“So now what?” Rainbow Dash peered at the barn from her hiding spot behind a pile of empty apple crates, some distance away. In the darkness, she could just barely make out the figures of Twilight and Lyra within. “Looks like they're just ... talking.”
“That's the point.” Sunset Shimmer gently pulled Rainbow back into the deeper shadows, where the rest of the impromptu LARP group was hiding. They'd showed up at Sweet Apple Acres early, so as to get everything set up before Twilight even arrived. “Lyra knows the game a lot better than any of us, not to mention she knows Twilight's character, so she's taking care of the exposition.”
“So what do we do?” Rainbow Dash said.
“Us? Well, we're just here to be spooky.” Sunset grinned, and opened up her backpack, pulling out a bundle of black cloth. “Great job on the creepy ghost costumes, Rarity. Especially on such short notice.”
“What, these?” Rarity gave a runway-worthy twirl to show off her own ragged cloak. “They were nothing, dear. The day I can't bang out a couple of creepy robes in an afternoon is the day I hang up my sewing needles. I just wish I'd had the time to finish the embroidery, but I am but only one woman.”
“Hold up.” Applejack said. “Why would creepy ghost monsters need embroidering?”
“For the authenticity!” Rarity said. “Anyone could just cut off a yard or two of fabric and call it a cape-- but wouldn't it be so much more impressive to sew actual burial shrouds? Why, if I'd known sooner, I could have even buried them in the backyard for just a bit of genuine rot. Decomposed-chic, I'd call it. But, even without that, I guarantee that we'll look properly villainous.”
“Villainous?” Fluttershy squeaked. “Oh, are we the bad guys?”
“I mean, yeah?” Rainbow Dash said. “Why else do you think Rarity made the spooky monster outfits?"
“Do we ... do we have to be the bad guys?” Fluttershy said. “What if we're ghosts that just like to hug people?”
“We could be ghosts that like to hug people so we can eat their souls!” Rainbow Dash said.
“Or we could hug people just 'cause it feels nice?”
“No hugging!” Sunset Shimmer snapped, then sighed. She rubbed at the bridge of her nose. “At least ... no in-character hugging, okay? Tonight, we have to be weird time ghost monsters. For Twilight.”
“But we can hug her after, right? To say sorry for being scary?”
“Sure.” Sunset Shimmer smiled. “But for now, we're just the bad guys.”
“So do we charge in there and get 'em, or what?” Rainbow Dash said.
“Not yet.” Sunset Shimmer shook her head. “Lyra said we won't be able to go in.”
“Why not?” Rainbow Dash said.
“I'm ... not actually sure. Something about the game rules, I guess?”
“There's at least half a dozen Clock-Wraiths in the immediate vicinity. Maybe more.” Lieutenant March pulled a metal sphere a little smaller than a baseball out of one of the pouches on her bandolier. She twisted the top half of the metal ball, and LED lights around its equator began to blink. A faint buzz washed over Tara Sterling's skin as the invisible force field took effect. “That should hold them off-- for now, at least.”
“I don't understand-- what are Clock-Wraiths doing here?” Tara said. “I'm in my own timeline, without any anachronistic technology or information-- my Flux level should be low enough that they shouldn't be able to even see me, much less manifest.”
“Normally, you'd be right. But the predictors have detected a Paradox Point--”
Tara gasped and held a hand up to her mouth. “But ... protocol says you send a whole Temporal Response Team to handle one of those.”
“Unfortunately, the council didn't have a whole team handy. So it comes down to us.”
“How bad is it?”
“Very.”
“Can we go in and kill them yet?” Rainbow Dash said.
“W-what?” Fluttershy said, aghast.
“Oh, sorry. Can we go in and kill their characters yet?”
“We're not going to kill anybody, in or out of character.” Sunset Shimmer sighed. “We're ... like, we're more of a challenge than an opponent. Like the NPC's in a video game. Like, Lyra and Twilight are playing co-op, and we're everything else.”
“Weird.” Rainbow Dash shrugged.
“Besides, Rainbow--” Rarity chimed in, “The whole point of the game, as I understand it, isn't the outright confrontation, but rather, the drama of it all. Right now, Lyra and Twilight are acting their hearts out in no doubt a grand and emotional scene. Pity there's no audience for it.” Rarity heaved a sigh. “If I wasn't such a good friend, I'd be almost jealous. I can only imagine how grand it would be for the Contessa de St. Germain to finally confess her feelings to a certain Miss Oakley.”
