Pyric Hell

by InfernusPyriclysmBurnem

Rating: mature
Tags: Science Fiction, Adventure, Alternate Universe, Main 6, Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 14706

Such is the life of a pony who woke up in the Everfree, not knowing how he got there.

A pony finds himself in the Everfree, without any memory what happened such that he woke up there. Pyro tries to adjust himself to his new surroundings, while trying to find a way back home. Or, at least, to the comforts of home. The tags only have OC because the story is going to have a heck of a lot of characters. (why is there even a max of five slots :/)

Published 2016-02-04 01:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2016-05-24 04:36:24 UTC

1. Snuffed Out

Chapter 1: Snuffed out

In Pyro's POV

Where am I? I have absolutely no idea. It's dark in here. I open my eyes slowly; I fear that I am somewhere I don't want to be. White greets my eyes and I suddenly feel colder than usual. Snow? Where I am from it's currently spring, winter has passed already. Maybe the snow hasn't melted completely here. But why am I under the snow? I may never know what has happened while I was out.

I try to move my limbs. But due to the extreme pressure of being under the snow, my efforts are for naught. How much snow was I under? How did I get here of all places? I try to remember what has happened before waking up here. I am beginning to feel a headache, and the harder I try to remember, the headache got more painful. The only thing I got out of the ordeal were memories of a fight. I can't recall the details of it though, it is much too painful to.

I remember my name and where I'm from, clear as day. My name is Infernus Burnem, though my friends call me Pyro. I'm from Ignia, Land of Fire, part of the Planet of Elemental Concord. The other lands, Hydrox, Terrius, Metallum and Lignus, are on the same planet. We had very efficient trade systems, advanced technology, several attempts at artificial aviation and technological transport and quite many inhabitants.

I remember being arrested for entering the catacomb libraries. Although I made the offence a long time ago, it seems that the past has caught up. Then my mind went blank. And I am now here, stuck under frozen water, thinking of ways to escape this icy jail.

Duh, I'm from Ignia. We ponies in the planet have special abilities, depending on the elemental bloodline we are from. The ponies from Ignia can create fire or induce heat from nowhere, as if by magic. The other lands control their respective elements: water, earth, metal and wood. Ancient lore dictates that these primal elements can be combined in many ways to form the materials we use. For example: water and earth can be mixed to form mud and clay, which then can be baked into mud bricks. The bricks can be reinforced with metal, before or after the baking. Wood forms air which is necessary for life.

Using this knowledge, I concentrated on the area above me. Slowly, the snow began to heat up, melting into puddles of water. Wait, not puddles. Apparently the snow was so thick that it formed a small pond where I was. I got out, dried myself and observed my surroundings.

Hey, there's my bag. I walk over to pick up the green bag on the floor. I'm in a forest, on the floor, snow above me. Now my bag has snow in it. Great. Hmm? I'm in a forest, but which one? I have to find a way out. And find shelter quickly, looks like it's about to hail.

And hail it did. A hailstone landed right beside me to warn me of the impending danger. It was as large as a pony's body! Or, at least, enough to crush one into a million pieces. Time to run for my life.

I ran for about 15 minutes before the weather began to clear. I am still in the forest? Well, I'll worry about that later. Time to check my belongings. I open my bag, which seems to have all my stuff: arcane compendium, watch, journal, 5 notebooks, extended periodic table, the keys to my house, several bits of currency used on my planet, some pens and an emblem. Then I remember that I built my watch to time travel. It may sound ridiculous, but I had plans on building said watch since I was 19. I had completed the model 15 years later, and 5 years after that I had all the components in place. I had to use magic to travel forward in time to get all the components. Quite the tedious process, but at least I can save on mana usage.

I took out my watch and tried to activate it. Nothing happens. Did the snow get to it? I try again. This time a whirring noise came from the watch. Then it blew up, sending the pieces into 10 different directions. It sent me flying too. I landed on a tree, rendering me unconscious.

Author's Note

A/N: What happens to Pyro? Exactly how OP is he? All will be revealed in the later parts of the story. For now, just enjoy the story at this point in time. Also Pyro is not related to any TF2 characters you might know.

Hello there FiMFiction! This is Infernus here, I plan to transfer the story over from my fanfiction.net account, but please do take note that this story would be at least a chapter behind the one on fanfiction. Go check it out, link to my fanfiction account is in my bio, and the story is under the same name!

In the next chapter: A piece lands on a tree, smashing one of its windows and startling a baby dragon, who alerts a purple unicorn about it. Not knowing what it is, they decide to find out.

MLP:FiM is owned and copyrighted to Hasbro, only several characters are mine.

2. Lost, yet Found

Chapter 2: Lost, yet Found

In 3rd person POV

We now move over to a familiar tree in Ponyville, inhabited by a purple unicorn and a baby dragon. Their day was just going about as usual, the dragon sleeping and the unicorn sorting her books. It is now 8:53 AM.

A piece of the watch lands on the window in the top floor, smashing it into smithereens. This loud noise woke the baby dragon. The unicorn stopped her sorting.

"Spike, everything alright upstairs?" Twilight asked. Spike slowly stood up, clearly not completely awake.

"Huh...? I think so..." Spike walked over to the mess near the worktable. "I think you gotta see this." He then proceed to shout down the stairs.

Twilight quickly arranged the remaining books and ran upstairs to check on the situation. She saw that the window facing the Everfree forest was broken and the shards of glass were on the floor, spread a ways away from the frame of said window. Among it was a piece of foreign machinery that looked like it was powered by clockwork mechanisms. Slowly, she used a telekinesis spell to lift up the mechanism, then brought it towards herself to examine it.

"Was this here before?" Twilight asked the purple dragon, who sat there still trying to absorb what just happened. He replied with a shrug, which left Twilight an even bigger question. Where did it come from?

Twilight, ever the curious mare, then brought it to her basement to take it apart to try and find out what it was made of. If I could reverse engineer it, she thought, it would be a revolutionary breakthrough in technology. She then proceeds to open the casing. But, no matter how hard she pulls, the casing would not budge. Twilight then tried other methods of opening the mechanism. Cutting did not work, smashing obviously yields no result, magic seems to cause it to close tighter and simply hammering the casing out proved to be ineffective as well.

Every time a method did not work, Twilight would rage a little bit before thinking of another way to open. Eventually she had tried all methods, known or unknown. It just would not open! She got frustrated at what was thrown at her. But at that moment, a smile dawned on her face. What if, she thought, just what if, I go back upstairs and measure how much force was used in smashing the window, and I calculate the trajectory of the object to find its source? Then I can asked the pony who made this to share his or her secrets!

Immediately she ran back upstairs and told Spike to not clear the mess on the floor unless she said so. She then took out several rulers and tried to measure out the distance the glass was away from the window. Then using some physics and maths, she calculated the path of motion of the mechanism, which marks its beginning point at... the Everfree!

"Wait. Nopony lives in the Everfree besides Zecora." Spike said. "This is ridiculous."

