Hold Your Horses: A My Little Pony Story

The ponies sat quietly in their cells for what felt like forever. There was nothing to do, nothing to engage with, nothing to investigate. It was all sterile white walls and that evil green barrier.

“Didn’t she say it was soon? I feel like we’ve been waiting for forever,” Chorus complained.

As soon as Chorus spoke, it was like he manifested it. A voice began to emit from undetectable speakers in the hallway, delivering instructions.

Everypony please stand up and be still. The restraints will be implemented momentarily.
The voice echoed hauntingly down the lengthy hallway.

“Restraints?” Ginger Blush questioned. “What restraints?”

As if she had willed them into existence, magical green restraints dropped from the ceiling. The restraints looked like leashes; they were clearly designed to go around the neck. And, as if they were magnetic, they gravitated toward the necks of the ponies.

Prose backed away from the magical green leash, but it was no use. It lunged toward her and clasped around her neck, as it did for her friends.

“Why do we need to be restrained?” Prose worried.

Nopony had a response. A few seconds after the ponies were leashed, the green barriers in front of their cells dropped without a sound. The ponies were finally free, or at least that’s what it seemed like. Chorus jumped out of his cell, elated at the chance to escape. As soon as he reached the hallway, the leash pulled taut and Chorus was flung backwards, back into his cell. He crashed onto the cold ground and looked up at the ceiling.

“I see why she has us restrained now,” he addressed.

The leashes began to move, sliding across the ceiling and out of the cells. If the ponies didn’t move with them, they were sure to be dragged against their will. So, the ponies followed where they were being led to. The leashes moved quickly down the hallway, keeping the ponies anxiously in tow.

“Where are they taking us?” Ginger Blush asked.

“I hope it’s Recreation Time,” Chorus hoped. “After our time in that boring cell, I’ll take any form of entertainment.”

The ponies were led down long, white hallways, passing countless empty cells.

“Why are all of these cells empty? Is there anypony else here?” Prose asked to nopony in particular.

“Maybe they’re all already at Recreation Time,” Chorus proposed.

“What even is Recreation Time?” Prose turned to Chorus. “What could possibly be ‘recreational’ in a place like this?”

“I think we’re about to find out,” Ginger Blush Spoke.

The ponies looked forward and saw a large open doorway at the end of the hallway. The doorway led to a rather large and open room. What was the most interesting, though, was that the room was filled with other ponies.

The open room was filled with cafeteria tables, comfortable furniture, and assorted games and activities. It would’ve looked quite lively and fun if not for the sobering, sterile white walls, floor, and ceiling. Ponies roamed leisurely about the room, seemingly unpanicked and unfazed by their current situations.

The leashes pulled Chorus, Prose, and Ginger Blush into the room and proceeded to unclasp from their necks and retract into the ceiling. Chorus turned around and immediately bolted for the door. The loud thud of a pony head against an invisible barrier caught the attention of some of the ponies in the room.

“I guess Recreation Time is mandatory,” Chorus observed.

“And inescapable,” Prose added.

The ponies looked around the room at all that laid before them.

Cafeteria tables were set up in rows perpendicular to the sterile white walls of the Recreation Room. Assorted ponies adorned many of the seats of the tables, engaging in mundane conversation with one another. Nestled in the back left corner of the large room was a cozy little setup. Several bean bag chairs in different shades of green were laid out over a large green rug. White shelves of books and games leaned against the white walls of that corner. Tucked into the corner of the corner, placed upon a humble little white table, was a box. It was unlike any box the ponies had ever seen before. 5 sides of it were completely stationary and dull, but the front-facing side of it glowed like magic. It depicted something the ponies couldn’t quite make out from the distance at which they were standing.

“What’s that?” Ginger Blush pointed over to the glowing box in the cozy corner.

The ponies all stared at the mysterious object.

“I have to go see it,” Chorus spoke.

Chorus began to take a quick step forward, but his path was immediately blocked by a pony who swiftly stepped directly in front of him. At least he thought it was a pony. The ‘pony’ was a completely translucent green. It had no distinguishing features, no cutie mark, and the most vacant stare the ponies had ever seen.

“Hello, new arrivals,” the holo-pony spoke in a monotone, robotic voice. “You have been allotted…” the holo-pony paused in calculation. “one… departure letter.”

The holo-pony produced a small sheet of parchment and a quill pen in front of itself, holding them out for somepony to take. Nopony rushed to take them.

“What is a departure letter?” Prose inquired.

The holo-pony paused again, producing a response. “A departure letter is a letter that contained ponies are allowed to send home to alert their friends and family of their whereabouts. Of course, you are not permitted to disclose your actual location–you will have to fabricate a comforting falsification. The letter is meant to bring closure to your loved ones, as we cannot have them pursuing your location. The letter will be reviewed to make sure you have provided what has been asked of you.”

“And we only get one? For all three of us?” Ginger Blush prodded.

The holo-pony paused.

“Yes.”

The ponies looked at each other in confusion.

“Why?” Chorus asked.

The holo-pony paused.

“I do not understand your inquiry.”

The ponies sighed in frustration, but Prose cut her sigh short at the thought of an ingenious idea.

“I’ll write it,” Prose spoke. “I’ll write the letter. You guys go discover what that magic box is.”

