Chapters 1- A Prologue of a Prologue
Time. Time is involved with anything you do, whether it’s being late to class or aging. However it also can be used figuratively. History, for example, shows that time is used figuratively. The greatest and worst moments of history involve time. Moments like The Great War and points in the Discordian period have acts of valor that will forever be remembered.
But what if moments that involve bad things could be changed? Yes, if you changed all those said things then it would make a large change in the present. To start off on a few minor, simple examples: What if you could go back and turn in that paper you forgot, or go get back at those mean bullies in third grade? This is where a certain agency comes into play.
Now, obviously, the agency deals with bigger problems. Like successful assassinations and wars that shouldn’t even have started. This agency goes by the name of T.I.M.E. Which stands for Travelers In and throughout the Millennia of Equestria, if you wanted to know that is.
This brings us to the start of the said agency, created by two individuals that were brought together in the most peculiar of ways. These individuals would go on to create one of the greatest agencies of all time. But one would wonder how the group started, yes? Well this is a story for just that thought. Lets start off with the co-founder Quantum, QT was her nickname, and how she met the other founder. If I recall correctly she was seventeen at the time. Or maybe she was fifteen. No, sixteen. But- Bah, who cares?
Lets begin.
Quantum wanted to believe she had lived a regular life up until ‘the incident.' Yeah, she was the daughter of Twilight Sparkle. Yeah, she was the heir to the throne. And yeah, she was a certified genius like her mother. But other than those things she totally was a normal mare. She wanted to marry a prince and have kids, have him climb up to her terrace and pronounce his love to her. Or maybe even go on an amazing adventure to find true love. But she’d even suffice for someone that’d do anything for her.
She wanted to make an impact on history, her own little footnote. She wanted to do something that Equestrians would forever remember. Something that would take her out of the shadow of her mom, but don't take that the wrong way. She loved her mom and looked up to her in every way possible. Except when it came to advice on stallions. She never was very good at that.
Then 'the incident' happened. It changed her life, for better or for worse was the big question. She was laying in her bed at the time, minding her own business, and doing some homework. Slowly that is, having no horn was definitely cumbersome. She hears it's amazing from her mom. All. The. Time. Anyways, she was on her bed doing her homework. Then bam! There's a stallion.
Now, one would think that a mare would very much want a stallion in her room. Quantum definitely wouldn’t have minded if he hadn’t just appeared through a rift in space. At least that’s what it looked like. A big slice in front of her. It was like the universe was behind it, pretty peaceful until the stallion popped out. It closed after he came out. Shame. She was hoping she could've thrown him back in.
He wasn’t ugly or anything, he was actually quite handsome. His light brown mane went well with his short tail and tan colored coat. Again, one would think that she would be overjoyed that she had a stallion in her room. Or maybe disgusted. Depends on who you ask. The situation turned for the worse as he had used her as his landing platform.
It also didn’t help that he was unconscious. But how would you know Quantum? Well this stallion was on top of her and it really didn’t help with her emotions, to be vague. She was a growing teenager. After all, she had just gotten her license. With him being on top, ha ha yeah laugh it up perverts, she could feel his breath. It was fairly light, but still, it was adorable for some reason. If he wasn’t some random stranger, possibly stalker, she’d consider his content face cute.
She considered moving him, but if he woke while she was moving him he might assume she was an enemy and attack. On the other hoof by not moving him he might get the wrong idea and use the position to his advantage. Oh don’t look so innocent you know exactly what he could do.
This left her in a peculiar position, pun not intended. She decided that it would be best to at least move him off her to the bedside. She had to be careful though, she really didn't want the stallion to wake until she was ready for him to.
Quantum moved slowly, letting the stallion slide off her and onto the soft silk covers. Hey, her mom owns a castle, of course the covers are going to be silk. She then shifted over to the other side of the bed, the right side to be specific. She did like this particular side because she was able to fall asleep facing the tall glass doors that led to the terrace. It provided a great view of the stars and moon and she loved it for that.
She turned to face the stallion. It seemed like he wouldn’t harm her, once he woke up that is. Then there was the snoring, did she mention the stallion snores? That would be challenging if she was going to hide him. She sighed, yeah that’d be a problem, but this was probably the best option until she found out how to explain it to her mom.
Then the knock came.
Now, you’re probably wondering why I’ve been so calm throughout the previous chapter. Well, I did mention I was a genius, right? Well, at the least a smart pony. It’s pretty much common sense when something crazy like that happens. But that’s not really the whole reason. It was more along the lines that I read a lot about all the crazy situations situations authors out their characters in, so this one was pretty tame compared to others.
Since my mom is a book fanatic, she has every book one would think of; somehow that trait passed to me. I mean, I have so many books that mom had to construct a separate section in the royal library to house them. Anyway, back to how I handled the situation so well and you’ll be back to your regularly scheduled fanfiction reading.