"No, but what if this is her's?" Twilight interjected, even though she knows that the idea was ridiculous. Zecora only played about with potions and plants, not highly advanced clockwork doohickeys that did not even have a known purpose. "I'm going to find who it belongs to no matter what. It's not ours to begin with. What if its really important?"

"But its cold outside!"

"And if I leave you on your own, wouldn't you get cold faster?"

"Point taken... I'll get the others, then we'll set off."

~scene change~

In Pyro's POV

Ughh. Second time I've been unconscious today. At least this time I'm on top of the snow. Now the watch exploded. Where did they fly to? I try to locate myself in this forest. I still have a headache.

I spot something shine in the snow a fair distance away. Is that...? It is! Its the casing of my watch. At least the bronze casing was not scratched. One down, 9 others to go. At least, I think it was 9 pieces. The watch split into 10 different directions, didn't it? I hope the temporal engine did not kick in during the blast and travel through the t-axis.

I carefully place the piece into my bag and continue trying to find a way out. Looks like I am stuck here for a while.

About 20 minutes later I find a clearing in the woods. This is strange, because everywhere else in the forest was dense and full of greens, while this patch of land is void of trees, and you could clearly see trees around this area. I look up into the sky. Abundance of clouds, sun still hovering above dawn. From where I am at, I make it to about 9 AM. I wonder if the time here corresponds to the time on my planet.

Suddenly, out of nowhere a seemingly large manticore came out. It tackled me on the left side, making me lose my balance. I genuinely wasn't scared, although I was shocked at the sudden movement. I cannot really tell if it is angry; they look angry all the time. Maybe its hungry?

I stood up and dusted myself off. It just kept pushing me over, even though I did not care for the first few times it did. But after a few minutes, it eventually got fast enough to push me over and climb on top of me.

I wanted to push it off. However, if I use too much force, I would send it flying. Survival first, I suppose. With some force, I push the manticore with my right hoof. Its body flew through the air, landing with a thud near some trees. Slowly it got up and ran away whimpering. Probably injured.

Checking my mental clock, 28 minutes has passed. I picked up my bag and started wondering if I can get out of this place. Alive, no less.

~scene change, time skip: 20 minutes~

In 3rd person POV

"Are you sure the piece came from here?" Asked a skeptical Rainbow Dash.

"Of course. I have calculations to back it up." Twilight responded as they all entered the forest.

"Ah trust ya, but who in tarnation would wander off into the Everfree forest?" Applejack asked. "An' even if we know the pony's not alone, why would they conduct an experiment here?"

"See, that's what we don't know. The pony may be good or bad. We'll decide whether to return this when we meet them."

So they walked along a path in a clearing. The trees looked eerie, the plants looked carnivorous and the air seem to have dropped to freezing temperatures way below the wintry level that it used to be. But friendship could negate that, right? The seven of them huddled together as closely as they could to keep warm. Together they move through the forest, passing by each tree with subtle fear of what was going to happen.

Whilst trekking deeper into the Everfree, a manticore bumped into them. It looked very scared, even though it was bigger than the average pony. It has abrasions all over its back, probably from a tussle. Upon noticing the ponies, it scurried away without hesitation. Fluttershy, standing in the middle of the group, was shocked looking at the injured manticore.

"It's injured!" She squeaked. However she could not do anything; the manticore ran away too quickly. Her ears drooped, her spirits dampened. That did not put her down completely though. She pressed on with her friends.

Halfway to Zecora's hut, they came across a clearing in the forest. The ceiling was devoid of leaves so they could see into the sky above. Treading across the snow, they entered the clearing.

~scene change, time skip: -2 minutes~

In Pyro's POV

I hear a rustling in the woods. The manticore has come back? Nah, I don't think so. It's too weak. Wind? I do feel colder all of a sudden. But then again, I don't think wind can penetrate the treetops. Enough thinking, try to see what is coming.

I focus my attention on the rustling, trying to deduce what was coming. Hmm, sounds? Voices? Is this place populated? Wait... yes, I do hear voices. All of them female and they seem to be chatting. Hm. Oh, I hear a male voice, quite distinctly young. I wonder what they are doing in this forest; its too dangerous, with the manticore and all. And they seem to be heading... this way? Perhaps to another location via this one, I must not be a disturbance to them. Slowly, I decided to trek away from this place, maybe find an exit. Time to mov-

~scene change~

In 3rd person POV

Pyro walked toward the north-western direction before being struck by a small rock on the head, knocking him out cold. His body flopped onto the floor in an uncomfortable position, before repositioning itself so that the entire body came into contact with the cold ground.

As the group neared the clearing, they chatted to lighten the ambiance.

"Who do you think this belongs to?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know, but I hope that pony likes parties!" Pinkie replied to the rhetorical question.

"I hope so. Maybe that pony likes presents. Hearths-Warming is right around the corner." Spike said as they entered the clearing.

Rainbow flew upwards to locate the hut, just in case they forgot the way. However, she noticed a pony lying on the floor.

"Uhh... guys? Who's that?" Rainbow asked upon gaining their attention, pointing to the unconscious red pony.

Author's Note

A/N: Sorry for the confusion in the time skips, if you were thoroughly confused or misled. I can't help it.

Next Chapter: Pyro is brought somewhere to recover from his concussion, and although he is here for the first time, Twilight claims to have met him somewhere before. But how?

3. It's all a Dream

Chapter 3: It's all a dream

In Pyro's POV

Huh. Knocked out again. That makes three in a day. New record.

Well, looks like I'm not going to be awake for a while. I'll check if I have any memory loss.

Thinking really hard, I come across a memory that, like a dream, pulled me into it. Usually I can just watch the dreams from the side, but for some reason I am forced to recollect the memory in first-person.

This dream I am in right now is one of the best I have had in ages. It's about the time I built my watch.

"Hmm. This goes here, this goes there..." I said out loud. I am in a workshop, so no one could hear me. No one wants to hear me ramble on about quantum mechanics. "That piece... hmm. Maybe into the quantum drive matrix..."

I look towards the other parts. The clockwork mechanisms were already attached to the main casing, motor sensors and gyroscopic sensors for the temporal input was detached for a moment to make space for the drive I was currently working on. The power system was just next to it, also detached to prevent rips in the space-time continuum. The hands of the watch were present too, to signify that it was analogue.

"Maybe if I put this capacitor here..." To be completely honest, I have no idea what I was doing. All I know was that the blueprints that I got were outdated and that it did not work.

"Huh. It works!" Pointless tinkering can get you a long way if you tried hard enough. Then, I carefully placed it into the watch, with the other components. Once they were wired up correctly, I closed the casing of the watch and started its power system.

Just then, a bright flash of light came from within the room. I covered my eyes to prevent the temporary blindness that I would have gotten if i didn't. Looking at the source, I hastily shouted, "It works!"

I was looking at me, who used the watch for testing. He ran over to the table and gave me a quick nod. I then ran over to where he stood, set the watch to travel back a few seconds. I clicked the button on the side, and the whole room around me faded into white.

It was not long after that I entered the room again, briefly hearing the past me say "it works!", before I gave a huge grin. I ran over to the table and gave the past me a quick nod, which signals him to go test it out. After he left, I shouted again, "It works!"

