//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 // Story: Timelapse // by Stik //------------------------------// Twilight gasped for air she didn’t really need. She had never actually been through a portal before, she had imagined they would be instantaneous, a transference of matter from one place to another without going through the spaces in between, a bit like her teleport spell. That hadn’t turned out to be quite right. Instead, it had been a prolonged experience of perfect dark, no light, no sounds, nothing. It was hard to tell just how long it had taken, or how long it had felt like it had taken, there was simply nothing to keep time by. She knew from textbooks and her own experiments that the process was instant from an observer’s perspective, so it must have merely been an unexpected effect of sending an entire consciousness through space. Riley looked equally confused, still holding her hoof in one hand. She was glad of the contact, the place they had stepped into was very unpleasant. They stood alone on a smooth stone platform suspended above an abyss that glowed with a dark red light, some mists swirling far, far below. Twilight could smell the air, hot and dry, and very, very still, like it hadn’t been disturbed in hundreds of years. The roof of the cavern was invisible, lost to the darkness far above their heads. The walls were likewise invisible, so far away that they were hidden by the light haze that hung in the air. What was visible, however, were several towers of light, glittering like cut glass in the red light that spilled from all around. Most of the columns were empty, but several contained dark and mysterious shapes. Twilight walked forwards with a deep sense of uncertainty, the sound of her hoofsteps swallowed up by the vast space around them. Riley followed a few paces behind, and when she glanced back at him he looked similarly awed. The place was like nothing she could have imagined, and she wondered where it actually was. The platform was a long catwalk between the pillars and as they drew close to one they could start to make out details of the creature trapped inside. Twilight didn’t recognise it, but it paid a great deal of attention to them, its many eyes watching, unblinking. It turned to follow them as they passed, and she shuddered, trying to ignore it. There were many other things trapped down here. “Twilight Sparkle,” said a weary but strikingly familiar voice. The sound of it commanded her to stop, a voice with absolute authority, tempered with a motherly tone that made it very hard to ignore. She turned at once, dropping to her knees to prostrate herself in front of the prison that held Celestia, guilt and fear overwhelming her. “Rise, Twilight,” she said, stepping forward until she could move no further. “I am very glad to see you here.” “Princess,” Twilight stammered, barely able to stand. She had not had time to rehearse this conversation, or even to anticipate how it might go. “I’m so sorry…” “You have nothing to be sorry for, my little pony,” she said softly. “You did as you should. You protected your loved ones.” “But at the expense of so many others,” she wailed forlornly. “The world is in ruins, and it’s my fault, princess, all my fault.” She felt Riley crouch beside her, his hand on her neck, concerned. For once even his touch did nothing to help her and she trembled on the cold stone, facing her judgement like a child. “She’s right, you know, my dear Celly,” said another voice from behind them. “It really is her fault. Her fault that we’ve been stuck here in this insufferably dull place for so very, very long.” Twilight turned slowly, terribly aware of to whom the voice belonged. A patchwork of animals looked back at her, a lopsided grin on his awful face. “Why, hello, Twilight Sparkle,” Discord said casually, as if they were old friends who had met in the street. “I’m also very glad to see you. I’ve been stuck with this dull old witch for three hundred years. Can you imagine it? Me! I’ve been sooooo bored. But now you’re here that’s sure to change. We should celebrate!” A small puff of confetti appeared somewhere above his head, showering down in the column of light like some perverted snow-globe. She swallowed her fear, remembering how many times he had haunted her dreams, and how many terrible things she held him responsible for. She narrowed her eyes, glaring at him with undisguised malice. With alarm she noticed a small patch of grey behind his towering body. “Derpy!” called Riley, waving to her. “Are you okay?” Derpy waved cautiously back at him, keeping as far away from Discord as she was able in the limited space. “Ah, you’ve seen my little guest, she dropped in to see me just a few moments ago,” Discord was saying with a joyous air. “Unfortunately, she’s not done anything terribly amusing yet, and I’m still quite awfully bored. I do find myself somewhat… hungry, though. It has been three hundred years, afterall. That’s a long time to expect a fellow to survive without even a snack.” “You