Time and Space in Harmony
by Inkspots
Chapter 11
Twilight didn’t know she could be so tired after sleeping for three days, but after waking up from Taraxipos’ illusions, she stayed awake barely long enough to eat some food, wash her face, and look over the containment device before crawling back into her sleeping bag. The next morning the other ponies told her about Future Twilight, and what she had told them to tell her.
“What was it like in there?” Pinkie asked. “You were moving around the whole time, like you were having a nightmare.”
“He created illusions of situations he thought I wanted, trying to make me content and complacent,” Twilight replied. “But they never felt quite right. They were very empty, and... nopony acted like they should. Every time I discovered that it was an illusion, he would create another one.” Twilight thought back to the illusions she had experienced. “Weirdly enough, I was never an alicorn in them. The first time he made me think I was a unicorn teaching at Celestia’s School, the second time I was a pegasus-” Twilight glanced over at Rainbow Dash. “Watching a storm at sunset. The third time I was an earth pony, living on a farm.”
“How’d you break free though?” Applejack asked.
“After I kept escaping the illusions, he stopped creating them, he just left me trapped in nothingness. But the realm of the mind is the realm of dreams. And as an alicorn, I have a great deal of control in the Astral Plane, control he cannot even begin to match,” Twilight replied.
“Do you know what he’s going to do next? Where he’s hiding?” Dark Matter asked.
“Once I discovered him, I looked into his mind. I saw the most terrible things. I suspect I know exactly where he is and what he’s doing,” Twilight explained. “But he also knows a great deal about me, now.”
“Where is he?” Dark Matter asked.
“In the Mausoleum of the Royal Guard, beneath the Arsenal,” Twilight replied.
“Then we must strike at once, before he regains any of his power. Future-Twilight said he would now be weaker than ever before,” Dark Matter insisted.
“He is weaker, that’s true. Necromancy doesn’t work like normal magic, it’s finite and linear. His power is directly proportional to the life force he has consumed,” Twilight explained. “Creating the Once and Future Queen consumed a great deal of his power.”
“Very well, we should prepare for battle,” Dark Matter said.
“We should wait a minute,” Twilight said. “And let me tell you what we’re going to be up against in there.”
* * * * * *
After a light lunch, Dark Matter and the Elements left the tower. Quick Fix, Jade, and Spike remained behind. Jade couldn’t put any weight on her front right leg, and Quick Fix insisted they needed an able-bodied pony to guard the device, and Dark Matter agreed.
This time Twilight floated the group down off the tower, then they went the rest of the way on hoof. Twilight cast a transparent barrier around the group as they walked across Harmonia.
“This should mask our approach if he’s scrying for us,” Twilight explained.
“I will relish the day when I get to face a warrior in combat again,” Dark Matter commented. “Or just a monster, or criminal. I was never trained to deal with wizards.”
They walked along the shore of the lake, then across the bridge over the river to the Arsenal. The barrier was down, which didn’t surprise Twilight, since he knew she knew how to breach it. They entered the courtyard and Twilight looked around for the pile of rubble that hid the entrance to the lower levels. She was still looking around when the quiet was broken by an ear splitting screech. Enormous runes, painted ten feet high on the inside of the Arsenal walls began to glow with energy. As they came to life, Twilight felt her Element grow cold, and the subtle warming aura it always imparted faded away.
“This is new,” Twilight said.
“The fruit of my most recent research,” Taraxipos’ voice called out. The group looked about the courtyard but could see nothing. “Your mind was a most interesting read, much more interesting than interacting with you ever is. Harmonia is a charming place, that much is true, but when I’m done with you, I think Canterlot will make a much more fitting capital for my empire.”
“He’s suppressing the Elements,” Twilight said to her friends. “How long can you keep that up, before your life force runs out?” she asked.
“You see, Sparkle, this is exactly why you must die. We can’t have two ponies running about with all the same information in their heads. It would cause no end of trouble,” Taraxipos replied.
