The Timeless

Aaron awoke with a start as something hit his side, hard. “Get up!” A raspy voice commanded. He opened his eyes to a dimly lit hallway. The only light coming from wall-mounted torches, that somehow were also glowing blue. The wall decor all showed the motif of a crescent moon. His head ached. Was this a dream? Last he remembered, he’d been outside, in front of Canterlot High School.

“Where am I?” he asked himself.

“I said, get up!” the raspy voice called again before something rammed into him. Stumbling to his feet, Aaron looked in the direction of the voice and assault. It looked to be from a small quadruped, about waist height. The creature sneered at him, covered head to tail in armor, armor that apparently included wings.

“Move it!” the creature commanded, rearing up and punching him with its foreleg, “Unless you’d rather die right here.” The soreness in his gut told him this thing wasn’t bluffing, and that it definitely was not a dream. Struggling to stay upright, Aaron turned walked where the creature urged.

They came to what appeared to be a throne room, with tapestries adorning the walls that portrayed a black horse reared up, bearing wings and a long horn. “The intruder, your Highness,” the escort addressed the throne. That same horse then emerged from the shadow hanging over the throne.

“Very good, Lieutenant Dash,” the horse replied, “And as for you, Aaron, isn’t it?” Before he could process what he’d just heard, Aaron suddenly felt himself immobilized in a navy blue aura, a matching glow emanating from the horse’s horn, and hoisted into the air, “What do you have to say for yourself?” The horse accused. Aaron’s mouth went dry. A talking horse? That apparently can lift people telekinetically?

“The Princess asked you a question!” Lieutenant Dash shouted, “If you value your life, you will answer her!”

Aaron stammered, he didn’t understand any of this. What did he do? What are these creatures? More importantly, “H.. How do you know my name?”

The Princess threw back her head and laughed, “Why, the same way I know how you came here,” she taunted, “Which is the only reason we’re having this … pleasant conversation.”

She knows how I came here!? Aaron thought to himself, his mind racing, “If, if you know how I came here, could you, maybe, send me back?”

“Now why in Equestria would I want to do that?” the Princess mused, “When I have a new race to find, and to conquer,” she met his eyes with a sadistic grin. “You, my dear, are going to tell me everything you know. If you don’t,” the horse’s mane wisped toward him like smoke, and pushed Aaron’s chin upward, exposing his neck, “Well, let’s just say that would be most unfortunate.”

What has my life come to? Aaron thought to himself, looking out the castle window toward the rainbow-colored moon. It had been a week since he woke up in this strange world, or at least, he thought it had been a week. Given that he had not seen any daylight since only clocks and sleep guided his sense of time.

The talking horse princess, whom he’d learned later was named Nightmare Moon, had given him a small room and writing desk with which to write daily reports on humanity. She was surprisingly trusting, giving him the same freedom of movement as any tourist of the castle would have. Lieutenant Dash though made it clear to him, in no uncertain terms, that this could change at any moment.

Not that it mattered, he mused, as long as he kept to himself and didn’t go against orders, then the zealous guard could do nothing but growl. Nightmare Moon wanted him alive, at least so long as he was useful to her, and the lieutenant dared not disobey. In a twisted way, his new life in this world was actually an improvement. True, he wasn’t any more welcome here than he had been at Crystal Prep, but the talking horses that lived, worked, and visited here would, at least, leave him alone so long as he didn’t cause trouble.

Also, Nightmare Moon was way more effective at defending him from those who would actively target him. Dash had tried to pin something on him once, he could scarcely remember what it was other than it being a total lie. The Princess had given Aaron 24 hours to dangle as she considered the charge and then declared him innocent. She had then told Lieutenant Dash that the guard’s next such mistake would be his/her last. Dash quickly fell in line after that and hadn’t bothered Aaron since.

The castle had a thorough library, on par with Crystal Prep’s, where Aaron often spent his off hours. There, he would brood away the time reading through the closest thing to the sun he could find, an unmarked book with a picture of the sun on its cover. It appeared to be a collection of letters between some Princess Celestia and someone named Sunset Shimmer.

In his reading tonight, Aaron came across a new entry, this one to a Princess Twilight. He was going to dismiss the name as someone in this world named Twilight but then saw that this Sunset Shimmer was apparently writing from Canterlot High School, Crystal Prep’s rival. It couldn’t be, he thought, turning to the next entry. Sunset Shimmer’s next two letters referred to someone named Rainbow Dash “ponying up” when they play music, along with something she called “friendship magic,” that was allegedly “changing.”

