My Little Pony: Lands of Time, Chapter one: New Land, New Times

Written by LOLSTERDarkmoon, with the help of Master of chaos and evil: Spell Bound, Proof-reader: Bookworm, and The love doctor: Flutterpie-Sparkle

It was a lazy Sunday morning, the sun rising from a power on the other side of the world. I got up slowly, my back aching from sleeping on the couch. My new apartment had a lot of work to be done and with the amount of boxes sitting around; it was going to take a while to get through anything.

I looked at the photograph sitting on the coffee table, a smiling young cornflower blue colt hanging off his Dad. I sighed at the memories, but with Dad dead and university starting soon I had to put those memories behind me and look to the future.

Getting off the couch I made my way through the maze of boxes and packaging to the kitchen. I chucked on the kettle and let my gaze drift towards the new view I had yet to get used to.

My apartment was on one side of a vast valley, the whole thing built into a great city. There were glass buildings climbing into the sky with signs for all sorts of goods climbing like vines up the 3D rectangles. This was Hour Valley, the legendary capital of Dayflow.

“Dream, the kettles finished,” came an impatient voice from the lounge. A few flaps later and the holder of the voice came to sit on the bench next to me. “You still miss him, don’t you?” This time her voice sounded concerned, even for a Phoenix she knew how pony emotions work.

“I just can’t believe after all the time I had spent with him, he would just be... gone.” My feathered friend laid a wing on my shoulder.

I grabbed a couple of cups from the cupboard and dropped a few tea bags in each one, some hot water and milk later and we were sipping on our tea in silence. There had been a lot of that since we came here.

I sighed, knowing we couldn’t stare into space all day. “Alright Flame, let’s get to unpacking the bedrooms. I don’t think my back could last another night on the couch.”

She nodded in agreement. “Good thing too, whenever you sleep funny you snore!” We both chuckled, enjoying some normal time. We emptied our cups, thankful for the heat and liquid to water our mouths and warm our bodies.

We weaved back through the kitchen, around the edge of the crowded lounge, and into the master bedroom. All the furniture thankfully already in place thanks to the moving ponies. “Can you handle the books? I’ll get the clothes and sheets,” I said, ready to start and get this over with. We went to our positions and started our jobs.

I folded all our formal clothes away into the little drawer before moving to the bigger boxes holding the sheets. Opening them I was met with a foul smell. “Oh crap. We didn’t wash them before packing. Great, looks like another night sleeping on the couch,” I glumly stated. Flame either ignored me or was lost in her own thoughts.

Picking up the box I made my way to the front door, downstairs was where the wash house was. The box balanced on my back I jumped down the center of the stairs, using my wings to break my fall. A quick trot downs the hall and I found the washing machines. I picked one at random and started to fill it up with the manky sheets.

“I wouldn’t use that one if I were you. It floods quite often,” said a voice behind me. I hadn’t even noticed the big yellow unicorn stallion sitting in the corner with a newspaper. “I take it you're new to the flats? Well I’ll be the first to welcome you. I’m String Lyrics, room 23.” He stood from his seat and extended a hoof.

“Umm, thanks. My name’s Dream Blizzard. Room... 26 I think? I only just moved in last night.” I shook his hoof and gave a friendly smile which was returned. “Oh, and thanks for the warning about the washing machine.” I returned to the said machine and pulled out the sheets and moving them to the next one.

He went to another machine on the other wall. “It is no problem. It’s always important to help others in case you need help’ said by the great poet Starswirl the Bearded!” He puffed his chest out at those words of famous unicorn.

“I take it you are interested in arts then, and wasn't Starswirl the Bearded a magician?” I prodded.

“Why, he was many things. Including being my Great, Great, Great Grandfather! And yes, I very much enjoy the arts, the art of words above everything else!” He was a very proud stallion with kind down eyes. Bet he was a hit with the mares. “Well I suppose I should be off. It was a pleasure meeting you my dear Dream Blizzard. Till next we meet.” He said with a bow before lifting his laundry with magic and leaving down the hall.

