Hour of Twilight: Chapter 9
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With his first plan to stop Twilight being a failure, Chronos had to up his game in order to stop Twilight. Failing to predict Pinkie Pie's involvement already had started to put him in a bad situation.
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"Master, Twilight is still on the move." Whooves said. "It seems that she is dispelling your time zones."
"I was afraid of that." Chronos said. He then stopped dragging his staff on the ground and stopped making any more time zones to stop Twilight Sparkle. "I still wish to continue forward. You three, however, are to stop her and her friend."
"What do you wish for us to?" Clockwork asked.
"Kick her out, trap her, tie her up, kill her...any of the above as long as she doesn't reach the tower."
"K-kill her? Isn't that a little extreme?" Whooves asked.
"You already know what will happen once we're done with the tower, Doctor. One more casualty means nothings to the world. Now head out and stop her, tuit de suite."
Having received their orders, the three time ponies turned right around and made their way to the opposite direction to stop Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie by any means necessary. Although Doctor Whooves wasn't overly pleased by his new mission, he understood the importance and moved out anyway. Now I will be fair, the Doctor did have a good reason to do what he was doing. As for why, you'll will know very soon.
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Not too far away from Chronos, Twilight and Pinkie were in pursuit for the invaders. By that time, Twilight had truly appreciated Pinkie Pie's company, for without her, Twilight may of failed her mission. In fact, I myself really appreciated it.
"Hey Twilight! I haven't been freezing in time lately!" Pinkie said.
"Chronos must've thought those time zones would've gotten me already. I think we now have the advantage."
"You do not, Twilight Sparkle." A familiar voice said.
From ahead of my student, Chrono's henchponies, Doctor Whooves, Nostalgia, and Clockwork, blocked off Twilight's path. Despite being 3 against 2, Twilight stood her ground and wasn't ready to back down.
"Doctor, why are you doing this?" Twilight asked. "You know there's no way Equestria can survive without magic. You have to let us fix Arcane Tower."
"Yeah, and if you don't, I'll ban you from Sugercube Corner!" Pinkie added.
"I'm sorry girls, but I have too much to lose by allowing you two to go any further. We are servants of time, and our duty is to do what is best for the time stream. And sadly, the best thing for it is to destroy Arcane Tower."
"I don't know what kind of future Chronos showed you, but-"
"In that case, we shall show you EXACTLY what we've seen."
At that moment, the eyes and cutie marks of the three time ponies glowed a bright white, and their eyes stared directly at Twilight and Pinkie. The light quickly shined at a blinding level and completely engulfed them all.
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She wasn't sure how, but when she opened her eyes, Twilight found herself...well, it's hard to really say. I guess the easiest way to describe it is as a white, empty void. For a moment, she thought she was all alone, but then she found Pinkie Pie wasn't a great distance from her. Of course, that still didn't explain anything.
"Is...this purgatory?" Twilight asked.
"No no no. Purgatory isn't as cold as this place. I would know." Pinkie Pie said, much to Twilight's confusion.
"Then, where are we?"
"This is just a mental image we've created."
Appearing out of nowhere, the ginger, unicorn mare, Nostalgia, appeared before Twilight and Pinkie. While she's normally a highly cheerful one, she looked surprisingly serious at that moment.
"I am Nostalgia, watcher of the past. I study and record important historic events. I'm here to show you a doozy of one."
After Nostalgia's eye glowed up again, and the three were transported somewhere else. They were no longer in the white void, but floating above a large forest.
"AAHH! WE'RE FALLING!" Pinkie Pie said in fear.
"No, but I did have the same reaction." Nostalgia admitted. "Anyway, what your are looking at is the day Arcane Tower's construction was completed. I wish for you two to observe this."
Looking down below, Twilight and Pinkie both watched the past scene. Below them was the tall structure that is the Arcane Tower. Outside of it was me and my sister, Princess Luna. We had built the tower some time after we had defeated Discord. It was built to give Equestria the future it deserved.
I suppose some history of it should be shared. At one point, magic was used by all Equestrians like it was today. However, when Discord came into power, he had drained most of the magic in the land to ensure that no one could stop him. After me and Luna defeated Discord with the Elements of Harmony, we restored the magic through a mighty beacon, the Arcane Tower.
"With the tower finally active, ponyfolk shall finally be able to use their magic like they should." The younger Luna said.
"With this, harmony and order will finally return, my sister." My younger self said.
"You two realize just how dangerous this thing is. Do you?"
It was then that Twilight saw how Chronos was involved in the tower's construction, for once it was finished, he appeared before me and my sister.
"Chronos! I see you came to admire our work." I said to him. "Or perhaps you're trying to warn us again about how Discord's seal with break again?"
