forest she looked back to catch glimpses of something chasing her. It was large and it was angry, this much she could tell. Why it was so infuriated, she couldn’t figure out. Unless Celestia had wandered upon the creatures territory, which she would eventually leave therefore ending the hunt, there was nothing that would cause such rage she knew of. So the most logical thing to do was keep running.

She ran and ran and ran, but the creature never gave up. The princess's legs were becoming tired, she would fall soon.

“Come on, why won’t it stop?” she asked herself more than the monster on her tail. “I’m sure I’m not in its territory anymore!”

Whether she liked it or not, she got a response. Behind the sound of hooves hitting the ground and her own heavy breaths Celestia heard a sound. It was a small, quiet sound, so she had to strain to hear it, but when she did she stopped dead in her tracks.

“mewl.” It was the sound of a kitten, or, more importantly, a Manticore cub.

Celestia looked in her ethereal tail to find a small bundle of fur latched on to the wisps. It was tangled in her tail swatting at the tendrils that floated in front of it. When it noticed Celestia staring at it, dumbstruck, it waved a paw in rapturous greeting.

A loud approaching roar snapped her out of her cuteness induced stupor. “How’d you get there?” She asked as she gingerly picked up the baby in her magic.

“Mewl.” Was the only response the cub provided.

“Well, that explains that.” She mused out loud.

Suddenly a full grown Manticore came crashing through the bushes, freezing when it saw that she had its cub in her magical grip. Manticores were fairly intelligent creatures. Not intelligent enough to talk, but they could understand basic Equestrian and most body language.

“Now here’s the deal. I set your cub down and walk away. You don’t follow me. Got it?” the Manticore gave a growl of understanding.

There was a moment where the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. Celestia slowly set the cub down and started backing away. The cub looked back at her with a playful look in its eye. It started following her. Wherever the alicorn went the cub followed.

“Stop it!” she whispered to the young one. “Go to your… father!” she hesitated, not wanting to offend the Manticore. There was a deadpan look from the creature as Celestia stopped backing away. “Mother?” she asked the beast. There was a nod and an embarrassed smile; the cub looked between the pony princess and the mother. The two Manticores let out a sequence of growls, purrs, and faces that read something like this:

“Mom, can I play with the funny rainbow pony's tail some more, please?" The cub put on its best sad kitten face.

"No, we need to go back to where your father is waiting." The mother growled. 'Then smack your father for letting that sad face get to him, and letting you chase this weird pony in the first place.' The mother thought to herself.

"Please, you never let me chase prey! I caught this pony by its tail! So doesn't that make it mine?!" The little cub huffed. "I had this rainbow pony! One more pounce and she would have been done for!”

"I said NO! Besides ponies don't usually look like that... this one’s weird, and would likely taste awful." The mother looks at Celestia with her muzzle scrunched in disgust.

"No way, mom!" The cub charges right at his former prey and pounces on one of Celestias legs. "See it taste like..." The cub licks the leg he was attached onto, but his small face contorts as the taste of sweat, dirt, and other horrid flavors spread across his tongue. "Ewww... It tastes like you after you wrestle with dad. I hate giving you a goodnight kiss after you wrestle with dad!" The cub pouts, at his mother, before hissing at the rainbow pony.

"So you still want that pony for prey?" The mother chuckles at her son.

"Nu uh! It tastes bitter, and icky!" The cub yelled before running towards his mother and jumping onto her back.

Celestia watches the two Manticores walk in the direction the chase had started. "That cub was a cute little thing! Though the mother... she had a disgusted look for some reason," Celestia turn to resume her journey, only to stop in her tracks after a few steps. "Hey, the cub gave me that same look after it licked me!" She wasn’t able to continue that thought on account of a flash nearly blinding her. When she opened her eyes again there was a scroll on the ground. It held the seal of Starswirl the Bearded. “It seems that something has happened in the middle of my little adventure. I wonder what.” She said as she levitated the scroll to eyelevel, unraveling it along the way. She scanned the parchment and was surprised by what she found.

A new spell was created, a spell that could help with any endeavor that one might engage in.

“Seems interesting enough. I might as well take a break to check it out.” She mumbled to herself as she marked her position with her own magical signature. She charged a teleport spell and jumped to the house of her student.

