The ̶M̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶T̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶T̶i̶m̶e̶ ̶F̶o̶r̶g̶o̶t̶ End

by The Nameless Horror

The Mare That Time Forgot

Load Full StoryNext Chapter

The sun had stopped rising on a new day.

The birds were not singing.

The wind was not rustling through the grass, causing the morning dew to fall.

Not a single soul was breathing, or even moving, for that matter.

Except for just one…

...and so, it begins.

Start the clock.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 0 HOURS, 0 MINUTES, 0 SECONDS.

Twilight’s eyes at first failed to open. She felt an internal struggle for her immediate fate at hand. Eventually, her pro-activeness prevailed and she lofted herself out of bed. Stretching and yawning, she slowly pulled her eyes open. A longing desire to remain in bed stayed with her for a few fleeting moments, but she had such a busy day ahead of her, much like any other. She motioned toward her window, and froze for just a moment as her hooves touched the floor. Opening the blinds, Twilight failed to notice the impossible spectacle that had overtaken her front lawn. She calmly gazed over to the clock, still displaying the early morning with its hands. Reaching with her magic, she pulled it close to her ear, listening quietly.

Silence was her answer.

She quickly made a mental note to make a physical note to purchase a new alarm clock for her bedside, as evidently, her current one of several months had broken. She turned toward the stairs, and tossed it behind her onto her bed. Spike, completely silent and unmoving, caught her eye, and she softly chuckled to herself.

Oh Spike, you love your sleep almost as much as you love your gems! She innocently thought as she slowly paced herself down the steps, two at a Time, careful not to wake her assistant. She casually glanced at each bookshelf, searching for something new, as she made her way to the foyer.

What she failed to notice, however, was the clock. As if by some act of rebellion against its owner, it simply stayed in the air. Floating above the floor, exactly at the last moment Twilight had touched it; several feet above, and in front of, its intended target.

As she gradually made her way through her humble abode, she gave a cursory thought towards the day’s events, both planned and unforeseen. Maybe she and her friends would perform and amazing act of friendship, or if a new villain, bent on destroying the fundamentals of peace and love, would rear their ugly head. This would, evidently, force Twilight and her friends to perform and amazing act of friendship regardless. It didn’t quite matter to her, as she treasured every moment she had with her friends. Almost as if each one were its last.

That’s when it became unignorable. Twilight was surprised she hadn’t noticed it sooner. The ambiance; atmosphere, rather, the lack thereof. No hustle and bustle was audible from the outside, not a single snore or sigh from Spike, not a single stair creaked beneath her hooves. Absolutely nothing.

Silence. Not as if nothing was making noise, but as if nothing could make noise. As if each and every single thing in the universe had been muted, for good.

Twilight brushed the idea out of her head in the same instant it had entered. It was silly, downright childish even. A logical conclusion could be drawn from the abundance of information available to her, she was just letting her imagination get to her. A little bit of fresh air was all she needed, that was all.

And yet, the slight sense of dread refused to evacuate her mind, and Twilight found herself slowly accelerating to the door, approaching a full gallop almost all at onc—

SLAM!

Twilight had bumped into a small side table in her dramatic rush to vacate. It was almost cathartic to hear something, amid the deafening silence surrounding her. Even as the pain began to grow over her foreleg, a small part of her was relieved.

She mentally berated herself for acting so carelessly; honestly, so quick to jump to the most terrifying conclusions. She rubbed the sore part of her leg with a free hoof, and turned toward the table, and was about to use her magic to pick the table off the ground.

However, the table was not on the ground at all. Nor was it erect, being the other possibility. Instead, the table had remained at the precise angle at which she had shifted it with her contact. Balancing on just a single leg, the several knick-knacks on top unflinching, as if glued to the top. A performance of such an egregious disregard for the laws of physics that Twilight sat perfectly still, in shock for several seconds before moving to examine its perversion of common logic closer.

“What in Celestia’s name…?” she queried. She slowly lifted up a hoof, an pushed the table the opposite direction, hoping its innate balance would seem to fail, and tumble to the floor. It moved exactly as far as Twilight’s sudden impulse displaced it, then returned to its stillness, frozen as it was moments before.

