//------------------------------// // 9. Pushing It // Story: Clean the Slate // by Earth Galvanising //------------------------------// Throughout the ages, ponies have theorized upon the mechanics of time. From the Dawn of All, philosophers, scientists and a great many others have tried to pin down the workings of the Flow. Some ponies came close, like Starswirl the Bearded. Intelligent and self-taught Time Mage though he may have been, his grasp on that of which he claimed to understand was close, and only that. Natural Time Mages, though certainly more adept and understanding of time, they too struggle to completely comprehend what exactly the tick-tock of a clock means. Yes, from the start of life, ponies have tried to master time, and from there, two prevalent theories emerged. The first, more well known theory, is that time isn't set. For example, with this rule in mind, if an apple falls from the tree and ends up bruised, then ponies have theorized that going back in time to before the apple fell, one could stop the fruit from receiving a bruise. Simple, right? But lets consider a different scenario. Perhaps a pony is murdered. Their family grieves, a funeral is held, and the perpetrator is arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. What if a pony went back in time to stop the other pony from ever getting murdered? The family remains whole, no funeral is held for a living being... But what of the would-be murderer? Would he go on to kill another, perhaps? Surely, one can't convict a pony for a crime they never even committed, so what then? Keep going back in time to prevent murders, leaving the murderer eternally free? Or let one life pass in favour of saving another? A difficult theory of time, for sure, when considered in such a way. The second of the more popular theories is that the Flow possesses 'fixed points', meaning that some events absolutely have to occur. So, to put such an idea into practice, lets look at the apple again. An apple falls from a tree, gets bruised, yadda, yadda, yadda. So, when a pony travels back in time to stop the apple from falling, and thus bruising, that's that, right? Wrong. In this concept, say the apple getting bruised was a fixed point. Therefore, to compensate for the lack of bruise, any pony carrying the apple would eventually trip, and the apple would receive a bruise on impact anyway. A good way of thinking about this is that time wants to correct itself, which is partially true. Anyway; if an event is a fixed point, then it will occur, no exceptions. Regardless of the popularity of these theories, they're still both decidedly wrong. In truth, time operates in a way similar to both theories, but, there is quite a simple a way of describing the Flow's operation; "Time does whatever the fuck it wants," a voice echoes out into a blank space. Surrounded by white, a tall stallion rolls gently through the air, as if gravity doesn't apply to him, "Seriously. Fixed points, repeated reversals? Come on; what a crock of shit that is." The face of the blue alicorn split into a grin, "I'm supposed to be this alleged 'Keeper of the Flow', and yet, at this point my own charge is my worst enemy." Quantum, the older, mental version, cursed his luck. There was a long story that had lead to his being there, drifting endlessly in his own mind, and that story was going to have to wait, just like everything and everpony else on Equus. Quantum sighed; he knew exactly how long he'd been in his own mind; the tantalisingly close arrival of his release did nothing to dampen the excruciating feelings of boredom, loneliness, and expertly concealed rage. Mind would pay; oh yes, pay it would. The alicorn, deciding that his burning feelings for revenge was not a course he wanted to go through again, decided to focus more upon the mechanics of Time, how it works, and how he works with it. After all, soon he would be teaching himself all these thing and more, whenever his current incarnation decided to experiment with his magic; another thing that Quantum Snr. could not do. "Heh, there's gotta be some form of sick irony there," he mused aloud, "The once omnipresent being with Time in his veins, reduced to the mind of an alien race, essentially blind as a bat." His entrapment had meant that Quantum's usual ability to interact with The Flow was locked. Completely. Meaning, every time he was forced to watch himself-in-human-body die, it was nigh unavoidable and unexpected. What horse shit, he thought. Ha, 'horse'. Quantum's time as a human (but not really) had... Widened his vocabulary, mannerisms and personality. He was a much different pony to himself of Ancient Equus. The blue stallion's thoughts wandered; to the real world. Interaction. Life. Quantum