When the clock refuses to tick

by Draconequues

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Mystery, Adventure, Science Fiction, Alternate Universe
Length: 14566

What would you do if you found yourself frozen in time?

Time isn't a toy. Twinkle discovers it herself by using it to try and fight a "curse". Don't mess with time or it will mess with you.

Special thanks to my friend Hand Grade. He is a Russian writer who made that cover.

Published 2021-03-20 14:40:00 UTC
Last updated 2021-04-11 13:04:42 UTC

Chapter one: Everything good someTIMEs ENDs.

Ponyville, the town where it all begins.
How funny is it?
I was in a few worlds after all!
But this place.
It is somehow magical.
Like something that works as a catalyst, which inspires everycreature!
Fascinating!

Ponyville. Evening. Everypony either asleep or watching TV. Yes, TV. Our hero isn’t an exception. But unlike others, she had a job to attend to in the morning. Instead of doing her job she had to do at home, she watches the latest hit of that season.

Equestria’s most talented. A Show that was created by gorgeous and famous Rarity. With a little help from Princess Twilight Sparkle, she was able to “make my dream come true!” as she said herself on the day of the premiere, a week or so ago. Since then, the show has been a huge success. Ponies from all over Equestria were trying to get a place in it, as they had a chance to get their “wish come true” and meet Rarity and the Princess herself. The heck! Even creatures from beyond Equestria were trying to get in... I heard even Discord wanted to participate… sadly... he was denied due to the impossibility of making his dream come true.

Let’s get back to Twinkle. She is watching the ending of the show, where a little filly gets her “wish come true.” All the filly wanted was the help to find her real parents. Luckily for her, the show would make her wish real even if she didn’t win. As the wish already came true, the princess gifted that little filly a little neckless and whispered something into her ear.

After “Equestria’s most talented” was “Flim and Flam’s school of money.”

Twinkle turned the TV off and just sat there on the shabby couch, thinking about the show. She was jealous of that little filly. “She got a chance one in a billion, and her parents were all that she wanted?!” Twinkle was green of jealousy, not literally, she still was a pink pony. “If I was in her place, I could’ve asked for my curse to be lifted! Hmm... maybe I should give it a try?”

The curse, she mentioned, wasn’t an actual curse. But her mother made her believe it is. She called it “The Curse Of Laziness.” It was her mom's reason not to do extra work. And because of her mother, the same happened to her daughter. However, unlike her mom, Twinkle had a job and wasn’t relying on anyone.

“I was able to fight the curse!” She once said to her mother. The mother didn’t react to it at all and just continued watching TV. That and other similar events led Twinkle to abandon her desperate attempts of fighting.

But this time there was something different. This time a powerful emotion was controlling her. Jealousy. “What If I really win this? Maybe, mom finally will be happy?” You see, Jealousy one of the strongest emotions in Twinkle’s heart. She always wanted stuff other fillies had, but it wasn't possible with only one working parent, who had a job in a coffee shop. Her poor father wasn’t happy with it, but it was all their family had.

In the past, her hope was the reason she was fighting. Her childhood, where she hoped to warm her mom’s heart by drawing. As she grew older, she was getting more and more under the effect of the “curse.” After finishing first grade, she put all the force and hope she had left against that curse, and it led her to get into “the school for talented unicorns.”

She wasn’t great there. Due to her laziness, she was on the edge of failing. The only thing that helped her was her newly discovered abilities, which came along with her cutie mark “Clock in the telekinetic field.” It was funny, as she was bad at telekinesis.

Those newly acquired powers led to an enormous increase in her grades. Because she had much more time to sleep and study, but mostly due to cheating. No one ever suspected her.

Why was she unnoticed, you ask? She never told anyone about that power, and no one asked her about her cutie mark. She learned not to tell anyone in her childhood when she heard her dad reading a newspaper about three “time-terrorists”, who also had powers similar to Twinkle’s and were exploiting them to harm and gain. He expressed personal hatred towards them and even threatened to kill if he saw one. Because of that, Twinkle understood she should keep her mouth shut.

And like that, she was able to become one of the most outstanding graduates of the school. It forced her to lie a lot at the graduation; she had to explain what her cutie mark represents and how she got it. The hardest to explain was how she suddenly became the fastest in the P.E.

After graduating she had good recommendations, and very soon, she got a job in a good company with a high pay rate. However, it hasn't affected her mother much, she only began asking her for money. Like that, Twinkle decided to leave her childhood home.

And time went by; a year or so. And here we are. She is thinking about yet another attempt to “break” her curse. She doesn't know why she is trying. She has all she needs and all she wants. Maybe she is doing it for her mother? Maybe she is doing it for her father? Maybe she is just tired of that life? No one knows.

The night goes by, and she sleeps on her plans. Few tricks and ideas to show off. And still, she is frightened to reveal her power, but she had some ideas about how to show her abilities without essentially showing them.

A half-written letter about herself and what she will do on the show and why they should choose her was laying near her head. The letter was mostly true, somewhere a bit of a lie. And of course, she wrote about her curse. She was certain that with all of her abilities and her past she will get a place. She also stated something about “Trick that no one ever saw before. The trick that will “blow up the hall”, ” Of course, she didn’t mean it literally. Still, it was far away from being official.

Time quickly flew past her, and it already was morning. The worst time to wake up for Twinkle. Why is it the worst, you ask?? The train, she wanted to take, will leave Ponyville in an hour. And she neither packed things nor did she inform her colleagues. And time was going fast this morning, though it wasn’t a problem for her.

With her eyes opened. Her heart beating. Her bladder - full. And her horn shining, she slowed down the time around her. Not much. To somewhere a quarter of its normal speed. For the surrounding world, she just was four times faster than before.

Even if it was useful, it was a hell of dangerous. With this sudden speed, just reading books could light them on fire, by simply turning over the pages. It also was harder to breathe, cast spells, and even go to the toilet! After something stops touching her body, its time flow synchronizes with the world, and simply retouching stuff doesn’t help. She still wasn’t able to figure out how those abilities work. Even basic spells like telekinesis or heating weren't working at all. Weirdly, teleporting still was working perfectly, it just was harder to cast it.

And like that, in a few minutes, she left her house with a letter and packed saddle-bags. Most of the stuff she took looked like garbage: rope, duct tape, plastic dishes, changeling costume (from past Halloween), a costume of Banana (I have no idea), magnet, metal wire, empty book, water bottle, lighter, and a chisel. Most of that stuff was meant for the show. Some just for fun. And some just were there for no reason.

Her walk, accelerated by a time spell, was looking weird. Although no one ever noticed it before. It's always weird. I know everyone is busy, but not to notice that picture? Something fishy was going with that town. As I said, “no one ever noticed.”

Her first stop was a postal office. The only way the letter would be on time was the magical fire. As Twinkle's time abilities, only a small number of unicorns wielded that magic, although there was a cheaper way: to enchant fire animals like dragons or phoenixes, which gave them similar abilities.

Twinkle quickly paid and was about to run away, when she heard a scream of a postal pony. It turned out that she forgot to mention the receiver. She scribbled something on the paper, and a badly written, unfinished letter was sent.

The scenery was moving around Twinkle as she was running. Her moment was faster than most pegasi. I bet, if she began sprinting, she could break the sound barrier... Well, in a normal situation, I am unsure how it will work with those time-thingies.

As Twinkle entered the building, she used a spell to normalize time. And… rapidly ran to the toilet, where she almost struck into another pony.

"Sorry,” Twinkle muttered. Other pony didn’t answer, but her eyes glanced with a greenish light, as she smirked and left Twinkle.

Sometime later, Twinkle was on the second floor. Packing some other things that she might need on stage.

A little bit later. She had to interrupt a meeting her colleagues were having. They were discussing something about “Someone is stealing food” and “How we raise our productivity.”

"Hmm. Hello everyone? Did I miss something?” she asked, as she opened a door into the conference room. She interrupted a pony in the middle of the presentation and everyone who was there looked at her. Whispers were coming from all around the room. Twinkle stood there for a few seconds and decided to break that awkward “silence.”

Her boss, a pure-blooded griffon, made it sooner. “Look who decided to show up! Hey, Twinks, we have a present for you,” he said and looked at a familiar face whom Twinkle met earlier. That familiar face was awkwardly sitting at the distance from everyone. “We got a “recruit” and it was decided that she will be tied to you,” not literally tied, of course.

