My Little Pony: The Element of Time

by Thunderwing250


Chapter 10: The Search for the Element

Wounded from Timaeus's attack, Xenxus landed on a nearby mountain top to regain his strength.

“Master of Time, assisting the Princess?” he muttered to himself. “No… No! That’s impossible! I must… defeat her before--”

“Before what, Xenxus?”

Timaeus slammed to the ground before him, creating a shockwave. Xenxus was knocked to the ground.

“You! You should’ve been dead, Guardian. DEAD!” Xenxus yelled out in rage. “You were defeated! All of you!”

Timaeus grinned.

“Your temperment hasn’t changed, not one bit,” he said with a smirk.

“Go to hell!” Xenxus roared out.

Xenxus charged at Timaeus, only to miss him, slamming into a wall. He struggled to pull himself out of the rock as, behind him, Timaeus smirked and flared his wings.

“Not so precise now, I see. Have you lost your focus? Attacking in fear does you no good at all, Xenxus. You felt powerful causing havoc in Canterlot. A monstrous force dwarfing all ponies. But, with Twilight Sparkle and the Archivist, I’ve noticed how intimidated you became, which is why I am here. You are so scared that you could not help yourself but to try to regain your confidence, attacking ponies much smaller than you. But, you have picked the wrong targets, especially when they defeated Khaoios--”

“Save your pathetic speeches for those fools you call subjects. Disgusting!” Xenxus spat in disgust.

“Still trying to find a way to reclaim Equestria? You do know that you’ll fail. The Guardians for Harmony are the ones you should now fear. You will fail the same way your brothers have when you fought against us,” Timaeus said.

“The only one who will fail here, Master of Time, is you. There are worse things than I, and I will be here to see it realized. We will drag this wretched world into oblivion!” Xenxus replied.

His pale eyes flashing with rage, he roars and jumped at Timaeus, his burst of speed making him all but invisible. He hit the black alicorn hard, throwing him deep into the mountainside. The boulders rumbled and crashed downwards onto Timaeus, burying him alive.

“Hmph… Your mistake, Master of Time, is that you speak far too much. Well, if you would excuse me, there are more places in this world that deserve my attention. Do not worry, they will be given the same care as I gave Canterlot! Fare thee well, fool!”

Xenxus flapped his strong wings and soared into the sky and, with a burst of speed, was gone.

After a few moments of silence on the mountaintop, the collapsed stones began to rumble. Timaeus emerged, unharmed but for the dust on his fur. He turned his gaze skyward.

“So that’s how you are going to play. You’re lucky I’m here.” Timaeus exhaled heavily. “Maybe one day you'll lose the arrogance that prevents you from checking on downed opponents. But, I doubt it.”

He lifted off and shot off into the sky, tailing the monstrous alicorn, wherever he was headed.

At the Tower of Kronos, Twilight and her friends hurried to the deepest part of the tower in search of the element. As they got deeper and deeper, oxygen levels dropped and the air grew hotter and hotter, tiring the ponies out. It was like going down towards a volcanic crater, with increasing levels of stinking sulfur.

At last, they reached the bottom of the tower, only to notice the room was dark-- very, very, dark as if there was not a single crack of light. Though exhausted from the intense heat, Twilight used her magic as a beam of light to observe the room. Suddenly, she saw a strange pipe organ across the room. In excitement, Pinkie Pie hopped over to investigate it.

“Oh. This looks familiar! Like the one I played at the old castle. Boy, did I scare all of you,” she giggled.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash turned their faces in embarrassment.

“Nah, I wasn't scared,” Applejack protested, though she looked rather embarrassed.

“Yeah. It only… uhhhhh… made us lose our concentration,” Rainbow Dash quickly responded.

“Yeah right, Rainbow, you were bouncing off the walls, you were so scared” Applejack laughed

“Pfft, no way, you were way more scared than I was! I was like a rock!” Rainbow Dash boasted.

“Girls. Please. There’s no time to argue. We need to find the Element of Time,” Twilight said.

“Sorry,” both Applejack and Rainbow Dash said.

“How exactly are we supposed to find it?” Rarity asked.
“Did Timaeus say where it is?” Fluttershy said.

Twilight looked at the organ a little bit more.

“Well, from what he told me, he said there would be a mirror,” Twilight was interrupted.

“FOUND IT!!” Pinkie Pie yelled.

“WHERE?” they all asked.

Pinkie hopped up the top of the organ and pointed out a plated mirror on its face. Twilight cast her light on it, but as soon as she did, the mirror began to glow. Suddenly generating light on its own, it shot out a beam of light across the room to the darkest corner and onto a ledge where a huge hour glass sat.

“Well, would ya look at that!” Applejack said.

“Good job, Pinkie,” Twilight said. “Rainbow, can you help me bring that down?”

“Of course,” Rainbow Dash said.

Together, they flew up and grabbed the hourglass tightly, though it was very heavy. They were almost halfway to the ground when neither of them could bear the weight any longer and it slipped from their hooves.

“LOOK OUT!” Rainbow Dash yelled out.

Everypony dodged the hourglass as it crashed down onto the ground and shattered, sand and glass spreading everywhere.

“No, no! Everypony, look through the sand! It's gotta be in there,” Twilight insisted.

She and Rainbow Dash joined the others, sifting through the broken hourglass, but they found absolutely nothing.

“Twilight, darling, there's nothing here but sand,” Rarity said.

Twilight had to sit down, defeated.

“B-But... Timaeus told me it was here, I... I...” She was speechless.

Applejack walked over to comfort her. She, along with the other ponies knew this incident was only stressing her out. Twilight tried to hold back her tears, but she couldn't do it. Though her friends were doing their best to comfort her, Twilight could only think about her failure and that hope was lost. Even as a princess, she felt such stress that it confused her to a point of affecting her emotions. Suddenly, she had a flashback of what the Archivist mentioned to her when Khaoios appeared.

Remember Twilight Sparkle, being a princess is a high responsibility, and can be stressful. By that, do not let your emotions get the best of you. If you fail, get up and keep going until you get it right.

Twilight then rubbed away her tears and stood up.

“I know the Element of Time is here, I just can’t-- Wait! Timaeus mentioned the mirror most of all! Not the hourglass! Maybe there's more to it!” Twilight quickly realized.

Suddenly, they noticed the mirror was still reflecting light on where the hourglass was. Desperately trying to find out, Twilight flew up and felt a cold draft.

“I found something!” Twilight said, pressing her hoof on the bricks.

“There’s just gotta be…” Twilight whispered, until a loud sound was heard.

The ground started to rumble and shook the castle, and then the organ was raised, revealing a secret passage, further underground. Twilight flew down and walked to the passage.

“We’re all right behind you,” Applejack said.