Sandbar was walking around the School of Friendship and minding his own business until he hears fast flying in the sky,
"Sandbar!" a male voice said, Sandbar recognized it, it was Gallus, and he flew down to him,
"What is it, Gallus?" Sandbar asked,
"I'm ready to see if I can fly as fast or faster than Rainbow Dash when she does the Sonic Rainboom, I need you to measure how fast I'm going and how long it takes me." Gallus replied,
"Why don't you ask Ocellus to time you?" Sandbar asked,
"She has a class right now." Gallus replied,
"What about Silverstream?" Sandbar asked,
"She's studying in the library." Gallus replied,
"How about Smolder?" Sandbar asked,
"She's having a fire breathing competition with Spike right now." Gallus replied,
"What's Yona doing?" Sandbar asked,
"She's heading to a class right now. You're the only one who's available." Gallus replied, Sandbar thought about it since he had free time,
"Alright, I'll do it, but let's do it somewhere with open space." Sandbar said,
"Thanks, Sandbar, you know, Smolder and I were going to try this together, but she said to go on without her." Gallus replied,
"Well, let's go get a stopwatch and a speedometer." Sandbar said, and they walk together. Sandbar and Gallus went to go see Rainbow Dash and she gave them a stopwatch and a speedometer, she also gave them a megaphone and a harness that will measure how fast Gallus was flying and have it show up on the speedometer,
"Make sure you two return them, okay?" Rainbow Dash asked, the two nod and they leave her classroom. Sandbar leads Gallus to an area with open space in Ponyville and Gallus flew up high into the sky,
"Okay, can you hear me, Gallus?" Sandbar asked with the megaphone,
"Loud and clear." Galllus replied loudly,
"Alright, let's do this." Sandbar said with the megaphone, and Gallus flew down and Sandbar put the harness on Gallus' body, he flew up even higher while Sandbar held the stopwatch in his front left hoof and the megaphone in his front right hoof,
"Ready..." Sandbar said with the megaphone, and Gallus got ready,
"Go!" Sandbar said with the megaphone, and he starts the stopwatch and Gallus began flying. Gallus begins to fly downwards to gain speed,
"Ten seconds, Gallus." Sandbar said with the megaphone, and he continues flying, Gallus keeps flying downwards,
"You're at Mach 1, Gallus, thirteen seconds." Sandbar said, and Gallus keeps going,
"Mach 2, eighteen seconds." Sandbar said, and Gallus keeps flying, confident he will reach Rainbow Dash's speed,
"Twenty seconds." Sandbar said, and Gallus keeps flying,
"Mach 3, twenty five seconds." Sandbar said, Gallus keeps flying downwards and was continuing to gain speed,
"Mach 4, thirty seconds." Sandbar said, Gallus kept flying and smiled as he went faster,
"Forty seconds, Gallus." Sandbar said, and Gallus kept flying while Sandbar watched,
"Mach 5, forty eight seconds." Sandbar said, Gallus kept flying and was gaining speed,
"Mach 6, sixty... whoa!" Sandbar said as Gallus broke the sound barrier and a white cloud shaped like a circle appeared behind Gallus and the force knocked him away, it also messed up Gallus' flying, and he crashed onto the ground.