Some of my favorite stories are the ones my mom would tell me; the stories of her adventures and when she was in our kingdom, previously town, of Ponyville. One of the most hilarious stories she told me was when she had gone back in time to warn herself not to go back in time and yet when she figured out that she was trying to do that it happened all over again.
This lead me to gain an interest in time travel; one of my favorite stories are when the main character would travel into the future. However, a pet peeve of mine is when everypony overreacts to somepony coming from said past. So, I’ve read enough, and have enough sense, to know that I shouldn’t overreact. If I had overreacted then everypony in the whole castle would’ve known that he was here and probably would’ve detained and interrogated him. And then sent him back once they found a way to do it.
I know it’s kinda selfish to keep him in my room without his consent, but I feel like it’s better than nothing. Now I just have to figure out what to do when he wakes up.
Lets begin.
Well, crap. I knew that at some point somepony would knock, but seriously? They did it at the most inconvenient time. Whelp, looks like I’ll have to think on the fly. Just like the author eh?
I rushed over to the bed and threw the covers over the stallion. Like a pony sized burrito. I jumped off from the bed and opened the door a crack to see that the pony on the other side was my mother. Joy.
I gave her a small smile. "Hey mom, what brings you here?" Nothin' suspicious here, move along mom, move along.
Mom shook her head. "Nothing special. Just checking up on my daughter that hasn't been out of her room all day."
Crap, suspicion levels rising. "Sorry mom, I got caught up in...uh, reading. Yeah, reading, I just began a new book on time travel." Which was true, it was sitting on the desk to the right, beside her.
Mom's possible suspicion morphed into excitement. "Ooo, you've got to tell me about it once you're done. We could do a joint essay too!" Twilight gasped. "Yesyesyesyes, that would be so fun! I just haven't caught up on my time traveling knowledge. Though I think I remember a situation about it..."
Mom continued rambling, I had to get her to leave. Fast. "Uhh, mom? H-"
I was cut off, "Yes? Oh, I'm sorry I was rambling. Okay, I'll catch up as fast as I can on the reading." Twilight turned to the stairs behind her and began to descend. As she galloped down them she yelled, "We can talk later! I've got reading to do!"
That was easy.
I shut the door back and wandered to the bed to check the stallion. He still was in the same position as before, except he was wrapped in the blankets. With no place to breath. Oh, that's not good. Nonono, not good, not good at all. I threw the covers off him and pressed my ear to his chest.
Beating. Good, good, that would’ve been a problem. I got back up and took a look at him. He had a great-erm body...it looked healthy. Okay, gosh, I’m saying that he’s not super fat or skinny or hurt. Jeez. I shifted my position to a more comfortable one and leaned against the headboard, I guess I could try to wake him up. I mean I can’t just hide him forever, he has to wake up sometime.
I lifted my hoof slightly and reached toward the stallion. Just a poke, if that doesn’t do anything then I’ll rethink my strategy. I continued my advance with my left forehoof and gave the stallion a poke on the cheek.
Silence. It seemed the stallion wouldn’t be waking up with her doing that, obviously. I got off the bed and went over the desk to pick up the book by the name of Time and It's Mysteries . It was a novel I’d just started and I hoped that it might provide some explanation as to why somepony had popped out of a rift in space.
Yeah, I know, I can’t be a hundred percent sure that the stallion is a time traveler. Though, in most time travel stories, a rift signifies a jump through time in most of the time travel novels I had read. I looked at the book, thought: I really hope this’ll provide some answers , and began my research.
After an hour or two of reading I deduced that the book was a load of crap. It just provided theories on how time travel could work and how much power it would require. The only good thing that came out of it was that she now knew that, from one of the theories, only unicorns could possibly time travel.
Only problem is that the stallion that had come out of that rift in space was an earth pony. This meant that either that theory had just been proved completely wrong or they had used some type of device to do it.
I shut the book and walked over to the bedside the stallion was by and simply stared at him. No I wasn’t creepy, or trying to be at least, I was just mesmerized as to how somepony had possibly traveled through time and I was able to witness it. If this wasn't some random teleportation spell, it may turn out to be one of the most historical moments in Equestria’s history. I just have to wake him up. He looked peaceful though. Maybe it can wait a little bit.
Then the screaming started.
You’re probably wondering what that book was, hmm? It was an old one at that, but the author was the important part of this. Quantum couldn’t see the name as it had faded from the hundreds years of wear and tear. Anyways, to the name of the author. Star Swirl the Bearded.
As you most likely know, Star Swirl was a very famous pony in Equestria's history. One of the many accomplishments he had was a time travel spell. It would only let the pony go back a week or so, but it was an amazing achievement back then. Heck, only one pony today has been known to do that spell.
