A Threat As Old As Time

Chapters

Chapter 1: The Thief
Chapter 3: Losing Friends
Chapter 4: Nightmares and Limits
Chapter 5: The Victims of the Staff
Chapter 6: Rebirth
Chapter 7: Desperation
Chapter 8: Time Disturbances
Chapter 9: True Loneliness
Chapter 10: Adoption
Chapter 11: To End What He Began
Prologue
Chapter 2: Two Sides to Friendship

Chapter 1: The Thief

Twilight walked through the portal and examined her surroundings. The first thing that she had come to notice was that it was almost three o' clock in the afternoon, meaning that the students of Canterlot High School would soon be going home for the evening. With that in mind, she gingerly leaned against the portal and waited for the time to pass.

After ten minutes of waiting, she heard the school's bell sound. As soon as the doors opened, Twilight began looking for her friends in the Human World.

"I tell ya what, Pinkie Pie, if I ever had to see another algebra test, I'd probably kick it as hard as one of my footballs," Rainbow Dash was talking to Pinkie Pie as she walked out of the doors. "Honestly, whoever came up with that cryptic code for triangle math was definitely in over their head or something..."

"It's not that bad, Rainbow Dash. Once you get it down, trigonometry's one of the easier equations," Sunset Shimmer said as she began to give Rainbow Dash a short lecture on trigonometry. "After you learn SOC CAH TOA, you can blitz your way through those papers. I'm sure if Twilight were here, she'd say—"

"The exact same thing," Twilight said, showing herself to the group of friends. "Nice to see you again, everyone."

"Twilight!" all of the girls ran up to her and gave her a hug. Twilight have always been there for them, so seeing her back in the Human World was a delight for the six of them.

"Where's Spike, Twilight?" Sunset asked, seeing that Twilight had travelled alone this time.

"He's back in Equestria, spending the weekend at the Crystal Empire with Shining Armour and Princess Cadence," Twilight said with a smile. "He always loved the Crystal Empire, ever since he was praised for his actions against Sombra..."

"So, what brings you back again, Twilight? Has somethin' else crawled out from Equestria ta try and destroy friendship?" Applejack asked. "Ah swear, everytime ya come here, there's always some plot being hatched by some power-hungry maniac."

"Well, I'm unsure of that at the moment, but I can say that the map has called me to the Human World," Twilight said. "It tells me that there's some friendship problem here that needs fixing. You haven't noticed anything strange recently, have you?"

"Now that you mention it..." Rarity began to think. "A tenth of the students didn't even show up today. A whole tenth!"

"How many students go here on a daily basis, Sunset?" Twilight asked, seeing if she could get the answers for exactly how many students a tenth of CHS was.

"From my last count, at least two-hundred students," Sunset said, adding in Rarity's discovery. "Meaning that twenty students were completely absent..."

"Do you think it could have been some illnesses or anything like that?" Fluttershy asked. "That would be the most likely thing. Everyone gets sick, even us..."

"But that's the thing, Fluttershy. Twenty students don't suddenly get sick to the point where they can be off of school for the day..." Sunset's suspicions grew. There was something going on that she was unaware of, and she was determined to get to the bottom of it. "There's gotta be something odd trying to take them away from us..."

"Did you try asking Celestia and Luna for help in finding the missing students?" Twilight asked another question.

"We tried, but when she called each of their individual phone numbers, they didn't pick up," Sunset said with a little bit of concern in her voice. "Every time she tried, she got the same message, and it was a very strange one to leave for them..."

"What did it say?" Twilight asked.

"It always said, 'call them when they grow up again'..." Sunset slowed down when she recited the message. There was no doubt about it, something was messed up about that message. "But why would the message be about the missing students growing up again? They're quite mature for their ages..."

"Are there any other occurrences that befell this town recently?" Twilight asked yet another question. As this point, she was taking no chances whatsoever. "If there's anything that can relate to the missing students, then we can piece together the truth and find the culprit, and fast..."

"Well, I did run into this really scary hooded man one day," Pinkie Pie said out of nowhere. "He was using really big words and carrying some big stick around him. He kept talking about how he would save friendship from being destroyed," she told the story how she remembered it. "I tried asking him about it, but he was such a big old meanie pants that he just walked away, saying that I was too old to comprehend friendships..."

"So, we can ascertain that you ran into a hooded man, but that doesn't add up to some of the students going missing all of a sudden..." Twilight began to get a mental puzzle of the mystery. "But he kept saying stuff about saving friendship, and that he carried a stick of sorts..."

"We can talk about it later, Twilight, but right now there's a special offer going down at Sugarcube Corner and I'm not passing that up," Rainbow Dash said as the group all broke out of their discussions of the problem at hand. "Come on, Twilight. I'm sure that a little time with a milkshake will help you try and figure out this mystery..."

Once their discussion was done for the time being, Twilight, Sunset, and the Humane Five began to take a walk towards Sugarcube Corner. But they all had the same thing plaguing their minds; if this criminal wasn't brought to justice, there might have been more problems to come for each of them.

Once everyone had gotten their drinks, they were quite leisurely sipping on them. Each of the girls was savouring the flavours as they were given more time to process what was going on.

"So what did that map call you here for, Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I mean, come on, this can't be some sort of coincidence..."

Twilight sighed. "The last time I was called by the map, it was to a bizarre town where everyone had the same Cutie Mark. It was utopian on the surface, but at the heart of it all, a malicious pony named Starlight Glimmer was conning ponies into living their lives in her town, then stealing their Cutie Marks to add to her collection," Twilight told the story.

"I don't think I want to hear more, Twilight..." Fluttershy began to show fear.

"Had Starlight Glimmer had her way, the Cutie Marks of me and my friends would have been lost forever. But luckily for us, Fluttershy was able to find an even darker secret," Twilight's voice turned much more enthusiastic. "She discovered that Starlight had been lying to the town all along, and that her equal sign mark was a fraud. In doing this, she ran off in a fit of rage, and the townsponies got their Cutie Marks back all on their own," she then sighed with how long ago that event was. "So I have to come to the assumption that whenever I'm called, there's gotta be someone trying to disrupt friendship..."

"Sounds like you've been through a lot, Twilight," Sunset patted Twilight on the back. "I know that what you told me doesn't sound all too pleasant, but the fact that you and your friends were able to expose Starlight and run her out of town was a great thing to do. And I know that if you were successful back there, you'll be able to do this now..." she looked Twilight in the eyes, showing her hope. "Believe in me, Twilight. Believe in all of us, and you can find the truth and get our students back..."

"Thank you, Sunset Shimmer." Twilight smiled and took another sip of her milkshake. "I'm glad to know that even when I'm away from Equestria, I have such grateful friends here as well..."

After a while of gossip and drinking, each of the girls eventually pulled out their phones and began looking for news online. All except for Pinkie Pie, who was busy playing a game involving candies. They were all trying their best to help Twilight out. If any of them could find any leads that matched up with the disappearing students, as well as the cryptic voicemail that Celestia and Luna had received, then there would be a chance that they would be able to find the criminal responsible and bring them to justice.

Twilight eventually got up from her seat and began pacing across the room. She put her hand on her chin and began stroking it with each pace. There was an answer, and the look on her face was a sign that she was going to find out what was going on. The more she began to think about the events, the more she thought back on the mysterious hooded man, and the stick that he carried.

"I've got it!" Twilight said as soon as she got a feint idea of what was going on. "Pinkie Pie, when you saw the hooded man, did you notice something off about his stick?"

"Well, it was made of gold, had a clock at the bottom of it, and looked like it was something that had come out of the city's treasury," Pinkie said, thinking about the stick that the man had been carrying around. "But wait a sec, Twilight. What does a stick have to do with students going missing?"

"Are you sure that it was really a stick, Pinkie Pie? Because from the description it sounds a bit like a golden rod..." Twilight then thought about items that resembled a golden rod. "That's it! Meadowbrook's newest enchanted item; the Staff of Time!"

"The Staff of Time?" the girls all said together, unaware on what Twilight was talking about.

"The Great Mage Meadowbrook had made a number of enchanted items back in Equestria, with each one possessing colossal magical powers," Twilight began to explain. "There were eight when I first heard about her, making the Staff of Time the ninth enchanted item."

"So what's this staff gotta do with missing students, Twi?" Rainbow Dash asked with a little bit of scepticism.

"The Staff of Time enables the user to freely control time. The user's allowed to stop and start time at will, travel through time, and there was a third property that it had, but Pinkie Pie accidentally damaged the last part of that particular page, so I don't know what the last part does," Twilight said. "But I do know that there was a big robbery at the museum where it was being held at last night. They say that there was a mysterious unicorn who completely stopped time, then jumped through it the second he was away from the night guards. If that hooded man is the same pony who stole the staff, then we could be looking at a dangerous threat here, everyone..."

"Time is a dangerous thing to play with, girls," Sunset began to tell each of the Humane Five. "If used incorrectly, time can be used to severely alter the past and re-write the future. Imagine what it would have been like if someone leapt into the past and made Diamond Tiara into the President of the United States... The world around us would change instantly, and not for the better..."

"That pony could very well try to jump back in time to try and undo what we did at the Fall Formal and the Battle of the Bands..." Rarity began to see the severity of the situation. "He could try and erase us from history even as we speak! Every second that I live I now worry that my body will suddenly fade away, my voice screaming as I vanish and the present changes for the worst!" her voice got more and more dramatic, and she found herself gasping for breath afterwards.

"Nah, I don't think that he's that heartless," Applejack said. "If anythin, if he talked about saving friendship, he'd probably go back in time to worm his way into our hearts and make our battles that much easier for us..."

"We need to find this pony, and fast!" Twilight said, running out of Sugarcube Corner. "If he's not captured before he time-jumps, he could wreck the past and ruin the future for good!"

As Twilight ran out, Sunset Shimmer and each of her friends followed closely behind her. The six of them were quite concerned for Twilight, knowing that she couldn't face the holder of the Staff of Time alone. They had to be there for her, otherwise she could have very well met her final match.

Meanwhile, in an alleyway, three girls were walking with a hint of fear beginning to show on their faces. There was a girl with hair that started purple, but turned blue after a while. She was accompanied by a girl with a spiky headband making a ponytail out of her dark pink hair, and a girl with white and black striped hair.

"Are you sure that he's down here, Violet?" the girl with the sunrise hair asked.

"Trust me, Pixel, he's definitely here. Why else would he promise us eternal friendship?" Violet said with confidence in her smile. "You want to be friends forever, don't you?"

"Y-Yeah, but this really isn't the best place to discuss how to maintain a friendship," she then turned to the third girl of the group. "Don't you agree, Photo Finish?"

"While zis place is dark and secretive, the seriousness on zat man's face was undeniable," Photo Finish responded. "If he has a way to make friends into eternal friends, zen I'm willing to know his secret..."

As soon as the girls walked into the middle of an open area of the alleyway, the hooded man appeared from the shadows, brandishing the Staff of Time. He looked at each of the three girls and let out a smile of his own.

"Greetings, Photo Finish, Pixel Pizazz, and Violet Blurr. I trust you have been thinking about my offer?" he said as he introduced himself to the group.

"Yes. We've been thinking long and hard about it, and we've come to the agreement that your idea sounds wonderful," Violet spoke for the whole group. "If you truly have a way to make us into friends forever, then we'd be more than willing to see it..."

"You have chosen very wisely, Snapshots. Forgive my large knowledge on you, but you see, I've had all the time in the world to see your reputation at Canterlot High," the hooded man said as he held the staff out for all three of the girls to see. "You three grow old, and your friendship is beginning to crumble as we speak. I have forseen the future, and precisely in two years time after you leave CHS, you three will forget all about each other, and be doomed to spend the rest of your lives alone..."

"Is that for real?" Pixel asked suspiciously. "We'd never lose each other, not even when we leave CHS. We'd always stick by each other, no matter what."

"I have met many other ponies who said exactly the same thing, girls. And after seeing their futures, I saw that they were wrong," the man said as he began to spin the staff counter-clockwise. "Luckily for them, they were given salvation from their fates, and I gave them friendships that lasted forever and ever. And now, Photo Finish, Pixel Pizazz, and Violet Blurr, you shall join the others I have granted salvation, and spend an eternity with as many friends as you can possibly imagine!"

The staff suddenly fired three white beams at the girls, striking them square in their chest areas. Each one of them felt like they were changing altogether. They felt like they were losing their strength, and losing their mental capacities at the same time. To accompany their losses, they were also beginning to shrink down and get shorter with each passing section. The last thing that they let out before the transformation's completion were three deafening screams.

"What was that?" Twilight could immediately hear the screams of three girls echoing across the town. "It sounded like three innocent girls..."

"It came from downtown!" Sunset said, leading the group towards the screams. "Come on, everyone! If we're fast, we can bag this punk before he can mess up time even more!"

Each of the girls nodded their heads and charged off with Sunset towards the noise that they had heard. If Sunset's assumptions were right, and this criminal was altering the flow of time, then they were truly in grave peril.

After a while of running, the girls finally arrived at the dark alley where the Snapshots had walked down. The alley itself was quite large, big enough for the entire group to barely squeeze together and walk down as a group. Twilight and Sunset looked quite serious and began to lead the group into the alley.

"Alright girls, let's see if we can find this time traveller and give him a beatdown the size of an apple tree..." Applejack said as the group slowly but surely entered the dark alley to find the thief who had taken the Staff of Time.

"Umm, can we come back later, girls?" Fluttershy's shy attitude began to kick in when she saw the darkness of the alley begin to intensify. "There's all kinds of scary things in an alley like this, including spiders, rats, and drug dealers..."

"It's alright, Fluttershy. You can hold onto my hand for support," Rainbow Dash held out her hand and saw Fluttershy immediately grab onto it. "Whatever's down here is gonna be sorry it messed with The Rainbooms..."

At last, the girls arrived at the exact location where The Snapshots and the hooded man with the Staff of Time had been talking. They surveyed the entire area, but found nothing of use to them. Not even the shadows harboured a clue.

"This creep is much more dastardly then I thought," Sunset said, thinking about how evil the thief had become over the latest things that he had done. "I mean, stealing an artifact, possible disruption of the timeline, and now kidnapping Canterlot High Students? This guy deserves to go to the sun once he gets taken back to Equestria; or at the very least, sent to Tartarus for his crimes..."

"Ohmygosh, girls! Look!" Pinkie Pie suddenly pulled up a pair of glasses, a spiked headband, and two pigtail accessories with weird designs.

Sunset gasped with horror when she identified the items that Pinkie Pie had shown her. "Those belong to Photo Finish, Pixel Pizazz, and Violet Blurr! The thief stole them too! This is horrible..."

"Yeah! Without those three, who's going to write CHS's weekly newspaper?" Pinkie said.

"This isn't about newspaper, Pinkie. Someone's stealing our friends, and trying to scare us, but I can assure you that we'll find this creep, and we'll bring him to justice!" Rainbow Dash fist-pumped as she gave a motivational pep talk to her friends.

Meanwhile, the hooded man was standing on top of a roof, looking down at each of The Rainbooms with a serious glare in his eyes. He used the Staff of Time to stop it for a brief instance so that he knew what he was facing.

"Hmm... Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Sunset Shimmer," he said to himself. "From what I've seen, the six girls stopped Sunset Shimmer, then befriended her afterwards. Six and a half months later, Sunset joined their little friend group to stop The Dazzlings, the band name of the three sirens that Starswirl the Bearded banished eons ago..."

"This could be trouble..." the man said to himself as he rubbed the Staff of Time in his hands. "Those cretins are going to ruin everything, which is why I'll have to take them out. They don't know it yet, but their age is their greatest enemy. And once I eliminate it, The Rainbooms will be out of the picture, and friendship will be saved forever!"

The mysterious hooded man picked up three small figures and concealed them in his cloak. Then, he leapt down and looked at Twilight and Sunset, who were still frozen in time. "So run along now, my sweet little Rainbooms. Soon your curses will be broken, and I shall give you all of the friends you could ever want!" he opened up another portal and leapt through it with the three figures, starting up time again once his portal had vanished along with him.

Once time started up again, Twilight felt a chill in the air, as if it was foreboding that she would eventually succumb to the thief's power. She shivered and kneeled down slightly, grabbing the attention of all of her friends.

"What's wrong, Twilight?" Sunset asked, seeing Twilight's slight distress appear out of nowhere.

"I don't know, Sunset, I just got a little chill..." Twilight said, getting up slowly. "It's as if something just looked at me and told me that there's absolutely no hope for me or my friends..."

"We need to find this thief, and soon. He's got The Snapshots now, and it's only a matter of time before he strikes again!" Pinkie said, then laughed. "Get it, a matter of time?"

"PINKIE!" everyone shouted at her.

"This is no laughing matter, Pinkie Pie. If this thief isn't stopped, who knows? You might be his next victim, and then you'd never be able to throw parties or make your friends laugh ever again!" Twilight said, making Pinkie understand just how dire the problem was.

"That... time-warping... friend-stealing... JERK!" Pinkie's rage grew quite rapidly once the thought of her bringing no more parties of laughter sunk into her mind. "When I get my hands on that punk, he's gonna wish he never dared to threaten me, my friends, or my parties!"

"Good to know you're with us, Pinkie," Applejack said, putting her hands on Pinkie's shoulders to calm her down. "Time is of the essence, pun not intended, and this varmint has to show himself eventually..."

"Yes, but until then, we're stuck at an impasse," Twilight's expression grew dire. "We're dealing with someone who has complete control of all of time itself, and will probably try to use that to take away all of our friends!"

To Be Continued...

Chapter 3: Losing Friends

Once Twilight and Sunset arrived at the park, they immediately saw Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. However, Sunset's messages had been confirmed to be true after all; Applejack was absent, as if she had vanished without a trace.

"Hi, girls," Twilight greeted the girls rather disappointedly. "I guess you've all heard about it as well..."

"Yeah, we know," Rainbow Dash wasn't mad or disappointed with the news. In fact, her emotions seemed to be non-existent. "We tried calling Applejack on the phone, but her voicemail was changed into the one Celestia and Luna kept getting."

"We then tried going to visit the poor dear in person, but when we went up to Sweet Apple Acres, she was gone completely," Rarity said. "All that could be seen were her garish hats and country clothes, and the bass she cherished..."

"How could Applejack possibly disappear?" Fluttershy said, holding back tears as best as she could. "She's one of our friends... who would do such a cruel and evil thing to her?" unable to hold it back anymore, she let out waterfalls of tears from her eyes. Her sorrow was met with hugs from Pinkie Pie and Rarity.

"Listen, Fluttershy, I know that it's sad. But right now, we can't lose hope," Sunset began to rub Fluttershy's cheeks in circular motions, causing the butter yellow girl to reduce her tears down to sniffles. "Applejack can't be gone forever, right? And if she is missing, then we'll just have to start looking for her..."

"But where do you think we should start looking?" Rainbow Dash asked once Fluttershy had calmed down.

"I'm not sure, but I'm certain that we can find some clues somewhere. Are there any sources of news in this world?" Twilight asked.

"There's newspapers and radio, but people these days just usually look it up on their phones and computers," Pinkie Pie said, pulling out a rectangular tablet. "And then you have these things. Just use your fingers and you can do all kinds of amazing things. The news is just one of them, but I usually download games where you have to match candies and bake cake." Pinkie then handed Twilight the tablet.

Twilight looked at the tablet with curiosity. She had never seen such a device before and peered closely at each different application. Taking in what Pinkie Pie had said, Twilight used her finger to tap one of the boxes. Looking at the one for newspapers, Twilight opened it up and saw a bunch of articles appear in front of her eyes.

"Whoa... incredible..." Twilight marvelled at how advanced the technology was in the Human World. "To think that Equestria hasn't seen devices like this yet..."

"So, what do you see, Twilight?" Sunset asked as her friends leaned in to get a closer look at the news. If there was anything that they could find together, then they would be one step closer to uncovering the truth behind the disappearance of Applejack and the other students.

"Well, all of the news does look enticing, but none of it ties into the mystery at hand..." Twilight said as she peered at each different event. "However, there is one that I have my eyes on right now..."

"Oh? And what is it, Twilight?" Rarity asked.

"Look here," Twilight tapped on the news that she was interested in. Once she had done, the news took up the whole tablet's screen. "In the wake of the kidnappings, a rather large number of newborns were delivered to the city's new orphanage. Though the person who gave these babies wishes to remain anonymous, they said, and I quote: Children of this age deserve all of the finest treatment, the best care, and the greatest amount of friends they could ever wish for..."

"How does reading about a generous person donating infants to an orphanage have anything to do with this mystery?" Rarity asked whilst tilting her head.

"Let's think back for a second here, Rarity. The voicemail said to call the students when they grow up again," Twilight reminded the group. "All of the students who went missing had this voicemail, and they were all involved in this kidnapping... And if I know anything about this wave of missing students, the man who stole the Staff of Time has to be at the center of it all. There's no-one else that could have stolen the students and made them disappear without a trace..."

"Unless that man's part of a really mean mafia group! Then there'd be perfectly good reason as to why the students would have vanished," Pinkie Pie spoke up. "That man could have made the students sleep with the fishes, or have them take a nap in a car."

"But then, why would there be a sudden increase in the number of babies at the city's orphanage?" Twilight found an interesting point in their investigation. "I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure that people in this world can't just have babies all of a sudden. Something's not right..."

Wait a second... The message said to call them when they grow up again, and the man with the Staff of Time told me that age was a curse that everyone was afflicted with... Twilight began to think to herself. Are these kidnappings and the baby donations related in a way? And if so, how is that mysterious man even doing it? I need to find out more before I come to an answer. But for now, me and the girls will just have to keep looking and finding clues...

"Do you think that there's something fishy about this article, Twilight?" Sunset looked at each different paragraph. "I mean it looks like a regular paragraph to—" when she used her finger to scroll down to read more, she saw a rather shocking picture. A mysterious figure was giving the orphanage a baby that bore a striking resemblance to Applejack "—me..."

"Applejack?!" the girls all looked at the picture with their eyes widened. The sight of one of their friends as an infant was a complete shock to them all.

