• Published 19th Dec 2014
  • 1,665 Views, 197 Comments

Stopped Clock - Carabas



Twilight Sparkle's day began with assassins from the future. It only got worse from there.

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6
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"Excellent. I'm going to kill you now."

First, the quiet. Birdsong and muttering wind and the patter of snowfall. Distant chatter from ponies in a little village, muffled by neat walls of trees.

Then the static that rippled through the air. Pealing light and crashing white-gold arcs that sent the few creatures in the trees into a headlong retreat, before the light built and built to a peak that erupted in one great flash.

And last, when the light had cleared and the last sparks had fizzed out of existence, the voices of the six.

“Tartarus. Where are we now?”

“These are apple trees, right? Check the map, there was an apple orchard somewhere on there.”

“Stars above, I think I just stepped in something rural.”

“Odd. You wouldn't think the place it all started looked this … innocent.”

“That's how they fool you. I swear I had my crossbow when I stepped in the box. Has anypony seen my crossbow?”

Quiet.” The last voice, lower and more guttural than the others. “Don't bother with the map, I've been here enough times to know we're off-target. The target's en-route to our baby tyrant as you all blether, and we've not got long. Follow me. And don't kill or canoodle anything you don't have to, for the love of Sol.”


The knock sounded at the library's door, in the same instant that the library's clock chimed once. Twilight Sparkle looked towards it, surprised. Few ponies around here called at the library, less still when a full-day blizzard was on the schedule.

“Coming!” she called, neatly stowing away her book as she rose. Spike had lent his services to Rarity for the day, so she'd have to play doorman. Maybe this was him coming back, although she'd have expected him to call out or use his own key.

She opened the door, letting a blast of cold air and a flurry of snowflakes into the library's warm confines. A pony stood outside, huddled and hidden amidst a rumpled cloak. Their white legs stamped impatiently on the front step. The outline of a horn pressed against the cloak's hood.

“Rarity?” Twilight stepped back from the doorway, and made an ushering motion with her hoof. “Come inside, you'll freeze out there. How's Spike? Is he behaving himself?”

The unicorn stepped inside, kicked the door shut behind them, and let the snow-dusted cloak fall away. Twilight blinked and took an involuntary step back. It wasn't Rarity. Her coat was white, but their stature was smaller, their eyes were a bright and piercing gold, and their mane fell down in a yellow braid across their back. Crossed lightning bolts gleamed on her flanks.

“Excuse me,” said the unicorn mare, her voice soft and hesitant, “Are you Princess Twilight Sparkle?”

“I am,” said Twilight. “What's your name, and how can I help you?”

The unicorn breathed in and closed her eyes. “Okay,” she murmured. Her eyes opened and tracked up and down Twilight, taking in her mane, her coat, the wings on her back. Her jaw tightened. “Okay. Excellent. I'm going to kill you now.”

“... what?”

White magic glimmered around the mare's horn, and a small steel blade flashed out from the cloak's depths. The unicorn held it before her in a professional fencer's stance. “Close your eyes, tyrant. Don't make this harder than it is.”

“No, wait, hang on, what?” Panic was a vague suggestion at the back of Twilight's mind, trying to make its way past a rising tide of bewilderment. “Have – have we met? Why are you doing this?”

“Be quiet!” Faster than thought, faster than Twilight could so much as blink, the steel flew out straight at her throat. Panic finally wrestled its way to the front of Twilight's mind and seized hold of her reflexive magic. In a flash, she reappeared outside the library's front door, the cold air and wind slapping her senses into full alertness.

She caught her breath as she glanced around the town; no other ponies were out and about in the winter weather, though there were voices in the distance. Nopony nearby though, which was good. They wouldn't get hurt in what had all the makings of a scuffle.

Twilight whirled on the library door as it slammed open, and the strange unicorn came charging straight at her. Two blades levitated around her head, and both came spinning at Twilight from different directions.

“Look, calm down!” Twilight hastily threw up two magic shields at different angles, and the blades glided off the shimmering purple surfaces. “What's your problem? Why are you attacking me? Calm down!”

The unicorn snarled, and a third blade bobbed out from the library's doorway as her horn blazed with incandescent force. The blades rose and came scything down at Twilight. With a frustrated yell, Twilight extended the shields into a single unbroken sphere all around herself. The blades struck along the surface and dug and twisted at the arcane material, hunting for any entrance. Sparks sprayed and tortured metal keened, putting paid to the snow-shrouded peace of the Ponyville streets.

