The... thing was catching up to her. Her! The fastest pony in all of Equestria! Yet try as she might the glowing metal creature was steadily gaining ground as she sped back to Ponyville. Twilight and her friends needed her. The Elements of Harmony wouldn't work unless they were all together and being worn by each of them.
She had been the diversion to keep this... whatever it was from destroying more of the town that it already had. She had smacked it in what she believed to be it's head, but it was hard to know if that was true. It was just a big metal blob thing four times as big as a pony and that didn't stop it from crashing through pony's houses for no reason. When talking to it received no response and Twilight's magic just bounced off of it they had decided to use the Elements on it. However, the metal monster had accosted Twilight constantly until Rainbow Dash had plowed into it to get it away from her.
The metal thingy had kept going after her until Applejack had reared back and bucked it as hard as she could. Then after trying to ram into her a few times Twilight had tried again to do something with her magic against it, but to no avail. After dodging it once more and the metal menace plowing into another home Twilight decided that they needed to distract it while somepony retrieved the Elements from the library. Knowing that she could buy the most time, Rainbow Dash volunteered herself by knocking it into a whirl as she then sped up into the sky and lead it away from town for a bit.
Rainbow Dash had chosen to make a wide loop that would circle back to town and give her friends the time she needed to grab the Elements. However, she soon realized that the metal moron wasn’t a slowpoke like she had thought from how it was moving on the ground. As she sped up so too did it speed up to match her.
Now that she was getting close to Ponyville again the big metal miscreant- Miscreant? Was she Rarity now or something? Whatever it was it was starting to gain on her now and she couldn’t go faster or else she would end up flying right past where she needed to go. She would need to out-maneuver this thing now to get herself to Twilight with enough time to put on her Element and take this hunk of junk out.
She tried some simple sharp turns first. Those were aborted quickly as it didn’t seem to veer too much off course when doing so. Zig-zagging through trees in the Whitetail Woods really didn’t do anything as it cost her just as much time to dodge around them as it did for the big, metal doorknob to go plowing through them. Two sharp ninety degree turns, one towards the ground and the other back on course, seemed to only work a little bit as it followed her and skimmed the ground when it corrected its course. She even flew around in some clouds to try and lose it, but it went right through them without even faltering.
A large, purple firework went off over Ponyville and caught Dash’s attention. It must’ve been Twilight. She slightly altered her course to give herself a straight line towards the source of the lightshow. It was going to be a pretty tight window. She would only make it there about five seconds before the thing caught up with her and she had to land, put on her necklace, and power up before it got to them. A pretty short time, she admitted, but Rainbow Dash knew that she was just awesome enough to make that happen.
And she did just that. Zooming in at nearly sonic rainboom speeds Rainbow Dash disregarded any qualms about about having to possibly barrel inside of the treebrary. It was unnecessary as her friends were waiting outside for her. A bit silly of her to think they would be inside she supposed. She skidded to a halt next to Twilight as the mare held Dash’s necklace in her telekinetic grasp. The necklace snapped around her neck as the weird whatchamacalit barreled into sight and the Elements powered up not a moment too soon. Twilight’s eyes glowed a bright white as a rainbow formed around the six of them and just when the thing reached them-
“Yo Brad!”
Brad looked up from his computer as his dormmate yelled at him from outside his room.
“Yeah? What do you need Deshaun?”
“I left my key in there. Can you let me in real quick?”
Brad rolled his eyes and got up to let his roommate in. He opened up the door and was surprised to see not only his African American friend but a woman standing behind him as well. She was a petite little thing too, even to Brad’s five foot five ass, and that was saying something seeing as Deshaun was six feet eight inches tall himself. He didn’t really mean to size her up, but it was not something he was expecting.
“Come on bruh. Let us in real quick.”
Brad stepped aside letting the two of them in. While Deshaun went over to his desk, the woman stayed close to the door. She was also eyeing Brad as Brad was doing the same to her.
“Sorry ‘bout that. This is Tina by the way. She’s a biology major.”