"Why is she a baby? And why is she a cute one at that?" Pinkie Pie said, remaining slightly energetic, despite her reaction to the picture.

"When did this article come out, Sunset?" Twilight asked.

"Today!" Sunset pointed to the date of when the article was published. The date was clear as day: May 28, 2015.

"But how is that possible?!" Twilight looked shocked beyond belief, then gasped when she thought of an explanation. He must have taken Applejack, and regressed her age with something. Then, when he turned Applejack into a baby, he must have opened up another time portal and delivered her to the orphanage the night before. There's no other way!

"Girls, the situation just became dire. I think that this man will likely steal you away one by one, in the dead of night when we can't be together," Twilight said. "He spoke to me last night and said that he would see me again, when you've all been taken. He said that he would do the same thing to Sunset Shimmer right in front of my eyes, and that I would have no choice but to willingly accept his methods and be re-united with you all..."

"If we split up, it could very well be the last time we see one of us again," Sunset said, taking Twilight's statements into account. "This man could strike when we least expect it, and use the Staff of Time to stop everything else in place so that we can't help each other out. And before we'd even know, he'd steal us away..."

"So, splitting up's a big no-no now?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Yes," Twilight said. "Anyone's absence could very well leave them open to being stolen away by the mysterious man, robbed of all of their friendships and regressed to make new ones..."

"But how are we going to stick together if that man has time on his side?!" Rainbow Dash asked, throwing her hands out in frustration. "I can't believe that that stupid thing even works here!"

"Well, believe it or not, Rainbow Dash, we're all at great risk now, and anyone could be next. Even Celestia and Luna are in danger of losing their age..." Twilight told them. "If any of you split up, and you see a man with the Staff of Time, run away as fast as you can, and don't even bother listening to what he has to say. He'll only bait you into giving up your friendships so that he can transform you to an infantile state..."

"Alright, girls. We move as one now," Rarity said as each of the girls got into a tight group. "If anyone leaves, the man will take them away from us. So, if one person needs the toilet, then we all do. Understand?"

"Good idea, Rarity," Twilight smiled. "If we're all together at the same time, then that man won't be able to pick us off like cherries..."

All six of them walked together, moving towards another area of the city. With how dangerous the threat was becoming, they had every reason to be huddled to tightly together. However, they then wondered what the man's ambitions were, and the reason why they thought he was turning their friends into babies.

The group walked into a mall together. Seeing that there was such a large amount of space in a place like this, they thought that it was in their best interest to loosen up their huddle. Though the shops did look interesting to them all, they all had to decide that they would enter each one together, instead of splitting up to do their own personal business.

"I always love coming here, you know," Pinkie Pie sighed in content as she looked at the mall. "Shops for almost everything, crowds of people talking about stuff, and the food they serve in the food court is just heavenly... In fact, I can just smell the cotton candy right now..."

"We can get something to eat later, Pinkie Pie," Rainbow Dash said. "Right now, we need to make sure that we're altogether, and to make sure that that one incident with Applejack last night was just a one-off. If it wasn't, then there's a high chance that any of us, even me, could be next..."

"Twilight, do you think that the man's going to try and steal us away when it turns to night?" Fluttershy asked with slivers of worry beginning to show on her face. "We can't stay together forever, and we will have to go to our own houses eventually. So there's really no point in us being together forever..."

"We'll drag this day out as long as possible, Fluttershy. With all that's happened, we have to stay as close to each other as possible now," Sunset said, alleviating Fluttershy of her worries the best that she could. "Going home might be dangerous, but we need to make sure we don't lose anyone else before the day's done."

"Hey, check it out, girls..." Twilight said, looking at a mysterious tent in one of the parts of the mall. "What do you think that tent's doing there?"

"Hold on! If we're checking that thing, we'll do it together as friends," Twilight reminded them. "If just one person goes in there, it could very well be a trap for them."

"Alright. Let's do this..." Rainbow Dash said as the whole group began to walk towards the tent.

Once they got inside, a certain fragrance hit their noses. It was a scent of rosemary, tied in with another scent that smelt partially foul, but didn't ruin the scent too much for them. They could see a table and a number of cushions around the table. On the table was a crystal ball with clouds inside, being used by a man in a hood.

"Ahh... Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Sunset Shimmer... The stars told me that you would arrive here today," the man said as he pulled his hands off of his crystal ball. "I am here to tell your futures, and all for nothing..."

"A fortune-teller?" Twilight asked.

"Correct. My name should not be spoken, as it will go against my way and damage the futures that are laid out for each of you," he said. "Which of you wishes to know what the future has in store for you?"

"Tell our futures?" Rainbow Dash scoffed. "What a load of—"

"Me first!" Pinkie Pie's hand shot straight up and she quickly sat down on the cushions. Now she was sitting in front of the mysterious fortune-teller and his crystal ball.

"Pinkie Pie, what are you doing?" Twilight said through a closed mouth.

"Aww, lighten up, Twilight. He's just an honest man hoping to make us entertained by guessing our futures," Pinkie said with a smile. "I say that everyone should make people happy, not just me. And that's something you can take to the bank!"

"You have chosen very wisely, Pinkamena Diane Pie..." the man put one of his hands on the crystal ball, seeing the clouds return. "Now then, to know your future, I must ask you to hold my other hand, so that the stars can align themselves and allow me to see into your future..."

Without hesitation, Pinkie grabbed onto the man's hand and held it rather tight.

"Thank you, Pinkie..." the man then held out a third hand from beneath the hand on the ball, showing that the hand on the ball was a fake. "You will now be shown the future..." the man's real hand swung the Staff of Time, making Pinkie Pie gasp when she saw it.

"Girls! He's got that spooky staff!" Pinkie spoke to her friends, but was shocked to see that they weren't even blinking or gasping in fright. "Uhh? Hello? Girls?" she waved her hand in front of their faces, but there was still no response.

"Do not bother. I have stopped time," the man said, pulling off his cloak. "Your friends are still under the impression that I am reading your future, and they have been stopped at the precise moment when I was about to reveal it to them all..."

"What did you do with Applejack?!" Pinkie Pie remembered that he was the one who stole Applejack now that he wielded the Staff of Time.

"Relax yourself, Pinkie. I have done no harm to her whatsoever," he said in a serene tone. "Applejack has been saved from her curse. And once you listen to my words, you too will be freed."

"Nuh-uh! Twilight said that you were a big meanie pants and that I wouldn't even have to listen to you!" Pinkie said. "Not even cakes and balloons are gonna win me over, you jerk!"

"Twilight is a commoner who has no grasp on the concept of friendship!" the man said, making Pinkie gasp. "She believes in unstable friendships that will crumble away with age. Even now, you and your other teenagers will mature into adults, and when you do, your friendships will instantly be destroyed. The only real life-forms that can grasp the concept of age are babies, toddlers, and children. Teenagers and adults will only walk down a path of heartbreak and misery as each of their friends leave them!"

"Not gonna happen!" Pinkie said, pointing a finger at the man. "We'd never lose each other, not even when we're miles away from each other and too wrapped up in work to see each other!"

"That is what you believe in, but because of this, you have lost Applejack to the power of time," the man said, watching Pinkie's expression suddenly change to a mournful one. Seeing his acquaintance was about to cry, he walked over to her. "However, you can still have her back if you want..."

"What do you mean by that?" Pinkie asked through a sniffle.

"I mean, I have the power to not only bring Applejack back to you, but also the power to give you as many friends as you could possibly imagine..." the man said as he held up the staff. "I assume that Twilight Sparkle has already told you of the Staff of Time, correct?"

"She said that there was also a third property, one that was lost when my pony self accidentally damaged the book on it..." Pinkie said. "But what can a third property do with reuniting me with Applejack and the other students?"

"The Staff of Time's mystical third property is hard to understand, but in a long-story-short way, I can reverse or accelerate your age by manipulating your own timeline," he explained. "In your words, with a magical power, I can turn you into a baby, or make you an old lady with the power of this staff. This power will reunite you with Applejack, and bring back all of the students that were taken away from you and The Rainbooms..."

"But if I choose to be turned into a baby, you'll have to promise that you'll bring my real friends back as well." Pinkie Pie said, with as much honesty as she could muster.

"I promise you, Pinkie Pie. I shall bring all of The Rainbooms along with me once they too see the light..." the man said. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye..."

"Twilight, Sunset, Dashie, Flutters, Rares... I'm sorry to do this, but he makes a good point..." Pinkie said to her friends, who were still frozen in time. "Do it. Youthen me and give me lots of friends, mister..."

"Excellent choice, Pinkie Pie. I'm glad that you saw it my way..." the man smiled and spun the staff counter-clockwise again. "And when you think about it, your new life as an infant isn't bad. There's always going to be someone to look after you and take care of you, whereas your teenage self had to fend for herself before all of this..."

"Yeah, and when I'm a kid, I'm no work and all play. It's pretty much my dream every day to have a life like that," Pinkie smiled as she envisioned what was about to happen. "Well, besides the dream where I was frolicking through the land of the cakes and trying to defeat the dragon of mouldy food with my dream party cannon..."

Both Pinkie and the man shared a laugh at that remark.

"Alright, Pinkie Pie. The staff is ready to begin warping your age," the man said once the staff glowed bright white as he spun it. "Now, you might feel a slight tingling sensation when the magic strikes you. And when it's all over, you'll suffer from loss of voice, balance, bladder control, intelligence, memories, and hair. But other than that, you'll be perfectly fine..."

The Staff of Time finally fired a white bolt at Pinkie Pie's stomach, making her giggle as it began to transform her. As she was laughing, she was levitated off of the ground, and she began to feel the effects of the staff already kicking in. As Pinkie Pie shrunk down, her clothes rapidly changed from one outfit to another, one that matched the age she was wearing it in. Her hair also shrunk as she changed, and her teeth began to retract into her gums. Pinkie's laughter could still be heard, but it was quickly silenced when a big flash of light enveloped her.

The man walked over to Pinkie Pie, seeing that she had been regressed to an infant. She was now wearing a plain pink t-shirt and a diaper, and didn't wear any shoes on her feet. Her eyes had changed as well, and were now nothing more than massive blue dots. Her youthened state was suckling on her left thumb, feeling quite content as she did so. Seeing that his task had been completed, the man picked up the baby Pinkie Pie and opened up a time portal.

"Come on, little Pinkie," he said in a calm voice as he slowly began carrying Pinkie towards the portal. "You've been freed now, and I've got a nice nursery with lots of friends waiting for you. Does that sound good? Yes it does..." as he made Pinkie giggle in her smaller state, he jumped through the portal with her and started up time again after he had left.

Suddenly, Twilight, Sunset, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash were hit with a bright flash of light, and they covered their eyes to try and readjust. However, when the light had disappeared, both Pinkie Pie and the hooded man had disappeared from their sight.

"Pinkie!" Twilight shouted in shock when she noticed that her friend had vanished.

"You got her phone number, Sunset?" Rainbow Dash asked. "If we can call her, then we might just know what happened!"

Sunset quickly turned her phone on, opened a contacts page, and tapped on Pinkie Pie's name. The phone rang for a while, but no answer came through.

"Hello, Rainbooms," the man's voice came through on the phone. "If you're looking for Pinkie Pie, call her when she grows up again..."

"You monster!" Sunset shouted back through the phone. "What have you done with—"

"I shall speak only to Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship. This is a matter that only she will understand." the voice said as Sunset put the phone onto its' speaker setting and gave it to Twilight.

"You have me now. What do you want?" Twilight calmly addressed the phone.

"Twilight Sparkle, now do you see what I'm trying to accomplish? Friendships are in jeopardy, and your friends blindly believe that their friendships will remain throughout their aging process," the man said so that all of the girls could hear him. "There are many things that friendship can be made eternal by, but you don't understand them yet," his voice was venomous, yet quite calm. "Tell me, are you familiar with a miss Starlight Glimmer?"

"I don't even want to remember that thief anymore," Twilight said to the man. "Why bring her into this conversation?"

"She and I share the same visions. Friendships cannot be blindly maintained by the friends themselves. They need to understand that there are certain principalities that ultimately leave their friendships in danger," the man explained. "Differences can destroy friendships, like she had envisioned. However, I envision that friendships are doomed anyways, because we are all cursed to grow up and become mature."

"Starlight and I have ways on making friendships last forever, no matter the consequences. You might have stopped equality, Twilight Sparkle, but can you stop the unstoppable process of age?" he said.

"No, but I can sti—"

"Then you and your friends are doomed to lose each other and your friendships along with them!" the man shouted back, making Twilight drop the phone onto the table. "Everyone has friendships that are only temporary in the end. Even your Rainbooms have friendships that will end with time. And if you can't see that for yourself, then I shall show you first-hand..."

"I don't follow." Twilight said back.

"You will know my suffering, Twilight. Just as I have lost all of my friends with age, you shall lose all of The Rainbooms with you and Sunset's age!" the man's voice got Twilight and Sunset to bare serious expressions of fury. "One by one, I shall take away Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. Then I shall take you, Sunset Shimmer!" he made Sunset grunt with his remark.

"Finally, when you are all alone and friendless, you shall see what I have suffered, Twilight Sparkle!" the man was about to finish. "After you see all of your friends as drooling infants, you will be so torn apart by sadness that you will have to join them! And once my pain has been shared, I shall relieve you of your burden and give you youth, your friends back, and sustain your friendships for all of time!"

To Be Continued...

Author's Note

Honestly, I'm sad that this story has been getting less attention than my other stories. If it's not too much trouble, do you think you could send some of your friends and followers to this story? I'd appreciate that.

But anyways, if you liked this chapter, be sure to comment down below and tell me your thoughts on it.

I shall try to keep you entertained for as long as I can. But for now, just keep reading and commenting!

Until the next time, this is Shadowmane PX-41, signing off!

Chapter 4: Nightmares and Limits

Twilight and Sunset were seen in bed together. Ever since Pinkie Pie and Applejack were lost to the mysterious man and the Staff of Time, they were beginning to feel anxious about who would be next. Because their opponent wielded the staff and he was a human, that gave him more of an advantage over the two of them, but they were too worried to even think about it.

As the two girls huddled up together, their bodies were shaking wildly. The stress and insecurity that they felt was understandable, as the man could stop, travel through, and even use time to youthen his victims. However, they were unaware of the third property. And the only ones who knew it were immediately transformed into infants upon being told it.

But what truly frightened Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer was that their friends would be taken away from them first. They could have very well said their goodbyes to one of their friends for the last time, and that next morning, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, or Fluttershy would have been taken and youthened down to a newborn due to the staff's power. After their friends were all taken, the man would be coming after the both of them last. This struck more into Twilight's mind, as if she were turned into a baby, there would be no-one to stop the man's crusade. With that in mind, Twilight believed that she was facing the toughest challenge she had ever fought.

"Twilight, I can't sleep..." Sunset said as she tightly held onto Twilight's body and shuddered.

"I know, Sunset. The feeling's mutual..." Twilight responded. "Nothing in this world can stand up to that guy. He's got all of time at his beck and call, so it's only natural that we're both frightened out of our wits..."

"And now that he's taken two of our friends, we can't stop him!" Sunset added to the severity of the situation by reminding Twilight of an important fact. "We need all of your friends to activate the Magic of Friendship. Now that Applejack and Pinkie Pie are babies, we can't call upon the magic to take him out!"

"I'm scared, Sunset..." Twilight pulled Sunset into a tight hug and began to shed tears. "I'm suffering Hypnophobia just thinking about who could be next to go. Rarity... Fluttershy... or even Rainbow Dash could be gone forever in the morning."

"Hypnophobia?" Sunset asked.

"The fear of going to sleep," Twilight explained. "There are many symptoms that come with this fear, such as rapid breathing, trembling, drowsiness, confusion, and a bunch of others."

"So wait, hold on a sec... The fear of sleep, has symptoms that make you want to go to sleep?" Sunset said, then showed even more fright. "That's even more terrifying!"

"Well, we all have to shut our eyes eventually," Twilight told her reluctantly. "Without sleep, we can't concentrate on our goals. And if we can't focus on defeating that man, he could very well take us all when we least expect it, and before we make a plan to intercept his next friend robbery..." before Twilight could even say anything else, she was already falling asleep.

Twilight's body became motionless as the feeling of sleep washed over her. Her breathing became shallow, and her muscles loosened up.

Twilight eventually awoke in a black plane of nothingness, with no ground, sky, or any other forms of life as far as her eyes could see. Slowly but surely, Twilight rose to her feet and immediately discovered that she was hovering in the middle of the void of darkness.

"W-Where am I?" Twilight said to herself, then noticed that she was all alone. "Oh no! Sunset?! Girls?! Anyone there?!" her isolation was beginning to show her fear, a fear that only grew more and more as she desperately looked for her friends.

Twilight flew forward into another portion of the world of darkness, and saw a dim light off in the distance. Think that that light was one of her friends, she compelled herself to travel towards it. The light got brighter and brighter the more she got closer to it, and she eventually covered her eyes to avoid being blinded by its' radiance.

Twilight eventually saw the light dim down so that she could see. However, what she saw was was truly set the stage for her worries. She was looking at a number of doors in a complex maze of corridors. Each and every door had a small window that led into a room, and had the names of the students from CHS engraved on the plaque underneath the window. Whilst some were grouped together, there were some who were separate from the rest.

"What is this place?" Twilight asked herself as her feet touched the ground. She began to walk down the corridor until she saw a door with an eye-catching name on the plaque. "Sunset Shimmer?" Twilight was about to look into the room, when something else grabbed her attention. "Donated to the orphanage by a mysterious man, four months old?"

Twilight looked through the window inquisitively. True to the plaque, Sunset Shimmer was inside the room. However, her new room was a nursery with bright and colourful wallpaper that had her Cutie Mark decorated all over it. There were a variety of toys that suited the age Sunset was in in her current state, but she was fast asleep in the crib that was located at the end of the wall.

"No way..." Twilight said as she looked more and more at the baby Sunset Shimmer. "I can't let this happen!"

She eventually pulled herself away from the window and walked down another corridor with doors at each side. Just like before, each and every door had the names of each different student or group of students from Canterlot High School engraved on golden plaques, as well as what age they were and how they arrived at the orphanage. Twilight was tempted to look at each different room, but she eventually stopped herself and continued on.

In the end, she finally found a room that was very fear-invoking to her. The room's plaque clearly said, "The Rainbooms, abandoned by their parents at the age of one. Rescued by an anonymous citizen. Children inside: Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight Sparkle." seeing as this one had the names of all of her friends, as well as her own name on the plaque, she looked through the window and saw something dreadful.

The room was much bigger than the other rooms that she had come across, and there was more stuff to play with inside. There was one large crib, able to hold Twilight and all of her friends at the same time. The walls were rainbow-coloured and had all kinds of childish decorations stretching from wall to wall; rainbow paper chains and hanging stars were merely a few of the things that the walls had. Despite how infantile the room looked, Twilight saw there were two figures speaking to each other inside. One of them was the man who had taken the Staff of Time, and the other one was herself.

"So, Twilight Sparkle, now do you see how much better off your friends are?" the man asked as he put each one of Twilight's friends into the crib and tucked them in. "In this state, they no longer have to worry about any of the trivial things in life, such as fending for themselves, or struggling to answer questions with hard-to-get answers. Thanks to the Staff of Time, the only directive your friends have now is to play, play and let me and the generous folk of this orphanage look after them..."

"My friends..." the Twilight in the room lightly reached out for each of them, then pulled her hand back in a defeated motion.

"Why did you suddenly pull your hand back? I can return them to you, if you wish..." the man said as he moved away from the crib and picked up the Staff of Time once more. "Simply agree to lose all of your age, and you and your friends shall be reunited forever. You won't have to worry about any hard or laborious things ever again..."

"I've lost everything that I ever had..." the Twilight in the room said, hanging her head. "So at this point, I have nothing to lose by accepting this offer... I now know your pain, and I wish to be freed of it; to be freed of my age, and to reunite with each of my friends..."

"What am I saying..." the Twilight outside looked inside the room in a state of disbelief. "I would never give into that madman just because I'm friendless... Or, would I?" she was unsure whether or not that this particular event was a nightmare, or a vision of future events.

"Thank you so much, Your Highness," the man said as he begun to spin the staff once more, ready to regress Twilight just like the rest of her friends. "By accepting this offer, you now understand the true meaning of friendship. And because of it, your new infant body will be able to make so many more friends that it will make your previous years seem like a bad memory..."

The Twilight outside of the room was looking with growing shock. The version of her inside of the room was giving up and surrendering to the man's staff. She watched as the light hit her, then constantly changed her outfits to suit her rapidly decreasing age. And with a final blast of light, she watched as the man picked up the infant version of herself and put her into the crib alongside her friends.

"And now, you and your friends truly understand the meaning of friendship," the man inside spoke to the infant Twilight, who was letting her eyelids droop very slightly. "Now that you are free, and safe from the dangers of the grown-up world, the number of friends you have and will make will skyrocket."

"No..." the Twilight outside was mortified with the sight she was looking at. She and all of her friends had been turned into infants, and this was the fate that awaited her if she was unable to stop the man and his Staff of Time. "NOOOOOOOO!" she screamed, causing the world around her to shatter like glass.

Twilight immediately jolted out of bed and landed on the floor face-first. When she did, she realised that it had all just been a nightmare, and that she was still grown-up and sleeping with Sunset Shimmer. After shaking her head, she found that it was almost eight in the morning.

"Twilight? Did you have another nightmare?" Sunset asked as she climbed out of bed to help Twilight get back onto her feet.

"Y-Yeah, I did..." Twilight stammered as she took Sunset's hand and slowly stood up. "I saw this orphanage with lots of doors. Each door had a plaque on it, as well as the names of all of the students that went missing. Not just that, I saw a room where you were an infant, sleeping in a crib like the others..." she suddenly stopped and began to worry about how Sunset would react to the last part of her nightmare. "And to end the nightmare, I was in a room where I was talking to the man who wielded the Staff of Time. He'd taken all of my other friends and broke my will. I accepted his philosophies, and he youthened me down to join them..."

Sunset couldn't think of anything to say in response to the nightmare. She was unaware that Twilight had suffered so much trauma during the night. However, that didn't stop her from putting her hand on Twilight's back and patting it gently.

