Ratchet sat back in the Great Clock, completely relaxed as he brushed Twilight's mane. Not that she needed him to do that anymore, but it was a relaxing activity for both of them that they chose to indulge in every so often. Qwark was nearby, playtesting new Qwark vidcomics based on their more recent adventures, with Clank watching on as he'd helped to program them. Nefarious was spending time with Vendra and Neftin, having reached the conclusion that Vendra was close to a full recovery. Kaden and Vashiir were also overlooking that group, as Sasha, Talwyn, and Angela had decided to join in to help Vendra feel more like the extended family. This left the four Sparkle-Gyros to themselves to relax.
Their relaxation was cut short, however, when Orvus approached them. "Ah, good, it's just the four of you," he observed cryptically. "Please meet me swiftly with Aphelion. The time has come." Before any of them could question him, he'd floated off.
Ratchet, Clank, Qwark, and Twilight exchanged confused glances. "That was cryptic," Qwark observed. "Think it's important?"
"Likely," Clank offered dryly. "I believe we should go to Aphelion with all speed. Father oversees all of time, so timing could be very important."
Nodding, Ratchet stood up, leading the group to the docks. Orvus floated beside Aphelion as they approached. "Good, you came quickly. Timing is quite important here." He gestured to Aphelion. "I have given her the coordinates you need. You should go post haste, the four of you alone at the moment. Others might follow later if they choose, when the time is right. For now, I bid you all a fond farewell. Until we meet again." With that, he vanished back into the Great Clock.
"What...what did he mean by that?" Ratchet demanded in confusion.
"Brother," Aphelion spoke up, "Orvus has given me what you need to keep your promise. All of you, get in."
Ratchet's eyes widened as he realized what that meant. Grabbing Twilight, he leapt into the cockpit, Clank and Qwark quickly following. Aphelion's canopy closed, and she lifted into the air.
"Setting course for the Corrigé nebula," Aphelion spoke up. "Actuating phase-shifter to lock onto mobile etheric source. Course locked in."
"...you mean I wasn't full of it back on Mukow?" Qwark asked in surprise, causing Ratchet to facepalm and Twilight to burst into giggles.
"Estimated travel time...3 hours," Aphelion informed them. "Please relax and try to enjoy the upcoming flight..."
Before long, Aphelion exited her hyperspatial flight path, coasting back into normal space. "Approaching target destination," she informed everyone. "Maximizing magnification."
Everyone looked on in wonder as the world they were approaching was thrown into full relief. Blue oceans, green land masses, white clouds, soaring castles on mountain peaks, almost no signs of industrialization...it looked like a most idyllic medieval landscape. Each of them had their own reactions.
"It's...it's beautiful," Qwark observed as he wiped tears from his eyes, tracing the curve of continents with a finger. "I've never seen a world so...pristine."
"The energy flows..." Clank murmured softly. "If so much power infuses your world, Twilight, it is no wonder you are so strong."
"I kept my promise, Twilight," Ratchet whispered, letting his tears flow freely. "It took me more than a decade...but there it is. Your homeworld, just like I promised."
"Not quite," Twilight offered dryly, her voice sounding raspy as she struggled to contain emotion. As all eyes turned to her, she pointed to the small sun and moon that moved slowly around the planet. "Daddy, you said my planet orbited a star, not the other way around."
The other three blinked for a time, and then all four burst into laughter.
"This may not be a laughing matter," Aphelion observed worriedly. "The gravitational fields of this geocentric system are unlike any I have ever encountered. I am having difficulty maintaining a steady course."
"Twilight, can you use your magic to help steady us?" Ratchet asked quickly. When there was no answer, he turned. "Twilight? Twilight!"
Twilight had inexplicably slumped to the floor unconscious. Her vital signs and nanotech level were stable, but she was completely unresponsive.
"Brother, we need to do something!" Aphelion warned. "If I am unable to adapt to the gravitational fields, I am going to crash, and present course takes us into a highly populated sector of the planet! Not to mention the density of the atmospheric envelope will damage my outer hull if I enter at this steep angle, and I will not be able to protect you all!"
"What about the moon?" Ratchet asked desperately, pointing to the small, magically charged satellite. "Can we land there?"
"...affirmative," Aphelion confirmed, changing course. "It won't be a gentle landing, but there aren't any settlements there, and I am detecting an M class atmosphere. We should be fine while I adapt my systems and Twilight recovers from whatever has caused her to lose consciousness. Brace for impact."
The reflection of light off Aphelion's hull made it seem as though four dots of light converged into the moon as she crashed, managing to avoid most damage to herself and her passengers. However, the crash disturbed something, and a massive shadow erupted off the surface of the moon to flow to the planet below.
"I hope that wasn't important," Qwark murmured nervously.
"We'll deal with that later," Ratchet countered bluntly. "For now, we need to tend Twilight. Aphelion, open the canopy so we can-"
"That would be a bad idea," Aphelion warned. "Look!"
