Fighting Destiny

by LightStriker

The Messenger

She couldn’t say if she was dreaming. It didn’t feel like she was sleeping, but can a dreamer really tell? She couldn’t remember anything, not even her name. She only knew that she had to go somewhere. In her mind, she swam against waves as tall as a mountains. They were glowing with golden energy and were all going in the same direction. They pushed her back from where she tried to go, rocking her against her will. Every effort was wasted against that relentless flow. She had nothing to hold on to and simply keeping her head above the waves was draining all her power.

Her body ached far worse than the day after she raced against Applejack and Rainbow Dash. She noticed a light on the horizon, warm and familiar. A safe haven... Home. She was attracted to it and only wanted to be there, but the universe itself didn’t care for her wishes. She wasn’t meant to be in these flows. They never stopped for anypony, not even her.

She finally noticed that something was pushing her forwards, surely if not terribly slowly. It was a tug of war between that blue glow and the waves. It felt like an eternity as she slowly crept forwards towards the light. Many times, the helpful glow weakened, as if it was tiring itself out. A few hooves away from her destination, it gave out. Immediately the flows started to pull her away. She was so close, and yet it could have been worlds away.

The blue glow came back, stronger than ever. It surrounded her, picked her up and delivered a final push. It was gentle but firm and full of determination. It felt different too, as if somepony was holding her up in the waves; preventing her from drowning. She knew what it was! It was somepony’s life force; energy that, once given, can never be regained. She couldn’t tell who it was and it faded away the moment she crossed the light’s threshold.

Remember!

This time, coming back to consciousness didn’t go as smoothly. Her whole body was in pain as if she had run from Ponyville to Canterlot. And back. She discovered all the muscles she only knew on paper and some she could swear were not documented. Finally the pain started to recede, except for her right wing. It got crushed when she fell down and if the pain was to be believed, she had lain on it for quite some time. Having gained them only recently, she hadn’t developed the instinctive reaction of folding them when falling or laying down.

She got up too quickly and had to lean on the nearby bookshelf to prevent herself from falling down again. She couldn’t remember the last time her head had spun like that. Actually, her memory failed short of anything beyond a few moments ago. She opened and closed her right wing a few times, blood slowly flowing back into it. She was happy to find nothing was broken.

Azure?

Memories of what was yet to come flooded her mind. Suddenly pain wasn’t her primary concern anymore. Now that she knew what was about to happen, she hoped events would unfold differently if she acted quickly enough. She raced to her desk and grabbed a quill with her magic.

“Twilight, aren’t you supposed to be in Canterlot?” asked Spike, standing in the library’s doorway. Twilight didn’t notice him entering. Wasn’t he supposed to spend the day at Rarity’s?

“Quick Spike!” she shouted. “Go find me Rainbow Dash, it’s urgent!”

He turned around and was about to leave when he realized something. “Wait a second, the train for Canterlot was what… three hours ago?” he asked. “You missed a train?”

From the pain in her wing, Twilight had guessed she had been on the ground more than a few minutes, but she was surprised to learn it was hours. She quickly came up with a theory from the glimpses of what happened when her mind was brought back; the transition didn’t happen softly and she could have ended up in the wrong time entirely. In the scope of what just took place, three hours did seem like an acceptable margin of error for a travel of over eighty years.

She did feel bad about missing the train. She hated tardiness more than anything. However, she had more pressing things on her mind.

“I know Spike! But right now I need Rainbow Dash here. It’s far more important than missing a train!” she snapped.

“More important than Princess Cadance’s ascension celebration?” he pressed on.

“Far more! There’s no time to waste!”

He turned around and ran away. “Alright, alright… Is there a moment when something’s not important?” she managed to catch him grumble.

She turned her focus back to her desk. She levitated a piece of parchment and was about to write on it, but stopped. How could she say that; how could she explain what was going to happen or how she came to know about it? She shook her head. He didn’t need to know that. He only needed just enough information to act. She quickly wrote a few lines; just enough for him to understand. She could always explain to him later, if the country survived that long.

Just as she finished rolling the paper and sealing it with wax, a blur of rainbow slammed the library’s door open.

“Spike said something’s important?” asked Rainbow Dash, wound up like a spring, ready to fight.

