TiM: Summary · 3:31pm Aug 16th, 2019
It’s been three years since I last wrote for TiM. As such, some of you—myself included—might be a little rusty on the story. Therefore I’ve decided to do a quick recap of each story to date. Note: this is not a replacement for having read the series, if you haven’t read the stories and think this is enough information to jump into this story you’re sadly mistaken. This is meant for those who have read the story, but not recently, and could use a refresher. It will cover key events/characters but not all.
TiM: Truth in Meanings
The first story starts off with Rainbow Dash’s death at the hooves of the changeling queen. Distraught at the loss of her friend, something snaps in Twilight. Unlocking the powers of the god Gaia barred deep inside of her she kills the queen, and then the personification of death itself before it can claim the soul of Rainbow Dash. Its death destroys the flow of life to and from Equestria, the dead being unable to pass on, and new life being unable to be born. In a bid to restore order to the universe and to prevent the loss of Cadance’s soon to be born foal, Twilight travels into the underworld with a now unable to die Rainbow in search of a remindy. While on the journey they meet three of the primordial gods, Tartarus, guardian of Hades, Chaos, the original creator god, and Eros, god of love. Through their journey, the two learn about their feelings for each other and about Occulous, mortal focal points of the power of the gods, and Avatars, the form gods take when they wish to play at being mortals.
Eros’s was the Crystal Heart, Gaia’s was the tree of harmony, Tartarus’s the scythe of death, Chaos’s Discord himself. Learning that the only way to restore the order was to replace death with a unliving living soul, Rainbow volunteers. Twilight, unable to see her go, tackles Rainbow to the ground and pours her power into Rainbow, restoring her to life and granting her great power in the process.
With Rainbow no longer being able to be the new Death, the three gods pass the responsibility to Tartarus.
TiM: A life Lived for Others.
An unexpected result of all the power Twilight gave Rainbow was a rather… unorthodox pregnancy. Five years later the story two picks up with Rainbow and Twilight settling into their new life, a life of being parents to two foals, Dayspring Gleam and Aurora Flash. Dayspring takes after Twilight while Aurora favors Rainbow. The story follows the two on their shenanigans as they meet their friend, Ataxia, the pony offspring of Spike and Rarity. The latter of whom’s pregnancy just so happen to coincide with the disappearance of Discord.
TiM: A Lesson Learned.
Ataxia at 16 years old is a hoofful. Something made worse as her desire for attention, specifically the attention of her rather busy mother, drive a wedge between the two. She runs off, meeting two playful mares by the name of Flitter and Cloudchaser who decide to teach her some ‘adult’ fun. Ataxia takes great pride in rubbing her mom’s face in it, she finally gets the attention she wants as it leads to her being kicked out of the house. Twilight frets over her, unsure just what to do about the situation until Rainbow points out that even though Ataxia has no friends her own age anymore, her budding friendship with Shimmering Night, the pair’s youngest daughter, is a friendship Rainbow believes will go the distance.
TiM: Best of Intentions, Worst of Results.
Upset with his newfound responsibilities, the God Tartarus makes his move. He conspires to release the Titans he’s kept locked away upon Equestria as a distraction to set himself up as the only God in existence, something he can only accomplish by killing Eros, Gaia, and Chaos. Fortunately they’ve made the job rather easy, for each of them is now trapped in an Avatar. The only issue is Gaia’s ability to leave her Avatar at will, as such her death must be first, and it must be done without her realizing what’s happening until it’s far too late to stop it. Unfortunately for everypony in Equestria, Gaia’s Avatar is Twilight Sparkle.
Tartarus’ machinations result in the death of Dayspring Gleam, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and, for a time, Aurora Flash. An attack on Ponyville sees Equestria cut in half, Rainbow Dash disappearing into temporal relativity and Twilight turned evil. The consequences of which results in Celestia’s death, Luna being injured, Canterlot being sacked, and the fortress city of Stalliongrad almost falling. She’s only stopped upon Rainbow’s return. Pushing things further Tartarus sends Rainbow and Twilight off in search of a god weapon while Ataxia, Shimmering Night, Aurora, and Spike head to the Griffin Empire's capital in search of allies. What they find is a dragon attack and a very annoying young emperor by the name of Icarus.
