//------------------------------// // 13. The Conductor // Story: Clean the Slate // by Earth Galvanising //------------------------------// "Fuck!" The resounding curse echoed across the empty, dawn-lit courtyard, as Quantum Herring - in the human form or Bryan - planted his behind down on the dewy grass with force. He'd quite stupidly underestimated the time-travel process, and was thus rewarded with a sharp pain in his ass. Huh, damn. After the several hours it took you to actually initiate the process of leaping back, you took your sweet time maneuvering the stream too, Ye Olde Quantum drifted around the fallen form of his human counter-part, grinning at his grace, or lack thereof. "Yeah, yeah, I know, you told me to clear my mind and shit right from the start, blah blah, you told me so, blah blah," Bryan picked himself off the floor, and dusted himself off. Surprisingly, he found that his clothing remained free of any grass stains, despite the whole "crash landing" thing. "Man, it feels like I spent years in The Stream... Any cause for concern?" The apparition waved off his younger (or was it older?) self's concerns. Nah, that'll come to you with time. Eventually, you'll be able to navigate it with ease. Besides, it wasn't that bad, I'd say you were probably only in there for, at most, three-hundred and sixty days. Not too shabby, not too shabby at all, While the concept of time seemed more of a trivial matter to the apparition, the human Quantum found himself shaking his head in dismay at the seemingly flippant nature with regards to his hiatus in life. Halting the conversation like an author does his story for nearly a year, Bryan surveyed his surroundings. The Time Mage in training was pleasantly surprised to find that he was exactly where he was before the jump; one of the many grassy courtyards surrounding the purple castle of Canterlot. Shading his eyes with his hand, the teenager in body only noticed that the sun was only just rising, and that the feeling within himself indicated that he'd traveled back to just after the crack of dawn, on the same day. See, you got destination pretty well! My first jump took me way off the mark; I was aiming for Ancient Past and ended up in Distant Future with my first leap, the multi-blue alicorn brushed his chin with a fetlock in a reminiscing way, What an adventure that was; Tia wasn't too happy when I explained what happened to her afterwards tho', he said with a chuckle. Taking a step, Bryan found that, surprisingly, he didn't need to readjust too much back to two legs. Guess that's what centuries of living as a human will do to you, he mused. Hearing a peculiar crunch beneath his feet, the temporally-displaced biped looked down at his feet, and found a folded piece of paper. With a raised eyebrow, he picked it up. Congratulations, Quantum! Step one of your lesson is complete: go back in time! Now here's what I'm going to need you to do. On the back of this note is a list of items. Bring them back here, and hide them in the safe in the far hedge. It'll be an opportunity for you to learn magical discharge through your human body! Good luck! ~Celestia A breeze passed the two figures stood within the courtyard. They said no words, like statues in a museum, all that could be heard was the ambient sound around them. Slowly, very slowly, Bryan turned towards his stallion counterpart, and found grinning face of the blue Time God looking back into his eyes. One second, two seconds. Bryan took a breath. "Princess Celestia sent me on a fetch quest." The spirit broke, and peals of ethereal laughter echoed in the courtyard. "She has structured this exactly like some dumb, f-tier tutorial," the biped paced, throwing his hands in the air and shaking fists at the sky, "Seriously! First, her tutorial on how to actual perform the Rewind, and now this fetch quest shite?" "Oh yeah, wasn't she the one who said you had to 'interact' with the Flow? Honestly, she couldn't have hit the 'NPC' image any harder, unless she told you to 'Press the A button'!" Quantum said between laughs, still grinning at his younger self. A thought occurred to him, "Oi, check the back of the list, what does it say?" Realisation dawned in Bryan's eyes, and he picked the message up from where he'd let it drift to the floor. "Right," he said bending down, "She may have sent me looking for something important... Hold on, let's see here... 