//------------------------------//
// Time: The Great Clock 
// Story: Ratchet and Clank: The Starlight of Solana 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Ratchet and Starlight had expected to find some resistance when they powered up the Hyperion so they could follow Nefarious' ship to the Great Clock, but instead the doctor was perfectly fine with them using the larger ship to reach their destination. Still, to be on the safe side Starlight decided to make sure that their ship's signature was isolated and turned on a device that would trick anyone that was searching for them, which would allow them to reach the Great Clock without revealing its location to the rest of the universe. She was sure that there were other villains that were scattered across the rest of the universe, trying to determine how to beat her and her family, so she didn't want to give them the location of something that would help them learn all about their targets... or destroy the universe if they tried to use it as a time machine to fix something.

As the thought of using the Great Clock as a time machine crossed her mind Starlight glanced over a Azimuth, who was merely looking out the window and coming to terms with the fact that he actually couldn't go back and save the rest of his race. She silently hoped that he would embrace the fact that Ratchet and Angela were still around, though now that Tachyon had been dealt with she fully expected her brother to settle down and leave the adventuring stuff to the other heroes. Besides, she was sure that Angela was looking forward to being a mother one day, which would no doubt make Azimuth happy to see the beginnings of the Lombax race unfold in front of his eyes.

Starlight smiled for a moment before turning her head over to where Sunset was standing, as she was observing the space around them and staring at all of the planets that they were passing. She had to wonder what was going through her sister's head at the moment, as she had returned to her former glory and had wholeheartedly accepted the position as the God of Destruction, where before the separation of her aspects she had been against such a thing. It was amazing to see what sort of chance someone could go through when they were forcefully separated into ten different pieces, forced to hunt down and fight each other without any actual memories, and then eventually die to each other.

Now Sunset had an aura around her, without actually calling upon her magic, that said that she was a powerful creature that no one should mess with, especially when she could obliterate planets on a whim and erase people by pointing at them and uttering a single word. Starlight had seen her sister's power first hand many times over the years, though now that she was at one hundred percent again it was odd to not feel her energy, which she would have to get used to once more. That was, to Starlight, the one annoying thing about her sister being a god, she couldn't feel her magical energy and made it impossible to detect where she was.

Starlight sighed as she reopened the fragment of the Codex that Sunset had given them back when she had escaped from the prison planet Vox had been keeping her on, the one that mentioned the creature that was known as Beerus the Destroyer. It told them many things about that particular story that the god came from, like how the people claimed that there were twelve universes and each one of them had its own Destroyer, though the more interesting thing about what she was reading was that all the universes shared a few things. Those items were that each universe had a Destroyer, an 'Angel' of sorts that watched over the Destroyer, and a 'Supreme Kai' that created planets that would eventually replace the ones that were destroyed.

She found this interesting, as it seemed like an elaborate story that someone had taken time to create, but at the same time she had to actually wonder if it was possible if any of this was real... though the thought of there being so many more universes made her head hurt a little, especially when they would be different from everything they already knew.

"Huh, what do you know, he was telling the truth," Qwark commented, snapping Starlight out of her thoughts and causing everyone, save for Sunset, to turn in his direction, "I was looking up all of the various reviews and stories about the planets that Nefarious has an outpost on, though I am shocked to find that, out of all the articles I have gone through, not one of them has said anything negative about the doctor himself. The only bad thing I can find is the people mentioning the attacks that other villains launched on them and the praise that followed when Nefarious' forces saved them, which is good and strange at the same time."

"I let myself get so blinded by my anger towards my own failings that I never considered that someone wasn't what they said they were," Azimuth said, referring to the fact that he had been so focused on stopping Nefarious, and fixing his mistakes, that he had failed to realize who was the actual threat and who was actually trying to help the people of the Polaris Galaxy, "though, after reflecting on everything I have seen over the last week or two, I would have to say that Nefarious has turned over to our side... which is going to take some time before I'm used to it."

"Your telling me," Qwark stated, shaking his head for a moment, though everyone knew it was because he and the doctor had a rivalry going on that had lasted ever since they had first met each other, "I'm going to have to find another villain to replace Nefarious... one that actually wants to beat me and not just obliterate me."

"Qwark, he said that he was on our side," Sunset commented, to which everyone turned towards her for a second, as this was the first time she had spoken up since their departure from the space station, "You can still have your rivalry with him, just it will be more in the sense of two heroes trying to upstage each other and earning more praise from the people of the universe."

