Time and Again

by MrDenim

[2] Of Friends and Fellow Rulers

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“Let him who would want a good future waste none of the present.”
- Roger Babson

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Chapter 2

“Go to the library and grab my bag!” Twilight told Spike. “I’ll run on ahead.”

Spike nodded and took off. He almost made it to the door when he was yanked from behind. Reacting instinctively, he grabbed the hoof and twisted it off of him then he kicked backwards, launching the pony away. The sound of wings flapping caused him to groan. He turned around and grimaced when he saw Rainbow Dash glaring at him while rubbing her gut.

“What was that for, huh?!”

Spike crossed his arms. “You grabbed me and I reacted, plain and simple.”

“Enough you two!” Applejack showed up with the others. “Now, Spike, can ya please tell us what’s going on?”

Spike smiled and said, “If you’ll let me get a few things I can show you.”

They reluctantly nodded, except for Rainbow Dash, who continued to glare at him in distrust. Spike went into the dark library, and a few seconds later came back out with Twilight’s travel pack.

He hoisted it over his shoulder and grinned cheekily at them. “Let’s get to work.”

=-=-=

They caught up to Twilight to see her about to get eaten by a Manticore, when Fluttershy calmed him down and got him to run off. Twilight thanked her and equipped her travel pack.

She pulled out a map… and nearly led them off a cliff. It was thanks to Applejack that she even survived, letting her know that she’ll be fine if she let go. Twilight let go and immediately went spread eagle, a few seconds into the free fall Rainbow Dash caught her.

Pinkie Pie was Pinkie Pie and laughed her troubles away. Rarity showed her generosity once more and gave her tail to a sea serpent. Rainbow Dash showed her trust and loyalty in new friends and didn’t go with the Shadowbolts.

It was only in the Hall of the Elements where they ran into actual trouble.

Twilight examined the casing of the Elements closely, seeing how she never got the chance to before. To the normal ponies eyes’, they seemed to be just regular stone orbs with a random shape inscribed on them. But to the mental mind of a mage, Twilight noticed, the casings were entirely covered with wards, alarms, trap triggers, and who knows what else. It seemed that the only ones who would be able to even touch them were their destined bearers and ponies that were keyed into the spell matrix.

That explains why Nightmare Moon was able to touch them, Twilight thought. Corrupted or not, her magical signature still matched that of Luna’s, so the traps and alarms didn’t activate.

Nightmare Moon’s tacky dark blue cloud enveloped the Elements, so Twilight stood up.

That’s my cue.

She called out and jumped into the cloud, and was taken along for the ride to the eastern observatory. She rolled along the floor when Nightmare Moon ejected her unwelcome passenger. The demonic mare had a mix between a scowl and a snarl. Twilight braced for a charge and snorted.

“You’re joking.” Nightmare Moon braced herself as well. “You’re joking right.”

They charged. Right before they would’ve crashed into each other, Twilight teleported in the center of the Elements and activated their casings with her alicorn magic. Nightmare Moon blasted her away, sending her crashing into a stone pillar, making it collapse.

Nightmare Moon, when Twilight’s aura faded from the stones, laughed with triumph and slammed her hooves into the floor. The shockwave spiked into the stones, shattering them.

“Twilight!”

Spike and the others ran into the room. The shards from the Elements suddenly exploded with color and encircled their bearers. They transformed into their respective necklace and clipped into place around their bearers’ neck. The symbol for Magic lazily twirled around Twilight.

You are not worthy…

Twilight was fuming. I am not WORTHY?! Have you SEEN the kind shit we went through together?!

Indeed, yet that was then, and this is now… Prove your worth by defeating Nightmare Moon in combat, and you shall wield me once more…

Magic then went over to Spike and hovered next to him.

“Spike…” Twilight didn’t even look at him.

“Yeah?” He called nervously, stealing an occasional glance at the hovering Element of Magic.

“Get the girls out of the way. It’s about to get hot in here.” Twilight mane and tail started smoking.

“You better listen to her, guys.” Spike made a ‘get back’ motion with his arm. “It’s about to get serious.”

“How bad could it be?” Pinkie Pie, despite that sentence, put on a yellow hard hat and passed more to her friends.

When they were an adequate distance away, Twilight’s mane and tail were enveloped in flames, her eyes turned bright red, and her coat turned white.

She looked at Nightmare Moon with a smirk. “Let’s dance.”

Her horn lit up with a crimson aura and she blasted a literal beam of fire at the alicorn, who had put a shield up in defense. What she didn’t account for was the fire to take the shape of a phoenix and let out a shrill cry. The phoenix spun just as it impacted Nightmare Moon’s shield, which shattered like glass.