Time-travel is a weird thing.

~scene change~

In 3rd Person POV

"Uhh... guys? Who's that?" Rainbow asked while pointing to the seemingly lifeless red body on the ground.

Pyro lay still on the floor, unconscious. The six ponies and dragon quickly shuffled over to the red pony, who seemed unaffected by the surroundings. "Is he okay?" Twilight asked.

"How do you know that this pony is a male?" Was the response Twilight received.

"He just looks familiar. Like I've seen him somewhere before, but I just can't place my hoof on it."

Fluttershy's head poked out of the group. "What happened to him?" She asked, walking over to the pony.

Then came a rude comment. "Is he dead?" Rainbow asked.

"And how would you know that?" Applejack replied to the comment.

They idly stood about the body, waiting to see if he would wake up.

"Hmm...? His left forehoof is... umm... what?" Twilight looked over to the metallic prosthetic. No doubt she has seen metal before, but this was bent? In the way a hoof would, too. The metal does not seem like it had any joints, just a sheet of metal rolled into a tube. She tried to straighten the hoof, and it did. This made her jump back, metal was not supposed to do that.

"He is unconscious, judging by the breathing pattern." Fluttershy spoke up, which made everyone sort of worried. She felt around for a pulse, only to find out that his body temperature was frighteningly high. "Oh, my..."

"What? What is it?" Rarity asked, a slight hint of concern over the tone of curiosity.

"Seems like he has a fever. A really high fever," Fluttershy replied. "We need to get him to the hospital."

So they all helped carry the unconscious Pyro out of the forest and to the nearest hospital.

~scene change~

In Pyro's POV

The bubble of thought forced me out. I am now floating in a void again, waiting for my body to respond to my thoughts. I still can't seem to wake my body...

Then, I see another dream in the distance. This seems to be set in a clock tower... oh I remember. I look down to my left hoof. "Heh." I say into the nothingness. "Guess that was a blessing."

But, as helpful as the incident was, I did not want to go through it again. The bubble pulled me closer to it, while I try to escape from the force. However, it was in vain.

I then regained the feeling of having a left hoof. Even though electronic sensors would do the trick, nothing can match the real deal. I was at a clock tower that was situated on top of a hill in the Ignion Plains. The governors weren't good at names.

There, I was doing a project about clockwork mechanisms and the style of steampunk. Being the only clock tower that still works after centuries of wear and tear, I only had that tower to visit for the assignment. I was looking at the clockwork gearing, counting the number of teeth of each gear to get the gearing ratio. The only part I did not like was the next part, which I was forced to take part in. There was a water puddle due to the tower having a leaky roof, and that it just stop raining before I came here. I did not see it there, which resulted in me slipping over. My papers flew all about the interior of the tower, scattering about in many different directions. I wasn't about to lose all progress on my work. So I went around the tower, collecting all of my assignment.

When I had almost finished collecting all of my papers, I started to look through what I have collected thus far. I then decided to collect the remaining few pieces, which was behind the large gears. Little did I know that there was another puddle, and I slipped again, this time landing dangerously near some of the gearworks. My left hoof, somehow, got stuck between a set of gears for the hour hand. I tried to pull it out, but to no avail. I then tried to break the gear. I still can't. The gears were slowly turning, forcing my hoof inwards. I was really flustered this time. I pulled and pulled, but the gears did not budge. Whoever made the clockworks really wanted the clock to last.

My hoof was starting to hurt now, even though I can't feel it. I know that the hurt is temporary, but I really hurt the time it actually happened. Then, I was forced to watch the bloody mess. The gears pulled on the skin, while I resisted. I felt my skin rip somewhere. Blood began to drip over the gears. I continue to struggle as the teeth slowly ground my hoof, the layers of muscle being squashed, my blood being forced out like a water gun. I was yelling for help now. I felt a lot of pain in my left hoof, or what's left of it. I desperately tried to pull it out of the gears, but now I could hear some bones cracking. The broken bone pierced into the muscle, causing more pain to surge up my body. I hear the tower door opening, while I continue to scream in pain.

"Hurry! Find him!" I heard. They are here to rescue me. "Don't worry! We heard you and are trying to find you!"

I continue to squirm in agony. I could not feel the lower half of my left hoof. As I saw some ponies locate me, I shouted to them, "Here! Over here!"

That's when the gears got the advantage and ripped the lower part of my left hoof clean off the humerus, ripping more skin and tearing more muscle. I then black out due to loss of blood.

The gears of the clocktower were then permanently stained with my blood.

Then, I woke up, gasping for air, pushing back the blanket covering me.

~scene change, time skip: 50 minutes~

"So when will he wake up?" Twilight asked the doctor tending to Pyro.

"If you are lucky, by tomorrow. He got hit on the head with a small object, causing a concussion. Other than that, everything is fine." The doctor in-charge replied. This made the six sigh in relief. As the doctor left the room, Twilight asked if they wish to continue into the forest to ask Zecora about the device. They all silently agreed and proceeded towards the door.

"Gahh!" Pyro jerked himself awake, pushing the blanket away. His face looks drained, as if he had saw something terrifying. His sudden and loud scream caused the mane six to stop dead in their tracks. They all stared at him, and he stared back.

Author's Note

Time-travel! Very difficult to write, yet very interesting to write! There will only be more time-travel in the future, so look out. As for the second dream... it's M-rated for a reason. Also, this universe is almost canon to the main show. Some of the major events will occur/ have occurred, like Nightmare Moon, Discord, Twilight's alicornation... all that fun stuff, but it would be spoilers to give out the rest of the information. c:

Next chapter: The second piece of the watch is returned to the rightful owner. A strange string of events occur over the next few minutes, which thoroughly confuses everyone.

4. Temporal Encounter

Chapter 4: Temporal Encounter

In Pyro's POV

"Gahh!" I shouted, flinging away something covering me. Not the best feeling in the world waking up to a severe headache.

I held out my right hoof to clutch my head due to the immense pain, when I noticed something in the corner of my eye. Or, rather, someone. Err... more than one.

I looked to my right and saw six ponies staring at me. My first thought was to greet, but then I just stared back. I did not know what to do. Where exactly am I again? This place does not look like a forest. The six slowly walked towards me.

"Umm... doc?" I heard. "The pony's awake."

Ahh. The hospital. With what bland colours for its rooms. Just then another pony rushed in. He looks like a doctor, with the labcoat and the stethoscope hung around his neck.

"Don't worry, you only have a high fever, we have given you some aspirin to bring it down." He said, looking at a chart which I think shows my body temperature. "Also, what happened to your hoo-"

"Not gonna talk about it." I interrupted. It felt refreshing; I haven't spoken in a really long time. "And I also like my body temperature at 43 degrees Celsius, where it should be."

The doctor was now confused. "The normal body temperature is 38 degrees Celsius." He raised an eyebrow.