missed many things; among them his brother (a sore topic, move on), his family, his magic, and above all...? Celestia. "Oh, Tia," he sighed wistfully, spinning upside down in the (physical) lawless land. Quantum wasn't oblivious; the alicorn four (the old name for our group o' gods) had each received a harsh punishment. Infinitus having been affected earliest of all, descending into madness; twisting his form and sanity all at once. The once proud Conductor was reduced to a being of Chaos; the polar opposite of what he once was, and surely, will be again. Quantum, until his banishment, had been the calming force around the horrific blend of personalities; this Discord and his brother. The alicorn shuddered in the air; words of a battle long gone ringing in his head. "He shall suffer, Prince," the being spat, with a sickly grin dipped in venom, "And know that it was your magic that made it so." Then came Luna. Quantum remembered the look of horror and fear, when the Nightmare first showed itself. How long did she struggle with it? The stallion thought in sombre tones, How long until Tia's hand was forced...? The Eternal Night, Celestia begging for her sister's return, the Lunar Princess' beau in mental agony- the memory was as fresh as if it had only just happened. "Tia," Quantum called out once more, vying for a response, yet receiving none. The sun goddess' punishment had been harsh; to harsh. Crueller than Discord; more painful than the Nightmare. It had ruined her, and she'd never once been the same. You see, alicorns are strong. Stronger than the most powerful unicorn; and each and every alicorn is entrusted with an aspect. Yet, for all their strength, power, and responsibility, in the face of the Falling Sun, all were powerless. Quantum remembered exhaustion; a crying bundle of limbs- Luna and the exhausted Celestia -an unconscious Infinitus, and the grinning Mind. How could he forget the day the sun fell? It was of course, the day of his exile, too. Since Quantum's introduction to the world of flight, the Herring's affairs as a family hadn't been too great. Hegese, having returned to work, found herself busier and busier with the duties of the royal right hoof. Bow figured he too must return to work (an archer, how even with hooves?) leaving the Herring heir to the whims of one Rouge Herring. Unfortunately, in the months after the blue alicorn's first flashback, the elderly Herring mare fell ill. It wasn't too surprising, really; everypony gets ill, elder ones especially. No, what was disconcerting for the youngest of the Herring clan, was that she wasn't getting better. It had been a few months since Quantum's first recollection, and having been through one more since then of much the same situation (slave, orphan, brief freedom, brutal death; that time by fire), though with much less fanfare, having been expecting the despair that he'd once lived. Instead of focusing on the past however, Quantum was more concerned with the well-being of his mother's mother. Rouge had been bed-ridden merely two weeks into her illness, when Hegese had come in and found Quantum shaking his collapsed grandmother. Luckily, she'd pulled through, but was not allowed to move from her bed. Not that she's in any condition to do so, Quantum mused from the living room floor. He stared at the simply analogue clock hanging on the wall, eyes following the second hand as it ticked and tocked around the face. Time, huh, he squinted, as if expecting the clock to burst into flames, I suppose I know why I've always liked clocks, he thought to himself, before pausing; Wait that sounds to close to cocks. I mean, the tick-tocking of a time piece? Did that sound better, really? Aw, fuck it. Clocks are cool. He sighed, lying on his back and staring at the decoration. His father Bow was out working today, as was Hegese. She'd offered to take him to the castle, but was content with letting Cadence babysit for the day, along with Twilight, of course. But they hadn't arrived yet, so Quantum occupied himself with the one thing that'd encapsulated his interest since his second recollection; the glowing blue clock in his living room. It wasn't just that one, either. The big ol' Grandfather clock in his room, previously non-glowy and completely normal? Boom, glowing Grandfather clock. It wasn't anything of a big deal, really. Sure, it'd been surprising when it first happened, and perhaps disturbing when seemingly nopony else questioned it, but it wasn't causing any harm. I hope. It did have the knock-on effect of making the small alicorn consider is ability. What am I capable of? He'd think, What can I do as a 'Time Mage?' He didn't know, not exactly. The ex-human (several times over) had a rough idea of what he might be able