She grabbed a small potted cactus from the table, a gift from Celestia when she had visited the Marejave Desert. Releasing all care for the little souvenir, she lifted it high above the table, over her hardwood flooring, and released it from her front hooves.

She didn’t know what to expect, but she definitely wasn’t expecting the plant to remain stuck above the floor, exactly where she had released it. Despite the circumstances, this outcome was beyond her thought process.

Then sat down, and pondered. Some cruel joke? A prank? Am I still dreaming? What exactly am I looking at? As she remained there, only for a few seconds, a thought equally as disturbing as the picture in front of her manifested.

What if it’s not just the table?!

She immediately, and at full speed, turned and darted toward the stairs, She practically tripped climbing them up to her room. Within inches of banging her head on the clock previously thrown, she turned toward Spike.

“Spike?” she asked. No response.

“Spike?!” she moved over, her voice raising. “Spike! Wake Up! Something weird is going on! Are you okay?!” she shook him, not a single acknowledgment came from his body. “Spike?! SPIKE?!” she ran her hoof along his arm and neck, struggling to find a pulse, and then found exactly what everything else had given her.

Silence.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 0 HOURS, 27 MINUTES, 32 SECONDS.

Almost immediately, panic had set in. Twilight’s brain flooded with adrenaline as she began to piece together everything around her. She had been still, sobbing for a half-hour, desperately attempting to wake her closest friend. Her mind had spent most of the Time looking for answers where there were none, and eventually she fell to the floor, almost catatonic. Spike was as still as the room, not a single sing of life.

No. No. No No No. It can’t be true. Twilight thought to herself. This isn’t normal. There’s something else at play here. Something else…

It was the same something that prevented the table and the clock from falling. A force, or something similar. Gravity, inertia, the entire book on Classical Mechanics had seemed to have been thrown out the window, taking reason with it. She seemed unaffected, whatever that was worth, but this did little to aid her situation.

In the back of her mind, amid all the shock, a little voice warned her that she needed to move. She had to find out what was going on, and get help. Twilight managed a whimper before remaining still. Her mind was still stuck in a loop of grappling with Spike’s apparent death, and denying it.

However, soon after, she managed to pick herself up, began moving toward the exit. If she could get her neighbors or even Derpy to help...

Then it clicked in her head, and her pace immediately increased to a full gallop. She raced through her foyer, and almost tore the hinges off her front door getting outside. The image that greeted her was oddly compelling, and completely quashed Twilight’s fear in an instant, despite what it actually was. Derpy, at some point during the, now evident late morning, was in the middle of a mail run when she had accidentally crossed paths with another pegasus. Twilight couldn’t remember the name, but was delighted to see her stuck mid-air, screaming with a look of half anger/half terror.

This led her to logically deduce that, due to the similar loss of kinetic forces and total stoppage of all momentum, the situation in front of her and the one inside had the same root cause. If this was true, then Spike couldn’t be dead, since Derpy and the other pegasus were still very much alive, if not simply frozen.

Just to be sure, Twilight calmly pulled a book from a shelf, and levitated it toward Derpy. She then slapped her across the face with it, and immediately let go. The book remained in contact with Derpy’s snout, now awkwardly skewed to the left. Identical to the table, the clock, and the cactus.

Twilight laughed almost manically now, and jumped for joy at this revelation. This wasn’t a simple as she thought, and was instead much bigger, almost as if the entire town were under…

A Spell.

Twilight abruptly stopped her celebration. The likelihood of this possibility was too high for a coincidence. Somepony must have done this, there was no other clear explanation. Somepony with an axe to grind. As a result, this meant there most likely was a way to reverse its effects.

She could still move objects, that much was clear.

She had access to her books and her basement, the entire town, incidentally.

What she lacked, however, was help. This served more as a motivator than as an inhibitor.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 9 HOURS, 18 MINUTES, 23 SECONDS.

Hours spent pouring over her entire library, methodically searching every crumb of data in her vast catalog, had led to a near nothing to show for it. Book after book, page after page, more and more information until it at last collapsed like a house of cards.