The group heard a noise from within the crumbling inner tower. After a moment, the wall near them exploded outwards. Twilight wrapped the group in a protective barrier, shielding them from the slabs of masonry that came flying out.
As the dust cleared, a figure emerged from within the tower. It was so much bigger in person than it looked in Taraxipos’ mind. Twilight watched as the Bone Golem crawled out of the tower. Taraxipos had begun building it after he killed Queen Arion and took power. It was about fifty feet tall, and shaped like the cross between a dragon and a snake, and it was made of the bones of Harmonia’s fallen. Twilight knew that it ran off of life force, like all of Taraxipos’ golems. Which meant that he was powering it himself with his own necromantic energy, as well as powering the rune grid that was blocking her from activating her Element.
“Well, you all are on golem fighting duty,” Twilight said quickly as the golem clawed its way out of the tower. “Rarity, you’re with me.”
Dark Matter nodded and the two groups bolted in opposite directions.
Rainbow Dash grabbed Pinkie and lifted her up into the air. Dash deposited her on the top of the central tower. Pinkie started pushing marble blocks off the tower and onto the Bone Golem. Applejack and Fluttershy were riding Oscar into battle.
The orthrus charged in, and the Bone Golem lifted one of its long, clawed arms up and brought it crashing down. Oscar leapt out of the way, then Applejack jumped off and ran up the golem’s arm and onto its back. The golem turned its long neck around to bite at AJ, which was all the opening Dark Matter and Rainbow Dash needed. They flew in with their lances and pierced the construct in the back of its head. The creature let out a roar, which sounded more like the cry of a bird than a dragon. The Bone Golem tried to reach up to grab the two ponies but Oscar latched onto its arm with both heads.
Dark Matter and Rainbow Dash pulled their lances out of the golem’s skull and backed off. Applejack hadn’t even stopped on the golem, and had run over it and back off the other side. The golem scanned the courtyard, looking for its prey, when an enormous section of the tower wall came crashing down on it from above. The circular courtyard echoed with the rumble of the falling blocks and the cracks of the bones along the golem’s neck that were shattered.
“Look out below!” Pinkie called out, she then leapt off the tower. Pinkie wrapped her legs together like she was diving into a pool and closed her eyes. She went through the steps Twilight had taught her, and as she fell she could feel her skin harden into a layer of solid stone. After a few moments she crashed into, and then through the neck of the Bone Golem and landed beneath it, creating a small crater. She opened her eyes and looked up through the hole she had punched in the golem’s neck. It turns its head around and looked down at her through the hole and Pinkie realized she needed to move out of the way. She got to her feet but the golem’s back leg swiped at her, sending her flying out from beneath the golem and through the lower wall of the tower.
Pinkie blinked her eyes slowly, trying to clear her vision. She looked out of the hole in the tower wall and saw the Bone Golem turn to attack other ponies. She looked around, seeing the hole in the ground that she guessed led into the Mausoleum where the Golem had been constructed. She got up slowly, glad that she had still been wrapped in stone when the golem hit her, but now her coat was returning to normal. She left the tower to see the battle outside. Applejack was back on Oscar, riding along with Fluttershy. She had her rope out, and had lasso’d one of the golem’s back legs. Pinkie saw her tie the rope to Oscar’s reins and the trio ran away from the golem, pulls its leg out from under it and causing it to lose its footing. This seemed to be the break Rainbow Dash was looking for, she plummeted out of the sky towards the prone golem. Pinkie knew she was going for a Sonic Rainboom, and Taraxipos seemed to recognize that was well. His golem raised its head and roared, shooting a field of bone shards up into the air towards Rainbow Dash. The pony veered off course to avoid getting skewered.
“Alright Pinkie, back into it,” she said to herself. She looked around, trying to decide how best to contribute to the fight. Then, she looked at the tower she was standing beneath. “Best. Plan. Ever.” she said.
