My Little Pony: Lands of Time

Chapters

New land, New times
The pub and Princesses
Council
Hitting the beach with chaos
Memory never dies
Preparing for games with chaos

New land, New times

My Little Pony: Lands of Time, Chapter one: New Land, New Times

Written by LOLSTERDarkmoon, with the help of Master of chaos and evil: Spell Bound, Proof-reader: Bookworm, and The love doctor: Flutterpie-Sparkle

It was a lazy Sunday morning, the sun rising from a power on the other side of the world. I got up slowly, my back aching from sleeping on the couch. My new apartment had a lot of work to be done and with the amount of boxes sitting around; it was going to take a while to get through anything.

I looked at the photograph sitting on the coffee table, a smiling young cornflower blue colt hanging off his Dad. I sighed at the memories, but with Dad dead and university starting soon I had to put those memories behind me and look to the future.

Getting off the couch I made my way through the maze of boxes and packaging to the kitchen. I chucked on the kettle and let my gaze drift towards the new view I had yet to get used to.

My apartment was on one side of a vast valley, the whole thing built into a great city. There were glass buildings climbing into the sky with signs for all sorts of goods climbing like vines up the 3D rectangles. This was Hour Valley, the legendary capital of Dayflow.

“Dream, the kettles finished,” came an impatient voice from the lounge. A few flaps later and the holder of the voice came to sit on the bench next to me. “You still miss him, don’t you?” This time her voice sounded concerned, even for a Phoenix she knew how pony emotions work.

“I just can’t believe after all the time I had spent with him, he would just be... gone.” My feathered friend laid a wing on my shoulder.

I grabbed a couple of cups from the cupboard and dropped a few tea bags in each one, some hot water and milk later and we were sipping on our tea in silence. There had been a lot of that since we came here.

I sighed, knowing we couldn’t stare into space all day. “Alright Flame, let’s get to unpacking the bedrooms. I don’t think my back could last another night on the couch.”

She nodded in agreement. “Good thing too, whenever you sleep funny you snore!” We both chuckled, enjoying some normal time. We emptied our cups, thankful for the heat and liquid to water our mouths and warm our bodies.

We weaved back through the kitchen, around the edge of the crowded lounge, and into the master bedroom. All the furniture thankfully already in place thanks to the moving ponies. “Can you handle the books? I’ll get the clothes and sheets,” I said, ready to start and get this over with. We went to our positions and started our jobs.

I folded all our formal clothes away into the little drawer before moving to the bigger boxes holding the sheets. Opening them I was met with a foul smell. “Oh crap. We didn’t wash them before packing. Great, looks like another night sleeping on the couch,” I glumly stated. Flame either ignored me or was lost in her own thoughts.

Picking up the box I made my way to the front door, downstairs was where the wash house was. The box balanced on my back I jumped down the center of the stairs, using my wings to break my fall. A quick trot downs the hall and I found the washing machines. I picked one at random and started to fill it up with the manky sheets.

“I wouldn’t use that one if I were you. It floods quite often,” said a voice behind me. I hadn’t even noticed the big yellow unicorn stallion sitting in the corner with a newspaper. “I take it you're new to the flats? Well I’ll be the first to welcome you. I’m String Lyrics, room 23.” He stood from his seat and extended a hoof.

“Umm, thanks. My name’s Dream Blizzard. Room... 26 I think? I only just moved in last night.” I shook his hoof and gave a friendly smile which was returned. “Oh, and thanks for the warning about the washing machine.” I returned to the said machine and pulled out the sheets and moving them to the next one.

He went to another machine on the other wall. “It is no problem. It’s always important to help others in case you need help’ said by the great poet Starswirl the Bearded!” He puffed his chest out at those words of famous unicorn.

“I take it you are interested in arts then, and wasn't Starswirl the Bearded a magician?” I prodded.

“Why, he was many things. Including being my Great, Great, Great Grandfather! And yes, I very much enjoy the arts, the art of words above everything else!” He was a very proud stallion with kind down eyes. Bet he was a hit with the mares. “Well I suppose I should be off. It was a pleasure meeting you my dear Dream Blizzard. Till next we meet.” He said with a bow before lifting his laundry with magic and leaving down the hall.

Well I guess friends would be easy to make.

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“Stop this Spell Bound! The chaos has corrupted you! Please fight it!” Begged Princess Celestia from the ground, nearly beaten.

“Why would I do that? I am the son of Discord! I am the rightful ruler of this kingdom and all others! And why should i listen to you ‘Mother’? You lied to me. Surrender or your precious elements die.” Spell bound turned to the elements of harmony all fallen on the floor, badly injured. “And how could you betray me, my friends. Even my dear Apple Jack?”

He grabbed said A.J by the hair, bringing her up to his face, the brave mare only barely conscious. While his back was turned, Celestia slowly got back on her hooves.

“Please....Spelly, stop this. Ah never betrayed ya’ll,” A.J pleaded, hoping some part of the pony she loved was still in this draconequus form.

“You all betrayed me. All lied to me. All secrets and lies with you. I shall have my vengeance, I shall have Retribution, and so I shall be called.”

Celestia felt rage from the pure hatred he had shown to her and her subjects. She called for the power of the sun and magic to flow through her. “You may attack me, boy, defeat me and mock me; but you do not. Do not, threaten my friends!” her horn glowing with everything she had left, Celestia unleashed a beam of pure magic right at the shocked once-was-unicorn.

Light engulfed him and he could feel his grip on the marble floor failing. Without him knowing a portal opened behind him, sucking him toward a land unknown. “No! Impossible, you don’t have the elements! You shall not banish me, I will return! With an army at my side and the power to crush this puny kingdom! I will have my retribution!” At that moment he was whisked away, to a certain valley on the other side of the world.

“I’m sorry Spell Bound. But I can’t let you threaten this kingdom, no matter the fact that I raised you.” Celestia slowly got to her hooves, calling for guards to help with the injured.

Watching from behind a doorway, a shocked Princess of love watched. The only thing she could call a brother attacked her aunt and was sent far away, she couldn’t leave him like this. She would find him and bring him back from the corrupt power of chaos magic. She ran to her room, grabbing the materials she needed and set up the spell. With a powerful burst of magic, she called a portal to a spot close where her once best friend was.

She left a hasty note, leaving it on her bed. A cloak draped over her, she faced the magic doorway and with a brave breath, stepped through.

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Flame and I were just sitting on the couch when the shock wave hit. It was like a power I had had never felt before but somehow felt familiar. The whole block shook from the force of the blast, knocking over stacked boxes and tall cabinets. The photo of me and my dad fell from the coffee table and smashed on the ground.

“What was that, was it an earthquake?” I heard shouting from out in the hall, multiple voices getting louder; soon the hallways were full of shouts and screams.

I stepped into the hallway myself to discover that, only the panic from the blast had caused the screaming. As relieved as I were to know no pony was hurt, the yelling was getting out of hand, but it would take a dragon to silence this lot.

“Be quiet! This is no time to be panicking! Everypony head through the exits and onto the front lawn! Move!” My ears throbbed from the assault on my ear drums. All the ponies in the hallway were now silent and making their way towards the exits. I turned to find String Lyrics looking quite proud. “Ahh, hello there Dream! Nice to see you again, shall we head outside to safety?”

I simply nodded, my ears still ringing. I poked my head back inside the apartment to find Flame still not moving since the shock wave. “Hey! We need to leave. Grab the keys and hurry up!” She shook her head, bringing herself back to her senses.

“Err, right. Get the keys.” Picking up the set of keys on the coffee table, she flew onto my back. I locked the door and turned back to String to find him smiling intensely.

“Well I never! A Phoenix, a talking one at that! My friend, you have quite a pet.” He studied Flame a bit closer before getting a donk on the snout from the annoyed bird.

“I like my space thank you very much, and I am no pet! How could you even think that?” She gave me an appalled look. “You know this guy?”

“I, ah, well I meet him while doing the laundry and-” I was interrupted by a crimson mare with glasses.

“Pardon me, but shouldn’t you lot be moving out of the building? That IS the drill of course. Did you even read the pamphlet left in every apartment? It stated that the most important thing to do in an earthquake was to leave with no dilly-dally! So move it!” She picked us up with her unicorn magic and dragged us towards the nearest exit.

“I can’t believe ponies these days, would just stand around and not do what they were told! Is it not that simple! If only-” Her ramblings continued under her breath as we were levitated the rest of the way.

The crowd on the pavement outside was bigger than expected, with about a hundred ponies all standing around asking questions. I was trying to see what had caused all this when I was dropped on the ground. “Ow, what was that for?” The mare shot me a look. I looked down at my hooves.

