• Published 12th Sep 2013
  • 549 Views, 8 Comments

Time Dash - Xz Hacker



Rainbow Dash discovers a secret while investigating an old class mate who has been winning races.

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Chapter Four: “Changes”

Rainbow Dash slowly opened her eyes. She was lying on the cold hard ground. She let her eyes wander around. It seemed bleak, dusty, and hopeless. She wondered for a moment if the changelings had thrown her in some sort of dungeon.

After a few seconds, she slowly picked herself off the cold concrete and took a better look around. The bleak place she found herself in was more horrifying then she had realized. She was not in some dank dungeon. No, this cold, hard, lifeless place was none other than Canterlot. All around her there was no sound of life. The buildings that were lucky enough to have still been standing, were all crumbling and on the verge of collapse.

She stared at the scene for a minute, on the verge of tears. The last two days had been a nightmare. First, she finds out that shes been missing three years. Then she finds out one of her best friends is missing or dead. Then, when she tries to find that best friend, she has to watch the attack that was supposed to take her. Now, after all of that, she sees the most beautiful city in Equestria, its very heart Canterlot, ruined.

By this point, Rainbow Dash had begun to question her own sanity. She looked around for anything that could give her a sign as to what was happening this time, or when she supposedly was this time, or at least what happened to Canterlot since the changeling attack.

She took to the air and flew around the dark city. She grew slowly more depressed as she flew by countless ruined buildings and desolate streets. After about an hour, she landed and rolled over on her back. “What happened here?”

She looked up at the sky. It was eerily grey, with absolutely no clouds in sight. She didn't even know what time of the day it was supposed to be, let alone the weather that she should be seeing. After a few seconds of staring she noticed the sun. It wasn't behind clouds, but it was barely shining, giving off just enough light to keep it looking like dusk.

She jumped up and stared at the almost grey sun. “What in Equestria is going on?”

After a few seconds of thinking it hit her. If the sun is still here, maybe Celestia is still here. Maybe she survived the changeling attack. As that idea finished crossing her mind, Rainbow Dash jumped in the air and flew as fast as she could towards the palace entrance.

In a matter of seconds she was at the door. She shoved it open and ran inside. She went straight to the throne room, but paused just before she went in. What if Celestia was there, what would she ask her? Worse, what if Celestia wasn't there, what then?

She swallowed her fear and walked into to the throne room. Inside all the tapestry had fallen, and everything had lost its luster. The walls, now riddled with cracks, looked as if they were barely holding up the roof. She looked towards the throne in shock. To her surprise it was not Celestia, Luna, or even Cadence sitting on the throne. It was Twilight, with wings.

“Twilight?!”

Twilight slowly raised her head. Her eyes were tired, her mane was a mess, and she looked much taller and older than before. She looked at Rainbow Dash and squinted her eyes. “Who addresses Princess Twilight?”

Rainbow Dash stopped mid-stride, taken aback by her question. “Twilight? It's me Rainbow Dash, you know one of your best friends?”

Twilight stared at her for a whole minute, not saying a word. Then nodded her head. “Yes of course Rainbow Dash, how have you been my dear?”

“How have I been? How about what's going on here? Twilight have you seen outside, or hay, even around you? Canterlot is a mess, the whole city looks like it's going to fall apart, the sun is dim, and do you have wings?”

“Forgive me Rainbow Dash, it has been so long. Many of the things that worry you now have been accepted for quite some time as facts of life. Let me explain, because I know what you have been through, and I've had quite some time to think over the finer points of it all.”

She paused and looked at Rainbow Dash expectantly. Not knowing what else to do, Rainbow Dash simply nodded her head. “OK”

This seem to satisfy Twilight. “If I'm correct, the last thing you remember is being chocked by a changeling while Applejack was drug away, is that correct?”

“Yeah, pretty much, until I woke up in this ruined version of Canterlot.”

“Good, then everything is going as I thought it would, although I admit you have arrived much later than I expected. That changeling got you good, eh Dash?” She smiled at Rainbow Dash weakly, and expectantly.

Feeling quite awkward, Rainbow Dash gave a fake smile back.

Once again satisfied, Twilight continued. “That day Applejack watched you feint. She was never more scared in her life, both for you and herself. But interestingly, at the exact moment you passed out, Applejack saw you disappear. She described it almost as if you faded out of existence, except with what seemed to be an electrical 'pop' right before you were gone.”

She paused and took a long, deep breath before continuing. “After that, the royal guard came to the south end where you were with Applejack, trying to escape. They had got word that civilians were being ambushed there, and came to help. It took several dozen guards, but they managed to fight off the changeling army. Meanwhile, with the information you gave her in hoof, Celestia managed to, with some help of Luna, and some effort, repel the changeling army.”