“Hold up.” Applejack looked up from where she'd been dozing at the foot of an apple tree. “Ain't Carrie Oakley my character? And now all of a sudden you're confessin' at her?”
“Well, yes.” Rarity said. “And the Contessa de St. Germain had something of an unrequited longing for her, despite such a scandal that would arise from a lady of her standing dallying with someone so ... common.”
“But you only played her the one time at that big game-schindig, and y'all never mentioned it.”
“It didn't come up.” Rarity shrugged. “But it's all in her backstory. I got a bit bored one evening and I wrote a couple pages on a lark.”
“... you sure you haven't done this before?” Applejack said.
“That's nothing.” Sunset Shimmer said. “One time Twilight showed me her in-character journals for the game, and ... well, there's a lot of them. Which just shows how important this ChronoQuest thing is to her. We're just lucky Lyra was able to help. She did most of the work.”
“But ... didn't Twilight kill Lyra--” Rainbow Dash looked over at Fluttershy. “I mean, didn't she kill her character last time? Or, uh, Twilight's character killed Lyra's character-- you get the idea.”
“She did, yeah.” Sunset shrugged. “But Lyra said she'd handle that part, too.”
Lieutenant March put the forcefield projector on a hay bale. “Hell of a first mission, but desperate times, am I right?”
“I'm your first?” Tara sputtered. “Your first, uh, mission, that is.”
“My first solo one.” Lieutenant March scratched the back of her neck, suddenly self-conscious. “But, they tell me you've been around the block before, so that helps, right?”
“That's what I said to you the first time we--” Tara cut herself off.
“I'm new, but I still know that look. I've been getting it a lot.” Lieutenant March pushed her goggles up on her forehead so she could look Tara in the eye. “We've met before, haven't we?”
“Before for me, yes-- but not for you, Jen-- Lieutenant.”
“Time travel, am I right?” The lieutenant laughed. “That's probably why the Council sent me-- they know I'll make it out intact.”
“But if you do die, the ensuing temporal paradox would be catastrophic.”
“Guess I'll just have to stay alive then, huh?” Lieutenant March grinned.
“You would say that.”
“Okay.” Sunset Shimmer's phone glowed in the darkness as she checked the time. “I think that should be enough time for Lyra to explain everything. Now we're onto phase two.” She pulled up the hood of her Clock-Wraith robe. “We can't enter the barn yet, but we can kinda lurk around and be scary.”
“But not that scary, right?” Fluttershy said at a little tremble.
“Don't worry, Fluttershy. I'll be scary enough for the both of us.” Rainbow Dash wrapped her ragged cloak around herself.
“The goal is to keep them holed up in there for some kind of heroic last stand thing. Everybody should know where to go, and--” Sunset Shimmer trailed off, looking around at the little gathering of cloaked creatures. “Wait a minute, where's Pinkie Pie?"
From the barn, screams.
“Clock Wraith!” Tara Sterling scrambled to put herself between the sapient time-anomaly and Lieutenant March.
“Now?” The young officer blurted. “The time wall should have held a little longer--”
The Clock-Wraith paused in its tracks, suddenly hesitant.
“Stop staring, and run!” Tara grabbed Lieutenant March by the arm and pulled her out of the barn and into the darkness beyond.
“There they go!” Rainbow Dash pointed to the fleeing pair. “Let's get 'em!”
“What?” Sunset Shimmer said. “They were supposed to stay in the barn!”
“Aw hell.” Applejack said. “Damn fool thing, runnin' round in the dark like that. They don't know where they're goin'!”
Sunset Shimmer snapped her fingers. “But you do, Applejack! You've got homefield advantage! Take Fluttershy and Rarity and circle around in front of them, while me, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie will tail them and make sure that nobody gets hurt-- and maybe even keep Twilight's game going. I mean ... what's a little improvisation, right? It's only just Twilight's favorite thing, like, ever.”
“Uh, Sunset?” Rainbow Dash said. “They're getting away.”
“Oh! Right.”
“More of them!” Tara Sterling looked over her shoulder and picked out two-- then three Clock-Wraiths melting out of the darkness. “We've got to move!”
