Chrono woke with a start, the sun already shining through his bedside window, but as he looked through it to the streets of Canterlot, the sight that greeted him wasn't one he had expected in the least. The city was running rampant, ponies scattered every which way in a chaotic manner. The young unicorn blinked in surprise at the sight, and quickly rushed outside through his door, making to ask anyone what exactly had happened, but no response at all was given - only frantic running by. With a sigh, Chrono stepped back into his house and looked over his journal, magically flipping through pages in search of any related topics. Only two caught his eye; Harmony, and Discord.
He blinked again, reading through both entries even as a massive crash sounded from outside, causing him a momentary loss of concentration, but as he found soon enough, the only two times in Equestria's history for Canterlot to be in such a state of panic both had to do with either one or both of its princesses. He looked again through his window and sighed. "It's a wonder I age at all.." he breathed, even as he started focusing on the chrono-spatial magic he commanded.
Through the upper periphery of the unicorn's vision, against the silver shimmer surrounding his horn he could see a mass of white threadlike energies wrapping around him. He focused harder, watching as it gradually took form into himself and went through what activities he had done for the morning backwards. For a moment he glanced out through the window, watching everypony else's movements in reverse. The silver of his horn flickered for a moment, and realizing he had nearly lost his focus, Chrono forced his spell on, speeding time along its backward way until he saw the white image of himself drop tiredly onto his bed.
He cut off his spell, and his vision quickly whitened, the entirety of his senses reverting to the exact moment in time he had returned to, and his eyes closed. He opened them again to find he had actually landed on his bed, but was not nearly as tired as he had been at that moment in time prior to his reversion. He glanced back at his wall clock. 11:48 PM. With a casual stare out of his window, he noted the peace and calm of Canterlot's evening, with the scattered lights of late-night formal parties along its cityscape. Whatever had happened, it must have been a shock. "Will be, anyway." Chrono remarked, as he went through his doorway again, heading for Celestia's castle.
"Hey, you there!" A gruff voice sounded from the side of the street as Chrono skidded to a halt, "What's got you in such a rush?"
Chrono looked over in the direction of the voice, gritting his teeth slightly at the realization that it was one of Canterlot's guard patrol. He sighed, regaining his composure after a second. "I think the princess may be in danger, sir." He explained, but was cut short all the same.
"Princess Celestia is away on other business. She said she was going to see Twilight Sparkle and her friends." The guard said, to which Chrono narrowed his eyes in thought and concern.
"And princess Luna?"
The guard indicated the castle. "Princess Luna is performing her nightly duties, of course. Now why don't you head on to bed, you look exhausted."
"I just woke up, sir. I can't explain right now - good evening." Chrono said, before darting off again despite the patrolman's objection.
He continued on to the castle itself and outright fell on his face from what he saw. Dull and gray for appearance, but he couldn't for a second guess again by who it was. Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy, each looking far more fierce than Chrono could have recognized from the friends he had heard them to be. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me..." He breathed, fearful of the answer.
"Oh, this is no joke." Pinkie said bluntly, "You won't get your laugh on me this time."
Twilight's horn glowed its indigo shade, and for a moment she chuckled. "Now, why don't you just go."
Chrono made to step forward, but he realized he had been held in place through Twilight's spell, which as he found out only an instant later was the same she often used to drag other ponies around. To his dismay though, it flung him through the doorway and halfway across the outside street, quite bruised along the way. He struggled to get to his hooves, and looked back to the patrolman he had encountered earlier, who had by then rushed over to him. "I told you you're better getting some rest," he remarked, "now you're going to have to replace the princess' door."
"With all due respect, sir..." Chrono said, his strength finally returning, "you should be worried more about the princess herself."
"Oh?"
"When you were told about princess Celestia's departure, was it mentioned where?"
"Ponyville, of course. What are you on ab-"
Chrono held a hoof to the castle's doorway, and to the hole he had been hurled through. "I would tell you to see for yourself, but it's not the most comfortable experience, now if you'll excuse me." With that, he sprinted towards the city gates but paused just outside of them with a look to the night sky. It must have been midnight by then, but the moon still seemed to only have just come out. Again Chrono narrowed his eyes; things were not turning out well at all.
With a determined grunt and a focus onto time itself again, everything about the unicorn slowed to a crawl, reaching steadily to a full stop and emergence of the strings of time. Through this, he made his way quickly to Ponyville, despite having literally all time to do so.
Four hours in the blink of an eye passed for the restless Chrono Spark, but his arrival to Ponyville in the dead of night was a relaxing change of pace in itself. The surroundings seemed a little quaint to the unicorn at first, but he reminded himself that as a citizen of Canterlot, he was already used to the finest cityscape in Equestria, which in turn must have made him look a little eccentric in the eyes of everyone outside Canterlot - and Ponyville certainly didn't look like its residents had too much sense of design, with its scattering of buildings and whatnot. Still, not only did Chrono make an effort not to judge by the mere appearance, let alone the fact that he was definitely not merely on tour.
The miasma of white clouding his vision faded out, and again Chrono could feel the breeze of the chill night, but something seemed out of place. The guard at Canterlot had mentioned that princess Celestia had come here, but there was no sign whatsoever of her arrival. The appearance of Twilight and the others at the royal castle didn't do too much to console him either, especially since there was no sign whatsoever of the chaos he had seen eight hours ahead at Canterlot, here. For all he could see, it was just another night in Ponyville, with the sole exception of an immobilized moon.