10. Piece of the Past: Lunar Fatality

The next few minutes were filled with me panicking and pacing. I’d just hit the king hard enough to send him through several trees and he was now KO-ed on the ground. At the very least I knew he was still alive. How did I know? I felt his neck for a pulse. It was on the back of his neck, and the beat wasn’t a normal babump- babump- babump, it was more of a badity bump- baditidity bump. This worried me for a moment before I remembered that he was a different species. I didn’t know what his heart structure was.

I began checking his body for broken bones and other injuries, and what I found was even more surprising than the abnormal heartbeat. There wasn’t a scratch on him! Not a splinter! What was interesting was when I rolled him over to check his back, which was devoid of any injury; I found a horse thing under him.

This horse was not a normal one, seeing as it had a horn and wings, blue fur and an unusually shaped body. It wasn’t quite the size of a normal horse and the coat looked smoother than it should have. On a normal horse the muscles were defined, but on this one they weren’t quite as obvious.

‘Was that always there?’ I asked myself. I decided I might as well check it over, too. It’s not like I had anything better to do.

“What?” I heard from behind me. It was Discord, apparently he was waking up. When I turned around I saw that he had small birds flying around his head, tweeting comically.

“I’m so sorry; I swear I didn’t mean it!” Blurting this and other apologies out, I scrambled over to him and started groveling at his feet. After a second of this he pulled his feet back in disgust.

“Stop that! I’m not angry or anything.” He explained. “In fact, I’m quite proud. You figured out you can manipulate things while time is stopped.” He said with obvious satisfaction in his voice.

“Um… thanks? But I knocked you through a forest! Surely that can’t be used for practical use. I only touched your snout!” If a poke caused this, I’d hate to see a full punch.

“There’s a reason for that. You see, when you poked me, I was charging my magic. The surprise from the poke caused me to release my magic in one big explosion. Much like a sneeze.” There was a moment for what he’d told me to sink in.

“Oh.” I said in the dumbest way possible. “Did your magic do that too?” I asked, pointing at the horse that was below him when I arrived.

“No… no it did not.” He said simply. “What is Luna doing here?” I heard him mumble to himself.

“Then how’d it get there?” I asked. “And who’s Luna?”

“This is Luna. She is one of the beings that tried to overthrow me. She and her sister are the ones that I challenged. How she got here, I have no clue.” He told me, serious as ever.

“Ok, what now?” I looked at her. She was unconscious, and had I not pulled Discord off her a minute ago I would have believed she was simply asleep.

“Well, we can leave and hope she doesn’t remember enough to know what’s happened, or we can tie her up.” He looked at me. “Seeing as leaving would be assuming that she actually forgot, or that she didn’t forget too much, I think we’ll go with tying her up.” He said as he pulled a rope out of nowhere and strung it around Luna and the tree she was resting against. When he was done he tied it in a big bow on the opposite side of the tree. “That should do it. Now for her magic.” He pulled out a small ring and placed it around her horn. It reached about halfway down the appendage, stopping when it became too wide.

“Anything you need me to do?” I asked as he hogtied her wings and limbs.

“Actually, that should be it. I do need to talk to you about something, though.” I got a bit worried when he said this, but, looking back, I’m not sure why.

“What about?” I gulped.

“Well, about your personality.” ‘Wat?’ “It’s too… normal.” He said, picking his words carefully.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I was a bit offended, but more confused.

“Well, when I am in court or doing international relations I often become more flamboyant in nature. It shows my nations freedom; instead of having uptight aristocrats surrounding me, one could find me in the small villages, having fun with my subjects. I’ll crack jokes, I’ll play pranks—nothing too drastic, mind you— I’ll be more fun in general. If you’re not more of a character when I introduce you they might not believe that you’re my champion.” This surprised me, I knew he was a king for freedom, but I never thought that he would be like this!

“Ok, so how should I act?” It was a simple question, but a simple question might not have a simple answer.

“I’d say ‘just have fun’ but up until now none of my allies wore an outfit quite like this.” He motioned to my vest, coat and pants. “My only advice is to try and act like whoever wore this ensemble would.”

“Ok, so a gentleman.” I said, more to myself than him, but he responded anyway.

“Like I said before, more flamboyant. It’s basically a show!” He said joyously. “It’s all for appearance!”

I smiled and nodded. Just then there was a moan from the tree. Luna raised her head, leaning back against the tree, and looked around. “Where am I?” She asked groggily.

