//------------------------------// // Time Passes // Story: The Ends Justify the Means // by Kris The Kris //------------------------------// Lezard flapped his wings gently, staying above the buildings as he soared toward the north. He kept his eyes locked on the horizon, looking for a few landmarks that would show that he was close to his secondary lab. He would occasionally see a small town or house as he was nearing his secondary base. “Good, at least I won’t have to go far to get the blood I need.” He mused. Lezard flew lower to the ground, seeing the landmarks. After about 15 minutes, he landed, his hooves clopping on the ground as he examined the land around him. Originally, the land was very dry due to it’s location near the mountain, with scarcely any trees. There was yellowed grass everywhere and it was a location no pony would go to. Now, it was a thriving location with trees towering up over Lezard’s head. about a mile away there was a pony village and about half a mile away from the village was something that made him shudder in irritation and fear. A Kobold village. Kobolds were basically cousins to Diamond Dogs, looking like hunched over Old English Sheepdogs. Kobolds stayed above ground to fight the ponies and usually wore leather or iron armor. They were physically powerful and some could use decent magic. The reason why they hadn't all teamed up to destroy all the ponies is because… they are the stupidest creatures in all of Equis. One could bribe them into not attacking with something shiny even if the item was just a polished stone. No one would hire them as they usually messed up everything they did. One Kobold was rather infamous over a thousand years ago for getting hired to protect a small house and somehow causing a fire that took the lives of over a thousand ponies, griffons, and deer. Lezard looked irritated for a split second before he approached a large stone. He tapped on the stone three times with his hoof before he heard a small beep and the stone lifted up, showing a path underground. He walked down, feeling the wards he placed over a thousand years ago scan him to confirm that he had no magical ‘bugs’ or trackers of any kind. Lezard flared his magic, causing the rock to return to it’s place and the occasional stone in the floor to glow. He also started returning to his normal human form. The human stopped in his lab as soon as he saw a thick layer of dust covering everything, to which he had one response. “It was temporally sealed. Where did all this dust come from?” Months later… Lezard looked proudly upon his lab, seeing how the most important part was clean and producing a standard homunculus to clean the rest. He briefly looked to the calendar where he had all the days marked. Monday was Life Boat Research/Free Day. In other words, it was the day he’d work on his plan to head home and if he hit a stumbling block, he’d work on a different project or just be lazy. Tuesday was Time Maid Day, in which he kept trying to make a homunculus maid with the power to stop time for her or his self. That research was practically at a standstill due to trying to get the Time Stopping spell etched into every cell of the homunculus. Wednesday was Resources Day. Basically, he would go out under his pony glamor and get food and water from the nearby village, which he was pleasantly surprised to learn wasn't Ponyville. He couldn't deal with Twilight pestering him just yet. Also, he went out and stole blood from some of them for the Tuesday Project. He snickered as he remembered the first time he did it to a stallion. He had knocked the pony out, drawn some blood, and then left a few sugar cookies, a glass of orange juice, and a card saying, “Thank you for your donation.” He practically wet himself. Thursday was Building Day, where he slowly built up his tower. Currently, it was at ten stories but they weren't livable yet. No one would notice or run into it due to the wards etched into it. Friday was when he just put on a glamor and went into town to just walk and brainstorm. Of course, as a little inside joke, his pony self was called Rocket Brain. He loved it. The weekends were days when he just relaxed or worked on his projects a little at a time. He missed the Internet. He marked off the current Monday before going back to his notes but stumbled back when something hit him in the face. He took it off to reveal a selfie of some brown haired woman before he heard what he presumed to be her voice. Time, the real final frontier. This is the token of Max Caulfield, the Master of Time. Its mission: to seek out those who would protect others and tear down tyranny; to boldly go before me so that I may be called when the time is right. Lezard said nothing as he quickly got to work- wait, no, he just put it in a folder to magically examine it later. “Can’t be my sister, doesn't sound meek enough.” Celestia looked out the window at the empty space where Lezard Valeth’s statue used to be before a knight found it decapitated three months ago. She still felt sadness for the strange creature, even if it did enrage her sister. In the end, it showed remorse for those it had killed, even if it was in a strange way like taking fur, blood, or hair. In the end, it had surrendered to her and Luna, only for Sombra to throw it into the Harmony Beam as well. Celestia knew it still had good in it’s heart, if only for the fact that he was only turned to stone while Sombra, whose heart was blacker than Luna’s night, was turned to smoke and sealed in the ice. At the same time, she could feel that maybe Lezard wasn't dead. Maybe, he was freed by the elements but hid for some reason. With that feeling in her heart, she turned to her desk and started writing a letter to Twilight.