//------------------------------// // Is all about time // Story: Chaos: the Age of Spike // by Kaliann25 //------------------------------// Is all about time “So this isn’t dangerous?” Asked Spike to Star Swirl, who happily shrugged. “No kid, as an experimented time-traveler I assure you time is like a river, you can create waves but never change the course. In fact, when you’re actually trying to alter history you end up realizing you’re the cause of that little thing you tried to change. Is what scientists call a paradox” “I don’t get it” said Spike scratching his head. Star Swirl took the last sip of his tea and smiled calmly to him. “Well, you’re a kid not an academic but if you really do this, you’ll understand soon enough. So, nice talk young Lord of Chaos, now I must leave before my faithful students realize I’m in Canterlot; even if there’s nothing she can do against me we better not anger her more than the necessary. Anyway, say hi your agents for me and don’t worry about using the knowledges I gave you okay? I know you’re worthy to use them” “Alright, thank you for your time Mr. Swirl and sorry for bothering you” “Oh don’t even think about it kiddo, whenever you have a question about your new knowledges feel free to write me. Have a nice day” And he teleported away. Spike stayed on the café thinking what to do. Time spells, last time Twilight found one she ended up pushing her past-self to act totally obsessed and out of control for a week; but at least Spike could eat all the ice cream he wanted. At the end Spike smiled confidently, if the lunatic assured there was nothing to worry about, then there was nothing to worry about. So he was going to use the time-spell, it seemed like a lot of fun. So Spike paid and teleported to the headquarters where his friends were having an unusual encounter; a though test that tested the strength of every friendship in unspeakable ways. A challenge so hard that it even shattered entire families, the most dangerous of all games: “UNO!” Announced Scootaloo placing the card on the deck. Apple Bloom giggled and placed her card: “Draw two” she announced. “Draw two” added Sweetie. “Draw two” jumped Rumble. “Draw two” Finished Babs. “OH COME ON!!” Complained Scoots taking her eight extra cards. “You did it on purpose” “Obviously…” They were about to fight but Spike intervened on time separating with his powers. “You better have an idea” threatened Rumble. “Of course I have it, the same I had on the morning and now I spoke with Mr. Swirl I’m confident about it, let’s use the time spell!!” “Wait a minute, time spell?!” Suddenly shouted Twilight entering into the headquarters. “Spike don’t you dare, last time somepony used a time spell it ended up in an awful amount of bits” Spike shrugged. “You mean your therapy sessions for your OCD? Relax Twi, is all in good fun! “Spike please, don’t dare you to…” Sweetie pushed apart Spike and smiled to Twilight. “However, what do we owe this visit Twilight?” “Eh? Ah, right, Rarity told me to tell you that your parents are coming for a quick visit next week” Sweetie’s eyes widened. “My parents are coming? Really?” squealed excitedly the white filly. “Great, but I thought they were too busy with taking an eye on their franchises” “I know but a little birdie told them about your coltfriend” smiled Twilight winking an eye to the little unicorn. “They cannot wait to meet the lucky ‘colt’ who stole their little girl’s heart” “Oh really? Finally I’ll show my parents my new Cutie Mark and powers. Isn’t that great Spike?” The black and purple dragon gulped and bit his claws. “Ehehe… who would say it? Your parents are coming… ehehe…” “Don’t be nervous Spike, they’re gonna love you!” Assured Sweetie. “They always wanted us to find a great party, and nothing is better than a god; that’s even higher than royalty!” “So do you think they’ll accept me” “Of course, they’re going to adore you as I do” finished Sweetie cuddling to Spike. The other girls made a quick ‘awww’ while Rumble was fake-puking in a corner. Twilight couldn’t help but smile, ah young love. But then Spike stretched. “Enough talking! Now is all about time!” “No, wait Spike!” Too late, once again the black and purple energy of chaos expanded all over Equestria. She was about to shout ‘SPIKE’ but this time she was too surprised to react properly. Right before her, a very surprised group of three blank-flanked fillies were staring at themselves but with Cutie Marks and along with Rumble and Babs. “Ehem… houdy?” Said Apple Bloom looking at her other self’s eyes. “Who are ya’ why do ya’ look like me?” “Hi Apple Bloom, A’m Apple Bloom but from the future” said the agent of chaos with a great smile. “That’s right! Our eras mixed and we’re now able to meet our past selves” “Oh so you’re us? Awesome!” Said Scoots looking at future Scoots flank. “Love that Cutie Mark, what does it mean?” “We’ll tell you on the right time” enigmatically smiled the future Scoots. “And Scootaloo isn’t the only one” cheered Sweetie looking at the others’ Cutie Marks. “Look at Apple Bloom’s, and mine!” “And Babs’ and Rumble’s… ey, what are Rumble and Spike doing here?” Asked past Apple Bloom. “And Spike, what happened with your scales? And Babs? Are you visiting from Manehattan?” “Kind off, in this era I visit here a lot” smiled Babs to her past cousin. “But we’ll tell you