//------------------------------// // Liam: Be Awed // Story: Time & Space // by SomeoneD //------------------------------// NOTE: I have a fully formatted - text colours, font changes, etc - version avaliable as a Word Document if anyone wants it. I doubt you do, but it's there if you do. Also, I'm terrible at writing faux-Southern, if anyone wants to help I'd be appreciative. Liam: Assess Situation You are still being held in the magical (well, you say magic, but you only default to that because you don’t know what it really is, but you are beginning to think it really is magic) telekinetic grip of a one Miss Twilight Sparkle. The forest you are wandering through is beginning to thin out; the ground is become more worn, and you realise with a sharp curse (under your breath, a real gentleman never swears in front of a lady) that you are heading towards civilisation. Not that there is anything wrong with civilisation, but you really do just want to find Paul and figure out what exactly has gone on. That said, Paul did say ‘see you when you get here’, so there is that. It all depends on where exactly ‘here’ is. LIAM: So, how much further is this going to be? TWILIGHT: Not that much further. Fluttershy flew off to go let them know we are coming. You look around, to realise that she wasn’t lying – the pony who called herself Fluttershy is nowhere to be found. You hadn’t been paying much attention to anything but Pesterchum for at least 7 minutes, 43 seconds. You smile, a bit obnoxiously, revelling in your special ‘timey ability’ to being able to track time perfectly. It had been useful when coordinating attacks; now it might just make you suited to being a living watch. ???: Howdy, Twi. You glance at the next pony you see. Bright orange, with even brighter hair, and with an odd mark emblazoned on her… flanks? You never were much of a horse fan, so the lingo is a bit lost on you. Irrespective of this useless thought, the mark was simply a bunch of apples. Curiosity peaked, you look towards the same area on Twilight, and see a similar mark; a bunch of stars. LIAM: What are those marks? TWILIGHT: ...you don’t know what a Cutie Mark is? LIAM: Let’s assume I took a nasty bump to head and say ‘no’. ???: Why, ah reckon everypony knows that. Oh god, they say everypony. This is going to get old incredibly quickly. TWILIGHT: A Cutie Mark shows you what your special talent is. Applejack’s is apples as she lives and works on Sweet Apple Acres. APPLEJACK: Which, ah might add, is where y’all are. TWILIGHT: My mark is these stars, and they show my proficiency with magic and the power of my friendships. LIAM: Okay. TWILIGHT: And yours is... well, I don’t know. Normally, it’s kind of obvious, but I can’t understand yours. Are you a gearsmith? LIAM: What? TWILIGHT: Your mark... let me guess, you don’t know what it is, do you? LIAM: I’ve not been able to look at it. At this point, Twilight rotates and flips you around (causing you a bit of pain in your legs in the process as they flail about) in order to let you have a look at your flanks. It’s a bright red gear, with nine prongs. Your face breaks out into a smile, as you understand what that means. Annoyingly, however, it’s going to be hard to explain what this actually means without having to explain how you got the powers, and you still don’t feel up to that. You decide on the simple ‘tell them and refuse to answer any questions about Skaia’ approach. LIAM: It’s the symbol of Time. TWILIGHT: ...and that means? LIAM: I can mess around with Time. I can also track it perfectly. APPLEJACK: ...ah never thought ah’d see the day when ah’d meet a liar would could lie to me. LIAM: I don’t get it. Why do you say that? TWILIGHT: She is the Element of Honesty, and it makes her near enough impossible to lie to. LIAM: Well, I’m not lying. TWILIGHT: But nopony can control time! Starswirl the Bearded’s research into it found it to be a strict progression of cause and effect. LIAM: Well, my time control is deterministic, so that’s still technically true. APPLEJACK: What’s ‘de-ter-min-istic’ mean? LIAM: If I was to jump back in time, we already have, and so we are destined to. If I wasn’t meant to, we never will, and so are destined not to. LIAM: Every action I take with the timestream is predestined to happen and will happen for that reason. APPLEJACK: Ah... what? LIAM: I’ll explain better later, when my legs aren’t killing me. TWILIGHT: Oh, right! I’m sorry! We’ll see you later, Applejack. APPLEJACK: Ah’ll head in with ya’ll, Pinkie’s throwin’ another party. Wait. ‘Pinkie’. ‘Party’. You might be seeing