THE TOWER OF TIME
Based on My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic
No copyright infringement is intended.
Story belongs to Anima-dos. All rights reserved.
Characters belong to Hasbro and Lauren Faust.
Written by:
Anima-dos
Starimo
Stardragon 77
Rebecca Horner.
Rewritten by Anima-dos for story format
As the cold and bright morning broke in Canterlot, Twilight Sparkle started to grow nervous upon an urgent audience that she and her friends had with Pricess Celestia that very day. It was alarming that they were requested to go to Canterlot at once, first thing in the morning, when the royal duties begun.
The princess was waiting for them in her throne room with a calm expression drawn on her face, as she welcomed the six determined, yet confused ponies into her presence. She softly chuckled as she saw them bow down in respect, still not believing their humility after how much she owed these young mares.
"I am very glad that you and your friends have answered to my call so quickly, my dear Twilight", she spoke ,"Equestria is indebted to you for your courage and endeavors. So the time has come for me to show you something..."
Twilight rose as her curiosity was piqued "What is it, Your Highness?", she asked.
Princess Celestia stood and walked away from her throne " Follow me, my little ponies", she softly commanded, as her horn glowed, casting a powerful spell. A very bright light blinded everybody in the throne room as the whole world seemed to turn into a white nothingness, where only the silhouette of the Alicorn could be seen.
"My faithful student, you and your friends are about to discover one of the deepest secrets of Equestria.", said the Princess, still marching forward , "as you know, the Elements of Harmony are the most powerful known magical relics to this day. But as bearers of the Elements, only you shall ever know that there is one magical item in existence that might compete with them…"
This caught Rarity's attention, as she winced, trying to follow the group in the bright realm " More powerful than the Elements of Harmony?" she asked in disbelief.
Princess Celestia kept walking before the ponies and led them to a now grandiose door that stood in that seemingly white and empty realm, beyond the throne room. The door began to open as Celestia cast her magic, wincing in deep focus. Twilight wondered why her mentor needed so much energy to do such a simple task, since opening a portal wasn't very difficult for a regular unicorn. Whatever laid beyond that gate, it was protected through the most powerful and intricate magic that she ever saw.
She spoke again as the doors opened wide enough to allow them to keep moving forward. "Perhaps not more powerful, but absolutely essential to keep the balance of our world. What you see before your eyes, my little ponies, is the Tower of Time."
The mane six looked up in awe as a huge tower that looked like the rest of the Canterlot Castle stood before them. Yet, unlike the other sections, It was covered in ivy,and it had apparent signs of lack of maintenance. They noticed there was no stair or bridge that led to it, only the great floating door that now was behind them. They couldn't help but be awed before the sight of that solemn place.
"That is one HUUUGE grandpa clock! " Pinkie blurted, while still looking up.
Twilight stopped for a second, with a sudden realization "Wait just a second, I have never seen or heard about this part of the castle before. Not from the inside, nor from the outside. How is that possible? "
Princess Celestia turned back to her, expecting this kind of curiosity from her protégé "Only I can open the entrance to the Tower of Time, my dear Twilight.. This tower remains invisible for everypony, except for the keeper of the Tower and I, for whom I might open the gates once a year. He is waiting for us inside, you must meet him now." She nodded firmly to urge the group to once more follow her up the narrow stairs of the Tower.
When they reached the top floor, they entered a luminous chamber, decorated in purple marble. A brown stallion was working on what seemed to be an improvised laboratory. He had all sort of golden and brass gadgets around him that looked very much like delicate clockwork pieces and very fine tools.
The princess walked closer to the stallion, trying to get his attention "Everypony, meet Dr. Hooves, the Time Keeper." She was caught in surprise as the doctor didn't even responded " Dr. Hooves…? Dr.Hooves…? " she repeated, until finally he realized he wasn't alone in the room anymore.
Wearing a head gear with magnifying glasses, the doctor simply rose up slightly, without moving too much since he had a screwdriver attached to his hoof "Oh, hello" he said distractedly "You arrived right on time! I was about to open the core of the Clock!" he cheered.
Twilight looked at him with a smile, his focus reminded her how she used to act before she met her friends in Ponyville "The core of the Clock?" she questioned.
