Seconds to spare

Chapters

Ch.1 Winding the Clock
Ch.2 Turning the Gears
Ch.3 In Time We Will Mock
Ch.4 All of our Fears
Ch.5 As the Past Becomes Memory
Ch.6 And Future All Hope
Ch.7 We are Hounded by our Enemy
Ch.8 At the End of Our Rope

Ch.1 Winding the Clock

Princess Luna of Equestria had a plan.

It was truly a shame that it was a plan destined to fail - proven time and time again over the span of ten centuries to be in vain - but she still remembered Starswirl's lessons all those years ago.

"It is more essential to have a plan, than to have a solution," she said softly as she set her crown upon her forehead and checked her appearance in the mirror.

"Pardon, your Majesty?" One of the royal guard asked, a thestral standing by her door with a halberd at the ready.

"Just reciting very old lessons, Orion," Luna said with a smile. "Did I not schedule a day off for you?"

Orion's cheeks darkened under his helm, as he stood a little straighter.

"I did! In fact, I did. It's the Winter Moon celebration, and you have a new marefriend to spend it with. Go on, shoo."

"Begging your pardon, your highness," he said, before clearing his throat. "I'm the only guard on duty. Not sure who did the scheduling, but everypony else is off."

Luna looked at him with a lazy smile as she opened the door and walked past him.

"Go home, Orion. That's an order."

She took note of his concern, but left him behind on her way to her preparations for the coming day.

With her student sent off to Ponyville, and preparations underway for the Winter Moon celebration, Princess Luna had only a few final things to do, the first of which brought her to the gardens, and to a very old statue.

Many ponies who did not investigate it would assume that it was a statue of Luna, but on closer inspection it had the faint outline of a sun on it's flanks, and looked a little bit older.

The plaque below it's frozen laughing expression read "Mirage, Spirit of Deception."

Luna sat down in front of the figure, as a maid delivered tea to her, before she cast a spell allowing her to communicate with the creature frozen within.

The shrill childish laugh that immediately appeared startled Luna, but she kept her composure.

"One of your guards is cheating on his husband with a dragon! Oh the rich complexities of court politics, really it proves me right, you know. All creatures prefer lies and tricks to the boring old truth. You're doomed to fail, yadda yadda, ooooh is that chamomile?"

Luna sipped her tea.

"It is, it is! It's been so long since I've had a good chamomile! Nine hundred some odd years? Those were the days. Long con in play, enough magical power to make everything strange and exciting. Ohhh what fun, 'sister' dearest."

She was clearly expecting a reaction, but Luna ate a cookie and looked around the garden, for all appearances ignoring the spirit of lies.

"Oh come on, I'm not even being rude! I could say oh, how doomed you are! I'll escape some day soon, blah blah, mechanations, enigmas, death, but no! I'm not even angry for leaving me to stew for thirty years! You've been busy, I understand! I'm a reasonable insane pseudo deity!"

Luna sipped her tea again, slowly meeting the gaze of the statue.

"What do you want from me?! I'm being friendly, I'm amicable, not even trying to manipulate you, how rude has the great Princess become?! Do you want me to help you with Him on the way? Fat lot of good I'd be, He poisoned me last time! Sneaky boy."

"I just want you to sleep," Luna said gently.

There was silence for a bit.

"For… how long?" Mirage asked.

"A year. One way or another, this will be sorted out by then."

They sat, both thinking, for several minutes. Luna finished her tea, and another cookie, before finally there was a sigh.

"Fine. It beats the boredom. But only if you come say hi after."

"If I'm able to," Luna added.

"Yes, I don't expect you to come back from the dead or anything," Mirage giggled. "We have a deal?"

"It is a deal," Luna nodded.

She lit her horn and a powerful spell wrapped around the statue, one which would be trivial to resist, but it settled in and then Luna could sense only the dreaming mind of a raving lunatic inside of the statue.

Princess Luna relaxed, and gathered her things, heading back into the castle.

“Well, one less concern,” she muttered while depositing her things in the kitchen. “Now for the worst case scenario.”

Her next mission took her deep into the castle, through the winding corridors of the residential section and then through the guard barracks, before finally reaching a large double door labeled “Maintenance tunnels.”

Before she opened the doors, she checked a pocketwatch. It said that currently it was just past ten in the morning, and she watched the second hand carefully as she opened the doors, and the second hand slowed just a little.

As she stepped through the doorway, it moved so slowly she had to wait a very long time to see it tick to the next second.

Nodding in approval, Princess Luna closed the doors behind her and walked down the long gradually sloping tunnel, wide enough for a full sized wagon to be brought down if needed, with space for soldiers on either side.

The bare hall eventually ended in a second pair of double doors, which opened as she approached, revealing the best kept secret in Canterlot.

A circular room two hundred pony lengths in diameter and just as tall, with multiple floors built around a circular column covered in scrying mirrors.

The ponies, griffins, and dragons inhabiting the chamber were already standing at attention, the normal hum of activity silent, as Princess Luna strode in and looked around, her smile melancholy.

“At ease,” she sighed, sitting just inside the door.

As everyone relaxed, some sitting at their stations to resume essential duties, Luna dashed a tear from the corner of her eye.

“Today… is supposed to be a celebration. We all know it won’t be. It will be a reunion, it may be a tragedy. It could even be the beginning of a new era. But it will not be a celebration.”

She cleared her throat, suddenly tight, and looked across the room.

“When the chronograph indicates that the banishment has been broken, you must all operate on the assumption that I am compromised, and that anyone who leaves the exclusion field will be compromised as well. You have three years of food, water, and air. Observe the outside. Look for opportunities. Your job is, if He returns and takes over, to preserve the truth of history and step in at the exact moment that you can stop him. That’s it. I am giving my trust, my hope, and my future to all of you. I know some of you have families outside of these walls. Loved ones or children. I swear to you now, I will do everything I can to keep them safe, and that is why I am going out there.”

She took a slow breath and turned away from them, towards the door.

“I’m the bait. Stay calm, and carry on.”

She left, closing the doors behind her, and ascended back into her castle, back into the sunlight, and back to the ticking pocketwatch counting down the minutes to her doom.

It was odd to know that she was walking to conflict, and not being able to do anything about it. All the pieces were in motion, every chance at a good ending already out of her control.

The flight to Ponyville, in the royal carriage, was quiet without her assistants. The guards pulling the carriage had been instructed to drop her off, then return immediately to Canterlot.

It was funny, the lengths she was going to, in order to reduce collateral damage. Like setting aside your favorite sticks before a forest fire, a futile act meant to give yourself a feeling of control when it was all about to be lost.

But when Luna finally got out and was left alone on the streets of the small town that she’d established solely for this purpose six hundred years ago, she had to put on an act to keep up appearances.

Princess Luna, savior and benevolent ruler, competent, powerful, and calm.

The mayor greeted her, eager and full of joy. The town guards stood at the ready to defend someone that they could never match in raw power or combat skill.

The small town ponies did bring a smile to Luna’s face, however. Their hope and connections woven together like a safety net waiting to catch those who fell.

Luna just hoped it was a strong enough net to catch a whole world.

After hours of preparation, she was left sitting on the grass behind a stage in Ponyville.

The sun was setting, ever so slowly, and as it did Luna again looked around her. No guards, no assistants. She felt so terribly alone but this was the only way to ensure noone else would be hurt.