Paul sooner than you expected. Bonus! TWILIGHT: What one is it this time? “Happy Thursday Celebration”? “Alliteration Festival”? “Midnight Crew Comic Launch Party”? APPLEJACK: Ah think she said “Welcome Bard of Space and Mage of Time” party. You immediately begin to wonder just how much Paul has been explaining to this pony in return for what he has been asking; as well as how much belief she puts into him. You also feel a slight bit of jealousy; she said your title first when she spoke to you over Pesterchum. Either way, they both continue to walk on, with you following in Twilight’s ever-present magical grip. Not like that you have that much choice, given how this works. You realise, as they walk and you float, that for an apple orchard Sweet Apple Acres is on the rather hilarious side of huge. It must be a huge hassle for them all to harvest, you think to yourself. It might even make for a funny episode of a television show, now you think about it. Lost in your thoughts, you completely fail to notice the path becoming stone, the buildings that are appearing and the other ponies walking around you, staring at the rather unusual sight of another pony being levitated by a pony that is just casually walking. You don’t know that levitating another pony is supposed to be nigh impossible for all but the most powerful unicorns. ???: Ohmygosh, a new pony! ???: TWILIGHT, PUT HIM DOWN AND LET HIM RUN! Twilight, shocked by the loud voice telling her what to do, doesn’t put you down. Instead, she drops you, forgetting that your legs had been mostly broken or at least hurt by the surprise arrival into this place. After a short burst of pain, it passes in time for you to realise a pink pony is barrelling towards you. In a flit of sudden panic, memories from the Game rushing into the forefront of your mind, you tap into your powers that the Game gave you and throw yourself back an hour. Within an instant, you are back in the exact same position you were in when you threw yourself, but your internal clock was telling you it was about 57 minutes before when you just were. Which is a bit weird, you think to yourself, as your accuracy of jumps in the timestream is normally infallible. Realising that you didn’t see yourself on the way in, you – with great difficulty, and if others were to see it a bit hilariously – drag yourself into a nearby corner, hiding yourself from all but the most determined of onlookers. And then you wait, patiently of course, for 55 minutes, 30 seconds. You spend most of that time simply listening to the world around you and occasionally checking the time with yourself. You keep this up until you hear a typical clop of feet, followed by two sentences you got to hear once before. Looking on, poking your head up from the makeshift wall you hid behind, you can see that the pony that barrelled towards you was probably ‘Pinkie Pie’ from your Pesterchum conversation, whereas the other pony was most certainly Paul if his mark had anything to do with it. A spiral shape easily identifiable by all whom recognise it as the symbol of Space. Much like your symbol of Time was an indicator of you, your powers, and your destined fate, the symbol of Space was that for Paul. PINKIE: Ohmygosh, a new pony! PAUL: TWILIGHT, PUT HIM DOWN AND LET HIM RUN! You realise with a grimace that this could have been avoided had you simply told Paul earlier that you had lost the use of your legs. Moments later, you hear a quiet ‘pop’ as you see yourself kicking your time powers in, and launching yourself backward. You then decide to crawl out of your hiding place, but before you get the chance you hear them begin to speak again. PAUL: Oh come on! Who knows how far he threw himself back. TWILIGHT: That doesn’t make any sense! TWILIGHT: He isn’t even a unicorn! PAUL: Well, I can still teleport, and I’m a Pegasus. What about that? TWILIGHT: None of this makes any sense! You realise that Twilight is not one of a very open mind when it comes to things she doesn’t, won’t or can’t understand, and so decide to put her out of her misery. LIAM: Anyone mind coming to get me? Legs are still out of commission. PINKIE: Oh, he’s over here now! LIAM: Anyone BESDIES her! You, once again, feel the tugging sensation of Twilight’s magical grip hoisting you out of your hiding place and back into the view of ponies all around. You feel a little self-conscious, being put on display like this, but given your legs are still not working particularly effectively you understand it’s for the best. You look at Paul, and grin wildly. You also take a look at what appears