“Where are we going?” Lieutenant March's battle gear jostled as she got tugged along, deeper into the dark forest.
“Away from them.” Tara hissed, then ducked behind a large apple tree. She pulled Lieutenant March along with her to take refuge in the shadow of the thick tree trunk. The two huddled intimately close-- or what would have been intimate, if it wasn't for the abundance of tactical gear strapped across the Lieutenant's body. The ensuing embrace could best be described as 'lumpy.'
“Oh. Uh. Sorry.” Tara murmured, her bright blush visible even in the dim light. “I got a little carried away there.”
“It's alright.” Lieutenant March leaned back a bit to peer around the tree trunk. “I think we've lost them.”
“For now.” Tara stepped back from the Lieutenant. “But maybe this will give us a chance.”
“A chance to what?”
“To do what you came here for-- to find the Paradox Point, and stop it.”
“How? There's only two of us.”
“Right.” Tara Sterling grinned. “Which means we've got double the number of time-agents we need. Now c'mon, we've got work to do.”
And again, Tara Sterling prowled off into the darkness, Lieutenant March following close behind. They made it about ten yards before they hit the creek. Tara slipped first, her sneakers slipping on a pile of dead leaves rendered invisible by the darkness. She made a wordless cry of dismay, and Lieutenant March lunged for her-- only to slip herself. The two clung to each other as they careened down the hill in a tangle of limbs and tactical equipment. They hit the bottom of the creek in a splash of cold, muddy water.
“Shit-- are you alright?” Lyra said. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to--”
“I've had worse.” Tara Sterling pushed the Lieutenant off of her chest, then shakily got to her feet. She sucked in a quick breath as she put her weight on her left foot. “We need to move. Now. The Clock-Wraiths must have heard us and--” She trailed off as she saw a hooded figure materialize at the top of the incline they'd just fallen down. Two more appeared beside it.
Tara turned to limp towards the other side of the creek, only for another trio of Clock-Wraiths to appear on the opposite side, surrounding her.
“So this is it, then.” Tara Sterling said.
Lieutenant March reached for a weapon. “We can still make a break for it--”
“You can.” Tara said through gritted teeth. “I think I sprained my ankle. I'll just slow you down.”
“But I--”
“It's the only way. I'll hold them off. That should give you enough time to get to a safe distance and activate your Recall Mechanism--”
“They'll tear you apart!”
“I know.” Tara pulled in a deep breath. “But it means you'll live.”
“You don't have to do this--”
“Captain.” Tara took off her glasses and slid them into the front pocket of her hoodie. “Er-- I mean, Lieutenant-- Jennifer. Listen to me, because this is very, very important. In the future-- your future –you're going to make some very bad decisions for some very good reasons. And because of those decisions ... I'm going to kill you. Unless you do something different.”
“You can't--”
Tara held a single finger to her companion's lips. “I know exactly what I'm doing-- the very thing that I once said I'd never do. I'm altering the timestream, to make it better. To make YOU better, Jennifer. Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Don't you see?” Tears welled up in the corner of Tara's eyes. “It's because I love you. Or, well, I will love you. When you meet me again. Time travel, am I right? I just hope that things are better the second time around.”
“The second time--” Lieutenant March wiped creek-mud off of her cheek. “You don't mean.”
“That's right, Jennifer. I'm going to alter the timestream. A complete reboot of this particular timeline, and damn the consequences. And the best part is? I already know it'll work.”
“You mean--”
“That's right. I'm the reason all this is happening. I am the Paradox Point.”
Above, Rainbow Dash tugged on the billowing sleeve of Sunset Shimmer's cloak and leaned in for a quick murmur. “What's even happening right now?”
Sunset Shimmer just stared. “I have no idea.”
In the creek below, Twilight and Lyra shared a quick, teary (and somewhat lumpy) hug. They lingered together, close, before Twilight pushed Lyra away. Lyra nodded, then took off at a run down the creek, boots splashing through the ankle-deep water.
Twilight smiled wanly as she watched her go. Finally, she shook her head, took a deep breath, and turned to face her hooded (and bewildered) friends.
“Alright, let's do this!” Twilight whipped a folded piece of paper out of her pocket and brandished it like a weapon. “What's your initiative score?”