//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 - A Well Timed Arrival // Story: Trails Across Time // by Lord Pony //------------------------------// Snails had hoped to have more time to prepare, but Twilight had forced his hoof. “Why can’t she understand the importance of what I’m trying to do?” he wondered as he gathered his things. He hesitated a moment, trying to decide which of his many inventions to bring along. Who knew what kinds of difficulties he might encounter in the past? The sound of Twilight yelling from the other room snapped him out of his indecision, spurring him to begin stuffing everything in reach into his bags. It wouldn’t be long before Twilight called upon the guards who were standing outside the library at this very moment. As if on cue, a loud banging began at the front door. Snails took one last look around the library, trying to decide if he’d forgotten anything. “I guess it’s now or never,” he said to himself. His entire body was shaking from anticipation. This was the moment he had been preparing for for over ten years, and now that the moment had arrived he hardly knew how to feel. Stepping into the cramped interior of the machine, he pulled the door closed with a booming *Clang*. After settling into the seat and securing the safety harness, he turned to the control panel and began flipping switches and twisting knobs. His hooves flew across the controls with practiced ease as he recited the startup checklist. “Main power on”, he muttered, “Time coordinates entered. Time manipulation vortex activated.” The machine began to vibrate and whine as the power level indicator rose steadily. He had tested the machine before, but never had he allowed the power output to reach the all-important threshold of 1.21 gigawatts. He calculated that the chances were pretty even between a successful temporal shift and a catastrophic explosion. As the indicator reached and then exceeded the threshold, he gave one last salute to the world he was leaving behind and pulled the activation lever. ****** While he hadn’t known exactly what to expect, Snails had expected a bit more than a flash of light as his machine ripped through the fabric of time and space to deposit him at his destination. Without any windows he wasn’t even sure if he was still in the library, let alone if he had made it to the past. “Only one way to find out.” he exclaimed, unbuckling himself from the safety harness. The door opened to a view that almost took his breath away. An empty field of grass stretched out under the evening sky, the chilly night air making him shiver as it entered the hot interior of the machine. He quickly stepped out onto the grass and began an analysis of the current star locations, comparing them to a book he pulled out of a saddle bag. They all matched the locations in the book precisely, a book on star positions published almost 12 years ago. Snails allowed himself a moment of elation, throwing his head back and giving an uncharacteristically gleeful “Whoop!” into the darkness. He’d made it! However, arriving was only the first and easiest part of the plan. His true task still lay before him. With that sobering thought, Snails returned to the time machine to check the energy readings. He was relieved to see that the crystal energy reserves still had over 50% capacity remaining, plenty of power for a return trip to the future. That is, if he chose to return. If he was successful, the Twilight Sparkle of this timeline would never have a reason to take him in as a child, leaving nopony he cared about in the future to return to. He felt a wave of momentary sadness at the knowledge that he would never meet the Twilight he knew and loved ever again. However the moment soon passed, and he pushed the thought from his mind. “Gotta focus on the plan, and nothing else” he told himself. Save his friends, and catch the criminal; those were the things he had to concentrate on. The first order of business was to hide the time machine from any casual observers that might happen to walk through the field. He knew from experience that this area was seldom visited during this time of year, but it always paid to be cautious. Applebloom’s family owned most of the farmland around Ponyville, and the last thing he wanted was to get caught skulking around by somepony who might recognize him. Using his magic, he began the painstaking process of moving clumps of hay from a nearby haystack into a pile around the time machine. After about an hour of work, he collapsed onto the ground next to a haystack seemingly no different from any others in the field. To make sure he could find it again when needed, he placed three small but heavy rocks in the shape of a triangle at the foot of the haystack. Next he shifted his attention to his appearance. It wouldn’t do for anyone to see his cutie mark; while it wasn’t unheard of for duplicate cutie marks to exist, he didn’t want to attract any more attention than he could help. Pulling a small square of cloth from a bag, he used his magic to carefully place it over the mark on his left flank. He had chosen a simple image of a wrench turning a screw, one that he hadn’t seen on any other ponies in town. He took a deep breath before quickly searing the cloth