“That’s what you get for mucking around and not leaving immediately! Who knows what might've happened if you had stayed and the place collapsed! What is your name anyway? Since I saved you I think I deserve to know!” She stamped her hoof on the ground, getting a flinch from me.

“Ahh, I’m Dream Blizzard, this is Flame and String Lyrics," I said quickly, "So, umm, who are you?” She pulled out a notebook and took some notes. After slipping it away, she looked back at us.

“My name is Clean Beam. I am a class-A student from the Hourglass university! I currently have graduated from three high schools and won about 153 awards for different feats of science and magic across Dayflow! And I suppose you have no idea who I am, hmm?”

She said all that with a single breath and didn’t even look tired afterward. I guessed she did speeches often. “No, we don’t know who you are, nor do I think we should care,” Flame replied with her snazzy attitude. Clean Beam looked quite shocked that such a reply came from a bird.

Luckily String came between the two as they tried glaring each other into submission. “Hey everypony, let’s just calm down here; we need to figure out what to do and what is causing all this. So that’s enough for now, OK?” The two looked at String, back at their opponents, and then they both snorted and raised their snouts/beaks as high as they could.

String looked at me with a raised eyebrow and all I could do was shrug. “Well I guess that’s over. Now what's going on here?” We looked around and saw a crowd of ponies slowly growing down the street next to the park.

We pushed our way through the crowd, nopony standing in the way of the giant String Lyrics. As we neared the center we heard crying, and what we saw was far from what we had expected. Trees and flowers bent into ungodly shapes and angles, some even moving as if alive. The once bright and multicolored park now dyed an eerie purple.

Sitting in the middle of the deranged garden was a green mare, crying while holding onto a dying purple rose. “Why? Who would ruin my garden?! What monster could bring themselves to do such a thing?!” String took the weeping as a sign to help the poor mare, leaping to her side to comfort her.

While he did that, Clean Beam, Flame, and I went to take a closer look at the plants. “This... couldn’t be, Chaos magic? All of that kind of magic was sealed with the Time Turners,” Clean Beam noted. I shuddered at the mention of them. Everypony had heard of those tales, the bloodshed, the traits of the flow, the death of my only ancestor to make history in the family.

“They can’t have returned. Who knows what it would take to do that, and how do you know about chaos magic anyway?” Flame was never satisfied with unknown answers and neither was I, we were just so alike that I never had to say much; which was just fine with me.

Beam glared back at Flame, “I’ve got the most magical and science awards in the whole of Dayflow! It’s kinda my job to know.” Flame seemed happy enough with that.

At that moment one of the mutated plants came to life, spreading spores across the gardens, much to the distress of the young garden mare, spreading the infection to outside the park.

“Oh, that can’t be good.” Before our very eyes more green was being replaced by purple. Soon vines were spreading across the ground toward the large group of ponies like snakes, bringing all who saw them into a panic.

Before anypony could spread the news, they were being hoisted into the air, thrown about by the maddened vines. The garden mare saw what her beloved plants had become and could stand for it no longer. She reached into her saddle-pack and pulled out some very sharp looking hedge-trimmers.

“You lot, I can’t deal with this on my own. Please help me? These ponies need it.” She gave the cutest puppy eyes I had seen so far in my life and knew I had to help. Grabbing a pair of my own hedge-trimmers from her saddle-pack, I took to the sky.

Things were a nightmare down below. The corruption had spread far beyond the park, affecting not only plants, but all sorts of things. Lamp posts were twisted and tables were walking about, having conversations with doors. Hay, even the teapots were acting civilized with monocles. It was the strangest thing I had ever set my eyes on.

Wasting no more time, I flew down to help the swaying ponies caught by the vines, I cut the vines at the base and grabbed the falling ponies. The garden mare and Flame were doing the same as String and Beam took to dealing with the crowd and strange talking tables.

It was about then that the local Imperial Guards showed up and started taking charge, some big Earth pony barking orders at a mix race group of privates. They took off in every direction, and herded the panicked ponies away from the park. Beam and String had found a way to call off the chaos magic controlling the weird house utilities, but were exhausting themselves by doing so.

Most of the plants were taken care of and any remaining were being chopped at. I landed at last on the ground, quite tired after all that swinging and catching. A couple of medics had started going from pony to pony checking for any injuries.

Flame landed next to me on the grass. “Well, that was something new.”

I was impressed, after all that she had hardly lost her breath in the slightest, even though she was a Phoenix something with that kind of fitness was staggering; I never knew she could do that. I, on the other hoof, was panting like a mad dog; I only just managed a nod.

“Good going kid. Didn’t know kids these days were still fit, looking at my worthless lot...” I turned to find the big earth pony I had seen earlier, big and bold, with a short mane cut, which was dark blue, and his coat was Chestnut brown. “My name is Sergeant Bull Force, and who are you?” He looked like a pony who had seen a lot of wars and grief, kinda like my dad did.

“Hello there, Dream Blizzard! There you are my fine fellow! Good work out there with the vines and what-not.” Along came String with Beam following behind, looking worn out.

“Your name is Dream Blizzard? You mean, as in the son of General Bladestorm Blizzard? I... I am sorry about him. It is an honor to meet his son who is a truly inspiring individual.” He took a bow, showing his honor towards my dad was true. “Well I must be off, it was a pleasure meeting you.” He trotted off, shouting more orders at his troops.

Flame gave a snort of fire. “Damn military type, they are just dogs to the state. I never liked the likes of them, except for one,” she added, glancing at me.

The garden mare then came to join us. “Hello. I just wanted to say how thankful I am that you lot helped me in putting my poor baby’s to rest. I’m Free Leaf, and I don’t think I would of been able to do this had you lot not shown up. I’m sure everypony here is thankful as well.” Free Leaf gave us the friendliest smile I had ever seen.

“Why hello miss Leaf. It was an honor to help in any way we could. Something as evil as Chaos magic should always be tackled with a team.” He looked back over the rest of us, and I realized what he had just done.

“Wow, a team of hero’s? My, that is something.” Leaf looked back at the yellow stallion, and saw the look on his face. “Oh, I couldn’t, I wouldn’t be much help. Besides, you hardly know me.”

I couldn’t believe it. String was turning us into a group of hero’s. Who said we even wanted to go around saving everypony all the time? I just wanted a quiet life with no fighting or hardships. That’s what my dad wanted me to have. Unfortunately fate said otherwise.

“Well, most of our group don’t know each other either! We should take the opportunity to get to know each other and become friends! This will do great things for all of us, especially Dream. He has only just moved here and he needs the friends.” Oh, he’s doing this for me. Well and long as we aren't going to risk our lives or do anything crazy, I think I can roll with it.

“Oh, is that so? Still, thank you very much! I owe you greatly for what you have done today. Oh, I know! My shout at the pub! Come on, let’s go!” She basically grabbed all out tails in her mouth and dragged us there. Well, I guess that’s another thing to check off my list; make some friends.

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“That power. I’ve only seen that in one other place. Where am I? This is far from Equestria or anyplace else I have ever heard of. I must be careful; I doubt they would trust a random alicorn who came from a different kingdom. But those four ponies... They can’t be Elements. So what are you...?” The traveler slipped back into the alley as the four ponies and Phoenix walked past. She would reveal herself in time, it was hopeless trying finding Spell by herself. She was going to need to need all the help she could get.

The pub and Princesses

My Little Pony: Lands of Time, Chapter two: The pub and Princesses

Written by LOLSTERDarkmoon, with the help of Master of chaos and evil: Spell Bound, Proof-reader: Bookworm, and The love doctor: Flutterpie-Sparkle

The pub was nearly full with all sorts of ponies drowning in alcohol. Some were trying to forget things, some drowning their sorrows. Many of those in here were just looking for a good time with friends, like us. We sat up at the bar front getting cider after cider, telling stories and having a laugh.

“So I tell the lady, ‘Ma’am! Apes do not think intelligently and they most certainly do not talk’. However she continued to prod me into seeing her prized find. A creature called a human? Please, something like that could never exist.” We all listened to Strings’ tale about the strange teal mare he had met on his travels. Never before had I heard of such a creature. “She was quite upset by my rejection, so I booked her to see a therapist before I left. I believe she moved to another country after that.”

I drowned another cider down my throat thankful for the rough aftertaste at the back of my throat. “Well guys, this is the most fun I’ve had in years. I don’t know how to thank you.” Drinking made me somewhat more talkative. “Hey! Why don’t we sing a song?” This would kill me in the morning.

“Why of course! I would be happy to oblige!” Yelled String. The big happy stallion basically fell onto the stage, before getting back up and facing the microphone. “Here is a song dedicated to my dear *gag* friend Dream Blizzard who saved plenty of ponies today from the evil plant thingy.”

