The Cracked 4th

by Amuka

Rating: mature
Tags: Discord, Princess Celestia, Death, Alternate Universe, Twilight Sparkle, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Mystery, Dark, Starlight Glimmer, Tragedy
Length: 4258

The tearing of parchment, The cry for more of something unabtainbalbe yet so valuable. It wasn't suppose to end this way.

Twilight offered her friendship, the option to go back to the present and repent of her evil ways. But she didn't accept. The resulting story could be told over seconds, hours, decades, no one knows how long. The universe itself doesn't even know. Because a piece is missing... A requirement.

If only there was a little more time.

Published 2018-06-20 01:00:07 UTC
Last updated 2018-06-20 01:00:07 UTC

Spate

Spate

“There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want.”

-Bill Watterson

1

Twilight and Spike could only watch in horror as the spell parchment was torn apart, its remains carried off in the breeze.

"Looks like I win, Twilight Sparkle," the pink unicorn proclaimed with a smile of victory. "You'll never see them again!"

Fueled by new rage, Twilight spread her wings and leaped from her cloud toward the smirking unicorn with Spike holding onto her for dear life.

Said unicorn quickly teleported to another cloud dodging Twilight’s attack.

"Why?" Twilight asked with a mixture of sadness and rage as she pulled her head out of the cloud. "I gave you a chance!"

Twilight jumped to the side as the crazed unicorn fired a bolt of pink magic toward her.

"I offered you friendship!" Twilight screamed as she sidestepped another bolt of magic.

"Well, I don't want your friendship! You ruined my life!" the pink mare yelled, her horn flaring to life.

Twilight and Spike's eyes widened as a beam of pink magic came barreling toward them. Thinking quickly, the purple Alicorn cast a cloud-walking spell on Spike and tossed him onto a different cloud while simultaneously charging a beam of her own magic to counter her adversary.

Twilight poured all her magic into her horn and fired one precise magic bolt at the oncoming laser beam.

Their beams collided causing a massive lavender and pink explosion that sent a shock wave rippling outward destroying every cloud it touched. Twilight was sent tumbling off her cloud from the force of the blast and began spiraling downward toward the ground. Her wings were singed from the blast, her feathers misaligned, and most of her magic had been used up in the fight.

As Twilight plummeted toward the ground below, her thoughts wandered to her friends. She would never see them again. Did they even know she was gone? Did they remember her? She closed her eyes waiting for impact. She was so tired.

"AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

Twilight was torn from her thoughts as the sound of Spike's screams registered in her ears. Looking around the now cloudless sky, she quickly spotted the little drake spinning wildly around in the air above her as he fell.

SPIKE! Twilight thought to herself as she tried to force her wings to obey her commands. I won't lose him, too! With great effort she finally managed to get her wings to obey her, and with one powerful flap, she pushed herself upward toward her number one assistant. Reaching out she grabbed onto him and pulled him close.

Spike continued screaming but after a while he realized he wasn't falling anymore but rather moving upward, he cracked an eye open and was greeted with the sight of Twilight holding him in her hooves. He quickly wrapped her in a bone crushing hug,

"Oh thank you ,thank you, thank you ,Twilight! I thought I was gonna die!" he squeak out between sobs of joy.

"I would never let that happen Spike" She replied as they continued to fly up toward the cloud city.

234

Shining Armor galloped through the hallways of Canterlot castle, his wife, Princess Cadence, close behind. They had been called all the way from the Crystal Empire by Princess Celestia, who had written in her very brief letter that it was a matter of national security.

Finally, they arrived at the doors to the throne room. Ignoring the guards, Shining burst through the door."We came as soon as we could, Your Highness!" He said breathing heavily.

"Shining Armor," Luna greeted with nod while her sister stared at the ground, her face conveying feelings of great distress.

"What's wrong, Aunty?" Cadence asked as she caught up to her husband.

Celestia regained some of her composure. "I have terrible news," Celestia started but couldn't continue.

Luna sighed. She knew her sister was taking the news the hardest, ever since the report came in Celestia had been working her tail off and fighting her grief..

Luna put her hoof on her sister’s shoulder trying to give her the strength to finish. Celestia leaned into Luna, tears escaping her eyes. "Twilight's gone,” the Alicorn managed to whisper.

The room went dead quiet. One could have probably heard a pin drop. Shining and Cadence could only stand in shock.

