The Passage of Time

by MasterFrasca

Going Home

Gravity took hold and I felt my body careen into the pit, the wind whipping past my head, my eyes watering as I felt myself go into free-fall. I tried to look around, but a sense of vertigo overcame me as my brain tried to figure out which direction I was falling. I started spinning, feeling the wind push my limbs around. I felt like a piece of paper caught in an updraft, and I was starting to feel sick. I couldn’t see anything in the void, not even my own legs. Even the path that we had been on had seemed to disappear completely from existence. The dark surroundings seemed to squeeze around me, the blackness seeming to pull breath out of my lungs.

I was starting to get nauseous when I heard a voice call out from the black surroundings. “Don’t trust your surroundings,” the whisper of a voice called through the thick nothingness. “Close your eyes and just land on the ground. You can make it!”

I listened to the whisper and shut my eyes, trying to focus on being upright and on solid ground. I could still feel my head spinning and the wind whipping my mane around. As I tumbled, I tried to focus on something, anything to take my mind off the fall. “Home,” I said to myself, flipping end over end. “I’m going to go home.”

“I’m going to get out of here,” I said a little louder, focusing on the memories of the past day. “No more Time Protectors. No more clocks. No more confusion. I’m going home, and I’m going to sleep in my own bed tonight. I’m going to wake up in the morning and my friend Lily will be there to greet me.” My eyes were completely shut, and I was almost shouting. “I’m going to be back in the real world. I’m going to survive this! I’m not letting it end here! I AM going home! I’m going to MY home!”

“Then let’s get to it,” a voice spoke in my ear. I opened my eyes to see that Time Turner was standing in front of me with a grin on his face. We were no longer in the void, and I hadn’t even felt myself land, but now we were standing in the middle of a massive apple orchard, presumably Sweet Apple Acres. The fog had even disappeared completely. I blushed when I realized he had probably heard most of my rant.

“Twilight is still working on the essence of magic spell,” he said, pointing to a shaking Twilight who was now lying down and seemed to be having difficulty breathing.

“Oh my god, does she need help?!” I worried, running over to her and leaning over her spent form.

“I...I’ll be...fine,” Twilight managed to say between labored breaths. “Get the… Apple… use the spell…”

“But Twilight, I don’t know the spell,” I said, trying to cradle her head in my hooves. “Twilight, we need you. Stay with us.”

“You can… manipulate time…” she gasped, her eyes fluttering. “Do what you do… for… that..”

At that moment, her horn glowed and released a shower of sparks. She produced a guttural moan and closed her eyes once more, her body falling limp to the ground. “Twilight, no stay with me!” I shouted, placing my hooves on her limp side and giving a shake. “I don’t know what to do!” I pushed harder, rolling her purple form on its back, her legs spread at awkward angles. Tears were starting to form in my eyes as I realized that she was out cold. “I don’t know what to do, Twilight! Wake up and help me, please! I don’t know what to do!”

“Colgate, stay calm,” Turner said, pulling me away from the unconscious pony. “What did she say to you?” he asked, leaning over and mumbling what sounded like an incantation. Lily came over and kneeled over the mare’s body as well, looking intently for what seemed to be any damage. Turner’s eyes were closed, and he had set his hooves on Twilight’s head. I watched in confusion, trying to figure it out. He turned his head slightly to the side and muttered audibly, “Colgate?”

I blinked a few times before realizing he was still waiting for me to answer. “She said to do what I do for time manipulation, but… I don’t know what that meant.”

“Come over and help me with this, Colgate,” he said, not reacting at all from my revelation. “Lily, I need your help too. Colgate, hold up her head for me, and Lily, run to that barn over there.” He pointed to what looked like a dilapidated version of the Sweet Apple Acres barn rusting in the distance. “There should be a few bottles on one of the shelves. Grab one and bring it back here so I can get this essence of magic out of her. Now!”

Lily nodded and quickly turned, galloping to the rustic building as I still held Twilight’s head aloft. “How did you know there would be bottles inside the barn?” I asked, blinking a few times as I still tried to understand what Twilight had meant.