"You were very brave to tell me straight away, Twilight," Sunset said with a compassionate smile on her face. She looked at Twilight in the eyes and spoke in a very proud tone of voice, "The sooner you tell your friends about your fears, the better they can help you overcome them. Otherwise, you could leave your fears to fester, and it could ultimately bring heartbreak and disaster to you, and them..."

Twilight took Sunset's words to heart. "You're right, Sunset. I have been letting fear cloud my mind since that guy showed up," her expression then turned into one of courage and determination. "Together, we can stop my nightmares from becoming a reality. We can— no, we will stop that man, and save my friends from his evil desires!"

Twilight's motivational speech then reminded Sunset of something. "Hold on, Twilight. We need to do a quick check on who's still here..." she pulled out her phone and brought up the phone numbers for Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. "I'll call Fluttershy first. Let's just hope she's still answering..."

The phone rang for at least twenty seconds. Each time the noise of the phone hit Sunset's ears, her face became more and more concerned. Fluttershy was one of the most vulnerable of the group, so it would have been no surprise that it would have taken this long to call her.

Eventually, the phone stopped, and Fluttershy's voice said, "Oh. Good morning, Sunset." making Sunset sigh in relief.

"Morning, Fluttershy," she said through the phone. "Did you have a good sleep last night?"

"Well, not really, to be honest. I was beginning to worry about who would take over my work at the shelter if I was abducted by that meanie," Fluttershy began to talk. "Then I felt terrified that he would show up at any given moment and snatch me away without even talking... I was awake for half of the night, and the other half, I was tossing and turning because of the nightmares that it gave me..."

"Twilight had the same problem, Fluttershy. She had nightmares that she would be unable to defeat the man and that we'd all be babies at his mercy," Sunset said in a calm and understanding tone. "But she was also brave enough to tell me these nightmares straight away, so that it was easier to understand rather than to leave it before it was too late."

"You're welcome, Sunset." Fluttershy said.

"Alright, I'll check in on Rarity and Rainbow Dash, then we'll get together to discuss a plan," Sunset told Fluttershy through the phone. "Alright, I'll see you later."

"Bye, Sunset. If the other girls are still alright, tell them that I said hi." Fluttershy hung up, causing the noise of the dial tone to replace her voice.

"Alright, so that's one girl safe," Sunset said as she then chose Rainbow Dash's phone number. "If Rainbow Dash is still grown-up, then that means by the process of elimination, Rarity will have been the next victim of the man and his staff..."

The phone rang again, but after ten seconds, Rainbow Dash answered it.

"Sup, Sunset?" Rainbow Dash said in her usual tone.

"Good morning, Rainbow Dash," Sunset said on the other side. "Just wanted to check in on you. You know, just so that guy with the staff didn't steal you away and turn you into a child." she said awkwardly.

"Nah, I'm fine, Sunset," Rainbow Dash began to speak. "If I was his next victim, the answer your phone would get would either be baby gibberish, or that evil voicemail that he leaves behind. One or the other."

"I've already called Fluttershy, and she's fine as well," Sunset said, then suddenly felt downhearted. "But that means that Rarity was stolen away from us..."

"Oh no... That poor, poor girl..." Rainbow's voice began to feel less enthusiastic and more concerned. "She's probably in that orphanage as we speak, being tended to by strangers she considers to be her caretakers. But on the bright side, at least now she won't complain about what she wears, no matter how garish her older self would consider it..."

"I'll try calling her just in case," Sunset told her. "But for now, I'll see you and Fluttershy later so that we can talk about our next move."

"Alright. I'll see ya there..." Rainbow Dash's voice trailed off as she hung up. The way it was low in pitch was a sign that she had lost her energy.

"Twilight, I hate to tell you this, but—" Sunset was stopped by one of Twilight's own hands.

"I know, Sunset. But we'll get her back somehow," Twilight said with a light smile. "You've taught me to never shy away, even when the odds are completely against you and you're playing with someone who has a stacked deck. Rarity might be gone, but we'll find her and change her back. I promise you..."

"Yeah, but there's something that's been bugging me lately..." Sunset hung her head.

"What is it?" Twilight asked, seeing Sunset's distress almost immediately.

"The guy wanted to share his pain with you, but he never said what his true motives were," Sunset explained. "What does he possibly have to gain from turning his victims into babies? There's just no connection to what his desires are."

"He said that he was trying to save friendships from being destroyed by age," Twilight then got a train of thought going and put her fingers to her chin. "But maybe, what if his desires are false? What if he's after something much darker than to youthen everyone he comes across? Much like how Starlight herself had some dark desires of her own, but didn't share them with us. She spoke of gathering Cutie Marks, but for what purpose? It's the exact same scenario with this man. He's turning everyone into infants, but he's also shrouding his true goals in mystery..."

"I get the feeling that we'll get our answer the next time we meet him. Likely, when he takes away the rest of our friends and makes us the only ones left..." Sunset said as she pulled her head back up and thought ahead. "But we'll find out in due time, won't we?"

"Maybe—" before Twilight could continue, Sunset's phone began to ring.

"Huh?" Sunset turned around and saw that someone was calling her. She pushed the green button that had a phone symbol on it and put it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Good morning, Sunset," Rarity's voice came from the other side of the phone. "I wish I could have called you sooner, but due to all those atrocious nightmares I had of me dressed in embarrassing baby clothes, it's taking an extra long time for me to curl my hair today..."

However, Sunset dropped her phone onto the bed in astonishment. Rarity was speaking to her, in her teenage voice no less. As she picked the phone back up, a number of thoughts ran through her mind. How is she still grown up? Why didn't the man's staff youthen her? He wanted to share his pain with Twilight, but here I am, talking to Rarity, as if she wasn't even in any danger to begin with...

"Rarity? You didn't see the man and the Staff of Time last night, did you?" Sunset asked for clarification. "Because I checked in with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash just moments ago, and they were perfectly fine as well..."

"Are they?" Rarity's voice came through in an interested tone. "But why? Why didn't that stranger try to turn them into infants like he always does? Were Pinkie Pie and Applejack just one-offs?"

"I don't know..." Sunset was having trouble bringing up any other emotions other than shock and curiosity. "But if he didn't strike then, then the Staff of Time must have limits. Limits which we have to find and invoke somehow if we stand a chance of beating him..."

To Be Continued...

Author's Note

Quite honestly, I'm sad that this story isn't getting as much attention as most of my other stories. And I guess adding it to the Age-Regression groups didn't help much as I saw it got five more downvotes ever since.

Even so, the ratio is still good, so that means it's still a decent story. But I think that it deserves a whole lot more attention than what it deserves. So if it's alright with you, could you please share the story around, maybe get your friends to read and comment on it a little? I'd appreciate that...

But anyways, I'll see you in the next chapter...

Chapter 5: The Victims of the Staff

The girls all gathered together at the park again, as it was their usual spot for thinking of ideas when they weren't in school. Even though there were only five of them left, they were still optimistic that today, they would have a plan for stopping the man and the Staff of Time's power.

"So, what gives?" Rainbow Dash shrugged when the five of them grouped together. "Didn't that creep say that he'd take us away one by one? Is he having a day off or something?"

"No, I don't think it's entirely like that, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said. "Some items from Equestria are powerful, but even they have their limits. Even the Elements of Harmony weren't the true source of our power in the end, as the Tree of Harmony is proof positive. If that same rule applies to the Staff of Time, then it's perfectly reasonable that we're all still in our current ages..."

"But how would we even know when that man reaches his limit?" Fluttershy asked, brushing some of the hair out of her eyes as she did so. "He's been awfully crafty with his abductions. Stealing Applejack whilst she sleeps, tricking Pinkie Pie into seeing the future, there's just no telling when, where, and even how he's going to strike next...

"That's true as well, Fluttershy. But we still can't show fear or worry," Twilight said as she curled her fingers into a fist. "That fiend stole away two of our best friends, and I believe that the friendship problem I was sent here to solve involves me defeating the man and taking the Staff of Time away from him..."

"But how do you plan on doing that, Twilight?" Rarity asked, feeling uncertain about what Twilight had planned. "That ruffian is capable of manipulating time to his every whim. Using it, he could have absconded to the farthest future, or the most ancient of historical periods! Not only that, but he also has the power to stop and start time as if it were the play and pause buttons on a DVD player! And let's not forget the fact that he used it to turn our dear Pinkie Pie and Applejack into newborn infants..." her emotions suddenly shifted dramatically. "Oh... those poor, helpless, scared little friends of ours..."

"I know that it's hard to swallow, Rarity. But I know how I can erase all of this damage," Twilight began to reveal her plan. "We simply have to take the Staff of Time, and intercept all of the times that man turned his guests into babies. By travelling through time and doing it, we can fix the past, and restore the present to the way it was before."

"Why not just take that staff and turn all of his victims into their regular ages in the present again?" Rainbow Dash asked, thinking that it was a better idea to do it in the present rather than jumping through different moments in time. "And another thing, won't it just be easier to just fix Applejack and Pinkie, then rainbow-laser him to the ground like the last times?"

"Rainbow Dash, have you ever dealt with a situation like this before?" Sunset spoke in a rather bemused tone.

"No, but I'm just saying that—"

"And would you like having to explain to the workers at the orphanage on who Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and all of the other baby students of CHS originally were?" Sunset's scolding words were quite powerful, and would have made anyone else in the situation flinch. "Trust me, it's better to jump through time and do it. If we just took the staff out of nowhere and randomly fixed the students whilst they're in the orphanage – or even after someone adopted them – then it would cause a lot of confusion."

"But even so, how are we gonna know when that guy comes again?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Simple. All of the people that he turns into babies are donated to a local orphanage where they can be raised. I assume that he thinks it's to save him the trouble of raising them all over again," Twilight began to put together a mental list of actions that the she presumed the man did with his victims. "However, he travels through time with each of his youthened guests, and he donates them to the orphanage the night before. If we can just hide at the orphanage until he tries donating another one, we should be able to sneak up on him and take the Staff of Time from right under his nose!"

"But how do we do that, Twilight?" Sunset asked. "We can't just expect to sit outside all evening, waiting for him to just magically show up with a new victim... Can we?"

"We can't," Twilight said, seeing the heads of all of her friends drop with the accompaniment of their disappointed groans. "But, we can assess the damage he's already done, and spend some time with all of the students that went missing," she said, getting the girls to look up again. "I have a plan, but it's going to be pretty tedious for you, Rainbow Dash..."

"How long could it be?" Rainbow Dash's attitude returned.

"Staying at the orphanage until sundown? That was your plan?!" Rainbow Dash put her hands to her face and slowly pulled them down off of it. "Now we've gotta just take care of babies until that jerk comes and makes another donation..."

"Yeah, but think about this positively, Rainbow Dash," Sunset began to talk. "We're right on his doorstep now. And when he tries to make another donation, we'll move in and swipe the Staff of Time from him whilst he's explaining to the workers who his victim is, how he found them, and the room they'll be sleeping in..."

"Alright, girls. Let's move in," Twilight said as she began to lead the group towards the orphanage's doors. The structure itself was quite huge, likely because of all of the donations that had been coming in recently. "And remember, to make sure that the staff don't see us as random people who want to just stare and play with children without adopting them, just make sure to tell each of them that the five of us are doing voluntary work. And if they say why, then just respond by saying that it's for a CHS project..."

The girls all walked into the orphanage's front doors and walked through. Once they were inside, they saw that the reception area was quite expansive, and had little keys that hung on the wall behind of the receptionist. Each key had a name engraved on it, so that it was easy to tell which key opened which door. Not only that, but the reception desk itself was in the middle of a U-shaped room with doors that led to stairs on the corridors behind the desk. There was someone sitting at the desk who was reading a newspaper, and closed it to address the group. Her hair was cream-coloured, and her skin was the colour of marshmallows.

"Hello," her words were spoken in a neutral-friendly tone as Twilight, Sunset, and their friends walked up to the desk. "My name is Guiding Light, and I'm the main supervisor here at the Canterlot Orphanage. Are you willing to make an adoption?"

"Hi. My name's Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends. Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Sunset Shimmer," Twilight said to Guiding Light. "We're here to do some voluntary work. You see, we're going through a certain project at Canterlot High School. And the teachers said that we could do some work with the kids at your orphanage to earn extra credit."

"We'll just be spending time with each of them. Speaking with them, trying to show them some chance that they'll be adopted by loving parents, give them some playtime, all of the usual things." Sunset explained.

"Well, that's good to hear, girls," Guiding Light said as she began to take down some of the keys from the wall behind her and place them on a large keyring. "Ever since that anonymous donor came to the city, we've been getting new kids almost every day. It's starting to take its' toll on some of the other staff here, even me."

"I don't suppose that the root cause of all your extra work came from the fact that all of the donations were infants, right?" Rarity asked as she watched more and more keys being added to the keyring. She was beginning to have second thoughts about Twilight's plan with all of the keys that were on that one ring, but she still kept her composure. "The newspapers just went wild for a story like that. A mysterious man, donating dozens of babies which he found, hanging on the brink of despair with no-one to love them? If he keeps this up, he could find himself on the city council for childcare..."

"Maybe he'd ask for some laws to make it illegal for parents to abandon their kids at such a young age..." Guiding Light said as she had stripped the top row of the keys, all of which were now on the keyring. "There are so many babies in this orphanage with tragic stories. Like Photo Finish, Pixel Pizazz, and Violet Blurr. The three of them were seen alone in the junkyard, left by some heartless parents who no longer loved them. Or the tale of Pinkie Pie, who was the only one who escaped from a chaotic fire with the help of that mysterious man..." suddenly, some tears began to fall from her eyes. "Who would do such horrible things to such sweet little kids like that?!"

"We're right there with ya, sister." Rainbow Dash said as she, Twilight, and Sunset put their hands on Guiding Light's shoulders to help her ease the pain. Although they didn't buy the stories that she had told them, they knew exactly the same pain that she had been told of.

"But that's enough of the sad stories for today," Guiding said as she picked off more of the keys and slipped them onto the keyring. "I suppose you'll be wanting to get on with your work now, won't you?"

"Yes please. The sooner we can get on with our project, the better," Twilight said as she watched Guiding Light give her the keyring at last. There were at least thirty keys on it when she held it in her hands, and it felt rather heavy. "Where should we start?"

"The children's bedrooms are from the third floor to the tenth floor," Guiding explained to the group. "The first floor is two large care rooms, designed to care for the children in every one of their needs. The two rooms are one in front of the other, and they separate the children by age. There's a room for the babies and toddlers, and one for the older kids. You'll be able to figure it out."

"And what's the second floor for?" Fluttershy raised a finger.

"That floor's the adoption review floor. That's where we take the kids when a couple comes by and wants to adopt them," Guiding Light furthered her explanation. "That floor is just a bunch of small rooms, able to house a member of staff, the kid up for adoption, and the potential mother and father who want to see them."

"Alright then, thanks for the directions." Sunset said as the group started to walk towards one of the doors.

"Have a good time up there, girls!" Guiding Light waved them off.

Twilight and Sunset opened the door, seeing a rather wide staircase on the other side. The hand supports were made of wood, and each stair was covered by a red carpet. Truly, it was made to feel welcoming to all, be it children or grown-up. The girls all walked towards the steps and began to walk upwards.

The first turn had taken them to a single set of double doors with a lock. There was a set of small windows for Twilight and the girls to see into the room, and the sound of children playing on the other side. Each of the girls' look through the window confirmed the noises that they had heard.

Twilight unlocked the doors and allowed each of the girls to walk inside. Once they were all in, they quickly shut the door and locked it tight so that the kids didn't get out of the room and cause chaos. Once the keys were put into Sunset Shimmer's jacket for safekeeping, the girls all got a look at the sight of the playful children.

Each of the kids in the were between the ages of eight and eleven, and they were quite wrapped up in their playtime. There were kids who were playing Tag, Hide-and-Seek, some ball games with their feet, and even a few games of leapfrog. There were large soft shapes in one corner of the room, and the kids were often able to pick them up and use them as larger playthings.

"You know, a lot of these kids look feisty," Rainbow Dash smiled as she watched some of the hyperactive kids running around without a care in the world. "They kinda remind me of that one kid back at school. Scootaloo, was it?"

Twilight and Sunset then noticed another set of doors on the other side of the room. They were much like the doors from earlier, but they had a rainbow frame, and had a number of childish stickers on the front of the door. Such childish designs could only lead to the fact that those doors led towards a similar version of the current room, but more geared towards the younger children, probably ages of months old to four years.

"Girls, I think that this room's the best place to start," Twilight said, walking towards the door at the end of the room, making sure not to get in the way of the children. "Guiding Light said that this room was for older children, and that this was a room in front of another room. If my memory serves me right – and it usually does – then this door leads to the room for babies and toddlers. And I'm going to hedge a guess that Applejack and Pinkie Pie are on the other side of it..."

"That's nice and all, Twilight, but I think that some of these kids here want to play with us," Fluttershy said as she was quickly greeted by a bunch of younger girls. "I don't want to say no to them, especially not since they're orphans..."

"You might be wanting that, Fluttershy, but I think it's better to see what that man did to our friends first." Rainbow Dash was about to head towards the door and open it herself, but she was stopped by one of Sunset's hands.

"Rainbow Dash. We have all of the time in the world," Sunset said, making Rainbow Dash relax her muscles and turn back towards the kids. A large group of kids was looking at her with eyes that wanted to play with her, and didn't want to let her leave just yet. "And besides, the man usually makes a donation at night, so we can afford to kill some time by playing with the older kids first..."

Rainbow Dash reluctantly sighed. "Okay, then. I suppose it couldn't hurt to put some smiles on the faces of these kids..."

Without warning, she was tackled to the ground by a group of cheering kids. The children didn't physically harm her, but they did hug her and tickle her in certain areas of her body. In the middle of it all, Rainbow Dash was lightly thrashing about, laughing as the children began to tickle some of the areas where she was the most ticklish.

"Well, looks like she's having fun," Sunset said as she looked at the fun that the kids were having with her friend. Little did she know that one of the other kids was lightly pulling on her legs. "Oh. Hello there, kid. What's your name?"

"My name's Shepherd's Delight," she let go of Sunset's legs and put her hands together. "Are you going to adopt us?"

"Well, I'm actually here for some volunteer work. My job here is to play with you all and get to know you all better," Sunset began to tell her the reason that she was with them. "I'm up for talking about anything. And if you want to play with me, just talk to me at any time. After a while, I'll be heading into the room with the babies and toddlers so that I can do the same thing with them."

"You mean that room at the other end of the room that the staff can only enter?" another kid asked as she walked up to Sunset. She had fuchsia skin, and poofy purple hair with beads in it. "I've only seen into that room for short amounts of time every day. And all I can see are brighter colours and toys that I'm sure we all grew out of..."

"Yes. That's exactly the one," Sunset said as she put her hand on the new kid's shoulder. "But before I go into that room, me and my friends thought that it would be nice to spend some time with you and the older kids first. And speaking of which, what's your name, sweetheart?"

"I'm Sugar Belle. I like to play with my hair, and I want to work in a cake shop when I grow up," she introduced herself whilst combing her hair with her fingers. "Hopefully I'll be adopted some day by a wonderful couple who love me more than my real parents."

"I'm sure you will, Sugar Belle. You just need to keep thinking positive, and keep up a happy-go-lucky attitude here at Canterlot Orphanage, and you should be adopted in no time." Sunset smiled as she knelt down to look Sugar Belle directly in the eyes. The peacefulness in her eyes was a sign that she didn't mean any harm to her, and that she wished her the best in the future.

"Thank you," Shepherd's Delight said as she held onto one of Sunset's hands whilst Sugar Belle held the other. "Do you think you could play with us now?"

"Of course, girls. Just name the game, and we'll do it together," Sunset was walked over to the nearby scattering of large soft shapes. With every step she took, she remembered the time when she was a child herself. "My name's Sunset Shimmer, by the way. It's nice to see you both."

Twilight watched as Sunset walked away from the group, then turned to see that Rainbow Dash had finally been given the freedom to sit down regularly. She then saw that Fluttershy and Rarity walked off to find some kids to play with, leaving her to herself so that she could pursue her own goal. Twilight walked closer to the door, but she was suddenly stopped by a pair of kids who had their hands covered in pencil colours.

"Hello," Twilight said as she sat down on the floor and put her back against the wall. It wasn't long before she was joined by four other children. "My name's Twilight Sparkle, and I'm going to be playing with you and the kids through that door over there for the day. So, what should we do first?"

One of the kids – who looked quite pale and shy from the looks of it – handed Twilight a book. She quickly took the book into her hands, seeing that it was the story of a boy who fell into a pond and went to an entirely new world.

"You want me to read to you?" Twilight finally figured out what the children wanted from her. Opening the book, Twilight smiled; she could never resist a good reading, especially not when she had a group of carefree kids as her audience. "Well, why not?" Twilight put the book to the first page. "I was a librarian before all of this happened, so I'm partial to any kind of book." looking back up at the kids, she said, "Alright then. Sit down, and let me tell you the tale of the World in the Water."

Twilight instantly saw the children all sit down and cross their legs in anticipation. She couldn't help but smile again. The way they all say down, so intent on listening to her read the story to them made her think of all of the times her parents would read to her. The way that the kids remained quiet, but keep their big, goofy smiles made Twilight think that the kids were exactly like her, and that she was the parent in the situation.

"OK, everyone. Open your ears," Twilight said, seeing the children pull their ears in a silly way. "Once upon a time, there was a young boy who loved his parents very much..."

After an hour had passed, each of the girls were quite well acquainted with all of the children in the room. They had spent time playing with them, learning their likes and dislikes in the process. Not only that, but the girls themselves felt like they had mentally become a few years younger.

Fluttershy had become well acquainted with most of the girls of the girls in the group, and had spent much more time playing games than talking. While she was more geared towards talking, the items in the room still had some appeal to her, even when she was approaching complete maturity. She was unaware about why she would find interest in children's toys and playthings, but she came to the assumption that it had something to do with the partial work experience that she and the girls were continuing to lie about.