That pony was Twilight Sparkle. Now, few remember it but I’m sure you do. The moment that Twilight went back in time to warn herself of something dangerous. It turned out that she was just warning herself not to worry.
So, this leads to the reason of that book. It was written to let Star Swirl record all of his theories on time traveling and anything to do with it. Like time loops, how do you think he died? Time loops. Those are nasty things. But alas, that story is for another time. Eh, pun? Another time! Get it?
Anyways, this book is basically a collection of analysises. Analysi? Analysiseses? Analyses? To heck with it. You just want to read the story, not hear the narrator ramble on.
Lets begin.
I rushed over to the stallion and shut his mouth. “What the heck? My mom will hear you!”
The stallion’s eyes were practically bulging out of his sockets. “Mhh mmmph mmmhh, mhh mhh!”
I got off and cast a soundproof spell around the room. It wouldn’t last long because I hadn’t fully mastered the more advanced spells. But still, I doubted that anypony would just have dismissed it and act like they hadn't heard the scream. I could at least keep any further screams or related things quiet. I walked back over to the stallion and gave him my best "I'm-very-angry-and-you-better-have-a-good-explanation-for-all-of-this" stare.
He had stopped once I got off the bed, which was good. He would've been a challenge to quiet. I stayed at the bedside, out of his reach, just in case he wanted to try anything funny. I continued my glare and gave a simple, yet powerful response to his actions: “Explain.”
After a few seconds, he answered, all the while rubbing his mane in a sheepish manner. “Well, you see...I, uh, can’t.”
My left eye, specifically, twitched. “What?”
“I don’t know anything of use.” He removed his hoof and shifted his position. “You see, I don’t remember anything since I got here.”
Great, a stallion with amnesia. “Fine, can you at least tell me why you were screaming. I mean, I get how it’s scary being in a new place and all without any memory. But the screaming is kinda going overboard.”
“Don’t know.”
“Age?”
“Not sure. Sixteen?”
“‘Kay, basically my age then. Do you know where you are?”
“Nope.”
“Name?"
“Good question. Still don’t know.”
I stopped my mini-interrogation and sat down on the end of the bed, still out of his reach. “Okay, I guess we can stop for now. But I do have one last question. Again, just for now.”
“Shoot.”
"Are you sure you don't remember anything? Yeah, I know that you said you didn't remember anything. But you've gotta have something, right?"
He tapped his chin, "Hmm, I think there may be something. Here,” He gestured toward himself with a forehoof. “Do you have some loose paper, college ruled would be best.”
I tilted my head in confusion, “What’s college ruled?”
“Wait, you don’t know what college ruled paper is?” I shook my head. “I-it’s like this white piece of paper that has three holes for binders and small intervals between lines.”
What is this stallion talking about? “No I don’t have any of that. Heck, you’re talking gibberish for all I understand. We’ve got quills and some regular paper,” I went over to my desk and grabbed said objects. Walking back to the bed, I continued, “There’s no such thing as binders, or college rule, or any of that crap you’re talking about.”
I gave him the paper and quill. “We use these. Now, please, do whatever you were going to do."
The stallion scribbled on the paper, it was fast yet it seemed that it was going to be neat. Now, one would expect the saliva from him to drench the paper, yes? Well, one smarticle particle of a unicorn made a spell to prevent liquids from affecting the paper. Except ink, coloring, and any other things that ponies would need to use on it of course. Anyway, back to the stallion.
I watched intently as he scribbled something down on the paper, only pausing every so often to think about what to do. After a moment of scribbling he tossed the paper in front of me. I glanced down to see it was filled with variables, numbers, and all the crazy math stuff you could think of.
I raised an eyebrow, “And this is?”
The stallion shook his head, “I’m not totally sure, but based off of what my gut is telling me, it’s the equation that got me here.”
“Like, through that rift?”
“Yup.”
“Huh, well I guess that’ll be useful. Not now though.” I went over to the side of the bed opposite to him and got comfortable with the pillows. I then levitated other pillows from around the room and placed them in a line down the middle of the bed.
You’d think it’d be more smart to go to the other side, where the stallion was, and switch places, right? Well, lets think about it for a second. I’m a unicorn and he’s an earthpony, therefor he won't be able to get off the terrace without breaking something. By positioning myself on the side closest to the terrace I’m able to jump off, cast a spell that buffers the landing, and get help if he tries anything. Now, back to the story.
“So, I guess we’ll have to make some ground rules for this little situation. I’m not going to tell anyone, not yet anyway, because it may turn out pretty bad if that happens. Which means for now we have to share a room and keep you hidden till the right moment I can tell Mom. Sound good so far?”
The stallion nodded in agreement.
“Next is that we-” I was cut off by the knock on my door, yet again. Great.
