Half Minute Horses

by Thunderbug80


Chapter 3: Timeout!

Chapter 3
Timeout!
World Destroyed: 2 Times


Twilight awoke to the smell of singed hair. She opened one eye and wasn't surprised at all to see that her tail was blackened in spots. A thin wisp of smoke rose from its very tip. Dying a second time only reinforced her conclusion that it was a situation best experienced only once, though she wouldn't have minded if she had never had to experience it at all. It was this reinforced unwillingness to die that found her leaping out of bed and spinning around to face Luna.

"Enough!" she shouted. "If you can turn back time, then you can also stop time. Thirty seconds isn't long enough to come up with a solution; I need some time to think!" It was around that moment when she realized that she hadn't jumped out of bed, and that she wasn't shouting at Luna at all.

"That is precisely what we have done, Twilight Sparkle," Princess Celestia said. She was standing about a meter away, wings spread in welcome, on what looked to be a road or pathway made out of some kind of glowing spheres. The pathway was suspended in midair over a shimmering, seemingly endless sea of stars. Twilight had seen this place once before.

"This is where I became a princess," she breathed. "Before the actual coronation. But I don't understand–" she looked at Celestia and tilted her head "–why are we here?"

Princess Celestia smiled down at her former student. "It is only in this place where my sister and I possess enough strength to both maintain a time stoppage and have a few moments to discuss strategy."

Princess Luna appeared from behind Twilight and walked over to stand beside her sister. They looked at one another, then back at Twilight, who had a feeling that she was finally about to receive a proper explanation of what was going on.

She was not disappointed.

"About five minutes ago, my sister and I suddenly sensed that an artifact of great power was nearby," Princess Celestia explained. "We assume that, until very recently, there were protective spells placed upon it to hide its existence from those who might misuse it. Unfortunately, that means we were unaware of its existence until now."

Princess Luna continued for Celestia. "By the time we narrowed down its location in the Everfree forest, the Evil Lord was already casting the spell." She frowned and stamped a hoof, though it made no sound on the glowing pathway. "We needed to move fast. We must both concentrate together in order to turn back or stop time. This means we had to choose between risking the fate of the world by fighting the Evil Lord by ourselves without a safety net, or bringing in somepony else who is strong enough to face him while we prepare the time spells in the event of a failure."

That explained why neither of the princesses had directly confronted the Evil Lord, and why Twilight had to be involved. It wasn't difficult for Twilight to figure out that Luna would have had to teleport to her immediately to let her know what was going on. But it didn't explain why they simply hadn't stopped time after the first time the world was destroyed, and then explained things to her instead of allowing it to be destroyed again. She asked the princesses why this was so.

Celestia's voice was serious as she looked down at Twilight. "It is crucial that you fully understand the consequences of failure, my former student. By experiencing them firsthand on multiple occasions, I feel you are much more aware of what is at stake. We do not have the power to just stop time for as long as we wish, and even now our grasp on the magic is slipping. Even with time manipulation there is still a very real chance that we could fail." Celestia frowned slightly. "Permanently."

Twilight sat down and stared at the glowing path below her. It was a lot to take in, and there were still plenty of questions to ask. Who was this Evil Lord? Did he have a name, and how did he obtain such a spell? For that matter, why would anypony create a spell that could destroy the world in thirty seconds in the first place? Seriously, why? Even if somepony was bent on getting revenge for one reason or another, such a spell would still kill–

"Oh dear, it looks like our time is up," Princess Celestia said, breaking Twilight from her thoughts.

Twilight raised her head up and stared at the princesses. "Do you mean–"

"Our apologies, but we lost our grip on the magic five seconds ago," Luna explained. "We had better get you back to the library."

Twilight's jaw dropped. "Wait, this can't be happening!" She watched in horror as Luna prepared to teleport them back. "You mean you're just going to send me off to save the world again without so much as a 'Good luck, Twilight!'?"

"Good luck, Twilight," Princess Celestia said with a smile. Twilight tried to think of some kind of retort, but before anything useful came to mind she found herself back in her dark bedroom with Luna and a completely unconscious, and therefore oblivious, Spike.

"Couldn't be bothered to teleport me to the Everfree, I see," Twilight muttered as she sat down and crossed her front hooves with a scowl. She knew she shouldn't resort to bickering with the princesses, but she figured she had already died twice for them and had earned the right to complain.

Luna sat down and regarded Twilight, unblinking. "I would explain why it must be this way, but I'm afraid time isn't on our side."

Twilight suppressed the urge to yell and, instead, felt her lower lip tremble as she realized the inevitable was only seconds away. "I don't want to die again!" she cried.

"You're not doing much to prevent it," Luna said.

"Auuugh!" Twilight couldn't hold her anger in any longer. Evil Lords, spells of destruction, the look on Princess Luna's face at that moment. It was completely ridiculous! Thirty seconds to stop an Evil Lord? How was that even possible? Oh, but she had better succeed or else she would be treated to death after death after death, because that's all her life consisted of now, right? Thirty seconds to live, Twilight Sparkle, and then you get to die! To make matters worse, Spike over there was just sleeping through the whole thing like it didn't matter.

"Spike! Wake up!" Twilight shouted gleefully.

Spike sat bolt upright in bed and rubbed his eyes. He only had a second to see the blinding burst of light surge towards him before the world ended.