to do, but nothing concrete. He sighed to himself, this is getting me nowhere, I want answers. Flipping over onto his stomach and pushing himself to his legs, Quantum eyed the living room for something, anything, that could act as a impromptu booster step; the clock was hanging too high above him to reach anyway. The sofa? No, too weak to move it, he stared at the bookcase, and grinned a sly grin, Yeah, that'll work. The multi-blue alicorn dashed out of the living room, up the stairs, and quietly opened the door to Rouge's room. The crimson pegasus was sleeping, the gentle rise and fall of her chest confirmed it so. Quantum smiled, it was nice to see her sleeping so peacefully; at least she won't be ill in her dreams. Still smiling, the colt gently closed the door until he heard the soft click. The door shut, the alicorn foal bolted away, and without slowing down, entered the living room and rammed the side of the bookcase with his body. It rained knowledge. Books now littered the floor; fiction, non-fiction, dictionaries, thesauruses... While one would see a mess, Quantum saw the components for a stepladder, just like an IKEA kit. He grinned. The small alicorn began by moving books next to the wall, directly under the glowing clock. It didn't matter which type, they just had to meet two criteria; Was it big? Can it be moved by tiny hooves? If yes to both, then the book was hauled over. With great satisfaction, the blue alicorn eventually found himself with quite the pile of hefty books. Quantum glanced back at the bookcase, noting the leftovers and rejects. Some books had been way too heavy to move, and others had been to smallk for him to use as a platform, so they were left behind. He was sure he'd pay for making the mess later, either when Cadence came, or his parents did. It didn't bother him too much; he was science-ing. From there, the small pony lay leathery hardback atop leathery hardback, stacking the tomes one by one, until he needed to make a smaller tower to just reach the top of the first tower. As a result, Quantum ended up making some structurally questionable stairs, and beamed after finishing his third tower; the base of his steps. The top pillar o' books was just tall enough for the alicorn to reach up and touch the clock, while balancing on his hind legs. So ascend, he did. Stepping onto the first stair, Quantum praised himself for making the topmost book on every tower slightly wider than those below it. Feeling confident, the Time Mage stepped from the base stair to the one above; having to clamber onto it by dragging himself up by his forelegs. Fearing for the stability of the tower of books, Quantum peered his head down over the side once he'd positioned himself on top of the middle step. He frowned. One of the books in the second tower had been kicked as he climbed up it, and had dislodged slightly, pushing into one of the books in the middle tower. That explains the swaying, he muttered internally. Making haste now, Quantum all but jumped onto the ridge of the third tower, and definitely felt the swaying. Oh fuck. The small alicorn clambered as quickly (and as gently) as he possibly could so that he was standing fully on Book Tower Three. It began to lean. Backwards. With a grunt of effort, Quantum reared back onto his hind legs, and leapt from the now rapidly descending tower, to the clock. A thought struck him. Couldn't I have just flown up here? His right hoof outstretched nearer to the clock, as he began to fall too. God damn it. How in the nine unholy hells did I forget about my wings?! The alicorn screamed internally, as his hoof came millimetres away from the clock. I'm such a moro- His hoof connected; the world flashed blue. When Quantum found himself outside of the blank mindscape, he thought he was dead. Welp, that'll teach me for getting my hopes up he thought. Maybe I'll get reincarnated in another one-thousand years. He noticed, with mild surprise, that the afterlife was much different to what he was expecting. Like a living room frozen in- Ah. I'm not dead; the other me just pulled some crazy stunt. The room he was in had the telltale signs of Time Manipulation; books floating in the air, paused in mid-fall, and the obvious blue rippling filter that seemed to cast itself over the world. Quantum also noted his own situation; he floated, just like he did within the mind-scape. What was new to the stallion was the human laid face down on the floor, adorned in simple red shoes, blue trousers and a blue, long sleeve shirt, all completely blank besides their colour. The humans hair glowed eerily similar to Quantum's mane; orange, red, purple and blue. The altered form of Bryan Herring groaned. "Aha, are we awake, sleeping beauty?" Quantum chimed