Twilight thanked whatever sick twisted sorcerer did this that she could still eat. Her faucet obviously didn’t work, but she was able to break into her emergency supplies. She could still drink from a well. Starvation and dehydration were not concerning. What was, however, were her quickly expiring answers.

At first, it seemed relatively optimistic, with simple questions having simple answers. Derpy’s work schedule was easy to procure from the post office, and cross referencing this with her route, she narrowed down the actual “freeze” to somewhere between 7:12 and 7:43 AM. This matched her clock’s Time, confirming her original suspicion.

Following this, she conducted a few preliminary tests to feel out for any lasting static energy fields, only to find nothing of the sort. This was either something of so grand a scale Twilight couldn't really find a border, or it was something that lacked a field at all. Either way, this narrowed things down.

Twilight even dug up some old books on Temporal Analysis, using them to finally conclude the exact nature of the spell. No specifics were given, but what was happening to her now made sense. They weren’t simply frozen. It seems Time itself had actually slowed for everyone but herself. This is why Twilight’s movements weren’t causing objects to fall or move. The forces weren’t negated, they had simply been postponed until she resolved this whole mess.

This now presented entirely new problems, however. The book gave no explanation on whether or not this phenomenon had previously occurred, and consequently, how to resolve it from the affected end. Additionally, her potential list of suspects had shrank considerably. The amount of energy to theoretically slow everyone else down, or even simply to speed Twilight up to this degree was astronomical. Only someone with the power on the order of Luna or Celestia would be able to do it, and keep the subject in a this state for a prolonged period.

It couldn’t be Discord either. Aside from the fact that he had just been re-imprisoned, this change was, orderly. Everyone, all at once, halted in the exact same way. They couldn’t run away screaming, or cause more chaos by going insane. They just sat there, statues, unaware of their own condition. No chaos at all. Nothing. So, her few remaining options were a relic that amplified magic to this level, or something she wasn’t familiar with.

She shook herself out of her thoughts, and stood up. She needed a break. Just a quick one, a walk, and then she’d return. No one was going anywhere.

“It just doesn’t make any sense!” she mumbled to herself. She unlocked the door and turned to lock it, then turned again, not bothering.

“Why would someone do this?”

The endless silence afforded her no solution, nor anything additional to work with, aside from an unending amount of Time with which to work.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 16 HOURS, 43 MINUTES, 54 SECONDS.

The strain of solitude had truly begun to weigh on Twilight’s mind, and was not by any means lessening on its own. Still, a mare of indomitable fortitude and boundless will had not even shown a crack in her façade at this point. Each moment reminded her why she was doing this, and only redoubled her efforts.

Despite this, Twilight had exhausted every conceivable resource at her disposal. The library’s entire archive had been poured over twice, and not a single drop of additional information could be garnered from books she had already torn through. At this point, Twilight figured that her best efforts were to go about this like any other problem. She needed rest, and to be calm and collected. Go through her daily routine and solve this the same way she would any other puzzle.

She really did need a routine, and tomorrow, she would make one. She moved into her bed, closing the blinds. She almost chuckled to herself, imagining that this is what an “evil-version” of Celestia would have done in an alternate universe. Eternal Morning… sounds like a book title.

She almost thanked the silence that allowed her to retreat to her dreams quickly.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 3 DAYS, 1 HOURS, 7 MINUTES, 37 SECONDS.

Twilight had elected she needed a hobby, something to keep her mind off the world around her, keep her focus where it needed be. So, she began a journal.

If I don’t make it out of this, but they do… she morbidly gave herself the answer. …at least they’ll know what happened to me.

It had taken her longer than expected to actually develop a routine. Perhaps she expected this would all be over on its own. Or perhaps she didn’t want to admit this was the life she was now confined to. Either way…

Wake Up. Eat. Study. Eat. Study. Walk. Sleep. Wake Up. Eat. Study. Eat. Study. Walk. Sleep.

This was all it took. Already, Twilight was feeling more like herself. She even noticed and overlooked a footnote in one of her books, and managed to follow the trail of bread crumbs to her reference section.

