//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: The End of Time // Story: Half Minute Horses // by Thunderbug80 //------------------------------// Chapter 10 The End of Time World Destroyed: 134 Times Dark Lords Defeated: 2 "That was very clever, Twilight Sparkle." Twilight half-opened her eyes, then leapt into the air when she saw Princess Celestia's face just inches from her own. She landed in much the same way that a frightened cat might, with her back arched and the hairs on her neck and back sticking straight out. It took a moment for her heart to slow down, but she eventually was able to become calm enough to speak. "What? Oh, this?" she asked abashedly, her eyes darting back and forth. It was far too late to hide the sleeping forms of Spike and Pinkie Pie. "Ehehe, yeah um... it's not what it looks like!" Princess Celestia's giggle was disturbing in its genuineness. "Oh, Twilight, we know that it's exactly what it looks like." The princess's words sounded as if they were meant to be reassuring, but somehow Twilight was instead filled with terror. Celestia continued. "My sister and I are not perturbed. In fact, we think it was a wonderful idea." Twilight raised her head up hopefully. "Y-you do?" "Oh yes," Celestia replied. "We were so impressed that when the seconds you were gone turned to minutes, and then the minutes turned to hours and our magic was utterly spent in a vain attempt to keep time halted so that you might have your rest, we decided that we would do the same as you have." The princess's smile seemed genuine, even in her eyes. "So we allowed time to flow once more and the world was destroyed as you slept. I'm sure you didn't even feel it." "I did!" Pinkie exclaimed. If she had felt it, she certainly wasn't showing it with the big grin that was on her face. "Oh, but that's not all," Celestia continued. "We were quite drained of our magic by then, you see. We had no choice but to allow the world to be destroyed again, and again, and again. Over and over until we felt that we were strong enough to stop time once more." "You died again with each successive destruction of our world," a voice from behind Twilight said, frightening her all over again. She turned to see Princess Luna. "It pains me very much to admit that we have watched you die one hundred and twenty seven additional times." "But who's counting?" Celestia mused. She smiled again at Twilight. "We do have a problem, however." "Ooh, is it a math problem?" Pinkie asked as she made her bed. "Twilight is way good at those!" No, it wouldn't be a math problem, Twilight thought. It would never be anything as easy as that. It would be something awful. Perhaps the princesses were completely drained of magic and could no longer stop time, and they had just woken her up to say goodbye. Or maybe they were about to demand increasingly larger amounts of cake and chocolate for their time stoppages, like some kind of inflating time tax. Whatever it was, it would most certainly not be a math problem. "Actually," Princess Celestia said, "it is a bit of a math problem." Of course, Twilight thought. Here comes the catch... Princess Luna moved to stand next to her sister. "You see, when we were forced to take breaks to regain our magic, something unfortunate happened." Her face grew serious. "We originally hadn't planned on taking breaks, of course. It was only after we defeated the second Dark Lord that we were forced to take them." Twilight's ears perked up. "Wait, what?" she asked. Celestia put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "We hoped you would wake up and allow us to have a rest, but you never did. With our magic almost utterly spent, we weren't certain whether we could reset time again or not." "Therefore," Luna continued, "we were left with no choice but to risk everything and fight the second Dark Lord ourselves. We couldn't just allow ourselves to become unable to reset time." Twilight swallowed hard. She hadn't expected that her simple rest could have cost them everything. "We were successful," Princess Celestia said. "But not before the Dark Lord had made copies of the Spell of Destruction and spread it around. Faced with dozens of new, unintentional Dark Lords, we had no choice but to allow the world to be destroyed again and hope that we were strong enough to reset time." "As you can see, we were successful in that as well," Luna finished. "But we could only reset back to the point immediately after we defeated the Dark Lord. There are now dozens of Dark Lords, all simultaneously preparing to cast the Spell of Destruction." "Ooooh, I get it. It's a math problem because the Dark Lords have multiplied!" Pinkie Pie grinned, satisfied with her comprehension skills. Twilight stared straight ahead, past the two princesses. It was a complete disaster. She was ashamed of her selfishness in tricking the princesses into giving her a rest. Her actions had nearly cost the lives of every living being on the planet. Her friends, her family... even the two princesses who stood before her. They had put everything on the line to stop the Dark Lord in her place, and she had slept through every crucial second of it. She hung her head, unable to meet the gaze of the princesses. A moment later, she felt a gentle hoof on her shoulder and looked up, blinking through tears, to see Celestia looking down at her. "My dear Twilight," the princess said. "Do not think for one moment that this is your fault. Each of us have made mistakes this night. I am not proud of some of my actions, either, but pride is not what is needed at this time." She turned to look at Luna, who had just awakened Spike. She then turned back and addressed Twilight. "You can not possibly defeat all of the Dark Lords by yourself, even with time manipulation. If we continue on as we have, we will eternally be stuck within this time loop, forever battling the Dark Lords without ever having a chance of success." She looked up and addressed the group as a whole. "But if we band together, it may be plausible that we can get out of this mess and save the world once and for all." "Wheeee! I get to fight Dark Lords again?" Pinkie asked excitedly. "Yes," Celestia announced. "My sister and I as well. Even you, little Spike. We will need all the help we can get, and this is all the help we're going to get. Nopony else in Equestria knows what's going on, and we won't have time to explain. We won't get another chance, and we'll be unable to reset time again. Once time is restarted, we will have thirty seconds to decide the fate of the world." Twilight looked around the room. The faces of the princesses were stern and serious; a sharp contrast to how they had acted earlier. Pinkie seemed excited, as always. She turned to look at Spike. The baby dragon's eyes were wide and staring off into the distance. He looked as terrified and alone as she felt. She reached out a hoof and pulled him into a hug. "I'm really going to need to rely on the help of my number one assistant," she said gently. "Are you up for the task?" Spike looked down for a moment, but when he raised his face, his eyes were set with determination. "I'm at your service, Twilight!" he said proudly. Twilight hugged him tight, then looked up at the princesses. "Let's do this," she said.