But she would have given her crown for a hug in that moment.

The first sign of danger was the smell of burning hair, followed by a chill running down her spine.

She settled her wings and turned, terrified of what she would see.

The stone statue that belonged in her garden of an Alicorn frozen in the middle of a gleeful laugh, loomed over her larger than life.

At its base, a hoof on it, sat a grey stallion with a tangled white mane and thick beard, burning embers appearing around him and falling onto his coat where his skin twitched as though they were nothing but flies.

He turned and faced her, but where eyes should have been were blue voids, with burning golden pupils, arms of a clock shimmering into and out of existence around them.

Luna was a filly, her boots too large, her heart beating too fast.

"Is that any way to greet your teacher?!" He snapped.

Luna flinched and looked away, eyes filling with tears.

"G... Good evening, St..t..tarswirl."

"What have you done to your sister?" He asked, tone filled with fury. "She looks terrible. I entrusted her to YOU, Luna!"

"She... Wouldn't stop," Luna sobbed. "She wouldn't stop h... H.... Hurting people."

Horrible magic, aching of broken reality and wrongness, grabbed hold of Luna's chin and forced her to look into his eyes.

"One must sometimes do distasteful things, in the name of progress."

Ch.2 Turning the Gears

Laying in a too-small bed in a carved out tree turned into a library, was Luna's prodigal student, a mismatched being called Eris. With a dragon's tail, one lizard leg, one donkey leg, and one arm like an eagles talon while the other was a lion's paw, she was a singularly strange creature which Luna had termed a 'Draconequis' soon after meeting her. She was technically immortal, but thanks to a quirk of time she would age in an endless cycle, growing old and then being reborn. This time around she'd decided to finally figure out ponies, and who better to learn from than the god queen princess thing of ponies?

But Eris was fairly certain that she was being punished. She'd ended up not only being sent away from the castle, her home, and all the wonderful mischief she could get up to, but she'd been sent to a town full of the most confusing ponies she'd ever met.

First had been a pink pony that looked very excited to see her, but then had gasped and run away. Then, she'd met an orange pony called Apple, who had seemed determined to give Eris every single item of food present at her farm.

Then a blue pegasus had knocked her over, told her to her face she looked like a mess, then flown off leaving her assistant Spike laughing so hard he couldn't stand.

Next, a yellow pegasus who had frozen still at the sight of her, ended up talking to Spike nonstop for half an hour, and finally she'd met a white unicorn who had given her a dress, fashion advice, some tips about the town, and invited her to breakfast.

And the entire time she'd had to walk on designated little paths that were clear of snow, so her claw and hoof wouldn't freeze off. If she was strong enough to fly, she probably would have been worn out from hovering everywhere.

But at least now she could get some sleep, as the town celebrated the shortest day of the year, in preparation for the ceremonial raising of the moon.

Then, there was a pink pony standing over her bed.

"Aaah!" Eris shrieked, squirming out of the bed and falling to the floor with a thud.

"Hey, that's what I said!" The Pink One replied with a wide grin. "But I wanted to ask you, if you'd prefer a cupcake and an introduction to the town, or a big welcome to Ponyville party!"

Eris stared at her, before clearing her throat. "Ah, I, it's customary to knock before going into someone's bedroom?"

"Ooohhh riiight," the pony groaned, drooping. "I knew I was forgetting... Here."

She went to the door, closed it, then knocked.

Eris seriously debated not answering, before she ultimately got up and walked over to the door, opening it to reveal the pink pony again.

"Yes?"

"Hi! My name is Pinkie Pie, and I'm the official town representative for Ponyville! I wanted to see if you would prefer a big flashy party, or a cupcake and a 'heres everything you need to know about Ponyville' talk!"

Her grin was absolutely adorable, and after a second Eris sighed and gestured for Pinkie to come in, sitting down on her bed to be closer to eye level with her.

"Probably the second one, really. I mean... I'm under a lot of pressure and I think Luna's mad at me, and..."

There was a cupcake being held in front of Eris's face. Orange cream cheese icing on chocolate cake.

"Woah. I didn't even tell you what I like... Did Luna tell you?" Eris asked, taking it gently and nibbling on it.

"Nope! I guessed!" Pinkie said with a big grin. "Soooo lemme tell you all about Ponyville! First settled just after the Time Schism, it used to be an Earth Pony only town! Really secluded, great farmland, but pretty soon after that, the Princess made an edict, all towns have to have land set aside for all the races, so we can get to know each other! But we still harvest our crops without magic, manage the weather manually, and have Earth Pony holidays like Harvest Festival!"

She paused to take a huge breath, as Eris leaned back on her pillow, eating her cupcake with a grin. This was better than a bedtime story!

"Now days most of the town is mixed, but the farms are still mostly Earth Pony run. We got selected for hosting the Winter Moon celebration this year because of a competition our school Foals did! They had to make a banner and a motto for the town and they came up with 'All for one and one for all' which I think is from a book but they still won, so that's good. Uuummm besides that, I'm Pinkie, I try to help everyone in the whole town whenever I can!"

"That's got to get old, aren't there mean people sometimes?" Eris asked.

Pinkie stared at her, at first confused until she had a dawning expression of understanding.

"Ooohhh, people that don't want help. Well... The way I see it, the most important thing is to not rush ponies. Er... Creatures. If someone doesn't want help, that's ok. I just wait to see if they change their mind."

"You are a singularly strange pony, Pinkie Pie," Eris declared. "I love it. Thank you very much for the cupcake, and the introduction, it kinda took my mind off this horrible prophecy about how Time will be Broken again and stuff... I hope that I didn't take you away from the party."

Pinkie giggled, shaking her head. "Silly billy, the party is wherever a new friend is. But I should go see if Rainbow Dash is getting in any fights or anything. You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah," Eris nodded, smiling. "Yeah, thanks Pinkie."

"Sleep well!"

Pinkie slipped out of the bedroom and closed the door, and finally Eris got some sleep.

Eris held back a yawn, as she watched ponies pour into the town square to watch the raising of the moon, Spike asleep on her back, snoring softly.

Pinkie hopped in, followed by Rainbow, who flew right over.

"Now that is just cute, crazy cute. But that's a nice dress, Rarity make it for you?"

"Yeah," Eris nodded, smiling a little. "Why, you recognize it?"

"Nah, but she'll do anything to see someone smile. After the celebration, I'll tell you some stories," she chuckled before flying back to Pinkie, and settling in.

The mayor of the town stepped up onto the stage and took a bow as the crowd grew quiet.

"Welcome, everyone, to the one thousandth Winter Moon celebration! Here to raise the moon and tell the story is our princess, her royal highness, Princess Luna!"

A small orchestra of birds gave a coordinated melody of their songs, before the curtain was drawn open and out stumbled....

A filly, her coat dark blue, with pastel blue mane, and a silver crown hung around her neck.

Then she opened her wings and Eris recognized her teacher as she stood from her casual position, mouth open in shock.

"Run!" Luna squeaked, before another figure stepped into view.

He wore burning stars as a cape and a crown. His eyes saw only the raw utility of each thing before him, burned to its end. Father Time, once Starswirl the Bearded, had returned.

"It is Time," he growled. "For you all to live up to your potential."