Gallus groans and he gets up while rubbing his own head with his right wing, he takes the harness off and regains his vision,
"What the?!" Gallus asked with shock, he saw the birds in the sky were frozen in place and not moving, he looks around while scared and sees the trees that were blown back by the cloud that formed behind him were frozen in place as well. Gallus was very scared and thought he was dreaming, he hears Sandbar groaning and he was nearby,
"Sandbar!" Gallus said as he flew to him, he touches his front left leg and back as he checked on him to make sure he was alright, Sandbar looks up while groaning,
"What happened?" Sandbar asked, and he looks up,
"Gallus?" Sandbar asked, and he looks around while he regains his vision, he looks to his right and jumps back in shock when he sees the birds in the sky frozen in place,
"Wh... What's going on?!" Sandbar asked with fear, he looks around and saw everything frozen in place, but he stops and looks at himself frozen in place, he was in the air with the megaphone, stopwatch, and speedometer around him, Sandbar had a facial expression of surprise and fear with his eyes and mouth wide open. Gallus laughed at seeing the frozen Sandbar's face,
"That's how you look when you're scared?" Gallus asked while laughing, which made Sandbar unhappy,
"Yes, but... look, if I'm right here, how am I there?" Sandbar asked, Gallus stopped laughing and saw Sandbar's point,
"I sure hope I don't look like that." Gallus said,
"You're right there, in the sky." Sandbar replied, Gallus looks up and saw himself frozen in place, he was flying downwards while holding his talons out in front of himself and were balled up into fists,
"Now, that would make a pretty cool picture." Gallus said,
"It would, but come on, Gallus, let's take this stuff back." Sandbar replied, and he grabs the megaphone, which was frozen in place and in midair. Sandbar tries to take the megaphone and was grunting with effort,
"What's taking you so long? Hurry up." Gallus said,
"It's stuck." Sandbar replied, Gallus becomes baffled and tries to take the stopwatch, it was stuck in place as well,
"What the? What is this?" Gallus asked, and he continues to try to grab the stopwatch,
"Come on." Gallus said as he tried to take the stopwatch, Sandbar looks to where he fell and saw another megaphone, stopwatch, and speedometer,
"Hey, there's another pair where I fell." Sandbar said, and they go to them, Sandbar touches the megaphone, and to his and Gallus' surprises, he can pick it up and use it, Gallus picks up the stopwatch and speedometer,
"That's weird, we can pick these up." Sandbar said,
"Wait, I took the harness off shortly after I woke up, maybe we can use that, too." Gallus replied, Sandbar runs to it and touches it with his front right hoof and saw it could be moved,
"You're right. What is going on?" Sandbar asked,
"You think we could be dreaming?" Gallus asked,
"No, I mean, you're here, I'm here, and you and I can see the same things, so no, we're probably not dreaming." Sandbar replied, Gallus agreed with Sandbar on that point,
"Come on, let's go back to the school." Sandbar said, Gallus nods, and Sandbar runs while Gallus flies. Sandbar and Gallus go back to Ponyville but stop and look on with shock when they arrived, everybody and everything were frozen in place, Gallus lands beside Sandbar to his right,
"What is going on?" Sandbar asked, Gallus wondered the same thing,
"Well, come on, let's return the stuff." Sandbar said, and the two walk together. Sandbar and Gallus walk through Ponyville while looking around, nothing was moving,
"Say, what did the watch say when I reached Mach 6?" Gallus asked,
"Sixty seconds." Sandbar replied, he looked at the stopwatch and saw it said sixty seconds,
"What about when I crashed?" Gallus asked,
"Seventy seconds, I caught a brief glimpse before I fell." Sandbar replied, Gallus thought about it and was angry because the cloud that formed behind him messed up his flying, he looks and saw Sandbar looked uneasy,
"What's biting you, Sandbar?" Gallus asked,
"I can't shake off the feeling that we're in danger." Sandbar replied,
"You think we're in danger?" Gallus asked,
"Yeah." Sandbar replied,
"Shouldn't some random guy in a red shirt die in front of us to show us how much danger we're in?" Gallus asked,