Outside of the tower Applejack and Fluttershy guided Oscar around to the back of the Bone Golem and then the two headed dog leapt up onto the golem’s long, wide tail and began running up towards the golem’s head. The golem turned around and gave out another roar, launching another spray of bone shards at them. Oscar dodged to the side, but all three were still struck by a number of the bone shards. Oscar continued on without pause and began climbing the golem’s neck. Fluttershy snapped the reins and Oscar jumped up onto the golem’s face and began clawing and biting at the golem even as it shook its head back and forth trying to throw the dog off. Fluttershy grabbed Applejack and they flew off towards the wall of the Arsenal.
Bones cascaded down from the golem’s face, clattering onto the ground below. The golem could not pitch the orthrus off, it had one head latched onto the golem’s eye socket while the other head and all of its feet were pulling and clawing bones off of the golem’s face.
The golem let out another roar, sending a wave of bone shards into Oscar’s stomach. The orthrus let out a yelp and lost grip on the golem, which tossed its head and sent the giant dog flying into the air. It landed with a thud near the Arsenal wall. Fluttershy rushed to Oscar’s side.
Up in the air, Dark Matter and Rainbow Dash had not been watching idly. The moment Oscar was pitched off the golem’s face they both started diving. Crackling energy enveloped them as they plummeted out of the sky. The golem turned its head up and opened its mouth to emit another spray of bone shards, but it was too late. Rainbow Dash and Dark Matter split, heading in different directions. The air in the courtyard exploded as two different shockwaves, one rainbow colored, the other dark blue and hard to even see, blasted through the air. Bones flew in all directions as the Bone Golem was hit with the twin Sonic Booms. As the courtyard grew quiet, the golem staggered back to its feet. It was missing chunks in various locations, and most of the bones were covered in fractures. It pitched its head about, looking for the ponies who had abused it so, and found Fluttershy and Oscar by the Arsenal’s wall.
Applejack tried to pull Fluttershy away from the orthus, but she wouldn’t budge. The golem began to turn towards the bleeding dog and Fluttershy, when a deep rumble emitted from the tower. Applejack looked over to see that Pinkie had knocked down most of the blocks on one side of the tower’s base, and was now standing at the other end of the tower, lifting it up. Applejack couldn’t believe the magical strength Pinkie had displayed, but in truth, Pinkie had always been a magically minded earth pony. The entire tower was now tipping over, and the Bone Golem barely had time to turn around before all four stories of the tower ruins tipped over onto it. The air was filled with dust and noise, and it seemed like minutes passed before Applejack could see or hear anything. She looked around to see the tower was toppled over, and the golem was almost completely covered in marble blocks. And remarkably, Pinkie was standing there, where the tower used to be, panting.
“That’s my girl!” Dash called out from the air.
“Well, you know, Elements? Who needs em? You’ve got the Pink,” she said. “Oh man, that’s almost better than Sparkle out.”
Applejack turned back to Fluttershy, who was gingerly pulling bone shards out of Oscar’s stomach, causing the enormous dog to wimper like a puppy.
“It’s going to be okay boy, just hold still,” Fluttershy was cooing.
“Is he going to be okay?” AJ asked.
Fluttershy didn’t reply.
Applejack turned back to the courtyard to see a black aura envelope the remains of the Bone Golem. “Well, it looks like phase two is on.”
Even as she said it, a bright light arced over the courtyard. The bones of the golem rose from the rubble pushing aside massive stone blocks. It looked like it should be able to move at all, but every joint was emitting a dark aura, and Applejack suspected that Taraxipos was actively trying to keep his creation in one piece.
The golem moved quickly and with purpose. Moments after it rose from the rubble of the ruined tower it turns its head to the sky and blasted out another wave of bone shards. Rainbow Dash was caught off guard and her body was pierced all over with the shards. She quickly fell to the ground. Pinkie rushed over to help her, but the golem picked up a stone block and hurled it at the pink pony, it caught her in the side and she was caught between the block and the wall of the Arsenal. Dark Matter flew directly at the head of the golem. It brought up an arm and swatted him out of the air. Then it turned to Applejack, Fluttershy and Oscar, who were cowering in the shadow of the Arsenal wall. The golem grabbed the wall and pulled it down on top of them.