He lashed out with his magic at a town guard who had started to fly towards him, and the armor they wore was gone as though it had never been there.

Then, their wings shimmered and warped, their grey coat becoming sleek and smooth like a metallic fabric, until finally the new creature landed on the floor, changed utterly.

They looked like a life sized doll without seams, moving in stiff and precise ways, turning to take in the crowd with empty blue eyes.

Then the screaming began, and they did run.

Eris remembered so many times that she’d had immeasurable power, that she could have lashed out and tried to stop that horrible creature, but her helplessness was absolute as she stumbled into the library and started tearing books off the shelves on the walls.

“I told her!” Eris wailed. “I told her but did she listen? No! Make some friends, Eris. Don’t worry about the horrible prophecy of doom, and being ripped through time by a mad stallion, it’s all fine! Go. Make. Friends.”

The door to the library behind her burst open and she flung herself to the floor with a scream, tossing a book in the general direction of the noise.

“Anything but the renaissance, I hate philosophy!” she shouted.

But the book landed in front of a group of ponies, not Father Time. Those ponies also looked just a little bit concerned for her well being, considering she was cowering behind a coffee table and wielding a book as a weapon.

"Darlin, we ain't here to hurt ya," Applejack said gently, approaching her slowly. "But... we'd like ta figure out what's goin' on."

"And you know, don't you?" Pinkie asked, her smile nervous but full of hope. "You knew something was going to happen, and we'd like to help, if we can!"

Eris looked around at all of them, the five ponies nodding as Spike stumbled half asleep through the scene to curl up on a cushion.

"Spike, did you not see the evil stallion bent on warping time?" Eris asked him, a touch annoyed.

"You're two thousand years old and swore to protect me forever, I'm sure you'll figure it out," he said before yawning so wide his jaw popped, and pulling a blanket over himself.

The ponies looked at Spike, then looked at Eris, incredulously.

"Okay, so... I'm only like twenty this time around. I... I've lived a bunch of lives, and now I'm Luna's student, but... All I know about the guy that showed up tonight is that a long time ago he was called Starswirl the Bearded, and that there was a prophecy in a book called The Elements of Harmony, a Guide, and the prophecy talked about this exact celebration. But I can’t even find the book!”

“Here it is!” Pinkie said, holding it out with a grin.

Eris stared. “Where… how…”

“It was in the section labeled E!” Pinkie crowed gleefully.

“Don’t think about it too much darling, Pinkie can just do that sometimes,” Rarity said gently, putting a hoof on Eris’s shoulder.

Eris shrugged and got the book, opening it and turning the pages until she found what she was looking for.

“On the thousandth year, as the moon doth rise, the turning of the gear, shall reveal all lies. Chains broken upon the Father, set loose Time to run amok. Only with harmony’s elemental power, shall one wind the Clock.”

“Sounds like a bunch of gibberish, is there a translation to normal pony-eese?” Rainbow Dash asked as she took the book out of Eris’s claws and flipped through it.

Eris laughed a little, shaking her head. “Not one for poetry, I take it?”

“Only if it’s coming from a pretty mare,” Rainbow said casually, shrugging. “Like Rarity maybe.”

“Don’t tease,” Rairty pouted.

“Who said I’m teasing,” Rainbow shot back, grinning.

“Alright, y’all can flirt later,” AJ snapped before taking a breath to calm herself. “Now, Eris, sounds like these elemental harmony things, they’re bound ta be the solution?”

Eris nodded, gently taking the book back and looking through it.

“And I don’t suppose ya’ll got them tucked away in a bag somewhere?”

Eris shook her head as she found the page she was looking for and began to read.

“The last known location of the Elements of Harmony was in the Great Clocktower in Everfree City, once the capital of Equestria.”

“Everfree City,” Fluttershy gasped. “That’s… You don’t mean…”

Rainbow Dash turned to AJ with a grin. “Better get all the supplies we can carry. Sounds like we’re going into the Everfree Forest.”

Ch.3 In Time We Will Mock

Though Rainbow was right, Eris still wondered at the incredible amount of equipment that AJ assembled so quickly.

The group of six snuck through the town, lit in evening light, until they reached Sweet Apple Acres. The apple trees that covered the hills cast long shadows across the road up to a farmhouse and barn.

Then the farm pony proceeded to load them all up with calculated precision.

"Alright, Rares, bandana first. Yup, hair back. Bags, water, food, yer food. About as much as I think'll stay on ya for a trip. Rainbow! Flight harness. Rope. Remember how ya open these clips? Early hearth's warming present. Survival pack, and food, water. Pinkie!"

Pinkie appeared from behind Rarity, grinning and wearing a camoflogue uniform with a massive backpack and a knife in her teeth.

AJ looked her over warily. "Pinkie… I… could I give ya anythin?"

"I didn't bring anything to eat! This is all explosives!" Pinkie said as she gestured at the backpack.

Everyone chuckled, putting Eris at ease that it must be a joke.

AJ found a couple apple pastry pockets and tucked them into Pinkie's belt pouches before turning to Fluttershy.

"As long as all of you are there, I can do it," Fluttershy whispered.

"Of course, sugarcube. But anything I can give ya? Got another flying harness…"

Fluttershy looked over the assembled gear and finally picked up a backpack full of extra water and survival gear, with a tent strapped to the bottom of it.

"This will be helpful, and I can carry it," she nodded firmly.

That just left Eris, who AJ wasn't quite sure what to do with.

"Eris… what can help ya?" AJ asked tactfully.

"She means what are you?" Rainbow asked, grinning, from nearby.

AJ cringed while Eris chuckled.

"I don't know what I am," Eris admitted. "But… I don't have real magic, like ponies do. I don't have powers. I'm just… Strange and I'm learning about ponies, that's all."

"Shucks, not all magic looks big, flashy," AJ insisted.

"Yeah, you've probably got some magic, deep inside!" Fluttershy agreed.

Eris blushed a little, embarrassed by being the center of attention, but she couldn’t help but smile a little.

“Okay, but… I think it’d be best if I carried the guide book and just… whatever extra supplies that would help,” she explained. “I can’t fly or cast, I’m not all that strong. But I’ll do my best to help.”

“And that’s all we need, darling,” Rarity said reassuringly as AJ got Eris a saddlebag that had extra backpack loops.

Then the group finally set off to the edge of the Everfree Forest, looking out across the wildest untamed land in the continent.

Ponies had long ago tamed the weather and land, bending it to their will with a variety of magics. They funneled their pollution to holding zones and brought favorable weather to every harvest, but this forest had rejected their rule. Princess Luna had never pushed the issue, leaving it wild, but now Eris wondered if that had been on purpose as they started off into the trees.

The main path was marked “Everfree City” with an ancient carved stone sign which now was half obscured by a large oak tree.

“Imagine livin’ out here, land sakes it’d be terrifyin!” AJ said as Rainbow whisked past them before circling around to hover over them.

“Well, this used to be a road, with paving stones it looks like,” Eris pointed out as she stepped over a very flat stone, and spotted some more in the underbrush. “I imagine it was a pretty nice town! You all are scared of the forest because of the unpredictable weather?”

Rainbow laughed, landing next to her.

“Heck no! We can take some rain. We stay out of the forest because of all the monsters and plants that are warped by magic!”

Eris stopped, staring at the blue pegasus, who was grinning.

