Time is ever-flowing and never-ending.
It is a beast that sucks the life out of everypony.
Either it controls you…
Or you can try to control it.
— Starswirl the Bearded
Darkness everywhere.
This cold place lay empty except for the occasional rolls of film twirling on invisible axes. Thoughtless, timeless… this space could never be reached by a normal creature, much less a simple human. Yet there, surrounded by the unknown, floated the one person who had been at the center of the catastrophe.
The one who had destroyed the world with his power.
The one who had used his power to fix the world back up.
The one who sacrificed himself to prevent those events ten years ago.
It is done. The Akashic Records have been restored. Tomoe-chan never died. Everything has been fixed.
I can die in peace.
…
No, what am I saying? Of course I can’t! I can’t just leave Ayano!
Thoughts of this Ayano suddenly filled his mind as he ignored everything else— not that there was much to ignore in the first place.
He remembered the time they spent together, their first chance encounter in his home, how they fought side by side with the psychics from the Greenhouse, how he fulfilled her dream to go to school. He remembered her cute face, her beautiful smile, her kind disposition, the way she would trust him no matter what.
He gagged a bit as he remembered her cooking.
But what he remembered most was that one moment, his last before the restoration.
The tears she had shed as the realization dawned upon her…
When she feared never seeing him again.
When she spoke those words so many people long to hear in their lifetimes. Three simple words, and he held them close to his heart.
I will be back, Ayano! I’ll do everything in my power t—
Had he been paying attention, he would have noticed the small pinprick of light in the distance, the one that suddenly grew to monstrous proportions as it engulfed him.
What is this l— AAAAHHHHHHHHH!
His body began to contort into impossible shapes as a crack in the emptiness began to form, sucking him in with such force that he could do nothing against it. Not a second later, he disappeared from the void, which betrayed no signs of ever having held such a powerful person.
The forest was quiet, the shadows of trees presiding ominously over the moonlit scenery. Most of the light, however, was concentrated in the ruined temple nearby, where a battle for the fate of the world was drawing to an end.
“It creates the Sixth Element, the Element of…
“Magic!”
The crystal fragments began to unite; a bright aura enshrouded the six ponies as the Elements began to take form. At last, the Crown of Magic appeared atop Twilight’s head, the Elements charged, the attack ready to be cast…
“AAAHHHHHHHHH!”
When from up high, a human in worn clothing dropped to the ground, right in front of the Bearers.
“WAIT!” Fluttershy’s cry broke the others’ concentration. The Elements died down as the other ponies gazed at her and then at the figure blocking the path to Nightmare Moon. A curious Twilight tiptoed slowly towards it when it suddenly stirred.
“Uggghhhh.” The creature slowly rose to his feet, blinking his eyes furiously as he tried to make sense of his surroundings.
It… it walks on two legs? But it's not a dragon or a griffon, Twilight pondered.
As the human shifted his weight to the right, however, he winced in response to the fiery pain shot through his leg. One look down confirmed it: he had broken his foot with the fall.
Well, might as well check if I can still do this.
Fluttershy was about to gallop over as soon as she noticed the injury, but Twilight held up her hoof. In an instant, the human’s entire right leg turned to what looked like rolls of film, the tapes shifting around as his foot was magically fixed.
WHAT? IT KNOWS HEALING MAGIC? B-But only an alicorn can have enough power to heal that quickly!
The human once again centered his weight, testing out his newly repaired foot.
Well, I still have my power, but it took a lot more energy than I thought it would. Now, where in the w—
“Wha–What is this?” The figure began to shake his head from side to side, finally noticing the vivid hues and the six ponies that stood before him.
These colors, they’re… different. Wait a minute, I know what’s happening here.
I guess I did make it back!
The human leapt in joy, forgetting about his past injury as he cupped his hands around his mouth.
“The jig is up, Maya! You can stop the illusion! Wow, you almost got me there!”
“Um, who’s Maya?” inquired Twilight, whose voice eliciting a small yelp from the creature.
“A talking pony! I haven’t seen this type of illusion yet. Maya, you sure are getting creative!”
“This… isn’t an illusion, mister. In fact, if you don’t mind me asking, what exactly are you?”
“What do you mean? I’m a human, a psychic. Didn’t Maya tell you? Now, could you please tell her to stop the illusion? I want to see Ayano.”
YES! I’ll be able to see her again!
