//------------------------------// // Alternate Altercation // Story: Counterclockwise // by AdrianJNovelle //------------------------------// 1,849,292 The Captain was not happy. "Fuck!" he said, enraged by the recent news his assistant, a much smaller-looking unicorn who beared the same garments told him. "That little brat! I'll kill her!" "Can we do without the anger and malevolent words, sir?" asked the small unicorn. "You are the Captain, after all. You're supposed to be setting an example for the rest of the crew." "Fuck you, fool!" roared the superior officer. "I will curse and swear my horn off if I want! I am damn frustrated with that little bitch of a scholar who thinks she has the power to do whatever the fuck she wants! Well - she can't! She is in my timeline, and I will not rest until she is taken care of!" "I don't see what the big deal is, sir. Sure, she can jump around time in an instant. But so can we. We have as much power as she does plus our strength in numbers. There are over two hundred of us. There is only one of her. No matter where she runs, she may think she is free from our hooves, but she can't hide." "Shut up! Do you not think I know that already? I've confronted the bitch twice! And she's still persistent on making her life better!" "Is that really something we have to convict her of, sir? She's just a regular ol' unicorn. It's not like she's a Princess or-" "She is is a Princess, you imbecile! It is strictly by marriage, but she is one nonetheless." "Oh. Still, is it such a crime to have her just want a better life?" The Captain - finally seeming to relax after a constant onslaught of anger and abhorrence for Twilight Sparkle - seated himself in his throne, and took a deep breath. "Wanting a better life is not a crime...Even pursuing it to fulfill one's own manifest destiny as it were is not a crime. It is pony nature to want to improve one's lifetime, Squire...But there are always limitations. There are rules, Squire. Rules which govern our lives. Rules which, no matter how soul-piercing or painful they are, we must abide. Twilight Sparkle has broken all of them. She has desecrated the fabric of space-time, and, as Captain of the Temporal Manipulation Squad, it is my duty to ensure its restoration at all costs. Even at the cost of my own life, should we ever come to that." The Captain reached under his throne and retrieved a large, brown book with a leather cover. It looked archaic compared to the advanced technology centuries - if not millennia - ahead of anything else the Temporal Manipulation Squad stole from other timelines. "I have a feeling I should not have asked," Squire mumbled. "My memoirs," the Captain said, opening the book in his hooves with his magic. "As you know, young Squire, I believe I was born for this duty. I was raised on strict rules, regulations, limitations, and guidelines. I spent my high-school years in the strictest boarding school in Equestria, and afterward, went into the newfound law enforcement. You know, there is no such thing as law enforcement in Equestria in Twilight's time, hmm? Did you know that, Squire? Did you?" "Uh...no, sir; no, I didn't." "There is also no such thing as cops or criminals or anything. In fact, I think Twilight is the first pony to have ever committed a crime in her time. It is because the townsponies of Ponvyille and the rest of Equestria are a good, pure, happy society who love and care for one another. There is no desire - nor need - to steal or vandalize or lie. It's a utopian paradise if I ever did see one! Yet, following the Great Disaster, all this purity and happiness went to blazes, and that's where I come in. "Laws were finally being written down, and a document called the Equestrian Declaration of Foundation - written centuries ago by the first literate ponies who inhabited present-day Equestria - was finally being enforced. Its ideals many. Cops, police officers, jails, and other law icons started popping up all over Equestria, because fear had brought them to a cold life of insecurity and fear. Where there is fear, there is crime. And where there is crime, there are consequences. Thus! The law enforcement is born. "I was a young colt at the time, young Squire: just about your age, in fact, when I joined the official law enforcement. There was hardly a need. The areas were either too barren or still pure enough for there to be serenity. But, alas, this time of bliss and merriment would not last. And I was called into action, serving as one of the first police officers in Equestria. "Then...it happened." The Captain paused. "Do you know what happened, Squire?" Squire sighed. "Lemme guess...the grand event which haunts you to this day, Captain?" A tear formed in the corner of the Captain's eye. "I remember it like it was yesterday...the beautiful mare...the most beautiful mare in the world. I was young. I was naive. I was even romantic, you could say, lad. But...I guess all good things must come to an end sometime...Claire was her name. She had the most beautiful, sparkly blond mane I had ever seen, and the prettiest coat I could cuddle with - and I did! "And then...one day...my heart broke. "I was on the job, at my desk, waiting for a call, when the phone finally rang. The voice on the other end...I'll never forget the sound of it...'Lew, I'm sorry to say this, but...Claire was shot in a massacre...and we need your squadron here right away.'... "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!" he roared, trying to hide his tears. "I flew down in my vehicle to the scene of the crime, and saw her precious body ripped open and bleeding. It tore me apart. Filled with anger and rage from then on, I declared eternal hatred for all deviants. Crime broke my heart. If I can't live in a world without crime, nopony can!" He paused. "What does this have to do with the Squad, sir?" The Captain sighed. "I was too depressed from losing Claire that I could no longer function at my job. But then, word caught on of a mare who traveled through time, and started changing history...I knew what I had to do. "I studied temporal magic, and, after I mastered the art, began to recruit my friends, and I formed a vigilante league of time-traveling unicorns called the Temporal Manipulation Squad. Our mission is to protect the fabric of space-time, and let no colt or mare fuck with society, much in the way Twilight Sparkle is doing so presently. My friends began to teach their friends, and so on and so on, until we had a huge band of ponies - all capable of time-travel. Twilight Sparkle is no longer unique, and each jump she makes only makes her weaker. The pony body cannot afford all that. That is why I conserve my chases, instead of following her around with every step she makes. I will continue to live on, no matter what timeline I'm in or what year it is. But Twilight will keep persisting until she gets what she wants. Fuck her! Fuck her in her little pony plot! I will not rest until she - and all criminals of the world - pay the price for being like the kind of scum who killed my beautiful girl!" The Captain concluded his speech. "B-but sir, can't you just go back in time and prevent Claire's death in the first place?" The Captain slapped Squire across the face with his mighty hoof. "Fuck! Don't you get it? I can't go back! It was Claire's death which led me to becoming a time-traveler and forming the Temporal Manipulation Squad. I would create a paradox and be committing the kind of shit I'm trying to prevent Twilight Sparkle from doing!" "Oh! My apologies for not realizing that, sir." "Shut up! Stop apologizing!" The Captain closed his book and shoved it in the tight space under his throne. "And get back to work before I blow your head off with my horn!" "Y-yes, sir!" Squire saluted and hurried off. The Captain lowered his head in shame. "Forgive me, Claire...I am not the colt who fell in love with you anymore."