"Not for me." I got off the hospital bed, which resulted in several attempts to push me back on it. Annoyed, I lifted up my right hoof. And I thrust it into the air on my right. Immediately, the doctor was repelled away from me in the same direction, allowing space for me to get out of the room. The push wasn't forceful enough to knock him over though, it was at the right force such that he was pushed back and still standing. Where's my bag? Here it is, hung up on a coat rack.

From the six ponies came a question: "How'dja do that?"

To which I bluntly replied, "Magic." It's simple, is it not?

Of course, I didn't specify which kind of magic. The only kinds of magic an earth pony can learn are those faux slight-of-hoof kinds and Arcana. Or, at least, that's what I've encountered.

I walked to the door, but a purple unicorn appeared in front of me, with the exaggerated expression of curiosity of her face. How did I know her gender? It was simple: muzzle size.

I was then bombarded with a torpedo of questions. "Magic? What kind? Where did you learn it? How did you learn it? You're an earth pony, you can't possibly know how to use magic. Or can you? Can earth ponies learn magic?" I looked at her with a bored expression.

So I lifted my hoof again and levitated her upwards and behind me, clearing the exit. I continue walking.

"Are you deaf or something? My friend asked you a question." Another pony shouted from behind me. I stopped walking. Now, don't get me wrong here. I wasn't trying to be rude to them. I just had matters to attend to that were more important than answering questions.

"I have no obligation to answer." I reply. "And I have more pressing matters to tend to. Such as finding all the pieces of this." I held out my watch, which was only the casing at that moment. "I have already wasted enough time being unconscious."

"Is this one of the pieces?" The purple unicorn held out a mechanism. "I've been trying to open it, but the casing is shut tight."

Now I'm curious. I levitated the object toward me and inspected it. Looking at it, I found some scratches on the casing, presumably from landing. I then sat down and twisted it open. The casing came apart with a satisfying pop, and the gears inside were still functioning properly. It just lacks a power source to activate the motor. I think I just found the clockwork gearing for the watch.

Meanwhile, the six ponies watched as I tinker around with the mechanism. "Don't mess around with it, it could be extremely dangerous!" The purple unicorn said. She has obviously no clue what it was. "I tried so many ways to open it, but you did so effortlessly."

"Well, its the clockwork mechanism that is used to run my watch, so obviously I know how to open it! I made it!"

"And how do we know that it's yours?" An annoyed voice from an orange earth pony.

"Because," I replied. "I built it from scratch." And I say so proudly.

I put the pieces back together and took out my watch. I fit it into the slot it was supposed to be in. Fits like a glove.

"And now it's exploded into who-knows-how-many pieces. And obviously if I made it, you would ask: 'Why not rebuild it from scratch again?' The answer to that is very simple. I do not want these pieces to fall into the wrong hooves. If they do bring them all together and tinker about with it, they may gain access to time itself and undo everything they have done wrong, eventually leading to the mass destruction of the world as you know it. Of course, since we are looking at each other, it means that I have found every piece of my watch and have successfully avoided mass destruction," I continued. "And of course, the standard truth holds. Never trust a time-traveller unless you see the time-travelling in action. Besides, they take a long time to make."

"I still think you are familiar. Something about you is just... off. I remember seeing you somewhere, I just don't know where." The purple unicorn spoke.

Ergh. Time-travel. Always a hassle to deal with. "In a history book maybe." I'll just shrug it off. "I best be off. I need to look for the parts." I said. "And thanks for the piece."

"Wait!" She shouted. "You haven't even given us a name yet!"

Well, I don't think I can use 'Infernus' anymore. I'll just use my nickname and pass it off as my real name. "The name's Pyro." And I exit the hospital, with no bearing or direction whatsoever.

So I stood outside for a couple of minutes trying to locate any other civilisation besides the hospital in the middle of nowhere. I reckon that if I walk in one general direction, I can reach a village. Or some decent civilisation, whichever comes first. And it just so happens that there is a path laid down in front of me! Let's follow it and see where it leads! I'm sure nothing can go wro-

Then, the six ponies exit the hospital. "Hey! We realized that we haven't given our names yet."

Ergh. More of this nonsense.

I turn around to look at them. One of them was the purple pony, one was orange, one was light yellow, one was cyan, one was white and one was a blob of pink. Really colourful.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle." The purple pony introduced herself. "And, in order, are Applejack, Fluttershy ,Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie... where'd she go?"

"Got it." I answered. "And what time is it now?"

"Pretty sure it's about noon." Twilight replied.

Oh well then. Have to wait for a bit to tell the time directly from the sun. Or find a clock, that helps too. Time to set off, I suppose.

And it just so happens that I walk in the exact same direction as the remaining five. I can clearly hear the five happily chatting away behind me. Is that a town I see ahead of me? This road lead right to it, it seems. Do those ponies live here?

A cool breeze blew by. I've only been unconscious all morning and I'm already feeling cold. So to heat myself up again, I used some arcane fire. I ignited my body. The fire rejuvenates me, giving me a boost of energy.

Of course, the moment my body is set on fire, I hear screams. From behind me no less. I think I hear 'go get some water' or something along those lines.

Not a moment later, I was splashed with freezing cold water. I felt the water hit my body, but the fire immediately evaporated the water. I hear someone running towards me, shouting, "Quick, get more!"

I look behind me. I see a rainbow trail zoom away, presumably to the nearest unfrozen lake. It then zooms back, revealing Rainbow Dash with a bucket full of water ready to splash it all over my back again. The water was hurled at me. I lifted my hoof and aimed it at the water. Within milliseconds the water evaporated. Then I aimed my hoof at the bucket, heating it up. Rainbow dropped the bucket onto the floor, which then melted and resolidified into a heap of junk metal.

"Hey, what gives?" I hear her shouting at me. "You're on fire!" Heh. Someone's ignorant.

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" I shout back. "Just so happens that I like being on fire."

I ignored the others and continued walking to the town. Really though, as much as I like being on fire, onlookers may think that the fire is a threat. I mean, it's not everyday you get to see a pony on fire and going about his day as per normal, right?

Slowly, the fire died down. Without fuel, even arcane fire can be put out. I open my bag. I reach in to take out my spellbook. I hear a couple of gasps behind me. As usual. Haven't you all seen a pan-dimension bag before? It's quite simple really, it's just a hole to a pocket dimension which has a size limit. The hole is open and access to the pocket dimension is through the hole. One entrance, one exit, same hole. More than two holes can lead to catastrophic consequences. And of course, I reach my hoof in all the way, without any sign of any bulge appearing on the bag's surface.

I took out my spellbook and flipped to a page. It was labelled 'Invisibility'.

I read out loud from the book: "Abscondia indespectus mihipte ex eos."

I was really getting annoyed at them, so I used an invisibility spell. Simple? Well, it was just an illusion spell, so to them I have disappeared into oblivion, but I can still see myself.

I walk away from the confused group and into the town.

~scene change~

In 3rd Person POV

Pyro vanished into thin air. Twilight and her friends crowd about where he just stood, thoroughly confused. "How did he do that?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know. I think it's the same way he melted the bucket without touching it." Rainbow answered. She shrugged in mid-air.