“Nice to meet you,” Brad said as he offered his hand to her.
“Same,” she replied quickly as she shook his offered hand.
“Me and Tina are going to see a movie. I hate when I forget the small stuff like this. You finish your paper for midterms?”
“Pretty much. Just need to proofread it.”
“Cool. Imma be out late so I’ll try not to wake you up when I get back. Peace.”
“Nice meeting you,” Tina said as she left in front of Deshaun.
“You too,” he replied just before the door shut. “Didn’t really know how late it was,” Brad mused as he looked at the time on his computer. “Guess I oughta get some food at the commons before it closes. I should make it in time.”
With that said, Brad saved his progress and turned off his laptop before grabbing his jacket. He didn’t think he’d need it but he’d been wrong before and there was a fifty fifty shot at rain. He grabbed his wallet and his own room key and looked outside for a moment. It was completely overcast and a little dark, but not ‘rain’s a coming’ dark. A shrug of his shoulders and he soon left his room; forgetting to turn off the light.
The room sat in silence for a few minutes. Then, as if it was alive, Brad’s laptop opened up and turned itself on. After booting up, a Google doc opened up on it. It was the story that Brad was writing before his roommate came in and interrupted his train of thought. It idled there for a moment before turning off and the laptop folded up once more.
“Not bad,” a voice said from nowhere. “Decent tension but not enough drama. Not bad for a first time. Then again he isn’t putting as much effort into that as he is his schoolwork. I suppose it’s understandable.”
A man faded into existence while rubbing his near chest-length beard. He was wearing a blue tank-top with a pair of maroon red pants and some black velcro shoes. He let out a huff as he closed his eyes.
“Oh well. Just something else I guess I’ll be creating a new timeline for.”
A wave of his unoccupied hand and a glowing circle appeared in the room. Beyond that circle was an open field with a farmhouse in the distance. The man stepped though and the circle disappeared behind him. He looked around himself for a moment before holding his hand out again. Day and night seemed to flip over themselves at a rapid pace before settling once again during a point near morning. A bright light appears out of the palm of his hand and the world looks like it’s in double vision for a moment before turning back to normal.
“There we go. Looks like another job well done, eh Eris?”
A glow from his pocket proceeded a woman’s voice.
“Of course. Not that it took much effort on your part.”
“Sassy as always. Well, I’m kind of bored after going through the last twenty of these. Want to see what the girls are up to? I kinda want to see them post-Pillars right now.”
“You have nothing better to do. I checked.”
“Well then… Up, up, and away!” he exclaimed with his fist raised into the air only to fall into the ground like it was water.
I drank in the sight before me with a bit of glee. This was still fresh for me after all. Season 8 was still becoming a thing and not too many fanfics had made use of it yet. I’m talking about the Friendship School just in case you aren’t sure. It’s a place that’s practically in throwing distance from Twilight’s castle yet doesn’t really give off that feeling too much. But I digress…
The place itself looks awesome. It reminds me more of an attraction than a school. With the waterfalls and the main entrance being over a bridge makes the whole place seem more like it was going to be a castle themed park. Yet it doesn’t really feel like a castle with all the… ‘little’ tykes running around the place. What would be a good analogy for it? Even with perfect recall I just don’t have a good enough parallel for it.
“Seth? Is that you?”
I turn to my left to see Princess Twilight Sparkle giving me a wide-eyed stare.
“Yep. How are you doing?”
“I’m doing fine. I haven’t seen you in a while. Lots of stories keeping you busy?”
“That they are.”
This was the Twilight Sparkle who was no longer canon. All my involvement with the series proper had managed to stay concealed and there would never be any traces of me thanks to my new role. That role is to create new timelines. My essence had been tied together with this reality in a way that would keep me from creating paradoxes by my mere existence showing up. Still not ever interacting with any of them again just didn’t sit well with me so I split a timeline off immediately so that we could talk if necessary and trust me when I say that the folks who do my job in the other realities make this necessary just so I have someone to talk to that doesn’t have an inflated ego. Sure not all of them are like that, but they are a very rare group.
