Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship(Season 1)

by Barrobroadcaster

Final: Time

Harmony Mountain, Summit

Twilight, Chrys and the others galloped outside the mountain. They exited the cave just in time to see the ground near Canterlot Castle collapse again.

"The castle gardens!" Al shouted. "The princesses!"

"Prosperity and Harmony... the mountains were connected this whole time by underground tunnels!" Twilight exclaimed.

"The changelings..." Chrys said, wondering to herself out loud. "Do you think the changelings dug them?"

Twilight shook her head. "I don't know. Can you take care of the rest of the wounded?"

Chrys nodded. "I'm fine, now. Please, go help Dan and... Rice."

Twilight didn't say anything else. She nodded and kicked off the ground, bolting down the mountain side to Canterlot Castle.

---

Cave Beneath Harmony

Dan and Rice came tumbling out of the vortex. Neither could tell where they were, having been momentarily blinded by the white light of the time distortion spell. It hadn't been quite the same as the cloud that Dan passed through when he was transported to Equestria, but it was similar. The cloud layer had been more natural, seamless. This was more condensed and harsh, tearing the fabric of dimensions. The difference was akin to turning the page of a book versus punching a hole right through it.

To complicate matters, when they tumbled out of the vortex, they found they couldn't breath. Because they were underwater.

Dan felt what little air he had in his lungs be replaced with water. He had to imagine Rice felt the same. They were completely submerged, still tumbling, not knowing which way was up. The current was strong and rushing, and pulled them from the portal, their only light source and further into the darkness.

The flow pulled them. Trying to grab onto anything, to swim, all was useless. They were helpless and drowning. Dan felt darkness pressing in around the corners of his vision as he struggled to hold his breath. With his other hand, he held onto Rice's labcoat, refusing to let go. The light from the portal vanished. For a brief moment, it was as if they were swallowed by liquid darkness, as if the shadows were swirling around them. They might as well have not been wet at all. They were pushed by the cosmic forces now, completely and utterly out of control.

And then, just before Dan felt his last oxygen exhausting, their heads were plunged above water.

"BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!" Dan gasped, Rice gasped and coughed, but they were alive. "Oh crap." And heading for a waterfall. "oh crap oh crap oh crap oh CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

The waterfall was not that high, thankfully. It dumped them both into a misty pool below. Dragging Rice by the collar, Dan emerged from the pool to quickly collapse on the ground.

"I... I... hate... today. I hate everything... that has happened... today."

"Me... too... oh..." The two spent several minutes to catch their breath before finally trying to figure out where they were.

"Okay... okay," Dan looked up, looked around, then rubbed the water out of his eyes and looked around again. "Okay, that's better. Uhhh..."

There was sky, definitely. It was painted a light purple, with orange creeping into the edges and a only a couple puffy clouds. They were on a mountain side. But which side of what mountain?

"Rice... get up."

Groaning, Rice got up. He looked around as well. "I recognize this waterfall... and this mountain."

Dan nodded. "Yeah, I had a feeling you would."

Rice pointed with his only remaining gauntlet. "This... this shouldn't be here."

"I know." Dan figured it out a split-second ago. "There shouldn't have been any water in that cave, either. Because..."

"Because we're in the past," Rice said, nodding. "The Canterlot aqueducts haven't been built yet. They water flow won't be diverted until 103 AE."

"Yeah... yeah," Dan said. He felt like sitting down again. "Wait! Is there another entrance to this cave?"

"Well, of course-"

"We gotta find it! We can get back to the portal!"

"It should be up higher! Up the side!"

They ran around the side of the mountain. But they stopped halfway.

"We need to look for... look..."

Around the side of the mountain was a familiar site. Canterlot. Or rather, a town on the site Canterlot where Canterlot would be... at some point.

"That's not Canterlot. That's not..." Both Dan and Rice did alternating double-takes between the waterfall and the village.

"There was a village here before Canterlot?"

And then the answer dawned on Rice. "Only one village. Unicornia."

"Uni-what? Wait-"

Rice ran to the edge of the cliff. He ran past the mist, past the fog, past the haze around the mountains and out before him, he saw it.

Dan ran up right behind him, confused until he saw it, too.

"Equestria." They both said it at the same time.

Cleo had made good on her promise. The portal had indeed transported them to Equestria before Equestria existed. Before Equestria in its modern form existed. After its founding, but before harmony, before even Discord had taken over.

"Dan... "

Dan looked at him. Rice didn't look back, so he was silent.

"Dan, it's... this is my Equestria. This is my time."

"We're in-"

"Equestria."

"Over a thousand years ago."

Dan gazed upon the old Equestria for himself. The golden fields of grain were green and wild, untamed. The Everfree Forest was thicker and stretched far and away towards the southeast. There was a small trail leading to the south of town to a small clearing, what would become Sweet Apple Acres eventually. Ponyville itself was large but not as big as it would be. Many more tents surrounded a few buildings. The town hall was still part of the post office; the modern one wouldn't be built for another couple hundred years.

"I... I'd forgotten. I'd forgotten what it looked like."

"It's... beautiful. It always was. And it always will be," Dan said. For once, he said a schmaltzy, corny line and knew it in his heart, in ever fiber of his being to be completely true. He didn't regret saying it at all, another first. Perhaps it was one of the strongest feelings he'd ever felt.