The unicorn shook his head, again returning his attention to the matter at hand. He had already heard plenty about the particular six he was looking for, but the matter of where to start in the dead of night was a problem in and of itself, let alone the distinct possibility that any of them would be in Ponyville at all. Still, it didn't seem as if they were as unfamiliar and hostile with each other at the castle, which only led him to suspect they weren't the genuine articles, but a creation of some sort. The thought occurred to him that by sheer fact of the night being comparatively quiet, his best choice would be to check Twilight's library-home first, given her choice of study habits. With a passive sigh and a steadying of his pace, he trotted off towards the multi-leveled tree that he knew to be his immediate destination.
After a couple knocks and a few seconds of wait, Chrono was relieved to hear the distinctive clop-clop of another pony's hooves on wood inside, and the door opened to reveal none other that Twilight Sparkle, whose face shifted in slight confusion at the sight of the black unicorn. "Can I help you?" She asked, genuinely curious if slightly disgruntled.
"I'd imagine so." Chrono replied, "To put it bluntly, you just threw me through the Canterlot Castle door."
"What?" Twilight raised an eyebrow, easily more confused. "I've been in here for hours, how could I have gone all the way to Canterlot and back?"
Chrono shook his head. "Not you, per se. Just remarkably similar.... Do you remember Discord, by any chance?"
"Yeah...?"
"And I take it you remember what he did to you and your friends, yes?"
"Yeah, and?"
"It looks to me like there are two of each of you now."
Twilight's face dropped for a moment, her ears flattening against her head. After several seconds, she tilted her head into her library. "Come on in." She said, with an edge to her calm that made Chrono a little fearful.
Still he followed her in, glancing around at the ingrained bookshelves and silently noting the practicality of the structure itself. Twilight spun as she reached the desk at the center of the room, to face him. "So, who are you anyway?" She asked.
"Oh!" Chrono tilted his head down in a slight bow. "My name's Chrono Spark. I'm a resident of Canterlot, and a-"
"Wait a second. How'd you even get here? You said I... well, the other me, threw you out of Canterlot Castle just a bit ago, right?"
Chrono nodded. "I'm a chronomancer. I ran here, literally took no time at all."
Twilight's eyes widened at the mention of him being a chronomancer, but she vigorously shook her head and appeared as though she were trying to put her focus back on him. "Okay, so what's going on? Why'd you come all the way here?"
"I ran into one of the guard patrol on my way to the castle; he said princess Celestia was on her way here to visit with you and your friends. And, judging by the fact that the moon hasn't moved for several hours I'm guessing that both princesses are in danger."
"You can't be serious..." Twilight remarked, more worriedly than skeptically.
Chrono held a hoof in indication of Twilight's east-facing window. "It's past midnight, Twilight. The moon should be almost directly overhead right now, not over there."
She looked over and gasped. "You're right... what happened?"
Again, Chrono shook his head. "I wish I knew, but it seems like the other you and her friends are at the cause of it. I figured seeing as you've dealt with this before, you might know more than I would. All I know for certain is that I would have woken up about seven and a half hours from now, but the streets of Canterlot would've been more than a little hectic, and when I reversed time to about.. half an hour ago, maybe a little longer, it was as quiet as can be."
"You're from the future?!" Twilight asked, suddenly excited.
"In a sense. Everything I would have been later on is taken back with me on a reversion, so technically I'm from the present." Chrono answered hesitantly.
"I have so many questions! Oh my gosh, does it h-"
"Twilight!" Chrono yelled, a little exasperated. "I can answer questions later - we've got a lot to figure out and in all honesty... probably as much to stop."
As the evening progressed, Chrono steadily made note of the fact that neither sun nor moon seemed to be handled in the perpetually-still night sky. Still, the clocks all continued working well enough, so he knew it wasn't a matter of a paradox in time. After deciding to take a walk through Ponyville and give his silent concerns some more thought. Besides, as far as he figured it would be odd enough for Twilight to deliver the news of each of their alternate selves' realities to her friends without him in the mix, and he simply resigned himself to his own ponderings to what could have caused the alternates to appear again, let alone in their own bodies.
It hadn't been much more than three months when Discord himself was dispatched by the use of the elements of harmony, which in and of itself begged to question why the whole ordeal hadn't happened sooner. The possibilities seemed endless as it was. One theory merged with another in his mind and before long at all, his thoughts blurred into nonsense. He snapped back to reality though, and realized that ultimately he couldn't determine a root cause for what had happened, at least not insofar as to what he'd witnessed. He glanced up to the sky and frowned, remembering that he had no way to tell the time by sun and moon. Still, he had plenty of options there.
With a brief focusing, and the telltale shimmer of silver at the top of his vision, the image of a pocketwatch opening imposed on his vision, depicting the time as it was. 6:39, just about time for everypony to wake up - and to his surprise, for some to already be out and about. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Pinkie Pie already bouncing along the street. She seemed only slightly less cheerful than he'd heard from what tales ran wild in Canterlot, but on the same note he realized the lack of sunrise could have unsettled anypony, and it struck him as ironic that even as carefree a pony as Pinkie Pie seemed caught off guard.