"Wha? When was it decided?! Do I look like a teacher to you? I don't even know how to explain basic magic field theory!” complained a purple unicorn. For Twinkle, it was quite an unpleasant surprise. Especially if she had to stay here instead of going with her plans.

"When? At the beginning of this meeting. You should've shown here earlier. Just teach her how to do her job, she will explain,” he rudely exclaimed. He was pretty aggressive about it. But you also should know that since Twinkle began working here, she missed half of everything that griffon organized. And he tried hard, to befriend everyone.

He was one of a few griffons left in Equestria. After the great war, Equestria mired in hatred towards most of the winged creatures beyond it. Even these days, Twilight is trying to fix relations between Equestria and abroad.

Twinkle wanted to open her mouth and shout a few things back, but it didn’t take the smartest pony to realize that it isn't the best idea to yell at your boss, especially when he is correct.

Yet, she had gotten an idea, “ok… but I have a single request. We, I and she will be gone from here. I have a brilliant idea of how to teach her."

"Ok… but didn’t you just say, that you don’t know how to teach?” Embarrassingly, Twinkle had to admit he was right. She didn't throw her plans away.

"Everyone has to start somewhere... Therefore, I will be taking her,” whispers stopped. Little mare on the other side of the room wasn’t feeling comfortable at all. She looked scared and confused.

“I can’t argue with the “best magician”, can I? Ter, was it? You’re allowed to go with Twinkle, count it as your internship. We still need to value your abilities and how you work in a team. And if she,” he threw an aggressive look at Twinkle, “won’t be doing her work, that is teaching you, come here and inform me about it…”

“What about you,” again he looked at Twinkle, “I will be waiting for an accurate report on our new trainee in a week. I expect you to do more than barely show her spells. And if you will be late to work ever again, you will lose your privilege of free coffee and your cooler!” After his last words whispers started flying through the office again. No one knew, that she had her own cooler and free coffee.

Twinkle nodded her head. She took her new “trainee” with her from the office. At that time, the train that she was supposed to take would leave in twenty minutes.

“Hey. I am sorry for my reaction when we met earlier. I… I'm new here, I don’t know much about friendship and stuff. That is why I accepted that job! It can teach much about magic. And this is Ponyville, the capital of friendship!

“I also heard much about you, that you are an exemplary unicorn and have incredible abilities. I want to learn a lot from you! And also, I need it as soon as possible…” was her first words to Twinkle. Many revelations, lies, and hopes.

“Oh, yeah, Ponyville, right! There is a thing… right now I am going to participate in the game show in another city. Nice to meet you… Ter? Weird name,” right immediately, Twinkle dashed off Ter’s hopes. Friendship wasn’t the only reason why Ter came to Ponyville.

Ter stopped and looked at Twinkle with a weird grimace. “What do you mean? Didn’t you just say that you were going to teach me? And what is it all about? Are you skipping your work because of a game show? Then why did you impudently lie to your boss?” Questions flew from her mouth as parasprites towards the food.

“Didn’t you just lie to me?” Twinkle baffled her, ” lier sees lies. Still, it would be an excellent experience for you, as you will see my magic in action! Not that I am great, but still. Oh, and yes, I am skipping work for a game show; for that, I have my own reasons. I just want to say, that you don’t have to lie to me, I will keep your secrets, ” how ironic those words were. She keeps her secret, that “no one” knows about, because she is scared of the aftermath, yet, she tells Ter, that she can share her secret…

They both went quiet. It wasn’t a pleasant note to begin a friendship or any relations. It wasn’t the end of weirdness either. There also was much information they should’ve shared, but the tension they created wasn’t letting them talk. They will be learning friendship the hard way as most of us do.

After a fourteen-minute trot, they were at the train station, where the “Friendship Express” was ready to take all the passengers to Canterlot. Our duo, of course, didn’t have tickets. And there it was, their first challenge, the crowd. It was so dense, that it was impossible to go through without touching someone.

Silently, they both took each other’s hoof and started pushing towards the ticket booth. And they only had around five minutes, so Twinkle was pushing and pulling as fast and as hard as she could, trying to speed things up. It led to them separating and losing each other.

“Great! It is the first day, and I already lost my trainee… At least I can use it as an opportunity to “speed things up”,” she quickly cast her spell, which uncovered a more straightforward way. Luckily, she had more than enough money to afford not only the tickets but half of the train.

After a “sudden speed up” and purchase of the tickets, she sped herself even more which allowed her to, literally walk above the crowd (heads of unfortunate souls trapped in it). It wasn’t that bad, due to time magic, it was only a fragment of her weight. However, it was pretty impolite.

After some searching, she finally found the crying dark green body lying in the middle of the crowd. It was hard to spot her on the ground with her body color, but her blueish mane caught Twinkle’s eyes.

Twinkle quickly found a way to get back on the ground and synced time. After, she screamed as loud as she could, “HEY! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU ALL?! THERE IS A LITTLE MARE LAYING ON THE GROUND CRYING AND YOU ALL JUST WALKING AROUND HER? WHAT HAVE HAPPENED TO PONYVILLE’S FAMOUS FRIENDSHIP?!” It was enough to space. She helped her crying friend to get up and they both sat on the train.

The beginning of their ride was quiet and smooth, they were sitting silently. It was uncomfortable for both of them. Weirdly, the entire train was quiet, only wheels were striking. The feeling of inner peace.

Until Ter decided to break it. “Thank you… I thought that I was going to be trampled. Thank you a lot… but how did you find me so quickly?” This was her attempt to melt the ice between them. The ice, that wasn’t just between them, the ice, that wasn’t created by them. The ice that was there for centuries.

“Well… It’s okay. I couldn’t lose my trainee on the first day,” Twinkle awkwardly laughed. A joke from the person, who doesn’t know how to make anyone laugh. “I found you, because of your mane. The rest of your body was almost invisible on the ground. With your body and mane color, you remind me something...” Twinkle started to suspect something.

Ter didn’t give Twinkle time to think. “HEY! I forgot to ask, where are we going and what is that show?” Ter tried to interrupt her thinking.

“Ah? Oh yeah, I forgot about it… I want to take part in Equestria’s most talented.”

Ter again interrupted her, but this time it was hissing.

“Okay… that was weird, please don’t do that…” Twinkle asked her.

“Ahh… Sorry… I don’t know what that was?!” she lied again, “so… where are we going? I am unfamiliar with that show…” It was very unlucky for her.

The next thing Twinkle said, made Ter's heart stop, “Huh, weird. I thought all Equestria watched it…I think it is located in the high mountain district. I never was there before, but I heard that it is so fancy, that even stray dogs are wearing tuxedos!” It wasn't true though. There weren't stray dogs at all; It was all due to the project started by Fluttershy a long time ago, and even today, her relatives are continuing her legacy.

"Wait… mountain? Please don’t tell me that we are going to Canterlot… please…” with terror her words escaped her mouth. It was obvious, she was somehow terrified of capital.

"Ahm… yes? It is Canterlot… what is wrong with it? I heard that ponies can be mean there, but that isn't the reason to be scared of the capital,” Twinkle’s suspicion grew. It should've time ago, yet, it didn't, as Twinkle knew some secrets should stay secret.

"I am doomed… we're doomed… the last hope of this goddamn continent is doomed… she was right… I was so stupid… you killed us all!” Ter rapidly raised her suspicion and level of creepiness. She had her reasons. It wasn't Twinkle's fault at all.

"Whoa… what? What are you talking about?! I might doesn't know what is going to happen, neither does anypony in Equestria except you, that is if you are a pony, but Canterlot is the safest place in the world. There are three princesses, who can exterminate anything or protect anyone…” she stopped to think for a moment, ” even one of them can create a protective bubble that can withstand the power of darkness, thousand dragons, or even chaos itself!"

That wasn't enough to convince Ter. She still had too many doubts. “What if they can't?! What if there is something so powerful that can overcome their abilities?!"

"First of all, if I correctly understood you and everything about you, you aren't a pony,” Ter twitched. The sign of horror could be seen on her face,” don't worry. I won't tell anyone about it, I know how it is, to keep something secret from everyone around you… and to achieve your trust, let me share my secret with you,” she stood up and asked Ter to follow her.