'Flour, Eggs, Milk-'" He was interrupted by the spirit stallion guffawing once more. The list shook in his hands. "A-a c-cake!", He barely managed to wheeze out before laughter took him once more, "You've been sent on a fetch quest in the past, for a cake!" Tears rolled down his eyes, and Quantum couldn't care less. Bryan on the other hand, stood with his head in his hands, shaking his head and wishing the humiliation would stop. Granted, the only one there to humiliate him couldn't even be seen by others, but it was the principle that mattered. He sighed, and stuffed the list into the pockets of his all-blue clothes. "Right, come on, if she's going to make me fetch cake ingredients, then this better be the best damn cake she ever eats." The spirit lazily followed his human counterpart into the castle, still stifling giggles at Bryan's expense. Meanwhile, Celestia of the Past idly wondered if Quantum had travelled back to her current point in time yet. She felt the shift of someone moving back in the Flow, and understood that, with it being a week in the past from the colt's perspective, he'd likely not even bothered to check his connection with her. Unfortunately, the sun goddess realised any communication she tried to initiate would be felt by both present (from her perspective) and future versions of Quantum, them being the same person and all. As if on cue, the doors to the throne room flew open, and a human decked in blue clothes, and multicolour hair stormed in with a face like thunder. His eye twitched, brow furrowed, and mouth drawn into a tight scowl, he gently, ever so gently, laid the note she'd prepared on the table Celestia had so politely conjured. Nothing was said. He glared at her, she smiled serenely back at him. "Welcome!" Thud. The human version of the alicorn she knew so well collapsed against the table, and bashed his head against the table. "Are you, at this stage, aware of what have you sent me back in time for?" He asked, head not moving from the table's surface. She lifted a hoof to her chin in faux-thought. "I'm wanting to say something actually relevant, but knowing me I probably just sent you back in time for cake." He sighed. Well, at least you acknowledge it, he thought to himself, and over their connection. "Wait, hold on, you made it seem as though you weren't sure I was going to able to travel back in time. Were you being serious and I've just messed something up by talking to you now? Or, alternatively, were you just fucking with me?" The smile on Celestia's face gained a slightly more sadistic tinge to it, watching the temporal-human fall over himself trying to gauge what her intentions were. Then, looking up from the table, resignation appeared his his face as he gazed at hers. She answered. "I was most certainly fucking with you." Quantum yelled in exasperation, throwing his hands up for the second time that day, he walked with his back to the Solar Diarch. She laughed outright at his reaction, lifting a hoof to maintain some modicum of etiquette. Celestia found herself letting loose a bit more, and allowed herself to enjoy the experience of teaching the newly-crowned Time Traveler. She glanced up towards the ceiling of the throne room, and followed the path of one of many objects she'd enchanted, in order to test Quantum/Bryan's control over Time Magic in human form. Turning around and noticing the Princess' distraction, said human followed her gaze and caught a glimpse of a fast white thing. "What is that?" He pointed vaguely in the direction of the object, "That's not usually there, right?" The thing was following a set path, looping around the painted ceiling, performing spirals, corkscrews and sharp turns, it made it rather difficult for Bryan to follow. "It's one of the objects from your list! You have to get that without damaging it, so now's a perfect opportunity for you to practice the art of Slow Time," the Sun Goddess rose from her throne and walked towards the human, with all the grace of an immortal goddess should have, "The idea is that you focus on that object, and basically, affect the Flow surrounding that object, like so." On cue, the alicorn's horn glowed a pale blue, almost lavender, as she focused on the high speed object. Bryan watched with fascination as the object gradually, until it came to a stop. He noticed it was a bag of something white, probably flour, unless the Princess has a cocaine vice she hasn't told me about, the derisive snort next to him rejecting his thoughts. As the glow around Celestia's horn faded, the object began to speed back up again, soon enough reaching it's previous velocity. Without even breaking a sweat, or missing a breath, the Solar Goddess turned towards the human and smiled at his thoughtful expression. This human form of his seems to have aged slightly since I last saw it, perhaps it reflecting the age he would have been in the previous world, she thought to herself. Soon enough, he snapped her from her ruminations. "So, all I have to do is alter the rate of the Flow surrounding the bag, yeah?" Bryan threw his arms out in front, cracking his