The dream that I had between waking periods was...strange.
It involved me seeing myself disappear from my home, and appearing in Equestria. But after I left the glade that I showed up in, it showed that a dark orb with a red spark within it rested there.
I would have to see if that was true for myself. If it were true, then I'd have a route home, once all this craziness was over with. But...
The Red Gates could only be used once. So I would have to take care that I left nothing undone before I used it, if it even existed.
When I came to, it was to an unfamiliar room. One that had my allies spread around on various comfy-looking and not so comfy looking surfaces. I commanded a bed, while Justice was propped up against the wall. Copper and Zehan were lying on a rug together, and Gregory was sitting at a desk with his head slumped onto the writing surface. Not long after I started to stir, I noticed a staircase set in one wall. I had a pretty good idea where we were now, and my suspicions were confirmed when I saw a familiar bearded form enter the room.
"Oh good, you've come to," Starswirl said as he came over to look me over. "I was out exploring and I felt a vast magical disturbance in the direction of the clearing where you first came from. When I went over to look, I found all of you, plus that griffon. I assumed he was a friend and brought you all back here, one by one, to rest and recover."
"You have my thanks," I told the wizened wizard. "How have you been?"
"Concerned about Scorpan," the unicorn replied. "I've not seen hide nor hair of him for the past few days in Equestria. He said he was thinking of bringing his brother here to learn of friendship, but that was some days ago."
My mind flashed to the end of season four, and I gulped before slowly pushing myself up. "Let me rouse my allies, and then we'll see about helping you find your friend," I told Starswirl.
This was bad news. This was seriously bad news. Scorpan was supposed to tell Tirek that friendship was the way, and his brother would reject that path. Then he'd return and inform the royal sisters of an impending attack by his centaur brother, and they'd stop the quadruped of the two.
Either time wasn't lining up this far back, or this was just the prelude to something worse. Or both. It could always be both. I hoped it wasn't both. I decided to wake up Zehan first, followed by Copper, and then Gregory. Copper could work out turning Justice on again once everyone else was woken up. At least, I hoped so.
I put a hand on Zehan's body and shook him gently, and he responded by jolting awake and screaming a warcry for a moment, before calming down noticeably and taking stock of the situation. "We are not where we were," he said, before his eyes fell on Starswirl. "Or when, either."
"Indeed not," I quipped. "The foe we were fighting summoned something too mighty for herself to control, and it ripped open a massive Gate. We came out...here, for the most part."
"In the glade to be precise, but I carried you all here when I saw you were in no state to walk here yourself," Starswirl added. Zehan merely nodded and looked around the room, as if looking for something. I found out what he was searching for rather quickly.
"And she did not come with us?" the zebra asked.
"The only 'she' that was in the glade was your friend there," the wizard said while pointing at Copper. "If there were anypony else, I would have seen them."
Zehan nodded again and slowly started to stand up. His yelling had stirred the others into alertness, and Copper and Gregory began waking up and looking around the room. Copper saw Starswirl and calmed down, whereas Gregory...not so much.
"And what new locale are we in now? Where did that fool Fiendlord run to?" he began asking before seeing the pony whose tower we were in. "What? Crono, tell me, where are we?"
"Less a question of where, more a question of when," I reply as Copper begins walking over to Justice. "I probably should have told you this to begin with, but...Hi, I'm Crono, I'm a time-traveller."
"I beg your pardon?" Gregory said with a tilted head. "Time-Traveller? Please, enlighten me."
"Like you would walk down a path, I can, at certain points in certain eras, travel through time," I said to the bird. "I have been to the past, the present, the future, and the distant future, as compared to where you stand on the timeline. It is because of what I saw in the distant future that I traverse the time-stream, seeking a way to undo the terrible future I have seen. We are currently in the Era of Discord, or just after it. I am sorry to tell you that you have come along for the ride with me thanks to the Fiendlord, but I would welcome your aid in saving the world."
Whoops. Why is it that everyone I tell the truth to breaks for a little bit? Maybe it's that whole 'I'm a time-traveller and now so are you' shtick. I really should see about finding a way to make my companions more hardy. Or maybe I should find a gentler way to break it to them. One of the two.
By this point in time, Copper had reactivated Justice, and the robot's eyes flashed a few times as he came back on-line. He seemed to roll through a series of systems checks, opening certain panels and displaying his weaponry, before a hiss of escaping steam came from his chassis and he nodded. "Justice back on-line," he said. "What was the cause of the latest malfunction?"