To behold something so beautiful, so pure, so innocent, sweet and loving... those things were all in the eye of the beholder. As they always would be. But to behold them was to know the feeling of such overwhelming purity that it pushed all else aside. For Dan, it was a place where people were happy, carefree, generally nice to one another, living in harmony. Harmony. He hadn't known he'd sought such a thing until he'd found it, and somehow, Ponyville, Equestria, had it. He'd learned as they all had that it was more complicated than they ever could have realized. But also that it was worth fighting for. Every day.

And then, Dan's eye caught something else.

"Oh! Oh, do you see it?"

"Yes," Dan said, as if seeing it for the first time. In a tiny corner of the town, away from the buildings and off to the side of the road was a single, large tree.

"I can see my... my..."

"My house," Rice said. "My home." He looked over at Dan.

"Our home... my home," Dan said. "It's in the future. Rice, neither of us can stay here."

Slowly, Rice nodded. He looked away, away from the world and his eyes became more distant than ever. "Maybe I should stay here."

Dan put his hand on his shoulder. "I know this is hard, but... I..."

Rice nodded again. "It's okay. C'mon. Before the portal closes." They turned back to climb the mountainside again.

Suddenly, the wind shifted. It began blowing harder, faster over the mountain. The sky began to grow dark. Both of them looked up.

"This... this isn't normal for pegasi in our time," Dan said. Storms in Ponyville in modern times always began in the northwest, near Cloudsdale where the clouds could be inspected. Cloudsdale itself was moved to the one o'clock position and clouds were gathered by pegasi into a storm and then swept across Ponyville and the areas that needed water, usually in a pattern that ensured even distribution of rain. Storms never formed over Canterlot or the mountains so as not to interfere with the unicorns.

The mist disappeared. The fog disappeared, swept away and up into the sky. The pegasi of this time were indeed active and were forming a storm, rapidly. It was unlike the normal build up before storms in more ways than one.

"Do you..." The question was on both of their minds. Rice turned to Dan. How could they know? How could they find out if it was true? If they were right?

A loud and very familiar whistle was carried to them on the wind, a steam whistle. At the same time, their hearts jumped.

"Oh my dear lord."

"She sent us back to the day your son gets killed!"

Dan's bluntness shocked Rice enough to cause his heart to jump a second time, but he was right. He was about to tell Dan off, say something, but the air had momentarily left his lungs. And in that moment, Dan sprinted forward.

"We can stop the train! We can save him, c'mon!!"

"Wh-what?" He felt like he was going to faint. "But... the-the space-time-"

Dan ran over and grabbed his face. "Do not. Do not start that crap."

Rice pulled Dan's hands down, shaking his head. "It'll create a paradox. The future could-"

But Dan shook his head right back. "One of those things is that your SON will be alive. Isn't that worth creating a paradox for? I don't believe you. You were willing to end TWO different universes over your kid getting killed and now that you can save him you're suddenly Doc Brown?"

"Fine! Fine, it's pointless arguing with you anyway! Even if the fate of the universe is on the line!"

Dan grinned and said, "That may be the smartest thing you've ever said!"

"Really?"

"Top ten at least!"

Comments

[Booster Spice]

He knows if he doesnt go back when he suceeds he fails, so its still a stable loop either way?

[howard035]

Woah, this is a twist I did not see coming.

[Barrobroadcaster]

11241657
For real or are you just joking? Because I did lay a couple hints here and there. Just curious.

[howard035]

11241689
Seriously. I thought Vice tried and failed with time travel once, so he had accepted it wouldn't be changed.

[LadyLeomon]

Ah dang it, I leave my screen for a sec and my (unfinished) review disappears anyway: a new chapter means it’s ~Sunday~

Okay, seriously just wow! Like I had a guess at what would happen when they jumped through the portal but you honestly surprised me (part of me was wondering if they’d end up in the Darkly Mirror World) ... this is a literal game-changer!

Seriously Rice? You were gonna kill the world cos your son died, and I suspect we’re playing by Endgame Time-travel rules so what’s a little paradox?

Thanks for this newest awesome, emotional chapter and I’ll eagerly await the next!

Awesome as always and I’ll see you ~next time~

Your Eternal Fan ^_^

[LadyLeomon]

11241789
To be fair Director-Cleo is a LOT stronger than Rice, that’s my theory and I’m sticking to it!

[Barrobroadcaster]

11241789
Technically, he succeeded... or so he thought. It's established that to change the world, to create a time spell/time portal or make a new world, that it requires more magic than Equestria and its inhabitants currently possess at this time, hence why other extra-dimensional sources are needed. Ultimately, the Negotiator convinces Rice not to go back in time based on multiverse theory. But now, Cleo has told us that was a lie. There are other dimensions, but is it possible to change the past through time travel? It's required a massive amount of energy either way.

11242542
Cleo is about twenty-five times stronger than Chrys, as she's Chrysalis that has absorbed the magic from at least twenty-five prior Equestrias. And this is the second time she's died. She's tried to change Equestria multiple times, to alter its destiny, even get them all to leave. Perhaps this time travel is her final scheme. Maybe she succeeded... this time. This time... this time...