on the right time. In the meantime, what you were doing before we arrived?” The Cutie Mark Crusaders from the past lowered their sight ashamed. “Oh, uh… we were about to fight” admitted Scootaloo. “They were cheating” “Cheating?” Asked the future Scootaloo. “Yeah, we were playing UNO and suddenly…” Spike made a face-claw. “Unbelievable. And you keep playing it even if you know it’s an evil game. I remember that disaster last time with mom and dad and Candace and Shining” “Ey, UNO make us fight but after that our friendship bonds grow stronger” shrugged future Sweetie Belle to her drakefriend. “That’s the game’s power” “A friendship that survives a few UNO games are forever” assured Rumble. The discussion ignoring her irritated Twilight, as always Spike made a disaster (this time a big one mixing the eras) but instead of worry or something, he and his team just sat to chat with the past CMC about a really evil board game. But it wasn’t the time to think about it, because suddenly a scram from Applejack (two Applejacks in fact) called her attention and she ran to see what was going on. “Applejack! What’s going on?” Asked the young alicorn landing. Before her Granny Smith, Applejack and Big Mac were staring at Granny Smith, Applejack and Big Mac. “This is a changeling trick, no doubt about it” said past Applejack. “Behind me’ A’ll kick their flanks out of here!” “Yer’ the changelings, not us!” Threatened future Applejack. “If one of ya’ dares to touch ma’ family A’ll be the one kicking yer’ flanks here to the barn. Understood?” Twilight stopped it on time. “Stop Applejacks!! It’s okay, all of you are who supposed to be, this is just a prank of chaos” Future Applejack rested to a tree grinding her teeth. “Again? Great, did he even rest?” The past Applejack raised an eyebrow. “A prank from the Lord of Chaos? Care to explain?” “Sure” sighed Twilight. “This time he mixed the eras, our past selves are interacting with our future selves. I came from the future, a future where we’re used to this kind of things” “Yeah, A’ should knew it from the start” said the future Applejack. “Sorry about that threatening stuff partner, but A’ had to protect my family” “A’ understand, don’t worry about it” said past Applejack. “And what ya’ do when ya’ fight the Lord of chaos in the future?” “The first step is reunite, then we’ll see” said Twilight. “Let’s go!!” “Let’s go!!” Smiled the two Applejacks. They ran and flew to action but in the middle of their way to the Palace, future Twilight and Applejack froze because of the surprise. The Golden Oaks Library was standing again, like nothing happened to it. “Whoa, A’ need the eras mixed but this is a surprise…” “I know, how do you think the others will react?” Asked Twilight. In other hoof, the past Twilight was staring at the Palace. “Is that a…?” “Yeah, my Palace. You’ll earn it on the right time” said future Twilight. In the meantime ponies all over Ponyville were reacting badly to this prank. But the foals were reacting slightly different, the younger ones just looked each other with curiosity and before the older ones could say something, they were playing already. “Is good to know we can talk with ponies with category from time to time” said Diamond Tiara to Diamond Tiara. “I know, and I thought only Silver Spoon was worth in this town but luckily we found a high-class pony or today” “And what you do for fun in the future?” Asked past Silver Spoon to future Silver Spoon. “Shall we laugh from the blank flanks? That never bores me” Silver Spoon shook her head. “No, not since they got their Cutie marks” “So what? Even if they get their Cutie Marks they’ll be the same useless ponies” Future Diamond Tiara shook her head. “Listen: enjoy humiliating them now that you can… because one day they’ll get really dangerous. But let’s not talk about depressing stuff, shall we check our shares?” “Sure…” On their home, Derpy and Derpy got along well almost immediately, playing mirror to each other making all kind of faces and silly dances until they bumped each other and landed on their butts happily. “I don’t know what went wrong!” They both cheered. The Dinkys rolled their eyes and helped their moms to stand. But that was the only case, the other adults were still unnerved by their duplicates; not trusting on their intentions like Filthy Rich. “So you and your partner plan to pretend to be my daughter and me to steal my fortune” “Mister, you offend me! You’re the one trying to steal my fortune!” “I’ll make you arrest!” “No sir, you’re the real criminal not me!” Another good example were Vinyl and Octavia who stared to each other without moving a muscle. “Of all tricks against the Secret Service this is the lowest” said past Vinyl. “Replace us and destroy our organization from the inside” said Octavia. “Low trick but a really smart one as well, good one. But we’re elite soldiers and won’t make things easy for you” Both couples prepared for combat and began to fight, a great fight considering both of them used the high-tech weapons designed by Twilight: Vinyl’s laser-beam glasses and Octavia’s sonic wave cello. Also both groups were especially trained in physical combat trained by the most secret agent of Celestia’s most secret service, Blue Blood himself. This was not going to end soon. But Ponyville was just a small town so the effects of the prank weren’t