Chapter 5: Increasing Confusion

In Pyro's POV

As I walk into the village I begin to see a few ponies running about. Some were having snowball fights, some were decorating, some were building snowponies. There is confetti on the ground. Strange. I hear a slight whizzing sound coming right towards me, and I quickly ducked down, the snowball merely missing my hair.

I didn't even look towards where the snowball was thrown from. I continue following the trail of confetti. Until, I reached what seems to be a town hall. There was multicoloured confetti strewn all over the place, tables set outside in the snowy weather, empty cups and plates not thrown away. Signs of a party. But what caught my eye was a banner. A banner that reads 'Welcome Back!'. I assumed they were welcoming a travelling merchant, but now its gets confusing. The banner directly below it reads 'Infernus'. I'll admit, maybe in the future I'll return to the past, but this is just ridiculous. Right before I enter a town I've never seen before, I'm already welcomed into the town for who knows how many times already. And the party is already over!

I mean, I guess time travel is very weird. Time is a fragile thing. One wrong move and the universe collapses.

My first thought was to calmly walk away. But as I was walking to the southern exit, I was stopped by a pink pony.

“So, did'ya enjoy the party?” She asked. “Sorry I had to rush back from the hospital to welcome you, I had this planned for ages already! Everypony started without me. Also how are you at two places at once? You just left the town, I sent you off! I came back here to clean up the town. Wanna help? Also how are you doing that? Magic? I didn't know earth ponies can do magic. Well, maybe with a couple of exceptions...”

Yeah. Now imagine the speech five times as fast. I had to take out a notebook in the middle of the conversation to note down what she was saying just to understand!

I read over the words I wrote. 'Rush back from the hospital', ahh. Pinkie. 'Planned for ages', time travel. 'Just left the town', still time travel, and I am very annoyed with my future self. 'Magic', probably the floating notebook and quill.

“Also didn't you say your name was 'Pyro'?” She asked. This was the only statement I did not have to write down.

“Yes, yes it is,” I replied. “And it always will be.”

I look around the open space that was a mess. “So do you wanna help?” I hear.

I nodded, then walked about the place, picking up all the trash. I was feeling very lazy, so I expended my mana reserves and telekinetically cleaned up the place. All the trash rolled into a ball, which I then lifted into a bag Pinkie was holding up.

Not to complain, but after we finished cleaning up, Pinkie was gone without a trace. Ehh. I've lost ponies faster than that. I continue to wander around the town. I still haven't found a clock.

Walking further into the town, I come across a tree. A tree that looks like its been made into a house, with windows and a balcony. A sign next to it reads 'Golden Oak Library'. Which was extremely funny since this tree isn't golden, neither does it look like an oak tree. But, if its a library, it means that there will be books right?

I walk over to the red door and knocked.

~scene change~

In 3rd person POV

“Quick, get the rest of the guards, there's a meeting for all of the guards!” A royal guard, clad with golden armor, was running down the halls of Canterlot Castle gathering every last guard there was. They all assembled at the parade square, awaiting orders. A few moments later, the princess of the sun herself stood out to give the guards a heads up. The guards all bowed.

“Today, we received news that may endanger us all.” Celestia started. “We've tried to keep this a secret for ages, but to no avail. The truth is that there is a force greater that what we have in control of. A pony who is able to manipulate the essence of time itself.”

“We may have met him ages ago, but we may not be as lucky as last time.” Luna continued. “This threat is of the utmost importance. Today, me and my sister will try to work things out diplomatically.”

“And should we fail,” Celestia frowned. “We may not be able to return.”

The atmosphere suddenly got more solemn. All the guards became nervous.

“We shall confront him now in Ponyville, where he was last seen.” Celestia continued. “We will select the best of the best guards we can find to accompany us. The rest shall stay here and await command.”

The royal sisters have prepared a balloon that can hold up to 30 ponies beforehand. The selected guards boarded the balloon, followed by the princesses. The balloon then sets off for Ponyville.