“That’s where my lab is at, my home now. Soon, hopefully I won’t have to spend another night in its silent woodwork. Now, Colgate, I need you to think hard. What did Twilight mean when she told you what to do?”

“She told me to do what I do for time manipulation,” I repeated, “but‒”

“What DO you normally do when you manipulate time?” he cut me off, staring straight into my eyes. “This is important, Colgate.”

“I just normally think of a clock slowing down, but it’s so abstract I never–”

“What do you do, EXACTLY? Don’t just summarize it. Explain to me every single step. If you can’t perform this spell, then running from those Time Protectors will be the rest of your life. This is crucial for all of us, so either you do this, or we all perish.”

I gulped, a fear clouding my mind. “Ok…” I trembled, taking a deep breath to try to calm my shivering form. “First, I picture a clock, usually a cuckoo clock, ticking away the seconds in my mind. The hands are always pointed at twenty-four past ten if I remember correctly. I sit and let it tick the seconds away, focusing on the second hand.”

Closing my eyes, I focused on my technique, trying to remember exactly what I did each time I froze the world. “Then I conjure a magic aura around the hand, pulling it backwards. I always watch and pull as the seconds tick by slower, and I never let up on my magic until the hand is completely silent.” Opening my eyes, I finished the description, “Then I open my eyes and I always ended up in a frozen version of Equestria.”

“Fascinating…” was all the brown stallion could mutter as he looked down, a hoof resting under his chin as he seemed lost in thought.

“But how does any of that relate to turning a normal apple into a Zap Apple? I don’t get it Turner...”

“That’s just it, Colgate,” he replied, looking up and lowering his hoof slightly. “Magic isn’t a bunch of fancy words strung together to create something. It’s an art as much as it is a science. You have to create what you imagine, which is why many light spells are easy to conjure. A pony want’s light so they create a light.”

“What are you getting at, Time Turner?” I asked, trying to follow his thought process. From what he was saying, I could see why it would be easy to conjure up something from my magic, but this was a physical apple we were talking about.

“Magic is a process you control,” he ecstatically replied, getting up from Twilight and looking down the rows of trees. “If you imagine it, then it’s possible. You can change the apple into a Zap Apple if you only put enough will into it. The only limit is what strength you have to give the magic. Don’t you get it?”

“I think so,” I said, closing my eyes and imagining a shiny red apple with a stem and green leaf attached like the ones I’d always see on Applejack’s carts. I saw it spin around and I willed a rainbow to be formed by my magic, the colors filling the black void that surrounded the perfect apple. The shades swirled around the apple, seeming to close in on it rapidly. Soon the surface of the apple was nothing but a blur, and I willed the rainbow, which was also rapidly spinning at this point, to merge into the apple’s surface. I felt my hoofs life off the ground, but I kept my eyes shut, determined to finish the spell.

Suddenly, I felt strained, but I willed even harder, digging my feet into the ground as I noticed a wind blow my mane around. I pushed my magic harder, a sizzling now audible in my ears. The rainbow grew close and the apple seemed to spin even faster, but I pushed the rainbow until suddenly, it contacted with the surface. A sudden surge of energy burst forth from my horn, but I kept my eyes closed to watch the unexpected scene in front of me.

The apple seemed to shatter into a million different pieces. It didn’t explode into mush, but instead formed perfect puzzle-piece-esque bits that blew around. I could almost feel the bits brushing against my fur as if they were a fine dust. The pieces then slowed to a halt and suddenly spun rapidly in the other direction, my body feeling a bit drained, and my magic controlling nothing. As The pieces spun around, they started to float back to the center, their color changing as they moved. Finally, the reformed in a burst of light and in front of me there laid a Zap Apple, surrounded by the black void of my mind.

Opening my Eyes, I saw that I was no longer sitting by Twilight, but floating down to a circular patch in the ground that was sparking with blue streaks. The colors of the grass and dirt underneath had changed into a perfect rainbow with a red dot in the middle and the other colours surrounding it in rings.