The golem let out a triumphant roar.
“Where are you Sparkle, you will be the last to die!” Taraxipos yelled from within the golem.
The Bone Golem twisted about, staring at the ruins around it.
“SHOW YOURSELF ALICORN!”
The black runes along the walls faded away, and Taraxipos felt fear.
* * * * * *
Twilight and Rarity dashed away from the combat. Both unicorns headed for the shadows beneath the gate of the Arsenal. When they got there, they closed their eyes and began casting spells. Twilight refreshed her field that protected them from magical detection. Rarity emitted a different spell.
Twilight turned to Rarity. “You’re sure we’re invisible now?”
“As certain as I can be,” she replied.
Twilight watched Dash fly Pinkie up to the top of the tower. “Alright, let’s get moving.”
The two ponies ran along the wall to the first of the magical runes. “Okay, we’re going to need to deal with these before phase two starts,” Twilight explained. She looked at the rune, first wondering what it was painted on with, then trying to figure out just how it was suppressing the Elements.
She picked up a pebble with her magic and touched the rune. The pebble began to melt.
“Ah, bile,” Twilight said.
“Ugh, what? How did he produce that much bile? He doesn’t have a stomach,” Rarity said.
“Don’t worry about it,” Twilight said. Corpse bile was one of the least pleasant aspects of necromancy, but was used in many necromantic rituals. The name was misleading, it didn’t require an intact corpse to make, but was instead a kind of death slurry, made from magically reducing dead tissue matter into its base components. She felt Rarity could go the rest of her life without having that mental picture. Corpse bile was problematic because few wizards bothered to counteract it directly. Leaving it exposed in the sun rendered it inert, but she didn’t have time to wait around for a sun that was never going to rise. She created small raincloud above the rune, but the water failed to wash it away, instead the bile tainted water simply pooled on the ground, killing the grass it touched. Rarity pranced about on tip-toe, trying to avoid stepping in the putrid pool. “Sorry, bad plan.”
Twilight decided to take a more direct approach. She created a ball of light, basic enough, and she knew it would have no effect. She began shifting the color of the light, and the intensity, trying to mimic daylight, or at least the part of daylight that rendered the bile inert. They stood for about a minute until a blue, dim light produced a reaction. The bile began to bubble, then dry and flake off of the wall.
“Alright Rarity, this is going to be the hard part,” Twilight said.
“And you think this invisibility field isn’t difficult?” she replied.
“I need you to create an illusion of this rune. Taraxipos can’t know we removed it,” Twilight said.
They both turned as they heard a crash. Pinkie had just pushed the pile of masonry off of the top of the tower, and then heard Pinkie’s yell before she cannon-balled off the tower herself.
“Rarity, you can do it, trust me,” Twilight insisted.
“Oh I do hope you’re right,” Rarity replied. She looked at the rune with a critical eye, then closed her eyes. Twilight watched as most of the rune had flaked off onto the ground.
“Alright, put up the illusion,” Twilight said.
Rarity’s illusion appeared. It lacked a proper glow like the original, but in the heat of combat, she hoped that Taraxipos wouldn’t have time to notice. She felt some degree of warmth return to her Element. She tried to conjure up the magical armor, but only a transparent ghost of the armor appeared before dissolving.
“We need to remove another one of these runes, the system isn’t a single conduit, it’s got redundancy,” Twilight said.
“Translation?” Rarity asked.
“We need to remove the right rune, or we’ll just end up needing to remove more,” Twilight replied.
She looked around at the runes that lined the courtyard. Tracing the figures with her eyes. She had picked the first rune because portions of it were echoed in the other runes, making her suspect that it anchored the conduit. She tried to see if there were other forms repeated in the runes, and if one of the runes contained an anchoring figure.