Twinkle led Ter to the end of the train. She didn't want anyone else to find out. Ter still was scared. Her secret was out, at least one pony knew she was a changeling.

"Okay, listen. Don't tell anyone what you will witness. And don't worry about your secret, it is safe with me,” she stopped at the end of the last wagon. Her horn lightened up, she tensed up. And… her horn blinked four times.

She jumped out of the wagon, picked up the rock, and jumped back (She had to use her hooves and teeth to do so.). She did it a few more times until there were enough rocks. She used those rocks to build a little figure. After, she ran through the wagons and found a roll of duct tape, and used it to fix rocks together. When she finished, she sat in the corner of the last wagon and charged her horn again.

Time began flowing naturally, as Twinkle started feeling agonizing pain and dehydration… “Phew… I hope it was worth it…"

"What… how did you?! You did it in less than five seconds?! HOW?!” questioned Ter, who already forgot about her secret.

"I will tell you, but can you bring me water first?” The pain and the thirst after normalizing time was the main reason, she didn’t slow the time so much.

"Here,” Ter gave her some water, “so… What the hay was that?! You literally did this in five or so seconds! ” You can imagine what you would do if you saw such a thing happen? What would you think about it? It would be quite a shock.

"I… I slowed down the time… to somewhere close eight to nine percent of its normal flow. And it wasn't the best idea, but I had somehow to make you trust me. Probably, it was the only time I did such a thing,” responded half-dead Twinkle. Time isn’t a toy, after all, don’t mess with it.

“You just did what?! You can casually do this, and no one will notice it? How is it working and how it affects you?!” Ter continued peppering her with questions.

“Not so scared of something anymore?” Ter froze, “Don’t worry. If something will happen and princesses won’t be able to stop it, I think, I will save you… with the right spells and correct timing I can probably save the whole Equestria, ” Twinkle boasted. She knew that it probably was a lie, a lie that she told to herself and Ter.

“How can you tell how many you can save from something when you don’t even know what that something is!” She Puzzled Twinkle because she wasn’t expecting an answer, she was awaiting praise.

“Well… It was a bold assumption. I didn’t count a lot of factors, like breathing or what is going to happen itself…” Twinkle’s stomach growled, ” You know what? I am hungry. Let’s talk about it while we are eating.”

“Wait… we are on an hour ride… You ponies are weird,” joked Ter. After her word Twinkle smirked.

She smirked because it melted a bit of ice between them. Ter told her a joke. They both exchanged secrets and weren’t going to uncover them. And despite both knowing that something was about to happen, they were going to eat; Eat with the sworn enemy of your species.

“You're going to eat all of that?!” surprisingly asked Ter, “There are at least five kilograms of food!”

“Well… I just ran through something like a marathon in five seconds. You can imagine how hungry I am?” Twinkle began eating. Hayburgers. Salads. Omelet. Fried carrot. Boiled cabbage. Bread.

Ter on the other hoove was chewing plain old salad leaves. A plate of them to be exact. “So, your body consumes more energy while you are… doing your thing,” Ter wrote down something in a little notepad.

Twinkle grimaced, “Not exactly. It is more or less the same. But I had to grab every rock manually with my mouth or hooves. And I don’t know why, but most of the spells aren’t working in that state and I am too lazy to research it.” Ter again wrote something.

Hmm… Sounds interesting. Can you tell me more about it? How does your time slowing thing work? Can you stop the time completely and how hard is this ability to be mastered by a unicorn?” she again began peppering her with questions, this time in the name of science!

“Shhh!” Twinkle looked around and continued in a whisper, “This is the thing about this ability. It is unique. In my whole life, I only heard about three other Time-mages and they used their abilities for bad! Don’t tell anyone about it! What about your other questions,” she continued normally, “I don’t know much about my abilities, and as I said before, I am too lazy to research it,” Ter’s face saddened, “However! I can tell you a bit of stuff I know.”

Twinkle continued eating. Ter sat there waiting for her answers, but all she got was an awkward pause. “Well? Tell me about them!” she demanded.

Twinkle choked, “Wait, you want them right now? I am eating… Ok... Let me just quickly write them in your notebook,” and without Ter’s permission, she levitated the notebook to herself and cast a spell. Then, she continued eating her cake.

At first, Ter was shocked by such impudency. Then she looked inside of her notebook. There, she found a crooked, ugly, rough list written with a bad hoof-writing.

“It is… informative. But can you please,” she was trying to hold her anger,"~please don't do that? Your writing is so wrong and… not beautiful,” she looked at Twinkle. She already finished all of her food and was clearing her mouth with a napkin, “Wha...When did you finish it?! It was less than five minutes in total!"

"Five?! No eve close to my record,” a sad grimace appeared on Twinkle's face. Ter wasn't happy with that, “Don't worry, I am joking about it."

"I will believe you. But please, don't eat that much food. If you are really planning on saving us, I think you would want to slow the time and not have a heart attack."

"Haha, now we're talking! Thanks for worrying thou. I hope I won't have one,” appreciated Twinkle. The ice between them was becoming thinner and thinner.

"Ok. If you don't mind, I want to ask you a few more questions about those abilities. I am not a great spellcrafter, but I might be able to do something,” proposed Ter. The face of the pink unicorn lightened up as she started shaking it in agreement.

After a painful (for Twinkle) half an hour, they finally arrived at Canterlot. Twinkle was so glad about it, as she was tired after tons and tons of questions. Ter, in her turn, wasn’t happy, so she continued her inquiry all the way until they booked into the Hotel and entered their rooms. Luckily, the hotel wasn’t far away from the train station.

Twinkle put her bags on the floor near the door and jumped onto her bed. Ter however, decided to flip on the light and order her things on the table. After, she sat on the other bed.

“What about…” Tried to continue her “Interview”, when she was cut off before she could complete her question.

“No! Not now! I need to lay down for a minute, and then check on something with the show… you can accompany me or do whatever you want. I will need you on the show!” said Twinkle with an exhausted voice and constant yawning.

“Hmm. I guess I will accompany you, as I literally don't know much about ponies. And the things that they were teaching us in the hive aren't truthful. Plus I need fresh air and time to think about your spell… And also, can you write it for me?” she levitated a piece of paper to her. She didn’t want her notebook to be ruined… again.

“Yeah, sure! But why do you need it? You won’t be able to use it anyway, probably. I tried giving this spell to other unicorns, but no one was able to cast it,” Twinkle used another spell on the paper. A combination of symbols appeared on it. For the ordinary eye, this combination was gibberish, however, with the use of a special spell, that set of characters made much more sense. However, advanced spellcrafters don’t need that spell, as they can easily imagine the representation of those symbols.

“It looks really, really weird… but I think I can work with it. By the way, how did you find out about this combination? ” wondered Ter. From her young age, she loved reading ponies books, even if it was illegal in the hive. Lucky for her, she had a friend who was able to provide her with them.

Later that friend was imprisoned due to his “infidelity”. He was searching around the hive and discovered something that he should not. He still awaits his execution.

Imprisonment of her friend was the final push that made Ter go out of the hive and seek help from an unknown danger that her friend told her about.

“Well, I created it… it mostly was an accident. I was in shock. And when someone touched me, somehow I cast it. Which was right on time, because those who touched me were bullies. I was able to run away because of this spell,” opened Twinkle.

“So, ok. We need to go, I have a bad feeling that something could've gone wrong with my application… maybe it's because I sent it in the last second?” nervously laughed Twinkle.

“Really? So we're here, in danger, and you don't even know if all of it has meaning?” Convicted Ter.

“What?! It was a spontaneous decision! A day ago I didn't have an idea I would be here! ” Tried to justify herself Twinkle.

Ter wasn't impressed, “Let's just go then… I don't want to die for nothing, ” she was annoyed.

They both got up and left the hotel. It wasn’t far away from the higher mountain district, but the crowded and tangled streets made it almost impossible to find a way there. It literally was built as a trap (for a tourist).

It took them a while, and eventually, they managed to find the way.

“Thank god that I decided to stay in Ponyville, this city is terrible!” whined Twinkle, “can you imagine living here?!” Twinkle's eyes wide open, when she realized what she just said.