He cleared his throat and brought the mic up close.
“A hero, so great, as he soars through the sky;
Chopping down plants and snapping vines;
Catching the dames with just a single hoof;
He’d scare all you fellas away with just one hoot.”
Nearly every head in the bar face-hoofed. Despite his voice being clear as day and wonderfully sung, nothing really rhymed.

“Well, I guess he can’t rhyme when drunk,” said Flame.

“Hey. *Hick* That’s... That’s not nice... *Hick* at all you birdie. Oh! I’m so... *Hick* Sorry,” said Free Leaf in a slurred manner, which meant she was the drunkest out of all of us.

Flame just sighed at the pathetic display of words going around the bar, and just sat there looking quite bored. She had chosen to stay sober to keep the rest of us in check. Clean beam had decided to do the same before chugging an entire vodka bottle, she then went home.

String Lyrics came wandering back over with a unicorn mare hanging over him. “Hello chaps! I would like you all to meet, Er... Silver Moon! That’s it!” Silver Moon was average sized unicorn with a silver coat and teal and bright yellow mane. She also showed off her strangely sharp teeth in a smile.

“Hello everypony! How wonderful to meet you all.” Her voice was smooth and clear, pretty much perfect. “Well, as nice as it was to meet you and your friends, String, I really must get back to my own.”

“Silver Moon! There you bloody are! Where in Dayflow's name did you damn go?” Along came a rather angry looking midnight black stallion Pegasus. “I thought I told you not to bother with idiots like them, they aren’t worth our time,” he said. Now he just went and pissed me off. No one calls me or my friends worthless, ever.

“Are we worthless, huh? Well how worthless is this!”

I smashed the empty vodka bottle left by Beam over the guy’s head. After staggering for a bit, he picked up an occupied chair from under someone and threw it at me, it hit me hard. He would have been revealing in his victory, but the guy he stole the chair from wasn’t too happy, and bucked him right in the snout.

After that all hell broke loose. Ponies were picking up whatever they could find and threw it at whatever they laid their eyes on. A mare in a cloak behind me got smacked right in the back of the head by a flying bottle of something, and was knocked unconscious, right on top of me.

Remembering first aid, anypony unconscious that had been drinking alcohol was in serious danger, so I hoisted her onto my back.

“Hey guys! I think it’s time we left.” My friends all looked at me and nodded. We pushed our way towards the exit, with String in front. We got hit my many flying objects by the time we got outside, but we were otherwise okay.

“Whew. We are *gasp* never doing *gasp* that again.” Most of the group agreed with me. Then they all stared at what was lying on my back.

“Hey Dream, who is that your carrying?” Flame landed on my back next to the unconscious mare and poked her couple of times. I walked over to some grass and put her down.

“I have no idea. She got knocked unconscious when we were inside, I couldn’t just leave her there.” String gave me a look. “What?”

“There’s a good lad! Trying to get in with the ladies huh? Just be sure she’s awake before you try anything.” Face-hoofs all round.

We looked back down at her. “I guess we should look for identification. Knowing who she is might help us find her home.” Looking at the cloak I saw it had no pockets. “No pockets. Maybe she has a pouch or something?” Hearing no objections I took the cloak off.

We all gasped at what we found underneath. A pink, mixed with a bit of blue and yellow in her mane, mare with wings that turned purple towards the tips and a horn sticking out of her forehead.

“She’s, she’s a... a...” We all locked eyes with each other. “She’s an alicorn?” There were no known alicorns in Dayflow, except for the Time Turners, but they were locked away, and none of them looked like this.

We all just sat in silence and watched the breathing of the mare. We had no idea what to do or if we should get involved in any way. At last it was Flame who spoke.

“Do you think she has something to do with the chaos magic?” No one said a thing. String grabbed the cloak and put it back over her.

“I don’t think she has anywhere to stay tonight. I’m busy as it is, and so is Leaf and Beam. I guess you will have to take care of her, Dream.” I gave him a shocked look, but knew it made sense.

After that we parted ways. I picked up the Alicorn again and headed for home. When we got back I was happy to find the sheets were finally clean, so I got them back to my apartment and made the bed. I laid the mare on it and left for the couch. Flame did not approve.

“You don’t owe her anything. Why give her the bed? You need it more.” I was too tired to care right now so I clasped on the couch and fell asleep.

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The next morning the Alicorn woke with a start, her head still hurt from getting hit the night before. She looked around and didn’t recognize the place she found herself in. She got out of the bed and walked into the lounge. Lying on the couch was a slightly darker shade of sky blue Pegasus stallion whose mane was a mix of blues. She slightly remembered seeing him back in the pub last night. Quickly panicked she checked between her legs, and was relieved to find he hadn’t tried anything.

She thought about just leaving when a voice came from the kitchen. “Morning there Pink. Care for a cup of tea?” The alicorn wandered to the kitchen and found a Phoenix jumping around, grabbing cups and tea bags. “Oh by the way, could you wake up the bag of waste on the couch? He gets upset if he sleeps too long.”

The alicorn was speechless. She had seen the most trained Phoenixes in the land and none of them knew how to speak, much less form sentences. With not much else to say she made her way to the sleeping stallion on the couch. She gave him a couple of pokes before he finally started stirring. He opened one eye and looked at her lazily.

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I then screamed my head off. She reacted the same, falling over the coffee table. Flame flew in from the kitchen carrying cups of tea.

“Well don’t make a song and dance about it. It’s not the first time you’ve been woken up by a strange female.” She rolled her eyes at that, remembering the memories. “Right, so who wants tea?”

After calming down a bit we settled and took out cups. “Thank you.” Was the response from the mare.

A few moments of silence later and I started asking questions.

“So, who are you?” The mare looked up at me, as if I had said something that might be a lie and was trying to see if I was telling the truth.

“My name is Cadence,” she answered finally. “I’m looking for my brother, he came here yesterday. I fear he is in serious trouble.” Cadence looked at the floor. I noticed she had a ring on her horn, I’ll leave that question until later.

This time flame asked the question. “Where are you from? And why are you an Alicorn?” The mare looked shocked at these questions. As if she feared that we had found something she was trying to hide.

“I’m from... Trotting-ham, it’s in Equestria. I was born like this, not really sure why.” She tried giving a smile, and failed. She was obviously lying, but there wasn’t a lot I could do about it. She then began her own questions. “Where am I? I’ve never even heard of this place before, and how did you train your Phoenix to talk?”

Oh dear. She shouldn’t of said that. Even she knew from the way my ears drooped that this wasn’t going to end well.

“His Phoenix? His Phoenix? I am my own bird, thank you very much! I trained myself and anything more is none of your business!”

There was a knock on the wall. “Hey! Shut up in there!”

“Me shut up? You shut up you worthless pile of pony droppings! I will not take orders from anyone!” Me and Cadence had sunk into the couch by the time Flame was finished.

I quickly went to go make another cup of tea, and Cadence quietly followed. Only once we were safe from the raging Flame and had the kettle on did we continue our conversation.

“Well, that was strange. I never knew Phoenix’s had much feelings and volume,” I simply chuckled; this wasn’t the first time Flame had been ignited. “So, Cadence, tell me about this Equestria?”

She sighed, knowing she couldn’t get away with not telling me about it. “Pull up a chair.”

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"Equestria is a land ruled by two alicorn princesses; Princess Celestia, who raises the sun every morning and Princess Luna, who raises the Moon each night. The place is quite busy most of the time as there is always something being fixed by some sort of disaster. The latest was an invasion by an army of changelings.

Luckily, we have a special group of ponies who always seem to be there to save and protect our land. They are called the Elements of Harmony. They were just normal ponies at first but then they discovered the Elements when Nightmare Moon attacked, and used them to defeat her. Since then they have been defending the three princesses, and the kingdom, as well as getting into all sorts of crazy trouble.

That’s pretty much it."

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After she was done, I looked at her for a bit. She noticed this. “Is something wrong?” She asked.

“Yea, there is. You said that these Elements defend three princesses, but you only mentioned two. You also said that they were alicorns, which means the third must also be an Alicorn. So, who are you really?” She was surprised I had caught on so easily. She dropped her head in defeat.

“Yes, I am a princess. But my name is still the same. I couldn’t just go around saying I was a princess because that would draw too much attention. Please, don’t tell anypony!” Cadence actually got on the ground and begged. I was completely dumbstruck.

“Ahh, yea sure; your secret is safe with me.” She smiled greatly. “Your highness.” I let out a big smile of my own and we laughed. At least for a princess she could be casual. “So, what’s your plan now?”

She sighed before looking out the window. “Well, I still need to find my brother.” Oh snap! I had forgotten about that, other wise I would've asked. “I don’t know where he is, but I fear if I don’t find him soon I might not be able to help him.” Help him? Did he have something to do with the plants that attacked everyone yesterday?