"That's only in fictional stories, Gallus." Sandbar replied, Gallus chuckles and the two arrive at the School of Friendship. Sandbar and Gallus arrive at the School of Friendship and saw the ponies frozen in place,
"The people here aren't moving, either." Sandbar said,
"Well, come on, let's return the stuff." Gallus replied, and they run to the School of Friendship, but Sandbar hits his face on one of the front doors and falls, he gets up and tries to push the door forward, it did not move, so he went through the open door. Sandbar and Gallus run through the school and saw their professors were frozen in place as well, they enter an open door and enter the class,
"Ocellus!" Sandbar said, he and Gallus run to her, she was sitting in a desk and writing notes down with a smile on her face,
"Ocellus, can you hear me?" Sandbar asked, Ocellus did not respond or move,
"Ocellus, it's us, Sandbar and Gallus." Gallus said, Ocellus still did not speak or move,
"Let's check the others." Gallus said, Sandbar nods and the two run through the school together. Sandbar and Gallus run through the hall and saw Applejack frozen in place, she was trotting and smiling, they keep running and saw another open door, they saw Spike and Smolder in there, they saw Smolder in midair with a scared expression while Spike was looking up with surprise and fear, the two look and see they have burned the top of a ceiling fan and it was about to fall on Spike,
"He'll be fine, Smolder is right there." Gallus said, and the two run together. Gallus leads the way and they see a frozen Yona was trotting to class,
"Yona!" Sandbar said as he runs to her and sees she had an excited expression with her mouth open,
"I wonder what kind of class she's taking to be that excited." Gallus said,
"Probably Fluttershy's class." Sandbar replied,
"Well, let's go, Silverstream's in the library." Gallus said, and they run to the library. Sandbar and Gallus run to the library and saw Silverstream sitting at a table and reading a book with a smile on her face, they look and saw the book was on fireplaces, which made Gallus laugh,
"She has to read a book on what a fireplace is? That is just sad." Gallus said,
"Gallus, I don't think they have those underwater." Sandbar replied,
"Still, that is too funny." Gallus said as he continued to laugh,
"Well, let's go see Headmare Twilight, maybe she cast a spell that allowed her to unfreeze herself." Sandbar replied, and the two go to where she teaches. Sandbar and Gallus arrive at where Twilight Sparkle teaches and she was not there, the two run to her office and saw inside, she was sitting at her desk and smiling,
"Headmare Twilight." Sandbar called out, there was no response,
"Headmare Twilight!" Sandbar said even louder, still no response,
"Oh, this isn't good, even Headmare Twilight's frozen." Sandbar said,
"Anymore suggestions?" Gallus asked,
"Let's go see Starlight Glimmer." Sandbar replied, and they go to her office, they cut through the line and saw her inside speaking to another student, they were both frozen in time,
"No, Starlight Glimmer too." Sandbar said,
"It's hopeless, we're doomed." Gallus said as he sat and put his talons over his face,
"No, there's still a chance, let's go to Fluttershy's cottage." Sandbar replied,
"Fluttershy's cottage? What good will that do?" Gallus asked,
"That's where Discord's at, if anybody knows what to do, it's him, now come on." Sandbar replied, Gallus thought about it and sighed,
"Alright." Gallus said, and the two run there, but they see some kind of mist in the hall, the two stop and they see a red Pegasus stallion come to them, he laughs and his voice echoed while the mist consumed him, Sandbar and Gallus become scared, the pony laughs and his voice echoed throughout the school,
"Run!" Gallus said, and the two ran out of the school scared. Sandbar and Gallus arrive into Ponyville and they stop running and look, Sandbar gasps,
"They moved!" Sandbar said, Gallus looks and saw they did,
"Yeah, but only like a millimeter." Gallus said, they look and see they were still frozen in time, Sandbar becomes curious and checks the stopwatch, he and Gallus saw it has moved forward three seconds,
"Okay, time is moving." Sandbar said,
"Yeah, very slowly." Gallus replied,
"Well, come on, let's go see Discord." Sandbar said, and he runs there while Gallus flies.