half of chaotic than in Canterlot because of the size of the Kingdom’s capital. For example, in the infamous red district the Great and Powerful Trixie was polishing her weapons and such when she noticed a small colt she haven’t seen before; a kid who smiled to her. “Tisi” he said happily and hugged her with love. “What? I don’t know you, how did you enter to Trixie’s home?” The kid separated from her a little hurt; and it was when Trixie noticed the characteristics of Down syndrome. “Oh, a special kid. Sorry for my rudeness. Can you tell me why did you enter here? Trixie will help you to…” It was when another Trixie entered to the weapons room. “Pure are you here? I’ve told you darling, I don’t like you to enter to this room, is full of dangerous things like my swords and… what the heck?” Both Trixies stared each other with caution, while Pure Soul hide behind the one he identified as his mom. This didn’t seem good. “I don’t know why you look like Trixie but Trixie will fight you” said the past Trixie aiming a sword to her future self. Future Trixie took another sword and aimed it to her past self as well. “Curious, I was going to say the same thing. Nopony breaks into Trixie’s house and walks away freely” They both approached to each other ready to do the fatal blow whenever they see their opponent try something funny; but it was when future Trixie noticed a couple of wounds on her other self, that seemed very recent. They both walked in circles evaluating the situation and lowered their weapons at the same time. “That scar” said past Trixie blankly. “It looks like the wounds that those two mercenaries made me when I tried to capture them” “I know, the ones who defeated an Ursa Major without help and then escaped from Princesses’ dungeons” said future Trixie. “I remember, it was the same day we became friends” “So you’re my future self? Okay that’s interesting, but prove it. Which move made us this marks?” “Both especial techniques: Starburst Stream and Mother’s Rosario at the same time. It hurt as hell, now, how did we survived” Past Trixie smiled. “Because they gave us a potion from their home Aincrad” “So you’re indeed Trixie” They dropped their weapons and sat. “Let me ask you something, why would Trixie adopt a…” “If you dare to say something about my son you’ll pay” “I was going to say a foal, being an outlaw it is a little difficult for me to adopt” “Oh everything would get better in a little time. I became an undercover police officer; but still a criminal from time to time. Still I’m under Princess Luna’s protection and I have the legal right to insult Sparkle whenever I want and she can’t do anything about it” They began to chat happily and Pure joined them in no time, at least everything ended without an incident. And in another corner of Canterlot, in the Secret Service private prison; Spit Fire was starig to the other Spit Fire from the other side of the bars. The former leader of the Wonderbolts was sent to prison after Blue Blood confirmed her leadership of the terrorist Organization Salvation that tried to separate the three pony races all over again. “So how did they found you? As the Wonderbolt leader I thought I had the perfect cover! “Well, we underestimated the Secret Service. Damn Blue Blood; however, he defeated us. In fact if you go to the next cell you’ll see Fancy Pants and Fleur de Liz captured as well by the damn brat” “And what about the earth pony… you know… the scary one” Future Spit Fire smiled enigmatically. “You know Maud Pie is by far the most dangerous of all of us; with her genius-level intelligence and combat expertise, she quickly defeated six agents of the Secret Service and escaped. The future of Salvation depends on her only from now on. Admit it, as much as we hate working with an earth pony, she really is the brain of our operation, as powerful and evil as only her, she’ll destroy all alicorns and separate the races in no-time. Spit Fire frowned, this was a future she didn’t want. Now back to Ponyville, specifically in Golden Oaks library the group both from past and future joined and the future ones were explaining what was going on. Future Twilight was the first one to recover from the surprise. After all she already had experience with a time spell. “Let me get this straight” said past Twilight at the end. “You are ourselves from the future, who are here because a prank of the Lord of Disharmony and Chaos, right?” Future Twilight nodded. “Something like that but…” “Is all I need to know” said past Twilight activating her magic to summon someone before somepony could fully explain the situation to her. In the middle of a flash, Discord appeared sitting on the…the… men’s room? Well, you get the idea. “Ey! I know you’re my friends but… a little privacy please?” And he disappeared while everypony blushed furiously and the nearest to the window opened it for obvious reasons. Finally he appeared seeming rightfully angry. “What the hay do you want Twilight?” He asked. “Look around you!” Defied the purple alicorn recovering from the shame from five minutes ago. “I wanted to summon your future self but you will do. Fix this Discord!” “My future self? What the hay are you talking about? My dear Twily I don’t understand a thing, if somepony cared to explain” “Damn it, look around you!” Complained Rainbow Dash facing the draconequs. “Two