I was about to ask more about it when there was a knock on the door. “Hey Flame! Could you get that?” I sipped on my tea and waited for Flame to tell me who was at the door.

“Dream? You might want to come here.” I got out of my chair and walked into the lounge.

Standing in the doorway was a couple of imperial guards. “You have been summoned to an appearance with the council. It is about yesterday.” Cadence came from the kitchen. “They want to see everyone involved. I guess that includes you as well."

Cadence looked at me with fear in her eyes. She might be discovered if she had to come. I gave her a reassuring smile and we made our way into the hall. The guards nodded and walked off. We followed.

Council

My Little Pony: Lands of Time, Chapter three: Council

Written by LOLSTERDarkmoon, with the help of Master of chaos and evil: Spell Bound, Proof-reader: Bookworm, and The love doctor: Flutterpie-Sparkle

“You know what this means! If we let them escape by themselves, then they will destroy us! If we free them, then they might reward us.”

“Are you mad? If they escape at all we are all doomed! This is just a strange event that has nothing to do with them.”

“I agree. What if we release them and they have nothing to do with this, then what? We have two problems.”

The great council of Dayflow never had truly agreed upon anything, but with something like chaos magic showing up out of nowhere, a decision had to be made. A blue unicorn with red and blue hair stood above the others.

“If you damn idiots keep up with these useless bucking comments, then we won’t need the Time Turners to cause chaos! Now all of you sit the buck down!”

No one argued with the emerald eyed chemist, so they all fell silent and took their seats. Rubidium Nitro was a proud pony when it came to his position and power, and he would have it no other way. “Now, does somepony have a real idea?”

No pony raised their hooves or whispered a breath. Except for Swirly Puddle, who stood next to Nitro. “Well Ruby, there are a few ponies that were there when the chaos attacked. They seemed to deal with it quite well, maybe we could recruit these ponies and send them after whoever is causing this?”

Nitro scolded, he hated his nick-name that ponies had put together from his first name. But Swirly had a point, if these ponies he spoke of really did combat the chaos and were successful, then they might be able to stop the source.

“That... might work. Where are these said ponies, Puddle?” Nitro grunted, hating to agree with his rival.

Swirly kept his poker face and answered. “They should be on their way here already. I doubt we will have to wait long.”

Nitro was pleased with that. It seems they were going to get somewhere today after all.

=========================================

It seemed I was going to get a tour of the capital earlier than I thought. The tall glass buildings spread on the valley floor were more impressive from the ground, but trying to view them was combated with the hundreds of ponies moving from point A to point B down in the street.

Flame, Cadence, and I kept up with the two guards leading us to the central building of the city. It sat in the middle of a large park, and looked rather like a grey bee hive. We were lead down a path with statues of powerful and meaningful ponies on each side, watching us as we made our way to the doors.

At the entrance, there was at least thirty Imperial guards standing around or doing their rounds. We had to go through five check points before we even got to the main doors. On the inside the floor was spotless to a point where you could see our faces, banners hung over every stone pillar which reached to the roof; all the way down a vast hallway. Ponies pressed in the average work suits were running back and froward, carrying stacks of folders and paper. Waiting inside for us were String Lyrics, Clean Beam, and Free leaf.

String and Beam looked like they had lived through the afterlife, while Leaf looked as fresh as a daisy; smelt like one too.

“Hello friends!” Leaf cried as she came and gave us each in turn huge hugs. “How nice to see you all; all of you awake at least,” she added with a friendly smile at Cadence.

“Nice to see you guys too! But, why are you here?”

“We aren’t too sure. They said everypony involved with what happened to my beautiful garden had to be here. I assume they said the same to you?”

I nodded. We looked around the marble building we were in, and found that no one else was around. “Hey, where did everypony go?”

Her question was answered by some massive doors at the end of the vast hallway creaking open. “Come closer, ponies!” A powerful and cocky voice called from the large room behind the doors. We trotted at a steady down the hallway, slowly getting a better view of the room we were being called into.

A group of about eight ponies sat at a high set, semi-circle table; lowest on both ends and raising as it got to the center. At the highest point sat two ponies, one a unicorn and the other an earth pony.

“Welcome! We have summoned you to discuss the events that transpired yesterday,” the earth pony spoke said. “You were all there when the chaos magic took hold of the garden, and proved more than capable of disposing of it. So we have a proposal for you.”

The unicorn stood here and the earth pony took his seat. “Since you have the most experience with this chaos magic, we would like you to find the source and put a stop to it.” Cadence flinched and tensed up under her cloak at these words. “We are yet unsure what has caused this, but have faith you will be strong willed and solve this mystery.”

The unicorn left it at that, the next move on us. Our small group looked at each other, none sure how to take this offer. We would be diving into something we had hardly anything to do with, and no experience except from yesterday. It was String who spoke next. "So what if we accept? What could you offer us in turn for this service?"

The unicorn and earth pony turned away for a moment, discussing what they had to offer. When they returned it was the earth pony who spoke. “I’m sure there is something each of you wants. If you do this deed for us and the kingdom, we will do what we can with our power to help you reach your goals.” A smirk appeared on his face, I didn’t trust him at all.

The others, however, were riveted about this offer. Whatever they wanted, these ponies could help them get there. It was only Flame, Cadence, and I who kept our straight faces while the others beamed. String once again took it upon himself to speak for us all. “Well, I guess we may have an agreement. As long as you promise to hold up your end of the bargain, we will hold up ours.”

The whole eight council members grinned devilishly, tearing my gut up with bad feelings. “Excellent! We will give you all the supplies you need, as well as all the knowledge on the matter. We wish you luck ponies. May time turn slower with your steps!”

With those parting words, more guards appeared behind us. They lead us away from each other and to different parts of the building. They took Flame and I, also Cadence who refused to be parted, to a training room. Hoops and objects hung in the air as well as the ground. Dummies were also scattered in different places. The big earth pony from the park came from behind a large pile up of broken materials.

“Ahh, Dream! Nice to see you again lad!” Bull Force came up and shook my hoof quite tightly, my hoof pulsing from pain afterward. “And who might this be? I can’t say I’ve seen you around here before.” He stood before Cadence and tried to peek under her hood, but she just pulled it lower. “Are you a mystery mare, eh? Well I guess that’s fine. Just don’t make me regret leaving you alone.”

Bull turned back to the objects all over the space. “This, Dream, is where we will be training you. We can’t be sure what to expect when you go off to find the source of this ‘chaos magic’, but be sure that I will have you trained for it. Today, we’ll see what you can do, and then you can go home while we decide what to put you through tomorrow. Any questions before we begin?” We remained silent and that brought a smile to Bull’s face.

“Good. Now let’s see what you can do,” He lunged at me out of nowhere, and tackled me to the ground before I could even let out the air knocked out of me from the blow. “Well that was pathetic! Always to ready for an attack! Who knows when you are being watched?” Well I was getting shouted at by the massive stallion, Flame quickly darted into the air and her herself alight.

“Well you should be careful of your enemy’s friends, brute!” And then, before Bull could even turn around, Flame had struck the back of his head with a swoop and a blast of flame.

Bull Force was knocked out easily and I pushed his dead weight off me. It was then that the blue unicorn from before stepped out of a side door.

“Well, I guess training will have to wait for tomorrow. We will have more tests and basic training waiting for you when you get here. Oh, and don’t worry about jobs and rent, we will be more than happy to cover all of that. Just, try not to make such a mess of my forces next time. It leaves a bad mark for me.” He turned back to the doorway and left.

“Well, he’s charming,” quoted Flame.

With ‘training’ done for today we headed home, leaving back through the large marble entrance way. All the ponies who had seemed to have disappeared were now back in full swing; carrying notes and papers from one end of the hall to the other. After the five check points, which were faster on the way out, we walked back through the city and up the hill to home.

A couple of cups of tea later and it was off to bed. I was sleeping on the couch again, much to the joy of my back, and with final good nights to Flame and Cadence, I fell asleep. It was going to be bloody hard in the morning.

Hitting the beach with chaos

My Little Pony: Lands of Time, Chapter five: Hitting the beach with chaos

Written by LOLSTERDarkmoon, with the help of Master of chaos and evil: Spell Bound, The Love Doctor: Flutterpie-sparkle, and Proof-reader (Anyone got a TF2 pun?): Bookworm

No one moved from the words that left Cadence. Most of the group just moved their eyes from the pink princess to the monster before them, with the exception of Long Jump and his friends; they just looked over all confused.

While the creature had its back turned to them, it seemed best to sneak out of there and avoid all contact with it; but as they tried to move,
“Going somewhere, dear sister?”