“Wait, really?” Eris asked, wide eyed.

“Oh, yes, I live next to the forest and sometimes I’ll see footprints from big big creatures with sharp claws,” Fluttershy said, shivering nervously and looking around as Eris also looked into the dark forest, a bit more apprehensive than she’d been a moment before.

Then she noticed that there was still a little sunlight, just a little.

“Huh, how long has the sun been setting?” she asked as she peered through the trees at the red glow on the horizon.

“Quite a while, but… perhaps an hour or two?” Rarity said tentatively.

“Father time… He must be messing with the flow of time, it’d be appropriate,” Eris said as she followed the group, resuming their trek into the woods.

The sun didn’t go down, and they could occasionally spot the moon low on the opposite horizon, stationary through the trees as they walked.

But after a while they came to a part of the road that descended down the side of a steep hill into a meadow below, where the group stopped for a moment to look down at the creek and forest below, and their first glimpse of the Everfree Clock Tower.

It stood in the far distance, lit up in gold by the setting sun, the wide glass face of the clock glinting as the hands of the clock slowly turned backwards.

“That can’t be good!” Pinkie giggled.

Eris smiled a little and sighed. “Yeah… He’s probably already there, trying to find the elements so they can’t be used against him again. But I believe we can figure this out. We have to.”

“Um… is… is the ground supposed to be doing that?” Fluttershy whispered.

Everyone looked down, and saw that lines in the path were rapidly decaying, the grass rotting away and the dirt breaking down into dust. Eris was the first to notice the lines surrounded them.

“Get off the--!” She started before AJ headbutted her, sending her sprawling out of the circle of lines just as it collapsed, the road falling in a deafening landslide that roared into the meadow.

Eris, dazed, took a moment to even realize what had happened, before she crawled over to the edge of the cliff, looking down to see…

Rarity and Pinkie being carried to the ground safely by Rainbow and Fluttershy, as AJ clung to the rocky face.

“AJ! Why did you do that, you could have gotten out!” she called.

“Throw me a rope, would ya?” AJ replied calmly, grinning up at her.

Eris set her backpack down, and sure enough there was a rope attached to it, which she unclipped and lowered down, letting AJ grab onto it with her teeth, so she could pull her up and back onto level ground. Eris pulled her immediately into a hug.

“You could have died!” Eris wailed as AJ just chuckled and patted her on the back.

“Aw shucks, I’ve been through worse, sugarcube. Ya said ya couldn’t fly with those wings of yours, so…”

“So you almost gave your life for me,” Eris said, letting go of her, looking at the orange pony in awe.

AJ shrugged, coiling up the rope with a calm smile.

“Apples give. It’s what we do. Now come along, we’ve got a big bad scary fella ta wrangle.”

Ch.4 All of our Fears

The group was able to find the bottom part of the road quickly, with Rainbow scouting from the air, and they resumed their walk with Eris feeling a little stunned by AJ’s actions.

“Would you have done that for anypony?” Eris asked.

“Yeah she would,” Rainbow laughed, poking AJ in the ribs with a hoof. “She’s a big softie, always trying to give people what they need. She could harvest her entire farm on her own, but does she? Nope, she hires on folks from town who need work.”

AJ, though blushing, was smiling and laughed at the compliment.

“Shucks Rainbow, didn’t know ya’ll kept tabs on the farm work! Well, ain’t been but eight years since my ma and pa passed on, but I’ll always remember ‘em. Mostly by followin’ their ways. Ain’t nopony but nopony deserve ta go without. That’s the Apple Family motto. Got a barn? Reckon it can sleep a few.”

She shared a knowing look with Fluttershy, who looked grateful in return.

“That’s touching, beautiful,” Eris said, admiring the way the ponies interacted, friendly and open.

“It’s just how I am. Everyone has their good parts, it’s one of mine,” AJ replied.

“Stop.”

Everyone stopped and looked to Fluttershy, who had been quietly watching the road ahead.

“What do your elf eyes seeee?” Pinkie whispered, peeking over Fluttershy’s back.

“What’s an elf?” Rarity asked.

Fluttershy shook her head a little. “I… there’s something up ahead. A creature I um… I can understand them, but… I think they’re talking to themself. I need to get… closer.”

She swallowed nervously, staring at the dark road ahead.

“I’ll come with, Shy!” Rainbow said, landing in front of her. “And I promise not to punch the scary animal in the face this time.”

Fluttershy chuckled a little and started down the road, Rainbow leading at a slow hover. The rest watched from afar as they stopped, listened for a bit, and then came back. Surprisingly, Fluttershy looked to Eris right away.

“Um… In your uh… Have you…”

“Did you ever in the past steal the babies of a Manticore?” Rainbow asked flatly.

Eris stared at them, and really thought about it before drooping.

“Ohhh… um… so I’m like… really old. Well, I’m like a phoenix sort of? I come back? Two or three lifetimes ago I needed some Manticore cubs for a prank so… yeah, yeah I think I did do that actually,” she nodded, smiling nervously.

“Then I think you need to apologize to the Manticore in the woods, and I’ll interpret,” Fluttershy said, shaking a little where she stood.

Eris looked to her, a bit surprised.

“Why… wouldn’t you all just go on without me?” Eris asked softly. “I did a bad thing in the past, I… The problem is me.”

Fluttershy’s trembling, all her fears faded a little as she stepped closer, and all her other pony friends backed away a little, giving her space to do her thing.

“Eris… I care for wolves sometimes. Do you know what wolves eat?” she asked gently.

Eris grimaced, and nodded.

Fluttershy nodded, looking away a little. “Sometimes they eat animals that they could… they should pick others. I teach them. I show them… Better ways and try to make it a little better, even if not perfect, but if a friend of mine has done bad things, then we do them right. We fix things. I won’t…”

She sat up a bit straighter, and for the first time since meeting her, Eris saw strength in the pegasus.

“I won’t abandon a friend,” she insisted. “And you’re my friend now. So we’re going to go over there, and put things right, as right as they can be.”

With tears in her eyes, Eris nodded and followed Fluttershy down the road, until she could hear the growling and grumbling Fluttershy had initially picked up on. Fluttershy held out a hoof and stepped forward.

“Excuse me, Mister Manticore?” she called out.

Three trees crashed to the ground in a flurry of movement as a towering creature emerged from the dark trees. It looked for the most part like an abnormally large lion, except for the bat wings and scorpion tail it had, marking it as significantly more dangerous than even the most aggressive lion.

When it laid eyes on Eris, it roared, shaking the ground and causing leaves to shake free from the trees all around, falling to the forest floor.

Eris was trying to hide behind AJ, though it wasn’t working very well.

But Fluttershy stood in between the Manticore and her friends, standing proud.

“I believe that my friend owes you an apology,” Fluttershy declared.

At that, the Manticore didn’t know how to react, if it’s stunned expression and confused noises were any indication of how it felt.

“No,” Fluttershy said, shaking her head. “She’s not going to try and take your children, and she knows taking your siblings was wrong. Eris?”

Eris whimpered as she stood and slowly walked up next to Fluttershy, mentally calculating how quickly the Manticore could eat her.

“Um… Hi, yes, I ah… I really really shouldn’t have done any of that, and I won’t do it again. Your siblings are living in Neighpon now and--”

The Manticore mewled, looking to Fluttershy, who looked to Eris.

