I should have never thought the nightmares were gone.
The ground blurs under my hooves, if I can call it that; the looming darkness extends on all sides and may or may not be under my feet.
I should have never left the house with them alone.
My heart is pounding in my ears. I'm sure if I was human - human, a word I didn't know I knew - I'd be sprawled on the ground, coughing and choking. But I'm running like the wind now, a tan streak in this dark, dark world.
I should have never followed that stallion.
There is a pinpoint of light up ahead, but it seems too hued to be an exit. But it's a landmark.
I should have never gone into the alley.
The light looms up ahead, and judging by what I can see, it's an hourglass of some kind, not unlike the one on my flank. It is flanked by two pillars that stretch up into the darkness and do not seem to end.
He should not have known my name.
As I draw closer, my mind surges into overdrive, tangling my legs and sending me sprawling. Despite the pain surging through my chin and neck, I do not close my eyes.
The angels should not be here.
There are two of them, stoic protectors, their eyes closed and wings spread along the edge of the hourglass. The spires of diamond slice through their cores, pinning them between the ground and the sky.
My family should not be here.
There are two of them, terrified innocents, their mouths wide and screaming as they flounder in the rising sands. The glass walls of the hourglass ensnare their mortal forms, pinning them between life and death.
I should not be here.
I struggle to my hooves, desperately watching in hopes that neither angel shall move from its' place. I don't know what else to call them, but angel is not the right term. They are demons trapped in angelic rocks.
She is on the other side of the glass, with our daughter. Her daughter, I should say, for I know that my time is running short and hers will be much longer. I lean up against the glass, a smear of blood leeching from my lip, as I struggle to hear them, to hear their voices.
I hear nothing. When I look back, my wife, my love, is pressed against the glass, her wings and hooves outstretched as if to fly through the wall. My daughter is beside her, using her little magic to push back the sands against the other wall.
I reach up, smearing the blood with my hoof.
I love you.
She leans back, breathing a gust of warm air against the glass. She writes back;
I love you too.
I'll be back for you.
She smiles. I know.
I stepped back, nodding firmly in the way I knew I always did. She smiled gently, pressing a hoof against the glass. I placed mine on hers, sighing and looking up at her. I couldn't help but focus on the sand slowly edging it's deadly way down the center of the dip and piling up behind the two.
And then I am running again.
My name is Time Turner.
I am a mature stallion. I have a tan coat and dark brown mane. I own a few ties and wear them often. My Cutie Mark is an hourglass.
When I woke up in Ponyville Hospital, the nurse informed me that I had been found by a mailmare in a ditch near Sweet Apple Acres. Of course, I had been thoroughly confused, not knowing what a mailmare was, or what a Sweet Apple Acres was.
And then the most beautiful woman I had ever seen flew in.
I later learned she was the one who had found me, that she had looked in the ditch on a whim, having seen something shine in the early morning light.
Her name was Ditzy Doo, whom everyone fondly called Derpy Hooves. I figured this was a good name for her; upon entering the room, she had crashed into the side of my cot.
A beautiful friendship blossomed. She gave me a home - she lived on the ground, her klutziness was no match for a bundle of cloud - and helped me along on my studies. I grew close to many other ponies, slowly learning about them and their lives. I met Princess Celestia and Luna at the Grand Galloping Gala, I traveled to the furthest reaches of Equestria, finding creatures nopony had seen before, and slowly forgot.
Until the day before yesterday, I had forgotten I was human once.
The day before yesterday.
The day before yesterday had started with the milk running out. Of course, at the same time, my watch battery died - I'm quite fond of my watch, it was custom-made - and so I left Ditzy Doo home with our foal, Dinky Doo, and went out shopping.
Oh, I forgot about Dinky for a second there. She's a cute little filly, a purple-blue coat just a bit darker than her mothers', a mane just a bit paler than my coat. She has marvelous purple eyes, and being a Unicorn - which, Ditzy explained, was actually common - had quite a talent for magic.
