//------------------------------//
// Shadows of Fear 
// Story: Threads of Time 
// by Chrono Spark 
//------------------------------//

Chrono Spark;
I need to speak with you, immediately if not sooner. Come to the throne room in Canterlot Castle as soon as you recieve this message, as this is a matter beyond my ability to deal with. I apologize for the inconvenience of such an urgency.

Chrono blinked as he looked over the note on his desk several times over. There was no seal, no signature. Nothing to indicate this was at all genuine. Still he glanced outside and took a guess at the time. Mid-morning at the latest, much closer to dawn. "Well," he said to himself with a shrug of his shoulders, "looks like I have work today."
The moment he stepped through his door, all activity about him ceased as his magic brought the threads of time glowing silver to a halt in his vision. Taking off to the north, he made his way quickly from Ponyville to whatever so called his attention. Something irked him about the possibilities; no pony besides Celestia or Luna had much say as to a meeting in the Canterlot throne room, and yet there was no evidence of either having sent the letter. Only one word echoed in his mind.
Trap or otherwise though, it bore investigation.

Eight hours in the blink of an eye, and Chrono tapped on the massive metal door barring entrance to the throne room. The guards standing on either side seemed to be only mildly surprised by his arrival despite all evidence pointing to him having simply appeared from nowhere. "You have an appointment?" One of them asked.
"I'm not certain. I got an anonymous letter," Chrono panted, "asked me to arrive here."
Both guards looked to each other for a moment, then as one nodded, the other opened the door amid a bright yellow glow. "Go on in." The first said with a nod.
Chrono peeked inside. To his surprise, not only were both Celestia and Luna standing there, but to Celestia's side opposite Luna, stood none other than Entropy. The young stallion entered and came to a knee for a moment, bowing his head.
"I'm glad you came," Entropy said after a short moment, as Celestia gestured for Chrono to rise. "I need your help."
Chrono narrowed his eyes slightly. As mysterious as she may be, he had yet to really trust her with much significance.
"Rest easy, Chrono Spark," Luna interjected in seeing his tension, "I'm releasing you from my tutelage. Entropy will be guiding you from this point forward."
"What?" Chrono's head snapped up and his eyes open, "Please tell me you're not serious."
Entropy gave a slight chuckle. "If you knew my position in matters, your reaction might be different. Aero, Deuce, why the need to hide?"
Again to the unicorn's surprise, to his right and behind dropped the white-coated pegasus that had been among his best friends for the majority of his life and to the same on his left sprang the red-maned earth pony that managed to rival him in his own art of all things skillful.
"What's this all about?" Chrono asked, looking from his friends to the three alicorns ahead of him.
"Ah, so you didn't know." Deuce said with a chuckle. "Princess Luna has been helping me learn some things for quite some time now. I don't think I could really credit myself with being as skillful as yourself and Aero without her help, but I never thought to ask about the catch."
"The catch?" Chrono asked, looking to Luna now.
"Conscription, you could say. I wanted to tell you for a while but I was obligated not to. Princess Celestia herself arranged for me to take a position as one of the guard while at the same time, teaching me a few things of her own. I never officially made guard status, since only unicorns get in on the duties." Aero stated, "But, she did hint at there being something bigger she had in mind for me. I guess today's the day each of us finds out, isn't it?"
Celestia nodded to the pegasus, but looked over to Chrono. "For some time now, rumors of strange ponies and entities appearing across Equestria have reached my ears, and I've done all I can to investigate, but they are more elusive than it appears I can watch unnoticed." She explained, "After some deliberation my sister and I agreed to find some who would be able to look into the matter without raising so much attention as us in royalty."
Deuce tilted his head slightly. "Then why not send some of the guard?"
"The guard is directly affiliated with Princess Celestia," Aero remarked, "so while it wouldn't bring as much attention, the idea was to bring no attention. So it looks like each of us went under cover for a while."
Deuce looked over to Luna. Luna nodded grimly. "It appears even Entropy incites more worry than would do for this task in particular."
"So you need somepony that no one else really knows?" Chrono reasoned. "Seems like a fair plan, but what if someone finds out?"
Entropy tossed the unicorn a wink. "You of all ponies should know they won't have time, to find out."
Chrono blinked in slight surprise, but in noticing Entropy's accent on the word 'time' he understood and nodded. "So, what's the plan?" He asked.
Celestia nodded again. "I need you three to take a train to Manehattan. It's far enough that involvement would not be too indicative of my investigation on your part, but I hear odd things have been happening there recently. I wish you luck, my little ponies."
Chrono nodded, turning to Aero with a slight smile. "Guess you'll be leading us then, Aero?"
"What are you talking about?" Aero shot back with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not in this any more than the two of you, I say we go as equals and friends, like we always have!"
"That was the intent," Luna interjected, "there is no need to feel authority over one another. The less organized this appears, may be to your own benefit."
Deuce and Chrono both nodded, before the three young stallions took off through the door.

"So, what do you think's going on?" Deuce inquired once the train bound for Manehattan was well on its way.
"I can't say. With as vague a beginning as that I'm not sure what to expect." Chrono remarked, "Just, nothing good."
"Oh, cheer up Chrono," Aero put in, "isn't this what we always wanted? To do something big and important with each other?"
"Well yes but those were colt dreams, Aero." Chrono replied, "We've grown since then, and we have no idea what we're even looking for."
"Of course we do." Deuce remarked, glancing to the unicorn. "We're looking for everything. If something strange is going on then we have to get a feel for the norm before we can even judge anything as out of place."
"You have a plan?" Aero asked.
Deuce nodded. "Fit in. If our first arrival even looks like we're looking for something, someone's going to be tipped off. For the time being, I don't think we should particularly look for anything. Rather, just look around, don't even keep an eye out."
"You can't be serious." Chrono said dryly, "Who knows what dangers could be written in this?"
"Who knows it's dangerous?" Deuce countered, "Don't read too far into this yet Chrono. Odd and suspicious aren't inherently dangerous."
"True," Aero said, "I think we're all reading into this a bit much. It's not like we can't report to princess Celestia in the blink of an eye, right?"
"You're referring to me?" Chrono asked, "This is definitely true. I don't take long to get place to place on a conventional watch."
"See?" Aero smiled, "No problem at all."
Deuce looked out through the window, and for a moment Chrono could see a flicker of doubt in his reflection.
"Hey," he said, "what's wrong?"
"Nothing," Deuce said simply, maintaining his stare through the glass, "I'm just enjoying the view."
"The view?" Aero popped a hoof on the gray stallion's shoulder, "Don't lie to us, Deuce. Something's up, and you look like you're not liking it."
Deuce glanced back to the pegasus. "They're sending us to Manehattan. Halfway across Equestria from Canterlot, and meanwhile the single focus of half of Chrono's worries is well-acquainted with princess Celestia."
"Entropy?" Chrono asked with a raised eyebrow. "I don't think she'd be up to anything suspicious that wasn't bluntly so, at least not that would last."
"That's just it though," Deuce countered. "Who's to say you haven't been involved in something only for her to send herself back in time and leave you to be without a clue? She seems to know everything about everything going on, and she's been exclusively following you."
The earth pony gave Chrono a brief push with a hoof, to which he stepped back in slight alarm. As if asking for help, he glanced to Aero, but the pegasus only nodded slightly.
"It does seem a bit strange. I remember you telling me about Entropy's fights with you and the princesses back at the Gala." Aero said quietly, "I wouldn't rule her out as a suspect quite yet."
Chrono glanced out the window next to Deuce, his face taking on the same grim tone as Deuce's. "What are the odds?" He asked, his voice only just over a whisper.
"I wish I could tell you." Deuce murmured. "All I can say is it's going to be hard to trust anyone outside the three of us."
The resulting silence was unpleasant, to say the least.