“Good show,” Turner called from behind me. I turned to see the brown stallion panting with Twilight flung onto his back. “Next time, warn me when you’re about to turn somepony into a rainbow.”

I blushed and walked over to him, looking Twilight over to see if she got hit. “Sorry, are you guys ok?”

“We’re fine. When you started levitating a few feet off the ground, I dragged her out of blast range. Now we know how to make the Zap Apple, but we still need to find a regular one.” He glanced down the Orchard trees and softly cursed to himself. “Damn, I knew I shouldn’t have started with the trees next to the barn…”

“Get Twilight to the barn. I’ll find an apple and meet you–” A massive rumble knocked me off my feet and cut me off mid-sentence. “Oh no,” I muttered, knowing the only thing that rumble could have been. “Go! Get Twilight to the barn!” I shouted at Turner who was rapidly glancing around trying to find the source of the rumble. “I’ll find an apple and meet you there. Start making the spell!” I saw Lilly galloping as fast as she could out to us, undoubtedly because she had just felt the same rumble. Turner nodded and ran towards Lilly as fast as he could while carrying a grown mare on his back.

As he caught up with her, I turned and looked down the orchards to see that nearly every tree I could make out was barren. I looked to my right to see that the same was true. I glanced in nearly every direction I could, but there was nothing to see but dark and dying trees. As I glanced back at the barn which seemed to be sitting in the middle of it all, I saw Turner waving his hooves at me. When he noticed I was looking at him, he pointed multiple times to his left. I looked over and squinted my eyes. At first, nothing came to view, but about seven trees away from me, I spotted a glint of red in the sea of brown.

There’s our apple.

I gave a large nod to Turner and he backed into the barn, carrying Twilight in with him. The door closed and I took in a deep breath in, licking my lips and preparing for the worst. “I am going home,” I whispered. Almost leaping forward, I sprinted for the tree that had the apple on it, reaching it in a matter of seconds. Looking around, I saw that I was still alone, but as soon as I looked back up at the apple, an unearthly screech rang through the air, causing me to shut my eyes tight and cover my ears. The yell lasted for a good ten seconds, and it sent a shiver down my spine. It almost felt like I had just listened to dozens of ponies screaming out in agony as they faced death.

As the sound finally stopped, I opened my eyes to see that the horizon was now filled with a black smoky substance filled with pricks of red. I glanced to my right to receive the same image. I looked behind me to see that they were forming in the distance as well. I was surrounded by thousands upon thousands of the Time Protectors. There were more than I had ever seen before. I knew I should have felt fear or anxiety, but adrenaline was coursing in my veins, and all I do was smile. “Come and get me,” I softly spoke, twisting around and placing my back hooves on the tree. “I’ll be waiting.”

I gave a hard buck and shook the tree’s roots, feeling a sharp pain course through my legs. I had probably kicked the tree too hard in all the excitement. The apple fell directly in front of me and I grabbed it with my mouth, turning to take off. I took a step, and another sharp pain bolted in my back left leg. I had probably broken it in the kick to the tree. I yelped and took the pressure off my leg, trying not to bite into the apple in my mouth. Limping, I started off for the barn, going a few feet every second.

Glancing around, I noticed that the dark mass was closing in quickly, the individual red eyes now easy to make out. I cringed and put my broken hoof back on the ground, trying to grunt away the pain. My eyes teared up and I started a slow jog towards the barn. My leg seemed to be on fire, and I could barely see through my blurry, teared-up eyes.

I was within a few feet of the barn when suddenly, a black haze appeared in front of the door, blocking me from getting in. Instantly, there was a form in front of me, and I saw a pair of familiar eyes. I lowered my head and dropped the apple onto the ground. “Let me through,” I said, staring into the red eyes, almost touching his black fur.

“Why not stay here with us? Isn’t that what you wanted?” He replied, not budging from the spot, a serious expression hammered into his face. “Or do you really want to abandon your parents again?”

“Let me through damn it!” I shouted at the stallion, looking him straight in the eyes. I could see the fake red glow pulsing behind the pupils. I knew this wasn’t my father. This was just a trick to keep me from escaping. It wasn’t going to work.