Sandbar and Gallus arrive at Fluttershy's cottage and Sandbar knocks on the door with his front right hoof,
"Discord? You there?" Sandbar asked, he knocks again,
"Discord?" Sandbar asked, and he keeps knocking, Gallus grows impatient and moves Sandbar to the side, he bangs on the door with his right talon,
"Open up, Discord! I know you're in there!" Gallus said loudly, Discord appears behind them and the two turn around,
"Oh, for crying out loud, what is it?" Discord asked,
"Yes! I knew you'd be available, we need your help, Discord." Sandbar said,
"With what?" Discord asked,
"Look around you, everything's not moving." Sandbar replied, Discord looks and saw what Sandbar meant,
"Figure out what to do on your own." Discord said,
"What? Oh, come on, Discord, this is an emergency." Sandbar replied,
"Nope, you two are on your own on this." Discord said,
"Oh, thanks a lot, Discord." Gallus replied,
"Can you at least give us a hint on how everything froze in place?" Sandbar asked,
"Oh, for Celestia's sake, it's not that hard to figure out." Discord replied,
"I have no clue on what has happened." Sandbar said,
"Me neither." Gallus said,
"Oh, fine, you two are in the future." Discord replied,
"What else?" Sandbar asked as he was desperate for answers,
"Nope, that's all I'm saying, figure out the rest on your own." Discord replied, and he disappears. Gallus walks forward a little,
"That's it, we're doomed." Gallus said as he sat and covered his face with his talons, Sandbar walked to him and sat next to him to his left,
"No, we're not, Gallus, we just need to figure out what happened, and use Discord's words to piece it together." Sandbar said,
"I already figured it out." Gallus replied,
"What is it, then?" Sandbar asked,
"That cloud that appeared when I reached Mach 6 was a portal to the future, it spread out and you were hit by the shock wave, and got caught in the rift with me, it's not hard to figure that out." Gallus replied,
"Okay, now maybe, just maybe, if you reach that speed, you will make another rift open, and it could send us back into the present." Sandbar said,
"No, that's going to send us even farther into the future or do nothing, plus, time is moving, just slowly, so it'll catch up to us eventually." Gallus replied, Sandbar had an idea suddenly come into his head,
"Wait, that portal was only in the woods area, right?" Sandbar asked,
"Yeah, why?" Gallus asked,
"What if only Ponyville is frozen in place? And the other places are still moving?" Sandbar asked, Gallus thought about it as well,
"Let's give it a try, I'll fly and hold you up, you try to call someone with the megaphone." Gallus said, and the two work together. Gallus flies up while holding Sandbar with his talons, and Sandbar held the megaphone in his front left hoof, the two look around and saw all of Equestria and the other countries were frozen in place as well, much to their shocks, but Sandbar still decided to try,
"Hello, can anycreature hear me?" Sandbar asked through the megaphone, there was no response,
"Hello?" Sandbar asked through the megaphone, still silent,
"Anycreature?!" Sandbar asked through the megaphone, it was still quiet, Gallus rolls his eyes and just flies up higher, the two see nocreature moving,
"I guess we are the only ones." Gallus said, Sandbar looks at the stopwatch,
"What's it say?" Gallus asked,
"Sixty five seconds." Sandbar replied, Gallus was speechless for a minute,
"What do we do now?" Sandbar asked,
"I'm thinking." Gallus replied, and he thinks a little more,
"Let's go check on our friends, and watch out for that guy." Gallus said, and he flies back to the school while holding Sandbar. Sandbar and Gallus arrive back at the School of Friendship and went to go check on Ocellus, she was still taking notes and had a smile on her face, they go check on Silverstream next since she was the closest, she was still reading a book on fireplaces, they then go check on Yona and saw she was still heading to class, they go to check on Smolder last and Sandbar becomes shocked when they see the ceiling fan down even farther,
"The ceiling fan's going to fall on Smolder!" Sandbar said,
"Oh, come on, Sandbar, relax, her scales are going to protect her." Gallus replied,
"But look, the ceiling fan's going to land on the center of her back, Smolder is going to have back pain for days." Sandbar said, Gallus looks and saw Sandbar was right,