“His siblings are still alive?” she asked sternly.

“Yes!” Eris nodded quickly. “The prank was a village said that they would only allow a manticore to rule over them, so I found a couple and taught them political theory. It took a few years,” she was about to ramble on about the prank, but the Manticore was making noises at Fluttershy again.

“I believe that she’s telling the truth, yes,” Fluttershy nodded. “She’s my friend now. So your siblings are probably still alive.”

And with that, the beast’s great wings opened, and it launched itself into the air, soaring off into the twilight sky, leaving the path clear before them.

Ch.5 As the Past Becomes Memory

"Thank you for sticking with me, and putting that right," Eris told Fluttershy as they made their way down the road.

"It's... It's the right thing to do," Fluttershy said with a nervous smile. "And now he can meet his siblings! It's a really good outcome."

"Like the time you figured out that one of my clients had misinterpreted my little soirée for her as being sarcastic, in the end everything was perfect," Rarity said fondly.

Fluttershy blushed but nodded, as they came over a small hill and looked down on the ruins of a small village. The stone foundations and empty doorways stood between thorny bushes and bent trees, old rotted wood beams holding up the vague shapes of rooftops, covered in rot.

They all hesitated, but as they descended into the ruins, magic flickered over the old stones. Time was turned back, and reality warped to reveal six scenes from the histories of those six creatures.

One building became a two story round shop, boarded up and grey. In front of it, a shimmering copy of Rarity sat, staring up at the imposing facade, her expression hopeless and full of pain.

Another was a quaint farmhouse, beautiful and quiet, with a younger AJ sitting next to a smaller filly that could only be her sister.

A clearing between buildings looked like it was covered in clouds, as a younger Rainbow sat, holding a piece of paper, tears on her cheeks.

Some old trees blossomed, green and rich, with a young Fluttershy laying in between them all, even from a distance her wing clearly broken.

Eris immediately spotted the scene meant for her. An older Eris, more mature and powerful from so long ago that it was barely even her, cowering in a cottage that was burning, a white Alicorn with blazing white eyes standing over her, cruelty etched on her face.

But directly ahead in the road, the sunset sky had been turned into grey clouds scattered high above a dusty farm, a single gravestone standing just beyond a grey mare, two grey fillies, and a very young Pinkie Pie.

Everyone froze, their hearts in their throats, old pains brought back to overwhelm them with grief.

But Pinkie Pie slowly stepped ahead, looking around at them all before focusing on herself, mane and tail straight and flat.

"Oh momma," she sighed.

Then she looked back at everyone else, and turned to face them.

"It's going to be okay," she insisted softly.

Fluttershy looked away, as AJ bit her lip and scowled at the ground, and instead of getting frustrated or angry, Pinkie looked at them all with sympathy, before turning back to her scene with a sigh.

"Ooh... My momma once told me..."

"N... Now is not a time for a song, Pinkie," Rarity snapped, but Pinkie ignored her.

"Pinkie, you've got to stand up strong.
Your sisters and the farm need your help,
We couldn't do this without you for long.
Dreams are well and good, but sometimes you need more."

A tear fell from her cheek as she stepped into her younger self, magic shimmering around her as she took her place in her own history.

"But momma, I said, I've gotta have my dreams!
Even with daddy gone, There's more to me than this farm."

Her mother turned to her with that same sympathetic look Pinkie had given her friends, and put a hoof on her back.

"Dreams are good, and dreams are fine,
Don't take my caution as cause for alarm.
Pinkie dear, the more I speak of is kindness,
Not giving up or losing your precious charm."

Pinkie, young and full of sorrow, looked up at her with wide eyes, not understanding.

"When we lose something precious," her mother said, voice cracking as she looked to the gravestone. "A part of our heart turns a little vicious."

She gestured to a broken toy that shimmered into appearance, and the other two fillies, who weren't looking at Pinkie at all.

"How easy it would be, don't you see, to go cold.
But Pinkie, you were always meant to be bold!"

Pinkie stepped away from her mom, looking up into the sky as she sang her reply.

"But momma, I didn't do it right. Pappa told me, on the fading of the light... Don't ever leave a hole, always fill what you had stole... If I'd done my job, our Pappa'd still be alright!"

She turned back to her family, cheeks wet with tears, and separate from them as though she didn't belong.

Her mother smiled sadly and held out a hoof.

"There are a thousand little mistakes,
That anyone could make.
Leaving open the wrong gates,
Or falling in a lake.
But your heart, Pinkie Pie, may be dark, but it lies.
Forgive yourself first of all, my dear,
Or the pain will come back every year,
Multiplied by the pain you hold near.
Lean instead upon your family ties."

Pinkie rushed back to them and into her mom's arms, holding them as they all dissolved into magic, leaving Pinkie with a sad smile, arms held out.

"Without family, you can make one!" She declared, turning to her friends with determination.
"I'll be your sister, you'll be mine, it'll be tons of fun!"

She ran over to them and took Rarity by the shoulders.

"I... I didn't have anyone to help me..." She whimpered.

"But you made it through, don't you see?" Pinkie urged. "Family of blood turned it's back, but you survived and changed your tack!"

"And now the family that I chose is there for meeeee..." Rarity sang as she stepped into the place of her past self, took a deep breath, and ripped the first board off the window, the memory dissipating in a flash of brilliant blue.

"But what if you had it all... A family close and taaaall, but lost them way too soon..." AJ crooned, eyes glassy but unable to shed a tear as she looked back on the first talk she had with her young sister about the parents she couldn't even remember.

"What a beauty then, that you gave that love to her," Pinkie said gesturing to that young sister. "It may hurt, but you were there for Applebloooom!"

And AJ did go into that memory, and held her sister close, and golden light showered down around her as the past drifted away.

"Family is well and good, but doing what I know I should, just hasn't come as easy as they say," Rainbow said, grimacing as she looked at her younger self. "Flying high I knew that I, was the best of every beeest! But... I failed time again, learning where I couldn't win, when I failed every... Single... Test..."

Pinkie danced over to her, blocking her view of her past for a moment.

"And what a great thing, I can't remember a thing, Ponyville needed more! Than a brave weather captain, who knows every pattern, regardless of the score."

Rainbow smiled a little as Pinkie stepped aside, and she too banished her past, taking comfort in the present.

Fluttershy was quiet as Pinkie approached, sitting next to her past self, broken on the forest floor far below her home.

"Sometimes there's no good, even if we think that there should... There are pain we have endured that aren't right, they aren't fair!" Pinkie insisted.

"But to become who I am today, I had to fall down right there," Fluttershy said, timidly taking a step closer. "And I love who I am today, so who cares, really, what is fair..."

She jumped and landed in that spot, and a distant scream of pain echoed through the forest, before a deer and then a chipmunk, and then an army of animals emerged from the trees to help their fallen friend, and the memory found it's end.

So then Eris was left, looking at her past, tears in her eyes.

"I was a trickster, a god among the petty," Eris sang with a voice older and deeper than her appearance. "I would mock her, a cruel joke always at the ready..."

She walked towards her past, and stopped with a hand raised to the white Alicorn's cheek.

"Her pains were so much greater, than ever I could have known. Sitting on the throne she would say Later, just go!"

She looked away and bit her lip, holding back more tears.

"But never could I listen, not a single thought or care, I broke her heart, her mind, her soul! With a single childish dare."