“You are in the Whitetail woods, my dear Luna!” Discord grinned, face to face with her. “You just happened to be around when I decided to drop by and say ‘hi’!” He floated through the air on his back, waving at her.

Seeing the Draconequus snapped her out of any fatigue she might still have. “Discord! Release me at once!”

“But we were just getting started. What kind of host would I be if I just left you outside in the rain?” He asked as he pulled an umbrella out from behind his back and opened it over his head as it started raining in a five foot circle around him. His umbrella opened the wrong way, as if it were blown out, and seemed to collect the water instead of keep him dry. When he snapped his fingers he was dry and the cloud was gone.

“Discord, enough with your antics. Untie me now!” She was obviously angry. I decided to wait until she was either calmer or when Discord introduced me.

“What’s the excitement in that? I just wanted you to meet someone, but if you’re not in a good mood, I can put you back to sleep.” His voice was indifferent, but he was surely implying that he would knock her out again.

“Now, now, Discord, that’s no way to treat a lady. Where have your manners gone?” I asked as I walked around the tree, into her view. “Please excuse my acquaintance, Discord. He was recently flung through a forest.” I said with my proper English drawl thick in my voice. I took one of her hooves and lifted it to my face, leaning down to kiss its front. As I placed it down I looked into Luna’s eyes, seeing mostly wonder and surprise.

“It’s fine, I know of Discord’s tricks. Who might you be?” Her voice was curious, but I knew that she was only collecting information for the impending fight.

“My name is Michael Faraday.” Seeing as I was supposed to be in character, I just chose the first famous scientist that came to mind from the Victorian era. “You may call me Michael or Mike, whichever you prefer.” I bowed, my hand crossed over my chest and head facing the ground.

“At least there’s one refined stallion here.” She deadpanned while looking at Discord. He had a top hat on his head and a monocle on his face. Internally I chuckled, but externally I didn’t react in the slightest. Luna was obviously unamused.

“Pip-pip, cheerio, Gooday governor.” Discord said in a terrible accent. We both looked at him, she deadpanned once again while I had a small amount of disapproval on my face. “What?” He asked, back to his normal tone of voice.

“Don’t do that again.” Said Luna.

“Ever.” I finished for her.

“Everyone’s a critic!” He said, waving us off with a paw as he walked away, pacing around the general area.

We waited a moment to see if he did anything else, but he stayed in his little area, kicking a rock. “Back to you, miss, who are you?” Sure, I already knew who she was, but it would be ungentlemanly, which is what I’m supposed to be.

“I am Luna, mistress of the moon and sister to Celestia, the mistress of the sun. We have the power to raise and lower our respective celestial bodies. Though, at the moment I am unable to access my magical reserves.” She looked up at her horn, the small ring obviously the cause of her magical deficiency.

“Well, I do apologies, but I am unable to release you. Discord wishes you to remain with us for now, so that’s what I am required to enforce.” I told her with a remorseful smile. “Speak of the draconequus.” I said as he was walking towards us.

“Michael! It is time for us to continue our training.” When I gave our captive a glance he scoffed. “Oh, don’t worry. There’s nothing in this forest that would harm her, even like this; and I’m not going to leave her here, that would be plain mean.” He said this as he beckoned me over. When I was close enough for Luna not to hear what we were talking about, he reverted back to his normal—or what was normal from my point of view—personality. “Tomorrow I will meet with Celestia and negotiate Luna’s release. I will also arrange the time and place for the battle. For now I need to show you how to use that.” He pointed beneath my jacket to the firearm hanging in its holster.

I nodded, understanding his point. I’d never held a loaded gun before, and if he knew how to work one of these, he would be infinitely helpful once again.

We walked out into the field, a few hundred feet out, and stopped, facing away from the forest.

“Ok, here are four targets. I want you to shoot them.” He snapped his fingers, summoning four round wooden disks with bull’s-eyes painted on.

I pulled out the Contender, pointing it at the first circle, putting the iron sights right on the center. I pulled the trigger back and closed my eyes, waiting for the loud bang that would follow.

…

I opened my eyes, looking at the gun and the target, wondering why there was no bang or recoil.

“Well, any time now.” Discord told me.

I looked at the gun, searching for the reason that it didn’t fire. Noticing I had the safety on, I flipped it off and a loud bang rung out almost immediately.

“Shit!” I yelped as I dropped the gun on the ground, backing away a step.

“Are you telling me you’ve never shot a gun before?” He asked.