onto his flesh with a burst of magic. Pulling an identical piece of cloth out of the bag he repeated the process on his right flank. He turned to each side to admire his handiwork. It wouldn’t stand up to close inspection, but his lab coat covered his flanks most of the time anyway. Exhausted but satisfied, Snails began the long trek into town. ****** As Snails slowly made his way down the country path, a dark, pony-shaped figure crept out of his hiding place in a nearby grove of trees. “I thought he’d never leave” he declared with disgust. The figure stalked straight to the hidden time machine and began tearing the hay away from the entrance. Pulling an old, worn key from a saddlebag, he inserted it into the lock and opened the door. He stepped inside and felt around under the control panel for a hidden catch. “Got it!” he exclaimed, watching as a hidden compartment flipped open on the floor. Inside the compartment was a maze of wires and other components, all connected to a peculiarly shaped gemstone. Reaching down, the shadowy figure ripped the gem from its connections and stuffed it into his saddlebag, an evil grin on his face. “You won’t be needing that, my dear Snails” he muttered as he closed up the compartment. He left the machine and pointed his horn at the scattered hay. With a burst of magic all of the hay flew into place, leaving the time machine completely hidden once again. Chuckling ominously, the mysterious pony slipped away into the darkness. Soon the isolated field was truly empty; the only sound a forlorn whisper of wind winding through the lonely haystacks. ****** Cresting one last hill, Snails was treated to a panoramic view of his hometown. It was as peaceful as he remembered it, the rising sun painting the buildings with a beautiful golden glow. Tired and covered with dust from the long walk, the only thing on his mind as he trudged along the road into town was finding a place to sleep. To his dismay, his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a commotion coming from the town square. “You’ll never get away with this, Trixie!” a familiar sounding voice screamed. Snails’ head snapped up and he began walking faster towards the source of the voices. “Don’t tell me I ended up traveling to that day…” he thought as he rounded a corner and reached the square. It seemed like the whole town was crowded into this one small area, their bodies forming a ring around the source of the commotion. He could hear the crackle of magical bolts and the sounds of small explosions coming from within. He could feel each of the hairs on his coat standing on end, which could only mean that powerful magic was being used nearby. He could only think of one occasion from the past that matched what he was seeing, though at the time he had experienced it from within the ring of onlookers. He quickly began pushing through the throng until he breached the center and was greeted with the sight he had been dreading. Facing off on opposite sides of the ring were two unicorns, one breathing heavily and covered with sweat while the other stood calmly, seemingly none the worse for wear. “Here’s an easy one Twilight, let’s see if you can match my age spell,” Trixie said, her eyes briefly flashing with a red glow. She pointed her horn at a pair of young unicorns huddled off to the side, their eyes widening with fear as a beam of red light enveloped them. With a flash, the youths were replaced by a crying foal and an ancient stallion, the poor old pony barely able to stand. Snails’ eyes narrowed as he watched his young self being tortured by the merciless Trixie. He still had nightmares about how it felt to be spontaneously aged to a point where every breath is a fresh agony. As he knew would happen, Twilight’s counterspell failed spectacularly, dropping the young Snips and Snails in a painful heap. “Trixie is the highest level unicorn!” Trixie said as Twilight and the entire crowd looked on in horror. In that instant, Snails felt his carefully planned decision to prevent undue changes to the timeline slip away along with his self-control. Stepping out of the circle and onto the battleground, he called out to the blue unicorn as she was about to banish Twilight from the town forever. “Hey Trixie! How about picking on somepony your own size, instead of tormenting a couple of kids?” he said with a scowl. “Who dares challenge the great and powerful Trixie?!” she snarled, eyes locking on the tall, lanky unicorn that had stepped forward. “Oh, it’s just some filthy commoner,” she said with a yawn. With a casual flick of her head, she sent a pulsing beam of red light streaking across the square. Snails barely had time to raise his right foreleg in front of his face to intercept the beam. The light struck with a dull *clunk*, resulting in little more than a small wisp of steam rising from the impacted area. “That should have left you writhing in agony!” Trixie exclaimed with an indignant frown. “Been there, done that” Snails muttered as he began to slowly walk towards the fuming unicorn. His horn began to glow as he flipped the switch on the portable anti-magic field generator he carried in one bag. It didn’t have the same range as the one he had used to trap Twilight, but it should be sufficient to