She stopped with a curious glance towards Chrono, and in an instant had rushed up to him with a curious smile. "Oh! Hello, are you new here? My name is Pinkie Pie, what's yours?" She asked, in her perpetually high-pitched voice.
Chrono's head dropped almost to the ground beneath him. "My name's Chrono Spark. I'm new, but not unfamiliar - let's put it that way. I think Twilight needed to see you an the o-"
"Oh, you know Twilight already?! Cool! I have so many friends I just have to introduce you to!"
"Pinkie."
"Have you met Mr. and Mrs. Cake? How about Applejack and her family?"
"Pinkie..."
"And Rainbow Dash? Oh, she's the coolest! And -"
"Pinkie, please!"
She finally silenced, her look of glee replaced with one of doubt and a slight worry.
"I'm sorry, but I can't take a tour right now. I'd love to be your friend and everypony else's as well, but you really need to know what's been going on lately first."
"Oh, you mean about the moon not moving and the sun not coming up? I was wondering about that too!"
Chrono sighed, "That's exactly what I mean, and if the past is any indication, I'm going to need your help fixing it."
"Okidokey loki!" She said, before bouncing off towards Twilight's library.
Twilight, on the other hand outright bowled over her on her own way out, and while Chrono could not hear the resulting conversation he could only guess that Twilight had arranged for a meeting at her place. After a few moments Twilight glanced over to Chrono and nodded appreciatively, which he returned in kind. Perhaps ten minutes later, he saw her again with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack in tow. "Chrono!" She called, "Can you get Pinkie?"
Chrono nodded and picked himself up, heading over to Twilight's door and moving to open it, but to his immense surprise Pinkie had in fact beaten him to the door and ran right into him at the mention of her name. "Oh, I'm sorry!" She said, before looking over to the others and hopping up and down, "Ooh! Everypony's here already!"
With speed that Chrono admittedly had not seen in the entirety of his years at Canterlot, Pinkie had gotten over to her other friends and for a brief moment, the thought occurred to him that they really had more of a positive impact on her than he had even dreamed.
Twilight took a few steps forward, eyes on Chrono the entire time. "So why don't you tell us all exactly what happened?"
Chrono nodded, taking only a few seconds to figure how best to start, before recounting his entire venture from his would-be waking to then.
"So, lemme get this straight," Applejack said after a moment's stunned silence, "Princess Celestia's gone, princess Luna's gone, we got no way to the elements of harmony, an' we're still s'pposed to handle settin' things right with all these 'other us'es?"
Chrono frowned slightly, but nodded all the same. "Seems like it. All of Equestria is threatened if things don't come to a close, and there's no telling what could happen if the same thing happened to the princesses..."
Twilight's face dimmed in a grim tone. "You don't think they'd actually do that, right?"
Chrono's answer was certainly not one he wanted to voice, so in as little affirmation as he could, he bit his lip.
"Well what are we waiting for!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she took into a low hover, "We've done this before, haven't we?"
"No we haven't!" Twilight interjected, before Chrono cut in.
"Not directly. Your encounter with Nightmare Moon would probably call a close shot though."
"We're not... going to have to do any fighting..." Fluttershy whispered, "are we?"
Again, Chrono barely knew how to answer. He hoped not, himself, but judging from the alternative Pinkie and Twilight's reactions to his arrival, the odds were slim at best.
"You seem awfully vexed about something, darling." Rarity remarked, "It completely ruins your face."
Chrono raised an eyebrow in slight confusion but sighed, defeated. "If my past research is anything to go off of, this may turn out to be the worst day..." He looked up at the moon, "and worst night, of each of your lives. I don't know what's going on, who's behind it and worst yet Applejack's right; none of you have the elements themselves on you, so they're probably out of reach."
Twilight took a long look at each of her friends and Chrono, noting his change in carriage. She stepped over to him and put a hoof on his shoulder, which she lowered after being promptly shrugged off. "I may not know exactly how we can do it, but like you said we didn't have the elements of harmony on us when we defeated Nightmare Moon either. Who says we can't do what we all did then, now?"
"Who knows?" Chrono said moreso than asked, "But I do know this; if anypony can do it, it's you guys. I just came to relay the news before it happened."
"Well what do you suggest?" Pinkie asked, her abnormal cheer still unbroken.
"I think we should go to Canterlot and see this for ourselves," Twilight stated, to a string of nods and 'mhm's.
"Better catch the train then." Applejack said simply, "Ah'd hate t'be late to our own party."
"Party?! I didn't know we were throwing a party!" Pinkie squealed excitedly.
"It's a figure o' speech, sugarcube." Applejack retorted.
"Train's not gonna wait all day, guys, let's go!" Rainbow Dash cut in, to which each of them made their way to the station.
As might have been expected, Rainbow Dash was the first to get off the train bound for Canterlot, and it was largely sheer luck that the crowds trying to stuff into the train left any room for the rest to make their way out, but despite the mess of ponies they all managed to regroup in a smaller avenue. "Gosh, haven't these ponies ever heard of breathing room?" Rarity said with her typical flair, "It's a wonder they didn't ruin my beautiful mane!"
Twilight sighed, but said nothing and in fact moved to silence Applejack before she made any complaints. "We still have to find a way in. I bet the guards would be in a riot if our other selves took over the castle overnight."