"And, I don't know where she is!" Celestia cried out in anguish. "I've searched everywhere! She's gone without a trace!" The Solar Princess broke down crying into her sisters coat.

Shining and Cadence continued to stare frozen in shock, His LSBFF gone? Just like that? How had this happened? She had to be in Equestria somewhere, and he was going to find her.

Princess Celestia rolled off her bed in a very unprincess like fashion. It had been a year since Twilight disappeared, and although she had searched far and wide, she had never found her.

Gloomy thoughts continued to swirl around in the Sun Princesses head as she groggily walked to her mirror. The pony that stared back at her didn't look like a princess, but Celestia would quickly fix that.

She magicked a comb out from a drawer and began running it through her mane, un-knotting it and slowly but surely regaining her image as the perfect princess, Princess Celestia. After she had finished cleaning herself up, Celestia's stomach growled informing her it was probably time for breakfast Maybe some nice coffee and a slice of cake will cheer me up Celestia thought with a yawn. With that thought in mind Celestia made her way toward the royal kitchen.

Reaching the kitchens, Celestia sat down in a chair. After a few moments of wonderful silence, a servant came in and asked her what she wanted today. After giving him her request of coffee and cake, Celestia laid back in her seat closing her eyes. While the loss of Twilight had caused her grief, she had to move on for the good of Equestria. How could she rule efficiently if she was cowering away in her room like a foal?

Two servants entered the room, one carrying a cup of coffee and the other a whole white frosting vanilla cake. They deposited the cake and coffee in front of the solar monarch and with a quick bow exited the room.

The smell radiating from the plate made Celestia's mouth water. She delicately picked up her fork with her magic and slowly began moving the tasty treat toward her open mouth. The cake was the best she'd ever tasted. Maybe it was because she was so hungry or maybe the stress was getting to her, but at that moment the Solar Princess didn't care.The only things on the planet right now were her and the delicious cake.

Celestia quickly devoured the rest of the cake before heading off to the throne room for day court. She honestly wondered why she even held day court. The nobles never approached her with anything remotely thought out or useful, and it bored her to no end. Casting these thoughts aside, she put on her patented motherly smile and entered the throne room. After getting comfortable in her seat, she motioned to the guard near the entrance.

"Court is officially in session!"

Princess Celestia rolled off her bed in a very unprincess like fashion. It had been a year since Twilight disappeared, and although she had searched far and wide, she had never found her.

Gloomy thoughts continued to swirl around in the sun princesses head as she groggily walked to her mirror. The pony that stared back at her didn't look like a princess, but Celestia would quickly fix that.

She magicked a comb out from a drawer and began running it through her mane, un-knotting it and slowly but surely regaining her image as the perfect princess, Princess Celestia. After she had finished cleaning herself up, Celestia's stomach growled informing her it was probably time for breakfast Maybe some nice coffee and a slice of cake will cheer me up Celestia thought with a yawn. With that thought in mind Celestia made her way toward the royal kitchen.

Reaching the kitchens Celestia sat down in a chair. After a few moments of wonderful silence ,a servant came in and asked her what she wanted today. After giving him her request of coffee and cake, Celestia laid back in her seat closing her eyes. While the loss of Twilight had caused her grief, she had to move on for the good of Equestria. How could she rule efficiently if she was cowering away in her room like a foal?

Two servants entered the room, one carrying a cup of coffee and the other a whole white frosting vanilla cake. They deposited the cake and coffee in front of the solar monarch and with a quick bow exited the room.

The smell radiating from the plate made Celestia's mouth water. She delicately picked up her fork with her magic and slowly began moving the tasty treat toward her open mouth.

Wait minute... Celestia thought, causing the fork to stop midair. Didn't this just happen?

Celestia cast her gaze around the room, her brain trying to remember a memory that seemed just out of reach. When the memory she was searching for didn't surface, Celestia cast her worries aside, and after finishing the rest of her cake, began the long walk toward the throne room.

She honestly wondered why she even held day court, The nobles never approached her with anything remotely thought out or useful, and it bored her to no end. Casting these thoughts aside, she put on her patented motherly smile and entered the throne room. After getting comfortable in her seat, she motioned to the guard near the entrance.

"Court is officially in session!"

Princess Celestia rolled off her bed in a very unprincess like fashion. It had been...