knuckles in an exaggerated way, "Seems simple enough!" He grinned, closed his eyes, and remembered what Celestia had told him before he had leaped into the past. A tick was forming on his forehead, he could feel it. A drop of sweat slid down slowly from his creased brow, and Quantum felt a growl growing in his chest. He'd been at this for hours and still there was no progress. Stood with his four legs out in a wide-stance, the alicorn colt once more searched within himself for a connection to the Flow. Whatever that meant. "Dude. You're not concentrating," the voice of his older self whispered into his head, "You can't be actively looking for the Flow, you have to feel it. Be at peace." Quantum's eye twitched. Easy for you to say, when you keep distracting me with your senseless, endless interruptions, he muttered under his breath, Now, would you kindly fuck off? A snort echoed in his mind, and Quantum felt the presence of his older self fade into the back of his subconscious again. "I would like to give you some advice," Celestia spoke this time, and oddly, Quantum found her voice more of a welcome break than an unneeded interruption, "Imagine you're standing in a river, stuck to the bed of it, even. Imagine the feeling of water rushing around you. When you feel that sensation, you must then focus on the idea of moving against that current, no matter how strong, you must move forward, step by step, inch by inch." An odd way of putting it, sure, the colt thought to himself, but it's worth a shot. Alright, I'm in a river... River... And soon, the thought of streams and rivers filled his mind, and Quantum found himself in an experience like no other. He knew his eyes were closed, and yet, it was like he could see it. The Flow. He was a statue in the ever moving current, and Time itself passed him by. It glowed, and it thrummed at his presence, yes, it knew him, reveled in his being. If one were to be looking at him at this moment, one would see Quantum Herring shine and shimmer a brilliant cerulean. Celestia felt her breath catch- this was the sight she'd waited to see. This was Quantum in his element, never mind the fact that he wasn't yet her Quantum, no, it did not matter. It was honestly like watching the reunion of two lost friends, and the Sun Goddess had to fight back the feeling of hope and relief in her chest. No, there was still much to do. But this, this moment with the multi-blue alicorn engulfed in the Flow, this was a step in the direction. Quantum felt himself in that river. He felt it brush against his being. He now understood what his older self had meant by being at peace; how could he enjoy this if he were anything but? Opening his eyes, he was not greeted by the sight of Celestia and the courtyard, but an endless white expanse. Flickers of seconds, minutes, hours, days, years- they all flew by his eyes, like markers on a map. Quantum Herring lifted his hoof, and stepped into time. One week, he thought to himself, and the Flow obeyed. There was no resistance. Like a conductor to an orchestra, the Flow followed him. With a flash of blue light, Quantum Herring disappeared, a symphony of tick-tocks signalling his departure from the the present. Bryan took a deep breath. Imagine a river, he thought, waiting for that wonderful feeling, eyes slowly opening to track the flying flour sack. The world ticked by, slower and slower, and eventually, despite the strain, Bryan felt amazement at the blue-washed world he found himself in. The Princess of the Sun stood rigid as a statue through his eyes, the rise and gradual fall of her chest being the only indication that he had performed Stasis, tinted in that similar ocean-colour. Bryan understood. This was Slow Time. He grinned, feeling a slight pressure in his head, light but steadily getting heavier. Step one, he thought to himself, complete. The flour bag was barely moving through the at a snail's pace. "Gotcha," He grinned, a bead of sweat coming down his brow. Without even hesitating, Bryan raised his hand towards the flour bag, palm out. The theory is the same, why would it matter where I discharge my magic from? His hand glowed, and the bag moved immediately into his hands. The pressure in his head, at this point, was starting to become uncomfortable, so he let go of the Flow's feeling, and the colour of the world returned to normal. Celestia blinked. What? She thought, not quite comprehending the sight before her. The Sun Goddess continued to stare at the sight of Bryan grinning at her, the bag of flour spinning around his finger by the ribbon, wisps of blue magic around his forearm. He threw the bag up into the air, and caught it with the other hand. "Next!" By the end of the day, Celestia was quite put out. Every task she had