“Stop this Spell Bound! The chaos has corrupted you! Please fight it!” Begged Princess Celestia from the ground, nearly beaten.

“Why would I do that? I am the son of Discord! I am the rightful ruler of this kingdom and all others! And why should i listen to you ‘Mother’? You lied to me. Surrender or your precious elements die.” Spell bound turned to the elements of harmony all fallen on the floor, badly injured. “And how could you betray me, my friends. Even my dear Apple Jack?”

He grabbed said A.J by the hair, bringing her up to his face, the brave mare only barely conscious. While his back was turned, Celestia slowly got back on her hooves.

“Please....Spelly, stop this. Ah never betrayed ya’ll,” A.J pleaded, hoping some part of the pony she loved was still in this draconequus form.

“You all betrayed me. All lied to me. All secrets and lies with you. I shall have my vengeance, I shall have Retribution, and so I shall be called.”

Celestia felt rage from the pure hatred he had shown to her and her subjects. She called for the power of the sun and magic to flow through her. “You may attack me, boy, defeat me and mock me; but you do not. Do not, threaten my friends!” her horn glowing with everything she had left, Celestia unleashed a beam of pure magic right at the shocked once-was-unicorn.

Light engulfed him and he could feel his grip on the marble floor failing. Without him knowing a portal opened behind him, sucking him toward a land unknown. “No! Impossible, you don’t have the elements! You shall not banish me, I will return! With an army at my side and the power to crush this puny kingdom! I will have my retribution!” At that moment he was whisked away, to a certain valley on the other side of the world.

“I’m sorry Spell Bound. But I can’t let you threaten this kingdom, no matter the fact that I raised you.” Celestia slowly got to her hooves, calling for guards to help with the injured.

Watching from behind a doorway, a shocked Princess of love watched. The only thing she could call a brother attacked her aunt and was sent far away, she couldn’t leave him like this. She would find him and bring him back from the corrupt power of chaos magic. She ran to her room, grabbing the materials she needed and set up the spell. With a powerful burst of magic, she called a portal to a spot close where her once best friend was.

She left a hasty note, leaving it on her bed. A cloak draped over her, she faced the magic doorway and with a brave breath, stepped through.

Flame and I were just sitting on the couch when the shock wave hit. It was like a power I had had never felt before but somehow felt familiar. The whole block shook from the force of the blast, knocking over stacked boxes and tall cabinets. The photo of me and my dad fell from the coffee table and smashed on the ground.

“What was that, was it an earthquake?” I heard shouting from out in the hall, multiple voices getting louder; soon the hallways were full of shouts and screams.

I stepped into the hallway myself to discover that, only the panic from the blast had caused the screaming. As relieved as I were to know no pony was hurt, the yelling was getting out of hand, but it would take a dragon to silence this lot.

“Be quiet! This is no time to be panicking! Everypony head through the exits and onto the front lawn! Move!” My ears throbbed from the assault on my ear drums. All the ponies in the hallway were now silent and making their way towards the exits. I turned to find String Lyrics looking quite proud. “Ahh, hello there Dream! Nice to see you again, shall we head outside to safety?”

I simply nodded, my ears still ringing. I poked my head back inside the apartment to find Flame still not moving since the shock wave. “Hey! We need to leave. Grab the keys and hurry up!” She shook her head, bringing herself back to her senses.

“Err, right. Get the keys.” Picking up the set of keys on the coffee table, she flew onto my back. I locked the door and turned back to String to find him smiling intensely.

“Well I never! A Phoenix, a talking one at that! My friend, you have quite a pet.” He studied Flame a bit closer before getting a donk on the snout from the annoyed bird.

“I like my space thank you very much, and I am no pet! How could you even think that?” She gave me an appalled look. “You know this guy?”

“I, ah, well I meet him while doing the laundry and-” I was interrupted by a crimson mare with glasses.