The train finally came to a stop. Seventeen hours of travel without stop had gotten all three of the group into as much stress as the worries of their collective duty, and by all appearances Deuce had called it right; Manehattan seemed quite normal, without any particular dangers to be seen. Buildings reaching halfway to the sky, architecture that rivaled Canterlot for detail and featuring a contrasting modern design. The city was a haven for business ponies worldwide, and it showed in every inch.
Aero was the only one not to take much of a look around as he exited the train however. Chrono tossed a glance his way in curiosity and shook his head, continuing on his way.
"It's home," Aero said simply, "I was born here, spent almost two thirds of my life living in Manehattan before I went to Canterlot."
Deuce raised an eyebrow at the pegasus. "Why didn't you tell us sooner?"
"I didn't think you would be interested." Aero answered.
"Guys." Chrono said with a tone of finality, "There's no point in having a fuss over it. But seeing as you know the lay of the land, maybe you could point us to a good hotel?"
Aero nodded with a smile. "Come on, I know just the one!"
It took a fair bit of effort for Chrono and Deuce to keep up with the pegasus' speed, but they kept a positive outlook for the time being. Once they arrived, Deuce set about reservations while Chrono and Aero simply stood off to the side. A quick flicker in the unicorn's periphery caught his interest though, but as he turned to look it seemed nothing happened in the first place. "Huh..." He muttered.
"Something up?" Aero asked.
"Seeing things I guess." Chrono said dismissively while shaking his head.
Still, despite his every logical reasoning the clerk behind the counter seemed to flicker, her entirety appearing black with the exclusion of her eyes, which flashed gray in what area otherwise would have been her natural eye color and shape. Neither she nor Deuce seemed to notice anything though, as they continued their transaction.
The room was, as could be expected, luxurious. Three beds each fitted and sized for two and a half of any one pony that would be taking temporary residence in them, a desk and small wardrobe for each with a small number of paintings on every wall being the most notable expenses taken on the room's behalf. As the door closed, Deuce's face finally broke and doubt crossed his eyes. "You weren't seeing things Chrono," He said grimly, "that was real."

The evening was restless enough without Chrono's worries mounting on him as he stared through the window at the moon. Even during the nighttime, he was surprised by the relative business of Manehattan's streets. Both Aero and Deuce were asleep, naturally - but the unicorn had taken to the idea of reverting once he'd rested to watch what he could. Nothing seemed unordinary for the city life, but the thoughts of the train ride hadn't kept well with him - let alone that only the three of them seemed to notice anything at all out of the ordinary. Looking over to the room's door, he found the only realistic answer would be to find answers the hard way. With a little reluctance, he made his way downstairs and out from the Seven-Tail Suites.
"You alright there, sir?" Called an older stallion pegasus strolling through the street.
Chrono stopped in his pacing and looked over to the one who had addressed him. He nodded with a sort of grim smile that indicated he wasn't as alright as he'd like to say. "Just getting a view. It's my first night here; it's only natural I take the time to understand the lay of the land."
"Your first night here, you say? Where'd you come from?"
"Ponyville. I'm here visiting with a couple friends of mine."
"Where are they?"
Chrono chuckled, keeping to his story. "Asleep. I'm not very well-known for being caught asleep."
The pegasus tilted his head back in curiosity, "What do you mean?"
"I'm a chronomancer. I can sleep through the night and step back through time as well-rested as ever. Comes in handy quite a bit."
"I imagine so."
The voice was not the pegasus', despite it having been visibly said by the stallion. Rather a young mare's, however low and curious in nature. Chrono raised an eyebrow, but outright jumped back as he noticed a brief flash of indigo and the appearance of an otherwise all-black unicorn mare with two dark magenta eyes, staring at him with a curiosity in her gaze that sent a shudder riveting down the male's spine.
"Surprised?" She asked. "You should see your face. I don't usually get so much attention from a single pony all at once."
"I don't usually see a unicorn magically disguised as a pegasus either," Chrono remarked, "what was with that?"
"Disguised?" The mare laughed, "No, not disguised. Replaced."
Chrono's silence was absolute, as was his confusion.
"You haven't figured it out yet? Some prodigy you are!"
"You know me?" Chrono asked, as curious as he was fearful by this point.
"Of course I do, Chrono. And now that we've met, I can do the same for you."
"Huh?"
Chrono's blunt curiosity was answered in another flash, and to his immense surprise he found himself staring right into his own face.
"You can't be serious! Who are you?" A single bead of cold sweat ran down the side of his face.
As the image reverted to the mare's frame, she smiled. "For now, I'm the entire population of Manehattan. Now that I've got your help, it won't be long before I become all of Equestria!"
"Let's try this again..." Chrono muttered, "what's your name?"
"Violet Shadow. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"So I see." Chrono said blankly, piecing together a few possibilities in his mind. "You do realize that even with time at your command you can't take an entire population without the time involved, right?"
"Oh, I beg to differ." Violet said smugly, shifting again to Chrono's appearance and forcing time back before halting it. Through what threads he could see, Chrono could distinguish his pacing figure in front of the hotel. "I'll see you in a moment."
His vision whitened, and his movements in pacing as would have been came to an abrupt halt as he glanced down the road. Much to his dismay, he found none other than himself striding up to him. "Okay I get it. Changes keep with you all the same, but what's with everypony else and a case of the flickers?"
Violet laughed, returning to the form of the elder pegasus she otherwise would have been. "It's simple. They've been marked as taken. Look around you, Chrono Spark. Everypony in Manehattan doesn't even react to the signs around them, and they understand it even less than you do, but I also know what you're up to. You might as well go back home to Canterlot and report your failure, along with your friends. Oh and send dear Entropy my regards, would you?"
Chrono scowled, making to charge Violet but a spherical weave of lightning send him hurdling back against a support pillar, momentarily stunning him as he fell helpless to the ground below.
"Oh, don't tell me you're still going to try and stop me?" Violet laughed, returning to her normal appearance. "Well you certainly know how to gain a lady's interest. Fine, I'll play your game, but I'm going to play on my terms, so listen closely."
Chrono struggled and failed to stand, shaking in every limb as all four legs fell weak under the resonating cracks of electricity. His ability to listen was strained all the same however, and without much else to do he kept an open ear.
"Every pony I've marked and taken I am free to replicate as I so choose. Thanks to a few unicorns I've already come across, I can have as many as I need as well to mass an army and take Equestria by force. But, for only the week, I'm going to keep all my shadows here in Manehattan and wait for you and your friends to come find me. After a week's passed, you can say good-bye to everyone and everything you've cared for, and quite a bit more."
Chrono managed to get to standing again, but quickly found himself leaning against the pillar for his own support. "Why bother?" He asked, "You aren't obligated to hold your end of the bargain."
Violet smirked, "You're playing on my terms. You'll have to figure that out for yourself. Oh and by the way, I'm going to count time the same way you do, so be careful where you step back. Have a good week!"
Chrono made to step forward, but before his hoof even met the ground Violet was gone, simply vanished from sight. For the sake of keeping track of time as it were, he cast a quick spell to set an unconventional counter spanning a week for quick reference. Before much longer, he crumpled to the ground and his vision blackened into unconsciousness.