“I never said it, but yes. This is the first gun I’ve even held.” I picked the gun up once more. “Well, now what. It’s out of bullets, and I don’t exactly have any more.”

“Right. Well, this should fix that.” He snapped his tallon. When nothing especially interesting happened I raised an eyebrow. “Check the gun.” He told me.

When I did there was a fresh round in the chamber. I pointed the gun at the targets and pulled the trigger, still flinching when the shot rang out, but not dropping the gun from the recoil. I proceeded to check the gun once more. Again there was a fresh round waiting to be fired.

“Isn’t this a little over powered?” I asked simply.

“We are fighting for a kingdom, the princesses have similar powers, and I’m also planning on giving their champion a benefit or you a handicap. You do have a lethal weapon on you, and I don’t want to kill any of my subjects. The duel will be to the surrender.” He explained to me.

“Makes sense.” I said as I held the gun out once more, firing at the target and watching as splinters flew from the furthest right edge.

“Keep practicing, I need to go out for a few things. I should be back by tomorrow morning.” He told me as he flew off.

“Bye!” I called, returning to the targets in front of me only once he was out of sight. I looked to the sky, noticing the sun about halfway through its decent towards the horizon. ‘gives me plenty of time to train.’ I thought as I aimed the gun.

A FEW HOURS LATER

My hand was feeling a bit sore, but I was hitting the center dots from a good thirty-five feet away fairly reliably. I’d been firing the contender until the sun touched the horizon, finding several things to do with my watch and gun in amalgamation. I had the ability to move bullets, but when I resumed time they kept their momentum, unless I moved them backwards. I could fire my weapon in time stasis and the bullet would fly a foot before it stopped in the air. It seems that I have a bubble around me where objects will move for a limited amount of time before being affected.

When I did notice the sun slipping below the horizon I put the safety on my gun and holstered the weapon. I turned back to the forest, looking for the area that had an unusual lack of trees, finding it nearly directly behind me. I picked up one of the targets, finding it was light enough to lift, while being thick enough for good firewood. Pausing time I moved all four of them behind Luna’s tree, out of her view. Before time was resumed I took a seat next to Luna, noticing that she happened to be looking the other direction. I clicked my watch and quickly shut it, pocketing the device, all without a sound.

She seemed to be in the middle of something, her teeth grinding at the rope. She was almost out, too.

“Are you busy?” That alone made her jump like I’d fired my gun right next to her ear. She whipped her head around to face me, noticing my neutral face.

“Oh no! No I’m not busy at all!” She laughed nervously.

“It’s ok; I know what you’re doing.” I stood up, taking my gun out of its holster. “You know what this does, right?” I asked the blue mare.

“No, but I heard loud noises coming from the fields earlier. Were those that thing?” The fear in her face was evident, but she did a good job of hiding it.

“This is a firearm. Its original purpose was to kill. We use it for many things: hunting, games, and, yes, killing.” The fear began to grow ever so slowly. “It works by the combustion of gunpowder. When I pull the trigger the hammer is pulled back. It reaches a certain point and the hammer is released, flinging it forward and into the primer of the bullet casing. The primer ignites, sparking the gunpowder. This causes massive expansion within the casing, forcing the actual bullet to shoot out the barrel at extremely high speeds.” I showed her the general motions of the trigger and hammer, pulling a bullet out when I was explaining that to her. The worry in her eyes grew by the second, peaking when I reloaded the weapon and didn’t holster it.

“That’s very interesting, but why are you telling me this?” She asked.

“Well, I just happened to spot what you were doing there.” I motioned to the fraying rope. “It just wouldn’t be right to catch that and not do anything about it. It would be extremely helpful if you wouldn’t move, but if you want to struggle I won’t stop you. It will just make my job all the harder.”

She was positively terrified right about now, and it showed in her face. Her eyes were wide, ears folded back, mouth open and breaths coming and going much faster than they should have been. I raised my gun and aimed, making her close her eyes and tense her body, freezing in the process.

There was a gunshot, followed by silence. The breeze was still, not daring to blow even the slightest wisp, less it cause a sound. I didn’t move a muscle, just waiting for something to break the stillness. Not even the animals of the forest wanted to interrupt.

Fortunately I didn’t have to wait very long. There was a small snapping sound as the rope broke, falling to the ground with a small thud. I took that as my cue to put my weapon away. I put on the safety and holstered it, making sure that my coat covered it once again.