They reached Ponyville a short while later. They split up and went home.

Twilight, upon reaching her house-tree, was greeted by Spike, who was eager to tell her something.

"Somepony came in and fixed our window for us." Spike said. "He worked so fast, I almost got dizzy trying to watch."

"But I didn't ask anypony to help." Twilight is now even more confused than before. "What did the pony look like?"

"He was red. He had red hair with an orange stripe, a green bag, a golden watch with a green strap around his neck and a hoof which he did not want to talk about."

She went upstairs with Spike and looked towards the window. It was indeed fixed, but has a note attached to it.

"The letter was addressed to you, so I didn't dare open it until you got home." Spike said.

Twilight went over to the window and picked up the letter. Opening it, she read aloud: "Dear Twilight Sparkle, Told ya time-travel was real. This is a single timeline universe. If you are interested, I left a book in your kitchen. I was a bit thirsty. The next time you get the chance, ask me about my age and compare. If you are reading this, don't let the past me know I came here. I've been through that. Also, sorry for the piece crashing through the window. Sincerely, Pyro. 738 years."

"Well, that was very confusing." She concluded. "Even if it is interesting. It's still weird knowing that time-travel is possible, but I've only managed to travel back a week. Spike, make a note to Princess Celestia."

Spike took out a parchment and quill. Twilight then spoke: "Dear Princess Celestia, Today I met somepony very interesting. He stated that he can time-travel. Although I do not believe him at first, knowing that the spell I casted a few months back only took me to a week prior to casting the spell. However, I came across a letter that stated that he time-travelled to fix my window. It stated that he was 738 years of age, but I do not believe that statement. I will send you the original letter with this one, while I keep a duplicate. He also said that he can use magic, although he did not specify which type. He had a spellbook which was purple in colour, with a gold star in the centre. This pony also has a metallic left hoof, which he did not want to talk about. Lastly, he said something about seeing him in a history book, but I recall meeting him somewhere else. I hope you can help me with this conundrum. Your student, Twilight Sparkle."

"Hope you can help me with this conundrum... your student... Twilight Sparkle." Spike repeated. "Finished."

"Ok." Twilight then asked Spike to copy the contents of Pyro's letter over to another parchment. Once that's been done, Spike attached Pyro's letter to Twilight's letter and sent them to the princess.

~scene change~

In her workroom, Princess Celestia was reading several court appeals and letters. Suddenly, a whiff of green smoke drifted into the room, which then coagulated in front of the princess, forming a rolled up parchment, with another note attached to it. Reading the parchment and the note, her smile faded into fear. She ran down the halls looking for her sister. Upon reaching Luna's room, she pushed the doors open, waking her sleeping sister up.

"What is it... dear sister?" Luna asked, yawning.

Without skipping a beat, she said, "He's arrived."

"Who? Who art thou talking about?" Luna sat up in her bed.

"Infernus. Infernus Pyriclysm Burnem." Not long after, Luna became scared as well.

Author's Note

Before you say that it's a self insert, do note that my username is the name of my OC. My username has nothing to do with the story.

Next chapter: Confusion ensues! Pyro gets welcomed into Ponyville, Pinkie Pie style. Also, what made the Princesses fear for their lives?

5. Increasing Confusion

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?

6. Crash of the Elements

Chapter 6: Crash of the Elements

In Pyro's POV

The headache. It’s back.

The moment I saw this pony, I just cringed. I clutch my head. Dark blue mane, white stripe down the centre. A slightly lighter blue body.

“So,” He continues, taking a step forward. “We can do this in two different fashions.”

The headache is clearing. I remember who he is: Hydrolus Waterfall. I take a glance at him. His smile was still stuck to his face. He is quivering as he takes each step towards me.

“The easy way,” Hydrolus said. His glare felt as if it tore through me, aiding the headache. I took a step back. His eyes were supposed to be a light topaz, but now they are dark purple, under the influence of the taint.

“Heh.” I respond. “You know, your attitude hasn’t changed a bit.”

I steadied myself, stood back up and lifted my hoof. “You know you aren’t going to win, yet you try.”

“Yes. I know.” He examined his surroundings. “But elementally, you already lost.”

Part of the wall of water came crashing down onto the land as he threw his right hoof forward. I set the ground on fire, evaporating the water. But, another part was released on top of me. I was soaking wet. Then the water froze, slowing my movements.

Meanwhile, Twilight was standing her ground. Unmoving. Staring.

“If you dare come any closer, I will be forced to use extreme measures!” I shouted. Hydrolus still inched closer. I melt the ice on top of me and stood my ground. I casted some arcane fire onto the wave, which evaporated the entire thing in less than a few seconds.

“I’ve never really listened to anybody. Why should I listen to you?” He continues to approach me.

I pushed a few buttons on my prosthetic. A flap opened and a rod stuck out. It was golden and black in colour, twisting towards the tip, where the Ignion Ruby was adorned. “I’ve warned you.”

“And what’s one pony going to do anyway?”

“It’s not like you have any more.”

I should not have said that. The ground started rumbling. And then it shot me upwards into the sky. “Guess again,” I hear.

Here comes Terrae Cobble, dark green mane and silverish brown body. “You know, I don’t get it.” I shout from above.

I feel the pillar cracking. I quickly jump down, only to see the pillar crumbling and in its place were metal spikes. A third pony emerged from nowhere. Completely silver in colour. I landed on the floor, unharmed. I glance at Twilight.

“What are you still doing here?” I asked. “Run!”

Twilight snapped out of her trance and started running away. But alas, some vines shot up from the ground and hardened into tough wood, forming a cage.

“Escaping I see.” A fourth pony came around the cage. He adjusted his glasses. “Also, don’t bother trying teleportation, unicorn magic doesn’t work on, or in, arcanic greatwood.”

“Silver Skyline,” I greet. “Arborus Trefoil. So glad to see you two. And even though you all have the same eye colour, which probably means you are tainted,” I jumped to dodge some spikes from Silver, “I believe you haven’t heard me say ‘Stay back or you’ll get it’, or something along those lines.”

“Oh, we heard it all.” Arborus replied. “And it’s quite simple. We are all a connected mind. And we are here to put you down.”

Hydrolus glanced at Twilight. “And your little friend here will get to watch the entire thing!” They stood in an arc, with me completing the circle.

I pull out the rod. The sword was revealed inch by inch, as I pulled it out of its slot.

“Don’t make me use this.” I warned. The sword was my best creation to date that doesn’t involve time travelling to get the parts needed.

“Oh you won’t.” Silver said, as arrogant as ever. He blasted a beam of mana toward Arborus, who was standing next to me. “And it’s very simple really.”

“Whoever is inside this circle,” Terrae continues, also blasting mana but towards Hydrolus. “Will suffer the wrath.”

I just realised that we were doing. We are standing in the pattern of the destructive cycle. Basically, the lore goes: water destroys fire, fire destroys metal, metal destroys wood, wood destroys earth and earth destroys water. The non-transitive cycle goes on. The circle we are standing in right now is the cycle of elemental destruction. Of course, there is the cycle of elemental creation as well which is along the circumference of the circle, but that is not focused into the centre, thus creating lesser creation and greater destruction.

