Convexa Tempus

Twenty-six

Dusk shielded his eyes against the light, it flared and faded in seconds. Peering out he saw somepony standing a few feet in front of him, but his vision was still blurry. As it cleared he made out the yellow mare with her red mane.

“Dawn!” he exclaimed, they rushed to each other and embraced, “you heard me calling you.”

“Pardon?” she responded, “I didn’t hear anything.”

Dusk shrugged it off, he was just happy to see her, and he leaned in and kissed her.

They remained locked together for minutes, but as they parted and opened their eyes, they found themselves standing in a cavern covered in fungus. There were empty cloaks lying everywhere, and standing close by was Shining Armour mourning over Scootaloo’s body. Dawn rushed over and collapsed next to her, tears welling in her eyes. Dusk put a hoof around her shoulder.

After a moment of silence they continued forward.

“What happened to the Elements?” Shining Armour asked, Dusk had only noticed they were missing.

“I lost them, it couldn’t be helped.” Neither of them pushed for details, just continued running down the cavern tunnel.

“Where did Fate escape to?” Dusk asked breathlessly.

“She must have escaped shortly before I woke up,” he shouted back, “she killed those reapers, she must have been affected by them the same way we were.”

“Good thing too,” Dusk panted, “If she had kept moving while we were stuck in those dreams, she’d be at the vault by now.”

They emerged into a chamber so high, the ceiling was cast in shadows. The floor was mostly carved out of rock, but half way through the room there was a chasm, the only crossing of which was a long bridge leading straight to the next door. Slowing down to catch their breath, they walked to the bridge, crossing it hesitantly, they’d been surprised enough here, they wanted to avoid any more. They got half way before they were inevitably set upon.

The first thing they heard was a rumbling, and for a scary second Dusk thought it was the centipede back, but it was much worse. The cave wall at the back of the room fell apart, and through it swarmed the monsters and creatures that crawled out of Tartarus when the gates were first opened.

“I guess the battle on the surface was lost,” Shining Armour said, “You have to run now.”

“You can’t beat them, you can’t even hold them off for longer than five minutes,” Dawn exclaimed.

“Five minutes is all you need,” he said unleashing a magical wall dividing the room in two, them on one side, and the creatures on the other, “that door back there, there’s only two rooms between you and the vault. You have to go now or we lose everything.

“Thank you Shining Armour,” Dawn said, they turned to run on but he called out once more.

“Dusk, take this.” Dusk turned and caught the scroll in his mouth, “it’s your choice now, only you can decide, and you only you can live with your decision.”

Dusk nodded, then he turned and pulling Dawn with him he ran for the door.

Twenty-seven

How did this happen? How could it all go so wrong? Grim sliced the air with his wings cutting the pegasi into sections. He destroyed them, he won, but it was all a trick. The alliance of unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies had pulled the wool over his eyes. They sent an army of illusions to activate Grim’s ice trap and show them the way to the gate of Tartarus.

And here they were, the very last of the dark ponies fighting to the death outside the gate, on the ice, against the impossibly huge alliance army. Grim saw soldiers fall all around him, his family fading into the sands of time. To his left Brutus smashed through the toughest defences, taking volleys of arrows and not twitching. To his right Nova fired off every spell she knew as fast as she knew how. In front of him Davitt’s spectacles lay discarded on the ice, streams of darkness pouring out of his sockets, chocking and crushing.

And behind him, almost as tall as the gates of Tartarus themselves, Sullivan stood, his wings spread wide, showering the battlefield in lightning and meteors. This would be the final battle, if the alliance won, they would take Sullivan’s land under their own banner of Equestria, and they would fade, the forgotten history of this world.

Grim didn’t let up the struggle, no matter how hopeless it seemed. He galloped through enemies slicing them in half with his wings, breaking their bones with his hooves. What were the unicorns planning, they seemed to be positioning themselves in a wide circle surrounding the gate. Grim saw this too late, their ritual begun. The entire battlefield became surrounded by a circular wall of violet light, travelling into the sky.

Were they trying to trap them in? But then the circle began shrinking, closing in around Sullivan from all directions. Grim and the last of Sullivan’s followers watched in horror as Sullivan was compressed by the tube of light, shrinking. When the light faded everypony saw Sullivan reduced to an old, shrivelled horse, with shredded wings and a broken horn. He was even shivering in the cold.

Then the unicorn king stepped forward, approaching the broken lord. He was going to finish him off and end it all. Grim couldn’t allow this, he wasn’t going to fail Sullivan again. He spread his wings and shot into the air, rushing forward. The unicorn king targeted his horn and focused all his magical energies, a shot from him in this state would destroy Sullivan utterly. Finished charging he unleashed the spell which travelled straight at Sullivan, but it didn’t hit him.