The dark alicorn charged through the flames with an icy, ethereal sword in her magical grasp. Twilight ducked below a horizontal slash and conjured a sword of her own, this one made of flames.

They stood there for a few seconds before they became physical blurs, the clanging of ethereal metal against one another resonated throughout the tower like some kind of twisted song. They began teleporting around the room, only stopping to give a brief swipe or parry before they teleported again. It suddenly halted when they appeared high in the air, near the ceiling, their swords forced against one another. The forward force alone was keeping Twilight suspended in mid-air.

With a great heave, Nightmare Moon pushed forward, sending Twilight crashing into the ground, causing a minor earthquake. Spike and the other bearers wavered a little as they tried to stay standing. Twilight slowly got to her hooves and shook off the rubble that coated her body.

She turned to them. “Spike, get them out of here. This place might fall as any second!”

The bearers began running down the stairwell as Spike called out, “But what about you?!”

Twilight shook her head with a small smile on her face. “I’ll be fine. Now go!”

Spike stood there for a moment, conflicted, before he nodded and followed the others out. Twilight sighed and let her Inferno Form dissipate, turning her body back to normal. She turned to Nightmare Moon, who was charging at her. The fighting got heavy, both of them trading blows, a gash here, a nick there; it looked as though they’d been through Tartarus and back.

They leapt away from each other, the battle briefly paused so that they could catch their breath, before they got the same idea and teleported to the main courtyard. Nightmare Moon immediately threw a midnight black staff at Twilight, who ducked just in time to feel it slice through her mane… and a stone pillar… and a few trees, before it disappeared in the distance.

Twilight ran forward and did a multitude of miniature teleports to attack from every possible angle, and finished the barrage off with a powerful kick to the jaw, launching the alicorn away. Nightmare Moon hit the ground on her side, forming a small crater.

You know something, Luna…

Block, side-step, jab…

You’ve helped me out in some pretty bad situations…

Duck, parry, left hook, counter…

In those bad times… If given the opportunity…

They teleported to opposite edges of the courtyard, the bearers and Spike watching from the castle entrance. The two combatants charged each other once more for the final blow.

Ten feet…

If given the motivation…

Five feet…

Back in my correct time…

Two feet…

Our positions could have been switched for this battle…

Twilight’s eyes saw a Nightmare version of herself running at her, her vision was slightly obscured by a mane full of constellations, before it switched back…

Twilight ducked beneath Nightmare Moon’s punch and gave the larger mare a devastating uppercut that broke her jaw.

Twilight was breathing heavily, tears streaking her face. Magic hovered over to her, but didn’t say anything. It just formed the tiara and placed itself atop Twilight’s head. She smiled slightly while she limped over to her friends, who were looking at her with worry in their eyes. She almost collapsed, but Spike ran forward to catch her before she hit the ground, and helped her to the others.

“I… I probably would’ve been dead back at the Manticore if you hadn’t stopped him with your unbelievable levels of Kindness, Fluttershy.”

The yellow pegasus smiled while her element glowed pink.

“Applejack.” Applejack looked at Twilight. “I trusted you when I thought you were crazy and tried to bring me to an early grave, but you were Honest. Thank you.”

The orange mare nodded while her element glowed orange.

“Pinkie Pie, you are Laughter incarnate, not much else I can say.” Twilight gave a small laugh.

Pinkie Pie hopped in place while her element glowed sky blue.

“Rarity, your Generosity knows no bounds.”

Rarity smiled and flicked her mane. Her element glowed fuchsia.

“And Rainbow Dash, you are without a doubt one of the most egotistical ponies I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.”

“Hey-!”

“But you’re also one of the most loyal, and I would never want anypony else by my side than you all.”

Rainbow Dash’s element glowed red.

Twilight turned to face Nightmare Moon, who was struggling to stand. “Any last words, Nightmare Moon? Or should I call you Luna once we’re done?”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes widened at that question, before they closed shut. When they opened, peace and resignation was in them.

“Just make it quick, you foal. I… I don’t want to feel too much…”

Twilight nodded, and the bearers started hovering in the air, their eyes glowing white. Their elements flashed their respective colors. A flash of blue and a blue ethereal cheetah ran forward and started running circles around Nightmare Moon. A flash of red and a red eagle was close behind, soon followed by an orange rhino, a fuchsia jaguar, and a purple lion. The eagle flew over to Fluttershy’s element and tapped its beak against the gem. A bit of smoke came out of it, followed by large clawed paw, a leg, and then the head. The shy pink dragon slowly followed the eagle, and started flying in circles with the others.