Something's wrong... Celestia thought as she looked around her room, panic rising in her chest. She was absolutely sure she'd already experienced this before.

Celestia put a hoof to her chest and took deep breaths to calm herself. It's okay ,Celestia! Calm down. Panicking won't solve anything. After regaining some composure, Celestia examined her room in more detail.

It was deja vu, and it unnerved her. The princess once again exited her room after getting herself presentable. But instead of heading toward the kitchen, Celestia headed straight for her sisters quarters. She and Luna would solve this together. They had nearly three hours to work.

***

Celestia smashed her hoofs into her bed with such force that the bed caved in on itself. She and Luna had been so close this time! But then she'd been reset. Celestia pounded her hooves into her bed once again causing the already damaged bed to break even more. After a few more temper tantrums, the Solar Princess flopped down onto her destroyed bed and rolled onto her back staring at the ceiling. She was stuck.

She was stuck reliving the same first three hours of the day.

Why had this happened? Luna didn't retain her memories of what they'd accomplished before the reset, which made continuing where they'd left off impossible. She had to re-explain the situation to her sister every time. All this repetition used up value time. Time she didn't have.

Celestia had tried everything she could think of to escape the loop: doing the opposite of the set path she seemed to be on, mixing up her routine, even following the day schedule perfectly in the hope of it continuing onward past the opening of court. But, alas, no luck.

Celestia honestly considered giving up trying to escape the loop and be content to forever relive the same first few hours of the day over and over again. She groaned in annoyance at her situation, racking her brain trying to think of a solution. Finally, an idea rose to the forefront of her mind.

What if she didn't do anything? What if she just lay in bed and did nothing, no morning routine, no movement whatsoever. Would the loop continue? As crazy as it seemed, Celestia was desperate to try anything that could give her a chance to escape the endless morning.

So, for hours the Princess lay on her bed doing nothing except breathing and occasionally shuffling around to get more comfortable in her decimated bed. After the first hour, Celestia realized a very real issue she hadn't accounted for. She was bored. Extremely bored. The princess sighed. It was going to be a very long morning.

At long last, it was approaching the time for court to begin. This had been the exact moment she would normally be sent back to the start. Maybe, just maybe, this time would be different.

Celestia stared intently at the clock on her wall. Her whole body tensed as the hands on the clock got closer and closer to the appointed time. Finally, after what seemed like years, the time arrived.

The world around Celestia shattered into eight huge pieces of what was literally the fabric of T---. Celestia cold only recoil in shock as the world around her faded and morphed until it was almost unrecognizable.

Everything the Alicorn laid her eyes upon would drift apart, and she would be left staring at two of the same object. Her hooves, her regalia, her room, the wall, everything was shifting around in a kind of double vision.

Everything that could began to loose growth rapidly. Plants reverted back to being just seeds, the castle around her turned back into a basic structural outline, and the sun moved backwards across the sky.

Suddenly, an hourglass formed before her surrounded by a blue magical construct spinning counter clockwise. Before Celestia could begin to comprehend what was happening, the hourglass stopped and quickly flipped forward spinning clockwise before imploding in on itself.

The world around Celestia instantly began moving forward again. The castle was rebuilt in a matter of seconds, all the seeds quickly sprouted and regrew to their original lush beauty, and the sun zoomed forward across the sky.

Then all movement and growth began to slow down, and eventually everything returned to normal. There was no more acceleration or “double vision”. Celestia could sense that time was moving forward again at the normal rate. Celestia could only stare in relief and amazement, gratefully watching the clock on her wall tick forward as if nothing unusual had ever happened.

1,340

"Sister, what are you doing!"

"What needs to be done Luna," Celestia replied, her horn alight with magic as she stood in front of the door to the royal archives. "The team needs this information readily available to them if we're going to stand any chance at saving the fourth..."

With a grunt, Celestia crushed the runic locks with her magic causing a magical golden wave to fly outwards from the building.

"But the knowledge contained in there is too powerful for mortal minds!" Luna argued trying to knock some sense into her sister.

"It doesn't matter anymore Luna!" Celestia screeched as she frantically began removing more and more magic and physical locks from the door.

"What do you mean, ‘It doesn't matter anymore!’" Luna roared while grabbing her sister’s hind legs and dragging her away from the doors.