Despite the fact that Sunset found Qwark annoying, as she had long gotten over her vast hatred for the man thanks to being reformed into her original state, she was somewhat happy that he acknowledged what she was telling him. She knew that he would be making some 'plans' to engage in some friendly competition to earn the praise of the people they were saving, which she knew the both of them cared too much about. As Qwark moved around the ship Sunset turned her attention back to the planets they were passing, as she was wondering what they were going to be learning once they reached their destination.





Ratchet and the others stared at the large mechanical structure that was floating in the middle of the universe, which Clank insisted it was when Ratchet asked about that fact, though at the same time they carefully pulled into what appeared to be a docking area large enough for the Hyperion to safely dock in. As they docked they noticed that Nefarious' ship landed in a zone next to them, where the group discovered that there were two more ships docked in the area as well. They immediately recognized the ship that Red, the smuggler they had encountered back at the beginning of their adventure to stop Tachyon, though the second ship was an unknown one for them. Clank had an idea as to who owned the second ship, though he kept his mouth shut as they walked towards the Orvus Chamber, which now had a walkway so they wouldn't have to bother with the obstacles that Clank had to deal with earlier.

As Nefarious led them towards the Orvus Chamber the group noticed that the Zoni were hard at work, though that was before they heard the sound of an excited creature... to which the group watched as Razor, the cat Sunset had befriended on Ryllus, run towards them and come to a stop by Sunset. A few seconds later Sunset started rubbing the cat's head for a moment or two, though once he was back to his normal self the group continued towards the Orvus Chamber... and their meeting with Orvus himself.

It didn't take them long before they reached the Orvus Chamber, where the group found a large number of controls and consoles, though at the same time they spotted a unique Zoni floating near a large table... where Red and the Plumber were sitting. Sunset raised an eyebrow when she noticed that the duo was wearing a strange set of clothing, though she suspected that this meant that there was more to them than she originally thought. She also noticed that there was a fair amount of food on the table, likely prepared ahead of time, but she knew that all of them would benefit from seating something after their fight through Nefarious' space station.

"Dr. Nefarious, its good to see you, and your companions, again," Orvus commented, turning to face the group for a few seconds, while at the same time Red and the Plumber nodded their heads, though that was before he focused on one of them in particular, "Lady Sunset Shimmer, it is good to officially meet you."

"Likewise, Lord Orvus," Sunset replied, to which she turned to the table and nodded to the two people that were currently sitting down, where she remembered one of them from her original memories and the other from the memories her aspects had lived through, "Red... Plumber... it is good to see the two of you again as well."

"Actually, 'the Plumber' is a title I took on when I didn't want to tell people my name," the Plumber said, though at the same time both he and Red stood up, "My real name is Itar, and with the God of Destruction finally being chosen its time for me to finally step up to the plate and return to being the Kai that watches over the Southern and Western sections of the universe. Red here watches over the Northern and Eastern parts, though I'm sure that you all came here for more than learning that I have a real name or the fact that we're more than we said we were."

"Indeed, there are questions that need to be answered," Orvus commented, to which he beckoned to the table and the majority of the group sat down, while Razor curled around Sunset's seat as she noticed that one chair remained empty, "First of all, I'm sure that all of you are wondering how the ten aspects came into being, though the answer is easy to explain... Sigmund and I had to draw you here, Lady Sunset, and use a machine that mimicked the one Starlight used so many years ago to induce the separation."

"How could you do such a thing!?" Azimuth demanded, because while he knew that the Orvus protected time, with the Great Clock and the Zoni backing him, he couldn't believe that he would put the universe at risk is such a manner.

"Because it would have happened on its own accord in a year or two anyway," Sigmund spoke up, causing everyone to turn to the robot for a moment, "only in that timeline Hatred would have succeeded in her quest to become the God of Destruction, which resulted in the destruction of the entire universe. We took the risk because we knew that Sunset could, given the right circumstances, overcome all of the emotions that were separated from her and return to what she had been, though at the end she would have been a whole being instead of someone that was fighting multiple personalities. In the end separating all ten of them from each other helped in more ways than you could possibly imagine, because now Lady Sunset is one being, without any emotions trying to take over, and she is back where she belongs."