leave her alone,” Twilight shouted at him angrily, shaking a hoof in the air. “You beast!” “Can we get them out?” Riley was asking her, crouching down beside her. His voice was strained and unsteady, and she searched his pained face. While he was arguably more concerned about his backpack, he was also clearly worried about the pegasus trapped with an evil god, a hungry evil god. “Twilight,” said Celestia, drawing her attention back. “You can release me, there is a dais close to where you entered. On it you will find an enchanted crystal. From it you can learn a spell that you may use to dissolve the barriers. It will be a difficult spell to cast, but I have faith that you possess the skill to do so.” “Of course, princess!” she said, and galloped back the way they had come, leaving Riley slumped on the floor, still looking shocked by the whole situation. “Alternatively,” wheedled the smooth sound of Discord’s voice, “you could free me. Ask yourself, what little can Celestia do against all the combined might of Tartarus? Very little, I’ll tell you what. She’ll wave some friendship at them in the vague hope they’d shamble on back to their shackles. Maybe in another ten years she might have returned some order to the world. Maybe. “I, however, could put a stop to all this in the blink of a metaphorical eye. To boot, you’d get that intriguing little device this pony carries, as well. Isn’t that quite the deal?” “Is this true,” Riley said, turning to Celestia. She eventually gave a tiny nod, hanging her head wearily. Twilight was listening in from up the catwalk, and she was pleased to see that Riley remained silent. “Don’t listen to a thing he says,” she called, rushing back over with the crystal held in her magic. “He’s a despicable, untrustworthy liar!” Discord held a paw up to his chest with an outraged, hurt look on his face. “Oh, Twilight Sparkle! You wound me. A lovable, mischievous rascal I may be, but a liar I am not.” His voice changed suddenly, dropping to a lower note, filled with sincerity. “Release me from my prison, and you have my golden word that I will reseal the gates of Tartarus. And you, strange human, I will return your property to you. This is a promise.” “And Derpy?” Riley asked, holding the draconequus’ gaze. “I was hoping to keep her,” Discord said slowly after a pause, looking hopefully at Derpy. He gave an overly dramatic sigh. “But, if you insist, you may have her back too, I suppose. I don’t see why, though, you’ve got your own pony, right there. Wanting two is just plain greedy, I say.” “We’re not negotiating with you,” Twilight snarled, head down, eyes narrowed and her fur almost standing on end along her back like an angry cat. It had at last begun to dry in the hot cavern and was sticking up in matted clumps. “You truly are the mad-god in more than just name, if you think for a second I’m going to release you instead of Celestia. You would turn on us the moment you were out. You should stay here for eternity, and if I have anything to do with it that’s exactly what’s going to happen!” “Twilight,” said Riley softly, barely audible, and she turned to look at him. He was sat on the hard floor, holding his arm to his stomach. “Can you retrieve just Derpy? I need her. I’m afraid… I don’t have long left.” She frowned and looked back to Discord. He was holding Derpy tightly, hugging her as if she were a pillow and stroking her mane with a claw. He had a smug grin on his face, and was watching Twilight shrewdly. Derpy’s eyes had separated again, and she looked wild and afraid, trembling in his grasp. “I’ll admit that I have little power over you, human,” he said. “But I have been watching you ever since you arrived here. I’ve seen many of the things that have transpired, and I can see your short, sad little life draining away, drop by crimson drop. But alas, my heart, it aches, for there is nothing I can do to help you. I am powerless. “Except, perhaps, I could return you to your people, straight away. We could be there, right this very instant. Now that sounds like a worthwhile deal, doesn’t it? Your life, for my freedom.” “No,” said Twilight morosely, trying hard to keep from looking at Riley. Her voice was unsteady and shaky, no matter how hard to tried to stop it wavering. “I can’t. Not you. Not again. Not even for…” “He will die here, Twilight Sparkle,” Discord said steadily. He put Derpy down carefully and sat on the floor of his cell, crossing his legs and resting his head on his hands and his tail wrapped around in front of him. Derpy fainted, falling into a crumpled heap in the bottom of the cell. When he spoke again his voice was calm this time, no theatrics, no manufactured drama, a side to him Twilight had not yet seen. “Perhaps it is time for me to bring your attention to some things. “I didn’t do this, Twilight Sparkle. The problems you face on the surface, I did not orchestrate any of them. I let my friends and children out, three hundred years ago, just for a few days. You can’t imagine how miserable it is for them, never