“But why would you leave? Don’t you–”

“No!” I shouted at the figure posing as my father. “I don’t want to stay here. I am going home, and I am taking my friends with me!” I could feel my magic building up inside me, and I kept on shouting, the magic flowing in my horn. “I am done with this fucking place! I don’t want to be chased by your minions anymore. I didn’t want to mess with time. I just wanted to come in and save my friend. I wanted her back! ITS NOT LIKE YOU COULD EVER UNDERSTAND!”

I released the charge I had been building up, and it blew a hole in the door, the figure standing in front of it having disappeared. “They can’t understand,” I whispered to myself, pushing the door open and grabbing the apple once more.

“Oh my god, Colgate, what was that?” Lilly asked, galloping to the front door. Before I could answer she gasped again, “What happened to your leg?”

“Afole tee,” I said, the apple still in my mouth. I spat it into my hoof when I realized how stupid I had sounded. “Apple tree,” I repeated. “Don’t worry about me. How’s the potion coming along? We have guests, and I’d rather dinner be ready before they get here.”

Turner gave a half-hearted laugh from behind a big black kettle with a brew boiling inside. He stirred the contents a few times before spitting the spoon out of his mouth and informing me, “I’ve put in the essence of magic. Give it a few minutes to boil, and then we add in the Zap Apple paste and we spread it on some wall. That should make a portal escaping back into our world, but I need to boil this magic just long enough. Start on the Zap Apple. I should be ready by then.”

“Alright. Lily, they’re coming. I don’t know what you can do, but hold them off. We’re getting out of here today.”

She gave me a silent nod before I set the apple down in the middle of the floor and took a step back. This time, though, I kept my eyes open, focusing my magic on the Apple. Imagining had worked earlier, but I couldn’t miss this time. I wouldn’t have the strength to do it again. I took a deep breath in and let it slowly out, clearing my mind of any distractions. “Here we go…” I whispered to myself.

Using my magic, I shot an invisible beam towards the Apple, picking it up and spinning it, just as I had before. This time, a slight breeze started to swirl around it, the dust getting scattered in the wind. I spun the apple faster and faster until it once again was a blur. Lilly had turned around to watch and Turner had stopped stirring to look at what I was doing. The doors of the barn rattled and I suddenly felt very light on my feet. I kept focusing on the apple which had started levitating a few feel in the air. I concentrated harder, forcing the apple to spin as fast as it could go.

Suddenly, my hooves lifted off the ground and I floated up to the same level as the apple. Not wavering in my concentration, I willed a rainbow into existence in front of me. A beam of colour pulsed from my horn as I felt an energy surge through me. The wind had picked up and now the dust was creating a small tornado beneath the apple. The rainbow started pulsing and spinning around the apple, the colours splitting up and forming seven different rings around the spinning red fruit. I pushed harder, willing the coloured beams to close in. Every ounce of strength went into pushing the beams closer and closer.

I may have heard Lilly shout my name, but the wind was not blistering by that I could hear nothing else. Giving one final tug, the beams met with the surface, and the fruit shattered into a thousand tiny particles, a deafening pop echoing in the air. My body fell limp and my magic was drained. I fell to the ground as the particles quickly gravitated inward and formed once again into an apple shape. The rainbow was now stained into it’s pristine surface, and the stem was sparking just a bit. As soon as the apple had reformed, however, a brown hoof smashed down on top of, producing a multicoloured paste.

Turner collected a bit of it and threw it into the pot mixing furiously as I struggled to stay conscious. My eyes fluttered and everything was blurry. I remember Lilly ran over to me and shouted something to Time Turner. He shouted back before the door suddenly burst open, the cloud of Time Protectors waiting just outside. Lilly screamed and dragged me over to the kettle. She grabbed Twilight as well, and she and Turner said a few quick words. Turner kicked the pot over and spilt the entire substance into the floor in front of us, blocking the creatures from going any further.