Ataxia learns about her dragon half while making peace with the dragons. The group returns to ponyville just as the second Titan attack occurs. The Titan is fought off in no small part thanks to Radiant Star and the former captain of the wonderbolts, Firestar. Pressed to returned quickly after finding their charge Twilight and Rainbow encounter Tartarus who uses the god weapon in an attempt to kill Twilight and Gaia. While he fails in the latter, he succeeds in the former.
Rainbow, Cadance, and Ataxia engage Tartarus, only coming out on top when Rainbow uses the weapon to kill the god. Upon his death Gaia, Eros, and Chaos return to the land as they seek to rebalance the world. They raise the corpse of Tartarus to serve as the new death while restoring Twilight to life.
In the woods the creature that corrupted Twilight finds a new host in the dead body of Twilight’s son.
TiM: Firestar’s Report
A side story detailing the return of Rainbow from Firestar’s perspective and an addendum report filed at the end of the battle with Twilight Night.
TiM: A Tyrant’s Words
With the death of Tartarus the creatures he kept locked away escapes. Ataxia and Shimmering Night are on the hunt when they hear about the return of Tirek. Together they manage to defeat him once and for all but not before Ataxia learns about her true nature. For Ataxia’s birth was set in motion thousands of years ago. She is a dragoncorn, a creature created by Chaos/Discord that is fated to end the life of every Alicorn on the planet. Or at least that is what Tirek showed her. But you cannot trust anything such a creature says, right?
TiM: Price of Victory
Joy and celebration are in the air Radiant Star and Firestar tie the knot, Icarus and Aurora are pregnant, and in addition, Twilight and Rainbow have a wonderful time on their second first date. That all changes as the creature now known as Grim Night puts his plan in motion. Teaming up with his ‘brother’, Blood Dawn, he makes his move. Blood Dawn attacks and kills the former Griffin Emperor Siros and wounds Icarus and Aurora in the process, killing their unborn foal.
Rainbow fights Blood, destroying him utterly and several miles of the Griffin Empire in the process. Their fight breaks the moon and annihilates the biggest mountain in the empire. The group spend the next month or so restoring order and creating a weapon for Icarus to ensure that he can defend his land against such threats, a spear empowered by god magic that they name after the former emperor: Siros’ Vengeance.
Back in Equestria the death of Spike and Rarity, plus a terrible misunderstanding on the part of Shimmering Night see Ataxia run off in anger. Her mind is then tortured and eventually broken by Grim Night until she willingly gives into the fate Tirek showed her, becoming a creature of pure hate, rage and destruction. A creature that cannot be stopped, a creature of fate.
Twilight and Rainbow engage, the latter’s abilities unable to put Ataxia down for any amount of time while the former finds herself impotent to do anything, her ability nullified by the new foal growing in her womb.
Shimmering Night manages to buy them time, but it’s just a temporary reprieve. As Twilight begins setting up defences, Aurora and Night head off in search of more information, a search that takes them into the Dragon Kingdom. Once there they learn the truth, both about Ataxia and about Shimmering NIght. Shimmering Night is not a spellcaster, she’s the demi goddess of Magic. The command of magic, all magic belongs to her.
Returning to Equestria Shimmering Night starts ripping away Ataxia’s magic, her fate, but is unable to finish the job, doing so would strip away Ataxia’s identity, so instead she transfers all Alicorn magic to herself and willingly attempts to sacrifice herself to end the curse Ataxia is under while confessing her feelings to the mare. Doing so causes Ataxia to regain control of herself, ending the threat.
Pissed, Grim Night makes his move, he captures Aurora in an attempt to blackmail Shimmering NIght into removing Ataxia’s magic, his goal on the path to steal Twilight’s magic. Shimmering Night turns her attention to him, destroying him utterly, but not before learning that the reason Grim Night set this in motion is because of the return of his creator, a creature that was locked in the moon before it was broken.
