//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: Running out of time // Story: Like A Phoenix // by Coda Singer //------------------------------// "So what do you suppose we do now?" Asked Rarity. Twilight had just told Rarity, Apple Jack, Sweetie Bell, Travis and Coda the story of her dream meeting with Sombra. throughout the story they all shared the same outbursts. Gasps, angry cries, looks of concern. "I'm not sure," Responded Twilight, "But I don't think he knew about the ripple." Her friends all had the same expression of shock. "How do you know?" Asked Coda. "He threatened to kill me." Said Twilight, expecting her friends to understand but she overestimated them. "What do ya' mean?" Asked Apple Jack. "If he knew about the ripple then he would've known that killing me wouldn't do anything." Explained Twilight. "My body would just be sent back in time and returned to normal." "Well if that'll happen when you die, then killing Sombra, Discord and Nightmare moon won't do anything either." Said Travis. "No, I'm trying to completely destroy their bodies." Twilight explained, sounding a little to light hearted, "So there's nothing to send back." Twilight's friends stared at her with intent and concern. She shook her head. "Anyways, I'm going to head out into the woods to see how much the ripple has accelerated." Twilight stood up and began walking towards the forest. "I'll come with!" Said Sweetie Bell, galloping to Twilight's side. Twilight smiled and Sweetie Bell smiled back, She turned back to the others but her eyes stopped at Travis. "Be back soon!" Travis waved with a smile. A few minutes of walking through the woods had passed. Twilight had been continuously kicking a stone across the forest floor, much to the annoyance of Sweetie Bell. "Why are you doing that exactly?" She asked in a calm tone though Twilight could tell she was very annoyed which wasn't normal for Sweetie Bell. Normally she was the annoy-er not the annoy-ee. "If anything comes in contact with the ripple, it will be sent back in time. By kicking this rock we'll know where the ripple is." Twilight looked up at Sweetie Bell who still looked confused. "The rock will disappear when we reach the ripple." "Oh." Said Sweetie Bell in realization. "Well what if we do this." Sweetie Bell illuminated her horn and a dead tree branch levitated off of the forest floor, it floated in front of the two and began moving at the same pace. "Now we don't have to hear that noise." Twilight nodded and kicked the rock deep into the forest. Sweetie Bell relaxed a bit. "So," Said Twilight in a smug and joyful tone. "You and Travis huh?" Sweetie Bell's face turned a shade of pink that could rival Pinkie Pie. "What about us?" She responded, trying to hide her nervous embarrassment. "Well it's no secret you guys are in love." Sweetie Bell's pink face began turning red, it looked like she had a raging fever. "What do you mean?" Said Sweetie Bell in a shaking voice which cracked before the sentence could end. "Well," Twilight chuckled, "I see you give him the occasional kiss on the cheek." Sweetie Bell continued walking in silence. "I think it's a great thing, plus now your love can keep him well fed as well." They continued for another couple of minutes in silence, Sweetie Bell's face slowly changed from red to white again. Suddenly the stick in front of them vanished. They both stopped dead in their tracks. Twilight picked up a rock and tossed it in front of her. At half arc the rock vanished as well, Twilight and Sweetie Bell looked at each other, Twilight rummaged through her saddle bags and pulled out the map. She examined it closely. "That's not good." She said, slowly lowering the map and looking at the invisible ripple in time before her. She picked up another rock and tossed it, it vanished like the others but Twilight swore it vanished slightly earlier than the other ones. "What is it?" Asked Sweetie Bell, trying to focus on the ripple but failing. "It's moving a few feet a day now." "How fast was it moving before?" "About an inch." Sweetie Bell looked back to the invisible ripple. "No that isn't good." Twilight slowly turned away from the ripple, she pulled Sweetie Bell by the shoulders and the two of them began walking, then trotting. Before they knew it they were galloping as far away from the ripple as possible. They soon made it out of he woods and ran to their friends as fast as possible. "What is it?" Asked Travis, seeing the worried look on Sweetie Bell's face. "The ripple... Getting faster." Twilight managed to say between gasps for air. She was too old to run that far. "How