//------------------------------//
// Revision 
// Story: Split Second 
// by wille179 
//------------------------------//

	“I think that’s enough for now, Cobalt,” Sparkle said, looking at the exhausted blue earth pony.
“No, no, I’m... good. We just... started... an hour ago,” he replied between gasps.
“Yes, and you shouldn’t be this tired already,” Sparkle commented worriedly.
Cobalt looked at the ball in front of him., sitting still on the floor of the main room of Sparkle’s new apartment. He had been trying - somewhat successfully - to levitate it, and was still trying despite apparently running on empty. “Come on... I can.. *Huff*... still... do this.” The faint cobalt-blue aura rematerialized around the ball in conjunction with the young stallion scrunching his face up in concentration.
Sparkle rolled her eyes. “Cobalt, would you kindly stop trying to use your magic?” The aura vanished instantly.
“What was that for?” He said after catching his breath.
“You should have been able to lift that ball up easily enough. Cobalt, you are exhausted,” she said, pointing towards his shaking form. “Have you been sleeping?”
“Well... enough, I guess.”
“Cobalt, would you kindly tell me the whole truth; are you sleeping correctly?”
The stallion was suddenly subject to the odd sensation of his mouth moving without his voluntary consent. “No, I have not been sleeping regularly. In the past week, I may have slept a total of twenty hours, and I have not slept in two days.”
A hoof met her face. “What have you been doing?” 
The question was asked rhetorically, as she pretty much knew what he was doing. Cobalt, still under her previous order’s effects, answered anyway. “I have been studying and practicing your teachings to the best of my ability.”
“Cobalt, belay that last command. Now, do I have to order you to sleep?” Sparkle asked. “There is no way you can be in any way productive right now.” 
He slumped over, quite tired. The light of the morning sun streaming through the windows caught fell across his face. Something about that sight caught Sparkle’s eye, his cheekbones in particular. “You’ve lost weight, haven’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Sparkle sat down next to Cobalt. “I’m an idiot,” she said. “Sometimes, I forget the smallest of things. Listen, Cobalt, this is important. Earth ponies and pegasi control their tribe’s magic with muscles, meaning it takes no extra mental effort on their part. Unicorn magic is controlled purely with the mind. In a hornless pony, the brain takes up a fifth of the Calories consumed. However, to use unicorn magic, your brain will hog even more of that energy, scaling linearly with your magical strength. I would expect you to be needing a few hundred more Calories a day than you’re used to.”
Sparkle’s horn darkened. From a drawer nearby, a candy-bar full of nuts floated out, held in her black aura. It floated over and deposited itself in front of Cobalt, who greedily ate it up in seconds.
“Oh... how much do you eat, then? If you don’t mind me asking...” Cobalt inquired, then appended his question meekly. “You’re really strong, so...”
“Ha. My whole family is really strong. You’ve seen the Canterlot shield? The current caster for that spell is my brother, Shining Armor. Between the two of us, we eat as much as five large earth ponies, and we’re not even that big. There was a time when money was tight for the two of us, and I was literally wasting away.”
“Wow...”
Sparkle smirked. “If you think that’s a lot, you should see the princesses eat. Celestia would call a whole cake ‘a light snack.’”
Cobalt let out a tired laugh. “Funny.” A moment of silence passed between the two. “I guess this means that class is over today?”
Sparkle nodded. “Yes. I have your first test planned for you tomorrow; it’s a two-part practical examination. I’m sure you’re ready for it, but you need a good, hearty meal, and plenty of rest.”
“What will I need to do, Ms. Sparkle?”
“I can’t say yet; that’s part of the test. We’re going to have to go on a little day-trip for this to pick up the last piece I need for it.” She floated over a train ticket to Cobalt. “Coincidentally, Ponyville is where my sister, Twilight, and her adoptive son, Spike, live.”
A broad, cheesy grin stretched across Cobalt’s face. “I’d love to meet them! That sounds like a lot of fun.”
“It will be, but don’t let them distract you, OK?”