"Agreed," Chrono said passively, "The whole place would be locked down, but that doesn't mean we can't get in. My guess is it's going to be a long way up though."
"Leave it to me!" Rainbow dash called, about to fly off but held back by Applejack's relentlessly strong maw.
"Now jus' hold it there, sugarcube," she said, releasing the disheartened Rainbow Dash with a stare, "We can't jus' go runnin' off one at a time, we gotta stick together."
"Oh, alright..." Rainbow Dash sighed.
Fluttershy took a timid glance around the corner of the intersection, before quickly retreating back out of sight of all but her friends. "Um... are the guards supposed to look all gray?"
Chrono's mane may as well have stood on end for that moment as he looked around to see for himself. The resulting sight of several patrolmen completely devoid of color was the last thing he had hoped to see. "No, no they're not." He said bluntly, "But that really complicates things. Whatever it is that's gotten all the others of you all evidently has some power over the rest, too. That's just swell..."
"Well that answers one question." Twilight said with a touch of finality, "We still have to find a way in now, with all the guards going berserk. Anypony got any ideas?"
The unanimous shaking of heads with the sole exception of Chrono's look of being lost in thought answered the question easily enough.
"I can help." Came an older-sounding voice from off to the side.
As Twilight, Chrono and the others turned, they almost immediately fell to a knee. Standing just ahead of them was none other than princess Luna.
"P-princess Luna!" Chrono stammered, forcing his calm back shortly thereafter, "I feared the worst... what's going on here?"
"We had to leave our home, and duties to find thou all," Luna said, gesturing to Twilight and the others, "but thou were already gone from Ponyville. How didst thou knowest this would occur?"
Chrono stood slowly. "I gave them warning ahead of time, princess Luna." He said calmly, "But, what about you? Where's princess Celestia?"
Luna frowned, "Thou hast done well, Chrono Spark, but we fear our sister Celestia has joined with the enemy."
"The en-n-n-nemy?" Fluttershy stuttered, "W-w-what do you m-mean?"
"We have no time to explain," Luna declared, magically materializing several carriages, one for each of the other ponies, "Come, quickly."
With a little reluctance, each of the others got into a carriage of their own and simultaneously vanished.
With Luna reappearing close behind, Chrono, Twilight and her friends arrived at princess Celestia's throne room - which oddly enough found itself occupied by the alternatives of all Twilight's friends, and no Celestia in sight. The grayed-out Twilight caught a glimpse of Chrono and scowled. "I thought I told you to go. You don't take advice very well, do you?"
Chrono took a step back and blinked in surprise. He glanced around to the ponies about him, each looking to him quizically. Still he managed a faint smile. "Not very well, no. But, for the record I did go. Might be your turn to do the same."
Even as the others turned to face their respective selves, they were each individually startled by the sudden appearance of princess Celestia just in front of the throne, as grayed-out as all the rest of the alternative ponies, but still looking as regal and majestic as could be. Luna stepped forward, horn already glowing as the alicorn readied herself for anything that could come.
"You're going to stand against your older sister, Luna?" Celestia laughed, her own horn glowing as brightly as her eyes, "Come on then, I've taken you once before, I can do it again."
Looking around to his comrades, Chrono could hardly help feeling somewhat discouraged by each of their reactions. Twilight had broken into tears, Pinkie had a look of complete confusion on her face, Rarity and Rainbow Dash both stood back with eyes darting to every other pony in the room, Fluttershy had all but shrunk into the floor and even Applejack seemed intimidated.
Still, he had a vague idea how this could be resolved. Putting up a front of determination he set his magic into place, suspecting that at least most of the opposition had some form of paradox working in their favor. To his relief - and slight confusion - they each had strings of time shrouded all around them, which upon further inspection only went as far as midnight the night before.
He knew a solution, even if he had no idea how he could pull it off with any intensity.
"Well, what are you guys waiting on?!" The alternative Rainbow Dash shouted, "Get on outta here!"
"You think we're just going to leave Equestria to you phonies?!" Rainbow Dash countered.
"An' ah s'ppose you think yer gonna stop us, huh?" Alternative Applejack remarked.
"No." Chrono said simply, to the surprise of everyone around - Luna notwithstanding. "I think I am."
"Chrono?" Twilight asked, "Are you insane?"
Chrono smiled, giving a slight chuckle. "You could say that. I never said I could do it alone though."
"Then let's go already!" Alternative Rainbow Dash yelled, as the entirety of both halves collided in a nearly-blinding crash of smoke.
Chrono, glad at least to have a chance, focused as much as he could on the area surrounding himself and the other ponies, forcing each into a full ten hour reversion as he simultaneously focused time into a temporary halt. Just as he slid it to a stop he saw Celestia rushing at him, but she fell short of him by only a hair. With all motion halted Chrono took a moment to sort through the strands of time and see what had become of everypony else.
Both Twilights had been hurled outright into the walls, presumably from spells bursting in each others' faces. Either Rarity's mane had been magically removed or torn apart by her alternative, and both were looking fairly beaten. Applejack had engaged in a rather cruel hoof-to-hoof battle, with no apparent leader in the fighting. Pinkie was about to get herself kicked square in the flank by her alternative. Fluttershy had been all but flattened by her counterpart, with both wings pinned to the floor. Rainbow Dash had managed to keep herself out of reach of everyone else, but in no way did her expression indicate she was having a good time doing so. And as Chrono looked past the charging Celestia to princess Luna, he found her unconscious and burnt in several places on her coat...