Arborus directs his mana onto Terrae, while Hydrolus locks on his beam onto me. This caused me to drop my sword, letting it fall onto the ground, which then sliced through it seamlessly, the hilt preventing further damage.

“You can’t back out now.” Hydrolus said. Which is true, since whoever is partaking in the cycle is stuck in place until the cycle is complete.

“But that also means that if I don’t do anything, you will all be in a gridlock, stuck to the ground.” I grinned. “Checkmate.”

~scene change~

In 3rd Person POV

High above the circle was a balloon filled with soldiers and the two princesses. They all looked down, silently watching and observing the situation.

“They aren’t doing anything other than just standing.” A guard said.

“Yeah, but they are doing some weird business with the coloured pentagram.” Another replied.

“Should we go down?” Princess Luna asked.

Suddenly a bright light shone from behind them, which came everyone cover their eyes in response. The light died down, and in its place was a pony.

“Not yet.” The new pony said, grinning. “The time will come for you to enter the big picture.”

All of the guards turned around upon hearing a newcomer, all looking at him. They raised their spears, ready to attack, however the pony stood still, looking unfazed.

Soon, Princess Celestia stood forward. “Infernus.” She greeted.

“But how?” Princess Luna asked. “How are there two-”

“-of me?” Infernus replied, cutting her off. “Yes, time travel is a weird thing actually. It’s actually a time travel phenomenon called the ‘fulfillment paradox theory’. And according to that, by coming back in time to help my past self, I fulfill my destiny. Or rather, what I witnessed and experienced two hundred and thirty years ago.”

“And I assume you would leave now?” Princess Celestia asked. “There’s only one way down.”

“Of course. I’m leaving right this instant, any longer and spacetime itself may crash like a computer’s processing unit full of viruses!”

So he walked over to the railing and grabbed onto it. “Hey. Remember to do the thing I asked you to a few millennia back.” He told Princess Luna, before hurling himself over the edge, falling down to the ground and landing right next to his past self.

~scene change~

In Pyro’s POV

Any second now. “Hey Hydro. Remember my watch?”

“That was the thing that created this whole conflict in the first place.” Hydrolus hissed. The topic of my watch angered the taint. My real friends would not do that.

Just then a figure dropped from the sky, landing right next to me. “By ‘remember my watch’, I mean, deal with the single timeline madness.” He said.

Of course, my future came to my rescue. I really want to stick to the timeline without any time travel, but some situations have caused me to use the watch as a method of strategy.

He pushed my out of the way, the mana redirected to him. He completed the cycle with his mana burst toward Silver.

The other four ponies were taken aback at there being two of the same pony, so they temporarily lost their focus, weakening their mana. However, the mana was still strong enough to complete the cycle. The sky turned ominously dark at that point. With the little time that I have, I rushed over to the wooden cage. Twilight stood there, looking at me with a confused face.

“Don’t mind the future, he’s just doing his thing.” I say, summoning arcane fire to burn away the wood. Once the wood is completely burnt, I helped Twilight out.

“Run as fast as possible, warn all the ponies that there will be an apocalypse.” I say.

“It’s not that bad!” My future shouted back.

“Ok then. It’s not that-” Lightning struck the ground just ahead of us. “-bad. Very bad. Go. Run!”

Twilight started running away from the circle as fast as she could. I’ll have to trust that she knows what to do.

“To be completely honest, I don’t think she did what you told very well.” I hear from behind me. I turn around to find a black void starting to consume some of the energy of the fabric of spacetime. I just had enough time to realise the special ability from the cutie mark of whoever completed the cycle is the type or cause of destruction that is summoned by the cycle. Will be handy in the future.

The void that is consuming reality is luckily under control by the mana it's surrounded by. The five ponies are keeping it up, though it looks like they can’t handle it much longer. Chaos and turmoil struck the ponies nearby, as they started to scream and run helter-skelter in all directions away from the void.

Soon after, the void exploded, sending the five ponies backwards, before imploding, absorbing most of the explosion, but imploded even further into a miniscule black hole. Some of the branches from the house-tree were sucked right into the event horizon.

“Sweet! A black hole!” The future me shouts. He looks like he’s wearing goggles of some kind. Don’t know what it does, but will in the future. “This close to a planet too!”

“I’ve never seen one this close before!” I shouted back. I try to pull myself away from the area of effect of the large vacuum.

“Don’t worry, this one is tiny and it’ll only eat up about a third of this world before dying off due to the Hawking radiation!” The future me shout back. I look at him, perplexed.

“And you’re just going to stand there?” I asked. “Do something! Anything! This world does not deserve to die!”

“Oh alright. But turn around.” He calmly spoke.

I pouted before turning around 180 degrees on the spot. A few moments later, the vacuum force died down and the black hole was gone, however in its wake there lies a large hole.

The moment I feel the air stop moving, I turn around, only to see my future self holding up a jar with a black mess contained within it. He stuffed it into his bag before turning to see me peeking.

“How did you...” I started questioning my future, to which I will undoubtedly learn how to contain a black hole in what looks like a pickle jar. “Never mind.”

“That back there was not too difficult.” My future self smiled at me. “Takes a bit of practice of containing objects in a jar. What you are most likely wandering about is the parts to your watch right now. All I can say is that it is a scavenger hunt around these parts, none of them flew off to another time period.”

I smiled internally. “What about the other ponies?” I pointed towards the four.

“They’ll be fine. It looks like the black hole has sucked the taint straight out of their minds, don’t exactly know how. Just let them rest for a few moments.”

“And you’ll be here because you can’t teleport an unconscious pony.” I looked at my future self, rolling my eyes.

“And also I’m hungry. Time traveling can take a lot out of ya.”

“Heh. Agreed.”

Not long after I finished my sentence, we hear a few clanking of metals. A blimp has landed nearby and some guards in royal looking armor stepped out, escorting what looks to be a winged unicorn. No, two winged unicorns. One white and one dark blue. They also seem to be wearing crowns?

Both of them are surrounded by guards, two on each side of their body. And they are heading right this way.

I stood my ground, while my future self was nowhere to be seen. I would assume he has teleported somewhere else.

Meanwhile, the other four ponies started waking up one by one.

“Urgh... what happened?” Silver spoke up.

I started heading their direction, but a voice stopped me. “Stand your ground.”

Apparently it came from the white winged unicorn. “You are to stay there and await further instruction.”

I was then surrounded by guards. They all pointed their spears at me as if I were some sort of criminal. Well, perhaps I may be held responsible for creating a large hole behind the library of this town, but that’s years later.

“Nah, I’m fine. Get someone else to help me stand there, I’m gonna go help my friends.” I said. I tried to push past the guards. Keyword: tried. They stood so still that they may have become dense rocks that just wouldn’t budge. Well, I could try harder. The white winged unicorn is giving a speech now. I think that that is addressed to me, but I couldn’t tell as she is facing the other direction.