"The Fiendlord meddling in things she shouldn't have, resulting in a Gate that sent us back to here," I said to the robot. He seemed to take notice of Starswirl and nodded once in comprehension. Then Gregory spoke up again.
"I would have doubted your words, until I saw...that display. He's not just some sort of metal golem with magical weaponry, is he?" the griffon asked.
"Nope," I replied. "Automaton from the year 2300, and the mare that maintains him is also from that era. Zehan and I are from 1000. Like I said, time travel. We're out to stop the disaster from the year 2000 from happening at all."
"Tricky," Starswirl said with a hum. "Especially considering two of you are from beyond that era."
"Hey," Copper said as she turned to face the unicorn. "I decided to go along with this venture willingly. Because anything is preferable to the world that will be."
"And Crono is the reason I am active at all," Justice said with another nod. "I determined that this course was the best course of action from a very small list of possible choices."
"But still, the potential paradoxes you are introducing-" the wizard started to say, before I held up a hand to cut him off.
"We're already seen to," I said, indicating Zehan, Copper, Justice, and myself. "Though I will have to take Gregory to the pony that did it to us when the time comes. Assuming, of course, that he wants to come with us in the first place."
"How mighty is the foe, how terrible is his deed?" the griffon said as he pulled his blade out of his sheathe and ran one claw down it.
"If we don't stop him," I said to the griffon, "Then the powerful Lavos will see to it that all life on this world dies."
"That strong?" Starswirl whispered. I merely nodded once.
"Then I shall lend you my blade for as long as you have need of it," Gregory said as he returned the Masamune to its sheathe. "You have helped me restore the honor that was lost, avenge the fallen thanks to the Fiendlord. It would not be kind of me to not return the favor."
"Excellent," I said, before turning to Starswirl. "In that case, good sir wizard. Please escort us back to the glade where you found us. There is a Gate there that we must go through in order to bring our friend up to speed with ourselves."
"Are you certain you are recovered enough to travel?" the wizard asks us. I respond by rolling my arms and cracking my neck, grinning at him all the time.
"Never surer," I say to him. He sighs before beginning the trek downstairs, a trek that eventually leads outside. One we all follow him on.
Of course, it could never be that simple or easy for us. When we arrived at the clearing where the Gate was, it was to see Scorpan trying desperately to talk to his brother. "Please," the younger said. "Brother, I have walked among the ponies. They are welcoming and kind. Friendship truly is magic, they are perfect as they are. Do not do this, I beg of you."
"Friendship, a type of magic?" the red-skinned centaur scoffed. "Pah! As though that could sustain us more than just taking magic directly! As the stronger beings, we are deserving of everything we take from them! We shall become mighty on their magic, and we shall lead when we return home! None shall stand before us then!"
Scorpan closed his eyes, shook his head, breathed deeply...and when he opened them again, they had a glint of steel to them. "No," the creature said.
"What?" Tirek replied, dumbfounded.
"No," Scorpan repeated. "I will not allow you to do this. They do not deserve this. I will stop you, here and now."
Tirek roared at that and, with one mighty swing, backhanded Scorpan out of the way, leading to the creature landing at my feet in a heap. When the centaur turned to look at his brother, he saw us as well and snorted.
"And what are you? Some pet ape of the ponies, here to protect them?"
"If there's one thing I don't like," I said to the centaur as I drew my blade. "It's being called an ape!"
Justice made to attack first, with his rocket-powered detachable hooves. They struck true, but when they were pulled back, I could barely see a mark on our foe.
"He's...powerful, as long as he can guard," Scorpan said. "If he sees it coming..."
Well then, I thought as I began charging up my latest and greatest Lightning spell. Let's try a little shock treatment. I feigned a slash, which caused Tirek to try and catch my blade, only to see it stop short with my grin the only traitor that I had something else planned. I jumped back and pointed my hand at him, before lightning erupted from my form and coated the glade. It only actually hit Tirek, causing him to cry out and spasm as his muscles temporarily didn't obey his commands.
"Now!" I called out, and my friends responded. Copper blasted him with her energy blaster, Zehan gave him more than a few lumps with his staff, and Gregory got in more than a few decent cuts with the Masamune. By then, though, Tirek got up and growled, before his wounds started closing.
"Oh come on," I moaned. "Regeneration?"
"His power isn't unlimited," Scorpan said as he stood next to me. "If you can weaken him enough..."
"Then I should be able to banish him to Tartarus," Starswirl said from the other side. "But like Scorpan said. If he sees it coming..."