"Chrono, wake up will you?"
Chrono's eyes opened slowly, the blinding light of day causing him to stumble about in dizziness as he got to his hooves again. After a steadying breath, he shook his head and glanced around. Besides Aero and Deuce clearly standing in front of him, everything seemed as normal as could be expected for a Manehattan morning. "This is bad." The unicorn said simply.
"I've noticed." Deuce replied bluntly, holding a hoof to Chrono. "It's not every day that shade of cyan goes black for a moment."
Chrono blinked and stepped back slowly, realizing in sheer terror that it was a simple matter of adverse effects from Violet's replication. "I'm guessing you don't trust me." he stated with a sigh.
"You're our friend, Chrono. It's just going to be difficult to accept you've fallen into the same web overnight." Aero said half-reassuringly.
Chrono nodded, feeling the need to explain anyway. "After I woke up, I set time back to a little bit after I'd laid down so I didn't wake either of you up in the meantime. I do it all the time, but I figured I'd do some investigation in the open. As it turns out there's a unicorn taking on the identities of everypony in Manehattan, and she had me fooled for a while before well, I was added to the list. I can't be sure of the implications, but it seems we only have a week to fix things."
"A week?" Deuce chuckled, "Won't be a problem with you around."
"Sure it will." Chrono remarked, "She's giving me a week specifically. Unconventionally, rather - every takeback and such will count against it."
Aero raised a hoof to his chin, blinking several times as the news sunk in. "Alright so everypony here is normal, just flickering as a sign of being an unwitting part of this whole ordeal?"
Chrono nodded, "With the exception of the ones Violet's informed."
"Violet?" Deuce asked.
"Violet Shadow, the mastermind here."
"What's her goal?" Aero inquired.
Chrono's silence didn't help the tension in the immediate vicinity. "Conquest."
"Seriously?" Aero asked somewhat dramatically. "What gives? She got a problem with the princess?"
"Doesn't matter," Deuce reasoned, "her motives are going to be what they are, and it's really looking like we're on our own for a week. It's just a matter of searching the city for a hideout."
"Any ideas?" Chrono asked.
In answer, Deuce simply looked over to Aero, who nodded after a moment.
"Got it. Can you give me any more of a description than just a black unicorn mare though?"
"Dark eyes, magenta. She's got a short mane, but enough of a tail to make up for it. Horn's as sharp as can be, too. She won't be easy to miss though, since everything but her eyes are black." Chrono said. "That do well enough?"
"Got anything else to add?" Aero asked with a tilt of his head.
"Not really, unless you want to count her smirking half the time and laughing at you the other half."
"Then I'm off!" Aero declared, darting away even as he said it.
"We should probably split up too." Deuce remarked, "Covers more ground. I'll check around the industrial district - meet back in the room by nightfall?"
Chrono nodded. "Sounds like a plan. If you need to find me I'll be checking the residences. Odds are Aero's going to be flying over commerce all day."
"Right." Deuce said, "Good luck - and Chrono..."
Chrono had nearly taken off before he spun back around.
"Next time, let us know ahead of time when you're going solo, could you?"
Chrono nodded. "I'll do that. I'm sorry to have worried you."

Chrono's search through the residential district of Manehattan went along monotonously, his dotted inquisitions on its citizens turning out inconsequential at best. Still as he surveyed the landscape there was nothing to indicate anything out of the ordinary. At a point though, he spotted a unicorn presumably returning home, but casting him a slight glance as she stepped up to her door. She paused, turning to regard the black stallion more carefully. "You're new here, aren't you?" She asked.
Chrono nodded, stepping forward at a slow pace. The mare tilted her head towards the door as she went in. Chrono followed reluctantly.
The door closed behind him, and the mare gave him a quizzical look. "You probably have a lot of questions about what you've seen."
Chrono nodded, still not sure if he could trust her.
"There's no need to keep a steady silence. I may live here, but I'm not in any mood to be the only one talking." she said, "But you don't look like you're here for anything simple, especially with..."
She took a glance to Chrono's side, checking the door. "You must be Chrono Spark."
Chrono blinked in surprise and took a step back. "What gives? Everyone seems to know me now."
"Relax. I'm not in with the rest, but I do know what you're up to."
"How?"
"I'm a diviner. It's my job to find things that most others would overlook such as yourself. You came alone?"
"No, my two best friends came with me."
"And where are they now?"
"To the best of my knowledge, scattered around Manehattan looking for anything that would lead us forward."
The mare shook her head. "Forward isn't where you're going, and you're being led nowhere by looking through the streets."
"You know something?"
"Of course I know something." The mare laughed, "But that doesn't make my line of work easy. I can't interfere in the course of fate directly, even for a span of time that doesn't exist. What I can tell you however, is that you're going about this in a conventional manner with a target that is even more abnormal than yourself and hoping to get away with it."
Chrono thought on this for several moments. "Then what do you suggest?"
"Your friends. Are either of them pegasi by chance?"
"One, yes. Why?"
The mare's horn glowed white for a moment as an illusory map of Manehattan appeared between the two with an dots of three colors - red, yellow and blue - blinking throughout. By the landscape Chrono immediately figured they indicated locations of himself, Aero and Deuce.
"This is a full, true map of Manehattan," the other unicorn explained, "of which there are several things other maps will not bring to light."
"Such as?"
The mare held a hoof through the image to the replication of a tower standing on the outskirts of the industrial district. "This building here."
"Why wouldn't it be marked on other maps then?"
"Because it isn't there."
"What do you mean?"
"You can't see the structure from without. Its existence is tied exclusively to your target, so she has virtual dominion over its every aspect."
"I don't understand."
"You're not meant to. Keep to the skies, that's the only way you can find an entrance. Once you're inside, everything should be clear. That is all I can say on the matter."
Chrono bit his lip but nodded all the same. "Thank you, ma'am."
"I've done nothing." she replied, "Only guided the inevitable course. I wish you and yours well, Chrono Spark."
Chrono didn't take long at all to leave, the door closing quickly behind him.

Sixteen hours, Chrono thought as he paced the room he and his friends had reserved. As he had expected, Aero was first to return - and through the window at that. Still as he glanced to the pegasus, he could help but notice he looked somewhat beaten. "You alright there?" Chrono asked.
"Physically? Yeah, but I can't figure this out." Aero stated just as Deuce came in through the doorway.
"So, I see I'm late," the earth pony remarked, "I managed to come up blank for the day, but don't tell me I'm not the only one."
Chrono shook his head. "Doesn't seem that way. I ran into a diviner while I was roaming around and she mentioned a tower that no pony can see from the outside."
Aero blinked in surprise. "Well that answers that question."
"You found it?" Deuce asked before Chrono had the chance to.
Aero nodded with a slight shrug. "I guess so. I certainly couldn't see anything, but it felt like steel all the way down and I couldn't find an entrance either."
"You've got to be kidding," Deuce sighed, "a tower with no entrance?"
"Not necessarily." Chrono reasoned. "Let's assume the worst for a moment, that this invisible tower is Violet's hideout. She's obviously got some serious magic to her name, and I wouldn't quite put it past her to change the structure of a building just to make it exceptionally hard to drop into."
Aero skipped a breath. "Wait, say that again?"
"I wouldn't put it past her to make it hard to get into."
"That's not what you said," Aero countered, "you said drop into, and I have a funny feeling that might just be the case."
"You're serious, aren't you?" Deuce asked, skeptical. "You'd be taking this alone if that's the case."
The pegasus backed away a step. "Maybe not. I'll have to take a look around though. In the morning, in any case. Right now I-"
He didn't even finish his sentence before he collapsed onto the bed. Deuce nodded his agreement; it had been a long and unusually stressful day for all three of them.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Chrono said simply, "Besides, it's all we've got right now and I doubt it's coincidence."
He glanced over to Deuce to see his reaction. It wasn't long before he realized they had placed enough importance on the next day's tasks to rest until then. With very little reluctance, the unicorn followed suit.