sardonically at his human counter-part. The human groaned again, and began to rise to his hooves. "Ugh, I may be a narcissist, but waking up to an exact replica of my voice isn't enjoyable," Bryan pushed himself off the ground with his hands, and ascended from the floor. He eyed his hands with mild curiosity, and then stared at the translucent form of the stallion Time Mage before him. "I shouldn't have touched that clock, like, at all." The pony grinned at him. "What? And miss another super quality Time Magic lesson from yours truly? Honestly, my talent and knowledge is wasted on you," The stallion drifted next to the human, a bored look on his face. "Wow, when a human stands in a pony's living room, you really see the proportions are different." The sofa was considerably lower than one found in a human's home, and the other furnishings in the Herring Household fell similar in size. Bryan sighed; he supposed he should get the ball moving. "Alright, big question numero uno; what the fuck did I do?" Trade meetings were boring. This was something that Equestria's ruler had surmised over years and years of dealing with international relations. It was undoubtedly one of the major political drawbacks of being immortal; every now and then, a bordering country to Equestria would find itself with a new ruler, and they would decide to impose radical new changes upon the already, fine, working and most importantly, autonomous trade deals that their country had with Equestria, just because it helped them boost their ego, and made them feel important. Celestia rubbed her temples as Hegese Herring, at the right, offered a weak, somewhat encouraging smile. The meeting room was dark, usually was, and was lit by scarce few candles. It was something Luna had insisted on back when the Canterlot castle was being built; some rooms were to be bright like the day, and others were to be dark like the night, and the meeting room had been a room that both Luna and Celestia had both agreed upon being a Night Room. Because then ponies inside the room would be able to see her scowl as easily. Before her was a scene not unlike one she'd seen before; about seventy years ago. And then seventy before then. And another before. The new Steelclaw the Third of the Griffon Kingdom, the country's new 'Titanus', or King, argued with the regents of the Zebra and Bull kingdoms, Queen Ezrec and King Taurio. The quick-tempered griffon (aren't they all) bickered with the three other rulers in the room over trade agreements that had been in place for the last seventy years, and still worked. These meetings were always the worst for Celestia, as they new ruler would come in demanding change, and leave making very little, yet still satisfied as if they had just conquered all of Equestria. "And I believe that the borders stray too far into my kingdom of Forsake!" The angered king shouted, vein pulsing in his brow. He pointed a talon at the Ezrec, "Why on Equus do the Zebra even need that much land, hm?! To cultivate more useless folklore and oh so precious nature magic?" Ezrec's eye twitched. This heathen was pushing her. The Titanus of Forsake whirled onto the oddly quiet Taurio. "Furthermore, you should be offering more of your herd to my kingdom! Maker know you've been holding out on my griffons for decades!" The Griffon regent then turned towards Celestia, and narrowed his eyes, a filthy scowl spread across his beak, "And you," he began, flaring his wings in challenge, Celestia quirking a mere eyebrow in response, "You think you're so powerful just because Equestria is the biggest kingdom," he snarled, "Yes, your size is great, but its populace is weak. Forsake could conquer you in a week, you would be powerless, you powerless bit-" A foreleg silenced the mouthy Titanus, drawing the room's attention to Taurio. The Bull King stood, platinum nose ring shaking with the movement, and his similar ear piercings (two on each) moved with the incline of his head. A look of complete apathy adorned his face, but within, the King of the Herd stormed. "Steelclaw," the Bull began, calm voice letting no emotion leak, "You are much like your predecessor. Inktooth was just as demanding as you were, perhaps more so," Slowly, Taurio moved unto the Titanus, and the griffon backed away imperceptibly, "Do you know why he backed down, little Titanus?" Taurio stepped over the long meeting table in the dark room, as Steelclaw backed into a wall, "Do you, really, truly know?" The Bull's white cape dragged slightly across the ground as he pushed his head against the now quivering griffon, all previous bravado vanished at the sight of the imposing King, "It's because he realised one very, very important fact," He raised a single hoof, and jerked his foreleg