Ter looked at her confused, “What's wrong with your eyes? If you think that I never lived in the city, then you are highly mistaken. Besides a bit of time I lived in Equestria, our hive had separation by cities and district. And also we have a caste system, which is pretty annoying,” Ter looked dissatisfied.

“Ohh, sorry then… and sorry for bringing you those memories. I'm just wondering, how is it? To live in a hive? It will be fair if you tell me, as you already saw our lives,” Twinkle looked at Ter, she was more annoyed than before,” or not, if you don't want to… “

“I don’t,” Ter yelled with aggression, ”I left that place for a reason…” she tried to calm down, breath in, breath out, “Sorry for yelling at you… it's just so painful to remember that place, especially when I know how much life is better here.“

They both went silent until they were close to the building (It hardly could be called a building.), where the show was situated. It was carved in stone, but it was so delicate that it looked better than most houses in Equestria, even better than the royal palace. Most parts of the building were made from a single uncut stone. It also was decorated with a lot of gems. It even had windows and curtains (which also were encrusted with all kinds of gems and were made from golden silk delivered from far away lands of Griffonia, before the war) with artificial light behind them. The glass, that was used here, was made out of diamonds. And all that place was made out of magical stone fused with marble and few other things (gold, basalt, and many others; besides, fusing isn’t cheap at all, only the most powerful magicians can fuse two matters).

“Ohh god. It is… it is charming!” joyfully screeched Ter, “It’s much more beautiful than I could’ve imagined! I mean, look at that color palette! Look how that light flickering in those! And the stone!”

“Waste of money. Instead of spending so much on this place, they could… I don’t know, cure ponypox? I wish they used it more efficiently,” rudely answered Twinkle to her friend’s comment, which widened Ter’s eyes.

Ter couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How could someone not feel the joy and happiness just by looking at this, “How can you?! I understand that you probably have a mansion, but just look at this! That symmetry, light, the arrangement!”

“I pass. I live in a small house that is always dirty and trashed, most of the time my blinds are closed. I feel nothing at all from both places.”

“Why can’t you enjoy it? It was built for normal ponies to look at. It was created to inspire. It was made with love, care, and generosity!” gave her last attempt Ter.

“It sure was! Miss Rarity spent a fortune and even more!

“At first, we planned that it would be a new palace for princess Twilight, her friends, and her family. But Rarity suddenly chose to use this place as a scene for a talent show, she said to me “Darling, we shouldn’t look in the past, we should look in the future. There are so many hidden talents that could help Equestria and all they need is a little push.” Honestly, I suspect that Twilight made the final decision by saying “no” to Rarity's present,” just approached pony supported.

She was wearing a formal costume, with some jewelry, that represented two elements of harmony fused, honesty and generosity. She wasn't a carrier of them, yet, those elements represented her the most.

“Ohh, another one. I want you both to listen to me! I understand neither decor nor beauty! Some things couldn’t be understood in a moment, especially for a person like me,” justified herself Twinkle,” By the way, who are you?”

“Pardon, my manners! I am Sapphire Glow, the main director of the show and the right hoof of Miss Rarity, allow me to ask the same question,” business pony introduced herself.

Many creatures would say she is too young for her job, but she was the best at it. She was one of the most successful ponies in Equestria, yet, she was kind and humble.

“Sorry, my friend here. I am Pte… You know what? Just call me Ter; everyone does. And over here is my friend~” introduced Ter.

“I am Twinkle Modeus Star. It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Glow,” said trembling Twinkle, “I came here to wonder about my application for the show, I just sent it at the last minute before admission closed, and I wanted to know.”

“Ohh, that thing. Yeah, we got it in the last seconds. But I am still not sure about it. It completed all of our tests, and you are a great candidate and all, but all our places were filled a week ago and all participants already here. We honestly didn’t expect you to suddenly appear.

“Hmm. I need to think about it in my office, and also, Ter, was it? I want to show you something special about this building, it will be more beautiful than this place! Can you wait here for us, miss Twinkle?” said pretty mare in blue formal dress.

Twinkle just nodded her head.

After her friend left, Twinkle found a comfy place to sit and began waiting. In newly acquired free time, she was trying to understand this place. “Why is it beautiful? Maybe because it’s expensive?” She was trying to explain. But nothing came out of it.

Meanwhile, Ter and Sapphire entered a cabinet. The room wasn’t very big, and it was messy and awful compared to the whole building. Yet, it was charming with its simplicity. Sapphire sat behind her table and took a few notes from it. Ter found her place on the stool on the opposite side of the table.

Sapphire put notes on the table, “Listen, I had my doubts, but I am letting you make a final decision,” Ter nervously nodded,” Ok, I need to ask you a few questions about your friend. Is she honest? Would she cheat for gain?”

“There is a thing... I knew her only for a day, but I can tell you that she is honest. I don’t think she lied to me once,” thought blinked in her mind, she remembered today’s morning, when Twinkle told her boss that she will train her. But was it a lie? Technically, Twinkle taught her a few things.

But what about the second question? Would she cheat? Does using your natural abilities count as cheating? I don’t think, Ter didn't think so either, “And no, she wouldn’t cheat,” at least not in a bad way.

“Hmm… Ok, good. I am kinda disappointed that the two of you met today, but it still means you had a day together. I would ask you more questions, but I don’t see a reason why I should. You maybe didn’t answer with full honesty, but I can feel you trust your friend, and I will follow your example and trust my heart.”

Ter’s face was confused, “Wait… but how you?”

“Let’s just say that it isn’t just jewelry,” Sapphire winked.

“Ok, now let’s get to a real business. This morning, right after Twinkle’s application came in, a portal opened in my cabinet. A stallion came from it, he looked like he was in a hurry. He was dirty and his hair was messed up, ” Ter’s eyes widened up, as Sapphire continued her story.

“Right after he jumped from the portal, he looked around and immediately noticed me. He gave me this envelope and said “Don’t open it, make sure it will be in princesses hooves, don’t tell Twinkle about it, and make Twinkle participate in the show, or otherwise everyone will die,” after his words, he immediately jumped into another portal.”

“Oh no… That might mean I was right…” trembled Ter.

“Wait, what? Right about what?!”

“First of all, let me be fully honest with you. I am a changeling, an old one,” Ter dropped off her camouflage. Sapphire was shocked.

“A few weeks ago, my friend in the hive found out something about the coming catastrophe in Canterlot, after that, he immediately was arrested, it made me move.”

“I grabbed all the stuff I had, and ran to Equestria, to Ponyville, to be more precise, and let me tell you, that was a long journey. In Ponyville, I found out that villagers counted Twinkle as the best unicorn, and I made my move, which led me here,” Ter finished her story by putting back her camouflage.

Sapphire was sitting in silence thinking. After a painful five minutes of silence, she finally uttered, “things are much worse than I thought, aren’t they? Ok. Listen up. Twinkle will never hear about anything we were talking about. If something happens, run in this cabinet, here is the key,” she levitated a small key to Ter, “and take a copy of this folder~” she pointed at a folder~ ” from my table.”

“Wait, but what are we going to do now?!”

“Nothing. I was able to find some information on that stallion who appeared in my cabinet, he was long dead even before I was born. And I think that he wouldn’t be here just to scare us. You will give this envelope to Twinkle and tell her not to open it, and when she wins, tell her that she must give it to the princess before getting her “wish come true,’” sullenly explained her plan business pony.

This stallion, which appeared from nowhere, gone nowhere, and was long dead, actually was someone very special.

And I feel that soon, I will have to say goodbye to you. I want to say this: this is only the beginning for you, but soon, you will continue your journey without me, and maybe, one day, we will meet again and watch another story.

Ter nodded her head. Thoughts were flying through it. At the same time, she was shocked, confused, scared, and lost. “Who was that stallion, what was the coming catastrophe, and what was the Twinkle’s part in all of this?”

“Now we will go to her and will act as nothing happened, she will participate in the show, and let’s hope that she will win. If she loses, I have a plan B,” Sapphire stood from her table and began walking towards the door. Ter followed her.

When they returned to Twinkle, she was lost in the war inside her head, about what makes beautiful - beautiful. And why it makes creatures feel something.

"Hey! Good news! I talked to your friend and now you got an extra spot! ” Sapphire snatched her from her thoughts.