The purple liquid seemed to burn the floor almost instantly as if it were some strong acid. It smelled really sweet though, and it seemed to seep into the ground beneath. Soon, the substance had burned a hole so deep it looked more like a pit. I was so close to passing out, and my ears were still ringing from casting the spell, but I heard Turner yell that we had succeeded. The potion had worked, and he jumped in, dragging Twilight with him. Lily glanced down into the pit with a nervous look before hoisting me on her back. She closed her eyes and leapt as I glanced back at the creatures with a smile.

“I’m going home.”

---

“Hey, sleepyhead,” a voice rang in my ear. I must have passed out after going through the portal. “Come on, Colgate, wake up. I thought you were taking me out for tea today?”

“What” I groaned, sitting up and looking over at the pink mare. “How can you want tea after all that? It’s not like I could even walk any...” I stopped mid-sentence as I pulled the sheets of my bed back. My leg was fine, and there was no sign of any damage whatsoever. “...ways.”

“Well, I knew you weren’t a morning person, Colgate, but I highly doubt you broke your leg so you didn’t have to get up,” she replied, sticking out her tongue. She started to leave the room, finishing up by saying, “Now get up and come on. I want to get to the cafe before they stop serving those breakfast sandwiches.”

“Lily,” I called out, looking around the room and upon myself to try and find some sort of scar to prove the past day’s events. “What did we do yesterday?”

“Well, we got up and saved the world of course, going on a massive adventure with a gorgeous hero. I fell in love and we got married all in a single day.”

“You’re being sarcastic, aren’t you?” I asked, knowing the obvious answer. A part of me still wished that even that absurd story were true. I don’t understand how she could just forget an adventure like that.

“Colgate,” she chuckled, trotting out of the room. “That stuff only ever happens in your dreams. Now for Celestia’s sake, get up!”

I sat there for a minute taking in what I had just heard. I knew I hadn’t dreamt that nightmare. As illogical as it was, the pain felt too real, and the story was so absurd that even I couldn’t imagine it happening. The last day couldn’t have just not happened. The hours we spent in that other world weren’t just figments of my imagination.

Were they?

I had to find out, somehow. I couldn’t just lie here and pretend what happened didn’t happen again. I needed to warn others about my mistakes. I needed to go and tell everypony not to mess with time and create something they can’t control. I need to tell them all that if they do mess with the timestream that guardians, monsters, and whatever else would come by and try to stop them, to kill them, or something even worse. I needed to tell those curious that nothing good ever happens whenever–

I needed to see if Twilight still knew.

Throwing the covers off myself, I bolted for the doorway, not even bothering to check my mane. A surge of energy was rushing through me, and I sped past the kitchen to hear Lily shout out, “Colgate? Where are you going?!”

I didn’t respond and simply flew out the door, running down the street to many ponies looking at me in confusion. I galloped straight towards the center of town where Twilight’s Library was located. A part of me was almost waiting for the same buildings to start appearing beside me and for a red fog to descend upon the entire town. The blow of the wind in my mane and the occasional disapproving stare from passerby kept my wits about me, and soon the familiar green-laden branches came into view.

A small moment of panic came over me as I realized that Twilight might not have made it back from the other world. I grimaced and sped along toward the tree, running straight for the door. When I was just a few feet in front of the door, it opened, and the unicorn managed to let out a gasp of surprise and jump out of the way before I almost bowled her over. I tumbled for a few feet before my back slammed into the wall.

“Colgate?” Twilight managed to say as I opened my eyes to see the upside-down mare giving me a look of concern. “Here,” she said, lifting me up with her magic and placing me the right way up on my hooves. “Now what the heck was all that about?” she asked, closing the door and levitating a basket over to the steps.

“Twilight, do you remember what we did last night?” I nearly shouted at her before realizing that there was no need to. Twilight paused a moment and blushed. “Twilight?” I asked again, now a little hesitant to hear the answer. I didn’t think she was thinking of the same night I was.