Her younger self moved of its own Accord, speaking.

"It was just a joke, Celestia! Just a silly thing!"

The Alicorn laughed, it's smile not showing any joy.

"You dare me to not be so grim, so I'll follow your discordant hymn, of nonsense and trickery, I'll be the queen."

And Eris turned her back on the scene, sitting on the ground with her tail curled around her, hugging her knees to her chest.

"Pinkie, I can't do it. This one, it's just too much. I've done bad things I can't even fix, just leave me behind and take the bad one out from your mix..."

Pinkie trotted up to her and sat in front of her.

"There's nothing I can do, to heal how mean you are to you. But I can tell you, that we get better because we try! Not a second of a day goes by, where I am fully perfect!
But I could never say my flaws will last forever.
You have to tell yourself the truth!
The painful complex aching truth!
Lift your voice up above the throng!
Whether with a dance, or a speech, or a song!
Tell the darkest part of your heart that it is wrong!"

And Eris looked back, and she didn't know if she could do it, but she crawled on hands and claws and knees to take her place as the world around her burst into fire, and she looked up at the being that had once been her closest friend.

"I don't deserve this," she whispered.

And the memory fell apart into dust.

When Eris opened her eyes, everypony was holding her, all together, making their way through their grief and pain while Pinkie led the way.

Ch.6 And Future All Hope

"How do you deal with so much pain?" Eris asked Pinkie as they walked, everyone else quiet and thoughtful in the wake of enduring the assault of their pasts.

"Silly, it isn't pain," Pinkie said as she skipped over a rock, a bounce in her step, and never losing her smile. "It's Living! It's me, and you, and everything in between."

Eris chuckled, looking out into the trees as she tried to understand the strange pony.

"Maybe it's too much living for me then," Eris decided.

"Not enough You, too much of the other things that hurt," Pinkie countered. "There's good stuff. You're some good stuff."

Eris sniffled, but she did smile before a rumble rolled through the ground. Everyone stopped and looked around for more aging cracks in the ground, but they didn’t see them. The silence stretched on until the ground shook again.

“It came from thataway,” AJ said with a gesture down the road.

They picked up their speed and came around a bend to see a river in turmoil. Thrashing whitewater roiling over the banks as a bridge was broken in half, the wooden pieces flying off into the woods, and sinking into the waves.

“Dang it, we needed that bridge!” AJ shouted as they galloped up as close as the group could get to the wild river.

At the sound of her voice, a dark shape rose from the waves and turned to face the group. Dark purple scales and golden spines swept back from lips turned down in a sneer of rage. The spines that stuck back from the creature’s head looking dishevelled and broken.

“Leave! Go away! Come back in a few years, when I’ve found a hole to bury myself in!” he roared at them, his tail thrashing to the side and sending another spray of water at the ponies, the mist falling over them like rain.

Rarity stepped up closer, squinting at the creature before clearing her throat.

“Excuse me! But what happened to your mane? Or… Spines? They look broken!” she called out.

“Well thank yooouuu for noticing!” he snapped in reply, bringing his head low to glare directly into her eyes. “Yes! I woke up, and I look terrible! I don’t even know what happened, but I look a hundred years older, my spines are all broken, and my scales are positively DULL!” he roared in anger.

Rarity stood her ground and looked him over, smiling just a little.

“Darling, your scales look fine, don’t you know that dragon scales gain a deeper and more refined luster with age?”

He huffed, and opened his mouth to retort before looking at his arm, squinting.

“Really? They look alright?” he asked suspiciously.

“Yes, I just noticed your spines, and… Well, not to be overly boastful, but I could trim them into a much better condition,” she offered.

He looked around at the group and frowned.

“Just because you want to get over MY river!”

Rarity shook her head, and looked back to the rest. “Rainbow and Fluttershy, dears, could you start carrying the others across?”

She then looked back to the serpent, smiling.

“I think we’ve got that covered, dear, but your spines?”

As the pegusi carried Pinkie across, the river dragon slowly laid his head down on the bank of the river, allowing Rarity to get a closer look, before digging through her bags and pulling out a hoof trimming tool and a file.

“I’ll have you looking quite dashing in just a few minutes, then we can head along, it’s a shame about your bridge though,” she said with a sympathetic look as she clipped off broken ends.

“It’s fine,” he huffed. “Nopony’s used it in… Well, decades. So no fare, no news, no… Anything.”

“A shame!” Rarity gasped. “This is a bit remote, I’ll admit, but perhaps if we can fix the current situation, I could host a party or two out here! Travel by carriage, fix the road… It certainly has atmosphere,” she said with a wry chuckle.

“No…. No pony wants to come all the way out here,” the dragon insisted. “Especially not with the new guy around.”

“New guy?” Eris asked.

“Well he just showed up, said that he’d be rolling back the clock, and told all the creatures of the forest that we’d be serving him soon enough,” he sighed, sounding miserable. “I remember serving the ponies a long time ago and that was hard enough! The rules, the noise, but… it was better than this.”

Rarity tut tutted, shaking her head. “Shame, we’re going to try and stop him, that’s why we’re out here.”

“Really?” he said, hope in his eyes for the first time as his tail fell still. “Well… Here.”

He stretched his body across the river, flat as a bridge.

“I’m sorry about the bridge. Come on, no need to fly across,” he said, his tone of voice much gentler.

Eris stepped up next to him, conflicted but she knelt to put her hand on his, where he was holding onto the river bank.

“Thank you.”

“Thank your precious unicorn friend here,” he said, looking back at where she was working on his spines. “I was… so angry,” he admitted.

“Sometimes we need a bit of hope and joy in our lives, to see past what hurts right now,” Rarity said fondly, patting him on the head gently. “I just wanted to see you at your best is all.”

He smiled, as Eris walked across his back, followed by AJ, to join their friends on the other side of the river.

That left just Rarity and the river dragon.

“What’s your name, little pony?” he asked.

“It’s Rarity,” she said as she took the file to his spines, sharpening the clipped ends.

“My name’s Steven,” he replied. “It’s been… a long time since anyone cared how I felt.”

She frowned, pausing in her work. “Have you thought about coming to Ponyville?”

“I wasn’t sure if I’d be run off,” he admitted, looking away shyly.

“Well, if you do come to town you tell them Rarity invited you,” she insisted. “My name… It’s fairly well known, and who knows maybe you can model some clothes for me.”

His eyes practically sparkled as he turned to look at her, grinning.

“Model?!”

“Yes,” she chuckled before gesturing with the file. “Not quite done, I wouldn’t want to leave your spines blunted.”

He blushed and laid his head back down.

“I’d love to model for you,” he said after a bit, still smiling. “I’d love to… look good, no matter how old I am.”

She put the point on the last spine before getting down and standing in front of him.

“Steven, it doesn’t matter how old you are. I learned that from my mother. Age changes us, but there’s no age that destroys beauty, if you know how to find it, and enjoy it. Visit me once this is all over, please, and I’ll show you just how dashing you can look.”

“It’s a deal,” he agreed. “Now go on, your friends are waiting for you. Thank you, Rarity.”

“You’re quite welcome, Steven, and thank you,” she said as she put her tools away and got up carefully on his back, walking across with her head held high.