In the violence of his destruction nopony notices a stallion running away, cursed to live again with all the memories of the creature that had used his body and mind against everypony he’d ever loved.
TiM: Shower Fun
A side story that occurs between chapter 8-9 of Price of Victory. As Twilight and Rainbow get it on, Shimmering Night catches Ataxia spying on them. The two engage in a heated conversation that eventually escalates. The fight between them results in Twilight being hit by their combined energy just as Rainbow and her finish.
TiM: Later that Night
With the threat of Grim Night ended, Ataxia teaches Shimmering Night just how she likes to party, with lots and lots of sex. The pair end up with more than they bargained for as Ataxia’s sex toys, magical creations of the pair imagined as stallions and brought to animation by Shimmering Night, cause them each to get pregnant; Night later gives birth to Starlight, Ataxia to Ana.
TiM: The Light of my Life
Firestar and Radiant celebrate Hearth's Warming Eve in the Crystal Empire with their new twin sons, Flash and Blaze.
TiM: What Defines Us
On the anniversary of Dayspring Gleam’s death, the family gets together to meet at his grave stone, the whole family. Unfortunately Taz, the last child of Rainbow and Twilight, is having a tough go of it. For Taz was born an earth pony with no magical abilities, he was born as an anti-magic pony. Something all his fellow nieces and nephews tease him about. When he accidentally hurts Blaze and Flash, Taz runs off into the Everfree forest where he unknowingly bumps into his brother, Dayspring Gleam in disguise. As they talk Taz learns that one’s value is not in the mistakes you make, but in who you choose to be going forward. As Dayspring watches Taz return to his family a sinister filly appears, teasing Dayspring about his inability to take his own advice.
TiM: Preening is a Family Affair.
Aurora Flash and Icarus have a problem. Their daughter, Vela, is far too much like her father. In temperament and in patience. When she throws out yet another preening instructor, the pair have no choice but to teach her themselves, after all it’s very unhealthy not to do so. There’s just one problem as for pegasus, griffins, and hippogriffs, preening is akin to masterbation.
TiM: Cost of Defeat
The creatures that escaped the moon make their move. Nighttide, the unknown daughter of Princess Luna was de-aged years ago and set upon a task to manipulate Taz, his abilities bringing him to their attention. Meanwhile Twilight and company proceed to go about their lives, completely unaware of the threat they now face. That is until Aurora and family arrive with a horrible report, someone tried to change her memories, to manipulate her into killing several Diamond Dog ambassadors. Searching for the one responsible, Twilight finds evidence of his passage in the Crystal Empire and a horrible truth. While the creature might have failed with Aurora, he succeeded with Cadance. For when Rainbow and Twilight arrive, they find Cadance with a knife in her magic standing over the murdered body of Firestar.
While events go down in the Crystal Empire, Shimming Night, stewing in her hatred of her daughter Ana’s crush on her uncle Taz, misplaces her anger when she finds out that Taz is in love with Aurora Flash. The two get into a heated argument that eventually leads to an all out physical blow, Shimmering Night’s magic completely ineffective against Taz’s null capabilities. As this fight ends in the courtyard, Night outs Taz in a final-spiteful act. Taz runs off, straight into the waiting hooves of the creature responsible for all of this, a creature with the appearance of a large unicorn pony that he nicknames Red due to his red coat.
Distraught over the death of Firestar and the loss of Taz after he ran away, the group closes ranks with only Ataxia and Shimmering Night leaving in search of Taz. Who finds himself taken to Tartarus by Nighttide where he learns about the creatures who now assault Equestria, the bastard children of Tartarus and demigods themselves, Red, Mindsink, and Timespire, who are accompanied by Red’s daughter, Nighttide.
Dayspring Gleam picks that time to reveal himself. Forewarned of Red by Nighttide, disguised, he moves to end their threat and rescue Taz and Nighttide. The fight goes in his favor, until Red breaks free of his control and attempts to end him, a fight that’s prevented when Taz activates his Null power. The action ends the fight and saves Dayspring’s life, but as a result reveals him for who he truly is, Taz’s long thought dead brother. Upset about being lied to by the pony he considered a mentor and friend, Taz gives up and agrees to help Red, under the condition that no pony else in his family is harmed. Red agrees.