“Pardon me, but shouldn’t you lot be moving out of the building? That IS the drill of course. Did you even read the pamphlet left in every apartment? It stated that the most important thing to do in an earthquake was to leave with no dilly-dally! So move it!” She picked us up with her unicorn magic and dragged us towards the nearest exit.

“I can’t believe ponies these days, would just stand around and not do what they were told! Is it not that simple! If only-” Her ramblings continued under her breath as we were levitated the rest of the way.

The crowd on the pavement outside was bigger than expected, with about a hundred ponies all standing around asking questions. I was trying to see what had caused all this when I was dropped on the ground. “Ow, what was that for?” The mare shot me a look. I looked down at my hooves.

“That’s what you get for mucking around and not leaving immediately! Who knows what might've happened if you had stayed and the place collapsed! What is your name anyway? Since I saved you I think I deserve to know!” She stamped her hoof on the ground, getting a flinch from me.

“Ahh, I’m Dream Blizzard, this is Flame and String Lyrics," I said quickly, "So, umm, who are you?” She pulled out a notebook and took some notes. After slipping it away, she looked back at us.

“My name is Clean Beam. I am a class-A student from the Hourglass university! I currently have graduated from three high schools and won about 153 awards for different feats of science and magic across Dayflow! And I suppose you have no idea who I am, hmm?”

She said all that with a single breath and didn’t even look tired afterward. I guessed she did speeches often. “No, we don’t know who you are, nor do I think we should care,” Flame replied with her snazzy attitude. Clean Beam looked quite shocked that such a reply came from a bird.

Luckily String came between the two as they tried glaring each other into submission. “Hey everypony, let’s just calm down here; we need to figure out what to do and what is causing all this. So that’s enough for now, OK?” The two looked at String, back at their opponents, and then they both snorted and raised their snouts/beaks as high as they could.

String looked at me with a raised eyebrow and all I could do was shrug. “Well I guess that’s over. Now what's going on here?” We looked around and saw a crowd of ponies slowly growing down the street next to the park.

We pushed our way through the crowd, nopony standing in the way of the giant String Lyrics. As we neared the center we heard crying, and what we saw was far from what we had expected. Trees and flowers bent into ungodly shapes and angles, some even moving as if alive. The once bright and multicolored park now dyed an eerie purple.

Sitting in the middle of the deranged garden was a green mare, crying while holding onto a dying purple rose. “Why? Who would ruin my garden?! What monster could bring themselves to do such a thing?!” String took the weeping as a sign to help the poor mare, leaping to her side to comfort her.

While he did that, Clean Beam, Flame, and I went to take a closer look at the plants. “This... couldn’t be, Chaos magic? All of that kind of magic was sealed with the Time Turners,” Clean Beam noted. I shuddered at the mention of them. Everypony had heard of those tales, the bloodshed, the traits of the flow, the death of my only ancestor to make history in the family.

“They can’t have returned. Who knows what it would take to do that, and how do you know about chaos magic anyway?” Flame was never satisfied with unknown answers and neither was I, we were just so alike that I never had to say much; which was just fine with me.

Beam glared back at Flame, “I’ve got the most magical and science awards in the whole of Dayflow! It’s kinda my job to know.” Flame seemed happy enough with that.

At that moment one of the mutated plants came to life, spreading spores across the gardens, much to the distress of the young garden mare, spreading the infection to outside the park.

“Oh, that can’t be good.” Before our very eyes more green was being replaced by purple. Soon vines were spreading across the ground toward the large group of ponies like snakes, bringing all who saw them into a panic.

Before anypony could spread the news, they were being hoisted into the air, thrown about by the maddened vines. The garden mare saw what her beloved plants had become and could stand for it no longer. She reached into her saddle-pack and pulled out some very sharp looking hedge-trimmers.

“You lot, I can’t deal with this on my own. Please help me? These ponies need it.” She gave the cutest puppy eyes I had seen so far in my life and knew I had to help. Grabbing a pair of my own hedge-trimmers from her saddle-pack, I took to the sky.

