//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Separation // Story: Dueling is Magic! A Rip in Time // by Wolfgang //------------------------------// Dueling is Magic! A Rip in Time Chapter 5: Separation *********************\ The temporal distortions continue to spread throughout Equestria, stranding Twilight and her friends throughout time. Yusei has disappeared after pursuing Paradox through a time warp, Twilight and the others have no access to the Elements of Harmony, and even Discord appears to be powerless! All hope seems lost when Twilight and Spike encounter the enigmatic Star Swirl the Bearded... *********************\ Author’s Note: Yeah, this is gonna be MUCH bigger than I originally intended, and truth be told, the task is becoming more daunting by the letter. But I’ve already started the story and I have every intention of finishing it. So don’t worry, my friends. You give me support and I’ll give you an epic tale! And probably a chronic hatred of time travel. /*********************\ Twilight had been pacing back and forth for a good five minutes. “Sugar cube,” said Applejack, “you’re gonna wear a hole in the floor if’n ya keep doin’ that.” “I’m trying to figure out what we should do,” Twilight said without stopping. “Pacing helps me think.” “Twilight, my dear, I know far more about temporal phenomena than you do, I’m a being of pure chaos, and I’ve had far more time to think than you ever will,” said Discord, “and I don’t know what to do to fix this.” “Wait... time travel!” said Twilight. “What if we simply stopped this from happening? If we found Paradox and stopped him from doing whatever caused this, would that fix it?” “You risk creating a paradox,” said Discord. “Only one of two things could happen in that case: Either the future is rewritten to accommodate the changes of the past, or time itself breaks down and is ultimately destroyed.” “But that’s happening right now!” said Spike. “Spike’s right,” said Twilight. “It can’t hurt to try any more than what’s going on outside.” “Then what are we waiting for?” said Rainbow Dash. “Let’s go find this Paradox guy!” “Wait,” said Fluttershy. “Yusei said that this man is dangerous. And besides, don’t you think we should try to find Yusei first?” “We’ll look for them both,” said Twilight. “If we find Yusei first, then we’ll stick together and find Paradox. If we find Paradox first, we’ll just have to deal with him as best we can.” “And just how do you plan to fight him?” asked Discord. “You don’t have the Elements and I cannot bring them here. In fact, using my power for anything might only make things worse.” “Only if you use teleportation or do something time-related, right?” Twilight replied. “As time breaks down, space goes with it. The two are intertwined; one cannot exist without the other. Space cannot exist without time to define its existence; time cannot exist without space to progress through it. Things getting worse is hardly an excuse to do anything at all.” “For the spirit of chaos, you sure know an awful lot about how things are supposed to work,” said Pinkie Pie. “Of course,” said Discord. “One cannot create chaos without understanding order.” “We’re wasting time,” said Twilight. She levitated Spike into the air and set him down on her back. “We need to go. Now.” “I suppose you’re right,” Discord sighed. “We can’t stay here forever.” Twilight nodded and opened the door. Together, they walked into rift. ***** Yusei stopped. He’d been riding for over an hour and still no sign of Paradox. He’d taken care not to be seen by anypony, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. The further he rode, the more ponies he saw. “It’s almost as though things keep... changing...” Yusei looked around. He spotted a city in the distance. Tall buildings formed the outline, but even taller structures were being built near the center. “I’m in a different era,” said Yusei. “This is not good.” “For you, perhaps,” came a voice. Yusei looked behind him. “Paradox!” he said. “So you know my name,” said the masked man. “What else do you know?” “That you have to be stopped!” said Yusei. “You cannot stop my latest experiment, Yusei Fudo,” said Paradox. “You do not even know where to begin, much less the purpose of my actions.” “That doesn’t matter, Paradox,” said Yusei. “You’re here, so I’ll stop you here!” “How can you stop me when you cannot catch me?” Paradox laughed. His D-Wheel suddenly sped away and vanished in a flash of light. “Paradox!” cried Yusei as he revved his engine and sped off in the same direction. ***** “Where are we?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Not where, Rainbow Dash,” said Twilight. “‘When.’ But I don’t know when we are because everything looks about the same. Discord, any ideas?” “None yet,” said Discord. “I’m thinkin’ ‘where’ is a pretty good question,” said Applejack. “‘Cause I don’t think we’re in Ponyville anymore.” “Applejack’s right,” said Fluttershy. “It looks like we’re in Manehattan.” “You’re right!” said Rarity. “I recognize that cafe! But everything looks...” “Like it’s still being built?” offered Pinkie. “Yeah, you’re right!” said Spike. “We must be on the outskirts of early Manehattan,” said Twilight. “Do you think Yusei’s here?” asked Fluttershy. “Yep,” said Applejack. “What makes you so sure?” asked Discord. Applejack pointed a hoof out. Everypony looked where she was pointing. Yusei’s D-Wheel was speeding toward them, a cloud of dust rising in the distance behind him. “Yusei!” cried several of the ponies as they dashed toward him. Discord’s eyes widened and he dashed forward. “Wait!” he shouted, but it was too late. Each pony disappeared before him. He looked up. Yusei was gone as well. “Just great,” said the draconequus. “Now I have to find them! Just fantastic.” He started walking, grumbling the whole time. ***** Applejack stopped