Imprinted in his vision he forced himself to count time back fully eleven hours, whereupon a massive pocketwatch-like visual appeared on the floor in the throne room, and another circling each pony inside - himself included. After his spell finally finished, his vision whitened and he realized quite suddenly, he had just spiraled everypony there into a paradox of its own. There was no real telling what could happen.
As his vision steadied though, he could see princess Luna slowly stepping up to him, still marred in more places than he had initially seen but looking as though she didn't mind. "W-what just happened?" He asked her, unsure himself of the answer.
"We knew thou wouldst be able to pass through the bindings, Chrono Spark." She answered, "What thou hast just done and witnessed is something that only thou and we shall remember. When Twilight Sparkle, and her friends, triumphed over Discord a year ago this very night, a lingering wisp of chaos remained and manifested into the representatives of harmony. What thou hast done parted time for everypony in our sister's throne room and brought each of us back to the time before they could manifest, but we have succeeded in imprisoning them to their current location."
"So, it's going to happen again?"
"No, Chrono Spark." Luna smiled, "As we have said, we succeeded in isolating the Discord remnants to their singular location, but thou hast forced them through time into an impossibility from which they cannot manifest again. As it happens, thou hast also brought yourself and our sister back through time as well as Twilight Sparkle and her friends."
"Eleven hours, exactly..." Chrono said absently, "So I should be asleep now, but I'm not. Where are we, anyway?"
"In thine dream, of course." Luna laughed slightly, "Thou art asleep, but that thou doubt our power is an insult."
"I-I mean no offense, princess." Chrono said, lowering his head in apology and slight shame. "I didn't understand, please forgive me."
"No offense has been taken, but we must warn thou." Luna declared, "Thine rest is well-deserved, but should thou revisit a time before now again this crisis will not have been averted any longer."
"I understand. What about Twilight and the rest? Will they remember anything?"
"Nothing."
Chrono's ears flattened.
Luna tilted her head slightly. "Why dost thou seem so sad by this news?" She asked.
"Because I can't help but feel like I've just gone and abandoned them now, even if in theory we hadn't met het."
"Hast thou lost thine sense?" Chrono raised an eyebrow, confused. "Thou art not limited solely to thine aspirations, Chrono Spark. Thou hast been most helpful as a pupil of ours for years, thou deserve a change of pace."
"But... I can't just neglect my duties."
Luna sighed. "Then we have a command for thou."
Again Chrono raised an eyebrow.
"When thou wakest up, thou are to vacation to Ponyville to meet with thine friends."
Chrono's ears perked, and although he found himself slightly confused by the reality of it, he had little time to express his thanks, as again his vision whitened, blotting the princess from his view.
Chrono woke several minutes later, the warm light of the sun shining through his window, along with the everyday bustle of Canterlot's citizens going to and from on regular business. He shook his head slightly, realizing in fact he had been in bed for the past eight hours as far as the current span of time was concerned, but for the first time not daring to step back and live through the night. Instead he glanced at his wall clock. 8:00 in the morning.
And everything was calm. The black unicorn could hardly suppress his smile's widening.
"Chrono Spark?"
The name spoken in a faintly familiar yet commanding tone halted the young stallion in his trot to Ponyville. As he stopped and turned, the sight of none other than Princess Celestia greeted him, and he quickly dropped to a knee in reverence.
"There is no need for such formality," Celestia laughed softly, "would you mind if I accompanied you?"
The unicorn stood slowly, pausing for a moment to meet the alicorn's eyes before nodding. "What place would I have to refuse?"
"As much as I have in asking, of course."
Chrono remained still. "What do you mean? I'm just on a travel..."
Celestia closed her eyes for a moment. "Luna told me about what happened last night."
The black unicorn took a step back, unsure what to make of the news. His encounters with the various ponies that had made themselves famous all over Equestria, let alone the princess herself, had been frightening at best.
"I wanted to apologize."
Chrono froze. Apologies from what few friends he had in Canterlot he had a hard enough time dealing with, but from princess Celestia? To say he had no idea whatsoever how to respond would have done him more credit than he showed. "You've done nothing wrong. I doubt you even had any choice in the matter, and besides it hasn't even happened by this point, right?"
"I can't be certain." Celestia tilted her head towards the stallion's destination, and after a moment's pause the two walked on. "There is no explanation I know of that could explain the appearance of a double, much less six at once."
Again Chrono nearly reeled, caught off guard by Celestia's apparent lack of knowledge on the past events. This was a first, evidently... "So whatever caused all this wasn't dealt with, was it?"
Celestia shook her head.
"Is there some way I can help?"
As the two reached the peak of a hill overlooking Ponyville in the distance, Celestia brought herself to a seat. Chrono promptly followed suit. "After last night, it would be wrong of me to ask you to do anything further. Seeing as you were already on your way to Ponyville though, would it be alright if you could report anything suspicious to my sister?"