The following morning came far too quickly for Chrono's liking, his countdown indicating twenty-two hours passed. Aero was already awake and keeping his wings in shape for the day's activities.
"So I had an idea while I was waking up," Aero said, "if you can't go in through a door, I'm pretty sure you can go in from above. If Violet can turn into a pegasus I'm pretty sure it would be convenient for her to do that, right?"
Chrono nodded, "Unless of course she's melding through the walls themselves."
Deuce blinked a couple times before springing to his feet at the side of the bed.
Aero looked out through the window, "I'll check it out. If anything happens to the point where you can't see me anymore Chrono, cut back and stop me from leaving, alright?"
Chrono nodded. "Can do."
"Alright, here I go." Aero announced before springing out the window.
His flight was short-lived, soaring through the air and briefly vanishing in mid-flight, only to return as quickly as he had come and barely avoid crashing right into the unicorn on his way back in.
"News?" Deuce asked.
"Top's got a way in, but the place is crawling with these black ponies that attacked me as soon as they saw me!" Aero answered, his voice slightly strained.
"Well that makes things simple." Chrono said with a sigh. "How should we do this?"
Deuce tapped his chin, "Aero, drop me in and get Chrono as soon after as you can. I think I can hold out until then. Sound fair?"
Chrono nodded, "Just don't do anything rash."
It was only moments more Aero and Deuce were off, and only moments more before Chrono felt very nearly crushed in Aero's unfailing grip as he went through the upper view of Manehattan and dropped into the tower itself.
As Aero landed however, the unified expression of sheer disbelief swept over them. Standing opposite them were none other than exact appropriate appearances of Twilight and all her best friends.
"Hey, what gives!" Pinkie called out, "You were the ones we were sent after?"
"What are you talking about, Pinkie?" Chrono asked, "Why are you six even here?"
"Don't play ignorant, dear." Rarity scoffed, "You've been tricked, just like the population here."
Chrono blinked in sheer horror and surprise. He knew his friends well enough to tell the likelihood, but the thought of them turning against him, much less in unison, did not sit well with him. "You can't be serious! Violet's behind this, not us!"
Not even enough time to blink had passed before Rainbow had collided into the stallion and pinned him to the floor. "And where's the evidence, huh?" She demanded, glaring into his frightened eyes.
"Pretty clear," Deuce answered, pushing Rainbow off from his friend with an equal glare in his own eyes. "Violet must have found you six and created shadows. No friend of Chrono's would deliver false allegations like this."
"You catch on pretty quick," Twilight huffed, "almost as if you'd known this whole time!"
Chrono narrowed his eyes. "The same could be said of you six, but the difference is we're not throwing accusations."
"Come on, y'all!" Applejack shouted, "They ain't gonna give us the truth until they cain't give us anythin' else!"
Chrono flipped up to his hooves, quickly weighing the odds with a passing glance over the others. In no way were they in favor of success. Still, he knew his friends, and he doubted these were them. As he could have expected, Twilight's first action was to fire a streak of magic his way, causing him to jump to the side and clear out of the way, but Aero hovered just in front of him, barring any further potential harm to the unicorn.
"Go on ahead, Chrono." He said firmly, even as he strafed a rush from Fluttershy. "Don't worry about us. There's probably worse on downstairs but I don't want to hold you up."
Chrono looked to Deuce, who kept himself busy evading and countering an onslaught from Rarity and Applejack both. "Just go!" He called back, "We can take care of this, but you're the only one who can take on time as an obstacle - and who's to say she won't use it to her advantage?"
Chrono jumped back just in time to avoid being pummeled by Rainbow, and Twilight remained opposite him, staring hard and focused in his direction.
"Guess you're right." He said reluctantly, as he pulled time to a stop. "Good luck."

The doorway ahead led to a dimly-lit tunnel spiraling down around the tower. About as far as one rotation of Chrono's estimate, another doorway led back in, through a room loosely littered with boxes and boards. With a brief glance around, the young stallion could see dozens of completely-black pony silhouettes in various places. His friends were right; it would take far longer to reach Violet through this.
Two, three... fifteen stories of new terrain and obstacles before Chrono found himself in a large circular room with a small series of rounded walls within, arranging into a split double-circular pattern. Chrono stepped forward, not terribly surprised to see Violet standing at its center, waiting for him.
"Oh good, you've arrived." She said with a smirk. "And without your friends for company either. I gave you a week, and still it's not enough for you to keep to your own friends?"
"We'd never have made it if we'd kept things as they were, Violet. I've seen the traps you set up for us, and with a broken morale at even that first setup? How low can you go?"
"Perhaps you'd like to answer that for me." Violet countered, "Of the two of us, I'm not working with somepony who's tried to kill me, tried to destroy all of Equestria and has managed to ruin my life on more than three occasions. Can you say the same?"
Chrono narrowed his eyes. It should have been clearer to him; Violet wasn't after him, she had to be after Entropy. The only other pony - at least that he knew of - that could arguably top her ability to manipulate others. "Entropy's the one you're after, isn't she?"
Violet giggled. "Guess why I came to you first?"
"Because in using me, you could get to her, directly or otherwise. Am I right?"
"You do catch on fast!" Violet laughed, "but what are you going to do now? Do you really think you can stop me with what you've got?"
Chrono shook his head. "I don't care to say I do. What I do think though, is that I wouldn't be worth the air I'm breathing now if I didn't try."
"Oooh, monologues. Please, Chrono - don't bore me now."
A quick flash of silver following an aggressive ray from Chrono's horn was enough of his answer. Violet on the other hand, vanished and reappeared fully four times in seemingly random places before the line even struck the wall. Again, Chrono blinked in surprise.
"And you've even made the first strike." Violet congratulated him, "Commendable."
"And yet you've managed not to show any aggression, yourself." Chrono said bluntly, straightening some. "Why's that?"
"Hm?" Violet asked simply with a wink, before her horn ignited purple and a shockwave of energy threw the stallion against the wall, falling shakily down to his hooves. "Oh, sorry - you were saying?"
"I take it back." Chrono grunted.
A streak of indigo caught his attention, a ray of energy flashing his direction. In the same moment he jumped over to the side. He returned with a ray of his own, caught by sheer surprise to see it intercepted head-on by another of Violet's own. However, as he stared on his terror magnified as he found the resulting thread of energy binding him to the wall. Violet laughed.
"You can't take me alone, Chrono Spark." She said with a smirk, "no pony can. I'll give you the time I promised, but you're going nowhere until your friends arrive. And that's going to be a good long time from now. Good-bye, so-called 'Guardian of Equestria'. With any luck on your part, we won't be meeting again."
"You -!" Chrono cried out, but into nothing more than thin air. Violet was gone, he was alone with very little hope of timely rescue. Fifteen floors, and with the layouts he had seen he could roughly guess it would take the others an hour each to clear one. Not too difficult, he reasoned. Violet had promised a week along his perception to keep him from stepping back. In no way did that hamper him jumping forward.
As he tried the spell though, a surge of electricity shot over his coat, singing his mane and causing him enough pain within and without to convince him not to make the effort again. His would be a long wait, and evidently a lesson hard-learned.
And still, time fell away right through his grasp...

"Chrono, wake up."
The voice was neither Aero's nor Deuce's, and did not seem to belong to any stallion in the first place and yet it was familiar to the unicorn. The pains through his coat as he opened his eyes lessened somewhat, surprised to see the blackless purple eyes of Entropy staring back at him.
"Thank heavens you're alright," she said, magically undoing the bonds that held Chrono to the wall as he fell to the floor, "You look as if you'd just died."
Chrono struggled to get his hooves beneath him, but slipped and fell flat anyway. Still he managed to turn his head enough to guage his surroundings. Aero and Deuce had not come as he'd predicted before falling unconscious, and Entropy's presence there suggested something had gone wrong. "What happened?" He managed to breathe, his vision blurring by even the effort of speech.
"Deuce and Aero were forced back halfway down," Entropy explained, "and once I realized exactly what was going on I came to find you."
"You shouldn't have." Chrono gasped, "Violet -"
Entropy raised a hoof to silence the stallion. "I know she's taken an interest in my abilities. I can't say I'm fond of the possibilities, but it's unlikely that I've evaded her this long. But I'm not about to leave you here either. You're in my charge, remember. I have responsibilities to you just the same as you do to me."
Chrono let his head drop onto his front legs in defeat. "I appreciate it," he said breathlessly, "How long has passed?"
"What do you mean?"
Chrono tried to answer, but his strength of voice failed him in the moment as his vision darkened slightly. Entropy instead placed a hoof lightly on his shoulder.
"Don't worry about it for now. Your health is paramount."
Entropy's horn glowed briefly in a dark red, and Chrono's vision again darkened, his consciousness slipping away once again.