seeing the daylight, trapped in an eternal night time. You ponies were the ones who resisted them, made them fight for their existence. And you banished me here and sealed yourself away for all of time. In my absence the denizens of Tartarus ran free and wild, out of control. “I never meant for this to happen. I am not a mass murderer, Twilight. I only want to cause chaos, not extinction. It is natural. Chaos is part of nature. It is my nature. It is what I am. I can not stop it, asking me to would be like asking you to stop breathing, or stop being a bookworm.” “I don’t believe a word you say,” Twilight hissed, but her voice was not as steady as she wanted. “Not a word.” “I am not a liar,” he repeated levelly, calmer than she had ever seen him before. “Every word I have spoken has been the truth, always.” She turned to Celestia, unable to continue looking at Riley and Discord, she felt dangerously close to doing what he asked, if only to save Riley’s life. “I don’t think I can cast this spell twice,” she said morosely. “Not for a while, at least. It’s too hard.” The graceful alicorn, once a mighty ruler of Equestria, looked small and weak now, a resigned look on her face. “I know, my faithful student.” “What do I do? Can you help Riley?” “Yes,” she said. “I can take him to his people.” “I’m not going without my bag,” he said weakly from behind them. “I can’t.” She felt like shouting at him to stop being stupid, but all the things he had told her came rushing back and she understood that he would rather lie here forever than return without it. She sighed deeply, her head already aching. “What do I do, princess?” she pleaded, looking up at her mentor longingly. “That is for you to decide, Twilight,” Celestia said cryptically. “Sometimes you must make difficult decisions.” “Really, now,” Discord said, leaping to his feet again. “I don’t think this is a difficult decision at all. Release me. Wait here for a bit. Release your beloved Celestia. Easy! Not that there’ll be anything for her to do once she gets out, of course, we’ll have everything sorted out by then, nice and tidy. In fact, it’s for the best. I hear she’s not feeling so potent, these days.” Twilight looked between them anxiously. The crystal felt heavy in her magical grip as she absorbed the spell trapped inside and prepared herself to cast it. The ramifications of her decision would stretch forwards for centuries, she was sure, and now it was a decision that had far reaching consequences for not just her but an entire species beyond the stars as well. The magic flowed into her from all around. This ancient place deep without the bowels of the earth was so heavily saturated with it, raw and hot and uncontained. Every hair on her body felt as if it were standing on end, her skin crawling. It concentrated in a point just above the tip of her horn, too hot to look at and hovering on the very brink of her control. She closed her eyes, terribly afraid and unsure. “Forgive me, Princess,” she whispered, and let the spell fly. No sooner had it left her horn then her legs felt weak and she fell to the ground in a heap, exhausted and feeling deeply wretched. She daren’t open her eyes, daren’t look up at Celestia. “Ahh,” said Discord luxuriously, much closer now. He was stretching his long body out, cracking joints and shuddering in bliss. “It’s wonderful to feel the stone under one’s paws again. My, it smells musty in here. Someone should open a window.” He clicked his fingers and a great blue square appeared in front of them, clouds and grass visible through it. Fresh air blew in, ruffling Twilight’s fur. “You have my deepest thanks, Twilight Sparkle. But now, I have a promise to keep. Do come by and say ‘hello’, when you find your way out!” With another click of his fingers he scooped Riley up, a stretcher appearing underneath him, incongruous amongst the ancient magical setting. Derpy was sprawled sideways over his chest, legs dangling off either side limply. “Well, toodle-pip!” He leapt through the window, Riley and Derpy in tow, and with a flash it closed. Behind it was Celestia, looking down at Twilight with a sad smile. “I’m so sorry,” Twilight sobbed, hiding under her hooves. Her head hurt and it felt as if she had betrayed her mentor. All of the exhaustion and fear and panic of the last few days had finally caught up with her now she had stopped running. “Do not fret so, Twilight,” Celestia was saying. “You made the correct choice. Discord is a nuisance, but you must not mistake his actions for evil. I believe he will do as he says.” Twilight looked up at her finally, blinking away her tears. “How can you be sure?” “I have known him for a long time, Twilight. It’s not the first time he has tried something like this.” “Is he really more powerful than you, princess?” Twilight asked nervously. She couldn’t bring herself to believe it. “In some ways, yes,” she said, sitting down and folding her legs comfortably underneath her. “In this instance, most certainly. The creatures and monsters out there