to the silent Sun Goddess, "He learned that when Celestia scowls, so too does the Sun," he muttered, anger slipping into his voice, "and when the Sun gets angry, so too, do the Bulls." "As do we, the Zebra," Ezrec added, obvious threat in her tone, "You may think the Warriors of Forsake powerful, but compared to the might of Celestia, she who controls the sun?" The zebra queen melted away into the darkness, and appeared at Steelclaw's side, causing the Titanus to jump in fright, "You are nothing." The tension in the meeting room was palpable. Clear lines had been drawn, and Celestia mused internally just how long it'd take before the Griffon ruler would back down. It had been five minutes, last time. Hegese looked like she was going to have a heart attack; being a witness to what could be the start of a huge war wasn't exactly the most enjoyable scenario. She sighed, I just want to go home... the crimson pegasus thought. The griffon king looked considerably less comfortable in the meeting room. The threat of not one, but three united kingdoms against Forsake clearly overwhelmed him. He grasped at straws. "I-I can gather allies!" He shouted, attempting to cover his fear, "The Changelings will come to my aid; you'll see!" Celestia scoffed, and uttered her first words of the meeting since she began the awful congregation. She leant forward. "Please. Chrysalis hasn't been seen in centuries; and there's no way you'd be able to find her, or convince her to help you, even if you could," She purposely channelled some of her solar magic into the room, and the temperature increased marginally; not much, but noticeable, "Inktooth had been just as confident in the Changelings as you are, and yet, he still conformed to our agreements." The griffon gritted his teeth, and snarled at the princess. "Stop comparing me to that weak fool," he ground out, "Inktooth was a disgrace to Forsake, siding with Equestria, instead of challenging it for power, he was no Griffon; he was a mistake of a Titanus." Ezrec narrowed her eyes at the Griffon in front of her. "You speak ill of your own kin? Your own father?" The Zebra Queen muttered, "It seems to me as though you are the disgraceful one, the mistake of a Titanus." Steelclaw flared his wings in fury, and screamed at Ezrec. "Do not test me you pacifist equestrian defec-!" "ENOUGH!" Celestia rose to her hindlegs, stamping her forehooves down upon the table with an audible crack, "Your insolence has gone for too long!" Her wings flared, eyes glowed and horn pulsing with Celestial magic, the room temperature raised significantly, "If you are so keen to have Forsake wiped from existence, then do carry on, but if you value anything besides your own selfish pride, then sit down, be silent, and listen!" The room fell silent, four jaws agape, as Celestia reigned in her magic, allowing the room to cool down. "I had hoped it wouldn't resort to threats but it seems that the only way the Griffon Titanus will ever understand is through the promise of battle," Celestia fixed Steelclaw, now terrified, with a stern, cold look; much different to that of her magic, "These trading terms and border locations that you have problems with, do you know how long they've been in place?" Steelclaw shook his head, "Since the founding of Forsake, that's how long," the Titanus' eyes widened, "And the reason Inktooth, Sharpwing, and all those before you had agreed, was because they had common sense." "I... I..." Steelclaw tried to interject but words failed him, especially under three intense gazes and the fiery wrath of Equestria's ruler. "Make no mistake, Titanus, I dislike bloodshed as much as any pony, but that doesn't mean I cannot cope with it," Celestia leant further forward, staring the griffon dead in the eye, "You actions may have caused more death than any before you, had I not interfered. Believe me, Taurio is merely holding his temper in order to keep face in front of the two other proper rulers in the room," she gestured at the bull, who nodded the affirmative, "And Ezrec's nature magic could raze Forsake to the ground, in its place sprouting a forest far more dangerous than the Everfree," the Zebra Queen nodded, and smiled sickly at the griffon, "And Equestria? Why, I suggest you visit my Gardens, Steelclaw. There are a few statues that would really set things into perspective for you." The Titanus' eyes widened; suddenly he was feeling a lot less confident, and a lot more compliant. Celestia sighed, and drew deep breaths. Slowly, the alicorn leant back into her chair, Hegese staring at her with muted disbelief. The Sun Goddess smiled. "Now, what were your terms again?" Steelclaw the Third, Titanus of Forsake, Kingdom of the Griffons, cracked, and the world froze to blue.