He woke what felt like only moments later, his eyes snapping open and his position coming bolt-upright in only a manner of seconds. Princess Celestia stood alone on the other side of the ward, watching him with an eye covered by the decadence of her mane. "This past evening must have been difficult for you." She said, turning to face him. "Do you remember anything?"
Chrono nodded. "I'm pretty sure we've found the culprit. A unicorn mare by the name of 'Violet Shadow'. Dreadfully powerful too. Evidently she can recreate other ponies in the image of anyone she's encountered before, which I'm hoping was the case when I saw Twilight and the others at the top of her tower."
"They were aggressive?"
Chrono nodded.
"Strange."
"You know something?"
"Rarity said she had heard something about you and your friends betraying Canterlot. I left it to them to see into the matter but they haven't returned. I'm beginning to wonder if this Violet Shadow has replicas of them all at her bidding."
Chrono frowned. "With all due respect, I don't see any legitimate reason to believe Rarity would doubt us."
"I understand," Celestia nodded, "but at this rate we can no longer afford to make assumptions."
Chrono's horn lit with a brief spell to check how much time he had remaining. His eyes widened quickly as a result.
"Numerous reports have come of other cities outside of Manehattan being overtaken by hordes of purely-black ponies. Earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi alike but all black."
"My time's up," Chrono reasoned, "How long ago did Entropy find me?"
"Nearly half a day."
"And... how long ago did we leave for Manehattan?"
Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Nine days. Is something the matter?"
"I'm guessing it was yesterday when these reports were made."
"Is there something I should know, Chrono Spark?"
Chrono nodded. "The night we arrived in Manehattan, Violet confronted me and gave me a week of unconventional time to put all this to a close. Finding out that I've been unconscious for six days of that, well... Defeats the purpose."
Celestia looked out through a window, prompting Chrono to do the same. He was not long to follow.
The streets of Canterlot were flooded with guards, the skies above active with a consistent patrol. Chrono bit his lower lip, anticipating the cause. "Has there been an attack?"
"Not yet." Celestia pointed a hoof through the window at a small encampment in the distance. "There are eleven such camps located around Canterlot alone."
Chrono cringed. He didn't like fighting as it was, but this looked to be an outright declaration of war. "And..." The question caused a slight shudder to traverse the young stallion's spine, "everywhere else?"
Celestia turned to face him with her head alone, the cold stare in her eye stopping Chrono's heart cold. "The only good news anypony has delivered is Violet's new base out in Fillydelphia. Somehow or another though, a lot of the smaller towns have reported nothing."
Chrono nodded. "Anything from Ponyville? I'm sure of all ponies Twilight would have found something out."
"Oh, that reminds me!" Celestia said, her tone lightening suddenly. "She wanted to see you about a day ago. She said it was urgent."
Chrono nodded, not letting the pain in his sides slow him down as he made his way out through Canterlot Castle's architecture.

"There you are!" Twilight said with some slight alarm as she opened the door to the library. She almost had him choked with a hug before long. "We were so worried about you, why didn't you tell us you were going?"
"Immediately if not sooner," Chrono explained once he got some room to breathe. "I didn't have much of a choice. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you all in time."
"Ouch. Well come on, I've heard about what you're up to and decided to do some research. I think you'll find this interesting."
Twilight levitated a book near to Chrono, opened up to the details on Nightmare Moon.
"Wait a second." Chrono blinked, "Didn't you and the others already dispatch her?"
"We defeated Nightmare Moon a few years ago yes, but she herself wasn't actually defeated. Only her hold on princess Luna was cut off."
"Then what are you getting at?"
"Wait until you see this." Twilight levitated an armful of scrolls and dumped them in front of Chrono. "There's a lot more to this Violet Shadow pony than just her recent acts. After going through some history records it turns out she's responsible for some of the best acts in Equestrian history!"
Chrono's skepticism must have showed, as Twilight's expression twisted into one of disbelief. "You're sure we've got the same Violet Shadow here?"
"Positive. Especially since there have been some rumors floating out of Manehattan that say she's changed completely. That doesn't happen to just anypony, Chrono."
"And what makes you think it was Nightmare Moon?"
"Princess Luna's appearance was altered just the same as Violet's was. Violet Shadow isn't really a black pony at all."
Chrono tilted his head, curious now that his doubts had been put to question. "So, the only way out of this is in using the elements of harmony, right?"
"Not exactly." Twilight shook her head, "We need something more lasting. When Princess Celestia used the elements a thousand years ago and banished Nightmare Moon to the moon, it didn't last. She just retook princess Luna from there and used her to make her way back. When my friends and I used the elements on her a few years ago she obviously just made her way to somepony else who had potential to cause mass worry. Turns out she chose Violet."
"So, what do you suggest?"
Twilight's horn glowed as she smiled eerily. For the first time in his life, Chrono grew afraid of his own friend, if only slightly.
"You won't have to go far," a familiar voice sounded from shortly behind Chrono. "I've been following you this whole time."
As he spun, Chrono's familiarity with the voice of Violet Shadow was lost in what he saw. The entirely-black unicorn from before as he had expected, was not the image he saw before him now. White, with a bright lavender mane and tail, granted identical in physical shape to the ambitious mare he had met before, but there seemed a faint magenta glow about her. As she began to walk in a circling pattern about him and Twilight, he realized it was less a glow and more an aftermirage. Strangely fitting for her name, perhaps the origin thereof. He wasn't about to query though.
"Why?" He asked.
"Because you were the one to make my plan perfect. The one to give me free reign over all time itself, and yet you're still as persistent as ever. I had to find out why."
"What, you've never heard of friends before? Support for the ponies you care about?" Twilight asked, clearly edged with a touch of sarcasm.
"And you've only taken twenty years to figure out for yourself what they were. Why point hooves at me?" Violet countered, smiling. "Although I have to say, your skills in research are exceptional for your age."
Chrono narrowed his eyes. "Cut to the chase. What do you want?"
"Explanations." Violet answered simply. "From all sides of this confrontation."
"I hardly have much to explain. You're pitting yourself and your ambitions against all of Equestria with an even chance of succeeding through purely amoral means. That naturally puts you up against me."
"Especially dealing with your affiliations to Entropy, hmm? Seems odd that you can stand up for one potential destroyer of Equestria and stand against the next at the same time." Violet smirked, but it was quickly lost in Chrono's glare.
"Entropy made amends. You have not. And, I'm guessing by your remark about Twilight's studies that her account for Nightmare Moon is -" Chrono's inquisition was cut short just as a brief image of the fabled Mare in the Moon hovered over Violet's frame. "...Accurate."
"Sure enough," Violet said with a simple shrug. "I wanted to oppose the judgement and means of Celestia's rule, and I was given a way to. Nothing unusual, simple business."
"I'd hardly call stealing everypony's identity to be simple business." Twilight remarked, "Besides, what has princess Celestia done so wrong anyway?"
Violet turned, for the first time granting Chrono a view of her cutie mark; a black eye with a violet pupil. He could only guess as to what it may have signified. "The same thing you have, obviously. You both never really solve a problem. You simply delay it for the next to be troubled by. The banishment of Nightmare Moon coincided with the banishment of the innocent princess, Luna for example."
Chrono had no answer in particular. Looking over, he could see Twilight fighting to keep from lashing out right then and there.
"What gives? Everypony makes mistakes. Even the self-proclaimed perfect ones like Entropy." Chrono fired finally. "What makes you think you're any different?"
"Oh, I don't." Violet replied calmly, "I'm no different from the rest. Equestria needs a leader that can understand other ponies' imperfections."
"And you intend to accomplish this by force?" Twilight interjected, "Some leadership material you are!"
Chrono glanced over at the sound of a slight screech in Twilight's direction. To his surprise a familiar golden crown adorned with a six-sided amethyst star lay on her head. The element of Magic.
Glancing back to Violet, her stance revealed that this was no longer up for debate. She would stop at nothing less, and it was not going to be resolved peacefully.
"Come on then. Show me you can do better, Twilight Sparkle. See if you're capable of filling in where I can't."
At first Twilight was caught somewhat off guard, before the surrounding shifting into what appeared a spiraling indigo vortex caught Chrono by surprise as well. A trap, obviously but for what purpose he could not hope to tell.