"Maybe we can find a way to protect her from getting hurt." Sandbar said,
"Yeah, stand on her back and let the fan fall on you instead." Gallus replied,
"Gallus, this is serious, Smolder is our friend, we should find a way to keep her from getting hurt." Sandbar said,
"How? Everything's frozen in place." Gallus replied, Sandbar remembers the things he had with him and Gallus' harness could still be moved,
"How about those things we came here with? Maybe we can use the harness for something." Sandbar said, Gallus thought about it,
"Well, it could work, let's go get it." Gallus replied, and the two turn around but stop when they saw mist in front of them and the Pegasus again, he begins to approach them while the two back away in fear, he saw Spike and Smolder and became scared, the two look back and saw the stallion was scared of dragons, he ran away shortly afterwards,
"What was that about?" Gallus asked,
"Who knows." Sandbar replied, and the two look at Smolder and see the ceiling fan was going to hit her soon,
"There's got to be a way to stop this from breaking her back." Sandbar said,
"Aren't you going to stand on her back and let the fan fall on you instead?" Gallus asked,
"No, Gallus, I told you, I got it, we're going to need your harness." Sandbar said,
"What about it?" Gallus asked,
"It has adjustable straps, maybe we can tie it and prevent Smolder from getting crushed." Sandbar replied,
"Oh, alright, let's go, then." Gallus said, and they head outside. Sandbar and Gallus look and see the ponies have moved again, Sandbar checks the stopwatch,
"What's it say?" Gallus asked,
"Sixty seven seconds." Sandbar replied, and the two hurry back. Sandbar and Gallus go to where they were at when they were transported into the future and find the harness, Sandbar and Gallus remove the straps and quickly head back, they go back to the school and back to where Smolder and Spike were at, Sandbar ties the straps around the ceiling fan while Gallus ties the straps around the broken piece on the ceiling, the two tighten the straps,
"Okay, Smolder should be safe now." Sandbar said,
"But how do we get out of this situation?" Gallus asked,
"I don't know, but I think that Pegasus has the answers." Sandbar replied,
"Well, what are waiting for? Let's call him." Gallus said, and the two step out of the room. Gallus hits the walls with his wings and they see the Pegasus come again, he smiles and tries to grab Sandbar, but Gallus flies up while holding Sandbar and the pony sees Smolder and Spike, he exclaims with fear while Gallus lands behind him and lets go of Sandbar, who stood to his left,
"Talk! Tell us who and what you are or I'll shove you into that room." Gallus said,
"No, don't!" the Pegasus said while he turned around and faced the two,
"Answer me! Or I'll lock you in there." Gallus said, Sandbar looks at Gallus with shock,
"I... I can't talk with those dragons behind me." the Pegasus replied,
"Then don't turn around, who are you?" Gallus asked,
"My... my name is Limbo, I... I got trapped here... when I was trying to escape from dragons who were chasing me." the Pegasus replied,
"Chase?" Sandbar asked,
"I had valuables and jewelry I was going to bring home to my daughter as birthday gifts, but those dragons saw them and they flew after me, I... flew... as fast as I could,... and that is how... I ended up here." Limbo replied, Sandbar was shocked and sympathetic while Gallus was not,
"What do you want from us?" Gallus asked,
"I was trying to replace one of you two so I could go back, go back to the present, and escape this lifeless place, this black void of nothingness, and go back to my daughter." Limbo replied, Sandbar was thinking about calling Discord to help him,
"How do we go back to the present?" Gallus asked,
"When the times realign, you must be in the exact same spot where you were when you entered the rift, I missed my chance to go back, if you miss your chance, you will end up like me." Limbo replied, Sandbar and Gallus were very uncomfortable,
"There is more, you must wear what you wore when you entered the rift, and the objects you brought must be in the same spot as it was when it came, or you will still end up stuck here." Limbo said, Sandbar and Gallus were listening,
"How slow is the time in this place?" Sandbar asked,
