Time is an ever shifting ocean of possibilities, where past and future build themselves and each other. Nothing is truly set in stone, and things that seem destined to happen can change.
That's not always a good thing, mind you.
This human world was strange, different of the ones he was used to. A partial copy of Arcana Magna, its inhabitants equivalents of the myriad of species that existed in an universe floating not too far away, yet eternally out of reach.
Except for the portal Starswirl and Celestia had made, of course.
He was currently watching it from the school's roof, at this time and place hidden from any prying looks. Impatient, the definitely not human creature checked a pocket watch. She's late. She should be here by now...
This was an important moment in the history of this planet; any moment now, an arrogant jerk would cross through the portal on the reflective suface of the statue's base that rose proudly on the front yard of Canterlot High. Her presence and actions here would lead to the arrival of magic to this world in humongous amounts, shifting and adapting to this universe's rules.
This Earth would gain the excess power that would filter from Arcana Magna. And the gargoyle was here to report if things were according to what was laid in front of this Sunset Shimmer. Usually he would have a partner or two to pass the time and help with the watch, but this was supposed to be simple: sit out of sight and wait for the unicorn to arrive, and then go back and report to his superiors.
So here he was, bored out of his mind while waiting for Sunset Shimmer.
Egh, pony names. Something that sadly seemed to have bled over this Earth as its timestream formed.
The portal then sputtered, sparks flying from the statue for an instant before it stopped, the magic dying down to a stop.
The gargoyle cocked his head to the side. What was that?
A powerful wave of energy emerged from the portal, shattering all the front windows and tearing down the school's front door; the statue was blown apart, the mighty equine being reduced to rubble in an instant.
The shockwave hit him like a hammer, throwing him on his back and stunning the Chronos Watcher. WHAT WAS THAT?!
Getting up with a groan, he spied over the roof at the disaster that was now the school's front yard.
The statue had been replaced with a crater, bits and pieces of the stone equine spread here and there; screams and shouts echoed from inside the school as the students panicked and the staff tried to calm then down and find out just what the hell happened.
The Chronos Watcher was wondering the same thing.
"I better report this-"
A second shockwave knocked him on his back again and cause another chorus of screams from the student in the classrooms across the schools before the remains of the portal collapsed, sealing itself shut.
"...After aching for a minute or ten." He groaned as he tried to sit, a wave of pain across his back saying otherwise." Or twenty. Thirty, tops."
Forty three minutes of aching later, he left to make his report, a golden glow consuming him before vanishing without a trace.
The only witness to his exit was a blue bird flying in circles above the school, close enough to observe but far enough to avoid catching the attention of the officers, paramedics and fretting parents that were drawn to this mysterious event.
Seven years later
Shining Armor had finally finished his shift, getting home after a long and tiresome day at the police station. Taking off his uniform and putting on something more comfortable, he went down to the basement to put his work clothes in the washing machine.
As Spike, the adorable purple dog ran to his encounter as soon as he went down the last step, he wasn't surprised to find her sister snoring in the workshop.
The washing machine was in a corner of the spacious basement, below the stairs; the rest of the room was occupied by what could only be described as a laboratory: machines and desks ran along three walls, bookshelves nailed over them and filled with tomes, books and scientific magazines.
Tools, computers, papers and several devices filled the tables in an organized chaos, the biggest pile surrounding her sister in the table closest to the washing machine, with what Shining considered her greatest invention standing in a small platform in between.
Leaving his dirty clothes over the washing machine, he knelt down to pet Spike while holding a finger in front of his lips, the dog dutifully keeping quiet as Shining stood up and grabbed a book laying around, her sister's notes clearly visible alongside the text.
Getting it close to his sister, Shining closed the book in an instant right at her ear, the loud sound startling the young woman.
With a yelp, Twilight Sparkle almost fell of her chair, papers and pencils flying everywhere. Startled, she looked around, eyes falling over her smirking brother, a glare forming in her face.
"Must you always do that?"
"It's my first duty as a brother to care for my sister. It's my second duty as a brother to annoy you," he answered, ducking to avoid the pencil launched at his face. Spike ran after it, grabbing it and taking it back to Twilight without a word needed.
Rolling her eyes while recovering her pencil, Twilight stretched as a yawn escaped her mouth. "What time is it?"
"8 PM. We have to work on your sleep cycle, by the way," Shining answered as he went back to the washing machine, adding his uniform to the pile of clothes inside. "You forgot to wash the clothes again."
Twilight groaned. "I knew I was forgetting something!" Picking up the papers and pencils, she put them back on the workshop in a more orderly fashion than before.
"What were you working on now?" Shining inquired when he was done, wondering what crazy machine her sister had worked on now to go through an all-nighter to the point of falling asleep in the middle of the next day.
For the third time.
In the last month.
Twilight Sparkle smiled, tired yet proud, before grabbing their old TV's remote control, now reconfigured to activate a different device on the lab depending of the button one pushed.
She aimed it to the middle of the basement, where a small generator was connected to a rectangle of metal with a thick piece dividing it in the middle that lay on the floor. Pressing the red button, the generator came to life while half of the metal rectangle rose from the ground, standing like a doorframe.
As the generator roared with power, energy traveled tin bolts of lightning across the metal as little by little... a portal opened.
Shining Armor couldn't believe his eyes as the opening to the unknown appeared before them, a rainbow of colors illuminating the basement in an almost hypnotic manner.
Even Spike marveled at what Twilight considered greatest invention as the genius turned towards her dumbstruck brother.
"I found it. And I made a door to enter."
Author's Note
And so, the Earth that Sunset Shimmer was meant to adopt as her second home finds itself walking down a new, unknown path as the future changes.
A Kamen Rider adventure instead of magical schoolgirls is highly improbable... but not impossible.
So, let's see if I can make this story one worth reading.
If you want to know why the portal exploded and what happened to Sunset, go here: My Little Pony, Defenders of the Timeline.