Chrono's ethereal sapphire eyes shone for a moment until he closed them, glinting in the rising sunlight. "I can do that, certainly. In all honesty I wish there was a way I could do more though."
"You may yet, Chrono Spark."
For a moment, a dark silhouette darted across the sunlight, for a moment blocking its rays. Chrono stood to his feet, alarmed. Celestia was already soaring in the skies, chasing whomever had moved in front of her sun.
Chrono sighed, picking up and continuing on his way. As eager as he was to help, he hoped that it didn't intrude on the chance to meet his friends for a chance they would remember.
Twilight nearly fell over backward at the sound of knocking at her library door, but Spike promptly answered in her temporary lack of mobility. As the green-scaled dragon opened the door though, he looked curiously at the visitor. A unicorn, easily enough. Black coat, bright cyan mane and almost ghostly blue eyes. "Hey!" He said after a moment, "Uh, I haven't seen you before, who are-"
A violet hoof pushing him out of the way soon followed as Twilight answered in his place. Even then she took a brief moment to take in the peculiar view of the chronomancer. Still she smiled, "Well hi!" She greeted him enthusiastically, "Is there something I can help you with?"
"Not particularly," Chrono answered with a chuckle. "I've just heard a lot about you, thought it might be fitting for me to meet you face-to-face." He raised a hoof in indication of the library. "Mind if I come in?"
"Oh, sure!" Twilight stood to the side, opening the door with a brief look of confusion crossing her face. "Heard of me, though? By who?"
Chrono chuckled. "It's a long story. Started with my mentor, princess Luna, but-"
Twilight's eyes flew wide. "You study magic with princess Luna?"
Chrono paused, "Not exactly. I have in the past, yes - but not anymore. These days I'm usually off on some adventure or another. Believe it or not I'm under her orders to come and meet you and your friends."
"Really?"
Chrono nodded. "Again, it's a long story."
"Well I've got time."
Chrono blinked, surprised by how poorly-prepared he had been, but altogether relieved that it wasn't a matter of such importance as past events had been. Still he opened his mouth to speak but noticed that Spike's fidgeting slowed rather suddenly, as did everything else around him. Quickly, drastically all things came to a stop. Threads of the timespace made their way into Chrono's view as a slightly familiar figure appeared behind the young mare.
It stood fully two and a half times as tall as the stallion, not even counting the horn protruding quite a ways from its head. With a crimson coat and black mane, its wings alone inspired a fair bit of fear in young Chrono Spark.
For a moment he thought to test his mobility, being a chronomancer and generally unbound by the fetters of time. To his relief and mild amazement, he did not find much trouble.
The great alicorn opened its eyes. Massive indigo spheres, not even with their pupils - a sight which sent a shudder down the chronomancer's spine and caused him to step back slightly. "Who are you?" He asked, his fear creeping through his voice.
The massive figure reared onto its hind legs, wings spread wide and horn glowing briefly in a translucent black glow. Chrono's question would clearly have to wait; his entire vision blackened as a sharp pain seared in his back, complete with the sound of splintering wood and glass.
When he woke again, the blurry sight of a wooded shelter and a familiar yellow-coated mare loomed over him, pink hair falling just onto his face. "Oh, good..." Fluttershy said quietly as ever, "you're awake."
Chrono got to a seat, slowly recovering from the ache in his head. As again he had to clear his vision, he was greeted not merely by the sight of the timid pegasus, but the full compliment of everypony among her closest friends. Twilight's curiosity again showed in her face. "What happened to you? One second you and I were talking, and the next my door was in shreds."
Chrono took a nibble on his lower lip. "We've met before," he started, making to stand beside the bed he found himself on, but quickly changing his mind as the change of air pressure blurred his vision and senses again. "Or would have, rather."
With a little hesitance, he recounted the events of the night before, in which his initial meet of Twilight and all her friends was cut short by a crisis solved through the reversion of time. One by one, the notion seemed to make sense to the other ponies that it made enough sense that they wouldn't remember something that technically hadn't happened to anypony more than Chrono.
"But that doesn't explain why Twilight's door is in pieces." Pinkie interjected.
"Well that's what confuses me," Chrono explained, "As I was talking with Twilight, I noticed Spike had sort of stopped moving in mid-step. Then before I even knew it this giant red alicorn's hurling me through the door. I'm just glad he didn't toss me through the wall instead."
"What?!" Twilight's confusion, alarm and immense curiosity showed all clearly in her voice. "But who could have done that?"
Chrono didn't have much of an answer. "I've been asked by princess Celestia, on my way here, to report anything unusual. Last night's events seemed pretty centered around the six of you - I have a feeling you might be involved again."
"Ah don't know if tha's such a good idea, mister." Applejack said simply, before Rainbow cut her off.
"Are you kidding? This has our names written all over it!"
"No, Rainbow - it doesn't." Twilight said bluntly.
Chrono shook his head sadly. "It might. I know pretty well what the implications are for somepony else using chronomancy and having some hostile intent."
"But how do we deal with this mystery mare if she's in and out for five hours in no time at all?" Rarity inquired.
Twilight simply looked to Chrono, who nodded after a moment. "By cutting her off, I would imagine."
"You have a plan?" Rainbow asked.
"It will be quite a while, I suspect. The trouble is, as long as any of us is isolated, we'll have no idea what's going on." Chrono slowly got to his hooves and stood again. "It just doesn't make any sense. I don't even know if this is the same pony behind last night's incident."