At the last second Grim landed right in front of Sullivan creating a shield with his own wings. The pain was devastating, Grim screamed in agony as the feathers were incinerated and his wings were destroyed. He collapsed onto the ice, his wings withered and useless. The unicorn king looked surprised, but just shrugged and began charging a second spell. But he was too late, from all sides Brutus, Davitt and Nova ran to Sullivan’s side. Simultaneously Davitt and Nova raised their horns creating a vortex in the ground which swallowed them up.

They remerged in deep snow, Grim looked all around to see where they had been teleported. They seemed to be on a mountain, close to the mouth of a cave. He looked over at the others, Brutus was carrying Sullivan who was even weaker now than he had been when the ritual was used on him.

“What’s going on?” he asked, “why did you bring us here?”

The others looked at Sullivan who croaked, “it wouldn’t do… to go into battle without a back up strategy.”

“What do we need to do?” Grim asked stumbling over to Brutus and Sullivan and collapsing onto his knees. Sullivan looked at Davitt.

“This is ancient temple, it is the birth place of our lord,” Davitt announced, “here is where he shall be restored.”

They began walking into the cave and Grim found himself looking at a chamber lined with ornately carved stone pillars, each topped with a ball of pure light. The room itself was a kind of amphitheatre, stones steps all around descending to form a pit in the centre of the room. There was a centrepiece, what looked like a shallow pool.

Brutus carried Sullivan down the steps, placing him in the pool. Grim followed the other two down the steps and stood at intervals around the pools.

“My body will not last,” Sullivan managed, “I task you… my most loyal subjects… to carry my heart, until one day… another comes who can… sustain me.”

“I will give my life to restoring you my lord,” Nova said bowing.

“I am at your service, now and forever,” said Brutus as well.

“We shall not fail,” Davitt said copying the other two.

“I swear,” Grim began assuming the same position as the others, “this land will be yours again.”

“Good…” Sullivan whispered, his eyes closing. There was a burst of black light as Sullivan’s body disintegrated leaving behind a single object. A black orb… pulsating with dark light. Davitt picked it up, cradling it in his hooves. Grim turned to him.

“Tartarus,” he said “they can’t be allowed to reach the sanctum.”

“They won’t,” he muttered staring into the orb, “this land may have fallen, but Tartarus will never be taken.”

Twenty-eight

Dawn and Dusk navigated the corridors. They’d just left Shining Armour behind, and then there were two. As they ran Dawn glanced at the scroll Shining Armour gave Dusk, before coming to a sudden stop.

“We have to keep moving Dawn,” he said urgently.

“Not until you tell me what Shining Armour meant,” Dusk knew the time had come, he’d wanted to tell her since he found out, but he never found the words.

“If we stop Fate,” he began, “Cadance and Shining Armour planned for us to use the vault anyway, and go back and stop the Ponyville Massacre to save the future.”

Dawn didn’t say anything she just nodded, she didn’t need to be told that doing so would result in them never meeting. They just ran on, trying not to think about it. Then at last they turned a corner, and at the end of the pathway final door opened. They charged through.

They took in the sight, their mouths gaping open. Ever since they arrived in Tartarus they’d seen incredible, unbelievable things. Rooms that were like private worlds, but nothing they’d seen was like this. The cavern they now stood in was immense, colossal, and in the very centre, held by a stalagmite and stalactite, was a stone structure shaped like a beehive. The Vault of Time.

“We made it,” Dawn whispered.

“Yes you did,” a voice echoed through the cavern. They looked up and saw Fate standing halfway along the path leading from the platform they now stood on to the vault. “And this is as far as you get.”

Fate raised a hoof into the air and a spike smashed down breaking right through the bridge. Fate ran as the whole cavern shook, there was only a short jump in the bridge but as it crumbled away it became larger.

“Move now!” Dusk shouted, and immediately they galloped forward, the whole cavern collapsing around them. They reached the edge of the platform and leapt through the air. They seemed to hang there as if they were frozen in time and space. Then they sped the last few feet landing on the other side, but as they tried to regain their balance the rock beneath Dawn’s hooves fell away. Dawn screamed and Dusk fell flat on his stomach catching her, but her hoof slipped out of his and quick as a flash he removed his blue workers jacket and swung it down, Dawn catching the other end.

“You have to let go,” she said sadly staring up at Dusk.

“Never, we’re doing this together or not at all,” he said struggling to pull her up. If he’d been at his full strength it would have been easy, but everything they’d been through had exhausted him.

“Do you really believe this relationship is worth letting so many die over?” she asked.

“Of course I do, do you not?” he exclaimed shocked.

“Dusk I love you, but our whole relationship was built on death,” she said staring up, “who are we to let so many die? Why do we deserve more?”

Dusk clenched his eyes trying to fight back tears, “I won’t let you go.”