~scene change, time skip: -30 minutes~

Twilight and Spike went down to their kitchen, finding atop a counter a book. There was a note attached to it. Picking up the bronze book, she wondered what might be inside.

“If you are reading this message, do note that you might not like the book's contents.” Twilight read out the message. “Do take note, should you proceed to read it, that it contains a large part of my life. Due to the past me having an amnesia of recent events, I have taken the opportunity to help myself by silently watching myself and recording what I have done up until I woke up under a pile of snow.” She glanced at the book. “Remember to give the past me this book immediately. Pyro, 738 years.”

“But if the Pyro that wrote the letter is 738 years old, then why didn't he look old when I saw him come in and repair the window?” Spike asked.

“I don't know, but this book might have answers.” Twilight said, opening up the book. “Let's start from the top...”

~time skip: 10 minutes~

“The potion was so strong that I fell over, foaming in my mouth. I had not known what a missing ingredient could do to a potion, since I always have all of them prepared ahead of time. This caused me to almost lose my life, landing me in the hospital, unconscious for 4 days.” Twilight read aloud, feeling slightly uneasy. She had jumped pages, flipping to a random entry everytime she finished reading the previous one. Twilight had already read about how Pyro got his watch, how Pyro made the bag and how long the research took to compile the spellbook.

“After I woke up,” Twilight continued, “I had no appetite. I could not sleep, either. My family was worried sick about my health. I worked tirelessly in the basement for ages to find out what the potion had done to my body, while my parents urged me to give it a rest and 'start eating stuff already'. After a few days of research, I found that my body's metabolism rate has decreased to a bare minimum. I don't grow the slightest, have no need for food most of the time, sleepless nights and very energetic. This means that I only grow mentally, while stuck in the body of a 23-year-old me.”

“That is very interesting, to say the least.” Twilight commented. “A pony who found immunity against old age!”

She then continued reading, flipping to another page.

“I kind of regret my decision building the watch. The power system has overloaded and sent our entire planet into the distant future. Calculations show that we have traveled forward a few centuries, more research is to be done to pinpoint the exact time period we are in. This had a few catastrophic events. A supernova within a few hundred light-years has just imploded, causing a super-massive black hole. This planet is just within the range of the black hole, thus just barely orbiting around it. We are doing all we can to prevent the planet from falling into the event horizon. It's our home, and we have nowhere else to go.” Twilight stopped to take in all the information she just read.

“I tried overloading the watch again to take us back in time, but it backfired, causing a rip in spacetime, our planet ending up in an unidentified rift. I've tried all I can to fix the rip, but to no avail. More research must be done to correct this anomaly.” Twilight now looks fascinated.

She flipped the book forward a few pages. “The anomaly is fixed, but our planet has now been ripped from our original universe. However we have located another universe to teleport to. Universe 84F3J0DI3. We made the jump just before the rift we were in collapsed in on itself. This universe seems identical to ours. All forces work the same, universal expansion rate is also identical, and time just seems to work the same. Further studies show this universe to be a single-timeline universe as well, meaning that my time travel will have affected the past, leading up to the future. Initial timeline scans show no anomaly in the continuum.”

Twilight paused to rest. She never knew reading could be this tiring, especially when the information is being thrown on her. She flipped forward a few more pages. “The planet seems to have turned violent. Some ponies from the other elemental regions have started rioting the moment they heard of the news from the Ignion scientists. They all blamed me for causing everything. I tried to reason with them but they didn't want to listen. Even my friends tried to kill me. I really tried to fix what I caused.”