Dr.Hooves started to absent-mindedly walk towards a little cupboard in the middle of the main wall as he began his explanation "Precisely. Just as the sun and moon must be raised, time doesn’t run by itself. It is a delicate element that has to be magically handled, permanently." He stated.
"This is the purpose of the Tower of Time. No unicorn alive could ever fulfill this duty! "he warned with a very serious expression.
Rarity grew concerned as she suspected what the doctor implied " Does this mean that if this clock ever stops…?"
The doctor turned around to face her with a frown " It would be the end of all reality! " he scowled " But the magical work of art that you must see is the heart of this Clock, The very Sands of Time that flow for the past, the present and the future." With this last announcement, he seemed to cheer up, as he opened the little doors with his hooves, only to find an empty space. The room remained in a tense silence as they stared at the empty space, only to be startled by a familiar dark cackle that echoed through the chamber
"Mwa hahahahaha…"
Celestia, instantly recognizing the voice, froze in place, looking left and right, scanning the room in desperation "It can’t be…"
Applejack looked up, expecting to see the draconequus appear any minute " What the Hay? Discord?! I thought we dun turned 'im back t'stone? This cain't be possible!"
Discord chuckled lightly, revealing himself to be gingerly resting a top of one of the columns that supported the cupola of the tower. "You really thought I could be taken down with the same trick twice, Honest Applejack?" He mocked "I only let you all think that I was defeated, waiting for the perfect time, and I think just found it!".
He descended in a swoosh of his serpentine body, holding the Sands of Time in his claw and paw, just to meet the furious glare of the doctor." I wouldn’t do that if I were you. That device controls…" the brown pony got abruptly interrupted.
" All of time? I know Doctor, such a convenient artifact isn’t it? I have my share of time spells like any other horned neighbor…but holding this in my power would make me…" he said in a sing-sang voice, just to be cut by Princess Celestia.
" You greed-consumed FOOL! Nopony can master the Sands of Time! You are putting all of us in danger, including yourself, RETURN THEM BEFORE IT IS TOO..."
"Late?" he interrupted her as he held the clepsidra over his head " I think that can be arranged with a little shake like…this." he said as he shook the hourglass, they all could see the sun and moon going back and forth several days through the window.
One single shake reverted time by almost a week in the whole kingdom, yet it didn't seemed to affect the ponies in the room.
Dr Hooves stomped nervously, and warned him again " You are going to throw time out of balance! The hourglass is way too fragile for that!".
"Out of balance you say? That is my cue!" He happily remarked and with a snap of his fingers, a spotlight was turned on, showing him wearing a black sombrero.
He started shaking the hourglass of time as if it was a mere maraca.
"Shake Shake, shake, Señora… Shake your body line." he sung as he shook the relic up and down.
Suddenly, several ponies of the past appeared in the room. Pilgrim ponies, historic figures and all sort of present, past and future mares and stallions. Applejack gasped when in between the figures she recognized her very own grandma Annie Smith, young and strong, way before she had a single wrinkle in her face. . "Grandma?" she asked in disbelief.
Annie looked confused as the rest of the summoned ponies "What in da hilly beans am ah doin' here?"
"Discord, please, stop this!" Twilight pleaded, as she saw that the situation was completely out of control and she was growing more and more concerned and for what would happen next.
Discord simply kept playing with the clepsidra, never stopping his song. " Shake, shake, shake, Señora, Shake it all the time.
"Discord! Stop this!" commanded Princess Celestia. " You are destroying the fabric of time! Our world can’t take much more of this!" she said in desperation.
Discord looked back at the princess with a smirk. "As ignorant as ever, Celestia. You don’t know what this world can or cannot take, you never tried this yourself!" He snorted nonchalantly as he turned his back on them in triumph, he knew they wouldn't dare to lay a hoof on him as long as he had the Sands of Time.
"Now if you don’t mind, my dearest pool of boredom, I believe I have a kingdom to rule now…"
Annie Smith didn't understood what was going on, for she was but a simple country pony, but one thing was clear in her mind " Ah don’t know what is going on or who y'all are, BUT NO PONY INSULTS MAH PRINCESS!!" She yelled as she charged furiously towards the Lord of Chaos, catching him unaware, and headbutting him so hard that he lost balance and fell down, loosing grip of the delicate relic in his posesion.
