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1. A Rather… Chaotic... Salvation.1,598 words
2. Piece of the Past: The Malicious Merchant2,428 words
3. Piece of the Past: Guns and Roses 1,539 words
4. Piece of the Past: Complicated Changes1,170 words
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6. Piece of the Past: Time to Learn1,413 words
7. Piece of the Past: Cubs, Spells, Early Mornings - Oh, My!1,528 words
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9. Nobody Ever Asks for My Name2,336 words
10. Piece of the Past: Lunar Fatality3,692 words
11. Piece of the Past: The Night Sky is Lovely Tonight2,217 words
12. Piece of the Past: Lesson One2,097 words
13. A Murderous Betrayal4,870 words
14. Piece of the Past: Trust2,207 words
15. Piece of the Past: Revelations1,085 words
16. Piece of the Past: The Enchanted Pancakes2,019 words
17. Expositional Explanations3,276 words
18. Piece of the Past: Nemesis' Vindication2,797 words
19. Piece of the Past: Slapping the Moon1,123 words
20. Piece of the Past: Love Story of the Millennium5,242 words
21. Warrior, Come Out to Play-i-ay~!14,560 words
22. Piece of the Past: Love Story of the Millennium Pt. 21,424 words
UPDATE!!!! IMPORTANT!!!!38 words
Time and Time Again38 words

12. Piece of the Past: Lesson One

I was laying in the field with Luna as something occurred to me.

This wasn’t a hallucination, it wasn’t a dream, and I wasn’t dead. If that was the case, then where was I? More importantly, how do I get back? What does Christy think? My parents might call the authorities. The guys would probably wonder where I was, too, when I didn’t go to Jimmy’s on Friday.

Not to mention, in this world, the main species was apparently Equine. I was the only human. I was alone.

Alone.

I cried myself to sleep that night.

-----
IN THE EVERFREE FOREST

I’d been searching through the forest for the better half of the day, but there was no time to rest. Luna was in the enemy’s custody and the Elements were still no closer to being found. I had been walking around aimlessly since I’d left Starswirl’s house. I stumbled upon the gorge I kept running into—several times in the past few hours, actually—and flew across the gap, once again.

Looking through the gap in the branches, I realized what time it was. In a few minutes I’d need to lower the sun and raise the moon. I decided I’d attempt flying when this time came.

Unfortunately, the time I spent on the ground was short-lived after that. I raised the moon and set the sun on time, saddened that Luna couldn’t do it herself.

I was never an artist. Don’t get me wrong, I could draw something, or paint a simple painting; but when it came to the night sky I had nowhere near the level of artistic talent that Luna did. Because of this, I decided to leave her sky the same as the night before.

Once the moon was on its course through the sky, I took flight, hoping that high above the treetops I’d be able to get a better location from the Elements.

Halfway through the night something interesting caught my eye. Bad news was it was from above, not below. Good news was it signified Luna’s safety.

The stars were rearranging themselves.

It seems that Discord and his associate were nice enough to let Luna change the sky. I smiled as blinks of light flew through the darkness, making shapes as they finished their travel. As I was looking up I didn’t realize that I had lost altitude. My change in height brought me close to the treetops, but before I could pull up the trees below me ended, leaving me to fly over the gorge I had stumbled upon no less than a dozen times.

Thinking that I might as well check it out, I lowered into the void of the crack in the land.

-----
IN THE CLEARING OUTSIDE WHITETAIL WOODS THE NEXT MORNING

I awoke next to Michael. He laid there peacefully, slowly breathing in and out. Considering just closing my eyes and falling back to sleep against his chest I repositioned my hoof and felt something under his jacket, reminding me of the power he held. Whoever he fought would be in danger if he used his… gun in battle.

I silently moved his coat out of the way, revealing the weapon to me. It was in a skin that covered everything up to a loop at the bottom. I remembered how he held it, noting the loop was probably the activation lever; or what he called a “trigger”.

Pulling it out of the skin I levitated it over to me as I walked towards the forest.

“Luna?” I heard groggily from behind me. Acting fast I hid the gun behind me as I turned to look at him.

“Y-yes?” I asked, the anxiety clear in my voice.

“You weren’t trying to run away, were you?” He asked as he sat up, rubbing his eye with a closed fist.

“No! I was just… um… I was going to look for some breakfast!” I thought quickly, still shaking slightly.

“Oh… ok, then. I’ll eat anything but grass, assuming that equines here eat the stuff.” He mumbled the last part to himself, probably thinking I couldn’t hear him, but my alicorn senses allowed such a feat.

“Ok… I’ll be back in a few minutes.” I said as I walked towards the forest, the gun still hidden.

Once I was far enough away I hid behind a tree and started looking the weapon over once more, thoroughly, this time. ‘The crafting that must have gone into this thing must have been incredible!’ I thought to myself as I looked down the tube at the, I assumed, front end of the thing.

Suddenly the gun wasn’t in my magical grip any more, but it was now pointing to the sky with a fist around the tube.

“Luna! What are you doing?” Michael yelled as he checked it over, putting it back into its skin moments later.

“I- but you- I mean- I’m sorry!” I was utterly surprised and, honestly, more than a bit scared. I hadn’t heard him approach, not even the slightest rustle of grass. I’d never been snuck up on before, only the one time when I was trying to escape from the ropes.