She noticed a piece of paper stuck onto the next page. 'Amnesia starts here'. Her curiosity got to the better of her and continued reading. “The other four elements have started a war. They all want me to be banished. Thus the Elemental War of Destruction, that's what I've grown used to calling it, started. I've had no choice but to defend myself, creating a sword using both technology and magic. The sword has two blades, one that slices and one that electrocutes. Both blades use a magical metal produced from arcane purification techniques known only to a few. The slicing blade is also coated with a strong and sharp alloy of steel-platinum damascus, plated in such a way that the blade will take a long time to even show signs of blunting. Its hilt has the Ignion Ruby adorned on it, infusing the blade with a fiery aspect that burns foes with every strike. Upon construction, the blade sliced through the floor, the hilt guard stopping it from causing more damage. Further testing shows that it can slice through diamond.” Signs of fear began to show on her face. But she didn't stop there.

“The fear and hatred have now manifested into a form. The monstrosity has spread to every location I can think of. This form doesn't seem to stop growing, assuming it is feeding off of the ponies hatred towards me. This means that this manifestation is likely to be magic related, will do further studies. I shall call it 'Taint'.”

“Spike, can you help me read this next bit? The hoofwriting is too garbled.” Twilight handed over the book to Spike.

“My friends are literally chasing me down. I've to hide to write this message. The past me is safe, hidden from harm. I have no idea what they want me to do, but I do know that it will not be pleasant. The taint is now strong enough to establish mental bonds to control the ponies keeping it alive. Enough studies have shown that it can be defeated if the ponies stop thinking about my mistakes. I just want this to end.” Spike looked up from the book. “Twilight, the rest is blank.”

“Ok, I think I have got all that.” Twilight said. Her mentality has changed drastically since she opened the book. The pony she just met has been through all this. She had a hard time believing all that. Was this an elaborate hoax? The fixed window seems to prove it otherwise.

She was deep in thought when a knock on her door disrupted her.

~scene change~

In Pyro's POV

I knock on the door. A single knock on the door should suffice. I waited for a few seconds, before seeing the door open.

“Is the library in busines...? Oh. Its you.”

Twilight has just opened the door, looking somewhat mentally scarred. “Uhh... come in I suppose.”

Ok, that was weird. She looked happy a moment ago. Perhaps something happened while I was cleaning up the town hall?

“How old are you?” Twilight suddenly asked. Which startled me, although I have been keeping count, because no one has ever asked me that in a long time.

I answer my body age. “23.”

“You don't.... look 23.”

Something was definitely wrong. “Fine. I don't have to keep secrets. Body age, 23. Mental age, 508.”

She now looks really taken aback. Well, knowing that someone you know isn't really how old he looks can be really startling.

“Is something the matter?” I ask. And to be honest, this is the first time that I have asked an acquaintance this.

Her face looks pale. She took out a book with a bronze cover. “I found this book on my kitchen table. I've read the contents already. You can have it.”

Ok, that's it. This day has been getting weirder and weirder since I woke up under a pile of snow. I wonder what's next, a tsunami in a landlocked area? That book looks familiar though. I took out my journal from my bag for a comparison. Exact match.

“What...?” I mutter under my breath. I opened the books to read the contents. Both are identical except for the one I received from Twilight. I read the pages that the future me has written down.

A visible frown was etched onto my face. I close both books and turned them over so that both back covers were visible. The one I had received has one scratch mark down the side. I took out a knife, which startled Twilight, and scratched another mark onto the one with the mark, then a mark on the original copy. I then stuffed both books into my bag. Right after I close my bag, a large shadow was cast, blocking the sunlight. “What was that?” I asked.

Twilight and I both went out to see what was going on, and we were both shocked. A tsunami from who-knows-where, sustaining itself on land, as tall as twice the height of the tree, as wide as the town itself casted the shadow.

A pony walked out from inside the wave of water. He walked a few steps, before noticing me and stopping.

“Hello, Pyro.” A crooked smile appeared on his face.

Author's Note

A/N: Time travel. Weird. Also a few bits and pieces of Pyro's journal. I've only included the highlights of his life, so you will have to wait for the rest soon. Maybe. Ehh, don't count on it.

Next chapter: A new pony appears! He seems to be able to control water the same way Pyro is able to do with fire. Who is he in relation to Pyro? Why does he know Pyro? And most importantly, why was he here?