This was right about the time that Luna opened her eyes to find herself unharmed.

“You… didn’t kill me?” She asked.

To say I was surprised would be an understatement. “What?!” I yelped, staring at her fairly disturbed.

She seemed a bit embarrassed, but quickly elaborated. “You were talking as if you intended to use your… firearm on me.” Her eyes wandered to my chest, where the gun was under my coat.

“Why would I do that? I just thought you were a little uncomfortable, tied to the tree like you were.” I said as I sat down next to her once more. “If you’re a good girl I might take your leg bindings off, too.”

“Well, I thank you. At least I can lay on the ground now.” She said sarcastically.

I took a moment to think about it, then thought ‘why the hell not?’ it’s not like she could run from me anyway. “Fine, but on one condition.” She looked at me, indicating she was listening. “Don’t touch your horn ring.” I said simply.

“Really? I thought you’d say don’t run away.” She said as I started untying the knot.

“If you ran I would catch you as soon as I noticed.” I finally got her free and untangled her from the rope. “There. Now, do I have your word that you won’t try and remove the ring, or will I have to tie you up again?” I asked.

“I give you my word.” She said earnestly. I kept staring at her suspiciously. “I promise! I won’t try and move the magic limiter.” She said crossing her heart with a hoof in what was supposedly her way of showing the truth behind her words.

“good.” I removed the rope completely as she stood up and stretched her legs, much like a cat, leaning back and extending her fore-hooves to their limit, followed by her rear-hooves. I began to think about what else her species and cats had in common.

When she finally sat down, once more next to me, I reached over and touched right behind her ear. This elicited a reaction as if I’d poked her.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

“Just relax, I’m testing something.” I told her as I reached towards her once more.

“Um…” She was obviously hesitant to allow me to touch her head.

“Trust me; I’m not going to hurt you.” There was truth in those words, too. It wasn’t in my nature to harm anything without a really good reason. Not to mention Discord might not like it if he came back to a injured Luna.

“Ok… just… nothing too weird.” She said as she sat back again.

My hand moved up to her ear once more, feeling the fur on her head and briefly grazing against her mane. Both were unbelievably soft. I started scratching the spot right behind said ear and the reaction was instantaneous.

She tensed at first, the new feeling probably quite different than anything she’d experienced before. Once the tension was released she promptly melted into my fingers, moaning slightly at the small ministrations. My scratching became more forceful. Her small moans became more apparent, becoming louder and more akin to a purr.

“Oh, right there.” She said as I moved my hand just a little further down. “Oh! Oh, yes! Right there. Keep going.” She sighed as I kept my fingers going.

“You like that?” I asked with a smirk on my face.

“Mother, yes.” She gasped out.

“good.” I said as I pulled my hand away abruptly. Her head followed my hand for a moment, before realizing its motion was destined away from her head and not towards it. She blinked once before looking at me with fear evident on her face.

“You will never speak of this again.” She said, deadly serious.

“As you wish, you’re lunar mistress-ship” I said jokingly.

“Good…” She seemed a bit troubled, but when she spoke again the reason why was clear. “I never told you to stop.”

“As you wish.” I reached over and continued scratching that sensitive spot right behind her ear.

Author's Note

so, longer chapter. tell me what you all think! if i keep doing it like this i might go back and forth, one chapter past, one chapter present, but having the past chapters two to three times longer than the present ones.

tell me your thoughts, please!!

15. Piece of the Past: Revelations

I was starting to get used to the feeling of stasis; the cold, the motionlessness, the sensation of solitude. It wasn’t the best feeling in the world, but damn if the power to stop time wasn’t useful. Not to mention the fact I could apparently bring living things with me, if Luna was any indication. I looked at the midnight mare. Her head was covered in my coat. It lead down her back, and luckily didn’t drag. Her face was once of determination, looking for the town that we were heading for. It was cute, really. Her scrunched face would be scary, if her eyes weren’t so young.

I realized at that moment exactly what I was thinking. I was calling a horse cute. After a moment of consideration, I found that it really wasn’t all that weird. It was like calling a cat adorable. Perfectly normal.

So why did I panic like that?

There was a moment when I questioned my sanity, thinking she was cute. I don’t understand my own thought processes, sometimes. I reached down and patted Luna on the head, trying to comfort myself more than anything. When my hand made contact there was a moment of idle rubbing followed when she began lightly pushing up into my hand.