“Ah?! Oh, Yeah, that is so great! I love you so much! I am going to try my hardest just to win for this!” happily told Twinkle.

“yeah… you should” whispered under her nose Sapphire.

“What was that?”

“Nothing! Ahm, I can give you two a room, where you can practice before the show. Follow me,” she began walking backstage, ” You will be performing last. You also can use help from your friend, but nothing too serious. Also, we can execute one of the participant’s requests, to make their performance better.”

Twinkle thought it over for a second and gave her answer, “Hmm… Can I get a screen?”

“A what?”

“A screen… curtains… or what do you call them?” answered Twinkle as if she was looking for a correct word.

“I guess we can... Why do you need them?” inquired Sapphire as she opened a door to a spacious room.

“I don’t want my secrets to being revealed, but don’t worry, I will be able to show my talent,” explained Twinkle, ” Oh, and if it isn’t a big problem, can I ask you for supplies? My stuff was left in our hotel room, and I can’t do much without it.”

“Uhh… Sure! Just tell me what you need then! And I am not sure about curtains, but I will see what I can do.”

“Sweet! Uhh… I need somewhere around two hundred to four hundred rolls of duct tape, a few paper plates, two ten meter ropes, safe for usage imitation of snow, ten decks of cards, and buckets of colorful paint,” Twinkle cast a spell on a paper, and the whole list immediately appeared there. Sapphire’s eyes were wide open due to shock.

“Oh! And also can you get me a nice piece of stone? I will carve a statue out of it,” quickly added Twinkle.

“Uhh… are you sure? I hope you know there is a time limit for a performance?”

Twinkle nodded her head.

“I hope you know what you are doing. Good luck!” said a blue unicorn in a blueish business suit and left the room.

In the time they were talking, Ter got an idea of what she will be doing for the rest of the time before the show starts. She found a comfortable place to sit and began working on a time-slowing spell she got from Twinkle.

In the first place, she had to analyze it and find its structure, key elements and primal(basic) spells inside. After that, she will be able to play with it and if she is fortunate she will be capable of creating a new spell for Twinkle.

“Hey?! You aren't gonna help me?! ” Twinkle screamed, “we are a duo now, you know?"

But Ter didn't give her attention, she just waved her hoof to signal “yeah-yeah”. Twinkle decided not to interrupt her or not even talk to her, as she was pissed off.

“It's good to be alone again, isn't it?” she said under her breath, “I am lonely… not the first time! ” She cast a spell and in the blink of a few seconds was under the roof of the tall room.

At that second Sapphire entered the room, ” Hey I got… ” She stopped, as she saw that Twinkle disappeared, ” Hey, where is she?” She asked Ter. She again didn't give much attention and just pointed somewhere above.

“Woah! How did you get there?! Do you need help?! ” She screamed. The ceiling wasn't that high up, but it still was dangerous.

“Nah, I am alright! Just practicing a few tricks, ” Screamed back Twinkle, “So, what happened?! “

“Your stuff will be here shortly, all except duct tape, it will take time…"

“Good!” Yelled Twinkle and started looking around. Nothing was interesting around the pipe she was walking on. The only thing that was there was a ventilation hatch.

Sapphire finally left the room and Twinkle was able to go back.

“You know, I used parts of my bags to get up there!” boasted dust-covered Twinkle. Ter didn’t react.

And so, she practiced a few more tricks and stopped, as she believed it was useless (as everything usually is). Instead, she decided to have a rest. To let her magic replenish and her physical state regen. While she was resting (basically napping), Ter was doing work. She was trying to understand magic she doesn't possess and create spells based on it.

Like that went the next half of an hour. Twinkle sleeping. Ter working. Peace and stress. Rest and work. Pony and a changeling. Time and space.

Twinkle was suddenly woken up by the sound of something striking the wall too hard. It was a pencil, that Ter threw in the impulse of anger.

“What was that?!” Screamed Twinkle when she saw it, “This wall probably costs more than my house! And how the hell did you do that?! “

“Anger."

“It doesn't explain… Why are you so angry? ” Asked Twinkle.

“I can't figure out your stupid spell! I just can't! It doesn’t make any sense!"

“You don't have to. No one expects you to. But you know what is the main thing. You are trying. You aren't giving up!” Twinkle tried to cheer her up, ” … you know what cheers me up when I am sad? “

“Sleeping? Having fun? Casually stopping time which probably hurts the universe?” Sarcastically answered Ter. Still, she was angry.

“No. Waiting. Thinking. Taking a break. Reading… you know, I wish you were right about having fun, but I don't have anyone to have it with,” said Twinkle with sadness in her eyes.

Ter didn't answer, instead, she turned around and was about to start walking in the direction of the “penciled” wall.

"I once heard a saying. It goes something like that: “Burden shared, burden sixthed”. It is supposed to mean that feelings shared with others are shared. And by saying this I mean, that you should share your emotions with me and let’s have some fun!” she smiled at her friend with hope. And it’s worked. Ter smiled back.

“Everything is going wrong, but we are ok,” whispered under her nose Ter, remembering an old saying that she was told in her past.

“What?”

“Nothing,” she swiftly changed the subject,” So… what do you want to do?”

“Well... I had an idea for a trick. I want to slow down the time and collect as many particles as I could, and try to make it into a picture. Before I was too lazy to try it. Now I am so eager, like something powering me up!” Twinkle stopped for a moment. She was thinking about something that is unknown to me…

“Where was I? Oh, Right! I saw a lot of dust up there, and wanted to try to~”

Unexpectedly, the door into the room opened. It was Sapphire. She was here to take those two with herself and close the room, as the show was about to begin. It upset Twinkle. Ter, on the other hoof, was happy to go back to the fabulous hall.

Twinkle and Ter had to split up, but before that, she gave her an envelope, “Please, don’t open it. Just give it to Princess when you meet her, ok?”

“Oki-doki-loki! See ya later then… I hope we will be able to work here together... well, it’s not meant to be, like me portraying a picture out of dust particles… someday later.”

“Eureka!” she cried out loud and quickly ran to the seat that Sapphire kindly gave her. (In the first row of course.)

Twinkle was stunned, she didn’t have enough time to think about it, as the show was about to start and she had to go backstage.

And then something unexpected happened. Besides other participants, there was she, the princess of Equestria. The mare starting with a big letter M. Twilight Sparkle. It was pretty much shocking for Twinkle.

Twinkle was shocked. She met the one most important mare in the World. Everyone liked her, admired her, stalked her, wanted to be her, and she was here! Just in front of her!

Twinkle began shaking. Her eyes widened. She was about to lose herself, but then she heard her voice, speaking directly to her.

"Are you here for the show?” she asked. Twinkle nodded. “Good. I like watching it. I wish you good luck!"

Twilight started walking away. At the same moment, Twinkle unfroze and remembered about the envelope, “P-Princess Wait!"

Twilight turned around, “Hmm?"

"M-my f-friend asked me to give you t-this envelope."

Twilight smiled, “that is so nice of you for your friend. I usually don't accept such things, but for friendship, I will make an exception.”

She carefully opened an envelope and ran through it. Her face frowned as she reached the end. Her horn began shining and three magical fields wrapped around it. Then, it blinked, as the spark of light fired into Twinkle. Twinkle was raised into the air and began shining for a brief moment, then, it stopped.

“What was that?!” Screamed Twinkle, as she was trying to find what changed.

“I am unsure. It was a spell of a kind. It reminded me about~” Twilight stopped like she just suddenly remembered something, “Ahm… Good luck and have fun!”

Twilight quickly blinked out of here and Twinkle was left there alone, not for long though, as other participants rapidly filled the empty space. The show was about to begin!

Luckily for Twinkle, Princess doing a spell on you wasn’t against the rules.

The show was something like a tournament. All partakers were presenting something that can impress either spectators or judges (sometimes both). Players with the lowest score leave the show. And it repeats until two players left.

Twinkle was the last performer and she had to wait for about an hour until it was her turn. It was agonizing for her. On the other hoof, spectators were pretty much enjoying it.

By the time the show reached Twinkle, there were few favorites. Griffon, who demonstrated a device of his own making that was able to convert magic into electricity.

Wonderbolt, who broke the sound barrier in a controllable environment.

Athlete, who was a descendant of Daring Do, also was a writer, but this time, he was showing off moves and scenes from his books.