“I understand, Ms. Sparkle.”





"Have you ever been to Ponyville, Cobalt?" Sparkle asked as the three, including Thorn, boarded the express train.
"Once. I can't say it was the best of experiences," he admitted. "There's nothing wrong with the town. It's just that my... family... decided that I should get my apprenticeship in an earth pony town. I took it as them trying to get rid of me, and... yeah, not fun."
"Ouch," Thorn commented as they took their seats. The (currently) small dracolich sat on the bench opposite from Cobalt and Sparkle, with the former sitting closer to the window. "What's your family like, anyway? You've met my whole badass family, but I don't think you've ever mentioned yours in the weeks you've been taught by Mom."
"I'm the youngest in my family. Unicorns. They're all unicorns. Very... traditional. And..." He trailed off for a moment as the train started moving. "I'd rather not waste my good mood on them."
Realizing that it was a sensitive subject, Sparkle and Thorn decided to let the subject drop. Now seeking for conversation, Thorn spoke up. “Anyway, I  can’t wait to see Rarity. I hope she remembers me. I haven’t written in so long, and-”
“Thorn, I’m sure she does,” Sparkle said. “I did have to stop you from writing her several times a day, after all. Just, don’t obsess too hard; we don’t want you being a thorn in her side, after all.”
The dracolich groaned. “That was horrible. Never use my name in a pun again.”
“No promises.”
Cobalt simply smiled at the interplay. Soon, the three of them were deeply engaged in conversation and barely noticed the passing of the landscape. Canterlot turned to Ponyville soon enough, and they found themselves standing to exit the train after what only felt like a minute.





“The caretaker should be right around here... oh, there’s her cottage,” Sparkle said, leading the group towards their goal’s home. Cobalt quickly trotted over and knocked on the door, while Sparkle and Thorn stayed further back and out of sight, resting next to the large bag they had brought.
When Fluttershy opened the door, she was greeted by a vividly blue earth pony with deep green eyes smiling brightly at her. “Hello! Are you the animal caretaker here?”
“Umm, yes?” she said, though it sounded like a question due to her anxiety’s influence on her voice.
“Great! I wanted to adopt a chicken,” Cobalt replied enthusiastically.
Animals were something the butter-yellow pegasus knew well, and, happy to have such a comfortable, topic, she latched on to it. “Oh, that sounds wonderful! I’m sure one of my chickens would just love to become your pet.”
“Can I go pick one out right now? I’m really excited about this,” Cobalt asked. Confused would probably be the more accurate term, as he still had no clue as to why his teacher wanted him to have a chicken, but he trusted she knew what she was doing.
The gentle mare led the blue stallion around to the side of her cottage, where a fenced-in chicken coop stood. “Come on out, girls,” Fluttershy crooned, eliciting a cacophony of clucks and an explosion of ruffled feathers as the hens raced out. “Mr... um, what was your name?”
“Cobalt, Miss.”
“Right, Mr. Cobalt here wants to adopt one of you girls,” she said, pointing the stallion out to the hens. “Doesn’t that sound lovely?”
Dead silence. The once noisy chickens stared at the earth pony with their beady little eyes. “B’GAWK!” a hen cried, eliciting a flurry of motion as the chickens immediately flocked to the other side of the pen.
“Girls, please calm down! What has gotten into you all?” Fluttershy asked, though it did little to actually calm the distraught fowl. “He’s not going to hurt you.” This time, her voice did manage to pierce the panic, causing the chickens to finally settle down.
Cobalt was unphased. “What’s the deal with that one?” He asked, indicating the bird closest to their side of the pen.
“Oh, that’s Elizabeak.” Fluttershy explained, “She’s really quite brave, though she likes to escape a lot. I had to save her from the Everfree Forest the other day when she wanted to go on an adventure.”
“Can I have her? Please?” he asked. Fluttershy noted that he was practically rocking on his hooves, unable to quite stand still, and grinning all the while.