“Okay, I think we need to remove that one,” she said, pointing to the rune on the opposite side of the courtyard.
“Really, all the way over there?” Rarity complained.
“Seems so,” Twilight replied. She cast a spell over the fake rune, trying to replicate some of the necromantic energy so that Taraxipos wouldn’t easily notice it was a fake, but she could only create a vague magical signature. “Let’s move.”
Both ponies were now consciously sustaining multiple spells, they couldn’t run for fear of losing concentration, but instead walked with purpose along the wall of the courtyard, heading for the other rune. Soon they couldn’t actually see the battle going on behind them, but neither wished to turn their head to watch.
They finally reached the other rune. Twilight created the ball of dim blue light and the rune began to dry out and flake off the wall.
“Twilight,” Rarity said weakly behind her.
“I’m hurrying Rarity, just keep holding on,” Twilight replied. The second rune was gone.
“Alright Rarity, one more illusion,” Twilight said.
“My eyes are all blurry,” she said. “I can barely make out the pattern.”
“Just, just make another one of the previous, just do your best,” Twilight implored. Warmth was flowing back into her body from her Element. Rarity brought up a fake rune, which wasn’t quite big enough. Twilight created another fake magical aura. Then, with her head swimming she called upon the magical armor. Her armor appeared around her.
“Alright Rarity,” Twilight began. But she was interrupted as the central tower toppled over. Twilight’s mouth hung open in awe as she watched Pinkie exercise her magically derived strength. The golem was crushed by the tower, and for a moment, Twilight wasn’t sure they would need phase two, but then she saw the black aura envelope the remains of the golem.
“Rarity, use your Element, don’t try to do it all yourself,” Twilight said. “You should be able to tap into it now.”
Soon the strain on Rarity’s face cleared. She even opened her eyes.
“Alright, we need to move on to phase two,” Twilight said. “Do you have it in you?”
“What kind of friend would I be otherwise?” she said.
Twilight shot a ball of light out of the invisibility spell and it flew up into the air.
All of the other ponies stood still, and Rarity began to work her magic. One by one she created an illusion and cloaked the original pony in invisibility. Then she sent the illusions forth to get slaughtered by the golem. Rarity’s eyes and horn were pulsing with light and magic and she created more and more illusionary ponies and more invisibility auras. Once the ponies saw their illusion get killed they moved towards the gate.
“Twilight, what about Oscar?” Rarity asked.
Twilight looked over and saw the bloodied orthrus.
“I’ll get them out, put an aura on me,” Twilight requested.
Rarity turned to Twilight and draped an aura on her. Then Twilight teleported across the courtyard to Oscar, Fluttershy, and Applejack. She saw Rarity created their illusionary forms just in front of them, then the bone golem grabbed the wall. As it was bringing it down, Twilight teleported all four of them outside of the Arsenal gate.
“Where are you Sparkle, you will be the last one to die!”
Twilight heard Taraxipos call out. She turned and teleported back into the courtyard next to Rarity.
“SHOW YOURSELF ALICORN!”
“Alright Rarity, you can drop the illusions,” Twilight said.
Rarity closed her eyes, she was damp with sweat and breathing heavily.
“How did I do, Twilight?”
“You were wonderful,” Twilight said. “Now let’s finish this.”
Twilight teleported them both over to the gate. All of the ponies were there waiting.
“Dark Matter, look after Oscar,” Twilight said.
“I am still fit to fight, Princess,” he insisted.
“I know, but we have to take it from here,” Twilight said. “Come on Fluttershy, Dark Matter will look after him.”
Fluttershy ran a hoof across her eyes and got up. She walked over to the group and Applejack threw a leg over her shoulders and wrapped her in a hug.
Twilight turned back to the Arsenal. Taraxipos and his Bone Golem were waiting.
She activated the Elements and the full, comforting warmth returned. As a group they rose off the ground and floated into the air. They passed over the gate. The Bone Golem turned to them.