“The Manehattan purges,” the unicorn hissed. Her blades raked along the bubble. “The Crystal Empire burning. All of Capra turned to molten glass and screaming shadows! The refugees, the harvesting camps, the dead upon dead upon dead! That's what you've done!”

“I don't know what you're talking about. Any of what you're talking about!” Twilight looked towards the unicorn's blazing horn and focused briefly. A whipcrack of purple energy slapped against the unicorn's horn, making her release the magic and drop the blades with a surprised yelp. “Look, please, articulate your problems like a grown-up mare and we can talk about this.”

The mare just scooped up the blades again and held them poised over her head. A shimmering white shield sprung into existence at her front. “No words,” she murmured. “Not now. Not after I've come so far.”

“So far from what?” Twilight could hear the voices in the distance coming closer, amidst what sounded like multiple ponies galloping. She cursed internally. Her jackhammering heartrate didn't need to be amplified by a bunch of other ponies coming onto the scene and putting themselves at risk. “Just please talk to me! Why are you attacking me, what have I done, when did I allegedly do it, is there some medication you should be taking? Tell me something!”

The mare met Twilight's gaze. Something in the depths of her expression looked broken, and she paused for a moment. “I'm sorry,” she said quietly. “You don't deserve this yet. But you will. Oh, you will.”

“Will?”

By way of answer, the three blades flew at Twilight. She teleported away in the instant before they landed, reappearing with a flash several metres above where she had stood. One hasty flap of her new wings reoriented her to face downwards, looking at where the blades briefly hovered. Spell energy blazed out from her horn's tip in the blink of an eye, and amidst the violet cascade of light, three molten puddles fell to the ground.

Breathing slightly, she looked towards the unicorn mare once more. In lieu of appearing fazed or intimidated, she'd instead produced a fourth blade. Twilight wasn't brave enough to speculate from where.

But the blade was still close to the mare, and Twilight seized the chance to contain them both. With a furious cry and an outpour of magic, a solid purple bubble appeared around the mare and blade. Past the translucent surface, the mare blinked, and then threw herself into slashing at the interior of the bubble. Pale lines and sparks hissed into existence where she struck.

For a long moment, there was no sound for Twilight Sparkle but her own thunderous heartbeat, her steadied attempts to regain breath, and the muffled sound of her assailant attacking the bubble's interior.

The moment passed. The distant voices grew yet closer, along with the distinct clop of hooves rapidly hitting stone. Twilight felt her heartbeat and breathing settle down to what were approximately healthy levels, and looked at the strange unicorn.

She was still slashing away at the bubble.

Twilight, feeling her tether's end near if not actively be passed, snapped, “Give up. I'm not going to hurt you, but I can sure just keep on containing you until I deliver you to the authorities.”

“Hah!” The mare's gaze, now wild, locked with Twilight's own. “That won't save you! I'd like to see the authorities that could contain me!”

“TIME POLICE! STOP IN THE NAME OF AN ORDERLY CONTINUUM AND WE WILL USE LETHAL FORCE!” came from the left.

Twilight whirled to where the shout had come from. At the end of one of the streets leading towards the library, half-shrouded by the falling snow, half a dozen ponies galloped towards her position. Dark blue armour covered them, strange metal crossbows bristled from their hooves, glowing devices slung from bandoleers decorated them. One of them, a pegasus mare hurriedly flapping above the others, was waving a hourglass-adorned badge in the air and yelling, “See? We've got the badge! Actual Time Police! We're official and everything!”

Several – many - lots of questions clamoured for answers.

The first one to make it from Twilight's open mouth was “... Wait, don't you mean 'or you will use -?'”

Two glowing-red bolts thrummed out from the advancing figures, whipped inches away from Twilight's nose, and punched into the containing bubble. The bubble disintegrated in a flurry of pink-and-red motes, and the unicorn quickly struggled free of its remains. She hastily sidestepped another bolt which came flying at her. “Tartarus take you!” she screamed as she brandished the blade. “You enabling pack of fanatics!”