I realized that there was more than one secret to this being known as Michael, if he could sneak up on me, the Mistress of the Night.

“This is a dangerous weapon that could easily hurt you, or worse!” He said as if he were a mother scolding her child for playing with knives. “I don’t want you getting hurt because of my lack of attention.” He said, calmer than before.

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to know.” I said, like the ashamed child of the metaphor.

“It’s fine, I know. I just don’t want you to get hurt.” He kneeled next to me, giving me a tight hug. After a few seconds of embracing me he moved away, holding me at arm’s length. I looked to the ground in shame, but he’d have none of it. He pulled my chin up to look me in the eyes. “I can show you.” The small smile accentuated his forgiveness.

“You would?” I asked, a little more surprised that he was going to show me one of his secrets.

“Of course, if only to show you how to use it in case you must protect yourself with it.” Standing up, he walking towards the fields once again. “Now, where did I put those targets?” He mumbled to himself.

I got up and walked after him, following him to some wooden circles that had red paint on them. He lifted two and I lifted the other two. He told me that he could make round trips, but I insisted that it would be faster this way.

“Faster, really?” He asked, almost like I’d issued a challenge.

“Well, in the time that you made your round trips, we could have just walked there together.” I told him.

“Are you saying that I can’t make it there, back here, and to the fields again before you made it to said fields?” The smirk on his face indicated he knew something I didn’t.

“Well, yeah. I mean, I have wings, I could just fly over there and you’d have to walk.” I briefly thought of how he kept sneaking up on me, but dismissed it seeing as it had nothing to do with the current conversation.

“Ok. Set the targets down. When I say ‘go’ you start flying out to the middle of the field as fast as you can. I’m going to get all four targets there before you touch down. Deal?” There was a bit of humor in his voice as he untied my wings, like he was tricking a child.

“That sounds unfair, but if you think you’re up to it.” I said, taking my position and stretching my wings, working out the kinks and soreness.

“Ready set go!” He said in an even pattern. I rushed off, galloping as fast as I could, flapping my wings hard. I took this seriously, as anyone would, and flew straight through the treetops to fly above the forest. What I saw ahead dumbfounded me.

He was already there... with all four targets… waving at me.

As I landed, I took a few breaths to try and lower my heart rate. “How… did you do that?” I asked as I cantered over to him.

“I didn’t tell you before? I’m fast. Faster than anyone.” The pride in his voice was unmistakable.

“But you got here before I even cleared the forest! How’s that even possible? Did you use magic?” I looked him over for any magic radiating off of him. There was nothing. When I looked at him, checking for magic, I saw that he was a void. Even the air around him had ambient magical traces, but he had none. Not even the slightest sign.

“No, I did not.” Before he could elaborate his face suddenly became a mask of surprise.

-----
MICHAEL’S POINT OF VIEW

There was a sudden urge to take my watch out of my pocket. I wasn’t sure what was going on, so I did what I thought needed to be done. Pulling my watch from my pocket, I found that it was slowly getting heavier, not unbearably so, but enough to be noticeable. I tilted the piece of clockwork on its side, just over my hand, getting that same feeling that it was the thing to do. What happened next surprised me.

Glimmering gold sand fell forth, until it slowly took the shape of a simple crystal hourglass. The small quartz hourglass was no larger than four inches, but as I held it upside-down the sand never fell from its position. I began speaking as the words came from deep within my mind.

“Time is an unalienable right. All creatures receive theirs. Freedom is another unalienable right, given to creatures upon their creation. No being, mortal or immortal, has the ability to take these two indefeasible entitlements.” I looked into the sand that was still stuck to the inverted hourglasses ceiling “Those who find themselves striped of either, may this time piece find you in your plight; for I will heed that call to assist you in retaking that which was taken. Just say ‘tempus attinet, Libertas aeternam’ and I shall come to your aid.” Suddenly the sand began to fall, making its hissing sound as it fell through the funnel, slowly gathering at the base once more.

I felt the urge to place the hourglass into my coat pocket. Once I removed my hand the pocket was once again empty. I knew it had gone somewhere, but I didn’t know where.

“Um… what was that about?” Asked Luna once my little display was over.

“I’m not sure. There’s no need to dwell on it, though.” I said as I set the targets upright. “You wanted to know how my gun worked, and I was going to teach you how to use it.” I unholstered the weapon and showed it to her once more.

“I know the basics already. That is the activation lever and when it’s pulled it creates the… bullet you were talking about.” She pointed at the trigger with a hoof.

“Good, now take it and shoot the target.” I told her as she levitated it out of my hands.

She slowly moved the barrel to point at the circle. I saw a faint glow surround the trigger, gradually applying pressure to it. There were a few seconds of silence… a few more… she looked at it like it was broken.

“Lesson one, gun safety.” I told her, taking the gun back. “This is the safety.” I pointed at the small lever that was still in the “safe” position. “It’s the only thing keeping the weapon from going off when it’s not supposed to.” I clicked the safety off and held it out to her. “Don’t worry; I did the exact same thing when I first started.” I gave a friendly smile as she took it once more.

The gun levitated from my grip and immediately went off, causing her magic to falter and the gun to drop to the ground.

“I did that too. I’m starting to see a pattern.”

Author's Note:

"The worst thing a human can be is alone."
-Golden Script

Michael is ready for crossovers, if you'd like to meet him, PM me!

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