And then, there came a unicorn, whose magic was so powerful, that he was able to create a little black hole and was able to control it (it was very exhausting), and then his assistant used it to show how it can affect different things (He was pretty much sucked dry off magic in the end).

Twinkle came on the scene. Sapphire followed after her, “And our last participant is a little bit special. She was added in the last hour and had an unpleasant request.”

Twinkle, who was shaking because of her stage fright, opened her mouth, “H-hello everyone! I… I want to make an unusual request: I need to do my trick behind a curtain. It will allow me to keep my secrets. But don’t worry, you will be able to see the result, and to prove that I am not wrong, I am asking miss Sapphire to cast the “Spell of trustworthy truth.” She will confirm that I didn’t cheat.”

It led to whispers and dissatisfaction in the crowd. Sapphire was there to prevent anything bad from happening. She cast the spell, “I will tell only the truth. And I want you to believe in her!”

Twinkle was still shaking and her voice was unsure, “T-Thanks! And now I will ask to bring the curtains and a block of stone that I requested... please.”

Ponies appeared behind the scene. They were pushing the levitated block of magically infused stone and other ponies were lowering special curtains in the middle of the scene. They finished and left the stage.

“Now I will ask judges to give me a character or a scene that they would want to be carved in it. I will not use any special sculptural spells for it, and Miss Sapphire will be there to confirm it.”

Then Twinkle noticed a lonely unicorn sitting in the crowd. It was Ter. She wasn’t looking at the show, but instead, she was enthusiastically doing spellcrafting alongside writing in her notebook.

“I consulted judges, and it looks like we came onto agreements. We want to see the Keepers with the Princess of the Crystal Empire, after succeeding in the war against the Umbra,” said one of the judges. It was a colt in a red-purple robe. He was the head of the Arcane, a new direction of magic, science, and other.

“It’s a good one! Ok. I want you to put a timer on five minutes after I say start,” after this, Twinkle walked behind curtains.

She instantly took her chisel and created a little magical hammer. “three...two…~” her horn began shining, as she charged her spell, “one… Start!” she took a deep breath and let her spell go.

blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink.

She began carving. Luckily, she had an experience. When she was very young, she was learning how to do a sculpture to impress her mother, which, sadly, didn’t do much. At least, it gave her enough skills to create statues.

Sapphire, who was silently staying in the back, was watching how Twinkle (or how she saw her as a pink blot), was creating something that was close to a mediocre. Sapphire, of course, was shocked. She never saw such magic in real life before, all she knew about time-magicians was from a newspaper, where they robbed a bank.

Two minutes and Twinkle finished. A semi-beautiful statue was standing in front of her. Ironic, isn’t it? She doesn't understand art but creates statues.

“Stop the timer!” she screamed, as she was trying to catch her breath and calm pain in the head. Twinkle and Sapphire opened curtains and let them see what was inside. “Wow”, “WHAT?!”, “HOW?!”, “CHEATER!” could be heard from the audience. Judges also were shocked, as it was the statue they asked for, it was made in two minutes and was kinda good!

Head of the Arcane stepped up on the scene, “We will question them, as well as magically check, and it will conclude our decision after,” later he came and told everyone that by all evidence, they decided that Twinkle didn’t cheat. All of the judges gave her maximum points. The audience, however, wasn’t that generous, but was suspicious.

After a bit of time, the second tour began. By the luck of the situation, only eighteen participants were left. It included Twinkle, but she passed barely.

Twinkle was last again. And when the time came to her, she watched tons (seventeen) of other performances. Griffon from the first round showed a wing-technology that can give any creature the ability to slightly fly. He called it “The crown of the techno-magic!".

Powerful unicorn, who created a controlled black hole, now showed a fire show. He created a fire dragon controlled by him. It wasn't as great as his last trick, but spectators bought it.

Other tricks weren't as great as those two. Just athletic tricks, flying, spells, or just self-promotion.

This time, judges decided to make a more controllable environment for Twinkle. Which mostly were few spells. But the worst for Twinkle was that the one of the judges will be observing her, however, he swore he won’t tell anyone. Twinkle accepted it.

She decided that her second trick will be tape-house. Which was very confusing for everyone, especially when pony-helpers brought a few hundreds of rolls of duct-tape, little sticks, and a few buckets of color paint.

Once more, her trick was going under the curtains. And she did it well. She used her time-slowing abilities to construct a house using only tape and nothing more (she also used paint and little sticks). It wasn’t a big building, but almost all of its building parts were hollow. She painted the best as she could do and unfroze time.

After some checking, it confirmed that she didn’t cheat and all judges gave her their score. Sadly, the audience didn’t.

In the third tour, there would be five ponies. And when the first four were chosen Twinkle was still on stage. And that was the moment when thunder struck.

Twinkle lost to a pony-clown.

The show ended with two winners this time. The griffon with technologies and the powerful unicorn. However, there was a little moment of salvation for Twinkle. Despite her loss, Twilight and all the judges decided to give her an honorary appreciation.

“We know that she didn’t win. But the judges and I were impressed by the things she did. And despite her loss, we adjusted the rules a little bit. Now she is a winner in our eyes, and we will give her a chance to make her “wish come true.” With one final trick of her choosing, but we want it to be without any curtains,” announced Twilight.

Twinkle’s heart began bumping harder. She started shaking again, but this time not because of Twilight, but because of what she will have to reveal. “What if they will dislike it? What if they arrest me on the spot?! What if Twilight will immediately incinerate me?!” were her thoughts at that moment.

“Ohh and I almost forgot,” said Twilight to Twinkle, “here, take it. It was inside the thing you gave me. It told me to give it to you later,” Twilight gave Twinkle a letter, looking like it was inside the envelope Twinkle gave her a little time ago.

Twinkle immediately took it and began looking through it “bla-bla-bla-bla-bla… I know why you came here, and I know that you are scared right now, remember that feeling,” she read, then she looked at Ter because she thought it was from her, “no, this letter wasn’t from that bug. And look at that time! If my calculations are accurate (and they should be), the big revelation, you call “the catastrophe”, will happen in ten~” Twinkle was sweating profusely. Her eyes widened, she tensed up, “nine… eight… seven… you know, that you are quite a slow reader, I mean, pony in front of you can read a book faster than you this letter… where was I? Three… Two…” Twinkle’s horn lightened up, she took the pose. Her horn got enveloped in four magical fields.

“What is wrong?!” Twilight only was able to scream.

And before I let this happen. I want to say goodbye, as you won’t hear my voice for a long time. But don’t worry, this won’t end at this moment. There is a pony that will take my duty. She will tell you the story from her perspective and I… I probably will be lost in the void.
Well, it’s unwise to prevent this from happening. Goodbye.

“one…” Twinkle’s horn began blinking and blinking. With every blink, time slowed more and more, and it kept happening until it just couldn’t.

Farewell.

What? What just happened. My head explodes… Wait… What did I just do?! Everything around me was stopped in a single frame. Nothing moved. I don’t know how I was breathing, neither did I know how I was able to see. But it was just it… The moment, everything stopped.

Chapter two. Canterlot wanderings

After a few minutes of shock and confusion, I finally realized what had happened…

I stopped the freaking time! I STOPPED THE TIME AROUND ME!

It was great and horrible altogether. I didn't know what was going to happen, and I didn't understand how I was still alive. I can't breathe when I stop time for a quarter, but I easily could when it's fully stopped? Even for me, it didn't make much sense, but it was what it was.

Finally, I decided to get up and look around. Everything wasn't as it was before. All the creatures frozen in time were panicking, "Are they freaking out because of… me?". But one of them wasn't. It was Ter, stopped while constructing a new spell for me. I hoped that I would be capable of helping her, but at that moment, I wasn't sure if I would be able to help myself.

I decided to inspect myself. Why was I still alive, breathing and walking? I was moving faster than light, but I was able to see; why? There were so many questions, but no one to answer me.

Then I looked up. Twilight leaned above me with a worried face, her horn glowing, eyes squinting, her muzzle lightened up by a bright pink light. I wasn't able to locate the source of that pink light.

My body was filled with pain. Every move was bringing more of it. The pain wasn't the result of me stopping the time; it was the result of great exhaustion. My physical, magical and psychological states required recovery. That gave me an idea of what to do.