"Well why stress it?" Pinkie asked, clearly moving to lighten the mood as she began bouncing about, "Just wait until the time comes, you know?"
"I guess you're right." Chrono said, before looking over to Fluttershy again with a grateful nod. "Thank you for the hospitality."
"Oh, um... it's no trouble." Fluttershy whispered, as the stallion made his way out.
"Chrono Spark?"
The voice wasn't Celestia's, to be certain. This sounded more familiar, less commanding but in retrospect more royal. Chrono lifted his head from where he sat in the dim light of evening, looking around for his mentor. She stepped into view from around a building shortly after. "Princess Luna? What brings you here?"
Luna frowned, "It appears we failed to isolate the six who had assaulted Canterlot last night. Thou didn't return to the time, did thou?"
Chrono shook his head. "Not at all. It seems I'm not the only one capable of using chronomancy though.... Is princess Celestia alright?"
Luna nodded, indicating the hill from which Celestia and Chrono had conferred earlier. Atop it the stallion could make out the faint telltale decadence of Celestia's mane. "She will be fine, do not worry for her. Our concern is with thou and thine friends, however."
Chrono looked back to Luna, curious. "Do you know who is behind all this?"
"We know nothing, nor can we interact with this creature. It appears that only thine magic will allow any communication."
Chrono sighed, dropping his head despite the reassuring hoof on his shoulder. "It won't end, will it? For the culprit to be free of time, it will only cycle through. As if tomorrow won't even come..."
"Is this what thy beliefs are?"
"It's certainly looking that way."
The sound of several hooves flitting through the grass caught his attention, as when he lifted his head he saw Twilight and her friends stepping up behind Luna. "I think there's a way we can help." Twilight announced with a smile.
Chrono merely raised an eyebrow, utterly confused. "What did you have in mind?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Twilight indicated Celestia in the distance, her eyes on Chrono. "Last time, our alternates were all after princess Celestia, right? I can't speak for the mastermind of all this, but as long as she's not in the same position as she was last time, she's in jeopardy, right?"
Chrono nodded, thinking he had caught on. "So what do you suggest? It's not like I can follow her around everywhere she goes."
"But you won't have to!" Pinkie said excitedly. "Just check on her every now and then, and if she's not doing well you can step back and make it all better!"
"That's a pretty cruel method though, don't you think?" Chrono asked.
"Not at all!" Rarity cut in, "It wouldn't do to have the princess followed around, like you said. With you going back before the crisis, that should cut out the risk of anything bad happening to her, right?"
Chrono thought for a moment, as Luna took off for her sister. After several long seconds - perhaps minutes, he nodded. "It's the best we've got right now, anyway."
He glanced over to the two princesses, seated beside each other in the night sky. The thought didn't sit well with him at all, but all the same there wasn't much else he could do. It was going to be quite a long night...
For a moment Chrono thought his mind was tricking him. The strands of time again wove into his vision, as did a figure much smaller than the alicorn he had seen before. A unicorn...
Himself. Dull and gray, much like he had seen of Twilight and her friends, but it was him! He willed himself free of the evident halt in time and sprinted up to his alternative, eyes narrow. "Who's responsible for all this?" He asked, his voice menacingly low.
The other chuckled, taking a hopping step back and looking as though quite ready for a fight. "I am." He answered, his voice much deeper than Chrono would have expected. After a moment the image dulled even further and reshaped into a larger, more prominent figure. The same alicorn he had seen before.
Chrono stepped back, again frightful but altogether not about to let the opportunity for information slip past him. "Okay then, who are you?"
The horn on the alicorn's head glowed again, each and every strand of time locked in a crimson hold through which Chrono could not even force himself into movement, however keenly aware of his surroundings. "I am called Entropy. My purpose here is nothing to deal with your so-called friends or either of Equestria's rulers. Equestria as a whole has taken a drastic turn for the worse before you could even imagine. I am going to remake it anew."
Chrono felt mobility return faintly to his limbs, only to find himself hurled back again but he caught himself on a patch of grass and slid to a stop, scowling. "There isn't anything wrong with Equestria; how can you say that?!" He demanded.
Entropy smiled. "A foal like you cannot even fully comprehend the workings of time. How could you ever hope to understand the distant history of Equestria's grand failure?"
The unicorn did not seem at all amused by the pittance made of his talent. "Just indulge me." He said, hardly up to argue any further than he had to.
"And if I said no?"
"Then you give me evidence to say you are in fact what is wrong with Equestria."
He focused, quickly pouring his will to restore time's flow through his horn, into the reality around him. The silver shine of his horn very nearly matched Entropy's blackened glow, as by all appearances for the two that all visibility shattered as glass around them. It took no longer than four seconds for everypony else to align behind the chronomancer. Celestia and Luna, at either side, with the full compliment of Twilight, Rainbow and Pinkie beside Celestia, and Rarity, Fluttershy and Applejack to Luna's. None of them looked pleased with what they saw.
"Oh, so the little stallion thinks he and his friends are going to make a stand, is that it? That the Elements of Harmony unite again to rid Equestria of the evil Entropy, right? What foals the lot of you are." Entropy laughed, taking a single bold step forward. "I was there long before Discord sowed disharmony over Equestria. I watched as the cold sister's wrath bound our very own Luna to the moon for a millenium!"