“So what brings you here today? None of us get to see you that much. I think Discord show up slightly more often than you do.”
“Just wanted to take a look at the school. I’m probably going to be working a lot more with it since the series just made it to this point in time.”
“Oooooh! That’s wonderful! The people are going to see how wonderful this place is now and how we can all come together in the spirit of friendship!”
“That they will. Just remember: this isn’t going to be an easy task. Even with your friends helping out you have to make sure to stay true to your convictions.”
“After dealing with the E.E.A. you can trust me to have already learned that lesson.”
“Ah, very nice, very nice. Then just keep an eye out for Chrysalis and everything’ll be fine,” I said only to realize my idiocy a moment too late.
“Chrysalis! She’s going to be coming!?”
“Where!? Where’s Chrysalis!?”
A look up showed Rainbow Dash zooming in quickly. Nor was she alone as a look around saw Starlight Glimmer and Applejack also closing in on our location. Not good.
“Everyone calm down!” I yelled to try and head this off before it picked up too much steam. “Chrysalis isn’t here. There’s nothing to be worried about.”
“Not yet, but the way you said that makes me worry that she will soon enough,” Twilight stated, “and I’m worried about the fact that she swore terrible revenge on Starlight.”
Said mare looked a bit concerned. I didn’t blame her. When Chrysalis was defeated at the wedding the changeling queen didn’t take it too well. Then when she was stopped once again she swore vengeance upon Starlight Glimmer. That drive can tell you that she is definitely willing to try and exact that vengeance with utmost certainty.
“I’m well aware of the situation. I also try to avoid changing major events as much as possible. Since I know this timeline is really close to the main one I know that things can work out for the best if you all use your best judgement and follow the tenets of friendship. I have faith in you all so I only show up to relax, talk, and hang out whenever I feel like I need to remind myself that I shouldn’t be by all by myself sometimes.”
“It is good to hear that you’re trying to keep yourself from being all alone all the time,” Twilight said with a smile. “It’s also good to hear how much faith that you have in us. But I think that-”
That was as far as I was able to hear before a terrible pain erupted throughout my being. While it started in both my head and my heart the pain spread quickly. It was agonizing. It didn’t last long, however, before it turned into both a freezing cold and a burning fire intermingling all over my body. I could barely even tell that there were hooves being planted on my body and magic being used upon me. Still, slowly but surely the feeling went away and I was left gasping for air.
“Seth! Are you alright?” everyone took turns asking.
“I… am slowly getting better,” my hoarse voice responded.
“What in tarnation just happened?”
“I don’t know,” I said slowly. “I’ve never had that happen before.”
“I’m really worried about you Seth. I’ll have to postpone my trip to Canterlot to talk to Celestia about her Onesversary.”
“A what now?” I asked.
“A Onesversary!” Pinkie Pie, who seemed to show up out of nowhere, began to explain. “It marks the one thousand, one hundred and eleventh year anniversary of the day that Celestia raised the sun for the very first time! Were going to ask her if we can put on a play at the school in celebration of the event.”
“Wait what? But that doesn’t make sense. Not from… What Celestia told me.”
“What Celestia told you?” asked Twilight. “What are you talking about?”
“And what’s with your hand glowing?”
Rainbow Dash’s question prompted everyone including myself to look at said appendage. Sure enough, the horseshoe on my hand was glowing and pulsating a red color instead of its usual royal blue. Definitely not a normal occurrence.
“Thaaaat’s never happened before.”
I started channeling magic into my hand and instead of the normal blue color there as well it began to emit an angry red color. Involuntarily my hand shot out and a large line hologram displayed in front of me. I knew immediately that it was the branching paths of time. I occasionally took a look at it to see how many affected areas some decisions made from some of the stories that were created when I started doing this gig. It was honestly a big mess that I got tired of and I hadn’t used it in a couple of years.