“Toujours, Star Gazer!” snapped one of the figures, a smaller one at the centre of the group. “Engage the assassin hoof-to-hoof! Jiffy, keep them covered from above! Solstice, allay the protectee! Spring Green, you and I are on congruity duty! Remember your training and you might all live!”

Two of the ponies, an earth pony stallion and a unicorn mare, sprung straight at the strange mare. Their horseshoes gleamed with a dull and unpleasant lustre, and emitted a strange low drone as they swung at her. She jumped back barely in time to dodge their blows, and pivoted sharply on her front hooves to slam her back legs into the stallion's jaw. He fell back with a pained yelp, tripping up the mare behind him. The pegasus above loosed a bolt from their crossbow, which whipped past the clashing trio and blurred past Twilight's nose to smack into the library's front sign.

Behind them, two of the others - a earth pony mare and stallion, the latter the same one who'd been barking orders – stalked around the struggle. Their crossbows had been stowed away and small twinkling hoof-held rods were ready in their place, aimed at seemingly random windows and doors and other parts of the scenery rather than the fight itself.

What?, screamed part of Twilight's mind, which the rest of her frothing faculties failed to direct to her mouth.

She felt a warm presence come up to her side and a hoof pat her across the withers. “Don't worry. It'll be all over soon,” said one of the strange ponies, an earth pony mare. She smiled nervously at Twilight. “Toujours and Star Gazer rated the highest at close-quarters subdual in the Time Academy. They're really good.”

Twilight regarded the fight. It seemed to have devolved into the strange unicorn casually holding off the mare with one outstretched hoof while repeatedly kicking the downed stallion in that most strategically exploitable of stallion parts. Above them, the pegasus fumbled with the crossbow and dropped a bolt into the snow.

“Glrk?” Twilight coaxed forth from faculties that had still seemingly briefly abandoned her.

“But, um, maybe they're having an off-day. Or the assassin's really good too.” The earth pony awkwardly patted Twilight's withers again. “Sorry, am I reassuring you? I – we're kind of new to this. First mission and all. Lieutenant Bramble knows what he's doing, though. He'll keep us on track.”

“Hllg?”

The downed stallion, in spite of his litany of high-pitched meeps and facial expression that suggested fervent praying for a mercy kill, managed to flail out with his legs from his position like a pinned beetle. One gleaming shoe skiffed across the unicorn's leg in mid-air and froze it there, the section of struck leg covered in a strange crackling stasis. The unicorn cursed as she exerted all her might on the stuck leg, trying and failing to move it. Her mare opponent took that chance to lunge in, and withdrew an instant later with a freshly-bloodied snout. Another bolt whipped down and buried itself in the snow.

“So,” said the earth pony. “Are you – are you actually Twilight Sparkle? The Twilight Sparkle?”

Twilight had just about managed to mentally compose herself to accompany her “Bluh?” with a bewildered nod.

The earth pony looked at her, her gaze newly wide and … scared? “Gosh,” she said, with a note of tremble. “But … you know, you're still young. You haven't done anything yet, have you? None of all of it?”

Finally, words. Or a word, at least. “Wuh? It?”

“Everythi -” The earth pony turned away. “Nothing. Never mind. Just – it's going to be alright.” Her hoof clapped Twilight across the withers once again.

The unicorn assassin still, both of her assailants battered to the ground. She dragged in ragged breath after ragged breath, one of her front legs still frozen in mid-air. She panted and looked around.

Just in time to see the order-barking stallion saunter up and slam his shoe-clad front hoof into her face. A grimace passed across the stallion's face, and tendrils of dark energy coiled off from the shoe for a split second.

A succession of horrible images that she was too slow to close her eyes to flashed across Twilight's vision. The unicorn opening her mouth to scream. Her hide wrinkling and eyes filming over. Her flesh sloughing off as dust from her bones. Her bones crumbling and joining the dust pile.

All in a single second.

As if in slow motion, Twilight dragged her gaze away from the dust and the converging ponies, where the commanding earth pony offered the stricken stallion and mare a helping hoof up. She looked to the library sign. Or what had been the library's sign. The bolt which had struck it lay amidst a pile of rotting, mould-spotted wooden splinters.

“Well, the beginning of that was awful to watch,” came the low growl of the commander. “And the less said about the middle, the better. And the end, where I had to intervene, that was pretty bad in its own special way. We'll have words. In the meantime, to your hooves. How's the family jewels, Toujours?”

