//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: A Thousand Suns and the Mammoth Star // Story: The Time Before // by LegitTheKid //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle's heart sank when she heard the words said by the mysterious colt who had just overpowered her. The fact that he had just admitted to having a goal to overtake Princess Celestia was crazy. At first thought, she was confused. Why would he directly tell her that he was going to do such a villainous deed? Then she thought how this would be possible. No, he must have been insane. He was having a mental breakdown, that had to be the solution. But, that couldn't be it. His eyes were red, as well as glowing. That was not normal at all, and Twilight decided it had something to do with this pony's abnormal behavior. "Now," the colt said, breaking Twilight's thoughts and making her listen. "Are you interested in seeing it all happen before your pretty little eyes, princess?" Twilight could barely force any words out of her mouth. Once again, fear had overtaken her. "I..." "Well?" Twilight still had her mouth agape, moving it like she was about to say something, but she stayed silent. "Suit yourself." The colt gave her his devilish grin once again, then shot a beam at Twilight, making her glow with a light green outline. He then levitated the bookshelf off her. Twilight used this time to take action, but had a feeling that the spell he had just used on her was for a reason. She prepared to blast a lightning spell at this insane colt, but collapsed to the floor in pain the second she tried even charging the bolt with her horn. The spell was to block her magic! Of course! How could someone like this have so much power, yet she had never even heard of him, or met him until just that day? The colt kept his smile and levitated a glass bottle out of a box that was among the junk that had fallen off the broken table. It was full of a glowing orange liquid. "If you don't want to watch it alongside of me," he started. "Then I'll make you a prisoner instead. If you choose that path, I've already won." He then levitated the table back onto the floor, using two boxes from the mess to hold up the missing leg. After that, he set the bottle on the table, and looked at Rainbow Dash, who was still unconscious, and then proceeded to levitate her into the air once again. "Don't you do it!" Twilight yelled, a mixture of fear and anger caught in her voice. "Oh, you have nothing to worry about, your highness." The colt said in his normal, soft voice. He then sent an electric shock into Rainbow Dash that immediately snapped her back awake. She let out a short scream as she woke up from the unpleasant surprise of being shocked, then realizing she was floating. Not by flying, but by levitation magic. Rainbow Dash started panicking for a brief moment, then turned around and saw the figure lifting her in the air. "Twilight!" Rainbow Dash screamed in hope that her friend could save her. "Help!" She redirected her focus to the colt and spoke once again. "Please don't hurt me!" "That's for your friend to decide, miss." The colt looked at Twilight. "Your friend will be my prisoner, and there is nothing you can do so don't even try. Now, her fate is your decision, princess. Your two choices are coming with me and your friend will be safe for as long as she's in my hooves, or you can be my prisoner, and then I will end your friend." His smile widened. "And eventually you as well." "I don't understand though." Twilight said. "Why would you hope that I don't make the decision that would make your plan easier?" Twilight didn't entirely care, but at the same time, she wanted to know what was going on in the mind of this psycho. "Convenience." He said with no emotion in his voice, but with the unnerving smile still stuck on his face. "It would make my plan easier if you decided to be stubborn and sacrifice your own friend, but it's much more risky. Besides, murder is a last resort. I'd never make that my first plan...but I'm not afraid to do it." Twilight let out a sigh, and then spoke once again. Tears began to form in her eyes. "First, I need you to give me your word that she'll be safe if I go with you." "Oh, but of course, your highness." The colt said. "I always keep a promise, no matter what." "Are you sure I can trust you?" His smile widened. "With my life." He said slowly, but surely. There was a certain level of trust in his voice that was unsettling, but sounded as honest as could be. Twilight paused for a split second. A tear finally ran down her face and her voice broke. "Alright..." she started. "My best option is to go with you. Just, please don't hurt Rainbow Dash!" The colt finally let out a long, loud laugh. Twilight noticed that Rainbow Dash was crying too. The two girls were scared half to death of what this psychopath would do. After his laugh, he began a new sentence. "You have my word, princess Twilight." He stressed the words 'princess Twilight.' Nopony besides her friends had ever called her 'princess Twilight.' Ponies whom she never met before would call her 'Twilight Sparkle' or 'princess' or 'your highness' or even 'princess Twilight Sparkle,' but never 'princess Twilight.' He then let go of Rainbow Dash and said "You'll both regret it if you even dare to