Twilight didn’t answer right away, but walked up to her with the missive levitating in her magic. She stopped in front of the pegasus and stared at her, making sure she would understand how important it was. “Yes,” she said. “I need you to deliver this message to Shining Armor.”

Rainbow didn’t understand and it showed. “Huh… Alright,” she said. “I can bright that to the mailmare and…” She stepped forwards to grab the paper, but Twilight pulled it away.

“You don’t understand. I want you to deliver it to him, in his hooves. Personally,” she hammered on. “And very, very fast.”

Rainbow took a step back before scratching the back of her head. “Well, alright. Isn’t he in Canterlot for his wife’s celebration?”

“No, he stayed in the Crystal Empire,” she explained. It suddenly occurred to her that she had no way to explain how she knew that. Anypony would assume Shining came to Canterlot with Cadance. She hadn’t received any information stating that he had stayed back. She suddenly wondered what could have kept him back in the Empire. No doubt some ponies worked to keep him away from Canterlot.

“Wait… what? Why?”

Twilight decided against lying to her friend. “I don’t know. I just know he stayed behind.”

Rainbow stared at the alicorn, trying to decipher anything that wasn’t being said. She sighed; reading other ponies had never been one of her strengths. “Alright! The next train to the Crystal Empire is tomorrow morning,” she said while taking a step toward the floating paper, but Twilight pulled it back once again.

“You don’t understand,” Twilight said, far calmer than she thought she would be. “The train is, at best, two days of travel. More if it’s not a non-stop trip. If it leaves tomorrow morning, it means Shining would only receive it in three days.”

“Well… Duh!” said Rainbow radder rudely. “It’s not like there’s alternative mode of transportation!”

“How long can you keep the speed of your Sonic Rainboom?”

Rainbow recoiled back, as if Twilight had just grown a second head. She took a long moment staring at her friend, trying to decide if the alicorn had just gone mad. “You’re serious?” she asked. Twilight simply nodded. “You’re insane! There’s over two thousand miles between here and the Crystal Empire!”

“And I need this in Shining’s hooves within a day,” she said pointing at the parchment.

“It’s that important?” Rainbow asked quite unsure. “Can’t you teleport the message?”

“I wouldn’t ask something that crazy if it wasn’t,” she answered. “and no, I can’t teleport it. I would need a way to locate him precisely over that distance.”

Rainbow frowned. “You can’t explain more than that?”

Twilight bit her lips. She didn’t have time to explain everything, and there’s some good chance Rainbow wouldn’t believe her anyway. “All I can say is that Equestria might cease to exist within two weeks if we don’t do something.”

“What?”

Twilight moved closer to her friend. “Remember the changelings? This could turn out far worse.”

Rainbow’s sight snapped and locked her eyes to Twilight’s. She was the bearer of the Element of Loyalty and she hadn’t believed her friend’s warning back when the changelings invaded. She had ignored her, and the cost of that could have been huge. She doubted she would ever forget that mistake, and sometimes she wondered if she would ever truly forgive herself. She grabbed the floating roll. “Your brother will get the message.”

She turned around and dashed out of the library, leaving no time for Twilight to say anything. A moment later, a chromatic explosion could be seen spreading across the sky.

Comments

[LightStriker]

Sorry for the short chapter, but it said what it had to say.

Next chapter is much longer.

[Impurity]

Shit's gonna hit the fan. These chapters are getting me psyched for the next part!

[Lag Incarnate]

I can think of but two things, gotta go fast, and Guile's theme. Seriously, like on loop until Twilight gets to Canterlot or whatever she does to warn the princesses.

[Professor Donger]

BRING IT ON TIME, LETS GO!

[LightStriker]

3541534 What?

[Professor Donger]

3541871 TIME TO FIGHT TIME WITH THE POWER OF TIME!

[ariados4711]

will you continiue the storry?

[LightStriker]

4162037 I really don't know.

[spider-pony32]

I hope you continue the story I like were this is going. Thanks for the good read

[Bronydragon]

Read the two sequels now too. Gotta say I really hope for you to continue this wonderful story.
Great start on this second sequel. Keep it up and going.

Dragon

[recentteen14]

I found that I had missed this from another story, only to find this dead. I liked the other 2 way back when, so seeing this dead leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I'll stick it on favorites in case you ever come back, but I won't hold out hope until I see a new chapter.

[josue]

4174822
comeback

[Midknight Defender]

8294664
Agreed.