Before their very eyes, the planet's small sun shifted to behind the moon, plunging the world below into darkness while bathing Aphelion in unwinking light and heat.
"Environmental systems are at maximum," Aphelion spoke up softly. "I recommend everyone remain inside until this event passes."
"I hope it passes quickly," Ratchet fretted, stroking Twilight's mane worriedly. "This heat can't be good for her..."
A few hours later, the sun shifted back to the opposite side of the planet, once more letting the surface of the moon cool. A couple of hours after that, Twilight woke up. Unnoticed to the others, she walked to the top of the moon where she could stare at the planet below.
"Twilight!" Ratchet called out in relief as he rushed towards her. "You're alright!"
"I'm down there," she whispered softly in response.
"...eh?" Qwark asked, confused.
"I dreamed I was down there," she continued. "I had friends...and we fought a Nightmare...and I lived in a library..."
"While that sounds much like a dream life for you," Clank observed, "are you...entirely certain it was a dream?"
"What do you mean?" Ratchet demanded crossly.
"The Dimensionator could not take us here because of a temporal anomaly," Clank reminded them. "I believe that anomaly may have been the fact that Twilight had already been sent to Veldin, but hadn't already been sent there yet. And if I'm not mistaken, we've just set in motion the course of events that will lead to her being sent...and Twilight dreamed the first of those events, and will likely wake when her self on the world below sleeps, to tell us of the dreams as she reexperiences the events of her life for however long before she is sent."
"Then we can't go down...until the dreams end," Twilight observed sadly. She stared longingly at the world below...so close, but still beyond her reach.
Clever. I like this twist.
So close. . . is the alternate universe with Alien Nefarious next in the journey?
Well. That's not what I expected. So, what, they're gonna be trapped up there for a year?
7791163 The author already said no to doing the re-imagined Ratchet & Clank.
gaahhh ive been waiting for this to happen and now i have to wait even more to see everyponies reaction to the new twilight. sadly for me i know its going to be worth the wait and so i shall wait until the next chapter. keep up the good work
well... Didn't expect that.
Genius! Can't wait for more.
...The Corrigé-(Pony) nebula.
Why not just call it the Horsehead nebula?
Oh like THAT wasn't subtle LOVING IT!
7791200 Seriously! Oh well, still funny.
Now we wait, for the REAL entertainment to start.
iambrony.steeph.tp-radio.de/mlp/gif/143309%20-%20animated%20pinkie_pie%20sad.gif
So damn close, yet so damn far away......
Now I am wondering when she disappeared... Did she leave her world right after acending or some time later? Depending on how long this story might have an entire arc to go before ending...
7791200
7791212
Because Qwark called her point of origin the "Corrigé galaxy-verse" back in the Tools arc when he called her Pirate Princess Periwinkle.
7791167 Ah, alright so were close to the ending then. What threat remains though as I don't recall what's next in the game order.
ooo interesting way of giving her memories back
7791294
No more games.
This is the start of the "Return to Equestria" arc.
What a !
Though, the next year and change is probably going to be hell for Twilight... And what of all her Memories Before the thousandth Summer Sun? Where do those come back, if she's only re-experiencing events more or less as they happen?
And here I thought it was gonna be the Remake being a movie or something.
Well then... can't say that's what I expected.
I hope there will be a time skip, because if not... this will be a loooooooooong arc.
So let me guess somehow someway Twilight was growing up at the same time in both places because of Starlight Glimmer mucking around in the time stream. I almost want to see Tatsurou do a PWNY story with Starlight to see what he could teach her but have no clue on where she could be sent.
7791459 Well she could experience the horrors of time travel with The Doctor... Or one of the however many other time travel based shows out there. Could be interesting to see her become a social outcast with Bill and Ted, hunt down Carmen Sandiego through time, or maybe learn from a crazy scientist in Back to the Future.
7791459 Tats has stated repeatedly that Starlight fails one of his basic 'usable pony' requirements.
He hates her.
Nice work...
It's right there! A mere skip on the galactic scale (no need for a jump and hop) and she can't get to it! BAH! I can only imagine what Twilight must be going through right now. Something tells me, however, that they won't be stuck up their for all three seasons, Tatsurou doesn't make things that obvious and lacking in curve balls. Besides, while she may not be able to make causality her bitch anymore, I'm sure she can come up with something. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the great work. Deus tecum.
This twist was BRILLIANT. I wish I could double-upvote...
It begins...
Aaaaaand then It slows to a crawl...
---------------------
Everyone is sitting around on the moon while Twi is asleep. Suddenly the moon and sun start flying around the planet randomly, stopping and starting again with no discernible pattern. Equestria itself looks like a giant checkerboard. After several hours, a claw the stretching from the planet to the moon spontaneously appears and attempts to grab the moon. Aphelion sees it coming and fires a few lasers at it.