Rainbow Dash had attracted quite a legion of followers with her talk of guitar-playing skills and daredevil dreams. However, she too was starting to show her soft side with certain things that the kids came up to her with. The children had told that there was no embarrassment from playing with toys even at an old age, and she had passed it off for most of the time. But it was only when she was able to see it through their eyes that she saw how right they were.

Rarity stayed out of most of the games, but she did enjoy talking to the kids and making them feel like she was a friend to them. Most of her talks were about what dreams the kids had when they would eventually leave the orphanage, and where they would live, but Rarity did drift off into a child-like state of mind during some parts of her conversations.

Twilight and Sunset had been with the majority of the children during their time in the older kids' room. They had done some wonderful things like reading, games which allowed the kids to use their imaginations, games that made almost no sense whatsoever, and group talks in which the children could freely express their thoughts and desires.

"Well, it's been wonderful to be with you all today, but we've just got to do something quickly," Twilight said as she began to address the kids that she and Sunset had gathered with their time-wasting. "We're here to work with all of the kids, not just you in particular."

"You mean you're going through the sealed door?" Sugar Belle asked as she pointed at the door which led to the room with the younger kids. She felt worried when she got a long glance at the door. "The children in there are much younger than all of us, and they're usually much harder to handle..."

"If you go through that door, you're just asking to pull your hair out with the stress," said a blue girl with white spiky hair. "In fact, the only time that one staff member goes in there is to put everything away once the kids have all been taken to their rooms for the night. And even then, it's a long job..."

"I know, Night Glider. But we're going in as a group," Sunset said as she watched Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash regroup with her. "You see, me, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash are the best of friends. We tackle everything as a team, and we usually make tasks much easier with our teamwork..."

"She's right, kids," Rainbow Dash said with a confident smile. "Alone, we're just regular girls. But together, we're an awesome group of best friends who call each other The Rainbooms!"

"Even so, we're not allowed in the room anymore," Night Glider said. "That room's only for the really little kids. We can walk you over to the door, but we can't go in there ourselves."

"Alright then, lead the way." Rarity said as Night Glider held Sugar Belle's hand and began to walk towards the door at the end of the room. The Rainbooms couldn't see their faces, but they could tell that the two kids were worried about their safety.

At last, the group arrived at the door. To Sugar Belle and Night Glider, it was a large gateway that led them to what seemed like another world of sorts. However, The Rainbooms saw it as a set of double doors that would reunite them with Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and the rest of the students that the Staff of Time had youthened.

"This is as far as we can go," Sugar Belle said as the two of them stood aside to let Twilight and Sunset reach the handles so that they could pull the door open. They then watched as Sunset pulled the keyring out of her coat pocket, unlocked the door, and put the keys back. "Oh, and before we go, I just want to say that lunch is in fifteen minutes, so it's easier if you work fast in there."

"Have fun in there, girls," Night Glider said as she and Sugar Belle walked past the five of them. You're gonna need it when you're dealing with all of those kids...

Once the two girls were gone, Twilight, Sunset, and their friends walked into the new room and shut the doors behind them. From there, they locked it up so that the little kids wouldn't get out and intervene in the affairs of the other children. Once they had made sure that the door was locked, they turned around and saw a sight like no other.

The new room was different from the other one on a number of levels. The floors were all padded, making it partially difficult to walk on. The walls were also devoid of any and all electrical sockets, and there were no windows on all four of the walls. What could be seen on the walls was a number of cartoon-style wallpapers that were geared towards infants and smaller children. While they did mildly off-put The Rainbooms, they accepted that these wallpapers were actually fitting for a room such as this. But even with that fact, they were seeing what could have been their new accommodation, since this was the room that they would be playing in if the man and his Staff of Time went to work on their bodies.

The next sight that could be seen was the layout of the room. Every different area was geared towards different things that appealed to babies and toddlers. There were toys and blocks as far as the eye could see, accompanied with a number of ragdolls and stuffed animals. There was also a certain corner with piles of pillows and soft blankets. That was the area where the kids would have their mandated naptimes whenever the staff came in to take care of them.

As for the children themselves, they were mostly scattered across the room doing almost everything. And true to what Twilight and Sunset had said, students from CHS – their old friends – were seen playing in this room without a care in the world. Whenever they spoke it was mostly baby talk or little kid voices. The only time that they said something that made sense was when they were tended to by the staff in the room. The last thing to take note of was the ratio of staff working to babies and toddlers playing. There were at least four times the children in this room than there were staff, and it was usually something that would have caused a massive amount of stress for any individual, but the workers managed to get along with their jobs just fine.

After their lengthy analysis of the room, its' details, and the children playing it, Twilight and Sunset felt something small grabbing onto their legs. When they looked down, they saw two girls that they both knew all too well.

"Applejack... Pinkie Pie..." Twilight said as she picked up Pinkie Pie whilst Sunset lifted Applejack. The two of them could hear their friends laugh as they ascended up to their chest areas; yet despite their merriment, the girls could all see that their friends had been afflicted with the curse of forced youth. "I can't believe that he could have done this to you..."

"Girls," Sunset and Twilight turned around, letting each of the girls see what their friends had become. "Say hello to Applejack and Pinkie Pie. They were seventeen and fifteen years old, but now, they are reborn..."

As Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash looked at the two babies that were once their friends, a wave of dread washed over them. Whilst they did look quite tranquil in their infant state, the girls couldn't help but get the feeling of an impending doom from it. If they were unable to defeat the mysterious man, they would wind up just like their friends; carefree babies who could only play without minds whilst the man was able to do what he pleased with the world around him...

To Be Continued...

Chapter 6: Rebirth

"What's the damage, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked as Fluttershy put Applejack and Pinkie Pie onto the floor. Fluttershy had taken it upon herself to check on the state of her friends, to see whether or not this new-found childhood was eternal like the man had said. "Will they be babies forever?" she felt rather worried when she asked the question.

"Well, not really. While Applejack and Pinkie Pie might be babies now, I think that they're still ageing like regular humans," Fluttershy explained as accurately as possible. "They're not going to be like this forever, but it will take around fifteen years for them to grow up and become the Applejack and Pinkie Pie we know and love."

"Fifteen years?! We can't wait that long!" Rainbow Dash threw her hands out in frustration. "At the rate that that creep's going with the staff, we could be babies in fifteen hours!"

"Rainbow Dash, remember where we are," Sunset said, getting Rainbow Dash to tone down her voice. "You might feel frustrated about all of this, but your actions here could scare the little ones."

"She's right, you know," a member of staff walked up to pick up Applejack and Pinkie Pie. She had cream skin and chocolate-brown hair, and she looked like she had absolutely no trouble working with children of the age of four and under. "Babies and toddlers are among the most fragile of humans. Frightening them makes you a horrible person."

Rainbow Dash reluctantly sighed and said, "I'm sorry, ma'am. It's just that me and my friends are going through some hard times now. Our other friends were taken away, and it's affected us more than we'd thought..."

"Your friends?" the woman closed her eyes to think for a while, then opened them again when she had figured it out. "Oh! You mean the disappearing Canterlot High students? Yeah, that story's been going on for a while now. I'm worried that it'll spiral into a full out panic if even more kids go missing..."

"Don't worry. We're close to finishing our investigation on the missing students," Twilight said to the kindly staff member. "We're just waiting for some crucial evidence which should ultimately lead us to why it's happening, and who should be held responsible for it."

"I'd love to hear about your studies, girls. But right now, I've got work to do," the woman said as she began to walk over towards another area of the room so that she could tend to the needs of Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and some of the other lost students. "I'll be back after I'm done with my work."

"So, what now?" Rarity asked the group once they had been left to themselves. "I feel so displaced in here..."

"I... guess we can check out the other students that the man took," Twilight said as she quickly thought of something to pass the time. "Not only will we get to see them again, but it'll be good to get confirmation on whether or not the others still age regularly."

"I suppose that you're right about that," Rarity agreed. "It's better to check all of the kids. No sense in looking at one and assuming that it applies to them all, right?"

"Ugh... this is gonna be so degrading..." Rainbow Dash facepalmed, but reluctantly accepted the plan.

"It'll be fine. All they need is someone to keep them entertained and healthy," Sunset Shimmer said as she walked over towards The Snapshots – or rather, what they had become – and knelt down in front of them. "How hard could it possibly be?"

Once Twilight saw that Sunset was getting started with three of the smaller children, she made her way over to the woman from earlier. "Hi there," she said once the woman had finished dressing Applejack and Pinkie Pie into princess outfits. "Do you want me to help you?"

"Yes. I could always use more hands on deck, if you know what I mean..." the woman said, smiling when she heard the infants giggling at what they presumed was a joke from her. "My name's Motherly Love. What about you?"

"I'm Twilight Sparkle. I was sent here from Canterlot High School to do some work for a project to do with the care for children of all ages," she lied. It was hard to make up a fake story, but it was one that she had to keep intact to preserve her hidden motives. "The school sent me here to do some after-school work for extra credit. I've already explained most of the details to Guiding Light downstairs, but I'm mainly here to spend some time with the children. Learn what makes them tick, in a way."

Whilst Twilight was talking with Motherly Love and helping her out with the care for the infants and toddlers, Fluttershy saw a group of children playing Pattycake with one another. With a grin quickly turning into a smile, Fluttershy walked over to the group of playful children, grabbed their attention, and sat down with them.

That left Rarity and Rainbow Dash, who were both looking rather uncomfortable with the fact that they were now dealing with babies and toddlers until the man arrived to make another donation.

"Look on the bright side, Rares. We're in this together, aren't we?" Rainbow Dash said to try and lift the mood of both of them. "If we were doing this alone, we'd probably have freaked out by the first minute."

Rarity sighed, "I suppose you're right on that fact, Rainbow Dash..." with nothing else to do, Rarity walked over to a bunch of small children who were hiding in an inflatable forest of pillars. "I'll handle the group over here, whilst you can try helping out one of the other members of staff."

Rainbow Dash hesitantly walked over to a group of infants. This sort of thing was miles away from her comfort zone, as she was more into rock and roll, daredevil stunts, and sports. Even with Twilight and the others to back her up and make her feel better, she began to feel concerned that she wouldn't be able to stay loyal to the group in the current situation. Despite this, she did her best to grin and bear it.

And soon, each of the girls was wrapped up in caring for tiny children who were once their classmates and friends. It felt quite bizarre to them, but they quickly learned to adapt to it. And whilst they did their best to entertain the victims that the man had created with the Staff of Time, they knew that they had to find the man and stop his plan as soon as possible.

Eventually, the day had drawn towards the night hours. The sun had just set over the city of Canterlot, and it was almost time for the mysterious man to take another group of students, youthen them, and add them to the orphanage's already large number of "rescued orphans and neglected children."

Little did he know that Twilight, Sunset, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash were inside; waiting for him to show up so that they could steal the Staff of Time without him noticing.

"How long do you plan on staying here, girls?" Motherly Love asked as she approached Sunset and Twilight, who were busy playing with Applejack and Pinkie Pie. "I know that it's for extra credit, but I never knew that it was this much extra credit..." she stretched her arms out to the side to emphasize how much she thought the girls were working for.

"It's a long and hard process. You'd need to be in our shoes to really understand," Sunset said as she lightly booped Pinkie Pie on the nose with one of her fingers. She heard the baby laugh afterwards, prompting her to pick Pinkie up and carry her in her arms. "Let's just say that this is crucial to a part of our lives."

"We should be done after one more game," Twilight said, picking Applejack up and tickling her chest. Hearing the noise of her former friend laugh uncontrollably gave her some sense of comfort. "Isn't that right, Jackie? One more game. Yes it is..."

"You're really getting into this, aren't you?" Rainbow Dash chuckled. "But even I gotta say, it was nice spending time with these kids. Both back in there—" she pointed towards the door that led back to the room for the older kids "—and in here."

"Well, what should we play, girls?" Motherly Love asked. "It's your call."

"I was thinking that a good game of Hide-and-Seek would be the best thing to do before we send them off to bed," Fluttershy said as she carried Photo Finish and Violet Blurr over to the rest of the group. "We'll even help with putting away all of the toys afterwards."

"Well, thank you for saying that, girls. I tell you what, that's usually the easiest part of the job, but even then it's a real nightmare trying to reach down and pick everything up. Does a real number on your back, that's for sure..." Motherly said, with the last part being spoke as a joke.

"Alright, I've got Pixel Pizazz here, and she's quite happy to join in the game," Rarity said as she made the group complete. "So, should we all count, or will some of us be trying to hide in this room as well?"

"I think it's better if we just do it all together," Fluttershy said as she and the other girls put the infants down and put her hands over her face. "On the count of ten, we'll look for the girls."

"Alright then, kids. You can all run off and hide now," Sunset said to the five little kids as she too covered her eyes with her face. "One..."

Sunset's counting prompted Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and The Snapshots to crawl and waddle away from them. Whilst they were only months to a year old, they were still quite fast on all fours. They quickly moved into hiding spots and curled up into balls. Letting out quiet giggles, they put their thumbs in their mouths and waited for the girls to find them.

"Well, thank you all for such a wonderful time today, girls," Motherly said as she watched the last member of staff carry Applejack and Pinkie Pie out of the room. It was now 8:45 PM, meaning that it was time for all of the children to go to sleep for the night. "You've really helped brighten this place up, and help the workers out quite a bit. I'm sure that CHS will give you all the extra credit you could possibly want from such long hours like these."

"Well, it was nothing, really," Rainbow Dash smiled as she put her hands around the backs of the girls. "When you believe in friendship, anything is easy; even childcare."

"Well, I'm glad to know you think that, girls. There's only one task left that I can really give you today, putting all of the toys away for the night," Motherly Love opened the door, revealing that the room for the older kids was also unpopulated. "You just have to worry about the toys in this area. The room for the older kids is perfectly fine as it is."

"Alright then," Sunset smiled as she watched Motherly Love walk towards the stairs. "We'll see you real soon, Motherly!"

Once the doors had shut, Twilight and Fluttershy were already on the move towards the first area of the gargantuan nursery. One by one, they picked up the toys that the children had all been playing with during the daylight hours and put them in their arms. Once they had enough that they could carry, Twilight and Fluttershy walked over to a large chest and deposited the toys into it.

Rarity, Sunset Shimmer, and Rainbow Dash quickly followed suit, collecting large groups of scattered toys and cradling them in their arms. They followed the same formula that Twilight and Fluttershy had done, and soon, they were all working with great efficiency.

Eventually, all of the toys had been put away, and Sunset pulled out the keyring once again. Flipping through almost the entire key collection, she eventually found the right key, closed up the toy chest, and locked it tight. Once she tested to see whether or not the lock was real – which it was – Sunset walked towards the door with the rest of the girls. But before she left, she opened the door and flicked the light switch off for the night, instantly shrouding the nursery in total darkness.

"So, when do you think that jerk's gonna strike?" Rainbow Dash's voice turned serious once they were back in the room for the older kids. "This had better work, otherwise the whole time we spent with those babies, toddlers, and children was all for nothing..."

"It'll work, Rainbow Dash. I'm sure of it..." Sunset said as she locked the room up once again. "I'm pretty sure that we need to bring these keys back to the front desk now. Since we won't be here tomorrow, it's better to hand them back to Guiding Light so that she and her team can use them again tomorrow."

The girls turned the lights off in the room for the older kids, walked out, then locked the door tightly. From there, they walked back down the stairs towards the receptionist desk.

"Hello again, girls," Guiding Light said as Sunset put the keyring back on the table. "I trust that you all had a good day here today?"

"Oh, it was a great day, Guiding. We were able to make friends with lots of the children here, as well as learn some interesting things about where they want to live and what they want to do," Sunset said once Guiding Light took the keyring back and took the keys off. "We might even come back and adopt some of them someday..."

"Well, that's good to hear. They really need caring people like you to adopt them," Guiding said. "The right parents will lead them on a life of prosperity, whilst the wrong parents will either land them back here, or put them in an even worse state than they already are..."

"We'll be sure to remember that," Twilight said as she and the girls opened the orphanage door and walked out into the darkness. "Have a good night, Guiding!"

When the doors shut, the girls all walked down a street. The street lamps illuminated a path for them, so that they weren't stumbling around in the darkness. Whilst they began to return home for the night, they began to talk about the things that they had seen and done in the orphanage.

But, whilst they talked, they were unaware that the mysterious man was watching them from the rooftops with the Staff of Time in his hands. He stroked the jewel carefully and tightened his grip. Then, he began to tail them until they were a good distance away from the orphanage.

Once the group had made it to the nearby park, the man decided that it was time for him to make his move. He leapt down onto the path, snuck across the dark road, hid behind a tree, and listened in on The Rainbooms' conversation.

"Alright, so when we see the guy walking down the street to make a donation, we carefully sneak up behind him and take the Staff of Time away whilst he's talking to Guiding," Twilight said, unaware that the man was eavesdropping without her knowing about it. "He'll be unaware that we're going to use the Staff of Time to fix everyone by travelling through time and intercepting the times when he'll try and take our friends away."

"Oh, Twilight Sparkle... How do you expect to be a princess if you're unaware that the enemy could be right under your nose?" the man whispered to himself, then returned to eavesdropping.

"I've got a better idea, Twilight. Why don't we just take the staff back to Equestria with us, then stop him from stealing it in the first place?" Sunset said, raising a finger. She heard all of the girls gasp when she realized what her plan entailed. "If we can stop him from taking the thing from the museum, then it'll instantly fix the timeline and restore everybody – and everypony – back to their original ages!"

Twilight gasped. "Sunset... you're right!" she said, pulling her into a tight hug. "We can fix this even easier now, girls! We just have to take the staff and go back to the museum with it! It's the perfect plan to restore order!"

Hearing enough, the man stopped time with a quick flick of the Staff of Time, pausing the girls right at the moment where they jumped up in joy. From there, he walked out from behind the tree, smiled, then started up time again.

"Hello ladies," he announced himself, making him known to The Rainbooms. His hood was taken off, revealing his true face once more. "Did I ever tell you about the definition of rebirth?"

"You!" Twilight's expression suddenly turned from euphoric to rather serious. "Your days are numbered, uhh... what's your name?"

"Forgive me for not introducing myself, ladies. I suppose I should, seeing as you've seen and said enough," he held out the Staff of Time and brandished it in front of the girls. "My name is Black Cosmos, but soon, I shall become King Black Cosmos."

"You've taken Applejack and Pinkie Pie away from us, you ruffian!" Rarity took up a fighting stance. "Whilst I do prefer to stick to the fashion business, I'll still carve you like a block of ice after being hit by a chisel!"

"Rarity. You still don't know the definition of rebirth," Black Cosmos said as he began to pace around the girls. "Rebirth is a word that I like to think means a second chance at life. Whereas life can be cruel and unrewarding for the most part, rebirth is a word that will ultimately set you free, and put you in a more favourable position in due time..."

"Favourable?! You're turning innocents into babies, and you haven't even explained what you possibly have to gain from it!" Twilight shouted in a fit of rage. "Tell me one good reason why we should even let you walk away from here alive, you sick monster!"

"Alright. The truth then..." Black Cosmos said as he leaned against a tree and pulled a single leaf off of it. "Celestia and Luna are frauds in your Equestria. I noticed first hand that they are unfit to rule the world. They believe in friendships that ultimately fade away with age, and will lead ponies on paths of self-destruction," as he spoke, he used the Staff of Time to age the leaf, making it turn brown and crumble into dust in his hand. "However, my recent studies have enabled me to come to the conclusion that there is only one way to world peace: Age Regression."

"But Age Regression is only for the highest level of unicorn, and even a few Alicorns have trouble trying to pull spells like that off," Twilight said. "How could you possibly have the power to bring Age-Regression to Equestria?"

"Simple. Once I acquire the throne and take Equestria for myself, I shall use the Staff of Time to age myself upwards, turning me into a powerful ruler with a wide array of magical arts at my beck and call," Black said as he walked away from the tree and held the staff up so that everyone could see it. "With this simple stick as Rainbow Dash would put it, age becomes one big abacus. We can use this metaphorical abacus to take you back to an easier time of innocence and playing, or we can use it to rapidly age ourselves into the most intelligent elders the worlds have ever seen!

"And that's only the start of it all," he continued. "When I get the throne, I shall order the world to research easier Age Regression magic, and create various artefacts and potions to manipulate the age of anyone and everyone. Then, I will have won," spinning the Staff of Time, Black then said, "And I'll do it without believing in your version of friendship. Because I see the truth now. Your friendships are a lie, and you five will eventually leave each other forever..."

"That's it!" Rainbow Dash ran towards Black as he prepared to fire another magical blast to alter the age of the group. "I'm gonna knock that stupid rod out of your—" but before she could touch the staff, she was impaled by the white shot of energy fired from it. "—haAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHH!"

"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy ran up to her, but she didn't see the bolt of magic go straight through Rainbow Dash and strike her in the chest as well. She could instantly feel the staff's power damaging her body, and she let out a loud scream herself.

"How dare you! Piercing our friends like they were mere blocks of butter!" Rarity ran up to Black Cosmos to try and kick the staff away from him. "Prepare to dance, you—" she was suddenly struck by a second bolt of white magic, making her holler out just like the other two. "—fiIIIEEEEEEEENNNNNDDDD!"

"No!" Sunset reached out to the girls, but knew that the situation was hopeless. She didn't dare advance in on the man, lest she too was struck by the Staff of Time's power and regressed down to a baby.

"Girls!" Twilight called out as she watched each of the girls, get onto their hands and knees in pain. She was shocked, full of fury, and also had tears about to fall out of her eyes.

"Now you see, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash!" Black Cosmos said as he watched the three girls shrink down and have their outfits rapidly change, as per their decreasing age. "This is the definition of rebirth! You three shall become newborn babies, freed from the curse, and given new life!"

A white flash engulfed the area, and once it had died down, there was the sound of light crying coming from the center of it. When everyone could see again, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash had become babies. Each of them was wearing a plain t-shirt on their chests, and poofy white diapers on their butts. Each of them cried softly, they were all cold and with no-one to love them. But their tears were suddenly silenced when the man picked them up and sat them down on the grass.