"We're almost out of it, Luna! We need every edge we can get!" The Solar Monarch grunted struggling to escape her sibling’s grasp.

Their struggle continued for a while longer, each sister pulling in the opposite direction trying to force the other to move. Finally, Celestia had had enough. The Sun Princess charged up a medium level stun spell and in one swift motion, turned and fired the spell into Luna's face.

The Night Princess fell of the floor with a resounding thud, her eyes rolled back in her head.

"Sorry, Sister," Celestia mumbled as she got to her hooves and undid the final lock on the door. "I have to do this." Celestia swung the door open and entered the archives.

4,001

"Alright! Everypony, listen up!" commanded a unicorn stallion with a grey coat and silver mane.

"I have just received word that Celestia has given us access to the royal archives." The stallion began pacing, eyeing each of the research team members with a stern gaze. "I know all of you are here because you are smart, you are qualified in your fields, and your IQ is far above average. Nevertheless, Celestia has made it very clear that the knowledge contained in these books is complicated and unstable." He gestured to the small pile of books with worn covers.

"We are being graced with the most taboo and dangerous magic known to pony-kind. One mistake and all of us could be killed!"

Everypony present gulped, but nodded their heads.

"Alright, mares and gentlecolts!" He pulled three books from his saddle bags and tossed them onto the desk of the nearest researcher.

Loop Theory

-Starswirl the bearded

The B--nc-es of T---e

-Starswirl the bearded

Fl-ws a-d stre-m-

-Starswirl the bearded

"Let's get started!"

12,948

"Spike! W-what's happening to you!" Twilight stammered as they walked through the cobblestone halls of Canterlot Castle.

"I-I d-don't know!" Spike gasped looking at his slowly fading body.

The purple Alicorn swept her number one assistant up in her hooves. "It's going to be okay,Spike. Everything is going to be just fine."

"Twilight, I don't feel well," the young drake said as he began swaying back and forth.

"Spike! You are going to be fine," the purple mare replied urgently, cradling the little drake in her hooves.

Spike's body suddenly became transparent, and he phased right through Twilight's hooves landing on the floor. The Alicorn screamed in horror as Spike's form continued to become fainter and fainter. "No! No, no, no! Spike what's happening to you!"

"Twilight!" He screamed with wide fearful eyes, "I don't wanna go, Twilight! Don't let me g-"

Twilight sat horrified as Spike disappeared, his voice echoing off into a distance that didn't exist.

"SPIKE! COME BACK!" Twilight pounded the cracked marble floor where her beloved assistant used to stand. Where had he gone! What had SHE done! The purple Alicorn broke down into unconsolable sobs.

She'd lost Spike, the one pony who'd stuck with her through all the different realities, the infant dragon she'd hatched during her entrance exam. He was gone, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Twilight screamed in rage as she plunged the knife into her adversaries chest. The wind howled around them as dust particles and soot whirled past them.

*Stab

"That's for Spike!"

*Stab

"That's for my friends!

*Stab

"Now DIE!" Twilight screeched as she plunged the knife directly into the pink unicorns chest one last time. Blood covered her entire form, soaking into her wings and all through her mane. "It's over, right? I won, didn't I?" Twilight asked herself looking at the desolate wasteland around them.

A spinning hourglass appeared in front of the Alicorn. There were several cracks running through it. Twilight didn't know what to make of it. She had killed her enemy, and the spell should have ended. Why hadn't it ended!

Suddenly, the hourglass shattered into thousands of pieces. Shards of glass flew everywhere, but mostly directly into the Alicorn’s chest. Twilight cried out in pain as the shards embedded themselves into her flesh.

The scene around her changed with every shard that flew into her battered body. Ponyville, Canterlot, Manehattan, Dodge City, Sweet Apple Acres, and so many others flickered before her eyes. Each was so real. She saw different versions of herself, some with wings, others without. She even saw herself wearing full regalia standing as tall as Celestia. What was happening? Twilight didn't know. She simply sat and watched.

Twilight saw different versions of her friends. In some, they were great heroes of Equestria, in others, they were criminals, killers, or tyrants with huge bounties on their heads.

Yet, throughout all the different scenes, never once did she ever see Fluttershy or Spike.

133,546,234,128

Twilight stared hopelessly into the void. It shouldn't have ended this way, she thought bitterly to herself.