Why can't I die, Lieutenant?” whimpered Toujours.

“Builds character. Hold on -”

Twilight turned back round to see a solitary note for sanity enter the scene. A grey pegasus mare, Ditzy Doo, trotted neatly around a corner, bearing a wrapped Hearthswarming parcel by a ribbon in her mouth. She stopped as her eyes aligned to focus on the scene before the library. Her mouth opened a fraction.

The mare who'd been assisting the commander earlier stepped primly up, aimed her device at Ditzy with a vworpvworpvworp sound. Ditzy's eyes unfocused immediately, acquired a bluish sheen, and her mouth closed in an amiable smile. She turned on her heel and calmly walked back around the corner.

“She'll be out of it for a few minutes,” grunted the lieutenant – Bramble, wasn't it? - as he swept off his helmet, revealing a dull black coat topped with a bright pink mane. “Should give you all time to clean up. Remember the marks what ought not be left? Set to.”

“No, seriously, WHAT?!” shrieked Twilight Sparkle.

“Ah, yes,” said Bramble, flicking his eyes in her direction. “Good job reassuring her, Solstice.”

“She seemed out of it,” protested the earth pony mare next to Twilight. “Is she really Twilight Sparkle?”

“Bet your life,” grunted Bramble. “Apologies for all this fuss once again, Your Highness. Rest assured that none of it will soon matter. You'll always get some short-sighted bright spark many years from now deciding that world events will be improved by your absence. Never mind the Flow. Never mind everything that'll live then on.”

“Many … years from now? Improved by my absence?” Gears were beginning to churn and thunder once more in Twilight's mind after her initial shock. “What did you mean when you called yourself the … Time Police?”

“Come on, you're smart. In all the wrong ways, as it turns out.” Bramble turned to the assembled other five, who had recovered or were concealing their limps for the most part. “Tell our protectee who we are, you lot.”

“The Time Police, wardens of the Flow and all within,” they haphazardly chorused. The words had an air of rote recitation about them.

“Who are we, protectors of the tyrants and monsters and history's saints and sinners alike?”

“Protectors also of the Flow's course, so all current or future may be preserved from the paradoxes of the past.”

“Outstanding! Who are we, that look to the past so others may look to the future?”

“The Time Police, wardens of the Flow!”

“Spectacular! One day, you all might even be good at that, allowing for miracles. Clear up and repair what needs to be repaired. I'll see to our protectee.”

Twilight stood silent in furious cogitation as the five turned to attend to their surroundings and Bramble advanced on her. “I've used time spells before,” she said, half to herself and half to Bramble, beseeching any sort of enlightening interjection. “You guys do the same? Crack down on those who use them to … try and disrupt the flow of time, correct?”

“You learn quick.”

“So that … that assassin ...” Twilight closed her eyes and tried to pretend she couldn't taste dust in her mouth. “She was from the future? Why did she want to kill me?”

“She had – and also will have – reasons. Lots would sympathise. A few try the same as her. That's where we come in. Time's Flow can't be mucked around with. No matter what you do. No matter all of what you'll do.”

Bramble gently spun the little twinkling device in his hoof. “That's why I'm also doing this. Otherwise, you'll probably just get ideas to do your own mucking around as well.”

Twilight felt very cold, and very small. “Do what, lest I muck around with what? What will I do in the future? Tell me.”

“She might have yelled some of it. They usually do,” said Bramble, flicking his tail back towards the diminishing dust pile. “You'll find out in due time by yourself, of course. Joy of discovery and all that.”

Twilight opened her mouth, prepared to gather magic around her horn, and Bramble aimed the little device at her.

Twilight's world turned blue.


Twilight Sparkle sat at her desk in the library and started as if waking from a light doze. She glanced absently at her clock. Ten past one.

Time flew when she was reading, that was a fact. But by that much? It wasn't that enthralling a book.

Dust tickled the back of her throat, and she coughed as she rose to get a glass of water. She'd finish another chapter, and then pick up Spike from Rarity's at half-past. In this sort of weather, the rest of the day should be similarly uneventful.

On her way back with the water, she noticed a deep score in one shelf's wood. As if a knife had gone into it, or, more plausibly, Spike was developing clawing habits.

She made another note to discuss it with him, and settled down amidst the quiet of the muffled snowfall outside.