Closer… closer, yet closer…

She went to sleep that night a little happier, a little more hopeful…

…a little less quickly.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 6 DAYS, 4 HOURS, 22 MINUTES, 9 SECONDS.

She couldn't teleport. Somehow, for some reason, her teleportation attempts weren't working correctly. It was a miracle she noticed it now.

She idly attempted to teleport a book over to her while following footnotes and references. Not a thing stirred. She didn't notice for quite a moment, until she realized Didn't I just teleport a book over to me? There was no tome on the desk in front of her. She calmly turned around, the book wasn't on the shelf either.

She scanned the room, almost worried. Then she made contact with the new object on the floor.

She screamed. A mangled, shredded lump of ink and paper now sat in her waste bin.

As she cleaned up the mess, her thoughts became quick and flurried.

How did I not think to teleport to until now?

It's almost second nature to me and if I had at any Time attempted to teleport myself anywhere and oh Celestia I almost thought about teleporting home and if I had no no no no no...

She silenced her thought process. It was luck, really. She thanked whatever power had saved her and ensured the picture of the mass the created stayed imprinted in her head until this was all over.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 9 DAYS, 0 HOURS, 4 MINUTES, 7 SECONDS.

Twilight soon found a unintended positive by-product of her predicament. The silence, despite its often dampening nature on the spirit, afforded Twilight the opportunity to read. She randomly pulled an unread tome off her shelves, and sat and read to calm her nerves. Almost instantly, its final page graced Twilight's vision, and she began another.

It wasn't often that Twilight was allowed such a perfect lack of noise. An immaculate silence like this was probably never going to come again, so if she had to be here, perhaps it'd be best if she took whatever advantage she could.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 15 DAYS, 13 HOURS, 46 MINUTES, 17 SECONDS.

Wake Up. Eat. Study. Eat. Study. Walk. Sleep. Wake Up. Eat. Study. Eat. Study. Walk. Sleep.

Wake Up. Eat. Study. Eat. Study…

A fortnight. A full fortnight. Heaven help me…

She had explored a little past the town limits, and found everything else just as it was in the town proper. This confirmed what she already believed from the start. It’s just me… I’m the only one free?

Her trail hadn’t gone cold, thank god for that, her reference section had revealed several books that might contain information she was looking for. Unfortunately, these books were low-print order, meaning the only free copies were at her other library.

In Canterlot.

Of Course. Of Course Of Course Of Course Of Course Of Course Of Course Of Course Of Course! OF COURSE! Why wouldn’t this be as hard as possible?! Twilight groaned, and slammed her head onto the table. She mumbled from her new position.

“Why can’t anything ever be just easy?” she lifted her head, eyes still closed, and breathed an indignant huff. First, sleep. Then, tomorrow, a plan.

Her sleep didn’t come as fast, but came as sharply.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 16 DAYS, 20 HOURS, 3 MINUTES, 1 SECONDS.

Over the course of the past week, she had taken random objects and attempted to teleport them a short distance to and from her house. Never anything organic, of course, just rubber balls, blank journals and the like. Each Time, an identical result. She grew tired of cleaning up the mess.

As far as she could guess, whatever spell was responsible was affecting matter down to the molecular level. The process of teleportation was precise and delicate. The fundamental change to the way matter seemed to move must be hampering the movement from Point A to Point B. What was supposed to be a simple pattern of break-down, move deconstructed matter, re-build, had now been morbidly corrupted. Regardless, Teleportation was not an option to get her to Canterlot.

But could she even make it that far on hoof? She wasn’t actually familiar with the ground routes to and from Canterlot. The train lines were obviously safe to follow, but she could only carry so many supplies. With this odd warping of physics following her around, if she were to be injured, what exactly could she do about internal damage? And she would need to head through at least a few kilometres of tunneled track, and that could be dangerous. If a train had stopped somewhere in the tunnel, it might be difficult to actually make it through.

But Twilight needed to get to Canterlot, it was the closest town that had the tomes she was searching for, and the only place that had a library stocked with potentially other useful information. She could squeeze past the train, regulations provided at least several feet from the tunnel walls to the rail edges, and she was confident her careful nature would reduce the risk of injury to a negligible, manageable number. She had made up her mind even before she deliberated her plan.