The first order of business was sleep; I desperately needed it. My mind was hardly able to think and my body to move.

I barely stood up when the thunder of pain ran through my body. I hardly was able to stand. Where do I go? Maybe I should lay just here? No. Those ponies… What if something happens to them or me? I need to find a better and more comfortable place.

As a result, I decided to go backstage. It still was uncomfortable, but it was a little bit better. However, it wasn’t great enough.

The best decision was to locate keys to that room Sapphire gave us. But I didn’t know where the keys or Sapphire were. She wasn’t near Ter…

They were in her cabinet before, maybe I should look there?

With nothing better to do, I started walking in the direction where Sapphire led Ter before.

And there it was — my luck! I found an almost shut door. I carefully opened it and inside was a small comfortable room. It also was carved as the whole building.

That room was comfortable, but there was no place to sleep, and I couldn’t close it. And again, the world was generous. Keychain laid right in the center of the table. It looked suspicious, but I was too tired to think about it.

I took the keys with my mouth, as my magic wasn’t working, and went right to that room. It easily unlocked, and I was greeted by a familiar scene. A wall pierced by a pencil and bag with a print of my head on it.

It is much better! I closed the room and took a pose of an embryo. Sweet-sweet dreams.

Some... time? I don’t know how it works now. Technically it wasn’t even a second.

I wasn’t fully rested, but I was too tired to sleep more.

Ok! Next for the plan, “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!” When It all began?!

LETTER! Of course. I need to find that letter. It’s supposed to be still laying on the stage.

And as I expected, the letter was on stage, facing up with its text. But something unexpected happened when I picked it up.

The stage beneath the letter was left dark. Some places still were giving off the light, but the center was completely black. The light source was right above me, but it didn’t do anything.

It was really weird and wrong, but I couldn’t do anything on that matter. Neither was I smart enough to understand “What the hay is that?!”

I looked at the letter. On one side it was okay. But on the other, it was as black as the floor it was laying on. This darkness made it impossible to read the other side of the letter.

With nothing better to do, I began reading what I could and quickly noticed that it was different.

“Well, Hello there. Now we finally can “talk” normally. As you already noticed, the world is stopped. You stopped it. And you probably tried and failed to make it move again. It’s no wonder, you can’t.

But there is still a way to make things as they “used to be.” You will have to find it on your own. For the "present", I can give you a little tip. Begin your searching in Celestia’s tower.

And when the time comes, we will meet on the Moon.

— M.W.”

With no understanding of how or when I decided to look around and observe what was different.

The first thing I noticed was light. All light was abnormal. It seemed ok until I tried to look under something, which led to total darkness underneath the object. I didn’t have many ideas how it was working, but it looked like the light just froze with time and I only could see objects that were lit up before I stopped it.

The second thing I noticed was sound, or its absence. I could hear nothing. And I have no idea why I didn’t notice it earlier… Maybe I just got used to it? Spending all my time alone in my home…

Besides the weird light thing, everything seemed to work like I just slowed the time. I could take an object and place it in the air and it would stay there like there is no gravity, yet, there was gravity for me, my body, and my stuff…

And it was the moment that I realized that I didn’t have anything with me! Nothing at all!

I started panicking. Why?! What?! How?! I didn’t know what to do. The only ideas I had were to try to unfreeze the time, which didn’t work (like that guy in the letter said), and to follow the advice from the letter.

With nothing better to do, I decided to breach a few dozen laws by breaking into the royal castle and going to Celestia’s Tower. But before, I decided to take a few things from that place, “even frozen in time somethings are helpful!”, except there was almost nothing useful…

What I managed to take were someone’s saddlebags (It isn't stealing if they were left unattended. Few silver plates from the cafeteria (WHY SAPPHIRE DIDN’T TELL ME THERE WAS A CAFETERIA?!). A little bit of food, I hoped I could eat it or else I would die. And a pen I found on the floor (I hate those who litter, but at least I had a pen now.).

On the way out, I realized that Ter maybe was able to create a spell, but all my hope was broken when I approached her. It seemed that I stopped time in the worst possible moment, as everything around Ter was so illuminated by her horn that I wasn’t able to read anything she wrote.

“Don’t worry, friend, I promised you that I will save you… So I will save you!” weirdly(or not), everything I declared was impossible to hear.

The road from the higher mountain district to the royal palace wasn’t long, however, it took me a long time, as I stopped it when in the early sunrise and the mountain was blocking most of the light. The only help there was artificial magical light, but still, there were few places where I had to go where it was dim… I even rammed into someone who was standing in the darkness.

Despite all my troubles and the fear of the dark, I made it to the royal castle. I don’t know how much time it took, but it wasn't important at that moment, what mattered was that I had no idea about how to get into the tower.

At the moment I stopped time, the castle was already sealed off for the public. And the worst of all, for me, was that all windows and doors were closed.

I was in a panic. I tried to break a window, but it didn’t budge. All doors I tried were closed, nothing seemed to be working.

But then I looked high above. I saw a body stuck in the window. And weirdly enough that half of the body was hanging out from it. It seemed that the window was broken earlier.

Overwhelmed with hope, I remembered an old trick with paper plates. Luckily for me, I took two plates from the cafeteria, which allowed me to use them as stairs… And without magic it was hard. I had to use my hooves, and it was almost impossible.

Put a plate then put another plate to form a two-step ladder. When I am on the second step, use hooves to pick up the first plate and place it higher. By the time-freezing, plates would freeze in space… In the concept, it sounds easy. In reality… It took me too much time (at least I had that time.). (And I had no idea how that was working! I mean, I still felt gravity!).

Throughout struggles and pain, I made it into the open window. Carefully pushing away glass in the window and dragging the body of that pony inside. I owned it to that pony who broke in earlier.

Corridors were filled with cheerful light and bouquets of lavender.

From that point, I was freely able to navigate inside the castle, which meant that every door was open. Why would it be? Why wasn’t it filled with guards at every corner (who were there to arrest me instantly)?

When I found the main entrance, I easily found my way to Celestia’s Tower, as there were two marked arrows. One marked with the sun, the other with the moon.

Celestia’s Tower was the highest thing in the whole city (even higher than the statue of Stygian and co.), and the way up there was rather long. The view from there was already worth it! I could see the city and more! I even could recognize outlines of Ponyville. My mom and dad were there… frozen forever if I don’t find a way to restore everything.

When I finally made it to the top of the tower, I saw a dilapidated wooden door. It seemed like this place was badly looked after, which was wrong… It is the tower of the previous ruler of Equestria! This tower represents her closeness to the sun and her majesty! This place should look better than Canterlot itself!

Easily, I broke down the rotten door. Inside was some kind of house. Beds, kitchen, little library, couch, and even a toilet! All of this in one little room! Even if it was cramped, it was somehow inviting…

The room looked ancient, not as old as its entrance door, but older than me. It was clean and comfy, but very empty. No one was inside. Only a suspicious journal laying on a table.

Luckily for me, the journal was opened, but I only could see its last written page.

I finally found an entrance! She is definitely keeping her there along with many others… Today will be the day of revelation. I told her the location of that “Ac'' magic I located, and while she was dealing with a time paradox created by a pony, I will sneak into the dungeon and free her… I wrote down everycreature I found for her on a little list, along with where I found them… if everything goes how I planned it, then I will be able to restore them… but if I fail… sooner or later, someone will find this journal… She doesn’t know about that list, neither she understands where to look for them, it will take her a long time to locate them herself… I have to succeed!

In those words, writing suddenly ended, no ending, no exodus… “Thanks for the tip! Now I have more questions…”

Alongside a journal, there were a few torn pages. It consisted of names, abilities, and places of living.

Looking through the only page, I was able to see, I found something interesting. Besides many different magical abilities, I never heard about things like “Transformiguration,” or “Crystalification,” I found something that caught my eyes.

“Name: Brake Long. Abilities: Time. Location of living: Canterlot. Starswirl st 45.”

“Name: Criys Bowler. Abilities: Time. Location of living: Crystal Empire. 4th dist. 2b”

I found a clue. At least I found what to do next… Who can help me to restore the time like other time-mages?! Well… stuff I can find in their places at least… Will it be counted as burglary?