Ch.7 We are Hounded by our Enemy

"Rarity always knows how to make someone smile," Pinkie said with a grin, hopping from spot to spot on the road. "That's why whenever I need to put on a party, I invite her!"

"Your parties are quite spectacular to begin with, Pinkie," Rarity said bashfully.

"But yet always a good one to have 'round," AJ added, poking Rarity in the ribs gently as they walked, getting a little eep out of the unicorn.

"Hold up everypony," Rainbow said as she landed in front of the group, holding out a hoof. “There’s a bunch of fog up ahead, and I think it’s a cliff or something.”

"It's probably another trap," Eris said immediately. "So--"

"So all of you stay here while I check it out," Rainbow interrupted.

“No! Rainbow, we…” AJ started.

Several of her friends protested, but Rainbow didn't listen as she flew ahead and over the edge of the chasm, looking down.

It had once clearly been a moat or deep river that protected the city from invasion. Far below vague shapes implied a massive fallen bridge, now just rubble with pools of water backed up around it.

But closer, and much easier to see was a rope bridge with old planks of wood still attached, firmly secure on the near side of the chasm but hanging directly down, loose.

"Oh, a bridge, sweet," she cheered as she flew down, fog swirling around her, to grab the other end of the bridge where it had fallen, so she could pull it back up.

"Still trying to make up for your failures?"

The tone of the voice was hauntingly familiar, cold and bitter.

Even as Rainbow turned to look, she knew who it was. Windy Whistles. Her Mother. She was hovering in the mist, arms crossed, as always disappointed. Her orange and red mane stood out bright from the twilight fog that glowed ever so slightly from the sunset far above.

"Mom, I have a job to do," Rainbow told her firmly, looking back to the bridge.

"You always do. At least as long as it's physical, you'll be able to pull it off," the mare said, sneering. "Emotional? Intellectual? Well, we both know how that turns out. Every time."

Rainbow Dash tried to sort through the tangled words, to understand what her mom was hinting at, to try and protect herself against the hidden meanings that always struck her down.

"You're talking about dad," Rainbow concluded, frowning. "But dad left because of his work, not because of me."

"Why do you think he had to work so far away?" Her mother asked, "why do you think that we kept running out of money?"

"I didn't need those tutors!" Rainbow replied angrily, finally predicting the flow of the conversation before it caught her. "They didn't help, or the pills, or the fancy cloud-grown food! I didn't ask for it, you did. You made him leave!"

"If that was true, then why do you feel like the same thing will happen with your friends?"

Rainbow gasped, feeling short of breath as she clung to the rope, and started pulling it up, her heart racing and tears starting to fall down her cheeks.

"You know this newcomer will take your place!" Her mother crowed gleefully. "You know that every pony you like will trick and use you, and then toss you aside!"

Barely able to see through her tears, Rainbow Dash tied the rope bridge up as tight as she could, and turned to the second rope, now moving quickly, trying to outrace the painful accusations being thrown at her.

"Rarity doesn't love you. It's all jokes to her."

Rainbow dropped the second rope, letting it dangle in midair as she shook with quiet sobs. But after a moment she still reached out and grabbed it again, sniffling.

"Why won't you stop?!" Her mother screamed in rage.

"If I'm not good enough for them, then I've got to be better," Rainbow whispered as she wiped the tears from her eyes and tied the rope. "Because unlike you… there's a point where they say I'm good enough. And that's good enough for me."

She finished tying the rope tight and looked back at her mother. Her fur was too dark, she looked older, and somehow too young all at once. She flickered around the edges in a nauseating way and Rainbow shook her head.

"You're not real," she declared bitterly. "But I wish you were. So I could tell you no. You don't… you don't own me anymore."

Then she turned and walked across the bridge, back to her friends.

"Land sakes," AJ gasped as Rainbow emerged from the fog, her cheeks wet with tears.

They all surrounded her so quickly, checking her for injuries, but she pushed them gently away, until AJ hugged her, and she let it go on.

"It was my mom. Fake, but my mom," Rainbow explained. "I… she tried to make me doubt you all. But… it wasn't true, and I know that you are all true friends. Even when I'm weak."

They all hugged her then, offering reassurances and comfort, but Rainbow kept looking at Eris. She was sitting off to the side, and after a bit Rainbow gestured for her to come closer.

"You're really cool. I'm sorry if I've been… not so cool to you. Ignoring you. I was scared you'd take my friends."

Eris looked around at them all and then back to Rainbow.

"Only if I get to take you too," Eris finally said with a smile.

"Sounds good to me."

Ch.8 At the End of Our Rope

The six creatures crossed the bridge carefully, the pegusi making sure noone would fall, until they were all walking through what had once been the City of Everfree, capital to Equestria long long ago.

But instead of being fully abandoned, as the clock in the tower turned back, ghosts walked the streets of Everfree. Dressed in fashion long since abandoned, or in some cases wearing uniforms or outfits that had never been seen before, they would wave to the group or bustle by without a care just like any large city.

They were rebuilding the lost city around the group.

Buildings were being put up in record time, brick construction side by side with the steel beams of a skyscraper, a quaint shop window displaying rusted bronze swords and armor.

“What is this?” Rarity whispered as she looked around.

“It’s time. All of time,” Eris replied, dodging a cart being pulled by a motorcycle. “All… building.”

“Reckon Father Time’s got himself a plan,” AJ declared. “One that’s got a whole city in it.”

Pinkie hopped around the group, trying to take it all in, before giggling.

“Well duh!” she said, gesturing around. “He’s probably gotta have a city to make stuff for him! Like, does he have to eat? What’s his favorite comfy pillow? What if it rains!”

Eris nodded slowly. “He’s… a mortal pony, despite all the power. So he needs support. I’m curious why he isn’t having them stop us though, since we’re here to stop him.”

The group murmured their agreement, as they continued deeper into the city and eventually to the Castle itself.

There were no ghosts here, no construction being done. Instead, the flow of time was slowly repairing the damage that the castle had taken on, almost as slowly as it had been done. They watched a vine creep back from where it had dislodged a stone, and that stone settled back into place.

“Stick together, everyone,” Fluttershy whispered. “Was there… anything in that book about how to stop him?” she asked hopefully, half hiding behind AJ.

Eris got the Elements of Harmony, a Guide, back out of her backpack and flipped through it.

“Stars, escape, thousandth year… Okay here we go… According to the prophecy of Shattered Time, he was originally stopped by the Elements of Harmony. There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery, and various translations interpret it as a Spark, Unity, Force, or Happiness.”

Eris sighed, rubbing her face as she looked up at the clock tower.

“So we need to find the elements!” Pinkie said, gesturing at the slightly open doors of the castle. “Let’s get lookin’!”

The ponies all agreed as they started off, but paused when Eris stayed where she was. Rainbow approached her first, landing in front of her.

“You’re scared, aren’t you?” she asked bluntly.

“Yeah,” Eris sighed. “I… I’m not very good at Harmony. I… I’m scared that I’m going to mess this all up. That literally anyone else would be better at this than me.”

“It’s ok to be scared,” Pinkie said, trotting up beside her.

“But know we’ll give it all we’ve got, and that’s gotta be good enough,” AJ added.

“I’m just glad that… If it’s the end of the world we’re all facing,” Rarity said tactfully, looking around at all of them with a smile. “I’m just glad I was here with all of you for it.”