“What is this?” Twilight asked with a hint of awe.
“This is the lineations of time. All of the stories people come up with diverge from the normal path that events here take and branch out to make their own paths. I’ve had create so many branches that it resembles a tree to some.”
Most of the image was in white lines with a blue background. However, a few points on the lines were the same red color that I had glowed with a minute ago. These points were created along the central spire and were blinking to alert me to their location. After taking a look at them, I realized what I was looking at.
“You’ve been retconned,” I stated quietly.
“Retconned? What the hay does that there mean?”
“It’s a term used for when the history of piece of fiction is changed to conform with new facts,” Eris chimed in. “For example: if I was to say that an avalanche started when a large shout happened and everyone knows that to be the case then later it was stated that someone in another part of the area caused it by dislodging some snow, the fact that someone started it with a shout becomes wrong and the new story becomes fact instead. Usually it happens to work around inconsistencies that happen in the plot.”
“And do you think that’s what led you to collapsing?” Starlight asked me. “I remember you saying that you were tied to the timelines that make up this universe. If they were… retconned like you said then wouldn’t that affect you as well?”
“That… makes sense. A lot of sense actually.”
“What was changed that caused this to happen?” Twilight asked.
“Well,” I said while looking at my timeline chart, “I believe that isn’t as old as she told me anymore. Also this part about how unicorns raised the sun has changed as well.”
“But unicorns did used tah raise the sun. That is til Princess Celestia started raising it on ‘er own and became an alicorn fer it.”
“Yeah, I see how that is now. For some reason it says that five unicorns plus Starswirl were the ones who did it. It used to be that a hundred unicorns working together managed to do it just fine.”
“But why would they change the timeline for that? It seems unnecessarily cruel.”
“It does, but it also makes the feat done by Celestia look even more noble by comparison.”
“At the cost of unicorns losing their magic permanently,” Starlight said somberly.
“I'm not saying that it's a good thing. After all it's not me who makes these decisions. I mean are you aware that there are several other alicorns in existence other than you princesses?”
“What!?!” pretty much everyone yelled.
“Yeah, that's right. There was one in Las Pegasus that guided in the balloon that took the Golden Horseshoe Gals in for a landing. Heck, there’s probably even more that I haven’t noticed since I haven’t been around the entire world yet. Even I can miss things.”
“Ah don’t know. Ah mean ah can tell ya ain’t lyin’ but that still seems a bit far fetched.”
“Heh. Pokemon,” I said before thinking a bit. “You know, that sounds like something I ought to try out.”
“Pokemon?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“That, yeah, but I mean telling some stories. I mean, there are plenty of timelines out there and more places to visit than just those six worlds that you all went to. I mean, I know now that I’m capable of going to them indiscriminately, but-”
“You can!?” Pinkie interrupted. “ Can I go to the one with us and that other SI? Oh! Or can I go to the dragon one? I want to see some pirates! I bet that they throw the best parties!”
“...Okay that sounded pretty fun too. Maybe a bit of both?”
“I’m not sure about going back to those worlds that we traveled to before,” Twilight commented unsurely. “I do like the story idea. Why not tell a few of them to our students? I think hearing about friendships in other realities might be quite interesting to demonstrate.”
“Or I could do all of those things! Who says I’m just limited to one thing? I am a dimension-hopping, chaos-infused, badass mothereffer who has the means to show his friends a good time! I need some down time to cut loose and have some fun! To the school!”
Yeah that last line doesn’t seem like it fits with the rest of it, but if by some miracle some being is reading this life of mine then you know what I’m talking about. Time for some adventures in fan- Wait. No title drop!
Author's Note
A big thank you to MLP:FiM for helping me figure out a way to keep my story canon despite the inconsistencies. The part with unicorns raising the sun was retconned in season eight and gave me the linchpin I needed to keep this story and it's predecessors legitimate. Truly, I was getting really concerned since I wanted to make it believable that this story can fit inside of the MLP universe and they sent me this softball.