“NO!” Taraxipos cried out.
“Yes,” Twilight replied quietly.
The Bone Golem opened its mouth and roared, but instead of bone shards it emitted a blast of black magic. Twilight knew Taraxipos was desperate now, using the life force that allowed him to exist without a body to fight them. Twilight returned with a blast of blinding light that erupted from her crown. The light ripped through the black magic and slammed into the golem below. The bones that made it burst into flames and began to crumble away. Layer by layer the golem shrank and was diminished. Finally, writhing in the center was Taraxipos, a black haze she couldn’t even see with her eyes, but could sense with her magic.
The beam of light ceased and the group lowered to the ground, standing amid the burning corpse of an entire kingdom.
The haze slowly began to move, drifting away and heading for the dark pit beneath the Arsenal.
“No Taraxipos, this is over,” Twilight said. And with a flash, she teleported herself, the Elements, and Taraxipos back to the palace tower.
They appeared in the camp, causing Spike to yell out in shock. Twilight wrapped the black haze in a purple aura and floated it over to the containment device.
“Quick Fix, activate it,” she commanded. The unicorn ran over and pushed a large red button on the base of the machine. The glass tube lowered down and the device sealed with an audible hiss. Then, after a moment, an electronic beep sounded on the side of the device.
“I can’t believe it,” Quick Fix said.
“What?” Twilight asked.
“Well, one of the improvements I made was a counter. Seemed pretty logical to put one on. This reads how much energy is in the chamber, and how long that will power the device. Taraxipos still has enough life energy to power the device for nine-hundred and eighty three years,” Quick Fix explained.
“Well at least he’s in there, we just need to keep it safe for a thousand years,” Applejack said.
“That’s a long time,” came a faint voice.
“Oh man, he can still talk?” Rainbow Dash complained.
“I didn’t really know how to stop that,” Quick Fix admitted.
“A thousand years. Long enough for somepony to come. Somepony to need my powers,” Taraxipos said.
“We won’t let that happen,” Twilight said.
“We? They’ll be dead. And you? Are you going to sit here for a thousand years, watch my every move? Or maybe put guards here? I wonder how long they’d last. This is just another delay, Sparkle, this is a bump in the road,” Taraxipos insisted.
“A lot of huff and smoke, just shut up and die quietly,” Applejack replied.
Twilight said nothing.
“We should go get Oscar,” Fluttershy insisted. “He could still make it. Orthrus are very resilient.”
“Oh, is he hurt?” Jade asked. “Bring me with.”
“Oh man, Dark Matter is still back there too,” Rainbow Dash realized.
“You all should go get them,” Twilight said.
“You don’t want to come?” Applejack asked.
“Actually, I need to go back at save you all from the Once and Future Queen,” Twilight replied. “I’ll be back before you guys, then I can keep an eye on him,” Twilight said, pointing at the device.
“He’s not going anywhere, trust me,” Quick Fix insisted.
“I know, you did an amazing job,” Twilight said.
Fluttershy nodded and took to the wing. Rainbow Dash grabbed Jade and followed after her and the rest were floated off the tower by Rarity. Just Twilight, Spike, and Taraxipos were left.
“Spike, keep an eye on him,” Twilight said as she picked up Star Swirl’s journal.
“I’ll keep both eyes on him,” Spike replied.
“And don’t touch the device at all,” Twilight said.
“I’m not going to fall for his tricks,” Spike insisted.
“Release me, and I will give you the white one,” Taraxipos said.
“How does he-”
“Spike, don’t listen to him,” Twilight replied. She had seen the unfinished spell during her first read through, it was a brilliant formula, one of Star Swirl’s final attempts to perform safe, consistent time travel without the need for a complex device to produce the magical energy. Twilight realized though, with the Element of Magic, she could easily perform the spell. “I’ll be right back.”
“Alright Twilight-”
Before Spike finished the sentence, light exploded around Twilight and she was gone.