A vortex appeared next to her, and a out stepped a mismatch of creatures. Discord. The draconicus sighed a deep sigh before following Twilight's gaze into the black void surrounding them. After what felt like eternity, Twilight broke the silence. "Could I have done more? Could I have stopped her sooner? Could WE have done more?"

243,303,093,123

Discord didn't respond as he mulled over the question. "What do you want me to say, Twilight? I could flatter you and tell you we gave it our all, that we came so close, that we just needed a little more of it, but the reality is, Twilight Sparkle," he paused and swept his eyes across the dark abyss,"we failed."

Twilight let the tears pour out. Her friends and family were gone, never to be seen again. She had failed Celestia and Luna. She had failed everypony.

The void shook violently. The black walls cracked and shattered. In its place appeared stars, auroras, the branches, galaxies, andpast visionsof the one dimension they'd run out of.

Discord conjured up a chair and sat back watching the stars and galaxies stream past. Each one aging, rapidly dying, and being reborn.

It was a fascinating process. Discord was sure if the circumstances were different, his purple friend would be jumping up and down with questions trying to dissect how it all worked.

Friends, Discord pondered with a sad smile, was a concept he had only recently embraced. Long ago, he would have considered the notion of friendship to be useless, a waste of time, a distraction. But then, one pony changed all that. She was a butter-yellow Pegasus, who had been afraid of her own shadow. "Fluttershy would have thought this was beautiful,” Discord said absentmindedly still staring into the beautiful, but deadly flow before them.

"Y-yeah," Twilight croaked out in between sobs, "She would have."

Seeing the Alicorn’s distress, Discord stood up from his chair and put a comforting paw on her back. There they sat for what could have been a few minutes, hours, even centuries. They didn't know anymore. The universe itself didn't seem to know, either.

"Why did this happen, Discord? Why did she do it?" Twilight begged for an answer. "I tried to warn her, but she wouldn't listen."

Discord took in a deep breath still looking out into the mass of beauty before them. "I wish I knew, Twilight, I wish I knew." But he didn't. Discord had realized what was happening too late to stop thestreamfrom taking Fluttershy. They had been having one of their normal tea parties, a happy day, when suddenly the shy Pegasus had started growing more and more transparent. Discord had thought he was just seeing things. Only after her tea cup phased through her hooves did he realize what was happening. He had tried everything he knew, but even chaos was bound by the $th dimension. Fluttershy had been looped away. Tears began flowing down thechaotic being’s face.

Twilight and Discord knew that the end was close. The universe couldn't function properly without the 4th dimension, and because of HER, time was missing from the equation of the universe.

"You were always the one with the solution, Twilight." Discord spoke while watching cracks begin to form in the mass before them. The darkness around them displayed white cracks that began seeping into reality itself.The nonexistent room shook even though there was nothing to shake.

"You defeated Nightmare Moon, Sombra, Chrysalis, and even me a being of Chaos. You had the solution to every problem no matter how impossible. You're always curious and always learning, which was why you defeated me the first time. You were so unpredictable." Discord let out a hollow chuckle. "Very Chaotic"

Twilight allowed a small smile to grace her features with the memories of simpler, happier times floating around in her head. There had been a time before the loops and the sadness, a time when waking up in the morning meant a new day adventuring with her friends, a time when she might even write that friendship report to Princess Celestia. Her smile widened a bit as she remembered a time when she might spend a day dealing with Discord’s pranks and chaos, cleaning up Discord's chaotic messes or going to parties. Her good friend Pinkie Pie always threw the best parties. How she and Discord missed those days.

"I-I r-really don't want you to think I'm blaming y-you." Discord's speech began faltering as he began crying. "B-but I don't understand. Why couldn't you solve the problem about the one thing we're now out of."

Discord turned and looked at Twilight with tear-filled eyes. Twilight also looked at the draconicus with a sad smile, tears cascading down her face as the cracks began covering both of their bodies.

Discord and Twilight’s voices sadly surrendered in unison:

"Why couldn't you solve time?"

"If only I had a little more time"

*Shatter

Author's Note

This is my first one-shot, I wrote it because I've hit a brick wall on my other chapter based story but I wanted to write. I'm probably going to do a lot more one shots in the future to maintain my writing ability and imagination but I hope you enjoyed this one :)

Can you piece together what happened?