We continued walking.

JUST OUTSIDE LAS PEGASUS

I’d lead Michael to the town, and now we were just on the outskirts. Already, the visions I’d shown Michael were proving to be a reality. Still several hundred meters away from the town, we could see buildings floating in the sky, clumps of earth stuck to their bases.

We continued walking, reaching the first buildings minutes later. The first pony we found was in the middle of sneezing, it seemed, as his eyes were closed tight and his head was forward with his mouth in the “oo” form. Other evidence was the dust cloud around him; the particles I could see looked like flakes of pepper.

Michael walked past this scene, ignoring it completely. I decided that I should follow, not wanting to lose the only moving thing in this world of stillness.

We wandered through the town for a long time before coming to the center. Town center was probably the worst of them all, no less than three dozen ponies were scattered throughout the large empty space, all in different poses of randomness. And in the middle of it all sat Discord on his throne of chaos. When I looked up at Michael there was a dark look in his eyes. One thing was for sure, he was angry.

After a few minutes of standing there, staring at Michael’s betrayal, I pulled on his pant leg with my magic. He looked down at me, suddenly snapped out of his rage.

And without a word—not that he could give one, anyway—he walked away, back towards the field we’d spent most of our time in. I debated trying to escape, but found that he’d need somepony to help him through this. I realized that I’d just thought of abandoning Michael in his one time of need, and chastised myself for it.

Trotting to catch up to the human, we began our trek back towards the forest, and ultimately, the meadow.

WHITETAIL WOODS

He’d betrayed me. He’d abused my trust. He’d tricked me. He’d pay.

This was my general thought process the whole walk back. Luna was on my heels the whole way back, trying to get my attention. She tried pulling my pant legs, but I was moving too fast; she tried getting in front of me, but I’d just walk around her without a second glance; she even tried moving with me, in which case I’d simply ignore her. I was in no mood for her to comfort me.

When we arrived back at the field I sat down and festered. My emotions boiled over, leaking into my clenched fists. I thought that Discord was a force for freedom, but he was just another type of inhibition.

I now found myself without any allies, let alone friends. I was once again alone. The universe has it out for me it seems. First I’m ripped from the people I know and love and the only being that would take me in turned out to be a fraud. What next?

I felt something tap my shoulder. When I looked around I found Luna with a worried expression. The following epiphany snapped me out of any depression I might have.

There was one more I could put my trust in: Luna.

As fast as I could, I pulled my watch out and recommenced the flow of time, allowing us to talk.

“Michael, are you ok?” Her voice was music to my ears.

“I think so. Luna, can you promise me that under your rule the beings of this land are happy and prosperous?” I grabbed her by the shoulders—or the equivalent for her species—and looked deep into her eyes.

She took a moment to comprehend the desperate look in my eyes, answering moments later with a confident “yes.”

“Ok… ok, then. I’ll help you.” I said, still fearing what might happen if she turned out to be using me, too.

“Really?” Her joyful surprise a light contrast to my wary fear.

“Yes, just as long as you keep your promise.” I stood, trying to distract myself with action.

“I will.” She said, looking up at me.

“Good.”

LAS PEGASUS

Chaos is such a wonderful thing, isn’t it? When you wish to have a laugh, it’s always there to supply. If you’re craving a drink, it’ll donate some cranberry juice. Don’t enjoy someponies company, ejector seats are always fun.

But I digress; chaos is the one thing that I love, more than anything. It has been with me for my entire life. My several thousand year-long life. How old was I again? I don’t remember… was it forty seven thousand? No, that’s too short… ah, whatever.

Anyway, I was just causing some well-deserved chaos when I felt something. It was something I was expecting, but it nonetheless surprised me.

Michael had left the field.

I quickly looked up, seeing it was still fairly early in the morning. One thought came to my head.

‘TIME FOR BREAKFAST!’

And I teleported into the Whitetail Woods.

Author's Note

a short chapter, but i really wanted the next chapter to be one of it's own. sorry!

next chapter will be out soon... hopefully.

UPDATE!!!! IMPORTANT!!!!

TIME TICKS ON VERSION II IS COMING OUT!!!

It just has to pass moderation.

As soon as it does, I'll post a link in another chapter--because nobody reads blogs anymore.

Anyway, hope to see your comments!! :pinkiehappy:

Author's Note

This sentence is not important, you can skip it.