“A pathetic hatchling like yourself probably couldn’t even harm this device,” Taraxipos mocked.
“Nice try, but I’m-”
Spike was cut off again as Twilight returned suddenly with another explosion of light.
“I’ve got to stop trusting his math so much... his spells lack predictable durations,” Twilight said. Then she felt bad, insulting one of the greatest wizards who had ever lived, and whose work saved her life multiple times. Then she turned to the containment device.
“I guess I should move you back down to the lower levels,” Twilight said.
“Hide me away in whatever dungeon you wish, I still have a thousand years to break free,” Taraxipos replied.
“There’s no way you’re breaking out of that device,” Twilight countered.
“Oh I know, I’ll just have to wait for somepony foolish to come along. It happens rather regularly,” he said.
“You won’t be laying in a ruin. This will be a splendid kingdom, and I will rule it, and I will see that you never again harm or corrupt another pony,” Twilight proclaimed.
“It’s going to be hard to rule a kingdom, knowing I’m here,” Taraxipos hissed. “Or do you plan to set me up in your throne room, watch over me around the clock. Maybe not, maybe you’ll post guards. They’re a reliable sort. So that’s how it’s going to be? You and me, for a thousand years?”
Twilight grimaced.
“It’s not terribly appealing, is it? Every monument you erect, every acre you clear, every ceremony you preside over, I will be here. I will live on like an undying black heart, beating away beneath your lovely little kingdom. Long after your miserable friends are dead you’ll have me and only me. And someday, you will grow tired of your vigil, and you will falter. And I will be free,” Taraxipos vowed.
Twilight’s brow furrowed. Blood pounded in her ear and she felt rage building up within her. She wanted a victory, but all she felt now was a burden, like she had chained herself to a heavy stone. “No, I’m not going to let you win. I’m not going to let you ruin the time I have with my friends,” Twilight replied. She activated the Elements, and she knew the others would feel them activating as well. She needed to move quickly. “You and I, we’re going on a little trip along the Praxial Bridge. A thousand years outside of time. I will watch you die, and no pony will have the chance to free you.”
“That’s a long time to spend anywhere Sparkle, can you even comprehend a thousand years? My first was very difficult,” Taraxipos said.
“Wait, Twilight, you can’t leave,” Spike said. “You can’t go away for a thousand years!”
“Don’t worry, when I return, it will be like I never left,” she replied.
“But, not for you,” Spike said.
“I’ll be okay, Spike, I have you and everyone else to come home to, but I can’t let him escape again, and I can’t have him hanging over my head for a thousand years, I just can’t,” Twilight insisted.
“Well, then let me come with, we’ll keep each other company,” Spike replied. “I’m a dragon, what’s a thousand years?”
“It’s a great deal of time, Spike,” Twilight said.
“It doesn’t matter, I came with you to Harmonia, I’m coming along now. I can’t let you go alone,” Spike said.
“This is sickening,” Taraxipos said.
“Besides, he’s not going to be pleasant company,” Spike said.
Twilight smiled. “You’re a good friend Spike. Alright, we should do this before the others get back.”
Twilight dug deep, deep into the seemingly bottomless pool of magic that the Elements offered. Then she began to pull, pulling on the very existence around her. Then, with a crack, they disappeared from the roof of the palace tower.
* * * * * *
They appeared nowhere. Just Twilight, Spike, and the containment device, in a sea of infinite blackness.
“You won’t last a hundred years in this solitude,” Taraxipos insisted.
Twilight turned from him to Spike. “Thank you for coming along, Spike. Let’s make this a little more comfortable.”
Twilight set to work. She stabilized the pocket dimension they existed in, the little bubble floating along the endless flow of the Praxial Bridge. Then she build them a home. A little library in a big tree. She lovingly created the shelves, the books, the sparrows tweeting outside of the window. Their room upstairs, the wooden horse head bust in the main room.
“Miserable peasants,” Taraxipos quipped.
Then Twilight created the basement and threw the containment device in it.