She borrowed a small kart from the apple’s farm, and stocked it with medical supplies, food, water, some books, and her logs, now taking up almost half a book. She entertained the thought of actually bringing Spike, but insisted on focus. She figured with a medium consistent pace, only a few stops to sleep, and no detours, she could make the trip in only a few days. Provided the worst-case scenario wasn't at play.

She went to the train station, turned toward Canterlot, and began trotting.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 1 MONTHS, 17 DAYS, 3.5 HOURS, 7 MINUTES, 0 SECONDS.

Her trip to Canterlot had been, eventful. Not on the way there though. She had made good Time toward Canterlot the entire way.

As expected, a train had been en route, but closer to the entrance, so Twilight had little difficulty managing. The tunnels were easy to follow, and she even managed to enjoy herself along the way. It was almost like a road trip.

Once there, she winced at her first sight. The guards, unflinching, were at first reassuring. Upon seeing their vapid expression, Twilight reassessed her first thought. Town square, the museum, even just outside the old library, all the same.

All of Equestria?

She entered her library, unlocked, she noticed. She gazed across the room carefully from the door, just in case. Empty.

She gathered all the books she could, and set them aside. She was tired, as before, and decided she would remain in Canterlot that day, just to get some rest. For what it was worth, she was proud she had journeyed this far, all in the name of her friends. And the nation, at this point.

Sleep came easy that Time, and the next. And the next.

And the next.

The days began to tally, as Twilight, in the middle of exploring the city, vainly hoping to find another lost soul such as herself, realized she had suddenly spent at least a week here. Sleeping, eating whatever she could find, admiring the art, anything to distract herself. She tried a spa. Not the same. She tried a gallery. Not the same. A museum. A garden. A park. Nothing was the same. Her logs slowly filled with the same distorted experiences.

She explored the palace on day nine, and remained in the throne room for several hours. She was moderately displeased, but really, she couldn't be much more as she had always know.

If Celestia had been unaffected, I would have been one of the first she would have gone too. Or she would have been able undo this from the start. This was stupid. I need to stop idealizing and get back to work.

Rather than read and study in the city, Twilight loaded up her cart, placed her new books carefully on the top, and left without another word to any of the frozen denizens of a now-defunct capital.

Halfway down the mountain, an axle snapped in two.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 2 MONTHS, 2 DAYS, 2 HOURS, 2 MINUTES, 2 SECONDS.

Twilight now finally understood her situation. She had been sped up, not vice versa. It had taken a while too, the books she brought were entirely too esoteric for her at a first glance, so she left them to gather dust for a few days as she relaxed after her trip.

She had broken an axle halfway back, and didn't notice until she pulled the two pieces apart after panicking from hearing the snap. She sighed. Any sign of sound in a train tunnel immediately brought a terrifying thought to her mind.
She had set up camp in the dimly lit annex, and settle there for a few hours, as she attempted to fix the splintered wood. Eventually, out of frustration, she teleported the entire chunk across the rails, which ended up fusing the two parts together into a roughly cylindrical piece she could use. Perhaps all was not lost.

Eventually, she was able to crack and understand the meaning of the complex diagrams and strains of new interpretations of physics to get an answer. Someone had increased the speed of her entire form to near superluminal levels. Twilight at first didn’t understand how this was possible for an organic being, and survivability to remain an option afterward, but she had a decent hypothesis.

The increased speed had left the body itself to power the spell. The minute vibrations of her body were comparatively faster than the world around her, so their marked energy increase was plenty enough to keep a spell running. Twilight either had to disrupt the spell’s connection to the body, choking it from its power source, or somehow slow herself down to the point where the spell would dissipate on its own. At this point, it didn’t matter. Twilight had actually figured it out, and just needed to begin testing different interactions to see which solution would work best, and eventually this would all be over. Finally, after this long nightmare, she could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Sleep came easy that night, for the last Time.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 2 MONTHS, 23 DAYS, 3 HOURS, 1 ½ MINUTES, 8 SECONDS.

Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Walk. Sleep. Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Walk. Sleep.

Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Test. Test. Test…

Once again, Twilight woke up to the sounds of silence. The morning looked exactly the same, and, as she assumed, everything had remained the same.

Including her results. Another failure. She checked off the parameters, and tried again. Each Time, she changed intrinsic elements of her efforts. Her wave-form frequency, her energy output, her stance, her position relative to where she was at the hypothesized zero hour, even her goddamn emotions at the Time of the casting. Each Time, it seemed she had the exact same result. Utter and complete failure. She had decided she'd only write in her personal logs the results of every dozen or so. She was running out of space.

Sure, elements of the failure were different, but too subtle to really garner any worthwhile data from. Maybe she could try more drastic changes? Maybe even put a ful—

She stopped. This was beginning to really piss her off. Always, no matter what, she wasn’t even being given enough information to tell what was failing, let alone how to fix it. She couldn’t take this anymore. She snapped. Not today.

“Not now. Not today. Today, I’m taking off. I’m just going to….” She paused.

A little idea had taken root in her mind. Surely... surely she was jesting herself. Yet, it would have its uses. No one would notice, really. She could explain. Absolutely. They would understand. For science, to save the world. Of course.

She peeled out into the street. She remembered the address. It was there, everyday, almost mocking her at this point. She'd show it. A small little abandoned duplex in a lonely square. They were going bring the building down soon, make room for another store, or maybe turn it into a park. Twilight didn't remember the specifics. They didn't matter.

She placed her back two legs slightly off, she dug her front heels into the solid dirt. She looked down at the ground, aimed her horn.

Everything all at once came to her. She summoned up all her anger, her regret, her hatred, her fear. She charged up the most deliberate sense of destruction she could.

For all you've done to me. For all I could've spent this Time doing. For Spike, for my friends, for Celestia...

She boiled over, and let loose the most explosive force of her power she could possibly think of. A massive burst of brimstone, salt, fire, and sulphur. It struck the building rather quickly, and she braced herself for the resulting back-wave of energy. Much as she expected thought, it didn't come.

She opened her eyes slowly, and the picturesque score in front of her, was breathtaking. Beautiful, even. The fire, iridescent in its still form, had torn through the front of the building, and collapsed part of the front façade. The structure had been converted to a work of art. The remaining edges of the building were perfectly capturing the light from the fire at an angle, and the building walls were slightly peeling away from the center. A flower, frozen mid-burst, now struck Twilight's vision with a sense of pride. In that moment, despite everything, Twilight was glimpsing pure beauty of her own creation.

Then, she realized what it had taken to actually create the spectacle in front of her, and she collapsed on the spot, only partly from exhaustion. She sat there, desperately attempting to keep the image in her head, as its affects began to wash away, and the image slowly became a grim reminder of her current state of being. She slowly picked herself off the ground.

She went home. She moved up to her room. Gave a casual glance to Spike in his little bead. Smiled that melancholy smile one gives when at a loved one’s grave.

All for you, Spike. Every little piece, I promise. I will hear you laugh, you cry, you, again.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 4 MONTHS, 2 ¾ DAYS, 0 HOURS, 3 MINUTES, 16 SECONDS.

Twilight had spent the previous weekend as industrious as ever. She targeted “hot-spots” across town. A couple areas relatively free of other ponies so she could reflect on other things without being constantly reminded of her current status. She figured, if she was really in for the long haul, this was needed, and was a little irked at herself for not coming up with it sooner. It was difficult, the town was becoming a derelict shell to her, and only a relatively few spots were empty. In the park, a lone bench facing the mountains laid no view with other ponies.

This weekend, Twilight had been here, still, for almost an hour. She had her eyes closed tight, and her ears perked up. Whenever she did this, and stopped listening to the silence, she could swear, she could hear it. The slight breeze wafting through her mane. The idle chatter of the town’s inhabitants. The creak of the bench beneath her. She could tell. The minute she opened her eyes, the sun’s resplendent rays would allow her to bask in a calm glow. Or the argent moon would reassure her ofTime’s passing. The fillies around town would be playing and flying kites, and Spike, next to her, would be calmly napping, just like before. All would be right with the world. She slowly displace Spike from the bench's seat, and they would head home.