With the use of newly created revenants, Red drops hints to Twilight and Co, leading them to his base in Tartarus. Their foals are lead to the frozen north by the revenants to be hunted and slaughtered at their leisure. In the course of the battle, Mindsink, Cadance, the revenants, and Icarus are all killed, the latter by giving his spear to Vela to save her from an explosion and Red is successful in his machinations. Due to the deal Taz’s made with Red, Rainbow and Twilight are left powerless for the next six months. This is achieved by the him revealing that Dayspring Gleam is still alive.
Everypony is left to limp home, something only achievable by Shimmering Night tapping into the dead magic of Tartarus, fatally poisoning herself in the process. The group have to drag Taz away as for, when they left, Nightshade was also left behind, mortally wounded by her now returned mother, Nightmare Moon.
TiM: Love Under the Shadows
Calling into a debt owed to him by Shimmering Night, Taz returns to Tartarus and rescues Nightshade. While it’s cause for him to celebrate, everypony else in the castle has their own reservation about the mare. However Taz doesn’t give them a choice, they either have to accept her or kick them both out. They, reluctantly, agree.
TiM: A Shining Light
With Red’s plan nearing fruition, Twilight and company must act soon. A random idea has them chase down a Sphinx. Meanwhile Taz gathers the other colts and fillies together in an attempt to reclaim the elements of harmony, a weapon he thinks might be useful in defeating Red. The group consists of Taz, Nighttide, Ana, Vela, Little Dayspring, Flash, Blaze, Starlight, and her new marefriend Echoside. The two groups are each successful in their own ways, while Twilight fails to get Red’s true name, and thus the power to command him, Ataxia manages to find the cure for Shimmering Night. Taz and his group reclaim the elements but at the cost of their friendship with Ana. Both groups meet to stop Red. Shimmering Night uses her power to destroy the revenant posing Nightmare Moon and free Princess Luna. Meanwhile Twilight, Rainbow, Ataxia, Luna, Dayspring Gleam, and Radiant Star battle Red directly, sadly they arrive too late to prevent him from resurrecting Tartarus.
With Tartarus’ resurrection the gods start to get involved, Eros arrives, seeking to redeliver the judgment handed down after his actions in Best of Intentions. This proves to be a costly mistake, as, driven by self preservation Tartarus gives Red his true name, Typhon.
Typhon becomes the true god he always was destined to be, a force that causes Gaia and Chaos to show up to battle him. Together with everypony they all engage Typhon, barely able to stand up to the power of the new god.
Desperate, they launch one last attack, one that, to his horror, Typhon finds himself unable to block. Looking back, he sees the reason why, Taz, recovered from a knock-out blow uses his ability to nullify Typhon’s power, destroying the god once and for all.
Unsure what to do with this resurrected Tartarus, the gods decide, with Rainbow’s insistence, to change his punishment. He’s placed under Eros’s watch for several million years.
TiM: A Heartwarming Heartbeat
Taz and Nighttide celebrate the birth of their new foal, Nightshade. A birth that just happens to coincide with Hearth's Warming Eve. As they all celebrate her birthday a strange mystery gift lies under the tree.
Can confirm, keeping track of everyone can get a little confusing. Here's a visual representation of most ponies mentioned in this summary
i.imgur.com/zVYH1kw.png
It's always interesting seeing what an author puts in a recap and what they leave out. In this case TiM is so massive I'm surprised this was even possible. Incredible job here.
I am horrified the story is continuing. I love everyone that's still alive and my headcannon that things finally calm down and they all get to be happy is in danger.
5109350
Do we ever, truly, get to settle down and just be happy? If only life worked that way. :)
TBH this went through several re-writes, especially the bigger stories. I had to keep reminding myself that this was meant to be a summary, not a play-by-play.