Prompt #363: "Never Too Late"

I told myself I would never have to do it again, and yet I find that there is no other choice. Time-travelling is the only hope we have left. If this fails, it could mean the extinction of our entire species. I mustn’t fail. I have to succeed. For everyone’s sake.

As I prepare the spell, I am reminded of the only other time I have done this, of how much I obsessed over why I had done it. Unlike back then, there is a point to this trip. Although, the gear I’m wearing certainly won’t look very encouraging to my past-self.

With a flash of light, I enter some sort of slipspace, the same kind that I saw the first time. After a couple of seconds, I appear back in the library. This place had burned down a few months ago in my time zone, so seeing it in one piece again began to bring back all sorts of memories. I had to find myself, to tell myself what would happen very soon, and hopefully, stop it.

“What are you doing here?” I-er, she asks.

“This isn’t like the last time, it’s important,” I say. “You have to seal off Ponyville.” At first, she doesn’t seem to think I am serious. I can tell she’s trying to keep herself from laughing. She soon realises, though, that I’m not here for jokes.

“Why? What happens?” she asks, now looking worried.

“There’s going to be an outbreak,” I explain, “ponies will start to go insane and become extremely violent.”

“Isn’t there any way to stop them? To snap them out of it?”

It is then that she notices the sword I’ve been carrying, and how much it has been used. She appears to be in disbelief. I know I would be... wait...

I try to say something to her, but the air around me begins to flicker, indicating my time here is running out. I have to tell her. Before it’s too late... again.

“Shut down Ponyville, then get word to Celestia! She’ll know what to-” Suddenly, I am sucked back through a temporal vortex. “do.”

I start to feel lightheaded, so I sit down. I look down at my hooves, and they appear almost transparent. I should feel sad, but strangely, I don’t. Instead, I am glad. The plan worked.

Ponyville may have been lost, but Equestria was saved.