She smiled at him, “I know you wont.” And she let go of the jacket.

Dusk marched up the path, the door into the vault standing stoically, but ajar. Reaching it we reached out his hooves and pushed the doors open. The vault was spherical, Dusk stood on a stone ring going around the edge of the room, and inside the ring, a pulsating pillar of light shimmering from ceiling to floor. Fate stood slightly ahead of him, and hearing him enter looked back over her shoulder.

“I win.”

An orb manifested in the centre of the pillar, causing it to twitch rapidly. It released an explosion of force that brought Fate and Dusk to their knees. Dusk watched as Fate struggled to stand up, forcing one hoof in front of the other. He did the same, his advantage was his strength, her advantage was her head start. His heart thumped in his chest, front left forward, front right forward, every step was an impossible feat of strength. Fate was getting close, but he was catching up.

They were neck and neck, mere steps away from the edge of the ring. It was getting even harder to move, Dusk felt like his body was giving up, but he wouldn’t quit, he’d lost too much, had too much to save. And then after what felt like an eternity Fate and Dusk stepped up to the edge, and summoning every ounce of strength he still had left, he sprung off leaping for the pillar. Fate had done the same and now they were both falling through the air. Dusk reached out, pulling his muscles, scratching at the air. And then a warm sensation swept over him… as he touched the pillar.

~

Fate watched as the pillar was sucked away into nothing taking Dusk with it. And as she fell into the abyss, the last thing she knew, was that she’d lost.

Twenty-nine

The sun rose, casting a warm glow over the rooftops of Ponyville. Birds chirped, hooves clattered, and all around ponies exchanged friendly greetings, wishing a good day upon each other. The atmosphere could accurately be described as perfect. It was amidst this contented scene that Dusk found himself, the scroll clutched in his hoof. He had to get this to Princess Celestia, everything depended on it.

He trotted down the street, he knew where the train station was from his time in Ponyville, but as he neared it, something caught his eye. He came to a halt, and stared across the crowded square and saw a vaguely familiar pink pony, conversing with a grey unicorn. He couldn’t explain it, but at that moment he knew what he had to do, he knew how was going to save the future.

He walked forward, taking every step like it was his last, because one way or another, they would be. The unicorn held a black orb up to the pink pony, who was staring intently into it. Then as she reached out to take hold of it, Dusk broke into a canter. The two looked up in surprise, a flash of fear crossing Davitt’s face. Dusk reared and kicked the orb out of Davitt’s grip, and it soared high into the air, drawing everypony’s eyes.

“No!” Davitt screamed, his spectacles shattered and tendrils of darkness burst from his eye sockets, flailing into the air, trying to wrap around the orb. Dusk spun on his front legs bringing his hind legs close to his body before thrusting them back, snapping Davitt’s head 180 degrees. The darkness faded and everypony watched as the orb ceased to rise any higher, and began its descent to the ground.

Dusk watched as it fell, down, down, and smashing across the fountain in the square. There was an explosion of force, not unlike the Vault of time, which threw Dusk, the pink pony, and everypony else straight to the ground. Dusk opened his eyes.

“We did it, it’s over,” then he gave a weak laugh, “or maybe… it never began.”

~

Pinkie Pie got unsteadily to her feet, what had just happened? Then everything came flooding back, Davitt, the orb, that colt, the dark streams and the explosion. She looked around wildly her eyes sweeping across Davitt’s body and resting on the red colt, with his orange cropped mane. She dashed over falling to her knees beside him.

“Who are you?” she asked bewildered, he looked up at her weakly and she saw his body was slowly disintegrating into a shower of sparkles. “You’re fading away?”

“I know, I’ve accepted it,” he said weakly, “I made my choice, now… it’s up to you, to finish what we started.”

He reached up handing a scroll to her, “what’s this?” she asked taking it from him.

“The future…” his torso was already half gone and the rest was disappearing fast, “see that the princess gets it.”

Pinkie opened it and quickly scanned over it, her eyes widening in confusion.

“What is this?” but as she looked down at the colt she saw that only his head remained, so instead she just said, “I promise I’ll get it to the Princess.”

He smiled, “I know you will… Pinkie.” And with that, the last of the colt disappeared and Pinkie was left alone, the air filled with sparkling lights.

Epilogue

The Fateweaver sat in her office, her head in her hooves. Of course ponies still thought of her as Mayor Mare of Ponyville, they couldn’t begin to imagine the truth. But something had gone wrong, something she hadn’t predicted. A colt stepping out of nowhere, destroying an orb before fading away. It could only mean one thing, somepony in the future set out to put a spanner in the works. He used the Vault of Time, Fate’s own back up plan used to stop her.

She smiled, what a fool, actually believing that destroying Sullivan would stop her for long. All she had to do was use the Vault herself and all their efforts would be for naught. After all she’d come too far, given too much, to lose now. She stood up and walked around her desk making for the door. Her ultimate goal was not lost, she would have her prize yet.