Suddenly the monster appeared right outside the defensive spell. “Did you really think I wouldn’t notice your essence? Did Celestia send you after me?”

All they could do was stare in shock, and felt horror with the familiarity the creature spoke to our companion.

“No, of course she didn’t. She’s too terrified of me. And I see you’ve made some new friends; how pathetic.” He glared at all of us, he seemed to linger on me, then shot his gaze over to Green Leaf.

“Ah the Gardener, I was hoping I’d meet you, after how highly your plants spoke of you. ‘You won't get away with this, Free Leaf will save us!’ they cried. And when i corrupted them, they stopped. Instead they cursed you.” His mouth turned upwards into a malevolent smile as Free Leaf broke down into tears. He then faced String Lyrics.

“Now the Great Grandchild of Starswirl, oh how proud you must feel. Of course that’s because you don’t know the truth. Complete ladies’ man, used his power to get with almost every mare in Canterlot. Wonder which one of his Bastards Spawned you. Oh how I hope it was the maid.” He seemed to take great pleasure in the horror and disgust that overtook Strings face.

“And you, Pegasus. Long Jump i believe. Oh don’t be so surprised. I’m a spirit of chaos; I’m going to know your pathetic name. So protective of these mares around you, who died? Who did you fail? Was it your mother, or perhaps your lovely sisters? And you, blind one. Why do you stand against me? It shall only end in tragedy for you.” Once more he moved his gaze on satisfied he had shaken those two to the core.

“Then there is you Clean Beam, The bookworm. You remind me of Twilight. Except you are pathetic excuses for a unicorn. How long did it take you to learn your first spell?” Clean beam looked down ashamed and Spell only chuckled. He then noticed Silver Moon.

“Hmm, a strange mare you are. You are hiding something, and are most expertly if even my gaze can’t find what it is. You interest me. You remind me of a mare I met the last time I was in this land. I think I’ll keep you as a plaything.” He looked at Silver Moon, and then shifted his sight to me again. “We’re reaching the end soon with you, Dream Blizzard.”

He stared at me for what seemed an eternity before continuing.

“The son of the great hero Bladestorm Blizzard, oh what a fool he was. I remember when i first met him. I told him to watch himself, that a Pegasus wasn’t meant to contain that power, and then, after months of anguish, died. And you did nothing to help him. HE spoke highly of you, He was so proud of his son, who had his mother’s eyes, but all i see is a cowering wretch, who is more of a fool than his father!” His words dripped with venom. Finally, returning his gaze to Cadence.

“Do you think these hopeless souls can help you? I won’t stop, I can’t stop. I need my Retribution. There are artifacts in this land, that will aid me, allow me to return to Equestria, and claim it from my ’Mother’.” Once more his words dripped with venom and anger, but also a hint of sorrow.

“This has been fun, my little ponies. But give up. Only the elements can stop me now, and your equivalent of them has been lost to time. You stand no chance.” With a click of his fingers he disappeared.

We stood around holding our breath for some time, scared that some hideous creature would pop out of nowhere and tear us to pieces. After a good five minutes nothing happened so we deemed it safe to move again,

Long Jump stormed right up to Cadence with murder in his eyes. “What in all of bucking Dayflow was that? How did it know who we are and where did it come from?” Jump was leaning right over Cadence, who was trembling and looked like she would faint at any moment.

No one really made a move to stop the bullying. Most of us were too busy watching the horror before us. Many bodies layered the street and those who were not dead were screaming out in horrible pain.

The chaos controlled plants slowly lost the will to fight, this caused from the loss of magic in the air. Most of the fires died while many houses and trees were still ablaze. The night sky pushing through the red haze and the cooling breeze returned. Cadence lowered her shield as we just stood there, to busy trying to make sense of what just happened.

“You know what? Buck you guys, we’re leaving.” Jump was shifting his eyes left and right, still not trusting anything that moved. He turned tail and fled, closely followed by Silver Moon and Blind Try, who somehow knew where to go even with blind eyes.

Our small group continued to do nothing. Eventually, the imperial guards started to show up and joined us in gawking. A very shocked Bull Force came to talk to us. “How… What did… *sigh* Right, I have no choice.” We looked at him in confusion, and he returned the gaze with sympathy. “I’m going to have to take you all in. You will be held until we find out what happened here. This means your training and payments are cancelled until further notice.”

The group stayed unresponsive, we just stared at him like he was an alien. More guards came and pushed us from behind to get us moving. No one spoke as we were escorted through the burned corpses covering the streets. It seemed like five eternities’ before we reached the main parliament building, the stone statues had moved to form a sort of gate blocking the way, but moved as Bull approached.

They stayed this way until we came closer, then without warning, they turned to face us and bowed. This seemed to blow away nearly every pony watching, but we still didn’t noticed; thoughts of all those dead and that unbelievable power still clouding our minds.

The cells were located deep underground where the air was as hard and stale as the rocks the walls were carved from. The cells themselves were basic with a bed, simple plumbing (toilet and sink), and smalls holes in the walls. We each had our own cells, and with nothing to say to each other we climbed onto our beds and slept.

===============================

At last after hours of waiting, they came for us. A large squadron of guards made of some of the toughest ponies I had ever seen; at the head was a red earth pony mare, a bloody helmet for a cutie-mark.

“Time to get up, you lot, the council will now see you.” Her expression was one of uninterested and routine, probably from doing this so often.

Guards came into our cells and dragged us on to the cold stone. After sitting on our plots for hours on end, our legs were stiff and made walking slow and painful. A few encouraging head-butts from the guards got us moving quicker up a large staircase.

As much of a sticky situation we were in, I couldn’t help but admire what a lovely backside this battle-hell mare had. Lucky for my own backside, I don’t think she noticed, so we continued upwards.

String Lyrics took a couple of longer steps and fell beside me. “You know, it’s rude to stare,” he said with a wink.

“You know, it’s rude to talk about a mare’s behind while being behind her behind,” the mare said, coupling the words with her own wink. Looks like String just found some competition.

Once we had scaled the stairs and made it to the top, the way to the court was very short; placed almost directly next to the stairwell leading to the dungeons. The whole place was alive with chatter and noise, a panic filling the air. The only ponies not looking spooked were Nitro and Swirly; Nitro looking rather displeased, while Swirly Puddle was trying to hide a smile.

A high power looking Pegasus walked into the scene and shouted at the top of his longs, “Quiet in here you pathetic excuses for ponies!” All the ponies running about stopped, stared at him, and then responded with a “Yes Mr Flower!” Then Nitro just face-hoofed at the stupidity of these politicians, “There ya go Mr Nitro, everything in order now?” The Pegasus named ‘Mr Flower’ said.

Sighing, Nitro stood. “Right, that’s enough, Er, ‘Mister Flower’. Now I would like it if you returned to the barracks.”

“Very well sir!” Mr Flower saluted. “But first I’d like to greet a relative of an old friend, who happens to be in this room.” I shuddered slightly as his gaze fell onto to me.

I didn’t know who this guy was, or what tied him to me, but I felt worried all of a sudden. “Er, who would that, be?” I asked.

“You, Dream Blizzard, Son of Bladestorm Blizzard; I served under him. He was a great stallion, and spoke highly of you. It’s an honor to finally meet you. But we will talk some other time.” After that he turned to those guards surrounding us, “Men, out! Back to the barracks with your scrawny flanks! Last one back pays for the mead!” Shouting those words he ran out of the hall, followed by the guards, the battle-mare giving one last wink to String.

We were left standing alone once again before the group before us, beady eyes watching us even more intensely than before. “Right, now that the ruffians have left, we can focus on the main attraction,” his natural smirk appearing, bringing light to his face. “You are going to tell us what happened out there yesterday, and you’re not going to miss any details. Understand?”

I opened my mouth to speak but Cadence stepped forwards, shushing me with a nod. “I will speak for the group. My name is Princess Cadence of Equestria. I have come searching for my adoptive brother Spell Bound, who is behind the chaos.”

Her words may have been killer for the silence it brought. Nitro’s eyes looked as if they had been replaced with googly prank glasses. Swirly Puddle looked like he had had a heart attack. All the other council members were expressing their shock in their own way.

Just then the council doors opened, and in the doorway stood a unicorn mare. Her coat was pale, her mane was tied into a bun and was bright blue, and her cutie mark was three love hearts.

“Greetings Nitro, I am Sweet Heart, an official from Midnight Beach. I’ve been sent to take this group into my custody, as chaos has arrived back home.” Nitro looked at the mare and then to our little group.

“Very well, get them out of my city. Don’t let them return till this Spell Bound is taken care of.” Nitro turned his back to us and left the room.