Turns out that searching for the street in a city I don’t know, with terrible lighting and with a constant scare of monsters in the dark, takes a lot of time. And it probably was easier to find a city map than just wander randomly... If I knew where to seek it…

And the most reasonable place where a map could be (and the closest one I could think of) was the Royal Library. I was filled with hope that they would have it, but before that, I had to manage to get into the library.

For the luck of the world… The way to the library was marked by the double star with four or five little stars around it. It was a weird version of Princess Twilight cutie mark.

When I finally entered the library, its size shocked me. I even could say that it was bigger than the build I was in, or at least close to its size, which made me ask a question, ”How?!”

After a “bit” of time and a few books that I wasn’t able to read, I found an old and very expensive map made a few days after the coronation of Princess Twilight. Under the map was written that it was a present made by new Changelings as a present for their allies.

The map was fully hoof-made, and it was very big. It was taking the whole wall only for Canterlot alone and the full map had all of Equestria and some lands beyond it. The best thing about it, it didn’t just show cities and other stuff, it showed stuff inside the cities!

By decree of the princess, the map was cut into many bits and sent around the Equestria. Each city, town, etc. had the map of their place alongside a piece of something. Canterlot has a piece of itself and a piece with a changeling kingdom.

It was hard to look at that old map, but it was all I had. At first, I resisted the urge to rip it off the wall, as it was a “Priceless artifact of the past,” but after a painful hour, I could not stand looking at it.

Impulsively I pulled the map, and it fell off the wall, leaving a few ragged pieces hanging.

It is okay as long as no one knows it was me…

With a new fear, I quickly began looking through the map. Canterlot was a pretty big place, which was going underground; and if that guy lived down there, I won’t be able to find his place on this map.

I looked through the map a few times. Each new time I was scared more and more… But I calmed down, as I finally found the correct place.

Starswirl street. Located a few streets away from the palace… I even ran through it when I was on my way to the castle…

It was easy to find it, but it was hard to get in. House wasn't big. In the window, it looked trashed like mine. From the outside, the house was outstanding. It was old and required capital repairs.

And it was about to require a new window. What is the point of trying to not mess around if time stopped and I already damaged a priceless artifact?

Carefully, after a few attempts of trying to throw a stone with my mouth, I was able to shatter the window. Then I used another stone to clear the window frame from broken glass that was stuck in space.

Inside was dark. Literally. I could barely see, thanks to dusty windows. But it was about to get worse. The sole thing I was able to find was a note to someone left on a table. The table was right under the window.

The note stated something about a new lab, and that the person won't appear here for a few days, and if you want to find him, he will probably be in the lab. With an address…

The address was underground, inside the mountain. And the only thing I knew was one location of the staircase going down.

The closest entrance to me was the one inside Royal castle, I discovered it while I was looking for the library. It seemed that it was created out of catacombs.

I had to go back to the castle, and I was stupid enough not to open the door from inside of the palace… But then I remembered that some magic still works and it was worth an attempt to try to teleport up there…

It didn’t go as planned. My horn only gave out a few sparks and stopped working at all. And that meant I had to climb to the window again…

After another heap of time, I lost for nothing; I was in.

A way down was opened, and it was easy to get inside. But it was only the beginning of the road. There was a staircase going way down, right beneath the mountain and a bit lower.

It took me a long time, but I finally was down there. After a few corridors, I found myself in front of the beautiful underground city.

Unlike Canterlot above, here, lights were almost everywhere. Tall buildings were rising to the top of the “cave.” Many different styles and various moods. I didn’t comprehend it. Why spend money on these, when you can do almost anything? Cure pony-pox, help the poor, improve relations with abroad. Why spend it on fancy decor?

The place I was searching for was a lab. And by the address I found there, it looked like buildings here were built in circles. And the place I was looking was on the one hundred-forty-second circle.

Later, it turned out it was the edge of this “cave.”

The stairs from the catacombs were leading straight to the center. It was the place this city all began.

The few inner circles were the property of Princess Twilight. They were fancy-schmancy with a lot of money spent on them. But unlike the place, as Ter said “Built for normal ponies to look at, to inspire…”, this place was built only for the eyes of those, who don’t care about it… Ponies like me?

Am I the rich fancy-pants type of pony? Why can’t I understand it? Am I the monster in this picture? There must be something that I am missing… something logical that explains it. Why magic makes much more sense to me…

What if I am just unique? That could explain why art doesn’t affect me… But it will be just stupid… Maybe my anti-social life is the main reason? What if art isn’t something that is pictured or written, what if art is those emotions put into it? Emotions that I just can’t feel due to lack of sociality.

That was the best way I could explain it then. The best that cogs in my little brain gave me.

At the same time, I was thinking about art; I was walking and looking around. I wasn’t focused on the buildings around me as much as I was concentrated on my thoughts, but I still was able to notice that the further I was moving from the center, the cheaper and less decorated buildings were. And it made me feel a little bit down.

Everything around was slowly turning gray.

After "ten" or so minutes of the trot, I got outside, the biggest circle there was, and for my luck, I was kinda close to the correct place. And let me say, that was the weirdest structure of the city I ever saw (not like I saw many cities). It likely was caused due to a lack of planning, as they didn't plan to make this place bigger, but the real reasons aren't known to me.

When I finally made it to the correct place, I was, I was stunned! The lab was in conditions worse than… than… worse than the ruins of that weird ruins of the ancient library in Ponyville.

If time wasn't static, I would never go to that place. Still, I was terrified of what could be inside.

He is also (or was?) a time-mage, who has the full lab! What if there is nothing inside that can help me? But how can it help me?

I still didn't know what I was looking for, or why am I doing this. The first thought that was coming to my mind was "I am doing this to restore the time!", but what if it is just a simple lie? I can believe I was doing it because I didn't have anything else to do; if I decided to reject the progress, I would simply get bored.

Full of fear, hope, and a little bit tired I entered the old lab.

After “some” amount of time, I was inside.

After a brief search, I came to the sad realization, that it wasn’t what I was looking for.

It was a completely normal laboratory. Few rooms with special equipment, old and dusty notepads, rest, and recreational room. All of them were simply plain. Nothing that looked extraordinary.

And with all of my sadness, I began walking towards the exit, when I found a room I missed. It would be completely ignored by me, but the sign on the door took my attention.

Brake Long. T.D.

With a little bit of hope that was left in me, I decided to enter inside.

At the first glance, it was a basic cabinet, similar to the one that mare named Sapphire. It was messy like someone intentionally threw all the stuff around, but one place was left untouched, it was a bookcase and books in it.

That bookcase was the first thing I looked through and quickly made an interesting revelation.

THE BOOKCASE WASN’T FROZEN IN TIME!

It gave me hope, and I began picking and touching books, and even after I put them down, they still would stay unfrozen! It was the best thing that happened to me since I made a friend!

And then, I pulled one particular book, and the whole bookcase slid and revealed a secret room. It wasn’t big, and it was in almost perfect condition. There were few tables with unknown to me stuff and a big bookcase with hoof-written books. That bookcase was titled “Discoveries.”

But when I picked up a book, which also was unfrozen, inside it was written in a weird language.

Besides those weird devices, a table with a book took my attention. That book, unlike others, was written in Equestrian. It wasn’t big, neither was it long, only one page.

After our experiments, I discovered something that might be extremely important for you to read. I sent you a copy of a book where I wrote about it.

Yes. I got it, but what is it about?

Can’t tell, you know, that someone else can intercept.

I understand. I will read it and we can talk about it at the next meeting.

Good. By the way, I heard about a paradox there, was that you?

Kinda. I found someone, who can help us with our enemy, and she told me to use a particular spell on a specific crystal. It was unexpected, but it did the trick.

Hmm… A new ally? I hope you know what you are doing. Ok. That is all. We can’t keep this link any longer. I will give you another book when we meet, as usual.

Yes. And I tested those spells and that thing, it works!

That is it. I am breaking the link. Till the next meeting.

Turned out that it was some kind of conversation between two ponies? Or someone who was just insane? But it wasn’t the point.

The point was, that those two ponies knew about time magic and experimented with it. And I could see with my own eyes, that those experiments were successful.

And it gave me a new course. I would need to go to that other mage. And judging by their texts and crystals on those tables around me, I was pretty sure that he was in the Crystal Empire. And that note from Celestia Tower only strengthened it.