are all his children. They will listen to him, he inspires, commands and controls them. Furthermore, he holds the very keys to Tartarus. To reseal it is simple.” “But you’re Princess Celestia,” she whined. “You control the sun. You can do anything.” “Oh Twilight, surely after all this time you understand that is not the case. It hasn’t been the case for many hundreds of years.” “What do you mean?” she asked, standing up and leaning forwards anxiously. “I think you know,” she said, blinking slowly and speaking calmly. “You know the reason you have become an alicorn. My time on this world is coming to an end. The age has come for me to rest at long last. For generations I have searched for my successor, for some pony strong enough and caring enough to lead Equestria forward. I believe you already know this, in your heart, even if you don’t want to admit it aloud. “I am afraid my plans of helping you come to accept this truth gently have been laid to waste, however, and I am sorry for that. My entrapment here has shortened the time I have left. Raising the sun, for example, is a mantle that must soon pass to you, my faithful student. I no longer possess the strength to continue that particular task indefinitely.” Twilight gasped aloud and searched Celestia’s face, desperate to see a hint of mischief there, or something to indicate she was just testing her. “You’re… dying?” “Not at all, Twilight. I’m always here, I am a part of this world, as are you, and as were the guardians who came before me. My mortal body will fade, but my spirit will always be here. One day, the same will happen to you, and when it does, you will welcome it gladly.” “How long?” she whispered, barely able to speak. This was all so sudden, so unexpected. “How long do any of us have to live?” she countered whimsically. “We cannot see the future. But do not fret, it will be a good, long time. Many lifetimes, were you not now an ageless alicorn yourself. I will still be by your side, but as a friend instead of a teacher. I will do my best to help you in your new duties, and Luna will still reign during the night for as long as she is able, for her time will soon come, as well.” Twilight sat back down again and considered the ground in front of her. A few lifetimes didn’t sound so bad after all. And if Celestia didn’t have to do quite so many princess-y things anymore then they’d have a lot more time to spend together. Maybe she could move to Ponyville with the rest of them! That would be fun. “Small steps,” Twilight said aloud to herself, forcing her mind to slow down. There were other things to be done first, like a world to recover from the brink of destruction. She didn’t want to imagine what chaos Discord was currently unleashing on the world. She hoped that Celestia was right, and that he would keep his word. There would still be a lot of work to do to recover the tribes from the coasts and encourage them to move back into the heartlands, but at least if there weren’t packs of monsters lurking behind every shadow then that would be a lot easier. “I’m going to try and cast the spell again,” she announced, standing up and lowering her head, fiery determination coursing through her veins. Celestia said something, but she was already deeply embroiled in the magical gymnastics required. The same feeling was there, growing at the tip of her soul, but this time it was unstable and swelling far beyond her control. With a crack it collapsed, dumping the remaining energy back into her horn. She cried out in pain and fell back a few paces, groaning. Bright spots of light flashed in her vision and she felt very dizzy. “Patience, Twilight,” Celestia scolded gently. “You must wait until you have recovered properly before attempting such a spell again. It was not designed to be cast by somepony so young and inexperienced.” “Yes, princess,” she said automatically, still rubbing at her temples. “We have time, let us talk for a while. Tell me about your adventures. Discord and I have been able to see fragments, but I would like to hear your interpretation.” Twilight blinked away the dizziness and began recounting events from the past couple of extraordinarily long days. Her meeting with Spike was of particular interest, and she was fascinated to hear all about the humans, their technology, language, customs, everything. “I’ve not had a lot of time to study them, I’m afraid,” she said. “Besides Riley. The others we travelled with seemed nice enough, but hardly any of them can speak our language, and I never had the chance to attempt to learn much of theirs.” “You seem to hold some affection for him,” she observed with a smile. Twilight felt her cheeks flush, was it that obvious? “A little bit,” she mumbled, feeling like a filly with a crush at school. “He’s intriguing. He’s so strong and fearless, too, he’s always protected me and helped me, even though I don’t think he’s meant to. They have a very strong hierarchical organisation, you see, and he’s fiercely obedient to his superior, who doesn’t think