Moments later, the vaguely familiar sight of dull white walls and a blue energy weave reminded Chrono of his last experience with Violet. He braced, horn glowing slightly as he reached out to detect any spikes in magic throughout the room. As he glanced back though, he realized something was different. This room had no doorway...
"Violet!" Twilight shouted, "Show yourself!"
She did as told, appearing simply to glide across the floor without any movement of her legs. As she appeared and disappeared throughout various places, Violet made it far more of a scene than it felt like, and incidentally Chrono knew already this was going to be an evasive contest.
"Come on." Violet said simply, coming to a halt with her casually unnerving smirk resting on her face. "Let's see what you both are really capable of."
The same four walls that were in the initial room sprang up from the floor, and behind one the visual of Violet vanished. Throughout the room several repeating streaks of dark purple light caught Chrono's attention, his passive identification spell alerting him to nothing he could consider pleasant. They appeared to strike at random, but at a predictable interval. As he paused to consider any potential pattern, he had to skip ahead a step to avoid being shot through by one in the first place. "Coward..." he whispered.
A more intense and wide beam of purple caught his attention then, sourced at Violet herself. Twilight had already jumped out of sight in pursuit, but a second beam intercepting the first gave Chrono time to react and move out of the way before Violet persisted in breaking through Twilight's defensive move.
Still Twilight was catching on quickly, almost dancing for how quickly and frequently she had to move in order not to be skewered by any particular magical onslaught. Violet vanished again, and while Chrono could see out of his periphery her charge at him, he showed no sign of interest until he could see the strands of time about him, slowing immensely with his opponent's movements.
For all Twilight could tell, he had simply moved quickly to the side and flipped into a crashing strike of his hoof into Violet's back all within a quarter of a second. For Chrono it took significantly longer.
Violet's response sent the young stallion flying back though, as a small field of disruptive magic converted Chrono's passive identification spell into an explosion centered on his own horn. The pain momentarily blinded him, and his horn shook relentlessly under the force of its own evident burst. Raising a hoof to his head to calm the resulting headache, the thought occurred to him to check if his horn was even there anymore. To his slight relief, it was.
Violet vanished again, reappearing in time for her own blow to catch in her mind as she stumbled slightly backwards. "Catching on?" She asked, still smirking.
Chrono had to agree with the assumptions the question gave him. This was likely to be an uphill battle.
The entire room erupted in bright purple rays, and while Chrono glanced to find the source, his suspicions were proven wrong when he found Twilight hard at work manipulating the field to force Violet on the run. She slid back, catching less crossfire than she could have but still clearly more than she would have liked. Without seeing much point in assisting with his meager magic and fearful for the consequence of Violet's cruel countermeasure again, he rushed ahead. A ray from Violet later, and he elected to force his weight back, instead sliding along his back and side, kicking out and forcing Violet to the floor.
Except that as soon as she would have impacted, she vanished. "Impressive! See how you can take some wrath though..." Violet's voice sounded from the open past two of the walls.
Chrono could see her horn glowing fiercely. The same spell that had sent him flying into the wall in their first encounter, probably again seeing its destructive power. Twilight teleported to a wall for cover. Chrono stopped time to find his.
Both of them were caught by the secondary reflection that bounced through the room.
Chrono could barely hold himself up anymore, let alone coordinate himself into a viable offensive. Clouds of black flitted through his vision, and before he knew it, only the deep resounding thuds of magic impacting around him existed, for all he could tell.

"Chrono!" Twilight cried out, still keeping her wits about her.
Violet appeared again, in front of her. Her smirk it seemed, had not faded in the least. "You I've got something special planned for, Twilight." She said with a low laugh.
"What do you want, Violet? You think I'm going to cooperate with you after everything you've done?"
"Not at all. You have something I want, right there on your forehead."
Twilight teleported away, holding fast to her ground. "Not in a million years!"
"That can be arranged."
"You know what I meant!"
"And what about your friend Chrono? He's still alive, but that can be easily rectified."
Twilight's answer came in a powerful levitation field around the white unicorn. Her glare and her scowl would have instilled panic in any normal pony. "You lay so much as a hoof on him and I'm going to use you to tear down this entire room, am I clear?"

Chrono's consciousness slowly returned to him, and he forced his head to the side to see what was going on. Violet lay thoroughly beaten on the inner wall, still held by a levitation spell. Again the young stallion's fear of Twilight rose to meet his admiration of her.
"Did you think I'd... make it this simple?" Violet asked, panting for breath. "I'm just a shadow. You'll never find me anyway. Have fun blundering around."
Twilight's rage got the better of her, and Violet was sent hurdling hard into the far wall, vanishing into a small cloud of black mist. "I will find you, Violet!" Twilight screamed.
"Twilight." Chrono managed to say. "It's no use. She can't hear you."
"Chrono!" Twilight's relief shone clearly in her otherwise abnormally stressed tone. "Are you alright?"
"I-I've been better," he confessed, "but I'm having trouble finding out if I've been worse or not."
A reassuring hoof on his shoulder granted him the security he needed to believe he would live through the day. "Come on, we should probably get back..."
Even for Chrono's impaired vision, he could see a definite change in scenery. The familiar sight of a brown floor rather than a miasmic energy flow clued him into exactly where he was.
"Home?" Twilight's voice sounded.