much faster?" Asked Coda. Twilight paused and made the familiar face she made when she did math in her head. "About six inches an hour." Her friends didn't seem to understand. "It'll reach this field at..." Twilight looked to her time dial. "Six, in a few hours." Her friends exchanged looks. "I think we should all pack up and head further west as fast as we can." Her friends all nodded and began walking to their blankets and began packing them up. Twilight ran to her rock and climbed to the top. She resumed her speech giving position and began shouting to the sea of ponies. "Ponies of the colony! The ripple in time is accelerating at a worrying speed. It will reach the field in no more than three and a half hours." Some ponies let out cries of shock, while others woke from the sleep that they were still in. "We need to pack up and head west before then." "No!" A pony shouted from the crowd. Twilight looked down and saw a grey pony with a deep green mane. Twilight stood in silence. "Why do you disagree?" She asked, trying to keep her calm. "You've got no idea what you're doing do you!? You're just making all of this up as you go along, keeping us in the dark!" A few ponies shouted in agreement. "Actually we're closer now than we've ever been to stopping the apocalypse. We have a theory forming." "What's the theory?" He asked in a sarcastic tone. Twilight paused, if she told them she was planning on killing Sombra, they might not agree. She pondered this thought: "I can't tell you yet." "Exactly!" He yelled, his voice suggested he thought he won the fight. "I think Cinder was right! I think I we walk ink the ripple, we'll be sent back into our old lives!" "Yeah!" A few ponies yelled. "I say we head for the ripple! Who's with me!?" "Yeah!" The ponies shouted again. The grey pony began galloping towards the forest, about twelve ponies following him. "Wait!" Twilight screamed, the ponies continued galloping. "Cinder was right!" The ponies stopped dead in their tracks, their heads turned and looked back to Twilight, the ponies in the remaining crowd looked surprised as well. "If you walk into the ripple, you'll be sent back in time to your old lives." The grey pony smiled a smug smile. "But if we don't do anything in this time, you'll just live the apocalypse all over again. So yeah, you can run to the ripple and curl up in your warm house with your friends and family. But if we fail in our attempts to stop the apocalypse, you'll just see your friends and family fade from existence again. Going to the ripple may be the easiest choice, but the easiest choice isn't always the right one. Feel free to scamper away to your homes, with your tail between your legs. Or you can stay and fight! To stop this thing once and for all!" The ponies who stayed yelled screams of agreement and joy. A few ponies who had left with the grey pony began walking back to join the crowd. The grey pony's smile turned to a voice of anger. "Fine! Join her and fall to your deaths! I'm going to see my family!" He and the remaining eight ponies continued galloping towards the forest. Twilight looked back to the ponies who had stayed. They were loyal to her, she never thought she would lead a colony. She felt a spark of pride as her face turned to a smile. "We all need to pack up and head west!" The ponies nodded and dispersed, stuffing blankets and pillows into saddlebags. Twilight nodded curtly and hopped off of her rock, she was greeted by her five friends all patting her on the back and congratulating her. "That guy didn't know what he was talking about." Said Apple Jack, "Yeah!" Said Sweetie Bell. Twilight thanked them and began packing up her own blankets and pillow. She stuffed the blanket into her saddle bag and lifted her pillow, Poems of a Changeling was sitting underneath it. She smiled and carefully put it in her saddle bags. Twilight climbed off of her rock and pulled out the map of Equestria. They would have to travel through unicorn range and reach Vanhoover. They were running out of time, Vanhoover dropped off into an ocean further west, they would have to kill Sombra soon or they would relive the apocalypse all over again. Twilight tucked away the map and looked out across the fields, ponies were already marching across the field towards the thin patch of tree leading into Unicorn Range. Twilight began walking but suddenly had the feeling of being watched. She turned back and saw nopony, looking up to her rock she saw Sombra, standing in his regal armor and cape, geek eyes flowing, a fanged grin on his face. Twilight turned around and kept walking with the others.