escape." Rainbow Dash backed up next to Twilight, and the two stayed close beside each other, tears running down both their faces. The colt took the glowing liquid off the table once again. "You two might feel a bit, ahem, sick, during this journey." "J-journey?" Twilight asked in confusion. Her tone made it obvious that she was still scared half to death. "You heard me." The colt hesitated no longer and started drinking the liquid. Within just a few seconds, the entire bottle was completely empty of its contents. Within just a few seconds, the colt's eyes started turning white, and glowing even brighter. Before, his irises were red and his eyes were glowing, but now they were gone, and the room came to light as if all the candles were lit. After a few more seconds, his horn started glowing in the way it would if he were starting a spell. Exactly like he was starting a spell. He started walking straight towards Twilight and Rainbow Dash, until he was literally standing right in front of their faces. He gave them a smirk and said "Get ready." A wind started up in the room. Papers flew from everywhere, books were tumbled and tossed around, chairs were pushed around, and an ear splitting howl of the rushing air filled the three's ears. The colt's horn let out a dome above their heads, acting similarly to how a shield spell would. The colt began laughing even louder than he had anytime before that they'd met him. It didn't sound evil, but insane. Twilight and Rainbow Dash never felt more uncomfortable standing next to somepony else. Then the two friends turned to look at their surroundings. They were shocked by what they saw. Everything around them looked like space. There were also thousands of suns, all in multiple lines, completely even. Behind them all was a sun that made the thousands in front of it look like small midgets. A swirl of all sorts of colors were emitting from this giant sun. Twilight had no idea what was going on, and could only focus on this sight that would not originate from her wildest dreams, accompanied by the sound of the colt's mad laughter that was echoing throughout the stars. Twilight turned to her friend, who looked more shocked than anypony she had ever seen. ****** About a minute passed by, and then Twilight noticed that the three of them were all rotating around this insane part of the universe. The swirl of colors, however, did not change position. It was always behind the giant sun, no matter how far they moved to the side. The colt's laughter only sounded like it was getting louder, and Twilight and Rainbow Dash could not stand it any longer. Rainbow Dash screamed as if someone were pulling her flesh off. "Make this all stop!" She yelled. "I can't take it!" She started twitching uncontrollably as tears covered her face, and her screams continued on through the air around them, piercing the ears of Twilight. The alicorn could barely stand to see one of her best friends losing her sanity in front of her very eyes. "How much longer will this go on?" Twilight yelled to the colt, trying to speak over her friend's cries, and over his mad laughter. But he didn't answer. He didn't even pause, or look at her. He just kept laughing. Twilight had a hard time deciding which of the two were louder, and just as hard a time deciding which sound was most disturbing. Twilight then began to hear a ringing in her ears. It almost blocked out the sound of the colt and Rainbow Dash, but they were still audible in the back of this ringing. Twilight covered her ears at the sound of this. She looked around her and started to see the sight of the thousand suns and the mammoth star begin to slowly fade away into blackness before her, as well as the swirl of color and the depths of space behind it. Eventually, all that was visible were the other two ponies right near her. But no sooner had space around her disappeared, Rainbow Dash and the insane colt started fading into the same blackness. Soon, they were gone too. But the indescribable insanity of those two minutes got no stranger as after the two were out of her vision, their voices could still be heard, and even louder and the echo of them banging around in her head harder and faster. The ringing did not cease either. At this point, Twilight lost her mind too. Just like Rainbow Dash, it was too much for her to handle. She started screaming and crying in just the same way Rainbow Dash had. This went on for a half minute, the sounds getting even louder and more unbearable by the second. Then, it just stopped. All the sounds, the echos, and even the ringing came to a complete halt. Twilight noticed it stop, but then suddenly felt tired. She wanted to go to sleep, and she had no idea why. So she did. ****** A light breeze blew through Twilight Sparkle's mane. The smell of flowers and grass filled her nose, and the cool air felt nice on her fur. She felt like she could sleep there all day, and didn't even feel like opening her eyes. She wondered why she even woke up in the first place. She felt the grass below her rub against her stomach, which felt even more comfortable. She cleared her mind so that she could go back to sleep, when suddenly a voice snapped her out of her tiredness. "Excuse me, miss." The voice said. "Mind explaining what you're doing sleeping in my field?"