"Chrono."
The voice was familiar, but for the moment Chrono could not quite place a name to the calling over his irritation of waking up to the sound of his name spoken by somepony or another every time he passed out. As he opened his eyes though, only white greeted his vision, blurred slightly by a severely-unfocused spot of light purple. After blinking several times, he could see more clearly in the distance standing in the same white void, Violet Shadow, much the same as the shadow he and Twilight had defeated.
Or, to his admission, moreover that Twilight had defeated.
"What is it this time?" He asked, but Violet only sighed as he asked.
"Relax," she said simply, "I'm not here for confrontations. I told you I wanted explanations from both sides, and now I have yours and Twilight's. I'm a mare of my word, or haven't you noticed this already?"
Chrono nodded, his glare holding steady.
"Celestia and I differ on a lot of theories and practical applications. Secretly I've wanted to see how somepony else would do in her place for a pretty long time, but after hearing that Nightmare Moon was defeated for a second time, let alone the resulting string of events that the so-called heroes of Ponyville have been involved in, I began to realize that so many keep with her out of fear as much as anything else. Is this what Equestria is meant to stand for? I should hope not!"
"Get to the point. How is this any better?"
Violet remained silent, her eyes glistening somewhat as though Chrono's words had struck an unnerving chord within her. "It's not. Truth is, it's worse and I don't have a choice anymore."
"Of course you d-"
"You don't understand!" Violet shouted, tensing slightly. "I've given my future to reshaping Equestria. Nightmare Moon offered a means to do so in exchange for well, me as a median between herself and reality. At the time, who was I to refuse a practically guaranteed success?"
Chrono paused. "Wait a moment, you accepted the help from a known enemy of Equestria without question?"
"A known enemy of Celestia." Violet corrected.
"Without question."
Violet stared for several long seconds before finally nodding. "A foalish mistake, I know. And now I have to pay for the crimes, or whenever you and everypony else finally catch up to me."
"Why are you telling me this? You've proven tight-lipped so far, what could you possibly have to gain in telling me more than a simple minimum?"
Violet raised an eyebrow with an enlightened laugh. "Because you're the only one who can stand up to everypony else combined and have any chance of coming out in one piece. I realize my actions especially recently have been awful, and the truth is... I want it to end. I don't care about what happens after anymore, I just want it all to stop. I wanted to be the bringer of change for Equestria, not destruction. I was tricked much the same as your Luna was."
"How can I believe you then? What evidence is there that this is even you talking to me and not some shadow like before?"
"You're welcome to test any theories you have, but at this particular moment neither of us exist."
"Huh?"
"Something I picked up along the way. The point is, you have no hard evidence. Only confessions and wishes for the future. Strange thing is, if you keep going the way you are you'll never succeed. Take it back where it started, back to where you first even learned about activities in Manehattan."
"...Canterlot?"
"Celestia's been gone for quite some time. You of all ponies should know I can make an impressive act when I want to."
"You!" Chrono's mane bristled, "Then where's the princess?"
"The roles are reversed, Chrono. Nightmare Moon now holds the throne of Equestria in the guise of Celestia herself. Celestia, however, has taken to some time on the moon to contemplate the fate she left her sister to. Once I'm gone, that will probably change but until then things aren't going to get any better. Be careful who follows you though. Nopony's likely to believe that Equestria is in the leadership of a rogue alicorn princess. Farewell for now, and..."
"And?" Chrono raised an eyebrow.
"...I wanted to thank you."
"What? What for?"

"What in the hay, Chrono." The voice was definitely not Violet's. The accent and particular influxion of voice led him to believe it was that of Applejack, and the pricking of needle-like surfaces at his back led him to believe he was on a haystack somewhere in Sweet Apple Acres. As he opened his eyes and regained focus, he realized both were correct. Not only Applejack though, but everypony else too. Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow... even Aero and Deuce had come to lend a hoof for him after all the troubles. It did the young unicorn stallion good to see them all at least relatively unharmed.
"H-hey guys..." Chrono managed to say weakly. "How long was I out?"
"Only a few hours," Fluttershy whispered, "but you looked just awful, I was afraid you might not make i-"
"Fluttershy, this ain't no time to be tellin' him how bad he looks!" Applejack protested.
"But who do you think you're kidding? He looks -"
"Rarity!" The combined voices of Twilight and Rainbow collided uniquely into a harmonic mess. Rarity got the idea, and subsequently silenced.
"I doubt I look any better than I feel, at least. I've definitely felt worse." Chrono observed. "But either way, I think I may have just found the last step in all this."
"Yeah?" Rainbow asked. "What'cha got?"
Chrono glanced around to everypony else in the room. "Twilight, you summoned the element of magic just before our confrontation with Violet, right?"
"Yeah?"
"Think you can do it for all six?"
It took several attempts, the minor majority of which were unsuccessful, but alongside a few pendant-sized icons similar to their cutie marks, the six elements of harmony appeared.
"Can you explain to me why we couldn't just get these from princess Celestia?" Twilight asked after a moment's thought.
"You'd have better luck taking a conventional timeshift spell back and not causing paradoxes." Chrono said simply. "Princess Celestia is on the moon."
A chorus of gasps rose up around him. Aero looked immensely puzzled. "That can't be right. I saw her just a few hours ago!"
"No you didn't. Violet can reshape herself into anypony she's encountered before. I'd be willing to bet there isn't a single stallion, mare or foal in all Equestria she couldn't imitate by now. Princess Celestia, in this particular case, is ultimately a Nightmare Moon-held Violet Shadow."
A squeak from the side caught Chrono's attention. Fluttershy was already hiding behind the nearest desk for shelter, presumably from his mere news of the fact. "As it were... I'm going to need everypony's help getting there."
"Count me in, partner!" Applejack said before he was even done saying 'there'.
"You got it!" Pinkie chimed in.
"You don't have to tell me twice. A crime against fabulosity is one thing, but a crime against royal titles? Unthinkable!" Rarity announced.
"I'd gladly help." Twilight said, smiling.
"Anypony dealing with the princesses has to go through me anyway!" Rainbow shouted, "Come on!"
Fluttershy merely squeaked, but nodded fearfully.
Deuce glanced out the window along the expanses of corn beyond the barn. "I've been with you from the start, Chrono. If you're sure about this, I'll be there right with you."
"Same here." Aero said, casting a glance at all those around. "Looks like we got ourselves a small army here too!"
"We've definitely got the numbers to do something worth mention. The trouble is there are as likely to be Canterlot guards coming against us as Violet's shadow ponies." Chrono thought out loud. "We need to come up with a plan."
"Leave the guards to us," Twilight said with a grin. "I'm pretty sure we can handle a tight situation if we keep together and focused."
"Guess that leaves us," Chrono looked to Aero and Deuce. "Think we can handle it?"
"They'll have to see us coming for us not to." Deuce remarked. Chrono conceded the point.
"Alright, let's g-" Chrono moved to get up, before quickly realizing he was in worse shape than he had thought. His back refused to budge.
"Ah don't think yer goin' anywhere jus' yet." Applejack said sternly. "Relax, give it a day or two."
Reluctantly, Chrono dropped his head back into the hay and allowed himself time to recover.