Sweet Heart walked up to us smiling. “Hello. If you could please come with me.”

Cadence stared intently at the mare. Something about her was familiar, but she couldn’t put her hoof on it. It was if some sort of magic was blocking her. Shaking her head she looked at Sweet Heart.

“OK....” The mare smiled softly at us all and turned and leads us out of the council. She led us to the Train station, and we waited for the train to Midnight Beach.

==================================

There was little Mr Flower liked more than making his men pay for the mead at the local bar. However, his curiosity overcame him and he eavesdropped on the ending of the meeting. He watch the group leave from the air, then took off for his favorite bar. As he ordered his drink he heard voices behind him talking about the local chaos, and he heard Dream’s name. Taking his mug he sat at their table. He looked over the group and recognized the male. He had been questioned after the death of his sister.

Mr Flower looked at the small group that consisted of a male Pegasus, a blind earth pony mare, and a silver unicorn mare.

“So ya know Dream huh? Well then, you are just what I need. His group was taken into the custody of a unicorn mare from Midnight Beach, but I’ve never heard of an official named Sweet Heart. So you are going to come with me as I follow them.”

“Why should we?!” The Pegasus male asked. He was upset that this unknown Pegasus had rudely sat down at their table and interrupted their conversation.

Mr Flower looked him over. “Your name’s Long Jump, aye?” The stallion nodded his head, now worried as to why this stranger knew his name. “I’ll tell ya why. Because your silver friend here seems mighty worried about the outcome of this young group, your blind friend is curious about this Draconequus this Alicorn claims is my old friend Spell Bound, and because I can make it worth your while,” Mr Flower smirked smugly and drank from his tankard of mead. “Perhaps I can even let you know who let your sister die.”

Long Jumps stared angrily at Mr Flower. “What’s your name?”

“My name is Dawn Cherry Flower, but since I met Spell Bound, everypony calls me Mr Flower; especially now I’m in a place of power. You want vengeance, and I want to clear my friend’s name. So, do we have a deal?”
Long jump looked at Mr Flower for a while, and then nodded. “Good, ‘cause your tickets have already been bought.” He places three tickets on the bar counter. “Take ‘em and off with ya. I’ll follow in a few days.”

===============================

A few hours later the train pulled into the Midnight Beach station. “Right, you will be living with me at my house. It’s near that forest so you’ll be fairly secluded, which means we can work on solving this chaos problem.” She pointed at a forest with her hoof, and began leading us.

We walked through the bright lights and big buildings of this large city; it seemed to even outmatch Hour Valley for its building heights. The only downside of the walk was the red-light zone. Mares and stallions alike sitting on corners, cigarettes hanging out of their mouths. We passed quickly and reached the back of the city, where the mountains surrounding it came together and made a narrow passage to the forest.

Cadence seemed troubled by the mare, so I walked alongside her. “What’s wrong?”

Cadence just shook her head. “I don’t know. Something seems both familiar and off about her, but I can’t place what it is.”

We walked in silence for most of the way, apart from Sweet Heart and String Lyrics, who talked constantly. “Honestly,” I spoke out loud, “If it’s female String will flirt with it.”

Any further thought was replaced by a more immediate feeling of awe, as we arrived at the house. It was two stories high, with an old oak archway leading to the door, which looked to made of wood resembling stone. “Welcome to my humble abode. Now please come in, so we can discuss why chaos has arrived here.”

We entered the house, all but one of us unaware of the fact that we were followed. Before she followed us inside, Sweet Heart stole a glance to the bushed across from the house, smiling confidently. She’d find them out tomorrow, and take them into this group. She would need all the ponies, the Draconequus, and tormented for what she planned. ‘Soon,’ she thought. ‘Soon I shall have my Retribution.’

Memory never dies

My Little Pony: Lands of Time, Chapter six: Memory refuses to die

Written by LOLSTERDarkmoon

Master of evil and chaos: Spell Bound, Editor / Co-writer* (*this chapter only. Currently): Bookworm, The love doctor: Flutterpie-sparkle

The inside of the house seemed quite elegant. It had a crystal chandelier hanging in the grand entrance with a large set of marble stairs reaching upwards towards the second floor, doors were on the left and right on the ground floor leading to more rooms.

“Right this way, if you’d please,” said Sweet Heart, “We have much to discuss. Is anyone hungry?”

We shook our heads and said “No thanks,”

“Pity. I have quite a selection. Very well, this way,”

We were lead to an equally grand living room complete with a giant fireplace. Each of us took a seat on the many chairs around the room, and once we were comfortable the conversation began.

“Right, now I understand that a rather horrid creature attacked Hour Valley. I’m sure you will feel better if you talk about it.” Sweet Heart gave a concerning look, like we were patients or something.

Free Leaf talked first, which was strange since she hadn’t said anything for a while. “Oh it was horrible. It was big and made of many animals, and it somehow knew each of us like it had been watching us our whole lives! It said some very mean things about my poor, poor plants.”

The others nodded in agreement then Clean Beam continued. “It was quite strange to be honest. It was almost like just seeing it was taking something from us. Like a missing number in an equation.”

I took my turn to speak. “I don’t know what this Spell Bound guy is, but he’s bad.” I looked up to see Sweet Heart spit out the tea she had been drinking and the others give me funny looks. “What? Was it something I said?”

Cadence put a concerned hoof on my shoulder. “OK Dream; who is this Spell Bound pony? I don’t remember anything about a pony like that,”

I looked in her eyes for something hinting that this was a joke, but there was nothing.

“You… you don’t remember? You told us he was your adopted brother. A unicorn, whose father was Discord,” I looked around at the other faces. “Do none of you remember?”

Before they could answer, Sweet Heart spoke up. “Well, I just remembered something I forgot to do. Why don’t I show you all to your rooms and maybe tomorrow your minds will be in better shape.” She gave a half-hearted, nervous laugh, and lead us out of the room to our bedrooms we were to stay in.

Flame and I had the same room, like always, but as I looked at her she gave me a strange look.

“You okay Dream? If you're seeing ponies or your brain is making up memories, then you need to sleep,”

I was shocked. Not even Flame, who had to remind me that I had fur sometimes, had forgotten about the information Cadence had given us. Something was wrong, very wrong, and I was the only one who noticed.

=====================================

Sweet Heart paced around in her living room, concerned. “I don’t understand. How can he remember. I put a block on all their memories so they wouldn’t even remember the name Spell Bound”

She took a break to pour herself a drink. “Most curious, but it doesn’t matter. He’ll remain silent for now, lest the others think he’s lost it.” Sweet Heart smiled to herself and moved over to the window and pushed aside the curtain with her hoof.

“Tomorrow we shall ‘discover’ the others. Oh it will be most enjoyable to manipulate these ponies to finding the artifacts for me, especially Cadence.” She gave a soft a chuckle and levitated her drink over to her. “The sooner the better, every month I waste Equestria recovers.”

Taking a long drink from the glass, she walked out the living room and headed upstairs to her room; turning the lights off on the way.

==============================

The morning sun poked its way through the curtains, gaining a grip on what it could in the room. Flame woke with sleepy eyes stinging from the light. She looked over at Dream, but he was still asleep, so she decided to leave him there.

Out in the hallway dust was floating around, getting caught by rays of sun. As Flame passed, it stirred causing a thin haze. She made her way down the stairs, her mind set on a cup of tea and something tasty.

About 5 minutes later she found she was lost. She flew over to a window, and found she had somehow got her directions confused and was upstairs. She turned round to make another attempt at going downstairs, and flew straight into Sweet Heart.

“Flame, isn’t it?” Sweet Heart asked.

“Yes, and you’re the one I don’t trust much. So what do you want?”

“Why you offend me! I only wish to welcome to my home. Oh, and the kitchen is that way.”

She pointed a hoof back towards the back of the mansion, back the exact way Flame had just came. Unsure how that could happen, Flame turned back down the hall, to find it was a completely different hallway.

“W-what, how did...?” but Sweet Heart was gone, leaving an even more confused Flame sitting on the floor.

Flame shrugged and almost took off again, but something caught her eye. In a room to her right, an old book sat open on the bed. Everything around it was gathered in dust, yet the book itself seemed untouched; despite being the oldest thing there.

Flame had only learned a small bit about reading, but enough that she could understand most of what was written. At the top of the page was a date, the 17th of April.

‘I have been traveling with my old friend once more, Spell Bound! The old rascal has got it into his head that his ‘family relations’, as he puts it, are somewhere in ol’ Dayflow. We’ll see what he digs up, it’s sure to be interesting.’

The next page read 22nd of April.