laid out for him, he'd passed with flying colours and minimal guidance. The pout on her face an indication to her feelings, Quantum took one look at her and laughed. He'd just completed her last task - reverse the Flow around a broken egg on the floor, and catch it before it hit the ground. A simple process, he had just envisioned the image of a clock ticking backwards, and poof the egg had reformed in mid-air, just before he'd swiped it. The two stood in the empty throne room, late afternoon sun drifting in through the stained-glass windows, painting odd hues of light all over the room. "Really now," she said to the human before her, tone still disappointed, "I think you must be a faster study than the first time you learnt all this." Merely grinning in return, Bryan picked his ingredients up off of the floor using levitation through his hands. Flashing the peace sign at her, the temporal being turned on his heel, and moved towards the door to the throne room. His time in the past was nearly up; he could feel it. "Gotta go, Princess," he said over his shoulder, "Is this one of the Rules of Time Travel?" Catching up to him, and walking beside him, Celestia dropped the self-pity act and looked at the colt-turned-human approvingly. "Indeed it is. Rules are usually placed at the very back of your mind when you Travel, and only come to the front when you're close to breaking them. They work in a similar way to the feeling of an open Time Loop that needs to be closed," Locking the information away in his mind, Bryan nodded and continued to make his way to the courtyard. But then, he felt something. A connection, faint, and much different to the pull he felt towards Celestia. Bryan stopped, turned, and walked in the direction of the new pull on his soul. Celestia, surprised, followed him. Step by step, meter by meter, corridor by corridor, the two walked in tandem through the winding, empty halls of the castle. A new feeling welled up in his gut, tied to the pull on his being. Something was wrong. "Tia," he said, using her nickname in an unusually cautious tone. Her guard came up, "Where are all the castle staff? I'm assuming you sent them away from the area we were in, but, we should've run into somepony by now. What's happening?" Her eyes narrowed. Bryan had a point. She had cordoned off the throne room and surrounding corridors of the castle so that nopony would be alarmed by the presence and sight of a human, including the guards, but she hadn't specified the area they were currently in, nor the several halls and rooms they had passed on their way. She gazed at Bryan, his pacing, his direction, where he was leading- Realization struck her. "Quantu-!" Celestia hit the ground, out cold. Bryan whipped his head around, and stared at where the Princess had stood. "Oh, panic not, old friend," something croaked into his ear, "She's merely unconscious. She won't even remember this when she wakes up." A pale, sickly purple smoke circled him, slowly, assessing Bryan and taking in his form. "So this is the form currently? Interesting, most interesting." "Who are you?!" Bryan demanded, stepping through the ring of smoke, and towards the fallen body of Celestia. The pressure in his head, caused by the Rule, was getting heavier. Slowly, on the other side of the ornate corridor, the smoke being gathered. Candles on the walls flickered out, and the now dimly lit hallway seemed to stretch on forever. Pale grey eyes stared through the darkness, pierced his being. Bryan felt fear, wild, instinctive fear, at the being that could surprise and get the drop on a Goddess such as Celestia. For a second, the human felt as though he could see a lopsided, toothy grin in the darkness. "Ah, I suppose you might have forgotten who I am. I'm not completely sure you're even the same pony I met all those years ago," the voice said, "Worry not, I hate you all the same. You seen, Quantum- Bryan -whatever your name is, I have waited quite some time for you to Time Travel, just to get you in this moment. I have many names, you may have heard of one or two- The Root, Supreme Evil, Mind's Aspect," Bryan could identify more distinct features of the smoke, swirls of a darker purple covered the paler, smoky, equine form before him. A unicorn horn on his head, twisted and hooked at the very end. This was a form, he didn't know, but, his soul did. Shit- Shit! It's too soon! The older Quantum cried out in his mind. "However, you may call me, Cognis, and I am the conductor of your suffering. It is a pleasure to meet you once again, Quantum Herring." The purple smoke pony barked and wheezed a hoarse laugh- and in that moment, the beings within Bryan's mind, the lives he'd lived, they found their torturer, and they cried in righteous fury.