But… But should Maya even have her powers, after what I d—
“You wretches, stop ignoring us!” Nightmare Moon suddenly catapulted a beam of magic straight at the human, who barely had enough time to react. On instinct, he held out his hand and created a time barrier strong enough to disintegrate the attack.
Or so he thought.
It’s taking too l—
Even though Twilight had bounded forward and cast a shield around her and the human, it was still not enough: electric ripples and piercing sparks sent both of them flying backwards at breakneck speeds, careening straight into the wall.
Maybe, if I can turn myself…
At the last second, he extended his other arm, pouring more of his energy into a small barrier to cushion the strike. Unluckily for Twilight, she had been unable to recreate her shield as her body struck the stone structure with a large cracking sound. The wall itself began to break as dangerously sharp slabs crashed down.
“Owww…” Twilight stirred slightly as the other creature stood up, sporting various scrapes and coughing violently.
“Hey, are you okay?” The creature hastily began to remove rock after rock, ignoring his own injuries for the moment. It didn’t take long for him to notice the trickle of blood flowing freely from the unicorn’s head.
“You’re bleeding! We have to get you to a doctor!”
Illusion or not, I have to help her! But that power that struck me… It was filled with malice.
“Maya, this isn’t funny anymore!”
I just don’t understand. Why would one of her illusions attack me? Don’t tell me I wasn’t able to fix it! Maybe she really wants to kill me! But then why did this purple pony set up that shield before?
The other ponies simply stood there, dumbfounded and paralyzed. Meanwhile, the human displaced the last of the rubble and crouched in front of Twilight. He could not help but notice the several other bruises riddling her body.
“Hey, can anybody tell me whe—”
“Ha! Without thine Sixth Element, we have won!” Nightmare Moon suddenly began to charge a sizeable amount of crackling magic on her horn as the other Bearers overcame their shock and galloped over to Twilight.
“If only… If only we had more time to ch-charge the Elements… we c-c—”
Twilight's voice broke mid-sentence, leaving the human with even more questions.
“The what?”
“All of you shall perish!” A dark blast barrelled forward, aimed straight for the Bearer of the last Element.
Time slowed down as if to mock the ponies and the human. The deadly electric swirls spanned the width as the entire room, and it approached at a snail’s pace, incinerating everything it touched. No detail was left concealed.
One second, Applejack and Fluttershy were rushing over to Twilight as fast as they could, hooves striking the ground with full force.
The next, the ponies were burned to piles of smoldering ashes as the attack continued towards the others.
The human stared directly at the life-threatening beam as it grew ever closer, his entire body frozen in fear as his mind toiled.
No, this is not the end. I will save you all!
In a last-ditch attempt to change fate, he let go of Twilight and summoned all his power as he slammed his right hand to the ground. From that spot arose that familiar clock circle of light, a warm power surging through it as it expanded and established a barrier. Slowly, his efforts seemed to be working, but death grew ever closer. He began to expend more power than ever before, his head aching, his heart throbbing, his hands hot as flames.
And all the while the beam engulfed Rarity and Pinkie Pie, their screams of agony stabbing through his soul as he watched Twilight slowly inch her way to the ground.
But he ignored it all as he struggled to clear his mind: he had to concentrate.
Oh, the irony— I need more time to change time.
The circle continued to grow, almost expanding to the entire temple as Twilight continued to fall. Each excruciating millisecond, the barrier covered one more tile as the pain intensified, as the looming bringer of death approached closer and closer.
DO NOT FAIL ME NOW!
“AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!”
And with a little more energy, the attack only a hair away, Twilight’s horn an inch from the ground, he finally managed to enter it…
His own “Narrow Space in Time.”
The temple scene around him shattered into millions of pieces as a white room filled with gears broke through. He could not have been happier to see the endless floor and ceiling, the many images of times past floating all around him. Panting a bit from exertion, he still wore that frightened look as he inspected the scene from which he had arrived.
That was close! Now, to change th— Wait, what?
Unlike previous times, where he had been able to call upon the rolls of time, he was now faced with interlocking puzzle pieces, each one displaying a different scenario. Multiple pieces portrayed a certain village in the background, and a couple others depicted a grand forest around a temple flooded with light from a huge explosion.
This must be where I am. But this doesn’t look right!
He attempted to cut and paste the pieces together, just as he had done before— only to fall to his knees in frustration.
W-Why? Shouldn’t this work?
“Time here is different than from when you come from, Kakeru.”
“Who said that?” The creature known as Kakeru looked around, spotting a familiar spirit. However, his empty stare quickly reminded the apparition of her pony-like body.