Back on Equestria, Discord whips his hand back and sucks on the minor burns, glaring at the moon. And is then promptly distracted by something else.
------------------
Twilight wakes up in the middle of the day and runs off to Aphelion. "Hey Aphelion. Do you have a really large magnifying glass? I need you to kill a bug. It's a bit larger than me, and it likes to monologue. I imagine it is going to step out onto a balcony sometime in the next few minutes, and I'd really appreciate it if you terminated that insect with extreme prejudice.
Back on Equestria, "~This day is going just per--~" There was a noticeable increase in light around Chrysalis, as if a spotlight were shining on her. Then she exploded in a storm of green goo.
...
7791645 the only constraints that I can see that he's given Twilight, is while past twilight is awake future alicorn Twilight Sparkle is asleep.
Nothing saying they have to stay on the moon just probably not run into yourself as a general principle but ya
7791696 lol
Tatsuro. You magnificent bastard. I've read your book...
And I can't wait to read the ending.
7791271
Nice foreshadowing, then.
I have a question, though. Did you really just leave Twilight and co. stuck on the the Moon for nearly a year? And that is assuming that I'm not misremembering the Season 4 opener and it was actually two years. Winter Wrapup and Running of the Leaves really play royal Tartarus on trying to set up a timeline.
7791578
"Not like" and "hate" are two different things.
I don't like Starlight. I hate pre-reformation Diamond Tiara.
hey maybe Aphelion can send out nanite satellites so that everyone can watch the events in real time instead of just Twilight while she dreams, and of course pinkie pie is completely aware of them.
speaking of sentient spacecraft is it even legal for Aphelion to land on Equestria considering their current tech level?
Dang. Given how little Twilight tends to sleep in canon (a certain week during a stable time loop comes to mind), she's not going to be awake a lot on the moon.
7792199
S'ok, I'll hate her for you then. (actually I liked her as a villain or antagonist, as friendship student/protagonist she just fails for me, sometimes to the point where I want to put something through the screen to make her shut up.)
7792215
The Ratchet and Clank universe has no Prime Directive.
7791459 More likely, the cut off point was either when Twilight gets blasted by the Elements of Harmony during "Magical Mystery Cure" or when Twilight was on her way back to her own universe toward the end of the first "Equestria Girls" film. So far, each of the "Displaced Adoption" stories using one of the Mane Six (the ones that didn't use one of the Mane Six as the displaced adoptee have more leeway timeline wise, though) had them returning BEFORE the season 4 start (and Tirek suffering a humiliating death). I doubt this one will be different on that front (since that's needed to "unlock" the My Little PWNY mega-crossover story). Otherwise, it would be a good guess.
At any rate, great job on the twist concerning the prophecy in the first episode. Of course, the exchanges, emotional content, action, humor and future chapter set-up are also all well done. I'll definitely be looking forward to more of this as soon as time and inspiration will allow.
7792199 Sorry, my mistake.
7792199 Come to think of it...
I wouldn't mind seeing Starlight put through a certain gaming grinder.
Dark Souls, anyone?
Actually...Dark Souls might be a better fit for Sunset Shimmer.
7792917
Dark Souls fails PWNY criteria. And as I've never played the games and don't see the appeal, it's unlikely I'll use it for a regular crossover.
7792931 I figured as much. 'Twas mere idle musings from a mind more suited to the matter of concepts and descriptions rather than one akin to your artistry. To each their own, on the matter of appeal.
Praise the Sun!
7792979 There's actually a couple Dark Souls Crossover~ish stories out there featuring a certain bacon maned former pony... I forget what they're called, though, and am too tired at the moment to bother looking them up... Shouldn't be too hard to find though if you type Dark Souls into the search and turn on the filter for Sunset Shimmer.
7792931 Dark Souls is not for everyone, true. I happen to love the games, but they are definitely an exercise in gaming masochism until you learn the mechanics and get your stats and gear up to a certain point... Then they're merely brutal.
People either love them or absolutely loathe them, and most usually figure out which side they fall on before they get to the first boss. If you like playing hellishly difficult games for fun/the challenge then I would highly recommend you borrow a copy of the first game from a friend or rental service to see if you like it. If that's not your cup of tea, though, then that's fine, as like I said, they're not for everyone.
Wait... so Twilight is both on Equestria and the moon at the same time.... my brain hurts!!!! And this is why I hate Time Travel. I was kind of hoping to see Alicorn Twilight leading the Mane 6 to defeat Nightmare Moon.
7793021
Not my cup of tea. I don't like hellish difficulty.
7793147
That's what "My Little PWNY" is for, among other things.
7793157 OK, but I was thinking the non PWNY versions of her friends, mainly to see Nightmare Moon's reaction to facing a new Alicorn and all of Twilight's weapons.
7793185 I would pay money to see/read that reaction.
7793705 Somebody in these comments get on that!
7796290 never saw that.
I literaly scared my cat with my shout when i realised there's no more chapters yet...