they should interfere with our lives. But I am glad he did, I don’t think I would have made it this far, without Riley. And it’s only natural I should feel something for him. “You can’t deny the humans are quite cute, as well,” she said with a slightly bashful grin. “Especially when he’s thinking about something and he gets that far off dreamy look…” Celestia nodded and gave her another warm smile. “Indeed. Although, isn’t he leaving here soon?” “Yes,” she said with a sad sigh, all too aware of the fact. “He has to go. His people need him. More than I do. “It’s a great shame, though. They have so many wondrous things, princess! They can’t make their own magic, but they’ve built machines to do it for them. They have flying craft that can circle the entire planet one hundred times in a day! Medicine that can regrow bones in a single night, machines that can take tiny photographs of you. Endless marvels, what I wouldn’t give for a lifetime to study them.” “They certainly sound fascinating, my dear Twilight,” Celestia said with a smile. Her old student was firmly back in academic mode, her favourite place to be. “I think Riley, and maybe all of them, could really benefit from the lessons you taught me, princess. They seem so… friendless. I want to help them, I want them to stay here. I wanted them to help us, as well,” she said. “And they told me they couldn’t. I was angry at the time, but I understand clearly now, they have far greater problems than we do. It was very selfish of me, to demand their help.” “We must each fight our own battles, Twilight,” Celestia said wisely. Twilight imagined Riley saying exactly the same thing in his calm, measured way, upset at having to tell her something she didn’t want to hear. That was just like him, she decided. She tried to steer the conversation away from Riley a little, she was starting to realise she was gushing about him to the princess, and looking at it from her viewpoint it probably seemed a little… odd. Alien… pony… weird. She swallowed guiltily. “Princess, do you know what might have happened to the Elements of Harmony? They vanished when I cast… that spell. Spike thinks their physical manifestations might have been destroyed. Can I get them back? I’m worried we might need them before today is over, with Discord on the loose again.” Celestia paused thoughtfully and replied that she wasn’t aware that they had been lost. “This information shines a new light on matters. Firstly, their fundamental essence cannot be destroyed, so have no fear of that. The most likely explanation is that Discord has them, as I assume you were wearing them at the time you banished him. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, and she suddenly looked more alert. “We have had a long time to talk, he and I. He has not mentioned them. In hindsight that is suspicious in itself.” “Discord has the Elements?” Twilight cried, standing up suddenly. All the hard work she had put into trying to tame her wild mane was immediately wasted as she paced nervously, upsetting it again. “Oh dear, oh dear, this is very bad.” Celestia looked thoughtful again, her eyes narrowed. “I am afraid in this instance I have to agree with you. I have a terrible suspicion he is up to something.” “Does he know you’re… weakening?” “Yes,” she said, a little reluctantly. “It may be that he wishes to rule in my place, instead of you. If he can hide the Elements from you then that is a powerful hand he holds in this game, and a move that will make his task much easier. I had hoped he might go peacefully, at least for some time, but if not then you and your friends are going to have to take action against him.” Twilight’s heart sank. She had been convinced that finding Celestia would be the end of her arduous journey, that the princess would help fix everything and they could return to normality once more. Normality plus some humans. That would have been perfect. Now it looked as if the responsibility for the future of Equestria had been placed firmly in her hooves again. Not only was she to rule in Celestia’s place, as if that weren’t going to be difficult enough, but first she was going to have to defeat Discord, again. She didn’t even know if her friends were even alive, she realised. A hot, nauseous feeling churned in her stomach. “I can see some things from here,” Celestia told her when she burst out with her worries. “Small snatches as the ether shifts to and fro and little pieces of the real world become visible. Discord is much better at reading it than I, a lot of what has happened I have had to rely on him for. But I think your friends in Ponyville are well, although they look exhausted. Applejack and Rainbow Dash have managed to return to the surface safely.” Twilight relaxed, slumping on the floor again. “Thank the sun,” she murmured. She would never have forgiven herself if anything had happened to them, after dragging them down after her. “That’s a saying you’re going to have to forget, soon,” Celestia told her, and despite everything she grinned.