Twilight cried when she looked at her friends. Now that she had lost the rest of The Rainbooms, Sunset Shimmer was her one and only friend left in the Human World. Fighting back the tears at long last, she said, "Alright! So it's my turn is it?! Then youthen me! Turn me into a baby if it'll stop you from messing up Canterlot High even more!"

"As much as I'd love to, Twilight Sparkle, the Staff of Time does have its' limits," Black Cosmos said as he opened up a time portal and put the staff away. "I can only meddle with the ages of up to three people at a time, and I can't interfere with any major events in the past. Furthermore, the staff can only be used so many times at once before it needs to cool down for a while. And if it's destroyed, then the whole fabric of time unravels, sending everything spiralling into chaos."

"I don't care anymore! Just do it!" Twilight screamed in despair and hanged her head with lots of visible tears now beginning to fall. "I've lost all of my friends! Just end it! JUST END IT ALREADY!"

"Another time, my dear. But don't feel so downhearted," Black said with a smile on his face. "You still have Sunset Shimmer as your last surviving friend. But with what I have planned, you'd better make the time you have with her a time to remember," he then pulled Twilight's face up and locked gazes with her. "Once I turn Sunset Shimmer into a baby and put her with the rest of The Rainbooms, I shall see that your wish to have me reunite you with them all will be fulfilled. Farewell, Twilight Sparkle. When next we meet, I shall take Sunset away from you, and you shall have your wish!" he then ran through the time portal with Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. It quickly closed once he was out of the sight of both of the remaining teenagers.

Twilight cried when the portal had vanished. Aside from Sunset, she was the only one left who could stop Black's plans to conquer Equestria and allow his dreams to come true. As she thought of all of her friends, and the fact that the orphanage was now their seemingly permanent home, she couldn't help but let her all of her sorrow out.

Sunset Shimmer knelt down and patted Twilight on the back, mentally classifying Black as a true threat to friendship and everyone who believed in it. As she did her best to try and cheer Twilight up to get her back into trying to defeat him, she had doubts that she would help her recover from this traumatic moment in both of their lives...

To Be Continued...

Author's Note

I swear I'm spending too much time on this story for what it's worth. Honesty, I should only work on stories that are popular on this site, but I've grown a certain affinity for this one.

Maybe it's the lack of attention talking, but I feel like I really want to keep this story going, even despite the minimal number of attention, comments and up votes. What a strange world this is, huh?

But anyways, be sure to comment down below your thoughts on this chapter.

I look forward to writing another chapter for you all in the near future!

Chapter 7: Desperation

"Hmm..." Black Cosmos walked through the darkened streets of Canterlot. In his arms were three more infants that he collected with the Staff of Time's power. "Twilight Sparkle begins to complicate manners. She thinks of trying to steal away my staff and restore all of the damage that I brought to her and her former friends...

"But no matter. I am getting closer and closer to having her accept my philosophies..." he gently stroked the hairs of Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy as he walked, hearing them coo in high-pitched voices. "I have eliminated all but one of Twilight's friends in this other world. It is only a matter of time before she willingly chooses to rejoin them. And when she does, it will be my great honour to give the Princess of Friendship to the orphanage, so that she will eventually be adopted by a couple in this world, far away from her friends from Equestria and out of the equation forever...

"Soon, it shall be Sunset Shimmer's turn to accept the truth; the truth that friendships are the most fragile things in all of existence, if they are not renewed with the godsend known as Age Regression," the more he talked about his visions for the future, the more Black began to interact with his three newest babies. "She will know that I mean her and the worlds no harm. And if she refuses, then I shall have to simply take decisive action..."

Once he arrived at the door, he raised one of his feet up like a gymnast and pulled the handle down with it. The door opened up slightly, and he used his other shoe to open the door wider. Once it was wide enough, he stepped into the building and used his back to shut the door again.

"Guiding!" Black began to act when he approached the desk of the building. "I've found three more babies, saved from the edge of eternal heartbreak and abuse..."

"Oh my..." Guiding looked at the Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy once Black was in a clearer light. As she looked into each of the faces of Black's latest victims, her face turned pale with the thought of who she thought could have neglected them. "Who are they, where did you find them, and is there any reason why they were there?"

"From left to right, their names are Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity," Black said as he put each of them down on the desk. "I found them over by the commercial district, and their parents were brutally assaulted and robbed whilst they were sleeping. They woke up only minutes later, seeing that their mothers and fathers were gone, possibly murdered by the criminals..."

"That's terrible..." Guiding Light said as she watched the three infants begin to gaze at their fingers. She then looked up at Black and said, "You've done it again. We can't thank you enough for your heroic actions, Mr..."

"Please, Guiding. As always, I wish to remain anonymous..." he said whilst he watched Guiding Light collect a key from the wall behind her. "Now then, where shall we put these little ones for safekeeping?"

"There's an empty room on the eight floor in between Sugar Belle's room and Applejack and Pinkie's room. I figure that that would be a nice place to put them..." Guiding picked up a handheld radio, pushed a button and said, "Attention, loyal workers of the Canterlot Orphanage. Our anonymous donor just rescued three more babies. I need a team preparing room 847 to accommodate them. And please hurry, the poor dears look shattered..."

"We'll be right on it, Guiding." a voice said back through the radio once she had taken her finger off of the button.

"Lead the way," Black said as he picked up Rainbow Dash, leaving Guiding Light to carry Rarity and Fluttershy. "I'll come with you this time, to see the rooms you make for all of these salvaged souls..."

Meanwhile, Twilight was sitting on Sunset's bed, crying over the loss of Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. As the tears streamed down her face, she could feel Sunset lightly tapping on her back to try and calm her down.

"My friends were counting on us... and we let them down..." Twilight said through her tears. "All of this is on my hands. I was the one who told them about the Staff of Time in the first place... And now they're all gone, lost in a orphanage from which there is no escape without adoption..."

"Twilight, I know you're sad about the loss of the girls, but you have to remember that we can't begin to doubt ourselves for a second," Sunset said as her eyes met with Twilight's. "If we begin to doubt in the Magic of Friendship, then Black could take full advantage of that and shatter our morale like glass..."

"Hasn't he won already?" Twilight's tears still dropped, but they were lessened by a considerable amount. "He's eliminated all of the other element bearers of this world, so why even bother trying to resist anymore? It's better to look for him and accept his philosophies..."

Seeing that Twilight was beginning to lose hope, Sunset slapped her across the face rather violently. "Twilight! Snap out of it! Are you just gonna let him win?!"

"Sunset...?" Twilight's emotions changed as she saw Sunset's morale. It was her aspiration to keep up the fight that made Twilight believe in hope once again. "You're not giving up?"

"Of course not!" Sunset said. "He might have the upper hand now, but there's still time to turn it all around! We just need to take that staff away from him and sentence him to Tartarus once we fix everything..."

"But he's expecting us to feel like we've given up hope. How do you think he'll react when we come for him with all of this courage?" Twilight asked.

"He'll probably be mad, but that's tough luck for him. And besides, I have a plan to find him and his staff before he can cause anymore chaos," Sunset said as she jumped off of the bed and walked over to the door. "Twilight, get your coat..."

"Wh-What do you mean?" Twilight followed Sunset, but was still unsure on what she had planned for the both of them.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Sunset said. "That fiend Black is capable of anything, but though he's hiding for the moment, I know three girls— no... three Equestrians who might be able to find him..."

Twilight gasped. "You don't mean—"

"Oh, I mean it alright," Sunset walked out of the room and down the stairs. Twilight followed close behind her. "We have to find The Dazzlings..."

Underneath the moonlight, there were three hooded girls walking through the darkness-filled streets. Their faces were cloaked – much like Black had been before he revealed himself – but they seemed like they had nothing to hide or had no sinister motives. However, their cloaks did make them seem like conspicuous characters.

The three hooded girls walked down the streets, the street lamps illuminating them for brief instances with each passing moment. When they saw the entrance to the nearby coffee shop, they walked into the building and sat down at the first table they could find.

"You know, Aria, I get lots of memories here," said the first hooded girl, who pulled back her hood to reveal a girl with large golden hairand a spiked headband holding it all up. She was of course Adagio Dazzle, the leader of The Dazzlings. "To think that such a small coffee shop where we used to have light snacks could be one of the most memorable spots in this world..."

"Listen, Adagio, you might think that this place brings back memories. But to me, this seems like nothing more than a feeding ground for vultures who probably missed out on some bigger meals..." Aria said, revealing her face.

"Adagio, does this seem a little off to you?" the third and final siren removed her hood, revealing her to be Sonata Dusk. She was looking at a newspaper which showed the story of the students disappearing at Black's hands. "Ever since we left CHS, most the students have gone missing... Maybe an epidemic broke out, like the flu or something..."

"Unless some of those students were The Rainbooms, I'm not particularly interested, Sonata..." Aria huffed and drummed her chin with her left hand.

"But, I did see this picture on another article," Sonata pointed towards the picture of Black donating Applejack to the city's orphanage. "Apparently, as the students have gone missing, Canterlot Orphanage has been seeing a massive increase in donated babies recently..."

"And this interests us how?" Adagio asked, reclining against the back of the table's seat.

"Look who exactly got donated in this picture," Sonata showed the picture to Adagio. "If I remember correctly, that's Applejack, The Rainbooms' bassist."

"What?!" Adagio's interest suddenly piqued with the mere mention of The Rainbooms. "Give me that!" she quickly snatched the paper out of Sonata's hands and got a closer look at the picture of the baby Applejack. Eventually, she pulled herself out of the paper and said, "How is that even possible? She should have at least a year left at that school..."

"There's no way. That's gotta be edited to make a cheesy attention story..." Aria took the paper for herself and examined it very thoroughly. However, her jaw dropped when she saw Applejack in the picture for the first time. "What is that?!"

"You've never seen a baby before, Aria?" Adagio said, seeing her acquaintance's reaction to the picture instantly.

"Of course I have. They get in your way and stop you from getting Equestrian Magic to rule the world," Aria said, her emotions starting to disappear once again. "At least, that's what I know them as..."

"Aria... one of these days you have to learn the difference between the insult and the real thing..." Adagio sighed. "This isn't the babies you like to call other people. This is a newborn infant, incapable of mental thought or speech. I believe they were called foals back in Equestria..."

"Oh... those babies. Yeah. I know the difference, Adagio." Aria feigned interest.

"But this does leave us with a mystery on our hands..." Adagio said, getting Aria and Sonata's attention straight away. "The Rainbooms are starting to vanish from Canterlot High, and according to this image, they've all likely been turned into infants. Whoever is causing all of this chaos must be from Equestria, there's no other reason that this sort of thing could happen..."

Suddenly, the door opened with the sound of an overhead bell. The Dazzlings all looked at it and saw Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer walk inside.

"But wait... if The Rainbooms are all gone, then why are Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer still normal?" Sonata whispered. "Shouldn't they be with their friends, playing with dolls and blocks?"

"Either they're very lucky, or very unlucky," Aria said, doing her best not to grab the attention of Twilight and Sunset. "Maybe they know something about this..."

"Well, duh. They have to know, since The Rainbooms were all their friends..." Sonata said.

Suddenly, The Dazzlings saw that Twilight and Sunset were walking towards them.

"Dazzlings. We need your help," Sunset said without stalling or having second thoughts. "I know that just the other day we were enemies on the battlefield, but know I believe that we're the only ones who can—"

"You razed us with a massive laser beam of Equestrian Magic, destroyed our pendants, and had your stupid little classmates chase us off of the stage. Go to hell!" Aria raised her voice and crossed her arms.

"Now, now, Aria Blaze. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar," Adagio said, turning Twilight and Sunset's attention to her. "You will have to pardon Aria here, she does tend to get rather huffy with others..."

"Speaking of names, we've never really introduced ourselves," Sonata said, putting her hands on the table and leaning in closer to Twilight and Sunset. "My name's Sonata Dusk, you know Aria Blaze, and this is Adagio Dazzle." she pointed to Aria and Adagio after she introduced herself.

"And before you start, girls, we know all about The Rainbooms," Adagio said as she took the newspaper from Aria and showed the picture of Applejack being donated to the orphanage. "Quite interesting, really. Whoever has the capability to turn people and ponies into newborns must have accomplished a lot of things..."

"Black Cosmos..." Sunset's hand suddenly balled up into a fist and her head lowered. "I will never forgive him for the crimes he has committed on The Rainbooms, and the Magic of Friendship..."

"You know him?" Adagio asked, seeing how hard Sunset had taken it already. "Tell us everything you know, girls..."

"Alright. First of all, the disappearing students at Canterlot High School are all being turned into babies and donated to the orphanage. The culprit is a mysterious man named Black Cosmos. He hails from Equestria and wields a powerful artefact known as the Staff of Time," Twilight explained in detail. "He's turning everyone into babies, saying that he is the one who will bring true and eternal friendship to this world and Equestria."

"Now that Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy have been taken by the staff's power, Black is coming after me and Twilight," Sunset took over. "At first, he wanted to share his pain with Twilight by taking all of her friends away from her. And it worked, since she spent thirty whole minutes crying over it," as she spoke, Sunset showed all of the signs that she was telling the truth. "As soon as he uses the Staff of Time to turn the two of us into babies, he will return to Equestria and youthen Celestia and Luna. Once the two rulers of Equestria are helpless foals, he will automatically earn the throne as his prize, and order the development of Age Regression spells and artefacts. In short, he's killing the Magic of Friendship dead with Age Regression, saying that youthening other people is the only way for friendship to remain..."

"How does an artefact known as the Staff of Time have the power to turn people into babies?" Sonata asked.

"From what we've gathered, it puts a certain part of someone's timeline and places it in their present," Twilight said. "It could make you older or younger simply by rearranging where your date of birth would be."

"So, does it have the power to take us back to the time where we still had our pendants?" Aria asked, her interest piqued with what Twilight and Sunset had been talking about.

"Yes. To any part of your timeline," Sunset said. "From when you were babies yourself, to the time you spent growing up with your mothers and fathers, even to a point in time where you still have your pendants..."

"I'm in!" The Dazzlings all said in unison, then looked at each other once they all stood up.

"Well, what can I say, Twilight and Sunset? You've definitely grabbed our attention," Adagio said once she thought of a deal to make with the two girls. "Alright, we have a deal. We'll help you recover the Staff of Time from Black Cosmos, and in exchange, you have to youthen us when you recover the staff..."

"Sounds fair to me," Twilight said as she shook hands with Adagio, seeing Sunset do the same. "You have our word, Dazzlings."

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Twilight and Sunset said together, reciting the Pinkie Promise.

"What was that about?" Aria asked.

"It's something that Pinkie Pie used to do before she was turned into a baby," Twilight explained. "It's something that tells you that we're making a promise to you and that we're going to keep it, no matter what."

"So, should we start tomorrow?" Sunset asked as she looked at how high the moon was beginning to ascend into the sky. "It's coming up to midnight, and it's good to get some sleep so that we're ready to find and face him tomorrow..."

"Yeah. We should sleep now, then find and strike him when we wake up," Adagio said as she accepted Sunset's plan. "If we spend all night trying to find him, we could be far too tired to bring him in and reclaim that staff..."

"Don't worry about it, Dazzlings. We'll get the staff together," Twilight then began to stall, thinking about what The Dazzlings would do if they had their powers back. However, she quickly shrugged the thought off and said, "And I promise you, you'll get your powers back after we're done..."

To Be Continued...

Chapter 8: Time Disturbances

Sunset was shaken from her sleep by the distinguishable noise of her phone. She slowly and groggily opened her eyes and reached out for her phone, knocking over other items on her bedside table in the process. When her hands finally got the phone, she opened it up and put it by her ear.

"Who's there?" Sunset asked through a loud yawn.

"Sorry for getting you up this early, Sunset. But we've got a lead," Adagio said through the phone. "Shake off the rest of your bed-head, then come meet me, Aria, and Sonata at the school."

"You found something already?" Sunset's eyes widened.

"Well, we'll see you there..." Adagio said before the phone hung up.

"Twilight. Wake up," Sunset said as she shook Twilight from her sleep. "We've got a lead on Black Cosmos."

Twilight slowly woke up from her sleep and cooed lightly as her eyelids swung open. She looked up and said, "Morning, Sunset. What's the news?"

"The Dazzlings found something relating to Black Cosmos. They said to meet them at the school," Sunset said once Twilight had fully awakened. "Come on, let's snag him before he makes another regression!"

"Wait, Sunset..." Twilight's head wasn't entirely looking straight up once she had dressed herself. "This could be a trap."

"A trap? The Dazzlings agreed that they would help up capture hi—"

"Not a trap from The Dazzlings, a trap from Black Cosmos..." Twilight said as her face turned pale. She was completely unaware of what Black Cosmos was capable of now that he wielded the Staff of Time. "The five of us could be walking straight into a trap of sorts. He could take out The Dazzlings on the spot. Or he could take you, me, and Adagio all at once..."

Sunset's face tightened. She hadn't taken into account that Black would have been preparing an ambush for her and Twilight. Though she began to lower her head as well, she then clenched her fist and looked up with a ferocious look in her eyes.

"It might be a trap, but we'll just have to shoot at it now, won't we?" Sunset's gaze was complimented with a smile as she held out a hand for Twilight. "What do you say, Twilight? Think we can handle another battle together?"

Twilight smiled as well. "Yeah..." she took Sunset's hand and shook it. "The chips might be down, but we're still here. If Black wanted to finish off the Magic of Friendship, why didn't he do it when he had the chance?"

"You're right. He missed his shot, and now's the time to penalize him for it!" Sunset ran out with Twilight close behind her. The looks on the girls' faces was undeniable, they were going to finally put a stop to Black Cosmos.

Celestia was seen in her office at CHS filing in missing student reports. Ever since Black had upped his game and taken The Rainbooms away, both she and Luna were on high alert. In fact, she had already told the rest of the students that the school was under investigation.

As Celestia tapped away on her new desk computer, she looked at many of the papers she still needed to file. Seeing a large stack left, she sighed and put her hand to her head. It was going to be a long day for her.

Suddenly, hearing knocking on her door, Celestia said, "Come in."

The door opened, allowing Vice Principal Luna to walk inside. She quickly walked up to the desk, pulled up a nearby chair and sat down.

"Sister, we need to do something about these disappearing students," Luna said. "The parents are starting to get worried sick, and the media is getting relentless. If we can't find a way to come back from this, it might be the end of Canterlot High School as we know it..."

"I know, I know, I'm trying!" Celestia said as she threw her head back and put her hands over her eyes. "But the thing is, Sister, the students who vanished left behind cryptic voicemails. If we could just decipher the meaning behind those messages, that could give us a clue on what happened to the students..."

"Sister. It was just a voicemail, nothing more. Probably so that the kidnapper could hide his or her tracks," Luna said. "Eventually they'll come back. I know that something that is lost is not gone forever."

"If that were the case, the students would be back by now," Celestia said as she peered out of the blinds behind her. "Whoever this fiend is, he or she has done a great job on hiding them, I'll give them that..."

"And if you like, I can take you to them," another voice came from outside of the office door. As it opened up, Black Cosmos strolled inside and shut the door behind her. "I know where the students are, and I can easily take down the kidnapper and return them to you," he lied.

"Who are you?" Celestia asked as soon as Black walked over to Luna's chair and watched her stand up to let him sit down.

"My name is Black Cosmos. And I am the key to reuniting you with all of your lost pupils, and to provide you with eternal happiness," he took out the Staff of Time and placed it on his laps. "You see, the criminal likes to hide out in shady areas and strikes only at night. I myself know this for a fact as I hear lots of your children scream at night when they walk into him."

"That could be vital to our cause..." Celestia whispered to herself, then looked back at Black. "Do you know anything else about this kidnapper, Black?"

"Yes. I do know that he implies a powerful otherworldly force to steal away your students. But then again, after what has happened at this high school, otherworldly has blurred the line between itself and reality," rubbing the staff, Black's face had a somewhat malicious grin growing on it. "Tell me, ladies. Are you familiar with the concept of Age-Regression?"

"Age-Regression?" they both said together before looking at each other.

"When humans like you and I grow up, that's what's known as Age-Progression. But by simply taking this simple concept and reversing it, you can reclaim your long-lost youth and enjoy a carefree life," Black said. "Age-Regression can be unpredictable at times, but the most common form of it is being youthened down to a child, toddler, or baby. With that concept in your minds, imagine how wonderful the world would be if we could just rub away our age like it was a stain on our plates..."

"What are you implying? That this kidnapper turns his victims back into children?" Luna asked as she watched Black stand up and begin to spin the Staff of Time.

"Yes. That is precisely the case. Ageing is a curse, one that kills people whether they are in good health or not," Black said as he tightened his grip and clenched his teeth. "The only way to find true happiness is if Age-Regression is welcomed and accepted as the only principle of friendship!"

"Who are you?!" Celestia said as she and Luna stumbled back and had their backs against the wall. Black's Staff of Time was now collecting energy, ready to turn the two women back into infants and send the whole school into turmoil.

"I am merely a prophet of the salvation of friendship. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna fail to see the true essence of friendship. I suppose since you are their couterparts in this world, you believe the exact same thing," Black's gritted teeth loosened, and his grin quickly became an evil smile. "You two must know that you were truly meant to be babies. When I am done with you, the only work you will have to focus on is the work of playing and building with plastic and wooden blocks," Black then shot the energy from his staff, impaling both Celestia and Luna with two radiant beams of light. As he heard their cries of pain, he said. "Oh, and those students that go missing? That was me. But look on the bright side of this. At least you won't hear the voicemail saying to call them when they grow up again anymore. Because now you will be able to be with them for eternity!"

Meanwhile, The Dazzlings were standing at the horse statue that linked Equestria to the school. The three of them then saw Twilight and Sunset running towards them.

"So, what have you found out, Dazzlings?" Twilight said once she and Sunset had arrived.

"Well, we can't exactly pinpoint Black's location, but we can feel when he's using the Staff of Time and when it's about to be used," Adagio explained. "You know how people usually get chills when they think of an imminent danger? Well, we can get chills whenever time is disturbed here."

"Disturbed?" Twilight asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"It means that whenever Black screws around with time, we're able to feel it and act as a sort of compass," Aria explained as she flicked her hair. "Honestly. Equestrian artefacts these days..."