“I think she would love to be your pet.” Fluttershy called out to the chicken, who waddled up to her and nuzzled her foreleg. “Do you know how to care for her? What kind of food and items to get for her?”
“Yes, yes,” Cobalt assured her, though in actuality, he knew nothing of the sort. Ms. Sparkle insisted that this wouldn’t be a problem. “I wouldn’t mind if I could get enough food for it for today, though. I’m headed back to Canterlot later this evening.”
“That’s not a problem. I’d be happy help you with that.” Soon enough, bits had changed hooves and Cobalt was the proud new owner of Elizabeak.
“Hankuu,” he said as he left, the handle of Elizabeak’s cage muffling and distorting his polite words. He trotted back to where Sparkle and Thorn were waiting.
“You won’t be needing that cage,” Sparkle said.
“Ha?” He set the cage down and tried again. “What?”
“This is your first test: keep the chicken on top of your head for as long as possible using magic. Bonus points if you can keep it calm at the same time,” she explained. “There’s no rest, but if the chicken gets free, you’re allowed to stop using magic until you can catch it again. This test lasts until you give up, and you’re not allowed to use any physical restraints.”
“An endurance test? So that’s why you wanted me to sleep and eat well yesterday,” Cobalt concluded. “That sounds easy enough.”
“Almost. I’m also looking to see how well you handle distractions. We’re going to be meeting my sister soon. I expect you to be able to keep up a conversation with her while holding your chicken.”
Cobalt blinked. “That might be a bit harder...”
“And I’m going to be trying to scare the chicken off your head,” Thorn said, grinning wickedly, “and straight into my stomach.”
Cobalt gulped. “Celestia damnit, are you trying to make Ellizabeak kill me?”
Sparkle just mirrored her son’s devilish expression.





He was so focused on keeping the animal from falling from his head that he almost missed when Sparkle made a sudden, sharp right turn. Had Elizabeak been squirming, he would have been too focused to notice, but as it was, she was sitting still. Strangely, she was also quivering.
After only a minute of walking, Sparkle’s horn started darkening. There was a shift in the air, something almost imperceptible and certainly indescribable. Before his very eyes, the ponies in the open area started doubling, but in a way that made them overlap themselves. Cobalt would have sworn he was going cross-eyed had it not been for three inconsistencies: Sparkle’s double was facing the other direction, her horn was glowing white, and Thorn’s double actually looked cute instead of ‘oh dear Celestia, that’s creepy!’ 
The two Sparkle’s hugged. “Sparkle! It’s so good to see you! It’s been so long.”
“Two months isn’t that long, Twilight,” Sparkle replied. Meanwhile, the two Thorns excused themselves to the side to go catch up
“We used to see each other more than twice a week! It feels like a long time.”
“What’s going on?” the poultry-adorned male asked.
“Right,” the dark-horned Sparkle said. “This is my twin sister, Twilight. She’s not actually my sister, but me from another timeline. Twilight, this is Cobalt, my student.”
“She’s from another time?” Cobalt asked.
At nearly the same moment, Twilight said, “You didn’t tell me he was an earth pony!”
“Didn’t I say that?” Sparkle said to both of them. “Hmm... and there’s that other exciting thing I haven’t told anypony yet. Dear me, my surprise-spoiling skills are getting quite rusty. I should really practice some more.”
“What other thing?” Twilight asked.
There was a pregnant pause. “It’s a surprise!” Sparkle eventually declared. “Oh, gosh darn it. I failed again. Maybe next time.”
Twilight snorted in amusement. “What’s with the chicken?”
“Remember the ball test Celestia had you do when you were little?”
Twilight gawked. “But with a live chicken?”
“Yep.”
A new voice called out, “Howdy Twilight... and Twilight? What?” The orange mare that had trotted up to the group ended with her eyes locked on the earth pony with a magically-glowing live chicken strapped to his head. “Was there somethin’ in mah cider? Dear log, ah must be seein’ things.”
Sparkle snickered. “Totally called it.”