‘Spell has been a bit jumpy lately, might just be he feels we’re close. We got Intel of some ruins where some strange folks were always hanging around. Only problem is its location, it’s bang in the middle of the Mad Lands. Any stallion knows that place is plain suicide, but knowing Spell Bound that will only ruffle his feathers. Here’s hoping we get out alive.’

30th of April

‘The men are getting a bit pissy now. We came all this way only to find a clue pointing to some more ruins half-way down the country. Stand Still Desert is our next stop, let’s just hope that legends are just legends.’

11th of May

‘This... is one of the stranger moments of my life. We got through the desert and found the ruins just as a sand-storm picked up. However, one of the ponies touched something he shouldn’t, and now the land outside is, well, frozen. Nothing moves, not even the animals. This shows that maybe this might be a bad idea after all.’

25th of May

‘More clues led us to the ocean. After my last encounter with the vast salt water, I wasn’t too keen; but I had to stay strong and lead my stallions. So now we find ourselves heading towards the Luna Islands, I remember this place.’

???

THEVOICESTHEYTELLMEEVERYTHINGTHEDEATHTHELIFETHETRUTHABOUTHIMHEMUSTNEVERGETBACKHEWILLKILLTHEMALL

SPELLBOUND

DREAMBLIZZARD

SILVERMOON!

That was the last entry. After that was blank pages, turning back brought up something about a ‘Soul of Seas’ and a strange prophecy, but nothing more about Spell Bound.

Flame shut the book, not wanting to read more into whoever life this was, when a letter slipped from the pages and landed on the floor. She should've left it, but curiosity got the better of Flame and she picked it up.

After reading she looked around the room in a panic, slipping the letter under some feathers, she left the room and headed straight back upstairs towards Dream. She was almost there when Sweet Heart came walking out of a door.

“Hello there, Flame,” Sweet Heart spoke in her silky voice, “Why in such a hurry?”

“I read that journal, and I think I know who you really are. You’re that Spell Bound guy Dream was going on about, aren’t you?” Flame stammered, worried for her life now she knew the truth.

“Very good, you must be very close to Dream. You gonna go tell him? Well you’re not.” Sweet Heart glared into Flame’s eyes. “But rather, you are going to become a good little spy for me.”

Before flame could object she felt something tug at her mind. Looking into Sweet Heart’s eyes, she saw them become swirls, and gently pulling her into a trance. Once Flame was under Sweet Heart’s control she spoke up.

“Flame, can you hear me? Good. You are going to remember none of this, not the conversation, or what you read in that journal. You are going to watch Dream for me. And at midnight, when everypony else is asleep you will report to me. Now go down stairs, and get yourself some tea.”

Sweet Heart walked away, and almost instantly Flame broke out of the trance, and flew downstairs as if nothing had happened.

=======================================

Later that morning, everyone was gathered around a large ordinate dinner-table eating breakfast, which consisted of salad, oatmeal, and milk with honey; all plated on posh silver platters.

The others watched me; still not quite sure whether my current sanity could be trusted.

‘I still can’t believe they don’t remember,’ I thought, ‘still, probably shouldn’t say anything. Don’t want them to be more worried about me than they already are.’

My head turned as I heard the sound of flapping, and saw Flame flying down the stairs.

“Oh, breakfast! Save me some, you hungry bastards,” she chuckled and perched herself next to me, “Are you okay today?

‘Dammit,’ I thought, ‘Why can’t she remember?’

“Dream…?”

“Yeah, I’m alright,” I lie through my teeth, “I’m perfectly fine.”

“Good!” she smiled, “You gonna eat that muesli?”

“Here, have it.” I really wasn’t in the mood for food right now. I needed some answers, Now.

=======================================

Nitro sat in the Hour Valley Parliament Building, brooding over Swirly.

“What is that lunatic planning?” He looked over his shoulder, and quickly opened a drawer under his desk, “Ah, sweet, sweet Smirclop. We meet again.”

He took out a cup, and poured himself a glass of the liquid, and downed it in one gulp.

(A few moments later)

“I’ve been dreaming of a true love’s *Hic* kiss!
Aaaand a Princess can only come with this...”
Nitro staggered down the corridors, having drunk the entire bottle, “Wheeeee!”

As he stumbled about, he bumped into a bust of Therefore, the respected philosopher. The head flipped back, revealing a hidden button.

“What the...” Nitro snapped back into focus. Where was he? And how come nopony noticed this? He heard a faint voice coming from the wall. Nitro pressed his ear against it too hear well.

“Everything is coming together!” a gleeful voice leaked from the wall, “Not long my friends, before we can finally lay waste to this planet!”

Nitro gasped. Was that... Swirly? Was that what he’s been planning all this time?

“Huh, I probably shouldn’t be shouting this in here.”

Nitro placed his hoof over the button. No doubt it would open the hidden door, allowing him to take Swirly by surprise! It was perfect!

Unfortunately, he was drunk. It was probably wiser to wait.

Thanks to Bookworm who helped write this chapter! Oh, and Bookworm, before you kill me, you did kinda edit while we wrote it.

Preparing for games with chaos

My Little Pony: Lands of Time, Chapter four: Preparing for games with chaos

Written by LOLSTERDarkmoon, with the help of Master of chaos and evil: Spell Bound, Proof-reader: Bookworm, and The love doctor: Flutterpie-Sparkle

So now the group was being used to find Cadence’s brother, and yet none of them but Cadence knew he was what they were after. After they had gone to bed, she stayed up; listening to the city noises and thinking of home.

'Was this really a good idea after all?' though Cadence, 'Shining Armour would be all over the place trying to find her, not to mention the princesses having a fit. There wasn’t a lot they could do from where they were though.'

Cadence had chosen to come alone, because she knew she would have the best chance of getting close to Spell Bound, without having her guts spilled on the walls. After getting nowhere with her thoughts, she decided to call it a night. With heavy eyelids she laid her head on the pillow, and drifted away.

====================================

Morning came with the usual routine. Wake up, lie there for a few more hours, then finally getting up. I rolled myself onto the floor and got up again, then making my way to the kitchen. The next thing on the routine was the kettle, which floated over over my head, boiling on the way. I turned to find Cadence already making the cups of tea without even leaving the bedroom. OK, magic was pretty cool.

Not having any real reason to hang in the kitchen, I walked into the bedroom and grabbed my cup from the air. “Well that’s a handy trick. I almost envy magic, but still wouldn’t trade it for my wings.” She gave an appropriate nod and gestured towards the a spot on the bed.

I took the spot next to her and watched as she took a few deep breaths. “He is my brother, the one who caused the chaos in the park. The one we have been assigned to find.” Cadence collapsed into her fore hooves and cried, tears leaking everywhere.

At first I just sat there, digesting this new information. “Is that why you are here?” I asked. Cadence just tilted her head slightly to look at me in the eye, then when back to her hooves. I figured that I was right.

The silence sat around us as we thought our thoughts. Cadence spoke again, muffled from behind her hooves. “His name is Spell bound. He is the son of an evil creature called Discord. He’s a draconequus, and the spirit of chaos. Spell bound is stuck in his Draconequus form and has been completely corrupted by the natural chaos magic he was born with.

“We could never figure what caused him to turn, but it is linked to a power currently unknown to us. The only way we know of turning him back, are these powerful artifact's called the Elements of Harmony. They are still in Equestria, and we have to get them or get Spell there in order for them to work. Without those we don’t stand a chance.”

All the chirpiness I had this morning was drained out of me with each sentence. If this guy was as bad as he sounds, then we might all die. But sulking over the future was pointless, it has yet to happen. We might still have a chance at beating this guy.

“No use sulking over it yet. We are still alive and moving aren’t we? Come on, I need something to eat.” I stood and headed back to the kitchen. That was enough doomsday talk today.

While making breakfast Flame flew off her perch and came to get her own food. “You shouldn’t be hard on her.”

I snorted, not really caring for more talk. “Her brother is now a raving lunatic. Surely you must-” I slammed my hoof on the bench, silencing her.

“Why should I care? Did anyone care for me when my family went crazy and died? You don’t know what you are talking about, so shut up.” She was baffled. I had never exploded like that before; but I wasn’t going to apologize. No one knew what I had suffered through, and I was sure no one cared.

======================================

Later that day we found ourselves back at the training room, Bull Force wearing an maddened looking expression. His head was wrapped up in bandages from our previous encounter, the bump almost comically poking out from the back. This was sure to be a fun day.

“Right. Since yesterday we had, ‘a slight mishap’, today we are going to ‘try’ and see what you can do.” Flame gave him a raspberry which made his face redden even more. Bull’s face was now stuck with a constant frown with his teeth nearly breaking form pressing against each other. “Anyway, we shall start with a simple obstacle course. Make it to the end in the given time and we shall see what we do from there.”