Left you on a cliffhanger again, hmm? That darn author's just teasing you. But hey, these are short chapters, so cliffhangers are expected. Anyway, you just want to read the story, not have some chat with the narrator. How about we just get to the story? We only have one chapter after this. It is just a prologue.
Wait! Waitwaitwait, the stallion. The stallion, you might want to hear about him, hmm? The one that looks like a spitting image of his father, yes? Hint, hint. Nudge, nudge. We don’t know much about the stallion do we? Just that he can possibly time travel, plus he seems nice too. Nice to a certain somepony, ehh? Okay, so that somepony is the only one he is in contact with, but still. He’s nice. Lets just keep you guessing for now. Anyway:
Let's begin.
I hopped off the bed and opened the door a crack, "Yesss?"
The pony behind the knock was none other than, yep, you guessed it, even though you may not of but you get the point, my mother. But before we get into her reply you might want to know about how I heard the knock with the soundproof spell. You see, the spell is quite ingenuitive. The spell makes it where the ones inside the room can hear everything outside and inside like they would without the spell.
Nopony on the outside can hear what's going on in the room. Think of it like the glass in interrogation rooms. One is able to see the room and hear what they're saying, but the other can't hear what's on the other side of the glass. Just like the spell, except with the part about seeing. Okay, it's more based off of the concept. I think you get the point, let's just get back to the story.
The parental unit at the other side of the door was not happy, "I get you new trying things, but when those things are crazy enough to spook a pony into screaming their head off," she sighed, "then there’ll be a problem.”
Well this isn’t good, she may come in and-oh geez, this is not good at all. Mom shook her head, “I don’t know what it is, and honestly I don’t think I want to know, but I was your age once and I got and did the same stuff.” Her eyes brightened and she trotted away from the door, “Now, I’ve still got some studying to do. Try not to cause mass hysteria, okay?”
That was way too easy, like somepony made that happen. Whelp, I have more important matters to attend to. “Thanks Mom, I’ll try not to!”
I walked over to my bed and hopped on to my previous position. “Okay, as I’m sure you can deduce. That was my mother. If we ever decide to leave this room that is the first pony you need to watch out for.”
The stallion nodded.
I grinned, “Good. Because we’ll be initiating Operation: Burnt Potato in approximately five minutes.”
“What?”
My smile widened, “You see, you obviously can’t survive out in the city on your own. Not yet at least. Since I’ve taken pity on you, “ the stallion gave me a skeptical look and my grin disappeared, “okay,fine, I don’t trust you enough for you to go out and I definitely don’t trust you around here. But I’ve been told to keep my friends close and my enemies closer.”
He nodded yet again, “I understand, “ he smiled, “I’d be glad to become your friend. But I guess that means you’ll have to trust me first.”
The stallion sighed, “One step at a time, yeah?”
To be honest I’m a little surprised. This stallion actually wants to be my friend. Nopony has really wanted to be my friend before. I mean I’ve had a few, like ponies that had come and gone throughout palace. My only real friend was my cousin, ---- ----, the daughter of Prince Shining Armour and Princess Cadence. But even she would only come every so often because of her parents.
“Y-Yeah, right. So,” I looked outside, Luna had already risen the night sky. “let’s get this operation started.”
I spread some of the pillows to create a dip in the wall so I could look at the stallion directly. I shifted to a ‘sphinx-like’ position facing the said dip. As I moved, the stallion copied me and was a mirror-reflection of my position across from me.
“First on the list: codenames. They have to be our personalized names, something that we think describes oneself.” The stallion nodded along, writing on an invisible notepad. I grinned, at least he has a sense of humor. I returned to a serious expression, “I think I’ll be…Shift. Yeah, Shift, I like that.”
The stallion gave an affirmative yes and asked, “What one am I going to have?”
I took a few seconds to think about it, “Okay, well since you don’t even have a name it can just be your actual name.”
“Sounds good.”
“It has to be something to do with you, “ I paused and glanced over the pillows to see his cutie mark, no not to check him out, this was purely innocent, “or something that has to do with your cutie mark.”
The stallion’s cutie mark was quite interesting. The mark was a cut, one that was like something had torn through a picture. Inside of that cut was what seemed to be the universe, a swirling mass of stars, planets, and large galaxies. Much like…
“That’s it!”
“What?”
I grinned, “How about Rift?”
The stallion raised an eyebrow, “Why?”
“Well when you arrived here you arrived through a rift in space, or at least that’s what it looked like. I’ve never seen one. But anyways, your cutie mark is like an exact replica. except smaller, of what you came through when you got here so that would be a perfect name for you!”
The stallion tapped his chin in thought, “Okay…” a few more seconds of tapping,”yeah. Yeah, I like it.”
“Great! So, next on the agenda is planning.”
“I’m listening.”