It almost was a shock when Twilight revealed her own lie. Almost.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 4.3 MONTHS, 2 DAYS, 13 ¼ HOURS, 47 MINUTES, 36 SECONDS.

Twilight grabbed Spike and hugged him tightly. Not a stir, but Twilight at this point fully understood. It was up to her to fix this. This wasn’t to go away by itself. She pulled him up to her bed and tucked him in next to her. She curled around him and stayed there.

Then, for the first Time, she cried. Her tears drenched the blanket beneath her. It took too long in this state for her to feel herself drift off.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: █ MONTHS, ██ DAYS, ██ HOURS, █ MINUTES, ██ SECONDS.

And just like that… it was over.

Finally, the grip on Twilight's soul had loosened, and she was free.

Spike woke her up from her bed. She felt herself shudder at his incessant shoving, but eventually, she realized how happy she was to feel his touch again. She bolted upright, and glomped Spike onto the floor. Understandably confused, Spike voiced his objections.

“Hey! Twilight?"

Twilight was too busy squeezing Spike to reply. It's him! It's really him?! I can hear him talk! I can feel his scales ruffle underneath me! My No. 1 assistant, always faithful, back again!

"Uh, I love you too and all, but is this really necessary? I mean, it’s almost like you haven’t seen me in forever!”

She paused. Rather cliche, don't you think? She refrained from saying it. Cliche was good. In fact, she wouldn't rather have it any other way... “You have no idea…” she hugged him tighter. There was a knock at her door. The girls?

She rushed down the hall and through the foyer. The table tipped over. The cactus was shattered on the floor. Her books strew about. A mess had never looked so comforting.

She pulled open the door, and was met with the alabaster eyes of her friends. They smiled at her. She immediately resumed her ardent personality.

“Girls! You’ll never begin to understand what I’ve been through! I could never even begin to explain what happened! Everything was frozen! But not in a icy-cold sense, like in Time and there was this deafening silence that wouldn’t go away and…” she trailed off. Something was wrong.

The girls continued to stare. Smiles that were now menacing began to soften Twilight’s grin. “Girls? Are you al—”

Suddenly it became obvious. No. No. No no no nononononononono. Not again, please anything but this! Five minutes, that all I want. Please just a little Time, let me have them back. PLEASE!

She turned, and Spike stood in the doorway. “Spike! Spike you’re alright!”

Unblinking, and unmoving, a warped vestige of his former self, Spike slammed the door shut. A lock was heard clicking into place, like a nail into a coffin lid.

Twilight banged on the door. “Spike? SPIKE PLEASE LET ME IN! PLEASE!" She slammed harder, desperately trying to recede back into her bunker that had for so long kept her from directly facing the world around her.

She turned again, her friends’ smiles were growing and getting closer, despite their static bodies. Again and again she turned away, only to find the smiles growing in size, sharpening in teeth, almost laughing.

The laughter. It would not stop. It grew louder and louder, Twilight couldn’t bear it. She prayed for the silence back, she prayed to go back to where she had been day before. It was better, it was so much better. They grew closer, opened to swallow her whole. Bared teeth revealed a deep and endless void, one that threatened to snuff out her very being. Remove her from existence herself. Closer and closer, she felt the pull on her mind. She was going insane. She was disappearing. Her reality was unwinding around her.

Finally, she screamed. It carried over out of her dreams.

She woke with a start in her bed, and almost fell out of it. Spike remained on her bed, the morning sun was still in the sky, and her clock, still sat above her bed.

She wept for the second Time.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 5 ¼ MONTHS, 14 DAYS, 3 HOURS, 12 MINUTES, 0.1 SECONDS.

Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Walk. Sleep. Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Walk. Sleep.

Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Test. Test. Test…

Failure. 112 to date. Again. Try again.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 6 MONTHS, √11 DAYS, 2 HOURS, 1 MINUTES, 0.1 SECONDS.

Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Walk. Sleep. Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Walk. Sleep.

Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Test. Test. Test…

Failure. 246 to date. Again. Try again.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 7±0 MONTHS, 18.00 DAYS, √0 HOURS, 11 MINUTES, 37 SECONDS.

Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Walk. Sleep. Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Walk. Sleep.

Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Walk. Cry. Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Walk. Cry

Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Walk. Cry. Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Walk. Cry.

Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Test. TEST. TEST!

FAILURE. 302 to date. Again. Try again. Always again.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 9.1 MONTHS, 14±5 DAYS, 3 ¼ HOURS, 12 MINUTES, 0 SECONDS.

Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Walk. Sleep. Die. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Walk. Sleep.

Wake Up. Test. Cry. Plan. Eat. Test. Walk. Cry. Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Walk. Cry

Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Walk. Cry. Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Cry. Test. Eat. Test. Walk. Cry.

Wake Up. Die. Plan. Eat. Test. Walk. Cry. Test. Test. Test. Eat. Test. Walk. Cry.

Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. Test. TEST. TEST!

FAILURE. 999 to date. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again.

Each step down the stairs had caused Twilight more stress. Each stairs quietness had burned its way into her mind. She wanted a creak, she wanted annoyance, she wanted anything. Anything at all. Each step reminded her how life was like now, and how it would never change.

again.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 1? YEAR, 0 MONTHS, 1 ¼ DAY, 13 HOURS, 2√11 MINUTES, 98 SECONDS.

Twilight had entered into a cautionary relationship with the stairs. They seem nice, even though they continuously give her the cold shoulder.

Her cactus has informed her of how dangerous the outside world can be. She has elected to stay inside for the Time being.

Failure. Failure. FAILURE.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: √1 YEAR, 3±3 MONTHS, 12 DAYS, 1? HOUR, 19 MINUTES, 7.999999999999999 SECONDS.

Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Test. Sleep. Die. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Test. Sleep.

Die. Test. Cry. Plan. Eat. Test. Test. Cry. Wake Up. Die. Plan. Eat. Test. Test. Cry

Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Eat. Test. Test. Cry. Wake Up. Eat. Plan. Cry. Test. Eat. Test. Test. Cry.

Die. Die. Plan. Eat. Test. Test. Cry. Test. Test. Test. Eat. Test. Walk. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 1.7 YEAR, 0 MONTHS, 3 DAY, 1±1 ½ HOUR, 19 MINUTES, 13? SECONDS.

Twilight had a tea party with her cactus. It was nice, a sharp wit on that one.

She is no longer on speaking terms with the stairs. She tried to fix them. She pulled up the boards and desperately dug underneath to find anything that could make noise. Than she nailed new ones down. They won’t talk to her anymore. It doesn’t matter, she has her cactus.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 2±¼ YEARS, 1? MONTH, 14 DAYS, 18 HOUR, 1.9 MINUTES, √2 SECONDS.

Wake Up. Eat. Test. Eat. Test. Test. Sleep. Die. Eat. Test. Eat. Test. Test. Sleep.

Die. Test. Cry. Test. Eat. Test. Test. Cry. Wake Up. Die. Test. Eat. Test. Test. Cry

Wake Up. Eat. Test. Eat. Test. Test. Cry. Wake Up. Eat. Test. Cry. Test. Eat. Test. Test. Cry.

Die. Die. Test. Eat. Test. Test. Cry. Test. Test. Test. Eat. Test. Walk. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry.

Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry. Cry.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 2√2 YEARS, 4½¾ MONTHS, 1.11111111 DAY, 1.111111 HOU, 76 MINUTES, 49? SECONDS.

Her cactus really is an inspiration. Talking everyday has really helped her calm herself. No more book burning, no smashing pots and pans together in an effort to break the silence. Just focus. Keep focusing and everything will work out. Focus on fixing this. Just, focus.

Focus.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 2.52525252525... YEARS, 5 MONTHS, 1?7 DAYS, ¾±¼ HOUR,
MINUTES, SECONDS.

Failure.

<><><><><><><>

ELAPSEDTIME: 2 YEARS, ? MONTHS, ? DAYS, ? HOUR, ? MINUTES, ? SECONDS.

Failure.

<><><><><><><>