“What about us?” Chorus worried. “Sombra and Savoir have got to be really worried about us. I want to let them know we’re safe.”

Prose looked at Chorus and Ginger Blush.

“Do you trust me?” she asked.

“Of course,” Ginger Blush confirmed.

“Let me write the letter,” Prose pleaded.

The ponies looked at Prose, then at each other.

“Okay,” Chorus conceded. “You write the letter. We’ll go investigate.”

Prose nodded and accepted the parchment and quill from the holo-pony’s hoof. She headed towards one of the long stretches of cafeteria table and had a seat, ready to write her letter.

Chorus and Ginger Blush moseyed over to the cozy corner of the Recreation Room. As they neared its comforting charm, the magic box became clearer in their vision. The front side of the box held a screen. It depicted ponies neither Chorus nor Ginger had ever seen before.

A pale green pony with brown mane turned her attention away from the screen and towards Chorus and Ginger Blush.

“New arrivals!” she exclaimed. “That must be why the projections are acting up.”

“Projections?” Chorus questioned.

“You really are new here, huh,” the pony realized. “Come have a seat. I’ll catch you up.”

The pony gestured to several empty bean bags that laid around her. Chorus and Ginger Blush cautiously took seats next to their new friend.

“Well, hello to you two, first of all. I’m Apple Crumble, it’s nice to meet you,” Apple Crumble prefaced.

“I’m Chorus, and this is Ginger Blush,” Chorus introduced, gesturing his hooves first to himself, then to Ginger Blush.

“Beautiful names,” Apple complimented.

“Thank you,” Ginger Blush thanked.

“So you ponies need some Time Jail education, right?”

The ponies nodded.

“I’m assuming you’ve already met Effie,”

The ponies nodded again.

“She created Time Jail. She’s on some sort of mission to prevent the end of Equestria. You were pulled out of the timeline because she feels like you stand in the way of that mission.”

“How can we stand in the way of her mission?” Chorus interrupted. “We don’t even know what her mission is!”

“None of us did,” Apple Crumble clarified. “It’s all the Butterfly Effect.”

Chorus and Ginger cocked their heads in confusion.

“Let me give an example–my example. I invented an apple crumble–yes, just like my name–that was so delicious, it inspired the mayor of Ponyville to declare an annual Apple Festival. The Apple Festival was amazing. It showcased all sorts of apple dishes, and it brought everypony together. Sounds completely harmless, right? Well, somewhere down the line, the aftermath of the Apple Festival resulted in a chain of events that aided in the destruction of all of Equestria. It could’ve been an undercooked apple pie, or maybe it was a couple of rotten apples, or maybe it was some completely coincidental event that just happened to happen at the Apple Festival. Whatever it was, it was bad enough to remove me from the timeline. That’s why I’m here. That’s why you’re here as well.”

The ponies took a second to process all of the information. They were being punished for actions they didn’t even know they were taking.

“This is ridiculous!” Chorus stammered. “Why wouldn’t she just ask us or tell us not to do whatever bad thing we did? Why remove us entirely?”

“She doesn’t like to take chances,” Apple explained. “She also doesn’t like to waste time. She wants the job done quickly and efficiently.”

“And there’s no way we can ask her to put us back?” Ginger asked.

“No way. I’ve never seen anypony get sent back into the timeline. I know this can be a lot to take in so quickly, but you’ve got to understand that you’re trapped here. This is your new home,” Apple Crumble somberly informed the ponies.

Chorus felt anxiety steadily creep in as that realization settled into his brain. He suddenly became desperate to change the subject.

“So what’s that then?” Chorus asked, pointing at the magic box.

A pink pony across the carpet spoke up.

“Oh, I’ll explain this one!” they excitedly spoke. They brushed their lovely orange mane out of their face and smiled brightly at Chorus and Ginger. “Well, I’ll introduce myself first. I’m Fizzy Fireshine; I invented a scientific formula that somehow brought about the end of Equestria. Anyway, this is our TV!”

“TV?” Ginger Blush questioned, unaware of this abbreviation.

“It stands for Timeline Viewer! We can watch any point in time on this box right from the comfort of Time Jail. It’s incredible, isn’t it?” Fizzy illuminated.

Chorus furrowed his eyebrows as he heard this. He paused before asking Fizzy Fireshine to do something for him.

“Can you show us… the end of Equestria?”

Fizzy looked into Chorus’s eyes.

“Are you sure? It’s… it’s not pretty.”

“I’m sure,” Chorus confirmed. “I want to see it.”

Fizzy stood up from their bean bag and walked over to the TV. They placed their hooves onto several dials and began to wind them around. The screen scrambled between static random scenes of history before landing on its destination: the end of Equestria.

Chorus and Ginger stared at the screen at the scene playing in front of them. The sky was black, completely shrouded by dark, menacing clouds. Dark red light peeked out from the clouds, complemented by the bright red fire covering the world below. Buildings crumbled, wildlife burned. The entirety of Equestria had been completely decimated. Whatever had wreaked all of this havoc had clearly wanted to leave no life in its wake.

Prose approached the cozy corner, coming up behind Chorus and Ginger Blush.

“What’d I miss?” she asked.

Chorus and Ginger Blush turned around to face her.

“We’re trapped here forever with no hope of ever escaping,” Ginger spoke.

Prose blinked.

“Oh.”