Celestia stepped forward, a brief snort betraying just how upset she had gotten. "And what have you done?" She asked, commandingly.
"I've watched, I've travelled across the ages looking for an exact moment to make everything right. To make everypony who they want to be, to eliminate the problems of Equestria! You can't see this?!"
"It's a little hard not to." Chrono remarked, "But that's really what binds us together. If we were all perfect it wouldn't make much sense for there to even be harmony - we'd all live our own little lives and be content with that. Don't judge based on what you yourself don't know."
"How dare you!" Entropy charged the stallion, and although both Luna and Celestia moved to block her way, Chrono cut them both short of necessary time and in fact jumped on each of their legs and met Entropy head-on, tossed aside quite effortlessly but rolling to his hooves all the same.
"Don't you get it?" He asked, "Get to know some ponies, and maybe you won't be so bitter!"
"I have." Entropy breathed, her every movement tense as she ground a hoof against the dirt and grass, again preparing to charge. "And they've all gone. They were all worthless, they were all pathetic!"
"Guess that makes me next then. As you've got any intentions for Equestria's future you're going to have to get past me."
His words didn't go unheeded, but as Entropy rushed forward again, she froze in mid-step as Chrono forced a complete halt in her chrono-spatial movements. His eyes shone in his own horn's glow as he stepped forward, silver glistening on all the nearer threads of time. "Now as long as you're just standing there, I'd recommend paying attention. It's rather obvious that you've honed every talent and capability you've come across to its limit, but what's it gotten you? You must hate everypony for wasting their lives in being less than perfectly productive. Less than perfect, needing each other's support to grow and learn. But that's what makes our shorter lives that much more worth it; we don't get let down so much. Now, if you'll excuse me I have a point to be sure of."
Again the visual of time's distortion around him broke, and although he suspected the worst was still coming, he stood his ground. Again his vision blackened, with a sharp pain searing through his chest and fully half his back as he lost consciousness again.
"Why?" A peculiar echo resonated through Chrono's hearing and through his mind. "Why did you sacrifice yourself for them?"
Chrono lay on his side, one hoof covering a massive hole in his chest, but although he felt intensely weak he could still move. He opened his eyes to find a large, crimson-coated alicorn mare staring at him from her seat. "E-Entropy...?"
"Yes, it's me. Nothing you haven't seen before."
Chrono made to set his hooves beneath him, but the pain in his chest gave him pause enough to stop. "I'm dead, aren't I..." He said as much as asked.
Entropy nodded. "If you have anypony to blame, it would be me. I can explain our meeting later. Right now I need to know why you so willingly let yourself be the first to fall."
"Because..." Chrono breathed out a faint effort at a chuckle, "they're my friends, and the ponies I look up to. They're the ones that made my life worth living in the first place."
The mare raised an eyebrow. "It seems a little counterproductive though."
"Doesn't matter." Chrono smiled. "They deserve to live on. I'm fine putting myself aside for the rest."
"But you could have moved. Why didn't you?"
"Not too sure, actually. The thought hadn't occurred to me, but it's a little late for me to take that back."
Chrono took a brief look about him. The same valley that he had died in, but it seemed whiter, as if Equestria in itself had become as a ghost. "If you could take it back though, would you?" Entropy asked.
"Well, that all depends. I maintain that Equestria doesn't need a new start, that ponies' differences do more good for each other than they do harm. So, if taking it back leaves you along the same ambitions, then no. I wouldn't sacrifice Equestria just for my life."
Entropy stood from her seat, horn glowing black yet again. Chrono watched, confused and a little wary. "And if it didn't affect who I am now? If all that was involved would be that my actions on Canterlot and Ponyville were never done?"
Chrono nodded, feeling his strength slowly return to him. "I suppose so. Why ask?"
He got no answer, only a whitening in his vision. He blinked several times, his vision clearing as he lay in the field beside Ponyville. Entropy stood beside him, nudging at his side occasionally.
"Why?" He asked after several seconds. "Why go so far out of your way?"
"Because I'm not as perfect as I thought. Does that sound fair?"
Chrono had no answer. Only questions. "So, what did you do?"
"I bound you to time. Well, what was left of you. Then I simply went back a day."
Chrono's heart sank. For the second time in a row, the meeting with his friends had not happened, even if both crises he had been involved in were no longer any threat. He closed his eyes, wondering if he would ever meet them all in a memorable experience.
"You look troubled. Is something the matter?"
Chrono sighed. "I've met those same friends for about three first times now. I'm just hoping they can remember me after some point."
"Oh, well why didn't you say so, you silly colt?"
Entropy's horn glowed briefly again, and Chrono immediately found himself dropped in the middle of Ponyville. He looked around for Entropy, but she was nowhere to be seen. "I'm not a colt." He remarked into the thin air. "Not that I really age much through percieved time."
It was late in the afternoon, and everypony appeared as though they were returning home from the day's activities. As he got his bearings and stood to his hooves, he noticed a familiar figure figure flitting from cloud to cloud before emerging with several other familiar individuals close behind.
"See?!" Rainbow called back, holding a hoof out to the black unicorn. "I told you he was real!"