"So, how can we tell when you feel Black's power?" Sunset asked.

"Well, first of all, Sonata will quote a random scientific fact..." Adagio looked at Sonata.

"The sum of the square root of two equal sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side!" Sonata said once Adagio had finished talking. She turned to Aria and Adagio and said, "What? That's what I heard one of those techies say last week."

"Then there'll be a slight gust of wind by our feet..." Adagio's words were accompanied with the exact actions that she described. A gust of wind hit their legs, decreasing the temperature by a slight amount. "Then, it's like we all have a sixth sense and can see him through walls..."

The Dazzlings eyes flashed for a brief second, and from their point of view it was as if they could see a blueish blob inside Canterlot High. When it held out the staff and began moving it's arms out to talk to someone, that's when they identified the target as Black Cosmos.

"There. He's in Principal Celestia's office!" Adagio pointed towards the area where Black was talking.

"Not Celestia and Luna... This is bad..." Twilight's legs quickly bent as she opened her hands. "If he takes the two of them and sends them to the orphanage, there'll be no-one to tutor the rest of the students!"

"Better hurry, girls. It looks like he's spinning that staff..." Adagio said as the group all took off into the school's front doors.

As the five teenage girls bolted down the hallways, they saw that everyone else was busy in their classes. However, they paid no mind to this and continued their dash towards Celestia's office.

When they had arrived at the office door, they saw little white slivers of light through the edge of the door. When they charged through it, they saw that Black had already done his dirty work. Their faces fell when they saw the fruits of his labour.

Celestia and Luna were completely devoid of any and all age. They were wearing white diapers on their butts, and had special t-shirts with their Cutie Marks on the front. Their hair was also small, as to fit their new states. The two infants were each given teddy bears from Black Cosmos, which they immediately took into their arms and cuddled tight.

"Black..." Twilight was at a loss for words. Seeing that Celestia and Luna were now infants, it was as if all of the colour had been drained from her face. "Why do you have to do this?"

"Because, Twilight Sparkle. Friendship and Age-Regression are exactly the same as Alchemy. Destruction and then rebirth," Black said as he picked up Celestia and Luna. "We are all phoenixes, waiting for the day when the magic of Age-Regression ignites us, enabling us to start our lives anew..."

"Technically, we're sirens. Completely different thing." Sonata said as stated matter-of-factly.

"Well, well... The Dazzlings? My, my, Twilight Sparkle. You really are getting desperate now, aren't you?" Black taunted as he opened up another time portal. "But even they know that they are not long for death. Soon, they will wither out and die, and only the power of Age-Regression can save them..."

Not even acknowledging Black's last sentence, Twilight screamed and ran towards Black with her hands balled up into fists. She was suddenly stopped when Black blinked, causing time to stop once more.

Black merely moved out of the way and put Celestia and Luna onto the chair. Once he had freed up both of his hands, he picked up the Staff of Time, lightly knocked Twilight onto the ground, and started time up again.

"Pitiful Princess of Friendship. She fights against the one thing she stands for," Black said as he saw Twilight on the floor. He then watched and laughed as Twilight got up and tried to attack him. "But in the end, her actions will only beget her eternal childhood..." Black sidestepped and avoided every single one of Twilight's attacks. "Trying to physically harm me is impossible, Princess Twilight. I have forseen the future and I know every attack you will make before you even pull it."

Twilight was eventually shot back when Black banged the Staff of Time on the ground and violently kicked her in the chest. She was caught by Adagio and Sunset, who helped her up rather quickly.

"You know, ladies. There's room for one more infant to join Celestia and Luna in the orphanage," Black said as he held up the staff once more. "Just say the word and I shall regress you down to the first year of your existence. And with the body and mind of a baby, you won't have to worry about anything strenuous or world-threatening ever again..." his words made Twilight and Sunset grumble. "So, who is it going to be? The Princess of Friendship? The former She-demon? Or maybe one of the three witches of the musical arts?"

"Black, you won't get any positive answers out of us now," Sunset said as she walked up and got up close to his face. "Even if you try to con us with the positive side of being an infant again, we still won't buy any of your lies and slander."

"I wasn't asking, Sunset Shimmer," Black began to spin the staff once again. As soon as he began this process, he saw Sunset try to take the staff away from him. "I was telling you that one of you had to go!" he spun his staff all around him like a cheerleader's baton, making it impossible for Sunset to grab onto it.

With one last jump onto the desk, Black Cosmos fired another bolt of white energy at the group. The shot curved all around them erratically, until it finally impaled Sunset Shimmer. He watched with another insidious grin as Sunset screamed out in pain and began to undergo the affects of the Staff of Time.

Sunset could feel her age was decreasing and that her clothes were rapidly changing. She looked back at Twilight and said, "Twilight. I'm sorry..."

"Sunset, not you too..." Twilight began to shed a tear as she watched the process.

"It's alright, Twilight. As long as you're still a grown-up, you can still defeat him," Sunset was still able to speak to her, even as she began to enter the stages of her single digit ages. "You can defeat him and save us... save us and both of the worlds!" with one last scream, Sunset was engulfed in a bright light.

When the light died down, Sunset was wearing a plain red t-shirt and a white diaper. Her hair and body had shrunk phenomenally, and she now had the mindset of an infant. She giggled when Black picked her up and carried her over to Celestia and Luna.

"One by one, you lost your friends, Princess Twilight Sparkle," Black said in triumph as he carried the girls over to the portal. "Your efforts to defeat me and take the Staff of Time have failed, and all of The Rainbooms are now infants. And with Sunset Shimmer in my hands, you are all alone..."

"Not exactly!" Aria said as she, Adagio, and Sonata threw their hands around Twilight in a way to protect her. "We're still here, Black. Twilight and Sunset promised us that we'd be returned to our true selves if we could defeat you and aid her in her desperation!"

"But without you, what is Twilight in this world?" his words managed to make Twilight's head hang low, with tears beginning to fall from it. "Don't you see now, Twilight Sparkle? You are forever alone in this world. Always have been, always will be. Still, here you are. Trying so desperately to save the people of this world, refusing to accept the true principle of friendship.

"You may dwell on this moment, Twilight Sparkle," Black Cosmos arrived back at the time portal with Celestia, Luna, and Sunset in his arms. "Let it sink in. Then, when you decide that you wish to be liberated of your heartbreak, come and find me again," Black jumped through the portal saying, "Your friends will all be so happy to see you again..."

As the portal vanished, The Dazzlings allowed Twilight some breathing room.

"We'll find him again, Twilight. I just know we will," Adagio had her own fist balled up. She tightened it, then saw that Twilight hadn't snapped out of her funk. "Uh, Twilight?"

"Hello? Earth to Twilight? Is anypony home in there?" Sonata asked as she gently knocked on Twilight's forehead with her knuckles.

"He's right..." Twilight slowly raised her hands and held them out so that everyone could see. "Even if it's not a physical being, the blood is all on my hands. It's my fault that I lost everyone..." she began to cry again. "It should have been me, not Sunset!" she finally threw her head back and screamed, "I'm all alone!"

To Be Continued...

Chapter 9: True Loneliness

"Is this what he was talking about?" Twilight asked herself as she looked at the empty halls of CHS on her way out. There was no sign of life anywhere; no students, no teachers, nothing. "Is this what Black Cosmos suffered when he grew up?"

"Twilight, I know you're going through a lot here, but we'll get your friends back," Adagio tried her best to comfort Twillight. Even after the events that had happened before and after the Battle of the Bands, Adagio still knew that the enemy of her enemy was her friend. "Whenever Black tries to manipulate someone again, we'll be on his tail."

"Yeah, and this time, we'll just cut the crap and tackle him." Aria said as she cracked her knuckles.

"But maybe that's what he wants you to do..." Twilight's face showed no emotion whatsoever. "Maybe he's perceiving the future as we speak for the chance when we'll come and try to assault him. And when he does that, he'll likely be preparing some countermeasures..."

"Counter... measures?" Sonata shrugged. "I don't get it."

"Defences to try and repel us." Twilight explained to Sonata.

"Oh, I get it."

The four girls continued their walk in silence. Every footstep they took echoed off of the corridors as if they were walking down an isolated alleyway. Where there would usually be students gossiping about stuff, there was complete emptiness. There was no echo of chatter at the end of the corridor, and not a single locker being opened or shut. Such an emptiness struck Twilight in her heart, knowing that there was no-one other than her temporary allies to help her out.

As they exited the school, the four girls felt that the air was cold and dead. The sun was still out, but the atmosphere that Black had set was truly beginning to take it's toll on Twilight's morale. The howling of wind swirled around the four girls and then vanished completely. And as it did, Twilight and The Dazzlings took one big sigh.

"I guess this is what true loneliness feels like, huh?" Sonata said as she looked into the sky and put her hands behind her head. "There's nothing to listen to but the sound of your voice and the wind around you..."

"That's a beautiful analogy, Sonata, but I'm still quite upset that I've lost all of my friends," Twilight trudged across the ground with her head hung low. "Rarity... Rainbow Dash... Fluttershy... Pinkie Pie... Applejack... Celestia and Luna... and now Sunset Shimmer. They're all gone, because of me..."

"No, Twilight. It's not your fault," Adagio said. "It's Black's fault. He's the one who turned your friends into babies, not yourself."

"Yes. He's the one who used the Staff of Time on my friends, but it's overall my fault for making them my friends in the first place," Twilight stepped forward, getting The Dazzlings to stop walking. "If I'd just ignored them and tried to awkwardly try and get around this world the first time, Black wouldn't have touched them, and I could have avoided this heartbreak..."

"But if you hadn't made friends with The Rainbooms, Sunset would still have been an egomaniacal sociopath, and the school would still have been torn apart by difference," Adagio put a hand on Twilight's shoulder. "And then, you would have lost your crown, causing widespread chaos in both this world and Equestria..."

"Not to mention the fact that we'd still be running around with our pendants causing even more chaos and distrust," Sonata chimed in. "Then the military would get involved, four people would have died. Well, I say people, but I actually mean one pony and three sirens—"

"SONATA!" both Aria and Adagio shouted at her.

Adagio cleared her throat. "What we're trying to say is that you shouldn't blame yourself for the loss of your friends."

"Thanks, Adagio. But this is such a severe blow to me," Twilight took Adagio's hand and gently took it off of her shoulder. "Friendship was the one thing I was supposed to embody since I defeated Tirek. I'm supposed to be the Princess of Friendship, and I couldn't save my friends from Black's powers... I failed..." Twilight thought about the philosophies that Black had told her. "We're all phoenixes, waiting to be ignited by Black's staff, so that we can be given a second chance at life..."

"Twilight... Are my ears deceiving me?" Adagio was taken aback with Twilight's words. "Are you saying that you want Black to youthen you into an infant?!"

"Who knows, Adagio? Maybe I'm wrong and he's right..." Twilight said as she let the words ring in her head. "Maybe the true meaning of friendship really is childhood... After all, I lost all of my friends due to age, and now they're newborns..." she sighed and said, "I guess that now's the time for me to become a baby as well..."

"Twilight... Don't even think about it!" Adagio's hands suddenly opened up. "I know Twilight Sparkle, and she wouldn't just throw herself at her enemy's mercy and expect them to be spared!"

"But Adagio, I've lost. There's nothing more I can do..." Twilight said. "The Magic of Friendship has been stamped out now that all of my friends are babies. There's nothing left for me to do except meet up with Black and willingly surrender my age."

"Twilight..." Sonata tried reaching out for her.

"Just stay put!" Twilight's head turned ferociously as she looked at Sonata with a small glare. "I've lost everything. Now if you have any last words to say to me before I call for Black Cosmos, now's the time to say them..."

"Well, if I had to say something, I'd say you shouldn't give up," Aria said. She did her best to sound encouraging, but her tone wasn't doing much to help her. "That thug might have stolen your friends, but even I know that this isn't the Twilight Sparkle we duelled at Canterlot High..."

"Yeah, Twilight. You're not really you anymore," Sonata added. "It's like you've become a zombie. Not the undead type, mind you. I mean the one who doesn't have any emotion..."

"After all that's happened, you shouldn't just kneel to your enemies like that," Adagio's voice was comforting, but it wasn't helping Twilight out. "We might have been enemies, but for what it's worth, and after the things we've seen, I can see that you really care about this whole concept of friendship..." Adagio then held out her hand. "If it'll make you feel better, we could be your friends for the time being..."

Twilight looked at Adagio's inviting hand and looked up at her. "You... you really mean it? Even after we defeated you, ruined your lives, and left you powerless?"

"Twilight. That's all in the past now. And we'll try our best to become your friends and help you through this dark time," Adagio confirmed her request. "You really have shown that friendship is worth fighting for, even if we lose some friends in the process. And who knows? Maybe having friends isn't a bad thing after all..."

"As much as I'm mad at you for kinda eliminating our power, I also have to say that you've got guts, Twilight," Aria held out her hand as well. "And I like guts..."

"Your friends really mean a lot to you if you're willing to face impossible odds to get them back," Sonata held out her hand as well. "Not a lot of enemies we've met have had the guts to risk everything for their friends..."

"Dazzlings..." Twilight looked at all three of the hands that had been presented to her. She hesitated for a while, but then grabbed onto all three with her right hand and shook them. "Thank you..."

Black looked at The Dazzlings and Twilight shaking hands with each other from afar. He grunted disappointedly and opened up a time vortex. From there, he leaped through it and left the world behind. As he did so, he flew through a corridor of light rows and landed on a platform of hard-light. When he had done so, he lightly swung the Staff of Time and created an entire chasm of hard-light. From there, he used his hands to make the hard light transform into a large ramp that led to a throne. Once this was done, he walked up to the throne and sat down.

"Out of all of the humans and ponies I have seen, Twilight Sparkle is by far the most intriguing..." Black stroked his chin. "She loses her friends, then makes more... Truly, she didn't earn her Princess of Friendship title for nothing..." he then used the staff to create a projection which showed all of the infant Rainbooms playing together. "But even she will submit soon enough. She knows that friendship is a concept that not many can maintain for all of eternity. I created harmony and found a way to cheat death, and yet she still refuses my philosophies by blinding herself with more temporary friends..."

Black stepped up from his throne and used the staff to change the image. After a flash of light, the picture had changed into Equestria. Black was now sitting on the Canterlot Castle throne, guarded by ponies wearing black armour with various different markings that symbolized the flow of time.

"Now that I am fully aware that the Staff of Time works on alicorns like Celestia and Luna, I can easily storm the throne room and do away with the two pony princesses," he smiled as the image changed to other ponies utilizing copies of the Staff of Time, as well as other new artefacts. They were using their powers on ponies who had formed single file lines; the light turned them into foals, making the other ponies smile with anticipation. "My vision will some come true... A world where friendship is eternal, and death by old age will become a thing of the past..."

"However, if I am to assume correctly, Twilight Sparkle must have friends in Equestria as well," he returned the projection to show The Rainbooms again, then made another picture with the staff, showing off Twilight's pony friends. "If they are carbon copies of Twilight and follow her visions, then they will be the most threatening to my goals. Not to mention that I shall be dealing with two pegasi and a unicorn as well... I shall have to take them out stealthily..."

Then, a thought crept into Black's mind, giving him an insidious and foreboding smile.

"But maybe there's a way I can use her own friends against her..." Black created a stairway using the Staff of Time and walked up it. Once he had done so, the throne of hard-light vanished. "It might be tedious, and would cut down on the number of humans and ponies I could youthen, but it will be the final nail in Twilight Sparkle's coffin..."

When Black reached the top of the stairs, he created a massive structure with the staff. It was rather large, big enough to have a climactic battle on. But at the same time, there was a massive arch which transformed into the base for what could be a colossal portal. When the structured was complete, Black shot a ray of energy from the Staff of Time and watched as the portal base created a vortex of bright blue light.

"Twilight Sparkle believes that friendship is magic, and that it's used to safeguard the worlds from evil," Black spoke as he stepped closer towards the bright gateway of energy. "However, what she doesn't know is that the very same magic she utilizes is a weapon; one that can be used against her so that it can reinforce my future!"

When Black was done talking, he jumped through the portal with his hands behind his back. Once he touched the energy, he was shot through the vortex like a cannonball. The speed caused his face to fly outwards with how fast he was travelling, but he was quite welcoming of such a G-force.

When the trip came to its' end, Black stood outside the Canterlot Orphanage. It was now night, and no-one was around to report his entry to the authorities. He smiled at how alone he was and turned his attention towards the door. Looking at how high the moon in the sky was, Black walked inside.

"Oh! Hello again," Guiding Light welcomed Black back once he had got inside and shut the door behind him. "Come here empty-handed, I see. Does this mean that..."

"Yes, Guiding," Black smiled as he picked up a pen from the pot that Guiding was using. With a grin on his face, he said, "I want to make an adoption..."

To Be Continued...

Chapter 10: Adoption

"Well, how wonderful, sir," Guiding said as she took out a form and handed it to Black Cosmos. "The children here are always wishing for a loving mother and or father to take them in," she let him take the form into his hands, then gave him a pen. "I'll just need your name, address, and the number of kids you wish to adopt."

"Very well then," Black clicked the pen and began to write. "Whilst I write, I suppose you want to know why I'm getting these children?"

"Well, yeah, I kinda do," Guiding leaned in towards him, partially distracting him from his work. "I mean, it's not often that a massive children donor wants to adopt some kids from the very orphanage he takes them to..."

"Well, despite my valiant efforts to maintain order, I can safely say that we are all to expire eventually," Black started to monologue. "Everyone passes away eventually, even me. And so, with this in mind, I come to this orphanage seeking heirs to my legacy; children to carry on my dreams and make the world a better place..."

"What kind of children, mister?" Guiding asked.

"Special children," Black said with a glimmer in his eye. "I've donated six very beautiful girls to this orphanage, and they're without a doubt going to be the perfect choice for me. Six best friends since they arrived, soon to be six wonderful sisters in arms..."

"Six?" Guiding's expression changed. "And you're sure you can handle that many kids?"

"Trust me, Guiding. If I could find them and bring them to this sanctuary, then I'm perfectly capable of caring for them myself," Black stated. "If I could not, then why would I even be here tonight?"

"Touché..." Guiding said once Black finished the paper and handed it back to her. "But if you're going to adopt six children all at once, I would like you to give out some specific details on what you want them to be. Unless you've already met them and left them here and can remember their names and faces," she let out a forced laugh.

"Actually, I can," Black said. "The six children I wish to adopt are Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie... and Sunset Shimmer..."

"Guess you couldn't stay away from them," Guiding's voice seemed childish and playful as she took down the keys to the rooms of the six girls that Black had listed off. "Alright. Just get up to the second floor, take a seat, and wait patiently. Once we bring them down, we'll discuss on some of the regulations to keep the six of them happy and healthy."

"Very well then." Black began to walk towards the stairs.

After Guiding Light and Black Cosmos walked up the stairs together, they went their separate ways after reaching the second floor. When they got to the doors, Black walked through them whilst Guiding Light climbed higher up the stairs.

Black saw a row of chairs over by the wall to his left. There were two potted plants next to the ends of the row, and the wallpaper was a simple shade of burgundy. Aside from the chairs, there was a locked door that led down to a series of corridors. Black Cosmos walked across the floorboards, hearing them creak with every footstep. Upon arriving at the chair, he sat down and kicked his feet up.

"The final nail in Princess Twilight's coffin will be hammered in with this adoption..." Black smiled as he pulled out the Staff of Time once again. "When she realizes that her former friends are my six new daughters, she'll be so distraught that she'll refuse to fight me, for fear that she might hurt or upset The Rainbooms in the process..."

After fifteen minutes, Black Cosmos saw Guiding Light and Motherly Love carrying in The Rainbooms. His name was called out by Motherly Love, prompting him to stand up.

"Thank you for your patience, Mr Cosmos," Guiding Light said as she unlocked the door. "It's a really kind thing you're doing for the six of them. After all, not many people adopt six children at once..."

"What can I say? I've got a big heart..." Black smiled.

"Awww...." both Motherly Love and Guiding Light swooned together.

Black opened the door and said, "Well then, shall we?"

"Yes. The sooner we get these six little cuties into your hands, the better." Motherly said as she and Guiding walked through the door that Black was holding open.

The walk down the corridor was uneventful for the three adults. Most of the time, they were either staring at the walls or floor as they travelled. There were some slight moments when each of the individuals would stare at The Rainbooms, seeing how peaceful they looked.

The Rainbooms were half-asleep, kept awake with the footsteps of Black Cosmos, Guiding Light, and Motherly Love. Their infantile states meant that they were unable to make any cognitive thought, so all they could do was idly put their thumbs into their mouths and suck on them. The only thing that came to their minds when they did so was that it was calming to them and that they couldn't help but continue. As they sucked on their thumbs, their eyelids drooped enough for them to fall asleep.

Eventually, the group arrived at one room at the end of a corridor. The door was just the same as the others, with the exception of the room number. Each of the doors had a room number, and the one that the group had stopped at was Room 237. Black opened the door and the group walked inside.

The room was much different to the rest of the orphanage. It was the same size of any of the child bedrooms at the orphanage, but there was a table with three chairs; two for the couple, and one for the staff. But because Black was alone, the single chair was his whilst Motherly Love and Guiding Light had the other two chairs. There were also two corners by the single chair with toys for the children to play with whilst they waited for Black to finish the discussion with the staff members.

Motherly Love and Guiding Light put The Rainbooms down by the corners. Once they did, they noticed that they were all fast asleep and quite content with their positions. Once they were done, they walked back to the two free chairs and sat down.

"So, Black Cosmos, you say that you're adopting these kids because you want heirs to your legacy," Guiding Light began to speak. "Tell me, what exactly does that entail?"

"Well, I'm one of the last of my kind," Black said. "Before me, there was my mother and my grandson. Unfortunately for me, they were part of a sick experiment that tried to make people younger or older," he said whilst he crossed his fingers behind his back. "Their tragic ends were caused by over-youthening, causing them to transform back into foetuses and eventually vanish off of the face of the earth..." he suddenly forced tears out of his eyes. "It's like I never really had children in the first place, and this might be the only chance I get the children that I deserve... I'm sorry..." he then put his hands on the table and cried crocodile tears.