to be a bundle of pure energy that is Pinkie, and she seems to be desperate to either tackle or hug you. LIAM: Hey, Paul. PAUL: ‘Hey’. We defeat an Eldritch being and all you can say on seeing me again is ‘Hey’. LIAM: We did, didn’t we? Odd feeling, that. PINKIE: I need to go preeeeeepaaaaaare~ ???: THOUST SHOULD NOT, YET. Jesus Christ, you think to yourself, that was loud. As the buzzing in your ears begins to subside and your hearing begins to return, you hear Twilight talking to one hell of a pony. Looking over at her, you notice that it was easily twice as tall as her, with both wings and a unicorn horn that looks like it could be used to put holes in people. You have a sudden, worrying thought that this could potentially be the Grim Reaper and (her?) assistant, and your train of thought drifts to how much damage that incredibly pointy horn could do. ???: Where did you say you found this pony, Twilight Sparkle? TWILIGHT: Just in the woods, not even in the Everfree Forest. Fluttershy was the one who found him initially. ???: Dost thou think, Sister?... ???: I am not sure. What I do know is that we should stop speaking as if they aren’t present. Liam, Paul, please. TWILIGHT: Erm, I think Liam is the one I’m holding because his legs aren’t working. He bent them up pretty badly. PINKIE: What do you think, Paul?! PAUL: He just time travelled. He’s definitely Liam. ???: One moment, then, Twilight Sparkle. The pony you have mentally assigned as your executioner began walking towards you, horn lowered. Rather than becoming a pincushion, however, as you expected, her horn begins to glow. Your legs begin to bend themselves back into the right position, and the dull ache coming from them subsides and fades in about 3.2 seconds. Twilight gently lowers you to the ground, and you tentatively take a step. Somehow – and you aren’t complaining – you have an innate knowledge on how to trot. (Your horse knowledge isn’t the best, but it isn’t useless.) You make a beeline over to the pony that healed you; you decide to at least be polite in the face of the unknown, irrespective of position. LIAM: Thank you... sorry, I don’t know your name. ???: I am Princess Celestia, Ruler of the Kingdom of Canterlot and Goddess of Light. CELESTIA: I felt you might appreciate the title, given your own. If you are wondering, I cannot read minds or people – Pinkie has been sending invites to everypony about your welcoming party. CELESTIA: Us included. CELESTIA: But, enlighten me. Who am I speaking to, title and name, if you please. LIAM: Liam Flatfoot, Mage of Time and Prince of the Land of Cords and Clockwork. The second part is debatable, and the title never meant much anyway. You didn’t notice that during this exchange, Paul had walked up beside you. Well, you didn’t notice until he so rudely butted into your conversation. PAUL: Paul Chelwood, Bard of Space and Prince of the Land of Trees and Frost. As with Liam, the second part... can be debated. CELESTIA: How so? Why can it be debated? PAUL: Well, since we are here, we can pretty much presume that we can’t get back to either of them, so being royalty of them is kind of irrelevant. LIAM: I’m fairly sure what I just did about five minutes ago for you all and an hour and five minutes for me proves our first titles are still very much valid. CELESTIA: It appears we have much to discuss. Would you mind if we did so? LIAM: Depends what you want to know about. And I’d prefer to sit down, this might take a while. There is a lot to tell. CELESTIA: Of course. Luna? LUNA: Yes, sister? CELESTIA: Please show these two to the Ponyville Library. Twilight, could you please gather your friends and the Elements of Harmony please? Meet us at the library. Only as a precaution, I might add. TWILIGHT: Yes, princess! The pony calling herself Celestia; and who is apparently one of those Princesses that Paul mentioned in your earlier Pesterchum conversation, took a glance at you as she said that. Your social etiquette might not be brilliant, and you are fairly sure there are rules with ponies that there aren’t with humans, but the look she gave you showed she meant no offence. Besides, you are in a forgiving mood, with your recent impossible victory, so you decide to just smile back to show you understand. CELESTIA: Do you two prefer your title, or name? LIAM: Either is fine with me. PAUL: Same here. LUNA: In that case, Liam, Paul, wouldst thou please follow me? And with that, she walked (trotted) away, leaving you and Paul to follow. Having little other choice, you complied, more nervous than you had been in a long time.