“Well, tree sweet tree,” Spike bvvbb bb bb said.
“At least you won’t need to clean this one,” Twilight said.
Their long exile began.
Within a week, ‘time’ meant very little. Twilight and Spike talked and played and slept.
The first year was difficult. Periodically, Twilight went down into the basement and checked the counter on the containment device. Finally it ticked down. One year.
“Enjoying yourself Sparkle?”
“I’m enjoying myself every time I remember you’re down here,” Twilight replied.
Time dissolved into a single number.
982
981
980
“This isn’t so bad,” Spike said.
Twilight didn’t reply.
950
“We may need a bigger tree,” Twilight admitted. Spike was ten feet tall and almost as long. He was looking more and more dragon like with each decade.
“Well, how about, instead of a tree, a different home? This is all just an illusion anyway.”
933
Twilight descended into the lower reaches of the cavern she lived in with Spike. It was moving time.
“Hello Sparkle,” he said.
“Why don’t you ever use my first name?”
“It’s beautiful, you don’t deserve it.”
“Well, we’re moving again. Spike wants to try out cloud living.”
“I’ll pack my things.”
883
“I’ll admit, it was difficult.”
“How about you actually admit it?”
Twilight didn’t admit it.
700
“I hate you Taraxipos.”
“Why don’t we just go back, you can take your chances. Just a few hundred years to keep an eye on me.”
Twilight stopped checking the counter.
Time simply passed, and with the years the scenery changed from icy tundras to windy deserts to deep, languid jungles.
Twilight heard a beeping. She wasn’t creating it. She opened her eyes. She was curled up in the hollow created by Spike’s front and back legs. He was fully grown now, but he was lucky. After a few hundred years, he developed the ability to hibernate.
“Wake me up if you need me though, okay? Don’t let me sleep because you don’t want to bother me,” he had insisted. His voice was deep and it resonated within his long neck. Twilight hadn’t woken him up in three hundred years.
Another beep. She looked around. They were laying in a tidal cave, though the tide never came in here. Long shelves were carved into the stone walls of the circular chamber, and directly overhead was a circular opening that let in sunlight. The sun simulation she had created was shining on a point on the ground that told her it was fall in her illusionary world, which meant very little. She looked around at the shelves, covered in books she had written: journals she had kept so that she never forgot the life she left behind and essays on the many magical experiments she had devised and run, trying to fill the days. She had written six hundred and fifty eight books, and memorized them long ago.
What had woken her up?
The beep came again.
She walked out to the beach outside of the cave. Stretching away from the tropical island in all directions was a vast, motionless ocean. Twilight wondered how long it had been since she had created the island illusion. Another beep. She dove into the crystal blue waters and swam down to the brilliant colored reef. She entered a small hole and found the containment device. It looked almost empty, she had to stare to even see the black smoke within. The device beeped. For the first time in centuries, Twilight checked the counter.
0.1
“Are you happy, Sparkle?” came a faint voice.
How long since the two had spoken? Likely a hundred years or more. How long since Twilight had even spoken out loud to herself? Decades, probably. She opened her mouth a few times, then hummed. Everything seemed to be working.
“No,” she said finally.
“Good.”
“Do you regret any of it? A single moment?” she asked.
“I regret not killing and eating you.”
Twilight sat down in front of the device. She did away with the illusion of the tropical island, which was easy, despite the fact that the illusion had existed for hundreds of years.
“Leave me, Sparkle.”
“No. I’m going to stay here and wait for this.”
“Do you want to enjoy it, savor it? Will a thrill run through your body when I finally cease to be?”
“No, I’m not you. But I have devoted nearly a thousand years to this task, I want to be present for the end of it.”
“You are pathetic. Don’t use me to placate your ridiculous moral constructs.”
Twilight said nothing, simply waited.
Twilight could see nothing within the tube, but it was still active.
“Goodbye, Taraxipos.”
The device beeped a final time, and was silent. The counter briefly read zero, then powered down.