I lifted my hoof, preparing a telekinesis spell. With ease, I lifted a guard, creating a space for me to walk through. But, the guards were quicker, filling up the space in a matter of seconds. Even though that’s one less spear to deal with, it’s still a bit much. With an annoyed face I set down the guard a ways away from the circle, and used a bit more mana and lifted everyone who was surrounding me upwards.

“That’s not going to work.” The dark blue winged unicorn spoke up. She surrounded me in a spell bubble. I do not know what spell is used for the bubble, but I know that I can see through it. Well then. I set down the guards elsewhere.

I lifted my hoof again, whining a bit out of frustration. This time, I set up a teleposition spell. I can handle some mana usage fairly easily, but teleposition spells need superior concentration, which I am still working on.

I started focusing on the spell. The dark blue winged unicorn looked at me, perplexed. Once the spell was ready, I cast it. From everyone else’s point of view, I suddenly vanished. From my point of view, I just teleported.

Of course, I teleported right by Silver’s side, helping him up. The rest seem to be roughly awake enough to move. I gathered all of the ponies into one spot.

“Is everyone alright?” I ask. Hydrolus was groaning in pain, Silver can’t seem to feel his wings, Arborus broke his glasses and Terrae feels numb. Great.

We were then trapped inside a yellow dome. I look out to see the white winged unicorn expending her magic to keep us in here.

“Would you mind letting us out? We have a hospital to get to.” I ask very politely.

“Not until we can determine how large of a threat you are to our society.” She answered.

“Heh. Seems legit. What I asked was, ‘Can we please get to the hospital now?’ I’m pretty sure my friends are-”

“And I am pretty sure that you are definitely a threat to our-”

“And I am undoubtedly sure that I should not interrupt someone when they are speaking, even if I look like a monarch!” Yes, I interrupted her interruption.

“Well, for your information I am the co-monarch of these lands.” The white winged unicorn said.

“But still, you should not interrupt what I was saying.” I am getting very annoyed.

“Sis, I don’t think you should enrage this pony.” The dark blue winged unicorn spoke up from behind her.

“And why not? He almost vaporised Ponyville by creating a black hole! His friends helped too!”

“But I stopped it, didn’t I?” I said. My anger was getting the best of me. I started quivering due to who-knows-what reason.

“Even so, you are not going anywhere. This shield I’ve put up is the strongest shield I’ve ever created. Nothing can get in or out!” The white winged unicorn said, very fiercely and confidently.

I slowly lifted my hoof. I had a telekinesis spell up. Nearby, my sword started getting affected by the spell and started to move. It began to unsheath itself from the ground and when it was halfway out, It flew at high speeds toward the spell bubble, rotated and contacted with the bubble using the tip of the slicing end. My anger increased the raw force of the telekinesis, pushing the sword into the barrier. The yellow dome started to crack where the stress was.

I started to calm down, but also started to become serious. The force on the bubble increased threefold. The bubble cracked further, however the white winged unicorn was upkeeping it at what seems to be her full strength. With each passing second, my eye colour started to drain as if it were actual paint being sucked out of its can, and in the blue’s place there filled a red that resembled the crimson of blood.

My frown increased. I stopped shaking in my place and slowly stood up. I lit my body on fire. My left ear was twitching. The force on the sword decreased a slight bit, before increasing thirtyfold, shattering the shield completely, the sword piercing through the ground. I lifted up the sword using telekinesis, pointed it at the winged unicorns.

“I’m pretty sure I brought my point across. I am going to bring my friends to the hospital, and you will not stop me.” I said in a very calm but strict tone. “Or else, the consequences would be catastrophic.”

Author's Note

A/n: Yay, chapter is done! Time travel is a weird and goofy thing. More on that later. Yes, the sword is very strong. ‘Arcane purification techniques’, remember? This chapter was definitely a hassle to write not only being long and quite paradox-y but also my laptop cannot type double letters as fast. Like, pressing any key twice will only register one press if pushed too quickly.

In the next chapter: Pyro brings his friends to the hospital, which there he learns that a portal has been established from their planet to this one. Later, some taint flows through and fun stuff happens.

7. The Myth

Chapter 7: The Myth

In Pyro’s POV

The sword was pointed menacingly at the mutated monarchs, unwavering. I glared at them. They were taken aback by the raw power I had wielded, especially the white winged unicorn, who thought her shield was impenetrable. She was pushed away by the force of my sword against her magic, causing her to temporarily lose her balance and fall over backwards.

I hear some hoofsteps towards us. I took a small glance to the direction of the sound, seeing the six ponies and dragon running towards us.

“I will be taking my leave now.” I say. A whirlpool of fire appeared around my friends and I. The ball of fire twisted off into the sky.

~scene change~

3rd Person POV

Twilight and her friends ran toward where Pyro stood, but in a twister of fire, he vanished into thin air, along with the others.

Once the fire died down, the mane six ran up to their monarch.

“Princess Celestia! Are you okay?” Twilight asked. The princess nodded, but did not show a sign of relief, instead showing a solemn frown.

“I may be fine, but the fate of Equestria and time as we know it may be resting in the hooves of that pony.” She replied. Her frown increased. “If you come across him again, please inform us immediately.”

“You can count on us.” The six all said unanimously. The princesses were then ushered back into the balloon, which took off and flew for Canterlot.

“So, we are on the lookout for the pony named ‘Pyro’ I take it?” Rainbow asked the group.

“Well, yes and no.” Twilight replied. “He goes by two main aliases, Infernus and Pyro. He has two names.”

“Speaking of Infernus, I met him earlier in the day before we went to Zecora’s hut! Remember, you were all there too!” Pinkie said. “He came here earlier in the year too but today he came back! The party in the morning was for him since I couldn’t host a party overnight in his house because he didn’t have a house here so the party was held on the next day which is toda-mmph mm mphmm phmmmph!”

“Alright, Pinkie, we get it.” Applejack said, hoof over Pinkie’s mouth. “You hosted a party for the pony we were looking for.”

“C’mon. It’s just one pony we have to look out for, What can possibly go wrong?” Twilight said.

“Many.” Infernus spoke from a corner of the street. “Many, very bad things can happen. In fact, already happened.”

The six turn to the area where the voice was coming from. Infernus stepped out from the shade and into the burning sunlight. “Of course, I have to warn you. Whatever you do do not take a step closer in my direction.”

The six froze in place, pupils shrinking as they felt a cold breeze of air brush down their backs.

“Why can’t I move?” Twilight tried to step back but her limbs did not do as they were told. She could still move her neck, so she looked at the other five ponies. They were all stuck in place, trying to move but can’t.

“Don’t try. Petrifier spell puts the target’s limbs into a cryostasis state, albeit without the ‘cryo-’ part. You cannot move your limbs even if you want to.” Infernus let out a smile, as if he was pleased with himself. “You were looking for me, yes? Well, here I am.”

~scene change~

In Pyro’s POV

When the twisting fire died down, we were outside the hospital, right outside the main entrance. My eye colour returned to normal after calming myself down a bit.