The ever familiar rainbow arched over from Twilight and others and slammed into Nightmare Moon full force, who didn’t make a sound. When the rainbow disappeared, a young, light blue Luna was in Nightmare Moon’s place, out cold. The bearers fell to the ground.

When they came too, Spike was standing near Twilight, nonchalantly looking around. As the sun rose, a bright light went straight for the courtyard. The light stopped in the center of the battleground and faded away, revealing Princess Celestia with her wings outstretched.

“My most faithful student, I am glad that you managed to defeat Nightmare Moon with your friends.” Celestia smiled at them all. She turned to look at her younger sister, who was now moving.

“Wha…what?” Luna looked around slowly, as if she was confused about where she was. She turned her head and saw her older sister walking towards her, and ran forward to embrace her in a hug.

“I’m missed you big sister!” Luna cried, tears falling down her face.

“I’ve missed you too.” Celestia wrapped her wings around Luna, crying as well.

They separated and turned towards the bearers. Twilight walked towards her tutor…

…only to collapse, unconscious, a few steps into the journey.

Spike was the first one to reach her side, a green aura surrounding his hands while he hovered them above different parts of her body. He sighed happily.

“She’ll be fine.” More sighs of happiness followed. “She’s just exhausted.”

“I’m curious, Spike.” Celestia rubbed her chin with a hoof. “Where did you learn that diagnostic spell? I wasn’t even aware that you could use unicorn magic.”

Without missing a beat, he replied, “I found out at an early age and Twilight took it upon herself to teach me how to harness my ability by using the methods you used with her.”

Celestia accepted the half-truth and nodded. She wrapped Twilight with her magic and levitated her onto her back. She turned to everyone.

“Let’s get back to Ponyville, there’s a celebration to finish.”

Author's Note:

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! And sorry about the long wait for such a short chapter, too.

Comments

[pendrake72]

@MrDenim...

1. Chapter 2 was a bit weak, especially it being half on the word-count as Chapter 1. Chapter 1 was very involving, Chapter 2 felt like you were hitting the "Skip" button on the DVD remote.

2. You could have spent more time going through the character trials of each of the Element Bearers, rather than fast-forwarding through. How does Future Twilight (& Future Spike) hide her reactions for having to experience each scene again? (such the Applejack scene with the cliff) Or reason (to the others) on bringing Future Spike along this time around?

3. An interesting angle, with the Elements having (at least partial) sentience. I am guessing this applies to the other Elements besides Magic?

4. Something else with foreshadowing and subtle storytelling, I assume you have it worked out to the "Why" the Future couple have jumped back in time. You should also be slowly &/or lightly hinting towards that "Why" for the readers, in the background of the Future duo's trying to mostly preserve the timeline to its canon, but also trying to change whatever Dark Future that gave them cause to walk the always-dangerous road of Time Travel.

[MrDenim]

3660303

You're, like, the best reviewer ever. 'cause you say more than "OMG great chapter!" or "Can't wait for the next installment!" You actually point out the peaks and pitfalls of the chapter, and I love that.

I can guarantee that this chapter was so weak was because of the fact that I wrote the entirety of it late at night. Not in one sitting of course, but it was all written past midnight... on a school night.

Why are you so adamant about the "Dark Future?" I can understand why, what with Twilight's and Spike's initial reactions to being back in time. But hell, wouldn't you act at least a little bit like that if your closest friends had been dead for over 100 years, and you were suddenly able to chat and laugh with them again?

To be 100% honest with you, my plan was to keep the why and the how they're back in time a blank slate, leaving it up to the readers to come up with their own reasons for why and how.

[pendrake72]

3660515...

5. I am not "adamant" about a Dark Future, or when-ever the Future couple back-traveled from. It is simply a default assumption with the theme. Time Travel generally consists of three reasons &/or consequences...
~ a. change &/or prevent something bad from happening (the Terminator series, and many, many others)
~ b. correct &/or safeguard the timeline (50+ years of Doctor Who, Quantum Leap, semi-regular use across the Star Trek series)
~ c. unintentional effects of Time Travel, which then spur the above two (the Back to the Future series, H. G. Wells' The Time Machine, other "What have I done...?!?" Time Travel movies/stories)

Since the latter two did not appear to be in play, I assumed the first. That, and when the Future duo "quantum leap'd" into their past selves, the first thing they did was draw weapons and put their backs to each other in expectation of dire combat, not exactly a Bright Future kind of thing to do .
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6. As for rushing your writing, you can always take the time to revise &/or add-on to chapter 2 at some point as well.

Always remember...

It is NEVER "too late" to go back to revise, refine, edit, correct, or even completely overhaul your fan-fiction work for the better.

.

7. I am glad you enjoy my review & commentary .