"No, your highness. I'm here about the Arcane Tower. Such a powerful structure should not be left without defense. "I predict that if it's not guarded well, chaos will rise. After all, it can effectively controls all magic in the world. Something like that never existed before."
"He is right, sister. Sure, Discord is gone, but what if another evil force comes along? It'll be easy for them to take over the land once more." Luna said.
"Then we shall put up a defense." I told her.
After my past self said the final line, Twilight and Pinkie were once again transported to the white void, for Nostalgia had showed them all she needed to show.
"So that's why they had the barrier made." Twlight said. "But if Chronos could see the future, why didn't he tell them about what would happen to it?"
"Because he was preparing." A more masculine voice said. "He didn't give your Princesses the idea of creating a barrier to keep it safe. He did it to keep our enemies out, so he can prepare for this day."
It was then that Chronos's next minion, the golden pegesus, Clockwork, appeared.
"I am Clockwork, watcher of the future. I look into the future to help plan for a better one. But with what you're trying to do, that may not happen."
"Hey, me and my friends can change this bad future of yours. You just have to trust us.
"Oh, really?"
Once again, Twilight and Pinkie were transported from the white void and sent to another vision in time. This time, the future. However, it was a future Twilight did not expect. The sky was full of dark clouds, the land had no life, having nothing but blackened earth and dead trees. I only know of this from my sources, so I never saw such imagery myself. I feared what Twilight had truly experience.
"Twilight Sparkle, this is how our world will be if you continue your journey to the tower. You will be responsible for the end of the world."
"WHAT!? H-how?"
"In due time, an evil force will try and rule over Equestria, and will attempt to use the tower to do so. However, when that happens, he shall try and take control of the tower, and ultimately destroy the world, eradicating all life on our planet. What you are seeing is what the world will look like in less then a year."
"Wow...this is terrible." Pinkie Pie said, realizing how serious it really was.
"At least Lord Chronos only intends to wipe out the unicorns."
"WHAT!?" Twilight screamed. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN WIPE OUT THE UNICORNS?"
"Oh, that's right. You probably still think that the tower's destruction will only destroy the world's magic. Time Turner, would you kindly take over?"
"I will. I just don't want to."
Behind Twilight and Pinkie came the voice of an old friend, Doctor Whooves, who had a sad look on his long face.
"Doctor! What is he talking about?"
"I'm sorry, Miss Sparkle. Chronos predicted that if the Arcane Tower is destroyed, a negative chain reaction would occur in everything with magic in the entire world."
As the Doctor continued, the void changes from the grim future into a nearer future.
"It will happen all at once. The magic in the earth ponies will violently blast out of their bodies, causing many farmlands nearby to be destroyed, which will create famine. Pegasus cities in the skies will be blown away, and they shall lose their abilities to control clouds, rendering many who live in the skies to be homeless. And most tragically, the unicorns-"
"WHAT? WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO US UNICORNS?"
"Well...unicorns are the most magically gifted creatures in Equestria, and they have the most magic themselves. Each unicorn will unleash great destruction around them, and areas with either a high concentration of unicorns, or unicorns who are very powerful...well..."
"'Well' what?" Twilight asked impatiently.
"The fall of the tower will wipe out approximately 80% of the world's unicorns. The destruction they will unleash will destroy places with high contractions of them, such as Canterlot, and...by the end of the destruction, Equestria's population overall will be reduced by around 60%."
It was then that Doctor Whooves, watcher of the present, showed Twilight their final vision. A partially destroyed Ponyville, where each its surviving citizens are trying to rebuild their town. There's noticeably less unicorns then before. In the center of the town is a stone monument in the shape of a unicorn. Several familiar faces are seen standing around it, including Bonbon and Octavia, mourning the lost of their unicorn friends. However, the saddest thing that Twilight noticed was Rarity standing at the monument, for she would've survived the cataclysm, but her own little sister would not be so lucky.
"THAT'S why you sent Derpy and her daughter away. Her filly is a unicorn!"
"Yes, Miss Sparkle. By sending her away before we take down the tower, Chronos promised me that she would survive. But if time moves as planed..."
Once again, Clockwork's image of the future is showed, the world where no life exists at all. It was then that Twilight realized what she was being showed. There would either be a future where much of Equestria's population would be wiped out, or a future where ALL is gone.
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The three servants of time then brought Twilight and Pinkie back to the real world, after sharing them the dreary future.
"Miss Sparkle, we've shown you everything that our master has shown us. You know now why we've agreed to follow through with this dark mission. We've committing the lesser of two evils. You can do the same if you choose to turn back now."
This was a hard choice for Twilight to make. She saw one of the two outcomes of Equestria, and she was essentially the one to decide which one it would be. She had to think very deeply to make sure she would make the right choice, but neither one was what she wanted. It was quite a problem indeed.