“Hmm? Ah, Applejack, your eyes are working fine. And what are you laughing at, Sparkle?”
“Remember what I typed before I asked you to come up and see me last time? What was that I said about a log? Inane, I believe I called it.”
“You callin’ mah faith inane? Those are fightn’ words if ah ever heard them,” Applejack growled.
After calming her down and explaining the situation to her, Applejack realized that praising vegetative matter might sound a bit odd to a complete outsider.
Sparkle then spotted another mare entering the field of distorted time. Since she could see her before she entered, Sparkle deduced that it was her version of Beatrix Lulamoon. “Well, this it turning into a big old reunion, isn’t it?”
“Sparkle! What are you doing here?” The mare asked forcefully. “You’re not allowed out of Canterlot.”
“I got permission this time, honest.” Sparkle smirked at Trixie’s angry expression. “Besides, I’ve got a new soul, err, student, to fill my time with. Isn’t that right, Cobalt?” The blue stallion nodded, making his chicken cluck with indignation. 
Trixie paled. “You poor, pitiful soul. May Celestia’s light shine mercy upon you.”
“Hey, Trixie, when did you get back in town?” Applejack asked. “Ah thought you said you weren’t coming back for another month.”
“What? But Trixie has been here for months. She saw you yesterday,” the third-person speaker said, quite confused.
Twilight and Sparkle shared a look. By unspoken understanding, the two caused their auras to flicker, vibrating time. To the others, it looked like half of the group flickered out of existence for a very brief moment. “Wrong timeline, wrong ponies,” they chorused. 
“Twi, ya sure I didn’t drink the bad cider?”
“Don’t worry, Jappleack, the madness only lasts forever,” replied Thorn in his most creepy voice, intentionally butchering her name. He’d been listening to their conversation since the flicker.
Yet another pony joined them then, eliciting a private groan from Sparkle. She wondered if there was something about the magic in this spot that was just drawing ponies to them. The little white filly, not adorned by a cutie mark, was not interested in Twilight/Sparkle; it was instead Applejack she sought. “Hey AJ, have you seen Rarity?" Thorn perked up. "My parents are going out of town, and I was supposed to stay with her for the rest of the week.”
“Why sure! She’s at her store. Ah saw her there an hour ago.”
“No, she wasn’t,” the filly replied. “Carousel Boutique had the closed sign up. She’s never closed on Tuesdays.”
Realizing there was something wrong, Twilight interjected. “Sweetie Belle, do you recognize me?”
“Uhhh... should I?”
“OK, and do you know of somepony named Thorn?”
“That creepy stalker who keeps sending those letters that Rarity burns? Did he take her?”
“Hey! I put my heart and soul into those letters!” The aforementioned dragon whined.
“That’s probably why she burned them,” Sparkle snarked.
“Sweetie, Trixie, when was the last time either of you two saw Rarity?” Twilight asked, concern evident in the tone of her voice.
“Sunday?” Trixie suggested. Sweetie Bell agreed.
“Buck. Our Rarity was... with Spike. Double Buck.”
“WHAT HAPPENED TO MY RARITY?” Thorn growled, his spines and claws sharpening and his size increasing. Sweetie Belle squeaked and 	shrank back in fear, as did the chicken on Cobalt’s head. As for he and Trixie, they stepped back as well.
“Our Rarity was captured by Diamond Dogs in Rambling Rock Ridge. We-” Twilight was interrupted by a roar of pure rage. Thorn’s form erupted in size, making him nearly as large as a house. Two skeletal wings ripped through the skin on his back, the membrane substituted with a seemingly-solid black mist. He flapped once, twice, and then was airborne.
Ponies nearby screamed, running in terror. For those unlucky enough to be both in Thorn’s time and under his flight path, a sudden, lasting fatigue washed over them, coming as quickly as his shadow.
Atop his head, Elizabeak's perspective on life changed, and she decided there were worse places to be than atop this nasty pony's head. Down below, and bizarrely unphased, Cobalt muttered, “That’s something you don’t see every day.”