"So you purposely shattered Sunset into those ten aspects, some of which caused destruction after they woke up, for the benefit of the universe?" Starlight inquired, just to make sure that she understood what the robot was telling them, though that didn't make it any easier to swallow.

"That is correct." Sigmund replied, to which the center of the table glowed until a projection of a single planet remained, with the fragments of hundreds, if not thousands, of planets scattered all around the lone world, which looked like it was on fire or something, "This is what we refer to as the End Times, one of the worst endings that we were trying to avoid, where the aspect known as Rage won the day... though instead of ending planets on a whim she would launch a long campaign against them, likely thanks to the powers of her inner warmonger, and then burn them once she conquered them. We have successfully avoided each and every horrible fact that the separation could have caused to the universe, while at the same time restoring Lady Sunset to her original state."

"Though I believe we have heard enough about the possibilities that could have happened," Orvus said, to which the projection of the planet and destruction disappeared, "I'm sure that some of you have other questions that need to be answered. Please, ask away and we will attempt to answer them."

"I am more interested in something I recently discovered," Sunset commented, causing the group to turn towards them, "While I was searching through my memories earlier I noticed that Starlight and I are from a world called Equus, though we were at the age you see us now... though when we entered a magical mirror, and came to this side of the universe, we arrived as infants with no memories of our past lives. Do you have anything to say about that?"

"Yes, and we had nothing to do with it." Orvus said, to which the screen changed and revealed the magical mirror that Sunset was talking about, though at the same time Starlight's eyes widened as she recognized the area around the item they were being shown, "From what we have been able to gather, from the hours we spent pouring over your last two days on Equus, you were tricked into entering the mirror. Discord, the Spirit of Disharmony, knew that you would eventually awaken and become the god you are now, though the price would have been the destruction of your home world..."

"Wait, a minute," Angela said, holding her hands in the air for a moment, "Your telling us that Sunset Shimmer was predestined to become the God of Destruction... and that whatever world she was on when she finally ascended would have been destroyed in the process?"

"That is correct," Orvus replied, to which a section of the image changed and revealed a chimera creature that both Sunset and Starlight recognized, "None of us, that being Red, Itar, Sigmund, Nefarious, and myself, are sure how Discord was able to figure out that Equus was in danger of being destroyed when Lady Sunset finally gained her godly powers, but that doesn't change the fact that he did figure it out. He used his chaotic powers on the mirror to destroy the anchor on the other side, meaning that whoever accessed the mirror would be sent somewhere across the vastness of the universe, though at the same time he gave Lady Sunset a special 'gift' that was supposed to allow her to integrate herself with the people of whatever world she came to without revealing what she was."

"The golden bracelet," Sunset commented, remembering the gift that Discord had given her, though now she knew that there had been something different about it.

"From what we could tell he designed the bracelet to reduce you to a four year old and strip you of all your memories," Nefarious spoke up, which made sense considering that he had been studying the timeline, if Orvus was to believed in that regard, "Now I'm no master of magic, as its a subject I'll need to brush up on before I get to your level of understanding, but we were able to determine that the mixture of the mirror's now unstable magic, the chaotic magic that was lingering on your bracelet, and a small amount of Discord's own power on the mirror itself caused you to be displaced to this side of the universe. The part we still don't understand is how he was able to send you about twenty or so years into the past, where you could grow into your powers and destroy another planet instead of your home world."

"Actually, I think I might have an answer to that," Starlight commented, though that was followed by her own magic flaring for a few moments, to which she grabbed the apple that Qwark was eating and activated the time magic she had been learning, which restored it to its original state before she moved it back into Qwark's hand, "I'm guessing that, before Sunset and I entered the mirror, I had a lot of experience in manipulating time magic, which might explain why the mixture of magic did what it did. Discord's magic might have reacted with my magic first, where it latched onto the time part of it, and then it affected the mixture, which resulted in us being sent here at the age of four without any memories."

"That is an interesting theory," Orvus said, though at the same time six objects floated out of the ceiling and landed around them, to which Sunset noticed that five of them were stone orbs while the sixth one was a purple gemstone that had been crafted to look like a star that had six points, "By now most of you are familiar with the six stones that the three galaxies refer to as the Raritanium Cores, though in reality they are something much greater than what you can possibility imagine. These stones are actually the Elements of Harmony from Equus, where they were taken from between twenty to thirty years ago, though this is the first time they have been brought back together since they left their home planet."