and looked around. She was standing on a thin outcropping in the mountains. “Uh... girls?” she said. Nopony answered. “Uh-oh.” “You look lost,” said a deep voice behind her. Applejack gulped and turned around. A huge, purple dragon loomed over her. “I, uh... yeah, a little,” she said. “But, uh, I’ll just go back the way I came and leave you alo-” “Applejack?” said the dragon. ***** Rarity groaned as she walked. “I just HAD to end up in a rainstorm, didn’t I?” she grumbled. She flicked her now dripping mane out of her face. Rain fell in sheets all around her, obscuring her vision. “I’ll have to find shelter then.” Her horn lit up as she began to shine the way ahead of her. Several minutes passed with no shelter in sight, not even so much as a tree. Cold water ran down Rarity’s nose. She sneezed. “And now I’m catching a cold,” she said. “Just wonderful. Oh? What’s that?” Something glimmered in the distance. Rarity started walking toward it. ***** Pinkie Pie bounced along. The sun was shining, the grass was the most green it had ever been, and she and the girls were going to be reunited with Yusei. “Then we can stop that meanie-pants Paradox guy from doing... whatever he’s doing!” she announced proudly. “Right, girls? ....girls?” Pinkie stopped bouncing and looked around. Her friends were gone. “Oh no,” she said. “It must have been one of those time bubble things!” “What are you talking about?” came a voice behind her. Pinkie gasped and jumped into the air, spinning around as she did. She landed flat on her belly with an “Oompf!” “Are you okay?” asked the pony standing over her. Pinkie slowly stood up. “Yeah, I’m okay,” she said. She looked at the pony. She was a light brown with white marks on her chest and nose. And she was wearing a hat that resembled a large pudding cake. ***** “Twilight!” called Rainbow Dash. “Fluttershy! Pinkie! Anypony!” She flew in every direction she could think of as she searched for her friends, but she found nothing. There was nothing but dirt and rocks. “Hello?” she shouted. “Somepony answer me!” Rainbow Dash landed. “Okay, so I’m all alone and there’s no telling if anypony is anywhere. I’m lost in time, and I’m probably lost in this wasteland. Okay, think... if I can’t find anypony, maybe somepony can find me. But how?” She sat and racked her brain for ideas. Then it hit her. “Of course!” she said before shooting into the sky. “The one thing I can do that gets me all the attention I could ever want!” Moments later, a rainbow shock wave spread out across the land. Rainbow Dash flew in wide circles for several minutes before landing. “And now we play the waiting game,” she said with a proud smile. But her smile faded when she realized what she just said. “Ugh. I hate waiting for stuff to happen...” Rainbow Dash landed and started pacing back and forth. She sat. She drew in the dirt. She paced again. She flew in circles. She screamed at the boredom. She landed again, panting. A shadow appeared over her. She looked up. “Oh no,” she said. ***** “Yusei!” Fluttershy called. She hovered in the air and waved a hoof above her head. Yusei saw her and began to slow down, rolling to a stop just in front of her. “Fluttershy!” he said as he removed his helmet. “I’m glad you’re okay. Sorry for running off earlier.” “That’s okay,” said Fluttershy. “Did you find Paradox?” “Yeah, but he ran off and I lost him,” Yusei answered. “Hey, where’s everyone else?” “What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked. “They’re right he- um... girls? Where did you go?” “Oh this is not good,” said Yusei. “Girls! Where’d you go?” Fluttershy called. “Oh no! What if something happened to them?” “Calm down, Fluttershy,” said Yusei. “You probably just got separated in a time rift. I’m sure they’re fine.” “But what if they got separated from each other too?” said Fluttershy. “With everything that’s happening, I don’t know how they’ll-” “They’ll be fine, Fluttershy,” said Yusei. “Your friends can take care of themselves.” “That is where you are wrong, Yusei,” came a familiar voice. Yusei and Fluttershy turned to see Paradox. The bottom half of his mask had broken off and he grinned wickedly at them. “Five of the six Bearers of Harmony have been dealt with. All that is left is to destroy the Element of Kindness! Go, Malefic Stardust Dragon!” ***** “I don’t think we’re gonna find them, Twilight,” said Spike. “We have to find them, Spike!” Twilight replied. “These temporal distortions are spreading and getting worse. If we don’t find them soon, who knows what might happen!” “But Twilight, look around!” said Spike. “There’s nopony here!” “That’s not entirely true,” came a voice behind them. “I am here, as are the two of you.” Twilight turned around. Her jaw dropped. “You know,” said the bearded pony, “you very much resemble my apprentice Clover.” ***** Dark storms loomed over the land. Princess Celestia flew as fast as she could, dodging any distortions she saw, but the more she tried to avoid them, the further out of her way she went. “At this rate, I’ll pass through Trottingham before I even get close to Ponyville!” she muttered with frustration as she dove under another rift. She glanced up and saw that it stretched onward, snaking its way above her path before spiralling down in front of her again. Lightning flashed above her, striking the distortion. The electricity danced along the outside and vanished. Then thick tendrils began branching off from the main body of the rift, twisting through the air in every direction. “This is not good,” said Celestia. She began to beat her wings faster. She swerved and dove and spun trying to avoid every tendril that snaked its way near her. One dropped in front of her and a large stone flew out of it, striking her wing. She lost the bag which held the Elements of Harmony, and she herself began to fall. TO BE CONTINUED