And I left them alone to go for groceries.
While I was in the market, I saw a mare I had never seen before. She was tall in the sense that she was thin, and was watching me curiously. She was oddly stoic among the bustle, merging with the crowd like chaos was her nature.
A name branded into my mind then. The Master.
I immediately noticed she had moved after I blinked the name away, flowing and powerful like a force of nature, and stopped in front of me. She was a Unicorn like Dinky or Twilight Sparkle, and now that she was closer her eyes glinted like steel.
"Hello, Doctor."
I looked behind me, but it was painfully obvious this pony was talking to me. "I'm not a doctor, sorry."
She snorted, her mane falling like a dark shroud over her face. "It's affected you more than I thought." She frowned, and her eyes flashed with a blue hue as her horn lit. "Follow me."
I found myself following, and it may or may not have been my own choice. The path we took is blurred now that I think about it, but we ended up in a dingy little room, a few moth-eaten throw pillows chucked around the floor, which we sat on.
"So, Doctor, what name do you think you have?"
"I don't know who this 'doctor' is, but I'm Time Turner."
She put a hoof to her forehead, huffing angrily. "Dear god, you've taken their names as well."
"Their? Doctor? Affected? Who are you? What do you want from me!?"
"I'm your enemy? Rebelled time lord? The Master?"
"I have no idea who you are." I stated simply, somewhat enjoying the look is annoyance that crossed her face.
She closed her eyes, leaning back on her pillow with a loud sigh. "And yet, once again, you get the desirable form. You, at least, get to be male, while I have to sashay everywhere like some kind of doll."
"What does that have to do with me?"
"Nothing." She sighed, or he, as it seemed to be. "Nothing to do with you."
"So why did you bring me here?"
"Because right now, I'm as useless as you are, and I've seen something I really wish I hadn't."
I frowned. "Which is...?"
"The angels."
Dear sweet Celestia, the stone Pegasi from my dream, those haunting faces against the windowpanes, my wife and daughter nowhere to be found...
The recognition must have shown on my face, because she smiled grimly. "Good, you remember something. Well, they're back. And they're on your trail."
"M-m-m-m-my t-t-t-t-trail?"
"Yes. You, being a time lord, have a very distinct aura. To them, at least. They can follow you from a trail a couple days old."
I could almost see it now, a trail of glowing hoofprints leading back the way I came, and collecting in a massive pool at my home.
My home with my family still in it.
"I have to get back."
"Back where?"
"To my family."
She looker horrified. "You... you did it with a pony?! That's... bestiality in its' highest form! Oh, and you probably have a kid, and..." She shook her head. "This place is getting to me. I feel all out of sorts."
"My family is in danger, and you're talking about bestiality?! What does that word even mean?!"
"Doesn't matter what it means. Just... lead me to where you live." She passed a hoof over her muzzle, sighing.
I don't even wait for her to get up before slamming the door open and galloping away. A few minutes of running around through a maze of alleys, and I'm back on the market road, and can find my way. My house appears among the throng, untouched from the outside. A hollow pit in my stomach foretells that this facade is a lie.
The pit is right.
The house is decimated, overturned couches and torn curtains. One door hangs from its' hinges. And there's no sign of Derpy or Dinky.
The Master appears in the door way behind me, scanning the room with an extremely bored look on her face.
Something caught my eye under a mound of stuffing. I moved the pile aside, revealing a small wisp of pink fluff. Suspicion rising in my gut. I lifted it up, taking a tentative bite. Sugary sweet.
She sighed behind me, scuffing a hoof on the floor. "Well, the Angels sure were specific."
The vivid memory of a dull Derpy hissing obscenities at me flashes across my mind, the feeling of cold stone on her fur unnerving me even now, the dull hiss of magic fizzling out on my skin; it all makes sense now.
"It's because they weren't alone."
"Hm?"
"They had Discord with them."