“Here, let me change to a different form.” In a flash of color, she transformed into the figure of that little girl from his memories— that child from ten years ago. “You look really exhausted.”
“Tomoe! What are you doing here? I thought I saved you from the crash! What is your spirit still doing here?”
“You did save me, Kakeru. All will be explained later, but your energy is running out. It seems that the magic here is counteracting your chronodiving. I can only tell you this: as a mechanism to protect against complete destruction of the world, time itself has evolved, allowing only certain pieces to fit after another. If the scenario does not fit, it will be rejected. Please keep that in mind…”
“Wait, Tomoe!”
“Do not worry. We’ll see each other again… very soon…”
With that, the spirit disappeared, leaving Kakeru alone in his dimensional barrier.
And alone he was as he struggled to stay standing, writhing in agony at the spikes of pain searing through his inner being.
Ughhh… It’s getting worse. I guess what Tomoe said was right. There’s no time to waste!
He scanned through the connected scenes, rewinding to the time when Nightmare Moon had launched that beam. He replaced the entire part with a new scene, similar to the first except for one small detail.
Small beads of sweat began to pour down his face as he struggled to find the next pieces, sifting through hundreds of parts— no, thousands, millions— for the most adequate continuation.
At this rate, I’m not going to make it!
Every plan that he had thought of so far had failed, the pieces not matching the exposed end. The scenario of stopping Nightmare Moon with the surrounding trees was rejected, all pieces with direct attacks on her refused to fit.
The pony told me all she needed was time to “charge the Elements”…
Soon, he found out exactly what the Elements would do, but the piece that showed it was otherwise useless: it had only one prong instead of two.
More time, more time. There has to be a way to give her that!
All his options seemed unfavorable: the best case was one in which a rainbow beam slowly travelled towards the larger pony. Alas, it failed to reach the target as another beam of magic knocked the six ponies back.
And finally, in the corner of his eye, he spotted that last piece, one that would provide the “Elements” enough time to charge up…
The piece that would throw him into the mix.
As he placed that last piece onto the never-ending ribbon of time, Kakeru released his hold on the dimensional barrier as it broke down. In an instant, his consciousness returned to the temple.
“—noring us!”
The attack shot towards the six ponies and Kakeru, Twilight bracing herself for impact…
BOOM
To the Bearers’ surprise, the shot collided with the alicorn head-on, sending her skidding backwards as a large accumulation of smoke rose from the spot where she had once stood.
“N-now, quickly, ch-charge the Elements.” Kakeru shakily walked closer to the point of impact, knowing exactly what awaited him.
Wait, what just happened? And how does he know about the Elements? Twilight brushed these thoughts aside, noticing the urgency of the situation.
“You heard him! Come on, let’s go!”
The six ponies aligned themselves once more and began rising from the ground, a blinding light enveloping them as Nightmare Moon arose, her anger dangerously high.
“Thou shalt pay for this tr—”
Kakeru suddenly leapt forward, wrapping his arms around her neck as he summoned a small time barrier around himself and the alicorn.
“YOU FOOL. THOU CANNOT STOP US FROM DESTROYING THE ELEMENTS!” One beam of dark magic shot out from her horn, aimed directly at Twilight…
But it never reached, almost as if it dissolved into thin air, leaving nothing but a small time circle in its wake. No matter how many times she tried to shoot out spells, they would be erased from existence as they hit the invisible cocoon.
“Quickly! Shoot it now! I can’t hold on much longer!” Kakeru’s hold on Nightmare Moon was noticeably weakening, and Nightmare Moon had easily noticed he was the cause of the disappearing spells. Her movements became even more erratic, and she was about to fly up and shake him off.
But as soon as her wings extended, the tips were erased as they left the barrier, leaving her shrieking in agony.
“Come on! What are you waiting for?”
“But we don’t know what the Elements will do t—”
“JUST SHOOT IT NOW!”
“NOOOOOOO!”
But Nightmare’s shout and thrashes proved futile as the rainbow light engulfed Kakeru and the alicorn, and slowly her body grew smaller and smaller.
Exactly as it appeared on the piece.
As for Kakeru, he began to feel a rush of energy followed by a soothing sensation…
As if all his troubles had suddenly disappeared.
As if Ayano were right beside him.
And he fell to the ground unconscious, a smile upon his face— right before a wave of rainbow-colored magic spread throughout the entire temple.