"Got it," I replied as I gripped my blade again, wondering what should be next. "Hmm...hey, Zehan! Your turn! Hit him with your best shot!"
The zebra nodded and closed his eyes, focusing on his magic. Tirek, instinctively sensing that this was not going to be good, attempted to brace for what he thought was going to happen.
If he thought it was going to be more lightning, he was sorely mistaken. Zehan opened his eyes, pointed a hoof at the centaur, and then there was ice. As in, a massive chunk of it, encasing our foe's form. With a cry, the zebra ran forward and shattered the prison with his staff, revealing the chilly centaur to all the world. Justice followed it up with a hooves-on approach, while Gregory once more sliced away. And that was when I noticed something that we could abuse.
The wounds and marks we were making on him disappeared faster than the ones Gregory left. The Masamune must have had some special property that negated his healing a touch more than the other means of attack we were throwing at him.
"Okay guys, take a breather for a bit," I told them. "I've got a plan now."
Unfortunately, that opened me up to the centaur charging up a ball of fire between his horns and throwing it at me. Thankfully, he telegraphed his move so much, I was able to dodge it, but now I knew that this was not the fight we had signed up for. Once I stopped needing to move, I saw that Gregory had caught his next wind and had to think of something. "Justice, your turn! Light him up!"
Once again, Tirek must have been expecting the worst, only to be met with even worse. The robot beeped and opened up his panels before firing all his lasers at the creature before us. As Tirek roared in pain, I enacted the next phase of my plan. "Now, Zehan, Gregory! Hit him!"
Zehan, having already blown his surprise round, took advantage of Tirek's distraction to lay down a few easy hits. And Gregory's sword was the crux of my plan. If it took more time and, crucially, more effort, for Tirek to regenerate from those wounds, then we could end this faster just by having the griffon land as many hits as possible.
As I thought, the centaur recovered from Zehan's blows with little effort, but from the slashes provided by the Masamune, he took at least five seconds to fully heal. Tirek roared and charged at me, and I fell back, still trying my best to dodge the hits that I knew would more than sting should they connect. I quite nearly did dodge all of it, but one punch out of the flurry he threw at me connected. And just from that one punch, I knew we had to end this, and end this quickly.
"Copper, go! Fire it up!" I told her. Tirek had time to look surprised before the mare unleashed a torrent of flame all around the glade. The flames condensed on his body, burning him horribly. At least, judging by the screams. I took the chance to slash at him, as well as my fellow party members beating on him. Gregory was last to the party, though, and just as he inflicted the last few blows, the red-skinned centaur had time to heal from the rest. Still, he was panting heavily and shaking where he stood once he recovered from the blows the griffon had inflicted. I judged now to be our best chance to both imprison the creature and still not badly affect the timeline.
"Starswirl, NOW!" I yelled at the unicorn. He nodded, and there was a blinding flash of light...
That, once it cleared, revealed that the spell had done its job and sent Tirek away. "He is gone, sent to Tartarus for what he would have done," the mage proclaimed. "I am sorry I had to do that, Scorpan. But he could not be permitted to take magic from the ponies."
"You are forgiven," the creature said with his head bowed. "I only wish that he had listened to reason and not attacked even me in his greed for more power." Scorpan then looked at us with a curious expression. "I wonder," he said aloud. "What will you do now that you have bested my brother?"
"Continue to adventure," I said automatically. "There are so many things that we need to do yet before we will be done. I'm certain that we just don't know them yet."
Scorpan nodded before he said words I never expected him to say. "Take me with you."
The five of our adventuring party stood there, nonplussed by the statement. It was Starswirl who spoke up first. "Scorpan? Did you just tell them to-"
"Yes, friend Starswirl," Scorpan said without looking at him. "I did tell them to take me with them. With my brother gone...I have no more reason to remain here save for the ponies. I would like to learn from them, how to properly stand up for myself. How to fight. And what it really means to be a friend to another. They, I think, can teach me more than the ponies here."
"Fair warning," I said to Scorpan, having recovered. "You come with us, there's no turning back. Once you start down this path, you can't quit halfway. And who knows where we'll be going? Not us, not yet. Still sure you want to come with me?"
Scorpan thought about it for all of a second before nodding again and stepping closer. I offered him my hand, he met it with his own, and we shook on it.
And that was how we went from four to six in the span of a single day. I drew my Gate Key from my belt and looked at Starswirl, smiling at him as I did. "Take care, mighty mage," I said to him.
"Just as long as you all do the same," he said, still watching us. I obliged his curiosity and put Key to Gate, sending us all to the End of Time...