Fluttershy joined the group last, looking up at Eris, before looking back to the castle, frowning.

“Eris… We’re going in there. To try and find these Elements, and we want you to come with us. We want you by our side.”

Eris met Fluttershy’s gaze when she turned back, and she saw the truth in her words. Eris wasn’t second best, she wasn’t a failure, she was just another friend. A part of this group.

She smiled a little and nodded, as finally they all moved forward together, and into the castle.

Ancient stone walls and wooden beams still held up the tower above, with tattered tapestries telling stories long forgotten by mortal ponies.

The story they told was of a teacher, a great and powerful unicorn who had unlocked secrets of the universe beyond anyone else’s comprehension, secrets of time and space, energy and matter, and everything that lay between.

What the tapestries did not tell was the story of his frustration, when those discoveries didn’t produce the perfection he demanded of the world, and his obsession drove him to ruin.

The group of friends that entered the great hall didn’t know that last part of the story either, as they took in the tapestries and then the holes in the ceiling, and finally the complex mechanical apparatus in the center of the room. It looked like a clock broken open and warped into something new and strange, with gears and chains and flywheels frozen in place, and bronze cages containing stone spheres presented up towards the holes in the ceiling like offerings.

“You think those are the elements?” Rarity asked, lighting her horn to pick one up, slipping it out of its cage and bringing it down to rest on the floor in front of her.

“One, two… five of them, yeah,” Eris nodded, looking around as the group got each stone they could find and clustered them together on the stone floor. “But there is supposed to be a sixth one, I don’t…”

“Oh, I found it,” a low masculine voice said, drawing everyone’s attention to the shadows at the far end of the hall.

As the unicorn stallion stepped out from his hiding place, the tapestries on the wall repaired themselves, and the stone floor became bright and polished. His grey fur shimmered, while his white mane and tail sparked and smoked, a crown of literal burning stars hovering over his horn, and a cloak of them swirling over his back.

“Father Time!” Rainbow gasped, before she growled and began flying towards him, clearly in an attempt to take the stone orb that floated in his magical grasp.

But a star shot out and hit her, and everyone watched in horror as she was changed.

First she became young, a filly straining against the magic to fly, but that didn’t stop her. So instead she was made old, her breath coming in gasps as she finally landed, wings thin and tired, her mane and tail faded and grey, barely able to stand.

“No!” Eris shouted, running forward and jumping in between Rainbow and Father Time, before a flash of light surrounded her and...

She was alone, standing in a different room, the walls covered in spinning gears and winding springs. The massive face of a clock took up one wall, and she knew she was in the clocktower.

“No,” Eris whispered as she frantically looked around, unable to spot her friends or the Elements.

“I did find it first. Did you think that, after being frozen in a timeless void for so long, I wouldn’t go after the Elements first? Your teacher prepared you poorly,” Father Time scolded as he stepped out from the darkness, and dropped the sixth element on the floor, a thin crack running through it as Eris gasped.

“No,” he stated simply. “She will be improved.”

He turned his head and from behind a cog stepped a blue alicorn, that Eris only recognized by her cutie mark.

Princess Luna had been warped, her eyes black except for white pupils, her fur matted with sweat, and her simple crown replaced with one covered in sharp points, like daggers aimed at everyone around her.

“Destroy it,” he instructed.

“No, no, Princess Luna please,” Eris begged.

But with one blast of black magic, the stone sphere was torn into shards of stone and dust that swirled in the air and scattered across the charred floor.

Eris backed away, one hand on her mouth as she realized that she was no match for her teacher, or for this stallion, and she had nothing left to try.

“You’re alone,” Father Time stated simply. “No elements of harmony, no friends, no hope left. Bow down to us, and I will restore your proper place in the timeline. Resist, and you will be destroyed."

As Eris stared at them, contemplating her fate, she heard a distant sound. Hooves running on stone, and a soft voice.

“We’ve got to find her,” Fluttershy was saying.

Eris stood a little taller, and then looked to her former teacher.

“You’re right,” she said, smiling a little despite her tears. “She didn’t teach me very well.”

Luna scowled, but didn’t respond.

“But she was busy,” Eris said, looking down at her hands. “And I wasn’t a very good student. But one thing I do remember her telling me about was Artifact Permanency. If something is so powerful, so incredibly connected to the world that it becomes an artifact, then it can’t truly be destroyed.”

A star shot out at her, but a shimmering field of purple surrounded Eris, destroying it as it approached.

As tears poured down her face, her new friends poured into the room behind her.

“I thought ya’ll didn’t have any magic!” AJ said, laughing a little at the impressive shield.

“I don’t,” Eris said, her confidence renewed as she stood tall. “But I have all of you! I might not be full of destiny and magic, but I have Applejack, who was so generous, she would give her life for another without a thought!”

In a flash of light, a green shield surrounded AJ, lifting her off the ground a little as she gasped.

“I have loyal Fluttershy, who is scared to even talk to someone new, but who would face a Manticore for her friends! Rarity, who will do anything she can to see others smile!”

They were both lifted up as well by the magic building around them all.

“Rainbow Dash, who told the truth, no matter how much it hurt, and Pinkie, who is so kind she healed hurts we thought we could never recover from! And all of them, all of them are my friends!”

The building shook a little as they were all lifted together, side by side. Luna looked a little proud, but numb to what was happening around her, but Father Time was roaring in anger, flinging stars and horrifying spells at the group, only for them to splash harmlessly aside.

“That’s what it is, isn’t it?!” Eris asked, laughing gleefully. “That’s the lesson Luna was trying to teach me, that’s the sixth element, and it’s what I’ve been missing for so so so many lifetimes! It was friendship.”

The stone fragments on the floor evaporated into light, and reassembled around Eris’s head as a purple star, wreathed in gold.

AJ’s green apple became a necklace, as a red butterfly formed a bracelet on Fluttershy’s arm. Rainbow found a golden yellow lightning bolt on a chain around her neck, Rarity gained a light blue crystal circlet on her head, and Pinkie Pie found a dark blue balloon-shaped gem on a belt around her waist.

Their magic and light poured together and blasted across Father Time, Luna, and the building around them, while those six friends felt eachother’s dedication and their hope in the future. Eris was not alone.

When they finally touched hooves and claws on the floor again, an ordinary stallion was curled up on the floor, as Luna in all of her glory sat next to him.

Outside, the sun had finally set, and the moon lit the inside of the clocktower in cold silver light, now in disrepair and ruin once again, the great gears still and the city around them again abandoned.

Slowly, Eris approached, as Luna turned to smile at them all.

“He’ll be alright,” she said quietly. “But I must thank you all…”

“I’ve been a poor teacher,” the stallion whimpered.

They could finally see him as he really was. A tired old man, whose eyes were full of regret and sorrow, but no burning stars or eerie magic left.

“He was your teacher?!” Rarity gasped.

“Some teacher,” Rainbow snickered, checking out her necklace.

“He was, and still is, my teacher yes,” Luna said as she put a hoof to his side. “And I failed to help him before he became Father Time. Now the elements have given me another chance… A chance to help him again.”

Author's Note

Well, this is it. The end of the story I set out to write. I hope you all enjoyed it, it clearly sets the scene for a lot of possibility, and I have some ideas for one-off bonus chapters. So if there's interest I may write those up as well, but thank you all for reading.