“Wait, so the changelings lost? Then why is the city ruined?”

“Good question. I'll get to that in a moment, but for now let me continue the story. It will answer all your questions, I promise.” She paused and waited for Rainbow Dash to respond once more.

“Yeah, OK, fine...”

“Good, now where was I? Oh yes, when everything was over with the second changeling attack, it didn't take long for things to go back to normal, except you were still missing. Then Applejack told me the story of how she found you, and how you told her about this wild story of having been missing three years instead of one. We were all very confused. Even dear Celestia didn't know what to make of it until Applejack finished with you disappearing before her very eyes. And that's when it occurred to me, you weren't going anywhere, you were going to another time.”

“What? I'm a time traveler now?”

“Think about everything that has happened to you, in what I'm sure seems like to you a few days. Does it seem that hard to believe?”

Rainbow Dash thought about it. She flew to get the rocks for Twilight, and then Celestia showed up for a second time. She took a nap, and then she woke up three years later. She flew as fast as she could to Canterlot and she was back two years before. Now she finds herself who knows how far in the future, after getting knocked out. “OK, I think I get it. So if I sleep I go forward, if I go fast I go back, right?”

Twilight chuckled slightly. “That is putting things simply, but yes, in essence. The real cause is linked to the substance that now flows through your veins. The faster your heart races, the faster it flows. Of course the opposite is true, the slower you heart rate, the slower it moves. This, combined with several other factors that would take a century to properly explain.”

“So, when am I?”

“Oh let me think... the second changeling attack was... three or four... no, seven thousand years ago.”

Rainbow Dash couldn't bring herself to do anything more than sit and stare with her mouth wide open. Even if she could speak, she couldn't tell you if it was horror or awe.

Twilight smiled. “I know that must be a shock to you, but we're not done. That answers one of your questions, now for the others. My wings here were given to me by Celestia not long after you disappeared. She told me that I had learned the true meaning of friendship, and that I was to become a princess. I was then transformed into the alicorn you see before you, but that was a long time ago.”

Rainbow Dash merely nodded as Twilight stopped once more.

“In reference to the grey sun outside, it is a side effect of the many years that have passed. The sun started dying about two thousand years after I was made an alicorn. Knowing this, Celestia began to give more and more of her time to keeping it alive with her magic. After some time ,she realized that the sun wouldn't last much longer, even with her almost constant intervention. She decided, with almost no hesitation, to give her life to power the sun for just a while longer. Luna took over her duties of keeping the sun and moon in regulation. After another two thousand years, the sun once again began to die. Luna knew what she had to do, and gave her life as well. I was prepared to give the regulation of the sun and moon my best, but Cadence insisted as the older alicorn it was her duty before it was mine. One thousand years later, she too gave her life.” Twilight paused and smiled at Rainbow Dash. “ I've been waiting here for all this time, hoping you would come before my time ended.”

That snapped Rainbow Dash out of her daze. “Wait, what do you mean, before your time ended?”

“I have been keeping the sun alive as best I can, hoping that I would be able to help you with your journey as one of my final acts. It seems that I have held out just long enough. Rainbow Dash, my life is at an end, I have nothing left to give. I have managed to keep the sun alive just long enough to see the end of pony civilization. You were the last thing left for me to do, now that that is over, I can rest in peace.”

“Wait Twilight, what am I supposed to? How can I stop all this?”

Twilight slowly closed her eyes and shook her head. “I'm sorry Dash, this is both your gift and your curse now. All I can offer you is one final service, I can send you to a point in time you want, then maybe you can learn to use your gift a little more appropriately.”

“When could I possibly go that would help me learn?”

“The beginning sounds nice, doesn't it?” Twilight raised her head high and began casting a spell. Rainbow Dash was covered by her magic in seconds.

“Wait where are you sending me?”

Twilight began to speak but Rainbow Dash couldn't hear her. After just a few seconds, all she could see was purple. She closed her eyes, shielding them from the blinding light.

When she opened her eyes again, she was in a large grassland, the sun shining brightly down upon her. She looked around for a moment. There were several trees off in the distance. A warm breeze blew through, causing the grass to sway.

Rainbow Dash jumped into the air and looked off into the distance. She was on a small plateau, up a tall mountain. Down below the mountain was almost nothing but dense forest as far as she could see. She turned around in air and saw the place on the mountain where the plateau gave way to a steep cliff face once more.

She stared at the lovely scene for a minute before it finally hit her. She knew where she was, she was in Canterlot, or rather she was where Canterlot should be. She turned back once more to look off into the distance. She spied where the normal forest gave way to the dense dark forest she knew as the Everfree Forest, but to its left there was no Ponyville.

“When am I now?”