different eras mixed and our future selves are here for some reason. Now apparently you did this so please fix this already” Discord looked at this with a chuckle, it was really funny but… “I hate to interrupt you Rainbow but… this wasn’t Discord’s fault” said future Fluttershy softly. “She’s right” said future Rainbow. “This has nothing to do with him” Discord raised an eyebrow. “Well, you had my curiosity now you have my attention. If my future self didn’t do this who did? And why I’m not the god of chaos in your time?” “Because you retired” explained future Applejack. “This is work of your replacement, the one who kept your job after while you’re taking your retirement checks” “Discord retired?” Asked past Twilight. “Excuse me Applejack but it has no sense. He is the god of chaos, being a god isn’t a job, is a role in the universe is a… “In fact Twily… it is a job” said Discord. “I’m an employee like anypony else, directly under Mr. Boss command, and yeah. Since you defeated me the second time I’ve been considering retiring… I’m just too old for this. Why do you think I agreed to be reformed that easily? But I haven’t found a worth replacement yet; and finding one is an obligatory requirement to be able to receive my elderly pension” Past Spike shook his head. “Well, I cannot think anyone who replaces you. Nopony could be this annoying” The future manes looked each other with an uncomfortable look, confusing the young dragon. What happened with them? He was about to ask them when the door opened letting pass future Spike with the two groups of chaos, future and past. “Oh the old library! Boy, I miss this place! Hi girls, oh; Discord, Spike you’re here too! I’m glad to see you all together” “Spike? Is that really me?” Asked the green and purple dragon examining his future self, who smiled proud of himself. “Cool! Twilight will finally allow me to dye my scales” “You didn’t right?” Asked past Twilight. “As a reptile he changes skin and that would be a waste of bits” Future Twilight didn’t answer, she was quietly waiting for what happens next. In the meantime future Spike shrugged and made appear a huge diamond to offer to his past self. “No Spike, I changed them with my new powers. The same powers I used to create this diamond” “You… you can create diamonds? And change your appearance? How?” Future Spike smiled confidently. “Oh, those are just some privileges of the god of Disharmony and Chaos” He only had to wait ten seconds: “WHAT?” “As you heard, lord of Disharmony and Chaos; oh and Mr. Boss is really proud of me” said Spike making a small bow and making appear his trade-mark floating throne. “And as everypony wants to get everything back to normal, let me explain the rules of this prank, okay?” The future CMCs along with Rumble and Babs changed into their respective forms of chaos much to their past selves’ surprise. What was going on? “You asked us what our Cutie Marks meant, right?” Asked Mist. “Well it identifies us as the agents of chaos, we stop the Elements of Harmony from stoping Spiike” “In this forms we mimic the abilities of our sisters” added ScootaDark. “For example I have my own version of the Sonic Rainboom: the Sonic Dark explosion. “And to make things a little more unfair, we also have extra powers of chaos by ourselves” laughed Night Seed. “Exactly” said Sweetie Black jumping to Spike’s floating throne and cuddling to him. “And past Rarity: don’t even think about using your charms to seduce Spike, he’s my drakefriend now so whatever you try is not going to work” A very offended Past Rarity tried to protest but her other self placed a hoof on her shoulder to calm her down. “Get used to it darling, and start treating Sweetie Belle better. Every time I offend her, she waits until next prank and make things extra difficult for me” “I have a vengeful personality, deal with it” shrugged Black. Discord smiled from ear to ear excited for what he was seeing, this seemed like a very promising future. But then Spike clacked his fingers calling for attention and also making appear a map of Equestria marking Ponyville clock tower, Apple Loosa Clock tower; another one in ManeHattan, another one in Canterlot, in the Crystal Empire and finally in Rockingtown, Pinkie Pie’s home. “Now rules: as you all guessed, this is an especial one. You should use your Harmony Grenades in each of this towers in order to break my spell. Good luck and since there are twelve guardians of Harmony we’ll work as twice as hard to make this a great challenge” And then he clacked his fingers again disappearing along with his agents of chaos both from past and future. The girls from the future took a deep breath and prepared for the battle; same with the past girls. The only one who didn’t move was Spike, too shocked to act. “Spike?” Asked past Twilight. “What’s going on?” “What’s going on? Am I the enemy in the future? But why, why would I want to fight you? I mean, you’re my friends!!” Future Twilight smiled to him. “Spike, we’re still very good friends in our time. Is just that you found your way in life and surprise, surprise: is being our rival, much more difficult to defeat than Discord… but you never cross the line and there’s still good in you. I assure you” Spike shook his head, he didn’t like this future. By her way past Twilight was thinking, what kind of future was that?