“Well, Colgate… I’m not completely certain what I did last night with anyone,” She said, avoiding my gaze. “Spike, can you keep the place under control while I go get some pastries from Sugarcube Corner?” she shouted to another room before walking over to the basket and levitating it upwards. I hear a half-reply from the little dragon from upstairs before Twilight proceeded out the door saying with one final breath, “I never want to drink that much cider again…”

A frown spread across my face as I realized that she was definitely not talking about the Frozen World. I could only assume that even if she did remember our trip that she’d just dismiss it as some sort of fever dream. Sighing, I pushed the library door open and stepped outside. I walked slowly down the street thinking to myself. Had I just imagined the entire thing? Every step I took, I wanted to believe that more and more. There wasn’t any way I could prove what had happened. My leg was fine, and I was the only one to remember everything.

The spell.

I could cast the time stopping spell again. It was a long stretch, but maybe there was some evidence in the frozen world that could prove it. There could have been a portal or signs of extra magic like the time Twilight cast the spell the second time. I ran over to the side of the street and waited for everypony to ignore me once more. Glancing around hastily to make sure nopony was watching, I closed my eyes and thought of the clock. I did the normal routine, imagining the ticking hand and cuckoo clock.

“Already back for more?” a voice said in front of me. I flung my eyes open and jumped back, startled at hearing the familiar voice. When I saw who had spoken, a smile grew across my face.

“Time Turner!” I shouted, embracing the brown stallion as he gave a chuckle. Letting go of him I suddenly realized what it meant. “I’m not going crazy!” I gave a little pause before backing up slightly “Am I?”

“No, Colgate,” he replied with a smile. “Everything actually happened. You actually found me in my desolate second world, and you actually fought those monsters.”

“Then why am I the only one who remembers it?”

“Well,” he started, scratching his head and looking down, “I didn’t want anypony else discovering the time-freezing spell. I knew you already knew it, but I didn’t want what happened to me happen to anyone else. So, I wiped the memories from your friends when we got back to equestria last night. I’ve been waiting to talk to you. You were out cold last night, and no potion I could mix up was waking you.”

“That makes sense, I suppose. What were you waiting for me for? Why not just meet me in the real world?”

“Colgate, I’ve been gone for so long,” he said, his smile fading as gave a small sigh. “My parents probably wouldn’t even recognize me, and I don’t have any connections to society. You’re the only pony I know.”

My throat clenched up a bit when I realized just what kind of a situation he was in. I looked awkwardly around for a second before remembering something. “My friend and I were about to go have some tea, actually. Since you kind of owe me for rescuing you from that place, would you like to join us? Do you think you have the time?”

His smile returned brighter than ever as he gave a nod.

“I’ve got all the time in the world, now.”

Comments

[Skeeter The Lurker]

Damn... Nice ending to it all.

Kinda sad to see it end though, but hey...

I can always re read it. Well done, man. Well done.

~Skeeter The Lurker

[Skeeter The Lurker]

Here you go:

24.media.tumblr.com/a257ad5165644b1f79354634dfdee284/tumblr_mqo61uYbwk1rj6vd5o1_400.png

Take this and enjoy!

~Skeeter The Lurker

[Prolet]

The story was the kind that grabs you from your balls and shouts: "Read more!" (once I finally started reading it, that is). I was honestly surprised that it turned so serious so quickly, what with Colgate fearing death every moment. I liked the theme and the constant sense of danger, as well as the idea of Colgate being able to control time, as her cutie mark seems to suggest. The ending was good... but now someone needs to write a Colgate x Twilight story

But the story also had its flaws, the biggest one being the almost total Lily-amnesia for half of the story. Why is Colgate worrying more about Twilight than her? This becomes very apparent when the three meet in the library: instead of comforting Lily, Colgate just goes to hug the random stallion. Not what I'd expect a good friend to do...

[MasterFrasca]

3553978 Yeah... That's probably because of my own Lily-amnesia. I honestly forgot that she was the reason any of this happened around the middle of the story. (Having written the later chapters months after the first.) Someday I'll have to go in and fix that, or at least realize that I need to worry more about my own characters in the future. Thanks for the positive review, Prolet. I hope I'll be able to see more of your stuff soon enough.