Chapter 12
In a time of ancient gods, warlords and kings, a land in turmoil cried out for a hero. So did Conrad as Time Turner relayed the information to him that Lyra, Bonbon, Twilight and Pinkie were all coming after him at the same time.
"Now just calm down," said Turner, "I'm going to keep you hidden while Big Mac and Applejack try to get them to leave."
"How are you going to get me past them?!" Conrad cried.
"Simple," Turner said confidently, "We wait until the last second, and then we sneak out. Now, no matter what happens, when I tell you to run, you run, and where I tell you to go, you go there. Understood?"
Conrad nodded quickly.
"Good." Turner peeked out the barn door and saw Applejack and Big Macintosh moving to greet the four mares coming down the road. "Alright, now when I give the signal, we'll have a minute to get past them, and not a second more!"
"OK, what's the signal?"
"Hold my mane," Turner explained, "and when you hear my hoof stomp, run towards the gate and follow me back to my house."
"You mean towards the crazy mares?!" Conrad took a step back.
"Yes, but don't worry," said Turner, "Remember, I can control time? What could possibly go wrong?"
"Alright, Applejack. Where is he?" Twilight asked.
"Where is who?" Applejack replied.
"The alien!" Twilight snapped.
"My Concon!" Lyra whined.
"NEW PONY!" Pinkie screamed.
AJ and Mac exchanged an awkward glance.
"Again, who?"
"You know who we mean, AJ! Don't lie to us!" Twilight growled.
"My Conny needs me!" Lyra whimpered.
"You can't hide him forever!" the purple unicorn added.
"And y'all can't just come bargin' onto mah property demandin' things from us!" Applejack shouted, "If Ah got somethin' y'all want, ya shoulda asked civil like first. Now Ah have ta ask y'all to leave before Ah get real unpolite."
"You have no right to interfere with true love!" Lyra yelled back.
Pinkie felt her ear swivel, then her back began to itch. She hmmed and stuck her hind leg out ever so slightly, then grinned. She muttered to herself, "I'm sure the new pony will be along riiiight about now."
"Alright," said Turner, "Grab on."
Conrad grabbed Turner's mane. "Like this?"
Turner nodded, then raised his hoof. "Wait until they're totally focused on AJ. Aaaand..."
Clop.
At the sound of the hoof, Conrad bolted forward out of the barn and ran for the gate. Everything around him was frozen solid like someone had pressed the pause button on the world.
Turner was galloping ahead and stopped at the gate. He turned around and watched Conrad running towards him. "You're almost there! Thirty seconds left!"
Conrad panted, totally out of shape and lacked the adrenaline from the other day. As he passed Pinkie Pie, his foot caught on her hoof, and he flew forward and landed face down in the dirt with a loud grunt.
Turner facehoofed. "Princesses deliver us. Fifteen seconds! Get up!"
Conrad scrambled to his feet, but winced. "My ankle hurts!" He hobbled towards Turner and saw the world suddenly start moving again, a bird just above him going shooting off like a bullet.
Pinkie Pie gasped. "I found him! I found him! I found him!"
Conrad looked behind himself and saw the unicorns staring slack-jawed, while the Apples facehoofed. Pinkie was bouncing in place, pointing excitedly.
"Plan B!" Turner shouted.
"Plan B-EEP!" Conrad was scooped up and dropped on Big Mac's back. He instinctively grabbed onto the stallion's neck and pressed himself into his mane, clinging as tight as he could.
Big Macintos stormed into the orchard, putting a great deal of distance between himself and the startled mares.
Pinkie was now on Mac's back, holding onto Conrad. "I just wanted to say welcome to Ponyville!"
Cknrad screamed, and Mac jumped, hitting Pinkie against a branch and knocking her off. Seconds later, she was happily bounding beside them as though nothing had happened.
"Why don't you wanna come to your welcome party?!"
Mac shoved her aside and crashed her into a tree that exploded into a cloud of apples, leaves and confetti on impact.
Applejack, Lyra and Twilight joined the chase. AJ tried to knock the other mares aside. Turner came up beside Mac and told Conrad to switch mounts. Now Pinkie was on Applejack's back, swatting at Lyra.
"What's the real reason you don't wanna come to your welcome party?!"
The group came out of the orchard and raced through the streets of Ponyville.
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight called, "Catch that human!"
Conrad looked up and saw the rainbow pegasus that destroyed Applejack's old barn. "Oh my god! TURNER! FASTER!"
"In case you haven't noticed, I'm not an athlete!" Turner shot back, and side rammed Lyra before she could charge her horn. He recovered enough energy to freeze time for a few seconds and dodge Rainbow's dive, causing her to lose control and crash into the ground. He ground to a halt and turned abruptly while Applejack and Big Macintosh fought the others down the street.
"Wait, isn't your house that way?" Conrad asked.
"One of them is bound to wait for us there!" Turner said, "I have a safe place we can fall back too for the time being."
The human groaned. "I have a very bad feeling about this."
Spike and Bonbon watched their friends run off into the orchard, staring silently as the storm of hoof falls eventually faded into silence.
The purple baby dragon idly traced a circle in the dirt with his hoof while the earth mare sniffed and flicked her eyes back and forth.
"Uh, so..." said Spike, rubbing the back of his head, "Think we should wait here?"
Bonbon sighed and hung her head down. "I don't know. I wish I knew what was going on."
"Yeah," Spike exhaled, "Me too."