"Um... why are five of them turned into solid stone?" Qwark asked, as he was staring at the orbs as Starlight lifted them into the air, while at the same time Sunset levitated the sixth one to her.

"They transformed into that state when Lady Sunset was separated into her various aspects," Orvus answered, glancing at the stones for a few seconds, before turning back to the group, "When they were taken from their home world I was forced to place the planet in a sort of time lock, where I could easily access a certain point in the planet's history so that, when the six of them were together again, the proper timeline could be restored. If the Elements of Harmony were to remain in this part of the universe, and not be taken back to the moment they are needed, then Nightmare Moon would succeed in bringing Eternal Night to the planet. That would shortly be followed by the original timeline version of Discord being released and bringing a war with Nightmare Moon, which would turn into a five way war when Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, and Tirek joined in."

"Orvus... what you are telling us is that the alternate timeline that Max Apogee accidentally created would have spawned the death of Equus itself..." Azimuth commented, though thanks to all his years in the military he knew that five powerful forces could easily tear a planet apart... if all five of them were somewhere near the power that Sunset possessed at the moment.

"That is correct," Orvus sadly said, though his tone indicated that there was more they hadn't been told yet, "Sunset Shimmer, in the original timeline, arrived back on her home planet sometime after the Crystal Empire, and King Sombra, returned... but if the world was dying she would join them in due time. If we followed this trail of changes nothing would happen to the world she was living on before returning home, though the world the mirror sent her to, Nirn, would have been destroyed by Tirek, who would have used some of his vast power to escape the destruction of Equus so he could take another world over. With Sunset dead, and the mirror destroyed, she and Starlight would have been unable to come back and grow up beside you, Ratchet, which means that you would never have married Angela, Azimuth would have died here, in the Great Clock, and the universe would have pressed onward with fewer planets destroyed."

"So we have to go back in time and put the Elements of Harmony back where they belong," Sunset commented, though at the same time she remembered where they had originally been resting after the first defeat of Nightmare Moon, "Why don't Starlight and I take them back to where they belong and return here?"

"That was what I was going to ask of you," Orvus said, though at the same time he beckoned behind him and the group noticed a time gate had appeared in the area near them, "I have set the time gate to take you and Starlight back to an hour before the Elements are needed, giving you plenty of time to slip into where they were supposed to be resting and restore five of them to their proper resting places... but I'll need you to stay there for some time and make sure that the sixth one is called upon."

Sunset nodded, as she remembered the story Princess Twilight had told her back when she had asked how she had uncovered the Elements of Harmony. It was easy for her to piece together where she needed to go, where the five orbs needed to be placed, and what she had to watch for before allowing the sixth Element to be restored. She noticed that Starlight seemed surprised that they were heading home for an hour, though when she remembered that it was only for an hour, in the past no less, she seemed sad. Sunset was sure that Orvus would tell them, upon their return, that they were finally allowed to go home, though they were going to have to wait before they were given the chance to head home.

"Then we had better get going," Sunset replied, to which she grasped the star in her hand as she pulled herself out of the chair she had been sitting on, while at the same time Starlight levitated the other stones over as she walked up to her, "We should be back in a few minutes for you guys... and the timeline should be corrected as well."

Orvus nodded for a second and the gateway opened, to which Sunset and Starlight stepped through the mass of time energy and went back to the point in time that Orvus was sending them to.





When Sunset and Starlight appeared on the other side of the time gate they found themselves in a forest that seemed wrong, as it seemed completely different from everything they were used to. Sunset searched her memories and knew that this had to be the Everfree Forest, the place where the rules were broken and savage animals lived throughout the entire place, but Sunset had the upper hand. She was, after all, the God of Destruction and, as Razor and his species had demonstrated so long ago, most species knew how dangerous she was with a single glance, which meant that they would be safe as they walked through the area.

As they started walking away from the time gate the two of them spotted a ruined structure about five to ten minutes away from where they had appeared.

"So are we sure that these 'Elements' belong in that ruined castle?" Starlight asked, though at the same time she wished that she had the memories that her sister had, or rather her version of the memories that had been stolen.

"Yes. I was told that this is where the Elements were found, straight from the mouth of the one that found them herself," Sunset replied, remembering what Twilight had told her back after she had redeemed herself, "With Nightmare Moon preoccupied with attacking the nearby town, if what Twilight told me is true, we'll have plenty of time to slip the Elements into the castle and leave before she even knows we were there."