I help the four ponies up and aided them inside. They were still trying to wake up from the concussion they had back in the town. The doctor that tended to me just so happen to pass us, noticing me.

He first asked if I needed help with my friends. I nodded my head, helping the four ponies onto some beds. They immediately lied down and started sleeping, ignoring any and all injuries completely. They all needed rest desperately. The doctor tended to their injuries.

My migraine returned very slowly, but it is making sure I can feel it. I close my eyes to try and contain the headache. Several memories were flooding back into my head, but as I try to focus on them, the headache got worse. I relax, letting go of my breath.

Hydrolus slowly regained consciousness, sitting upright in his bed. He only managed a groan with the amount of energy he has currently. He slumped back down, head hitting the pillow.

The doctor then asked for all their names. At first I was hesitant, knowing full well what could happen, but I told him our names anyway. At first the doctor was shocked, but then he returned to being as calm as before in a matter of minutes. He rushed off somewhere out of the room.

Arborus had regained most of his energy and is now sitting upright on his bed. He still has the tired look on his face, but was awake enough to make conscious movements. He wore his glasses and adjusted them.

“You alright?” I asked him.

The response was a sigh. Then he said, “Slightly tired, bad migraine, a bit of memory loss tied in with the bundle.”

“Typical symptoms.” I sat down on a chair beside his bed. “That was how I felt when I woke up on this planet.”

The doctor returned with a book. “This is a history book. You might want to read its contents.”

I took over the book and read the first few pages. My hoofwriting was tattered all over them. The words looked smudged and therefore almost illegible. Arborus took a glance at the papers, trying to decipher the inked mess.

He squinted hard and readjusted his glasses. “Tread every step with extreme care, not waking the hidden beast. For if the power is unleashed, on the world he shall feast.”

“Sounds like what a mad pony would write.” I said. “Except that it looks like my hoofwriting.”

“The beast awakens with power at full force, destroying everything he sees. However, to live through this hell and tell its tale, the beast you must appease. Not everyone has the capability, the chosen ones we must send. Trying anything else otherwise, this world shall come to its end. The mentioned four must seek for help, within the beast he shall rise. His life drained, his energy sapped, to regain his life comes a price. A brew of ice, of flame and of hell, all mixed in a pot. Throw in some mushrooms of azure, viridian and coal, and the flesh that resists rot. Once boiled forty-nine days, over a constant fire. The brew must be drank before dusk, if not repeat and reacquire.”

The others are slowly waking up, with Terrae repeatedly tossing and turning, Hydrolus sitting upright and Silver dousing himself with water.

“Upon consumption, the last shall wake. With the five complete and in full power, the stars will quake. A beam of moonlight, shall aid in the cycle. For it strengthens the taint destruction by not less than quintuple. A new world will be shaped, freedom for all! Free of the curse that will cause its fall.”

“That was beyond absurd.” I commented. “The poetry is nice and all, but it feels as though it’s a conspiracy!”

“What’d we miss?” Said Silver, half asleep. “I’ve only heard something about ‘destruction not less than quintuple’.”

When the other ponies were fully awake, I briefly summarised what happened.

“We need to get you guys back to our planet.” Was what I said after the summary, which kind of surprised them.

“The only way is to go back through the portal that brought us here.” Hydrolus explained about the transport that they took to get them here. “Seems to be in the ruins of a castle. Deep inside a forest.”

“Fascinating.” I asked the doctor for a map of our surroundings. After a short chat with the doctor, we found out the name of this village, Ponyville, and the forest that we appeared in, the Everfree Forest. Everybody had their energy back and mana almost fully recharged, so we set off towards the Everfree, carrying a slight debt as we had no currency that they used.

~scene change~

3rd Person POV

“Now, Twilight. I can’t possibly let you go until after I finish speaking.” Infernus walked up to the group slowly.

“When I get out of this you are gonna...” Rainbow shouted. She tried to move, but her legs won’t allow.

“Getting feisty now, huh. Well, you’ll be glad to know I will only be here for a few short minutes. Firstly, the current me, the one you know as ‘Pyro’ is in the hospital. Don’t confront him, you’ll get injured. Secondly, the cryostasis will only last until I leave. Lastly, don’t ever try to confront me if my eye colour is red. Or ever if I have purple streaks going everywhere along my body. Just, don’t.”

“And why should we listen?” Rarity asked. “What happens if we don’t do as you say?”

“One thing is for sure, eventually you’ll catch up with me. But until then, nothing else can be said. My words are now up for your interpretation. As for the current me, he’s going to trek across the Everfree to look for the portal back to my planet. Please make sure that me and my friends are safe. The integrity of the timeline depends on you guys now.”

He took out a scroll from his bag and tossed it over to Twilight. “You’ll need this for later.” The scroll hovered in the air.

Infernus then lifted his right hoof, which glowed a bright red, and swung it to the side. The mane six started to be able to move their limbs again. He let out a smile and started to walk away.

“Remember!” He shouted. He then made a turn into an alleyway. Rainbow flew towards the alley, but when she looked inside Infernus was nowhere to be found.

~scene change~

In Pyro’s POV

The five of us headed out to where the supposed portal was set up, through the forest I had woken up in. We went past the hole I made when I woke up, the puddle of water had frozen inside. Further inside the forest, there was a hut carved into a tree, similar to the library in the town. However, we made a few stops to look for the pieces of my watch, if indeed my future self was right about it being an Easter egg hunt in this forest. Sure enough, not more than an hour later, all the pieces were found. I’ll need my workshop to properly fix it again, so we still needed to use the portal to access our planet.

Upon reaching the other side of the forest, we came across a ruin of a castle. The bricks looked so old they may crumble into dust at any moment. We entered the building and went a floor downwards.

“Down under there. The portal was very rudimentary but our sensors were able to connect to its frequency to teleport us here. This was the only destination that was visible to us that was not on our planet.” Arborus explained. He led the group through a small hallway that was just wide enough for one pony to walk through.

We then reached a metal archway in a room at the end of the hallway. The arch, along with the room, was covered in vines and moss. Seems like this structure has been here for ages.

“The teleport led you here?” I asked, trying to confirm the information.

“Yes, however after as the teleport occurred, we were infected by the taint.” Hydrolus said. He then explained that the taint had caught up with them after they teleported. Then, one by one they blacked out, Hydrolus being the last to black out.

“Now this end of the portal is out of energy.” Terrae said, looking at a screen indicator. It only has enough fuel to stabilise a connection, but not enough to open the portal.

“Now how will we get back home?” Silver started to become restless.

“I think to do so we need to get the portal powered.” I said. “But I have no clue on how to get any power in this rudimentary world.”

Just then a small growl was heard from the hallway. We all turned around, slightly startled by the sound. Hydrolus volunteered to check it out.

He exited the room, but a few seconds later he came running back, blocking the entrance with mana. A sentient blob of purple goo, shaped like a pony, appeared inside the hallway. It smirked as the goo spreads, breaking through the shield, trapping us all inside.

Author's Note

Time travel. Gives you a headache.

I suppose I’ll keep the next part spoiler-free to maintain the suspense.