"Chrono Spark?" Celestia turned with surprise at the sudden entrance of the unicorn and his friends. All eight of his friends, as security had become surprisingly low throughout Canterlot Castle. "What's going on here?"
"Don't try to bluff me." Chrono said with steel resolve. "Where are all the guards? Why in all Equestria would you bother not ordering a stop to all nine of us rather aggressively making our way through the city? Show yourself, will you? It's not like names matter now."
A familiar high-pitched giggle sounded throughout the room as Celestia's figure melted down into the blackened Violet Shadow, smirk resting on her face. "Haven't had enough yet, have you?"
"I'm not talking about you, Violet. Nightmare Moon is the one I'm after." Chrono declared.
"Well isn't that too bad?" Violet smiled a little more thinly. "You've got a long way to go before you convince me to give up that easily."
A multitude of sounds from behind him caught Chrono's attention immediately, although by the time he managed to look back to the sources, his visibility became nothing more than a massive rainbow pouring out from the elements. His surprise was immense; his horn usually felt charged slightly in the presence of powerful magic, but his entire coat felt as if it could stand on end from this!
As it settled though, neither Twilight nor her friends could be seen. The throne room faded into what seemed an eternal hallway of stone, lined with dark blue designs. Ahead of himself, Aero and Deuce, was none other than the full-fledged figure and presumably entity of Nightmare Moon herself. Chrono could hardly help but cringe in his wonders of what fate had befallen the others if any.
"So, you three think to challenge me?" Nightmare Moon asked. "Brave, however foolish. Do you even know who I am?"
"How can I forget?" Deuce asked, appalled. "It's your fault princess Luna was driven to madness over a thousand years ago! And it was your fault that one of the formerly most respected mares in Manehattan has become the target of every single well-meaning faction in Equestria!"
Chrono raised an eyebrow. He knew Deuce could get overexcited in somepony else's defense, but he had yet to see the stallion so furious. Still to his immense surprise a small golden anklet formed about Deuce's hoof, bearing at its point a red streak of lightning.
The element of loyalty? But, that belonged to Rainbow Dash!
Chrono glanced back to Nightmare Moon, dismissing the thought for now. He still had yet to make any form of plan for dealing with the mare of darkness herself, without simply putting disaster on hold as had been done several times past.
"He's right, you know." Aero remarked. "And for what? What do you have to prove?"
Nightmare Moon's mane flared, as did her eyes. "I don't have to answer to you!" She screamed.
"You're right, you don't." Aero said with a shrug. "Sort of like we don't have to confront you, but we chose to anyway. We all have something we believe in, something worth fighting for."
Another shimmer from Aero's direction. A familiar golden anklet, laden with an orange apple.
Chrono's confusion grew. Were his friends summoning the elements of harmony beyond the reaches of Equestrian timespace? Already honesty and loyalty had been brought out.
"Enough!" Nightmare Moon screeched, the sheer power of her voice causing the friends to slide back several steps as the hallway shattered into an endless starry expanse. No visible floor, but it was easy enough to tell it was there by sheer fact they weren't all floating. "To the void of space with you!"
Several eerie black silhouettes floated out from Nightmare Moon's ever-flowing mane, moving to and from on inevitable intercepting paths for Chrono and friends. None of them seemed to have much difficulty slipping past the first set, but when they started compounding each began moving quickly and constantly enough to be forced onto the defensive.
Then Chrono heard a chuckle as Aero's wings began to spark oddly. Chrono had seen this before, of course; Aero's unique talent was to take the charge from storm clouds and hold them between the feathers of his wings in such a way to be mostly harmless to him. By all evidence, he had just done so, but without a cloud in sight. "How's that for funny?" He chuckled. "These things are electric!"
"What?" Nightmare called, clearly upset and confused by this revelation. "How can you even survive that?"
"Kind of like this!" Aero answered, his wing snapping forward as the stored charge dispersed in front of him, showering Nightmare moon with dozens of darkened sparks. Around his other forehoof now shone another element; a familiar pink balloon representing the element of laughter.
Again Chrono could hardly help his confusion. Nightmare Moon was taken aback slightly by the sudden turn of events, and her fears began to mount on her face. However, she quickly resorted to balefire, the green flames searing out in snakelike spins at the others. They were cut off at the source though, by a projectile Deuce had always been known to keep somewhere on him.
Most theories of the storage of his single playing card resided with the answer being his tail, but nothing was confirmed. A single card, the Two of Diamonds to be exact, and the material being nothing less than diamond as well. It intercepted Nightmare Moon's horn in time to cut off the flow of balefire prior to it devouring himself and the others.
"Forgetting something? There are three of us, we can stick up for each other pretty well Nightmare Moon." Deuce remarked, even as against all odds the element of kindness materialized on his forehoof.
Chrono realized then exactly why Entropy had taken such an interest in him and his friends. Initially, she had mentioned him being the only one to be able to stand up to her, and his more recent discovery of his relative immortality had given him enough insight as to the potential he no doubt carried. Potential that he would not necessarily have preferred to bear, but his life was full of duties. Duties that he would be willing to perform until some fateful day when he could no longer perform them in his own demise.
Nightmare Moon's mane flared again, streaks of sheer energy ripping through the space around them. Each fell short however, as did time itself. Chrono stood, staring her eye-to-eye despite the obvious change in height. "Leave them be. I'm the one who came after you; they don't need to be harmed."
Nightmare Moon did not answer, but her eyes dilated inward in such a way that she evidently heard him. A sudden shift of weight on his left forehoof caught his attention. Nothing more, nothing less; the element of generosity...
"This isn't their fight, and you know it. You've been tracking me for a week and a half now, and it's me you're going to get. The funny thing is, I come with friends. It's a real shame you can't understand that too well."
Time resumed, Aero and Deuce both dove to the side in the nick of time. Chrono didn't particularly need to look down to see what had dropped on his right forehoof. The tables had leveled; the same fight that had started with inevitable loss had turned right around into a potential victory.
"Stop, all of you."
Entropy's voice was stern to an absolute as she appeared behind Chrono and his friends. She moved past him, giving him a faint smile as she went. "Thank you all." she said quietly. "If it hadn't been for you I'd never have gotten this chance."
Chrono's confusion was at its peak, as clearly were those of his friends. "What's going on?" Deuce bothered to query.
"Deuce Wylde. Aero Slide... Chrono Spark. I wish I could explain, but right now I don't have much choice in front of me. Chrono, consider yourself relieved of my authority. You are of course, free to do as you will, never forget that."
"Entropy, what's going on here?" Chrono asked, somewhat more urgently than Deuce had.
"You foal..." Nightmare Moon grumbled. "You spent how long setting everything up, just for this?"
Entropy nodded. "It was worth seeing through. It's taken me a long time to realize just how wrong I was, Nightmare. Now I have to take it all back. And there's only one way to keep a pony pinned down forever."
"You wouldn't!" Nightmare Moon cried out.
"I've done it once before. I'm not afraid to do it for the good of Equestria."
Entropy's horn glowed immediately at a shine that very nearly blinded Chrono and the others, but as quickly as it had come, it was gone. Entropy and Nightmare Moon both fell to the invisible floor, and as Chrono began a quick detection spell for any vitals, he realized she had siphoned the life out of both herself and Nightmare Moon simultaneously, ultimately killing them both.
He took a step forward, crouching down on all fours beside Entropy, watching as Nightmare Moon's mane and tail subverted to a mundane flowing mane and tail. "I still have a debt to repay you Entropy. I guess now's the only time I can."

The surroundings broadened briefly before shaping to the throne room once again, where princess Celestia stood watching somberly out through a window. Entropy lay there, beside Nightmare Moon. At a glance, Chrono could tell it was evening out. Celestia turned her head to see him and the others, looking slightly surprised by their holding of the elements. Chrono however, focused solely on Entropy. One spell put her in a temporal stasis field. Another manipulated the timespace of the field itself back through to before she had sacrificed herself. A third released her, and she fell a short inch or two to the floor, looking mildly confused.
"What happened?" She asked, looking from Chrono to Celestia.
"Do you remember when we first met?" Chrono asked her.
Entropy nodded.
"Consider this a token of thanks, and a debt repaid."
He moved to the window beside Celestia, not daring to speak a word more concerning the situation. Looking up to the night sky, he noticed a vaguely familiar face embedded in its surface, which now shone red.
"What about Violet? Where are Twilight and the others?" Aero asked.
Celestia turned after several moments. "Violet has been taken into custody. Twilight Sparkle and her friends are all in Ponyville. Thank you all for what you have done."
"O-of course." Chrono stammered.
Entropy slowly began to walk out through the doorway, motioning for Chrono to follow.

"What should I do now, Chrono? I don't have much of anywhere to go, now that my business is finished."
"You're asking me for advice? I'm only a single unicorn. You've got more than I could even dream of at your disposal, why in all Equestria would you be lacking for something to do?"
"It's not that I lack anything to do, Chrono. It's that I don't know what to do, and more to the point... how to do it."
"...Make some friends, Entropy. I know it's not easy recognizing everypony's flaws despite them not even showing it, but there's nopony in Equestria better at fixing a flaw than somepony who can see it. You might be surprised how appreciated you might actually be once everyone gets over their shame."
"You think so?"
"You remember the discussion we had between when I died and when you resurrected me?"
"As if it were yesterday."
"I know your flaws too, Entropy. I know what makes your life difficult, and while I don't know them for my own experience I can help in that aspect. I'm trying to do that now."
"But then where would I start? The odds of somepony casually taking friendship from a known villain alicorn are-"
"I can clear your name. Just, leave that to me."
"You'd do that?"
"For a friend."
"And your life?"
"No, that I've repaid. I'll clear your name, but I'd like to be able to see you as a friend now. Does that sound fair?"
"...I suppose so. You have a deal, Chrono Spark."