For the first time, Discord held an expression of horror, as he saw the hourglass break in front of his very eyes, spreading the sands of time in the floor of the chamber. Every heart in the room skipped a beat as the sands suddenly burst in a cloud of purple smoke that quickly filled the place. All that could be heard was Discord's voice, screaming in panic, as it engulfed him whole "NOOOOOO!..." The scream got muffled as the mist got thicker.
The doctor reached the pricess, coughing from the magical mist. "Princess…cough The Heart of Time... is broken... " he muttered.
Celestia rushed to the cupboard that held the Heart of the Clock, illuminating the mist for a second with her horn, casting the most powerful spell she ever tried, and placed her very crown where the clepsidra once laid. With this, the mist began to fade, and the eight ponies noticed that everypony that was summoned by Discord's foolish game was gone.
They coughed as the cloud dissipated entirely, noticing something. A small figure was sitting before them. It looked just like Discord, but it was much smaller, and instead of his horns he had some light blond hair a top of his head. He looked scared and confused, and not a day older than the little Pie twins.
Twilight winced, as the figure was still unclear to her "Is that...?" she started asking, but got cut as Pinkie pie stormed through the room to pick the infant up.
" Baby Baby Baby!" She cheered as he held him high. "Oh! How can it be? Is this Discord? You are the cutest of all the cutestest thing that I have ever ever seen!!!" She spoke loudly as she looked into the baby's eyes, which were starting to get filled with tears.
" Oh my gosh I am gonna give you a big hu..." She couldn't finish her sentence before baby Discord started crying in panic and confusion. He wasn't used to the ways of Pinkie and he seemed terrified of her. He tried to push the pink mare away, kicking and turning, as her expression fell in disappointment.
Twilight couldn't hold back her urge to lecture her friend about this, this had to be another of his mockeries! " You HAVE to be kidding me! Pinkie, put him down! It may just be another one of his tricks!"
Dr.Hooves rushed towards the baby, examining him as he kept crying " I am afraid it is not, Miss Sparkle. What stands before your eyes is not a transformation, but the very Lord of Chaos in his early days, way before we all met him! " he explained. "This just shows a terrible tear in the time fabric… " he said to himself as he turned to Celestia " Oh my… this is bad… Princess, you cannot possibly plan to use your magic to keep the eternal movement of the clock…"
Celestia, making an effort just to stand up, forced a smile upon him " I will be fine doctor… But I cannot last forever this way... We must find a way to repair the heart of the Clock or we can prepare for the worst. Time is running out already." She muttered.
Seeing her in this state got Twilight as alarmed as ever" Time is running out for what?" She nervously asked.
Dr. Hooves turned to her with his ears pointing down, " Our Princess is literally being consumed by the clock right now. If I don’t get the Sands of Time fixed soon, she will rapidly grow old and ultimately…" he paused.
Twilight held an empty stare as the realization hit her: what the doctor meant is that the princess may die if she tried to keep the clock working for too long.
She shook her head in denial. " No...This...can’t be true." she said as she walked in circles, brainstorming solutions as if her own life depended on it.
Princess Celestia walked towards them, and spoke in a calm voice " Enough of that, Doctor. Everything will be fine once the hourglass is repaired. We have a bigger problem in our hooves right now" She said, pointing the young draconequus.
The doctor was still working on his table at the middle of the night, but this time, he counted with the help of an assistant that he got to choose.
Derpy wasn't a bright time pony genius, but she certainly helped to keep him calm and collected, and she didn't mind staying up very late at night, repairing the clepsidra.
"So what are they going to do now with that baby" She asked innocently.
The doctor never looked away from the fine grains of sand as he replied "They stated that the Lord of Chaos should be spared from his stone prison. Being at the present time just as innocent as the day he was born. The six bearers of Harmony will guard him until the moment in which the Sands of Time would be in place again, to return him to his present self and repair the fabric of time."
He gave her a gentle look as he signed in tiredness " And as for us.. We have a lot of grains to put in place, my dear, so we must keep working… And by the way, whatever you do, don’t panic."
Author's Note
The events described in this story would take place between season 2 and season 3, prior to Twilight becoming an Alicorn and the liberation of Discord from his stone prison.
