Time Spiral and the Continuum Countdown

Chapter One

Continuum

It was the day before my twelfth birthday, and that is a tremendous deal for a foal. I remember sitting with my Mother, my father had left for work last week and usually stayed away for almost an entire month, waiting for the clock to strike midnight. I had wondered what my Cutie mark would be for so long, I had no idea I would discover my special talent on that very night.

As the clock struck midnight a bright flash of light pierced the windows. It was followed by silence. Equestria was a strange place, things like this weren't usually considered out of the ordinary.

“Happy birthday, dear,” she said as she stroked my mane with her hoof.

Mom walked with me to the dining table and sat me down at the head of the table. She left my side and went to the refrigerator, she returned shortly with my birthday cake. Twelve candles shone brightly along the far edge. In the middle, the chocolate cake was adorned with a rainbow coloured spiral.

“What does that mean?” I asked her.

“Oh, it's not important right now, dear,” she began, “it will mean something to you one day.”

She smiled at me, I smiled in return.

Lights flashed over and over outside the window. Thunder rumbled in the distannce as rain began to patter on the roof. A gust of wind blew the lounge room window open and put out all the candles on my cake.

“Hold on, I'll light them again,” Mom said as her horn began to glow.

The doors crashed off their hinges as a group of Unicorns dressed in jet black armour forced their way into the house. They parted and stood to attention, making way for their leader.

He stood proudly. Unlike his followers, he wore a bronze Corinthian helmet, it distinguished him from them quite effectively.

“Get him,” he said, calmly.

“Run!” my Mom yelled at me.

I obeyed, fleeing to the darkest corner of the house. I hid in my bedroom closet, it was the safest place I could think of.

I could hear them following me, their hoof steps patting against the wooden floors. I held my breath. They turned my room upside down and finally stood outside the closet door. I knew they had found me, and I couldn't think of a way out.

The door began to glow, they had seized it with Magic. It grew brighter and brighter until it was finally ripped off the door.

There they stood, towering above me as I cowered in the closet.

“You're coming with us,” said the leader.

My horn began to glow uncontrollably, I started to panic. The infiltrators backed away cautiously.

The light from my horn engulfed me completely. A rainbow spiral erupted from the light and I vanished into oblivion.

My body twisted and turned inside oblivion. I dared not open my eyes for fear of what I might see. It felt as though my legs had been turned inside out. My skin was writhing, tearing itself from my body. Suddenly it stopped.

I warily opened my eyes. The sun was shining brightly. How could the storm have passed? I pondered, Where am I?

I gasped in horror as I tried to make sense of what had happened. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't think of an explanation. I checked my body thoroughly to make sure I was in one piece, that is when I noticed it. My Cutie mark had finally arrived.

Right there on my flank sat a rainbow spiral. I thought it looked similar to one that appeared before I appeared there.

I was conflicted. I had always wondered what my Cutie mark would be, and now that it had arrived I still did not know what it meant. Isn't everypony supposed to understand their special talent when their Cutie mark arrives? I questioned.

My next decision was probably one of the smartest I had made in my five years of life. I took in the surroundings. I recognised the street I was in. It was my own. I stood in the wreckage of my house, the wooden floors and walls were blackened and had long since collapsed. The other buildings looked run down and deserted. The grass had become brown and overgrown, a few mice scampered to and from the houses, but there were no signs of other ponies anywhere.

I carefully walked out of the wreckage and stepped into the long grass. I turned to look at my house, and as I gazed upon the last remnants of my home I was overcome by intense grief. A stabbing pain in my chest threatened to bring tears to bear. I collapsed to my knees, my light brown coat seemed to blend with the grass around me.

I closed my eyes, hoping that it would make the pain go away. I was wrong. An image flashed into my mind. I could see my mother, the shock on her face as our front door was blown off its hinges. The Unicorn wearing the helmet smiled as he watched me run to my room in terror.

Pain seared through my head as the image changed. My pursuers were opening the door. I saw the white light, the Rainbow Spiral. I shrieked in terror as I realised what I had done. I had destroyed the house, my unintentional disappearance had somehow torn my home apart.

I fell onto my belly with my hooves covering my eyes, shielding me from the world. Tears streaked down my face. I cried for my Mom to come to me even though I knew it was pointless. There was no way she had survived the destruction. But I would not listen to reason, deep down I knew that I couldn't.

I don't know if I had sat there for an hour or a day, it seemed like an eternity. The sun, which had been shining brightly before, was now falling below the mountains in the distance and the blue sky began to burn a golden red.

I pushed myself up from the ground, groaning with the effort. I stumbled as pins and needles shot through my legs. I slowly ambled away from the house onto the dirt path ahead.

I heard a voice in the distance. I looked around but couldn't see where it was coming from.

“Hey, you can't be down there!” said a red Pegasus as he whizzed towards me.

“Why not?” I asked.

“It's not safe!” he said as his hooves patted the ground and his mighty wings blew up dust so he could complete his landing.

“This is my home,” I responded, wiping the final tears from my eyes.

“Don't be silly,” he said, “no pony has lived here for one hundred years!”

What? I thought, How can that be true? I couldn't have just skipped a hundred years...

“I-I do!” I replied.

“Quiet, we don't have time for this!” he said, “If they catch us here we are dead for sure, especially you!”

“What?” I asked, “Why would anypony want me dead?”

“Your Cutie mark,” he replied, “the Guardians have been hunting your kind for years.”

The Pegasus thrust his wings outward and forced himself into the air. He moved toward me and wrapped his front legs around me and gripped me tightly before he carried us both into the air.

“W-where are you taking me?” I asked.

“To the Brotherhood of the Continuum, they will be able to help you understand.”