cancel out any magic directed specifically at him. He made sure to use his magic to produce a faint sphere of light surrounding his body. No need to let anypony know that his protection was anything but a run-of-the-mill magic shield. "Perhaps there is more to you than I thought,” Trixie said, her attention now fully focused on her new adversary. She took a deep breath, her horn gaining in radiance until it looked like a second sun was perched on her forehead. “You have to run, stranger!”Twilight yelled from where she had collapsed off to the side. “Trixie really means to kill you with this spell!” Snails gave a savage smile as he ignored the pleas of his old mentor. The first time around he had been a helpless child, but now the scales had shifted. Now he would pay Trixie back in kind for all of the mistreatment he had suffered at her hooves. “Citizens of Ponyville, watch closely! This is what happens to those who challenge the great and powerful Trixie!” she cackled, finally unleashing the magic she had been gathering. A sound like a thunderclap echoed across the town as a continuous stream of energy poured from Trixie’s horn and impacted Snails’ shield. He smiled again, thankful that Trixie was too unimaginative to use her magic to harm him indirectly. The crowd watched in awe as he continued his slow advance, the beam of energy dissipating harmlessly around him as he approached. Trixie’s eyes widened with disbelief as her magic was deflected. Gritting her teeth, she poured more and more of her energy into the attack, muscles trembling and flank heaving from the strain. Finally, when she saw that the stranger was almost upon her, her strength gave out and she collapsed gasping onto the ground. Snails stood triumphantly over her prone body, his right hoof hovering over her head, ready to deliver the final blow. Suddenly his concentration was shattered by the feeling of two hooves wrapped around his neck, squeezing hard. “Thank you, stranger…you saved me! You saved the whole town!” a smiling Twilight exclaimed as she continued to hug him. He blushed, not prepared to deal with this sudden outpouring of affection. He glanced at the exhausted figure of Trixie and saw that several of Twilight’s friends had managed to remove her amulet and were carrying her off to rest. He shrugged, his desire for revenge satisfied for the moment. Let Trixie live the rest of her life with this humiliation. He doubted she would trouble the good ponies of Ponyville ever again. He gently pushed Twilight away and pointed a hoof at the young Snips and Snails, still suffering under the age spell that Trixie had cast on them. “Please take care of the children, Twilight Sparkle. I trust you won’t let them stay that way for long." “Of course, the children!” Twilight cried. Stay right here, once I’ve finished with those two you can tell me all about that amazing shield spell you used against Trixie.” As Twilight turned to reattempt her counterspell, Snails let himself fade back into the crowd until he reached the outskirts of the square. He turned to the road that led to the town inn, more tired than he could ever remember being. He could feel the scorching heat from the anti-magic device in his bag. Maintaining the field under such an incredible onslaught of magic must have almost burnt it out. He’d have to be more careful in the future to avoid such confrontations; he had to conserve his resources if he wanted to have any chance of succeeding in his primary mission. When he arrived at the inn, the innkeeper was excited to hear what all the commotion in the square was about. “I’m just a tired traveler, looking for a room,” he explained. “I don’t know what kind of trouble was going on today, but it seems to be over now.” He pushed an extra bag of bits towards the innkeeper. “My business in town is personal, and I don’t want to be disturbed by anypony that might come looking for me. Do we have an understanding?” The innkeeper smiled broadly, tucking the bag into one of his many pockets. “Of course, sir. We at the Prancing Pony are well known for our…discretion.” As he entered his room and collapsed onto the bed, his last thought before losing consciousness was that maybe getting hugged by Twilight wasn’t the worst thing he had ever experienced. ****** Twilight Sparkle sighed. It had taken every last bit of her remaining strength, but she had managed to reverse the age spell and return the children to their natural ages. She watched as they scurried off, no doubt running to tell their friends about their harrowing experience. She turned back to where her mysterious savior had been standing, but was startled to find that he was nowhere to be seen, and none of the ponies in the rapidly dispersing crowd had seen him go. “Where in Equestria did he come from, and how did he know my full name?” Twilight mused. She resolved then and there to find the unusual stallion before he left Ponyville. She had a lot of questions for him, and no doubt there was much they could teach each other about magic. “My interest in him is purely academic,” Twilight assured herself. “Besides, we can’t make Pinkie Pie responsible for welcoming every visitor to town.” With a resolute nod, she turned and began trotting into town to begin her search.