"If you say so," Starlight said, though at the same time she kept her eyes open for anything that could charge at them, which was why she kept her staff at the ready as they walked.

It didn't take them long to reach the castle that they had been walking towards, though as they reached it Starlight decided that it was best to let Sunset look around for a few seconds, as she knew where the Elements needed to go thanks to her memories. Sure enough a few seconds later Sunset was beckoning to her, so Starlight smiled and followed after her sister once more, where they continued their walk through the castle as they approached an area that seemed to radiate a unique magical signature. When they entered the room Sunset had been leading them towards, which happened to have no door thanks to all the time that had passed since someone had last been here, Starlight noticed a strange structure in the middle of the room... one that happened to have five places where orbs could be placed.

Starlight looked to her sister for a moment, wondering if this was the place, to which Sunset nodded and allowed her to float the five orbs into their proper locations, though in the end that left the one that was currently floating above Sunset's hand... which she noticed no location to put it into.

"Okay, so what do we do with this one?" Starlight asked, staring at the purple star and the structure in front of them for a few seconds, as she was trying to determine where they needed to place this one for the proper timeline to occur.

"We wait outside the castle and see what happens," Sunset commented, to which she turned towards the door they had walked through and made her way outside, where Starlight followed after her, "if everything goes according to the original timeline the girls will be here shortly to awaken the Elements of Harmony, which should call this one over to them once they realize that its not present. Then, once the Elements are awakened, we can head back to the others and see what can be done to restore your old memories... and then figure out how to return to the place in Equus' history we're actually from."

Starlight nodded as they walked into the trees that surrounded the castle, though as they found a safe place that would allow them to watch the ruins she realized that she couldn't open her tablet, as it would no doubt change something in the part of the universe they were actually from. As such the two of them had to study the area around them and take note of the various animals that might live throughout the forest, though the only creature that dared to get anywhere near them, despite Sunset's nature as the God of Destruction, was some sort of wolf that was made out of pieces of wood, leaves, and branches. Fortunately the creature stayed away from them and kept its eyes on Sunset, as if it was making sure that she didn't hurt it, while at the same time giving Starlight the time to study the creature while they waited for the Elements to awaken.

Forty-five minutes later they heard the sound of hooves running through the forest, to which they looked up and noticed six ponies, all having different colored coats, run into the ruined castle. Sunset made a note of the fact that there were two earth ponies, two pegasi, and two unicorns in the group, though she kept quite as she waited for Nightmare Moon to make her move. Shortly later they felt the power of the pony they had been told about, though when Starlight looked at her sister she received a shake of her head in the 'no' fashion, indicating that they hadn't reached the point yet.

They waited for a few more minutes and the two of them felt the power of the Elements awaken, to which Sunset lifted the last one into the air and watched as it started to break apart in front of their eyes, though she smiled when it finally disappeared. A minute or two later they watched as a rainbow colored light erupted from the ruins, to which Sunset smiled as she turned around and headed towards the time gate. Starlight seemed surprised that she knew that they had succeeded in their mission, though she didn't question her sister as they made their way back to the gateway so they could return to the future.





When Sunset and Starlight walked through the time gate, and returned to the Great Clock, they discovered that they had returned to the exact moment following their departure. Orvus seemed pleased that they had returned, to which Starlight wondered if they had succeeded or if they had to go back and try again.

"You have succeeded in restoring the original timeline of Planet Equus," Orvus said, though at the same time he looked at everyone else, "I shall give you the coordinates for your home world, so you can go back and see what you left behind for yourselves, though there are some matters we need to discuss. First we'll need to restore Starlight's memories, which will be rather easy thanks to all the machinery we have in the Great Clock, then we'll need to over what you can and cannot bring to Equus."

"There will be restrictions on what we can take the planet?" Azimuth asked, as he wasn't anticipating something like that, but he guessed that it might made sense considering that Starlight's home planet was focused on magic and likely didn't have too many advances in technology.

"Correct," Orvus said, though at the same time he smiled as he looked at the entire group, "Give us a week and you'll be ready for the journey to Equus... though I'm sure that all of you will be excited to start this particular adventure."

Sunset had no idea what adventure Orvus was referring to, but at this point she was sure that whatever adventure revealed itself would be easily resolved... either by her family or by herself.