"How sad..." Motherly Love said as she watched Black's fake tears drip down from his eyes. She couldn't help but sympathise with him. "I had a son as well. His name was Button Mash, and he used to attend Canterlot High School. But after the recent kidnappings, I haven't seen or heard from him since..."

"Well, I'm certain that he'll turn up eventually," Black lied once again. "Now then, are there any other important things to note when adopting these six girls?"

"Actually, there are some important things you need to know," Guiding Light said as she looked at each of the infant Rainbooms. "Fluttershy over there gets nervous when she's alone. So no matter what you do, do not abandon her."

"Alright then," Black pulled out a notepad and pencil. "Keep Fluttershy with other babies or with myself at all times..."

"Next up, Rainbow Dash is awfully feisty for her young age," Guiding said as she pointed to the rainbow-haired infant. "She's usually the hardest to put to sleep, but she's easily coaxed by warm bottles of milk. One of those, and her energy vanishes faster than a lightning bolt."

"Moving on to Applejack, she usually likes to put things into her mouth, be it toys, thumbs, pacifiers, or otherwise," Motherly Love took over. "No matter what you do, don't let her get her hands on anything sharp or poisonous."

"Keep Applejack away from sharp and/or poisonous things..." Black said to himself as he wrote.

"Moving on. Long story short, you want to keep Rarity as clean as possible and keep a close eye on Pinkie Pie's erratic behaviour," Guiding pointed towards Rarity and Pinkie Pie. "Finally, Sunset Shimmer has grown a certain affinity for a teddy bear in her room. If you're adopting her as well, take her teddy bear with her on your way out. Without it, she can scream your ears off and mean it..."

"So, should I go up and get it now or..." Black was about to ask, but he was stopped by Motherly's raised hand.

"We've ordered one of the members of staff to put it on the reception when you go out," Guiding explained. "Just take it with you before you leave."

"Their regular bedtimes are eight o' clock at the latest," Motherly told him. "Not only that, but they need mandated fifteen minutes naps every three hours to keep them happy and healthy. Before each nap, it's best to feed them so that they don't get hungry or thirsty whilst they sleep."

"Feed them before they nap and sleep. Got it..." he wrote down on his notepad once again.

"And you're certain you can handle six babies all alone?" Guiding Light wanted confirmation. "Handling that many children is stress enough for just a regular couple. But a single man? I recommend picking up some aspirin for the years ahead of you..."

"Guiding. Look at me," Black said. "Does this face look like a face that won't be able to handle these babies?" he watched her shake her head slowly. "I assure you, I have lots of experience with children. In truth, a child is like a dog. It needs to be kept happy and healthy. Furthermore, if you treat children with the utmost love and care, they will follow you into the depths of hell and do anything you say. It's a matter of loving them so that they love you back in a way..."

"Well, that sounds like a very nice thing to tell us," Motherly said. "But raising babies isn't just love, it's about devotion. If you're a working man who's all alone, you've gotta get maternity leave for your job, then tell the tax companies that your wife was taken in a tragic accident and that it's just you. You need to make sure that nothing distracts you from raising these six as best as possible."

"Trust me, ladies. I shall devote all of my time to ensuring that the six of these beautiful, fragile, and desperate girls get the wonderful life that every child deserves..." his evil grin grew as he put his elbows onto the table and propped his chin on his hands.

"Very well then," Motherly walked over to Black's side of the table and pulled out a hidden drawer. Once it was out, she picked up a certificate that would certify Black Cosmos as The Rainbooms' father. "Just sign this document, and Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Sunset Shimmer will be your legal daughters."

Sparing no time, Black looked at the document and smiled with how well-written it was. After reading it, he pulled out his pen and wrote down his name on the line. Once he had done so, he put a full stop at the end of his name.

"Black Cosmos, by the power vested in me as the manager of the Canterlot Orphanage, I am proud to certify you as the legal father for these six children," she held out her hand and saw as Black grabbed onto it. Shaking his hand, she said, "From this day forth, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Sunset Shimmer are your official daughters. Congratulations!"

"Thank you for working this all out, Guiding Light," Black said as he let go of her hand and began to pick up his new children. "I promise that I shall raise each of these babies with the most love and devotion I can muster. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye..."

Black Cosmos had been given a special carrier for each of The Rainbooms. It was rather large for his size, but it was big enough to carry all six of his adopted children. It was as if he had been given a pair of wooden wings, and that each wing could hold up to three infants at once.

"Thank you again for your patronage, ladies," Black said as he picked up Sunset Shimmer's teddy bear and opened the door. "Have a wonderful night."

"We will, and tell each of your new babies that we'll miss them very much!" Motherly said as she and Guiding waved goodbye to him.

Black watched as the doors behind him closed up. Once they were gone, he walked down the road slowly. The street lights that he walked under blotted out the stars above him, but lit up the area in front of him. As he walked along the pathway had had been illuminated for him, he smiled and stroked the hairs of The Rainbooms.

"At long last... I have the perfect baby daughters..." Black smiled as he opened up a time portal with the Staff of Time. "Now I just have to raise them like my own flesh and blood. In doing so, I shall tell them the wonders of Age Regression from their fourth birthday onwards. The thoughts will linger in their mind, and they will do everything to stay children forever and carry on my legacy throughout the ages," he then lowered his eyebrows. "This is my harmony, and I will not let Twilight Sparkle of Equestria inflict the ailment of ageing on anyone else..." Black jumped through the portal, causing him and his new children to hurtle across the lights at a breakneck speed. "I gave these ponies friendships that last forever. I found a way to cheat death. I AM THE NEW PRINCE OF FRIENDSHIP! Twilight Sparkle is nothing more than a fake, an imposter, a liar, a cheat, and every other word that means she is not worthy of her title! I shall—" he looked at the sleeping Rainbooms once more "—No... we shall eliminate her age and give her the freedom she deserves. I know that deep down, everyone wants to become a baby again. Twilight just needs a little incentive to want to give up her age, is all..."

Black landed back in the ethereal realm of hard-light. Using this, he created a doorway with no room on the other side. Once the light was manipulated to his satisfaction, he put his hand on the handle, pulled it down, and opened the door wide.

On the other side of the door was a nursery with a wide variety of magical properties. The floor was made out of the softest of all fabrics, and was covered with a number of baby toys and building blocks. Aside from those, the walls were enchanted to make it look like it was constantly changing, ready for The Rainbooms to use their imaginations to go on adventures that their minds would heavily approve of. The ceiling had no light, but it was enchanted to make it look like the sun and the moon. Black turned the sun into the moon with one wave of his hand and walked over to an empty part of the room.

"Of course, no nursery is complete without a crib," Black said as he used his hands to manipulate the hard-light to make a majestic crib that was large enough to bed all six of his babies. The rails were made of golden plastic, the sheets were made of satin, and there were little pillows for each of the infants to lay their heads on. "Perfect. Large enough for all six of them."

Black Cosmos then took each and every one of the kids out of his carrier and laid them down in the crib. The first was Rainbow Dash, who was placed at the far left. After that, he put Applejack at the far right. Fluttershy and Rarity came after that, with Fluttershy being placed by Rainbow Dash, and Rarity with Applejack. Finally, Pinkie Pie and Sunset Shimmer were put next to each other, with Sunset beside Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie next to Rarity.

Black was about to leave, but he then remembered what Motherly Love and Guiding Light had told him. He took out Sunset's teddy bear and put it in her arms. He immediately watched the infant Sunset Shimmer cuddle the teddy bear in her sleep. Once she had stopped moving, Black pulled the covers over each of his infants and kissed them on the forehead.

"Goodnight, my sweet children," Black smiled to them as the walls changed to a starry sky to fit the room's enchantments. Once the room was darkened, he walked over to the door. "Have all the playtime you want when you wake up. And when you get older, I shall mould you into the most delightful little girls anyone has ever seen..."

Once Black had finished, he walked out of the door, locked it tight, and made the door vanish completely.

To Be Continued...

Chapter 11: To End What He Began

Twilight was tossing and turning in her sleep. The events with Black Cosmos had dealt her a great deal of mental trauma. She had managed to hide her fears from The Dazzlings, but she could no longer contain in in her slumber.

What Twilight could see was Equestria, wrapped underneath a black, stormy sky. The occasional lightning bolt came down, but most of the time, the clouds did nothing more than add effect. The houses were perfectly fine, but everything was the complete opposite of what they were.

Twilight could see that ponies who were once fillies and colts were now looking after infants that Black had created using the Staff of Time. While it didn't look like the other ponies were struggling with caring for the ones who used to mother and father them, Twilight could see just how much they were struggling on the inside.

The next site was of her castle. Where it once stood, there was now a massive pile of shattered crystals and demolished structure. The map had all but been erased from existence, and the portal to the Human World had been shattered entirely.

"No..." Twilight ran over to her castle and picked up the shards with her hooves. As they quickly tumbled from her hand, tears began to fall from her eyes. "What have you done, Black Cosmos?!"

Suddenly, she was engulfed in a flash of light. A slight yelp escaped from her, but the flash had all but silenced her.

Once it had died down, Twilight found herself in Canterlot Castle's throne room. Celestia and Luna were present, but they were mere foals sleeping next to a massive pony with dark blue skin and long black hair.

"Twilight Sparkle. The fabled Princess of Harmony," Black said as he relished in his victory. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen..." he laughed.

"Black, you have your wish, why continue to press me for tears and screams?" Twilight asked feebly. "You have Equestria at your command, you've made everypony embrace Age Regression, what more do you want?!"

"I want to watch you suffer, to see the last tear fall from your eye when you finally realize that my reign is eternal," Black said as he stood up from his throne. "Everything you have ever worked for, all those friendship lessons, all of those adventures the map sent you on, and I have reduced it all to ashes. None of the ponies in this world believe solely in friendship anymore. And because of this, they long to be foals forever and ever, so that they can see what true friendship is..."

Twilight looked out of the windows of the throne room and saw what he had done. The world she had made for herself was now in ruins. Her friends were missing, likely in the clutches of Black Cosmos himself, and there was little left for her to do.

"Twilight, I know you worked hard on Equestria, and I can't blame you for the project you've made," Black said as he put a hoof on her shoulder, then paced around her. "But we are all still infants in our way. We're all blind to knowledge, we all make messes in our own right, and everything we build, just gets torn down in the process. It's not a bad thing, it's just life."

"What are you talking about, Black?" Twilight's head tilted.

"What I'm saying is that we might not mentally be infants anymore, but we still exist as them. Every empire that was ever forged was torn down by another, therefore causing progression to erupt," Black's prophetic words were beginning to affect Twilight. "Sure, we are capable of speaking perfectly well with each other, but we are all still young, trapped in the eternal nursery of existence. Even I will not deny this truth.

"But look at the empire I have constructed, Twilight Sparkle," Black continued. "I have created a world that lasts forever, with a species that will never die, so long as they believe in the wonders of Age Regression. Unlike the rest of the reigns that this world had, mine will last forever, and won't just be torn down like an unstable stack of blocks."

"Y-You actually have a point there, Black..." Twilight said as she hung her head.

"And thanks to me, I can make you as many friends as possible..." Black said as he held up the Staff of Time once again. "Just let go, free yourself from the chains that bind you, and this nightmare you see can quickly turn into your utopia..."

Twilight sighed and nodded her head. "Fine then, I guess I've suffered enough..." she stepped forward and held her head high. "Do it, Black. You have the permission to free me from my age, revert me to an infant, and restore my friendships with the rest of my former friends, and many more..."

"That's all I wanted to hear..." Black used the Staff of Time to impale Twilight with the energy that could youthen her into an infant. He watched as Twilight shrunk down and bore witness to her transformation into a baby. "With your generous decision, you are free. Your friendships will become limitless, your life immortal, and my victory complete..."

Suddenly, Twilight woke up in bed with her hands tightly clutched onto the sheets. She breathed heavily as she came to the conclusion that it was a dream. However, at the same time, Sunset Shimmer was still missing. The empty space in the bed was proof that Twilight really felt alone. Twilight sat up and thought about all of her stolen friends.

"Sunset... girls... I'll end his madness..." Twilight promised herself as she balled up one of her hands into a fist. "Black Cosmos has committed crimes against friendship, and against the cycle of the life itself. I swear on my life, he will end up in Tartarus for what he has done..."

Twilight got out of bed and dressed herself. After she was fully clothed, she walked downstairs to make herself some breakfast. All the while, she knew that today would be the day that Black Cosmos was finally defeated, and all of his victims would be returned to their normal ages.

Black Cosmos sat on his throne of hard-light in the ethereal realm he used as a home. He watched both the Human World and Equestria, seeing many of the inhabitants of both worlds getting along quite well. But as he watched it all, he pulled out the Staff of Time and rubbed the rod tenderly.

"Today is the day, Twilight Sparkle," he monologued. "I have waited long enough, your friends have all been taken, and now is the time for you to submit yourself to me..." he stood up and swung the staff. In doing so, he looked at The Rainbooms playing together. "When I regress you into an infant I shall do it in front of everybody you ever knew. All of your remaining friends from Canterlot High School and Equestria will witness the greatest spectacle of all time; the fall of the Princess of Friendship, and the rise of the new King of Friendship. And amidst the ashes of your empire, I shall take you for my own. You shall become my seventh daughter, and my seventh and final disciple of Age Regression. You shall have all of your friends back, and I shall deliver many more to you..."

As Black turned the picture back to the Human World and Equestria, he noticed that Twilight Sparkle was meeting with The Dazzlings. Upon seeing the image, he stroked his chin and frowned.

"But as long as you believe that even your enemies can be friends, I still have work to do," Black said, creating a portal that led to Twilight and The Dazzlings. "You must realize that no-one will help you, and that this is a matter that you must resolve alone. I shall take great pride in destroying those witches, and then having you join them in my world. I have lost everything, so I will not rest until you have lost everything and will admit that you have lost everything. Only then will you know my pain and embrace the marvel of my philosophies..."

"Twilight. How did you sleep last night?" Adagio asked when Twilight arrived.

"Not good, girls," Twilight said. "I had a pretty bad nightmare about Black..."

"Oh? What did you see?" Sonata asked as she held out her hand.

"Last night, I had a vision of Black Cosmos' empire. The skies were black, my castle was in ruins, and the other princesses had been turned into foals," Twilight explained. "But to add insult to injury, I admitted that his philosophies were the right way to go about friendship. It mostly showed him monologuing about his victory in a way that used big words, and ended with me being regressed to a foal myself..."

Adagio put one of her hands on Twilight's shoulders and said, "Twilight, you know that's never going to happen."

"But, Adagio... what if we're already too late to stop him?" Twilight asked as her head drooped. "He could be going to make my nightmare into a reality as we speak... or he could be ageing my friends up to believe whatever he told them... This could be one problem that even I might not be able to fix..."

"Listen, Twilight. I'm not really one for all this mushy stuff, but I do know that Black's a total jerk who gets some sick pleasure off of turning others into babies," Aria gave Twilight motivation. "You can't let his pleasures make you want to participate in his cruel game. You have to keep fighting, no matter the cost."

"Aria's right, princess. Black can't get to you as long as you believe that you can defeat him," Adagio continued. "Simply take the staff away from him, and he'll be powerless against you. And knowing him, he'll want to challenge himself by actually fighting you. He won't be satisfied until he breaks you both mentally and physically, making you demand him to stop the suffering."

"That's what villains like to do when they have a confrontation with their enemies after they've made the damage. They just want to see them suffer and make it so they can't win," Sonata added her words. "I mean, where's the fun in having an evil plot without any challenge, am I right?"

"You're absolutely right, Sonata..." Black's voice echoed throughout the area, and in a bright flash of light, he appeared in front of Twilight. Not only that, but The Dazzlings had all been youthened down into newborns. "Twilight and I will fight each other. One-on-one. Winner takes all."

"Black!" Twilight threw a punch, but Black batted it away with the Staff of Time and used it to sweep Twilight off of her feet.

"That infant with the ponytail spoke the truth, Twilight Sparkle," Black began to talk. "Simplicity is a quick way to make uprisings. Uprisings lead to complications, more and more enemies, and more followers for your cause."

"Oh yeah, well—" Twilight then saw that he wasn't holding the Staff of Time in his hands "—wait, you want to fight me? As in punch and kick fighting?"

"Twilight Sparkle, if there is one thing I have learned, it is that not everything is so simple," Black said. "There will always be those who wish to shoot down your visions and reduce them to nothing. However, not letting them have their fun will only anger them and their followers so much that physical action must be taken. I have enraged you by taking your friends, and because of it, I have denied you your entertainment," he opened up a portal, picked up The Dazzlings, and threw them threw it. But the portal didn't close this time. "We will meet again, Twilight Sparkle..."

"You're not running away again, Black!" Twilight got up and grabbed onto his arm.

"You're right..." Black violently grabbed onto Twilight's chest and held her up in the air. "You're coming with me!" he then leapt threw the portal with Twilight still trapped in his hold.

As Twilight was sent through the void, her eyes were blitzed by a series of lights and colours. It was as if she were staring into the world of time itself, and such a sight made her scream. However, she was not physically harmed or mentally damaged because of it, and so she was silenced relatively quickly.

Eventually, the voyage ended with Twilight and Black floating in an endless plane of ocean blue light. There was no platform, no ground, and no sky or sea either. It was just nothingness, and Black smiled as he viewed it

"This is my world now, Twilight Sparkle," Black said as he showed Twilight the full extent of his world. "While it might look like nothing to you and me, I can assure you I have made it quite accommodating..."

"Looks like you've just made it barren to me, Black," Twilight scoffed.

"Mock it all you want. But you will have to scale it to find me!" Black threw Twilight downwards, then used the Staff of Time to create a sizeable chasm for Twilight to traverse. When she landed at the bottom, Black perched himself atop one of the edges of the ravine. "Now listen to me carefully, Twilight."

"I'm listening..." Twilight put her ear out towards him.

"At the end of this ravine lies a tower. That tower is my sanctuary, and the site of your defeat," Black began to explain. "However, this ravine also ends with a door. That door will take you to the home of my children. To truly prove how much you wish to defeat me, you must show that you love my daughters to the point where you would do anything to save them."

"Daughters?" Twilight asked. "I didn't know you had kids, Black..."

"They are quite new. Newborn to be precise," Black corrected her. "Now, if you would let me finish. The room has only one door, and so far, it will only lead you to a feeding area. It will only take you to me when you have shown that you truly do love them. Who knows? You could be lost in that one room forever, driven by boredom to surrender yourself to me..." he smiled. "So to make it to me, you'll have to answer the one question that will hound you relentlessly; do you really love your friends? And do they really love you back?"

"My... friends?" Twilight put everything together in her head, and looked up at Black with fire in her eyes. "What do you mean, your daughters?!"

"Patience, patience, Twilight Sparkle. I shall only talk when you arrive at my sanctuary," Black said as he used the Staff of Time to create a beam of light that led deeper into the abyss. "Find me, and look after The Rainbooms. Only then will you earn the privilege of duelling me for the Staff of Time!" He then leapt into the beam of light and vanished as soon as he touched it.

As Twilight saw the beam vanish, she looked at the path ahead of her. Putting her hand into a fist again, she began to walk.

"You'll fight me if I make it to you? Fine, Black. I'll hold you to that." Twilight was serious with her words. Her tone of voice was a sign that she was going to end what he began.

Prologue

On a dark night in Equestria, a shadowy figure approached a large rectangular building with various different banners hanging down from the windows. The pictures depicted that the Great Mage Meadowbrook had created a brand new enchanted item and had placed it on display in the museum.

The figure looked at the artifact being displayed on the banners with a smug grin creeping onto his face. "So, this is where Meadowbrook stored it?" he said to himself as he walked closer to the doors. Using his hoof, he felt that the doors were tightly locked so that no-one could enter. "A locked door, eh? These fools don't know what they're up against..." with that remark, he pulled back his hood revealing a unicorn horn.

He cast a spell which wrapped himself in a dark blue aura. Once he was satisfied with his little trick, he fazed straight through the doors and appeared on the other side. After that was all done, he pulled his hood back up and sneaked into a shadowed area of the museum in case there were any night guards on duty.

Slinking through the darkness, the unicorn finally came to a massive room with one artifact in the center of the room. It was a staff, protected by a glass case which was surrounded by red velvet rope. The staff itself was made of gold, and had a massive ruby gem at the top. This was accompanied by two white wings, both of which radiated pure magic. At the staff's bottom, there was a little clock with hands that turned on their own.

"With this staff, I can save these ponies from themselves, and safeguard their bonds for all of eternity..." the mysterious unicorn said as he moved closer to the staff whilst hiding in the darkness.

As soon as he got to a position where he could simply walk out and take the staff, he noticed that hoofsteps were echoing across the hall. The constant noise that repeated itself alerted him that security was approaching. Even so, he didn't lose his composure and simply camouflaged himself in the shadows.

He could see two guards arrive at the staff, both of them dressed in navy blue security uniforms. They were also using torches to search the darkness, in case anyone was sneaking around to plan a robbery. The guards tried every section of the shadows but found nothing.

Whilst the guards were searching in the shadows, the unicorn was cleverly disguised with an invisibility spell that was immune to flashlights. With this spell, he simply walked around the guards and arrived at the display case. From there, he crept underneath the red rope and slowly lifted the display case. He did it slowly, so as not to alert the guards with any sudden noise. Finally, he grabbed onto the staff and pulled it out. as quickly as he could. As soon as it was in his possession, he dropped the display case.

The noise of the display case landing was enough to grab the attention of both of the guards, who turned around to see the thief wielding the staff.

"Stop! In the name of the law!" one of the guards said charging on the suspect.

"Pitiful..." the unicorn said, using his magic to swing the staff with one swift flick. After he had done so, the guards were completely frozen in place. "The Staff of Time. Just what I needed to save everypony's bonds..." he simply fled from the guards and banged the staff on the ground once again. After he had done so, a powerful portal in the shape of a clock opened up behind him. "Now to make a hasty retreat, to a time where this museum never existed!"

He leapt through the poral and vanished without a trace. As soon as he did, time started up again and the guards noticed that their suspect had escaped.