Nothing could wake the boy up from his stupor quite like a new discovery that didn’t make any sense. He looked for a next entry, but there wasn’t one. He couldn’t find any response from this Princess Twilight, nor any more follow-up letters from this Sunset Shimmer. There was nothing but blank pages. Who would put a book in the library with a good fraction of its pages blank?

Hitting yet another poignant reminder of how this world didn’t make sense, Aaron once again could only brood over his thoughts. Thanks to this “Princess Twilight,” those thoughts centered around Twilight Sparkle. He could think only of how he could do nothing as she begged for help, how she warped into that demonic monster, and how she had apparently banished him to this dark abode that was fast becoming his home.

Aaron tried to stop his tears that were forming in his eyes; he didn’t want to give Lieutenant Dash anything that could be used against him. However, his mental dam had burst, and his feelings had to go somewhere. Drunk on his own sorrow, he looked to the blank pages of the book. Screw it, he thought; if he got caught, then, at least, his pain would end quickly.

Twilight Sparkle froze, grinning like an idiot at some strange girl who had just materialized out of nowhere in front of what yesterday had been the curbside statue of Canterlot High School. The girl looked uncannily like her: the same lavender skin, the same purple hair with the same pink highlight. Her hair flew free, however, and she dressed not in a uniform but a blouse and skirt. And yet, her skirt bore a starburst symbol that matched Twilight’s hairclip.

“Um,” Sunset Shimmer began with a sheepish smile, “Twilight, meet Twilight.”

“Of course,” the new girl face-palmed, “If there are duplicates of all my friends in this world, then obviously there would be a duplicate me!”

A duplicate what? “Excuse me,” Twilight Sparkle asked, “Sunset, is this one of those ‘magical problems’ you were talking about?”

Sunset put her hand behind her head while the new girl put what looked like her fists together. “Well, magical yes, problem no.”

Before she could explain further, Sunset’s jacket started glowing purple and vibrating like a cell phone. Confused, Sunset reached into her pocket and pulled out a brown book with a picture of the sun on the cover.

The white skinned girl spoke up, “Good heavens, how could that be?”

“Is it supposed to do that?” the bespectacled student asked.

“Only when there’s a new message waiting,” Sunset replied, looking towards the new arrival.

“Well it definitely wasn’t from me,” she replied.

The pink-skinned girl jumped in, her hair bouncing as she came down from the statue, “Maybe it’s from someone in an alternate timeline who found another book just like it but doesn’t know what it’s for and is using it like an ordinary diary.”

Everyone stared at the bouncy girl, Twilight speaking up first, “Um, Pinkie Pie, that sounds … highly improbable.”

“Yeah, well,” the rainbow-haired girl chimed in, “That’s what we all thought when she said that Twilight here was a pony princess from an alternate world.”

“‘Til o’course we found out she was right,” interjected the student wearing a cowgirl hat.

“But who could’ve found such a thing?” squeaked the yellow-skinned girl.

“Only one way to found out,” Sunset replied as she opened the book to its last filled page. All seven of the others crowded around as she began to read:

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I know you probably will never see this. Given that you sent me to this sunless world, I imagine you might prefer it that way. If your time at Crystal Prep has been anything like mine, then you have every reason to hate it. I can only guess at what was going through your head as your demon form tore apart the grounds, assuming that even was you to begin with. Still, we’re not all like that. Not all of us are bullies. Some of us ... at least one of us, do actually care about you. If there’s even the slightest chance you’ll see this, I wanted you to know, wherever you are, whatever you’re feeling, you aren’t alone.

Sincerely,

Aaron

Sunset’s jaw hung agape, both Twilights’ eyes widened, and the remaining girls wore expressions of shock at the message. The uniformed Twilight began to cry, as the weight of her actions hit her, “I, I sent him there? I trapped someone in another world?”

As she was about to break down, she felt a hand land on your shoulder, “We’ll find a way to bring him back Twilight,” the princess said comfortingly, "But I’m going to need to know exactly what happened here.”

Sunset sighed, “We should probably pull up some chairs, this is going to take some explaining.”

“You mean to tell me that you were using raw magical energy to rip apart the fabric of space-time?” Princess Twilight asked incredulously. Twilight Sparkle, sobbing into her milkshake, could only nod in response. “This is bad. This is very, very bad.”

“What’re y’all sayin’?” the cowgirl interjected, “Can’t you just hop through the portal an’ git him?”

“Applejack,” the princess began, “The portal only works on command because of a device I built around it that’s holding it open.”

