My Little Pony: A Stitch in Time

Chapter 3

Darkness. It was all Twilight could feel and see. However, there seemed to be a soft glow of light nearby, out of the corner of her eye. As she opened her eyes slowly, she saw that the glow was coming from a street lamp. As she got up slowly, she realized she was looking at what appeared to be part of a train station.

However, that was really all it was. It only went up to a certain point and beyond that was complete darkness. Traya had mentioned that this place had been called the Void but surprisingly it wasn’t what she had expected.

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And now that she thought about it, she remembered what happened. Her friends… Twilight had experienced failure in her life but nothing to this degree. “My friends… they’re gone… and there was nothing I can do…”

She suddenly felt tears in her eyes. Normally, she would’ve thought of a plan and would assure herself that everything would be okay. But it wasn’t. That mare, whoever she was, had powers even greater than Celestia. She had easily made her way into Canterlot and barely had to lift a hoof. And now, this place, wherever it was, would be her prison, possibly for all eternity. Well, it was certainly better than Tartarus.

She then heard something and realized she wasn’t alone. Even better. Her horn glowed threateningly. “Whoever you are, don’t come any closer, I’m warning you!” It was then she saw something in the darkness, somepony approaching. She then fired her spell and the bolt of energy surged forward… and then froze there in time.

“Seriously now, can’t a pony just walk up and say hello?” a voice then said. “I didn’t realize I had to make my presence known twenty meters away…”

The voice certainly didn’t sound threatening, if not offended, but Twilight wouldn’t be fooled so easily. “In that case, why don’t you show yourself…?”

“As you wish,” the figure said. As he approached, Twilight could see the figure was wearing a black cape. But it was the face underneath the hood that caught her attention. “Well, this is certainly the first I’ve-hey!”

Twilight had moved quickly, knocking the figure down and pinning him while her horn glowed angrily in his face. “What did you do with my friends!?”

The figure, who’s face she could see clearly now and had the same coloring as Traya and the other ponies she saw, was caught off guard and couldn’t bring himself to words. “Friends?”

“Don’t play games with me mister, or I swear I’ll-”

“Wait, hold on a second!” The pony looked her over. “Okay, I see now. You’re Equestrian, no doubt, and a princess judging by the horn and the wings, which means the seal finally broke?”

“Like you wouldn’t know,” Twilight said darkly.

“I wouldn’t,” the pony replied. “I’ve been out of touch of things for… quite awhile, but I’m assuming somepony brought you here, yes?”

“Yes… but why does that matter?”

“Because I was sent here against my will as you were,” the pony said.

Twilight’s horn dimmed slightly as she partially let her guard down. “Traya was her name.”

There was something in the pony’s eyes but it was gone before she could think about it. “Yes, she also was the one who sent me here. Now, will you please not char me so I can at least explain myself?” Twilight was still skeptical but she got off of him. “Thank you,” the pony said. “As you guessed, yes I am among the group of ponies you have no doubt met. Of course, if I wanted to hurt you I would’ve done so already.”

“So… what is this place?” Twilight asked.

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“Ah, yes,” the pony said. “Well, to be quite honest it doesn’t really have a name, but some call it the End of Time. Time does not exist, nor do the laws of physics or anything else. I have been here for over two years and I have not aged a day since being here, so look at this way: you’ll never have to worry about growing old, nor do you ever get hungry. You just… get used to it.”

“So there’s no way out?” Twilight asked.

The pony was silent for a moment. “Officially, no, because most ponies would be able to bend time to their will.” He then smirked. “Unofficially I, on the other hoof, can bend time.”

“If that’s true, why haven’t you tried escaping?”

“I would’ve already if I could,” the pony countered. “Traya was clever enough to seal the door behind me with powerful magic, so I was stuck here. She was probably hoping I’d try hard enough that once failure was imminent I would practically lose my mind. But it seems only now that that magic has finally faded.”

“So you can help me?” Finally hope was returning to her.

“Let’s be honest here, princess,” the pony said. “If Traya has invaded Equestria, it’s already over. Her powers know no bounds and frankly, she could’ve ended your life then and there instead of bringing you here.”