But then as she approached the door, it burst open and in marched a dozen armed soldiers, Shining Armour was bringing up the rear.

“Mayor Mare,” he said, “or would you prefer we called you Fate?”

Impossible! How could this have happened?

“You are here by under arrest for plotting high treason against her majesty, Princess Celestia of Equestria,” the soldiers immediately moved in shackling her before she could react. She tried to use her powers, nothing. These chains were somehow blocking her. “Take her away.”

As they dragged Fate out of the town hall and onto the prison carriage, the last thing she thought, was that she had lost.

~

Princess Celestia stood alone in the courtyard of the Canterlot Castle. She was still reading the letter Pinkie Pie sent her. It was… unbelievable, but after the incident in Ponyville, she knew it must be looked into. Multiple witnesses reported seeing a red pony appear out of nowhere, kill a unicorn who upon examination contained ancient dark powers, and destroyed an orb, all before fading into nothing. Upon interrogation, ‘Fate’ admitted to the crimes she would supposedly commit in the next few years, she also said not to worry about details of the Ponyville Massacre, as it would never come to pass.

Celestia heard somepony approaching from behind and turned to see her sister, Luna.

“Sister, are you still obsessing over that letter?” Luna asked exasperated.

“Forgive me sister, but it’s not a matter I can just ignore,” she replied still deep in thought.

“It seems a great disaster has been avoided,” Luna continued.

“And nopony will ever know the name of the pony who saved thousands of lives,” Celestia chipped in.

“They know,” Luna said mysteriously, “it was the batmane.”

They both laughed, staring up at the stars.

~

Grim stood on the ice, looking up at the gate that once led to his home. Now he had nothing. Nova was the first to fall, then Brutus, they were both lost in service to the memory of Lord Sullivan. But now even he was gone, Davitt had let his heart be destroyed. They had all failed, and now Grim had nothing, now he had nopony, no home to call his own. He rested a hoof against the rock of the door, feeling the Tartarus beating within.

Then he looked up determined. The sanctum, to use its power was forbidden, but if he could reach it, he could change everything. He could save his master, he could save his family. Was that so wrong? He would save them, and together they would take back this land, and destroy Equestria! Shaking out his withered wings he slammed his hoof against the gate. He kept it up, using every ounce of strength he possessed. Nothing could stop him…

As only then did he feel the warm breath flowing down upon him. He turned slowly around and looked into six, hungry, red eyes. Cerberus growled, all three heads dripping saliva down onto Grim.

“Oh great…” he began as the massive jaws opened, and the rows of teeth bore down upon him.

~

Pinkie Pie lay on the grass staring up. She never felt quite the same since the incident with Davitt, of course she realised in retrospect he was completely evil and thus she was glad that pony saved her, but she couldn’t save him. She glanced up as Applejack came rushing around a nearby copse of trees, closely followed by Rainbow Dash.

“Forget this,” Rainbow Dash shouted spreading her wings and flying past Applejack.

“I said no wings ya’ cheater,” Applejack exclaimed biting down on Rainbow Dash’s tail, as they both went tumbling into a heap.

Looking the other way she saw Rarity perched delicately on a red love seat, while fluttershy poured fresh cups of tea for all her woodland friends. Then finally she looked straight in front of her at Twilight Sparkle who had her nose in an old book from her library and Spike snoozing next to her. Then Twilight suddenly looked up.

“What’s so funny Pinkie?” she asked, and it was only then Pinkie realised she was smiling. She just shook her head.

“I’m just really happy to be here with all my friends,” she beamed. Twilight laughed and smiled too.

“Pinkie we see each other every day,” she replied. Pinkie just tapped her nose and fell back on the grass, and for the rest of the day she lay there and kept on smiling.

~

Four years later, in a street of Manehattan, a red colt with an orange mane and tail was bustling through the crowd on his way to the repair shop his father owned, and he worked as his assistant. He simply wore a modest, blue workers jacket and was looking forward to another day of labour.

At the same time, on the same street, a yellow mare with her red mane tied in a plat with a bow was taking her time, travelling to her first day of work at the local school. She’d just moved here from Filly Delphia after receiving the job offer and was now living in Manehattan with her aunt.

These two ponies walked along the street, weaving in and out of passing ponies on their way to work, completely unaware of each others existence until a brief, seemingly random collision.

“Sorry about that,” the colt said.

“No it’s my fault,” the mare replied. They smiled and walked, stopping a few paces either way of where they walked into each other. They both felt something, something they couldn’t explain. Almost as if they’d met before, as if in a dream. After a few seconds of pondering this, they both shrugged it off and continued walking their separate ways, and Dawn and Dusk never saw each other again.