Chapter One: "Sync"
Rarity opened the libraries' door and walked in. She was the last one to show up to Twilight's gathering. Nopony knew why Twilight had called all of her friends for a meeting, but one thing was certain, she was anxious. The letter she had written them was frantic, scrawled by Twilight in a mad rush to deliver them.
Rarity was just finishing some dresses as the letter appeared before her, delivered by Spike's fire. She read the letter, and finished her last order. She didn't know what this was about, but she was curious, she walked to Twilight's house promptly after finishing.
Once inside all of her friends sat around chatting anxiously. Fluttershy was the first to notice Rarity walking in. "Oh Rarity, do you know why Twilight asked us here?"
Rarity shook her head. "I'm afraid I have no idea, is she here?"
Pinkie Pie nodded. "Yeah, but she told me to tell everypony to wait out here."
Rainbow Dash jumped in the air. "I was practicing a routine, I only came here because I thought this would be important." She said loudly, looking at the stairs.
Just then Twilight came out and began walking down the stairs talking hastily. "I'm so glad you could all make it so quickly, we have a problem."
"What kinda problem Twi?" Apple Jack asked.
"I have been doing a lot of studying on time magic lately, and well..." She hesitated, unsure how they would take the news. "I noticed something unusual, something I couldn't explain." She paused again.
Rarity stepped closer to her. "Well go on."
Twilight looked at her and smiled, but then let the smile fade. "There is something going on with the flow of time."
Everypony stared at her. Finally Rainbow Dash broke the silince. "Huh?"
"It's really hard to explain, but, when I started understanding the flow of time, I began to notice that it has been moving out of sync."
"Out of sync with what Twilight?" Rarity asked.
Twilight looked away from them for a moment. "Well that's the strangest part, apparently, it is with parallel universes to our own."
Everypony stared at her for a moment, not sure weather or not to laugh, or take what Twilight was saying seriously. Apple Jack took the calm approach. "So your saying that there is other universes out there, and that our time is running differently then theirs?"
Twilight blinked. "Well yes, that is exactly what I mean."
Rainbow Dash sighed heavily. "You mean to tell me you stopped my practice for other universes? Who cares how our time runs compared to theirs? It works fine for us."
Twilight's face became serious. "It is very important, our time is running thousands of times faster than theirs, if we can't fix that, then our universe will expire far before any of the others. I'm not sure if dimensional travel is possible, but if it is, we at least need to be in chrono-sychronocity with these parallel universes."
Apple Jack nodded. "So you want to travel to these places, but you don't think you can with the timing being out of sync?"
Twilight blinked again. "Precisely, but I'm not sure my magic is powerful enough to slow all of time down."
Rarity looked at her curiously. "What could all of us possibly do? I'm the only other unicorn here, and my magic isn't quite as powerful as yours Twilight."
Twilight looked down at the ground. "Well, I was thinking..."
Apple Jack shook her head. "No way am I gonna help you use the elements like that Twilight."
Twilight looked at Apple Jack in shock. "AJ, how did?"
"It was written all over your face."
Twilight's head dropped again. "I was afraid you may not want to help, but please think of all the things we could learn from these other universes!"
"Think of all the problems we could cause if we did something wrong."
Twilight looked away. "The possibility for failure does exist, but is the risk not worth the reward?"
Apple Jack shook her head solemnly. "You of all ponies should know the answer to that. You messed with time once before, and you liked 'ta have driven yourself crazy. Do you really want to go through that again?"
"This is different AJ, this isn't time travel, this is just manipulation of its flow. I looked at all of the other universes and observed how much slower they move compared to us. The difference is immense. I'm not trying to do anything but fix something that is broken."
"How do you know it's broke? How da you know that isn't how it's s'posed to be?"
Twilight looked adamant. "Because I looked at hundreds of other universes, and I carefully measured each one, we are the only one moving at such a rapid pace, and they aren't very far behind us. Whatever caused this must have happened recently, something changed our flow, I know it!"
Both Twilight and Apple Jack stared at each other, practically seething. Rarity stepped between them. "Perhaps it's best if we all calmed down."
Apple Jack turned away. "I'll calm down back at the farm, I ain't gonna be any part of this plan!"
Rarity looked at her walk out hopelessly, then turned to Twilight, whose head had already been hung in defeat. “Please can't we talk about this?”
Apple Jack said nothing as she slammed the door on her way out. Twilight turned to look at the rest of her friends who all stood around in shock. “Without cooperation, the elements of harmony are useless. I'll find another way, you can all go home now.”
Everypony began to walk out, without saying anything. Everypony but Rarity. “I'm sorry darling, I can tell how important all this was to you.”
Twilight looked at her with sad eyes. “They're right though Rarity, as long as our time is consistent, who really cares that its out of sync with all the other universes?”
“Well obviously it matters to you. Is there anything I can do to help?”
Twilight sighed. “I suppose if I can't use the elements, then I could use some help, your magic is definitely stronger than average.”
Rarity smiled. She never thought she would here Twilight of all ponies complement her on the strength of her magic. “Thank you Twilight, I will help in any way I can.”
Later that day Twilight came out of her room after reading deep into time and space theory. Rarity had spent the majority of the day with Spike, knowing she was there more for moral support, and couldn't grasp the books Twilight was reading.
Twilight came out smiling. “I think we can actually do this!”
Rarity smiled back. “Let's get started!”
Twilight began walking down the stairs to her basement. When they arrived at the bottom she turned to face Rarity. “This could be dangerous, I'm not quite sure what could happen, are you sure you are ready to help me?”
Rarity nodded. “I have absolute faith in you Twilight. How do we start?”
“Well it is a good thing that I have you, because I certainly need to be able to have another consciousness to focus on, to keep me grounded in our flow of time. Otherwise, I might just slip myself into their time flow.”
Rarity lightly swallowed. “And what exactly would happen then?”
“Well... I would probably begin thinking at a much slower rate compared to the rest of our universe, and would appear not to move at all.”
“You would freeze in place?!”
“No, no. My body would keep moving, my mind would just be slower. Time flow is based on our consciousnesses' perceptions, I need to sort of 'connect' myself to another dimension, and then use your consciousness as a base to begin slowing down all of our time.”
Rarity relaxed slightly. “Oh I see, will it take long?”
“If I'm right, the entire process should only take ten seconds.”
Rarity took a deep breath in, and slowly exhaled. “What do I need to do?”