We followed Bull through some double doors and into a large arena shaped dome with huge brick walls covering the floor in the shape of a maze. Flame and Cadence took to some seats at a higher point and got comfortable, eager to enjoy the show.

Bull was standing over a table with a large amount of maps and drawings of detailed traps and weapons. “Your first obstacle is the maze. Once through that we will put you through some natural setups to give you a taste of the wild. After that it’s all surprises. To get through each area you must find the flag and post it in the corresponding holder.” Bull turned to face me, a hint of excitement in his eyes. “I hope you brought some bandages today boy; because you’re gonna need them.”

I stepped into the starting area of the maze and a giant cover blocked out all light. the darkness was quick to attack my mind and I saw movements and shapes that weren’t really there. The maze had started, and the first challenge was darkness.

Keeping close to the walls, I made my way with the wall always on my right. By only taking small steps, i made sure that I wasn’t going to tumble down some unseen hole or chasm; but this also made it take a lengthy amount of time. This place seemed to have no mercy for those who like the light and the more i searched for anything that could produce a loving beam; the darker it got.

===================================

From above, Flame and Cadence watched Dream slowly make his way along the side of the wall, not seeing the darkness he was in. “What is he doing? Surely he should be getting through this with ease.” Cadence said with concern.

Flame gave her a worrying look. She wasn’t sure if the princess heard the argument from that morning, but was sure that Dream had left a mark; Cadence had opened up to him and told everything, and he just shunned her. Flame’s thoughts drifted to the others who were apparently training as well in different parts of the grey beehive.

===================================

Clean Beam skimmed through another book, still hoping to find what she hoped might solve her questions. Alas, not even the ‘Universe’s guide to kick ass ponies’ had anything about the strange pink Alicorn. If she really was a princess, she would have to have come from the other side of the world to not be mentioned in any of the books Beam had gathered in a swaying tower.

“You won't find anything.” Beam turned to find Nitro, the main speaker from the council. “That Alicorn isn’t from anywhere near here. I don’t know why you even bother.” His tone was one of boredom, as if he was only doing this in hopes of finding something to do.

Beam was confused with his statement. “I’m... sorry? But how did you know she was even an Alicorn? She always keeps a cloak on outside.” She knew this because of a simple spy eye spell she used to keep an eye on Cadence and Dream. She didn’t trust them just yet.

Nitro just snorted. “Oh please, do you think we just leave spy eyes laying around? We hijack them for ourselves if the need arises. Don’t think little cloak spells can keep things hidden from us.” Nitro flicked his tail in Beam’s direction, sending a soft breeze past her. “Oh, and clean up that mess, I like to keep this place tidy.”

“What- OH!” Beam started before her tower of books shook from the breeze and clasped on top of her. She fought her way back to the top only to see the door close, leaving her with a large mess.

=================================

“And with the hum of the breeze and the song of the wild, I go whoop, whoop, whoop!” String Lyrics sang as a group of pegasi zoomed past him, missing thanks to his gifted dance moves.

“Will some pony hit that great, big, lump of worthless lungs?! Just get him to shut up!” A very mad looking blue Pegasus with green strips in this mane groaned loudly. This had been going on for about half an hour with String prancing on his hoof tips.

“I’m sorry my dear commander, but when the song comes; it must be sung! You can’t simply stop the flow!” String only stopped for a quick moment, but that was enough for the pegasi to close the gap. However, String just sidestepped and caused them to crash into each other, rendering them all unconscious.

The commander just stood at his fallen stallions, those he had hoof picked out of hundreds, and joined them in the land on unconsciousness.

String levitated them onto some benches and headed towards the mess hall. “I hope these fine chaps like tea.”

An old earth pony watched from behind a one-way window as String left the room. “They seem to be more impressive than we thought.” He thought out loud. He turned to his assistant who stood in the corner. “Make to note to plan a surprise for them once this is over.” His assistant just nodded and scribbled down some notes. One of them being, ‘Swirly Puddle is a plot hole’.

================================

This routine became the daily life for this team. Each one going to their lessons and training, slowly becoming more skilled in combat, survival skills, dancing, information noting, and origami. Soon, days turned to weeks and the ponies became perfect in nearly everything they could do. But they had been separated from each other the whole way, only seeing each other when eating or after training and they were headed home.

The first month had passed and to celebrate all they had learnt, the team decided to get together for a meal. It was a nice restaurant in the heart of the city called Tommy's dough.

I brought a simple suit and tie, while cadence stuck with her cloak. Flame went as she was, mainly because anything she put on would burst into flames. The restaurant had an opening almost as grand as marble entrance they had been going through over that month, so no pony stood and gazed.

We were escorted to our seats to find String and Beam already waiting for us. “Hello my good sir and ladies! It brings such joy to see you again!” String nearly jumped out from his seat and dragged us into a bear hug. He was dressed in a conductor's suit, complete with bow tie.

“Nice to *gasp* see you too *choke* String.” Cadence was almost turning lavender purple before String had had enough. Clean Beam had her nose in a very old looking book, her dress was a simple one was a skirt covered in blue flowers. She turned my way and gave a nod. I returned the gesture and she returned to her book. Free Leaf sat in what looked like a dress made from plants themselves.

String took his seat again and clapped his hooves. “Right, shall we order now we are all here? I am completely famished.” As soon as our plots hit the chair we were surrounded by waiters who held open menus describing all sorts of fancy dishes. Half of them were only for griffons however as they contained meat.

We all placed our orders, Flame was disappointed to find rats were not on the menu, and waited for our order to return. We sat for a while, making small talk, when an eerie voice sounded from the table behind me.

“You should not of left him.” I faced the voice to find a small light green mare, who stared back with cloudy red eyes. “If you had not left he might still be here.”

The anger I had felt a month before was returning as she spoke those words. She knew me somehow, I didn’t know how but i didn’t care. A black stallion with teal and blue hair looked up from his menu. It was the guy I had hit before in the bar, a scar still healing just above his right eye from where I smashed him with the bottle.

“You,” He said simply, his eyes narrowing and his wings slowly extending. He would have pounded me right there and then had a silver hoof not tapped his shoulder. The silver mare String had meet back at the pub gave the black Pegasus a dark look and he slowly sat back down.

String, however, took to remembering her better than I did. “Why it’s Silver Moon! How lovely to see old friends here as well! It seems fate is friendly this day!” He would've given them a bear hug like the one we had received but was held down by Beam.

Luckily before we could start an awkward conversation with them, food appeared at both tables. “Your food has arrived, sir Long Jump.” said one waiter to the black stallion. “Your food has arrived, sir Dream Blizzard.” said another waiter in a perfect copy. Each table went to eating the food set before them but the tension continued to rise. I could feel Long Jump’s eye digging into the back of my head and it was driving me mad. I turned to stare back and we locked in a battle of will power.

At last, we both could not stand for it any longer and leap at each other, grabbing each other by the scruff of the neck. That was as far as we got however because a mare came screaming in being chased by a rat with wings.

All of us looked at each other recognizing the panic in the mare’s eyes. The flying rat was a good enough sign, but just then the sky turned a crimson red. Whatever first brought the chaos, had returned to power. And right on cue, the tables came to life, and ran off with our food, much to the dismay of String.

“I dare say! That horrid table just ran off with my boiled daffodils!” Everypony in our mismatched group of those who had been preparing for this, and those who were tagging along, so they could beat the hay out of me later, ran outside. We looked around at the chaos in complete and utter shock, while Cadence put up what looked like a defense barrier around us. “Cadence, why are you....” I began, but the question answered itself, as fire fell from the sky.

We could only watch in despair as buildings began to burn, falling debris trapping ponies, and the gardens beginning to mutate into purple plants once more. Ponies coats caught on fire, and several more were being dragged about by mutated vines. Seeing this Caused Free Leaf to break into tears, String to throw up what little of his food had had eaten, and Long Jump to stare in amazement.

I looked at Cadence who seemed to be lost in memories and reality at the same time. “Was it this bad back where you come from?”

Cadence simply nodded her head, then as an afterthought she added “But far worse and widespread. Not a single corner of Equestria escaped his anger. We need to get the elements of harmony if we want to end this for good.”

Suddenly a crazed laugh filled the city and in the sky, we could see a strange mismatched creature. He had a slim brown body, his head was that of a pony, his left eye was that of a dragon, while his right eye, horn, and left leg where that of a changeling. His right arm was a Tiger’s, his left some sort of bird’s. His right leg was a lizard’s. He also had mismatched wings, one being a normal pegasi wing, the other being much larger dragon wing. And finally, he a tail that halfway down split into two snake tails. He was truly a terrifying to look upon. But what shocked everypony was when Cadence said to herself, “Brother....”