"Contact the princesses now!" one of the guards said to his colleague. "Tell them that the Staff of Time has been stolen, and that the suspect is trying to change the future with it!"

His fellow guard complied with his order and ran from the display case. From there, he charged down the corridors in an attempt to make it outside. The sweat running down from his face accompanied his mood; he was desperate to contact Twilight, Luna, Celestia, and Cadence.

The mysterious unicorn appeared in a different time period in a bright flash of white light. However, his position hadn't changed since he had left the museum. The first thing that he noticed was that the museum wasn't even built, and that he was in the middle of a construction site.

Chuckling to himself, the mysterious pony walked away from the skeleton of girders and proceeded to exit the vicinity. But before he could, he was suddenly surrounded by construction ponies, seemingly outmatched.

"Hey! What are you doing here, kid?" one of the workers shouted at him. "This area is off-limits to all civilians! I don't know how you got in here, but I know that you're not going anywhere now..."

"On the contrary, boys, I'll be going right now, if you please..." he raised the Staff of Time once again and swished it. In doing so, he had stopped time once again. "So kind of you to allow me to leave without any bother..."

The unicorn walked out of the construction site with ease. Even though he was out of the site, time still hadn't started up again, and he was free. He rubbed the staff that he had acquired quite tenderly, feeling its' power envelop him and make him feel stronger.

"With this Staff of Time, I can save friendships from going up in flames," the unicorn said as he walked into the nearby town that was still frozen in time. "These ponies don't know it yet, but they're losing friends with each passing day... I must free them from their curse, and this was just the item I needed to fulfill my wish, and create an eternal utopia for friendship!" the pony wandered into town and looked at each of the ponies he crossed paths with. They all seemed to be happy as they were, but he was unmoved by their emotions. "Now I just need someone to test this item's power on..."

He started up time again, allowing the ponies to continue with what they were doing. Meanwhile, the unicorn blended in with the crowd and concealed his prize.

After a while of wandering, he eventually saw a trio of friends walking into a field with no-one around for miles. Seeing his chance, he walked up to the ponies and prepared his staff for his plan.

"Hello there, everypony!" he introduced himself with a more cheerful attitude than before. "Tell me, have you ever wished that you could be friends forever?"

"Well, yeah... I'd love that," a mare with silver hair and a blue coat said. She was a pegasus and had a Cutie Mark that depicted a hailstorm. "My name's Hailstorm, this is Second Wind, and that's Slipstream,"she pointed towards two other pegasi. Slipstream was white with grey hair, whilst Second Wind was pink with green hair. "So, what do you mean about being friends forever?"

"Had it ever occurred to the three of you that the more and more you develop, the easier it is to lose your friends?" the unicorn said in a prophetic style. "As I have grown up, I watched as all of my friends abandoned me for their work, and even found new friends that were also only interested in business. When I matured, I felt like I was my only friend, and that I would always lose any friends that I tried to make..."

"Aww... that's so sad..." Slipstream said, patting the unicorn on the back in sympathy. "We'll be your friends, mister..."

"No, no. There's no need, I only mean to preserve friendships, not make them my own..." the unicorn said, slowly pulling out the Staff of Time from his cloak. "And with this artifact that I wield, I can make a friendship last forever..."

"How does it work?" Second Wind tilted her head as soon as she saw the staff. "And how did you even get your hooves on such a pretty staff like this in the first place?"

"Questions should not concern ponies, at least not ponies that I aid..." the unicorn pulled out the staff and spun it counter-clockwise. "Now then, with the power of this staff, I shall free you from your curse, and let your friendship become eternal!"

As the staff spun more and more, the ponies were slowly lifted off of the ground by an ethereal force. The three pegasi friends felt some discomfort that only grew the more and more the unicorn was spinning the staff. They felt woozy, and began to feel weaker and weaker the longer he used the Staff of Time.

Finally, the unicorn had the staff fire some powerful white beams at the three ponies. The beams struck their chests rather violently, and made them scream with pain. Whilst he watched the ponies become consumed in a bright flash of light, he could hear their screams grow higher and higher in pitch.

Twilight arrived at the throne room of her castle and looked down at her map. As she looked down on her world, she sat down on her throne, she could immediately feel that her Cutie Mark was vibrating. A problem had surfaced, and she was called to answer it.

"Alright, so where am I going?" Twilight said as her throne generated a projection of it. She watched as the projection flew upwards, then darted out of the throne room altogether. "Huh? That's odd..." despite her reaction to such an occurrence, Twilight still dashed after the projection

Twilight thought that if it wasn't on the map, then it had to be somewhere away from Equestria. But then Twilight remembered that her map only showed Equestria and nothing else, so her emotion changed to one of intrigue and slight worry when she ran for another room.

"Hey Twilight," Rainbow Dash said, trying to greet Twilight as she ran down the hall. She was with the rest of Twilight's friends, all of who saw her look of determination. "What's going—" before she could even finish, Twilight's Cutie Mark flew right past her, with Twilight close behind "—on?"

"There's no time to explain, Rainbow Dash! My destiny's calling me to somewhere other than Equestria!" she briefly explained as she followed the projection into another door further down the hallway.

The six friends eventually walked into the room and saw a number of books on the shelves. This was Twilight's library, and at one of the nearby walls was the portal to the Human World. The Cutie Mark was also here, but it was now revolving around the portal, indicating that Twilight's next problem resided on the other side.

"Twilight? What in the hay is yer Cutie Mark doin' at the portal?" Applejack asked as she examined the portal.

"I'm not sure yet, but I think my next problem is going down in the Human World instead of Equestria," Twilight said. "There's just no other way the map would lead me to the portal. It looks like I'm going to be paying Sunset Shimmer and my other friends a visit..."

"But what could possibly be in the Human World that wants to threaten friendship?" Rarity asked as she stared at the portal's rippling entrance. "Last I recall, the threats in that world came from Equestria. And unless this new threat left like Sunset did, then maybe that map needs a little fine-tuning..."

"How would you even tune a portal anyway? It doesn't have any strings or anything like that." Pinkie Pie said, feeling the portal with her hooves.

"It's not that kind of tuning, Pinkie Pie," Rainbow Dash said, looking a little bemused. "I'm no egghead, but even I know that there's a difference between tuning an instrument and tuning a magical map..."

"Even so, if the map's calling me to the Human World, I suppose I should go," Twilight said. "If I leave the problem to fester, friendship could be lost there forever..."

"I'm guessing we have to stay back again?" Rarity asked. "I mean, if you say that we can come, we'd be glad to help out with whatever problem befalls your other friends..."

"No, it's fine. If there were two of us, there would be chaos and pandemonium that not even friendship could fix," Twilight reminded Rarity that only she could go through the portal. "I'll be back in a while, girls. You five can look after Equestria while I'm gone, can't you?"

"Uh-huh." her friends all said together.

"I promise, I'll come back." Twilight said as she stepped through the portal and vanished in a glow of light. After she had left, the projection of her Cutie Mark vanished from sight.

Chapter 2: Two Sides to Friendship

Later that night, Twilight arrived at Sunset's house. Since it was made apparent that sleeping in a library was bizarre for everyone else, Sunset and Twilight came to the agreement that the two of them could sleep together. The both of them were grateful to each other. Sunset, because Twilight always knew the right course of action, and Twilight, because Sunset had done a number of good things since her reformation.

"So, Twilight. How do you think you can deal with that hooded creep?" Sunset asked. "If he's got the Staff of Time, there's no telling what he could do..."

"I know, but we only know that he can travel through time and disrupt the past so far. And besides, none of the events he's done so far have altered the present," Twilight said back. "You, me, and the other girls are still here. And the world is still the same regardless, not to mention that he babbled on and on about safeguarding friendship..."

"But that's what really bugs me, Twilight," Sunset got very suspicious of the hooded man's goals. "Friendship is just fine as it is, why would he say that he'd want to protect it further? The voicemails that Celestia and Luna weren't much help either, saying that the missing students needed to grow up again..."

"Part of me wishes that I was here earlier to try and stop him, but I was unaware that he was doing such evil things before the map notified me again..." Twilight felt a little downhearted. "I feel like I've already failed, seeing as he's started to rob us of our CHS friends..."

"You haven't failed, Twilight," Sunset said, patting Twilight on the back to attempt to raise her mood. She was determined to help Twilight feel better so that she could save their friends. "I mean, come on. How can you fail something before it even starts? And I'm sure that not even some time hocus-pocus is gonna stop you from saving friendship."

"I know about that, Sunset. But if the unicorn isn't altering time with the Staff of Time, what is he trying to accomplish with it?" Twilight said. "If there is a third property to that staff, then what else is it capable of?"

"Maybe the third property is the most important one for this thief..." Sunset thought about what the mysterious pony was trying to accomplish with the staff. "If we can discover the secret power that that pony is running around with, then it could help us better understand what he means by saving friendship..."

"I'll try to work something out tomorrow, Sunset," Twilight said, letting out a little yawn shortly afterwards. "But right now, I think it's in our best interest to sleep on it..."

"If we sleep, then maybe we'll have a better chance of trying to figure out the thief's plan," Sunset said with a smile as she took Twilight up the stairs of her house. "Come on, you can sleep in my room for now."

Sunset's bedroom was rather presentable for what it was, but it had a bunch of clothes that was scattered around at certain areas of her room, such as the dresser, the bedside table, and over some doors. Besides the mess, it was all very well kept.

"I know it's a mess, but sometimes, I just need to get them off after a hard week of papers. I'm sure you had the same desires yourself when you were at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, right, Twilight?" Sunset said with a smile of content beginning to grow. It was true that ever since she had been at Canterlot High School, Sunset had been worked to the bone with the number of assignments that she and her friends had been given.

"Actually, I can see where you're coming from, Sunset Shimmer," Twilight said, returning the smile with one of her own. "I think everyone looks for some sense of relief when they're finished with their studies. Even I was excited to finally have some freedom when I finished my work back with Celestia. I was bouncing around like a schoolfilly, because I knew that I'd be able to spend time with my BBBFF after all of my hard work..."

"Your BBBFF?" Sunset was a little confused with the acronym that Twilight had just spelled out.

"Big Brother Best Friend Forever," Twilight told her. "Shining Armour back in my world is my brother, and the captain of Princess Cadence's new Crystal Guard. He shows undying strength, and continues to fight back, even against impossible odds. It was with his strength that he not only defeated the Changelings, but also protected us from King Sombra's villainous curse."

"He must really care about you that much to protect you from such foes like that..." Sunset felt more and more lucky to have Twilight as a friend. "To know that I'm friends with the little sister of such a high authority figure like Shining Armour is truly a great privilege. I know that if some of his bravery rubbed off on you, then we can take on this thief together..."

"Thank you, Sunset..." Twilight shed a small tear of pride when she was given time. Sunset had always looked up to her in the past, so the fact that she was now looking up to her and her resolve was a great step up from what she had been in the past.

Later that night, with the moon at its' peak in the night sky, Twilight Sparkle was having trouble sleeping. She lightly tossed and turned in her sleep, and made noises of discomfort as she did so.

She was having a nightmare, one that was too horrific for it to even take a physical form or make any sense to her whatsoever. But it ended with a frightening sight; her friends were taken away by the hooded man and his Staff of Time, and she let out a scream of utter heartbreak and defeat.

Twilight suddenly woke up with a gasp and quickly sat up. She looked around and saw that Sunset was still fast asleep, snoring quite lightly as she tightly clutched her pillow for comfort. It was still the middle of the night, so such a thing was something that Twilight expected to see from her friend.

As Twilight saw Sunset's peaceful state of mind, a part of her throat got dry all of a sudden. Noticing this, she walked downstairs to try and get herself a drink. Lightly tiptoeing out of the bed and towards the door, Twilight was very careful not to wake Sunset up at this hour. Eventually, she made it to the door and slowly opened it before walking out the other side.

Once she was outside, she slowly walked towards the stairs and descended each one with the utmost of care. The stair squeaked as her foot came into contact with it, but it wasn't loud enough for the whole house to hear. Slowly, but surely, Twilight made it to the bottom of the stairs and walked towards the kitchen.

When she arrived at the kitchen, she took a glass from the nearby cupboard and began filling it up with some water from the tap. However, she was unaware that the hooded man was suddenly behind her, watching her fill her glass with water. In fact, it was after she took her drink that she noticed the man's presence.

"Hello, Princess Twilight." he said to her once she had laid eyes on him. He held out the Staff of Time so that it was visible to both him and Twilight.

"You..." Twilight gritted her teeth when she noticed that the man was carrying the artifact from Meadowbrook's collection. "Me and my friends have been looking for you, you know."

"And I've been looking for you too, Your Highness. It's not every day that I get to be graced with someone who understands friendship just like I do," the man said whilst getting onto one knee and bowing before Twilight. "I came to warn you that the friendships of everyone, not just your friends, are all in danger."

"From what I've gathered, you stole Meadowbrook's Staff of Time, and are using it to steal innocent Canterlot High School students away from us," Twilight was disgruntled and refused to accept the man's hospitality. "Why would some thief and kidnapper tell me that friendships are in danger?!"

"Princess Twilight. I have come to notice that each and every one of us is afflicted with a curse unlike any other," the man said as he took off his hood and revealed his face. His skin was dark blue, but his hair was spiky, and black as a piano. "A curse that we all suffer, even though it does us no harm whatsoever..."

"First you steal people away, then you talk about friendships in trouble, and now you're going on about curses?! Explain yourself right now, and I might just decide to let you go..." Twilight's anger did not shift as she confronted the man.

"When I was a young colt growing up, I had many friends to play with. We spent day after day playing ball games, frolicking in the grass, and laughing at how fun our activities were," he said, smiling as he remembered that period of his life. "However, things quickly changed for the worse...

"When I grew up, I noticed that my friends began to play with me less so than usual; or that they would straight up abandon me for their work. But either way, I lost friends when I lost my childhood," the man spoke with his voice turning grim and foreboding. "My whole world spiralled into heartbreak and loneliness, but I wasn't the only one. I saw many other fillies and colts who became loners once they grew up. All of their old friends had completely forgotten them with age..."

"How sad for you. But still, that shouldn't lead you to committing crimes of this magnitude!" Twilight said, refusing to be won over by a sad story.

"If you would let me explain further, then you would know why I sought after the Staff of Time, and the plans that I have for the humans of this world, and the ponies of Equestria..." he said, showing no emotions of his own.

"Go on..." Twilight raised an eyebrow, but still crossed her arms nonetheless.

"When I stole the Staff of Time, I watched the children mature into mares and stallions. They would go on to do incredible things with their Cutie Marks on their flanks, but I saw a similar pattern with all of them," he spoke, thinking of the many faces he had seen. "Each one of them lost all of their friends as they grew up, so I came to the conclusion that it wasn't their fault that they lost all that they held dear...

"No, their friends weren't taken away by other friends, work, or any other means. The real culprit behind the loss of the ponies' friendship was..." he paused for a moment and locked gazes with Twilight. "Age..."

"Age?" that word struck Twilight like a sharp dagger. It was all making sense to her now. "You mean that..."

"That is right, Twilight Sparkle, I noticed that age was the cause of all of this heartbreak and loss of friends, so I decided to take decisive action. Using the newly acquired Staff of Time, I liberated ponies from their curses and gave them eternal friendships!" he spoke. "By stripping the friendless ponies of their age, I opened up infinite possibilities for them to make new friends. Now that they never age again, they now have friendships that last forever!"

"That's..." Twilight was lost for words.

"There are two sides to friendship, Twilight Sparkle. There are blind friendships that you see, and eternal friendships that I create. Blind friendships only lead to destruction, whereas eternal friendships are ones that remain in the minds of everyone I liberate with the Staff of Time," the man got prophetic again, telling Twilight his story in large words. "You have spread blind friendships, whilst I have been spreading eternal friendships. And I know that even you, Sunset Shimmer, and your friends in this world are at danger of losing one another!

"There is no choice, Twilight! Sooner or later, you will allow me to break the curse of your age, and create a world where there is nothing more than ageless newborns. They won't be able to think, I will admit. But at least they will have friendships that will retain throughout all of time!"

"You're a sick man, and I will defeat you and stop your plans!" Twilight's fury returned. "Even if it means snapping that stupid staff in half!"

"I know your game, Princess Twilight. I have seen you fight before. Every time you defeat your opponents, you combine the powers of each of your friends," the man said back, making her recoil once more. "I saw you defeating both Sunset Shimmer and The Dazzlings in this world, so I know that your power still retains, even without your alicorn magic. However, there is a saying that goes around these days; take out the weakest link, and the whole tower comes crashing down..." he then smiled as he looked at Twilight closer. "And knowing that you rely on your friends to unleash your true potential, it shall come to you as a surprise that I shall begin saving all of your friends as well! You might not be able to see my vision for a better world, but once I'm done with each and every one of your closest friends, I'll come after you," he opened up a time portal with a swing of his staff. "And when next we meet, I expect you to agree to my terms, and join your friends in salvation from the curse of age!"

Twilight merely watched as the portal closed as soon as the man disappeared through it. After it had vanished, her expression turned into one of fright. If what the man said was true, then he would be going after one of her nearest and dearest friends even as she thought. However, her mind ruled out the possibility of Sunset Shimmer, since Twilight would have been able to take him out if he suddenly came back and tried to take her.

"Twilight, I heard something down there!" Sunset came running down from the stairs to see that Twilight was standing in the kitchen, stunned after what she had just witnessed. "What happened?"

But Twilight was completely speechless, her blank expression was a sign of that. After the speech her guest had told her, she began to question a number of his powers. "How is it possible for someone who carries the Staff of Time to stop someone from aging...?"

"Aging? What do you mean by that, Twilight?" Sunset asked as she finally saw her come to her senses and turn around to face her.

"Sunset, our friends are in danger! You have to call each of the girls as we speak! The thief who stole the Staff of Time just came to me as soon as I came down to get a drink!" Twilight began to explain in a panicked voice. "He said that he was using the Staff of Time to save people by preventing them from aging, and said that he'd come after each of my friends here before meeting me again! He could come after you too, so you have to watch—" but before she could even finish, she was given a quick and painful slap on the face.

"Twilight! Calm down!" Sunset said, watching Twilight stop talking altogether. "I think you had a nightmare, and that you did some sleepwalking to get a drink. If this thief took The Snapshots out of the blue, what makes you think that he would walk right up to you and tell you his master plan in the middle of the night?"

"But, Sunset, I—"

"That's enough, Twilight. Look, nightmares come and go these days. You must have had a really bad one, and now it's causing you to hallucinate. We'll get you another drink, then you can use the bathroom before you go back to sleep with me, alright?"

Twilight wanted to tell Sunset more, but she had the feeling that she wouldn't believe her in the slightest. Even after she had told Sunset exactly what the mysterious man had said to her, she was partially worried that Sunset would try and argue with her and damage her trust in her. Reluctantly, she said, "Alright, Sunset..." and watched as Sunset poured her another drink.

Applejack slept quite deeply at Sweet Apple Acres. Even though there was the presence of a time-travelling, friend-stealing thief in the city, she still slumbered as if nothing had happened.

Suddenly, the mysterious man appeared in Applejack's room in the middle of a flash of white light, seeing his next victim sleeping without any signs of waking.

"That's right, Applejack..." he began to spin his staff counter-clockwise once again. "Sleep... sleep like the infant you were always meant to be..."

Applejack slowly woke up from bed and noticed that there was a mysterious man spinning his staff in her face. Her reaction was one of shock and horror, which was to be expected with such occurrences like this.

Before she was given any time to climb out of her bed and try to contact her Big Mac, Applebloom, or Granny Smith, her chest was impaled by a stream of white light, the same ones that the man had used on all of his other ponies and humans. With nothing else to do as she was being struck, and ultimately transformed, Applejack let out a loud scream that shattered the silence and caused a number of crows to fly off of the trees they were perched on.

The next morning, Sunset Shimmer was awakened by not only the alarm in her room, but also the phone that was vibrating beside her. Hearing these noises, she struggled to open her eyes, but did so nonetheless and turned her alarm off. Seeing that her phone was shaking, she stretched her hand out and picked it up with an adequate amount of effort.

"Who could be wanting to call me at this hour?" Sunset asked to herself as she turned the phone on and tapped on a little icon that showed a letter. To her shock, messages came from all of her friends except for Applejack and Twilight.

She opened one message and was horrified with what it said.

Sunset! Emergency meeting at the park! Applejack's been stolen, and her voicemail's turned into that creepy one from yesterday! Please hurry! :(

Seeing the message was a fright to Sunset. The more she looked at it, the more she thought about what Twilight had said last night. Now that it had been confirmed that the man was going after Twilight's closest friends, they were all at a grave risk.

"Twilight! Get up!" Sunset shook Twilight from her sleep, getting her friend to wake up feeling groggy. "We've got a problem!"

"W–What is it, Sunset?" Twilight asked.

"It turns out you were right after all. I just got a message from Pinkie Pie, and it said something truly terrifying..." Sunset's expression never faded from that of terror. "It's Applejack... she's been taken by the thief who stole the Staff of Time!"

"NO!" Twilight shot up from the bed in panic upon hearing what Sunset had said. "We've gotta save her, before that fiend does anything to harm her!"

"She said that there was an emergency meeting at the park going down now," Sunset said, quickly getting changed into her jacket and clothes. "We need to get together as quick as we can so that we can meet the others and figure out a plan of action!"

Sparing no more time to speak, Twilight got changed into her daylight clothes as well. Once the two of them were dressed, they charged out of the bedroom and ran down the stairs towards the door.

As they ran out of the house, they were too busy to notice that the man with the staff was observing them from the rooftops, looking rather disdainful as he watched Twilight and Sunset run off. He stroked a large object in his hands, but it was cloaked by his black coat, so it was hard to make out what it truly was.

"You can run all you want, Twilight Sparkle, but I will see you again soon enough..." he said to himself as he looked at how worried Twilight and Sunset's facial expressions were. "And after I taken down your other friends, I'll make you watch as Sunset is the last to be saved. Then you will have no choice but to join your friends and be freed from the shackles!"

To Be Continued...