“You mean, whoever wrote that letter really is in an alternate timeline?” the yellow-skinned girl asked.

“I think so, Fluttershy,” Princess Twilight continued, “Remember that time-travel loop I mentioned when I arrived?” All of them nodded, “That was due to a very powerful unicorn named Starlight Glimmer. She infiltrated my castle and used its magic to travel back in time and try to erase my role in history. I chased her through several alternate futures before I finally managed to talk her down and set things right.”

“But then, why didn’t he just pop back into our timeline then?” the rainbow-haired girl asked.

The uniformed Twilight sniffled, “Grandfather Paradox.”

“What?” She asked again.

“What she means, Rainbow Dash,” Sunset, with her arm around Twilight as she cried, began to explain, “Is that Starlight’s attempt to change the past would have erased from history the means that she had used to change the past. Then the past wouldn’t have changed, which means the means would be restored, which means the past would have changed, erasing the means again, and starting a big old logic loop.”

“Falling into Equestria during one of those time loops, Aaron must have accidentally anchored that timeline’s existence just by being there,” Princess Twilight added, “If we don’t find him and pull him out soon, it could corrupt the entire time-stream, for both worlds.”

“Of all the worst things that could happen, this is The Worst Possible Thing!” the white-skinned girl exclaimed, as she fainted into a very confused Rainbow Dash’s lap.

Princess Twilight then took a deep breath, and extended her arm out as she exhaled to calm herself, “Now, let’s not panic just yet Rarity.”

“But, if he’s in one out of all those timelines, how are we ever going to find which one?” Rarity responded.

“We might have caught a break there,” Princess Twilight answered. Twilight looked up at her with a look of faint hope in her eyes, “The message said Aaron was in a ‘sunless world.’ There’s only one timeline I visited that fits that description: the one ruled by Nightmare Moon.”

“Not Nightmare Moon!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, then whispered to Fluttershy, “I don’t actually know who that is.”

“Nightmare Moon was a corrupted form of our Princess Luna,” the princess explained, “Long ago, she grew envious of Princess Celestia and tried to overthrow her. If she had won, then she would have banished the sun and brought eternal night. During the time loop, I found a timeline where my friends and I hadn’t stopped her, and she’d conquered Equestria.”

“So we know where he is, but how do we get there?” Sunset Shimmer asked.

“We’re going to need to replicate the circumstances that sent Aaron there in the first place,” Princess Twilight began, “I can work with Starlight to repeat the spell we were using. Twilight, I’m going to need you to use that locket of yours to open a portal to Equestria large enough for multiple people to cross.”

“Search and rescue, huh?” Rainbow Dash spoke up, “Count me in!”

“No, Rainbow,” the Princess countered, “We need to keep the rescue party small. If even one of you gets stuck there during the mission, then the timeline will still be in danger.” Rainbow Dash wore a pout in response, and she shoved Rarity off her lap. “Sunset, you understand Equestrian magic and were able to safely handle Twilight’s locket. You’ll accompany Twilight to Equestria to rescue Aaron. You are to teleport in as close to him as possible, and ideally, pull him out before Nightmare Moon has a chance to stop you.”

“And, what if we don’t reach him in time?” Sunset asked.

“Twilight, you told me that larger portals opened up only after your locket had captured a lot of energy, right?” the Princess inquired. Twilight wiped some tears from her eyes and nodded in response, “Then you should be able to use the excess energy to cast some defensive spells if needed. If you find our friends’ counterparts, that might allow you to recharge the locket.”

“Um, what d’you mean might?” Applejack spoke up.

“You six represent this world’s incarnation of the Elements of Harmony: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, Loyalty, and Magic.” the Princess clarified, “Only the Elements can generate a spell that powerful. However, in the alternate timeline, the Elements were never found, and not everyone embodied their virtues. I know this is risky, but it’s the best we’ve got. Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, are you ready to save two worlds?”

Twilight nodded, “I’ll fix this,” she looked down at that locket that had caused all this trouble, “I have to.”

Sunset hugged her close, “I’ll be right there with you. Don’t worry, everything will be alright.”

“And since it is our magic powering this whole thing,” Rarity began, “The rest of us will be with you in spirit.” At this, Twilight couldn’t help but smile. Never before had she felt such encouragement and support.

“All right then,” Princess Twilight held her hand out, palm down.

“Let’s do it.”

“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”

“We’ll give it our all.”

“And set things right.”

“For our world.”

“And for Equestria!”

Twilight placed her hand atop the seven now stacked in front of her. There was no turning back now.