Things were a nightmare down below. The corruption had spread far beyond the park, affecting not only plants, but all sorts of things. Lamp posts were twisted and tables were walking about, having conversations with doors. Hay, even the teapots were acting civilized with monocles. It was the strangest thing I had ever set my eyes on.

Wasting no more time, I flew down to help the swaying ponies caught by the vines, I cut the vines at the base and grabbed the falling ponies. The garden mare and Flame were doing the same as String and Beam took to dealing with the crowd and strange talking tables.

It was about then that the local Imperial Guards showed up and started taking charge, some big Earth pony barking orders at a mix race group of privates. They took off in every direction, and herded the panicked ponies away from the park. Beam and String had found a way to call off the chaos magic controlling the weird house utilities, but were exhausting themselves by doing so.

Most of the plants were taken care of and any remaining were being chopped at. I landed at last on the ground, quite tired after all that swinging and catching. A couple of medics had started going from pony to pony checking for any injuries.

I was impressed, after all that she had hardly lost her breath in the slightest, even though she was a Phoenix something with that kind of fitness was staggering; I never knew she could do that. I, on the other hoof, was panting like a mad dog; I only just managed a nod.

“Good going kid. Didn’t know kids these days were still fit, looking at my worthless lot...” I turned to find the big earth pony I had seen earlier, big and bold, with a short mane cut, which was dark blue, and his coat was Chestnut brown. “My name is Sergeant Bull Force, and who are you?” He looked like a pony who had seen a lot of wars and grief, kinda like my dad did.

“Hello there, Dream Blizzard! There you are my fine fellow! Good work out there with the vines and what-not.” Along came String with Beam following behind, looking worn out.

“Your name is Dream Blizzard? You mean, as in the son of General Bladestorm Blizzard? I... I am sorry about him. It is an honor to meet his son who is a truly inspiring individual.” He took a bow, showing his honor towards my dad was true. “Well I must be off, it was a pleasure meeting you.” He trotted off, shouting more orders at his troops.

Flame gave a snort of fire. “Damn military type, they are just dogs to the state. I never liked the likes of them, except for one,” she added, glancing at me.

The garden mare then came to join us. “Hello. I just wanted to say how thankful I am that you lot helped me in putting my poor baby’s to rest. I’m Free Leaf, and I don’t think I would of been able to do this had you lot not shown up. I’m sure everypony here is thankful as well.” Free Leaf gave us the friendliest smile I had ever seen.

“Why hello miss Leaf. It was an honor to help in any way we could. Something as evil as Chaos magic should always be tackled with a team.” He looked back over the rest of us, and I realized what he had just done.

“Wow, a team of hero’s? My, that is something.” Leaf looked back at the yellow stallion, and saw the look on his face. “Oh, I couldn’t, I wouldn’t be much help. Besides, you hardly know me.”

I couldn’t believe it. String was turning us into a group of hero’s. Who said we even wanted to go around saving everypony all the time? I just wanted a quiet life with no fighting or hardships. That’s what my dad wanted me to have. Unfortunately fate said otherwise.

“Well, most of our group don’t know each other either! We should take the opportunity to get to know each other and become friends! This will do great things for all of us, especially Dream. He has only just moved here and he needs the friends.” Oh, he’s doing this for me. Well and long as we aren't going to risk our lives or do anything crazy, I think I can roll with it.

“Oh, is that so? Still, thank you very much! I owe you greatly for what you have done today. Oh, I know! My shout at the pub! Come on, let’s go!” She basically grabbed all out tails in her mouth and dragged us there. Well, I guess that’s another thing to check off my list; make some friends.

“That power. I’ve only seen that in one other place. Where am I? This is far from Equestria or anyplace else I have ever heard of. I must be careful; I doubt they would trust a random alicorn who came from a different kingdom. But those four ponies... They can’t be Elements. So what are you...?” The traveler slipped back into the alley as the four ponies and Phoenix walked past. She would reveal herself in time, it was hopeless trying finding Spell by herself. She was going to need to need all the help she could get.

My Little Pony: Lands of Time

by Lolsternater

New land, New times