“First of all, don’t call me ‘princess’,” Twilight snapped. “My name is Twilight Sparkle and I’m asking you as a favor so I can help my friends.”

“Let me guess, they were sent off in different directions of the time spectrum?”

Twilight’s look said it all. “How did you-?”

“We’re good at reading minds too,” the pony grinned.

“Okay, you’re going to stop that,” Twilight grumbled. “But look, even if you won’t, can you at least get me out of here?”

The pony sighed. “You’re new to this whole thing aren’t you…?” He was quiet for a few moments. “Alright, fine I’ll help you but don’t think this is a long-term thing. I’ll help you find your friends and return you to your time and that’s it. You can deal with Traya on your own.”

Twilight smiled and bowed. “I am in your debt.”

“Yeah, yeah,” the pony said. “By the way, the name is Nihilus. And other thing, since I’m the one doing all the work around here, you have to listen to every word I say. Besides, past or future, it can be a dangerous place.”

“Very well,” Twilight said. “So where to first?”

“Well it’s not so simple,” Nihilus replied. “Sure, we could go skipping to and fro to find your friends but we’d get nowhere. Do you have anything that we can use to track them?”

“I don’t have anything that would- wait huh?” Something dropped next to her and Twilight saw it was a bit. “Wait, this wasn’t here before…?” Upon closer examination, she recognized it immediately. “This is the bit Applejack had before it…” Suddenly it dawned on her. Despite where she was, she had almost forgotten about the Elements, and how they always find a way of reaching out to her. “Yes, I think this could work.” Her horn glowed and suddenly so did the bit. “I put a locater spell on it, which means it’ll-”

“Thanks for the lecture princess, but I’m aware what a locater spell is,” Nihilus said with a smirk.

“Well fine then,” Twilight sniffed. “Then I’ll leave the rest to you then.”

“Thank you,” Nihilus said. He then took a deep breath and soon his horn glowed black as a portal appeared before him. He seemed surprise. “I can’t believe it… it actually works now…” He then turned to Twilight. “Go ahead, but I should warn you, the first time may be a little disorienting…”

Twilight nodded and stepped forward, stepping into the portal before her. She braced herself, ready for the plunge but realized she was still on her feet, despite there being no ground beneath her hooves. Ahead of her, she could only see what looked like a tunnel, leading her only to her destination. The bit started to react and shot forward, leaving a trail behind to guide her.

“Interesting, isn’t it?” Nihilus said behind her. “But don’t stare at it too long or you will probably get queasy; I would know.” The two of them continued forward until the small bead of light ahead grew larger and larger. “Well, this is it. Just be prepared for what’s on the other side.”

All Twilight hoped as she stepped forward was that she wasn’t about to appear in front of a carriage.

Soon she felt real ground, and a slight breeze through her mane. It was near dusk, as the sun was slowly creeping towards the horizon. She then saw the outline of a city just ahead. As Nihilus followed her, he took a deep breath. “Well, that’s the first breath of fresh air I’ve had for almost two years.” He looked around. “Yes, a lot has changed in the last thousand years…”

“Maybe for you, but this looks like the present to me,” Twilight said, as she headed towards the city. “It looks like Manehattan. Applejack is no doubt here.”

“And here I thought they taught you princesses to not judge a book by its cover,” Nihilus muttered.

However, once they reached a hill, Twilight soon realized something was different. Sure, maybe there were a lot more lights but Twilight certainly didn’t remember all those airships in the air… In fact, almost everything seemed more digital than it had been before. “Okay, I stand corrected…” she said.

Once they finally reached the edge of downtown, they could hear constant music, close to the music Vinyl Scratch played a lot. Not only that, but she saw many of the ponies were dressed in casual wear. “Hold on a second,” Nihilus said. “Just realized we can’t have an alicorn rolling through the streets casually.”

“Well, you’re right but-hey!” Suddenly, she found herself wearing a gray turtleneck. “…Seriously?”

“What, I thought that would suit you best?” Nihilus said innocently. “I could always have try a few dresses.”

“No thank you,” Twilight said through gritted teeth. “Come on, let’s just go find Applejack already.”