"One hour in this void is one second in the real world." Limbo replied, Sandbar looks at the stopwatch and saw it was at sixty nine seconds,
"Well, wait a bit, Limbo, I'm going to call for Discord to try to help you." Sandbar said,
"Thank you, you two should go back, or you will end up stuck here." Limbo replied, and he leaves,
"Let's go." Gallus said, and he and Sandbar run to Fluttershy's cottage. Sandbar knocks on the door to Fluttershy's cottage again,
"Discord! I found somebody who needs your help." Sandbar said, Discord appears,
"My help, you say?" Discord asked,
"Yeah, his name is Limbo, he's at the School of Friendship, he's trapped here." Sandbar replied,
"What does that have to do with me?" Discord asked,
"How would you like it if you were trapped here without your friends?" Gallus asked,
"Yeah, being trapped here would mean no Fluttershy for you ever again." Sandbar said, Discord felt a chord struck,
"My, I would not like that at all." Discord said,
"See, that's how Limbo feels, now please, help him." Sandbar said, Discord was silent and just disappeared,
"There, it's done, now come on, let's go back." Gallus said, and they run back to where they were at when they entered the rift. Sandbar and Gallus arrive back at where they entered the rift and saw their frozen selves were just about to be in the areas they were at when they went through the rift, Gallus suddenly hugs Sandbar,
"What are you doing?" Sandbar asked,
"This is just in case my harness having the straps removed makes me stuck here." Gallus replied, Sandbar realized what he was doing and hugs him back, the two let go and they run to where they were at when they went through the rift, Gallus puts the harness back on while Sandbar places the stopwatch, speedometer, and megaphone where they fell and the two lay down in the exact same spot they were at when they went through the rift.
Gallus was flying down and Sandbar was timing him and calculating his speed, the cloud appears again and Sandbar was knocked back while Gallus crashed. Gallus comes to his senses and stands up, he takes the strapless harness off and sees Sandbar on the ground, he flies to him,
"Sandbar. Sandbar!" Gallus said as he shook him, Sandbar groans and wakes up, he comes to his senses and sees Gallus,
"Let's go." Gallus said, Sandbar nods and the two get the harness, the stopwatch, the speedometer, and the megaphone, and run to Ponyville. Sandbar and Gallus arrive into Ponyville and saw everything was moving at regular speed,
"We're back! We're back!" Gallus said happily, and he and Sandbar cheer with joy and hug one another,
"Let's go see Smolder." Sandbar said, and they go to the School of Friendship. Sandbar and Gallus return the things back to Rainbow Dash while they went to go see Smolder,
"What happened to the straps?" Rainbow Dash asked,
"Oh, um, you see, I had them on loose, and they flew off when I began flying really fast." Gallus replied,
"Oh, you gotta tighten them more, make sure you check next time." Rainbow Dash said, Gallus nods and he and Sandbar leave, they go to the room Smolder and Spike were in and saw the ceiling fan was hanging by the straps, and Spike and Smolder were alright. Sandbar and Gallus cheer and fist bump one another, Sandbar used his front left hoof while Gallus used his right talon,
"We did it!" Sandbar said, Smolder and Spike look at them with confusion and Smolder shrugs. Classes begin and it was lunchtime after a few hours, Sandbar and Gallus meet up and head outside, they hear flying and to their surprises, they saw Limbo in the sky,
"Yes! I knew Discord would help." Sandbar said, Limbo sees them and he waved at them with his front left hoof and smiled, the two waved back, Sandbar waved with his front right hoof while Gallus waved with his left wing, the two smiled back and Limbo flew away. Sandbar and Gallus walk together and see the table they were heading to, they saw Ocellus, Smolder, Yona, and Silverstream were there, they were waiting for them, they see them and smile,
"Well, this is going to be a strange tale." Sandbar said,
"Yeah, nobody's gonna believe us, either." Gallus replied,
"So, um, how do we explain what happened to the girls?" Sandbar asked, Gallus thought about it for a second,
"Nah, let's keep it just between the two of us." Gallus replied, Sandbar smiled with agreement, and the two walk over to have lunch with them, feeling their bond was stronger now than it was before.
